Disclaimer: Same as chapter 1 and I'm not writing it all out again...

WARNING: MIGHT BE SOME MILD SWEARING – SO BE WARNED. READ AT OWN RISK.

All reviews, and constructive criticism, gratefully received – but no flaming please; and I will try to update regularly.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Summary: Ariella decides to take her Pack's advice – why not talk to the Archangel; it's not like he can answer back, is it? MichaelxOFC

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An Archangel's Heart

Chapter Four

Well, Rusty had a point – Ella sighed "okay, here's the deal – I will take you up on your offer. But, and it's a big one, this is a one-time deal for right now. If Mr Hulking Archangel there does not wake up in the next twelve hours, I'm either going to wake him up by shaking him until his teeth rattle, or we go with him somewhere else and I drop him off a cliff and see if that works. The Pack are not my personal slaves; I have chores same as anyone, and you guys are not doing them for me if Michael takes a few centuries to wake the hell up. Deal?"

Rusty rolled his eyes but caved, he knew she would not be budged – as the first of her Pack he knew her better than any of them. She could be more stubborn that a gaggle of toddlers glued together. He shook the hand Ella was holding out "deal."

She pulled him in for a hug "I know, I know – I'm a pest. But you are still kids and should get at least a little bit of time each day to be kids. Play, squabble, charge about like demented loons; that's what being a kid is. So I will do my best to make sure you get that time because, trust me, being grown up sucks and it sneaks up on you way too quickly – especially these days."

Rusty nodded, knowing she was speaking the truth. Sometimes he laid awake at night worrying about the rest of the Pack, and himself; how long he and Ella could keep how different they were a secret. Being able to just play was a brilliant pressure relief; he felt good when he ran around and messed about with the others. Though he'd never admit it; he wanted Ella to know she could always rely on him – he might be only twelve but he could be a grown up; just like she'd had to be the day the War of Extermination had started.

He grabbed Jonah and Ollie and they went out to hunt and scavenge – Essie, aged ten, grabbed Elianora who was nine and they went to do Ariella's chores. The rest of them gathered round knowing that if Ariella was going to just 'talk' then she'd want them to give her a subject and it was likely there'd be a story in the offing.

The younger Pack members adored her stories; she told them in a way that they could almost picture what she was saying playing out like an old movie thing she'd told them used to be around when she was a kid. Books that were moving pictures with people saying the book words…..wow, they'd have loved to have seen one of them. But Ariella's stories were the next best thing they were sure – their imaginations were young and fertile enough to bring the world she spelt out with words to life easily.

Sure enough she looked at the rest of the Pack gathered around her "well, what do think I should tell him about?"

A quick conference took place – mutterings and 'no!' rattled around, until nods replaced dissent. Soskai looked up "the last day – the last day you had that was normal and then the War with the Angels started."

Ella, for her part, never understood why they loved to hear about that day and into the night that changed everything forever. For her it was a certain level of hell to relive the day the world went crazy never to recover and she'd realised, with growing dread and an awful certainty, that she'd never see her beloved mum or brother ever again.

She forced a smile "sure – okay then. Well, my cousin was getting married and I was one of the few girls in the family. Most of my cousins, and I had a lot, were boys. So my aunt wanted me to be a bridesmaid; because money was tight for my parents, I was the only one who could go. My aunt was well off and she could've paid for us all to go, but she loathed my father and didn't want him coming. My mum was ill and couldn't travel on her own and my brother was at college so he couldn't come even if he wanted to, and he didn't want to 'get mixed up in all the girly stuff'. So that left just me on my own."

She shrugged, but the kids could tell it upset her. Still, she took a deep breath and continued "my aunt flew over from the US to the UK to collect me and we flew back together; it was meant to be a long weekend - Friday to Sunday afternoon with the wedding on the Saturday. I didn't care about jet lag; when you're going into different times and it made you very tired; I just wanted to do it and go home. She'd wanted to take me and the other kids who were involved in the wedding to Disneyland as a thank you treat - it was a place kids loved to visit and it cost tons to go there. But I just wanted to go home as soon as I possibly could and had said I didn't want to take the two weeks for that, I just really wanted to go home the next day as she'd promised I could."

She sighed as she remembered the weird look her aunt had given her as she'd asked her incredulously "you don't want to go to Disneyland? Seriously? Are you sick or something; I mean is there something else?"

Ella could understand her aunt's disbelief and wariness – her 'differences' had been studiously ignored by her father, but her beloved mum had told her all the firstborn females in her family were a little….odd. But she was truly one of a kind. Even as a baby she'd never had a temper tantrum, always kept a tight rein on her temper.

Ella nodded at the Pack before her "I'd begged my mum not to make me go – I'd told her I felt sick with the feeling something awful was about to happen. That for months now I'd had a feeling here…." She tapped her chest "that a clock inside me was ticking down…..winding down to something; something very bad. I didn't know what, but it was awful enough to make me feel really ill. I didn't want to be away from home when the clock stopped; and it would do that soon – that clock was about to stop and I knew it."

Shaking her head at memories of events she had no way to change now any more than she had at the time, she continued "but my mum just patted my hand and said that my aunt would take care of me and she and my brother would be fine. If it was that bad perhaps the plane wouldn't even leave, either to bring my aunt to us or take me and her back here to America."

Soskai nodded "but it did both."

"Yup; we even made it through the wedding without a hitch. But I knew we didn't have long; I kept praying for just one more day before anything happened. I was supposed to be flying back to England the next day at 4pm, but it wasn't to be. Just as the reception in this posh golf resort on the outskirts of the town my aunt lived in had started, some people came running in saying weird stuff was happening outside. Flies had killed a couple of pet dogs and a cat; a couple of golfers had gone all crazy and started battering the two guys they were with with their golf clubs.

As more people began arriving, telling increasingly weird stories, my aunt asked that the doors to the function room were closed to try and keep the mounting hysteria outside. My cousin and her new husband decided to leave a few minutes later – they were concerned that if there was some kind of terrorist attack or even just a threat of one, they'd be better off leaving for their honeymoon right then rather than later that evening.

I'd tried to get them to stop; the clock inside me had stopped in the few minutes before my cousin had said she was leaving. I felt like I had ice trickling down the back of my neck and I thought I'd stop breathing I was so absolutely terrified. Instead my aunt let her go; I never saw them again."

Ella closed her eyes for a moment and then went on "my aunt decided it was getting late and so we children should go up to our hotel rooms in the main building. I was sharing a room with her; my other young cousins were farmed out between various older relatives on the same floor so we weren't alone.

I'd like to say I just waited for something to happen, but I was so exhausted with nerves, jet lag and pure fear – I just wanted it to be over…..whatever 'it' was. So I just crashed out on the bed, I barely made it into my pyjamas. The next thing I remember was my aunt waking me with her hand over my mouth. I've never seen her look so frightened; she held her finger to her lips until she was sure I'd be quiet. Then she kept apologising for bringing me away from my mum and my brother. She kept muttering she should've listened to me, that I was right…."

Ella shook her head "I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but the sick feeling of dread in my chest had got worse. She was shaking and she made me put my clothes on; then she put me in the wardrobe – a cupboard for clothes. She sat me on the floor and told me to stay there and stay quiet until either she or one of my other relatives came for me. I don't think I said a word in the few minutes she was with me. She patted my cheek, told me I'd be alright but to stay put; then she left."

She closed her eyes as the next memories swamped her. Getting her emotions under control she pressed on; knowing that, to the Pack, this was just a story – even though for her it was real. "I stayed there for what seemed like hours and hours, but was probably less than two; there were screams and cries outside the room. Some I recognised as cousins and aunts and uncles; eventually I got more scared waiting and so, once the screaming and crying died down I got up and crept out of the closet. I moved quietly to the room door and opened it.

I'll never forget what I saw – there were bodies everywhere; some were weirdly misshapen, like they'd been shaken really quickly and it had changed them somehow. I know now they'd been taken over by the eight-balls, but had been killed. Others were just dead – none of my relatives had been taken over though, I found the bodies."

Ella sighed "it was hard knowing I was alone; but I also knew I couldn't stay, so I crept back to the room, got my backpack and put some bits and pieces in it – change of clothes, underwear, I raided the mini fridge in the room; you remember I told you about those….." the Pack all nodded "…..I took all the stuff that was in it, even the booze."

She chuckled "I didn't even know what I'd do with it, but I figured it might be useful. I grabbed the stuff from the bathroom and then grabbed my parka and let myself out. I ran across the grounds, all the time looking out for my family – it was then I started to find all the bodies. I quickly realised then I was alone; they were all dead."

There were gasps from the Pack; even though they knew this story, they were still shocked at the thought of a little Ariella all alone. "I ran as fast as I could, but I could hear weird growling noises around me and they were getting closer – I was so scared I'm pretty sure I was holding my breath."

Andy, aged eight, had eyes like saucers "did the eight-balls find you?"

"Yeah they did; it was inevitable really – I mean I was living and breathing and I wasn't possessed by one of them, so they'd have found me sooner or later." She shrugged "at least this way I was out in the open and I was able to fight better than if they'd caught me in the closet or the room."

"But you were scared" Soskai nodded "didn't that stop you fighting?"

Ella thought for a moment "no; you know, it didn't. It should've – it definitely should've, because I was only twelve and we hadn't grown up with the War like you guys have. We hadn't learnt to be brave like you have" little chests puffed out with pride that she thought they were brave compared to her back then, "so I should've been so scared I couldn't fight. But I was only scared when I was running away; when I realised I was going to have fight, suddenly I was so calm…..it was really weird. I mean I was always calm when I fought with my brother or my cousins because of controlling my temper; but this was different. These were monsters; I should've been terrified, but nope – I just turned to meet them….."

"Then what?" Andy asked.

Ella nodded "you know; it's not like I haven't told you all this before…"

"Yeah, but you don't tell it as often as all the others – I can count on one hand the amount of times you've told us this story."

"Okay, well, I was looking for a weapon; because I was pretty sure I couldn't fight whatever was making that noise on my own with just my little fists…"

"Yeah, but even MacDuff says they sure are bony little fists Ella" Soskai nodded earnestly.

She smirked "true that, little man, true that – but these were eight-balls, though I didn't know it right then. So I saw some golf clubs and picked them up and started swinging as soon as this….thing…this monster, swooped at me. I clumped him on the head, three times, really quick and very hard and down he dropped; then I stabbed him in the eye with the handle end. Eventually I ran out of clubs, but I found a bit of broken pipe and used that. Then I heard Gabriel's horn – that awful horn – and I took off running again. I knew I didn't want to be around when whatever that horn was calling arrived."

She remembered where she spent the rest of the night "I hid in the trunk of a tree in a little wooded area about five miles away; Lord, but I was tired. When daylight came I thought it would be safe. I thought they were vampires or something; so I thought daylight would hurt them and I'd be alright. But I quickly realised they weren't those sort of monsters and the daylight was worse for moving about in because the eight-balls and angels could see us way faster than we could see them."

"When did you get your swords?"

"I broke into a gun shop about a week later – I didn't get these swords" she gestured toher beloved katanas strapped to her back where they always were – even when she was asleep. It was well known that Ella never went anywhere unarmed – even when she went to the waterfall right in the back of the caverns to bathe, a rare hot spring with an opening to the sunshine and sky, she had a small butterfly knife strapped to her thigh whilst she washed. She would laugh at MacDuff and tell him she felt more naked without weapons on her somewhere, than she ever did without clothing.

"But I did get some; I taught myself to use them, but I admit I seemed to have natural ability with swords and bows. Guns, not so much" she pulled a face "but we Brits didn't like guns, so perhaps it's genetics." The Pack all laughed.

Michael fidgeted; the first true movement he'd made since she'd brought him back to the Outpost. She looked over and he was frowning – his eyelids were moving and she looked back at the kids with a grin; Andy gave her a thumbs up.

"So?" Soskai asked; keen to keep the story going if it brought the big boss angel around and kept them in the caves he loved and felt safe in.

"So I got some smaller swords, some training katanas I think they were, a bow and some arrows. The katanas were pretty blunt, but I figured out how to sharpen them and then I made sure they'd slice a hair in two. I didn't like stealing but, by then, there wasn't really anyone left to ask anyway."

"What about your family?" Abigail asked quietly; a small, slight, blond girl of about nine, with enormous blue eyes. She was a recent find – huddled in a little hollow of a hole under a rock, Ariella had got a pretty serious shock off her when she'd touched her. As soon as Abbie had opened her eyes and realised that Ariella wasn't an eight-ball she was full of apologies; but the older woman had just laughed it off and called it 'cool'. Abbie adored her and had become the newest Pack addition.

"Oh well…" Ella took a moment to swallow the ball of hurt that still sat in her chest whenever she thought about her mum and her brother. "I don't know. I realised very quickly I wouldn't be getting back to them, that I had no way of contacting them and I was pretty sure what had happened here, had happened everywhere. I could only hope they were safe….." she hesitated and then added very quietly "but I kind of knew my mum wouldn't have lasted long; her health relied on lots of medicines and she wouldn't have got those after a very short while."

Soskai and Abbie got up and came over and hugged her tightly. Moments later the others fell through the door "what's wrong?" Rusty demanded "what's happened to Ariella?"

"She was remembering her mum…." Andy told him, his own voice thick with unshed tears; his own memories of lost loved ones crashing in on him at the same time he thought of Ella's.

Ella was their leader; she was the warrior. Ella was what Ariella called herself when she went hunting – either food, enemies, or eight-balls – she was a cold, calculating fighter then. Ariella was the one that took care of them when they were sad or had nightmares, looked after them when they were sick. She was the one who was gentle and kind with the old ones, and listened to their stories of the time before the War.

Ariella would cry for her loved ones long gone; but not Ella. Ariella would say Ella held the leash on the 'other' side of her. Her grand-da, her father's father, had told her never to tame that part of her that was 'other', for one day it would be needed; but to always keep it on a leash.

Ariella had told them she could never let it loose; never let the leash slip free. So Ella held it tight; acknowledged the darkness of the world they now lived in, and merely fought their enemies with an ease that was as scary as it was beautiful to watch.

One day Ariella knew the time would come when the 'other' in her would be free, for her grand-da had told her so when she was only six years old. He'd told her that hell would tremble and heaven shiver when she finally let it go. Ariella had cried and asked if she'd be evil; a dark thing. He'd laughed and said no, that her shining light would blind the world – that that light would change things for the better but it had to be at the right time and she'd know that time.

He told her of an old film where a man called Spock was dying. His friend, called Kirk, was mad at him for sacrificing his life to save him and Spock's other friends. But Spock had said, just before he died, that "the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, or the one". Ariella's grand-da had told her to remember that – not to let emotion sway her. When the time came, the 'other' in her would be free to save the many.

Rusty glared at them "you shouldn't make her sad; don't make her tell that story of the first day of the War. How many times have I told you that?"

The pack looked at their Beta chastened. But Ariella shook her head at him "it's fine Russ; we need to remember them we've lost. That way they're still alive and with us."

He huffed and then grinned "look! Ariella, look!"

She looked round and found herself staring into the very blue eyes of Michael "oh well, seems you were right Russ – I bored him awake."