"I don't think you deserve your spot!"

Shove.

"You only got that spot because he took you in!"

Push.

"Your not even good!"

Hit.

"I should have gotten that chance!"

Kick.

"Teachers pet!"

Punch.

Sandalphon cried out as another kick was aimed at his quickly bruising ribs. Tears sprung to his eyes as they burned with pain. Another swift kick to his ribs and a sneer was his response of tears and cries.

"Little Baby shouldn't be allowed to play with the big kids!"

"SANDY!"

His arms fell out from underneath him as another kick was thrust harshly at his chest. The two were stopped from causing any more injuries by another voice sounding throughout the large Pavilion, their heads snapping up in alarm at the familiarity, Sandalphon let out a whine at the sound, a hand grabbing at his golden curls made him whimper.

"You tell anyone about this and we'll make this seem like a cake walk! You understand?"

His hair was pulled hard until he uttered a shaky 'Yes'. He fell when his hair was released and he let out a yelp. Foot steps running in the opposite direction alerted him that his bullies had run the other way. Slowly but surely he pushed himself up off the floor, dusted off the new robe he'd been given, and calmly walked out of the single practice room. Silently walking down the hall in the direction of the voice he'd come to trust.

Lucifer's eyebrows met in part shock and another part concern when he took in the battered sight of his little charge. Sandy limped closer and closer, allowing himself to be picked up from the floor, two gentle hands under his arms lifting him upwards, settled on the blonde Archangel's hip. Silent as he ran a finger over the cut above the small fledglings eye, frowning at the blood he pulled away when he moved his finger.

"What happened to you Sandy?"

There was a beat of silence, this had been going on for some time now and both were left wondering the same thing; would the child finally tell? But Lucifer was left disappointed and even more concerned when the boy shook his head slowly, taking a moment before looking up at him with bloodshot violet eyes, sniffling loudly.

"Noffin Luci..Can we goes home now?"

Lucifer resisted the urge to narrow his eyes in suspicion. He was getting tired of coming and finding his precious little fledgling always returning to him with a new injury.

"Not just yet, you seem to be breathing funny kiddo," He adjusted his hold on the small angel, leaning him back against his chest, hoping his suspicions were untrue, he snuck his hand up under the tiny tot's top and prodded at his small ribs as gently as he could, "Lets see those little ribs shall we? Tell me if it hurts"

Sandalphon seemed upset at not being able to return back to the Archangel's Garden like he'd wanted to, even going so far as to huff like a child before a tantrum was thrown which only made his guardian worry even more, it was unlike him to be so foul tempered. Lucifer felt around the small rib cage, pushing and prodding at certain spots until the fledgling let out a yell, small hands thrusting themselves upwards to try and pull his hand away.

"I think you might have some bruising Little One, lets go to Raphie and have him take a look, alright."

It wasn't posed as a question, but the child took it as such and replied with such a reply it alarmed the Archangel, he actually paused in his walking as he had already started heading in the Hospital's direction, knowing that Raphael would still be there.

"No! We can't see Raphie!"

Lucifer froze in his steps, looking down at the child in his arms.

"Why ever not? You love seeing Raphie, especially when your not well!"

Sandy hit at him with his tiny fists, a tantrum in the brewing, it was not often that he had tantrums the last time being when he was told to put his toys away so they could go check some things on Earth, Lucifer had planned to take him to swim with the whales after the tasks were complete as he loved to do such things, but the child had not wanted to stop his playing and had thrown such a tantrum it put all Earth's natural disasters to shame. He gotten a firm hand to his behind, a stern scolding, and a turn in the timeout corner with Michael while Lucifer went to do his tasks on Earth himself, least to say Sandy was a quick learner.

Besides, it was not in his personality to be so bratty, most of the time anyway.

"No! I don't wanna! Wanna go home! Wanna go HOME!"

Lucifer jerked his head to the side when a small hand was aimed at his face, caught it in his free hand, and looking down at the child in alarm.

"That is enough, you are injured and Raphael takes care of all the injured, you will behave yourself or when we do return home you can spend the rest of what's left of the day in the time out corner and go straight to bed, no games, no stories, just bed"

Sandalphon's eyes widened and he was on the verge of crying again at the aspect of getting punished after the day he'd had.

"Honestly, I don't know what has gotten in to you!"

The child's eyes watered drastically, and his mind came up with the first thing any child's mind would at his age after having been bullied so brutally.

"I hate you!"

Lucifer's eyes widened in shock and he turned his attention back towards the path that they had been walking down, ignoring the tiny fledgling in his arms for a moment. Sandaphon stared up at him waiting for the rebuff for saying such things, but none came.

"Luci.."

Nothing.

"Luci!"

Still nothing.

"Luuuci!"

His whine was so pathetic that the archangel had to refrain from looking over at him and cuddling him closer. Sandalphon frowned at the lack of response, his voice filling with the tears that filled his eyes.

"Luci I didn't means it! I sorry!"

"You wouldn't say such things if you did not mean them, I am sorry that I made you feel this way, seeing as I have been so wrong to you"

"No Luci!"

"If you are that unhappy under my care, then perhaps we should find you a new Guardian"

Sandalphon let the tears fall at that statement, he didn't want anyone else, he wanted Luci! He wanted the one who always let him get away with more then one bedtime story a night, the one who always played games with him, the one who made all the scarys from the war go away.

"No Luci!", The cries broke his heart to pieces, "I wanna stay wiff you! I wanna be wiff you!"

"Are you sure that is what you want?"

"Yeeeeeeesssss!"

Lucifer wrapped the child in a gentle hug, allowing him to bury his face in his chest and sob his little fledgling heart out, his gaze locking with Raphael's above the boy's head, both full of concern for the child who had somehow managed to worm his way into both of their hearts. Bending down he pressed a gentle kiss to his temple.

"Oh Sandy what is going on with you?"

He'd calmed enough for Raphael to take him, sit him on one of the large comfy beds, and pull his top open to take a look at the damage this time around. Tsking under his breath at the vast amount of bruising that painted his rib cage like it was a canvas for art. Even Lucifer let out a sound of surprise clearly not expecting it to be as bad as it was. Raphael looked over his shoulder in concern.

"Little One, where did you come to get these?"

The Healer kept moving about, walking over to a cabinet to pull out some salve and bandages. His hands were gentle but practical as they set about cleaning him up and wrapping the wounds up with the medicine and white bandage wraps. The tiny fledgling didn't utter a word for the longest moment, but not for lack of trying on Raphael's part.

All the Archangels were worried for their new addition to their home and little family, the boy somehow managing to worm his way into all their hearts and graces, who had started to show up at home with new bruises and injuries had them all on high alert. Nobody hurt one of theirs, not ever. Especially one as young as Sandalphon was.

Kneeling down, he caught the child's eyes and refused to allow him to look away.

"Is someone hurting you Baby Brother?"

Sandalphon looked at him for a long time, internally debating on telling the Healer just what had been going on and how long and who it was and why and everything, Raphael was not blind and was very good at what he did so he did indeed see the internal battle of wills taking place in the little eyes staring back at him.

"Would you like to talk to Ramiel instead? You two are very good friends, are you not?"

There was a moment of nothing, until something in his eyes snapped, good or bad they weren't sure, but he nodded his head slowly. Raphael nodded back standing back up with a gentle pat to the child's knees and a ruffle of his golden curls. The flinch the child released did not go unnoticed by either Archangel either. Looking down at him in concern Raphael spoke softer this time.

"Does your head hurt?"

Another nod from the child, and the Healer turned to get some pain medicine with a hum, calling out to his own fledgling with his grace as he turned back towards his brothers'. He held out the small white pill and the glass of water for him to take.

"Here Child, take this, it will help"

Sandy nodded, reaching out for it with a tiny hand. Raphael and Lucifer watched as he slowly swallowed the pill and then the water. He could tell Ramiel, he was just as much an outcast as he was. He surely didn't count.

Surely.

"I can't believe you told!"

Shove.

"And you didn't think we wouldn't find out!"

Smack.

"We warned you about what would happen!"

Kick.

"Its your own fault! Little cry baby!"

Kick.

Shove.

What they didn't know was that he hadn't just told Ramiel though, Gabriel could be very persuasive when he wanted to be, and he knew especially how to get little fledglings to talk, even injured little fledglings. Gabriel had shared his new acquired information with Michael, who had said some not so nice words that were not to be repeated in front of the children in their care, and then had shared the news with Raphael and Lucifer at the same time, two birds with one stone; to protect Ramiel in case of anything for knowing the secret and alerting Lucifer as to just what was happening to his charge.

Lucifer was many things, but unprotective was not one of them.

Sandalphon ducked under another fist aimed his way, backing up as he did, his eyes wide with fear and terror. He should have told someone where he was going so that way they could come get him and stop the other from hurting him. But he hadn't told a single soul, not Mikey, not Gabe, not Raphi, no Rami, not even Luci. And now he was starting to regret that decision. He took another step back and was sure he was done for when he tripped and stumbled.

The bullies stopped advancing as their target fell backwards into someone's legs.

A tall someone, as their eyes traveled upwards from his feet where their victim lay, up over the two crossed arms, and into the cold blazing red eyes of their targets guardian. Lucifer was anything but happy as he knelt down to pick his charge up off the ground, the tiny child wrapping around him like a leech and holding on for dear life, an arm under his bottom keeping him in his place against his side as he never once broke eye contact with his targets.

"What is going on here, boys?"

The two gulped visibly, moving as they took a step back away from the enraged Archangel. They backed into something, and spun around, their eyes widening when they saw Michael standing behind them, the Prince himself, his arms crossed much as Lucifer's had been until he picked up the little weasel.

"He asked you a question, and here's another, tell me boys, what should your punishment be for harming one of our own?"

They moved away from him and ran smack into Gabriel, the messenger looking anything but his usual jovial self.

"You know we don't take lightly to harm befalling one under our charge, so what will it be boys? Personally I have a few things in mind, but thanking your lucky stars, that decision is not up to me, not alone anyway"

The two then turned into Raphael, the Healer was downright scary when he was angered.

"But it is up to us four combined, and I do believe you had insinuated to my charge that there would be a time for him to pay for knowing too much? When does your time come, for doing too much?"

There were not many who could say that they had stood up to the four enraged Archangels and got away from it unscathed including the two before them now, eyes wide they spilled the entire can of proverbial beans. Telling them everything from scoping him out to being jealous because he had gotten a chance at a new song when they were older and had not gotten such things. That they thought he was nothing but a sniveling little baby who needed to be put back into his place (they were extraordinarily lucky that Lucifer did not strike children when they voiced those opinions) and that they had done what they had done because they didn't like him.

All in all it was a very long winded explanation and it had left the four Archangels of Heaven somewhat alarmed.

They two had obviously been demoted to that of a 1st Year, for the time being, and forbidden from going to Earth with the others in their Flock when their times came, a restriction on their days had been enacted for if they insisted in acting as fledglings then they would have a bedtime like the fledglings had.

Considering what they had done and their reasons, they had gotten off rather easily.

"Now, be gone, I believe labor under Joshua in the Gardens will teach you two some good."

They nodded, bowing and uttering apology after apology, taking to their wings in the next moment and flying off as quick as they could. They all watched the two go just to be safe, before Lucifer turned his attention back to the child on his hip, he was gentle as he slowly unraveled him and pushed him backwards, to look him in the face.

"As for you, your not out of the woods yet either! Why in the world would you not tell me you were being bullied by one of you brothers!"

A finger poked at his tummy until he giggled high pitched giggles and tried to hide his face back into his big brother's shoulder. They all smiled at the sound, there was something about a fledglings laughter that brightened anyone's day. Michael hummed under his breath and Lucifer looked up at him from where'd he'd been looking down at Sandalphon, the elder motioning for the child, to which Lucifer begrudgingly (under a look of warning from Michael) passed him over.

Michael cradled the child in the crook of his arm, much like one did a babe, and wiggled his finger into the child's tummy much like his brother had. Moving it all around, and jumping to a different spot every time the fledgling tried to grab it, giggles making it a rather difficult task.

"You should be punished too, for keeping such secrets from us, we care for you to much to see you hurt"

The tiny fledgling wiggled around, squirming this way and that as he attempted to get away from the torturous finger taking its revenge for silence out on his tummy. Someone grabbed at his tiny foot, Raphael, and lightly scratched at the tiny toes making his giggles turn into light shrieks, a sound that made them all laugh.

"Hey hey hey quit hogging him! He's mine, guys, get your own Sandy! Those are my cute little toes to torture!"

He was pulled away from his torturous big brothers by his guardian, Lucifer, clutching him to his chest like he was his most favored possession in all of existence, turning away from his brothers in mock anger. Sandalphon giggled hard as he hustled a bit away from his brothers as if he was not sharing his toys with them. They laughed in amusement, Michael's eyes shining as he watched him.

"Still so keen on not sharing Luci?"

"Darn right I'm not!"

Naturally he would have preferred to say some sort of profanity other then 'Darn' but one just didn't go around saying such words in front of children under the age of ten. Raphael laughed, stepping forward as something tiny rammed into him from behind, scaling up onto his back with an eased sort of practice that should alarm him more then it did. Ramiel giggled under his breath as the Healer reached behind him to pull the small giggling child around and into an embrace of his own.

"Fear not, Brother, for I have my own fledgling to torment as so"

Gabriel shook his head at his older brothers antics, but added in his own, "I have a Cassie that, although does not verbally say so, is my own to mess with as I see fit"

That left Michael all alone and out in the cold, they all turned to look at him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh don't look at me like that, I have all of you at my disposal"

It was true, Michael was in a league all of his own.

Later that night, the door to the nursery in the Archangel's home was thrown open as Sandy ran through shrieking with happy wild laughter as he tried to outrun the one chasing after him. He squealed at the shout from behind him, trying to find a place to hide before he was caught up, but it was too late. Hands grabbed him under his arms and threw him up into the air. He shrieked giddily and kicked out as he fell from such a height back into the warm arms that meant safety.

"You thought you could escape me!"

The boy squealed out as the fingers under his arms began wiggling, digging into the soft flesh. Collapsing on himself he was forced into a fit of happy laughter as his guardian enacted his revenge.

"Did you think I was kidding when I said you should be punished?"

He was lifted up, up above his head, giggles increasing when he blew gently on his bare tummy. They had been trying to get ready for bath time when Sandalphon had hidden in Lucifer's closet and as the Archangel was not expecting him to do so, the high pitched scream that came from that general area when the boy jumped from his spot was as genuine as it could be. He sworn revenge the next moment and chase had been on. They had run down many halls and passed any other angels until eventual they made their way here.

Lucifer had no mercy, none whatsoever as he left no spot uncovered with kissies or raspberrys on the poor fledglings tummy, not stopping until he had tears of absolute joyful mirth falling from his bright violet eyes. Sandalphon screeched as he tried to push his big brother away.

"Do you apologize! Do you regret ever caring me like that!"

The fledgling nodded his head quickly, "Yhehehehesss! Luhuhuhuhcii! No MORE! PWEASE"

"Come Lucifer, have some mercy on the child"

They both froze at the new voice, Sandalphon taking this as his chance to suck in breath after breath, and Lucifer to turn a glare on his brother. Michael merely smiled brighter.

"Or do you wish to show the child how you can squeal like a fledgling, Little Brother?"

Lucifer blushed deeply, grumbling under his breath as he pulled the child into a warm snuggle. Sandalphon calming from his tickle attack nuzzling closer to his beloved big brothers warm chest. The Archangel turned around away from his brother, rubbing at the child's back gently, intending on putting him down to bed.

"Sometimes I really dislike you"

This only served to get him a chuckle, "Now now is that any way to speak in front of a fledgling?"

Lucifer's blush deepened as he gently set the small angel on the soft bed in the middle of the nursery, handing him his favored stuffed animal, Michael smiled softy at the child, sitting on the edge of his bed. Sandalphon yawned largely, rubbing at his tiny eyes with his tiny fists adorably, looking up between his biggest brother and his beloved Guardian.

"Bed time story?"

They exchanged looks, smiling gently as they settled in on either side of the small boy. Michael watched as his brother unconsciously lifted an arm for the boy to crawl under, snuggling into his side and laying out on his chest. He pulled the blankets up over the three of them, rubbing a hand softly through the child's golden curls and Lucifer's own blonde locks.

"And what would you like to hear Baby Brother?"

So after a long couple days of debating it over and over and over I have decided to continue posting on here, as this site is here it basically all started for me! Its sort of a second home me I guess you could say!

And to all of those who commented with all those encouraging things to say, you guys are the reason I came back, your absolutely amazing and right all the way! Thank you so much for returning my faith in the fanfic community! I owe every single one of you guys so much! Bless all of you guys, I'm so lucky to have fans such as you all!