Camiel met Michael's eyes and grasped his hand, "We cannot wait for Him to remember His promise Michael. We have to go." The last words were whispered so softly that the male archangel had leaned in close—midnight blue wings brushing against emerald. He squeezed her hand and then released it and pushed her further back into the recesses of the Council room, the flickering white Light, ever present, illuminating her features. He looked away. She had found him just as the meeting had come to a close.
"You don't have to go anywhere. Stay."
Camiel's wings rustled together as she stepped forward and once again grasped his hand, "Michael. I cannot stay and you know it. Not feeling the way I do." They shared one last look of the Council room—one (an emerald winged archangel) imagining the chaos that would ensue after two of the Seven left while the other imagined the consequences of this decision. He looked at Camiel and opened his mouth to convince her to stay but then just sighed quietly, she was like him. She wouldn't leave the humans to face their fate alone. They turned as one and stepped off the Council balcony and took to the skies.
As they flew over the coastal city of Los Angeles they wove between the clouds. Thunder rumbled ominously and Camiel turned to Michael, eyes wide at the implied meaning, "Michael… you don't think that…" she trailed off as the white lightning lit the sky. The anger was quite tangible to the archangels' senses. His anger they could sense. Michael squeezed her hand as an image of the Council room and a white light—no longer flickering but flaring—rose to new heights in the domed room. Suddenly the sky flashed white again and then a bolt struck between the two angels.
Camiel released Michael's hand with a cry before they each flew through the sky in different directions, not really flying but falling as the electricity passed through their bodies locking their wings. "Michael!" Camiel's cry was met with silence. She dropped further from the sky and landed on her hands and knees in a deserted alleyway. She allowed the rain to splatter onto her for an interminable time before she carefully sat up and ran a hand through her brown-black hair to push it away from her features. She looked at her right hand which still smoked slightly from the contact with the angry lightning and as she closed her hand into a fist she winced. Grasping a piece of her white dress she ripped it off and wound the fabric around the injury.
Once that was done she leaned her back against the building, ignoring the rain now, and laid her head back so she was looking through the rain towards the clouds. Where was Michael now? Should she wait? The answer came to her presently—no, they could not waste time waiting for each other. They would have to continue and trust they'd meet up later.
She brought her gaze back from the sky to the ground and then removed her coat. Her wings stretched towards the sky before lying on either side of her and she ran her bandaged hand through the downy feathers of her right wing before grasping a feather and pulling it from the wing. She stifled the gasp of pain and made to place the feather to the side but seeing the state of the ground (it was quite dirty) she carefully pulled a few strands of hair from her nape and braided her feather there. The curtain of black-brown then shielded the pale skin of her neck and vibrant emerald sparkle of color that belonged to her feather.
Camiel paused for a moment as she wondered at her thought process but then she sighed. She knew well what she was doing. Barring the single dagger she had and now the feather which she hoped might still be of use after her 'operation' she had no weapons. She was going into this blind unless she managed to find some more weapons in the nearest store. She hoped that Michael would be able to supply weapons.
Camiel placed a hand on the metal collar that marked her as one of His Archangels…she hoped that with her next move the collar would cease to be a hindrance. However the consequences of her deed…she shook her head. She mustn't think of it and anyway she was happy to pay the price, her only fear was heightening His anger. After a final caress through the emerald feathers she steeled herself and took a deep breath while reaching behind her with her silver dagger clutched tightly in her hands. Camiel swiftly cut through feathers, tendon, and bone and attempted to stifle her pained cry, what she didn't stifle the grumble of convenient thunder did. A flash of emerald flared above her head like a halo before coalescing at her throat with a singing note. The collar clicked open and fell to the ground before disappearing in blaze of emerald flames.
The archangel of love blinked away her tears and gingerly probed the wound—it was at least a clean cut. She wouldn't have been able to do another. Then an image of a girl entered her mind, a human child that Camiel had watched over since birth. Her trials were much harder and once more the angel was heartened as she took strength from others. She accepted that she had to Fall. She accepted the consequences. Now, she had to take action. First, she'd have to fix her back now bare of any trace of angelic wings.
Camiel sighed brokenly as she attempted to sense the bonds between the humans which she knew were close. Faded bands crossed her vision like a blurry television showing before they flickered, died, and reappeared. She sighed; both she and Michael had thought that their archangel powers would be affected. Then Camiel shook her head again. Right, action was needed at the moment…ponderings could be kept until later.
A few hours later she emerged from a nearby store, entered via skylight, less bloody and definitely more prepared than she had been. Her back had been wrapped with gauze and her tattered white dress had been removed to be replaced with more appropriate clothes for women of this age. She was not very used to jeans but accepted them, even while wondering what the point of having a hole already in the knee proved, the sturdy black boots she was more pleased with. She had pulled on a blank tank top as well followed by a thin blue and black striped long sleeve shirt. Her crystalline rain drop (actually a rain drop frozen but not cold) necklace that had been a gift from Michael completed the attire. She looked at herself once in the mirror. Her jade green eyes regarded a brown-black haired woman with a pale complexion but steely determination glinting in her eyes. She quickly gathered her thick hair together into a ponytail after determining that the feather would remain unseen. Her hair still fell to her mid-back. Grabbing the bag that contained her dagger, the remains of the dress (no human would know what material it was made of), and a small gun appropriated from the hunting section of the store, as well as several dagger type knives. She secured it to her side by slipping the black strap gingerly across her shoulders. Her black coat went over it all and then Camiel was once again moving.
She had felt worse about stealing the car. As an angel…as an archangel… she couldn't rationalize it away. Camiel bowed her head and mentally asked for forgiveness while promising the occupant that she would return the vehicle. Of course the occupant had no idea what mental conversations were going through the angel's head as she was currently in her house curled up watching TV. The roar of her vehicle did not reach her ears and she passed the day unknowing of the theft.
Camiel closer her eyes and tried to sense the bonds once more. Again, a crackly television with half seen images reached her. However, that one Light that she had sensed flared for a moment, long enough for her to get her bearings. She began to drive…and drive…and drive, following the pull of the child. Midmorning, Camiel eventually reached the old diner—Paradise Falls and she smirked bitterly at the appropriate name. She shook her head once more as a twinge in her back reminded her of her duty. She glanced about the parking lot and curiously into an open garage which seemed to have a person looking at a car but holding a… cradle? Camiel's eyes widened with understanding—that person then was Jeep, Michael's human. As she thought of Michael she glanced about hoping that he was already here. He wasn't or at least she couldn't sense him. With a deep breath she opened her door and carefully stepped out onto the gravel. She walked across the parking lot and to the Diner's door, the crunch of gravel nearly inaudible where she stepped.
Camiel's arrival in the diner was marked with the tinkling of the bells. As she stepped into the room she swiftly glanced about. Her perusing eyes took in the cook, a family of three (and here her senses prickled a little bit at meeting the eyes of the girl), and finally a man standing on a chair beating a television mercilessly. Briefly Camiel stretched for her power and once again faded bands crossed her vision. A strong tie connected the man and woman sitting at the table and a weaker one passed from both of them to the teenager next to them. A soft gray band signified the friendship between the cook and the man abusing the television and abruptly their names came to her: Sandra, Howard, Audrey, Percy, Bob. Bob stopped his manhandling of the television to look at her and then roughly spoke, "Waitress will be with you in a moment."
Camiel nodded her head and spoke quietly, "Of course, thank you." She once again looked up to meet the eyes of the girl and then dropped her jade gaze to the ground and pulled the long sleeves of her shirt further down her tattooed wrists. The marks having appeared after she had willingly parted with her wings. She chose a table away from the family and nearer to the juke box and then sat down. The cook quickly flipped some food on the stove and then grabbed a glass and filled it with water and grabbed a newspaper from the stands before walking to where Camiel sat. He placed both cup and paper before her and smiled.
"Good morning, little lady. The waitress, Charlie, should be with you soon. She's on break right now. I'm Percy the cook, and I'll be making you some breakfast just as soon as you order." He held out his only hand.
Camiel glanced up surprised as the man began to speak so openly and friendly to her but then she blinked. She smiled and accepted the hand shake, sparing no look to Percy's claw. She accepted the kindness as it came and then her eyes fell on his cross necklace. She smiled brighter as understanding once again struck, "Good morning, Percy. Thank you very much for the water. I'm…" she paused for a moment and then continued, "Cami. It's nice to meet you."
He nodded and then walked back to the stove and began to cook once more. Camiel took a sip of her water and listened to the man continue to beat on the television. Percy finally spoke, "Lord as my witness, Bob, one of these days, that thing's gunna hit you back."
Bob quickly returned with, "What are you talking about Percy? We got a special relationship here."
"Yeah, they got names for that kind of relationship." Camiel heard more than saw Percy's smile. Bob replied with another couple of smacks to the side of the television and Camiel tilted her head to the side in slight confusion. She then began to here further talking from the family at the table barring Audrey who had moved to the juke box. Cami blinked in surprise as the family spat barbs at each other and once again bands of light crossed her vision. She deftly grabbed the meaning behind the threads that crisscrossed her vision—the sadness, the anger, the seemingly unreachable gulf that separated the family. Humans were so varied in their emotions…Cami thought with sadness.
Awhile later, after receiving and eating a stack of pancakes from Percy that was an apology for Charlie's lack of appearance, the couple was once again arguing. Camiel pushed the plate away and once again sipped her water, lost in thought, as she looked out the window. Where was Michael? She furrowed her brow into a frown. Soon, she thought, soon Gabriel would be coming…that bite to the air could only belong to him. The door opened and Camiel jumped slightly as the noise startled her out of her reverie. She glanced up to see Charlie and another man in a scarf and coat enter. She nodded her head in greeting towards the girl that Michael so wanted to protect. Charlie was lost at the moment, as was Audrey, but they would find their way. Michael and she would see to that. Camiel paused in her thinking as an abrupt longing crept into her soul to see Michael. She was surprised at the depth of emotion but then with this seemingly human body she felt so much more from both ends of the emotional spectrum.
Then Bob was yelling at Charlie for being missing for so long and she'd better not have been smoking to which she replied scathingly. The brief soul connections flashed so she could see caring beneath the rough words on both parties' sides and then the scarfed man (his name swiftly entered her mind—Kyle) asked about the phone. Not two seconds later Howard interrupted with questions about his car. Bob dealt with the issue by abruptly leaving the Diner to talk with his son.
A few minutes later Camiel watched through the window an argument between father and son. It broke her heart and she felt the pain spear deep into her. The father was aching inside from pain and the son, Jeep, he was willingly helping his father find his way back even while trusting and believing in so many other fallen people that many would just turn aside. Then the fight morphed to something different…a confession, Camiel imagined, as she saw the father clasp his son by the shoulder. They broke apart with one going back to the garage and another heading back to the Diner. Camiel dropped her gaze as the door chimes again sounded. She felt Bob's gaze go around the Diner and the rest on the television—he crossed to it with relish. Camiel understood the need to release some steam but her gaze was drawn back out the window and to Jeep who was looking into the distance. She craned her neck to see out the window and her eyes rested on a cloud that seemed to be spreading across the sky. A final thunk to the television and then the static garble was replaced with a warning siren filled her ears. Camiel's eyes didn't move from that approaching black cloud—something was coming and she hoped she was ready to deal with it.