Return of the Angels
She slammed the doors of Kristen's office open.
"Why is he in a cell?" she demands, reframing from slamming her hands on his desk. He looked up from his paperwork, his eyes not narrowed at her question, quite surprised in fact that he was wondering why she was even asking it. Instead, he shook his head at himself, and Celine waited patiently for him to answer, although her patient was running very thin.
"You're here to do something about it?" he asks, folding his arms on the desk without breaking eye contact with her.
"Yes," she replies no anger or annoyance in her voice but her body was rigid with it.
"Then do something about it!" he replies, and she lifts an eyebrow in question. Kristen was not being clear with her. He must have seen the question on her face for him to reply to it. "You're the leader, Celine," was all he replied.
"I'm the leader of the angels," she argues, still not quite sure what he was getting at.
"Not anymore," he replies, standing. Seriousness was completely on his face as he addressed her, arms behind his back. "You're the leader of the humans as well, of the Guardian Force."
"Hold on," she breaths in deeply. "Are you trying to say that I'm in complete charge of everything?"
"Yes," he replies, as if responding to his superior officer's questions. "You were recuperating, as I'll put it for now, and we had a meeting, discussing our leader. I had expected someone to think of your name immediately, but no one had, so I spoke your name out. Everyone agreed, and I've already signed the paperwork, handing my role over to you. The Emperor and the Queen both have a copy stating to them who the new leader is."
"Why did no one come to me for this?"
"Because you would have said no, and then we'll be completely useless in surviving this war."
"So you're quite happy to assume of me, is that it?" she demands, quite infuriated with the lot of them for not talking to her about the decision.
"Sorry, Celine, we weren't thinking…"
"No, you most certainly weren't…" she sighed and turned her back to him, pacing the room. Many thoughts occurred to her and she finally settled on one before she looked back at him. "Fine, I'll do it, only because the decision's already been made and I can't do squat about it anyway. Next time you tell me before you go ahead with your decisions, agreed?"
"Agreed," he replies. Inside he was very happy that she hadn't caused too much of a stink about it. She had accepted it after some thinking, but she had been right. It would have been nice if someone had gone and told her that they were deciding to make her to the leader of the humans. Not only has her responsibility doubled, but so would her heartache if something terrible were to happen in this war. He definitely hadn't been thinking straight. Because she's powerful, skilful and able to accomplish anything, did that really make it alright to assume that she wouldn't be affected if something would have happened in the war?
It was very ungrateful of him.
She nodded, happy with what she heard and she left him to his work. The corridors were bustling more than usual. Angels were conversing with the humans, discovering new things every day, just like the humans were. Interaction…it's just what Celine had ordered before. Nodding with what she was hearing, and not all about the upcoming battle, she moved away, expecting to sort out this prison problem once and for all. Now, who would be in charge of the prisons, other than herself? She wasn't sure what the guy's name was, but it was time to become acquainted with one another.
The room was guarded, just like she had expected it to be. But something tells her that the guards immediately knew who they were dealing with as they didn't stop her from just barging into the room without a knock or an invitation. The man behind the desk was indeed very muscular, very intent on doing his job as he was writing on some paper. Upon hearing the door closed, his pencil stopped moving but carried on a moment later. He didn't look up to see who it was, nor did he speak, demanding to know who had dared disturb him.
Noting that he must have finished with the document, he filed it in a folder and left it atop his desk. He leaned back in his chair as his green eyes looked at her. Amusement or scorn, she couldn't decide, but he said nothing about her, didn't even look as if he would even start this conversation. But already she disapproved of him. Most likely he'll have to prove his worth to her before he could even get an acknowledgement nod from her. But it must have been the same thoughts for him as well. His eyes raked her body, an approving expression before it turned back into the one she couldn't decide was amusement or scorn.
"What can I do for you?" he asks, only letting his mouth move.
"What else would I have come to you for?"
"Ah, about the prisons…! As I've told everyone else that has come in here asking, I'm not going to even think about your opinion on what should happen."
She slammed her palms on the table, making his eyes widened, and his heart to pick up beat and a slight ounce of fear to flash into his eyes before it vanished. The guards from outside came through the door, an unhappy expression on their faces. She turned to face them, her hands not moving from the desk. She gave them a look, but they didn't move, looking at the man behind the desk for instructions. Obviously they didn't know who they were dealing with after all.
"Gentlemen, could you please escort this young lady outside," he says to them, not even the slightest bit interested in who she is.
She straightens to her full height and gives them a proper glare. "If I were you, I'd wait outside until I'm done talking to him."
"Sorry, ma'am, orders are orders," the men standing on her right said. He had brown hair and eyes and the other had blonde hair and black eyes. They couldn't do a thing to her, but she could to them.
"Well I'm ordering you to stand down, if you know what's good for you."
"Threatening my men is not going to go unpunished. I'll be seeing to that." The man behind the desk says threateningly.
She turned on him. "You do that and you'll be seeing what the insides of a cell looks like," she threatened.
He narrowed his eyes at her and he stood up to his height way above six foot. He was tall and large as Jerry; those smouldering eyes could suffocate anyone with a look, but not her. "Listen to me, little girl, you don't know who the hell you're dealing with!"
"Then who am I addressing?" she says, narrowing her eyes in a vicious stare down with the giant imposing man.
"Blackwell, James Blackwell," he replies, opening his mouth into a large dangerous grin. "Trust me, girl, but I'm not at all kind to anyone, even pretty females like yourself."
"Don't be threatening her like that, brother," a male spoke darkly from the open doorway.
"Jeremiah, what are you doing here and not guarding the prisons?" James demanded with harshness in his voice.
So that's why he reminded me of Jerry. They're brothers! Celine thought as she watched Jerry walk into the room, easily towering the two men that guarded the door. They didn't even need to point their swords at him, knowing it would do no good. He walked over to the desk and dropped some paper on the desk. Celine smiled as she recognized it was that paperwork that he had been assigned to complete.
"To hand this back," he said, harshness coated his voice thickly. "So what's this about threatening Celine?" he crossed his arms and moved his legs apart, appearing like the more dangerous imposing brother. But his brother James had the same dark profile as Jerry. He had crossed his larger muscled arms and took the same stance as Jerry. Jerry, a gentle giant to Celine was completely the opposite with his brother. James appeared to dislike his brother, but underneath those rough eyes was the emotion of love. James cared for his brother, but his job comes first.
"Go back to guarding the prisoner, foolish little brother. I deal with the complaints and such," he waved his hand, dismissing him but Jerry didn't move.
"Well you're certainly not dealing with my complaints. You don't even want to hear them." Celine argued, her eyes unnoticeably taking up a slightly purple tint.
"Whatever happens with these prisons are the business of mine and my superior commander's. Not some golden haired…" Jerry took a threatening move forward, stopping his brother from saying that nasty word he was about to use.
Celine reframed from laughing at him. "But that's the thing," she said crossing her arms with a smirk tugging at her mouth. "I am your superior commander." Jerry looked at her surprised. "I personally found out myself from Kristen when I went to see him."
James exploded out into laughter. "So you're the angel that's leading us?" he found it so amusing he was laughing again.
Celine closed off her eyes. Not angry but not happy either. He wanted proof on who she claimed to be, she'd show him proof. She hadn't done this part at all, so she definitely needed to practice. Ever since that time when she had been captured, she hadn't used her angel powers since. She focused, concentrated, on the energy stored within her. She felt the heat rise up, accepting her touch, wanting her to make use of it. She happily responded by stroking these heat with the gentle touch of her mind. She was not going to use it to kill, only to prove to somebody not to underestimate another person.
When she opened her eyes, James had backed into the wall, the guards had nearly run out of the room and Jerry looked at her with his mouth opened wide with absolute amazement. Celine's eyes hadn't taken on the purple from before; instead both of her eyes were half way between purple and blue, indicating that she was not using her powers for fighting means, only just to prove to somebody the truth. She released a gentle sigh, quite happy that she was able to do something correctly for once. She looked at Jerry and smiled at him as he had smiled at her. She looked back to James.
"S-six…? You have six wings?"
Wings…? She thought. She looked at the wall, and because the light was angled, it made it possible for Celine to see that six wings had sprouted from her back. Instead of being outstretched, they were tucked against her back as if they had been like that since she was born. She'll need to test out her ability with them, and perhaps look in the mirror to see what they looked like. But she was so happy that she could barely keep the reign over her emotions. She finally had them. She had earned her wings.
"James," she speaks in a gentle but firm voice.
"Yes!" he said, immediately at attention.
"I want the prisons underneath closed down, only to be used for extremely dangerous criminals."
He nodded, sitting at his desk and writing down the order. "What about the prisoner that is already down there?"
"Raven…?" she asks, confirming that is the one he was talking about. He nodded; quite earnest to see what she has to say about him. "You know him well, don't you?"
He blinked his dark eyes, quite surprised at her question. "Yes, ma'am…" he looked at the others, before looking down at the desk, as if ashamed that he did know him. "I was an imperial soldier with him, ma'am."
"There's no shame in knowing him," she said with a smile and he looked up at her. "His imprisonment is done, he'll remain monitored and watched in the base and can only go outside of the base as long as there is three people with him to ensure he doesn't do anything wrong." Although she definitely knew that he wouldn't do anything wrong anymore. She watched as he was writing this all down. He seemed quite happy with what she was saying to him. "Jerry is relieved from guarding the prisons…"
Jerry looked at her, shocked but extremely happy. She looked over at him and smiled.
"When a dangerous criminal appears, who shall guard it then?"
"Don't you worry, James, I know perfectly well on who can do that for me." The smile on her face told him it was definitely the right people for the job. "I'll speak with them soon enough, to see if they are up for the position. You'll be their superior officer, but if you do something to them and I find out about it, you'll be wishing that you had never met me this very day." He gulped down his nerves at the threat. He nodded in understanding. "If you have any more inquiries, come look for me and I'll immediately discuss it with you."
He nodded quite content with the list. "What's going to happen with the chain of commands?"
The question slightly threw her off guard, but she stood her ground and knew immediately what to say. "I'll be sorting them out once I am given the chance to."
He nods. "I'll expect a meeting for them whenever you're ready." He stands up, ready to see them out. "I'm sorry for my rude behaviour."
"No need for apologies, I really should have stated who I was." She turned around to him when she walked out the door. The guards stood on either side of the door now, Jerry stood behind her and James in front. "If you have any personal problems, you can come straight to me; don't worry about the chain of commands until I give any new orders. For now, obey the chain as it is, just know that I'm the new leader and you'll do fine."
"I'll see to it that Raven is released from his prison cell immediately."
"Oh, you don't have to do that now." She says smiling. "You can leave him there until tomorrow where his room should be sorted for him. Or you can be a good pal and let him out."
"Raven and I, sort of, had a fight when we last split. It's most likely he'll hit me, so I'll wait until tomorrow."
"I'll be your backup, I'm sure he won't do anything to you then."
They waved goodbye and Celine walked away with Jerry beside her. The prisons were sorted and she was quite happy with that. But now, she needed to check on the rest of the Guardian Force, see if it is the way she had wanted it. She needed to do a lot of changes and she only just managed to get one bit of it done. Can she change it all before the battle commences? Or would it really be just a waste of time? Ah, who knows, she'll get to that point when she needs to.