Return of the Angels
Raven prepared his zoid for battle alongside the others. Celine could do nothing but to watch with sadness within her sapphire blue eyes. Azrael stood by her side with an arm wrapped around her in comfort. He knew what she was feeling; he had been exposed to the same kind of feelings before. Appearing as their commander and leader, Celine felt none of it despite how she outwardly appeared to everyone. She felt more like a vulnerable girl that had endangered this planet and her friends.
There was nothing but guilt within her heart.
Well plus the love she felt towards everyone in different amounts of waves. She loved her father, she loved her uncles, she loved her friends and she loved Raven. All of them were different types of loves, all with very powerful waves that wouldn't cease to crash against her heart, as if slowly cracking glass that was already ready to shatter. All she could do was hope that they live through this battle.
Azrael's hand tightened around her shoulder. She closed her eyes and allowed a sigh to push through. She looked up at her father who was looking out to the humans that were being helped by the angels. She watched his deep sapphire eyes work through his own conclusions. He was the angel of death; wouldn't that be a bad omen when considering a fight? Besides, wouldn't he know who lives and who dies? But she was his daughter; she would be able to know what he knew. If she didn't know, she wasn't sure if her father knew either.
"Celine," she looked over at a dark haired angel she had yet to figure out his name. "My little niece is really beautiful," he said with a smile.
Azrael laughed. "You can say that again, Raphael." Celine stiffened at hearing the name. Azrael's hand tightened on her shoulder, keeping her in place. "He's not who you think he is, Celine. He's the angel Raphael, not the demon you destroyed three years ago."
"I'm still confused with that bastard?" he ruffled his dark hair. "You can't see the difference between me and that freak with no muscles?"
Celine suddenly laughed through the way he compared himself to the demon version of him. "You've definitely got an issue with pride."
"See, little brother, I told you that you had problems with your pride," Azrael stated happily.
"I have not got problems with my pride," he denied.
Celine crossed her arms as amusement danced in her eyes. "You're a terrible liar, Uncle Raphael." Raphael's mouth hung open. "You don't have to be surprised. By comparing yourself through muscle build with the demon Rafael, it's clear that you have pride in your form and you're disgusted in how you could be compared to something not so muscular."
Raphael looked at Azrael. "You sure she's your daughter?"
"Why? What's the matter Raphael?" Azrael replies with a smirk.
"She's too smart…"
"Well I could always show you that I can easily break your pride by defeating you in a fight right here and now." She says examining her nails as if it was a really easy challenge that didn't require her attention to win.
"She's definitely your daughter," he suddenly states after a few minutes of silence causing those around that had heard the conversation from the start to laugh.
"Whatever made you doubt it before?" Azrael said with a smile on his skeletal skull. Obviously no one could see him smiling, but they probably could feel it in the atmosphere.
"Your daughter actually uses her brain whereas you just take action."
Celine laughs, surprising the pair of them. "Yeah, okay, I admit to using my brain more than my father…" he looked at her offended. "But I'm more like my father than you think. You see, I love to take action before I think things through."
"Great… That really ruins our plans to follow a good plan of action," Raphael said with a look of surrender.
Celine walked over to him and kicked him in the shin. "Get a grip on yourself!" she commanded, all commander on him. "I never said that is what I'll do with this battle." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I know that I need a plan for this and I do actually have one. I'm not a complete dunce like some people."
"Sorry…" he said and looked away, guilt on his face.
"What I'm mainly pissed at you for, uncle, is that you had the look of surrender on your face. That is one thing I will not tolerate from anyone. Especially my uncle who is supposed to be burning with pride and not this…weakness…" she said 'weakness' with a look of disgust on her face. "How's Herald doing?"
He looked up at her surprised. "How did you know…?" she just gave him a look. "He's doing better; he still needs some rest before he can be fully operating again."
"I know you're the angel of healing, so please don't look so surprised. I may be new to all of this, but I'm a Seraph and it's my duty to know about the angel ranks, especially the people in my army." She had a small smile. "I will do all I can to ensure that no one here dies today. The only ones that will be annihilated are those blasted demons."
"She's definitely an angel. She speaks like one of us." Raphael states to her father as he places a hand on her head.
She swatted his hand away. "Why does everyone keep doing that?"
Raphael blinks his eyes in confusion down at her. "Do what?"
"Put their hand on my head as if I'm some kind of puppy or little kid," she stated with anger in her voice. It was a bit childish of her to be the way she is, but she couldn't help but feel as if they were treating her more like a kid instead of an adult, their leader. She was seventeen for Christ sakes, she was old enough to look after herself and she's been looking after herself since before she was ten years old. Yeah, okay, it's nice to have someone who cares, but too much can be a pain in the butt for her and she doesn't need it.
"You don't feel like we're treating you like a kid, do you?" her father read her mind and she looked at him as if he were completely stupid to the fact. He nodded at Raphael who took his hand off her head; instead he bent down, picked her up in a bear crushing hug. Azrael was laughing. "Raphael, that might be a little over the top."
"Uncle, please put me down before I humiliate you right now." Raphael instantly put her down. She smiled at him. "I know I'm family, and I also know that you care a hell of a lot for me, but you have to understand that right now I need to be treated as your leader, not some vulnerable child that you think may need protecting. Even before I became ten years old, I was fighting and defending myself on this planet. So you need to understand that I don't need protection all of the time."
Azrael looked at her proudly. "We understand, sweetheart, more than you can imagine." He bent down to her level and his bony hand touched her cheek. "But never forget that when you're scared, frightened, afraid, you can always call on us to be by your side."
"You know I will father," she said with a smile and kissed him on his cheek. "For an overdue bastard that's all bone, you smell…clean."
Azrael smiles in the shadows of his hood. "Glad you approve," he said noticing the smile on her face.
"I'm going to go and check on the others," she states, her eyes stern with authority. "Go about your duties you have been assigned, and Raphael, please keep Herald out of this fight."
He nodded. "I won't let him fight in his current condition. It will take him a lot of time to recover."
Nodding in approval at him, she nodded her head in farewell at the others and proceeded towards those that were going out on the front lines. Van, Irvine and Thomas were the three human leaders that would lead them to battle. The three angels at their sides were Israel, Ithuriel and Jovial. Raven was just an underling in this battle and since he was not yet part of the Guardian Force, he would not be appointed as a leader until he does become one of the Force. Celine had hopes that he would join, not because she was there, but because he would have changed for the good.
"Celine," Van said upon noticing her approach.
"Hey, Van," she acknowledges and stood with her arms behind her back. Irvine and Thomas walk over to stand beside Van and the three angels that were leading the others into battle stood behind each of the three humans. "How are preparations?"
Understanding that Celine came over not on a whim as a friend but as his commander, he stood at attention and saluted. "Everything is going in accordance to the plans."
"Is everyone working together?"
"I'm amazed at how well they are working together, actually," he replied but turned to face the others that still remained preparing for battle. Celine joined him and stood to his side, observing the men working hard and together. The angels were helping the humans were heavy stuff the moment they noticed that they were struggling, but they still helped carry other stuff that she saw were too light for them. "I think it's because we have an excellent leader…" he looked at her and saw her eyes were saddened. "What's the matter?"
"This war shouldn't happen…" she spoke, more to herself than anyone else.
"We know, Celine, but we will fight in it," Van replied but she didn't seem to have heard.
"It's my fault… It's because I'm here…" she looked up to the atmosphere and saw the fireballs in the sky descending towards them. "Dawn approaches…" she turned to look at Van. "We need to be a bit quicker, Van. We don't have a lot of time."
Irvine placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. "Don't you worry about a thing, Celine, we'll win this. This has nothing to do with you being on this planet, even if it is. That is not an answer we expect to hear from our leader."
"I hate to admit it, but I agree with Irvine," she turned to look at Raven who strolled over with Shadow following. Upon noticing Celine's golden haired beauty, Shadow's eyes brightened in happiness and he raced over with his tail wagging like mad and he pulled her into a deep hug she happily, with laughter, hugged him back. Shadow released her and she was scooped into a deep warming hug and a kiss on the lips by Raven. "Don't ever think that this is your entire fault, you idiot," he whispered into her ear.
He released her a moment later and stood by her side. When she turned back to the others, they were all smiling. "What?"
"He's not our leader is he?" Irvine said, almost losing his smile.
"Just because we're going out it doesn't mean he's in charge," she replied to him. She looked at Raven as she crossed her arms. A smirk played at her lips as she watched his reaction. He was faking to be offended by her words, but she could see the laughter behind his eyes. "Anyways," she said getting serious. "I came to see how everything is working out for everyone. I need to be getting to the conference room to keep track on their location and how far we've got until they get here."
Raven places a hand on her shoulder. "Go, we'll take care of things here." She smiled at him and falls into his embrace that he welcomed her to. "I'll always love you, Celine. Always remember that."
"I will always remember it," she says looking up at him. He released her and she steps away from him. "I wish you all the best of luck and that I will be watching over you and praying of our victory. Just one thing I request of you," they all looked at her as she grew deadly serious. "Don't any of you dare die."