Chapter 1 and 2 Arthur's side

I woke up earlier than what I needed. Not that I got much sleep in the first place, so I gave myself the privilege of taking a long, relaxing bath and then changed into my robe and headed to "The Hall". In the way I found Mr. Clousier.

"Morning" he greeted, opening the door of his office.

"Morning sir" I said. He eyed me curiously.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Well, to work, like every morning" I answered, finding his question kind of strange.

"I see" he nodded "And what about Mr. Williams?" Oh no…

"Uh, what about what?" I pretended I hadn't understood.

"Is he at school already?"

"I don't know sir, I haven´t seen him since last night" I said. Mr. Clousier raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Kirkland….should I remind you the definition of having a newcomer? Having a newcomer means showing the individual around, explaining the individual how the system works, answer all of his questions, and most important, if he is a young trainee, you ought to personally see he gets to school and comes back. And should I remind you as well, that Mr. Williams is your newcomer?" he said. I so wanted to punch him, but that would in fact get me thrown off the compound's roof with my wings cut. I gritted my teeth.

"Sir…"

"His classes will start soon" he cut me off, looking at his watch, then back at me. "You don't want him to be late on his first day, do you?" with that he got into the office and closed the door.

So now I had to be a babysitter. I sighed and leaned against the wall, rubbing my temples. I was busy. I don't know how it could have been on Mr. Clousier's times, but nowadays we seraphim had plenty of tasks to do. I didn't have time to walk behind a kid, checking on him at every minute and being his bloody mentor. However, at least for now, the faster I could check on him the better, because I was already late for my first turn. I walked out of my compound and went to his. I reached the fourth floor and stood at his door. I tried opening it but the handle wouldn't give in. It was locked.

I knocked lightly.

"Hey, time to go" I said. There was no answer.

"Come on" I knocked harder. Still, no one answered.

"Matthew?" I called. I put my ear on the wooden door and couldn't hear a thing. I snorted.

"BLOODY WANKER WAKE UP!" I screamed as I pounded on the door with all my might. I kept doing it until I heard steps approaching the door from the other side, then it swung open.

"Finally you-" I looked at him. He only had a towel around his waist, droplets of water falling from the tips of his hair. "WHY THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU ON A TOWEL!" I demanded.

"Well, if you hadn't almost destroyed my door I could have changed" he replied in an all snooty tone. That indecent little twit…

I inhaled deeply, letting the air out shakily to control my anger.

"Just change, I'll wait for you outside" I said coldly and closed the door for him. I wrinkled my sash to keep from complaining out loud. He was so bloody irritating.

Not even a minute had passed when he opened the door again, now dressed and adjusting his watch to his wrist.

"Finally you're ready!" I exclaimed "You're going to be late" And so am I I thought as I grabbed his sleeve and dragged him along. We exited the compound and walked to the station.

"What's your name?" he suddenly asked, when we were almost reaching the station. What the hell… why did he want to know my name? And out of nowhere!

"Er, Arthur" I answered stiffly.

"Finally I get to know your name!" he somewhat cheered. Apart from irritating, he was strange.

At the station, the decayed wagon was ready to leave.

"Get in" I took his arms and shoved him inside, the doors just closing. He stumbled and almost fell, but quickly got back on his feet and peeked out the window.

"Merci" he said, waving as the wagon started to take off. I just stared at him. He really was strange.

I let some minutes pass before spreading my wings and taking flight to the school. I landed on the garden and hid behind a tree. Almost twenty minutes had to go by before I spotted the various wagons arriving. The doors opened and all the students climbed off, racing across the stone path. But he walked rather slowly, apparently admiring every single detail around. I face palmed.

"Move your bloody ass inside" I muttered.

Finally, he seemed to realize the time he was wasting and walked for the doors. Once he got in and the doors closed I relaxed. Well, at least I wouldn't have to worry about him until night. I swept off the leaves that had fallen on my robe and flew to "The Hall".

I arrived only to find that my partners had left for the Archives (since it was paperwork day) almost two hours ago. I was so dead (well technically, I was).

"Kirkland!" the chorus' director called behind me. I turned to face the chubby man.

"Yes?" I asked innocently.

"What are these hours of coming?" he crossed his arms.

I sighed.

"You'll see, sir, yesterday I was assigned a newcomer and I had some setbacks with him this morning and I've just…"

"I know" he said, with his always gentle eyes "And I understand. But you know what's the task you have to take when you're late" he smirked. I groaned.

"Oh, sir…"

"I can't do anything about it" he raised his hands and then gestured to a door at the other side of the room.

Just in case you're wondering, "The Hall" is huge. Actually, "Hall" is just an expression, for it is a three-stories-tall building, with marble columns and cloudy ceilings (really, there are freaking clouds on them). The first floor was always crowded with souls (Me: that sounds ironic), because all the main offices were there. On the second floor there were the main storages and on the third floor was the throne of his holy Lord.

I sighed, defeated, and walked towards the door. After climbing some steps (so many steps) I stepped out into a balcony with golden railings. Other seraphs, men and women, were there tuning instruments and studying sheets. The chorus place. Yep, since almost no one likes the chorus, anyone actually, it is used as a way of punishment for the most diverse things. From simple ones as delays on the morning, to terribly bad done paperwork jobs.

However, morning delay had the slightest punishment. I just had to sing or play for the next three hours, while some of the seraphim were stuck at least a week there. I once heard of a terrible office assistant girl that had spent her next century or so stuck in the chorus.

"Well everyone" the director walked in and stood in front of his stand "Go to your places, we are about to start." I positioned myself in the lower row. Next to me, a guy handed me a bunch of sheets.

"The songs for today" he told me. I looked at him and saw he was one of my well-known partners, Marcus.

"Hey" I greeted.

"Hey" he answered softly. The guy was for his third chorus week. Mr. Clousier sent him after an incident with the compound's archive room.

The next three hours were a complete hell (considering I was right in front of his holy Lord, that sounds really bad). I had to sing like a hundred bloody songs before the director called for a break. I let myself down heavily on the floor. Marcus sat next to me.

"So what have you done?" I asked him. He looked at me.

"Sing" he replied, shrugging, before taking his eyes back to stare at the emptiness. I felt sorry for him. So much time singing and playing locked in a white and gold room surely got to your nerves (for bad or worst. The last guy that spent on it more than two weeks had to be isolated in the clinic due to mental issues). After a scarcely ten minutes break we went back to singing. It was so bloody hard at times because the tips of my wings would cover some lines of the song. Guess I didn't mention that either, but the reason we have so many pairs of wings is for when we are on the presence of God, to cover ourselves from his radiance. The last director of my compound, I'd heard, burned to ashes once he tripped over a chair and exposed himself.

Having ended my three-hour penitence, the director gave me the pass to leave and, after saying goodbye to Marcus, I immediately flew at top speed to the Archives to see if I could still help for something. When I arrived I didn't find my partners, but the keeper told me they had gone to fix an emergency at the Gates. Something with the forms and some disturbs in the crowd. But they had left me my part of the work, and it was waiting for me on one of the tables at the back.

Oh great. I just sat and began to work. Every compound had its own archive room, but the Archives were the general compilation of archives in all Heaven. Every compound director sent copies of the expedients to the Archives. And my bloody job was to classify the recently arrived archives, and due to the massive arrival in the last days, there were plenty of them. I was calmly checking folders when an obnoxious voice interrupted.

"Arthur!" I reluctantly raised my head to find the Frenchman rushing to me. He was a tall man, with shoulder-length blond hair. His skin was pale white and his chin forever had the traces of a recently shaved beard. His bright red sash, in contrast with his big blue eyes, gave him an almost ridiculous appearance.

"Arthur" he repeated when he was standing right in front of me.

"What do you want frog?" I snapped. Even when we were alive, things had never been quite stable between us. At times he could be an acceptably nice acquaintance (have it clear, only an acquaintance), and other times he was just a bloody pervert, light headed idiot I couldn't help hating. I don't even know how he made it to heaven.

"Arthur, mon ami. I've been looking everywhere for you" he said. Another thing I hated, his constant use of the French. Not that the language had any problem, but the mere fact of it being his mother tongue made it insufferable.

"I don't remember having agreed to be your friend. And speak quickly because I am busy" I said, going back to my papers.

"Yes right, I'll speak quickly" the fact that he didn't reply with some sarcastic or mocking comment made me raise my head again. He wore a rather serious expression, something weird on him.

"You know a lot right? Because you have guarded the Gates and you do this paperwork, and you are a seraph…."

"And your boss" I added, trying to get at him. Still, there wasn't the common answer.

"Right, my boss, whatever. What I try to say is that if you know who comes in and why and if you get close to them somehow…"

"Just spit it out! Bloody hell, I don't have all day!"

"FINE!" he replied, louder this time "Why in the name of Dieu is my little nephew Mathieu here?!" he was shaking his hands frantically. But who….agh! Damn his French accent.

"Who?"

"Mathieu! Or Matthew for your British sake! It's the same! What I want to know is what is he doing here?"

I felt that lump down my throat, again. Could he be talking about the same Matthew?

"W-well, he died and he was a good man so he ended here" I tried to be my sarcastic self.

"Oh it's not the moment Arthur! I'm being serious!" he said "Arthur" he put his hands over the table, looking directly in my eyes "He is the only child mon petit frère had. His wife, my lovely sister-in-law, adores her son. Do you have any idea of how much pain she may be going through? How devastated mon frère must be?" instead of his typical irritable smirk, he looked deadly serious, which only made nervous. But of course, I wouldn't let him see it.

"And…"

"And, I want you to tell me what happened for mon cher nephew to die?"

"And how the bloody hell am I supposed to know that!" I asked.

"I don't know!" he replied "Maybe because of all the expedients you have in your hands!" seeing he was being sarcastic again was a somewhat good sign.

"But I don't bloody know! I don´t do all the work around here."

"Then you ought to let me check his expedient!" my eyes widened.

"I-I don't know where it is!"

"Well, then let me look for it!" not waiting for my answer he turned around and walked along the lines of archives, opening drawers and searching the alphabetically organized folders. I was about to spew some more profanities at him but I restrained from doing it.

Oh well, it won't do any harm if he finds out the cause I thought. After all, it doesn't say who killed him.

"Here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, holding the folder I'd read the day before. He opened it and read. I just looked at him, bouncing my feet nervously.

"Mon Dieu…"I heard him say under his breath.

"W-what is it?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"An arrow….he was pierced by an arrow! Oh when I find the bastard who did it…"

I gulped.

"D-don't curse frog! That is my thing" I said.

He closed his eyes, giving a deep breath. When he opened them he had again his annoying usual expression.

"Alright, merci beaucoup" he said, putting the folder back on its place and closing the drawer. He walked back to where I was and stood in front of me. I had already turned again to my papers when I raised my head and saw him looking at me.

"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY BLOODY WORK TO DO FROG?" I snapped at him. He raised his hands in surrender, smirking.

"Well, well, mon ami, don't get all harsh now" he said as he started to walk to the door, but he stopped half-way and turned to me.

"Mon ami…"

"Now what the hell do you want?"

I heard him laugh.

"Well, you'll see. There are these new girls I was observing…"

"Don't you mean stalking?" I corrected, already back to my work, not bothering to look at him.

"You offend me" he mumbled "But no, I was observing, them and several other new students, and I saw that their wings have tints of color. How comes that? Now they make them in color?" I finally looked up. From behind him, his plain white, feathered wings peeked out. I glanced at my own wings, plain white as well and with some eyes closed (yep, our wings have eyes, guess you didn't know that….but come to think of it, how much do you not know about us?).

"I don't know" I admitted, sighing "The boss, er-I mean, his holy Lord, just thought that angel's wings should be…happier. Therefore, he ordered that every new angel must have colored wings."

"Uh! That's unfair. I want my wings colored too! Maybe a scarlet rouge…" his eyes narrowed as he daydreamed about his stupid wings. Honestly, who would want red wings? "It would be magnifique, don't you agree?"

"It would be stupid. But a color other than red would be nice I thi-Why the bloody hell do I care?! Off with you already! Go work your lazy ass out now!"

"Aw, but Arthur…"

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay" he said "See you later then mon ami. Manage to have a nice day…without moi" he smirked and winked at me. I just shot him a glare.

"GET-THE-BLOODY-HELL-OUT-YOU FROG!" I threw an empty box at him. He dodged it and ran out the door, and I could hear him laughing while he did so.

I leaned back on my chair and sighed. So, the bloody nephew of my bloody frie…French acquaintance (I was not going to say friend, you wankers ¬¬) was my newcomer and, according to Mr. Clousier, my utter responsibility. Not to say, that I had killed him. Did I mention that I killed him?

Great, this was going just great….

A/N: Hello! :D DianaChaseKirkland reporting! xD So yeah, this is what I do for this story. And I have nothing against choruses, really, I find them pretty cool, but I had to piss Artie off somehow. 'Cuz you know, it wouldn't be like him if he wasn't pissed (And I have nothing against Arthur either, I Love Him :3) and yeah, I'm giving him a hard time :P

And also, if some things just don't make sense with what you read on Matthews's side, well, we write separately and we do our best to keep it accord.

Anyway, review please. Let us know what you think ~

See you! ;)

PS: Some quick French translations

Merci beaucoup: Thank you very much

Mon ami: My friend

Mon petit frère: My little brother

Moi: Me

Dieu: God

Rouge: Red (I think that´s pretty obvious)