Astraea watched as her younger brother busied himself as normal. There were always books to re-shelve, cups to be put away and tea to be made when she was at Aziraphale's home. Currently, she wasn't at his home. She was in the bookshop beneath it. Though it made very little difference, there were still books and cups strewn around in his flat. Aziraphale, for an angel, was a particularly messy person, yet he always seemed to know where to look to find things. Astraea's favourite headband had been missing for a year when she finally caved and asked Zira to find it for her. It was a talent of his, it always had been, to find things.
"There's been reports of serial murders happening in the Americas," Aziraphale's melodic voice came from behind a bookshelf that he was in the process of dusting, "Those blasted demons have corrupted another poor soul."
Astraea's hummed response was all that the angel needed to know that she was, in fact, not paying attention, "Astraea, are you listening to me?" Aziraphale had set the book he was holding, The Divine Comedy, down and turned to look at the older angel staring out of the window."I have a bad feeling about today, Zira. The stars show a drastic change occurring shortly."
Aziraphale's glasses slipped down his nose and he had to push them back up - he didn't really need glasses, he was an angel, but he liked the level of sophistication that came with wearing them - before responding to his elder sister.
"Astraea, my dear, I am sure that we have nothing to worry about. The stars often over exaggerate the actual scope of change." Aziraphale's pearly blue eyes met her own much darker eyes as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Despite the fact that Astraea was technically older by a fraction of a second, most people came to the conclusion that Aziraphale was a many few years older than her, and the duo acted like it. Aziraphale was the comforting brother and Astraea was the anxious sister, and nothing was going to change that. He brought her back into the moment and she made him think things through. She had not been with him the day he gave his flaming sword away to the humans.
Astraea only hummed again.
"What was that about a serial murderer?" Astraea's brain had finally processed what Aziraphale had first said. His brightened expression at the change in topic almost made her laugh. He would much rather talk about a serial murder than of the future. Though she supposed that the apocalypse should be starting in the next 100 years or so - the stars showed that she would miss it.
"Oh, yes. There's a serial murderer in the Americas," Astraea could barely hear him talking, a whooshing noise clouded her ears, "Victims are young men," It was growing louder, she could feel her atoms shifting in place as if they were trying to get somewhere else, "Truly despicable what humanity is capable of," Aziraphale had turned around to face the bookshelf and couldn't see Astraea struggling to remain where she was, she was being dragged somewhere else and she had a feeling this was the bad thing the stars warned her about. "I mean, he removes there eyes!"
That was the last thing Astraea heard before she could no longer hold on anymore and disappeared from the bookshop in London, leaving behind a very confused angel in her wake, "Astraea? Hmmm, must have had to dash." Aziraphale would later come to regret this decision to not look for her in around 102 years when he was facing the apocalypse without her.
Instead, she was now located around 70 miles north of where the angel had previously been, in a basement in a mansion in east Sussex.
She could barely open her eyes, it hurt to open her eyes. Yet, she still looked around as best as she could. A group of humans stood around her in cloaks that could have easily been from a fantasy novel that her brother read. She was trapped in a binding circle. She could feel how weakened she was from it. To her left she saw another in a different binding circle, draped in a black robe and passed out. She was on the verge of passing out herself.
"Alex." A hiss of a name met her ears and she saw a small boy run towards a man that was probably his father, yes, she could see the familial connection. Her vision had started to blur at the outskirts and she only just saw the raven fly away from the man. Her vision fully faded as the father met her eyes.
Rodrick Burgess didn't know what to expect when he started the ceremony, he had hoped to capture death and convince them to return his son, Randall, to him. He did not expect to now have two celestial - or he hoped celestial - beings trapped in his basement. The book hadn't been specific enough, there were two binding circles that could have been used, he couldn't figure out which one to use, so he used both. Now, he has two beings that he doesn't know what to do with.
The doorbell rang.
Alex should have got the door, but he didn't. Instead, Rodrick got up and made his way to the door.
No one was there.
"Good morning, Magus." A voice called from behind him, moving into his home.
"Do I know you?" The man was tall, with blond hair and sunglasses that he didn't take off despite being inside.
"No, but I know all about you, Roderick Burgess and the being you have trapped in your cellar." So the man only knew about one of the beings, he just had to find out which one.
"Blackmail is it then, shakedown?"
"Not at all, I'm here to help." They walked around the mansion as they spoke, "You're gonna need all the help you can get. There are benefits to keeping one of the endless close." The man grinned at the confused magus.
"Endless?" He had never heard the term before, it seemed strange that this random man who turned up on his doorstep knew more about the being in his basement than he did.
"Did you think death was the only one in charge? The Reaper has family , you know? Desire, Destiny, Despair."
"Which one have I got then?" He leaned forward in anticipation, Destiny would be quite useful. He could know all sorts of things, become wealthy beyond imagination.
"Dream." His disappointment was instantaneous.
"What's the good of a god that governs dreams." He didn't want a dream god, he wanted death, he wanted Randall.
"Not a god, more than a god. And are men not governed by their dreams?" He moved around the room as Rodrick contemplated his words.
"You've taken his vestments? The ruby, the pouch and the helm? They can lend you aspects of his power, extend your lifespan, allow you to manipulate others, but you must ensure that he never escapes -"
"- The binding circle is intact." Roderick cut him off smugly.
"The circle will not be enough. You must construct a sphere of glass inside the circle to contain Dream's physical manifestation. No one must be allowed to fall asleep in his presence, no one, or he will escape into your dreams. And you don't want that. There are forced march tablets. Stimulants used to keep trench soldiers awake. See that your guards use them at all times." By this point they had made it back outside.
"Why are you helping me?" Roderick couldn't help but doubt the mysterious stranger who claims to want to help him.
"Well, you could say that he made me what I am today, and if he ever gets free, he could take it all away." So, the man was doing it for his own selfish gain, trapping another to preserve his own livelihood, that, Roderick could understand.
"We're being observed." He through a rock into the trees and a raven - the same one that had flew from Dream when he had been captured. "Well, you'll have to deal with that one. Her name is Jessamy, she belongs to him."
He turned to walk away down the drive, "What of the girl?" He stopped.
"What girl?" He hadn't known that anyone else other than dream had been captured, maybe they really had captured Death as well.
"We caught a girl as well, I'd say she's around 20 to 25." He turned to look at the magus and almost brought his glasses down to look at the man clearly - almost.
"What's she look like?" He couldn't possibly have caught Death, there was no way.
"Blonde hair, shoulder length, from what I briefly say she had blue eyes, dark blue. Symmetrical face, she was wearing a sundress, white with blue flowers on it. What more could I say?" It wasn't Death, thank whoever was out there. He didn't know of any specific beings that looked like that - though it was a rather lacking description, but there was a group of beings that seemed to look like that.
"I don't know who you've got, but I'd say you've got yourself an angel. Couldn't tell you what class of angel from that poor description, but sure sounds like one. I'd trap her too if I were you, Angel's are sweet, but they can be spiteful and vengeful of crossed. You've crossed her, don't give her an opportunity."
"An angel." Roderick Burgess' voice came out at barely a whisper.
"Well, best of luck, to the both of us." He walked away from the awed man and continued down the driveway that he had attempted to walk down a minute ago.
"Will I see you again?" The magus' voice called from the house.
"You should hope not."
Astraea couldn't move, or at least not a lot. Her limbs were trapped in a confined space, a cage. No, a dome. A dome of glass. She was trapped in a sphere of glass, confined to the binding circle that had trapped her metaphysical manifestation. Now, not even her physical manifestation could escape. She was curled in on herself and she could see across the room to where the other binding circle was. A similar sphere of glass sat within its perimeters with an incredibly naked man lying inside. She could only assume that this was the same man from before the passed out, now stripped of her vestments. She, similarly, had also been stripped of her clothes, however, she still had her underwear on. He mustn't have had any underwear.
The door clanged open and the father entered again.
He walked over to the other sphere as Astraea sat up. "Are you awake? Are you listening?" Astraea moved as close as she could to them in her confined space to try and hear their conversation. The father's eyes flittered to her for a second before focussing back on the man.
"I know who you are, Dream of the Endless." Astraea had almost gasped. The endless were powerful, they had more power than she could comprehend. This human man had captured an endless.
"I captured you according to the laws of magic, but it wasn't you I wanted. I wanted Death to return my son, Randall, who died in the Gallipoli campaign. If you give him back to me, alive and well, I'll release you. Is that in your power, Lord of Dreams?" Astraea watched fixed on the interaction, Dream didn't speak or move.
"No, I suppose not. So, then, what can you give me? If I promise to let you go, to give you back your things? What? Power? Wealth? Immortality? Hmm? Is there nothing you can offer me?" Dream stayed silent, refusing to acknowledge the demanding human.
He walked over to Astraea's cage, "What about you then? What can you give me angel?" Astraea froze. Angel. He called her angel. How did he know that she was an angel? Someone must have told him, humans weren't that clever.
"Nothing? Where are your wings, little angel? I bet they'd fetch quite a good price." She subconsciously tucked her wings further into her, thankful that her physical manifestation didn't show them.
Dream seemed to have a plan to ignore the man, so she followed his example. She was powerless here, trapped by a human who knew not the consequences of his actions. If Dream thought it best to stay silent then she would stay silent as well.
"Fine, have it your way then. And until you're ready to speak, I'll enjoy the gifts you've already given me." He walked away and Astraea let out a stressed breath of relief.
It wasn't long until a guard schedule was organised, two guards at all times to watch over the beings. Three days later, Astraea heard a news report on the radio from one of the guards.
"More cases of the sleeping sickness continue to be reported and now in new news, the constellation, Virgo, has disappeared from the night sky. Scientists are struggling to make sense of these changes. Professor Carter Simpson reports that 'The stars have simply disappeared from the sky, they were there one second, gone the next.'. Is the sleeping sickness and the disappearance of Virgo related? Or is this the beginning of something greater?"
She could only assume that whatever this "Sleeping Sickness" was, it had something to do with the Endless caged beside her. Her breath still caught in her throat though, when she heard that Virgo had disappeared. She knew it would happen, she wasn't there to keep it shining, she assumed it would only be a matter of time until Earth faced freak lighting storms as well. She hoped that Aziraphale realised that she was missing, the poor angel probably thought that she had to run off to an appointment or something - he wasn't the most perceptive angel.
She hoped that he would come for her. But for now, she was stuck here, her only company an Endless being her sat silently five foot and two spheres of glass away from her.