A/N: OK, let me clarify. This isn’t exactly a “spiritual” story, but it is based on many Biblical characters and such, like the archangels and whatnot… Thus, why it’s here. If you think I should move it to another category, let me know! I’d love to hear what you think!

Chapter 1

“The time draws ever closer, dear sister.”

“You’ve seen it, in your dreams?”

“I have.”

“How soon?”

“Very soon. I cannot be sure exactly when, but it will occur sometime in the near future.”

“Are you prepared?”

“I believe so.”

“What of the others? Have you seen them in your dreams as well?”

“I know their faces, but not of their identities or locations. However, fate will guide their paths back to the center, just as it always has. Each family knows of their heritage, and they will guide those who are chosen once it has begun.”

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No one could blame Michael if he didn’t fit in with the other children at school. It was only natural that some kids would be popular, while others weren’t. But Michael had never felt he fit in at school, often spending large amounts of time on the playground by himself.

No one could blame Michael if none of the other children became his friend. It certainly hadn’t helped matters that his parents were continually moving the family from town to town. Michael was lucky if he spent an entire year in one school. The pain of saying goodbye to anyone that he had maybe taken a liking to had stabbed through his young heart. Friends seemed to be something that some people needed, but he, certainly, did not.

No one could blame Michael if every year, a new group of kids gathered around to poke fun of him. He had fluffy red hair and round, hazel eyes. When the age of schoolyard bullies had reached Michael, his father bought him Karate lessons. “Only for self-defense,” his father had said. “I don’t want you picking any fights.” Michael rather liked Karate, as it helped him release the built up tension he always felt during the school day.

And no one could blame the feeling Michael had in his heart the first time he looked at her, really looked at her.

Fifth grade, and Michael had only been attending his new school for a month. The teacher brought her in, introduced her, and directed her to her seat. Directly behind Michael.

The boy hadn’t paid much attention to her at first. Fresh blood for the class to scrutinize, lessoning their attention on him. This first day would either label her as “popular” or an “outsider,” depending on the way she acted.

The day continued as normal, the new girl barely making a noise from behind Michael. It began to bother him; she should have been trying to impress people with how much she knew, or making jokes as a class clown, or anything she could to make herself be accepted by the class. However, she just sat there, quiet as rock, as quiet as he always was.

The next obstacle for this girl, he knew, would be recess. Recess at their age meant the girls walked and chatted with the girls, giggling and talking about everyone else, and the boys played kickball or fought with each other. Surely, now she would join the other girls and become one with the clique. If she knew what was good for her, she’d assimilate herself with them.

Michael chose to ignore whether or not the girl was going to succeed and proceeded to his favorite spot on the playground. He had a knack for climbing things, and a few lone trees peppered the playground area, offering plenty of spots for him to hide himself. That is, if a teacher didn’t catch him doing it in the first place.

It was here that Michael sat, wondering why it had bothered him at all if some girl he didn’t know decided to ostracize herself from the class, when he heard a voice from below him.

“Hi!” It was a sweet, female voice, one that he didn’t recognize. He glanced down and caught site of the new girl, smiling up at him shyly.

He looked around quickly to make sure she was talking to him, then responded quietly. “Er, hi…”

“My name’s Rachel,” she said. “I was sitting behind you in class. I just moved here.”

“Uh, yeah, I know,” he answered. “My name’s Michael.”

“Mind if I come up?”

“Up… here?” he asked, although it had been too late to discourage her, as she had already started climbing. Michael scooted over on the branch he had been sitting on as she slid over and next to him.

It was now that Michael got his first good look at her. He hadn’t paid any attention when she was introduced to the class, but now that she was sitting next to him, he took the opportunity to look her over.

Light brown hair, straight but thick, and shoulder-length, with soft brown eyes set in a delicately heart-shaped face. Skinny and long, dressed in faded blue jeans and a cute, pink t-shirt. Shadows from the leaves danced upon her features, cool against the warmth of her smile.

Looking at her now, Michael felt puppy-love’s first blush cross his face, and he swiftly looked away. Unsure of what this new feeling that had come across him, he chose to hide it as quickly as he could.

“W-Why’d you come up here, anyway?” he asked, staring at a knot in the tree that had now become so very interesting to him.

Rachel swung her dangling feet in time to a tune that she had been humming softly. She paused her song long enough to look over at him. “I like trees,” she answered, swinging her feet again.

Michael frowned, trying to get the blush to go away. “There’s other t-trees you could’ve climbed, you know…” Feeling now he could maybe look at her again, Michael chanced bringing his eyes back up to Rachel’s face.

In turn, she simply smiled back at him. “But the other trees don’t have a Michael sitting in them.”

The red returning rapidly, Michael once again looked away. “And what’s so special about me, huh?”

Rachel giggled pleasantly in the way that only young girls could. “Because, I could tell when I looked at you.”

“Tell what?”

“That you’re just like me,” she answered. “We’re both different.”

The bell signifying the end of recess was rung, and Rachel deftly jumped down from the tree branch, landing gracefully as she turned back and waved to him. “Come on, Michael, it’s time to go back, right?”

Speechless, Michael could only nod and follow her lead. He couldn’t help but feel that even when she ran, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

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Michael’s time at that school soon came to close, as he knew it would. He had spent that year trying to tell Rachel that it was strange for boys and girls to “play” together, but every time he tried to tell her that, she blatantly ignored him.

“Michael, after school, let’s go play in the park! I heard there’s a river there, and maybe there’s some fish in it, and…”

“OK, fine. But if you fall in and get your skirt all wet, it’s your own fault…”

No matter how hard he tried, he could never say ‘no’ to anything she asked. However, it was now time for his family to move again, as he had known they ultimately would. Michael had purposefully not told Rachel about it, because he knew what her reaction was probably going to be.

“Can I come with you? I’ll sneak into the back of your family’s car as you leave, and I’ll hide behind a suitcase, they won’t even notice me!”

He could imagine all sorts of things she’d probably say when he told her, thus why he had kept it a secret from her. He didn’t want to say no.

The day finally came when it was announced in the class that it would be Michael’s last day. There was the obligatory class “Bye Michael”, but there was one voice that was clearly absent from the drone of the rest of the class that couldn’t have cared less.

Michael couldn’t look Rachel in the face for the rest of the day. When recess came, he fled to the boys’ bathroom and sat there until the bell rang.

When school was finally over, Michael attempted to escape without Rachel being able to follow him. Just when he thought he was clear, he heard her voice yell clearly, “Michael!”

He stopped and turned slowly to face her, although he didn’t look up.

“You’re leaving?” she asked, running up to him.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he answered. Other students filed past them, chatting as they made their way home, paying not even the slightest attention to the two figures that stood blocking the path, choosing rather to swim around them like currents around rocks.

“You didn’t tell me,” Rachel said accusingly.

“So? It wouldn’t have made any difference, I’d still be leaving.”

“But…” The girl looked away, clutching her backpack to her chest. “I thought we…”

“I never asked you to be my friend,” Michael broke in, raising his voice.

“Michael…”

“Find somebody else to follow around all day!” he shouted, turning and running from the building.

“Michael, wait!” He didn’t hear it, however, as he had already exited and ran down the street, barely aware of which way he was going for the tears that had grown in his eyes.

It was all her fault, anyway. He had been doing fine on his own, and now look what happened. He wondered if he had made her cry, and selfishly wished he had. Immediately, however, he regretted it.

The rest of the night he holed himself up in his room, crying softly. The next day, they’d get in the car and never see this town again. Never see Rachel again.

The next morning, right before they left, his mother brought him a folded letter she had found in their mailbox that had been addressed to him. Mildly interested, Michael took the letter from her and unfolded it carefully, instantly recognizing the subtle curves and dips of the handwriting.

“Dear Michael

Don’t forget me. I’ll see you again someday, I’m sure of it. I’ll be looking forward to it.

Sincerely,

Rachel”

Michael crumpled the letter, aiming to toss it into a trash can. As it was about to fly from his hand, he reconsidered and stared at the crushed ball of paper in his hand. Shaking his head, he dropped it lightly into the can as he passed it by.

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Luke had always been, by nature, a loner. He had always preferred his own company to that of others. He disliked people in general, avoided contact with them at any cost, and spent most of his day wishing he were somewhere else other than school. When he had started high school, in order to insure that nobody would bother him, he began dressing as the classic figure of a high school shooter.

His favorite color was black, often dressing entirely in the color, accenting the paleness of his skin and the dark blue of his eyes. His dark, almost-black hair lightly graced his chin and jaw line, giving him a rather narrow outline of his face.

As much as he disliked the human population, there was one person at school he could not bring himself to hate. She had moved to his school halfway through middle school, and since then he had kept a watchful eye on her. Like himself, she generally kept to herself, declining offers to join the cheerleading squad (much to Luke’s approval) or becoming one of the “popular” preps of the school.

Almost everyone liked her well enough to leave her alone, and she seemed content in her isolation. However, every once in awhile, her brown eyes would seek Luke out, and she would smile, sending chills through the otherwise unmovable youth. “Luke, can I borrow a pencil?”

Luke would nod, then give the utensil to her, setting it gently in her hands. “Thanks, Luke!” she’d say, turning back around in her seat, her light brown hair shifting lightly as she moved her body, the smell of her strawberry-scented shampoo drifting back to him.

“Er…” he’d stammer out, after she had already turned away. “No problem, R-Rachel…”

He couldn’t place what it was about her that had infatuated him so. She was certainly very pretty, in a simple, graceful sort of way. But it had been more than that, because there were plenty of other pretty girls at the school that he couldn’t stand.

Rachel seemed to be the type who wouldn’t care if you even said, “I want to be alone.” She seemed like the kind of person who would disregard the statement entirely and continue talking and smiling. Luke often wondered why she was always alone, since she never let him go completely ignored, like he had wanted.

It continued through into high school, even though he didn’t see her as much as before due to differing classes. Even when he had begun wearing the black, leather trench-coat and boots, she still never let him pass by without a quick, “Hi, Luke!”

The two were day and night, but there was still something that felt so comfortable whenever she spoke to him. Luke couldn’t place what it was, but it was something…

Luke pulled on his trench on his way out the door, expecting yet another day of being bored out of his mind. As he entered the front doors of the school, he overheard the excited whisperings of a group of girls.

“Did you see the new kid?”

“No, what does he look like?”

“Do you know his name?”

“I think it began with an ‘M’. I don’t know…”

“I think he’s still in the principal’s office, getting his schedule…”

“Is he cute?”

Luke groaned inwardly. Tough luck for the new guy if he was cute. The prep girls would be all over him in no time. Why was a new kid moving to town always such a big deal? Just one more person to get on his nerves. He passed by the group of girls, who were now giggling when discussing which one would get to talk to him first.

“Hi, Luke!” Rachel’s sweet voice broke his internal monologue on how stupid school was, and he glanced up to see her down the hall, waving at him. She ran up to him, holding her books against her chest, and smiled. “Do you know if we had any homework in English?”

“English?” Luke repeated, shrugging. “Hell if I know. It’s not like I ever pay attention during that class.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Rachel said, adjusting the books in her arms. “You were doodling in your notebook yesterday. You’ve been doing that since middle school.”

Luke stared at one of the metallic blue lockers, a bit of red tinting his pale skin. “Er… yeah…”

“You’re good at that,” the girl continued, oblivious to the boy’s growing discomfort. “You should take an art class!”

“Uh, yeah, maybe…”

“What’s that?” Rachel asked, pointing towards the group of people that had gathered outside of the principal’s office. Luke looked over her and shrugged.

“Some new guy, I guess they all want to get a load of him before class starts…”

As if on cue, the door to the office opened, and the new celebrity exited, pushing his way past the hordes who were staring at him. He was rather handsome, with near-rocker looks and shaggy red hair. He wore tan cargo pants and a simple white t-shirt, and seemed to ignore the looks he was now getting.

Luke crossed his arms. “Would you look at them, the guy’s not here five minutes and he’s already got fangirls.”

Rachel didn’t seem to be listening, but rather took a step forward, letting the books she carried drop to the floor. Unnoticing, she suddenly took off into a full fledged run, shouting as she went, “Michael!!!”

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“I’m sure you’ll find everyone here to be friendly and accommodating…” the principal’s voice droned on, giving the same speech Michael had heard time and time again. It was old news now, and he only paid half attention, hoping the man would let him leave soon.

“We try to be like family, so if there’s anything you ever need,” the principal said, standing and extending his hand for a handshake, “just let me know.” Michael reluctantly copied him, standing and shaking the man’s hand.

“Thanks,” he responded dryly.

Stepping around the desk, the principal put his hand on Michael’s shoulder and guided him towards the door, very clearly indicating to him that he wanted him out. Now. As he exited the door, he briefly noticed the large group of girls that had been clamoring around it.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. As he had gotten older, it had darkened slightly, turning a bit more auburn. He had let it grow out, slightly bushy, but not completely wild. His years practicing martial arts had made him physically strong, but not outwardly muscular. He moved with a confident air, and as he had entered teenage years, he had noticed a strange trend developing.

Those that had ignored him in his youth now gazed at him, considering him a mystery, an enigma that nobody could crack, and thus making him fascinating. Perhaps they saw him as some sort of bad boy, a rebel, when in reality, he was simply indifferent.

It was no different in this school, as a hushed quiet fell over the group of girls as he passed, and they stared at him, sizing him up and finding they liked what they saw. He paid them no attention and continued walking.

“Michael!!!” The voice, oddly familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time, came from behind him. Michael turned just in time to see a strange girl running at him, and then leaping at him in an embrace. Startled, the boy nearly lost his footing, but managed to regain it lest he should make a fool of himself on the first day by being tackled by some girl.

“Michael, I didn’t know you were moving here!” The girl chirped, letting him go and stepping back. He looked her up and down, feeling that he had seen her face before, but not coming up with anything. She had long, light brown hair, with bangs gently sweeping across one side of her face, the other side held back with a blue hair clip. Skinny and agile, her brown eyes shone with a kind of familiarity in them of one who has not seen a dear friend in such a long time, and then find themselves bumping into that person in the super market.

“Er… Hi?” Michael responded.

The girl pouted, crossing her arms. “You don’t remember me, do you? Even though I specifically told you not to...”

Michael stared at her a minute before the realization hit home. “Rachel?” he asked. It hadn’t been that he had ever forgotten her, exactly. But it had been a long time since they had last seen each other, and Rachel was certainly no eleven year old girl anymore…

Rachel nodded happily. “You didn’t recognize me. It’s the hair, it’s longer now,” she said chirpily, pointing at her face.

Among other things, Michael thought to himself, attempting not to stare at the new curves that hadn’t been there the last time he saw her.

“This is so cool, when did you get here? Are your parents well? We have so much to get caught up on!” Rachel continued speaking, and Michael was reminded of the way things had been back in elementary school. She certainly hadn’t changed much over the years. A bell rang, interrupting the girl’s speech. “Oh, we should get to class. Hey, what’s your schedule like?”

He handed her the piece of paper he had gotten from the principal and she looked it over quickly. “Oooh, you’re in my English class!” she chirped, handing it back to him. “Well, I’ll see you then, ok? Oh, and we’ll eat lunch together! See you later!” Michael watched, slightly dumbfounded, as the girl raced away. The way she acted was almost as if they hadn’t spent any time apart, and he couldn’t help but smile a little.

Michael turned and went in the opposite direction, heading for what he hoped was his first class. As he passed by the lockers, he felt a strange chill creep down his spine, causing him to stop entirely and look over his shoulder. A boy with dark hair and dressed all in black stood leaning against one of the lockers, watching him.

Creepy emos, Michael thought to himself before ignoring it and continuing on his way.