The Virtue

Part Two

She didn’t want to go home, she couldn’t go home. She knew asking Jera to leave would be pointless; Jera had already pegged her as the kind of girl who could be walked all over. She had probably sought out Arella because she was the ‘new’ Angel. She hated that. She hated all of this.

Flying through the mild cold seemed to calm her down a little. She couldn’t help but end up in her old neighbourhood, wander past the high school she would never graduate from, visit the parks she used to play in as a child, browse in all the familiar stores.

It felt good to be here, it felt like she had been travelling and had finally come home.

She was leaving a store when she nearly bumped into him. He was walking towards the bus stop and it took her a moment to realize who it was. Eddy. She knew a part of her had come here solely in the chance of running into him, but it still shocked her to see him, especially with how he looked.

His face was scared, not so horribly to be that noticeable, but to someone like her who had spent so many hours studying his face, seeing a scar near his jaw was painfully noticeable to her.

A scar from Mal, because she had waited too long to save him.

Eddy walked past her, not even noticing her, and she watch him leave her behind for the longest time. Her previous hopes that just maybe he could see through her new face and still recognize her, recognize his love for her, and her love for him, were completely dashed in a split second.

He just walked past, not recognizing her, not noticing her.

Eddy was lost to her.

He reached the bus stop, and waited. She seemed glued to the sidewalk, just watching him, wanting to run up to him. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize her, but she could still introduce herself to him. They could fall in love all over again, couldn’t they?

Her eyes burned, threatening to tear up. It wasn’t fair.

She managed to take a step forward, when out of the corner of her eye she saw the bus pass her by and head towards him. In a moment it would reach him and she would lose her chance.

In a mad dash she took after him, accidentally bumping into a man and almost falling to the ground. She recovered and was about to take off running again, when she heard a voice.

“Oh miss,” the man she had bumped into called towards her. She quickly looked back at him and saw he was holding her purse. “You dropped your bag.”

She went to quickly grab it from him, quickly thank him and run off after Eddy again, but she froze from the stare of his eyes. They were the most stunning blue eyes she had ever seen. Clear as a crystal, bright as the sun, bluer than any blue you could imagine. There was something about him…

In the background she heard the bus leaving, and felt her heart sink.

“Don’t be sad, another bus will come,” the man said with a charming smile.

“Yeah, just not the right one,” she took the bag from him. “Thanks, most people would have stolen it.”

He leaned a little closer. “I’m not most people.”

She smiled a little nervously. He didn’t frighten her or anything, he just felt… bigger than she was.

The man smiled back. “What he smile,” he remarked. “Just like an Angel.”

Then he turned and walked away.

Arella stared after him for a while. There was something strange about that man. She wondered, briefly, if maybe he wasn’t an Angel himself. There were so many Angels in the city, she couldn’t tell who was one or not unless she saw their wings and you couldn’t go up to random people ask to see wings they may or may not have.

Maybe that’s why Chael had told her Angels weren’t social with each other, because they were never entirely sure who was an Angel or not.

What else could it be?

ooo

She didn’t think it was possible, but her new mission was actually a step down from Marshall stealing from Santa Clause.

Jim ‘Rowdy’ Yates was given a jaywalking ticket by some disgruntled police officer, so he started a fight. Unfortunately for Rowdy he won the fight and was now being pursued for assaulting a police officer.

She sighed as she flew over Toronto, heading towards Rowdy’s house. All she had to do was deliver him to the police, just like everyone else. She felt like this was pointless, even though she knew it was to ensure justice was delivered without anyone getting hurt.

If someone served their sentence in life, they wouldn’t have to serve the sentence in death.

But being given missions that children could carry out? Now that she was aware of it, it was just yet another injustice being given to her. Was she paying for some crime she committed in life?

Uriel had said she was special, but as she landed in the alley next to Rowdy’s apartment building, she didn’t feel special, she felt useless.

She saw Rowdy, almost as soon as she landed, walking towards the building. She would have felt lucky if she weren’t so angry at everything around her. It was almost like God had decided even this was too easy, so he put Rowdy on the front lawn for her.

“Jim Yates?” She asked in a loud voice, her wings hidden.

“Who wants to know?” He stopped walking and looked her over. He couldn’t have been much older than 20-years-old.

“The police, actually.”

He almost looked worried for a second, but then he laughed. “Yeah, and who are you? Them pigs so busy they’ve got to send some teenage girl to get me?”

“Yeah.”

Rowdy looked puzzled, then he smiled coolly. “All right, but first you have to catch me!”

He took off running, Arella could feel her blood boiling. Her shuriken came to life, releasing themselves from her rosary. She was about to strike when suddenly a stop sigh wrenched itself out of the earth and smacked Rowdy in the face. He stood there for a moment, and then crumpled up like a piece of paper falling to the ground.

Before Arella could ask herself what had happened she heard the most annoying voice in the world.

“10 point for Jera!”

Arella swung around and found Jera standing behind her. Jera, for whatever reason, had managed to follow her here. Maybe Jera had been sent because no one thought she could carry out this mission on her own. Did they really think so little of her?

She could actually hear the snap in her brain, and then she felt the anger wash over her like a warm shower.

“What are you doing?” She softly asked through clenched teeth.

“Uh…” Jera smiled. “Helping out my brand new friend?”

“You are anything but my friend,” Arella could feel her face turning red. “You just barge into my life, take over my apartment like you own the place. Steal my room – steal my bed! The bed it took me a month to be able to buy! Then follow me around like some babysitter!?! I don’t need your help! I can do this on my own!!! I AM NOT SOME FUCK UP WHO NEEDS TO BE WATCHED BY AN ANNOYING BITCH LIKE YOU!!!”

Jera stared on dumbfounded. For the first time since Arella met her she had nothing to say.

“I don’t want you in my life! I don’t need your help! I want you to get to hell out of my apartment and NOT COME BACK!!! I don’t even want to see you on the streets of Toronto!”

“You don’ have to-”

“NO!!! Shut up! Just shut up! I can’t stand you!”

Jera looked on, suddenly completely drained of emotion. “Fine,” she answered in a monotone voice. “I’ll be gone in the morning.”

“GOOD!!!” Arella screamed and then turned and stormed off.

She turned the corner and almost ran into Chael who was standing there.

“OH! So one babysitter wasn’t enough!?!” She screamed, wanting to pound her fists against him. She couldn’t stand all these Angels constantly showing up when they were unwanted. “What do you want!?!”

Chael looked down at the angry girl, a slightly confused look on his face, but he didn’t lose his calm for a moment.

ooo

The two sat in the coffee shop and Arella didn’t know how she had ended up there with Chael. He sat across from her, sipping a mug of coffee and not saying a word.“Want some coffee?” Was all he had asked and suddenly there she was.

He had invited her here and now he was practically ignoring her. She wondered why he was always so quiet.

“Nobody sent her to watch you,” Chael finally said.

“Then what, she just showed up to take advantage of me?” She had been ranting about Jera for the better part of 10 minutes. “That’s even worse! I was right to get mad. I was right to yell at her.”

She stared down at her cup.

“She was in the wrong,” she looked up at Chael and sighed. “How come I feel like such a jerk for yelling at her?”

Chael looked like he was listening, but didn’t say a word. Was he just letting her rant so she’d feel better? Well, she did feel better… a little better.

“Sorry I yelled at you,” she taped her fingers on the table and avoided his eyes. “It’s just… well, I guess I’ve been a little stressed lately, you know?”

She looked up at him and realized he would know. They would all know, because they all had their lives ripped away from them when they became Angels. They all had to get used to the idea that everyone they loved and everyone who loved them were gone forever.

Even Jera must have known that.

“Everybody loses it once in a while,” she finished, taking a sip of her coffee. “Everybody needs to lose it once in a while.”

“So long as you find it again,” was all he said.

Chael took a sip of his coffee, his eyes watching her. In lighting like this they just looked like a reddish brown. Most people probably thought his eyes were brown, or hazel, and that he was normal. He wasn’t normal, none of them were.

“Was it hard for you too?”

“Hard?” He squinted, mulling the idea over in his mind. Finally he shrugged. “It wasn’t easy.”

“Were you in love with someone?” She asked quietly, lost in her own thoughts.

He looked at her oddly. “You?”

She looked down at her coffee. “I’m in love.”

“Eddy,” Chael said quietly.

“Eddy,” saying his name even hurt, but the fact that she didn’t have to explain it to Chael made it easier. Here was someone who already understood. They all understood. Even must have Jera understood.

Chael motioned towards the waitress to get the bill. His cup was finished.

“I should apologize to her, shouldn’t I?”

“Who?”

“Jera, the girl I was talking about. The one who stole my bed!” Had he even been listening to her?

“Right,” he smiled. “Probably just needs a friend. New city, new life.”

Suddenly it occurred to her that Chael was probably right. Angels weren’t very social with each other, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t Angels who wanted to be social. Did Jera just want a friend?

Now she really felt like a jerk.

He put money on the table, enough to cover both of them.

“Oh, you don’t have to pay for me,” Arella smiled.

“All right,” he took back half of the money.

She stared at the table dumbfounded.

“Right, uh,” she fished through her pocket and found a toonie. She would remember to keep her mouth shut if there was a next time.

She then got up and followed the quickly departing Chael.

Once outside Chael took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up.

“You shouldn’t smoke,” Arella was quick with her knee-jerk reaction.

“Why?” Chael looked at her sarcastically. “Because it will kill me before my time?”

“No,” Arella quickly covered her tracks. Angels didn’t get sick. “Because it makes you smell like an ashtray.”

Chael just smiled.

ooo

By the time she got home it was dark outside. She opened the door to her apartment, the lights were off, and for a moment Arella thought Jera was gone; but there by the door were Jera’s suitcases.

She didn’t turn any of the lights on as she walked to her room. She opened the door and there was Jera, fast asleep in her bed.

It took a long time for Arella to be able to open her mouth.

“I’m sorry, all right?”

“Wuzzat?” Jera moaned, opening her eyes and looking around.

“I said I’m sorry!”

Jera looked towards the doorway, confused, tired.

“It’s just… I can’t let it go. I can’t let Sera’s life go, and the more I try the more I hate everyone for making me,” Arella could feel the tears falling down her cheeks, but she didn’t care. “I love him and I don’t want to let that go. How can I let that go? And I’m so frustrated and I just took it out on the first person I could.”

“Come here,” Jera said softly, sitting up.

Arella slowly walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down, looking away from Jera.

“You won’t tell on me, will you?” Arella asked, wiping her tears away, but more came. She hadn’t let herself cry since her first mission, and now she couldn’t stop.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Jera laid back down, looking over towards Arella.

“Letting go of my family was easy,” Arella continued. “Not that I don’t miss them, it’s just that I know one day they’ll die and go to Heaven and we’ll all be able to see each other again, to be a family again… but Eddy…”

She looked behind her towards Jera. “It’s different with Eddy. One day he’s going to get used to the idea that I’m gone, and he’s going to move on. One day he’ll get married, and he’ll have children…” she could barely go on. “When he dies, he won’t look for me in Heaven, he’ll be looking for someone else.

“He’s going to forget about me!”

Arella practically lunged at Jera, falling on her and burying in face into Jera’s shoulder. Jera just put her arms around and held the younger girl.

“I love him so much it hurts,” Arella cried.

“I know,” Jera whispered. “I know.”

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours. Arella cried so much she felt dizzy, but finally the tears died away, finally she sadness seemed to recede and she could think clearly again.

“I really didn’t mean to get mad at you before,” Arella whispered. “It’s just that everything lately has been too much to take. One more surprise was more than I could carry.”

“It’s my fault,” Jera sighed. “I should have realized you weren’t use to this life yet. I guess I just thought that being new you’d want a friend so bad you’d let me stay… I’m sorry I tried to take advantage of you.”

A while passed, and then: “Hey, how’d you make that stop sign float?”

Jera laughed. “My element is metal.”

“Element?” Arella pulled herself away a little, so the two girls were lying on the bed staring at each other.

“All Virtues have one element they control.”

“What are Virtues? What makes you different than me?”

“Virtues control the elements and make miracles.”

“Miracles?” Arella raised her eyebrows.

“Mm-hm. When an Angel needs to perform a miracle, they have to go through us,” Jera smiled.

Arella laughed. “I bet Christmas is a really busy time for you.”

“Not so much in Africa, but I have gotten quite a few request since showing up here.”

“Why’d you leave Africa?”

Jera looked thoughtful for a moment. “It was time to leave.”

Arella knew when to leave something alone, so she asked the question that had been on her mind since Gabriel had told her Jera was a Virtue.

“What do you have to do to get promoted to a Virtue?”

“Oh, I wasn’t promoted to a Virtue, it’s what I’ve always been since becoming an Angel. When a human dies and becomes an Angel, they’ll either become a Messenger, a Principality, an Archangel, or a Virtue.”

“So what made you different than me?”

Jera didn’t answer for a moment.

“I was a mother.”

Arella suddenly felt cold.

“Virtues are all mothers,” Jera continued. “I died during childbirth, and I became a Virtue.”

Arella couldn’t even find the words to apologize, to say how sorry she was, so Jera just kept on talking.

“I was just like you at first, so angry at the world, at God and all the Angels. I had a son, but I wasn’t allowed to speak with him, to hold him in my arms, to tell him how much I loved him… There was this invisible wall that I could never pass, and it broke my heart more and more every day.”

Jera smiled at Arella.

“One day, I finally realized something.”

“What?”

“I got to do what most mothers could only dream of. I got to watch over him every day of his life, protect him every day of his life, take care of him every day of his life… even though he never knew I was there. I watched him grow, fall in love, have children of his own. I was there through his good times and bad, I was there when he got sick in his old age. I was there on his death bed as his breathed his last.

“And finally, finally after nearly 80 years, I finally got to hold my boy in my arms. And you know what?”

“… What?”

“It was all worth it. It’s all worth it Arella. It’s hard some days, but it’s all worth it in the end.”

“… Hey Jera?”

“Yeah Ella?”

“You can stay if you want… at least, until Christmas… maybe longer… You can stay.”

“Thanks Ella… I mean it, thanks.”

Not another word was said between the two, and soon after they fell asleep in each other’s arms and dreamed of those they had left behind, and those they would get to see one day again.

ooo

Porter was finishing up counting the till when the door suddenly opened. He was surprised for a moment, because he knew he had locked it, but as he recognized the figure in the doorway his surprised turned to annoyance.

“Ayman,” Porter glared.

“Porter,” Ayman smiled. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“I’ve been hiding from you.”

“And here I thought you left Wisconsin because you hated the scenery,” Ayman walked in, closing the door behind him. “But I’m glad you came here Porter.”

“Why?” Porter started backing up as Ayman started walking closer.

“Because I heard the most wonderful news,” he grinned. “Do you want to know what I heard?”

“No.”

“I heard there was a new Angel in town. What a marvelous coincidence.”

The Demon smiled, and Porter knew once again that he was trapped.

The End

If you want to read more about Ayman, check out:

The Last Battle for Heaven

&

Lucifer

And be sure to read the next chapter in Arella and Eddy’s life in:

The Demon in the Darkness

(Squee AYMAN! Ayman is quite possibly my favourite character in this story o’ mine. I have fond places in my heart for all of them, but Ayman’s just so bad he’s good. Ya know? And I love writing villains (see ‘Mal’). So Rowdy Yates (10 points to whoever knows where I stole that name from) had a much bigger role in the outline, but he really needed to go in order to give the character interactions a bigger highlight. I love Jera; I love her back-story. I cried when I wrote her about her son, and hopefully you cried to. You probably have a far better idea of who the main characters of this story are now, and hopefully you like them all. With this story more than my others I really tried to make ALL the characters interesting. Arella’s probably my most difficult character to work with, just because this is such a turbulent time for her, but she’ll flush out better down the line. Especially once Eddy gets a bigger role in the next story. ACK! Spoilers! It might take me awhile with the next part, because unlike the last two I have nothing written on it other than the outline. But hopefully I’ll get it done sooner than later! But wanna know a secret? Reviews make me write fast.)