Title: Frozen Fire

Author: I_nv_u50

Claimer: mine! It's all mine! Except Gabriel. Him I borrow from God and I hope that neither of them are offended O.o;

Rating: PG13, maybe R much later

Warning: Slash. Shounen ai. Angel troubles. I suppose if you're devoutly religious, you might not want to read this. Other than that, it's all good ^^

Author's Notes: My beloved first line! I read it in a magazine (er, I'd rather not say which one .) (^~;;;;;) and liked it immediately. Unfortunately, no plot came with it, but now I have one, so everything's wonderful!!! And no, I haven't had sugar today… Well, all right, maybe a few doughnut. Maybe more than a few . What can I say? I have a friend who works at Timmie Horton's, and he brings over the doughnuts whenever he closes, because otherwise they get thrown out! It would be a sacrilige of a waste if we didn't get them instead :D That said, this is my freaky angel dude story.

He's an angel with an attitude… So to speak.

And I know that angels are supposed to be genderless. Since them being genderless makes it rather hard for there to be good ol' slash/shounen ai/yaoi/whatever, I have made the possibility of angels that have genders. Needless to say, I'll only be working with the males =P

So anyway, read, enjoy, and please review! I want to know if I should continue ^^ It won't be a huge epic either… At least, not if I have anything to say about it! ^^

Ja ne!

~*~ = Change of perspective, different POV.

It was well after 10, and, as usual, God was late.

Teague huffed impatiently and crossed his arms over his chest, his wings settling in a similar movement on his back. He had things do to, people to see… and Gabriel was late.

It wasn't as if the God would have time to talk to him. Not when Teague had spontaneously and sort of accidentally slashed a small twig off the Tree of Knowledge. Teague had blamed it on Eve. It was all that woman's fault, after all, that he didn't have any humans up here to amuse him anymore.

Teague pouted and began playing with the soil that wasn't really soil at his feet. He had managed to draw a very good likeness of Loki's flaming sword, the one thing he coveted above all else. Last time Loki had reluctantly let him hold The Sword, Teague had barely managed not to slice his feet in two. He had laughed. Loki hadn't.

And that had been the end of that.

But now he, supposedly, had a new mission, and he wouldn't be so disgraced. All right, so he had cut a little twig from a tree. It was a tree! Several millenia of polite glares was enough to drive even a saint mad.

And Teague had asked the saints personally. They had been sympathetic and understanding, after a few decades. And so, Teague had to admit, had been God.

God was good like that.

Teague sighed again and flopped down, expecting a small cloud to save him from landing heavily on the ground that wasn't quite there, and it did.

He curled a wispy bit of white around his finger idly and glanced heavenward again, checking the stars for the time.

It was past 11 now.

The first suspicion that he had that he wasn't alone anymore was the light that flared up unexpectedly in his mind. It was the light that heralded one of God's Arch Angels, the angel Gabriel. Each Arch Angel had a different sort of light. Gabriel's was a warm, blinding golden one.

God's particular light was ever present and too magnificent to even try and degrade it by describing it.

Teague turned on the cloud, kneeling up so he wouldn't be so below Gabriel. It might be that Gabriel was very tall, but Teague suspected it was more the fact that the cloud only hovered a foot above the ground that wasn't there. Clouds refused to listen to angels though, so he knew it would be pointless to try and make it go up.

Gabriel smiled down at him. "You have a new mission."

"Thought so," Teague replied smugly. "Whom am I supposed to protect now?"

Gabriel looked faintly sympathetic. "You're not protecting anyone."

Teague blinked, his mouth dropping open to gape up at the Arch Angel. "I'm being demoted?!"

"No." That was it. No reassurances or anything.

Teague scowled, and his wings pressed closer to his back, a sure sign of agitation. Gabriel watched him with that sympathetic expression that had turned ever so slightly warning.

"What did I do wrong? I've been good for the last century, you can't punish me if I haven't done anything since that stupid tree incident!"

Gabriel cleared his throat. "'That stupid tree incident' is forgiven and forgotten, Teague. You know that."

Teague narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I know God's forgiven me." A familiar warmth stole over him, giving truth to the words. Teague felt the grateful surge flare up to meet the warmth; grateful merely because God had forgiven him, and loved him, and noticed him. It was a staple to an angel's existance.

It was a necessary and adored fixture in their lives.

Gabriel sighed again, looking briefly apologetic. "I know some of the others haven't been quite as forgiving as God, but He –"

"Is perfect," Teague finished quietly, knowing the truth of the words, feeling kind of sad because he would never be perfect – even by mortal's standards. And they usually considered the smallest angel perfect as well, even if the angel knew the truth. Their rating of perfection was the lowest he'd ever seen, and to know he didn't meet it – that stung.

Gabriel nodded. "Yes. And because He is perfect, He knows this is the right job for you. You are not being demoted. You're merely moving sideways until this job is done."

Teague resisted the urge to smirk. It was a polite way of saying the Guardians' didn't need him anymore. Or at least, for a while. He sighed in defeat instead. "Oh, all right. What am I supposed to do?"

Gabriel looked heavenwards, perhaps searching for guidance. Perhaps searching for God's glowing presence. Perhaps seeing Him. After a moment, during which Teague kept a respectful silence, Gabriel looked back down at him again. "He needs you to go save a soul."

~*~

Karolek lounged back on the park bench, smirking demonically at every person who walked past. Most of them were college students, this being the shortest route to college, and all of them gave him weird looks.

He didn't mind. He was rather enjoying their half curious, half incredulous, and half 'interested' looks. He supposed that if you were going to wear leather, you might as well wear it skin tight.

So he did.

His red eyes glinted with every expression of lust he got, and he was feeling relatively sated by the time he decided to get some real food. Mortal lust was all very well and good for a while, but even demons had to eat real food occasionally.

Karolek sat up with a sigh that might have been regret – it was such a nice day, he didn't really feel like going in. Never mind that most of the human's around him were rushing to get to a shelter before the rain or the wind drenched or blew them over. That was entirely their problem. He liked the weather when it was like this. He preferred being cold to the tormenting heat he had known for most of his life.

He eventually managed to convince himself to drag his feet all the way to the nearby college food hall, and he sat down at one of the bolted down tables to wait impatiently.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Karo!" The squeal resounded through the already noisy hall, and Karolek, despite himself, winced slightly. The girl sat down next to him, bouncing in her seat.

He nodded at her in acknowledgement.

She squeaked and flung her arms around him joyfully. "You're here! You're really here!"

He managed to escape before she did damage. "Agh! Tori! Lemme go!"

The girl held on tighter, pouting teasingly. "But Karo, I missed you!"

Karolek pushed her away, grimacing in distaste. "Don't. Ever. Hug. Me."

Tori stuck her tongue out at him. "Yea, well, sucks to be you I guess."

Karolek rolled her eyes. Tori giggled in reply, and clung to his arm, rubbing her cheek against it. He only submitted because she would have clouted him if he hadn't.

"Why are you so warm?" Tori asked. "It's too cold outside for leather to be this hot."

"Look, but don't touch," Karolek replied absently. Something was wrong.

Tori flicked him. "Hey! Listen to me! What's wrong, Karo? Your eyes are glowing again. You need to put on your shades, quickly."

Karolek muttered something he didn't dare repeat when she asked him to, and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her bag, which she had dropped on the floor behind them when she had arrived. He looked at them, disgusted. "They're pink."

Tori shrugged. "I had to steal my sister's. My pair got lost because of a certain someone, naming no names."

It was Karolek's turn to shrug. "Is it my fault people want me?"

Tori glared at him. "Yes. It's your hair or your eyes or something. Or maybe it's just that sinfully tight leather. Now put them on before someone sees your eyes."

"We wouldn't want that," Karolek drawled and slipped the sunglasses on. "Ah, my rose tinted glasses."

Tori shoved him, almost pushing him of the chair completely. "Don't be an idiot, Karo."

Karolek smirked. "Look whose talking."

Tori gaped in mock astonishment. "You… you jerk!"

Karolek inclined his head modestly. "Always willing to please."

Tori slapped his shoulder, only half playfully, and then stood up. "I've got to get to work. You look after those shades now, or else I'm letting my sister loose on you." She picked up her bag.

Karolek shuddered mockingly. "Oh please, spare me that torture! Anything but that."

Tori grinned. "Catch ya later, sexy."

"Later," Karolek mumbled, and the brunette winked and darted off, heading for the coffee shop almost directly across the hall from their seats.

Karolek looked at the high ceiling, seeing further than a normal human would. He could see something coming, but wasn't sure what it was. He sensed it, somehow. He slumped forward with a muttered curse. "Shit. This is all her fault."

Then he prepared to wait.

It wouldn't be long now.

~*~

Teague scowled and muttered to himself, revolted. To think. God wanted him to save a demon. Him! A demon! Those foul traitors that fully deserved to be in Hell. Teague only vaguely remembered that battle, as God had tried to keep the most innocent angels out of it until very near the end of the war. Teague had been one of them then.

Apparently, he wasn't one anymore.

He remembered complaining loudly to Gabriel, but the Arch Angel had merely sighed distantly and told him to do it. No ifs, buts or ands. It was preposterous. And to further the complete ridiculousness of the idea, he wasn't even allowed to bring the demon up to Heaven.

Was he supposed to save this 'soul' or not?

He had to stay for a few lifetimes with the foul creature on earth before God made the decision to let him back in or not. Teague would have to supply accurate, entirely truthful reports.

He didn't think he was going to like this mission. He preferred being a Guardian. At least then, he'd get some cute mortal kid to watch over, and see them grow up. When they died, it was always rewarding to go spend some time with their souls, very relaxing to spend time with someone you knew inside and out, as well as God ever did.

He alighted in a park that Gabriel had pointed out to him as the regular hang out spot of the creature, and glared up at the sky with flashing golden eyes when it refused to stop raining. He'd have to have it out with Adrik when he got back. The angel had far too much fun raining on his parade, so to speak.

Completely soaked, he made his way toward the college. Gabriel had told him the creature was there at the moment. He didn't want to go.

He didn't have a choice.

He wondered if a rebellion was worth it. Surely God wouldn't mind, so long as he didn't try to take over Heaven. It was worth a speculation or two, but Teague doubted he'd go ahead with it. The angels that had been on God's side during that fateful war had all adored him to the point of insanity. Well, the insanity part came in when they had to leave God for a few centuries. They all had to eventually. And then they'd come back from wherever it was that they went, and there'd be much rejoicing. Teague wondered idly if the other angels would rejoice in his return.

Or had they rejoiced in his departure?

The thought was sobering, and hurt, just a little. But then God's glow spread through him, reminding him that yes, God did love him, and yes, he was really forgiven for that tree incident.

It warmed him more than the sun ever could.

Teague gave a small smile meant for no one on earth, and opened one of the doors to the college food hall, breathing in deeply as the warm air hit him in what was almost a wind.

He sat down sullenly at a table, not realizing that someone sat across from him until the person cleared his throat suggestively. Teague looked up, fully prepared to be annoyed, and his mouth dropped open.

He gaped. He had every reason to gape, he decided, because the person sitting across from him was too gorgeous to be believed. Silken black hair, slightly damp, fell luxuriously down the leather clad back. Lips that begged to be licked smirked, probably at his expression, and he couldn't see the eyes because they were hidden behind pink sunglasses. Pink? His mind asked dryly. He told his mind to shut up. The face was flawless, skin smooth and tanned enough to make Teague hesitant about calling it all a suntan. It could have been for the most part natural skin tone, for all he knew.

"Well?" The stranger asked.

Teague promptly remembered himself, and flushed, embarrassed. Angels weren't supposed to have thoughts like those. And no matter how much he secretly rebelled, he was an angel. And it was… uncomfortable, those thoughts, and the feelings they provoked. He wasn't sure if he liked them.

He was sure he didn't like the creature in front of him though. That much had filtered through his distracted mind. No wonder the person was too beautiful to be human. He wasn't human at all.

It looked like Teague had found his assignment.

~*~

Chapter Title: From Phil Collin's Separate Lives :

'Someday I might find myself looking in your eyes

But for now we'll go on living separate lives'