White Wing

Not Powerful, Not Powerless

"You have the voice of an angel," said Yoru, as the recording of my song echoed across the room.

They had insisted on listening to it, and I had obliged. I was a little proud of it. My song "An Angel's Hope," hadn't actually been released to the general public yet, but it was still my song—my very first.

"Thak you, Yoru," I said, as Shun and Kai both smiled, for reasons known.

"Will you be releasing an album sometime?" You asked, his hand over Yoru's shoulder.

"Probably?" I said, as the song's notes faded. "I'm afraid only the president would be able to say."

Shun nodded and looked at Kai, who shrugged in response. Have you noticed that humans have this little way of communicating with another person using only their eyes and their facial expressions, in a way that no one but the two of them understand? It's infuriating.

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My song was released the next month, and thanks to Tsukino's influence, it reached quite a wide audience. I was slightly impressed at that human's ability to spread information.

There were a lot of positive responses, almost all of them saying I had an angel's voice.

"There are even a lot of people calling you an angel," said Shun.

"There's no way they would say that if they knew my personality," I said, taking a sip of tea.

Shun laughed softly, his eyes glittering with amusement.

"You'd lose fans with that cold outlook of yours," he smiled thoughtfully. "How good is your acting?"

"Non-existent."

Hajime, who was listening to this exchange, sighed. "If you're not going to be in a group, but rather remain a lone singer, you're gonna be in a lot of trouble."

"I'll burn that bridge when I get to it."

Shun laughed again in amusement as I stuck a tongue out at him, all dignity of an angel out the window.

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I sighed as I walked home a week later, knowing I was being followed.

"Who's there?" I asked, silently plotting murder in my head.

"Well, a pretty lady is walking home alone at night."

Excuse you, that's Lady with a capital L. And I am not just pretty, I am an angel, foolish mortals.

I turned to see two men walk towards me, their smiles nothing short of disgusting. They were both larger than me, but no matter at all.

"And what—pray tell—do you two fools want?"

"We—did you just call me a fool?!" said the shorter of the two.

"There's much worse I could call you, if swearing was not against my morals."

"Why you little—" he ran towards me, and I, with all the power I had left, picked him up and threw the pathetic human over the railings and into the sea.

"I may not be powerful, but I am certainly not powerless," I said, as he sputtered and grabbed the railings. The taller of the two stood staring at me. "Well? Would you like to join him? Or are you too cowardly to face off against a mere lady?"

His face turned red from anger—humans really didn't know how to hide their emotions—as he charged at me. I sidestepped him as he tumbled past me. Kicking him in the leg, I watched with amusement as he banged his head against the railing and was still. The other man was gone. I tilted my head and shrugged.

You can't throw me in jail for self defence.

I turned to walk away when I saw Hajime and Haru staring from a distance.

I nodded to them both, as they walked up to me.

"Did you do this?" Haru asked, looking to the man on the floor. "Is he dead?"

I shrugged, as Hajime put a hand to his throat. "He's breathing. Just knocked out."

Hajime stood up and looked at me. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head, as the man on the floor began to stir. "May we continue our conversation elsewhere?" I asked.

They nodded, and we headed down the street together.

"Where did you learn to fight?"

I glanced at him, wondering how to tell him I had fought in wars and battles, that I was older than the language he spoke.

"I learnt a long time ago. I served in a war."

Hajime raised an eyebrow, and I smiled, knowing he had no idea what to make of it.

The look on his face froze, and I noticed even the leaves had stopped blowing midway. Haru had been in the middle of pushing up his glasses. I glanced around, wondering where the new intruder was.

"Up here, Estriel!" called a voice I loved and dreaded.

"Sabriel," I sighed, looking up the tree.

The angel grinned and hopped down the tree, landing in front of me. He observed the two humans, and waved a hand in front of them. Neither Hajime nor Haru made a move. Sabriel pulled out a pen and I knew he was going to draw a moustache on Hajime, so I grabbed his hand.

"That would take a lot of explaining, do not put me in that situation."

He pouted. "You're no fun at all."

"So I've heard. What are you doing here, Sabriel?"

"You were framed, weren't you?"

"Why? Did someone say that?" I asked, an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Lord Darian is searching for the reason all this happened. He still trusts you."

"Lovely. I suppose that's something most of you could learn." I regarded Sabriel. "Do you think I murdered Nakir?"

"I wouldn't put it past you," said Sabriel, twirling the pen in his hands. "Remember that time you threatened to murder His Majesty, just because he was being biased towards Michael?"

I smiled as I remembered. "Thankfully, I was not tossed out of heaven for that."

"You almost were," Sabriel laughed. He looked to the sky. "I simply came to see how you were coming along."

"Your actions are appreciated."

"We have a ball in a month or so. Would you like to attend?"

"I believe you have failed to understand the meaning of 'exile,'" I said, staring at him with exasperation.

"It's not like the security is that tight. And it's a masquerade ball. No one will ever know."

I had to agree with Sabriel in that regard, but that was kind of risky. "Why would I want to?"

Sabriel shrugged, but the held out a hand, which I took. An envelope appeared in my hands.

"An invitation for our little heaven's star. May we meet again."

Sabriel disappeared, as time started flowing. Haru pushed his glasses up, as Hajime was still staring at me, leaving me wondering what we were talking about.

"Are you a foreigner?" Haru asked.

"You're not wrong there," I said as we hailed a taxi, heading back to the dorm.

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Trivia:

Estelle means 'star.'

Celeste means 'heavens.'

So her chosen name actually does mean star of the heavens.