The Gathering

IX: We Saw You

A cold, dimly lit, beige room. Its walls and floor bore no comfort, just the grit of sandstone. A barred door separating it from the rest of the city. This is where Jonah found himself to be after his eyes regained sight. "As?" he muttered, grasping at the throbbing pain in his head. "Where am I?" Jonah tried to get to his feet but decided to wait when he felt the shakiness that seemed to permeate his bones. "What happened..." Jonah could feel his head spin again as he gave into unconsciousness' grip once more.

"We saw you..." a voice in Jonah's dreams repeated to him, a voice speaking from within a fire, barely audible behind the crackling and smoldering... the burnt remains of the hospital.

"Attention, cadet!" a brash, commanding voice reached into Jonah's dreams and pulled him out. His eyes snapped open to see a familiar face standing behind the bars of his cell, familiar yet unwelcome... Sera.

"Yes, sir." Jonah weakly said, managing to make his legs stop shaking as he got to his feet. Sera rolled her eyes slightly, she opened the creaky cell door and closed it behind her. Sera sat on a small ledge on the far side of the cell, she motioned for Jonah to take a seat on the opposite ledge. Jonah did as he was directed, the small recess from standing would help him catch his equilibrium again.

"Jonah." Sera's voice was deep and overawing, it made every hair on his body stand on end. "You actively disregarded my training, you spoke out in brazen defiance of your superior officer, and, most serious of all, you could've gotten us killed!" Sera's bronze vambrace clanged into the cell wall so forcefully that Jonah could feel the impact from the other side of the ten-foot room.

"I didn't mean to defy your orders!" Jonah began to explain himself, quickly correcting his tone, "I just got... overwhelmed by that woman's emotions... her memories..." Sera closed her eyes and exhaled in exasperation, not pity.

"What you 'meant to do' is of no concern to me. It is your actions that speak." Sera sat back, crossing her left leg over her right. "I've seen your affection for humanity... I suspect your mentorship with Metatron is to blame, he's always been too empathetic towards those animals." Jonah remained silent, she leant forward. "You are gifted at gathering, Jonah." She stated firmly with what felt like an approximation of warmth, yet her stare was still as cold as ice, "Do not let Metatron's cancerous ideas rob you of the opportunity to serve the greater good, rob you of a future." 'emotion is a cancer...' Sera's earlier words rattled in his mind as well, he hadn't forgotten her training after all.

"Am I being punished for disobeying orders?" Jonah asked, skipping to the point.

"I'm not sure yet." Sera replied very matter-of-factly. "I have to assess what happened and decide whether or not you're deserving of a second chance."

"And if I'm not?"

"If you're not... then I'll have no choice but to remand you into the custody of Mitzrael once again." Jonah clenched his eyes, his fingertips grasping at the ledge. He could swear that Sera's monotone lips curled into the slightest ghost of a smirk at his distress.

"Please, sir." Jonah was trying his best to keep his panicked breaths concealed. "I can't go back there..."

"I will make my decision and return tomorrow." Sera scoffed as she stood up and disappeared behind the barred door just as quickly as she had appeared. Jonah sat alone on the floor of his new room. 'What the fuck happened?' he thought, his mind still racing, caught between confusing webs of questions; how could he justify gathering after what he saw? Could he really be so sure that their feelings didn't matter, were unimportant? He didn't truly believe Sera's words when she told him that the first time, but now his mistrust of her was very much confirmed to be warranted... He thought about Maria... he had taken her away from her bedridden son, from her granddaughter. How was that meaningless?