Fledge

Fledge - 5

We'd reached the end of the stairs.

Chuck - I had to call him Chuck or my mind would actually implode - was phoning someone called Joshua. I waited quietly. The patience of the universe had finally manifested within me.

"Someone has Fledged, Joshua. I need you to please pick up Gabriel, look after him for a few days... You know where he is? Thank you, son..." Chuck reeled off a mobile number. "You have it? Your car boot has to fit a wheelchair, remember." He paused and I heard the tinny sound of someone speaking through the phone, even if I couldn't hear what they were saying. "Thank you so much, Joshua." He waited a few more moments, then hung up.

I waited. "Is Gabriel going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine, Rio." Chuck took up my hand once more. "You're ready?" He turned to face me, lifting the other hand flat in front of him with a glowing ball of blue-white light floating above the palm.

I blinked, and nodded.

He pressed the light into my palm, and I watched, half scared, half amazed as it sank slowly into my hand. I could feel it, warm, sliding through my veins.

"Hang onto me." I obliged, holding tight to Chuck as the warmth spread quickly through my body. It felt like I was going to burst! He gathered me to his chest as the splitting feeling continued, getting worse and worse.

I exclaimed wordlessly, throwing my head back, as pressure grew behind my eyes. "It hurts!" I hissed out between clenched teeth.

"I know, I know." He had one arm around my back, holding me close with ease, as the other supported my neck. "Don't panic, Rio."

Suddenly cold air was hitting my back, and I realised he seemed to have cut a hole in the back of my top. "Oh, no nonono," I said breathlessly. "Are they going to hurt?"

"Briefly and minimally." And that didn't calm me down at all. "Hang on tight."

I almost said no, but then I thought of all those people Lucifer was going to kill because he felt he was in a box. I fisted my hands in Chuck's shirt, and he pressed both hands to my back, then pulled.

I bit my lip. It was sickening. The only thing I could liken it to was the feeling of removing a tampon.  It was slimy and messy and horrible.

Having new appendages pulled from my back was painful, and not as 'brief' as I hoped. I pressed my face into his neck, hugging his solid torso as he teased my wings into existence. He smelled like home. Not like my home, mind you. Just a general, nice, homey sort of smell. Like the baking bread smell, or the just rained smell. Something I loved.

I was crying a little bit too, but not enough to ruin his shirt (can that even happen? I've only seen it happen in books. I've wiped tears with my sleeves and put them in the wash and they've come out fine...)

After what seemed like an hour but was in reality just a few seconds, Chuck's hand was back in my hair, and he slowly leaned back, blue eyes taking in my face. "There, now. It's all over." He said gently.

I leaned against him, feeling my new wings shuffling and lifting up around us. "Thanks, D-Father." I wanted to call him Dad. I'd never had a Dad. I'd had a Daddy and a Mummy, but they'd died a while back.

We could've stayed there forever, me cradled to his chest (on the floor. Did I mention we sat down sometime during the wing thing?) and him hugging me. Some things aren't meant to last, though.

"Father." Someone else had spoken. I didn't move, not really wanting to know.

"Raphael." He hadn't tensed, so I assumed that Raphael was to be trusted. "Good to see you."