Desolation Comes Upon the Sky

Blood Brother

November 2nd, 2013

St. Paul, Minnesota

A week slowly ticked by, and with each passing day, Alex could feel the air growing colder. She stared up at the bleak, cloudy evening sky, and one wing folded down around Ashiel to herd him closer as they waited to cross the street. A stark, biting wind swept through the trees, forcing the angel to turn up the collar of her jacket to keep it from her ears. The traffic light changed, and Alex took her son's hand as they crossed the asphalt. It was one of those classic grey days, she mused as they reached the far sidewalk. One of those days that nothing good could ever come of.

Her grace found the motel door unlocked, and the angel paused, a frown clouding her freckled face. "I hate it when I'm right," she muttered to herself as she pushed the door open, feathers ruffling outwards in wariness as she peered inside.

A pair of golden wings could be seen peeking over the back of the couch, and Alex's fell back to her side with a low huff of relief. "It's you."

"You don't seem very pleased about that," came the amused reply, and whiskey-colored eyes glimmered humorously.

"Anja!" Ashiel moved forward, clearly recognizing their guest on the couch, and his own fluffy grey wings stretched towards the archangel.

Gabriel grinned at the sight, and, with a dramatic flourish of his hand, produced a sucker. Ashiel accepted it with a squeal of delight, but Alex only crossed her arms. "You know he's way too young for that."

"You're not a very fun mom," the archangel teased as the fledgling stared quizzically at the saran wrap, a frustrated sound emanating from his mouth at his lack of success.

Alex quickly crossed the room and extracted the sweet from his hands. She picked up the fledgling before he could protest and balanced him on her hip as she turned back to Gabriel. "Why are you here?" she asked, wings flicking in annoyance that the archangel didn't call ahead of his arrival. She knew she shouldn't be frustrated; this happened every month. Sometimes twice.

If Gabriel noticed, he didn't care. "I just thought I'd stop by," he said, shoulders rising and falling in an eased nonchalantness. "See how you and the kid were doing."

"We're doing fine." Ashiel squirmed in her arms, and Alex put him down onto the ground. She watched as the fledgling hurried over to his toys and picked up Sam the Moose before he carried it back over to Gabriel.

Ashiel held up the toy. "Sam," he insisted, waving the stuffed toy by the antlers.

Alex saw Gabriel grin in amusement, and she quickly added, "He's still pretty fond of that toy."

"Well, he did get it from his favorite archangel." Gabriel accepted the gift from the child, waggling his eyebrows at Alex to accompany his words. "Who doesn't love a moose?"

He handed the toy back to Ashiel when Alex grunted in agreement. "How are things going for you?" she asked, sitting down on the couch and pushing her annoyance aside as she fell back into her more typical amiability. "It's been awhile since you've stopped by. You haven't had any problems with anyone, right?"

Gabriel joined her on the couch, shrugging. "You know me. I've been here and there. Same as every damn year for the past ten thousand years."

"Your life sounds boring," Alex teased as she pulled her legs up onto the couch, turning slightly to face him more.

The archangel matched her smile, his eyebrows rising in a hint of amusement. "It has its moments." Gabriel pulled Ashiel up onto his lap, and the fledgling grasped at his wings, blue eyes open wide. "Any luck on finding his dad?"