Paradise End

8 - Past

"Are you insane!?" The female angel leaned over the cafeteria table; her arms draped in white robe. Zadriel rubbed his cheek, wincing, "Hello Nashira," he murmured.

"Hello!? That's all you have to say for yourself!?"

Razael watched the pair in hypnotized silence.

"Well, what is it I'm supposed to say!?"

"I don't know how about a good 'hello there Nashira! Nice to see you! Oh yeah sorry I didn't show up to my shift this morning! Also, while you're here why I don't I just tell you I lost my divine intelligence and decided to pick up a chained cherub with demon wings off the side of the road have a nice day!'"

He continued rubbing his cheek, looking back up. "Season's greetings."

Razael swore he saw fire breathe from the edges of the female angel's ears, fear sparking in Zadriel's core. He cowered inside, marveling at the beast growling next to him.

"You took on Deramiel and what's more! You helped this one here escape! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could be, should be, in right now!?"

"... but I'm not."

She knocked her fist on the spot below Zadriel's elbow, pointedly glaring at him; "Ya know, I really hate you sometimes." The girl snarled through gritted teeth. Her posture disengaged, turning to glance at Razael. The demonic cherub avoided her quickly. She glanced back at Zadriel, her gaze softening, "I'm not sure what goes through your head sometimes, barn owl. But I'm happy you're alright. Thank you."

Zadriel stopped rubbing his cheek, brows furrowing. "For what?"

"Nothing. You still owe me big time, but you should have told me! Then I wouldn't have had to find out from someone else in the middle of filing your paperwork!" She threw her papers in a manilla folder down on the table, Zad bracing himself for any further cursed torment coming his way, only to watch as the chocolate-haired angel took the seat beside Razael.

Leaning on the stool to get a closer look, the girl's eyes flickered from his cheek to the leather-like bat wings hovering beside his shoulder blades. "This the one whose got the establishment in an uproar, huh?" She observed, keeping her eyes framed on him. A smirk befell her face, "Zadriel, I like the way you think."

He released a groan, "God why are girls so confusing? Even as angels?" Looking up, he noted the way Nashira gaze intensified with interest.

"So, who's our new friend?"

"Nashira, this is Razael, Razael, Nashira."

The girl watched, fascinated, on the edge of the stool, as Raz acknowledged her out of his peripheral, leaning away from her form. Studying the cherub's wings, she slowly reached out a finger to poke his left on its hinge. "Ouch."

Nashira pulled back, gasping, "He speaks."

"He'd prefer not to be touched." Raz quipped.

Her smirk faded, a glint shining over her expression. "Does this hurt?" She poked him again. What a strange one, this girl... he thought, eyeing her up and down. Pure angelic force beamed from her aura as she sat next to him, yet somehow, where the others glared at him with hesitance this one only grew more and more fascinated with each passing second. Like someone else he knew...

He shrank into himself, glowering blankly over at that someone now.

"Nashira, you're staring again." 

She leaned back, relaxing in the chair. "I can't help it—almost nothing interesting happens and here we are! And yet, I just don't see what all the fuss is about, after all—you are one of us, right? I can practically sense the cherub energy radiating off his pulse."

"We were actually just talking about that before you decided to jump in."

She propped her head up on her palm as well, opening her mouth to speak when an even louder commotion began to stir at the front of the eating hall. Cherub after cherub leapt up out of their seats, some even remaining by their squadron and comrades, peering over a crowd gathering at the front. Murmurs rose to louder levels, shouts and squeaks of boots scraping the floor echoing with each individual trying to get a better look at the door.

They each turned, glancing at the growing crowd. "What's that all about?" Zadriel's face furrowed.

"Probably the rings, they opened this past weekend."

Zadriel's gaze narrowed, turning slowly to look across the table at the girl, something quick, new, something bright shifting over his golden boy complexion. "What did you say?"

Razael watched closely, alarmed by the sudden change in nature. He took another bite from an apple, savoring every second he had left to eat before this look turned into something more. The angel next to him seemed to sense the same shift in energy, glancing at Raz, then back to Zad. "I said, they're probably excited about the rings, they opened just this weekend."

Zadriel slammed his hands against the table, standing, "That's it! I can't believe I didn't think of it before! Shira you're a genius!"

"What? Oh, I mean, of course... but what did I do this time?"

"Remember how I said before you came over here, we were talking about ways to make it easier for the other cherubs and seraphs to trust him?"

"No."

"Okay well, there you go—but my point is, think back to what you just said!"

For a long second, the girl paused, reflecting on her own words. The crowded cherubs at the front of the hall continued to murmur and chant wildly, food flying across tables now by the windows lining the walls. Insults being driven towards others, beings pushing to get a better glimpse of what was causing the commotion. Raz watched only the two at his table, every muscle in his body preparing himself for whatever crazy idea was going through their minds right now. He hated admitting it, but his stomach churned.

The gears in Shira's head turned, beginning to fall into a perfect, idyllic place. Slowly she glanced at Raz, then back to Zad. "Well, this ought to be interesting."

"What?" Raz gripped the apple like a baseball. The tension in his wings mounted. Fire sparked; electricity cracked in the order of Zadriel's divine energy.

"Raz, how do you feel about crowds?"