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"YOU DID WHAT?"

"Repeating myself will not change my answer, Lucien," Stella's blank look doesn't waver despite the tiny tinge of annoyance that begins to bloom in her chest.

Lucien gives her a bewildered look, in the middle of his worried pacing.

"Well, forgive me for being absolutely appalled by it, nonetheless," he says, his eyebrows raised, as his golden eyes survey her. "You chose to save a human."

"Yes."

"A hitman, that."

"For the third time, yes."

"You are not jesting, are you?"

"No, Lucien."

"Stella," the furrow in his eyebrows deepens, "What were you thinking?"

"I," Stella says with a completely straight face, "was obviously thinking about the earth's weather while the man was bleeding out in front of me."

"Stella."

"What do you think I was thinking about, then?" Stella gives him an exasperated look. "Nothing had been going right for the poor man and he was on the brink of death when he should not have been, why wouldn't I save him?

"Do you know the number of humans that have died in his hands?" Lucien ignores her reasoning, as his eyes bore into hers with intensity.

"Nine," Stella narrows her eyes at him slightly, "He has the blood of nine men on his hands, and they were criminals. Terrible, terrible criminals that were practically beacons of darkness."

"It doesn't change the fact that he was dying," Lucien counters, "and you interfered in it. You interfered with his story in the stars-"

Stella throws her hands up in irritation. He's talking to the angel of the stars, and that's the argument he chooses. Ridiculous.

"What's to say that me saving him wasn't written in the stars?" she argues before he can go on, "You know that we write our stories with the universe- and maybe I was meant to save the earthling, did that occur to you?"

"Meant to save him?" Lucien scoffs, "That human? Forgive me, Stella, but I think not."

"To me," Stella says, lifting a challenging eyebrow as she crosses her arms across her chest, "at this moment it really does not matter what you think."

"How utterly gracious of you," Lucien deadpans, copying her action, "if my thoughts did not matter, you would not have told me of this incident."

Stella resisted the urge to roll her eyes or snap back with something smart, biting her tongue instead.

While she could consider the angel in front of her, her 'best friend' as humans put it, sometimes his orthodox thoughts and overprotectiveness annoyed her.

"I only told you of this," she says, after she reigns in the urge, "because I plan to descend."

"Descend?" for the first time since the beginning of this conversation, Lucien looks pleased with what she's said.

Descend was the term that angels used when they wanted to make an official appearance on earth, where they allowed other earthlings to see them.

In these descents, to the eye, they mostly appeared as human- as they could hide their wings at will- but there were still other unearthly prospects to their appearance- that made them instantly attract attention. But more about that later.

"Really?" Lucien continues, with the same pleased expression, "That's wonderful! You plan on finishing the job then?"

"Job?" Stella furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"Why, killing him, of course," Lucien says as if it's the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Killing him?" Stella's voice goes a notch higher, filled with exasperation, "have you not listened to a word I said? I saved the man because I wanted to, and now you expect me to kill him?"

"It's only right," this time anger slips into Lucien's expression, "you interfered with the transaction of a soul, Stella- killing him is practically a must."

"By what law?"

"By the law of common sense!"

Lucien's sudden outburst has the feathers in both their wings flaring, tensing, and bristling up defensively.

The gold in Stella's eyes flash. Her irritation had already flared after having to repeat the same thing to him, and the way he seemed to be treating the subject was doing nothing to lessen it.

Disrespecting the existence of that human, meant disrespecting his love for what she represented.

And she was not going to allow that.

"Tread very carefully," she says slowly, "with what you say next about me."

Lucien seems undeterred by the thinly veiled threat in her words, as he moves forward to put his hands on her shoulders.

"Pay heed, Stella," he says, looking deep into her eyes while tightening the grip on her shoulders, "you are young, younger than the rest of us, less wise-"

"I-" Stella's eyes narrow at his words, but he continues.

"-and you do not know the ways of the world. Your stupid trust in everything will be your downfall-"

"Lucien-" the irritation in Stella peaks another notch.

"-and you are way too naïve to see the intention of men, humans especially b-"

The amber of her eyes glows an angry gold, as she finally snaps.

"Shut up, and get your hands off me, Lucien."

The power she forces into her words has him physically taking a step back, with stunned, widened eyes.

For a second, Stella herself is surprised by how defensive she seems to be getting over a situation- one that has to do with a human, that too.

Lucien's reasoning still bothered her. Yes, she was young, but she was created to be much stronger and better than the rest. Why couldn't he understand that? She was going to make her personal decisions when it came to her descents. He needed to know that.

For the next few moments, she can only hold eye contact while working to conceal her own surprise, before she clears her throat.

"Do not belittle me," she says softly, forcing herself to sound more pleasant and calm, "by telling me that I am too young to understand the ways of earth. I may be young, but I am also stronger, and with a better ability to adapt."

"Stella," Lucien says slowly, as his eyes soften, "you know that it was not my intention to make you feel that way."

"I understand that b-"

"But you must know that I still stand by my word, and I do not think it was the right thing to do."

There he goes again. Stella closes her eyes, exhaling sharply through her nose.

"It is obvious that there will be consequences," he continues, even when Stella opens her mouth to say something, "that you won't know the severity of. Besides, you are choosing to descend-"

"To help him," Stella interrupts with the same determined glint in her eye, "the person that attempted to take his life is still out there, and to me, it will not feel like I have saved him until I help him find the person."

"Stella," Lucien's tone turns pleading, and there's something about his expression that almost causes her to worry, "I do not have a good feeling about this. I- I never get these feelings- but there seem to be dangerous, darker forces involved- please, please reconsider it-"

"My mind is made up, Lucien," Stella reaches forward to grab his hand, as he looks down at her imploringly, "and I assure you that it is only after I pondered hard over it, that I realized it would be the right thing to do."

His hands linger even as she tries to pull away.

"You-" he frowns down at her slightly, "I know you. You would not just save any human. Why this one?"

Even as her best friend, she thinks, some times he was better off not knowing some things.

Finally pulling her hands away, she turns her back to him, allowing her expression to slip for a moment as her wings ready for flight.

"I would like to keep that to myself."

Defeat.

A bitter sense of defeat. That's the only thing Stella can feel inside of her.

Before her descent onto the planet, she had planned to find the identity of the schemer, so she could find Axel and tell him who it was- and thus solve the problem quickly.

As for the promise, her feather would remain in his possession, and as long as a part of her was always with him, she wasn't leaving him.

That way, they could all carry on with their lives as they pleased.

But now, standing in front of her, was another angel telling her that there was no record whatsoever, of who had done it to him. Not because it had been erased, but simply because they couldn't view it.

"Are you sure?"

Elisabel sighs. "Yes. There are no records."

"No records?" Stella jerks her head backward, baffled. "How?"

"I was not expecting to find any records, to be honest," Elisabel says, with a pitiful shake of her head.

Stella can only respond with a confused look.

"Only when an earthling dies," Elisabel explains gently, "will there be a label on his soul, as the cause of death. In case of the earthling you saved, his soul did not pass- so we do not know who attempted to kill him."

"So we do not know, at all?" there's a tiny sense of anxious worry that blooms in her chest. "What about the-the list? The list that has the sins of earthlings? Are there any sins that match attempting to take his life?"

"The sins of earthlings are subjective things," Elisabel shakes her head with an apologetic expression, "Only at the time of their death can all their sins be viewed- because that is the moment that will determine whether they go to hell or heaven."

Stella can't mask her dejection.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she runs a hand through her locks, staring at the ground with a worried frown.

Was she going to have to spend more time on earth among humans then?

Elisabel notices her distress when the furrow in her brows deepens with unease,

"Stella," she says gently, "are you sure about this descent?"

"I am," Stella assures her, but there's no denying that she doesn't have a plan anymore.

"For a human?" Elisabel gives her an unimpressed look.

Stella looks up at Elisabel with narrowed eyes. What was with every one of them talking about humans that way?

"What?" she says defensively, "what is so bad about them?"

"They are such... such odd earthlings, are they not?" Elisabel wrinkles her nose.

"In what ways?"

"They are the most easily susceptible to darkness, for one," Elisabel points out, "And they are terribly entitled. They chose to create devices for their own use, to make their own lives easier, without care that they are disrupting the lives of other creatures and destroying their only home in the universe."

Stella had to begrudgingly nod her head in agreement. That was true.

Earthlings had plundered and polluted the earth, and that saddened her because the earth had the most splendid nature, among the worlds across the galaxies, and it would flourish beautifully if it could.

But it didn't. It couldn't- because they had built big, noisy, bustling cities that were expanding every day.

That wasn't the saddest part. To Stella, the saddest part was that most of them didn't know what a sky full of stars looked like. They didn't know what it was like, for starlight to shine above their heads as bright as the moon. They didn't know what it was like for the sky to glitter above them, like a blanket with tiny sewn jewels.

That was the saddest part. They didn't know. To her, it was sadder than being forgotten- because how can you forget the beauty of something you've never seen?

The ancient earthlings had loved the stars. They'd gaze up at them, wondering about the infinite cosmic abyss that lay beyond them- they'd worship the sun, moon and the stars, create patterns among them to tell their tales- and use the stars even for the most trivial parts of their daily lives. Be it the seasons, or navigations through stormy seas or dark nights.

The modern earthlings? Not so much.

An automatic pout settles on her lips.

"They even talk unusually," Elisabel says, making her snap her attention back to the present, "they make way too much use of contractions, and- and slang."

She shudders as if that's the most horrible thing she's heard, making Stella's pout dissolve as she cracks a smile at her.

"I can talk like them to blend in," she says reassuringly, with an amused look, before that melts into something somber, "but now, my descent will be prolonged. I am going to have to help them investigate it."

"You will," Elisabel says, giving her a look of pity, "and the descent will dull your senses too."

Stella stiffens slightly in realization.

That would be another hindrance.

She hadn't mentioned the scent, neither had she mentioned the promise to anyone- but it was evident that dulled senses would mean that she would no longer be able to sense betrayal in the air, and neither would she receive heavenly assistance from anyone for that.

This investigation was going to be more difficult for her than she had previously anticipated.

She shakes her head. Oh, stars. The things I'm doing for a human.

"Well," she says with an air of finality after a few seconds of silence, "I must leave. I'll see Rain and Aspen off before I descend. Thank you, for your help."

"You seem to be doing an awful lot of thinking for this descent," Elisabel raises a questioning eyebrow. "Special human, eh?"

Stella pauses, aware of her calculating eyes. It takes her a few seconds of trying to reign in the emotion that wants to break out in his memory, but ultimately, she can't help it.

She smiles. The kind of soft smile reserved for something you were really attached to.

"Yes," she breathes softly, making no attempt to hide the adoration for the man in her voice, "Yes, he is, if I'd say so myself."

"Alright then," Elisabel's lips lift up into a fond smile as she gazes at the young angel in front of her, "Do what you must for him."

The angel in front of her was young, younger than them all, but oh, was she an angel in the truest sense. Not in simply kindness, but in strength, intelligence, morals, and mindfulness. Even if it was barely any relative time and even if they would be constantly watching over her- her bright, youthful presence in heaven would be missed.

Elisabel shakes her head at that ridiculous thought. It wasn't like Stella was going to spend too long there, anyway.

"Farewell," she says, as the young angel's wings ready for flight, "Take care, Stella."

She turns back to give Elisabel a smile. It was as confident as it was alluring, with a hint of cheekiness that made her youth shine through it- but for a second, just for a fraction of a moment- the sight of her smile makes a tiny tinge of worry and doubt flare in Elisabel.

Her own smile droops.

It was strange. 

Her smile droops some more. A furrow finds it's way to her eyebrows, deepening in sudden worry.

It was really strange how the doubt was spreading through her chest, into her mind- making a sudden chill sweep across her skin as goosebumps rise and the feathers of her wings bristle. 

She had never gotten bad feelings about things like this. It was going to be a mere descent, but why did it feel like it was going to be much more than that?

Aside from the sudden worry, confusion bloomed in her chest. Because for the first time in a long while, Elisabel didn't know what to make of her thoughts.

Stella, for once, didn't seem to notice, however. It was rare for someone as sharp-minded as her to miss something like that, but Elisabel knew that even if she said something to persuade her otherwise, Stella's mind was set on this descent.

She shoots Elisabel another reassuring smile, unaware of the turmoil that had bloomed in her mind, before taking off into the sky.

"Do not fret, Elisabel- I will!"

Thank you for reading, do vote and comment!

What are y'all's thoughts on what's going to happen in the future though? O.o

Also on a little personal note, while I had always wanted to write something under the action/adventure genre, and the paranormal world- especially angels- I also began to build the plot of this story based on my love for the stars. I've always thought astronomy is an underappreciated science, and I'm actually really into it, so I'm channeling some of my appreciation into this writing. It makes me feel great that others have the same appreciation! <3


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