Hope for the Hopeless

Location: Cecilia's house - description in profile
Date: April 12th 2021
Time: 11.40
Weather: It's bright and sunny
Outfit: Link
Topic for: @Uriel
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She sat on the couch with her hands over her head, why was the world like this? How could it be, that everything just tumbled down around her? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. It was painful and the darkness tried to cloud her thoughts, but luckily she was still pushing through it. There had to be some light in the end of this tunnel. The main good thing in her life right now was Lucas, and she held on to that light so tightly, almost afraid it would slip away if she let go. Cecilia picked up the book Michael had given her last summer, and placed it on her lap. Her doe eyes looked through the pages, trying to find once again if there was anything she had missed out on. Her eyes landed on the archangels, funny how they had always been a part of her culture growing up. When she had been in trouble as a kid, she had always been told you could pray to Uriel if you wanted wisdom for a challenge ahead or inspiration to new ideas. Cecilia took a deeper breath in. She hadn't heard from Remiel, other than Tien had described an angel coming for Eden that night. The angel of hope.. then there was Michael, who had told her the story of who she looked like. Cecilia still wondered about that story, but she hadn't really had much time to process it before the next wave of destruction had hit.

Laila was at the house today, which was one of the reasons Cecilia was home. She knew she couldn't stay with them forever, but she came by at least once a day, even if it was only a few hours. At least Seraphina was speaking now, and she thanked Ryan for that. Her mind wondered back to the angels as she turned the next page. "Uriel.." She mumbled a little bit to herself, and looked up from the book shortly as a light started showing up in the room. "Please tell me I didn't do that again," she mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes shortly before turning around. Then closing the book and smiled nervously at Uriel. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to."

Joel had been wandering around in a city for a couple of months, asking if anyone had seen Kasumi, and receiving pity-money once in a while from strangers. People felt sad that he wandered around asking only for one person. With the money he had received, he had entered a shop and asked for a coffee – he had learnt something the last five or six years. He had only just received the coffee and was about to hand the coins to the barista, when his name was called.

The coins hit the both a vase for a plant and the floor. He blinked a couple of times, starring at the plant he stood in front of. Had he just unwillingly stolen a coffee? He frowned slightly before he heard a voice behind him. He turned around with a slightly confused frown. He mouthed a word, since he decided it wasn’t the right sentence he wanted to say. “Excuse me, who are you?” he asked looking at the quite comfy looking girl in her couch, before he slowly squatted down and picked up the coins with his free hand. The coins were Swedish. His face wasn’t newly shaven and his clothing not newly washed – he looked somewhat homeless.

Cecilia got up from the couch, she wanted to apologize. He looked far less angry than Remiel had been, and looked way more confused. The strong aura followed him, just like the others, but there was something different about him. He looked so confused. Of course given the entire summoning, it made sense - she understood one would be confused. "I'm sorry.. My name is Cecilia," she held her breath for a short moment. Why did he look like a homeless guy? Even Remiel and Micheal were nicely dressed, so she had assumed archangels were just into fashion - in some sense - anything but looking like a homeless guy. "I accidently summoned you here.. I'm sorry," for what she knew she had just summoned an archangel. And just because she had met two, it didn't mean she knew anything about them. She really needed to learn how she was able to summon archangels, or at least how to control it - but maybe it was fate. Maybe these things happened for a reason, as Michael said, there was such thing as fate. Perhaps, she just had the power to push it a bit. "Can I.. give you anything?"

His light brown eyes followed her as she got up from the couch. She presented herself. He shrugged slightly as she mentioned that she had summoned him, “It happens. I don’t have that much control of it either,” he replied and took a sip of his coffee. His eyes were almost staring at her over the reusable cup. He had no clue why he was there – as always – so he kind of waited for her to tell him what was going on. Not that he was the man with a job to do anything, but she had ‘summoned’ him after all?
Can I give you anything? He frowned slightly before he looked at his coffee and back to Cecilia. “Well, if you got some milk for this, that’d be great” he said and pulled a slightly goofy smile. He also was reminded that he hadn’t presented himself yet, so he stretched an arm towards her to greet her properly. “Name’s Joel.”

She had no idea what was going on, luckily she knew who she had summoned - but he looked so confused, she couldn't help but wonder why he looked so lost. It was the first red flag that something wasn't as it were supposed to be. "Milk, got it," she replied and walked towards the kitchen connected to the dining room, she took the milk from the kitchen and handed it to him. Cecilia took his hand as he had reached it out as he presented himself, she took it in a firm grib. Name's Joel, she narrowed her eyes a little bit looking confused for a moment - that was not the name she had called upon. Cecilia let go of his hand and took a slightly deeper breath in. If it wasn't because she was very aware to the fact she had summoned Uriel, the name could have thrown her completely off. Maybe he was on the run? Needed some kind of cover name in case anyone would be listening. Perhaps it was a matter of not wanting her to know who he was? Cecilia pushed herself out of her overthinking mind, but it was that feeling she had way to often these days. Something was off. Should she call for his brothers? One of them at least. "Sorry," she realized she might have been staring a bit at him. "But you don't really look anything like I imagined," she confessed a bit more blunt than she wanted to. "Perhaps the face and the hair.. but not the whole.. homeless look, what is up with that?" She frowned a bit by herself and licked her lips. "Sorry that was.. rude of me to say."

Joel watched her enter he kitchen to grab the milk, and walked towards the nearest tabletop, so he could take the lid of his coffee and have his hands free to greet her. She came back with the milk and he placed it next to the coffee before he greeted her. Her grip was firm, but his at least as firm. He had met a whole lot of people the last many years and greeted them. He knew the worst feeling was a weak and loose hand, and he never wanted to give anyone that feeling – even though he could feel insecure about almost everything. Something about the way she looked at him, made him believe that something seemed mysterious and he wondered if it was his name that was unknown in this country – it was a possibility after all!
She kept staring, and he turned his head slightly wondering what was up with her. She apologized, let go of their handshake and a smile appeared on his lips, only to crumble a few seconds later when she confessed that he didn’t look anything like she had imagined. He looked down at himself. Was he supposed to look like something different? “Excuse me?” he said before he looked up at her again – still confused. The face. The hair. Homeless.
“Homeless?” he asked rhetorically, before she once again apologized. He shook his head, opened the milk and poured it into his coffee before he handed it back to her. “How did you expect me to look? And do you know me or have I missed something?” he questioned.

Cecilia shook her head a little bit, giving him an smile and hoped he wouldn't be too offended by her words. Sadly, she wasn't sleeping the best and the only reason she managed to even get a little sleep was because she felt safe having Lucas around. But between Eden's death, Maeve's kidnapping and the nightmares that followed from that, she sometime forgot to think before speaking. "Uhm," she lifted her hand up to her head and scratched herself slightly nervous behind the ear for a short moment and spun around towards the living room where she took the book from the coffee table. She opened it while holding it with the other hand as she searched for the page that said something about him. She knew Lucas didn't want her to count too much on the book, mostly because of it being from a person as black and white as Michael. Cecilia still used it for sake of information that could help her with some things, along with the books she had borrowed from Nigel. "There, this is how i imagined you." She pointed at the page where a smaller sketch were made. "Hold it for a second, I need to call for someone," she excused herself and walked back out to the kitchen where she was at least alone. Cecilia took a deeper breath in and closed her eyes. "Okay Remiel.. it's been a while, and you are most likely very busy - but hey I'm not summoning you this time.. so please just hear this prayer - it's not as urgent.. as .. you.. yeah you get it. I happened to summon Uriel.. not long ago.. but I don't know, something is off.. so, yeah.. I thought you should know," she prayed and opened her eyes on the next exhale. She just hoped he heard it, or that he at least would send her a message on what to do.

Cecilia returned to the living room as she had summoned her phone to her hand. "Can't go around this one," which wasn't a lie, sadly enough she hung onto that phone in case of any news - whether it was about her cousin or if the Nelson kids needed anything. She gave Uriel a warm smile as she held her breath for a while - just hoping Remiel would show.

This year had been the biggest whirlwind of absolute, complete craze. Remiel sincerely couldn't recall ever having had so many ridiculous things happen to him in such a short period of time and couldn't help but wonder if this was a sign, that he should just go back to permanently live in the forest. Imera had already told him that he could stay and it was only ever too easy to lose himself in their little world of beauty and nature and blonde curls and lilac eyes. It didn't change the. fact that didn't sleep much. The dark circles under his eyes only testified to that fact; not to mention that he still wasn't feeling back to his normal self. It had been months since he'd had a good nights sleep, constantly waking up, shouting from nightmares. About Eden dying. About Samael. About Maeve Poe's disappearance. About Egypt and the plagues. About just about any bad memory he had ever lived. Somehow, even though Eden had been reborn six days later and Remiel got healthier and stronger each day, the world had lost a little bit of its magic.

Uriel.
Remy sat up, pushing himself away from the rough bark of the tree he had been sitting by. Had he dosed off? With furrowed eyebrows he scanned the forrest floor before shaking his head a little. It had probably been the beginning of another nightmare.
He squinted his eyes. No, no. It wasn't a dream. Was someone praying to him? Remiel closed his eyes to focus on the voice he had heard, trying to distinguish it from the chatter of prayers that floated through the air every second of every day.
There!
Just hear this prayer - it's not as urgent.
Was that Cecilia? She sounded awfully hesitant and it made him feel bad for not having been able to give her any good news regarding her cousin. Before everything with Samael, he had spent a few days looking into the disappearance of Maeve Poe, but had come up empty handed. Something that still bothered him. He had looked for her every day he could - only able to hear her faint whispering prayers through whatever kind of magic shield, she posessed.
I happened to summon Uriel.
Remiel's entire body stiffened. What!? I don't know, something is off. It was the second time in a few weeks he had heard of Uriel. Eos had told him that she had found a lead and then mysteriously disappeared; yet another thing on the list of things that kept him up at night.
He stumbled off the floor, rapidly dusting off the remains of dry leaves and twigs from his clothes, not even giving himself time to consider whether or not he was strong enough to transport himself, before he closed his eyes and let the light consume him; teleporting to wherever Cecilia's voice had come from.

A kitchen.
He could feel him. By the Lord God had it been years since he had felt that exact aura. She had said something was off, so however much Remiel wanted to, he didn't run in and embrace him, but tread carefully. He didn't want to be disappointed with yet another false lead.
"Uri?" He called, his voice shaking a little, before turning around the corner of the kitchen, searching the eyes of his dearest brother.

His light brown eyes studied the woman in front of him, looking just about as confused as he did, scratching herself behind her ear. She turned to grab a book and started turning pages. He put the lid on his coffee before he took a sip of it, waiting for her to find whatever she was looking for. Was it some kind of old fashion magazine? He had seen some new fashion magazines, and he knew that he wasn’t really dressed like that, but come on, what did she expect of him? It wasn’t like he was famous and rich!
She pointed on a page and he stepped closer to look over her shoulder, before she handed it to him. With his free hand he took the book and studied the look of the sketch. “Take you time, Cecilia,” he said before he started walking around with the book. He was completely occupied with it and almost forgot to sip his coffee.

She came back into the room talking about the phone in her hand. He looked over at her as she spoke and gave her a slight smile. Light appeared behind Cecilia and out from it came a young-looking man around the corner. A welcoming smile appeared on the face of the angel who had forgotten everything. He closed the book in his hand and put it on the nearest surface, before he pointed discretely at the newcomer, looking at Cecilia. “Is this your brother?” he asked with a smile before he approached and stretched an arm towards the guy he thought was Cecilias brother. “Hi. Name’s Joel. What’s your name?” he asked with a bright smile on his lips. At least he could be polite.

Cecilia spun around as the light appeared behind her, he was quick, so perhaps it was more urgent than she thought. Then again, if someone had called and told her Maeve was seen somewhere - she would have been half way there by now. Is this your brother? She frowned a bit looking shortly at Remiel then to look back at Uriel who approached Remiel as if he was a stranger and presented himself.. again as Joel. "This is Remiel, not my brother," she scratched the back of her head while once again letting her eyes catch Remiel. It wasn't a side effect of her abilities, she couldn't pull mind changing tricks and even if her callings were somewhat spontaneous time to time, she still knew she had said Uriel's name. Cecilia walked over where the book was placed and put it away on the book shelf, and took a deeper breath in. She had no idea what would unfold from this, but by the look of Remiel - Cecilia just had a feeling that this was something he had waited for, even if the outcome was odd. If odd could even begin to describe it.

"I will go make some coffee," she excused herself, then grabbed the milk again and wondered the few steps to the kitchen to place the milk back in the fridge. Not knowing what was to come from this, she took a deeper breath in and brewed another can of coffee as she would give a Remiel a fair chance to deal with Uriel without her standing in the way. When the coffee was done she poured it up in two mugs, not knowing if Remiel would even want a cup. But if anything it seemed like the most mundane thing to do - at least to her it was. Cecilia returned after quite some time, and handed Remiel the mug while giving him a brief smile. Then she looked at Uriel, he already had coffee - now they all did. "You can sit down if you want," she suggested and gestured them to the couch. After all she lived for creating a safe place for people to be and just talk.

A flicker of pure joy and amazement flared up in his body when he saw him. Uriel. So many questions raced through his mind. Why had he left? Where had he been? How had he been unable to be tracked? Why had he not given any life signs? The A flicker of pure joy and amazement flared up in his body when he saw him. Uriel. So many questions raced through his mind. Why had he left? Where had he been? How had he been unable to be tracked? Why had he not given any life signs? The welcoming smile filled him with warmth, lighting up his own face in a wide grin as he took a step forwards, ready to greet his brother when -
Is this your brother?

Remiel stopped mid-step. The warmed sieved out from his body leaving him feeling empty. What?! In confusion he turned to Cecilia, squinting his eyes a little skeptically to ask her what on Earth was happening. Uriel stretched out a hand but Remy didn’t grab it. Instead he took a step back. “What’s this?” He asked boldly, looking between the two of them. He swatted away the hand in front of him, turning his dark eyes to Uriel. “Some joke?” He asked, slowly raising an eyebrow. He was getting thoroughly tired of being pulled around; something he had been for a good part of the past year. This was it. “You leave me for six years without a bloody word and this is what you’ve got? Joel?! Really?” He scoffed loudly, spitting out the name like it was a dirty word. He ran a hand through his hair. Then he remembered that Cecilia had said that something was wrong. He puzzled look on Uriels face didn’t seem fake and it made Remy uncomfortable. He furrowed his eyes. “You better be having a laugh, brother,” he said, his voice making it very, very clear that he meant it. This had better be a joke. It couldn’t possibly not be could it? A flickering memory of Irene showed itself in his mind and he shook his head to get rid of it. This couldn’t be the same. Uriel was one of the most powerful archangels. There was no way someone could pull anything like that on him.
Remy took another step back and took the coffee cup with a bewildered look on his face, looking at Cecilia as though she could explain the nonsensical scene in front of him. “Thank you, Cecilia, but I think I’m good standing,” he replied in a whisper.

It was clear by Cecilia’s response that Remiel wasn’t her brother. An ‘oh, okay’ was painted on his face as he shrugged. They must have some other relation then, just one he wasn’t allowed to know of yet. It was alright. Some people had secrets and he didn’t have to know them all – even though he had experienced that some people just confessed out of the blue. There had even been that muscular tanned man who had shared a story about turning a new mother into a werewolf. It was clear that this man hadn’t been wanting to share that information, which was also why that man had threatened Joel not to say a thing. So he had zipped his mouth the best he could.

He smiled and nodded as Cecilia requested that she was going to leave the room, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the young man in front of him. Skepticism floured around him and it was so clear in his facial expressions and the way he moved. Remiel clearly thought something was wrong – but dear Joel knew nothing. He was just about to ask what is what, when Remiel pushed the presenting hand away and asked if it was a joke. Joel blinked a couple of times, retracted his head and tilted it slightly, confused by what he meant. “What?” he asked.

Had Joel offended him in some way? He was trying to figure out what this man was babbling about. Joel knew that he had met Kasumi six years ago in Canada. Remiel clearly had some trouble or had lost someone dear to him. It was quite a puzzle. Brother. He frowned a lot. “I’m sorry, Remiel,” he said almost out of breath, even though he hadn’t said a thing. Joel wished to take a step forward and place a hand on Remiel’s shoulder to comfort him, but once again it seemed like he took a step back. Cecilia came back in with coffee for the troubled man and Joel gave her a slight nod, as a thanks to sit down. But as it seemed like the other wished to stand up, he had a feeling that he needed to too.
He looked back at Remiel. “I’m sorry for your loss… But-… I’m not the one you think I am,” he said and shook his head gently. “I don’t have a brother,” he said not letting go of Remiel’s eyes. He wanted this man to believe him. Joel had only known the life in Canada and the sudden transportations different places. He knew that he wanted to find Kasumi, as if she was the only thing important to him.

Cecilia sighed a bit, it wasn't a joke it was far from a joke. Up to a point, she knew what she was doing, but standing between divine powers from archangels she couldn't help but doubt her own abilities. There was way to much unsolved tension in the room and she held her breath for a while. Cecilia nodded a bit and felt slightly uncomfortable between what ever was going on here. It was clearly not a situation she belonged in, and therefor she also felt like she couldn't say anything. What did you say in a situation like this either way. I’m not the one you think I am, she frowned a bit, most have looking oddly confused for a second, because she was sure - and she trusted her gut feeling on this. I don’t have a brother, once again she narrowed her eyes a bit more confused. Then she remembered something, a few facts and stories from Ajax. She only remembered because he had told her she had a locked door that was hiding some memories from her. Memories he had said he would unlocked if she wanted him too. Cecilia shook the thought in the back of her mind, as if it was important right now either way.

"I swear - I know who I summoned," she whispered while she looked at Remiel. It looked mostly like an error on her behalf. In frustration she ran a hand over the left side of her face and further over her hair as she stepped over to the bookshelf again. After placing the cup on the shelf, Cecilia took a deeper breath in and opened the book finding the page she had been looking at, and also the page she had showed Uriel few seconds ago. She then walked over to Remiel to prove, or at least attempt to prove she was right. "If I was wrong he wouldn't be here." She said in a lower voice and took a deeper breath in. It was weird looking Remiel in the eyes again, the last time had been in February and a lot of stuff had happened after. She knew he had heard her the day with Eden, because Tien had told her two angels showed up. But other than that, she hadn't heard from him and the kids hadn't either. Then she turned over to Uriel and gave him a warmer smile. "So, Joel - I'm sorry about all of that.. Now that you are here, perhaps tell us something about yourself.. you look, like you have some stories waiting to be told," she gave him a warmer smile hoping to set the mood in a more comforting setting. Besides if Uriel felt uncomfortable he might just leave, and she wanted to prevent that for happening.

How wholly, entirely hurtful it was to hear his name come out of Uriel’s mouth. It felt like a sharp knife to his heart. Full name. No playful nickname. No sarcastic verbal jab. No ‘brother’. Just Remiel. It nearly made him wince and his face must’ve pulled a pained expression by the sound. He turned to Cecilia, baffled by the unexpected hurt he felt from the whole scenario. "No, I know you do," he replied apologetically, making sure she knew he wasn't doubting her or her abilities in the slightest. He had a bitter taste in his mouth. He didn't need the book; he didn't need proof at all in fact. Uriel's aura was all he needed. No one could fake that - no one could copy it. It was him, there was no doubt about it. Even if he looked scruffy and chronically confused; this was is brother.
I’m sorry for your loss.
Time stood still around them. Remy tilted his head very slowly, displaying nothing but pure disbelief in his face as he did so before spinning around on his heel to face Uriel. “Excuse me?” He snapped. His voice was dangerously low. What was this?! What was happening? I’m not the one you think I am?! Had it been anybody else maybe he could have laughed it off but not Uriel. Not his twin brother. Not the angel of truth. He didn’t lie. He wouldn’t lie. Not to Remy. That was the damn deal.
And then he had his heart broken all over again. He felt it shatter right then, as if someone had physically smashed it onto the floor below them. It hadn't fully healed after the loss of Eden. Even if she had come back, it had still been broken and now he felt it again. The same overwhelmingly sharp stabbing pain. The 5 words echoed in his head like something from a nightmare.
I don’t have a brother.
His body tensed. A low rumble of thunder echoed above them.
I don’t have a brother.
He clenched his jaw. A flash of lightning lit up the living room.
I don’t have a brother.

Remy took two quick steps forwards, nearly flying across the floor, swiftly grabbing onto the collar of either of the million layers of shabby clothing Uriel was wearing, pushing him backwards; completely ignoring whatever diplomatic words the human girl next to him tried to smooth over the tension.
“Don’t lie to me!” He roared, his thunderous voice competing with the rumbling sky. “Do not - lie to me.”

Joel didn’t really understand the whole thing about Cecilia knowing who she had summoned. Joel didn’t know who she was, neither did it seem like she knew him – except for how he was supposed to look.
Remiel simply didn’t seem like he understood. Joel was apologizing, as if Remiel had lost someone dear and there was no way Remiel could’ve lost Joel – was there?

As Joel told him, that Joel wasn’t the person who Remiel thought he was, he could feel trouble awaiting. Nothing lethal at least. Therefore, he was prepared when he said he didn’t have a brother. Thunder seemed to appear above them, but Joel still kept a straight face. He could clearly see where things were going. Lightning hit, just as he had expected and suddenly Remiel took off.
Though everything was expected, predicted to the point, the feeling of pain and heartbreak was overwhelming and completely muted the peaceful voice of the woman. He didn’t understand why Remiel was acting out this much – or at least he hadn’t predicted it yet. The hurt in the voice of Remiel made Joel blink multiple times and stiffen his body. The words were repeated.
Hesitatingly he raised his free hand to pat him on the chest, where a heart would be. Exactly where Joel had nothing. “I-I’m sorry,” he apologized with a low voice – a voice which had been used many times before in situations alike over the last seven hundred thousand years. “But I really do not know anything about a brother – I just… I am just me…” he tried to explain before he would remove his hand from Remiel’s chest to the hand which had grabbed onto some of the many layers Joel was wearing hoping that he would let go. “Or, you know I hav-… I had Kasumi,” he corrected himself. He was still completely lost on how he could come back to Canada, since he didn’t know how to teleport.

The sound of thunder made her look around the room, and she took a deeper breath in, feeling her heart skip a few beats a head. The lightning made her jump back and stare at Remiel as he collided towards Uriel. Remiel roared like the thunder and made her take a deeper breath in. Archangels colliding wasn't really her usual conflict, but then again, conflicts had become her usual thing. However, Remiel acted out on his brother not knowing who he was - she didn't know how long they hadn't seen each other, she didn't know their story or anything at all, but the frustration was pretty clear. She held the book close to her chest while looking at them, realizing she held her breath till she saw Uriel pat Remiel on the chest. Maybe Uriel.. Joel suffered from infantile or dissociative amnesia; dissociative fugue, trauma or stress could affect the brain in mysteries ways. Not that she would diagnose anyone by simply looking at them, but there was something going on - and it wasn't anything good. It was weird, standing among archangels, shouldn't you have a good feeling? It wasn't the tension from Remiel being in the face of Uriel, even through that helped a lot. Cecilia couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong. She didn't say much, there was really nothing for her to say so she just stood there and watched, hoping the archangels wouldn't wreck the house.

Remy drew back a sharp breath as Uriel's hand touched his chest. He could feel the heat through the thin fabric of his white linen shirt. It nearly had him flinch. There was nothing at all to suggest that he was lying in any way; a light stutter, the low voice, the lightly flushed cheeks. He knew when people lied - not in the way Uriel knew, but in the way that the body would always show a sign and after 700.000 years, they were easy to find. Looking at Uriel there was no such tell. Actually there was very few tells at all which was a bit odd.
The rain remained steady, but the thunder slowly died down; leaving the room quiet and feeling empty. Exactly like him.
Remy's keen eyes observed every movement his brother made. The insides of his eyebrows turned upwards in a pained expression by the words. As soon as Uriel removed his hand, and grabbed hold of Remy's, he released the shirt. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He was so easy to get caught up in his anger these days. Eos had called it ptsd but he wasn't sure he believed in that. He'd been through many bad things in life and it had never affected him like this.

He took a step back, searching for Cecilia's eyes. "I'm sorry," he repeated, seeing how she clenched onto the book in her hands, before she turned back to Uriel with a puzzled face. "A, who?" He asked. That felt like another stab right in the heart. He didn't remember his own brother and felt no loss but he was missing someone else while Remy had been missing him for years. He felt betrayed though he knew he shouldn't. Whatever had happened to Uriel most probably wasn't his fault. Once again his keen eyes studied his brother for any sign of truth about what had happened to him, when it slowly dawned on him what had been wrong. There really was way too little going on. Most people had a quite visible pulse and even when they didn't, there was a very little change of colour in their skin - rhythmically showing when the blood flow from the heart would push out. Uriel had none of that. No change of colour and no pulse.
No pulse.
Remy turned around, regarding Cecilia with furrowed eyebrows. "Is there anything about Rebekah Sinclair in your little book?" He asked. His voice had been overly emotional since he had arrived but now it felt hollow and almost sad. If what he was thinking was true, it would be the biggest mess. He cast a sideway glance to Uriel, wanting to pick up if the name had any meaning to him.

Joel was speechless and therefore only nodded in a rolling motion to the apology. He was so confused and it seemed like this man too was very confused. The lightbrown eyes were locked on the man in front of him and didn’t really pay attention to what was going on with the woman who seemingly had summoned him. Cecilia, that was her name. Uriel could also tell that this man was truly hurt, and truly believed that he was someone Joel was not.

Remiel pulled away apologized to Cecilia, but only for a moment, before he turned his attention back to Joel. “Not a,” he corrected shaking his head a bit. He felt like everyone should know Kasumi, but no one seemed to know her. “Kasumi He, a girl from North Rustico,” - “Canada,” he said, knowing that many had asked where that was. Some would probably think that he had caught onto an attitude – but he just really wanted to find her. Reunite.

… Rebekah Sinclair… It didn’t even ring a bell. He took his chance and let both hands seek to his pockets. One hand caught an adder stone with a lace around it, and the other grabbed a phone that a friend of his had given him. For emergencies. Like this? With a few touches on the screen, he figured his location, screenshotted it and send it to Jezebel. If he got the time, he would try to send another text:


Joel had tried multiple times to figure out if he could contact Kasumi in the same way, but it seemed like she had no social media – or maybe he just didn’t really get the technology yet. Probably both.

I'm sorry Remiel apologized, and she just nodded a few times and finally breathed out, before slowly losing her grip around herself and the book. Clearly Remiel was hurt and lashing out was more mundane than he might realize. Then again, she didn't know their story or what had happened between them, she was just the unknown human in the room with archangels. A year ago, she would have laughed about that statement. So, Uriel was looking for a girl in Canada - so she had basically taken him away from his search, or at least on the lunch break of his search.

Is there anything about Rebekah Sinclair in your little book? Cecilia took a deeper breath in and sat down on the back of the couch opening the book, looking shortly up at him, "you okay?" she asked in a lower voice and took a deeper breath in. No way he was alright, it was painted in his voice and having been the one to get him here, she felt slightly responsible for his sadness. But perhaps they could figure out what was wrong, or what had happened. Before things got worse. Cecilia then on the next inhale started to look around in the book. "I reckon there was something about the queen of hearts," she mumbled a little, Cecilia's own little nickname after she had seen Rebekah rip the heart out of that warlock's chest back in February. Quickly she snapped out of that memory again as she flipped to the next page, scanning to find something about the redhaired witch. "Here," she handed Remiel the book, he seemed to be searching for a specific answer to the problem.

Cecilia's attention was mainly focused on Remiel and the whole Rebekah area of this. She had no intentions on getting involved with Rebekah again, their first meeting had left a mark of fear from that witch - knowing she wasn't to be messed with. "What is your theory?" Cecilia asked Remiel in a lower voice, curious and yet a part of her didn't want to get involved, the other part just couldn't help it.


Jezebel sighed a bit and right away started making phone calls, she at least had a few favors to get from a witch. Besides Remiel with a lost Uriel, it did sound like trouble, and she hadn't come this far to just having Remiel fry Uriel's brain with what just one big error. So, if she could get a witch friend of hers to teleport her, that would just be great.


"Where is Kasumi now?" Cecilia asked and looked at Uriel a bit curiously. It seemed like he was looking, and maybe that person could also be the root to one of the reasons why he had no idea who he was? Being a bit sceptic about things she didn't understand, it was perhaps the best way to look at things, especially as he texted someone. Who was he texting?

A girl from New Rustico, Canada.
He had been in Canada all this time? Remy had to look away, hiding his wince behind his hand that reached to run across the lower part of his face, seemingly lost in thought. He still had his entire focus on his brother, noticing every little movement and emotion in his confused face. He tried to control his anger, he really did, but it was absolutely infuriating knowing he was more keen on looking for this girl, than he had been to find his way home. He raised an eyebrow at Uriel as the angel fished his phone out of his pocket. A phone. By the good Lord. He had turned Earthly.
Remiel had to physically bite his cheek to keep himself from snapping and going off again. He spun around on his heal, facing Cecilia with a stoic determination in his usually mild face.
You okay?
Strange, he thought. After everything that had happened to him, he couldn't actually recall anyone having asked him this for a long time, because he so obviously wasn't. He was close to breaking. Actually he had broken about a million times this past month, and it seemed that every new little thing had him in danger of breaking again. "No," he replied in honesty, managing a sheepish smile at the brunette. "No I'm not." He took the chance to reach out to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that I disappeared," he added; clearly referring to Eden's death and more urgently about her children. Remy might have not been around, knowing that the kids would probably hate him with a fiery passion, having taken away their mother - he had however kept an eye on them and helped from the shadows whenever he could. Cecilia had proved to be the most valuable person in the family household, and although he had never shown himself, he hoped she knew that he had at least tried to help. At least a little. "Thank you for being there for them." And that was enough of that, he thought, turning his attention to the book. It sounded like Cecilia was already familiar with the witch. Remy despised the woman with a passion. He wasn't easily scared but Rebekah Sinclair made the fine hairs on his neck stand up. He scanned the pages, fully focused on the task ahead. "Not a lot of people are strong enough to erase the memory of an Archangel," he explained in a soft tone, trying to nok make it into a big deal or to put pressure on the title, knowing that Uriel probably wouldn't know that he was just that. Not in this state anyway. He raised his eyes to find his brother's, trying his best to not look emotional and hurt every time they locked eyes. "Put away your phone, this is important," he said harshly, stretching his arm to hand the book to Uriel. "Do you recognise this woman?"

Joel eavesdropped that it seemed like Remiel didn’t feel well at the time, and that he was thankful that Cecilia had been there for someone. It awoke a little curiosity, but he didn’t wish to dig into wounds that seemed to be bleeding.
A reply was received. Stay where you are. Joel pulled on a slight smile replying with a single thumbs up. Cecilia’s voice made Uriel look up from his phone with a smile, which changed to a thoughtful expression. “Well,” he said and shrugged, “I don’t know actually. I think she’s in Canada, but it’s about… Six… Seven years ago since I saw her?” He pulled on a slightly pained smile, “Every time I think I’m getting close I spawn somewhere… Like here!” he said and pointed towards the floor with the phone in his hand. So many times, he had gathered enough money or made the right deals to get to Canada, but then out of the blue, he would be somewhere else, unable to get to the deal he had made or simply losing the money he had gotten. It was not easy to travel across the world like this.



“Huh? Wha- Now?” Even though it was noon, she still laid in bed. With a grunt Michelle got out of her bed and placed her phone between her ear and shoulder. “Wait, Aston?” she chuckled while she found different materials. Candles, matches, crystals, parchment, and a map. “You have to visit me then!” She kicked away some of her clothing which blocked the wooden floor, before she placed everything very specifically on the floor and lit the candles. “Okay – and where are you?” she asked and bit a hole in her own thumb. “I hope you are ready then!” she said before she hung up the phone and threw it over her shoulder, letting it end up on her bed. Every spell had its price. With a low mumble the light she had lit was killed, the crystals lost saturation and with a quick movement she let her thumb drip twice onto the parchment paper and then connected the dots.


Suddenly Remiel asked Joel to put away his phone, and like a teenager being caught with his phone in class by the teacher, he quickly put it away into his pocket and looked up at Remiel like if he had never had a phone. The widened light brown eyes went from the face of Remiel to the pages of the book he held. A frown appeared on Joel’s face and he approached slowly. When he got close enough, he let his hand grab the bottom of the book and pointed on a sketch of a woman with ginger hair “This woman?” he asked rhetorically. He stared at the picture, studied it, and really tried to remember. There was something about her. Once he looked up to the right, before he looked up at Remiel “I… I don’t know? Maybe I’ve seen her once?” - “Why?”

Cecilia kept her eyes on Remiel, her eyes analyzing how he reacted to her question. So, when he responded she took a slightly deeper breath in. The human hated all the evil that was hanging around this country like a heavy dark cloud, just waiting to let another round of terror rain over them. Cecilia breathed out as he placed his hand on her shoulder and she folded her lips for a while. The times hadn't been easy on any of them, and sometimes she wondered how much more she could take before she would fall completely apart. Cecilia's jaw tensed a little bit as he apologized, and she took a few seconds to breathe. "You should go see them one day," she managed to reply with a small nod. She had managed to handle it, at least the best she could. Not that she had done it all alone, Lucas had helped her and Evelina had been around time to time as well. But she also knew, a part of her knew that the kids would want to know what had happened to their mother. Cecilia didn't know much, much more than Tien had told that the angels had taken Eden's body to Heaven. It had been easier to focus on the kids' grief rather than her own, easier to put her energy there than simply starting questioning what was wrong with this world. Especially after Cael had left with Kemuel, oh she had been furious the day he had come by to leave with the boy. As if he was the only one troubled by his mother's death. Cecilia and Lucas was still far from done trashing that man, because if anything pissed her off it was people like that. She didn't need a thank you for being there for Eden's children, it was pure instinct of hers to protect them after what had happened.

Remiel managed to move her thought from that annoying ex-husband of Eden's by returning her attention to reality. "Then there are chances she didn't work alone?" She suggested, not really knowing a lot about people and their abilities. Rebekah was strong, she had seen firsthand how the witch had killed and tortured people with her magic - she had even seen the witch rip out another person's heart, right in front of her. Cecilia had seen a lot at work, given her working in the trauma department mostly, but the supernatural part of everything was something else. Cecilia crossed her arms and watched Remiel walk over to Uriel to see if he knew Rebekah. The human frowned to herself, sensing something, feeling slightly odd but blamed it on a vision that she tried to suppress not really wanting to zone out from this situation. Maybe I’ve seen her once, she knew that sentence itself would be enough to confirm at least a bit of Remiel's theories. Why would Rebekah delete the memory of an archangel? Was it even her? Cecilia took a deeper breath in, she had to not get in the middle of this. She had promised Luke to at least try to stay out of archangel stuff, and here she was - in the middle of archangel stuff, at least she was trying.

"Maybe I can provide a little excitement?" A voice sounded behind all of them, as the fallen angel was teleported to the living room. She took a few steps closer not really looking at the human at first. Remiel was the main reason why she had hurried here. "Good to see you are in one piece Joel, Remiel, why don't you take a step back and let him breathe," she suggested with a calmer tone, taking a few steps closer towards the angels. Jezebel didn't look completely like herself, overall, her aura was the same and most of her facial features had been restored from the fire a handful of years back. To people who knew her, it wasn't hard to see behind the smaller changes. Shortly she turned around looking at the human in the room. "You got to be joking," she breathed out and starting shaking her head a little bit. "I know all about doppelgangers, but I will be damned. Out of all people, you stole my face," she said almost spiteful. "That is just bloody amazing," she mumbled to herself. Jezebel took a deeper breath in, noting to herself that she would deal with that later. What a cruel joke for God to place her face on a human. Jezebel looked back at Uriel then looking at Remiel. "What?"

Remy's jaw tensed.
It’s about… Six… Seven years ago since I saw her.
That was exactly how long it had been since Remy had last seen him. He couldn't even remember what they had last talked about. Had it been a fight? Was that the reason Uriel had taken off without sharing his destination with him? And now Eos that had said she had found a clue but not bloody told him where the clue had led her to. He noted down in his thoughts, that maybe he should try to find her, as soon as he was done here - she was usually fairly easy to locate and unless whoever had did this to Uriel had put the same anti-tracking spell on Eos, he was confident he could find her. He had to look away to not overwhelm himself with jealousy of Uriel so desperately searching for some girl when Remiel had been searching for his brother.
You should go see them one day.
The surge of guilt hit him in his stomach and his eyes shot up to lock with Cecilia's. He knew that. Of course he knew, he had been a bloody coward, but the soft reminder didn't help. He simply returned the nod, trying not to look too tense but failing miserably, as his lips pinched together to a sharp line. He didn't know how he could look them in the eyes after all this. He didn't even know if Cecilia knew that Eden had returned to her body or that she had merged with Zadkiel and apparently taken over his duties. Remiel had spent every day since, avoiding her aura, unable to face her, just as he had been unable to face her children.

Cecilia's next words dragged him out of his selfpity, and he looked up at her, a little baffled at the suggestion. Rebekah did usually work alone, but you could never rule anything out. It could be that Uriel had offended someone that had paid Rebekah for her services; but in the end the Witch was as selfish as they got. "It's possible," he replied a little stiffly. "You never know with someone like her."
Remy's eyes regarded Uriel's hand, as it grabbed around the book. The urge of grabbing onto his hand was so overwhelming, that he nearly let go of the book. He cleared his throat, looking away as Uriel looked back up at him. "It seems she might have taken your, uh -" Remy hesitated. Was it a bad idea to mention the heart? For someone who didn't know how that kind of magic worked it might be too overwhelming, and he assumed that since Uriel didn't have any memories, he wouldn't know a single thing about it. "Memories," he ended the sentence.
He had hardly finished the words when the strangest sensation hit him, and made him furrow his eyebrows. Then a flash of light.

Maybe I can provide a little excitement?
This voice was not a voice he would ever forget. What the hell. She looked different but she felt just the same. Just the same indeed. He had letten go of the book, allowing it to fall to the ground as he looked at her; studied her with a straight face, not showing a single emotion after that initial flinch of surprise. Jezebel. She turned to Cecilia and Remy finally moved, taking a step towards the small-framed human next to him, standing somewhat between the fallen angel and her.
"Back off, Jez," he muttered in a low sneer. Her innocent lille 'what' made a flare of anger blossom in him, and he narrowed his eyes at her. What the Hell was going on here. She had referred to Uriel as Joel; clearly knowing who he used to be. "Is this your doing?" He asked coldly. "Is this you? I swear Jez, I will kill you if you have taken any part in this." She knew. Her of all people; she knew exactly how close Uriel and Remiel had always been and she would undoubtedly know just how much pain it brung him to see his brother like this.

Joel noticed how Remiel tensed a bit when he mentioned when he had last seen Kasumi. The way Remiel seemed to have to look away made it clear that this guy truly missed his brother. It was somewhat painful to watch, even though he had never known how it felt like to lose a family member.
They were talking about how this queen of hearts seemingly might’ve worked with someone else to do something, but he didn’t really pay attention before he stood with the picture right in front of him. Once again Remiel didn’t want to look into his eyes. It made Joel frown, even more when it seemed like Remiel hesitated with his words. Memories. He furrowed his brows just a notch. Was he lying? With a slight stare, his ability for people in his surroundings to confess started. “This woman took my memories?” he asked. Though Joel was looking directly at Remiel, his presence and voice also had an impact.

Just moments after the well-known presence of Jezebel appeared and Joel turned his face towards her with a big bright smile. A smile Uriel used to give his dearest brother followed by a nickname and a hug “Jez!” Joel said and opened his arms a bit. Joel had never really been the one to hug her, but his movement was to welcome her inside. The open arms closed as soon as the book hit the floor, letting his eyes look towards Remiel and the book. Jezebel seemed to know him and even asked for him to leave Uriel alone. It had all been quite the event, and it would indeed be nice to get a bit of air.
When it seemed like Jezebel confronted Cecilia for being a doppelganger, Joel let his eyes wander from one woman to the other a couple of times before he saw the similarities. The girls did really look like each other, but there was just something about Jezebel that gave another feeling.
Suddenly it seemed like Remiel was holding on to every bad feeling he could, accusing her for something, something about Joel himself. It didn’t take long before Joel stepped in front of Remiel, being between him and Jezebel. “Don’t you dare touch Jezebel,” he said looking furious at Remiel placing a hand on Remiel’s chest. The expression lightened a bit. “She’s my friend.”

Cecilia's heart skipped a few beats watching this fallen angel looking at her with such spite. Almost like starring into your own reflecting, but when you looked long enough you could see the small features that made sure you could tell them apart. Her heart was heavy for a small second till Remiel stepped a little bit in front of her, making Jezebel back off for now. The human didn't say a thing in this matter, this seemed to be a matter for the angels, and she was just hosting them in her house.

Jezebel raised a brow at Remiel as he not only did accuse her of being involved in this, but also simply threating her if she was. "Oh come on, seriously? How petty do you think I am? I have a life thank you so very much for asking Rem," she replied a bit snarkier, clearly offended by would even suggest she had anything she had done. Uriel stepped in front of them, like a shield to protect her from Remiel. She took a deeper breath in, feeling sad for Remiel for a moment, knowing that in any other given situation - Uriel would have chosen to shield him within a second, not her. Jezebel had found Uriel like this, and with her given powers she knew she couldn't do much than to try find a way to trigger his memories. But she also didn't want to fry his brain or make any deals with power hungry people - she had done that one too many times. "Why the fuck are you so pissy anyways?" Jezebel asked and looked at Remiel. One thing was all of this. It bloody sucked, she understood that. But he seemed on edge, done if anything.

"I'm here to help, nothing else." Jezebel placed a hand on Uriel's shoulder and breathed out, letting him know it was alright. She hadn't looked Remiel in the eyes for far too many years, and it was like someone ripped her heart out and ran over it a few times, only to place it back in her chest, to be reminded of how close they had been back then. Then again, he was standing in a room, having shield the human - who happened to look just like Jezebel had done back then.