It took me by surprise

Michael had just returned to the bunker from a meeting in Heaven when he heard shuffling in the library. Sensing a strong aura of positivity and light, he first thought it was another angel. It gave the most sense since his family was the only ones who had access to the place. But once he stepped closer, he realized that there was something off about it. Like it missed its holiness.
He stopped in the doorway to the library, arriving just in time to witness a book being thrown over Elenora’s shoulder. “Careful—” was all he uttered before he sent a flow of wind towards her, stopping the book mid-air and flying it into his hand. “—with those,” he ended and glanced to the cover of the book in his hand; a Persian, leather-bound book on religion. He walked closer to her and placed the book on a wooden table. His eyes met hers when she said she hadn’t seen him in a while, sounding like she blamed him for it. And she had every right to. Their relationship was a complicated one. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to reach out to her in the beginning but being absent for her whole life made any father-daughter bonding challenging. Especially when you considered what he did for a living. Spending time with the family had never come before his job. But it didn’t mean he cared any less about her. That he wouldn’t abandon most things in a heartbeat if she needed him to. “How have you been?” he asked as he neared the end of the table, sensing that her yang energy felt much stronger than the last time they’d met. That she didn’t even feel human but rather a powerful being altogether. “Your aura has gotten much stronger since we last saw each other.” He assumed it stemmed from her ability fully manifesting, making her become someone who resembled the one side of a balance, whereas her brother resembled the other. But he hadn’t seen Ethan for a few months, so he didn’t know if it was the same for him.

His gaze then lowered to the scattered books around her. None of them were toys to throw around with. Most of them were rare editions that he only had because he’d lived through the time they were written. And chances were that some of them were the last existing example. But at the same time, he recognized her frustration from spending hours on finding information and it leading nowhere. “What are you searching for?”

He'd instinctively expected her response to be less than ideal. An insincere ‘I’m doing fine’ at best. So, he was positively surprised by the brightness in her voice. And when she confirmed his suspicion regarding her aura, his lips tugged in their corners. “That’s great, El.” He had always thought that this was going to happen eventually, that it was their destined path to become essential to the balance of the universe. But with it came the worry of their powers’ strength, and whether they truly were prepared enough to deal with it. How they might influence their surroundings if they didn’t keep it together.

The hint to the seasons made him wonder just how much it affected her, strengthened or weakened them depending on the time they found themselves in. Truth was, he hadn’t talked to Ethan for a long time, but he had seen how the darkness had affected him. It had become quite the revelation at his meeting with Jezebel. And he’d blamed himself for not knowing it sooner, for not having done anything to help prior to it getting worse. He nodded a little to this information, looking over at a table in the corner as he envisioned him and Ethan sitting there during a case, and how oblivious he’d been to him hiding his struggles. “I’m afraid it isn’t either.” He hadn’t trained Ethan from as young an age as Elenora undoubtedly had been, and even if he had, it wasn’t comparable. There was so much that went into the ability to control one’s powers.

A chuckle escaped his lips as she described his brother as a grumpy cat, his eyes returning to her with an amused glint in them. “There were a good couple of millennia where he wasn’t.” In fact, all of them had been much less serious when they’d lived together in Heaven. A time long before humanity came into existence. His gaze turned to the bookcase in front of her, scanning the titles on it. “Although I haven’t met a being with your exact capabilities, there’s a lot of lore on the universe’s balance, and there have been many human-perceived gods who represented part of what you are.” He reached for a book on the top shelf, a thick-leather bound book with the name ‘Gods and Monsters II’. “According to the Greeks, Apollo and Erebus were considered as the gods of light and darkness respectively. But you and your brother encompass much more than those concepts alone.” He opened the book and turned the pages until he reached the chapter on Apollo. Even if he was considered a god of a lot of things, it still didn’t quite compare. “What part of it do you seek to understand better?” he then asked as he lifted his gaze from the page to her. What she sought might be more of an existential dilemma rather than a better understanding of her being altogether. Besides, he couldn’t really know just how much Azrael had told her already.

He looked up from the book the moment she mentioned a war, wondering how she even knew about that. The way she said that they needed to be prepared sounded as if she already knew she was going to be fighting in it as well. “So, you know about the war between Earth and Wonderland?” he asked, slowly lowering the book in his hand to the table. It seemed so insignificant to the worry he now had for her regarding this war. It wasn’t that he didn’t put great importance into her understanding her powers, to use in case of such an event, to use against the darkness that roamed this world. But he didn’t think she was ready. How could she compare to all those creatures with hundreds of years of experience?

When the question of Eos came up, he reached into the back of his mind, to sense those wires that made him capable of summoning an angel. And as if he’d managed to tug on the wrong one of them, a powerful aura filled the room and he turned his face to the light of Azrael’s arrival. Before he even got to feel that the bond to Eos was missing, he revealed that she wouldn’t come soon. Michael narrowed his eyes, wondering what he meant by that. If she was captured somewhere or otherwise occupied with a mission. But the next words were uttered too soon, and his heart dropped a thousand miles. He clenched his hands into fists, showing white knuckles of anger and grief. Because why did she have to go? When she’d finally gotten out of her position at the Gates of Hell. It didn’t seem right. It wasn’t fair. But when he finally willed himself to reach that space in his mind where she was supposed to be, there was only emptiness. No one to pray to or call upon. No way for him to say goodbye. He swallowed hard and stepped towards Azrael. “Where is she?” His lips trembled at the sorrow he felt, threatening to crack the stoic facade he always carried. He needed to see her. If he could just do that then he’d still be able to say the things he should have a long time ago. And he could only assume that Az had just left whatever position she was at. Whether that be in Heaven or her place of death. The thought of her lifeless body made him close his eyes momentarily and lower his head. He exhaled a deep breath to attempt to calm his emotions before he looked into Azrael’s eyes. “What happened, brother?” He had to know who’d killed her. Who to blame for this.

She is gone. What? No. He needed to at least have that. If he couldn’t get a proper goodbye, he should be able to see her one last time. But he could tell by Azrael’s expression that it was too late. That her body and soul had been taken shortly after her death. He inhaled slowly as he let the reality sink in, closing his eyes to see the memories of Eos float before him. He looked back into his brother’s eyes when he replied to his question, claiming that he wasn’t sure who did it. Yet he knew that someone had used his face. A crease appeared between his brows as he revealed this, feeling angered to know that someone had pretended to be another archangel while they’d murdered her. “Was there any evidence at the scene?” If he’d discovered such a significant detail surrounding the murder, there had to be more. And if not, he feared what it meant for their future. To avoid someone that was strong and smart enough to get away with something like that. He ran a hand down his face and exhaled before he started pacing back and forth. “This can’t be happening.” And for it to happen now. Why was it that they never could catch a damned break? He stopped his pacing when Azrael told him that she was the dawn, knowing that he was trying to reassure him. Remind him that her time simply had come. And that they’d always be near her once dawn broke. But it did little to comfort him at that moment. It did little to make it seem any less wrong. He glanced over to Elenora to see how she was taking the news, knowing she’d just asked to see her aunt, only to discover that she never would. “Do you need help with the investigation? I mean, one can only imagine that the person has used your face more than that one time. I’d hate for that to go on for longer than it has to.” All archangels had angels underneath them and valuable resources outside of that, but if Az needed Michael to do anything to help him find the perpetrator, he would not hesitate to move some priorities around. After all, the murder of an archangel was a serious attack on heaven.