Anariel
Hgronian South Province
The Barn (Uriel's Tomb)
Anariel's gaze lifted to look into Abraham's eyes, and the stoicism that had formed like a thin cornice of ice melted away in an instant. Once again tears leaked from her eyes, more slowly now than before, and a thin smiled graced her lips. She reached up one hand, gently laying it against Abraham's cheek for a moment.
"Ra, you came back. You said you would before you left to meet with him, but you took so long to do so." For a moment, it seemed as if she was back to herself again and that the fracture in who she was was only momentary, a lapse in personality, but the truth became more obvious as she continued.
"Wait until we get back home again. Uri and Rythe will be so happy to see you've come back to us. We were worried you would follow the other two when they chose to fall from grace." She hugged him tightly, not only with her arms but fully wrapping him in her embrace by unfurling her wings, only to fold them back in around his back. Her skin felt oddly cool to the touch, where it was bare. She stepped back a single step, her wings still keeping them together, and looked down almost shyly.
"Ra, we'll be together always, right? You won't leave me for those other two, will you?" Her voice had an innocence to it that, for Abraham, would be nothing more than a memory brought forth. She was saying things just like she had over a millennium ago, just before he'd fallen for Lucifer's tricks. It almost became worrying, but she stepped back more fully, her wings sliding from around him and draping for just a moment before she pulled them tight to her back.
"But you did leave, didn't you Ra. You left us all, because you didn't listen. And now you're asking me to learn from your life? How could I? How could you teach me anything about-" She stopped, her mind finally realizing what his words meant. His apology was deeper than her anger, and it tore through the madness that threatened her psyche like her spear had cut through so many dangers in the past. It was a clarion note, straight to her core, calling her back from the brink.
"I..." She shuddered slightly, then her wings fell slack once more, half unfurling and loosely grazing against the dirt floor.
"I'm sorry, Ra. I shouldn't have gotten so angry when you left. It just hurt so much when you did, because of what we did. The ritual we alone undertook, when none of the other would have dared. We took a piece of one another's lives, to live within us eternally, and I fear that the pain I felt seeped into the shard of you that I bore within me. I worried that it was what caused you to continue to spiral downward with Lucifer, into that darkness, but you've come back now. I should be happy with you, not mad." She choked back the smallest of sobs before looking up into his brilliantly green eyes again.
"Thank you for being here with me. I would not," She paused for a moment, turning as if to look back at the wings before thinking better of it and stopping herself. "I would not have been able to keep myself from that darkness within me were it not for you. Uriel's passing is more difficult for me than I think you know, though I'm sure you have enough emotions about it yourself." She sighed and walked back over to him, her wings dragging somewhat before she simply leaned against him, her head against his chest.
"By the grace I bear, I promise to be by your side and to aid you in the darkness, Abraham of the Highest Heavens. I shall bear you aloft when you are trapped below, and I shall fight by your side when you are alone. I vow these things by my nature and by my Grace, and I shall not be worthy of either should my word falter." As she finished speaking, the misty light around her feathers shined just a slight bit brighter and an ephemeral wind circled round them, dying within moments. Anariel had done something for them both, though it had been without explicit permission, and she could only hope that it would be worth it in the end.
Just as the last of the breeze faded away, an uneasy feeling crept over the archangel, causing her to turn to face the source: Uriel's wings. For a moment, all seemed calm, just a bit unnerving, before the four multicolored wings began to lift up as if still attached to Uriel himself. They hung still for a moment, fully opened and radiating their majesty, before they flapped once, seeming to pull the light from the room into themselves. All went dark, save for the faintest light around Anariel's wings, though it provided no illumination for the room itself.