Answers, Answers...

Lila hadn't seen Adriel since the incident in the library. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to, either. She preferred to stay away from people who she was that powerless against, but she really wanted answers. Her curiosity was destroying her. So, while she hadn't been actively looking for the older Angel, she would regularly glance around, just to check if she was there. But one day not long after, she spotted her. It was time to face Adriel again, and get what she needed.

It all happened when Lila had decided to take a walk around the school to get some fresh air. In her old life, she would always have a friend (or five) by her side while doing this, but here she felt comfortable wallying alone. Plus, that way she had the freedom to talk to whoever she wanted. In this case, Adriel. Her wings gave her away, the big white feathery wings she had allowed to be visible. Maybe she wanted to be spotted? Unlike in the library... Lila still couldn't shake the feeling of guilt she had that only Adriel had owned up to what happened in the library. Even her selfish attitude didn't prevent her from knowing that she too should be punished.

As Lila approached her, she saw her cool-girl clothes again, the style she had admired when they met, but not the same items of clothing. Lila wore skinny jeans too, but in a much lighter colour. Her shirt was a bright pink open-backed (just in case) singlet, which was underneath a white unzipped jacket for warmth, and her shoes were pink and white lace-ups, to match her outfit. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail that ran down her back. The two of them dressed very differently, one to be seen and the other to keep a low profile.

Taking a deep breath and hoping the girl didn't throw her into the lake she was sitting on the edge of, Lila sat down next to her, crossing her legs. Looking at her cautiously, she asked, "Are you- okay?" It was a stupid question. It wasn't a matter of being okay or not. It was how she felt, how she is and all of those questions she so desperately wanted to ask. But it was better than greeting her with "Hey outcast."

So Adriel was fine. At least, she said she was. Saying it and meaning it are two totally different things. But it seemed that she had, kind of, moved on from it. It was like she was left with just the scar from the accident. Accident. That's what Lila called it. In her mind, that's what it was. Someone says something bad, someone else gets mad and then someone else works their magic and cleans up the mess. It was like a children's fight, but amplified woth the use of magic.

But that's not to say Lila didn't regret what she had done. She still really did. At first, she had thought that the two of them had finally found out where they stood with each other. The entire library conversation had been confusing, careful, cautious. That one stupid decision had broken the confusion but somehow made Lila even more unsure. Now, as they sat there, she wondered what was going on in Adriel's head. It could be any number of things ranging from hate to the same strangeness Lila sensed. Because the younger Angel didn't hate Adriel. No, far from it. She admired the girl's power, even if she got scared by it. So when Adriel apologised, Lila was shocked and quickly reciprocated.

"No, I'm sorry. My comment was rude and completely uncalled for. I understand if you don't forgive me for a very long time." A very long time. What did that even mean? For Lila, it meant a year, maybe two. For Adriel it could mean lifetimes. The only reason she didn't say forever was because of her inability to perceive what forever would be. She would have to wait and find out. But this time not so rudely.

Feeling curious again, but consciously being careful of what she said, Lila asked, "So what have you been up to since... You know..." She knew this sounded like something an old friend would inquire, but she had to start somewhere. Preferably not about the library. She had decided to try and move on but she felt guilt. The most stupid, useless emotion in the mind.

The fact that Adriel wasn't mad at her only made Lila more sorry. She didn't usually feel this way, but then again she'd never really made someone destroy a library before either. Something within her was making her feel guilty for once. Maybe it was because she couldn't cover up her actions in Manta Carlos. Or maybe she was developing a stronger sense of humanity. She replied, "No, you have every right to be mad. If there's anything I can do to make up for it..." She trailed off. But she really did want to make up for her mistake. Somehow. She wasn't exactly sure how she could help a 7,000 year old Angel, but she would try at any task Adriel wanted to set her.

At the mention of other students, Lila felt more comfortable. Apologies were new to her but socialising certainly wasn't. Yet it was different, at Starlight Academy. Sure, she maintained her confidence and a level of charisma when approaching people, but what she really needed was to find her place. Her clique, her group. She had talked to so many different people but there was no one group that matched her personality. With the added option of starting afresh with the new place, she just felt swamped with choices that would affect her social life for maybe years to come.

So, Lila wasn't quite sure how to answer the question, but being herself she gave it a go anyway. "I'm trying to get to know as many people as possible! There's just so many, and I really want to find somewhere I fit in here," she said excitedly. "Why do you avoid people when there are so many of them you could be great friends with?" Lila had never understood quiet people much. How they kept all their thoughts to themselves was a mystery to her. So as she had the opportunity of asking one, she went right ahead. She actually thought Adriel would be happier if she went out to meet new people.

Lila didn't look at Adriel much as she spoke. She was too scared that she would make a mistake and something would happen again. Plus, seeing disappointment or distrust on the girl's face would break her. She knew what she had done, had tried to accept her actions and here she was, trying to make friends with the older Angel again. Everything felt so new to her, and she didn't want to reveal her emotions by turning her head.

At Adriel's request, Lila stiffened. She hated being accused of having fear, even though her insecurities ensured it was constantly in the back of her mind. Even though the Angel was something to be rationally afraid of, the younger girl was confident enough to agree, even with her slight distrust of the control Adriel had. "Um, yeah, sure," she answered, giving off the impression that it wasn't a big deal. She also wondered why this would be a request in exchange for forgiveness. Lila had loved others virtually worshipping her and being the most powerful person in any given room, and was somewhat surprised that she would want others underestimating her ability. But it was her wish, and Lila would try to respect it as much as possible, or at least seem like she was.

Lila had enjoyed basking in her success and popularity in the human world. It was nice to feel in control yet entirely relaxed, to be successful but with plenty of free time. Maybe as she got older and more powerful she would've abused her powers further and changed the lives of people. Even among human she was pretty harmless, but Adriel wouldn't be and she seemed to be a younger, more enthusiastic ad self-centered version of her, so what would stop her from that?

"So young?" Lila grinned. "How young was she really?" Her bets were on quite old. "And things to work through? I don't think there is anything to be worried about other than not being as... social... As other people," she trailed off, trying to make the statement end as respectfully as possible. She truly believed that being social was the cure for most things. She saw that all of the loners at school seemed more upset than those in groups, and without a second thought about their past she jumped to the conclusion that they just needed friends. But then again, she was unfamiliar with the thought process of 7,000 year olds. Were they similar?

"Only if you have something I wouldn't know about him," she replied. In truth, she had pretty much completed her essay and was ready to hand it in but wanted to pry without seeming like it. She continued to look out at the lake, though. She didn't want her seeing the motives behind what she had said. Her history class was very interesting for her. Lila actually enjoyed listening to tales of great species in class. It beat learning about the idiotic wars humans got themselves into. Any information she could find about the past, particularly that of Angels, she would be very interested in.

Lila wasn't like most of the Angels Adriel would have known. She was like a human in most ways; she had never been to Heaven, she sought out material possessions and most of all, she had a sense of humanity. Although she did have weaker senses of empathy, guilt and related emotions, they were definitely there when it counted. Either that or she had been brought up to think they were. It was like the stories where little boys were raised by wolves and became more wolf-like than boy-like, Lila being the equivalent of a little boy. She was surrounded by humans throughout her childhood, and it was as if she became (or at least felt that she was) partially human because of it. She had certainly felt quite human before enrolling at Starlight Academy, her powers aside.

Maybe if she was born and raised in Heaven she would be more like other Angels, more emotionless and fearless, yet entirely dependent on a boss figure. Lila was, in her eyes, her own boss. Nobody seemed to be controlling or directing her, and she had learned independence from quite a young age. The idea that a being as powerful as Adriel could be ruled over was hard to understand when a young girl held control of her own life.

"I think she was sixty-five." It was crazy that a borderline elderly woman could be described as 'young.' Lila smiled. Adriel and her really only had one thing in common - their species. If the elder Angel saw somebody over four times Lila's age as young, she could only imagine how she saw her. She looked out across the lake. Would she return to Earth once she died? Would she see the same body of water in a thousand years, if she attended the school in a different body? The thought amazed her. "Yeah. Young..." She said quietly, sighing.

Two hundred years was a terribly long time to not be able to be herself. Lila wondered at what that would've felt like. Especially being the first two hundred years of her existence. It may not seem like too much to Adriel nowadays, it being the equivalent of a few months in Lila's mind, but it would've seemed like forever at the time. "Why not?" She inquired, wondering why and how someone that powerful and seemingly individual could be suppressed.

The information on Michael was no surprise - leaders were typically the least likely to do dirty work, and Michael seemed very powerful. Lila was no different in the human world, on a much smaller scale, of course. As long as she had people under her, they could do what she wanted them to. Her information on Michael was very basic from the books, and most of it went on about some form of religion or another, as if other species wrote it. Most of it concerned worship, prayers and the like, so a more personal twist to the tale was welcomed. Maybe she could make her essay more creative like that - depict him in the way somebody who had known him would instead of how the history books state it. She already had most of the information, so she just asked, "So did you know him personally? What was he like?" She just wanted to get a better idea of who the guy was. Other than that, she thought the project was more or less taken care of.