What Did I Expect?

It had been a rather long day for Barackiel, as all of them seemed to be since he had come to earth. Apparently there was a lot to learn about the human race that he had missed since he was gone and his host, one of his former guardian angels, was the one who had been tasked to show him.

Today's lesson was the layout of the city they currently resided in, though why they did not just fly around it all baffled him though when he had asked he had been told he needed to get the "lay of the land" so he didn't get lost again. He had received some information about where one of his targets may have been and had dashed off to verify it, though when he had gotten there he realized two things had happened. The first was that someone had played a joke on him, and the second was that he had become horribly lost.

Shiariel eventually found him, but as punishment she was making take an entire day to learn the city. At least it felt like punishment to him as there were many more important things he could be doing like getting information from the local authorities on any of the demons that currently resided on the island.

The Archangel had let his thoughts drift and wasn't really paying attention to what was being said, and it was probably for this reason something had caught his attention. Without warning he darted out into the street and took a small figure up into his arms and got hit by the car that was aiming for the one in his arms.

Rolling off to the side Barackiel laid there for a bit as Shiariel came up and started to yell at him. It was then that he got up, picking up the child that had almost been hit by a car and carried the child over to the sidewalk. One thing that was obvious was that this child seemed to have small horns on the top of its' head, and Barackiel could tell that it was in fact a demon, but on the other hand it was still a child and still innocent. Therefore he had saved it.

Placing a hand on the child's head a small blue-ish white glow started to form and then spread over the child as Barackiel healed all of its' injuries.

"There, you are fine but you should be more careful in such a busy place." Barackiel smiled probably the most genuine smile he had since coming to this island. "Now run off home and be watchful!"

He turned to face Shiariel and opened his mouth to say something but then winced, grabbing his right shoulder. Apparently it had been injured when the vehicle had struck him. Normally the angel would just heal himself but after the ordeal with the child he was feeling tired so instead he just found a place to sit and wait.

"That was the single most painful experience I have had since arriving here." He muttered. "How do the humans live with this everyday?"

Barackiel blinked and looked at her, the kind of 'What are you talking about? You sound crazy!' look that only someone as naive and new to this world could give.

"I don't understand what you are talking about. Why wouldn't I?" Barackiel looked off in the direction the child had left before continuing to speak. "That child, despite their parentage, was innocent. Could you not feel it? It was, no IS, my job to protect the innocents of this planet."

He sat there in silence for a moment, thinking about what had happened. At first he just felt an innocent in trouble and reacted honestly. To see that said innocent was of demon heritage had taken him aback for a few moments, but only a few.

"I may be single minded in my task to hunt down those that deserve it, this much is true, but I will not let the innocent get hurt in the meantime. I am a guardian angle and always will be."

Brackiel went to stand up only to feel some pain and a wave of nausea come over him, forcing him to sit back down.

"It may take a few moments for me to regain the energy required to heal myself." He looked up at Shiariel, his face just as serious as ever. "I am sorry for the inconvenience."

Barackiel just sat there, face as impassive as ever, as he thought about it. What would it matter if he died? As long as it was while he was doing his job then he would just be reincarnated in Heaven, wouldn't he? They were never really clear about that part.

"I will be fine, it is hard to kill an angle after all." He looked over at her and smiled, or at least attempted to. It wasn't good, but it wasn't horrifying either it. "It is even harder to kill an arch angle. Besides, if I die while doing the Lord's work it will be a good death."

The prince of Heaven sat there for a moment, just watching the streets until his words and what he actually said sank in. That sounded somewhat fatalistic and he did not want to worry his host.

"Uh, not that I will go out seeking my demise that is." he added as an after thought, hopefully it would be enough to ease her mind.

"I do understand though, being of single mind and purpose in your tasks." He said after a brief pause. "It is what got me here in the first place after all. When I find trail of a hunt it is all I can do but focus on it. When I close my eyes all I can see are the names on the list."

The angle's shoulders actually seemed to slump a bit now as he looked down at the ground.

"I miss home." he admitted finally, "Hunting these demons down is my only way back, but you have shown me that everything here is far more complicated then I was lead to believe. Maybe we both needed each other to show us the traits we were lacking?"

Looking back off into the streets Barackiel sighed and reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. It started to glow that blue-ish white colour that indicated he was using his grace. After a moment he stood up, still a bit shaky on his feet but no longer wincing in pain.

"There, I should be ok to move now." He said as he tested his shoulder. "As long as we take it slowly. Today has been a rather large drain on me."

He stood there for a moment, not sure what to say to this. He had learned many things since coming here but his mission was always first and foremost to him. Could it be said he was following it with blind devoutness? Well, yes he was. When the Lord gave you a task you did it, questioning him lead to much more unpleasant things then just being temporarily assigned to earth.

Still, could he actually promise her that he could change like that? Saying so would be a lie, and that was one thing he could not do. Still, she had helped him a lot and Barackiel thought that maybe he owed it to the younger angel to at least heed her words a bit.

"I..." he began, trying to find the right words before continuing. "I will try, I can not promise you more then that at this time. I am sorry, but I will try."

It might not have been much, but the fact that he was even considering her words to not devout himself to the mission a hundred percent of the time was something he might not have been capable of doing centuries, or even decades, ago.

It was a form of growth for him. It might not have been much and most people probably would not have seen as more then him trying to avoid promising anything at all, but to him it was a very big step. In what direction though, he could not say.