TIMELINE INFORMATION. For the sake of my own little universe, I'm going to completely ignore the fact that Claire is pregnant. So all the scenes in the last episode that relate to it, just ignore them.

Exile; Part One

As the fearful Becca Thorn was held in the air by Michael's unrelenting hand around her throat she loosely held her own small hands around his, trying in vain to free herself.

The Archangel's furious eyes were staring deeply into her own and she could see just how much she had hurt him. Though she'd been left with no choice when faced with David's blackmail, she could have told Michael. She could have told him everything but she hadn't. And now she was about to pay the price. Of all the times she had stared into his eyes she'd never seen such anger and hate as she did now; it was truly terrifying.

"Michael! Let her go!" Alex yelled, aiming his gun, albeit reluctantly and uselessly, at the Archangel. "Put her down!" he reiterated, becoming increasingly concerned. He moved closer with tentative steps and the Archangel swatted him aside as though he were no more than an annoying fly buzzing around his ear. "Argh!" he cried when his back hit the wall, painfully.

"I was...protecting...the city..." Becca managed to whisper.

"By destroying the innocent," the angel growled dangerously, "You fool!"

"Mic...Michael...please..." she begged but it only served to engage him further.

"Michael, stop!" Alex cried again. He was back on his feet again and he moved, unobserved by Michael who was still glaring at the Senator, and Alex was able to take up the discarded shard of Furiad's blade and hid it in jacket pocket before he let loose several rounds from his gun at the archangel. Michael's wings emerged from his back in an instant, curled around his body and protected him. The bullets ricocheted off the obsidian wings and Michael slowly turned around to stare emotionlessly at him. "Just...put her down, Michael, please," Alex repeated, still aiming his gun.

"She deserves to die," Michael hissed.

"I thought you wanted to protect us not kill us!" his friend replied quickly, hoping to appeal to Michael's guilt and he took slow, cautious steps over to him again.

Michael's expression lost some of its fury but none of its iciness as he slowly loosened his fingers but no sooner had he done so, his hand tightened again, "I was wrong," he hissed.

"Michael, no!" Alex yelled, taking the shard from his pocket he swung it at the angel's arm, cutting deep into Michael's forearm and the angel was forced to drop Becca to the floor. His forearm was bleeding profusely and he clutched the wound with his left hand as he backed off. The sting of the Empyrean steel on his flesh burned and the shock of seeing Alex wielding the weapon was enough to snap Michael from his trance. He stared at Alex in horror and he blinked, taking in both Alex and Becca who was coughing loudly, barely able to breathe as she lay on the floor.

"I..." Michael breathed, but as he did so, the doors suddenly burst open to the lab and three soldiers took in the sight of the wounded Archangel and the choking woman

"Archangel? Senator? What is..." one of the soldiers began to ask.

"Michael...please...I'm so, so sorry...I had no choice..." Becca cried.

"You owe your life to Alex, Senator," Michael said to her coldly, "I see now that you truly deserve my brother's wrath. I will aid you no more," he said.

"Michael..." she breathed, tears falling from her eyes.

The angel turned his eyes upwards to the glass skylight directly above him, he spread his wings and leapt off the ground, hovering for a moment, he stared down at Alex who had lowered his gun and was breathing heavily, still in shock. Michael then, without warning, grabbed the back of Alex's jacket in a vice like grip, wrapped his wings around them both and shot up through the skylight, shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces which rained down into the lab below. The soldiers and the Senator could only stare at the retreating figure of the enraged Archangel in shock.

"Michael!" Alex yelled over the roaring wind, "Michael, let me go!" he yelled.

The young man was being flown through the sky at such speeds that it was becoming unbearable for him. No matter how he struggled it just didn't seem to make a difference; Michael's hold on him was strong and he clearly wasn't going to let go.

Alex could see the blood oozing from the wound he'd made on Michael's arm and he couldn't help but feel terribly guilty. He'd clearly been so caught up in his anger that he hadn't even noticed the weapon that Alex had taken up. He'd never seen Michael display so much emotion before, he was always so stoic, so dispassionate. But in retrospect, it was far better than the unrelenting, crippling anger he'd just witnessed.

"Where are we going?!" Alex called out but once again, he got no reply. He wondered if Michael knew he was still carrying the human or if he was simply ignoring him. "Michael!" he screamed at the top of his lungs but the only thing that happened was that the Archangel's eyebrow twitched for a split second before he dove down from the clouds so that Alex could see that they were travelling down a long dusty road. Michael was flying straight down the middle of the dirt road, still at an alarmingly fast rate and now, Alex had to shield his eyes from the dust that flew at him.

It was impossible to tell how much time passed but Alex eventually saw the familiar white walled, red roofed house surrounded by overgrown plants that Jeep had used to bring him to as a child. The same place that Michael had brought him to not so long ago.

Michael landed gracefully but Alex wasn't as lucky, he landed on his knees and was too dizzy to stand straight away. His head was buzzing and his ears were ringing, his limbs felt heavy and disjointed and his eyes were watering from the force of the wind he'd endured. By the time he was able to stumble uneasily to his feet, the Archangel had already walked into the house and was staring at the walls of symbols that Jeep had written there. His wings were folded neatly to allow him movement through the building but it was surprising to see them. Unless he was flying, Michael didn't tend to keep them out; as far as Alex had been able to tell.

"Michael," Alex breathed, taking on a calm tone, one that would be directed to a cornered animal. But to him, that was what the angel looked like; his body was tense and his eyes were frantic. Alex had already been thrown into a wall and he could feel the bruises forming already. "Michael!" he repeated a little more forcefully and this time, the winged angel snapped his eyes over to him. "What are we doing here? Why did you bring me here?"

"I..." Michael furrowed his brow, his eyes turning to the floor and moving as though searching for an answer. His anger seemed to have dissipated and now all that remained was a hollow shell of exhaustion.

"And what the hell was that back there?"

Michael leant back against the wall and sank to the floor, wrapping his wings around his form and closing his eyes in defeat. "I...lost myself...had you not been there..." he trailed off.

"Would you have...killed her?"

"And those soldiers, I imagine," the angel answered simply.

"Your own men?" Alex frowned.

"I was angry...we feel emotions very differently than you do, but I've proven before than anger is my undoing," Michael whispered.

"I've never seen you like that."

"...I am...sorry," Michael replied quietly.

Alex's eyebrows raised in disbelief for a moment; he'd never once heard the Archangel apologise for anything no matter how bad things had got. "Look...it's not like I don't understand. You had a good reason...hell, you had loads of damn good reasons and if I was you I probably would've wanted to kill her as well."

"I hurt you," the angel said, as though dismissing the fact that he wasn't perhaps apologising for attempting to kill the Senator.

"Hey, I'm fine," Alex shrugged, then wished he hadn't; the movement didn't do the aching muscles in his back any good. "No blood, no foul," he said, "You're the one who's bleeding."

"What?" Michael furrowed his brow.

"Your arm," he explained, "Didn't you notice?" he asked when Michael's eyes lowered to examine both of his arms and found the wound which refused to heal, still bleeding.

"No," he answered, not seeming to care about the wound.

Alex sighed and after a brief glance at the sparsely furnished room he gave the unmoving Archangel a stern glance, "Wait here," he said and left the room.

He searched the dusty old kitchen and found a meagre box of medical supplies from which he took a bandage and brought it along with a damp cloth back to where he'd left Michael, hoping the angel was still there.

Alex held back a sigh of relief when he saw that Michael hadn't moved since he'd left and he sank to his knees beside the silent angel, before he began to cautiously move the torn fabric away from the wound.

"What are you doing?" Michael asked, his dark eyes opening in confusion.

"Helping you," Alex answered simply, pushing back the sleeve of Michael's coat and cleaning the blood from his skin.

"...Thank you," the angel breathed.

"Was my fault anyway," Alex mumbled.

"Not just for this. You stopped me...thank you, Alex," he said with genuine sincerity, so much so that it made Alex uncomfortable with such an unfamiliar gesture.

"I get why you left...but what you said back there...did you mean it?" he asked, applying the bandage to the wound and leaning back against the opposite wall.

"I don't..."

"You said that you wouldn't help humanity anymore, regardless of why you did it, you're the only reason that people survived at all."

"And this is how they repay me," Michael hissed, "By torturing the innocent, by making weapons meant for me...I should know better by now," he muttered, pulling his wings tighter around his body. "I should have known...that she was...I should have known what she was doing...this never should have happened...Louis shouldn't have died."

"You can't know everything,"

"Centuries ago this wouldn't have happened...I've gotten too...trusting."

"You? Too trusting?" Alex scoffed.

"Yes," the angel replied sadly, "What's the point in helping humanity when they don't even trust the one who saved them? You don't even trust each other."

"No, not always, but neither do Angels," he said softly.

"Angels can protect themselves but humans are weak, vulnerable, from your infancy we were taught to love you, to protect you, oftentimes that meant from yourselves," Michael sighed. "I told Jeep once that when my father chose humanity as the object of his affections...I was among the first to bow to you. I was among the first to love you." *1

"Then how could you..." Alex stopped himself before he could say something he'd quickly regret but Michael stared across at him evenly.

"Because when people turned from my father I thought that it wounded him. He'd granted you his love, given you a paradise and you spurned him. I didn't understand at the time that he respected your right to choose, all I saw was an ungrateful race filled with anger and hate and no one was powerful enough to stop me from slaughtering you all."

"Until...the Flood," Alex said slowly.

"Until the Flood," Michael repeated.

"...So...erm...why'd you bring me here?"

"I...don't know," the Archangel answered honestly.

"...Y'know, I, err...when I was a kid back in Vega there was this one time on the street, the first night I had to sleep on the street...these guys had beat me up...I'd slept in their patch or whatever and I err, I said a prayer...to you," Alex admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile. "I remember...Jeep...he taught it to me. He used to say that if I ever needed help...better to pray to you than God."

Michael slowly met Alex's gaze again with a kindly expression on his face, "I know," he said after a moment, "I heard you."

"Those guys didn't come after me again after that," Alex added.

"Other people did," Michael replied heavily.

"Yeah, but how do you know..."

"How could I not? There was barely a day that passed when I wasn't watching you, I told myself that it was enough."

"...Why did Jeep trust you so much?" Alex couldn't help but ask.

"He was a good friend," the angel replied, "He knew the absolute worst in me and he still trusted me...perhaps too much. He respected me and I him. Your mother, on the other hand," he trailed off with a small sigh.

"My mother...what?"

"I was the source of many an argument between them. She did not want the burden that I spoke of to be yours. She fought me at every opportunity," the angel said and Alex smiled sadly, "And then more often than not she'd force me to have dinner with you."

"You...had dinner...with us?"

"I did."

"But I don't..."

"You were an infant at the time, you wouldn't remember," Michael shook his head, "Jeep used to think it amusing every time you fell asleep in my wings," he said, ruffling the feathers lightly.

"...I did that?"

"Mmm," the angel hummed and fell silent again.

"So what'll we do now?"

"...We?"

"Yeah, 'we'," Alex rolled his eyes, "What, you think I'd leave?"

"No one would blame you, you know more about me than anyone, you know that I'm no..." Michael's voice quietened, realising that he'd adopted yet another human idiom.

"...No angel?" Alex finished the well-known sentence and saw said angel give a small smirk which lasted only a fraction of second before it was wiped from his face.

"I'm not going back to Vega, Alex," Michael spoke again after a moments' thought, "I won't."

"Then where? You can't stay here and do nothing."

"Why not? Humanity doesn't need me to protect them anymore, they've clearly put effort into making that a reality. There are still Angels that are neutral, perhaps it's time I joined them."

"You can't; Gabriel'd win the war tomorrow!"

"You still have faith in me? After what you've seen me capable of?"

"Everyone makes mistakes. You were angry, anyone'd understand why."

"...I trusted her, I asked her to protect Louis, and all the time she was..." Michael let out a shaky breath.

"She betrayed you, I get it."

"Do you?"

"...You cared about her, didn't you?" Alex blinked in realisation.

"I don't know," Michael said quietly, "I thought...it was a possibility...but it was a mistake. She's human, she should be with a human and she agreed. Becca was with me only because it suited her...research. No doubt I gave her plenty of data," he scoffed.

"Didn't sound like that to me," Alex told him, "She said..."

"She lied, clearly," the angel snapped, "I've killed people for far less."

"So has Gabriel," the human said simply.

"Yes, and he knew before I did that Louis was being tortured."

"Wouldn't he have told you, if only to gloat?"

"Of course not," Michael gave a sardonic, cold smile. It was so much more than the small quirks of the lip that Alex had seen before, this was almost frightening. "He's like father; when there's something for me to learn they take great pleasure in letting me learn it myself, regardless of the consequences for others...And after all this time I still haven't learned."

Alex was at a loss for words; this was a whole new side to the Archangel that he'd never seen before; self pity. He could deal with anger, he was a solider, he'd seen anger before, it was easier to respond to than self pity. What could you say to an eons old being that had probably heard every possible response there is to hear, when he was being self deprecating?

"Michael..." he breathed slowly, reaching out a hand to lay on the Archangel's shoulder, but thought better of it and retracted his limb. What if Michael didn't want to be touched? What if he had another outburst of anger again? Alex had seen it in soldiers before; after they'd had a massive outburst of anger came the emotional crash and then occasionally came the lashing out again when people tried to comfort them.

"Relax, Alex...I'm finished," Michael told him without emotion. He had his arms resting on his knees and his head was leant back against the wall with his eyes closed almost serenely while he was shrouded by his feathered wings.

"I didn't..." Alex frowned, kicking himself mentally. He let out a frustrated sigh and pushed himself to his feet, trying desperately not to show just how much sitting on the floor had hurt his rapidly bruising limbs. "...I think I saw some beer in there," he muttered before entering the kitchen again.

The kitchen was in fact littered with beer bottles and vodka bottles, all of them empty, Alex saw sadly and he walked across to the fridge which was old, dented and dusty as well as containing stale food it also contained several, unopened beer bottles which he carried back into the sitting room.

"Here," he held out one of the bottles to the Archangel who opened his eyes and stared up at him, "Think you could use it," Alex gave him a small smile before the angel took the bottle from him.

"I don't drink beer," Michael informed him, contrary to his actions as Alex sat back down across him.

"Why am I not surprised?" Alex chuckled, taking a drink from the bottle in his hand, "Not high brow enough for Saint Michael, huh? Just try it, might do you some good," he added.

Michael raised a disbelieving eyebrow and eyed the bottle in his hand before he took small sip. "Well?" Alex asked him, "What d'you think?"

"It's...passable," Michael answered slowly.

"Passable?" Alex scoffed, "Huh, damn stuck up Archangels," he muttered good-naturedly.

For a while neither of them said anything more. Alex posited off another bottle while Michael nursed his first as the angel took a breath and spoke in a hushed tone again.

"New Delphi," he muttered.

"What?"

"I'll head to New Delphi," Michael reiterated.

"I thought you didn't want to go there," Alex replied, remembering the Angels' response when he himself had said he'd been headed for the lawless city.

"I don't, but it's infinitely more preferable than returning to Vega," Michael said rather petulantly. "I...know someone there, she'll give us shelter for a while."

"And what's this?" Alex glanced at the building around them.

"The first place my brother will look for us both once he escapes from that cell...if he hasn't already."

"What? You think he can..."

"I know he can. You really think he'd willing allow himself to be captured if he couldn't escape afterwards? His purpose was to show me that the people I'd been protecting and trusting had built weapons capable of containing an Archangel...for containing me." Alex could only observe the angel sadly, not knowing what to say as Michael continued, "How can I go back now?" he shook his head, "Maybe my brother is right..."

"You don't believe that."

"Don't I?" the angel furrowed his brow. "Your destiny is to unite mankind, Alex, but I'm not sure that it's even possible anymore. How can such a divided, petty, distrustful race of beings be unified? Even Angels cannot live in harmony here, so how can humanity?"

"I don't know...I don't know if it's possible either," Alex admitted, "But I'm not going to let Gabriel win. I'm not giving up without a fight..."

"You think I'm 'giving up without a fight'," Michael's lip sneered in a mix of confusion and rising anger, "All I've done for centuries is fight for you all," he snapped.

"...I know..." Alex said passively, trying to calm the angel down again, "I do, I..."

"No, you don't," the angel breathed, "I've seen you fight each other for centuries over rocks and dust and words in old books...you've not changed at all. You're all the same."

"We're not," the mortal replied calmly, "We're all different, we're not all 'petty and distrustful'...like angels; not all angels are good...You were different once," he pointed out.

Michael's anger, rather than increase at the statement as Alex had feared it would, seemed to deflate completely and he watched as the angel set the beer bottle down on the floor by his feet.

"You're right, of course," he said, "You're right."

"...I didn't...that is, I didn't mean..." Alex mumbled nervously again. With the amount of time he'd spent with the Archangel recently he was well used to telling the somewhat arrogant celestial being, what was on his mind, but doing so when he was in this state of mind was like kicking a wounded animal. It seemed morally wrong on so many levels.

"Always tell me what you think, Alex, you of all people have that right," Michael told him slowly.

Alex could only nod at the angels' expression and tone of seriousness as the emotionless mask was carefully pieced back together. It seemed to take great effort but Michael seemed to think that it was necessary. Alex didn't understand it but he thought it best not to question it.

"...I'm coming with you," he said after a moment, "To New Delphi."

"This isn't to be taken lightly, Alex, I'll likely not return to Vega, you have a life there..."

"No...I don't...I'm coming with you," he said quickly, remembering his last conversation with Claire. It had started with Gabriel's taunting words.

"It doesn't matter what you 'feel', Alex," Gabriel had told him in his cage, still seeming to feel smug. "Claire has her father's sense of duty. You will never be together."

"Why are you telling me this?" Alex had hissed.

"Because you're like my brother; you lie to yourself. You need to learn...both of you..."

Alex had replayed the scene repeatedly in his mind and when he was faced with Claire's almost tearful face, he felt his heart bleed.

"We can't be together, Alex," she'd told him, "I have a duty to..."

"Duty?!" Alex scoffed.

"Yes, duty," she reiterated forcefully. "We need to move past this ridiculous caste system and the only way to do that is for me to marry William...like my father intended."

"Your father isn't here anymore. You can marry who you want!"

"No, I can't, and neither can you."

"What?"

"You're a target, Alex, you're the Chosen One, anyone close to you will be a target too. You need to be careful," she said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "This is my choice...and it's for the best."

"But I..."

"Please, don't make this any harder than it already is," she stepped back. *2.

"You're sure?" Michael asked him, and Alex blinked away his memory, giving the Archangel a small nod. "Very well. It's almost dawn, we won't reach New Delphi before the sun rises and I'd rather travel by night," he said, "We'll leave tomorrow night, Jeep always kept vehicles here in case of emergencies, we'll take one of those."

"Right," Alex nodded, stifling a yawn unsuccessfully.

"Sleep, Alex, you're tired," the Archangel told him.

"'M fine," he replied with characteristic stubbornness.

"No, you are not," Michael said, exasperated.

"How do I know you won't just fly off again as soon as I close my eyes?" he asked suspiciously.

"I will be here when you wake...if that is what you wish."

"You're damn right it's what I wish," Alex grumbled at him.

"Then rest, you have my word; no harm will come to you, nor will I leave."

"...Fine," he relented, moving over the pile of blankets and cushions that Jeep had used for sleeping and it didn't take long for him to fall into a deep sleep, leaving Michael alone with his troubled thoughts, and several unopened bottles of beer.

By all accounts it was early afternoon, but it was so overcast, cloudy and pouring down with rain, that one would be fooled into thinking it was the middle of the night. Considering that Michael wanted them to travel under cover of night, Alex wondered why the Archangel hadn't woken him.

"Michael?" Alex blinked, wondering now just where said angel was. He couldn't see him in the sitting room so he searched the house and it want until he stared absentmindedly out of one of the cracked windows on the first floor that he saw the Archangel. Michael was standing in the pouring rain, not even using his wings to hide from the worst of the deluge, the cold rainwater trickled down his face, his arms and off his thick, feathered appendages.

Alex ran back through the house and stood behind the overgrown shrubbery, watching the Archangel pace in the rain.

"...Your silence is deafening," he heard Michael say, "Father, please, if ever there was a time for your return...it is now," he said, looking up towards the heavens but, predictably, nothing happened. *3

The Archangel let out a deep sigh and lowered his gaze, letting more rainwater run down his chin and off the tip of his nose. "You cannot mean this to be the end, not like this..." he breathed, "Gabriel can't be right, you don't want this...Answer me!" he yelled suddenly. "Father, please, I need your help! I cannot do this alone!"

Alex thought perhaps he should walk over to the angel and tell him the obvious; that he wasn't alone; that he'd instinctively carried Alex miles away from Vega as he'd fled. Although they had gotten off to a rocky start, and with good reason, Alex believed that they were friends - at least in some definition of the word. It was difficult to be the best of trusting friends with an Archangel who refused to show his emotions at all and treated him more a dutiful student than a friend, but perhaps that was just who Michael was. Perhaps it would take time.

"You can come out, Alex, I know you're there," Michael said, looking over.

"It's...erm...it's dark enough out, isn't it?" Alex stammered, "Maybe we should get going now," he said, taking slow steps towards Michael. The angel gave a small nod before he walked past him, leaving Alex to follow. "Why didn't you wake me up? We could have left earlier," he said.

"You looked as though you needed the rest," Michael answered him simply, leading the way to a securely locked garage. The Archangel used a key from his pocket to open the thick steel door and headed for a large off road vehicle. Alex saw that it had already been stocked with water, fuel and what little food as was edible that had been left in the kitchen.

"Hey, did you do all this?"

"Get in," the angel said simply, letting his wings fold back and disappear so that he could fit into the vehicle.

"I take it I'm driving," Alex muttered, opening the drivers' side door, knowing that Michael didn't like driving, or even riding in a vehicle at all if he could help it. But of course, an off road vehicle was much more conspicuous than a flying Archangel with a passenger.

Michael didn't seem to care that he was dripping wet as Alex drove them down the seemingly never ending road ahead. It was still dark and raining heavily, so heavily that even the wipers in the windscreen didn't seem to be able to keep up with the deluge.

After a while, Alex noticed out of the corner of his eye that Michael had his eyes closed as though he were sleeping. "Are you meditating or sleeping?" he asked, glancing at the angel before turning his attention back to the road.

"I'm focusing," Michael said slowly, opening one eye to stare at him for a moment before he closed it again.

"On?"

"I'm masking our presence so that my brothers' agents can't find us."

"What? They're looking for us?"

"I imagine so."

"Then why the hell are we driving? The roads are all going to be empty, someone's going to notice anyone driving outside these days."

"Angels would notice us more quickly if we flew. A man made object is much easier to hide than my entire being," Michael told him with a clipped tone.

"And how long can you keep that...whatever it you're doing...up? It'll take days to dive to New Delphi, you could probably fly there in a few hours," Alex sighed, gripping the steering wheel.

"How would we explain our sudden presence there if I simply flew us both into the city? New Delphi is very different to Vega, my obvious presence there will do us no good. Once we arrive we can barter the vehicle for food that I imagine you will desperately need by then."

"Yeah, it didn't look like Jeep kept a well stocked kitchen back there. How did you even find anything edible?"

"With great difficulty," Michael deadpanned and Alex let out a small scoff.

"...So, this friend of yours, who is it?"

"She's not exactly a friend," Michael frowned.

"Oh, well that's comforting," Alex rolled his eyes, "And we're just gonna walk right up to her and ask her for somewhere to stay, huh? Does she know that you're..." he trailed off.

"Yes. She is a Priestess of Norondaeism;an ancient religion that believes in mysticism and magic." *4

"Hmmm, shouldn't Angels only really hang out with...y'know...people who believe in angles...and everything?"

"I stopped telling humans what they should believe centuries ago, it's really nothing to do with me whether they believe in me or my father," Michael said haughtily.

"But you trust her?"

"I trust her to keep our presence there a secret only as long as it benefits her."

"Great, and how will it benefit her at all?"

"Because I have something that she desperately wants," the Archangel replied smugly.

"And that is?"

"Feathers," he answered simply and Alex raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Feathers?" he repeated.

"An angel's feathers are highly prized by the Priestesses and fortunately for us, I have an ample supply."

"So...what, you just give her some feathers and we're all good?" Michael quirked an eyebrow briefly at Alex's summary but said nothing to the contrary. "I'm not sure it's such a good idea, I mean, there's already been one woman trying to study Angels, we really don't need to be..."

"That's not why she wants my feathers, Alex, Armena is not a scientist, she's a Seer, she wants the feathers for remedies and to see into the future, not to study my physiology."

"And you're sure about that? She could sell them to someone who is, or..."

"Even if Armena sells every feather I give to her, I don't believe that it will be possible for Senator Thorn to learn more than she already knows from a mere feather," Michael said with some small amount of anger as his former lover for all that she had forced Louis to endure. Removing an angel's wings was a worse fate than death for them. Michael had endured it only once in his long life when he'd fell to earth to save a child from his brother and he hoped to never experience the feeling of being wingless again. *5. If it happened again it was highly unlikely that he would be gifted them a second time.

"Good point," Alex acquiesced, thinking over what Michael had said. "Hey...what about Noma? Gabriel has her."

"Yes, but I don't believe he's harmed her...yet. I can't see across distances, Alex."

"I know," Alex said reluctantly, "But we can't just..."

"I can't see across distances...but Armena can," Michael interrupted him, "I don't intend to leave her at the mercy of my brother."

"Alright," Alex sighed.

*1 Reference to a conversation between Michael and Jeep in the movie 'Legion'.

*2. So, this is what I was talking about before the start of the actual chapter. I rewrote the scene that has Alex and Claire talking about the baby right before Michael goes to House Thorn.

*3 Paraphrasing of one of the deleted scenes from episode 8, since they weren't included in the actual episode, I'm assuming that they didn't actually happen, hence why I'm using this one here.

*4 Norondaeism is a completely fictional religion.

*5 Reference to 'Legion' when Michael cuts off his wings. Spoiler - he gets them back, lol.