** Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long, life has been crazy. I tried a new thing, in which my characters sings, and trying to convey the emotion of that was a little difficult for me. For those of you wondering where I got the song from, the link from youtube is below. As usual, I love reviews! Please give me your opinions of the story , the characters, where the plotline is going, so that I may grow and expand from your wisdom. Feed my wisdom! Lol. Hopefully I'll post again before Halloween. If not, Happy Halloween.

*.com/watch?v=GINNh15cT08*

The morning was clear and bright as Cassiel bathed in one of the cloud pools, eager to wipe away the dust of the Nevada desert. Charlie had been doing remarkably well in her time at Bob's diner. Jeep had fallen madly in love with her, and Cassiel couldn't help pity the young man as Charlie hadn't reciprocated those feelings. But in a few days, the Messiah would be born, and Cassiel's job would only get harder. She'd been trying for month's to get the idea of adoption out of Charlie's head. But it hadn't worked; Charlie was a bull headed as ever. The subtle approach was evidently not going to work.

Cassiel stood up out of the glowing waters and wrapped a towel around her. The sun was warm on her skin as she brushed out her hair and braided it. Heaven was peaceful this morning. Cassiel stopped at that thought. And she looked around. The cloud baths were empty. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen anyone, all morning. Heaven wasn't supposed to be this peaceful. She grabbed the pair of jeans she had brought with her and quickly pulled them on. Cassiel didn't like this quiet. These pools should be filled with ketinas, young angel children, playing and frolicking while their nursemaids watched over them. Yet she heard no giggles or babbling of the young. Cassiel pulled on a black tank top and flew off in the direction of the nursery.

She reached the nursery faster than she thought she would. She never had much occasion to visit the young angels. She was far too busy. And who was she kidding? Cassiel never came here because of the deep pain it caused her to see the children. Children she would never have. The father had granted humans a great gift when he created them, something more precious than anything else in the entire galaxy. They could procreate. Angels, while having the same anatomical equipment, were sterile. It was a fact that Cassiel had tried to accept all of her life. But when she looked at Michael, she yearned to give him a child. To feel life as it grew within her. Every time one of her charges gave birth, she would see the joy, the utter contentment on their faces as they held their children. And her heart shattered every time. Michael always held her, was always there to pick up the pieces again, but it did not make her sorrow any less. Cassiel took a deep breath before she walked through the nursery gate. And she instantly felt the tears well up in her eyes as she watched two small girls running through the garden laughing, as they were chased by a third.

"Cassiel?" Akriel, the angel charged with overseeing all of the ketinas, stood barefoot on the cobblestones in a gray dress that fluttered in the wind. The angel wore her brown hair in sleek bun and had a regal look about her. "What are you doing here?" her blue eyes looked confused. Akriel was one of the few angles who knew of Cassiel's desire to have children and knew that she avoided the nursery because of the pain it gave her.

"I…I was at the baths but the young ones weren't there." She stumbled, unsure of what to say.

Akriel nodded. "One of the messengers came to us this morning before the children woke. It said that we should keep them in the nursery today. She also said that similar messages had been dispatched all over Heaven. All non essential duties have been put on hold for the day. Paladins, of course are excluded from this. Michael didn't tell you?"

Cassiel shook her head. "He was gone when I woke up. Why would all duties be halted? I mean, the choirs, the cupids, the prophets, they've all been grounded?" There were so many things that needed to be done on a day to day basis. For all of them to be stopped…something was going on.

"I know it is confusing. But I'm sure we'll all be told what is going on soon." A small boy, a toddler with blonde hair and blue eyes, babbled at Akriel's feet and reached his arms up to her, wanting to be held.

Cassiel felt her heart spasm and rushed away without saying goodbye to Akriel. She wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes as she flew north of the nursery, desperate to be anywhere but there. Cassiel took a few deep breaths and pushed aside the pain in her heart. She needed to find Michael. He would have answers for her. And, she was willing to admit, she needed his presence to reassure to her. So he could make her pain go away. She closed her eyes and felt for his presence, her mind sending psychic waves in every direction until...there. A golden glow to the east, that was Michael. Cassiel shifted course and was unsurprised to see the giant steel and iron fortress that was the barracks, where all the soldiers of Heaven resided and trained. As a general in the lord's army, Michael spent a bulk of his time here, training his troops. She landed in the courtyard and saw no one. Odd. She heard the rush of wings and looked up into the sky. And gasped. Every soldier, thousands of them were high in the air…practicing battle formations. It was an amazing and chilling sight, to see thousands of black wings, beating together as one, the strength of their strokes causing massive shifts in the wind patterns.

Cassiel walked inside the barrack, her footsteps echoing softly in the empty hall. She closed her eyes for a moment, and focused in on Michael's presence. He was upstairs. She found the grand staircase and climbed up it, not hearing anyone. Was Michael alone? She turned a corner at the top of the stair and heard voices at the far end of the hall. As she got closer the voices became clearer, and she recognized Gabriel's voice as well as Michael's.

"You question him?" Gabriel's voice, echoed grimly off of the walls, and Cassiel stopped, and stayed out of sight.

"I question myself. So should you" came Michael's reply, his voice as grim as Gabriel's. Cassiel could feel his sadness in his voice, and while her instincts told her to got to him, to ease his sadness, she knew that she couldn't. Not yet. She needed to know what was going on. "Since their creation, he has told us only to love them. I cannot stop."

Gabriel scoffed. "They have brought this judgment upon themselves." He was cold and unfeeling, an glacier.

Cassiel could hear Michael's soft breaths. "They are just lost. It is our place to guide them"

"It is our place to obey" Gabriel insisted.

"Tell me Gabriel. Do you wish to be a son who gives his father what he wants? Or what he needs?"

"How dare you presume to know his heart?"Gabriel demanded.

"Because he made this one. And it tells me he shouldn't lose faith now"

"It's too late." Cassiel stopped breathing for a moment and ice water filled her veins. "The order has been given. The weak will turn against the strong. And you will undo what has been done."

Cassiel's knees gave out and she dropped to the floor, shivering, trying to stifle her sobs. Charlie. The father had ordered Michael to kill Charlie. But why? Why, after all this time, had he lost faith now? She felt as though she were being stabbed with needles, thousands of tiny needles, over and over in her heart.

"If you defy him Michael, it will be the last time." Gabriel was tense; displeased that Michael wasn't going along with the plan.

"Only if I fail" was Michael's only reply.

"This isn't your test Michael. The hounds of Heaven will be unleashed and humanity will be no more."

Cassiel gasped out loud, unable to contain it in any longer. How could he? How could her father order the death of his children?

Rough hands grabbed Cassiel and hauled her up from the floor and shook her. Gabriel. "What are you doing here, you meddling fool?" he shouted.

"Gabriel! Put her down!" Michael ordered. Gabriel unceremoniously tossed Cassiel at Michael. Michael wrapped his arms around his love, his hands gentle, but he had a murderous look in his eyes. "Touch her again and you won't live to see the light of dawn." He ground out of clenched teeth. He led Cassiel down the hall to the vestry, where his sword was kept. She was gasping, her breaths fast and shallow. She cried desperately as the reality of what she had heard set in. "Cassiel. I need you to breathe. Breathe for me." Michael crooned. He was deeply worried that she couldn't get a deep breath in. Finally her breaths slowed but the weeping did not stop.

"Michael. How could he do this? How could he order you to kill her?" Cassiel looked into his eyes, desperately seeking an answer, some way of understanding this.

"I know it is hard to understand. He has lost his faith in them and wishes them gone from his sight." Michael kissed, as the sight of his beloved in such pain tore at him.

Cassiel's knees buckled again but Michael held her up. Cassiel's mind cried out in denial. "No! How could he do this? He told us. He told us to love them and so we did! I was chosen to be a paladin and my love for them grew even more. They have their faults, but they try. Some of them try so hard to be more than what they are Michael, and I love them for it. Why would he have us love them so much only to kill them?" she demanded, almost hysterically as the sobs racked her body.

Michael had no answers for her. In truth, he had none for himself. He just pulled Cassiel close as she mourned for the charges she loved so much. And although no tears fell from his eyes, he mourned with her, in his heart.

"We're very sorry to interrupt. But Cassiel is needed." Michael looked in the doorway and saw two angels outlined in the morning light. Cassiel didn't even look up, just buried her face in Michael's shoulder and wept.

"Metatron. Remiel" Michael nodded. These were two of the three angels who oversaw all of the paladins. Metatron was taller, and older, with dark brown wings, and hair that was more silver than black. His eyes were so dark you couldn't even see his irises. Michael noticed, for some odd reason, that he had trimmed his beard into a goatee. The morning wind blew at his worn leather trench coat. The angel beside him was a half a head shorter, with red hair tied back in a ponytail. Remiel. Younger than Metatron, older than Michael. He wore an ornate blue vest that matched his eyes, and brown suede pants.

Metatron cleared his throat. "Cassiel you're needed at the abbey." He was referring to Paladin Abbey, a sort of headquarters for every paladin.

Cassiel only sobbed harder.

"As the Messiah's paladin, you need to be there. The news is being broken to the others as we speak. We need you" Remiel said, his voice full of remorse and sadness of his own.

Cassiel growled and faced them at last. "What's the damned point? We are no longer needed to protect mankind because the lord has ordered their death!" she shrieked at them, tears staining her face. "You don't need me to break the others."

Metatron's face grew even grimmer, if that was at all possible. "Every paladin is being called to the abbey, not because of some arbitrary need to make an announcement, but because we need to grieve. You need to grieve. As paladins we have a unique connection to humanity, it is powerful and unlike any other in all of Heaven. Other angels have the luxury of being distanced from this. We do not. And so we must gather together and face the despair as one. Or we will not survive. And like it or not, the other paladins look up to you. Not because you are the Messiah's paladin, but because you are one of the oldest of us. Your people need you."

Cassiel nodded. She looked back at Michael for a moment and he nodded. He knew that she needed to be with the others. She needed to be with those who would feel this like a sword to the belly. "I'll be back soon"

The flight to the abbey was a quick one, and with each stroke of her wings she felt the reality of the situation fall over her. All she had worked for, all these long years was now over. All of her charges, past and present, will have lived only to be murdered by the very people sworn to protect them. Irony left a bitter and acrid taste in her mouth. Cassiel landed in the assembly room behind Metatron. It was full already, most paladins crying or shouting in denial. So, they had already been told. The room echoed with the confusion and sadness in their voices, as they tried to comprehend the lord's decision to end everything they held dear. In the center of the room stood Elyon, the third angel who along with Remiel and Metatron, ruled over the affairs of paladins. Guess they're out of a job, Cassiel thought.

Metatron and Remiel, joined Elyon at the center of the room, and tried to calm the mass of grieving paladins.

"Cassiel!"

She turned and saw Halaliel, an old friend. Hali grabbed her hand and looked at Cassiel, desperation in her eyes. "You must've spoken to Michael. Tell me it's not true. Tell me that our father would never do such a terrible thing. Tell me and I'll believe you" she begged.

Cassiel could think of nothing to say. She pulled Hali into her arms and stroked the angel's chestnut hair, as her old friend sobbed. How could she console Hali when she could not console herself? Her tears began again as she held her friend, trying to find some comfort in their mutual sadness.

"Please everyone, listen to me." Elyon called out, her voice ringing above the wailing. Cassiel looked at her old mentor, who stood now with tears running down her own face, her hazel eyes filled with anguish. "We are most bereaved to hear this terrible news. No one else in all of Heaven can know our deep pain, our suffering at our father's decision. But it is done."

Shouts rose up into the hall again.

"How can he do this to us?"

"Why now?"

"This can't be happening"

"This is happening" Remiel replied, his voice roughened like gravel. "Denying it to be true will do nothing to help us now."

"What of Cassiel?" Kerubiel, an older angel, stepped out of the crowd. His grey eyes searched the hall until he found her. "You have Michael's ear. Go to him. Beg him to go to our father, to undo this madness."

Others shouted their agreements, begging her to go to Michael. Cassiel shook her head. "The lord isn't going to change his mind just because it hurts us. He will do this no matter what. He cannot be persuaded. Going to Michael won't do any good. It is Michael who has been ordered to kill the Messiah."

Kerubiel's eyes widened in disbelief as an unnatural quiet overtook the hall. And they, like she had, began to realize the hopelessness of their situation. If the lord had ordered the death of the savior of humanity, then he had truly lost faith in mankind.

"We must trust in the lord" Metatron looked at them all, his faith unwavering. "He alone knows what the future holds. We have to trust that his will is for the good of all."

Elyon walked over to the far wall, which was made entirely of crystal. She placed her palm on it and it began to glow, its light spreading warmth throughout the room. "We have always loved humanity. For their goodness, for their flaws, we have loved them. And we always shall. Join me in the evensong as we pray for the souls of man." She began, and hummed the first note. The evensong was a song for paladins. A celebration of their service to mankind.

Metatron joined his voice with Elyon, and Remiel soon followed. One by one paladins sang out until the hall was filled with hundreds of voices. The wall behind Elyon grew brighter until the light nearly engulfed the room. Someone had pulled out a flute and played along to the evensong.

Elyon took the first verse, her voice like a ringing bell. I, the Lord of sea and sky. I have heard my people cry. All who dwell in dark and sin, my hand will save. I who make the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?

Like a great mass of echoes, the paladins joined in filling the hall with their song. Here I am lord. Is it I lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go lord, if you need me. I will hold your people in my heart."

Metatron with his deep, rich voice began the next verse. I the lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people's pain. I have wept for love of them, they turn away. I will break their hearts of stone. Give them hearts for love alone. I will speak my word to them. Whom shall I send?

Cassiel tried to join the song, but found that she could not. She had trusted the lord with everything she had, and now he asked her to give up her faith. She couldn't. She wouldn't. Cassiel would not let her father's disbelief become her own.

Here I am lord. Is it I lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go lord if need me. I will hold your people in my heart.

Remiel's voice rang out, lilting and sweet. I the lord of wind and rain, I will save the poor in pain. I will set a feast for them, my hand will save. Finest bread I will provide till their hearts be satisfied. I will give my life to them. Whom shall I send? Whom shall I send?

Cassiel felt her heart swell as her conviction grew. There was still good in the hearts of men. And she would protect them. She took a breath and sang with all her might. Here I am lord. Is it I lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go lord, if you need me. I will hold your people my heart.

Hours later Cassiel was on her way back home. The other paladins had stayed at the abbey. But she could not. They had given up. They were just going to sit by while the people they loved and cared for were slaughtered. I will hold your people in my heart father. That is a promise that I can never break. Not even for you.