Picture of Angela's car

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time seems to tick by maddeningly slow in the silent car as her mind races, the memories of Trent's abduction running through her mind picture by picture, a silent movie she can't run away from. 

Her breath catches in her throat as she startles, spotting movement on her side of the car. She locks her eyes on the trees ahead until she sees Matt and Angela emerge from the woods. They head straight for her. She slams her hand against the unlock button as the air in the car gets heavier. Seeing the look to kill on Matt's face, the rock in her chest sinks. She throws open the door and stumbles into his arms as panic and fear overtake her. 

"There's the break," Angela murmurs as Matt engulfs Valery into a hug. "Deep steady breaths." Angela murmurs, rubbing Valery's back. Matt holds her tight. 

Sobs shake Valery's body as she struggles to breath past the tightness in her chest.

"Everything's going to be alright." Matt assures her. "He already lost one family because of these jerks; we won't let it happen again." His voice is soft and gentle but fueled by an underlying anger. He looks at Angela, his eyes bright with determination. We can't let this go overlooked. Angela nods at him in agreement.

Valery only nods as she works on steadying her breathing. 

"Easy girl, easy. Everything will be alright." Matt assures her as he strokes her hair. "We are going to get him back, damned what the council says."

"Together, we stand a chance." Angela adds.

"This found its way into my stuff as I was packing up " Matt tells them. He yanks out a  map from his back pocket, tapping Valery in the head with it. "Come on, you get in the back, lay back and relax. Let us take over for a bit." He murmurs, his nerves screaming at him, telling him they need to get moving. "The longer we dally around here, the longer he suffers." 

Valery nods.

She takes one more calming breath and lets her arms fall from Matt. Angela opens the back door and Valery crawls inside. She picks up her katana as she settles down. The weight feels comforting somehow. Wordlessly, Angela closes the door and takes her place back behind the wheel. Matt occupies the passenger. 

They trail along the dilapidated  highway. Broken street lights after broken street lights fly by row after row. The low rumble of the car on the bumpy road fills their desolate silence. In this no man's land, they don't even have music to fill the silence. "She witnessed it?" Matt whispers. He keeps his eyes on the freshly budding trees, avoiding the openness of the four lane highway. 

"I couldn't get her to leave in time." Angela answers, echoing Matt's soft tone. "Trent mentally shouted at me to get her away. But I couldn't. She refused to leave him." 

"Do you think she's up for this?" Matt whispers, frowning. "She's not up to our par yet."

"She wouldn't let us go without her. She'll feel better doing something, instead of sitting around and waiting," Angela assures him. "Besides, how would she have handled us going without her? She would have been left there with no support system by her side. We are just going to have to be the ones to get her to par." Angela leans her head against the headrest and groans.  "I'm tired of the Council always letting her down. This is enough."

Matt turns to look at her, "Ang, what's going on?"

Angela takes a deep breath, clutches her steering wheel."I know things Matt. So many things I shouldn't know. Things they would have my head on platter for even knowing, let alone sharing."

"Hey, I can keep a secret." He places his hand on her shoulder and gives him a light squeeze. 

"I know Matty, I know. But now is not the time." She nods her head in Valery's direction. Matt nods, understanding. He returns his hand to his lap. They spend a while bumping down the untended road in a tense silence. 

Valery drops the sword and starts routing the front pocket of her bag that's sitting on the floor in front of her. She pulls out a single photograph. Settling back down, she clutches it against her heart, hoping to find more comfort from that. The picture was taken the day before he left for his mission trip. A picture she took of him in response to the sketch he drew of her. She smiles, remembering how he always objected to having his picture taken.

It quickly became her favorite picture of him. She drifts off to sleep, lulled by the memory.

"You drew me! Why can't I have something of you?" She had asked that day, between kisses on his cheek. She remembers smiling, knowing she could wear him down.

He laughed, pulled her into his arms. Her favorite place to be. 

"Do you know what you do to me?" He asked.

"Yup." She grinned, proud of herself.

"I hate myself in pictures. I'm not photogenic like you think I am."

"But I think you are, and that's what matters. You have your pen and pencil; I have my camera. So be fair."

"Alright." He relented. As she moved away to take the picture, he took the opportunity to run, climbing a tree like he was born to do it.

"That won't help you." She laughed, looking at him. 

And she got her picture. 

Him in the tree, looking pleased with himself. So at home, sitting on the branch, hands grasped the branch above his head, and him looking down at her, love shone in his eyes. 

A small smile forms amongst her dried tears as Valery sleeps against the window. As the sun starts to peak over the horizon, Angela sighs.

"Is she asleep?" Angela asks Matt. "Her mind's a mess right now, I can't tell."

He swivels in his chair, looks back at Valery in the back seat. She is laying on her back, eyes closed, clutching a picture of Trent to her chest. "Yeah, I think so."

"Being a mind reader means I know things I'm not supposed to." Angela starts. "The council tries to keep their minds guarded from me. But that only works when they know I'm around. I'm always catching snippets as I walk the halls, or around Val's parents for too long. Anyways. Before graduating, the four of us were all in the same classes. And Val was shining. Don't you think it's funny that even though we graduated a year ago she still has so much she needs to work on?"

Matt chuckles. He crosses his arms. "She's always running off, doing her own thing and not really cooperating like a team player. It's kind of obvious. All her shenanigans have repercussions."

"But you take part in them too. And you're one of the best warriors of this generation, Matty. She should be fighting by our side, as our equal by now."

"I tag along in her shenanigans, as you call them, WHEN and IF I know about them, to keep her safe. Where are you going with this?"

"Because someone has to protect her. She is not battle ready." Angela tells him. "Look, everyone around her is always telling her what she should or should not be doing instead of seeing her for who she really is. Trent and I have even fallen into that trap a few times, and I hate myself for doing that to her sometimes. She loves deep and hard, about everything she does, everyone in her life. So much passion. The passion, the power she has. It scares the council. They want to keep her back, keep her down until she is more of a team player. Until she can play the game by their rules.."

"Hold up, I'm lost here." Matt pauses. He narrows his eyes, eyes darting back and forth as he wracks his brain. "She has more power than any of us. Why would they want to hold her back?"

"Think of this." Angela pauses. "The paintings all depict glory from a hundred years or so. If it's just the light against dark, or good versus evil, however you want to see it, why do we have so many glorious, deadly battles?"

"The two always clash."

"No, they don't. There is supposed to be harmony, Matt. Battles happen when that harmony is disrupted. A long time ago, there was an angel who wanted evil to be gone. He wanted to create a utopia. No conflict, no darkness, no evil, and no crime. But people can't exist like that. They need both good and bad, the chance to make mistakes. To learn. So things backfired. He created even more evil but he refused to back down. He was rejected as an Angel. His magic, his power taken from him. He was outcasted to live amid the muck he created. He then started craving the power he had as an angel, looking for any bit that he could find for himself. Things snowballed until he became Satan himself, still looking for his own utopia."  

"And they are afraid of history repeating itself with Valery. Instead of being the one to pull us out of all this, she will be the one to bury us." Matt sighs. "Damn. All that manipulation, all that putting her off, being too busy for her. This is the truth behind it?" 

Angela nods, "That's the real reason Liana is her mentor. The whole she only picks the truly gifted? Load of lies. It's how they keep eyes on her. They didn't arrange for Trent to be taken, but some of the council, in a small way, are glad. They want her spirit broken. Want her to be obedient. They want to make sure they can keep her in check. They want her passion, her gusto, gone." 

Matt growls. "And her parents are in on this too?"

Angela shakes her head. "They see her heart, see her ambitions. See what the council is doing. And they are trying to help her. But it only goes so far. They are getting cut out of council meetings, purposely overlooked when making decisions. All out of fear."

"So they are gonna let Trent suffer, just because they want to teach her a lesson?" Matt whispers. He balls his hands in tight fists in his lap, looking for something to punch. Angela nods.

"Liana says wants to get everyone in fighting shape as soon as possible. But I don't trust her words anymore. And Trent's memory loss would be permanent by that time," Angela explains. "Valery should have been battle ready long ago, like the rest of us. It's bullshit. Losing Trent like this WILL break her. They could very well be creating their own Devil. She is going to hate herself for not being strong enough to do something. Hate herself for all the trouble she caused that put her behind her lessons. Hate herself for being who she is. And this is me putting a stop to it."

"None of this is right. He doesn't deserve to have the Council turn their backs on him. Val doesn't deserve this."

"It's a shit storm of fuckery," Angela agrees.

"This is the first illegal mission you've taken a part in," Matt teases, trying to release the tension building up within him. He readjusts, getting comfortable in his seat.

We have a long drive ahead of us, stressing won't help, he reminds himself. We can't do anything about headquarters now anyways, 

"Hopefully the Council will take that into consideration. If we make it back, successful or not, we are going to have to face some heavy consequences for this. Unless they take my involvement as a sign to rethink." Angela answers, ending with a heavy sigh. 

Valery swings her leg, kicking the back of Angela's seat. Angela grunts as she is jostled. 

"We aren't going back without him," Valery snaps, wiping away her silent tears.

"You weren't asleep at all, were you?" Angela sighs. 

"Nope." Valery answers, her voice thick with emotions. Angela groans.

"And just like that, pandora's box has been opened." Matt mutters. Angela shoots an evil glare his way.

"Val, I'm so, so sorry." She stammers. "We will get everything fixed. I promise. Silence in the face of oppression is just as bad as the oppressor. And I'm done being silent, ok? Just, right now, try to get some rest." Angela tells her, sharing a concerned look with Matt. "We can't do anything right now."

Valery huffs. Stares at the ceiling of the car, anger running deep in her veins, fueling her inner fire. It's all she can do to avoid melting the rolling hunk of metal they currently find themselves in. 

"You two pack warm? They're still getting snow and we can't drive into the city." Matt asks. He winces. It's not much to change the topic, but it's something. 

Angela nods. She gives him a small, grateful smile. "We assumed as much, packed what we could." She assures him.

"What can this car do? We're going to have to climb through some snowy mountains. It's not going to throw us off the side of a mountain, is it?"

"This thing may be old, but reliable. Thank the Angel's I haven't taken its winter tires off yet."

"Good." Matt murmurs. The engine roars as she presses harder on the gas, pushing the old Toyota even faster. The hum lulls Valery back into a fitful sleep. "So. What else do you know that you're not supposed to?"

Angela glares at him. She lets the question hang in the air.