[EDITED]

Inspiration: The song 'I Will Not Bow' and 'Angels Fall' by Breaking Benjamin

Third POV

The world came closer to him in a terrifying speed, he could already make out the blue of the oceans and the green and brown of the lands expanding below him.

Eremiel fell through the clouds like a dangerous lightning strike, the wind howled past him, masking his screams.

The light from which he came disappeared behind his falling and crumbling form. Everything he had known, disappeared behind him, and he was like a small fish that someone had released in the wide-open ocean. Scared of the unknown before him and hoping, praying, that he would be taken back to the place he viewed and had known his entire life as 'safe'.

Eremiel tried to spread his wings in the hope of breaking his unavoidable fall, but it was in vain. His wings were broken and they hurt too much for him to fly away and bring himself towards safety.

Fear gripped around his heart. Angels might be immortal, but they weren't indestructible. Everyone knows that.

The darkness around him started to rise, wrapping around him like a warm blanket, whispering promises in his ear and making him almost feel at ease.

Almost.

The blissful feeling that Eremiel had, disappeared when he crashed into a lake. Instead of darkness, he was suddenly engulfed by ice-cold water. He tried to gasp for air, but the water filled his lungs. In panic, he swung his arms forwards, trying to swim towards the surface.

He could see the moon through the surface above him. He tried to swim towards it, but his broken wings kept pulling him down. They had absorbed a lot of water and his wings had gained weight as a result, dragging him deeper into the depths of the - surprisingly deep - lake.

Eremiel clenched his teeth together and fought with all his remaining strength and willpower to reach the water surface. He could not afford to die here. He refused to die.

Just when his lungs were about to give in, his hand finally broke the water surface. He poked his head out from under the water and he couched some of the water out of his system, gasping for air. Eremiel felt like crying at that moment, happy that he hasn't drowned.

But his struggles weren't over yet. He swam with difficulty towards the shore. Leaning heavily on his arms, he hauled his cold and heavy body out of the water. He almost fell back, but he managed to catch himself last minute.

When he was finally on dry land, Eremiel curled in on himself. Wrapping his broken wings around his shivering body to the best of his abilities, he stayed like that for a while, trying to calm his erratic beating heart down.

To help himself calm down, he thought about something else. So he looked at the grass underneath him. The color was duller than that of the grass of Heaven that he was so used to. It smelled differently as well, to Eremiel, the grass on Earth smelled almost fake, so different. But then again, what made everything in Heaven so real? Isn't Heaven just an illusion as well?

He wrapped his wings tighter around his body, feeling overwhelmed by the foreign world with the fake smells and dull colors he was suddenly thrown into.

A weird smell hit his nostrils. Eremiel completely tensed up when he recognized it as the smell of something burning, as if something was dying off.

His wings started to tingle, until he couldn't feel them at all anymore. With his heart beating in his throat, he looked at his wings.

Eremiel saw how his feathers curled into themselves, until they fell off. It was like looking at a dying flower; watching helplessly when something so beautiful completely withered away.

He was surrounded by what's left of his feathers. Feeling something wet and sticky on his back, he put his hand in between his shoulder blades, and when he pulled back, he saw that his hand was covered in his own blood.

Strangely, it did not hurt when he lost his wings, he felt... nothing at all. And somehow, that scared him more than anything.

Silently he mourned the loss of everything he once had. He mourned the loss of his beautiful wings. He mourned his own banishment. And he mourned the friends and family he had to leave behind.

Eremiel wanted to cry. He wanted to scream it out and curse out the Heavens until his last breath. But he did not.

They were undoubtedly watching him, laughing at his misery. He did not want to give them the satisfaction to see him completely lose it as well. He did not want anyone to see him cry. He still had his pride and dignity, and he would keep it.

When he was still in Heaven, Eremiel used to be a Seraphim. He followed God's every command like a well-trained dog. And one day, he was just sick of it.

Eremiel did not want God to think for him anymore. He wanted to make his own decisions. He refused to bow down anymore. He wanted to find his own way in life, and he would stick to it.

For that reason, wanting a mind of his own, he was cast out of Heaven like a doll who didn't had any purpose anymore whatsoever. As if he were a dirty old rag that couldn't be used anymore. It disgusted Eremiel.

How did he hold out for so long?

He did not regret his fall. He felt satisfaction even. After all, his refusal to bow down to anyone was his decision. Nobody told him to act that way. He did it because he wanted to.

Eremiel might have lost his place in Heaven, and he might have lost his wings. But in return, he gained the freedom he so desperately wanted. In the fallen's eye, it was all worth it.

Because for Eremiel, nothing is worth more than freedom.

He didn't want anyone to command him around. From now on, he would make his own decisions.

If Eremiel wished to destroy humanity, he would do so. And if he came to the decision that he wanted to save humanity instead, he could do so as well. Not because anyone told him to, but because he wanted to.

Knowing fully well that Heaven was probably watching him, the fallen stood up to his full height. His bright eyes looked up towards the night sky and he smiled.

Eremiel threw up his hands and screamed in joy. He has never felt so happy, or so light for that matter.

"Thank you for banishing me, you idiots!"

The end

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So, this is my second one shot, hope you guys enjoyed it :) And yes, it was supposed to be kinda-shortish.

With this one shot, the only thing I wanted to focus on was Eremiel's fall and some of his emotions afterwards, I hope that I accomplished it, if not... oh well, I just started out.

Thank you to everyone who gave me a critique on my previous one shot as well! I really appreciated it. I tried to apply all the tips I got into writing the next one shot (this one) It's probably still not perfect, so if you see any typos/ things to improve on, please let me know.

Thank you for reading and until the next time!

- Luci

Ps. I will probably start my first story around the end of November, so keep your eyes open ;)