**Quote: "Hardships often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny." ~~C.S. Lewis **

Chapter 6

Black clouds curl above me and the heavy sense of rain promises and approaching storm. I stand upon a sloping hill, the breeze snatches at my light blue laced dress, and I feel the soft tufts of my hair as they escape my loos bun atop my head.

The feeling of being stuck in an unfamiliar body comes back to me from when this happened last night at Nate's house and I realize what this is. A memory of mine.

I turn around when I hear my name spoken and there stands Nate with his wings folding into his back. Like in the portrait in the hallway Nate is dressed in an old fashioned garb. A sword hangs at his waist and he looks like a soldier from another time.

"Marie, love you came."

"Well you didn't give me much choice did you? Royce came to me with news that you urgently had to see me before you went off." Irritation and weariness drips from my words. Although the pure happiness that unravels in my stomach at merely his presence tells me that no amount of annoyance would keep me from not wanting to see him.

"I do apologize for putting you through this but my troops need me to come to them. The Fallen are stronger there and already many of men are dead." He runs a hand through his hair as he has done over a hundred times when he gets frustrated. "I did not come here tonight to argue."

"Then why did you have me come here? You are leaving tomorrow afternoon. Could this not have waited until then? I had a whole house to visit tonight and things to get to and-"

"Marie I know you are upset with me for leaving but do we really want to leave things rough between us for three long months?"

He takes my silence as a conformation and goes on.

"I know this is unexpected and I was planning on doing this more into the future when we are older and more prepared, but to me, Marie this is the perfect time. We have been through so much. From being enemies, to friends, to mates." Just saying that simple word I feel the sudden rush of affection come through me.

"Now that this war is spiraling into chaos I am hoping to get a few matters straight with my troops and then the rest of my time will be spent protecting you. But if anything did happen to either of us I want you to know I did think of a future between us. A life beyond wars, and obligations. Without having to worry about whether our friends are dead or not. A life where we can be together and not have knowledge that something is out there ready to kill us."

My heartbeat quickens at where this is headed. My breath becomes slightly shallow.

Nate kneels down on the ground and pulls a small black box out from behind his back and I feel a single crystal tear trace its way down my cheek.

He smiles that smile that says he wanted to catch me off guard and with the grace of a gentleman he reaches for my left hand. I can't help the content sigh that slips past my lips.

"Marie Elizabeth Bryan, will you do the honors of marring me?"

As those beautiful words hang in the air I'm rocketed back into the present and with a few shuddering breaths my surroundings slowly come into focus. Nate has me leaning against his shoulder and his patient expression tells me he knows that I was in a memory.

"What did you see?"

"You...proposed to me on a hill and we were dressed weirdly, like in old fashioned clothes you would see in a play. I said something about you going off into the war and you knelt down and asked me to marry you."

I slide one cushion away from Nate as an odd sense of love and panic burst inside me, their colors mixing and making me feel sick.

Everything they had told me, about angels, powers, places between Heaven and Earth. I believed them because they are my friends, but somewhere deep inside the labyrinth of my mind all my memories from past lives are hidden. The girl who made a family with people who wouldn't get drunk and scream hateful things at her and then smile wickedly because it made them feel good. I know that the only reason I believe all those stories is not just because of my memories.

It's mostly because around them I feel comfortable, like I belong sitting among them. My mind and soul that has apparently been through many lives with them, is telling me that they are the only family I could ever be safe around. From now on I will have to accept the fact that they are trying to help me understand that I am a part of something important.

"So...um, can you tell me why I haven't remembered any of this before I met you."

"When I proposed to you I left that morning and went to help my troops that were stationed all over the country at the time. I was gone for almost two months when Royce came to me and told me that the town you, Eliza, and Pepper were living in was under attack. By the time we arrived with soldiers the whole town was burning in flames and there were only a couple of Fallen Angles to deal with. We saved the town but when I found you..." his voice sounds strained and his dark eyes have clouded to an almost terrifying black. Like how clouds get before a storm filled with deafening thunder and pounding rain looks.

"How about I just try and show you." He extends his hand to me and with a reassuring smile he explains how I can do this. "Just grab my hand and focus on the memory that you want to remember. It should come easily. This of October third 1876, it was the middle of the day but at the time the whole town was covered in a misty coolness..."

He must have continued talking but as soon as those details processed in my mind I slipped my hand into Nate's for support and I felt the familiar darkness swirl around me.

***

My dress swooshed around my ankles as I chased Pepper through the house. She held my favorite book in her hand and was blackmailing me into agreeing to have this huge fancy wedding. She was not taking no for an answer.

"Pepper give me my book back! If it so much as tears on one page I will stain your new calico dress."

"You wouldn't. I just got that to wear tonight at Eliza's birthday celebration."

"Try me."

She seems to consider it for a moment but with a wicked smile she leaps over a chair and races out of the door with the grace of a lioness.

I go into pursuit after her but before I get to the end of my driveway the first scream rings out to my right, followed by another and another.

Forgetting all about my book I follow the continuing screams and find a flood of people rushing my way. Trying to get away from whatever was terrorizing them.

Realizing it was going to be suicide to go against the demons up ahead I ruck up my skirts in a unladylike way and grab the two daggers that are strapped to my legs. With a quick thrust to the back of my dress I cut the laces and it falls to the ground leaving me in my black fighting suit.

Along the way I see a few injured townsfolk and with quick work I heal them and push them forward to safety. I make sure to keep my Marks hidden so I'm not drawing a huge target on my back.

When I finally meet the demons they are torching a stand that used to sell beads and jewelry. The owner is nowhere to be seen.

I duck behind a building and peak my head around to asses my enemy. There are at least a dozen of them. A lot more than I have been trained to take on at once. They also don't look like looters, with their wings spread behind them in a show of superiority, and their long swords hanging at their waist.

They are obliviously warriors in the Fallen army. I curse myself for not taking the time to grab my longbow and arrows. It would be a lot easier if I could take them out from farther away. A lot less dangerous too.

A quiet bird call rings out to my right and swiveling around u catch sight of Royce in only half his battle armor. He signals me over and with quick but silent steps I reach him.

"Eliza is helping Pepper heal some of the townsfolk and when they know that they are safely away from the attackers they will help you distract these demons. I'm going to fly north to catch up to Nate. He will bring reinforcements. Can I trust you to not do anything stupid while I'm gone? Like advance on a dozen well trained Fallen."

"I shall do my very best to not get killed." Mu vague answer does not seem to suit him very well.

"Marie don't go against them! It's too dangerous and if anything happened to you Nate would kill me slowly. Understand?" He waits until I nod to spread his grey wings and with one powerful pump he shoots into the air.

Its only moments later when I swing around as a gravelly voice crawls out of the mist. I can't believe I didn't notice him before.

Looking slightly like a toad that had just clawed out from under a sun dried rock, the stout plump man grabs at something from under a carriage.

My eyes widen as I recognize the youthful face and wide blue eyes. It's the newsboy Thomas that every morning would offer me a cheery hello.

My hand tightens on my daggers and I crouch behind the wall keeping me covered. There's no way I'm going to let them kill this picture of innocence.

"Healer! Can you hear me? I know you are around here somewhere. For the past two weeks I have been getting rumors that there is a Healer burrowing in this town."

I don't respond to his taunt but my muscles tighten as he puts a razor, pulled from his belt, to Thomas's throat.

"Either come on out here or I will slit this beautiful little boy's neck. It will be so deep there will be no hope in healing the wound." The vile man smiles revealing yellowed teeth with a few gaping holes in his snarl.

My soul kicks and claws to be closer to the little boy in danger. A sharp cruel pain makes my heart skip a few beats and I know what I am going to do. I look in the direction of where Royce had taken off.

"I'm sorry for this Royce." The whisper barely escapes my mouth before I drop my daggers at my side and throwing on a brave, indignant face I step into the view of the demons.

"Oh my...lovely Marie. I never thought I would see you again. I would not have thought you would be the Healer to step before us." his lips curl into a deeper smirk, twisting his face so the fatness in his cheeks are rounded.

"I must say Richard you have changed since the last time I saw you. Have you gotten shorter? Fatter?"

"Aw now sweetheart let's play nice. Wouldn't want this soft skin to break now would we?" his hand makes a quick flick and Thomas lets out a squeak as a thin stream of blood trickles down his pale neck.

Thomas starts to cry.

"Enough! What is it you want from me?' the words come from my mouth in a strong clear voice. But I'm shaking inside.

"Don't be foolish, girl! You know what we want from you. Jameson do the honors will you?"

A burly man with tattoos covering his whole neck and down to his fingers, steps towards me. His already drawn sward sparkles with redstones.

I take a hasty step backwards, trying to buy myself more time.

"Once you kill me will you let the boy go and leave? There is no treasure here and I am the only angel around for miles."

I can't help but try to protect the quiet village that has been my home for nearly two months.

Richard throws his greasy head back and with a booming laugh he jerks his hand one last time and Thomas opens his mouth. Only a rush of breath is to be heard before his lifeless body thunks into the ground.

My crying soul becomes a quiet sobbing as the monster that crouches in the back corners of my mind, pounces out and roars, ready for blood to spill.

When the tattooed man is within a foot of me, I drop into a crouch and springing off my toes I soar over the man's head. With one swift kick to his skull a loud snap rings from the soldier's neck as he crumples to the ground. I land with the agility of an alley cat.

Richards face goes red as he draws his sword. "How dare you! That was one of my most talented soldiers."

"The moment you decided to kill the innocent set your fate with the Angels army. But the moment you decided to take that little boy's life right in front of me set your fate in my hands. Before this night is over you will be dead."

"Brave words for one little lovely against eleven well trained soldiers."

"Actually she's not alone."

At the sight of Eliza dressed identically to me with her long wickedly sharp sword at the ready in her hand, the soldiers draw up straighter. A flicker of fear entering each of their eyes.

Not one Fallen had gone by a night without hearing terrifying stories of Eliza.

"Either leave or Marie and I will slay you where you stand."

Richard has to force his laugh this time. All he does is nod his head slightly and his soldiers advance on us.

Eliza doesn't take her eyes off them as she tosses me my discarded daggers.

Before they even take their fifth step two then three men go down. An arrow sprouting from their necks which is an unprotected area not covered by armor. I don't have to look around to know that Pepper is around.

Without waiting for another arrow to slice the air I focus on Richard. He is mine.

Pouncing from the ground I dodge a sword and dipping my arm low I cut the back of my enemy's ankle so he crashes to the ground. Pepper takes his forehead as target practice.

Eliza has already taken down one and is battling with two demons at once.

Richards's wings spread out wide as if the cowards about to take off. I let the dagger in my left hand flay from my fingers and it nestles into his rusted orange tinted wings.

His shrill scream is still rattling the buildings around us as I grab a handful of his shirt and slam him into the wall behind him. The force is so hard the stone and the bones in his wings crack.

I only waist a second. A second to watch and enjoy his terrified expression. A second to feel the sword slash across my back.

I hear Eliza scream with fury and I spot Pepper running towards me. Her long beautiful bow raised and shooting straight arrows.

The demon that caused the damage raises his sword, ready to strike again. But he doesn't get a chance as an arrow head protrudes from his stomach. I collapse to the ground too weak to stand.

The wound on my back is deep and it's not healing like it should. The demons sword glows red as he falls face first into the dirt.

Dust and something warm collect and trickle into my eyes. Before my vision can cloud I watch as the two remaining Fallen spread their wings and fly away.

In only seconds their bodies are sent crashing back into the earth with enough crushing power to put small canyons in the ground.

As if the clouds were raining a late miracle Angels drop and run in every direction. Putting out fires. Carrying the injured off to someone.

My vision is growing dark and hazy at the edges. I'm thankful that my mind is dulling to that I can't feel the pain.

A sudden jarring of my shoulders makes my mind sharpen slightly. Nate holds me in his arms and his face is tight with worry and fear.

Fear...Nate doesn't get scared.

"Pepper get over here! She is not healing. She's...she's losing too much blood." I have never heard his voice break before.

I can feel my soul thrashing inside me now. Only this time it's because it wants to escape my dying body. I try to hold onto it but I am too weak. Its slipping away.

Pepper's voice comes from a distance like we are on different ends of a tunnel. "Nate that sword...he stabbed her with that. Oh God its glowing red."

"Heal her now! What are you doing?" Nate try's to smooth my hair back but his hand comes back dripping dark red.

I must have hit my head hard when I fell.

"Nate don't be ignorant. You know what you must do." Eliza sounds like she's trying not to cry.

"No...I can't."

"Then I will do it. Otherwise she will never come back."

"Don't.' his voice sounds more hollow this time. My eyelids start to flutter. "I will never forgive you if you do."

Nate gently turns head so he's looking straight at me. I see tears sparking at the corners of his eyes. Why is he crying?

"Sweetheart, I love you so much. I am so sorry...for everything. I will see you soon."

With the touch of a feather he sets me down and picks up his sword that he had thrown.

The last thing I see is a flash of metal as his sword comes toward my throat.

The first thing I notice is Royce across the room in jeans and a t-shirt with Spock on the front saying something in another language.

Nate is saying my name over and over, obviously he was the one who pulled me out of my memory.

"I'm sorry but Royce just informed me that we have a situation. Come on you need to come with me." Still gripping my hand he drags me past a grim looking Royce.

"What's going on? Is it the Fallen Angels?" We come out of Nate's house and both of their wings pop up from behind their backs.

There is no way I'm going into a dangerous situation without knowing what's going on. Planting my feet in the ground I turn my hard gaze on Royce and wait.

"Marie we really need to move...OK fine! The Fallen Angels they have sent a message to all of us. It says that they know where you live and they aren't afraid to act..." His words voice trailed off but I get the meaning.

"Let's go!"

I don't even get a second to ask what they have done to my house by the time Nate has captured me in his arms and we are catapulting through the clouds. Nate leans close to my ear so I can hear him over the whistling wind.

"They have set fire to your house and the firemen are already at the scene. Royce tells me he's positive that the Fallen are not there. This means they were leaving a message, and Royce was right."

We are passing over fields and houses so quickly that they become a blur. The pressure of the flight was making it difficult to breath and I had to take quick short breaths before I could talk.

"What about my Dad?" It was hard to define the feeling inside me right now. The man who had tormented me as a child, with my mother's help, and had made life a living hell once she died, was causing me to worry about his safety.

I knew that burning alive was the most painful way to die and I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy.

"I don't know, as soon as Royce had the area secured he came straight to my house. We are going to drop down in the woods right behind your house."

I didn't get a chance to respond as we plummeted through the trees, the leaves whacking us all in the head and arms. As soon as my feet touch the ground I bolt to my house and when the trees are out of my line of sight I almost trip over my own feet, as I come to a halt.

Staring at the back of the house was like looking at one of my wildest of nightmares come true. Hungry flames licked the air as it danced wildly around my house. I could only hear the faint siren of a fire truck over the cracking of the fire. The whole right side of my house had collapsed inside itself, and the only thing I could see was a blackened horrific version of our living room and kitchen.

Since we live in the middle of nowhere I'm sure the firefighters got here just as the flames had engulfed my house. By the looks of it the whole thing had been going on for quite a while.

Again I felt conflicted. How many times had I fled to my room, after being screamed at for something stupid, and wished that the whole place would just burn to the ground. Now that it had happened I didn't feel any satisfaction, nor did I feel grief. This was the place where I had been bullied for seventeen years, and yet it was the place that had raised me. Where I did homework in the dining room, kept a constant supply of raw cookie dough and mint chocolate chip ice cream in the fridge, and my prized Harry Potter series sat on my nightstand. That house had made me tough inside and out. Now it was crumpling to the ground.

As I stared at the thickening black cloud swirling and twisting into the sky a arm slides across my shoulders and twisting slightly I see a stony faced Eliza starting back at me.

"I've just talked to the one of the firemen and they said its going to take a while to tame the flames and that the damage is great. I'm sorry Marie, we didn't think they would get to you this fast, but with all of us together at once one of their spies must have sensed us." The remorse in her voice reminds of something deep in the cobwebs of my mind and right now I don't feel like digging it out.

"Is my father alive?" My flat tone seems to worry them but I wouldn't let the fear that is curling around my lungs, and threatening to make me have a complete freak out, show.

"He was drunk on the couch like usual but he woke just as the flames were wrapping around his legs. He was able to drag himself from the house but by the time they got him a ambulance the alcohol had worn off slightly and the pain had set in. He's at the hospital now."

"What do you want to do?" Nate questions me, the look of raw affection and worry in his eyes was enough to make me fall for him right then and there but for the sake of the situation I avoid his gaze and try to think logically.

My father would be in the hospital for a few weeks by the sound of his burns and I had no relatives that I knew of that I could stay with.

"She will stay at my house." Eliza's statement breaks my depressing line of thoughts and I swing my gaze to her.

"What?" I admit it was childish to still hold a grudge against her but I couldn't help the voice in the back of my head constantly whispering She lied, she lied.

"You already have a bag full of your clothes at my house and until this is sorted out and Nate takes care of these Fallen you will live with me. Besides my mother loves you, you have nowhere else to go, and we already agreed to talk tonight. So come on, let's get out of here."

Her words left no room to argue and it made my temper rise to a flickering spark. Eliza walked over to Royce and gave him a quick kiss before she turned to Nate and awaited his consent.

Nate was staring directly at me and before he turned to Eliza a slight smile lifted his lips at seeing my anger flare.

"Your idea is most likely our safest option. Take Marie to your house and don't let her out of your sight. Royce and I have a lot to get done. We will give you a report tonight. Where is Pepper?"

"She's already at my house, I didn't want the firemen to get suspicious of two teenage girls scoping out the place so I came alone."

Nate nodded and then turned to me. "Marie please stay with Eliza at all times, it would dangerous for all of us if you were to be seen or caught by the fallen." He moves closer and with gently fingers he pulls a few crazed strands of my blonde hair, and tucks it behind my ear. In a hushed voice he says, "I've lost you to these bastards one too many times to count. I won't let them take you from me again. Understand?"

His darks eyes sweep over my face and I have this sudden deep urge to throw my arms around his neck and to beg him to stay. I take the one moment of silence to try and figure out what I'm going to do about these feelings, but then he steps back and Royce follows him into the woods. Keeping my eyes on the sky I barely make out two streaks that shoot across the sky with amazing speed.