Paradigm City - Fan Fiction - Eve of the Hurricane

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Eve of the Hurricane

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The scent of soup fills the small wooden cabin, the fire from the stove warming the room.
Mildred Hathaway touches the scars on her young daughter's back.
"You know the story of the angels, right, my little one?" she says to the child. "Angels are beings of the Divine who work God's will in the world of Man. Sometimes, Angels are born on Earth, and they are meant for greatness. These marks mean you are a reincarnated angel. You've only yet to grow your wings, my baby." She becomes silent, then whispers, " A bird whose wings have been plucked will lose all its feathers before it returns to the creature it was before it evolved into a bird."
She pulls the nightgown over the child's blonde head. Six-year-old Angel turns around to face her mother, the beautiful but sad woman with long blonde curls and a smile.
"And when you do," Mildred says. "You shall carry out the Will of God."

Angel awoke, feeling her heart beating.

She was in Dastun's apartment instead of her mother's home in the wastelands. She rubbed her face with the palm of her hand, trying to gather her thoughts away from sleep. From the faint silver light leaking in through the blinds, it appeared to be almost dawn.

This dream had come back to her again and again since she arrived in Paradigm City. She was a small child and her mother told her the story of the scars on her back.

She was an Angel, sent to do God's Will.

Angel had rationalized this during her teen years when she joined the Union, feeling her talents and brains would benefit man better in active work, instead of waiting to become some folk tale entity. She had learned the exiles of Paradigm were not going to forget their mistreatment by Rosewater (father and son) and the multiple generations of the Union would carry on this legacy of justice and vengeance. Intelligent minds were needed.

Sybil Rowen's granddaughter had paid the price for attempting to instigate the revolution prematurely. And Vera Ronstadt's impatience was going to be the older woman's downfall.

Angel got up and rubbed her shoulders, Dastun's stiff workshirt scratching her skin. She was wide awake now, there was no point in trying to go back to sleep.

She peeked in on Dastun, finding him staring up at the ceiling, obviously wide awake as well. He turned to look at her.

Angel entered his room and closed the door, leaning against it.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"Would you just ... hold me?" She approached his bed and sat down.

Dastun sat up and pulled her close, wrapping her in his arms and stroking her hair.

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"What is the Right Thing?"

He knew, somehow, that she was not talking about any one thing. "Damned if I know. Why ask me?"

"You're a police officer. Aren't you supposed to do the right thing?"

"I don't know. All I do is try to keep people from being hurt. Sometimes I get commendations for it, other times I end up sneaking around behind my bosses' backs. If that's the right thing or not I don't know." He gave her an extra squeeze. "Why ask me?"

"Because all my life I heard people say they knew the Right Thing - God's Will, vengeance against Paradigm, whatever. And everyone I come up against has their own idea of the Right Thing, and it's always different from what I was told." She took a deep shuddering breath. Her words came in ragged gasps. "I grew up trying to be a good girl and do the Right Thing and nobody can tell me what it is anymore - !"

Dan just squeezed her and let her tears flow, saying nothing.

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