Jonathan Oscuro put the headphones back on his head. His mother and father were arguing again, their yells seeming to shake the walls of the house he lived in. He pulled a blanket over his head and closed his eyes. It had been years since the "good 'ol days", when they actually got along. But, that was before his father came down with a gambling problem... Which, in turn, triggered alcoholism from his mother. Now, both of them were abusive towards him... And he had the bruises to prove it. Before, he would talk back... But now... He merely stood in silence... Suffered in silence...

Jonathan felt tired of the same shaking walls and the screaming he heard even through his music. He rose from his bed, and taking one last glance at his closed bedroom door, opened up his window and leaped out. The cool night air felt forgiving and clean on his face as he began to run. The black and white converses on his feet hit the pavement at a steady pace, his dark gray, almost black jeans swishing together, making a shushing-sound. The t-shirt he wore was green in color, and over it was a black, short-sleeved, collared shirt that was left unbuttoned. Atop his head sat a mess of black hair, which contrasted his emerald green eyes in a gentle sort of manner. In all, Jonathan was a handsome nineteen year old with a lot of family problems.

Coming to a stop at a nearby park, he looked around a moment before plopping himself down on a bench, lying down to look up at the starry night sky. It was times like these that he appreciated the night sky... It was calm... It was easy to lose oneself in...

"Hey!" the voice viciously called, the headphones ripped from his ears. Jonathan sat up quickly to see a local gang eyeing him, their faces all turned up in malicious grins. This is what he was worried about. "Look guys... I'm not trying to start any trouble..." he began to say, but one had already pulled him off the bench and pushed him. Jonathan staggered a moment before coming to a standing position. Five against one... The odds were definitely against him. He brushed himself off. "Why don't you hand over your iPod and your wallet, and we'll be on our way," one of the boys said, pulling out a knife. Jonathan watched it glint viciously.

Harahel Ishayiel’s purpose became evidently clear, when from her plane of existence she was given a window by Elohim into the world of Jonathan Oscuro. When an angel (Beneloh) became assigned to a human, the selected Choir mattered. Based on need, the human would be assigned either a lower level or higher level angel accordingly. Jonathan’s life, though difficult, had not reached the point where it required an angel beyond the Choir of the Ishayim. The Ishayim were the designated guardians of the human race. Harahel herself was an Ishah, and she had been waiting for a very long time to be ‘visibly’ assigned to someone. Eons she’d waited. And as Jonathan escaped from the argument between his abusive parents only to land himself into a situation of even greater peril, Harahel readied herself. Generally a guardian would only stand in the human’s shadow until they required some divine force to save them from something that they could not escape themselves. The moment for Harahel to reveal herself had arrived.

Jonathan, Harahel called. She projected her melodious voice into the boy’s mind. It was almost like a song in itself. Do not be frightened of me… But I have watched over you all these years. I know about your parents, and I see the danger you are in now. I know how you wish that you could escape every hardship that God has dealt you in your lifetime. I cannot spare you from it, but I can alleviate the pain.

The five men were closing in on Jonathan. One had a knife that he bore with every intention to cut and spill blood. Harahel could feel his malevolent intentions. Every one of these men was a coward, running from their own problems by victimizing others. She knew what she needed to do for them. They just needed to see something that would allow them to change…To find the strength to change themselves from the bad people that they had become.

Jonathan, in order to take shape and come to your aid, you must call me. There is power in knowing my name. If you say it, you will not be harmed this day. Harahel Ishayiel. Say it!

A strange voice called to him in his head, speaking to him. For a moment, he believed he was going insane and he tried to push the voice away. No, you can't be real. Quit playing games! he scolded as he kept stepping away from the group. The boy with the knife lunged at him, and he felt the piercing stab of the sharp blade in his side, the warm blood pouring forth. He hunched over in pain, wincing as he heard the boys laughing. "C'mon kid, just give us what we want, and we'll leave you alone," the boy said as he roughly removed the blade from Jonathan's side, the red blood dripping off of it and onto Jonathan's shirt. He kneeled on the ground, holding the spot that had been pierced. Blood poured forth freely, and his vision was fading. "H-H-Harahel..." he managed to get out. "Ishayiel..." he managed to mutter out as the boy began to lunge at him once more...

There was a flash of searingly-bright gold light, which caused the men assaulting Jonathan to cry out and shield their eyes with their arms, backing away a few feet as quickly as they could. Jonathan knelt on the floor, squinting his eyes. If he focused on the light, now pulsating with a gentle hum, he could make out a white silhouette in the center of the gold, which was the core from which the rays of brightness emanated. Bare feet became visible, hovering, and then touching down ever so gently on the sidewalk pavement. The rest of the figure materialized into a humanoid shell. Pale skin, flowing white clothing, and straight billowing hair the color of sunlight.

The light was so intense that the perfect facial features of this person...This thing.. Were barely drawn out on its face. Too soft to make out entirely, save that its eyes were closed. But suddenly, the eyes shot open, the most vivid blue and deep, encompassing the very nature of a daylight sky.

"Oh, you pitiful souls, led astray by the devious work of Iblis...Why do you seek to harm each other in this way? Leave the boy be, and go... Know that God can see the bloody marks of sin on your hearts. If you ever wish to see Paradise, you must cleanse yourselves of them..."

A female voice echoed in their ears... No... Into their minds. The men cringed in terror and awe.

As the group of boys turned, running away in fear, Jonathan looked up at the glowing figure, squinting, for he was still not used to the strange light that radiated from it. With a shaky voice, he managed to say, "Who a-a-are you?"

The hand that had been covering his injury reached out towards the figure, dripping in crimson blood. He wanted to touch the being, the voice from which came into his very soul and filled it with a strange warmth. He withdrew his hand. But, was he too dirty to touch it? A moment later, he shuffled away from the being, afraid, too, that he was unworthy.

The light slowly began to fade, and the actual features of the creature became evident. It appeared to be a young woman, physically no older than twenty or twenty-one. She was slender, with a modestly-sized chest and a slight curve in the hips. Her facial features were pristine and soft, but there was a slightly masculine arch to her nose and eyebrows. Her hair was a very pale yellow, like sunlight. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were still light, but darker than her long hair which fell past her waist. Her skin was very pale, almost…Albino.

She gazed down at Jonathan with her dazzling azure eyes and reached for the hand he’d drawn back. On contact, the blood vaporized and gentle warmth flooded through his body.

“I am Harahel Ishayiel,” she replied. Her voice no longer rang loudly in the space, but was a gentle trickle of melody from her lips. “I am your guardian angel.”

She knelt beside Jonathan, the satin-like fabric of her flowing dress rustling lightly. Before he could protest, she pressed the palm of her hand to his side. The pain subsided, turning to a cool, numbing burn, and then dissipated. When she removed her hand, the injury had disappeared.

As he continued to watch the angelic woman, he found himself being mesmerized, namely by her eyes and the warmth that flooded through his body wherever she touched him. He let out the breath that he had been holding. "H-Harahel Ishayiel..." he repeated, as he felt her press her hand to his side. The pain turned to a numbing feeling before disappearing altogether, and he looked down to see the wound gone, his flesh restored, and his shirt, ripped.

Looking back to up her, his eyes were side in shock. "Guardian angel... You say...?" he asked curiously before feeling a wet drop on his cheek. Looking up, he noticed it had begun to rain, and he tilted his head toward the woman.

Harahel smiled and nodded once. She did not pay any mind to the droplets of rain falling from the sky with a gentle patter around them, embracing the precipitation she did any other part of Elohim’s Creation. Instead she closed her hand around Jonathan’s and helped him up.

He would probably be surprised at this ease and speed in which she did this, especially since she was a head or so shorter than he, with a delicate frame. However, Harahel carried a strength within her unfathomable to most earthly beings. Yet, she was not rough with Jonathan when she brought him to his feet. Simply firm.

“Yes. Your guardian angel. I am an Ishah. We were created to watch over your kind,” she said, carefully not to give more detail than was necessary.

Angels had to keep secrets from those they interacted with. There were some things about the nature of the universe that humans could not and would not understand at this time.

To be honest, his jaw had dropped some time ago, but he closed his mouth, now realizing it was raining, washing away any of the blood stains that should have been there upon his skin or his clothing. He was still astounded that something such as this had happened, and it was still taking him a few moments to recover from the mere shock of the situation.

Shaking his head, he took in the new information that Harahel had told him and nodded in understanding. Realizing they were both getting soaked, he finally spoke up. "Do... Do you need somewhere to go? Or... Are you just going to disappear or... Something?" he asked, unsure of where the woman had come from... And if she could ever get back?

The woman shook her head solemnly. Since she had made her presence known to the boy, and he had called her true name, she had been entered into a covenant with him. She would be as much a part of his life as anyone else. Except, unless she deemed it necessary, no one but him would ever see her. But that did not occur frequently. Necessity only arose from a dangerous situation, like the one she had just prevented.

"No, I am to remain with you," Harahel said, moving past him and gazing up at the trees planted around the edges of the park. She observed how their leaves quivered in the wind and rain. "Since you called me and I answered, there is now a pact between us. I will stand by your side when you feel most alone. There is a catch, however..."

Harahel turned back to Jonathan, smiling sadly. "No one but you will ever see me, unless I think it is necessary. Now, what we do is up to you. Will you go back home? What will you do?"

Jonathan listened to the woman's voice, noting that it had a certain warmth to it... A certain sound that made him think of the gentle ringing of beautiful bells. She watched her move, seeing that it was graceful and steady, a flowing movement that no human on this earth would ever have. It truly was something divine that had been sent to him... That was now standing before him in all its glory. He didn't know whether to smile or question his consciousness. He pinched himself and felt the pain instantly. So, he wasn't imagining things, and he wasn't dead... But, he still didn't quite understand how any of it could be real...

As he thought of where to go, he reminded himself that it was raining, and staying out for too long in the cold rain could get himself sick. Looking at Harahel, he wondered if she, too, could get sick... But instead of asking, he began to move. "Let's go home... We'll figure out what to do from there, I guess," he said with a nod of his head as he looked over his shoulder at Harahel and motioned his head, indicated that she should follow him.

“Do not worry about me,” the woman said, almost reading the boy’s mind. Her eyes followed a car that passed them by in the street adjacent to the park. The area was lit only by the faint glow of streetlamps. Aside from the two of them, there did not appear anyone else in the immediate vicinity. “I am impervious to any sort of sickness or injury that can be inflicted by this dimension. As an angel, I am not really, truly alive…”

Harahel laced her fingers together thoughtfully, closing her vibrant blue eyes for some moments. “Elohim tells me that… You must name me something else. If a Shed were to appear, a demon, and they knew my true name… Then they would be able to inflict harm on me. But that must not happen, so I can continue to protect you.” She opened her eyes and started walking in the direction of Jonathan’s house, as though she already knew the way without him saying a word to her. If anything, it would bring validity to what she truly was.

As he continued to walk, he listened to the things she said. Elohim. That must mean God... He had only heard him called that name in history classes... Churches were "Our Savior, Lord, etc. A being referred to by the Elohim was a breath of fresh air. He turned a moment and glanced back at the woman before continuing the brisk walk. "A new name, huh?" he said curiously as he began to think. If Shed were to appear, she would be in danger. For a brief moment, a pang of fear raced through his body. He didn't want her getting hurt. She looked too... Too innocent for pain to be inflicted upon.

Thinking for a little while longer as they walked, the rain beating down gently upon his head, he finally came up with something. "How about I call you Serenity? Do you like that name?" he asked her curiously as he looked at her once more. In his eyes, she looked like a Serenity, for the mere existence of her meant a piece of peace in his life... Serene... Calm. She seemed that way too... At least, her gentle blue eyes seemed peaceful... Soft... Caring. He wondered if all guardian angels were like that... If all guardian angels looked and sounded like her.

Harahel’s lips spread into a gentle smile that gradually turned into a grin. She had perfect, snow white enamel. “Serenity. That is a lovely name. Thank you, Jonathan.” She laid a hand on his arm lightly, as if to demonstrate her gratitude and sincerity. Angels did not mind touching, so long as it was innocent. They never touched anyone with cruel or perverse intentions, but only to reassure and comfort. If the recipient of the touch was human, they would feel calm and relaxed. Happy, even. Because of this, the presence of an angel could be likened to a strong sedative, with none of the negative side effects.

“Now, then, let us get back to your home before your parents notice that you are missing,” Harahel, no Serenity, reminded him. She continued her leisurely pace, almost gliding across the pavement sidewalk with her bare feet. There was a faint tinkling with each step, as she had delicate gold anklets adorning her legs. “You and I both know how they can be. I would fear for you had they knowledge of your absence. Particularly if they assumed your were attempting to run from them.”

The touch of her hand against his arm made a warmth spread through him, made his head swoon, made him feel as if he were flying. It seemed to lift the heavy burden that rested on his shoulders, and it took away the pain he was feeling, replacing it with, dare he think it, a strange sort of happiness that he had not felt for years.

However, Serenity's comment of his parents brought back the worry instantly, and he glanced down at his wrist watch. "It's later than I initially perceived," he said in a solemn voice as they continued to walk. A fear struck through him. He knew his parents never stayed up arguing later than ten o'clock... At least, not after enough noise complaints and cops and threats to be kicked out of the place. And it was always after their arguments that one of them would check on him. And usually, they found him in bed.

It was now ten thirty... A half an hour later than he had thought it was, and he knew, already, that he was in for a beating. It wouldn't even be worth it to sneak back in through the window. However, he chose to, and upon entering, he came face to face with his father, red faced, and very pissed off. "Where the fuck were you, you stupid brat?!" his father yelled, but Jonathan turned his eyes away, not wanting to look at him. Serenity... He didn't want her to see it... At least... He knew she had always seen it, but never like this...

"What? You don't want to answer me, huh?!" his father's voice came again, this time, more aggressive and louder. The fist that hit him came next, square in the jaw, making Jonathan fl straight into his computer desk, catching himself on the edge. "I... I'm sorry, father. It won't happen again," he said in a soft, dejected voice, unable to turn his eyes up still. Instead, he merely stood there, leaning on the table. "That's right you won't! I'll break your legs next time," he father warned, and Jonathan felt hands on his back, spinning him around, forcing him to face the angry man, who punched him once again. Jonathan felt the heat in his nose, knowing a nose bleed was soon coming. This time, Jonathan was knocked to his hands and knees on the ground. A moment later, the door slammed shut and he could hear his dad's footsteps moving around in the living room. But Jonathan stayed in his place.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Serenity," he apologized.

Serenity, as she was now called, had watched the scene unfold before her eyes from her spot on Jonathan's bed. She had remained quiet and still despite the violence occurring in front of her. Her spirit was weeping, but it was not evident from her physical appearance, save for one crystalline tear that spilled out from the corner of her right eye, graduallying rolling down a stoic cheek. When the father finally left the room, Jonathan clutched his nose, looking horribly ashamed.

Perhaps he blamed himself for the actions of his parents. Perhaps he believed that he deserved what they did to him, at some level. This was often the mindset of the abused. They accepted their punishments; did not seek help themselves. But Serenity's purpose was to build Jonathan's strength so h cold face these terrors on his home and seek refuge from these abuses. Someday he would be strong enough to look for help and tell someone about the things that were hurting him in the household. He would explain the countless bruises on his body.

"Think nothing of it, Jonathan," Serenity said. She stood and knelt beside him, ouching the tip of her finger to his nose. Which she could not heal it completely again like with the knife wound earlier, she could stop the bleeding and cause the pain to subside somewhat. "Remember that I am here for you to speak to. I will always care about you, even if no one else ever will."

She got up to her feet and turned, knocking a strange object from the dresser. It looked like a giant colorful spring ((a slinky, lmfao)). She attempted to lift it and put it back onto the dresser, but the contraption merely stretched out like an accordion and refused to come off the ground. Oddly enough, she was entertained by this. She let the "spring" go, and it snapped back to the floor. She grasped it again and drew it up, stretching it again. "What is this?" she asked in awe.

Feeling Serenity's presence beside him, he looked up, seeing that she was now reaching out to his injured face. Feeling her touch, he flinched a moment before he felt the pain subside, although it did not disappear completely. He heard the words she said, although he was still unsure of the truth behind them. She would always care about him, right? He wondered what that meant... Jonathan exhaled slowly. He was aware that he was an outcast and that he had barely any friends... He considered them more like... Acquaintances... People with who he spoke to, but nothing else. He would never find someone to whom he could confide his deepest secrets to. And neither did he believe he would ever find someone to love... Or someone who could love him back. People tended to stay away from him because of his "cold" demeanor. But, he had to put it off. It was the way his life worked... It was a way that he could protect people from experiencing the pain he went through in his daily life. Everyone had burdens, after all... It wouldn't be fair of him to burden someone with his issues, right? At least, that's what he so avidly believed.

Looking up to see Serenity playing with a slinky, he smiled a little. He figured angels, although they could care, could never love. Jonathan sighed and mentally noted to not fall in love with his guardian angel. It would just spell out heart break in the end of it all. Rising from the ground, he stood beside Serenity as she played with it. "It's called a slinky," he said with an amused grin playing onto his face. "Here, let me show you," he said as he moved and set up piles of books in what looked like a short staircase. "Pardon me," he said and gently took the slinky from Serenity, placing it atop the "stairs". He then proceeded to push the slinky, watching as it "slinked" down the "stairs" to the carpet. He looked up at Serenity. "See? That's what they do. Or, sometimes when I have a lot on my mind, I like to do this," he said and picked it up from the ground placing one end of the slinky in each of his palms. He then began to move his hands up and down in a motion that made the slinky move like a wave sort of thing. When his left hand was high, his right was low, and vice versa.

He stopped after a few moments and handed the slinky back to Serenity. There was definitely a huge difference in the lives they led. Inwardly, he wondered what heaven was like... If it was all clouds and bright light all the time... Feeling tired, he moved over to his bed and laid down, watching Serenity. It would be a difficult task... Not falling in love with someone who didn't hurt him or run away from him... And in fact, if he thought about it, Serenity was kind of the first woman he'd ever interacted with. Pathetic...

Serenity's face brightened noticably as Jonathan demonstrated the various uses of a "Slinky", most of which had no purpose except as entertainment value. She took the Slinky from him and mimicked the wave action with his hands, chuckling a little. Her laugh was like a bubbling stream. The Slinky reminded Serenity of the ways an entity could travel through dimensions and time, shortening their travel time by compressing space...

"You know, Jonathan, this contraption would make a good model for travel through dimensions," she said, pushing the ends of the Slinky together and forcing it as small as it could go. "If you compress your pathway through space it cuts your distance and time from one dimensional fold to the next..." She did not expect him to understand. Replacing the Slinky on the dresser finally, Serenity seated herself back on the bed beside Jonathan who was seemingly exhausted. She gazed at him with her wide, alien blue eyes.

"Jonathan, are you going to sleep already? This is the first night anyone has ever been able to see me. Will you not speak with me some more?"she moved a bit closer to him, leaning forward on her arms, her palms flat on the bedcover. "For a human, you do not have many questions. I would have assummed that you would want to know things about the nature of being and existence, and why things are as they are. Of course I cannot answer every question, but I would have expected you would have asked anyway." That was something the other angels had told her. That humans were hungry for knowledge they could not comprehend, and were always questioning things.

Her attention was diverted to some shelves on the other side of the room, which she walked over to. She began to soft through his collection of books. "Did you know I am the patron angel of libraries?" she asked. But then she shook her head. "Of course you do not. But it is true. If you must sleep, perhaps I can read to you first." Jonathan was not a child by any stretch of the imagination, and was far too old to be read sories before bed. But Serenity did not know that. To her he was remarkably young.

He smiled at her a she spoke of space travel and nodded before yawning. "Oh not at all... It makes perfectly good sense. It'd be like trying to get from a Point A to Point B. Naturally, the shorter way would be faster," he said with a smile as he rolled onto his side, his eyes still on her. However, when she moved to sit beside him on his bed, he felt surprised, shocked, and moved over a little, as if to make room for her. It's not that he didn't want to make room for her... It was that, well... It was his first time with a girl in his room, and having Serenity leaning in, looking at him like that...

He pushed the thoughts from his mind and focused on what she was talking about. She wanted him to ask her questions? He laughed, thinking for a moment. "Serenity, you could tell me so many things that most humans would not know... But frankly, I'm not too interested in hearing the answers to the more 'unanswerable' questions," he said as he rolled so that he was lying flat on his back. He arms were behind his head, and his face was turned towards the window. He could see rain hitting it gently. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Isn't it that the beauty of human beings is that we know, ultimately, nothing, compared to divine creatures, animals, even? I've lived my whole life learning things, little by little, but there are also something I do not want to learn. There are some beauties in life, some mysteries, that should never be revealed," he said as he turned back to look at her, a strange glimmering in his eyes. No one would have taken Jonathan as a deep thinker, that's for sure, but he was, and he often contemplated philosophy and other such things. "It's like a magician doing magic. The trick isn't as mystical after it's been revealed," he finished with a wink as he sighed and nodded at her.

He watched her as she looked at his books and smiled. "You must know a lot if you're always surrounded by books," he said with a laugh as he suddenly got serious. There was, actually, one thing he wanted to ask her. Turning onto his side once more, his face was suddenly serious. "What happens if a demon finds you..." he said in a serious tone, hoping she would answer.

By the time Jonathan had asked this question, Serenity had a large pile of books in her arms, including such things as Scheherezade's One Thousand and One Nights, the Brothers Grimm, some J.R.R. Tolkien, and whatever else she could find that resembled tales that would be told to a child before bed. Of course, the mood had changed susbtantially with his question.

She had been trying to distract him bleak thoughts like his abuse and loneliness. But he had immediately considered what would happen if a demon were to find her here. She carried the books over to his bed and sat back down, laying them all in her lap. She gazed off into the distance silently for a moment, wondering how best to explain to him the situation without giving away any secrets.

"Nothing will happen to me," she replied, solemn. "Unless the demon knows my true name, which it will not lest you tell it, I will be able to fight them away from you. Generally demons are not interested in angels unless they come between them and their human prey. If that happens, Shedim will target that human's angel and attempt to remove it so they will have access to the human."

In which case Serenity could do nothing more for Jonathan in the face of a demon. If it knew her name, it could disspell her and she would return to Heaven. On the bright side, Jonathan would qualify for a higher level angel from a Choir closer to Elohim, like a Cherub. Serenity hoped that would not happen, however. She was fond of Jonathan, having watched him secretly for all these. She did not want to be reassigned. She did not want another angel to be given to Jonathan that was not her. Were she not an angel, this sentiment could be construed as jealousy. But as an angel, it only stemmed from a desire to not fail Jonathan or Elohim. She did not want to be inadequate for either of them.

As Jonathan listened to her words, he noticed the sadness that came over Serenity. He thought, before, that demons would hurt angels... But it seemed that demons, more so, hurt humans... And although it was not direct, it seemed as if it would hurt the Guardian Angel to have such a thing happen to the person they were protecting. Seeing the sadness wash over Serenity, Jonathan acted on impulse, feeling as if he had to protect her... Feeling as if he had to make her smile...

And so, he rose from his lying position to a sitting position, pushing the books off her lap and onto the floor, and wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "I won't let anything happen to you... Just, please... Don't leave me..." he said in a soft voice that revealed his inner weakness. Jonathan buried his head in her hair, the smell different from anything he had smelled before... It was sweet and gave a gentle, innocent vibe off that calmed his senses.

So this is what it feels like to be held, Serenity thought. It felt peaceful and kind...Sincere. Pure. Remarkably Jonathan instinctually felt as though Serenity was the one who needed protecting, although she had a power within in her that he could scarcely fathom. If he would never give out her name, there was no reason to worry about her. Serenity was here to protect Jonathan, not the other way around. She paused, but gingerly lifted her arms and rested her palms on the boys back. She drew him close to her, so that his face was buried in her hair against her shoulder. One of her hands fell upon the back of his head. She embraced him in a very motherly fashion.

Her mind flickered to the books that had collapsed on the floor, and she made a mental note to pick them up as soon as Jonathan was able to regain his composure and pull away. Till then, he could lean against her. She did not want him to be upset, and it baffled her that he would assume she would ever leave. She could not, and would not... And even did not want to. "Hush, there is nothing to fear, Jonathan. Nothing can harm me. And I will not leave you, I am your Ishah; your guardian. I was meant to watch over you from the time Elohim Called me into existence. There is nowhere else I could be right now."

He wanted to hold her forever, the feeling he got from the embrace, warm and gentle, spreading through his body. She smelled of the sweetest flowers and he didn't want to unbury his face from the crook of her neck, unbury himself from her lovely, white-blonde hair. He heard her voice in his ear, feeling the warmth of her breath upon his face. She reassured him she wouldn't leave... And he prayed that her words were true. He prayed he would not accidentally slip up... Ever. He didn't want Serenity to leave... Never.

Falling to the side, it brought the two to a lying position on his bed, and he entwined his body gently with hers. Had she not been an angel, this would have been a couple's position of cuddling. He had never been anywhere near being close to being like this with anyone before Serenity. it was a comforting feeling... It was something that he wanted more of. Moving, he moved so their foreheads were pressed against one another, and he was looking into her peaceful blue eyes. In that moment, he knew he could have stayed, happily, like that forever.

Angels were a bit like pets in that although they could handle affection and being held by their owners, they could not stay still for very long, particularly in a human's arms. Serenity was patient with Jonathan's need to be close to someone for a while knowing he had not received this from his parents or anyone else during his lifetime. But after a while, she began to feel uncomfortable lying with him like this. She never felt tired; never needed to sleep. If she remained in this position, he would certainly fall asleep and she would be unable to wrestle free without disturbing his slumber.

When Serenity finally became restless, she decided it was time to let go. She brushed a hand through his hair, but untangled herself from him. "You have had a long night, Jonathan," she said gently, sitting up against the headboard of the bed. She laid his head in her lap and stroked her fingers across his forehead and through his hair very lightly. "Go to sleep, child. I will watch over you." She reached over the side of the bed and picked up One Thousand and One Nights. "I will read to you until you fall asleep." Serenity kept Jonathan's head on her lap, but opened the book and flipped through the pages until she came upon a story that she especially liked. Her voice took a different quality, a more surreal tone that suited narration surprisingly well.

"There was, in the time of Khalifeh, the Prince of the Faithful, Harun Er-Rashid, in the city of Baghdad, a man called Es-Sindibad the Porter. He was a man in poor circumstances, who bore burdens for hire upon his head. And it happened to him that he bore one day a heavy burden, and that day was excessively hot; so he was wearied by the load, and perspired profusely, the heat violently oppressing him..."

"...In this state he passed by the door of a merchant, the ground before which was swept and sprinkled, and there the air was temperate; and by the side of the door was a wide mastabah. The porter therefore put down his burden upon that mastabah, to rest himself, and to scent the air; and when he had done so, there came forth upon him, from the door, a pleasant, gentle gale, and an exquisite odour, wherewith the porter was delighted..."

Feeling her move away from him, he felt a bit bad having held on to her for so long, thinking that he could have made her feel uncomfortable being so close. He was about to apologize, when she moved and laid his head in her lap, and he sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea..." he said softly to her as he cuddled into Serenity, closing his eyes once more. As she read out loud, he drifted off, dreaming of nothing, surprisingly.

The morning came quickly, and he awoke to the smell of something sweet and a glittering in his eyes. Looking up, he saw Serenity, and noticed that she glowed even more in the morning sun than beneath the light of the moon. The scent coming from her reminded him of something, although he could not quite place it. "Good morning," he said to her softly, stretching a little.