Avalon slid down to sit against the rock, and she pulled her knees to her chest before wrapping her arms around them. She was still trembling, her teeth chattering and so much so that she was having trouble talking.

When the man questioned her, she began to shake her head furiously and pressed the her palms to the sides of her face, her voice trembling so badly that what she said probably wasn’t even discernible, “That’s why I’m asking, moron! You weren’t on the boat. No human can move as fast as you do. There’s no way…” She moved her arms back to around her knees, starting to rock back and forth slowly in an attempt to comfort herself. She was sounding insane.

Casting a quick glance around the water, she felt a slight dismay to realize that there weren’t any rescue boats in sight. Avalon hunched her head down, into her body, not wanting the man to see her cry.

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He sighed, he could not let this continue. It was only making her current state worse. He hunched down beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder. His eyes softened as he tried his best to give a comforting smile.

"My name is Eremiel, and I am your guardian angel." He decided to just lay it out straight. It was better than watching her spiral into shock and confusion and rescue was still to far out. It would be better for him to just take her back to shore. Which he certainly could not do with her still thinking he was human. It was a risk he didn't normally take, but she seemed so different then most he watched over. Which was rare. He had guarded more humans than he could even remember at this point.

"I was sent to watch over you, protect you, that is how I saved you." He continued to explain in the simplest terms he could think of. His job was far from simple, and he did not want to get into all the details with her.

(So sorry that took so long!)

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Her shoulder jerked when she felt his hand, and she slowly lifted her head to look at his face. He was smiling, but it seemed forced, unnatural, like he didn’t use the expression very much. She gulped, whimpered slightly, curled her knees tighter into her chest.

She began to gnaw on her lip when he spoke again, and at first she was just hung up on his name. Eremiel? It was strange, very strange, and she thought that maybe he was from another country. Then his next words clicked in her brain, and a weak laugh spluttered from her mouth, “Right. Because that totally makes sense.” She was about to say more, but a feeling walled up her throat, so she couldn’t speak, and she coughed for a few moments, trying to loosen the nonexistent blockage.

His next words filtered through her ears, but she just buried her face back into her knees. This… Eremiel was crazy. There was no doubt about it. But she wasn’t in the mood to debate his sanity, so she started to cry, barely able to muffle her noises in her knees.

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She continued to break down. He needed to get her off this rock. Without waiting to see if she protested he picked her up in his arms and in an instant they were on the shore. Away from the wreckage, away from the water. He sat her down on the beach and draped his jacket over her shoulders.

"I assure you Avalon, This is the truth." He said standing back up straight and looking over her. This was going to be a long process. He now prepared for her to try and comprehend how they moved.

"You need to calm down, or you will make yourself sick." He added, his voice emotionless again.

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(Sorry--but it's totally okay!)

Avalon had been about to lift her head and ask him some questions--some really stupid questions, but ones that she thought would prove whether he was lying or not. She yelped when he picked her up, and automatically threw her hands out to grab onto his jacket tightly, in a pointless attempt to keep from falling out of his arms.

All she was capable of doing when they were on the beach was staring, gaping at her surroundings in shock. She was only able to shut her mouth when she felt his jacket on her shoulders, and she then pulled it tighter around herself, suddenly feeling very, very cold and shaky. Her current attire was not really suited for this sort of situation. As if she could have planned for this sort of situation.

Avalon lifted her head to look at Eremiel again, and swallowed hard before saying in a shaky voice, “I… I think it’s too late for that…” And with those words she scrambled to her feet and threw up in a patch of nearby bushes.

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He furrowed his brows as he watched her run to throw up. He sighed and went over to comfort her. He placed his hand gently on her back and pulled some loose strands of hair out of her face.

"I know it is a lot to take in." He said as he waited for her to finish, and hopefully feel better. "Most humans do not handle the information well, hence why I was no keen on informing you." He continued, going off on his own little rant. "I would have shown up sooner, you would have gotten to know me and things would have been fine. But I got the assignment late and when I found you well...you know the rest." He finished, grumbling to himself about whoever sent the order out so late.

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Nothing really came up, it was more of a reaction to stress and shock than anything. She clamped a hand over her mouth when she felt Eremiel touch her back, and took in great heaving breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

Despite not being able to hold herself still, she was still able to listen to him talk well enough to comprehend what he was saying. She let out a small laugh, and sank down to sit, and to rest her head against his leg. She wasn’t really sure what to say, so she asked him a question instead, “Would I have even met you if events hadn't played out this way?”

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He could see she was calming down, and the laugh was a good sign. He smiled then listened to her question and frowned. Shaking his head

"No probably not. It is our Job to stay as hidden as possible from humans." He said looking down at the tired girl. He needed to get her somewhere safe and comfortable. But it was not a good idea to move her again like that so soon. Humans did not take to that form of transportation well.

"Are you feeling better now?" He asked, trying to gauge her condition.

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Avalon began to shiver again, so she wrapped the jacket tighter around herself as she looked up in time to see Eremiel shake his head. She turned her gaze back to the ground, looking at the ground as he spoke. His words made her frown, and she looked back up at him, “But… I guess there are cases where interaction is necessary…” She continued to frown, and started to rub her stomach.

Her eyes were closing when he spoke again, and she jerked slightly before nodding in response. She moved her hand from her stomach to her neck, and she started to rub her aching spine.

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"Obviously" He said with a laugh, but it sounded more like a cough, he was awful at being human. He watched her as pain started to set in and shock wore off. In an instant he had a fire going in front of her. Fire was something angels had easy control over. He knelt down beside her and began to rub her arms and shoulders trying to warm her up. He may have been going a little beyond what he was supposed to, but she already knew who he was, so it could not get much worse than this.

He noticed a chill coming off the wind from the sea. "I can not move you again yet, lest it make you more sick." He said. He did not have any dry clothes to give her except his jacket, but the fire should dry them out soon enough. "Where do you live?" He asked, in an attempt to distract her from her current situation.

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She looked back up at him when he spoke, and despite her situation raised an eyebrow. Now that she knew what he was, his general uncomfortableness and the failed attempts at smiling sort of made sense, but she was still about to grill him about angels some more when there was suddenly a fire. Avalon yelped, and she would have fallen backwards, except she was already sitting so she just jumped and leaned back, away from it. She jumped once again when she felt hands on her arms, but shifted so that she had her arms around her legs and her chin was on top of her knees, and closed her eyes for a moment, until he spoke again.

She bit her lip after he was done, and turned her head slightly to look at him, but just sighed and didn’t say anything else. His question made her frown, and the first thought that went through her head was that she shouldn’t tell him, because he was a stranger and she didn’t know him. Then she looked at the fire again, snorted and pointed to her left, down the beach, “My house is down that way. You can’t really miss it…” That was sort of an understatement. Her house looked like a castle made of glass and metal.

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He groaned at her statement. All this time, she was just down the beach. Dear God, he said to himself, give me the ability you give your soldiers. At least the soldiers can read human minds to find the information they needed. You'd think as a guardian he would get those perks, but no. He just had to figure things out on his own.

"Let's get you home then." He said, wasting no time he held his hand out for her to take. He was done scooping her up, it seemed to startle her to much, but he could carry her the distance his needed. It would go much faster that way as well, but as before he was done just doing things. Besides it might do her some good to move. Stretch stiff muscles and joints and warm her back up.

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Avalon formed a small smile when he groaned, and allowed her hand to fall. She pressed her forehead against her knees, and let out a shaky sigh. This day had been… she couldn’t even think of a word to describe it. Stressful would work, but that wasn’t really strong enough… A faint yawn escaped her, and she started to rub her neck again, wincing at the slight pain.

She lifted her head when he spoke, and looked at his hand dumbly for a moment before realizing that she was meant to take it. Before she did so, she shifted so that she could unbuckle her sandals and take them off, and held them loosely in one hand as she pulled herself up using the other to grab Eremiel’s. She looked down, still holding his hand, and dug one of her toes in the sand, thinking about how hard she would sleep once she was home. Well, after she ate something.

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He began walking towards her house. He kept a quick pace, but was carefully not to push her to go to fast. His expression was blank and he did not speak the entire walk. He felt like the trip took an eternity, use to just zapping where ever he needed to be. He could not imagine how horrible being human must be. He shot her a sideways glance and took in her physical state. How long it would take for her to recover, while he could heal himself instantly.

They finally arrived at the unusually large house on the beach and he stopped at the entrance. He lifted an eyebrow and looked at her. "Do you live here alone?" He asked. Surely she couldn't, the house was massive. He scanned the area to confirm no one else was around. He did not need others to see, meet or interact with him. This day was already a disaster. He was sure to hear about it back in Heaven.

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