Abby

	Your feet touched down on the puffy peach cloud. The air was a bit chilly. You’d be suffocating right now, hadn’t it been for your halo. The air is thin up here.
	“How do you like this cloud, Anon?” Her voice rang out like the echo of church bells or soft singing, or, well, like an angel. You turned to face her, glowing in the orange sunlight, serenely floating above, her brilliant white wings slowly and gently beating. Her red hair blew softly in the wind like autumn leaves hanging dearly on their branches.
	“Do you like it?” you asked. She brought a finger to her lips, and glided down closer to the cloud.
	“Hmm…” she said, examining it closely, then finally letting herself descend slowly onto the comfortable surface of the cloud. She closed her eyes and smiled, nestling into the fluffiness. “Yeah, this one is good.” You smiled and took a seat next to her.
	“It’s a nice place to watch the night roll in.” you said, your hands digging into the cloud. “Clouds always feel so weird to me.”
	“Not to me.” Abby said, still savoring the cushion of the cloud and the warmth of the sun before it dips beneath. You sighed.
	“It’s been a long couple of days, hasn’t it?” you said. Abby’s eyes opened.
	“You can say that again.” she said, showing a lot less of the carefree comfort she was in a moment ago. “It’s nice to have some time to ourselves…” She rose one grand wing over her face and toyed with her immaculate feathers. Knowing how meticulous she was about keeping her wings in top condition, you figured she was probably picking out specks of dirt. “Do you think things will ever just go back to the normal way they were?” she asked a bit sheepishly.
	“Normal?” you asked.
	“Yeah…” she said. “You know, like you and me and Father Costilla.” You nodded and looked out towards the Sun as it continued its descent beneath the clouds.
	“I don’t know.” you said. “It was all a lot simpler back then, though…” The sun gave a warm sherbet color to the clouds you sat on, and a pink to the clouds high above you. Behind you, the sky was beginning to dye a soft purple. Abby still just compulsively messed with her wing. You put a hand on her shoulder. “Abby, look.” You opened your arms to the sky, as if you were presenting it to her. She looked first at you, then turned her eyes to the sky and smiled.
	“This reminds me of Heaven.” she said, turning the placid oceans she has for eyes to you. “Don’t you remember when you were you younger, and I’d take you up to the clouds, and you’d complain and complain about how hard your training was.
	“And we’d wrestle.” you said. Abby slipped a kittenish giggle.
	“You never did beat me, though.” she said.
	“I could beat you now.” you said. Abby sat up and creased her brow incredulously.
	“Is that so?” she asked. A smug smile crossed your face.
	“It is.” She remained silent for a playfully tense moment, showing her perfectly straight and white teeth in a smile of anticipation.
	With a jovial scream, she lunged at you. Her hand on your shoulders, she pinned you down on the cloud, giggling the whole time.
	“One!” she yelled as you began to thrash. “Two!” You grabbed her waist, and twisted your body, rolling her over and pinning her.
	The two of you rolled around, the bout going back and forth countless times, both of you laughing the whole time, forgetting of your countless troubles and responsibilities back on the ground. Just you and Abby.

----------

	The sky was black, dusk having long passed. Here, so high, no clouds or lights could obscure your view of the stars. You were on your back, still supported by the clouds. Abby was with you, her head lain on your chest, you fingers absentmindedly touching the soft skin of her shoulders and her silky hair.
	The wrestling match had gone without a winner. It had somehow gone from a heated bout to the to of you laying together, Abby humoring you as you pointed out constellations. But now, neither of you spoke. You just savored her presence and felt the light from her halo. Your mind wandered as you ran your fingers through her hair.
	You’ve known Abby for most of your life. At times, she may have been annoying or overbearing. But she was always with you. Not as a mother figure, or even a sister. But just as your companion through life. You wondered if that’s what you were to her. Couldn’t be. She’s been around for a long long time. She led armies to battle. What is twenty years to her? This all must just be a footnote to her. But look at the two of you. You and Abby were inseparable, she never wanted to be away from you. You just couldn’t tell who you really were to Abby. But here, under the stars and the peaceful sky, you reckon, was a good place to ask a loaded question. You began to pull yourself up.
	“Abby?” you asked softly. She sat up, and turned to look at you. Her eyes locked onto yours, and in an instant, her serene gaze flooded into you like a torrent. You lulled for a moment, just looking at her face, lit from above by the golden light of her halo.
	“Yes?” she asked. Her expression was so soft. So innocent and wide eyed. You wondered how she could possibly be that way after all the things she’s done in war. How many times has she bragged about the time she cut the devil in half? And look at her, still looking innocent.
	“To me, Abby…” you said as you tried to be selective with your words, but you lost your train of thought. “...I mean...I’ve known you for almost my whole life. We might get on each other's nerves sometimes, but you have always been there for me. I guess there’s nobody out there who means more to me than you do.” Abby smiled sheepishly, her face rapidly flushing, and crawled off of you. She sat next to you and pulled her knees to her chest.
	“T-thanks.” she said.
	“Well, my question is; What do I mean to you?” you said. “I mean, you have been through a lot before I was ever even born. Am I just a small little, insignificant stretch in your life?”
	“No, of course not.” Abby said in a calming tone.
	“Well then, what am I?” you asked.
	“What are you?” she parroted. You nodded. Her face flushed even more. “Uh, I-I...you—” she stammered, before looking down and chuckling nervously. This is far different than the generic ‘you are my sword and I love you just as the lord loves his children’ answer that you were expecting.
	“What is it, Abby?” you asked. “You know you can say anything to me.” She took a deep breath.
	“I mean more to you than anybody else?” she asked, still looking down at her feet as they dug into the cloud.
	“Yes.” you said. She cast a glance at you.
	“...Even Sibella?” You were silent for a second.
	“...Yes.” you eventually said. Abby sighed.
	“Anon, you are...more than just my sword or the S.I. that I was assigned to protect.” she said as she lifted one of her massive wings in front of her face again, nervously toying with the feathers. “You’re as important to me as I am important to you.” Her eyes still looked at you nervously, but a smile crossed your face.
	“You’ll always be my best friend, Abby.” you said. She, unspeaking, stared back at you for a moment. Her lips began to tremble and she brought up her other wing, closing herself in a feathery cocoon. “Abby?” you asked, crawling towards her. “Abby, what’s wrong?” She sniffed.
	“I-I’m sorry, Anon.” she said softly, voice wavering.
	“Sorry for what?”
	“An angel isn’t supposed to feel this way…” she said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me...” You touched one of her wings, and it recoiled away. You tried to gently open her little, self imposed wing prison
	“Come on, Abby.” you said. “What’s the matter?” She didn’t say anything. “Abby, it’s me.” Her wings trembled and slowly spread apart, revealing her, wiping tears off her face. You crawled forward and put your hands on her shoulders. She averted her gaze away from your face.
	“...I love you, Anon.” she said. You stomach tied in a knot. “And not ‘love’ in the sense that I’ve always told you I love you. I love you in the way that’s...forbidden for an angel.” She glanced quickly up at you, then looked back down. “A-and I know it’s not right, and that you’ve got Sibella, and—”
	“I love you too, Abby.” you said. She looked up at you, face bright red. “In the same sense that you love me.”
	“...You do?” she asked, her eyes wide open with the beauty of some far off celestial object. You nodded. The two of you were lit up only by Abdiel’s halo and and the stars in the sky. “This is wrong, Anon.”
	“I know.” you said. “But, what will we do? Just go on as normal knowing full well that we love each other? I couldn’t do it.”
	“We could uh…” Her voice was shaking. “We could try to get a new angel assigned to you.”
	“No.” you said. “If that’s the only alternative, then we’ll just have to...forget about all this.” You leaned in and hugged your angel, and felt her arms hesitantly wrap around you. “Just know that I’ll always be in love with you.” you sullenly whispered into her ear. She inhaled sharply, and you backed away from the embrace, but Abby didn’t let go, leaving the two of you face to face, only inches apart. She was blushing so much you could almost feel the heat radiating off of her face. She made a small peep, and, as if through some unspoken agreement, you both slowly began to lean in, all the magnitudes of ‘this is not allowed’ pushed far into the back of your minds. You closed your eyes.
	She drew in a sharp heave as soon as her soft lips came into contact with yours. The cool breath from her nose felt like all the times she cradled your head after a hard day when you were young. You hugged your arms around her again, feeling her back, pulling her close. She tightened her grip around you, and slowly closed her wings around you both.
	You felt warm and at ease. You felt as if this was meant to be, bound to happen one way or another. Your lips parted from Abby’s, and your eyes opened to her angelic, rosy cheeked form. She looked at you, uncertain, probably waiting to see your reaction. A happiness was welling up inside you, and a smile cracked your face. A smile came across hers as well
	“How do you feel?” you asked. She chuckled softly.
	“...I don’t know.” she said, averting her gaze like the kittenish angel she was. You began to laugh. You couldn’t help it. You laughed from the giddiness of this mutual profession of love, excitement from the kiss, but most of all, just how much trouble you and Abby were likely going to be in. Unless some miracle happens, it’s going to be a rough time. But with Abby; you feel like you could take on the world and Heaven and Hell.
	“I love you, Abby.” you said. She giggled, probably not sure of why you were laughing.
	“I love you too.”

	The two of you left the cloud and flew home.