Courting Death /IC/

Time was never an issue. She always managed to find herself to be in the right place at the right time. The job she had was an easy task to do: either led the soul back to life or separate the ties to life. She was a gatekeeper. There wasn’t a lot of thought to it as destiny dictated her actions. The sun was high in the sky as the middle of the day rolled around. Many people were bustling here as people tried to find something to eat for lunch.

As always, Azraella was able to blend in to the crowd. She always marveled how humans were able to pay no attention to her, that no one seemed to believe that angels could walk among them. Yet her mind wasn’t on the mystery of humans right now. Her mind was currently focused on a pesky human right now. From her back pocket she produced a small black book. Flipping the book open, she thumbed through the pages until she reached a certain page. “Arthur Graham,” she read to herself before lifting her eyes and cast them to the side. Nothing in particular was there – which was troublesome. Occasionally someone got it in their heads that they could run from their fate. And it was moments like this that caused Ella a headache.

“Now where could he be,” she snapped the black book shut and placed it back in her pocket as she let instinct guide her. She was not the only angel of death – so luckily a delay in hunting down one human wouldn’t mess up with all the souls who would stand upon death’s door today.

The morning had not been kind to Desidaryus Blackwell, leaving him with a dent in the back corner of his black Lexus and a migraine that could drop a horse. He half-stormed into his favorite cafe, forced a kind greeting to the waitress who knew him by name, and he settled in his usual spot only to stare at his laptop and try to focus on his book. Right away, thoughts of that girl invaded his mind and he sighed in frustration. He was not in the mood to be waylaid today. He brushed his thick, dark hair back and out of the way and removed his thin half-framed glasses and just turned to stare out the window, hoping maybe a stranger passing by would give him a spark of inspiration to continue his story.
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And then he saw her. His dark eyes widened and he felt his heart suddenly leap and beat rapidly as he lost his breath. He'd seen her many times before, and experienced this feeling each time without fail, but this time he was going to do something about it. He closed the document on his computer holding his story, and opened a fresh new page, and he began to write rapid-fire, words flowing from his fingertips like water from a river.

As the moved down the sidewalk, Ella was suddenly overcome with that feeling that someone was watching her. Of course, such a feeling was absurd. No one ever paid any attention to her, and it was strange if they ever did. So she shrugged off the thought.

It was then that she saw him – her target. His face was pale, his eyes wide and he tried to run. She watched the ginger turn this way and that as he grasped his heart. He could probably feel it, the hands of death around his neck. Her footsteps quickened as she closed the distance between herself and the man whose life on earth would soon end. Reaching out, her hand rested on the frantic man’s shoulder. “Arthur Graham,” she called his name as she held him firm – preventing him from running. “I thought you’d be harder to find. But that’s beside the point. Your time is up – your mission of life complete.” She offered the man a smile, hopefully to ease his worry.

Desidaryus paused as he looked up to search for the woman's face again, and he saw that she'd stopped someone. Something pushed him... and before he knew it, he was out in the street, approaching her. "Excuse me," Desidaryus muttered to a stranger he slid past. "Um, Miss!" He called to the woman, "Hold on for a second! I need to talk with you!" What he had to say, he wasn't sure, but his lack of attention caused him to forget the difference between the road and sidewalk. He stumbled over the curb and managed to fall on his hands and knees. He was beginning to come out of his stupor and had risen to a kneel just as he saw it: the black delivery van coming at him, its driver distracted by texting on a cell phone. Ry couldn't move, even though he screamed at his body to get the hell out of the way.

Ella was grateful that this situation had been quite easy. Arthur had not been too difficult to find. All she had to do now was pull his soul from his body. She could then go back to carrying on her normal responsibilities. However, before she pull Arthur across the gateway of life and death, her attention was drawn to the street. Her fingers slipped from Arthur's shoulder.

With only the speed and strength of an angel, she reached the man. She grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet while dragging him backwards. Not even a second later the van cruised past them, not even a breath away. "Your life on Earth isn't over yet," Ella stated as she let go of the man's arms. She rarely interfered to save a life like she just done. It was too much work and hassle. Usually all she would do was make sure that the soul remains attached to the body and there would be a long recovery time. However, if the person couldn't avoiding wasting time in a hospital miracles happen. "You still have plenty to do before you meet your Maker."

She turned away from him as she looked to where she had left Arthur. She let out a long sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair. Great - apparently this was going to be more of a problem than it was supposed to be.

Ry stared at her as her words struck him more deeply than anything he'd ever experienced in his life, "You're... you're really her... I thought it was just a dream." But he stopped himself from staring in awe for too long, "Please... I need to talk to you, I need to know who you are and how you... how you did that," he looked back at the street, "and how and... why you saved me before..."

Ella slowly turned her head as she realized the man that she had saved was talking to him. She stared at him for quite a while, remaining silent. There had only been a few times where she had talked to people after performing a miracle. However, she was usually able to blend back into the crowd and become invisible. But that was apparently not the case this time.

She slowly turned to face him as she rested her hands on her hips. His words seemed to suggest that this was not the first time that she had kept him from passing on to the next life. “I just told you why,” she answered simply. “You have something that you need to do before you die. I don't know what that is – they don’t give me that sort of information. As to how I saved you? It’s difficult to explain how miracles happen. Does that answer your questions?”

"No, not at all," he sighed. "Listen... let me buy you coffee. I see you pass by everyday, and I've never had the courage to ask til now. Please." He came off as sincere and curious about her. Not quite infatuated, but very much intruiged.
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(Sorry it's not much, I'm trying to think of how to set this thing running)

Ella was taken aback by his words. He had seen her walk pass every day. She did walk past here every day, but she should not be seen. Even if she had saved his life once before, he should not be able to continue to see her. Her first thought was that perhaps she had just made a mistake. Only those close to dying were able to see her in their last minutes before passing over. But yet… death was not lingering over this man. That knowledge that he still had more to do with life didn’t leave her.

Angels had no reason to eat or drink, so she hesitated to take him up on his offer. “I think I can spare a few minutes,” she found herself saying. Perhaps it was because she needed to learn more about this man – oh she knew his name, she was an angel after all, so what was it? Oh yes… “So, how long has it been since you’ve first seen me walk past, Desidaryus?”

He seemed rather surprised she knew his name, but he decided to let it go, walking with her back to the cafe. "About a month, I think..." He sat down with her in his usual spot, pushing aside his laptop. "Before anything... What's your name?" He met her eyes, his own troubled with the fact that he was constantly distracted by a woman he knew nothing about.