When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
And the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes
In the night the stormy night away she'd fly.
Paradise- Coldplay
Prologue
'It is time for you to return, face your judgement and serve your penance; this has gone on long enough, Jinn. All your anger, your centuries-long rebellion, wasting away here on Earth for a mortal soul, a flawed girl who didn't even end up choosing you anyway. Was it worth it? You were wrong and it is time to end this folly.' Michael towered above Jinn, who knelt in deference at the taller man's feet with his glorious head bowed.
'I...' Jinn said, a subtle quiver in his usually resonating voice. The memory of her face, from then and now, still made his heart tremble. She was his weakness, there was nothing he wouldn't do and there was nothing that he wouldn't sacrifice to make her happy. 'I needed to make it right. I needed to know.' His voice had regained its edge and his tone had found its resolve. 'I would gladly wait another ten thousand years in solitude for her, if that's what it took.'
'For her to do what exactly?' Michael's tone was almost scornful but his clear blue eyes were gentle. In appearance he closely resembled Jinn, with his thick dark hair and beautifully strong features, though he was much taller and broader. His angelic wings, when spread, were thicker and emanated a bright golden hue that still clung to him now, just out of reach of any mortal sight that may fall upon him. 'She has already made her choice. You cannot reason with these humans. They are flawed; not through any of Father's doing, but their own. You know that as well as I, probably more so. Without these flaws there would be no purpose for most of our Choirs, especially your own, but that does not give you free reign to involve yourself in their lives as you have. We have been patient with you, too patient one wouldn't wonder, but I cannot display such leniency for much longer. It is time for you to return now and face what awaits.'
'What awaits? I know exactly what my fate is to be, Michael, and it is one that is ten times more painful than the Hierarchy could ever inflict upon me.' Jinn's dark eyes flashed with emotion as he raised his head to meet Michael's cool, level gaze. 'My time on this Earth after... After the first time was meant as a punishment.' Jinn's mind's eye flashed backwards to a simpler, ancient time. He could feel the warmth of Eirene cooling in his arms, the slowing of her pulse against his seeking fingertips and the scent of blood cloying the familiar perfume of her hair. After that came blackness. A huge, empty space that filled his heart and his mind to such an extent that every minute passed on Earth felt like a thousand, as a dozen blunt needles were shoved with calculated deliberateness through the very centre of his soul. The creep of hot, black fingers began to snake around his lungs, squeezing, suffocatingly slow, as those thousands of years, bleak and empty, slid back unbidden into his consciousness. 'My punishment could not have been greater, and now I must face it all again.'
