After witnessing her father pass out like this, Seraphina stared down at his knocked-out figure in surprise and horror. Tears of shock gathered in her eyes before she burst out in tears. She cried loudly in high distress, her arms waving in motion towards Michael as if she wanted to get close to him.

Her cries snapped her uncles out of their shocked trance, the three immediately starting to panic, at loss with what to do.

"Ah! No, Michael!" Raphael shouted and immediately slid off the table towards his brother’s passed-out form. He quickly checked him for any injury he could have sustained through the fall. Luckily, his thick skull had saved his life countless times so he should be fine.

"Oh my gosh! Is he okay??!" Gabriel shouted, the hyperactive angel not knowing what to do as they glanced back and forth between Sera and Raphael. Uriel just took a slow deep breath to calm down, adjusting the glove on his right hand like he usually does when uneasy or nervous.

"Yes, he is fine. It seems like he fainted from the shock of Sera's first words…" Raphael mumbled before remembering what she had said and cringed lightly. He glanced back at the upset toddler and frowned at her state. "Someone calm down Sera, please! It hurts me to hear her cry like this." He shouted at his brothers before going back to focus on trying to wake up Michael.

"Oh- Of course!" Gabriel slapped their forehead lightly and quickly raced over to Seraphina who was crying at full volume now. Her upset hiccups disturbed her loud cries from time to time, yet she didn’t seem to calm down. "Hey, hey. Shh. It's okay, Sera! Michael is fine! He will be fine! Calm down please now, okay?!" They tried to soothe her as they picked her up, rocking her back and forth as gently as possible.

However, the tiny angel didn't calm down in the slightest, instead grabbing onto Gabriel’s shirt and crying even louder than before. It seemed like she was disturbed from seeing her father faint like this when actually the fact he fainted after she spoke up made her this upset.

Uriel grimaced from the noise and glared at Gabriel angrily. "Just calm her down! It isn't that hard to soothe a baby!" He snapped at them because the crying disturbed his love for silence. But actually, it hurt him as well to hear Sera cry in such distress, even though he would never admit that.

Gabriel's eyebrow twitched lightly at that comment, giving Uriel a nasty side glare. "Oh? If it's that easy why won't you do it yourself then, huh?" They hissed at him but stopped once Raphael interrupted their bickering again.

"Enough now! Gabriel, do you have one of those cherry-scented lipsticks? I know Michael hates that smell. It could help me wake him up quicker." Raphael asked seriously, his soft voice for once strict.

The Messenger Archangel blinked in surprise, gently patting Sera's back as the princess' cries slowly ebbed down to small distressed sobs. "Lipstick? Oh, yes, of course. I never leave my chambers without it~" They smirked, trying to pull it out of their pocket but it proved to be difficult while holding a baby. "Gosh…" Gabriel huffed before they just shoved their niece into Uriel's arms. "Hold her for a moment, kay?"

"I- What- Wait, Gabriel!" Uriel mumbled in complete panic as he held Sera awkwardly, his whole body tense as he had no idea what to do.

Gabriel grumbled before they finally discovered the lipstick in one of their many pockets. With an outcry in triumph, they pulled out the makeup and giggled as they raced over to Raphael. "Here, found it!~ Can I help, please??? It's one of these rare opportunities to tease Michael so I can't pass up on it!" 

"Gabriel!" Uriel called for him in visible panic before he adjusted his grip on Sera lightly. 'For Astria's sake… What am I supposed to do… I never held a kid before, let alone a baby…' He thought and looked down to his sobbing niece, feeling kind of bad for her but he had no idea how to soothe someone. "...There there…?" He mumbled and tried to imitate what Gabriel did before as he gently rocked Seraphina back and forth. 

Sera's sobs died down slowly as she started to hiccup instead, still upset but a lot calmer now. However, as soon as Uriel heard her hiccups, he froze completely thinking he had done something wrong. Panic rushed through him as he grimaced more visibly. 

As if she noticed his panic, Seraphina suddenly looked up to him with slightly teary eyes. She sniffed but tugged on his shirt cutely to catch his attention. Uriel glanced down at her in surprise, his brows furrowing slightly when she mentioned to his hand. "...Huh?" He asked and tilted his head lightly. 'How odd… Is she trying to tell me something?' He questioned himself and moved his hand towards her. 

As soon as his hand was close enough, Sera reached out and wrapped her small hands around his finger. She held onto it cutely before she glanced back up to the Archangel with a shaky smile. Despite the fact her eyes were still teary, the gentle grip of her tiny fingers along with the precious look in her deep eyes caused blood to rush to Uriel's cheeks. 

The Archangel of Wisdom blushed lightly, both astonished and fascinated by the tiny young being he was holding. 'Maybe… Babies aren't as bad as I thought…' He thought as a tiny smile spread on his lips.

"Pffft-" 

And with that snort of an all-too-familiar voice, Uriel's smile dropped into a deadpan expression. He looked up only to stare right at an amused Gabriel who tried very hard not to laugh at what they had just witnessed. "Y-You… Blushed… Pfft-"

"Not a word about it or I am going to rip out your wings." Uriel shot back in anger, shoving Sera back into his brother's arms, and dusted off his suit with a nonchalant expression. Of course, he would never admit it but he was quite flustered from the fact his niece seemed to have no fear of him. Even older angels feared the sadistic loner, not because he was unpleasant to be around, but his intelligence often went over the head of people.

“Sure, sure…” Gabriel snorted out as they held Sera gently, smiling down at her in amusement. “I knew you were the perfect charmer!!” They giggled and gazed smugly back at Uriel who was seriously considering punching them right now.

However, their attention was quickly directed to Raphael as he helped a groaning Michael onto his stool.

“My head is killing me… What the fuck.” The King of Angels mumbled grumpily, clearly not happy about waking up to a splitting headache. “What happened?” He asked and looked up to his brothers, only to be met with a tearful Sera happily reaching for him.

“Ah, oh well… You see, you fainted,” Gabriel told him with a snicker and carefully handed Michael his daughter who immediately latched onto him as if her life depended on it.

“Really?” Michael asked surprised and gently soothed Sera, kissing the top of her head affectionately. “I only remember having this really bad nightmare…” He paused and paled lightly, his expression completely horrified. “It was the worst dream ever… I really imagined Sera’s first words being...Fuck off…” He mumbled, terrified.

“Actually, that was not- '' Uriel spoke up only to get body-slammed by Raphael, the small healer immediately pressing his hand over his mouth with a panicked expression. “Not a word… Let him believe it was a dream for the sake of our sanity.” He whispered to his brother, who blinked stunned but then nodded in agreement. 

“It was truly horrible…” Michael grumbled and shuddered lightly, still not seeming to get over the fact his “imagination” forced him to experience such things. Yet, the father couldn’t help but feel a bit worried that his daughter was clinging to him like this. “Did something happen to Sera?”

“Ah, not exactly. It was just a shock for her to see you faint like this.” Raphael explained with a sweet smile as he quickly got off Uriel who stood back up with a huff.

“Mhm…” Michael grumbled in disbelief as he glanced back down into his daughter's eyes. He felt like there was more to this than his siblings told him.

Seraphina just smiled in joy, really relieved her father was alright as she eased her grip on him lightly. “Pa...pa…” She spoke slowly all of the sudden, her features scrunching up in concentration as Michael’s eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Huh?” He asked her in surprise. “What is it, Sera?”

“Pa..pa… Papa… Papa!” She shouted out, beaming up to him as she waved one of her arms lightly. “Papa!”

Michael’s eyes widened in surprise at that. For a moment he just stared down at Seraphina in complete astonishment before tears gathered in his eyes. “...Ahhhh! My little princess!” He lifted her joyfully, smiling brightly as tears slipped from his eyes and ran down his cheek. “Yes, I’m your papa!” 

“Papa! You papa!” Seraphina giggled out happily as the King of Angels sniffed before completely bursting out in joyful tears. 

“Yes! I’m your papa, Sera!” He repeated happily, wiping his tears away quickly. He turned to his surprised siblings with the brightest smile they had ever seen on him. “Can you believe it?! Her first words are papa! I’m so happy! Ah, my daughter is such a smart girl!!” Michael boasted proudly before turning back to praise Sera.

“Should we really not tell him?” Gabriel asked with a deadpan expression. All of them felt like it was kind of ironic that Michael repressed the memories of Sera’s real first words.

“Yes, just let him believe Sera’s first words were “papa”...” Raphael replied with a nervous smile, truly not wanting to destroy Michael’s happiness right now.

“Agreed. Unless you desire to get kicked out again.” Uriel stated seriously.

“Yeah, never mind. Let’s just forget about Sera’s unofficial first words as well…” 

“Definitely.”

———🕊———

That significant day, Seraphina spoke her first words at six months old. Through the turmoil and chaos, neither Michael nor the Archangels realized how odd it was for the young princess to talk this early. But soon, they were going to question just how mature Seraphina is.