Heaven…

Metatron rubbed at the lines forming on her brow. Azrael sighed and coughed quietly.

“What is it Azrael,” Azrael’s face twitched as he suppressed a smile, his ice blue eyes laughing at the scene in front of them.

“Well, I just thought that training the Generals of Heaven would differ slightly from Human behaviour,” Metatron frowned as Raphael cried out in shock.

“MICHAEL, LET GO OF RAPHAEL’S WINGS. RIGHT. NOW,” Azrael couldn’t help but chuckle, and Metatron threw him a deadly glance, irritation shining out of her pale gold eyes. Running a hand through her silver hair, Metatron sighed and folded her arms across her chest.

“It’s almost exactly like raising human teenagers. I certainly don’t remember us behaving like this,” Azrael shrugged, his arms hugged around a large black tome he seemed to permanently carry.

“We were the first to be created. We had to grow up in order to be ready for war. Just like Gabriel. Just like Michael was meant too,” the black haired Angel turned back to Metatron, “Where is Gabriel by the way? Wasn’t he meant to be here for training too?” Metatron nodded without taking her eyes off the two young men in front of her.

“He took his sister out on her first trip Downside. Apparently ran into some demon trouble, but nothing he couldn’t handle,”

“That’s because I am awesome,” Metatron and Azrael’s heads turned as a tall figure ducked into the Training Room. Michael, who had Raphael in a headlock, released the younger Arch Angel and opened his arms wide, a wicked grin spread over his freckled face.

“Gab, what took you so long man. Lessons are dull without you, you know that,” Metatron tutted and straightened up

“Michael, maybe you will pay attention now Gabriel is here,” Michael waved one hand at Metatron, pulling an impudent face

“Oh please, everyone knows I don’t need to learn anything else. I threw Lucifer, my own older brother, into Hell. What do I need to learn? I’m basically Heavens hero,” Metatron narrowed her eyes at Michael, but before she had a chance to admonish him, Gabriel spoke up.

“Even I need to learn how to be a proper General of Heaven Michael, and you know Metatron is the best to learn from. You were lucky with Lucifer, but we can’t always rely on luck, we need proper training,” He moved further into the room and Metatron noticed a small figure trailing behind him. Large golden eyes stared out from behind a curtain of golden hair. Azrael noticed and beamed down at the tiny Angel.

“Hey Uriel, did you enjoy your trip Downside?” Uriel clung to Gabriel’s leg and nodded shyly. In one swooping movement, the tall Angel scooped the little girl up and set her on one shoulder. She squealed in delight and clung onto his golden hair, beaming out over everyone from her vantage point.

“Apart from our little demon trouble, it was a pretty successful trip. She still doesn’t talk much though, but I am sure she will come out of her shell, like I did,” Azrael snorted

“Gab, we couldn’t shut you up even when you were a kid, what are you talking about? I remember trying to teach you things and you wouldn’t stop asking questions for one minute,” Metatron smiled slightly at this, remembering when Gabriel, Michael and Raphael were as small as Uriel. In Heaven, there were currently three Angelic generations. The likes of herself and Azrael were directly created by the All Father, to watch over the planet of Earth. The second generation of Angels, the ones that fought the last great war, the likes of Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer and Raphael, were created by the first generation, who had sensed the coming war, but had not known from where it would come from. The newest generation of Angels, were created by the mating of second generations, who found they could create Angelic children. Occasionally, as in Uriel’s case, a second generation Angel put in a request for the creation of a sibling. These requests were often turned down, but Metatron had been curious by Gabriel’s request, and had agreed to create Uriel. Uriel was essentially Gabriel’s twin, and she would grow up a lot faster than the normal third generation Angels. She looked almost exactly like her brother, same golden eyes and golden hair, except her face was more heart shaped to Gabriel’s oval.

“I should probably be getting back to my offices. Work to do, Death doesn’t stop for anyone you know, not even me,” Metatron raised one eyebrow at Azrael and he shrugged slightly while grinning, “Well, okay, it does stop if I want it too, but you know what I mean. Good luck,” with a sweeping wave, the dark haired Angel of Death strode from the room and left Metatron with her Arch Angels. Her gold eyes turned to each of them in turn, taking in their differences; Gabriel’s golden haired perfection, Michael’s red headed wildness and Raphael’s white haired obedience. She knew Gabriel had no need to come to these lessons any more, but he came to keep Michael, his reckless best friend, in check.

“I’d like you to practise hand to hand combat today please gentlemen. No powers, no weapons. Just bare hands and feet,” Raphael’s eyes lit up. Metatron knew the smallest of the Arch Angels was best at hand to hand. She figured after the bullying he put up with today, it was time for him to get his own back on Michael. Gabriel often tried to stop Michael, but Gabriel wasn’t always about and Raphael needed to learn to stand up for himself. Michael tutted in annoyance at this and removed his long over coat, revealing bare arms, covered in pale gold swirling tattoos. Angelic tattoos. Every Angel was covered in these golden swirls, from the base of their neck, to the tops of their feet. The more powerful the Angel, the more detailed and intricate the tattoos were. Metatron subconsciously touched her arm, the tiny intricate tattoos that took up more space on her skin than skin, covered by her full length long sleeved dress of soft white material. She always wore simple high necked garments, trying to hide away the most detailed tattoos in Heaven. She knew Azrael never understood why she tried to be so understated, her being the leader of Heaven, but she never asked to be in charge. She would of prefered to of let Lucifer rule like he was meant to before he rebelled against Heaven. Lucifer. Such a troublesome boy. She sighed and watched as Raphael rolled up his own shirt sleeves. Any Angelic eye would notice that Raphael’s tattoos were slightly more intricate than Michael’s, but a sensible Angelic voice would not say this out loud to Michael’s face. Gabriel pulled Uriel from his shoulder and placed her high up on one of the shelves holding armour.

“You are in for a real treat now lil’ sister, when these two fight hand to hand, its always fun to watch,” Metatron strode forwards into the middle of the room, placing herself between the two Arch Angels. Michael was tall, almost as tall as Gabriel, and broad shouldered. Raphael, though tall, was slight in comparison, though his long sleeved shirt hid toned upper arms, Metatron knew.

“Now boys, you know the rules. No powers, no weapons, no armour. Hands, feet, elbows and knees only. No headbutting, Michael, I’m looking at you here,” Michael snorted and cracked his knuckles, staring at Raphael.

“Lets just get on with this. I have other things to do today,” Metatron looked to Gabriel, who frowned slightly, then shrugged. With a look sideways at Raphael, Metatron unfolded all six of her large silver wings and spread them wide. With a snap, she beat them all forward at once and catapulted herself out of the way as the two Angels flew at each other in an instant. Michael always attacked with ferocity, trying to use his superior strength against Raphael, but the smaller Angel dodged and countered every attack without trying to land his own hit. Metatron had seen this method before. Raphael would eventually wear down Michael and begin to hit back, always landing his hits in places where it would hurt the most. Michael never learned, he was too stubborn, too confident in his own strength, to learn from these fights. Michael launched into a flurry of elbows to Raphael’s midriff but the white haired Angel just leapt back, ducking underneath the flying attacks and twirling out of the way. With an elegant push off of one foot, Raphael rose into the air, spreading his four pearl white wings to launch him further upwards towards the raised ceiling. He grinned down at Michael and crooked one finger.

“Lets make this a proper fight shall we, Angel to Angel,” Michael ground his teeth together and spread all four of his own impressive gold wings and launched upwards, like a rocket, towards Raphael.

Metatron smiled to herself, knowing Raphael had increased the advantage towards him even more by taking the fight aerial. Raphael was one of the fastest fliers about in all the four armies of Heaven and no one had yet outpaced him in an aerial fight. With one elegant drop, he managed to dodge Michael’s accent and placed a well aimed kick to the back of the taller Angels knee. With a very unHeavenly curse, Michael turned midair to aim an elbow at Raphael’s face. Metatron winced as elbow made contact with brow and droplets of golden blood fell to the floor of the Training Room. She heard Gabriel gasp slightly as Raphael catapulted from Michael and halted midair, wiping a trickle of gold off his face.

“Not so confident now are you, shorty,” Michael gloated, his arms folded across his broad chest in victory. Internally, Metatron shook her head at Michael’s pride. Pride had no place in an Angel. Pride had been Lucifer’s downfall. Turning her attention back to the fight, she smiled knowingly as Raphael launched an attack at Michael’s head with his knee, not bothering to respond to Michael’s taunts and taking the taller Angel by surprise. With a furious ducking motion Michael dropped, almost crashing to the floor in order to avoid a knee to the head. Raphael followed him in one smooth motion, crashing them both the last few metres into the floor and sending up an explosion of dust and marble with the collision.

“This fight is OVER,” declared Metatron as, with one sweeping motion, she cleared the dust from the hall. In the centre of a spiderweb of fractures, Raphael was kneeling on Michael’s chest, one finger placed directly in the middle of the red heads forehead.

“Raphael wins,” Michael stared up at Raphael with almost what looked like hate in his eyes. Metatron sighed. Though the fight was short, Raphael had shown up Michael in front of Gabriel. Michael wouldn’t forget this, not for a long while. The white haired Angel folded away his wings and got off Michael, dusting down his clothes and bowing slightly to Metatron.

“If it suits you ma’am, I would like to go visit Azrael in his offices now,” Metatron nodded, frowning slightly as Raphael left without a word. Gabriel saunted forward, helping his friend up off the floor. Michael glared at the open doorway as he dusted himself off.

“That little idiot, who does he think he is. I could of beaten him, he just took me by surprise. Cheap trick,” Metatron watched as Gabriel tried to diffuse the situation, clapping a hand playfully on Michael’s shoulder and grinning.

“Next time you will just have to take him by surprise then mate,” Michael looked at Gabriel and the tension seemed to flow out of him slightly, a smile cracking across his face. Metatron was always amazed at the way Gabriel seemed to quell Michael’s rage, like a cool drink of water smothering a burning throat. She sighed slightly and looked around. The floor would need to be repaired. Again.