Angel Monarch

Sera stood there examining the group of six people. There were three men and three women, but they all looked different.

The one who spoke, was the tallest by far. His voice was deep and without humor.

He had shoulder length black hair and dark eyes. His height was of course his most defining feature, but Sera did notice that under his armor was a muscular body. He was also quite handsome, and Sera could see why Jill chose him as one of her husbands.

"What have you done so far, and where is Jill?" Asked Sera, waving their attention away.

The six of them changed posture into a more comfortable stance, but still way too serious for the occasion. Looking at each for a second time Sera spotted a person of interest.

At the back, avoiding eye contact stood a woman with blood-red hair and the same colored eyes. She looked much more shy than the rest, but that wasn't why Sera had found her interesting.

On the upper left part of her black breastplate a small seven-point star was painted in golden color. This was the mark of evolution and also the secret symbol of the Angelic Order.

They created this mark a while back to identify agents of the Angelic Order's secret service.

If the woman wore this mark, it meant she wasn't just a regular ascended of this strange family, but one of Sera's secret elite soldiers.

Slowly her eyes moved staring into Sera's own. She made a tiny, near imperceptible nod towards her, then the act snapped back and she continued to be shy.

"Jill is away on an errand. She asked us to help you with the clean-up!" Said another woman. She was much more enthusiastic than the others. Her hair was long and blue, which were similar in color to her eyes.

"And what exactly have you done? Also could all of you introduce yourselves, its weird talking to you without knowing anyone's name!"

"Sure!" Said one of the man. He had close cropped silver hair and light blue eyes. His build was average and he wore glasses, which he adjusted every few minutes.

"My name is George. The giant here is Dean. The silent muscle-head back there is Louis. The shy beauty hiding there is Helena. The blue haired woman, who can't seem to stay silent is Faye. And the short blondie, who's yellow eyes seems to always scan for traps, is Diane!" As he finished the whole area turned silent.

The quiet didn't last, after about the third second passed, each member of the family started shouting different things at George. He just laughed loudly, at least until the blue haired girl called Faye stole his glasses and threw it to the giant named Dean.

He held up the glasses, way above George's reach and taunted him with it. The others laughed as he tried jumping and catching it, but it was clear that his powers didn't give any outstanding physical boost.

Even Sera thought it a bit hilarious, but she didn't show any emotion on her face.

Suddenly George decided to stop trying to jump that high, and instead began climbing Dean. Sera watched in amazement, disgust, confusion and shock as he climbed so high that they were eyelevel, then out of nowhere they kissed.

Their kiss lasted only a few moments, but the befuddlement for Sera had only just began.

In the next few minutes she proceeded to watch one of the most surreal events of her life.

After climbing down and getting back his glasses, George proceeded to give a kiss to each of his fellow wives and husbands, after each he said 'I'm sorry' in a whisper.

When they finished and looked towards Sera, she didn't know what to say. There was only one thing she was sure off...

"You are a really fucking weird family..." The group laughed in unison, not taking her words seriously. Behind her another croaking laughter sounded.

Sera glanced back just as Jill stepped next to her. She began furiously typing on her watch, sending a message to all of her family members. They all laughed again, but Sera's eyes was only on Jill.

Her whole demeanor seemed to change when she was with her family. The previously empty face brightened to a great extent. On her face a small, but constant smile rested, while her whole body looked much more energetic.

It was like she had finally acquired the missing parts of herself, and now she could function like a regular human again.

For a split second Sera's eyes turned envious again. What Jill had... Being able to be herself, without restrictions... She dreamt about that feeling, when she eventually defeats Harold and gets back her soul and emotions...

It seemed like a fairytale, but every dream was like that. Also, she wasn't a dreamer, those kind of people wait for their dream to come true, when in real life you have to work for your dreams and that's exactly what she was doing!

Suddenly a new message arrived on her watch from Jill.

Jill:

So? Should we get started, getting this dump in working condition?

Sera chuckled a bit and said, "Sure."

After this, they began putting the camp in order and this day would forever go down as one of the strangest days Sera had ever lived.

The Black Crusaders worked efficiently, but they were really just a giant family.

They constantly joked between themselves, most of them being inside jokes which Sera didn't understand at all. The most disturbing part was the flirting though. Every occasion they could do so, they flirted. It was really weird to listen to.

What was even weirder, when the flirting would start to turn physical. Sometimes a few of them just disappeared for minutes or even hours, then when they came back it was clear that they had sex.

Luckily Jill never went away with any of them, even though they definitely asked her a couple of times on her watch. She was hundred percent the most down to earth, from the whole family. The only other exception was red haired Helena, who politely refused every instance when the others asked her to go with them.

She seemed eager to go, but Sera's presence stopped her from doing so. The two of them really wanted to talk privately, but Jill was constantly around them.

Sera judged Jill to be a smart and honorable woman, who loved her family more than anything, but she didn't trust her enough to have Helena's real identity revealed. Helena seemed to think like that as well.

They were walking to some other part of the camp, when a message arrived on Jill's watch. Currently only the three of them were there. The others were away again, and Sera didn't even want to think about what they were doing.

When she read through the message her face turned a bit strange, and she began writing to both Sera and Helena.

Jill:

Cassandra asked for my help with something. You two can go on, I will catch you later... At least you can finally talk about whatever you want to keep hidden from me!

As she watched Sera's and Helena's expression turn surprised she began walking away, but only after she gave a long kiss to her wife.

While that happened Sera sent a quick 'Thank you' to David. He was the one who asked for Jill's presence, using Cassandra as a proxy. This way Sera would have a bit of alone time with Helena, and she could ask for some information.

Minutes after she went away the two of them stood in the middle of the mostly empty street awkwardly. Eventually they continued to walk.

Sera glanced to her left where Helena walked, her expression confused and conflicted.

For a moment Sera thought of what to say, but in that moment Helena finally spoke for the first time since they met.

"It's nice to finally meet you My Lady... My brothers and sisters from the Order talked a lot about you, but non could describe your presence and beauty..." Her voice sounded meek and very shy, it was quite cute. Sera definitely understood what Jill saw in her.

"Thank you, but I won't join your strange family no matter how many compliments you give!" Said Sera as a joke. Helena's face turned to the same red color as her hair from embarrassment.

"Jill should learn to stay silent about details..." She answered, causing Sera to laugh.

"And my family is not that strange! It is definitely healthier than most people's! WE at least love each other more than anything!" Said Helena with pride and only a small amount of red in her cheeks.

"So what would happen if you had to choose between which family member to save?" Asked Sera curiously. She was quite interested about how these people worked.

Helena looked her straight in the eye and just smiled without revealing anything. There was something she wasn't telling her, but Sera knew not to dig since that would only alienate her.

After that the silence persisted for another few minutes. Eventually Sera finally asked the question she needed the answer to.

"As you probably noticed I had been trying to talk to you for the whole day..." While speaking Helena looked at her solemnly. Only at this moment did Sera spot the serious undertone of her shy persona.

"The reason is pretty simple. We will soon assault New Constantinople, but before the battle starts I need eyes in the city. I want to speak with the Angelic Order members hidden inside, but my watch had a peculiarity for a long while now, and it only got fixed recently."

"What do you need me to do, My Lady?" She asked in a firm tone, causing Sera to smirk a bit.

"Could you transfer me Lilith's contacts since she is currently in the city! I need to talk with her, preferably before the attack!"