Angel Monarch

Helena just stared at her with wide eyes. The Angelic Order was a close knit group. They called each other brothers and sisters, but they also rarely met with one another.

This was especially true for their leaders, Adam and Lilith...

The two of them were the founders of the Angelic Order. Back then they were only regular humans, but after getting free from Harold's control, Sera realized a way to use this strange religion.

One day when the church was mostly empty Sera walked in and secretly talked with Adam and Lilith.

They were married by that point, but their devotion was larger than their love. When Sera asked them to organize a large force of ascended in secret, they done so without questions asked.

She only ever talked with them on that day. Bran still had some very secretive way to contact them, but they were mostly left independent.

Even now she only knew that Lilith was in New Constantinople because of Frank.

Contacting her won't be straightforward at all, mostly because she didn't actually own a watch. Sera heard that at one point Lilith got afraid of being tracked, and she ditched it.

The only way she was able to communicate was through one of her sisters or brothers, and Sera hoped that Helena got at least one of their contact information.

Currently Helena was trying to process this news. She probably haven't met with any members of the Angelic Order since her recruitment, which could only be done by one of the higher ups, maybe even Lilith or Adam themselves.

"Is... Is she truly there?..." Her voice sounded more emotional than usual, and on her face a tiny tear made its way down her cheek. After another moment, she remembered who she was talking to and her whole demeanor changed.

"I... I will try to send you one of their contacts!" Sera nodded and continued to walk like nothing happened.

A step behind her Helena followed, her eye scanning the ground while she was absorbed in her thoughts.

"You know, you will be able to meet them again. After we take the city of course." Said Sera after staying silent for a while. Helena didn't look at her as she shook her head.

"Not possible... Jill is already knows that I'm hiding something from her. If I went away she would notice..." She spoke in a tiny voice, trying to disagree with Sera as politely as she could.

Sera slowed down her steps a bit, so she walked beside Helena.

"Do you love her?" She asked while looking ahead. There was no hesitation between question and answer. "With my whole being!"

Next to her Sera sighed, finally understanding the situation, but still she couldn't just say it out loud... She had to lead the conversation there.

"If you love her, why don't you try and recruit her into the Angelic Order? I didn't know her for long, but she seems to be a rational and honorable person. I'm sure she would make the right decision, especially if You offered it."

Helena's eyes snapped to her own, and there it was... Behind the shy, and a bit cunning persona... There was the hidden conflict and terror.

"I-I don't think that's a good idea..." Her voice had a small tremble in it. A kind person would try to find some comforting words, and convince Helena to do the right thing, but Sera was much more direct.

"You are afraid that she would say no, which in turn would put you on the spot since you would have to decide between your love and your beliefs... But you see Helena, you have to choose!" Sera's eyes held no sympathy as they stared into Helena's own. She looked surprised and ashamed, but most of all scared.

This was a topic she tried to ignore, but after all this time of not thinking about it. The person to bring it up was the one she believed in.

"If you don't choose while you still can, then you are just pushing the responsibility towards a hill, and when it starts rolling on its own, you can only hope for the best consequences... Right now you can start the conversation by opening up to Jill, but if she finds out about it, while you still hiding the secret, her reaction will probably be much worse!"

Helena didn't know what to say. Her eyes glistened and her body trembled. This decision, this lie, this reality was ripping her apart slowly. Confronting her about it was necessary, but Sera wasn't done yet.

"I will give you this week, but after the siege you will make a decision. Either you bring Jill in front of Lilith and me, so we could explain and try to convince her..." Suddenly Sera stopped in the empty street and looked into Helena's fearful eyes. She already knew what Sera was going to say, but she didn't want to hear it... Sera said it anyway.

"...Or you can paint over that star on your armor since you wouldn't be part of the Angelic Order anymore... And if you dare to reveal any dangerous information to the enemy after that, I will kill your whole family in front of your eyes, and leave you alive... After seeing something like that you will probably beg me to kill you, but no... You will live with the thought, that they died because of you!"

While she spoke Sera's whole aura changed. She rarely showed the insanity hidden behind all the emotionlessness, but there it was. Below everything. Hidden from the unsuspected...

Helena strangely enough wasn't scared anymore. Somehow threatening her caused her to realize the situation she found herself in. Slowly she began walking again with Sera by her side.

Her previously conflicted emotions settled. She made a decision, and she would follow it through!

They continued with getting the camp in order. The two of them haven't talked throughout the rest of the day, but Sera did spot her typing away, which meant she was either talking to her wives and husbands, or she was trying to get the contact Sera had asked for.

Eventually the others came back as well, and strangely enough Jill was with them too. Her state was a bit haggard as well, which meant she had participated in... Whatever they were doing.

Jill saw Sera's stare and blushed a bit, but didn't look away. After a few seconds Sera just laughed self-deprecatingly and continued giving orders.

They only finished when the Sun had already set. After saying goodbye to the Black Crusaders, she went to grab a quick dinner alone.

Inside the now organized mess hall she found Cassandra and David eating at the same table, that they used in the morning. The two of them were giggling between themselves, and for some reason Cassandra found a constant excuse to touch David.

She didn't really want to interrupt their fun ––And she heard enough flirting for one day––but when she was about to move past them towards the table where Kathy sat with the others, Cassandra called for her to sit with them.

Without much choice Sera plopped down into the empty seat and began consuming her mountain of food.

"I still don't understand how you can eat so much..." Said Cassandra. Sera looked at her only for a moment, before turning back to her food.

"Dying takes a lot of energy." Was the only thing she said, while continuing to eat.

Cassandra looked surprised for a moment, then out of nowhere her eyes became tender and warm. Without saying a word she reached out and touched Sera's left hand, which was currently empty. She slowly looked up and into Cassandra's pink eyes.

"What is it?" She asked with a mouth full of potato. David couldn't keep a straight face and he had to look away to stop himself from laughing. Cassandra on the other hand didn't even really react.

"I'm sorry you have to go through that, but luckily for you this siege won't require your unique and horrible ability!" She tried to sound cheerful and supporting, but Sera did spot a tinge of sadness and fear as well.

When the siege would arrive she would need to fight one-on-one with a transcended. This meant she might not survive the attack if she didn't perform well, which in turn would lead to a large part of her army dying.

The pressure on her shoulders wasn't easy to bear... Sera knew that all too well...

"How was your speech, I missed it." Said Sera between bites, trying to change the topic, and the atmosphere.

Cassandra's expression suddenly brightened and it held quite a lot of pride.

"It was amazing! Everybody cheered and clapped! Their moral should be through the roof!" She said, but Sera's eyes were on David.

"It was okay. Her speech pattern was pretty good, but she was moving around way too much, articulating every word with a sudden body movement. I'm pretty sure half those cheers happened because of her breasts nearly popping out from below her way too tight outfit!" Sera laughed at that, while Cassandra pouted and grumbled under her breath.

For some reason she still wore the same revealing clothing, even though David spent at least two hours trying to convince her about modesty.

Eventually Sera convinced him to try not to change her whole outfit, but only a small portion of it. He seemed to actually listen to her advice, because Cassandra at least started to were a bra, which she previously called 'Breast Prison'.

The three of them talked for a while longer, then after Sera had finished with her meal, each of them went their own way.

When she got home. She took a quick shower and climbed under the covers of her bed.

Her clothes were still getting cleaned, which meant she would have to wear her armor tomorrow as well.

In her bed she read a few more entries about her past, but when she was about to go to sleep a message came from Maya, the green haired teen with the coding obsession. She finally finished Sera's request.

She didn't waste any time and forwarded the file Maya had sent her. She sent the program to Bran, who after reading her message would send it to everyone part of their ploy.

This night the whole communication system of the Angelic Order got revolutionized. They will be finally able to talk directly without the use of proxies.

After sending a few messages back and forth with Bran, she said goodnight and went to sleep with a smile on her face.