Helix surveyed the land around them.  Fallen Agents littered the fields, their energies fading into the night.  Lucy’s chant had drained their souls, forcing them to an early death.  They had been sacrificed for her own gains, although what they were would never be known now.  He walked between the souls, looking for one.  He stood over the tall, spindly Fallen leader he had sought, the soul underneath him weak and near its end.

“Lucifer,” Helix spoke softly.  “It is over.  Let us fight no more.”

“Helix …” Lucifer wheezed.  “The fight … will never end.  We will … return … stronger.”

“Brother, please …”

“I am no brother … of yours!”

Helix knelt down.  “Brother, we have lost too many souls in this war.  We need to end this fighting.  Heaven is open to you.”

“No,” Lucifer looked at Helix, his lifeless eyes fixed on him.  “Heaven … should be ruled … by a king.  Not a jester.”

“A jester?”

“You forget …” Lucifer’s soul drained slight more, “Heaven was … never truly safe.  It needed … stability.  It needed focus.”

“It needed unity.”

“You never offered … unity.  You offered … compliance.  You sought … obedience.”

“No, brother,” he started.

“I am NOT … your brother!”

Helix extended his hand.  “Lucifer, you are weak.  Let us return home. All of us.”

With the last of his energy, Lucifer sneered at Helix.  “I am … home,” he wheezed his last, before the last particles of his energy disappeared into the night.

“Oh my god, you did it!” Tiffany ran to Jessica and picked her up in her arms.  “You saved us!”

“Yeah!” Yoona bounded to the cadet.  “That was awesome!!”

Jessica smiled weakly.  “I did what I had to,” she replied.

Sunny ran to her and jumped at her, sending the pair tumbling.  “Jess, you were amazing!!!”

The cadet received more adoration in the following moments than she had ever received in all of her lives combined.  Yet, she still couldn’t focus on it.  Something was bugging her.  Still, she couldn’t focus on it right now; she had more important matters to take care of.  Like escaping the barrage of praise and worship from the other angels.  As they relieved her from their affections, Taeyeon ran towards the cadet, and hugged her.

“Jessica … you did it.  You saved us all,” she half sobbed, tears of joy falling down her cheeks.

“Thanks, Taeyeon … just doing my job.”

Taeyeon looked at the cadet, analysing her expression.  She saw so much.  Pride, confusion, joy, sadness, fear, comfort, relief, all meshed together in one unnamed emotion.  It was an expression she had seen a few times over, most of the time with the cadet standing in front of her.  Which meant one thing.

“You’re still on Star Watch,” Taeyeon warned, smiling and patting her cadet’s shoulder.

---

“Jessica,” Inara called, surprised at the cadet’s presence in the Star Watch Gallery.  “I thought you would be celebrating your victory with your fellow cadets.”

“Taeyeon sent me here,” Jessica replied.  “I still have my term to serve.”

Inara rolled her eyes.  “Not even the quick thinking heroics I’ve been hearing all about could change that with your leader?”

Jessica shook her head.

Inara watched the cadet.  The usual basket of treats was sitting next to her, but unlike this time it had hardly been touched.  In the cadet’s hand was a single cookie, one that Inara reasoned had been out of the packet for a while now.  She was not paying attention to the feeds.  She was not focussed to the task in hand.  Never had Inara seen Jessica in such a state.  This was the third night since their victory and Jessica still did not focus her energies on her job.

“Want to talk?” she offered.  Jessica shook her head, not looking away at the moving lights in front of her.  They were nothing more than moving lights at this point.  They were not feeds from Earth, they were just colourful lights that moved and danced.  They were of no interest to her whatsoever.

“You know we see everything, right?”  Jessica nodded.  “So, I know what happened.”  Another nod.  Inara pulled up a chair.  “Jessica, sweetie, you saved everyone.  And you saved that man.  He gets to live again, thanks to you.”

“He saw me,” she whispered.

“What?”

“He saw me.  He saw me there.  He spoke to me.”  Jessica turned to look at the Angel, tears forming in her eyes.  “I know he did.”

Inara sighed.  “Didn’t every other guy see you?”

“He really did,” she argued.  “He saw me.”

Inara’s face softened.  This was a torment that she had not seen on many angels.  In fact, only a handful of angels came to mind.  “Are you sure?” she asked.

“He spoke to me, Inara,” she reasoned.  “He said I saved him.  I was the only one there.  He looked right at me.  He …” she cried as Inara pulled her into another embrace.

“Jessica,” she soothed the desperate cadet.  For the minute that passed, she sobbed as other angels and cadets worked to pass information to its destination.  With the Fallen’s defeat, activity had been quiet, but pockets of Fallen Agents remained.

“He saw me.  I know he did.  And now I keep seeing him.  I can’t stop seeing him.  Every time I close my eyes, he’s there.  I hear his words, his voice, in my head every second of the day.  And I know that I do this all of the time … but … this one’s different.”

“So was the last one.”

Jessica shook her head.  “Not like this.  He saw me.  I could feel it.”

Inara reached out and took Jessica’s cheek in her hand, wiping the tears away with her thumb.  “Then you need to think hard,” she advised.  “If you are this sure of what happened, you need to think about what to do.  I can’t help you now.”  Jessica’s eyes lowered in sorrow.  “You’ve fallen deeper than I’ve ever seen you fall, Jessica.  Now, only you know what to do.”

Inara stood up and looked at the cadet.  “Whatever you decide, I will support,” she assured her.  “But I can’t help you now.  I’ve seen many like you, they think a human has seen them and they leap.  I’ve seen many fall, lost to all time.  I’ve seen very few saved.  But I’ve seen more pledge to remain in Heaven and keep their loved one safe on Earth from afar.  That way, they can love and protect just as any other person would, without the heartbreak of knowing the human doesn’t love in return.”

Jessica took a few deep breaths, composing herself.  She knew what she had witnessed.  She knew he had seen her.  She knew he felt her presence.  She knew he had spoken to her.  She didn’t know what to do.

“Inara,” she asked as the Angel started to walk away.

“Yes dear?”

She took another deep breath.  “Did he see me?”

“I thought you were sure he did.”

“Tell me he didn’t.”

“Jessica, you said …”

“I know, but you said you see everything.”  She looked up to the Angel.  “You would know if he saw me.  You know if the guys see me, and you always talk me out of leaving if they don’t.  Tell me he didn’t see me.  Tell me I’m wrong.”

Inara took a deep breath.  “Even if I did tell you,” she started, “it wouldn’t make a difference.  Your mind is made up.”

“It will,” she assured her.  “I will learn to put him out of my mind. Just … please.  Tell me.  Tell me I’m wrong.”

Inara smiled at her for a second, then walked away silently.