“For bravery beyond the call of duty,” Helix announced to a heaving Hall of angels, “I hereby declare that these cadets have earned their graduation today.”  Cheers erupted from around the room as the four cadet units stood on the stage.  Applauding and whistling from the crowd, Pegasus and Optimus looked proudly at their cohort.  Weeks had passed since the battle of Stonehenge, and every cadet was mobbed, Sunny especially.  Helix walked from left to right, presenting each cadet with their medal and pink angel heart pin, signifying their graduation; their ascension from the ranks of Cadet to full Angel.  He presented to Alpha, Beta and Delta, before stopping at Omega.  As the team’s leader, Taeyeon was the first to be presented.

“As the leader of this Unit, it gives me great pride to declare your own graduation, Taeyeon,” Helix smiled.  “From this moment, you will be a member of the Elite forces.”

She gasped as the remaining cadets broke their formal rank and cheered for her.  Those nearby hugged her, as Helix struggled to present her with her medal and silver pin badge, the different colour denoting their higher rank.

“Jessica, for your quick reflexes and decisions, it gives me great pride to also declare your graduation and announce that you too are a member of the Elite forces.”

Tears streamed down her face as cheers continued around the room.  Sooyoung, Tiffany, Yoona, Hyoyeon and Yuri were also presented with their passage to Elite.  As Helix reached Seohyun, he smiled.

“Without you, Seohyun,” Helix announced, “this battle would truly have been lost.  You have graduated, with honours, and are hereby inducted into our Elite Intelligence Unit.”

Louder cheers and jeers erupted from around the Hall as Seohyun was presented with her prize.  Helix took a step to the side and stood in front of Sunny.

“Sunny,” he started.  “Your quick thinking and planning is something I am incredibly proud of.  Your selfless, quick and defiant sacrifice has earned you your wings in measures I have not ever seen.  I have never known any angel to achieve this moment as a cadet.  This is an achievement that not even I have made.  It is therefore my honour and privilege to declare that you have also graduated, with honours, and like all of your other members, are hereby inducted into the Elite forces.”

As he stepped aside, all of the members from Omega swarmed each other and jumped for joy.  As Helix applauded, the remaining cadets clamoured around to join in the impromptu huddle.  Heaven had been saved.  Angels had been saved.  The Fallen had not been decimated, but were severely weakened.  They would live to fight another day.  But for now, the Earth had been saved.  And Helix had been proven right.

He had picked the better cadets for the job.

-----

“Oh my God!” Tiffany screamed.  “We’re Elite!”

Eight girls jumped around and screamed yet again.  Their achievement still hadn’t sunk in.  Graduating was a moment to be cherished.  Early graduation was a moment to be relished.  Advanced graduation into Elite?  Nothing could prepare any angel for that moment.  In their honour, Helix had ordered a beach party.  Kiel, as the Cadet’s resident DJ, took to the decks and played the most beautiful, most energetic music possible.  It sounded so futuristic, so historic and so modern all at the same time, fusing sounds from every possible time into one melody.  He had earned his spot as DJ, and enjoyed it immensely.

Jessica stood at the edge of the party, looking out to the sea.  Heaven was such a beautiful place.  It looked like Earth in that it had beaches and stores and high rise buildings, but it felt better.  It was cleaner, purer, and everyone was together.  Taeyeon walked behind her.

“You ok?” she asked.

Jessica sighed.  “I can’t stop thinking of him,” she admitted.  “I know I get like this a lot, but …”

Taeyeon put her arm around her team mate.  “Jess, snap out of it.  He was delirious, he didn’t see you.”

“But he did!” she complained.  “I know it!  He spoke to me.”

Taeyeon stood in front of Jessica, the soft waves of the sea lapping lightly at her bare heels.  “You get like this with every guy you see,” she started.

“And snap out of it within minutes.”

“Yes, but you do snap out of it.”

“So why have I not done so this time?”

Taeyeon pondered for a moment and shook her head in defeat.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “But you need to.  We need you here.”  She placed her hands on Jessica’s shoulders.  “I’ll square it with Helix; you need a break.  It was intense there.  Maybe a break from battle will be good for you.”  With that, she walked away.

Jessica reminisced over her moment with Sebastian.  The look in his eyes when he spoke to her.  He looked deep into her soul, she could feel it.  He wasn’t like the others.  His actions had been from his possession, not from his own soul.  She was certain he had seen her.  She continued to stare out to the sea, hoping for clarity.

The group partied and danced together, celebrating their achievements.  As the evening drew in and the sun began to set, angels began to leave for the night.  Taeyeon looked to her team: Sunny and Seohyun were dancing with the cherubs, Tiffany, Hyoyeon and Yuri were playing close to the sea, and Yoona and Sooyoung were snacking.  She smiled and looked around, finding Lemley looking off into the distance.  She looked towards the main city, her back to the group.

“Lem?” Taeyeon called as she walked towards her fellow graduate.  “What’s up?”

In her hand, Lemley held a crossbow and quiver.  It had been carved with one letter, branding it to its owner.

J.  Jessica’s crossbow.

“She said I should have it,” Lemley answered, solemnly.  “She said she wouldn’t be needing it anymore.”

Confusion washed over Taeyeon’s face before clarity followed moments later.  She tore off through the city, noticed by Sunny and Seohyun.  The trio ran through side streets, across parks and fields, to the edge of Heaven.  It was too late.  They reached the clouds just in time to see Jessica plummet from the podium on which she stood.

Taeyeon dived to the edge and cried out to her falling Angel.  She held onto her pendent, knowing that she was helpless to save her friend.  “You’ll be fine,” she forced herself to say as she wept.  Sunny and Seohyun fell to their friend’s side and held her, praying for Jessica’s safety.

The air rushed passed Jessica and she felt her energy flowing from her body.  Her angelic soul was being replaced by something else.  She didn’t know what was happening.  She just knew she was falling.

Walking alone through the plains of Stonehenge, to the site of the concert, was a 6ft tall, slightly tanned young man, with wavy ebony hair, flat stomach, bootcut jeans, boots, and a shirt.  He walked, clearing his head.  He remembered passing out whilst on stage with his band, which had thrown him out shortly after the gig.  He put his hands in his pockets and walked.

Jessica kept falling, descending faster through the sky.  She could feel every memory from Heaven evaporating.  Everything about her past leaving her mind forever.  Everything that had made her who she was left her.

As he looked towards the sky, he smiled.  He didn’t need them, he reasoned.  His future lay out there, with people who would love him.  In the sunset sky, he could see a bright, shining star.  He smiled, reminiscing about times when he was a child, where he would wish every night on the brightest star he could see.  As he made his wish, he opened his eyes and looked at the star.  He felt himself being drawn to it, his eyes locked onto it.

Taeyeon wept and willed Jessica to survive.  She cared so deeply for her friend, no matter what happened.  Jessica believed so much in love, it was only a matter of time before she took this leap.  Taeyeon, Sunny and Seohyun prayed that she would not suffer the fate of others that had made this leap of faith.

Jessica fell closer and closer to the ground, she could feel the air becoming heavier and thicker.  She closed her eyes as she plummeted, closing her eyes tightly.  This was the end of her, she knew it.  She sent a silent apology to whoever was listening, and waited for death.  She met the ground with a hard thump and darkness.

Jessica opened her eyes and looked around.  She could see grass.  Trees.  Fields.  She could smell nature.  Earth.  She looked down underneath her to find the perplexed but smiling body of her saviour.  “You … you saved me,” she whispered, now unaware of the moment he had said the same to her weeks earlier. Everything she knew of her past as an Angel had gone.  She was human, she was as real and physical as this man beneath her.

Sebastian smiled.  “I couldn’t let anything happen to you,” he sighed, reaching up and caressing her cheek.  As Jessica smiled, the pair stood up and walked along the plains, entirely unaware of the eight pairs of eyes weeping from above, happy in the knowledge that their friend had been the rare kind of angel: one who had loved and was saved.