‘At least the sewers haven’t changed much.’ Seraphim shivered and held her nose when Gabriel took the lead, it was completely dark, darker even than the tunnel, and no light waited at the end of the endless tunnel, it just curved around, and beside the concrete walkway was a long, deep trench filled with slow flowing water and waste, human and animal alike.

Gabriel rushed ahead, she could see his hand on the wall as they walked, and though it was pitch dark, he seemed to have no real trouble, here and there a little glowing moss gave off an eerie, ghostly blue light, but for the most part it was just night concealed from the broad daylight of the surface world.

“Come on.” Gabriel groused when she didn’t move fast enough, “They’re going to expect us by car, even if they stop my actual car at some point, they’ll still be looking for us to take one.”

“Won’t they figure out you’re taking me to this ‘Joan’ person?” Seraphim answered just as Gabriel ducked into a long wide tube that jutted out from the wall, his feet splashed in the water that ran through it, pressing loose shit into the metal tube’s little valleys between the humps.

His hands were still against the sides of the dark metal tube and his voice echoed far out of even her ability to see. “I-I hope not. By the gods I hope not. I don’t think so, Joan isn’t even her real name, she got rid of her old self years ago, a long time before I did, she was the smart one that way. If nobody has come after her now, nobody will. If they have, then we’re going to be walking into a trap and we’re both done for, you’re caught and I’m dead. Now come on, no delays.” He said and resumed the long strides, though he did so at a crouch which rang out every step in both directions.

Her steps weren’t as thunderous as his, and she quickly abandoned any attempt at subtlety while following him, he moved without any regard for her speed, and with the unfamiliar motion it was slower going for her than for him.

As such, the noise of his footsteps rapidly began to outpace her own. The squeak of rats and their skittering, scratching feet over the metal was like some symphony of hell. Their little feet ran over her boots, and she could see the vermin that rode on their brown fur backs. Roaches scattered in all directions away from a rat corpse when she rounded the bend in the pipe, and all noise from Gabriel ceased.

She was alone.

‘Did he leave me?! Did he leave me here to be caught?!’ Seraphim shivered, ‘You fought flying chariots, their metal birds…j-jets… being alone isn’t that bad!’ She told herself as the rats skittered past her and a roach with its slick dark back began to run up the leg of her pants. She smacked it away.

“Gabriel?!” She called out in the long tube, her voice catching a little as she asked after him in the wreathed shadows beneath the surface world.

She hastened her steps, rushing forward as fast as her feet would carry her until she made it out of the tube and straightened up to find him standing there, a finger over his lips.

“Shhhh.” He said, and turned toward the far wall, there was a deep drain of water flowing past, but this was faster, and not far away, there was the sound of distant tumbling. He pointed up and then cupped his hand around his ear.

Seraphim looked up, on the same far wall there was a rusty ladder embedded into the stone which led upward to another brown metal circle of the sort they’d come through earlier. She nodded.

“There’s no one.” She said, and when she said it, he turned and hopped to the other side, jumping across the wide gap, his feet landed with near total silence, then he turned and held his hand out to her, closing and opening his fingers several times and urging her across.

She crossed her arms, popped open her wings, and floated herself across with a slow, gentle beat. From above, the dripping of foul water came down and stained her pearl white wings, and her eyes widened with disgust and horror.

Gabriel only sighed and dragged his hand down his face. His look said it all. ‘I tried to make it less filthy for you.’

Seraphim yanked her wings back inside her body, and then he pointed to another long tube, as he walked the dirty stone path toward it, the noise of rushing water picked up, and her pale eyes all but glowed at his back as he made his way toward the noise.

“We’re going outside, and here we’ve got two choices, you glide us down, or I jump and you fly. I’m afraid I don’t know any prayer to any god or ghost or spirit that will give me wings.” Gabriel gave a wry, grim laugh to her as he turned into the big gray metal tube, his boots splashing through the flowing water until he stopped, and Seraphim fell in behind him.

In front of them both lay a wide open valley, the water from the sewage flowed out at a constant pace and splashed far, far down below. The valley walls of stone and tall pine trees made the echo of the high falling water sound like an endless slapping, as if a hand here constantly being brought against a face. “It’s… beautiful out here.” Seraphim said and put herself in front of Gabriel.

“And it doesn’t stink.” Gabriel added.

“And it doesn’t stink.” Seraphim agreed.

“So, what do we do?” Gabriel asked and crossed his arms, “Do I try my hand at flying, or do I just grab on?”

“Just point where we’re going.” She said, and he pointed his arm past her toward the trees. Their limbs swayed back and forth in the breeze, and like the sails of a ship, the swaying limbs made the tall trunks sway also.

“There’s a small… gah, what Joan called a ‘hidey hole’ there. It’s not much but it should be good enough to hide us for now. I’d want to keep going but,” he looked down at her leg, she could feel it even without seeing him do so, “the less you move, the faster you heal, and I need to check it.”

“For what?” She asked. “I don’t think I can get sick like you can.” She pointed out, and he shook his head, hard.

“For a second stage curse, that was a fighter jet that hit you, their rounds could potentially carry more than one problem and it could have gotten into the rest of your body. It probably wouldn’t be lethal, but it might make you easy to find if we keep going, and I can’t have that or this will have all been a waste.” Gabriel explained, and Seraphim accepted his words with graceful silence.

“H-Hop on, put your arms around my neck.” She said, keeping her eyes ahead, she felt his body press against her back, even through the backpack she carried, his muscled frame was evident, as was the surprising warmth of his breath against her ear.

She opened her arms at her sides, her wings sprang out, and she jumped. “Just glide, don’t flap.” Gabriel urged, and for a moment she ignored him…

And began to plummet straight toward the ground as soon as her arc crested.