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~ Black Curdled Blood Running Down Her Arms, Covering the Earth ~
"I'll help you find the soul," the nun said, and put the gun to her temple.
John could only watch in mute horror as she pulled the trigger.
"It's the only way to save the Mother."
And she hated that; she hated that Ashan had been right all along. His curse - which trapped her in this human body - broke as she finally acccepted the task that had been given to her.
Cassiel returned to her original form as a being of pure energy and, following her Conduit's order to the letter but not the spirit, gathered all of the human souls on Earth to her.
The soul slipped through his fingers.
She held them all for one beat, then another, and another, until the vile creature that had been leeching off human life forces starved to death.
And then she let them all go - all but one. Most of the human souls returned to their bodies. Some did not. The one that she still held belonged to a body which had died at precisely the moment that Cassiel had drawn all the human souls on the planet to her.
One moment John was watching her soul slip through his fingers - then something odd happened, some strange warping of his perception that he didn't know how to describe - and then he was on his knees on the carpet beside her, frantically scooping chunks of her brain back into her skull.
When Cassiel carried that one remaining soul to the location of its body, she found an Earth Warden sealing the shattered skull back together, sobbing and repeating his friend's name over and over as he cradled the lifeless body against him.
Then he looked up at Cassiel, with bright golden eyes - as if he could see her, even though she had not assumed a physical form.
The soul fluttered in the angel's grip.
Since restoring a body's vital functions post-death was beyond even the most skilled Earth Warden's ability, Cassiel took it upon herself to do so.
She released the soul to return to its body.
John felt the nun take a breath. He felt her shift in his arms. His vision was still partially blurred with tears as he looked down and watched her open her eyes.
She reached up to touch his face.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I saw an angel. She brought your soul back."
"No," she said, frowning as she wiped away his tears. "Your eyes are back to normal."
~end~