A Familiar face

                Kole was up the next morning at the crack of dawn. Not even Kole wanted to stay for longer than they had to.  During his stay at the Council’s embassy in Tokyo, his group stayed in the upper rooms, reserved for the VIPs. Since Kole’s group happened to contain two reapers, they were fortunately considered important.  Since he was the only one who didn’t drink at the funeral, he was the only one who wasn't in a near catatonic state at the moment, so it was up to him to wake the rest. Tibias and Keera were both asleep by the time Kole went to the room last night, so they had no clue that he discovered them in an embrace. Tibias was in the bed next to him, asleep with his arm wrapped around a sleeping Keera, who should have been in the adjacent room. Kole frowned, his partner was still dressed, and the same was for Keera, so the relationship hadn’t progressed far yet, but he still was not sure he approved of the direction this was leading. It might start interfering not only with his own partner’s job, but it will be harder to control Keera if she could appeal to Tibias. It would completely undermine his authority.

               Royal was passed out on the floor, snoring away. He must have wandered in much later than Kole, since he didn’t remember seeing his other underling enter. Starting off with the easier task, he woke up the sleeping couple by shaking their shoulders. Keera awoke with a start while Tibias grumbled a bit before finally opening his eyes. The couple both looked at each other then up at Kole, who had put on a blank expression. Keera blushed a bit before scurrying back to her room with Shera. After she left it was only Kole, Tibias, and the snoring Royal. Tibias actually held a sheepish look before speaking in a hushed voice “Listen, Kole please don’t tell anyone-“

               Kole cut him off. “I will talk with you more in depth later, but as of right now, I agree in the sentiment that we should leave soon.”

                “Really?” Tibias asked. “Why?”

                “I find council ceremonies a hindrance and I am expected to socialize.” Kole explained. “I don’t socialize well.”

                “Obviously.” Tibias chuckled.

                After waking the sleeping elf by giving him a swift nudge in the ribs, followed by a boot to the head,  Kole, Tibias, and Royal gathered down in the back lobby where the doors to the Headquarters were. Keera and Shera came down a few minutes later. Shera looked a tired, emotionally and physically. Keera took Kole’s side, saying nothing.

                Kole was about to open the door and leave when an old familiar voice spoke out with a faint French accent. “Kole, Tibias, Royal, even Shera, I haven’t been able to talk to you guys for a while. How have you been?” The woman that spoke this was coming in from the front lobby, she had long raven black hair. Her sparkling blue eyes glimmered with intelligence and perception, despite it being early in the morning.

                “Madelina!” Tibias exclaimed. “It was like you were avoiding us this entire time.” He walked over to Madelina and embraced her in a hug which she returned.

                Kole took a step forward as well. “Madelina. Good morning. How are you faring?”

                The woman separated herself from the hug and walked over to Kole and shook his hand. Kole always did admire that about her. Most people could not stand to shake his hand due to his cold hands, yet Madelina did so without hesitation. “I have been doing wonderfully.” She said. “My duties have been keeping me plenty busy.”

                Shera was the next one to move on up and greet her a bit reserved. “Madelina.” The two of of them locked eyes and shook hands. Kole remembered that Shera and Madelina, although never enemies, didn’t see eye to eye often and tended to just pretend the other one didn’t exist.

                Kole saw out of the corner of his eye Keera lean over to Royal. “Who’s she?” she said in a somewhat hushed tone.

                Royal responded. “She’s Madelina Effels, High Shield of Watchforce.”

                Keera gasped. “Really?”

                Royal nodded. Royal also moved on up and left Keera in the background. “Made, I haven’t seen you in ages! You really should keep in touch more often.” He moved in to try and hug her, but to Kole’s amusement, Madelina ignored his body language and instead put out her hand to shake his. The terrow looked a bit disappointed.

                “Royal, you know I hate that nickname. Besides, I still stay in contact with Tibias through letters. He lets me know the goings on in your neck of the woods.” She turned her head over to the angel who was still lurking in the background. “Speaking of new things,” She then broke out of the handshake of the Terrow and walked over to Keera. “Hi, you must be Keera, my replacement!” She said with a smile. “Tibias has told me so much about you!”

                 “Really?” Keera said. “Tibias has told me almost nothing about you.” She paused for a second. “Wait, replacement? What do you mean?”

                Madeline laughed a bit. “Just like Kole, not to tell you about me. But you Tibias,” She turned and waved a finger at Tibias. “I expected better from you.” She turned back to Keera. “Before I became High Shield, I worked under Kole.”

                “Really?” Keera repeated herself. “You worked under Kole too?”

                “Indeed I did.” She looked over to Kole. Kole took this as a cue to go over to them and join in the conversation. “Believe it or not, even though he is sometimes an emotionless bastard, he really helped me develop my abilities and I got hands on experience by aiding him with his reaping.”

                “I thank you for the compliment.” Kole said

                “Sometimes?” Keera said

                “You were a very good subordinate Madelina.” Kole said. “You always did everything that was asked of you without any hesitation.”

                Royal interjected. “Really Kole, you cannot deny it this time, that was definitely a compliment.”

                Kole looked over to Royal “Nonsense, that was nothing more than an-“

                Madelina finished Kole’s sentence. “an honest evaluation.” She chuckled. “Yes, I remember that phrase of yours. You used it quite a lot back when I was there.”

                Kole sighed and stared at Keera, trying to drive a point in. “If only I could give more honest evaluations like that nowadays.” Keera looked down a bit. “Madelina, we were just about to head out, So if you excuse us, we need to get going.”

                Madelina’s smile faltered for a second before reasserting itself. “Very well then, but actually I came looking for you on official business.”

                “Business? What seems to be the trouble?” Tibias asked.

                She dropped the smile and began speaking in a very business-like tone. “As you all know, since the demon lord Mammon is on the loose, he is incredible dangerous” Everybody nodded. Madelina looked over to Shera. “Shera, since I am High Shield of Watchforce and therefore charged with the protection of not only the council headquarters, but also the Council’s members, which includes you, I must tell you that until Mammon is captured, you are one hundred percent under Kole’s authority.”

                “What?” Shera growled.

                “Listen, Matao was stronger than both of you and he still was killed.” She lowered her eyes in 

acknowledgement of the tragedy. “The only way we might be able to handle this without the councils direct intervention, is if you two stay together. And Kole is far more experienced in reaping then you are. I must ask you to follow his orders directly and precisely. “

                “No.” Shera stated. “I already live next to him, but I am still allowed some small amounts of freedom, no way will I give that up and no way am I going to expose myself to him any longer than I have to.”

                Kole interjected here. “You know, Shera, If I had emotions, I might have been insulted by that.”

               “Good.” Shera spat. “I am a reaper too Dammit. I hate everything that comes with that, but I am just as powerful as Kole and was even trained by Matao!” She started raising her voice. “You are not going to completely subordinate me to someone I hate!”

                “Shera, I am really sorry, I am, but you must, because you two are our last hope, as cliché as that sounds.” Madelina shook her head. “And you have no choice, Not only do I recommend this, but the Elders have also agreed to this as well. It has already been decided”

                “Come on Shera.” Kole said, trying to speed things up. He didn’t want her to have another one of her tantrums here. He opened the door and the passageway back to their office. The door now gave off a faint greenish glow. “We can discuss this when we get back.”

                “Hmm. Fine.” Shera turned away from the raven haired woman and stomped through the door.

                Madelina looked to Kole and Tibias. “Please, tell her I offer my condolences, although I do not see why she objected that much. I enjoyed working with you.”

                 Tibias responded. “Will do.” He turned around and looked at Royal and Keera. “Come on, we should get going .” He gave Madelina one last hug before turning to walk through the portal. “Make sure you write!” He hollered to her.

                “I will make sure of it!” She replied. Royal and Keera promptly followed. Keera giving one last look at Madelina before turning and walking through the door, leaving just Kole and Madelina.

                “It was nice seeing you again Kole.” Madelina said.

                “Likewise.” Kole replied. “Well, I will get going as well. Good luck with your job, it must be stressful.”

                “Thanks for your concern.” She said. As Kole turned to walk through the door, she spoke just loud enough for Kole to hear “Please be safe.” before he walked through the passage, back to Boston.