Daria looked at the woman...and then at Mike.

She wanted to question them but...she didn't see a point in it. She somehow knew she was the only one who could really help them, and that she would end up helping them even if she refused right now.

What she was worried about was having Cassiel fully, instead of Mike...she wanted Mike back...

But she knew about mind games...and she could only imagine mind games the Shadow King could play....the kind where the loser loses everything. And if this is what it took to keep people safe, it was her duty, at least as an x-man, to help them.

She stood, taking the crystal from Sandalphon it was light weight and warm. She apporached Mike's bedside and stood there. On the table rested his sunglasses, his eyes were closed and how she longed for that telling blue glow to return. She bit her bottom lip and tried to remember everything she could about Mike and his powers. He left a little of himself in her mind when he went unconscious. She tried hard to connect with that thing, the one thing that kept her hoping he'd wake up. She also tried to remember the time they went to DC, his immense power, his astral form that had scared Hairpin, how in those passionate times of battle he would say things in a voice unlike his own about how he was Cassiel, the Angel of Tears.

And with this in mind she also tried to remember the things that weren't Cassiel, the things that she knew as Mike, his love for Sarah, his reassuring words, his ability to keep her calm when ever she was getting out of control. And lastly she tried to imagine them as one, that Mike has superhuman powers, a gift that was bigger than anyone imagined, and that Cassiel had a family, a sister..parents.

She had unknowingly closed her eyes and shut them tight, her tiny features scrunched up in concentration, her ears twitching. The silence of the room was almost deafeining, and Daria didn't even realize she was still in the infirmary.

She didn't know what she was wishing for but she had at least released any reluctance she had in helping these people, she'd convinced herself that bringing Cassiel back was as important as bringing Mike back, if not more.

The crystal slowly began to disentigrate...as things did when she teleported them. She didn't move or couldn't stop...until it was gone. The problem was..s.he wasn't quite sure where she sent it.

A little dizzy from the strain-which was illogical since the stone was so light and should have been easy to move- Daria tilted her head to the side.

"was that supposed to happen? Did I do it right?" she asked the two strange visitors.

And as she spoke, Daria felt that presence in the back of her mind growing stronger again, as it had been when Mike had first left part of his soul in her. Still, Mike's vitals didn't change any, nor did his brain patterns.

"You are the path... you alone hold the key between my body an soul in your heart. Make me Cassiel... make me whole..."

Disspointed that nothing worked, Daria had little time to sulk. She could hear the voice in her head.

Make you whole? How am I supposed to do that...I don't know what you're missing...I don't know why you won't... she was blinking back the tears. Mike wasn't around to old her while she cried, there was no point in looking like a sniveling dork in front of those people who seemed to need her for something.

And then perhaps out of desperation or perhaps her higher sense of self kicked in. Daria leaned over and did the most sincere thing she could think of. She gave Mike a gentle, yet heartfelt kiss on the lips.

The reaction, frankly, was all anyone could have hoped for. It was almost blinding, like a rush of energy coursing through her mind, and emptying out before them. When she finally stopped being dazed enough to look, she would see the glowing blue form of Cassiel, wings and all, hovering between her and the Zethari, glancing between her, the Zethari, and his body.

"Brother..." Sandalphon whispered, reaching out for him.

Daria blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. Seeing Cassiel her pupils widened. She stepped back, curling her tail around her legs and pressing her back against the wall.

The figure seemed to exert the need for space.

The Angel of Tears looked between them all again, then at himself, as if waking up from a long sleep. "Sandalphon? How am I..." his voice trailed off as he turned his gaze to Daria... the look immediately losing some of its indimidation. "Daria? Is... is it really..."

"Cassiel... Heartwalker... you're whole again... you can come with us again," Sandalphon whispered soothingly.

"Sandalphon, it was agreed, we would not interfere," Zadkiel admonished, trying to calm her into being quiet. Cassiel, in the meantime, turned back toward the two Zethari, taking a step toward them.

Daria looked at Mike's empty body and the machines still beeping in their even paces. She thougth maybe Cassiel was a different spirit, deep down she was hoping it was. No, finding that it was the same, that she once again had to keep fighting for Mike's soul she fought the stinging tears and spoke up.

"Cassiel..Mike.." Daria called. "Wait...please...you can't go..." she stepped forward, her ears flatenning against her head and her tail between her legs. She held out a hand. "You can't leave, Mike, look at me..." she focused her emerlad eyes on him, they sparkled with tears of love and longing.

But Cassiel kept walking, smiling slightly as he reached out and brushed Sandalphon's cheek. Then, as Daria watched he faded from sight.

And after a few agonizing moments, there was a gentle touch on her shoulder from behind her. "Daria?"

Daria watched the exchange between Cassiel and his sister, scared out of her fur that this would be the end of her and Mike forever.

She could already feel the heavy feeling in her heart.

Then he disappeared.

But when she heard her name called her eyes perked up and her tail swished as she turned to face the inquirer. Her arms were outstretched and her eyes wide before she even saw who it was.

((gtg study! rp tmrw if ur on, if not ...well later lol ))

And she fell right into Mike's arms, where he had propped himself up awkwardly on his cot. "You know I wouldn't leave you, baby... I spent months searching time and space for you," he whispered, his voice sounding slightly hoarse and shaky, but still more or less the same as Daria remembered it.

Daria was so busy crying she could hardly speak. "Oh mike i got so scared I thought you'd never wake up!! I was here everyday talking to you...I don't know if you could hear me but I thought you could so i just kept sitting and taslking and changing your flowers and your sheets and your pajamas....I thought you were gonna leave me forever..." Her emotions caught the best of her and she had to stop speaking as she sobbed.

Somewhere in there she thought to turn slightly to Zadkiel and Sandalphon to see if they were still there and and exactly how dissapointed they were...

Sandalphon had a single tear running down her cheek, but showed no sign of disapproving of her 'brother''s choice. Zadkiel had a sort of satisfied smile on his face.

"I couldn't hear it, baby, but I could feel it," he whispered, still seeming a bit shaky, his muscles not having been used in months. "I could feel what you felt... and that's what led me back here."

He looked up at Zadkiel and Sandalphon, his eyes glowing blue. "Thank you," he said, his voice growing stronger.

Zadkiel bowed. "Walk with Zethar, Cassiel," he said, smiling. Sandalphon walked over and, kissing Mike's cheek, whispered, "Be well, brother."

Mike nodded. "Walk with Zethar, my friends," he whispered as they faded from sight just as they'd appeared.

Daria was still crying and still too shocked to speak, but she climbed into the cot with Mike, her own legs ready to give way.

I wish there were some way to still help them...I feel bad, I can imagine how they feel. Do you...know them?

"I... do and don't. It's like remembering them from a past life... I know them, and I remember them... but only in the back of my brain, like a dream I'm remembering."

"And they'll be fine... their crisis is over. I wouldn't have come back before then... Cassiel can't leave when needed."

Daria leaned her head to one side still trying to grasp it all.

It's okay if I don't understand all of that, right? She blinked and rubbed her face to try and stop crying.

"everyone is going to be so happy you woke up. The only person who will be happier than me will be Sarah. She's been really quiet...poor thing....how do you feel?"