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Troubled Water

A Heaven & Earth tale

By LonelyRider

Gladiator angel James LightningSword was finishing his steak sub his doting girlfriend Lonely he made for him, enjoying his favorite history book at the base of a tree. His huge fierce war gryphon StormFeather nuzzled him, he patted him and fed him a big chunk of steak, which he gulped down.

"There you are, my boy. Mmm, so very kind of her, huh, boy? Here, look at this, the battle of fallen angels and the elves. I've not met many elves, though I've battled a few in the arena, very skilled folks." James told his mount, feeding him again, his mouth full as he talked. James belched loudly and guffawed, normally he was polite, but in the company of just himself and his male mount he temporarily lost his manners.

"Listen to me! I'm gonna call Lonely on my magic mirror and see how she's doing." James told StormFeather with a smile, taking out the ornate little mirror, the gyphon nudged him and he smiled and patted his beak. James heard a horse and looked up, so shocked by who he saw he dropped the mirror, thankfully it landed unharmed.

"N...N....N....Natalie?" James stammered, literally shaken up; he was thrilled but nervous. His young friend had been absent from his life for awhile, he'd missed her dearly.

"Jamesy. Is that a real war gryphon?" Natalie asked; James' lip twitched into a fond smile at her, his affection for the young girl plain as day. She was wearing the armor set and swords he'd gifted to her, the most recent one, and had ridden in on the pony that had also been from him. She jumped down with impressive skill for a 9 year old from her pony.

"He is, honey! Lonely & her church got him for me, his name is StormFeather!" James said with gusto, clearly thrilled to see her, "Oh, hey, wanna pet him? Wanna feed him?" James offered kindly, taking a big steak out of the canvas sack he carried his mount's food in, StormFeather reared up and shrieked excitedly, eagle eyes flashing and taloned claws flexing.

"Hi StormFeather, I'm Natalie, Jamesy's best buddy. I wanna feed him!" Natalie demanded, in her usual fiery way, James guffawed in fondness.

"You sure can! Here...put this on now, his beak is very sharp. Okay...oh, you got it! Great job!" James said proudly, she stuck out her gloved hand and StormFeather took the steak and gulped it down, she petted his beak and he screeched at her, holding still and allowing it.

"He really likes you. Wanna take a ride?"

"Hell yeah! Ooops....swear jar, take out coin." Natalie put a coin from her pocket into a pouch, her mother made her do that when she cursed. James reached into his own pocket and handed her a coin as well.

"There you go, for the swear jar." He said.

"Good," Natalie agreed, closing the pouch on her saddle, "Jamesy....what happened to your wings and halo?" Natalie asked. She noticed her hulking friend looked small and shy, he rubbed his hair bashfully, his mount nudged him hard and he patted him.

"Lonely was very sick, sweetheart. I made a deal with Griselda BlackClawe, the witch. Do you know her?"

"Yeah, mom says she's evil, black magic, and she hates boys, all boys. You made a deal with her to save Lonely, so she wanted your wings?" Natalie guessed correctly.

"Exactly." James said sadly, but he also looked humble and grateful, glad he'd saved his beloved girlfriend's life.

"Hmm. I'm glad Lonely is okay." Natalie said, she'd always liked James' girl.

"Thank you, buddy!" James beamed, lighting up at her.

"Uhuh. James...are you still an angel, though?" Natalie asked, James grew pensive and quiet, tapping his groomed bearded chin.

"I...I honestly don't know." He answered breathlessly, feeling small again. "Do you...still wanna be my friend?" The hulking man asked shyly, Natalie scoffed.

"Duh, dork. Let me ride StormFeather now, please can I?" She pestered, James guffawed good-naturedly.

"Of course you can, pal! Come on over! Okay...up you go. Buckle you in tight....atta boy, Storm. He likes you a lot. All right, special treat just for you, Nat." James blew the eagle head whistle Lonely had gifted to him along with the huge black and red gryphon, StormFeather was highly trained to obey it. He flapped his great black wings and bore Natalie into the sky, straight up, she laughed in delight. James blew the whistle softly and StormFeather went up higher and circled the clearing of trees above James, giving Natalie a thrilling but safe ride.

"I can see everything up here, Jamesy! He's so cool!"

James blew another command and StormFeather swiftly flipped in a barrelroll, Natalie shrieked in utter delight. James laughed happily and blew one more order in the whistle, StormFeather dove in an aerial attack, Natalie whooped, as he'd figured she might, loving it.

"Attack gryphon, fuck yeah! Ooops, swear jar!"

James let her ride on StormFeather's back as long as she wanted to, finally, she called to him.

"Okay, that was so fun! I wanna come down and play with you, now." James blew his whistle and StormFeather landed vertically, James patted him, praising him and feeding him a whole fish, which he tipped down his gullet. James then unfastened Natalie from the flight harness and picked her up from the saddle, setting her gingerly down.

"So what do ya think?" He teased, grinning, she hugged him hard and he laughed, thrilled, patting her back vigorously.

"Coolest thing ever. Let's play horses." Natalie ordered. Her easy-going big friend sat against the tree patiently as she took out three stallions from her saddlebag, one of which was a gift from him.

"Oh hey, it's Dorkface!" James greeted with a wave, recognizing the stallion he'd bought her.

"Yeah, Dorkface, his brother, and their dumb ass dad. Swear jar." She put more money in the pouch and James did too, they both laughed. "Here, you play the brother."

"I'm Dorkface's strong and idiotic big brother. I like girls. I play jousting and wrestling. I like to annoy Dorkface for fun. Dorkface, where are you?" James played along surprisingly well for a 35-year-old man, albeit a youthful and fun-loving one.

"Shut up, FluffyFeet! All you care about is rescuing dumb girls all day. I wanna go fight monsters. You can come, but no talking about girls." Natalie played back, they made their model horses pretend gallop together.

"No talking about girls? No way! What am I going to do, this is boring, DorkFace! Ahhh, something has me!"

"Die!" Natalie made her stallion kick at the stick James pretended to accost his model horse, StormFeather watched them with a curious cock of his eagle head, tapping his fierce claws.

James made the stick flop and scream, they laughed.

"Thanks DorkFace, you killed the monster serpent that was around my leg. Are there any girls up ahead?"

"No! Shut up!" Natalie made her horse scream at James' horse. They both were laughing very hard.

"Why not? This isn't fair! I'm telling." James made his toy say through heavy laughter.

"That's enough, FluffyFeet. There is someone up ahead, but it's not a girl." Natalie said, their laughter died and they exchanged fond happy grins.

"Ooooh, who is it?" James replied, he cleared his throat and made the toy repeat it. Natalie brought the 3rd toy in, slamming it down between her brown stallion and James' black one.

"It's our dumbass dad. I hate him, he kicked me in the face and then left. He doesn't care about me. Or you. He's annoying and I hate him." Natalie's usual fiesty and fun demeanor had changed; the darkness that had surrounded her last time she'd run off on him was back. James' innate angelic healing kicked in from his deep concern and empathy for her, he gently laid a hand on her shoulder, his face kind.

"Nat....I understand how that feels, it's the worst feeling in the whole world. He'll come back sweetie, he'll realize what an utter fool he's been, anyone would be lucky to have a daughter like you." James blurted emotionally, his intentions were pure of heart and he'd meant what he'd said, but he'd accidentally set her off. Natalie snapped, unloading her rage at her father on a safer male target; her easy-going best friend.

"It's not nice to tell lies, James!" Natlie yelled, drawing both her swords, she kicked her horse toys hard and he gasped, looking apolegetic and shocked, but it was about to get worse for him.

"Nat...oh my word, honey, I'd never lie to you! I...I...I meant it, pal!" He stammered, literally shaking; he was upset he'd upset her, and he didn't want her to go. A mixture of his lightning magic and healing eminated from him, beyond his control.

"I don't care! Just cause your dumb evil dad came back! Your evil stupid dad! I hate you both! I hate you, I hate you!" Natalie was out of control, she literally attacked him with both her swords, with a ferocity and skill that was frightening in a child. His own gladiator tank skills were all that kept him from injury, he blocked her savage blows with his own twin swords, which sang and clanged, vibrating in his gloved hands as she struck them over and over; his lightning surged defensively.

"No! Don't hurt her, please!" He begged it, "Natalie, I..I....I didn't mean to upset you, please, forgive me, let's....ahh!" He gasped as her sword nicked his bulky forearm, a trail of his blood dribbling to the grass. Natalie's eyes grew wide to see what she'd inflicted and she shoved the big man back hard, he fell to the ground, his expression shocked and very hurt, he reached out his arm, a caring look on his face, he gasped and winced as she threw her sword right past his shoulder into the tree behind him, a clear warning. She didn't even bother to retrieve it, she mounted her pony, gazing at him with contempt way out of proportion to anything he'd done.

"Wait...Nat, no, don't go, please! Natalie!"

James' anguished plea echoed through the woods as Natalie galloped away from him on her pony for the second time, not even bothering to retrieve her three horse toys and her 2nd blade, she just left them there, with her inconsolable friend. StormFeather screetched savagely in the direction she'd ridden off in, as poor James tried to contain it & be manly but fell apart and wept bitterly, face in his hands, among her scattered toys and her sword, which fell out of the tree and landed in the dirt beside him as he sobbed into his hands, StormFeather watching solemnly.