Beneath the statue of Sahaqiel, Jack smiled to himself, watching as Leona spun Celeste in circles within the garden of a bombed out mansion. One of the few intact mansions left after Jack had waged war in the city now afloat.

“Weeeeee!” Celeste exclaimed until immediately deflating as Leona set her down. “More! More! More!”

“Not right now Celeste, I'm a bit tired,” Leona said with Celeste immediately pivoting towards Kamila pushing a cart of food.

“Okay! Thank you! Love you!” Celeste yelled before running up to Kamila and demanding to be picked up.

“Hard to believe below us there's nothing but miles of water,” Leona asked, sitting down beside Jack on the garden bench permanently discolored. “In a day, we'll be off the shores of an unexplored continent. Exciting isn't it?”

“Exciting isn't the word I'd use,” Jack grunted, taking out a cigar only to stop as Leona flashed him a look.

“Since when do you smoke?”

“Since the world began to end,” Jack replied, leaning back as Kamilla chased his daughter around the garden who refused to give back her stolen cupcakes.

“It's not healthy you know.”

“I know. Takes the stress away though and if I get cancer I can just purge the cells. Everything is just data after all…” Jack said, his eye reading the ambient data that hung in the air.

“Jack,” Leona said, her well manicured hand on his thigh, “You're supposed to be spending time with your family and you're distracted. The world could end in a few days and you aren't even savoring this time. Do you want one of Celeste’s last memories to be you sulking?”

“I'm not sulking,” Jack shot back. “This is me relaxing.”

“Please, I've seen you relax. Normally it involves you shirtless suntanning on a balcony and smiling, this ain't none of those.”

“First off, I was only on that balcony because I was on house arrest and secondly, how do you know I was shirtless?”

Leona fished out a scrap of paper, handing it to Jack who furrowed his brow at the tabloid image of him half-naked on a palace balcony.

“So you just carry around a picture of me?”

“Nooo,” Leona said, plucking the paper from Jack and stashing it away in her uniform’s breast pocket, “I confiscated it from a soldier.”

“And again… now you're just carrying it around?”

“As the bodyguard to the royal family I’m just protecting government secrets. Besides, your ass is government property same as the rest of us… however long that is.”

Jack almost smiled.

“Right… thanks for that by the way, I heard what happened during my fight with Roland, what you did while I was away,” Jack said as he turned to face Leona. “Thank you for protecting my family. If you ever need anything Leona, I'll be there for you.”

Silence between the pair, the mood shifting.

“Oh… uh, yeah,” Leona blushed, the red-headed looking away quickly from Jack's face, “Don't mention it.”

“I mean it, if you weren't there-”

“I said don't mention it! Ugh!” Leona exclaimed, shoving Jack over and running off.

“Holy fuck, why do so many bitches find you attractive.”

“Lilith, behave or I'll chain you up again,” Jack said, picking up his chair and turning instead to Kamilla holding the squirming Celeste who, in a desperate bid not to have her stolen sweets taken, began cramming them into her mouth.

“Celeste,” Jack said, the little girl immediately shifting her head towards her father. “Come here.”

In the time it took for Jack to blink, the little blonde girl was already in front of him, jittering up and down from the sugar coursing through her veins.

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“Yes?yes?yes?yes?yes?” Celeste shot out in rapid hyper succession.

Jack reached over, ruffling the little girl's head, “How’s uh… how's school?”

“School?!” Celeste immediately paled, fleeing to the far side of the garden screaming, “I don't want to go to school!”

“Ce-!” Jack let out, but it was too late, the little girl scurrying beneath the garden gate and vanishing into the manor.

“I'll go get her,” Kamila said, grabbing a jar of cookies from her cart and going in pursuit of the energetic child.

“Smooth, even I know not to use the S-word around a child,” Lilith chastised, clicking her teeth as she manifested beside Jack with her legs crossed.

“Yeah…” Jack sighed, shoulders slumped as Ada opened the garden gate and strolled into the garden with Ito in her arms.

“Why was Celeste crying?” Ada asked, sitting beside Jack and resting her head on his shoulder as she nursed their baby boy. “Hey! Eye up here.”

Jack smirked, peeling his gaze from Ada's swollen breasts.

“Ah, right, that's where your eyes are.”

Ada rolled her eyes and shook her head, “So what's wrong with Celeste?”

“I uh… mentioned the S-word.”

“Ooooh,” Ada shook her head, “Yeah no, never use the S-word around her.”

“Why? Is she getting bullied?” Jack asked, worried that Celeste wasn't fitting in.

“Oh no, she's extremely popular! Ya know, being the princess and all.”

“Ah… right right,” Jack muttered, confused.

“She mainly can't sit still and falls asleep in class alot, earning her demerits and detention but Leona has been pretty good at managing Celeste. Plus Kamila’s always on standby with cookie bribes. Nothing you need to worry about babe.”

Jack smiled, his gaze softening, “I see… everyone's got everything figured out without me around.”

“That's… not how it is. We're just doing our best to support you so you can focus on other things,” Ada said, planting a kiss below Jack's eye patch. “Speaking of, I've got a surprise for you at about an hour from now after I drop Ito off with your grandma.”

“Oh?” Jack raised a brow, an inkling of what the surprise was.

Ada giggled, standing up, “Ya know, when all this is over, we should travel. I've always wanted to see the world, explore. Visit new sights.”

“Oh?” Jack said, “What do you have in mind?”

“I don't know, I just want to travel. Nothing in mind, just you, me-”

“Our two kids? Bodyguard, cook, and entourage of paparazzi?” Jack smirked.

Ada smiled, standing up and kissing Jack on his forehead, “You should be kinder to Sara.”

Jack blinked, looking up at the woman.

"Where's this coming from?"

“I'm serious,” Ada continued, “Knowing what I know about your relationship, she's the closest person to you. The one person who cares about you just as much as I do. But unlike her, I'll never have the relationship you two had. She was… a part of you. Literally. Something like that, you don't just throw away.”

“She lied to me Ada, she was the person I trusted the most and she kept me in the dark. Lilith, Selfia, I understand, it's in their nature to lie-”

“Rude,” Lilith spat.

“-But Sara? She knew how important my sister was to me. How much family means to me, and she-”

“Did it to protect you. If she didn't, you wouldn't be here to see your son and I'd have lost you.”

“But she put me in that position Ada, she didn't give me a choice!” Jack snapped, only to immediately regret it. Ada however, remained unphased.

“I understand, honey. I'm sorry for bringing it up.”

“No,” Jack sighed, “You're right. I hate myself because I know… I couldn't do it. I was about to sacrifice myself, kill hundreds of others because I was too selfish. I would have left you alone to raise Ito and…”

“But you didn't. And I'm still here. I'll always be here for you,” Ada said before looking down at Ito fast asleep. “I'll put Ito down for a nap while you two talk.”

Ada left, allowing Jack to be alone with Sahaqiel who stood beside a garden pillar wearing a floral white dress, something different than Jack was accustomed to from the angel.

“Turning your empathy off and dampening your emotions is a double edged sword,” Sahaqiel said as she approached.

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying that the choice you made wasn't in your best state of mind.”

“So what you're saying is I would have killed my sister?”

“I'm saying we'll never know. If you need to hate me, I understand, but… please don't shut me out.”

Jack sighed, standing up, his height several inches above the angel who gazed up at Jack.

“I don't hate you, I'd never hate you Sara. Just… I just need time.”

Sahaqiel’s eyes went downcast, her face twisting, “Well… it's better than nothing haha.”

Jack spread his arms out, wrapping them around Sahaqiel who stood shocked for a moment before accepting the embrace and holding tightly to Jack.

Jack moved to pull away, but Sahaqiel refused to let him go, instead holding him as tightly as her flesh would allow, her body, so badly wanting to just stand there and be embraced by the sensation of his touch and scent for eternity.

“I've got things to do,” Jack said, finally pulling away from the angel who looked away with her hand raised to block her eyes.

“Y-yeah. I'll uh… see you later,” Sahaqiel said before quickly spreading her wings and flying away.

Jack stood there for a moment, watching the angel fly, his mind turning to the manor were Ada was waiting.