Required Reading: Little Fictive, Remembrances, Returning, Waiting Game, Facing the Music. 6th and last in the Little Fictive series.

PG-13 for themes and one word.

I Saw An Angel...
By Jewels

"It would be easy, wouldn't it."

Ma'at stared at the ground far, far, below. Watched the muses of the Collegium go about their business, not seeing the one lurking at the top of the tower, observing, quietly.

"Easy? When has anything in my life been easy?"

Angela peered over the side, following Ma'at's gaze. "Probably never. I mean, for a start, Calliope assigned you to a murderous, psychotic bitch queen with an attitude to make our dear Calli look like the Goddess of Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice." Angela pulled out a nail file and started evening out her nails. "That's not easy."

Ma'at turned, looking at the other woman, dressed in a simple plain white dress, with white hair pulled back into a simple, neat braid. "You're not a muse." she said.

Angela waved the nail file at her. "Neither are you, honey." She dropped to the floor, swinging her legs over the side of the tower, watching Ma'at to see what she'd do.

"So who are you?"

"Angela."

"I mean... what..."

Angela shrugged. "Call me an angel. Call me Death's Doorman... woman... whatever. Or you can call me the looney in a white dress with delusions of grandeur. Take your pick. Whatever I am, I'm the last one who's going to hear you... well..." she peered over the side again. "Ever. Depending on whether you believe in an afterlife."

Ma'at swallowed. "What makes you think I'm going to kill myself."

Angela opened her palm and started sprinkling the glitter that had appeared there into the open air, later confusing several muses who couldn't figure out why their hair was full of the stuff. "Well, it /is/ rather obvious. You were a muse, you just got kicked out, in your opinion, it was necessary, and you've been so traumatised by it you can't see any way of soothing your conscience enough to even exist. Now you're standing on top of the highest point of the Collegium looked morbidly down at the people below."

"It was all my fault," Ma'at said brokenly. "If it wasn't for me..."

"If it wasn't for you...?" Angela prompted when Ma'at fell silent.

"None of this would have happened."

Angela regarded her for a moment. "If you say so."

Ma'at glanced at her sharply. She'd been expecting a 'don't be so hard on yourself' or a 'it wasn't your fault' or even a 'bullshit', so that definitely startled her. "What?"

Angela sprinkled a few pinches of glitter into the wind, watching it swirl on the way down. "If that's what you believe, then who am I to interfere in belief?"

"I..." Ma'at couldn't think of an answer, and so just turned back to the vista before her, silent.

"What was she like?"

"Huh?"

"Your writer..." Angela glanced at her. "The homicidal maniac one."

"Disturbed." that one word summed it up.

"Nothing more?"

"Utterly insane."

Angela nodded. "Were you?"

Ma'at growled as she turned her head towards Angela. "What's with all the questions?"

Angela raised her hands, palms out. "Just curious ok? Is it a crime to be curious?"

"Curiosity," Ma'at informed her. "Killed the cat."

"Ah... but the cat had nine lives." The angel, or whatever she was, wagged a finger chidingly.

"No, I wasn't, nor am I now, insane." Ma'at said sharply.

Angela nodded slowly. "So, why did you do it?"

"Do what?" Ma'at was loosing patience.

"Inspire her."

"To save the others!"

"Oh." Angela was silent for a moment, tossing the glitter into the air. Ma'at could have sworn that for a second, it formed the image of a bird before being swept away by the air currents. "You think that was a bad thing?"

"Of course not!!"

"So, you didn't do anything wrong, you did what you had to to save others, and you're not insane. You knew this would happen." Angela peered over the side. "And you want to kill yourself."

"You don't understand." Ma'at was sobbing openly now. "I can hear them, their voices begging me, pleading with me to do anything... something... to make her stop."

Angela reached out and placed her hand atop Ma'at's and closed her eyes briefly. "They're very insistent." she observed. She leaned over and gave Ma'at a sisterly peck on the cheek. "I wish you luck in your search for peace."

Ma'at stared at Angela for a moment longer, then returned her attention to the ground below. Without warning, as if she were simply taking the last step of a stair case, she extended her foot, and stepped off the tower.

Angela watched the former-muse's body plummet, heard the thud as it hit the ground, and heard the shriek of another muse. It took less than two minutes for the whole area to become chaos, Ambrosia barrelled out of the building, took one look at the scene and took charge, a few minutes later, Calliope turned up. She actually looked saddened as she stood near the body.

She blew the remaining glitter into the wind, Angela followed Ma'at and slipped off the tower.

The only difference was, Angela never hit the ground.

-Fini