Strategies

GABRIEL'S POV,

Gabriel looks at Noelle while they fly back to his friends. He can smell the scent of her hair which is like camomile and lavender. He takes a deep sigh because just smelling her already gives him butterflies in his stomach.

When they have arrived, he walks to his friends who seem to have a heated discussion. Holly and Nolan are in disagreement about what we should do first.

Gabriel scrapes his throat, ''Okay let's just leave it for a moment. Faith can you tell me all the steps we need to take that you guys came up with?''

Faith takes a deep breath, ''We will have to train Noelle, we have to train our own armies and gather them, we have to find out what Hades his plan is, we have to make a battle strategy and we have to warn the other Realms and convince them to join us.'' She gasps for air after the long sentence.

Gabriel says dryly, ''So enough to do.''

Gabriel takes a moment to think, ''I think we can best start with training and gathering our own forces. After all, we don't know what the other Realms will do. At the moment we have the advantage that nobody knows about Liberum. Hades his spies will only look at the Sky Realm. It will take a while for Hades to ensemble his forces hopefully long enough for us to convince the other Realms.'' He stops for a moment, ''How about we focus on our own forces for a month and then we come back to discuss our strategies and plans for convincing the other Realms?''

The others all nod their heads in agreement. Holly says, ''I agree, I should probably go to the Sky Realm and prepare our army. I can take Faith with me to help.''

Gabriel smiles at Holly, ''Always a step ahead of me sister. But yes, that's what I also had in mind.''

Gabriel then looks at Nolan and Zeus, ''Nolan you will get to train the people of Liberum in combat. The ones that want to of course. I will give an audience tomorrow morning to tell them what is going on and to see who wants to train. Noelle can also join if she wants to learn how to fight without magic.'' He continues, '' And Zeus you will have to do magic training with Noelle daily. I will also make all the dragons ready and train them and their masters together.''

Gabriel takes a glance at Noelle, ''What do you think Noelle?''

She looks at him sternly, ''I said I would help you win this war so I will train every moment of the day that I can.''

Gabriels feels proud. ''She quickly adjusted to the new situation,'' he thinks to himself.

Zeus walks to Noelle, ''Good to hear, we have a lot of work to do but it can wait till tomorrow if you want?''

Noelle looks at the sky which is already getting dark, ''I think it is best to start tomorrow. I wouldn't be able to process much more information right now.''

Zeus nods, ''Alright we will start tomorrow after lunch. You can go to combat training in the morning.''

Noelle looks at everyone, ''Okay I better go get some sleep then. Good night, everyone.''

Gabriel softly replies, ''Good night, Noelle.''

She leaves the room and it's just the 5 of us. Holly lifts up her eyebrow and looks at Gabriel, ''You have gone soft Gabriel. You can't be like this in a war. We still want Hades to be scared of the mighty lightning angel, don't we?''

Faith gives Holly a stump, ''He is just being nice to her Holly, there is nothing wrong with having feelings.''

Holly holds Gabriel's eyes, ''You have feelings for her?''

Gabriel hesitates but then says, ''She is my mate, Holly.''

The others hold their breath. Holly looks surprised, ''Are you sure? I mean there hasn't been an angel mating for 100 years.''

Gabriel says calmly, ''As sure as I can be.''

Holly stares at him, ''How long have you known?''

Gabriel sighs, ''From the moment I saw her, so quite a while.''

Faith joins the conversation, ''Does she know?''

Gabriel scratches his head, ''No she doesn't, she was in love with Roan when I met her, and now is not a good moment to tell her. She is heartbroken so she has no place for news like this. She has gotten enough to worry about as it is.''

Nolan claps Gabriel on his shoulder, ''Don't worry man, no woman can resist a face and heart like yours. She will fall in love with you whether she wants it or not.''

Gabriel smiles at Nolan, ''Thanks, man.''

Holly hugs Gabriel, ''Sorry Gab, I didn't know that. I will try to be a bit nicer to my future sister-in-law.''

Gabriel hugs Holly back and then takes a step backward, ''We should all probably get some rest.''

Faith and Zeus agree and leave to go to their bedroom.

''You guys not going to bed?'' Gabriel asks Holly and Nolan.

Holly looks at Nolan sensually, ''We are just going to take a drink and celebrate that you are back.''

Nolan winks at Gabriel, ''I hope we will have some fun nights again too now that you are back Gabriel. We missed you. We want to see if our best friend still can have some fun.''

Gabriel smiles, ''I promise we will.''

Then Gabriel leaves to go to his own house. From his bedroom window, he can see all the bedroom windows of the mountain next to him. Before bed, he sticks his head out to look at the stars and enjoy a moment of peace. To his surprise he sees Noelle doing the same from her window. She looks beautiful in a simple white top. Her eyes seem to sparkle reflecting the moon and the wind is playing with her air. She really takes his breath away. He is still staring at her when she looks up and notices him as well. She waves and smiles. He waves back but doesn't break eye contact. Her smile is slowly disappearing and with a slightly open mouth, she just looks back at him. His heart is beating in his chest, and he wonders if it could be possible that she feels the same way about him. Then she lowers her eyes and walks away. His excitement immediately sinks to his stomach. He must not let ideas get into his head that will not happen anyway. He should focus on the war ahead. With a heavy heart, he goes to bed.