Azazel raised an eyebrow as she said what she did.

"I.... see." he said.

'Hmph.' he thought. 'Well, I've mistaken that in the past.' he sighed.

"Well, here's hoping this doesn't happen again." he told her, showing her she'd managed to fool him.

For now.

"What shall I tell Zeke?" he asked.

"Besides the obvious fact that your café meet-up is postponed indefinitely."

Azazel nodded in response.

"Right." he said.

"Yeah, it's... well, he's why I rushed over here, obviously." he told her.

"And no worries. It's what friends are for, after all." he then reasoned.

"...want me to order something in for you to eat for dinner?" he asked her after a pause. "Seeing as... odds are cooking is NOT in the cards for you tonight." he guessed.

"I'll even use a mage place so it's mana'd right into the place." he offered.

Azazel just sighed and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." he said.

"I'll order now." he told her, taking out his phone.

After a few minutes of minor discussion as to what she wanted, he made the order and looked over at her.

"Right." he muttered.

"Think you need to take some time off work?" he asked.

"As in, should I tell Agent Sharp not to expect you tomorrow?"

Azazel sighed when she said that that night was a bust.

"I'll tell him that." he said.

"Thankfully, we should be able to get someone to cover for you." he told her.

"Anyway, just... try and relax, all right?" he then said further.

"This seemed to be a bad one, but not your worst. Just try and have a peaceful night." he went on.

"I'll make sure to tell the people to not disturb you tonight, except for a key few to check up on you occasionally. Keep in touch with me if things go south again."

"..." Az was silent for a moment, and then nodded in response.

"All right." he replied quietly.

"I'll see myself out, then." he told her.

"See you later." he finished, before taking a few steps back, away from her, and disappearing from where he was, to tell Zeke about this.

Which he did. And Zeke needed time to process this. What had happened, what Erica had said to Azazel... everything. When he got this way, his archangel half tended to get a bit out of hand due to stress and distraction, so during these times, he was allowed to be in the celestial realm, and the other archangels knew that when he was there, something was up and he was generally to be left alone with his thoughts.

...but there were two that got away with speaking to him during this; his father, and one other.

And they saw him sitting by the fountain in their area, staring at his reflection pensively.

Zeke seemed to be dazed and distracted for a moment, but looked at her after a moment, realising she was there.

"Oh!" he said.

"Sari..." he addressed her quietly, as the two had gotten decently close, and he had the best relationship with among the archangels, aside from his father.

"I... well..." he mumbled, before sighing heavily.

"I have... a lot on my mind, and it's stressing me out." he told her.

"Mostly about a friend of mine. And how it seems there's nothing I can do to help her, even with the strength I possess." he lamented.

Normally, Zeke would have said no. He was feeling stressed, he wanted to be alone with his thoughts... but this woman? She had the innate capability to calm people down and make them more open.

It was who she was.

So he nodded in response.

"Sure." he said.

"Some tea would be lovely." he told her.

"May calm me down a little."

Zeke just smiled at her and took the offered hand.

"Heh. That is fair." he said, getting to his feet.

---

He took a sip of the tea and was silent for a moment, before looking at her.

"Oh, she's doing all right." he said.

"Thankfully, work's been less stressful for her, so she's had next to no late nights, and has been able to spend more time with Liv." he told her.

"Means there's been a marked improvement in her general attitude, as well."

Zeke just laughed a little when she said that.

"Almost." he said.

"However, that's a biiiig 'almost'." he stressed.

"But it's good that she's doing well." he went on. "Not sure I could handle it if SHE wasn't having a good go of it right now, too." he admitted quietly.

"I mean... I was a guardian angel once. I... I have the powers of an archangel..." he went on.

"WHY can't I help a friend suffering from what is essentially a demonic curse...?"

Zeke just sighed again.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"It's just... I have no idea what to do. Or if I can even do anything." he told her.

"It's... every time it gets worse, I can feel her lose that little bit of hope." he continued.

"And I've recently learned she essentially believes she's now on borrowed time." he went on.

"...it worries me that she's starting to truly give up, now."