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Uriel had not known it yet, the first time she laid eyes on Yoo Joonghyuk through a blue screen. Had not known the importance of the man clad in black in the subway carriage. She had been intrigued all the same.
Yoo Joonghyuk is a man with undeniable power, and infinite compassion. One by one, he takes his companions by the hand, hauls them out of the pit of despair they have found themselves in, and welcomes them into his party. Men, women, children; the list goes on and on and on.
Yoo Joonghyuk fights for them like he's known them all his life, protects them and saves them and give them the shelter they couldn't find even before the apocalypse. Uriel watches this incredibly selfless man make his way through the scenarios, followed by people he would die for, just like they would for him, and wishes.
It wasn't really a conscious decision. Eden would later deem her actions as reckless and as uncaring of the consequences as ever, but Uriel is sick of the justice they preach. How much evil has passed through the universe in her endless lifespan? How much more will come?
If Uriel fails to reach the man named Yoo Joonghyuk, she knows she will regret it for millennia. So she descends, evades the grasping hands of her fellow angels and their panicked cries, feathers whipped away by the wind as probability crackles on her skin.
The Star Stream moulds her into a form fit for the current scenario, and Uriel seeks out Yoo Joonghyuk through the countless incarnations without pause. He's not hard to find, a towering man in a black coat and a sword by his side.
His companions hover at the edges as Yoo Joonghyuk placidly holds up a hand to keep them at bay as Uriel marches up to him. He gazes upon her with mild interest, neither disrespectful nor awed.
Her sword falls into her hands, wings flaring out to shouts of surprise from the surrounding crowd, and Uriel plants her weapon into the ground before her, falling to her knees gracefully.
The pings of the channel roar in the space between constellation and incarnation, no doubt sparked by this never seen before scene. Uriel isn't sure if a constellation has ever done this, but she definitely knows an archangel of her status certainly hasn't.
“I, Uriel, Archangel of Conflagration, pledge my undying loyalty and blade to you.” Uriel vows, and her voice rolls with a dozen different lost tunes and burns with the flames of justice. “I will be your sword, and follow you to the end.”
Something unshakable is set into place, and it slots in neatly into the space between her ribs with a sense of rightness that she hasn’t felt in centuries. When Yoo Joonghyuk welcomes her into his group with open arms, she laughs, brightly, dazzlingly, and lunges at him for a hug.
Yoo Joonghyuk fumbles to catch her in a rare moment of surprise as she wraps her wings around him, burying her face into his shoulder.
“I’ll be in your care from now on, Captain! I’ll do my best!” Uriel chirps, wrapping her arms securely around him in the way she’s seen all his companions do to him at some point, delighted to finally be able to do it herself. Then, as an afterthought, because Yoo Joonghyuk aims to split the skies and change the world as they know it: “Don’t go where I can’t follow.”
The man pats her on the back, gently, hesitantly. “Thank you for your pledge.”
(He doesn’t answer the second part, but Uriel lets it go. She’s just glad to be here now, upholding Yoo Joonghyuk’s concept of salvation.)
Yoo Joonghyuk gets hurt, picks himself back up again, loses bits of himself for the people he loves, and never, ever complains. He never falters, bends but never breaks, and always looks upon all of them fondly despite the pain he goes through for their sake.
The man Uriel calls Captain lives in a hell of his own choosing, and he would not be Yoo Joonghyuk if he did not do this for them. So Uriel swallows her pleas and throws herself into battle, fire roaring to match her rage as she fights so her captain never has to sacrifice himself again. She did not earn her Fables for nothing, and she will dedicate each and every one if it means Yoo Joonghyuk will be safe.
She loves him. How could she not? He is kindness in warm hands and justice in a sharp blade and honor in his set gaze. He aims to tear apart the world as they know it, and Uriel will gladly pluck every last star for him. All he has to do is ask.
It doesn’t last. It’s not fair that it doesn’t. They, who have clawed to the very end, felled enemy after enemy and broke through the scenarios and reached for the [Final Wall]. It wasn’t enough. Yoo Joonghyuk had to give himself up one last time for it, for the Star Stream to end and for all of them to reach their epilogue.
But what was the point of an ending without the man who gave it to them? Where’s the happiness to be found in a future without their captain?
Uriel certainly cannot find any. They had fought because of him, for him, and they had never once debated any other path. And so she stokes her power once more and breaks open the skies with those who couldn't bear a world without Yoo Joonghyuk either, desperate to find him.
After all, her loyalty is undying, pledged with her sword, and she loves like she mourns; with all-consuming fire.