Angel & Julian: Leap of Faith

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A misconceived plan to teach Julian to fly goes both wrong and right.

The afternoons were starting to get warm- finally- in Westchester County, New York. With the sun just starting to dip toward the western horizon, Julian Keller found himself looking at the north lawn comfortably attired in jeans and a black t-shirt...four stories up. When Angel first had the idea to work on his flying, he'd been enthusiastic and had even led the way up to the roof, but now...now, looking down at the new spring growth across the yard, he was having second thoughts. "Wow, we are...we are hiiigh, huh?."

Angel just grinned at him, arms crossed over her chest as she manipulated her fire so that she could hover a few feet away from the flier's platform. "That's what I totally thought, the first time. Okay, well, the first time I was up here I fell off the roof so maybe that's not the best example." A fire proof jacket had been tossed on the platform before she'd thrown herself off - if Julian felt nervous, he could put it on and it would guarantee that Angel could catch him without burning his clothes off, at least.

"You fell?! You may have left that out before." Julian reached down and grabbed the jacket, quickly donning the flame retardant threads. He tried to remember what Nathan had told him about flying. He could remember something about birds and hollow bones and then his giant firebird shield, but everything else was suddenly failing him. "Okay, any advice before I try this?"

She'd fill him in later on how she'd actually learned that she could fly. "One, remember to breath. Passing out because you're holding your breath if you're nervous means splat. If you're scared about the fall, don't look down. See, I wore a really cute shirt you can stare at if you need somewhere for your eyes." Angel giggled and the fire shield around her rippled. "And three - just remember, if I can catch you, I won't let you drop."

'If?' "Okay, here it goes," he tried to recall all of his lessons and everything he'd read on the subject of telekinetic flight. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, looking straight ahead and Angel floating a few feet away. He didn't need to hold up all of himself, just key points, that much he could remember. After another half-a-minute had past, he realized he was probably looking very cowardly in front of Angel and that was the last thing he wanted her to think. Reaffirming his will to fly, Julian lept of the edge of the platform with his arms spread out to either side.

Then the ground was coming toward him awfully fast.

'Quick, quick QUICK! Key points! Key points!!! He tried to concentrate on lifting his waist, chest and legs but the fear was sapping his strength. The best he managed was a slight green glow around his entire body that slowed his drop for a split second. "Oh, crap!"

A hand on the collar of the jacket stopped his sudden plummet towards the ground. Angel hovered above him, easily holding his weight thanks to the strength from her powers. "Let's try that again," she said cheerfully, slowly rising back towards the platform. "Want to start from the platform again?"

"Yesplease," was all he could say as he'd been saved from becoming a permanent fixture on the north lawn. As she lifted him, easily, up to the platform and his feet found solid ground again, he struggled to keep his legs from shaking. "Well, that was...well..." he took a deep breath. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't just...jump right into it?" Afterall, putting up the supports beforehand would probably work better than trying to do it on the fly.

With a thump, as Angel had let go of her powers so as not to scorch Julian on her way down, she landed next to him and slid her arms around his waist. "Yeah, maybe that wasn't the best idea," she agreed, wrinkling her nose at him slightly. "Sorry 'bout that. Do you want to do this from ground level or something? We can if you want to."

She had to remember that she was fearless about flying for a reason.

A few deep breaths later, Julian gave her a cocky smile and shook his head, "Nah, up here is fine. Besides, I've got you ready to swoop in and save the day, right?" He put an arm around her shoulder and sighed. "How many times did it take you to learn to fly?" He knew it wouldn't be the same, Angel seemed to glide through the air gracefully, working with the thermal currents she created. Julian needed to control himself when he moved through the air and it would take all of his concentration to do so.

"It felt like forever," Angel admitted, resting her head on his shoulder. "I didn't know I could fly, didn't think it was an option." Her next words came out wryly. "It seems like figurin' out my powers has been in steps, months between each. In one case, years. It took a lot of practice, Julian, and I worked my butt off because I fell so in love with it. It's like swimming, you know? Only there's so much more freedom up there. The flight instructors were awesome but I did a lot of stuff on my own once I figured out I wasn't going to brain myself." It rather helped that her powers gave her an buffer - she'd never had to really test it out but it had saved her quite a number of brusies and cracked skulls so far.

Julian nodded and turned his head, planting a brief kiss on top of her head. 'Swimming?' he imagined the sky as a giant pool and himself moving through it, propelled by his own energies as if he was swimming. "You up for catching me again if I can't stay up?" he asked in a whisper, his head resting against hers as they looked out at the New England woods. His knees had stopped shaking and Julian wanted to try something akin to Nathan's flight shield.

Reaching up, Angel gave him a quick kiss before untangling herself from his arms. "Come on, let's give it the old college try! Ignore the fact that we're not in college, okay?"

Grinning, she jumped backwards off the roof and a second later a flare of blue exploded as her powers turned on. She hovered safely in the air several feet away from Julian and wriggled her fingers in a 'Come and get me' move.

With a cocky grin, Julian closed his eyes and imagined the sky as a swimming pool. He pictured himself scissor kicking through the air for a moment, then thought back to Nathan's flight shield. He pictured himself encased in a bubble of green energy, lifting himself off the platform and into the sky. His eyes now open, Julian slowly took a few steps toward the edge of the platform, feeling the energy forming up around him. He lept into the air and forced the energy together in front of him, tugging on it with his mind.

For a brief second he did feel like he was flying, but then the tug became more insistent and Julian began to plumet toward the ground. He let out a small cry as the greening grass came up on him too quickly for Angel to do anything. He felt the sharp inpact, which would have been worse if the flight shield hadn't absorbed the impact. Things briefly went dark after that.

It was like watching a wet marshmallow bounce around on the ground as Angel made a mad grab for him. The problem with the shield was that she couldn't get through, either, so she had to wait until he'd stopped before she could get a hold of him. "Oh god oh god oh god, don't be dead, they'd never let me live it down," Angel muttered.

Despite her tone, her hands flitted over him professionally - his pulse was strong, he was breathing and nothing looked out of place. "Julian? Waking up would totally make my day. There's like a no scaring your girlfriend rule."

His eyes flickered open slightly, the light forming a halo around Angel's head. What was she saying? He couldn't quite make it out, but he thought he'd heard the word girlfriend in there- but who'd said it? "Ow," was all he could say at first, everything hurt, but not as much as it should have for having just fallen off a building. He could still wiggle his toes at least. "What happened?"

With relief, Angel sat back on her haunches. "Good news is that your shield saved you from squish. Bad news is that you fell like a lead balloon." She looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, maybe I didn't have such a good idea."

Julian forced himself up, wincing in a not-so-slight manner as he propped himself up on his elbows. "Oh, ow," he smiled as best he could, but even his teeth hurt. "Well, at least now I know that the fall won't kill me, right?"

She snorted. "Yeah but I bet your internal organs and things are all shaken and not stirred," Angel commented, poking him lightly in the chest. "Next time I'll just find a box for you to practice on..."