Not Caleb, Caleb's Body.

Who: Leija and open to Dorian and Mathias, if they'd be home
When: most of the day, into afternoon
Where: all over, orphanage, Lockwood house

It was early afternoon before Leija consciously realized she was no longer looking for Caleb.

She was looking for a body.

... maybe that was a bit dramatic of her, but there it was. She'd called him. She'd been calling for two days now, but still she tried. No messages this time, every time it rolled to voicemail, she just hung up. Leija knew his phone was still on, because it was ringing, it wasn't going direct. But he wasn't answering. Or couldn't answer. Or something.

She had wandered around aimlessly for a good chunk of the morning, not able to sit at home and wait anymore. Because he wasn't going to call her back, that much was plain and simple. All the rational possibilities ran through her head: maybe he'd lost his phone, maybe he'd gone out of town with his brothers, maybe he just decided that he hated her and never wanted to talk to her again. All that made sense. But it didn't feel right. Not that she could know things like that, so it was probably rampant paranoia.

But his eyes kept coming back to her. The hollow, hurt sound in his voice when he talked about his family and Jamie. The way his self-preservation instinct seemed to have been cut right out of him. No, this couldn't be explained away with a rational theory. Not after this long, not with who it was. Something was wrong, she felt it down deep in her stomach. It was possibly something wrong in her direction, but it was still wrong. Leija felt like she'd probably throw a fucking party if she found out it was just that he didn't want to talk to her. It would be an unspeakable relief. So she'd gone out looking, because she couldn't do nothing anymore. She'd taken her dad's cell phone and told him to call her if Caleb called the house.

The problem was, she didn't know where to look. She didn't know where he hung out or anything, and she wasn't prepared to look stalkerish enough to go to his house yet. Or to call his friends. The ones she'd met. She didn't want to alienate him further -- if that's what she'd done -- by getting everybody in an uproar. So it was wandering. She covered the parks, the library, peered into every restaurant window she came to, she went down by the lake, always feeling like she'd just missed him. Eventually she took to the air from a secluded spot to cover more ground, and that was when she realized she was looking for carrion birds circling over the tops of trees.

Not Caleb, Caleb's body.

The dark looming roof of the orphanage caught her attention eventually. Maybe he'd go back there? The area seemed clear enough, so Leija landed on the roof itself and started to search the building. She was dimly aware that it was dangerous for her to be in the place by herself, what with the whole possibility of falling to her death or being impaled or whatever, but she didn't care. This felt right, this felt like somewhere he would go. So she looked, peering into every room that she could and trying to ignore the creeping feeling between her shoulderblades that grew with every step, scouring the building from the top down. When the dim dusty light coming through the filthy windows didn't cut it, her wings sufficed as a flashlight.

It brought her eventually to the auditorium. She walked silently down the aisle, peering in between rows of seats, looking for something human. Leija was aware that she didn't want to find him. Part of her recoiled from it completely, flutter-panicked at the idea that she might have to look at his face and accept that she was incredibly, unforgivably Too Late. That she'd failed to help him enough. That she'd even missed his death, to be a comfort there. That her hands were truly and utterly tied in all things and nothing she did really mattered. She wasn't sure that she could handle that, but that didn't stop her from looking. He didn't deserve to be ignored because of her own hang ups.

When she saw the charcoal drawing on the wall, her heart all but stopped. It hadn't been there before, she would've noticed something like that. It was huge, and as she was drawn forward to look closer, she saw that it was her. Leija didn't even have to notice the small initials and date to know who'd put it there. She stood there for what felt like a very long time, eyes crawling over the work of art. The portrait of her that had been carefully put up on the wall in the godforsaken place where she'd made a connection with someone she now couldn't find and who might be dead. A lump of tears rose up in her throat and caught there, waiting for one warring emotion to win out over another. It wasn't happening. Awe and disbelief were mixed in with an aching sadness and something odd that hit even deeper. She honestly didn't know how to feel.

She was loathe to leave it, but she had to keep searching. The rest of the orphanage turned out nothing, and as she walked out the front door of the delapidated building, she knew exactly where she was going next. If anybody knew where he was, his brothers would, and she'd stopped caring if she looked like a lunatic or not. Hell ... maybe the universe was kind and Caleb would be there. She'd just walk right up to his front door and knock and see what happened.

Because she had to know.

Dorian was too worried to leave the house. What if Caleb came home and they weren't there? What if he called and no one answered? A year ago and he wouldn't have been able to fathom worrying this much about anyone. Everything else had been set aside. His concern over work wasn't even existent at the moment, as it could wait. This was more important.

The second Leija knocked on the door, Dorian was there, opening it. "Caleb?" he asked, hoping before he even had the door halfway open. Instead there was a girl there and the disappointment showed clearly on his face. "Sorry. Um-- Can I help you?" he asked, trying to decide if he'd seen her before and finally deciding that he hadn't.

Well that was a bad sign. Leija tried not to look as nervous as she felt. She knew she probably looked a little dirty and disheveled and hot from walking around all day and flying and searching the orphanage. She cleared her throat softly and resisted the urge to glance around Dorian to see if Caleb was in there. "Hi," he started, a bit stupidly. Her bravado had died a little in the actual face of one of his brothers. Who he kind of looked like, she could see it. "I'm Leija. And, um ... I'm looking for Caleb. Is he here?"

It made sense that Caleb would have other people looking for him, though Dorian had been unaware of it up till now. He didn't have their contact information and only knew a handful of names... and Leija was one of them. Shit. "Caleb's not here. He's... missing," Dorian sighed. "Did you by chance see him yesterday? At all?" Because maybe someone else had seen him since he disappeared. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"Bro?" Mathias' voice called from the back, obviously getting closer as he headed for the door. He hoped to god it was Caleb, and his disappointment showed in his face when it was girly. Whoever she was.

Leija wet her lips and tucked her hands into her pockets. Only to take them right back out again. Now that there were two of them? Both looking disappointed that she wasn't their brother? Yeah, really worried. She shook her head. "No, I haven't," she said, eyes ticking between Mathias and Dorian. "I've been trying to call, but I haven't seen or heard from him in a couple of days, that's why I was ... looking ..." Leija trailed off and bit her lip. Shit. Shit shit shit, fuck, if his own family didn't know where he was, what the hell had happened to him?

"And you are...." Mathias asked, raising an eyebrow, looking her up and down as he did so, his gaze intent. He wondered if this was the girlfriend, or someone else. There were a couple of candidates, after all.

"Leija," she said again, directly to Mathias. Under normal circumstances, she probably would've thought being checked over like that by a much older guy -- or most anybody, really -- was skeezy, but concern for Caleb overrode any offense she would've otherwise taken. "Just a friend. Of his."

"You're the valkyrie then," he said, raising an eyebrow. Mathias was good with names, he had to be. Another angel - great. Just what this house needs.

The amount of tact Mathias had just completely floored Dorian, being that it was completely and totally absent. His eyes widened as he cast a glance towards his brother, jaw dropping halfway open, then hit him hard with the back of his hand. His eyes spoke words that never made it past his lips-- Shut the fuck up!

"Last time I saw him was at breakfast the night after the two of you went out," Dorian said, trying to get on task, hoping she wouldn't bolt. Because seriously... What was Mathias thinking?! Dorian took a small step forward, hoping Leija would focus on him and not his screaming idiot of an older brother. "Did he say anything then? Were things okay?" he asked.

Leija had somewhat of a similar reaction, with the wide eyes and the jaw dropping. Only her's was accompanied with all the color draining the hell out of her face. Her freckles stood out in stark relief for a handful of seconds before being replaced with a fierce blush as all the blood rushed right back into her head. Ohgod, she was gonna pass out, she was sure of it. He'd TOLD HIS BROTHERS?!

But the other one was talking to her, and even though she felt sick to her stomach all of the sudden, Caleb was still in trouble and ... and ... Focus, Leija. Jesus. "No," she answered his last question. "No, he wasn't ... he wasn't really okay. I mean, I tried. Talking. To him. And he wasn't ... really upset or anything when we left, but ..." But Caleb doesn't seem like he's ever okay, don't you know that? It was a bit relieving to hear that he'd come home after, though. "Did he say anything at breakfast?"

Mathias turned to Dorian as he got a slap round the hand and made a What? face. Seemed he was damned for keeping angels secrets and damned for not doing so. He just couldn't win! Anyway, he didn't know the answer to her question - hadn't been there, after all.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why the hell couldn't I tell how bad things were? Hearing that Caleb hadn't been okay to begin with wasn't comforting at all. Dorian had at least hoped for that, that all that was really hitting him was all this angel bullshit. If it was more than that, it was worse than he'd thought, though that really did explain how he'd ended up missing. Dorian just wished he'd done better at picking up on it.

"He asked about Valkyries," Dorian said with a sigh. He wouldn't have mentioned as much except for the fact that Mathias had already put that out there. "I know a lot about... stuff and he had some questions. Your name accidentally slipped out and I was stupid enough to mention it to him," Dorian said, nodding towards his brother. "Some other things came up, but I didn't think there was a crisis when he left. I'm Dorian, by the way," he said, offering a hand. He could still be polite, even under this kind of tense situation. After all, this was someone Caleb had trusted. Dorian just hoped she'd continue to trust him after all this.

The more talky brother -- Dorian -- really wasn't making her feel better at all. Caleb had asked for more information about what she was, and then ... what, disappeared? God, what if he'd found out something that upset him that much and he did hate her and this was all her fault in the first fucking place? That was silly, right? It wasn't like she hadn't been (initially unwilling, but still) open about it.

She blinked a bit and reached out to shake Dorian's hand, giving Mathias a glance. "Nice to meet you," she murmured automatically. "You guys haven't ... heard from him at all?" It came out much more timid than she wanted it to, and Leija cleared her throat.

"No - we've both left messages, but nothing. Dorian called the police," Mathias added, leaning against the door jamb. It was obvious from his face he was concerned as he crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't in the mood to be pandering to the girly and anyway, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react - being nice to another of Caleb's angel friends was part of what got them here in the first place, after all. if he hadn't done what Ten wanted, if he'd been upfront at the time... Maybe they wouldn't be here, wondering if Caleb was dead in a ditch somewhere. Okay, bad mental imagery. "You hvaen't either then?" he asked, trying to dispel that.

"No, I've been trying." Had she said that already? She wasn't sure. Didn't matter. They didn't have answers for her and she didn't have any for them either. Biting the corner of her lip, she delved in to one of her cargo pockets and pulled out a receipt for something and a small purple Sharpie. She scribbled her home number and her dad's cell number on it and held it out to Dorian. "Will you please call me if you hear from him?" she asked, eyes carrying her worry a lot more than her face did. Her gaze ticked to Mathias. "Please."

Dorian had the feeling he was making things worse rather than better, a crucial part of his explanation being left out. He couldn't fill Leija in on why Caleb had been upset, seeing as it had more to do with their lineage in comparison to hers, rather than hers alone. If Caleb had been a normal, human boy, there probably wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, things weren't that simple.

"Of course," Dorian said, taking the number from Leija. "And you'll let us know if you hear anything as well? We've exhausted every place we know to look."

"Sure we will," Mathias agreed, because what else could he do? At the moment, he didn't know what to think about this girl - he didn't know all that much about valkyries and, to be honest, he was too busy worrying about his brother to care too much. He was getting to the point now where he was willing to try almost anything to find him, call in whatever favours he had or could possibly wrangle.

She nodded immediately to Dorian, tucking the marker away. Of course she'd let them know, she had the utmost empathy for how they must be feeling. They had to know their brother more than she did, right? "Thanks," she said, glancing between them both. She wondered briefly if there was anything comforting she could say, but came up totally empty-handed. Even 'nice meeting you' rang totally false. So Leija nodded to them both and started to back away. It wasn't a lead, it didn't make her feel better, and her dad would be worried, so it was probably time just to go home. She didn't know what else to do.