A few tears leaked from Raphael's eyes and he shook his head.

"What other choice do I have? If I lower it then I go back to being derided as someone who can't defend himself. And I'll feel like 'absolute shit' then too, except I'll know that if anybody threatens me I'll be too afraid to do anything about it."

You're supposedly a fucking archangel, not a kitten. How could someone as weak as you help anyone?

"I have to get it somehow!" He started shaking again. "And it doesn't matter because I hate what I am now, someone who always gets pushed around unless Michael's there - and sometime even when he is.

At least I would be considered a threat and not a joke..."