(Blaza PoV)

I shot up with a start, clutching my chest as my panicked breathing rose and fell swiftly. My eyes were wide, my wings flared.

Still in my house, not falling into the abyss. I'm still alive, there's no gods arguing. Just a dream. Just a dream.

Of course, anything could be possible at this point. I might as well could have been seeing the truth.

I shook my head. Best not think about that right now.

Socks had left last night, gone back to his house. I stood up, stumbling for a few steps - I'm never going to get used to these wings - before continuing into the other room. As I walked I noticed I felt oddly stiff in my right side. I tried stretching a moment, but the tension remained.

Strange.

I slipped through the doorway and found myself walking outside, pushing through my front door and standing on the steps outside. The breeze hit me from the left, and I tucked some hair into my hood to keep it out of my face.

Maybe I could practice what Woolf taught me about flying, I thought.

Remembering the lesson he gave me the other day, I put my hand in the air to get a feel for the wind current. As I'd thought, it blew from the left, the west, I think. I spread out my wings, waiting for a good gust before breaking into a sprint across the clearing. The wind caught, and suddenly I was rising.

I stumbled in the air, and I took a moment to catch myself and regain my balance. It was taking less and less focus to keep my wings moving as I practiced, becoming more muscle memory than conscious exercise. I've also been managing to find an easier way to use my tail as part of my balance as well.

Smiling, I flapped my wings again, pushing myself into the air.

After a minute or so I looked down, able to see the clearing of the small village standing below me and the desert hill in the distance. MedBay stood at the top, gleaming white in the sunlight.

Nice view up here.

I flew on a bit until I could see the military base nearly below me. Where I hovered, I was over the river nearby. Blue, crystalline water flowed through the forest, cutting like a blade through the wooded area.

It was calm. I liked the calmness. I need to fly up here more often. Maybe I will.

The moment was interrupted by a sudden throbbing in my head. I cried out, my hand flying to my forehead. It felt like I'd been shot in the skull.

—

"Why are you doin' this?!"

I was in the dark abyss of the human's subconscious. I was in control, and could see what I was doing in the real world while speaking with him in here. He was tugging at my wrist, trying in vain to break my focus. He was strong, I'll give him that, and I admired his determination. But I had a job to do. And no human was going to stop me.

"Silence!" I snapped at him, using my free hand to knock him back. The human yelped as I tossed him to the ground.

"What do you want from me?" He persisted. His accent was starting to annoy me. "What do you want with my friends?!"

"What I want is none of your concern," I growled at him. "You'd be better to stay out of my way."

"I don't even know who you are!"

"You do. I told you what to call me," I said.

"You're not me, that name is a lie!" He said angrily, "Who. Are. You?"

"If you do not shut up this instant I will not hesitate to smite you."

He remained silent. I smirked. "Good human. Now stay that way."

A flick of my wrist, and he disappeared and reappeared a few feet away.

—-

Falling, falling.

I opened my eyes just in time for the oxygen to be knocked from my lungs. I wheezed and gasped for air, but coughed, realizing I was sucking in water. The light above was wavy and filtered by the surface of the river.

Well, I guess it was a good idea to hover above the river.

I was sinking. I needed to get to dry land.

But my limbs wouldn't move. They felt like lead, weighing me down as I struggled to swim upward. I tried flapping my wings, thinking I could rise like I do in air, but all I managed to do was flail aimlessly.

Black spots swam at the edges of my vision. I fought to remain awake, but my eyelids grew heavy with every passing second.

A brilliant light shone above me, and that was all I managed to see before sinking into unconsciousness.

—-

(??? PoV)

I sighed. Why does this one always get himself in trouble?

The angel lay limp on the river floor. His eyes were closed. Had I been my brother, I probably would have left him - it would have allowed him to retain the human's spirit, after all. But I wasn't. And I wished for him to live.

As easy as if I was on land, I walked across the riverbed until I stood over his unconscious body.

His eyes snapped open. White liquid drifted into the current of the river like glowing tears from his eyes. Pure white pupils stared at me - he could see me.

"Yang, what happened?" I asked with a sigh.

In the human's body, Yang, rolled his eyes, pushing himself to his feet. He, too, breathed as if the water did not matter, even with the human struggling otherwise. "I swear to the heavens above, Yin, this wasn't me. I don't know what it was, really."

"Then why is your vessel at the bottom of this river?" I queried.

"I don't know!" He snapped, "He was flying and then he was falling. I couldn't seem to gain control, otherwise I would have tried to catch him!"

"I find that hard to believe," I deadpanned, "When you were the one who wished for me to keep him in the afterlife."

Yang sighed in annoyance. "Look, if I wanted to re-kill him, I would have done so by now. And I know better than to trifle with your orders."

He had a point. I rolled my eyes. "Then what caused his fall? You don't just stop flying hundreds of feet in the air."

"Because of me."

That voice. I stiffened as my gaze flickered to the left.

Yang growled. His tone was frigid enough to freeze this river for miles. "Harmony."

"Don't call me that," Harm growled. "I gave you my name and you will respect my wishes to be called as such."

Yang looked as though he wanted to break Harm's neck. Which wouldn't end well, seeing that he was still in the human's body, so I broke the tension. "Harm. What are you doing here? I though I warned you not to embroil yourself in our affairs."

Harm smiled. "Funny, because I do believe it is you trifling with mine."

"The human's uncalled death and revival has nothing to do with you," I growled at him.

"Again, there you are wrong. Although I didn't plan for the human to die, these humans are incompetent enough that the one I sent to kill another misfired. Some excuse related to a vampire. Something like that."

"The reptilian?" Yang questioned, "It was you who sent him?"

"Yes," Harm nodded. "Finally using that brain of yours for more than what you call 'rightful' life-taking."

Yang inhaled sharply, fury raging in his gaze.

I sighed. "Yang, calm yourself. The last thing we need is a fight." I turned to Harm. "And I suggest you do not provoke either of us. You are not immune to our inflictions as you used to be."

Another smile. "As far as you know."

I see why Yang has been so infuriated with sharing the human's mind with this shagwa. He is incredibly irritating.

"What do you want?" I growled at him, "I know you well enough to realize that you don't just show up for a chat."

"All will be revealed in time, brother," Harm said. He began to disappear slowly, his final words echoing as he melted into shadow.

"All will be revealed in time."

——

Motivation go brrrr

1410 words