âU-re?â I frown. âWhy are you here -- wait...can you see all of this?â
This is honestly far too much for one day. By this point, itâs beyond far too much for a whole fucking lifetime.
âYouâre making quite a scene,â he looks at Coach, who only looks at him really intensely.
âRamiâel,â Gabriel grins. âWhere have you been lurking this whole while?â
Ramiel?
âYouâre joking.â
âSorry, Hyun,â U-re, grins, and he at least has the decency to look embarrassed. âMarching orders are marching orders.â
âEnough of this,â Michael steps up, ahead of what I see is a huge mass of light waiting behind him.
The army of Heaven has arrived.
I love these guys here and all -- ok, well, maybe thatâs an exaggeration. But I guess theyâre good fighters and theyâve kept me safe and I trust them. Most of them. Warâs still on my shit list.
But Michael has an army.
âI would avoid bloodshed, brothers,â he calls across the ice. âLet me do my duty. Let me stop this before it gets any worse. One life for humanity.â
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âIf you do not see the value of two lives,â Coach snarls, âthen you are not the brother I knew.â
âWhat would you know of caring for anything but your own pride, brother? Covet the boy all you wish: the will of our Father shall be done -- and the army of Heaven shall smite you all from this Earth, as it has before.â
I look at the others. All of their faces are grim, except forâ¦
âWhy are you smiling?â I ask Coach.
Coach starts laughing and that glow about him gets brighter -- the sun rising on a winter morning.
He was rightly named the Morning Star.
âOh, Mikhaâel,â Coach laughs. âMy dear elder brother, have you forgotten? I have been here all these long years.â
âWhat of it?â Uriel frowns from across the ice.
âGeonbehaja like a thunderâ¦â U-re hums to himself with a wicked grin. Something about it makes me shiver.
âReally?â I ask, trying to let the distraction cut through my tension.
He shrugs, âFelt appropriate.â
âGravity never was your strong suit,â Gabriel snorts.
U-re barely misses a beat, scoffing back, âLike it was ever yours.â
Theyâre all completely four-dimensional.
âBrothers,â Coachâs voice booms across the frozen lake. âI tremble not at the might of Heaven because, you see, Hell is emptyâ¦â Coach grins. âAnd all the devils are here.â