Corruption

“You can’t do this!” Phil screeched.

“I can do whatever I want,” she chuckled.

Phil picked up the closest object and hurled it towards the girl.

“Phillip!”

He swallowed. What was wrong with him? Why would he try to hurt her? Why do I always make a mess of things? “Sorry, mother.”

His mother crossed her arms, wings stretched wide as she made her way towards him. “It’s not me you should be apologizing to, Phillip.”

Phil turned to the girl, who still sat, unfazed, the wrong way on a chair. “’M sorry, Eve.”

She gave him a sad smile. “No, child, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have provoked you.”

He sniffled. “Please don’t make me.”

Eve suddenly engulfed him in a hug. “My dear, this is for the best. I ask this of you only because I love you.” She pulled away just enough to hold Phil’s tear-stained face in her hands. “I have faith in you, Phil.”

His mother smiled. “The one being all of creation puts their faith in, has her faith in you, Phillip. So, why don’t you?”

Silent tears ran down his face. He refused to look Eve or his mother in the eye. Eve believed in everyone; Phil was nothing special. He was just a bastard child who burdened his mother. He couldn’t be a guardian.

“Oh, Phil, you mustn’t be so hard on yourself,” Eve sobbed, clutching him tightly again. “You are so wonderful!”

Phil immediately felt ten times worse than before. Eve’s greatest sorrow was when her creations were dissatisfied with themselves. All she wanted was for her children to be happy.

“S-Sorry,” Phil sniffed.

“Eve,” his mother said, gently, “he needs to go.”

The mother of everything lifted her head and gave Phil a teary-eyed smiled. “Of course. You are needed elsewhere, child, and he needs you far more than we do. I’ll have to find a new hobby while you’re gone, my young friend.”

Phil cracked a smile for the first time all afternoon. “There are video games you can play by yourself, Eve.”

“They are not nearly as fun! Good luck!” She kissed his forehead.

Then everything was black.

Then everything was white.

Phil let his gaze roam around the room, irritation already beginning to settle in his chest. He hated being away from home. It was so much harder for him to control himself without Eve. Among the white walls, white floor, and white ceiling, was a white bed; a brunet laid tucked under the covers with wires running from his arms to various pieces of machinery.

“Oh, Phil,” Eve had cried to him, “I don’t understand why my children don’t love themselves. They are so wonderfully perfect.”

Phil snorted. The guy laying in this bed certainly didn’t think so, and Phil would probably agree with him. He didn’t understand why Eve loved these things so much. They ran around hurting each other and themselves, often in her name, and Eve refused to scrap them and start over because they were “so wonderfully perfect.” Phil, himself, would have gotten rid of them all a very long time ago. Humanity was flawed and moronic and blamed all their issues on Eve. They were her greatest joy but only brought her sorrow. He had almost wiped them all out. Eve had been so upset with how corrupt her creations had become, and Phil was so young and eager to ease his best friend’s pain, so he’d sent the floods to wipe the slate clean. Eve could start over, and make them better.

Phil shivered at the memory. He had never – before, or since – seen Eve so angry.

He left humanity alone after that.

The slice of humanity in front of him began to stir. Phil tried his hardest not to glare at it.

Dan’s first conscious thought was that he could drink an ocean’s worth of water and it still probably wouldn’t restore the moisture in his mouth. His second was that he shouldn’t even be having conscious thoughts. Fuck, He thought. If he was wrong, and there was an afterlife, he was screwed. However, if he was damned for the rest of time, he might as well open his eyes and get on with it. It seemed fitting that hell was an overly white hospital room that smelled strongly of rubbing alcohol. He couldn’t think of anywhere worse to be trapped forever. His eyes, eventually, fell upon the dark figure across the room, taking in everything from his large black wings, to his piercing blue eyes, and all the way down to his scuffed-up combat boots.

If that was what eternal damnation looked like, Dan decided he didn’t mind so much.

Phil stayed quiet as the boy in front of him took in everything. When he decided that the boy had stared at him long enough, Phil pushed away from the wall he was leaning on. “Are you done checking me out?”

Dan felt a slight pink rise to his face. “Sorry.”

There was a beat of awkward silence before the angel cleared his throat. “I’m Phil.”

“Dan,” he stated, quietly.

More silence. Phil hated awkward silence.

“You should, ugh… you should probably call the nurse,” he stuttered, scratching the back of his neck.

“Nurse?” Dan questioned. What did he need a nurse for? Wasn’t he dead already?

Phil raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, of course. You do remember what happened, don’t you?”

Dan furrowed his brow. “I died.”

Phil couldn’t help it; he snorted. “You tried very hard to, but you’re not dead, moron.”

“What do you mean I’m not dead? Then what the fuck are you‽” Dan gestured, wildly.

“Me?” Phil smirked. “I’m your new guardian angel.”