Chapter Text
"One day you're gonna die alone-- cooped up in that little lab of yours," people would tell Multi upon discovering his profession.
And, maybe if he hadn't gotten so hung up on the prospect of his pride and joy being called a 'little lab', he would've heeded the morbid warning.
Now, alas, he found himself gasping for air, staring up at the blinding lights, (T8 LEDs, for their information. How's that for a 'little lab'?) as the happiest moments of his life replayed in his mind.
Maybe it was a bit sad that the only things he had to remember were Nacho, his true pride and joy, and the feeling of nailing a titration on the first attempt. It was a pitiful way to go out— having an allergic reaction after using yourself as a human guinea pig for your newest concoction. 'Would this be ruled a suicide?' he gravely pondered.
'Here Lies Dr. Multi. "Father" to one, friend to none. Oddly defensive over the term 'little lab'. May he rest in embarrassment' is possibly what his tombstone would say— however, he's sure Nacho would make some spelling mistakes while writing it out.
Though, as the playback of his life came to a conclusion, a sudden flash of light, that easily put the far-too expensive bulbs to shame, snapped him out of his daydreaming.
Heaven knows Multi was not a sociable man. He'd pretty much been sealed to an unsociable fate the second he first stepped foot into his lab. Alas, he wished he'd honed in on those talking skills, as it felt quite improper to not greet the angelic beauty clouding his spotty vision.
Unfortunately, the lack of oxygen flowing to his brain was not beneficiary in his attempts to strike up a conversation. He supposed it wasn't uncharacteristic of him to flunder a basic conversation when met with a pretty woman.
"HRRGHH… KHHH…." wasn't a great first impression, it was probably the worst one he could've given, though the redheaded figure, above him didn't seem to mind his odd greeting.
"Of all humans, why did I get assigned to this one?" and, thankfully, her angelic voice and the continuously nonexistent supply of oxygen in Multi's brain, (seriously, can someone help him?) dampened the insulting blow of her complaint.
As the black spots nearly took over his vision, he figures this little life he lived wasn't too bad. He had some regrets— broken bonds he wished to amend. People he wished he had confronted. But overall, he'd give it a solid six point three out of ten—
"I should probably save you now. 'S my job, afterall," she laughed. "Okay, hold on, lemme think," and, miss whoever you are, maybe there isn't much time to think, Multi thunk.
Just as his heart slowed to it's final beats, it felt as if a sudden burst of life shot through the Poles' veins. Energy coursed through his bloodstream, entirely rejuvenating the vitality he'd nearly robbed himself of.
For a moment, he didn't move. Didn't speak, didn't blink, the only sign of life being the rapid rising and falling of his chest. "Did it work? He's breathing, I guess… That wasn't too hard, now was it?" she spoke to no one in particular.
"My first ever save! And to think it's still my first day here. Take that, Don. Told ya' I could do it. Boom."
It seemed she'd forgotten all about the man on the floor, as she floated— sorry, floated?— a victory lap around the lab tables. A sharp coughing from the Pole yanked her head out of the clouds.
"Kurwa," he whispered, slowly sitting up. Multi pinched himself before looking up and realizing, yes, there was an ethereal, floating woman in his laboratory. A quizzical look was stuck to her face. 'Why do you look confused? Shouldn't I be confused?' Multi wondered.
She looked around, checking left and right, up and down for any other strange things the man could be staring at, because surely it couldn't be her. Surely she hadn't forgotten to remain invisible, surely she hadn't already fucked up this badly on her first day as a guardian angel.
"You can see me, can't you?"
"I… uhm, tak." His voice trembled.
She buried her face in her hands, groaning in disappointment. "Good going, Katie! Now this loon knows you're here. Aw, crud."
'Loon'? Okay, that was a new one. "Excuse me," he approached her with a level of calmness he wasn't sure how he attained, "but what are you doing here? Is this some sort of prank? Are you spying on me? Did someone send you here?"
With each question, his tranquility dwindled. The thought of someone having finally cracked the code and broken into his lab, only for him to have been lying on the ground like a fish out of water, was close to giving him a heart attack and killing him all over again.
She eyed his antsy behavior, noting how paranoid and jittery he grew in a matter of seconds. As if she had been expecting this, the angel didn't hesitate to try and put him at ease.
"Woah buddy, calm down," and, somehow, her words felt like a cool Summer's breeze washing over him, immediately easing his growing anxiousness. "I guess the dog's already out of the bucket,"— pardon? "but I'm your newly appointed guardian angel. Surprise!"
Her jazz fingers weren't really helping.
"I'm sorry, what?" Multi sputtered. Somehow, the angelic robes she adorned and gold-tinged halo atop her head wasn't convincing enough, she supposed.
She adjusted the halo, as if fixing its perpetual lopsidedness would further seal the deal. "Your true-red, bonafide guardian angel. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
The handshake she offered was not reciprocated. She bashfully hid her hand behind her back— 'I could've sworn that was a normal human thing to do' she second guessed herself.
Rubbing his eyes, in fact, did not help make anything clearer. "Can you… elaborate more?"
"Well, what more needs explaining? Guardian angel. I'm an angel. I guard you."
"Tak, yes, but…" her statement was self explanatory, yet thousands of things sat unanswered. "Where are you from? Who sent you? And who says I need a guardian angel?"
"How are you real?" he asked mentally, but left out of the Q&A session.
"Aren't you a scientist? I figured you would think more rationally. I guess I can break it down for you, if you're that curious."
He chose to ignore the insult, nodding for her to continue.
"I'm from up there, obviously," she pointed up to the ceiling. "Which, mind you, would've been where you were headed if it weren't for me. You're welcome."
"Ah, thank you."
"Yeah yeah, all in a days work," she replied, nonchalantly. "Anyways, I was sent by 'the man upstairs'," as if that clarified anything, "and… were you serious about that last question? You deal with deadly chemicals on the daily, so who's to say you don't need a guardian angel."
Honestly, many people he knew would wish he didn't have a guardian angel.
The thought of them laughing over his dead body only made him more thankful his life had been saved.
Katie's explanation, answering only one third of his questions, still left much to be asked. "Though, why I got assigned to deal with you is a whole 'nother question. It's my first time on Earth and you just go ahead and die on me? You're lucky I didn't sleep in today— you woulda been toast if I was a minute late."
A beat of silence passed. Was he supposed to thank her again?
Multi was left staring at her, still in disbelief that there was an angel right before his eyes. The angel sassily quirked a brow at him, as if it wasn't insanely abnormal for her to be here.
"Do other people have guardian angels?" he managed to finally croak out another query. 'If so, what did I do to deserve one?' an afterthought.
She sighed, as if it was exasperating to have to answer. "Yeah, there's a few humans being guarded by some other angels nearby. There's lots of us: You've got Don— my brother. Then Ishan is floating around somewhere. But, nope, you're not special." Ok, rude.
All of a sudden, she paused, as if something clicked in her mind. "…you've probably never heard about us though, considering the fact we're kinda maybe supposed to be invisible most of the time. Lemme ask you a question: Would you say you're good at keeping secrets?"
"I would argue so, yes."
She wiped her brow, "phew! Cuz' I did not pay attention to the lesson on memory erasure. So, as long as we keep this on the down low, there shouldn't be a problem!"
Although, her being here kind of was a problem. "I'm just expected to let you hover around me twenty-four seven?" Multi faltered. Having Nacho in the lab was enough of a hassle. He wasn't sure if he could handle another person— err, higher being intervening in his work.
It was a dangerous field, so who knew what feats she'd go to in order to protect him. Her slowing down his progress immediately became a threat. "This lab isn't exactly made for company. Maybe you should guard someone else."
At that, she gasped. "Wooow. You can just say you don't like my company. It's not like I'll get all elbowhurt. It's not like I was assigned to guard you specifically. It's not like I just saved your life a minute ago. Guess I'll just go, then."
She drifted to a door she could only assume was the exit. Upon opening it, she was faced with a closet full of lab equipment. "Guess I'll just go, then" she repeated, opening door after door to find the right one. "Is there a map for this place? Jeeze."
He idly watched the angel roam about the lab, still too shocked to move and stop her. The only noises made were the clattering of test tubes, and hushed "oops!" following them. Even as she caused a ruckus, the way she moved was still, so very oddly, heavenly.
The Pole thought back to the moment— just around ten minutes prior, now— where he felt his soul nearly leave his body. If she hadn't been there to bring life back to him, who knows what would've happened? Nacho would've been left to fend for himself. Someone less angelic could've broken into the lab. An entire chain of dominos would've fallen in the wake of his death.
Who was to predict how many more times an incident like that could go down? He supposed having someone there to guard him from death's sickle wasn't all too bad— if it meant staying alive for his work and his son.
"Seriously, how do I get out of here? You don't have a compass handy, do you?"
Though, he doubted just how well she'd be able to do the job. "No. You can stay, I suppose."
The angel squealed, an irritating, shrill squeal that somehow sounded like church bells to Multi's ears. "Aww, I knew you'd warm up to me! And, if I'm being honest, I wasn't gonna leave anyways. I'd just creepily haunt you for the rest of your life, which is definitely a hundred times worse than this."
Multi sighed. "But, you cant just hover over my shoulder. If I need saving, then you can step in. Otherwise, I'll be fine on my own."
"Aha, yea, that's not gonna work," she argued. "My whole job is to hover around you and make sure you don't do stupid stuff— like pumping allergens into your veins. Tsk tsk."
By now, she'd floated back over to where he stood, craning her neck to look down at him "So, either you face the fact that you'll have a new best friend for life, who will also nobly save your life at any given moment, or you walk around normally, knowing I'm lurking in the shadows."
Both sounded miserable, but one less miserable than the other. He was paranoid enough, always checking behind his shoulder, so having an actual entity to look out for would only worsen things. "'Best friend' is a bit much."
"Okay, fine. Best acquaintance. Ooh, or lab assistant? We can boulder-tree-shears over it," she stuck out a fist, much to his confusion and disdain. "Best out of three?"
"'Guardian angel' works fine," the scientist quipped. She simply shrugged in response, blindly going along with whatever he said. "Whatever floats your kayak. What should I call you, though?"
That was a fair question. Does she need to address him as 'Doctor', although she's clearly of higher status than him? 'Sir' sounded even worse… "Multi. Call me Multi, please."
"Multi, sure. I don't know who would look at their sweet baby boy and choose the name 'Multi', but to each their own."
He scoffed. "I find that an angel being named 'Katie' is stranger."
"If I were to state my true name, your eardrums would explode," and he truly couldn't tell if she were lying or not.
His confusion must've been visible, as she was quick to correct herself. "Kidding, kidding! They wouldn't explode, but the aftermath would be a hassle to manage," and what did that mean? Disregarding her menacing words, Katie now rummaged through the lab with a newfound gusto, this time out of pure curiosity rather than making a dramatic exit.
He couldn't find the energy to command her to "put that down", or "don't touch that", so he simply let her make a mess of his equipment. Cleaning it up and setting ground rules would be an issue for tomorrow.
Multi yawned— wait. He yawned, feeling tired enough to truly sleep, hopefully without the death part, for the first time in weeks. It could possibly be chalked up to the presence of Katie, her and her chaotically soothing nature, but he'd blame it on the adrenaline of nearly meeting his fate earlier.
He checked his watch: 2:52 A.M. It was a shocker than this ruckus hadn't awoken Nacho, who still lay tucked in bed. Maybe resting his dreaded head on a pillow didn't sound all that bad right now.
"Tomorrow," his voice cut through Katie's snooping. She dropped a flask in shock, hiding her hands behind her back. "We will go over some ground rules. But for now, I'd like to get some sleep."
She pumped her fist, "Yes, sleep! Your files said you struggle with that, so I'm shocked you're willing to give it a try. Go and rest that pretty head of yours— I'll be here. Watching. Waiting."
"Don't word it like that," he grimaced.
"But I will! Your sleep apnea is a serious risk, so I'll be there to help if you start 'HRRKKK'ing again in the middle of the night. That's what friends do!"
"Guardian angels. Not friends," he grumbled, retreating to desolation of his room. As he shut the door, he could faintly hear her chid, "not friends yet…", as if she was planning on swaying his mindset.
As he stripped himself clean of his lab coat and exhaustedly flopped into bed, a storm of questions still lingered on his mind, following Multi into his dreams. Why do I trust her? Why does she trust me? How is she qualified to be saving my life?
Why protect me?
Multi wasn't a particularly religious man. His old friend would always wax verses from his texts and scriptures, or invite him to the creaky old church at the top of the hill, but nothing ever called out to him in particular.
There was once a time in his life— a time where his angsty, pubescent self would call him his own 'god', but he'd left that dream amongst the ruins of his first reactor.
So considering that in the last hour, his nonexistant beliefs were not only debunked, but also insanely muddled and distorted by the sight of the angel in his lab, the Pole felt completely lost.
"Stop thinking so hard. Go to sleeeep…" she hissed, though as he scanned the room, he couldn't see where she loomed.
With a sigh, he supposed he should heed her advice, and possibly wake up in a world where this was all a strange dream.