Chapter Text
He didn’t know how long he had been there. One day, he had just opened his eyes and saw a field of whiteness contrasting against the light blue sky. Although seeing such a sky appeared to be normal, the field of white was under his feet and he was standing on it.
He was standing on clouds.
He slowly stepped forward, thinking he was merely on a platform and any further, he would fall. Surprisingly, he did not fear falling. Even with the thought of nothing under him to support his weight, it was as if he knew he could walk on the clouds despite not being able to touch them before.
Before?
Was he able to touch clouds before? Was he that confident he was unable to?
He didn’t know.
He didn’t know many things; this place, his reason for being there. He was lost but he was still calm, something inside him telling him it was alright. The only thing he could recall was his name.
Isagi.
It felt shorter than he expected but he knew that was his name. He didn’t know if anyone else knew his name. If there was anyone else to call him that. As he looked upon the vastness of the clouds, there were no other humanly figures.
Humanly? Was he even human? What was a human?
He could barely recall.
Isagi stepped forward on the clouds, walking for who knew how long. There were no instances of the clouds changing to grey to signal a storm. It remained white the entire time just like how the sky remained blue. He felt like they should have changed at some point but they never did. Everything was the same.
That was until it wasn’t.
He spotted an anomaly in the distance, something that was neither white or blue. In the distance, it sparkled, the light showing the way making it shine enough for Isagi to see. He ran forward as fast as he could, excited to see it though he had no idea why.
Each step he took felt lighter as if reaching home, a sense of comfort engulfing him. It took him a moment to realize that his steps were truly lighter, his bare feet no longer touching the clouds. He looked down and saw that they were floating above it, toes skimming along the faint mist but not getting hit by them. They swirled around as a gust of wind from behind Isagi batted him in steady movements.
Wings.
He didn’t notice them. Just like how he didn’t take note of any abnormalities of his body, wings just seemed like a natural thing. They were small compared to Isagi’s size; made of shining white feathers that stayed on even as they rapidly waved up and down. They were taking him to the anomaly, finally staying still as he glided to it.
Golden gates. They were golden gates. There was no one else around to let him in. Isagi wondered if there was anyone on these clouds so he could get an idea of what was going on. However, even without any guidance, he felt a pull towards the gates and placed his hands on them.
They easily opened up.
Tentatively, he entered. Although at first, it seemed like the same as outside, slowly, his vision began to fill up with other things other than white clouds. There were others there, all of them with dazzling white wings though bigger than his. Some even had more than two on their back. They were all busy, hustling about, dressed in outfits that made him feel underdressed as he only wore a simple white shirt and pants with no shoes. He felt himself cower a little, embarrassed at his state of dress, wanting to hide somewhere.
But then someone spotted him.
Isagi froze when their eyes met, bright yellow eyes peering at him curiously. He had the face of a young man with dark brown hair with flecks of yellow in them. His eyes looked up and down Isagi as if analyzing him.
Then he smiled.
“Welcome!” He greeted in a friendly tone, immediately floating over to Isagi. “You must be new here! Isagi, right? We’ve been expecting you! Don’t worry, let me help you out! First thing’s first, we have to take you to our Almighty Lord.”
The young man grabbed Isagi’s wrist and dragged him away, his wings more powerful than his making them go faster. They zipped through the throngs of others, not skipping a beat yet still able to avoid them perfectly. With how Isagi’s legs were just hanging, he thought he would’ve kicked someone by accident at this speed.
“W-Wait!” Isagi called out to the young man. “What’s going on?”
“Ah, my bad!” The angel turned to look back at him with a wink and his tongue sticking out of his smile. “I’m Bachira! Nice to meet you!”
“N-Nice to meet you too?” Isagi replied though his question was not answered at all.
Eventually, they stopped in front of a building. Pearly white walls, taller than all of them as if trying to go beyond the sky. It was strange that this was the only thing that stood out within the gates as even as they passed by other angels, there were no buildings.
“We gotta get you registered, show you around, have you start training as soon as possible…” Bachira rambled as he stuck out a finger for each new item he listed off. He then sighed dramatically. “Man, new angels have a lot of work to do. I don’t miss those days but once you get used to things, it’s all really simple! Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll become a guardian angel!”
“I’m sorry, an angel? Guardian angel?” Isagi asked in confusion. It made sense why they had wings because this is what angels were supposed to look like. If that was the case, that would mean…
Bachira snickered and extended his arms out. His grin was wide as he spoke, voice jovial, completely ignorant of Isagi’s questioning gaze.
“That’s right! Welcome to Heaven, Isagi! Let’s work hard together as fellow angels, alright?”
200 years later
He stared at his reflection in the mirror, adjusting his black tie though he knew it was perfect already. His new outfit was created with him in mind and was immaculate. He never thought he would get this far, even admitting to himself he looked somewhat good in the pristine white, gold, and black of this uniform.
Isagi would never let anyone down, especially the Almighty Lord. He was finally, finally a guardian angel and was given his first assignment. He had been training for this day for so long and finally felt like he had some sort of purpose here in Heaven!
He exhaled, trying to calm himself down. With a wave of his hand, the mirror disappeared, transforming back into white mist and disappearing into the clouds. He floated towards the golden gates out of Heaven, spotting a tall figure he instantly recognized.
“The Almighty Lord Noa,” Isagi greeted with a bow. “What do I owe this honour?”
“Just a check that has to be done before all new guardian angels are sent down.” Noa replied, his impassive face not changing a bit. “Are you prepared?”
“Yes, sir! I’ve memorized the guidelines and watched all the training memories extensively!”
“Good.” Noa nodded in approval. “Remember, as a guardian angel, you are meant to guide your human to Heaven. Make sure they do not cause trouble and assist them. However, you cannot use your powers to interfere with the natural course of the human world. Guardian angels are there to guide.”
“I understand.” Isagi replied. He knew what he had to do. He had waited so long to finally be useful and he wasn’t going to mess up!
Once he left the golden gates, he felt his body tingling. When he opened his eyes once more, he saw that he was in a room quite different from what he was used to. The only room he had been in was within the Divine Tower, and it was large and wide, bright and clean.
This was a much smaller room, filled with items he had only seen in the training memories; they ranged from small items like photos and posters that adorned the walls to larger ones like a dresser, a desk, a chair, a bedside table and a bed. And in that bed, laid his human, fast asleep.
Itoshi Rin.
That was the name of his assignment. He was a student, aged sixteen, and was known to have a harsh tongue and bad attitude. With Isagi’s more positive personality, he hoped that he could be a good influence on him and help him on his way to Heaven!
Except, he was sleeping, so introductions had to be done later. Isagi floated above him, looking at his peaceful face.
He had seen an image of what he looked like when he was awake and his face matched his attitude, according to what he knew: long face, sharp jaw, narrowed eyes and an everlasting frown. However, looking closer at the sleeping figure, he made note of how long his eyelashes were, brushing against his pale skin in a lovely contrast. His hair was also dark, bangs long and covering part of his face.
In the image he had received for this Itoshi Rin showed that his hair was also like that when he was awake, covering up most of his right eye. It was such a shame too, considering how beautiful his eyes were. They were not quite blue like the sky and not as deep as Isagi’s. Light, clean, and so interesting. Around Heaven, he was sure he hadn’t met anyone else with that colour!
Maybe he could encourage Itoshi Rin to cut his bangs so people would be able to see his eyes better and take note of how lovely they truly were.
Isagi reached out for his hair and tried to tuck it away but it fell back into place, stubbornly staying there. He nearly laughed but covered his mouth.
Humans needed sleep unlike angels! If Itoshi Rin was to wake up because he heard Isagi, he was already doing a poor job as his guardian angel! He had to be patient and wait for him to wake up. Once he did, then they could finally introduce themselves.
He wondered what kind of relationship he and Itoshi Rin would have. He had seen training memories from other guardian angels and they all had amicable relationships with their assignments, filled with laughter and cheer. Although Itoshi Rin didn’t look like the type, perhaps it was up to Isagi to make him smile and laugh. He was sure that would be considered a success if he did that.
Buzzing with excitement, he waited, floating with his legs crossed. He imagined what kind of reaction Itoshi Rin would have when they finally spoke. Would he be in awe? Guardian angels could only be seen at certain points in human’s lives after all. Would he be amazed to see his wings? Humans didn’t have wings unless they were fake and even so, they weren’t as pretty as angel wings. It was so entertaining to think about that the night had passed and the alarm clock on his bedside table began to ring.
Itoshi Rin groaned, signalling his ascent to the new day. Isagi waited eagerly, a large smile on his face as he saw him move to turn off the clock. The human slowly sat up, running a hand through his hair before turning to where Isagi was.
And stared.
“Good morning, Itoshi Rin!” Isagi greeted cheerfully, already having his spiel ready to go. “I’m Isagi, your guardian an—”
“What the fuck?!”
That was unexpected.
Isagi blinked, mouth partially opened as he was in the middle of his speech before Itoshi Rin rudely interrupted. He could see his beautiful eyes now glaring at him as if he did something wrong when he barely even said anything!
“Who the fuck are you?!” Itoshi Rin growled, grabbing his pillow. “Get the fuck out, you burglar!”
“Burglar?!” Isagi’s jaw dropped in shock. Weren’t burglars bad people who steal things from other’s homes? And Itoshi Rin was calling him one? “I’m not a burglar! I’m your guardian an—”
“You better get the fuck out of here before the cops get here!” Itoshi Rin yelled, throwing his pillow towards Isagi. It went right through him dropping to the floor, making Itoshi Rin’s face drop. “What the fuck are you?! A ghost?! No, ghosts aren’t fucking real!”
Itoshi Rin promptly grabbed the lamp on his bedside table, ripping the cord from the socket, and threw it at Isagi, only for it to fall to the ground. He then grabbed his clock and threw it with the same result but part of it broke off.
“What the hell?!” Itoshi Rin slowly backed away on his bed, his glare weakening with dread. “You can’t actually be a gh—”
But he was promptly cut off when he fell backwards off his bed, a large THUMP could be heard, and suddenly, there was silence in the room.
Isagi waited for Itoshi Rin to say something but he didn’t. There was no sound of movement either so he floated over the bed to look down and saw that he was unconscious.
Wait…unconscious?!
“No, no, no!” Isagi said as he shook his head. He looked around as if Noa was there to watch him. “This can’t be…”
He had hardly even gotten through his introduction, which he had painstakingly thought of for weeks to make it perfect. It wasn’t even his first full day on the job and yet, this happened?!
He just killed his human!