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‘Why am I hearing people passing by? Why are they so loud? Why am I on something so hard? My mattress isn’t usually as bad, is it? And why is it so cold? I thought I had my two blankets on.’
Those were the first questions that came through her mind as Alex woke up. She was just as sleepy as usual, and wasn’t fully aware of what was going on yet around her. All she wanted was to turn around in her bed, pull the blankets up more and go back to sleep.
But, as she noticed that the mattress was much harder than usual, and that she couldn’t find her blankets, she decided to look at what was happening.
When she actually opened her eyes, she almost choked in shock, as she found herself, laying on the hard ground, in a dark alley.
She was immediately awake, sitting up so fast she almost fainted. She looked around herself, noticing that the place was looking very different from anything she’d ever seen.
She seemed to be in the middle of a big city, the building looking very tall and the lights and sky looking different from what she was used to.
As she was starting to panic, feeling her heartbeat getting faster and faster, she noticed that her outfit, and her hair, were very different from what she was used to. Looking at herself, she noticed that she was wearing a hoodie, with a black t-shirt, with a crossed out non-binary, red, sign. She was wearing green shorts, and black and blue shoes. But, what was the strangest, was her hair. It seemed her hair was now blue, a color that she loved, and always wanted to get her hair colored with, but she hadn’t done it until now, not while she was searching for a stable job.
She was so confused, looking around in a panic for her phone, trying to find a way to figure out where she was, and what she really looked like. After searching around for a bit, she finally found it.
She took it out shakily, drawing the security shape to open it, and went to look up where she was on her map, but, as she opened the app, she noticed that she didn’t have service. She tried opening her other apps, trying with the messages, thinking quickly about contacting her family to ask for help, but, as she opened her mother’s contact, she noticed that she didn’t have access to the bar where she would usually type, the keyboard refusing to show up as well. She tried other contacts, but they would all be the same.
Then, as she was freaking out more and more, she received a notification. It was a notification from the social messaging platform she always used to talk with her friends and girlfriend. Feeling a wave of hope, she quickly tapped on it, opening the application.
Sadly, her hope didn’t last long.
As soon as she opened it, she immediately noticed that she wasn’t logged onto her own account, instead she seemed to be connected onto a strange account. It looked like she had access to all the servers she was usually in, but her name wasn’t her usual pseudo, instead it was blank, her profile picture an empty, black circle, and she wasn’t marked as visible, not even as invisible, there was just nothing to make her be seen or not that she could use.
Trying to keep herself from having a full-blown panic attack, she went into one of the servers she was in, with her international friends, to look at what they were talking about, and maybe try to express her panic to them, to vent it out.
But, as she did that, she received another notification from her IRL friends’ server. She barely had the time to read it, just enough to feel her blood run cold.
“I can’t believe she’s dead”
The words were printed onto her eyes, even with the small-time she had to see it. She tapped the server’s icon, to check out what was going on.
Of course, she regretted it immediately.
In this one, she could see her friends, her dear friends, crying over a death in their group.
HER death.
Panicking, she tried to send a message there, desperate to tell them that she was still there, that she was lost and needed their help, that she wasn’t gone. Still, just like her messages to her contacts, she couldn’t access the writing bar.
As she watched their messages continue to roll in front of her, without being able to do anything, and receiving more notification for the server she was originally going to check, everyone was talking about her, about her death.
Her friends were trying to comfort each other, some of them talking about ending their lives, as they’d always been unstable, and she always had been there to try to keep them from doing anything stupid, until now.
She felt so broken, so powerless. She couldn’t do anything, couldn’t help them, couldn’t reassure them. She was lost, everyone thought she was dead, and watching as her friends were too broken to really do anything more than talk about the horrible thoughts that went through their sad mind.
She couldn’t breathe anymore.
She was feeling herself losing it again, another panic attack, although it was stronger than ever, the panic of the situation, and the worry for her friends, and her family, the last straws to break her last grip to reality.
Letting her phone fall to the ground in front of her, she instinctively drew her knees to her chest, hugging them close, so tight that it was as if she was trying to get them to melt into it. She lost herself to her crying, forgetting to try to calm herself down in her own heartbroken fit.
Then, as she was lost in her own attack, a voice, followed by a hand on her shoulder, startled her.
She jumped in fear, falling to the ground, as she looked up at who was there, almost choking as her breath caught in her throat, as she was already struggling to breathe.
“Woah! Calm down, it’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.” Someone said to her, backing away from her to show that they didn’t mean any harm.
She stared at the blue haired man in front of her for a moment, then at the strange one winged angel behind him, her mind too far gone to really realize what was happening.
She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t stop crying and panicking. Her eyes didn’t take long to return to her phone, still laying on the ground, the texts of her friends mourning her death still scrolling by.
As she continued to freak out, she didn’t notice the quiet exchange happening between the men, one elbowing the other to push him to act before it got too bad.
She jumped again as the blue haired person was suddenly closer to her again, his hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to focus on him. She didn’t back away this time, too far gone to even think about doing it, despite the present fear.
Then, she was pulled against him, into his arms. She tried to struggle weakly, at first, but quickly let herself be held as she realized that he was just trying to help her. She could feel, now, the hand rubbing her back, and whispering reassuring words to her.
Soon, as she was finally able to understand what was going on, and trying to get herself to calm down, the angel joined them, kneeling next to them. He put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it gently, trying to be reassuring as well, although it seemed more awkward than the other man.
It took a long time, way longer than she was used to, for her to finally regain a bit of composure, awkwardly pulling away from the embrace of the blue haired person, to wipe at her eyes with one hand, as the other went to rest on her chest, as she often did when she had an attack.
“I’m sorry.” She apologized quietly to the two men, when she felt she could talk again.
“It’s okay.” The blue haired guy said, with a smile, before frowning at her. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” She lied, not liking the idea of worrying such a nice stranger, and a little scared of them, still. “I’m okay.”
“You don’t look anything near okay, to me.” The one winged angel noted, crossing his arms and rising an eyebrow are her.
“Can you tell us what happened to make you panic so much?” The other asked carefully. “It’s alright if you don’t want to, though.”
“I-” She almost choked. She knew that they were just strangers, and her anxiety was telling her to be careful, but, somehow, she felt, in her heart, that she should trust them, and tell them the truth. “I’m just… Lost.” She settled for, although she knew it was pretty obvious that there was much more to it than just that.
“And?” The angel tried to push.
Of course, now that the attack was over, and that she could have a better look at the both of them, she couldn’t help but realize what she was facing.
An angel.
“WAIT? WHAT THE HELL??? How is this possible?” She thought to herself. “I thought angels didn’t exist! I thought they were just…”
“What’s wrong?” The angel asked. “You’re staring at me.” He pointed.
“Oh! Is it because you’re an angel?” The other man asked him.
“Why would that be that weird?” The angel huffed, getting a little red. “It’s not like there aren't other types of supernaturals running around without hiding themselves.” He shrugged.
“Supernatural?!!” She exclaimed in confusion. “What do you mean?”
The two men looked at each other. It was their turn to look confused.
“Demons, cat people, giant and fast hedgehogs, fruit people…” The blue haired guy listed. “Have you never met anyone like that before? They’re pretty common everywhere.” He explained, still confused at the idea that she’d never seen any of them.
“Ho- Wha-” She was completely lost now. “How? How is that possible?”
“Something is off…” The angel muttered, trying to get the other’s attention. “Michael, I feel that her aura is different from this world.”
“Huh? What do you mean, Armaros?” Michael asked, not really sure what he meant by that.
“Hey? Where are you from?” The angel asked Alex, ignoring Michael’s confusion.
She hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between the two men, before deciding to tell them the name of her town, and the region. Of course, they didn’t know of it, so Michael tried to search for it online, only to find that there was no such place.
“How…” Alex looked at his phone’s result in disbelief, fear and panic already rising back up in her chest. She stepped back, under shock, and looked at her own phone, still on the ground. “Am I… Really dead?” she mumbled, her eyes starting to well up at the thought.
“You don’t look dead to me.” Michael pointed out, unsure what she meant. “And, believe me, I know what dead people and ghosts look like.”
She gave him a concerned look, before picking up her phone from the ground, trying to calm herself, to not start another panic attack. She scrolled back through the messages again, trying to stop her heart from trying to break free from her body.
“That has to be a prank… That has to be. There has to be a clue to what’s happening.” She told herself, trying to think of any rational ways to explain what was going on.
“What the-” She let out, as she finally found something, too focused on her search to even see that the boys had been talking to each other quite seriously.
“What?” Armaros asked, approaching her. “What did you find?”
She didn’t answer him, leaving the boys to look at each other, before coming around her, being careful not to scare her again, to look over her shoulder, as what she was seeing.
“That’s…” Michael didn’t know what to say either, as he read the same things as her.
“It’s impossible…” She mumbled, her hands shaking more than usual again, tears filling up her eyes. “It can’t be…”
“That explains it.” Armaros seemed unsurprised by what he was seeing, however.
“What does it explain?” Michael asked, knowing, this time, what the angel was probably about to say, but wanting to confirm it, and let her hear it.
“I was right about her aura, she’s not from this world, or wasn’t until now.” Armaros started, gaining Alex’s attention. “When you died, you were reborn into our world, which is why you’re not used to seeing supernaturals like me.”
“I- I’m really-” She started hyperventilating again. “I’m-”
Michael caught her as her knees buckled, the shock making her body give up under her, and carefully pulled her into a comforting hug, as he noticed her starting to freak out again, looking up at Armaros with worry while she cried, and shook, against him.
“What do we do?” He whispered to the angel, looking very concerned about the girl. “We can’t leave her like that.”
“It’ll be hard to come to terms with her own death.” Armaros noted with a sigh. “We should take her home. She shouldn’t be alone until she’s feeling better.”
Michael nodded to that, rocking her slightly to help her relax, as the angel reached out to rub her back as well softly.
It took a long moment, but, when she was finally calmer again, they offered her to stay at Michael’s apartment for the night, until they figured out what to do next, as it was already getting late in the night.
“Okay.” She nodded absently, too tired after the panic attacks to really process much anymore.
She didn’t notice, again, as Armaros and Michael exchanged a quick glance, noticing how out of it she was, silently agreeing on something.
“I’ll carry you, okay?” Michael announced, waiting for her to nod before letting Armaros help her onto his back.
“Let’s go.” Michael said to Armaros, once he was ready.
The way home wasn’t too long, thankfully, and was very calm, both of the men keeping an eye on her as she looked ahead distantly.
Once there, Michael sat Alex onto the couch, quietly shooing the ghosts that were already gathering around her. He sent Armaros to get a blanket and a pillow for her, as well as making her a hot drink.
“How are you feeling?” Michael asked her, watching as she looked around herself.
“I’m okay.” She replied distantly, still trying to pretend she was fine despite everything.
“No, you’re still not.” Armaros sighed as he came back with a cup of hot chocolate that he handed to her.
“You don’t have to lie to us. We’re here to help you, okay?” Michael explained.
“I don’t know you.” She noted blankly.
“Fair enough.” Armaros chuckled, as Michael made a face.
“Stop laughing.” Michael hissed at the angel, making him laugh harder as this one blushed with embarrassment. “Anyway, I’m sorry about that. My name’s Michael, and this angel freak is Armaros. We just want to help you.”
“Cute.” She let out, watching them both, as they blushed. “Why, though?”
“Why what?” Armaros asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Why do you want to help a random, freaky, mentally unstable person you just found in the street?” She listed out, frowning at them.
“I think all those things you listed are a good enough reason to want to help.” Michael pointed out. “Besides, I’m not going to let someone, in distress, alone, outside, with nowhere to go.”
“But, I-” She was about to argue when Armaros cut her off.
“Don’t even try. This guy is helping ghosts, and his own killer, there’s no way he wouldn’t help someone as normal as you.” Armaros huffed.
“I wouldn’t say normal.” She corrected.
“Well, maybe not to your standards, but, in Michael’s case, you’re probably the most normal person he’s helped so far.” Armaros teased.
“You can talk, you’re an angel that killed a human.” Michael spat out bitterly, although he sighed after that, giving an apologetic look to the angel.
“You what?” Alex almost dropped her cup.
“Urg. Yeah, well, I would have killed a demon if you hadn’t protected her.” Armaros corrected, blushing with embarrassment. “And, I would still be an angel as well.”
“It was my brother’s girlfriend!” Michael argued. “And you shouldn’t have been trying to kill random demons anyway.”
“We already talked about all this.” Armaros, for the first time, was the one putting a stop to the usual argument. “We’re going to scare her.” He pointed out at the poor Alex, who was looking between them with worried eyes.
“What was that about? What did you do to each other?” Alex asked in confusion.
“Long story short, I tried to kill a demon girl, turned out to be Michael’s little brother’s girlfriend, and Michael got in front of her and took the bullet in the heart for her.” Armaros summarized it.
“He tried to kill me a second time, too. He shot me but missed any vital spot, like an idiot, so I fought him off.” Michael continued.
“This dumbass, somehow, managed to get me back to my senses.” Armaros huffed, blushing a little. “And he helped me when I had a fever in the streets.”
“And, it turns out that this guy followed my advice to go back home, but they decided to make him my guardian angel, so he could learn from me.” Michael said, not without showing some pride at the mention of the angel having to learn from him.
“Wow. Wait, but you said you died? How are you still alive then?” She pointed out, baffled by the story, but looking very interested in it.
“Oh. Well, Girlfriend’s father, my brother’s girlfriend’s father, brought me back to life, for some reason.” Michael shrugged.
“That’s pretty cool.” She hummed. “Must be traumatizing, though.”
“You have no idea.” Michael gave a bitter chuckle.
“I’m starting to get an idea.” She mentioned quietly, a bitter note under it. “So, basically, Michael is an undead, of sort, that helps ghosts, and Armaros is an angel that killed a human instead of a demon and was saved by said human, and became his guardian angel?”
“That’s pretty much it, yeah.” Michael nodded.
“I’m not an angel anymore, though.” Armaros corrected.
“Hm? What are you then?” Alex asked, confused as she looked at the one winged angel.
“I’m a fallen angel.” He stated.
“Close enough.” She huffed.
“Still, not the same.” He scolded quietly.
“This asshole’s pretty annoying with names.” Michael huffed, pointing at him teasingly.
“I’m not worthy of the name of angel anymore. You have to call a fallen angel what he is.” Armaros stated coldly, something sad in his voice.
“I still sense that you’re more of an angel.” Alex said out of the blue.
“He does, still, have the heart of an angel, even if he’s often acting like an asshole.” Michael hummed in agreement, happy that she was agreeing with him on that.
“First off, fuck you, Michael. Secondly, it doesn’t matter what my heart is like to you, what matters is that I have committed a crime, and I can never be an angel again.” Armaros explained, with a serious, yet, defeated, expression.
“There’s more to a person than their crime, or their race.” Alex noted. “I believe that a crime can be forgiven, if the person in question is aware of what they’ve done, and does everything in their power to show that they have changed, and will not do it again.”
“I agree with that, and I already forgave you.” Michael pointed out. “Come on, man. Don’t put yourself down so much.”
“You’re the one to talk…” Armaros muttered, not really knowing what to say.
“I’m surprised at how deep that was from you, though.” Michael noted, looking back at Alex.
“I used to be a wise person among my friends.” She mumbled a little sadly. “I was a good psychologist too.” She chuckled, tears building back up despite how much she wanted to keep them down inside. “I hope they won’t do anything stupid…”
Michael and Armaros glanced at each other, the blue haired guy mentally slapping himself in the face for bringing back a sensitive subject into her mind.
Then, Michael’s cat decided to show himself, jumping onto the cough and coming to rub his cute little fluffy head against Alex’s arm.
As if a switch had been turned, her expression changed immediately. She gave a soft smile, as she started to pet the cat, absolutely lost in this one, as if she forgot everything else.
“I was wondering when he was going to show up.” Armaros mused as he studied her reaction.
“He always appears when he’s needed.” Michael smiled, happy to see her relaxing more.
“I think it’s a good time to go to sleep, now.” Armaros noted, looking at the clock. “We should probably try to figure things out tomorrow.”
“We could take her to my brothers, and see if they can help her out.” Michael offered thoughtfully.
“Not sure how much it would change, but we could try it. More brains are better than three.” Armaros agreed.
“We need to go get Eden back anyway.” Michael pointed out with a smile.
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t forget about our little angel~” Armaros hummed as he smiled as well.
With that, Michael and Armaros decided that it was time to sleep. They helped Alex get more comfortable on the couch, before leaving for the bedroom. Michael told her to come wake them up if she needed them, or if she was upset, or for any reason, before they left her, alone in the living room, with the cat still by her side.
As she was left alone, Alex instinctively tried to reach for her phone, as she often did before bed, to go look at some cute art from her favorite artists, or about her favorite games and shows, and to say goodnight to her girlfriend, but she couldn’t find it. After a moment of a quick panic, she remembered that Armaros had picked it up earlier, and had warned her that he would keep it, so that she wouldn’t get upset again watching the chats of her friends.
She sighed, letting herself fall back onto the couch. She knew she shouldn’t think about it too much, not after freaking out so much before, but she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened.
“To think I died of a panic attack in my sleep…” She mumbled to herself as tears filled her eyes again. “Guess that one time after getting sick from the vaccine was a sign after all…” She rested her right arm above her eyes, covering them.
As she cried silently, thinking back about her past life, and about all her friends and their reactions to her death, worry about them getting stronger and stronger, and about how her girlfriend had taken the news and was handling it, as they were so close and she was very fragile, she was startled when she felt a soft fur against her other hand.
Quickly remembering that the cat was still with her, she tried to relax, wiping at her tears while the cat continued to rub his head against her side, trying to comfort her.
“I wish I had someone like you back when I was alive…” She gave a sad, wet, smile, as she started to pet the cat again. “You’re such a cute one.”
“You’re such a dumbass.” She was startled again as she heard voices from the other room.
“And you’re a freak.” Michael replied. “Now, stop complaining and sleep.”
“I wonder what they’re arguing about.” Alex wondered to the cat. “They seem pretty close despite what happened between them. That’s kinda cute.” She chuckled to herself. “Tough love is like that, I guess.” She smiled to herself, somehow feeling more relaxed. “I’m probably the reason for it, probably bothering them.” She sighed. “I guess, I should sleep, so that I won’t be any more trouble to them ‘til tomorrow, huh?” She asked the cat, who just meowed in response. “Will you stay by me until I fall asleep?” She asked him, watching as he got up from where he was sitting, being pet, to move closer to her, getting more comfortable against her side, and settling to sleep. “I guess that’s a yes.” Alex smiled tiredly at him.
The truth was, even with everything that had happened, and with how bad she was feeling about the whole affair, and despite her usual insomnia, she was exhausted, and felt like she could sleep for days. It wasn’t that surprising, considering that she had two panic attacks, back to back, and had been through a lot of emotions. Anyone would feel exhausted from all that.
She tried to ignore her intrusive thoughts, and all the thoughts about her friends, girlfriend and family, as she tried to close her eyes, keeping a hand on the cat’s back, to try and get some comfort, and trying to relax, as she didn’t have her usual perfect plushy to comfort her and help her sleep.
Thankfully, sleep, for once, arrived soon.
As she slept, she dreamed about her family. Her mother was there, crying over her grave, heartbroken, as her dad and brothers stayed by her side, sad and awkward. Alex wanted to tell them that she was still here, wanted to make them look at her, standing in front of them, but no one could see her. As she looked down at herself she could see that her hands and body were transparent.
She couldn’t hold her tears as she watched the scene, looking back at her own grave. Then, she found herself somewhere else entirely. She was next to her girlfriend. This one seemed very sick. She was laying in bed, looking very pale and distressed as she was curled up on herself, her plushy, the one that Alex had offered to her when they’d finally met after a couple of years being together in a long distance relationship despite living in the neighboring country, pressed to her chest tightly.
She still had plenty of gifts from her laying around near her bed, close enough that she could look at it as she laid down. She was even still wearing the ring that Alex had offered to her as a surprise to ask for her hand, as a sign of them being together but knowing they could never marry because of their difference of language and countries.
She seemed to be letting herself die as she looked like she hadn’t been eating a lot and she’d discarded all her drawing tablettes and sketchbooks.
Alex was heartbroken at the scene, how could her lover, her strong girlfriend, heck, her fiancé at this point, although they never said anything to anyone, seemed so destroyed, so sick, so heartbroken, it was horrible to bear witness of it.
Alex couldn’t stop crying, she felt horrible. How could she, after overcoming so many obstacles, after fighting for so long to survive, how could she die so easily?
Sure, she had always wished it would happen, but her life was finally turning around, and she had so many people caring about her, how could she die now?
She collapsed to the ground crying her heart out.
Suddenly, she woke up, feeling something against her and something wet repeatedly touching her arm.
When she opened her arms, she realized that everything she’d just seen was just a dream, and that she’d been crying in her sleep, then she realized that Michael’s cat was licking her, trying to get her attention.
She looked at the cat and petted his head gently, smiling sadly at him.
“You’re telling me not to cry, aren’t you.” She sighed as she rubbed her eyes with her free arm, wiping her tears away. “I wish I wouldn’t, but I can’t help it…”
The cat rubbed his head against her again.
“I should just forget the dream and try to sleep again…” She sighed again before closing her eyes again, hugging the cat gently for comfort, feeling him settling down in her arms.
The next day, she was surprised to be woken up by a gentle hand shaking her shoulder carefully. She opened her eyes sleepily, being met with a soft smile. It took her a second to remember who was in front of her. It was Michael, gently waking her up.
“Good Morning.” He greeted quietly, giving her the time to wake up a little better and sit on the couch. “How did you sleep?”
“Morning.” She yawned, too sleepy, still, to care about her manners. “Surprisingly well.” She said, and it wasn’t a full lie, she did sleep much better than usually, even better after her nightmare surprisingly.
“What do you mean?” Michael asked, a note of curiosity and concern in his voice. “Do you not usually sleep well?”
“Nah, I have horrible insomnia, on most nights, and then I can't wake up before 12 hours of sleep.” She explained with a shrug. “Nothing I’m not used to.” She tried to reassure when she noticed Michael’s concern.
“At least, it’s good that you were able to sleep well.” Armaros chimed in, as he entered the room, a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. “I don’t think we asked you your name yesterday.” He mentioned as he handed her the cup.
“Oh, right. Sorry about yesterday.” She quickly apologized, just remembering everything. “Sorry for all the trouble. My name is Alex.”
“It’s alright. You seem to be feeling better today.” Armaros noted as he sat down, in front of her, with Michael on the floor.
“Yeah.” Alex nodded, that too, wasn’t a full lie, she did feel better than before after sleeping more, although she was still feeling bad about her dream. “I’m really sorry about yesterday. I can imagine how much of a mess I must have been.” She apologized again, embarrassed.
“You don’t have to apologize for that.” Armaros pointed, a little scolding. “It’s a normal way to react to your situation.”
“Armaros is right. It’s not like we could have expected you to react any other way.” Michael nodded along.
“I guess so…” Alex sighed. “A- Anyway.” She tried to change the subject. “You asked me how I slept, but I didn’t ask you how you did.” She looked back at the two boys.
“We slept fine.” Armaros said shortly, looking slightly flustered.
“Speak for yourself.” Michael started laughing, a little flustered as well. “You kept moving around in bed and once you were asleep, and then you started to cling to me. I couldn’t even move after that.” He teased.
“Shut up.” Armaros’ face turned a deeper shade of red. “It’s not my fault and you know it.”
“So that’s why you were arguing last night.” Alex laughed. “I was worried it was something more serious.” She smirked before adding. “You really are a cute couple, you know?”
“WHAT??” Both boys exclaimed, as their faces turned into red tomatoes. Sure it was true that they were a sort of couple, but they didn’t think it showed that much.
“Come on. You argue like an old couple.” She kept the teasing, laughing harder, and happier. “You should just kiss.” She smirked again, before bursting out laughing when both boys' faces turned even darker, and more embarrassed. “Oh? You did?”
“A- Shut up!” Armaros exclaimed, turning his head away like a pouting child.
“How…” Michael was at a loss for words.
How could she guess it so fast? He wasn’t even sure if his siblings knew about it since they barely ever showed much of this kind of affection toward each other when around other people.
“You’re both so cute together.” She cried, still laughing.
“I- We- Wait, are you alright?” Michael quickly realized that she’d started crying, more than laughing.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.” She tried to wipe at her tears, still smiling despite how much she was now crying. “I just- I didn’t think I could be this happy.”
“Huh?” Armaros looked at her, and at Michael, both of them confused. “What do you mean?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.” She quickly waved off, her tears slowing down as she beamed at them, a warmer smile than she’d ever given anyone in so long. “I’m just glad that you’re both so close together. You’re a cute couple.”
“Stop saying that.” Armaros snapped, so embarrassed that she started laughing again at his outburst.
Michael examined her for a moment, still embarrassed, but looking more concerned about what she’d mentioned. Then, he sighed.
“We should probably get going. They’re going to be waiting for us.” He said.
“Oh, right. You mentioned your family, right?” Alex asked, remembering what they’d told each other the previous day. “Do you think they can really help? I mean, it’s not like I can go back to my world. I should probably just go out and live a new life, I guess.” She mumbled, feeling her anxiety rising up at the idea of being alone, in a new world, trying to start a new life without any clue as to how to do it.
“It’s true, you can’t go back to your world.” Armaros nodded, calming down a little now that the subject had been changed. “But we can’t leave you like that, when you’ve literally just arrived in this world.”
“Yeah, we can’t leave you to start a new life like that, all alone.” Michael agreed.
“I guess so. I’m lucky that you both found me…” She mumbled to herself, a soft, yet sad, smile on her lips, now. “People aren’t usually this kind.”
“You can thank the ghosts for that.” Michael joked. “They were worried when they found you and came to get us.” He explained when she gave him a confused glance.
“Oh, right. You did mention that you can see ghosts. Sorry, it’s still a bit new to me. I didn’t believe in ghosts much before, no matter how much I wanted to.” She smiled fondly at her memories of her watching ghost hunting shows, and debunking them and making fun of them while she was alone. “It makes sense that they would exist here, if even angels and demons exist.” She noted to herself. “It’s going to be more interesting than that pathetic life of mine back there.” She whispered to herself, ignoring the concerned glances, that the boys were exchanging.
After that, they all prepared themselves and went out, walking in the direction of Michael’s family house, where his siblings were supposedly waiting for them.
As they walked, Alex trailed behind a little, distracted as she looked around, taking in the design of the new world she had found herself in. When she looked back at the two men, walking a little ahead of her, she noticed their hands.
“You really are a cute couple.” She teased again, as she walked quickly up to them, laughing when they both blushed darkly again. “I still can’t believe that you have to hide your wing during the day, though.” She mentioned, more seriously, to Armaros. “I thought you said supernaturals are common around here.”
“They are, but I’m a fallen angel, it’s not like I want people to see that. And there’s people that would be dangerous if they knew…” Armaros mumbled, the scar on his wing hurting at the bad memories..
“I don’t like that he does that, either.” Michael frowned. “But, he frees his wing at night, when people are back home. So, that’s that, at least.” He sighed before mumbling. “And it’s safer that way…”
“Doesn’t it hurt?” Alex asked, curious not having heard or realized what they were mumbling.
“Not really.” Armaros said distantly.
With that, they continued to walk silently. Michael’s family house was a good hour away from his apartment, giving plenty of time for Alex to look around and see what the world she was now part of was like.
It wasn’t that different to her old world than she first thought, the tall buildings being mostly in the center of the city as the farther they went the more cosy houses appeared instead of the buildings. The real difference was the types of people they would see. Like Michael had said there were so many different kinds of species here, animal people, demons, robots, even a bomb guy.
After more than an hour of walking, as they had to take a break as Alex wasn’t used to walking a lot, they finally arrived at the place.
Michael didn’t bother knocking at the door before entering the house, being greeted by the sound of his brothers rap battling.
Alex and Armaros followed him inside, trailing a little behind, as he made his way to the living room, where his siblings were.
Bf and OB were both rap battling against each other, while Khole looked on, looking at them in awe, holding a little baby angel in her arms, one that seemed very happy with the music going on.
“Already rap battling?” Michael huffed, as they finished their song, making his presence known to his siblings. “What? Were you that bored of waiting for us?”
“Big Brother!” Khole beamed, hurrying over to hug her twin, while being careful of the child in her arms. “It’s been so long!”
“It’s been, like, two weeks.” BB laughed, as he hugged her back. “And it could have been less if you were there when we dropped Eden off.” He teased, ruffling the baby’s hair.
“Da~!” The little angel seemed very happy to see him, already moving around in her arms and reaching out for Michael to take her in his arms.
“Hey sweetie~” Michael beamed at the child as he took her in his arms, kissing her head and cuddling her close.
“Finally decided to come home?” Older Bro teased. “I see you took the angel freak with you, too.”
“Hello, Armaros.” Khole greeted happily as she let go of her brother. “Oh, and who’s that with you?” She asked, noticing Alex behind the angel.
“Is that the person you were talking about?” OB asked, as he watched Michael ruffle Keith’s hair as well, laughing as he pouted in response.
“Yeah. This is Alex.” Michael nodded. “She’s kinda new around.”
“It’s a weird situation.” Alex noted, feeling very anxious about all the eyes on her, and worrying about bothering everyone already.
“Nice to meet you, Alex!” Khole, as always, greeted happily.
“So? What’s the situation?” OB asked, trying to keep the focus on the important subject.
Armaros, Michael, and Alex took the time to explain everything they knew about the situation, letting them know that she wasn’t really from this world before, but got isekai into it.
“Oh, my.” Khole gasped when they were done. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Are you feeling okay?” She asked with concern.
“I’m fine.” Alex quickly tried to reassure, although it wasn’t really the truth. “I accepted it.” ‘Had no choice…’ she thought to herself.
“Long story short, we want to help her get used to this world, and get her own life started here.” Michael finished.
While he was talking, Alex noticed that Older Bro was staring at her, examining her expression. She could feel that he didn’t trust her words, that he knew that she was lying about being fine, and, she had to admit, she was feeling a bit intimidated by him. He had an aura, a presence, that reminded her of something familiar, something she was too used to, and hated back then, but she could also recognize that something seemed sweeter about OB, which she wasn’t used to either.
“What should we do then?” Keith asked, a little at a loss.
“Maybe we should show her around the city first?” Khole offered.
“What do YOU want to do?” OB asked Alex as he crossed his arms.
“Huh?” Alex was taken aback by the question.
The Older brother looked so imposing and was so tall, taller than Michael and Armaros. He made her feel so small as she looked down and played with her blue hair nervously.
“Relax OB, don’t scare her.” Michael scolded lightly while Armaros was tickling the happy baby that was in the blue haired man’s arms.
“I’m not trying to scare her, but she’s the only one that will know the answer to that question.” Raphael pointed out.
“I don’t know…” Alex mumbled, not looking up at him.
“Well, to start a new life you need a map to go around town without trouble. Do you have a phone?” Keith thought and asked.
“I…” She looked at Michael and Armaros.
“I have it.” Armaros, although very distracted by the baby, chimed in. “But she’ll need a new one. This one is from her world and has only stuff from it.” He explained before they could ask him.
“Yeah, it only shows things from her world.” Michael confirmed.
“Then we shall start by that.” Khole said happily.
“That’s a start.” OB sighed. “But, the question is also, where will she be staying?” He pointed out.
“She could live here.” Khole pointed out as well. “We still have a guest room.” She said when OB looked at her with a question.
“I don’t-” Alex tried to say something, mumbling nervously, but was cut off.
“That’s a good idea. That way we can help her get used to this world until she’s good to go on her own.” Keith agreed.
“I agree.” Michael said as well. “It’ll take a while to get used to this world, it wouldn’t be right to leave her in the streets when she’s going through something like this.” He pointed out to OB. “And we’ll stay here to help out.” He declared, looking at Armaros who just nodded at that.
“Fine. She can stay here until she figures things out.” Raphael sighed. “But we can’t host her forever.” He warned.
“OB!” Khole scolded. “Of course she can stay for as long as she wants.” She pouted.
“You know very well why I’m saying this. It isn’t to be rude. It’s just that if she wants to have a free life she’ll want to have her own place to live at.” He precised.
“You still could say it nicer.” Khole pouted.
“It’s okay… I understand.” Alex spoke up, although still very quietly. “I don’t want to be a burden either.” She mumbled.
“You won’t be.” Michael reassured. “Just take your time adjusting to this new life, it’ll be alright.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about that.” Keith agreed as well. “Don’t act like Michael.” He teased toward his brother.
“Hey!” Michael pouted.
“Anyway, she’ll also need a job. And a bank account. And more clothes.” OB started to list out as he thought. “We’ll say you can give this address for the papers, you can change it once you have your own place.” He continued as she looked down, feeling more and more weight on his chest. “She’ll need an id card too before all that. But we don’t have her birth papers.”
“Hey. OB. Calm down. You’re putting a lot of pressure on her.” Michael pointed out as he could tell that Alex was starting to get more and more anxious. “We should take this one step at a time.”
“Yeah. Don’t overwhelm her.” Khole scolded with her hands on her hips.
“I’m just trying to think ahead of time of what we’ll have to do.” Raphael sighed.
“He’s right… I have to do all those things…” Alex mumbled, still playing with her hair.
“Maybe. But he’s still overwhelming you.” Michael pointed out.
“I’m fine… It’s alright…” She replied, trying to relax a little.
OB didn’t say anything more, looking a little embarrassed and awkward.
“How about we show you your room?” Khole asked as she approached her.
“Alright…” Alex nodded.
“Alright, you do that, I’ll try to make appointments for the id card and for health insurance.” Ob sighed.
“Okay. Let’s go now, follow me.” Khole replied and took Alex’s arm to pull her to the guest room.
Michael, Armaros and Keith followed them.
“Here~” The big sister opened the door to a bedroom.
It was a nice room, blue and white, with a big bed, a wardrobe and a desk, everything needed in a bedroom.
“That’s your new room for now.” She beamed at Alex.
Alex took a look around, trying to realize what was happening.
‘A new house… A new room… At least it looks similar to my old bedroom…’
“How do you find it?” Keith asked from the door.
“It’s good…” She said before sighing, feeling overwhelmed again. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank us. It’s normal to help someone in need.” Khole replied with a big smile.
“Still… I’m a stranger to you all… For all you know I could be lying to get somewhere to stay and free food…” Alex pointed out looking down.
“They know you’re not because we’ve seen what happened yesterday and they trust us.” Michael pointed out.
“Exactly.” Keith nodded. “We may not know you but we know our brother, and we know he saw proof that you’re from another world. We trust his words. And the words of the angel freak too.”
“Still… I could be the worst person you’ve ever met and you don’t know it…” She argued.
“No way. You’re far from acting like a person like that.” Khole shook her head. “I know you’re someone nice and kind.” She smiled at her.
“Yeah. You’re acting more like Michael than like an asshole.” Keith added.
“I won’t say anything about that.” Michael huffed before looking back at Alex. “But I agree in a way. And having seen you at your weakest yesterday I can tell that you’re not a bad person, even less when you’re worrying about being a burden on us and all. He pointed out.
“... Still…” Alex played with her hair again, feeling overwhelmed.
How could they trust her so easily? No one as kind existed. How was it possible?
“Are you alright?” Keith asked as he approached her as well.
Alex only nodded despite her eyes filling with tears, too overwhelmed by the situation to process anything anymore.
“Doesn’t look like it…” Keith noted, looking concerned.
“I think she’s overwhelmed…” Michael explained.
“I think it’s time to use our secret weapon Michael.” Armaros elbowed the other.
Michael looked at him for a moment, confused, before he looked down in his arms at the little bundle of joy still squirming in his arms.
“You’re right.” He smiled at him, understanding his task. “Hey.” He called out as he approached the young Alex. “Can you hold her for a moment?” He asked as he handed the baby to the other.
“Huh?” Alex was confused but took the baby. She hadn’t really realized that this one was here until now.
“Say hello sweetie~” Michael told the baby.
“Hewwo~” The baby replied as she looked up at Alex, wiggling in her arms.
Alex didn’t say anything, only looking at the baby as her tears started to fall on the baby.
“Can you say her name? Her name is Alex.” Armaros asked the baby as he approached as well.
“A- A- Awec!” The baby replied happily, throwing her tiny arms and legs up.
Alex’s tears continued to fall but it was obvious it was about the cuteness of the little angel in her arms rather than her being overwhelmed by the situation.
“Good girl~” Armaros praised as he petted her hair.
“Isn’t she the cutest baby~” Khole said in awe, dying of cuteness.
Alex nodded at that, not looking away from the baby.
“Ug!” The baby said as she reached out to her.
“I think she wants you to hug her.” Michael explained to Alex as she seemed confused.
This one awkwardly did as she was told and hugged the baby who clung to her in return and started to purr.
Alex didn’t notice but now her tears were drying as she focused on the baby.
“That’s adorable~” Khole couldn’t help but say.
“Who is she?” Alex finally asked as she continued to hug her.
“She’s-” Michael was about to explain when he was interrupted by his sister.
“She’s Michael’s and Armaros’ daughter~” She said excitedly.
There was a moment of silence as Alex took the information in, before she looked at Michael and Armaros, confused.
“How does that work? You’re both men.” She asked.
“Hm-” Michael and Armaros suddenly seemed very embarrassed.
“Well…” Armaros started nervously. “She wasn't born by human means…”
“Apparently, Heaven decided that we were close enough and- hm-” Michael tried to explain but got too embarrassed.
“They decided that they loved each other enough to have a baby together~” Khole explained for them, making their faces a deep shade of red.
“How does that work?” Alex was still very confused.
“They had to go through a weird trial that got them very sick and when they got better Eden appeared in their living room on the couch” Keith continued the explanation for them. “They shouldn’t have had to go through something so hard alone though…” He mumbled frustratedly.
“She’s not our child by blood like in the human way, although that is possible as well” Armaros explained although he mumbled the last part. “Basically, baby angels are created from love and light that, mixed, transform into a child.”
“That’s kinda cool… But why the trial, isn’t your feelings strong enough to make a child meaning that you’re capable of doing it?” Alex was starting to understand but couldn’t quite understand everything.
“Well. It’s because they need to be sure we can take care of each other if something happens to us and can take care of a child. We have to prove we can take care of her.” Michael explained as well.
“And that’s probably also because of your style of living.” Keith huffed, squinting at Michael.
“Yeah, maybe that too.” Michael laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What do you mean style of living? Are you like a night owl or something? Or someone that never comes out?” Alex asked, confused still by this new information.
“He’s a bounty hunter.” Keith huffed again.
“A what?” She wasn’t sure what it meant, she knew what it meant in her world but wasn’t sure if she was getting the meaning right.
“We hunt criminals at night for some money from a contact in the police and with the help of the ghosts.” Michael sighed and explained. “It’s dangerous but it’s easy money with the fact I can see the ghosts of the victims.” He argued even before his brother could complain about it.
“But how do you take care of Eden if you do that? Don’t you get hurt too?” Alex was a little concerned now.
“We plan in advance that my siblings will either come to take care of her or that we’ll drop her off with them for a little while.” Michael explained.
“And, yes. They get hurt. A LOT.” Keith said in a frustrated manner, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.
“Is that why you both have those scars?” Alex asked without thinking. “They look like it was quite serious.” She worried.
“It was.” Keith said before they could reply. “They almost died. Heck, Michael DID die, but he was brought back by heaven for some reason. And thank god for that.” He sighed as the boys looked away in shame.
“So you died twice?” Alex asked Michael, surprised.
“Yeah…” This one replied quietly.
“Damn…” Alex let out, surprised and a little shocked.
“Yeaaaaah…” Armaros let out awkwardly.
“Da!” Eden broke the awkward ambiance that had settled as she looked back at her dads and started wiggling again in Alex’s arms, reaching an arm for her dads.
“Already missing your dadas little angel?” Armaros softened and smiled, approaching and taking Eden from her as she handed her to him carefully. “Here, I’m here.” He cuddled her gently.
“Da~” The baby seemed very happy to be in her father’s arms again, but let’s be honest she’d be happy in anybody’s arms, just she loves her fathers even more.
“Anyway. Are you hungry?” Khole asked Alex.
“I-” She was about to politely deny it when her stomach made it obvious she was actually hungry.
“I’ll go make you something to eat!” Khole exclaimed as she left the room.
“Let’s show you around the rest of the house while she does that.” Michael declared.
With that Michael, Armaros, and Keith went on to show the house to Alex, explaining who would be in their room at what time if she needed anything.
After that they all went to eat with Khole and OB. This one explained that he managed to get an appointment for her id card the next week, which stressed her, but she was also reassured that she was being helped so much as she had never done something like that alone.
After eating, she went back to her room to be alone for a while, although she did shyly ask if it was possible for her to get a sketchbook and a notebook, which sadly they didn’t have but they said they could go buy it the next day and in the meantime they gave her some paper and pens.
That night she met the parents of the siblings, who were very kind to her and easily accepted her into the family once they heard her story from Michael, the mother immediately taking a liking to her and saying that now she had a new family in them if she was okay with it. Of course, Alex wasn’t sure what to respond so she only sort of nodded. She wasn’t used to such a level of kindness from total strangers.
That night and the following nights she kept having nightmares about her family and friends and girlfriend being depressed and heartbroken about her death, making her always wake up in tears and not finding anything to relax as Michael’s cat was in his room with Armaros and Eden.
She had trouble sleeping for a while, until the siblings realized and decided to buy her a new plushy to help comfort her, which worked as they somehow managed to find one just as good as the one she had back home. It really helped with her nightmares.
She was helped as she got everything she needed to live in the city, and even got a job relatively easily compared to her life back then, as a clerc in a fashion shop.
Life slowly started to get better and her new life was finally starting.