The Anthem of the Castaway

In the Eyes of God

Wolf's Point of View

I look up to see her backing off from the other angels. I strike the last one fighting against me and take flight. I strike her two offenders and grab their arms and sling them onto the pathway to heaven to keep them from falling to the earth.

I look up to see her fall. She falls straight down, her body limp and her eyes rolled back.

I dive for her to try and catch her but she slips through my fingers.

'Let her go. She will be safe on earth.' I hear in my head. I look up to see Father standing on the edge watching, his giant wings spread wide.

'She will be safe.' I repeat back to him.

Father's Point of View

Steph's new condition perplexes me. It looks like another drug addiction.

Is she lying to me again?

Her staying on Earth is safer anyways, in an age where Angels are mostly accepted. Hopefully someone finds her and takes care of her.

Another group of enemy angels storm through the gates. Wolf makes quick work of a small group of them while the others surround me.

I refuse to have poison on my sword and would rather fight in good faith, so I aim for the disabling spots for the angels. Typically, the muscle in the arm of their sword arm, then another strike to their abdomen. They are nothing like fighting against Steph, Wolf, or Cobalt with their armor.

I absentmindedly strike them, knocking them down as I ignore their strikes. I know that the cure running through my veins will heal the wounds and reject the poison.

Bodies of groaning, crying, and unconscious angels cover the stones completely, and it seems that the attack has ended. Some of the angels I have injured are trying to press their wounds closed, trying to make them heal faster. Unfortunately for them, they cannot heal fast like the elite.

"I've got a small team coming up and we'll take these guys to the chambers." Wolf says to me. I nod at him and he puts his sword in its sheath. He grabs the arm of an unconscious angel and drags them off the hell side of the edge of heaven. I watch for a moment as the rip current pulls their body straight into the mouth of the volcano.

I close my eyes for a few seconds. Hopefully Steph has found someone on earth to help her out. But more than likely she is still laying there, not wanting any help. She is unbelievably bull-headed.

I open my eyes when I hear yelling but find that it's only one of the angels I took down. Wolf pulls him off the edge and he tries to save himself by grabbing onto the stones with his bloody fingers. I look away as he slips. I do not like seeing anyone suffer, even when they deserve it.

I close my eyes again and try to send a mind link to Steph.

'Are you okay?' I ask her.

I wait a minute but get no response. She must be unconscious still.

I feel bad for arguing so much with her. I know she's trying to do good, but she is constantly succumbing to her two fatal flaws. Addiction and depression.

Most angels only have one fatal flaw, but the elite often have more than one. Wolf's major fatal flaw is that he lacks morals. Suffering of others doesn't affect him. His other is color-blindness.

Cobalt's fatal flaw is also addiction, but he has accepted guidance and stays away from negative influences and mind altering substances. He only has one fatal flaw.

Satan and I's fatal flaws are hidden from others. A leader must not show their flaws and must make sure that they aren't well known. That was seen in Steph's failed attempt at breaking into the prison, since that lady already knew her fatal flaw and gave her drugs to weaken her.

Fatal flaws are often genetic. Steph's mother also suffers from depression as her fatal flaw.

Wolf was born to a werewolf mother and was raised as a Wolf. He was raised as a killer and born with a wolf's vision.

Cobalt was born from parents with drug addiction problems and was smoking crack with his parents by the time he was 14 years old. He later went into the military and straightened up and met Steph, who was only a few years younger than him.

I open my eyes again to find Wolf dragging the last angel off the edge. His expression is almost happy, this battle coming as a win for him.

"Do you have enough allies in hell putting them in their cells?" I ask him.

"Yes sir." He responds, meeting my gaze.

"Find Steph and go to her." I tell him. His ability to torture so happily disgusts me, and if I see him hurt another angel I'll get frustrated.

He nods to me and launches himself off the edge of heaven on the earth side. I watch as he disappears. I'm still conflicted if he and Steph are actually good for each other. His flaw is dangerous for her, considering their past together anyways. On a different hand, she needs someone without the same fatal flaw. I'm glad she grew away from Cobalt for that reason.

My thoughts are broken when a new being materializes at the end of the pathway. I stand up and approach her.

"Am I in heaven?" She asks, her innocent eyes pleading with me. I nod to her and place my hand on her shoulder. I close my eyes and see a summary of her life.

She had been abused as a child but made something of her life, having continued school and worked toward becoming a nurse. She committed a few sins, like drinking and using some mild drugs, but she is otherwise pure. She died at the young age of 31 from a heart attack while she was on the job. Her fatal flaw is fear.

I remove my hand from her shoulder and open my eyes to find her staring at me, stunned.

"Welcome to heaven, you can be a nurse here too, if you'd like." I tell her. She looks at me in shock and breaks down in tears.

'Maddie, we have a new angel.' I say in a mind link to another angel. Maddie is one of the angels that gives tours of heaven to new angels. I watch as Maddie walks in, her tall, confident posture and her long black hair always carried pinned up on her head.

She takes the hand of our new arrival and leads her through the gates. I watch them disappear and wait for the next new angel.

I look up to see another angel standing at the end of the pathway. This one stands with his white wings gleaming in the light, signifying that he is returning rather than new here.

"Welcome back." I greet.

"Thank you." He responds as I approach him. I put my hand on his shoulder and close my eyes again. This man began life as rich child and lived lavishly for his first life. After he died he was punished for his sins and forced to serve in heaven. He then decided to go on a path of reincarnation, in which he stayed in for a few hundred years, karma greeting him with a few lives of the animals he tortured as a rich kid. Now he stands before me, having lived a humble life as a human before getting killed by a man with a gun. His fatal flaw is lacking empathy.

I open my eyes and release the angels shoulder. He looks at me with fear in his eyes.

"What do you want to do?" I ask him, making the decision that he has now redeemed himself.

"I want to serve in heaven." He tells me, looking at the ground.

"Good. You may find a job you like. Welcome back to heaven."

He lifts his head and looks me in the eye before walking past me through the gates of heaven.

I walk back to my seat and sit down, feeling tired and worn out from the previous battle. I close my eyes once again and rest my mind, waiting for more new arrivals.