Forgive me

An icy wind blew and made the rotten branches of the tree tremble, causing the snow to fall. An eerie silence lay over the landscape; although the wind was blowing fiercely, it could not be heard and no birdsong could be heard either. It was absolutely silent. Dark patches of blood could be seen in the snow, white and black feathers, as well as scattered traces of footsteps. Not far away, a figure cloaked entirely in black could be recognised. It did not move, but stood still and stared into the distance, where dark clouds were gathering. A black raven lands on the figure's shoulder. "It seems that the end of days has come, my friend," the figure says in a dark voice and strokes the bird lightly on the head. The sleeve slips back to reveal a hand with light-coloured skin, long fingers with nails painted black and two rings. The raven caws approvingly. "Who would have thought it would all end like this, eh? That it only had to come to this". The wind is getting stronger and now the clouds are moving faster. The lightning could already be clearly seen from afar. Slowly and deliberately, the figure starts to move. What at first looked like a black coat turned out to be two wings that left traces of feathers in the snow. Step by step, he moved towards something lying in the snow just a few metres away from him. The closer he gets, the easier it is to recognise what it is lying there. The something looked very similar to the black figure, but there was something that set the two apart. The person in front of him was completely covered in white, making it almost impossible to recognise in the snow, the only thing you can make out is the blood oozing from a wound on his stomach. "Is that it, is that what you wanted Amon?" asked the white figure, straightening up. Now you could see that he also had wings, just like Amon. He stretched his head towards the sky. The dark clouds were now directly above them. "Plunging humanity and all of us into ruin." Amon looked at him again. "What do you angels know about humans, Asker," he said contemptuously. The white angel looks at him, stunned. "You're the one saying that. You, who are an angel just like us, Amon." The other laughs contemptuously. "Me and an angel? Who told you that again? And even if you did, it's not possible to undo it. There's no one left who could, no one left. It's over for good". Asker straightens up and presses his hand to his bleeding wound.
"You may be the Angel of Death now. But I can still remember when you were one of us, protecting people. And now, now you've helped to destroy the world. Why? What led to your hatred of everything and everyone?" "That you of all people should ask that is truly sad, Asker. I just gave a little nudge, that's all. You made me do it. After all, you're the one who betrayed me. With that human woman," Amon says hatefully, spreading his wings and pulling out a long, sharp, black sword. "It began with you and it will end with you." The horror in Asker's eyes is palpably visible; now he seems to understand. "If you hadn't kept it from me all these years, this would never have happened, Amon." The angel of death exhales contemptuously. "Oh yes, what makes you so sure. Even if you had known, you wouldn't have cared. You've always been attracted to humans. I wouldn't have changed that either," says Amon coldly. There is thunder and lightning strikes a nearby building. A dark, almost sinister aura rises around Amon, enveloping him in a dark veil. "Amon, please come to your senses. None of this makes sense any more. Please, we used to be friends, best friends," Asker begs him.

At that time:

A teenager, perhaps around seventeen or eighteen years old, hangs upside down from a tree, his legs wrapped around the branch and his black wings folded up. "You're such a scaredy-cat again, Asker, come on up, nothing will happen, you can fly," says Amon with a laugh, looking down at his best friend from above with a grin. "I'm not scared, I just don't want to get into trouble because you're hanging out in Maddria's tree," says Asker. Amon rolls his eyes. "You're a spoilsport, you know that," he says in offence and lets himself fall. As he falls, he spreads his wings and lands light-footed in front of his best friend. "Man you're such an idiot Amon, what if we'd been caught again, it would have ended the same way as last time". "Man, you really are such a scaredy-cat, don't get your knickers in a twist," Amon says, annoyed. Asker lunges at Amon, who is not prepared for this and falls over. And the two of them roll through the grass, fighting, until, after rolling down a slope, they lie on top of each other, breathing heavily and laughing. Asker lies underneath Amon, who supports himself to his left and right. The older angel's long black hair hangs in both of their faces as their chests rise and fall heavily. When, after a while, Amon still does not move away from Asker When he moves down, the white angel looks at him strangely. "Amon, are you all right, you're so red?" Asker asks him. He immediately rolls off to the side. "I don't know what you mean, let's get back slowly". With that, he turns round and leaves without waiting for Asker, who just stares after him, puzzled.

Present:

"You've blown your chance, Asker, it's too late to make up for what you've done. Humanity is lost and you can't undo it. That was, it's over. For good." Amon wants to bring his sword down, but Asker continues to speak, whereupon the Angel of Death pauses again. "What!" he hisses angrily. Asker takes a step towards him, clasps the blade in his hand and presses it down, cutting deep into his flesh. He's not interested at the moment. "If you really wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have stopped now. I'm far too important to you for that, Amon," he says. The angel of death stands there frozen, the pain in his eyes hard to miss. As Asker then places a hand on his cheek, a black tear rolls from his eye and the sword sinks to the ground, landing in the snow. The clouds, and with them the storm in the sky, disappear as if they had never been there. A tremor goes through Amon's body. "I'm sorry, Amon. It would certainly have made a difference if you had told me. You know very well that you were my best friend. Even though I was much more to you." Asker rests his forehead against his joy and then wipes away his tears. Next comes something that throws Amon even more off track. Asker carefully places his hand on the back of the Black Angel's neck and kisses him gently. Amon flinches, but then lets him.

Remorse spreads through the angel of death, whose dark aura gradually disappears. "I'm sorry, Asker. I ... I, I don't know what to say. There are no words that can undo this. I don't know why my remorse only comes now. Only after these words. You're right, I'm not in a position to kill you. You're just far too important to me for that. You won't be able to forgive me, I'm sure of that, but I'll just ask you to forgive me. I'm so sorry that I've thrown this world into chaos just because I couldn't cope with myself and this rejection. I ... No matter what I say ... it won't do any good ... I ...". Tears trickle down his cheeks and drip onto his and Asker's faces. Asker pulls him into a hug. "I care about you ... I will forgive you for this". "But I can't forgive myself. I'm sorry. There's only one way to undo this. And I'm the only one who can do it," Amon says quietly. Asker backs away from everyone. "No, Amon, there will be something else you can do, but not that. It's forbidden ... you ... will die ..." he says desperately. Amon shakes his head. "No Asker, you know that, there is only this one way".
The black angel's wings begin to glow brightly and become more transparent bit by bit, just like the rest of his body. "Amon, please don't". "I'm sorry, my friend". His wings have already disappeared and you can now see through his upper body. Asker looks at him and kisses him again. Amon returns the kiss, but disappears completely a few seconds later. "Amon, I'm sorry for what I did to you, forgive me, for not daring to tell you the truth, forgive me for being afraid to say those three words. Forgive me for never telling you that I love you. The snow around him begins to thaw. Flowers begin to sprout, the trees grow leaves again and the birds start to sing. It is a song of mourning. Now it will only take a few minutes and everything will be as it was before Amon ran amok. Almost everything, because the black angel will not return. A sob escapes the proud angel as he picks up the black feather that is all that is left of him. Asker takes it in his hand and presses it tightly to his chest before he finally sinks down, trembling.