Entanglement

confront

Dan POV

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Everything had gotten out of hand.

The first problem was that the offices were in flames. The angels had directly attacked all of our landmarks, setting them on fire in hopes of destroying everything in order to get us to give in. They were burning down homes, food halls, office buildings, everything. Any evidence of the population issue, any resources we used for creating more demons; if we made it through this, it would take years to get back to how organized we had been before.

I knew it was smart to split up when Phil suggested it, though I couldn't help but feel dread eating away at me when he left. It was tough to deal with the demons, especially in this situation, and especially when I wanted to do the good thing and couldn't. The thing was, the demons wouldn't give in. We were conceited, stubborn, what we liked to call strong, and we would let the angels burn us to the ground until their strength ran out and we were able to overpower them.

And yet some part of me told me we would never reach that point.

As the day continued, my thoughts faded to the point where they didn't matter anymore. While away from Phil, I helped salvage supplies and files, helped move food from the halls so that our bodies wouldn't burn, and I only got into around two fights, which I won.

It was all tedious, and I knew that. Tyler didn't have a plan, I didn't have a plan, and I was sure as Hell that Troye or PJ or Connor didn't have plans, either. We were currently forced to clean up every mess the angels made for us, waiting until something went too far and someone died.

I had no idea what would happen if we reached that point.

While I worked, I tried to stay away from worrying for my angel. He was strong, stronger than me, I believed, and he could take care of himself. Yet I knew he had a target on his back; I knew that many of my peers would be hoping to knock him down for both pride and power over Heaven. My main objective was keeping him safe, even if it meant my Hell priorities were pushed aside. Stay safe, I begged him in my mind, for me. Please stay safe.

The day was repetitive, my mind filled with worry for Phil, worry for me, worry for Hell and Heaven and everything involving the afterlife. My worry only increased, however, when Tyler pulled me aside, a wrinkle of stress above his eyebrows.

I assumed it would be another rant full of riddles. Hints towards what was going on with me but no real answer.

I had been wrong.

He gave me part of an answer. "You've grown better," followed by but this isn't the exact answer. "You weren't supposed to be," followed by a crash. An interruption.

I wasn't supposed to be what?

It was only slightly reassuring to know that there was an explanation for my feelings. That the reason I felt so against killing, why I was able to cry and be afraid, was because my percentages were abnormal. I wasn't the exact 48 and 52 example, though something was off. It felt like a more concrete explanation than anything else he had told me. My nerves only seemed to expand when I thought about the fact that Tyler knew, let alone had to confront me about it. They expanded when I thought of why this was happening to me, and how.

It's because of Phil, my brain told me, and I knew it was true. I had been fine until the meetings, except for the strange fire incident, until I began spending hours and hours a day with an angel. I had absorbed some good.

But what if he had absorbed some bad?

I couldn't think about it, now. There were already so many problems, and if I spent all of my time analyzing feelings, then nothing with the war would be solved. That had to be my focus right now.