holy

xxxiv

it wasn't long after eddy came out of the river and wrapped the angel in a white robe (that was definitely not to his liking) that archangel michael was ushering him back into the palace, away from the angels outside and towards the portal to earth.

he'd done it because he could sense that the demon, or now, the devil, was on edge with all of the archangels wanting to touch the angel, and was likely to snap sooner rather than later.

"devil," michael began as eddy looked at him in surprise—he wasn't expecting to be addressed as such, "the holy water may have healed him physically, but mentally..."

"what do you mean?" eddy asked, concern lining his face.

"i fear that lucifer's... methods... may have done irreparable damage," michael said solemnly, "only you can fix that."

the words struck eddy painfully in the chest. all he wanted to do when brett woke up was hold him and kiss him and tell him he loved him, and the thought that the angel might not want that because of what lucifer had done broke eddy's heart.

eddy turned towards the portal, defeated as he walked through. in the distance he heard the archangel whisper:

"thank you, eddy."

when he arrived back to brett's house he was surprised to see that the door had been fixed and the blood wiped from the walls. it must have been michael's doing.

he laid the sleeping angel on the bed and took the quickest shower of his life, minding his many scratches and bruises from lucifer.

now, he sat up in bed with his angel's head in his lap, his finger's running through the smaller boy's still damp hair. he'd changed the angel into some of his clothes, happy to see him drowning in the black fabric again.

he couldn't wait for brett to wake up, but at the same time he dreaded it.

all he could do though, was wait.

•••

last time, when brett died, it hadn't been so quiet.

god was there, coaxing him into staying alive.

more specifically, staying alive for eddy.

but now that eddy didn't matter to him anymore, he had nothing to live for.

which is why he was so disappointed when he woke up.

he felt comfortable for the first time in what seemed like eons. he was warm and laying on a soft bed rather than the stone floor, and there were gentle fingers running through his—

wait.

his eyes popped open to see eddy above him, golden-eyed and concerned.

his first instinct was to get as far away as possible as soon as possible. any sign that he enjoyed eddy's presence and lucifer would surely beat him again. but, upon further thought, he realized that running from the demon might make eddy equally as angry, and he'd get beaten either way.

brett was trapped.

he began to panic, hyperventilating rapidly and tears brewing in his dull golden eyes as eddy pulled him closer.

"hey, angel, it's just me, i promise you're safe," he whispered, holding brett's shaking body to his.

the angel whimpered in fear at the sound of eddy's voice, covering his ears as tears raced down his cheeks. that voice was the one that yelled at him, the one that hurt him.

eddy's heart ached as he watched the angel cry, not knowing what he could do to fix it.

"shhh, angel, it's okay," he said, almost pleading as he wiped brett's tears from his cheeks.