Chapter Text
The soft sound of harmony blessed the warm air.
The angels sung their song as they have for years.
God is pleased at the soothing sound of their melody.
Humming along with the song he memorized before it had yet existed.
For he is time, and time is him.
And as the time comes,
The music ends.
and the clouds are empty.
And the angels retreat to their quarters to practice once again.
To sing for God, again, and again.
A cycle they don’t get tired of.
One they don’t plan on getting tired of.
A cycle they wish to continue for eternity.
That is the job of the choir.
To keep God happy.
To keep him from going sour.
And to stand in front of his judgement.
And look pretty.
While the others continue doing the dirty work in pity.
------- ------ -------
God sits on his throne, looking down at the small angels that stood before him. His gaze, like the sun, practically burns if you look for too long. His 3 large heads inspected the 4 angels, each one reacting differently. The right and the left one snickered to themselves as the head in the middle stared coldly upon the saints. The colorful petals of each head twitching with eagerness, the claws of their shared finger tips scratching against the gold they sat upon. 3 different heads, 3 different spirits, yet they are all God, and God is all of them.
A small angel stands in front of God. Along with 3 others. Astro, Looey, Cosmo, and Sprout. Alongside God, is Dyle, who is assumed to be their higher up. Dyle stood tall with a suit made of pure gold, and his gaze as sharp as silver. He must be the one that would be in charge of their small group. The angels that stood before them were of the Cupid species, spreading love and positivity down onto earth, only if it is meant to be. As goes the The Natural Order, as God named it.
The natural order goes for all angel species. They all have a set of rules. Made by God himself. His judgement burns fire into the scrolls of rules in each district. Each word, a threat as to what's to come if an angel was to try anything dubious. Breaking any of the rules would earn them a scolding hot seat in hell, forever, at least what feels like forever. Each second in hell feels like 100 years, every 100 years were simply a second. So they all made sure to keep on their toes, to keep standing straight, to do their jobs with the utmost perfection, to live another day in the heavens above as a perfect saint.
Astro shuffled slightly as he was picking out important details of their new odyssey. Things like locations, time frames, and most importantly, The Natural Order of how things would go. Dyle is in charge of The Natural Order, giving everybody tasks to do once they arrive down onto earth. The plan is simple, mark the territory, and do the job right without getting caught. All the angels bow in unison to God as Dyle leads them into the Cupid district to discuss everybody’s role in the expedition.
The soft clicking of Dyle’s sharp white heels against the reflective marble filled the silence. His posture was as straight as a line and each footstep felt almost calculated. His larger than average wings ruffled silently with each step, his presence alone causing any passerbys to straighten up and look away from his sharp gaze.
“Well sir, as you know, me and Cosmo are the most trustworthy in this group! So I would recommend putting us to do the hard stuff! Whaddya think?”
Sprout says enthusiastically as he interlocks fingers with Cosmo, the two looking up at Dyle with large almost trustworthy eyes as they continue to walk, Dyle not casting them a single glance.
“I think Astro and Looey are capable enough to go down themselves. After all it’s always been you two doing all the work.”
All the angels stop in their tracks and look up at Dyle, who turns back, cocking an eyebrow as he looks down upon the fragile beings. Dyle speaks up, his voice demanding yet calm.
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
“A-ah well sir! I don’t know if you uh well, knew this but, Astro doesn’t have the… best aim? One could say maybe the worst! Don’t even mention the fact he can barely even fly! Plus me and Cosmo are a super great team! Much better chemistry than Astro and Looey!”
‘There he goes again.’
Looey thinks to himself as he looks at Sprout from the corner of his eyes, who is rambling about their plan, which includes Sprout and Cosmo doing the work while Looey and Astro stand back for “Morale support.”. Astro never had the guts to point it out, especially since they were right, he does in fact have a horrible aim, and can barely lift himself from the ground, but he still shouldn’t let them walk all over him!
“My decision is final. You say the moon doesn’t have very good aim, or could even fly? Practice makes perfect, no? Wasn’t your aim questionable at some point? Did you come fresh out of the heavens womb already able to fly?”
Dyle looks down with judgemental eyes, his gaze never faltering from Sprout. Sprout stands up straight as he puffs his chest boastfully when speaking, trying to hide the nervous undertone of his voice.
“Ah well yes actually! I was born perfect! Good aim and able to fly! Like most angels! Unlike Astro, he must have had a defect ahah!”
Cosmo snickers softly into the palm of his hand as he looks at Astro from the corner of his eye, who looks to have not even been paying attention to the conversation in the first place. Dyle rolls his eyes and he makes his way over to Astro, who is snapped out of his daydream as soon as he sees Dyle tower over him.
“Astro, come to my quarters later this afternoon.”
Astro swallows harshly as he nods aggressively, the palms of his hands already drenched with sweat within seconds of thinking about what Dyle could possibly want from him- Not to mention he wasn’t even paying attention to what they were talking about! Astro swallows the anxious lump forming in his throat as Dyle begins walking them back to their district.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Time went by nerve rackingly slowly, and before he knew it, afternoon came just as fast as morning did. Astro’s legs quaked underneath him, threatening to give out from the way they shook in place. Sweat coated the skin of the back of his neck, dripping in copious amounts. His hand shivered as he debated knocking at the large double corridor. As if knowing what he was thinking, the door swung open, making Astro jump back, clinging onto himself as he whimpered with fear.
“Astro, you’re a bit early, surprising coming from you. Come in, come in!”
Dyle stood near the door and brought his hand up in a welcoming gesture, although the way he looked at Astro said otherwise. Astro awkwardly faced the opposite way as to not make eye contact as he shuffled into the room nervously, his hands clenching around his robe to ground himself as he ignored the way he could feel Dyle’s eyes bore into him.
Astro took in the detailed structure, the white walls laced with gold undertones, the almost lace looking wallpaper tapered around the grand walls, pillars standing high from each corner. There were some noticeable things like a grand piano sat in the middle of the room, a fancy expensive looking violet rug underneath it. There was a large king sized bed near one of the walls, the soft silky covers practically begging for somebody to touch them. And God did Astro want to feel that fancy cover.
“Ah, welcome to my sleeping quarters I suppose, it isn’t much but I've grown fond of it.”
‘Not much? This is better than anything I've ever had!’
Astro thought as his eye glazed over every little thing, from the large bookshelf littered with different kinds of books, some that Astro knows about, and others that he had never seen in his life, to the beautiful chandelier that hung upon the tall ceiling, shining and glistening with each slight turn.
“Why uhm did you bring me here?”
Astro’s voice was soft and cowardly, a bit high pitched, almost like a woman's. It’s one of the main reasons he disliked talking, especially when Sprout and Cosmo teased him about it. Dyle looked down at Astro, his posture straight and his arms tucked behind his back in a stern manner as his half lidded eyes glazed over Astro’s timid figure.
“It was brought to my attention that you haven’t learned how to fly nor aim with your bow. I want this to go as smoothly as possible, considering this group is one of the smaller ones. I want you to come here anytime you are available. I am going to help you.”
Astro nodded in response as he followed Dyle, who had begun leading him into one of the side rooms near the bookshelf. Dyle pushed the door open slowly and held it for Astro, who walked in and looked around curiously. It looked to be some sort of training room, some dart boards littered along the walls, as well as a gate that led to an outside area.
“First, we will focus on target practice. Here.”
Dyle hands Astro a crossbow and an arrow. The arrow wasn’t a real love arrow, real ones are pink and glow slightly. The one in Astro’s hands was grey and metal like. Dyle stood behind Astro and held Astro’s hands, guiding them into a semi awkward position due to their height difference, Dyle having to semi crouch to reach Astro. Dyle tugged along Astro’s fingers, pressing them against the delicate string while telling him how and where to position the arrow.
“You have to be calm, you’re shaking too much. Once you’re ready, aim at the middle and let go.”
Astro breathed in slowly, and then out. He focused on the way his heart beat began slowing down and closed his eye. Once he felt ready, he opened it and let go of the string, the arrow shooting out swiftly and hitting the dart board near the bottom, not very close to the middle.
Astro grunts frustratedly as Dyle hands him another arrow. And then another arrow. And then another arrow.
3 arrows, 6 arrows, 10 arrows, after around 17 he began to lose count. Seriously, why was he so bad at this? Sprout was right, maybe he did have a defect. Any other Angel would have had this down on the 3rd one by now. Dyle could feel the way Astro was beginning to lose hope for himself by the way he was slumped, the way his aim was lazier now, the way his eye began wandering with boredness.
“Fear not, small moon, for we have time. Would you like to try practicing your flying skills?”
“Sure…”
Astro lazily laid the bow and arrow on the ground with all the other arrows cluttered around from past attempts, cringing slightly at just how long it’s going to take for him to do something so basic even a newborn angel could do it. Dyle leads Astro to the outer area, unlocking the gate and presenting the small cloudy field.
“What’s the most you can do?”
“What?”
“With your wings I mean.”
Astro sighed as he flapped his wings as fast as he could, barely lifting himself an inch of the ground. He sighed with exhaustion as he stopped, almost falling forward as his feet are back on the cloudlike ground.
“Hm, well instead of trying to go fast right off the bat, try to instead gain momentum, instead of going left and right, move them from upper left, to lower right.”
Astro nods as he tries the new technique, getting him higher up off the ground than before, yet still a bit clumsily. It didn’t take as much energy as before and it actually feels sort of nice to move his wings the way they were supposed to. Astro spun around lightly as he flew around Dyle, feeling a bit more free than before.
“Tell me Astro, how come you never learned such basic things mandetory in an angel's life?”
Astro stopped and slowly yet clumsily brought himself back onto the ground. He fidgetted slightly as he looked away with an almost embarrassed look.
“I guess I just didn’t have anyone to teach me.”
“What about your friend looey?”
“He’s more of an acquaintance since he has his other friends he hangs out with more.”
The two stayed silent for a while, Astro cursed at himself silently as he felt like he was saying too much, he would rather die then have anyone pity him, it only made him feel even more like a coward. Dyle simply hummed in response as he reached out and held both of Astro’s hands.
“You have never been in a role to go to earth, correct?”
“Correct…”
Dyle’s hands tightened around Astro’s as he leaned down to speak to Astro more clearly.
“Lets take a small detour from our training. You do trust me, right?”
Astro swallowed nervously as he looked to the side. He didn’t necessarily trust anyone, but he wasn’t going to say anything like that to his face, so instead he nods weakly, earning a warm smile from Dyle as in the blink of an eye, Dyle was turned around, his back facing Astro with his knee planted firm against the ground.
“Here, get on top of me.”
Astro stared for a second, his mouth slightly agape as he processed what Dyle was saying. He can’t really say no to a higher up, so he sucks it up and climbs onto Dyle’s back. His legs wrap around Dyle’s torso tightly so as to not fall. His fingers clenched around the fabric of Dyle’s suit, and he finds it hard to take his eyes off of Dyle’s large bird-like wings. They are much bigger than the average cupid angel's wings, more beautiful even.
In one swift motion, Dyle’s wings were spread fully, white feathers spreading along the field from the sudden force. It was a magnificent sight, one that Astro felt he would have never seen in a lifetime. In just the same amount of time, the large wings were brought down in a swift calculated motion, and the two were high in the air.
Soft wind brushed against the silky fabric of Astro’s long hat, threatening to fall, so he used one hand to cling onto it and the other to latch onto Dyle. Astro’s eyes were wide with amazement at how high up they were, the entire city of heaven felt like it could fit in the palm of his hands. There were weather angels that could be seen in the distance, preparing for rainfall in the town they were in charge of.
In one fell swoop, the two went through the clouds and down. Down, down, down they went, at a speed so fast it could give you whiplash. Layers upon layers of clouds dusted their vision, and then there was blue. Astro didn’t know what it was, but it was beautiful. Something so blue, more blue than the sky, and it shimmered and reflected the sunlight, making it look as if it was sparkling almost. The way it moved, almost as if it was alive, as if the entire earth were to be moving from side to side.
Dyle slowed down and flew close to the blue mass, strong waves clashing along each other in such harmony, Astro felt almost pitiful for never having seen something like this until now. Dyle stuck his hand out and ran his fingers through the beautiful blue, Astro tilting slightly and doing the same. It was cold, and wet, did all of it feel like this?
“This is the ocean. Earth dwellers often use boats to go through it, sometimes to travel or to deport things, sometimes even go ‘fishing’, an activity where you catch some of the animals, also known as fish, and sometimes keep them, eat them, or set them free. Other times people go to the ocean to swim in it and simply enjoy their time in the sea.”
This was the ocean? The one he hears so much about? It truly is as beautiful as the other angels say it is. He felt almost jealous of them now that he was witnessing it for himself. He truly was missing out on much. Too much. He wanted to see the world, all of it, each crevice of it.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Astro laid lazily in his bed, arms spread out, back against the mattress, and trying his best to tune out the loud moans coming from Cosmo and Sprout on the other side of the thin walls from the room next door. He thought about what he did today. The training, going to earth for the first time. It was all so interesting. He was finally able to fly higher, which he was proud of. His aim still sucks, but like Dyle said, he has time.
His mind keeps wandering back to earth. His curiosity gnawed at him, forcing him to stay awake. Not to mention the ruckus on the other side of the wall beginning to frustrate him. He wanted to see more of the earth. All of it. He wanted to play with the animals. To touch the plants. To eat the food. To meet the people. How curious he has become from seeing the planet for only 30 or so minutes.
He was happy he got to see earth. He was curious at what it had to offer. He was excited to go back once their mission fully began. Yet he was frustrated. He felt like a child, throwing a tantrum when they don’t get what they want. He was frustrated that he wouldn’t be able to see all of earth. He was frustrated that he isn’t allowed to play with the animals, or touch the plants, or eat the food, or even talk to anyone.
He feels selfish, afraid he’ll become bitter. Maybe he was never meant to see the earth. Maybe seeing the earth will make him a bad person. He feels guilty that he’s frustrated. He already has so much, so why must he ask for more? Astro has always been a thankful person, never asking for more, even if what he got was nothing. So why now? Why must his entire ideology change over seeing the planet he’s heard so much about? No matter what, he refuses to be selfish.
--- --- --- --- ---
Selfishness is an interesting feeling.
Maybe not so much a feeling, but a characteristic.
A very bad characteristic.
Most people don’t want to be around a selfish person.
Because they take and take and take.
And never give in return.
Most selfish people are lonely.
But Astro has always been generous.
He gives and gives and gives.
But never gets anything in return.
Yet he is lonely.
lonelier than anyone in the heavens.
Lonelier than anyone on earth.
Lonelier than anybody that is selfish.