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The story of Skip Muck's life went a little something like this:He was born and raised in Tonawanda, New York, with his best friend Alex Penkala where they caused hell with the other kids in their neighborhood and teased all the girls at their schools. His first name was Warren, but everyone called him Skip for his talent on track and love of sweets, especially Skippy peanut butter. Skip was 16 when he had his first kiss, and 17 when he lost his virginity, both to Faye Tanner. He graduated highschool when he was 18 and planned to go to college for teaching. When he was 19, he kissed his best friend, and when he was 20, they both signed up for the war.Skip and Alex went to Camp Toccoa in Georgia and quickly befriended one Don Malarkey from Oregon (even though Skip insisted he was from Ireland) and a George Luz from Rhode Island. Training felt fun and honorable, and when they finally made it to Europe, they survived D-Day all the way up to Belgium.Bastogne is where Skip Muck's life ended. "Come on, come on, George, come on!" Skip yelled over the whistle-bang of artillery fire, Alex's voice joining him. Their friend hit his knees and fell onto his stomach, and Skip felt sick as he yelled for him to go faster."Luz, you can make it!" Alex yelled, and the ground shook with the force of an explosion only a couple hundred yards away from George. He dragged himself through dirt and snow, shielding his face, and a mortar popped even closer.A strangled scream wrenched itself from Skip's throat, and everything went suddenly and abruptly silent. Skip and Alex flinched hard, latching onto each other as they hunkered down. Nothing.They slowly looked up. The frosted, torn world was frozen in place, and Skip almost felt his heart stop as he saw the explosive suspended in the air a foot away from his face. Alex gawked before turning his head to throw up all he'd eaten the last week, and Skip plastered himself against the foxhole wall. George was stock-still, hand about to raise, eyes wide in horror.Skip had a sudden and vivid memory of Faye's dollhouse she kept in her room. Alex slumped back into the foxhole and grabbed his hand, Skip lacing their gloved fingers together unprompted. Their breathing was the only sound in the forest."Fuck." Alex breathed out. Skip gave a shaky laugh, and their helmets clanked together as they leaned into each other.Silence dragged on, and Alex's other hand hooked behind his neck, pulling their faces so close it was almost a kiss."Are we dead?" Skip asked him, their lips brushing with every word. Skip grabbed Alex's uniform, feeling the heat of his body through layers and layers, and then they slotted their mouths together and kissed like the dying men they were. They broke apart, breathing heavy, and Alex shook his head."Alive." he said, and Skip squeezed his eyes shut.A sudden, blinding light blazed in front of their foxhole and they both squinted before it faded, George and Don standing there. Penkala's eyes snapped hurriedly to where the real George Luz was frozen, and the George in front of them chuckled. Don held himself almost stiffly and George crouched down as they both tried moving back, half scared."Hey, don't freak out. Not yet." George said and Skip gave him an incredulous look. The explosive was still frozen between where George and Don were and he felt antsy."We're here to save you." Don said with a voice that was his... but not. Also-Not-Luz rolled his eyes and waved at him. "It's okay, he's still weird around humans. I hope you don't mind that we picked these temporal forms, they seemed comforting for you." Luz said and Skip blinked."I don't... I don't think I understand what's happening." Alex said almost shyly."Well, kiddo, I'm not gonna bullshit you. You're about to die, but we're here to offer you an alternative. I'm the Archangel Gabriel and this is my brother Castiel." he said plainly and both men scoffed."Yeah, and I'm Franklin Delano fuckin' Roosevelt." Skip laughed. Not-Luz and Not-Mal didn't falter."Grab my hand, Warren." he commanded and Muck reached out to touch him. Where he expected to grab warmth, his hand swept through air and his eyes widened."What the fuck?" Penkala said and Skip tried touching him again. Every time, he hit nothingness and felt himself start to freak out. When he locked eyes with the... being again, the phantom form of George Luz had eyes of gold. Don's were an imposing silver-blue."We want to save you, and your friends too. We can, only if you let us." Don- no, Castiel said and Alex gave him a hard look."You can save them?" he asked, and they both nodded. The shadowy outline of wings appeared against the smoke and shrapnel alighting the air behind them and the soldiers looked on in awe, Skip touching his rosary reverently. Skip looked at George, locked in a seemingly perpetual hellish pose."How do we save them?" he asked and the angels looked down at them."You give us your bodies to use. You're going to die no matter what you say, but if you agree with us we will keep you living as long as you wish and make sure you and your friends are safe. It'll be like we're driving your bodies around, but if you ever get uncomfortable, you can kick us out." Luz-Gabriel explained and Skip shared a look with Alex."Aw, what the fuck is there to lose." Skip reasoned and Penkala nodded, grabbing his hand."We say yes." Muck replied firmly and the angels smiled sadly."For Easy." Alex said."For Easy." Skip repeated.The forms of Luz and Malarkey dissolved into huge glowing vapors, one gold and the other blue. The blue moved forwards immediately for Penkala, and Skip watched as his best friend's mouth fell open and his eyes shone sapphire, skin burning bright as well when the vapors slipped past his lips. Penkala looked beautiful.The gold tickled his lips and he opened his mouth, every sense abruptly stopping and his consciousness was flooded with an odd, warm numbing sensation. Skip closed his eyes, or at least he thought he did, and felt himself slump back against something soft. It still seemed like he had his body, but it was off. He opened his eyes and looked around him.A calm lake shimmered in front of him, waters cool and still with tree on either side. A small cottage stood behind him, and stretched across the horizon, a bloody and still image of Bastogne painted the sky. The image slid to the left and focused on Alex, and Skip realized he was seeing what Gabriel was.He looked down at the lake sand.I PEEKED INTO YOUR PERSONAL HEAVEN it said. THOUGHT I COULD BRING A VERSION OF IT HERE FOR YOU TO STAY. was scrawled into the sediment and Skip smiled. He was wearing his Toccoa training shirt and swim trunks, and the sun shone down.All was calm, and Gabriel prepared to keep his promise to Skip.Six pairs of golden wings spread and whipped open so violently that the head of Gabriel's true vessel was thrown back and his rosary snapped off his neck into the frosted dirt below.When time began to move again, an explosive blew the foxhole of Skip Muck and Alex Penkala to smithereens. George Luz's face lit up a sickening orange and red, and he was just as still as when time stopped.No remains were ever found, except a single ashen rosary. Don Malarkey kept it, with shaking hands.
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Ares, to say the least, was the figurehead of everything George never wanted to be.After Skip and Alex and Joe and Hoobler, after Bastogne, George was pretty sure he was dead too. Dead man walking. He'd waded into the dark of the forest one night with nary protection but a knife and his coat. The snow was deep like ocean water and George was drowning, swamped with sorrow and pain he'd never known before.When the man stepped out from behind the tree, George had assumed it was another fucking German stumbling into their line and he got his knife out."It's a bit late, isn't it?" the man asked in a perfect American accent and George stopped. He was handsome, with eyes so rusty brown they were nearly red and the uniform of a Roman legionnaire. It made George think of Captain Speirs' discussion on military history."Looks like a couples centuries too late, buddy." George said with a scoff after his once over and the man chuckled, stepping closer. It made George want to punch him."You're not that far off." he said with an amused grin and the man tilted his head as he appraised Luz. "George Luz. You fascinate me. You don't bow like so many other men." he said and George's anger gave way to uneasiness."I like your spirit. People like you feed the hidden flames of war." the man said as he stepped forward again and grabbed George's arm. George tried to yank it back, but he shook his head. "Through you, there will be hope immortal. The perpetual rally and rebellion. As Ares, I will see to it." he snarled."I don't want to live forever." he gasped as Ares lowered him into the snow. His smile was redder than blood."You don't have a choice. But you don't have to be alone." Ares replied and George shook his head profusely, gritting his teeth as snow melted around his body and his skin started to feel like it was burning."I'd never subject anyone to that hell!" he yelled and Ares' laugh was high and colder than the Belgium air. For one moment, one fleeting moment, he thought of a life with Joe Toye and that was all it took for the thought to be plucked from his head."But you would." Ares whispered. "All for one man." he added and George's eyes slipped close as Ares walked back into the forest."You'll get your wish, George Luz. You'll get life and your other half to walk through it with you."That was the first day George Luz never died.
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Eugene remembered the fight very clearly."You just don't fraternize with humans." Leshi had said. "It's not the way. They're destructive, awful creatures with too-short lives and too-cruel ways. You're too close to them, and you're jeopardizing the rest of us." he'd added and that had been that. Eugene left the group of his fellow forest gods to pursue helping humans.Everyone said they were bad, but humans were nothing but untamed, curious, and compassionate creatures. He enjoyed healing them and traveling around the war to end all war, bonding with the brilliant men in his company. It was lonely, but there was also Talbert. He was fae, but Roe could tell he didn't want to out himself as one, so he simply kept a quiet solidarity.Something Roe learned about humans was that they had limits. That Toye could only take so many innuendos from Luz before he had to excuse himself, red faced, that Babe could only laugh so hard before he pissed himself, Perconte could only eat so little "sewer scum" before he gave in, and Winters could only take so much sadness before it broke him in his own quiet way. Roe had also thought violence must have a limit until Bastogne.The screams for "MEDIC!" were more deafening than the wails of artillery, and the perpetual slick of blood on his hands felt like it had sank into his very being. His powers were drained from the constant strain of pushing life back into dead bodies, keeping souls locked in this cursed forest so they couldn't leave.Eugene was exhausted. Maybe there was truth to the Leshi's words."Gene?"He looked up from where he was slumped against a tree, its sorrow digging painfully into his back. Babe stood there, coffee cup in hand as he extended it."I thought you might need this. You looked lonely." he said and Roe smiled."Thanks, Edward." he replied and a sour look crossed the human's face at the name. Roe wanted to say sit with me, feel how the plants and the grounds of these woods ache. I am lonely, but not with you, even though I've lost my kind. You're a friend.But he didn't."Are you gonna be okay, Doc?" Babe asked and Roe chuckled as he shook his head and took a sip of his coffee."Heffron, if any one of us are 'okay', I'd be diagnosing 'em with a cracked mind. I ain't okay, and neither are you. Pain's in this very air and it stings, but the funny thing is, I think we're gonna get through this." he replied and Babe made a considering noise."That's pretty deep, Gene. Think you're right, though." Babe said and Roe smiled as he stood."Let's get you back to the line. Humans have this funny habit of always gettin' lost in a forest." Roe said and Babe knocked his shoulder."We sure do." he shot back, and Eugene Roe had never been happier to be surrounded by death than when he was walking with the good men of the living.
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Possibly the worst part about the army was the uniform. Tab fucking hated it; it cramped his wings and it felt all human-heavy on him. He itched for the softer, simpler clothes with wing slits in the back he used to wear back home. The cold sucked too, but it was easier to manage with how hot he usually ran and some discreet air manipulation. Nobody ever found out that Tab was fae and he was perfectly fine with that.It was lonely sometimes, being with so many humans and no other species, but Floyd got the feeling Doc Roe could relate to that more than he let on. He had an old aura and Tab suspected he had at least an inkling that Tab was inhuman. Tab could tell the forest liked him, and that at least put him at ease.A gentle hand settled on his shoulder as Tab and More looked up, Shifty's dirty face smiling apologetically down at them."Y'all seen Lip around?" he asked as he squatted by their foxhole, and Tab shrugged."Nah, sorry. We're actually waiting for 'im too. He's the only one clear to move us down the line and I'm fucking tired of this goddamn ditch. Why don't you come sit and warm up a bit?" Tab asked and Shifty ducked his head with a laugh before sliding in to wedge himself by Tab's side. Tab lifted his arm so Shifty could settle in better, and More moved slightly to accommodate."You ever wonder if we'll make it home?" More asked, and Tab snorted."I stopped thinking about that in France, Al." he replied and Shifty nodded."I don't see the need to dwell on death." he chimed in.The trio quieted down after that, content to huddle and listen to idle chatter and sounds that echoed around the forest. About a half hour later, the sound of boots crunching on snow prompted them all to look up at Lipton's amused face gazing down at them."You boys staying warm?" he asked, and all three shook their heads no, eliciting a smile."Sir, I was wondering when you needed me on next patrol?" Shifty questioned, and Lip rubbed at his temples."Probably not for another few hours. Buck and Bill are headin' one right now and then I think Perconte and Bull will be next, so we'll call after that one." he responded and Shifty nodded."Thank you, sir." he said and Lipton looked at Tab and More."You two need anything?" he asked and Tab grinned."Yeah, when do we get to fucking move? This sucks." Tab said and Lip just shook his head."Just wait." he said as he walked off to another foxhole. Tab shifted uncomfortably as the wall of the foxhole rubbed at his wings through his uniform."Just wait, huh? That's nice, I've been waiting my whole fuckin' life for Hitler to die." More grumbled and Tab grinned."Well hey," he replied, "maybe with a little bit of magic us three'll be knocking at his door ourselves."