Private Angel Log Entry Fifteen

This was it, all of our hard work and planning had finally paid off, and now the confrontation we had so carefully orchestrated was about to happen.

I thought I would feel something: guilt maybe, for causing what could turn into an all-out war, excitement over the fact that I would soon be reunited with Gerard, terror even, but no - I just felt numb.

I was extremely focused, like an arrow trained on its target, unwavering from what I knew I had to do. We had everything planned out, now we just had to hope that it all turned in our favor.

I could sense both of the armies quickly approaching from the east and west, we only had minutes until we had to be in our places directly between them, and my entire body was humming with energy.

"We should move now," Brendon spoke within my head since he was on the other side of the line, sharing some words with Ryan that hopefully wouldn't be their last.

I had tried to convince Ryan to let one of us stay behind to guard him, but he had refused, saying that he wouldn't allow us to waste a body protecting him when no one was going to bother with him anyway. I hoped he was correct, and I knew Brendon was worried about his close proximity to the impending battle, but the decision had already been made, and we couldn't change it now.

"It's time," I projected to all the angels that were gathered with us, knowing that the demons would follow when we began to move out. In a flurry of wings, we took to the air, landing in a shallow valley between two sand dunes. We would be visible to both sides, and even more importantly - they would be exposed on the hilltops, allowing us to instantly be aware if they attempted any sudden movements.

"Remember - if this goes south, we take off okay?" Brendon shouted out to our ragtag collection of angels and demons as he flew overhead. We had appointed him as our spokesperson, even though they had all wanted me to do it.

I didn't want that responsibility though, I needed to be unencumbered so I could focus all of my energy on rescuing Gerard. Brendon had been the main leader of this group of angels anyway, almost all of them knew him personally, and he carried the mantle of responsibility well.

While I waited for the other armies to appear, I allowed myself to marvel at what we had accomplished already. I would never have believed that I would see the day that angels and demons would fight side by side for the same cause, but now I was living it. We were changing the world, and I was grateful that I was a part of this.

"They're here," Brendon whispered as he touched down next to me, his hand clutching the hilt of his broadsword that was sheathed at his side. We had decided to keep our weapons away in the hopes that we wouldn't incite any unnecessary violence. All we needed to do was stall them long enough to free Gerard, not start a bloodbath we weren't prepared to finish.

I nodded to show Brendon that I had heard him, but my mind was elsewhere. I could feel Gerard's presence, he was drawing closer to me as we spoke, and he was all I could concentrate on right now.

Having him so close but still out of reach was pure torture. If everything went as planned, we would only be minutes away from reuniting, but that seemed like eternity right now. I ached to hold him, to kiss the lips that drove me insane, to apologize a thousand times over for ever letting him be kidnapped in the first place, but I couldn't do any of that - not yet.

It took all the self-control I possessed not to fly off right then and rip him out of Lucifer's grasp, but that would ruin our well thought out plan, and probably get us both killed in the process.

"You okay?" Brendon asked warily. I am sure some of my internal struggle was showing on my face, but I tried my best to tamp it down.

"Yeah - what about you?" I knew his mind was still back with Ryan, but he needed all of his wits about him if we were going to survive this.

"I think so, I just want this all to be over with already," he chuckled nervously.

"Well it's about to start." I motioned upward, where we could now see the angels and demons approaching rapidly. Their weapons glinted in the brilliant sunlight, and I suddenly doubted our abilities to prevent any violence from happening before we could intervene.

"No turning back now..." Brendon sighed as we slowly took to the air again, hovering slightly over the ground so there was no way either side could miss our presence.

"Stay alive okay?" I clasped his shoulder gently.

"Same to you..."

As I faced the two sides that were both shooting daggers at us with their eyes, it seemed as if everything paused for a moment. I could no longer feel my wings pumping to keep me lifted, or the scorching desert sun beating down on me - I couldn't feel anything. I flipped around so I could scan the crowd of demons for the one person among them that mattered to me.

At first I couldn't see him...I knew he was here, but it was hard to pick anything out amidst the shining helms and dark armor...and then - there he was. He was tied to a cart toward the front of the army, beaten and bloody, but alive.

Seeing him before me was like a blow to the head, I wanted to laugh, and cry, and throw up all at once. I had been so terrified that we would be too late, and Lucifer would choose to kill him instead of taking him with them, but no - Gerard was here.

I would have rushed to his side if Brendon hadn't chosen that exact moment to start speaking, his voice snapping my attention back to the present, and the fact that I still had a role to play in this.

"Well...here goes nothing..." he murmured under his breath before flying a little bit higher than everyone else.

"Halt!" Brendon called out in a resounding voice, and surprisingly, everyone actually listened to him.

"What is this treachery Brendon?" the archangel Oliver asked, stepping up from the front lines as he spoke.

"Yes - please do explain this idiotic display before I get bored," Lucifer added from the other side of the barrier we created with our bodies.

Lucifer's armor was fearsome to behold, it was black as pitch, and it seemed to absorb any sunlight that reached it. I hissed under my breath when I caught sight of him, here was the creature that had stolen Gerard away from me, and I wanted nothing more than to tear him limb from limb until he had suffered as much as Gerard had.

"If you didn't know already - it was us who called you both here today, in the hopes that we could reach some kind of understanding." Brendon was lying out of his ass, we all knew that peace between Heaven and Hell was a thing of dreams, but he couldn't exactly say that we had done all of this just to free Gerard. Still - we did harbor the hope that some of the angels would join us once they saw how power hungry Oliver had become, not all of my brothers could have been blinded by his greed.

"I don't understand...we received a message of war from Lucifer - not you," Oliver scoffed.

"It was a forgery, but it was necessary to get you all in the same place so you could listen to what I have to say. The fact that you responded to it without God's approval shows that you have overstepped your bonds Oliver," Brendon shot back.

"God is no longer present in Heaven, and I am simply filling in until He chooses to return."

"That isn't your decision to make! Look what has happened ever since you took over, open your eyes and see how many angels have deserted you already!" Brendon cried passionately.

"All I see are a bunch of filthy traitors who choose to stand with demons instead of their own kind."

"Yes we do, because we are living proof that angels and demons can coexist, and not all of them are the filthy monsters we have been led to believe. The world is changing, and we need to accept that before our archaic ways destroy us." Brendon opened his arms wide, making sure that everyone took in the sight of us, angels and demons standing side by side.

"This proves nothing," Lucifer spat, obviously irritated at being ignored for so long.

"If any of you think the same way we do, please join us. We don't have to be enemies anymore...we can work together, and stop the senseless killing of each other that has gone on for far too long!"

I felt my heart being moved at Brendon's speech, he was truly a natural orator, and if I hadn't already made my choice long ago, his words would have swayed me. Even though I didn't truly believe that Heaven and Hell could ever come to an understanding, we obviously had managed to coexist peacefully for the past few days, so maybe it wasn't such a farfetched idea after all.

A few angels shifted nervously, and one or two flexed their wings, but no one immediately moved to join us.

"This is ridiculous, no matter who called us here, I came for a fight, and I intend to see every last one of you pathetic angels ground under my heel before this day is over," Lucifer growled menacingly, causing many of the angels to grip their weapons tightly.

My eyes shot to Gerard again, trying to ascertain if he understood what we were trying to do here, but his head was down and his eyes appeared shut, so I had no idea if he was even aware of anything around him.

And then - chaos erupted, and the person who lit the spark was not who I had expected, even though I should have seen this coming, but I didn't. I had been too wrapped up in my own worries to even consider that others might have personal vendettas they were determined to carry out today.

So when Patrick threw himself toward Oliver at a break neck pace, my mouth hung open in shock, and it was only then that I remembered that he blamed Oliver for Pete's death, and he had chosen to take his vengeance out right now.

A wordless howl of fury tore its way out of Patrick's throat as he lunged toward Oliver. I knew I had to move, someone had to stop him before he got himself killed, but it was already too late. His sudden attack had caught us all by surprise, and there was nothing we could do to help him.

I turned to Billie Joe, hoping that he could do something - what that would be, I didn't know, but when I caught a glimpse of his tear stained face, I realized that he had been expecting this. He might not have known what Patrick was planning, but he knew the outcome.

I didn't want to watch, I willed my eyes to turn away, but I couldn't help myself, and I found my gaze locked onto Patrick and Oliver as they traded blows in midair. For a few seconds, it looked like Patrick might have a fighting chance; he had caught Oliver off guard, and he was slow to react with his sword.

But all too soon, his lieutenants joined in the fray, and even though I had finally reacted and pushed my wings to the limit to come to his rescue, it was too little, too late.

Surrounded on all sides, Patrick fell with a sword through his back, but not before he struck a glancing blow that crippled Oliver's wing joint.

"Frank - stop!" Billie yelled, and I froze in place, watching in horror as Patrick collapsed in a heap, his blood staining the yellow sands crimson red.

"So this is how you decided to offer peace...with paltry words and a knife to the back," Oliver gasped out, clutching his wounded wing close to his body.

"No...this wasn't supposed to happen." I slowly inched closer to where Patrick had fallen, being careful to not make any sudden movements so they wouldn't attack me as well.

"Your promises mean nothing Frank, you lost all credibility when you deserted us."

"You drove me out!" I screamed back in anger, my emotions spinning out of control as I continued to try and reach Patrick's side.

"Only because you were seeing a demon without our knowledge."

"Fuck - okay whatever, so I fell in love with someone you didn't approve of. You aren't my fucking parents," I hissed out. I knew hostility wasn't going to help me in this situation, but I had lost control of my tongue momentarily.

"Oh Frank...how far you have fallen," Oliver laughed in the most condescending way I have ever heard.

"Please...just let me see to my friend..." I was almost certain that his injury was mortal, but there was still a chance that Patrick was alive, and every second I wasted was chafing at me.

"Fine...but let that be a lesson to you for all those that think deserting is a good idea." Oliver kicked Patrick with the toe of his boot, and I winced for him.

"Thank you." I attempted to keep my tone civil as I scooped Patrick into my arms and quickly returned back to our line of safety.

"Holy shit - he's not dead right? He can't be dead..." Brendon stuttered out, pressing his fingers against his neck in the hopes of picking up a heartbeat.

Patrick's wound was gruesome, it has gone all the way through his back and out of his chest, and even though I prayed that it wasn't the case, it seemed dangerously close to his heart.

"Fucking hell man..." Bob whispered quietly from where he stood a respectful distance away, letting us try to revive our friend while he kept an eye on our army.

"Pat...come on man, wake up." I shook him slightly, desperate for any sort of reaction, completely forgetting about everyone around us for the moment.

He coughed hoarsely, and I dared to hope that he might be waking up, but that expectation was quickly dashed. Blood dribbled down his chin as he continued to breathe weakly until eventually his chest ceased to rise at all.

"Patrick..." I whispered quietly, not wanting to admit what I already knew to be true.

"He's gone Frank..." Billie touched my shoulder gently, but I didn't react at all, not even when Patrick's body slowly began to break apart into small specks of golden light.

I heard a commotion break out behind me, but I had shut down, all I could see was the bloodstained spot where Patrick's body had lain.

"Frank - help us!" Brendon's voice finally broke into my thoughts, and I turned around only to see that fighting had already broken out overhead. We had let our barrier waver, and angels and demons were locked into heated battles. I noticed some familiar faces among the crowd, and when I turned back around, I saw that Bob had lost control of most of his demon army, and numerous angels had joined the fray as well.

"I couldn't stop them...they considered Patrick one of them, and they had to avenge their brethren. I'm sorry Frank..." Bob choked out softly, but I didn't blame him. We had all lost focus, and without their leaders, our troops were running wild, grief and anguish driving them into battle recklessly. 

"Fuck...this is really happening. We just started a war." Brendon looked around with a dazed expression on his face.

"Patrick started it, but now we have to finish what we came here to do. Frank - we have to get to Gerard now." Billie pulled me to my feet roughly, and I didn't fight him.

I had been too late to save Patrick, but I could still rescue Gerard if I moved quickly. I refused to fail anyone else today, one death was enough to last me a lifetime.

Pressing the heel of my hand into the ground where Patrick had breathed his last, I said a silent prayer, asking that if there was any possibility of a reunion in the final death, that he and Pete would be together again.

Once I had paid my respects, I took off into the air, searching desperately for a flash of red hair. I sensed Brendon and Billie trailing me closely, but I ignored them for the moment.

I had to find my demon...he was all that mattered right now. I had no idea where I was going, or what I would do once I found him, but if I was certain of anything, it was that I wasn't leaving this battlefield without Gerard.

Hey I'm back, and I finally managed to write something.

Yeah so sorry about this, but you are going to continue hating me for the next few chapters, so I should probably get you acclimated to it now.

Also I am terrible at writing action scenes, so if this is shit I apologize.

I have no clue when I will update again, hopefully tomorrow, but with how fucked my head has been lately, I really don't know.

I fucking love you guys - damn 21k reads.

((((don't kill me vibes))))

<3 starr