His name was Andy Finch and he was looking at the train tracks under his worn down all-stars with one thought. How much would it hurt? His imagination was unsuccessful in gauging it , but he knew that this far from a stopping point the train would have enough momentum to at least do the job fast.

He looked to his right. No train. Then to his left. No train .

But wait.

The glare in his eyes caused him to blink.

The sunset is playing tricks on my eyes. 

He hated how the world looked under the sunsets fiery glow.

But It wasn't all in his imagination. There was truly something there. Something with massive wings. Wings the size of no bird he had ever seen before. Andy remembered there was no use in being frightened . After all he was there waiting for a train to hit him.

He stepped in between the tracks and made his way towards the setting sun and the pair of golden wings.As he got closer he started walking faster and finally jumping over tracks when he saw that attached to the form was the figure of a sobbing woman.

"Mam' are you alright?" She looked up at him with a face he felt in his heart he had seen before but nowhere in his mind could he find where he had seen her face .

"No I'm not alright. I'm hurt." She cried her sunset tinted white wings shuddering with each sob

They looked gold under this light. 

He knelt down determined to be eye level with this injured woman.

"Where does it hurt?" He asked concerned the question of these wings would just have to come later.

"My wings and my heart ." She looked up at him with no surprise , fear , pity or repulsion. She simply looked at him with a look of both sadness and warmth he hadn't experienced before.

"This probably isn't the best place to take a look." He laughed nodding at the tracks and held out his hand to help her up.

Maybe the train was so fast I didn't know I died .

It seemed like the only really good explanation for seeing an angel. What else could this woman be? A mutant? He was much too old to believe in the x-men and she would have been afraid of him if she had been human.

"So I guess I'm in heaven?" He laughed realizing how that sounded when he said it. She smiled back.

"Hardly , I would have lost my wings completely if you were." She said with that painful look.

So he wasn't dead. The whole situation was feeling surreal to Andy.

"Im guessing you're supposed to be my guardian angel then? That sort of thing belongs in the stories mothers tell their children so they go to bed after a bad nightmare. Well I'm not a child. If you haven't noticed I'm a nightmare to look at so I might be doing everyone a favor If I died and you found someone else to look after." He laughed at the hot tears coming down his face. He thought for sure they had dried up a long time ago.

She yelled out and grabbed for her shoulder. The sound of cracking bone came from her wings and the angels sobs rang in Andy's ears .He grabbed her by the waist before she fell forward on the sharp gavel.

"Whats wrong? Why are your wings breaking?" Beautiful feathers began falling , scattering in the wind and landing on the tracks where he had knelt down a minute ago.

"Stop please , stop thinking such horrible things about yourself ! They aren't true!"

"That I'm hideous? That's true after all this is the face only a mother could love. Speaking of mothers , mines been dead for so long I can barely remember what she looked like. Same with my father .as far as my twin brother goes ,  I used to laugh and tell him I was the better looking of us . I guess now I really am but that's not saying very much since hes gone too." Feathers continued falling , the ground at their feet was beginning to resemble a cloud.

The angel in his arms was crying and she took his arm and pressed her face against it.

"They want you to be happy Andy. They love you . They want you to live. I don't know why you want to hurt yourself so much when it hurts them to see you in pain. Find happiness."

"Happiness. How do I do that? No one will even look at me?! I can't even look at myself!" Every Time Andy woke up each day to brush his teeth and when he did his reflection reminded him with one side, that his perfect life and promising future had gone up in flame. While the other showed him the ghost of his dead brother and what he would have looked liked if they had grown up together.

He could feel the angels tears on his arm and felt himself hold her closer his sobs becoming impossible to contain now. It had been so long since anyone had supported him yet here he was being supported by this broken angel with missing feathers crying just as much as he was. She smelt like lilacs and baby powder a familiar smell from his childhood. He stopped crying and held completely still.

" You're the most beautiful man on this earth in my eyes and you always will be . Please when you look at yourself remember how much we love you. The only person who thinks you're ugly is your inner demon and the more you think this about yourself the more people of that demon others will see." Andy let go of the angel and turned her around to look at that sad and familiar face once again . He saw those eyes every time he looked in the mirror .

"Mom....mom ...it's really you." His heart felt like it would explode.

"The eyes are the window to the soul , and when you look at a person what is it you look into? Stop with this living in the past and the 'what if's'." She touched her sons face with one hand and with a beaming smile continued. "Now live with 'what I will do'. What was it you wanted to do when you were really tiny again?" Her eyes twinkled.

"I..." He blinked the tears away. "I wanted to save lives.." His voice cracked.

"Then save yours first." She said and kissed him on the cheek that fire had kissed those years before . He closed his eyes and opened them at the sound of the train's horn and the tracks rumbling.

15 Years Later

The waiting room was empty that night except for the husband of the wife Dr. Finch had just operated on and their small daughter who had remained surprisingly quiet given the circumstances. He took a breath and walked forward .

The little girl's eyes grew into planets when she saw the Doctor her jaw dropping.

"Its two face!" She explained .

Her father glared at his daughter."Apologize this instant!" Andy Finch only laughed.

"No it's quite alright I hear we look alot alike." The man untensed and pet his daughters hair concerned.

"How is she..."

"She's going to be ok the operation was a success." The husband didn't look back at him, his breath just began to shudder and then he began laughing with tears of happiness.

'You hear that baby? Mommys going to be ok!" He hugged his daughter and looked at the doctor with such gratefulness and joy it reminded Andy how much he lived for these days.

Maybe not every operation was a success and people died unavoidably but so many lives had been saved , and the moment when the people they loved found out they were safe were the moments he lived for. In those moments people didn't look at his burns and the way they twisted his face . They looked in his eyes and what he saw in theirs could never be put into words but he knew they reflected a sort of beauty he normally couldn't see in himself.

He was about to walk off when he felt a tugging at his coat .

'Hey mister!" He looked down raising his eyebrow at the little girl. 'I like you better than batman!"

"Angel get back here!" The man hissed at his daughter and Andy didn't even try to hold back his laughter.