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In all the years I’ve spent traveling the world I came to realize how dark it really is. Sometimes the rap battles I start bring my opponent a chance to be happy in the midst of their situation. Most of the time however, it ends up with them trying to kill me or those close to me. I don’t even try to find danger. If anything, it finds me. The most recent happened when I was visiting my brother after he called me in a panic. I was always aware of his issues since being shot that day. If it wasn’t for my girlfriend’s father he wouldn’t be around. It was clear that he didn’t do it to be nice, he just didn’t want to owe me. It wasn’t a concern for me as I understood what I was getting myself into when I started dating my girlfriend. She and her entire family were all demons. I guess that helped me be more resistant to fear or danger. I even had to beat her parents in a rap battle before they accepted me as a part of their family.
Ever since that fateful night my brother has been seeing ghosts. They ask him to find their killers or reunite with a loved one to move on from this world. Despite the risk of being a bounty hunter he cared more about helping the spirits than his own safety. The only thing he was truly scared of was that angel who shot him. “Where are you going?” My girlfriend asked. “My brother needs me; I can’t leave him alone.” I responded. She smiled and immediately followed me. I couldn’t stop her even if I wanted to. We didn’t even get properly dressed before we started heading over to my brother’s place.
As we were walking, I couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching us, but no one was around or at least I didn’t see them. After a few minutes we reached his apartment at the edge of town. “Can you wait out here? He wanted to see me alone for a while.” I asked. “You shouldn’t keep him waiting, I’ll be fine.” She said trying to ease my nervousness. I had to save her life on many occasions which made leaving her alone that much more difficult.
Before I could knock on the door my brother had opened it. I smiled at my girlfriend before following him inside. “Thanks for coming. They were pretty bad tonight and I just needed to see you.” Michael said. The ghosts must have visited him before I had even arrived. “What even happened?” I asked joining him on the couch. “That guy who shot me, I swear I’ve been seeing him around town. Some of the ghosts were warning me which is unlike them at all.” He explained as he mindlessly fidgeted with his hands. I opened my mouth to speak before he started up again. “What if he come back? What if he tries to kill me again. Experiencing another sudden death from him is fucking terrifying! Why am I so scared about this?” He continued.
He was more stressed than usual. There was something that might work that we had done as kids. “Will you sing with me?” I asked hoping that it would help him calm down a little bit. He was silent as he considered the idea. “Alright, if you’re sure this will help.” He responded. After just the first verse he smiled a little bit even though he was still a bit scared. That quickly melted away as we got through the rest of the song. “Do you and your girl want to head up to the rooftop with me? I could use some fresh air.” He asked. The thought actually sounded nice. We could actually spend some time together and possibly do some more singing while we were at it.
The view of the city from up here was always nice. “I spent some time working on a remix for one of our old songs. I was hoping we could try it out, your girlfriend can listen to us live this time around.” He suggested once we were up there. About a year ago we had gotten together and came up with a few songs and I was a bit curious to know what song he had done. “That sounds like fun to me.” I responded. “Glad we’re on the same wavelength. I hope you remember how this goes.” He said before plugging his phone into the speaker system.
Almost immediately I could tell it was the song we called Always Here. It was the second song we had ever written a few months after that incident. We wrote it to show that we’d be here for each other no matter what was going on in our lives. It was nice to just sing for fun instead of doing so for survival. My brother was also starting to enjoy himself as he sang his heart out.
“Alright that was amazing! We should do this more often. It’s even helping my heart get stronger.” He said a bright smile on his face. That peaceful moment was broken by three-gun shots back-to-back. I didn’t even see that angel coming as he just appeared in front of us. Before I could react, Michael had pulled me back before he started struggling once again. “What a joy it is to run into you again. The two people I want dead the most are here in the same place.” The angel said pointing his gun at my brother. He was having a panic attack as he remembered everything that happened. “I suggest you leave us alone, now.” I said trying to sound more intimidating even though I was scared. “I forgot you even existed midget. I’m not scared of you and besides your only source of protection is having his own problems. I could as an angel, put him out of his misery right now.” He responded. Thinking fast I said the only thing I knew could buy us some time. “Do you want to do a rap battle with me?” I asked. He was taken aback at my question. “I don’t rap; however, I will sing and take your brother and girlfriend to where they belong, in hell.” He laughed.
My brother was shaking as he stepped up next to me. “Not without me.” He said struggling to hide his fear. “Fine then, who knows if you win, I might give you a few seconds to get away.” The angel said. He was surprisingly good even though he really wanted to kill the two people I care about the most. I was lucky that I could pretend that I wasn’t struggling to keep up. It was actually difficult to keep up and by the end I was tired. The angel was not too happy that we managed to hold our own against him. “I didn’t expect you to sound as good as you do. You made me almost enjoy myself singing.” The angel said before shooting my brother in the chest. “Are you okay?” I asked my brother. He said nothing. “My finger must have slipped.” The angel said. It was one of the few times where I was actually scared for myself and my friends.
“Get behind the speaker now.” My brother said, his voice rougher than it usually was. It caught me off guard as he was normally pretty calm. “You’re still standing?” The angel asked raising his gun once more. “Get behind the speaker now!” Michael shouted as the gun was lowered to point at me. I quickly ran behind the speaker with my girlfriend. “I’ll rip your other wing off you flying rat! How dare you come back into my life and try to kill me again!?” He continued, not holding back anymore. He scared me as he never yelled like that even if he was upset with something. He got lucky in that his reflexes were faster than they had been before. He managed to dodge the bullets while he was winning the rap battle. All I could do was watch the scene unfold. I’m usually the one protecting my friends not them trying to protect me. By the end the angel had run out of bullets. “Why did you have to ruin my life? If you hadn’t moved that day none of this would have happened.” The angel asked.
I never got the full story of what had happened that day. My brother must have noticed that my girlfriend was in danger and intercepted the bullet. I’m not sure if this angel was already a fallen one before the incident or if it happened afterwards. “I love my brother and want to make sure he’s happy. They love each other.” Michael responded managing to calm down a bit. “This just can’t be right.” The angel said, losing the energy he had minutes earlier. “Word of advice, take some anger management classes and fix your issues. Maybe then you will understand what to do, or at least come to terms with living in this place.” My brother said somehow not angry. I watched as the angel ran away, leaving the three of us standing on the rooftop. “You two can come out now. I don’t think he’ll be back any time soon.” He said once it was actually safe. My girlfriend looked at my brother and said, “we should get that patched up before it causes some harm. Luckily the bullet made it out the other side, so I can take care of it myself.” She said rubbing her head. He said nothing before following her inside.
After a while I managed to forget about the event. Michael finally got help for his mental issues after a lot of convincing. I went on to challenge some other people and visit some old friends. It was around that time when I received a strange message.
Hey,
I realized that I didn’t know your name and wanted to avoid using what I’ve been calling you. I’ve been trying to change and wanted to speak to you. You don’t have to forgive me or even talk to me. If you want, we can just look over the city from my favorite
spot. At this point I don’t believe that I will be able to return to them, the life I once knew. Please come alone as I don’t want to resurface some bad memories or risk them freaking out. Meet me outside the abandoned building near the edge of the city
tonight and at least hear me out.
The message wasn’t signed and didn’t include much information on who it could be. It just so happened that my girlfriend was out visiting her family for the week which left me alone at the house. On a different day I would have stayed home and ignored that message. Somehow, I could understand what the person wanted and what they were referring to. “It should be fine; I mean I’ve faced off against some dangerous people and made it out on top.” I muttered to myself.
The sun was starting to set below the horizon which meant the meeting time was coming up. It was getting dark by the time I reached the city when I noticed someone familiar standing in the alley. It was connected to the single abandoned building in the city as no one attempted to rebuild it due to someone living inside. “I see you got my message. The name’s Armaros, figured I should get that out of the way to make it easier to talk to you.” The angel said. I noticed that he stopped using a gun and was just waiting around. “You’ve changed. As for my name most just call me Boyfriend and I just stuck with it.” I responded still a little nervous seeing the man who hurt my brother.
Armaros opened the door and motioned for me to head in. It was clear that he was the one living in the building. He had a full kitchen and living spaces through the various floors. He led me to the top floor where one wall was almost gone completely. “I come up here when I need to think about my past decisions. I’m away from people and close to the heart of the city at the same time. That day was no different. Your brother helped me realize that I made mistakes that can never be undone and I’ve come to terms with that fact. I want to try to make the world a better place starting with the city I call home. Your girl’s parents have been showing me what they do for the city. They might all be demons, but they try to help people the best they can, even if their methods of doing so are a bit bizarre to say the least.” Armaros explained. I didn’t say anything as I was too busy admiring the view of the city. It was different compared to what I could see from the roof of my brother’s apartment. Armaros sighed to himself and started singing to himself. It was a song that I felt like I had heard somewhere once before. I just sat there, listening to the melody. Once I was sure I understood it I joined in. It seemed to please Armaros as the song quickly changed to something brighter than the sad song he had started with.
By the end I felt this sense of calm and was able to understand him a bit more. “What even happened that caused you to be cast out?” I asked hoping to get the full story. “I don’t remember. All I remember of that day was Michael being forced to remove one of my wings and push me off. I fell for a long time before a strange man saved me. He had these beautiful black wings and brought me down to the surface safely. He spoke to me and I realized that something was wrong with the situation.” Armaros responded turning away from me towards the city. “Sorry I asked. If I had known I wouldn’t have forced you to answer.” I said feeling bad for making him relive those memories. “Don’t worry about it man. I just had to say something. I can’t hide that part of me forever.” Armaros said before I heard the sound of large wings flapping in the air.
I looked up and saw a figure approaching with large black wings. “I see you’ve changed for the better. I wish I could have been here earlier when you needed me the most.” The stranger said landing in front of us. “I need to know why you saved me that day. You never told me even when I asked multiple times.” Armaros said tears welling up in his eyes. “I saw a goodness in you that they could never see. Considering they forced your closest friend to do the deed says a lot about how they feel. I knew you needed some time to release your rage towards heaven. It wouldn’t do you any good if you were still holding your feelings inside. There was a good chance it would explode later on and cause more damage.” The angel said looking Armaros in the eyes as he spoke. “I have just one more question. Why are you trapped outside of their gates Sorath? It’s been bothering me for a while.” Armaros asked finally having a chance to get answers. “I was born with wings as black as the starless night sky. They grew much faster and bigger than everyone else. They believed that I was related to the first fallen angel even though I had done nothing wrong to deserve it. When I fell, he was the one to save me like I did for you. I owed him for saving my life and he gave me the task of watching over the humans and guiding other fallen angels to help heal the world. He helped me repair my wings so I could fly once more. To be honest I had a similar reaction to you when I fully understood what had just happened. Eventually the people I ended up hurting forgave me and gave me a second chance to prove that I can be a better person.” Sorath responded.
Once he was done, he finally noticed that I was sitting there. He smiled softly as I decided to spend time with Armaros instead of just ignoring him or trying to fight him. “I had no idea that this has been going on for that long.” I said after a few minutes. “You’re a good kid. I’ve seen your rap battles and how they bring joy to those you meet. Please help Armaros stay on the right path and maybe have him join you on your travels. If you do that, he will see how easy it can be to make someone’s day a little better.” Sorath suggested, “I have to go. There are some more fallen angels I need to assist. I’ll be back in a few years to see how far you have come since I last visited.” Sorath took off and flew towards the horizon.
All of this was hard to take in as I never knew that his anger was born after being unfairly cast out. “I need to personally apologize to your brother, if he’ll even listen. He’s a bit scary being a bounty hunter and all, I may need your help in making sure he doesn’t try to kill me.” Armaros said looking up at star blanketed sky. “If anything, the ghosts will tell him of your arrival. Hopefully they will be honest and not tell him that you are trying to cause more trouble. I will help you out as I can tell you mean everything you have told me so far. We can go over right now if you want.” I responded as I rested a hand on his shoulder. He said nothing and nodded as tears rolled down his cheeks. I stood u and helped him do the same. He wiped his tears and followed me to the edge of the city. By the time we arrived at the apartment building the sun had risen above the horizon. At least my brother would be awake. I made my way to the door and knocked three times. Armaros attempted to hide behind me but couldn’t as he was a lot taller than me.
Eventually my brother opened the door and froze as he looked at Armaros. “I need to talk to you. Can we come in?” Armaros asked gripping his right arm. He avoided my brother’s eyes and just looked at the ground. “Alright, I’ll give you a chance to explain. If he’s fine with you I will at least hear you out and decide how I feel from there.” Michael said stepping aside to allow us to head inside. The gesture seemed to surprise Armaros as he didn’t think it would go this smoothly. As we passed by the kitchen Michael grabbed a chair from the table and dragged it over to the couch. He and Armaros took a seat on the couch and I sat on the chair. He had made me the mediator between the two of them, I didn’t mind of course. “I’m sorry for everything. I know that I did something that you probably won’t forgive me for and I don’t blame you. I realized I had messed up badly and have been trying to change thing for the better.” Armaros said. Michael wasn’t sure what to think as he didn’t expect any sort of apology. He looked at me for some advice. I couldn’t do much as it was up to him whether or not he wanted to give him a second chance. “You’re right I can’t forgive you just yet, I’m not sure if I ever will. I am willing to give you a second chance to prove that you are not the same person you were back then. I should have asked you about why you were acting that way instead of just assuming that you were just evil for no reason.” Michael responded. “It’s not your fault. I was dealing with the rage of being cast out for no reason. I couldn’t keep the feelings bottled up, but I should have gone about releasing it another way that didn’t involve hurting others. Your brother knows as I was comfortable enough to tell him what happened before I ended up here.” Armaros said. My brother turned to face me and asked, “do your girl’s parents approve?” I nodded and smiled softly.
He looked around the room before stopping in a particular spot. It seemed like he was talking to the ghosts to hear if what Armaros was saying is true. The lights flickered and shut off. In the spot my brother was looking I could just about make out the form of a figure standing there. It was so faint that I didn’t even notice that it started to speak. Even if I could have seen it clearly, I don’t have the ability to hear the dead like my brother. “It seems like you have made a difference here since we last met each other. Many of the ghosts have told stories about how you helped them move on.” Michael said after several minutes. Armaros laughed softly and said, “I didn’t seek them out or even know they were there. I guess I was helping them without even realizing it.”
The air felt lighter as I watched the pair talk about their feelings. It goes to show what can change from a simple rap battle. They’re not going to be getting close to each other any time soon, but they have made the first step towards that goal. I’m not sure if I will see Armaros or his friend again on my travels or if this meeting will be our last. I was just happy that I managed to help him come to terms with what he did and what he can do for the future.