Techno still hadn't woken. Philza knelt beside him, his face set, his eyes distant, his hands mechanically petting the hybrid over and over again. He was thinking about what he'd just done. Calling out to Kristen, to the lady of Death, accepting his role as her angel. For years and years he'd done nothing but seek to return to her side, roaming the world in search of anything he could use: a portal, a spell, a ritual, suicide, anything. He'd tried for so long. But now...

Long ago, she had given him wings. Made him her angel. He had a task, a duty, and so far he had not fulfilled it. Until today. Phil gazed at Techno, sleeping under the cape. Maybe it wasn't mere chance that had brought this man to the pit where Phil had struggled, helpless and agonized. Maybe this person had been exactly who he'd needed to wake him up.

Philza shuffled around Techno until he could rest his friend's head on his knees, then he resumed his petting. Philza was a very tactile person, which meant that every time Techno had come near him, Phil would tap him or pat his knee or stroke his arm. He was honestly surprised Techno hadn't told him to stop yet. Maybe he didn't mind. Or just didn't care. It was hard to read Techno.

A soft breeze wafted past the cave entrance, and Phil caught a quick scent of roses. He frowned. That should be impossible. No way were there roses this late in the year, and certainly not after the storm of last night. He sniffed again. Yes, it was certainly roses. Agh, now he had to go see what it was. He glanced down at Techno and gently lowered his head back to the ground. "Just a minute, mate." He whispered, and started his slow, awkward creep to the mouth of the cave.

The air outside was brisk, but definitely a change for the better from last night. Phil breathed in deeply, letting the cool wind refresh him from the inside out. The scent of the flowers was much stronger now, but not overpowering. Philza glanced around outside the cave's entrance, his blue eyes going wide at what they saw.

Bushes had sprouted up overnight, crowding the sides of the cave mouth. Rose blossoms, red as the heart's darkest blood, grew from almost every aperture, their petals shining with the morning's dew, and brown and black leaves sprouted everywhere a flower did not show its face.

The flowers of Death.

The angel rose to his knees, a cry of joy bursting from his lips and his hands extending to the sky. "You heard me! Kristen, you heard me!" He had not heard a sound or received a sign from her in decades, perhaps longer. As long as he had struggled to find his way back to her deathly realm, she had been silent. But now, with the acceptance of his power, of the life she had given him, now she responded.

Philza stared at the flowers. Kristen's flowers. He had never seen a more beautiful sight in all the years he had journeyed upon this earth. The sheer relief, the giddy delight of hearing from his beloved for the first time in years and years sent waves of euphoria over Phil's mind. He ran his hands through his hair, laughing.

"Phil?" A weary voice behind him made the angel start. He turned, and saw Technoblade standing a few feet behind him. The hybrid gazed sleepily at Phil, his body still wrapped in the cape, his pink hair even more disheveled than usual. "Phil, you okay? What's with the flowers?"

Philza grinned. "Yeah, mate. I'm good. I...I..." Words failed him as he stared at the very mortal hybrid, at someone who could not possibly understand what it meant to love Death. To be loved by someone so deadly yet so gentle to mortal kind. Who gave wings and immortality to those she adored, who lived in a place that slowly killed any mortal who dared to walk there, who made them her angels. So that one day they could return to her, fashioned by their journeys into a new being, someone who could live as she did in the land of Death. At last, Philza understood his purpose. And wondered, with a breathless laugh, why he had not figured it out before.

His wings twitched. Technoblade's eyes widened as he watched them jerk upwards and fix themselves securely into Phil's spine. Philza gasped, his hand flying to his back as he fell forward. For a second, he was still. The large black wings folded naturally upon his back.

****

Techno stood frozen, unsure what to do or what he'd just witnessed. He swallowed. "Phil?" It was almost worse that the Voices were completely silent. In this moment, confused and half-afraid, Techno was alone.

Philza stirred. He got to his hands and knees again, his back facing Techno. First one foot then the other was drawn beneath him as he crouched where he was. Then, slowly, he stood straight.

Techno's heart rate spiked and his senses all came alive with the threat of danger. He clenched his hands, shifted his stance and dropped the cape, ready for whatever Phil might do when he turned around. His sword and ax were back in the cave. If he could get to them before Phil could get to him, this fight would be over quickly.

He didn't let himself feel sad.

Philza bent and plucked one of the roses, cradling it to his chest tenderly. He bowed his head and whispered, so quietly Techno was certain only his enhanced hearing could have caught it. "Thank you, my love. I will see you again someday." He glanced over his shoulder at Technoblade, who still stood ready to fight. "Techno, mate, what are you doing?"

There was no monster. No change had taken Phil away. The man stood there, merely healed. His hair gleamed in the morning light, his smile shone with undisguised merriment and joy, his dark wings lay closed on his back. No monster.

An angel.
Philza's an angel.
Plot twist!!!
Philza angel pog!
Death's beloved.

Never before in his many, many years had Techno looked upon someone and not known what they were. Everyone he'd ever met followed a certain basic set of rules all mortals followed. But when he looked upon this laughing man before him, Techno was at a loss. He couldn't even begin to identify what limits or powers or...who he was now. What even was an angel? Death's beloved? What?

"What just happened, Phil? What on earth just happened?" Techno lowered his fists, but kept them tight at his sides. He would not be caught off guard. Not again.

Grinning like a child, Philza stretched his arms and wings in both directions, and turned to face Technoblade fully. He looked so happy, Techno wasn't even sure how to respond. "Oh, mate, there's so much I have to tell you!" Phil said excitedly. He stepped towards Techno, his hands extended to take the hybrid's own.

Techno backed up quickly. "Stay right where you are, Phil." He cast a quick look behind him, but the cave was too dark for him to locate his gear inside it. "Just-just tell me what happened, alright? The Voices are yellin' about an angel and Death and I-I do not get it, Phil. I do not get it. What's goin' on? What was that?" The hybrid's dark red eyes stared fixedly at the angel's blue ones, trying to understand what he saw.

Phil held up his hands and retreated, giving Techno space. "I'm sorry, mate. You're right, I should tell you what's happened before anything else. And I will. Alright? I'm not going to hurt you, Techno. I haven't been changed, mate, I've just been healed. I was fixed, that was all. Nothing about me's been damaged, okay? I'm still the same person."

"I barely even know who that is!" Techno cried. "I pulled you from a pit a few weeks ago, I don't know who you are."

Yes we do.
He is Philza Minecraft.
Angel Philza.
Angelza.
Oh, that's good!
Philza give the petzas.

Techno shook his head, disbanding the tumult that had risen in this man's favor. "I don't-I don't care about any of that. Phil, what...who are you?" He felt a thud as his back hit the cave wall. He hadn't even realized he'd given ground. What is wrong with me? He pushed off the stone and stood once more straight and defiant, his posture challenging.

But Phil would not rise to meet his aggression. He merely sat upon the ground, his wings folding up again and his hands on his knees. A peaceful move. Techno felt his muscles relax an infinitesimal amount. "Once I was a normal human, like most others in this world. Many thousands of years ago, actually. I have no real memory of those days, I only know that they happened." He glanced at the bushes again and reached out a hand to stroke a rose petal.

"At some point," he resumed, "I was injured, so badly that I nearly died. I lingered on that edge for a long, long time, and that...that's when I met Her." Phil grinned again. "I met the lady Death."

Technoblade was confounded. "Heh?"

"Mentally, I was in a place just before death, just on the edge of life." Philza explained. "That is where she exists. That is where she reigns; Death herself, who guides all who die to whatever afterlife they have earned. And she...oh, Techno you have no idea what she's like." Phil gazed at the air, his eyes wide. "She...she is huge and wise and beautiful, Techno. She has existed since the world began, but time...time means such a different thing to her than it does to us."

"Bro, you're not makin' any sense." Techno crossed his arms. His Voices were bothering him, alternatively yelling about this lady Death or yelling about angels in general. He was finding it hard to focus on what Phil was saying.

"Alright, well, to keep this simple," Phil said, "she and I spent a long time in that...realm of hers. I don't even know just how long, to be honest, but it was definitely for many years. And we...well..." He looked up at Techno a little shyly, "over time...we..." Phil blushed and looked away.

Techno blinked. What is he talking about? How? How does this even work?

"There was never anything physical." Philza added softly. "There never needed to be. All we needed was each other. To talk to, to understand, to enjoy, to...to love."

The last words were said so tenderly Technoblade felt as though he were treading on sacred ground. And he didn't understand it. He really didn't understand any of it. So he kept listening.

"But one day," Philza continued, "one day Kristen, that's her name, told me we had to part ways. For a while. I could not stay in her land indefinitely. I was mortal, I could not exist forever as something in-between life and death. And once I was truly dead, I would pass beyond her land; we would never meet again. Which is why she made me her angel." Philza spread his black wings and wrapped them around himself. "She told me that one day I could return, but only after I had journeyed as her angel on this earth for a while and been transformed by that journey into someone new, someone capable of living in her land with her forever." Philza smiled sadly. "But I...I didn't want to come back to life. All I wanted, all I've ever wanted since I woke, was her. And I didn't really understand what it was I was being asked to do, what the end goal was. I just wanted to get back to her quickly. So I spent countless years researching, traveling, trying to find ways to return to that land of Death. To her."

Techno huffed. "What, you can't die?"

Phil shook his head. "No, I can die. But it's very, very hard to kill me. I found that out for myself. But, to add to that, simple death is not how I'd get to her. I've already almost died once, and dwelled in her lands. If I die again by any normal means, I merely pass into the afterlife, beyond her reach. At least, that's what my studies have told me."

The angel fell silent, his head bowed and his blond hair spilling over his face. He rubbed his face with his hand and sighed. "Techno?"

The hybrid remained silent.

"I was healed because I accepted her gift. I am now fully an angel of Death. But I have no idea what I'm supposed to do in this transformative journey I'm to take. I do know," he added, lifting his head again, "that angels have a specific power: they decide who lives."

Techno frowned. "What does that mean?"

Phil looked about him at the winter-dead forest that surrounded the two of them. "It means that if someone is on the brink of death, if someone is in danger of their lives, I can decide that they won't die that day. Whatever happens to them when I'm not around is out of my control, but if I am there, if I know what is happening to them, I can decide that they're going to be okay."

Techno's ears perked up. So that was what his dream had been about. Before his eyes flashed once more those strange images: a twilight land of somber beauty, filled with ancient forests, ruins, slow-moving rivers, and a single mountain. He had seen...he had seen a woman, tall as a redwood tree, her black hair and eyes accentuating her pale skin. She'd worn a simple dress of dark purple and a wide-brimmed hat with a rose tucked into the right side. A thin veil hung from the edge of the hat and fluttered over her smiling face. Crows flapped about her and she wore a single, beautifully ornamented heart at her waist. It was the same heart he'd seen on Phil's wristbands and on a necklace he apparently always carried with him, but never wore. Techno stared at Philza.

"You were there," he murmured, "you were both there...Phil, you pulled me out." He remembered how the woman had knelt down and cupped him in her enormous palm. He remembered how he had tried to get away, how hard he'd fought to escape her. But then Philza, shining like the rising sun, had simply appeared. He looked so small beside the towering lady. So small, and yet...she had bowed her whole self to him in respect. In love? Phil had stretched out his hand and taken Technoblade back into the dark warmth of mere sleep.

"You...you saved my life, Phil." He could hardly comprehend what he'd just heard. Or what he'd just said.

Bah! Technoblade never dies.
Nature's a killer, tho.
We saw Mumza!
Angel of Death pog!
Technoblade never dies!
Philza? Glowza?

Phil met Techno's gaze. Slowly, he nodded. "I did. I called out to Kristen and used my power for the first time." He chuckled, "I'm just glad it worked."

A dozen thoughts swirled through Techno's mind, joining the Voices in their cacophony of protests and praise. So loud...Techno groaned and rubbed his temples. "So...let me get this straight here. You're some kind of human-turned-angel who's in love with Death and who has been tryin' to find the proper way to die so you can get back to her for like, thousands of years. Eventually you wake up and realize you actually need to do what Death told you so you can actually get back to her." He shot a puzzled glare at Phil. "And now...what? You said you don't know what your super journey is supposed to be about, so how are you even goin' to finish it? What's the goal here?"

Philza sat back and looked up at the sky. "I don't know yet. That's going to be one of the things I guess the journey itself will reveal."

Techno grimaced. "That's great, Phil. And what will you do in the meantime?"

"Well, where were you going?"

Techno rubbed his jaw. "Nowhere in particular. Just northish."

"Maybe I can come 'northish' with you, then." Phil said, laughing. "We can see what the land brings us."

A great sense of reluctance shadowed Technoblade's heart. For a moment, the Voices, more honest than he was right now, crowded into his head with laughter and savagery.

Blood! Blood!
He could fight alongside us.
We will destroy all!
Down with the government!
Philza and Technoblade let's goooooo.
Blood! Blood! Blood!

Techno's ears went flat against his head as he winced. "I-It's probably best if you figure this out yourself, Philza. You don't know what I'm like, okay? You think you've seen me out of control because I almost lose it once? No. No. You don't even want to know what I'm like when I get mad, Phil. You don't even want to know." He shook his head and took a step backward. "Go on your journey, angel of Death. Leave me to myself." He turned back into the cave to collect his gear.

He heard Philza come in after him with a determined stride. Techno tried to ignore him, but when he felt the hand grab his shoulder he froze up. "Let go of me, Phil."

The angel came around in front of Techno, his hand sliding down to Techno's wrist. "If I leave you alone, Techno, you will be consumed by your own rage and loneliness. You will die."

Techno pulled away, scoffing. "If there's one thing that's true about me, Philza, it's that I never die."

"I don't mean it like that," Phil pressed, "I mean you, who you are, will die. You will lose yourself to the Voices before anyone else can reach out to you."

We own you already.
You don't need help.
Except maybe Philza.
You will never escape us.
Philza's warm.

"And how would you be able to guess that?" Techno demanded. He drew himself up to his full height, which put his jaw on a level with the top of Phil's head. "Don't pretend you know me."

Phil raised his hands again and lowered his head. "I have seen many things in my years on this earth, mate. And I have been many things. I know how to tell when someone's drowning."

Not us. Not Technoblade.
He doesn't understand.
He has never heard us before, how could he?
We demand Blood.
Not Phil's, though. Just blood.
Listen to Phil. We want him along.

Techno stood torn between the desires of the Voices and the fear in his heart. How could he accept this man's company, when he could see through Techno's defences so easily? When a single word, a touch, sufficed to reveal some weakness Techno had been unaware of. He became shamefully conscious that he already missed the feel of Phil's hand on his shoulder.

But if the Voices didn't get their way...what would they do to him?