He remembered it like it was yesterday.

He was all scratched up and bloody, his previously pure white wings now an ashy black. Several feathers missing, leaving bald spots in his wings. His normally blond hair was practically brown with how dirty it was, haven't being able to wash it in god-knows-how-long.

And to top it all off, he was stuck in an alley of some city in god-knows-where in the middle of winter in 2001.

Great...

"Do you know why you were sent down here?" An Angel that he never bothered to remember the name of asked him, his arms crossed.

He sighed, shaking his head. "I just thought the big man was just sick of me."

The Angel sighed irritably. "Well, yes, but you were sent down here to be a sort of...guardian Angel...for three souls damned into life. Well, two of them have, anyway. The third one should be born in about..." He checked his nonexistent watch. "Three years."

He crossed his arms. "And what if I refuse to acknowledge this?"

"Then you won't like the consequences." The Angel sighed. "Listen, there's a toddler in this very city that has just been kicked to the streets because he wasn't 'normal'. It is currently -3° Fahrenheit, and that baby has no warm clothes on. He has maybe an hour at most before the cold kills him. It's up to you to save the poor kid. I don't care what you do afterward, but if you don't save that kid then you'll be stuck here for the rest of eternity. It's up to you."

Phil sighed. "Fine."

The Angel nodded before flying off into the atmosphere, leaving the fallen Angel alone.

~<•>~

Finding the kid wasn't hard. I mean, what other kid has pig ears, a pigtail, mini tusks, and naturally pink hair?

What was hard, however, is finding a place for both him and the piglin to sleep that will both be comfortable and warm for the two-year-old.

Right now the toddler was wrapped up in an old discarded blanket he found. It didn't provide much warmth, but he assumed that what little heat the blanket did provide plus his own body heat should be enough to keep the toddler alive at least.

"Angel!" Phil shouted as he spotted a motel nearby.

"What?"

Phil turned around to look at the brunette behind him, who didn't look particularly happy to be there. "I need money to spend the night at the motel over there."

The Angel looked at the piglin in Phil's arms before smiling softly. "Look in your pocket."

Phil looked into his back pocket, finding a wallet with about a thousand dollars in cash, a couple of credit cards, and a driver's license with all his basic information.

"It's not much, but it's all the basic necessities you'll need to spend a lifetime here on earth."

"Wait, but you said I could go back after I save the kid." Phil protested.

"I never said anything like that." The Angel argued. "I said I didn't care what you do after you saved him, I never said anything about coming back. Not until the third soul is dead, at least."

"And that will be when?"

"Well, the kid won't be born for another three years, and Death said that he's got a good thirty or so years on him, so." The Angel shrugged.

"Thirty? That's awfully short."

"Yeah, well, he's awfully reckless. But so is that one," he pointed to the sleeping tot in his arms. "And the older one."

"Why am I getting the problematic ones!?"

"Because they need you, Phil." He sighed. "I'll see you in a few years, alright?"

The blond fallen Angel sighed as he started walking to the motel. "Fine."

~<•>~

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