Warning for intentional tense mix up, and stranger danger

one – the wilting leaves

Bagramon stumbles.

The prophecy is one and one and two and-

The angel Gabriel has lost his wings.

He can only hear the ringing of the bells, the death knolls of the diamond that decides fate and-

The prophecy is two and one and two in one and-

The fallen angel has a false bottom.

Bagramon closes his one eye (the other cries viscous blood into his bleached white hair) and tries to calm the swirling whispers in his head. He has to concentrate, has to hear what's being said, what needs to be made whole and broken to be put in pieces.

The angel has lost its wings, for the skeletal remains will fly. The dreams will sink into the earth. The world dyed red will dance under the light of the sun as the rainbow gathers the clovers. There will be a new day, where the sun will forgo the night, but only if the stars fail to twinkle

He opens his eye again and the socket hurts. Unnecessarily vague and unhelpful. But then, this is god, this is a homeostasis. This is a balance-keeper. It doesn't have to make sense or tell anyone anything smart.

But God, does he wish. Even though he shouldn't wish on God (because they cannot answer anymore), he wishes anyway. He wishes that this world was good and made sense and that the universe was full of love like in the stories. But it is not and he cannot change that fact. He moves forward against that fact.

It is all he can do.

Yet the prophecy dooms him. It dooms everyone by insistent prods at the humans who do not love him, who do not want them. They don't even know that he exists but they doom him anyway. It's a little fitting, if he's going to be honest. If his plan worked, he would doom a countless number of lives.

Sometimes to doom someone was to save them, he supposed. Would that do any good?

The world dyed red…

A golden crown was gathered at the center of the world, at the castle known as the system world, where the conscience slept. The rumors said her sleep had become disturbed and her crown had cracked.

Bagramon opened his eyes to the great tree in front of him and his scarred flesh tingled with a feeling akin to desperation.

Here you are. It was almost like the goddess girl was whispering to him. Here is an idea. Save yourself.

Save himself? But why? Everyone was going to die in any case. What worth was there in saving himself? Unless there was a way to avert it all and erase this future…

Well, that would be by getting rid of what dyed the world red. That sounded much easier than rebelling against a broken system.

Taiki loved rain and hated rainy days.

On the surface, this sentence didn't make much sense, but it was the thought he was absolutely sure about. And when you're under the age of ten, you spend a lot of time being both certain and uncertain of a lot of things. It was kind of inevitable.

He had his reasons. Everyone has reasons for why they do anything. His just happened to coincide with the single lily on a classmate's desk and an ambulance siren. But no one would hear those words aloud. No one would see his tears either.

"Taiki, hurry up!"

Taiki obeyed without thinking, recognizing that voice with ease. "Akari, slow down, what's the matter?!" His goggles bounced against his hair, still too loose for his head. They slipped onto his thin collarbone and stung, making him wince. He really wasn't sure what could be the matter when they were barely eight years old and barring sickness and parent things, there was no hurry to go home. There were clubs and things.

Well, now that he thought about it, Akari did have brothers to look after. So she probably needed to get going.

Of course when he reached her halfway down the hall, that wasn't what she was after in the slightest. She was instead staring at the list of clubs tacked to the bulletin board. It strained her neck so much he thought that he could see her veins. Ew. That was weird. "What?" He followed her eyes. "Akari, you hate origami."

She gave him a pinch on the arm and he pouted. "Well, you doooo!"

"I know!" She stomped on foot, making her already loose trousers droop even more. He unconsciously went to fix them. Someday she would remember to wear these right. Or get a smaller size. "But my brothers are better at it than me. It's annoying."

"Oh." Taiki frowned a little. "Well, I can show you how. You don't need a club."

"Dad wants me in a club." Akari huffed. "Says they build character. Doesn't your mom want you to?"

"Mom just wants me to get good grades and eat my vegetables and not jump off the swingset or I will break my head," Taiki recited almost like he was on cue. "She probably doesn't want me to do any sports clubs."

"I wouldn't." Akari returned to scanning the club sheets again. "You'd beat out everyone and then it'd be boring."

He pouted at her, cheeks sinking down in the most pitiful way he knew, more even than the last one. "I would not!"

"Not on purpose," she finally conceded and well, Akari probably had a point. If he was really good at using words like conceded in his head he was more than likely to do stuff like that on accident. "But you should do something harmless, like sewing or art."

"Art sounds fine." Taiki scanned the sewing club list and huffed. "Needles though."

Akari shuddered in agreement. "Yeah, never mind. Like bug bites."

"Ew." The two of them shook their heads at the same time and left the bulletin board.

"Too bad there's no old games club," Taiki mused, adjusting his backpack to get his umbrella. "You'd be great at that." He put the bright yellow thing over both his own fluffy head of hair and Akari's red one. He always carried an umbrella with him now. Even if it did no one any good, it was almost impulse by now to have it on him. It kept the rain as far away from his head as possible.

Akari made an exasperated face. "Taiki, I have an umbrella too!"

"I knowww!" He held up his. "But mine's big enough, so it's okay right?"

She sighed. It really wasn't a big deal. It was just kinda annoying, like he was trying to be her knight in shining armor or something. She didn't need that, okay? She was seven years old and tough as nails and he knew it.

Walking down the sidewalk was usually quiet on rainy days. Things got canceled, everything was boring, and she wanted to be home as soon as possible before her brothers got home and ruined all of the nice, peaceful quiet. Taiki needed to be home too, just because, well, he did. He was always unhappy on rainy days, though he'd never say it aloud.

He never said anything important aloud. She didn't like it.

If only she could do something about that.

As he watched the children part, Bagramon watched the boy, drooping in the rain, eyes cloudy with some human emotion that was heavier than Digimon knew. In his mind, the prophecy expanded, speaking of red and blue and purple, but also of pink and orange and teal. She was related to the boy, the red. She was a pillar of the red. If she could be altered, or at least her course changed to one that was more beneficial, then-

Then what? He would be in uncharted territory.

Well, that was fine. The world was going to begin anew. It would just be better if it began anew under him, then it would under the whim of a small, fragile, human boy and the little ones he carried with him, surely.

Imagine if he could bring those visions together. He could do that. That would be enough. Then he could find out how he lost at all.

Yet the boy looks familiar… in some way.

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated, concentrated long and hard. The world shot up around him, dulling colors and soul flames snuffing out too fast, too easily. He lands across the street and walks over to her. A cane thunks heavily in his hand.

"Hello there, little one," he croaked. She jumped, dropping her umbrella. Human sentimentality kicked in for her quickly. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know where I can get these old things repaired." He waved a pair of glasses, red frames cracked and dull. Her expression softened, and the old man smiled.

Humans are such easy prey.

A/N: Or, the story where Aiko tells canon to take a quick hike and what happens when Akari and Bagramon have an interaction beyond attempted murder. Apparently. Oops. Relatively short and sweet, but the plot should be should be updated every other week or so, once everything is out.

Challenges/Contests: Random Restrict Competition Competition, Monthly Restrict Challenge, Three Sided Box, 100 Prompts, 100 MCs - vision, Diversity Writing Prompt J4.