Daiya refused to let Fin move from his bed the next several days. He might have been alive, but his injury was nothing to scoff at. The local doctor had visited twice, once to tend to the wound and the other time to give him medication to take for a starting fever. Fin had refused to take the bitter pills, but Daiya would have none of his stubbornness. 

Fin bit him twice when he tried to shove the pills down his throat, but Daiya was persistent. He had his own injuries to tend to, and had lost his patience for Fin's complaining quickly. 

"You could at least try to hide it in the food, you brat." Fin said as he sat up in his bed and rubbed at his head, messing up his hair even more than it already was.

Daiya was in the process of gently rubbing medicine into the damaged skin around his eye when Fin spoke. He was sitting at the man's small work desk with his ankle crossed over his opposite knee. Instead of replying, he continued to remain focused on his current endeavor, clearly not feeling the need to respond. 

Fin grunted and stood up, finally drawing Daiya's attention up to him as he began working a bandage around his damaged eye. 

"Give me that. You always wrap them too loosely." Fin said as he walked over, clearly a little unsteady on his feet.

 Daiya scowled and ducked around him to plop down onto the bed and continue wrapping the bandage. Fin turned around, sending him a glare that would have terrified the scariest undead. 

"You do not worry me, Fin." He mumbled as he tied the fabric behind his head, then finally looked up with a cocky half-grin. The damaged side of his face still had trouble with expressions off and on, but it was definitely getting better. 

Before he could process what he was doing, Fin was leaning over him and his back was flat against the soft blankets of their bed. 

"You have definitely changed, Daiya." He growled quietly as Daiya swiped his tongue along his lips, then leaned up on his elbows to steal a kiss.

Fin sat back on Daiya's legs abruptly, wiping at his mouth before his hand was gently grasped and pulled away from his lips. Daiya kissed his knuckles and sighed, his eyes closed as he pressed Fin's hand against his forehead. 

"I'm so happy that you are here." He whispered before pressing another kiss to Fin's palm. 

There was a quiet hiss from Fin, but instead of pulling away, he remained still while Daiya nuzzled his right hand like a cat. 

"How did you save me, by the way? You still don't understand what you did?" He asked as he slowly got himself seated beside Daiya on the bed, who quickly found his way into Fin's lap.  

Instead of answering, Daiya just wrapped his arms around Fin's neck and snuggled in with a content sigh. He'd been asked that question a hundred times, but he couldn't give an answer he didn't have, so he gave none. 

When Fin realized that, he sighed and gently grasped Daiya's waist to remove him from his lap. 

"I have things to tend to, now that I am able." He said as he stood, only swaying slightly. 

Daiya looked ready to argue, but Fin pressed a finger to his lips. 

"Enough. I have rested plenty. I have things that need taken care of, and I cannot see to them if I am lying in bed all hours of the day." He said as he headed for the washroom to clean up. 

His bath had been filled earlier in the day, so it was cold when he finally settled into it, but it still looked like he enjoyed the cool water. Daiya tried to help him scrub himself a couple times, but the man was stubborn! 

They both paused after Daiya's third attempt was foiled by Fin grabbing both of his wrists and holding them up and to the side. Silence took over as Fin glared and Daiya pouted. 

"Are you still going to try and sell me? You love me. You can't sell me." He said, his tone seeming worried. 

Fin's eyes softened slightly before he yanked Daiya into his bath, making the guy yelp as his clothing absorbed the cold water. 

"No one would buy you now." He said as he pulled Daiya against his chest and leaned his head back against the wall. "You are far too stubborn and pushy." 

Daiya opened his mouth to reply, when his eyes caught light shifting along the wall across from them. 

What is that? 

"What's wrong?" Fin asked, his body tense. The hand he had on Daiya's back was pressing harder as he straightened and looked around. 

If he wasn't worried, Daiya would have thought that Fin's protective behavior was adorable. It made him want to kiss him, but he couldn't lose focus. There was definitely something else in the washroom. 

"Show yourself." He said as he slowly turned in Fin's arms to face the golden light that was fading in and out near the wall. 

The lights wavered, then a young man somewhere around twenty slowly materialized. He was balancing on the edge of the bathing tub with ease. Bright white and cream wings lifted and lowered slowly from where they were attached to his back. Some of the feathers disappeared into the walls on either side of him, but he didn't even seem to notice. 

Can he move through walls? 

" We will not accept anymore deals, be gone." Fin said, a strong warning in the tone of his voice. 

Daiya stared at the young man, who wasn't wearing more than a wrap of cloth around his waist that reached a little past his knees. The man blinked slowly, the action unnerving Daiya for some reason. 

"They cannot speak, but their gestures are deadly. Do not take anything he does lightly." Fin said as he carefully began shifting his body so that he could push Daiya behind him.

Looking over the man again, Daiya noted his sickly white skin, pale nails and dreary blue eyes. Atop his silvery-blond hair sat a halo that crackled quietly in the enclosed room. He felt like he was missing something, but his focus was broken when the angel began lifting its left hand and leaning toward him. 

It didn't look like it would have been able to make such a move without falling into the water, but it easily leaned forward. Its wings spread out wide to either side of him to vanish further into the walls. 

All of a sudden, Daiya was out of the tub and fumbling onto the washroom floor. He slipped once trying to get up, then hurried from the room with Fin hot on his heels. They both turned toward the room in time to see the angel step through the wall, ignoring the open doorway completely. As it rematerialized inside the bedroom, Daiya's eyes widened. 

His nails are turning black... and it looks like the skin on his right arm and leg has pulled taut over just bone now. 

"Why is he changing so dramatically?" He whispered as he hesitantly backed away with Fin beside him.  

"Changing? He looks just as disturbing as he had when in the washroom." Fin said as he started reaching to the side for the dagger he had resting on his desk. 

Daiya pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes on the slowly approaching angel. 

"His nails are turning black, and the right side of his body looks like there is no longer any muscle. It's like he's a walking skeleton with skin pulled over bone." He said, drawing a raised eyebrow from Fin as he drew his dagger from its sheath and brandished it at the man. 

"I do not know what you are seeing, Daiya. He appears as he did in the washroom to me." Fin said as their backs hit the far wall of the bedroom, halting their retreat. 

"His eyes are becoming pure white. Fin, I think he is a zombie." Daiya said. 

Fin seemed surprised by his statement and narrowed his eyes on the angel, who had stopped only a few feet away and was already beginning to lift his arm again. It was the right one, its fingers bony and getting paler by the second. 

"Angels have never been zombies, Daiya, and this man is clearly one of God's filthy creations." 

Licking his lips nervously, Daiya stepped forward and mimicked the angel's gesture, raising his arm just a little faster so that the action completed before the man's. 

"Stop." He said with a firm tone as he widened his fingers. 

The angel's arm halted abruptly, but the man seemed to be straining all of a sudden. His fist was shaking, but he was not reacting besides that.

"He actually stopped?" Fin questioned, clearly awed as he walked around Daiya and up to the angel. 

The halo atop the man's head crackled and snapped as fire grew along its edges. 

"She's trying to give him commands, but he can't move... because of you." He said quietly as he looked back at Daiya. 

He really wasn't sure how he was doing what he was, but Daiya kept his focus and started slowly walking forward. There has to be a way to stop him permanently. I wish I knew how to make the undead return to the ground. 

He'd seen Fin do it a few times when he was done using a zombie horse or minion, but he got no response from the angel after thinking the command several different ways. 

 When he got within a foot of him, Daiya met the man's white eyes and frowned. He gave no sign of recognition. Perhaps she is just seeing through your eyes. Perhaps you are no longer able to rest beneath the Earth. He thought as he let his eyes rise to the vibrating halo sitting atop his head. It hovered just barely above his now-white hair. 

"I remember when she tried to put one of those things on my head. Even dead, it did not feel good." He said with a sad smile as he began reaching up with his other hand. 

"It will burn your flesh, Daiya, do not grab it." Fin warned. 

He remembered. Fin had gotten his hand damaged saving him from being turned into an angel, but for some reason, Daiya didn't feel worried. 

"I can help him." He said, earning a scowl from Fin, though he didn't try to stop him. 

"The only thing he wants is you, for God." He said. 

Daiya smiled sadly and gently grasped the burning halo atop the angel's head. It didn't hurt him, which prompted him to tug on it. It began vibrating harshly as he put in more effort. 

"Let him rest." He said, anger in his voice for the poor man that was being controlled against his will. 

The crackling in the room grew to a near-deafening buzz before the halo shattered in Daiya's hands with a thunderous boom. The power released from the small object sent him and Fin stumbling backward and to the floor. 

Daiya shook his head to try and clear the ringing in his ears before he looked up to where the angel had been standing. 

Dust and bones. 

Fin stood from where he'd fallen against his desk, eyes wide with surprise. 

"Rest in peace." Daiya whispered before he noticed flickering lights beginning to materialize around the room. 

Fin hissed and grabbed Daiya's wrist, tugging him closer to the window, working the latch to open it with his free hand. 

"More of them. He was just a warning." He said as the window swung outward and  a strong gust of wind blew into the room. 

Fin was just turning to start climbing out the window when a set of jaws filled with needle-like teeth snapped closed right in front of his nose. 

"Kovash!" Daiya shouted happily as he watched his bat demon secure itself to the overhanging shingles. 

May I be of use, master Daiya? The zombie thought into his mind, drawing a huge grin to his face as he swung up onto his back. Fin quickly followed, though he received a grunt of displeasure from Kovash for doing so. 

"Let's fly, Kovash." Daiya said with a grin as his beloved demon jumped from the window just in time to avoid a bright flash of fire, no doubt conjured up by one of the angels that were now lurking in their bedroom. 

Master, I am glad to be of service, but do you not remember... I am unable to fly. 

Daiya leaned over and wrapped his arms around Kovash's fluffy neck and whispered against his fur. 

"Fill the holes upon his wings with flesh. Rebuild his body." 

He couldn't look to see if his words were actually taking affect as they fell, but when they got about ten feet from crashing into the damp Earth, a sharp gust of wind caught beneath Kovash's wings and they were suddenly ascending away from a growing group of undead angels beginning to become visible around the swampy area.

"Damn and hell. You can heal people and zombies, and touch halos. I believe that God made a big mistake trying to change you by force. Your deal with Devil might have given you undead abilities by mistake, while her burning a halo partially upon your head... might have infused some of an angel's power into you."  

Daiya looked at Fin, confused. 

"You have the strength of a deity, Daiya." 

Like God and Devil? 

It didn't make much sense to him, but he couldn't argue that he felt quite different than he had before everything had happened. 

"If I do, good." He said as he smiled at Fin, then leaned over and wrapped his arms back around Kovash's neck before speaking to the bat demon. 

"Let us go pay God a visit and thank her for my new abilities, hm, Kovash?" 

The creature beneath him snickered, then let out a shrill screech before flapping his wings and ascending higher into the darkening sky.