The Wayward Two

Amory found himself transported to the very first place to appear in his mind—the old clubhouse.

Beneath the night sky, he appeared just at the threshold of the old shack in the woods, instantly submerged in the blisteringly cold winter air—clasping Vincent by the front of his suit and swiftly lowering him down, cupping a hand behind his head and resting his limp body up against the shack.

“Vincent,” Amory breathed, hunched over him and gently holding his head upright. “Vincent…!”

Vincent was deathly still and completely unresponsive, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes closed, and half of his face horribly burned and scarred, pulpy red and ashy black, still smelling of charred flesh, a long, thick line of blood stained down his head and his neck from the corner of his eye.

Amory examined him with a disturbed expression, his heart thrashing as a panic sparked inside him. He placed two fingers against Vincent’s throat, and he paused for a moment to feel a pulse—but then, after he waited for nearly a minute, feeling no steady heartbeat, or even the faintest hint of one, he took in a deeper, harder breath, the panic inside suddenly seeming to grow like a raging wildfire.

He then stared at the branded side of the man’s face, the spot that Valek had marked onto him a while back, the spot that had just seemingly started to burn him from the inside out all on its own—and then, thoughtlessly, Amory planted his hand over the scarred half of Vincent’s face, holding his head up and taking a deep, focusing breath.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Amory choked, an angry tear crawling down his cheek, his eyes beginning to shine a bright blue once more. “I did not… just go on a wild goose chase… through your whole entire life… just so you could die here …!”

The gentle light of God swam fluidly around either of his pupils, and he focused every bit of his power onto Vincent—onto that painful and tortured half of his face, onto that profusely bleeding eye, and onto anything and everything else inside him that might ever hurt or hinder him.

Amory raised his head slightly, staring intently through his bright cerulean gaze, mending what lay beneath his palm—and then, in a divine miracle, Vincent’s face slowly began to morph, smoothing, healing, returning to the visage of an ordinary man, with no scarring, burning, or even aging visible on him at all.

In mere moments—all signs of being marked by Valek were wholly gone from his person, and Vincent Hawthorn looked as normal, healthy, and ordinary as ever.

Amory then removed his hand from Vincent’s face, and he pressed it to his chest—forcing a final surge of power into him.

His heart jumpstarted—and Vincent suddenly inhaled a shaking and sputtering breath, his eyes still closed, his eyebrow twitching, his lip making a quiver, and a faint, gentle moan escaping him in a quieter breath than a whisper.

Amory continued holding his head, still hunched over him, his eyes returning to their natural translucent black, and his expression still riddled with both focus and concern. He stared into Vincent with the utmost of attentiveness, noting his every slightest movement, and his every meager breath.

For a long, tense moment, he merely sat there on one knee, looming over Vincent, holding his head upright, and monitoring him with great anticipation, waiting to see his next sign of life.

After what felt like hours, Vincent barely blinked, slowly, tiredly, and groggily opening his eyes at last. The man’s distant, disoriented gaze ventured up to Amory, and his brow hardened just the slightest bit, ogling him with a touch of confusion.

“’Mory…” he croaked in the quietest, most hoarse voice that he’d likely ever used.

Amory gazed into him, watching him try to speak, and then—he let an ear-to-ear smile crawl across his face, choking out a fantastically relieved cloud of breath.

“Vincent,” he exhaled, leaning closer with a sparkle of excitement in his eye. “Is it the day before Christmas Eve?”

Vincent stared for a moment longer, looking both utterly drained and completely lost, and he managed a faint, tired nod.

Amory let out a barking laugh, feeling suddenly possessed by glee and inspiration—launching to his feet and punching the air with delight.

“Haaaah! I knew it… ohhh, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it,” Amory beamed, pacing back and forth in front of the clearing and beginning to peel his white suit jacket off. “I didn’t piece it together at first—I just showed up in that hallway and felt totally stumped—but somewhere in the middle of you talking, it just clicked, and I freaking knew it! This is it! This is it! ”

He took his hat off and whipped it into the trees, then pulled the suit jacket fully off and draped it over Vincent, shielding him a bit more from the nighttime winter breeze.

“I guess I just wasn’t expecting it—1988 Canterbury Lab happening right after all that stuff from way farther back happened—it was just shell-shocking,” Amory continued to rant, pacing again and reaching behind his head, finally untying his low, lumpy ponytail. “Just caught me off-guard-but that’s okay, because you know what? You know what , Vincent?”

He pitched the hair tie into the woods, swung his hair around, and let it settle back into its normal wavy style, now only wearing the sleek white pants and the blue button-up over his skinny body, pulling the white tie of the Smooth Criminal outfit off and toying with it as he made another childlike grin.

“I get it now,” Amory smiled, whipping the tie towards him and laughing again. “And it’s amazing. God is amazing. Zyon is amazing. I’m amazing. The whole plan was amazing! He sent me all through time—he had me protecting you at random points all throughout your life, just to make sure you’d get where you were supposed to go—and what was the final thing you needed to be protected from? Your father! ”

He spread his arms open and spun around once in the clearing, combing his hairs back and laughing joyfully.

“This was the day you went missing—no—this was the moment you went missing,” Amory knew, raising a finger and cocking his head. “Right before the ambush at Moonvale—before the Halloween party—before Christmas, and the doorways, and the un-syncing, and everything else! Valek told me he killed you! And he might’ve even thought that was true—but no such luck, because I’m here! This isn’t the day he killed you—this is the day I saved you! Ha! ”

Vincent didn’t move or speak. He merely remained seated on the ground, leaned on the shack’s outer wall, his head resting back against it as he gazed up at Amory quietly.

“All this time, I was all sad, and worried, and bummed—wondering what the hell ever happened to you—but I’m what happened to you!” Amory grinned, opening his arms again and letting out another cackling laugh. “All of us are going all over the place to rescue the children of time—but guess what? I just rescued the hell outta mine! Hah! ”

He smacked his palm and pumped his fist again, then plopped down to his knees in front of Vincent and surveyed him closely.

“And now… you look barely older than you did as a ship captain,” Amory said with a wink and a click of the tongue.

Vincent merely stared, eyeing him with befuddlement. Then, his gaze wandered down, his mouth still slightly agape, slowly reaching out from beneath the jacket draped over him, and gently gliding his fingers across the left side of his face.

The single scar leftover from the lab’s destruction, the horrid marking left by Valek, and even a few of the lines that were once around his eyes and mouth—all of it was suddenly gone from his visage, his skin fresh, new, and almost even youthful. His fingers smeared against the thick line of blood that ran down his left side, but now, his eye was perfectly fine, both of them still a beautiful bottle blue.

Vincent took in a slow, heavy breath, feeling along his face for a moment longer. Then, his eyes wandered back up to Amory, giving him a deep, profound stare.

“You were there,” he said in a low, scratchy rasp.

Amory paused, raising his brows in surprise.

“You… you remember? ” he uttered.

Vincent looked down again, making a weak, thoughtful nod.

Amory stared at him in astonishment, gazing into the now healed half of his face and wondering just how much mending he’d actually done. Usually, Vincent struggled to remember even the most recent of events—but now, he could apparently recall something that had happened almost fifty years ago.

In fact, Vincent now wore an expression that looked so heavily reflective, he may have been remembering a lot of things.

He continued gazing into the cold ground for a long, somber moment, his mind traveling from one lucid memory to another. Then, he let out a long, trembling breath and looked to Amory once more—this time, his face looking softer, darker, and considerably more disturbed, almost wounded in a way that hardly even looked like Vincent Hawthorn.

Amory returned his stare curiously, giving him a questioning sort of look.

“What?” he breathed. “What’s a’matter…?”

Vincent didn’t reply right away, his eyes trained on Amory’s, and his expression etched with grave recollection.

“I don’t know how y…” he choked faintly, lowering his head to his hand and pressing his fingers into his forehead.

Amory sat on his knees and scooted closer, simply watching him and waiting patiently.

Vincent took another deep breath, let it out, and lowered his hand, looking truly perturbed.

“I don’t know… how you ever found the strength of character,” he uttered in a wispy, broken voice, “to just keep on… doing so much, for my sake…”

Vincent then hung his head again, shaking it at the ground and repeatedly massaging his fingers to his temple.

Amory took slightly back, glimpsing down and pondering on this for a moment. It seemed that Vincent was seeing things more clearly—and he was remembering things as well. In fact, he may have been remembering everything now—everything that had been eluding his mind until tonight, all coming back to him at once. It must have been overwhelming.

They were both quiet for a second, Amory glancing around, surveying the clearing in front of the shack, where the two now were—and where the two first met in 1973.

Then, Amory faced Vincent again, reached out, and grasped his hand using only one finger—hooking his pinky around his.

Vincent blinked and looked up.

Amory wore a confident smirk, holding Vincent’s hand upright by the pinky and breathing out a laugh.

“Some part of me… has always known that you weren’t the same as your father,” Amory told him honestly, gesturing loosely to the clearing around them with his free hand. “Even when I first saw you, right here on Halloween night. You were the one I trusted, and you were the only reason us three ever left this clubhouse. You know why?”

Vincent gulped roughly, saying nothing.

“Because you meant it ,” Amory said definitively, tightening his pinky around Vincent’s and giving it a shake. “It’s not because you’re perfect, or Godly, or a freaking superhero… it’s just because, in that moment, when you promised me we’d be okay… I could tell that you meant it. And that might not even make sense… but it’s just what it felt like to me. Now… all this time later… you can tell me. Was I wrong? ”

Vincent remained quiet for several seconds, his eyes venturing down, and he lost himself to his thoughts again.

“I’d been struggling with that memory myself, to be honest,” he muttered. “Because I can’t fathom why I would’ve told you that unless I did mean it…”

Amory’s smile widened.

“But I also don’t know how I… could have meant it,” Vincent conceded. “Knowing what was waiting for you three in Canterbury… I don’t know how I could have promised you such a thing with any sincerity.”

His eyes traveled back up to Amory yet again.

“Or, rather… I didn’t know… until now,” Vincent disclosed. “Now… I remember how… and I remember why.”

Amory’s eyebrows raised once more, staring at him with perplexed intrigue.

“I knew you’d be all right in Canterbury… because someone else told me,” Vincent informed. “I made that promise because I was told you would be protected. I was told that… in a dream.”

“Zyon…?” Amory breathed, truly fascinated. “Z… Zyon came to you too …?”

Vincent nodded.

Amory sputtered out another laugh, feeling totally baffled in the most delightful way possible. He leaped to his feet, grasped Vincent by the arms, and pulled him upright as well.

“I told you, see?” Amory sniggered. “I told you you could be forgiven, and I told you everything could just work out! And look at us now! Whaddid I say?!”

“Yes… you exceed all expectations, as always,” Vincent replied with a smirk. “Although, I do feel the need to ask now… why did you decide to make some of my deepest core memories of you dressed as Michael Jackson? Who on earth dressed you in that outfit and sent you back in time?”

Amory busted with laughter, snickering and giving him a playful shove. “It was Crowe’s idea…!”

Vincent’s expression flattened, chuckling and shaking his head at the ground. “Why am I not surprised…”

Amory dropped his arms by his sides, staring at him and simply smiling, feeling elated, thoroughly pleased to his core. Then, he reached out—and he yanked Vincent into a hug, snapping his arms around him and releasing a massive cloud of breath, one that felt like he’d been holding inside all this time.

“God… I missed you,” Amory murmured, closing his eyes and taking a moment to savor the presence of his friend.

Vincent gazed over his shoulder, returning the embrace and patting him on the back. “I just saw you earlier today…”

Amory slowly opened his eyes, letting out a deep, trembling sigh. “Yeah… but I haven’t seen you in forever.”

The two stepped back from one another and met eyes.

Vincent slid his hands into the pockets of his trench coat, making a quizzical expression.

“You mentioned… a lot of things that I’m unfamiliar with,” he remarked, nodding once at Amory. “An ambush at Moonvale? And Halloween, and… something about un-syncing something? What all have I missed…?”

Amory took a deep breath. “That is a long story. Actually, that’s… that’s a bunch of long stories…”

“Well… the meeting in Moonvale is tomorrow, so let me ask about that first and foremost,” Vincent said seriously. “Do I need to have Daniel pull out? My father just mentioned that he had the place bugged, so I expect that anything we’ve planned involving Moonvale is compromised now.”

Amory paused to think, then snapped his eyes shut and pressed his fingers into his temples, sighing deeply.

“Uuugh, wait, wait… hold on, let me think… bunch of time-travel rules to think about here… ummm…”

He was quiet for a second, then lowered his hands.

“Okay,” Amory started, gesturing in front of himself as he spoke. “Okay… there are certain things that have already happened for me, and we can’t interfere with those things happening, or else it could mess up the whole timeline and make paradoxes happen. Daniel and the others showed up at Moonvale so I could heal them… and they showed up early because you’d gone missing…”

“Plan B,” Vincent nodded.

“Yeah… they went with your Plan B, but then Valek showed up and all hell broke loose,” Amory explained. “Buuut, since Ari and Elaine were there, Valek and his men ended up triggering a bunch of traps that Ari set up, which got most of them killed, and that’s how Daniel and his unit managed to slip away… and after all that, we jumped back over to 2025 and disconnected the blue door from Moonvale…”

“All right… so no going to Moonvale, and no contacting Daniel and the others for at least a day,” Vincent understood. “Then those events should still play out correctly.”

“Yeah,” Amory mumbled, stroking his chin in thought. “And Valek sent a couple of people into 2025 during my Halloween party, too. They were people who snuck into my party, and… tried to do a lot of evil things…”

“Hold on.” Vincent raised a hand, narrowing his eyes inquisitively at him. “My father sent people into 2025? When?”

“I don’t know… sometime between the Moonvale ambush and the new doorways being made,” Amory shrugged. “Oh, also… um… Zyon said that there are new doorways through time being made, but they’re being made more violently than the other ones. He said Valek wasn’t using the Canterbury gateways anymore… for whatever reason…”

“That means we do seize Canterbury Lab,” Vincent murmured thoughtfully, flashing a smirk. “That’s good.”

“Was that your… plan?” Amory wondered. “Were you gonna take Daniel and everyone back to the lab, and just… take the whole place from Valek?”

“Oh yeah. Canterbury Lab is legally mine, always has been,” Vincent told him. “If my father ends up creating new doorways through time, then he’s probably gonna be using the Black Lab. Our backup facility out in the boondocks of Maple County.”

Amory made a slow, thoughtful nod, looking down and suddenly beginning to make more sense of everything.

“If my timeline is right… then… I think the people he sent to my Halloween party were sent through the doorway at Canterbury Lab,” Amory speculated. “Because Zyon didn’t mention that he felt the other doorways being made until after that. So, basically… sometime after that happens… that’ll be when you’re supposed to go and take the lab.”

Vincent shot him a look. “Any idea when that is from now? ”

“No,” Amory laughed. “But if I do some math, then I can probably figure all of it out…”

“That won’t be necessary,” a third voice chimed in—making both of them reel back in alarm.

Zyon now stood alongside the two of them, glancing between them interestingly.

“Good God almighty,” Vincent sighed, lowering his hand from his chest.

“Take not The Lord’s name in vain,” Zyon told him sharply. “Especially during your repentance, Cambion.”

Vincent opened his mouth, then made a face and looked to Amory, motioning to the angel strangely.

“Where did he come from?” he asked.

Amory chuckled. “Out of nowhere. He does that…”

“I… am preserving as much of my power as possible. For… the time being,” Zyon informed them. “But, for this… I thought it prudent to come straight to you and speak to you both directly, namely regarding the current issues at hand. Your next task is complicated, but it is… very important.”

Amory and Vincent both stared expectantly at him.

“From this precise time period… Valek will quietly leave Canterbury Laboratory within the next two days,” the angel stated. “He expects the rebels of Canterbury to return and take it by force… and he will leave beforehand to avoid the conflict.”

“Good call,” Vincent mumbled grimly.

“After that… you and your followers will be free to go and claim it as your domain,” Zyon disclosed, nodding at Vincent.

“That’s not so complicated,” Amory said with a shrug. “I can just zap us straight there. Easy-peasy.”

“That… is not the complicated part , Amory,” Zyon replied, his eyes shifting over to him. “The complicated part… is everything that comes after.”

Amory and Vincent fell silent again.

“Time is not a barrier, remember,” Zyon told them both intensely. “The enemy we face exists in all times, and it truly does rule this world. It will be everywhere, in many people, and in all of our lives… and the time has come wherein all sides of this particular battle will have wide open gateways available to them, freeing every single combatant in this war to walk amongst the various time periods as freely as ever. Valek will be opening gateways in the Black Lab. You, Vincent, will have all the existing gateways in Canterbury Lab. And we… Amory… have the doorways of Evervale Manor. Expect everyone to be using the doorways more in the near future… because they will be. And so shall we.”

Amory and Vincent nodded in silence.

“Particularly… you,” Zyon said, pointing at Vincent. “Your base of operations will be precisely what you planned for it to be. A militant opposing force to the Legion. You will need to create that. And you …”

He turned back to Amory.

“You still need to mend and heal everyone involved so that they can be truly free from the Legion’s grasp,” the angel told him. “And those are just the first initial steps to take for setting up the new Canterbury. The actual deployment of action later on will be… quite… troublesome.”

Zyon glanced down and sighed.

“There is so much more to the Legion than just Valek,” he said gravely. “Valek is merely the head of the serpent. But more arms of that beast will soon reach out to us all… and what you two are about to create will exist to mitigate that. In fact… regarding that… I have… one more suggestion for you.”

Zyon pulled his hand from his trench coat’s pocket, holding up a tiny glass vial of bright, shiny liquid.

Amory stared at it curiously. “What is that…?”

“Angel,” Vincent said, staring at the vial intently. “That is… pure, raw angel.”

“Indeed, it is.” Zyon held out the vial, offering it to Vincent. “I found this on the outer property of Evervale Manor. I suspect it belonged to the two invaders who were sent to the Hallow’s Eve party, given to them by Valek. I do not know why Valek would have given this to them… but it hardly matters. What matters is… you can use this to create something that no man has ever thought of before, not even Valek himself.”

Vincent slowly took the vial, giving him a questioning look.

“You will be fighting a supernatural battle with a militant operation,” Zyon said. “Now would be the time to consider… how to best combine the two.”

Vincent made a single, understanding nod, eyeing the vial, smirking, and slipping it into his coat’s inner pocket.

Amory, feeling as if he was missing something, glanced between the two of them in confusion.

“First thing that comes to mind is shooting blanks coated with a compound derived from this,” Vincent remarked, patting the front of his trench coat where the inner pocket resided.

Zyon raised his eyebrows at him. “A bullet covered by the power of an angel. That will not kill a human being…”

“But it will kill whatever evil thing might be inside that human being,” Vincent affirmed with a nod. “You talk about militant opposition to a supernatural force… and that’s where my mind goes, right there. Gunfire exorcisms.”

“That… could be exceptionally beneficial and useful,” Zyon determined. “Particularly if you manage to use that vial effectively, and make its contents stretch for as much potential use as reasonably possible.”

“Oh… I know how to do that,” Vincent assured. “Or at the very least, I’ve seen my father do it enough that I’m fairly confident I can figure it out. You could even say that Canterbury is equipped for that very purpose, in a lot of ways. That facility could theoretically mass-produce ammunition that would solely target demons and demons alone.”

“Whoa. Wait, wait, wait a second…” Amory muttered, pressing his fingers to his temples for a second, then shooting both of them a vexed look. “You guys are talking like there’s gonna be a war , or something.”

Zyon and Vincent both gave him a deep, serious stare.

Amory’s eyes flickered between them, reading their intense faces, and he frowned. “What…?”

Zyon and Vincent shared a glance.

“I don’t think you realize how many demons are actually in this world, Amory,” Zyon said grimly. “When Valek said to you that demons rule this world… that was not a lie… and when all of this comes to a head, and when the final battle finally comes together… they will all be targeting us . That means… all people who have demons inside them, or demons following them. Every single time period within the hundred-year schism… and all of the people, in all of those times… any of them could be demon-possessed, and many of them likely are.”

“And that’s a lot of people in society… any of whom could be in the police force, or the government… or they could just be any random criminal with a gun,” Vincent added. “Anyone and everyone in society might start trying to kill us… and that is a lot of people to suddenly start gunning for us scarce few.”

“Therefore… it is only sensible… that a countermeasure be put into play,” Zyon disclosed. “The time may come when Canterbury is the only existing means of damage-control for mobs and riots of demon-possessed people. That… is largely why the formation of the new Canterbury is so very important, you two. That is your next task… so… I suggest you see to it.”

“Wait—wait, don’t go,” Amory said quickly, reaching out to the angel. “Can I—before you go, can I—can I heal you again?”

Zyon hesitated, staring intently at him.

“You said I have to do your healing sessions in doses, right? But it’s been long enough,” Amory explained. “I should be able to do another one now.”

“This isn’t the time,” Zyon replied.

“Why not?” Amory griped insistently, tossing up a hand. “You’re right here, and we’re running out of time for you to get better, especially if there’s apparently some giant war right around the corner—”

“ You … of all people… are not going to run out of time,” Zyon told him knowingly, flashing a hint of his subtle, flattened smile. “What you truly lack is patience.”

“Ye’ap,” Vincent uttered, nodding and pocketing his hands.

Amory whipped his head around and glared at Vincent as if he had just betrayed him somehow.

“What? You do,” Vincent chuckled, wagging a finger over at Zyon. “He’s right on the money. You really do need to be more patient, especially in managing complicated plans like the ones we’ve got in front of us right now.”

Amory gaped at him for a second, his eyes darting between Zyon and Vincent. “I don’t think I like you two being friends.”

“No… what you don’t like is being ganged up on ,” Vincent knew, giving him a curt sort of look. “But I’m pretty sure you’ll live. Everything will get done when it needs to, Amory… but we have to do everything step-by-step.”

“And your next steps right now involve the restoration and recreation of Canterbury Lab,” Zyon stated. “If you lay hands on me right now, and you decide to push yourself too far, like you did last time… then you will not have the energy to continue timewalking and seeing to your current tasks. The energy of the Holy Spirit itself is limitless… but your human body is not , and you must care for it like a temple.”

Amory rolled his eyes and almost started to tune them out, feeling like a child being lectured by two parents.

“And do remember,” Zyon said, giving Amory a stern look. “You are not limited in your ability to simply come home . You are fully capable of taking breaks from your task and returning to the manor whenever you like… and when you do so… that would be the opportune time to lay hands upon me. Not to mention… Xena’s mind will be put more at ease.”

“Oh… Xena,” Amory murmured, looking down and sighing. “I forgot all about checking in at home…”

“Well… you haven’t been gone for as long as it seems like,” Zyon assured him. “Just don’t forget you have the option. The great blessing of being able to timewalk the way you do is… you can leave your task, go home and rest for a day, and then come right back to your task without any time here having passed. Take advantage of that.”

Zyon looked to Vincent, then back to Amory.

“All of us need our sanctuary,” the angel said.

“Zyon,” Amory mumbled, only just thinking of something, and giving him a somewhat concerned look. “Do you have any idea how Crowe and Raven are doing…?”

“Yes,” Zyon replied.

There was a pause.

Then, Amory gave him a look. “Well, can you tell me?”

Zyon’s mouth curled into another faint, subtle smile.

“Crowe and Aravali have… settled into their situation,” the angel reported. “They have located the two girls, and they are living as neighbors to them, assisting the family in caring for them… and in… giving one of them some much-needed psychiatric care. They are well-adapted to their life there.”

Amory nodded. “And Raven…?”

“Ah… yes. Well,” Zyon muttered, scratching his cheek and glancing off to the side. “Raven has settled in quite well, too. She has befriended one of the children of time… a man, who is now in his early thirties… and the two of them are becoming… closer. She is… comfortable.”

Amory blinked, narrowing his eyes strangely at him. “Whaddo you mean, comfortable? ”

“Oh hell,” Vincent murmured under his breath, turning away.

“I mean she is… comfortable,” Zyon repeated, as if Amory had simply misheard him. “Raven is rather comfortable with him now… and he with her, too.”

Amory gave him a double-take, his eyebrows shooting upright, ogling him as if he had just spoken an alien language.

“Well—then you better go do your job as a soldier of God, Zyon, and march yourself straight into the 1950s with a lecture about sin and premarital sex ready to go on the tip of your tongue,” Amory suddenly ranted. “Because I don’t want my little sister hooking up with some stunted 50s wino!”

Vincent choked out a laugh and quickly covered his mouth.

Zyon merely stared, his brow hardening as he gave Amory a questioning little squint.

“You wish me to go there and dissuade her?” the angel asked. “Well, that seems rather unfair.”

“ What? ” Amory yelled, hitting such a high note, it made his voice crack. “Zyon—she shouldn’t be getting all—all smitten over this guy. She’s just supposed to go there and find these people—not date them!”

“And who are you to dictate that?” Zyon asked him pointedly.

Amory opened his mouth, then huffed out an irritated breath and threw his hands up, shaking his head in frustration.

“Seems like a bit of a harsh stance to take,” Zyon remarked. “The man actually treats her quite well… and she does the same for him. In fact… her support is helping him to adjust quite a lot right now. Their support for one another is a good thing for both of them. Why do you dislike it so much?”

Amory let out another aggravated sigh.

“Well… first of all, if she marries this guy, then she won’t ever come home ,” he grumbled. “And second of all… most guys in the 50s are two things. Alcoholics, and war veterans. And guess what? Maybe I don’t want my little sister ending up with someone who’s just like our father.”

“Jesus, Amory,” Vincent snickered, shaking his head at him. “You’re getting a little ahead of everyone, here. Nobody said anything about marriage…”

“And the man is nothing like your father, I assure you,” Zyon told him confidently.

“ Whateveeer ,” Amory whined, running his hands down his face. “Can we not talk about this? I don’t like this. Where do we need to go next, again?”

“Two days from now,” Vincent reminded him.

“Right… two days,” Amory confirmed with a nod.

“Continue to pray… and your questions will continue to be answered,” Zyon promised. “I will guide you when and where it is needed. Just… be sure to come home soon. After you’ve secured Canterbury Lab… you ought to have a break.”

“I’ll do that,” Amory said.

“And I’ll actually hold him to that,” Vincent told the angel.

Amory smacked him on the arm.

“Well… good luck to both of you,” Zyon dismissed, giving each of them a nod. “And Godspeed.”

At that—the angel vanished from the scene.

Amory then turned to Vincent, clasped onto his shoulder, and his eyes went aglow—just before the two of them disappeared from the clearing as well.