Just after Arthur says it, a gust of wind blows the door open. He hurries to close it, but before he does, he leans out the window and yells up at the sky, "You don't need to make that much fuss about it!"

Gilbert covers and uncovers his left ear, "What was that you said?" he points to his left ear, indicating that Arthur should speak in that one.

Arthur leans close, "I said you were never born!" he says loudly, and Gilbert covers his ear again, "Yes, you can hear again," he sighs.

"That's just-" Gilbert mumbles, "I haven't heard from this ear since I was a kid,"

"You never had the accident to lose your hearing." Arthur informs him. "You no longer have anything to worry about: no obligations, no eight thousand dollars, no Braginski, no sheriff, nothing. Your lip's stopped bleeding, too."

He hesitantly touches his face. "Well, what do you know?" He looks out the window, and notices that it's stopped snowing. "You know what? I could use a drink. How about you, Mr. Angel?"

Arthur laughs awkwardly. "I really shouldn't,"

"All right," he points to their clothes, "Get dressed, we'll walk to my car. Or I'll walk, you can fly."

"I can't, I don't have my wings."

"Oh, of course, my mistake." Gilbert replies sarcastically.

Gilbert stares at the tree he had crashed into.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asks him.

"My car's gone."

"You don't have a car." Arthur corrects him.

"I had a car!" Gilbert exclaims angrily. As he looks up, he sees the man who owns the tree getting out of his own car.

"Excuse me?" Gilbert calls him over, "Where was my car moved to?"

The man looks confused, "What car?"

"My car," he motions to the tree, "The one that crashed into your tree."

"What?!" the man rushes over and looks at his tree, checking for any damage. He leans closer to Gilbert, smelling his breath for alcohol. "I think you mean another tree." He says slowly. "You scared me, this is one of the oldest trees in Ivandale."

"Ivandale? Don't you mean Bedford Falls?"

"I think I know where I live." the man says haughtily before going back to his house.

Gilbert scratches his head. "That was weird, either he's crazy or I am." he looks down at Arthur, who had remained quiet through the whole exchange. "Or you are." He pauses to think. "I definitely had my car at Toni's, maybe I left it there." He starts to walk. "C'mon, Gabriel." he calls back.

"Arthur." The angel corrects him as he follows.

This time, when Gilbert enters the bar, instead of the Italian singer, it sounds like some record that Toni would never play, the place looks dirtier, the patrons more cruel. Gilbert sits at the bar, "Hey, Vlad?" he calls the man over. "Where's Toni?"

"How would I know where your friends are?"

"No, Toni, your boss."

"I'm the boss." Vlad glares at first Gilbert, then Arthur, who's been following him. "Now do want to order, or do you want to leave?"

Normally Gilbert would just want a beer, but the day just keeps getting weirder and he wants something to blur the edges a little. "Bourbon, make it a double, and make it quick."

Vlad slaps Gilbert's drink down and glares at Arthur. "You?"

Arthur laughs nervously. "Oh, no, I really shouldn't," he pauses, "Although maybe just some spiced wine?"

Vlad stares at him for a second. "We serve hard drinks for men who want to get drunk quick, got it?" He threatens.

"Vlad, it's all right." Gilbert defends Arthur. "He's with me."

Vlad looks at him skeptically. "Sure." He nods and moves on.

"That was weird." Gilbert comments. "I've never seen him like that,"

"Oh, you'll be seeing plenty of weird things now." Arthur says calmly.

"Oh, right, I'm dead." Gilbert sighs ironically. "How could I forget?"

"Not dead. Just never born."

"Hey, do you have some place to stay?"

Arthur shakes his head, a little surprised. "No, not really,"

"Got any money?"

"I've told you, I don't have any use for it."

"No home, no money." Gilbert sighs. "Well, that explains why you jumped,"

"I didn't! I told you that, too: I was saving you!"

Gilbert nods. "Right." Just as he says it, Vlad puts some money into the register, making it ring.

"Hear that?" Arthur elbows Gilbert. "Some angel just got their wings!" Gilbert gives him a questioning look, "Everytime a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings." he explains.

Vlad, overhearing their conversation, looks at them like they're crazy. "Maybe you shouldn't talk about angels so much." Gilbert quietly tells Arthur.

"Why not? They believe in angels, don't they?"

Gilbert glances up at Vlad, who's still staring at them. "Well..."

"Then they shouldn't be surprised to meet one."

"I'm sorry." Gilbert tells Vlad. "He never really grew up." He looks at Arthur. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Let's see… I'll be… two hundred, and… seventy… nine, next April."

"That's it!" Vlad slaps the counter and points at the door. "I want you both out of here!"

"Vlad." Gilbert tries to object.

"And how do you know my name? I don't know you from Adam!" He's interrupted by the entry of a weathered old man. "Hey! Didn't I tell you not to come begging here anymore?"

Gilbert does a double take. "Mr Vargas?" The old man is so weathered and senile that Gilbert almost doesn't recognize him. The old man gives him a confused smile. "Mr Vargas! It's me, Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

Vlad grabs the back of Mr Vargas' coat and drags him out the door. "And don't come back!" He yells.

"Hey, wait," Gilbert protests, "That was Mr Vargas, the druggist!"

Vlad gives him a skeptical look. "And how do you know him? He spent twenty years in jail for poisoning a kid. Were you in jail with him?"

"What? No!" Gilbert tries to protest as he and Arthur are grabbed and thrown out into the snow. "Some help you were." He mutters to Arthur, who ignores him.

"You weren't there to stop him."

"Stop who?"

"Mr Vargas. From poisoning that medicine."

Gilbert stands up and brushes the snow off himself. "Or course I was: I remember it. I remember getting my ears slapped." He points to his ear for good measure. He turns around and looks at the bar, noticing that the name is now Vlad's. "What the? This should be Toni's!" He looks at Arthur. "Who are you?"

"I'm your guardian angel, I've told-"

"I know: you've told me." He pokes Arthur's chest to check if he's solid. "But what else? Are you some kind of- of hypnotist or something?"

"Or course not!" Arthur scoffs.

"Then why am I seeing all this- this stuff?" He throws his arms out to gesture around.

"What don't you understand?" He sighs in exasperation. "You weren't born."

"Well then who am I?" Gilbert scoffs, thinking he's found a loophole.

Arthur shakes his head. "You're not anyone."

"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt!" He starts rifling through his pockets for his identification.

Arthur continues to shake his head, "You have no identification: no papers, no cards, no drivers license. No insurance papers." Gilbert looks up at him, slightly panicked, hand frozen in the pocket that should have held his insurance policy, then he starts frantically searching his pants pocket, "They're not there either." Arthur says gently.

"What's not?" Gilbert snaps.

"Charlotte's flower petals."

Gilbert, thinking he'll prove Arthur wrong, turns his whole pocket inside out, but there's nothing there. He sits down in the snow in shock.

"You've been given an awesome gift: the chance to see what your life would be like without you."

"No, no!" Gilbert shakes his head. "This is all some weird dream. I'm going home!"

"But, Gilbert, there's nothing there."

"Just shut up! I'm sick of you! Just leave me alone! I'm going home to see my wife and kids! And I'm going home without you!" He runs away.

Arthur follows at a more sensible pace, he looks up at the sky, "How am I doing Kiku?... Thanks… No, I did not have a drink!"

Gilbert's stopped, staring at the sign that should be welcoming him to Bedford Falls, but instead says 'Welcome to Ivandale'. He continues on down Main Street, looking at the businesses on either side of the road. Where there used to be grocery stores, and the pharmacy, and all the various little shops, instead there are bars, and pool rooms, and dance halls. His peaceful little town has turned into some sort of den of iniquity.

He stops in front of what should be the Building and Loan, but is instead a dance hall. There's a crowd gathered outside, watching the commotion as a young woman is dragged out by the police. Looking closer, Gilbert realizes that the woman who's just been picked up is Marianne, who's putting up a fight and screaming obscenities.

"Hey, wait!" Gilbert shouts as she's closed into the police car, he grabs the nearest police officer's shoulder, "I know that girl: that's Marianne Bonnefoy!"

"What's it to you?" The officer shrugs away from Gilbert.

Looking up, he realizes the man is actually Berwald Oxenstierna, who doesn't seem to recognize him anymore than Vlad did. Gilbert decides to ask a different question. "Where's the Building and Loan?"

"The what?"

"Beilschmidt Brother's Building and Loan!"

"They went out of business twenty years ago when Aldrich Beilschmidt died. Now leave me alone, I have a job to do."

Gilbert looks around, feeling even more confused. His eyes land on an empty cab nearby. "Mathias!" he climbs in the back. "Boy, am I glad to see you! Take me home, quick."

Mathias barely glances at him, "Where do you live?"

"Not you too! Same place I've lived for fifteen years: 780 Maple."

"780 Maple." he repeats, then turns to look at Gilbert in shock. "What?!"

"Just go!"

Mathias starts to drive, but motions for Berwald to follow when they pass the police.

"All right, Mathias, help me out here," Gilbert sits up closer to the front seat, "You're Mathias Kohler, and you live in Beilschmidt Park with your wife and kid, right?"

Mathias twists around to look at Gilbert, "Have you seen my wife?"

"Of course I have! I've been to your house, our kids are friends!"

"Listen: I live in a shack in Braginski's Field, my wife left three years ago, and took the kid with her, and I've never met you before in my life!" He stops in front of 780 Maple Street. "This the place?"

"Of course it is!" Gilbert snaps as he gets out. He freezes, looking up at what should be his house, but it looks worse than it did the night he and Madeline broke the windows. Every window is now broken and the place is literally falling apart. He runs in. "Maddie?"

Mathias, who's now standing by his car, shakes his head. "What are you on?" He mumbles as Berwald pulls up next to him and gets out.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

Mathias nods at Gilbert, who's trying to find the safest way into the old house. "He's crazy."

Berwald turns his headlight so it shines on Gilbert, he flinches at the sudden brightness, turns to look at them, then climbs through a window.

"Maddie? Birdie!" He calls as he searches the rooms on the first floor, even though the cobwebs and disrepair make it obvious that no one has lived there for a long time. "Peter? Sofia? Christopher? Charlotte?" He's about to run up the stairs when a voice behind him stops him cold.

"You won't find them, Gilbert. They're not here."

He turns to see Arthur sitting on the windowsill. Gilbert grabs Arthur's collar. "Where are they? What did you do to them?!" He asks desperately.

"All right, hands up, both of you. Out here." They turn to see Berwald standing in the doorway, Mathias behind him. "Nothing funny. C'mon."

"Berwald? Mathias?" Gilbert steps out, "You- you have to help me. Where's my family? Madeline and the kids?"

"Careful, Berwald," Mathias warns, "He's crazy."

Gilbert's face twists in confusion. "What? No! You know me!" He points to the yard. "You two stood out here and sang on our honeymoon."

Mathias points out to his car. "I'm just going to go now."

"Wait!" Gilbert steps after him, but Berwald grabs him. "Let go of me!" He tries to twist away, but the other man is stronger.

"Just calm down, we're going to take you to see the doctor."

Gilbert starts to really struggle. "No, I don't- I want- I want to see my mother!"

Arthur grabs Berwald's arm and bites him, making him release Gilbert. "Gilbert, run!" Arthur screams as Berwald tackles him.

Gilbert runs. Past Mathias, down the road, towards his mother's house.

Berwald tries to get a good enough grip on Arthur to handcuff him, as the angel struggles and screams, "Kiku! Help!"

Suddenly, Berwald's hands are in the snow. Arthur is gone. He looks up at Mathias. "Where'd he go?"

Mathias swallows and shakes his head. "I'm going home." He says quietly.

Gilbert stops at his mother's front door, the sign hanging next to it reads 'Mrs Beilschmidt's Boarding House', same as it has for years. Everything looks right here. Normal. Like it should. Maybe it was a dream afterall. He rings the bell. A moment later, Katerina answers. Gilbert stares at her, unable to speak: this isn't the soft, warm, loving woman who raised him. She looks like the same woman, only more hard, and cold, and bitter.

"Well?" She asks harshly. "What do you want?"

"Mutti?" He asks in confusion. She steps back, further into the house. "It's me: Gilbert. I thought you at least would recognize me."

"I don't know any Gilberts, now go away, we don't have extra rooms."

She starts to close the door, but Gilbert catches it. "Wait, please, you have to help me. Something's wrong with me, with everything. Please, let me come in." He begs.

She shakes her head. "I don't accept strangers, not unless someone I know sent them."

"We know all the same people!" He says desperately. "Like, like Uncle Harry!"

"Oh yeah? When did you last see him?"

"This morning! I was at his house!"

"You're lying!" She interrupts. "Herakles was institutionalized after he lost the business. And you should be, too." She slams the door, and Gilbert stands there in shock.

"Awfully strange." Arthur says from behind him. "One life can touch so many. You don't realize it until that man is gone, leaving a hole behind."

"What did you do to me?" Gilbert asks. "Did you put some sort of spell on me? I can figure out how to break it! I know, I know… Toni was the last person I talked to, I'll just go and see him." He sets off down the road.

Arthur follows him, "And… do you know where he lives?"

"Or course I do!" Gilbert snaps. "Beilschmidt Park! I helped them move."

But when they reach where Beilschmidt Park should be, it's a cemetery instead. "No, no," Gilbert mumbles. "This doesn't make sense. This should be it, but why aren't there any houses?" He walks aimlessly down the path.

"You weren't here to build them, Gilbert." Arthur says gently. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"No! I'm not sure of anything anymore-" He freezes, staring at one of the gravestones. "No." He whispers, "No." He brushes the snow away to be sure it's really what he thinks it says. "Luddy."

In memory of our beloved son

Ludwig Beilschmidt

1911-1919

"Ludwig broke through the ice and drowned when he was nine." Arthur explains.

"No! Luddy went to war!" Gilbert argues. "He won the Congressional Medal of Honor. He saved lives!"

Arthur shakes his head. "They all died, Ludwig couldn't save them, because you didn't save Ludwig." Gilbert looks down at his brother's grave. "Do you understand, Gilbert? You really did have an awesome life. Do you understand what a waste it is to throw it away?" Arthur sounds a little desperate for Gilbert to understand.

"Arthur?" Gilbert asks quietly.

"Yes?"

"Where's Madeline?"

"I really can't tell you,"

"Can't, or won't?" Gilbert glares at him. "Somehow you've known everything else, so tell me where she is!" he voice has taken a pleading tone, more desperate than Arthur's heard it.

"I'm really not supposed to."

"Please."

"You won't like it." He warns.

Gilbert, growing impatient, grabs Arthur's collar. "Just tell me."

"She never got married."

Gilbert shakes Arthur roughly. "Where is she? Where's Madeline?!"

"She's closing the library!"

Gilbert drops him and takes off running. Arthur shakily stands and brushes himself off. "There's got to be a better way to get my wings."

Madeline locks the door of the Ivandale Public Library. She starts the walk back to her parent's house, alone, as usual.

"Madeline?" A voice at the bottom of the stairs asks.

She looks at the man, he's sweating and out of breath, like he had been running, and looks at her with something near desperation. She quickly turns away and starts walking again.

"Maddie? Birdie, wait!" He catches her arm, "It's me: Gilbert. Don't you recognize me?"

"No, I don't! Let go!" She pulls away and walks faster.

"Maddie, please, don't!" He follows her, catching up and grabbing her again. "You have to help me. I need you. Where are our kids?"

Kids? She's never met this man in her whole life, how could they have kids? She screams. He releases her in shock, and she runs away. Someone tries to grab him, but he pushes them away and goes after her. She runs into one of the bars. "Please, somebody help me!" She cries. "He keeps chasing me!" A few of the women pull her away as the men grab him.

"No! Maddie!" He tries to get away again, but there are too many this time. He looks around at them. "Lukas? Gupta, Toris! You know me!" He points at Madeline. "That's my wife!"

Madeline screams and collapses in a faint.

"Birdie!" Gilbert sobs, pulling away from the men holding him, but this time going outside. He runs into a solid person and looks up at Berwald.

"You!" Berwald exclaims.

Gilbert, tired of everything he's been through and just wanting it all to end, hits Berwald in the jaw, knocking him off balance, and runs away.

Gilbert finds himself back on the bridge. "Arthur?" He yells. "Arthur! Arthur, I want to go back, I want to go home! I want to go back to my wife and my kids! Arthur, you have to help me! I don't care what happens to me! I just want to live again!" He breaks down sobbing. "Please, God, I want to live again, let me live again."