Chapter 25. I believe in you. (Last chapter)

A few months had passed, and Willow and I were reporting for duty in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. We landed at the hospital where baby Nicholas was going to open his eyes for the first time. Nicholas, even his name sounded glorious. I even remember how thrilled I was. I MEAN, WHO WOULDN'T BE? THIS WAS MY FIRST CASE AS AN ACTUAL GUARDIAN ANGEL!

"Are you excited?" asked Willow, who wouldn't stop smiling from ear to ear.

"HOW COULD I NOT BE? THIS IS SO AMAZING! WE'RE STARTING FROM THE VERY BEGINNING THIS TIME, WILLOW! A BABY!"

"I KNOW RIGHT? No more reading files to catch up! WE'LL BE UP TO DATE THIS TIME! Oh, wait, you have to change that now." Stated my assistant while it pointed at my t-shirt.

"Right."

I covered the quote on my purple shirt with both of my palms, and after taking them off, I revealed the new quote on my outfit. "I believe in you" was written above and below the cute angel cat that was smiling on my chest.

"There! That's better! What were we talking about?" I asked after fixing my short-sleeved shirt.

"ABOUT HOW WE ARE GOING TO BE THE BEST GUARDIAN TEAM IN THE UNIVERSE!"

"YOU BET WE WILL!" I snapped as we fist bumped.

"But remember. Just like the girl had her demon, this baby will also have one, one we've never met before." said Willow, "So, we need to be cautious. And stay alert. This creature could be anywhere. These disgusting beings from hell are really good at hiding you know? I sometimes believe they are invisi-"

"FOUND HIM!" I remarked as I pointed at one of the empty hospital beds, where the tall and skinny demon was waiting. He had colored skin, just like Cobra, but it wasn't red, it was more like a dark green mixed with a little blue. His eyes were all orange and he had four red horns instead of two. As for his outfit, he was wearing a dark mulberry suit, like if he was going to a party after the baby's birth or something. He had shiny brown shoes, and short black hair. He looked presentable enough to work at some sort of office. Who knew some demons cared this much about their appearance? He got up from the white bed, and with confidence and determination in his evil eyes, he strutted towards us.

"Good Evening, fellas! You must be the competition I've been warned about. I'm Sozolack." said the demon pretending to be friendly.

"I'm Asher. This is Willow."

"Well, such a shame we can't be friends. I love making new friends! But I was hired to put this child into the right path."

"And what makes you believe your path is the right one?" I questioned as I scowled and stood in front of him, challenging his power against my own.

"What you're doing can't possibly be the right thing! Being kind and good to others? Humans who decide to listen to you end up being miserable because most people choose to be on my path, making yours look like the worst option on the plate."

"Well, if less people chose to be on your path then the world would be a better place."

"Are you sure about that, angel?"

"Are you saying I'm wrong, demon?"

At this point, Willow was trying to get between us, as we were too close to each other, and even closer to start a physical argument because of our different beliefs.

"Asher! Look!" pointed out the sheep, making me notice the new source of life that was crying in the room in front of us.

"Nicholas! He's here! Let's go see him."

This was my first time near a baby. My heart was shaking with exhilaration while my eyes were wide open, ready to take it all in. They say they grow up real fast, and I didn't want to believe that back then, but it's the truth. Those adorable tiny hands, that lovable round head and that soft laugh of his would be gone one day. But that day was far away from us at that moment.

"Nicholas Lauwers, I will always be there to protect you. I promise." I whispered to the child while it was being held by his parents.

"BABIES ARE TOO CUTE! I JUST WANT TO EAT HIS CUTE LITTLE FACE!" expressed Willow using a weird type of baby voice. One that was surprisingly more irritating than its actual voice. I stared at my partner, a bit confused about that new voice it made, and then took my eyes back to the lovely baby in the room.

"Well, it's my turn to greet the tiny being." Said the demonic spirit as he slowly approached the baby. With every step he took, I could sense he was up to no good. I mean, come on! HE WAS DEMON! OF COURSE HE HAD AN EVIL PLAN!

"Heeey buddy! We are going to ruin soooo many things together! Just you wait. As soon as you can walk, I'll make you one of the most powerful humans on the planet. Powerful enough to ignore that feathery guy you just met, you'll see his true colors and choose my side, I know you will." added the creature while trying to touch the infant. As soon as he set his orange devilish eyes on him, the poor thing started to cry as if they had taken his favorite toy away from him.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" I bellowed as I strode across the room and after placing my hand on the newborn's forehead, I gave him a blessing.

"LET THIS BLESSING ALLOW YOU TO IDENTIFY GOOD AND EVIL! LET THIS PROTECT YOU IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT!"

"ASHER NOOO!" yelled Willow, trying to stop me from protecting the human.

The entire room was covered with this blue and yellow glow, and the baby's crying was no longer irritating the people in the room. After a minute, the glow was gone, and the room came back to normal. Since all of this was happening in our dimension, Nicholas' family didn't notice a thing. The child was now asleep and protected from all evil, thanks to my awesome skills.

"Wakey, Wakey!" said Willow softly to Nicholas, as it was the only one of us who didn't get to see him while he was awake. Right after it said those two words, the baby opened his eyes a little while still feeling a tad sleepy and tried to grab one of Willow's ears.

"WOOW! He almost got me! Hahaha!" exclaimed the fluffy spirit as it quickly flew away from the crib.

"It doesn't really matter if he does get you. He can't see us, touch us or hear us, remember? He would be playing with the air in front of him, nothing more" I replied while focusing on the demon's next move.

"Right... but you can go down there and change that if you wanted to."

"Yeah, I know. But it's too soon for that. I'll wait. I know it'll come in handy one day."

"I guess you're right. OH! HE'S AWAKE NOW! I FINALLY GET TO SEE HIS CHUBBY FACE!" celebrated Willow as it flew back to him. While hovering over the kid and using his irritating baby voice, my partner kept on saying ridiculous things to him.

"YOU ARE SO ADORABLE! LOOK AT THOSE EYES! WHO KNEW YOU COULD HAVE ONE EYE OF EACH COLOR?"

"WHAT?!" snapped the demon and I at the same time. We glanced at each other quickly, and then I walked to the crib where baby Nick was at. After taking just one look at him, I knew something had happened to the newborn.

Looking down at his lovely face I said "His eyes were green... THEY WERE GREEN! NOW ONE IS GREEN AND THE OTHER ONE IS BLUE! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM YOU REPULSIVE PIECE OF—"

"Heeey chill man! Not in front of the baby! Where are your angelic manners?"

"I SWEAR IF YOU DID SOMETHING TO HIM I WILL-"

"I did nothing. Besides, It's just an eye color change! I bet thousands of babies get these!" justified the demonic being in a careless tone.

Their parents noticed the color change as well and decided to call the doctor, so that she could run some tests on him. But the doctor calmed both his parents down saying it was normal for newborns' eyes to change color. She also used medical terms to make it clearer, but I didn't pick up on any of that. The important thing was that Nick was safe, and that the eye color might be unusual, but it was nothing to worry about.

"I told you. I will always be here to protect you." I whispered as I covered him with the blanket he had on top. I stopped to observe how peaceful he looked, how crying was not on his mind at the moment, how his soul was in complete peace. I bet this means my protection worked!

I was about to go back to my partner when I felt a tiny worm, wrapped around my index finger. Only it wasn't a worm, it was a finger, NICK'S FINGER! HE COULD TOUCH ME! FEEL ME! I BET HE WAS ABLE TO SEE ME AND HEAR ME TOO!

"WHAT? BUT HOW?"

I backed away from the crib and then checked to see if the parents could see me too. Maybe I accidentally transported myself to Earth and that's why he could feel me. But everything was confirmed when Willow came to my rescue.

"WHAT'S WRONG?... Asher... Why is that baby following me with his eyes? CAN HE SEE US?!"

"YES, WILLOW! I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I THINK THE COLOR CHANGE HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS!"

"Isn't it obvious?" inquired the monster from across the room. "I'll spell it out for you, rookies. In your protection thing, you said let this blessing allow you to identify good and evil... you guys are good, and apparently I'm evil, so now he can identify us with all his senses... It was a poor choice of words, Wings."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"OOOH, JEEZ! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO TURN HIM BACK TO NORMAL!" quaked Willow, thinking it failed as an assistant.

"Nah it's fine! Think of it as something good! WE GAVE THE KID SUPERPOWERS!"

"ASHER, THIS IS BAD! DON'T YOU GET IT?!"

"Why is it bad? Don't kids want to be superheroes?"

"HE COULD EXPOSE US! HEAVEN! HELL! GOD! REMEMBER WHAT THE OLD MAN SAID? WE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN! AND YOU ALMOST SCREWED EVERYTHING UP BY GOING AFTER EM-!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH, WILLOW!" I snapped in anger, making the cute helper feel even worse about the situation we were in. It flew back to the crib to look at the baby and feel guilty about its words and how they came out. Panicking more and more about the child's future and how our case would be another challenge.

I sighed as I approached my partner, knowing its intentions were pure.

"Okay, okay... Calm down. The cute thing can't even talk yet! And for a few years, people will believe we are his imaginary friends!" I tried explaining to the sheep.

"Okay, and what will we do when he starts to talk, or he no longer believes in imaginary friends?"

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, Sheepy."

After calming the animal down, we went back to check on the little guy. I bet he thinks this is normal, when it's my mistake he's like this. I need to protect him from Sozolack. Now that he can see us both, maybe that'll make things easier for me, but also for that monster.

"This is going to be fun." added Sozolack before walking out of the room.

I was a bit worried about the following years. My first real case, and I had already screwed things up by trying to protect him. I left the room for a few minutes to take some air, and as I looked out the window, I saw Him. That man, the one who found me crying on the street. He was waiting for the bus with some old lady and a little kid. I was sure He didn't know I was staring at him. I saw the bus approaching the people at the bus stop, and it was at that moment that He saw me and winked at me. The bus drove away before the man could get on, but He was gone in the blink of an eye.

Was this a sign? Maybe He wants me to keep going, to guard the kid and keep him away from Sozolack. After all, I was a Guardian Angel now. So, it was my responsibility.

"It's just a baby with superpowers... How hard could that be?" I muttered to myself as I went back to the room with the supernatural newborn.