This prompt is based on a recent post I found on Tumblr, credit goes to users: joanwatson and kingof-thecrossroads.

There once was an angel who held a man's hand in hell and said 'Come.'
Only to hold that same hand in purgatory and say, 'Go.'
and on earth the man will take the angels hand and whisper 'stay'

November 20th
Prompt- The above tumblr post

Stay

The man was lost, surviving with no clear purpose.

He was drowning in hell. Drowning in the blood, and the destruction. He was drowning in the fear and the screaming.

He pressed his lips to the knife and tried not to cut his arm too hard, just deep enough to feel. Hell captured the senses and he was left alone with no life to revive him.

The man was lost.

The angel was stuck.

He was moving like a puppet, with strings attached to his wings as they told him to do this, do that.

He was frozen with fear. Don't love, don't hate; don't feel. And he didn't.

He opened the door to Hell wide and stepped down, feeling the hot air surround him as he moved to collect the man that would change his life for good. He moved and moved and moved; not feeling the sneers and the hate. He didn't feel emotions; he only knew the physical reality that was pain.

The angel was stuck.

The man was holding onto the knife, looking wounded and broken and lost.

The angel touched his hand and whispered, "come."

He whispered and grabbed his arm and ushered him to the surface.

The angel broke the man's reality and allowed to feel, and as a side effect, he felt emotion. He felt pain for the man; he felt need, and friendship, and love for the man.

The man felt pain and the angel felt emotion.

They healed each other like a slow balm being eased onto the wound.

The man and the angel grew together.

They grew to love, and to need, and to feel. They grew to become what they never thought, never hoped, to be.

Then their hopes were dashed.

The angel turned. The angel betrayed.

And the angel felt guilt.

The resolution came when the man asked him to help. "Come," he whispered. He needed the angel. He needed the angel to fight by his side, die by his side.

The angel went. The angel could not leave the man, not then, not ever.

And they escaped reality.

They escaped it all.

They were transported to a world where time stood still and feelings were enhanced and death did not exist.

The angel disappeared. The angel thought to stay as penance, but the man was not to know.

The man found the angel and they were happy.

The pause of happiness was only a brief lull as they found the exit.

The man cried out, the man held his hand, and the angel took it. The angel pushed him, the angel shouted, "go!"

The man's eyes reflected pain and he fell and he forgot and he felt the guilt. He let the angel down. He let everyone down. The man was no good, he could barely save himself from the destruction.

But, the angel returned. He returned and he still loved the man. And he made the man remember.

He reassured the man. He said, "you can't save everyone, my friend."

And the man tried to believe him. He really did. The man held out his hand for support, the man watched his back, and the angel watched his. They were together in the world and they felt.

The man latched onto the angel. He made him feel more emotions than he'd ever felt before. The man loved the angel and the angel loved the man.

The man pressed his hand against the angels and the man whispered, "stay."