The Deal of Ideals

Making it onto the roof, I turn back to watch as Joshua turns his foot into cement and kicks the fire escape. Once, twice, thrice, the thing begins to tilt backwards. The weight of the centipede on the broken top is enough to send the thing falling backwards, down into the endless below. With a breath of relief, I fall back on my butt and hold my head.

"Jesus christ…" I mumble, feeling the rush of the past not even ten minutes reaching its end. I fall onto my back, looking up at the starry sky…stars…stars…"How could I forget just how beautiful the sky once was." I ask myself as Joshua takes a seat as well, catching his breath.

"I don't think anyone could blame you for that. How long has it been since you've seen anything up there but a peeping tom?" I chuckle at what probably wasn't meant as a joke.

"11 years…to wait that long and for it to still be worth it…" I reach out my hand, wondering if I'm lucky, I'll get to touch those sparkling lights in the sky. Joshua considers my words, giving the sky a contemplative glance himself.

"I wonder…if I could have even imagined something so beautiful in the world of my own imagination." Joshua says. "Though, I still don't agree with what you said." His eyes form a gentle glare. 

"Oh yeah?" I sit up, scratching the back of my head. "Well, I guess I don't blame you. Someone with so much conviction they were willing to destroy an entire town of people probably isn;t gonna change their minds over the words of someone who killed them. Though, I guess I'm not under any real obligation to try." I attempt to put some venom to my words, but the effort seems pointless. There's really nothing left to feel spiteful about. Even if I return to that town, what will be left.

Besides…do I even really care? My memories of my own apathy come trickling back.

"I guess…I could understand why someone would want to change things, though." My words of understanding seem to knock him out of his spiteful haze. "It wasn't really…a place for people who wanted to do more than coast through existence. Maybe I held some animosity towards those who did, or were too afraid to live any other way, but…in hindsight, I can't blame them either. People who can't…people like us…they don't have a place in a world of pure judgment."

"Right…yeah, that's right…" Joshua mumbles. "I just…needed to make a world where people like me didn't have to become nonexistent. To fade away while the rest of the world kept on pretending. A world that I could really understand…" 

"I'd like to think that's possible. I just don't think you know how to go about it. Maybe if you did, you wouldn't have done any of the things you did before. Maybe you could have just tried being honest with me than try to deceive me for whatever purposes you may have had in mind." He grits his teeth as I talk, before letting out a defeated sigh.

"You're not…wrong…perhaps I didn't handle things in the right way. Still! I refuse to believe that the world I wish for is impossible. So, I want to make a deal with you." Joshua stands up and faces me. "If I can prove to you that I am befitting of the title of god, I want you to work as one of my angels." 

"W-what?"

"Your power is…very handy. Not only can you turn invisible, but you can distort people's perceptions. If it grows, it could easily become something that changes the tide of any battle. I want that power on my side. So…deal?" He holds out his hand, waiting for me to shake it. Come on, really? This guy seriously expects me to go along with this?

…well…I guess I shouldn't make him an enemy. Not in the situation I'm currently in anyways. I let out a little sigh before taking his hand and shaking it.

"Fine then. Deal."