Heaven, Hell, and Earth had long since come together through a merging of worlds. War was a thing of the past. Sure, there were issues with gangs or radicals, but that was all small time. The big guys had their sights set else where.

For Melody, the wars were hell. She was a guardian angel at that point, serving healing the injured and tending to the dying. She saw so much during that time. So much death, destruction. So much loss that most of the time felt absolutely meaningless. She hated every second of it.

She thought without the war there would finally be peace but even now there was conflict and tragedy. Gang violence or tragic accidents. Drunk drivers or abusive partners or just illness robbing people of their lives. And each loss hurt Melody to her core.

Its why she stayed in medicine after the war, becoming a nurse to do her part to try to help. Yet each loss chipped away at her. There were good days where she helped people, sure, but there were also bad days.

And today was a very bad day.

They'd lost one. A man who had ignored symptoms of illness for who knows how long till he came in on his death bed. They'd done all they could do but it was just too late. He'd died.

Melody stood in the now empty room still waiting for the janitorial staff to come strip and scrub clean. Tears welling in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. She'd always tried so hard not to cry at work, she knew it was unprofessional, but it always ripped her to pieces when she had to hold their hands as they passed.

A harsh voice comes from behind her. Dr Luke Garciel, another angel, making tsking noises, clearly annoyed. His voice sharp and annoyed, "Crying? Really, Melody? Over a stranger? I thought by now you'd have grown thicker skin. I though you'd be able to act like a grown up about these kinds of things. You're not some fledgling seeing this for the first time yet here you are whimpering and sniveling like its your first day again."

The words like cold blades stabbing into her as she quickly wipes her eyes, stepping back from the doctor as she mumbles an apology. Just hoping he'd leave.

It wasn't suppose to be like this. She just wanted to make a difference.