Angels were something that he no longer truly believed in, the Christian God as well maybe.  The rosary, the prayers, they had been little more than a desperate remembrance of his mother for a long time and even that he’d let go of.  All that was left was the child in him that still hoped that his mother was somewhere other than the bottom of the cold, cold sea.  Somewhere peaceful and warm, with sunlight shining through clouds or green trees, surrounded by the love of the God that she had so wanted him to believe in.  If angels existed she would have been an angel.

Waking up with pure white wings and a persistent ache that felt like he’d been pounded on by an unhappy polar bear was certainly not enough to make him re-evaluate his lack of belief.  Hyoga figured he’d remember dying even if it was simply by falling asleep on the ice and freezing to death.  He doubted he would die so mercifully peaceful anyways.  Whenever the day came he would probably die fighting, losing and failing to protect his comrades and Athena.   It wasn’t something he could afford.

And if he had died he would probably have simply ended up in the Underworld again, encased in that otherworldly frost that actually froze him to the bones.  He didn’t look forward to that.  So he should have been thankful probably.  It was something much less disastrous that he’d woken up in this place with its clear skies and what appeared to be a lush forest just within his sight.  It was a good thing that he’d woken up alive and relatively well even if he hadn’t a clue where he was.

He should have walked towards the village probably, talk to people and figure out where he was.  It seemed like a pretty small place, though still larger than Yakov’s village.

It had been a while since he’d been around people like that, normal people.  Hyoga kept walking towards the forest, just for now, until he gathered himself properly.