The afterlife was beyond imperfect.
Of course, Leo didn't know that for a long, long time. How many Earth years had he spent dead and floating aimlessly in heaven? Ten? One hundred? Thousands even? He never cared to think about it too hard, but only knew that the Earth passed away in his absence. The world had collapsed. The end came. Now, all that was left was the afterlife, and he let himself revel in absolute bliss.
Life in this place consisted of three things: enjoyment, happiness and worship. Nobody was ever forced to do these things, but instead it was completely natural. A desire. Worship happened at no particular time, and nobody needed to do it at the same time. Leo always visited the upper heavens for worship at what he believed was the cusp of evening. But what clock told him this when the world and time itself was lost to oblivion? He never cared to think about that too hard, either. Come to think of it, he'd hardly thought about much at all since he arrived. How did he even die? Did he have people he left behind?
Leo arrived at the house of worship. A shimmering white and silver room that stretched hundreds of feet into the air. One enormous gold ring encompassed a drop in the floor that must have spanned infinitely below. From above fell thousands of bands of light that fluttered and splayed outwards like drapes–the Mantle of God.
Nobody had mentioned seeing His face in the time Leo walked the afterlife, there was only the Mantle. That was enough for mankind. The way its light shone and lit up Heaven itself was more than enough to show God's love, and the comfort it brought satisfied even those who were most ambitious in life.
Leo passed to the edge of the golden disc's inner circle and reached out for one of the Mantle's drapes. One laid its edge in his palms, like it was alive and wanted to be touched. Then, Leo did as hundreds around him were already doing.
He prayed.
'Lord, you are the true and greatest of all. Nobody reigns like You.' He pulled the cloth to his face, and it made his skin tingle with a sensation like every person in the universe was loving him at once. It was almost wrong, how good it felt.
His prayer continued, but his heavenly vessel, or body, was completely enraptured by Love. His prayer turned to praise and song, and he freely worshipped the mighty omniscience of God. His voice carried alongside others, embracing their tunes in one great chorus. The room felt alive. He could never tell how much time passed, but never needed to be elsewhere and could stay as long as he liked. He could have sworn that he once spent the same span as an Earth year with his face in the holy Mantle, but it was no different from spending a few minutes here. Who would want to leave holy bliss when you didn't need the Earthly desires of food and drink?
Finally, he pulled his face free of the Mantle, and released it to return to the open air. He partly stopped for wanting to see his friend, Harvey, but also stopped after feeling something that could only come from another friend altogether.
'Raphael?' Leo met eyes with one of the seven archangels of God, towering over him at ten feet tall. The glorious being wore simple garb, a baggy shirt, long trousers and sneakers. All white, of course. His wings were made of lightning–sparking, brilliant, blue and striking the very floor at his feet. His hair was blonde, curling down his back and occasionally struck by the lightning of his wings. His blue eyes were the one thing that seemed calm about him, like still waters in a stormy sea.
'Mister Cadmus,' the holy being said.
'Please, it's been too long. Call me Leo.'
'Alright, Leo. Would you like to walk through New Garden with me?' Raphael offered the one hand that wasn't pressed into his pocket. Who was Leo to turn down an offer to walk with the third most influential being under God? He quickly took Raphael's hand, and in that instant was transported to another part of heaven. The archangel of guidance really stood for his title.
They came to a beautiful forest, a place full of plantation that sprung to life with bright colour. The trees swayed with movements of their own. The grass seemed to clasp Leo's feet with more softness than wool. Flowers sprung up and moved aside for him as he walked. This was New Garden, the second Eden.
A small glittering deer nuzzled Leo's free hand as he said, 'Raphael, are you sure about this? I feel like you spent way too much time with me. It's gonna look like you're playing favourites, and I know that's blasphemy, which you'd never commit.'
As an angel, God's will was first priority for Raphael, and that fact stayed true no matter what he did. However, something in Raphael's eye was not like his usual kind and joyous self. In fact, Leo could have sworn that the mighty archangel looked worried, like he was doing something wrong. This was the first time Leo had felt worry for someone for as long as he could remember. Suddenly, Raphael wasn't a powerful being beyond Leo's comprehension, but someone who needed a friend.
'Truth be told Mist–Leo…' Raphael looked at their hands, still clasped to the point where Leo's hand was almost completely surrounded by his. 'I–we–no… Heaven has lied to you.' Leo immediately knew that Raphael used the name of Heaven over someone else's, for worry of immediately being cast out. But then again, He knew all thoughts and things. Fear carved out its place in Leo's heart for the first time in an eternity.
'What?' Leo nearly hit the poor deer away in a sudden panic.
'Do you ever wonder if you're missing something here?' Raphael knelt down like he was talking to a child. His eyes softened with hints of pain tearing at them in the form of tiny red veins. 'Like you had something and it's lost.'
Heaven froze, for Leo. The afterlife was suddenly devoid of bliss. He realised Raphael's hand was on his temple, and memories of Earth came flooding back. He could see the fire, the brimstone and the End. Earth had ended the day he died. Not only that, but Leo saw something that made him realise what Raphael meant.
'I can't believe I'm doing this, but I can't stand for it any longer.' Raphael's wildly striking wings fell low. 'It seems Heaven has made an error, giving me so much power.'
Leo nodded, incapable of speaking. Finally, he had to tell Raphael something, anything. He opened his lips and spoke, saying, 'I had a wife.'
Water dripped to the grass… no, tears. He was crying. For the first time in Heaven's history, a human cried. He tightened his threaded fingers in Raphael's hand, then felt his face tighten into a snarl.
'She's in Hell.'