Underworld. The Ring of Pride. 1930. The Day of Extermination. Couple minutes before the Sweep begins.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The town was quiet on this day. No one wanted to make any unnecessary noise or cause any sort of showdown.
All Lords, and Sinners, had one unspoken rule.
"All squabbles and disagreements are after the Judgment."
Lords hid, Sinners hid in the houses of the Ring and hoped that the Angels would not find them.
Some hid in the streets because the buildings were completely boarded up, some hid in the ground, trying to think that the angelic gaze would not reach them there, some tried to blend in with their surroundings, and some just stood and waited for their fate, because there was no room.
In the Pride, overpopulation.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The clock moved steadily and inexorably toward its goal, every Sinner could hear the sound, from small to great. If he was at the Embassy, he could clearly hear the sound of the mechanism, and if he was at the end, a barely audible clatter on the edge of consciousness, barely audible to the ear, so quiet you might think you'd heard it and get lost in the sounds of your surroundings.
Everyone was hiding, everyone was awaiting Judgment.
Some unfortunates who materialized right on that horrible day - were doomed. They were often the first to perish, for they had no idea of the reality of the "real" Hell.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The sinners were terrified, for these were not "mere toys" or "ordinary fights." The games were over. For every Sinner on Extermination Day, a mistake means one thing - Second Death.
No jokes or "third chances," no "Second Hell for the Third Death." If the Sinner is killed by an angel during the Extermination, it's over.
It is said that such souls become part of Hell. Those red eyes... It's like witnessing death. Like open wounds that open in the city with each one killed. Those eyes are watching everyone, or staring somewhere in the same spot. A year, a century, an eternity, no one realized it.
Only a lunatic would fight or work things out at the Slaying, none of the Sinners would waste any time.
All stores are closing, all businesses are winding down, all deals are being postponed, everyone expects that they will be the ones to survive another year. All hoping that they will be the ones lucky enough not to meet the smiling angels.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
William, on the other hand.
Decided to see what would come of his scheme.
Cinderella gave him a place in her sanctuary, as did Aphrodite. They both thought William was safe, but he was still an arrogant idiot for daring to do such a thing.
He'd used his best Mimic, or no. A doppelganger to mimic his body and soul sense. If Adam or the Valkyries decided to kill him, he would have time to transport himself to a hideout and from there to Earth.
He only hoped that the Valkyries wouldn't be as good at using his technology as William had thought, because now all of his developments on that ground were working against him.
"Adam's Comet, the Eye of the Valkyries, the Oblivion enchantment.
William didn't regret doing these projects, for they had helped him develop important skills and learn new things, but still... a certain aftertaste... an unpleasant taste remained in William's mouth, knowing what could become of him and his Silence.
Recovering from the Slaying was commonplace. For survivors.
William could hide by the Embassy, if not in it, but...
The portal from Paradise opened exactly above the Embassy, standing in the center of the Pentagram.
William didn't know if any of the Valkyries could sense his presence in the Embassy, but Adam could for sure. William didn't know Eve's condition, but judging by his supposed sensations on Earth... She hadn't reached Paradise yet, which meant he wouldn't have a killer argument for Adam to spare him. Eve still hasn't reached Paradise.
Adam hates sinners. Hates anyone who works or interacts with Lucifer in any way. Now, William fell into both categories.
He could have just gone to Earth. Wait out the Extermination there. He had accumulated enough "batteries," emergency energy stores for body and soul, that he could last about 36 hours on Earth, using all of them and taking himself out of commission for a week, which he must not show his face in the city or he would simply be killed, if not worse. This was a last resort.
No, William had decided to play big.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
One minute to Extermination.
And it was Adam's reaction to William's idea that would determine William's fate. Whether he would kill him as soon as he saw him, or whether they could talk, deciding his future plans for further Slayings. Would he hide on Earth, hoping that Adam wouldn't be expecting him there someday, or would he send the Athanim there one day, that they would definitely be able to find him... Or William will just make a fortune.
One day, a couple of years ago, William suggested to Adam that he add a little tune to the appearance of the portal, like the elevators have. "Hallelujah," the portal should say. Adam laughed, for then they were just joking.
Now, that joke might save William's life. William hoped Adam would guess it was his work, recognize the handwriting of his Weave. Even though he wasn't privy to the details, he knew William worked with the Aether, maybe that when he was denounced, told and disgorged his "blasphemous arts," the Council could publicize it to all of Heaven, making him look like an example.
Tick tock.
The Lords have long since hidden, the Sinners are flailing about, wishing they could find a place where they can sit out this nightmare. For them.
...Only William alone, like a fool, was in his neighborhood. There was a table on the main street of Silence now, where his doppelganger was sitting, and he himself was hiding on a rooftop, behind every possible defense and concealment weave that he could know, ten meters away from the table. On the table were the ribs that Adam loved so much, the First of Men liked his cooking, and the Valkyries loved this variation. He often treated them too. Sweets, goodies, and most importantly....
The soup that Eve had taught him the recipe for. William hoped that she wasn't kidding him and that the broth was really her family's favorite concoction, and not something she'd made after Lucifer slept with Eve. Yeah, turns out the Devil had gotten to Eve herself for some reason. One of the facts she blurted out as she chased him around her house after learning about their new partner in crime.
Tick-tock.
White tablecloth, sweet tea, mountain of goodies. One idiot who thinks he can do what no Sinner has ever managed. Assuming everything William's been able to dig up is true.
"Talk to the head of the Slayers without telling him anything important to his job and survive."
The weave would hide them as soon as Adam and possibly Lute stopped nearby.
Tick.
The calculation and was that Adam wouldn't... not use Comet, and the Valkyries would simply inform the one of the 'slurry' or 'unusual symbol on the ground', for his enchantments would portray... a white flag. As best they can.
Just white stripes that will be visible from the sky. From the height of the portal at the Embassy, such a thing is unlikely to be seen, but if Adam, Lute or Shield Sister... Maybe just Valkyrie would see it... Valkyrie he would be able to convince by simply saying something in angelic, or informing that he had information on Eve, adding a fact that an ordinary Sinner, even an ancient Overlord, could not know. Same soup.
Right.
The extermination had begun. The last grain of sand has fallen.
The chime. The chime of the clock.
Sinners call it the harbinger. As if a steam ship was humming, signaling its arrival. It was heard all over the city, just like the clanging of the clock.
Some foolish or naive Sinner might say that it is the grace of Heaven, that it is the extra seconds and warning given to the Doomed so that they can muster all the courage they need to survive.
In reality, it's just Lucifer's amusement. Only after the ringing of the bell can the portal out of Paradise be opened.
Lucifer just wanted to have a convenient way to hear about the beginning of the Extermination... and also for the Sinners to suffer another moment and make mistakes. Because it's so much fun. Watching those who self-destructed their own 'Paradise' die.
"Reap what you sow."
A golden portal opened exactly above the Paradise Embassy. The fighters had arrived. So had their Commander.
"HALLELUJHA!"
A pause.
Everyone seems to freeze. Angels. Sinners. Perhaps even Lucifer stopped his violin playing for a moment.
William gripped his cane with all his might, staring intently into the sky, at the portal that opened, seeing the silhouettes of the Valkyries and their Commander.
Adam was...
"HALLELUJHA! HALLELUJHA! HALLE-E-ELUJHA-A-A-A-A-A-A!"
Here a moment passed and everything was back to normal.
A huge black cloud immediately rushed down. Black death.
From the outside it might have looked like the angels were acting haphazardly, that they were uncoordinated, but this large black cloud immediately split into many "chains" that covered every neighborhood. Covering all the Ring that they could.
Screams.
Desperate screams filled the Ring.
Angels dive-bombed. A new scream. An angel dive - a scream.
The sinners fled. But they were being overtaken.
The sinners begged. Their pleas were not heard.
The sinners tried to fight back. The angels had no trouble defeating them and killing them.
A wave of deaths overtook the Ring. The souls of the slain were leaving their shells forever, experiencing terrible suffering, settling in the place of their death.
Screaming.
The picking. Screams. The sounds of battle. Cries. Picketing.
The Exorcists operated in a spiral. First the closest possible neighborhoods, while some moved forward, the other part finished cleaning up after the sisters. It's a circular pattern. This year they seem to have chosen that tactic.
"Why... Why aren't some of the Valkyries in the air, monitoring Sinners for others? Why isn't Adam shafting everyone with the Comet, even though he praised that variation of the Aether so much?", William thought tensely, watching the Extermination process firsthand. True, not from the side he would have liked.
"Did the... Council just... forbid everything I did? Then...", William thought as he looked at the Valkyries through the Crawlers. The spiders were untouched, only those caught in explosions or building collapses were killed.
William could afford to lose a dozen, after all he has about half a thousand Crawlers already. Cheap cameras that were easy to replace.
The screams got a little closer.
"Where's Adam?", William thought nervously. He looked for him out of the eyes of the Crawlers, but there was no way he could find him. "He said he was directly involved in the Slaying. His crowning golden beams became the symbol of death in Hell, and Lute and the Valkyries boasted that Adam could bring down many buildings at a time with one volley..."
William couldn't find Adam. Either he was somewhere high in the sky, preparing the Comet, or he and Lute were somewhere-too....
"Long time no see... Snowflake." - Adam's unnaturally calm voice came from behind William. William who was standing on the roof, not the doppelganger.
William turned around in a flash.
Large golden wings cut the air as the Valkyrie Commander hovered in the air, holding a golden spear in his right hand. On his face was a mask without a single emotion.
Lute hovered nearby, holding her favorite saber in her left hand. There was none of her usual cocky grin. She lazily surveyed her surroundings, stopping every now and then to glance at William.
The weave hiding them from the Sinners, perhaps even all the Overlords, descended upon them in a small mist. Both angels paid no attention to the haze that appeared. They were familiar with William's latest development.
They recognized him. Lut certainly guessed if her momentarily dilated eyes were proof of that. Adam, on the other hand, didn't change his face in any way.
"Or Blacky, whatever you're calling yourself now, William?" - In the same neutral tone, Adam tilted his head slightly, his golden holo-eyes scrutinizing William's figure as if seeing him for the first time.
"Adam. Lute." - William wheezed, leaning on his cane. - "Long time no see..." - William tried to start a speech but was cut short.
"You fucked up William." - Adam ironcladly sealed all of his words, pressing his voice. Lute stared intently at William's figure. "Fucked up hard. So pissed in his pants, he forgot to take them off" words that earlier could have been taken as jokes, but uttered in the same murderously calm voice of Adam, were frightening.
William could touch the dangling danger. All his senses were screaming at him to run away. To run away.
In front of him was not the kind and foolish Adam who was always late, fooling around and cursing.
In front of him was a warrior that had fought Lucifer, Sin, and a host of Goetia demons. This man was older than mankind, had seen Creation without Sin and Anomalies. He saw the One Earth that followed God's Design. God's original design.
...And it was this warrior who was now ready to take his life in an instant. To consume his soul with a single movement.
William could feel something similar in their sparring sessions, but it was a paltry echo in comparison. It was as if an ocean... no - an enormous comet had descended upon him. A meteor that would burn up all the life it could reach.
The screams came a little closer still.
"Married Lucipidor, almost kissed him on the gums, if I remember correctly." - The golden holo-eyes me-er-slowly swept over William's tense figure, as if searching for any detail. - "Fucked up all the souls he could get his hands on." - Adam dragged the words out slowly. - "Used his family and friends like harbor whores." - Adam's voice pressed a little. Lut exhaled loudly, nodding. - "Fucked up everything in general and for what?" - The voice began to fill with anger.
Adam raised his spear as if assessing its sharpness, glancing fleetingly at William, who clutched at his cane until his fingers ached like a lifeline in the middle of a shipwreck. One hand clutched the cane, the other was ready to use any Weave to survive.
"What did you blow it all for, William?" Adam leaned closer. "For what you betrayed my trust, Paradise's trust." - Adam's face twisted for the first time in a grimace of rage. - "Betrayed little Emily's trust. Betrayed Sera's trust!" - Adam finished, anger on his face, his eyebrows lowered. Adam hovered slightly over William. - "For the sake of what you sent all you could! Why did you join up with Lucic the Faggot?! For what did you fuck up your fucking Paradise?!" - Adam screamed. William's hand trembled.
William was trembling. From fear. From nerves. From guilt.
"...Well... At least I wasn't killed right away!", a hysterical thought visited William.
".Pride." - A grin appeared on Adam's face. Lut repeated Adam's furious expression.
"I fell into Pride, thinking I knew something more. That I could do what the Seraphim couldn't." - William's voice was hoarse. He was doing his best not to lose the firmness of his tone or he would just get killed, William thought.
"I was trying to change humanity, so that everyone could go to Paradise, so that it would be rid of the curse of Sin, so that-"
William faltered, framing a downcast look in Adam's fierce and judgmental eyes. "So that Heaven wouldn't have to hold a Last Judgment."
♪ Blow ♪
William falls to the roof. His mask crumbles. His head rings. Dizziness, and flashes in his eyes. William uses weaves to regain consciousness as quickly as possible.
"FUCK!" blink and Adam has him by the vest, lifting him up with one hand, screaming in his face. "JUST WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU DO WHEN YOU'RE A FUCKING JUVENILE FUCKING RETARD?!" - Adam shook William as he tried to take away the blurriness in his eyes. A moment, a small wave of blue energy and his eyes regained clarity. The mask was starting to come back together.
"You fucking cunt, why the fuck would you go where you just by definition can't, fuck!" - Adam slammed William against the roof, leaving cracks. William sighed painfully, his ribs cracking. Weaving... "Trying to fix people! You're a complete fuck if you decided to do God's fucking job!" - another blow. Lute slumped to the roof, just watching the procession with a blank face.
"Take out Sin?! And you try fucking fishing all the fish out of the ocean with your hand, how about that, huh!" - another blow and a painful groan from William. Weaving... "To Heaven, eh?! Fucking ignorant of all the details of such a complex system and decide to do something so fucking stupid!" - Adam was hitting William with every word. A small crater had formed in the roof, and the Weave had only just healed the worst of the damage before new, smaller and nastier ones appeared.
"You're just a fucking degenerate who fell into Pride and FULLY DESERVED YOUR PLACE IN THIS CLOAK!" a new, final blow and Adam let go of William, who was painfully grasping his chest, trying to regain his breath.
Thunder rumbles. It's raining heavily. Both angels looked up at the sky in surprise.
A moment of silence as the rain pelted all three angels nonchalantly.
The screams grew a little closer.
"I saw it." - William tried to speak, trying to recover his heavy breathing. "I-saw what became of the souls. Saw what I did..." - the heavy breathing wouldn't stop. There were cracks all over his face. William tried to get up.
Adam just stared at William with an emotionless face. Lut was looking at him with a strange expression on her face... William couldn't judge correctly now.
"I... I..." - William was breathing heavily, staggering but not releasing the cane he was leaning on like a decrepit old man. "I n-call Lucifer..." - Adam and Lut's eyes narrowed menacingly. - "L-just so as not to affect either of you..." his breathing was slowly returning to normal. The weave could repair his shell after all. "E-if..." - William stumbled, shaking his head, he wasn't looking at the angels, he was trying to catch his breath, holding his chest, looking at the floor. His whole body was shaking, his legs could barely hold him up. "Cog-when I failed, you would not have been touched by the Wrath of Heaven." - Neither Adam nor Lute interrupted his speech, letting him explain himself.
William exhaled deeply, straightening up. His right hand holding the cane was shaking, and he himself was trembling, but he stood to his full height and looked into the eyes of his friends... angels again.
"If I had asked for Sera's help, I would have set her up badly."
The rain beat smoothly on William's cylinder, on Adam and Lut's helmets, forming some sort of shapes out of the droplets."If by right or wrong I had touched you in any way, it would have been revealed and punished." William closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
Blue stars burned in them.
"He ridiculed me." - The angels' holo-eyes widened in amazement. "He laughed a long time when he heard my ideas, he didn't take me seriously until the very end... "- William said quietly, lowering his head slightly. "But he helped me honestly, not interfering in any way, not interfering in any way." - Adam's face twisted.
William looked at Silence for a moment, as if seeking support.
"He gave me knowledge." - Lut sighed in astonishment, and Adam grinned. "Shared his knowledge of the Aether, but only so that I could appreciate the full extent of the disaster that had been wrought." William raised his head to the sky. Night, overcast clouds. Lanterns illuminated the well-maintained streets, where there was not a single broken pane of glass. The silence was untouched. "I tried." He turned to the angels again.
"Trying to turn back, to correct his mistake." - William sighed, clutching his cane and dropping his head and shoulders in defeat.
"You're good for that, but you don't see it going beyond your town..." Adam said wryly, waving his spear, folding his arms across his chest. Lut nodded, not changing her posture, still holding her saber.
"I was helping Eve." - Both angels sighed, their eyes widening again. "I decided to use the energy you gave me and all the Archangel's abilities to rid her of the God Curse and... the Apple." - William sighed, looking tiredly at Adam, who was watching his face with an unreadable look. Lute shifted her gaze between them.
"I did it." - William finished quietly. Lut sighed, and Adam twitched as if struck by a blow. "She's going to Heaven." - William confessed.
There was silence again. Adam looked at William with a gaze full of various emotions, of which William could only make out a fraction. Lut's hand trembled and she covered her eyes for a moment, shaking her head faintly, only to stare questioningly at Adam.
"How do you know she's really going to Paradise?" - Adam's husky voice...so vulnerable, so...the anger was gone, only disbelief remained. The disbelief of a man whose terminal illness has been cured. "How can you claim that, knowing how you shit yourself with the Song?" - At the reminder of his failure, William wrinkled his nose. Lute shifted her gaze between them again, like a child between quarreling parents who can't understand their words, can't figure out who's right and who's lying.
"I can feel it, and so can you, if you want to." - William held out his hand to Adam. He took it in an iron grip, looking William straight in the eye. The eyes of a man who'd lost everything, a man who'd bring down on you every kind of punishment he could if his life-saving oasis was just a mirage. "Just... feel... Remember things long forgotten, just..." - Adam immediately closed his eyes. - "Remember old dreams, imagine you're... sleeping..." - Adam's grip loosened a few moments later. William followed Adam's example.
...A flight through millions and billions of stars, the singing of the cosmos, a sweet dream. A golden core guarding the most precious cargo in Creation that slept within. A loving husband who would never hurt his wife, never again. He would not lose her again...
The red glow seemed to embrace the two lovers, as if an angel was gently embracing the souls of two people, protecting them from God himself, from all adversity, promising... Heaven. This time he would keep his promise and not let anyone down.....
The blue energy that fuels this comet flying towards the goal. Desire, Intention, Emotion, Calculation. There can be no mistake. Peace and Heaven, only then can he stop. He will save that soul, whatever it takes. He promised...
The comet floated through the void of Space, leaving a long blue-white plume behind it, as if being burned by the sun. The comet floated so smoothly, as if it was gently embraced by invisible arms, like a careful mother carrying her child, like a loving father who vows to protect his daughter forever. No more mistake...
The cosmic lullaby lulled her to sleep, giving pleasant dreams. Cleansing the soul, allowing that soul to forget the nightmares of Earth, to forget the terrible path traveled before. No more suffering. The pain was over. It's over. Now, she's free. She's safe. It's all right. It wasn't you.
It was you. It wasn't. My fault. Eva.
The rain was embracing the Silence. The thunder made another boom. No one would notice that to the thousands of water droplets another one had been added.
"Sir?" - Turned quietly to Commander Lute, his lieutenant. She saw a drop roll off her helmet. It looked a lot like a tear. She was just imagining it.
"Eve..." replied Adam quietly, hoarsely, looking somewhere in front of him. Eyes wide open. "Alive..." - came out of the Archangel's mouth in disbelief.
"Eve...Alive..." - Adam was breathing heavily. Now his grip was not rigid. Now, he clung to William's hand like a drowning man to a lifeguard's hand. "She's safe..." - New drops on his helmet. It's just rain. -
"She's flying home... to her family..." - Lute sighed. - "...To me..."
"It was the last thing I could do." - William said quietly, drawing the attention of the two angels. - "I found her a couple years before that. She was in a terrible state, on the verge of insanity." - Adam equalized his breathing by nodding and releasing his hand. Lut listened to William with excitement.
"I helped her. Brought her to her senses for a while. The plan concerned her as well. I used the Apple to touch all humans. In the process, it burned, thanks to Lucifer's knowledge, the use of which, I was able to surprise him." - Adam's shoulders twitched.
"Sir?" - Lut couldn't decide how Adam should react. He was acting too atypical. Maybe she knew another Adam... Not the one with Eve?
"Burned... You burned the fucking Apple?!" - Adam laughed out loud, clutching his stomach. - "Ha ha ha...! P-just... Took it... And sent all those faggots who said otherwise to fuck off!" - Adam laughed hysterically. Lute and William looked at each other, both with a look of incomprehension in their eyes, and then, like old times, looked anxiously at Adam, who couldn't calm down.
"B-fuck, that's the best joke I EVER heard! Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha...!" - Adam's laughter wasn't evil like Lucifer's was then. Adam laughed as if he had heard the best news in the world. As if he had found a piece of what had been lost forever, as if... Adam... That Adam was starting to come back to life. "Fuck you all!" - he raised both hands to the sky and extended each one, giving the clouds the middle finger. Maybe Planet Paradise was up there. - "Suck it the fuck out! For all those words, for EVERY fucking thing!" - Adam shouted.
The shouts in the town seemed to begin to disappear on their own in Adam's shouts and laughter.
Finally, as abruptly as he had begun, Adam put his arms around William's shoulders, causing him and Lut to jerk fearfully.
"Uh-oh, Vergie..." - Adam wheezed, shaking his head and breathing heavily. - "Y-you have no idea HOW glad I am to hear that...!" - Adam chuckled hysterically. Lute gingerly moved closer, raising her hand, but meeting William's gaze, she lowered it, watching to see what would happen next. - "How many times have I heard that fucked up thing..." - he leaned a little closer to William's face, which threw back his head warily. - "'Lost', 'We can't find her' , 'It's like she's missing' , 'There's no point anymore' and other bullshit..." - Adam smiled broadly. Not a grin, but the wide smile of the happiest man who'd been cured of cancer.
"But then you come in shitting yourself and just..." - he sighed sharply and in a raised tone of voice announced---"You slag them all the fuck off, just cunt all their inhibitions and words..." - the smile became a grin. - "Whatever you do, but you keep your word, ay fuck you..." - Adam grinned, letting go of William, stepping back a little, arching his back and spreading his wings wide as if just waking up. "A total faggot, but at least he's normal." - Adam's tone became cheerful again, and he lightly slapped the flinching Lut on the shoulder, waggling his eyebrows. - "No, you look at him, tits." - Adam leaned conspiratorially over to Lut, who was looking at William with a pleading gaze.
The problem was that they both thought Adam was even more inadequate than usual. Like he'd snorted the heaviest of drugs.
"Fucked up millions of souls, helped my wife and now here... What a faggot, huh?" - Lut just nodded, looking pleadingly at William, who just shrugged.
Like they were in Paradise, like it was just another day after the Slaying, when William was giving Adam and the Valkyries a ribbing. Like they weren't in Hell, like William hadn't fallen.
"So how's it going here, Wili?" - Adam tilted his head snidely. - "How's the cuckoo, how's the livin', how's the cunts in Hell?" - Lute broke free of Adam's grip and ducked behind William's back.
As if she wasn't an ancient warrior and soldier, or the strongest exorcist that should be killing the likes of William. No, it was like she was hiding behind the Archangel Virgil, from another one of Adam's madnesses that he was doing drunkenly. William covered Lute with his hand, receiving an appreciative nod.
"Built the Silence... The Silent Neighborhood, as the Sinners call it..." - William replied slowly, as if talking to a psychopath, trying to escape him.
"Oh!" - Adam quickly pointed his hands to his sides. - "So that's why it's so clear and there's rain!" - Adam nodded approvingly, appraising the surroundings like an expert critic. - "Those other crafts are your work?" - He nodded toward the other Overlord's enterprises, which he'd obviously passed over on his way here.
"Mine." - William nodded, Lut squeezed his shoulders approvingly. - "I've sort of become a Overlord here... Agreed with the other... Main ones." - William exhaled, pulling himself back to his normal tone. - "They don't touch me, they don't touch my territory, I control them and monitor them with my Weave." - The angels didn't react to the last word, Adam only nodded encouragingly. - "Keeping a hand on them so that when those betray me, I can get their souls..." - Adam gave an approving thumbs-up.
"Didn't sleep with anyone, just didn't get up." - Adam grinned praisingly, and Lute patted his right shoulder. William could definitely feel her nodding approvingly. -" Reliving my nightmares and failures, trying not to lose myself and go crazy." - William closed his eyes, shrugging his shoulders. - "Doing the usual things... going..."
"Oh come on, Wili." - Adam waved his hand, looking away for a moment. -" Anything you say tonight won't leave the walls of my mind, and Lut will only blab if I fuck her hard in front of all the Seraphim and then, only on my command." - Adam's eyes narrowed and his grin became a grin, and he folded his arms across his chest, lowering his wings in their place.
"Sir..." - Lute stretched out in embarrassment, resting her wet helmet against the back of William's head, who clapped her palm sympathetically on his shoulder.
"Oh, come on Lute." - Adam grinned, immediately becoming a little more serious. - "What do you mean 'not losing yourself'? Don't tell me that's what I'm thinking?" - Adam tilted his head sympathetically.
Lute got out from behind William's back, putting her saber away in its scabbard, also looking at William with a strange look. One that William still couldn't decipher.
"That's what it means." - William sighed, throwing his head back, opening his face to the rain. The cylinder was held firmly on his head. - "I'm slowly, without noticing it myself, going mad, Adam." - William cast tiredly, lowering his eyes for a moment to the agitated angels. - "Despite the constant protection of my soul, despite abstracting myself from the entire cuisine of the Ring... My thoughts just change... Become different... Mind first, then soul... Only on Earth can I exhale more freely, only then can I catch my breath, but my time there is limited." - William covered his eyes, still cocking his head, hearing two startled sighs.
"You can get to Earth...?" - Adam said thoughtfully.
- Even to Heaven...? - Lut asked in a cautious tone. William nodded.
"Most likely, but the Athanim would just not give me a pass." - William sighed, looking up at the storm clouds.
They were no longer paying attention to the approaching screams.
"You can figure something out, or just ask me, I'll organize it." - Adam shrugged, and Lut nodded readily. William sighed again.
"They're not the only ones who..." - William would have started to reply tiredly by now, as he was interrupted again by Adam, this time more gently.
" William." - The designated man lowered his gaze to the tired, half-extinct dark blue stars. - "Why don't you want to notify Sera or Emily somehow that you're alive and okay?" - The joking tone was gone, left with a... parental tone? It was like a father talking to a foolish child who'd been convinced of something simple and stupid again.
" ... " William lowered his head, sighing. - "I don't know how long I'll last like this, Adam." - William replied melancholically. - "I don't know when I'll finally lose myself, when I'll become what you hate so much, when I'll ..." - William raised his head again, looking Adam straight in the golden holo-eyes.
"When I break their hearts. One more time." - Adam frowned, William kept his extinguished gaze steady. - "We both know how dangerous Hope is a dangerous emotion, Adam." - Adam's face creased, but the man said nothing in response. - "If I make myself known to them, if I give hope, only to then trample it away, becoming an empty shadow of myself..."-William finally averted his gaze with a shake of his head.
"Everyone changes here. Sinners, Sins, Lilith, even Lucifer. " - Adam didn't react to William's words in any way, continuing to frown at the man. - "I don't know how long I have before I completely lose control of my thoughts, before I just stop clinging to my humanity in any way, before I just sell my soul to the Devil one more time." - William sighed doomedly, clutching his cane.
Thunder rumbled. The rain grew heavier. The three angels paid no attention to it, speaking as if it didn't exist.
"You said you could rest on Earth..." - Adam asked in a strange tone, causing Lute and William to look at Adam questioningly. - "What are you doing there?" - William grinned good-naturedly at these words.
"Working at the church as a priest." - William shrugged as if he were telling another story about his walk with Emily. Both angels choked.
" Just in church...?!" - Adam asked in a jovial tone, almost drowning in another fit of laughter.
"Sir!" - sharply shoved Lut shoved Adam in the stomach, causing him to wheeze painfully.
"That's where I'm researching the phenomenon that happened to the humans." - William continued as if nothing had happened, covering his eyes as Adam and Lut began their usual clowning. -" Taking a break from this place, from these souls..." - William circled the neighborhood with his cane hand, Adam and Lut followed with a glance. - "Just making up new things and trying to correct my mistakes."
"That's exactly what..." - Lut began, catching the two men's attention. - "And makes you so much better than all the scum that fell here, William." - Lute smiled softly with her mask, which made William grin. - "You realize all of this and truly want to better yourself. I have faith that you won't lose your way." - Lut said kindly, causing Adam to sigh theatrically.
"Thank you in kind, Lut." - William nodded, receiving a nod in return. - "But...I just won't be able to look into Emily's eyes." - Adam stopped fooling around in an instant, glancing at William, who looked up at the clouds again. Exactly where Paradise was supposed to be hidden. - "I won't be able to just look into her soul and lecture her about saving souls like nothing happened." - William covered his eyes. - "I won't be able to look at her, I won't be able to tell Sera about the strangeness and goodness of people..." - sighed William. - "I will, sooner or later, just go mad, becoming a mad scientist, willing to do anything for knowledge."
"Do you have someone here?" - Adam asked suddenly, getting two puzzled looks. - "At least someone you could describe as a good influence, someone who might have a chance at redemption?" - From Adam's lips it was so unaccustomed to hear such a thing.....
"Charlotte, daughter of Lucifer and Lilith." - William said quietly. Lute flinched, but Adam didn't raise an eyebrow. - "We met in my first days here, she was ... pure..." - Both angels understood what was said, both were surprised. - "too pure for this place, like a beautiful lotus in the middle of a swamp..." - William covered his eyes, falling into memories. - "She asked me what I thought about the possibility of Sinners finding a second chance." - William looked up at the two scrutinizing gazes. - "What I think about redemption." - William grinned. - "She was sincere. She, as far as all my experience told me, really believed what she said and wished." - William chuckled softly as Adam looked somewhere off to the side with a sort of unreadable stare. - "I don't know, maybe she's as much of a great liar as Pop, but then..." - William shook his head. -" I did believe her that I could try to atone for sin, it settled in my mind like a last saving thought before falling into the abyss." - William sighed tiredly.
"So there I went to church..." - William was once again interrupted.
" Find her and make friends." - Adam cut him off abruptly, earning him two dumbfounded looks. - "For what it's worth, go into janitorial work."
"Adam?" - Lut was no less shocked than William.
"Don't you hate the Morningstar family?" - William asked perplexed. Adam sighed, nodding and folding his arms across his chest, turning in the direction previously considered.
"I hate those scum with all my soul. There is no one more hateful to me than those two." - Adam replied venomously. Lut nodded to William, confirming her Commander's words. - "Water flows, fire burns, I hate those two." - Adam grinned tiredly. - "I've hated those two with all my soul, for so long that it's just become a fact of reality. It's like it's imprinted in the Bones of the Universe." - William nodded understandingly, and Lut put her hand on Adam's wing.
"But their daughter has done nothing to me." - Adam turned his head to William, who also looked into Adam's eyes. - "She's a clean slate and believe the first father." - he pointed a thumb at himself and Lut threw up her hands as if to present him. - "If first dad says she couldn't lie like that, she did. You have a chance for a change of scenery from this viper and research." - William only grinned at those words, shifting his gaze back in the direction of Adam's gaze. - "You need companionship with someone who isn't willing to cheat or kill you, and if what I think of this girl is true, then you just need her company. As much as I hate her parents. It's your only option to gain a chance at redemption." - Adam shrugged, earning a dumbfounded look from William and a misunderstanding one from Lut.
"But... Didn't you say that..." - William muttered perplexedly, stretching the words, trying to show their absurdity.
"I don't believe these degenerates have a chance, not one of these faggots ever made it into Heaven, though there was plenty of time." - Adam folded his arms across his chest glumly. - "But you..." - he pointed a black, pointed finger at William, smiling kindly. - "You, William, have every chance." - he grinned as Lute raised her fists enthusiastically.
"Even if it means having to bear the daughter of a fag-Lucifer, the daughter of a whore-Lilith..." - Adam's face creased for a moment. - "Fuck that. You're going back to Heaven, you're going to be the first Sinsh..." - he blanched for a moment, and Lute was caught with excited gesticulations. - "And who are you anyway?" - Adam rubbed his lip perplexedly.
"A fallen Angel." - William said, embodying a halo and....
"What the fuck..." - I looked at the remains of the wings in amazement, along with Lut. -"I'll get you some books on this shit, I'll drop it off next year." - with these words he got William's attention.
"Next year?" - He tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Thought so." - Adam grinned as Lute crossed her arms under her breasts with a nod. - "You tell me you ratted me out some Overlords, not your friends or some other bullshit you make up, and I'll make up my own for mine. Silence." - Adam grinned merrily, eyeing the spot where the rain was ending. - "Me and the girls won't touch..." - Adam hesitated, rubbing his chin. - "Or should we break something, just for looks?" - William grinned at that.
"I'll show you where those Sinners live that I wish I never had to see again." - Both angels laughed a little at William's words.
"Then, let's do this..." - further, Adam, Lute and William discussed the details of their 'conspiracy'.
Adam and the Valkyries don't touch William. They try not to touch his Inhabitants, unless they themselves are insolent or flattering, and in return... William will help them with the Overlords. He will hunt them down and point them out.
Why, if they have the Eye and Comet? William's suspicions were confirmed. The Council had banned and abolished everything related to William, branding it a "heresy", one that could expose the soul to Sin and other things... After all, it was from the Weave that William had decided on his venture... Of course only from him, for surely he had no idea for which he had found a good tool.
Silence would be a place where the Valkyries could catch their breath discreetly, a conventionally safe place. A place where Adam could refresh himself as well as share news. How pleased he was when he found out that everything on that table was dry, warm, as if from a stove, and even from Earth! Adam promised he'd fly in every year, praising William's cooking, gorging on ribs with his favorite sauce.
Adam warned that only the Sisters of the Shield would stop by for a chat, for though all Valkyries were like daughters to him, some might leave after telling the Seraphim about their little shenanigans. William nodded understandingly, continuing the conversation.
"You should at least get in touch with Sera and Puffy after all," Adam said seriously, washing down his meat with wine. William sighed.
"I told you that..." - For the umpteenth time that day, Adam interrupted him.
"Trust me." - Willia raised a slightly annoyed look at Adam. - "Better shove your pathos and excuses up your ass, preferably to Sera herself," the three angels grinned, "and send some word." - Adam took another bite of ribeye. - "I'll open the portal strongly in advance, keep it open for about five minutes. Will you be able to do anything?" - Adam looked questioningly at William. He nodded after a moment's thought. -
"Great!" - Adam clapped his hands together, smiling sweetly. Lute and William shrugged their shoulders. -
"You'll see, your relationship will survive this distance and you'll have a hot threesome right in Sera's office!" - The three angels chuckled at those words.
All this time they had been hidden by the Weave, transporting a small section to another plane of reality, making them disappear to those outside the range of the Weave.
Adam and Lute confirmed that they were not being followed, and they were the First Hunter and the one called "Artemis", in the time of Ancient Greece. William accepted their words as true.
Adam and Lute continued the Slayings while William could retire to his home in peace. He went to shower, changed into his spare clothes, restored his mask. Cleaned himself up. Only then did he travel to the Embassy.
He'd... use the connection to Emily and Sera. He did... send them a 'message' about his condition. He just hoped they wouldn't reject him.
The Ring of Pride. Day of Extermination. A few minutes to the end of the Slaying.
William stood on the roof, against the portal that opened. The slaying is over. His constructs. The Imps, newly created Constructs that were a highly simplified version of Bestia, were collecting the holy weapons that Adam had allowed them to collect.
"These spoils of war are yours, no one else's in this Ass!", Adam said then.
Demons or Minions. Whose skin is completely black, slim figure and four long arms with two legs like the regular demons of Hell. Engraved on the arms are runes of different colors that define their specialization. Just first helpers that do manual and boring work. Long ears, small rounded horns wrapped back, and eyes to match the color of the runes on their arm. The sharp tail simply added mobility, for they could push off of it, and also increased the Construct's combat power.
Hypothetically, they could use a variety of weapons. Cold weapons and even firearms, but that would have to be spelled out in their runes and... brains. Yes, they were "second generation" Constructs, a big step in achieving a Construct level "Ideal"... William would take a look at them, maybe they would make a good experiment.
The Sinners slowly peeked out from behind their hiding places. The Lords, especially the older ones like Zestial, were waiting for the angels to leave.
William, on the other hand, was hidden by the Weave, but Adam and Lut...
Adam turned around as he flew away, winking at the one. The Valkyries, like a swarm of bees swarming back into the hive, flew into the portal as Adam saw them off and looked around, as if looking for the last victims. He did just that. Shot a beam at some Sinner who thought the Slaying was over.
The rest of the Sinners began to scatter, trying to avoid being shot by the laughing Adam's beams.
William on the other hand ... reached for their bond....
...
Heaven. Supreme Seraphim's quarters. Same time.
Emily felt something. As if pricked by a familiar sharp toy, as if ...
Emily stopped cooking, trying to listen to... something.
Whether it was music, or a call, or words... Maybe even all of them together, until....
Tears sprang from her eyes.
Maybe she didn't have as deep and lasting a connection to... him as Sera did, but...
She took a deep breath, feeling invisible arms embracing her. Such... familiar hands.
"Virgil...," Emily covered her eyes, trying not to miss a moment of this miracle. "Alive...", Emily thought happily, with a wide smile.
With that hug alone, he was trying to tell her everything. He's okay, he's alive, he remembers them. He'll be back soon.
Emily believed him.
"I'll be waiting, William." - She answered the slipping feeling quietly. - For as long as it takes.
...
The spire of the High Seraphim. Sera's office. A little later.
Sera wanted to sleep. She was tired.
She tried to repeat what she'd done before... She couldn't do it, not that way. She berated herself for never taking the time to....
"Huh?!" - Sera sighed, feeling...
"William..." - As if on cue, all the emotions that had cooled down flared up at once. Burst into flames.
Anger. Joy. Resentment. Forgiveness.... Happiness and... Understanding.
Sera could be as angry at this soul as she wanted, but... She missed this soul. She had simply already burned out in her anger at her assistant's act, leaving only longing.
She had long ago returned to... being 'Old Sera', here she chuckled, but....
...She felt everything. His touch. His... kisses, his relaxing hands guiding over her tired sheath... As if this horror was gone and she could relax again....
Knowledge. Emotion. A feeling.
Sera twitched, feeling the transmission of a large and unusual fragment of knowledge for her. That very thing... Weaving.
Sera grinned kindly.
"Okay... For that... I forgive you." - Sera leaned back relaxed in the chair, which immediately became soft. The stone was replaced by cushions, and the paper, like an old friend, floated back into the air, cheering her favorite. - "For once." - Sera added stubbornly, until she felt the kiss on her neck again. - "...Just shut up..." - Covering her eyes, Sera replied to her distant interlocutor.
She wanted to savor this moment for as long as she could, as long as Adam's negligence and his assholishness would let her.
Sera grinned.
Taking so long to close the portal, coming up with increasingly ridiculous reasons for the delay... Sera must first praise his ingenuity.
Now though... Sera wanted to try something for herself....
She had taught William Aether, she too could... create her own 'Songs' that she would later be punished for. But only if she was discovered, and she was smarter and more experienced than her assistant.
Just make it so that they two... the three of them no longer needed, would have this portal... She wasn't that good with Aether, but she could try to figure something out....
At the very least, she'd have next year... And then another.
Maybe even William would figure something out, and she could finally get rid of that bloody feeling of dissatisfaction. Emily had also complained about how she could sometimes snap like she did... at others or at each other... Sera heard Emily.
Sera could smell the familiar scent of tea and sweets while such pleasant music played in the background...
She had tasted the forbidden fruit, and she wanted it back.
After all, being so perfect and right was just boring.