God’s Little Princess (Complete)

Part 1

Mike has returned yet again to the Gravely residence. His mighty wings retracted back inside his human body when appeared before the front door. He knocked loud enough for everyone inside to hear. The door opened and was greeted by a beautiful, brown-haired woman in her mid-thirties, wearing a dark green shirt, dark jeans and a pair of small, rectangular glasses.

"Michael!" Carmen cried for joy, embracing her heavenly brother-in-law with a graceful hug. "It's so wonderful to see you. How've you been?"

"Been good." Mike answered and returned the same gesture. "How are you doing?”

“Uncle Mike!” A pair of youthful voices cheered from the upstairs hallway, followed by a clatter of footsteps that rumbled down the stairs as two girls raced each other to meet with the archangel. One was about 10-years of age and dressed in a typical gothic clothes and a black beanie that blended with her raven-dyed hair. The younger one was about 5-years old and wore a bright yellow dress with a matching ribbon in her golden hair. Both daughters ran down and hugged their new favorite uncle.

"Hey Rosie! Hey Regan!” Mike greeted. “Lu around?"

A small fire blasted from before the archangel. The flames extinguished quick, and out of the soot of the fire stood a man dressed in a dark red suit and a thin black tie. The man gave his older brother a handshake and greeted. “Brother, welcome back! Our door is always open to family.”

“Thanks for having me. Afraid I can’t stay too long." Mike said. "But speaking of family, there's something I want to talk to you about, Lu."

"Alright, what loser did Dad task with this time?" Lu groaned.

"It's not that!" The no nonsense archangel reiterated. "Listen, one of our siblings just got into a bad argument with their girlfriend and moved out. So that special sibling, whose very dear to our hearts, is going to need a place to say until they're back on their feet. And so I thought, hey, your place is great for R&R, so I suggested that they stay here for a bit, and that you were totally okay with it."

"One: I'm not okay with it!” The devil complained. “Two: Which one is it?"

“Come on, Lu!" The archangel argued. "Don't be like that! Besides, she's really interested in seeing you again, and she wants to meet the girls."

"Wait!? SHE?!?!” The devil gulped.

Mike continued. “Yeah, she kept saying how much she wanted to see you again, and to hang out like old times. I think she mentioned about pulling some harmless pranks, playing some music, and having a few drinks. I strongly advise against that last activity."

“You don't mean-" Lu uttered but was interrupted by a sudden knock at the door. The house fell quiet. Both Lu and Mike sensed another celestial presence behind the wooden frame. Lu trembled in the knees while his cold heart throbbed frantically. The entity outside his home was someone he had hoped that they wouldn't have to seen until another eon. Flashbacks of how this holy nightmare bullied him, wrestled with his frail form, and pulled insane pranks that scarred him forever. All of the Hell's torture devices that were handcrafted by the most demented of demons couldn't possibly out due his greatest tormentor of his prolonged lifespan.

"And that's her!" Mike smiled. "Girls, say hello to your Aunt Gabriel, or Gabi as we call her!"

Mike opened the front door where a strange woman stood behind it. The woman had short, blonde hair on top of her head while the sides were shaved clean. Like her older brother, she wore a black leather jacket and a pair of shredded jeans. Her jacket was left open, exposing her leather top and bare, pierced navel. The woman graced everyone, except her baby brother, with a wild smile. Her ocean-blue eyes darted at the devil and she charged forward.

"NO! NOT YOU! GETAWAY! GETAWAY!" Lu helplessly cried before the other archangel swung her arms around his scrawny neck.

"SUP, BABY BRO!" The woman hollered hysterically as she locked him in. Her fist crashed right on top of Lu’s head and roughly rubbed it about. “ATOMIC NOOGIE!”

Her radical knuckles ground against the devil’s skull harder and harder, messing up his perfectly moussed hair. When she rubbed her fist faster small electrical sparks surged through the follicles. Suddenly a blast of lightning shot through the devil’s body, and he lit up like a fresh light bulb. His whole body and expensive suit smoldered black soot. Gabriel released her roasted, and partly conscious, brother, to which he dropped immediately onto the floor.

"Hi Gabriel.” Carmen spoke to her hyper sister-in-law, extending her hand in friendship. "Nice to finally meet you. I'm Carmen-"

"Damn bro! You scored a hot one! Come here and gimme some love!" Gabi cheered ecstatically. She wrapped her arms around Carmen and squeezed with all her strength. Carmen gagged when the archangel nearly crushed her mortal life. Gabi dropped Carmen on her feet and lightly struck her hand against Carmen’s bottom. Carmen released a small yelp and her face turned redder than a rosebush. She then placed small hands behind her rump, safeguarding from any further unforeseen greets from her overjoyed sister-in-law.

Gabi hauled her luggage into the Gravely household then dropped them on her crisped brother. Lu grunted when the heavy bags, which felt like brinks stored inside, crushed against his bones. She ran all round the Gravelys' house and closely examined every inch of it with great glee. "Hot damn, I got nieces too! Damn, look at this house! Whoa, look at that snake! Check out this furniture, this TV, oh man, this kitchen space! Heaven’s fancy but not this fancy. You really out done yourself, Lu-Lu! I'm going to enjoy crashing here."

"Lu-Lu?" Rosemary teased. She and her sister tried to control their laughter, letting loose a couple of hysteric snickers instead.

"If you want to live long enough to get to college," The barbecued fallen angel hissed. "I suggest you never mention that to anyone!"

Part 2

The next morning couldn’t have come soon enough for the Prince of Darkness. His brother dropped by along with their sister off at his residence, much to his dismay. Most of the family members sat around the dining table and listened to the archangel Gabi boast about her exploits and show off her gratuitous battle scars in odd areas of the body. Lu hid down in the basement and had a few swings with his good friends Jack Daniels and Elijah Craig.

Once Mike felt and Gabi settled in the guest room, Lu felt a moment of relief that the first night with his sister was over, yet the thought of her staying in their house, for what may appear to be an extensive period of time, kept him from sleeping. The next morning he openly shared his opinion of the matter as he and his wife made their way to the kitchen. “I really don’t want her here. Have I mentioned that before?”

“Only about thirty times since yesterday." Carmen retorted. "Honey, she’s your sister.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Mike." The devil growled. "Why here? Why dump her on me?”

"Maybe it's a chance to patch things up like you and Mike. You gave Mike a chance and things worked well."

"Because I wanted to give him a chance!"

“Well she's allowed to stay until she gets back on her feet - or wings. How bad could she be?”

“You have no idea. She's a menace. That woman tormented me through childhood! She forced me into wrestling competitions, even though she knew I could never take her. And when I first entered high school, have you ever seen the movie Dazed and Confused where Ben Affleck and his friends would paddle the freshman?”

“Yeah.”

“SHE WAS BEN AFFLECK! But the one thing that scarred me the most was when the pluming got busted and it flooded her room, Pops had me share my room and bed with her until it was fixed.”

“Now you're seriously overreacting. That’s not such a bad thing. I had to share a bed with my siblings too. Rosemary and Regan even did the same a few times. What was so traumatizing about that?”

Lu and Carmen entered into the kitchen then paused in their tracks. Lu shielded his eyes while Carmen’s jaw dropped when the couple spotted a bare naked stranger standing outside of the refrigerator. The short, blonde haired stranger had her eyes closed with a plastic carton of orange juice on her lips, drinking all the liquids inside. When she was finally finished a loud, rancid belch exhaled out of her mouth, which echoed through the kitchen. The naked woman opened her eyes and glanced at the shocked couple. She didn't bother covering herself but merely smiled and waved at them without a care in the world.

“Morning!" Gabi said. "You're out of OJ, by the way.”

She proceeded to walk out of the kitchen, passing by the very uncomfortable husband and wife duo. Lu shuttered but still did not peak. Carmen watched her odd sister-in-law make her way back to the guest bedroom down the hall, even caught a glimpse of the archangel scratching at her perfectly curved rump before the door closed behind.

When Gabi was gone Lu leered disgustedly towards Carmen and said. “Does that answer your question?”

Part 3

Kill. Feast. Kill. Feast. Kill. Feast. Kill. Feast. Kill. Feast. Kill. Feast.

The savage thoughts of a lowly scavenger, sometimes referred as a demon's demon. These are only thoughts that ran through its diseased head while it stood strapped against the cold walls. All it could do is open an array of sinister hisses from its plagued maw. Even without eyes it knows that prey is near. The prey, dressed in rubber hazmat suits, kept their distances from the volatile creature. One of them slowly waved a scanner side to side with the scavenger mimicking the same motions with its scrawny head. Prey was so close to the scavenger but it could never reach it. Its forked tongue wagged about for a taste of some fresh meat. It can hear them. The ears, while singed into its molted flesh, listened to all the sounds: the walking, the talking, movement of instruments and tools from one end of the room to another. It sensed the vibrations in the air with each sound and step, and the prey was oblivious to the notion that the scavenger was indeed watching them.

Its snake-like nostrils flickered up and down. It can smell them. It could smell the sweet scent of the prey's perspiration running down their necks and faces, even behind their bio-masks. The prey was afraid of it. They should be. It kills without empathy, or remorse. To say it kills without reason would be an inaccuracy. The only reason it would have to kill is to try and satisfy that relentless hunger that begged endlessly in its shriveled belly.

The scavenger also knew that they weren't alone. It sensed more prey nearby, but they weren't in the same room. There was a barrier separating them, that much it knew. Four figures were safeguarded behind a wall of glass. The four watchers were Lu, the devil himself, along with his trusted council of Lilith, the succubus secretary, Legion, the dark sorcerer of the Underworld, and Scrugs, the devil's assistant that cowered behind them all. Posted at the large metallic doorway were a pair of demon guards that stood at point and guarded their feared overlord. All their eyes locked onto the imprisoned scavenger and it, even without eyes, stared back at the protected prey.

"It's terrifying!" The bat-like demon Scrugs quivered.

"It's disgusting!" Lilith retorted.

"It's very pathetic, that's what it is." Lu scolded his staff. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking at, Legion?"

"This was once a miserable soul that was to endure decades of torment has now converted into the creature you see before you." Legion bellowed. "The guards in the vicinity found it halfway through its transformation while it fed off a few of the souls surrounding it."

"When did this soul arrive?" The devil asked his secretary.

Lilith flipped through her files and answered. "About a week ago, boss. Barely served its sentence."

"And how long ago did it turn?" Lu asked his adviser again.

"Four hours ago." Legion continued. "In my long life I've never seen a soul become corrupted by Hell's influences so fast."

A sound of thunder inside the safe room rattled their ears followed by a brief blinding from a flash of light. From the flash appeared a woman with large energized wings very similar to Michael's wings yet the light was made of pure silver. The wings retracted back into her thin body and she greeted her brother.

"Yo Lu!" Gabi called out. "Your wife wanted me to tell you hurry your ass up!"

"Halt!" Cried both the demon guards. They instinctively aimed their over-sized guns at the back of Gabi's partly shaved head. "Unauthorized personal in the area!"

"Chill, I'm blood." The archangel groaned. "Lu, tell the stormtroopers here to stand down!"

Lu sighed the usual irritable groan yet motioned his hand that ordered the guards to lower their rifles. "Everyone, my older sister Gabriel, the archangel. Gabi, my trusted council: Lilith, Legion, Scrugs."

"Whoa. So you're Legion, aren't you?" Gabriel spoke to the great arachnid demon. "Father used to talk about you a lot. Gotta admit, I'd thought you'd be a little uglier."

"To what displeasure do we owe for your visit, archangel?" Legion asked with all six pairs of eyes leering at the archangel.

"She's staying at my place for a bit." Sighed Lucifer.

"How unfortunate." The demon sorcerer added.

Gabi laughed for a moment then noticed the scavenger in the other room. She walked up to the glass and watched as the two demon scientists carefully took notes about their latest experiment. "I take it back, that is uglier than I imagined. What's its back story?"

"The back story, as you said, there may be some new form of infestation among the scavengers." Legion lectured. "Hell alone no longer needs to corrupt the broken minded, now something else is infecting them. Look closely at its neck."

Gabi squinted her eyes real hard to visualize what the great demonic sorcerer was suggesting. Lu, Lilith, and Scrugs joined in on observation as well. One of the scientists attracted the scavenger's attention by lifting some raw meat above its head, which forced the creature to desperately lunge at it repeatedly. They all saw around its throat were three distinct markings that formed the shape of an incomplete 'Y'.

"Are those puncture marks?" Gabi inquired.

"It was bad enough that these souls could potentially turn into these things." Lu commented. "Now there's something out there that's spreading the disease even faster. Any theories into what's doing this?"

"I'm afraid I do not know." Legion answered. "I fear that something much deadlier has evolved from these creatures. It is imperil that we find this source and eliminate it. It could infect more souls, as well as other demons."

"Sounds to me that all you gotta do is find the hole they hide in and nuke it." Gabi confidently stated.

"You think we haven't tried that already?" Lu argued. "We've been searching their hive in the deepest parts of the Inferno in the last thousand years, and still we've found nothing."

"If you can call shining a flashlight in the dark corner and then calling it quits searching, then yeah, sounds like you've done an excellent job at it." Gabriel retorted.

"Oy!" Lilith quickly jumped into the argument. "Watch your tone around the boss!"

"Your boss is also my brother." Gabriel said. Her aggression now directed towards the secretary.

"Down here, he is king," Lilith continued her defense. "And you best give him the respect he deserves."

"Last I checked, you demons don't get respect, not since after the war. Lucifer keeps his role as king only because the Council and my Father, The Creator, allows it. Meaning I have the right to talk back against you but you have no right talking back to me like that."

"Best be careful, deary. This lover can turn into a fighter real quick."

"Did you just threaten an archangel, serpent?"

"No, not threaten. Promised!"

"Is this really the best time to be doing this?" Lucifer growled. His scarlet eyes glowing redder than usual with all the anger building inside.

Soon all the demons and the sole angel argued with one another inside the compounds of the safe room. The scavenger hissed once more, only this time louder than before. It could hear tension behind the barrier, the prey were fighting amongst themselves. This could give it the opportunity it needed to strike them when they least notice, if only it could escape from its restraints. The scavenger jerked both its arms around inside the leather straps to no prevail. It tried kicking its scrawny legs but they too restrained against the wall. The two scientists hunkered around a wide, metal table and watched as their boss and his cohorts squabbled with the female angel.

"Who's the blonde one?" one of the scientists asked.

"Gabriel, one of the members of the Archangel Council." the other answered.

"An archangel, eh? She's actually kinda hot."

"No way she'd go for you."

"Why not?"

"Heard she was into hens not roosters."

"And that just makes her even hotter."

The arguments were growing more heated on the other side, and the scavenger could hear every word. The ramblings rang through its exposed lesions around its deformed head. It wanted a feast so bad that it was willing to brake its own body just to break free. It yanked harder and harder at the straps. It twisted its body into uncomfortable angles to try and wiggle its way out. Something felt off. The strap on around its right wrist felt looser than the other. It knew it was a sign, an opportunity for an escape. Its attention was averted back at the two scientists. Knowing it wouldn't reach the prey on the barrier's side, but it'll settle for the prey in the same room. The scavenger screamed at the top of its rotten lungs, which greatly unnerved both the scientists.

"Alright, this thing is making me nervous." one of the demonic doctors declared. "I'm gonna sedate it."

The demon scientist picked up a long syringe from the table. Carefully watching it struggle in the binds he paced toward the monster. This was it. This was the moment the scavenger wanted. The demon got close and prepped to apply the syringe into the scavenger's neck. One of the binds snapped off and a furious claw swiped at the scientist. He felt the razor sharp nails cut through the suit and his jugular. The demon scientist gagged as a pool of blood leaked onto the cold floor. He tried desperately to cover the wound with both hands but his life had faded from his body. The scavenger clawed at the other strap and hissed at the surviving scientist.

"HOLY CRAP!" he screamed. The survivor ran towards the glass barrier and pounded for their attention. Lucifer, Gabriel, and the others halted their babel and watched in horror when they noticed the scavenger breaking the restraints. The demon scientists pounded his fists harder against the wall, crying out for their help. 

"HEY! SOMEONE HELP! HELP! PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF GAH-"

The scavenger pounced on top the smarter demon and bit into its prey's neck. Its sharp fangs punctured through the hazmat suit with blood squirting onto the glass barrier. The intelligent demon screamed his dying breath only to be drowned out by the savage sounds of flesh and tendons ripped apart. The higher level demons continued to watch as the fellow demon was devoured. Lilith covered her mouth and Scrugs fainted from the sight of all the blood. Gabi glared at the creature then turned to one of the guards.

"Is that glass bullet proof?" She demanded.

"No-"

"Good to know." she reached for the guard's holstered pistol and pulled it out. Steadying her arm, she raised the weapon at the feasting scavenger. The creature gulped down another chunk of trachea and looked right at the archangel. 

It shrieked. She fired. 

The first two rounds shattered the glass barrier followed by the next five puncturing into the scavenger's shriveled body. The scavenger tumbled backward when the shells hit and laid motionless. The savage thoughts in its head faded permanently.

Everyone stared at the horror left behind by the attack. Two dead demons, one dead scavenger, and plenty of blood. Gabriel felt her hand tremor after killing off the creature. She tossed the gun back to the guard and returned to her regular state. "So, how about that dinner, Lu? Your wife mentioned a place in town called Dante's. Sounds cool. Let's take the elevator up."

Gabi walked away from the others, who continued to stand by. Legion waved his large hand and sparks of fire blazed all over the corpses, which reduced them to a pile of ash. The fires activated the sprinkler systems and sprayed the laboratory down with gallons of water Lu slowly followed his sister out but paused, turning to face his trusted friends. His red eyes blazed through darkening room.

"Find whatever is causing this." He ordered. "Kill it before more become like them. If you have to turned up the heat down here, do so. I want them all exterminated. If there is a scavenger that can infect souls, and possibly us, what could they do to those on the surface?"

Part 4

A couple of days have passed by since Gabriel, the archangel and older sister of Lucifer, made herself comfortable at the Gravely residence and inside the town of Brimstone. She partook in much of the family's usual activities such as shopping with the girls, wrestling with her unwilling brother, and even joined them during karaoke night at the local bar Dante's Inferno. She found herself enjoying the company of her new human family and the company of her fallen brother. Lu didn't want to admit it but he too was starting to warm up to his sister's presence after a long millennia of not seeing or speaking to each other. To him is was nice to have a sister in his life, despite her having a little too much fun with some alcoholic beverages.

What Gabi really enjoyed the most on earth was spending time with her new nieces. She could see why her other brother Mike liked them so much. They each reminded her of herself when she was young once. Together they hung out at the local arcade, explored the small shops in the mall, and even checked out a movie. Now the three of them are roaming the clean sidewalks and are off to their next destination. Both Rosemary and Regan asked plenty of questions for their wild aunt, to which Aunt Gabriel was more than happy to answer.

"What was your girlfriend like?" Asked Regan, only to be nudged by her older sister as a warning.

"Hey no worries. It's cool to ask." Gabi assured her new nieces. "She was pretty great. She was into meditation and anime. Heck, her and I spent the best few hundred years together. Actually, I'm kinda surprised that you two haven't asked why I like girls to begin with."

"Why? It's nothing new to us or anything." Rosemary said. "Our mom's coworker is married to a man; and their daughter is a friend of mine."

"And our mommy told us to be kind and respectful to how everybody lives their lives." Regan added.

"Kind and respectful? I like that policy." Gabi beamed with a grin. "And besides, I figured that there's more crazy, religious zealots burning in the lake of fire than there are gay people."

"Our mom said that too." Rosemary chuckled. "Okay, I got a question for you. So you're an archangel like Mike, do you run heaven too?"

"Yeah I kinda do. I'm one of the nine archangels. But on part time I'm also head of their investigation department. Kinda like a private investigator. Weird, cosmic stuff happens and the Council sends me to check it out. Sometimes I get to beat up bad guys and rescue the damsel-in-distress too. Keep them coming. I like answering your questions."

"How come you don't like demons?" Regan asked.

"Yeesh, more personnel stuff, huh?" Gabi rolled her eyes but kept her smile. "But that's cool. Alright, think of angels and demons like the Jedi and Sith from Star Wars. One represents the light, the other the dark. Angels are meant to protect the innocent while demons are meant to corrupt them. Demons are also violent, selfish, and live off sin. I mean seriously, is there such thing as a nice demon?"

"Lilith is nice." Regan spoke up.

"Yeah, and so's our friend Dominic." Rosie also added.

"Scrugs is nice too. Legion is a little scary but he's nice too."

"Some of Lu's workers are actually pretty nice once you get to know them. Balthazar, Ghuul, and Moloch are cool. Even Lu can be nice. Do you think he's anything like the demons you described?"

Gabi fell silent with her smile fading from her face. She remembered how well she and her brother got along, before his eventual fall. His fall from grace, his betrayal hurt their family severely, especially her and Michael.

"Are you okay, Gabi?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." The archangel assured them, snapping out of her moment of depression and back into her upbeat attitude. "Hey, I got a question for everyone. Anyone hungry?"

Both Rosemary and Regan nodded and followed their aunt into a building that was all to familiar to them. Gabi held open the door and the girls walked inside the popular tavern Dante's Inferno.

"So why were you and your girlfriend fighting?"

"I don't know. She mentioned something about a drinking problem. Can you believe that?"

Part 5

"Where are they?" Carmen asked anxiously. Both she and her devilish husband sat in the living room as they waited for the return of their daughters and their aunt.

“They’re fine, honey.” Lu reassured. “They’re probably still wandering around, checking out all the sights.”

“But they’ve been gone all day,” Carmen reminded her husband.

Gone all day, she said. Lu lips curled with that delightful idea caught in his head, like a fly in a spider’s web. His scarlet eyes beamed at the worrisome woman with thoughts of eroticism bubbling his mind. He slipped his arm around her. His pale fingers then crept along her thin shoulders.

"You know the more my siblings take the girls out,” he suggested as he softly caressed his wife’s shoulder. “The more you and I can share some alone time. We can play a few games while we wait."

Carmen picked up her sinister husband’s signals. Her lips curled much like how Lu’s did. "Games, huh? What'd you have in mind?"

"Oh just some poker. Maybe a little twister. Or maybe we can play something that doesn't require any clothes."

Carmen chuckled when Lu began to kiss along her neck. She then placed her soft hand on his fuzzy chin, and directed him to her lips. They kissed once, then twice. Slunking down along the couch they closed their eyes shut with their lips still locked together while making lustrous moans. The slamming sound of their front door ajar halted their sexual journey. 

"Hey, I'm back!" Gabi's voice hollered out.

"And now I don't want to play anymore." Lu growled as they reset themselves back up on the couch. They looked over to the front and saw only Gabi alone, all hunched over with a bottle of booze in her right hand.

“Where’s the girls?” Carmen asked.

“H’wah?” Gabi hiccupped, still staggering her way to the living room. Both Lu and Carmen saw how bloodshot her eyes were. “Oh, they’re fine. They’re just gettin’ dinner.”

"But where are the girls?!" Lu demanded, his temper grew in his voice.

"You know this house is pretty big." his sister stammered on. "But I wasn't aware that it was so big that it had its own echo."

"Maybe you didn't her us clearly, Gabi. I only want to know one thing." Carmen growled. She then grabbed Gabi by the collar and looked into her with monstrous eyes. "WHERE THE HELL ARE MY BABIES?!?"

                                                               ***

Rosemary and Regan sat patiently at a table booth inside the prosperous tavern of Dante’s Inferno. They were left undisturbed by any of the patrons who drank away and played card games. For their entertainment Regan colored on the back of a paper menu with some crayons given by the bar’s owner while Rosemary played a game on her smartphone. Her thumb flipped back and forth as she tried to catch some kind of monster with a small ball within the game. 

The bar bell rang when their parents and their aunt ran inside, frantically looking around for them. Once spotted Carmen ran to them and wrapped her arms around them. She held them so tight that her daughters could barely breathe.

“Oh thank god you two are alright.” She cried. Lu and Gabi approached from behind and stood by.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Regan asked.

"Yeah, what gives?" Rosemary also said.

"See? Said they'd be fine." Gabi jested while she took another swig of booze.

"Fine? Fine! How could you just leave them here?" Carmen raged on. 

"I wasn't gone that long."

Rosemary gave her angelic aunt the load down, "We showed up here an hour ago. You ordered two jugs of beer, ordered ten peppermint shots, made out with the bar girl, then went to the bathroom half an hour ago, and you didn't order us any food."

"What's worse you took them to a bar during happy hour." Mrs. Gravely's temper was fierier than her husband's. 

"You took your kids to this bar two nights ago!" Gabi snorted a snooty response.

"It was a family event, and we weren't drinking then! You're missing the point! You left two children in a bar, alone! What if something happened? What if someone took them?"

“Carmen, sweetheart, let me handle this.” Lu suggested, helping his wife simmer down.

Carmen took a deep breath and deeply exhaled all of her negative feelings. She clung onto their hands like unbreakable chains when she escorted them walked outside to the car, leaving the archangel and the devil alone inside. Gabi shrugged off her sister-in-law's rampage and helped herself to a pair of shot glasses from the table.

“Since we’re here, how about a drink?” She cheered. She poured herself a shot and another. She passed one of the glass of to her brother, who caught it without look down at it. Within his tempered grasp, the alcohol boiled into a bubbling brew before it evaporated along with shards of broken glass.

“This is the last straw!” he grumbled.

“I think they got more somewhere.” the archangel joked.

“No, this is the last straw, Gabriel!" Lucifer roared. "I want you out! I want you to stay away from my girls! You abandoned them! How could you do something so-"

Lu felt a smiteful slap strike against his left cheek. It burned worse than hellfire. He angrily stared back up at his sister who too glared with furious anger. She had never hit him before. A teasing poke or even roughhoused a little, but never intentionally harmed him. The patrons of Dante’s Inferno fell silent as they watched as the archangel and devil stare down one another.

“Don’t you dare talk to me about abandoning family!” Gabi ranted. “Don’t you dare talk to me about that! You don't GET to lecture me about that!"

She downed another shot, "What? Did it hurt? Did it sting when those mortal children were left behind? Left all alone in this cruel, diseased world? How do you think we felt? How do you think I felt?

“You abandoned us for a horde of flesh-eating, rotten, selfish serpents, whose purpose is to torture and kill all life in their path. You chose them over your own blood, your home, and you led them to Heaven’s gates. They nearly destroyed everything that we’ve built only to be pushed back, leaving you to take the fall. Father should’ve done worse to you for all the damage you’ve caused to our family.

“I know you, Lucifer. I know you don’t care about nothing or anyone but yourself. You didn’t care about us, and you sure as hell don’t care about them! Family means nothing to you. So don't pretend that you started caring for someone else now, after all these eons, because chances are you're going to be leaving them behind too!”

Lu took a breath. “Well that's where you're wrong, Gabriel," Lu shouted back. "I do care Those three are my family, and I actually do LOVE them! 

"Maybe it's just you I don't care about. Specifically, YOU! You mean NOTHING to me! Not anymore! They're a far better family than you or Father have ever treated for so long! So you don’t have to worry about baby brother leaving you anymore, do you? Because I want you out of my life, and I want you to stay the hell away from my family.”

Gabriel's felt a huge strain in her chest. It felt like her heart was stabbed with razor sword. Her anger melted off her face and left only a saddened expression. A small, single tear rolled down her cheek. Obeying her wicked brother, she picked up her booze bottle and summoned her wings. A flashing light and a roar of thunder rallied through the bar when her gold, energized wings sprung from her shoulders. The large, mighty wings took one flap down and the archangel disappeared behind a bright light.

Abandoned by his sister, Lu looked on at the bar. The patrons witnessed the whole outlandish show with awe and shock before immediately returning to their businesses to avoid any confrontation from the devil. Lu breathed a sigh of depression. He had gotten rid of his sister, but not in a way he wished for. He dragged his feet across the messy floor and made his way toward the door. Once outside he approached his car where his family sat patiently inside. He climbed inside and kept his head down, hiding his depression from his wife.

"Where's Aunt Gabi?" Regan asked from the backseat, but Lu did not answer. 

He ignited the car and drove them home. Lu may have been glad to be part of their family, but he remembered his sister's words about how he abandoned his other family, and how he left her. Wherever his sister disappeared to, Lu knew that he was walking out on her again.

Part 6

The ride home was slow and quiet. Not a word spoken, not a sound made. All they could think about was where had Gabi disappeared to. While not wanting to admit to his wife, Lu started to worry for his sister. Their argument created a bigger wedge between them that he did not wish for. With her gone he was free from her annoyance, but he once again hurt someone he had care for deep down.

Day settled into dusk when they reached the Gravely residence when they all spotted someone standing outside their garage. The blonde haired, scruffy faced man with the leather jacket waved at the Gravelys when their car pulled into the driveway. The girls jumped out of their seats and immediately hugged the stranger.

“Hey everyone,” Mike greeted everyone. "Just wanted to check up to see how y'all doing. Where's Gabi?"

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Lu jeered when he stepped out of his car.

“There was a small incident tonight.” Carmen explained. “Gabi took the girls to Dante’s and left them there, not before stumbling home drunk.”

“She’s back on the bottle again?” Mike breathed.

“AGAIN?” The devil roared. “What do you mean again?”

"Girls, off to bed both of you." Carmen ordered her daughters. "The adults need to talk."

Rosemary and Regan groaned but obeyed her orders. They waved their uncle goodbye then raced each other into the house. Once they were clear, Lu's fist slugged against his older brother's upper arm. The archangel yelped and rubbed the bruised area.

"Explain yourself, NOW!" The devil demanded. His scarlet eyes blazed a fiery hatred in the night.

Michael then explained his story. “She’s had a problem with alcohol for a while. We got her consoling but somehow she finds herself back where she started. Her girlfriend couldn’t take it anymore so she asked me to intervene. I tried, hell we all tried, but you know Gabriel. She's as stubborn as a mule. I thought having her here would help her. Dammit, I had to talk her into coming here because she originally didn't want to see you.”

“You jackass! You knew about this!” Lu ranted. “Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why do you think I told you not to take her to any bars? Plus she made me promise not to tell anyone else."

"Thanks for sharing this with the rest of the class. When did she start?”

“After your treachery, smartass! A lot of us were crushed when you sided with the demons so long ago, Gabi more so. She just couldn’t cope with it all. None of us could!"

"Don't pit this on me! Everyone already does, but DON'T YOU START TOO, MICHAEL!"

“Okay, simmer down both of you!” Carmen commanded, stepping between the feuding immortals. "It's true that Mike was pretty vague on the information; but if she needs help, we, as a family, will help her."

"WHAT?! Seriously? After what she-"

"Yes Lu. We are." His queen defended. "Am I happy with what Gabi did? No, I'm just as furious as you are. But at least I'm willing to give her another chance. How she wants to approach this is up to her, and she needs to be the one to make amends. This is how a family stays together. They're based around chances. I gave you a chance to be in our lives, Lucifer, just as you gave Mike here a chance to back in yours. Shouldn't your sister be given the same chance?"

Both the archangel and the devil fell silent. In their hearts they knew Carmen was right. Besides, if their longevity ever taught them anything it is that a woman is always right.

"I'm sorry, to both of you," Michael sighed. "You're right, I should have told you two about this. I thought I was helping everyone by trying to patch what was broken."

"Don't be hard on yourself, Mike." The devil apologized. "I screwed up. I ended up pushing Gabi away. I gotta make things right."

"I'll can get her back here if you guys want." The archangel suggested.

Lu, however, intervened. "No, I'll talk to her."

"How will you find her?" Carmen asked. "We don't even know where she went."

"My siblings and I could always sense where we'd be at." Lu informed her. "If one of us was in trouble or we ever got lost, we could sense their location. Took all the fun out of playing hide-and-seek when we were kids."

Lu then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His thoughts, feelings, and senses tuned to all surroundings. Like a beacon he honed in all living creatures of the world. From the largest whale of the oceans to the smallest amoeba under a microscope he felt their presences, yet he could not sense his sister on this planet. Concentrating even harder he continued his search. He then found it. She was outside of earth. Not in space or the heavens, but another dimension. In this dimension he sensed her along with many distraught souls forever screaming within a sea of fire.

Lucifer opened his eyes and exclaimed. "I know where she is!"

Part 7

The fires dimmed as dusk was settling along the Inferno. The screams of the damned were quieting down and the demons retired to their homes for bed. Yet there was one soul still restless deep in the depths of the Inferno. She sat isolated on some granite stones and gazed down a large impact crater. This area of the condemned dimension was greatly different from the rest. Instead of fire and brimstone with magma pools seeping from the stone walls, the crater was covered in thick sheets of ice. The air was much colder here than everywhere else in the Inferno. The rocks were also metamorphosed into pillar shaped crystals of different hues. The crater itself was large and deep enough to harbor a mountain, as if a giant meteor had plummeted from the high heavens long ago; yet there was no sign of a meteorite at the core but more of a small outline of a man or humanoid being.

In her isolation, Gabriel the saddened angel raised a half-empty bottle to her mouth but paused. The liquid sloshed around back and forth inside the cold bottle which tempted her for a sip like a poisonous siren. She closed her eyes and cried some more. The last amounts of booze couldn’t help repress her thoughts and feelings. Her ultimatum was to toss the bottle down the icy caverns below and continued to be alone, as she always was. However, she sensed she wasn't alone. Someone stood by her and looked over the pit too.

“Quite a site, isn’t it?” A familiar voice whispered. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Gabi looked over and saw her youngest brother standing over the edge of the cooled pit. He then seated himself right next to his older sister, eyes still focused down below. 

“I remember that day I fell from grace. I landed in that very spot. Badly burned, half dead, I was sure I was a goner. These, what was it you called them? Oh yeah, flesh-eating, rotten, selfish serpents took me in and cared for me. They gave me the means to live again. They treated me more like family than Father ever did. It was an honor that they accepted me as one of them, to which in return I would became their king. A feared yet just king, one they worship freely.”

Gabi listened closely to his words. Her species and his have been enemies for so long that she never could imagine the two sitting in one location and talking, until now. "I never understood why He was so hard on you. He was hard on all of us, but you seemed to take the worst of it."

“I never understood either," The devil sighed. "But I found other ways to cope with it. Speaking of coping with the past, why didn't you tell me about your problem, sister?”

“You think it’s easy to admit?” Gabi whimpered. “I don’t think there’s any scripture out there that says Gabriel, Archangel of Strength. Messenger of God. Shameful alcoholic. How could you do this to us? How could you turn against your home and your family?”

"I was selfish. I was angry. I was just so tired of Father never taking notice me that I just wanted to do something to strike against him. I never imagined, at the time, how this would affect any of you. I'm sorry I hurt you. But why, sis? Why do you do this to yourself?"

"Somehow drinking was the only way I could relive all the good moments we shared. But then I have to sober up and remember you're not with us anymore. I'm so screwed up right now I don't even know who to blame."

"Gabi, for so long I've been the blame for some many people's problems that I've grown so sick of it. I may have led you down this path, but you chose to continue down it, so I can't be completely blamed."

"I know, you're right. I know you didn't force me into this life. I did this to myself. I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I'm sorry for hitting you, and I'm sorry about leaving those girls - your daughters I mean - behind. I really like those humans you've got, I really do. You must think I'm awful for doing something that low to people you care about."

“You know, I’ve often exaggerated that you’ve bullied me throughout our childhood, but that's how close we were.”

“We were pretty close, weren’t we?” Gabi said with a small smile growing on her lips. “I still remember that time we took Dad’s car out for a joyride, and we ended up fender bendering it.”

Lu chuckled and replied. “Oh man, he railed us good for that. I also remember how I covered for you staining the rugs by convincing Father that Raph did it, to a point even Raph believed it himself.”

“And you were actually the first person I told that I liked girls too." Gabi's smile reverted back to her depressed state when the good memories clouded her thoughts. "Why can’t things be like the way they were?”

“They still can be. Not exactly like it was but… things are much different now. I'm a demon, a devil actually, and a father. But I think the girls would appreciate it if they could see you more often... and so would I."

Lu laid out his pale hand open by his sister and waited. All Gabi could do was stare at it. Her thoughts ran wild when she remembered his moment of treachery and her slink into alcoholism. But then a light shined inside. Memories of their happy childhood and recent memories with his stepdaughters beamed through her dark past. With this moment in her head she smiled. She reached out and lightly grasped her brother's hand, which formulated a smile on his face too.

Lu then picked himself off the edge and said. “We should probably get going now.”

“Why? Is little Lu-Lu getting cold?” His sister teased.

“No it’s just that our scouts have spotted scavengers crawling here before, and I’d hate if we-AAH!”

Lu felt something large pounce on top his back followed by a series of sharp daggers puncture into his shoulder. Gabi jumped from her spot when she noticed an eyeless scavenger gnaw into her little brother. The rotting fangs mauled away at the delicious meat within. Acting quick the devil grabbed the savage by its deformed skull and whipped over to the ground, which forced the creature to release its prey. Its fragile skeleton snapped on impact and the creature wailed loudly. Lu silenced the wounded scavenger with the launch of a fireball that incinerated it immediately.

“Filthy scavenger!” He hissed.

A second one pounced from nowhere and tackled the devil into the icy pit below. Down they tumbled and collided with the icy walls and small crystals all the way down. When the pair reached the bottom, Lu's head smacked against the frost-covered surface, leaving him disoriented. The scavenger lingered its contorted body to the dizzy devil like a spider crawling to a fly in its web.

Lu's vision was fuzzy but he could see the scavenger's fresh, bacteria-infected drool seep down its toothy maw as it stood directly over him. It readied itself for its first bite. Suddenly a stream of energy wrapped around the scavenger's neck. The vile imp gagged and at the impenetrable energy. Lu glanced over and saw his sister holding the creature with her wings.

“Get away from my baby brother, you freaks!” Gabriel cried. She tossed the scraggly scavenger away with one great heave from her massive, electrified wings.

A third scavenger jumped up onto of a crystal spire and hissed at both the archangel and devil. It lunged out for an attack before a bright light flashed behind it. A massive broadsword skewered through it skeletal body with black blood splattered over the floor. The wielder at the end was their brother Michael. His golden wings were spread out on his back and he was dressed from shoulder to toe in shining armor. The light from his wings reflected off the polished armor and emitted a glamorous glow. The sword, carried in the archangel's right hand, was as long as he was from end to hilt, and the blade's width matched the size of his hand. In his left was a large, glimmering shield so clean its face resembled a mirror. With his mighty shield he scrapped off the deceased creature off his sword.

“Somehow I figured you two would get yourselves into some kind of trouble.” Mike joked.

A bloodthirsty shriek averted the archangel's attention from his younger siblings. The scavenger that Gabriel tossed away scurried back on all fours. Michael swung his shield around and knocked it against its side. Its ribs snapped easily like dying tree twigs, which ruptured through its organs inside. The scavenger rolled along the ground with its body rumbling around the ice in a violent seizure. The scavenger screamed a blood curdling shriek that echoed through the Inferno's abyss. Another swing from Michael's sword finally silenced the abomination with a quick severing of his head.

Its cries did not go unanswered. The trio found themselves among a hive of starving scavengers. Dozens upon dozens of these ghostly pale, anorexic, eyeless, and naked monstrosities crawled out of their icy burrows, then began surrounding them on all corners of the crater. The siblings' ears rang with the haunting choir of the scavengers' shrieks and screams. Each hungry scavenger sensed the presence of fresh meat, to which they cautiously crawled toward in uniform.

Gabriel’s eyes glowed bright like a shining star. A mystical lightning fired from the abyss above and struck into the archangel’s palms, harnessing the holy power within as it surge all through her hands and body. Her fists slammed together into a powerful, electrical pulse that jolted all living beings around her. The lightning surge solidified into a pair of her signature weapons, two giant cestus gloves, properly named 'Pain' and 'Instant Death', that perfectly fitted each hand. The metal had a perfectly polished, gold coating and four ridged spikes resting on the knuckles.

Lu harnessed his dark power into summoning his signature weapons from the black fire that ignited within his palms. The flames extinguished in placement of a pair of cutlass swords with curved blades as black as coal. The hilts were decorated with the dragon heads projecting the blades from their gullets. The devil spun both blades around into a perfect, deadly circles. He backed himself against his older siblings who in turn guarded him.

"Just like old times, huh?" Michael asked his siblings.

"Bet I can kill more than both of you." Gabriel eagerly proposed.

"You wish!" Lucifer retorted.

Two archangels and a devil readied themselves for the approaching horde that encircled them in all corners. The hungry serpents hissed savagely as they drew near to their defensive prey. Their forked tongues flickered for a taste of their juicy meat inside. Gabriel rallied a war cry and flew forward with her cestus crashing down onto a nearby scavenger’s skull. The lowly demons scurried for her but she boxed them back with hard jabs, back and forth, left and right. Michael cleaved through the anorexic creatures with ease. His mighty sword swung around and diced their small bodies in half. His impenetrable shield was stained with their evil blood. Lucifer cut and stabbed the monstrosities with his thin blades. His blades cut clean through their throats, and perfectly severed off their lanky limbs. 

The wings of the archangels aided them in knocking away any scavengers that pounced on them. They even combined their skills and powers together to repel more attackers. They fought proudly together, like it was when they were soldiers in Heaven's grand army again. But with every two scavengers the trio slaughtered another dozen scurried out of their underground burrows. The crater, where they stood their ground, was starting to be overrun with more of these hungry creatures.

“Lu, any chance we can have back up?” Mike hollered.

“Maybe,” His brother grunted. “But I don’t know if he’ll like you guys.”

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it NOW!” Gabi ordered.

The hesitant devil obeyed, knowing full well the consequences that will come. He tossed his weapons aside. Swords would have been useless to him once the transformation takes hold. Lu’s eyes glowed blood red and his inner hatred boiled within his soul. He warned his siblings to flee, but they remained to fight. Black fire engulfed his whole body. The devil’s weak human form faded away in replace for the deadly monster he had constrained. Bursting from the flames was a gigantic monster that towered over the scavengers and angels. Twenty feet tall, sixty feet from snout to tail, the beast resembled a wingless dragon/dinosaur hybrid with a spiky, arrow-shaped tail, and dark red scales armored in Hell’s brimstone.

Both the angels and scavengers looked on with awe at the beast’s hideous, triangular face that carried a massive maw filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, two extra pairs on his cheeks, and two large horns prodding forward, and a crest of spikes crowned on top its enormous head. The Beast rose above the deathly fire and bellowed its fearsome roar. A concussive blast from its fiery breath scorched the frozen landscape and disintegrated a majority of the attacking scavengers. Upon witnessing the devastation this new apex predator brought the scavengers shriek and scurried back into their safe burrows. Another victorious roar from the Beast echoed into the abyss above. The two archangels hovered right next to their enormous brother. They both landed at the same time right beside the red dragon.

“Hot damn, Lu!” Gabriel cheered. “Guess I can’t call you little bro anymore, huh?”

Suddenly Gabriel found herself flying when the beast’s massive tail struck her. She crashed into a glacier side with piles of ice collapsing down on her. Mike looked back to his brother, who stared straight at the archangel. The Beast bared all one hundred rows of its sharp teeth in each mouth and emitted a savage growl.

“Lu. Buddy.” He called for his now turned savage brother. “I know you’re there. Let’s just take it easy.”

The Beast continued growling to the pleading archangel. The savage, soulless eyes saw not a brother but a threat; and it must die! The Beast roared once more then charged forward. Michael cursed under his breath just before levitating above his brother could chomp into him. He swiped around the air with his sharp claws, but missed the speedy archangel. Michael then dived by its legs and fired lightning rounds from his sword. He wished not to harm his brother, but if he could tire him out he could reach out to him.

The archangel then flew behind the red dragon but the Beast’s lively tail clamped onto his shining armor with its spikes and tossed his brother to the other side of the frozen pit. The archangel crashed through the icy crystals and then tumbled into the cold ground. Another blast from the Beast's maw spewed at the archangel. Michael quickly arched his shield over his body. He closed his eyes when the deadly flames deflected against its shiny surface. Smoke covered where he stood, briefly blinding him and the red dragon from sight.

Michael jumped beyond the smoke and readied his sword. When the smoke cleared his brother had vanished. The archangel remained vigilant. He scanned for any trace of his brother's presence. Then Michael screamed in pain when a sharp spike puncture through his left shoulder. His wings absorbed back into his body and he was slowly lifted up by the Beast's tail spike. The tail slammed him back to the ground followed by the Beast's massive hand crushing down on the angel. A small geyser of blood coughed out of Michael's throat when the clawed hand imprisoned him.

“Come on, Lu! Don’t do this!” Michael begged, choking on his breath. “Snap out of it!”

He still ignored him. His brother was no more. Only the Beast was dominate. All it did was growl some more and raised its fist into the heavens. A long bone spike unsheathed from under its wrist as it readied for the final blow.

“LUCIFER!” The Beast heard a woman’s voice call him. The voice sounded familiar but he couldn't remember. The Beast peered up and saw a winged woman, bloodied and bruised, float toward him.

“Please, bro, come back to us." Gabriel tearfully pleaded. "We can’t lose you again. Come back, Lucifer. Please. We love you, little brother.”

The Beast leered at the archangel but his wrathful eyes softened up. Images in his savage mind appeared the more he stared. She was there cradling when he was born. They shared a bathtub together when they were toddlers. She fixed healed his scraped knee when they were kids. They placed roses together on their mother's tomb. The last image he recalled was the same woman laughing and hanging together with another woman and her two happy daughters. His stepdaughters. He remembered her. His sister.

Lucifer looked around the crater, realizing the destruction he had caused when he became the Beast. Looked under his paw and saw his wounded brother beneath. He panicked and started heavily exhaling. Michael coughed some more when Lucifer freed him from his grasp. Ashes ripped away from his scaly body as he reverted back to his more human form. Now appearing as he once was, Lucifer dropped to his knees with streams of tears rolling from his eyes.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” He sobbed hysterically. “I didn’t mean… I couldn’t control… I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Gabriel ran to her brother and wrapped her comforting arms around him. His tears stained her torn jacket but she didn't mind. Then she too started to weep with him as the held on together. Michael picked himself off the scorched land and walked to both his crying siblings.

“It’s alright.” He assured his weeping brother after he wrapped his strong arms around both siblings. “We’re not going anywhere. That’s what a family does.”

Part 8

A long week had finally come to a close. The tensions between the archangels and devil had finally closed and their bonds were now stronger than ever. Michael's injuries healed completely during his stay at his brother's home while Gabriel remained sober through the duration of the week, a promise she made before her family after giving them a heartfelt apology. Outside the residence of 999 Milton Avenue was the Gravely family saying goodbye to their extended family. Gabi had her bags packed and readied for her and her brother's return to the High Heavens. Everybody's smiles were as bright as the sun when they took turns saying their goodbyes.

"It sure has been a crazy week, hasn't it?" Lu chuckled after he hugged his older sister.

"Yeah but it sure was fun, wasn't it?" Gabi chuckled too. "Wanna do it again next time?"

"Just keep being sober and then we'll see."

"Hey four days sober is already making me feel new."

Gabi felt her legs become heavy. She looked down and saw both Rosemary and Regan shackled themselves around her ankles. They both tearfully pleaded, "Can't you stay a little longer?"

Gabi knelt down, wrapped her arms around them and said, "Sorry, kiddies. Love to but I think it's time Cassie and I talked things over. Thanks so much for putting up with me."

"If you're ever around Gabi, our door is always open." Carmen said. "Same goes for you, Mike."

The girls released their aunt and stood by their parents. The crack of thunder echoed when the wings of the archangels flashed out of their bodies. Gabriel and Michael walked to the sidewalk and looked back to the family. The pair of archangels looked at how happier their youngest brother was with the family of three. They sensed he had found peace in his longevity of torment. Just before their mighty wings were about to lift themselves to the heavens, Gabi flinched when she had a revelation.

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled something out. She swung her arm under, tossing the unknown object to her younger brother. Lu caught the object to which he observed it closely. The object was flat and rounded, fitted perfectly inside his palm, and weaved together by old, lively roots that glistened in the sun's rays. At its core were seven small crystalline bodies stitched into a fine silk that matched the images of the sun and the moon together.

"Your necklace?" Lu queried.

"It belonged to Mom." Gabi explained. "It's not fair that you never got to know her. I want you to have it. Keep it. Something to think of her."

Lu smiled. He and his siblings barely kept any memorabilia of their passed mother since their Father locked it all away. His sister treasured this necklace for so long, and now she passed it along to him. With anything that once belonged to his mother, he felt closer and closer than ever. The archangels waved their last goodbyes to the family for their wings flapped hard to the ground. The duo zipped into the skies in white lightning bolts then disappeared into the heavens.

"Come on in for lunch, Lu-Lu!" Carmen called for her husband with her two daughters laughing at the hated nickname.

"I knew it was too soon until one of you started calling me that." The devil hollered. "Come here!"

The Gravely girls all ran around the front yard with their husband playfully chasing them around. They laughed and dodged his taunting grasps before he tripped over himself. The Gravelys dog-piled over him and tickled his sides. Lu and his family laughed the morning away and waited for the next time one of their extended family members would pay them a visit in their humble home.

                                                                 ***

Paradise, the crown jewel of the heavens. Cities stacked upon cities structured this shining haven for the angels who dwell among the cosmos. Atop the cityscapes were towers and temples that housed many faiths over the ages, which sanctuaried many shrines and idols of angels past once praised by humans. Bright lights cleared any shadows that would dare encompass any corner of the glorious city.

Two bolts of lightning struck onto the one of the marble floors of the tallest towers. Stepping out of the lightning flashes came Mike and Gabi, who the pair laughed with their arms around each other, reminiscing on the wild week they had together with Lu and the Gravelys. Their cherishing halted when a familiar face blocked their entry into the tower's doors. It was an another angel, very much like them. The angel was tall, towered both Michael and Gabriel at least a foot more. His skin darker and his battle armor bright and polished. A short, spiked mohawk ran along the center of his head, and a pair of old scars marked along his envy green eyes that scorned at the arriving angels. Mike and Gabi heard the gears of their fellow angel's mechanized prosthetic, which replaced his entire left hand, clench together into a wrathful fist.

"Raphael," Mike greeted their young brother. "Here to welcome us back?"

"When I heard that you've been acting more down-to-earth lately," The third archangel scowled. "I didn't think it meant literally."

"That a problem?" Gabi asked coldly.

"The ancient rules of the heavens clearly forbid us from interfering with the mortal world, but yet you two walk among them like you're tourists." Raph jeered.

"Those rules were established so that we couldn't mingle with the mortals during their prophetic uprisings." Michael explained. "They don't hold much baring now. Their world's changed."

"It's become a bigger cesspool of sin since Lucifer and his demon scum made their presence known." Raph said. The anger in his tone grew. "He's exposing them all to our worlds. What would become of all those souls with they knew what they'd become in the end?"

"At least he's happy!" Gabi retorted.

"What's he got to be happy about?" their brother mocked. "Paying taxes, attending parent-teacher conferences like he's one of them? He should have stayed down in the Inferno where he and his slithering kind belonged. Perhaps it's time that he's reminded of that!"

"Leave him alone, brother!" Mike urged. He almost charged for him only to be stopped by his sister's hand.

"Defending him again, Michael?" Raph said, sizing himself against his older brother. "Who else on the Council will also defend him should we decide to resolute for his sacrilege?"

"I will." Gabi stepped in.

"Tell us this, Raph," Michael demanded. "What happens now? Are you going to inform the Council about this? Did Father send you to stop us? Or are you going to do what a good brother should and mind their own damn business."

The archangel glared at both his siblings but remained silent. His answer was given.

"Keep doing this, and I will." Raph growled. 

Raphael walked away from his siblings and entered into the great temple. Both Mike and Gabi looked onto their younger brother, knowing that his anger towards them was nothing compare to the anger for their youngest sibling.

"He's different you know." Michael urged once more. "Those humans, they've changed something in him. You know Raph, someone wise beyond her years told me that family was about giving chances. You could do the same for them."

Raphael paused and turned to his older brother, his hateful eyes leering more rage than before. "I'll never give him a chance. Just because he's adopted those hairless apes that doesn't make them family, nor does that make him our brother again."