The post-Extermination meetings that took place in the Pride Ring's very own Heaven Embassy had always been a point of contention for Charlie's parents. Whenever Lucifer had to attend one, he consistently came back home in a bad mood, ranting about "that preachy bastard trying to give [him] advice like he knows any better" until he ran out of energy and secluded himself in his workshop. And whenever it was Lilith's turn, she had always returned seeming a little shaken, and was often found sitting in one spot, ignoring everything around her and staring off into nothingness... as if deeply contemplating some sort of cosmic truth. But when the next day rolled around, things inevitably went back to normal and the King & Queen of Hell were all smiles once again.
Today, though, the duty to attend fell upon Charlie, as her father had given her an opportunity to present her redemption plans to the Exorcists' mysterious leader; although, even at this critical juncture, he hadn't revealed who exactly it was – their identity was just one of many secrets that Lucifer & Lilith had collectively kept from their daughter. For that matter, the Princess herself couldn't recall ever seeing or even catching a small glimpse of anyone that could fit the bill. Her parents never let her out of the palace during an Extermination, so she only saw Heaven's bloodthirsty warriors perform their grisly duties from her bedroom window. But even then, Charlie never spotted anyone distinguishable from the rank-and-file Exorcists. And yet, she could recognize that both the army as a whole and its individual soldiers moved in the organised and precise manner that could only be achieved by having their commander right there in the field with them... Either way, she still had some theories on who it could be, and there was only one way to find out which of them, if any, was correct.
As the Princess strode into the opulent Heaven Embassy, all her notes tightly clutched to her chest, she was a little offput to find the lights off and the lobby totally empty. She'd expected there to at least be, like... a little Cherub angel to welcome and usher her to the right room. Was this how it always went for her parents? But she was broken out of her thoughts when a door partially opened on the far end of an adjacent hallway, and a male voice called out from the other side: ”Come in!”
Hesitantly, the blonde demoness strode over to the door, and squeezed her way inside – finding herself in a meeting room, with a large table and several chairs on either side. It wasn't particularly well-lit, with only a desk lamp off to the side providing illumination, but she could still make out a tall figure sitting behind the other end of the table – who seemed indistringuishable from an average human male, at first glance. The mysterious man had fair skin, curly & messy black hair that barely reached his shoulders, icy-blue eyes, and was dressed in a simple blue coat with a white fur collar – like the kind people on Earth would wear during the winter season. (Not that Charlie had ever been to Earth, but her parents had shown her some images & videos from there, so this was her closest point of reference.)
The only thing that distinguished him as an angel was the light-blue halo, decorated with a few floating crystals, above his head, and the similarly-colored pair of feathered wings behind his back.
As soon as she entered, the Heavenly male glanced up at her, and flashed a polite smile. “Ah, good morning, Charlotte!” he greeted, and sat up straight, tucking what looked like a phone into his coat's pocket. ”Your father told me you'd be coming. Please, take a seat!”
"He did?" the Princess asked, a little weirded out but nonetheless complying, as she pulled a chair out and sat down in it, placing her notes down in front of herself.
”Yes, and frankly, when I heard what he had to say, I had to restrain myself from going over there and giving him a good smack to the face! And one to your mother too, wherever she is...”
"I'd... appreciate it if you didn't hit my parents, please," Charlie deadpanned, but the angel seemindly didn't hear it, and kept on rambling: ”I mean, how could they be so inconsiderate? Why did they never inform me that I had a niece?!”
"Wait, WHAT!?"
Charlie shot up from her seat like hot water had just been poured into her lap, and stared at the angelic male with widened eyes, opening and closing her mouth for several seconds, before finally wheezing out: "Wuh–wuh–what do you mean, niece? Wha–... D-Does that mean you're my uncle?"
”Yes! And trust me, when I first heard the news, I was just as shocked as you were!” the angel proclaimed.
"Wait, wa-wait, wait..." Charlie stammered. "W-What is your name, even?"
”Ah, well... I'm Michael. You can just call me Mike, if you prefer. Don't worry, I'm not gonna force you to use the 'uncle' prefix; we can cross that bridge once you feel you're ready.”
"And... a-and you're the leader of the Exorcists.”
Michael paused for a moment, but then gave a casual nod. ”Yes.”
The Princess slowly sunk back into her seat, and spent almost half a minute blankly staring ahead as her mind struggled to process this new information. This entire time, she actually had an uncle she knew nothing about?! And not just a 'honorary' relative like the Sins were, no, this was an ACTUAL, biologically-related uncle! And since her mother certainly never had any siblings, this could only mean...
"So..." Charlie began, fidgeting in her seat. "Does that mean you're... my dad's brother?"
If Michael was confused by her need to have everything clarified, he didn't show it, and nodded once more. ”Yes, I am.”
"But..." The young Morningstar briefly paused, and looked over the angel, studying his appearance intently. "You look so... different from him. I mean..."
”Siblings don't always come out looking similar to each other, Charlotte,” Michael replied with a small chuckle, though his expression of amusement quickly dropped into something more neutral. ”Besides, your father did always make it a point to style himself as my exact opposite. For what reason, I do not know.”
"Yeah, dad seems so fancy compared to you," Charlie giggled, but quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. "Um... no offense. It's just that I didn't expect an angel to look so... average...?"
”None taken,” Michael shrugged with a small smile, then gestured to his blue coat. ”And yes, I've always striven to appear this way. It wouldn't do for an angel of my rank to go around in extravagant outfits; I am the Virtue of Humility, after all.”
"Really? How does that work?"
”Well, you know how down here is ruled by the Seven Deadly Sins? It's the same in Heaven, except we're the Seven Heavenly Virtues. Basically the polar opposites of you guys.”
"Huh," the Princess simply said. That admittedly was kinda cool to know, but very quickly, another question came to mind.
"So you knew my dad back before he was... wait." A strange look washed over Charlie's face. "You're... the Taxiarch."
Though she didn't know much about Heaven, and her parents certainly weren't keen on talking about it, the Princess still picked up certain bits of info about the place. A little rumor here, an ancient legend there. And if the rough picture she had eventually formed was to be believed, Michael was the one directly responsible for exiling her parents down here...
As if reading her thoughts, the angel slowly nodded, his expression growing a little more solemn. ”Yes, your assumption is correct. I banished Lucifer & Lilith from Heaven.”
"Why?" the young demoness almost whispered, giving the Taxiarch a pleading look. "Why did you do it...?"
”It had to be done.” Michael answered steadily. ”When your parents gave Eve that apple, evil was unleashed upon creation. They had to be punished.”
"But it was just a mistake-!" Charlie insisted, shaking her head, as a tear welled up in the corner of her left eye.
”So?” the angel challenged, raising an eyebrow. ”Mistake or not, there are consequences for each action we take in life. There are repercussions... Banishment was simply the price they paid.” He briefly paused, drumming his fingers on the table's surface. ”Think of it this way... Whenever a servant working at your father's palace makes a colossal blunder, he fires them, yes?“
"I–"
The words died in Charlie's throat, and though she wasn't sure what point her uncle was trying to maks, she nodded: "Y-Yeah, but... that's different-!"
”The circumstances might be different,” Michael continued, undeterred. ”But the basic situation remains the same – someone makes a major mistake, one that causes a lot of damage, and they face the consequences for it.” He huffed, blue eyes narrowing slightly as he glanced aside. ”That was a repeat pattern of behavior for your father, by the way...”
"What do you mean-? Dad was just a big dreamer, you were all stifling his creativity–"
”I'm sure that's what he would like you and others to believe, Charlie,” the Taxiarch interrupted once more. ”And from a certain point of view, that might've been true, but here's the thing about his 'big ideas' – he never gave much thought about how they might pan out. Here, let me think of an example...” The angel looked off to the side once more, now full-on drumming both hands against the table's edge, before he made a 'hm!' noise and glanced back to the Princess. ”Dragons,” he finally said.
"Huh?"
”Yeah, those were his idea. Before he got obsessed with ducks, Lucifer was really big on dragons. He tried to sell us on the concept soooo many times...! But the thing is, giant fire-breathing lizards and primordial Earth just didn't mix; they were too destructive. If they were allowed to propagate, Earth would become a scorched wasteland in a few years flat. That... obviously went against Father's plan, as you can imagine.”
"Father?" Charlie repeated in confusion. She felt like her head was spinning more and more with each revelation her uncle dumped on her.
For a second, Michael just looked at her like she was dumb. ”Yes, Father,” he slowly spoke. ”You know... The Empyrean.” Pause. ”The Creator of All.” Another pause. ”He who is most commonly known as God?”
The blonde demoness sighed in distress, and slouched back in her seat. "My parents never told me about anyone like that," she admitted. "They always said it was you Heavenly Council people who created the universe..."
The Taxiarch blinked several times in quick succession. ”Seriously...? Wow.” He shook his head in disbelief. ”I don't know whether to be outraged that they never taught you about the Lord, or be relieved that they didn't dare besmirch His name.”
”Anyway, yes, as I was saying, Lucifer's later ideas all were rather poorly thought out, but whenever any one of us pointed out the flaws, he got... hostile. Defensive. I know those two words mean the exact opposite thing, but it's the best I can explain his behavior.”
"Well..." Charlie still felt like there was more to this story than Michael was letting on. "Surely there was a good reason he was reacting that way...?"
“Yes, in a way... I suppose we too were responsible for him turning out the way he did. See, at first, when his ideas were still sensible, we spent a lot of time... gassing him up.“ Seeing his niece give him a bewildered look, he felt the need to explain. ”Feeding his ego, I mean. And trust me, whenever he came up with something good, it was really, REALLY good, so the praise wasn't unwarranted, it just... went to his head. So when Lucifer started receiving pushback for the first time, it hurt his inflated sense of pride something fierce. He felt this need to one-up us, to prove us wrong somehow, and every time he failed, it must have gnawed at him, must have angered him just a little more...”
”Over time, he began avoiding us, and believe me, we all tried to reach out to him. Lucifer just refused to listen... But along comes your mother, fresh off of butting heads with Adam–”
"What was the issue between them, by the way?" Charlie suddenly asked. Her mom had always said that it was because Adam was far too controlling of a husband, but something told the Princess her account of events was just as biased as dad's.
Michael hummed thoughtfully, before replying. “They were both dominant personalities, let's put it that way. Adam was designed to be the archetypal patriarch – a strong protector and a stern, but caring teacher to his children; while Lilith was to be the archetypal queen – a nurturing, well-spoken figure, the brains to her husband's brawn. Unfortunately, she, ah... wanted dominion over more than just the animals of Eden, you understand,” he tightly pressed his lips together, and wiggled his eyebrows at Charlie, who couldn't help but shudder.
"That was seriously it?" she asked in disbelief. "My mom and Adam split up... just because she wanted to be on top?"
"No, that was just the catalyst," Michael thankfully assured her. "Over time, I think... she started to envy us as well, and wished to become our equal in power... If not greater. She must have resented having to do all these chores, naming the beasts and plants; got this idea that Eden was a cage designed to restrict her and Adam's full potential.”
"Was it?" the Princess inquired, and her uncle just shrugged in response.
”Ehh, it was more of a playpen, really. Anyway, yeah, getting this story back on track, along comes Lilith, who doesn't really know any better, gasses Lucifer up once again, one thing leads to another, and boom – they're in love. At this point, we were quite aware of how we had messed up when handling both of them, so we just said 'okay, we recognize your love as genuine, but you still messed up, so you both can go hang out on Earth and basically, we won't get in your way, bon voyage'. Adam was admittedly deeply hurt by beibg left alone. But then...” Michael paused dramatically. ”...Our Father made Eve out of Adam's rib, Lilith got jealous when she found out she was replaced, and... ahh, you know how the rest of this story goes.”
As he finished speaking, Charlie sat there in silence, not moving, too busy thinking. A part of her still wanted to be mad at Michael for kicking her parents out of Heaven. But another, more rational part told the Princess that though his actions may have been a little excessive, they were, from a certain point of view, quite justified. And just as her uncle looked up at a clock on the wall and commented “Oh man, I gotta go, sorry I spent so much time rambling,” – a third part of her spoke up, reminding her of the notes still sitting in front of her.
"Uncle Mike, wait!"
The black-haired angel froze and looked over at Charlie. ”Yeah?”
"S-Sorry, I was so busy listening that I completely forgot, but I have this project that I wanted to present to you," Charlie frantically belted out and all but threw the stack of papers over in his direction. She quickly added: "It's, um... a possible alternative to the Exterminations. I'm thinking... redemption. F-For Sinners..."
She couldn't help but cringe at her own way of speaking, and even more at the way Michael hummed and raised his eyebrow as he flipped through her notes – which were mostly crayon drawings of rainbows and unicorns and other such things.
“Well, it's a... novel concept,” the Taxiarch began, clearly choosing his words carefully. ”But it needs work.” With that, he neatly stacked the papers back up and handed them back to the Princess.
"D-Do you think it can... succeed?" she meekly asked.
But Michael answered with a question of his own. ”You know, many people, both down here and in Heaven, believe that Hell is Forever. Why do you think that is?"
That gave Charlie pause, and she looked aside for a moment, before replying in an unsure manner: "Uhh... it's because... people don't try to get out, by trying to be better...?"
”That's part of it, yes,” the angel nodded. ”You know, a lot of humans have this belief that Hell is meant to be a place of eternal suffering, where demons torture sinful souls. I imagine your parents designed the Pride Ring the way it is to subvert those expectations.”
"Yes, because they don't think eternal torture is a fair punishment–"
Again, Michael cut her off. ”But in so doing, they've created a Hell that is just as awful as the likes of Dante's Inferno.”
"W-What do you mean...?" Charlie asked, taken aback by her uncle's reasoning for the umpteenth time.
“Let me put it this way... The Sinners down here can be separated into three groups. First are the ones overjoyed to find out that there is no eternal torture, that they can indulge their darkest vices to their heart's content, without fear of punishment. And indulge they do, unaware that they're slowly killing their own humanity, becoming no different from the basest beasts.
Then there are those for whom the absence of punishment is its own torment. They know they did wrong, and they expect to face repercussions, but when they don't, when they find themselves in a Hell without torture and see those freely indulging Sinners... they become outraged, they think that the universe must be unjust if this is what Hell is like. And eventually, they seek to correct that injustice, by any means necessary. They become the torturers.
Lastly, there's the third group – those who are stuck in the middle. The proverbial crab at the bottom of the bucket, afraid to try and climb to the top, because they'll just get dragged down. One side will do it because they think no one deserves that second chance, and the other does it out of sheer sadism, because they don't want to lose another toy to practice their darkest impulses upon.
So there you have it – this is Hell, as your parents' idea of it has panned out to be. An ecosystem that's been perfectly cultivated by its inhabitants over the course of centuries, to ensure no one can escape its tainted grasp. Whichever way you cut it, to exist down here is to be in abject misery. The True Death we bring to Sinners every year might as well be mercy. So I'm afraid you have your work cut out for you if you really want to go through with this.”
Charlie took in Michael's words without a peep, and sat there in deep contemplation. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of silence (but actually was a little under a minute), she spoke up.
"I have to try..." the Princess whispered. "This is my dream... I can't just give up on it..." She looked up at her uncle, determination blazing in her eyes. "Even if I have to reshape all of Hell to make redemption possible."
”There's two kinds of dreams, you know,” he answered, looking aside. ”There's the dreams that shatter upon contact with cold, hard reality, and then there are the dreams that... survive. They might change drastically from what they initially were, but they nonetheless remain intact. Which category does your dream fall into, niece?” Michael poignantly paused. ”Time will tell.”
With those last words, he stepped back and disappeared in a flash of light and a gust of cool wind, leaving behind some icy flakes on the floor. Charlie continued sitting there for a few more minutes, before standing up from her chair, gathering her notes and silently leaving the room. The admittedly lengthy conversation had given her plenty to think about; and the perfect image she had of her parents up until today had been tarnished by Michael's words. Yet, as she made her way back to the Hotel, a small hope still blossomed within her, that one day, her dream may just survive contact with 'cold, hard reality'.
”. I’m remembering that he’s likely named after her dead cat, so that must contribute to her loving him so much. His voice actor is also a nut, but he can barely keep a consistent accent for Val, so who cares what he says?
