Landing Feet First

Regret gasped for air as if he never could before. He opened his eyes, surprised that he could still do such a thing as breath. He blinked the blur from his vision, revealing that he was surrounded by darkness. He sat up in the gloom, looking around but finding nothing.

“H-hello?” Regret called out into the darkness, his voice echoing away into the nothing. There was no answer for a moment, but the blankness was suddenly broken by a loud, booming laughter.

“Welcome to your new home my child of darkness!!” greeted the amused voice.

“Wh-what? Where am I? What is this?” Regret asked as he frantically pulled his knees to his chest, the thundering laughter making his bones rattle in terror.

“Wow, you really are a weakling…” the voice stated almost comically. “Well, there is always room for cowards and losers here in Purgatory!”

“P-Purga… As in… Hell?” Regret gasped in the darkness. "B-but I can't be in..! I-I sacrificed my life for...for mankind!"

The voice chuckled evilly. "Isn't that a shame? Little brother doesn't seem to see it that way..."

“Please, Lord! Let him up here! He… He meant to sacrifice himself to save all of mankind, your highness!!” Civil wept out desperately at the gates of Heaven. But she didn’t dare enter. “These wings, they don’t belong to me, your highness!” she sobbed out, motioning to the great, beatific, angelic wings that were now attached to her back. “I lived as a single minded fool my whole life, I do not deserve to be up here…” she cried out, sinking to the ground on her knees.

Civil wept at the door of Heaven’s gate, feeling unworthy of stepping inside.

The warriors that were fighting so passionately before—both Milites Deus and monstrum—passed her by as they entered through heaven’s door, giving her apologetic looks.

Civil growled through her tears as the monstrum passed by and pitied her. “You dare let these disgusting, murderous monstrum enter your haven, my Lord, but not the son who gave his life for those hideous creatures you prize so much?!”

“Silence child.” A calm voice called from beyond the gate, calling to Civil.

Civil clenched her jaw at the godly voice. “Never, your highness,” she denied. “I will never be silent until you tell me why you let Diabolus take my brother!”

Stillness was her only answer, typical from her ever silent god.

“Why won’t you let him in?!” she screeched, tears gushing out of her eyes.

“Your brother has taken his own life, and in that process taken the lives of these innocent monstrum. Despite having saved mankind from his own self, he has committed suicide, an act that is outlawed in this paradise. And for that-”

“And for that he can never be let into Heaven…” Civil finished her Lord’s statement, burying her tears in her hands as she fell to the ground.

God listened to her weep for a moment before laying an unseen hand on her back as if trying to comfort the weeping girl. “Come my child. Come back home where you belong. You have done mankind well.” He beckoned beyond the pearly gates.

Sniffling, Civil stood to her feet, her wings held low in woe and sorrow. She took one last look down past the earthly world and into Purgatory where her brother searched around frantically for something. For her…

With heavy, regretful step after another Civil made her way to Heaven’s gate, gripping it furiously before slamming it shut. “Never!” she screeched to the startled beings on the other side. “I will save my brother, even if it means giving my own life, just as he gave up his for your beloved creatures!” She turned on her heels and hurtled off the side of Heaven’s grounds, plummeting to the earth at supersonic speeds. Pulling Apus Major from its shining scabbard, she pointed it at the ground right before landing in a heap of wound up dirt at the domain Diabolis calls his home.

“Demon!” she yelled out into the darkness that was lightly illuminated by medieval torches. She held Apus Major up to point at the dark hole, wings held high in assertion. “I come here to make a trade of life with you. Surely the life of an angel—prized by the lord himself—must mean more to you than the lowliest of cowards!”

A chuckle echoed down the dark corridor. “You strike a hard bargain, little miss Angelus Cadus! But I accept.”

All at once, Civil’s wings were ripped off her back and she was yanked to the ground. Looking down, she gasped as corpses pulled her into the land, forcing her into the darkest pits of infernum, their skin pruned and scorched from the flames of torture they reside in. Shrieking in terror, she swung Apus Major around, trying to behead the creatures. But her mighty sword turned to dark ashes in her palms, flowing through her trembling fingers.

A flash of light in the sky caught her eye and she watched in awe as Regret flew up into the air out of the grasp of Diabolis, the wings that were once hers on his back now looking more natural on him than they ever could on her. A glow of gold surrounding him, he made his way into heaven.

“Please, Lord…” Civil prayed for the last time as the corpses held on tight to her arms and chest and face, pulling her downward. “Please don’t tell him of what I’ve done…” she begged, the exit from infernum closing shut for good…