Chapter Text
When Adam woke, he found he was propped up against a pile of blankets. For a horrible second, he thought he had only dreamed of the reunion, some cruel trick of Hell. Then the sound of singing from the other side of the room filled his ears, and his doubts vanished. It was real. She's here. "You sound great, Moonbeam."
She turned, and her smile lit up the room, unashamed in the slightest at Adam hearing her sing. "Good morning, my paradise. I thought you might want to keep sleeping. Breakfast?"
"Sounds awesome right now."
She brought a pair of steaming teacups and plates with what looked like bacon over to the table. Adam decided not to think about the details of exactly what kind of meat that could be. The two sat across from each other, holding hands as they ate. For a long moment, they sat in silence, drinking in each other’s presence as they decided what to say.
At last, Eve spoke. "I suppose we've got some catching up to do?"
Where do we even start? “Uh, yeah, I guess so. You wanna go first? What happened to you?”
Eve nodded, and began her story.
###
"The day we died, I had no idea what would come next, but I was sure we'd face it together. So when I woke up in this place alone, I almost lost hope. It was so empty down here, nothing but a cavern that went as far as I could see. I walked for hours, calling out for you, or eventually for anyone who might hear me.
“Finally, I saw someone else, and I was sure it was you at first. But when I got closer, I realized it was Abel !” Eve’s eyes grew misty. “I finally got to see our Abel again. To hug him, and tell him how sorry I was for what happened.”
“Then Lucifer and Lilith found us.” Adam stiffened at the mention, but Eve continued. “It was…awkward at first, we’ll say. Lucifer was so different from how I remembered him, and he seemed shocked that I was down there. From what I heard later, he already seemed to regret what he had done in the Garden, so the fact that I was sent here for it stung even more. That said, besides Abel, no one else had died yet, so he at least welcomed the company. Lilith, meanwhile, seemed interested in what had happened on Earth since they were sent down here, and I was glad to hear how Abel had been until then. Apparently the two of them had been looking after him—Abel told me all about it.
“Once we all had run through our stories to tell, though, we weren’t sure what to do next down here. Lucifer and Lilith already had a place they had built, and Abel had been staying there. It was her who realized that, if Abel and I were already down here, Hell was bound to soon have a lot more people as well, who would need places to stay. So together, the four of us started building. I didn’t need much, just a place for shelter, and Lucifer seemed particularly happy to help us create a place. After that, we started building new places for potential newcomers, and eventually we had the makings of a whole village. When the first new person fell down here, they were grateful to have a few other faces in this new place.
“As more people showed up, some of them were willing to help us build, for one reason or another. They… could vary on how they acted and what they were like on Earth, but with so little else in this place, a lot of them turned to helping us expand just to have something to do. Lilith in particular seemed to have a knack for recruiting sinners to help—she was the power behind Lucifer’s throne.”
Sounds like Lilith , Adam thought with a hint of bitterness. He wouldn’t trade Eve for anyone else, and by the time Lilith came to him with whatever scheme she was planning now, the animosity had largely faded. but he had never quite forgotten the insult of her rejecting him.
“So it went, people would come down here and find a role for themselves, or they would make one. Our little settlement grew, and it eventually started to look like the Pentagram City of today. The people who made it here weren’t all monsters, but those that were seemed to find a way to climb the ranks. Still, it was… familiar, at least after how long I had been there. The people could be wild, but they were still people—you remember how everyone could be back on Earth. Under Lilith’s leadership, Hell began to grow into its own.
“And then the Exterminations began. When that first portal opened up, I almost hoped it was for us—that we had been punished enough, and I might finally get to see you again.” Her voice shuddered, and she paused to breathe before continuing. “The day afterwards, when they told us why this had just happened, and that it would happen again, was when I became certain that it would never be so. We were all down here forever, until they killed us again.
“So, I decided to help people here as best I could. If we couldn't get to Heaven, I could at least try and make Hell less miserable. I figured that falling from the sky wasn't a great introduction to the place, so I started The Garden. When new people fell from the sky, I tried to get the residents to lead them here, so I could explain their situation—and especially warn them of the Exterminations. It's kind of become neutral ground since then—even in the turf wars, they mostly leave this place alone.” She gave a small smile. “There's not much kindness down here anymore, but there's that much, at least.”
###
Eve set down her teacup and smiled at her husband. “So that’s my story—now it’s your turn. How are you here? I was sure Heaven wouldn’t let you come to Hell, or something.”
Adam debated how to respond. He wasn’t sure how his wife would respond to learning that her husband had been cast out of Heaven, however wrongly. On the other hand, he didn’t want to start their reunion on a lie. Finally, he settled on, “After what happened during the Extermination, I… got stuck down here. I’m trying to find a way back to Heaven now.”
“Oh no, how did that happen? I can’t imagine you would have been anywhere near that. Are you okay?”
“It’s… kind of a long story.” In an attempt to change the subject, he asked the question that had been on his mind since he found her. “But Eve, why didn't you ever say anything to Heaven? You could've come to the Embassy and gotten whatever happened that put you down here fixed in a second. Or let one of us know when we’re down here?”
“I didn't think Heaven would listen to me anymore,” Eve began, and frowned. “Wait, what do you mean ‘when we’re down here?’ Until now, I didn't think the souls in Heaven could come down to Hell.”
"Babe, we’re down here, like, every year? I've been looking for you every time I come down."
"Every..." Her eyes widened. "Do you mean the Exterminations? Adam? Were you part of those?"
"Uh, yeah? I was the head of the away team. You know, the awesome light show?"
He didn't know what response he expected, but it wasn't for her to suddenly look terrified. She stood up from the table and stepped back.The look in her eyes was like none she had ever given him, wide and frightened. "That was you? I heard the name, but I was sure it couldn’t be… Adam… how? How could you do that?"
Why is she taking this so bad? Standing as well, he tried to reassure her. “What’s the big deal? They’re just some sinners—it’s not like it was anyone that mattered.” Eve did not seem to understand—she just kept looking at him like she barely knew him.
“Adam, these people are our family! Our children! Abel is down here!”
Adam barely cut off his stunned laugh at her first statement in time to process the second. His mouth dropped open, frozen for a moment in genuine confusion. “Abel— Yeah, I kind of figured that out before! I told the Exorcists to watch for you both! What does that have to do with anything?”
By now, tears were beginning to well in Eve’s eyes. “Adam, all these people down here, they came from us! We started everything on Earth—you loved seeing them grow when we were alive! How can you come down here now and kill your own descendants?”
Adam shook off the memory of his time on Earth before it could take hold. That was then —he had been too naive back then. “ The worthless scum down here don’t deserve that title! If they wanted to be part of our ‘family,’ they should have done better on Earth to make it to Heaven. The sinners down here had their chance, and they failed.”
“These sinners are human souls—people like us!”
“They are not like us! I don’t belong down here! You don’t belong down here! Those fuckers do . All these freaks out there wasted their shot, and they deserve what they get for it.”
“And why not me?”
He blinked. “What?”
Adam’s wife looked him in the eyes, tears streaming down her face but her gaze piercing in spite. “After I ate that apple, I was sent down here too. Am I ‘worthless scum’ to you? Should I have been killed too?”
He jerked back in sheer shock. The idea that his Moonbeam could ever think of herself like the ones he came down here to exterminate was horrible. “No! Eve, of course not! You aren’t like them! You don’t belong down here!”
“Why not?!”
“Because—”
Because—
In the countless Exterminations, Adam had seen sin beyond belief. When he came down to Hell that first year, he had been horrified at the level of depravity humanity had reached. He had been certain then that the Exterminations were right, that these sinners deserved to die. And in all the years since, he had never once reconsidered that.
But hearing that from Eve, something just didn't click. She had been sent down here, but of course she didn't deserve to die for it. His two deepest beliefs warred in his mind, and he had no idea how to process it. “I—”
She doesn't deserve to die.
Then why is she down here?
She doesn't deserve to die.
But she's a sinner!
She doesn't deserve to die.
Adam grabbed at his head in confused frustration. “I don't know, but you just don't! ”
Eve covered her face as her tears became too much to control. She leaned against the wall of flowers and wept, her body heaving in her despair. And for the life of him, Adam didn't know how to comfort her. He wasn't even sure if he could.
Finally, Eve rose, with reddened eyes and trembling hands, and turned away from Adam. “I… think you should go.”
His eyes widened, and he reached out for her. “Eve, wait—”
“ Adam . Please don’t make this harder. I just… need you to go right now.”
Adam was reeling. He had just gotten her back, he couldn’t lose her again! His head was so torn from the conflicting beliefs, and he needed her help. Eve was always the smarter one about this stuff—she’ll know what to do. But seeing the state his wife was in—from something he had done—he knew that she meant it. He opened his mouth once more, before closing it again. Slowly, he turned away and walked out of the replica of the life they had made. As he closed the door, he heard the renewed sound of sobs behind it.
###
The first man walked alone through Hell.
In a daze, he walked without knowing where to go. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind he should be heading to the Heaven Embassy, but he couldn’t bring himself to look for it right then. As he wandered, he passed by crowds of sinners in the streets. Some paid him no mind, others glared at him, and none of them recognized him as being anything other than another sinner himself.
In all of this, what kept running through his mind was something he hadn't thought for as long as he could remember.
Was I wrong?