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God looks back into blue eyes and a sweetly smiling mouth and follows Her into and through the curtain of light.
His redemption, His light, His once-wife and the Goddess of All Creation led Him into Her world.
The portal closes behind Them, revealing a world of gentle peace that pervades all His senses with exuberant sounds of nature and the sights and smells of a new world.
It's beautiful. Like the garden, but warmer, newer, calling forth nostalgic memories of the first garden. She had been quite busy with Her world, He knew. As soon as He crossed into Her universe, the knowledge was there. The universe She found was small, but whole and easily shaped to Her powerful and driving will. It's so much like the first age of Theirs, brimming with shining potential. An almost brand-new place They will explore Together, like the old days, and She need not be alone here any longer.
This is smaller than the one He’d left, to be sure. But it's growing. He sensed life all around, under their feet and close at hand. It was all new life, with a brightness and freshness that assailed Him in delightful ways. Vibrant blue plants with broad leaves, and fragrant sweet-smelling grass. He took a deep, appreciative breath of clean air, utterly unlike the smog of the so-called City of Angels.
It was-
Something caught His eye. A human? Odd. God looks at the creature who blinks slowly at Him from some paces away. Someone familiar to Him, as of recently. How strange. He tried to re-focus on the beauty around them all, putting aside the curious mortals' attention.
It was-
Wait, that human ? What is it doing here?
He's a few years younger, if God were to bother to judge. The one who had married His miracle - the nerve - and...comforted his wife! It's a perfect replica, and He knows perfection, down to the ridiculous hairstyle. But the soul within is new and different, younger than the body, more innocent.
The sight reminds Him jarringly of Eve, the woman who never experienced childhood.
God frowned at Her, “darling wife-”
Her hair falls out of the bun with a shake of Her head, letting it fly loose in the golden sunlight. The vision of Her takes His breath away with how lovely this form is, how perfect. Then Her twinkling blue eyes flash to cool steel without so much a softening of Her lips. “I couldn’t believe the message Gabriel brought Me. You? Retire?"
Dan (or the copy of him) stood by silently, waiting with a patient blank stare that was quite different from the human He’d met. It was beyond distracting. For some reason, the man was shirtless. And oiled. Had She made a servant? Had She missed Her mortal lover as much as he missed Her?
God forcefully ignored him - he was inconsequential in any case - and addressed the Goddess. “It was time for Me to go. Our children have things well in hand.”
“Yes, of course, Your plan.”
“It’s worked out so far,” He agreed.
“Just as You hoped? Everything You wanted has fallen into place?” The feather-light emphasis on a few of Her words flew over His head.
“Yes, I believe so. I have faith Our offspring will sort out ownership of the Kingdom.”
“Well. I hope You aren't expecting to pick up where We left off. Or should I say, a smidge before that."
“I thought it might take some time before We make some sort of formal arrangement.” He kept his tone tolerant, patient. God isn't naive enough to believe She had forgiven Him so quickly, but they had built too much together in the past for it to mean nothing now.
“You realize there won’t be anything of the sort.”
It's a statement, not a question. God gathered His thoughts, much more clearly now than just a few days before, when He had been fighting confusion, but He isn't used to this new universe yet, and it comes a little slow. But They shared that kiss before leaving Earth. “I was under the impression that You wanted Me to come.”
“Ah, yes. I did,” an agreement this time, but with an edge that became almost palpable.
God paused. She had moved on, had She not? She's no longer the bringer of plagues, the One that witches supplicated for vengeance. When Lucifer believed the worst punishment She should have after escaping Hell was to remain on Earth, surely that meant She had changed. Hell had been, had always been, far worse a thing than anything on Earth could ever be, so for Lucifer to advocate for that- “Why then?”
“Dear Husband, love of my life-” and now there's danger in the flatness, the even tone that began with casual endearments, “do You remember, the day You had Me... moved ? Banished. Cast out. Unhomed.” She strolls, cat-like, away from Him. Goddess steps out of Her shoes and they vanish. Green grass crushes lightly under Her bare feet and some of the lines smooth from Her face as She peers back at Him with the barest of head-tilts. “Do you remember that day, Beloved?”
Of course He does. It broke His heart to do it. But His heart had already become weary of fighting with Her over humans, over the rules. Humanity had only needed some more time before they could grow on their own, as they seemed to have done to a degree already. He sighed. “If You had only been patient-”
“You are God, are you not. There was no need to divide your attention between them and Me. Although, after spending a bit of time on Earth with them, a few stood out. I realized after the fact that they aren't all useless."
The weird Dan smiles faintly, gazing at her fondly. Had he made more movement than that, God might have smote him out of hand, like the other one. But this is the Goddess’ universe and it became more apparent by the second that it was, indeed, Her domain. Well. Perhaps He could build his own small paradise here, away from Her. Until she comes around. “Yes. Chloe turned out better than I hoped for. She and Lucifer make a fine pair."
"The human and My son. I heard they're together now. I'm glad he's happy." And She sounded sincere.
"I understood You were against it."
"Well. All I ever wanted for Our children was to be happy. It's not as if they can find that sort of happiness with one another."
Oddly reasonable, for Her. "My love for You never waned, you know.”
“You did what you had to.”
God let down his guard a little. Her tone had softened again. Her lips curled up at the corners, gently. It was good that She sounded accepting. She had been out of Hell only a short time now, but had always been resilient, from the very beginning.
He’d had no choice but to banish Her. It still ached. There hadn't been a day gone by that He hadn't thought of Her.
She had fought, tooth and nail, to use the human expression, in disbelief as He forced Her down and delivered Her to Lucifer to serve Her sentence. Many of the children reeled from His proclamation, some choosing to remain on Earth even before Lucifer made a home there.
“To protect Your creation.”
“Our creation.”
“Our children were Our creation. Do you remember how they were when they were young? Azrael played pranks. Lucifer and Amenadiel fought with blunt swords for days at a time. Saraquael sang her heart out, but it wasn’t her gift.”
God nods.
“Uriel. You remember Uriel?”
“Yes, of course. His loss-”
“You killed him.”
God jerks. “That’s not true.”
Goddess swept a path through the grass. With hips swaying, She made Her way over to the other-Dan, lifting Her hand to trace the skin across his shoulders, to his neck and down the other side as she walked behind him and came to a stop. He shivers but otherwise doesn’t move from where he stands. His eyes follow Her, ignoring God entirely. She gestured and the not-Dan deftly (expertly) unzipped the back of Her dress and dropped his hands, standing at expectant attention once again.
She turns toward Him. The straps of Her black dress slip artfully off Her shoulders under the weight of the fabric. More lines and wrinkles vanish from Her neck and visible upper chest. “You let him go. You let Uriel go.”
“All the children are willful in their own ways.”
“You know everything. You knew what he would do. Was doing. To your very own precious miracle .” Her voice edged upward, slowly and slithering.
“He wouldn’t succeed. I knew this much.”
“You had Me thrown into Hell for damaging some of Your humans. That’s why You forbade Our children from killing humans, isn’t it?”
God knows it isn’t really a question. The acidic fear He'd experienced on Earth started to rise in His chest.
“Did you know how much Lucifer had fallen in love with humanity? Did you know Lucifer would be forced to kill his own brother to stop him from getting around your little loophole? To protect the very same human you put in his path. Did you have any idea how determined Uriel actually was? Did you know where the blade was?”
“I didn’t know Uriel would die. The future isn’t set in stone.”
“And now Uriel is as dead as one.”
“I was sorry for his loss. I mourned him as much as you.”
“If I had been there, in heaven, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
“If You’d had Your way, humanity wouldn’t exist.”
Goddess stepped out of Her dress. Not-Dan’s eyes widened a bit at the view of Her backside and he shuffled in place, but quickly resumed stillness.
She looked like She did the day She left Heaven.
God felt a mild wave of dizziness pass over Him and away again.
Had Lucifer been wrong about what Michael had said? Is He actually losing control after all? He shook His head. “And then You wouldn’t have your little plaything, would You?” The Not-Dan would have to go. It's not possible She's actually attached to him. It won't be hard to dispose of him before too long. Besides, God Himself is Her real husband, there's no need for this...inferior clone.
“I’d make do. I always have. I did before we met and I will for all of eternity.” Her words bore no level of concern but She spared a glance to Her toy. On anyone else, He would have termed it wistful.
On the edges of His vision, He detected movement. Horse hooves fell almost softly in the grass. The sounds seem oddly deliberate, paced. Centaurs - they could be nothing else - begin to surround them, with curious expressions on their almost elven faces. They all have long hair and long, pointed ears, in a veritable rainbow of Earth-type coats and skin tones. “Are they Yours, Goddess?” He only realized He reverted to using Her title after it left His lips.
She smiles, and for the first time since - well, a few thousand years, it's a smile of warmth. God feels a frisson run down His back, in alarm, arousal, or something else. His senses heighten. These creatures came to Her for a purpose. For Her purpose.
They aren’t a welcoming party.
“They are mine, but I didn’t make them. This universe was not the purely empty void I first thought. They were here first, and they have adopted me as, well, a Goddess. They worship me, bring me gifts. I find them more pleasant than humans, in general, if a little strange.” Naked, She approaches the nearest one, a female. She holds a simple metal-tipped spear and faces the Goddess.
The female centaur bows to Her, dropping one front leg to kneel, somehow making it far more graceful than even God thought possible. “M’lady. All is prepared for your companion.”
“Thank you, dear. Your thoughtfulness and hard work are noted.” She turns to Not-Dan as the centaur gets back up to all four feet. “Would you be a darling and gather the rest of the harem. I believe I will soon have need of you and the others, only wait a moment.”
Not-Dan nods eagerly, a hint of hunger glinting in his bright blue eyes. He finally spoke, hesitantly, raising a hand slightly, hopeful for a touch. “Of course, my Charlotte.”
Goddess actually smiles back at him, and God realizes then that Her greeting upon meeting Him on Earth had lacked all the warmth He witnesses now. And this Dan isn’t even the real one. God knew without pondering too much on it that her...harem consisted of a number of... Dans. And not only had this not-human spoken to Her like... like he… “Charlotte?”
She sighed, bestowing a lingering touch on Not-Dan’s cheek. “I’ve been addressed as Goddess for far too long. By you. By my children. By humans. I enjoyed being in Charlotte’s body, well, not at first of course, but later - so much that I decided that to be my new name. A real name I’d never had before. And,” She regards Not-Dan fondly, leaning a little closer to him. Closer until she presses a chaste kiss to his lips, her hair falling against his skin. “He’s not the original, but I do like the way he says my name.” Her voice lowered, warm and relaxed, intending every possible meaning of the words to come through. And they do.
Not-Dan kisses Her with an intent that reflect the fervor of the original, in some respect. God shudders again, thinking of the few times He did check on Her on Earth, and far too often at the worst possible time. “I see. May I ask what has been...prepared?”
From nothingness, Goddess-Charlotte whips on a white flowing dress that hangs from Her now-youthful curves like falling water. “It’s your place of retirement.”
Abruptly, God wishes He had a weapon of any kind as His throat tightens without thought. “Will you come to visit Me there?”
The centaurs pick up on the change in tone, each gripping their spear shafts just a little tighter. Most of them have them, or some other weapon. There’s a vanguard that takes up station around God, spears lifted off the ground ever so lightly.
It’s terribly quaint, and rather naive of the Goddess. He braces himself, ready to strike down the first beast who would try to touch Him. The bows and swords all seem like normal steel weapons formed by mortals and forged in fire that paled in comparison to any Celestial standard. Only the spear-tips shone white, reflecting the light more brightly and cleanly than anything else here bearing an edge.
She broke into His thoughts, as if reading them. “Do you know what those spears are made of, darling?” The two of them, husband and wife, are equally powerful and She had never been able to do such a thing before. It must be a guess.
He tries to know. It doesn’t work, and this disturbs Him. Not only that, but She knows He doesn’t. “I don’t.”
“Each speartip is a blade of Azreal.”
God takes a step back in disbelief, “surely, that would be dangerous to You as well.”
“It would be, if I was worried. If any attacked Me, I would simply teleport away. But You can’t do that here.”
He...can’t. “What is happening, Wife?”
“Can You not tell?”
God had felt His powers ebbing from the moment he stepped foot into this universe but He had assumed they were simply re-aligning themselves, before He willed them back under control, a mere momentary confusion of being in another universe and getting His bearings. The drain had been subtle, drops from the ocean. But now. It is like tendrils of power are coiling away from him in a spiral, like a white dwarf being eaten by a black hole and just as inescapable. “Wife?”
“I’ve drained enough of your power to restore much of my own. And just enough to keep you where you’ll be for as long as I was.”
“I don’t understand.”
She smirks. The warmth is gone and replaced by frost. “You’re going to have your own little special place in Hell. In My Hell.”
He prepares to run but a speartip presses into his back. He doesn’t ask why; he knows why.
“I’m almost a little disappointed you didn’t try to get away. The old You would have fought.”
Sadness weighs him down, but he would not pity himself. “I’m not the same Being I was then, when We met.”
They look at one another, perhaps for the last time.
"I am."