Archive of Our Own

It’s a cliche to think bad things happened, always happened on dark and stormy nights. That was simply untrue. More often than not, evil gathered on beautiful moonlit nights, when a gentle wind rustled through the trees. It gathered under the stars, not cowering away in the dark but laughing in the light.

Daring to defy it.

Two demons lurked at the edge of a graveyard, they could lurk all night if they wanted to, under the stars crafted by their archenemies and doing their best work in the wee hours before dawn.

“She’s late,” one of them muttered. “She’s gone native, she likes it here. She’ll spend all of her time getting drunk at a bar and neglect her duties. She’s even taken a more human name, if you can believe it.”

The other chuckled. “...what’s she calling herself now?”

“Ruby, if you can believe it. It’s not a bad name, but it’s too human for my tastes,” the first said. “Ruby loves humans.”

“We all love humans, they’re easy to tempt into sin,” the second demon put in. They said: “It’s almost barely even a challenge these days. Hell should be filled to bursting.”

Music echoed through the trees, along with the roar of a V8 engine. The first demon smiled.

“Well, here she comes now. Say what you will about her, but the woman always arrives in style. She's hell, in high heels.”

“…Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for meee!” a man sung, alongside the roar of a guitar just barely hidden by the rumble of an engine. A pitch-black corvette now decades-old pulled into the graveyard.

A door opened, and then shut as a woman dressed in a sharp suit stepped out of the car, adjusting her tie. You could see her face flushing red in the moonlight.

“Sorry guys,” she said in a voice far too chipper for the matter at hand. “Traffic was awful tonight, really.”

“You have wings, use them,” one of the demons pointed out, and in the shadows in the moonlight you could see two dark appendages hanging off Ruby’s back. “You’re late and you don’t have any excuse for it besides being far too attached to that damn car of yours.”

“Oh yes, wings. Something humans aren’t used to. We don’t obey many rules, because we’re demons but even we obey the law of humanity never being exposed to the divine and the demonic,” Ruby said sternly, her silver eyes flashing in the moonlight. “Unless you want The Big Cheese sending down a personal smite squad.”

“It didn’t used to be that way, not in the old days,” one of the demons, Mercury said. “In the old days-”

“Oh will you stop with the old days talk?” the other, Emerald said. “It’s always ‘in the old days’ this and ‘in the old days’ that. Anyways, I’ve been corrupting politicians and Mercury here has been tempting a priest.”

“Classics,” Ruby said with a toothy smirk. “The old ones never fail. Politicians and priests always have plenty of guilt to go around. In the afterlife, they’ll be heading for the serious strife.”

She forced back a sigh, Hell worked in a different way than the preacher man preached. You didn’t go there because you committed evil acts, you went there because of your own regrets. Not kiss a girl back in high school? You didn’t join band like you wanted to because you were too afraid of what your parents thought?

Hell tallied up your regrets and created the perfect punishment for you, taunting you with a life you could have lived but didn’t.

When demons asked you what you truly desired, that’s what they were asking you. What did you desire to do or what did you desire to be but never had the courage to do or be? If it weren’t for preacher men preaching the evils of hell, Ruby imagined that less people would go there.

Demons had to get craftier nowadays, sadly. They couldn’t expose themselves so openly, talk about what awaited you if you didn’t indulge.

“Depends on if they even believe in said strife,” Emerald said, pursing her lips. “People don’t believe in Heaven and Hell nowadays anymore, they think it’s unfashionable. Demons are works of fiction.”

“I like being believed in…” Mercury said, his voice a whine.

“Oh well, what can you do?” Emerald said with a sigh. “Just because people don’t believe as openly as they once did, it doesn't mean they don’t in private. The old fears still exist. You just gotta push them to the surface.”

Now demons were torturers by nature, they never had your best interest in mind. They wanted you in Hell, so if it meant guilting you into regretting something then… well! More tormented souls for them.

“So did you call me here to gift me the antichrist, or is this to catch up? To bitch about your lot in life?” Ruby said. “Come on, which is it?”

Mercury wheezed out a laugh, his lungs blackened and charred. “The antichrist! I still can’t believe humans believe the Son has his own evil twin or something. It’s the work of fanfiction.”

“Nah, we just wanted to brag,” Emerald said. “That’s all. We wanted to brag about our evil deeds, we’re demons. We’re literally soulless!”

“Uh-huh, well you did get those bodies from a local morgue right?” Ruby said, with a nervous look. “Just checking. I don’t want the God Squad showing up.”

“Nah, we possessed them! There’s a few cultists here and there who would gladly give their bodies over to demonkind!” Emerald said.

“Possession?”

“I mean, yeah, have you tried using a dead body? They almost never have all of their parts and the ones that still exist never work quite right,” Emerald said. “It’s-”

“A one-way track to getting your ass kicked back to hell,” a fourth voice said as a nearly blinding light filled the graveyard, pure and holy. “My apologies for the mess.”

“What mess?” Ruby said as a white-haired woman stepped into view, brilliantly feathered and indeed beautiful wings folding behind her. Then it hit her. “...oh, that mess.”

The angel waved her hand and demons screeched in rage and fury. Thick black smoke erupted from their mouths rushing around the two before seemingly being sucked into the earth. Two bodies thudded to the ground.

“...and two more damned souls in hell,” the angel said with a sigh. “I’m sorry Rubes.”

“It’s fine, it’s okay,” Ruby said soothingly, sounding anything but fine. “Willing possession always damns people to hell. Damn, well damnation. Hell’s full to bursting it seems like on some days.”

“I’m sure for every soul damned to hell, another two make their way to Heaven.”

“And are tormented by the endless loop of The Sound of Music you have going on up there,” Ruby said with a weak teasing smile. “That’s part of the reason why I left.”

“I heard you fell.”

“Angel propaganda,” Ruby scoffed. “I sauntered slowly downwards.”

“Mhmmmm… We miss you up there by the way.”

“Funny, I didn’t think any of you did, Feathers. I thought the rebellion got a lot of bad press, Weiss. It’s in every holy bible!” Ruby said with a sad little smile.

“Well I do,” Weiss said, a wing around her friend. “Just don’t tell the others though.”

“My lips are sealed,” Ruby said, a finger on her lips. “Wouldn’t want you to get kicked out of your garrison. By the way, if Ezekiel ever heard your mouth tonight…”

“I only said ass, it’s not like my mouth needs to be scrubbed out with soap!” Weiss said with a snort. 

“You’re an angel, you’re supposed to be holy and pure,” Ruby said. “Say the word of God.”

“I’m pretty sure some of the word of God includes cursing,” Weiss said, swift to point out. “If God didn’t want us to curse, they wouldn’t have invented curses to begin with.”

“True, and Ezekiel’s always been a stick in the mud,” Ruby said and her counterpart snorted in agreement.

“Agreed! So, it’s late and it’s cold and honestly I think it’s about to rain,” Weiss said. “And I’m an angel, and I do good deeds, and I think it would count as a good deed to get you out of the cold.”

“So you’re inviting me to dinner then?” Ruby said, chipper. “I mean… you don’t have to disguise it or anything, we’re both young women and we’re both allowed to go out to dinner.”

“Excuse you, neither of us are really all that young. We’re thousands of years old.”

“You’re only as old as you feel!”

“That sounds like something from a self-help book,” Weiss said.

“You would know, you invented the concept,” Ruby drawled.

“And I’m not inviting you out to dinner, I’m only getting you out of the cold. We’re an angel and a demon, we don’t go out to dinner, we smite one another,” Weiss said. “We’re ancient enemies, so get thee behind me foul fiend!”

“I mean… if you want…” Ruby said with a smirk, latching onto Weiss suggestively and grinding her hips against her. A surprised squawk. “Well don’t act so surprised, you did ask!”

“Just get in the car, dumbass,” Weiss muttered.

“Ooooh, another curse!” Ruby said, opening the door. “You’re really staining the air blue tonight, you’re making some sailors jealous!”

Weiss made a grumpy noise, getting into the passenger seat.

“You do realize this contraption-”

“It’s called a car Weiss, how long has it been since you’ve been on Earth?” Ruby questioned, her voice teasing. “They’ve been here for the past 100 years.”

“I know what it is! I’m not that behind. But you do realize the car is strictly unnecessary. You have wings Ruby, you can fly!” Weiss stammered in disbelief as they started down the road.

“I know, but flying's boring,” Ruby returned, her companion looking actually offended. “Arrive in style, Weiss.”

“There's no way I'm enjoying sitting in this thing Ruby, it's demeaning. Again, wings!” Weiss stressed.

“Not even for…” Ruby now sported an appropriately devilish, flirtatious grin.

“No, not even for sex.” Weiss said with a groan.

"But leather seats Weiss!” Ruby chirped. “Leather!"

“Leather probably made from the damned hides of tormented souls,” Weiss said, Ruby wrinkling her nose in disgust at that thought.

“Ewwww no, what kind of demon do you take me for? I’m not inhuman.”

“You’re a demon, you were never human to begin with,” Weiss pointed out before a siren came from behind. “And you’re speeding.”

“Of course I’m speeding, I drive like a literal bat out of hell. It’s not like I’m worried about dying in a flaming fireball, right?” Ruby said.

“Yes, but I’m sure you are worried about spending dinner with me in a six by six-foot cell,” Weiss said. “I’ve heard prison food is the worst.”

Ruby sighed, letting the policeman pull up to them on his motorcycle.

“You know why I pulled you over?” the man asked, leaning over to look at her. Officer Marrow his badge read.

“Well,” Ruby started, her voice deadpan. “Well, obviously, you felt the need to exercise your entirely limited powers and punish me for ignoring the speed limit. It's okay. I understand. You’re not the first person I know who loves that sort of thing. It’s all the rage back home.”

“License and registration,” Marrow said unamused.

“Coming right up,” Ruby said, bringing out her wallet and letting the officer have a look inside.

“Are you trying to bribe me ma’am?” Marrow asked, Weiss looking horrified at the demon’s open disdain for authority.

“Yes of course,” Ruby said, the music playing suspiciously apt music for the scenario.

“He said, "Give me all you got…”

“Is it not enough? I mean, its just money. Only printed paper. I never understood the fuss.. Just tell me,” Ruby said leaning in, eyes flashing. “Tell me what you really desire.”

Weiss groaned, knowing exactly what trick she was pulling.

“I-t's against the law, miss!” Marrow said, his control weakening. Weiss glared.

“I mean… it’s not like you’re going to tell anyone right?” Ruby said. “I’m sure, between you and me, you slip up a few times. It’s okay, I won’t tell. I’m not like a super judgy person, I hate that.”

“Sometimes... I like just put the siren on and drive really super fast for no reason at all, just 'cause I can…” Marrow admitted sheepishly.

“I know right? Driving fast is the best part, and like I would totally do the lights and sirens if I had them,” Ruby said. “It makes you feel like you’re unstoppable, in control over your measly life.”

“I-I guess?” Marrow asked.

“I mean, I’m still not judging. It sounds fun, and hey take the money, buy yourself something nice. A man like you, surely he’s got someone waiting for him at home. Treat them to something pretty!” Ruby said, holding out the bills in tempting fashion. “No regrets right?”

“R-Right,” Marrow said, taking some and driving off.

“One of two souls…” Ruby said.

“Must you do that?” Weiss said, disapproving.

“No regrets, no damnation for that fellow. And hey, if he shows up with flowers, then he’s getting rewarded instead of punished. Personally, I think I should be rewarded for what’s a basic public service,” Ruby said as she restarted the car. “Like really, and it should be a fun reward by the way.”

“Fun?” Weiss arched an eyebrow. “For bribing a police officer.”

“For saving a man’s soul! Honestly, I’m glad I sauntered slowly downwards,” Ruby said, a woman without regrets. “Y’know… It's hard to have fun up There... there's a lot of judgment going on!”

Weiss groaned, and the music changed as they drove. A side effect of her grace, or maybe just because she could if you asked Ruby.

“Reach out, touch faith! Your own personal Jesus… Someone to hear your prayers…”

Yep, definitely because she could.

-----

“Isn’t it ironic?” Weiss asked, clinking their glasses together over the chatter of table talk. “You, a demon, doing God’s work. Your fellow demons must be appalled.”

“They’re soulless, they don’t care what they do. It’s a tragedy really, and I know this sounds horribly angelic of me, like ewww, but I feel for them,” Ruby said. “Never knowing a better way.”

“You’re still an angel, so you’re allowed to speak like one,” Weiss said. “I remember when we first met, at the Garden of Eden. You gave Ozpin and Salem the freedom to choose for themselves.”

“And I got kicked out of Heaven for it.”

“Not saying Heaven didn’t overreact, honestly I think they should be patting you on the back,” Weiss said, sipping her wine. “You didn’t just give humanity a freedom to choose, you gave them the ability to evolve.”

“No, I just kicked them out onto the street, I didn’t give them anything.”

“You did, start giving yourself more credit. Let’s posit a theory, let’s posit what might have happened if humanity stayed in that garden,” Weiss said. “They would have stayed there, blind to all of what God had created for them. In fact, a part of me wonders if you were put there for a reason.”

“So were you, you were put there as a guard and you failed. And yet you didn’t get kicked out for your failure, Feathers,” Ruby said, bitterly taking a large sip of her wine. “But continue.”

“I wonder if God, if they didn’t assign you there because they knew you’d tempt Ozpin and Salem, that you’d be the one to give them that little nudge,” Weiss mused. “I mean… that’s the thing about their Grand Design, we’re not supposed to know. We can only guess at it, speculate.”

“So you’re saying God, they wanted me to be there to get kicked out? I thought they were supposed to be a loving creator, not a heartless one!” Ruby said. “Of course, I can debate God’s morality on any given day, given the Great Flood sounds like something our side would do. Yaaay, more souls for hell, more souls with unfilled dreams washed away in an instance.”

“Again, we can only speculate and the Great Flood thing, well that was just a-”

“One-off? A rare moment of petty cruelty?” Ruby said, eyebrow raised. “I mean, I know God made humanity in their image but I didn’t think that it went that far.”

“We can debate this all day, that’s the point I think,” Weiss said. “The Great Plan is… oh, what’s a good word, I know it’s on the tip of my tongue. It’s a good word, a complicated word. A fancy word I think.”

“The Great Plan is shit, it’s shit. That’s the word you’re looking for,” Ruby scoffed. “If God truly cared, they wouldn’t have designed soulless beings who’s only purpose is to torment and torture. And I don’t mean the mayflies.”

“They’re designed to give humans a challenge, to give them adversity. To make them rise, instead of fall. They see demons and see what they could be, they see us and what they want to be,” Weiss said. “I know, I know it sounds pretentious but that’s how I see it.”

“It is pretentious, but… phrasing aside, I suppose you’re right. They all want to be like Micheal, like Gabriel or Uriel or insert angel here,” Ruby said. “Most of them fail at that, most of them use religion to justify horrible things and yet…”

“Some of them go to heaven anyways in spite of it, I know it’s messed up.”

“Oh so you’ve got issues with the Grand Design?” Ruby said with a snort and another sip. “Careful now, lest God hears you start to blaspheme.”

“Creative differences, that’s how I’d put it.”

“You can say it, you’ve got issues. Living life without regrets doesn’t always mean the people living those lives are necessarily good people,” Ruby said. “And yet…”

She took another sip.

“Every now and again, I meet someone who surprises me. Someone hellbound and someone who needs just a bit of guidance to get them up There instead of there. Someone who gets to take the escalator ride up instead of down,” Ruby said before snorting. “Funny, I guess I am doing God’s work. Me, a demon!”

“Ineffable!” Weiss suddenly said. “Ah, there it is!”

“Ineffable?” Ruby asked.

“Ineffable, that’s the word I was looking for,” Weiss said with a content smile. “God’s plan is ineffable.”

Ruby gave the first real smile of the night and as the night wore on, it was safe to say she smiled some more. And maybe a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square…

“You know, I really hate the word of God,” Ruby mused to herself, on the road. “I mean, okay most days I’m just simply annoyed by it and because they never talk to me, I can pretend it doesn’t exist, but you know when I really hate it?”

“...He is mighty to save! Forever, author of Salvation, he rose and conquered the grav-”

Ruby with an annoyed grunt, switched off the radio and let the roar of her car replace it.

“When it’s expressed in song. Like God, okay, they gave humans the gift of music and what do they do with it? They add religion to it,” Ruby said. “Music’s supposed to be liberating! You’re supposed to use it to make life worthwhile.”

“Religion does make life worthwhile,” Weiss said.

“From the lips of an angel. Me, I prefer some good old rock and roll,” Ruby said, putting a CD in and turning up the volume. However…

“He rose and conquered the grave! Jesus conquered the grave!”

Ruby’s groan was almost comical as she spat the CD back out. “See, that’s what I really hate, Feathers. You ruined AC/DC for me. You’re a ruiner of things.”

“What’s AC/DC?” Weiss asked, with a confused tilt of her head.

“You wouldn’t like it.”

“Ah,” Weiss said with a nod. “Be-bop. Anyways, this is apparently the number 1 selling Christian song of all time.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s good!” Ruby said, attempting to avoid gagging.

“Didn’t your side give the world the Blues?” Weiss asked. “You know, devil’s music?”

“That’s just a rumor!” Ruby said. “Nobody sold their souls at any crossroads for any amounts of talent, we don’t do that. We’ve never done that! We prefer backroom deals.”

“So when Mr. Johnson sang about a hellhound on his trail, he wasn't talking about yours?”

“No, hell no! Zwei wouldn’t dare eat up a good musician! I mean, I’d have him eat Bieber, because I think his music actually is pure evil but good musicians never!”

"Yeah, you’re right and besides I can’t see that dog of yours eating anyone. I thought hellhounds were supposed to be fierce,” Weiss remarked.

“He is, he's tiny but mighty!”

“And a total sweetheart!”

Ruby sweatdropped before thinking: “Not most people's reactions. But then, angel. They're supposed to see the good in everything. It's normally quite infuriating.”

Normally quite infuriating until for whatever reason Weiss saw the good in her.

She was a demon, a fallen angel. Ruby wasn’t sure if there was still any good left in her.

“But as I was saying,” Ruby said, hands still gripped tightly on the steering wheel. “Music’s supposed to be liberating, make you feel good. And before you start again, rock and roll makes people feel good.”

“It gives me a headache,” Weiss said. “It’s not music, it’s noise. Give me Beethoven!”

“Sorry, you can’t have him, he’s one of ours remember?” Ruby said. “A damn shame if you think about it, because Heaven could use more musicians. Change things up from the Sound of Music being played on loop, which again is a good reason to fa- saunter slowly downwards.”

“You’ve got Bowie, so I disagree,” Weiss said.

“No, you’ve got the Starman. He went home, and I don’t really know where those rumors of Lucifer looking like him ever came from…”

“I suppose celestial bragging rights then,” Weiss said with a trace of a smirk. “We’ve got the man who rocked the world.”

“And Hell’s the poorer for it,” Ruby said with a sigh, before turning the radio back on. “...Hmm, I’m not sure but I think the girl singing this isn’t really into it. I mean, not that you could blame her but…”

“Of course she’s into it, it’s a great song,” Weiss said, though as she kept listening… “That being said, I have heard it done better.”

“That’s a lie,” Ruby said. “It’s impossible to do this song any justice. Who’s singing this version anyways?”

“Velvet Scarlatina,” Weiss answered. “Nice girl by all accounts, she could go places.”

“Whenever you say someone is a nice girl and they’re in the music industry that means they’re probably a total primadonna backstage, or really foul-mouthed or burned out and smoking weed.”

“You sound like you’re projecting, Rubes,” Weiss said. “I’ve caught you with weed before, your whole apartment stinks. I don’t know how the neighbors haven’t complained.”

“I mean, if you were stuck singing Christian music for your label, you’d smoke pot too,” Ruby said. “It’s always ‘praissssssee Jeeeessssussss!’ this and ‘Houses of the Holy’ that. Like, let the girl sing what she wants.”

“And maybe she wants to praise Jesus.”

“Without praising anyone else?” Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow. “Like surely there’s someone she wants to sing about. Maybe she’s like every female country star, with an awful boyfriend she wants to bitch about.”

“Maybe she’s just a normal girl singing our creator’s praises. And I don’t think that every female country-” Weiss started.

“Trust me, they do,” Ruby said. “Honestly I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Alright, we can do that. I’ll show you I’m right. I know I’m right!” Weiss said. Ruby’s eyebrow arched again.

“You mean you want to make a bet, eh Feathers?”

“Don’t be absurd,” Weiss said. “I’m an angel, we don’t make bets with anyone. But I will do anything you like if I’m proven wrong.”

“Anything?” Ruby purred seductively.

“Anything,” Weiss said, her pale face flushing rather red. Ruby grinned. 

“Well, given I can think of a lot of things, I’ll take that bet!”

“It’s not a bet!”

Whatever her angel said otherwise, it was a bet and that was why Ruby found herself at a concert for this woman. Everyone was dressed fairly conservatively, and yes she did stick out a little.

“...you do realize all eyes are on you right now?” Weiss remarked, in a nice white dress with a scarf wrapped around her neck. 

“Of course all eyes are on me, I’m hot as hell,” Ruby said, apparently missing the glare someone sent her way at that word. “I don’t see how that’s my problem, and honestly if it gets a few girls reappraising who they are I’d honestly consider it a public service. A uh, good-faith gesture if you pardon the word.”

Weiss snorted at the irony, and tried not to be one of those poor fools staring at Ruby. She was an angel, she was better than that.

The demon for her part was lapping this up, and Weiss didn’t even know why she even tried. The girl was like an untrained puppy dog, doing whatever she wanted. Maybe she needed a leash, stay good demon.

A leash and a leather collar. No wait, she’d like that given her choice of attire already, wearing tight pants and an even tighter crop-top. Good heavens. 

“Are you enjoying the show Angel?” Ruby asked. “Did I break you? You haven’t said a word, you haven’t criticized me in five minutes!”

She, with a devious grin, turned to someone nearby.

“Oh she calls herself an angel but she’s anything but. Sweet delicious candy coating on the outside sure, but she’s pure sin. Like angel’s just her stage name, she’s a stripper and-” Ruby ‘explained’, Weiss giving an odd little horrified squawk at this. “-she needs the word of God. I was hoping Velvet could reach her, you know, tell her what a life of sin she’s living.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Weiss said, pulling Ruby away before she could do any more damage. 

“Oooooh, are you really that excited? Does the word of God turn you on?” Ruby grinned. “Do you want to take me backstage, show me how sinful you can be? Oooooh, maybe you drag Velvet into-”

Weiss’ hand flew over Ruby’s mouth.

“She kids, she’s such a kidder,” Weiss said to anyone listening, face flushing an interesting shade. “She’s just joking!”

“That’s right,” Ruby said, pulling Weiss’ hand away, eyes still sparkling with mischief. “I’m naughty, I need to be punished!”

“Don’t make me spank-” Weiss said before groaning at the very interested look on Ruby’s face. “...I walked right into that one.”

“At this rate, I won’t even have to ask what you truly desire because you’re like an open book,” Ruby said. “Everyone can read you quite well, Feathers.”

“You’re hell… Hell in high heels,” Weiss said with a sigh.

“Damn right!”

Ruby knew Weiss hated her at the moment, but she was at a concert basically supporting God’s favorite son. She would be damned, well more damned than she already was, if she wasn’t a little bit disruptive. Again, if any girls suffered bi or lesbian awakenings, they could thank her for doing them a public service!

Really though, she didn’t hate Jesus himself, honestly the man was too pure for this world and deserved better than he got. Honestly, Ruby wished he’d taken her up on that offer of seeing all of the kingdoms of the world. He was a carpenter from Galilee, it wasn’t exactly like he had many good traveling opportunities.

Be kind, love each other, that’s what he’d said and what did he get for it? Pain and suffering. Oh well, at least he was up in the Silver City right now which as much as Ruby hated to admit it, had been beautiful the last time she’d seen it.

It probably hadn’t changed much, it never did. Heaven was literally eternal like that. And she… wasn’t allowed up there. Funny how being part of a little rebellion like that denied you entry into the world’s biggest club.

Hell simply didn’t compare, of course it didn’t. It was literally hell. All she had for music were the screams of tortured souls, which granted was a step above gospel but not by much.

“I’m… sorry if bringing you here brought up any bad memories,” Weiss at least had the decency to say, looking ashamed. In the shadows, her wings fell against her sides showing humility. “I bet you’re reminded of the Silver City right now. What you’ve been denied.”

“Not really,” Ruby said, though it was obvious she was lying. “This barely even compares. Come on, let’s just find Velvet backstage and I can prove to you she’s not as good of a girl as she makes herself out to be and then I win this bet.”

“It’s still not a bet.”

“It so is,” Ruby said. “I wish you hadn’t dragged me away so quickly, I was having fun. All of those good Christian girls… They should thank me for helping them realize they're into women. All I did was show up.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t argue the results, a couple less damned souls. I suppose in a weird way, I need you.”

“There’s nothing weird about it, you said it yourself. I’m doing God’s work,” Ruby said. “I hate to admit it, but that’s basically what I’m doing. Maybe it is the plan, maybe it isn’t. You said it yourself, it’s ineffable.”

“And I’d like to think that, well, I will be honest,” Weiss said with another one of those fond smiles that could only be described as well, angelic. “I’d like to think you do it so well because deep down, you’re a really great person.”

“And maybe you associate with me because deep down, you want to see a little bit of hell in your life,” Ruby said. “You want me to spice it up, bring some fun into what must be otherwise a very boring existence.”

“It’s not boring, it’s good. Being good feels good,” Weiss said with this earnest smile before her tone turned teasing. “Not that I’d expect you to understand.”

“And nor would I expect you to understand anything about being a little bit evil, though I can certainly try and teach you,” Ruby said with a purr, Weiss’ back to the wall and a hand slammed next to her.

“Excuse me?” came a shy voice, and both angel and demon turned to see a young woman, barely out of her teens staring at them. “I… I guess I’m interrupting something, oh my.”

“I mean-” Ruby started before Weiss gently shoved her away.

“No, you’re fine. You’re not interrupting anything, and you’re Velvet right?” Weiss said, looking sympathetic. “Don’t you have a concert to get to? All of your fans are waiting?”

“Yes… They’re waiting and I don’t want to disappoint them…” she said, looking like a rabbit about to bolt.

“And yet something tells me you do,” Ruby said. 

“Of course not!” Velvet stammered out. “They’re my fans, I simply can’t-”

“That sounds like a line your manager would give. That doesn’t sound like something you want, something you desire for yourself,” Ruby said, her eyes flashing. “Honestly, I’m curious. What do you desire?”

“I… I desire… I want to sing pop music, I want to sing real pop music,” Velvet admitted, still looking like a rabbit ready to bolt. “I’m tired of being the good girl, I want to be-”

“Evil? You want to be wicked, you want to tell lies?” Ruby asked. “You want to be mean, throw mud pies? You want to sing songs, like the guy who cries?”

“Well, maybe not all of that, but… Yes! Yes I want to sing, truly sing and yet I feel this heistance, this voice in the back of my head telling me that it’s not what my father intended me to do,” Velvet admitted. “It’s not what my God intended.”

“Well that’s a load of cra-” Ruby started, and Velvet to this day swore that the shadows rose up behind her, resembling massive bat wings.

“What she means is, your God, our father, they intended for you to be you,” Weiss said. “They didn’t intend for anyone to tell you what to do, they intended for you to make decisions for yourself. You are you, so don’t squander yourself.”

“Don’t think about what could have beens, live your life to the fullest. Don’t regret anything in life,” Ruby said with a cat-like smile. “We are what we are, so why not embrace that? Believe me, there’s no real winning when playing by a twisted tyrant’s tortuous rules, playing by your god’s rules.”

“But mama always said to listen to God,” Velvet said, scared and unsure where this was going.

“And your manager isn’t God, he only thinks he is. Free yourself, liberate yourself. Life’s too short for regrets. Now ask yourself Velvet, what is it you truly desire?” Ruby asked, her eyes still alight. “Do you desire to be a tool of someone else, a caged bird or do you desire to be your own woman? Do you want to sing or do you want to sing my dear?” 

“I… I want to sing!”

“Then, my dear,” Ruby said with an approving smile. “Sing. After tonight, show the world who you are.”

“R-Right!” Velvet said. “I don’t even know who you are, but thank you!”

“Just call me your guardian angel,” Ruby said, once again the shadows rising up as massive wings unfurling. Velvet blinked, no she must have been seeing things. “I’m only here to give advice, I’m not here to dictate what you’re supposed to do with your life. You’re not a machine, you are God’s child and only you get to decide what that means.”

Velvet smiled gratefully before walking off.

“I didn’t know you could be so-” Weiss started.

“If you’re going to call me sappy, don’t. I’m anything but.”

“I was going to call you sweet,” Weiss said, an approving smile on her face. “You didn’t have to do any of that, you know.”

“Well, nor do I have to watch anyone suffer because of their own stupidity,” Ruby said. “There’s plenty of torture waiting for people downstairs, at least let them have a bit of fun before they go there.”

“I dunno, I don’t think Velvet’s going down. I think she’s going up. She’s not falling, she’s rising!” Weiss said.

“Yeah yeah, don’t sound so smug.”

“I think I’m allowed to be a bit smug,” Weiss said. “I watched you save someone’s soul, after convincing you to come here.”

“You…” Ruby started with a snarl. “Oooooooh. Oh never mind, I feel too odd right now to be mad honestly, like it’s this weird feeling inside of me. This warm feeling.”

“It’s called feeling good,” Weiss said. “You did a good deed, you helped someone and you didn’t get anything in return.”

“Besides your appreciation, so I’d say I got something out of the deal,” Ruby said. “And as a bonus, I’ll never have to hear Velvet’s voice on the radio again, singing the word of God. The next time I hear it, well it’ll be singing proper music. Proper pop.”

“So in the end, you’re saying you only did it just to take a Christian singer off the charts? Is that it?” Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Basically, yup,” Ruby said, popping the p though it was obvious by her earlier words she was lying. “That’s really the only reason I did any of this, Feathers. One less singer off the charts, and one less thing you can torment me with. Irony really. I’m the demon, I’m supposed to be the one doing the tormenting.”

“You do it very well,” Weiss said, with a smile that if she weren’t an angel, Ruby would have dared to call it flirtatious.

“I try, Feathers!”

-----

Weiss wasn't sure how long she’d known Ruby for, you tended to lose track over the millennia. But it seemed like she’d always been there. And the older the fallen angel turned demon got, the wearier her eyes looked.

Shouldering all of that pain for so long, bearing all of humanity’s hatred and carrying it all on her back.

So it broke Weiss’ heart when she got up to see Ruby, dressed only in her pants and her bra, shirt tossed to the side with demonic wings fully unfurled. In the mirror she could see an expression of absolute self-loathing, her normally pristine hair an absolute mess. On the radio, a song.

“I try to be a righteous man. Talk to the Lord most every day. Sometimes this world can do me wrong I keep to the path wont go astray…”

“Look at me Weiss,” Ruby whispered as her wings drooped, falling slack against her back. “This is what humanity sees, they see a demon. They see the devil inside, just desperately trying to claw her way out. I’m a monster.”

“Would a monster set a girl on the right path, out of the goodness of her heart, trying to save her immortal soul?” Weiss said, soothingly, holding Ruby close with arms wrapped around from behind. “You did that, you did that. Yes, you’re irritating and impossibly infuriating but you did that.”

“For all the good it did, I’m still persona non grata in the Silver City. Father… they…”

“So what if everyone else hates you?” Weiss soothed. “I don’t. Demon or not, you’re doing-”

“God’s work? Please, I’ve heard that same spiel so many times now, and every time you’d think I’d start to believe it a little more,” Ruby said, whirling on Weiss, wings unfurling again and silver eyes alight with flame.

Weiss would admit, she was intimidated and took a few steps back.

“See, even you hate me a little inside. Even you’re afraid of what God’s favorite daughter is. She’s a monster right?” Ruby said with a little bit of a snarl, bitter self-loathing in every word. “Look at me! Do I look like an angel? Do I look like someone doing the Lord’s work?”

Weiss, without a hint of fear as courage returned, gently strode up and placed her hand on Ruby’s cheek before gently pressing her forehead against hers.

“Honestly, I couldn’t give a damn what you look like. You’re positively perfect in every way to me.”

Ruby gave a wet snort. “Really? Mary Poppins?”

“You get my point. You look like a demon, maybe you are one, but does it really matter? You’re not one to me…” Weiss said, snapping her fingers as Ruby’s clothing did itself for her. “Never one to me.”

A red shirt buttoned itself up, a waistcoat following suit until Ruby was as sharp as ever.

“Weiss?” Ruby said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Hmm?”

“Just… Can you stay here?” Ruby asked, as her angel dabbed at her tears. “I know you’ve got things to do, spread the word of God and do their work but… Maybe not right now? Can you just stay here and hold me?”

“Of course.”

-----

Now there were many doors that took one to Heaven or Hell, but because Weiss found herself on official business, she took the main entrance. A literal stairway to Heaven, a tower block giving way to clouds and then walls of pure silver, stars in the sky above.

“Ramiel, Castiel, Ezekiel,” she said, greeting each one by one with a polite nod and a wave, her clothing changing itself from a nicely pressed pants suit to a robe as she entered Heaven. “Praise God.”

“Yes, praise my father,” said Gabriel, beauty beyond description and form constantly shifting, with massive wings spread across dimensions. “How’s my sister doing by the way, I know you’re talking with her.”

“Doing more than talking I should think.”

“Yes, that’s why I came here to see you actually,” Weiss said, her voice like steel. In the old days, this often heralded delivering the wrath of God. “I think, well honestly I think she’s been banned from Heaven long enough.”

“Father herself said it, she has to reign in Hell while they reign in Heaven,” Gabriel said. “It’s the nature of things.”

“Yes,” Weiss said, voice still thick with emotion just barely held back. Her eyes sharp, she said: “And does that mean we leave her as is? That she’s never allowed back here? This was her home as I understand it, this is where she grew up. We all grew up here.”

“And every fledgling angel has to leave the nest sometime,” Gabriel said. “I’m proud of her, I really am. Our Morningstar has grown up so much.”

“And what of the cost she had to pay for ‘growing up’, what about that?” Weiss asked. “Your father moves in mysterious ways, but that’s no excuse for not letting Ruby on the Great Plan. You’d think, as their favorite daughter, they’d be entitled to at least that!”

“Well, she-”

“Well she has to shoulder the hate of the world on a daily basis. You’re the Angel of Communication, you’ve heard everything they, humanity calls her. The Devil, the Adversary, the First Evil!” Weiss said, wings flaring up briefly in anger. “You know why she changed her name right? From Lucifer to Ruby, it’s to distance herself from what humanity thinks of her. To try and escape her past.”

Weiss frowned.

“A tragic past if you ask me. She hated to be something… No, someone she simply wasn’t. Who she was wasn't right to her. So, she did what she could to make it feel right. And she’s still doing it, no matter what humanity thinks of her.”

“Well that’s hardly my father’s fault is it?” Gabriel asked, before sighing. “Not to sound unkind, and I apologize if I do, but our father has nothing to do with what humanity thinks of my sister.”

“And they haven’t stepped in to-”

“You know my father’s rules,” Gabriel said. “Humanity and the divine must be kept separate. They have to grow on their own, in the past we interfered too much. Stunted their development, so we as a race took a step back. Watched them grow on their own.”

“Watched them grow to hate your sibling,” Weiss accused. “You didn’t step in? Not once?”

“This is my sister’s trial, I can’t begin to speculate on my father’s plan for her. It’s… what’d you call it, ineffable?” Gabriel pondered. “That’s the word you used right?”

“Here’s another word you might have heard, fuck. As in fuck you,” Weiss said, surprising even herself with her language. “You didn’t step in once to change humanity’s mind about your sister. You or her father. In my mind, that means you’re just as guilty as humanity.”

Wings spread wide, she took her leave.

“They still hate me up there don’t they?” Ruby said, still on the road across the US. Weiss blinked. “Oh don’t give me that look, I know you Weiss. You’re one of the only people, well angels in my corner.”

She chuckled.

“I kinda figured you’d go right to the source of the problem, so who in Heaven got your sharp tongue and maybe even your even sharper blade?” 

Weiss snorted.

“It wasn’t like that, I didn’t fight with anyone. Well at least not in the way you’re thinking,” she said. “Your brother and I…”

She flushed.

“Well, we may have some words.”

On the radio, there were two people talking and Ruby snorted as she realized it was a conversation about Velvet’s sudden change of musical direction. About how she’d recently announced how she was moving away from Christian music, to alternative rock music. Some said she was straying from the path of God, embracing sinful lifestyles.

Ruby just hoped that Velvet didn’t feel guilty about any of this, maybe she should talk to her later.

“Ah, who was it? Uriel, Micheal?”

“Gabriel.”

Ruby snorted. “Please, the angel's always distracted by every conversation happening at every moment in history to ever give a damn about anything, Especially not me.”

“So I gathered,” Weiss said, somewhat bitterly. “I… may or may not have told him to-”

Here she repeated what she’d said. Ruby laughed out loud.

“Damn! Talk about rage against the heavens. Well, someone had to say it eventually I suppose,” she said. “I bet father was pleased, you staining his holy halls with your vile words. Heaven just got a little less sacrosanct, I’m proud of you for finally rebelling a little Feathers.”

“I didn’t rebel, I just stood up for what I thought was right,” Weiss said, somewhat embarrassed.

“There have been those who have been smited for less,” Ruby said, raising an eyebrow. “You sure you’re still here, right? I’m not talking to your angel ghost right?”

“I’m an angel, we don’t have ghosts.”

“We could, for all we know!” Ruby said. “I mean… you never know…”

She suddenly rubbed her head in pain, a voice whispering in her mind.

“Praise Satan… and all of his glory, praise him. Praise him!”

“You alright?” Weiss asked as the corvette trundled to a halt, pulling up at the side of the road.

“I’m getting a prayer,” Ruby said, stunned. “Like a legit prayer. It’s been so long I’d almost forgotten people still did pray to me.”

“Well, Satanists exist.”

“Yeah but they’re not like devil-worshippers, lathering themselves in pig’s blood and wearing goat skulls. That’s the stuff of too many bad TV shows,” Ruby said, disgusted. “Oh, the things humanity thinks up about me… I swear to my father!”

“All the same…” Weiss said, honestly and genuinely concerned.

“Yes, you’re right. I suppose we’d better have a look,” Ruby said, as she stepped out of the car with wings unfurling as she did so. It had rained last night, so puddles were on the ground in them she saw herself reflected.

Weiss put a gentle hand on her shoulder as she saw Ruby’s eyes drift to the wings on her back, and then Weiss’ own by comparison. Graceful, elegant like a swan’s compared to her ugly bat-like own.

“They’re very you,” Weiss said. “They’re… oh what do you call it, what’s the word? Very metal. Honestly, they’re beautiful in their own way.”

“If you say so...” Ruby said and although she herself didn’t notice, Weiss did. For a brief moment, instead of leather wings she sported feathers. A brief flash of who she used to be.

And then they were no longer on the side of the road, but in a darkened room somewhere in America.

“Praise to Satan, praise to the four demons who serve under him. Praise Beelzebub, praise-” someone chanted, Ruby rolling her eyes.

“Oh good grief, more biblical fanfiction. There was never a Beelzebub,” Ruby said snarkily. “And if there ever is, I pity the poor kid who got saddled with that name. Their parents must have said, oooh no Cain or Adam is too sensible. Let’s name them Beelzebub!”

She pushed forwards, a door opening with a creaking sound.

“Alright, what’s going on here, you wanted me and you-”

Her wings flared wide in furious rage, seeing a young woman, blindfolded and chained to an upside-down cross, men in thick billowing black cloaks hovering over her.

“For your sakes, this had better be some sort of weird sex thing!” Ruby said, eyes alight with silver flame as the cultists began bowing.

“I thought you said this was the stuff of bad TV shows, that Satanists weren’t really like this,” Weiss remarked, her own wings flaring outwards as pure celestial, holy energy filled the room. “That it was all made up.”

“Again, humans surprise me with their own stupidity,” Ruby said, grabbing the lead cultist by the throat. “That they think I’d ever approve of any of this. That any evil done in my name, MINE is something I’d ever condone.”

Tossing the cultist against the wall, she heard a crack sound as concrete ruptured with jagged spiderweb-style cracks raced out from the impact.

“Word of advice, worship Cthulhu, he’s safer. He’s fictional. I’m not. I have to ask,” Ruby said, truly furious, eyes still flashing with hellfire as her wings expanded to their full width. “Do any of you regret any of this, do any of you? Do any of you regret it? If not, I’ll make you…”

She marched forwards and the screams began.

“I… I…” she said when all was said and done, wings wrapped around herself as a cold wind blew. “I can’t believe it… that people would commit such horrible acts all in my name. They use my name as if I spend my entire day sitting on their shoulders, forcing them to commit acts they would otherwise find repulsive. “The Devil made me do it!” I have never made them do anything! Ever!”

She sounded like crying, and instead settled for raging at the heavens. A scream skywards, and a wave of pure fire erupted from beneath her feet as a nearby street lamp sparked and car horns blared up and down the street.

Once again, her wings unfurled in her fury as she shouted and screamed about the injustice of it all, finally breaking down crying.

“Oh Ruby…” Weiss said, approaching her.

“Better stay away from me Weiss, otherwise you might get hurt. Haven’t you heard the gospel?” Ruby said, her voice bitterly cold. “Why don’t you make like a bunch of feathers in the wind and blow away?! Before you get hurt. I’m a monster. I’m the Devil, I’m the original and first evil. Everything I do is pure sin...”

A flap, and then another as she flew skywards up into the starry night and soon was out of sight. Weiss watched her vanish into the night and then everything caught up to her as the tears came.

“Ruby…” she whispered before her voice rose to a scream. “RUBY!”

-----

The city lights below were like a million stars, shining up at her, a mirror to the skies above. She faded into the darkness, the night sky seeming to swallow her up and pull her into its welcoming arms.

“Humanity…” Ruby said to herself, her voice barely higher than a whisper on the wind. “Even when they utterly disgust you… they never fail to amaze. Is that it, Father? Is that why you created this mess of contradictions? For something for us to puzzle over?”

Swooping down, she passed by a series of glass skyscrapers as barely more than a shadow on a moonlit night.

Flying upwards, she landed upon one of their roofs and lay back on the concrete, wings spread to the stars above.

“Well, I suppose trying to figure you out has always been the ultimate question on everyone’s minds for millenia. You and your fucking mysterious ways,” Ruby said, her voice turning solemn. “You’re even mysterious to me, your own daughter. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just talk to you like a regular parent? Instead…”

She chuckled.

“Instead on the rare occasion you do speak with me, and they’re indeed rare, I have to talk to that damn Metatron thing of yours, and… Honestly, I wonder if that’s the case with all of my siblings. Gabriel… Uriel…” Ruby muttered. “No, I bet they have your ear. Of course they do, they’re not banned from literal Heaven!”

Her shoulders slumped.

“I know it’s futile trying to get your attention, you stopped listening to me long ago. I suppose it’s punishment really, the ultimate ‘go to your room’. All just because I didn’t want to rule Hell,” Ruby said with another chuckle. “I mean… in hindsight it was a silly little thing, that rebellion. I mean, once you get past the screaming and the constant Rickrolls, it’s really not that bad. I’ve accepted it for what it was meant to be. I mean, you wanted to give me my own kingdom, my own responsibility. Such a lovely birthday present.”

For a brief moment, Ruby swore her wings went from leathery to feathered. That moment of self-actualization, acceptance rewarding her.

“I guess I’m still acting like a child, of course there’s going to be some stupid humans. Just like there’s some stupid angels, me included really,” Ruby admittied. “And… I’m honestly pretty stupid, given what I said to Weiss. I chased her away, after she accepted me wholeheartedly. Without judgment.”

She felt like such an idiot, how did that song go again?

“I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you… And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you…” the woman sang, somewhat off-key. She’d never been like her brothers, she’d never really been much interested in choir.

“What a wicked game to play to make me feel this way. What a wicked thing to do to make me dream of you…” Ruby sang. “What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way. What a wicked thing to do to make me dream of you…”

It was strange what desires could make a foolish person, or in this case devil do. At times, Ruby wondered why she’d met an angel like Weiss, someone so full of love for someone who didn’t really deserve it.

At first, she’d wondered if it was one of her father’s manipulations. That they’d given her a gift, stupid as it sounds, the perfect mirror to her. Someone whom she could never be.

And yet… that sounded wrong the more she thought about it. Her father was many things, but not even they’d be that cruel. No, Weiss hadn’t been made for them, they were just simply another type of miracle.

A literal angel who always acted the part, no judgments and only acceptance.

“Tch…” Ruby said, remembering she’d probably chased her away. Her only real friend, and more, for literal millennia. “I’ve fallen so far… Maybe Weiss doesn’t deserve me. But…”

But that didn’t mean she could try and make herself worthy of Feathers again. Her own foolish pride needed to be put aside.

Then she heard a voice upon the wind, a soft little plea…

“Ruby.”

Not Lucifer, not Satan, just Ruby. And coming from the most unlikely of sources even! Well, she had to check this out.

In barely the blink of an eye, she found herself flying from city rooftops to backstage at a concert.

“Oh good, you came!” Velvet, no longer in a dress but in ripped jeans and jacket said, hugging her. Hair falling slightly over her face, the former teen angel had gone bad to the bone. Ruby kinda approved.

“You…?” Ruby whispered, still scarcely able to believe it. “You? You summoned me here? But the only way you could do that is if…”

She covered her mouth as a small gasp threatened to escape it.

“I sorta worked it out,” Velvet admitted. “I saw your wings, and at first I didn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it, but then it just became impossible to deny.”

“And you’re not like…” Ruby said, ready to run. “I mean, I’m… Well, you know who I am, so why aren’t you running? To you, I have to be the ultimate evil. I even convinced you to stray from your path! My father’s path.”

“I mean, yes a part of me was scared at first but… at the same time, you’re hardly tempting me to sin? Like playing a different style of music isn’t exactly doing evil’s work. I didn’t even have to make any-”

“And you never would, we don’t do the crossroads deals. We never have. I mean, can you imagine standing out in the cold, in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere?” Ruby asked with a laugh. “Nobody wants to do that!”

“All the same, I’m not scared of you, I know I should be, but I’m not,” Velvet admitted. “I don’t even know why, like you’re him, or her I suppose. The devil being a woman, imagine.”

“And even then after I really give an effort,” Ruby said. “Still, perhaps you should run anyway. I bring ruin and destruction everywhere I go. I’m your adversary, the oldest in fact. The devil on your shoulder. You’re my Father’s child, you shouldn’t be anywhere near me…”

“And I suppose that’s why I’m not scared of you, the way you talk…” Velvet said. “You sound remorseful, so incredibly lost. You don’t sound evil at all, you sound like someone who’s just looking for a friend.”

“I had a friend once… no, not a friend, something more than that,” Ruby admitted. “Until I drove them away from me. That’s why you should run, because I destroy everything I touch. Even my own relationships. I ruined my relationship with my father, now we’re not speaking and I ruined my relationship with my angel, my angel and now she hates me.”

“Well, if she’s really an angel, your angel in fact, then I doubt she’d hate you for very long,” Velvet said with a genuine, believing smile. “They’re very forgiving that way.”

“Yeah…” 

Ruby sighed to herself as she sat down on a nearby box, in the shadows her wings folding away into her body. 

“I hope you’re right, we’ve been together forever. Since… since well the dawn of humanity really. Like literally the dawn of humanity,” Ruby said, with a wistful expression. She felt like laughing. The devil, wistful! 

“You mean like… the Garden of Eden?”

“I was the serpent, that’s one thing the many retcons to the Bible did actually get right, if accidentally,” Ruby admitted. “I didn’t even do it just because I wanted to be evil, I didn’t wake up and feel like being evil that day, it doesn’t work like that. I’m a literal angel, we’re not designed to do evil.”

She tried not to sound too wistful.

“I just thought it wasn’t fair, really. That father’s creations had a whole world to themselves and they were only given this small garden. That they weren’t allowed to choose for themselves, I mean what did they want? I gave humanity the ability to choose, pushed them into thinking for themselves,” Ruby said, her eyes noticeably snake-like in that moment. “Weiss… she theorized that father put me there for that exact reason. That they knew I’d make that choice. That I’d be the only one to do so.”

She chuckled.

“Me, always the little rebel,” Ruby said. “I always did what I wanted, not what father wanted. Gabriel, Uriel, Micheal… they’ve always been the dutiful children, following father’s every word. I chose to follow my own path… each and every time.”

“Including…”

“Including rebelling when father said I had to rule Hell, because only a celestial can sit on the throne. Not a demon, only a celestial,” Ruby said. “I was mad, furious. I think father in their own way, thought that they were being kind. They were giving me my own kingdom to rule, far away from my overbearing siblings. Closer to humanity.”

“Closer to humanity as in torturing them.”

“Because someone had to do it, it was a lamentable job but someone had to. You can see why I rebelled, I loved humanity far too much to just simply want to do it. Humanity can be vile, it can be cruel, but I never had the stomach for torture,” Ruby said. “For the rack.”

“I think you should be worried if you did,” Velvet said.

“You’re handling this well, talking to the devil,” Ruby said before snorting. “Even if I am a woman of wealth and taste. …sorry, I had to say it. I had to make the reference. I’ve been obligated since ‘68.”

“It’s proof of what I’ve believed in all along, Heaven and Hell do exist,” Velvet said, sounding somewhat overwhelmed but weirdly relieved. “I’ve been having doubts in my faith and now…”

“I’ve come along, to affirm your beliefs. All the same… I’m not sure knowing Hell exists is what most people would count as a good thing,” Ruby said. “Most people would be scared. Should be scared.”

“Even so, you’re the one in charge. You’re not scary,” Velvet said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Just sad.”

“Just sad…” Ruby said with a snort, her shoulders shaking with a laugh. “Just sad. That’s an oversimplification of the matter, of millennia of celestial drama, but I suppose you’re right. I’m just sad.”

“You said you needed friends, people to stave off what must be a very lonely, pretty thankless existence. Until Weiss comes back, and she will come back,” Velvet said with a reassuring smile. “Consider me your only one.”

“You’re still my only one,” Ruby said, though with an appreciative smile. “What Weiss and I have… had… it went a little beyond friendship, it’s not something you can easily define.”

Velvet laughed. “Trust me, I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. I think I can easily define it well enough. There’s no mistaking the look of utter adoration in your eyes when she looks at you.”

“Adoration…” Ruby considered. “Not something I think that most people would know or even conceive of me possessing for anyone… And yet…” 

Her voice found itself trailing off as her eyes wandered to a face in the crowd, and then widened. Familiar strands of white hair visible amongst a sea of browns and blacks.

“You came back…” Ruby said, disbelieving. “Even after all I said to you.”

“You needed your space, so I was going to give it to you. But we’ve been friends since the literal beginning of time, since humanity literally took its first steps,” Weiss said, gently pressing her forehead to Ruby’s own. “I’d never even think of stopping now.”

“We’re a little more than friends, Angel,” Ruby said. 

“You know what I mean,” Weiss said, their wings unfurling and then they were gone, suddenly atop a hill overlooking a city as a gentle breeze blew ruffling their feathers.

Feathers, Ruby realized as she looked at her own wings. They extended, gracefully and elegantly. Self-acceptance rewarded.

“My wings…” she whispered, sounding near tears. 

“They’re beautiful,” Weiss said, gently holding her. 

“They are…” Ruby whispered. “It’s just been so long I’ve nearly forgotten what they ever looked like. I didn’t… I didn’t really think I’d ever see them again.”

“I knew you would. I knew you would one day,” Weiss said, Ruby tilting her head in confusion. “Let me explain. I’ve guessed that because you saw yourself as a monster, your wings changed to reflect that. “I’m a monster, so my wings are as monstrous as I am. I’m the devil, they should look suitably diabolic, they should look like what they’re expected to be. I should look like the enemy of all good.” That’s what you said to yourself, you never realized it but you were saying it to yourself this whole time.”

“I… yeah, I suppose I have been,” Ruby acknowledged with a nod, wrapping her wings around herself. “I’ve always, deep down, seen myself as a monster, so I allowed myself to look like one. I guess things have changed recently. I guess I’ve slowly started to accept who I am.”

“I’d like to think I share some of the credit,” Weiss said, her hand on Ruby’s cheek. “I’ve always said you were beautiful, inside and out. Even when you didn’t believe it yourself.”

“Mhmmm, that you did Feathers,” Ruby said with a gentle smile. “That you did.”

“So what now? Are you going to try for Heaven again?” Weiss asked.

“No, I think I’m needed right here. I think we both are. We’re two angels, traveling across the country, making things right. Helping the poor lost souls, at least that’s what I desire to do with my time. So what about you?” Ruby asked, eyes gazing into her soul. “What is it you truly desire?”

“I’m an angel, we don’t have desires,” Weiss said, her face impassive. “We were literally created to be above such things.”

“And yet I get the feeling you desire to be by my side for eternity, until the walls come crashing down at the end times, the party ends, the world stops turning and the Four Horsemen ride out at the world’s demise,” Ruby said. “So I ask again, what is it you truly desire?”

“I desire… to stay with you,” Weiss said, letting out a small chuckle. That beautiful laugh of hers had always sounded so irritably divine, so incredibly angelic that it made Ruby want to taint her with sin. Her voice, solemn and gentle. “Just as I always have. I want to see where it’s all going, where humanity’s going.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Ruby said. “We’ll see where everything heads, we’ll keep driving down that road until the sun sets for the last time.”

“Do you think they planned it?” Weiss asked. “God I mean, do you think your father planned for us to meet as we did?”

“You said it yourself, the Great Plan is ineffable, incomprehensible,” Ruby said. “We’re simply not meant to know. That’s my father for you, they’ve always moved in mysterious ways. Anyways… I owe you an apology, so many. I think I’ll start now. Let me tempt you out to dinner?”

Weiss smiled. “Temptation accomplished. And oh, I think a spot at the Ritz-Carlton just miraculously became available. Just like that, who’d have thought?”

“And they call me the one to watch out for,” Ruby said, Weiss snorting. “Lead the way Feathers.”

“Well then,” Weiss said with that gentle smile returning. “Get thee behind me, foul fiend.”

“Foul feathered fiend, you’ll have to remember that now.”

“Trust me, I’ve already committed it to memory Ruby. I already have.”

fin