Chapter 1

I was in the back of a bus, bus 14, route 132. Although I wasn’t really in the back of the bus. But I was there at the same time. It’s a very difficult concept to grasp and I would suggest that you don’t think about it too hard. So I was in the back of a bus although not really and I had been on this bus for a long time. A very very long time. Although it didn’t feel like a long time to me. Not because time moved quickly but because I had no concept of time. Every morning the same little woman would step onto the bus wearing the same clothes, put the key into the bus and then turn it on. And every day as she drove around her route and people would get on and off throughout the day. Slowly over time the once vibrantly colored seat cushions got just a little bit dustier and faded. The metal bars the humans held onto would get worn down where they were commonly held. Then once everyone got off the bus, the lady would drive the bus back to the same space, turn the bus off. And leave. Only to return the following morning. Although there were some days when she didn’t arrive and I would spend the day alone in the bus. But I didn’t mind. I wasn’t part of the physical plane, I just simply watched.

It wasn’t until recently that I gained a concept of time. I was observing a small human discussing the passage of time with a larger human. So I directed my attention to them, curious to learn about their ways. The larger human was wearing something on their wrist and presenting it to the small human. In detail the large one explained how the two hands on the watch would turn at a certain place, and the direction in which the two hands pointed denoted which time it was. It was endlessly fascinating. The small hand denoted the hour, apparently it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but then the large human began talking about the bigger hand. And because of where it was it meant it was 2:46 in the afternoon. I remember learning to count, some time ago before the bus was made and I was nothing but a thin mist over the land. How clever were humans to come up with such a system as to keep track of time using the numbers that they had made? Although it left me wondering who decided how long a minute was? Who decided how many minutes were in an hour? Perhaps every human just knew what a minute felt like and all agreed on the unit of time. I couldn’t be sure, I’m not a human.

I kept track of the time that day very closely. Now that I understood what time was I would look at the watches and phones of the people who came on and off of the bus. The phones all generally agreed that the time was the same, but many of the watches didn’t, some said it was 3:54 while at the same time another said it was 3:55 which was endlessly confusing. And then one person who came on the bus, a bald man wearing clothes that humans considered nice, was wearing a watch that had three hands, one shorthand, one long hand, then another long hand except red. How strange was that? I didn’t try to think about it too hard, it would just get me all in a tizzy. But that whole day the only thing I could think about was time. Now that I knew what it was and I was paying attention to it, the time I spent on the bus seemed to slow down. The minutes crawled by, the hours absolutely dragged. And I just wished something interesting would happen. It was yet another thing I didn’t understand. Time moved at a normal pace before I learned about it, but now that I have learned about it, it seems to move slower. I didn’t like it, not one bit. Is this how humans live? Waiting and waiting for the next hour to come by? Waiting to get on and then off the bus? How could they stand it? I wished I could go back to the way things were before I knew what time was and what it ment. Time just made me frustrated. Endlessly so.

It was especially terrible when the little bus driver whom I see every day and would see tomorrow left the bus for the night. I knew I would see her tomorrow, I always saw her tomorrow, everyone did. But when she left I was alone. The lights turned off and the bus went quiet, far too quiet. That whole night I was restless. So restless that for the first time since the bus was made I looked out of the windows. And I was met with a shocking sight. Hundreds upon hundreds of buses appeared to be stationed here. In the same space all sitting under pale light from something above. I hadn’t known there were other humans than the ones who got on the bus until now. Perhaps there are far more humans than I thought. There surely must be enough humans to fill all of these buses. That would mean that there were at least several thousand humans, which was much more than I thought possible. I had no idea there were so many. Did every bus have a little lady that drove it every day? I wasn’t sure, I would have to watch. 

But waiting was excruciating. Never had I thought it would feel so dull to understand the passage of time. There were only so many things that I could look at from inside of my bus. It was torture. I tried very hard to forget about time, to cast it out of my mind so that I might be able to live normally again but it didn’t work. I still remembered what time was. Frustratingly I could tell that I would perhaps never forget. So I just waited, thoughts of humans swirling around my mind.

The following morning when the pale light disappeared outside and was replaced with the amber light I could hear the world waking up. I had decided to use the technique of hearing because many animals used it, it was a useful skill. Although it was a little hard to decipher what all of the vibrations in the air meant. I knew what human talking sounded like, but I didn’t know what anything else felt like. All I knew was noises were happening. I looked out the window once again to observe the other buses. They looked strange from the outside. Images of people were plastered on the outside of them along with words like “re-elect me for congress” which made no sense. What is an elect? How does one become an elect? And what is congress? Perhaps I was in congress right now, this conglomerate of buses seemed like it could be a congress. Perhaps this person plastered on the side of the bus had been chosen to be there. Yes, that seemed logical to me. 

My mind was disrupted though when I heard her voice, the small lady. She was outside talking. I could feel excitement rising in me even though I knew that statistically she was probably some other bus's little lady. Although I was shocked when I saw her walk past the window next to an older burly man who responded to her words in low tones. Why did he make his voice so low? Before I knew it, the man waved goodbye and got on the other bus, while my little lady got onto my bus. He was the one who piloted the other bus? Perhaps there weren't multiple little ladies driving buses. Maybe it was just humans. I didn’t know just any normal human could pilot a  bus. I mean it seems ludacris. But the evidence was right before my eyes so I couldn’t deny it. Men could drive buses too. I mean I couldn’t think of any reason as to why they couldn’t. It just shocked me to see one doing so. 

Then a thought struck me. Why do I make a difference between male humans and female humans? Why couldn’t anyone just drive a bus if they wish? They have feet and hands all the same don’t they? I felt ashamed that I thought so differently of other humans simply because they were different from other humans. Perhaps men didn’t deserve what I thought of them. And for that I am truly sorry. Although I wouldn’t be able to apologize to anyone. I didn’t have the physical form required to be able to do so. But the more I thought about it. The more I pondered. Could I attain a physical form? As the bus began to move I thought hard. I wanted to become a human. But I just strained myself and was unable to do it. Humans were currently too big. I needed to start as something smaller. Much much smaller. So I rummaged through my mind for any memory of something, something I could use as a starting point of attaining a physical form. I remember seeing one once, a fly. A little tiny insect that buzzed around and would sometimes annoy passengers. Even though I didn’t want to annoy anyone It was the only thing I could manage. I thought about it hard, long and hard. Then all at once my entire consciousness condensed inside of the bus into one tiny little point, a fly. The bus suddenly seemed absolutely huge, and it was as if I could only see it in little tiny pieces across my new vision. It was horribly terrifying as I flapped my wings furiously, trying to get my bearings and fly around the place.

Although it was no use, I went swirling and swirling and swirling down. Until I hit the floor of the bus. And my physical form died and dissipated. Launched my consciousness back into the rest of the bus. Fear and shock filled me as I recovered from the event. But also at the same time a thrill, a thrill of feeling and being alive. It may have only been for a few moments but I had been alive in a way I never had been before. I wasn’t able to see with the clarity humans see with but I was using eyes to see, looking in one direction. I had insides that I could feel moving and doing… something. It was euphoric almost. 

That entire day I spent it turning into a fly. Practicing and practicing until I could stay a fly for a few full minutes. Think of that, a few full minutes of being a fly. When I was a fly I would just buzz around happily, exploring what things looked like from this small form. It was fascinating, just positively fascinating. It was the most fun I’d ever had. And it was exactly what I needed. I guess you could say it’s a new hobby of mine, turning into a fly. I was the best at doing it. Although that wasn’t fair to humans, they just had to stay in the same meat suit their entire lives. I didn’t envy them. Although that was a lie. I do envy humans. Humans are funny and smart and most importantly they aren’t alone. Humans had several thousand other humans to talk to if they needed too. I had nobody. God I wanted to be human. I didn’t even know who God was. I just knew people asked him for things. Maybe humans were telekinetic and could talk to whoever that is. Maybe god was famous. 

Then before I knew it, I lost track of time becoming a fly and thinking about god. And the lights in the bus turned off and the little lady left me. I was alone once again. How had I not even noticed that everyone was gone? I was suddenly filled with this incredible sadeness. I was alone. And I very much did not want to be alone. For quite a while I just wollowed in sadness. If I had the ability to do so I would be crying and laying on the ground. I’d seen humans doing so on the bus before. It wasn’t fair that I couldn’t cry, or scream, or yell. I just wanted to be something. Suddenly without meaning too my consciousness came together and condensed into a single form, this time it wasn’t a fly. I suddenly was warm, and fluffy, and much bigger than a fly but much smaller than a human. I was now a cat. I yowled in despair, flopping over onto my side, my tail flicking back and forth. I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling such emotions until this moment. I thought that it was only something that humans did. And then suddenly I realized. Me, someone who wasn’t a human, was able to feel emotions similar to humans. I stopped yowling and was suddenly filled with elation. I was feeling like a human. I returned to my non physical form, my cat form fading and I returned to normal. I feel better now. It was a very quick emotion. Did all human emotions move so quickly and so high up and so low down? Perhaps I was becoming more human by the moment. Even though I wasn’t human. I just wanted to be a human. I’ve never wanted to be something else so badly in my whole life. Well I’m not sure I’m exactly alive, only sort of. So now I’m back to just being in the back of bus 14, the bus that takes route 132 every day.

 This time I was actually there, not only half there and half interested in the things that surrounded me. I was fully present and wanted to just go. Maybe I didn’t have to wait, I could leave, what was stopping me from leaving right now? I condensed my consciousness down to the rough size of a human. And I “stood” in front of the exit door. I reached into the mechanisms of the bus for a moment, and I pressed one small button. And the doors opened. There was almost no noise as the doors opened. I expected for there to be a hiss of air or something but no. They just unceremoniously opened up. My breath would have caught in my throat if I had a throat for breath to be caught in. it was cold outside, I didn’t have any skin for the air to be cold against though. And then I took that first brave step. Outside the bus for the first time. I immediately regretted doing so. There was something about the bus, like it was my anchor to the physical plane, and the moment I stepped on the bus I could feel my consciousness being pulled apart violently. I was incapable of feeling pain, but If I did have such an ability I would have been in immense pain. I panicked and used the last bit of my willpower to enter a physical form. I flopped onto the floor as a cat, and suddenly my consciousness was intact. 

I was intact and also outside the bus. This was a learning experience, I cannot exit the but in my non corporeal form. I would die if I did so. I almost died. Just then. And suddenly I was filled with terror. I had almost died. I hadn’t even known I could. But here I was, standing up as an orange fluffy cat, coming back from the edge of death. I looked around. Everything more than 3 feet away was weirdly blurry. And red and green colors didn’t have any color to them at all. That was fascinating, is this how all cat’s see the world? If cat’s see the world differently, do humans see the world differently? In any case, I should get back on the bus, I don’t know how long I can hold this form. I didn’t even know if there was a limit really. I turned around, my little padded feet thumping on the ground and I jumped up into the bus. The moment I did I released my form and returned to my spread out non corporeal form. It felt a little bit like stretching out. I was once again back in my comfort zone as I closed the bus door, but even with being in my comfort zone I longed to go outside and see the world for myself. And perhaps now I had a way. If I was in my spirit form I couldn’t leave this bus. I would risk dying it would seem. But if I had a physical form, well that was a different story. But right now I was too full of fear to try doing that again. even if I knew how to go outside safely. 

The night was long but eventually the little lady came to the bus. I was glad to see her, glad to see some normalcy. And then soon we were off, driving around the human realm. Today I looked out the window and I watched. I had never really bothered to look out the windows before. But this was amazing. I think that these things that lined the streets were called buildings, and humans must live in them. I couldn’t understand exactly why a human might live inside of such a big house. And why did it say Walmart on the front in big letters? Perhaps it was a family name. Maybe when I learned to turn into a human I could go and meet this Walmart. I hope they were a pleasant person.

I was enjoying myself watching the human houses go by, when I noticed something happening on my bus. Two people were sitting by eachother, and suddenly began to yell at eachother. Like a lot of yelling. I had never taken it upon myself to take any interest before but now I did. 

“You’re such a dick!” the young woman shouted, tears beginning to spill out of her eyes, “I cook, I clean, I do the laundry, I take care of the house, I even landscaped the yard and what have you done huh?” 

“I go to work every day! And seemingly all you do is nag nag nag!” the young man shouted back. 

“I work too! This was supposed to be our day! Then you had to act like that? Treat me as if I’m lesser than you?” 

“Baby you’re not lesser than anyone, I just feel you don’t do enough wo-” 

“I DO ALL OF THE WORK!” she screeched

The argument continued and the little lady bus driver stopped the bus and tried to break it up but it didn’t seem to be working. They were just so angry. Both of them were crying and screaming at eachother now. And for some reason I wanted to do something about it. So I condensed my consciousness and appeared under one of the seats as the orange fluffy cat. Their yelling was especially loud when I was a cat. But I shook it off and stepped forward, padding across the ground on my padded feet and I rubbed up against the leg of the young man. And for a moment he was confused, he stopped yelling and he went still. Suddenly as if the energy had gone out of him he flopped down onto the bus seat sobbing. The young woman stopped yelling too. And sat down. I jumped up into the young man's lap and curled up into a little ball and began to purr. He put his hand on me and began to run his fingers through my fur. It feels nice when you’re a cat. 

“I’m… I’m scared Marwa.” the young man said to the girl, “we just started living together, and I love you so much and you make me happy. But no matter how much I wish it did, living with you hasn’t fixed me. I don’t feel bright and happy and chipper all the time like I thought I would. I just… I think I need help, Marwa.” 

There was a moment of hesitation from the young women. But then I felt her hand on top of his hand which was on top of me. 

“I… I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I didn’t even realize… I really should have seen something was wrong. I will admit, it might be a little hard to trust you after you lied last time. I want to trust you, I really do, but it’s hard.” 

“Can we… Can we go home and talk about this?” 

“Yea… yea we can do that. Come on, let’s go.” I sensed that they were about to get up so I jumped out of the man's lap and dashed under one of the seats. Letting go of my cat form and spreading out to the rest of the bus. And I watched as the man and the woman walked out of the bus. I wanted to follow them. But my fear of leaving was stronger than my desire to follow them. But I think that perhaps I helped. I really really hoped I helped. The little lady who drove the bus looked around, I assume for the cat, who was me. But when she couldn’t find the cat she just shrugged and went back to the front seat, closed the bus doors, and continued to drive.

I felt warm and fuzzy on the inside. Is this what nice people felt like on the inside? Keanu Reeves must feel like this all the time. From what I’d heard about some younger humans talking on the bus he was the god of being nice and was renowned for his good deeds. I would like to be loved like Keanu Reeves. Although it was hard to compete with the god of good deeds. But maybe I should be able to do that, to be nice, help those who come onto my bus in any way I can.

So over the next few weeks I did. Becoming a buzzing little fly to distract a crying baby, chasing mean people off of the bus by becoming a big fat rat. Although sometimes I had to become a wasp to chase certain people off. The little lady on the bus definitely notice that there was an upturn in her luck. She was always very nice and a lot of times it was difficult for her to get control of the bus but now that I was around, fulfilling my new job, she could tell. She actually had gotten really close to guessing what was happening. On a stop she was talking to one of her co-workers and mentioned that she’d had an upturn in luck recently. 

“It’s like there’s a guardian angel looking out for me, kicking all the rabble rousers off of my bus.” she said

That made me feel great. And then I felt great that I was able to feel great. I’m very glad I adopted using Human emotions. It made me feel good a lot, even if sometimes I felt lonely and sad. And then thinking about being lonely and sad made me feel sad. I suppose human emotions had their ups and their downs. But for what felt like a long time I did this job, and I enjoyed doing it, even though there was one time when I turned into a wasp and got absolutely squashed. I was completely fine but because my mortal form died my non corporeal form was thrust out back into the bus. I guess if I got mortally wounded while outside of the bus I would go for good. But I wasn’t leaving the bus until I could become a human. I would practice every night. And so far the biggest thing I could turn into was a dog, a big dog with floppy ears and impressive jowls. Barking was a lot of fun, but one time I almost got caught by a security guard so I released my form before he could look inside the bus. No barking for me. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about what the little bus lady had said. That she had a guardian angel. I’d only heard about angels. They were these beings that served gods, and had both form and no form. Maybe that’s what I was. Maybe I was an angel. I definitely seemed to fit the bill. Although I’m not sure angels could turn into cats and dogs. Maybe when I finally learned how to turn into a human I could ask someone.

The next day was a weird day. Every day was generally the same, although sometimes I would need to do my job more than others, today was different. Not because a mean person walked on to the bus, that happened most days. But today, someone who I’d never seen before walked onto the bus by herself. I had never had these emotions towards a human before. She was shorter than most humans, she had dark brown skin and freckles on her face that were even darker. She had a big mess of tightly curled hair. Her face was round and friendly, and when she said a few words that I didn’t catch to the small lady I saw her teeth, there was a slight gap in between her two front teeth. She had these big watery hazel eyes that I wished would look at me if I could be seen. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was wearing pink overalls that were shorts at the same time, and a wight shirt underneath.

She seemed to walk right through me. Well not seemed, she actually did walk right through me. And it hurt me, god I wanted her to see me so badly. I couldn’t tell what was happening to me. She walked through the bus and went to the nearly empty back of the bus, one seat in front of the very back. She gazed longingly out of the window as the bus started to move. I don’t know what has come over me. But my consciousness began to condense in the very back of the bus. And I appeared behind her, as a human. I began drawing breath into my lungs, my breath catching in my throat as I looked at her, this tightness in my chest. I looked down at myself to see I was a woman, and I was wearing a suite that a composer might wear, cufflinks and all. My skin was pale and my hands were bony. I could probably talk now if I wanted to. 

“H- hi there.” I said in a quiet voice, the vibrations making my throat tickle a little bit. 

She then turned her head, and then she looked at me. And suddenly I froze with fear as she did. I wanted her to look at me. But now that she was I was completely frozen. Stuck in place as if my joints had stopped working. Perhaps they had, I don’t know how humans work.

“Yes?” she asked me, tilting her head at me

“I- i just wanted to say I- I think you look really nice.” I sputtered out, still not used to talking

“Well that’s very kind of you.” she said with a slight southern accent, beginning to turn away

“W- what’s your name?” I asked, grabbing onto one of the bar in front of me

She looked back at me and raised her eyebrow. “My name is Persephone,” she said in her sweet voice that felt like honey, “what’s your name?” 

Shoot, I don't have a name. Why didn’t I think of this, all humans have names, and if I was to be a human I needed a name. So in my rush I just cobbled together what I could. 

“My name is Reeves, Reeves Angel.” I said nervously, this strange fluttering feeling in my stomach. I think the humans called them butterflies in the stomach. I still don’t understand how butterflies escape the stomachs of humans. 

“Reeves.” she echoed, “that’s a pretty name, I like it.” I don’t know why but I got all hot in the face when she said that, “you ok? You’ve gone all red.” she asked, a slight smile on her face. 

“Yea, yea I’m fine.” I said, my hands shaking a little bit, “you just- you have a very nice face.” 

Her laugh sounded clear and beautiful like church bells. That just made my face feel hotter and made me shake a little bit. 

“That’s really nice to hear,” she said, “I haven’t had the best of days today.” 

“How could someone like you not have a good day?” I asked passionately

“Well, if you really would like to know, my car broke, so now I have to take the bus too and from work, and I just moved here so I don’t have the money to fix it, at least not right now anyways.” 

“Those things shouldn’t happen, that’s just not right.” I said.

“Well it’s just the way the world is I suppose.” 

“How do you fix a car? You use a wrench right? I don’t know what one might use a wrench for, but I know you can use it on a car.” 

She laughed at that, bright and clear. “Unfortunately fixing cars is a lot more complicated than that. My alternator is broken, so I have to buy a new one, and put it in myself. But to do that I have to damn near take the whole car apart.” 

“Woah… taking a whole car apart sounds like it would take a very long time.” 

She laughed again. “I don’t have to take the whole car apart, It was just an exaggeration, do they not exaggerate things where you’re from?”  

“I- I guess you could say that.” I responded

“You’re a nice lady, I like talking to you.” she said. 

“W- well I like talking to you too… as well.” 

“You know you can say thank you right? Did your mama not teach you how to say thank you?” 

“I uh… I don’t have a mama.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” 

“Oh no, it’s ok, I uh… I didn’t know her very well, let's just say that.`` That was a close one. She couldn’t know that I wasn’t human. Nobody could know.

The conversation resumed with me fumbling over my words, and her speaking eloquently and beautifully. She worked at a clothing store. But a used clothing store. I just thought humans just always had clothes. And then when I started thinking about that it occurred to me that I didn’t know where humans come from. Was that a bad thing to ask? Well yes of course it was, if I asked she would know I’m not human. And she couldn’t know I wasn’t human, what would she think? Negatively I think. So I had to figure out how to find out where humans come from on my own. 

“Where did you get your… your phone.” I asked. 

“Why the sudden change in topic?” she asked

“Because… I wanna know?” 

“Fair enough,” she answered, “I got it as part of my phone plan.” 

“What's a phone plan?” 

“It’s the contract with a company that gives you service.” She said, giving me a puzzled look. This was common human knowledge, I was giving myself away. I had to act quick.

“Oh yea, i’ve uh… never heard someone call it that before.” I said nervously

“What do they call it where you’re from?” 

Shoot, I was digging myself into a hole. I didn’t know what digging or a hole was but I knew I was doing it. I have to think. What’s a different word for plan? 

“We call it a cell scheme.” I said, my voice wobbling. There were a few terrifying moments where I didn’t know if my ruse had worked or not. I felt my breath catch in my throat and I held it there for a little while. What felt like an eternity or what might have been moments. Then she let out a snort and began laughing. I couldn’t understand why. Why would she be laughing? 

“Cell scheme?” she said laughing, “I’ve never heard that before, but it tracks.” 

I just started laughing with her, not really understanding what had just happened. Although I didn’t really know how to laugh. So I was doing my best approximation of a human laugh. 

“You’re a riot.” she said after she wiped a tear out of her eye, “we should hang out sometime, it’d be nice to make some new friends in this city.” without me even saying anything she pulled a pen and paper out of her purse and scribbled a few numbers onto it and handed it to me. I just held it like it was made out of gold. 

“My stop is just here, so talk to you later Reeves?” she asked

“Y-yea, talk to you later.” I replied as she got up and headed to the door. She stepped out of the bus and waved in the window at me, I waved back awkwardly as the bus rode away. My heart was still hammering, I felt light as a feather, my chest felt good in the way sugar does in your mouth. Human emotions were such a rush. Such an intense rush. And I loved it. I loved being human. And I think I loved that woman. I looked up from the page with the strange numbers on it with a smile, and something caught my eye, a man in a black suit wearing sunglasses, sitting near the front of the bus, watching me. I hadn't seen him come on or off of the bus. I looked around myself to see if he was truly watching me or maybe something nearby, but when I looked back the man was gone, even though the bus was moving. weird.

Chapter 2

In the weeks that followed my first meeting of Persephone I had figured out some things. I was a girl. Whenever I was in a physical form I liked feeling pretty, and feminine. It made me feel as humans would say euphoria. Being a woman was a lot of fun. For me at least. And this brings me to the second thing I discovered. Humans can decide what gender they are, it only makes sense. Unfortunately unlike me humans couldn’t choose the bodies they used like I could, but humans indeed could decorate that body however they wish. And I just think that’s beautiful. And so very human. So to honor that I will only ever transform into one human body that looks the same every time. I would be this skinny elegant Reeves person who had all of the girl parts, along with the human parts, Like the butterflies that live in my stomach. Although I found that even though I was feminine and a girl, I really didn’t mind if I was called handsome. It’s just a good word. It feels good to think about it and enunciate it. Handsome, handsome, handsome. And I felt like I was handsome, a handsome woman. Although I felt all humans were beautiful and handsome, and what have you. All humans were just wonderful. From the strange round small ones, to the ones with wrinkles and mobility tools. But my enamorment with the human race was unmatched with how much I loved being around Persephone. 

I couldn’t figure out how to get a phone so I would have to settle for seeing her only on the bus. She took it every single day, except on days which she called the weekend. It was yet another human tradition that I had to learn about. So every day and every afternoon I would see her. And every day and every afternoon I would talk to her. I learned about her son Zagreus, and how she was saving up money to get him a new wheelchair, i learned about how her favorite fruit was strawberries, and her favorite color was pink, she loved to dance, she liked a drink called fireball but only in moderation, she liked roses and lilies, and just so so many things. And I loved that she loved all of that. Although whenever she asked me what I liked I always froze. I didn’t know what I liked. So I made up a lot of stuff. So according to this character I’ve made my favorite color is red, my favorite fruit are bananas, I also liked to dance, my favorite drink was water, and my favorite flower were cattails. Although it was all lies. I didn’t want to lie to her, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I didn’t know what else to do. If she knew the truth it could give away the fact that I’m not human. So I had to figure out how to be human. So I practiced.

Every night after I was sure there was nobody around I would turn into my human form and practice talking to myself. I had a small light that someone had left in the bus, and I would turn it on so that I could see my reflection in the window. Although I noticed that If I wasn’t focused my reflection wouldn’t show up. So I just focused. Practiced phrases that I’d heard people say like, “how do you do.” and “what is the weather like?” and I very much hoped that it would work. 

But perhaps the most interesting thing that happened was when I obtained a phone. I'd watched people use phones for long enough to get the gist of how they work. And the password on this phone was 1234 so getting into it was a breeze. Although I had to input the code into it like fifteen times, then the screen went dark, and turned back on and the phone told me how to use it. I had bested human security, why was it so lax anyways? I don’t think I’ll ever understand that. The phone had me make an Email, whatever that was, and I input my own password. 4321. Nobody would ever expect the opposite of the most obvious solution. Although perhaps I would. But no matter what, I didn't remember how to change the password if I wanted to anyway. I was able to download an application onto the phone through the virtual store that gave me a phone number that was linked to my Email. Now I had a phone number, and if what I assumed was right I could now message other humans as long as I knew their phone number. So I took the piece of paper Persephone had given me and carefully typed in the number. And then I texted her. 

“Hello.” Is what I sent. I had never felt more nervous in my life. Or maybe I had but I don’t remember. I hope I have used proper grammar. I had been carefully studying how humans text for the past week or so. Now I wait. I sure hope I wasn’t experiencing what the humans call getting “left on read” which is another human concept that eludes me. I just know it’s bad when it happens on text. Then suddenly three dots appeared at the bottom of the screen without my prompting. Was something happening? Was I getting left on read? Then the three dots turned into a message. 

“Who is this?” the message asked. A response. I felt like a wizard. Perhaps I was a wizard. A wizard angel who could figure out human magic. I quickly responded with, “this is Reeves.” Now I could talk to her from anywhere. I could talk to her all of the time! 

“Reeves, it’s 2 in the morning, why are you texting me?”

“Because I now have a phone.” 

“Don’t you sleep?” 

Oh no. What is sleep? I never bothered to learn. I’d heard about it before but now what was I to do? I couldn’t ask anyone. But I could ask the phone. I quickly went to the search application and typed in “sleep” and waited for it to load. And then it loaded. Although it wasn’t all that helpful. Sleep foundations, how much sleep is needed for your age, and what happens if you don’t sleep were the only results I got. Perhaps I need to think about this a little harder. Ask it a question. This time I typed in “what is sleep?” and got some more promising answers. The phone said it was a period of rest where humans close their eyes and shut down. I had never done this before. Although I had seen many humans do such a thing. 

“Yes, I sleep.” I responded.

“Then why aren’t you asleep right now?” 

Uh oh, when do humans sleep? I once again consulted the phone. I have made an error. Humans sleep during the dark hours. This is not good. I have disturbed her rest time which is something humans need.

“I apologize greatly, I didn't mean to disturb your rest. I will rest now too.”

“Ok then, sleep well.” 

“I always sleep well, I’m an expert at sleeping.” 

I had once again communicated with her flawlessly. Nothing could stop me. I hid away my phone and the piece of paper with her number on it in a vent and waited for her the following morning. It was a monday so she would be grumpy. Although I don’t know why. But she would be grumpy because it was monday. I manifested in the back of the bus, timing it so the next time the bus stopped, it would also pick her up. This time I manifested holding a bouquet of flowers. Because that is what humans do to humans they like, they gift them flowers. It was a bouquet of roses and lilies. I was sweating, my hands were also sweating. And my heart was beating very very fast. I might even say my heart was beating at light speed. Although my heart wasn’t really going that fast. That was simply hyperbole, which is something I discovered while “surfing the web” the previous night. Human words were fun. 

The moment arrived. She stepped onto the bus. She was wearing a green skirt and a beige sweater with a beautiful knot-like pattern on it. Her hair was in two puffy clouds like ponytails. I blushed. She was so pretty. I mean she always was. But I just wanted to say it. I always wanted to say it. Persephone is pretty. She looked grumpy, as she always was on Mondays, but then she saw me smiling like an idiot in the back of the bus. And her face lit up with surprise, and I hope it was a pleasant surprise. She made her way to the back of the bus where I was, it was obvious her eyes were caught by the flowers. 

“Who are these for?” she asked as she sat down next to me, her voice low and sweet

“For you.” I answered, holding the flowers out to her, my voice wavering. 

“Oh?” she asked, gently taking the flowers with the grace of a goddess. 

“You said you like them, so I wanted to get you some.” 

“I- I don’t know what to say.” 

“You don’t have to say anything.” I responded, “I’m happy knowing you’re happy.”

“Are you coming on to me?” she asked, a smile on her face

“What does that mean?” 

“Well… it’s when someone show’s romantic interest in another person.” 

“What does romantic interest mean?” 

“Well that’s a big question.” 

“I can look it up.” I took my phone out of the pocket in my jacket, opened it up and looked up what does romantic interest mean? Then I recited it out loud. 

“Romantic interest is when you have a deep, emotional attraction to an individual of any gender… I feel that perhaps I do, or will at some point if I get to know you more.” 

“Would you like to get to know me more?” 

“I would love that.” 

“So is this you asking me out on a date?” 

“What’s a date?” 

“Oh goodness, was English not your first language?” 

“Nope.” I answered quickly, not knowing what a language was

“Oh, well maybe you can tell me more about that while we hang out together, on a date.” she replied. 

“So a date is when two people meet up somewhere and talk?” 

“It can be, it can also be bowling, playing games at an arcade, eating dinner somewhere nice, it can be anything you want it to be, but I think maybe we could get coffee?” 

“Coffee would be nice.” I said, having no idea what coffee was. 

“Then it’s a date, I have some time after work, what do you think about going to the crow’s house?” 

“I didn’t know crows could own a house but sure.” 

She laughed at that and then said “we’ll meet at four in the afternoon then?” 

“That sounds great, I’m not doing anything this afternoon.” 

I didn’t even know what a date was a few moments ago but now there was nothing that I would rather do at this moment than go on a date with Persephone. She was cute, funny, sweet, and I just loved spending time with her. These had been the best three weeks of my life and now it was about to get better. After she got off the bus I dispersed my consciousness and hid my things in a vent. And now I wait… oh no. I have to leave the bus to go to the crows house. That means I might die. And I don’t want to die. But I wasn’t in any danger as long as I stayed in my human form and stayed in my human form. I like being in my human form, I love being human. I can do it, I can do it. It was currently 7 in the morning. So that means I had to wait… 9 hours. God that’s a long time. What do I do in those nine hours? I turned to the phone. I discovered I could use it while in my incorporeal form. I just sort of exerted my will on it and the phone would work. First I looked up where humans come from. I never would have expected that humans make other humans. They do a ritualistic pleasure dance and then through biological systems people with uteruses will carry the children for nine whole months, that’s… 6480 hours. Imagine growing another human inside of another human for about 6480 hours? That sounds like a lot. Although it could be fun. Maybe one day I could have a human child. Although would that child be human? I’m not human. I’m sure I’ll figure it out. But today I’m going to a coffee shop. So I searched crow’s house. And I was given the location. It was very helpful that it would give me directions. It was nerve wracking. And I didn’t even have nerves in this form. But I could do this. My name is Reeves, I’m a girl, and the girl Persephone makes the butterflies in my stomach, when I have a stomach, flutter.

I waited all day. I waited so long. A whole 9 hours. Do you have any idea how long nine hours are? That’s 540 minutes. Do you have any idea how long 540 minutes are? That's 32,400 seconds. And that is far too many seconds to wait for a first date! If I could have, I would have taken her on a date the moment she asked. But human things like work have to be done. I don’t know why I just know it’s important. But nine hours had now passed and I was ready. Well almost ready. I had manifested in my physical form, this time wearing a floral dress. Specifically sunflowers. I’m not sure why sunflowers, but that’s the flower that I chose. My hair was falling nicely around my face, and I was holding three roses that I was going to give to her. There was just one problem. I was going to have to get off of the bus. I had only ever done so once and it was a near death experience. But this was important, this was more important than anything I’d ever done before. I was going on a date with a pretty girl. And I would follow the phone's directions, and I would get off of this bus. The phone in my pocket chimed, I pulled it out and looked at it. It said the next stop was my stop. I put the phone back into my pocket and stood up, using one of the many metal bars to hold myself upright as I waited. I pulled the cord that told the little lady to stop the bus. And the moment the bus got there, it stopped, shifting the weight of itself forward as it did. The bus hissed with air and lowered just slightly. And with a deep breath I stepped forward. One step at a time I made it to the door, the door that led outside onto a plaza bustling with humans. And I hesitated, a little tinge of fear holding me back, but it was holding me back with only the strength of a thread. It would be easy to break but did I want it to do so?

“Are you gonna get off?” the little lady asked me. It made me jump a little. I’d never heard her address me before. And something made me want to be honest with her. Like she was some kind of mother to me.

“Yes, I’m just doing something new and I’m scared.” I replied, my voice wavering a bit

“Hon, sometimes you just gotta rip off the bandaid and go and do it, it might hurt but that’s just being human.” she replied. 

“That’s just being human.” I echoed, “thank you, for the ride and the advice.” 

“I’m happy to help, now go rip off that bandaid, I’m sure it will turn out fine, this bus has a guardian angel.” 

I stepped off of the bus, a smile on my face. My shoe hit the concrete sidewalk and I took my first few steps out into the larger human world. The doors of bus 14 closed behind me and the bus trundled away. Continuing along route 132. And I didn’t look back. I just marveled at the plaza before me. Full of humans of all shapes and sizes, they were all walking around and going about their business, almost revolving around the fountain that was sitting in the middle of the plaza, spouting water from the stone mouths of fish. Numerous human stores lined the plaza, all with open doors and goods displayed in the windows, inviting me in, asking me to buy them. But I had to save my money, my five dollars for a coffee. With a deep breath I stepped forward, holding Persephone’s roses in one hand and my phone in the other. The coffee shop wasn’t far from the bus stop, it was what the phone called a mile away. But I made it. 

The Crow’s House was a beautiful building tucked away in a peaceful little courtyard surrounded by shops. Plants and bushes sprung up everywhere around the courtyard, beautifully mismatched chairs and tables with tile mosaic on the top where littered about along with humans sitting in them. And in front of the crows house, sitting in a blue chair, was Persephone. She was wearing the same outfit that I’d seen her in earlier that day. Green skirt and beige sweater. But in this lighting and environment she looked even prettier. The way the sun shone on her beautiful dark skin made my heart nearly jump out of my chest. And then she spotted me. Her hazel eyes locked with my own. And it made me freeze in my steps. And there I stood, looking at her, as she looked at me with a gentle smile on her face.

“Are you just going to stand there?” she asked in a soft voice

“Yes, sorry.” I blithered walking forward and stopping in front of her, “I got these for you.” I said, holding out the flowers to her.” 

She took them gracefully and said, “thank you, if I’m not careful you’re going to turn my house into a garden.” 

“Is that… is that a bad thing?” I asked nervously

“No, gardens can be quite beautiful… are you going to sit down?” 

“Oh, yes.” I said, quickly sitting in the chair opposite of her. I could feel how much I was blushing and how hot my face was. She let out a little giggle as I sat down. 

“So Reeves, tell me about yourself, you ask me a lot of questions, so now it’s my turn.” 

“Is asking too many questions a bad thing?” 

“No, and that was also another question.” 

“Oh, sorry.” 

“Don’t apologize, I just said it was fine.” she laughed a little, her smile lighting fireworks in my heart.

“Right, ok, what do you want to know?” I asked, able to keep a hold of my composure, but just barely. 

“I want to know about you, just general knowledge about yourself.” 

“Well, my favorite color is red, and I like cattails-” but before I could rattle off more of my fictitious likes she said, “no, I already know that, tell me something I don’t know.” and that gave me pause. I couldn’t reveal that I wasn’t human, but maybe I should tell some of the truth. 

“I… I don’t have a favorite color, and I think my favorite flower might actually be sunflowers. But that’s liable to change.” I said, looking down into my lap and fiddling with my fingers nervously. 

“May I ask why you lied?” 

“Because you’re pretty and you made me nervous and I didn’t have a favorite before the questions were sprung on me and I came up with random things.” 

“Well… I’m glad you’re telling the truth now, I would still love to know more about you.” 

“And I would love to tell you, but I don’t really know much.” 

“That’s ok, I’m sure you’ll figure it out, just tell me what you do know.” 

“Ok… I like helping hu- people. In any way I can. I don’t like it when people yell and fight, I don’t think I like loud and unexpected noises in general. I’m a woman, and I like other women in a non platonic way. I ride the bus everyday. I think that one day I might want children but I’m not ready right now. And I just think that huma- people are wonderful. There are just so many different kinds of people and I think they’re all amazing and beautiful in their own way, even if they eat food that will hurt them for fun.” 

“Do you mean spicy food?” Persephone asked

“Yes, it hurts people and people love it.” I replied bewildered, “The peppers are hot because they don’t want to be eaten, and you eat them because of that.”

“Well… it’s delicious.” 

“Pain is delicious?” 

“Some kinds of pain, not all thought.” 

“That’s frankly crazy, and also alcohol, that’s like poison and hinders the functions of your brain. Yet people drink it, so much of it apparently that some of them can't stand.”

“I mean, it’s fun.” 

“And then people will just punch each other in the face for fun, I’ve seen the videos on the internet. One man who claims to be invisible will adjust the attitude of other men wearing underwear, and people love it.” 

“It sounds like you’re having quite a bit of culture shock, where are you from?” 

“I uh… I don’t know, I don’t have a lot of memory of where I’m from.” 

“Oh no, did something happen?” 

“I- I uh-” I began to stutter before she cut me off saying, “actually you know what? I”m sorry, I shouldn’t be pressing so hard. That’s rude of me. I’m just not very trusting of people, I’ve had a history with bad people let’s say that.” 

“Bad people? What do you mean?” 

“People that hurt me, manipulated me, used me because they wanted something out of me.” 

“Well then maybe I’m hurting you, I’m on this date because I like you, and I’m not here because you like me, although I do hope you like me.” 

“Well… are you looking for some kind of sexual satisfaction or for me to fill a void in your life.”

“Well I don’t think so, I just saw you one day and felt all warm and fuzzy inside, and now we’re here.” 

“Ok, then that’s fine, I apologize for how… intense this conversation has been. I just, I've been through some stuff that I’m not particularly interested in talking about at this moment.” 

“That’s ok, what… What do you wanna talk about? I’m afraid I don’t have much of anything interesting to talk about.” 

“I’m not sure… Do you like music?” 

“I can’t say that I do, I’ve never gone out of my way to just sit and listen to music.” 

“Never ever?” 

“Now that I think about it, no.” 

“Well let me show you my favorite music.” 

The next hour was then spent drinking coffee, although I just pretended because I don’t know how to drink coffee, and listening to music. Her music. She likes a lot of indie stuff and has a “soft spot” as she described it for big brass bands. Although that wasn’t the only stuff she listened to, those were just her favorites. She also taught me what curse words were, and told me that sometimes you can say them but also sometimes you can’t say them? Which is something I didn’t understand. So I wasn’t going to just not say curse words, unless I was hurt apparently. When you got hurt apparently then it was acceptable to curse.

Eventually though Persephone had to go. She had to be home when her son got home. She said on mondays he has an afterschool club so she can have some “mom time” as she called it. So she left. And I managed to not cry, although I felt like crying. It just felt like pressure in my eyes and it was going to explode. But I held it down. This was the bad part of human emotions, but part of being human was pain, like the little lady said. And I would see her again. But it would be perhaps another 12 hours. Maybe I could try sleeping. Although I don’t think I could sleep in my non corporeal form. I used my phone and was able to navigate back onto my bus. I gave the rest of my money to the little lady driving the bus, she closed the door, and the bus began to move. It had taken me so long to find the bus that it was dark now. So the population on the bus was pretty sparse. I made my way to the back of the bus and sat down. My muscles were sore. This was something I did know about because humans on the bus always complained about how sore they were. It was a strange feeling. But I didn’t have to deal with it for much longer. I quickly put my phone and the slip of paper with Persephone's number into the vent and I just relaxed, and let myself disperse back into my non corporeal form. Except It didn’t happen. I just stayed corporeal. I opened my eyes and tried once again to dissipate. But it didn’t work. Uh oh. This wasn’t good. I had to reach down and find it, almost like I was unzipping a very complicated jacket. And when I pulled the zipper with all my might my corporeal form disappeared. And I was back to being a floating consciousness. Although it wasn’t the same. Even though I was incorporeal I still had an inkling of human form. A vague thought of where my head was, where my torso, and limbs were, but by any right I should not have any sensations of having limbs or a body when in this form.

It scared me. Things were changing and it scared me. I was feeling a lot of emotions that I’ve never felt before. It was complex, and I didn’t have the knowledge or maturity to understand all of it. I had always been a blank slate. But now I was something, I existed. And it was exhilarating and terrifying. I was someone and I could feel, and I could talk to people, and I could date Persephone. I could be someone and anyone I wanted to be.

The next few weeks were amazing. I was researching on my phone how to handle human emotions. And I kept on finding websites that would talk about coping mechanisms. Some suggestions were exercise, talking, and one of my favorite suggestions, stimming. Stimming is repetitive or unusual body movements or noises that are used to soothe oneself. And so whenever I was in my corporeal form whenever I felt like… bleh, I would just shake it out, bounce my leg or shake my hands. I would also make popping noises with my mouth sometimes. And it worked, it wouldn’t fix the bleh feeling but it would help clear my head when everything is too loud or my emotions are too confusing. Which happens a lot. And who knows why? Definitely not me, whenever I feel like that it’s just a big pile of nope, and I just try to take care of myself and fix it. But it wasn’t something that was always fixable. It would make me mad whenever I felt that way around Persephone. There’s no reason I should feel that way around Persephone, shouldn’t I always feel light and happy when I’m around people I like? But for some reason I didn’t always feel that way. Some days being a human was just too much. Far too much for me. I didn’t want to admit it but every time I became a human it would get a little bit harder for me to turn back into my non corporeal form. But I had to see her, I had to be around her. At least I think I did, otherwise I started doing all this for absolutely no reason. But I didn’t want to put all that on her, even if she didn’t know I didn’t want to put my entire wellbeing in her hands. I don’t think that’s something for her to decide or something that should be her responsibility. But it doesn't matter, I’m in her life and she’s in mine.

It started that every monday after she got off of work we would go get coffee. And still I didn’t know how to drink coffee. So I just pretended to drink it and threw it away after every date. Which I felt bad about. But what else could I do? She couldn’t know I wasn’t human. Although it was difficult not to lie about myself whenever I had to hide that I wasn't human. So a lot of times I had to just say “I don’t know” to a lot off her questions and that was as close to the truth as I could get, I truly didn’t know where I came from or if I had parents or siblings, I don’t know if my kind speaks a language or has a culture, I don’t even know if there are others like me. As far as I know I’m completely alone. But Persephone had lots to say about herself. She was originally from a place called Nebraska, but due to things she didn’t want to talk about, she and her son Zagreus moved here, and this place was called Los angeles. Although later when I looked it up I discovered that Los Angeles was inside of a place in another place called california. But I digress, she works as an accountant, and the internet had two conflicting ideas of what an accountant is. Some places like social media seemed to think that being an accountant was getting paid to do sexual acts for others, while another side of the internet like the dictionary thought that being an accountant was keeping track of money for a company. So she was one of the two, but I was afraid to ask which one because some places on the internet say that sexual subjects are a social taboo unless you are very close to a person. Although I’m unsure why then people would pay money for others to do sexual acts for them if anything sexual is strictly taboo. Unless spending money means you don’t have to pay attention to social norms. Humans are very confusing.but all the same I love it very dearly.

Then on the fifth monday after our first date Persephone asked me while we were sitting and drinking coffee, (I had finally learned how to drink liquids, it wasn’t all that pleasant, coffee was bitter.) she asked me, “do you wanna go out for a drink?”

“Well, aren't we already out for a drink?” I asked

“No silly, I mean a drink of alcohol, I got Zagreus a Nanny for tonight so you can come along if you’d like.” 

“Did you plan on me coming along?” 

“No, I go out and drink a little from time to time, it’s not something that’s nightly, or even monthly, maybe a few times a year I go to a bar and have some me time away from Zagreus, I love the kid but sometimes being a mom can be a bit much.” 

“Well I would hate to intrude on your me time.” 

“Well you’re not Zagreus, and I’d like to go out for a drink, I’ll pay for your ride back to your place.” 

“Then… I suppose I’d like to go, when do you wanna go? We can go now if you’d like.” 

“It’s four in the afternoon, I’m not gonna go drinking at four.” 

“What’s wrong with drinking liquids at four?” 

“Again, when I say drinking in this context I mean going to drink alcohol.” 

“Oh I see, and again remind me why people drink poison for fun?” 

“Because it makes you feel all loopy and happy.” 

“I think I might like to feel loopy and happy.” 

“Then meet me at seven?” 

“It’s a date.”

I frantically returned to my bus after the date was over. What would I wear to go drinking? The entire ride as I sat on the bus in my physical form, I thought about what I would wear. So I looked it up on my phone. What do people wear to bars? A whole plethora of images popped up onto my phone. And most commonly very fitting clothes were worn, although those were the feminine options, the masculine options involved button up shirts and ties. So I would do a half way between both because I quite liked both. I glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and I closed my eyes. And with a small poof of air I opened my eyes again and I was in my going to the bar outfit. I was wearing a very fitting white button up shirt tucked into a pair of black skinny jeans, and a red tie was loosely tied around my neck, under the color of the shirt. I also added a little bit of makeup to my face to add some… flare. Red lipstick, black and white eyeliner, and some blush on my cheeks. It all just appeared on me in an instant, and nobody in the bus knew. 

The next thing I did was look up proper bar etiquette. I learned that many places have their own rules and policies regarding what people should and shouldn’t do when in certain places, I looked at many different websites and came up with a list of rules in my head to follow. Rule number 1, never make the bartender angry by being rude. And being rude includes harmful comments, complaining, and being obnoxious. Rule number two, pay with cash or card. I don’t know what a card is so I’ll conjure up money to pay. Rule number three, leave extra money for the bartender after you pay for your drink. Rule number four, don’t bring up religion, Politics, or race. I don’t know what two of those are and the only race I’ve heard of is nascar and I won’t bring it up so for that rule, I’m golden. The only other thing was I meticulously conjured an ID. I carefully went through all of the things that I needed to put onto my ID so that I could get into the bar. It was slow and tedious but I made one. By the time I finished it was 6 o'clock, so I turned on my Phone’s map application and made my way to the bar.

It took me about 45 minutes to get to the bar so I ended up being early and standing outside awkwardly in the dark, the cold beginning to creep into my bones. But I sort of liked it. Breathing out the air in front of my face to look like steam was a lot of fun. I didn’t have to wait long for Persephone to show up and when she did she looked breathtaking. She rounded the corner, her hair was flowing around her like a beautiful wavey stream of dark lustrous water, her hazel eyes seemed to sparkle alongside of the golden makeup accents she put on, the dress she had on made my knees clack together. It was a red dress that fit to her body and looked amazing on her. 

“You look like you’ve seen god.” she said to me with a smile

“I- I think I may have, whoever god is.” I replied in a small voice

Persephone smiled and said, “well you don’t look half bad, actually you look beautiful tonight, and maybe even handsome.” 

“W-well you look like an- a- a beautiful person?” I said, wondering if that was a good compliment

“Honey I don’t look that amazing, I got this dress for thirty dollars, and I just brushed my hair.” 

“But you look amazing to me.” 

“Well… thank you for that, now let’s go in.” 

She linked her arm with mine and pulled me forward towards the bar entrance. Above the entrance, written in a neon sign was Poseidon's keg. And at the front of the bar was a large man who was standing guard to the entrance. I had read about these people. They had special jobs to protect the inside of the bar and keep those who would do the bar harm out. I respected the position and felt bad that I was using a fake ID to get in. but how else would I go on this date? The most nerve wracking thing I had done in what seemed like all of everything was hand my fake ID for inspection by the bouncer. He studied it tirelessly, his eyes speeding across it with the practice that only a master could have and with a face that was chiseled like stone and blocked any of my attempts to read his emotion. Then he handed it back to me and nodded. And I just stood there, looking at him. He blinked, raised his eyebrow and said, “you can go in.” in his deep gravelly voice. 

“Yes sir.” I responded quickly, following Persephone inside. Once I was inside I notice just how much noise was going on. Music from speakers blasted across the bar, bouncing off of the hard wooden surfaces that seemed to be everywhere, people were talking, there was the sound of liquid being poured, some type of machine with buttons and a ball where making ding ding ding noises as they flashed with lights, Televisions were playing video of something I’d never seen before, possibly sports? They were running like lunatics across a green field chasing a ball. I couldn’t understand why humans would want to do that. 

“You ok?” Persephone asked me

“Yea, yea I’m ok.” I replied, snapping out of the trance all the noises put me in, “Just taking a moment to process the sounds.”

“Yea, it can get loud in here, come on, let’s get a seat.”

She grabbed my hand which made the butterflies in my stomach fly FURIOUSLY and she led me to a cushioned stool and sat next to me on another stool.

“So what do you like to drink?” Persephone asked

“I- I don’t know, anything sweet I suppose.” I replied nervously

“Let’s ask the bartender.” Persephone said as she turned her head and expertly made eye contact with the bartender like I had only read about. A few moments later the bartender walked over to us and she asked, “So what can I get you dolls?” her bright blue mohawk intimidating me to a certain degree. I froze up and didn’t say anything. Then Persphone spoke up and said, “I’ll take a shot of vodka with some water and she’ll have whatever is sweet.” the bartender looked at me with a somewhat suspicious look. 

“How well can she hold her liquor?” the bartender asked

“That’s what we’re here to find out.” Persephone responded

“What do you think of a malibu sunset?” the bartender asked me

“I don’t see why not.” I responded timidly

“What, I can't hear you?” the bartender said leaning over the counter a little and cupping their hand behind their ear 

“She said that’s fine.” Persephone chimed in. the bartender nodded and went to work. Grabbing things off of shelves and pouring things into cups while holding a fancy spoon and doing what honestly looked like magic. Maybe the Bartender was an angel like me. Maybe that’s why the red liquid stayed at the bottom and the yellow  stayed at the top. A very small glass of clear liquid was handed to Persephone from the bartender and I was handed the colorful drink I’d watched her make. 

“Who’s paying tonight?” the bartender asked as the drinks were set down

“I’ll pay for this first round.” Persephone said, “It’s her first time in a bar.” 

“I can tell it’s her first time.” the bartender responded, “do you wanna pay now or put it on a tab?” 

“Put it on a tab for now.” she said, “we won’t drink too much.” 

“Alright then, what’s the name on that tab?” 

“Persephone.” 

“Persephone,” the bartender echoed, “Now that’s a beautiful name.” 

“Thank you very much.” Persephone responded as the bartender nodded and walked away. I felt a little pang of some kind of emotion in me when the bartender said that. This worry and longing that maybe Persepone would break up with me and date the bartender instead. The bartender was pretty too, she had that blue hair, a wiry body, she had tattoos up and down her arms, blue eyes, angular eyebrows and a slit in one of them, and a beautiful angular face shape.

“I think your name is beautiful too.” I said to Persephone, trying to secure my place. Persephone looked at me and raised an eyebrow I assume in questioning and then said. 

“Reeves, I want you to know that right now, I only have eyes for you. I don’t want you going around and getting angry at anyone who compliments me ok?”

“Ok, I won’t get mad.” I said quickly, trying to quell the squirming feeling in my gut. Persephone in one go drank her whole small glass of vodka and made a grimace for a moment after swallowing.

“Did the drink hurt you?” I asked curiously

“Yea, shots burn on the way down, unless they’re mixed with something or you have a chaser, just a sweet drink to chase away the burn.” 

“Why would you drink it if it hurts you?” 

“It’s a good hurt Reeves, although I very much doubt your Malibu sunset will burn. But you’ll get just as buzzed as I will.”

“Ok then, I suppose this is one of those things I just won’t understand.” 

“Why don’t you take a drink then? Maybe you’ll understand a little bit then”

“Ok.” I said nervously, turning to look at the brightly colored drink. I turned the straw towards myself, leaned forward, wrapped my lips around the straw, and began drinking the liquid. And I loved it the moment it hit my tongue. It was sweet, and then there was another type of sweet that I think is called fruity, and then there was some other taste that was very different from the other tastes and almost had a bite to it but a good bite. And I just kept on drinking. And I drank quite a lot in one go.

“Woah woah woah slow down there.” Persephone said giggling, “if you do that it’s gonna hit you all at once and I’m not sure that’ll be good for you.” 

“This drink is so good.” I said, “How fast am I allowed to drink it?” 

“Well as fast as you’d like to but I’d recommend against it, you want to enjoy the drink right?” 

“Well… I guess I enjoy drinking it fast.” 

“Then be my guest.” 

I turned back to the drink and sucked it all down until it was just the ice. I didn’t know consuming things felt so nice. I’d only ever had coffee up until this point, which wasn’t very good, and now I’d had this. Being a human was wonderful. 

“You act as if you’ve never had anything to drink before.” Persephone said laughing

“I mean, I might as well have never had anything to drink up until this point, this is amazing.” 

“Then the Malibu sunset is your favorite?” 

“I’ve never had any of these other drinks so I wouldn’t really know.” 

“Then let’s try a few.” 

The night went on and I had more drinks as Persephone and I talked. And when I say the night went on I mean the next twenty minutes. And after two and a half drinks in twenty minutes, it finally hit me, just like Persephone said it would. Suddenly I felt all light and warm and fuzzy, using my hands for anything became marginally more difficult, and I just felt… silly.

“I feel so silly right now, do you feel silly Persephone? Cause I feel really silly.” I said, leaning over to Persephone as if I were whispering a joke into her ear.

“Only the first drink is hitting you and you’re already this loopy? Dang woman, I don’t think you can hold your liquor very well.” 

“I- I’m holding a cup of liquor… liquor stuff right here.” I replied, holding up a glass of blue liquid. I’d forgotten what it was called but I drank the rest of it.

“Maybe you should slow down a bit, my own drink only just hit me.” 

“You… you don’t seem to be that silly right now, how drunk- scuse me- how drunk are you?” 

“Well not very, I can hold myself pretty well, I got a big body so it takes a little bit more to make me feel all silly like you. But it seems since you’ve never had alcohol before and you’re also skinny as a twig you have a pretty bad tolerance.” 

“So… does that mean I get more silly?” 

“Yes Reeves, you get more silly.” Persephone said with a bright smile

As all of the alcohol I’d had began to hit more and more I just got drunker and drunker. I couldn’t coordinate my hands to save my life, and I just felt like talking and talking and telling Persephone about internet videos i’d been watching.

“So this guy, in this electronic game where everything is digital and shows up on a screen and stuff, this guy has like so many pigs, all the pigs are square and all stuffed into this one spot and he’s like the pig lord. He says he’s the pig lord. I think- *hic* I think being a pig lord would be a lot of fun. Like so much fun. Maybe that’s what I am, maybe I’m a pig lord.” 

“Well do you have any pigs to lord over?” Persephone asked

“Uh… no, I don’t have any pigs, I’ve got a phone though.” 

“Well most people have phones, so I don’t think you can be a lord of phones.” 

“Then… well maybe I’m not a lord, maybe I’m an angel, I think I’m an angel.” 

“What makes you think you’re an angel?” Persephone asked, tilting her head and raising her eyebrow

“Cause I almost died and then I turned into a cat one time, and then I was all fuzzy and turned back into my bus.” 

“You turned into a bus?” 

“No, no I turned back from a cat, while going into a bus.” 

“What are you on the bus for?” 

“Cause the bus is where I live, and If I’m- *hic* If I’m not physical while out of the bus I die, so I go to relax on the bus.” 

“I didn’t know you lived on a bus, is it like a little bus home or something?” 

“It’s… it’s a bus.” 

After this point things got a little bit fuzzy. I vaguely recall playing with what Persephone called a pinball machine and then I remember playing a game called pool and losing terribly to Persephone. And this whole time I was getting more drunk, I learned how to conjure drinks of my own and I would drink them while Persephone wasn’t looking. I was a little embarrassed. But I definitely remember when the silliness stopped. And the silliness turned into a bad kind of being silly. I realized how alone I was in the world, I was the only angel I knew. There was nobody to guide me, there were no parents to teach me. All I had to teach me was this phone and Persephone, and Persephone couldn’t even know I wasn’t human. And this thought hit me while I was doing my best to stay upright on the stool and I was trying my best to listen to Persephone. I just burst into tears that spilled out of my eyes and began sobbing saying, ``you're gonna hate me. ” over and over. 

“What? No no I don’t hate you.” Persephone said quickly grabbing my arm as I lost balance and began to lean a little too much to one side, “you’re probably the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.” 

“B-but I’m this thing.” I wailed

“No no no, you’re Reeves, and I love Reeves for being Reeves, you don’t know much about American culture so you ask a lot of questions and you’re smart enough to decipher what it means within minutes. You’ve learned so much since I first met you.” as she was saying this she grabbed my arm and began to take me out of the bar while she made sure I didn’t just topple over.

“But I’m like, not human.” I sobbed

“You’re still Reeve’s and that’s what matters.” 

“But you’ll hate me!” I reiterated as Persephoen helped me into a car

“No I won’t, I won’t hate you, I rarely hate anyone and you’re very far from being hated by me.” she said as got into the car, pulling some kind of seat strap over my body and then pulling one over herself.

“Where do you live Reeves? We need to get you home.” 

“I… I don’t have a house.” 

“Yo- you’re homeless?” 

“Y- yea I’m homeless.” I said, the sobs beginning to subside as my eyes got all heavy

“Ok, I’ll take you back to my place then.” 

“Ok, ok then.” 

And that’s the last thing that I remember from that night, although I have a vague memory of a man in a black suit and sunglasses looking at me from across the bar. Who knew drinking could be so dangerous. I may have had dreams, or something of the like. It was really just a lot of lights and colors to me. But then I woke up. And I knew I woke up because the first thing that I felt was the most awful headache, my tongue felt like it was made out of felt, and just about my whole body felt terrible. I was really really confused for a moment, I had never slept before so this whole sleeping thing was disorienting. I lifted my head up and looked around. I was in a room. I was in a human house. The room had white walls and red curtains over the windows. And I was still in my human form. I looked down at myself to see I was covered with a blanket. And when I moved the blanket I saw I was wearing different clothes than the night before. Fuzzy and soft pants with a donut pattern on it and a big t-shirt that said I survived my trip to New york. I pulled the blanket off of myself and swung my legs off of the bed and then I stood up. And then I got really dizzy and I braced myself against the wall causing a big thump. I pushed myself off of the wall and threw my arms out to keep my balance as my head pounded. The door suddenly opened, surprising me somewhat and causing me to lose my balance and fall back onto the bed. Persephone walked in. She was wearing her own comfy clothes. A black tank top and sweatpants. I would have said something however my brain didn’t seem to be functioning in the slightest. 

“Hey there, how are you feeling?” 

“Augh.” I responded. Feeling unable to talk

“That bad huh?” Persephone asked as she walked in, setting a glass of water down on the nightstand.

“Fuzzy.” was all I managed to say

“Your memory or your mouth.” 

“Mmmmmm” I responded

Persephone giggled a little bit and sat down next to me. 

“It’s nine o'clock if you’re wondering, I noticed you quite like keeping track of time.” 

“What happened, where am I?” I asked

“You’re at my house, and last night you somehow got blackout drunk off of four drinks, nearly fell asleep on a pool table, and cried a lot, then when we got back here you cried again because you said you didn’t know how to use the bathroom and then threw up and then changed into the pajamas I gave you, used the bathroom and fell asleep on the toilet.” 

“I’m so sorry.” I said, sitting up and taking the cup of water. I was a master at drinking liquids now so I very casually brought the cup of water to my lips and drank, leaving what was left of my lipstick on the cup.

“I’m not mad or anything but I think that perhaps next time we go out drinking we should keep a close eye on how much you drink.” Persephone said, “but I wanted to talk to you, whenever you’ve had a shower and a change of clothes.”

“What do you wanna talk about?” I asked

“I… I want to talk about you. I feel like you know so much about me and then I barely know anything about you I feel. Every time I try to ask questions about anything I get a whole lot of I don’t know. And it makes me feel like you’re hiding something. We’ve been dating for a month and a half now, and I think I’m ready for this to be serious, but It can’t be serious unless I know more about you. And I don’t care what you’re hiding, Reeves is still Reeves. But don’t say anything yet, not right now, you just woke up. I don’t want you to say something you don’t mean because you’re still half asleep. After you take a shower I’ll be in the kitchen.” with that she stood up and walked out of the room, glancing back at me only once with a look that I couldn’t decipher. Well I had messed up. I think it was a big time mess up too. Did she discover that I wasn’t human? Would I have to reveal it to her? What was going to happen? I don’t know. But for now I was just going to follow her instructions. I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand and looked up what a shower was, quickly reading up on how to take a shower, and once I knew how to take a shower I went and did so. 

Although I paused to look at myself in the mirror after I had unclothed myself. It was so strange having a body. But so fun and nice at the same time. I felt privileged I was allowed to exist and I could do so in a vessel like this. I sighed, expelling the air from my lungs as if the escaping air would along with it pull out my worry. A shower felt amazing. I really liked the feeling of the water running over my body. It was nice washing away the grime of yesterday and taking all of my makeup off. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped myself in a towel and just sat there on the edge of the bathtub for a bit, letting the water in my hair slowly drip down onto the towel. I wonder what I was going to do with my life. Of course I wanted to spend it with Persephone but I was immortal, or very close to being immortal. Other than dissipating outside of the bus I couldn’t die. Or at least I don’t think that I could. And I know that eventually Persephone would die. Although this was the first time I thought about it. One day Persephone simply wouldn’t be around anymore. That was an awful awful thought. It was the one thing about being human that I really didn’t understand. Death. How could a human being live life like they do when they know they’re going to die some day. I had been around in some form or another for thousands and thousands of years. Although I haven’t really been alive until this point. And I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna die outside of the bus. I shook my head and flapped my arms around trying to expel the icky feeling that was building up inside of me. I felt better but the feeling didn’t completely go away. So I just finished drying my hair and I put my clothes back on. It was particularly difficult putting a bra on, I’d never done it before in this way, I’d only ever just summoned it onto me. But I managed to wrestle it on. 

Once I was back in my clothes, although they were really Persephone's clothes that I was borrowing, I just put my hand on the doorknob that led to the rest of the house. I hope that Persephone and I can continue to have a relationship. I could tell that something was going to change, and change was really difficult for me. But I had to, this was just something that had to happen. So I just pushed open the door. The house was lovely, the inside of it was much bigger than my bus. The house had wide hallways and was fairly minimalist except for the children’s toys that were here and there. Those must be Zagreus's toys. I could also hear a small voice talking very excitedly down the hall. I closed the door gently behind me and walked across the hall. There was a small yet beautiful living room, a TV on a little stand, a little two seater couch and a chair. There was even a little basket that was full of toys and things. And attached to the living room was a kitchen with a small round table enough for three people, four if you squeezed. And sitting at the table was who I assumed was Zagreus. His wheelchair was pushed under the table, which I just noticed had books stacked under the legs so it could be the right height for the wheelchair. Hanging on the back of the wheelchair were two metal sticks that had handles on them that I had no idea what they were used for.

“Is she nice?” Zagreus asked in his excited little voice, “because if she’s nice I think you should marry her.” 

“Zagreus, I’m not gonna marry someone I met a month and a half ago, but it’s a maybe.” Persephone said, cooking something on her stove

“Then would I have two moms?” Zagreus asked, practically bouncing up and down

“Only if you want to call her mom, but again I haven’t known her for all that long, although I do really really like her.” 

“I think maybe It would be confusing, I call you mom, and If I also called her mom, nobody would know who I was talking to.” 

“Then I suppose you might have to come up with another nickname for her.” 

“Hey there.” I said timidly, walking up to the table, holding my left arm with my hand and avoiding eye contact with anyone. Zagreus craned his head to look back at me. 

“Oh, she looks different than how I thought.” Zagreus said

“Zagreus, one that’s rude, two you’re gonna hurt your neck doing that! Wait until she comes around before you stare at her with your little blue eyes.” 

“Ok mom.” Zagreus said, turning his head back. I nervously walked around the table to one of the empty seats, so I could face Zagreus and Persephone as she cooked.

“How do you like your eggs Reeves?” Persephone asked as she poured some scrambled eggs out of a pan and onto a plate

“Cooked I hope.” I said.

Persephone smiled and said, “ok, I’ll make them overeasy.” 

She put down the plate of food for Zagreus. Oh no. I didn’t know how to eat. I knew how to drink. but  eating was a whole other thing. It involved chewing and swallowing something solid. Or at least semi solid. I watched in horror and fascination as she cooked the eggs, expertly flipping them over and seasoning them. The internet would not save me this time. All too quickly she was done and she set down the plate of over easy eggs in front of me and handed me a fork. The fact that my head still hurt and I still felt dizzy didn’t help my situation either. I glanced over at Zagreus who was happily eating his eggs, holding a fork like a pro, chewing his food, and then swallowing. Ok, it was easy, I could do this. I stabbed the fork into the egg and pulled up, hoping some egg would come with it. And somehow the entire egg was hanging off of my fork. Then very messily, some egg yolk got on my face. I put part of my mouth around the egg. And I bit down. The piece of egg fell back into my mouth and I put down the rest of the egg. Then I tried chewing it, moving my jaw up and down. I couldn’t understand why but the piece of egg seemed to stay in the same shape and not really break down. In a slight panic I swallowed, but I forgot that breathing was also something I had to do and then two conflicting things happened in my head as I swallowed and breathed at the same time. It was very uncomfortable and I began to cough and the piece of egg came flying out of my mouth and back onto the plate.

Persephone immediately turned around and looked at me, “are you ok?” she said, turning the heat of the stove down and grabbing a cup from a cabinet.

“Yeah-” I said with some struggle, “I just forgot you’re not supposed to breathe while eating.” the uncomfortable itch in the back of my throat. Persephone filled the cup with water and set it down in front of me. I drank from it gratefully. My second try went much better, this time I tried moving the piece of egg around in my mouth as I moved a jaw and things went much much better. I was able to swallow all the bits this time, and I managed to do it without getting egg stuff on my face or choking on the egg. Ok, eating was easy, and actually enjoyable. The egg tasted really good, I especially liked the runny yellow bit. Although apparently I ate eggs like a savage because Zagreus looked at me with awe and wonder. So I looked up at him and stopped eating.

“You eat weird.” Zagreus said.

“Well the food is getting in my face isn’t it?” I replied, turning back to my plate

“But… normal people usually cut up the egg.” 

“Well I’m not normal people.” 

“Why did your parents name you Reeves?” 

“I’m not really sure.” 

“Why are you so tall?”

“I’m not sure, probably because one of my parents were tall.” 

“Do you know how to build legos good?”

“What are Legos?” 

“Toys.” 

“What do they do?” 

“I don’t know, they can click together and make things.” 

“I’d have to look at the legos to know if I can build anything with them.” 

“What’s your mom's name?” 

“Uh, Miss Reeves.”

“But that’s your name.” 

“Why can’t different people have the same name?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“What’s your record for most questions asked consecutively?” 

“Thirty seven.” 

“That’s quite a lot.” 

“Ok kids, no more rapid fire questions.” Persephone said giggling and sitting down at the third chair of the table with her own place of eggs, “I see that you two are getting along well.”

“I haven’t gotten to asking her about my cartoons yet!” 

“You can ask her about cartoons later, she’s not feeling amazing today.” 

“But-” 

“No but’s young man, now eat your breakfast and after you’re done could you go play in your room? Mom has to talk to Reeves.” 

“Mmmmm ok fine.” 

“Thank you sweety, you know you’re my favorite.” 

“Yes mom I know.” 

The rest of breakfast was in relative silence as Zagreus ate his scrambled eggs extremely slowly to extend the amount of time he was at the table. Although Persephone didn’t comment on it. Although I do know that she noticed. Especially when she looked at Zagreus and raised her eyebrow questioningly. But eventually Zagreus ran out of eggs to nibble on. And with only a small goodbye he put his plate on his lap, rolled over to the sink and placed the dish inside, and then rolled away to where I assume his room was. Then Persephone and I were alone. And I couldn’t look her in the eyes. I just stared at the hallway where Zagreus had been only a few moments before. Then I felt a hand on my hand. Surprised, I turned to see Persephone reaching across the small table with not anger in her eyes, but something else more compassionate.

“Reeves, we’ve only known each other for a little while, but I already know that I really really like you. More than I’ve liked a lot of people. I feel really close to you, and I’m excited every time I see you. But I feel like I don’t know you, and I want to know you. But I don’t think I can do this if you keep on hiding things from me. I haven’t pushed before because I know that certain things make you uncomfortable. But if we’re going to do this I want the truth.” 

“I…” I began to say, trailing off. What would I say? What could I say? I knew enough about the human world to know that they didn’t generally believe in magic or supernatural things very easily. And Persephone didn’t seem like the type to believe in this. So I… I would have to prove it to her. “I’m not exactly sure what I am, but I know this… I’m not exactly human.” 

“What do you mean?” Persephone asked, a look of confusion across her face. I pulled my hand away from her, closed my eyes. And thought. I could feel the space around me, and then off of my own body I added something. Wings, two dove like angel wings that sprouted out of my back and carefully extended to present them to Persephone. I opened my eyes to see a confused, shocked, maybe horrified expression on her face.

“I am not from this plane, this place exists in the third dimension, I’m from the fourth or fifth, I don’t know.” I said

“You- you have an- you have wings.” Persephone said breathlessly. I dismissed the wings and they dissipated from existence.

“I lived on the bus, just watching everything from a different plane.” 

“Wait wait wait, you’re not human?” 

“No, I’m not human.” I said, tears welling up in my eyes as I began to lose control of my emotions. 

“Then… what are you?” 

“I’m something? I don’t know what but I’m alive, and I wasn’t really alive or thinking until recently, maybe three months ago. But I’ve been around for a really long time. I don’t have a mom, or a dad, or siblings. I’m alone. And the first time I ever saw you I managed for the first time to manifest as a physical human. That’s why I ask so many questions, why I’m so guarded, why I say I don’t know a lot. I’m not a human and I don’t know anything and I'm alone.” I was fully sobbing and crying now, burying my face in my hands. How could she love me now that she knew what I was?

“Reeves, Reeves, you’re going to be ok, I promise.” Persephone said as I broke down. She wrapped her arms around me, putting her head down onto my shoulder. Why was she hugging me? I’d read several things on the internet where humans were terrified when encountering angels or things like me. The angels would say “be not afraid” and the humans would be terrified anyways. But this human didn’t seem terrified. My Persephone.

“Are you not scared of me?” I asked through sobs

“I’m not scared of you, I’m scared for you. Look, honestly I haven’t felt so deeply connected to someone in a long time, and maybe that’s unhealthy because I’ve only met you within the last month and a half, but I don’t care. You’re Reeves, you’re weird and you ask questions. You’re innocent and wonderful. You’re curious and loving, passionate about it too. And apparently you’re an angel. Which I’m still wrapping my head around. But you're an angel. And I think that’s ok.” 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be your perfect human.” I said through my sobs

“No, nobody is perfect, you don’t have to be a perfect anything.” 

“I don’t?” I asked, sniffing and wiping tears out of my eyes as my mind began to settle down.

“No, I feel that a lot of times society, human society, expects perfection, in body and mind. But the truth is that’s just an unhealthy expectation. Look, there’s a lot you have to learn. And I think that I would love to help you learn.” 

“You really think so?” 

“I do, I do really think so.”

Chapter 3

Things changed a lot. I really didn’t like how much it was changing. But I knew that this change was for the better. I mean I really really hope it was for the better. But this change involved now living with Persephone. And I didn’t mind that I suppose, but Zagreus did seem to mind. He asked me a lot of invasive questions and he wasn’t exactly rude but he was what Persephone called Passive aggressive. Although he was greatly impressed when I built a house out of his lego bricks one day. And in the two months I had been living with Persephone I had learned some things about Zagreus. Zagreus was disabled, hence the need for a wheelchair and those crutches that I saw earlier. Zagreus could walk but he needed assistance and he couldn’t do it for very long, so he opted for a wheelchair. He had something called Muscular dystrophy, and it disproportionately affected the muscles in his legs. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him at first, but then I learned that he was quite skilled at figuring out how to live with his mobility issues. Persephone's apartment was adjusted so Zagreus could comfortably use it. There wasn’t a lot of furniture, all the furniture was lower to the ground so he could use it easier, and the hallways and doorways were a little wider to accommodate his wheelchair. Although it made me think about how many places were not actually made for people with mobility problems. And that made me angry. But there wasn’t much I could do about it except whenever I was out and about with Persephone sometimes while nobody was looking I would use my abilities to adjust cracks in sidewalks, and turn small sets of stairs into ramps. I just wanted to help in any way I could. I did feel pretty good about what I had done when I saw an elderly person able to walk up the ramp without any help when walking by the same place at a later date. 

Although I thought that maybe doing something like that was selfish of me, because it made me feel good, and I wanted to continue feeling good, but also I didn’t want to be selfish. Persephone had to think about it for a bit but she told me that in some cases it was ok to be selfish as long as you weren't hurting anyone. But she didn’t say it like it was a rule. She said it like it was her own personal philosophy that she followed and that I could also follow if I wanted to. And I did want to. So I continued to make little small adjustments to places to make them just a little bit more accessible.

I also learned more about Persephone in those months. She was keeping track of the money kind of accountant and not the other kind I had researched. She worked for something called a law firm, and her boss’s name was foggy, although she called him Mr.Nelson. I’m not sure why that was important. But anyways, Persephone not only liked to dance, she would also participate in competitions from time to time. Nobody had ever seen fit to give her some kind of reward which made me unreasonably angry. But she didn’t seem to mind, she just liked to dance. And one day she invited me to a dance. It wasn't a competition but it was just like a waltz and swing event. Which are types of music. There was going to be a jazz band and they would play music and everyone would be dancing to it. It was a fundraiser for a LGBTQ organization. That’s another thing I learned about LGBTQ people. Apparently I was one, since I was a woman and I liked woman, I was what’s called a Lesbian. And Persephone was what’s called Bisexual. And there were SO MANY LABELS and it was so very fascinating and also difficult to learn about. And there was lots and lots of debate over having more or having less labels and I was of the school of thought of not caring how many there were and just respecting whatever people were. But in any case Persephone and I were going to go to this dance thing as a date. In all honesty that was one of the weirdest parts of all of this, we still went on dates like normal even though I was an angel. It felt wrong almost that she knew what I was but didn’t treat me any different. It honestly unnerved me a little. Although when I asked her she just said “you’re still you, why would I change how I treat you?” and that made sense but also at the same time I couldn’t understand exactly why. But I trusted that she was telling the truth. Life seemed perfect. And felt perfect. Although I didn’t need to eat or drink or sleep if I didn’t want to. So for Persephone’s sake I only ate once a week so she didn’t have to spend much more money. I tried to conjure up food with my abilities also but it didn’t ever taste right. And besides learning to cook was more fun than conjuring by far.

Other than that I’ve just been sleeping and hanging out with Persephone and Zagreus every day. And sometimes at night after work Persephone would dance with me. Teaching me how to waltz and how to jump up and around in rhythm to music. We were on the bottom floor so we didn’t have to worry about the noise of our feet bothering any neighbors. Although sometimes I would glance over and spot Zagreus looking at us dancing with a small amount of Jealousy. Persephone said that he couldn’t dance, and I don’t think that’s fair. But according to Persephone real life is hardly fair. He was already being treated, and there wasn’t anything more we could do. Although a few times Persephone did help him dance. Helping him to his feet and holding him up while he danced as much as he was able. Persephone was a good mom.

Then finally the day of the dance came, it was nearly three months I had been living with Persephone and Zagreus. Persephone was putting on her favorite dress while I made sure Zagreus wasn’t around and conjured myself into some clothes. I felt like wearing a dress to this event. And after seeing some movies and learning about classic dresses I wanted to wear one. So I conjured myself into a nineteen fifties dress, it was light blue and covered in big white polka dots. While my hair was all done up and curled to look like the same era. I even put some makeup on, the pale foundation, bright red lipstick, and a little beauty mark on my cheek. And then I stood patiently in the hallway waiting for Persephone to emerge. And my god she was beautiful. She was wearing a pastel pink dress that was covered in little strawberries and had little lace frilly bits at the sleeves, the V-neck, and the bottom edges.

“You look really pretty, and I like your makeup.” I said timidly

“Reeve's, it's been almost four months and you still get nervous when I’m all dressed up?” Persephone asked playfully, running her fingers along my arm gently, “you look beautiful too.” 

“I- i uh- wh- I” I sputtered, heat flushing my face as she flirted with me

“You’re adorable, come on, let’s go.” she said. Persephone gave Zagreus a kiss on the forehead and told the nanny a few things before her and I headed out. Persephone in the few months had managed to get her car fixed. It was this old car that she lovingly called a “rattle trap” and was just happy that it got her from point A to point B reliably, well semi reliably. The both of us got into the car, Persephone started it up and we were off. Persephone while driving out of the apartment complex parking lot turned some music on. Generally her and I didn’t really talk in the car, we just listened to music, Persephone kept her eyes on the road, and I watched the buildings pass by. Although today I just felt like looking at Persephone. Ever since I had attained this physical form, I had been struggling a little bit. I would get overwhelmed easily, upset easily, really I just felt fragile. Emotionally fragile. But I was learning how to cope. With Persephone's help I was finding coping mechanisms. Dancing, stimming, laying down for a bit, sometimes chewing on something. And I had this habit of when I was overstimulated or upset I would get really really spacey and distant and I would feel absolutely terrible. Sometimes Persephone would have to pull me out of it. But today felt nice, I loved how today felt. I was really happy. Actually instead of staring out the window looking at things I was watching Persephone. Watching her turn the wheel and watch carefully around. She was just really pretty.

“What are you looking at?” Persephone asked with a bright smile

“Just your face, I think it’s nice.” I replied, sighing a little as I looked at her

“I would be looking at your face right now if I wasn’t driving,” She responded, “I like your face too.” 

“Are you excited to dance?” I asked her

“I’m always excited to dance, are you ready to dance?” 

“I hope I remember everything you taught me.” 

“I’m sure you will.” Persephone said, turning into a parking lot. Conversation didn’t resume until we stepped out of the car and some nervousness began to creep into me and my hands started shaking a little bit. I really didn’t like the fact that anyone and everyone can see me whether I like it or not. For most of my life I was just not seen. I was the one always seeing others. And now being on the receiving end of that was making me really nervous. It felt like my throat closed up and my vision went almost dark around the edges. That was until Persephone took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. I snapped out of my own head just enough that I was able to make proper eye contact. 

“Do you need a moment?” Persephone asked me.

“No- no I’m fine.” I replied quickly, pulling my hand away from Persephone's embarrassed

“Reeves, I know you’re lying, I know you well enough. You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong but please don’t lie.” 

“I- everyone will be able to see me. Everyone. All those eyes can see this body and know that I’m there. It’s terrifying. So so terrifying. I thought being human would be easier than this. What if I forget the dance moves? What if I fall over? What if I step on someone's foot?” 

“There’s going to be people there, a crowd of people in fact. And even though most of them have eyes to see, or ears, or a mouth to gossip with. It won’t matter. When you’re a human, moments are fleeting. What was remembered in the moment, will be forgotten in time. And even if you make a mistake and someone here does remember what that mistake was, then that’s on them. It’s not on you, never will be. I know how it feels to have people staring at you, and it sucks, but just know they don’t have to have an effect on your life if you choose to not let them. And sometimes choosing to let them not affect you is difficult, and it requires work. But that work is worth it. Ok? Now I brought you something actually. Just in case you get stressed out, something to help you.”  

Persephone turned back and reached into the car. And then she pulled a box out of somewhere hidden and presented it to me. The box was covered in white polka dots on a blue background. Like my dress. And I just looked at it confused for a moment.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but what do I do with this box to help me at the dance?” I asked in a small voice

“Oh, it’s what’s inside of the box that’s important, you take the wrapping off and then open what’s inside of the box.” 

“Oh… what’s in the box?” 

“That’s the point of wrapping a gift cutie, you’re not supposed to know what’s inside until you open it.” 

“That’s… fascinating, so I open it now?” 

“Yes, you can open it.” 

I excitedly began to carefully open it, peeling the tape off of the sides and being very careful not to rip the paper. And when I unwrapped it fully I saw what it was. 

“A pair of noise canceling headphones?” I asked excitedly, “the ones that block out excess noise?” 

“What do you think noise canceling means?” Persephone asked with a bright smile, “I know you have some trouble when it comes to loud places, so I thought those might do you some good.” 

“Thank you!” I said, holding the packedge in one hand while wrapping my arms around Persephone. She stumbled a little bit before she returned the hug and laughed a little.

“Why don’t you try them on?” she asked me when I pulled away from the hug. 

I excitedly opened the box and meticulously read the short page of instructions before turning them on. When I did the purple headphones made a little noise and when I slipped them over my head, it got quiet. I didn’t even know there was noise out here. Some kind of ambient noise was just… gone. 

“How are they?” Persephone asked, her voice muffled by the headphones

“They’re amazing!” I said loudly, making persephone wince a little

“Don’t forget, your voice isn’t quiet for the rest of us.” Persephone said, taking my hand and pulling me forward

“Ok, I won’t forget.” I replied in a low voice. 

The dance palace as it was called was a beautiful place. It truly looked like a place fit for royalty. Dark hardwood floors, elaborate cushion chairs, golden railing that lead up stairs to balconies that overlook the dancefloor. And on one side of the dance floor, there was a mirror. Which made me feel a little concerned. I didn’t show up in reflections if I didn’t focus enough. It had gotten a lot easier but still, It made me a little nervous. And not only was the whole place full of beautiful art deco furniture and decor, it was full of people. All manner of people. Drag queens, couples like Persephone and I, big men in suits, big women in suits, and even elderly people, wearing their nice clothes that may have been just a little bit old as well. I wish I had the bravery to walk up to every single one of them and say just how good they looked. But that’s not what I was here to do, I was here to dance. So I held onto Persephone’s hand and followed her around, talking to people when she introduced me and just trying to blend into the background. Then finally, someone walked on stage. Someone with beautiful olive skin, sparkly dramatic makeup, and bigger hair than… a plane? I’m still trying to figure out figurative language. The queen was wearing a tight sparkly blue dress, and she walked up on stage, confidently striding up to the microphone in her sparkly blue heels that brought the room to attention as they clacked.

“Friends, Enemies, and those still to be decided, welcome to the third annual dance palace pride charity event!” the drag queen said, which made everyone cheer. I was thankful my headphones muffled it. “My name is Glimma Disaster Divine and I declare this party started!” with that walking out onto the stage from behind a curtain where people holding various instruments and wearing tuxedos with rainbow ties. And soon out of all the various brass horns and wood instruments music began to play, all at the behest of a furious conductor who did their job with the passion of a thunderstorm. And then people began to step out onto the dance floor, and dance to the waltz. 

“Let’s go!” Persephone said to me excitedly as she pulled me out onto the dance floor. And suddenly as we stepped out there among the crowd the music, muffled as it was to me, swept me up in its magic. And oh how magical it was. Even though Persephone was much shorter than me she was the one who led me in the dance, swaying me back and forth, leading me this way and that, twirling me every so often, it made me feel light as a feather when she did that. Although I did have to duck down quite a bit when she did twirl me. And then the music finished, we all clapped and then some lively swing music started. Suddenly we switched up dancing and now we were just jumping around to the beat of the music instead of just swaying. Persephone was still leading this dance, taking my hands, practically throwing me to and fro, making me spin, dip down, and jump around. It was a beautiful dance. And we just kept on dancing and dancing. Dancing the night away, taking breaks every now and again to catch our breath, grab snacks and a drink, talk to some people, and then we’d return to the dance floor. During our breaks I even got brave and talked to a few people. It was kinda nice, feeling like I was part of a community. It was just another one of the many human things that I enjoyed so much. Although a small part of me couldn’t help but feel strange when I talked to others, they didn’t know I wasn’t human. And for that I couldn’t help but feel like I was lying a little bit. But no matter, they didn’t have to know. And it didn’t matter, the air was nice, the music was playing, and it was perfect. Until it wasn’t exactly perfect. 

I was in the middle of a slow waltz with Persephone, going back and forth at the behest of the music and her direction. And that's when I heard a gasp from someone, I was only just barely able to hear it through the noise canceling headphones, but I heard it. I looked up to see someone behind Persephone staring at me with eyes  wide and face pale. Persephone noticed I was looking away, and when she looked up, something behind me seemed to catch her eye, and her own face drained of some color. I stopped dancing and looked behind me. It was the mirror wall. And terrifyingly instead of a lack of reflection like normal, there was something else entirely. It was my reflection, although it didn’t exactly look like this physical body. Only in the mirror did a halo of light appear around my head, casting light that only affected the world within the mirror, casting great long shadows across the dance floor. Two rings, covered in eyes, swirled around my reflections head, weaving in and out of each other as they spun and rotated, the eyes never blinking. Six massive wings spread out from my back, glowing and casting ambient light around the reflected room. My reflection was wearing white robes that flowed like water and looked like silk. And in the same moment as I was looking at it, it vanished. Now my reflection looked perfectly normal, and my own terrified face was looking back at me. I didn’t turn around to see who saw, I just looked in the mirror. And only one person seemed to have seen it. At least at first. But for some reason my eyes turned to the stage and in the band, there he was. This man, the one I had seen twice before, once in the bus, and second at the bar. He stood out just enough that I could see him, his black tie revealing him. I turned back to Persephone, she took my hand gently and said.

“Should we go?” 

I paused somewhat, thinking for a moment. “We should go.” I said quietly. Persephone pulled me along and I went with her as she did. We said a few quick goodbyes and we walked out the doors of the dance palace.

“What happened?” Persephone asked me once we were out in the parking lot that was devoid of people

“I- I don’t know! That’s never happened before, I don’t know how to- to- I don’t know.” I blithered 

“It’s ok, I think only one person saw it.” Persephone said, pulling the keyfob out of her purse and unlocking her car. 

“I’m sorry to inform you that I also saw it.” a voice said. I whipped around looking for what the voice might be. But I saw nobody. 

“Who’s there!” I shouted into the parking lot, my commanding voice echoing out in a way that was full of power. 

“Who I am is none of your concern.” the voice said, sounding like years of smoking and drinking bad coffee. I whipped around to see the man in the black suit sitting on top of Persephone's car, “but who you are is of everyone’s concern.” secrets and knowledge behind normal human comprehension seemed to rest behind his voice as casually as someone taking a nap on a couch.

“What do you want?” Persephone asked, stepping in front of me.

“I can’t disclose that, but I need the so-called Reeves for it.” the man responded, “although Reeves isn't your name, for thousands of years that hasn’t been your name.” the moment that the man said the word “name” he seemed to vanish, although it was like he was still there up until the moment that I heard him speaking behind me now. And then suddenly he was gone and behind me now. I turned around to see him casually leaning against someone else's car, using a sharp fingernail to pick his teeth. 

“What do you mean, my name is Reeves!” I shouted at him

“Hmmm,” the man said, wiping his fingernail on his pants, “you seem to think so, but Reeves is not who you are, just like an angel is not who I am.” 

“How do you know I’m an angel?” I asked shakily

“I know because I saw that mirror, I’ve been watching you for some time, and my suspicions weren’t confirmed until I saw your wings and angel rings.” 

“What are you?”

“It’s not your concern right now, right now, you need to remember who you are.” 

“And who might that be?” 

“Lucifer of course, only the most powerful and influential fallen angel, prince of darkness, beelzebub, I could go on of course.” 

“I- I’m no prince of darkness, my name is Reeves. I’m Reeves!” 

“You could keep on telling yourself that, but you can’t run from the truth, not like you ran away from your dad.” 

“I don’t have a dad!” 

“Ah, now there’s a little bit of the lucifer that I used to know, rejecting the big man upstairs with everything in you.” 

“But- then how did I end up just in a bus? I’m not Lucifer, I remember things, like this city being built up around me, the piece of metal scrap I was bound to be put in a scrapyard and then being made into that bus, I remember learning how to read, I remember learning about humans, I’m Reeves! I’m not some prince of darkness.” 

“But what happened before that scrap of metal?” 

“I… I don’t…I don’t know.” 

“I know what happened, you were preparing to wage war on your former brethren, ride into battle on a wave of demons and your own angelic grace, you were getting ready to kill Gabriel. And now we need you. We need you back Lucifer.” 

“No, I refuse, I don’t want any part of this.” 

“I was afraid it would come to this.” the man said with a sigh, “I give you sixty days, and at the end of those sixty days it will be time for you to decide if you want to come back. And if you decide you don’t want to come back, well that’s going to be unfortunate for you. You don’t wanna know what I’m going to do.” Then when the last notes of his voice left his mouth he vanished. I looked around for him, and he was gone, he had just vanished into thin air.

“Who was that?” Persephone asked, her voice shaking

“That was…” I began to say before trailing off because I knew his name. I hadn’t before but now I just knew what his name was. How in the world would I have known this? I’ve never met him before. Never in my life. But somehow his name rang in my head like a clear bell note. “That was Manus Dextra.” 

“Who- who’s Manus Dextra?” 

“I don’t know, we should go.”

“Ok.” Persephone said, opening the car. Her hands were shaking violently.

Chapter 4

Persephone and I decided that until the sixty days were up we would make the most of a normal sixty days before Manus Dextra was going to do whatever he was going to do. I had been worrying A LOT. looking out windows for him, leaning around corners, But no matter what I never saw Manus Dextra anywhere. My main concern was about Persephone. She was just a human. She wouldn’t be able to defend herself against a powerful Demon Like Manus Dextra. She would be eviscerated instantly if he wanted to kill her. So roughly halfway through the sixty days, I discovered how to bestow her power. I didn’t tell her, I don’t know why, It probably had something to do with me being the literal Devil and not everyone wants power from someone who was supposed to be so evil. But I have her power. Just a little bit, enough that she could run and hide if needed. I also Gave Zagreus power, for the same reason. But that was the most I could do, I only had another thirty days left. So a lot of times I would just be sitting anxiously, waiting for something to happen.

I woke up on day thirty, a twist in my gut as I thought about how it was halfway through what time I had Left with Persephone. Persephone and I when we discussed this decided that we would stay together no matter what. But I had decided that it would be better if I leave. She would be safer that way. But today, I was still with her. She was still safe. I opened my eyes to see she was curled up on her side, her big bundle of hair tucked away in a silk bonnet, fleece Pajamas covering her body. I wrapped my arms around her still sleeping form. She just mumbled something that I couldn’t make out and fell back asleep. I’m so lucky that I’m hers. She helped teach me, she helped take care of me. I should do something in return. I pulled away from the hug and got up out of bed. I should make breakfast. It’s the least I could do for her. Both her and Zagreus. I gently closed her door and padded as quietly as I could down the hallway and into the kitchen. Unexpectedly Zagreus was in the living room, quietly building legos. I hesitated for a moment. But I resumed my mission to make breakfast. He looked up at me as I walked past, a curious look on his face. 

“Good morning.” I said quietly

“What are you doing?” Zagreus asked, almost accusatory

“I’m… I’m going to make breakfast.” I replied

“I thought you didn’t know how to cook.” 

“Your mom has been teaching me, I’ve got this, do you know what you might want?” 

“Could you make pancakes?” 

“Yea, I think I can make pancakes,” I said turning to the kitchen and opening cabinets, “what kind of pancakes?” 

“Blueberry pancakes?” 

“Well if we have blueberries then yes.” 

“Mama bought blueberries last grocery trip.” 

“Then blueberry pancakes it is.” 

I pulled up a simple recipe on my phone, it involved bananas, baking soda and eggs as the only ingredients. Once I was done mashing together the ingredients I washed and sprinkled some blueberries into the batter. And I began to make the pancakes. Turning up the stove to medium heat, spreading some butter onto the pan, and just methodically cooking pancakes. They gave off a pleasant aroma, the cooking blueberries and the banana steaming up the kitchen with the smell. And I just kept on cooking and cooking, until all of the batter was gone. When I was done I had at least two dozen tea saucer sized pancakes. and as I was grabbing what Persephone called the “fixins” she walked out into the kitchen. 

“What's the occasion?” Persephone asked

“It’s saturday.” I replied, “how many pancakes do you want?” 

“I don’t do very well with gluten so no thank you, but I really appreciate it still.” 

“Well you don’t have to worry about gluten, there’s no gluten in these pancakes.” 

“Oh?” persephone said, pulling a chair out of the table and sitting down

“They’re banana pancakes, they're just baking soda, eggs, and bananas.” 

“Really?” 

“Really really, I figured it’s the least I could do.”

“Thank you Reeree.” she said. Her using the pet name for me sent a little thrill up my spine and a smile to my face. 

“You’re welcome.” I replied warmly, bringing the plate with the intimidating stack of pancakes to the table. Soon all three of us were having breakfast in the tranquil silence of the Saturday morning. I don’t want to boost my own ego but I was really enjoying these pancakes. It was the perfect morning. Although it wasn’t ruined, the nature of the morning changed when Zagreus spoke up and said something unexpected.

He pushed his half eaten plate of pancakes towards the center of the table and said, “Mama, Reeves. Can I come with you two when you go out?” 

There was silence for a moment as we digested what Zagreus said. Then Persephone responded with, “well honey, that’s mine and Reeves time, it’s like mama’s personal time.” 

“But mama, I… when will there be Zagreus and mama time? I always get left behind. Legos and dolls can’t talk back to me.” 

“Well…” Persephone began to say before trailing off and looking at me with concern in her eyes. I could tell she didn’t know how to respond. So I stepped up and started talking, not trying to dispense some kind of deep wisdom but instead trying to prompt some thoughts. “What do you think we can do to make sure you don’t feel left out?” I asked. 

“I just wanna go with you two.” He said with a little bit of sadness in his voice

“Well… persephone, I’m ok with him hanging out with us today, how do you feel?” 

“I- I mean sure, we didn’t have any plans yet, is there anything you want to do Tri?” 

“Can we go to the zoo?” Zagreus asked in a timid voice

“Zagreus, I would love to go to the zoo, but you know how hard it is for you to get around there.” 

“But what if it’s different this time?” he asked, “Maybe they put a ramp up to see the polar bears now.” 

“Honey, I don’t think-” 

“I think they did change it.” I said, cutting off Persephone, “and if they didn’t we can help him around.” 

“I-” Persephone began to say before Zagreus cut her off saying, “Please mom?” in an adorable little voice. 

“Well… ok, we’ll go to the zoo, go ahead and get ready.” 

A big beaming smile appeared on Zagreus's face. Forgetting about his pancakes he pulled out from the table and wheeled away like he was in a race. I was smiling too, it made me happy to see him happy. 

“Even with both of us helping he’s going to have a hard time getting around the zoo.” Persephone said annoyed, “every time he goes he gets really upset.” 

“He’s never been to the zoo with a guardian angel before.” I said, “I can make that whole zoo accessible, whatever a zoo may be.” 

“You never researched what a zoo was?” 

“No”

In short order the three of us were all dressed and ready to go to the zoo. Persephone was wearing a white blouse, a blue skirt, and a big ol floppy that protected her from the sun. While Zagreus was out of the room I conjured my own going out outfit on. I couldn’t think of anything to wear off the top of my head so instead I took inspiration from Persephone's outfit. I ended up wearing this beige khaki skirt that reached down to mid calf, and tucked into it was a fitting white button up shirt, and on my head was a sunhat like Persephones except it was a lot smaller than hers. Once we were dressed we waited out in the living room for Zagreus. And soon he emerged from his room wearing an adorable outfit. A green t-shirt with a t-rex on it, and cargo shorts. I would probably kill for the sake of this kid. 

“I’m all ready!” He said excitedly

“Alright then we’re on our way.” Persephone said. 

The whole way out to the car and the car-ride there I was bouncing with as much excitement as Zagreus. Persephone told me what a zoo was and I couldn’t believe it, a place to go and see hundreds of different kinds of animals? That sounded amazing. I needed to learn more about angels anyways. And this right here was just the correct opportunity to do so. Zagreus was also excited. He’d been to the zoo before but it had been bad experiences, but this time I convinced him that it would be good. Because it would be. Any stairs in our way would turn to ramp, any steep ramp would turn into a gentle slope. This would be the best zoo experience for Zagreus ever. And I would be damned if Zagreus didn’t have a good time. Although I was apparently already damned, if it was true that I was Lucifer I was like the most damned. But that didn’t matter. We were going to the zoo. 

The zoo was super crowded when we got there, it took us a good ten minutes to find a parking spot, and the entire time Zagreus was bouncing up and down with excitement. And when Persephone finally did park, I stepped out of the car and lept into action, pulling the folded wheelchair out of the trunk of the car and folding it out, while Persephone helped Zagreus out of the car. He had actually been doing better physically as of recently. With the help of his crutches he was able to walk for longer periods of time that he used to. It made me happy to see that he was doing better. I think that his physical therapy was working. But even so when he made it to the wheelchair he sat down gratefully. 

“Are you ready?” Persephone asked as Zagreus adjusted himself in his chair.

“I’m so ready!” he responded

“That’s nice to hear.” Persephone said. Before anything else could be said Zagreus began to wheel away as fast as he possibly could. It made me laugh a little bit. Persephone and I linked arms and began to walk after Zagreus. And the entrance to the Zoo was the first obstacle. It had one of those rotating things made out of three metal bars that people could walk through and it would count how many people were entering the zoo. And there was no way that Zagreus's wheelchair would make it through that.

“Oh man, are we gonna have to go through the back again?” Zagreus asked, looking back at Persephone and I.

“I don’t know baby, we might have to.” Persephone responded. 

Very quickly before Zagreus could look back I changed the structure of the Zoo entrance, adding on another counter, formulating how the mechanism would work in my mind, and then Conjuring it to sit in that place as if it had always been there.

“What about that over there?” I said after I was done. Zagreus looked over and his eyes lit up as he saw it. It was three rotating metal doors that were only two feet tall, with space inbetween the doors big enough for virtually any wheelchair. 

“What is that?” Zagreus asked

“It looks like a counter, but for wheelchairs.” I said. excitedly, Zagreus began to wheel as fast as he possibly could towards it. Persephone and I had to run to keep up with the little speed demon. And then he just sat in front of it waiting for us. It just made me smile. Nobody was there to take our tickets yet. 

“Hello?” Persephone said, trying to call someone

“Yes? Yes?” a worker asked as they ran over, “How can I help you?”

“There just wasn’t anyone to take our tickets over here.” 

“Oh, the entrance is over… oh, I didn’t know this was here.” he said, “uh, well can I see your tickets?” 

“Yes you can.” Persephone said, pulling out her phone. The worker scanned our tickets and let us in. My design worked perfectly. Zagreus was able to easily wheel his way through the rotating counter and come out on the other side, easily inside of the zoo. Persephone and I followed closely behind. There was just this amazing light in Zagreus's eyes as he was able to just be a normal kid and go to the zoo without any worry. And throughout the day I just kept on making sure there would be no hindrance to his fun. Making stairs wider and turning them into ramps, getting rid of strange bumps and aberrations in between concrete slabs, and making sure that Zagreus could wheel himself just about anywhere he wanted to go. It was worth it to see him smile at polar bears. While Zagreus was telling Persephone I heard someone Behind me. 

“Good to see you Lucy.” the voice said. I turned around to see a man with pale skin and rosy cheeks, freckles over his perfect nose and short spiky blonde hair.

“I’m sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong person, my name isn’t Lucy.” I said, about to turn back to Persephone and Zagreus

“No no, I’ve got the right person. I would recognize my brother from anywhere.” 

“I assure you, I’m not your brother.” I replied, standing up straight and squaring up with him. 

“You can stop playing coy with me Lucifer, I know who you are.” 

“Who are you?” I asked, ready to throw a punch with enough force to send him so skyhigh that his flesh would proceed his spirit in heaven.” 

“I’m Gabriel, your angelic brother.” 

“What?” I said, looking around, the sudden silence deafening. Everyone around me was frozen, unmoving, unblinking, birds were hanging in the sky as if hung by strings. Time wasnt’ moving.

“You know dad still wants you home, he really doesn’t appreciate this stunt.” 

“I don’t have a dad.” 

“You really gonna say that about yahweh?” 

“Because he’s not my dad, I’m not Lucifer, You’re not my brother.” 

“Look lucy, you’ve been reset somehow, you have the option to come back home right now, you can become an archangel again, a lot of us really miss you up there.” 

“No, I’m going to stay here, earth is my home. I’ve been here as long as I remember.” 

“You might as well have been serving oden!” gabriel shouted, storm clouds began to roll in, along with the crash of thunder, “do you know how disrespectful you’re being?” 

“I don’t care how disrespectful I’m being, you’re disrespecting me!” I shouted back, pushing Gabriel's storm back without flinching. Gabriel stumbled back a little but then redoubled his efforts. I didn’t let him advance a single inch. 

“Leave now, leave my home.” I said, my words echoing out from me, breaking the silence, and breaking the frozen time. The birds began to fly by again, the laughter and excitement of children resumed. Gabriel stumbled backwards and fell over, breathing hard, glints of sweat on his brow. His storm had all but vanished except for a few fluffy white clouds in the sky.

“Oh, ok, I see how it is, I will see you at the end brother.” with that Gabriel walked away, blending into the crowd of people

“Who was that?” Persephone asked me, walking up behind me. 

“That was Gabriel, an angel, he claimed to be my brother.” I replied to her, taking her hand

“Wait, the angel Gabriel?” 

“I don’t know who else he could be, that’s who he claimed to be.” 

“Well that's… should we go?”

“No, let’s stay until Zareus wants to leave.” 

“Ok, we’ll stay.” 

“Are you ok Reeves?” Zagreus asked. I turned to look at him. His excited expression was gone and replaced with this curiosity and concern. 

“I’m ok, I just saw my brother.” I replied

“Is your brother bad?” 

“I don’t think anyone is bad, but he’s not overly fond of me it would seem.” 

“Do you need a snack? Mama brought snacks.” 

“I think I would Love a snack Zagreus, in fact let's go sit somewhere and eat lunch.” 

“Ok!” he said excitedly

Chapter 5

By the time another twenty days had gone by the zoo felt like a distant memory. It felt like it happened in another life, when I was someone else. Now it was ten days until something would happen. Manus Dextrus would presumably come back and kill Persephone and Zagreus. That was terrifying. I didn’t want them to be taken away from me. And I hope that my protection will keep them safe. I sort of envisioned invisible angelic shields surrounding them. And I actually would sometimes see the shields in reflections. A semi transparent shimmering sphere made up of intertwined latin words. Sometimes words would help me form things. And I chose latin, mostly because it just felt right. I actually learned to speak latin, it wasn’t that hard. It actually seemed to come really naturally for me. It just proved to me further that I was probably actually Lucifer. Although I wasn’t that person anymore. I don’t even remember being that person. But evidently I had a brother, and a dad, and I was the head honcho of hell. But right now, I was just Reeves, Reeves Angel. And I wanted to protect my girlfriend. And that was all I could really do at this moment. And other than that I also had to deter other… beings from getting interested in us. Angelic beings, and demonic beings, although I noticed that both Ravens and Eagles had been watching too. Not interfering, but just watching, which was interesting. I could see that they were neither angelic or demonic, but something else entirely. Never mind that though, there were ten days until Manus Dextrus returned. And this was the start of Persephone and I both spending our days being riddled with anxieties due to a visit from a stranger.

Persephone and I returned late at night with Zagreus in tow. And when Persephone opened the door, we saw that the light was on. Which was weird. It was an automatic light. So something had been moving in here before we came in. Along with that unexplainable light there was also a smell, like rich perfumes made out of pine needles. Persephone and Zagreus didn’t say anything as I walked in first. Carefully creeping into the living room and looking around. At the table sat a man, a man in a suit. He had dark black hair that was slicked back behind him, he turned around to look at me with his intense green eyes as his pale pink lips parted for speech, the rosy color a stark contrast from his pale skin.

“It is my understanding that your name is Reeves?” the man asked, standing up from the table and pushing his chair in politely and adjusting his suit jacket, “By your awkward silence I’m assuming that it’s indeed a yes. I am Loki, and If you’re wondering, yes I am the Loki. I would like to discuss some things with you Reeves.” 

“What are you doing in my home?” I asked, walking forward slowly, a crash of thunder sounding from somewhere outside as rain began to pitter patter against the windows. 

“I don’t mean to be so intrusive, under other circumstances I would very much not be this forward. But I need to talk to you. 

“Go to your room honey, we’ll handle this, don’t call the police, I already have.” Persephone said, ushering Zagreus out of the room. He nervously wheeled to his room, glancing back at us nervously before his door closed.

“I would have rathered you didn’t call the police.” Loki said

“I didn't,” Persephone said, “I just want to ease his mind.” 

“Thank you for that, I’ve never been popular with children.” 

“I’m going to ask again, what are you doing in my home?” I growled

“Reeve’s, I’m here because the entire divine world has its eyes on you. I’m sure you’ve noticed Zeus's eagles and Odin's Ravens watching you.” 

“Why are they watching me? I just want to be left alone, with my family.” 

“And I understand that, But that’s hard to do when every pantheon under the sun is trying to get a slice of you. I understand that you don’t like it, however, you are in fact Lucifer. The fallen angel from the christian mythos, although in reality a lot of it isn’t exactly myth, same with the Greek gods and us norse gods, our mythos, is not really that.” 

“I never asked to be a god.” I said, “all I wanted was to be… someone, I just want to be left alone.” 

“I’m sorry but that won’t happen, Oden wants you, Zeus wants you, and it would seem that hell is trying to get you back too.” 

“Leave now.” I said, electricity arcing from lights behind me, casting a shadow on the ground in front of me as the lights flickered. One moment my shadow was just my human form, and then the next moment you could see the outline of my six wings, and the two rings encircling my head.

“I will leave, But I wanted to warn you, after sneaking past Oden’s, Zeus’s, Yahweh’s, and Manus Dextrus’s minions, that this is bad. It’s really really bad. It’s not safe for you Reeves, or your family. I know you’ve put protections around your house and you’ve lent power to your lover and her child. But I’m telling you it won't be enough. You need somewhere safe to go. If it’s an empty branch in yggdrasil or the moon itself, you need to get away. Your arrival has oden rambling about Ragnarok, the angels gossiping about the rapture, Quetzalcoatl has even been rumored to be preparing for war. I couldn’t live with myself if you never knew, I may be the god of trickery, and you have no reason to trust me, but I’m interested in keeping this world safe, because I’m an idiot who lives on this dumb rock. I apologize for the intrusion and I will now take my leave.” with a bow, loki vanished.

“Reeves… what was that?” Persephone asked, her voice shaking. 

“That was Loki, he wasn’t lying.” I said, “I’m so sorry, I should never have gotten you into all of this, If I had known I never would have… I should have just stayed on the bus.” tears began to fall out of my eyes as I spoke, the thunder outside stopped and the rain began to fall harder, “Now you’re in danger Zagreus is in danger, and apparently I’m ending the world somehow. I… I should leave.” 

“Reeve’s, I- I so so badly don’t want you to leave.” Persephone said, gently guiding me to sit down on the couch as I cried,” I’ve felt alive since you’ve been with me. For the first time since moving here, since I lost the last of my family. You being here has been the best thing that could have happened to me. And I don’t ever want you to regret it for a moment that You came into my life or that I came into your life. And now however much I hate the fact that you might need to leave, I agree. It’ll be safer for you, It’ll be safer for me and Zagreus. But it’s going to be really, really hard for all of us.” 

“I- I don’t want to.” I said through sobs, knowing that I would have to leave. For maybe half an hour I was on the couch crying with Persephone. At some point Zagreus came out, and there was a short conversation between him and Pesephone that I just couldn’t pay attention to. We were up until late in the evening before I stopped crying. I just felt like this pathetic little puddle of sadness as I lay there on the couch.

“I should tell Zagreus who I am.” I said quietly

“Ok then, wanna tell him now?” Persephone asked quietly

“Yea,” I said sitting up, “where is he?”

“I’m right here,” he said quietly. I looked over to see he was sitting by the couch, twiddling his thumbs and avoiding eye contact.

“Hey Zag, are you ok?” I asked sniffing

“No, this is all really scary.” He replied, his eyes were red and puffy as if he’d been crying too.

“I know Zag, I’m scared too, but I’m going to make sure you’re safe, you and your mom will always be safe as long as I’m alive.” 

“Really?” 

“Really really, now I have something to tell you, a secret I’ve been keeping. And I wanted to ask that you also keep the secret. Can you do that for me?” 

“I… I think I can do that.” 

“Thank you, well, my secret is… I’m an angel, I’m not human.” I said, I closed my eyes and manifested a pair of wings on my back, and as I opened my eyes I spread my wings outwards. Like a shooting star Zagreus’s eyes lit up. Wonder and confusion crossed his face as he looked at my wings. I let the wings vanish back into nothing 

“You’re an angel.” Zagreus said in aw. 

“I am, and I didn’t know I was an important angel until recently, and not a lot of other angels, and people are looking to me, expecting something to happen. And it’s putting you and your mom in danger, which is why I’ve decided to… to leave.” 

“No! You can’t leave! I don’t want you to.” Zagreus shouted, gripping the armrests of his wheelchair. 

“I know, I don’t want to leave either but it’s the safest thing for me to do.” 

“But- but.” 

“Zagreus I’ve left you and your mom with a little piece of me. It’s going to protect you, it’s going to protect this house, and I’m going to strengthen it before I go, so Loki and anyone like him can’t sneak in again.” as I was saying this I stood up, taking Persephone’s hand and kissing the back of it before letting go. And then I walked over to Zagreus, and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Hopefully those kisses would help protect them. I put my hand on the wall, speaking a string of latin under my breath. A dim gold energy radiated out from my hand and then dissipated into the wall. 

“There, that should be all better.” I said, turning back to Persephone and Zagreus, “I… I should go now.” 

“Just like that?” Persephone said, “don’t we have more time?” 

“We have ten days until Manus Dextrus comes back, but there’s nothing stopping whoever Zeus is from barging in here, unless I leave.” 

“Just… one more day, one more day please? I just… I can’t lose anyone else.” 

“I’m really sorry but for your own safety, I have to leave.” 

“I know, I know you have to go, but- just one more day? One more day?” 

“I-” I began to say before Zagreus cut me off shouting “One more day!” tears beginning to fall out of his own eyes.

“I-  ok… one more day. Just one more. But then I have to go.” 

“Well, let’s go to bed, so we can make the most of tomorrow.” Persephone said, her voice warbling. 

“Can- can I sleep with you guys tonight?” Zagreus asked.

“Yes sir, yes you can.” 

I walked to Persephone and took her hand, gently pulling her to her feet. Holding her hand tightly. Without saying anything I began to pull Persephone towards her room, her feet didn’t exactly seem to be working correctly, she just seemed weak right now. To be honest I felt physically weak too, my knees were shaking. Zagreus followed close behind, the wheels of his chair nearly silently moving across the carpet. Zagreus went back to his room to change, I went to the bathroom, and Persephone to her own room. I conjured some soft fleece pajamas onto my body and stepped out to wait in the hallway, and I didn’t have to wait long. Zagreus came out of his room, he was wearing ugly camo sweatpants and a t-rex shirt. We just looked at each other silently for a moment. Then he asked, “if you’re an angel, can you make me better?” 

“I… I wish I knew how, human bodies are complicated and if I tried to fix it, I would just end up hurting you more.” I said, kneeling down to be eye level with him. 

“Oh, ok.” He said disappointed as tears began to form on his eyes

“I’m sorry Zag, I really wish I could make it better.” 

“And now you’re going to leave forever!” he said bursting into tears.

“No, it won’t be forever, I’m going to do everything I can to make it safe for me to be around you two, ok? I just need you guys to be safe while I figure it out.” 

“You promise you’ll come back?” 

“I promise on my wings.” I said. It was at that moment that Persephone walked out of her room. I looked up at her. She’d been crying a lot. Her eyes were puffy.

“Let’s go to bed.” I said. The three of us managed to clamber into the queen sized bed together, Zagreus in between Persephone and I, and we all to varying degrees, fell asleep.

***

The next day we woke up early, none of us had really gotten any proper sleep. Me because I was partially monitoring the house for intruders while being half asleep, and probably Persephone and Zag because they were anxious. But nonetheless they got up and got ready. Persephone put on a sundress covered in pink flowers, I put on the dress that I wore on Persephone and I’s first date, the black dress covered in sunflowers. Persephone walked out wearing her cute pink overalls over a white t-shirt, her hair up in two fluffy buns. Zagreus was wearing a graphic T-shirt and some shorts. Somehow as we all congregated in the living room, silence like a slowly crumbling gravestone seemed to fall over the room. Nobody seemed to have anything to say. Not until Zag spoke up. 

“Where do we want to go?” He asked, twiddling his thumbs the way he does when he’s anxious.

“I… I don’t know.” Persephone responded, her voice sounding sort of hollow as if I had already left, leaving a hole behind good for nothing other than bouncing noise around.

“Let’s go to all the places that are significant?” I suggested, trying to fill the room back with some energy, “we can stop by the Crows House, We can get coffee, Zag can get a pastry, then we can go to the Zoo, we could go to the mall too, lot’s of things.” 

“Let’s stop by the Crow’s house and go from there.” Persephone responded. She walked forward and took my arm, holding onto it tightly, as if her grip on my arm would keep me here. I wish it would.

The car ride to the Crows house was silent. There was no music, no conversation, just silence. As we rode on by various houses and then stores I thought to myself. Where would I go? Where on the earth could I go that would be far enough away from them so they could be safe? So that the earth could be safe. I muttered a few words in latin, casually waving my hand a little, it was just something to help cloak us from prying eyes. But as I did so I looked up at the sky, and even as the morning sun began to rise further and further over the land I spotted it in the distance of the sky. The moon, just hanging there, pale and quiet. There. That’s where I would go. I’m not sure if I could survive in space, although I hardly need to eat, or breathe to survive, I just need to shift my form enough so I don’t explode. That was as good a plan as any.

“Did you say something?” Persephone asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, yea, I did,” I replied, “I just put some cloaking over us, it’ll make it pretty hard for anyone to find us.” 

“I didn’t know you could cast spells.” 

“Well It’s not really magic in the way that humans think of it, It’s more like… angelic power, focused through words.” 

“That sounds like magic to me, Reeree.” Persephone said. Her using the pet name again made me smile, spreading some warmth in my chest.

“I suppose it does.” I replied, turning and looking out the window again.

Soon we made it to the crow house, and in short order we were all outside at one of the ceramic mosaic tables and enjoying some coffee. I actually liked coffee now, it was bitter and horrible and I loved it. Although it was a little difficult to enjoy at the moment. Even Zagreus was only just nibbling at his pastry, he usually loved anything sweet and made of bread. But very quickly the treat went cold as he put it down, his head tilted downward and his eyes unfocused as he stared at nothing. I sensed that I should say or do something. So I put my hand on Zagreus’s shoulder and said, “I know how much this hurts, and I know how much you don’t want the end of this day to come, but please, don’t think of the end of the day, it’s not here yet anyway,  I want to celebrate, celebrate how wonderful my life has been with you two. Yes there will be time to grieve, but not now. I know how hard human emotions are to reign, but I ask that you do your best, ok Zag?” I said that as much for Zag as I said it for Persephone. And I knew she got my message just fine when a sad smile crossed her face and she sighed.

“I can do that.” Zagreus said, “I’m big and strong, I’m gonna be eleven soon. And eleven year olds are strong.”

“You are always strong Zag, always always, no matter how old you are.” I said, rubbing his back a little, “I heard you mention that your birthday is soon, and since i won’t be able to attend, how about we celebrate part of your birthday early? As long as mom is ok with it.” 

“I’m ok with that.” Persephone said quietly

“Where do you wanna go, Zag?” I asked

“Can… Can we go to the arcade?” He asked

“Of course we can.” I replied.

Zagreus ate the rest of his pastry and the three of us went off to the arcade. It wasn’t that far and when we got there Zagreus was smiling again, some energy in his arms as he rolled his wheelchair down the sidewalk to the arcade, making Persephone and I have to jog to keep up with him. We were all laughing merrily when we got to the doors. They had been somewhat able to push the inevitable end of the day out of their minds, although not completely, Persephone still held onto me with a grip that made me want to cry. But I stayed strong. As we walked into the arcade I produced a giant ziplock bag of quarters that I just conjured out of the air and we began to play. Zagreus was having the time of his life, a lot of the arcade cabinets were made to be a little low to the ground, so He had no trouble at all reaching any of the controls. Although there were some games that weren't the most accessible, I didn’t know how they worked well enough to be able to make them better so I left them alone, there were already plenty of games here. It wasn’t just Zag who played though, all three of us would take turns playing, and laughing, watching each other be bad or good at whatever game it was. As It turned out I was really good at skeeball. I got us a good number of tickets that way. Zagreus was really good at this strange space game where you had to time a shot perfectly so it would go in between all the spaceships orbiting the mothership. He actually got the jackpot of that game once. Then Persephone just really liked playing one of the wheel spin games, depending on where the arrow landed on the spinning wheel it would give us a certain amount of tickets. And by the time that the bag of quarters was empty we had a whole mountain of tickets ready to spend on whatever Zagreus wanted.

We made our way to the prize counter, and standing behind it was a kindly old man with pale skin and wispy white hair. He had a mustache that twirled at the ends and nearly covered his mouth, giving the illusion that when he talked it was just noise being produced out of a mustache. “Oh my it looks like the winnings have been good today.” the old man said, looking over the glasses that rested on his hooked nose, “I’ll take those and count them for you.” We handed over our tickets and the kind man fed them into a machine, and the number just kept on going up and up and up. At the end we had a total of 5097 tickets.

“It seems that you three got a few jackpots today, so, what are you thinking about getting?” the kindly old man asked

“There’s just so much stuff.” Zagreus said, looking up at the intimidating wall of trinkets and things behind the counter

“You can have anything you can afford.” Persephone said to Zag with a smile as she rubbed his shoulder. 

“Take as much time as you need.” the man said smiling, almost knowingly as if he knew this was a hard day for all of us. Eventually Zagreus chose a stuffed unicorn. It had big round eyes, and was pink and fuzzy all over. And the remainder of the tickets were spent on little pieces of candy. We left the arcade laughing and generally feeling light and happy, although the bitter taste of what was to come still hung in the back of my mind, especially when I looked up and saw how high in the sky the sun was. But I tried to push it out of my mind as we resumed our day, touring the mall and then watching a movie. Time almost seemed to creep by slowly, as if something were caught in the gears of time. But then at the same time, when I thought back on everything that had happened today, it felt like it had gone by too quickly. And as the sun went down, and the mall closed. I said, “let’s go home.” to which I was met with sad faces.

The car ride back home was just as and if not more somber than the first car ride this morning. Silence ruled here, like a cruel king who wanted to tourcher our poor souls. And the anxiety and grief only increased when Persephone parked and the engine turned off. Giving way to nothingness. I silently got out of the car, Helped Zagreus into his wheelchair, and we were off. Up the sidewalk, through the lobby, and too Persehpones apartment. And when she unlocked the door, and opened it, I think we all reached a breaking point. A choked sob escaped Persephone's throat as she closed the door and tears began to spill forth from her, little spheres of glistening water like captured moonlight fell down her face.

“I don’t want you to go.” She said, her voice not sounding hollow, but instead sounding like it was full of nothing but pain and grief.

“I know.” I respond, wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my head on her shoulder, “but I have to go.” I said, my voice warbling as tears began to fall out of my own eyes, “I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to the two of you.” 

“Can’t you just stay? Just one more day?” Persephone asked me desperately as she gripped onto me, her nails digging into my back.

“Then the next day, It’s going to be the next day, and then I’ll never leave. It’s going to be easier this way.” I said in a low somber tone. The next thing I knew I felt two little arms wrap around my hips, squeezing me desperately. I looked down to see Zagreus, out of his chair, standing and leaning on me heavily for support as his legs wobbled beneath him. And we stayed like that for an eternity that was far too short. I disengaged from the hug and gently Helped Zagreus sit down in his chair. 

“So this is goodbye?” Persephone asked, her voice bareilly audible as we stood apart, looking at each other.

“Not forever,” I replied, “I’ll be back, I promise, I don’t know when, but I’ll be back once it’s safe.” 

“You promise me? You have to promise.” 

“I promise.”

“Good,” she said as she walked forward. Taking my hands, “I’ll wait for you.” 

“I know you will, I’m sorry I’m going to make you wait.”

“Then you better hurry.” she said, leaning in. for a moment I let myself indulge, But I stopped before I kissed her, and gently put my fingers on her lips. 

“If you do that, I won’t ever leave.” I said quietly. I wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “Goodbye.” hesitantly at first I began turning away. God this hurt. Persephone and Zagreus left my eyesight, and I walked out the door, closing the door behind me. And I stood there for a moment, and in a grief induced panic I began to run. I Ran as fast as I could, and then I began to go faster, and faster, inhumanly so. The moment I stepped out of the building wings sprouted out of my back and I leapt into the air and began flying. Maybe a mile from the ground I broke the sound barrier and a shockwave pushed the clouds away from me as I launched away. As the air got thinner and thinner I changed, the air left my lungs and body as I expelled it out. And then I wasn’t on earth anymore. I was in the cold reaches of space. Almost immediately my human muscles began to freeze up and stop working, but I just changed my muscles to me made like steel and I continued my journey to the moon. Going up and up and up, the moon was in my sight, hanging there, incredibly far away, although I was going incredibly fast. In the span of maybe ten minutes I made it, tears seeped out of my eyes, boiling in the vacuum of space. I didn’t bother slowing myself down. I just hit the moon at full force. There was a massive explosion of dust and rock as my body touched down, creating a new crater in the moon. And then I just lay there, not breathing, not moving, I don’t even think that my heart was beating, not that I needed it to live. But even so I still continued to cry, my tears boiling away into nothing in the moon's thin atmosphere.

As I lay there on the light side of the moon, the unfiltered rays of the sun capable of killing most things did nothing to me as I wept. My wings folded around me in a cocoon as I tried to bring myself down, as I tried to reason and think clearly in any capacity. But I couldn’t, and I lost control of myself. My first thought was of how my heart was broken, and without willing it so I physically felt my heart break into shrapnel, spears of deep red glass pierced through my skin and came out of my chest, looking like a cluster of gemstones. I cried out in pain, but no noise could physically be heard. I desperately tried to push the shards of my heart back in but as I did so my form began to change to one that was a little bit more true to what I actually was. My two wings where joined by four more as my human form gave way to my angelic one, six rings covered in eyes encircling each other, accompanied by six wings that were attached to nothing but where still part of me, and in the center of the rings was the shattered ruby of my heart that had once had six sides, but was now a homogeneous mess of splinters and pain. And there I was, wrestling with myself on the moon, my own mind and body betraying what I wanted. And that is where I stayed. Over time, the pain subsided, but it still throbbed. I was able to think again, although not rationally. It felt like actual months had gone by since I landed here, and they very well may have. And for the first time I looked about. The gray stone of the moon surrounded me. Blank and unstaring and unwanting. Part of me was envious of the stone, it had no heart, no worries, nothing. It just simply was, it just simply sat there. Asking for nothing, and giving nothing. My focus shifted from the rocks around me to the sky above me. And there it was, the earth. Just sitting there looking so tiny when it was so far away. It was lonely up here.

“Hello?” I called out. Not with a mouth or producing any noise, simply the will of my energy that I sent out, “Is anyone there?” there was no response. So I was alone, well and truly alone. That was good in some capacity, at least Persephone and Zagreus were safe.

“Hello.” I heard someone call out suddenly. I could see her, a woman with human form, she was wearing a toga that billowed around her, unrestricted by the rules of gravity. She had olive skin, and hair that shone like starlight. And on her back she bore a silver bow, strung with what I could only describe as a beam of moonlight.

“Who are you?” she asked me, her mouth not moving, but her voice reverberating in my mind.

“I’m… I’m Reeves, some call me… I- I don’t want to say it.” I said back.

“Ah, I see, you don’t have to say your other name, I know who you are.” 

“How do you know me?” 

“I don’t know you but I know of you.” The woman said as she sat down on a large rock gracefully, “I was on a hunt in Scandinavia recently, beautiful this time of year, and I noticed one of Odin's ravens spying on me. So I captured it and interrogated it, until it confessed it was looking for a woman, an angel, and had instead run into me.” 

“Who are you?” I asked her, floating before her in my angelic form

“My name is Artemis.” She said, “I’m a god, from Greece, although many people across the world worship me.” 

“Why are you here?” I asked her

“Because this is my domain. The moon is my home.”

“I… I’m sorry for intruding on your home” I said, “I’ll leave.” 

“No, no, don’t go, It gets quite lonely here, I wouldn’t mind having someone for a bit, especially one as fascinating as you are.” 

“Thank you, I’m homeless at the moment.” 

“Well, you could go back to hell, could you not? You are the lord of hell.” 

“I don’t know, I don’t remember a lot past… one hundred years ago or so? And even then I wasn't really alive until six months ago.”

“That is fascinating, tell me then if you are not lord of hell, what are you?”

“I’m… I just want to be Reeves. I want to live without fear with my girlfriend, I don’t want to be lord of hell, or be enemies with my brother, or have a father who cast me out of heaven. I just want to be Reeves. That’s it.” 

“And why can’t you just be Reeves?” 

“Too many factions want my power, to have control over me, Odin and Zeus are both watching me, Manus Dextrus gave me an ultimatum and threatened me, Gabriel tried to intimidate me into going to a place that’s not my home, I’m just… It was safer for me to leave, where Manus Dextrus, Gabriel, and any other god could find me. Other than you I suppose.” 

“That's… that’s quite a lot.” Artemis said, looking down at the ground thoughtfully, “have you tried killing Manus Dextrus as a start?” 

“Why would I kill someone?” I practically shouted aghast

“It’s either you or them,” Artemis replied, “you’re just trying to live, and a whole bunch of people have pulled you into this, it’s not your fault that you might need to kill them, although I could just be old and be stuck in my ways.” 

“I don’t want to murder anyone.” I replied softly

“Well, even if you don’t want to, you might have to.” 

“Then after that? I can’t just kill every god ever.” 

“Well no I suppose, I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to help you.” 

“That’s ok, I’m just glad I’m not alone right now.” As I began to calm down I was able to return to a somewhat human form, I had arms, legs, and a torso, but instead of a head a smaller more manageable version of my angelic form rested above an empty neck. Artemis just sat on the rock, crossing her legs gracefully as she watched me. I sat down on the floor, the gray stone surface of the moon cold against my bare skin, or maybe it was hot? It was difficult to tell. I was tired, very tired. For months I’d been using so much of my power without much other than normal human rest. 

“Artemis, may I rest for a time?” I asked

“Stay as long as you like dear, do you want me to wake you up at a certain time?” 

“No, I will finish my rest soon.”

“Ok then, may you rest easy knowing that I won’t allow any other to enter my domain.” 

“Thank you very much.” I said, my many many eyes closing , the last thing I saw was earth. And I began to rest, although not in the way that humans do. It’s something difficult to describe in language. But I observed earth without eyes for a few months. Even from so far away I could see it, demons, angels, gods, and all manner of mythical beings swarming over the earth in seeming excitement, worry, and sometimes both. But I didn’t care about all of that. Even as memories began to return to me. Not all of them, just some. Being cast out of heaven, creating my own realm that humans call hell, fighting my brother gabriel because my father didn’t want to interfere for some reason. But most importantly I remember why I lost all of my memories. It was my own choice. My own father disowned me for wanting autonomy, he made a new son to replace me and “save the world” from someone who didn’t even want to take over the world, he even blamed all of the world's problems on me, he claimed I was the one tempting everyone to be evil. And I finally got tired of it. 

After the second world war, my image was secured. And whenever you’re a divine being, your image is everything. It’s the very culmination of your being. You become what humans see you as. So my domain became what people thought it was, a place of evil where sinners are punished, and it almost made me what they thought I was. I could feel myself becoming bitter and angry at the world, I could feel myself wanting to become ruler of earth. But that wasn’t me, I was losing myself and my autonomy. It was exactly what my father wanted. So I took executive action before I changed completely. So I came to earth, and in a junkyard outside of Los Angeles I bound myself to some metal. A twisted metal cross in fact. And as my final act before completely binding myself to the metal was erasing my memory. I wanted to start over as a clean slate. And I did. I don’t know why my memory returned now, but before any more memories returned I stopped them. I just let them slip through my fingers. I didn’t want them. I wasn’t lucifer anymore. I was Reeves. And I only wanted to be Reeves. If I killed Manus Dextrus now, it would just be me returning to that, returning to who I once was. Maybe I could strike a deal with him. He had been searching for me, and thankfully leaving Persephone and Zagreus alone. Although I only know that because he hasn’t been looking in Los Angeles. I was too terrified to look and see how Persephone was doing. But now it was time, now I had a plan. I opened my many eyes and beheld the earth for the first time in months with physical eyes.

“Ah, you’re up.” Artemis said, “it’s been nearly a year you know?” 

“I know.” I replied quietly, “But I know what I’m to do now.” 

“And what might that be?” 

“I’m going to negotiate with Manus Dextrus, I just… I have a feeling that we might be able to come to an agreement.” 

“Are you sure? You do know he’s been searching for you, and he’s been searching for your… consort and her child.” 

“He can’t find them, they’re hidden, try looking for them.” 

“No, I believe you, even if I wanted to search for them it would take a long time, I don’t have heimdall's eyes.”

“Well , in any case, I’m leaving. And I thank you for your hospitality. If not for this place, I wouldn’t be as I am now.” 

“You’re welcome Reeves.” 

I turned away from Artemis, my angelic head vanishing and being replaced by Reeve’s head, my head. And I donned the dress I had been wearing when I left. The black dress with sunflowers dotted all over it. And for a moment I hesitated.

“Why do you hesitate?” Artemis asked

“I… what if when I see her again she hates me, and she’s mad?” I said 

“then it is what it is, you know what you have to do.” Artemis responded, “Now go, do what you need to do.” 

I smiled at her one last time, and I jumped, and in moments I was moving faster than humanly possible away from the moon. Not even stirring dust or cracking the stone as I flew towards earth, my wings sprouting out of my back, propelling me forwards. In seconds I made it to earth. And I began to slow down, covering my body with my wings as I entered the atmosphere. The oxygen burning against my wings, but not hurting me. The atmosphere slowed me down and I opened up my wings and I began to fly, until I landed in the middle of nowhere mojave desert. I brushed the dust off of my shoulders once the dust cleared. My hair fell around my face gracefully. I could already tell many people already knew of my arrival. I could just sense it. Like a surge of attention just swept across the world. But I was only interested in one person's attention. Manus Dextrus’s attention. In fact I summoned him. And he came, appearing in front of me in a pillar of red flame. He tried to keep his composure about him but he was obviously rattled by the sudden summoning. 

“I thought you had perhaps vanished again, master. ” Manus Dextrus said, the word master was used with just the right inflection to insinuate disdain and made it evident he thought he was better than me. 

“I’m not your master.” I said, “I came here to negotiate.” 

“There isn’t much negotiating to do, if you don’t return to your post as lord of hell there will be consequences.” 

“You won’t be able to punish me if you can’t find them.” I said. He was obviously frustrated with that. I could tell by the sudden twitch of his eye and twist of his facial muscles into a grimace.

“So… what do you propose then?” he asked, gritting his teeth

“I propose, you leave me alone, you continue to run hell, you become satan. And I can be left alone as Reeves.”

“Oh, that’s a much better deal than what the old man had.” 

“The old man?” 

“Your dad, he said he’d make me an angel, in fact he promised me he’d make me an angel, if I reinstated lucifer as king of hell.” 

“Oh… well I can’t say I’m surprised.” 

“So, I think we have a deal.” Manus Dextrus said, “you hand over the title of king of hell Lucifer morningstar, and I leave you alone.” 

I put my hand out to him and said, “deal.” with a smile on my face, the life I wanted was in reach. He reached out and took my hand shaking it, “deal.” He responded with a slight sinister tone, although that was just what demons sounded like. 

“I bestow upon you Manus Dextrus the title of Lucifer morning star, lord of hell.” 

“Thank you very much.” Manus Dextrus said with a smile, red electricity rippled over Manus Dextrus’s body, and for a moment his eyes glowed red as his new power and status settled over him. And with that I also felt slightly emptied as I lost that status, and I felt lighter for having lost it.

“This is some of the best news.” the new Lucifer said, looking at his own unchanged hands, “and now that I, Lucifer morningstar, is reinstated as lord of hell, I call upon Yahweh, the god who never breaks a promise to fulfill the one he made to me.” 

“Wait, what?” I said, just as a blue bolt of lightning hit New Lucifer. I was momentarily blinded and buffeted back across the sand. But when I looked back I saw that New Lucifer was now hovering over the desert, six wings behind him, six rings covered in eyes rotating around his head, and in his chest there was a red glow, from a red heart. And in the same moment as I noticed all of that, the angelic form vanished and it was just him, just Lucifer, standing across from me. Wearing the same black suit as he had when I first met him.

“Congratulations.” I said somewhat sincerely, brushing sand out of my hair

“You really are stupid huh?” he asked me as he stepped forward, “you may have given me the title, and I may be an angel now, but I still don't have your power. So it’s time for me to take it for myself.” and before I could react he launched forward with a knife and stabbed me in the stomach. Golden blood spurted out of my stomach and covered the knife with three edges. It wasn’t a normal knife. I could feel it killing me, the energy in the knife ripping into me and pulling me apart, keeping me from transforming or healing myself. I took a wild swing with my fist and launched New Lucifer back hundred of feet, he took the knife with him. And as the knife left my body even more gold blood spurted out onto the desert sand. As I began to stumble a little, New Lucifer got to his feet and began to run towards me. Without thinking I opened up a rift in space behind me and I tumbled into it, just before New Lucifer was able to stab me. I appeared over Los Angeles, in my haste I didn’t properly place the rift. I hadn’t even known this was something I could do. But now as the sun set I fell into an alleyway. Hitting my head on a fire escape and then breaking a few ribs as I landed in a dumpster, my side hitting its rim. I had to find her, I had to get to her. I could feel her close by, she was still in the same apartment. With a mighty heave I pulled myself out of the dumpster and landed on my knees. I vomited out bile, the pain making me dizzy and nauseous.

I got to my feet, wiped my mouth, and I began to stumble out of the alleyway. A butterfly soaked in my golden blood fell out of the widening hole in my stomach. The butterflies I always thought were in human stomachs. Never thought my own perception would make that true for my own body. But now was not the time to ponder this. I had to make it to her. I opened the door into the complex, the door opening like it was an old friend. I stumbled down the hallway. My golden blood dripped down my legs and onto the wooden floor. And then I came to her door. I could feel where she was, sitting at the table. And I pounded on her door. I could hear her. And then the door opened, I was already leaning heavily against the door so it flew open when it came unlatched. And I collapsed to the floor on her doorstep. 

“Oh god! Reeves?” Persephone shouted. She turned me over onto my back and I beheld her face for the first time in a long time. Her hair was shorter than it had been before, there were well worn worry lines on her face now, more worry than I’d ever seen when I was around. 

“I- I need to get to the bus, bus 14.” I said through gasping breaths, dying butterflies trying to flap their wings as they fell out of my stomach. 

“What?” Persephone said, “wh- h-” 

“There's no time- I’m dying.” I said, coughing, my body was beginning to fall apart, the hole opened wider, and I coughed up blood out of my mouth. 

“Uh- uh, Zagreus! Stay here! Don’t open the door for anyone!” Persephone picked me up, putting her arms under my armpits. Pulling me up to my feet and supporting me. I shambeled down the hallway, Persephone keeping me upright. 

“You’re gonna be ok, we’re gonna get you to a hospital, ok? You’re going to be fine.” 

“No,” I groaned as we stepped out into the parking lot, “I- I don’t have human parts, the bus, I- I need the bus.” 

“What’s on the bus!” Persephone shouted hysterically

“I’m bound to it- to its metal, I- I can deconstruct myself, then come back alive.” I groaned as she opened the passenger door and put me inside. Any normal human would be dead by now, my insides were turning into soup. Without further questioning Persephone got into the driver's seat, tears streaming down her face as she started the car. As we rode down the street, Persephone running red lights and taking wild corners, I sent up a silent prayer to Artemis as the moon began to shine down onto the now dark Los Angeles. 

“Can you let your moonlight guide us, one last favor, I promise to visit.” I pleaded  in prayer. 

“Of course Reeves.” a divine whisper came back in my mind. Through bleary eyes I looked into the road, a beam of moonlight shone down on the road making the black asphalt look almost like silver. Undoubtedly one of Artemis’s arrows showing the path. 

“Follow the moonlight.” I said, my breath coming up short as if my lungs were shrinking, they very well may be.

“F- follow it? Ok, stay with me, just stay with me please, please!” Persephone shouted. I don’t know if it was Artemis's magic or Persephone’s driving, but at some point we stopped, the sound of sirens singing in my ears as I died. But I held on, I held on for her, and for a chance to be me. The hole in my stomach was wide, embers were coming up from the edges of the expanding wound as more of my golden blood began to pour out and pain throbbed throughout my whole body. It was safe to say I couldn’t stand any longer. Suddenly the passenger side door opened and Persephone scooped me up, picking me up seemingly effortlessly. 

“Here it is, you’re gonna be ok, you’re gonna be just fine, the bus is just here, it’s really close.” Persephone said quickly. I couldn’t move anymore. I could barely open my eyes anymore. But I kept them half lidded to watch Persephone. Her face tearstained, and breath panicked.

“I- I really love you.” I said quietly as my vision began to go dark. I was placed down on a hard metal surface, but I was unable to think, all I felt was the burning pain of my wound. And I blacked out. Dead. Next I opened my eyes. I was in a black void, and before me, a woman radiating light the color of rose petals, her hair long and flowing, her features elegant and beautiful. And it was obvious she was a Greek god.

“Who… where’s Persephone?” I asked, confusion gripping me, I didn’t understand if I was dead, or alive, all I knew is I wanted Persephone. I missed her terribly.

“Well… my name is Persephone, although I hardly think that’s who you’re looking for.” the goddess said, her voice sounded like soft clouds drifting over my ears.

“You… you’re not my Persephone.” I said panic beginning to take hold

“No, I’m not, but I think you ought to see your Persephone again. This is one of the greatest love stories I’ve ever witnessed. It's a crime to see it stop now, so, you’re getting a second chance at life, and this time I think, you won’t be bound to that bus.” 

“I- thank you.” I said, my mind returning to me, “I don’t know what to say.” 

“Thank you would be a nice start.” The goddess of love said with a smile. She waved her hand at me and there was a bright flash of light and a sensation like being launched through space at light speed. Stars and planets whizzed past me until I ended up on earth, and was thrust back into my corpse, just moments after I had died. The moment I entered my body all of the pain of the wound returned, and with a new vigor, I evaporated my form. Turning into glistening moats of golden starlight that floated up around my Persephone, she looked up in amazement and horror. I thought for a moment, and I reformed my body, wearing the same dress, with the same hair and face, and perfectly healthy. I stumbled for a moment as I re entered the physical world. I held onto one of the bus’s many poles, ment for supporting passengers.

“Oh, oh my gods!” Persephone shouted, getting up and throwing herself at me. I caught her in my arms and held her tight as she cried. 

“You were gone!” Persephone sobbed, “your heart stopped!” 

“It’s ok, it’s ok, I’m here now, I’m ok.” I said gently, running my fingers through her hair. I would have loved nothing more than to stay there with her safe in my arms for a long while. But the whooping sirens and flashing red and blue lights said otherwise. 

“Come out of the bus, with your hands in the air!” I heard someone shout over a loudspeaker

“You should sit down,” I said to Persephone gently, “I’m going to take care of this ok?” 

Persephone silently nodded as I set her down on one of the bus’s benches. I took in a deep breath of the cool night air, I felt refreshed, and hopeful. I stepped through the bus and to the entrance, Persephone must have torn it open somehow. I looked around to see we were at the bus depot, the place where all of the bus’s sat for the night before the following morning. Before me a crowd of policemen pointed their guns at me. Police cars were parked anywhere they would fit as well, flashing their lights incessantly. 

“Get down on the ground now!” one of the policemen shouted through a loudspeaker.

“No,” I said back casually, “I want you to forget we were ever here, in fact, forget all about ever seeing this face, or her face.” I watched as the faces of all of the policemen changed. This confusion washing over them. They put their guns away, got into their various cars, and eventually they all drove off. Leaving the bus depot dark. 

“Are we safe?” Persephone asked behind me

“Very safe.” I replied, turning to look at her. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face was twisted with worry, and tears stained her cheeks. I gently wiped some of them from her cheeks and began to speak. 

“I never should have left. It’s something the old me would have done, something Lucifer would have done. But I’m not Lucifer, not anymore. I’m Reeves, and I’m here to stay. I can’t imagine how awful it must have been. It won’t ever be the same again. Not after this. But all I ask is that we can start anew. Fighting whatever challenges come ahead together. I humbly ask, or at least I hope I do, that you forgive me.” tears were now falling out of my own eyes as I looked into Persephone’s Beautiful Hazel eyes. 

“Of course you dummy.” Persephone said, nearly choking on her words as she gently put her hands on the side of my face “I’ve missed you a lot.”

“As have I.” I replied, “I… I feel compelled to give you a kiss?”

“I… I also feel the same compelling feeling.” Persephone said somewhat awkwardly, “I’m sorry, I… I’m scatterbrained, I can’t really speak as well as you right now.” 

“That’s ok, you don’t have to talk.” I said, “although is that a yes to wanting a kiss?” 

“Yes.” Persephone replied, a smile spreading across her face for the first time since I came back.”  I leaned into her and she leaned into me. And she gave me a kiss, right on the lips. I kissed her back. It was only for a moment, but it was a wonderful moment, and I could have hoped for nothing more, nothing less.

“Would you like to go home?” I asked her

“I’m exhausted, and Zag is all alone!” Persephone said, some panic beginning to set into her voice, “Oh I hope he’s ok.” 

“Let’s fly home then.” I said

“What about the car?” Persephone asked. 

“I’ve got some angel magic for that.” I said. I winked at her and snapped. The car vanished into moats of light that swam through the air until they hovered above my hand. 

“I’ve got the car here.” 

“Then… then let’s go.” Persephone said with a laugh and the last of her tears. I stepped outside of the bus with her, holding her hand as she stepped off of the bus. I manifested two wings behind me and with gentle flaps of my wings I began to ascend, pulling persephone along. Persephone wasn’t really being carried by me as much as she began to float and fly herself and I was merely directing her. I could see a rush of thrill cross her face as we left the ground behind and as I lifted her upwards, holding her hand. Then I put my arms around her waist and with a few mighty flaps of my wings we were on our way, over the sparkling city, buildings going by beneath us as we dashed over rooftops. The flight felt like it lasted hours while at the same time felt like it was far too short. As we flew over the apartment complex I snapped my fingers and the ball of light went flying down towards the parking lot where it reformed into a car, in Persephone’s parking spot. I landed out front of the door to the building with her, setting her down gently on her feet then landing myself, my wings disappearing as I got my footing. Without any dilly dallying Persephone and we quickly went inside the building and to her apartment. Persephone fumbled with her keys for a moment, unlocking the door. And when we got inside Zagreus was already there at the door, perhaps he’d been there the whole time. When he saw me he burst into tears and actually stood up out of his wheelchair, I caught him before he fell and carried him into the living room. Consoling him, and apologizing. 

“He missed you.” Persephone said to me as she wheeled his chair nearby where I was sitting and holding Zagreus.

“I know, and I never should have left.” I said to him Gently

“Promise me you’ll never leave again!” he said through sobs

“I promise.” I said to him, “I promise on my wings.”

Chapter 6 

Three years later

 Persephone and I, after a lot of discussion and deliberation, have decided to have a kid together. Zagreus had been hinting at it for a little while that he wanted a little sibling. Apparently when he was a lot younger he wanted a little sibling just so terribly bad. And now he’d be getting one. Although it was terrifying. I don’t know what would happen with a half angel half human baby. It was a little bit of a mystery. But it was a risk that we were willing to take. It had been Decided between the two of us that I would be the one getting pregnant. That was a very terrifying thought. Me? Pregnant? A whole life just growing inside of me? I mean if I really wanted to I could just make a baby appear in my hands. But that wasn’t the same as being pregnant, it wasn’t the same as actually growing a baby inside of me. But it would happen. And the Day that Persephone and I decided it would happen was exciting and terrifying. With a dash of angel magic, and a process I won’t go into in depth, it happened. I was pregnant. I almost expected to feel different right away but that didn’t happen. At least not for a few weeks. There were a few mornings where I felt nauseous and another morning where I actually threw up. That was morning sickness. Along with a few other bodily things that are far too embarrassing to speak about here. Even though I was one hundred percent certain I still took a pregnancy test. And it confirmed. I was pregnant. When Zagreus got home from school that day we surprised him. Giving him a T-shirt in a bag that said world's best big brother. It was the funniest thing in the world to see him puzzle it out. He pulled the shirt out of the gift bag and read it out to us. 

“World's best big brother?” he said confused, adjusting his glasses, “But I’m not a big brother? Wait…” He said, his eyes going big as he began to realize it. “Are… are you?” he said pointing at his mom.

“Come on, finish your sentence.” Persephone said beaming.

“Are you pregnant?” He asked Persephone

“No, but someone here is.” Persephone said smiling and looking over to me. 

“Oh… my… GOSH!” Zagreus screeched with excitement, flapping his hands and bouncing up and down, “you- y- your- I’m gonna be a big brother!” He shouted. 

“Yes, you’re going to be a big brother.” I said beaming. He rolled over to the couch where we were sitting and pushed himself up out of his wheelchair and flopped down on the couch next to me, giving me a hug. 

“Congratulations Mama!” he said, squirming with excitement

“Mama? Am I Mama now?” I asked, beginning to tear up

“Well, my mom is mom, and you’re my mama, you’ve earned the title I think.” he said. That made me cry a little as I embraced him back. Then as Zagreus was sitting back up he looked behind me at Persehphone and let out a gasp. “What? What is it?” I asked as I turned to see Persephone, holding an open ring box out to me. I just froze as I stared at the emerald and silver ring.

“I’m not gonna lie, the first year I knew you was rough, and it’s taken some time to heal from everything that happened. But now we’ve healed, we’ve learned, and we’re a stronger family than ever. And I think that it’s time. Well I want it to be time. And before you say anything, I want to let you know you can say no, this ring isn’t going anywhere, and I’m not going anywhere. I will always love you the same, married or not.” 

“Yes of course!” I squealed, throwing my arms around Persephone and showering her with kisses as I squirmed  with excitement. I couldn’t ask for a better wife.

The wedding wasn’t difficult to plan. Persephone had already saved money to buy all the necessities, and we didn’t have many friends to worry about. Although we did have some… divine friends who were given invitations. And on the day of the wedding, I was sweating. It was nerve racking, not because I invited Artemis and the goddess Persephone, but because I invited Gabriel. I’d seen him a few times since I’d come back. He’d sought me out a few times and updated me on what was happening with the new Lucifer and the war between heaven and hell. But it isn't updating me like he wanted me to join or intervene. It was more like he just needed someone to talk and vent to. And I let him do it. He seemed like he needed it. And he was my brother, and even if he had been a prick to me, I loved him still. And I welcomed a repaired relationship with him. We did grow up together after all. So there I was, in my dressing room, a few months after the proposal, about to get married. I was fussing over my appearance. Persephone insisted that she wanted to buy me a wedding dress instead of me just magicing one on. It was a beautiful silk dress, and it had been a pain to get into, especially now that I had a slight baby bump. But as expected Persepone’s taste was impeccable and the dress was amazing. 

Zagreus was Persepone’s best man, while I had no best man or lady. It was just me, alone in the room, until Zagreus would come get me and tell me it was time to walk the isle. So there I nervously stood, admiring my baby bump in the mirror, when I heard a gentle knock at the door. I immediately knew it wasn’t Zagreus. He would have knocked in a rhythm to a recognizable tune. But this was just two short taps on the door. I carefully stepped across the floor, my dress flowing around me, and I opened the door. And standing there, wearing a black and white suit, was Gabriel. Blue eyes, flop of golden hair neatly combed to the side, and angel wing golden cuff links.

“I… was at first perplexed by the invitation.” Gabriel started, “I didn’t understand why you would want me here, and to be frank I still don’t know why you want me here. But the more and more I pondered the letter, the more that I thought to myself, I wanted to be here. Dad didn’t want me to be here, no other angel wanted me to be here, and there was no pressure of politeness to be here. It was me who wanted to be here. It dawned on me that I have a sister whom I care for, and I should be there for her no matter what. So here I am.” 

I stood there for a moment, looking up at my brother, thinking about growing up with him. Well as much growing as angels can do. The both of us were just made and sent out to be angels. But even back then under the command of Yahweh the two of us were thick as thieves, making jokes, having fun playing games that humans had made, and chasing each other in heavens forests as woodland creatures.

“You have no idea how much that means to me.” I said to him softly, tears beginning to form in my eyes, “thank you for coming.” 

“Would you mind if I step inside?” He asked

“No, no I don’t mind.” I said. He came in and stood in the corner politely, looking around the room. I sat down carefully in a chair, my back hurting a little and some exhaustion wrapping around me.

“Are you ok? You seem somewhat tired.” Gabriel asked

“I’m ok.” I replied, “setting up the wedding and also being pregnant is just a little exhausting.”

“Oh, you’re pregnant?” Gabriel asked surprised

“What did you think this was? A donut belly?” I asked jokingly

“Well no- I uh- I just.” Gabriel sputtered

“Gabriel, I’m joking with you, I know you’re nervous, but calm down, I promise I won't bite.” 

“You used to bite when we were younger.” Gabriel said, a small smile on his face, “you always enjoyed being a fox while I was a rabbit, and when you tagged me you would just bite me.” 

“Well foxes don’t really have the best reach with their hands.” I said beginning to laugh 

“Well that’s why I suggested you be a racoon, a racoon has hands that reach, and you wouldn’t have to bite me.” 

“But I didn’t want to be a raccoon.” I said, the good memories filling me with joy and washed away any of the anxiety I had, “and besides, you couldn’t feel pain, it didn’t hurt you at all.” 

“Yes I suppose that’s true,” Gabriel said, “that’s actually something I was curious about, I wanted to know why you decide to… feel human pain, and human exhaustion.” 

“Well… I suppose it’s just part of the experience, it’s part of being human. And I enjoy being human.” 

“Really?” He asked, “Even when you get period cramps, when your back hurts, when you get cuts and bruises, you really love all of it?” 

“I don’t love all of it, it hurts and feels bad a lot of times. But it’s only momentary, it’s only fleeting. And it just reminds me that I’m human, it reminds me that I’m me.”

“But you’re not human.” He said

“No… and I won’t ever be human, but I’m human where it counts you know?” 

“I… I think I understand.” Gabriel said, “Now, I wanted to ask one final question.” 

“Go on ahead.” I said, taking a sip of water

“It’s tradition here in america that when a woman gets married, their father walks them down the aisle, however, given that this is a Lesbian wedding, and it’s unconventional, and you don’t have anyone to walk you down the aisle, I was wondering if I could walk you down instead.” 

I was once again at a loss of words for a moment. But then I said, “yes, I would be happy to have you walk me down the aisle.” 

“Then it’s settled, I’ll walk you down, who should I inform?” he asked. And as if talkign about it summoned him, there was a knock on the door once again, this time it was in a rhythmic tune. Zagreus had arrived. Gabriel politely opened the door to reveal Zagreus. He was wearing a little tuxedo that made him look quite dapper, and his wheelchair was just as decorated as he was. Covered in white ribbons and with a few rainbow flags dotted around the back of it.

“Ok there are ten minutes until…” Zagrus began to say before he trailed off when he sawa Gabriel, “who’s that.” He asked, staring up as Gabrial wide eyed.

“Zagreus, this is my brother, Gabriel, and I was just about to come get you actually, could you tell your mom that Gabriel is going to walk me down the aisle? And tell her I’ll explain everything later.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Zagreus said stiffly as if he were a soldier, “I’ll be back to tell you when it’s your que.” with that he wheeled away as if the devil were chasing him and Gabriel gently closed the door. His hand was just resting on the doorknob as he stared at it. 

“This is… nerve wracking.” He said in a breathy voice

“Why are you nervous? You’ve done much more nerve wracking things.” I said to him, 

“Somehow, looking like this, the way he made me, feels inauthentic somehow.” He said, “I was supposedly made to be a certain way, made to be the perfect little obedient angel. But now that I've been… well he would say tainted, I’m different than he made me. I’m me now. Or at least I can decide to be me now. It’s all very confusing. All this to say that the way I look, and the way I was made to act, is inauthentic to who I am. Does this make sense?” 

“It does make sense, and if you feel inauthentic while walking me down the aisle, why did you want to in the first place?” 

“I mean… well- I don’t know, I guess I was hoping you would help me become more authentic.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I just need some time to change into myself.” 

“Well you’ve got only a few minutes to do it if you’re going to do so.” 

“Reeves, I can stop time, I’ve got all the time I need.” 

“Then, why not go and do it?” 

“Because… it’s embarrassing, and the moment I do it, father will cast me out.” 

“To me it seems like being cast out by dad is a secondary concern, I promise there’s no judgment from anyone here, we’ve got greek gods attending today, they’re pretty accepting, and all of the humans attending today are wonderful people as well. I promise you don’t have to have fear.” 

“Ok then, I… I’ve had a form in mind for quite some time.” 

“Then you really have been thinking about this for quite some time then?” 

“Yes… I’ve managed to keep it a secret from father, you know how he gets into some of the angels minds.” 

“Show me then, if you’re willing.” I said quietly

Gabriel took a deep breath, and this shimmer appeared around him as he closed his eyes. He shrunk somewhat, losing that somewhat intimidating height that he had, his hair changed from blonde to this hazelnut color and it grew into a pixie cut around his face, his sharp masculine features faded and were replaced by soft, round, and somewhat feminine features, although he still had broad. His tuxedo changed around him as well, turning into a beautiful flowing black dress, extenuating some curves that hadn't been there previously. The shimmering vanished and there he stood, looking completely different, although I could still tell it was him. 

“What do I call you now?” I asked gently, “I somehow doubt you’re a man now.” 

“Gabriella?” she said, her voice sounding like the wind whispering through an elegant forest, “and yes, I do think I’m a woman now, but that may be liable to change as I figure this all out.” 

I stood up and walked over to her, my beautiful sister. 

“I’m so happy for you.” I said, wrapping my arms around her. She stiffened like a board at physical contact. 

“What are you doing?” she asked me a little bit of panic in her voice

“It’s called a hug dummy, it's how a lot of humans show affection.” I replied

“This is… acceptable.” she said, relaxing somewhat. I released her from the hug, keeping my hands on her arms as I looked at her with a smile, she was smiling too, some tears in her eyes. 

“Are you ok? I asked her

“I am, I’m just happy, I think that some new… human emotions come with this new human form.”  she replied, a tear coming down her cheek as she smiled looking at me, “look at you! You’re so beautiful, you’ve come so far since we first came to be.” 

“You’ve come really far as well.” I said to her, The two of us then sat and waited for the time to come and it did very quickly. A gentle knock came to the door in the rhythm to the first few notes of “here comes the bride”. I got up from my seat, smoothed my dress out, and opened the door to see Zagreus.

“It’s your que, and your bro…” he trailed off for a moment before I intervened and said , “My sister, Gabriella, just so you know she's the same person you met earlier”

“I won’t question it.” He said, “but you gotta get going, the music is playing!” I paused for a moment to listen and indeed there was melodic music playing. 

“Well then let’s go.” I said, I took Gabriella's hand and pulled her to her feet, walking out into the hall behind Zagreus. Gabriella was surprised at first but then became more surefooted as she walked besides me. I linked my left arm with her right and walked down the warmly lit hall in the direction of the music. My excitement began to rise as well as a small sense of anxiety. This was one of the biggest days of my life, being married! I don’t assume a lot will change after we’re married other than we were going to be wifes. But even if there wasn’t anything on the line I was still anxious and excited. I mean how could I not be? I was marrying Persephone, the most wonderful woman in the world. She forgave me for all I did and all I was and let me start anew with her. But as I beheld the wooden doors pulled wide open for me and I heard the beautiful piano playing its melody to the whole venue. There were more people than I expected here actually. Nearly all of Persephone’s friends were sitting in their finest attire and looked back to see me, arm in arm with Gabriella. Glimma Disaster DIvine was behind the piano, wearing a blue satin dress and going to town on the piano, looking dramatic and energetic as ever. Among the people sitting in the pews were a few people I knew, the little lady who used to drive the bus Bridget, we became fast friends not long after I got back, and even that couple I helped those years ago by turning into a cat showed up, John and Constantina were their names. But among the crowd were a few of my godly friends. Artemis was standing with her charcoal gray dress falling around her gracefully, and and embroidered bow and arrow sitting on her shoulder. If it wasn’t already so bright in there she would have been radiating moonlight all around. Although next to her was her brother, Apollo, wearing a ridiculous golden suit, and making the venue just a little bit hotter with his divine presence. Behind them nearly at the back of the crowd, if you could call it a crowd, was Loki, wearing a tight black dress and black lipstick, it would appear Loki was a woman at the moment. Because of her the smell of pine needles permeated the venue, filling my nose, and calming my senses. The venue had been decorated beautifully, I had wanted it to be a surprise for me, and Persephone obliged. Pink and white garlands of flowers were strung around the rafters. And beautiful ribbons seemed to cover absolutely everything. 

Zagreus began to roll forward, picking up a bucket of flower petals and spreading them across the aisle as I walked down to see her. She was beautiful. Persephone looked perfect, her hair in a beautiful puffy cloud, adorned with pink flowers, accompanied by her dress that matched mine, except for the pale pink details that covered it. With wobbly legs I made my way down the aisle, Gabriella making sure I stayed firmly on my feet. Persephone looked just as breathless and nervous as me as Gabriella deposited me face to face with Persehpone. And just as I made it, the final notes of the dramatic ballad rang out and the room was left in silence as Persephone and I stood face to face, Zagreus behind her, and Gabriella behind me. In a dramatic swirl of rose petals that came out of seemingly nowhere making the crowd gasp, the one officiating the wedding appeared. The goddess of love herself, and the name sake of my wife to be, Persephone, although she insisted I call her Kore to avoid confusion. 

“Everyone please be seated.” Kore said, without protest everyone sat down. I could hear my own nervous breath in the silence as the attendees waited in anticipation. Kore began to speak, slowly and methodically, reciting what she had written some time ago in preparation for this wedding. But I wasn’t registering what she was saying, I was just losing myself in Persephone's eyes, as she smiled at me seemingly uncontrollably. Before long Kore snapped me out of my daze when I heard her say “now, the brides will be reciting their vows to one another.” In a very practiced manner Persephone took a piece of paper out of her pocket, and began to read from it, although she didn’t stop looking at me, I know she didn’t really need the piece of paper present for this.

“Over the course of human history, billions upon billions of words have been written,” Persephone began, her voice strong and confident, “many of those words have been dedicated to lovers, in the form of songs and sonnets, among other mediums. I am no writer, I cannot compose songs, or make sonnets rhyme in any way that sounds proper, but I do know this. I promise you Reeves, I will be the best wife I can be to you.” By the end of her short speech she was choking up and beginning to tear up. I was barely able to hold it together. I took Persepone’s hands in mine and began to speak, my voice nervous at first but gaining strength as I went on.

“From the day we started dating, I knew you were something special. With your impeccable style and gentle voice. You’re just so unapologetically human, and true to yourself. You are unafraid to communicate what you need, you’re not afraid to tell me if I’m doing something to make you feel bad, and your bravery is something to be admired. Not just by me but by everyone in this room.” a tear was rolling down my face at this point as I looked into her hazel eyes as my emotions washed over me.

“Period!” Glimma Disaster Divine shouted out from behind the piano, breaking up some of my nervousness and sending a quite rippling laugh across the pews. 

“You’re so strong Persephone,” I continued,  “for a long time you were a single mom, you moved across the country, and you took a chance on me, even when I messed up. You’re brave, beautiful, and capable, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world, or any other world for that matter.” 

“That… that was beautiful.” kore said, a few sniffles audible from the pews. “Do you, Reeves Angel, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Kore continued

“I do.” I said, wiping my tears away and smiling

“And do you, Persephone Davina, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Kore said

“I do.” Persephone answered

“Well, with that out of the way, I pronounce you two, wifes. You two may kiss.” 

Without anymore dilly dallying or hesitation Persephone pulled me in and kissed me on the mouth to uproarious applause and cheering from everyone.

***

 The reception was a lot of fun, well it was a lot more fun once I was given earplugs to manage my sound sensitivity. Persephone and I of course danced. Persephone and Zagrius danced, and then Gabriella and I both danced. And all of it was to slow beautiful ballads played by Glimma Disaster DIvine behind a piano, her mascara running down her face. She had been crying. Then everyone was invited onto the dance floor as Apollo of all people took to being th DJ. I wasn’t friends with Apollo really but Apollo tore up that DJ booth. Persephone and I sat next to each other, just completely infatuated with each other. Not only was I drinking mocktails and eating, but Persephone and I were opening gifts from the guests. There were new plates, dishware, and other cookware, but some of the more… exciting gifts were from the gods that were in attendance. Loki gifted us daggers that could easily be concealed in most clothing as she put it, Artemis gifted us fabric made out of moonlight to use how we wish, she told us it would protect from any stab wound. And then Apollo gave us music, and I suspect that all the music in the form of vinyls, tapes, and CD’s most of which I suspect were made by him, but music from the god of music wasn’t really that bad a deal. He then said he would have the vinyl, tape, and CD player shipped to our house later. Persephone was a little skeptical of how gaudy the record player might be, but the worry soon left our minds as the reception went on. Speeches were made, and seemingly all too quickly, the night came to an end. Gabriella had fallen asleep in her chair, and her face was so rosy I suspected she had a very… intense first experience with alcohol like I did. But there was someone there who she’d made friends with, their name was Chartreuse, one of Persephone’s friends whom we trusted very much. Before leaving the reception I gave Gabriella a gentle kiss on the cheek. I was really glad she’d been here for me. And then Persephone and I left, stepping into our new life together.

Chapter 7

It was the ninth month of my pregnancy, and when I woke up in the morning I just could feel that this pregnancy was coming to an end. And no it wasn’t some mothers intuition, I could feel the baby, they’d moved down further, sort of resting on my hips, and I was beginning to feel some faint contractions. Oh dear, this was happening. Oh my gods, I was going to be having a baby very soon. I gently woke Persephone up. She was up pretty quickly, her anxiety had been mounting with how close the due date was. 

“Ree, what is it?” she asked bleary eyed as she sat up

“Darling I think I’m going to have this baby, very soon.” I said in a calm voice

“WHAT!” Persephone yelled, now fully awake, a mixture of excitement and horror. 

“Yes… my body feels-” and before I could say anything more my water broke. This led to twelve of the most grueling pain filled hours of my life. Being stabbed by New Lucifer four years ago didn’t hurt this bad. But Persephone was there for me the whole time, holding mountains of supplies in bags she brought to the hospital once the contractions really began to ramp up. She even brought a jar of pickles. I've loved pickles to death for the past few months. Sometimes in between contractions I’d be able to eat a thing or two. Zagreus was there too, although more in spirit than anything else. He stayed in the other room along with everyone else that had arrived in support. Of course Glimma Disaster Divine was here, although when out of her persona her name was just Dave, and at some point Artemis arrived, she’d become something of a family friend since the wedding. Persephone told me that she also left at some point saying she was going to find us an elk to eat? I didn’t really have the mental capacity to be wondering why Artemis would be finding me an elk because I was delivering a baby. And at ten PM I did. I delivered a baby. I’ll skip over all of the gross details just to say that she was healthy, a little bit bigger than average size, and she was absolutely perfect, she was shaped like a potato, and she had beautiful dark skin with occasional patches of white. Also not to mention I bawled my eyes out when the doctors handed her to me. Persephone was also crying with joy when she beheld our daughter, although I wasn’t crying just because our daughter was perfect, I was crying because everything hurt and I was tired and hungry. There was barely a moment's rest after Persephone helped me get modest and Artemis burst into the hospital room, surprising the doctors when she shouted as if her blood was pure adrenaline “Where is the child!?” while still in her full hunting gear, a quiver full of arrows on her back, animal fur covering her body, a bow strung with moonlight over her shoulder, and I think there was some animal blood on her hands.

“Nuh uh.” Persephone said authoritatively, 'You're not touching my baby without changing into normal clothes first.” The doctors were all frightened and confused at the sight of Artemis's lunar radiance while Persephone didn’t even flinch at it.

“But I must give her a blessing.” Artemis argued

“Are your hands clean?” 

“Well no-” 

“Then you aint holding the damn baby? Go clean yourself up and then we can talk.” 

“I- uh- ok then.” Artemis said, clearly befuddled after being told off by a mortal woman. She turned around and walked out of the room, the doors closing behind her.

“Can I just… Can I just rest with Rosemary for a while?” I said quietly to Persephone, “Visitors might be too much.” 

“Rosemary?” Persephone asked, “You want to name her Rosemary?” 

“We can figure out the finer details later.” I said, waving my hand at Persephone, “I just, I need a nap.” 

“Well… ok then, you and Rose rest then, she’s had just as long of a day as you have.” 

“So you do want to name her rosemary?” I asked

“I haven’t agreed to anything yet.” Persephone said to me as she walked out to give everyone the good news. I just held onto rosemary, closing my human eyes and looking at her with my angelic ones. She was indeed human. Perhaps something more even. Something combining the better parts of angel and human. But I didn’t care much whether she was an angel or a human. It only mattered that she was my daughter. And she was beautiful and perfect, even though she was the shape of a potato. But from what I know most babies were born looking like potatoes. After a short nap, disturbed only by the swaddled Rosemerrys wails when she became hungry, we were able to leave. There was a brief visit with some of the gods and goddesses and Persepone’s friends who came to the hospital, everyone cooed and smiled at the baby for a few moments. And after that, Persephone and Zagreus helped me to the car. And once everyone including Rosemary was strapped into the car, we drove off.

***

The next few weeks were full of baby check ups, eating a lot of refrigerated casseroles that friends dropped off, receiving gifts from gods that rosemary definitely couldn’t use until she was older, and many sleepless nights because of the crying baby. Some gifts included a set of toddler sized knives from Loki, an unidentified bottle of alcohol from Kore that was specifically for Rosemary. It was enchanted so only Rosemary could open it, and Persephone and I both tried very hard to open the bottle. Not even angel magic could open that bottle, so Persephone and I decided to put the dusty green bottle away until she was much much older. That is if we could save it for that long. Other than that Rosemary was a perfectly normal baby despite being half angel. She cried, she pooped, she pee’d, she even threw up perfectly normally. It wasn’t really what I expected being a mother. There was the occasional cute moment and of course I loved her more than anything. But it really was just a lot of work. But it was a labor of love I suppose. I really did love her a lot. Persephone did too. She actually got mad at me after a few weeks because I was just pushing myself so hard to take care of Rosemary. She heavily insisted that I pass off the duty of taking care of her for at least half the time. It took a lot off of my shoulders. Gave me just a little bit more alone time, it was something I really appreciated. Zagreus even would take care of the baby sometimes. It was everything I could have ever wanted really. I have a wife, two kids, friends, I just get to be… me. I get to be me forever. And Rosemary would get to be herself forever, and I would love her for whoever she was going to be.

The end