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Emily was beautiful. She was like silk robes shining in light, casting an array of beautiful colors.
Her smile, her joy. She was the ideal representation of what Heaven should be.
Lute knows this. Oh, how she knows this.
Emily’s perfection is why no one could ever be good enough for Heaven. Even Winners didn’t truly deserve to be here in Lute’s opinion. Emily is pure. Sinless.
“You’re staring again,” Adam whispered to Lute.
“Shit..” she whispered, ripping her eyes away from Emily. The court was going to start in about 30 minutes, so everyone was getting into their positions.
“I still can’t believe you like her. She’s like cotton candy incarnate. Isn’t she too much like Lucifer’s bitch daughter?”
Lute cast Adam a sharp glare. “Don’t you ever compare Emily to that hellspawn! She… is perfect.”
Emily looked over in their direction and smiled brightly, waving to them. Lute stared at her before forcing her mouth to not twitch into a smile as she waved back.
Emily glanced at Sara before jumping from her balcony and gracefully flying down to them like a dove.
“Hello, Lieutenant. Are you ready for this trial?” Emily asks with a big smile.
“Oh, yes. Of course. That demon will.. certainly see that Heaven is truly only for the worthy.”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that.. but, yes! We’ll show her truly how great this place is! Charlie really is great and I really do like her mission.”
“You.. do?” Lute asks, glancing at Adam, who just roles his eyes.
“Yea! It is such a noble mission!”
There Emily goes off on nobility and virtue. She truly has such a good heart, even if her beliefs are misguided. After all, there’s no way a demon could ever be worthy of getting into Heaven. But that’s Emily for you. Her own sweetness and naivety making her a bit blind. But Lute couldn’t be too upset about it. Perhaps her being so naive to everything really going on was really the best. Heaven doesn’t need to be full of jaded angels, like her and Adam. Emily was the true shining light that Heaven needed to model itself after.
“Noble, sure..” she says with forced positivity.
“Gosh, Lieutenant, if this works, it could change everything! Haha! I’m so excited!” Emily looked up, her eyes shining before looking at Lute. “I still remember back when we first met.”
Lute laughed a little at this and tilted her head, raising an eyebrow. “Oh? And why does this remind you of our meeting?”
“Well, at first.. if I’m to be truthful, since lying is a sin, I was not too fond of you. In fact, I was.. rather confused as to why you were here.”
Adam snorted loudly behind Lute, but her wings shot up and smacked him.
“Oh, that sounds so much worse than I meant it to!” Emily exclaims, burying her face into her hands.
“I mean, how else could you have meant it?” Lute asks with a controlled tone.
“Well.. ok, fair point. But I’ve really grown fond of you, Lieutenant. I can see you do really care about Heaven. This is your home. And I bet that this trial is hard for you. After all, you’ve spent your whole life training to fight demons in our army in case they decide to rise up!”
“…Yes… that is what I’ve been doing,” Lute said, awkwardly looking to the side.
Emily took Lute’s hands, causing Lute to jump and blush.
“But I pray you’ll be able to put whatever prejudices you may have behind you and accept the possibility of this new era of peace, depending on if Charlie manages to make a good case for Sinners to come to Heaven.” Emily bounced up and down excitedly on her heels and Lute couldn’t help but smile, even a little, causing Adam to gag.
There was the sound of trumpets, followed by the gentle stringing of a harp.
“Oh! The trial is going to start soon! Lieutenant, General Adam,” Emily said, only now acknowledging Adam’s existence, “I will see you two after the trial.” She smiled and squealed a little. “Ah, I’m so excited!!” She waved to Lute and flew back up to Sara, who looked rather displeased as she glared down at Lute and Adam.
Lute saw as the demon child took center stage and she felt like vomiting almost immediately. She’s just a worse, knockoff version of Emily.
She was barely even paying attention when they showed that disgusting porn demon standing up for himself or whatever. It didn’t matter. He was in Hell for a reason. She felt like yawning, but when she looked in Emily’s direction, her blood ran cold.
Emily was tearing up. For a demon.
Why would she do that? Why would she feel that? For some degenerate?!
She watched as Emily stood up to Sara, and Lute felt frozen in place.
What? Souls can’t improve! Emily, stop being so naive! That is such a stupid, unrealistic idea!!
Lute gripped the railing and leaned forward to object this absolutely absurd nonsense. She had to retort. She had to make a point to everyone here, to that demon child, to Emily that this is all stupid!
She and Adam begin to berate Lucifer’s bitch daughter. And she really felt like they were finally about to win. But Adam and his damn big mouth.
“I can’t wait to come down and exterminate you!”
Lute felt her heart drop when she heard the soft gasp of Emily as she exclaimed, “..Wait!”
Lute freezes a little and it took everything out of her to not strangle Adam. Emily stared at them, stared at her with a look of horror and contempt. Betrayal.
No. No, she had to win this! She had to make a point. She glared at Vaggie, the traitor she was. If Lute was losing Emily then she was going to make sure Vaggie goes down with her.
Yes. Yes! Charlie was horrified with Vaggie. She had that same look of horror that Emily had. Ha! How does it feel?!
After the trial and everyone began to file out, Lute ran to Emily.
Emily was storming away from Sara.
“Emily, wait,” Lute called out.
Emily whipped her head around, her eyes watery. “What do you want, Lieutenant?” Emily said, her voice strained.
“Emily, look, I know this is a lot..” Lute said, trying to remain controlled and serious. She couldn’t let her desperation show through. “But-“
“No! Don’t ‘but’ this, Lieutenant! All this time I thought you and the other war angels were just training in case Sinners rose up, but.. no.. no.. how many have you killed..?!”
Lute’s shoulders jumped, her fear cracking through for a moment before she quickly covered it up again.
“Emily…” she said again. “You have to understand.”
Emily took a step forward, eyes opening all around her and Lute could swear she felt the ground tremble.
“No, Lute!”
Lute jumped. That was the first time Emily has ever said her name..
“What you, and Adam, and Sara have done is wrong! It’s sinful!” Emily scoffed as she shook her head. “But I can’t say that.. no.. what, would you betray me, too? Like with Charlie’s girlfriend? Would you turn me in so I could be fallen? Or would you take care of me yourself?”
Emily froze before whispering a little, “Em..”
Emily stared at her for a moment before letting out a forced laugh. “Yknow.. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you show any true emotion around me, Lieutenant..”
Lute watched as Emily turned from her and flew away. Lute stood there, watching. Emily’s purity is gone. She pities the demons, the untouchables. She has sinned for standing up for them.
Lute clenched her jaw, shaking, before letting out a scream.
Those bitches… they ruined perfection.
“Hey, Lute,” Adam said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be fine. We’ll put that demon brat in her place-“
“Sir! ….I don’t need to hear this.. right now.. I’m sorry.. I’m just not in the mood..”
Lute jumped into the sky to fly off.
Wait until I get you both.. I will make you suffer. I will make you regret this, what you’ve done to me. I will take away everything you love..