Chapter Text
Lute never thought this would happen. Never.
How could Adam die? They were supposed to be unstoppable. Invincible. A team, even.
And yet, here she was, listening to Sera talk about Adam in front of a crowd of people he knew, but would never know him like she did. His corpse in a closed wooden box behind Sera. Too gory, too violent for the pure souls of heaven to see, she said. Lute wound do anything to see his face one last time, she know she would. i can’t believe he’s dead. He can’t be dead…
After the service, she walked up to Sera. She was looking through her notes for the speech, like the perfectionist she was, seeing if she’d misread anything. Like nothing had just happened. Not a single tear on that solemn, calm face.
“we need to go back down there. Make them mmpay for what they’ve done, for what they took away, Sera. I can start planning an attack, i can have the girls ready in a month, i-” she started to say, determined to avenge the death.
“No.” Sera spoke through gritted teeth, averting Lute’s gaze.
“W-what do you mean, no?” Lute’s eyes steeled over with determination. This couldn’t happen. Adam was gone, killed, and sera just… didn’t care? No, this had to be done. She’d fight till her last breath until she could wreak havoc on that foul demonic scum.
“We can’t. I’ve signed a truce with the princess. We now have proof that redemption works, so we must support those… demons.” Sera looked resentful, but her calm demeanor never swayed. God, Lute hated that.
“What? H-how could you? Hell is forever, we know this, I- after what they did to us, to Adam-“ lute tried to protest, but she knew it was no use. Sera never wavered. She felt the anger bubble up in her, but Sera cut her off.
“We can’t risk any more angelic lives, Lute.” Sera’s eyes flicked to Lute’s arm — or, what was left of it. “You can’t be jeopardizing your fellow exorcists for petty reasons like this. We are working toward a better future with redemption, try to look on the bright side of things. I know you’re grieving, but-“
lute cut her off by raising her hand. She could feel the rage coursing through her. How dare she? She knew she’d fight until the last breath, she opened her mouth, but-
“how about we take a little break, and then talk this out? I’m sure thers’s a solution we’ll all like.” The smaller seraphim, Emily, spoke in a soft voice. Personally, Lute had always seen her as more naive and patronizing than sweet. The anger in her was too much to bear, and she slapped Emily across the face
unfortunately for Lute, that was the wrong move. Sera, while very tolerant, would never stand for any harm done to her sister, Emily. Eyes emerged from her hair, chest, and dress, on her face and arms as she became angry, voice sounding like a thousand weaved into one. “Lute, you have crossed too many lines. I’ve let it slide for a while now, but this is the final straw. Farewell.
Everything seemed to go into slow motion. Lute saw a portal open under her, only red and red and more red beneath her, and suddenly nothing was supporting her feet. She grabbed at the air as she started to fall, wings not seeming to know how ro function, as she started falling,
down,
down,
down…