Life is brief, and death reminds us how fragile every moment is. Yet the love we shared does not end here. It remains in memory, in the quiet spaces of the heart, and in the lives touched by the one we have lost.
May we carry that love forward with gentleness and courage. And may the ones who have gone before us rest in peace.
Amen.
Zany and Misa's funerals weren't anything grand. They were both buried on the same cliff the first Misa was laid to rest. The only people at the funeral were Diego, Frost and Ivankov. A few of Zany's maids and close friends of Misa were there as well. Once the priest ended the sermon, Diego stood up and left. Romeo had already left a few minutes earlier and Diego had a good guess of where his brother might be.
"Diego, the world is cruel. People die, whether you're ready or not. Death is as natural as breathing. You can't stop it, so learn to live with it... or it'll break you," Ivankov said as Diego walked past him.
"I already have," Diego said without looking back. Unlike usual, his red jacket wasn't with him and he wore a black suit just like all the other attendants.
A church nearby had overseen the whole thing and when the bells rang, Diego followed them. It wasn't a large or fancy church but a rather small and ordinary one. The gates were a light shade of brown and the rest of it was painted white. Diego looked at its roof where the bell kept ringing and sighed. Without wasting any more time, he walked into the church. A choir sang a beautiful hymn and the songs were comforting to the red-haired boy.
He walked through the aisle and by the time he was halfway through, a head of dark red hair caught his eye. His mother... Andrea. He reached her and sat across from her. She wore the red jacket which was originally hers and it was honestly a perfect fit for her. She was slouched lazily on the booth and when she noticed Diego, she grinned.
"Took you long enough," she said with a yawn.
"It wouldn't have killed you to be there..." Diego muttered. Every time he looked at her, more questions and confusion piled up in his head. She looked young, like she hadn't aged a single day since the last time he saw her.
"Where is your brother?" she asked and tilted her head to the side.
"I thought he was with you," Diego said and just as he was about to speak again, the door to the church burst open and Romeo ran through them.
"Mom!" he screamed and rushed right into her arms.
"There he is," Andrea said just as Romeo jumped into her lap. "I missed you so much." She grinned and ruffled his hair playfully. Romeo giggled and leaned into her touch. Diego on the other hand was taken aback by how childishly his brother was acting.
"What's wrong with him?" Diego blinked. Andrea didn't answer for a moment, too busy making Romeo giggle childishly.
"What do you mean? My little boy's just as sweet as ever." She chuckled and shifted her gaze back to Diego. She pointed an accusing finger at him and said, "He didn't turn into a grumpy teenager like you did."
"I'm not a grumpy—" Diego tried to defend himself but Andrea stuck her tongue out at him. Romeo mimicked his mother and when she noticed, she let out a loud laugh and ruffled his hair again.
"You're still my cute little baby, aren't you?" She grinned and Romeo nodded frantically. "You're definitely my favourite." Her little comment made Diego just a tiny bit jealous and he growled at Romeo.
Diego eventually calmed down. It was nice to see Romeo like this. Zany's death definitely scarred him but right now, he looked happy. He looked happy for the first time since they met and that put a smile on his face.
"To be honest, I expected you both to hate me," Andrea finally said. She smiled at them and said, "How about I tell you a story?" Both boys perked up instantly and looked up at her. The choir sang and the suspense grew.
---Andrea Torrez---
In the before the beginning, there was one existence... The Poet. The Poet, out of boredom, made three children for himself.
The oldest of the three was a female. She gave herself the name of Genesis Maelith. She was the strongest out of her siblings. She went on to become what the world knows as God. She created the realms of heaven as well as multiple other realms, concepts and existences. She created angels and other holy creatures for her entertainment.
The youngest of the three was also female and she gave herself the name of Nythera Veyl. Another powerful entity with the strength to erase all of existence with just a thought but unlike her other siblings, she liked to keep to herself.
The second sibling was the only male out of the three... Lucifer Draven... What the people on earth call the devil. He's an omnipotent being who created and resides in the realms of Hell. The entity responsible for creating Abominations and other monstrosities as well as demons. He was known for being a ruthless tyrant but oddly enough, he was my father as well.
Lucifer had red hair and eyes just like Diego and I. Before me, he had hundreds of children. Lucifer wanted an heir to the throne of Hell and even though he could just create his perfect child, he decided not to. Every demon he courted brought forth a child with incredible power but none of them had his red hair and eyes which were a sign of his pure blood and power.
Normal demons always had black hair but my siblings had hair and eyes with all sorts of colours... except me. I was the only child he had that was born with red hair and that meant I was destined to take his throne one day.
My mother died after giving birth to me and my only parent was Lucifer. My siblings told me the only time he had ever smiled was when I was born. Growing up, I had everything I ever wanted. All the attention, respect and privileges were mine and I even had a bodyguard to protect me. My bodyguard's name was Fors.
He had two horns on his head but one was broken in half a long time ago. He also had the respect of my father and all of Hell. No one knew how he ended up with a broken horn but I found out he fought with my father and survived. He was hundreds of thousands of years old and since angels and demons stop aging at a certain point, Fors still looked as young as ever.
By the time I was four years old, Lucifer and all my siblings noticed something... I was weak. Stronger than normal demons but when compared to my siblings, I was just a joke. My father had powers that could easily erase concepts and gods but my trait was a watered-down version of it. I had the power to erase existence but it was limited to physical forms of it. By the time I was six years old, I became the joke of my family. I had no friends and my siblings ridiculed me every chance they got.
The only person who treated me differently was Fors. He became my only friend and he was more of a father to me than Lucifer ever was. He would play with me all day in the garden of the family castle and at night, he would stand at my door and stop anyone from interrupting my rest.
There was one night I had trouble sleeping. I left the bed and wandered into the castle garden. Seeing the red roses was always comforting for me but that night, something felt wrong. Someone was in the garden as well and I knew whomever they were, they were an intruder. I made up my mind to take them down. Maybe if I did, Lucifer and my siblings would love me again.
I snuck around quietly through the garden until I spotted someone sitting on a bench shrouded by darkness. I inched towards them but suddenly, they stood up and started walking in my direction. I panicked and hid behind a rose bush.
"Come out. I've already seen you." The voice wasn't what I expected. I peeked over to look at the intruder but I was met with a little boy. White hair, blue eyes and an empty gaze that made me shiver.
Initially, I was scared but the more I looked at him, the more excited I got. That white hair meant he was an angel. A child of God no less. That meant he didn't know about me or my failures as a child of Lucifer. I was excited because I could finally make a new friend.
I walked up to him and said, "Hi! My name's Andrea." He didn't seem to care about what I said. He just kept his eyes on my hair. "You're an angel, aren't you?" I asked.
"Call me whatever you want," he muttered. I could tell he didn't talk much from how little he said.
"My father hates angels. I can hide you in my room if you want," I offered. The angel didn't seem to be listening though. I kept trying to talk to him but his attention stayed on my hair and eyes.
Getting ignored like that got on my nerves and eventually, I snapped and yelled, "My hair doesn't talk back by the way! I DO!" So yeah... my voice came out a bit too loud and that seemed to wake up the whole castle.
The gates to the garden flew open and guards came swarming in. I froze when I saw them but when I turned around again, the white-haired angel was already gone.
Fors escorted me back to my room. My brothers and sisters laughed at me when I walked past them. I stayed up all night thinking about the boy. I never even got his name and the chance of us meeting again weren't that high in my favour.
Years passed and I grew older and stronger. When I was sixteen, I was strong enough that my siblings' respect for me grew just a bit more. I could finally feel comfortable walking through the castle but I was still just a joke in the grand scheme of things. Fors still stayed with me and that made my messed-up life feel better.
Days went on and my life was slowly getting better and better until one damn night. I retired to my bedroom and shut the door but when I turned to face my bed again, I froze. Sitting at the edge of my bed was the damn angel?! He wore a dark suit and his hair was also longer than the last time I met him. He looked older now but that empty gaze still stayed on my hair.
"Andrea Torrez. I see the years treated you well," he said and looked at my face. I was pissed and from the way he went stiff as I moved closer, he knew it.
"What the hell?" I growled and grabbed his collar. "Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?!"
He just shrugged like this didn't matter. "I came to see you." His voice was so... weird. I let go of him and took a step back.
"Why...?" I asked. He looked into my eyes and my heart did a little flip. All my anger faded in an instant and when he stood up, my feet felt like spaghetti. I backed up until I was leaning on a wall.
The angel stood with his arms crossed and his expression was calm, almost stern. "I need information about Lucifer," he said. "You're the only demon I can trust."
"Lucifer? That's… that's a big ask," I said and looked away from him. "Why should I tell you anything?"
He stepped closer. "Because I asked. And because you're already breathing faster just standing this close to me."
My eyes widened. "I—I'm not—" I cleared my throat, voice catching. "I'm n-not breathing faster. It's just warm in here." The excuse was painfully weak.
The angel's gaze dropped briefly to my face again. "You're blushing." The nerve of this bastard!
"I am n-not blushing," I stammered, looking away. All I wanted was to just disappear in that moment but he just kept going.
He tilted his head, studying me. "Your voice is shaking."
"Shut up," I muttered, ears burning. "It's not shaking. You're imagining it."
He moved even closer, almost touching me. "Tell me about Lucifer."
"Why should I? I don't even know your name," I said and shoved him back.
"My name is Michael Maelith," he said. "I hate my mother just as much as you hate Lucifer." He stepped forward again. "Help me... and we can take them both out of the picture." He was right in front of me at this point. My heart did a little flip again but this time, I didn't push him away.
Take my dad out of the picture? I knew Michael was insane the moment he said that. It was past impossible but then again, he might be able to make it happen.
The rest of the night was, well, fun. He told me about heaven and God and I told him about Hell and Lucifer. By the end of the night, I got laid. What'd you expect? I was a sixteen-year-old with daddy issues. The high was nice but when morning arrived, Michael was gone.
A few weeks passed and I felt off. I got morning sickness and always felt dizzy. I wasn't myself and it didn't take too long for Fors and my siblings to notice it. Whenever anyone asked, I would brush it off and change the subject but eventually, the stress got to me. I passed out at a family dinner and from what I was told, Fors rushed me to the family doctor.
I woke up in my bedroom and most of my family was in the room with me. Fors had a grim look on his face but my siblings had grins and they snickered when I stirred. The doctor was smiling as well and when I looked at her, she said, "Congratulations... there's going to be a new addition to the family..."
Holy... Shit...
END OF CHAPTER 19