The instant I locked eyes with God Almighty, I shifted them straight back down, staring at the ground. I could feel His piercing gaze on me. Sweating nonstop, I couldn't dare lift my eyes.
"You stand accused of committing sexual intercourse with a woman. How do you plead?"
Resounding through the court, the sound of God's voice shook me to my bones. Sweating even harder, my eyes glued to my shoes, I was so afraid my mind couldn't produce a proper answer.
"I asked you a question. You stand accused of sexual intercourse with a woman. How do you plead?"
God repeating the question scared me out of my fear.
"I— I plead guilty. I slept with a human girl on my latest trip down to Earth."
Thousands of murmurs broke out — some mocking, some disgusted, some laughing — but not a single one sympathetic. Uttering a single word, God silenced all of them without exception.
"Silence."
Raising my gaze to meet His once more, I looked into God's eyes. Disappointment. Disappointment was the only way to describe it. Perhaps He had expected a different answer.
"Tell me, child — why did you sin?" He asked, His voice soft now.
Why did I sleep with Raynare?
As I'd established before, it wasn't like her beauty had mesmerized me. I was pretty sure I had been in a completely sound state of mind when I encountered her. So why had I slept with a random human girl I'd never met before?
Thinking about it, I was struck with the answer. In retrospect it was so simple — it was almost insulting that I hadn't figured it out sooner.
I slept with Raynare because she asked me to. To be more accurate, she demanded it. Recalling the situation now: I had been crashing in a random human's barn, minding my own business, when she showed up out of nowhere. She looked me dead in the eyes, laid her hands on my face — petrifying me completely — told me to get up, and then called me a good boy.
From that point forward I was her private property.
Remembering the event, I smiled as holy energy began gathering around me. Yes — if she hadn't called me a "good boy," I would have never folded. If she hadn't smacked me on the ass and told me to relax, I wouldn't have succumbed. And if she hadn't tied me to her bed, I would have gotten off it.
Raising my eyes one final time, I looked God straight in His and stated:
"Love."
My answer sent waves through the court. Loud shouts of anger and refusal rang out like the chimes of ignorance to my ears.
"Silence!" God proclaimed, louder than usual. The court instantly fell into a deep silence at His command.
"Boy — elaborate on what you said. Why did you succumb to sin?"
"Heavenly Father, I am afraid I cannot answer that question," I replied to God Himself — with zero of the fear and shame I'd had a moment ago. My angel wings grew brighter and stronger as I spoke.
"What could you possibly mean by that?" one of the figures in the stands shouted. "What are you talking about? You admitted yourself that you slept with a woman!"
Nodding in agreement, God looked at me, seeking an explanation.
An explanation I gave. Raising my head to address everyone in the court, I proclaimed out loud, with pride:
"I slept with Raynare because I loved her — and that is why I didn't fall."
I let the second wave of gasps wash over me, then continued, louder:
"When she smacked me on the ass.
When she tied my hands to her bed.
When she had me kiss her feet.
And even when she kissed me on the cheek and called me a good boy —
all of those were moments in which Raynare's depraved soul shone through. And it was those moments — every single one of them — that made me fall in love with her."
That's right. It was Raynare's soul that caused me to sleep with her. What we shared was a moment of true love. As I said so, my wings doubled in size and then doubled again, glowing so brightly they lit up the entire room.
"Heavenly Father," I addressed God directly, looking up at Him seated on the judge's throne in the form of an enormous pillar of light. "The system you created will never punish an act this pure and untainted."
If Raynare's filthy soul hadn't radiated with such intensity through her every action, I would never have let her touch me. It was Raynare's soul I had fallen in love with — and I would stand by that until my last feather.
In that very moment, the young angel currently going by the name Rock came to understand something that would forever alter the course of his life:
If she is a top,
then pursuing her, I will never stop.
Glowing brighter than the sun, I grinned like a maniac and laughed my ass off.
Three consecutive slams of the gavel. A scream from the Heavenly Father of the single word "Guilty." And then I was kicked out of Heaven through the front door.
Clutching my few possessions, I made my way toward Raynare's barn.
Flying through the open sky, I spotted the small barn nestled just before a forest, close to a medieval human town. I landed in the middle of the garden, folded my newly gained third and fourth wings, and walked to the door.
I opened it.
There she was. My beautiful, glorious, fabulous, charming, powerful future wife — Raynare. Dark of hair. Black of wing.
I stared.
She stared back.
"...Wait."
What the f**k?
I slept with a fallen?