If all of Heaven didn't fear and respect me by then, they did after what became known as The Fall of Belial. No one could believe my demented, reckless plan worked. There was a certain awe surrounding me. I became infamous, and I heard how angels began to consider it a great honor to serve besides me.

I hated it. I withdrew myself further, barely leaving my abode.

That day, the day Auriel smote Belial, I transported us directly into my quarters. It took him awhile to calm himself. Once he did, he was clearly embarrassed. It was absurd; he had nothing to be ashamed of. Putting aside my opinions, I chose to ignore his embarrassment and offered him to stay with me should he liked.

He graciously accepted the offer immediately, and shamefully slunk off to a spare room to rest.

I gave him a few days to recover. Angels were well versed in what humans eventually dubbed PTSD. As such, he was sent to see emotional medics to help him work through and address everything that had happened.

I had knocked on his door. He had requested a leave of absence. Metatron obliged, taking up Auriel's duties for the time being. I heard rumors he hadn't left his house, making the psychologist medics come to him.

"Auriel, it's me, Sera."

The door opened almost immediately. Auriel looked a little worse for wear, a faint glint of dullness to his eyes, but he smiled. "Hello."

"May I come in?"

"Of course."

I followed him into his home. I had never been. It was rather plain, but also largely what I had expected; an entire wall had been fitted as a bookshelf. Off to the side was a desk with parchment with an ink well and quill. I couldn't help but smirk.

"Tea?"

I looked at him and smiled. "That would be lovely."

Once we were situated, I spoke.

"How have you been?"

He smiled disarmingly. "Great."

I cast him a withering look. "Auriel."

"What? Truly I have been good."

I didn't believe him for a second. But, angels can't lie, so I let it be.

"May we discuss something then?"

"But of course. Anything."

I set down my drink. "Weeks ago, I told Mikha'el and Gabriel all the things I picked up on that made me realize something was terribly wrong with you and Metatron."

A dark shadow like a black storm cloud rolling in took over his face. He sipped his tea.

"I withheld what truly gave it away though."

"Oh?"

"Mikha'el told me that you considered me your best friend."

Auriel blinked and looked a little unsteady. "Oh. Why, yes, of course. I am confused, what does our friendship have to do with—"

"You would have told me."

"Oh..."

"Isn't that true?"

Auriel set down his tea, and suddenly looked incredibly sad. "I am unraveling the fact that I actually do remember quite a lot from when Belial possessed me. Little bits and pieces. I was actually conscious for great spans of time. He would force me to the forefront and make me watch as he controlled my body.

"It was...disturbing. I have repressed most of it. But you are correct; I did much thinking when I was trapped in my head. Without there much else to do, I examined my life, giving great ponder to my relationships. I came to the conclusion that you are not only one of my only friends, but yes, I considered you my best friend.

"Belial often used my thoughts against me. I'm sure he used this revelation regarding you as a weapon; he made me act cruel towards you. He evidently told Mikha'el my conclusion instead of telling you directly."

Auriel looked away then and covered his mouth. "I'm sorry."

"For?"

"How I treated you."

"That wasn't you, Auriel! Please tell me your soul hasn't been lamenting over that since you were freed from his clutches?"

Auriel glanced at me.

"Goodness. Auriel." I trailed off and looked at my lap. "If anything I have been meaning to apologize to you."

Auriel laughed. "That's absurd. For?"

"Not figuring out what was going on sooner. I am so, so sorry for the suffering you had to endure because of my failures of deduction."

Auriel snorted. "Don't be preposterous."

I threw him a rueful smile. "If you get to be then I get to be, too."

Auriel rubbed his hands together. Interlacing his fingers then, he looked at his palms as he spoke quietly.

"I actually have been meaning to thank you properly. I have been meaning to, but out word portrayal of my emotions is not one of my strong suits."

I snorted. "Really? Hadn't noticed."

He shot me a glare but smiled. Then his eyes fell back to his hands.

"Near the end there, my body began to deteriorate rapidly. It was both good and bad—I remember during Belial's final encounter with you I was able to control my body from time to time. I'm sure you noticed my twitching?"

I nodded. His eyes viewed his hands again like they were the most fascinating thing in the room.

"By that point I knew I was dying. Holding a demon within my vessel for so long, it... Well, I was decaying from the inside out, really."

I winced, and Auriel finally looked at me.

"The point I am trying to make is, at the end there, I knew I was talking to you. And, had you given up on me, I—"

I cut him off by getting to my feet. I rushed to him, dropped to my knees, and hugged him tightly. With some hesitation he squeezed me back. I planted a kiss to his temple and then buried my cheek against his shoulder.

"I just wanted to properly thank you for saving my life, is all," he whispered.

I closed my eyes and smiled. "I love you too, Auriel."

He chuckled and I felt him smile.

~

"You have been to Hell and back—literally, multiple times now—so some celebratory fun is called for."

I jumped at the voice. My sword was at hand immediately and I spun around. Indrajala stood before me, wearing an outfit of purple and gold. She held up both hands and looked utterly tickled at my reaction.

"Oh Seraphin, please do not smite me," she mocked with a coy smile.

Mortified, I made the weapon disappear immediately. "Goodness, Indrajala! Forgive me, you startled me."

She laughed, and I loved how it came with a mix of wind-chimes as always. "Please, Seraphin. You were never a threat to me. I could have you dead before you even took a step toward me. I was never in any danger."

"How may I serve you?"

She laughed again. "Serve me? Goodness me, my child, you misunderstand my intent. I wish to frolic with you and have fun."

I cocked an eyebrow.

"Come with me. I have devised a way to satiate your curious mind."

When she held out her hand I took it. Immediately I found myself in the Realm of Time. The Time Frames spread out before me. Indrajala gave my hand a squeeze and, much to my surprise, emitted a happy, childlike squeal. She rushed over to one of the Time Frames.

"I know you have nought reason to, so you have not eclipsed time thus far, but would you like to?"

My eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"Would you like to?" she said again, excitement still the undercurrent of her voice. "While I deeply frown upon traveling into the future, I think it shall bring you great merriment and joy to see the evolution of everything—would it not?"

My wings twitched. "You don't jest?"

"Come now, Sera, when have I used humor maliciously?"

My wings twitched in barely contained enthusiasm. "I wouldn't be in trouble?"

Now she threw her head back and chortled. She grabbed both my hands, pulling me to a Time Frame. "You are with me, Sera. You can't get in trouble, as you put it. And, should anyone wish to protest, then they shall answer directly to me." She stuck her nose in the air and sniffed haughtily. "Not even your God frightens me."

I grinned.

She showed me the cosmos—the beginning of everything. We didn't enter the Time Frame—she was worried what the vacuum of space might do to my physical vessel—but she led me down the long line of Frames.

We walked along under the planets of our solar system were created, birthed from Chaos and shaped by the Gods. Once Earth was created, I begged her to take me there.

"I thought you might," she told me with a wink, and then we walked to the Frame, touched it, and were transported to that specific time.

I am very blessed to say, as such, I was able to witness the dawn of time on The Surface. I watched tectonic plates form and smash against each other. Volcanoes became islands. Islands were wrenched asunder and reformed.

I watched the first lifeforms crawl out of the primordial soup.

"Don't touch anything," Indrajala warned as I went to go poke at this fish-looking wriggling thing. "Least you irreparably change something."

I withdrew my hand quickly.

I, of course, wanted to see the earliest of oceans. She obliged, and we spent numerous days beneath the waves, just watching everything form and evolve. To this day it infuriates me that humans bicker over theology versus evolution, as though the two cannot go hand in hand. It's foolish, ignorant, and if they accepted this fact it would lead to a lot less death in the future.

"Thank you," I told her one evening, sitting on top of a high mountain. She ate what was a distant relative of some sort of prickly pear. We traded bites, sitting largely in silence, swinging our feet off the ledge as we watched the sun rise from our perch.

She looked at me curiously. "For?"

"Showing me all this. I feel..."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Deeply humbled you would share this with me."

Indrajala scooted over so our thighs were touching. "Dearest Seraphin. I do this in an attempt to show you your self-worth."

My lips parted and I looked at her confused.

"Don't be foolish; just because you speak no words to me does not mean I cannot interpret your soul. I know of how the inner eye of your mind hates yourself, spewing falsities about how lowly you are."

I tried to protest but she held up her palm, closing her eyes. "Do not interrupt me and protest."

I slammed my mouth shut.

She looked at me. "Ulcinin. My most cherished Seraphin. Sera, my friend. You are worthy of confidence and self-love. I only hope you find the means to realize that one day, and one day soon."

We lapsed into a long silence, punctuated by pre-jurassic birds screeching overhead and the rumbles of a distant volcano eruption. I chewed over her words.

Was my self-loathing really that apparent? We're my obsessions over my shortcomings something others could see? Did the fact I continued to waiver in my convictions regarding my post as powerful seraphim bleed out of my disposition so readily? Or was it simply because one of my closest friends was a primordial all-knowing deity that helped shape reality itself?

Honestly I don't think I will ever know. Truthfully I am too afraid to ask anyone and learn the answer to those questions. There has been but one person I openly confess my self-doubt to, and I hadn't even made their acquaintance yet when Indrajala and I held this conversation at the dawn of evolution.

"Would you care to finish this?" she proffered the mostly eaten fruit to me.

"No thank you."

Indrajala shrugged and finished it. She then tossed the core away. I watched it tumble, down the snow, into the shallow, half-frozen tides of the rippling ocean below.