20. Kushiel

Kushiel was pulled from sleep violently, and it took him only a second to understand why. Cass was wrapped in his arms, just as he had been when they'd dozed off, but Kushiel knew, with absolute certainty, that Cass was no longer there.

He didn't know how he knew that, but he knew it.

"Cass!" he cried out, gently shaking the man, checking to be sure. There was no response. Cass's body was there, but his soul was somehow… gone. Panic was taking hold of him, but then he felt something sort of rush in, and Cass sat straight up, only he wasn't alone.

Kushiel didn't know how else to explain it. It was Cass, but it was more, and it felt somehow familiar.

Cass's eyes turned to Kushiel's, and even with just the dim morning light filtering through cracks in the curtains, Kushiel could see that Cass's eyes were not his own.

They were black.

"Kushiel, Rigid One of God, Angel of Punishment, the gods have a message for you," Cass intoned, and his voice was somehow not quite right either. "Out of jealousy and greed, a demon has taken what was yours to watch over and hidden it from you, but the way is no longer yours alone to navigate. The gods have gifted you with a new way forward. You only have to see the light within what surrounds you. Those that represent strength, wisdom, and justice shall guide the lost ones to a new life."

With that, Kushiel felt something depart the room. Cass blinked and gasped, and his eyes looked normal again as he pressed his hands to his chest.

"Fuck, I hate that part," Cass mumbled grumpily.

Kushiel wrapped Cass in his arms, squeezing tightly. "You scared me, Cass. You were just… gone," Kushiel whispered.

Cass reached up and patted his back. "Fuck, I'm sorry, Kushiel. I didn't think about that part. We had a little chat before he did the whole oracle thing. You must have been freaking out."

"A chat? You were only gone for a minute, maybe less," Kushiel responded, breathing deeply, still holding onto Cassius. If it had been longer, Kushiel didn't know what he would have done.

Cass just hummed thoughtfully. Finally, he said, "It was definitely longer than a minute, but perhaps he warped time or something because he knew you'd worry. He seemed fond of you."

"Who was it?" Kushiel asked. The other presence had seemed familiar, but it did not feel like Yah, and he could not think of anyone else capable of using an oracle. Unfortunately, he also didn't trust any other angels that were strong enough to do such a thing.

"Lucifer," Cass responded.

Kushiel reared back in shock. "Lucifer? As in the head of hell?"

"Yep," Cass replied. "He called you ‘our' Kushiel and said he felt like he had shared custody of you. I'm assuming he meant with Yah, since you're an angel." Cass shrugged at that. "I'm still kind of pissed, though, because I think he knows which demon took the lost souls and didn't stop it from happening."

Cass recounted his entire conversation with Lucifer, and Kushiel took it all in. Kushiel did, oddly enough, trust Lucifer, yet it stung to know that Lucifer had let the souls be removed from Erebus. Still, the devil was right, it had gained him Cassius.

He wasn't sure how much import that statement had for Cassius, but it gave Kushiel hope beyond all his expectations. If Lucifer had somehow engineered their meeting, and had actively wanted it to happen…

Of course that could be because, as Lucifer had said, together they would find some new way to redeem souls that were not beyond redemption. It also, Kushiel supposed, made sense that a demon would be envious of redeemed souls or greedy enough to not want to let souls leave hell. Kushiel had always thought that Erebus was solely under his purview, but that didn't make sense, did it? There had to be a demon who had control of that area or was supposed to watch over it, and Kushiel had the strong inkling that it was an upper level demon of either greed or envy, or perhaps both. Kushiel didn't know all the Princes of Hell or all the Infernal Kings, but he had connections, and it gave them a starting place to look.

Still, the fact that Lucifer had wanted them to meet… Kushiel couldn't help but think of all the demons who had soulmates. All the meetings that had been somehow arranged. Oh, how he hoped, even though he knew it was probably a foolish hope. What had he done to deserve one such as Cassius?

But he would still hope.

As for the rest of the message… It didn't quite explain what Kushiel and Cassius were supposed to do once they found the souls. Kushiel had the impression it would be something that hurt him. He didn't mention that to Cassius when they talked about Lucifer's comparison to lancing a wound though, since Cassius clearly thought the great pain that Lucifer spoke of had been the souls being removed from Erebus. Kushiel didn't think that was it, however. He hoped he was wrong, but he didn't think so.

He would do whatever it took to help all those lost souls, no matter the pain. The only thing he couldn't abide was thinking it might hurt Cassius, and he would do all he could to avoid such a thing.

"The part that I don't really get is the whole ‘light within what surrounds you' part," Cass commented. "There's light in literally everything."

Kushiel looked at Cass, surprised. "Everything? Surely he means souls, and only people have those."

Cass laughed. "You afterlifers. Sometimes you lot are literally blind to whatever doesn't affect you. It probably made it quite easy to make ghosts something you can't normally see or remember. Yes, everything has light within it. I would say every living thing, but even things that aren't living were usually once living. Of course, something that's been heavily manufactured has very little light. A warehouse isn't on the same level as a forest, but even a warehouse isn't completely devoid of light. It was once made of living things. Although even things that aren't totally living have light. The earth and rocks themselves hold the tiniest bit of light."

Kushiel was shocked. "But… but surely when Lucifer spoke of light, he meant the soul."

"Hmm… I'm not so sure. He obviously knows how the universe works, and he knows about ghosts, so he isn't as narrow in his vision as the rest of the afterlifers. The universe is made up of light, Kushiel. Light and darkness, I suppose. But that's for physicists and gods and devils to think about. All I know is that the guides he spoke of don't necessarily have to be people. Or even ghosts. Although I'm not sure what else they would be," Cass pondered.

Kushiel considered that. He didn't know quite what to think, but he also knew that redeeming the souls was the second problem.

"We must find them first, whatever the rest of his statement means. You would think he would have been more helpful," Kushiel grumbled.

Cass just laughed. "Nah, it's part of the deal. He was right on that. Messages from afterlifers, by nature, must be somewhat of a riddle. It's a whole free will thing. There aren't many rules that restrict the higher ups, but not interfering in free will is a big one. If you outright tell someone what to do, that's definitely interfering in free will. Giving hints and setting people on a path… Well, that's a gray area. I suppose they could just tell you what to do, but I'm mortal, and I'm involved, so they can't outright tell us what to do. It would upset the order of the universe."

Cassius got out of bed at that, and Kushiel blushed at seeing his naked body. His own body responded to the sight, and based on the look Cassius shot him, the man obviously realized. He had a look in his eyes that promised something carnal, but Kushiel heard a throat clearing from out in the hallway.

Cassius hung his head, muttering, "Fuck," under his breath. Then he yelled, "Just a minute, Aunt. We aren't decent."

"Yes dear, I kind of figured, but I heard voices so I knew you were up, and I didn't want you to get sidetracked before we chatted," Aunt Ro's voice called out from the hallway.

Kushiel raised an eyebrow. "How did you know it was her?" he whispered.

"Because she does that annoying throat clearing thing when she wants my attention," he whispered back. Then Cass raised his voice loud enough for it to be heard in the hallway. "And she knows she isn't supposed to interrupt me when I'm in bed or barge into my private spaces."

"Well I didn't barge in, now did I?" she griped from outside.

"Listening in is just as bad!" Cass yelled back.

"Well it saves time, doesn't it? I heard the end of your discussion and I'm mostly filled in on the important details," she called back.

Kushiel had the urge to laugh at the two of them, but he wisely refrained. Instead he got out of bed, his white, flowing pants and his scarf appearing on him with a thought. Cass stared at him grumpily before reaching over to pull on his own pants.

"This was not my plan for the morning," he muttered, walking into the bathroom. He continued to mutter in there, and Kushiel made out something having to do with angels and ghosts not having to properly get dressed or deal with hygiene issues.

Kushiel decided perhaps it would be best if he went and tried to fix some breakfast while Cass got ready.

When he opened the door, Aunt Ro and the ghost were both hovering in the hall. Actually literally hovering, which is something Kushiel hadn't seen before.

When she saw him, she floated down and planted her feet on the ground, watching as the ghost did the same. "Lovely, dear!" she enthused. "See, you're getting the hang of things quite well!" She leaned toward Kushiel then, whispering, "Poor thing doesn't really know much about what they can do as a ghost. It's been quite a learning experience."

Kushiel nodded, not sure what to say. He didn't really know what ghosts could do either, and he wasn't sure it was wise to admit as much to Aunt Ro. He seemed to be in her good graces at the moment, and he really didn't want to spoil that.

"Cass is getting ready, and I thought I'd fix us some breakfast," Kushiel told her.

Aunt Ro smirked at him. "Did you? How sweet. Worked up an appetite, eh?"

Kushiel wisely ignored her, traipsing down the stairs toward the kitchen. Unfortunately she followed. By the time Kushiel reached the kitchen, he realized his problem—he really had no idea how to cook breakfast. He wanted to do something nice for Cass, but he wasn't sure how he would accomplish it without mucking things up. He vaguely recalled cooking over a fire in the 1800s… Or maybe that was the 1700s? At any rate, it had been quite some time ago, and it had been in the service or talking with a soul in Limbo who needed to work through their guilt.

He thought they might've been a cook for an upscale family. He seemed to recall that they might have poisoned some very bad people, and that was why they felt guilty. So perhaps that wasn't the best example to model breakfast after.

He must have looked lost standing there in the kitchen, because Aunt Ro sighed dramatically, then she started barking out orders at him. He wisely did not question her and started getting out her list of ingredients.

Cooking was surprisingly stressful, although maybe that was Aunt Ro's constant stream of directions.

"No dear, go stir the eggs now. Wait, you didn't finish grating the cheese? Well hurry up back to it. These things are time sensitive, you know. What time did you put the bacon in? Never mind, I'll check it," she ordered, and Kushiel barely even blinked when she simply stuck her entire head inside the closed oven to check the bacon.

Ghosts were an odd bunch, that was for sure.

Nevertheless, he never would have accomplished breakfast without her, despite how frazzled he felt and his firm desire to have more than two hands to do all the work. By the time Cass was coming down the stairs, he was plating two lovely looking omelettes, and orange juice and coffee were already on the table for both of them.

Aunt Ro hmph'd, whether in approval or not, Kushiel wasn't sure, but he was rather proud of his efforts. He hoped Cass agreed.

Cass walked into the kitchen still looking grumpy, but when he saw Kushiel holding two plates of food, his face split into a grin. "Aww, you cooked for me?" he said, walking over, grabbing a plate, and kissing Kushiel on the mouth.

Just pecked Kushiel's lips like it wasn't a big deal at all. Like it was something they did every morning. Like it was perfectly normal to kiss the gray angel.

Kushiel stood there, dumbfounded and more than a little pleased. Cass made it to the table before he turned around and smiled softly at Kushiel.

"Come join me, Kush," he smiled.

So Kushiel did, and if he smiled more broadly then he ever remembered smiling before, well, who could blame him?