29. Cassius

Cass didn't know how long it had taken, but he could feel Kushiel's pain through their bond. His heart hurt for his angel, and tears slipped from his eyes even as he directed the ghosts into the trees when they became whole.

He watched Kushiel closely, too, yet it seemed like his angel was an unending well of light. When the last ghost had merged with an oak tree and he had told Kushiel to stop, his angel collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

"Kushiel!" he cried out, leaning down and grabbing onto his soulmate.

He was suddenly so angry. He shook the spear in the air, crying out, "Help him!"

He didn't know what he expected, but it wasn't to suddenly find himself in a white room. He was still gripping the spear, and Kushiel was still laying on the ground beneath him, but they were definitely not in the forest anymore.

He looked up to see the all white room layered with the same cracks he had seen when he had visited Luce. They were also slowly inching backwards, just like in the black room.

There was suddenly a table and two chairs in the room then, one a blinding white and one a black so deep it seemed to suck light into it. In the next blink, there was an angel sitting in the chair that he recognized. They were androgynous and glowing brightly, and Cass remembered being visited by them when he was young and training as an oracle. With the next breath, the other chair was filled with the figure of Luce.

Cass turned on him in anger. "This is your fault! Fix him!" Cass demanded, standing and banging the end of the spear against the ground.

"Spunky, isn't he?" Luce commented, looking over at the angel.

"He always has been," the angel smiled. "I knew he would be perfect for Kushiel from our first meeting."

"Yah! You've been keeping things from me if you've called on this cute little morsel before and didn't even tell me!" Luce drawled.

Yah? Cass suddenly had an idea that the "angel" he'd been visited by as a child wasn't merely an angel. He had always glowed so blindingly bright, and Cass was amazed he hadn't realized things sooner.

"You… you're…" Cass sputtered.

Yah smiled. "Yes. I am still an angel, so you were never wrong in your assumption of me," Yah said to Cass. He then turned to Luce, explaining, "I usually visit all oracles when they're young to get them used to my presence. Cassius was a pleasure to work with, and I admit to chatting with him far more than most oracles. But then, he is the soulmate of Kushiel, so it really does make sense. What I have to wonder is why he doesn't seem surprised by your presence," Yah asked, raising an eyebrow.

Luce merely chuckled. "Caught red handed, my love. I might have paid Cassius a little visit of my own."

"Well, the two of you can do something for Kushiel then," Cass demanded, ignoring for now the fact that the devil had just called god "my love." He'd unpack that later when Kushiel was okay.

"He'll be fine," Luce reassured Cass, waving his hand. "He's exhausted, and he's undergone a lot, but he'll recover fully. You can sense it through your bond, I'm sure, and you can see his light is still strong as well."

Cass could, but it helped to hear reassurance. Still, he wasn't quite sure he trusted Luce.

"Mammon got the idea from you," Cass accused, pointing the spear at Lucifer.

"Perhaps I should take that," Yah murmured, and suddenly the spear was gone from Cass's hands and sitting on the table in front of Yah. "Best not to be brandishing divine weapons about when we're angry," Yah added.

Cass huffed, then looked accusingly at Luce again.

The devil had the gall to chuckle. "So feisty! I do love it! Our Kushiel really did need someone just like you!"

Cass stamped his foot, even though he felt immediately stupid after doing it. Banging a spear on the ground had been much more satisfying. "Don't call him ‘our Kushiel' when you're the one who gave Mammon the idea to steal all his souls in the first place!"

Yah looked over at Luce, raising an eyebrow at him.

Luce tilted his head and moved his hands out in a ‘Who, me?' gesture that only made Cass even angrier.

"Mammon told us all about his plans, and how he'd gone to you and you gave him knowledge of ghosts and holding them on the mortal plane," Cass declared.

Luce sighed. "Yes. Mammon was getting above himself, which has been an ongoing problem for him in the last few decades. He does have a large legion, and when they see what has become of him… Well, I think the next leader won't be coming up with any grandiose plans of disrupting the order of the universe. It was a lesson that needed to be learned."

"I don't really care about your internal politics," Cass snapped. "You hurt Kushiel."

"I did," Luce affirmed, looking sad at the notion. "But as I said, it was a great hurt, and now Kushiel need not hurt anymore. Redeeming souls from hell was taking a toll on him, and now that has been solved. He need never enter hell again if he chooses not to, although of course he will always be welcome there. He will also find things have improved for him now that he has a soulmate."

Kushiel moaned lightly, and Cass fell to his knees beside his angel.

"Kushiel?" Cass murmured.

Kushiel blinked up at him and smiled. "We did it?" he asked.

"We did," Cass agreed, and he couldn't help the quick peck he gave his angel.

Kushiel kissed him back, and then Cass sat back and helped him into a sitting position on the floor. Kushiel seemed to realize where they were, then, because he gasped when he saw god and the devil, immediately bowing his head.

"Where are we?" he murmured to Cass, his head still bowed.

"Heaven, I think," Cass answered.

Kushiel lifted his head and stared at Cass. "That can't be right. We aren't in heaven."

"You are," Luce corrected.

Kushiel looked up at him then. "But… You can't be here. And I… I feel… I'm fine," he sputtered.

"Yes, the discomfort should be gone now," Yah affirmed, smiling softly at Kushiel.

Kushiel finally looked up at Yah, and tears sprang to his eyes.

"Yes, Kushiel. It has been so long since we have seen one another. I have missed you, my child," Yah said, and Cass thought Yah's eyes looked a little watery too.

"I don't… I don't understand," Kushiel whispered.

"I know, and I'm so sorry for that," Yah said, coming around the table and reaching a hand out to Kushiel.

Kushiel stared at it blankly for a moment, and then his hand hesitantly reached out. Yah clasped it in their own, pulling Kushiel up and into a hug. They hugged for a long moment, and Cass could feel his angel's many emotions—love, confusion, relief, joy, and the tinge of grief that came with a long separation. Cass looked over at Luce, who even looked a little wet-eyed at the apparent reunion.

Eventually Yah and Kushiel separated, and Kushiel stepped back, reaching out to grab onto Cass's hand, as if to reassure him. Cass sent his love and approval through their bond, and Kushiel looked over at him, smiling with shining eyes.

Yah walked back around and sat, and suddenly two chairs appeared on their side of the table. Cass led Kushiel to them and sat in one while his angel sat in the other, their hands never separating.

"I don't understand," Kushiel said again. "I don't feel pain, and yet…" he motioned to his gray skin and black wings.

"Well, you've got a soulmate," Luce stated, as if that made everything obvious.

Cass huffed at Luce. "I'm really not sure I like you."

Kushiel looked over at Cass aghast.

"What? He's the one who orchestrated this whole thing by giving Mammon the idea," Cass responded. He looked over at Luce, adding, "And I get that this saves Kushiel from the constant pain of giving pieces of himself to others for redemption, but you could have told us your plan. You could have been more helpful about the whole thing from the beginning, instead of letting Kushiel grieve and all those souls suffer. You could have done things differently."

"I'm afraid not," Luce stated. "Free will is very much in play, and with your involvement, there was only so much help I could offer. You may be an oracle and a seer, but you still have choice. So much was dependent on you, Cassius. We could not do more than we did. Is the end result not worth the sacrifice, though?"

"It is," Kushiel answered, looking over at Cass.

Cass sighed. "Of course it is, but I just wish the end result could have been achieved without hurting Kushiel."

"As do I," Yah added. "Kushiel, when I chose you to be the Angel of Punishment, and thus the one who could redeem souls, I did not foresee the toll it would take on you, although of course I should have. I did not foresee the universe lasting as long as it has, though, and my sight was short because of that."

"We are fixing that, though, my love," Luce cut in. "We are repairing the cracks in the universe and fixing the things that are breaking down."

"I still don't understand why it doesn't hurt to be here," Kushiel admitted.

"Your soulmate can visit heaven and hell as an oracle, and thus so can you. You can visit Limbo, and thus so can he. You give each other free passage. You cannot be separated," Luce explained. "As for your appearance—that was always your choice, Kushiel."

Kushiel looked shocked at that. "I chose this?" he asked.

Luce shrugged. "In a manner of speaking. You spent so much time with us, and I think you slowly assimilated more to hell, and your outward appearance matched that. The demons accepted you more, and you came to identify more with us. It was not a conscious choice so much as a reflection of what you felt. We always welcomed you with open arms. Of course, you could revert to your original angelic form, but I hope you keep the pieces of yourself that you got from us. I really do think of you as partly mine. I hope you will not leave that behind."

Kushiel looked over at Cass.

"I love you just the way you are," Cass said, answering the unspoken question. "You are perfect."

"He is," Yah agreed.

Kushiel smiled then, looking teary all over again.

"What will happen to Mammon?" Cass asked.

"His immortal essence will be redistributed," Yah answered, gently touching the spear.

"He's mortal now," Luce chuckled. "We had to pull out all the stops for that miracle. But it will be so worth it to have him on the other side of things in hell. The hellhound will be sending his mortal soul along shortly, I'm sure. They don't usually keep their victims for too long."

"What—" Kushiel started to ask, but Luce cut him off.

"Best not to know details, Kushiel. Suffice it to say that hellhounds make mortal souls who are beyond redemption pay for their sins a bit before sending them on to us."

"Is that it, then?" Cass asked. "Mammon is dealt with, Kushiel doesn't need to redeem souls anymore, and we're soulmates who get to spend eternity together?"

"Kushiel will still have work in Limbo with souls," Yah told them, "but that does not take such a toll on him. I'm also sure as his soulmate that you'll make sure he doesn't give too much of himself to his work."

"But otherwise, yes, that's it," Luce added.

Cass stood up, ready to get Kushiel home to make sure he was okay. This was a lot to process, and his angel looked overwhelmed. Kushiel stood too, their hands still intertwined, and they walked toward the back of the room, where there was suddenly now a door.

Cass wasn't sure where it went, but he was ready to find out. He was done with gods and devils and afterlife politics.

When they reached it, Cass opened the door, but before they could step through, Kushiel turned around, asking one final question.

"Why me? Why was I chosen for this work?" he asked Yah.

"Oh, my child. Don't you know? You were the only one who could do it. You were the brightest of us all."