20. Minos

With his little human finally back in his arms, Minos felt a level of calm descend upon him. Adam was still blessedly Adam-like, and he looked not at all worse for wear. The room, however, did look quite a bit unheavenly.

He wondered how the cracks had occurred. Arioch had pounded away at the door, but it had seemed utterly ineffectual at the time. The door had held strong, and Minos' frustration had grown with each glancing blow against the glowing, white obstacle standing between him and his human. He had finally stalked forward and pushed Arioch out of the way, readily to bodily slam himself against the door. He had grabbed the handle, which he hadn't even seen moments before, thrown all his weight into pulling, and been utterly shocked when it simply opened up for him.

Everyone in the clearing had been dumbfounded at that. "Well," Ari had muttered, "that's delightfully unexpected." Then the demon had chortled in glee. "Oh, the chaos shall be magnificent!"

So Minos had entered the doorway and started climbing. It was quite the journey, but he plodded along methodically, feeling himself getting closer and closer to his Adam. As the walls slowly faded from gray to white, he didn't let panic take hold. He took stock for burning pressure, for flames, for something blocking his way, only none of that happened. Cracks started forming in the walls as he walked, but he ignored them. If the passageway was ruined because he used it, it was the least of his concerns.

All that mattered was Adam.

When he had reached another door at the top, he had worried that this was where he would be blocked. Yet he could sense his Adam on the other side, and he had faith that a mere doorway would not be able to separate them. He expected Adam to have to open the door from his side, but he reached out to the handle anyway. To his astonishment, it opened easily, and he ducked his hulking form through it.

He had braced himself for… something. Excruciating agony. Burning flames. Dissipation. Blinding light. Bleeding from his orifices.

Demons could not enter heaven. This was not merely folklore. There were occasionally those who were tired of their immortality and chose to melt into the ether. A demon attempting to enter heaven was the quickest way to become, as Arioch had said, quarks spread out into the universe.

Minos had no desire to end up as such. He had thought, had hoped, that he could fight through whatever he needed to for long enough to collect his Adam and get back into the stairway. Only instead of agony and pain, he had found himself with an armful of Adam. He had immediately shrunk down to accommodate his little human, who seemed gleeful to see him. Then they were kissing, and he wasn't even sure who had started it, but he squeezed his Adam tightly and clung to him, feeling whole again, finally.

It was at that point that he registered the screaming.

The room was cracking around him and darkening from its institutionally bright white color to a more faded gray. It was also growing in size, which he expected meant they were due for some company from the Leadership Team.

The screaming was coming from a woman who was looking decidedly unangelic. She was staring at him and Adam, screaming something about not being properly trained to handle recalcitrant tickets and how demons could not be in heaven.

Minos ignored her and her tirade, looking down at his little human.

"Are you well?" he asked simply. He could see that Adam was, but he needed to check in anyway. "Shall I kill her?" he tacked on. He wasn't sure it was possible, but he could try. He knew she wasn't the force behind Adam being taken from him, but he also knew Adam disliked her and she had not been kind to him. For that alone, he would find a way to end her existence.

"Oh my sexy demon lover, I'm fine. And no, Bitch Lady does not need killing. But maybe some corrective action, huh? Because let me tell you, she sucks at her job. NO ONE should have to deal with that level of bitchiness. Especially after they just died! She has absolutely no idea what it's like to be a mortal soul. Isn't empathy supposed to be a heavenly trait or something? Because Angel-duh over there is completely missing the empathy and sympathy buttons.

"But you came!" he gushed, stopping his tirade to hug Minos close again. "Of course I knew you would, but I was getting really bored listening to all her questions. Although, speaking of, are there alpacas in hell? Or dogs? Because I think I'd like to have some. Of both.

"But anyway, that aside, I'm totally fine. A little scared when I was being herded here, but I never had any doubt you'd come for me, Big Guy. And the whole cracking the walls thing was super cool, by the way. Good work! They're totally gonna need a remodel after your visit," Adam chortled.

With that, there was a pressure change, and six angels popped into existence into the now larger room. The Leadership Team had arrived.

They were all in white suits with glowing white wings, although their hair and eye colors varied. They looked androgynous and vaguely clone-like. Minos had seen the demon part of the Leadership Team, so none of that surprised him. After working together for millenia, apparently the team started to think and act together as well. In fact, aside from coloring, the demons and angels were scarcely separable in mannerisms, speech, and attitudes.

Two of the angels held tablets, one had a briefcase, and one had a pen and notebook of some sort with an actual colorful design on it. The last was surprising. The Leadership Team was not known for being creative. Minos quickly judged based on the fact that the angel in question still looked somewhat…unique… that they were probably a new recruit to the team. He rolled his eyes, knowing that any individuality would be corporatized out of them before the decade was out.

At the arrival of the team, the female angel who had been screaming promptly shut her mouth and stood very still. She was obviously terrified, as she should be. Minos was an Infernal King of Hell, however, and there was nothing the Leadership Team could do to him.

At least he didn't think so. He was standing in heaven, after all, so it occurred to him that he might need to readjust his assumptions.