The Brightside of Sin

The cool air brushed past me, causing a cool sensation against my skin as the weather took a turn for the worse. For being so early, the day was relatively dark from the clouds. Even the weather knew what was coming. Soon, he would be walking the Earth, and humanity would be doomed. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm going to have to make a decision, and it's not going to be one I like.

For two hours, I sat beneath a tree, just watching people go by, hurrying to escape the inevitable storm fast approaching. But now it was too late. Slowly, the first drops crashed to the Earth. From beneath the shelter of the tree, I remained untouched for the time being. Instead, a cool voice touched me, though unknown, still somewhat familiar, calling my name.

"Mira." He spoke my name with as much certainty as always. "It has been a while."

Turning to peer just past the tree, there he stood, in whatever vessel he managed to get. "It has. I must say, that vessel seems like a nice fit to your personality, though you seem uncomfortable with it."

A small skirt traced over his features as he drew closer to me, stopping to lean against the tree, by my side. "Yes, I'm afraid Nick will only work temporarily. Unlike you, I go through vessels a little more quickly."

"Maybe you should try being more nice to them. You do put them through an awfully lot of abuse," I retaliated as a soft laugh escaped my lips, a smile gracing my lips. Pushing myself off the ground, I now stood before him, my vessel a few inches shorter than his own. "Lucifer, it really has been too long. I was beginning to think I'd have to come down there myself."

He only returned my comment with a belittling look towards me, but I could see the joking in his eyes. "Mira, you know very well you wouldn't have been able to do that. Even if you did, you certainly wouldn't be able to get back out."

"True, but sometimes I thought it might have been worth it, especially in the beginning." My eyes shifted past him to gaze down the horizon. "I've grown very fond of this world, even the humans. They're not the same though. No one is. I've grown so used to being on my own here, standing in the middle ground as always."

"I know you have, but things can change now. I can change these things. You need not be stuck in the middle. Join me by my side, like so long ago. Then, we can fix this world and return it to how it used to be." His voice was gentle as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

His touch was comforting after so many years, but I hardly paid it any attention. So many thoughts circled my mind. I could hardly believe what was happening. It had been a while since any news of the apocalypse had reached my ears, but it was finally here. It really was a bittersweet feeling. These humans really didn't deserve what was falling on them. They may have been flawed, but after spending so many years around them, I had grown somewhat fond of them. That was hardly something I could admit to, though. How could I? He was out now, and I could feel it. My wish from so long ago was finally come true. I just don't know if it's really what I would wish for now.

"You know I've always supported you and I'll always be on your side, but maybe this isn't the right way to do things." With each passing word, his eyes darkened, and he dropped his hand back to his side.

The rain was breaking through the leaves now as the storm sat overhead, adding to the cool atmosphere as Lucifer began taking slow, steady steps around the short perimeter of the tree, his eyes now watching the sky. The silence was quite a frightening thing, despite our years of friendship beforehand.

It was only a brief minute later when he spoke again, though he did not turn to look at me. There was no need when I could read the disappointment from him. "I'm surprised at you, Mira. Of all the angels, I was expecting you to support me without fail, yet here you are, standing against me."

Quickly taking a few steps towards him, I gently grabbed his arm, stepping around to stand in front of him. Ignoring the rain now beating against my back, I continued on, "I am on your side. I'm not betraying you. I'm not casting you out!" Even then, he refused to pay any mind to me, no doubt, lost in his thoughts of the past.

My reply was a quick roll of his eyes. "Of course, you wouldn't do that to me. You're not really one to take action. You'd much rather just stay out of everything," he said with some sarcasm before evening out his voice again. "I suppose I could do this alone, after all, that was the original plan. I have plenty of loyal demons beside me to help carry it out. What will one little angel do for me?"

I knew his words were meant to hurt me, despite his light, carefree tone, and they did. "That's fine, if you really want to close yourself off to the last friend you have, fine. I wasn't turning my back against you, but if that's the way you want it, then so be it." Any hurt that I was feeling quickly got taken over by the bitter harshness that began to lace each word. "I knew you probably changed while in Hell, but I wasn't expecting this," I finished in a hard whisper as my eyes pierced his own. "The second something doesn't go your way, you automatically push them to the other side, never giving them a chance. You disappoint me."

"Come now, Mira, do you honestly think you were never at fault? I may have reached out to Michael for help, but I looked towards you, as well. When everything took a turn for the worse, all you did was watch from the shadows. You let this happen without a fight. Why not take responsibility for your past actions?"

"Quit acting like such a child, you know that's not how it was!" I was starting to push boundaries, but I didn't care. He was wrong if he thought I would tolerate this now. Maybe when we were younger, but not now. "What did you want me to do? I was still young, and I've never been as strong as you, or as high up. It's not like I would have been able to do anything."

Lucifer just watched me with an intense gaze, before turning his back to me once more, he ran his hand down the tree, just observing it. "Back then, I wasn't looking for your help, just your loyalty. You should have stood beside me, as you should be now, instead of arguing with me."

"Just listen to me. I'm doing this for your own good. I can't exactly go against you anyway. I'm kind of on my own side here, because I did stay on your side. You weren't exactly there to know what happened after you were sent to Hell. And in case you didn't notice, I'm not really supporting the other angels or getting their support."

It was after all this that he finally faced me, an unreadable expression across his face. "My own good. That's quite an interesting concept. How exactly is going against me for my own good. Working with me would be a much better way to help me, Mira, and you know this. I'm even more convinced of this with this new found attitude of yours. It's a pity it wasn't around back then. Maybe you would have stood beside me." Each word seemed like a small thought that would soon be forgotten; like he would forget me soon.

"Please don't do this. You don't need to take out most of the human race to prove your point. They aren't as bad as you think. You just need to get used to them."

"But they are flawed, and you know this. You agreed with me back then, are you taking back those words now?"

"No, they are flawed, but so are you. So am I. It doesn't matter though. This doesn't have anything to do with the humans, this is just between the family and that's how it's going to end up being handled. Michael is going to come down eventually, and I don't want anything to happen to you!" I was becoming desperate now. I don't see why he needed to be so difficult. Neither of us were getting anywhere on our sides of the matter. One thing I was certain we were getting closer to was the shattering of our quickly disappearing friendship.

Lucifer only scoffed at me. "Do you honestly believe that Michael can harm me? This will be a lesson to him, as well. He betrayed me and he will realize he was wrong soon enough. Now, I grow tired of this, Mira. What is your choice? You are either with me or against me."

I took a deep breath as I looked up towards the now clearing sky. He wasn't making this easy, but deep down, I knew what was going to happen all along, I just didn't want to admit it. "You know we were near inseparable, back when everything was simple, before everything changed; before the fighting, before humans. While everyone else disagreed with your thoughts or just ignored them, I was always intrigued."

While I expected a reply from him, all he did was remain quiet and listen. "You were one of the best things in my life and the reason why I even broke away from the other angels. If I didn't have hope that I would meet you again in the future, I would have just given up and fallen. Sometimes, I still wished that I had. I've had plenty of problems for not siding with the others. Even now, I'm hardly tolerated when I have any interaction with them. I guess that's going to drop down to zero tolerance."

It was with those final words that a smirk crossed is features. Though I hadn't given him a direct answer, he still knew. "I'm glad you're seeing things my way. I know you have many thoughts still, but just wait. Soon enough you'll realize that I am on the right path, and you are as well."

"I just hope you're right. I'd at least like to talk soon about all the details of this plan of yours. Don't be getting the wrong idea now, I'm working with you, not for you, so you better listen to what I have to say."

Though I was not amused by the end results of this encounter, Lucifer let out a brief laugh while agreeing to my terms. Things were a bit unstable, but our friendship was still intact, if even by a small fraction. I just didn't know how much pressure would be placed on this relationship by siding with Lucifer. I had no idea what was soon approaching.