Laevo

Chapter One

'Meg.'

That voice, that one drawling, sexless, repetitive voice, had been echoing through Laevo for so long now, that it was considered a permanent fixture. Nobody questioned it, or even listened to it. Instead, the just ignored it, accepted it, like a mother should accept her child, no matter the life choices they make.

The same thing applied to Meg. Her hair had faded back to its natural brown, and it cradled her face as she lay next to Oblivion. It was, on that day, in the form of a lake and she could hear it as it washed over her feet, soothing her and cooling her body. But Oblivion wasn't always a lake, or an object at all. Sometimes, Oblivion was a person. In fact, Oblivion was the voice that whispered through Laevo.

Meg didn't move for an hour, a day, a week. She wasn't sure, nor did she care. All that mattered was that Laevo was her Heaven, and there, she could forget everything that had ever gone wrong for her. Even the air was cleansing- every time she breathed it in, she could feel one corrupted part of her soul healing, one damaged piece of her brain forgetting.

From the moment she felt Crowley's knife pierce her skin and rip apart her vessels organs, she knew that her true form would also flounder. So, she did what any demon in her position would do. She prepared herself for Laevo.

Laevo was the afterlife for demons. It was where they went once they died, a safe haven that finally gave them a chance to be kind, and good, and pure. Which, is why, if a demon is ever held captive, or tortured for information, they almost always chose death over betrayal. After all, when they die, they go to Laevo, where their souls are finally cleansed, and their memories wiped. And yes, they become empty shells of what they used to be, sometimes still attached to their vessels, sometimes not, but they were finally happy there. Finally content.

They always choose death over betrayal because who would choose being tortured and carrying on living a life of pain and constant search for a purpose, a cause to dedicate what is left of their warped lives, over being in a constant trance, the only sound available to hear either the Voice of Oblivion or just white noise, which reminded Meg of an angel's true voice. Of course, she forgot what that was after just a week in Laevo.

'Meg, don't you want to go home?'

The demon sighed quietly, rolling over onto her back to stare up at the sky that… Well, it wasn't really a sky. It was just a white mist, hovering miles above her head, but if she squinted slightly, she began to believe that she could reach out and touch it with the fingers that used to be so bruised and burnt. But that was only her vessel. Her true form was barely scathed, having been protected by the human armour. Meg had formed a strange attachment to the human body that had belonged to the young girl from Cheboygan, and so had refused to vacate it when she entered Laevo.

'No. I barely remember what home is. Why would I want to go back there?' Meg called back to Oblivion.

Home, to her, was a cluster of memories which she was unable to combine to form a life. Home was the place she didn't ever want to return to, or even remember, because it was both too painful and too pointless. Besides, she couldn't recall the last time she had had anything close to an actual house, or a true family. The demons in Hell didn't count, of course. So what if Lucifer had called her 'his most loyal daughter', and Azazel, when he had acquired her from Lucifer, had said something similar. Alistair, on the other hand, had never really praised her, but he gave her shelter and tuition.

But none of them had ever really meant anything to her. They were blood, they weren't family.

When she thought of home- not that she did often, the memories were hard to recall- but when she did, the only thing that ever came to her mind was a name. She couldn't remember the face, or much about the person, but she knew that it belonged to someone with these blue eyes that sent shivers through her body when she thought of them.

Castiel.

And, yeah, the name made her laugh, even in Laevo where emotions are all but gone. She always thought that it sounded a bit like a sneeze.

'You miss it, child. I can hear what you're thinking.'

Meg rolled her eyes.

'Then stay out of my head.' She replied, toes curling as she felt the river withdraw from her ankles and rise into the air, glistening droplets bonding together to form a body. It wasn't human, more of a… Cloud, except silver and dense.

Oblivion didn't usually show her form to people, but when she did, it was usually for an extremely important reason. It was considered an honour in Laevo to see her.

Of course, she had a human vessel too, but that was only used when she had to travel to Earth and collect the souls of demons before they were taken by Crowley, the King of Hell, who liked to string them up on his wrack and torture them until their screams could be heard on Earth through the oceans.

The demon sat up, squinting to adjust her vision. After all, if you weren't prepared, Oblivion could be blinding.

'I could send you home, if you'd like. Your family, they miss you.' Oblivion's dull, yet soothing, voice hummed.

And there was the catch. The great and terrible catch. Oblivion always tried to send people home, once a day, always at exactly the same time. You could count on it. But that was the problem. Demons didn't ever want to go home, didn't ever want to return to the place they had tried so hard to escape. So, naturally, most of them just ignored her when she came, and then she'd leave and return the next day. But once you said no, that was it. She would never come back, and you'd be alone forever more, alone to become an empty mess. You'd forget what was left reeling without you on Earth. It didn't matter to you anymore. Nothing did. You'd be left staring at the white mist, forever feeling like something was so, so important to you, but you couldn't quite drag it from the deepest, darkest depths of your mind.

And that really isn't as nice as it sounds.

'They don't miss me at all, and they definitely weren't my family. Hell, they weren't my friends either.'

Meg slowly lay back again, closing her eyes and just listening to the hum of Laevo, but she was careful not to let it send her to sleep. She had made that mistake on her first day, and by the time she had woken up, six months had passed and she had somehow forgotten her own name. Oblivion had reminded her of it, eventually though.

'One was.' Oblivion reminded her.

It hurt to remember, and it hurt to realise that Oblivion was right. There had been one person- or rather, angel- that had always stood by her, always supported her when she needed it most. His family in Heaven had called her an abomination, she knew that, though he never said it, and she knew that her being near him was dangerous. But there was something so… Captivating about him. So… Enchanting. She would be lying if she said that she tried to stay away from him.

'I remember when I met him… It was so clear that he was the only one for me-.' She began, eyes widening with surprise when she heard what she had just said. Never had anything so honest ever came from her lips.

Except it wasn't really her that said it- although it was what she was thinking.

Oblivion laughed at her shock, silver form shaking with amusement.

Meg frowned, though she couldn't make herself mad at Oblivion. Another curse of Laevo. It was too calming, which meant that there were no opportunities to attack a fellow demon, or Oblivion itself.

'I didn't… That wasn't…' Meg stuttered, horrified.

Ever since she had crawled up from Hell, her nails caked with blood and her face deformed, cut and burnt, she had sworn never to allow emotions to overtake who she was. She had always sworn to only kill what was meant to be killed, and serve whoever the Hell claimed ownership of her.

But then she met that angel…The one who made her forget the most important thing she had ever promised herself. And that came with great consequence. It made her feel vulnerable, confused, unsure of why she always wanted to be near him- Not that she'd ever admit that, not to anybody. But it didn't mean that she didn't feel it.

Her thoughts were interrupted yet again by Oblivion, who disappeared into thin air again, became the wind, and then flew past Meg's ear, whistling its words to her.

'You don't have to run from it. All you have to do is say yes.'

Meg squirmed uncomfortably for the first time since she had died and began to crawl away from Oblivion on her hands and knees, refusing to look back even when it started offering her things that would make anyone else cry with gratitude. But not her. No. She was relentless, crawling through the white nothingness until she came across another lake, one that was real- or as close to real as anything was there- and she submerged herself into the warm waters of it, her clothes still on. It didn't matter, she decided. After all, she knew that as soon as she walked out again, they would immediately dry on their own- One of the perks of Laevo.

Since demons didn't need to breathe, she could disappear completely under the water for hours, days, years, and nobody would bother her. Oblivion would get bored if Meg couldn't hear her, and it'd stop coming back. At least, Meg hoped it would.

Unfortunately, as Meg was about to learn, Oblivion didn't give up so easily. The demon felt phantom hands grasp the top of her arms and she was lifted into the air, disgruntled.

'If I ever meet you in your true form, I will kill you-.' Meg began to threaten, but almost as quickly as she had let the words bubble up in her throat and drift from between her lips, she felt her chest tighten- though not exactly uncomfortably, if that were in any way possible- and found she could no longer speak.

'Now, now, child. Simmer down.' Oblivion hummed.

Meg snorted- although her tangled vocal cords distorted the sound slightly- and then got to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. Oblivion was the first being in Laevo to actually begin to frustrate Meg, but she was almost certain that it wouldn't be the last time she wanted to murder someone in the land of supposed peace.

The demon wanted to curse and yell at Oblivion, but instead, all that came out was a choked murmur. Oblivion's monotone laugh rang through the air, followed by a gentle gust of wind. Then, within seconds, Meg felt calm again, light and gentle, like a feather. She slowly fell backwards, trying to fight the sudden feeling of total and utter exhaustion she felt. Obviously, Oblivion had become tired of Meg's anger. There was no place for anger in Laevo.

As Meg's eyelids drooped slightly, she managed to flash one last glare at Oblivion, who had yet again morphed into a different form. That time, it was… Meg struggled to stay awake long enough to see what it was. A… It was silver, and… A stag… A doe… No, it was… A…

Meg choked out a strangled laugh as she saw what it was, and then rolled her tired eyes with the last piece of energy she had left as she heard Oblivion laugh too.

She never thought she'd see the stuck up old cow as a unicorn.