Angel Sanctuary belongs to Kaori Yuki.

Ficlet requested by Oscar Rose and edited by Dreadnot.

Peace

Sara spotted him as soon as he appeared, no matter how bad her eyesight was now it was easy to distinguish his features – dark, tall and brooding- among the sparse attendants that surroundedSetsuna's casket. His presence provoked a pang on her heart, his face brought so many memories, from the times they spent together as a trio, when they learnt to laugh and when they had also had to learn how to cry.

They had sensed his loss the most.

Theirs had been a lonely existence. Setsuna and she had lost most of their human friends due to their relationship or age, none of their relatives talked to them anymore and the adoption agency denied them the joy of a child. Of their supernatural allies, only Kurai visited them weekly, bringing news of Hell, Heaven and Hades likewise. Even so, they had each other, their solitude was a happy one and as long as they were together the world did not matter.

Setsuna, Sara thought, grasping his bony hand with hers, unable to contain her tears, they dripped over her glasses, blurring her vision.

Setsuna was still inside his coffin, sleeping peacefully a slumber from which he would not awaken; his face was peaceful and still beautiful despite the lines of age and the greying hair. She squeezed his hand again, tracing his bones with her digits, almost crushing them. He was so fragile. It was wrong. She had always been the weaker one in body and he the strong one, the warrior, yet he lost his last battle against the cancer and she was left to mourn him.

Sara cleaned her glasses and watched the shadow projected over her and the coffin. She spun around to face the Prince of Darkness himself. Lucifer was dressed in black leather armour, gaining murmurs from the rest of the guests. If he was hurt or mourning, he certainly concealed it perfectly behind his blank expression.

"Ki-no, Lucifer," Sara smiled sadly as she corrected her mistake. Kira Sakuya was as dead as Setsuna. Lucifer approached her and she did not move from her spot. He might be the ruler of hell but she did not fear him. Little intimidated someone of her advanced age. Wordlessly, Lucifer stood by her side, gazing upon Setsuna's body for a prolonged time.

"His soul, Alexiel is gone, right?" Sara asked, hoping that would not wound him. She did not understand what kind of relationship Alexiel and he had shared in the past but it had been deep, and she understood the pain of losing.

Lucifer merely nodded, not bothering to spare a glance for her.

"I assumed you would attend the funeral like the rest…" Sara trailed off, ignoring the gossip around them, and holding firmly to her cane. "Or would not come at all." The silence was almost awkward and so was having him near, so painfully like she had imagined Kira if he had been given a chance to grow. She, on the other hand, held no resemblance to the fresh young woman she used to be aside of her soulful eyes.

"Tell me Gabriel," Lucifer spoke, his tone chilled her soul completely, he made her feel like an insignificant bug, unworthy of his very words."Have you been completely tainted by Alexiel as well?"

Sara's eyes narrowed, "I am not Gabriel as much you aren't Kira Sakuya, Lucifer. You may reign in Hell but this is Earth." She never had problems being outspoken against the odds, even against a trial in Heaven, even against God and her mother. She would not stand and let self-titled superior beings crush her. She swore her response almost made him smile. Lucifer inclined his head and, with a final glance to her lover's body, he started to depart.

"Wait!" Sara called after him, following him, favouring her left leg.

He did not stop on her plea.

"Is her soul still cursed? Will she reincarnate and suffer again and forever more?" she asked, her tone quivering. She wanted to mourn Setsuna's death not his eternal damnation.

He paused then, giving her his back. "Lifetimes ago…" he explained, "I thought I would free her from that doom. But now, looking at the expression of her current reincarnation, I realized I failed."

Sara let got a wounded moan, her heart was bleeding, musing about her beloved's dark fate. "I-it cannot be… No…" she trembled, nearly fainting and not wishing to accept such a revelation.

"I told myself the same," Lucifer confessed, turning with an unreadable expression. "That you, of all angels, had given her peace at last," he spat the last bitterly before disappearing in a storm of black feathers.