Redonix Note: (This story is on Wattpad, and I have a voting thing going on there where readers will choose whether the endgame ship is 707xReader or UnknownxReader, so cast your votes!) I've never really tried writing stories from the "readers" pov, but for the sake of experimenting then this story will be my beta attempt. If enough people tell me that I suck at it then I'll just switch to how I normally write and we'll be cool. And also— I've never really liked the whole (y/n) and (name) thing because I for the life of me could only read it as it was and it bothered me a lot, so as a minor compromise then Reader-chan will be nicknamed 'Pip' and addressed as such probably 80% of the time. Now on with this story!
At first, there was nothing.
And then there was everything. You were everything. You were the endless obsidian night and the purifying light of day. The cold bite of winter's storm and the raging inferno of summer's heat. The ghost of a lover's kiss and the salty tear of a lonesome widow. The thin, soft tips of a butterfly's wing. A wolf's howl to the moon. A rock in a mountain, a single thread in a tapestry, a crack spidering across a pane of glass. You were the stars, spanning on and on without any conceivable end in sight; shooting, burning, lighting up the night.
You were infinite and yet just one being.
That was how you knew you were dead.
It didn't all come crashing back to you at once, not like in movies and books. The memories came in pieces like a jigsaw puzzle; jumbled together with pieces that seemed like they would fit together but would end up being just shy of what you needed to make a complete picture. Slowly but surely, though, you worked your way through the perplexing mystery that was your life up until you died.
Your origins were as normal and as unoriginal as they came. You had a regular family with regular John and Jane Doe parents, and were and only child, while your pets were the generic Mittens the Cat and Bubbles the Goldfish (both owned at separate times of course). Energetic as a child, mellow as a pre-teen, and politely respectable as a teenager. The circle of friends you kept was limited and full of non-extraordinary people, and you were never seen with the wrong crowd. You never did anything wild or rebellious, but you never did anything outstanding enough to warrant congratulatory attention.
In short, you led a rather dull, but seemingly humble life.
As you placed each puzzle piece in their proper places you began to feel more tethered in place. Your infinity was diminishing, the specialness wearing off and leaving you feeling more normal than ever before. For a brief moment this saddened you. After viewing your life without slanted lenses then you couldn't have helped yourself but feel one of a kind because of your infinite awareness—a feeling so incomparable to another that it was almost too hard to believe that you had been something so insignificant when you were alive. Your sadness turned to bitter jealousy, and you considered, selfishly, not finishing the puzzle of your life in order to keep a hold of your unique euphoria.
You tried to swipe your hand across the incomplete puzzle in an attempt to scatter the pieces.
Not only did nothing happen to the puzzle, but you seemed to have triggered some sort of alarm in the process. A low beeping crept through your mind. It echoed like a ball trapped in a box, bouncing against wall after wall, never stopping. Worried that you had somehow broken something, you tried to swipe at the puzzle again to see if it would turn off. Unfortunately for you the beeping only increased. And, much to your astonishment, a message appeared in front of you, colored in red.
ERROR:
INSUFFICIENT DATA
Confused, you poke at the message to see if it'll give you a clue as to what the heck it was talking about. It merely pulsed in response, unyielding. You glanced between the message and your puzzle several times before sighing in defeat. Looks like it was time to say goodbye to your feel-goods and finish what you started.
You resumed your original task and filled in the rest of your drab life.
Even in death you seemed to maintain your predictably boring streak of un-originality. Sure, being run over by someone trying to beat the red light while you were crossing the street was something unusual for a person of your normal degree, but it was just so cliché. Just like every other plain person that died and was met with their own version of the afterlife.
Though it was useless, you tried to strike the puzzle again. It was just so frustrating! Why had you always been so conservative when you were alive? Why hadn't you tried to make something of yourself? Why did you turn out so average?
The beeping returned along with the glowing letters. This time the message was a little different.
ERROR
HEAVEN OR HELL?
What kind of a question is that?! You blinked and scowled before raising your hand to tap on Heaven. Given the option, who the heck would choose Hell as their destination in the after life? Surely even the people that didn't believe in either wouldn't pick that option. It was a place of damnation and torture, fire and brimstone! An eternity of that certainly wasn't something to look forward to.
You're jerked out of your incredulous musings by a high pitched screech, and you wrench your hand away from the Error box to cover your ears.
ERROR
SCALE OF DECISION BALANCED
REBOOTING...
...
SENDING TO LIMBO
Wait. What?!
You had no clue what was going on, but you're pretty sure that whatever it was, you've definitely made a really big mistake.
Beep!Beep!Beep!Beep!
Luciel pulled his nose out of a book, whipping around in his seat to stare at one of many monitors. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and scooted closer to the monitor that was letting out the obnoxious alerts. His fingers flew smoothly across the self-customized keyboard, silencing everything. In the wake of the sudden chaos only the soft purring of the cooling vent filled the room.
Topaz eyes scanned the contents of the screen, growing wider by the second in excitement.
He pushed away from the computer, swiveling around to catch himself on another desk, and immediately began working away on another. Silver-blue lights flickered across the screen as he typed in commands, and an automated ringing picked up, like a phone. Luciel waited as patiently as he possibly could for the person on the other line to pick up.
The screen flashed and a young man appeared. Cool, teal colored eyes partially overlapped by cyan tresses stared back at him expectantly. A faint smile ghosted his pale lips, a humble trait of his. Luciel often wondered what it would take to get the man on the screen to smile a real, full blown, genuine smile. It wasn't that he never did it, but it would've been nice if he did it more often. For now, though, Luciel would smile enough for the both of them.
"Hey V!" he greeted with a small salute, grinning cheekily.
V ducked his head. "Hello Luciel. Is there something you needed?"
A short exchange of pleasantries and then right down to business, just like always. He resisted the urge to sigh and shake his head, feeling almost like a parent sometimes when it came to V. Though the other guy was his overseer, and more of a parent to him than anyone had ever been, he just couldn't help but feel that V needed a little more spontaneity in his life. Though being a High Angel didn't really leave much room for such indulgences. There was a lot of work to do, even in Heaven.
Luciel leaned forward a little more. "Another soul appeared in Limbo."
It wasn't like it was a rare occurrence, but he always got excited at the prospect of being allowed to do some field work. He hardly ever got to go out into Limbo to help persuade souls to come to Heaven. Scratch that—he hardly ever got out. Being cooped up in his den—more appropriately named a nest of wires—could only be tolerable for so long before he wanted some kind of action. With Heaven being so peaceful it wasn't exactly the most compatible environment to go with his erratically rambunctious nature.
As if sensing his anticipation V perked up a bit, the small smile earning a little more solidarity on his pale face.
"Would you mind taking care of this one?" he asked simply, amusement dancing in those teal gems.
Nothing could stop the jubilant cry that escaped Luciel's lungs. He shot up out of his seat and jumped, punching the air victoriously. Though there was hardly a battle waged it felt an awful lot like what he imagined a victory on the battlefield would feel like.
V laughed softly, bringing Luciel's attention back down to reality.
"Heck yeah I'll do it! Don't worry, I promise to bring that poor soul into Heaven." He clenched his fist in determination. V nodded.
"I trust you, Luciel. I'll leave the soul in your hands."
His chest swelled, feeling warm with delight. He was being given a chance to prove himself here. A chance to do something right. And he wasn't going to fail, no matter what obstacles were put in his path.
A young man knelt before his Queen Bee's feet, kissing the stone before her in a show of respect.
"Rise, my beloved Disciple."
He picked himself off of the floor, lifting his head to stare up into the shadows. Mint green eyes peered between a shaggy curtain of pink tinged hair expectantly. He awaited his orders. No matter what he was assigned, no matter what he was told to do, he would do so willingly. Gladly. For his Savior's word was law, but it was also for his own sake. Everything his Savior said and did was for his sake and salvation.
"What would you have me do, Savior?" he asked. Everything he did was out of reverence to her. His voice was softest when they spoke with each other. His thoughts were most tender when they were about her. He loved everything about her, and she truly loved and understood everything about him.
"You know that another soul has entered Limbo. Go and guide that lost lamb to our Eden. Invite them to our Paradise."
He bowed low. "As you wish, Savior." More quietly he murmured, "For Magenta."
"For Magenta," she agreed.
You landed flat on your back, the air rushing out of you like a balloon set loose at a kid's birthday party. Automatically your eyes squeezed shut and you struggled to breathe properly. Each and every gasp only brought you closer and closer to sounding worse than someone asphyxiating. Certainly, if you weren't already dead, you'd be turning blue by now.
Eventually you managed to bring the suffering to a minimal, enough so that you could at least open your eyes. A beautiful blue sky met your blurry gaze. For a while you remained like that, eagle-spread on your back, panting, and overall fairly fuzzy from shock.
Finally you manage to sit up. Rubbing the back of your head, you take a look at your surroundings. To your surprise everything is very familiar. After accepting the fact that you were absolutely, completely, undeniably dead then you had never really expected to see this place ever again. And yet here it was. And here you were sitting in the middle of what was probably considered one of the most busiest streets of your hometown. Yet hardly any car could actually be seen in motion. In fact, the whole area looked pretty dead (hardy har har).
"Where... Where the heck am I?" You finally ask yourself out loud, setting your confusion free out into the open. If this was supposed to be Limbo, then why did it look so much like home?
"Well that's an easy question~. You're in Limbo!" A deep, mirthful voice sounds behind you, causing you to nearly bolt out of your skin in surprise. The person began laughing at your reaction and you whipped around to face them.
Your mouth, which had been opening to tell the stranger off, suddenly switched gears and practically dropped to the ground as you ogled the man before you. First your eyes honed in on his bright, curly red hair. It was a lovely shade of red, if you were being perfectly honest, and it complemented his eyes very well.
Oh lord. His eyes. If honey and gold were to somehow magically have a baby then that would be the color of his eyes. They were absolutely gorgeous, even behind the lenses of his striped glasses.
The man stretched out his hand, the white of his shirt near blinding in this lighting. You stare at that hand for a while, probably, maybe, no definitely for too long, before you realize that you're supposed to actually take it. Hesitantly you take it; partly because he's so attractive that it's downright intimidating, and partly because your Stranger Danger alarm still worked, even in the afterlife.
He pulled you up with ease, grinning.
"Who are you?" you finally asked, finding your voice.
The tomato-head cocked his head slightly to the left and winked. His grin grew even wider as he pointed to himself and said, "I'm Luciel, and I'll be your guide to Heaven~!"
You stared at him, awestruck. Part of you knew that the correct, as well as polite thing to do, would be to introduce yourself next, but the other part of you wanted to ask the ridiculously stupid question. It should have been a total no-brainer on what should have come out of your mouth, but sometimes you really do surprise yourself.
"How many times did you practice saying that before you actually met me?"
It was a fair and logical point, but good lord did you really have to make it sound so weird? Here you had a really attractive guy willingly standing in close proximity to you, saying that he'd guide you to Heaven, and out came option number two from your mouth instead of something that would have made things less awkward. Smooth. Real smooth.
To the guy's credit though, he laughed it off. "Haha, you caught me. To be honest I actually made up a list of things I would say when I met you, but that's just the first thing that came out."
Looks like you weren't alone in this boat then.
Still feeling some of the previous embarrassment in the form of flaming cheeks, you managed to shake off any self-consciousness that may have been present and proceeded to introduce yourself to your supposed guardian angel—at least, that's what you thought he was anyways.
"Nice to meet you, Luciel. I'm [y/n], but you can call me Pip instead." You smiled a little and shook his hand, which you just realized you had never really let go of. The heated feeling now circulated throughout your entire head and you suddenly wished that you could go jump into a lake and drown. But being dead definitely limits yourself on dying again.
You released his hand, perhaps a little too quickly. Thankfully Luciel didn't notice and he moved on to another topic.
"Now, I'm pretty sure that you've got a lot of questions, and I'm also pretty sure that I've got 99.9% of those answers, but we should probably go somewhere else to discuss these things. It's a little too open for my taste." Luciel scanned the surroundings behind you, the intensity in his eyes making you wary once again, "Is there someplace here that you like to eat at?"
You looked around and spotted one of your favorite joints and pointed it out. Luciel nodded, turning on his heel and walking away. You made a move to follow him, but at that same moment something snaked around your midsection. Looking down, you saw what appeared to be black rope coiling around you. Before you could shout out anything to Luciel there was a sharp tug and you were propelling backwards.
A strangled screech tore itself from your lungs in full blown surprise, and the red head whipped around. But he was too late. You were already too far from him, and before you knew it, a new pair of arms were wrapping themselves around you. Your arms were pinned to your sides to keep you from struggling too much, but it didn't do much to alleviate your panic which made you try to escape.
A smooth, melodious voice whispered sweetly into your ears, and you were helpless against the strange power. "Sleep, my little lamb."
And like the switch of a light you were out.