And then there was nothing. Nothing. That heavy pain that drained me away was all empty. I was completely drained of everything.

This didn't really seem like a better alternative to life. Sure, life was hella painful, but this nothingness was fucking annoying. Oh wait, that was a feeling. I held onto it. Maybe that would get me somewhere.

I was rippling in tight small waves. It wasn't really a feeling, but it somehow made me nauseous. Stupid afterlife.

My eyes flashed open. Movement. Good. Movement was good. I blinked several times. Yep, still nothing. All I could see only white. Veni wouldn't be able to sit still in a place like this. She'd run around until every square inch was exploding with color.

Veni. A dull ache was centered in my chest. An echo of the pain at the end of my life. Well, at least she wasn't in this boringness. I'd have to deal with this for all eternity.

"Tina! Mia sorella!"

I would recognize that voice dead or alive. It was like there was a new sense of gravity. I was anchored to something, and I found I was standing. I was running. I was running towards a figure through the blinding white.

I wrapped my beautiful little sister up in my arms. My hands clung to the soft white fabric of her dress.

"Idiota! Idiota sorellina!" I said as I showered her face with kisses. I moved my hands to hold her face and looked into her light brown eyes. They were tearing up as I expected mine were.

"Why are you here? What the hell did you do?" My thumb trailed over her soft skin.

Veni just hugged me closer. "I'm sorry, Tina. You must have been so worried. I really meant to go home, but I just was sort of inspired. I couldn't wait for you to take me to the studio, so I went by myself. If I hadn't gone...it's all my fault that we're dead, sorella."

"Shut up. That wasn't what I was talking about. You shouldn't be here." I whipped my head around, not really seeing anything through the white and tears. "Where's the guy in charge? I'm going to punch him until he fucking forgets whatever you sinned and fucking lets you into heaven. You sure as hell know your sorella will take care of it. No one keeps my sorellina out."

Veni smiled brilliantly. "But Tina...we did it! We made it! We can finally be a family with Mom and Dad again!"

She turned me around so I could see. Not far from us were the giant pearly white gates. I felt my knees go weak.

"No fucking way," I breathed out as all the air left my lungs. Veni giggled softly. She supported most of my weight now. When had she become so strong? I was starting to get light headed.

"I always knew we'd make it! Let's go!" Veni started to guide me towards the entrance.

"Veni, Veni, you don't understand. There must be some sort of mistake. I don't belong here. I haven't...I haven't..."

"I always had faith, Tina. Maybe God saw what things you did do. I know you don't think anyone noticed, but I saw you. I saw you give those kids in the street food sometimes even though you were always hungry. You would give them pointers on where to beg and the shelters where they could find help. You are my inspiration, sorella."

"But I wasn't being nice! I...I...couldn't let them be in the streets! They'd get run over and make the place filthy, well filthier..."

"You were good. You were so good, sorella." She took my hand once I was able to support myself again.

This was really happening. We took the cloud like steps one at a time on our way to the gates. We were dead. I was dead. My life was over. And here I was ascending the stairway to heaven with my sister. Never would I have dreamed this. It just didn't make sense. I was bad, and I was almost positive that the officials in heaven wouldn't be as lenient as my sister.

At the foot of the opening, there was a desk. An angel, I presumed, was hunched over a large book. A glowing yellow halo hovered a few inches above his head. His blonde was slicked back. He wore white robes similar to the dress Veni was wearing. His blue eyes were squinted as he concentrated on his work.

We approached him hand in hand. We stopped a couple of feet from the large desk.

"One at a time. State your name, and receive judgement," he said without looking up.

I gave my sister a look. "See, I told you..."

"You'll do fine! I know it! They have to let you in!"

I rolled my eyes and stepped ahead of her. I might as well get this over with. If I was lucky, maybe they'd let me stick around long enough to see my sister get in before they damned me to hell.

"Christina Ramona Vargas," I stated.

He had a sharp intake of breath and held it for a while. He shook his head and flipped through his book. I knew it. I was damned.

He settled on a page and fingered down the page. He followed column after column before he finally stopped.

"Looks like you made it by the skin of your teeth," he said, scribbling something in the book. He stamped the bottom of the page.

I was speechless. How was this even possible?

"No fucking way. How did I manage to do that?" I said. There was something fishy going on here.

He barely looked up at me and returned to the book. He didn't seem to approve of my language. "It says here that you managed to confess your sins moments before you died."

Confess? I don't remember...oh wait. Was he talking about the threat I made to that Father Marcus person? I could hardly count that as a confession.

"You managed to die trying to save someone else. Emphasis on the try. It looks like you didn't actually succeed. Which pretty much sums up your entire life."

"Don't you try to go all Yoda on me," I said. He was pissing me off.

"Yoda?" he asked confused.

"We'll see how I 'try' when I kick your ass. What gives you the right to judge my life, you bastard? As if I would listen to some pansy douche in a dress."

"Tina..." Veni said as she pushed me past the desk and further towards the entrance of heaven.

The angel at the desk rolled his eyes and massaged his temples. "Next."

Veni approached the desk again, taking my place. "Hello Mr. Angel! I'm sorry about Tina. She can be a bit..."

The angel smiled a bit. He didn't look up to my sister. "Hello. No need to apologize. Believe me, I've had to deal with a lot worse. Name please."

"My name's Venetia Angelica Vargas!"

The angel fell out of his chair. He had a panicked look on his face. He looked from me to Veni and back again. What was with him? "No...No way...how can this...you shouldn't be..."

Veni started to tear up. Her lower lip began to quiver and a little whimper escaped.

"You made my little sister cry, you bastard! Let her in! Let her in right now! Hell, you can give her my place if you want. I wouldn't want to be here without her anyway," I yelled at him. How could this be possible. There was no possible way that I made it but my sister didn't.

I went back to my sister. I wrapped an arm around her and glared at the angel. How dare he? My sister had been looking forward to this most of her life.

"O-of course Venetia gets to enter heaven. She's...she was...pure...perfect."

His face flushed. He went back to his book and flipped a couple of pages. He looked sadly down at the pages.

"You died so young..." he said as he signed off and stamped at the bottom of the page.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you get hit by a car," I said bitterly. I didn't like the way he looked at her. It was like he was too familiar with her.

Veni had stopped crying and was starting to smile again.

"Oh, good. That makes me happy. What's your name, Mr. Angel?"

"I...uh...Ludwig. Ludwig Beilschmidt," he said. "Both of you can pass through the gates now. Welcome to heaven. Christina...Venetia."

I started to pull along my sister but she stayed put. He had lingered too long on Veni's name.

"Grazie, Luddy!" Ludwig and I gave Veni a strange look for her sudden nickname for him. "You can call me Veni! Hey, Luddy, do you think you can show us around? Tina and I are looking for our parents. Do you know where they would be?"

"I...kinda have to work right now..."

"Oh..."

Why was Veni so disappointed? We could find them just fine on our own.

"But, my shift will be over in just a bit. I can show you around then."

Veni's face lit up. "Fantastico! Grazie, Ludwig! Tina and I can wait, can't we Tina?"

I grumbled. I really didn't want to stick around, but if Veni really wanted to stick around this place... I couldn't exactly go in without her.


Veni sat at the edge of the desk as Luddy worked. She babbled on about home and what she liked to do. Luddy listened to every word as he worked. Smiling at the appropriate times and laughing quietly to himself. Just who did he think he was?

"Do angels have lives, Luddy? I mean, were you ever alive?" she asked.

Ludwig concentrated more on his work.

"I'm sorry...was that something I'm not supposed to ask? I don't really know how these things work. Have you always been an angel?" Veni continued.

"It's alright. You can ask. No, I haven't always been an angel. I lived as a human once. It's just that I lived a while ago."

"Oh." Veni grinned. "What was it like?"

"I was born in 1920 I think. I lived in Germany my whole life."

"Ooh, I've always wanted to go to Europe! Mom and Dad were from Italy before they came to America. What was it like?" Veni asked eagerly.

"Beautiful. Especially in the springtime when the wildflowers would bloom on the hills after a long cold winter."

"I would have loved to paint something like that. It sounds bellisimo!"

"Very." Ludwig smiled at Veni. This was ridiculous.

"Oh yes, Europe would have been lovely in that time. Germans blowing up everything. Right between two huge wars. Tell me, Ludwig. Were you and Hitler best friends?" I interrupted their little moment.

"T-Tina!" Veni spluttered out. She looked horrified with me. She couldn't believe I had just said that.

"I was not a Nazi," Ludwig said calmly. "I was killed by Nazi soldiers in 1939 when I helped a Jewish family escape from a concentration camp. I was 19."

He took a deep breath like his past was herd for him to talk about. "It's true, lots of my friends became nazis. I could have easily become one. My family was poor from the first war and being a soldier payed well. I was highly encouraged to become one, but I decided not to. I couldn't treat another person like that ever. Instead, I decided to work three times as hard as everyone else. I decided I needed to find a way to stop them."

The smile returned to Veni's face."You must have really liked working, Luddy. Is that why you decided to work as an angel?"

Luddy smiled at her. "Never really thought of it that way, but I guess you could say that."

I rolled my eyes. This atmosphere was making me sick. Ludwig closed up his book and gathered his books. He put them in one of the drawers and got up.

"Are you ready? I can show you in now."

Veni slipped off the desk and stood beside Ludwig. She grabbed Ludwig's hand. He blushed and lead her to the gate.

He was in my spot. Veni should have been holding my hand. I knew she didn't mean anything by it, but I couldn't be sure about that Nazi bastard.

I trailed behind them like an awkward third wheel, muttering to myself.

Ludwig pushed open the gate with his free hand. Veni heard my sharp intake of breath. She reached back for my hand. I gripped onto her fingers. Could I really do this?

Ludwig gave us this moment. He stepped through ahead of us and waited patiently. Veni kissed my cheek in encouragement. I squeezed her hand as we stepped past the gates and into heaven together.

AN: Thank you so much for reading! If you like what I'm doing, please leave me a review! They really inspire me to write better and more often!