--The Endless Stretch--

"Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn."

-Job 41:18

He soared over the boundless waters, apparently what was now considered the Pacific. This day had been amazing. Time simply didn't matter when one was free.

Now he only wished to finish what had begun his interrupted start. It would be a surprise, it would make him smile, and he had missed that smile. The awkwardness would not last long, surely…

Something hard collided with him, ripping him and it from the sky and plunging both into the icy waters. Their velocity carried them both deep into the oceanic abyss, where light was dim and creatures fled from their innate brilliance.

With acrobatic agility Lucifer kicked away from his attacker, his wings carrying him away swifter than the fastest fins. He turned beneath the water, his thoughts resounding like speech through the currents as he spotted his adversary.

"Again, Michael? We had this same experience mere hours ago," he said. "Flutter away like a good little angel."

The seraph's handsome face hardened at the order, his large body floating with the current. His short brown hair whipped in the water, his six pure-white plumes spread wide. Platinum buckles shone in the dark, the straps they belonged to holding his simple warrior's garb tight. The tanned angel responded equally in thought, his words as magnificent as his eerie glow.

"Why do you have a piece of the Trinity?"

"Oh, this," Lucifer sang, holding up his right hand and waggling the fingers. His blonde hair spread with the ocean, his pale complexion made him a ghostly opposite of Michael. "I merely thought it looked nice. Now commence fluttering."

"You know I will not," he said. "Relinquish the piece to me. You are only making your situation worse."

"Worse. Really?" He laughed, without ever opening his mouth. "Do explain yourself, brother."

"You know I can not allow-"

"You can do anything you like," Lucifer corrected. Michael tightened his jaw, his hands clenched as well.

"I am not the same as you." That simply the echoing laughter was killed, Lucifer's smile fizzled into a frown.

"Get away from me," the frowning seraph demanded. "I want to see your petrified face when the demons you helped create slaughter your precious mankind. If I kill you here-"

"That is enough." Lucifer looked sullen, but something kept him from refusing. "Do not speak about such things."

"Fine." They watched each other, for a little while.

"So you are actually planning to consort with demons?" his brother proposed, not believing his own words. "You would seek to destroy humanity?"

"Oh, not me," Lucifer assured. "I am not so foolish. But I have always assumed others are."

"No, you are no fool, my brother," Michael agreed. "You are simply stubborn and callous."

"And you are simply simple," Lucifer snapped. This particular angel seemed to offend him with every humble word. Especially the honest slaps, that instead of bouncing off his iron will seemed to seep inside and throttle his heart. It made his arrogant nonchalance fall away. "We can continue this immaturity for years, Michael. Just go and… let me be."

"You are afraid of me," Michael said slow and quiet. The realization was immediate and disturbing. "That is why you… How did this happen to us, Lucifer?"

"You…" Those eyes he shared narrowed. A bubbly gasp. His feelings quickly closed upon themselves, hard and concealed. "How dare you. Stay out of my heart, Michael!"

"You never minded before."

"Leave me!"

Lucifer's body overflowed with light, the seas around him bubbling and broiling with his power. It took just an instant before he reappeared, massive and animalistic.

His form was snakelike, enormous and long, scales covering the entire body. His head was elongated vertically, with a jaw full of enormous teeth that appeared excellent for eviscerating. His smooth, scaled body was interrupted in places by gigantic tentacle-like protuberances wriggling grossly in the water. A huge iron band was around his midsection.

Michael appeared miniature prey before the deep-sea behemoth, but his voice retained its strength and confidence.

"Leviathan? That is not a form you should take, brother," the white-winged seraph scolded. "You insult our Father with such blasphemy."

"Our God will survive." His voice retained its beautiful flow, but an animalistic rumbling underscored it. "Why do you insist on bothering me?"

"Why do you insist on following this crooked path?" came the coy rebuttal. "If you would but relent, perhaps He would-"

"Yes, perhaps! Or perhaps He would remain stoic, blaming all thoughts and actions adverse to His will on my existence! I am, according to our God, evil incarnate. I am the corruption that plagued all other souls and destroyed the peace of Heaven and tainted the Earth and caused the creation of Hell! Ha…"

"You do not truly believe that. Perhaps-"

"Perhaps nothing! As long as God refuses to correct His mistakes I shall be the scapegoat for all that is wrong with existence! Open your eyes, my brother, and see!"

"I see well enough," he said. "We are servants of God, Lucifer. Our futures- we can not hope to comprehend what He has planned for us."

"We are the servants of God," he agreed, that enormous, dangerous mouth of his gaping. "And as His servant I will correct His mistakes."

"Lucifer!"

"I will not accept some uncertain fate. I will determine my future myself. And you… you will not hold me back again."