We dance in the shadows,

Behind a locked door.

We think to ourselves:

"I was here before."

Raphael slowly lifted himself off of the floor, squinting as he tried to remember how he got there. "Oh, my little teacup!" a distressed voice cried out as a stranger helped him up. Micheal. Raphael's brain helpfully supplied. His name is Micheal. "You had me worried there! I wasn't sure if you would even survive when I found you!" Micheal continued frantically.

"Where am I? What happened?" Raphael groaned. His entire body was shaking in pain as he leaned on Micheal for support.

"You took quite the fall, Teacup. There were hundreds of demons and hellfire everywhere! You are lucky to survive!" Micheal exclaimed. Raphael limped away from Micheal and gasped at the sight of the Earth slowly spinning on display. The calming, gentle blue and bright, vibrant green seemed to be calling out to him, asking him to come home. "Oh, Teacup!" Micheal cried nervously, "Stay away from that! It's dangerous!"

"Dangerous? Why? It's just Earth," Raphael asked. If you wanted an example of confusion, you just need to see Raphael's face at that very moment.

"It will transport you to Earth, without even having a body! That is very unsafe, especially for someone like you!" Micheal whispered, desperate to convince him to move away. "You may not remember what happened when you were on Earth, but I do! A burning ring of hellfire, demons trying to kill you, Satan rising from Hell!" Michael exclaimed. Raphael backed away from the globe and nodded fearfully.

"I understand, Micheal. You always know best," Raphael sighed as he walked away from the comforting glow of Earth.

Muck knew he was different. The other demons made sure he never forgot that fact for a single second. He was the youngest fallen angel and therefore the easiest target. They didn't even bother to hide how much they hated him from the moment he crawled out of the boiling sulfur pit. Snickering as he scratched at the dirt with his clawed hands, cackling as his attempts to speak ended up as barks and howls. The moment they needed a new demon on Earth, he was the first and only one to volunteer. He didn't care that Earth apparently had a curse that made both angels and demons "go native", he just wanted to leave.

There was a strange sense of deja vu when he finally arrived. The black Bentley parked next to an old bookshop brought back a blurry memory. A panicked voice was yelling, "You can't go ninety miles per hour in central London!" Muck slipped through the window of the bookshop and started walking around. Just a single glimpse of a memory made him long for more, but he froze at the sight of Bibles. Realizing his potential mistake, he started quickly backing away.

Snapped out of the warm comfort of the past, he now noticed everything he had previously missed. The angel-winged cup was laughing at his foolishness, the collection of Bibles continued staring at him menacingly and he could still sense the faint angelic presence in the shop. He scampered out of the shop on all fours, going so fast he was just a black blur. As he slinked into a nearby alleyway to heal his wounded pride, he swore to return and prove his worth.

Raphael needed a ton of convincing before being allowed to work on Earth. Luckily, he had realised that without an angel on Earth, the demons could have an extreme increase in corrupted souls. Now, he bounced joyfully as he breathed in the smell of Earth and looked around at the bright lights and colors. He froze as he saw an oddly familiar old bookshop. A drunken voice talking about dolphins and whales. He was about to enter the bookshop when he felt a demonic presence. "Show yourself, coward!" he yelled. "I'm not afraid of you!" A pair of golden fox eyes stared at me from the shadows.

The demon slowly slinked out of the shadows and growled in a hoarse whisper, "Angel." Baring his sharp teeth, he growled threateningly and rasped, "No fight, no hurt." Raphael started shaking, remembering what Micheal had said about demons.

"They'll cut your body into pieces with unholy swords and send them to Heaven as a declaration of war!" Micheal declared persuasively. "Demons will do that, along with many other horrible, unspeakable things if they find you!"

"Pl-please!" Raphael stammered, "I… I just want to remember something, anything!" The demon stopped, thrown off by the nervous, crying angel. Deciding that this wasn't one of the rude, pompous angels he always was hearing about, he came closer. Raphael froze in shock as the demon carefully wiped away the tears and held out his hand.

"Muck," he growled, pointing at himself. Raphael took his hand, being careful to avoid the sharp claws.

"Hi, Muck. We got off to a bit of a rough start, but I think we could be good friends. I'm Raphael," he laughed as they shook hands. What am I doing? Raphael thought frantically as Muck slinked away into the shadows.

What have I done? Muck wondered fearfully as he watched in the shadows. The demons had made it clear that forging alliances with angels would always end in pain and death. "We're an angel and a demon! We're on opposite sides!" the panicked voice yelled. "Shut up!" Muck growled under his breath. "I'm trying to have a moment here!" The memories of that voice had nearly led him to his doom before, and Muck never made mistakes twice. It was an unspoken rule of Hell: "Don't adapt, don't survive" that Muck had learnt to live by. Raphael had seemed to be a kindred spirit, and you needed every single one you could find when the literal Prince of Hell was your boss. Muck waited patiently for his next assignment, eager to prove his worth in any way possible. Well, as long as he didn't have to kill the idiotic angel. Friends were hard to find when you were one of the Fallen.

His first assignment was not a big one, just go around in some big city and create trouble. He didn't expect to find Raphael in the same city. "Hey!" he growled, internally groaning at how rough his voice still sounded. "Bring food."

"Muck!" Raphael laughed, "Fancy seeing you here! Just helping out as a nurse! How about you?" Muck pushed the box in his hands over to Raphael.

"Bring food," he repeated. He tried to calm his wildly pounding heart as he opened the box of donuts. Raphael looked like a deer trapped in the headlights and pushed it away.

"No, Muck!" Raphael yelled, "Gluttony is a sin!" Muck rolled his eyes and threw one of the donuts at Raphael's head. Raphael just caught it, gave it to a nearby beggar, and smirked calmly at Muck. Giving Raphael a long, hard glare Muck slowly lifted the box and poured the donuts into his mouth.

"I sin!" he declared with his mouth full of donuts. Raphael looked disgusted but slightly amused.

"Of course," he retorted, "You're a demon. It's what you do." Muck slinked away with a triumphant, donut-stuffed grin. A trail of donut crumbs was the only sign that he ever was even there.

Raphael was continually trying to regret his decision to make friends with a demon. It was harder than he ever imagined. It was easy to see just how undemonic Muck truly was. He seemed to have a natural ability to notice when Raphael was in a bad mood. Each time, he popped in with a temptation that was more like a gift and a silly smirk. No matter how many times Raphael tried to push him away and keep his distance, Muck proved to have the patience of … well, a saint. When Muck found out that Raphael had a fondness for plants, he somehow managed to find the greenest, plant-filled flat in all of London.

Now, Raphael was admiring the flat and the lush, green plants in it. The entire thing felt warm and familiar. "Angel like?" Muck's rough, familiar voice asked suddenly. Raphael jumped, nearly cutting Muck's head off in shock. Raphael hadn't even noticed the demon slipping in through the window.

"We have a door, Muck!" Raphael complained, rolling his eyes dramatically. "It's polite to use it!"

"Demon. Not polite," Muck pointed out. He pulled a fancy-looking box from his bag and opened it. "Brought food."

"Gluttony is a sin, Muck!" Raphael sighed. Muck had been annoyingly persistent in getting Raphael to eat something, literally searching through every single store in London to find the perfect food. Raphael was curious to see what food had caught Muck's eye this time.

"Oysters!" Muck declared, ignoring Raphael's response. "I've never had an oyster before" the voice admitted, sounding slightly interested.

"Fine," Raphael groaned, "But just one." Muck looked like he was going to explode with joy as he handed Raphael an oyster.

Muck never expected Raphael to eat something, but there they were, eating oysters together. He had decided to trust that strange voice just one more time and it had worked. The voice was cheerfully talking about a new chef that did remarkable things with oysters. Muck only let the memory make that choice of oysters for him because of just how different the voice sounded. Instead of its usual panicked, scolding tone, it sounded warm and kind. Muck truthfully never wanted this moment to end, but he knew that something would pop up sooner or later.

"Oh no, no, no!" Raphael cried suddenly, looked more panicked than Muck had ever seen him. "One of the angels is coming to check up on me this afternoon. The house is a mess and I haven't done anything productive all day!" Muck couldn't understand why Raphael looked terrified, but he knew that no matter what the reason was, Michael would pay. Nobody scared Muck's friends to that level and got away with it. With a quick goodbye to Raphael, Muck slipped out of the window and went to find a way to protect Raphael. He knew the perfect being for the job.