Author's Note: I was disappointed when I jumped onto this website and found a severe lack of Justice/Judgement fanfic. But to paraphrase Justice, if there isn't enough fic of my favorite paring, I must write the fic myself. Hence this story. I hope you enjoy.
This is the Teen and Up rated version of the story. The Mature rated version has been posted over on Archive of Our Own.
Justice kicked open the door to the house she and her fellow demons had been calling home in the mortal realm. She announced, "Groceries are here!"
Vodka bottles clinked together in one of the two large paper bags Justice was carrying in her arms as she walked through the door and bumped it closed behind her. She'd done the household shopping so many times by now that she knew everything she needed to get by heart: coffee beans for Pandemonica, pancake baking supplies to keep the boss-lady happy, and an unholy—literally in this case—amount of alcohol for Malina.
There was no one in the home's foyer to greet Justice, so she made her way toward the kitchen, intending to drop off the spoils of her shopping trip there. However, when she walked into the living room along the way she heard a hum emanating from the vicinity of the sofa. It was the unmistakable sound of the supernatural chains that Judgement was so fond of creating.
Justice smirked. She heard multiple sets of chains, and that could only mean one thing. She said, "Got caught trying to corrupt the mortal youth again?"
"You can't prove it! No one saw anything!" all three of Cerberus's bodies said in unison. Just as Justice had expected, they were sitting chained up on what had been dubbed the Punishment Sofa.
"Keep on trying, girls," Justice said. "You'll get one eventually."
Suddenly, a new voice said, "Don't encourage them."
A smile crossed Justice's lips. She turned around. Judgement was standing in the living room's entryway with her arms crossed and her characteristic scowl on display. Justice didn't usually miss the use of her eyes. She was a demon after all; she had senses that mortal beings couldn't begin to fathom. But she really missed being able to look at Judgement's pretty face. Still, she wasn't one to dwell on the negative.
"Hey girl," Justice said in her smoothest voice.
Judgement said, "I see your mission to restock our supplies was successful."
"You know it," Justice said. "Where's everyone else?"
"Out," Judgement said.
"Even the big guy?" Justice asked.
"Yes. He's explaining to the authorities the cause of the latest…" Judgement's eyes shifted over to Cerberus. "…incident."
Justice set the grocery bags in her arms down on the coffee table, no longer caring if anything inside of them needed to be refrigerated. She slid her sunglasses down her nose a little and said, "So what you're telling me is that it's just the three of us here right now."
Cerberus said, "Five of us!"
"Yeah. But only two of us aren't all tied up." Justice said. She swiftly walked over to Judgement and grabbed her by the gauntlet.
"What are you—?" Judgement asked, but before she could finish, Justice dragged her out of the living room.
Justice was halfway to the stairs when Judgement pulled her hand free. "What is this all about?" she demanded.
Justice turned around. She said, "Girl, we're on vacation. You need to start acting like it."
"We're not on vacation," Judgement said.
Justice smirked.
"Is something amusing?" Judgement asked.
Justice cleared her throat. Then she did her best impression of Judgement as she quoted a conversation they'd had several days ago. "'I don't oppose this little vacation into the mortal realm, but….'"
Judgement huffed and crossed her arms. She muttered, "I don't sound like that."
"Yeah," Justice agreed. "You sound way sexier."
Judgement growled in protest, but a blush colored her cheeks.
"Look, all I'm saying is that we've finally got some time alone together," Justice said. "This is our big chance!"
"Our big chance for what?" Judgement asked.
"You. Me. A date," Justice said. She winked and pointed a finger gun at Judgement.
Judgement scowled again, although her whole face turned beet red. Justice could literally feel the heat from Judgement's blush, even if she couldn't see the sight. It was a shame. She would've bet Malina a year's supply of alcohol that Judgement looked absolutely adorable when she was flustered.
Judgement stammered, "I…. As High Prosecutor I'm…far too busy…"
"I used to be the High Prosecutor too. So I know that's a lie," Justice said. "But if you want to keep things quick, we can skip the date and just get to what comes next."
Judgement when ramrod straight. Her only response was to sputter something unintelligible.
"Come on," Justice said. "What do you say?"
"I…I hear Cerberus trying to escape their punishment. I have to go!" Judgement said. And with that, she ran out of the room.
Justice reached her hand out, but it was too late to keep Judgement from fleeing. She quietly cursed Cerberus for ruining her plans, not suspecting that Judgement may not have been telling the truth.
Justice sighed, although a wistful smile crossed her lips as her mind drifted back to the day she and Judgement had first met. It had been eons ago, back when Judgement had still been an angel. They'd both been on the mortal realm during one of the close calls that had nearly set off Armageddon.
Justice had been enthralled from the moment she'd first laid eyes on Judgement, and she was pretty sure the feeling had been mutual. She still remembered the day that Judgement had been forsaken by Heaven. Justice hadn't believed her luck. Judgement's fall meant the two of them could finally be together without worrying about the Heavenly Host getting all huffy about it. But Judgement always seemed to have something more important to do. Even before she'd become High Prosecutor, she'd taken the business of punishment very seriously. However, she'd never outright told Justice no. One no was all it would take, and Justice would've backed off.
Justice knew it was only a matter of time before she and all the other girls would be heading back to Hell. Then Judgement would bury herself in her work again, and Justice would be left to watch from afar the beautiful, fiery passion with which Judgement worked the Sin Machine. She'd really thought things would've been different up here, but she still couldn't seem to pull Judgement away from her duty.
Suddenly, Justice clenched her fist, and new resolve filled her. She had spent decades trying to worm her way into Judgement's heart. And she wasn't going to back down from the best chance she'd ever had. She'd simply have to try harder!
Several hours later, Judgement was standing on the second-floor landing. Her hands were gripping the railing as she looked down into the first-floor foyer. Justice was down there, unaware that she was being observed. She was practicing her smoldering looks in a mirror. Judgement wasn't clear on how a mirror was supposed to help Justice, but the whole scene was too adorable for her to care.
Judgement's tail wagged back and forth as she watched Justice. She knew she needed to stop indulging herself, but it was impossible for her to tear her eyes away. She was a moth, and Justice was her flame. Judgement feared what conflagration might result if the two of them ever were to meet.
Justice's blatant proposition earlier today had only been the latest in a series of tribulations that Judgement had endured since venturing to the moral realm. It hadn't been the first time Justice had said something like that to her, far from it. But down in Hell she always had an excuse, a shield. Up here she was naked and defenseless, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could resist.
"Oh my," a mocking voice suddenly said from behind. "The High Prosecutor reduced to that of a common Peeping Tom? How amusing."
Judgement's blood began to boil. She turned around, already knowing who she'd see.
Sure enough, Lucifer was standing there, wearing that ridiculous "Satan" apron she'd apparently grown fond of.
Judgement's teeth clenched as she said, "Lucifer."
"Don't mind me, dear," Lucifer said. "And please continue. I do find it ever so amusing to watch you torment yourself."
"I am not tormenting myself!" Judgement said.
"Engaging in self-flagellation then?" Lucifer asked, bringing her hand to her chin in an amused gesture. "I've always found it an odd and misguided way to seek redemption."
Judgement felt her temper rising even higher. She said, "I do not need redemption."
"Tisk, tisk, dear. Lying is a sin," Lucifer said. "Or are those horns of yours just an aesthetic choice?"
"Those feckless angels in Heaven don't have the strength to do what needs to be done!" Judgement spat out. "If balancing the scales requires sacrifice then so be it! Judgement of the guilty must be made, no matter the cost!"
"Very dramatic," Lucifer said dryly. "But we both know your love of punishment isn't why you fell."
Judgement's hands curled into fists. Only her pride kept her from plugging her ears so she wouldn't have to listen to what came next.
"You fell…for her," Lucifer said, pointing down toward the foyer below.
Judgement didn't look. She didn't want to give Lucifer the satisfaction. But she knew Lucifer's finger was pointing at Justice.
"Her," Lucifer continued. "A natural-born demon. Yet even that sin might have been repented. But for you, a woman, to love another woman…unforgivable. Such an arbitrary rule, don't you think? And yet you still deny yourself her touch, to this day, in the vain hope that your abstinence will somehow absolve you. It would be funny. If it wasn't so pathetic."
Judgement couldn't take it anymore. She let out a guttural roar and lunged at Lucifer. Her hand closed around Lucifer's throat. Then she lifted her off the floor by her neck and charged down the second-floor hallway, slamming her against the first wall she encountered. There was an audible crack as the impact put a large dent in the drywall.
Lucifer was unfazed. "Touchy subject?" she asked with an insufferably smug smile on her face.
"You will not make her my apple!" Judgement growled.
"It was a pomegranate, actually," Lucifer said. "The recent translations get so many things wrong. And to torture the metaphor a little further, look in the mirror, dear. You've already been expelled from the Garden."
Judgement let go of Lucifer, but in a flash, a magical chain flew out of her hand and wrapped itself around Lucifer's wrists. Judgement pulled the chain taut and hissed, "Be careful, snake! Lest I decide you're no longer fit for the Throne of Hell."
"There are many demons I should fear," Lucifer said. "But you are not one of them. You'll never usurp Hell's throne."
"Are you so certain?" Judgement asked. Her voice was low and dangerous as she held the chain tight.
"Absolutely certain," Lucifer said. A look so wicked that it would have given an archangel pause crossed her face. She leaned in close and said, "You'd be too afraid to sit on it yourself."
Lucifer's words might as well have been a slap across Judgement's cheek. She stood there stunned by her anger over her own impotence.
Lucifer casually pulled her hands apart, and the chain binding her made a sound like a discordant choir of bells as it shattered into countless glowing shards. The shards vanished as they fell to the floor.
Lucifer strolled past Judgement and said, "No, dear. It will take a far more clever demon than you to steal my throne. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pancake recipe to perfect."
Footsteps echoed in Judgement's ears as Lucifer walked away. Judgement stood there, not sure what to do. It hurt her to her core how right Lucifer was, and the way Lucifer held it over her was salt in her very deep wounds. The worst part was that Lucifer had been playing mind games with her for so long that Judgement wasn't sure what the righteous path was anymore. Was she correct to deny herself finding comfort in Justice's arms and Lucifer was trying to tempt her into further damnation, or was that snake tricking her into needless self-denial? She didn't know, and she knew that Lucifer knew she didn't know. It was maddening.
Judgement let out a frustrated yell and punched the wall, leaving a fist-sized hole right in the center of the Lucifer-sized dent.
"Whoa! You alright there, girl?" a voice asked.
Judgement's head snapped around. She saw Justice standing there. She pulled her fist away from the wall, cringing when a bit of the plaster crumbled off and fell to the floor. She hastily said, "There was a fly!"
"Must have been one Heaven of a fly," Justice said. "Unless old Beel got out of the Abyss."
"I assure you, the Banished One is still in her prison," Judgement said.
"Good thing," Justice said. "Because as awesome as fighting her again would be, the boss-lady told me I needed to come up here and finally teach you how to relax."
Judgement's scowl could have broken glass. But as furious as she was with Lucifer, she couldn't be mad at Justice. She said, "I already know how to relax."
"Uh-huh," Justice said dryly. "Show me then."
Judgement's eyes widened a little. She stammered, "I…we're on this vacation. That should count."
"Oh. So you are on vacation," Justice said. She reached up and slid her sunglasses down her nose. "Prove it then. Take those gauntlets off."
Judgement's fists clenched. She was suddenly self-conscious of the metal strapped to her arms. "My gauntlets?" she asked.
"Yeah," Justice said. "No sinners up here. Not dead ones anyway. So let your hair down already."
"I…" Judgement fumbled for an excuse. "I need to be prepared at all times! There's no telling what or who we may encounter in the mortal realm!"
Justice arched a skeptical eyebrow at Judgement.
"You haven't taken off your old badge of office either!" Judgement said, pointing at Justice's gloves. It wasn't even the flimsiest of retorts, but she was running out of options.
Justice gave Judgement a smirk. Then she lifted up her hands and slowly started peeling off one of her gloves, making as big of a deal about it as she could.
Judgement swallowed hard. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she watched, completely enthralled by Justice ungloving herself.
When the first glove finally came off, Justice dropped it carelessly to the floor. Then she pinched at the fingers of her other glove, putting on just as elaborate of a show of removing it. Judgement watched, millimeter by millimeter as the fabric receded from Justice's hand.
After what felt like an unbearable eternity to Judgement, Justice's second glove finally slid off and fell to the floor as well.
Justice held up her bare hands and said, "Your turn."
"I…" Judgement said.
"Can't back out now," Justice said. She stepped in close and grabbed one of Judgement's gauntleted hands. Then she started tugging at the buckles that held the armor in place.
"What are you doing?" Judgement asked, although she didn't pull her hand away.
"Want me to stop?" Justice asked. But she clearly knew the answer already.
Judgement stood as still as a statue, paralyzed by the emotions warring inside of her.
It took a minute or two, but Justice finally got the last buckle undone. She slid the gauntlet off of Judgement's arm, and it dropped to the floor. The weight of the attached tonfa caused the armor to land with a thud.
Judgement's heart was beating wildly in her chest. And when Justice started tugging at her other gauntlet, a luminous blush spread over her face.
Justice finally slipped the second gauntlet off of Judgement, and it fell to the floor as unceremoniously and loudly as the first. She asked, "See? Isn't that better?"
Judgement clutched her bare hands together and held them close to her chest. She felt naked and vulnerable, and she wasn't sure why. She wanted Justice to leave, but she was also desperate for her to stay.
Just when Judgement thought things couldn't get any more confusing, Justice grabbed one of her hands again and started kneading it with both of hers.
"What…?" Judgement started to ask.
"Shh-shh-shh," Justice said. "A good hand massage will help you relax."
Judgement was struck dumb. And it wasn't long before Justice's firm yet tender touch started having a potent effect on her. She wasn't used to affection, much less the physical kind, so she had no defense against it. Never in Hell and especially not in Heaven had such a miraculous gift been given to her so freely. She began to wonder if this in some small way was a semblance of what it felt like to be loved. Was it even possible for a natural-born demon like Justice to know what love was? If Judgement was being honest with herself, she wasn't sure she knew what love was. The Heavenly Host had long ago decreed the things she felt to be heresy.
Suddenly, Justice lifted Judgement's hand to her cheek and nuzzled against it. The gesture startled Judgement, but it also set butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
"Mmm," Justice said. "Your hands are so soft. I never would've guessed."
Judgement couldn't take it anymore. She didn't know if she should put her faith in Heaven's ineffable proclamations or her own heart, but it was her heart that finally won out. Her hand suddenly shot to the back of Justice's head, and she forcefully pulled her into a kiss.
The kiss only lasted a second or two before crippling doubt gripped Judgement. She pulled back immediately, looking at Justice with a mixture of fear and confusion. Justice, for her part, had a big dopy grin on her face. She pushed the bridge of her sunglasses up her nose and muttered, "Finally."
Judgement had all of a second to consider what was happening before Justice planted a fiery kiss on her lips. Justice's arms wrapped around Judgement's neck, and she jumped into her arms. Judgement caught Justice without breaking the kiss, her hands involuntarily cupping Justice's backside. Judgement's head spun, and her body burned with fresh desire. She wanted more. She needed more. The floodgates of temptation had been flung open, and there was no hope of closing them back up.
Judgement threw herself into kissing Justice. Heaven would damn her again for her actions today. But the sin was hers now, and she intended to taste all the fruits of her transgression.
Eventually, Justice pulled her lips away from Judgement's. Judgement let out a tiny whimper in protest. Justice plucked her sunglasses off her face and tossed them aside. She looked into Judgement's eyes, using one of the smoldering looks she'd been practicing earlier. Judgement had thought that watching Justice practice would've diminished the look's effect on her, but she'd been wrong. It didn't matter that Justice couldn't see. Judgement felt trapped by her gaze all the same.
"You going to take me to the bedroom or what?" Justice asked.
Had Judgement been thinking clearly, she would've been alarmed at how susceptible she was to Justice's advances. As it was, she rushed toward the nearest bedroom with Justice still in her arms and kicked the door open, not caring whose room it might be.
Judgement slowly roused from sleep. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so at peace with herself. Her eyes slowly opened. She found herself lying in bed with Justice curled up in her arms. Judgement smiled. How long had it been since the last time she'd smiled? She couldn't remember, but it didn't matter. Her tail began to wag back and forth. She felt light and free, like she was finally complete.
Judgement bent forward and gently kissed Justice on the top of her head.
All of a sudden, a snicker interrupted the silence of the moment.
Judgement's head shot up. She saw Zdrada standing there, looking like the cat who'd got the cream. In one horrible moment of clarity, Judgement realized she and Justice had ended up in the bedroom that Zdrada had claimed as her own.
Zdrada opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Judgement whipped her arm out. A magical chain materialized out of thin air and wrapped around Zdrada's neck. Judgement yanked on the chain hard, pulling Zdrada in close.
"Say nothing," Judgement hissed in a voice that had made the hardest of souls quake in terror. "Or I'll make what Pandemonia does to you feel like a massage."
Zdrada looked appropriately afraid. But after a second or two, a little bit of smugness crept back into her expression.
"You promise?" Zdrada asked.
Author's Note: I would like to take a moment to thank Steam recommendations for bringing Helltaker to my attention. If it hadn't, this story wouldn't exist. I also wouldn't have beat my head against the wall trying to complete Chapter EX. Yes, I know you can skip the puzzles. I'm far too pigheaded for that.
On a side note, having both of the main characters' names start with "Ju" really gave my dyslexia fits. Hopefully there's no errant "Justice" in place of "Judgement" or vice versa.
As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.
