Are we ready? Can we do this?

The questions, doubts, uncertainties that plagued Michael's mind were dizzying, horrible, and nerve-wracking. The time spent testing himself - testing his wings -, and preparing, getting ready to leave the Cage for the first time, was almost torturous. The archangel knew most of the anxiety came from Adam - and he wished he knew what the demon was anxious about, but it seemed that even his little body-buddy didn't even know, himself - but Michael was rather apprehensive, himself. Neither of them knew what to do with themselves when they got out, but for Michael, he just felt lost. He didn't know what side he was on anymore.

God had left him. To rot. His most loyal angel, his willing soldier, his loving son - and God had left him for who knows how long, sitting in Hell, in a Cage. It was upsetting, it was confusing - and "God always has a plan" could only remain an excuse for so long before he finally started asking questions, started prodding at the ever-so breaking, formerly unwavering loyalty. There was a time when Michael would have given anything for his Father, when, if ordered to, he would sit in the Cage willingly. But that was then.

Things were different now - this wasn't what was supposed to happen, Michael wasn't supposed to be here. And, yet, here he was, and here he had been for years. It had taken a lot of silent questioning, a lot of internal turmoil, a lot of conflicted emotions, before Michael had steadily began to realize that God didn't care. He had cast Lucifer away, after all, like he was nothing. And he was willing to do the same to Michael, as long as the archangel had proven himself useless. And, apparently, he was useless, in God's eyes. And after that realization had struck, Michael had broken, spiraled into a horrible, twisting, sense of nothing, a complete lack of self-worth, a lack of purpose. Who was he, if he wasn't God's most trusted, loyal angel? Who was he, if he wasn't His beloved son? Who was he, if his own Father thought of him as nothing?

Adam never spoke with him about that, in particular, but there were times he could feel the anger from the demon as he thought about it. Not toward him, but toward God - as if his Father was the one to be blamed. Michael hadn't thought much of it before, but now, looking back, he began to wonder if maybe that was the case. Those rose-colored glasses had finally cracked - Hell, they'd shattered along with all of Michael's pride, and after a while of scrambling and trying to pick up the pieces, the archangel had abruptly stopped. Stopped, to wonder, and ask himself, was He really worth falling apart over, if God didn't think he was worth anything?

The questions stacked up. Day after day, more questions would arise. Some of them, he ended up being able to answer on his own - but most of them felt impossible to answer. Most of them simply felt like they would be there forever, itching at the back of his mind, making him think when he didn't want to think, and making him wonder, and stress. These days, it seemed, Michael was always stressing over something.

"I think we're ready."

Michael paused, looking up. Adam had retreated from the park, sharing control with him once more, as the angel had landed absently while he was lost in thought. Michael just nodded a little, looking back toward the Cage absently as their fingers ran through their hair, brushing it back steadily as the archangel struggled against his own conflicted feelings. Seeing the Cage again, he could feel Adam's own uncertainty raging higher and higher, the anxiety almost overtaking them; He exhaled sharply and screwed their eyes shut, trying to force back the burning, and yet freezing feeling that had crept up into their chest. It was sickening.

He wanted to say something, but he didn't quite know what to say at this point. Freedom was right there, moments away. If they were ready, they should go, Michael reasoned with himself. And yet, a part of him didn't even want to, a part of him longed to stay. The Cage was secure. He wasn't expected to be anything, or do anything specific in the Cage. It was odd, how their prison had ended up becoming… somewhat of a safe place for the archangel, but it had.

Adam's anxiety strengthened at those thoughts, and at first, Michael thought maybe it was because the demon thought that the archangel was going to try to stay - but, after pressing a little, that wasn't the case. For a moment, he almost despaired; After so long together, he should know Adam enough by now to be able to understand what was going on with him, why he was feeling so apprehensive, but he genuinely couldn't place it now.

"Well, stop trying," Adam mumbled, tone edged with something akin to annoyance, and yet, not quite. Michael shook their head a little and rubbed a hand down their face, turning away from the edge, from the Cage, and forcing his gaze ahead, where the platform led to one of the many hallways of Hell. The archangel almost shuddered, but he fought it down.

Adam finally brought himself forward a little, taking enough control to get them to start walking. The anxiety didn't quite diminish as they ducked into the hallway, but he seemed to be trying to focus on his other emotions for the most part; After a moment, Michael joined him, continuing on their way. Adam didn't want to, but Michael spared one last glance back toward the Cage before they turned down another corridor, leaving the fiery pit and their cell behind.

They paused, looking ahead again. The dark corridor seemed almost endless, but, peering ahead, Michael noted a light at the end of the tunnel - literally, not at all metaphorically-

"Hellfire, anyway," Adam commented idly, and Michael snorted slightly as they continued on their way. "You're quiet," the demon said suddenly, a little quieter than before, and the archangel frowned slightly. He picked up on just the slightest hint of concern from Adam - something the demon was refusing to admit was his own, anyway, and the archangel bit back a faint smile despite himself.

"I'm thinking."

"Oh, no, I know that. Your thoughts are quiet." A short pause followed the words before Adam continued, irritation returning. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"Of course." Their lips twitched slightly as Michael nodded, as if understanding, as they continued on. Their hand passed over a torch, unlit; A fire burst to life the second they came into contact, and for a moment, Michael wondered who was responsible for that; He hadn't felt any of his own power drain, so one would assume it was Adam. Which was interesting - if Adam was gaining better control of his powers, he must be getting stronger somehow.

"Hell seem quieter than usual to you?" Adam asked suddenly as they paused at the end of the corridor, entering somewhat of a crossroads. Michael raised their eyebrows at the demon's words, frowning slightly and glancing down the hall to the left, and then looking right again. Adam seemed more focused on whatever was ahead, the Hellfire still burning just in the distance. It looked close enough, but Michael knew it would probably be a while before they reached it, if they headed in that direction. But, truthfully, he really didn't know - he hadn't actually been in Hell, himself, before, so he didn't exactly know his way around.

"It's always quiet, Adam," the archangel responded absently, deciding on the path to the left. Adam snorted, shooting a glance ahead, but he didn't protest to the chosen path with anything more than an irritated huff as he replied.

"I said quieter than usual, Michael. And kind of empty, too. I can usually at least sense others around, but…" Adam trailed off, and Michael stopped walking for a second to consider that, a slight frown tugging at his lips. Now that he was paying attention, Adam had a point - it was relatively empty, more so than Michael had expected from Hell. He couldn't sense any other demons - he couldn't even sense any tortured souls. It was as if…

… as if every soul in Hell had just disappeared?

Adam pushed them forward a little, his anxiety fizzling out completely into confusion. Michael slowed them down, however, to take a look down another corridor as they passed. Empty. The entire place was dead; If there were tumbleweeds in Hell, it would be a perfect time for one to roll by them as they walked. Adam rolled their eyes at the thought, but even he couldn't disguise his own amusement as they continued on their way.

"Well, it's not our problem," Adam mumbled, shrugging slightly.

"But if there's something wrong, we should check it out," Michael protested tentatively, crossing their arms over their chest and looking ahead again with a frown. "I mean, maybe it has something to do with why the Cage opened." Adam didn't respond after that, but he gave in begrudgingly after a moment, with nothing more than a slightly irritated sigh.

After a while of walking, Adam suddenly stopped them short. Michael paused, drawn from his thoughts, and frowned slightly as he glanced around. "What-"

"Look down, dumbass."

Michael paused and glanced down at once, and immediately took a few good steps back. They had just barely avoided walking straight off of an edge, where the floor beneath them suddenly dropped to darkness. He forced their gaze up quickly, feeling Adam becoming nauseous - and paused. It was one of the many racks in Hell that he'd heard of - where they chained the souls up in the air and tortured them. It was empty, however, the chains hanging down loosely, still covered in blood, the hooks still bent as if they were pressed into flesh.

"That's… a little unnerving," they mumbled, taking a few more steps now. At least they could agree on that; The sight simply sickened them both. Shaking their head, Michael turned and continued on, taking a deep breath. "This is why we should have gone straight ahead," Adam muttered sourly, and Michael let out a small grunt of agreement. Fine, he'd be sure to listen to the demon at the next crossroad they reached, but it wasn't like Adam had any more sense of direction down here than Michael did…

"Shut up."

"Oh, I'm not saying a word…"

After a while of walking, they concluded that, yes, Hell was empty. They still couldn't find the exit, wherever it was, but Michael had taken to flying to make things go a little faster as they continued on. He kept them mostly close to the ground, however, mostly because Adam was growing increasingly nauseous, but also because he had already hit his head on one of the doorways leading into another corridor, and he didn't quite wish to relive that experience.

Either way, Adam was growing irritated and Michael was losing his battle against his own despair, and both of them were about ready to call it quits at any given moment. Michael couldn't fly them out of Hell if he couldn't find the exit to fly out of, and while they both had their own conflicting feelings about that, they were more or less just annoyed. Adam, at least, was annoyed. Michael was just feeling extremely, utterly helpless.

"Okay, I give up," Adam finally decided, as Michael swooped down and landed, bringing them through yet another doorway and down yet another hallway - seriously, how many hallways did they have in Hell? "Let's just go back to the Cage. We can say we tried."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," Michael muttered, pausing slightly at another doorway. It dropped off again, and Michael half-expected to see more bloody chains - but, no, it was just a spiraling pit of darkness. The archangel frowned, letting their gaze flicker around, and upwards.

He was about to look away and turn again, when Adam did a quick double take. There was no ceiling; It spiraled up, to the top, darkness fading to a brighter, white kind of light, and Michael raised their eyebrows as he stepped forward to look closer. Adam recoiled from the edge, but Michael continued to press forward, leaning forward and looking up. The light wasn't the dark, red, Hellish flames that they had seen thus far. It was bright, and steady - it almost reminded Michael of the way Heaven used to glow, bringing up a familiar, longing ache to his chest.

"Okay, okay, okay, can you get homesick later?" Adam complained, swallowing an shifting them back away from the edge once more. "If that's the entrance, great, you go ahead, I'm just, I'm just gonna…" He stopped, swallowed again, and Michael felt it as he released the rest of his control and retreated completely, most likely heading back to the park.

The archangel sighed, staring up as he waited for the demon to get settled. And, once he had, Michael shifted and spread his wings carefully, taking a step out and looking down at the darkness below him. There wasn't a chance of dropping - Michael had gained enough control over his wings to be able to hold them steady, and the rational part of him knew this, but he couldn't help feeling anxious. Or maybe that was Adam - Michael didn't know, and he was too tired to figure it out. Shaking the thoughts off, he looked up again and pushed them up carefully.

It didn't hurt as badly as before, but there was still a slight twinge, a cramp, just for a second, as he started flying at first. It faded quick enough, however, and Michael stretched the wings out a little before lashing them both downwards, one quick beat sending them up to the light.

There was no resistance, which surprised Michael for a second. But he flew through easily, the light enveloping them completely, and he shuddered a little as he looked down. He couldn't see Hell anymore, the darkness gone; It was just light now, surrounding them completely. The archangel hesitated, uncertain, but after a moment, he simply continued pushing them upwards. There was a building pressure, just for a second, as if they were being squeezed through a tube - but that was about it. The light died, the further they went…

And then, there was one last, blinding flash, and they were suddenly falling.

Michael panicked, just for a second, wondering if they were falling right back down into Hell. But they landed barely a second later, before they had even really begun falling, honestly, and they hit something solid the second they did, collapsing onto their hands and knees with a short, startled gasp. He stared down, just for a second, before looking up. His wings were still spread, feathers bristling slightly, but completely unmoving now, as if paralyzed.

One look around told the archangel everything he needed to know to both send him into another panic attack, and to completely relieve him at the same time. He faltered, pushing them up a little bit, and sat back on their knees with a sharp, shaky inhale, hardly daring to really believe what he was seeing. "Adam…" He choked out, quietly, and the demon wasted absolutely no time in pushing himself forward to watch, bringing himself up along with Michael, taking back half of his control and turning their head to look around with a slight frown.

The way they shook, visibly, eyes widening, let Michael know that he wasn't the only one panicked about where they were. The anxiety from Adam came at full force, almost enough to knock them over, but Michael held them steady. Neither of them dared to stand.

"Shit…" Adam muttered, breathlessly.

They had landed themselves right in the middle of Stull Cemetery.