"Kevin, what are you doing, getting mixed up with Michael?" Lucifer, freaking LUCIFER of all angels and archangels and the rest of the fucked-up shit in the universe, was asking him that question.

"I don't have a choice." He replied, fully aware his voice was a little manic. "I'm a prophet, so I serve God, but there's no God to serve, so I serve the ranking deity, which is Michael, because I don't have a choice because I'm a prophet." It made sense to say.

"Idiot." Lucifer chided. "Can't you see Michael is a monster? Pure evil?"

"Okay, I'm confused. Aren't you Satan?" He looked up at Lucifer, and the both of them knew Kevin had made a solid point. "Which would make you the evil monster? And besides, Michael's taking me to paradise world."

"I'm sorry. What?"

"He's bringing my wife back, and our families, and we're all going to go to paradise world and live the lives we deserve."

"Your wife?" He heard Lucifer pause, and could almost feel the angel's gaze narrow down on the ring around his finger. "When in the hell did you get married?!"

"Didn't other me get married?"

"No!"

"Oh. His loss, then." That was one less thing to worry about, in all honesty. If other him wasn't married, and other him was dead, there would be no worries about having two wives. Hell, other him had probably never even met his wife. The way they had met had been pretty extreme, a by-product of the way the world had ended up.

"How in the hell did you get a girl?" Lucifer asked. "You look like a cokehead freakazoid, no offense." Kevin ignored him. "No, no, I want to know. Answer me here. How in the hell did you land a chick? I thought they were a rarity out here!"

"They are." Kevin stated. He stopped his work then, for just a moment. He could see her face, clear as a bell in the back of his mind. He could see her smile, see her fierceness, her determination.

To be a woman in these wastes, and still survive… It took a special kind of someone. Kevin had just been lucky enough to meet her.

"What's her name?" Lucifer asked. Kevin rolled his eyes, returning back to his work. He wasn't going to answer any more of the Devil's questions. Besides, he was the bad guy, right? Why should Kevin even be talking to him in the first place? "Come on! My life is getting screwed over so that Michael can destroy my world and you can get back some chick. I feel like I at least deserve to know what her name is!" He shook a little against his bindings, looking furious and yet… absolutely curious, like a small child that needed to know the answers; angrily petulant, that's how Kevin would describe him.

Kevin reached in to his pocket, and pulled out a folded-up picture. They'd found an old polaroid camera and checked it for film. There hadn't been much left, but there'd been enough to take one picture. So that was what they did, they took one picture together and Kevin kept it in his pocket. They were smiling, their faces covered in soot and dust and their clothes as dirty as what was considered normal, but they were smiling. They were happy, even with their shitty world situation.

Kevin couldn't remember the last time he felt that happy.

"Is that her?" Lucifer asked. "Is that the chick?" Kevin looked up at him, and offered a curt nod. "Can I see her?"

"Why do you care?"

"You're not giving me a name." Lucifer pointed out. "Can I at least get a face? Something to see what makes teaming up with the most evil entity in this universe worth it all to you?"

"You're the Devil!" Kevin repeated. "You're the most evil entity in this universe right now!"

"Tomato, toe-mah-toe," Lucifer rolled his eyes at that. "Come on, a name or the face. I feel like I'm owed at least one of the two." Kevin pursed his lips, and took a look around. Michael wouldn't be here for another minute or two, and the spell was nearly complete. Besides, who didn't want to gloat to the Devil? Who didn't want to show what was supposed to be the ultimate evil what a small slice of pure love and happiness looked like?

Kevin walked over, his steps a little jerky and uneven as he did. He stopped just out of Lucifer's reach, and held up the picture in front of him. "This is me and her." Kevin stated. "About three months before we got married." Kevin had wished there was more film in there at the time, he would've taken more pictures of her. He would've gotten a picture of her after he proposed, two months after that day. The time between proposal and marriage was short due to the wasteland lifestyle. No need to shop for presents, nobody really asked for or expected gifts (just people), it was just a question of getting word to those you wanted there and finding either an actual priest or someone who didn't care and you wanted to "officiate."

"This is her?" Lucifer asked, his eyes widening. "You… You're kidding right? That's her? That's the girl?!" Kevin pulled the picture away, ashamed. Lucifer looked as though he was laughing at some joke that Kevin wasn't in the know on. "Come on, Kev. You've got to be kidding me, that can't be her!"

"I don't care what you think." Kevin stated, looking at the picture one more time before putting it away. "I love her. She's beautiful to me."

"Besides the fact that she is, and always will be, so out of your league," Lucifer paused, looking him up and down. "Especially with the you that you are in this universe in comparison to the one I from my world, like… Wow. I just… I can't believe it! I… She…" Lucifer broke out laughing again at whatever cosmic joke he was in on that Kevin just didn't get.

"Shut up." Kevin muttered. He returned to the spell, making sure it was at it's penultimate step. He would do it right. He would get back his wife. They would go to this Paradise World. They'd get their families back, and live out lives together.

"No, hold up kid. Wait, wait, wait." Lucifer said, finally stopping his laughter.

"What do you want?"

"Your girl, can I ask a question?"

"You just did."

"Well, I'm going to ask another anyways." Lucifer decided, uncaring of Kevin's feelings. "Is she a… how do I best describe it? Is she a witchy woman?" Kevin just looked at the Devil in confusion, uncertain of how to response.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. Michael strode in, with two other angels beside him. "This better work, prophet." Michael threatened.

"Okay, disclaimer?" Kevin raised his hands in a defensive, please-don't-shoot style gesture. "What I'm making is a synthetically generated megaforce, which has not been tested, and I've never done it before. And it should be enough to open the rift, but I can't promise 100%." Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Just do it." Michael ordered.

"OK." Kevin raised his hands, a lit match primed and ready to finish the spell.

"Kevin," Lucifer's voice stopped him for just a moment. "Don't do it. If you love your wife, I can guarantee you don't want to do it." Kevin paused, just for a moment.

Then he heard her laugh, in the back of his mind. She didn't laugh often, none of them did anymore, but on the rare occasions he heard it… It was one of the sweetest sounds he had ever heard.

He threw the fire in to the mixture, and spoke. "Mah ray, fay doh, em lah. Kah day, em lah! Kah day, em lah!" As he spoke he added in the final ingredient, Lucifer's grace. As he finished the spell, the contents of the bowl shift from glowing white to a pulsing orange before him. Maybe a moment later, an orange portal ripped open behind Lucifer.

Kevin couldn't help but stare in amazement as the portal pulsed once. He'd done it. He'd actually done it. He'd get his wife back. He'd get their families back. He'd be a hero. He'd have a normal life back!

He didn't notice Lucifer somehow sprinting towards the portal until it was too late. He jumped through, and the portal zipped shut behind him. Kevin felt his hopes of a new life get crushed, but only for a moment.

He'd done it once. He could do it again.

"What just happened?!" Michael roared, angrily turning on him.

"Clearly, the science wasn't perfect!" Kevin stated, feeling as though this explanation was more than just a little obvious. "And wow! The spell's designed to admit one person at a time. Who saw that coming?!" He hadn't. There had been nothing in this spell to show that it was a one person only. Maybe there was a way to tweak it, make the portal last for longer? One person at a time… It'd be difficult to get him and everyone else across that he wanted to across. He'd need a lot of archangel grace that he didn't have.

"Fix this." Michael ordered, stalking away. Kevin recoiled a little at Michael's voice, hearing the fury and disappointment in it. If Kevin didn't fix this, he wouldn't get out of this shithole world. If he didn't fix this, he wouldn't get his wife back. If he didn't fix this, then everything he'd been doing would've been for nothing!

Michael wanted him to fix this, he had to fix this. He was going to fix this. He needed to fix this. Kevin pulled out the picture again, taking one more look at her. There was his reason to keep going. There was his purpose to fix this and succeed.

"I'll see you soon, Kylie." He promised, smiling a little at the picture. "I just gotta keep trying."