Slow-Moving clouds surrounded Isuka as she woke up. She looked around for Headen and the Colosseum, but everyone seemed to disappear around her. The sky was just blue, with the slight hint of a darker night blue in the far reaches - a testament to how far she was able to see in the sky. She tried looking below, but the clouds that ran beside her obstructed her view of the ground.
"Well you're the last person I expected to be here," Someone said, walking up beside her. When Isuka turned her head, her vision suddenly got blurry like before. She stared at the distorted figure, seeing wings of feathery white stick out from her back. The figure's face turned towards Isuka, making a face she could not describe. Even still, she somehow could tell it was a smile.
"Welcome to Heaven," she said. "Frankly, you're not supposed to be here for another lifetime, give or take a few hundred years."
"H-hea…Heaven!?" Isuka looked around. White clouds that covered her feet. An impossibly, perfectly clear blue sky. A sun that never seemed to move from being right down on top of her. Why didn't she notice before! Isuka brushed aside clouds, hoping desperately that this was just a near-death illusion at worst. "But I never died, I was just moving the moon and…"
"Ah ah ah-" The mysterious person said, cutting her off. "It may be hard to accept, but you did cease your soul to the afterlife. You lived a pure life, but sadly all good things must come to an end. Come now," the godly figure said, starting to walk off elsewhere. "I'll show you to your room…child?" she turned back and saw Isuka digging away at the clouds, trying to see through them.
"Right, all mortals tend wish to see their last breath before they truly leave." She came back to Isuka and brushed her aside, opening up the clouds beneath her. There they saw Headen crouched over, hugging Isuka's body while other figures surrounding her. "Although, your end wasn't quite the classic 'go on the bed surrounded by family' method. Awfully violent, and at the hands of such corrupt creatures too." She looked over Isuka's shoulder, seeing her worry-stricken face watch the ground below.
"You want to go back." The mysterious angel said, her tone changing from a polite courtesan to a wicked witch. Isuka could feel the sudden judgment weighing on her back like a sack of bricks. Sweat instantly started beading sweat on her brow. "You want go back to a war, Isuka? Is Heaven not good enough of a reward?" She didn't answer, her body going into fight-or-flight over her heavy-leaded words. Whatever it chose, it didn't matter as it remained still anyways, like a rat cornered by a snake and awaiting death.
"I'm…making you nervous. I realize that," the angel said, the weight suddenly disappearing. Isuka felt ten times lighter instantly, able to relax and fall back down on her butt to catch her heartbeat. "But what have they ever done for you? You haven't even been there long Isuka, and nothing but pain and stress has come your way." She placed a comforting hand on Isuka's shoulder, but it felt dually imbued with long nails that pressed into her like claws. "You don't need to fight any longer. You can simply walk away…with me~"
"I want to help," Isuka's mouth uttered.
"What?" The angel said. It was a harmless saying, but the increasing grip on the shoulder, slowly moving towards her neck said it all.
"Headen…she wanted to end the war between the kingdoms," Isuka said. "If the prophecy comes true, then it could really happen, but I have to be down there." The fingers started to creep up against her neck, stopping right before she reached her carotid. "They will make you suffer, Isuka. They are the spawn of the demon lord and will bring nothing but destruction. You really think that you are just yet not another pawn in their sick games?"
"I do not care," Isuka said a matter of factly.
"I see…fine then. Have it your way." Sounding dismissive, she closed the clouds and raised a door, pointing Isuka in the door's direction. "I suppose we could use another species that could repent to the Order. That mamono were all starting to look the same to me anyways, they all could use some yellow on their attire."
"Wake up! Wake up please!" Headen cried, her head buried in her friend's shoulder. Lesi (the former harpy queen) and the Betire queen kept her company, trying to pull her away from the deceased. "She's gone, Headen," Lesi said. "I…I don't know what to say…"
"I should have never let her do any of this," Headen sobbed. "I shouldn't have lied about the moon, she could have been…" She started crying once more, her sobs interrupting her words. "I only wish I could hear her voice again, oh I'll do anything…"
"Uuuuu…" Headen sniffed and wiped her eyes, feeling the groan vibrate against her face. She leaned an ear in, thinking she was just imagining things…
"Ugh," came, clearer but hoarse. "Pain…so much pain."
"Isuka?" Headen said, squishing her head in between her chest. "Isuka!"
"Yous are squishing me," Isuka said. "A-also why are your hands wet?"
"Oh who cares, you are alive!" Headen said, hugging her tight. After a few taps, she sat Isuka back down, keeping her in the embrace but not as hard. "But how? Are you sure you are human?"
"I mean, I think I still a-" Fwoosh! Went her robes as wings unraveled out from behind her back. They flapped constantly, struggling until they were free of the clothes keeping them stuck under. "Well, I suppose not!"
"An angel…but that means-"
"I saw the Chief God?" Isuka said, not too sure herself. "Although, she did have a few things for me to do in order for me to come back." Isuka started whispering in Headen's ear, the dark elf nodding with each bullet point she heard. The nodding stopped as she arched an eyebrow, growing increasingly concerned until she jerked her ear away. "What the fuck! S-she said…what?"
"Erm…I have to bath you in bleach to cleanse your soul and body," Isuka repeated.
"No. Absolutely the fuck not. What is even bleach!?"
"I figured."
"Although, speaking of cleaning," Headen said, holding up her stained hands. "We should probably clean up ourselves."
And so it ends it seems. Even though the prophecy was botched, the two queens came to an agreement, even if it is at first temporary. Headen would be the ruler of all, while the Betire queen would rule as an equal.
Lesi Jr. was found as she landed, also in bad condition from the fall she sustained. She and her mother would be punished in the most dark elven way possible - being hung upside down over a pool of aphrodisiac and itching powder for a month. The only thing saving them from worse, barbaric means was the former queen being in good graces.
The guard found was in even more severe condition, although the armor stopped many of the attacks from being fatal. After a period of recovery, she woke up for the first time ever back to full health, although her body could still barely move like it. She didn't mind however, as it gave her time to enjoy a little reward from Headen…
"Ahhh~ Nom~" She bit down on another spoonful of stew, Isuka sighing as she scooped some more from the stew bool. She was wearing white robes that hugged her body much more than the last, with gaps made for her wings to freely move around. It may have been dark outside, but the golden moon was as radiant as ever, making her skin glow in the light. The guard took the sight all in, a smile stuck on her face as she awaited the next spoonful.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like anything else as a reward?" Isuka asked.
"I am literally being fed by an angel nursing me back to health, just like the tailors…" the guard proclaimed proudly. "No amount of jewels could ever compare~"
"I am not an angel," Isuka clarified. "The wings are just a symbol of pure heart, a stamp of approval from the puritans above that rules us all…or something."
"If this is what is like to be pure, then I want all of your holiness inside of me~"
"You would think a few stabs and a few broken ribs would change someone," Isuka said, looking away to hide her blush. She eeped as the guard grabbed her hand, locking fingers together with her.
"Oh, are you suddenly too pure for holding a hand?" She teased. "Maybe we should marry, then we can do a lot more~"
"Now you are not getting any more soup," Isuka said, taking the bowl away and coming back to lay down in the bed. "You also requested to play with my wings, right?"
"Oh how I love this!~" The elven guard scooted up and spooned Isuka from outside, pushing her face into the wings. She brought a blanket with her, pulling it over both of them to be even closer. "Good night," she murmured through the wings. Isuka nodded, closing her eyes and falling asleep in the medical bed.