Gabriel (Diligence)-Belphegor (Sloth)

Michael (Charity)-Mammon (Greed)

Cassiel (Temperance)-Beelzebub (Gluttony)

Azrael (Patience)-Satan (Wrath)

Ramiel (Gratitude)-Laviathan (Envy)

Uriel (Chastity)-Asmodeus (Lust)

Raphael (Humility)-Lucifer (Pride)

Before the creation of humanity, there were only us angels; those fallen and those within His good grace.

Told from Uriel's P.O.V.-

Hell had just been "created", if created is the right word to use, for Lucifer and his followers. Meanwhile Heaven had also recently been divided up into seven rings. Of course Raphael's ring was the nearest to our Father's divine glory, followed by my realm. It's impossible to describe what my ring actually looks like, but imagine a pure, unblemished place full of pristine angels in white robes, solid white clouds, and lots of turtle doves and ermines. Fun fact: the ermine is the symbol of chastity because it's believed that they'd rather die than sully their beautiful white coats. Yeah, sounds about right for the patron animal of my ring. After the creation of Man, my realm would also be filled by monks and nuns who obviously didn't break their vow of chastity, but that was a lot later on. For now, all that existed here were me and my other heavenly servants- all my Virtuous brothers and sisters had their own cohorts.

With a stretch, I rose at the dawn of daybreak. Already my angels were in attendance, draping a white robe with gold trim over my shoulders, careful not to cover my wings. Now it's no secret that my brother, Lucifer, is- or was- the most beautiful of all us angels. But once he was banished alongside Satan and the others, it was well-known that I was the most striking of the Heavenly Virtues. Raphael told me before that's because I am untouched, making me the most desirable to those who have fallen? I don't know, and frankly, I didn't believe it. Though I did have these gorgeous angelic white wings and flowing, silky hair that scarcely touched the bottom of my feet, physical beauty- whether concerning myself or others- didn't matter to me. Of course no one's outward appearance could ever tempt me, obviously.

Not even Asmodeus himself…..

Banishing all thoughts of him from my mind, I gave my head a quick shake and turned to one of my righthand angels flying beside me with a list in her hand. "Good morning, your grace." "Good morning, Anges. I hope you slept well." "I did, thank you your eminence." "What's on tap for today?" "Ah well, actually….. Your brother, the Virtuous Michael, wishes to speak to you, your majesty," she cringed slightly while saying this. I blinked to her surprised. "Michael? He wants to speak to me?" "Yes, your highness; uh, as soon as possible, if you can….." Considering this, I thought a moment before smiling at my dear friend. "Alright then. Thank you for letting me know. Can you let the others know that I might be a little late please? It'll depend on what he wants to talk about." "Of course, your Virtuous. Take all the time you need," she bowed respectfully at me before fazing away. I made sure my robe was tightly secured before waving my hand at a nearby cloud.

What would humans the inspiration for the telephone in millennia to come, it "rang", so it were, until my diligent older brother picked up. He was in his realm, some four down from mine. What can I say? It seems our Father has his favourite Virtues, despite Michael not only being one of the oldest siblings but also our defacto leader. He answered after a few rings, acting as if he was in a hurry.

"Hello? Hello, Uriel?" "Yes, hello; it's me, I'm here. Good morning, brother," I, on the other hand, spoke with extreme calmness; it was nice not being the one in charge of all of Heaven from an administrative standpoint. Michael looked into the cloud, which acted as a screen between us- like what humans would call "TV". Taking a second to collect his thoughts, his expression morphed into a gentler one; his shoulders relaxing a bit.

"Morning, Uriel. Sorry for all rush; word just came down from "above"," here referring to Father giving Michael either a divine command or some new news; I waited patiently to see which the two it could be. My brother's hand ran through his golden blonde hair as he again took a second to gather his thoughts to put into a coherent sentence.

"I uh, so I've got some "news"." "News, brother?" "Yes. It seems… Well, um…. You know how Father had been pushing around the idea of creating some sort of new entity? A living entity?" "Yes?" My eyebrow perked up. Where's he going with this? Michael's hand drew down from his hair to the back of his neck as he kept on rubbing it in a self-soothing gesture. Eventually his lips parted again, although with some reservation.

"So here's the thing. I was just informed this morning that God's going to create this new place called "Earth". It's going to float out there in space, along with the rest of the planet." "Oh," I didn't really know what else to say. A planet is a planet, or so I thought. My brother went on. "Except unlike the rest, this planet's going to have life on it. There're be all the animals and plants….. But He also wants to put something else on Earth, something new….." "Uh huh, and what is this "new" entity, pray tell?" "Um well…. He's calling it a… a human."

"Humans? What are "humans"?" I blinked puzzled. Michael shrugged. "I have no idea; this is all very new to me as well. But they're going to populate the planet, and they'll have immortal souls, just like us." "Oh! So…. What does that mean? They'll just stay on Earth forever?" I inquired and Michael shook his head. "No, they'll die… eventually. Then their souls will either come here or go down below….. to Satan's realm."

This sudden look of horror washed over my face as I gawked at my brother. "No… You can't be serious. They can't go to Hell! Why would our Father create them just so they can wind up there? Can't they all just come to Heaven? We have infinite space up here; I'm sure they'll be more than welcomed." Michael looked uncomfortable. "Er, well that's just the thing, sis…. They're not exclusively "good" in nature. Since Earth is between Heaven and Hell, we can't stop Satan's interference with them or their choices. God never planned on humans being perfect beings anyway, so that's where we come in…" "What do you mean?" My eyebrow once more lifted in suspicion. Michael's arm fell down at his side while he exhaled deeply.

"I've been asked to assemble all the Virtues and Sins one last time. We'll meet up on Earth in "human-form", whatever that is. We'll have one month to "design" the bodies and spirits of these so-called mortals before God creates them. This way they'll have balance… supposedly. They'll be neither angels like us or demons like our fallen siblings. They'll be somewhere in-between….. again, allegedly."

All I could do was stare blankly at my elder brother. I couldn't even organize my own thoughts; my brain was so rattled. It took me a minute- a LONG minute- before anything finally escaped my lips. My head tilted down slightly in total bewilderment.

"Michael, you can't be serious." "Uriel….." He began but I cut him off. "Meet up with the Sins again? Really?! They've all just been cast out of Heaven! You think Lucifer or Satan are going to let that go? And what makes you think that any of them would be willing to work with us?! They're Sins; we're Virtues! We're literally antithetical to each other!"

Michael's hands shot up in front of him defensively. "Now, now, calm down, sister; believe me, you're not the first to react this way. You think Cassiel or Azrael were onboard with the idea either? The only one who seemed remotely interested is Gabriel, and that's only cause it involves being productive in some way," he rolled his eyes and I followed suit, giving my head the biggest shake.

"This isn't going to work, Michael. The Sins hate our guts; they won't work with us." My brother looked me in the eye before smirking. "Well, Asmodeus might be willing to work with you….." "Brother!" "Haha, ok, ok, I'm sorry; that was a low blow. But come on, sis; it's not like we have a choice. Orders came straight from above; we're going down to Earth for a month- in "human" time- whether we like it or not."

I fumed, crossing my arms. "And what about our fallen brothers and sisters? How will you get the Sins to cooperate?" Michael winced a little, straightening up his posture. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. They're still the sons and daughters of our Father; if He says they're going, then they're going. None of us have a say in this; the best we can do is try and work together." I sneered, cocking my head a tiny bit. "You? Work with Mammom? I'd like to see that." "You lot will have to deal with him too. At least your counterpart is bearable." "Are you kidding?! Asmodeus and I shouldn't even be in the same room together. I'm the Virtue of Chastity; it's unbecoming for the Sin of Lust to be drooling all over me." And Michael couldn't help but smile keening, both to himself and at me. "Is that so?

Then we'll ignore the fact that you were the only one of us to cry the day your opposing Sin was banished from Heaven."