When Charlie got back to the tower, Vaggie was mostly done with cleaning the matrix off the floor. Charlie had always wondered why he went with a solid stone floor when he came back after the last Extermination. It was a relief now; it was much easier to clean blood off of than carpet. Charlie started pitching in, getting a scrub brush from Alastor's kitchen and getting to work scrubbing the dried, crusty blood off the floor.
They were on the last section when Alastor slowly and painfully made his way down the stairs. He was leaning heavily on his cane. Charlie could hear the almost imperceptible grunts of pain with each step. His clothes were a little haphazard, strangely twisted here and there.
"Hello, my dears," he not quite mumbled once he hit the main living area.
"Heya Alastor~" Charlie stopped scrubbing and went to help support him. "Here, I'll help you back into the dining room so you can relax."
"Don't worry, my butterfly. I have it sorted." He snapped the fingers on his original arm. The couch reappeared in the section that had already been cleaned. He then went and sat down without minding himself. It made Charlie smile.
"Still, you're in rough shape! You need to be careful!" From the angle she was at she saw the impeccable first aid job that he'd done on his neck. She exclaimed, "Wow! You're really good at putting on gauze in weird areas."
Alastor stiffened somewhat as Vaggie softly explained, "He didn't put it on. I did. I…took care of all his wounds."
Charlie stopped, staring, as she repeated, "All his wounds?"
"All of them." Vaggie was slightly red.
It struck Charlie. She spun to Alastor and said, "You let her touch you like that?"
He hesitantly replied, "Yes."
Charlie was suddenly BURSTING with emotion. He. Let. Vaggie. Touch. Him. HeletVaggietouchhim! Oh my GOSH! Her cuddle pile…! Her eyes were sparkling as she mumbled through happy tears, "I'm so happy to hear that !"
"Really? I had no idea!" Alastor was clearly feeling defensive about allowing himself to open up like that. It would be best for Charlie to change the topic. He wasn't ready to talk about it yet despite being okay with it at the moment it happened.
Charlie turned back towards Vaggie and said leadingly, "Vaggie! I need some help with something."
Vaggie sighed, scrubbing out another good chunk of the matrix. "I know that voice. What kind of crazy idea did you come up with?"
"Emily was able to help with the note. Alastor did such a good job writing out a clue. She was able to read more of it!"
"Really?" That caught Vaggie's attention. "What did it say?"
"'She made a deal with Heaven for ext'," Charlie told her.
"I would prefer not to repeat that incident to finish writing out the message," Alastor said.
"You don't have to!" Charlie assured him. "I know exactly who I can ask to find out what it meant."
"Emily?" Vaggie guessed.
Charlie shook her head. "She didn't know. It was something off-the-books. I meant someone else."
"Who?" Alastor asked, curious.
Charlie said as clearly as she could, "We need to talk to Sera."
The other two were completely silent before they both protested at the same time.
"Char, you know she's in the Pit for a reason -"
"Now really, why risk yourself like that? As long as I'm careful I can-"
"She's the only way I'm comfortable with to find the answer." Charlie rested a hand on Alastor's shoulder. "You've done enough. Let your butterfly and moth do their part."
Alastor was quiet for a second before he said, something catching in his throat, "I don't want to lose you two."
"You won't!" Charlie promised. "We'll be careful and fly out of there if things get too dicey."
"I made my own promise to you, Al. I'm not going to break it," Vaggie assured him.
He considered it before giving Charlie a tired smile as he commented, "In that case, could you give Adam a stinging retort for me?"
"Ready?" Charlie had her spelunking gear all ready. Pickaxe, pitons, RTE food, hanging tent, flashlight…She was ready .
"Char, I really don't think you need all of that," Vaggie commented as they stood at the edge of the Pride Ring. The Pit's depths were black, completely blinding with no light getting through. "Your dad wouldn't booby-trap it like that. Remember, he has to go down regularly to check on them."
Charlie hadn't thought of that. Would her dad bother with climbing gear? …no. There would be magical traps and barriers to overcome. She wished he was willing to see her… All she could get through were single-line messages of being okay. He could've really helped them out.
She took off all the gear save for the flashlight and set it on the ground behind them. At Vaggie's flat look, Charlie defended, "It's dark down there!"
Vaggie rolled her eye but didn't protest. She scooped Charlie up. Her wings appeared in a flash of light before she made the daring jump over the edge.
As they descended, Charlie turned the flashlight on. The air was getting thick as if there was some kind of miasma pooling at the bottom. They fell for a long time, the light above them vanishing slowly. Once they were swallowed by the darkness, the flashlight started to flicker. Charlie could see wisps of something seeping into the flashlight until it was completely extinguished.
"What do we do?" Charlie choked through the darkness.
Vaggie solved the problem by allowing her Angelic glow to spread out. Charlie could see the miasma around them trying to press in on them but failing at the edges of light. She breathed a sigh of relief; her dad must have cursed the Pit to only allow Angelic power to breathe through the darkness. It made sense. It would keep residents of Hell from managing to reach the two prisoners.
It took hours of blind falling before Vaggie made a soft landing against some sort of ground. Charlie looked down to find she was standing on a body . Everywhere around them that she could see were bodies of Sinners. Trapped, desiccated bodies in all sorts of period clothing.
Charlie did her best to step down into an empty space. They both looked around, trying to find a clue as to which direction to go. It was all empty blackness. How would her dad have navigated?
The Angelic light could see a bit and provide breathable air. What else-
She had an idea.
"Could you take a step back, Vaggie?" Charlie requested.
"What are you going to do?" she asked in turn.
"I'm going to try something," Charlie replied.
"...okay." Vaggie took a step back, giving Charlie space while also keeping her in the light.
Charlie concentrated inside of herself. The fire was still agitated from the discussion with her Heavenly friends. She had to be careful not to lose control.
She bid the flame to grow. It flowed out and around her, lighting her up and spreading out into butterfly wings. The light spread out much farther than Vaggie's, lighting up the area past their ability to see the distance.
"Wow," Vaggie said. Then she warned, "It looks like that mist is still hanging around. We can see but probably can't breathe past my light."
"So, a combination of Heaven and Hell powers to see and not choke?" Charlie chuckled, shaking her head.
"It's pretty clever. Who else has that combination of powers?" Vaggie asked.
"We do," Charlie said with a giggle.
"I don't think he thought we'd ever come down here," Vaggie noted.
"Yeah." Charlie looked around for any clues that could lead them to Sera and Adam. "If I were an all-powerful fallen Seraph, where would I put a landmark?"
Vaggie squinted as she spun around in place. Then she pointed, exclaiming, "I see something!"
Charlie peered in the direction Vaggie was looking at. Sure enough, there was a tiny reflection of something in the darkness. They made their way towards it, Charlie making sure not to step on the bodies around them.
They got close and Charlie had to resist laughing. There were two rubber duckies magickally hanging in the air. One looked somewhat like Adam complete with a little toy guitar while the other was clearly designed after Sera. Three little rubber wings with demon-slit eyes and a toy fire hanging on her tiara.They were both pointing in different directions.
Who did they visit first? Adam or Sera?
"Let's take care of business," Charlie decided. The first thing they needed was to stay safe. She didn't know how long their air supply or safety would be safeguarded by their powers. They needed to do what they needed before they went and did Alastor's sidequest.
The two of them walked through the dimly lit darkness. Every once in a while they ran into another set of duckies. The Sera duckie pointed in the direction they were going while the other pointed directly behind them. They continued their trek, for however long Charlie wasn't sure. Her power seemed to be keeping her from feeling hungry or thirsty.
Finally, there was another light in the darkness. A mixture of Angelic and Demonic light fighting each other to be more prevalent. They got closer and could smell fresh brimstone burning from around them, the ground glowing with fire that wasn't hot.
There was a large mound of rock and glowing chains. Some of the chains were Angelic, the rest were Demonic. The chains wrapped tightly into the rock. There was a small opening in the rock big enough for someone to walk through. Charlie and Vaggie did just that.
Once inside, Charlie gaped. Pressed to the rock by chains, sigils and glyphs glowing all around her, floating and binding her, was Sera. She was large, in her Demon form, the sharp wings all nailed to the wall and her tiara bleeding with a glowing brand. Her arms were nailed to the rock as well, high above her head, Charlie recognizing the large splintered spear holding her tight. The Angelic power in it was almost too bright for Charlie to look at.
"Wow."
That singular word uttered from Vaggie was enough. Sera's eyes - all of them - shot open and searched the room. Her gaze settled on the two of them. Once she saw them, her expression shifted into a more morose, grim look.
"Angel Vaggie, Princess of Hell Charlie. What brings you to these forsaken lands?" Sera asked, muffled from some of the magic.
"We need your help." Charlie cut straight to the chase. "We're trying to free Alastor from his pact. He gave us a clue that almost killed him and we know you know."
A bitter smile crossed Sera's face. "He didn't have enough of Heaven his first time?"
Charlie's eyes widened. "You knew he was there?"
"It was a fit punishment. He was clearly unrepentant, and he could do nothing to my subjects." Sera sighed and corrected, " Heaven's subjects."
"So you know who brought him there? Was it the same person you made a deal with?" Vaggie pressed.
Sera apologised, "My word is my bond. I cannot tell you. It wasn't an official deal, not through me. Adam was the conduit of it. I do not know the exact wording."
Looked like they should've gone to mock Adam first.
"You don't know the exact wording. But you know the general content, right?"
Sera closed her eyes as she admitted, "Yes."
"What was it?" Charlie was holding her breath.
"The general agreement was that in exchange for letting her free access to Heaven, we would get free access to Hell. Didn't you ever wonder how the Exterminations could take place?" Sera opened her eyes, looking at her chains. "My greatest failure."
Charlie gaped. "Whoever she is, she sold out Hell so she could go to Heaven?"
"Crude words, but yes."
"That's UNFORGIVABLE! All those lives lost simply because she wanted to be comfortable ?!" The fire around her grew, licking at the chains. Her anger instantly cooled when she realised those chains melted into nothingness.
"Do not worry, Princess of Hell. I am here voluntarily. The chains are merely symbolic," Sera explained as the chains regenerated.
"Voluntarily?"
"I made so many mistakes as the Head Seraph. Too many mistakes. Horrible mistakes that destroyed those who could have been Redeemed. This," Sera looked around at the chains and glyphs, "is my punishment. For every life that was lost, I will stay here for another year."
"That's a long time." Charlie almost admired Sera for that. Almost. It was a self-inflicted injury.
"Is there anything else you can help with?" Vaggie asked.
Sera watched them for a moment. Finally she said, "Vaggie. You have succeeded where I failed. Your mission as an Angel has been followed far more faithfully than I. For that, I am thankful. For your service, I wish to grant you my power."
"I meant more in information," Vaggie said. Shaking her head, she queried, "What powers could you even give me? You don't have authority in Heaven anymore."
"I may not be an official member of Heaven, but I still have my strength that I can pass on." Sera closed her eyes, concentrating. "Please, take my power and protect those who can still grace the halls of Heaven."
A large, writhing ball of light erupted from her chest and hit Vaggie. Vaggie lifted into the air, the light spreading all around her, until she was a vaguely humanoid-shaped outline. Slowly she transformed. The wings on her back receded, four wings somehow growing out of her head. Rings covered in glowing eyes started circling her head which was now a floating ball of light. Her body was robed under her, detached and legless. Her aura increased exponentially, making Charlie have to cover her eyes until they got used to the light.
When the transformation ended, Charlie stared and mumbled, "Wow."
Vaggie looked herself over with her many eyes and burst out, "What did you do to me?!"
"You are now a higher-tier Angel. A Throne." Sera's holy glow had lessened considerably, the Demon energy now glowing hotter. "You will be much better situated to protect the people."
" How do I change back ?!" Vaggie growled.
"You have much power at your disposal now. If you wish to change your form, simply think it and it will be as you envision."
Vaggie pulled her body towards her head and flashed. In a sparkle of holy light, she transformed back into her normal form complete with her wings. The aura around her didn't dissipate in the least.
"How do you feel?" Charlie asked, strengthening her aura so she could withstand Vaggie's.
"...powerful." Vaggie repeated, "I feel powerful."
"I trust you to use that power for the Greater Good," Sera said. She was sweating and wincing now. "Please, leave me. I feel my unworthy rage growing. I will not be sane when it lashes out."
"Okay." Charlie and Vaggie turned to leave.
Just before they exited the little cave, Sera said, "I will grant you one last boon." They both looked back at her. She managed to mumble, "You must talk with the Sin of Pride for the full story." before her eyes and aura flashed red. She started screaming and flailing against her prison.
Charlie and Vaggie rushed out as the chains made ominous creaking noises as they strained. Once they were far away enough that they couldn't hear Sera screaming anymore, they stopped to look at each other.
"Holy crap," Charlie murmured.
"You're telling me," Vaggie replied.
"...what do we do now?" Charlie asked.
Vaggie asked back, "Do we really need to talk with Adam?"
Charlie thought about that for a few seconds.
It took them far less time to find Adam. He wasn't as bound as Sera. All he had as a Sinner was his Demonic powers, and those were only at an Overlord level. Charlie smirked as they got closer and realised that her dad had dressed him up as Mammon, complete with a paper mache butt. In his mouth, held tight by a leather strap, was a rubber duckie that looked like Adam before he became a Sinner.
When he saw them approaching, he began to struggle against his bindings.
"Hello, Adam," Charlie said confidently.
"You look like a loser. Not a new look," Vaggie noted.
He tried yelling through his gag. He suddenly bit through the duckie and screamed through the pieces, "Fuck you, you clussies! Why the fuck are you here bothering me? Got tired of licking each other's cunts? Gonna pump me for info or some shit? I'm not helping you bitches out with ANYTHING!"
"Not exactly." Vaggie leaned in close, reverting to her new Throne form, and whispered, "You know that guy you slashed the shit out of on the hotel? He's with us now."
Adam stared. "What the fuck? Aren't you lesbos? And since when are you all high-and-mighty?"
"He's that good." Vaggie let the insinuation hang in the air. Then she simply noted, "I got an upgrade." She flashed back to her regular form. "He makes us happier far more than any other man could. Just like with your first and second wife, you're too impotent to win."
Now a vein was sticking out of his head. He began screaming, "Fuck you! Fuck you, you CUCK! FUCK Y-MMPH!" The gag flashed in a burst of fire back to its solid form, shoved firmly in Adam's mouth.
Charlie felt accomplished. "Are you ready to go home to Alastor?"
Vaggie smiled back. "Yeah, let's go."
With a burst of Demonic and Angelic energy, the two of them shot straight into the air, back to the Rings of Hell.
Once the dust had settled, another little light of Demonic and Angelic energy descended upon Adam. A little Cherub landed in front of him and bowed. "I am Keenie, First of Man. There is much that we must do! Please, allow me to help you." A spark of mixed energy extended from her loose flesh as she set to work on his chains.
