After the death of Abel, things weren't quite the same between Adam and Eve. If divorce had been a thing when they were alive, they would have absolutely filed for it.

But Eve kept her word and remained by his side. Adam wasn't sure if it was because of the curse passed down from Michael or because somewhere deep inside, she still loved him.

Or maybe she was like him and was terrified to be alone.

After all they had been through, the only constant thing in their lives was each other.

Although the term didn't exist at the time, their living situation would be described as roommates. During the day, Eve would spend most of her time in the garden or the field. Meanwhile, Adam would wander into the forest or tend to the animals. It was really only in the morning or at night time when they crossed paths and were forced to interact with each other.

Every day, it was the same monotonous routine.

It was what kept them alive, what made them survive.

Adam had wanted to try again for more kids. He had tried to convince Eve that they could have daughters this time around, and it would be better.

But whether it was due to the stress of what happened or because Eve hardly ate anymore, her body missed its monthly bleeding and wouldn't conceive.

Not that it mattered much anyway since they were rarely intimate anymore.

When they did sleep together, it had none of the passion it used to have. Adam would do all the work while Eve would just lay there, staring off into space.

Their conversations weren't like how they used to be either. One topic they left unspoken was what happened between Cain and Abel. Eve didn't need to say anything that Adam didn't already know. He knew she blamed him and herself. And as much as he didn't want to blame her either, he couldn't. It was true that Cain's actions were his own, but Adam had warned her about his behavior.

He just didn't think it would go this far.

Many times, he would find himself lost inside the forest, and the thought of never coming back out would tempt him. He would daydream of flinging himself into the lake and letting himself sink to the bottom. Or climbing the highest tree and jumping off. There was even a time he considered crawling into a bear cave he had come across.

But he could never go through with it.

So as the years wore on, their once perfect, ageless bodies wore down as well. Wrinkles formed along their eyes and mouths. Their muscles turned into flab, and their skin started to sag.

Eve's once thick curls thinned, and even their beautiful shade of auburn grew gray. Adam's hairline receded, and bald spots appeared on his scalp. Eventually, his hair lost its color too, fading from chestnut brown to snow white.

The aches and pains that came with aging plagued both of them. They were still strong, but they weren't as agile as they used to be. They got tired quickly and had to stop to rest more often.

They were shells of their former selves both inside and out.

After about eight hundred years, Eve rarely got out of bed anymore. He had to force her to eat and would feed her by hand. When it came to bathing, he would have to help her with that, too. As he washed her body with a rag, he saw just how thin and frail she had grown, no longer resembling the woman he fell in love with in more ways than one.

Despite pleading with the angels to intervene, they told Adam there was nothing they could do. Her body was failing, and she would soon die.

Death was an inescapable part of life now.

Speaking of the angels, Adam should've expected their reluctance to help. They went back to being distant after what happened with Cain and Abel. They told him it was because they were helping with expanding humanity and were needed elsewhere on the Earth.

Adam pondered if it was because they just didn't want anything to do with him anymore. The idea that they had deemed him and Eve failures and decided to start fresh with a new pair of humans was unbearable.

He didn't share these thoughts with Eve. What would be the point? He was the man, and it was his burden to bear. As a man, he had to shoulder the responsibility and be strong for both of them. Eve wasn't strong enough to handle this, too.

Like with his other thoughts about whatever happened to Cain or Lucifer and Lilith, he buried them far below the recesses of his mind where he couldn't dwell on them.

One day, while Adam sat beside her, Eve turned to him from on top of the bed and said, "I'm scared."

Adam reached for her hand, which was no longer smooth and healthy. It was so bony and weathered now. "What are you scared of?"

"I'm scared of what comes after this life," she whispered, her grip on his hand growing tighter.

Adam nodded in understanding, for he, too, had wondered the same thing. "But maybe we'll see paradise again. Maybe we'll see our son again."

Tears lined the corners of her eyes. "I hope so... I'm sorry for what I did to you, to us. Everything that's happened, it was because I ate that damned apple!"

"Eve–"

"You were right. Death would have been better than this. At least we would have died in paradise." Eve's breaths had become shallow and sporadic. "If I had known this was to be our fate, I would've taken my life sooner."

"Eve, don't say things like that!" He wasn't even sure why he was telling her that. After all, he had thought the same thing for years.

"I'm sorry." Her grasp on his hand had loosened before completely releasing it, her own hand dropping to her side.

"Eve!" Adam shook her body, but it remained still. Her breathing had stopped, and her eyes were shut. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, and if Adam hadn't been calling her name over and over, he would've thought she was just asleep.

A primal cry escaped his mouth, one that had been building with years of endless pain and suffering.

"You promised! You promised you wouldn't leave me!" Adam sobbed. "You were supposed to be by my side! You can't leave me!"

This is where his true nightmare would've begun. Because now, he was utterly alone.

But the truth was, he had been in this never-ending nightmare for a long time. It just grew worse each waking day.

He had buried her next to Abel. He knew she would've wanted that. At least now she would be with one of their sons again.

Adam had found a large stone to place on top of the mound just as he had for Abel. There wasn't a day he didn't go up to their gravestones and just stand there in silence. Some days, he would even talk to them, knowing they wouldn't answer back.

The urges to take his life grew stronger during this solitary period. He busied himself in his labor just to keep those thoughts at bay. But in the dead of night, voices would whisper from beside him and try to convince him he was better off dead. They would remind him of Gabriel's words that it wasn't good for man to be alone. Some nights, they sounded like Lilith's sweet voice and other nights, they sounded like Lucifer's charismatic one.

He told himself that Eve and Abel wouldn't want that for him.The hope of being able to see his wife and son again was the only thing that gave him the strength to carry on.

Another century passed, and Adam could feel the inevitable coming. It was strange because after chasing death for so long, he felt scared that he was finally going to find it. He had only known this life. He had no idea what would come afterward. The angels hadn't told him anything.

So after nine hundred and thirty years on this Earth, Adam passed from this life and on to the next. He died beside the river he often fished at, right as the sun had started to set.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a bright, white place with several tall, colorful structures around him. Blinking, he didn't know what these were since he had never seen another building besides his simple hut.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice echoing in the void. "Is anyone here?"

Adam glanced down at himself and had to do a double-take. Even though he was clothed in a pristine white robe, his body was young and fit, like when he was first created.

"What the–?" He examined his hands before running them through his full set of hair. There were no bald spots! No receding hairline!

Unable to believe it, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the windows of the buildings and cheered.

Gone were any wrinkles, liver spots, or dark circles! His skin didn't sag anymore! His face was no longer covered in excess hair! Most importantly, he had his muscles back!

He was hot again!

"Oh, this is new!" Adam spun around and saw a pair of wings attached to his back. They were covered in dozens of golden feathers and resembled the wings of an eagle. Even his eyes were gold now, no longer green like when he was alive. They shot up to look at the glowing ring above his head. As he tapped it, he realized it was the same thing that the angels had above their heads.

"Greetings, Adam," a voice said from behind, startling him.

"Whoa!" Adam whipped around and saw Sera hovering above him with a kind smile on her face. "Sera! Don't scare me like that!"

"My apologies." Sera chuckled. "I wanted to personally welcome you to your new home, Heaven."

She flew beside Adam as he continued to walk down the promenade. "This is where you and any other human soul who's deemed worthy will remain for eternity. There will be no more suffering, death, disease, or aging like on Earth. This is what was intended for humanity back in Eden. And now, you can finally experience what we always wanted for you."

Adam couldn't help but tear up at her words. "Wow, I never thought I'd get to experience any of that again. And this is even better! I get a pair of wings?! I can't wait to use them!"

His wings flapped excitedly behind him as he was lifted a few inches off the ground. "You and the other angels are going to have to teach me to fly! I never even thought I'd be able to say those words! This is going to be so awesome! Wait until Eve and Abel see me! Where are they, by the way? Are they going to try and scare me, too?"

The smile on Sera's face fell. "Adam..."

"Yeah?" Adam didn't notice the sudden change in her demeanor.

Sera took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. "There's no easy way to tell you this, but they're not here. You're the only human soul here so far."

Adam's wings stopped beating, and he slumped back to the ground. "I– What do you mean? Eve and Abel died before me. You know that, right?"

"Yes, we know." Sera's lip trembled. "I'm sorry, Adam, but–"

"Then where are they?!" Adam balled his fists as he glared up at the seraph. "What are you not telling me?!"

"Abel was here for a time," Sera answered. "He did appear here when he died. But when Eve died, she didn't come here."

Adam narrowed his eyes at her, his tone dropping to a hiss as he asked, "Then where is she?"

"She's... in Hell."

He thought he misheard at first. Hell was where Lucifer and Lilith were banished to. Why the fuck would Eve be there? "I think you need to repeat that. Did you just say she's in Hell?"

Sera nodded her head. "When Abel learned she was in Hell, he decided to forfeit his spot in Heaven and go down there with her."

Adam remained silent for several seconds, tears beginning to cloud his vision. His mind whirled with so many different thoughts that he was beginning to feel dizzy, which he didn't even think was possible anymore. He must've been looking dazed since Sera immediately put her hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"Adam?" Her eyes went wide with concern.

"I'm okay." He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his robe. "I'm just going to go down there and bring them back here."

"Adam." Sera bit her lip and shook her head. "That's not how it works. You can't bring them back here. They're going to be in Hell forever."

The last shred of Adam's composure finally cracked. "WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?!"

"We tried! Believe me, we all tried!" Now it was Sera who looked on the verge of tears. "We explained to him how this would be a permanent decision! That he would never be allowed back into Heaven! We even told him who and what was down there! But that only convinced him more why he needed to go!"

To Adam, these all sounded like pathetic excuses. He knew the angels had the power to prevent Abel from leaving Heaven. He had seen their capabilities firsthand back in Eden. "So?! Why did you even let my son go down there?!"

"His sacrifice only further proved why he was meant to be here," Sera said. "If he wanted to forfeit his place in Heaven, us intervening would go against the free will humans were gifted."

Damn it, Abel. Why did he always have to be so selfless and kind? But he couldn't be too upset with him since that'd make him a hypocrite. After all, he had forsaken paradise for Eve, too.

Speaking of Eve, Adam still couldn't understand why she was in Hell in the first place.

"What about Eve then? Why wasn't she worthy enough to enter Heaven?" Adam demanded. "Is it because she ate the apple? Because you know damn well I ate it too!"

"Adam, please, calm down–"

"NO!" Too caught up in his rage, Adam failed to realize his wings had started flapping again, lifting him to Sera's eye level. "Do you know how many times I wanted to end my life back on Earth?! How many times I wanted to give up?! Seeing them again was my only reason to keep living!"

The anger in his voice splintered into grief. "And now they're just gone? I'll never get to see them again?"

"Adam, I feel for you, I do. But unless you want to forfeit your place in Heaven–"

"Of course not!" His mouth reacted quicker than his mind, not realizing what he had said until he saw the surprise on Sera's face. "I mean, there has to be some way to see them! At least one last time! I need to say goodbye... Please, Sera."

Sera sighed. "I think we can arrange something. Given the circumstances."

Adam's wings grew still, and he fell back to his feet. His eyes lit up with relief and excitement at the prospect. "Seriously? Thank you! Thank you!"

"This is only because you are the first man, and you do deserve to tell your family goodbye. I know you never got to do that with Abel." Sera's tears had disappeared, and her face resumed its usual serious expression. "I will draw up a portal to Hell and give you a few hours to do what you need to."

Adam sprung up in the air and squeezed Sera into a tight hug. "You were always my favorite angel!"

Sera let out an awkward laugh before pulling him off of her. "You will be granted protection so that none of Hell's denizens can harm you."

He gave a short nod. "Got it."

Her already stern tone grew even more solemn. "Adam, listen to me. You still need to be careful. Because of your history with the two, Lucifer and Lilith might be looking to goad you into a fight."

Adam nodded his head again, his wings continuing to flutter behind him. He watched as Sera waved her hand, making a luminous portal appear in front of them.

The truth was that Adam fully intended to go down there and bring his wife and son back with him. No one deserved to spend an eternity in Hell except maybe Lucifer and Lilith.

Taking one last look at Sera, Adam gritted his teeth and entered the portal into the other side.