A World Like That

Epilogue

-Ariel-

The sound of birds chirping woke him up. He opened his eyes to see a blue sky and the green leaves of the trees above him. As he stretched, he bumped into Dante. He smiled and rolled over, gazing at the demon laying next to him. Although at this point, Dante could hardly be called a demon anymore.

Dante was still asleep, but he was tempted to wake him up so he could look into Dante's pretty eyes. The iris had settled into a deep brown, but otherwise they looked just like the eyes of angels. It had taken a while to get used to, and he'd actually missed Dante's old eyes at first. The pools of black were what he'd known for so long.

Dante's teeth had dulled, which had also been an adjustment. They were still sharper than the teeth of angels, but Dante could no longer open fruit with a hard shell. The biggest change had been Dante's wings. He'd spent hours gently scratching Dante's wings as feathers grew in, promising him they'd eventually stop itching. Dante was proud of his sleek feathers, and several times he'd caught Dante pushing his fingers into his own feathers, feeling for the layer of soft fluff underneath. Dante also took pride in his wings being different - instead of the stark white of angel wings, his feathers were black. It was as if Dante were half angel and half demon.

He scooted closer and pressed his nose against Dante's cheek. Dante stirred and rolled over, throwing an arm and a leg over him. "Good morning, Ari," Dante murmured.

He leaned forward and kissed Dante. "Are you ready for today?"

"I'm excited. It'll be great to see everybody all at the same time."

They got out of bed and Dante helped him smooth the blanket. Charmeine had added to the blanket she'd made until it was big enough to cover them both. It was perfect for the bed they'd built on Earth - a solid frame made of thick tree branches, topped by a pallet of grasses. Nothing would ever be as comfortable as Heaven, but he was willing to make the sacrifice since the trade-off was living on Earth with Dante.

They'd settled in the tropical forest with the waterfall. It was perfect for them. Every morning, they gathered fruit for breakfast before setting off for the day to explore. Sometimes they'd swim in the waterfall pool or spend the afternoon laying on the giant lily pads. At night, the Earth was calm. They'd lay in their bed and look up at the stars, holding hands and snuggling close under the blanket. They couldn't have been happier.

-Dantalion-

After spending the morning gathering fruit alongside Ariel, he thought they finally had enough. He stood back and assessed the long table they'd built. It was covered in all kinds of fruit - pears, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, blackberries, and mangoes.

"I think your friends are going to love it," Ariel said, coming up to stand next to him.

"I hope so. Are you nervous to have our friends all in one place?" he asked.

Ariel smiled. "A little. It took quite a bit of convincing to get my friends to agree to meet a bunch of demons, but they've all promised to be here."

"My friends will behave. They know that if they don't, they'll have to deal with me."

Ariel leaned against him. "Let's hope it all goes well."

-

A half hour later, Ariel's friends arrived. His own friends were late, but he didn't expect anything different. He'd seen some of them a couple weeks ago in the desert area, when he was still transitioning from a demon to the hybrid he was now.

He was talking with Laila when she froze, staring intently behind him. "I think your friends are here," she said.

When he turned, he saw them emerging from the trees. Laila quickly moved away to gather with the other angels.

Azazel approached first, one eyebrow lifted in amusement. "Well look at you. Feathers and all."

Shax circled around him, stopping to run his hands down Dante's black feathers. "This is so cool. I wish I had feathers!"

"I think they look the best since they're black," Lilith said, giving him a hug. "It's good to see you again, Dante. I miss you."

"I miss you too." He offered a wing to his friends. "Put your fingers under the feathers. I've got soft ones underneath."

They all crowded around, burying their hands in the feathers on that wing and murmuring their approval.

Ariel approached, a smile on his face. "You're letting them feel the soft fluff?"

"I am," he said, grinning back.

"Thank you for saving Dante," Lilith said, turning to face Ariel. "It was a brave thing you did."

"I would have done anything for him."

Lilith hugged Ariel, and after a second's hesitation, Ariel hugged back. It was nice to see his friends and Ariel getting along. He looked back at the rest of the angels, who were huddled together, looking over at the demons with trepidation.

"Don't be shy," he called. "My friends won't bite, I promise."

It was Charmeine who broke from the group first and came over to the demons. He stood back and watched their interactions as the other angels followed suit. After a few minutes of conversation that eventually took on a friendly tone, Charmeine led a few of the demons over to the table with the fruit. She began pointing out different kinds, encouraging his friends to try everything.

Shax had a strawberry in his hand and was chewing with his mouth open, a look of indignation on his face. "Why haven't we been eating this stuff all along? It's amazing, and our food is shit." Shax grabbed as many strawberries as he could fit in his hands and darted away, retreating to a nearby bush where he could guard his food as he ate. Dante rolled his eyes. Leave it to Shax to think he had to hoard food when there was plenty all around them.

Laila appeared at his side. "He seems to like the strawberries as much as I do. I should take him some more."

"Ignore him," he scoffed. "There's something wrong with him."

Laila laughed, but he wasn't surprised when she took Shax more strawberries anyway. She'd always been kind, even to fools like Shax.

The demons and angels mingled, and it seemed like the angels were gradually letting their guard down. Charmeine was over in the waterfall pool with Lilith and Naamah, who seemed to be enjoying the refreshing blue water. Surprisingly, Raguel and Pravuil were tossing fruit back and forth with Beleth and Buer as some sort of game.

He felt a hand grasp his and looked over to see Ariel. "It's going well," Ariel said, a content smile on his face.

"I agree," he replied, squeezing Ariel's hand.

"Azazel and Jael have been talking for a while," Ariel pointed out.

He saw Azazel and Jael standing close to each other, and Azazel was laughing. It wasn't often that he laughed, as he tended to be more on the serious side.

"Do you think..." he began, his mind already wandering to the possibilities.

Ariel smiled. "Maybe. Now that we've broken the curse, no one else will have to go through what we did."

He tugged Ariel close, hugging him to his side. "True. If we give it some time, maybe one day we won't be alone down here."

"Wouldn't that be amazing," Ariel murmured. "Imagine a world like that."

"I already did," he replied. "And it's perfect."

~~~~~~~
Author's note: Thank you for reading to the end! This story is a first draft and hasn't been edited much. It was a bit of a challenge for me since I usually write about humans in real life situations, but I thought it'd be good to try something new.