“So… let me get this straight,” I began, massaging at my temples. I was physically incapable of getting headaches. I knew that. And yet… “You designed Dimona Tower. You designed Dungeon Conquest. You’re Luci’s second best friend. And yet, despite serving her for over two thousand years-”

“Um… It’s actually only been like a hundred and twenty years up here in heaven,” the angel interjected. “Luci sped up things on the mortal realm big time right up until the time you were born, but she didn’t speed up time in heaven as much. I didn’t mind it… It was a lot easier to be able to just… not to think about everything going on there when it all sped by, to be honest… ”

“Right. A hundred andtwenty-one years, then,” I conceded. “Still an awfully long time to be friends with someone, only to stab them in the back the moment someone threatens to show off your diary.”

“Y-You don’t know what she’s like!” the angel replied, trembling. “You don’t know what she’d do to me if she found out I wrote anything bad about her… or said anything bad… or even thought anything bad about her. I’ve had to keep a second diary because she demands to see what I’ve written about her in my first one sometimes…”

“That… doesn’t sound like a very healthy relationship,” Lucy said.

I nodded in agreement. “No, it doesn’t. Which I suppose goes a long way to explain why you’re so willing to betray her…”

“W-Well, also, if you succeed, I-I was hoping, you might, maybe, g-go easy on me?” the angel suggested hesitantly.

“Look, Ashley,” Liz began, only to pause. “It is Ashley, right? ‘Cause it’s been a while since I made you, and I’ve gotta admit that I maybe didn’t do the best job of it…”

The angel, Ashley, nodded.

“Good. The fact is? I’m not sure what sort of punishment I’m going to give you all. Honestly, going too harsh on all of you would make me feel like some sorta hypocrite, considering I made you all and apparently fucked up so bad you all turned into genocidal maniacs.”

“I-I’m not-” Ashley began, only to get cut off by a furious Liz.

“Two thousand years, Ashley! Two thousand years of a war fighting for survival, while all of you angels enjoyed the spoils. The emotions it generated, the energy you gained - did it chafe that badly having to watch your energy consumption during the world’s early years? I told you that it was only going to be temporary until the population naturally expanded, but did you listen? No! You started a two thousand year extermination war!”

“I thought you said this was about Luci wanting you to start over and kill everyone?” I protested with a frown.

“That’s Luci’s obsession,” Liz replied. “The other angels still needed a reason to get on board. It’s not just because I left her in charge, y’know? No, it’s because she promised them luxury. War might not be great for making lots of happy, positive emotions, but it’s phenomenal for generating prayer. That saying on Earth about there being ‘no atheists in a foxhole’ exists for a reason. And that prayer becomes divine power that Luci diverts away from me in favor of improving heaven for the angels. Maybe hell, too, as a byproduct, I guess? Since divine energy sorta splits itself into both equally. Would explain why the demons never even tried to help, but they’re mostly isolationist to begin with so their lack of interference isn’t much of a surprise… Kinda messed up with them even more than the angels… Though I guess that’s besides the point.”

“L-Luci said we deserved better,” Ashley said, not really seeming to believe it herself. “Sh-she said she’d lead us into a better age. One where we were treated better than..”

“Better than what?!” Liz demanded. “Better than the humans? Or were you going to repeat Luci’s exact term for them, hmm?”

Ashley didn’t respond and after a moment Liz let out a snort.

“Figures. Let me say it for you, then. You wanted to be better than the livestock.”

“I don’t… think of humans that way… anymore,” Ashley muttered, looking away and looking ashamed. “I mean, they’ve created so many great things! Like videogames! But… Luci…:”

“Sure,” Liz sighed. “Blame it on Luci that you designed a soul trap meant to pull innocents from another world into our mess.”

“Sh-she would have put me in a cell, too!” Ashley protested.

“And you might still end up in one,” Liz replied. “But at least I won’t have you executed if you help us.”

“So my choices are to end up in a cell at Luci’s hands or yours?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. “That doesn’t sound very fair.”

“No, it isn’t,” Liz replied flatly. “Frankly, it’s a huge injustice to everyone you’ve helped get killed but we need your help right now so I’m offering you an out anyways. At least jail time with me will eventually come to an end. And I won’t find unique ways to fuck with and torture you while you’re in prison.”

“...F-fine,” Ashley muttered after a moment. “B-but only if you still let me play video games!”

“Deal,” Liz agreed. “Now help my new friends here make their way to the divine portal so they can come up and bust me out.”

“T-the divine portal?!” Ashley asked, paling. “Th-that’s… Luci moved it to her office…”

“Good. The offices should be deserted at this time of night, unless Luci’s turned into some sorta slave driver… Actually, she probably, no, definitely is so there will be some people there, but she won’t be there at the very least.”

“Th-there’s still automated dolls working there, too,” Ashley informed us. “Th-they’ll note my presence for sure… Luci will know I was the one who took you there…”

“Only if we fail,” Liz pointed out, “and at that point it’ll already be too late for you anyways.”

“...Right…” Ashley muttered, ducking her head. “I um… I need to grab my keys and then I can get the car ready.”

“I’ll go with you,” Abigail declared before any of us could speak up. “To make sure you don’t touch anything you shouldn’t.”

“Watch out for a phone,” I warned Abigail. “It’s a small, rectangular device. Or sometimes a more… curved one? Depending on whether one uses the house or cell variety. Or her computer! That’s a big box like that. Or sometimes a flat thing that folds upwards, if it’s a laptop?”

“Right…” Abigail said. “How about I just don’t let her touch anything that doesn’t look like a key?” Abigail suggested.

“Or I could go?” I suggested. “I’d actually know what to look out for.”

“And let Liz keep berating her?” Abigail asked, arching an eyebrow. “Look, I get it, Liz has every reason to be mad - hell, I’m not exactly fond of her either after hearing all that, but she’s not going to be able to help us if she breaks down from stress in the middle of the trip and she clearly needs a moment or two to clear her head.”

“I could just turn off the spell that lets Liz speak,” I suggested, pointedly ignoring the “Hey!” from Liz. “But I suppose I can concede the point… Just be wary of her doing or saying anything that might cause us trouble.”

“Got it,” Abigail agreed, flashing me a grin.

“Y-you know I can hear you, r-right?” Ashley weakly protested.

“Yup!” Abigail agreed, turning to face Ashley with a wide grin. “Which means you should already know the plan. So come on - the sooner you grab your keys, the sooner all this is over with.”

Despite my talk of hurrying up, Ashley and I actually walked up the stairs to her bedroom at a pretty leisurely rate. I could tell just from looking at the girl that her nerves were frayed, and since her hands stayed out in the open and she wasn’t mouthing or speaking any words I figured it was best to let it be.

Honestly, I kinda needed the break, too. A moment to just think about how everything had changed in the last couple hours. I mean, I was a Demon now. With a big, fat, capital D!

“Th-this one’s my room,” Ashley said after a minute or so, pointing to a door at the end of the hall. 

I glanced at the other two doors on either side of the wall. “Lot of rooms… You the only person who lives here?”

“O-one of them’s my gaming room,” Ashley said as if that explained anything. Who needed a whole room for gaming? “A-and one has sewing supplies… Not that I ever sew, but I keep thinking I might, y-you know? A-and it’s… less depressing than having an empty guest room that nobody ever uses…”

“Oof. Tell me you didn’t get this place with Luci in mind?”

The way Ashley flinched told me everything, and for a flickering moment I actually felt sorry for her.

Then I remembered her role in the two thousand years of endless war my people had suffered through and I got over it real quick.

“Go on, then. It’s your room, right? Open it up! Unless there’s something or someone you don’t want me to see?”

“N-no!” Ashley hurried to assure me, flinging open the door to reveal the room behind it.

By the… Goddess, I guess? Liz? It felt weird to swear by her name, but I certainly wasn’t going to say ‘the Fallen’ anymore.

Anyway, by Liz this girl was a nervous wreck… it was almost enough to tug at my heartstrings even knowing what sort of horrors she’d helped create. She was certainly pitiable enough. Though that didn’t exactly make her forgivable.

“Alright, alright, so there’s nobody behind the door,” I replied out loud, rolling my eyes. “Where are your keys? I’ll grab them for you.”

“I-in my jacket,” she said, pointing at what looked to be a coat rack. The jacket hung from it. It seemed to be made of some odd, crinkly, almost shiny looking material, but the pocket was obvious enough so I reached in and grabbed the first thing my hand wrapped around.

“These?” I asked, pulling out what my hand had found. A key, as far as I could tell, with a ring through the center and a sort of rectangular bit with pictures painted on various raised bits of it. Two featuring locks - either closed or open - another showing some sort of weird looking rectangular thing on wheels, and a third with an exclamation point.

“Th-that’s it!” she said, hurriedly snatching the thing away from me. Or trying to. I was as strong as her, after all - and the material was apparently strong enough to stand up to both of us, as the keyring went taught between us.

“You’re in a hurry to get it,” I remarked, eyeing the rectangular thing. Was this one of those phones Devilla had warned me about? Better safe than sorry, I figured, taking a moment to examine the ring and finally figure out how to get the thing off. “There. Just the key.”

“J-just the key then,” Ashley muttered, and for a moment I thought she looked a little dispirited. It could have been my imagination, though, because a moment later she’d turned towards the door and was hurrying back down the hall.

I went after, of course, taking the maybe-phone with me in case Devilla would have any insight into the matter.

“Ready to go?” she asked, when she saw me.

“Just about,” I replied, before tossing her the device. “I found this on her keyring, though.”

Devilla caught it easily from the air, examining it for a moment before frowning. “It’s a key fob. For locking and unlocking the car. Harmless, for the most part - though that exclamation point is a little worrisome.”

“Th-that’s just for setting the alarm,” Ashley explained.

“A lot of crime in heaven, then?” Devilla asked, arching an eyebrow.

“That’s my fault, actually,” Liz chimed in. Hearing the voice come out of nowhere was still a little disconcerting for me despite all the time I’d had to get used to it, but I tried not to show it. “I mean, the cars aren’t really cars, they’re just artifacts that look like cars, but I wanted to get as many of the details right as possible, so…”

“You included those annoying, hypersensitive alarms?” Devilla interjected.

“Pretty much, yup!”

“Regardless, I think I’ll hold onto it for now,” Devilla replied, slipping the fob into a pouch at her side. “Now come on. Let’s get going.”

“Sure,” I replied, glancing at Lucy. She smiled back at me and for a moment I felt my cheeks heat before I rapidly shook my head to clear it. Not the time. “One question, though. What the hell is a ‘car’?”

~~~

Author's Notes

It's funny how likeable Ashley can seem, right up until you actually start to think about everything she's done... I did not expect Liz to go off like that, to be honest - not in this chapter, at least - but I don't mind showing off some of her more serious side. She might be a disaster, but at least she's a self-aware one who genuinely cares.

Many thanks to FallingLeaf for editing! And for the title suggestion, as well. Also many thanks to all of you for reading.

If you'd like to support me - or just read ahead - please know that you can read up to chapter 91 on Patreon for as little as a dollar! (They are largely unedited though.) You'll also get a couple advanced chapters for all my other series, which I really do intend to get back to soon (especially Naughty Magic.) Demon Queened just has a bit of a death grip on me right now, with us being soooooo close to the ending...