"You’re crying," he whispered. "You’re fucking crying."

Serah pushed away from him again, bringing her hands up to frantically wipe her face. Crying? She could see the tears shining on her fingers as she brushed them away, like tiny diamonds glistening under the dim lighting.

Impossible.

She stood up, panicked, and darted for the door. Lucifer tried to stop her, scurrying right after her, but she was too quick. She bounded out the door and soared to the gate at lightning speed, passing straight through it. Lucifer tried to follow and hit the shield at full blast.

A high-pitched shriek ripped through the sky as the enchantments struggled to keep him imprisoned, so loud Serah recoiled and brought her hands up to cover her ears. She swung around, seeing Lucifer had made it halfway through the shield before it brutally repelled him.

An excruciating scream tore from his chest as his eyes burned bright crimson, his lip curling in a monstrous sneer. He dropped to his knees, his tanned skin turning orange as if fire raged beneath, that spot on his chest where Michael had carved the mark glowing so brightly Serah could see it through his black shirt. Flames seemed to explode from the circle, scorching his clothes.

He threw his head back and clenched his hands into fists as another noise ricocheted through the land. The ground quaked as the guarding reapers descended upon him, the shapeless faceless black monsters tearing at his skin. His screams grew louder as his body absorbed them before spitting the masses right back out, like mere shadows passing through him.

Serah’s vision blurred more, her chest constricting as she fought for composure, gasping for needless air, unable to catch an unnecessary breath. She covered her mouth as tears flowed down her cheeks and turned away from him, unable to take it. She ran again, not stopping until she stepped foot back onto the soil of the woods in Hellum Township.

Serah and Hannah swayed gently on the swings of the quiet school playground. The kids were all in class, recess not for another hour, leaving the two angels all alone for a bit. The air behind Serah crackled seconds before her swing roughly jolted, nearly knocking her out of it. She gripped the chains tightly, holding on, as Hannah glanced behind them. "Samuel."

Serah sighed as her brother teleported from behind her to in front of her the moment she turned to look at him. She turned back around, raising an eyebrow as she met his gaze, seeing the look of amusement on his face. "Don’t you have anything better to do than annoy me?"

"Nope," he said. "Nothing is more important than my sister today."

"Why?"

He smirked. "Happy Creation Day!"

Serah’s rolled her eyes. "We were created in the summer. It’s fall."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. You know that, Samuel."

"Oh, well, guess I got you a surprise for nothing then."

Serah’s brow furrowed as she regarded him with curiosity. "A surprise?"

He nodded, his attention shifting to Hannah. "Sorry, hippie, I didn’t get you anything."

Hannah shook her head. "I don’t know why you insist on calling me that."

"You do the hippie stuff, like play with nature and gaze at the cosmos. If you were mortal, you’d totally smoke reefer and sing ‘Kumbaya’ with your stoner friends."

"I think you’re confusing me with you," Hannah said. "I’m pretty sure I overheard you and Michael discussing world peace yesterday."

"Hey, it’s a great concept," Samuel said. "Would certainly make our work easier if everyone could just get along."

"Well, they won’t." Hannah stood up, giving Serah a small smile, before turning back to Samuel. She threw up two fingers as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Peace out."

She vanished in a crack of electricity. Samuel laughed, shaking his head as he turned back to Serah. He kicked her feet as she swung toward him. "Come on, get up. Let’s go."

"Go where?"

"Your surprise, remember?"

Sighing, Serah stood up, expecting Samuel to teleport somewhere and her have to put feelers out to pick up his location, but he didn’t. Instead, he started walking through the playground toward the sidewalk. She stayed in step with him, the two of them casually strolling down the street in Chorizon.

"Is my surprise here?"

"Yep."

"What is it?"

"You’ll see."

"Why won’t you tell me?"

"Because it’ll ruin the surprise."

They walked for a few blocks, slowing as they came upon a small coffee shop. Serah gazed in the window, seeing a few patrons inside, nothing that would particularly spark her interest.

"Coffee?" she asked. "It always seemed kind of disgusting to me, Samuel."

He laughed. "No, your surprise is behind you."

Serah’s gaze shifted. In the glass window, she could see the reflection of the street behind her. There she spotted it, the cherry red 1966 Pontiac GTO parked along the curb, the top down, fresh paint glistening under the sunlight. She spun around. "My favorite car!"

"Yep," he said, nudging her with his elbow. "Surprised I remembered?"

Before she could respond, the air around them sparkled as Samuel shifted, taking on his full human form. A man walking out of the coffee shop startled, alarmed, dropping his drink as Samuel appeared right in front of his eyes. Samuel glanced behind him at the man, casually nodding. "What’s up?"