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[POV - Rito] [Vatican Private Hall - A few hours later]
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The ancient clock in the corner of the room marked each second like falling tears, each tick echoing in the heavy silence that hung between and Michael. He sat across from , hands intertwined, those green eyes carrying the weight of a thousand years.
— Rito — he began, his voice coming out hoarse as if he had swallowed sand. — I... I need to tell you about what happened after you... left.
Sigh.
I sighed, settling better in the armchair. I knew this conversation was inevitable, but that didn't make it any easier.
— I'm listening, Michael.
He ran his hand through his blonde hair, a gesture I recognized — he always did that when he was nervous.
— Heaven... — he paused, searching for words — Heaven almost died without you.
Silence.
The silence that followed was dense as fog, loaded with unspoken regrets.
— In the first hundred years — he continued, his voice getting lower — we tried to keep everything running. Follow protocols, maintain order. But... — he laughed bitterly — how do you keep the lights on when the sun has disappeared?
— Michael...
— No — he raised his hand. — Let finish. I need to say this. — He took a deep breath. — Gabriel... Gabriel cried for three hundred years. Literally. Her tears created new oceans on Earth. Raphael buried himself in work, trying to heal wounds he couldn't reach. Uriel... — his voice trembled — Uriel almost beca a Fallen Angel from all the hatred he felt for his own inability.
Heavy.
The weight of his words fell on like hail.
— And you? — I asked softly.
— ? — he laughed without humor. — I pretended I could lead. Pretended I knew what I was doing. Pretended you would co back any mont. — Tears began to stream down his face. — And when I realized you were really gone... when I accepted that you might never return... I broke, Rito. Completely.
Damn.
I felt my chest tighten. Seeing Michael like this, stripped of all that angelic authority, was like watching a god cry.
— I lost half the angels in the first five hundred years — he continued. — So beca Fallen, others simply... disappeared. And those who stayed... — he shook his head — stayed out of obligation, not love.
— Michael — I said firmly — that wasn't your fault.
— Wasn't it? — he looked directly in the eyes. — I was the one who allowed you to leave. I was the one who didn't beg you to stay. I was the one who let Heaven die slowly because I was too proud to admit I needed you.
Silence.
— That's why — he murmured — when I saw the new angels appearing, when I knew you had returned... I almost went insane with relief.
I got up from the armchair and knelt in front of him, placing my hands on his trembling shoulders.
— Michael — I said gently — I'm here now. And I'm not leaving again.
He collapsed. Literally. Threw himself into my arms like a lost child, sobbing years of pain and regret.
— I missed you so much — he murmured between sobs. — We all missed you.
I stayed there, holding my first Archangel, rembering why I had created Heaven in the first place. Family. It was always about family.
— Let's go ho — I said finally. — It's ti for to see my children.
[Portal to Heaven - 6th Heaven Entrance]
Whoooosh.
The portal opened like a blooming flower, revealing a view that made even my cosmic heart skip a beat. Heaven. My original ho. Layers of golden clouds stretched infinitely, impossible architecture floating in nothingness, and that light... that light that ca from nowhere and everywhere at the sa ti.
Step-step-step.
Our steps echoed in celestial harmonics as we climbed the crystal stairway. Each step vibrated with music that existed before words, lodies that were the foundation of creation itself.
— They're waiting — Michael said beside , his voice still hoarse from crying so much, but loaded with expectation.
DING-DONG-DING.
The celestial bells began to ring — not physical bells, but the sound that reality itself made when pure joy manifested. All of Heaven knew I had returned.
Thud-thud-thud.
My heart beat faster with each step. Damn, when had I beco nervous? I, who had created galaxies with a thought, was nervous to reunite with my own children.
Creak.
The golden doors of the Central Hall opened slowly, as if Heaven itself was holding its breath.
And there they were.
Gabriel in the center, hands clasped in front of her chest, those green eyes shining with tears of happiness. Raphael beside her, trying to maintain dical composure but failing miserably. Uriel, always the warrior, but with shoulders trembling with contained emotion.
And the new ones. Seraphiel, Auriel, Chamuel, all the angels I had recently created, looking at as if I were... well, as if I were their father returning from war.
Silence.
For a mont — just a mont — no one moved. It was as if ti had stopped to savor that instant.
Then Gabriel broke.
— FATHER! — she shouted, a word that echoed through all dinsions of Heaven, but with the weight of soone who had truly lost everything and found it again.
WHOOSH!
She launched herself in my direction like a golden cot, and I caught her in the air, spinning her like a father reuniting with a daughter thought lost forever. She was crying — no, crying was too little. She was sobbing as if releasing millennia of grief from actual loss, not just separation.
— We thought you were gone forever — she murmured against my shoulder. — When the original Father died in the war... we thought that was it. That we would never have a Father again.
— I know, sweetheart — I whispered, stroking her golden hair. — But I'm here now. Different, but eternal.
Footsteps.
Raphael approached more slowly, always the cautious one, but when he got close enough, he collapsed too.
— Father — his voice ca out broken — when Yahweh died... we lost everything. Our purpose, our guidance... I tried to heal the wounded, but how do you heal a wound that deep?
— Raphael — I said softly — you did exactly what a son should do. You carried on His work, His love, until I could return.
Uriel was the last of the originals, because of course he was. Always the proud one, always trying to be strong. But when our eyes t...
— Uriel — I called softly.
He shattered like crystal. Threw himself into my arms with enough force to topple a mountain, sobbing words of a millennia of pain.
— I... I tried to protect everyone after we lost Him — he murmured. — Tried to be the warrior He would have wanted, but I couldn't protect Him when it mattered most.
— You weren't ant to protect Him — I said firmly, hugging my three first children. — You were ant to carry His love forward. And you did that perfectly.
Celestial group hug.
The new angels approached hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt the mont, but clearly wanting to be part of it. I opened my arms, including all of them in the embrace.
— All of you — I said, my voice loaded with emotion — are my children. Those who knew the original Father and those I created anew. His love lives on through all of you, and now through .
DING-DONG-DING-DONG.
The celestial bells rang louder, as if Heaven itself was singing with joy for the return of what had been lost.
[The Celestial Throne - Top of the 7th Heaven]
Whoosh.
Hours later, after more hugs, more tears, more promises to never leave again, I found myself climbing to the top. The top of everything. Where my throne waited.
Step-step-step.
Each step echoed through eternity, creating waves of power that expanded through all dinsions. It was funny how a simple act of walking could alter the fundantal structure of reality.
There it is.
There it was. The Throne. It wasn't just a seat — it was a focus, an amplifier, an interface between the infinite and the defined. Made of solidified light and crystallized hope, suspended over an ocean of stars that hadn't been born yet.
Sigh.
I sighed and sat down.
BOOM.
The universe exploded into my consciousness.
Every prayer. Every tear. Every laugh. Every heartbeat of every living being on every planet in every galaxy. All at once, like a cosmic symphony playing in frequencies that transcended sound.
Ha.
I laughed softly. In my younger days, I needed the throne to reach that omniscience. Now? Now it was just a matter of convenience.
Hmm.
I let my consciousness wander over Earth. Sarah, 6 years old, in Bangladesh, with leukemia. Snap. Healed. Rodriguez, 45 years old, in xico, lost in the desert for three days. Snap. Guided to safety. Maria, 80 years old, in Brazil, alone and forgotten. Snap. Her daughter would suddenly rember to call.
Small miracles. Big miracles. Miracles that people would call coincidences, but that I knew were answers to prayers whispered in the dark.
Ring-ring.
My phone rang. ssage from Lala:
"Rito! How are you? I'm dying of missing you! Asia is making those cookies you like, and Mikan is studying so much I'm worried about her. Co back soon! ❤️"
I smiled, typing back:
"I'm fine. Taking care of so... family responsibilities. I'll be back to you all soon. Give Mikan a kiss from ."
Sigh.
I sighed and got up from the throne. Cosmic responsibilities could wait a few more hours. I needed to prepare for the eting in Kuou, and that ant changing from student clothes to sothing more... appropriate.
Step-step-step.
I walked to my private quarters — a place I hadn't seen for millennia, but that remained exactly as I had left it. Simple, but elegant. A bed that seed made of clouds, windows that showed views of dinsions that didn't yet exist, and a wardrobe that contained clothes woven with the very light of stars.
Clothes change montage.
I changed from school clothes to celestial vestnts. Not the dramatic robes humans imagined — sothing more modern, more accessible, but that still whispered "divinity" to those who knew how to look. Dress pants made of fabric that seed to absorb and reflect light simultaneously, a white shirt that glowed softly, and a blazer that cost more than so national economies.
Mirror check.
I looked at myself in the mirror and almost laughed. I still looked like Yuuki Rito, but... more. As if soone had increased the resolution of my existence.
Knock-knock.
— Co in — I called.
Gabriel appeared at the door, now also in formal celestial attire.
— Ready for Kuou? — she asked, but there was sothing in her eyes. Concern.
— Ready — I replied. — Are you okay?
— Just... — she hesitated — just promise that after the eting you'll co back ho. Here. To us.
I smiled, approaching and kissing her forehead like I used to do.
— Gabriel — I said gently — now I have two families to take care of. The celestial and the terrestrial. And I won't abandon either of them.
She smiled through tears.
— Then — she said — let's go to Kuou. It's ti to show the other factions who really runs this universe.
Grin.
— This — I agreed, adjusting my blazer — is going to be interesting.
After all, it's not every day you go to a diplomatic eting as God disguised as a Japanese student.
Ti to rock and roll.
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