Epilogue
Joe sat in his office, contemplating the ever-changing equations across his walls.
Things had gone slightly off plan, but he really thought everything would work out for the best. He watched as a few more equations changed around a bit, nodded to himself, and then turned to the wall behind him, which had a blank space. With a tap, the wall changed into a familiar scene.
Yah sat at their pristine white desk, the cracks spiraling out behind them.
Their head was in their hands, and Joe didn’t think he’d ever seen them looking so sad.
When they raised their head, Joe’s heart broke a little at their expression.
He knew what it was like to be lonely, to crave the touch of others.
The message he’d given Yah… Well, it wasn’t wrong, but it was easily misinterpreted.
Joe felt bad about that, really he did, but sometimes one needed to misunderstand before one could truly understand.
He watched for a moment longer, his eyes getting a little wet while he stared.
Poor Yah. So much loneliness. So much heartbreak.
But he knew they would choose that if it meant ultimate happiness in the end, and that’s all Joe wanted for them.
He tapped the wall, and the scene switched. Lucifer stood staring out at the firefalls, clearly deep in thought. He was more than likely up to some insidious plotting. Levi had given him the message he wasn’t supposed to hear, just like Joe expected he would.
Demons were so predictable in their troublemaking.
Good. In order to win over Yah, in order to make them finally take action, some plotting would definitely need to take place.
Lucifer was the Father of Lies, after all.
Surely he’d be able to come up with lots of reasons for them to be together, slowly getting even more under Yah’s skin until they finally accepted what they truly wanted.
If anyone was up to the task of temptation, it was Luce.
What he didn’t think too much about (or tried not to, anyway), was the fact that they apparently didn’t know who he was. Neither of them. And how exactly was that possible? He was an angel.
Well, mostly.
But still—one of them should have had access to him. But apparently they didn’t.
If Joe were being honest with himself, he felt a little better knowing that.
Here he’d thought he was just toiling away for centuries to fix the universe, and no one even cared.
And it wasn’t that at all, because Yah and Luce very obviously did care.
They just hadn’t even known he’d existed. Which was rather strange.
Joe tried to think back to the beginning of time, but he wasn’t quite sure he remembered things that far back.
He didn’t remember coming into existence, but his memories were shorter than most other angels.
Did he just pop into creation at some point?
And if so, how? Because the two beings who were capable of creation didn’t know he existed.
Well, that was all something to ponder another time, he supposed. He didn’t think his origin story really mattered when it came to saving the universe.
On the other hand, he’d been watching some superhero movies lately, and origin stories always seemed to matter for heroes and villains.
He wasn’t a villain. At least, he didn’t think he was a villain.
Didn’t villains know they were villains?
He was trying to save the universe, but then quite a few villains thought they were doing that exact same thing.
Well, he didn’t want to see anybody die, not even for the greater good. He thought in order to be a villain you had to not care if people were killed, and Joe had never killed anything in his entire existence.
Besides, with a name like Joe, surely he couldn’t be a villain.
Not that he could really be a hero, either, which was just fine with Joe. He didn’t need to be a hero. He just wanted people to be happy. That was all.
He sighed. He supposed it was time to focus his attention elsewhere. He felt fairly confident that Luce would figure out how to woo Yah, and that the two of them would save the universe.
Hopefully.
But he still had a message to fulfill, and he really had been planning to take a look at the leadership team. They were so very obnoxious, and he wasn’t sure that was a task he was up to dealing with. But he’d try anyway.
With a tap on his desk, the scene on his back wall changed.
There were all the clones of the management team, lined up on two sides of a table.
Joe listened in as they talked about how they were going to “leverage the lesser beings” and how someone needed to “level up” and “pivot their approach for maximum capacity.” A demon said they needed to “put a pin in that” while an angel agreed they’d “circle back to the inherent difficulties of the situation.”
Joe wasn’t sure what they were talking about, and it didn’t really matter. They were ineffectual and annoying. He was about to switch off when he noticed something—the last two seats at the table were empty.
Huh. That shouldn’t be. Where was the demon and angel that should have been sitting there? He knew the leadership team was working at full capacity, but two beings weren’t there.
He tapped his desk again, and he saw an angel and a demon…
drinking coffee? Were they actually drinking coffee?
Or tea, perhaps? They were wearing the leadership team wardrobe, but…
they had decorations on their outfits? They didn’t look like the rest of the leadership clones, either.
The angel was fair with light hair, and he had the most beautiful blue eyes.
He also looked… shy? A little unsure of himself, maybe?
It was rather endearing, and Joe kind of wanted to wrap him up in a hug.
Which was a very strange thought, indeed.
The demon was frowning about something, and he looked fierce and protective.
His dark eyes weren’t focused on Joe, but a shiver went through him nevertheless when he looked into those eyes.
The demon’s hair was dark, and it looked sexily mussed up.
He was definitely the quintessential “bad boy” that Joe sometimes saw on television shows.
(Yes, Joe really needed to watch less television, but he did get lonely and a bit bored sometimes.)
With a thought, the sound came on.
“They’ve gone too far. Yes, it apparently worked out okay this time, but what if it doesn’t next time?” the angel asked.
The demon scowled, but he grabbed onto the angel’s hand. “It’ll be okay. We’ll make sure it’s okay. We won’t let them destroy the universe. We can do this. Together.”
Oh, my. Joe almost swooned at the fierce but incredibly sexy look that the demon was aiming at the angel.
Oh, he definitely needed to do some calculations on those two.
A certain part of him (not THAT part… the…
ahem… other part…) twitched a bit under his robes, his face got hot, and he quickly tapped the back wall.
He did have calculations to run, and things were spiraling out rather quickly now, but… Well, it was rather lonely work, and it was always nice to see all his hard work come to fruition. He tapped the back wall one more time, and he had a perfect view of Levi and Gabriel’s living room.
Hachi was in the aquarium, and Gabriel was softly talking to the octopus.
“Just one little splash, that’s all you have to do. Just so I don’t have to wear it,” he was saying.
“Buttons, I can hear you!” Levi called from the bedroom. “And you’re an angel! You can dry it even if Hachi does get it wet!”
Levi chose that moment to walk out, and Joe realized that the two of them were wearing matching shirts that had an octopus with wings and the words “Adventure Buddies” written across them.
It was really kind of adorable, and Joe felt a little pang of envy. Levi strode across and pulled Gabriel into his arms, giving the angel a lovely, long kiss. Luckily, they stopped there, because Joe really didn’t intrude on personal moments.
“You ready, Buttons?” Levi asked.
Gabriel looked like he was actually pouting, which made Joe want to laugh. It was such a delight to see Gabriel comfortable enough to show his emotions. That angel had worked far too hard for far too long, and Joe was so glad he had finally found someone who could make him relax.
Well, Joe had sort of helped him find someone to help him relax, but still—he was so glad they were together. He sighed in happiness at the adoring look Levi was giving the angel. (Joe was a sucker for a good romance.)
“I can’t believe you talked me into wearing this shirt,” Gabriel muttered.
“We look adorable,” Levi assured him. “Plus, everyone will know I’m yours.”
Gabriel’s pout disappeared at that, and he did look pleased. He looked back at the aquarium then. “Do you think Hachi wishes he could come? I bet we could conjure up a little shirt for him, too.”
Joe could tell that Levi was trying not to laugh, but he thought it was a rather sweet thought. Levi must have thought so, too, even if it was a funny idea, because he pulled Gabriel in and leaned their foreheads together, slowly rocking him back and forth.
“Oh, are we dancing again?” Gabriel asked.
Levi just smiled.
“I liked the dancing. Well, I didn’t love the crowded club, but I loved the wedding we dropped in on, and I love dancing with you, Levi,” Gabriel added.
“I love dancing with you, too,” Levi declared. “And I figured the club wouldn’t be your style, but there’s lots of other places we can go to dance.”
Gabriel frowned then. “But no more cheating tentacles.”
Levi laughed, even though Joe was confused.
“I didn’t cheat with my tentacles at dancing,” Levi said.
“No, but that was the same day you showed me knitting, and you definitely cheated at that.”
They stopped swaying now, and Gabriel put his hand on his hip. Levi started chuckling, and when he saw Gabriel’s frowning face, he only laughed harder. Eventually Gabriel was fighting off a smirk as well.
“Buttons, I have no idea how you got that yarn so tangled up,” Levi laughed.
“It’s not my fault! The pointy sticks weren’t cooperating!
And you were all”—Gabriel waved his arms around wildly in what must have been an imitation of Levi knitting—”using like four pairs of pointy sticks to make a whole afghan or something, and I couldn’t even knit a scarf!
Using your tentacles was totally cheating! ”
“Aww, you love my tentacles,” Levi said, grabbing onto Gabriel again and pulling him into a hug.
Gabriel immediately softened, and he did smile at that. “You know I do. In fact…”
Levi laughed. “If you play with my tentacles, we’re still going to the barbecue in matching shirts.” Gabriel pouted, and Levi added seriously, “Unless you really don’t want to. I would never make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” Gabriel said, and then they were kissing again, melting into one another.
With a sigh, Joe gave the back wall a tap. He wasn’t sure that kiss was going to end quite so quickly, and he did have a job to do.
After all, the universe wasn’t going to save itself.