Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

At a cafe in heaven sat a fairly well-known winner. The only one ever known that could change her shape. A hound, a bird, and a dragon, all of which held heavenly blue flames that could burn just about everything. She was in her hound form at the moment. With her dark reddish purple fur, dark poofy hair, and light purple eyes, the heaven-born often told her that if it wasn’t for her two flame-tipped tails and her wings, someone may have mistaken her for those “mindless hell beasts”.

“Azah! Yo!”

The hound looked up to see “the man” marching his way over with a smile that was too happy for her liking. That man only ever brought trouble whenever he came around.

“Adam, hello.”, she greeted neutrally before taking a sip of the tea in front of her. She would’ve preferred coffee, but something about it make her sick in this form. ‘I guess even heaven has its limits, ’ she thought

Adam leaned down onto the table, damn near flipping the table from his weight, “I’m having a concert tonight and it’s gonna be bitch’in! I’m going to play all of my new songs and I wanted you to my bitch in the first row cheering me on. It’s gonna be all romantic and shit. Like in those fag movies you watch all the time.”,

Azah stared at him, severely unimpressed. “Yeah, how about no. The last place I want to be is at one of your concerts.”

“Awe, c’mon babe. After the concert, we can go hang out at my place. And, I dunno cuddle for a bit? Maybe do something a little more ‘spicy’”, Adam grinned and leaned a little closer to her.

“A tempting offer, but still no.”,she took another sip of her tea and frowned, ‘its cold now’

Adam frowned at her, “Fine, your loss then.”, he said before finally getting up to leave. The poor table seemed to be permanently bent.

Azah watched the retreating back of the man before sitting back in her seat with a sigh. She looked up at the always blue skies of heaven. “Finally, I thought he’d never leave “, she groaned. She stayed like that for a little while longer, looking for all the different shapes she could in the clouds.

“Excuse me?”, a quiet voice asked

Azah glanced over. ‘A cherub?’, she thought. Cherubs were tiny and considered the lowest of the heaven-born angels. Usually regulated to scut work and service jobs. The one flitting about beside her was a small red fox. In her hand was a tea pot.

“Yes?”, she asked

“U-uhm, would you like some more tea? I noticed you haven’t had any in a while.”, the fox asked nervously

Azah sat up, “Sure, I’ll take some more tea.”, she smiled as the fox cherub poured her her tea. “Thank you.”

The fox nodded, “It’s no problem, ma’am. Have a great day.”, the fox said before flitting off to do whatever cherubs do this time of day. Azah sighed and took a sip. ‘Speaking of, what should I do today?’, she thought to herself. ‘I suppose I could go to the amusement park. That’s always fun. Or maybe the zoo would be better. Seeing extinct animals is always a treat.’, she took another sip of her tea. ‘Or maybe-’, her train of thought was cut off by a scream.

Azah stood up, looking around to see where the sound came from. She hadn’t heard a scream like that since she was alive, back when she was human. Outside of the cafe, there were other winners milling about. Some were talking on the phone, or talking to their friends. None of them seemed to have heard the scream.

“Excuse me?”, Azah interrupted two winners, one looked to be a butterfly and the other a moth.

“Heya!”, the butterfly winner greeted eagerly

“What can we help you with?”, the moth winner asked, a smile on her face

“I was wondering if you heard that noise just now?”, Azah asked

The two insect winners looked at each other confused, “What noise?”, the moth finally asked

Azah stared at the two before shaking her head, “Never mind, thank you.”.

“No problem.”, the butterfly said.

Azah looked around one last time before shaking her head, ‘I must’ve been hearing things.’ “Besides, everyone knows nothing bad can happen in heaven…”, she said quietly.

‘Maybe I’ll go to the zoo after all.’

Chapter Text

Azah woke up on the couch at her house. Or small mansion would be a better description of her living place. Nearly all winners had homes like hers. Three or four stories with way to many rooms for one person. Though maybe they weren’t supposed to be for only one person. Whatever the reason is, most of her rooms stay empty. As she had nothing to put in them.

Blue flames licked up her fur before it burned away, leaving Azah in her dragon form. In this form she was granted grayish purple scale, two inward curving horns, and a single flame-tipped tail. She was considerably taller in this form than her hound form. The tallest of the three was her bird form. This was also the only form that allowed her to drink her coffee in peace.

Which was exactly on the girl’s mind when she got up and made her way over to her kitchen. It didn’t take long for her coffee to be made. With a spash of coconut creamer, and the drink was perfect. She took the drink outside, still in her pj’s and sat on her porch to observe the morning. There was some cherubs flitting about. Picking up trash that some careless winners had thrown about. There was a raccoon cherub, named Ringer, who was making their rounds around to the other mini-mansions dropping off mail. 

“Good morning, Azah!”, Ringer greeted, his little wings working overtime to hold his large mail bag up

“G’morning, Ringer.”, she nodded, “Do you have any mail for me?”, she took a sip of her coffee

“I do actually! I have two packages for you.”, the raccoon said while going through his bag before pulling out two comically large packages

“Two? But I only ordered one thing.”, She took both boxes, a confused look on her face

“Oooo! Maybe you have yourself a secret admirer.”, Ringer teased

“Hmm…”, Using one clawed hand, Azah opened the box she knew that she ordered. A plushie of her favorite character from an anime she was obsessed with when she was alive. The character was an almost one-to-one ratio for the metal masked character she loved. She sat the plushie to the side before picking up the second box.

Azah looked the box over. There wasn’t a return address, was there a name for her mysterious sender. The box itself was kind of light, with no real weight to it. ‘Odd.”, she thought

Opening the box revealed a bouquet of her favorite flowers, zinnia in all kinds of different shades.

“Oh my, oh my! Aren’t those pretty!”, Ringer squealed

“Yes…”, Azah murmured before looking into the box again. Lying at the bottom was a pale yellow envelope. ‘Who went through all of this trouble?’

“What does it say?, Ringer asked eagerly, awaiting the dragon winner to open the card

‘The penmanship is quite good’, Azah thought as she looked over the quite frankly beautiful calligraphy before actually reading the text

Hey Azah~

Sucks that you couldn’t come to my concert last night, it was totally packed with bitches that were begging to get into my pants last night. There was even this one chick that had

Azah stopped reading the card immediately. The fire on her burning hot and bright as she torched the flowers, the card, and even the box that it came in.

“That motherfucker! Who does he think is?”, she snarled Why would anyone want to hear anything about that man’s conquest, “I mean honestly! The ego on him would be big enough to fill all of earth’s ocean! And then some!”

Ringer stuttered, “O-oh. Is from an ex or something?”,

The winner tilted her head, the flame on her tail dying down, “Huh? No, we never dated. Despite his trying.”

“I-I see. Well then, I better be going. This mail isn’t going to deliver it self!”, Ringer said quickly, likely ready to hightail it away from the angry dragon

“Right, well have a nice day.”

“You too.”, and just like that, Ringer was gone

Azah looked down at the mess of ash she made on her porch and sighed. “I should probably clean that.”

Before she went inside to grab a broom, a scream rang out. Breaking the tranquil silence that was typical of Heaven’s early mornings. Just like yesterday, Azah was quick to run towards where she thought the noise was coming from. She ended up at the end of the golden paved road. Without a second thought, she opened her wings and took flight.

Did Azah know where she was going? No, no she did not. But when she was alive, she never hesitated to help people. That didn’t change just because she was dead. Her path led her to a large golden gate. She looked around, trying to see if there was anyone hurt. There was no one. It was completely empty. Or so she thought.

“And what are you doing here?”

Azah whipped around only to be face to face with-“A seraphim…”, her mouth went dry as she gazed up at the much taller woman. Her many eyes boring down at her.

“Yes, child, I am a seraphim. And I believe I asked you a question.”, The angel looked at her as though she was a child that needed to be corrected. Azah did not like that.

She squared her shoulders but made sure to keep her tone polite, “I thought I heard someone yelling for help. I was coming to investigate, Ma’am.”, she tacked on the last word

The angel looked at her skeptically before looking at the gate, lifting one hand as she spoke. “Tell me, child, do you know what’s beyond this gate?”

The dragon winner shook her head, “No ma’am, I can’t say that I do.”

“This gate is our first defense, as beyond it lies hell”, she spat the word out with more venom than Azah thought a being of light would, “Where Lucifer and his ilk reside. It’s also where the damned run havoc.”

“I…see”, as the seraphim spoke, Azah could feel the blood draining from her face, and a pit formed in her stomach. “I didn’t know.”

The seraphim nodded, her many eyes disappearing. Leaving two normal eyes, which softened at the dragon. “I understand. I do not know how you can hear the calls of the damned, but they are not for you to answer.”

Azah nodded solemnly, “I understand.”

“Good. I’ll see about moving your residence somewhere further away. Perhaps distance will keep them from reaching your ears.”, the angel said as though she was bestowing some great gift onto the girl.

Azah just nodded again, not really knowing what else to do.

Chapter Text

Moving to her new residence did not take long. Cherubs had spent the day helping her pack up her belongings and moving her deeper into heaven. And (much to her annoyance) closer to Adam.

“Heya, neighbor~”, Adam grinned down at Azah from his yard, in her hound form, from where she was sitting, and trying to enjoy the early morning quiet.

“Adam.”, she growled in warning, her two tails lashing behind her.

“Ouch! Not even a good morning? I thought that would be the polite thing to do”, he said with mock hurt, leaning against the their shared fence dramatically. 

She looked back down at the tea in her hands and took a sip. “Perhaps if you were anyone else, I'd feel more inclined to be polite.”

“Ouch. You wound me,” he said, pressing a hand dramatically to his chest. “You know, most neighbors bake cookies or something when someone moves in.”

Azah looked up, as though considering, before smiling at Adam, “You know what? You're right! I should bake cookies for everyone except you.”, there was a sharp edge to her smile

That did make Adam falter, “You're not serious, are you?”

“As a heart attack.”, she grinned as she began to go back into her home.

Adam sputtered, “You know I'm just joking with you right?”,  trying to back track

“Whatever you say.”, she was about to close the door when a sudden thought occurred to her. “Say Adam, you’ve been in heaven for a long time. Right?”

The angel’s bravado came back ten-fold, “Babe, I’m The Adam! First Man! I’ve been here since the beginning.”, his golden wings fluffed in pride as he spoke.

“Right. Since you’ve been here so long, then you must know a lot about the place.”, was she laying it on too thick?

Apparently not, because Adam got a smug look on his face, “Of course I do! I know the best venues! The best places to grab some grub! I even know how to get to some of the heavenly courts.”

Azah blinked up at the man, eyes lidded as she spoke, “So you must know a lot about the golden gates then. And who runs it.”

“Pft, of course! That blonde guy. Uh, Saint What’s-his-name. Starts with a P.”

Azah racked her brain to try to remember which saint Adam was talking about. She was not a catholic when she was alive. “Is it Saint Peter?”, she asked finally

Adam snapped his fingers, “Yeah! That’s the guy. Tiny fucker that likes to sing.”

“Uh-huh…and he runs the gate by himself?”, she asked

“Yeah, but there ain’t much he actually does. Besides looking through a book of names.”

“I see, well in that case, I’ll talk to you later.”, Azah said as she started towards her door

“H-hey wait!”

“By Adam.”, She waggled her fingers at the man before closing the door behind her.

The man continued to sputter behind the closed door before saying some choice words and leaving. Assumedly into his own home. Azah leaned against the heavy wooden door. The inside of her home was dark, the only light coming from the duo flames of her tails. All around her, boxes lay strewn about. Some still had things inside, while others were empty.

‘How lucky I am to be here, instead of down there. Still, I can’t help but feel bad.’, the woman thought, guilt once again pooling in her gut. It made her feel nauseous.

The hound suddenly shook her head,“What am I doing? Why should I care?”, Azah growled, “They had their chance, didn’t they?”

The angel walked to the kitchen, where the smell of tea wafted over to her. On the counter lay her teaset from earlier. The pot held still-warm tea. She poured herself another cup, hoping the warmth would help take her mind off of the dark thoughts plaguing her mind. And it did help. The warmth spread through her body, thoroughly eradicating her nausea. 

“Thank the heaven’s for tea I suppose.”, she huffed a little laugh

Azah ended up spending the rest of the day inside, putting away the rest of her belongings. Just as the case at her last place, her things took up very little space. In fact they took up even less space seeing as this place was bigger. Way bigger. By the time nighttime rolled around, she was exhausted and ready for bed.

Curled tightly into a ball, Azah lay in her large bed. Full of pillows, plushies, and fluffy blankets. She was on the cusp of sleep, eyes heavy when another scream had her bolting up straight. A cold sweat broke out against her skin, making the fur stick to her. The hound flopped back down in her bed, squeezing the pillow over head. “Please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, tears pooled in her eyes.

Chapter Text

Azah got very little sleep her first night in her new home. And the subsequent nights after. The screams and her guilt keeping her up for most of the night. The crazy thing is, is that she doesn’t even need sleep. No angel does. And yet, when dawn came, she felt heavy. Her wings drooped, her tails dragged behind her, and her eyes burned with the exhaustion that shouldn’t have existed.

The other netizens of heaven had begun to notice to the point that one of the cherubs asked Azah if she wanted a meeting with a seraphim. The winner did not. That was the last thing she wanted, actually. She shuddered to think about what the seraphim would do.

It was going onto day eight with no sleep when Azah finally made it to the end of the rope. With heavy bags under her eyes, the winner stalked her way over to the pearly gates. Her claws clacked against the golden roads while she carefully avoided all angels, both winner and heaven-born.

By the time she made it to the gates, her vision was swimming. She arrived to the gates with little fanfare. Scanning the area, Azah found that instead of a seraphim there was a different angel. This one was shorter than her by a few feet, with blond hair. He stood on the otherside of the closed gates, a podium with a large book in front of him.

‘That must be Saint Peter.’, Azah thought before clearing her throat a pinning on her best smile. Careful not to show to much teeth, less it be seen as a threat.

“Good morning!”, she called to the angel

Saint Peter jumped, as though not expecting to hear another voice, “Oh hello! I didn’t see you there!”

“Hehe, yeah…I can be pretty sneaky at times.”, She said bashfully, her tail curled around her in embarrassment before shaking her head.

“Right. And how can I help you? I don’t usually see winners so close to the gate.”, Saint Peter asked, looking at the hound in confusion

Shit, shit, shit! Azah did not think this far ahead. She didn’t even know why she decided to come here. ‘Think, Azah! Think!’, she shouted mentally before a thought came to her.

“One of the seraphim!”, she shouted

Saint Peter tilted his head as though looking at the girl at a different angle would help him understand, “One of the seraphim?”, he echoed

Azah nodded, a tad too enthusiastically, “Yeah! One of the seraphim, tall with blue skin, asked me to get you.”, she started naming the features of the only seraphim she’s seen.

Saint Peter blinked once, “Sera asked for me?”

Azah nodded, “Yup, and she said she needed you urgently.”

That seemed to put some pep in his step as he opened his blue and yellow wings and vaulted over the gates.

Azah stared as he flew away towards the center of heaven, where the higher heaven-born angels reside. She looked back at the gate.

‘It seriously can’t be as easy as flying over, can it?’, she thought as she readied her wings. Their maroon color a stark contrast to the blues and golds of heaven. With one strong flap, Azah was on the otherside of the gates.

“That seems like a security hazard.”, she muttered. Azah walked forward, nothing seemed all the different on the otherside of the gate. The skies were still blue, and the clouds seemed to go on forever. Until they didn’t.

“Is this the it, is this the edge of heaven?”

Ahead of her, the skies were still blue, but there was no more clouds. Carefully, Azah made her way to the edge, peeking over the clouds to see what lay below.

Red. Everything was red of varying shades. With spots of gold and blue in some of the taller buildings. It was nothing yet exactly like what she had been imagining the last few days. There was no eternal fire but Azah could swear that she could hear the rapid fire of bullets flying and the explosion of bombs.

“Is that what hell is?”, she murmured as she leaned further over the edge, “An eternal war zone?”

That was the last conscious thought she had before she lost he balance. At first she tried flapping her wings. Wild and uncoordinated, but it was to no avail. It was as though something was pulling her to the ground. Tears sprung in her eyes as she looked upon what was once her home before she hit the ground with the force of a meteor and her vision went dark.