A petite peach haired woman sat atop a velvet, cream and soft gold colored chaise lounge, her legs laid on the plush cushion as one hand held her head propped up, the other holding a novel as she read. Various birds sat and flew around her, a tiny costa's hummingbird lying asleep on her hip, and another small plump horned lark sat atop her head, singing a high-pitched song.

The woman quietly hummed along, but both were abruptly cut off as the glass doors to her sanctuary were opened. She looked up, lowering her novel from view, still slightly ajar with her thumb keeping her place. The small hummingbird on her hip awakened, quietly squawking before fluttering its wings, flying away.

A seraphim stood at the doors. Jehoel, the woman was positive. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, not expecting such a visitor. She elegantly rose to her feet, her bare toes curling at the contact of the cold, tiled white floor. Standing, she lightly patted off anything on her gown, before looking up to the fine seraphim, giving him a polite smile. He respectfully nodded at her, taking a small, quick glance around her aviary before looking back down at her.

"The Lord has summoned you."

***

The sky seemed endless. Pitch black with the slight gradient of a dark, maroon red, completely void of any stars, clouds, sun or moon. An endless nothing. Tall buildings littered the skyline, some almost modern, some more victorian. They were cleaned pristine, even from miles away you could see how they shined. Intimidating, showing off their clear presence.

Hale stood at the edge of his own building, where Stolas resides, his hands shoved in his trousers' pockets. The road he was on could hardly be called a road, rather an old cracking pavement with various old stains that could be anything from the blood of an undead to black soot of a killed demon. Hale breathed in, the familiar mixture of burning charcoal and meat, and the smell of blood- metallic, touching all his senses. The smell never changed. Sometimes the smell of metallic would overpower the others, sometimes it'd be the charcoal or flesh. A revolting smell, Hale could remember the first time the sense ever touched his nose. He nearly puked, his eyes watering. He's unsure when the smell became normal.

For a moment, Hale pondered on what hell used to be. When Lucifer was casted down, hell was made prepared for him by the Lord himself. 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'. Hell clearly used to be something. Hale frowned, not sure how to process the possibility of the Lord himself throwing away one of his creations to be used to contain and torture even more of his personal creations.

Hale shook his head, not letting the thought stay for too long. He took a long look around him, taking note that he was the only demon in sight. The road might very well exist, but it was hardly used. The destroyed ground stretched on farther than what Hale could see, completely void of any other silhouette. Demons did not need to walk, yet it was a small joy that Hale had. He took one last lingering inhale, before breathing it back out, physically seeing it blown out around him. Hale turned on his heel, away from the direction he was facing, and began walking towards where the buildings slowly got smaller, less frequent.

He didn't know how long he walked till he finally starting seeing a slow gradient change. The sky slowly becoming more red, the dead green grass becoming less and less, instead turning into dark orange piles of sand. All the buildings were gone, now, only faint outlines of them in the sky behind Hale. Instead, much smaller buildings, perhaps like homes, took their place. They were mostly destroyed, bricks lying about them, rare that any glass or doors remained but even more rare that a building was intact enough to a second floor. Hale's vision was faintly impaired, as a slight wind carried the sand along with it, but he couldn't miss the random bouts of fire in various places. He squinted his eyes, attempting to get a slightly better look of the rising fire in the distance. It wasn't very big, for hell's standard, at least, but Hale could feel the warmth of the fire even from how far away he was. He walked past other, smaller bouts of fire, but completely ignored them. Instead, Hale focused on trying to spot another person. The area he was in was meant for normal, lowlife demons who didn't belong to legions or apart of the hierarchy like Hale was. Yet he hadn't seen a single demon.

He walked even farther, the bouts of fire becoming more frequent, when he finally noticed the first group of demons. They noticed Hale rather quickly, half of them cowering away in fear, the other half standing up from their crouched position in an attempt to assert themselves, sneering at Hale. He stopped walking when he got close enough to them, looking at them all, his face stoic and expressionless. He silently sized them all up, his face finally falling into a bored one, his eyes drooping as he found no interest in the group. Hale turned away, walking away without a word as he heard them growl at him, offended, if Hale were to guess.

He past countless other groups and strays, their reactions all the same as the first ones he encountered. Some spoke to him, but Hale didn't pick up on any of it. He tuned them all out, not wanting to pay them any mind. They were likely all insults and threats anyway; meaningless. They're quite boring today, Hale thought. Most simply speaking to each other or wandering, nothing quite up to the demon standard. Hale wasn't quite living up to the demon standard himself, so he couldn't be terribly disappointed- still, he wished for something exciting. Something that broke his normal routine, even by a margin.

As he walked farther, another gradient began. The sky slowly started changing from a maroon red to a blood one, the sand turning from a dark orange to a deep black, as if charred. The buildings started getting less and less, slowly turning into simple piles of bricks than a structure. Piles of bones began appearing, flames becoming common. The black sand was littered with spurts of dark reds, blood, and scattered pieces of flesh slung about. Dead bodies half buried within the sand, some recent, some far into decomposition.

Other beings finally started becoming frequent. Demons with lust, craze filled eyes as some stalked about slowly, others running around wildly. Humans - the undead - ran away from them terrified, and Hale managed to notice some of the more intelligent ones, hidden away within the sand, or behind the rare pile of bricks.

He slowed his pace, taking in all the different events happening around him. Running, screaming humans who might have a chance, more screaming humans instead being slaughtered, and then the rare sobbing human who accepted their fate. None of them noticed Hale's presence, too caught up in their own hell within hell to notice someone was out of place. Demons and humans ran past him, and when the occasional undead ran into Hale, he would snap his fingers, watching in slight amusement and no remorse as they suddenly tripped over nothing, scrambling to escape the demons behind them catch up to them.

A bit more punishment never hurt. Hale chuckled at himself, knowing very well his thought was wrong, yet it was for that reason, amusing. He finally decided that enough was enough and fastened his pace, leaving them to squander.

Unfortunately, his walking was quickly brought to a halt. Hale had forcibly been stopped, a small, frail looking middle aged woman came running from the distance screaming, coming up to Hale and clutching at his arms. He raised an eyebrow, just barely making out the words 'help me!' from her. He took in her decomposing being as she screamed and yelled in his face, attempting to shake him, clearly expecting a reaction or response. She only had one eye, and it was red as if infected. The hollowness of her other eye had blood dripping out of it, bits of black charred hair disheveled everywhere and going inside her socket. Her lips were stained red, cracked open and dry, and she was missing an entire cheek, being able to see inside to her mouth and to her very few rotting teeth left. The fingers curled around Hale's biceps were long and stick-like, most missing their nails, exposing black, rotting skin in its stead. It seemed almost lucky she wasn't missing a whole finger. She suddenly pressed herself into Hale, cutting his examination short. Her face was a few inches from his now, still shouting and shaking him. He let out a large exhale, the woman's screams coming to a halt as his breath touched her face. She staggered back, falling on her behind, as if his very breath held the force to knock her back - which it did. He took a step closer, so he was standing at her tore up feet, looking down on her, his small bout of curiosity gone. She looked up at him, eye wide and terrified, but before either could do anything, a voice suddenly shrilled in the distance.

"I found you~!"

A demon with an insane grin on his face while gripping a chunk of flesh in his hand came running towards the two, his green eyes trained on the woman who began screaming again at the sight of him, his eyes suddenly transitioning entirely into black. He paid no mind to the demon already there at her feet, instead only dropping his piece of meat and swooping down to catch the woman who tried to scramble away, pinning her thrashing body to the ground, beginning to convulse in a ear-ripping laugh that easily drowned out her horrifying shrills and sobs.

Hale looked away, every last bit of interest lost, sneering at the vile sight. One's first instinct might've been to help, but here, that wasn't acceptable. Instead, he began walking away, forcing his attention to anything else, leaving the woman to her despair.

If she hadn't wanted such a fate, she shouldn't have gotten herself in Hell.

***

Hale finally reached the 'end'. The end being a literal endless, black void that wraps around the entirety of hell. If you wander far enough, you might be so unlucky to come across Cerberus, hell's gatekeeper. Hale didn't go far into the void, not wanting to walk into that horrendous mutt. Instead, he stood, soaking in the deep nothingness around him. His eyes closed, inhaling a sharp breath. The air here was slightly more clear, a bit less suffocating. A bit less hellish.

The moment of peaceful solitude quickly ended, annoyance swiftly bubbling up inside Hale. He felt the air shift behind him, his eyes cracking open, looking behind his shoulder. A demon slowly solidified from puffs of black smoke, waiting a few moments for all the smoke to dissipate before stepping towards Hale. He nodded his head respectfully, Hale turning towards him entirely, recognizing the demon's face as one of Stolas' lackeys, but not bothering to remember his name.

"Stolas demands your return, sir." The lackey informed Hale, who sighed in response. He rubbed his eye tiredly, the thought of going back so soon a disappointment. He waved the lackey off, nodding in acceptance, watching as he slowly dispersed into smoke. Hale stood where he was for a few moments longer, taking in a last 'fresh' breath, before slowly dispersing into black smoke himself.

***

For the next few hours, Hale was dreadfully bored. Upon his return, Stolas put him back to work, doing all sorts of errands that he deemed too unimportant to do himself. Hale had no choice but to be compliant, dealing with his tasks as lazily as he could, dragging them out as long as possible just to irritate Stolas with how long he took.

Most would never dare to do such a thing, fearful of punishment or being eradicated, but Hale had worked under Stolas for far too long to know he wouldn't do that, as Hale's the most competent Second he's ever had. Not to mention he and Stolas are much more alike than any other demon - as well as the fact Hale has an ability that is almost unheard of among normal demons. He was an asset, an extremely valuable one at that.

Too soon for Hale's liking, he had finished nearly all his tasks. There was only one left - Stolas had requested for Hale to see Barbas, a great president of hell, to ask upon him a favor.

Hale slowly appeared inside of Barbas' living quarters, feeling his limbs steadily reconnecting with him as the smoke around him solidified. He took a quick look around, noting how everything was a mess. Books, papers, various weapons and broken mirrors were sprawled about everywhere, mud tarnishing the floor, walls, chairs and tables.

Hale carefully stepped around it all, leaving the destroyed room he was in and into a hallway, none of it bringing him alarm. Barbas could've been slaughtered, and as far as Hale is concerned, as long as he wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time, he couldn't care less. Large paintings, mirrors, and plants were all intact here, the mirrors looking recently polished, plants recently watered, but the floor had very noticeable large, muddy paw prints all over it, going away from the trashed room Hale was just in. He decided to follow the prints, it leading him down a set a stairs and into a large, entirely empty ballroom-esque room. The paws led to the middle of the room, where sat a large lion, it's body and mane stiff with drying mud.

"Barbas." Hale passively spoke up, walking forward as the large lion suddenly turned around. Barbas looked at Hale, and roared, standing up. "Hale, is that you?" The lion began to speak, tilting his head. Hale sighed, thinning his lips in annoyance as he crossed his arms.

"For the love of Satan, Barbas, regain your body." Hale asked of him in dismay, the lion exclaiming a  'hmph' before his body slowly started to disassemble itself; his lion beginning to shape and transform into parts of a human, starting to reassemble before he finally stood naked, still completely filthy and covered in mud but now with a human body. Hale looked at him in disgust, shaking his head.

"Does this satisfy you?" Barbas sarcastically spoke, holding out his arms, letting his body be on full view. He dropped his arms, shaking his head, his full curly hair bouncing about as pieces of dirt flew everywhere. Hale's mouth twisted into a deep frown, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose in agitation. After a few moments, he let out a large exhale as he opened his eyes, glad to see that Barbas had retrieved a robe somewhere and was finally covering himself. Hale decided to walk closer as Barbas finished tying the robe around him, half crossing his arms, a hand brushing through his thick beard. He raised an eyebrow at Hale, looking up only slightly to meet his eye as he was a few inches shorter.

"Thank you." Hale sighed, stopping a few steps away from the notably still muddy man, who started to wipe away some of the mud stains on his face before speaking, "What brings you here, Hale?"

"Stolas asked for me to retrieve you, regarding a favor."

"And that is?"

Hale began to fish out something from within his coat, Barbas tapping his foot impatiently until Hale drew out an enclosed letter. He started handing it over, but snatched it away at the last moment after noticing there was still dirt on the man's fingers. He narrowed his eyes at his hands, frowning again, Barbas groaning in rising annoyance and impatience as he carelessly wiped his hand against his robe. He muttered something under his breath, but Hale didn't care to catch it. He finally handed over the letter this time, Barbas hastily snatching it away, opening it.

"He requests your assistance on retrieving some answers." He drawled out as Barbas took the letter out and began reading it. He let out a throaty hum, brushing his beard in thought as his eyes scanned the letter.

Hale had no idea what was written there. It clearly was more in depth of what was requested of Barbas, but it didn't bother him not knowing what it told. He probably should have been bothered though, as it was intel that might've been useful. But for all he knew, Stolas could be asking for insight on what the new demon lotto numbers are - nothing of great importance to report.

Barbas nodded his head, folding the paper and slipping it in his robe pocket.

"Alright. Tell that damned demon bird that I'll help - as long as I get something in return."

***

"The Lord? Pardon?" The woman recoiled slightly, sure that the seraphim must has mistaken his words. He nodded his head in confirmation at her, stepping towards the exit and opening the door, holding it in place and looking back at the woman expectantly.

"He requested for you immediately. I hear he has task for you." He held out his arm, ushering her forward and towards the hallway. She blinked a few times, still having difficulty processing the unusual news before setting down her novel she still clutched, then waving her hand in the air  watching as all her birds followed her command, sitting down. She turned back towards Jehoel, nodding her head politely and smiling in thanks as she passed him out the door. He gently eased the door shut behind her, before taking the lead.

"This way, miss Anpiel."

***

WOW HI IT TOOK ME LIKE TEN MONTHS TO RWITE THIS AND EVEN IF IM FINISHED (7/11/18) ITLL PROBABLY BE ANOTHER SEVEN MONTHS BEFORE ITS PROOFREAD AND READY LOL

uhh i think ihad notes for this chapter for context but i dont remember them

well i remember one barbas can also be called marbas but marbas sounds dumb so i went with barbas and hes actually a lion lol i didnt do that for no reason hes deadass a lion that can turn human upon request ITS FOOKIN LORE YALL ITS ACCURATE

oh yea the random lady scene it was originally a lot worse like there was context for the flesh that the demon was holding it came Off Her but since i removed the really gore parts theres no context for the flesh hes holdin whoops? shemayhaveonlyhadonetitty

one last thing: the "i found you~!" is uspposed to intentionally cringey k thx

anyway im tiredt bye