Maybe in another sixty years.

Only God knows…

"Feels like just yesterday you and I sat here," Michael continued, "watching the first human take their first breath."

"It practically was just yesterday," Luce responded, turning away as Michael took a few steps forward, pausing at his side.

Michael nodded, looking straight ahead at the image projected, the same image that had been playing in this spot for decades. Serah lay in a bed, just as she had last time Lucifer saw her in the flesh, only much older now.

"It won't be long," Michael said.

Lucifer whispered, "I know."

Her heart had beat almost two billion times since he'd left her. He'd counted every single one. And he knew she had only a hundred left before it wouldn't beat anymore.

Ninety-nine…

Ninety-eight…

Ninety-seven…

"You shouldn't be worried," Michael said. "What's mean to be—"

"Will be," Lucifer grumbled. "To everything there is a season, blah blah fucking blah, the wheel in the sky keeps on turning. You're wasting your breath, brother. I've heard it all before."

Instead of being annoyed, Michael smiled. The sight of it made Lucifer roll his eyes. He wanted to knock that grin right off of his holier than thou face.

Seventy-four…

Seventy-three…

Seventy-two…

"It's the truth," Michael said.

"It's bullshit," Lucifer countered, motioning with his head in the general direction of the throne room. "He knows what will happen, but the rest of us are in the dark."

"I don't think He knows."

"Again," Lucifer said, "Bullshit."

"I'm serious," Michael said. "Heaven is an idea. He doesn't create it. They create it. They spend eternity wherever they're happiest, wherever their souls are at ease. She was once like us, brother, but she has free will now. She will go where her soul chooses to be."

Forty-six…

Forty-five…

Forty-four…

Lucifer stared at the image, watching as her heartbeat slowed, growing weaker, inconsistent. He knew she wouldn't feel it when the end came. She'd go peacefully in her sleep. She never married, never had children, but she found a family in her friends. She became a teacher, led Sunday School at a local church, and volunteered her time to help others. She was the definition of pure, her soul untainted and marked straight for Heaven.

But he had no idea where she'd go once she got here.

No idea who she'd be, or what she would see.

No idea if she would even remember him.

Twenty…

Nineteen…

Eighteen…

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things," Michael said. "Love never ends."

Lucifer normally mocked his brother for quoting scripture, but he didn't have it in him at the moment. He found solace in those words, even if he wasn't sure what to make of them. "Do you think she loves me? I know I love her, but…"

But she'd never said it to him.

Had he done anything to really deserve her love?

He didn't think so.

"I suppose we'll find out," Michael said, once more giving him a smile before disappearing.

Lucifer stared at the image of her once he was alone before closing his eyes, focusing solely on the sound of her heart.

Three…

Two…

One…

The silence that met him then was deafening. His chest tightened. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, feeling for her essence around him. He sensed it appearing, not far away, and channeled himself to that space.

To her Heaven.

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

A playground.

He knew the place. He'd been there before a few times, and he'd watched Serah go there nearly every day over the years. Chorizon Elementary School. All was quiet, only a soft breeze wafting through the playground. After a moment a squeak echoed through the air, the grinding of a rusty metal chain. Lucifer turned toward the swing set and froze when he saw her. She was so much younger than she'd been in recent years, utterly beautiful, wearing a peach dress, her long brown hair cascading around her shoulders. Bare feet drug the ground as she swung back and forth slightly, toes digging into the dirt. Her left hand clutched the chain, while in her right she held a familiar plant stalk.

Spider flower.

"You were right." Her voice was soft as she spoke, glancing away from the plant, looking toward him. "These flowers really do stink."

The pressure in Lucifer's chest lessened.

After a moment, she held it out, silently offering it to him.

He shook his head. "I can't smell anymore."

"I figured," she said. "That means there's nobody more perfect than you to give it to."

Lucifer laughed lightly, stepping toward her, carefully taking the flower from her hand. He stared down at it for a moment before meeting her eyes again. Neither said anything. Lucifer wasn't sure what to say. He'd survived six thousand years in Hell, but the past sixty without her were the most torturous of his existence.

"I didn't think…" he started. "I didn't expect…"

"Didn't expect what?"

"You to remember me," he admitted. "I did you wrong, Serah. I stole everything from you. I hurt you. I thought I'd show up here, and you wouldn't see me, because I wouldn't exist in your eternity… that Heaven, to you, would be somewhere I couldn't be."