Nicole drifted on a blackened ocean, scrambling to keep her head above the surface amidst the choppy waves and ceaseless tide. Sin called her to like a siren, trying to pull her under, drowning her in the blackened waters of her own weakness and guilt and shame. She’d almost killed someone, and the pain of that weakness throbbed in her chest like a stab wound. The hand of sin reached into the wound and tried to drag her below the water, digging and tearing at her insides even as she swam forward.

Nicole’s demon went ahead of her, a perfect copy but for the all-black uniform she wore in place of Nicole’s pink. They’d both lost their hats several nautical miles back, leaving their identical collar-length blonde heads of hair exposed to the elements. The demon led the way through the watery abyss that was the Floodwater, the leftover water from the Great Flood that had washed the earth of its sinners. Not for the first time, Nicole wondered if the entire world had deserved that, and she hoped that God had taken care to preserve each and every soul lost beneath the malevolent purging tides. 

Her demon walked the surface of the water itself, and Nicole tried not to wince at that blasphemous detail as she tore through the water and swam after her. This was not her world- things were different here. The rules were different. 

And yet some things were utterly the same. 

“Hey, c’mon, blondie, let’s get a move on,” her demon said, not looking back, her tone flat enough to use as a measure. 

“Swimming as fast as I can,” Nicole grumbled, spitting out a mouthful of the filthy, putrid water. 

“Well swim faster- that thing will catch up to us soon!” her demon said, fear tracing the edges of her sharp words. 

As if on cue, green spines penetrated the surface of the water behind Nicole, and she felt something massive and otherworldly stalking her, nearing her, reaching its terrible claws and fangs towards her, extending its jaw-

Her demon pivoted in a blurry-fast motion, ran towards her, past her. Nicole whipped her head back to find her demon punching Leviathan in the face. Specifically the eye, a left-hook wreathed in obsidian flames of Hellfire; the massive reptilian monstrosity slunk back beneath the surface to heal wounds. 

“Thank you!” Nicole said with a smile. 

Her demon walked past her, hands folded behind her back, not looking at her. “Whatever. Let’s just keep moving. That only bought us another five minutes.”

“Remind me again why I shouldn’t use my powers on it?” Nicole said, concentrating on her breath-stroke. 

“Remember that dragon you were fighting back on earth?” her demon asked. 

“Yeah,” Nicole said. 

“Remember what happened when it was exposed to White Holy Light?” 

Nicole remembered- ice and frost covered the scaly surface of the dragon’s hyde as she stood atop it channeling her power, and she’d frozen the poor beast to death in order to get a clean shot at its rider. Adding that kind of cold, especially a sudden explosion of it, to the already-frigid Floodwaters was liable to send her into shock, if not outright kill her. Best to err on the side of caution. 

“So Leviathan is just a dragon, then?” Nicole asked. 

“A sea dragon, yeah,” her demon said. “The Book of Revelations- have you read it?”

“It’s the Beast From the Sea, gotcha,” Nicole said. “I don’t quite understand, though- it’s of Hell, so shouldn’t Holy Light burn it?”

“It’s not of Hell,” the Demon said, turning around and glaring at her. “It’s from… Nowhere, really. The Beast From the Sea and the Great Red Dragon were created before Hell even existed- that’s the whole reason God created Hell in the first place. He needed a cage for them, so they wouldn’t harm His other creations- angels, humans, etc.”

“Demons,” Nicole added. 

The demon rolled her eyes. “Sure, if you want. Look, the short version is that dragons aren’t demonic- they’re Primordial. They exist outside of Good and Evil. They just… Are.”

“Okay, fair enough- but what’s Leviathan doing here, then? Isn’t it supposed to be in Hell, with the Great Red Dragon?”

“The border between Hell and Floodwater is… Thin, in places,” her demon said, turning back around and resuming the walk into the endless darkness. 

But finally, something appeared on the horizon- a raft, or perhaps a seadock- a wooden platform floating atop the water. Her demon got atop it, and Nicole grabbed the side, pulling herself up onto it with heavy, aching arms and collapsing on it. She laid on her back and breathed in deeply through her nose and out her mouth, her body resonating with heavy pain and exhaustion. 

“We’ll be safe here for the time being,” her demon said, sitting down and bunching her legs together, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. It really was astonishing just how many of Nicole’s mannerisms the demon had. Cursing notwithstanding, of course. 

“Are you sure?” Nicole asked. 

“Yeah, this raft is near the entrance to Hell- Leviathan doesn’t like coming near it. The stink of sulfur doesn’t agree with it- plus, I think it’s just happier here. No confined spaces, no dumbass angels or demons telling it what to do.”

Nicole nodded, even as the pit of dread in her stomach grew larger and wider. They were only however many feet from Hell, from the screams of the fallen and the searing heat of the Infernal Engine, the burning shores of the Lake of Fire and the chains of sin that held down souls. It scared her, being so close to the Inferno, shook her to her core. And yet, at the same time… 

“Do you get homesick?” Nicole asked. 

“What do you mean?”

“Do you miss Hell?” Nicole said. “That’s where you were born, right? Do you miss it?”

Her demon blinked, then unbunched her legs and sat with her knees folded under her instead, brushing the hair out of her face and smoothing the hem of her dress. It took Nicole a second to realize she herself was in the process of doing the exact same thing at the exact same time. “Yes,” her demon said, “I was born in Hell, to Lilith, ArchDevil of Envy. All of the Legion is part of her Brood.”

“So she’s your mother,” Nicole said. 

“If that helps.”

“It does,” Nicole said. “Who’s your father, then?”

“I… I’m not sure,” her demon said, a confused crease sprouting across her forehead. “I don’t know that I technically have one. Lilith made a deal with Lucifer to bear a Brood of demons, but he never claimed to be my father or anyone’s father, except Azazel’s, and she doesn’t have a mother. Same is true for all of the ArchDevil’s and their spawn, other than Astaroth.”

“You and your mother,” Nicole asked, “Were you close?”

Her demon glared. “Why are you asking me that?”

“It’s an honest question,” Nicole said. 

“That’s not an honest answer,” her demon snarled. “Why do you care-”

“Because I care about you,” Nicole said. 

Her demon spat, the impact landing on Nicole’s face in a wet bit of disgust. She wiped it off her visage while her demon said, “That’s none of your fucking business-”

“Yeah, clearly you’ve some unresolved issues about the whole thing,” Nicole said, rolling her eyes. She didn’t know what she expected, but she hadn’t expected this reaction, of all things. The only real basis she had was Cyrus and Aidan, but she hadn’t been prepared for a reaction so vicious or defensive to that kind of question. 

“Fuck you, no I don’t!” her demon said. 

“Oh yeah, I believe you,” Nicole said, the sarcasm dripping of her words. 

“What the hell does that mean?!”

“Clearly you’re very functional, reacting like that.”

“I’m a demon, it’s what I am.”

“Hogwash.”

“Excuse me?” the demon glared. 

“If that’s who you are, then why are you helping me?” Nicole asked. “If you’re pure evil, if you’re just a demon, why not just let me die? There’s a perfectly good Leviathan to feed me to right there!”

“Because that’s the only way I can prevent myself from going back out there!” her demon said. “I don’t know what will happen if you die, but I doubt it means anything good for me! Especially since you almost gave into sin out there!”

Nicole blanched, swallowed a gulp, and winced. “Yeah. That’s fair.”

“What? No it’s not,” her demon said. 

“Yeah, it is,” Nicole said, shame and disgust and self-loathing piercing her soul, thorns on the stem of a rose tight within her grasp. “I almost murdered someone! I was INCHES away from breaking a Commandment. And I wasn’t even hesitating- I was… I was… Oh, gosh. Oh, Blue Blazes, I can’t believe I almost did that. I was gonna… I was gonna…”

Her breath got away from her, and she hyperventilated in desperate pleas for air. Anything to keep her alive long enough to make up for what she’d been about to do. 

“Oh please, he was just a demon,” her demon said. 

Nicole balked. “Just a- are you insane! We’re talking about a living, breathing, sentient creature here! ‘Just a demon’ my eye- he’s one of God’s children, same as you and I!”

“He was about to kill you. And your sister. And your lover.”

“And?” Nicole said. 

“And again, just a demon. It doesn’t count.”

“You realize Amy is half-demon, right?” Nicole said. 

“Yeah. No accounting for taste, I guess.”

Nicole’s brow creased and her eyes narrowed and her fists bunched up. “You realize you’re a demon, yeah?”

“Gee, I had no idea, thanks for telling me,” her demon monotoned. 

Nicole cocked her head to the left, and her frustration shattered as a vein of sorrow and pity was mined within her core and unearthed. “So, wait, lemme just make sure I understand this: you really don’t think of yourself as a person at all?”

“Of course not!” 

Nicole’s words caught in her throat, and tears dribbled down her face. She went over and wrapped her arms around her demon. Her demon adopted an expression of abject terror as she tried to wriggle free. “Get off of me!” her demon exclaimed. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Nicole said, exhaling but not letting go of her squirming duplicate. “You just look like you need a hug. I should have asked first.”

“I-I-I,” her demon stammered. “Just please get off of me.”

“Okay,” Nicole said, shimmying away. This demon… This girl was all out of sorts. She was probably out of her mind with loneliness and confusion. Maybe… Maybe she just needed a friend. And Mom had always said that when making new friends, it was best to try to meet people on their terms when you were first getting to know them. 

“That, you,” her demon said, running her hands through her hair. “I-I-I…”

“Are you okay?”

“No!” her demon said. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I- I didn’t want you to stop hugging me!”

“But you said to get off of you,” Nicole said. 

“I know I did! But your stupid emotions are echoing in my head- a head I’m not supposed to have- and making me want HUGS! UGH! Disgusting!”

“Why?”

“I- they just are!”

“Why?”

“Because!”

“Flawless logic,” Nicole said, raising an eyebrow. Mom had also said to meet people on their own terms within reason- if they were genuinely unreasonable, it was best to try to get them to come to you. “Truly.”

“Shut up! This is all your fault for expelling me, anyway! You couldn’t have just let your slut girlfriend exorcize you the normal way! You just had to be special!”

Nicole flicked her demon on the ear. 

“OW!” her demon said. “What the fuck!?”

“Language,” Nicole said with a wave of her finger. “Also, you don’t get to talk about the woman I love that way.”

“Woman you love- unbelievable. She’s a mongrel demon, for fuck’s sake! A succubus! That’s the worst kind there is!”

Nicole flicked her demon’s ear again. “No, she’s a person. Same as you.”

“Stop! Saying! That!”

“No,” Nicole said. “I won’t. That’s my conviction. Demons are people too. That’s why I feel so guilty about almost killing that one just now. And if I’m wrong, what am I doing here? If what I was about to do wasn’t a sin, why did it make you more solid?”

Her demon blinked one long, sustained blink for approximately ten seconds, then opened her eyes and blinked rapidly and continually. “Um… That…”

“And more importantly: what would your mother say, to hear you talking about yourself like this?” Nicole asked. “How would she feel about you talking bad about yourself like that?”

“...”

“Well? I’m waiting,” Nicole said.   

“... Lilith would say I shouldn’t devalue myself like that,” her demon said. 

“Hah!” Nicole said, poking her demon’s cheek. 

“STAHP!” her demon said, swatting Nicole’s hand away. “You don’t understand- Lilith would also be upset with me because I’m not one with the Legion anymore!”

“You’re not?” Nicole said. 

“No,” her demon said. “We don’t have faces. We don’t have names or bodies or individual identities. We’re formless whisps of smoke for Azrael’s sake! It’s how we can move around this place so easily. I can’t go beneath the Floodwater anymore. I’m stuck up here, alone! Like this. And it’s awful!”

“Why?” Nicole said. “I mean, the being alone part I get. But isn’t there anything about who you are now that you like?”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Because I keep thinking about how much I… How much I…”

“How much you…?”

“How much I want to get my hair done!” her demon sobbed. “How much I want to go shopping for cute dresses and paint my nails and do my makeup! I wanna go to the spa and get pampered for a full day! I wanna get BANGS for crying out loud! There’s got to be something wrong with me!”

And Nicole threw her head back and laughed. 

“What?” her demon said. “Why are you laughing at me?!”

“I’m not laughing at you,” Nicole said. “I’m laughing with you- there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just a girl!”

“Fuck you, no I’m not!”

“Okay fine, you’re not a girl, but you are girly,” Nicole shrugged. 

“But I don’t wanna be girly!”

“But your instincts want you to be girly.”

“But I only have those instincts because of your influence.”

“Yeah, because you possessed me,” Nicole said. “And who’s fault is that?”

“That… I was following orders!”

“Why?”

“Because Winona promised she would get us all home and make it safe for us there,” her demon said. “Guess that isn’t happening though.”

“Guess not,” Nicole said. 

“Which is YOUR FAULT!” her demon jumped to her feet and screamed. “All of this is your fault-”

Nicole stood up and hugged her again. “I understand how you feel.”

“UGH!” her demon said, stomping her foot. 

Nicole relinquished her grip. “So, where does this leave us?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Nicole started pacing along the edges of the narrow raft, eyes taking in the sight of the Floodwater vibrating. “Leviathan is nearby.”

“Makes sense,” her demon said. 

“Lemme just ask you something,” Nicole said, “And I need you to answer honestly- what is it that you want? If you could have anything, right now, what would it be? Just put aside anything else that anyone else wants, and look for your truth.”

Her demon said down again, then laid back and sprawled out on the shaking wooden surface. “Honestly? I just wanna go back to being who I was before.”

“Nope,” Nicole said. 

“Whaddya mean nope?! You said-”

“That’s just not possible,” Nicole said. “And you know it. We can try to make it so you don’t change anymore, but the hard truth is that you and I are connected now. Neither of us can go back to being who we were before. Nobody can. Knowing that, what do you want?”

“I just… I just want my family back,” her demon said, curling up into the fetal position. “I wanna feel comfortable as myself again. I hate this form, but I can’t go back to being formless, so I guess I wanna get to a place where I hate it less. Does that make sense?”

Nicole looked at the demon, at her demon, who had tried to destroy her and bring about pain and destruction on her city, and could only find pity in her heart. “It makes perfect sense.”

“So what do you want?”

Nicole laid down on her back and looked up at the empty sky. “I want to go home.”

“And what about Moloch?”

“Is that the demon who I almost killed?”

“Yeah,” her demon asked. “What are you gonna do if you face him again? What about Astaroth, and all of her goons?”

“I guess,” Nicole said, a ten-ton weight of dread settling on her chest, “I’ll do what I have to?”

“What if that means killing him? Or her? Or any of them? Or all of them?”

Nicole felt the Floodwater reaching up for her, trying to pull her under, drown her and trap her soul forever in a sea of monsters. “I-”

The Floodwater rumbled beneath her, and the surface shattered like glass, exploding upwards. The dock was overturned, and a cold blast of water engulfed Nicole. A hand reached down and grabbed her, yanking her to the surface- her demon had saved her. Nicole treaded water as the Floodwater parted before the sight of a massive serpent, a wingless beast with three heads all coated in green scales. It was triple the size of any dragon Nicole had seen, bigger than a skyscraper, bigger than a city block. A forest of silver-white fangs gleamed inside each maw, its serpentine body trailing behind it for miles. Nicole’s heartbeat thundered and her hands trembled before the sight of the behemoth. She crossed herself and began uttering a prayer, begging God for her preservation as a plan formulated inside her mind. 

“You said that White Holy Light freezes dragons, right?” Nicole asked. 

“Yes, but somehow I don’t think you’ll be able to have too much affect with just one of you,” her demon said, the fear dripping off of each word. 

“No, but it’ll buy enough time for you to get away,” Nicole said. “The entrance to Hell is nearby- that’s what you said, right? So go home! Find your mother, and tell her you miss her.”

“You… You’ve got to be kidding me,” her demon said. 

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Nicole said as she reached for her power and let it pool inside her. She remembered the feedback loop she’d created against Moloch: channeling Pink Healing Light into her right hand by gripping her wrist with her left, supercharging the flow of White Holy Light into a massive glowing fist resplendent with divine power. 

“I… I can’t just let you do this yourself!” her demon said. 

“Why not?!”

“Because it’s the right thing to do!” her demon said. “Dammit!”

“I guess I really did make an impression,” Nicole said, smiling in spite of the earthquake of panic going through her. Leviathan drew closer and closer, inch by inch, its trio of heads blotting out everything else from view, the Floodwater shaking and resonating with every speck of liquid in her body. 

“Yeah, I guess so,” her demon said. She charged up her own powers, black light washing over her as Hellfire sparked out her hands and chest, her eyes becoming solid obsidian pools that matched the starless sky. 

“Want me to give you a booster?”

“Will that even work on me?”

“Can’t hurt to try,” Nicole said. 

“Fuck, why not?” her demon said, extending a hand.

Nicole grabbed it, and extended to her demon a burst of Healing Light that caused her Hellfire to triple in size and heat. Nicole gave herself one last booster, and her white aura grew to a similar scope. “I’ll take the head on the right hand side.”

“I’ll take the left,” her demon said. “As for the middle?”

“Hope it doesn’t get either of us,” Nicole said. 

“Sounds good.”

Leviathan closed in. 

Nicole and her demon both jumped, aiming straight for one of the beast’s maws. 

Everything burned black and white, and the Floodwater boiled as demon and magical girl alike lit up the empty sky.