Lucifer’s hand clenched around Shay’s, the embers of his fury flickering with every bored breath they took. It had been a year—a relentless, unyielding year of suffering.

  In Hell, time was no merciful current but an endless tide of molten iron, dragging each moment into an eternity. He had tried everything—spells, shields, even pieces of his infernal essence—yet the divine fire persisted, ravenous and untamed.

  For Shay, it was worse. The pain was not a fleeting torment but an infinite haze of suffering, each second searing into their very soul. Days blurred into months; months twisted into years.

  Their body had endured far beyond its limits, writhing against the consuming fmes. And yet, time spared no pity, magnifying their anguish until hope was but a whisper drowned in their screams, only for the cycle to begin anew. The cruelty of time here was a punishment in itself, twisting their shared anguish into something more harrowing.

  Shay’s grip on his hand tightened, their trembling fingers barely able to hold on. “Lucifer...” they gasped, their voice faint, breaking on each sylble. “How long... has it been?”

  Lucifer’s crimson eyes faltered. His cws grazed their delicate skin, his control slipping as guilt crashed over him. “A year,” he admitted, his voice rough and raw. “A year in Hell’s time.”

  Shay stiffened in his arms, their tear-filled eyes locking with his in disbelief. “A year?” Their voice cracked, trembling. “But… it feels longer… like it’s never-ending…”

  He bit back a snarl, his fury at Heaven bleeding into his tone. “That is Hell’s design,” he spat bitterly, his wings sagging under his helplessness.

  “To mock time, to strip meaning from existence. For you, it is punishment for your rebellion. For me...” His voice faltered, and his fiery gaze softened, shadowed by grief. “For me, every moment of your screams has felt like a century.”

  Shay’s breath hitched, their wings writhing against the unrelenting fmes. The fire crackled with cruel indifference, a blinding contrast to the darkness surrounding them. “Lucifer… it’s too much...” They sobbed, their voice trembling as tears streaked down their soot-covered face. “It… it won’t stop…”

  Lucifer’s cws tightened briefly, not in anger, but as though anchoring himself against the storm of his despair.

  “I know,” he rasped, his voice cracking under the weight of months spent shouting at a Heaven that would not listen. “I know, Shay. But I can’t...” He choked on his words, his gaze shimmering with anguish.

  I can’t lose you.

  The angel’s wings writhed in the fire’s embrace, their white light a stark contrast to the darkness of Hell. Shay’s head lolled against his chest, their breaths shallow as the fire consumed the air around them.

  “You’ve watched me burn... for a year?” Their whisper was a thread of sound, delicate and fractured. “Lucifer...”

  He leaned his forehead against theirs, his fiery breath brushing against their sweat-drenched skin. “And I would endure it for eternity,” he murmured, his voice breaking, “if it meant keeping you with me. But Shay… I can’t let this continue. Not like this.”

  The fmes surged higher, their heat an unbearable weight pressing against them both. Shay’s cries pierced the air, raw and jagged, as the fire reached deeper into their form. “No...” they gasped, shaking their head weakly. “No, don’t… don’t send me back…”

  Lucifer’s eyes burned brighter, his frustration boiling into a snarl echoing through the cavernous ir. “Damn them,” he spat, his tail shing violently against the ground, sparks flying from its fiery tip. “This is their doing—punishment for daring to descend to me.”

  His cws grazed their cheek as he cradled their face, his anger giving way to a deep, unrelenting sorrow. “There is no other way,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “If you stay here, it will destroy you—body and soul. And I cannot… I will not let that happen.”

  Shay’s hands fisted on his chest, their nails dragging against as they sobbed. “No!” Their voice shattered on the sound, the desperation in their cry splintering his already fragile resolve. “Don’t you dare—ahhhhhh!”

  Lucifer’s resolve faltered at their cry, his heart splitting further with each anguished sound. He cupped their face, his fiery hands trembling.

  “I would rather face eternity apart than watch you suffer like this,” he murmured, his voice barely audible, heavy with despair. “But know this, my angel… I love you.”

  The words, raw and unguarded, hung in the air between them. They lingered like a fragile thread, binding them even as it threatened to break. Lucifer swept them into his arms with a final, trembling breath, his wings unfurling with a shadowed grace that swallowed the room.

  The winds of Hell howled in protest as he unched into the night sky, the fmes on Shay’s wings roaring louder, a cruel symphony of their shared agony.

  Shay’s sobs raked against his heart, their tears wetting his skin as they clung to him. “No,” they cried, their voice breaking with desperation. “No! Don’t take me back. I’d rather die here with you!”

  Lucifer’s wings faltered momentarily, their rhythm breaking as the weight of their words struck him.

  Would they choose this pain, this torment, just to stay by my side?

  The thought both shattered and emboldened him, but he forced himself onward.

  The gates of Heaven loomed in the distance, their radiance a cruel reminder of what he could not keep.

  Landing before the towering expanse, Lucifer’s imposing form cast shadows against its blinding light. His wings curled protectively around Shay, shielding them as his own anguish threatened to consume him.

  “I am sorry, my heart,” he murmured, his voice breaking under the strain of his decision. “But it seems this is our fate.”

  Shay’s cries softened into broken sobs, their body trembling against him. “No...” they whispered, their voice barely audible, their wings still abze. “Don’t… don’t let me go…”