An Arrangement was Made

Chapter 3: Why not Emily?

The man inhaled his first breath. The first breath taken by any human ever. He didn't want to open his eyes at first. It was already so bright even with them closed. Slowly though, he did and he took in the world around him. The garden was a marvelous variety of greens. Trees of every size with leaves of every shape. He sat up. The ground underneath him was squishy and brown. Mud as he would soon name it.

He looked up. Across from him a few meters away was his creator. A person that looked very human, but with no defining attributes. As if every human who had and would ever live had been combined into one indistinct yet wonderful being. There was something radiant about the other human? No, not human. More than that. Whoever this God was, he was so much more than Adam was and more than he'd ever be.

The majestic being formed out of the damp earth another person. A woman as Adam would later name them. She was tall, blonde, and intimidating yet there was something about her that Adam was incomprehensibly drawn to.

"Adam and Lillith." Those were the names they were given. Once they were both created and named, their creator left them in the garden alone with each other. The Father did not need to tell them their purpose, Adam already seemed to know it. They were supposed to be together. He and his wife were going to love each other forever and always. They were going to have a family together and spread far and wide.

Adam dragged himself over to her. Neither yet knew how to walk yet, but they had all the time in the world to figure that out later. Right now he just wanted to be next to her. He wished he knew how to express his thoughts to her, but language hadn't been invented yet either.

"Iii. Ill. Illi. Illith. Li- Lillith!" That was the only word he knew right now. It was a rather difficult one. It took a lot more control of his tongue than his own name did. She got his on the first try. Adam smiled at her with perfect child-like innocence. Adam might not know anything yet, but he knew that he loved this person.

-

"You are." Adam's face fell. His usual cockiness had been wiped clean off his face. He was in complete shock. It took a solid 180 seconds for that information to truly register.

"You're joking." He forced his nonchalant smile to return, but his eyebrows weren't helping to hide his distress. Sera shook her head.

"It is true. You have 3 days to pack your things, and then you will live in hell with your new wife." Her tone was horribly cold. There was no room to argue with that. Those were orders. Adam had one shot to make his case. He couldn't afford to mess this up, but his emotions were quickly clouding out any ability to be rational and convincing right now.

"You're joking!" Now he was mad. "No, wha- NO! You can't do this to me! Did you know about this? Did you know it was going to be me?!" There was no way that Charlie of all people would ever agree to marry him, but when he looked at her he saw the face of someone who had made a decision they hated but had to go through with. He saw something that looked almost like guilt flicker in her eyes before she turned her head and refused to look at him further.

"You bitch! I thought I made my opinions on you and the scum you call 'people' perfectly clear!"

"Adam that is enough!" Sera stood. Adam sat back down. He inhaled to attempt to soothe himself.

"You think we could have some privacy?" Adam asked as calmly as he could muster right now, which still left him practically growling. Emily left the room. Charlie's hologram turned off. Emily gave him one last concerned glance before closing the door behind her.

Adam stared Sera down with nothing but rage. He didn't even know where to start with how angry he was right now. He had one shot. One shot.

"Do you have something to say, First Man?"

"Yeah. What the fuck?" Sera shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Articulate."

"Well sorry for not being exactly poetic after just finding out that my entire life has been fucked! Like, are you on something?! Me?! That woman?!" He gestured to where Charlie's hologram had been sitting just thirty seconds ago. "What demon possessed you to think that any of this is a good idea?!"

"The exterminations were never meant to be used as a permanent solution. Humans are horribly forgetful, and it seems as if the humans of hell have forgotten the rebellion that brought these consequences upon them in the first place."

"Who cares?! They're working! These people are not like angels or humans for that matter! These people cannot be controlled with words or the marriage of two strangers, otherwise they'd be in heaven with us! They need violence, they need a firm hand."

"And I am in agreement." Sera looked out the window. Looking at the cities of heaven always made it easier to ignore how much it hurt to have to make decisions like this. "But that hand shouldn't have to come from us. It's too easy for that to backfire and inspire even worse rebellion."

Adam opened his mouth to speak but he was cut off by Sera who continued.

"The last thing we want is for sinners to feel like innocent victims. We need them to feel guilty. If they are able to unite and draw upon what feels like just anger to them, they will be much more difficult to control. It will be much safer for us to have the burden placed onto the back of the family that brought sin to humanity in the first place. It is their fault this happened, it ought to be their responsibility to do something about it."

"So what does that have to do with me? What good will marriage do for anyone?" Sera turned to him. Her eyes were sad, but also serious and imposing.

"I need someone I can trust to stay down there and make sure that the demon princess follows through on her promise."

"Pff. Someone you can trust. You mean someone you can control." He sneered.

"You have more experience with loveless arranged marriages than anyone else in my inner circle and you are currently single. I trust you to do what is necessary to keep us safe."

"Emily would be a better candidate than me." He picked absentmindedly at his gloves. "She and Charlie already like each other and they're both carpet munchers." Sera's eyes narrowed.

"I'll thank you not to speak about my little sister like that."

"Sorry." The pair of angels were silent for a moment.

"You still haven't answered my question." Adam stated.

"What question?"

"Why not Emily?" Sera slowly paced back to her seat as she thought of the best way to phrase this.

"Emily is...not adapted to the challenges of hell. You have already visiting hell on a number of occasions and you have the indomitable human spirit necessary to survive if anything were to go awry."

"It's cause she's a seraphim!" The realization dawned on him. So many things suddenly clicked into place. Weird off handed comments and behaviors that had been a little off putting before suddenly took a new shade. "You're completely fucking racist! That's the reason isn't it?! Wouldn't want to send any of your six winged friends to go do any of the dirty work would you?!"

"Hold your tongue! God themself promised us that we would never see the full extent of human evil, and I intend to keep that promise in their absence."

Adam was silent. He wanted to scream, to argue, to say anything! But as long as Sera left her order in place, he could not even open his mouth. Sera presented him with a paper.

"This is a marriage contract. Sign it." Adam's hand moved without his permission. This wasn't the first time that Sera had forced his hand, it wouldn't be the last. The contract was long, so Adam couldn't read the entire thing before it was snatched away from him again.

'In sickness and in health...till death do you part...' Sera lifted the order.

"I'm guessing that only she's allowed to divorce me huh?"

"You are an angel Adam. Angels do not get divorced."

"And if she cheats on me? Am I going to have another Eve situation on my hands?"

"You don't love her anyway so I don't see why that should matter." She looked out the window again. Adam stood.

"I guess I'm just expected to be miserable until this immortal bitch dies then huh?" So forever.

"You'll only be as miserable as you choose to be."

"Oh that makes me feel way better. I guess it'll be my fault I'm miserable if she starts hitting me then too?" Sera bristled. She rarely heard about the types of evil that occurred outside of heaven's gates. She didn't want to hear it. She couldn't hear it. She refused.

"I have heard enough of your complaining Adam. Go pack your things."

Adam slammed the door shut on his way out. He needed to break something before someone made the mistake of talking to him.