Razielle tilted his head when Simon grabbed his arms and then tapping his foot. "Uhm this isn't some Oz shit right?" He glanced around them, making sure no one was around to see themdo this portal thing to Hell. He glanced back over at Simon, about to ask how this was supposed to get them to Hell when he felt the ground fall out from under him.
Simon grinned. "Not Oz. Just magic." He unfurled his wings to catch the wind, yanking Razielle upward with him. "Can you fly? With your wing issue, I mean," he said.
Razielle squeezed his eyes shut as he gripped Simon's arm. He had never liked falling. Yes with his wings it was fine, he loved to freefall then be carried up with his wings, confident that they would be able to keep him safe but now with them still healing and bound together, he didn't trust them to works as easily as before.
"Fine," Simon said, and tucked his wings in, sending them both into a steep dive. At the last minute, he flew upward a few feet, then carefully set Razielle down on the dark sands below them. He dropped down next to Razielle and tucked his wings back in. "Aw, look at my hair. It's a mess," he said ruefully, and set to fixing it.
"are you insane!" Razielle yelled as they plummeted to the ground, instinctively wrapping his arms around Simon, eyes shut tight as he awaited their death. He cracked his eyes open when they slowed and glanced down at sands below them, thinking for a moment it was still open air. He carefully knelt down on the sands and took a slow look around, and saw only darkness save for waters lapping up on the shores, milky white in color. "So this is Hell." He whispered softly, glancing over at Simon as he fixed his hair
"Thanks for the hug," he said, only half-joking. "Yes. Hell. Now, obviously, we aren't going straight to Lucifer himself, but I have met him before and I'm sure he wouldn't mind talking to me for a moment. First we talk to the gatekeepers."
"your welcome." Razielle replied bluntly, eyes trailing over the water and shorline before meeting Simon's eyes again. Now that was a name he hadn't heard in a long while. Yes some of the archangels spoke of him when he was younger, telling them tales of how the first son of the Diety was cast out of heaven for not loving humans but he was rarely spoken of outside of the classes unless of course it was to reprimand him. "Should I be surprised that you've spoke with the prince of Hell himself?" He asked, tilting his head with a smirk and a shake of his head. He looked back out towards the waters before standing and brushing himself off. "I can't imagine ruling a place like this. All the anguish and regret here is suffocating." He shivered slightly as he followed Simon deeper into Hell. "At least now I can say I've gone to Hell when my patients tell me to go here during our sessions."
"Eh. Lucifer is very tasteful. Nice interior design. Generally congenial man. Not bad looking either. He seems to thrive on pain, however, so try not to show weakness. Unless you'd like to be chained to Hell forever."
"oh great…" He muttered, focusing on his breathing. When he said the place was suffocating he wasn't joking, despite having not seen any souls yet, Razielle could feel their pain, feel just how much they had regretted their life decisions. " You must be in high standing here if you know Lucifer so well." He said, trying his best to distract himself as they got closer to the gates.
"High standing is an overstatement. I made him mad once, and he made me his indentured servant. He thought I was feisty. Which was rude. He acted like I was his pet cat or something. You alright? You look. . .pale."
"well, he's not wrong about the feisty part. The indetured servant and pet treatment might be a little far." He replied with a nod and a dismissive wave of his hand. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit sick, probably from the fall or something."
"Alright. If you're sure." He stopped at a break in the road. "This way," he said, pointing down the left side.
He nodded slightly and followed Simon, taking a glance at the figures that became more prevelent as they walked deeper into Lucofer's domain. Some he could full figures, others were more whisp like than human. Some didn't even resemble human figures at all, distorted and shaped into something unearthly. He kept his wing close to his back and hugged his stomach. He told himself that as much as he didn't want to be there, he'd have as much respect as possible for the departed souls that resided here.
"Do you wanna hold my hand?" Simon held out his hand, eyes dancing. "They can't hurt you, you know. Lucifer knows we're here and because of certain laws, he isn't allowed to let them touch us."
Razielle couldn't tell if the other was messing with him or trying to be genuine. Either way, the angel gently took Simon's outstretched hand, holding it lightly. The contact was a comfort, knowing that at least someone else that wasn't necessarily dead and suffering was down there with him. "I-I know." He breathed, "But just because they can't touch us doesn't mean they or him can't hurt us."
"They can't hurt us," Simon said, rolling his eyes. He didn't pull away from Raizielle's touch but didn't tighten his hold either. "Onward," he said in a loud voice and fairly dragged him down the path until they reached a tall building, like the tower Rapunzel was in, but infinitely taller.
Razielle sighed softly "sure they won't." He replied as they walked. He glared up at the immensely tall tower as they approached, the sick feeling only growing worse as he took in the sheer hight of the stone building. "You've got to be kidding me. This thing better have an elevator or something." He muttered
"Nope. No elevator. Only flying. Or flight magic. So that the prisoners inside can't get out." Simon looked over at him. "You alright with that?"
Razielle inhaled deeply. Prisoners. That's what the tower houses. The worst people imaginable resided there. A shiver shot down his spine and through his wings. He nodded slightly. "Yeah that's fine."
Simon tilted his head forward, then gave Razielle a sideways glance. "Are you going to fly this time, or do I need to carry you?" He shook out his wings, a few dark feathers falling to the ground. "They can't hurt you."
Razielle sighed softly and stretched out his wings, grimacing slightly at the tention he felt at the base. He shook his head slightly and tucked them back against himself. He glanced worriedly at the feathers that well from Simon's wings but didn't say anything. Instead he glanced back at the tower. "How do you know?" He whispered
"How do I know what? Specificity isn't your strong suit, huh?" He took a step toward Razielle and scooped him up, leaping into the air. "Don't look down. Also don't squirm. Wouldn't want to drop you to your death."
He breathed a small laugh "no I guess it's not, apologies." He yelped at the sudden movement and wrapped his arms around Simon's neck, burying his face in his shoulder. "Ha, you think angels are afraid of heights?" He shook his head, and peeked at the ground. "You're really gonna talk about death when we're in Hell? Really?"
"I'm very funny," Simon said dryly. He spiraled upward, glancing into every window they passed. "The only reason I told you not to look down is that the tower goes on infinitely. At some point, we won't be able to see the ground."
Razielle shook his head slightly, refusing to look at the tower. He didn't need to see the souls inside to know their growing rage and agony. Instead he look skywards. "I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of falling without a means of catchigg myself. There's a difference." His browed knitted together in confusion "so if the tower goes on forever, where are we going if not the top?"
"There is no top, idiot. We're going to the billionth level. Copernicus frequents there."
Raz tilted his head. Copernicus. He had never heard of such a name, though, he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to know of a being with that name. He kept silent for a few more hundred floors, wondering how far they had fallen compared to the height of the tower they were fly up to. "So how does this work?" He asked softly, pointing to the tower. "Is it like a ranging system? The worse you are the higher you go or something?"
"No. These are only the mildly bad souls. Remember when I tapped my foot six times? That brings us to the first level of hell. Twelve for the second, eighteen for the third, etc., etc. The farther you get down into hell, the worse the people get. Hitler, for example, is at the very bottom, carving life-size, exact replicas of every single person whose death he caused. Out of diamond. Copernicus is here to deal out punishment. He really went to heaven but volunteered to bore the less villainous citizens of the Underground City."
"I see" Razielle nodded, glad that they at least didn't have meet the worst of the worst people there. "So if Copernicus went to heaven at first, but voluntarily came down here to assist with souls, then doesn't that mean he's still technically an angel?" Razielle had never heard of Angels voluntarily going to hell, though he assumed he was doing just that. He found it odd angels would want to go here, given that heaven was a paradise.
"No. He's sort of in-between. They just refer to him as a soul. It doesn't make sense to me either." Simon shrugged, shifting Razielle in his arms. "Almost there."