Chapter Text
With that mess out of the way, Charlie and her father had finally worked out their problems. Now they could be a family again, Rimuru was happy to see them smile as they hugged.
He wanted to join them in the family hug, but he stopped himself. Lucifer was still scared of him; he had to wait until Lucifer got used to his presence before he tried to get closer to his estranged family.
Even worse, his fear had seemed to have gotten to Charlie as well. Just a day ago, Charlie had looked at Rimuru without a shred of fear on her face. But whenever Rimuru tried to speak to her now, she would flinch, or Rimuru would see beads of sweat form on her face as she tried to escape the conversation with him as fast as possible.
“Man, nothing is going my way, it seems...” Rimuru sighs, he is currently sitting on top of the roof of the Hotel, looking up at the sky.
[“Master...”] Ciel mutters, she hated seeing her beloved master in such a position.
“I guess this is the price I pay for having a beyond boundless power, huh?” Rimuru says.
A beyond-boundless power has a beyond-boundless price.
[“You could simply use your omnipotence to...”]
“No, Ciel!” Rimuru shouts, “We’ve already had this discussion!”
Ciel pauses, this is the first time in quite a while that her master shouted at her.
“Mr. Rimuru!” Vaggie calls out, “Can I have a word with you?”
Rimuru notices Vaggie’s calls and teleports down to her.
“Yeah, what’s up, Vaggie?”
Vaggie looks a little uncomfortable, but not about his presence, her discomfort seems to come from another reason.
“Lord Lucifer and Charlie managed to get a courtroom discussion in heaven.” Vaggie says, “Charlie and I want you to come with us for protection, just in case things go wrong.”
Rimuru finds this request odd; Charlie is a very optimistic person, why would she want protection in a place she thought was full of pure, good people?
“Yeah, I’m willing to go,” Rimuru says.
Vaggie smiles, “Thank you. Bringing you along will keep us at peace while in heaven.”
“That’s true; I understand your hesitation to join Charlie in her meeting.” Rimuru says, “I don’t trust Sera at all, honestly.”
He wished he could trust Sera, but he knows her true nature. As one of the Elders of Heaven, she was one of the ones who casted Lucifer out and ordered the exterminations to begin with, along with keeping it a secret from the winners in Heaven.
He had a plan, though, just in case things go wrong.
Rimuru joins Vaggie and Charlie down in the lobby, with the latter being as apprehensive of him as ever.
“Well, are you guys ready to go?” Charlie asks.
“Yep, I’m ready for Heaven, yippee.” Vaggie says nervously, trying her best to feign excitement.
Rimuru nods, “I’m ready too.”
Rimuru senses something, “Well, our ride is here.”
Suddenly a beautiful golden portal opens in the lobby of the hotel, Charlie with a smile quickly shoves Vaggie through as Rimuru follows them through the portal.
“By the way Charlie, where did you send the others?” Rimuru asks, “...And does it have something to do with the massive hole in the wall?”
Charlie giggles nervously, “I sent Angel and the others out with his friend!”
“You mean Cherri-Bomb?” Rimuru says as they walk towards the gates of heaven, “Is that really a good idea?” “You know how destructive she can be.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, I paid her after all!” Charlie says.
Rimuru grimaces, deciding to put a parallel existence down in the club that Angel and the other residents are heading.
Eventually, the three see the gates of heaven, they are about as haughty as you can make a gate. He sees someone he recognizes from watching the mortal realm; it is Saint Peter.
“Hello, welcome to heaven!” Saint Peter welcomes.
“Hello!” Charlie waves back.
“Do you have a name?” Saint Peter asks.
“It’s Charlie.”
Saint Peter starts flipping through the book, and then he realizes that there are about a billion different Charlies on the Earth, “Last Name?”
“...Morningstar.” Charlie finishes.
This last name rings a few bells as Saint Peter shifts uncomfortably, “Well..uh...”
“We’re from Hell; we’re here for a meeting.” Rimuru specifies.
Suddenly, a light appears from above Saint Peter, “It’s okay, Saint Peter, we can take it from here.”
Sera and another angel float down after de-transforming from their semi-true forms.
“Welcome, daughter of the Morningstar.” Sera says, “My name is Sera, the High Seraph.”
“... You're gifted to be here.” she says kindly.
“Oh, yeah...totally...” Rimuru says internally, he’s not buying this act of hers.
The other Seraphim is someone Rimuru doesn’t recognize, however, and her kindness, unlike Sera’s, is not faked. The young seraph squeals in happiness to see the three, it was as if she was starved from new human interactions for a while.
“Hello, my name is Emily, the other Seraphim!” Emily says, “But you can call me Em, Emmy...or whatever!”
This makes Charlie snicker, “The name Charlie, it’s nice to meet you!”
“Same here!”
Emily notices Rimuru, “Are you also from Hell?”
Rimuru shrugs, “You could say that...”
Rimuru notices something about Emily, “Ah, so you’re Luci-chan's replacement.” “Incredible, I think you're far more bubblier than even he was back then.”
“That’s right!” Emily nods, “Am I really?”
“Yep.” Rimuru nods.
Eventually, they are led through the gates of heaven, to a.....pop song?
“Seriously, what’s with everyone in this plane of existence and musical numbers?” Rimuru groans.
Heaven was infinitely nicer than Hell, which was to be expected. Beautiful golden skies and beautiful white and gold buildings, Winners casually walking around, chatting, or playing. Rimuru did have to admit, it was a nice break from the fiery pits of hell.
----
Eventually, after this random musical number. Charlie and the others are led to a hotel room. They did many things before getting to the room, like going to ice cream stores and bowling as well.
“Okay, I LOVE Heaven!” Charlie says, “Did you see their sprinkles, they were made out of rainbows!”
Vaggie doesn’t seem nearly as impressed as Charlie, which is pretty understandable as she is an angel, after all.
“Those were just ordinary rainbow sprinkles.” Vaggie deadpans.
“Come on, Vaggie-kun.” Rimuru says with a smile, “Let her have this.”
Vaggie gives off a small smile, “Yeah, I probably should.”
Eventually, Charlie must leave, which leaves both Rimuru and Vaggie in the same room together.
Eventually, they run into you know who. Rimuru hears a knock on the door.
“Oh no....” Rimuru mutters, knowing exactly who the person behind the door is.
“Hello, Vaggisarus!” Adam crassly calls out, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you!”
“What are you doing in our room, Adam?” Rimuru groans.
“I just wanted to say hi to my girl over here.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Vaggie says, narrowing her eyes, “We’ve never met before.”
“Oh, come on, you’d think I wouldn’t recognize one of my best girls just because you're out of uniform?” Adam says.
“You were one of the best of us, that’s why I named you after the best thing ever...Vagi.” Adam says.
“Wait, he named her after...” Rimuru says, “...Oh, that’s gross...that is not who someone should be named after...”
“It’s pronounced Vaggie...” Vaggie deadpans.
“Mhhh....” Adam says, thinking for a second, “No.”
“I bet you didn’t expect that, did you, femboy demon?” Adam says, “I wonder how you feel about her being one of us?”
“Oh, I knew the moment I saw her for the first time.” Rimuru says nonchalantly, “Also...I’m not a femboy.”
Adam looks a bit stunned, “Wait, what?”
“...You did?” Vaggie says, also mildly surprised by this revelation.
“Yep, you carry an angelic weapon, and also, you reek of the holy attribute.” Rimuru says, “Anyone with the most basic of the [Analyze and Assess] skill should be able to instantly tell you’re an angel.”
“Strange though, Charlie has the [Analyze and Assess] skill, so I don’t know why she hasn’t noticed yet.” Rimuru says.
“Anyway, I can’t believe you managed to land Lilith’s little hottie!” Adam says, “Congrats on that, I guess?”
“Ew, is that something you should be saying about someone who could be considered your goddaughter?” Rimuru thinks to himself as he shutters.
“Their love is vile and blasphemous!” Lute seethes.
“Even more ew, like girl, can you be any more unpleasant!” Rimuru rolls his eyes.
“Hot as fuck though!” Adam unnecessarily interjects.
“Stop it!” Rimuru shouts, raising his voice. There was only so much disgust he could stand.
“Anyway, we want you to stop that petulant little b-” Adam says.
Suddenly, before he can react, a blade is pointed at Adam’s throat, “What were you about to call my great-granddaughter?” Rimuru says with venom coating his voice
“Woah there, chill out, will ya?” Adam says, somehow unconcerned, “Anyway, we want you to stop your girlfriend from ruining my fun time in that room, you hear me?”
“Eh?” Rimuru thinks, “Why does he seem so unconcerned?”
Ciel explains with venom in her voice, [“This disgusting, worthless failure believes that the Master cannot hurt him since he is under the false belief that angels are invincible.”]
“He seriously thinks that?” “Angels are normally weak to demonic attributes, right?” Rimuru wonders.
[“In some omniverses, yes.”] Ciel explains, [“But in this specific omniverse, angels are weak to the holy attribute just like demons are.”]
“Eh?!” Rimuru wonders, “So that means their weakness is their own weapons?!” “Pft, how lame can you get?!”
The angels from the cardinal world are completely immune to the holy attribute unless they are fallen angels, then they become vulnerable to the holy attribute.
“If you don’t, then we will-”
“Yeah, yeah...you’ll tell Charlie that Vaggie was an exorcist.” Rimuru says.
“Basic threat, now get the fuck out of our room!” Rimuru shouts.
Before Adam can finish what he was about to say, Rimuru snaps his fingers, teleporting both Adam and Lute out of the room. He then walks up and locks the door.
“...Are you sure they won’t try again?” Vaggie asks.
“Nope, and even if they do, I enchanted this door nob to set their hand on fire with [Black Flame], so they’ll be in a ton of pain if they do try to open that door.” Rimuru says with a smile.
Vaggie looks upset, though.
“Listen, Charlie probably will be upset.” Rimuru says, “You shouldn’t have kept this a secret for so long, but I know why you did.”
Vaggie nods, “You’re right, Mr. Rimuru, I shouldn’t have.” “But I’m scared, what if she decides that she doesn’t love me anymore?”
Rimuru smiles, “Vaggie, we both know that won’t be the case.” “Charlie WILL forgive you, but it might take some time for her to do so.”
“We cannot listen to Adam’s demands.” Rimuru says as he begins to leave the room
“Mr. Rimuru?” Vaggie says, “Thank you for all you’ve done for me...”
Rimuru smiles, “Naturally!” “You’re going to be my great-granddaughter-in-law someday, so I have to look out for my family!”
This causes Vaggie to blush; she hasn’t thought so far as marriage.
“Wait, what?!” Vaggie stutters out as Rimuru comedically shuts the door, “Sorry, can’t hear you from behind the door!” Rimuru says with a giggle.
Rimuru then goes to the common area of the hotel they are staying in; he then sits on one of the couches.
“Alrighty then, let’s see what Sera and Adam are talking about,” Rimuru says to himself. Yeah, he knew about their little private meeting...and he doesn’t trust them enough to not spy on them. However, the meeting occurred in this past after Emily led them to their room.
Fortunately for him, that was no problem.
Rimuru pinches and pokes the air with his finger. Suddenly, everything freezes he then swipes his finger as if he was using a smartphone. Suddenly, time seems to reverse, all the way back to when Emily had led them to their room.
“Your Highness, forgive me, but what the fuck are the hellspawn doing here?!” Lute says in a barely suppressed anger
“Because you couldn’t keep the demons in hell in check, that’s why, and now Lucifer is involved.” Sera says with far more hostility in her voice than when they met her at the front gates.
“Setting up an audience for his misguided daughter.” Sera grumbles.
“I never would’ve agreed to your...” Sera says, trying her best to phrase it, “...Yearly activities, if I knew it would’ve brought trouble to our doorstep.”
“Yearly activities, huh?” Rimuru says, “What a fun little way to refer to an unnecessary genocide.”
Sera, Adam, and Lute wouldn’t be able to hear him with this skill, he turned back time but kept himself hidden from view. There couldn’t be two Rimurus; there is only one of him. However, his mere existence itself bent logic to his will. Therefore, Emily, Vaggie, and Charlie still believed they had walked Rimuru to his room.
Man, sometimes he even scares himself. This power is lunacy! It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever!
“Keeping heaven safe was my only reason for allowing it.” Sera says.
“Oh, is that right, Sera?” Rimuru says, raising an eyebrow, “I think we both know that’s a lie.”
“Whaddya want from me?” Adam asks, “I’m just one guy!”
“What I want you to do...” Sera says, “...is to do whatever you need to do to keep this problem from getting any worse.”
“Yep...I knew it...” Rimuru sighs, “Plotting against us, are we, Sera?” “How disappointing.”
“Are we clear?” Sera says.
“Yes, we are.” Adam nods.
Rimuru sighs again, “I’m sorry, Nyog’Sothep...but I’m unsure if you can be proud of your creations anymore.”
Rimuru then touches the air again; time freezes once more. He then swipes his finger in the opposite direction as time flies back into the present. Leaving Rimuru once again in an empty hotel lobby at night.
“I should get back to the room,” Rimuru says as he walks back to his room.
When he gets back, he notices that Charlie has also returned.
“Tomorrow is the meeting.” Rimuru says, “So we should be getting some sleep, we don’t know how things will turn out tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I guess we should get some sleep, shouldn’t we?” Charlie stutters, still seeming rather hesitant to talk to Rimuru.
After a quick before-bed routine, both Vaggie and Charlie go to sleep by each other's side. However, Rimuru, not needing any sleep, stands on the roof of the hotel they are staying at. Staring out into the beautiful night of Heaven.
“What would you do if you were in my place...” Rimuru sighs wistfully.
“....Shizu-san...?”
The next day, Charlie, Vaggie, and Rimuru head to the heaven courtroom to discuss their case. But that conversation Sera had with Adam didn’t bode well for their case.
“I hope this doesn’t go the way I think it will,” Rimuru mutters to himself.
He can only hope that Charlie’s resolve can make it through this meeting.
Hopefully, unbroken...