The demon was visibly losing patience. Her lips had gone thin, her nostrils flared; a muscle in her cheek jumped as she clenched her jaw.

"What do you think will happen?" she snapped. "Say I don't amputate those tattered stumps. What then, hm?"

The angel didn't have an answer. One tear escaped and began to slowly make its way down her cheek.

The demon shook her head in disbelief and bared her teeth in the mockery of a smile. "You don't have a clue. Well then, allow me to enlighten you."

She grabbed the angel's shoulder and pulled her around, then began poking at her back. "Do you feel this? Or this?"

"No," the angel admitted.

"Uh huh. And what about this?"

They let out a shriek as their back erupted in agony. They tried to get away from the demon's touch, but she held them firm. She had enough strength in a single hand to overcome all of their frantic struggles.

"That is an exposed nerve," she said with dark satisfaction. "The numbness around it? Nerve damage."

She let go and stepped back into their line of sight. "You don't know what will happen; I do. If you try to keep what's left of your feather-dusters, they won't heal. They can't. They are too damaged. Instead, all that remains of your celestial shine will go to keeping them as they are now: not worsening, but not improving, either. And since you're cut off from Our Father Who Art Not Listening, that is a finite resource. Do you really want to use it up on fighting the inevitable?"

They were weeping openly now. Was there truly no other way?

"Obsecro," they managed between sobs.

The demon ruthlessly continued. "You no longer have wings, dove. You have splinters of bone and shreds of muscle and skin that you cannot keep."

"Obsecro, misericordia," they begged. "Obsecro te, miserere, daemon."

She glared at them a moment longer before she sighed and knelt in front of them. She forced them to meet her gaze with one hand on their chin, her expression no longer holding the hard edge it had gained at their refusal.

"I know you won't believe me, but this is mercy, dove." She wiped away a tear with the back of a finger, keeping the points of her claws away from the angel's face. "It would be far crueler to let you keep hoping, when what you want is impossible. Κύριε, ἐλέησον doesn't mean anything when the Lord can't hear you."

"Estne vere nulla alia via?" they asked.

"Truly," she confirmed.

She let go of the angel's chin as they turned their face away to bury it in their hands.

They prayed silently as they wept. Κύριε, ἐλέησον, Χριστέ, ἐλέησον, Κύριε, ἐλέησον. Just as the demon had predicted, there was no answer.

Finally, after long moments of silence broken only by their choked sobs, they managed to stop crying. They wiped away the tears, feeling the salt crust their cheeks like Lot's wife.

"Okay," they whispered, not looking up.

They couldn't return. Insisting on looking back would only cause them pain.

They met the demon's gaze once more.

"Obsecro te: adiuva me."

---

Translations:

"Obsecro" — Please

"Obsecro, misericordia," they begged. "Obsecro te, miserere, daemon." — Please, mercy. I beg of you, have mercy, demon.

Κύριε, ἐλέησον (Kyrie eleison) — Lord, have mercy. (Greek, traditional Christian prayer)

"Estne vere nulla alia via?" — There is truly no other way?

Κύριε, ἐλέησον, Χριστέ, ἐλέησον, Κύριε, ἐλέησον. (Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.) — Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. (Greek, traditional Christian prayer)

"Obsecro te: adiuva me." — I beg/beseech you: help me.

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