~2000 Years Ago

Though Kiel spent most of his time wandering aimlessly, there were occasions when he still had to carry out preparations for momentous events. And this was one of those times: The birth of Jesus. Kiel did not appear directly; he and many other angels had descended to the mortal world beforehand, playing the role of those who nudged events into motion and observed Jesus's life from a distance, ensuring everything unfolded along its predetermined path.

An event of such magnitude naturally drew a great many demons, and Will was no exception. Though both knew that revealing the friendship between an angel and a demon would be deeply unwise amid so many of their respective kin mingling about, Will still managed to find ways to meet Kiel alone and talk.

Kiel already knew Heaven's plan and the fate that awaited Jesus — yet he could not escape a quiet, settling sadness at being the one responsible for ensuring those very sufferings came to pass. Will offered no hollow reassurances. He knew Kiel was someone of deep responsibility who would not act on impulse, however much he might look the part — but he still told Kiel that he was allowed to feel this way, that there was nothing wrong with being sad. And somehow, that was what made Kiel smile — that familiar, slightly foolish grin of his.

After the event concluded, Kiel had to return to Heaven for an extended period — for good reason, as the heavenly apparatus was undergoing considerable change. He was buried under a mountain of convoluted protocols he himself had devised and a stack of manuals that needed to be rewritten from scratch. Well, perhaps he had it coming — that habit of his, adding things on impulse whenever something caught his interest, doing things wherever and whenever he felt like it. The system worked, yes, but anyone who came after him had no hope of ever sorting it out.

The endless overtime hours drove Kiel to occasionally slip away to the celestial garden to collect himself — he had never had any fondness for paperwork. It was perhaps one of the rare stretches of peace Ezekiel enjoyed while Kiel was in Heaven and not causing any trouble. Even so, given the sheer volume of work to be done, Kiel managed to revise only what was most essential; everything peripheral and marginal, if it still functioned well enough, he simply left as it was — no matter how bafflingly strange.

Heaven was riddled with inscrutable protocols, most of them Kiel's doing. Not that they were useless — only that he had never once written down his reasoning. Why, for instance, did opening a spatial gate require positioning it at this particular angle rather than any other? The other angels knew the method worked, but hadn't the faintest idea why, and none dared alter it for fear the whole thing would stop functioning. Kiel himself remembered the reason perfectly well, but by this point, he found the thought of tearing it all down and rebuilding it from scratch far more appealing than sitting through a review of old notes.

In addition, Kiel had devised an entire collection of new combat spells by refining older ones. They were undeniably effective, making use of shortcuts that let one skip several steps — but they also had the unfortunate effect of leaving newer angels without a proper foundation. As a result, despite the excellence of Kiel's written curriculum, instructors universally forbade students from touching it until they had fully mastered the standard spells — not unlike a kind of forbidden technique. The trouble was that Kiel, in his characteristic ease, had simply left the work out for anyone who wished to use it, attaching no warning whatsoever. Those who didn't know better assumed it was standard material, followed it accordingly, and ended up in considerable difficulty — even though, in fairness, his methods were more practical than the alternatives.

And that was only the old curriculum. At present, Kiel had accumulated a vast number of new spells with no proper documentation — at best, scattered rough notes attached to reports sent to Ezekiel. Most of them were small in scale and of questionable utility, having been devised during his years living among humans. Sifting through all of it to find the genuinely valuable pieces would have taken far too much effort, so Ezekiel simply gathered everything into a single folder and gave it a name: "Kiel's Miscellaneous Sketches."

During Kiel's long absence, Will did feel something — a quiet longing, a waiting — but in truth, he was run nearly ragged himself. The events surrounding Jesus had shaken not only Heaven but the depths of Hell as well. Many demons seized upon the upheaval to stir rebellion, and territorial conflicts broke out with increasing frequency. As a Baron, Will had no choice but to return and defend what was his.

At this point, had he truly wished it, Will could have risen to become Demon Lord over an entire infernal realm. But he had long since grown weary of power's games and had no desire to expand beyond what he already held. Even so, being a demon of such ancient standing meant that the higher-ranking lords still gave him a wide berth — no one particularly wanted to provoke him, knowing that if Will decided to retaliate, their own positions would be far from secure.

At last, when everything had settled, they met again in the mortal world. Will invited Kiel to eat, as he always did — and this time, Kiel showed up practically teary-eyed, dramatically recounting his ordeal of being condemned to paperwork for what felt like an eternity. He complained that Ezekiel had been terribly unreasonable, threatening that if he didn't finish revising everything, he needn't bother coming back down to the mortal world at all. Will burst out laughing — it was the first time he had ever seen Kiel this petulant and aggrieved — but there was a warmth beneath it, quiet and genuine, because in the end, Kiel had still made it back.

~8th–9th Century

This time, Kiel lingered near Will's territory longer than usual, giving Will considerably more opportunity to observe his angelic companion. It was during this period that Will noticed something: Kiel seemed ever so slightly gentler, slightly more attentive, toward women. The instincts of a demon stirred within him, and he began to wonder — did Kiel actually have a preference for women?

To put the theory to the test, Will used his abilities to take the form of a beautiful woman and approached Kiel. Kiel paused for a brief moment, then smiled warmly and said: "You look lovely in this form!" And with that, the entire disguise was seen through before it had even properly begun.

Even so, Will refused to abandon the effort. He kept the form and continued teasing and flirting with Kiel in it. He noticed that while Kiel treated him much the same as always, that extra degree of gentleness directed his way was quietly, inexplicably irritating. Pressing further, Will even boldly asked to spend the night at Kiel's place. Kiel, as perfectly untroubled as ever, agreed without a second thought.

That evening, Will deliberately shed most of his clothing, intending to be seductive. Instead of the expected reaction, Kiel looked at him with concern and asked: "Aren't you cold, dressed like that?" When Will climbed into the same bed, Kiel concluded with great sincerity that he must indeed be cold — and promptly wrapped both arms around him for the rest of the night to keep him warm. Kiel slept soundly and did absolutely nothing else; Will, on the other hand, did not sleep at all. His plan had collapsed spectacularly on top of him, and it was Will who ended up lying awake, undone entirely by the warmth of those arms.

The following morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Will made to slip away quietly. But Kiel's awareness was sharper than expected — the moment Will stirred, Kiel was awake. Half-asleep, eyes still soft with drowsiness, he murmured: "Are you leaving already? Let me make you something to eat first." Will declined quickly and took his leave — thoroughly mortified.

Back on his own, he couldn't stop thinking about the weight of Kiel's arms around him. The humiliation, however, clung just as stubbornly. (He swore to himself he would never breathe a word of this to anyone — if the goat found out, he'd never hear the end of it.) To recover some semblance of dignity, Will invited Kiel to a meal afterward and insisted the whole thing had been nothing more than an extended prank. Kiel listened, then pouted just slightly, as if genuinely disappointed: "That's a shame — I thought you looked beautiful." Will felt humiliated and quietly pleased in equal measure, and couldn't quite decide which was worse.

Still, a nagging irritation remained — the sense that Kiel was somehow particularly fond of women. After a period of careful, unannounced observation, Will arrived at a realization that genuinely startled him: it wasn't that Kiel was drawn to women. It seemed more that... he wanted to become one.

Rather than devising another test, Will chose this time to simply ask, with a degree of delicacy. Kiel didn't hide it at all, laughing his easy laugh as he admitted: "Yeah, I've been wanting to see what it's like to be a girl." He had been thinking about it for quite some time, but hadn't yet managed to construct a fully formed female shape. Will was quiet for a moment, then smiled and said: "Then you'll have to show me once you've worked it out." Kiel grinned and promised, without any hesitation at all.

After that, Kiel set off wandering again, toward new lands. In the time they were apart, Will found himself waiting — truly waiting, more keenly than before. He told himself that if Kiel became a woman, perhaps everything would be easier to make sense of. Perhaps they would simply look more natural together.

He knew it was a selfish thought. But he was a demon, after all. And what demon could ever fully shed selfishness?

When they met again, Kiel appeared in his same familiar form and talked with the same easy naturalness, as though no promise had ever been made. This left Will quietly unsettled. He wondered whether Kiel had forgotten, or simply lost interest. Not wanting to appear too eager — too obviously desperate — Will held back. But the longer he waited, the more it gnawed at him. In the end, while Kiel was happily rambling on about some recent journey, Will found a subtle way to let slip a hint. Fortunately, Kiel caught it. He smiled that easy smile of his, then leaned in slightly, voice dropped as though the two of them were exchanging something illicit: "Do you want to see my female form?"

Kiel led Will back to his temporary lodgings. The moment they stepped through the door, he began to... take off his clothes. Will froze, only managing to ask what on earth he was doing. Kiel answered in a tone of complete and serene reasonableness: "Well, you can't get a proper look if I'm still dressed, can you?" Of all the romantic scenarios Will had ever imagined, he had never once pictured Kiel choosing an approach quite this... direct.

As the last layer of fabric fell away, the familiar male form began to shift before Will's eyes. Angular lines softened into gentle curves; the face retained its essential character but became more delicate, rounder, refined. Kiel grew a little shorter, his hair lengthened, and what emerged was a young woman of the purest beauty Will had ever witnessed in his long existence. Kiel spun around cheerfully and asked: "So — am I pretty?" Will was entirely struck dumb, and after a long pause managed to produce only a single, blunt: "Pretty."

Kiel laughed with his whole face and said he knew it — but he still seemed not entirely satisfied, pointing out a few areas he had kept adjusting without getting quite right, and asking if Will might help him fix them. Once again, Will could not find his voice. He could barely believe what he was hearing: "You're asking me to... adjust your body for you?" To Kiel, this was entirely reasonable — Will had transformed into a woman with perfect precision, so he was obviously the one with relevant expertise.

Every sensible instinct told Will to refuse. His heart betrayed him completely. In the end, summoning every reserve of composure he possessed, he agreed. To make the adjustments, he had no choice but to make direct contact. Kiel felt no awkwardness about this whatsoever — even as Will's fingers touched areas that would be considered deeply intimate by any human standard, Kiel simply stood still and waited, occasionally breaking into quiet laughter when it tickled. Will, for his part, moved with painstaking care, handling each point as though it were a rare and fragile antique that could shatter at the slightest pressure. Those thirty minutes were perhaps the slowest thirty minutes in the vast and lengthy life of a demon like Will.

When it was finished, Kiel beamed at his reflection in delight. Will collapsed into a chair and exhaled like a man who had just survived something genuinely life-threatening. Before he could recover, he jolted upright at the sight of Kiel apparently about to walk straight out the door to show everyone. He had never moved so fast in his life, grabbing Kiel back just in time: "Are you out of your mind? You're not wearing anything!"

It was only then that Kiel remembered. He made a small sound of realization and began looking around for something to wear — only to find that all his clothes were cut for a male frame and hung ridiculously loose on his current proportions. Nothing fit. Will stepped in with a single snap of his fingers, conjuring a gown of remarkable beauty. Kiel marveled, spinning in front of the mirror with the unrestrained delight of a child receiving a gift for the first time, and looked so endearing that Will quietly thought to himself: I could die content right now.

In gratitude, Kiel decided to put his long-accumulated cooking practice to use. Will sat in silence, watching Kiel bustle about in the kitchen. A strange and quiet vision settled over him: they looked, in that moment, like something resembling a home. The food was simple, unpretentious, nothing remarkable — but to Will, it was the finest thing he had ever tasted.

When Will asked what came next, Kiel replied: "I think I'll keep this form for a while."

That night, alone, Will could not sleep. The image of Kiel — that young woman in the lamplight — stayed with him and would not leave. And in the stillness, he understood something plainly, with no room left for argument: he had already fallen far too deeply in love with Kiel.