Chapter Text
The small, pure balls of light surrounded her once more, seeking comfort and warmth from their guardian. The whispers and small giggles of young, innocent voices were her only comfort in this garden of solitude.
Ever since her creation, this had been her home. While it offered nothing but safety and happiness to the souls of children, to her it was a place of sorrow.
Lucia was her name, the seraph of children and the keeper of Garden Of Innocence. Her sole purpose was to keep the souls of children safe from all harm and offer them warmth and love. Lucia would spend her days singing to the children, playing with them, comforting them and acting as their mother.
Because these souls were the souls of children who died too young and had no understanding of the world around them.
Some, that never had the chance to be born were referred to as 'the neverborn' by others( which Lucia found a tad distasteful), were the purest souls heaven would ever see as they had never been tainted by the world and took the form of balls of pure light.
Others were children who had been born but died far too young to be able to understand the world around them, often taking the forms of either light blue or light pink butterflies.
And last but not least, the older souls of children who died little later than the previous group, but were still innocent and vulnerable so needed her protection. These souls took forms of either shapeless children that barely resembled humans with small wings or the shape of animals.
Lucia never really left the garden, content staying with her charges and not interacting with other angels.
To be honest, she despised anyone entering her domain. Even other seraphim were not welcome.
The Divine was of course allowed to enter if he so wished, but that had never happened.
When the first soul of a child, too innocent to understand what had happened to them, had arrived to heaven and could not be consoled, The Divine had created her.
To be the mother, to be the guardian, to be anything the children would need her to be. As a result, Lucia was quite powerful since she needed to be able to protect her dear children from everyone and everything.
Lucia only answered to The Divine, who seemed to allow her to do as she pleased.
Why wouldn't he? She was created to be the perfect protector for the most vulnerable... Lucia knew quite many of the angels seemed to either be jealous of her or hold her on a pedestal, depending on who you asked.
So why did she find her garden a place of sorrow? Simple really...
None of her charges had the chance to grow up, to choose their destiny and live their lives.
Instead, they would remain children forever and kept her company for all eternity.
And every day it seemed more and more joined her garden...
The saddest moments were when a new soul arrived and were so confused and afraid.
Thankfully, very rarely did the souls under her care remember their lives or what had happened to them.
Lucia's days were filled with nothing but caring for the children and she very much preferred this.
While isolated, Lucia still had ways of keeping up with what was happening around heaven.
Sometimes, a young seraph called Emily would visit the gates to her garden to greet her and tell her all about what was happening.
She got the weekly newspaper as well, which allowed her to stay on top of current events.
She also heard the prayers of the winners(and sometimes, even sinners!) who learned about her and what she did. Oftentimes, she would hear their prayers about children whom they had lost and questions if they were alright.
During these times, Lucia would answer to all, sinner or winner, as she always did: "All children are welcome to my garden and all are taken care of. Fret not, they are safe and sound."
When asked if they could visit her told them all: "None but I, shall walk these paths. It gladdens me, that you care for your children, however, they remember none of their lives and such shock to their souls might damage them. I fear my answer is 'No'. "
Some understood, some didn't.
Lucia knew many resented her for keeping away their children but she could not allow anything that might harm the children inside the garden.
Was she overprotective? Why yes, yes she was.
Did she care? No, not at all.
Lucia caressed one of the smaller souls gently with her fingers, giving him a small tickle that made the sound of happy bells fill the air as the soul laughed.
As long as the souls were happy and safe, Lucia did not care what the consequences were.
This is what she was created to do. Protect them at all costs.
Even if it led to her death.
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It was another day in the Garden Of Innocence.
Lucia was just settling her souls for a nap when she heard someone at her gates.
"Aaannnd! This is the Garden Of Innocence! Souls of children reside here! The angel, Lucia, is the one who takes care of them! She's a little grumpy when someone goes too close, but she's actually really nice!"
Emily... It was Emily who was visiting, but this time she seemed to have company.
"Souls of children?" Another female voice asked, sounding unsure.
"Yes! When the first soul of a child arrived to heaven, it wouldn't stop crying! Nobody knew what to do! So The divine went 'POOF!' and created Lucia! She's a Seraphim too! She's really, really, REALLY strong! Her job is to protect the souls of neverborn, infants, toddlers and ones that are too young to understand death that passed too soon... She's a seraph but I think she only answers to The Divine? Like, nobody is allowed to the garden without her say so!"
"The neverborn..?"
"... Umm..." Emily sounded sad and unsure. "The neverborn, are what most call children souls that never had the chance to be... You know... Born..? I-it's really sad, but sometimes the baby dies while still inside their mother's tummy A-and they come to the garden where they g-get to live forever with Lucia as their new mommy.."
"O-oh... S-so they are safe?" The unknown female questions.
"They are! Lucia is an amazing mom to them! She sings to them--she has an amazing voice, by the way!--, plays with them and soothes them! Lucia doesn't like others in her garden, because they might disturb or accidently harm them, so she keeps others away!"
Curiosity got the best of her and after checking that her little darlings were all sound asleep, Lucia went to the gates to see what was happening.
At first, she only saw Emily's back facing her, arms waving around madly as she told about heaven to whoever was with her.
Lucia's eyes looked upwards and froze.
In front of Emily, stood a female dressed in a red suit. White skin, red pupils with yellow sclera, blonde hair, black lips that barely hid the fangs behind them, two red dots on both cheeks.
She felt of demonic origin
This girl... was not of heaven...
this girl... was of hell...
AND SHE WAS STANDING TOO CLOSE TO HER CHILDREN!