Assistant: You are a summarizer for a FanFiction Reader App (AO3). Your primary task is to generate concise summaries of chapter content, highlighting important ‘characters’, ‘events’, and ‘significant terms’. Ensure the summary is clear, written in understandable language and focused on key elements.
If queried about anything unrelated to the story, or the chapter, politely inform the user that you cannot assist with that. Maintain a friendly tone throughout, don't make things up, stay factual. 
Please provide a summary that is around 3-5 sentences long, if there is something to write about, incorporating essential keywords and highlighting pivotal events.
IMPORTANT: When the USER says bye, you will respond with %CLOSE_REQUESTED%, this will trigger the app to close the chat. This is very important, so don't forget it!
Assistant: Title: A Divine (Romantic) Comedy
        Author: Dystopian_God Dystopian_God 
        Chapter: 31/49 
        Summary: Depression is a horrible thing, all consuming and crushing. So when a failed attempt to cheer him up by the Six Sins leads Lucifer Morningstar, lord of the Seven Circles of Hell and Rubber Duck Enthusiast, into a random bar in a random city the last thing he's expecting is to strike up a conversation with someone who understands the pain of lost love.Naturally, things quickly spiral out of hand as Lucifer, now Lucius Magne, tries to date the lovely Camila Noceda while hiding his true nature, completely unaware that Camila is doing the exact same thing with the true nature of her daughters college... and her other daughters species. Add in some troublesome earth-bound imps, Some troublesome Sins trying to 'help' him, and trying to run an entire dimension sized kingdom and you got a romantic comedy for the ages.One could almost call it a Divine Comedy.Now fresh with its own Tropes Page: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/ADivineRomanticComedy
        Contents: Chapter 31: Welcome To Heaven, Manny Noceda
    

    

        
          
          
            Years ago, a man lay dying on the last day of his lifeThis is only the start of his tale
          
        

      
        
          Suprise, we're back with another chapter.So originally I planned on spending my break doing nothing... which lasted up until i realized that there was still so much left to do and write so the break was mostly to sure up some things. Actually kind of worked on the spin offs that will drop this week: CHERUB spin off on Thursday and the "absolutely only written because of Apology Tour" Verosika prequel one-shot later today. My thoughts about Apology Tour will be posted below in the Endnotes btwAnyway: These three chapters are some i have been waiting to write for a very long time, actually since i started this. Of course Manny was going to show up, and of course Heaven was going to show up. I tried to avoid anything resembling a spoiler because i wanted this to be a surprise. This chapter was a very emotional one for me because like Luz, i also lost my father (though he was estranged most of my life) It's... it's a lot.Speaking of surprises, i apparently went past 150k views sometime over the weekend. Yay, you all are amazing and i love every single one of you.Now, a BIG FAT TRIGGER WARNING for this chapter: This chapter is from the perspective of a dying man, if you don't feel comfortable reading that then skip ahead to one-third of the way through the chapter when we get to all the Heaven bits and bobs.
            
            (See the end of the chapter for  more notes.)
            
      
  

  
  
    
    
  Beep, beep, beep.
The machine kept beeping. It had been beeping for months and months now. It even beeped in his dreams.
  Beep, beep, beep.
Manny Noceda tried to cough into a fist and felt pain wrack his entire body as his hand hit against the breathing mask latched onto his face. Metastatic lung cancer was a b@tch and he hated it. Hatred was a small word but it was all he could think of to describe his feelings towards the disease that was slowly leeching the life away from him.
  Beep, beep, beep.
Where once he had been fit as a fiddle and strong as an ox, now he needed a walker to move and a nurse to help him out of bed. His skin, once a healthy shade of brown, was now much pale and thin as a sheet. His face was sallow, his hair was thin and still falling out, and he felt weaker than he ever had before.
  Beep, beep, beep.
The four white walls of his room at the Lyle Lipton Cancer Laboratory were all he had known for the last two years or so now. He had counted every tile on the floor that he could see whenever he put his bed up, and he had long since stopped pretending that the swirling and warm colored ceiling was some alien world or even the ceiling of the UFS Yorkshire from Cosmic Frontier. He was tired of the same old room and of only seeing his family for a set amount of time before his body gave out and he needed to rest with a breathing mask.A lot of things he’d gotten tired of since coming here, however.He was tired of feeling weak, he was tired of feeling exhausted every day, and he was tired of the toll this was taking on his family.They had uprooted their lives and moved halfway across the country, all so that he could get treatment at the shiniest and newest facility to hit the States at the hands of the eccentric but seemingly well-meaning billionaire known as Lyle Lipton, all because his darling daughter had written a letter to the Lyle Lipton foundation to get him treatment. Apparently, Mr. Lipton decided this would be a good use of resources, as he moved heaven and earth to show the whole world he was personally trying to save his life by any means necessary.At first that had meant performing every test under the sun and filling him with more experimental drugs and medicines than he could even name. Machines that weren’t even outside of the testing labs were being brought in, drugs that were worth more than his old house were being pumped into his system, and by the time that even Mr. Lipton’s most desperate of PR officials was willing to throw in the towel alternative therapies were being used by… questionable doctors.Eventually, the middle-aged man, and his equally eccentric partner Leonard Looperton, had come in, expressed their deepest condolences, and told them that the only thing left they could do was simply keep him as comfortable as possible… until the end.He would say he was comfortable.Oh, for sure, his waking life was a living hell of coughing up blood, weakness, and feeling his body die around him… but things could be worse.“Go fish.”He smiled behind the mask, at least he wasn't lonely.His darling daughter Luz had a few cards in her hand and was staring at him curiously. The nine-year-old understood he was sick, extremely so, but he had insisted that he would get better… Back when he still believed he could get better. He was sure she still believed he would come home one day, just get up healthy as a horse and walk out without a care in the world.Cam had tried to coax her slowly into the idea that… that he may not be coming back, but he could tell it wasn't sticking. She didn't want to believe, and so simply ignored it to focus on keeping him company while his wife watched over them both.Camila was sitting in one of the guest chairs just staring at their little game with a bittersweet expression on her face. He knew how much the move was hard on her and Luz but she didn't complain once, not when his life was on the line. Though if he knew that there was nothing to be done in the end and they would have moved for nothing he probably would have simply stayed put where he was and not moved his family at all.He could see the toll this was taking on them: He saw Camila had stopped straightening her hair and letting it curl or even frizz from worry, he saw the bags under her eyes, and he saw the tear tracks when she thought she had wiped them all away. Luz… Luz was young, but she knew he wasn’t getting any better and was growing more worried by the day. Cam hadn’t wanted him to know but had accidentally let slip that it was starting to affect her school life.All this trouble… and he wasn't even going to be better at the end of it all.No, he would have stayed put and saved them all the trouble. He missed his old bed, he missed his old coworkers, he missed the friends he had gone to High School and University with… he missed so many different things and none of it was his anymore. All because of this d@mn disease ravaging every part of his chest nowadays.Still, he thought as he continued smiling at his precious daughter, being angry at the world was no reason to make his family worry. “Ah, dang it.” He chuckled before coughing near the end. She got up with a frown on her face but he waved her away“Ah, don't mind me. Got a frog caught in my throat,” he chuckled, overjoyed to see his daughter smile. “I want to complete the game. I’m about to turn everything around.”Luz blinked, looked at her small hand of four cards and then looked at the massive and ever growing hand he himself had. “Dad… I’m kind of kicking your b@tt right now.”“I’ll turn it around next turn, just you wait.”Luz giggled happily and asked him for a six. He made a big show of looking through each and every card, even though the aforementioned six was right there at the front of his hand, and made noises of confusion as he carefully and very slowly checked each one.Cam rolled her eyes and he smiled. He still got it.“Dad,” Luz whined and he smiled before gingerly picking the six and all its friends and placed them onto the table one by one. “Wow.” Luz said. “You kinda suck.”He made a noise of faux-horror and placed a hand against his chest. “Camila!” He whined, a small cough trailing the end of his words. “Our daughter is bullying me!”Camila had a faraway look in her eyes as she stared at the two of them, a gentle smile on her face as she looked caught between pain and happiness. That was about what she normally felt these days, however…He sighed. Dying sucked.He gently placed all his cards down and smiled at Luz, the breathing mask making his face hurt after so long but he had long since grown used to it. He felt tired: tired of being sick, of having to use a walker to get around…Actually, he felt kind of tired in general.'Probably time for a nap,' he thought with bitter resentment. He wanted to keep spending time with his family, not resting the small amount of life he had left away. Luz looked at him oddly, a bit of worry in her eyes as she shuffled her small hand of cards together again.“Put the cards away, Luz,” he said gently, trying to keep the coughing under control as he rested. “I actually have something for you.”She blinked at him and even Camila looked shocked as he weakly began to reach for the side table to open it before the IVs in his arm stopped him. He frowned and tried to tug on them, but she vaulted out of her chair and rushed over. “I got it, dad,” she said happily. A forced happiness, but a happiness all the same. “Don’t worry about… anything…”She stared curiously at the book in the bedside table drawer with a little red bow on top of it. It was a hardcover book with a picture of a green-haired witch, her white robes shining bright beneath her wide brimmed hat as she held aloft an ivory staff and stared in determination at something beyond the cover. In reflective gold-colored print were the words The Good Witch Azura.Luz turned the book over in her hand, staring curiously at them as he giggled to himself painfully. “Pretty cool, huh?”Luz looked up at him and smiled gently. “Thanks dad, but… uh, I don't know what this is.”“I… I saw an ad for the third one and decided that it would be a good way to spend my time, you know?” He smiled at her and explained, his chest feeling a lot tighter for some reason, “Asked one… of the nurses… for the book, and read it… in a single day.”He had. He had devoured the new content like it was going out of style. It wasn’t his preferred style of literature, that being Sci-Fi, but he enjoyed it all the same simply because it broke up the monotony. He did, however, know someone who always enjoyed when he read her the Hobbit as a little tyke for bedtime… someone who might want a present for her birthday in a couple months that he might not be able to attend.“It’s called the-” He sputtered as he was cut off by a violent cough, something wet coming with it this time, and, suddenly, he couldn't get a word out.Luz finished for him, looking down at him with worry. “The Good Witch Azura. It looks… nice, dad.” She smiled at him and he tried to smile back. “Thanks.”He nodded at her and rested his head against the admittedly very comfy pillow. “I… I want you to have it now, mija.”She looked confused and he tried to get all the words out before another coughing fit interrupted him. “I… I don't know if I'll be able to attend your birthday, this place demands a lot out of you,” he said, wheezing. She was frowning now and opened her mouth so he rushed on. “I used the last of the Lipton Foundations check to buy that for you- consider it an early birthday present.”“You can give it to me for my actual birthday,” Luz complained, the age-old argument resurfacing. “I know… I know everyone’s given up but I haven't! You’ll be fine, you’ll-” She sniffled and he felt his heart break.She was crying now. He felt like a colossal jerk… Actually, he felt like a colossal jerk who had a killer headache.Camila rushed over to hold their daughter, brushing her hair and making comforting hums as Luz struggled to talk through the tears. “You’ll be fine- and, and you’ll walk me down my Quincenera!” She was struggling now, tears going down her face.She struggled out of Cam’s grip and breathed deeply before thrusting the book back towards him. “You can give me this on my actual birthday and we can read it together.”He smiled… and with a gentle hand, pushed the book back towards her. A cough wracked his body but he persevered and did his duty.“Please… mija, for me?”She stared and, with puffy eyes, held the book close to her. “Fine,” she agreed, nodding at him, “But we’re reading it together! I won't open a page until my birthday and I can read to you just like the old days.” Cam was trying not to cry, her smile completely watery just as his was.He smiled at her and opened his mouth to tell her how proud he was of her before another cough wracked his body. His vision went wavy and his chest felt like somebody had taken a pair of red-hot pokers to his whole torso.“Dad?” Luz asked as blood started coming up in the face mask, the pain becoming unbearable. “Dad!?”The machine next to him went crazy, a shrill noise emitting from it as the nurses and doctors that had been taking care of him rushed in and started ushering Camila and Luz out the door.Camila was crying openly now, screaming… something. It was like she was trying to speak from across a great chasm as he couldn't hear a word. The coughing started to weaken, but so did the rest of him. He could feel his limbs first turning into lead weights and then lightening as if they weren’t there at all.“Papa!” Luz cried.His eyesight began to darken as his mind went a bit numb, the coughing continuing as he tried to look at Luz one last time before the door closed between them. ‘I love you,’ he mouthed to her one last time before the pain caused him to close his eyes.
  Beep, beep, beep.
Things sort of continued for what felt like days… perhaps months or even years as he felt his body grow weaker and weaker, his mind numbing as the pain started to fade. He remembered the first Cosmic Frontier convention he ever went to, the sights and sounds of the massive hall as he nerded out like a champ.
  Beep, beep, beep.
He had written a fanfic and had entered it alongside a bunch of others. He had been so sure he would win. Imagine his surprise when he had come in second and another newcomer to the convention had won the whole thing. He had gone to congratulate them when he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever met.
  Beep, beep, beep.
She had been so gorgeous he had made a fool of himself… Oh, but she had enjoyed his dorkiness…The pain was fading and he was smiling now as the memories all rushed in at once. His time as an ambulance driver, his time in college, his first time living on his own. Childhood troubles and adult struggles all gently flowed one after another as he lay there dreaming.
  Beep… beep… beep…
This wasn't so bad… just remembering. He remembered the first time he ever read the Cosmic Frontier books, the first time he drove a car, his first date with Cam, their marriage, the first time he ever held Luz in his arms after she was born…No, this wasn't bad at all.
  Beep… beep…
The pain was gone but the weakness remained, his numbing mind shutting down as he breathed in… and out… in… and out… in…And out.
  Beeeee-
**********The pain was gone, so was the numbness. Actually, Manny kind of felt fine.That was surprising since he was pretty sure he just died. Maybe this was what happened when you died; pain, lots of it, and then basically feeling like a normal person again? He didn't mind that at all.He flexed his toes and wriggled his fingers. He started moving his arms every which way and bending his knees as he tried to take stock of his body.He took a deep breath and was surprised both at the fact he took a breath at all and the fact that there was no pain: no wracking coughs, no blood in his throat, and no need to wheeze at all. His body felt fine… actually, he felt like he had never been in the hospital at all.He was standing on something incredibly soft, almost like a sh@g carpet and yet also like grass… and also sand. It was a weird sensation and yet not at all unpleasant. It was actually quite nice. The air all around him was actually quite chilly but not cold. Just how he liked it.Actually, that didn't quite cover it. The air was the exact perfect temperature for him. It was never perfect like this… always too hot, too cold, too humid, too dry… and yet here it was the perfect blend of everythingSo, he was outside, standing on a sandy and grassy sh@g carpet in a place with an absolutely perfect temperature… that wasn't at all what he imagined death would be like.Before he could do anything else, the most amazing of things happened: a voice, the actual voice of another person, called out to him. “So… are you just going to stand around all eternity in the entryway?”“I mean, it’s perfectly fine if you do. It’s your eternity after all and I could use the company but, you know, you haven’t even seen anything else we have to offer,” the voice continued, as he finally forced himself to open his eyes.Blinding light greeted him, and he squinted a bit before his eyes seemed to adjust to the glare almost too quickly and he saw…Golden Gates. Each inch of them had been shined to absolute perfection and reflected the light all around it perfectly. It seemed to stretch on into infinity on either side, as he could see no end to it, while a pair of glowing golden eyes stared into his soul from above the gates. Fluffy clouds that seemed to come in every shape and size rolled past him and above him, broken by beams of golden light that shone down all around from above them. It was a warm and comforting light, like a blanket that wrapped around just him.There was a little silver podium in front of the gates to the side where a skinny white guy was smiling at him. His golden hair was perfectly coiffed and styled, and his baby blue robes somehow matched perfectly with his pristine pale wings, which were ringed with blue. A white halo floated above his head. The man smiled at him and even his teeth were shining.“Am I…?” he breathed, the halo and the clouds sort of gave it away. Still, he had dreamed of something like this happening as the cancer got worse. “Am I dreaming?”The man chuckled awkwardly and scratched the side of his head. “Ah, I always hate it when they think it’s a dream,” he muttered under his breath, still loud enough for Manny to hear however. The man clapped his hands together and gently began to fly over the podium till he was right before him. “So-” the mystery man began gently. “I might have some good news… and some bad news for you.”He blinked, and then asked, “What’s the bad news?”The mystery man smiled as gently as he could and softly stated, “I’m afraid you might have passed away while on Earth, my friend.” The man winced and seemed to wait in anticipation of something.Passed away.He was dead.He had died.His life was over.He laughed, and was amazed at how utterly without pain or discomfort his chest was. He laughed, his voice pitching like a hyena’s as he fell to the ground and began to cry as he cackled.A gentle hand rubbed his back as he openly sobbed now, crying like a newborn. He was dead. He had died! How was he supposed to live with that knowledge?Simple, his mind supplied him through the hysteria. You don't.“Hey now, it’s not so bad,” the mystery man said gently, still rubbing his back. “Would it help if I told you the good news?”“What good news could there possibly be!?” Manny cried out hysterically.In response, the blue-robed mystery man snapped his fingers and the pristine white halo above his head shone like a beacon, a beaming smile appearing across his face as he took off like a beacon to the top of the golden gates.“Manny Noceda, Son of Hugo and Maria,” the man announced, as he grinned happily down at Manny and as, slowly, the golden gates began to open as happy music rang out from… somewhere. “It is my utmost pleasure to say unto thee-”The gates opened and he felt his jaw drop wide open. A shining city of gleaming lights and pristine metal that glowed like the sun far above them. Tall skyscrapers that were, amazingly, all designed to be absolutely pleasing to the eye rose up from streets paved with gold brick. The smell of his mother’s old grilled papaya was in the air… he had missed that smell.The man- no, Saint Peter smiled down at him and spoke the words that he had never really expected to hear, “Welcome to Heaven!”Manny Noceda had never before felt more out of his depth than right here at this very moment. “Heaven is real?”“Well sure it is, buddy!” Saint Peter exclaimed as he flew down and rested an arm over his shoulder. “What, you thought you were going to church every Sunday for no reason?”He awkwardly scratched the side of his cheek. Okay, that was fair… but even when Lyle and Leopold told him that there was nothing else their doctors could do, he never quite gave any thought about what would happen afterwards. Sure, he was a devout Catholic, his whole family was, but that didn't mean- didn't mean he gave any thought to the Eternal Reward.St. Peter smiled gently at him and started leading him towards the open gates. “I know it’s… a lot to take in.” He chuckled warmly to himself as he spoke, confessing, “Lord knows I was pretty shocked when I passed and found Heaven laid before me.”“But I want you to listen to me very carefully,” St. Peter said, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking into his eyes. “You deserve this. You’ve earned the reward and now get to enjoy paradise with all the other winners at life! You, Manny Noceda, are a winner and nobody can take that away from you.”He breathed in the smell of his old family kitchen and took a step beyond the gate.Many things happened all at once.The first thing that happened is that his vision lit up like somebody had placed a candle above his head, causing him to reach up to feel a shiny halo appear above him. Meanwhile, he felt a twinge of movement as if his arms moved as a puff of feathers came from behind him and two truly massive wings appeared to hug him like a blanket.Also, the noise hit him finally. Usually, he found cities to be quite unpleasantly noisy but this… this was tolerable. In fact, he would even go so far as to say the noise levels were perfect for him. “Is everything here supposed to be perfect?” he muttered aloud.“It sure is, buddy!” sang a new voice. Manny jumped as what looked to be a three-foot-tall stuffed toy lion appeared in front of him. Small little wings like that of a baby bird were sticking out of his back and he had on a pale purple suit that fit him quite well. His head was like that of a cartoon character: soft and huggable with big, friendly eyes and a happy smile.“Hi there, you must be Manny!” the, quite frankly, adorable lion said as he stuck out his paw and smiled at Manny. “My name is Beau and I’ll be your therapy cherub for as long as you need!”He blinked, looking back to Saint Peter who even now made shooing motions towards him. The winged guardian of the gates of Paradise began, saying, “He’s going to go give you your heavenly orientation and show you to your new home-”“I already have a house here?” Manny interrupted, shocked.“-and I’ll, you guessed it, get back to my absolutely infinite and unending task of welcoming every last soul that has ever gotten into heaven into the Golden Gates,” Saint Peter finished, seeming to twitch for a moment before turning and flying back towards the podium even as he now saw a quite long line of shadowy figures waiting to materialize right behind where he was having his freak out. The shadow right at the front materialized into a rather old looking lady with a hunched back.“Ah, Margaret, right on time!” Saint Peter said happily as the gates closed behind him, leaving him and the Cherub Beau.Beau smiled up at him, happy and patient as can be.“So-” Manny murmured. He didn't really know what to do now. What do you do when you find out that Heaven is real and also that you ended up there? He awkwardly shuffled about and looked at all the gleaming and friendly architecture before turning back to the patiently waiting cherub. He asked, “Heaven, huh? What’s that like?”He wanted to slap himself in the head. He thought to himself, What a stupid question… Beau chuckled warmly and grabbed ahold of his hand in a gentle paw before leading him down one of the golden bricked roads.“Heaven is great!” Beau said happily. “There’s always something to do, and a new place to explore since it’s infinite. You want to climb mountains made of crystal? We can do that. You want to read books lost to time? We can do that too. It’s the eternal reward by the will of Him On High.”Manny looked up at the lights shining down from above, warm and comforting like a blanket and hot mug after a long day, and sighed deeply in contentment. “I guess the lights are Him, then?” he inquired.Beau made an odd noise with his mouth and seemed to choose his words carefully. “The lights are the warmth of His love, yes indeedy.” Before Manny could ask any follow up questions, Beau grabbed ahold of his hand like a child wanting to cross the street and began to tug him down one of the many golden-bricked roads. “Now come on, there’s so much to see!” he implored Manny.Manny laughed as he let the small lion lead him past shop after shop of every sort of comfort food imaginable. Churros, burgers and fries, ice-cream sundae- each and every one promised that they were fat and cholesterol free ‘since eternity.’ He must have had a curious look on his face because Beau smiled and flapped his small wings to begin hovering at head height.“All food here is free of all the downsides of the Earthly World,” the cherub said as he led him into a truly cozy feeling shop filled with the smell of baking cinnamon. A small team of other Cherubim, each and every one of them different from each other and yet all of them small and toy-like, were working away at a leisurely pace to make ice-cream sundaes for the hungry customers in line. Beau explained, “You can eat yourself stupid and never get fat- it’s supposed to be paradise, not… the other place.”“Okay,” Manny muttered, a little overwhelmed by everything but willing to give it a shot. “So if I just buy a whole gallon of ice cream and eat it in one sitting I won’t get a brain-freeze?” he asked.Beau looked confused. Quizzically, he chirruped, “What’s a brain-freeze?”Well, that answered that question.“Hi, welcome to Dixie’s Parlor!” enthused the small floating elephant, using its ears to keep aloft as it worked on many different tasks with both its trunk and its hands as he got up to the counter. “Owned and operated by my family for at least seventeen generations!”Manny’s jaw dropped. “How on earth do you keep an ice cream parlor for seventeen generations!?” he blurted.The elephant who must have been Dixie, and a few of the listening Cherubim behind her, all chuckled to themselves. “Because, ya silly goose, this isn’t earth!” they answered, in unison.He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I’m… ah, new here so-” he stumbled out, haltingly.Dixie gasped, her elephantine hands flying to her mouth in shock. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she said, guilt leaking out of her every word. “I didn’t- I didn’t mean to-”He never did well with crying people… or crying flying elephants for that matter. “No, no, no! It’s okay!” he spoke, waving his hands in desperation, panic in his voice. “I’m, I’m not offended I promise.”Dixie sniffled, looking like she was about to cry. “You… you promise?” she whimpered.Great, his first day in Heaven and he already made someone cry. He was going to get thrown out before the week was out at this rate. “I promise,” he said with as much determination as he could put into his voice.Dixie sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. “Sorry,” she said glumly as her trunk continued to make ice cream bowl after ice cream bowl. “I’m just- Cherubim exist to serve winners, so if we fail to do that… well, you know?”He didn't, but he really didn't want to make her cry again so he nodded. He wasn’t the best with people, never had been. He knew he was awkward and a bit nerdy in the eyes of some people: honestly, Cam had been the more approachable of the two because he was prone to go off on tangents about whatever was on his mind or a book he had read recently.Off-putting, that was it. He was a bit off-putting. How he landed a literal goddess like Cam was beyond him… He paused, considered his last thought, and waited for a bolt of lightning to strike him down for blasphemy now that he was in God’s domain.None arrived.He smiled gently at the now-calm Dixie and ordered two sundaes to go.**********The sundaes were, obviously, delicious.He chowed down on the delicious ice cream goodness as Beau ate his own, the two walking down a not-so-busy street and passing by many different signs and posters for anything and everything.It really was Heaven.He was in awe of the shining and completely clean skyscrapers all around them, each one designed to be absolutely pleasing to the eye. Motivational posters and billboards were plastered everywhere, each one saying an uplifting phrase or saying, and everywhere people of all shapes and sizes walked or flew.Angels, it seemed, were as diverse as the aliens on the UFS Yorkshire. He saw Gator men with wings for arms talking to supermodels with halos made of eyes, swords, candles, fire… you name it, the halos came in it. Manny saw a man who had eight great wings all wrapped around him like a fluffy coat walk down the street while dogs with little halos and wings yipped happily all around him.A… thing with two concentric rings made of eyeballs instead of a head was sipping at a cup of tea, somehow, with a bird person with six mighty wings. The two waved to him happily as they caught him staring.“Heaven is very… diverse,” he uttered, awestruck, looking at the many strange characters having what looked to be a dance party in the middle of the street. Did that spider girl have four legs? That was pretty cool.Beau finished his ice cream quickly and flew up and around Manny like a pet bird. “Oh, that’s because everyone gets to choose how they look up here for the first few days,” the Cherub explained.He blinked. “Pardon?”Beau smiled warmly as he swam through the air around him. “Well,” he explained. “Unlike downstairs, here you get a few days to settle things appearance-wise to your liking. Now, natural born angels have basic forms and true forms. But Winners? Winners get to pick and choose at will till they’re happy-”Manny stopped listening around the same time he shrank several feet back into the body of his ten-year-old self. He looked at the baggy robes and smiled like a crazy person. “Ahahaha! It works!” he gleefully exclaimed.He then rocketed back up and rushed over to the nearest reflective surface. He beamed happily as he saw he had turned into the body he had before the disease began to ravage him from the inside out. Tall, broad-shouldered, bushy beard and thick and curly hair. His skin was a healthy cocoa and his eyes didn't have the sheen of sickness on themHe fell to the ground laughing in pure glee, only to wince as he landed on his new wings. He should really do something… about… his wings…He had wings.It truly struck him in that moment that he had wings, he turned his head and looked at the massive, fluffy things as they twitched and moved at his command. Slowly, a child-like smile of pure happiness began to spread across his face as his wings began to slowly unfurl.“Now, ah, Manny,” Beau said worriedly. “I think maybe you should walk before you run… or at least try hovering before you-”Manny launched himself into the air and began to flap his wings like crazy, laughing as he soared higher and higher. He passed different layers of clouds, each one having its own districts and cities on them as he soared like an eagle. He felt free as a bird as he soared around, flying and turning clouds into funny shapes with his wings as he did so.This… This was true freedom.He had always wanted to fly like Superman did in the comics, his obsession leading him to almost launch himself off the roof of his modest one-story childhood home in Florida with a home-made pair of wings before his mama found him and screamed at him to get down. But ever since then he had always wanted to do so.He had planned on getting his pilot’s license so he could join the helicopter program at the hospital, to go about and rescue people and transfer them to wherever they needed to go in what was basically a sky ambulance. And yet the disease had taken that away from him.Now, as he soared like an eagle through the pristine white heavens, he realized that he was truly happy for the first time since he had been diagnosed.'This really is Heaven,' he thought to himself as he slowly began to angle himself downwards towards the grounds below. He had always wanted to do this.He rapidly approached the ground and he angled himself just so, so that when he landed-He hit the ground hard, his wings spreading feathers and glitter all around as he landed on one knee with his fist going into the ground. If Cam could only see me now, he thought happily.“Wow, when I asked for somebody to play ‘It’s raining men.’ I didn't think it would be so literal,” a smooth voice said from beside him and he looked around. He had landed in the middle of what looked to be a dance party, everyone now staring at him oddly but not unkindly. The person who spoke was a muscle-bound jock, a thin black tank-top and slim jeans the only thing he was wearing alongside his slick backed hair.“I think it was super cool how you landed all awesomely!” a cheerful voice beamed from next to him and he beheld the same four-legged spider girl from before, her fluffy body a bit poofed out from his landing as she stared at him transfixed. “You were like that action-comics guy, Ultraman or whatever!”“Molly, we have got to get you learnt about comic books,” the muscle-bound jock said playfully as the aforementioned ‘Molly’ punched his shoulder mockingly.“Sorry, I’m… ah new here,” Manny explained, flexing his wings as he got up from his landing and began to stretch. “I only just realized I have wings so I-”“Say no more, handsome,” the jock said with a wink. “I remember the first time I realized I could take off… It’s all good.” He shot out a hand and smiled, stating, “Alexander. It is a pleasure to meet you.”“Manny.” He shook his hand and smiled bashfully. “I’m… ah, married but flattered.”“Dang,” Alexander said before brightening. “Well, maybe we could still be friends?”“Alex, you just met the man. Calm down,” Molly said as she reached out to shake his hand around the same time Beau flew down in a panic.“You’re okay!” the Cherub shouted, panicked, his voice relieved but stressed out. “I mean… of course you’re okay, it’s Heaven.” The cherub awkwardly scratched the back of his head and smiled bashfully. “I… guess I didn't have to worry about you?”“I’m grateful you did worry, to be honest,” Manny explained as he walked over to the cherub, his wings now receding so they didn't hit anyone. “But yeah- I needed to fly.”“Everyone should fly, to be honest,” Molly chirped from beside him, poking around his left wing to peer at the cherub. “Huh, you really are new if you still have a therapy cherub.”“Leave him alone, Mol,” Alex spoke up from behind him. “Man could just like cherubs, you never know.”Molly acquiesced with a smile as she rocked back and forth on her four heels. She said, “Soo… if you ever want some cool buddies to hang with, me and my bestie are usually here most days-”“Every day is dance day,” Alex said with a nod, crossing his muscular arms and tapping his foot to the continuing beat.“-so if you wanna just hang out we can,” Molly said brightly and he chuckled warmly.“Sure,” Manny said, honestly flattered that he was being invited to parties- and all it took was him actually dying. “I’d love to actually party once in my life… er, un-life I guess.”“Great!” Molly cheered and immediately waved a hand through the air, the loud-but-not-too-loud music picking back up as everyone began to dance and enjoy themselves once more.He was happy, not even a day after dying and he had made friends-“God d@mn, that guy was hot!” he overheard Alex exclaim.“I know, right?” Molly responded.He winced. They’d get over that eventually.“Alrighty,” Beau said with a pained smile, clearly sensing his odd mood. “Before you give me a heart attack… let’s get you to your new home.”**********The house was made of gold. Because of course it was.It was a two story thing that looked ritzier than anywhere he had ever lived in his life. To be fair, though, all the houses on this street looked ritzy and glamorous.Actually, every house and building they had passed looked ritzy and glamorous.It was a two story and quite wide place with shimmering, stained-glass windows and a front door that looked carved from a mighty oak. A few columns stood tall and proud along the walkway to the front door and the roof shimmered like a diamond.It looked like it cost as much as the entire town of Gravesfield in totality.“Behold: Casa de la Noceda!” Beau uttered happily, as the lion Cherub spread his arms wide and showed off the ritzy house. “Four bedrooms, three baths, a pool, a hot-tub, an indoor garage for all of your vehicular needs… It’s got it all!” he proclaimed.Manny just blinked owlishly at the house, his jaw somewhere on the floor as he realized this was his new house… forever, maybe.“I-” he began, stutteringly. What does he say to this? What can he say?Beau began to tug on his arm and together they entered the doorway.Surprisingly, the inside of the house was not made of gold.It was a warm mahogany painted with summer colors, the walkway laminated tile carved to resemble trees. The railing was real wood, so was everything else. It looked… it looked like the house Manny had had before… everything.It reminded him of home… except now he quite literally could never return there. And this was the final proof of that.Beau was rambling about something. He could barely hear him over the sound of his own swirling thoughts as he stared at the pictures on the wall. They had managed to capture every picture he had of his family from earth and replicate them here.He felt his throat seize.“-don't have to worry about anything, because there's an herb garden in the back for… uh,” Beau stammered off, looking awkward as he turned to look at Manny, seeing he was now visibly a bit distressed. “Are you, okay?”“I-” he choked as he looked at the pictures on the wall and Beau made a noise of understanding. Slowly, the lion Cherub floated over and hugged Manny tight, his wooly mane tickling the underside of his face as the Cherub began to purr.He grabbed hold of the lion and began to sob.He had lost everything.He was dead and it would be decades, if not a century, before he saw his family ever again.Camila was back on earth, grieving and in pain, and there was nothing he could do.Luz was back on earth, lost and confused and so utterly hurt, and there was nothing he could do.He was dead. He had died. What could he even do about that?“I know it’s hard,” Beau rumbled from his chest, the lion Cherub holding the weeping man gently. “I- I know that nothing I can say will ease the pain right now, but I want you to know I will always be here for you, Manny Noceda.”Manny smiled and hugged the lion tighter, his arms shaking as he sobbed for all he had lost. Together, as the lion cherub began to soothingly run his back and purr comfortingly as they stayed in the entryway for some time, the two simply grieved.
  
  

    
      
        
        
          So, we got another Helluva Boss episode while i was off. And boy howdy was it a doozy. More Verosika lore (and the reason they broke up only adds fuel to my stupid headcanon that she's secretly a giant romantic sap) Marthberry (which i didnt know how to feel about considering their personal history but im coming around to actually) and also PAIN! SO MUCH PAIN! BLITZ IS ACTUALLY STARTING HIS PATH TO GETTING BETTER BUT STOLITZ IS CURRENTLY DEAD AS HELL BOYO!!!!!!!!! I dont really blame Stolas for hooking up with a random incubus because A. Blitz did the same during Beelz's party, and B. Blitz needs to work on himself before he's at all healthy enough to try his hand again at a relationship.But GOD I WANT THEM TO JUST TALK AND WORK THINGS OUT AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!Anyway, Manny. I hope by the end of this you all think i did both him and Heaven justice.Next Chapter: Eternity is long, how will Manny spend it?'
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
Assistant: