ritual

Y/N's having a stroke.

She has never experienced one and, technically speaking, angels' bodies are immune to all sickness and ailments given that they are just physical vessels for celestial energy. She's probably just being dramatic. However, Y/N is pretty sure that what she is currently going through is most definitely classified as a stroke.

Her palms are sweaty, her vision is blurring in and out of focus, she has a serious case of cottonmouth, her ears are ringing, her lungs are burning, and her heart is attempting to burst through her ribcage. According to what she has seen on television shows and commercials, as well as a quick search on WebMD, these strenuous sensations are the characteristics of a severe seizure. Or maybe a panic attack, at the least.

The issue is that Y/N is the one inflicting this upon herself by overreacting, but she can't seem to help it. Given the current situation, it's not unusual that all her nerves are splintering and that her entire body has kicked into high gear. Any angel having to witness a satanic ritual would react the same exact way.

It's not so much Harry's culture and practices that make her catastrophically uncomfortable, but it's moreso the fact that she's standing not even a full yard away as it all unfolds.

From the second Y/N and Harry had started dating, she was well aware of the consequences of their relationship. Apart from having to lie to her friends and family about why she had decided to extend her visit to earth into a semi-permanent moving-out, she'd also had to sacrifice a lot of the morals and ethics ingrained into her from the instant she had been created. Dismantling three thousand years worth of education and routine wasn't necessarily a walk through the Garden of Eden. Y/N had no choice but to set aside her personal afflictions about her boyfriend's lifestyle in order to make it work and though it had been a rocky start, everything she used to despise about demons had gradually integrated into her new status quo.

She had learned to turn a blind eye when it came to Harry's demonic dealings; she wasn't by any means supportive of people selling their souls and condemning themselves to damnation, but God gave humans free will for a reason and it's not any of her concern what they decide to do with it. Plus, according to what Harry had told her, demons have a certain monthly quota on how many souls they are required to collect and if he were to miss the mark, it would be a dead giveaway that something was out of the ordinary. Harry is one of Hell's most prized businessmen— he'd been breaking records for centuries now— and if his numbers were to suddenly drop, rumors would no doubt cascade up the corporate ladder and make their way to a certain ill-tempered archangel's ears.

The last thing either of them needed is Lucifer sniffing around, particularly because it would give him ammo to lord over Y/N, which he'd unquestionably use to threaten her status in heaven. Her own personal worries aside, she has no idea what her father would do to Harry if he got wind of their forbidden connection and honestly, she would rather saw off her own wings than find out.

There were too many risks involved in convincing her boyfriend to take the moral high road so instead, she kept her nose out of it all together. It's for the best.

When it came to his other demonic duties, she made herself slightly more aware of them, despite wishing she didn't have to. Duties such as mandatory business meetings— which doubled as satanic rituals— and his role as a professor of dark arts and lethal combat training to the upcoming generations of Hell. Y/N asked him endless questions about his responsibilities because she felt that being purposefully ignorant was selfishly stupid. Educating herself made it easier to understand Harry's life and taught her not to judge him so harshly for the actions he partook. Hearing him speak about blood sacraments and swearing loyalty to someone she had been conditioned to hate made her mouth turn sour, almost like she'd swallowed a spoonful of brimstone dust, but she shouldered it because she loved him and when you love someone, you have to put aside your own biases in order to fully comprehend theirs.