The other day, I met the devil for a cup of coffee. I arrived 30 minutes late, He was right on time.
"I'm sorry, the traffic on the west side was crazy" I lied to the biblical deceiver. He grinned, half impressed and gestured me to take the seat in front of him as he took a sip of his Kopi Luwak.
Where are his manners, I thought to myself- He is the devil of course, what did I expect?
I sat down. Normally, I would have exchanged some pleasantries, but nothing about today was normal. I was having coffee with the King of Darkness, badinage was clearly uninvited.
"Hi! I'm Nina Fernandez, reporter with The Good Times, and I am here to interview you."

I looked up at the girl who sat in front of me. Prim and proper, not a single strand of hair betrayed the neat bun that adorned her head. Nina Fernandez, I knew everything about her. I had seen her grow up. Fierce and fearless- everyone called her. I knew what she would ask, I knew what they all would-"Why did you do it? Why did you believe that you could outshine your own creator?"

"God forgives us, why didn't he ever forgive his own child?" she asked me.
I looked up, trying to read her face. I didn't expect her to ask that. Hell, I never asked that to myself. "Forgiveness is for those who can be redeemed and there is no redemption for the devil" I told her.
"Do you regret it?" she asked without missing a beat
"Did you regret it when your father disowned you?" I saw the color drain from her face
I knew everything about her
How she lied to her own father, fought with him and tainted everything he had ever built. I knew it, for I did that too, but they questioned her father's upbringing, nobody questioned mine. Here she thought that today we met for the first time, how I wish she recognized my voice, the same one that whispered in her ears, played with her mind and sowed the seeds of her own rebellion. Fierce and fearless-everyone called her, I made her that.
"Yes" she said.
"I regret it with everything in me."

I was being honest with the devil. The irony of that made me laugh at myself. "I regretted it. I did. Not then, not in the moment. For in the moment, I thought I was better than him. I thought I didn't need my father and life taught me that I was right. I didn't need him, but God did I need his love. The way he caressed my head every night before he made me sleep, the way he would hug me when I broke down and the way he would look at me when I laughed. I missed that" I could see how his face dropped. He expected me to stay silent or avert his gaze. But that wasn't me. Fierce and fearless-He knew that, didnt he? "Now your turn, answer my question"

I was taken aback by her honesty. "I had darkened her mind, how did I miss her soul?" I thought to myself. "I didn't regret it. Not for a minute, not for a second. My father deserved it. He never loved me. For you forgive those who you love. You don't make them beg for it. You hold their hand and tell them that you understand them, you see their pain and you accept it. He loves every one of you filthy human beings-loves you despite everything that you ever do. Accepts you for who you are. Then why not me? Why not his own son?" a silent tear fell down my cheeks. I wiped it hurriedly. Her face softened, she gently placed her hand on mine. "Did you ever ask him?" - "What is there to ask? Actions speak louder, sweetheart. He sealed my fate and relinquished me. You don't do that to the people you love."
"He could have destroyed you? Then why not do that?" she asked me again. I kept looking at her, taken aback by the questions that hit like aphoristic arrows.

"He couldn't destroy his son, even if it meant destroying humanity. He banished you to Hell but he couldn't bear to separate himself from you. Maybe that's why he made you the warden of us all? the punisher? So that you could see your own sins being reflected back at you through the prism of his own creation? Maybe that was his way of redeeming you? His way of loving you?" The daughter in me coaxed at him.

"I-I don't know" I said.
she smiled at me and handed me a piece of paper. "Don't open it until I leave" she told me. "I wish I could tell the world, Satan was not a rebel, he was just another child, begging for his father's love. And maybe the Bible wasn't just a book of code for humanity, maybe it was a father's letter to his son. A letter that said, you aren't the only one, who lost, I lost my son too." She told me as she got up. She smiled at me and left.
The tears in my eyes disappeared as a sly smirk took over my face. "The fallen angel who needs love, idiots. Such big idiots. It's so easy to manipulate these emotional reeks" I looked up and laughed "Father, that is your best work? Humanity is doomed just like me." I laughed and opened the piece of paper my prey gave me.

"I didn't know how honest you were, even when you thought you were lying. Hear you never, Samael-The light bringer. You too shall be redeemed"

I left the cafe with a smile that day. I forgave the devil and now it was time to forgive the one within me. I switched on my phone, "Dad" it read. "I write my own story now." I told myself, as I dialed the dusty number that reflected in my eyes.

The devil looked at her from a distance, still holding onto the piece of paper she had given him.
"Fierce and fearless", he chuckled. "You conquered your demons after all"