Two weeks later, Bel is still fighting in the war. Lily has received support from her friends, but Sharkie has been noticeably less lively than usual. They fall into a routine as time passes.

A teenage demon comes to see her one day to give her one of her brother’s socks, as Bel had ordered. Touched that Bel is still looking out for her, Lily leaves the Hellp Desk early to attend a support group for spouses of soldiers at war. As she listens and speaks with the other spouses, she finds there is strength through understanding each other. At the warfront, Bel is struggling after six weeks of constant battle but vows to have their defenses hold.

Lily has a dream about being with Bel and entreats him to come home to her. That morning, Sharkie calls her “Mom” for the first time. She asks Lily for her permission to continue doing so, which Lily tearfully gives, and asks her opinion on calling Lucifer “Papa” and Bel “Dad.”

Meanwhile, nearly three months into the war, Bel is barely keeping it together. He checks in on Asmodeus, who has been receiving treatment after a gegony attack. As he returns to the mustering area and thinks of Lily and Sharkie, he hears the screams of monsters.

The next morning, Lily feels that something is off, though she cannot determine what it is. As they go through their breakfast, Lily glimpses her family photograph and finds it no longer holds so much pain. More pictures now adorn the walls of her other family members as well as her, Bel, and Sharkie. The weird feeling doesn’t dissipate, however, so Lily makes Sharkie promise to stay in Paradise.

Bel, meanwhile, fights against a flood of monsters. Asmodeus returns to the battlefield to help him despite not being fully healed. As they battle, one of his soldiers is mortally wounded and pleads for a mercy killing, but before he can give one, he is attacked by a monster, and she dies. Some of the creatures are inordinately small and Bel realizes then that they are the larger creatures’ younglings, used to infuriate their parents and have them rampage as they come to harm. Under the onslaught, Bel is cornered by a gegony and succumbs to its attack.

As Lily waits in line for coffee, the weird feeling surges, and she recalls a warning once given to her that she will know when something doesn’t belong in their Universe. She screams for everyone to clear the hall and hide in an Afterlife realm. In the chaos, she tries to direct people as much as possible just as the unknown creature moves quickly toward her and the other souls. Lily runs to one of the realms and clears its arch.

As the creature approaches, she hears the horns of Hell. The creature launches itself forward toward the horns while a second, more humanoid creature lunges for Lily. Only the barrier of the realm protects her and keeps it at bay. As they stare at each other, rage consumes Lily. With a single swipe of the sword Bel gave her, she cuts off its head. Then, God comes to stand next to her, and she realizes she has entered the realm of Heaven.

Filled with conflicting emotions, Lily demands to know from God what attributes (e.g., all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good) are real about him as she finds fault with all of them. God apologizes to her, but Lily confronts him on the harrowing experiences she and Sharkie both endured at the hands of people who represent him.

God explains that no deity is truly all-powerful, but that he, like the others, is more limited than mortals tend to believe. He tells her how he works closely with Hell to reform the mortals who claim to live by his ideals and cause harm. He bows to her and again apologizes for not being there for her and the mistakes people make in his name.

After thinking on Lucifer’s misrepresentation in the mortal world, Lily grudgingly accepts his apology but pointedly doesn’t forgive him yet. After contemplating him truly, she eventually thanks him and leaves to find Sharkie.

She encounters numerous soldiers, battered and broken, returning from the warfront in the hall. Bel is not among them. She finds Sharkie in the realm of Paradise but not at their home. She admonishes her for leaving the house, but she’s relieved to find Sharkie safe. They return to the house to gather some things and head to Bel’s house, as Hell would be the first place he returns to.

Lily forces her way into Lucifer’s office for answers on Bel’s status. Eventually, he tells her that he has no definitive information on Bel, only that there was a major attack and a preliminary report states the fight is over. They have ostensibly won the war.

Lucifer checks in on Sharkie, and they discuss Lily’s odd feeling that morning—something Lucifer states only souls who have a certain connection to the Afterlife can feel. He promises to give her more information as soon as he receives it. As she is about to leave, she recommends reorganizing and using the former military demons at the gate to help the wounded.

As she works at the Hellp Desk, a slew of Level Eight and Nine demons have come to help at the gate, courtesy of Greg. As a demon friend grieves the loss of their brother, Lily gets a call from Lucifer indicating they found Bel, but barely alive. He explains that a gegony injured him badly, and Lily runs to Bel’s home.

She finds Greg there, sitting on the steps of the house. He explains that he isn’t inside because he isn’t family, which Lily finds ludicrous. She sits with him, and though he tells her to leave him, she argues that she won’t be of any help since Bel is in surgery. Lily entreats him to go in by reminding him that isolation is a self-harming technique that helps no one. Greg, however, explains that some of the injuries Bel has sustained are ones he’s dealt out to evil souls in Level Nine. The similarity has left him lost in his way.

Lily comforts him, and when he asks how she is, she bursts into tears. Eventually, they go inside, and Lily is told the full extent of Bel’s injuries. After depleting the healing power of several healers, however, Bel will make a full recovery after a full week of rest. Lily and Lilith go into the room to visit him. When Lilith leaves, Lily holds his hand. She falls asleep next to him and, in the middle of the night, feels Bel’s tail curled around her leg.