Let The Water Wash Away Your Sins
is a Hellaverse Alternate Universe fanfic by Doyoufeellikeaheroyet1 on A03.
The story begins with an Angel falling from Heaven, named Matthew Rankin, and landing in the residence of Stolas and Blitzo. They, as well as several other characters within both Heaven and Hell, have to determine why he ended up there, as well as dealing with the consequences of his actions, past and present.The link to the story is here.
Unmarked spoilers ahead, read at your own risk.
This Fanfic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Matthew’s parents, Nathaniel and Sophia, both fit this description. Sophia was, comparatively, the least abusive, due to her primarily just allowing the abuse to occur and ending up yelling at Matthew for not complying with social pressures. Nathaniel was physically and verbally abusive to Matthew, allowing further abuse by Matthew’s brothers.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Nathaniel Rankin’s ambition to usurp God is undermined by his lack of any concrete plan to achieve or maintain this position. His pompous attitude and sense of entitlement makes him think any action he takes will be successful.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Matthew’s backstory definitely qualifies as dark. Even denizens of Hell find it upsetting.
- Declaration of Protection: Matthew declares this, with him at points promising to protect Stolas and Blitzo with his life.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite Blitzo, Lucifer and Stolas having killed many people over their lifetimes, as well as their willingness to torture potential threats to their families, they find Nathaniel Rankin’s horrific treatment of his own son for practically no good reason, utterly abhorrent.note
- Friendless Background: Matthew’s isolation during his childhood was imposed both by his abusive family, as well as the self-centred nature of most of the other angels he grew up with.
- Hate Sink: Nathaniel Rankin exemplifies this. Every action he takes, whether it’s abusing his son, proclaiming his deluded entitlement for all to hear, insulting Blitzo and Stolas or sending out other people to do his work for him, it all enrages everyone around him.
- Heroic B So D: Matthew goes into one when he is forced to kill a random demon by his brothers under threat of death.
- Pop-Cultured Badass: Matthew makes tons of references to various movies, shows and video games, as well as quoting certain characters. This is due to Matthew’s isolated upbringing and his access to media in order to keep him quiet, as he used Human media to form his own moral standards and opinions. These stories also give him ideas on how to punish those who’ve wronged him…
