Author's Note: This story is a Birthday present to a friend of mine. She loves the pairing of Damien and Christophe, so I decided to do this for her. The story is based heavily upon the song by Avenged Sevenfold called Afterlife. Each paragraph/section represents a verse in the lyrics. It was rather difficult to do, so please give me a break. Just for reference, I am posting up the lyrics for each section/paragraph in italics. I hope you enjoy the story. It is three parts long. All reviews and comments are welcome.

Arrival

~Like walking into a dream, So unlike what you've seen, So unsure but it seems, 'Cause we've been waiting for you~

The stench was intoxicating and vile. A strong burning smell mixed with the putrid sent of rotting corpses and congealed blood was more than enough to wake anyone from the dead. Not to mention the fear, it was so powerful even that had its own smell. Lifeless brown eyes slowly opened to gaze blankly at the cloudy sky above. Immediately he knew that something was wrong. These clouds were not fluffy and white, nor were they black and weighed down with water. No, these particular clouds were a crimson red as if each one was filled with the blood of a thousand murder victims. Cold hands run over the dirt he lay upon, but the comfort he usually found was not there and neither was the feeling in his touch. Body seemed numb, but was able to move, forcing himself to sit up and stare at the hundred pair of eyes which were fixed to him, watching his every movement. The eyes did not belong to anything which remotely resembled a human. Black shadow-like creatures surrounded him, each with their own set of claws, pointy ears and hollowed out eyes. None could be distinguished from the other, they all just merged together like the cover of darkness. The Frenchman rubbed his heavy eyes, wondering if this was all a dream. It was too unreal.

~Fallen into this place. Just giving you a small taste, Of your afterlife here so stay, You'll be back here soon anyway~

Eyes downcast to the ground, he noticed the pool of light which surrounded him and broke him away from the rest of this world, like some sort of protective bubble. Snapping his head straight up, he focused on the slowly closing hole in the sky. If not for being the person he was, one might think he was an Angel descended from the heavens. Slowly the hole was closing, the light beginning to retreat away from the circle of creatures and towards him.

"Welcome to Hell, Christophe DeLorne." An eerie voice announced from the darkness, a figure slowly emerging. This one was more human like than the others, but his aura screamed otherwise. Dressed in all black attire, pale skin, short black hair and piercing red eyes, his form was much too familiar for the human named Christophe.

"Damien...?" he asked with wide eyes. The figure nodded. "But zat means-"

"You're dead?" Damien smirked. "On the contrary, Mole, you're very much alive." The brunette glanced down at his hands, they didn't feel like the hands of someone who was alive.

"Quoi? 'ow?"

"I saved you and brought you here before you died." Within a flash the demon was in front of him, taking the Frenchman's hands within his own to warm them. Christophe shuddered from the touch, desperately trying to yank his hands away. But the heat finally made him give in and relax, averting his gaze away from the black-haired Antichrist. "Humans have no body heat in Hell, if they did then they would not be able to survive down here." Allowing his sleepless eyes to wander back to the demon, he raised a quizical eyebrow.

"Eef ee'm steell aleeve, zen take moi back to Earth." Damien frowned, snatching his hands away from the Frenchman and rising to his feet, regarding him with a cold stare.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me, I saved your sorry ass."

"I 'eard you, deveel boy." he replied with a roll of his eyes, attention being drawn elsewhere.

"Come on, Christophe, this is just a small taste of the afterlife. So why not stay? You'll be back here soon anyway."

~I see a distant light, But girl, this can't be right, Such a surreal place to see, So how did this come to be, arrived too early?~

Blocking out the words of the demon, he glanced up at the crack the sky. The hole had almost closed now, the light from it hugging his form. His only of escaping vanishing with that final shaft of light as it dispersed, his protective bubble popping and submerging him into the smoky air of hell. The smoke he could deal with, but it was no substitute for the nicotine his body craved at this moment. Through the murky atmosphere, he could see mountains off in the distance with blood red rivers trailing up them. White buildings which looked like houses were scattered in clusters on and around them. One large building which stood out was resting in the carved out face of the mountain, the largest crimson river flowing past it. Occasionally a geyser of lava would shoot up from one of the may pools which littered the volcanoes. Such a surreal place, but it was how one would imagine Hell, just without the screams of pain and torture riding on the wind.

"Ee've come 'ere too earlee." Christophe stressed, earning him nothing but a quirk of the eyebrow from the demon.

~And when I think of all the places, I just don't belong, I've come to grips with life, And realize this is going too far~

"You belong here, Christophe, with me," he spread his arms, motioning to the hoard of creatures which watched them like a hawk watches its prey. "With all of us."

"Oui, probablee zrue." Damien smirked. "Mais, ee've finallee learnt to accept leefe." The pale features of the demon dropped in an instant upon being turned down.

"You don't understand do you, pathetic mortal?"

"Underzand what?"

"Must I spell it out for you?" Damien sighed irritably, running a hand through his black bangs and scraping them away from his crimson orbs.

"Spell what out, beetch?" he snapped, eyes narrowing into a suspicious glare.

"I like you, Christophe!" Both fell into a mutual silence for a few moments, avoiding gazes. "That is why I saved you, so you can-"

"Non," Eyes locked together once again, an unamused expression upon the brunette's face. "Zis ees goeeng too far, Damien."

~I don't belong here, we gotta move on, dear, Escape from this afterlife, Cause this time I'm right to move on and on, Far away from here~

"I don't belong 'ere." The Antichrist's eyes narrowed into a glare, not pleased that he wasn't getting what he wanted. "I 'ave to get back to ze fuckeeng real world!"

~A place of hope and no pain, Perfect skies with no rain, Can leave this place but refrain, 'Cause we've been waiting for you~

A large step was taken backwards, glare forcefully boring into the brunette's own narrowed stare. Arms were stretched out wide, motioning far beyond the demons and even beyond the mountains in the distance. Christophe didn't look, being much too paranoid to tear his fix away from the Antichrist.

"This is a place of hope for you, Christophe," Damien began, smile spreading across his face. "No harm will come to you in this life, I will make sure of that!" Raising his arms up to the sky, the brunette's gaze briefly watched the clouds move slowly by. "It never rains here." Damien knew his old friend all too well, knowing how much he despised the rain as well as any form of water. It washed away that layer of dirt upon his skin which he loved so much, and he always found it hard to smoke out in the rain as the cigarette would constantly die out. Christophe's attention was hooked now, glare finally softened just that tiny bit which told the demon that he was getting somewhere.

"You can leave this place if you really want to," he smirked. "But please refrain, because we've been waiting for you." Eyes darted around at the mass of creatures which Damien was in charge of. There had to be at least a hundred of the things, all standing there waiting for something, a sign.

~Fallen into this place, Just giving you a small taste, Of your afterlife here so stay, You'll be back here soon anyway~

"I brought you here to give you a taste of the afterlife," Damien continued, earning the brunette's gaze back and holding it within his own slitted eyes.

"Take moi back."

"What's the point? You'll be back here soon anyway."