Creation began on 05-19-11

Creation ended on 09-10-11

Dorian Gray

Atonement

A/N: I was looking at Dorian Gray a little bit again and got the idea of having this be a prequel to the story A Different Price. Brother Correction paying a visit to Henry Wotton and actually forcing the man to admit his own sins for what he had done to cause Dorian's ruination. Let's get to it!

"I am what you made me!" Dorian's voice uttered to Henry, as the man recalled the night he was told that.

Going up to his attic, which had become a habit now after Emily left home, Henry stood in front of and looked down at what was present there. It was his reminder of that night where he saw the wickedness, the tarnishing and the decaying, all of which he knew he caused.

"Poor boy," he said. "Who can bear to look at you now?"

The painting, partially burnt only on the left and right sides, was unresponsive. But, despite the intensity of the fire that had reduced its owner to ashes, it survived, all that was left of Dorian Gray, and representing the full power of his young, beautiful and innocent appearance that was restored to it when Dorian sought to end the nightmare. It was a miracle that it was intact, as everything else in the attic had been burnt beyond recognition.

"I can bear to look at him, for he is still pleasing to look at," Henry heard somebody beside him and turned to find a man dressed in the same outfit as Dorian was in the painting, but his face embraced the darkness laced in his skin. "He's such a pretty boy, don't you think so?"

Henry backed away and looked at him.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here?" He demanded.

The dark man stood in front of the painting and made it rise to at least three feet in the air, with its original frame restored to it, though the burns remained.

"I am a judge," he told Henry, "and you…are guilty, Henry Wotton."

"What?" He asked, now feeling the burning sensation of his facial injury. "Aaaurgh!"

Falling to his knees, the burnt parts of his face seared as smoke started rising from his flesh.

"I shall read you of the crimes you committed," the man told him. "You took a foul interest in Dorian Gray when he first came to London, fascinated by his looks and youth. You paved a path for him that was best left unpaved and forgotten when you started speaking to him about the experiences of pleasure. In the bar, you tried to get him to let go of his inhibitions and have him embrace the chances available to him with his beauty, feeling that the powerful combination of looks and youth made him a conquerer of mortals. When his painting was done, you teased him about how the painting would remain as it was when it was completed and how Dorian would lose his advantages, prompting him to, as you yourself once put it, nail his soul to the Devil's altar. Even when the deal was sealed, you kept influencing the young man to practice what you always preached. You preached…but you never dared to practice all of them yourself. You caused Dorian Gray to suffer the consequences of your twisted desires, leaving him with a face that remained unchanged with unforgettable great age, desires that were unthinkable and unpredictable…and with a curse that was unimaginable, which caused the deaths of two people and the suicide of a young woman that loved him dearly. These are your crimes, your sins, and why you must suffer for them in retribution."

Dropping to his left side, Henry howled in pain as the skin on his face felt like it could burn away further. He could see the man for what he truly was: A god incarnate in the form of a man. A god that was angry with him for what he himself had caused.

"Please!" He begged. "I'm sorry!"

"It's not even me you owe apologies to," he told him. "Tell it to Dorian Gray…when you see him."

"No! Please! What…what can I do to make amends? I'll do anything! Anything!" Henry cried out, feeling the skin on his face catch fire.

The next thing he knew, the pain, the searing of his flesh, all stopped.

"It took you long enough to say the words I needed to hear you say," he told Henry. "I am not a cruel person unless it's to those that refuse to atone for their crimes or must be severely punished to avenge the ones that have suffered. But if you agree to change your ways, to leave Dorian Gray, whom I intend to revive from death, alone, you will be absolved of your sins. Do you abide by my conditions?"

Slowly rising from the floor, the aged man, holding onto his face, responded, "Yes."

The world around them began to blur and darken.

"I shall hold you to it," the god told him, disappearing from sight. "And in the future, when you want to preach about pleasure, make sure that it is you who practices the preachings rather than simply preaching them."

The world began to look like that of a painting, before it was completed by the artist. The next thing he knew, Henry was in the room where Basil had just completed Dorian's painting…and where Dorian himself had uttered that maybe he should nail his soul to the Devil's alter to remain as he is in his painting after Henry spoke of how the painting would remain the same while Dorian himself continued to age and wither.

"…Would you, Dorian?" Henry asked him, only partially aware that he was now back to the day he teased the young man to condemn himself to misery; it was like watching a play…but you saw yourself through the eyes of another, unable to do anything but hope for the best. Please, don't say 'yes'.

A/N: And here it is! The prequel to my first story! Please, read and review, and I'll be up to date with my other stories in due time! Peace!