A/N: This took nearly four months to release this? Good lord.

For the longest time, ever since I was young, I believed that Heaven and Hell are two polar opposites: the formal being the afterlife for everything that's good and looks as the most beautiful, peaceful planes of existence. Where everything/everyone you loved is there, maybe even the dinosaurs; that's a place I really want to look forward to. And then there's the underworld, where everything/everyone you hate dwells, where every worst nightmare will come true, and then some, eternally. That was my basic thinking.

Now, I've found out that these places are much more diverse. While it may be true that more people could end up in Hell than anywhere else, Dante has created nine distinctive rings depending on the sins of others. Those being Limbo, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, Heresy, the three Wrath rings, Fraud aka Blasphemy, and ending with Lucifer's turf, Treachery. And Team Witness will venture through each underbelly to find their tortured mentor, Ichabod.

Chapter XI
Limbo

From the Acheron river, the headless ship, Charon, docked on a colorless, basaltic shore. Team Witness arrived in a dense, dark forest. It looked to them like haunted woods, complete with dying plants, trees with sharp, twisted bare branches, and screechy noises within the night underneath a lifeless sky with no moon nor stars. Only those cries were later caused by the damned newborns hidden within the limbs or in the thick, uncomfortable forest floor.

Gavin stuttered as he got a chill from the coarse air and the horrifying environment. Jenny quoted from Virgil, "Here suffer those who did not sin, yet did not have the required portal of our faith. Their punishment is the denial of Paradise."

"In other words, this is Limbo, the outer circle of Hell. Where people who were unbaptized rest. It's here where the damned receive the least punishment." Lara described. The group realized they had entered the Inferno proper.

"It's just a distorted form of Heaven, like the Asphodel Meadows made by the Greek poets, particularly Homer." Jake summarized.

Most of the inhabitants looked deformed; Gavin could've sworn they looked like the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts. Everyone looked at him in an agitated manner.

"Hey, the Heartless were also abominations born out of sinful people. Those that had impure hearts, like those that have dark souls. They prey on people's pure hearts, and THESE were the unlucky ones that never had their souls cleansed. Plus...they pretty much look like the Shadow Heartless, born as disfigured, wicked beings, kind of like zombies."

While the majority pretty much looked the same, there were a few that the team recognized:

First was Ava Archer, a half-breed of Asian-American who never saw the light of day back in December 1999. In fact her eyes were so squinted that it was hard to see her eyes; God knows whether or not she was born blind.

Gavin remembered Adrian and Rosemary were sent to Limbo from the Devil's Trap; she dove in as soon as the spell was activated. Adrian was a demon, after all.

The rest were Tommy who died as a stillborn back in 1990 which was why his father, Stu, had an obsession for making toys in his basement; Chuckie and his mom passed in a severe car accident leaving their father, Chaz, in grief till he found romance in Paris; and the DeVille baby was aborted not knowing it was male or female.

As soon as Gavin recognized both Rosemary and Adrian, they began to glare at him and attack. He drew out the Demonslayer and swiped at them both with all their pent-up hatred for each other. Unlike before, Rosemary's sky-blue nightgown was nothing but dull and raggedy. She made a brief charge out of spite, but she immediately backed off as Adrian took the fray.

It was a free-for-all as the rest of the accursed soon followed. They chased them straight through the wood, after Gavin realized he can't defeat a demon in their own turf. Adrian was stunned by the salt and Jake signaled him to run with them. A broken drawbridge laid across the abyss and millions of squealing infants reached up toward them, awaiting the catch within their clutches.

Some of the baby demons mounted up, reaching for Lara. She was being dragged down by the endless hordes. Fortunately, the team sprinkled some holy water on her, freeing the Witness from her eternal prison and making the unfortunate souls back away.

When they headed for safety, Lara pondered for a bit. "Hm, why did all these demonic babies reach out to me? What seems to be the attraction?"

Her mom sulked in the shadows, afraid she'd reveal the answer. Diana's future daughter looked over toward her.

"I wasn't baptized and you never told me!" she responded with a stern expression.

Diana was struck with shame. "I'm sorry, Lara. You must remember that back then I was only a skeptic of the supernatural, and religion. It all seemed farfetched to me, and I never believed the upcoming threats that Crane, Jenny, and Gavin never shut up about." She remembered the sergeant's reaction and disdain to her. "He was right, I was foolish to not believe and comprehend what was going on. I should've had you baptized, but I never thought it was so important to save our souls." Her voice nearly cracked.

Some people felt sorry for her decision. "I'm glad I was baptized after I was born." Jake said.

"Me too." Alex added. "We were all Presbyterian."

"Well, my sister and I were devout Catholics as we were raised in foster homes." Jenny explained, "It's been a requirement for newborns and sometimes holy water would be acquired to their feet, or showered. It is said that they would be cleansed from not only filth, but from sin, as well. They believed that their feet needs to be bathed before they can stand since the ground, the earth, was unholy."

Lara became more irritated, "We're going to immerse ourselves into the other rings! I'm also a Witness, so I'll obviously be part of the damned as their number one target!"

"It's not too late." the wielder of Faith stated. "You can still be a part of God here. We do have holy water, after all."

Gavin, Jake, and Alex stood back. Jenny told Lara and Diana to kneel down. There were some verses she mentioned on how vital it was to be washed in God, and to be a part of Him to save their souls so they could have the chance to prevent themselves from eternal damnation. This was a Christian practice done in the first century, and she mentioned that all their essences will now be a part of Christ and also to protect them from the evils within the other eight rings.

Jenny took out one of Molly's super soaker guns, she opened the hatch, and slowly poured the holy water onto the Thomases; they had to bow their heads and close their eyes in order for them to not let them sting.

"Y'know, perhaps we should apply some of that to ourselves." Gavin said.

"Yeah, let's do that." Jake chimed.

They each got their bodies purified, even Jenny's. With the toxic air surrounding them, it was quite a refresher. She motioned for the two recipients to rise since the process was complete.

"Thanks for everything, Jenny. We appreciate this."

"My pleasure, Diana. I'm glad you're both finally accepting this." She faced the door where her teammates were waiting. "Let's go. We have to save Crane, and fry some demons." Jenny loaded her weapon and she walked off.

Diana faced her only daughter. "I promise, Lara. As soon as we get out of here, the first thing I'm going to do is have Molly baptized. This way, it wouldn't contaminate her present, nor her future."

After a brief moment. she finally smiled. "Thanks, Mom." They embraced each other for a few seconds, then walked on hand in hand.

The second portion was at an old, worn-down temple known as the Citadel of Limbo, where all the poets and philosophers resided including Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato. It's said that the wisest men of antiquity reside there, but they were not Christian. Seven gates and a flowing brook surrounded them. As the group went in, they entered a meadow seeing all the figures.

Gavin wondered if anyone has left such a miserable place. Jenny answered that it only happened once over two millennia. Jesus, known as the Mighty One, has entered Limbo and freed Homer, Moses, Abraham, David, and Rachel in the year 33. This event was known as the Harrowing of Hell, the first occurrence, and maybe the last, in which a group of people was freed within his loving arms.

They ventured on before any of them were driven to despair. In a colossal cavern, they heard screams of various men and women; they were only shades. Each one was in a long queue, awaiting the proper punishment. One by one they fell off a rocky precipice and onto a humongous wheel with protruding spikes. It spun rapidly and then stopped before the next victim descended and got its vessel splattered on a spike.

Apparently, that wheel was used as a way to represent each sin to whoever lands on it, and is thus being rocketed away to their corresponding circle. There was a scary, vehement voice belonging to a beast of sorts, commandeering the wheel. For every circle, his tail was spun on a specific number of rotations depending on the victim's contrapasso.

"Hate!" The wheel turned and a soul landed on it, then faded. The process repeated as it shouted, "Treachery. Suicide!"

Through the murky lighting, they saw an elderly, skinny man holding a long, curved scepter. There was a pointed crown fused on his head. Jenny identified it as the fallen king, Minos, the Judge of the Damned.

"Who dares enter my House of Torment?"

"It is us, Lord Minos. Team Witness!" Lara challenged with earnest. She was leading the pack, with Jenny and Gavin close behind, followed by Alex and Jake, then Diana. "We are here to retrieve the soul of Capt. Ichabod Crane."

He paused for a few moments. Then his soul-piercing eyes widened, "Ahh... The traitor, and Witness. He deserves his punishment within Treachery for betraying the trust of his king and country, and making the deal with Lucifer. He shall never have any reprieve; he's eternally bound to His lair."

"With your permission or not, we shall pass through here!"

"There is no place for you, brave mortals. Not yet, until the end is near."

"We've got to save Ichabod!" Gavin snarled. "Let us through!" He charged up toward the pedestal with his Demonslayer drawn.

"Gavin!" Jenny shrieked.

"Dare you defy the Judge of the Damned!?" Minos roared. He transformed as he reeled his head back. Just then, his abdomen shattered as the team witnessed an enormous being that they presumed was half-human, half-slug. He grew and expanded so large that they couldn't come up with proper measurements! Minos whipped his slimy tail down, but Gavin avoided it.

The pedestal collapsed with his weight. The Fortitude wielder ended up on the ground floor. His friends rushed to his side, though it didn't take long for Minos to counterattack. He whipped his tail again and everyone scattered. Gavin staggered away, still stunned from the impact. Jenny and Lara pitched in. They distracted the rotting ruler as he bellowed, "I shall send you to the bottom-most circles of Hell. You'll be devoured for all eternity!"

Minos' body was ginormous, but he was very slow not counting his swift tail end. Jenny and Lara both dove under and used all their strength to hit his scrawny legs. As he was in pain, he didn't realize his underbelly was just impaled by his own wheel! The monster screamed in agony, making the six cover their sorry ears.

They managed to have Minos' belly tangled and caught in the torture vessel. As it rotated rapidly, the spikes sliced up its body asunder, spewing rotted flesh and blood everywhere. Jenny and Lara recovered and did a high-five. "Impressive." Lara commented.

"Hey, you didn't do so bad yourself; I'm glad we both can do some badass martial arts."

"Hey guys, look!" Diana pointed toward a drop the mist just broke over. There was a pit that seemed to go on for miles.

"I believe this is where we should go to next." Jake concluded.

Jenny did have a bad feeling over what she and her fighting partner just did; with Limbo ungoverned it's likely the convicts would escape into the overworld, and that Lucifer would be pleased on starting the apocalypse early. On top of that, it was definite that someone else would shortly take Minos' place, or he might even regenerate himself.

"Then, we must hurry before that happens. Let's go, Ichabod's waiting; he's depending on us!" Lara declared.

Regardless of the team's anxieties and despite Gavin's weakened constitution, they leapt into the chasm beyond, their souls gradually dropping, and they were on their way toward the first ring of incontinence, Lust.

A/N: The Limbo ring was pretty easy to make. Then again, this is, after all, only the first; so, of course, it's gonna get harder from here.

So, yeah, I didn't have a lot of material to work with. It's pretty hard to tell whether or not someone has been baptized. Especially if it concerns fictional characters. So, the sinners in the first ring are pretty much those that hardly had the chance to receive God's graces. I'm not religious, but I am thankful I was baptized, and I too had a Presbyterian background. I've mentioned some historical figures that were familiar but like I said, there was hardly any material here. And while I understand about people not being baptized end up here, I'm actually supportive of women's rights aborting fetuses, whether it'd be from an unwanted pregnancy, stillborns and miscarriages, or other factors.

The forest may have "Ghost House" from Super Mario World. "The Night of Fate" from Kingdom Hearts plays as the team fight off the damned in Limbo. "Family Matters" will play when the baptism starts. "The Deceased Laugh" from FFX could play when the team meets Minos. The "Boss Battle Theme" from Ocarina of Time might play when they face him, and "Boss Defeated" would sound after that as they progress to each ring. Kevin Michael Richardson voiced Milos from the animated epic. And OMG, his voice work in movies and animation are insane; he may even compete with Dan Green for his legendary stats!

There was a reference to Kingdom Hearts, but I'm not really a fan of the series; I kinda grew out of it after a short while when I was a teen.

While I did like most of the Rugrats when I was a kid, I didn't put the babies and Chuckie's mom on here just because I hated them. I only did that because it was based on the infamous creepypasta. It was quite interesting to know that Angelica, or Satanica, has made up most of the characters as fragments from her imagination. The story said that Tommy was born in 1988, but since the series debuted in 1991 while the pilot episode was his first birthday, I decided to change that. Same thing with Chuckie as he died in 1990, yet he was 2 when the show came out.

And as for the demon baby, Adrian, and its mom, Rose? Well, if you would've paid attention to "The Demon from Within," then you'd already know how Gavin was able to use the Devil's Trap and send them both down below where they belong. And since she gave birth to an impending abomination, I figured it'd be perfect for them both.

Lastly, I thought Lara/Molly not being baptized was an interesting touch; since Diana was a skeptic for the supernatural and the Witnesses, I guess it'd make some sense.

One down, eight more to go. No doubt it'll get harder and harder as the story goes on...