Author's Notes: This is it... you know what's going to happen.

Heroboy005

Chapter 27

It was almost noon, when Simon Cyrene and Jesus made it to the place of the skull: Golgotha. There, a group of soldiers, along with Penance the Hyena, and the caribou criminal, were waiting for the last crucifixion victim to arrive. They had the crosses ready, and now all they needed to do was nail the people to them.

Wolfenstein, Tamara, and Bonhoeffer were also there, among their fellow soldiers. The crowds were also gathering as well, with Caiaphas, Annas, and the other religious leaders leading. Judy, Nick, Finnick, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Joash, Asa, James, John, and Jethro were also in the crowd, trying to mentally prepare themselves for what they were about to see.

Golgotha, the place of the skull, was a large mountain that had a face like a skull. On top of it was just a flat piece of land, where the three were going to be crucified. After carrying the cross up to the flat land, both Simon and the White Lion collapsed to their knees, dropping the cross.

"Thank… you… for your… help…" Jesus spoke, his voice weak.

"I… uh…" Simon spoke, his tone sounding apologetic. "You're welcome and… I'm sorry… that you have to die and all…"

Suddenly, a rhino guard in black armor shoved Simon away, telling him that he could go. With a pained look on his face, Simon began heading away from the place of the skull; he didn't want to see what was going to happen.

The White Lion was then picked up to his feet by the rhino guard, to which he and another guard, the brown bear from early, began stripping the White Lion of his clothes. Jesus was stripped of his white coat, his prison clothes, and even his shorts, so that he was naked. Afterwards, they shoved him to the ground, which he let out another groan of pain.

The two guards began fighting over the White Lion's white coat, but then one of the guards stopped them.

"Hang on a second, don't ruin it!" said the guard, who was a wolf. "Let's gamble for it; I got some dice!"

The two other guards agreed to that, and then decided to gamble for it later on. But much to their surprise, they saw something that shocked them, and all others who saw it: the White Lion, with slow, weak movements, was crawling towards the cross. This shocked the guards a little, as they usually had to force criminals onto the crosses (which is what was happening to Penance and the caribou criminal, who were getting nailed).

Jesus then climbed onto the cross, and fell over onto his back; he wasn't fighting, he wasn't resisting, but was going easily. The guards who were in charge of nailing him to the cross, the water buffalo and the leopard in black armor, then descended upon him. They tied one of his arms to the cross to make sure he didn't move it, and then set the nail into the palm of his paw/hand.

Then the raised the hammer up, high into the air, and everyone who was friends with the White Lion held their breaths in horror!

The hammer came down, and the nail went through Jesus' paw/hand, causing blood to spurt out and for him to cry out in pain! Another hit, and another spurt of blood, as the White Lion gritted his teeth to try and fight through it! It hurt so much, so much that it was unbearable! But still, the White Lion held on; he had to get through it. Another hit, and the nail was fully in; the White Lion could no longer move his paw/hand.

The guards went to work on the other paw/hand, but found that Jesus' arm didn't reach the whole way. So, they a rope around his arm and pulled, causing it to become dislocated, but able to be put in the spot they needed it to be put in! They then put the nail in the palm, raised the hammer up high, and brought it down! Once again, the White Lion was subjected to the unbearable pain, to which he cried out and gritted his teeth!

Now that they were done with the hands/paws, they took a large, metal spike, and positioned the White Lion's feet on top of each other. They stuck the spike in his feet, raised the hammer up again, and brought it down! The spike impaled the White Lion's feet, causing him to groan in pain! He was so tired and wounded that he couldn't even yell anymore!

"Father…" Jesus prayed, as they nailed his feet. "Forgive them… they don't know what they're doing…"

Finally, the stake went in, and the White Lion was fully nailed to the cross! Now, all they needed to do was hit down the nails, so that they stayed in. With the White Lion on the cross, they flipped it over, and it landed with a loud THUD! The White Lion, who was now three inches from the ground, was jerked around violently when the cross fell! Blood poured out of him, hitting the ground and leaving small pools of it.

Jesus then turned his head, and saw his friends and mother. This was the reason he was on the cross; it was for them, those he loved. It was for everyone, even those who hammering him to the cross. Everyone, good or bad, would have a chance for redemption. Through him, they would go to heaven…

The nails were hit down, meaning that the White Lion was fully stuck to the cross! The cross was then flipped over, and then, slowly, painfully, the cross was pulled up with ropes by the guards. The cross was then slipped into a hole that was set up for it to stand up, and it slipped in with the loudest THUD! The White Lion's body jerked, and his chest tightened to the point where he started to suffocate; he was fully crucified!


"That's it." Jethro spoke, his tone saddened. "He's crucified."

The entire group was trying their hardest not to break down, but they were failing badly. To Mary, that was her son, and to the others, that was their best friend. Jesus was one of the kindest people they had ever known in her lives, and he was dying in front of their eyes. He was hung naked, nailed to a wooden cross, suffocating like a common criminal. He was innocent, white as snow, and yet he was dying the death of someone who did wrong.

One of the guards then set a ladder up next to the cross, and began climbing up it. He then got to the top of the cross, and nailed a sign above Jesus' head. The sign read in bold letters 'THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS'. The soldier then got back down, and took the ladder away. Caiaphas then approached the cross, a villainous smile on his face.

"Some son of God you are!" Caiaphas sneered. "You said that you would destroy the temple, and bring it back in three days! Yet, here you are, dying on the cross! You're a fraud if I ever saw one!"

The crowd began jeering as well, yelling taunts at the White Lion. They called for him to bring himself down the cross, to prove that he really was the Son of God.

"If you are really the King of the Jews, save yourself and come down!" One soldier, the brown bear, yelled out, his voice mocking.


"Come down off the cross…" said a dark voice from out of nowhere. "Prove to them that what you said is true…"

The White Lion looked up weakly, and saw that the cloaked skeletal lion, Satan, was sitting on the right side of his cross, trying to tempt him to save himself.

"Here they mock you, and yet you let them believe that you are a liar…" The cloaked skeletal lion spoke, his tone mocking. "Send a chorus of angels to save you, to prove to the people that you are what you say you are. That is, if you are the 'Son of God'…"

After saying that, the skeletal lion faded away, and the White Lion's head drooped down. He then leaned back, and looked up to the sky.

"Father… forgive them…" Jesus prayed, despite being in a universal amount of pain. "They… don't know… what they do."

"Aren't you the messiah?!" yelled the caribou criminal. "Get off that cross and save yourself, and us as well!"

Jesus turned his head weakly, looking at the caribou criminal. He wasn't going to do that; he couldn't do that. He would NEVER do that.

"Don't you fear God, seeing that we are serving the same punishment?!" asked Penance the hyena, no longer sounding crazy. "We deserve this for what we've done! This is our reward for all of our crimes! But this lion is innocent; he has done nothing wrong!"

Penance then looked to the White Lion, a repentant look on his face, and said, "Lord, all I ask is that you remember me, when you come into your kingdom. Please, remember me…"

A smile formed on the Jesus' lips, and he replied, "Amen. I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

Penance let out a breath of relief, and he looked like he was about to cry out of happiness; he was going to be okay. He no longer felt afraid of his death, but he felt a sense of peace come over him. He was going home, into the kingdom of the White Lion.

The caribou criminal just thought the two were crazy, and went back to complaining about how they were going to die.


"Even dying, he redeems." said Nick, his tone amazed.

"He truly is the Son of God." Judy replied, her tone saddened. "I believe in him."

"As do I." Nick added.

"Likewise." said Finnick.

"He is God… he truly is God." Joash spoke. "Do you believe it, Asa? Because I do."

"I do too." Asa replied. "I just hope we see him again, someday…"

Jethro, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, James, and John all stayed silent. They just watched, as the White Lion slowly died…


Around noon, the sky started to turn black, much to the confusion of the people who were watching. They, along with the religious leaders, began leaving, knowing what was going to happen to those on the cross; they were going to die, plain and simple.

Those who stayed behind included Judy, Nick, Finnick, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Joash, Asa, James, John, and Jethro. Wolfenstein, Tamara, and Bonhoeffer also were there, along with the other soldiers. Some of the soldiers, as it turned out, were gambling to see who would take home the White Lion's coat.


As he hung on the cross, the White Lion looked to the skies, and cried out in a loud voice,

"Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"

In that moment, the White Lion felt truly alone. God had turned his back on him, and the full wrath, which was meant for all those who did wrong, was delivered onto Jesus. Everything, all the punishment for the past, present, and future, fell upon him, and he felt all of it. It was one of the worst things you could ever feel…


A few minutes after he said that, Mary the mother of Jesus, followed by John, began walking towards the cross her son was on. One of the guards was about to stop her, but Wolfenstein motioned for him to let her pass. The guard stepped aside, and Mary walked towards the base of the cross. The only part that she could really touch were her son's feet. Crying, she gently rested her forehead on his bloody feet, knowing that this was probably going to be the last time she could touch her son. She then kissed his feet, and looked up at him.

"Woman, behold your son." The White Lion spoke, his tone kind, despite the pain he was in. He then looked to John, who was standing beside Mary, and said, "Son, behold your mother."

John looked up at the White Lion and nodded, knowing what the White Lion meant. He was going to take care of Mary from now on. And, despite him being a small otter and her being a lioness, he could work with that. He then gently took Mary's hand/paw, and began leading her away, which she allowed.

After this, knowing everything was now accomplished, and the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst."

Wolfenstein then motioned to Bonhoeffer to get something to drink for Jesus. There was a jug filled with sour wine, and a sponge was beside it. Bonhoeffer dunk the sponge in the sour wine, stuck it on a spear, and then lifted it up to the White Lion's lips.

The White Lion took a sip of it and then coughed, and then the spear was brought back down. Then, The White Lion, Jesus, the Son of God, looked up to the sky, and in a loud voice he cried out,

"IT… IS… FINISHED!"

After he said this, his head fell, and in a barely hearable voice, the White Lion said, "Father, into your hands… I commit my spirit…"

Then… he died. The White Lion, Jesus, the Son of God, was… dead.


"He's gone." said Joash, his tone saddened. "It's over."

"He's dead." Finnick spoke, his tone shocked. "He's… dead…"

Judy began crying, and Nick gently embraced her. He then looked up at the dead body of the White Lion, and then up into the sky. To his surprise, he saw a single, small, raindrop falling from the blackness of the sky. When it fell and hit the ground, it was like a bomb had dropped!

Suddenly, to the shock of everyone that was still on Golgotha, the whole earth quaked! The rocks split, the graves opened, and the saints who had died came back to life! Not only that, but the veil in the temple in Zootropolis, which separated the holy place, was torn in two from top to bottom!

The black armored soldiers, in a panic, decided to end the crucifixion! They took sledgehammers and began breaking the legs of the criminals, so that they would die easier!

First, they broke the legs of the caribou criminal, who choked to death and died. And because he had not repented, his soul went into the pits of hell…

Then, they moved onto Penance, the hyena. They broke his legs, and he choked to death and died as well. But because he had repented, declared the White Lion innocent, and asked him to remember him, his soul went to heaven. Just as Jesus had said to him, on that day, he joined him in Paradise…

They were about to move onto Jesus, but they found him to already be dead! Just to make sure, Wolfenstein ordered Bonhoeffer to take the spear and jab the White Lion in the side. He obeyed, took a spear, and jab the White Lion in the side! In that moment, blood and water began pouring out of the White Lion's side! Everyone looked on in amazement, because what they saw fit with the scriptures of old, which foretold what was to happen! Everything, from the dividing of his clothes, to the flowing of blood and water, was foretold in the scriptures of old!


Somewhere, in the caverns of hell, the devil screamed in defeat; he had lost! He had failed in stopping the White Lion! Now, the power of death held no more power! The embodiment of evil was truly defeated!


The rain came down slowly, as Wolfenstein sent Tamara and Bonhoeffer up to the cross to take Jesus down. Tamara undid the nails on his hands/paws, while Bonhoeffer removed the spike from his feet. The others helped as well: Jethro and Joash gently caught the White Lion's body, and brought him down easily. The others who were there, such as James and John and Mary Magdalene, watched in sadness as the body of the White Lion was lowered to the ground.

Mary the mother of Jesus then cradled the dead body of her son in her arms, a silent and sorrowful look on her face. Judy, Nick, and Finnick came over to look at him, and Nick made a motion to take off the barbed-wire crown. Mary nodded her head, and Nick removed the barbed-wire crown from the White Lion's head, very gently. He then placed it on a stone, with the spike and the nails.

Jesus had been beaten, had his mane shaved off, was cut and scarred and maimed beyond any recognition, and now… he was dead. He couldn't even been recognized as the White Lion, it was so bad the beating he took.

Wolfenstein looked at the dead body of the White Lion, and he said, "He really was the Son of God."

"What?" asked Asa, who was standing beside him.

"I used to think that this was all nonsense." Wolfenstein replied, his tone apologetic. "That all this whole thing about 'belief' was just a bunch of fairytales. But it isn't; Jesus, the White Lion, was the Son of God. Forget my realism; I truly believe in God, and that Jesus is his son…"

"I do too." said Asa, a kind, yet sad, smile on his face.

The two then approached the dead body of the White Lion, to which Wolfenstein gave his condolences to Mary the mother of Jesus.

Judy, Nick, and Finnick, who had moved away from the body, were mulling over what had happened. It was then that Judy, with a great sadness in her heart, realized she wanted to go home. She wanted to go back to Bunnyburrow, back to her family, away from the carnage that she had bore witness to.

"I want to go home…" Judy said silently.

"I know, Carrots…" Nick replied, gently embracing her. "I know…"


The White Lion was dead, and it was over…

Or was it?

Author's Notes: It's finished, but the story's not over. There's going to be more chapters; this isn't the end yet.

R&R,

Heroboy005