Smile

Ch. 6: The Bonds of Family

A/n; Prepare yourselves for incredible sadness! As I'm getting all this typed, I'm actually making myself cry at the thought of what is going to happen. Oh god, I'm actually feeling again!!! Annie Lennox owns the song 'Oh God' which comes at the end. (Wipes tears off keyboard)

Squee swallowed. Satan sighed.

"WILL YOU DIE FOR HER?!" he shouted.

Squee heard footsteps coming from across the hall, he heard Johnny's voice from behind the door.

"Squee? Are you there?"

Senor Diablo turned to his son.

"Lock the door, Pepito," he snapped.

Pepito reluctantly obeyed. Johnny's voice grew louder.

"Squee! Stop playing games! You need to come back now! Jezebel's..."

Johnny's words were drowned by the devil's laughter.

"Time is ticking, young Casail. Wingweaver's life is slowly ebbing away. I'll ask you again, will you die for Jezebel Wingweaver?"

Squee turned to Pepito.

"Unlock the door,' he mouthed. The Antichrist nodded. He unlocked the door. Satan was beginning to lose his temper.

"ANSWER ME, BOY!!!" he shouted. Squee coughed as he tightened his grip on his throat.

"Yes," Squee whispered.

Johnny kicked down the unlocked door. He was clothed. Jezebel stood next to him, no longer in the bathrobe, but in jeans and a t-shirt. Her right arm was in a sling. She was as pale as death.

Satan grinned maliciously.

"Ah, I see the boy's family is here to watch him die!" he crowed.

Johnny stepped foreword.

"No! Jezebel...you didn't tell me that Pepito's father was SATAN!" he said, turning back to Jezebel. The doctor was on her knees.

"I didn't know...Johnny..." she mumbled, she couldn't breathe.

The devil picked up the flint dagger and rammed it into Squee's stomach. The boy shuttered, his mouth open in a muted scream. At that moment, Jezebel fell foreword, she wasn't moving.

Johnny was breathing through clenched teeth. Satan put Squee down. The boy had a hand over the wound in his stomach.

"YOU BASTARD!!!!!" Johnny screamed at Satan. Tears welled in his eyes as he held a gasping Squee in his arms.

"The boy is giving his life to save the woman you love, Johnny, he doesn't want to see you hurt by her death. He is also undoing a horrid prophecy. One that would have affected you, Jezebel, and your unborn child," Pepito said quietly.

Johnny's mouth fell open.

" Jezebel's...pregnant?!" he whispered. Squee whimpered in his brother's arms.

"Take...me over to...ack...Juh-Juh-Jezebel...please," the boy whispered.

Johnny rose and sat down next to Jezebel. He shook her with his free hand. She didn't move.

"No...no...Jezebel, please, don't leave me too...If you're gone too, then I have no reason to keep going...don't leave me..."

Squee smiled weakly.

"She'll come back, Johnny...Once I'm gone...it's better me, than the woman you love," he said.

Johnny was sobbing.

"Don't talk like that...I promised that nothing like this would happen to you...I killed Jezebel...and now you won't let me help you. I've failed in trying to protect you. I've failed...I can't live with myself..." he whispered.

Squee shook his head.

"No, you... didn't fail, Johnny. You'll be happy...again, you'll have Jezebel again," he muttered.

Johnny sniffed.

"But there will be an empty place in my heart! Who will replace you?!" he said.

Squee gasped. He choked. Johnny could feel the life slipping from his little brother's body. Squee looked at the Occularis.

"Your son...will replace me..." he whispered.

"Goodbye...Dad, I have to go..."

Johnny shook his head. He his tears fell more as Squee called him 'Dad'.

"No...Squee...hold on, please...please..."

"I'll save you a spot in heaven, and a place for Jezebel in the angels' choir..." Squee whispered.

Johnny's tears fell onto Squee's pale skin.

"Goodbye, Squee...I love you," he whispered.

Squee turned to Jezebel.

"Goodbye...Mamma,"

Squee uttered his last breath. He had addressed both Johnny and Jezebel as the parents he never had. Johnny gently set Squee's body down. He buried his face in his hands. He felt a slight stirring next to him. Jezebel rose. She was alive. She looked at Squee and burst into tears. She had heard what Squee had called her.

"You shouldn't have given your life to save me," she whispered, gently touching the boy's hair.

"You had a long life ahead of you...why end it to bring me back?"

Johnny set his hands down. He and Jezebel held onto each other.

"He ended his life to save you," said Pepito, sadly.

"Because he saw how happy you two were together. He didn't want you to die, Jezebel. So my father asked him if he wanted to sacrifice himself for your life, Jezebel. As well as the life of your unborn son,"

Jezebel looked stunned.

"I'm...I'm..." she stuttered.

Pepito nodded.

"I must go, my father is beside himself in killing such an innocent boy. I guess even the devil feels,' he said, leaving the two adults to their grieving.

* Oh God...

Where are you now?

And what are you gonna do

About the mess I've made?

If there ever was a soul to save

It must be me

It must be me

Dear God..

Oh how can I survive?

Will I make this drop, this dive?

When it all comes to this

I'm looking down at the abyss

Where you don't exist

You don't exist

But if you can hear me

If you can see me...

I know that I can't be that strong

'Cause everything I ever did went wrong

Everything I ever did went wrong

Oh God

Now where do I come in?

Gone and broken everythin'

So I hope you'll understand

If someone needed a helping hand

It must be now

It must be now *