A ghoulish wind lightly blew small clouds of ash across Abaddon's circle, adding yet another layer to the remnants of the war that laid scattered across the landscape. There was a strange unsettling beauty to this scenery, almost as if you were looking at a painting that held countless stories just waiting to be told. Sadly the one who could share these tales felt no desire to speak to anyone, especially any who dared intrude upon their domain. Add this with the fact that the two intruders who currently walked amongst these relics were their siblings, arguably the two they didn't want to see or speak to the most, this made them the most reclusive they had been in quite some time.
But in their defense they had every reason to hold ill feelings towards these two, as both were the very reason for the emotional turmoil Abaddon suffered, which both were very well aware of.
"I don't know what I expected Gabriel..." Lucifer spoke as they walked, both looking at the artifacts of the war that surrounded them, "But this...this is just...an entire new level of depressing..." He said.
"One that we are mostly responsible for." Gabriel replied with a heavy sigh, "Although, this does bring forth a question I have always wondered, and until now given our mended relationship I've not been able to ask anyone who could answer it." He told him.
"You want to know why Abaddon chose to side with me and the others?" Lucifer guessed receiving a nod for confirmation.
"Their part in the rebellion was by far the most shocking, they were such a gentle soul and I believed they would abstain from the fighting." He replied.
"To be honest I don't know either." Lucifer admitted while releasing a sigh of his own, "They never did share with the rest of us why they took my side of our dispute, who knows maybe we'll get that answer now." He hoped.
"I doubt that we'll be so lucky." Gabriel said as he came to a stop which made Lucifer do the same, "Unlike the others Abaddon IS the circle itself, they can hear us right now and to no surprise they haven't appeared." He pointed out.
"What do you suggest then? Stand here and apologize until they show up?" Lucifer asked.
"What else are we supposed to do? Our only options are to walk around hoping they forgive us after all we've done and hear us out, stand around talking to each other, or going back to your circle and trying again later." He answered.
In response however Lucifer did not speak to him, instead he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted into the air.
"ABADDON! WE'RE SORRY!" He apologized, his voice seeming to echo forever as it traveled across the landscape, "I KNOW THIS IS THE FIRST YOU'VE SEEN US IN SO LONG! BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT! YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HELP US RIGHT NOW!" He
told them.
Removing his hands from his mouth they both listened as his voice eventually faded away. Looking around themselves once it was silent again, as expected that accomplished absolutely
nothing. But before he could say anything else the sound of clapping came from his side, and as he slowly turned towards it he found his brother giving him as sarcastic of an applause as he could.
"Incredible, best apology I've ever heard, has me in tears." Gabriel said in the most dry and mocking tone possible.
"I figured it was worth a shot." Lucifer replied as he crossed his arms, "Why don't you give it a try? Maybe if they hear how sorry we both are they'll come out?" He suggested.
"How do you think I got sent to your circle in the first place?" Gabriel asked while also crossing his arms, "Even then they barely said or did anything, yes they did appear but it was like when father was disappointed in us in our youth, nothing but silence and a disappointed stare that felt like it was crushing your soul." He told him.
"Really? That bad?" Lucifer questioned earning another confirmative nod, "Well shit, this IS going to take a while..." He realized.
"Which is why I say we should do this over the course of several visits." Gabriel reminded.
"No, if we do that it'll seem like we don't care as much as we do, we need to stay here until we prove that we deserve to be forgiven, in addition to deserving their help." He urged.
"So we're just going to walk forever until that happens?" Gabriel asked.
Like before Lucifer didn't respond to him verbally, instead he resumed their trek through their sibling's circle. Letting out another sigh while also hanging his head Gabriel followed after him, though he chose to trail behind rather than walk by his side.
"Really? Abaddon of all people?" Azrael questioned with widened eyes, doing her best to feign astonishment.
After her unexpected arrival two things happened, the first was Charlie going back to her normal peppy self upon seeing her aunt, while the second was everyone else breathing a sigh of relief that she wouldn't blow anything else up with her fire. And once they both got through hugging each other, they sat the angel of death down so they could fill her in on everything. Which unknown to them wasn't needed, but to her word she had to act like she was just as unaware of what was happening as they were.
"I know, seems rather surprising doesn't it?" Lilith responded, having been the one to relay most of the details to her.
"Indeed, I haven't even seen them since this divide in our family occurred, it's hard to imagine they'd be so comfortable letting anyone else reside in their circle, let alone a demon from Doom." She said.
"We're still trying to make sense of that ourselves." Lilith admitted.
However, before their conversation could continue the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them, the unusual static quality it had made it clear who it was.
"Pardon me." Alastor spoke as he added himself to the conversation, "Out of curiosity Azrael, how exactly did you learn about Gabriel's return?" He inquired.
"I am death itself, I at all times am connected to every soul in creation that is capable of dying, for death in its most simple use is a means to move souls from one plane of reality to another, such as you dying on earth then coming to Hell for example." She explained.
"Wait, so does that means you're like always with us or some creepy shit like that?" Angel Dust asked.
"Not exactly, think of it more like a list of contacts, yes I have the means to reach out to any soul in creation at any point in time so long as they can die, but this doesn't mean that I am always watching everyone, that power belongs to my brother Pravuil." She answered.
"And this explains you knew of Gabriel's return how?" Alastor questioned.
"Simple, Gabriel's soul is now bound in a body that can expire, so the moment he returned I then by relation felt his soul, and once I was certain this was no trick of my mind or by someone else I came to see him." She explained.
"But the moment he returned was in Abaddon's circle, and even when he showed up here he did so first at the museum, which is a fairly large amount of time to see if whether or not this was real." He countered.
"Alastor." Lilith said in a very disapproving tone as she didn't appreciate him interrogating her sister in law.
"It's alright." Azrael assured her before focusing back on the radio demon, "Just so I know before I say anything more, have you ever lost someone important to you? Someone you cared about deeply as they were family or something of equal significance?" She inquired.
"...I'd rather not say." He answered after a moment of silence, which caught everyone but her off guard.
"Very well, still regardless if you have or haven't the pain of losing someone who has such a place in your life is devastating, even more so if you had a very strained relationship that finally was mended before you lost them, just as it seemed like you could finally make up for all the lost time and make things normal again it's ruined, it takes an indescribable toll on your mind and your emotions, so are you going stand there and tell me that when it seems like after all of that they've returned, that you wouldn't be absolutely sure it was real and not just your hopeful soul yearning for the joy it craves so desperately?" She asked.
Again Alastor fell silent as he heard this question, though unlike before he was quiet for much longer. Lightly tapping his fingers in a rhythmic sequence on the head of his cane, with half closed eyes and a smaller grin than usual he carefully thought about his answer.
"...You're right, I apologize." He spoke after a near full minute of thinking, "I hope you can forgive my insatiable curiosity, it made me forget the obvious fact that he is your brother and you have been grieving all this time, I was horribly rude." He told her.
"No it's quite alright, I was overcome by joy when I was certain that it was him I couldn't keep myself from appearing in the manner I did, in hindsight I should have as the gentleman behind the desk suggested, checked in to see what things were like here before showing up." She replied.
"Gentleman?" Husk questioned as he hadn't been called that in a LONG time, followed by Lilith rising from her seat.
"Well, glad that worked itself out." She spoke with a clap of her hands so they could move passed
that conversation, "But getting back on track, since you're here and we're still waiting on Vega to return, would you like a tour of the hotel? After all you haven't seen it since it was rebuilt." She suggested.
"That sounds lovely." Azrael replied as she too got to her feet, "Would you like to accompany us Charlie? After all it is your hotel." She said.
"Of course!" Her niece exclaimed with a smile as it meant they could talk some more.
With that decided the three women all left the lobby to explore the hotel, leaving the others to pass the time in their own way. Unfortunately for Husk in particular he wouldn't be able to do so, for just as he tried reaching for a new bottle to guzzle he was approached by Alastor.
"Oh no, you can fuck right off." He told him immediately while giving him as mean of a look as he could.
"But I haven't said anything yet." Alastor replied defensively.
"I know that look asshole, it's the same fucking look you always get when you come up with another idea that's gonna put us both on the shit list." He said.
"Come now Husker I've been doing so good over the last few months, do you REALLY think I'd throw away all that progress out of nowhere?" Alastor asked.
"Everyone has a cheat day." He answered.
Finding that response to be genuinely funny, it helped to make the laugh that followed seem like they were having a normal conversation, which was what the radio demon wanted.
"Oh Husker, you always know how to make me laugh." Alastor praised as his grin grew wider, "But what I want to suggest to you isn't a scheme, and it certainly won't put either you or me on any shit list." He promised.
"Al, I wouldn't buy that even if you tried selling it to me." Husk replied.
"Then how about I sweeten the deal?" He offered while leaning in closer, "Grant me the next few minutes to share with you the thought bouncing around in my brain, and I will get you the finest wine from miss Rosie's establishment, the kind so divine it's criminal that it's here in Hell instead of Heaven." He said.
With widened eyes of surprise Husk stared at him in awe, as whatever it was he wanted his help with had to be important enough, at least to him, to offer such high quality booze as an incentive.
"...Fine, but I swear to fucking god Al if this is like the truth potion stunt I'll kill you." He threatened.
"Like I said Husker this is not a scheme where we orchestrate a few things behind the scenes, rather us pursuing the greatest treasure of all in our own way." Alastor assured.
"Yeah well you can keep your treasure, I'll stick with the wine." He replied.
Letting out another honest laugh at that response, over the next few minutes the words they exchanged were spoken in whispers that no one seemed to notice.
"I guess it's true what the mortals say, old habits do die hard." The Khan said in a joking manner,
as both she and Samur observed the others in secret.
Of the many inventions the Maykrs had to their credit, the one they currently used allowed them to view Lucifer's circle without any hinderance. Initially the only purpose this device served was to oversee the repairs and make sure no issues occurred, but now it helped them to keep track of how much information the others managed to discover. As for why the Khan was still here and hadn't gone to meet them yet, when she decided to use the apparatus for but a moment to see what things were like is when Azrael appeared. From there Samur returned to Urdak to join her as another spectator, now as it seemed things were settled for the time being they were ready to end their observation.
"Do you believe him when he says this isn't the same as before?" Samur asked as she turned off the machine.
"As strange as it may sound I do." She answered while turning around to face him, "Though he did cause quite a scene at the hotel just before the invasion, I do think he learned the error of his ways after Lucifer reprimanded him." She said.
"That's a very polite way of describing what actually happened." He noted.
"I believed it better than saying Lucifer nearly caved the poor man's skull in with his bare fist." She replied.
Letting out a chuckle in response to that they then left the room, as both wanted to check in with the Wretch and see how he was progressing.
"Do you think father is doing better?" She asked as they travelled.
"I could check on him after you fulfill your duty and attend to the others." He offered. "That wasn't an answer." She told him.
"Only because I can't offer even a guess." He admitted.
"So he wasn't like this back then?" She asked referring to when he entered the matrix.
"No, but in all fairness that was a plan he set into motion himself, what is happening now is a result of both the Wretch's unexpected appearance, as well as the Slayer continuing to amaze us even while sealed inside Doom." He answered.
"True, speaking of I wonder how he's doing." She replied as a sad expression adorned her features, "Although they were in each other's company for but a short time, Gabriel I think still offered an escape for him from the madness, but now that he's with us I can only imagine how quickly things have returned to depravity." She said.
"Yes, I don't doubt that the Slayer has two sides of himself at the moment, one that succumbs to the indulgence of sadistic urges and cravings, while the other is filled with apathy and is a far more extreme variant of the stoic personality we've come to know." He told her.
After that the rest of their journey to the Wretch was in silence, as both didn't want to dwell anymore on what it must be like for the Slayer all alone in his personal Hell. But the somber mood didn't last that long, for the moment they reached Vega's chamber and the door opened they saw not only the Wretch at work, but what looked to be a near complete Soul Cube.
"My word, you're a far faster worker than I assumed." The Khan spoke with widened eyes.
"When you've spent your entire life as the forge master for a realm of monsters, your productivity is unrivaled." He responded though didn't meet their gazes with his own.
"Still, the fact that you already have it complete is beyond impressive." Samur praised as they came over.
"Don't say such a thing until you have seen it work." He told him as he set down the tools he currently used, "Keep in mind this is but a rough assumption of what the creator desires, also I do apologize for its current design, I'm afraid in addition to skill and experience my inspiration is also heavily affected by my time spent in service to the Dark One." He explained.
Grabbing hold of the device he held it out so they could look it over, and to his word its design was fairly strange. On the front of the device there was an ornate face, which the Maykrs assumed was inspired by them. In fact, as they studied the cube and took in every little detail that could be seen, it was clear he tried to model it after their technology as much as possible. This extended even to the choice of colors applied to the metal, as the bulk of its body was a pure pristine white while more specific parts resembled gold.
But that is where the oddity of its appearance started to show, as the most notable thing that followed were the five glass coverings that we also on the front, with the largest that was in the middle inside the mouth of the aforementioned face.
"What are these for?" The Khan was the first to ask as she pointed to them, "Is light meant to shine out once it is activated?" She added.
"Actually that is so the other Khans may see what surrounds them even when they're inside, but be assured that it does not compromise its security." He answered.
"That's very considerate of you." Samur complimented as he put a hand to his chin in thought, "However I don't believe I understand how it is meant to be used, does it pull in the souls of those slain in its presence?" He inquired.
"That is another aspect of its design that was influenced by my past work, if you'd like I could demonstrate it for you." The Wretch offered.
Receiving nods from both Maykrs for confirmation he then rose from his seat and walked across the room, which confused them as he didn't take the cube back.
"I think you forgot something." Samur told him as he came to a stop.
"Hm? Oh yes of course, my apologies." The Wretch replied while turning so he could face them, "Would you mind tossing it to me?" He requested.
Though his behavior was odd the Khan complied without question. But to her and Samur's surprise the cube came to a full stop in mid air, followed by the appearance of several ethereal bladed rings surrounding it. Yet this managed to only be the second most shocking thing it did, what came first was what it did next. Remaining in the air for a few seconds as the rings spun around at an incredible speed, the cube then focused on the Wretch and flew straight towards him so it could tear into his chest.
Just like before it took only a few seconds for it to be done, with the blades easily ripping apart his flesh and bone as if they were paper. Once the Wretch's body no longer convulsed in response to the attack, it retreated from the cavity and flew back into the Khan's still open hand. Oh right, the Khan and Samur, during this entire thing they both stood there with mouths agape frozen in horror
and shock, not being stirred even when the blood covered cube landed in her hand. Unfortunately it wasn't over, for as the Wretch told them when he first arrived his suit wouldn't allow him to die.
Starting with the hum of a machine it began the disturbed process of returning him to life, something that even they after all they had seen in their lives made them sick to their stomachs. Flesh and muscles soaked with blood were reattached, shattered bone slowly returned while taking proper shape, and the sounds that came from it all they would never be able to forget. In less than a minute the damage inflicted by the cube was undone, complete by the light of his visor returning. With a deep breath escaping his lungs he slowly got to his feet, checking over himself to ensure that the suit carried out its intended purpose without flaw.
"So, what did you think?" He asked as he looked to the Maykrs, doing so in such a casual manner as if they didn't just watch him be brutally murdered, "Obviously when I've finished my work, the Khans are inserted, and it is imbued with the angel of death's power, when it kills the demons their souls will be taken inside and will not return." He explained.
Waiting for a response he'd soon receive it, but it wasn't what he expected. For instead of being met with questions or any verbal reply, the first thing that happened was the Khan dropping the cube to the floor then rushing out of the chamber.
"Is she alright?" He asked Samur as that was unlike her.
However he too did not give any words to the demon, choosing rather to follow the Khan out of the room while remaining silent.
"Hm, perhaps I should have given them a warning..." He said, just then realizing that the demonstration might've been a bit unorthodox.
For the first time in Doom's entire history it rained, but it wasn't water that fell from the sky. Blood, ash, bits and pieces of the land were what bombarded the realm, all coming from the massive explosion that had happened several hours ago. How it was able to carry on for so long was caused by the realm's inexplainable nature, sometimes things would work as they did anywhere else, and sometimes they'd work in the exact opposite way or not at all. But even as this shower of debris and remnants of demons fell to the cursed ground, it had no effect on the only soul that walked through its seemingly endless downpour.
The once holy appearance of the Slayer's armor was now tarnished, the blood and blacked soot making him look more like a harbinger of death than an angel. Though that was by far more fitting than a saintly appearance, for no matter what anyone could say even those closest to him, he did not see himself as pure in any way. His mind, his soul, everything that made him who he was had been driven to the breaking point, and for so long he did all he could to resist so he could still maintain a shred of himself. And resist he must for there was one final task he needed to complete, for there was one more soul besides Gabriel's that needed to be freed from this Hell, one that he knew would be guarded especially now in light of the archangel's escape.
But once this soul was free, once he was able to find a way to send it back to where it belonged away from this horror, he'd finally allow himself to give in to everything that pressed against him and be made a monster again.