A/N: Hmmm...I got mixed reviews on the first chappy. Well, I do realize that I am trying things out that nobody else has tried yet. And...well, if you stick around long enough, you'll see that I have things planned that Meg Cabot never would have imagined from our wicked little Jesse...*grins evilly*...um, yeah.

Rebirth-Chapter 2

There was an odd murmur, almost like a prayer, hanging in the air. Millions of voices repeating, chanting, in a strange rhythm. I couldn't make out the words to the strange song. I could only see blackness, a cold blackness that surrounded me, seeping into my very core. I was falling through the darkness, arms flailing, trying to catch onto something, wings completely useless. I could see the ground, approaching quickly, coming up to meet my face-

And suddenly, I was just standing there, not falling anymore. The chanting was louder now, accompanied by something else…an eerie choir. Way weird. The chanting was coming from in front of me, and I looked up, and was struck with a horrible déjà vu.

I felt eyes on me. Thousands of eyes. Millions of eyes. An infinite number of eyes. The multitude before me was covered in a shroud of shadow, so I couldn't make out their faces. But I could hear their chanting, and it was making me nervous.

Suddenly, the choir's background singing took the forefront: their voices rose to a glorious pitch, then separated and contorted, sounding like the kind of music you'd get in a horror flick. Reality seemed to warp along with the voices, and I looked behind me, vision blurring. Millions of them, arms raised, praising, cursing, white wings outstretched, looking so terrible and ethereal in an angry, heavenly light.

Light behind me, shadow before me.

I looked away from the sight, back into the shadow. I sucked in a breath of air as I saw the figure that was now leading the multitudes of chanting dark creatures.

Jesse. Jesse, dressed in his old cowboy clothes. The sight almost made me smile, except then I noticed the chains he was dragging along with him…those thick, black chains that looked like they weighed a ton. Walking so slowly, arms outstretched towards me, like a zombie, chanting along with the dark ones, leading the way towards me, the demons following him like a great, black snake. A sickness hit me in the stomach when I looked into Jesse's eyes, and they weren't the expressionless, haunted ones I remembered.

They were angry.

Full of hate, ready to kill, reaching for me, dragging those chains. Chanting getting louder, closer, the angelic choir pulsing in time to the odd rhythm. I backed away slowly, but they pushed me from behind, right into zombie-Jesse's arms.

At first, the arms were stiff, cold, unmoving, then they wrapped around me, pressing me to his chest, and I closed my eyes, thinking, "This is a dream, this isn't real,"…but his arms around me, after so long, felt too real to just be my imagination. I snuggled into his embrace, felt those arms so protective, that warm, solid chest so familiar…

The chanting, the singing was suddenly so sweet and romantic sounding, so welcoming. I lifted my head from his chest, fully intending to give him a kiss filled with all the lost love and passion, but when I opened my eyes, it felt like I had suddenly been plunged into an icy cold bath.

I tried to pull away, but he didn't even seem to feel my efforts, keeping me tight against him. I gave a desperate cry, the voices were warping again, sounding so wicked, the chanting becoming loud again, pumping in my blood…

Jesse was grinning at me, his teeth fang-like, his eyes maliciously leering at me, telling me stories of what he wanted to do to me, pains and tortures he wanted to inflict upon me…he was so darkly beautiful, terrifyingly beautiful, and I was lured towards him at the same time that I was repelled from him.

His hands began moving, touching me softly, sensuously, skimming over my skin and leaving fiery trails where they went. I shivered, suddenly so cold and hot at the same time. Jesse's grin only widened, watching what his touch did to me, his eyes lighting up with excitement, like he was turned on by fear.

I was trapped in the arms of a stranger, with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

His hips started moving ever so slightly against mine, thrusting suggestively, in time to the chanting. I swallowed, hard, trying to figure out whether I was afraid, entranced, angry, turned on, or everything at once. Like some strange, sexy dance, moving his body against mine, grinning, eyes sparkling in not-so-innocent joy.

I blinked the tears away from my eyes. "What is it, Jesse?" I said. "Why are you here? What are you…what are you doing?"

Jesse's beautiful, wicked face, came right in front of my face, his nose barely skimming against mine. His eyes that close, his hot breath fluttering over my throat, wings outstretched boldly, in an almost sexual way, swaying, touching…

Then he chuckled. A dark, evil little chuckle, that sent shivers down my spine. So cold, so deep and satanic.

"I'm here for you, querida. You're mine. You always have been…" He closed his eyes, rubbing his face against the crook of my neck, and I leaned my head back and let out a little moan. His scent was so masculine, so powerful… Another dark chuckle.

Then he said it. What the demons were chanting. He said the words clearly, and there was no mistaking them.

"The Queen of Light will fall to the Darkness in her Heart."

My eyes snapped open. Above me, spinning around us like a great tornado, the beings of light were looking down at us, singing, serenading the forsaken lovers below them.

"You are strong, querida," Jesse said, his voice a low, husky rumble. "…but you cannot resist the darkness." He lifted his head again, and looked down into my eyes. Still so dark and wicked, still so beautiful and irresistible. Voice interlaced with another, deeper growl, "You can't resist me."

As he said this, the angelic choir's pitch suddenly rose to an alarming wail, and they grabbed at me, pulling painfully on my hair, my arms, tugging me away from Jesse, and I struggled against them, trying to grab onto Jesse, but he chose that moment to let go of me, and I was sent careening into the darkness of his eyes, his cruel laughter ringing in my ears.

An exotic dance, such as only demons could dance, the chanting, the graceful screeching, falling into oblivion… He was leading them, leading them in the *erotic dance that made me burn with need. Still being carried so far away, and yet I could see them, the shadows, his every suggestive move, swaying, rocking, thrusting in time to the chanting, smiling, smiling…

"The Queen of Light will fall the Darkness in her Heart."

And suddenly, the angels weren't singing, but screaming. Screaming in my ears, so painfully close, and I grabbed my head between my hands and screamed, too…everything blinking in and out of focus, black and white, light and shadow, intermixing, melting, winking…and those eyes, those dark eyes, promising a painful death, hypnotizing-

The screaming…the screaming…!

The screaming-

Someone shaking me. "Your Highness! Your Highness!"

"Mommy! Wake up, Mommy!"

The screaming stopped. And suddenly I was washed with the pale light of a lantern in my darkened bedchambers. Above me, two faces were hovering, peering at me like I could explode at any moment. Rose and Bonnie.

"Queen Susannah…" Bonnnie murmured, and she touched a cool hand to my forehead, which was slick with sweat. I shivered, my entire body feeling cold and clammy in the chilly air of the castle.

I sat up, trembling, looking around to make sure the shadow beings and the screaming angels were gone. Breathing heavily, heart thumping. Shaking.

"Mommy, you were screaming…"

I looked at Rose. The sight of my daughter's face seemed to take away some of the feverish symptoms. Like a light in the darkness, I found the way.

"Rose," I rasped out. "Where was he-"

"I can show you," Rose whispered. "I can take you to him…he's in the deepest part of the cellar, in a tiny room, all by himself…"

"Bonnie," I said, my voice breaking. "Go-get me a glass of water."

Bonnie looked at me dubiously. "Your Highness, I don't want to leave you like this. I'll send one of the Keepers-"

"GO! NOW!" I screamed in her face. Bonnie flew off the bed in shock.

"I…I…" Not knowing what to say, she nodded numbly, and ran from the room.

I turned to Rose. "Take me to him, Rose. I need to know…"

"I know, Mommy," she said, her face serious. "I…I know how you feel about him. I know what happened between the two of you. I…know what Father did to you."

I nodded, and I stretched out across the bed, reaching under a pillow, sixth one from the left, and pulled out the ring. I looked at it for a moment, watching it's mysterious sparkle, its wise glint, as if it held all the answers. Then I slowly slipped it onto the ring finger of my left hand.

In seven years, I had never put it on. I took it off after learning that he was dead, and I never put it back on. Never dared. Always looked at it, admired it, watched it's pulsing glow, remembered happier times, but never put it on.

The donning of the ring was like the ultimate proof that the man I cried for nearly every night…was indeed alive.

Changed, for the worse…but alive nonetheless.

Rose slowly slipped off the bed, and walked towards the door. With her hand on the knob, she looked back at me. "Mommy, how will we get rid of the Keepers?"

I looked up from the ring on my finger, up at my daughter. The fierce determination in her eyes mirrored my own.

"The only way we can, Rose."

I stood up, and walked to the door. "Open it, Rose. I'll take care of everything."

She nodded, and swung open the door.

The two Keepers that had been standing guard turned around to face us, smiling porcelain faces glinting in the light from the torches lining the hallway.

"Your Highnesses," they both said, their snaky, slithering rasps evoking nightmarish memories. "You shouldn't-"

"Shut the *fuck up," I said coldly, and I pulled back both my hands, curled them into fists, and smashed them into their unsuspecting masks, shattering them both, reveling in the feeling I got in kicking bad-guy butt. The shards of glass hung in midair for a moment, then vanished like they were never there, leaving black holes where the horrors of humanity should have been. Then the heavy leather cloaks, which hung suspended in the air, began to collapse, falling slowly, issuing foul-smelling air as they melted into piles of smoking fabric, just like the wicked witch of the west. Before the smell could get unbearable, I grabbed Rose's hand, and ran, tugging her along behind me.

"Wow, Mommy!" Rose gasped out as we ran. "I didn't know you were so cool!"

"Yeah, don't tell your father," I said, and slowed to a stop, looking around. The halls were eerily quiet, not their usual bustling traffic routes.

"Teach me how to punch like that, Mommy!" Rose said, eyes lit up with wonder.

I bent over until I was eye level with her. "Rose, this isn't a game. This is very real, and very dangerous."

Rose's smile vanished slowly, and she nodded.

"Now, Rose…please take me to him."

Rose took my hand in hers, and I gave her tiny hand an encouraging squeeze. "Follow me," she said, and began walking slowly, looking around as she went, remembering landmarks, making turns and going more quickly when she would remember something.

"It's harder when he's not calling me," she informed me as we went. "Cause now I have to remember the way."

I knew what she meant. I remembered how my legs had carried me to the dungeon without me even realizing it.

Rose's memory proved good enough, though, since we soon found ourselves in front of that same door as before, the one that had represented so much to me before, but which now just looked like…a door.

"Rose, it might be dangerous in there…you don't have to come…"

Rose's grip on my hand tightened. "I'm coming, Mommy. Besides, I don't want to be alone in this creepy hallway. I don't even think I can find my way back…"

I put my hand on the knob, and took a deep breath. "I'll protect you," I said, and I turned the knob. The door swung open easily, revealing complete blackness. Like the open mouth of a dragon.

"I know the way," Rose said quietly. "I remember. Don't worry. Just follow me."

Holding my hand tightly, she walked into the darkness, and I followed just behind her. Slowly, as we went, a faint light permeated the air, and I could see that we were in a very narrow passage. The stone walls were slick and grimy-looking, and the ground was covered in what I hoped was just water. Rose began walk quicker, and I jogged to keep up with her. She seemed to glow just in front of me, almost like the light was coming from her.

All this weird symbolism about "light and shadow" was starting to make my head spin.

Then we came into a huge room. The ceiling was so high that I couldn't make it out. The walls were covered in heavy-looking wooden doors, each one of them locked with a heavy padlock, tiny barred slits in each. For a moment, we paused and just stood there, looking around. It didn't look like there was anywhere else to go.

"This isn't where he was," Rose said, her voice echoing in the room. An eerie silence followed her statement. Then there was a low chuckle right behind us. I whirled around, but there was no one there. Only wooden, locked doors.

From somewhere across the room came a catcall.

"Rose, where is it? Hurry, we need to get out of here…"

"Oh, look!" came a loud croak, almost like a toad's voice. "The Queen and the Princess have come to visit us!"

"The little one's seeexy," came a young sounding purr to our left.

"Help me! Someone, please! I'm innocent!" came frantic cries from somewhere else.

"Rose…" I started to pull her out of the room of perverted prisoners, but she was suddenly walking forward, and I had no choice but to follow her.

"Hey, sugar," came a sadistic woman's voice, "Kill him in his sleep and take his money, that's what I did."

Someone cackled evilly from above us.

Suddenly the room was alive with the cruel laughter, whoops, and whistles of seemingly thousands of prisoners. I realized that the doors must have continued to rise up along the walls, going for miles upward, stretching the length of an entire tower, spiraling upwards…

Rose seemed unaffected my some of the truly gruesome things the prisoners were calling out. She was on her knees, fumbling along the floor, looking for something. Then she smiled triumphantly, and grabbed something: a handle. She pulled upward. A trapdoor creaked upwards, a few inches, and she struggled to pull it up the rest of the way. I rushed over, grabbing the handle and pulled along with her. With a groan, it swung open.

"It was already open last time I came here," Rose said, swinging her legs over the opening confidently, and starting to climb down a ladder that was nearly invisible in the darkness. I peered down at the blackness, into which Rose was fast disappearing.

"Hurry up, Mommy," she said, her voice sounding metallic. I looked around, shivered, and lowered myself into the hole. The ladder felt slippery and cold, hard to hold onto. I looked up one last time, and flipped the bird to the prisoners angrily. When I did so, the entire place roared to life in laughter.

"Jerks," I muttered, and started feeling my way down the rungs of the ladder. The moment my head cleared the trapdoor, it swung abruptly shut with a VERY loud bang, like a shot gun, throwing us into utter and inky blackness, and I heard someone below me cry out in panic and slip.

"Rose!" I called out in panic. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Mommy!" she called out. Her voice sounded miles away. "I'm at the bottom! Hurry up!"

I started going down, slipping occasionally, but going as fast as I could. I didn't want to have Rose all alone down there. I should have gone down first. But I stupidly let her go before me.

The farther I went, the more I could see. A warm, yellow light became visible, and I could suddenly see Rose's innocent and worried face, peering up at me. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, my feet touched down on solid ground. Not just solid, but dry and firm. I looked around. We were in a tiny room, lit by torches all around, much more welcoming than the cold, dark room above.

A single door stood ajar. A wooden door, like the ones above.

The door to his cell.

I swallowed, and looked around more closely. The room we were standing in now had some weird furniture in it…a chair with…straps on it…a table, with…tools on it…

The coldness swept over me again. I saw those thick chains again, the anger in his eyes…

I slowly walked towards the chair. Nothing too special about it…cold metal, covered in chains…

Then I looked at the table. Almost like an operating table. One of the tools looked like a headset, except it had what looked like nails sticking out of it…another was a long, odd shaped needle thing…various knives of all shapes and sizes…

I didn't need to look any closer to know that the reddish stains on them weren't rust.

I backed away in disgust. Suddenly I could hear his screams in my head…

Rose was behind me, watching me sadly. "Did you know about all of this?" I said.

She nodded slowly. "I read his mind. That was when I was in my room…it was scary. I could see Father, hear him laughing, the things he said…and I felt his pain, and I…I hated you just like him. I love you, Mommy, but…I felt his hate."

I nodded, not knowing what to say. My bones felt so cold. Had he been right here all along? While I was up there in that gorgeous and lavish castle, being catered to and served, had he been down here in this hell within Hell? In this world of pain and loneliness?

I took a deep breath, and approached the open door to his cell. Rose took a step to follow, but I stopped her. "You stay here, Rose."

She nodded, and I went to the door, and looked in.

It was a tiny room. Almost like a walk-in closet. How could anyone live here? There was nothing…except a small wooden table that looked like it was on its last legs. On the table was a candle, still burning steadily. Other than that, nothing. No bed, sink, toilet…just a pipe that hung from the ceiling, and ran from one side of the room to another.

I slowly stepped over the threshold, and immediately the warm dryness of the floor was gone. The ground was wet and cold. I took another step in, and I was in the middle of the room. The walls seemed to be caving in on me. This was such an awful place.

Clank-clank.

Drip-drip.

Since there was nowhere else to go, I went to the wooden table. The wax from the candle was oozing all over the table, and the flame would burn out soon. But there was still enough light to tell that the table was covered in carvings.

I picked the candle off the table with some effort, since it was sticking to the surface, then started scraping the excess wax off the wood. When I had gotten most of it off, I leaned over until I was an inch from the table, struggling to make out the carvings in the dim light. The table was a mess…lines and scratch marks everywhere, but I could just make out one word…

SUSANNAH

That was it…my name, written over and over again, all over the tabletop, scratched into it with a fingernail or a small rock.

Then gouged and scratched away by huge, angry claw marks, as if by an animal.

I backed away from the table quickly, and swallowed, rubbing the ring on my finger subconsciously. The candle did nothing to ward away the dark and the cold. Then I began noticing all the little details, almost like someone was pointing them out to me…the way the pipe was all dented in the middle, the way the walls had so many spots where they were crumbling away, like someone had punched them in…the way the door looked so banged up, the boards that had held it shut scattered across the floor…

"Mommy?" Rose said from the entrance.

I turned to look at her, and the tears that had been threatening to come, finally fell out. "He was here. Right here…the whole time."

Rose was silent.

"Oh…oh, I'm gonna kill Paul. I'm gonna rend him limb from limb…strap him to this chair, and do all those awful things to him that he did to Jesse…" My hands were balled fists at my sides, and I was struggling with this incredible denial that was wracking my body. "I hate him…every aspect of him…took away my life once, and now he's done it again…"

I stormed passed Rose, back to ladder. "Come on, Rose."

She followed obediently. I wondered briefly how she felt hearing her mother say those things about her father. But I forgot that thought as we started climbing up the ladder.

I was furious. This anger boiling in my blood rivaled anything I had ever before experienced, and that was saying a lot. I felt like I could crush iron in my grip, and you know, maybe I could. I'm not an average human, after all. I'm an angel. And Paul was about to get a dose of my heavenly wrath.

When we got back to the bedchamber, Bonnie was sitting on the bed, bawling her eyes out, holding the two Keepers' cloaks to her chest.

"Bonnie?" I said carefully, and she started, looked at us, blinked in disbelief, and flung herself at our feet with a cry of joy.

"Oh-oh, your Highnesses! I'm so happy! I thought you were gone forever! The King would have killed me-"

Paul. The sadistic bastard.

"We're okay, Bonnie, now get up and quit groveling," I said angrily.

She blinked up at me in surprise. I never used that tone with her. "…huh?"

"You heard me," I said, and I walked around her and sat on the bed. "I want you…to call me Suze."

Her mouth opened in horror. "SUZE?!?! But you are the QUEEN-"

"Yes, and I order you to call me Suze," I said, looking down at the ring. "And quit serving me…so devoutly. I can do things by myself. Like putting my clothes on. I totally do NOT need your help to dress myself, thank you very much-"

Bonnie let out a nervous laugh. "Your Highness-" With an icy glare from me, she quickly corrected herself. "Um-Suze…you are starting to speak like a street demon…queens do not say, 'totally' in that manner…"

"Ah, shut up," I said, and Bonnie was shocked into silence. "I'm sick of being a stupid queen, I'm sick of all this proper grammar crap, and really-is it too much to ask to be able to be BY MYSELF for just one F*CKING MINUTE?!?!?!"

Then I remembered that Rose was there, and she had been hearing things from me all day that seven-year-olds shouldn't hear. But she was smiling proudly at me.

Bonnie stumbled to her knees, jittering nervously. "Yes, your Highness-r-ight away y-your High-ness-" And she flew out of the room like a chicken on fire.

"Darn straight!" Rose said.

I smiled at her. "Rose dear…it's not 'darn straight'…it's 'damn straight'."

We exchanged conspiratorial looks.

"So what now, Mommy? Do we run away and join a circus?"

Well, at least one of us was enjoying herself.

"No, Rose…I'm not sure what to do." I sank back onto the bed. "Maybe we should find Jesse first…"

"How?" Rose said. "Where do we start?"

"Well," I wondered aloud, "He's loose in the castle, sooo…well, he's still here, at least. But I don't know where we should start…"

"I'll check my room!" Rose said excitedly, running towards the door. "Then I'll check the west towers, and the art rooms, and-"

"You're not going anywhere by yourself, Rose," I said, standing up quickly.

She groaned, looking at me with puppy-dog eyes. "Mommy!" she whined. "Please? I can take care of myself! And besides, if I find him, he won't hurt me!"

"How do you know?" I said, hands on my hips, the spitting image of an annoying mother.

Rose sighed with exasperation. "Because, Mommy-I saw his thoughts, remember? He has no intentions of hurting either of us. He just wants…"

"What?" I encouraged. "He wants what?"

"Well, he kind of just…needs someone to talk to," she said, turning back towards the door. "He'd prefer you, though, but he doesn't mind me." She giggled. "He thinks I'm cute!"

Then she was out the door, before I could stop her, and it was closing behind her. I had half a mind to follow her out, but then I figured, she's right. If anything, Jesse would protect her, not harm her. He was different, that was true, and who wouldn't be after what Paul did to him…but his core was still the same. He would always be the same person inside. I knew that for a fact, and I trusted him.

So I sat back down on the bed with a sigh, rubbing the ring again. It felt good to be wearing it again. Really good. If I got to see Jesse again, I wanted to show him that I'm wearing it. Just in case he had any ideas that I was, you know, in love with Paul or anything stupid like that. Which I'm not. I'm as far from love as its possible to be. I don't even care anymore, which I did a little before. No, I don't care if Paul is hundreds of times stronger than me…I'm gonna kill him. And anyway, I'm an angel right? I'm an angel, and he's a stupid demon. Angels are stronger than demons. Angels are supposed to be able to kill demons easily.

Right?

Right.

Paul is so totally dead. I'll make him wish he never even looked at me…and all those other times I tried to kill him, they don't count. This time, its not going to be a spur-of-the-moment decision. It will be a carefully planned and thought-out murder. And it will work.

Paul will die.

And then I'll find Jesse, and…and…

And what?

"Dammit, this is so complicated," I murmured. I lifted a hand and ran my fingers through my hair. I had to think of a good way to kill Paul, to reek revenge on him for both me and Jesse…

That was when I heard it.

That heavy Darth Vader breathing.

I sat up quickly. I knew the Keepers were here to protect me, but they were still just so…creepy. Besides, I just killed two of them…this could easily be one of their brothers or something, here to get revenge.

The Keeper was in the shadows, cloak wrapped tightly around him. He was an odd one though…he was the only one I had ever seen who kept his cloak pulled down over his face. Every one of them I'd ever seen before had there masks out in the open, adding further creepiness, but this one…for some reason, not seeing the mask was further unsettling.

"Yes?" I said.

The Keep just stood there, breathing heavily. The breathing seemed weird, too…more exaggerated, like it was trying to be scary on purpose. And it was exactly as cold and chilling as it usually seemed. It just wasn't scraping at the inside of my head the way it normally does…

"Hello, anyone home?" I said nervously. "Yoo-hoo? Can I help you?"

Nothing. Except…the breathing got heavier.

I stood up, getting angry. "Okay, mister, this isn't funny. What the hell are you doing here?"

The breathing got heavier and more ragged, like it was turned on by fear.

Then I remembered the dream…no. No way.

I smiled coyly at the Keeper, trying to mask my fear, and probably failing miserably. "Hey, mister evil-Kepper-thingy, guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna kill your king! That's right, I'm gonna murder him in cold blood, because I really hate him! Now, run along, and go tell your buddies."

Still the same heavy breathing. Except it made an odd hiccupping sound, almost like it was trying not to laugh.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" I was starting to get pissed off. This was someone's idea of a practical joke. I hadn't even heard the door open or close. The freak was just…here.

I took a bold step forward. The maybe-Keeper just kept breathing. Another step, a little less boldly.

"Okay, if this is a some kind of joke, really, it's just not funny anymore."

The Keeper-thing just stood there, facing me, the place where its face should be a dark, gaping hole, like a giant mouth, I thought with a shudder.

"K, this is so totally not cool," I muttered, and, summoning all my courage, I walked right up to the Keeper, right up to its face, glaring boldly into the black hole in the cloak. Afraid to pull it down. Afraid of what I might see.

"Show yourself," I hissed at it. But of course, my only answer was the heavy breathing.

It was pretty tall for a Keeper, I thought uneasily.

I don't know what made me do it. A sudden burst of adrenaline, maybe, that just forced my hand to grab the hood and pull it down. All I know, is that when I pulled it down, I found myself face-to-face with those dark, angry eyes and that almost savage grin…the dark, hauntingly beautiful face I had dreamed of for seven years…

A/N: Yippee!!!! The lovers reunited, after seven lonely years!!!! How romantic!!!!! And disturbing!!!!!!! REVIEW!!!!!!

TTFN