Second Chances, is a little something I brewed up at about three in the morning after watching Constantine.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but if I did I'd still write this crazy stuff.
Thank you to valkyrie-alex as my wonderful and encouraging beta.
Second Chances...
Alpha.
It wasn't warm or cold, nor bright or dark. Everything was someplace in between. Suspended between crushingly heavy and nauseating weightlessness. Not especially quiet or loud. It was just you and your thoughts if you had any left. Eating wasn't necessary neither was sleeping, breathing, or anything else.
This place went by many names...
Living Death.
Fegefeuer.
Чистилище
Perdition.
Nothingness.
Oblivion.
Limbo.
Or most commonly called Purgatory.
The first thing he noticed, was that he didn't know who he was, or where or anything along those lines. Also it felt as if he were in trapped in tar, surrounded immobile by some sludgy substance.
"Chas."
He knew that name. From where he didn't know for sure, but he knew it.
"Open your eyes Chas." That voice, where had he heard it? Then he realized, he hadn't open his eyes or spoken yet.
"I can't... I'm dead," he said with a smile, surprised to have a voice.
"Open your eyes, smartass." Blinking, he looked around. He had gone from floating in nothingness, to standing in a gray vastness. In the same jeans and shirt he last remember being in, but they were in the same gray as everything else. Instinctively his hands went for his hat, not finding it he started turning around he looked for the source of the voice he had heard. He stuck his hand in the deep pockets of his jeans, for a moment he thought about whistling but it didn't really seem right, did the dead whistle? He also notice his favorite jacket was gone along with his socks and shoes. Looking down he saw a quarter sized black spot on the floor, squatting down to get a better look, he touched it tentatively with a finger.
"Funny how a single spot can stand out, isn't it?"
Looking up at first all he saw were the pale blue wings that stood out like a patch of sky on a stormy day. "So. Angel?" he asked, pointing at the being. Nod. "Dead?" he asked pointing to himself. Nod. "Okayyy... and this ain't Heaven or Hell, is it?" he asked as he waved a hand around, a truly perplexed look on his face. He got another 'nod' in return. "Um, so where then?" He squinted, trying make something out of the angel besides wings.
"I believe you know it as, Purgatory," the voice said, taking on a feminine tilt. "You know, where all the un-baptized babies supposedly go." The figure because clearer, like wiping the dirt and road grime from a car window. Long wavy brown hair, delicately pulled back in the front, was brushed with golden strands. "What do you think?" She waved around. All of his memories; emotions and what made Chas Chandler who he was, returned with a casual wave of her hand.
"Umm not what I expected..." Chas said rubbing the side of his head, the remainder of his memories leaked back in, like water going through a sieve. "Aah, who are you by the way?" he asked, and then choked back a surprised shout as the visions of his death flashed like a strobe light. Almost stumbling, he blinked back the pain. He could feel his death again; crushed rub cage, the shattered spine, where his skull had fractured and worst of all was when his right lung had exploded from the sheer force of it. Gasping he looked up at the angel his eyes wide, brows drawn tight. "What the hell was THAT?" Chas asked for some reason feeling betrayed.
"That was a start... if you want it." The angel looked Chas in the eye; her eyes were the same blue as her wings, her pupils in the shape of a seven-point star. He got a good look at her, she was just a few inches shorter than he was, and her frame was fine but burning with power.
"Wh.. who are you?" he asked holding his ribs, expecting to find them broken.
"Who am I?" she asked smiling, placing a finger to her lip she tapped it thought fully. "I've been called many things over the years, unlike the others that are always the same. "Apollyon-Abaddon, Hemah, Kafziel, Kezef, Ha-Mavet, Mashhit, Suriel, Yehudiah, Yetzer-hara... So many, many more."
"Oh Shit." Chas suddenly realized who he was looking at.
"But you can call me Azrael," she said smiling.
"Angel of Death?"
Nod.
