Chapter 2: Demonic Angel
"Leo? Leo!"
The ex whitelighter finally became aware of the numerous attempts by
which somebody was trying to get his attention when his shoulders
were shaken. He lifted his head out of his palms to look into the
green eyes of the demon he once known as his friend, but also came to
fear in case he harmed either of the sisters. The exact man he was
thinking of so much in the last time since he felt himself out of
hand as he thought of his situation being very similar to what has
happened with Cole when he came back from the wasteland. The man
must've been a product of his imagination, the same way so many
things were in his troubled mind. He couldn't distinguish reality
from the games his brain played on him in the last few weeks of his
Elder existence, but here, in the grey void that represented the
dimension of the purgatory where the Elder's council sent him,
everything that happened was imaginary. He so far didn't encounter
anything that wasn't. Leo didn't understand the logic behind it, how
could the Elders send him that place where he was going to get more
insane in that place, not less. Unless he was waiting for some sort
of sentence, that would have been the purpose of being in a purgatory
after all. But for how long did he have to wait for it? In an
impulseless world, which provided the senses with nothing, he had no
idea how long has it been since he landed there. From the fact that
he didn't go completely bollocks yet, he deduced that most likely it
was no more than a few days. He crunched his eyebrows at the vision
in front of him, who was continuously trying to get through to him.
The intensity of the look in the eyes of the phenomenon made him
wonder. Nothing else was that sparkly when it was part of his blurry
hallucinations, "what is going on?" He said evenly, as if to himself.
Cole however, took his words as a sign of some sense from the
whitelighter and made an attempt to bring him more to his senses by
explaining the situation for him, "the Elders have given your fate
over to the gatekeeper of heaven the moment they let you go and he
has reached a decision about you. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
He leaned closer once more to lift up Leo's head with both his hands,
to be able to look into his eyes for a confirmation that intelligence
was still there. He could remember the time, now seeming like an
eternity ago, when he landed himself in these parts of creation. He
had recently found out from the gatekeeper that in fact it was only
two years ago. He had made enough amends to save himself from the
wasteland again, but the road to his happiness was still very far
away. What kinda heaven was anyway a dimension without Phoebe? At
first, he didn't actually think he was in a better place than the
wasteland, because without the possibility of orienteering and any
information whatsoever he felt more lost than ever. Till somebody
came and explained the whole thing to him, cause that was the way
things worked in purgatory. His guide, who for the gatekeeper's good
will was allowed to be his father, has earned his way into heaven
since. Now it was Cole's turn to tip the balance in some direction by
trying to guide Leo, to show him what was important.
"What was the decision?" Leo asked, very much to the point. If Cole
was real, that was what he needed to know, if he wasn't, it was still
better to play a game with one illusion, rather than wait for several
to appear at the one time.
"Leo!" Cole sighed with ease, then snorted with elation, pulling the
other man up from its sitting position to give him a bear hug. He
needed some interaction from his ex brother in law if he wanted his
plan to work.
"Illusions can't hug so convincingly, right?" Leo voiced his worries
loudly.
"I believe they didn't bother explaining you the institution of
purgatory, angel or no angel."
"No…" Leo answered uncertainly, taking a turn at touching Cole's body
all over to see if he was really real, "this means I'm just as bad as
you," he deduced sadly.
Cole gave a chuckle, "I never thought I will see the day, that's for
sure. But it proves that everyone can make mistakes if a loved one is
at stake."
"I…don't assume you know about my family…"
"This place is like a jail. There are certain privileges you can earn
with good behaviour. You can choose to watch a reality show type
camera that shows whoever you want, to be able to see what they are
doing on earth. But right now, you have no good points yet."
"Come on Cole. If you had any of these privileges, you would opt for
watching Phoebe, for sure."
"I haven't done that since…yesterday," Cole smiled, "she's trying to
convince Piper you're not coming back, since the spells to bring you
back don't work. Pity for her to go through all that pain, since you
are going back."
"I am? I thought it's either hell or heaven from here."
"Not necessarily. Actually, that is only true if you don't qualify
for the trial, or if you can't complete the trial. I told you about
the gatekeeper's decision, he considers there were too many factors
in your existence that were out of your control and you couldn't be
entirely blamed for your deeds. That is how you get a trial."
"You got a trial as well?"
"Sort of. Actually, I have to go through several trials, but I
completed quite a few already…so you see that in fact we are not of
the same worth, not even here. You only need to complete this one to
be able to choose heaven or going back to earth."
"What does the trial consist of?" Leo asked eagerly.
"We don't actually know that at the beginning of the trial. If we
knew what we needed to do, it wouldn't be a trial. They put us into
situations and they judge us from the way we behave. All I know, is
that for this one we have to leave all dimensions that are known by
us so far and that we have to do it together. And as usual for such
trials, we shouldn't have any powers, wherever we go, apart from
special cases the gatekeeper decides on. We don't know in advance
about that either. So, are you ready?"
"To jump into the unknown for Piper?" Leo came to act logically
pretty soon after realising there was a chance he could see his wife
again, "how do we travel to destination without powers?"
tbc