Supernatural: Chronicles of the Order 7
Chapter 37: One Mess Too Many
(DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own Supernatural because it belongs to Eric Kripke and Warner Bros. So, enjoy the show! Rated M for graphic violence, adult content, and adult language)
Minara was busy observing the cleanup effort in Zavrath as he was seeing several of the Hunter Corps picking up the mess. Life was returning to normal as he was glad that Rafferty and his goons in the Red Inquisition were eliminated in which the Draaza prisoners who fled now tasted freedom for the first time in a while. With several buildings being cleaned up, he was ready to return to the resistance bunker under the church until he spotted something in one of the buildings. Getting a little closer, he saw four townsfolk, both human and Draaza, dead by hanging as the sight of their deaths triggered a tragic memory. He remembered his beloved Penelope and his father-in-law, Lentulus, being taken to the gallows by Julilla as he saw them hung in which he began to shake in fear. He was starting to lose it as he began to hyperventilate. Just as he was about to faint, he heard footsteps approaching as he spotted Damien running towards him in which he was concerned for his health, for this was a troubling case for him indeed.
"You doing okay?" he asked as he helped Minara up. "This is the third set of townsfolk that offed themselves when the Red Inquisition took over, only to see them flushed out of this popsicle stand."
"I've seen something like this before back on Claudius," he said as he returned to a normal pace.
"I heard about what Julilla did to Lentulus Varus and his daughter, Penelope. Believe me, Lentulus was a close ally not only to just the Order of Letters, but to the rest of my clan who live on Valinor."
"Julilla… She's rotting in Hell right now after she got what was coming to her."
"From what I heard, Sam Winchester finished her off while she was trying to jumpstart Project Ra in the Sol-2 in which she failed."
"Julilla may be gone, but her subordinates in the Executive Division will finish what she and Tobias Wetzel started. As for my fresh start with Mizuwa, I also want to make sure that she wouldn't suffer the same fate as the ones I once respected."
"War is a bitch, but we can't just keep the tragic stories bottled up forever. Someone has to hear your tale anyway, don't you agree?"
Minara agreed to what Damien told him as he was also shaken about what he saw. Still, he had to keep the bulk of it to himself, but he would soon tell someone about his suffering soon enough, for this was a burden that no one should be able to bear…
It had been four days since the destruction of the Spillway as I was hard at work trying my hardest to clean up all over Zavrath. These days, I was using my raw power to fix the floor of the church of the Winchester Gospel as it was newly refurbished and cleaned up the moment I saw the resistance doing their part into bringing the prisoners home, but the psychological damage was about to get harder. With everyone cleaning up Zavrath, the effort into fixing the town was going smoothly in which I was also starting to feel the pinch of overwork. It didn't matter right now as I was on hand into sweeping the floor of the church as it was made to be a decent place of worship once again. By the time I was finished, I left the church as I went towards the mosque where I noticed Deejatra helping out with the cleanup effort in which she admired the Devil's Trap that was painted up there. What I also noticed that even though there are Draaza citizens in this town, I was wondering what happened to the others who once lived here, for this was a question that I had to answer once I got answers.
I continued to observe the cleanup effort as I noticed Nithra arriving to assess the damage that the mosque had over the years, for he viewed places of worship as sacred here just as they are on his own homeworld. It wasn't long until I noticed him walk towards the altar of the Imam who painted the Devil's Trap as he also paid his respects for the one who was once a hunter, for it was also a godsend in disguise after all.
"Imam Musa was a good man and a greater hunter," I heard Nithra say as he prayed to the placard.
"He would be happy to see his Devil's Trap ensnare demons like what happened a few days ago," I said. "As for the remainder of this place, we got most of the trash out of there just in time for those who are ready for Friday prayers."
"You have a keen eye for respecting the dead, My Lord. From what I heard was that your raw power protected you from the wrath of the one who was slain by Torune Mitani."
"It wasn't just his raw power," said Deejatra as she was sweeping the tiled floor. "It was also the combined efforts of Lady Reiko and the prophet, Nabaka T'Chauli who stopped Lucifer from possessing him."
"There you are!" yelled Dean as he ran towards me and grabbed me by my long silver hair.
I was being pulled out of the mosque as I was under the whim of my older brother. I was towed back towards the church of the Winchester Gospel as I was seeing several members of the Medical Corps taking care of the freed prisoners who were once held captive in the Spillway. What I didn't expect was that Nevka was standing there in front as she saw Dean let go of my long hair the moment I was about to be put under the ringer with the examination, for I was loathing the fact that I would be examined for no reason.
"This, again?" I said as I was starting to get irritated.
"As I recall, a certain someone has neglected his health again!" yelled Nevka.
"This place is a mess and the people should be rehabilitated and cared for. As for my own predicament, it's classified."
"Really, Sammy?" said Dean as he was not too happy with me for trying to skip out on my examination. "Nothing is off limits with you 'cause you can't get past the Medical Corps on this."
"You heard him," said Nevka. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I suggest that you go towards the medical wing and get examined."
I reluctantly agreed as I went downstairs to the bunker below. Even though everything was cleaned up, I was being escorted into the medical wing in which it was more like what was once used in the Order of Letters bunker during the time of the Elder Days. The beds were military grade, but they also had mattresses with memory foam as they even had bedsheets, soft quilts, and cotton pillows adorning them. By the time I went towards an examination table, I was waiting for one of the Medical Corps to examine me as I noticed Minara coming in here, for he was no stranger to dealing with medicine in this time of war.
"Nevka would've been here, but she's kind of busy right now," he said to me.
"You're an Elder of the Order now, but you still cling to your old line of work," I said.
"I have my work as an Elder and a member of the Medical Corps. Ever since Kazuo's passing, the Medical Corps has passed the torch to Reuben, who is also making sure that some of the new recruits take psychology courses."
"My influence must've rubbed off on him…"
"After hearing the stories about you being in the sickbay on the way back to Alecrast, he stepped up his a-game in order to have some patients in his care talk about their problems instead of bottling them up all the live long. Now, if you don't mind, I suggest that you lie down so I can give you the rundown. It's best to do so in which it's better than have Nevka breathing down our necks."
I obeyed Minara as I laid down on the examination table in which I saw the scanner machine above give out the many readings that I had. Staring at the screen, I watched the readings of my vital signs as I saw them to be a bit erratic due to my moment of overwork. I was too focused on the cleanup in Zavrath as I didn't want it to be a place that was trashy, for I didn't want it to be a dumpster fire. While I was still laying there, I saw Minara slightly feeling a bit dizzy as he sat down in a chair. Like me, he was also exhausted from overwork as he was waiting for Nevka to arrive. Still, I didn't blame him for helping to bail out the Draaza prisoners who were held captive in the Spillway as I noticed him clenching his fists so nervously. I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to have him cling to closure as I saw him shaking with such terror. Just as I was about to sit up, I was barred as I noticed Minara glaring at me in which he didn't want me to go yet.
"Don't even try it, Sam," he said to me.
"You're shaking, aren't you?" I said.
"It's not your problem right now."
"You're not the only one who suffered much trouble. I had my fair share of abuse, but you should tell your story before you bottle it up."
"After what I went through, I can't shake the memory of what happened to Lentulus and Penelope that day. It's all too much for me…"
I slowly got up as I rushed toward the bathroom to do my business while closing the door. I was surely holding it as walked to the toilet and lifted up the seat. I was busy relieving myself as I was about to nearly wet my clothes. By the time I finished up, I flushed the toilet as I put the seat down and went towards the sink to wash my hands. When I left the bathroom, I noticed Minara standing still on something as he was stuck to it. I never saw it coming as I tried to get him off of what was on the floor, only to see me stuck to a mandala that was put there for a reason. The magic of it was too strong for us as we ended up in the time of the Elder Days. It was something that we never expected before as we were further back in the past in which we were in a familiar town that was recorded in the Order's record books.
We were in Sioux Falls as we found ourselves near a movie theater that had various posters of upcoming releases. The sight of some movie posters of horror remakes of certain films adorned the walls as we also had to hide in plain sight the moment we had to find cover, for we had to get back to our own timeline before it was too late. The alleyway was our best bet as we had to hide further away before being spotted.
"We've went into a further mess, I take it," said Minara.
"We're in Sioux Falls," I said.
"And the movie selection stems from future releases such as My Bloody Valentine 3D to Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Such a shitty selection of movies indeed…"
"We're only here for a short time, so we can't change anything here."
"And the year in this timeline is 2009." Minara sees an abstract campaign poster on the wall as it was one of the presidents who presided on this planet. "Barack Obama… He was a president who broke barriers and gave equal rights to all… until his successor ruined it."
"We can deal with it later." I see the Impala driving past the theater as I spotted Dean's past self get out of it while he was going into a bar. "And we see things not going too well…"
Minara was aware of the timeline as he never expected my brother's past self to be going through too much stress. He never expected to see him hit the bottom before in which he later spotted a box of unused clothes that were in good condition. The sight of black suits, white shirts, and cheap neckties were a cover for both me and him as we stripped off our current clothes and put on the ones that were in the box. Even though we were fully dressed, we had to cover our heads with the hats that were in the box in which they were great to cover my jewelled sigil and Minara's Elven ears, but our long hair would prove a problem. Thankfully, we had our hair up under our hats as we later spotted a duffel bag to put our clothes in. Setting out, we walked towards the Impala as we saw it to be nostalgic in which we later noticed the interior that was similar to the one in our timeline.
"It's perfect in every detail," I said.
"It's perfect, but did the interior have to be scratched up with an army man shoved into the ashtray?" said Minara. "Any car like the Impala shouldn't be tampered with, especially when it comes to a classic muscle car like what we see here."
"Hey!" yelled my brother's past self as he stepped outside of the bar. "You yo-yos better not be trying to steal Baby, you hear me?! It's bad enough that Sam's hanging out with Ruby, but seeing a bunch of rejects from The Blues Brothers trying to jack my car?!"
"We're not here to steal your car, sir," I said.
"Really? And who might you and your friend be?"
"We're special agents Osbourne and Kilmister," said Minara. "We just arrived here briefly, but after this, we're on our way back home."
"Okay, Agent um…, Kilmister?"
"For starters, sir," I said as I was concerned about Dean's past self. "You should at least tell us about what happened to you during your four months in Hell first."
I saw my brother's past self go back into the bar as Minara and I followed him back in. The place itself, which was called Shecky's, had a plethora of various rock posters stemming from AC/DC to Metallica on the wall. It also smelled of the stench of stale beer as we followed Dean's past self to a booth near a pool table. Sitting down, we had to hear his story as we saw him shaking with fear, but from what, exactly? Minara noticed him clenching his fists as he was feeling the lingering effects of his time in Hell, for it was a very touchy subject that was mainly off limits to the public.
"You look shaken," he said.
"It's nerves," said Dean's past self as he was holding onto the table.
"It's not just nerves," I said as I sensed my brother's past self reliving his worst nightmare.
"Says the guy who looks like my brother…"
"You served four months, or perhaps forty years there in Hell, didn't you?" said Minara.
"You don't know the bulk of it. After my time was up and my ass got dragged down there, I was being tortured by a demon named Alistair in which he was goading me to torture innocent souls who were dragged there. After that, in my final ten years there, I caved and I tortured people." Tears streamed down my brother's past self's cheeks as he was trying hard to forget about his horrendous experience. "I did so until Castiel rescued me from the pit. He destroyed the meathooks and chains that bound me in which I found myself buried in dirt. And to my irritation, Sam's been hanging around with Ruby, who used to be a hot blond and is now a hot brunette. He doesn't know about my pain and I don't know what to say to him once he gets back on a hunting trip in Arkansas."
"You should tell him about your experience," I said. "He's gonna listen to you eventually. It'll only be a matter of time before he sees you again. You can't let it slide any further or else you'll never fully heal. Trauma can damage you to the point of no return if you can't tell someone who is willing to listen to your story."
"He's right about that one," said Minara. "Trauma can hurt anyone. I know that feeling before, but we can't let it get to us, no matter what gets thrown at us. You're a good man, Dean Winchester, for you are a much greater older brother to the one you care about the most, in good and bad times. Don't let the pain take you, for it is the harshest form of torture of them all."
It wasn't long until we saw an energy beam near the Impala as both Minara and I left the bar and went towards it. By the time we reached it, we returned to the present as we saw Dean feeling exasperated from trying to get us back to our location in the resistance bunker on Shiganshina. Noticing the strange clothes on us, he never expected us to take a detour the moment he took away the mandala that was on the floor. What we didn't expect was that Nibori was there as she was thankful that her magic was used for bringing us back at the last minute. The sight of a hex bag on the floor was the catalyst into bringing us back as we had enough adventures for one day, for we still had to clean up the rest of Zavrath before returning home to our families.
"Whew! That did the trick," she said as she threw away the spent hex bag. "Those time mandalas should be placed on the wall, not on the floor."
"It's good to be home," I said as I took off my hat.
"I have you go downstairs here in the medical wing of this bunker and you take off and dress up like one of The Blues Brothers," said Dean as he wasn't too happy with me for taking off. "Nevka's pissed 'cause you took off without telling us! I had to hear her nag all day in which it reminds me of Cynthia yelling at us for not doing our homework!"
"I'm just as guilty as he is, Dean," said Minara.
"At least you made it back without causing much trouble," said Nibori. "Therefore, you guys must've went back in time before the start of the Apocalypse."
"And we didn't interrupt because of what happened afterwards," I said as I walked towards the examination table. "We may give insight to those who would heed our advice, but we can't interfere with the events of the past altogether."
"Sammy!"
I heard Reiko's voice as I spotted her coming downstairs with a picnic basket full of food in her hands. When she spotted me dressed in those bizarre clothes, I saw her blushing at me in which I was also starting to become trapped in my own embarrassment. I felt like an anime character due to my long hair as I was still trapped in the suit that I dressed up in, for I couldn't escape my wife's sight yet.
"You look great, Sammy," I heard her say to me.
"Uh-oh, you're busted," said Nibori as she saw me blushing back.
"I know that you're gonna change out of your clothes, but not now. You look fine in your clothes in which you would be a trendsetter."
It wasn't long until I noticed Reiko grab at my long hair as she tugged me upstairs towards the inset of the church of the Winchester Gospel. She wasn't about to let me go as I watched her set down the basket of food on one of the pews. Still, I never expected myself to dress up sharply, but I was unable to switch back to my normal clothes as I saw Reiko blushing even more. I was outmatched by my wife's wit as she wasn't about to let me back away easily, for she wanted to see me dressed in more than just my robes.
"I was about to dress back into my other clothes," I said.
"But you look so handsome in that suit," said Reiko as she blushed.
"As soon as I get back into my robes, the better, but… I'll make an exception for today. Sadly, I can't cut the hair because I don't want to incur the wrath of Yashamaru."
"I know, but your hair is connected to the galaxy in many ways than one."
"My hair can be a burden, but now that the both of us have achieved godlike status, we're more connected to the galaxy than what we perceive to be."
"There you are!"
I saw Nevka returning from her daily rounds as she wasn't too happy to see me after what happened to me earlier. Still, I had to endure the wrath of the oldest member of the T'Chauli siblings as she was ready to let me have it, for I was about to be put under the ringer…
A few hours later, I was in the bathroom as I had my clothes stripped while I was cleaning myself in the shower. I also remembered the trauma story that Dean's past self told me and Minara as it was too much to bear, which was an old memory from the Elder Days. By the time I finished up, I stepped out of the shower as I dried myself off with a towel and put on some fresh clothing. With a white kimono and grey overrobe put on, I cleaned up my mess as I put my clothes into the hamper the moment I left the bathroom. It wasn't long until I saw Nevka coming towards me as she was most likely to be escorting me towards the medical wing for further testing, for she wasn't about to let me off the hook yet.
"You sure know how to get into trouble, don't you, Sam?" she told me.
"After what Dean told me earlier, you don't mess around," I said.
"Well, your better half left the picnic basket for you and it's mainly a care package filled with your favorite foods. She's a good cook in which Dean wouldn't stay out of the basket she left you before she returned home."
"She blushed when she saw me in those clothes that I pilfered during my short visit to the past in which Minara and I comforted Dean's past self after his horrendous stint in Hell for four months, which is forty in hell years."
"You can talk about your stories later, but first and foremost, you need to undergo some tests."
Without further complaints, I followed Nevka to the medical wing as I walked towards the examination table in which I had no other choice but to lay down while I saw the scanner check for my vital signs. With Nevka calling the shots, she saw that my vital signs were slightly erratic due to the stress levels I was put under. By the time I was finished, I was ready to leave until I saw Minara arriving in which he also got cleaned up and dressed earlier, for he wasn't about to get away from Nevka's wrath anytime soon.
"It seems that you've been put through the ringer," he said to me as he sat down in a chair.
"I've been through worse," I said as I sat up.
"Hey, lay back down!" yelled Nevka as she was sitting at her desk reading a chart. "You're not done yet, Sam, so I suggest that you don't move!"
"So, what's the verdict?" asked Minara.
"His vitals are erratic again, but his stress levels are not pretty, either."
"He's no stranger in being a guinea pig for the Medical Corps."
"Well, you, on the other hand, are in no condition to be up and about after your tussle at the Spillway. Hell, you even rush to the bathroom puking your guts out after seeing the details about the Hunter Corps finding suicidal corpses that they had to salt and burn."
Nevka's words worried me as I saw Minara clutching at his stomach in which he was going through the tumultuous stress when it came to dealing with the flashbacks that he had. The tragic mess that he endured was too much for even him to bear as I saw him feeling nauseous from the long day that we had. When Nevka finished up with her report, she was ready to go on break as we saw her leave to the mess hall. With only Minara and myself in the medical wing, I sat up as I saw him rocking in his chair while he was eating some rice crackers that he had in his pocket earlier, for something was truly bothering him on the sly.
"You've been on edge lately," I said.
"It's just work and stress," said Minara.
"I know that something's bothering you in which you can't bottle up that trauma forever."
"After the fall of Rafferty's group in the Spillway, I was observing the cleanup effort here in Zavrath in which I saw some corpses strung up. That image triggered that memory of what I experienced when I lost Penelope and Lentulus at the hands of Julilla a year ago. Still, I may have moved on and married Mizuwa, that terrible memory will never leave me, no matter what I do. The image of that cold bitch who killed my loved ones still haunts me in which I wanted vengeance against her for what she did."
"And I finished her off on the Sol-2…" I notice Minara slowly getting up as he was about to fall down from exhaustion. "Hey!" I get off of the examination table as I steer him to the examination table. "You shouldn't let the stress get to you, alright?"
"It's too much for me…"
I gently laid Minara down as I saw the scanner checking his vital signs. He was in a nervous wreck like I was as I saw his vitals slightly raised. To my shock, I saw an unusual mass that was shown on Minara's abdomen as I never saw anything like it before until now. For a brief moment, I thought it would be a tumor at first, but when I used the scanner to delve further, I saw something that resembled a humanoid embryo as it was about a month old in advance. The image of the so-called abnormality unnerved me as I was shocked to see the humanoid embryo alive and thriving inside of a womb that was created inside Minara's abdomen. I didn't know what to tell him, but I had to do so as I saw him shaking with fear of seeing the image of the humanoid embryo slowly growing in the crafted womb in his body.
"What the hell's happening to me?" he said with a shocked look on his face.
"I'm sorry to say this, but you're pregnant," I said.
"No, no, no…" I saw Minara shaking with shock as I notice him clutching at his stomach. "This is impossible! It's the women who get pregnant, not the men! Women have the equipment to carry a baby to term while the men have the spare parts to craft it."
"Does Mizuwa know about this? You have to tell her eventually."
Minara was scared to death as he had tears in his eyes. I felt helpless in this situation as I saw him weeping on the examination table. Still, I couldn't leave him alone right now as he was in a much dire predicament than expected. I only had pity for him as I heard him shudder at the fact that a man could end up getting pregnant without warning, for this was something that even I once read about at the time.
"I know of this phenomenon you're suffering from," I said.
"Are you serious?" asked Minara.
"On Claudius, there's the phenomenon of the Cerulean Moon in which several of the fertile men there have experienced pregnancy once in their lifetime. You and Mizuwa must have had unprotected sex, but the egg has travelled up the spout to be fertilized. I read it in one of the Medical Corps books once while I was living out my years on Gehenna at the time. I thought that it was a myth at first, but you're the first one who surpassed the expectations of what was once an old tale. On the scanner, the baby that you and Mizuwa made is nestled into a generated womb inside of you so it wouldn't get tangled up in the intestines."
"It'll take a grueling nine months to carry it, but the only way to deliver it is by Caesarian section…"
It wasn't long until we saw Nevka return to her work as she saw Minara on the examination table with a scared look on his face. What she didn't expect was that he was carrying a baby inside of him as she never saw anything like it before until now, for this was a first in the record books.
"So, here we have a reversal," she said.
"It's not what you think," I said.
"YOU DUMB-ASS!" I saw Nevka walk towards Minara as she was ready to let him have it after all that work after the Spillway mission. "You were always there to do this mission in stopping the Red Inquisition, but doing it while pregnant?!"
"I never knew about it until now," he said.
"You are so grounded, Minara Mitani! As soon as Reuben hears this, he'll be making damn sure that you stay home while that is in there gestating without further complications!"
"Mizuwa… I'm so sorry…" Minara shudders in fear as he was clutching at his stomach. "The last time we did it, we made love together while we looked at that gorgeous moon on Claudius…"
It wasn't long until I saw Reiko coming into the medical wing as she noticed Minara feeling more shaken than normal. She never saw him in such a shocking state before as I was also concerned for his physical and mental health. None of us can leave him alone right now as we noticed Nevka writing a letter to the Medical Corps. She saw Minara's mental state left, right, and center as she wasn't about to let him go further in his field missions as an Elder of the Order, for he had to put them on hold for the time being.
"This is no ordinary phenomenon," she said.
"Is something wrong with Minara?" asked Reiko.
"For the record, Lady Reiko, your brother is with child and he took a huge risk after undertaking the mission to sabotage the Spillway."
"Reiko, let me explain," he said as he sat up. "This wasn't suppose to happen. As for what I carry inside of me, it's suppose to be inside of Mizuwa, not me! It's the women alone who are pregnant, not the other way around!"
"You can't reverse this, Minara," she said to him. "I can sense that Mizuwa had problems before in which the baby that was generated from General Wetzel's rape towards her never made it. She suffers from a malady that has harmed many humanoid women who end up pregnant. I heard Uncle Kazuo tell the new recruits about that malady in which it can be treatable, but there has been no effort into finding a cure for it. As for your condition, please don't lash out, for you are doing more good to carry the egg that Mizuwa procured for you."
Minara looked at the unborn child on the scanner as it also had the genetics of a Cetra due to Mizuwa's egg that was fertilized by his seed. I was also more than grateful that I was there to comfort him as he also had no other choice but to sit out for next eight months. Still, it was one mess after another as I was ready to wrap up my mission before returning home to the castle that had been interlocked on the four planets that housed the Order's main headquarters all over the Ashizoka System. By the time I left the medical wing, I noticed Nevka following me as she was concerned about this pile of messes that was there, for I had a feeling that there was no end to the long predicament here in Zavrath on Shiganshina.
"Sam," she said to me. "I need to clarify something that your wife said earlier."
"Go ahead," I said. "I'll listen to what you need to say."
"The malady that Reiko talked about is known as Tabata Syndrome, which is an illness that is often plaguing women to the point of them being infertile. My husband and I discovered Mizuwa when she was found and dumped in a landfill after she was raped by Tobias Wetzel. The rest of her family were slaughtered by him in which he offered them to the vampires who accompanied him. Espinar, who is a Draaza, saw the widespread killings of her family of those suckheads at the behest of that sadistic madman. What was also saddening was that Mizuwa was pregnant with that bastard's child, but it never lived due to what she suffered from. After she miscarried, everyone in her hometown treated her like a pariah just like what happened to Kotori Midorikawa. Therefore, she left Alecrast for Essos in which she found work at the pastry factory in Lillium, but it got blown up by General Wetzel and his asshole cronies so they can claim the ultimate prize in this relentless war. Mizuwa has always been damaged goods since that scumbag raped her and tossed her out like trash, but when she was found in the rubble of the factory with burn injuries, she still suffers from both the physical and mental ailments that plagued her ever since. As for the malady she suffers from, I hope to the gods that there will be a cure for it…"
"I hope that you find one… No woman should go through a time of being infertile nor would she suffer from being barren from this malady. As for the strange case with Minara, however, he and all the men have the spare parts to craft offspring, but there were times that I heard Cynthia telling some of the men in Kanto Village to help take responsibility into caring for their future children."
I never expected to hear Nevka come clean about what happened to Mizuwa until now as I also swore that there would be a cure for the infamous Tabata Syndrome in the future. As for Minara's predicament, I had to make sure that he would be safe and away from field missions until the baby was born. Just as I was about to go back to the medical wing, I heard footsteps approaching as I noticed a courier with a letter in his hand. When I noticed that it was addressed to me, I took it from the courier as I opened it up in which it was a summons from Shion. Reading it, I had a gut feeling that my other set of enemies, the Executive Division, were encroaching onto Westeros. I feared the worst as I was also still part of the cleanup effort here in Zavrath, for I couldn't abandon Shion in her time of need…
Later on in the evening, I was overseeing the further cleanup effort in Zavrath as I saw several members of the Hunter Corps laying rest to those who fell victim to the Red Inquisition. Even though we rescued most of the Draaza population here, I had a gut feeling that the rest of the townsfolk here suffered from a far worse fate than being imprisoned as I noticed Dean approaching in which he was most likely to be on edge, for he also had his reasons to place bodyguards to keep me safe.
"Minara's out of the field work as an Elder of the Order," he said to me. "Nevka's pissed that he put his ass at risk in the Spillway without telling the higher-ups or others about his unmentionable problem."
"I saw it when he was under so much stress, Dean," I said. "What I also know is that he's carrying an unborn child that he and Mizuwa crafted. He even went with me to the past in which we were caught in the crosshairs of the tampering of the Sixty-Six Seals in the Elder Days. We also talked to your past self in which he was suffering from the long stay in Hell. Four months there marks forty years in which your past self was goaded and tortured, only to be forced to torture innocent souls rotting away downstairs."
"And you and Minara returned to the present here without seeing the consequences of what those time mandalas can do. You're not the only one who delved in old and new lore, Sam. I know how Reiko went to the past in which it was powered by the energy of an unborn child. Desna told me about it in which he researched into those things. As for Minara's predicament, he's not going on any more field missions for the next nine months of so. I heard about how Minara ended up pregnant while it was Mizuwa's job to carry it, only to hear about her suffering from Tabata Syndrome."
"I know… As for my next mission, I have to go to a summons requested by Shion. She's been having problems with the Executive Division in which they're most likely to be reviving Project Amaterasu. I won't let that happen this time because of the fact that we're still fighting this war."
"I hate to break it to you, but the rest of the townsfolk here were taken away by the Executive Division just to add to their slavery to the point of working them to death just to harvest souls to sell. I heard it from Nithra after we saw survivors telling horror stories on how the Red Inquisition sold some of the townsfolk just to be fodder for those asshats who jumpstarted this war."
I clenched my fist as I wanted to put an end to the Executive Division for what they stood for and that was wanting to abuse the raw power that I had. I couldn't forgive them for their constant harrassment towards my family and friends. I couldn't forgive them for the loss of Minara's loved ones. I couldn't forgive them for destroying the Order's main headquarters on Alecrast. I couldn't forgive them for their widespread slaughter of innocent people by using the leftovers that were left behind by Darbus Toller nor the cybernetic machines that the Old Guard made who aided and abetted them in this ongoing war. Still, I had to stop them in which I also had to destroy the remaining two facets of the Sol Project: Project Amaterasu and Project Helios. It was my responsibility on the line as I couldn't let the Executive Division and those like them cause havoc in this war, for this was my duty to shut them down in the first place…
Shion was in her office in the Order's main headquarters on Westeros as she was looking at the multiple reports of the Executive Division encroaching on the planet. She was fearing the worst as she also received word to relieve Minara from field duties after getting word about the unmentionable problem that shouldn't be mentioned to the public. Just as she was about to take a break, she saw the door to her office open up as she saw the Atreidian man who was Michael's vessel break forward the moment he collapsed to his knees. She never expected him to come here before until she saw him coughing up blood in which he was released from angelic possession, for he wasn't about to last long.
"Lady Shion," he said in a raspy voice. "Sawney Masbath is now in league with the Executive Division. He bears a grudge against Sam Winchester in which he'll stop at nothing to use him as a weapon for Project Amaterasu."
"As I recall, you were possessed by the Apocalyptic time pocket version of Michael, only to have him yanked from you.'
"It's not what you think! Someone pulled Michael out of me and absorbed him into his body. He says that he's looking for Sawney Masbath in which he wants to destroy him for threatening the new god and goddess of the Ashizoka System. He won't stop until he finishes him, I swear!"
"Wait!" Shion sees an image of an unknown man with an angelic aura similar to that of an archangel's as he appeared on screen. "It's the real Michael, not the Apocalyptic one."
"He told me how he was cheated out of returning to the living world the moment he was abused by a Shinigami named Kurotowa in which he was kept as a slave after the Apocalypse ended. He even kept him as a sex toy for the demons and other living things in the Middle Ground during those deplorable orgies. After God went dark side due to the fact that his story wasn't going as planned, he began to abuse his powers until Jack Klein took over Heaven. Chuck Shurley, which was his earthly name, had his powers stripped for a brief while until Totsuka was resurrected and brought them back with a limiter for abusing what he had as a punishment to repent for his behavior. He even separated the Darkness from him in which she delivered a swift kick in the private parts after all the chaos he caused. As for the real Michael, he became an enforcer and even reconciled with his vessel's half-siblings in which he eventually led the charge of stopping Kurotowa and the one who aided and abetted in his sadistic chess game."
"I heard of Kurotowa before, but his mother was one of Pendragon's children like the Creator and the Darkness. She is known as the Arbiter in which she'll stop at nothing to keep everything as is, even if it meant by forcing Sam and Reiko into exile." The Atreidian man continues to cough up blood as he is losing consciousness by the second. "The future mustn't fall in the hands of the Executive Division or their handlers or else we'll fail in the end… Sam and Reiko must succeed before it's too late…!"
Shion saw the man close his eyes forever as she went towards him and laid him down while clasping his cold hands. Clasping her own hands in prayer, she vowed to stop the Executive Division like the rest of us as the time to do so was inching nearer than expected…
To be continued...