A.N.: It's strange, and I suppose somewhat self-serving, that I'm still writing this, because I don't think anyone is actually reading it at this point. It is like I am talking to myself. I've always said though, talking to yourself is the only way to talk to someone at exactly your level of intellect.

OK OK...maybe some people are reading it, but still! It's very quiet in here.

Anyway, in this chapter Alex and Justin meet God. Whoops, spoiler. I do not know what God sounds like, but I tend to imagine it's much like Morgan Freeman.

Alex had finished her work in record time, thanks to a bit of magical assistance. Indeed, the painting itself was magical, as it showed the Easter Bunny, but also the Ether Bunny at the same time. Alex hoped to get people to equate the two, in order to grant the Ether Bunny even more power.

The painting was large, bright, and enthralling. Despite the fact that many people had been running from the Ether Bunny, they now stopped to stare at it. Unfortunately, Alex didn't know if it was working, and wouldn't until she caught up with her brother, Harper, and the celestials. She climbed down the billboard and started to head off in the direction that Justin had gone.

"Justin," she muttered to herself. "If you got your damn fool self killed, I'm going to kill you."

When she did finally get in sight of the Ether Bunny, she saw that Justin was indeed alive, but by the looks of things, he wasn't going to be for long. The Ether Bunny had indeed caught him up and was holding him aloft. Mike and Jackal were trying to pull Justin away from the Ether Bunny, both of them flying at around the Ether Bunny's shoulder height.

"Justin!" Alex cried in terror. Before she could react further though, the Ether Bunny began to quickly increase in size, and started to glow. Clearly Alex's plan to get people to think about the Easter Bunny worked - hopefully then, it would actually cause him to burn out instead of just making him massively more powerful.

It looked like such might be the case, fortunately, as the Ether Bunny began to look frightened. He let go of Justin, who began to fall toward the earth. Alex quickly shot a bolt of energy out of her wand, hitting Justin. His descent began to slow, and he reached the ground harmlessly, running toward Alex as soon as he did.

Meanwhile, the Ether Bunny was beginning to retreat, though Alex wasn't sure where to. Jackal held up his measuring device.

"I think it might be working!" he cried. Suddenly the Ether Bunny swelled up greatly, and then burst. There was a large and bright explosion, and Alex, Justin, Jackal and Mike all dropped prone. The light and sound blinded and deafened Alex, but she sat up, blinking, trying to regain her sight. When she did, she still couldn't hear, but she saw the Ether Bunny, this time much smaller-looking, about man-sized, being tackled by Mike. He slapped a pair of etheric handcuffs on the Ether Bunny, who looked soundly defeated.

"Are you OK?" Alex heard Justin say from next to her, muffled. She rubbed her ears a bit - her hearing was coming back. In response, she just hugged him, burying her head in his chest.

Mike disappeared with the Ether Bunny in a flash of light. Meanwhile, Harold and Harper were coming out of the coffee shop and making their way over to Justin and Alex.

"What's going to happen, now that everyone saw that?" Justin asked Harold.

"I dunno," Harold said, shrugging. "My best bet is that it wouldn't be good for people to remember, so they probably won't."

"Really? Weird."

"Well, you know how easy it is to make a mortal disbelieve magic. Think about how many times it should have been extremely apparent and they still have no clue."

"Ah yeah, that's a good point."

Just then, there was another flash of light in front of the group, and Mike and someone else whom Alex didn't recognize were there. Justin however, using his advanced knowledge of angelology, pieced together the various clues surrounding the being. This angel was clearly much more formal, and wore the symbols of his office, so it wasn't difficult for Justin to pinpoint this as the Archangel Gabriel.

"Lord Gabriel," Harold said, bowing deeply. Jackal did the same. Just to be on the safe side, so did Justin, Harper, and even Alex, albeit reluctantly on her part.

"Well done," Gabriel said, smiling brightly. "I want you all to know that I've put in a recommendation for commendation of Lord Michael."

"Bah, what do I need another medal for?"

"Wait, what's going on?" Justin said. In all his study of angelology, he'd heard nothing like this.

"May I explain?" Mike asked Gabriel. Gabriel nodded sagely.

"Archangels don't really have any ability to 'advance' in the angelic hierarchy, because we're too well-known by humans, and it's extremely important that we remain a consistent force for them. Not that there's really that much advancement in general, though it gets confusing at higher levels. Anyway, the point is that Archangels get awarded medals for various tasks, instead of advancing. They don't really get us anything, they're just a recognition of our service. We don't really need or expect them, we're just happy to serve."

"Yeah, you're pretty close to the fifty mark though," Harold pointed out to Michael. "That's a milestone."

"You have almost fifty medals?" Justin asked.

Gabriel chuckled. "He has almost fifty thousand medals. Remember, we've been around since the dawn of time. Anyway, I have also gotten you an audience with God, Justin and Alex."

This sounded rather nerve-wracking to Justin. Being in the singular presence of God Almighty, Lord of the Universe, was an utterly terrifying prospect.

"When is that?" he asked.

"Right now, come on. You two, too, Jackal and Lord Michael," Gabriel said. He led the small group down the street At an intersection, he stopped. There was nothing there but a trashcan with an ashtray and a small bush planted by the municipality.

As Justin had expected, the bush spontaneously burst into flames. Gabriel, Mike, and even Jackal knelt to the ground. Justin and Alex did the same.

"Well done, good and faithful servants," the voice of God said from the bush. "I have good news for you. In your next lives, I am going to allow you two to be together."

Alex wanted to cry out in frustration. Realizing that to God, being omniscient, this would be the same as doing so, she decided not to hold back.

"But that's the same thing that Harold and Mike offered us with the Next Lives program!" she said.

"Not quite. Michael and Harold were following the law, and quite well, and I commend them for that. However, I did not say I was going to split you two up in this life."

"Really?" Alex said, hopefully. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch," God replied. "You two were both slated for reincarnation as it was."

"Wait, what?" Justin said. "I thought we weren't too bad! I mean OK, maybe I can understand Alex not being holy enough for heaven yet -"

"Hey!" Alex interjected.

"You did kill Stevie," Justin pointed out.

"But she was fighting the Wizard Council!"

"Yes, an entity that itself is not necessarily just," God pointed out. "Stevie was, at best, morally ambiguous."

"And she didn't fight against the Council in the right way," Alex said.

"Correct. But neither was killing her necessary."

"What about me, then?" Justin asked.

"Justin, you are filled to the brim with hubris," God said. "It's something you're going to have to work on, in this life and the next."

"But I'll get to be with Alex in both of them?" he asked.

"Yes. It is not going to be easy, especially this life. You are going to face hardships from every angle, both external and internal. But if you can overcome that adversity, you deserve to be together."

"Is it going to work out?" Alex said.

"That would spoil the surprise," God said in a rather bemused tone.

"I think it will," Justin said. "After all, it's you and I."