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Summary: Jeff Hardy has been chosen to be the human host that would allow the demon keeper of the seventh layer of hell to enter the realm of Earth. In fighting for his life Jeff has some unexpected allies. Featuring: Matt Hardy, Undertaker, Kane, Batista, Umaga, Ashley, Edge...

NOTE: The description of the seventh layer of hell, is based on the ancient poem, "Dante's Inferno".

Slightly AU: The Undertaker's bicep was not injured, and Edge didn't succeed with his "Money in the Bank" cash-in scheme (which will be explained later), so Taker is still the World Heavyweight Champion.

000

The two Hardys stood in front of the ominous hotel room door that lead into the current lair of the Brothers of Destruction; The Undertaker and his younger half-brother Kane. The phenom and his brother were standoffish to begin with, but on top of that Kane had a particular dislike for Matt after the whole Lita fiasco.

Jeff exchanged nervous glances with Matt, before speaking. "Well here we go. You want to knock or should I?"

"Hmmm...Let's flip for it." Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "Heads you knock, tails you knock, okay?"

"Okay..." Jeff nodded, then it clicked in his head that his brother was trying to trick him. "Wait a minute... Which one are you? Head or tails?"

"You're smarter than you look, Lil Bro." Matt laughed. "I'll take tails."

Matt tossed the coin into the air and caught it. "It's tails."

Jeff grinned then playfully punched his brother's arm. "Serves you right for trying to trick me."

"Oh hell..." Matt groaned as he knocked on the door.

Both brothers made a simultaneous gulp as they heard the rumbling of heavy footsteps that indicated the presence of Kane. Sure enough, the door opened, revealing The Big Red Machine, looking none too happy.

"What do want?" Kane grumbled, fixating a glare on Matt Hardy.

"Ummm..." Matt quickly wilted under Kane's fiery gaze.

At the continued silence and nervous foot shuffling and thumb twiddling by the Hardys, Kane rolled his eyes and began to close the door.

"Wait!" Jeff found his voice and put a hand on the door to stop it from closing. "Is The Undertaker there, we need to talk to him about something."

"What about?" Kane was clearly growing more annoyed by the minute, though it was being matched by Jeff's growing frustration.

"Look, we'd rather not say it in front of you. We want to talk to Undertaker," Jeff snapped back.

"Is that so?" Kane spat. "Well I'd rather not wake up my brother and get him all pissed off for the day."

Kane began to close the door again, but a determined Jeff made a dive into the room, sprightly slipping under Kane's legs. Once inside the room he spotted The Undertaker lying on one of the beds in front of him. The phenom had his arms crossed over his chest and his hat pulled over his eyes, clearly asleep. Meanwhile, Kane was battling Matt Hardy to keep him out of the room

"Hey, Deadman!" Jeff shouted and stood up, however, the Undertaker made no indication that the words had been heard.

Frustrated, Jeff pulled off the Undertaker's hat and shouted again. "Yo! Taker! I'm talkin' to ya!

That did it; the Undertaker's eyes snapped open, fixing on Jeff with a cold stare. If Kane's fiery gaze burned holes into people, the Undertaker's icy glare made their blood run cold. Jeff swallowed hard, clearly scared, but stood his ground.

Matt finally pushed his way into the room and ran to his brother. "Jeff! What the hell are you doing?" Matt began pulling Jeff away. With all the trouble that was already going on, the last thing the Hardys wanted to do was piss off the brothers of destruction.

Suddenly Kane came up behind them and grabbed them both by the hair. "Get out!"

"No! No!" Jeff fought against Kane's titanium grip, still holding on to the Undertaker's hat in one hand, and clawing at Kane's arm with the other. "I need to talk to him."

"Seriously, guys, we really do need to talk to you," Matt pleaded, while trying to pry Kane's fingers from his hair. "I'm sorry, my brother hasn't gotten any sleep in the past two weeks, he's irrational, and he's freaked out. That's why we're here!"

"If you guys throw me out I'm taking the hat with me!" Jeff snapped; still struggling in Kane's grip.

Whether it was Matt's desperate plea or Jeff's threatening of running off with the signature hat, the Undertaker slowly sat up, and spoke. "You have five minutes to explain yourself and then you're out..." he said in a voice that would send shivers down an icicle's spine, and added, "...minus the hat."

"I'm having really, really bad nightmares!" Jeff blurted out.

The Undertaker blinked, expecting more, and when there wasn't an immediate continuation, he glared at the Hardys again. "There'd better be more..."

"There is," Matt spoke up. "Show him that thing on your stomach, Jeff."

Taker nodded at Kane to let go of Jeff's hair. Once free, Jeff took a few determined steps toward the phenom and held out his hat. Taker roughly took it back placed it on his head, carefully adjusting the edges that had been bent in the struggle.

Jeff took a deep breath and lifted his shirt to show the symbol. The Undertaker studied Jeff's abdomen, but saw nothing. He looked back up at Jeff's face, clearly annoyed. "Is this some sort of stupid sex joke...?"

"What?!" Jeff furrowed his brow and looked down. The symbol was gone. "Shit!"

"Get out," Taker snapped coldly.

Jeff just stood there in disbelief until Kane grabbed his arm, then it turned to panic. "Listen, damn it! I swear to God, you guys! This is not joke. I had this dream, I was in the seventh layer of hell or something, and there was this river of boiling blood, and there was this guy with metal teeth, and people screaming and dying!"

The Undertaker narrowed his eyes and stood up, towering over the agitated Hardy. "Have you ever read Dante's Inferno, Jeff Hardy?"

Jeff blinked in confusion. "No. What's that got to do with anything?"

The Undertaker's expression remained stony and unreadable. "When does the supposed symbol appear?"

"Whenever I have the dreams, though seems it also comes when I take a shower," Jeff answered nervously.

Taker studied him for a moment, then without a word headed toward the door to his bedroom, leaving the very confused Hardy Boyz with Kane. There was the sound of a sink running for a moment, and soon afterwards, the Undertaker reappeared in the living room, now holding a glass full of water.

"Show me where the symbol is supposed to be," he said, though there was less iciness in his voice.

When Kane let go of his arm Jeff pulled up his shirt once again. This time Taker splashed the water from the glass across Jeff's abdomen, causing the young Hardy to first yelp in surprise then, groan and buckle over in pain. Taker moved closer, allowing Jeff to lean on him, and not keel over. He then held Jeff straight up by the shoulders, and looked down at the symbol; now clear as day across Jeff's stomach.

Kane finally let go of Matt and came around to stand next to Taker. "So the little weirdo wasn't lying after all."

"It appears not. This mark is water reactant and deep red. Made from blood, I'd bet," Taker murmured, noticing a look of distinct terror come over Jeff's face. No doubt the memories of what had happened to him were re-entering his mind.

Kane sighed as if this were an everyday occurrence and headed toward his bedroom. "I'll get the mat and the chalk."

Taker nodded at Kane, looking back at the younger Hardy, who was slowly pulling his shirt back over the symbol. A look of utter exhaustion replacedthe fear on Jeff's face. Taker guided Jeff over to one of the arm chairs in the room and sat him down, before going over to where a bottle of "Jack Daniel's" was sitting on a table. He poured a glass and walked back over to Jeff. By this time Matt had come over to sit down next to Jeff and was gently rubbing his back.

"Here." Taker held out the glass to Jeff.

Jeff looked at the glass then at The Undertaker, who nodded. Taking the glass, Jeff downed its contents in one gulp. "Thanks."

Meanwhile Kane pulled out a black mat from under his bed and a small box full of chalk. He unfolded the mat on the floor and proceeded to draw on it. Taker unzipped a side compartment on his suitcase and pulled out a laptop of all things, before sitting down next to Kane. After setting the laptop up the way he wanted, he stood up and helped Kane finish the drawing.

"Come." Taker motioned to Jeff. "In order to determine the 'who' and 'why' of this ordeal, we're going to need to interrogate you about the ritual that was done."

Slowly and a little shakily Jeff nodded and went over to where The Undertaker and Kane were sitting by the mat. The drawing on it looked like a circle with little symbols surrounding it.

"Lie down." Taker pointed to the middle of the circle.

"Why...?" Jeff said, suddenly fearful as memories resurfaced of him lying helpless on the ground, while symbols were being drawn on his stomach and used to torture him.

"It's only a truth circle," Taker explained, seeing the apprehension in Jeff's form. "We need to know the aspects of the ritual done on you in order to figure out what's going on."

Slowly Jeff nodded his head and lay down in the middle of the circle, though his body remained as tense as a rope pulled taught.

"Now tell me about this dream," Taker began, while Kane made ready to type notes into the laptop. "You say there was 'a guy' there, some sort of being?"

Jeff nodded.

"Did he touch you at all in the dream?" Taker asked.

"No, he just sort of held his arms out over my shoulders, like this." Jeff held his arms straight out. "But he didn't touch me."

The Undertaker nodded and looked over at Kane who was typing. "Did anything else happen?"

"Yeah..." Jeff closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again. "He said 'Welcome to the seventh layer of hell' and then I woke up."

"Alright." Undertaker looked back down at Jeff. "Now, when you were in the possession of your captors, how many were there? And what were they dressed in?"

"I don't know...I think there was about twenty of them," Jeff snorted. "They looked like something out of a bad B-movie."

"Where do you think the B-Movie people got it from?" Taker grumbled. "Real cults."

"Oh...yeah...I guess you're right." Jeff murmured.

Taker nodded. "Judging by the symbol, blood was used to paint it, is that correct?"

Jeff swallowed hard. "Yeah." He looked over at Matt then quickly added. "Not mine though..."

"Was it human or animal blood?" Taker pressed further.

"Human..." Jeff answered softly.

"Was the victim willing?"

Jeff shrugged, his eyes looking distant and tired. "I don't know... I mean he seemed like it. He let the leader kill him and no one did anything to stop it."

"Okay..." Taker nodded. "Now after they painted the symbol, did they do anything else to you?"

Jeff tensed and remained silent.

"Jeff," Taker prodded. "What happened to you?"

"I don't remember," Jeff answered quickly. Suddenly the circle glowed under him, responding to his lie.

"Jeff, what did they do?" Taker asked again, his voice becoming crisp.

"I said I don't remember!" Jeff shouted, sitting up. The circle only glowed brighter.

"Yes, you do!" The Undertaker frowned and grabbed Jeff by his shoulders, causing the younger Hardy to wince in the phenom's bruising grip.

"Don't lie to us," Kane growled. "Now what happened?"

"I can't!" Jeff cried, looking away from both Taker and Kane.

Taker grabbed Jeff's chin and forced the young Hardy to look at him. "Deal with it! What happened?!"

"Stop it!" Matt jumped up from his seated position on the couch. "You're hurting him!"

The Undertaker turned his head to glare at Matt, while still holding on to Jeff. "Sit down."

"No!" Matt stood firm. "I'm not going to let you hurt my brother like this!"

"It's for his own good!" Kane snapped. "We need to know this information to determine just how much danger he is in!"

Matt shut his mouth as the truth in Kane's words hit him. He took a deep breath and sat down next to Taker and looked into Jeff's eyes. "Come on, Jeff," Matt whispered, while Taker loosened his hold on the younger Hardy. "Just say it and it will be over with okay?"

Jeff looked at Matt sadly for a moment, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "I can't..."

Taker looked at Jeff, then at Matt, then back at Jeff. "Do you want your brother to leave?"

Jeff opened his eyes, but lowered his head. Taker took it as a "yes" and turned to Matt. "Matt, get out."

"What?!" Matt looked at all of them in shock.

"Are you deaf?" Kane growled. "He said, 'get out.'"

"No way!" Matt pounded his fist on the ground. "I'm not leaving Jeff like this!"

"Go Matt..." Jeff spoke up softly. "It'll be okay..."

Matt looked completely taken aback that his little brother did not want him close by in his moment of distress. "You...want me to leave?"

Jeff raised his head to look at his brother apologetically. "No, I don't... but I think I need to do this on my own. It's too hard with you here, Matt..." Jeff's eyes grew wet with tears. "It's better if you don't know..."

Taker and Kane got up and grabbed Matt's arms, hauling him to his feet, much to the ire of the elder Hardy. "Take your fucking hands off me!" Matt attempted to get free of their grip, but with little success. "Damn it, Jeff! What is it that you can tell them that you can't tell me?!" Matt stared at his brother more hurt than angry.

Jeff looked at them shaking, his face had the look of a dam about to break, and it did. "They tortured me okay!! It HURT!!" Jeff screamed at them at the top of his lungs; all of the pent up frustration and fear and anger finally coming out. "It felt like I was on fire and my bones were broken! It hurt so much, I just wanted to curl up and die! And they did over and over and over again!! Ten fucking times!"

Jeff wrapped his arms around himself and buckled over so his forehead touched the ground. "I remember...I still remember how it felt..." Jeff gasped between pants.

The Undertaker let go of Matt and knelt down next to Jeff. He placed both hands on the back of Jeff's head, and said sternly, "I know they've tried to break you with that, but you must remain strong, the weaker you get, the more they hurt you. It's all in your head now."

"The best way to get one pain out of your head is to replace it with another pain you know how to deal with," Kane said matter-of-factly. "Like remember the pain you felt after you jumped off that ladder at Wrestlemania 23?"

After a few moments Jeff stopped shaking, and slowly raised himself up to sit back on his heels. "It worked." He looked at the Undertaker and Kane gratefully. "I gotta remember that."

Taker stood up and went over to the laptop. "It'll only work for this particular psychosomatic pain."

"Thank you," Jeff said quietly, still a little shaken from what he had relived in the last few minutes. He shook his head and swallowed, then managed to say shakily. "I won't let it happen again. I won't let this control me," he said firmly.

"Good." Taker nodded, and clicked the key pad a few times. "But you may not have a choice."

"What?" Jeff's eyes widened.

"They already have control of you, through that symbol." Taker pointed to Jeff's stomach. "They're channeling everything to you through that symbol, everything from the nightmares to the pain."

"So I can't stop it..."

Taker closed his eyes and sighed, some unwanted weariness creeping into his voice. "Protection insignias are not my area, plus I don't know if there is anything strong enough for this."

"Then what can we do to help my brother?" Matt asked helplessly.

"Figure out when they're going to come back for him," The Undertaker stated simply.

"Come back for me?" Jeff Hardy's eyes widened and then narrowed in anger and frustration. "What do they want with me? Are they getting some sick pleasure out of torturing me? Is that what this all about? What the fuck is going on here?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Taker accessed a site called "Dante's Database" and entered his user name and password. "We have our suspicions. Based on the symbol and the things in the dream you had, and the fact that it is the year 2007, we have reason to believe that they want to use you as a host body for Chiron, the gate keeper of the seventh layer of hell."

The Hardys stood, staring at The Undertaker as if he had just grown two heads. Their minds were slowly wrapping around the meaning of what Taker just said, but seemed unable to grasp it, or were afraid to.

"What...What do you mean, host?" Jeff asked slowly.

Undertaker took a deep breath, looking like he really did not want to get into such information, but cleared his throat and continued with it anyway. "There are many earthly gates that lead to one of the nine layers of hell. At a certain time in a certain year, the dimensional fabric between earth and hell will weaken at one of those gates, to the point where a mere drop of blood from mere mortal men can open it. This year is the seventh year of the new millennium, and it seems the dimensional fabric around seventh gate in North America is weakening."

"What happens if it opens?" Matt asked warily, his eyes wide in both fear and fascination.

"Chiron, the keeper of the seventh layer of hell, could enter this world, and collect the souls of those he views are violent, and take them straight to hell without judgment," Taker explained solemnly, though he almost smirked at the petrified faces of the Hardy boys, but frowned when he saw that they also started to look sick.

"However," Taker said quickly before one of the Hardys vomited all over his alchemy mat. "Though a gate is open, the layer keeper cannot pass through the gate in his current form. He needs a mortal host."

On the word "host" The Undertaker's eyes flitted directly to Jeff, who gulped a little in response. "Why me?"

"They probably saw you performing your highflying stunts on TV, and you have a very similar body shape to Chiron," Taker explained. "Contrary to popular belief made by "Dante's Inferno," Chiron the keeper of the seventh layer of hell is not a centaur. The layer keeper is strong and very powerful, but also lithe and agile. He has to be in order to keep track of his charges, the souls being punished in the seventh layer who are constantly trying to escape."

"Okay, okay...Wait a minute." Matt shook his head looking completely bewildered. "How do you guys know all this? I mean you're talking about hell and the afterlife as if you'd been there."

The Undertaker and Kane exchanged apprehensive glances.

"Think we should tell them?" Kane looked from Taker back to the Hardys.

Taker pulled off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, seeming to mull over the decision, before putting his hat back on, and speaking again. "Boys. The information we are about to impart to you must never be spoken of to another living being. Otherwise, we will have to kill you ourselves. "

Both Hardys gulped but nodded in agreement all the same.

"Kane and I are what are called Reapers. Reapers maintain the balance between heaven and hell," The Undertaker said with the utmost seriousness.

The Hardys stared at the brothers of destruction for a long moment before Matt burst out laughing, startling everyone in the room.

"Yeah right!" Matt continued laughing.

"It's not funny!" Kane snapped.

"I think they mean it, man..." Jeff said quietly.

Matt felt his cheeks go pink with embarrassment. "Sorry, while you do look the part, it just sounded too stupid to be real."

"Stupid?" Kane snarled; standing up, his expression going from one of surprise to one of rage.

Matt stopped laughing.

"I'll tell you what's stupid! Your little punk as team extreme thing and---"

"Kane, drop it!" Taker stood up as well and put a hand in front of him to stop any possible advances on the Hardys.

"Why should I?" Kane growled through clenched teeth.

"Because if this cult is real, if it really is Chiron involved, this will be bigger than all of us," Taker said calmly, but firmly. "You know that."

There was a low rumble of affirmation deep in Kane's throat, before he slowly nodded his head and sat down. However, the anger on his face did not lessen.

Taker grumbled and looked up at the ceiling, as if to say, "Grim, give me patience," before turning to face the Hardys, and fixing them with a warning glare. "And as for you, show some respect for those who are trying to help you."

"We're sorry, man," Jeff spoke quietly and humbly. "We've both been in strung out shape since the kidnapping. It's the fatigue talkin'."

The Undertaker nodded and sat back down on the couch next to Kane. "All right, now as I was saying before, Reapers maintain the balance of heaven and hell by maintaining the equality and impartiality of death."

The Hardys nodded, listening intently, while Taker continued, "We make sure that the agents of hell and the agents of heaven, also known as demons and angels, do not cross into the mortal realm and interfere with the lives and spirits of the mortals here."

"So..." Matt began slowly, his voice cracking in the utter astonishment at all the revelations that his ears had taken in. "It's all true, there really is a heaven and a hell."

"Yes there is, but it's not like what the Evangelist preachers say on TV, you're not going to burn in hell for all eternity, just because you don't find the 'light of God,'" Taker said slightly imitating exuberant the pastors seen on TV. "In fact, no one goes to hell for all eternity, no matter what they've done. They may go for a very, very long time and get punished horribly depending on what they've done."

"So it really doesn't matter what religion you're in?" Jeff asked, quirking an eyebrow.

The Undertaker shook his head. "No, religious beliefs will only come into play during Judgment when they look at how you used those beliefs. Did you use your beliefs for the betterment of others as well as yourself? Did you use your religion to justify cruelty or kindness? That sort of thing. Point being, there is no right or wrong religion whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Wiccan, Atheist, it doesn't matter."

"So you're saying religion and spirituality is just some sort of arbitrary thing?" Matt asked looking very distressed, as he'd always thought himself to be very spiritual.

"He didn't say that," Kane snapped sternly. "He said when it comes time for your soul to be judged, what religion you are a part of doesn't matter as much as everybody thinks it does."

"Essentially the purpose of religion is for people to have guidelines for their lives, and a method by which they can have some sort of contact with the other side," Taker explained. "They all simply have different ways of doing it. They all have their different methods of communing with God, or Allah or Yahweh; He responds to all names that refer to "The Creator" or "The Great Father". He's very forgiving. Forgiving to a fault, like any devoted parent who would forgive their children anything."

Matt, feeling a little awestruck, murmured, "There really is a God..."

"Yes, and a Master of Hell too," Taker said. "Those two are so extreme; they could never keep a balanced world. God would forgive everyone and Satan would punish everyone for the slightest transgression. So they created The Grim, to maintain the balance and preside over the judging of souls, and to direct the reapers on their various missions."

"So the Grim has the power to send people to heaven or hell?" Jeff's eyes widened and he and Matt exchanged equally shocked glances.

"Sort of," Taker said slowly, trying to think of how best to explain. "There is a panel of judges made up of angels and demons, and the Grim acts as mediator if there is a real dispute."

The Hardys nodded, staring at Taker with wide eyes, hanging on his every word.

"He also makes sure that demons don't enter heaven, and angels don't enter hell." Taker said nonchalantly.

"You know, there's something I've always wondered..." Matt said quietly. "What about near death experiences? Is there really a white light?"

This time Kane spoke. " Yeah, it's the entrance to limbo. Souls stay there for awhile, just in case their body is revived and then they are sent back, but if they are truly dead, a reaper comes to take them to purgatory."

"Okay, okay this all very interesting..." Jeff said. "But it still doesn't explain the dreams I'm having."

"Those aren't dreams." Taker stated. "They're messages."

"Messages?" Jeff whispered quietly.

"See one's conscious mind shields you from communication from spirits, demons, angels, etc. However when you sleep, your conscious mind is not fully aware and those shields go down, leaving you open for spiritual communication if someone from beyond the grave, or a demon or angel wants to send messages to you," Taker explained calmly.

"So our dreams are messages from the other side?" Matt asked wide-eyed.

"No. Ninety-five percent of the time, your dreams are your brain reorganizing itself and making sense of all of your memories, the biological way."

Jeff furrowed his brow. "So how can you tell if your dream is just a dream, or if it's really a message from beyond?"

"Well you know how when you wake up from a dream; it's hard to remember the details of it, even if it was very vivid. That is not so with messages from the other side. It would be no good to send a message then have the person wake-up and not remember," Taker continued to explain, though he was starting to show some annoyance with all the Hardys' questions. "In a message you remember just about every detail, as if you had actually lived through it for real. And sometimes your body will react to being touched, even if you weren't actually being touched."

Taker pinched the bridge of his nose when he saw Matt Hardy open his mouth to ask another question, and quickly interrupted. "Jeff, you say Chiron didn't touch you in the dream?'

Jeff shook his head. "No, he didn't."

"Then I have some good news for you. For the moment you're safe." Taker turned away and walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out a thick, rather old tattered book, and began flipping through it.

"I am?" Jeff's eyes widened, though he did not dare to hope that things might be okay.

Kane answered, "Since Chiron did not make physical contact with you in the dream, it means he hasn't officially chosen you yet." At Jeff Hardy's look of puzzlement, Kane let out an annoyed sigh and continued, "Chiron's followers thought you might be a proper host, but Chiron has to make the final decision. If he doesn't choose you, you won't have anything to worry about."

"The next message he sends you should tell the tale either way." Taker scrolled down the computer screen that appeared to have access to various files on it. He found the file he wanted and began downloading it, before looking up at Jeff and Matt again. "Now listen carefully, if Chiron makes contact in the dream, when you wake up if the symbol remains as it is or disappears completely, it means he hasn't chosen you and you're in the clear. However, if the symbol turns black, you call me immediately, and don't go anywhere by yourself. Understand?"

Jeff gulped and nodded solemnly.

"Good, now get out..." Taker waved them away as he turned back to the laptop.

Kane ushered the Hardy Boyz out the door, shutting it.

Jeff and Matt hung back motionless in the hallway for a moment, a little in shock at all that had been revealed to them in the last hour.

"Well..." Jeff began a little breathless. "Here's hoping I get rejected..."

000

I think this has been one of my favorite chapters! The Undertaker and Kane are so fun to write!

As to all of the religious/afterlife/heaven and hell stuff, it is not meant to insult of infringe on anyone else's beliefs, it is just for the sake of the story. A lot of the structure of hell was based on Dante's inferno.

No, Taker and Kane are not dead people. They are alive, but as reapers they have special powers endowed to them from the Grim. More on how they became reapers will be revealed.

Please, Please review this chapter I really want to know if I portrayed Taker and Kane right, and if you guys are still interested in the story! It will make me most happy!