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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, John Cena, Ashley, Maria, Edge...
NOTE:This fic is written with the assumption, that Jeff, Edge, and Umaga are still on RAW, and Matt, Kane, the Boogeyman and the Undertaker are still on Smackdown, and that Undertaker is still the World Heavyweight Champion and Matt and Jeff are still the Tag-Team Champions.
000
Chiron unlocked the staff so that it became two separate blades. He raised one of the crescent shaped blades, poised to strike the killer blow to his first living victim. Adam Copeland.
However, luck seemed to be on Adam's side, as the door at the other end of the room burst open and The Undertaker and his crew stepped through.
"CHIRON!!" The Phenom roared.
The demon frowned darkly and lowered the blade. He elegantly leapt over the altar, landing at the bottom of the steps. "You have caused me too much trouble, reaper." He growled icily as he approached the group, his incubi followed closely behind.
At that same moment Matt Hardy felt his heart sink, when he realized that all hopes of saving his little brother were dashed.
Taker readied his scythe as Chiron drew closer. "When a hell keeper defies his code of rules to take living souls like this, it's my duty to stop you! I am not just reaper of human souls; I send demons back to where they belong as well."
"That's because you used to be a hell keeper, you used to me. You of all people should understand what I'm trying to do," Chiron pleaded his case in his usual detached voice. "You would keep violent souls on this world, only making more victims to be tormented. You know I can see the darkness grow on souls, so why not send them to hell now, and spare the lives of the innocent they would have taken."
"You have no right to do so," Taker growled. "Despite the fact there are violent souls in the world...many of them can be shown the light and purify themselves from the sins they committed, before their lives are over."
"And how many will be left dead and bloodied in their path before they do see that light, if they ever do?" Chiron challenged, for the first time his mask of cold indifference was starting to crack with the true emotion of anger.
"That is not for you to decide. It is beyond your scope of duty to pass judgment on souls, it is your job as a hell keeper to cleanse a soul who has been deemed guilty by the court of angels and demons," Taker shouted, "It is not your right or duty to condemn!"
"Enough!" Chiron snarled. "You have stalled me long enough, reaper!"
The demon and his incubi charged toward The Undertaker and his group, abandoning the altar and Edge all together, much to the R-rated superstar's relief.
"They're not as bad they look," Kane said to the other wrestlers, while he readied his weapon.
"Yeah right, this from a guy who takes pleasure in setting other guys on fire," Randy muttered.
Kane smirked and lashed out when the incubi closed in on them. He killed four with one sweep of his axe. As the blade struck each of them, they burst into flames, turning into a pile of ashes seconds later.
"I'll watch your back if you watch mine." Rey Mysterio backed up against Batista as they found themselves surrounded by the incubi.
"You got it Rey." Batista nodded back at his teammate.
"It's going to take the grace of God to get us out of this alive," Shawn said as he stood back to back with Triple H as well.
"Well, when he shows up to help us, let me know." Hunter plunged his spike into the shoulder of one of the incubi. It burst into flames and became nothing but ashes. "At least that worked."
Nearby, Umaga threw his spike and nailed an incubi, that was trying to pounce on John Cena from behind, in the head. Meanwhile, Khali grabbed one by the tail and swung it hard into one of the walls. It turned into dust from the impact. Apparently, the spikes were not the only thing that could kill them.
Meanwhile, Matt stood paralyzed by shock as it sunk in that Jeff was gone, beyond salvation. He had come too late to save his little brother.
"Matt, look out!" Shannon Moore shouted as grabbed the back of Matt's shirt, pulling him out of the way of an incubus' claws. "Wake up, man! We got a battle fight!"
The incubus lashed out again, striking Shannon in the arm, deep enough to tear the skin and spring up blood. I was not a serious wound, but it was enough to spur Matt Hardy into action. The older Hardy felt a deep, powerful rage rise up. They had taken his brother; they would not take his friend too.
He leapt forward, embedding the spike he had into the incubus. As it turned to dust, he whipped the spike out at another and then another. Matt was on a rampage with no intention of stopping until every incubi was dust.
Shannon stood up, gripping his arm in effort to stop the bleeding. He watched in amazement as Matt picked up Moore's own spike as well and nailed two incubi in the head at the same time
"Matt's gone crazy," Shannon whispered to a nearby John Cena who nodded with wide eyes.
Sparks flew as The Undertaker's scythe and Chiron's crescent blades met. They were deadlocked, with their two weapons, each trying to overpower the other.
"You would defend the wicked from their rightful fate!" Chiron snarled. The demon unlocked his staff and swung the separated blades at Taker. One sliced horizontally, almost catching The Phenom's abdomen, the other went vertically, barely missing Taker's chest.
Taker leapt back, avoiding both strikes. "I am performing my duty of keeping this mortal realm in balance," Taker growled.
"Then you shall die doing it!" Chiron slashed at Taker again, only to have the Phenom block the strike and nail the demon's abdomen with his fist in return.
Chiron staggered back a few steps it had been along time since he had faced a real fighter in real combat, and as such his skills were quite rusty. He had to find some other way to defeat this reaper.
While the demon was off guard, Taker swung his scythe around the tip, hitting Chiron's chest, although it did not pierce either the fabric or the flesh. Instead, it sent shockwaves though Chiron's body, forcing him to drop the crescent blades. When Taker pulled the scythe away, the demon collapsed to the ground seemingly unconscious.
The Phenom could not help being a little surprised as he had expected more of a fight out of him. However, he quickly brushed it aside and lifted the demon onto his shoulder. He quickly carried him up the steps and past the altar. He set his scythe down and used both hands to position Chiron on the door. He had to do this in order to send Chiron's soul out of Jeff's body and back through the door into hell.
When he had the demon just where he wanted him, Taker leaned down to pick up his scythe and finished the job. However, when he looked up again he realized too late that Chiron had just been playing opossum.
The demon ran up and kicked Taker in the head. As the Phenom staggered backwards, Chiron grabbed him by the front of his clothes and swung him around, shoving him up against the door. Clearly the demon's powers were magnifying Jeff's strength.
Chiron hissed a few words in the language of demons and the metal sculptures that had grabbed Jeff before, now wrapped their arms around The Undertaker, binding him to the door.
"Clever son of a bitch," Taker growled.
"You underestimated me, Reaper, that was your fatal mistake," Chiron hissed.
"So what are you waiting for?" Taker snapped.
"It's not fatal for you yet," Chiron spat, before turning his attention back to Kane and the other wrestlers, who had by now effectively destroyed the demon's incubi.
His gaze focused on the other reaper, the only real obstacle left in his way, Kane. With Taker trapped on the door, Kane could not send Chiron's soul back to the other side. After killing Kane, the demon could easily dispatch the bound Undertaker.
Chiron made his way down the steps towards Kane, looking completely unfazed at the prospect of fighting Taker's younger brother. He calmly picked up one of his crescent blades at the bottom of the steps.
Kane growled and readied his weapon as he met Chiron's glare. Not taking his eyes away, he shouted to the others. "Free Taker, I'll take care of Chiron."
The other wrestlers nodded and made their way up the steps, staying as far away from Chiron as possible. The demon paid no heed to them, as soon as the reapers were taken care of, dispatching the regular mortals would be easy enough.
Kane threw his axe at Chiron. The demon easily dodged the forward strike, but Kane yanked on the chain, jerking the weapon back toward him. Chiron spun around in enough time to see the axe coming at him. He brought up his crescent blade to block the axe, leaving his back turned to Kane.
The Big Red Machine lashed out with his hook. The chain wrapped around Chiron's neck and the hook clamped into one of the links. Kane smirked; he had caught the demon himself.
"Now, how the hell are we going to handle this?" Shannon looked at the metal arms binding Taker to the door.
"I think between your nine brains you can come up with something," Taker snapped out of frustration, at falling for Chiron's ruse.
"Why don't you think up something since you seem to be the know-it-all around here," Orton snapped back.
"Don't start with me, Randall," Taker growled.
"Come on guys now is not the time." Cena had appointed himself as mediator in the hopes of calming everyone down enough to think of a plan.
Khali, on the other hand, took a more direct approach, by grabbing one of the metallic arms and, pulling it with some effort away from Taker's chest. He let go of it, intending to go for the next one, however as soon as he did, it snapped back into place.
"We must open them all at the same time," Umaga stated gravely.
"We're going to need a good plan of action, a timed strike," Edge suggested.
"Anybody got any ideas?" Triple H raised an eyebrow.
Matt studied the metal bonds and quickly formed a formation of who would grab what. "Khali, Umaga, you take the arms across Taker's chest. Hunter, Shawn, you pull the arm around his abdomen. Cena, Orton, you pull away the hands binding Taker's arms. Shannon, Adam, you guys will free Taker's legs. We can all use the spikes for leverage."
Everyone stared at Matt in shock. However, the older Hardy was in no mood for delays. "What are you waiting for? Get into position! MOVE IT!"
Meanwhile, Kane had looped the chain like a lasso in midair. As it fell around Chiron, Kane pulled it tight, locking the demon's upper arms to his sides. Now Kane had him by the neck and torso.
"I have you now, demon!" Kane sneered; all he had to do now was hold on to Chiron until the others could free Taker.
"Do you?" Chiron said coldly.
The demon tossed the crescent blade into the air, pulling with all his might against the chains. Kane was shocked when he actually had to strain to keep Chiron from marching away. The Big Red Machine dug into the floor with his feet to keep his stance firm as the chain was pulled as tight as it would go. Kane was so engrossed in the tug-o-war with Chiron, he failed to notice that the crescent blade that had been thrown up in the air before was coming back down. The momentum of the descent gave the blade extra power. When it hit the taut chain it cut right through.
Kane stared in shock at the broken chain. Chiron, meanwhile, had removed the remaining chain from around his neck. He threw the hook back in Kane's direction. The Big Red Machine looked up just in time to see it, catching it just before it hit him in the face.
Chiron picked up his crescent blade and charged Kane. He struck out with it, barely missing Kane's chest as the Big Red Machine jumped away.
Kane scrambled over to where his hook had fallen after the chain had been cut. While Kane picked up his weapon, Chiron grabbed the other crescent that had been discarded during his short battle with the Undertaker. He locked the handles of the two blades together so they formed a staff again, with one blade on each end.
Chiron stared straight at Kane, who glared straight back. The big Red Machine took a fighting stance, ready for the demon to attack. Not taking his eyes off Kane, Chiron slammed one end against the floor. Thorn branches erupted from the ground beneath Kane's feet. The vines entwined themselves around Kane's body, immobilizing him completely.
"Damn it!" Kane snarled, trying to free himself from the branches, as Chiron approached.
Chiron readied his crescent blade; it was the weapon of the dead which could dispatch a reaper as well as mortals. On top of that Kane would lose his second chance at life.
"Kane!!" The Undertaker gazed on in horror as the demon advanced. He was still bound to the door and could do nothing to stop Chiron from delivering a fatal blow to his younger brother. It was worse than the time when he was locked out of the steel cage in which both Mankind and Stone Cold Steve Austin ganged up on Kane and there was nothing he could do about it.
Taker redoubled his efforts to get free even before the other wrestlers set their plan into action. He stopped a moment when he saw Matt Hardy running down the steps toward Chiron and Kane.
Matt did not know what madness had possessed him to take on Chiron. He just understood the pain Taker was going through as an older brother, having to stand by and watch helplessly as someone meant to hurt your little brother. Since Taker could not protect Kane, Matt would have to do it for him. The older Hardy ran up and wrapped his arms around Chiron's waist. "Jeff! Don't!" Matt pleaded, as he tried to pull Chiron away from Kane.
The demon growled and spun around, pressing the blade to Matt's throat. A mere twitch of Chiron's wrist would cut open the older Hardy's neck. Suddenly, the demon's eyes squeezed shut, and when they opened again, instead of a harsh red, they were emerald green. The other hand not holding the blade lashed out, pushing Matt to the ground, safely away from danger.
Matt stared in disbelief, at the same time his heart flooded with a ray of hope. "Jeff…?"
The demon dropped the crescent blade and gripped his head as if afraid it might split open. He looked at Matt with worried eyes and spoke between labored breaths. Black blood ran from his mouth at every word.
"Run, Matt…"
000
It seems Chiron couldn't expel Jeff's soul after all…