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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

Matt opened his eyes to the vision of a black sky full of stars. He sat up to find himself, sitting in a field of golden grass. Not gold like dried wheat fields, but real gold shimmering in the light of an invisible sun. In amongst the grasses were white flowers, sprouting from patches of green leaves. The whole field seemed to be on an island, floating in the middle of space.

A gentle breeze from nowhere blew the grass in one direction, just behind him.

The elder Hardy stood up and looked in the direction the grass was pointing. It all led to giant tree in the center. He gazed up at the trunk and was startled by how much it resembled Jeff's angel sculpture. Strong branches stretched out like arms, and smaller branches came out of the back like wings, intermingling in a delicate pattern. At the roots of the tree grew bushes of ruby red roses.

Ruby...mother...

Matt could feel a lump rise in his throat as the memory of his mother's death surfaced as clear as if it had happened yesterday. And now he was in danger of losing Jeff too. It was too much.

Matt rested his head against the trunk as internal sobs made his chest clinch painfully. However, now the tears never came, he had trained himself not to show them. Sorrow yes, but never tears.

"That one's always been one of my favs."

Matt raised his head and turned to see Jeff standing next to him, gazing up at the tree. The elder Hardy looked over at his little brother as if trying to make sure he was really there. Jeff was wearing his usual ring attire, the baggy cargo pants, the tank top, and of course the infamous Jeff Hardy "arm stockings." However, instead of being black or blue or even red, everything was white and they seemed to glow as the golden grass reflected off the white cloth. The younger Hardy's hair was pulled into braids again, and fell into several different colors from root to tip. From dirty blonde, to bleach blonde, to cascade into variations of blue and purple, like the noon day sun dipping into a tropical ocean.

Jeff turned to his older brother and smiled. "I think I like it being a tree better than painted cardboard, what do you think?"

"It's beautiful..." Matt whispered, looking up at the tree again.

"Well I can't take all the credit for it." Jeff chuckled softly. "I watched the movie, 'The Fountain' last week, it gave me some good ideas."

"Yeah?" Matt looked back at Jeff.

"I really liked the part in the movie when..." The younger Hardy's smile grew a little sad. "Well one of the characters was dying of the same thing mom had. And she told this ancient Mayan legend, where...I'm trying to remember...someone died and a tree grew from his body and his spirit was infused in the tree and the fruit."

"Living on after death..." Matt murmured. He swallowed another false lump in his throat. "We should have done that for mom. Planted something at her grave, so then she'd always have fresh flowers."

"It's not too late." Jeff brightened. "We could still do it."

"We could?" Matt's expression brightened as well, in hope that this was a hint that Jeff would in fact survive. He smiled a little and looked back at the tree. "Is this what you pictured Mom's tree would look like? I see the roses too."

"No," Jeff murmured looking fondly at the tree as well. "This is my tree."

Dread replaced the burgeoning hope in Matt's heart. "Yours?"

Jeff looked back at Matt and nodded.

"Then that means..." Matt choked in mid sentence and bit his lower lip.

Jeff felt a lump rise in his own throat at Matt's sadness and distress over him. The younger Hardy reached forward, took his elder brother's hand and smiled. "Remember when we were kids and we tried to climb that big tree in the back yard?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Come on..." Jeff whispered, pulling Matt along with him, as he ran around the tree.

As the two brothers rounded the corner they saw a ladder leaning up against the tree. Two small boys were climbing the ladder; one boy looked about nine years old while the other looked about six.

"Matty! Wait for me!" The younger boy called after the older one as he climbed the ladder.

"Jeff! You're not supposed to be up this high!" the older one shouted down at him from the branch just above the ladder.

"But I want to be on the branch too!" Little Jeff continued to climb the ladder.

Matt climbed further out on to the branch. "You're gonna get in trouble!"

"No I won't! I can do it!" The younger Hardy reached for the branch and grabbed on to it. However, his young legs were not quite long enough to balance in between the ladder and the branch. His footing slipped and he found himself holding on to the branch for dear life. "Matty! Help me!"

Even though he was terrified that his little brother was quite literally hanging on by a limb, Matt crawled over and grabbed one of Jeff's hands. "Hang on, Jeff! I gotcha!"

"Don't let go!" Jeff cried.

"I won't! Don't you let go either!" Matt used all of his strength, and by sheer force of will, and adrenaline pumping, he managed to pull his little brother up onto the branch.

Jeff panted for breath and wrapped his arms around his older brother as if holding on to a life preserver. "Thanks, Matty…"

"Hey," Matt said quietly, patting Jeff on the head. "What are big brothers for?"

"I'm never climbing a ladder again!" Jeff cried and clung to Matt even more.

"I'm afraid you're gonna have to, since we have to get down from here," Matt said worriedly. "You gonna be okay to climb down?"

The younger Hardy brother gulped, but nodded. "I think so...although; you should go down first..."

Matt nodded back. "Sure..." He could see his little brother was still scared. "Do you want me to carry you?"

Jeff shook his head trying to hide his fear. "N-no, I'm fine. I'll go down by myself."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Follow me then," Matt began climbing down.

Jeff hesitantly stepped down on to the ladder rung, one step at a time.

"Come on, you can do it!" Matt encouraged him from a few rungs down.

Jeff tried to go down another step, but his foot missed it and he dropped down two steps lower. However, he managed catch himself and hold on. "Ah! I can't do this!"

"You can do it! I know you can!" Matt shouted up to him. "If you fall, I promise I'll catch you."

Jeff tried to get to the next rung but in his panicked state, he lost his balance and his grip. He began to fall. However, Matt made good on his promise and caught his little brother, taking the full brunt of the fall himself.

Jeff looked down at Matt underneath him. "Matty? Are you okay?"

"My arm hurts," Matt whimpered, clutching his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Matt!" Jeff sobbed as he helped Matt stand up. "It's my fault! I was too scared to go down the ladder and now you're hurt!"

Seeing his little brother's distress, Matt managed to swallow his own sobs. "Nah, it's okay, it wasn't your fault. It doesn't hurt anymore anyway."

Jeff wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Matt, smiling. "I promise, Matt...I'm going to be braver next time!"

Matt managed a weak smile of his own. "I bet you will little bro."

The older Hardys watched as their younger selves disappeared into the distance.

The older Jeff laughed. "Some things never change… When I got into trouble, you always got me out one way or another. Whether it was saving me from a tree, or backing me up in a match, or even locking me in my room while I was going through drug withdrawal, so I wouldn't get hooked on them again."

"Yeah…" Matt smiled, looking up thoughtfully at the tree. "I promised I'd always be there."

Jeff gazed at Matt as if doing his best to commit every detail of his older brother to memory just in case he might not see him again. At the thought of being dead, the younger Hardy's expression grew more somber. "But there are powers beyond us that even you can't save me from, and I don't want you to blame yourself for that."

Matt's head snapped around to face Jeff again, an alarmed expression on his face. He dreaded implications of Jeff's words.

"What are you saying, Jeff?" Matt asked softly.

Before answering Jeff walked up to stand face to face with his brother. In keeping his promise to his mother, he carefully took Matt's face in between his hands and gently kissed his older brother on the forehead. "I'm saying I want you to promise me that no matter what happens, you'll be all right." Jeff did his best to keep his voice from shaking, "That everything will be all right for you."

It hit Matt like a ton of bricks. His little brother was trying to prepare him for death. Jeff's death. The terrible realization seized Matt's heart like an iron vice threatening to squeeze it dry. All he could utter was a choked up "No…"

"Promise me!" Jeff insisted, trying to make his voice as forceful as possible, though it was on the verge of breaking.

Matt wrapped his arms around his little brother as tears spilled down his cheeks. "No, Jeff! You can't leave me...not yet..."

"Matt, please, please! Promise me!" Jeff rasped, more urgently than ever. "Promise me you'll be alright!"

After a few sobs, Matt got them under control enough to step back and look his brother in the eye. "I promise…"

"Good…" Jeff smiled sadly as he took a step back towards a cliff, the edge of the island, the edge over nothingness. The turned around and stared down at the endless floor of stars. He took in a deep breath and raised the "Hardy Gunz," before jumping off the edge in the biggest Swanton Bomb of his life.

"JEFF!"

000

Matt opened his eyes to complete pandemonium. Several physicians and nurses were moving in and around Jeff, shouting orders and equipment needs every which way. However, even above the cacophony, one piercing sound cut straight through. It was the sound of the flat line on Jeff's heart rate monitor.

Matt's eyes widened in horror as he looked from the heart monitor to his little brother's body. "No! Jeff!"

The older Hardy tried to get to Jeff's side, but he was stopped by one of the nurses. "Sir, please, we need you out of the room! We need room to work."

"No!" Matt protested. "I need to be with him! I can't let him die alone!" The older Hardy was quickly falling into panic.

Fortunately, Maria was just outside, to offer the medical staff help in calming the hysterical Matt. The diva grabbed onto the older Hardy's arm. "Matt, please! We need to let them do their job! They could still save Jeff!"

Her last few words struck through Matt like an electric shock. The idea that there was still hope for Jeff was too good to be true, but he had to cling to it. He slowly nodded his head and followed Maria outside of the room.

Through the window they watched as the medical team bustled about Jeff. They were his only chance. Matt looked away when the doctor brought out the AED from the crash cart.

It was now down to those seven people in the room and their machine to resurrect Jeff's body, so it could once again house his soul.

There was the sudden yell of "CLEAR!" The young Hardy's body convulsed as electric shocks streamed through his form. There was moment of arrested silence afterwards, as all eyes shifted to the heart monitor.

Matt felt his heart sink even lower into despair as the line remained flat and the medical team resumed their dance.

Suddenly, Taker came through the door of the ICU. When he saw the seen before him he could only shake his head in dismay. "Damn it… It was too much…"

"What do you know Taker?" Maria asked hesitantly. "What happened to Jeff?"

Taker sighed wearily. "He tried to return to his body, but it was too much of a shock for his body to handle."

"So he's really gone then…" Matt rasped.

"I won't lie to you," Taker said gravely. "Unless those people in there can pull off a miracle…" he trailed off as Maria began to cry on Matt's shoulder.

The older Hardy was so overwhelmed at the prospect of his worst nightmare turning into a harsh reality that he was in too much shock to cry.

Matt looked back into the room, where the medical team was applying another round of CPR to Jeff, before administering more shocks. He took in a deep shaky breath and let it out. "Jeff, don't worry. I'll keep my promise. I'll be all right, everything will be all right…" he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.

There was another loud call of "CLEAR," a beep and a dull thud as Jeff's body convulsed from the shocks. Again there was a hush in the room as all focus shifted to the monitor.

Still there was nothing...

As the seconds ticked by, hope seemed to tick away, but just as the medical team was about to give it a final try, the piercing scream of the flat line was cut off by a soft blip…

A heartbeat…

000

Signs of life come from Jeff's body…But is he truly alive…?