A/N: Well, this is it! The third chapter, where our dear friend Faust meets his ultimate fate at the hands of the demon Mephistopheles, or Mephisto, for those of you who prefer to abbreviate words; we warned you it was going to be a tough ride…and it will get worse!

You may notice it has been a long time since D4rk and I submitted the last chapter, but some things aside of writing became priorities for the both of us, and we had to solve them before passing to the next chapter.

With no more delays, here is it for you. Enjoy the ride…and look out for the detours!

The Damnation of Faust

Chapter 3

Now then Mr. Faust, care to rethink your statement?

Not a word escaped from the prisoner's lips. Mephistopheles and the other demons understood his silence. It was the one of a desperate person struggling to wake up from a lucid nightmare, but also a silence that was usual upon those condemned who see the full scope of their crimes and realize there is nothing they can do.

Does the jury have a verdict? – asked all eight demons to the rest.

One of the minor demons, the hybrid of a satyr and a boar, approached to the table of the judges with what seemed to be a piece of paper. He looked glared briefly at Faust and then he read with a voice the prisoner recognized to be the one from the beginning:

Your Lordships, by the power given to us from your infinity sapience and the Laws of Thurinja the dark, we, the honorable members of this jury, find the accused Johann Faust VIII – the creature made a pause as he read - guilty as charge! And… several of the members demand the accused to be executed in the most violent and painful forms Your Lordships may allow.

In a last defiant gesture, Faust chuckled softly as the creature passed him by, glaring at him, perhaps wanting to spit at his human face.

Are there any last words you'd like to say before your sentence is read, Mr. Faust? – asked Mephistopheles.

I understand it…I completely understand it now: I am a monstrosity, equal or worse than the ones in this room. All I ever wanted and all I ever needed turned out to not be the same. And now that you'll take me away and put inside of your torture contraptions for the eternity, I'll think on the fact that my wife would be far away from me, but at least, she will walk the earth, fresh and gorgeous as the loveliest rose… - the tears were falling across Johann's face as he spoke - I won't be there to listen to her voice, to touch her skin and hair, to kiss her lips…but I shall endure every condemn as long as she is alive.

Rather beautiful and hypocrite words Mr. Faust, but I'm afraid that won't happen.

What do you mean? What are you going to do with Eliza?

I am not going to do anything to her; I'll simply undo her.

What?

All that magic you were using Mr. Faust during all those years…it polluted the earth, caused chaos, disorder. And your wife, like it or not, is a loose end - -

No, no! I won't accept this! You have no right! No right for this - -

You had your chance to speak, Mr. Faust! – Screamed Mephistopheles as the prisoner's mouth started to melt and close, leaving only skin where his lips used to be. – And I ran out of patience with your excuses!

Mephistopheles had to stop a moment, panting from the sudden wrath that took over him. After he felt the coolness returning to his senses, he continued:

As you appropriately said, you're a monstrosity. Your acts caused damages beyond repair not only to this dimension, but to yours: All those souls you enslaved for those…battles you had, the energy that might be still decomposing, contaminating places, the innocent people you harmed in your blindness…you like it or not, present deeds can't erase past grievances.

Johann had his eyes pinned to Mephistopheles, a mix of helplessness and rage was leaking through them, and they slide across the demon's stone face. So focused he was on this, that he didn't notice the chains crawling through his back towards his neck.

Which is why I'll go to the very moment you began with this. And I shall undo all the magic, return that power to its rightful source…while you face the fate you deserve.

Faust started to see a series of images flashing across his mind, praying for them to be an illusion: It was in that moment that the empty promise of the demon's statement brought a vision of despair, a world where he would never had fought for her soul – or more correctly fought and failed - , a world where he never saw the error of his ways. If he had not joined Yoh and his friends…where he would stand right now? He admitted that if he had not seen reason, his experiments would not be stopped… the pain it would have caused Eliza; it was worst compared to the pain he had to endure. And in the end it would have cost him his life without success. But he had succeeded, damn it!

Yes, he screwed things up, he almost destroyed her; his own recklessness had fucked with his resolve to this world, to his Eliza…it had been unacceptable, what he had done to her. But she had forgiven him at the end! He brought her back! Even though it was an accident she was there, she was there with him. Waiting to be loved, to be hugged, to be kissed and for her to comfort him that he wasn't human waste and incapable of love.

In his reverie, he never saw the chains that had been wrapped harmlessly at the bars rising in the air and starting to silently wrap around an empty space of his neck. His eyes suddenly bulged at the pressure as he tried to bring a hand to his neck in vain.

Do you feel it, Mr. Faust? The chain wrapping around your neck? It is nothing more than the dog chain you hanged yourself with; when you failed to reanimate the dead, when you were taken as insane and persecuted. Do you remember it?

The images flew through his mind in an instant; parts of his life that didn't happen until that moment…and in spite of it, he thought it was over: The screams, the insults, the people throwing stones at him whenever he was present. But that never happened! It's an illusion! His mind screamed at him. And at the same time…why he was trying to say himself it was over? He started to fall in a schizophrenic state

Still, everyone thought he was insane, batshit insane! People refused to sell him food; he had to travel on foot to another town to get supplies, or his morphine. Why, why he was remembering all this? All of those events that never happened? And why he was clinging to memories that were fading from reality itself?

It was this monster, th-this monster making him remember all of those times, all those lies...the sole moment that wasn't tainted was the one when he had to remove Eliza from her grave.

In an instant, all those images, long forgotten, new like an opened scar, were hurled at his eyes, even though he grabbed his head. He wanted to scream at the miserable past the demon was weaving at that moment, but the chains started to choke him and his mouth was gone. He was going to lose everything he fought for, and he couldn't scream! He had no mouth and he had to scream!

His brain started to twitch painfully. He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe; the images were overwhelming him like the smell of rotten flesh…rotten flesh!

His mind was split in two, his eyes paralyzed with true fear as his impending doom conjured the image of Eliza dissolving into nothing, her flesh peeling from her bones, her skeletal mouth opened in surprise, and these same bones he manipulated so delicately, so tenderly during years, crumbled to dust.

The final blunt came as a sound: a heartbeat that filled his ears, at first very strong, fading to small and soft afterwards. Maybe it was the pressure of the chain that was driving him mad, but between each heartbeat he could glimpse the image he had seen with his wife a few months ago, the one that filled their eyes with tears of joy: A small kite floating in a pool of amniotic liquid…their baby.

Feeling the pressure of the chains about to break his neck, Faust somehow managed to scream with all the strength he had left. Rupturing the membrane where his mouth was, his voice resounded like an earthquake and awoke forces he wasn't aware of, neither the demons.

Skeletons of every size and shape that imagination can conceive sprouted out of the walls, fragments of the furniture started to break out of their structure, attacking the minor creatures, grabbing the judges by their robes, bringing the guards down to the floor.

Like dying worms, the chains shook violently before falling off the prisoner's body, and the cage collapsed, causing its captive to fall to the emptiness beneath.

"Please God", begged Johann before the darkness engulfed once again, "let this end, let this end!"

"How this puny human had so much power?"

"I believed he only could use this necromancy in his dimension"

"Maybe you underestimated the accused, Mephisto. After all, didn't you put his sorry arse inside that cage to avoid any attack coming from him?"

"That is not your problem, Lord Divarala. He might have used that power to free himself, but that won't save him from being punished"

"It is true: A criminal like him cannot go his way just like that. And still…that demonstration of power…it would a waste if we condemn him to death or endless torture. It can take years, centuries, even millennia to presence such strength, such reach again…"

Faust's tired eyes opened slowly to see the eight demons standing in front of him. Feeling that the nightmare would never end, he also realized he wasn't bound anymore, and his clothes and belongings were back in their place.

Ah, you woke up, Mr. Faust. The guards managed to grab before you'd fall into the pit beneath the cage.

Pit? Beneath the cage? I…don't understand.

You simply showed the scope of your powers to us and to the jury. Quite impressive, I must say. An invaluable skill. You passed out later and we ordered for you to be clothed again.

Th - -thank you. –he replied sheepishly, rubbing his wrists.

Do not thank us, Mr. Faust. You are still guilty of your charges and you must atone for them; however, I have reconsidered your previous sentence and decided to give it a change.

What change?

All that necromantic power you possess, you shall use them for me.

For you?

Yes. There are many unbalances between this realm and yours: Deserters that leap from one through another dimension using corpses, ancient reliquaries in the hands of people even more irresponsible than yourself, among others. If you accept this, I will allow you to continue your life with your wife, for you will purge your faults and those of your ancestor.

Faust raised a brow in disbelief. He was wary of putting himself (and Eliza) at a demon's mercy. On the other hand, Mephistopheles had proved to be a man of his word; also it was better than having the last years of his life undone and being hanged with a dog chain.

What are the conditions?

Without answering, Mephistopheles clapped to a hooded figure standing in the corner of the room that, at its lord's command, approached the group carrying a silver box; with a gesture of hand (claw?) the being opened the box, revealing an hourglass filled with red sand.

This hourglass marks your time, Mr. Faust. Whenever I give you a mission, the sand will start to run and if you accomplish it successfully, it will either stop to run, or the hourglass will transform into a crystal ball. For every assignment accomplished, your debt will be settled one hourglass at a time. However, if you fail or refuse to take any of the jobs, there will be time added.

Time added? To what?

To your condemnation, of course. What you went through at the courtroom, you will go through each and every of our torture halls for the quantity of time you gained with your failures: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries…I take it that you will do your best ?

Johann did not answer that one; instead he made more questions:

What are the rules for this? How am I going to accomplish these tasks? How will I know what to do?

The rules are simple: You will do as I say, as I command and nothing else. You shall receive everything you need, from money to powers, in order to do your jobs. As for the information, you'll have sent two 'supervisors' to carry my word and keep an eye on you at all times.

But know this, Mr. Faust: At the first protest, the first rebellion against me or my orders, I will call this deal off, you'll be immediately executed and your woman's life essence returned to me, all at once. Do you understand?

Johann nodded.

Good. Now that you know what will happen if disobey me Mr. Faust, I insist for your sake you don't do it.

What kind of tasks I'm supposed to do? You haven't answered me yet.

All the eight demons smiled.

All in good time, but for now rest well...you have an important meeting with your new life.

W - -wait a minute! How am I going to return to my place?

You will return in the same way you came here, Mr. Faust. Simply as that.

A rider brought me to the town, but before that, I…that joint in my car, you put it there?

Mephistopheles looked startled and mildly amused at the idea:

I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Faust. That joint was in your current car's glove box since 1975. Maybe you should have checked before buying it.

Blushing with the commentary, Faust asked how he was going to return home, if he had no idea of how he ended there.

Mephistopheles grinned at him:

What is the last thing you remember before ending in this realm?

Th – there were strange beings wandering in the freeway, and I was struck by a l - -

Johann didn't have time to finish, because one of the guards struck him with a staff that blurred his eyesight, causing every shade of color, all the visages of the demons, the ornaments on the walls and every other thing in that ghastly realm to fade to white.

The last words he heard were from Lord Divarala, the androgyny looking judge, saying:

"We will have to replace the bones with stone again."

A/N: That was unexpected, was it? Well, we've got more surprises for the next chapter. We hope you enjoyed this one and don't forget to review. Thanks!