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John and Midnite stumbled when a huge explosion shook the building followed by another one and then another one.
"Wizards; they can't do anything quietly. It's a god damn miracle they are still hidden from the rest of the world," Midnite complained as he and John found their balance.
"Maybe it'll buy us some time with Mammon. Come. We're almost there," John said. He could feel the burning in his chest but didn't allow it to consume him. He saw the doors of the physical therapy ward and pulled out one last burst of speed. He and Midnite burst through the door the same moment another great explosion shook the building and the lights frizzled and dimmed.
"Barry!"
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"Shit," John hissed and could only watch as Angela stood up to face him. Her eyes were completely black, her skin was ashen and there was a small smile on her lips.
"Hello hunter." The voice that came from her mouth was in no way Angela's.
"John? We're fucked," Midnite muttered into his chin. John swallowed over a lump and looked around. 'Great, there goes that idea,' he thought when he saw that every mirror in the room was shattered.
In a snap decision John jumped into the water and grabbed Angela's face in his hands. He pushed her against the wall and started chanting.
"Amar natash bow basar!" he growled in a hurry. "Rescind from the flesh I command thee." He stared straight into those black eyes. John clasped a hand over Angela's mouth to cut off her air supply. "Back to Hell, you fucking bastard," he spat out as Angela fought against him. Mammon's shape tried to come through but failed. He bit into John's arm and John recoiled from Angela. Mammon shoved John away and he landed hard. Angela jumped from the tank and pushed past John in a blur.
John turned around and saw Midnite there with Angela firmly grasped in his arms.
"Finish it!" he shouted and John coughed while he struggled to stand. Midnite tried to position Angela to face John, but the woman proved to be stronger than she looked and Midnite was flung against a wall. Angela was about to attack John when a wave of power washed over all three of them and Angela's body stopped moving.
Behind her was Harry. His right cheek was one big bruise, his bottom lip was split and oozing blood, his right shoulder was obviously dislocated, and he was favoring his right leg, but never the less his right hand was firmly spread out, palm towards Angela.
"Not so fast," he growled. Midnite and John heaved sighs of relief. John straightened and looked in Harry's eyes.
"Glad you could make it," he drawled and Harry shrugged before he winced.
"Knew I couldn't count on you two to do the job properly," he pressed out through his teeth. He was obviously in pain. John noticed the tremors that shook Harry's body and how his eyes started to dull.
"Midnite!" John called out, and said man nodded and walked over. Midnite took Angela's right hand in his left and touched her forehead with his right. John did the same but on her left side.
Harry nodded at the two and braced himself.
"Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino qui fertis super caelum caeli ad Orientem. Ecce dabit voci Suae vocem virtutis, tribuite virtutem Deo," John and Midnite spoke at the same time, and Harry had to use every bit of strength he had left to keep the pressure at bay and keep Angela still.
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica!" Their voices rose with every word and Harry choked on his breath as the pressure grew. "Ergo Draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica adjuramus te! Cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare!" Angela's body stopped fighting and the darkness in her eyes and nails started to fade.
All of a sudden Midnite was picked up by some invisible force. Harry let go of Angela and used his magic to save Midnite from dying. An unknown power slammed into Harry and Midnite was flung into a wall and his huge, 300 pound frame slid down in a dead faint.
A second later Harry and John's eyes met and John's heart stopped beating when an apologizing look entered Harry's eyes. In the next moment Harry gurgled and looked down only to see the Sword of Gryffindor, the one he abandoned in front of the door, being pulled out of his stomach.
"HARRY!" he heard John's desperate call but the pressure combined with his beaten body made the world fade.
John could only watch as life faded in Harry's eyes. His lover, his Harry fell on his knees and to the side. His eyes closed and his blood started to spread under him from the wound in his stomach.
"Harry!" while John couldn't move, the newly awakened Midnite could. He tried to crawl over to Harry's body but was stopped by an incredible sight.
A large shadow was behind Harry holding the sword which pierced Harry's stomach. John started breathing deeply in rage. He held back a cough long enough to rip up his sleeves and slam his tattoos together.
"INTO THE LIGHT I COMMAND THEE!" It took every single ounce of his life force, but just before he was about to fall a form came out of the shadows and enraged brown eyes met calm and emotionless blue ones.
"I find your ego astounding," John fell on his knees.
"I should have figured. Gabriel." The Angel gave him an empty smile. John looked into the hand that didn't hold a sword covered in Harry's blood, and saw the spear.
"And the wicked shall inherit the Earth," he muttered.
"You presume to judge me, John?" Gabriel asked and shot a look at Midnite who tried to reach Harry but stopped at Gabriel's sharp look.
"Betrayal, murder, genocide?" John spoke. "Call me provincial," John finished in a low growl. He noticed the darkness started to seep back into Angela's eyes and nails.
"I am seeking to inspire humankind to be all that was intended!" Gabriel said with an excited smile.
"By unleashing Hell on Earth?" John drawled sarcastically. "Good thinking." Gabriel's wings folded behind him as he rounded Angela and stopped in front of John.
"You've had it too easy for too long," he whispered and John huffed.
"So what's a few thousand years of pain, right?"
"You never deserved to be blessed!" Gabriel spoke passionately. "You've all been born with a silver spoon in your mouth, never really appreciating the gift you were given so freely - unconditional love from your Creator!"
"And that just bugs the shit out of you," John growled and looked away from Gabriel. He looked instead at Harry's pale face. Harry's blood stained lips. Harry's lifeless body.
"It's not your fault," Gabriel spoke again and John was slowly getting bored. "Like the animals you are, you never learn unless sufficiently prodded. Pleasure has no lasting effect. But subject you to pain, unpleasantness, suffering, and you will take notice; you will fight to overcome, to earn your redemption. That is when you're at your best."
"You're trying to teach us a lesson?" John spat out and hate filled his voice.
"No! I'm giving you the chance to rise above the suffering and truly earn the love of God," Gabriel breathed out and looked at Angela. John gazed at Midnite and found him a few feet away from Harry. "The road to salvation begins tonight. Right now!" John could only stare at the rogue Angel. His eyes landed on the spear and with one last push of strength he made a break for it.
For a moment it felt like something grabbed him and in the next he was flung through the double doors where he smashed against a mesh-screened window and dropped to the floor in a heap.
"JOHN!" Midnite shouted, but his attention was drawn back to Gabriel. He looked up and his heart stopped.
They were doomed.
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"Point me, Harry Potter," a heavily British-accented voice spoke. The owner of said voice pointed a wand at a map of Los Angeles. A white blob of light left his wand and landed on the Ravenscar Hospital. He hm-ed.
"What trouble are you in now?"
"This is Harry we're talking about. He's probably neck deep in blood and still fighting," a female voice spoke. The man snorted and banished the map before he stored his wand into his sleeve.
"Let's go. I have a feeling he'll need saving again."
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John groaned in pain. It was over. Harry was gone. Angela was lost. Mammon and Gabriel won.
He couldn't even stand up, let alone save anyone.
His eyes fell on the glass shards beside his right hand before they strayed to the old scar on his wrist. He remembered something Midnite once said. Something about him being the only human whose soul Satan would come to get personally.
John closed his eyes and pushed himself up. He took a shard and did something he hadn't done in a long, long time.
He prayed.
"I know I'm not one of your favorites; I'm not even allowed in your house these days, but I could use a little attention," he spoke in a tight, strained voice. He thought of Harry, who gave him a taste of life. He thought of Angela, who showed him what it meant to persist for the RIGHT reasons. He thought of Isabel, who showed him what a true sacrifice meant. He remembered father Hennessey, Beeman, Midnite, Chaz.
He looked up and tried to imagine Harry's warm, glowing emerald eyes looking down at him with a smile on those full lips, but all he could remember was Harry's broken and bleeding form on the floor in the room next door.
He looked down at the shard of glass he grabbed and the scar on his wrist.
"For you, Harry," and then he slit his wrist. He was in a kind of hurry, so he repeated the action on his other wrist, and then he sat back and waited.
In the room next door Midnite gathered the courage to launch at Gabriel who was about to stab Angela with the spear. Outside of the building, two people appeared with a pop. In the city a young woman walked towards her apartment after a date with her boyfriend, an old beggar was falling asleep on a bench in a park. An old couple was watching TV. A baby was crying in its mother's arms.
And no one knew that in the Ravenscar hospital the greatest evil just entered the world of the living.
"The time has come at last to collect your soul." John opened his eyes and smirked up at the man in a white tux with a red rose in his chest pocket. "Hello, John," Lucifer said and smiled down at the broken man.
"You're early," John rasped out. Lucifer gave him an almost fatherly smile.
"You're the one show I wouldn't miss."
"So I've heard," John breathed out. Lucifer looked him over and tsk-ed when he saw John's slit wrists.
"I didn't think you'd make the same mistake twice." John gave him a weak smile. "You didn't, did you?" John shrugged casually.
"How's your son?" he asked.
"And why would that matter to you?" Lucifer countered and John snorted.
"He's topside-…"
"I know."
"With Gabriel."
"Your point?" Satan drawled in disinterest.
"He's helping your son create his own Hell on Earth," John knew he had to hurry; he knew he was fading.
"Well, boys will be boys," Lucifer sighed and John glared at him.
"He has the Spear of Destiny."
'That caught your attention, you old fucker.' John knew he got his point across when Lucifer frowned.
"This is another one of your cons."
"Go look for yourself," John said, trying to sound nonchalant about it, but he knew his heart was beating wildly in his ears. Lucifer still looked suspicious. "You've waited twenty years for me," John rasped out. "What's another twenty seconds?" Lucifer sneered at him and all of a sudden everything seemed to jump back to life.
'Harry. For you. Just for you. I'm sorry.'
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Gabriel flung Midnite into the wall and the man fell down unconscious, and Gabriel was about to finish what he came here to do. He looked up when someone called his name and gasped in shock.
For a moment the Devil and the Angel stared at each other. In the next moment Gabriel flung himself towards Angela, spear at the ready, but Lucifer was faster.
Angela vanished and the spear pierced dead air. Lucifer appeared a bit to the side, with Angela in his arms and his hand over her mouth. She struggled against him when the demon inside her appeared reflected in the chunks of glass. THAT was the real Mammon; a mutilated, ashen, weakly form; ugly and undefined.
"Say goodbye to the sun; both of you," Lucifer growled. In the next moment Mammon shrieked and Gabriel's wings burst into flames followed by a pain filled scream.
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John felt a wave of something pass through the building and a moment later Lucifer was back with a really sour expression on his face.
"So, what do you want? An extension?" John could only shake his head. 'I'm sorry, Harry.'
"Isabel," he rasped out. "Let her - let her go home."
He could barely speak any more. He tried to remember Harry's smile again, but he couldn't. All he saw was blood.
"You would give up your life so she could go to Heaven?" John managed a weak nod, even though he felt like crying.
"Fine," Lucifer said and shrugged. "It's done." He took a step to John. "And now it's time to go." He bowed down to grab John's hand.
John just relaxed and allowed Satan to pull him to Hell. He only wished - he only wished he had the chance to see Harry, one last time.
All of a sudden warmth filled his chest.
"John." Harry's voice echoed through his mind and he smiled slightly. A bright light entered his vision and two emerald orbs smiled down at him.
His free hand was suddenly raised and Satan realized he couldn't move John anywhere anymore. John smiled at the warmth that seemed to have embraced him and imagined he was in Harry's arms. The air filled with the scent of Sandalwood, rain and musk, and John sighed.
"The sacrifice!" he heard coming from somewhere, far away. "No! THIS ONE BELONGS TO ME!"
The screaming voice drifted further and further away while the light grew brighter and the scent John came to love completely enveloped him.
All of a sudden horrible pain shot through his body, originating in his chest. It spread through him in waves and he screamed.
"You will live, John Constantine, you will live so you'll have the chance to prove that your soul truly belongs in Hell. You will live!" and with one last scream John fell on the ground and gasped for breath. Said breath hitched in his throat when he realized he felt no need to cough, there was no pain; not even a slight wheeze.
He was healed.
In a moment he was on his feet, running back into the therapy room. Angela's head snapped up from where she was checking up on Harry. The boy, Barry was beside her, holding onto the rim of her shirt.
Midnite stood over a lump John immediately recognized as a wingless Gabriel. The cocky rogue Angel became what he despised most.
He became human.
"You don't deserve to be human," John growled and turned his back on Gabriel to approach a weeping Angela. She held Harry's head in her lap and constantly ran her fingers through his hair.
"Then pass judgment on me now," Gabriel challenged and John stopped in his tracks.
"Constantine?" Midnite spoke warningly.
"Do it," Gabriel urged. "Seek revenge. End my life. I killed your lover, didn't I?" Gabriel taunted but stopped when he was suddenly gazing at the barrel of John's gun. He was breathing hard, not brave enough to look up in John's eyes.
"Kill me," he whispered.
"John," Midnite spoke.
"Pull the trigger! Avenge him! Be the hand of God!"
"John, you do this-…"
"And I'll be condemned again," John spoke and lowered the gun.
"Do it!" Gabriel shouted, but could only watch in desperation as John threw the gun on the ground.
"No," he said and turned his back on Gabriel. Midnite smirked down at Gabriel and followed John to Harry's side.
"Deny your true nature today, but what of tomorrow, or the tomorrow after that? It is only a matter of time before you end up right back where you belong. It is who you are, Constantine. Damned!" Gabriel ranted but his words fell on deaf ears.
John kneeled beside Harry and Angela looked at him. She noticed something different about him; something big. They all jumped in their places when they heard John's gun fire and a body met the floor. Not one of them turned to look.
Angela smiled weakly at John.
"Thank you," she whispered and John gave her a small, sad smile.
"It was nothing," he said. "Is he-…"
"No, but he needs medical attention right now, before it's too late."
'If it already isn't' was left unsaid.
"I'll take him, we should-…"
"You'll leave him exactly where he is, muggle, or you'll find yourself short an extremity; and I don't mean a visible one." John and Midnite jumped around, guns at the ready.
"RON! HERMIONE!" Angela cried out and the two men looked at her before they looked at the pair. The woman was obviously pregnant and even though it seemed she could take care of herself the man stood in front of her as if to protect her. "What are you doing here?"
"We kind of knew Harry would need us one way or another," Ron said while Hermione rounded them all, going for Harry's prone form.
She smiled at Barry when she knelt beside Harry and started waving her wand all over him. She tsk-ed and shook her head. She pulled something out of her pocket and waved her wand over it. A big trunk appeared beside her and she opened it. She pulled out a few bottles and placed them within arm's reach.
"Help me make him drink these," she told Angela and the older woman nodded.
"Will he-…" Hermione frowned.
"He's worse than I've ever seen him. I'll do everything I can. The rest is up to him."
"I thought Harry told you to stay home," Angela said. Hermione huffed and Ron rolled his eyes.
"Like I ever kept a promise to him, when his health was in question," she grumbled and Angela smiled.
"Yes, and I bet I'll be the one who he'll scream at for letting you come along," Ron growled and Hermione shot him a small look.
All the while John and Midnite just stood back and stared in wonder.
Hermione frowned when the wand she left on the ground started glowing red.
"Mione?" Ron spoke lowly.
"He's not reacting well to the potions. Ron, we have to get him to St. Mungo's."
"Hermione, what's going on?" Angela asked but got her answer when Harry started coughing and convulsing in her arms.
"Harry!" John cried out and rushed forward but Midnite stopped him when Ron ran over to his wife and friend.
"I have the Portkey. Will it make things worse?" Ron asked. Hermione waved her wand over Harry.
"His heart is failing, we have to hurry," she said. "Angela, move."
"Where are you taking him?!"
"To the wizarding hospital in London, if they can't help him no one can," Hermione said. Angela stood up and pulled Barry back, and Ron took her place. The bottles and the trunk disappeared and Ron pulled out a small golden coin.
"It'll activate in 10-9-8-…"
"Take me with you!" John called out but Midnite held him back.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it would be better if you stay here," Hermione said and placed her finger on the coin. She and Ron got a good grip on Harry who groaned in pain and a few splotches of blood appeared on his lips.
"7-6-5-4-…"
"Please, I-…" John gasped out but folded when he saw Angela's teary face. "No," he murmured.
"I'll call you with the news, Angela," Hermione said.
"3- 2- 1."
"Goodbye," Angela said and the two wizards and one witch disappeared in a mass of colors.
John fell on his knees and did something he couldn't recall if he'd ever done before.
He cried.
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Don't look at me like that!
I did absolutely NOTHING wrong…
Well there was thing ONE time I - NO! I am innocent!