Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.
The rest of the Fanfic has an angel and a couple of demons in it. How I portray them is all based on my imagination. These characters are not based on scripture in any way.
Chapter Twenty-Six
That night Rhett had supper in the National Hotel dining room. It made him think of all the times he and Scarlett had supper in that same dining room. He had so many regrets. He had to somehow get Scarlett back.
After Rhett had finished eating, he had not come up with any way to get Scarlett back, not after everything he had done to her.
After Rhett had eaten his supper, he went and bought a bottle of whisky. First bottle he had bought since his return in time. He went to his room. He had several glasses of whiskey. He had not drunken any alcohol in a long time. Not since he had come back. Therefore, he soon passed out. He was awoken in the middle of the night. His mind was still fuzzy from the drink. He saw a man standing near his window. He was not alarmed. It was the same man that had given him this second chance.
Rhett said, "You have to help me. Scarlett was returned in time also. She wants nothing to do with me."
"Yes, I know."
"Who are you? You never did say?"
"And you didn't care enough to make me tell you. All you heard was I was sending you back in time and with your arrogance and conceit you thought you could make Scarlett love you because you thought you knew where you went wrong. You probably did know where you went wrong but I upped the ante and sent her back in time also."
"Who are you? You already have your bargain. There is no point in keeping secrets now."
"I am Marvin Zindler. I am in charge of chaos and evil. I work for Lucifer. I also make sure there is always slime in the ice machines."
Rhett burst out laughing and said, "What happened to Mephistopheles?"
"Mephistopheles wasn't real. He was from Faust which was written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe."
"Neither are you."
"I am very real, and I am going to take your soul to the master."
"You expect me to believe in fairy tales."
"It doesn't matter if you believe or do not believe. The truth is the truth whether you believe it to be the truth or not. Gravity does not exist because you believe it to exist. It exists. The earth isn't round because you believe it is round. It is round whether you think it is or not. God exist whether you believe he does or not."
"I'm not in the mood for a philosophy debate on whether there is a God or not. I want to know why did you send Scarlett back in time also? If you hadn't, I could have made us both happy."
"I'm a demon. I wanted you to fail. We want your soul. Just for the record, she will probably end up just as unhappy as she was in the first timeline. She is planning on returning to Boston and joining her one true love, Patrick. She will be happier because she will not have endured the abuse you heaped upon her again. Wade and Ella will never have endured your special kind of love. I am going to have to talk to the demon assigned to Scarlett. Although it will probably do little good. She is a lazy, shiftless, slothful demon which would normally be good traits but not when you are depending on someone to do their job."
"I'm sorry you are having trouble with your co-workers."
"Never you mind. Fortunately, Scarlett will still have the scars from you all's first timeline whether Peggy does anything or not.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you making my life miserable?"
The evil spirit stared at Rhett and finally said, "Do you not understand my role in the universe? My role is to make human beings' lives as miserable as possible."
"How do I get out of this?"
"You don't. You will spend the rest of your life miserable and unhappy. You will not even be able to go back to your hedonist lifestyle because now you will see the shallowness of it. You will be bombarded with memories and dreams of what could have been."
"My life is going to be hell on earth."
"I hope so. Now that I have made it perfectly clear that you are going to lose, I will leave you. I will be back in thirty to forty years to collect your soul when you finally dieā¦. Alone."
Rhett knew he was going to hell. He also knew there really was a hell. It was not a figment of Dante's imagination.
The demon disappeared while he was thinking, 'I purposely visited Rhett while his mind was fuzzy from the alcohol he had consumed. It would be impossible to fool him while his brain was sharp and clear. Hopefully, he only remembers what I told him about failing. Also, hopefully, Rhett never figures out that Scarlett could still fall in love with him, and they could still have a happy life. All he has to do is honestly listen to her and then put her desires and wishes above his own.' The demon laughed. He then continued his thoughts, 'Not much of a chance of that, Rhett Butler is too selfish and self-centered to ever truly sacrifice for another. He didn't even truly sacrifice for his daughter. It was for himself that he wanted to be received back into Southern society.'
Rhett spent time over the next week thinking about what Marvin had said to him. He had nothing. He didn't even have his soul anymore. He was standing on a bridge. The river didn't look very deep but if he jumped off the bridge, he might break some bones and then drown in the shallow water.
As Rhett was climbing onto the guardrail, he heard a voice, "I wouldn't do that Mr. Butler."
Rhett turned toward the voice and there appeared to be a man standing there. The man looked just like his Grandfather Butler. Rhett said, "What!? Where did you come from?"
"Heaven. I just materialized here."
"Are you, my grandfather?"
"No, I just appear that way. The higher ups thought you would be comfortable with this image.
"I'm not."
"Then pick an image for me to appear as."
"I want you to appear as my friend, Buddy Hackett."
Suddenly in front of Rhett was a chubby, young boy of about eleven years old. Rhett smiled. He said, "That's him. Now make him my age."
Clarence transformed into Buddy Hacket at age forty. Rhett smiled and said, "He was always so funny." Then he sadly added, "He died when he was eleven. His real name wasn't Buddy but Leonard. He got the nickname Buddy because he was everyone's friend. He was my best friend."
"I know."
"How do you know?"
"I know your history."
"What are you doing here?"
"The first thing I am going to do is stop you from jumping off this bridge. You don't want to kill yourself. You can't fold. You have to play this hand all the way out. The devil already has your soul, so by dying you would just be giving it to him sooner. Where is your love of fighting for lost causes?"
"I can't win this one. After everything I did to her during our marriage, she will never forgive me and take me back."
"She did say she loved you the night Melanie died."
"I don't know what that was all about but even if she did love me, she doesn't now. I filed for divorce not twenty-four hours after she told me she loved me. I stomped on her feelings, just like I did our entire acquaintanceship."
"Yet, she didn't immediately accept your offer. Mr. Butler, I have been sent down here to help you get out of this mess you find yourself in. Let's go back to the hotel and discuss it."
"I guess."
"Rhett, may I call you Rhett?"
"Yes, of course."
"Rhett, nobody can see me but you, so it is best we talk in private."
"Who are you?"
"Clarence Odbody. I am an angel second class. After two hundred years, I am finally getting my chance to earn my wings. All I must do is save your soul."
"Are you my guardian angel?"
Clarence laughed and shook his head, "No, your guardian angel quit right after you were knifed in that bar in San Francisco. His last act to protect you was to make sure there was a doctor in the saloon." Clarence whispered, "He had a nervous breakdown. He just kept saying, 'He never listens.'
With typical self-centeredness, Rhett dismissed his guardian angel as of no importance. He said, "Then who are you."
"I told you Clarence Odbody. I think you mean what am I? I am a celestial being who is going to help you pull your bacon out of the fire. If we are successful, I will get a promotion that comes with a set of wings. You will win Scarlett's heart and save your soul."
As Rhett and Clarence walked to the hotel, the angel said, "What does Scarlett value more than anything else in the world?"
"Tara."
"No."
"Ashley Wilkes."
"No."
"Money."
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"You have to figure it out for yourself. All I can do is guide you, but I will make sure you don't go down the wrong path like you have so many times in your lifetime. Speaking of going down the wrong path. I know all the details because I have read your history. I just don't know what you were thinking. Why did you yell at her and run away when she sighed in the night on your honeymoon?"
"She was thinking about someone else while she was in bed with me."
"You decided all that just by a sigh. That was quite a leap."
"I know she was."
"I am going to leave your ability to read minds alone for a while and instead am going to discuss the outcome of your actions. Did your yelling at her, calling her names, and running away help the situation." Rhett was quiet for a long time. So, Clarence answered his own question. He said, "No, it didn't do a bit of good. I don't understand why you ran away."
Quietly Rhett said, "Because I felt like a fool for having married a woman who loved another man. I actually thought she would give our marriage a chance."
"Didn't you tell her repeatedly that the only reason you married her was for access to her body?"
"Yes."
"Then she is not at fault here. Her thoughts were not part of the deal."
Rhett was quiet and refused to look at Clarence. Clarence said, "Just for the record, every time you have run away, has never done any good. You ran away from West Point, you ran away from Charleston, you ran away for fifteen years, you ran away from Scarlett every time she needed you, and you ran away every time you needed to give of yourself to make your marriage work."
"Our marriage didn't work because she loved another man."
"That's what you say but if you truly believed that then you wouldn't still be in love with her and you certainly wouldn't have risked your soul on the chance of winning her heart."
Rhett didn't answer. He just walked faster. Clarence walked with him but didn't speak.
When Rhett was back in his room, Clarence said, "You cannot run away from me. Everywhere you go, I will be right there until you either win Scarlett's love or you die."
"What if I don't do anything? You will get tired of waiting."
"Rhett, I have been waiting for over two hundred years to get a chance to earn my wings. No, I will not get tired of waiting."
"Great. At least, I won't die alone."
Author's Notes:
Clarence is a salute to the movie It's a Wonderful Life. I grew up in the era of limited television channels. There were four. They were ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. It's a Wonderful Life was aired every Christmas and I watched it every year. Not because I really liked the movie, but I liked it well enough to watch instead of something else. In truth there wasn't anything better on, at least in my opinion. My brother certainly thought differently.
