"Noooooooooooo!"
"Oh, yes, Luci! I'll say it again! Welcome to Heaven! You have rightfully earned your place here!
"No! No! NO! No! No-no! No! NO!"
This went on for some time. Luci spouted out, in varying pitches and tones, his constant "No's" of denial and anger, while God, the Almighty Themself, watched on with amusement. As did Jerry because, Jerry was there too.
"Oi! I know 'im! He's the black kitty-cat that I put in the bottle!"
"Yes, Jerry! The "kitty-cat" as you call him that you see there before us, is the first demon EVER to be allowed through Heaven's Gate! This is a joyous occasion for all, but none more for Luci himself!"
"Hey! Pipe down, Sun-Head! I am a DEMON! I don't belong here! There has been a HUGE mistake and I want it rectified THIS INSTANT!"
For all of Luci's bravado and "big talk," his words only caused God to burst out into hearty and joyous laughter, which was joined in by a chorus of heavenly, angelic laughter, mixed with Jerry's obnoxious guffawing.
"Ha! He called you Sun-Head! He's right, y'know? Y'head does look a bit like the sun that I wasn't supposed to stare at for long, but I did anyway, and then I was seeing dark for a week or so."
"Now, now, you two. All is well! Luci, you have filled Heaven with laughter with your spirit and spunk! You are truly in the right place, for your courageous self-sacrifice in the attempt to save your friend is what earned your place here! In Heaven! Now you may enjoy Paradise for all eternity!"
"Clearly you don't have ears on that bulbous, stupid noggin' of yours!" Luci blasted back, setting one sassy hand (or paw… whatever Luci has) on his hip and the other pointing up at God. "Listen here, chump! I, the Great Luci, am! A! DEMON! Bitch! I'm too badass to... too, I don't know, what do you losers do? I guess hang around on a cloud all day? Thinking that you're all superior because you're blissfuly happy, while sipping water or some shit, because I assume you people are too lame for wine or whiskey. That's my future here? Flapping my lame-ass wings and playing a stupid harp until the very end?!"
"I think they prefer the lyre 'ere," Jerry piped up.
"NO ONE ASKED YOU!"
"Woah, now, Luci! There's no need to be stern with sweet Jerry here. Everything will be alright! I understand if you feel a bit confused or overwhelmed, so I invite you to take a stroll through the heavenly plane! Take some time to think. Who knows! Well, I suppose I do because I am all-knowing, but I am sure that you'll find a familiar face up here that will help you find your path and place."
"Screw that! Screw you! I'm outta here!"
Continuing to grumble, Luci stomped off, still clearly pissed, and under the impression that he was doing what he wanted to do but was in fact just doing what God just suggested that he do. If he wasn't so mad already, this realization only would've pissed off the former-demon even more.
Jerry, slightly swinging his legs from his position upon God's knee, smiled broader and looked up to God.
"I think he took that very well."
Luci, however, would disagree.
Everywhere he looked, he saw insufferable bullshit!
Like, really!? White clouds... happy, blissful faces… people playing tennis?
"Oh, hell no…" the ex-demon grumbled, before being reminded that he was, in fact, technically no longer a demon, so him ending up in Heaven did make sense.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Kicking a piece of cloud in his frusteration, which turned out to be, well, a cloud, Luci's swift kick went right through it. The small, confused, black ball of spiteful confusion fell back onto the super soft cloud-floor with a soft grunt. With his desperate, black eyes, the small cat-thing stared up at the literal heavens.
"This can't be happening… I mean, Hell wouldn't have been any better, because… yeah. Don't think I'm really popular down there anymore, which is cool, I guess, but I mean… Heaven? This sucks and what sucks even more is-?!" Pausing for a moment, Luci pouted and sat up, suddenly overcome with realization, sadness, and regret. "Oh! Oh, Bean… Oh no. I- I mean, I forgot! I mean, I've been up here for… what? Five minutes? Oh-oh man… Bean! I left you alone with your psycho hot mom!"
Hopping to his feet, Luci looked around frantically, panic spurring his thoughts to reflect as quick, nervous movements.
"Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! What to do? What to do? What to do? I mean, what can I do? Bean could very well be in Hell right now, considering the downward speed of that elevator she was in, but ohhhhhhhhh noooooo!"
Tapping his tiny fingers together, the small kitty-cat-thing looked around desperately, not knowing at all what to do next. His spearhead tail flicked as he began to walk forward, not really looking where he was going, but he just needed to move.
"Okay, Luci, think! What are your options? Well… there's curling up into a ball and falling asleep hoping that this is all just sort of terrible, soft... white nightmare. Or… there's finding a hole in this stupid, soft, plushy cloud floor and jumping down to, umm, fall down to…. Earth? Yeah, I guess that won't work either, but I won't discount the curling up into a ball option quite yet. Ugh!" The ex-demon stopped to shake his tiny fists in frustration and stomp adorably. "Focus, Luci! You can do this! If Elfo can escape Heaven, well then so can you! I will not be upstaged by a green geek who cannot control himself around caramel corn!"
Harrumphing for the third time in a row, the small, tantruming ex-demon started walking forward again, eyes angrily glaring down at the cloudy-floor. Suddenly, Luci's big and round nose bumped into something, or rather someone. Luci immediately jumped back into the offensive: he'd been rearing for a fight anyways.
"Hey! Woah there, buddy! You wanna go, huh!? Yeah! Come one! Punching an angel right in the mouth might just be my ticket out of here! Come on! Let's do- Oh! Oh, shit! Pendergast? Wow! Is that you dude?"
Sitting far away from other spirits, cherubs, angels... (and whatever other angelic thing existed up in the boring landscape of clouds and hedonism), was a man who, in his life, had been a knight. While he hadn't been the smartest of men, or wealthiest, or completely good or flawless, he had been a very good knight because he had tried very hard to adhere to the chivalrous code. Hence why he was in Heaven.
But don't tell him that. The knight would, in fact, argue this fact and had been for the past few weeks, or however long he's been dead for. It couldn't have been a month already, right?
Pendergast has been moping so efficiently that the cloud upon which he was seated had turned grey from his constant melancholy. He was, as Luci would put it, being an "efficient buzzkill."
"Pendergast! Buddy! It is you! Oh man… to be completely honest with you, I totally forgot that you died. How's it going?"
The knight gave no response. He didn't even really lift his head to acknowledge Luci's presence either.
This clearly didn't matter to Luci, who easily hopped up onto the knight's shoulder, took a comfortable seat, and leaned in close.
"Wow, even in Heaven you only have one eye. That sucks. Heaven sucks. Right?"
Giving Pendergast a half-second to respond, which he didn't anyway, Luci leaned an arm against the man's head and smirked down at him.
"Yeah, it does. So! Here's my plan: why don't you and I… get out of here! Yeah! You and me! I've always said: Man! Pendergast is a great guy! He and I, we're buds, we do things together, like… shopping for flagons and hanging out. Sure! So! What you say? Huh? You wanna, you know… you wanna bust outta here with me?"
Finally Pendergast raised his eye, his only eye remember, to look at Luci. In a dry, emotionless tone, he said, "Your enthusiasm is admirable, cat, but it is simply impossible."
"Whaaaaaaaaat? Come on, man! That doesn't sound like the chivalrous, courageous, and handsome knight, that I know, eh? Huh? Huh!?-" Luci said while nudging Pendergast's ear "-A handsome man that I'm familar with and… well, I guess I like you. Yeah, sure. You're not annoying, but even Elfo is annoying and I like him. Oh, wow… I like Elfo. I really have died."
Taking a moment to consider this, Luci looked up at the abyss-of-any-emotion that was Pendergast's eye and added, "Oh and by the way, I'm not a cat. I'm a demon."
"A demon?"
"Yeah-ha!" Luci replied, crossing his arms and smirking.
"A demon… in Heaven?"
"Yyyyyyyyyup! Now do you see my problem here? I NEED to get out of here. Ya feel me?"
Pendergast thought for a moment, or at least looked like he was thinking. That is before he simply turned back to blearily stare at the patch of cloud he'd been drilling a metaphorical hole (and literal hole because it was Heaven and nearly everything in Heaven became reality) into the cloud surface.
"I hate to tell you this, Demon Luci, but there is no way of getting out of here. We're dead. Dead… and useless."
"Wow, talk about being a downer," Luci commented, lowering his own head, before hopping down to the floor, careful to avoid Pendergast's cloud-hole, and looked up at the sorry state of the man or… angel? Were they angels now because they were dead in Heaven? Or just, like… freeloading souls?
Whatever.
"Are you alright, man? I mean, I know that it's been a while since you and I had a heart-to-heart. Like, I wanna say… Never? But, still, you can talk to me, just... don't get too gushy, y'know? I have enough of my own emotions that I could handle yours too right now." Luci then proceeded to check his wrist, as if it had a tiny watch there, before he looked back up and added, "But like also, try and keep it short. I'm trying to leave Heaven because there's a certain buck-toothed, white-haired maiden that we both know that I really need to go find."
"Bean?" Pendergast asked, a touch of what could have been real emotion in his voice as he raised his sullen gaze from its cloud-drilling.
"Yeah! I'm telling you dude, she's in trouble! Well, admittedly, that girl is ALWAYS in trouble, but right now she's in real trouble!"
The knight creased his brows at this and looked aside, as if he were thinking about this new piece of information, and for the moment, at least, it looked to Luci that he had reached the sulking moron.
Nope.
"You're right about one thing, Bean is always in trouble, but I can't help you," Pendergast said after another long moment, before he dropped his chin to his chest and sighed. "Besides, Bean is dead. Her ending up in Hell? Well, there's something else that's unfair."
"Wow, jeez man. You're acting more depressed than Elfo after yet another woman totally stomps on his feelings and heart." Despite himself, Luci chuckled because Sad Elfo always made his day.
"You're looking at one of, if not THE, saddest soul in Heaven," Pendergast explained mournfully, almost poetically, as he looked up to stare out at the distance.
Luci gave his performance a small clap.
"Mm! Mm! Mmm! There's nothing like some good ole fashioned trauma, heartbreak, and depression. Maybe Heaven is more like Hell than I realize."
Finding a spot to sit directly in front of the glum knight, Luci set his chin upon his hands and stared gleefully up at Pendergast.
"Tell me alllll about it and... I changed my mind, there is no need to spare on the details. I'm here for you buddy. Tell your old friend Luci everything."
"To be honest, you always came off as the type of person who disliked people talking about their problems," Pendergast pointed out bluntly.
"Yeah, normally you'd be right, but I actually do love hearing about people's problems because, well, I love hearing of their suffering, pain, and turmoil. Also, it's really just Elfo that I dislike hearing about, but that's because he's always complaining about something. So…"
Luci shrugged and gestured for Pendergast to continue with his woes, to which the knight sighed.
"Where to start? I failed in my life's goal to protect the Royal Family of Dreamland. I failed to protect Dreamland. Bean is dead, so I clearly failed there. I betrayed her. I failed my King. I failed my Queen. I died an inglorious death, I did deserve that, but... all the same, I still ended up here. It's not fair."
Luci just stared at Pendergast, the man staring distantly back, for a long time.
"Holy shit dude…. You got any booze? This definitely calls for a shot. Or two. Or ten."
"It's Heaven."
"... and?"
"You just snap your fingers, or clap, or even just say "I want…" and you have it."
"Ohhhhh, wow! Really?"
"No! Of course not! It's Heaven!"
"Wow, rude," Luci scoffed, crossing his arms. "So what do all of the alcoholics do when they get up here?"
"Cured of their addiction, I guess," Pendergast offered with a small shrug.
"Lame! In Hell, we give addicts just a tiny bit of their favourite substance to keep them going, but always on the edge of withdrawal. It's great… so much anguish and crying."
"Dark."
"It really is!" Luci exclaimed as he laughed. It didn't last long and he went back to gesturing for Pendergast to continue. "And then? How did that make you feel?"
"Are you serious? Did you forget the part when I said that "I'm the saddest soul in Heaven"?"
"Yeah, I'm just unclear about that part. Isn't Heaven, like… supposed to be happy and crap?"
"You'd think," Pendergast replied with another sorrowful sigh, "but not when you truly believe that you don't belong here. Which is me. I am that."
"You don't think that you belong in Heaven?" Luci inquired slowly.
"Nope," the man replied bluntly, shaking his head slowly.
"Because you think that you failed Dreamland?"
"I know that I failed the kingdom. And you know what's the worst thing about it? I can't even beg the king or the princess for their forgiveness because they're in Hell and I'm here… in Heaven… It's so unfair."
"Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait! Hold on a minute. You think that both Zøg and Bean are in Hell? Dead, mind you, in Hell."
Pendergast gave Luci a confused look.
"Well, yessss?"
"Oh man," Luci sucked in a breath through his teeth, rubbing the back of his neck. "Bro, we need to talk. You know that you've been dead for like a month or something, right?"
"Vaguely?" Pendergast admitted, reaching up to scratch his stubbled chin. "They didn't include a calendar in the welcome package."
"We get a welcome package?" Luci repeated, before shaking his head. "Dude! You've been dead for weeks, things have happened! But the short version is that Zøg is alive, batshit crazy but alive, and Bean is alive! But then she was kidnapped by her batshit crazy mother and forced into an elevator down to Hell! I tried to save her but my head popped off like a frickin' dandelion and here we are!"
"What?! Bean is alive!?"
"Hell yeah she is!" Luci declared, jumping up to grab the front of Pendergast's white dress thing "But she's also in Hell! Right now! So you gotta get your head out of your depressed ass because I thought that Sir Pendergast was a knight! A Knight of Dreamland! The best frickin' knight in Dreamland! So I am asking you, SIR Pendergast, if you are still a knight of Dreamland, because your kingdom needs YOU!"
Pendergast, stunned by Luci's sudden passion and aggression, leaned unsuccessfully back from him. Eventually he just fell back onto a bouncy, plushy, and soft cloud before he frowned at Luci and looked aside.
"No, I'm not. I'm… dead, Luci. I'm not anything anymore."
One of Luci's eyes twitched a second before his tail slapped Pendergast across the face.
"Ow!"
"Pull yourself together, man! Bean is in danger! And I need your help to save her!"
"B-but how can I help? We're dead!" Came the stuttering reply of the brightly blushing knight.
"So what!? Where is the daring knight who blindly went forth to retrieve Elfo's so-obviously-fake girlfriend? It was dangerous, sure! Men died! But you did it anyway because YOU, Sir Pendergast, were a good and whipped knight! A badass! I need a badass, besides myself of course, to save Bean! "
"W-well, I mean, I said already, and you did… we're dead… right?"
"Are you f- Are you serious, man? SO what!? You died! Get over it and get your ass up and help me think up a plan!"
"Yes! I died!" Pendergast shot back, pushing the small demon aside and sitting up, his shoulders tense and his hands balled into fists.
"Jeez, man! I thought this place was Paradise and you've been here for a while-"
"Yeah! And I have hated every last minute of it! And you wanna know why?" At this point Pendergast turned back to Luci, picked up the demon, who suddenly felt very small. "Because… I! Am! A! FAILURE!"
Luci made a small "Oof" when his small butt landed on the super plushy, soft cloud floor and he gave an unsure look up to the increasingly pathetic looking man.
"Wow, dude… I, ah, I don't know how to respond to that other than-" Luci crossed his legs and nodded "-please! Tell me more."
"Haven't I already?" Pendergast asked, perking a brow at him.
"Welllll…. Yeah, but I want details."
"Okay... " the man began, shrugging because why not? "Well, where to start?"
"The beginning, but like not your childhood or anything-"
"I always wanted to be a knight, ever since I was young. My father, Sir Jolon, died before I was born. I've been told that he died bravely during the Battle Over the Canal while serving King Zøg's father, King Xøg. Being a knight has always been my one and only dream, which is saying a lot because I don't dream. Like at all."
"Ah-huh. Maybe skip to the part-"
"Anyways, then my dream came true! I became a knight and then became the leader of the Knights of the Zøg Table. Everything was going great… until that day, that terrible day. My worst day."
"And which day would that be? There's been a few of those as of late I feel. Oo! Oo! Oo! Let me guess! It's the day you died, right?"
Pendergast rubbed the side of his arm and frowned even more. "No."
"Well? I don't have all day, and neither does Bean I'd imagine, because, and I cannot make this more clear, she was KIDNAPPED by her mother and is in HELL right now!"
"That's the thing, my worst day… is the day that the princess died, when she was burned at the stake. That was the day I truly became a failure, as a knight, as a man… everything. I tried to make it better, I committed every ounce of my being to protecting King Zøg, to being a loyal knight, and I was trying to get him out of the castle safely but I couldn't even do that. I got shot by the magical dragon whistle by the Arch-Druidess, who then cut my head off as I lay dying from being shot. I got the death I deserved: ambushed, alone, and cowardly. But, I still ended up here, in Heaven, and no matter how hard I pleaded that They made a mistake, God said that I belonged here. I don't though."
"Mmhm. And, question: why was Bean being burned at the stake, which, may I remind you, Elfo and I were there too, thanks for remembering that, was your worst day?"
The one-eyed man frowned more and a blush appeared in his cheeks before he hesitantly answered. "Because I failed to protect the princess, I failed to stand by her. I thought she had betrayed her father and Dreamland and I allowed for my own sense of jealousy to cloud my judgement. I did try to save her, but it wasn't enough." Pendergast reached up to adjust his eye patch before saying, albeit in a lower tone, "And I… never had the courage to tell the princess how I felt about her. Not, like, a true confession, but-"
"That you like Bean?"
"Well… yes?"
"That you love Bean?"
"Yes," Pendergast replied, though he narrowed his eyes a bit defensively at Luci's blunt questions.
"Mmhm. Let me tell you something there, buddy. You being in love with Bean wasn't much of a secret."
"W-what do you mean?" Pendergast asked, suddenly red-faced and giving Luci an unsure expression.
Luci only chuckled and smirked. "Trust me, I'm a demon, okay? Or well, okay, 'former demon,' but I was in Hell long enough to recognize a "lovesick idiot" when I saw one, and you had it bad, my dude."
"Really?" Pendergast asked sheepishly.
"Yyyyup! It's why I never saw the need to really bug you like I did with other people. I could see that you were being tortured enough, and, let me tell you, it was a delight every time Bean shot down your advances."
The man just stared at Luci, who continued to chuckle gleefully in a sadistic way, and it didn't help the way he felt about everything. That is, of course, until Luci hopped back onto Pendergast's knee and set his hands back onto his hips.
"That's all good and everything, you clearly have some stuff to work through, but I'm going to be very clear about this. Bean is alive. We didn't get burned at the stake. Whether or not this still makes you a failure, I don't know and I don't care. What I do care about is that Bean is in trouble and I am asking you, one last time, if you're with me to try and save her?!"
Pendergast looked Luci in the eye for a half a minute more, before the man picked up the ex-demon, came to his feet, and set Luci onto his shoulder.
"Right! Let's save Bean!"
Luci cackled as the knight strode confidently forward, feeling at least that he was going somewhere, literally, and that he didn't have to walk anymore. The pair traversed the heavenly plane without obstacle and soon were stepping onto the stone floor before the grand throne of God Themself, with Jerry still pleasantly seated upon Their knee.
"Luci! I am overjoyed to see that you found a familiar face! And Pendergast! It fills my heart with joy to see some of your melancholy leave yours!"
"Yeah, yeah! We got a bone to pick with you!"
"Now, now, Luci! I am always here to hear the plights of all those who seek me out!"
"Then why ain't there a line then t'see you?" Jerry pointed out.
"Well, most in Heaven have no need to voice their troubles because they have none! Once they passed through Heaven's Gate, they found instant peace and have been able to enjoy themselves ever-after!"
"That sound a bit like a cult, don'it?"
"Can we keep the focus on us, please? I mean this is just plain rude already," Luci countered, crossing his paws and tapping his foot upon Pendergast's shoulder.
"Of course! I apologize!" said God. "Please, continue!"
"O Lord, we come before you to plead a noble cause!" began Pendergast, putting on his knightly demeanour and tone. That is, until Luci cut in.
"No time for chivalry. Look, "Mister Big-Almighty," there is a girl down there that needs saving, or woman, or whatever Bean is, and you gotta let us out of here so we can save her!"
"Luci, and you wonder why you ended up here? Just look how noble and righteous your actions and heart are! The same goes for you, Sir Pendergast! Both of you rightfully belong here!"
"But we do not wish to be here!" Pendergast exclaimed. "All we ask is for a chance to save Bean!"
"Yeah! Are you seriously just going to sit on your tushy, cosmic ass and allow for a… well not really innocent, but she is there against her will… whatever! Are you going to just allow an innocent woman's soul to be sold to the Devil just because her crazy family made a deal with him long before she was born?"
"Wait, what now?" Pendergast said suddenly, having not heard that part from Luci.
"Well, I… you see, the dealings of both Heaven and Hell are rather complex, and I cannot interfere-" God began, stumbling of Their words.
"Did you know that They purposefully made malaria? And cancer? And cancer and malaria in children?" Jerry said, chiming in. "They really are a sick bastard, so I don't think They do care about one soul over another-"
"Well, come now! That is not true!" God protested.
"Then this is your time to shine and do some good!" exclaimed Luci, before pointing a hand at God. "We need to save Bean! I mean, for one, Pendergast is in love with her! That has to mean something!"
"W-well… I-" Pendergast began, blushing, but Luci was on a roll.
"Are you seriously going to sit there and come between love? One of the most powerful feelings there is! So powerful that even down in Hell there is nothing more torturous, more painful! Because it is so strong! So pure!"
"No!" Pendergast suddenly said, cutting Luci off, before stepping forward to address God. "Love is powerful, but my feelings for Bean are no reason why she deserves to be saved. She doesn't even return my feelings, so they do not matter. But, Bean… she matters. She is good, so good! And, I know that it's hard to see sometimes, what with her constant drinking, and bratty nature, but she truly is a caring and kind person. She stands by her people and her beliefs because she wants what is best for her kingdom. She has endured so much, despite being a princess, in that she stood against being forced to marry someone she didn't even know, had to overcome the fact that her own mother is evil and had lied to her multiple times, her complicated relationship with her father, and so much more. Even with all of these hardships, including being burned at the stake-" Pendergast momentarily paused here for a moment, before steeling himself to continue "- she survived! She is a survivor! She is a fighter! She has a pure heart full of love and she deserves to be saved! She is always saving her friends, putting herself into harm's way, and all we ask is the chance to save her now! Please, help us to free her from an eternity of being damned in Hell, which is not her fault! I ask thee, O Lord, God to help us, to grant us this privilege, this ethereal quest, to save a good woman from the pits of Hell! The fact that I am in love with her is inconsequential, for all I want for Bean is her safety, her happiness, and nothing more."
The passion and stirring words of Pendergast had managed to attract a sizable crowd of souls and angels, who could clearly see and feel the knight's love and resolve.
Even Luci was impressed.
"Damn, dude."
"Sir Pendergast, your words are noble and true, and they have touched the hearts of those around us," God began, sweeping their hands to include the growing audience, "but such a rescue mission is simply not possible. I cannot interfere with the deals and dealings of Satan-"
"Ah-ha! So you admit that you know that Bean's been sucked into one of the Devil's deals, that, and I cannot be more clear about this, she had NOTHING to do with?! That it's all the fault of her crazy, evil mother, Dagmar?!"
"Dagmar?" Jerry suddenly exclaimed, before turning to God. "I know her! Wait, are you talking about Bean? My friend? She was kind to me, she was..."
"Yes, Jerry, we are," Luci replied in his smooth voice, a smirk on his lips, "and this celestial being is saying that Bean deserves to rot in Hell and that we, Pendergast and me, cannot save her."
"What!?" Jerry cried out, before turning to God with a heartbroken expression. "But Bean, she's my friend. She was kind to Jerry when no one else was. I helped her. How could you be so mean to her?"
"It's not that easy-" God began.
"Oh, sure! It's so easy to create Heaven and Earth and all those that live there within, but it's suddenly so hard to save one person!" Jerry chastised, crossing his arms and shaking his head at God. "You ought to be ashamed of y'self! And, y'know what? I don't think I want to be your friend no more, not if this is how you treat my friend Bean!"
"B-but, Jerry! I swear! I cannot interfere with Hell-!"
"Says the one who knowingly gives children cancer!" countered Jerry.
Meanwhile, Pendergast and Luci just watched the pair quarrel, as did the audience, who began to murmur their agreements with Jerry's words; Luci just continued to smirk and climbed up onto Pendergast's shoulder.
"Jerry makes a point!"
"God did create cancer!"
"My father died of cancer!"
"I died of cancer!"
"I was born with no arms and struggled all my life!"
"I wanted to be a man!"
The crowd became more and more rowdy, with more voicing their misgivings about their life and the unfairness that had happened to them. God looked uncomfortable, trying to calm them down, while Jerry continued to not look at God, his arms crossed.
"Jerry, please! Do not be cross with me."
"You have the power to do something good, and you won't, which makes you a bad person," replied Jerry, looking back at God with such a disappointed look.
"I'm not a bad person!" God defended, but the crowd were still voicing their qualms and seemed to be siding with Jerry.
Pendergast leaned his head close to Luci. "Should we say-?"
"Shh-shh-shh-shhhh!" hushed, Luci. "Let's just watch."
The crowd was growing, more and more were adding their voice to the thrall, and calling God "unfair," "cruel," and "uncaring." Jerry had once again turned away from facing God and it seemed that there was a full-on rebellion in the works when the volume of the crowd noticeably grew and someone began to chant "Free Bean!" over and over. At the centre of it, was God, with Jerry ignoring him, and Pendergast with Luci on his shoulder, standing before God's throne, determination on the knight's face while smugness dripped from the ex-demon's. This was glorious. Unrest in Heaven? That was a demon's wet dream.
"Jerry?" prodded God, but Jerry did not look at Them.
Shifting uncomfortably, God suddenly raised Their hands and called for the silence of the crowd, but this did not immediately work. Only when God raised Their voice, the sound roaring through the heavens like thunder, did everyone settle down and a peaceful quiet returned to Heaven and before God's throne.
God sighed. "All right! All right… There is something that I can do, but it will be difficult for you, Sir Pendergast and Luci, but in the end you may very well be able to save Tiabeanie from the grip of Satan himself."
"Wha-? Really?" Pendergast exclaimed, slightly incredulous.
"Noice!" Luci shouted in victory.
God, however, tapped Their fingers together and leaned forward towards Jerry, who still did not look at Them. "Would that be suitable for you, Jerry? I will help them, but my help needs to be limited."
Jerry looked over his shoulder, his expression still unimpressed, before he shrugged and smiled. "As long as that nice girl gets saved, then sure! We can remain friends."
The crowd cheered, the entertainment and excitement having ended, and once again peace reigned true throughout Heaven. Still, the throng of people and cherubs remained, nosy as to what was going to happen next.
"So… how are you going to help us, huh? Help us to help Bean, of course," Luci said, leaning against the side of Pendergast's head and looking up at God.
"Well there is only one way that I can help that will ensure that the balance between Heaven and Hell remains stable. However, I warn you, that it will come with a great cost to the both of you."
Pendergast and Luci looked at one another, before Pendergast turned back to God and, with knightly determination, he said, "We are already dead. All that matters is that Bean does not suffer an undeserving eternity in Hell."
"But, Sir Pendergast, answer me this: I have told you each time that you came to see me, that you belong here in Heaven, but you insisted that a mistake had been made and that you belonged in Hell. Why is it that you so strongly feel that Tiabeanie be saved from damnation, while you deserve the same fate?"
"Well, for starters, Bean is alive!" interjected Luci, but Pendergast hushed him.
"It does not matter what I think, I believe that much has been made clear in the past," Pendergast began, "but nevertheless, I am willing to offer my very soul to save her and that is all that should matter. This… is my choice, and I choose to save Bean, no matter what it takes."
"So be it. And Luci, your resolve-"
"Can we speed this up, already? Bean could have graduated from Hell School in the time that we've been talking."
"Very well. In order to save Tiabeanie from Hell, I shall grant you both the rank of a true angel! Briefly, you both will have the angelic ability to fly down to Hell, find Tiabeanie, and then you must save her quickly. I cannot grant you this ability for long."
"And what is the cost that you spoke of for this power?" asked Pendergast.
"When your angelic powers fade, so too will you both. The cost for saving Tiabeanie will be your very existence, for oblivion will await you: pure nothingness. Your souls will be erased from time and space as we know it. That is the cost."
Silence briefly spanned between them all, until Jerry looked at God, stunned.
"You really are a cruel bastard, aren't you?"
"No, no… that's fair," Pendergast stated, taking a breath and giving God a nod. "I accept this cost if it means saving Bean and Dreamland."
"Yeah…" Luci drawled, stretching his arms. "Heaven sucks and Hell doesn't vibe with my style anymore… so, why not? Let's do this already."
"Very well!" God declared, before They clapped Their hands.
The great sound wave momentarily filled the air, before a blinding light filled the immediate space. Once it dissipated, Pendergast and Luci blinked their eyes open before Luci gasped.
"Aw, yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!"
The knight and former-demon now sported brand-spanking new angel wings on their backs. Pendergast's were large, elegant, white as snow, and as soft as Heaven's cloud-floor. Luci also got a pair, albeit a lot smaller, and like sooooo adorable!
"Whoooo!"
After doing a few twirls and loop-de-loops, Luci chuckled gleefully and rubbed his tiny hands together.
"You both are now officially angels! I'd recommend keeping your wings closed and arms and legs close to your body for the journey, and best of luck!"
"Wait, what?"
Luci's question was not answered, for suddenly the clouds beneath Pendergast feet open up to reveal a gaping hole, which promptly sucked the winged-knight downwards, with Luci to follow. It was as if they were in a giant tube, sucking them downwards downwards with incredible speed, down towards the Earth and soon Hell. Jerry hopped down from God's knee and hurried over to the side of the hole, peering into it but could only see clouds.
"Ohh… I hope that they're okay."
"Oh I am sure that everything will work out for everyone," God replied, coming to sit on the other side of the hole, which, with a sweep of Their hand, turned into an image of what was going on. The other souls and angels also crowded around, some standing, others hovering above: everyone wanted to watch the show unfold.
Jerry, however, stared at God before squinting at Them. "Heyyy… you said that as if you know what's going to happen."
"Well I am all-knowing…"
"Then you knew that they would come to you to save that my friend, and that you'd say no, but then yes, so why would you say no in the first place?"
"W-well..." God began, before dramatically pointing at the viewing hole. "Oh, look! Interesting things are happening in Hell!"
As per usual, God was right, so let's go back a few minutes to see what's been happening in Hell with Bean, her mom, and the Devil. To set the scene, the elevator doors have just opened, Bean sees that she's in Hell and that there's a figure on the other side of the long, fiery room.
"The bride has arrived," Dagmar whispered cryptically into Bean's ear.
Bean, still tenderly clutching Luci's decapitated head in her hands, stared wide-eyed at the lava-filled, fire dominated room that stretched out before her. It looked similar to the First Church of Dreamland, except for the fact that this was Hell's Cathedral. Hadean decorations adored the great vats of fire on either side of the lava-sided nave, and at the end, on the far side of the grand room, was a dais and what looked to be a stone altar of sorts at its top. Two statues guarded the altar, one wielding a trident and the other a scythe. A tall arch framed the chancel, which was adorned with what looked like stained glass, and a criss-crossing gothic metal or stone to form a seven pointed star. Of course, all of these features and decor meant nothing compared to the figure that awaited Bean and Dagmar next to the stone altar.
While Bean was still registering the turn of events, her mother harshly pushed her forward, causing her to stumble and nearly drop Luci's head.
"Oh come on, darling, we haven't got all day. This deal with Hell is long overdue so, be a dear and step to it."
"W-what? No! You really are crazy if you think I'm just going to walk down the aisle and- Wait, did you say bride?"
"You really are slow on the upkeep, aren't you?" Dagmar asked, smugly, before grabbing her daughter's arms and forcing her forward.
"No! Get off of me! I am not doing this.. whatever this is!"
Bean struggled and fought against her mother's surprisingly strong grip, but fear, confusion, and slight disbelief were causing her feet to slide down the smooth, red carpet that connected the elevator to the chancel's dais. Bean also didn't want to drop poor Luci's head, which she kept close to her while she used her other arm to try and fight off her mother.
It wasn't working, for step by step the pair approached the shadowy figure and Bean was effectively walking down Hell's aisle.
"How could you do this to me? I am your own daughter!" Bean shot at Dagmar with increasing desperation and panic in her voice. Try as she might, she could not break her mother's grip on her arm, which was surely starting to bruise, and her trusty boots continued to slide down the carpet.
"Yes, you are. Specifically bred for this purpose, in fact. Well, actually it was for the prophecy involving that crown that you selfishly did not want to wear, but no matter. This little affair has been arranged as the alternative. Aren't I just a doting and loving mother?"
Closer and closer they got, but still Bean could not see the person's face who awaited them. Finally, with one final, harsh push from Dagmar, Bean stumbled towards the dais before falling to her knees at its base. Her heart hammered, it was unsurprisingly hot in the Hell church, and her breaths came out short and almost gasping from fear.
That is, until the figure spoke and his voice caused Bean to freeze.
"Now, now, Dagmar! That's no way to present my bride! Let's have a bit more decorum on this, my wedding day!"
"Oh, you've got to be shitting me," Bean mumbled, before finally looking up to see the face of the Devil himself.
Or should she say-
"Alva?! You're behind all this?"
"Alva?" said the Devil, who very much did look like Alva Gunderson, moustache, voice, and all. "I believe, my dear, that there has been some sort of mistake or miscommunication. Here, just take my hand, and I'll explain everything."
Bean swiftly batted away Alva-not-Alva's hand and stood by herself, clearly pissed.
"Now, Bean, there's no need to be rude, darling," commented Dagmar from behind her.
"Oh, just shut up, Mom!" Bean shot back, turning to glare back at her mother. "This is all your fault! I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!"
"Exactly, dear, that's what me having given birth to you means," Dagmar countered bluntly, clearly still smug. "Now, be a good and obedient daughter and get married to the Devil."
The Devil, hearing this, frowned at Dagmar and said, "Will the mother-of-the-bride please step away. I want to have a casual chat with Tiabeanie before we can proceed."
Dagmar looked as though she wanted to say something back, but instead smiled and bowed her head, before taking a few steps back away from the dais.
With her mother giving them some space, Bean got up in the Devil's face. "Look, asshole, I don't care who you are or whatever deal was made with Dagmar, but I am NOT marrying you and that's final!" Bean said firmly, even shoving a finger into the Devil's chest, before crossing her arms and glaring at him. "And I usually have an issue with people calling me Tiabeanie, but you can, because I don't like you, so keep on doing it to keep on reminding me that I don't like you!"
"My apologies, Bean!" the Devil exclaimed, looking a bit embarrassed actually. "Now let me just explain-"
"Fine! First prove to me that you're not Alva Gunderson! You know! Founder of Steamland? Head of Gunderson Steamworks? Basically the king of Steamland and who has also been trying to get me to marry him or whatever! Jeez… what is with guys trying to marry me?"
"I'm not… whoever you're talking about," replied the Devil, smiling a bit, and gave her a shrug. "I am the Devil! Or Satan. Or the King of Hell. I guess I go by many names… Most just call me "My Lord" or what have you. But you, my dear Bean, can call me Nick, or if you like, Mr. Scratch."
"Your name is Nick Scratch?"
Mr. Scratch just shrugged. "Like I said, I go by many names. It's just what happens when you're as old as Creation. But please, tell me Bean: how may I prove to you that I'm not this Alva person?"
"Well…" Bean began, caught off guard a bit by how casual this conversation was.
She took a step back from the Devil to get a good look at him. He really did look identical to Alva, with a moustache, and was wearing a fine suit, white leather gloves, and he was even shorter than Bean. Not really the impressive "cloven hooves, horns, and red skin" that some people believed he had. Bean had never really paid attention to those depictions, or religion in general, but you'd think the Devil would be… well more than an Alva look-alike.
"Umm, how about this! Alva wore a fake moustache. So is yours…?"
"Ah, well, that's easy to prove!" exclaimed Mr. Scratch, who reached up and tugged on his perfectly waxed and curled moustache hard enough that he gave a little wince and accidentally pulled out a hair. "Ow! Ah, there you go! If you don't like the moustache, I can always shave it off... even though it has taken me about a thousand years to get it this way... B-but anything for you, my dear! By the way, you look beautiful! Love the dress. Perfect for our wedding! Lovely choice."
"Ooooo-kayyyy," Bean replied slowly, before looking around her. "Umm, that's great and all, but I still am not going to marry you. As you saw, my so-called mother kind of kidnapped me, so I'm here against my will and that does not set a romantic "I want to marry you" tone, so…"
"Yes, I really do apologize for that, Bean," Mr. Scratch began, once again frowning at Dagmar. "I was under the impression that you had been involved in this change of events, but… I guess I was wrong to assume."
"Well, I wasn't so… we're not getting married."
"Oooo, yeah, about that. You see, there was a deal made and… well, a deal's a deal, especially with me, and my deals can't be broken. In exchange for giving Maru the power to take over Cremorrah, I was promised an "unmarried queen of snow-white hair and royal and magical blood" or something like that, and here you are! With your marriage to me, you'll be the new Queen of Hell! Exciting, isn't it?"
"How does any of that explicitly mean me?!" Bean argued back, before scoffing.
"True," interjected Dagmar from where she stood. "But our family has a terrible tendency to kill one another, hence why we're well overdue with our end of the deal. Though, admittedly, we did try to fulfill it with my younger brother, Jerry, but it didn't work… mainly because we forgot the whole "queen" bit but, live and learn."
"I don't judge," replied Mr. Scratch, "I'm sure Jerry would have been a lovely husband to me, but the deal did state it to be a "queen" and I didn't want to force sweet Jerry into drag for the rest of eternity."
"Jerry was your younger brother?" Bean blurted out, giving her mother a look of pure disgust and hate.
"Yes, yes, but that's old news," Dagmar replied, waving her daughter's words off. "When that didn't work it was decided that I should marry the newly crowned oaf who is your father. While our family has learned the vast secrets of magic thanks of course to you, my lord-"
"You're very welcome," replied Mr. Scratch with a nod of his head.
"-Dreamland had an inherent magic that Cloyd, Becky, and I figured could help spruce up any child I bore to ensure that the deal could be fulfilled. Besides, with me being the Queen of Dreamland, it was like killing two birds with one stone. More power for Maru, so to speak."
"But then, of course, you turned to stone," Bean pointed out smugly.
"Yes," sighed Dagmar, frowning, "that did complicate things a bit, but it all worked out in the end."
"And speaking of Maru, what about this prophecy I keep hearing about?" Bean asked, stalling time against the inevitable and also just taking advantage of the fact that she was actually getting some straight answers for once.
"Oh, that!" The Devil replied, chuckling. "You see, Bean, when the Maruvian Royal Family failed to pay their side of our deal in the allotted time, I cursed their kingdom with bad luck and whatnot. Once the deal is paid, Maru will flourish once more!"
"So that's it, isn't it?" Bean accused, glaring at her mother and the Devil. "All this time, my very existence has been to fulfill this deal or prophecy or whatever! Just so that Maru could prosper again? And what about Dreamland! It's barely hanging on as it is, never mind now having to adjust to having its first reigning queen in like, EVER! And what about me? It's true isn't, Mom! I was right! You never loved me! I was just your ticket to getting even with the Devil!"
"Please, Bean! Call me Nick."
"Oh, right, sorry," Bean replied, before turning back to scowl at her mother.
Dagmar, however, had lost some of her bravado and cool confidence, and did look a bit uncomfortable. She still couldn't look her daughter in the eye.
"I'm… I do love you, Bean. That was never a lie."
Unable to fathom this quiet and honest declaration, Bean held up her hands and scoffed loudly in frustration.
"This is so stupid and ridiculous! I am my own person! Me! Not some part of a deal or-or a prophecy! I am Queen Tiabeanie Mariabeanie de la Rochambeaux Grunkwitz, and I am leaving!"
Turning away with the intention of storming away from the Devil to step down the dais back to head back towards the elevator, Bean instead found herself frozen in place. Her hands were balled into fists, her expression defiant and resolved, and her left boot was half in the air as it was caught mid-step. Panic filled her eyes and she struggled but to no avail.
"Wh-what? I can't move!"
"Yeah… you see here's the thing, Bean," Mr. Scratch began, a smirk in his words.
The Devil's voice no longer held the unsure, embarrassed tone he's had up until this point. No, now it held a confidence and smoothness that had been crafted over millennia. The sound of it instantly made Bean's heart beat faster as her fear chilled her blood and caused her to shiver.
Mr. Scratch stepped forward, around Bean, partly down the dais, and positioned himself so that he stood before Bean and was smirking up at her, his hands behind his back.
"Free will, a glorious thing mind you, is more… God's thing-" Mr. Scratch stated, pointed upwards "-if you get what I mean. But deals are my thing, which means I get what I was promised to me." The devil reached up to cup Bean's cheek, his smirk never faltering as the fear and anger increased in the woman's eyes. "And you… were promised to me. This is not up for discussion, Tiabeanie. I am marrying my queen today, whether you like it or not."
With a snap of his fingers, Bean could once again move, and the Devil moved back to his original spot by the altar. She fell to her knees and still clutched Luci's head, which she looked upon mournfully. Her entire body shook and her throat felt dry. Looking up, tears in her eyes, Bean saw no one, except her mother, who stood away, arms crossed, pointedly not looking at her.
Elfo had been captured. Luci was dead. Her father was off to Twinkletown Insane Asylum. Oona was a pirate out at sea and Derek had gone with her. Mora had been a dream. Her mother had sold her out to Hell and now didn't even have the balls to look her in the eye.
Wow, she really was alone this time. There was no one to come and save her and she couldn't even think of an idea of how to save herself. She'd done the best she could to stall, but it looked as if her time was up.
Sighing and wiping her tears on her white gloves, Bean got to her feet. Looking down at Luci's sweet head one last time before she turned to face the Devil. He smiled at her, a confident and triumphant smile, the sort that had seen many victories in his long life, and that this was just another one. He held his hand out to Bean and she looked at it, before meeting his eyes again.
"It's funny. I always heard that the Devil was this big red-guy, with snake eyes, or cloven hooves, and a spearhead tail. Alva Gunderson told me he wanted an alliance between Steamland and Dreamland, which probably would have involved me marrying him. I said no, of course, but here I am… about to marry a guy who looks exactly like him and who only wants me because I'm the Queen of Dreamland and magical and-"
"FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT THIS ALVA PERSON!"
One instant, the Devil was the handsome and human figure who looked like Alva Gunderson, and the next he roared his fury and fire erupted from his maw. His suit burned away as his body grew in tremendous bulk, flaming red. Horns erupted from the beast's head, great and curved backwards like a bighorn sheep's; his eyes became yellow and slitted, like a snake's. His chest was brawny and mighty, muscles bulged from his arms, while fur sprouted from his abs downwards, cloaking his growing legs, which burned away his shoes to reveal sharp, cloven hooves. He breathed fire, his body steamed with heat. The fiery vats of the hellish church venue flared and burst, excited by the King of Hell's fury.
The transformation had been so quick, so explosive, that Bean was blown back and landed hard onto her back at the bottom of the dais. Dagmar, however, had managed to keep her relative composure, and had only dropped to a kneel, head bowed, before her Lord, Satan.
Groaning and sitting up, Bean winced against the heat, before yelping in surprise when the Devil's now-giant hand reached down and picked her up. In her shock, Bean dropped Luci's head to the floor below.
"Woah!" she squealed. "No! Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh! Oh! This is high, this is very high- Oh! Wow!"
The Devil held Bean before his face, his expression narrowed, and he snorted steam out of his nostrils.
"Is that what you prefer?! Do you prefer to marry a beast rather than a man? Because I can make that happen, missy! I can remain like this for an eternity! I was being nice! I am nice! But I am also the King of the realm! Listen here and listen good, Tiabeanie!" The Devil continued, raising his other hand to point a long-clawed finger at her, the tip barely touching her throat and causing her to crane her head upwards to lean away from it. "You will be a doting wife! Even if it takes a hundred years, you will LEARN! Learn your manners and learn your place! You are MINE! A deal is a deal, and I ALWAYS get what's MINE!"
There was little Bean could do but stare terrified at the giant beast that held her, the Devil, Mr. Nick Scratch… her soon-to-be husband. She was too scared to even cry. It took all of her power to not just faint then and there, that's how terrifying it was to gaze into the true eyes of Satan. Once before she had looked deep into Luci's eyes, back when he was still a demon… and alive, and she had seen horrors within.
That had been a joke compared to what she saw now in the Devil's gleaming, yellow eyes.
It hadn't occurred to Bean that she had been screaming in terror for the past minute or so until this was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass, which caught her and the Devil's attention.
"What in the-! GAH!"
Just as the Devil turned his huge body, a column of bright light shot out from the now-broken panel of stained glass and struck the Devil like a blow. The great beast stumbled back, a giant cloven hoof stepping down the dais, while he held up a hand to shield his eyes.
Bean, freed from her spell of being trapped in the nightmare that was the Devil's gaze, also raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light, but it didn't seem as bright to her as it did to Mr. Scratch. That's why she was able to see a person with beautiful white wings fly through the hole, while a smaller figure stood on the larger person's shoulder and was scatting what sounded like some epic tune.
"Oh my-" Bean managed to mumble while she realized just who was flying towards her.
It was Luci, coming in like a gallant knight astride his noble steed... except for the fact that his noble steed was in fact a gallant knight: Pendergast.
"WHAT!?" cried the Devil incredulously, but it came a moment too late.
"Take this you big fat goon!" Luci decreed, charging off of Pendergast's shoulder, his little white wings flapping furiously like a bird's, before the tiny demon dive bombed a headbutt directly into the Devil's gut.
"OOF!" Mr. Scratch groaned, coughing, his eyes bulging, as the breath was knocked out of him.
The suckerpunch caused his hand to release Bean, who suddenly found herself falling down towards the stone altar below.
"Ohhh noooo!" she screamed, shutting her eyes against the impact, but instead grunted when strong arms suddenly scooped her up mid-air.
The hot wind in her hair, Bean peeked an eye open before her eyes went wide when she realized who caught her.
"Pendergast!?"
"Yes, princess! I got you! Now, let's get you out of here!" the angelic knight declared, brandishing a confident smile at her.
"But-?!"
"Oh no you don't!"
Dagmar growled in frustration, before raising her hands to shoot beams of electricity out of her hands, just like Bean, in an attempt to shoot Pendergast and her daughter out of the air. The angel, however, easily avoided her attacks, keeping a sure grip on Bean, but Dagmar had placed herself between the elevator and them and was shooting bolt after bolt of electricity. Luci, meanwhile, was keeping the Devil busy by zipping around, using his speed and tiny size, to avoid the King of Hell's swings and breaths of fire, all the while shouting insults at him mixed with injustices of being an employee of Hell.
"And this is for skimping on our holiday bonuses for the past three thousand years!" Luci declared, easily avoiding the Devil's punch, before diving in to slap the Devil with his angelically-powered tail.
Bean turned a confident smirk to Pendergast and said, "Hey, Pendergast! Swing me down to my mom. I got an idea."
Pendergast looked at her, taking in her confidence, before he gave her a nod. Avoiding one more bolt of electricity, the angel flew high as he repositioned Bean, so now she hung from his hands, hers tightly gripping his, before the knight made a beeline for Dagmar.
Dagmar had not been expecting such a frontal charge and hesitated in her next attack, staring up in shock as her daughter came flying towards her only to kick her foot right into her mother's face. The good news was that Dagmar stumbled back from the direct blow and fell against the Devil's foot, knocked out, but the bad news was that Bean's boot flew off her foot and plunked into lava, burning to a crisp instantly.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me…" Bean commented dryly at the loss of yet another one of her boots; this was becoming a trend that she didn't like. Spying Luci's head on the floor, Bean looked up frantically to Pendergast and said, "Let me down! Quick!"
Pendergast looked hesitant, but quickly tucked in his wings for a quick descent, setting Bean down and him landing beside her. "Hurry, Bean!" he warned, staring up at the momentarily preoccupied devil.
Bean rushed forward and narrowly managed to scoop up Luci's head before the Devil moved his great hoof that surely would have squashed it. Moving to turn away, Bean caught sight of her mother's unconscious body and uncertainty crossed her expression. That is, only for the moment before Pendergast suddenly swooped in and grabbed Bean, flying off once more with her in his arms. It was for her own good, of course, because the Devil's giant hoof had been about to stomp on her.
Shifting Bean back into a princess carry (which he thought appropriate because she was a princess after all), Pendergast hovered mid-air and called to Luci.
"Luci! Let's go! I got Bean!" he shouted, before flying towards the open elevator.
Pendergast came in fast. He could feel Bean stiffen in his arms and her shouts of warning and protest, but he didn't slow until the very last second when he deftly turned and wrapped his wings around Bean as his back slammed into the back of the elevator. The angelic knight grunted as he fell to the floor, opening his wings and loosening his grip, his pained smile meeting Bean's shocked expression: he knew that she was unharmed (it was a perk of being an angel).
"Activate this machine to get you out of here, Bean," he instructed, slumping more but keeping his head up.
"Ah, right!" Bean replied, standing quickly, stumbling a bit from a bout of dizziness, before going over to the panel that had all the buttons. "Ahhhhhhmmm?" she breathed, panicking. She suddenly recalled the elevator at Gunderson Steamworks and pressed the top button, which immediately lit up.
"LUCI!" Bean screamed, turning to the scene on the other side of the church of Luci still berating the devil with slaps and insults.
"And that's for being so infrequent about sending birthday cards to Sub-Demons! It's called a secretary or assistant! GET ONE!"
"LUCI! COME ON!" Bean screamed again, wanting to rush out or something, but something caught her hand.
She turned to see Pendergast holding her back, the angel using the wall to slowly stand up, and he looked up at her with desperation in his eye and face that clearly read that she shouldn't. The elevator dinged and the doors began to close.
With one last slap across the Devil's cheek with his tail, Luci zipped from his barrage upon Satan and in the nick of time, the tip of his tail passed through the elevator's door before they closed. The tiny angel-demon barrelled into Pendergast's chest and the knight once again slammed into the back of the elevator with a pained grunt, but at least he kept his feet this time. With the doors firmly closed, the elevator began its long journey back up towards Earth and Dreamland Castle, but not before the Devil's great bellow of rage filled the air, causing them all to wince.
Once the roar faded as the elevator raced upwards, Bean opened her eyes to fully appreciate that both Luci and Pendergast were really there, they really had white, angel wings, and they had really saved her!
"Luci!" Bean exclaimed, joy filling her face, as she grabbed hold of her small friend and held him close, along with his decapitated head.
Luci also realized this and gave an uneasy look to his head. "It's nice to see you too Bean but this is kind of weird for me. Can we lose the head, please? Though, I guess I already did."
The demon snickered as Bean loosened her grip and Luci flew up to stand on Pendergast's shoulder. "We couldn't just sit around and let you rot for all eternity in Hell, Bean," Luci explained, smiling back at her, with his hands heroically on his hips. "Heaven wasn't our scene anyways, so we came and saved your sorry ass."
"You guys! How can I-? I don't know how I can-"
"It's fine, Bean, you don't need to thank us," Pendergast said, cutting off Bean's stumbling words, and he offered her a small smile.
"Pendergast," Bean began, her expressions softening a bit, before guilt seeped into her smile to turn it into a frown: he was still holding her hand. "I am so sorry that you died and-"
"Bean, there's no time for that," Pendergast interrupted, coming close, lifting her hand, and holding it between both of his hands. "You are worth all of this. You are a good person, full of kindness, and you I know that you have a long life ahead of you full of happiness."
"Pendergast-'' Bean began, blushing a bit, glancing over to Luci, who just looked smug on Pendergast's shoulder. "But- Oh no! Luci! Your wings!"
Tiny white feathers drifted down from Luci's tiny white wings, one after another, and Bean gasped when she saw that Pendergast's own wings were losing their feathers.
"We don't have a lot of time, Bean. This last crusade was ours to save yours, which is to lead Dreamland to a better future and to live a long and happy life."
"W-what do you mean by "last crusade"?" Bean asked, tears welling up in her eyes against her will. She didn't like this! Luci and Pendergast's wings continued to shed their feathers, the way Pendergast's hands felt so warm, so real, holding hers, the softness in the knight's voice, or how Luci was now smiling at her: bittersweet. Nevermind the whole being kidnapped for the Devil on top of everything... and Elfo being captured. Wow, it had been a long ass day. Looking between them both, Bean stuttered before Luci spoke up.
"This is it, Bean. This was our last ride. The closer we get to the Mortal Realm, the more we'll fade. We did this for you."
"WHAT?! N-no! No, I mean, Luci! I-"
Bean gasped when she realized that she could now see through Luci, the same with Pendergast, whom she turned to face but before she could say anything, the oddest thing happened that day (yes, even odder than her nearly marrying the Devil).
Pendergast kissed her.
He kissed her hard. He kissed her with all the passion he could muster to create one helluva kiss. It was the sort of kiss that swept a girl off her feet, and it nearly did to Bean, save for the fact that the angel quickly wrapped an arm around her to keep her upright. What was odd about it was how Bean melted into the kiss: how could she not? She closed her eyes and kissed back and the moment seemed to stretch on forever with Pendergast holding and kissing her. Or, maybe she just wanted it to last forever. It seemed all too soon that Pendergast broke the kiss and leaned away from her.
Bean slowly opened her eyes before snapping them wide, because Luci and Pendergast were now barely visible. "NO! Wait! You can't go!"
"I love you, Bean. I always have," Pendergast declared softly with a smile.
"I love you too, Bean, but not like him, obviously," Luci piped up, chuckling, his voice fading and trailing off. "Oh! And make sure my bar doesn't burn down, okay? It's not insuredddddd…!"
The elevator slowed to a stop and with a ding, the doors opened to reveal its sole occupant. Bean, wide-eyed and mouth agape, stumbled backwards, eyes staring at the spot where Pendergast and Luci had just stood, but now there was nothing there. No feathers, nothing. Her hand brushed something hard and she jumped, before looking to see that it was one of the chairs for the Orb's table. Right, she was back in the castle, and the elevator had opened up to the Orb room rather than Dagmar's secret library above. With force and a yell of frustration, Bean picked up the chair and threw it at the elevator, it landed in the door's path, which was a good thing too because the door suddenly began to close but stopped when they encountered the chair. The doors then fully opened, then began to close again, only to stop on the chair again, and the cycle repeated.
Bean still stared into the elevator, her expression torn between bewilderment, heartbreak, confusion, and disbelief. In her shell-shocked state, she stumbled back some more before she collapsed into the table's other chair, her gaze finally leaving the elevator's interior to fall to her lap. She blinked in vague surprise to see that she still held onto Luci's head, his eyes closed to her, and with her blink a couple of tears fell onto his sweet face.
Elfo had been captured. Luci was dead. Her father was off to Twinkletown Insane Asylum. Oona was a pirate out at sea and Derek had gone with her. Mora had been a dream. Her mother was now possibly trapped in Hell. Pendergast…
Bean reached up to touch her lips, recalling how it felt to have the knight's lips pressed against hers: how it had taken her breath away and made her heart beat faster.
"They're… gone. All of them. They're all… gone."
In Bentwood, Bean had had a dream, or vision, of her mother saying that all her friends would leave her, that she was all alone. More tears fell onto Luci's head in her lap, which rolled slightly as Bean raised her hands to her face. She cried silently, her sobs soaking into the night outside, but there was no one there to comfort her: not even the Orb offered a kind word because, well it couldn't without being asked first.
Bean was alone.
...
Meanwhile, back in Hell...
Dagmar was waking up, her cheek really sore, and looked around her, confused. She was still in Hell, still in the church, and was laying at the top of the dais beside the stone altar.
"What? Oo! Ow!" Wincing and scoffing as she felt her swollen cheek, the former Queen of Dreamland frowned and pursed her lips. "Oh, Bean, what mess have you made now?"
"Oh, good… you're awake. You don't have to worry about Bean anymore," said a voice beside her.
Dagmar sat up with a start, once again sucking in a breath from her swollen face, to see Mr. Scratch setting at the top of dais beside her, back in his Alva-form.
"My lord! I can- I mean… I can fix this! I-"
"You will fix this," replied Mr. Scratch, lifting his head to gaze once more at the elevator on the other side of the room, its door still closed even though he had called it down a while ago.
"O-of course, my lord," Dagmar stuttered, fear beginning to creep into her body and face, but she was good at keeping a calm disposition. "I will do anything to ensure that our deal is completed."
"I'm glad to hear it!" Mr. Scratched replied with some enthusiasm.
However, his next words caused ice to form in Dagmar's veins and her mouth fell open in fear.
"An unmarried queen of snow-white hair and royal and magical blood... that's what I had been promised. You, Dagmar, are no longer married, were a queen, have snow-white hair, are royal in blood, and you have done well to learn the dark arts I bestowed to your family as part of our deal, so we can argue that you're magical. Yes…" said the Devil, who slowly turned his head to face her, revealing that while his face was Alva's, his eyes had remained that of a snake's: yellow and wicked.
"Yes, you'll do fine. Stand up, dear. It's about time that I have that wedding that I was promised."
A/N:
Hello everyone!
I've finally done it! I've FINALLY started a second fic! Oh! I have wanted to do this for a long time, but just never had the time. To be honest, Disenchantment was not my first idea for another fic, I have like three others, but this was the freshest one in my mind so here we are!
I'm styling this fic similar to how the show flows, so lots of dialogue and lots happening sometimes per episode/chapter.
This is a romance fanfic so expect some "sexy times" later, and the rating to increase, and... I guess I have a thing for dead knights and queens, eh? Oh well. That's just how the show ended! Expect like... 10-12 episodes/chapters? I have about that planned so far, so that'll give folks an idea of what to expect. Like I said, I'm styling it after the show, and each season of the show is about 10 episodes, so there you go.
As always, I love to see comments/reviews and am always open for questions etc!
Stay tuned for more!
Cheers
~Sheik