Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2005 00:24:54 +0000
From: Jason Parker <archangelmatthew72@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Angel: Chapter 23

Author's Note: Originally this was going to be part of Chapter 22, but then
it got too long so I cut 22 in half and made the second half 23. Hope it was
worth the wait! (and that bit at the beginning of the last chapter in
brackets that made no sense? yeah... that was me being stupid and not taking
out edits. Sorry).

Disclaimer: WARNING! This chapter contains a character
incapable of talking without swearing profusely. In future, our protagonist
will try to avoid contact with all such peoples. Oh yeah, and this story is
about gay boys (apparently I'm bound by law to mention that in case some of
you are underage... yeah right, like that's going to stop you), so yeah: DO
not READ THIS STORY, ESPECIALLY not IF YOU ARE UNDERAGE.
=P


***

Delirium


	Mephistopheles laid Jason gently amongst the pile of
pillows. "Thanks Nodiesha," he said, over his shoulder to the woman who
waited patiently. "Luce sent the other healers on some stupid vacation
thing. Something to do with work benefits, so you're the only one around
right now..."
	Nodiesha stepped around him, a tight fitting nurses uniform
stretching around her pale skin. "Just doing my job," she smiled cheerfully
and looked down at Jason's unconscious form. "What happened to
him?"
	"Damien got to him before I did." The fallen angel said simply.
	"Oh,
I see." She reached out to touch one of Jason's hands where a spike had been
stabbed clean through. She gasped as her fingers touched him. "He's not
dead!"
	"What?" Mephistopheles looked at her in confusion. "Of course he's
not dead. That's why I brought him to the healers, not the resurrection
pits."
	"That's not what I meant," she hissed. "He hasn't taken a first
death yet. He shouldn't be here!"
	"Like I said, Damien got to him first."
He twisted his mouth thoughtfully. "Look, Luce wants him healed up for
dinner with him tonight." Mephistopheles reached inside his coat and pulled
out a small bottle.
	Nodiesha looked at it in awe. "Is that what I think it
is?"
	The fallen angel grinned and handed her the bottle of Baileys. "If you
fix him up and have him lucid by his dinner date, I have five more bottles
waiting for you."
	She snatched off the lid and guzzled it down. "You've got
yourself a deal, gorgeous!"
	"Thanks." Mephistopheles back-stepped out of
the healing temple and leapt into the air. His black wings stretched out and
caught the rising warm air currents before whisking him away.

	Nodiesha
leant forwards over Jason and pulled up one of his eyelids. "Hello
sweetness, let's see what we can do for you, hm?" She reached for his
closest hand and lifted it gingerly, inspecting the metal spike and the
chunk of marble that still held it fast. "Good thing you're asleep... cause
this is gonna hurt like a bitch." With that, she set about carefully
extracting the steel from his hand.

***

	Jason's head rolled to the side,
and his tongue lolled out of the corner of his open mouth. He rolled over
onto his stomach and lifted himself into a crouching position. He winced and
put a hand to his side. The fear of Damien raping him suddenly rushed back
and he reached behind to touch his bottom gingerly. It didn't seem to
hurt...
	He looked down at the ground between his legs and tilted his head,
his brow furrowing. He reached down and touched the smooth surface and then
looked up, following the line the path made. It was like a candy cane, red
and white swirls twisting across the path. The tree to the side of the path
that overhung him now rustled like foil. A leaf broke loose and drifted down
in front of him. Jason picked it up and felt the delicate tin. He unwrapped
it gently to find a fine chocolate leaf inside. He took a nibble from it
curiously. Where the chocolate broke off, gooey caramel oozed
out.
	"Okay..." Jason said to himself slowly as he stood. "I've died and
gone to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory... Either that or Heaven mixed me up
with a girlscout."
	The more he looked, the more he saw that everything
around him was made of some sort of candy. Even the glowing orb of the sun
above looked like a gumdrop hung in the sky. He looked down the path in both
directions, but there was no sign of any life, or in fact anything but candy
mimicking nature.
	"Eanie meanie miney moe..." he started and then stopped.
"Fuck it, I'll go this way." The path ahead wound around the side of a hill
covered in what looked like chocolate buttons.
	He rounded the knoll only to
find that the candy cane path continued to weave through a series of smaller
hills.
	"You know," Jason thought out loud. "This would actually be kind fun
if it weren't so creepishly empty." Then he frowned. "Ok, Jason. Time to
stop talking to yourself. That's the first sign of insanity."
	He continued
along the path a little further before a steady 'thump thump thump' reached
his ears.
	He turned in time to see a large, white rabbit with a ruff round
the knoll, hopping madly along. "Fuck fuck fuck! I'm fucking late again!
He's going to fucking kill me!" He was saying, over and over again.
	He was
so busy hurrying along, he almost didn't see Jason in time to avoid bouncing
right into the boy. "Who the fuck are you?" He asked Jason sharply.
	Jason
blinked a few times at the giant rabbit that stood before him. "Why do I
feel like I just got dropped in the middle of some sort of X-rated 'Alice In
Wonderland'?"
	The rabbit snapped out a folded fan and gave him a sound
thwack on the forehead. "I asked you a fucking question." He smacked Jason
with the fan again. "Who the fuck are you?" And then gave him another smack
for good measure.
	Jason was too stunned to react. He just got smacked by a
giant rabbit with a fan! The bunny made to hit him again, and Jason snatched
the fan from his paw. He easily snapped it in half and tossed it on the
floor. "Don't hit people, it's not nice."
	The white rabbit's red nose paled
suddenly, and his ears dropped backwards as his eyes grew wide. "Oh fuck!
You're one of his servants! Fuck! Sorry! Fuck!" He gasped apologetically.
"Pleasedon'tkillme!"
	Jason looked at him quizzically. "Trix are for
kids?"
	"What?"
	"Um... never mind." he paused. "So who are you?"
	The
rabbit grinned and bounced up and down a few times. "My name's-- My name
is-- aaaah... my name is... FUCK! Why do I always forget my fucking name?!"
He stopped bouncing abruptly and sank to the ground, his large feet sticking
out in front of him comically. He sniffled for a moment and then suddenly
burst into tears.
	Looking at him, Jason couldn't help but feel pity. Even
if the damned rabbit had just been smacking him 'round the face, he still
felt bad. Jason crouched down and touched his companion's soft white
shoulder. "Hey, it's ok. If you can't remember your name, it's probably
because you didn't like it." He smiled weakly, trying to cheer up the
rabbit. "Now's the perfect time to choose a name you really like!"
	The
rabbit stopped crying immediately. "You think?" He looked up at Jason, his
whiskers quivering.
	"Sure! Why not?" Jason grinned. "It's your name after
all, why not choose one you like?"
	 "I quite like Beelzebub," He said, with
a twitch of his nose.
	"Um... ok." Not exactly what Jason would have
expected of a bunny rabbit, but... "Beelzebub it is then!" He extended his
hand to shake the rabbit's paw. "Nice to meet you Beelzebub, my name's
Jason."
	The newly dubbed Beelzebub took his hand with both his paws and
turned it over. He sniffed it and then pushed it aside. "Jason eh? I knew a
Jason once. He died." He cheerfully hopped up onto his feet again. "Although
that might have been a Jacob... Anyway, where are you going?"
	Jason rose to
his feet again and then shielded his eyes from the gum drop sun with a hand
as he peered further down the road. The rabbit hopped up next to him and
copied his actions. He shook his paw and then tried again, wanting to see
whatever Jason was seeing. He leant sideways in front of Jason, partially
blocking his view before turning around and facing him with a
hop.
	"Whatcha' lookin' at?" Beelzebub queried.
	"Um... nothing. I was just
trying to see what's further down the road."
	"Oh." The rabbit hopped a few
paces to the side and craned his neck forwards, again, he copied Jason's
action of shielding his eyes from the sun. "Well there's a cross road up a
head. If you go left, you'll end up at this crazy bitches gingerbread house
who'll probably try to eat you." He paused and turned his body more to the
right. "If you head right, you'll turn up at that crazy fuck with the big
hat's tea party." He stopped again and hopped back to Jason.
	"You could see
all that from there?"
	"No, I go through here every day." The rabbit cocked
an ear at him.
	"Oh." Jason considered his options. "What about the other
way?"
	"What other way?"
	"Well, it's a crossroads isn't it? There are
usually four ways to go at a cross roads... Unless it's a T-junction."
	The
rabbit hopped nervously on one foot. "Oh no, you don't want to go that
way."
	Jason blinked, then asked slowly. "So there IS a fourth
road?"
	Beelzebub twitched his whiskers. "No."
	"So then which way do I not
want to go?"
	The rabbit gave a happy jump. "Straight ahead. Don't wanna go
that way."
	He stared at his furry companion hard. "So what isn't up that
way then?"
	Beelzebub hopped and flopped his ears. "Oh, there's just the
courts up that way."
	"I see," Jason muttered. "Is that where you were
heading?"
	The rabbit's ears drooped and he looked suddenly nervous and
afraid. "mmmyes?"
	"Well then, I want to go to the courts. Maybe someone
there can tell me how to get home." Jason decided. "Yes, we're going to the
courts. Come along." And before Beelzebub could even complain, Jason grasped
his paw firmly and started dragging him along. "How far's the
crossroads?"
	Beelzebub hopped along next to him, well out of arms reach.
"Just around the bend."
	Jason looked down and found himself gripping a pair
of white gloves in his hands. He muttered an apology and handed them back to
the rabbit, who took them absently and slipped them back on.

***

	Nodiesha
eased the second spike from Jason's hand and pressed her hands on either
side of the wound as blood began to pour out. A black glow flowed from
between her fingers and then she took her hands away, admiring her
craftwork. The gaping hole left by the stake was now just a circle of pale
skin on Jason's palm and the back of his hand.
	She uncurled her pinky and
shape-shifted it back into it's clawed from and sliced up through Jason's
shirt, cleaving it with one swipe and then slitting the sleeves as well. She
peeled off the two halves and examined his bruised chest and sides. "You
sure as hell worked a number on this one Damien." She summoned up the glow
of her hands again, working slowly up his sides, breathing quietly so as to
hear his ribs grinding back into place. When she had finished, she crawled
on top of the boy and lay on his chest, looking into his sleeping face.
	"So
what's so special about you then, hm?" Nodiesha muttered to herself. "Why is
everyone so interested in you? I mean, you're cute, but you're no Helen of
Troy..."
	Jason groaned softly in his sleep.
	She frowned and let her tail
take form. She whipped it up over her shoulder, the end smoldering gently as
if about to catch fire. She waved it in front of Jason's nose, the smoke
rushing up his nostrils as he inhaled. He mumbled something incoherent and
then fell still. She smiled at his delirium-induced sleep and let her tail
melt back up into her human body.
	She crawled off of him and slipped her
claw out again. She cut up the length of Jason's trousers on each side and
then pulled away the top half before going to work, inspecting his legs for
injury.

***

	They rounded the last hill and found themselves, just as
Beelzebub had said, at a crossroads of the candy cane paths. Jason gave only
a brief glance to the path that ran to his left and disappeared amongst some
chocolate pine trees. He looked longer to his right, trying to see something
of the tea party that was supposedly taking place in that direction. But he
didn't stop. He kept on walking, the rabbit hopping along merrily beside
him.
	The landscape ahead of them was a flat plain of sugar icing grass.
Beelzebub broke off handfuls of the stuff as they journeyed onwards,
munching happily on the sweet candy. A river split the plains ahead and
Jason could see a fox swimming across it, a gingerbread man perched on his
head. The road ran over a bridge that spanned the river, where a little pig
and a bear with a honey pot were playing pooh sticks. As they passed them
by, the rabbit hopped and jostled the pig, knocking him off the bridge and
into the water.
	"Dude!" Jason exclaimed.
	"What?" Beelzebub looked around
excitedly. "What? Where? Who?"
	Jason stared at him. "You just drowned
Piglet!"
	"What?" The rabbit hopped to the edge of the river and looked down
into the waters. Piglet's head bobbed to the surface and he shook his fist
at the bunny. "Nah, it's ok. He's made of rubber, so he floats." Beelzebub
flopped his ears nonchalantly and bounded onwards.
	"Oh..." was just about
all he could manage as Piglet bobbed along under the bridge and was washed
to shore on the other side. He picked himself up, shook himself off like a
dog and then ran back to Pooh on the bridge.
	Jason ran to catch up with his
white companion. "So what is this place then? Fairy tale heaven?"
	Beelzebub
shrugged but kept hopping. "Don't ask me. It's you're
delirium."
	"What?"
	"I said, this is Ilerium."
	Jason glowered. "No you
didn't. You said--"
	Beelzebub turned mid-hop and glared at him. "Hey pal,
I'm not the crazy one here, so don't you get bitchy with me!"
	"I'm not
crazy!" Jason protested.
	"Oh yeah, sure you're not. I guess worlds made of
candy and filled with fairy tale characters are just a regular everyday
thing then?"
	"Shut up or I'll tie your ears in a knot."
	The rabbit curled
up his paws like fists and hopped back and forth in front of him. "Oh yeah?
I'd like to see you try, you sorry sonofa--"
	He fell silent as together
they turned to watch a naked man run past them through the grass, screaming
as he was pursued by a woman in a nurses uniform.
	Jason was about to ask
the white rabbit why the man was running, when the woman suddenly sprouted
scales and thick, leathery wings. She launched herself after him and caught
him around the waist as they tumbled in the grass.
	"Let's... um... keep
walking, shall we?" Jason asked nervously.
	Beelzebub shot him a look but
started hopping again, muttering something that sounded to Jason
suspiciously like, "Crazy fuck."
	A tiny dot appeared on the horizon and
grew rapidly into a sprawling castle with towering turrets and minarets. It
grew alarmingly, as if it were rushing towards them.
	"W-who rules here
then?" Jason inquired.
	"I told you earlier."
	Jason searched his memory.
"No you didn't."
	"Sure I did."
	Jason grabbed the rabbit by the shoulder
and stopped him. "No, you didn't. Now stop dodging the question and tell me
who rules this place."
	Beelzebub shook himself free. "I'm telling you, I
DID tell you. Here, I'll prove it!" He reached inside his vest and pulled
out a thick, leather bound tome. He flipped through the pages 'till he found
what he was looking for. He turned the book around and pointed at the page
for Jason.
	Jason read aloud:
	"The white rabbit's red nose paled suddenly,
and his ears dropped backwards as 	  his eyes grew wide. "Oh fuck! You're
one of his servants! Fuck! Sorry! Fuck!" He gasped apologetically.
"Pleasedon'tkillme!"
	Jason looked at him quizzically. "Trix are for
kids?"
	"What?"
	"Um... never mind." he paused. "So who are you?"
	The
rabbit grinned and bounced up and down a few times. "My name's--"

	The
rabbit snatched the book back and flipped through the pages. "Oh... ok, I
guess I didn't tell you."
	Jason reached out and took the book back. He
flipped through several dozen pages before the rabbit snatched the book out
of his hands.
	"Hey!" Beelzebub scolded him. "No looking ahead, that's
cheating." He quickly stuffed the book back inside his coat.
	"Okay..."
Jason looked at him in exasperation. "So who rules this place?"
	"I
dunno..."
	"What?!"
	The bunny twitched his whiskers. "Well I haven't read
it yet, have I?"
	Jason balled his fists and tried to keep from lashing out
at the furry annoyance.
	Beelzebub snatched a chocolate rose off a bush they
passed and handed it to Jason. "Happy birthday."
	"It's not my birthday
yet--"
	"I said Happy fucking birthday," the rabbit snapped.
	Jason took the
chocolate rose from him quickly. "Sheesh! You need to take a chill pill
dude."
	The castle shot towards them and the came to a halt. Jason looked up
at the massive chocolate doors which were standing ajar. He looked to his
furry friend, who simply shrugged, his ears cocked at an angle.
	Jason
reached out a hand and pushed the door open further. He stuck his head
around the door and then heard behind him:
	"WAKE THE FUCK UP!" as a pair of
large feet impacted with his back and he tumbled forwards though the
doors.

	Jason toppled into the darkness beyond the doors and the ground
fell away under him, sending him rolling head-over-heels though space. He
saw himself lying amongst a pile of pillows and he rushed towards his body.
He put his hands up in front of him to shield the impact and closed his
eyes. His head collided with his own.
	Jason blinked his eyes open and put a
head to his head. "Oooow." he groaned.
	"Well hello handsome, nice of you to
wake up!"
	Jason jerked his head to the side and looked for the owner of the
voice. A very beautiful and very naked woman lay on her side next to him,
grinning as she regarded him. He noticed his own nakedness and quickly
grabbed one of the many pillows, covering his groin.
	"Um...
hello?"

***

	The Congress of Heaven packed the room, all but the
Chancellor's seat remained empty. Ashley stood in the center of the arena.
The ceremonial robes hung heavy on her shoulders.
	"Ashley," Tobias called
out, his voice echoing in the stiff silence as he rose to his feet.  "In
accordance with the laws set down by the Ancients (may the light shine on
them always), on this day and before this council--"
	A dull rumble filled
the room, causing some of the council members to shift restlessly in their
seats and look about them.
	He continued. "And by the rights of blood, you
are to be sworn in--"
	The rumbling rose to a roar that filled the alabaster
room and then died, only to be replaced by the sucking noise of a collapsing
vacuum. The council members began to mutter uneasily, taking the noise as an
omen of bad portent.
	Tobias was undaunted, "As Chancellor of Heaven
and--"
	With a great pop, Matthew materialized beside Ashley.
	"Halt!"
Someone shouted from the seats. "She is not the next in line!"
	"Tobias!"
Someone else cried in rage. "What are you trying to do, destroy the mantle
of Heaven?"
	"The mantle of Heaven has already been destroyed!" Matt shouted
into the gathering. "The Chancellor yet lives!"
	"Miriam has abandoned the
high halls of Heaven," Tobias snarled in answer. "She has relinquished her
rights as chancellor and so it must be passed on. You refuted your place as
heir, Matthew, and so it passes to Ashley."
	"My father is alive!" Matt
hollered at him.
	Any single voice in the hall was lost among the sudden
uproar that exploded in the great room. The usually docile council members
were on their feet, heated arguments breaking out like wild fire.
	Matt
tugged Ashley to the far side of the room. "Dad's alive, Ashley!" He shouted
in her ear over the tumult.
	"How do you know?" Ashley protested. "Mom
said--"
	"She lied to us! I talked to God. He told me to find Dad, and I was
right about Jason too. He's the only thing that matters now."
	"Matty,
you're not making sense!" His sister begged him. "God's gone! He hasn't
shown--"
	"Ash, I need you to believe me. If you've never believed me
before, believe in me now. I have to go. Dad is out there somewhere, and
Mom's up to something." He said hurriedly. "Something's happening to Jason.
I don't know how or why, but everything is coming to a crux." He pushed into
her mind images of everything that had happened in the last few days.
	She
looked at him woefully. "You're leaving again aren't you?"
	"I have to
Ash... Look around you! Heaven is collapsing."
	"Matt, if Mom lied to us
about Dad..."
	"I know."
	"Be careful." She hugged him tightly and then he
was gone with a shower of warm sparks that fell on her skin. Ashley turned
to see Tobias pushing his way through the arguing council members to reach
her.
	"What the hell is your brother playing at Ashley?" He snapped once he
got within hearing range.
	"We have to stop them." She called to him,
meaning the squabbling congress. "I'll explain everything, but we have to
make them listen!"
	Tobias grabbed her close to him. "Stay still."
	She held
perfectly still, like a statue in his arms. She felt a heat at her back and
heard the crackle of energy. Over his shoulder, she could see the ring of
pure energy flash outwards, growing larger and larger until it collided with
the front row of council members and knocked them down into their seats. It
blasted through the room, leaving only them standing as the Congress of
Heaven, picked themselves up in stunned silence.
	Ashley stepped quickly
away from Tobias and raised her hands to address the council before her. "We
face a dire situation." She started. "We have been governed by false mandate
for many years--"
	Angry shouts from Miriam's supporters drowned her
out.
	"Listen!" Ashley cried out. She touched her fingers to her throat and
muttered an enchantment before trying again. "Listen to me!" Her voice
boomed out, magnified ten fold by her magic.
	"We have been lead astray by
false mandate," this time, her voice drowned out the shouts and protests.
"My father is still alive somewhere, and Matthew has gone to seek him out.
But--" She raised her hands again against the scoffing noises that came from
many of the listeners. "But, we face something far greater. You all know of
the boy Jason Parker, whom my brother mistakenly believed to be The
One."
	This drew several murmurs from the crowd, but nothing loud. She let
the enchantment on her voice slip away so she could address them in normal
tones.
	"We know now that he is not. That project has been found to be a
failure in all intended aspects. But there seems to have been a development
in Jason's situation. A development, which leaves only two possible
explanations. Either God is back in the game and has his own designs for
this boy..." There was a stunned silence. "Or we are about to bear witness
to the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Rebirth."
	The sounds now from the
council were noises of confusion and question.
	Tobias stepped forwards to
stand beside Ashley. "We have prided ourselves too greatly of late and we
have forgotten the prophecies of the ancients. It was foretold that 'in a
time of great peril, when the council has been lead astray, an Ancient will
return to us. In the guise of a mortal. And he shall open the gates of
Heaven and those eyes that were blinded shall see.'" He quoted.
	"But what
is the peril?" Someone asked. "We have done nothing!"
	"We have all been
lead astray by false mandate." Ashley explained. "The peril is that we risk
falling to our own pride and ignorance."
	"What are you saying?" An elderly
woman with marble features inquired. "Are you telling us that this boy is
one of the ancients reborn?" The outrage at such a notion was hard to miss
in her voice.
	"I'm saying that it is a distinct possibility."
	"Then where
is he?" A younger angel stood at this point. "Let us bring him here to
Heaven so he can save us!"
	Ashley closed her eyes and searched through the
memories Matt had given her. She found the one she was looking for, Matt
kneeling in the circle of melted snow, and exhaled slowly. "He's in
Hell."

***


	Ok, so that was a pretty short chapter, but guess what!
That's why it was out so quickly. Actually... I just realized it wasn't that
short. It was about as long as the chapters were originally... they seem to
have increased in length over time though.
	Comments and questions to
ArchangelMatthew72@Hotmail.com as ever an always. Have a good... um...
thing... whatever it is you do, have a good time of it.