Subject: [OTL]: Love and Abaddon [2/3] Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 08:48:43 -0800 From: Anne Marsh Sandman/? DISCLAIMER/AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't own any of them, all right? And I've left the second fandom anonymous for the time being, to see if someone figures it out without my help. The prize for doing so will be 3/3. For the record, I don't think it's that hard to get. Love and Abaddon Pt.II in which old friends nurse new wounds The pain. Like nothing he had ever felt. And he thought getting there was intense... Suddenly, the harsh, stinging lashes across his naked body stopped, leaving only the duller-but-still-incredible pain. He convulsed, new tears springing up at the pain that small movement caused. Why had his tormentor stopped? Demonic Union breaks? And then he dared look up to see the angelic form that bid the creature stop. Bright, impossibly so, with platinum curls like a second halo, and expansive wings. It couldn't possibly be... "Morning Star?" He croaked, head lifted as high as screaming muscles would allow. "No." Came the reply, too soft, too kind to be Lucifer. "Remiel..." And he smiled, relief at recognizing an old friend replacing fear at an old enemy. Fear soon won out again. "But-- here-- I don't understand..." "Tell me... what brought you here? Even after your expulsion from Heaven, the Creator never banished you here." "I died." "To die, one must be mortal. Why? How long ago? Not very..." "Just a couple hours." He shrugged. "And died?" Remiel stroked the sweat-damp brow, pity in his eyes. "I deserve this." He choked. "I-- I killed." "You? I didn't think anything I found here would surprise me now... but you?" "Soul of my soul..." He sobbed. "I killed the one in all Creation that meant the world to me. My world!" Remiel gasped. "You-- can't mean..." "What punishment would _you_ choose?" He asked bitterly. "What would you choose for yourself if you had killed Duma? I deserve no less. I deserve so much more..." Remiel was struck by the horror his fellow must feel. To kill a one tied so deeply to your own essence... If he was in that place, what redemtion could he hope to find? "Can you ever burn away this sin? Can you ever hope to purify this broken soul?" "We will do all we can to heal you, as we do for all who come here." He promised, taking wing. --//-- The oubliette was dark, suffocating. Exactly, he laughed mirthlessly, what an oubliette was supposed to be. The lack of Heaven here was more pointed and obvious than ever on earth, and he found himself crying out for anyone who would listen. But he knew in the pit of his stomach that no one would. Remiel alit, peering into the deep hole. His self-illumed face could be seen at the bottom. "Wha-- someone came?" A voice croaked, hoarse. "I am Remiel. I am here to tell you that this is no longer a place of mindless punishment. You are here--" "Remiel? In the Pit?" "As our Lord's messenger. Is that you, seraph? I had heard you might be here... though you do not suffer to the degree of the one who sent you." "No..." "You only get the punishment you feel you deserve to make you a better person. You don't like this, but you feel you have earned it. Your former partner is plagued by so much guilt, I don't know that he will ever allow the end to his own torture." "Take him a message, Remiel... when you see him again. Please, Remiel, we were once friends in Heaven." "No sin of yours would make it excusable for me not to, nor any sin of his." The angel nodded. "Tell him-- tell him I love him."