Rumors of War

by Cynus 

War of Heaven

Chapter 12

       There was little I paid attention to over the next few minutes except Lucifel. I watched her pained expression as she stared at Shatan’s body being removed to the medical bay. She hoped she’d be able to revive him, but I knew that the damage to his body was quite extensive. It might be beyond even Eve’s capabilities.

I knew that she was waiting for Belial to come back with Lumial so that she could execute us publicly. There was no need for telepathy to tell me the mix of emotions I could see in her eyes. She was sincerely hurt by Shatan’s death, but she was also excited for the upcoming events. It was a mix of everything that she had ever wanted with the moments she had also been dreading. She wanted control, sure, but she was less than pleased with the path that had taken her there.

Like always, she couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself for long, but unusually for her, she had none of her close confidants nearby. With Belial dismissed and Shatan dead, she had no one to turn to. I watched her fidget for a moment until she finally addressed me. “You are one stupid human.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked sweetly. The grin on my face didn’t even feel unnatural anymore. There was a sick joy to be found in taunting her, and I found that I couldn’t help myself.

“You thought that you could pull off the guise of an angel,” she answered bitterly, “I suppose the irony is that you managed to accomplish something that has been Michael’s goal for some time.”

“Killing your accomplice?” I replied, though it was more of a jab than a question. It had its desired effect, and her anger visibly increased. Getting her agitated was a lot more fun than I had originally thought it would be.

“Shatan was the only real person I’ve ever worked with, and you will pay for his death,” she vowed, and I knew that she meant it, “I think it’s time that we started your execution, but let’s make it public, shall we? You may not be Michael, but you’re wearing his skin, and that’s good enough for the angels. They won’t be able to tell the difference.”

Lucifel made a few quick orders to Eve, telling the ship to broadcast the surveillance from the room to the entire fleet of angel ships. She looked at me with wicked anticipation as she sensed her impending triumph. This moment was the one that would bring it all together for her. The one that would make it all worth it.

I vowed then to do everything in my power to make sure that it didn’t turn out the way that she wanted.

“Now that Raphael has given me the information I needed to expose you for the liar that you are,” she began in her most authoritarian voice. Now that the fleet was watching her, she had to convince them that I was Michael and not some imposter, a fact that she attempted to make clear as she added, “my son and I are ready to lead the people you have betrayed, Michael.”

“He’s a lot like you,” I whispered, though the thought was not entirely my own. It came from deep inside of Michael’s memories, but I was starting to treat them as my own. It was getting difficult for me to differentiate between what was my thought and what was his.

Lucifel regarded me coldly, her eyes filled with the same chilling fury that she had always had. With a challenge in her voice she replied, “Though I’m sure I won’t like it, what makes you say so? Is it our good looks? Or perhaps propensity to do what is called for to create a better future? It is you who indoctrinated Raphael, dearest Michael, not I. You wouldn’t let me anywhere near him, if I recall.”

I laughed, loudly, and it only infuriated her more. I was done with the entire ordeal. Keith’s body still lay on the floor, in a pool of his own blood, and the sight of it brought me back from my madness. There wasn’t anything left for them to take from me, and I certainly couldn’t handle the ship full of her soldiers without my allies, and the last of them would soon be captured. I had nothing left to lose.

“I would say… the ease with which he chooses who to serve. How quick he is to betray me,” I replied just as coldly. I had decided that I would play the role that she had assigned me, and I would play it well, but it was a move that she hadn’t been expecting. Her eyes widened in shock and outrage, and I was certain that she was on the edge of killing me where I stood.

“I betrayed you?” She replied indignantly. Her voice carried more anger than I had ever heard from her, in either mine or Michael’s memory. If I hadn’t already resigned myself to my death, I would have recoiled in fear, but instead I held my ground, even as she continued. “You, who decided that killing me was better than seeking an explanation when you found me with Shatan. You, who allowed the family to be broken up because you couldn’t stand a difference in opinion. You, who made love to a human woman just to get back at me! Who is the traitor here, Michael? You brought the High Druid into our midst to assassinate me…”

“No.” I interrupted her. While the human side of me understood her side of things, and her perspective, the angel side did not. It was infuriated. “I listened to the entire conversation you had with Shatan that day. I had followed right on his heels when he captured you. I heard you pleading for your life, and that you would do anything, even if it meant selling the entire fleet to the demons. I heard you tell him how you murdered my father just to put us in a better position. I heard you tell him that you’d kill me too if it meant that Shatan would spare your life. You think that I arrived just in time to hear you speak of making the world a better place for angels and demons to live together? Pah! If that had been all that you were conspiring about, I would have heard you out, but that was never your plan, was it?”

I was almost amazed when the color began draining from her face, and the look of fury in her eyes became something that I had never seen before. Horror. I didn’t let it slow me down though, and I pushed forward with my verbal attack. “And I was the one who let the family fall apart? You convinced Belial that your intentions were pure and dragged him with you. You ordered him to kill my son, the son who adored you, just because he had chosen to wait out our squabble instead of following you. Just minutes ago you ordered him brought to you to be killed again! The only family I had left to me was the fanatic who preached holy fervor better than I ever did, and he did it out of his lust for power, which you gave him.”

She was pressed far back into her throne, doing everything she could to get away from me, and I realized then that I had taken several steps forward. The guards that tried to step in between us were being held back by some invisible force, and it took me a moment to realize that I was doing it with my telekinesis. I hadn’t done so consciously, and the realization almost made me stop what I was doing, but the power of Michael’s memories drew me back to Lucifel, who was practically quivering with fear.

Somehow, even though she knew that I was not really Michael, I had her convinced that I was. As soon as I realized the effect recalling those memories was having on her, I almost danced with glee, but I managed to restrain myself and continue to push the advantage I had miraculously found.

“As for that human woman you spoke of, you are right that I made love to her, but it certainly wasn’t out of spite to you. Unlike you, I came to the realization that it would be better to find common ground, and so I created some. I didn’t love her, I only made that mistake with you, but she was perfect for the cause. She was pure and innocent, and strong enough to raise the child that came from our union. That child became one of the most influential people in history, until you convinced the humans to kill him. It was you who killed my fourth son, just like you killed my eldest, and you definitely did that out of spite. Your plan was foiled when I managed to bring him back, and he became even more of an influence on humankind! Of course, you killed him again, and made sure he stayed dead…” I took a deep breath and calmed myself, and then in a level voice I continued, “I betrayed you? You make me sick, thinking like that. Everything I’ve done has been for our people, no,my people. You forsook them long ago.”

“Every step of the way, when I was trying to create the future you proclaimed to want, where we all lived together and got along, you were the one that was there to throw a wrench in the gears. When I tried to unite the people in one common set of beliefs, tried to get them to love each other, you managed to get them to do the opposite. My youngest son taught them to love one another, and instead you’ve held on to the old ways, and twisted his words to make them hate each other. Every time I tried to instill the same beliefs, through a new human that I thought could lead the people, you managed to corrupt it. Raphael did the same, with his fanatical belief that he is better than the humans, and I’m not surprised he’s turning out just like you. It’s too bad you didn’t take him with you and left Belial with me. I understand my son now, when I didn’t before. He and Lumial should be the ones to lead the people.”

My rant was done, but I knew it would be of no use, Lucifel was starting to get herself together for a response even as I stood there, a few feet from her. If I had the heart to, I could have killed her, but it wasn’t in my nature, and I was surprised to find that it wasn’t in Michael’s either. As I stood there, staring down at her, I was filled with nothing more than the pain of what had happened, the pain she had inflicted on me, true, but it wasn’t excuse enough to kill her. I didn’t see how it would have done me any good, surrounded as I was by her loyal followers. They would just bring her back. She would always be back.

The door slid open, and I sighed as I realized that it was probably Belial and Raphael coming back. My suspicions were confirmed as Lucifel screamed, in a mixture of fear and rage, “Belial! Kill him! Kill Michael, before he kills me!”

“I sincerely doubt that there is any danger of that, mother,” Belial replied coolly. She looked at him in surprise and anger, and then took a good look at the angel next to him. The angel who was wearing Raphael’s clothing, and although he looked similar to his younger brother, he was anything but. Lumial stared back at his mother, his eyes full of sadness upon seeing the state she was in.

“What! Why is he alive! Belial, have you betrayed me now too?” She shouted, this time entirely in fear. She was entirely too terrified to be angry.

“Mother, I don’t know how you slipped up, but someone turned the intercom on for this room. That conversation was broadcast throughout the entire ship. I’ve never known you to be speechless in front of such accusations unless they were true. How much of what he said is valid?” Belial replied, the dead calm never leaving his voice. Lumial stood silently beside him, the sadness still etched painfully into his features.

Lucifel was silent. At the presence of their commander, the two guards stopped struggling against my telekinetic hold, and so I released them. They made no move to intercept Belial either as he strode toward the throne purposefully. He moved to stand beside me, and flashed me a look of profound respect as he said, “What do you know? The prophecy might just come true. The son of Merlin may have just ended the war… at least he gave me the courage I needed to do what should have been done a long time ago. Thank you, Damien.”

Lucifel looked between us until the reality sunk in, if her eyes could have widened any further, they would have, as she looked at me and began, “You…”

Belial cut her off with a sharp, “You’ve said enough, mother. It’s time to end this farce, and restore what family I have left.” In one quick motion he drew his sword and activated its flames, then thrust it into her chest. It was over almost instantly, but the scream she uttered seemed to echo for minutes after she stopped. It wasn’t the same as when I had held Michael down for Shatan. There was no rage associated with my holding Lucifel paralyzed by fear, there was only the sadness I felt coming through Michael’s memories.

Belial and I both stared down at her corpse as Lumial came up to join us. “So what happens now?” I asked of the brothers, who stood on either side of me.

“Now, we try to unify the kingdom and bring an end to the conflict, if we can. I can only hope that the angels will follow my brother and I, that is, if you’re willing to stay in heaven, Lumial.” Belial replied with a serious glance toward his brother.

Lumial nodded slowly, and then turned back to him with a grin, “You know, I probably shouldn’t be smiling right now, considering the fact that I just watched you kill our mother, but that prospect is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Do you think we can pull it off?”

“I’m with you,” A voice piped up from behind us. We turned in unison to see Mephistel, who was one of the guards who had been protecting the throne. He regarded both myself and Lumial with guarded curiosity, but turned back to Belial and said, “You should know, Lord Belial, that most of the soldiers under Hell’s command follow your orders, and not your mothers. You were the respected commander that we followed out of Heaven, and we’ll serve you to the end. It’s your nobility that tied us to you, not love for your mother, pardon me for saying so, but she’s always been a bit of a bitch.”

The other guard nodded his agreement, and then added his own piece, “Does that mean we’re freeing the demons, Lord Belial?”

I was shocked at the fact that I had forgotten about Marc, but a voice I was glad to hear spoke up from the side of the room as another door slid open. “There’s no need for that, angel,” Marc said as he stepped into the room, his elder brother in tow, “Freedom was pretty easy to achieve when you have a little rascal of a human to help you. Where is Alan, anyway? He mumbled something about the engine room and then ran off.”

“Marc!” I shouted as I ran toward him, though he raised his hand to stop me as I neared him, and I stopped in confusion.

“Before we have our touchy feely moment, can I ask what in the world you’re wearing? I don’t think the Michael skin suit fits you very well,” Marc explained then suggested, “How about you change back and then you can have all the kisses you want, until then, how about we just stick to the let’s get out of here part?”

I was a little disappointed, but I understood. Marc only saw my disappointment and rushed to explain, “If you have any doubts about my feelings, just do that little emphatic link thing, and you’ll know exactly how much I love you.”

I considered doing that exact thing when thinking about using my abilities brought something else to my memory, and without responding to Marc I instead shouted, “Keith!” as I rushed to the fallen druid’s side.

Marc was soon next to me, checking Keith’s wounds. “What the hell happened?” He asked. His voice lacked the jovial side it had held a moment before. I knew that no matter how many times Marc checked over the holes in Keith’s chest, or looked for a pulse, our friend would still be dead.

“We managed to get our hands on a couple of their weapons and started a firefight,” I explained, trying to keep my voice from quivering, “Keith took out Shatan, but then Lucifel took out Keith. We need to get him to the Abel as soon as possible and see what Lumial can do.”

Marc nodded and tried to lift him up, but he was clearly exhausted and struggling. I moved to help despite my own fatigue, but I was surprised to find it easier than I thought it would be. Through my confusion, I hadn’t noticed Kai’Fallon come to our aid.

The older demon prince looked between us and offered, “You both look terrible. Let me do something to help out. I’ve been quite useless in all of this.”

“That’s unnatural benevolent of you, brother,” Marc chided, to which his brother responded with an embarrassed grin.

“There’s a lot that I’ve closed my eyes to, Dae’Marca,” the prince admitted, “But I promise you that things will be different when we get home. For one thing, I’m going to have a talk with father about this lover of yours. Anyone who is willing to risk certain death to save a loved one is certainly not of weak blood.”

Before I could even blush, a loud siren tore through the air. Belial and Mephistel swore while the rest of us looked to him with concern. “We need to evacuate, now!” he ordered, and as we rushed to follow him he explained, “That siren means that the engine has been compromised, and is most likely about to explode. I don’t know how he did it, but I’m sure that Alan is behind it.”

As we left the room, Lucifel’s body still lying across her throne, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that it was the perfect ending for her. She had thought that everyone had betrayed her, and in the end she had betrayed everyone else because of it. Now, all that she had left behind was going to go down with her.

But when I looked down at Keith’s body as it was carried in front of me, the smile slipped as I wondered if it was worth the cost.