Fiery Nightmare // Michael Langdon

Part 24

Michael shrinks back into his chair, his terrified face answering Cordelia's question for her.

"Now Michael, I believe that when I said that I'd allow you to stay at Robichaux's, I made it on the condition that you didn't cause any more trouble," Cordelia states, an edge to her voice.  "Does brutally murdering all of your fellow warlocks count as staying out of trouble?"

Michael looks down, everybody's eyes on him.  "I'm sorry, Cordelia."  He looks back up at her, clearly attempting to control his emotions.  "If I could take it back, I would!"

"But that's the issue!  You can't take it back!  Michael, you need to think before you do shit like this!"

I quickly step in to defend Michael.  "Cordelia, I-"

"No," Cordelia cuts me off.  "Everybody out.  Madison, you deal with Behold and tell him to come to Robichaux's."

Madison silently nods as she follows all the witches out of the room.

I send Michael a reluctant look as I stand up, and Cordelia sighs.  "Blaise, stay."

I sit back down in my seat next to Michael and Cordelia collects herself as she goes to take the seat across from us. 

She slowly smooths out her shirt before placing her hands on the table in front of us, lacing her fingers together in the way that she tends to when she is trying to contain her emotions.  "Michael, I know that we've all had an extremely emotionally charged last few days, even me allowing my emotions to get the best of me, which I am very sorry for."

"You have no reason to be sorry, Cordelia," Michael says apologetically.  "It was my fault-"

"Nonsense," Cordelia shakes her head.  "However, I found that my fault was in not placing myself in your shoes and feeling how you must've felt.  That is why I'm taking the time now to reason out how you must've been feeling the day after our fight, which I'm assuming is when you killed the warlocks."

I'm about to question her on what she means by their fight, but I decide to let it go since it seems like she's on the track of forgiving Michael.

Michael nods.  "You're correct."

"I'm guessing that you felt like you lost everything; we had adopted you and killed Mead, then we kicked you out.  Not to mention that you thought Blaise was dead and we were the only link you had to Blaise - of course, besides the warlocks.  However, the warlocks' link to Blaise was a painful one, and your first instinct must have been to rid of it."

Michael slowly nods.

Cordelia continues, "You were a mess of emotions and weren't thinking things through, so you went with your gut and killed the warlocks.  Of course, we can't forget that you're the Antichrist and your gut feelings most likely involve violence."

She sighs as she leans forward.  "And, to be honest - just between the three of us - I was angry enough myself to kill the warlocks after what they did to Blaise.  I kept those emotions in check, but I can't blame Michael who is decades younger than me for not keeping his in check."

"Is this just your long way of saying that you're forgiving Michael?" I question.

She looks down and chuckles.  "Yes, that and practicing my reasoning for when I explain to Behold why I forgave him."

I smile as I take Cordelia's hand.  "Thank you, Delia."

Michael shakes his head, still not believing Cordelia's words.  "You're forgiving me?"

She sends him a warm smile.  "Listen, Michael, I can see that your heart's in the right place.  Since Blaise just went through her whole ordeal at the canyon where we found out that your tie to Satan was severed, I'm being more lenient seeing as this behavior should not be repeated.  Of course, if it is, you will be warned that my forgiveness will not be nearly as easily given."

"I swear, I will never do anything like that again."

Cordelia chuckles as she looks between us.  "Good.  Now you two run along and tell all the witches listening by the doorway that the show's over."

Upon her words, Madison shoves open the door dramatically.  "Well, that was anti-climatic."

"Sorry to disappoint, but it looks like I'm not getting kicked out again," Michael mocks.

Madison rolls her eyes and turns to Cordelia.  "Whatever.  Behold will be here this evening."

......

"If I were you, I'd get out of here before Behold gets back," Madison comments as she catches me and Michael in the hallway.

I shake my head and stop, turning towards her.  "Cordelia texted me 5 minutes ago saying that Behold was here and she was taking care of him.  How could we not know that he was here-"

"You forgave him?!" Behold shouts, his voice ringing throughout the academy.

Madison shrugs nonchalantly.  "Now we know."

She turns on her heel and begins to walk away just as Behold bursts through Cordelia's office doors.  "I swear, when I get my hands on that boy-"  He looks over and catches sight of me and Michael, immediately diverting his rage towards us.  "Michael, I'm about to make hell look like Oprah's mansion when I get my hands on you!"

Madison quickly steps out in front of Behold.  "Now, how could you forget to say hello to your favorite witch?"

"Madison, now is not the time-"

"No, now is the time," she cuts him off.  "Because we both know that you're acting irrationally and are going to get yourself hurt."

Behold shakes his head as he looks past Madison, narrowing his eyes at Michael.  "The only thing that now is the time for is me ripping that little shit's head off!"  He tries to walk past Madison and she quickly grabs his shoulders, attempting to stop him from walking past her.

"Behold, I swear to god, don't make me mess up my hair."

"I'm about to pull that crispy hair out of your witchy scalp if you don't let me go!"

"Can we just calm down?" I ask Behold.

"Calm down?  Your demented boyfriend just murdered my colleague and all my students!"

Michael quickly speaks up.  "Now, I wouldn't exactly say they didn't have it coming..."

"You know what?  I'm about to go off on his ass, so let me go-"  Behold begins clawing at Madison to try to get past her, resulting in all of us yelling at each other, trying to make our arguments heard.

"Guys!" Cordelia yells from her doorway.

We all ignore her and continue fighting, Madison losing some ground to Behold.

"Everyone shut up!" Cordelia shouts, raising her voice to a point that she has never had to raise it to before. 

We immediately fall silent, turning to Cordelia as Behold and Madison untangle themselves from each other.

"You're all behaving like children," Cordelia scolds.  "Behold, you have every right to be angry, but you need to think this through.  Michael is much more powerful than you are, and you know you would never win a fight against him.  Now, I explained my reasoning for why I forgave Michael, and that is the best reassurance I can give you."

"But-"

"No buts," Cordelia cuts him off.  "You may stay at Robichaux's with us and we will gladly accept you, but you are not allowed to fight Michael.  Am I understood?"

He sighs as he looks down and clasps his hands in front of him before turning his gaze to Cordelia.  "Yes, Ms. Goode.  I will not fight Michael - of course, unless he tries to finish the job of killing all the warlocks, in which case you can bet your ass I'm going to-"

"Behold," Michael speaks up.  "I will not attack you, so you don't have to worry about that.  Listen, I'm sorry about what I did to the warlocks, and you must understand just how badly I regret it."

Behold shakes his head, pointing a finger at Michael as he backs away towards the stairs.  "I'm watching you, Langdon," he warns as he starts up the stairs.  "No funny business!"