The Great War

XV

"Come on, hurry up."

I huff and grumble to myself as I grasp onto Azrael's hand. "Are the others coming."

Azrael looked back at me and shook his head, "No, if we get through to Baal, he might be a bit frazzled, the less the better." I nod and we apparat somewhere in a forest.

I look around, the sky a cloudy gray and the trees a dark black, "Where are we?"

"The Between."

I furrow my brows, "What's that?" He looks up from the ground, his hands hovering over the ground before he shakes his head a small smile.

"I forgot for a moment there you weren't all her." He whispers, sounding both sad and amused. "The Between is the world between life and death. Where human souls reside when they have no religious ties to a deity. So, they stay here."

I nod and look around wispy shadows flowing through the forest around us. "So, lost souls?"

He shakes his head, "In order to be a lost soul, you have to be lost. These souls are not lost, they know where they are." I hum and kneel down next to him on the ground watching as he conjures up the items he needs.

𖤐

He stands up swiftly and holds a hand out to me, "Promise me, if this doesn't go as planned you won't be stubborn, and you'll really listen to me."

I roll my eyes, I listen. I don't know why people keep acting like I don't listen. "I promise." He nods and inhales sharply before letting my hand go and flexing his own hands.

He looks up at the dark sky and his eyes turn a glowing bright white, his skin turning a paper white as well, cracks crawling up his skin as he mumbles a prayer in Hebrew. I squint my eyes as a bright light shoots up from the bowl on the ground, it gets so bright I have to cover my eyes.

A smell of smoke and rain hits me like a train, and I remove my hand from my eyes to look at Azrael. His eyes were wide and teary as he stared in front of us. "My lovely girl, what're you doing here?"

I snap my head to face ahead, an inhumanly tall man stood in front of us, twisty horns atop his head and a black trench-coat masking his body. His face was a flushed gray, his eyes a bright silver and a grin sat on his lips.

"What?" I breathe out as I look him in his eyes, he releases a chuckle before kneeling and holding a large hand out to me, thick but short claws just barely sticking out enough to cut.

I hesitate but with a reassuring hand on my shoulder I slide my own hand into his, he encloses his hand and brings it to his lips. "You're Beelzebub?"

He nods, "Well, yes, but I prefer you call me Baal, sweetness." I breathe a chuckle as he stands up to his tall height, my hand still in his. "You're the child she spoke of yes?"

I nod, "If by she you mean Ophelia, yeah."

He hums and releases my hand to cup my face with such a soft smile, "You look like her. Well let's go." He quickly recovers from the soft moment and hoists me along with him as he walks back towards a pitch-black wispy stallion in the distance, when did that get there?

"Hey, woah wait what?"

He looks back at me with pinched brows. "What do you mean what? I'm doing what I was assigned. Weren't you told?" He asks before looking up at Azrael who stayed still in his spot. "Azrael did you not warn her?"

I look between the old friends, "Told me what? What's happening? Did Lucifer send you?"

Baal snorts, "Lucy? That old man can't do shit anymore. The underworld and shadow realm have been in chaos since Ophe's disappearance."

I nod slowly and look at Azrael. "What were you supposed to tell me?"

He inhales sharply looking away from us, something akin to shame on his face. "You were chosen by the gods." He breathes out after an agonizing pregnant silence.

"What?" I whisper and look up at Baal wide eyed.

"My darling girl, the gods, including your soul provider, chose you to overthrow the man himself. He's long since overstayed his reign. His power was meant to go to Ophelia but since his bloody mistake all those decades ago she left him in the dust to rot. The gods gathered and created a plan to overthrow him. That was you."

I shake my head and stare at him wide eyed, "What? But— I–I met her. I was a child. I was a child!" I grow angry at the end and shove the large demon away from me. He stumbles back caught off guard by my sudden shove.

"Darling, I understand your anger, I know that anger myself. But now is not the time to hate us."

I drop my shoulders and stare at the ground, "What am I meant to do? I haven't even remembered the full extent of what Ophelia was."

He laughs out boisterously, like I just said the funniest thing he's ever heard. "Was? What do you mean was?"

I cock an eyebrow up at him, "Ophelia's dead, isn't she?"

He snorts and crosses his arms, "Who told you that?"

I look back at Azrael, confused before looking back up at Baal. "Only like, everyone?"

He nods and brushes his long black hair back, "Well she is very much alive and if you're still up to the whole 'chosen one' bullshit I can take you to her or I can take you home, erase every fragment of this war and leave you to live until Lucy destroys your realm." he blandly explained, I stare up at him.

"Take me to her."

He nods, "Good choice come on darling." He reaches a hand out to me again and I take it in mine. He begins to walk over to the dark horse still waiting for him. I stare up at the giant of a horse, its empty sunken in eye sockets staring back.

"What's his name?" I ask looking up at the demon, his face held a soft look.

"Altair."

I nod and slide my hands along the large creature's snout, "So oddly gorgeous."

He hums at me in response and breathes in deeply, "Well, come along."

I look back at Azrael who just seemed lost. "What about him."

The demon looked back with such distaste it looks like enough to shove down the tales of Beelzebub and Azrael. "He's always been capable of finding his sister he's just too much of a imbecile to notice. Just like his father."

He sneers before looking at me and the look dropped, holding his hands out to me. "Now, shall we my lovely girl," I nod and place my hands in his.