Sympathy For the Devil [Keith Richards]

But What's Puzzling You Is The Nature Of My Game

Brian's home at Cotchford Farm had been a beautiful place, even if Keith certainly didn't want to be there now under these circumstances, even if he supposed he wasn't really there. This was again some strange trick to make him believe something that wasn't true. He was in Hell and nowhere else, even if he wished he was everywhere else, but there. Brian's former home perhaps didn't really make his top ten of favourite places either, making this not the least bit better. Why couldn't have Hell send him to a beautiful beach in the sun or something? That would have been nice after what he already had to suffer through with Persy and seeing her in a bikini would have been a great bonus as well. She might be annoying, but her body was perfect and as long as she didn't say anything he could have appreciated the view. He sighed. Hell didn't do any favours, so instead of his beautiful devil in a bikini, he had to deal with his former grumpy band mate.

Brian was like the Reason Charlie probably just a projection of his mind, at least Keith hoped he was, but it was harder to tell with him than with Charlie. Brian was dead, so why shouldn't Hell have appointed him as some overseer of these tests? Even if Keith couldn't understand that decision. Brian was one of the most unreliable people he knew and giving him such a task didn't sound like a good idea at all. This left Keith with only one other option, that Brian was part of one of these seven tests. Making him wonder which sin Brian was exactly representing, his former band mate could probably have represented every single one and no one would have questioned it too much.

"Brian, what do you want?"Keith asked.

The blond man snorted. "Oh wow I'm nearly surprised that you still know my name, I thought you had perhaps forgotten it. I mean now that you have everything off mine you ever wanted, my band, my girlfriend, just to name two, who needs to remember the person you took it from? I was just someone in your band, someone everyone could do without and nothing more. The Rolling Stones were surely not my idea. They were yours and Mick, but me? No I was just your problem child that you could push around to the point where you stole even the last thing that mattered from me."

Keith bid his lip. He clearly wanted to tell Brian his opinion, but if this really was a test (from the sound of it he would have guessed envy), that didn't sound like the best choice and he was unsure how he should react. He nearly wished Persephone was here and would tell him what was going on, but he doubted she would have been a big help anyway. He needed to figure this out on his own and fast, because he doubted he had all eternity to ponder his options.

He took a deep breath and started to analyse the situation. He could either disagree with Brian and risk ending up in a fight with him or he could try to calm his former band mate down, which was easier said than done, but it was at least an idea.

"Brian, I get that you're angry and we probably didn't handle this whole mess right, but damn you were not the easiest person to work with either. You can't just blame Mick and me for everything that went wrong in your life..."

"Why not? You two pushed me more and more to the limit where I couldn't turn back. You knew how I suffered and what did you do instead of helping me?"

Keith really couldn't use this guilt trip, but he hardly had a say in that matter. The only choice he had was to solve this mess and pass this stupid test, even if he had no idea how. Keith thought about it, if this really was a test on envy, what was he supposed to do then? Be kind towards Brian, show empathy? It sounded at least like something that would fit and it was worth a try, because Keith had no other ideas anyway.

"Now I am not even worth your time anymore?" Brian accused him before Keith had even the chance to say something. "Fucking great. I thought you would at least bother to talk to me when you had to. This test is another thing you got and nobody even thought about offering me. You get everything and I? You know I wouldn't have had a problem with a long life either instead of dying at 27."