From Down Below

God overlooked the empty pews with a sense of satisfaction. That show had been a smashing success and, from the screams of his adoring fans, the masses were settled once again. Lucifer's threat of war had been entirely erased from the minds of his loyal subjects and that was all that mattered to God right then. He would work on the Morningstar later. Keeping his people from losing their faith in him was a priority. It seemed, though, that he had succeeded in his goal. In fact, in his mind's eye, he could still see all of them calling his name and cheering wildly. Somehow, his trick worked and he was able to convince all of Heaven that, in actuality, he did have everything under control and there was nothing to-

"You're in the Devil's Carnival! Come one, come two, come all!" God reared back in genuine terror. He knew that he didn't have this situation under control but to hear so many angry voices coming up from down below, especially so soon after he had worked so hard to calm everyone down again, was a disheartening blow. The ancient deity froze, still standing upon the Sacred Soundstage with his carbon microphone in front of him. This time, however, he didn't make a noise. Instead, he listened to Hell's wicked war cries. Although he was as still and silent as a statue, his heart and mind were both racing. So Agent had failed in his mission, Hell was coming, and he honestly had no idea what to do. A dull fury swept over God. Damn that Lucifer! If only he would just stay back in Hell where he belonged! Now, all of Heaven was going to start panicking again and God didn't have any time to waste on settling them. He had to put this idiocy to bed and since Agent had clearly failed, that meant God was on his own this time.

Sure enough, just as God predicted, Hell's song filled all of Heaven and denizens who had once been laughing and singing just mere hours ago were now weeping and wailing in fear and repulsion.

"Oh! What's going on?! What's going on!?"

"Are we about to die?"

"It's the end of the world!"

"Hell is coming!"

"Get down on your knees and start praying!" all the angels began to scream and run around in circles as Hell's song carried on over their cries of horror. A select few angels were more affected than others, though. Librarian was one of them.

He had been lost in his work, censoring the ungodly works, when the lights began to flicker. With a scowl, he looked up to see who dared mess with the lights. There was nobody there. That was when he began to hear it. Singing from down below. He was normally a stern, stoic man, but hearing the Hellish song sent chills down his spine. His scowl deepened and he involuntarily gripped the wand he used to cleanse the stories tighter. He wasn't much of a fighter, but he would be ready for war when the invaders came. He spent the rest of the night entirely tensed up and even though he continued to work on cleaning up inappropriate stories, he kept on high alert for any trouble at all.

Designer was in very much the same position. He had been busy alternating between preening himself and keeping watch on his working horses when the noise from down below emanated up to him. He tried to give off an air disgust and disdain before turning to tell his working horses to ignore it, but his mouth couldn't form the words. In truth, he was terrified. All around him, the working horses weren't faring much better. They were cowering and crying, hands over their ears and eyes as their mouths opened with silent cries of terror and worry. It was no use trying to calm them all down anyway since Designer's own voice had since left him. Instead, the group could only stand together and wait for the disruptions from down below to finally come to an end.

Back on the fourth floor, just a few rooms away from where God was still stewing over Hell's latest development, was Publicist and his three Ladies of Virtue. They were all right in the middle of packing up their costumes and music when the song from down below began. Cora heard the song before it was audible, hairs on the back of her neck rising up for a reason that she could not explain. Right when she was about to dismiss it, though, that was when the singing began. The lights in the room flickered and turned a dark red and then Cora's jaw dropped. The longer Hell's song went on, the more voices Cora could pick out and, as untrained and unharmonious as Hell was, Cora was sure she recognized one of the singers in particular. It was June, and Cora could hear a promise for revenge in her voice. Every note June sang was steeped with wrath and hunger. Although Cora had not directly been responsible for June's fall, she knew full well some of those notes that June was singing were for her and the thought terrified her like nothing else. She turned desperately to her three comrades, hoping that one of them could offer some solace, but all of them looked equally afraid. Pearl and Virginia were clinging to Publicist whose eyes were comically wide. At last, Cora realized that the only thing she could do was wait for this horrible tune to end. She clutched her ears and tried to pray, but nothing drowned out the sounds from down below.

Watchword had also been in the middle of something when Hell's war cries reached Heaven. He was writing all about God's performance and had been right in the middle of typing up the story when the singing began. In his surprise, his hand slipped and he ended up hitting the wrong keys of his typewriter. Normally, such a mistake would've angered him, but he was so surprised by the sudden interruption that all he could do was stare at the floor. Already, his mind was wondering how he could spin this story...

Meanwhile, the Translators were walking through Heaven's halls, getting ready to warn people about the upcoming curfew. God's performance, as splendid as it had been, had run over a little bit, but that was no excuse. Anyone out past curfew would still be punished even though it would be God's fault for keeping them all late. The happy, psychotic couple continued on their self-given patrol when the first strains of a song wafted up from down below. It didn't take either beast of prey long to understand what was going on down there. Unlike anyone else who heard the song, however, they began to grin almost manically as they, in perfect synch, beat their hands with their nightsticks. They were ready for war. They hungered for it, a bloodlust within their eyes.

The other denizens of Heaven were not as fearless as the Translators. They cowered where they stood, flinching and covering their ears as the music from down below rumbled up from the ground and spilled through the halls like a volcano of Hellfire. They didn't know what was happening, but they knew that Hell was on the move and the loudest singer of all was an old friend. An enemy hungry for blood now, but somebody who'd once been in Heaven with them and that was the scariest thought of all. All the people of Heaven cowered at the idea that they had a fallen angel who had once stood beside them but would now, with all the forces of Hell, becoming up at them from down below.

AN: This is just me imagining everyone else's reaction to that scene in Hoof and Lap when the Doll's song reaches all the way up to God. We only ever got to see his face but I'm sure everyone else was in quite the panic, especially Cora.