Inferno of God

12: In Which Satan Loses Control of The Operation

That afternoon, the medical plants were uprooted and placed in Gabriel's greenhouse. Satan made sure to give all members of the group clear instructions on how to properly clip and plant the roots, and, after a further day, he assisted with the care of the plants, which grew into fine, healthy specimens far faster than they had expected.

Gabriel was still, by no means, onboard with his portion of the plan, but he did, despite what his loyal conscience wanted him to, think about it. He knew at some point Adam and Je'sus would have to be sent back to Hell, or at least reincarnated, and eventually, some potion would have to be acquired, but even with that in mind, he put it off, holding on to the idiotic hope that some other solution would be discovered.

So the toxic cycle continued until the morning he stepped into the drawing room to find Satan lying face down on the sofa, breathing heavily, as though to cope with an unbearable pain. At first, Gabriel made the assumption that his health had severely and unexpectedly regressed, and attempted to turn him over on his lap in an attempt to help his dear friend, but as he did so, a slight gasp was emitted from his best friend's lips, followed by the soft speech of his heavy, rasping words.

"Gabriel, I beg of you, please don't touch it."

"I'm sorry," he completely let go of him, allowing him to roll back to his original position, "touch what?"

Satan very slowly lifted himself into a sitting position, motioning to his back, "the scars where my wings used to be, they tend to ache on occasion, and touching them will only make it worse."

Gabriel stood, gripping at his hair as every memory he had tried so hard to suppress came flooding to the front of his head, and all he could do about it was voice futile apologies, making him feel like the person responsible for dyeing Lord Satan black in his own blood. "Oh goodness," shuddered he, "I'm sorry," and that was all he could do.

"Don't be, it's an honest mistake, and frankly, it's source is hardly worth mentioning after such a long time."

He glared, here he was, still stuck rethinking everything, and Satan was claiming he had gotten over it, what an idiotic lie, even if it was for the emotional benifit of another. In the midst of Gabriel's anger, his brain called upon one particular memory, and without thought, his mouth spat it into the air. "He called us all to his court, and this... I don't even know what it was, it just squirted out of us, from our sweat glands, from our mouths, and we breathed it in, it suffocated us. That really happened, didn't it?"

Satan stared in the same brotherly manner as Gabriel had when they were introduced, "Yes, I'm afraid it did."

And Gabriel wept, allowing his brother figure to awkwardly hug him, it was the first time he had ever seen him engage in such an embrace on his own accord, let alone been a part of one. The interaction only lasted a moment, and was actually quite uncomfortable, but in an odd, unexplainable way, it helped.

Still, he didn't want to force his dear friend into any more uneasiness than necessary, so he managed to pull himself together quickly, stating in a monotone voice, "I'm going to God's court in order to get that potion."

"Thank you, Gabriel," Satan said softly, though it was spoken in the most sincere way possible.

God's potion room, unlike many other places in Heaven, was still in heavy use in order to reincarnate saved souls, but that was now it's only use. Of course, even Satan's room was mainly used for that purpose, with the vast majority of ingredients being left on the shelf for decades, sometimes even centuries, but once that period of time leans to milleniums, things tend to become downright impossible to find. Somehow though, despite thoroughly ruining the ingredients' sorting, Gabiel was able to retrieve the necessary liquids for both a few reincarnations, and several large batches of transport potion without being spotted. They were later mixed in his kitchen, using only soup bowls and dining utensils, and given to Adam without any resemblance to Satan's normal ritual, save a simple set of instructions.