The Choice

The Choice ~ A new beginning ~

"I'm done with this!" she yelled as she threw open the heavy iron double doors as if they were nothing but paper. "They don't belong here, L, and we have no room for them." She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the masculine figure sitting behind the desk.

"What is it now?" he sighed.

"They don't belong here! They just ain't our responsibility. Plus we don't have the room for them."

"There's room over in. . ."

"No! They don't belong here and I didn't sign up for this. One of them wanted me to set his feet on fire and do you know why?!" she threw her hands up, "I'll tell you why! Because in life he had a sexual foot fetish!"

For a moment Lucifer stared at her, then he began to chuckle. "My dear, we're here to punish the.."

"Yes!" she interrupted him, "To punish HIS children who have turned their backs to him. These people, these...Christians! They are not his children."

"They are his adopted grandchildren."

"No, they are not. You can lie to yourself all you want, oh 'father of Lies'" she waged her finger at him and slowly began to unfurl her sulfur-stained wings," but that don't work on me. These people don't bear his mark and don't belong in our nether." she snapped her wings shut for emphasis.

"Where do you suggest we send them? Hmm?"

"Where they belong."

"They wish to be punished for their sins."

"That's not our job."

"Our job is to punish sinners."

"Our job is to punish His children who have turned away from Him! HE has two children, Israel and Islam."

"Israel begot Christianity. That makes them his grandchildren."

"But they bear Other's marks, they are Other's children! Most bear the mark of the Olympians."

Lucifer sat back on his chair and looked at the fallen angel in front of him. "You made your choice."

"I chose to change it."

"We who have no Choice made a choice!" he slammed his fist onto the desk. "The desicion was made, it can not be unmade! What do you think? That you can change the choice you made eons ago, return to His light?" Lucifer stood to his full height.  "We can never go back! We were made to love Him, we who have no Choice! They, those fragile creatures, they were given a Choice! To love him or turn their backs to him! We who have no Choice chose to punish those who did. To punish His children who did not follow His way."

"And yet we punish not only His children but the children of others? They should be punished in their own Nethers."

"Not all have their own Nethers of punishment."

"That should not be our problem." she insisted.

"They wanted to come here, they decided on our Gehenna region of Sheol." He stared out the window overlooking the realm he was charged to oversee. "Did you know, these new Christians have changed the name of our nether.  I rather like the sound of the new name: Hell."  Slowly, a smile came to his lips and he turned to her. "You said you chose to change your choice but, this can't be done. You work for me. Ah, wait." he raised his hand to keep her from interrupting him. "You are right though, they don't belong here. As of now I relieve you of your former duties."

She blinked in surprise, "Sir?"

"Yes. I charge you with a new task. To make sure they who do not have HIS mark go to the correct Nether."

"You know as well as I that we who are Fallen can't enter each others Nethers. How am I to fix that mess?" she waved a hand toward the windows.

"There are ways, places where the Fallen of Each can go."

"Ter. . ." she shook her head. "You mean go to Earth? Leave the Nether?"

"Sure, why not? Demons do it all the time."

"Demons, not Fallen! Not even the Fallen of the Others would. . ."

"Guardian Angels of all kinds walk the Earth, demons infest it. The Fallen never have simply because no one has tried or had a need. You have a need." he crossed his arms over is broad chest. "Go, find the Keepers of the Nethers of the Others and have them collect what is theirs. I'll have our Fallen begin to separate them and herd them to the edges of Limbo." he nodded to himself, "Yes, we should be able to pass them from Nether to Nether that way. And Gazardiel? Remind the Keepers to start collecting before they arrive here. GO!"

Biting her lip she turned her back to him and left the office. As the doors closed behind her a realization hit her. 'I've turned my back to him. Not just physically but, I really have made a choice.' She walked onto a balcony overlooking the nether now known as Hell. 'Most of these souls don't belong here. Maybe they deserve a punishment but, not here.' Yet she felt no compulsion to follow his orders.

She flew to her apartment, there was very little she owned that could go with her to the material plane. She fashioned herself a knapsack and stuffed what she could into it then headed down into the abyss. As she approached one of the portals the demons used to travel into the humans world she felt both fear and elation.

'I made a choice!' she looked back at the tortured souls swimming in the murkiness. As she stepped into the portal she proclaimed "I chose to go Home!"