october challenge | frerard | ✔️

twenty nine - satan

twenty-nine: the painful part; my own little piece of heaven part two

"I can't do it," Frankie sighed, looking into Gee's palm. "I cannot kill that child."

"It's your job to," Gee said and rubbed Frankie's back to comfort him with his free hand. The palm that stood face up and in front of the two flashed with images of a happy little girl running around her backyard. She'd just picked up a tea sandwich from where her mother and aunt were sitting spread out on a blanket. The sun was sparkling, lighting up the girl's dark hair, and as she skipped around, she shoved the sandwich into her mouth, smiling at the taste.

"Mummy! You have to teach me how to make these, they're so good!" her faint voice sounded out of the moving picture floating in Frankie's hand. The little girl's mother and aunt shared a happy, knowing smile.

Gee quickly shoved the image away, looking away guiltily and bringing his palm back to normal.

"Babe, you just made it worse," Frankie whined and pulled his cloak closer to his body, shoving Gerard's hand off of his back. "I'm not gonna kill her."

"You have to, or face the punishment."

"You would never hurt me. You love me."

              "I..." Gee cringed. "I wouldn't want to, but if I had to... It's my job to. I can't disobey God."

              "You're Satan, you're the only one who can disobey God! Can't you do this... for me?"

              "Frankie..."

              "Gee, please, I can't make her lose another child. The first one was enough."

              "The first one wasn't your fault. You weren't the Grim Reaper then!"

              "It was my fault, you remember?" he spat, gesturing to the long, faded scars that ran up the length of his forearms.

"Bloody hell, Frank," Gerard sighed. "Look, Frankie, you have to do this. You can't just mess with the order of time and her life. She has terminal cancer, she was supposed to die two weeks ago, but you keep putting it off!"

              "She's my goddamn sister, you arse, of course I'm putting it off!"

              Gerard looked down and away from Frankie's face. The Grim Reaper wasn't supposed to be merciful, yet Frankie had ended up taking on his job. He was one of the only two Grim Reapers in the North and South American part of Hell.

              "Frankie, you need to do it now," Gee insisted, placing a hand on the cowering entity's shoulder. "Please, Frank."

              "Get your hands off of me," Frankie snarled, and the grabbed Gee's wrist. "Get me there, and I'll crush my mother's heart and kill my own sister. Sure. I'll do it."

              "Frankie, I'm so sorry, I—"

              "Shut up, and get me there so I can do my job and please God or what the hell ever."

              Gee didn't say anything, he just sighed sadly and extended the pretty picture. The girl was sitting on the blanket, and as soon as Frankie put his hand over Gee's, the girl doubled over, clutching her heart.

"Now," Gee insisted, and Frankie sighed, diving into the void of his palm.

              He was invisible in the real world, and as soon as his scythe came down on his sister's throat, she was gone. He picked up her body's spirit and flipped her hair up, revealing where she was going.

              Heaven.

              Frankie bit his lip. He tucked her body securely up his cape and looked at his mother. She was crying and shaking, her sister rubbing her back and holding her in her arms, a phone pressed to the side of her face. She was blabbering to the person on the other end of her 911 call, but it was too late.

              Frankie had taken her. He didn't linger. 

---

Frank checked in at the end of his shift, smiling halfheartedly at the other Grim Reaper.

"Long day, Frankie?" Jamia asked. She took up her scythe and wrapped her cloak around her body.

"God, yeah..." he said, frowning. "Traumatising."

"Had to take someone you love?" Jamia asked gently.

"Yeah. Sorry, Mia, don't really wanna talk about it," he sighed. "See you around yeah? Gotta sort the souls into Heaven and Hell. I've been putting it off."

"Yeah, yeah. Then go home and get some sleep. How's Gee doing? I bet he's missing you."

Frankie shrugged. "We'll see."

"He probably had to force you to do it, huh?" she muttered. "I fucking hate that."

"Force me?" Frank shuddered. "Yeah. He did."

---

"I c-can't believe I did that," Frankie wailed, wiping the tears off of his cheeks with the back of his hand and burying his face further into Gee's chest. Gerard's arms tightened around the crying entity and stroked his hair comfortingly—or at least he hoped it was comforting.

"I'm so sorry I had to force you to," Gee whispered, but Frankie didn't respond. He didn't feel like being mad at Gee right now. It wasn't really his fault. His sister had terminal cancer; she was going to die one way or the other. It was just more peaceful this way. Her soul wouldn't be lost—it would be sorted nicely, put in Heaven where she belonged.

He wiped his face again and willed his tear ducts to close up. They didn't. So instead, he just let Gee comfort him.

"B-before you died, did you believe in God?" Frankie asked shakily.

"No. But then I died, and God thought my sins were good enough to land me my position instead of burning in hell or whatever."

"Apparently, hell's pretty nice," Frankie wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve, telling himself he'd wash it later. "I had a friend who also took his own life and he ended up in hell, and he's actually got a pretty good life outside of his work hours."

"Really?" Gee knew all about Hell, he was the God of Hell after all, but he still listened to Frankie. He knew this was a way of him coping with the experience.

"Mhm," he sniffed.

"Hey, let's eat something and then go to bed, whaddya say?"

"Where did you find food? You know we don't need it to stay alive."

"We're not alive, babe," Gee said gently.

"I know, that's why I'm saying... never mind."

Gee's wrist beeped with another assignment and he flipped his palm up, showing a flashing image of a woman staring at herself in the mirror. Her face was red and streaky with tears, and her faint sobbing could be heard through the moving picture.

"It's my bloody mum," Frankie growled through gritted teeth.

"It says she's unsure. It says she's... hold on, I just got a message," Gee said, and flipped his wrist over to his little watch. He pressed his palm to it, and as soon as he heard it, he grinned.

"God says bring her close, but don't let her die. She's unsure, and she has to see what's gonna happen."

"Do I have to go now?"

"If you don't want Jamia to get to her before you," Gee said gently, and Frankie sprung up, and determined look plastered on his face.

"I'm not gonna let the last of my family die today," he said, pulling on his cloak and donning his scythe. "That's not gonna fucking happen today."