~~~Apollos June 3, 1953
'You did it I am impressed I thought that you were going to run away.' I hear her unpleasant voice filling the air. I can't be bothered to listen to her, the way she talks it's almost as if she's happy that I have served such villainess desires. She's happy that I have murdered children, I didn't want to. I told myself that every moment. I am doing the right thing yet all I can feel is anger, what God would make me do this? What god makes this all right? I just want to be a good father but with every step I take, I feel myself being worse and worse as a person. How can my son grow up with a man like me? "I don't have anything to say to you. I have much to think about and I don't have time for your insults." Zamiel was clearly here to test my patience, she was also here to push my temperament. I was not here for any of it and I would not tolerate any of it.
"I'm not Hans, Zamiel. I will not allow you to insult me like you've done Hans." 'Oh Apollos, I'm not insulting you. I'm just stating,' "Facts," I say, cutting her off, "You may be stating facts Zamiel but the difference between me and you is that I feel this guilt that I have so desperately tried to ignore. Every one of these children is not coming back. I don't like killing people, especially people who have done nothing." She may have frozen time, but that doesn't mean she can stop me from doing my own personal work. As I finished writing out my personal things that I wanted to talk with Lilith about, I also made it so that I would be able to air these grievances out in a healthy manner, this is something that I remind myself that I'm doing.
'It seems Lucifer has given you a misplaced sense of pride.' She said to me with some snark. "No. I have only been reminded that I can respect myself and carry out my duties." After I said this, I walked away from her. It's then that she said, 'At least you have a sense of pride now.' This was an Archangel one of the closest beings to God. "How do you look me in the face?" Her face was curious but my eyes were empty. I had put everything together and it still didn't add up with Hans in a lot of areas. I killed so many people but there were still nagging questions, questions even I couldn't get out of the system. Looking him up in the vampire history painted a picture but didn't tell me anything.
'What do you mean?' She says, candidly. "Don't you think you're much too old to be playing stupid? Hans had a divine intervention," I said to her, "He had a divine intervention and also help" 'And what makes you assume that?' She says to me. I turn to her with a smile as I then say, "Because he got away from Lilith. Right before my wife was killed, he somehow managed to get away from her and from what she told me, she dragged him into the explosion radius. I've seen how long it takes for vampires to heal. Unless they're from the Morten family, they're not healing fast. Unless he had help?" 'Are you assuming that I helped him?' "I'm not assuming anything. I am being honest. You helped Hans escape. You also made it so that if he were to be caught, he would have a get out of jail free card."
'What is causing you to accuse me of such crimes?' I hear her say. "Because I learned something about you from Lilith and from Hans." 'Oh really?' "I know you're a force of nature. I also know that in order to make this plan work, you will destroy anyone you deem unnecessary. The real question is what will you do to ensure that I stand in line?" Her eyes focused on me and she finally realized it: I knew more than I let on. Not only did I know more than I let on, I knew how to play the part of an idiot well and she knew I did but her knowing this and me doing this is what surprised her. She thought I was going to wait, but that's not what I'm going to do anymore.
I'm tired of her doing as she wants, I knew what to do but this was not something I'd play the long game with. "You had something to do with my wife's death." 'Wendy?' She says, nonchalantly. "Yes, her," I say with a serious voice. 'Why are you focused on the past now? Don't you have a future ahead of you?' she says to me. I look at her as I say, "I do but the problem is that there are still too many nagging questions. The biggest one is why did you have to take her from me and why do you have to hurt me in the most brutal ways to make me stronger?"
Her eyes began to widen as she saw it, anger and conviction at their highest level in my eyes as I say to her, "No one had to die in order to get me to take these steps yet you forced me to do this. You have me kill and do things I've never wanted to do and yet here we are." She was truly astonished at what I had to say and yet I could not stop myself from speaking the truth that had been nagging at me for so long. "You had Hans kill everyone I love. You spun it as though he was the one in control but before I defeated him, I noticed something in Hans, something that is hard to notice unless you've been exposed to it. I noticed desperation and fear. He wasn't afraid of me not until the last moments of battle. He was afraid of losing to me sure but he knew he was going to die and, it wasn't the death that didn't scare him the most. It was the years of torment and it began to bother me as a question. What could you have done to that man to make him fear you to such a degree? What could you have pushed that man to do for him to know so much more? For him to fight against me so desperately? For him to use children as shields?"
'You're talking about Hans here. You're giving him too much credit.' "Oh, don't give me that, Zamiel. I know what I know. He used children as shields and he had never done it before and the reason why I can say this is that there has never been a time where he turned on a child unless someone was pressuring him. When I fought Hans, there wasn't just nagging fear behind his fear, there was desperation as if a man was about to be ripped apart in ways he never knew he could. He fought me so hard, so desperately, it was as if he knew what would happen if he lost so I'm going to ask you again, bitch. What did you do to that man to make him hunt my family down?"
My eyes turned to gold as my rage began to flow as I looked at her and then there was a voice that came behind me. 'Don't you have better things to do, Apollos?' I turned to see an angel, an angel I had never seen before but this angel had three faces, one was of a cat, a young man, and an old woman. "Who are you, motherfucker?" It was then that he was beside me and it was then that I felt an intense radiance, it was as if the radius was not horrible yet it burned but enough o make me wonder who I was speaking to. 'My name is Michael. Unfortunately, you seem to be more powerful than Zamiel predicted and that's bad for business so I'm going to do you a favor.'
It was then that I saw his hand reach up to my face, a pale white hand that was covered in a golden gauntlet used for my face. 'Michael, what are you doing?' It was then that the whole world turned white and it was then that I was feeling light-headed and then I collapsed to the ground, passing out.
~~~Michael, 1 hour earlier
'Where are you going, Michael?' I hear Uriel. "Going to go say hi to my big brother," I say with a giant smile, I couldn't wait to show him the new face that I got. The new face I had gotten had come from one of the lives I've led, I had spent so much time in the 1900s that I had seen the world changing though that Earth was completely different as that Earth had heroes. From heroes from distant planets to homegrown heroes, I had spent 85 years as a prodigy and then a hero, it was beautiful as I watched the golden age of heroes come and go. I also had watched so many changes, I was also happy that I got to pass away peacefully with my husband. I had spent so much time in that world that I had grown to love one of the heroes, something I didn't think I would do but I also had to lay the groundwork for the new horseman.
'So, you're going to Hell to talk to Lucifer?' I hear her say, interrupting my thoughts. "Yes. He's the only brother I've ever known. Yes, we were all born at the same time, but Lucifer was the first person who accepted and understood my role." 'Your role as an archangel is so much different yet the same as ours. Your role is so beautiful, Michael. That's why we treated you so differently, we didn't expect God to make an archangel for that purpose.' It's then that I tell him, "I am the warrior of Justice and I am one of the default leaders of the angels. My entire purpose is to see justice and peace as the defacto warrior angel. I don't expect anyone to understand that role nor do I expect anyone to see what my role really is."
'Justice and peace are ideas that must be understood, Michael. You know that.' I smile and say, "Yes. Those ideals must be respected but they also must be known. For justice to rule, there must be an opposite to these things. For peace to be there, you must understand what war is. That is why God also made me a warrior angel, just like you and just like the others. My entire purpose is to uphold those morals. Justice and peace are ideals that must be understood and require more than just pretty ideas." 'You don't think it can rule on different purposes?' "If it could thrive on different principles, God would not have made me a warrior angel." 'As I said before, I find your existence to be so much more confusing than anyone else's but I find Lucifer's to be just as confusing.'
"You find Lucifer to be confusing because he is the most unclean angel so he must be horrible but most species that have been born have abused peace and justice." 'Evil and good are just concepts. Even God knows this.' 'Listen, Uriel, I don't have time for this. I just want to talk to my brother. If you want to have these long-winded conversations, you can talk to Zamiel. I, unfortunately, do not feel like reciprocating nor have I ever really cared." 'Fine.'
As I begin my walk to the bottom dimension, my first step is through the gate. 'None shall pass this unclean dominion made for Hell. Not even you.' I look at Cerberus as I then say, "Do you really want to experience this again?" 'I must stand guard. I will not be afraid of you.' "I understand you are not afraid as eradicating your soul would be a waste of time. You serve a purpose for Lucifer and I allow you to exist because of that." 'But you seem to be misunderstanding something. I could walk right through you but I'll humor you by fighting you.' As the two voices began to scream, I could still hear the third angel's screams, I could still hear his screams through all of Cerberus' slobber and belching words. "Remember, you asked for this."
As the dog began to bite down hard on my body, his teeth began to chip. It was then that the metal began to bend down on my black skin. As each bite began to rip his teeth apart, I began to walk closer and closer. Once his teeth broke, he began spewing hellfire. Once he realized the hell fire did nothing as it had glassed even the ground beneath my hooves, I just kicked the ground, breaking it. As I kept going, he used every manner of attack. From his claws that broke on my body to his rampant hits, each hit did not knock me off my balance, each hit might have well been a gentle breeze and all I could hear was him screaming expletives at me as I got closer and closer to the door.
As I began to turn, he began to ram me. He rammed me with his two heads first and one had hit its head so hard that it cracked open, the other one was in a daze as he was almost completely knocked out. I could see the hate on the right side while the left side was about ready to give up. The left side said, 'We could let him through. Why do we strain ourselves for this?' The right side said, 'Because every time we let him through, we suffer. Are you going soft or mad? We always suffer.' 'No, we don't suffer. The torment that we suffer is the loud cries of the tortured one whose name has been stripped from the history of God and everywhere.' 'Even God honors Lucifer's request from having this angel mentioned.'
"Everything is in God's plan. Even that Angel suffering is in God's plan.' "Did you really insinuate that those created beneath us were only done because Lucifer asked?" I looked at them both, asking curiously. 'No. We're not insinuating that.' "Listen here dogs. I was going to let you pass but unfortunately, you think my brother is some Golden child and that is simply not the truth." It's then that the cat begins to meow and that's when I said, "I think I have something special in mind for you." As I detach the cat's head from my body, I let it grow to the size of Cerberus. As the cat begins to rub against me, I put a mask over the empty spot where the cat used to be and as I rub its face, I say to them, "I was going to let you all go with just a simple warning to show you how pointless it was but because you all seem to be under different misconceptions, I think it's fair that I let you experience something new and here it is."
"Gigantic Panthera! This is a new species of lion born on the planet that I visited. This is an alpha female. They are two times larger than alpha males and surprise surprise, dogs are their natural enemy. Enjoy." I open the door to Hell up as I begin to make my way to all the crying lost souls, from the ninth circle of Hell all the way to the first, along the way demons knelt before me and some even snarled but they knew who was in charge here until there was one of the nine princes who decided to attack me.
'Michael, you will be struck down here and now!' I hear him yell. My patience had already dwindled from my mind after they made that arrogant assumption about Lucifer so before I could even do anything, I simply just ripped him in half. He wasn't even anyone worth noticing. "Hello, Lucifer. What are you about to do?" I say with a smile. Lucifer then looks at me with a smile and says, 'I'm about to stop someone from doing something stupid. You're way earlier than you should be.' It's then that I notice one of Lucifer's jewels is missing, I couldn't name it but I could tell it was missing as I say, "Where's your jewelry at?"
He looks and says, 'I've entrusted it to someone.' "You entrusted the omnicolor to him?" 'Yes," Lucifer says with a smile. "And you're about to go help him, aren't you?" 'Yes.' "Then allow me but tell me everything first." 'I'll tell you everything once you get back. Please just stop him from being an idiot.' "Fine. Anything for you, big brother." 'And stop calling me that, for the love of the creator.' "Fine. I'll deal with it but I want to ensure we'll be around each other. I want to ensure that we'll be talking soon." As I began to leave, I hug my brother and I call my lion back. As the lion comes, I see all manner of viscera, covering her body as she licks her face. 'What did you do?' "Nothing. I'm going to go help Apollos. I'll be right back."
"And that's why I'm here, Zamiel. I came to check on your little project." I say with a smile. 'I don't believe you,' She says, looking at me. "Well that's just too damn bad, isn't it?" 'You don't just help people out of the kindness of your heart.' "I'm not helping anyone, Zamiel. I'm just doing what I want when I want." 'Fine. It wasn't like he was going to be a source of entertainment at all.' I could hear the sarcasm in her voice as I say, "As I said, Zamiel you take too much pride and joy from someone who can't even fight you." 'Save that misplace of pride for someone else.' "You're right. I will so I'll just say this. Stop torturing him. He poses no threat to you." 'You're insinuating that he has been a threat to me since the beginning.'
"He doesn't threaten you, Zamiel. I know that but I will say this once and only once. The last angel who tried to trifle with mortals thinking they were fools is in Hell being ripped apart by Lucifer to serve as the poster boy for Hell for all of eternity. You can trifle with humanity. You can trifle with the mortals, hell you can strike them down but the second you try to make them a form of entertainment, you're done. Once you start tormenting them, you've already done too much. You should be more compassionate to someone who has shown you nothing but obedience since you've known him." It was then that a twisted smile came across her face as she said, 'And what right do you have to tell me what to do with my free will?'
End of Chapter: Conspiracies and Maybes