The boy lay on a giant, upraised pedestal - ripped, torn, beaten and broken, unmoving. His wings were tied down, as was the rest of him, by thorns and briars. Blood seeped from where the thorns cut into him and from wounds already inflicted.
There was no love lost between the Angels and demons.
From the door way all you could see was a tangle of wings and maybe a limb or two, lashed tight to the ground and broken where they wouldn't be tied. It looked like a damned angel.
It was.
Zelgadis didn't move. Broken bones screamed in agony at the slightest jolt, thorns pressed into his flesh and his head throbbed from cuts and bruises. But he didn't care.
She used me...
Zelgadis managed to look even more pathetic than he already did.
She didn't love me... She didn't feel anything...
He hadn't managed to get through to her heart. This wasn't an assignment to damn Gourry, it had been to damn Zelgadis. And he'd fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.
Literally. Zelgadis let out a moan of pure pain.
It wasn't because of his wounds.
"Angel, angel! How does it feel to be thrown down with us?" Something smashed against a wing with a sharp crack, eliciting a scream from Zelgadis' already abused throat.
"High and mighty, thrown among the damned. How do YOU like it?" Zelgadis eyesigh tured to brilliant flashes and pain blossomed anew in his skull.
"Stop," He managed hoarsely. "Please, stop..."
"Poor Angel," Crooned a voice. Zelgadis recognized it after a moment.
Naga,
"All alone. Your lady love leave you?" She laughed. "It was your own fault, fool. For ever thinking that a demon could love."
Zelgadis moaned in agony.
"You are a fool, and you earned all of this."
"Naga." Zelgaids head snapped u at the voice, then sank back to the stone as pain exploded inside of it.
"Lina? What do you want?"
"He's mine, Naga. You, Phibrizzo and Garvv get out."
"Lina - "
"It's mine alone. Allow me to torture him by myself."
"...of course, Lina-san." Zelgadis heard footsteps leaving and a door close.
I wish I was dead...
Naga stepped outside and shut the door. This didn't seem right...
Naga headed to report to Lina's superiors.
Zelgadis braced himself. Whatever she was planing, it wouldn't be pleasant.
"Zelgadis, I - "
"Don't speak to me Lina. Hurt me all you want, Just please... don't mock me..." He managed. His throat hurt with every breath, speaking was even worse. All he wanted was to die right then, leave the pain, hurt and betrayal all behind him...
He felt his bonds loosen and come loose. What...
He was lifted, slowly, carefully, wings pulled gently into place and bound to something stiff.
Zelgadis couldn't bite back the scream of pain at the bones were pulled back into place, but he settled for whimpers of pain as they were tied to the splints. "What are you - " he started, voice cracking.
Lina's fingers on his lips silenced him. "Shhhh, don't speak. Your poor throat..." She touched his face and he tried not to wince back. "Oh, Zelgadis... Why did you do this for me?"
He looked at her with blue, confused eyes. "I thought..."
"No you didn't. I'm getting you out of here. Hold on..." Lina hefted him over her shoulder, and he had to clench his teeth to keep from screaming. "By now Naga's run off and told dear Beelzebub... and they will be coming down the hall in five... four... three... two..."
There was an explosion that nearly tossed both of them to the floor again. Three more followed.
She grinned. "I love explosives. That should hold them with the chaos for a while." She lifted him and stood. If Zelgadis could think about anything but the pain, he would have marveled at how strong she was for her size.
"And We're off!" Lina opened the door and dashed by the smoking ruins of the hallway, racing down the now slightly broken streets of Hell.
Lina managed to get Zel out of Hell. Gee, sounds poetic, doesn't it? It looses the romantic quality when you stop to remember that Zelgadis is dripping with blood, has a broken everything, and is currently pretty close to kicking the bucket. Lina was panicking.
Think, Lina, Think!! You HAVE to get him through this!! "Heaven.. would have healers, right?"
"They don't exactly" Zelgadis interrupted himself with a hiss of agony, "...Give out free passes to demons, Lina..."
"I don't care if they do. There's gotta be a manual way, a back entrance or something." Lina racked her brains for something that would help.
"There's always... the Stairway to heaven..." Lina couldn't see his face, but he sounded very reluctant. "But it's..."
"Where is it." It wasn't a question, it was a demand.
"It isn't a very good - "
"Where is it."
Zelgadis sighed and his muscles tensed from pain. "It's by the... Saint Peter's Church..."
Lina stared at the rundown, dilapidated old church. The weeds were choking everything, the grass had overrun the steps, and the entire building looked as though it would fall over at the slightest sigh. Lina looked at it skeptically. This is where they put the stairway to heaven?
"It was one of... the few saints whom God actually spoke to," Zelgadis managed. "but no one believed him... his stories weren't fantastical enough. So his church is mostly deserted - " Zel cut off and started shaking with coughs. Lina saw blood fall to the ground. We have got to get you up there fast....
"You're... not going to get up there... especially carrying me," Zelgadis said hoarsely. "It's - "
"Just shut up, will you? How dare you doubt what I can do!" Lina snapped, irate. "Where is it?"
"eryoo fa moranica..." Zelgadis whispered.
The were beautiful, steps of shimmering glass rose in a semblance of melting backwards. Glittering in the twilight, it was one of the single most beautiful things Lina had ever seen. Simply looking brought tears to her eyes, and made her feel ugly, so ugly...
"It won't work, Lina. You're not supposed to go up those stairs."
Lina snorted, shaking off the feeling. "You weren't supposed to sleep with me, either. Shut up and don't mess up my balance, that thin has no rails." With Zelgadis on her back, she couldn't spread her wings, but she had the feeling one couldn't fly up to heaven either. If you could, what would be the point? But if she fell, it was lights out for both of them.
Lina put her weight on the first step.
Crrack...Lina looked down to see a spiderweb of cracks spreading out from under her boot. Oh damn. Damn damn damn damn damn... The longer she stood there, the deeper and less stable the cracks got. Wonderful. She wouldn't be able to stop at all on the entire walk. Lina grabbed her courage by the neck and started up the steps.
The first few flights were easy. The next ten or so were tougher. Twenty more and it was getting hard. Fifty...seventy... one hundred... two hundred... Lina started to loose count. All she could think about was the top. Keep your eyes on the top. On the top. The top. Top...
"Lina, STOP! You're going to kill your...self..."Zelgadis started coughing again, followed by gasps of pure agony. Not exactly the best way to get her to go back.
The... top...
Lina's legs burned, her feet ached, and her back screamed in protest to carrying an angel all this way. Lina just wanted to sit... down...
Lina paused for too long.
CraccckCRASH! Lina screamed as her foot went through the glass in the step and ripped her boot to shreds. She yanked it out before the other foot could break through and hurried forward. I can't stop, I can't stop, got to keep going...
Lina stumbled to the second to last archway. Zelgadis had lost conciousness a while ago. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Years? Lina couldn't tell. All she could see was the step in front of her. But the gates... She could see the gleaming gates ahead. So that's what they look like... I actually get to see them... her feet were sliced to shreds, her legs were full of gashes to her upper thigh, and her hands had cuts from catching herself. She felt like she had been trampled by the 49ers twenty thousand times over hot coals wearing cleats, and then hung up to air dry by spikes. But it was right there, Zelgadis was almost safe, almost healed...
Lina walked into the archway and -
"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!"
Pain, pain, pain, pain, AGONY pain, pain, pain...Part of her mind registered that it was a barrier, but all the rest of her knew was that it HURT, it hurt like nothing in her life had ever hurt her before and -
Xellos, twisting out her heart and betraying her...
Zelgadis, dead on the steps and so, so close...
"NO!"
Cr-crrrrssssshhhhhh...
Lina pushed through the barrier, straining every muscle and ignoring the screams of agony from every atom of her being... Zelgadis slid further down her back, nearly falling back...
I have to get THROUGH!!! Lina shifted him until he lay in her arms as if carrying him over the threshold, Dragging her feet forward. Last arch... then one more flight of stairs to heaven...
The pain from the first one was a paradise. Lina wanted to disappear, wanted to curl up and die, it hurt, it hurt, it...
Zelgadis is DYING!!!!
Cr-crrrssssshhhhhhh...
Last...barrier... Lina staggered up the last step, pushing through the last stretch to the gates, throwing her broken body against them and finally collapsing, spilling her precious burden onto the floor next to her...
Zelgadis eyes fluttered and he woke. "Lina...Lina, you..." He managed a soft smile.
Lina smiled as angels rushed in, milling about and not coming too close. Soon she'd be taken away, but... "It was worth everything, Zel. Everything."
"What?"
"I love you." She managed, before something fell on her shoulder.
No driving force now, no reason to fight. The pain overtook her and she lapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 9 | Fanfiction