“Seal it back and keep them out!” I shout heavenward.
The ground thunders under my feet as light flashes all around me, and my heart hammers in my chest when I look back, seeing the quad’s eyes widening as they try to leap toward me.
They crash into the transparent barrier, as the wind around me stirs violently, the ashes skittering and clanking across the ground like shards of broken glance.
I glance back, staring across the hundred feet of distance, seeing a shadow rising as all the ashes start piling on top of each other and spilling off, turning to liquid that sloshes and wiggles.
“Oh my damn,” I say on a broken whisper.
Barely able to hear their shouts over the relentless whirring of the wind, clattering glass, and sloshing liquid that’s all growing into hurricane’s roar, I look back at all of them.
I see the panicked look in their eyes as they pound the edge of the angelic barrier, heaven straining to keep us sealed inside, unable to let my horsemen in at this crucial moment.
Mario Brothers keeps playing, even as I see the second level of Bowser. Even though the third kill should be the hardest, I only ever struggled with the second one every time I played. The third seemed easy enough…
“If it’s not enough, I want you to seal them out.”
My conversation with Rafael starts playing in my head, as tears leak from my eyes. I can’t make the tears stop as I put my hand on the barrier, watching the guys as Gage and Jude try slicing through a cage not even that thing could break through.
“If I have to flip my trigger, and it’s not enough, you open the cage,” I told Rafael.
“Are you out of your mind? If you don’t kill him, he’ll—”
“If I flip my trigger, I’ll die and possibly shatter the cage anyways. The guys will then lose their shit, just as I did that day Lucifer tricked me into believing Ezekiel had been killed.”
I remember the look in Rafael’s eyes, as that stupid song plays on a loop, Mario prompting me to tackle the second level-up of the boss.
“If I don’t kill him, the secondary trigger surely will. Paca didn’t do all this for nothing. Maybe it’ll even be overkill, but better safe than sorry. Regardless, they’ll flip their switch, unable to stop themselves, because I know that sense of powerlessness, and they were born of Wrath’s love. Let them at least feel like they took out the thing I gave my life to weaken.”
It’s like I knew without knowing what had to be done.
As a tear escapes Ezekiel’s eyes, and Kai loses his shit, thrashing his body against the barrier like it’ll yield, I whisper, “I’m so sorry.”
Their lips move frantically, but the noise behind me drowns out any other sound, as Jahl continues to regather itself.
“Paca!” Kai shouts, his shout barely overriding the storm.
“No,” Jude yells so loud I manage to hear. “Don’t you fucking dare. Get us in there now!”
A single tear slides down my cheek, and I give him a tight smile. “Don’t be such a dick in the next life, Tin Man. I’m sure I’ll be back.”
Then my gaze flicks to the rest of them, seeing the terror and panic in all their eyes. “And don’t hold out so long on the next Ghost Girl. I never gave up my love for you, so I’ll find you, even if I don’t remember you,” I say as I turn around.
It’s almost impossible not to look back when I hear the pain and desperation in their shouts. Another tear burns against my cheek when I hear the rawness in their voices that devolves into frenzied begging.
“So this was really your plan all along and not just my backup plan, huh, Paca?” I ask as I choke back the emotions, steeling myself as I face the chaotic shadow that is still growing. “You really were a cruel bitch, but I guess I love them just as much as you fucking did.”
I take a few beats to click my heels together, but Dorothy is just one more agonizing disappointment from the movies. I suppose it’s for the best. This thing would be knocking on the door in no time.
“A little mood music would be nice!” I call up to the dove that’s hovering overhead, even as the crow sits perched and shakes its head.
Blaze of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi starts blaring overhead right at the chorus.
I let out a weary sigh. “You pick now to have a sense of humor? You know I hate irony!”
The music just gets louder, and I curse the angel who has the audacity to call me evil.
I take a few steps, staring over the amassing blubber.
“I think someone forgot to tell you my fucking name!” I call up to it.
My heart tears into four pieces, as I keep my eyes trained on the growing blob that is still being formed, all the pieces slowly melting to join it.
It’s so loud that it feels like I’m stuck in the middle of a vacuum tunnel as the wind whips my face with dust that feels more like razors.
Indulging in that one brief second where all I can hear is the sound of my heartbeat speeding up, as the selflessly selfish decision is made, I release one last breath of resignation, and I swallow down any lingering hesitation. Shaking out the last of my nerves, I watch the center that wobbles with a weakness.
This isn’t a video game. I just have to take him down so far that the third resurrection isn’t as powerful.
That’s why she put the secondary trigger in them. My backup plan was her finalized plan.
“Let’s hope we’re right,” I whisper to the ghost I’ll be joining soon.
Staring at the distance between me and final destination, I dig my feet in, stop thinking, and charge headfirst toward the belly of the beast, as the wind tries its damnedest to knock me off my feet.
My skin starts burning like acid is tearing me apart, slicing me through me and unleashing excruciating pain as I race faster, blocking out the violent lashes it continuously hits me with.
The center of it groans when I don’t stop, the sound vibrating and hitting like a hammer to my chest as I fight for every bit of progress.
A cry is ripped from my throat, when flames too hot for even me to bear, erupt across my arms and legs, burning inwardly. But I fight through it, even as tears are stripped from my eyes.
Just as I’m ten feet away, I summon all my strength, pulling it to my chest, trusting that intuition I left myself with once upon a lifetime ago.
The center of the shadow goo wobbles harder, and the pressure of the burns intensify, but I don’t stop.
Putting my head down, I face the beast like I once faced life.
Fearlessly.
Power pulses as I turn myself over completely, becoming the weapon I was designed to be, even as the searing pain drags my last scream out of me.
Gritting my teeth, I take one last breath before it all turns white, and whisper, “Welcome to The Apocalypse, bitch.”
Chapter 33
EZEKIEL
“Paca, no!” we all shout as one, helplessly stuck against the proverbial glass wall separating us from her as she visibly takes a breath and runs headlong into the dark holds of Jahl.
Blaze of Glory blares over our heads, overriding our shouts, as she charges ahead, never looking back, even as my heart damn near crashes through the motherfucking barrier to chase after.
It’s all dark shadows and black liquid, a piling assembly with no form or shape—just a surrounding presence that nearly fills in the entire cage directly after she disappears into the thickest part of it.
“No! No! No!” I shout, bashing my fists against the barrier again.
A spark of light from the center starts so small, but it quickly grows with very little build, exploding outward until the light turns into a blinding flash.
All the sound is gone, the song cutting out just as abruptly, and for a minute, our feet leave the ground as we float into the air, eyes widening on the light so bright it finally burns the eyes.
Our bodies float higher, as the deafening silence drones on, and suddenly the entire world around us quakes. A thunderous roar drums so hard and so suddenly at us, that I feel one side of my ear burst, painfully exploding inside my skull, as my entire body is rocked and blown back.
The heat sprays over me, as I drop to the ground below, rolling across it and bouncing roughly across the surface I skip over like a poorly tossed stone.
I’m barely able to crack an eye open to see the nearly white light still streaking across the top of us, obliterating everything in its immediate path, as the last of the cage is presumably destroyed.
The light stretches on for as far as I can see, taking with it anything not on the ground like the four of us.
It’s missing us by inches.
I try to stand up, but the pressure leaking off that blare of light is so strong it forces me back to my stomach, even as I cry out, desperately trying to crawl or move.
Tears leak down my face, burning against my skin, as I choke back the next cry.
Gage yells for Paca, panic flowing out of him, as the light shuts off as suddenly as it all started, and we all scramble to our feet.
I sway, unsteady, my ears ringing, as the scent of fire and brimstone rule the air. Ashes rain on endlessly, forcing me to wipe my face as I stagger and sway.
Something wet drips to my hand, and I glance down, seeing the soot and blood staining my hands.
My lips move, but no words come out, as my eyes burn more and more, the panic in my chest doubling and crushing down on me like a relentless weight.
That cruel fucking girl did it to us again. She did it to us a-fucking-gain.
Kai drops to the ground on his knees when we finally make it to the place where she disappeared, finding the melted remnants of her crown.
With shaking hands, Jude lifts it, falling sideways and landing on his ass, as he fights with all his strength not to let the tears fall.
The sound is distant, even if it should be coming from right beside me. I can hear the muffled pieces of Kai’s roar, his head tipped back, eyes screwed shut, as he yells at nothing and everything.
I fight the battle of not doing the same thing, even as he drops to his hands and knees, his entire body shaking as he pounds the ground twice with his fists.
Gage is clutching ashes in his hand, staring blankly ahead as his lips just barely part, even as he visibly swallows over and over.
Jude grips both sides of his head, his scythe clanging against the ground as he stares with wide, disbelieving eyes, lost to shock and struggling for composure.
The sound trickles back in, Kai’s yells getting louder and more distinct.
“She can’t,” Gage starts, forced to swallow back his own emotion when his voice cracks. “She can’t be gone,” he says on another choked sound that grows clearer and clearer to my ears.
I stagger up to my feet, feeling my blood start to boil as the tears leak. The anger rises, and my body shakes with the growing rage.
The ashes slowly start trying to settle in.
No.
They can’t possibly be trying to reform.
No.
It’s so slow that it’s fucking with my head, because seeing is believing, but it couldn’t have survived that. Not if she didn’t.