Apotheosis

Watson desperately placed his hands on Becca’s gaping wound in her gut. He thought perhaps that he could stop the bleeding and keep the beast from keeping its shape. One strange side effect of a Theo attempting to do this was that the final essence of Becca’s soul was kept from escaping her body. Lucifer didn’t have all the power, yet.

“It hurts...” Becca sighed, coughing up blood.

“I know, but at least you’re still alive,” Watson said. “You’re still not part of him.” He made sure not to stare too long at the creature. No matter how hideous the creature’s body was, it still had the face of a human being. A beautiful human being. And that’s what made it all the more dangerous. “Stay with me...”

“Hurts too much,” Becca whispered. “Let...let me die...”

“No, I can’t lose you,” Watson replied. “Not here, not now, and not to some idiotic ritual. I’d sooner join with the Dark Lord myself than to see you add to his power.”

“Please...” Becca groaned softly.

“I’m sorry, my dear. I’m so terribly sorry!” Watson said, his eyes desperate. He kept his hands on Becca’s wound, managing to stop the blood from flowing. “Remember what your great-grandparents said? They believe in you? I do, as well. I don’t want to see you dead!”

“What’s going on?” Harry shouted, feeling around the wall.

“He’s risen,” Hermione exclaimed, hoping that Harry wouldn’t notice the weeping that marked her voice. Ron still lay on the floor, unconscious and wounded. “I can’t look at it, Harry. It’s hideous, but I’m drawn to it nonetheless.”

“Like...Lockhart?” Ron coughed.

“Ron!” Hermione exclaimed. “You’re alive!”

“Yeah, you didn’t think a small wound like this was going to kill me, did you?” Ron asked.

“Oh, Ron! I’m so relieved!” Hermione sighed, tears running down her face.

Ron lifted his hand to wipe the tears away from Hermione’s cheeks. “I decided that I couldn’t leave you. Not yet, anyway.”

“All right, Ron?” Harry asked.

“I’m...pretty much...perforated with holes, but...I think I’ll pull through,” Ron said.

“Harry, I think you’re the only one who can stop the Beast,” Hermione said.

“Me?” Harry said.

“Him?” Ron asked at the same time.

“The Beast draws people in by looking at them. Once they lock gazes, that’s it. The Beast has them within its grasp. You can’t see it...” Hermione said.

“But I can feel it,” Harry finished.

“What?” Ron said, coughing a bit more.

“That thing has something of mine,” Harry frowned. “And I want it back.” He let his consciousness feel around for the scar, for that presence that had always been at the back of his mind but now wasn’t. He sensed it and made a run towards it.

“Well, well, now what do we have here?” Lucifer grunted. “A little man trying to defeat me?”

“Give it back,” Harry said, feeling around the area with his hands. “I need it back.”

“I’m afraid I cannot do that at the moment,” Lucifer replied, plucking Harry up easily with his right hand. “I think I shall crush you like a bug, hear your fleshy bones break, feel your blood drip through my fingers.”

“Big mistake,” Harry said, before plunging his forehead into Lucifer’s right palm, the palm which held his scar.

Once Harry touched Lucifer, he sensed all the victims’ pain and suffering. All of those people who died and whose souls did not reach the After, they must have been swallowed up by Lucifer instead, to prepare for his big arrival. And in the distance, he thought he felt something familiar. Claudius! He was there as well! The scar quivered and shook, sensing the presense of its orginal owner.

“No,” Lucifer said.

The scar leapt back from Lucifer’s palm to its rightful place on Harry’s forehead. Harry blinked and few times before shutting his eyes tightly. He had gotten his eyesight back.

“Thanks, I got what I came for,” Harry said.

“NO!” Lucifer roared. “I needed that power! That evil! To stay here...” He dropped Harry from his hand and began to melt. The flesh began to drip right off of the creature’s bones. The blood and souls of the innocent, without any real power to hold them together, began to flee from the evil thing that had imprisoned them for so long. The Theos could almost hear the souls shout with joy to be free.

Becca gasped fully awake and felt for her wound. All her hands encountered were Watson’s hands. “But, I was...”

“No, my dear. Not anymore,” Watson said.

“This isn’t over yet,” Lucifer said, now a mere skeleton of the frightening creature he took the form of in the mortal realm. “I still have something of one of your friends.”

“Claudius,” Harry muttered. “Release his soul.”

“No,” the skeleton said.

“Release his soul!” Harry bellowed, shooting a large blast of power at Lucifer.

Lucifer wobbled then broke apart. Bones flung every which way, some almost hitting the other Theos. “His soul, it’s quite interesting,” Lucifer, or more correctly, the skull of the creature, said. “It’s amazing that years and years of infamy didn’t faze it in the least. And his love of the mortals. So misguided, yet so fascinating.”

“Let him go, you monster!” Ron exclaimed, sending a power blast in Lucifer’s direction as well.

“Ron, save your strength!” shouted Hermione.

“Tell you what,” Lucifer said. “I shall never try something like this ever again, if you allow me to keep Claudius in Hell.”

“No deal!” Harry said. “I’m not about to keep him in your clutches.”

“Do it!” a voice exclaimed.

“Claudius? Where are you?” Watson looked around, trying to spot his old friend.

“Here...it’s dark...and cold...” the voice that belonged to Claudius said. “You know, it’s strange. They always said it’d be frightfully hot, but...it’s not.”

“Stay with us, Claudius,” Watson said.

“You know I can’t do that. If I stay in Hell, I can keep watch on him. Make sure he doesn’t do whatever he’s done again. At least not for a few more millenia,” Claudius said. “I must protect the mortal realm.”

“We’ll miss you,” Harry sighed. “But, if that’s what you really want...”

Claudius laughed. “What I really want is to sit in the Waldorf Astoria hotel, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. It’s not about what we want, Harry. It’s about what is best for others.”

“But, what about all the people who believe in you?” Hermione asked. “You’d give up your Theo-hood for something like this?”

“I’d be protecting the thing I love most,” Claudius explained. “I think that’d be enough solace for me.”

“Farewell, then. To all of you. Parting is such sweet, etcetera, etcetera. Come along, CLaudius,” Lucifer’s skull said, sinking directly into the center of the pentagram.

“Yes...Master,” Claudius answered.

“Claudius?” Harry called. “Claudius? Claudius?!”

“I think he’s gone, Harry,” Watson said.

“But that isn’t fair,” Ron said, his Theo power glowing through his fleshy body and healing it quite readily. “He’s only one Theo. He can’t possibly stop this from happening again.”

“We’ve got to trust him,” Watson said, helping Becca up. “And we’ve got to make sure he keeps Lucifer in check.”

“What’s going to happen now?” Becca asked. “To us? To everyone?”

“Well, I suspect that everything will go back where it was on Earth. People will try to explain it away with theories about natural disasters, or perhaps alien abductions,” Watson said. “I doubt everyone will know the absolute truth.”

“So, that’s it then? It’s over?” Ron asked.

“I don’t think this will ever be over,” Harry said. “As long as the After exists, this might happen again.”

“Yeah, but we’ll keep an eye out for it, and stop it again,” Ron grinned. “Won’t we?”

“Of course!” Hermione exclaimed. “We’re written to be heroes. It’s in our natures to help save the universe.”

Posted by Michelle at November 29, 2002 8:26 AM