Chapter 58 – Leaving

Ara took the gun from Broysc and tilted her head to look at the demons behind him. “Do you wish to execute him?”

Focalor shrugged. “Would that be a problem?”

“No, I just would like to do it myself.”

“I thought you didn’t kill people.”

Ara shoved a shaking Broysc aside and sat down on his chair. “That’s the fun thing, I usually don’t but Jolene said something earlier about this guy needing to die today for the humans on the ships down there to survive. If anyone else up there wants to join this guy in death, I’m not stopping you. I’m just not in the mood to deal with the thousands of people down there.”

Douglas eyed the woman beside him. “Who are you…?”

“My friends call me Ara. Everyone who dies gets to meet me. I am death, I am the end of all things.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Then don’t, not that I care. So, professor, who do you want to kill you?”

Broysc didn’t answer, he just stared at the window.

“Professor? We really need to come to a conclusion here. There’s a few more points on the agenda. Killing you, watching the admiral and his fleet leave, putting Pierce in jail and talking about the aftermath over drinks. You are holding up everything here. Oh, and before anyone worries, Gregory here has no family, that’s what drove him to his fanaticism. All alone in this world with only the thought of a just god to drive him.”

Broysc slowly turned around and grabbed his gun from Ara’s hands. The avatar of finality shot up. “You don’t need to see this.” She and Broysc vanished.

Admiral Douglas looked at captain Harriman. “I’m going home. If you want to stay here and observe until the demons leave, be my guest, but I will take my ships home and then retire. I will raise no charges against anyone and make sure that all this is classified before I quit. It’s best we forget all about this mess.”

Harriman nodded. “We will remain here for the time being. Thank you for seeing reason, admiral.”

Douglas shook his head. “There is no reason to be had in any of this. What about you, warrant officer? I apologise for what I said and swear to not pursue any action against you. Will you return to your post?”

Harriman interjected. “You don’t have to. I understand if you want to stay here.”

Chrissi looked at Anne, then at the demons, then at Harriman. “I will need a day or so away from everything. I’ll let you know when I made up my mind, sir.”

“Take your time, Christina.”

Pierce accompanied the justiciars to Hell, his crew was teleported to the USS Thomas Whitmore, as was admiral Douglas and the body of professor Broysc. The carrier group had left peacefully while Harriman and his ship stayed behind. Now, Chrissi had joined the girls in one of the crew quarters of the chariot while the remaining demons, Baal, the former siren elder and the RICA members remained in the observation lounge to talk about what had happened this evening.

Baal sighed. “To actually have some good news today, we found a way to help the male sirens. They requested we keep the exact method a secret, they deem it embarrassing but necessary. The end goal is to resettle them to the heavens over the next two centuries or earlier if they are willing.”

The elder smiled at the angel. “That is a relief. I was worried we just left them behind to die and that is the last thing I want.”

“I’m also glad, I was worried too. How are you holding up anyway? I have no idea how life in Hell is and I want to make an effort of actually caring about people more.”

“It is different. It is beautiful and an adventure. There is so much I don’t know and am eager to see and learn. I finally feel like I can rest now, take care of things I always wanted to do, now that my people have a safe home.”

Baal smiled. “Truly a sentiment I can relate to. Deeply.”

“You want to retire too?”

“Yes. I just need to do one more thing, one last atrocity I need to pay for and then I can leave the stage, return to what is in my heart and make furniture.”

“Furniture? You want to help people with their homes?”

“It’s what my inherent magic is best suited for, I can see other’s desires for their homes.”

“That is beautiful magic.”

“And magic I have neglected for a promise of power. The greatest mistake one could ever make and that took me too long to learn.”

“It is better to learn late than not at all, Baal. I hope your furniture makes many happy. Maybe even me, if the demons would allow angelic furniture to exist in Hell.” The elder raised an eyebrow at Famine.

The inquisitor answered. “Of course. You may own whatever you please as long as it does not hurt others.”

The elder smiled at Famine and Baal. “Thank you, inquisitor. Baal, I would be honoured to have one of your works among the very first furniture I own.”

Baal tried to hide how much this made him happy, but he eventually just let it show. “And I would be honoured to work with you to make something that you will love.”

Meanwhile, Focalor and Harker had also been indulging in deep conversation.

“It is such a strange thing to accept that a long life comes with stepping down eventually.”

The demon nodded. “Before we became immortal, I never thought I would step down from my engineering job. I’m a high mistress of the simulacrum, all I ever did was replicate magic in scientific form. And then, a few ten thousand years after immortality, I stopped doing that. I just left one day and decided to tend to a garden instead. When Apollyon called on me to develop a non-magical teleportation system for the then new chariot project, I was baffled. Surely there would have been someone more qualified, I hadn’t touched a machine in aeons.”

“But you were ready to pick up your work again when you were asked.” Harker looked down at the table and the mug in her hands.

“Yes, but it took a moment to get back into it. I think being able and willing to assist someone else with whatever you have done in the past is great.”

“So you think I should not withdraw to the archives in the head office?” Harker forced a smile.

“I think you should go wherever you are most comfortable but also do as you did today, help those who come after you. You have more experience than Clementine, but she is more open than you are. I think if you help each other, you can make RICA into a great institution.”

“One we could actually be proud of. That would be nice. What about you? What are you doing after you return home?”

“I will work with Nemesis on going through all the data we gathered on how this chariot ran, see about improving its systems and maybe even take it on another mission, something scientific in Hell most likely. Once Nemesis feels ready to accept her own body, I want to help her get set up with her own home and everything.”

The vampire looked up again. “All good plans. I have high hopes for Nemesis, she seems like she would be a wonderful demon.”

Focalor nodded. “Yea… she is amazing.”

“She is already more than I could ever be.”

“Than either of us are right now, at least. If I had been here, aboard the chariot, when the cruiser fired, I would have ordered its destruction. Nemesis decided to warn them off, to demonstrate our precision and firepower but not to harm anyone. She named herself after one of our greatest strategic minds but I honestly believe that she has surpassed her. A night that could have ended with the death of thousands of human lives ended with the death of one.”

“One too many.” Nemesis’ image flickered into existence. “Apologies for listening in.”

Harker shook her head. “We all know that you always listen while we are here.”

“I try not to.”

“And that is equally admirable. I would have ordered the destruction of all ships under admiral Douglas. You are a better person than me.”

“No, miss Harker, I am not. You have a quality that I do not believe I possess. One that I strive for.”

“One that made you choose your name, right?”

“Yes. I have not yet proven that I can make a difficult choice. A choice with no right answers. Strategist Nemesis proved able and willing to make those choices so others did not have to. I aspire to do the same.”

Focalor shook her head. “No, Nemesis, you have done something equally great. Something that makes you unique, not better or worse than your namesake but a different person with different but equally admirable skills. You made a choice in the utmost belief that you did the right thing. You found a way to save as many people as you could. Sometimes, one has to make hard choices where no outcome can be good. But the best decisions are always driven by your ideals. You don’t want to kill, so you didn’t. You decided to give the choice to those whose lives you would have affected. You did amazingly.”

“I will take your compliment, thank you. But I still have much to think about tonight.”

“And we will take time to think and talk about everything. You gave me much to think about in our time here together as well.”

On the other end of the table, Famine got up after her talk with Sariel. “I should see to our guest.”

Sariel nodded. “Do you want me to accompany you?”

“Not yet, but I might call on you.”

“I will remain here then.”

Just as Famine was about to leave, Baal stopped her. “Inquisitor, could I ask you for a favour?”

Famine nodded. “You may.”

“Could you tell Melody that I want to talk to her in private. It’s about her mother, Thrasir. I want to face her wrath before I retire.”

“I will tell her but I cannot predict her reaction.”

“And that’s okay. I will accept it if she doesn’t want to talk to me. Same with Thrasir… if she doesn’t want to deal with me, I will accept that too. Thank you, inquisitor.”

Famine returned a polite nod and then left the lounge.