Alex had spent the rest of the morning, as he had promised a pissed off Fuzzie, in bed, talking and laughing with Samantha, enjoying their time together. And being fuzzed over by Fuzzie at regular intervals. The Goddess entered the room just as Samantha was squealing at a story about one of his bad-boy pranks. Hearing her daughter laugh like that, a warm smile appeared on her face.
"Hello Samantha dear, hello Alexander."
Sam had jumped up straight to give her mother a kiss and Alexander tried to get out of bed for the Goddess.
"Oh no none of that, you stay put!"
Samantha said with a stern tone. He fell back down and mumbled softly:
"Jeez, not even married yet, and already she bosses me around..."
He only noticed that he had spoken aloud when he saw that Samantha had turned completely red and then he turned red as well. The Goddess seemed to ignore this as she spoke:
"Alexander, we realized yesterday that we owe you an apology..."
He interrupted her:
"Ma'am, it is I who should apologize. What I threw at your head in your house yesterday was totally unjustified."
"What do you mean, Alex?"
"It was a knee-jerk reaction Ma'am and I need to learn to control my temper. Because of everything Aisha shot into my brain, it was way too much and I was incredibly angry. I needed time to think. That is also why I reacted from the point of view of my universe. My universe is about to be destroyed by this old lunatic, and I seem to be the only one who can stop it, so I am important to them. You and your husband made a decision that you thought was in the best interest of your universe. That is your job, to put the interest of your universe above all else. I am the one with one foot in both universes and in my anger, I put the interest of my universe ahead of the interest of your universe. Therefore, Milady, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies."
She shook her head slowly and said quietly:
"The more I see of you, Alexander, the more certain I become that Michael is right. That his frustration and anger are completely justified."
She walked over to him and took his hand:
"Even if our decision was the right one for us, it was completely unfair to you, my boy. Robert and I are so very sorry."
She kissed him on the forehead and he immediately got tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat. The Goddess noticed immediately that he reacted immensely to a little affection. She had received a deep stab to her mother's heart to see how this boy reacted so immensely to a little affection. A feeling reinforced by the knowledge that she was partly to blame for this because of her decision. She decided to let it go for a moment. It would come out on its own. Then she asked:
"Now that I think about it, what do you think I should do about Michael? Should I send out a message with him to calm things down a bit?"
"You ask my opinion, Ma'am?"
She nodded.
"I wouldn't. Michael is a hard-boiled egg and will hold on to his anger for some time. That anger will eventually die off. If you force him to send a message now that he doesn't support anyway, it will only increase his frustration. I also think it would be good for Samantha to get some peace and not feel Samuel's shadow over her all the time.
"But there is another reason?"
The goddess asked, her eyes preening.
"Not so much a reason, I see it more as a bonus if Samael gets a little riled up a bit at the same time."
Alex replied with his smirk around his mouth.
"You are quite a devious young man."
"Ma'am, of course, I am, after all, I am the devil's son."
With that, both mother and daughter laughed. The goddess was on her way out of the room when she suddenly said:
"Samantha, your father and I have absolutely nothing against you and Alexander becoming a couple. However, there are two things, and they apply to both of you. First, take things slowly, enjoy your youth, and don't rush into adulthood. No one is going to control you, including Samael, I will make sure of that because we have faith in you, but please don't do things that you are too young or not ready for. And secondly, be aware that there may not be a happy ending to your story.
She already had the doorknob in her hand:
"Ma'am..."
She looked at him and saw how seriously he looked at her.
"First, I would like to thank you for your trust in us and assure you that this trust will not be violated. Secondly, nothing is impossible, nothing. I refuse to assume that something is impossible because that opens the door to failure. After all, you started something on the premise that you could fail. I don't have that luxury. I cannot begin this preparation with the option of failing and letting down billions of souls in the back of my mind. More importantly, I don't want to disappoint Samantha, so my only alternative is to clean up this whole clusterfuck and find a way for us to have a happy ending."
She nodded briefly and said:
"Yes, I believe you will do exactly what you set out to do."
A broad smile appeared on the goddess' face:
"Fuzzie has already informed me that you are beginning to make a habit of doing the impossible."
"I aim to please, Ma'am."
She shook her head:
"Oh boy, you and Robert are going to be such good friends."
And with those words she left the room.
Samantha sat down on the bed next to him:
"Now that Mom and Dad have no problem with us being together, I think we should be together."
"Red, I have absolutely no idea how being a boyfriend works, but I know that I really want you to be my girlfriend."
"I like the sound of that, boyfriend and girlfriend."
The next thing Alexander realized was that she had kissed his lips softly and it seemed that his heart was racing.
The next morning he felt much better. He had gone outside to smoke a cigarette, manifested his wings a few times, and made them disappear again. It still hurt like hell and sucked all the energy out of him. He had sat down on his bench. To enjoy the early sunlight on his face. Something he had already enjoyed on Earth. A thought flashed through his mind:
"Enjoying the sunlight, son of the Lightbringer, yes, that explains a few things."
The night before he had asked Fuzzie if he could deliver a message to Lord Robert, the answer was that he would come by in the morning. The God, Michael, and Samantha appeared together in the garden; Alexander made a painful attempt to stand upright before the God, but the God motioned for him to remain seated. Samantha rushed over to Alexander and planted a chaste kiss on his lips for the first time under the watchful eyes of her father and Michael. God came and sat down beside him on the bench while Michael remained standing facing him. He received a few gentle pats on his thigh from the God who said:
"I really should play the overprotective and concerned father and make a speech now about honoring and treating my daughter with respect and what I could do to you if you hurt her. But we all know that would be a waste of time because it will never occur to you to treat her in any other way than respectfully and lovingly. If you do, I will unleash the wrath of hell on you, Alexander."
"If it were otherwise, my lord, I would expect nothing less."
"Brother, you are something else, God threatens you with the fury of Hell and you don't even blink."
Michael said, looking at him proudly along with God.
"You asked for me Alexander, what can I do for you?"
"He..."
And he pointed at Michael:
"Must teach me how to use my wings for trans-location. Then I need access to Hell, along with Samantha, the best weapon-smith Hell has to offer, and I need a demon to help Michael prepare me."
"The demon I understand. Being trained by both an Archangel and a Demon will indeed give you an advantage in the other universe. Michael told me about your dilemma with the flaming sword and that you want to make a new one. But that new one will have the same problem that it may not work in your universe because I have to put some of my essence into it to make a sword a flaming sword. Samantha's presence, however, I cannot place at all."
"My Lord..."
"Please call me Robert, this is not an official meeting. This is a family trying to help family."
"Okay Robert, the connection with Aisha has fired so much information into my brain that I am still working to process it and it will take a long time to process it all. It's like I have to process all the data on a supercomputer with a Windows 93 machine. But there's stuff in there that I don't think she knows exists or is useful. When I think of a problem, the pieces fall into place. You don't need to make a new flaming sword, Robert. Samantha and I have to. A sword anchored in two universes. A sword anchored in your Heaven and driven by love."
He pointed at Samantha and then at himself:
"And a sword anchored in my Hell and driven by seeing justice, freedom and safety done. This sword is the first piece of the puzzle in the two goals I have set for myself. First and foremost, to find a way to be with Samantha, and secondly, to solve the clusterfuck in my universe."
The God thought for a moment:
"Alex, I have no idea how this is going to work. Michael and I have tried to make a flaming sword in a different way a few times in the past out of curiosity. But it never worked because Salome's or my essence was not woven into it."
"Nothing is impossible Robert, nothing."
Samantha, who had already heard Alex say this a few times, had to giggle.
"Young lady, you seem to know more than your poor father. Would you like to shed some light?"
"Sorry, Daddy, but every time Alex says that, things happen that we think are impossible. First, he could manifest things a few minutes after he first saw it, without any training or anything. Then his wings, which Fuzzie said would take at least two more years. It hurt him and I didn't like to see it, but Micky told me why."
"Fuzzie?"
Her father looked at her, not understanding, and Michael was already laughing quietly.
"Raphael Dad, Alex gave him a new nickname and he seems to like it a lot more than Raffa so he wants to be called Fuzzie."
The god shook his head:
"Raphael...Fuzzie.... I will be damned...So the growler of the family has fallen for a fluffy pet name given by a child?"
God laughed out loud:
"Your mother hadn't told me that nugget yet, and now I understand why. This is too good to be true."
"Dad, I know that look in your eyes, leave poor Fuzzie alone, don't tease him."
"But honey, what are you looking at your daddy for, I wouldn't dare."
And now it was Michael who was laughing hard, while God had a smile on his face, as if he were the cat who had just caught the canary. When Michael had calmed down, Robert asked:
"Can you describe the characteristics of what you would need in a Demon?"
"Female. I can read men's body language, learned in a not-so-pleasant way, but not women's. It's a risk I don't want to take, because the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that any small mistake could be fatal for the whole mission. Having a woman at my side who can watch out for the dangers that women might pose seems extremely valuable to me, and she can also teach me what things to watch out for. Women are still underestimated by far, so having someone who can keep a low profile can be invaluable. Smart, calculated, someone who doesn't let her emotions get the better of her when a situation becomes potentially explosive. Loyal to a cause. Combat expert, because I want both sides to be taught by her and Michael. Angels and Demons fight very differently. And very importantly, she must be able to move among the people of Earth without attracting unwanted attention. So not for her own amusement, scaring little children for example. And most of all, she must be willing to join in this adventure, no matter how crazy it gets."
A smile appeared around the god's mouth:
"I think I know the perfect demon for you, Alexander."
Michael slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand:
"Dad, no, not her! Heaven hasn't quite recovered from her last stay and you want to bring her back already? Please Father, you know I love her like a sister. But this is the sister who wants to stir things up and tear down the city just for fun!"
The mischievous lights had come on in Alex and Samantha's eyes, but for very different reasons. Alex said:
"Robert, your demon must be good if even Michael gets nervous just looking at the prospect. Oh, please tell us about her."
Instead of God, it was Samantha who replied cheerfully:
"Dad means Celine. She was my nanny until I was twelve, she still visits me regularly, and she is special."
Michael looked at her in surprise:
"Special? You call Celine special? She wanted to introduce fucking gladiator fights where Angels and Demons could fight each other as a pastime? You call THAT Celine special?"
"I can't wait to meet her!"
Alexander said, and now the three of them were sitting on the bench, smiling as if they had just swallowed a canary.
"Well, that's settled then."
God said and stood up:
"I'll arrange for Celine to return to heaven. I'll see you later Alexander."
Alexander and Michael had been discussing strategy for hours.
"Damn Michael, this makes no sense. Come on I'm going to smoke a cigarette."
Michael asked outside on the bench:
"Why doesn't this make sense little brother?"
"Because we are talking about a strategy based on the Angels and Demons in your universe. Although the Earth in this universe is about the same as the Earth in my universe, there is a significant difference in how that heaven works, not to mention the gigantic difference in the two realms of Hell. The pure fundamental difference? The Angels in my universe can't help but be afraid of this old lunatic, which makes their behavior completely unpredictable. My father's misbehavior because of his hatred for Heaven has prevented the Demons from evolving, so their first instinctive reaction will be violence. Whatever you can teach me about the warriors of Heaven, and whatever Celine can teach me about the warriors of Hell, will be of no use to me when I'm confronted with them in the other universe, because they're just too different."
Suddenly they heard a female voice:
"Then get intel."
Michael groaned as he looked up, but remained polite and even had a soft smile, stood up and held out his hand:
"Celine, welcome back."
She said with a mischievous smile:
"Thank you, Michael, I heard from the King that you are still not happy with me willing to offer our little Hellions a live-action version of Gladiator?"
"Celine, please don't corrupt Casiel any more than you already have, and don't break heaven this time."
Alex had straightened up and held out his hand:
"Hello, I am Alexander."
"I know."
She shook his hand tightly for a moment:
"If you hurt my little girl, it makes no difference to me who or what you are, little Prince of Hell. I will not hurt you; I will simply exterminate you, no matter what my king says! Cool?"
"I would expect nothing less from you, Celine, nothing less."
She felt that he meant what he said. She took him in and saw that he would grow up to be an extremely attractive man, but it was the eyes that impressed her the most. She could already see that there was a damned mental strength and authority behind those eyes. He liked what he saw. He estimated her to be somewhere in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, of Asian descent, tightly dressed in leather but not overly provocative, very fit, and a deadly serious look.
"I pretty much know what to do. I don't give a fuck about your universe, Alexander, because I didn't even know it existed. However, my King has ordered me to help you with everything I have because he seems to like you and my little Samantha especially likes you and she believes in you."
She held out her hand:
"Are you willing to be completely open with me, to show me everything, and have no secrets from me?"
"You want me to give you a hand so you can link with me?"
She just nodded. Without blinking, he took her hand. Michael watched as her face grew harder and harder until she finally tried to pull away, pale as death. Alexander, however, did not let go of her hand. In fact, he pulled her a little closer, looked Celine dead in the eye, and said:
"No secrets to have, Celine."
He sat back on the bench and manifested two seats across from him:
"I don't care if you sit or stand, but I don't look left or right on this bench anymore because it gives me a knot in my neck. What did you mean by intel Celine?"
The Angel and the Demon had taken their seats:
"You have to prepare for a fight with your enemy, but you know almost nothing about that enemy. This is a deadly situation, and Michael knows it too. Never go into a fight unprepared, and if possible, dictate your terms for going into the fight. What you need to help you prepare is information. Everything you can find out about your enemy and the situation on the ground. With that, you can paint a picture of who to avoid and who you can trust."
Alexander was lost in thought until he heard Samantha scream, hellfire igniting in his eyes and he jumped to his feet. To his relief, Samantha's scream was one of pure joy at being reunited with Celine. It could not have escaped Michael and Celine's notice that he had jumped into a more than protective posture at the sound of the scream, regardless of the pain he still had to feel. They might have been opposite beings, Angel and Demon, but they both knew now that if he was around and someone harmed Samantha, there would be nothing but pain and misery in that person's future. When Sam was snuggled up with Celine, she came and sat down next to Alexander, gave him a soft kiss and took his hand firmly.
"How do we get this information?"
He asked and Celine asked instead of answering:
"How did you get here?"
His eyes got wide and it looked like a 1000-watt light bulb had gone on in his head.
"Of course! If I was born in another universe but grew up here, then there must be a way to travel between the two universes without the Gods having to intervene or even know. Godfry in the other universe knew nothing, the Gods here knew nothing, and Aisha and Franklin knew nothing until it happened. We need our own James Bond. Wait, no, not a James Bond that's too flashy. A ghost, invisible, who does nothing but absorb information and spit it back out here."
He jumped to his feet to go back inside, didn't let go of Samantha's hand for a second, and called out:
"Fuzzie!"
"Oh dear, what now? What is it now Alex?"
"No worries Fuzzie, nothing to worry about. Do you have an empty meeting room here or a room we can empty?"
He looked at Alexander without understanding but pointed to a door:
"That room over there, we haven't used it for a long time. It used to be a meeting room, but we had a more comfortable one built."
Alex practically slammed the door open, looked around, and said with a smile:
"This will do just fine!"
He closed his eyes and a conference table with twelve very comfortable chairs appeared. Along two of the walls appeared a series of whiteboards and a tray of markers of various colors. On the door, he had made a sign appear with the words "War Room" on it, just for fun. With Samantha still holding his hand, he stood at the head of the table. He placed his free hand briefly on the gleaming top of the walnut table and stroked it gently with his fingertips. The look in his eyes seemed to stare into nothingness for a moment. He took a few deep breaths before tapping the table hard with his knuckles, twice. That was the moment, as Michael would later tell and repeat many, many times to anyone who wanted to hear it, or even didn't want to hear it, that a boy of thirteen turned into a general, into the full-fledged prince he was. The change was immediately apparent when he sat down and said with authority in his voice. These were no longer ordinary words, these were orders, and the undertone was that they had better be obeyed:
"Sit down. I have a truckload of questions."
He manifested a notebook and pen for himself and asked his Samantha if she wanted tea. She nodded eagerly, waiting anxiously for what was to follow. Alex manifested a jug of tea and a cup for her, and his usual large glass of tomato juice, but this time with vodka. He caught sight of Raphael standing by the door, watching what was going on:
"Fuzzie, you are always welcome to join my friend, perhaps your insight as a healer could help me with some things."
"Fuzzie?"
Celine asked Michael quietly with a frown on her forehead. He could only nod, trying his best not to burst out laughing again.
"Coincidentally, I'm going to shoot my first question at you. How is the metabolism here in heaven?"
He pointed to his glass:
"I mean, is one more or less sensitive to alcohol here?"
"That depends, Alex. A normal human soul is about as sensitive as on Earth. Angels and demons are a different story. Angels have to consume obscene amounts to get drunk. A buzz is possible, but has to be maintained because we process alcohol very quickly. Most Demons are somewhere in between. There are exceptions, like Celine, who is on the same level as Angels. But drinking a few glasses at a normal pace will give you a slight buzz, and otherwise isn't much different than a soft drink on Earth.
"Well, I'm half human, half angel, so let's roll the dice and find out. It might take a while, so feel free to have some drinks yourself."
He took a big swig from his glass and lit a cigarette:
"Well, who can travel between universes? I suppose not all angels, otherwise you would have come into contact with other universes long ago, even if it was only through an Angel who "blasted" into the wrong universe out of curiosity."
"The messenger of God, Gabriel."
Michael replied:
"At least I suspect so. I never asked Gabriel, and in retrospect, I certainly should have done so thirteen years ago. It was your Gabriel who brought your soul into our universe.
"How do you call someone? I assume you don't walk around with a cell phone in your pocket."
Samantha giggled:
"No, we can pray directly to each other."
"So when I think of Gabriel, I can send a message?"
"We can, but unfortunately you cannot, Alex, you are from another universe and so your prayer would be addressed to the other Gabriel, but would not arrive."
"Okay, can someone ask Gabriel to join us?"
While waiting for the messenger to appear, Alexander stood in front of the whiteboards. On the first four he wrote in different colors, red for hostile, blue for friendly, black for neutral and green for trustworthy. Gabriel entered the room and looked around for a moment.
"You wanted to see me, Samantha?"
"Yes Gabe, Alex has some questions for you."
"I don't have time to answer questions from a newcomer, Sam. Ask Jophiel if she can babysit for a few days."
He started to turn around to leave, but turned deathly pale. Alexander was standing there looking at him with Hellfire in his eyes, and the sight was menacing, but his voice was icy cold, making the whole package even colder to the heart:
"Saint Gabriel, first of all, in a formal setting like this, perhaps not as regal as the palace you are used to working in, but formal nonetheless, that is not how you address your sister! You address her by her TITLE! Second, I'm not a newcomer, I'm not a kid who needs a babysitter. I may not be at home in this universe, but I am and will remain THE CROWN PRINCE OF HELL. So you will treat me with the respect that MY TITLE demands of you if you can't bring yourself to treat me like a person. If I have questions, you will answer them, DAMN IT! Do you have any objections? Well, here sits Michael the General, and if that isn't enough, perhaps I should ask your PRINCESS to call in the GOD'S so we can clarify a bit more?"
Gabriel had to swallow hard a few times. He had never received such a verbal thrashing before. First Michael pinned him against a wall, and now this thirteen-year-old was showing the same authority hidden in his voice as his father when he was angry. He wisely decided not to stir the hornet's nest he had fallen into any further.
"Milady, my apologies, Mylord, what can I do for you?"
The hellfire extinguished in Alexander's eyes:
"Sit down, Gabriel, and get yourself a drink. We are putting together a strategy to save the other universe. At least the beginning of a strategy. Certain Angels can travel between universes. It was the Gabriel of that universe that brought me here. Could you, as the Messenger of God, also communicate with their Gabriel?
"It has never happened, but in principle it should be possible."
"Also with other individual Angels?"
"No, only from messenger to messenger."
Alex sat down and played a little with his pen and shook his head.
"Is there a problem Alex?"
Michael asked.
"Yes, we know that Godfry..."
"Godfry?"
"Yes, that's what I call the old fool, because I can't get the title God past my lips for that bastard. We know he keeps a close eye on all his Angels. Yes, as proven in my case, they can sometimes escape his gaze for a very short time, but never for long. If we were to use their Gabriel as our ghost, he would have to be able to escape Godfry's gaze for hours, and that is simply impossible."
"You are thinking of the wrong angel, Alex, and we have Aisha and Franklin up our sleeves as aces."
Celine said dryly.
"Come again?"
Alexander said. Celine leaned forward, looked deep into his eyes, and said in a sultry tone:
"I would love to, darling, but my little Hellion might have something against that."
He turned as red as a tomato which made Samantha giggle. Celine leaned back in her seat and said:
"There are angels who spend part of their time hidden from the view of the throne of heaven, the Angels of death. From the moment they pick up a soul destined for Hell and appear in Hell's no-man's-land, they disappear from the sight of Heaven and this God. And as for time, Aisha and Franklin can give you all the time you want."
"Do you mean time travel?"
"Not really."
Celine walked over to an empty board and took out a marker. She drew two vertical lines with a circle in between:
"Time travel is much more problematic than thought, and in this case it wouldn't be useful. However, there is an intermediate solution. An Angel of Death leaves the other universe and enters a pocket dimension between the two universes. You, Alexander, leave this universe for the same pocket dimension, and now you both have all the time in the world to talk, because when you both leave, maybe a minute or even less has passed in your specific universes. Godfry never notices that his Angel has been gone for hours or even days, or however long."
She tossed the marker back into the tray, sat down and took a big sip of her rum.
"That's fucking brilliant!"
He took a sip and said:
"Gabriel, I would like to have a meeting with your parents and Aisha and Franklin here tomorrow after breakfast. Send them a message, please. Michael, Celine, how long do you think it will take to train me?"
"To get you ready to be a general and for what will probably be an epic battle in their Heaven? Fifteen, maybe twenty years."
"Well, this will be fun because you two have five years to finish it."
Before Michael could say anything, Alex stood up:
"Gabriel, Michael, Celine, Fuzzie, please join us. If Samael wishes to be present, he is more than welcome. Fuzzie, I will take advantage of your outstanding hospitality one last night, but then I will find another place to crash, friend."
He and Samantha left the small room, leaving three Angels and a Demon at the table.
"What the hell was that?"
Gabriel finally got out.
Michael looked him in the eye:
"That Gabriel was the birth of the downfall of a god!"