<center>Darkness vs Freya vs Bleeder
TCW Commissioner Valerie Stern has removed both Darkness and Freya from the Majestic Cup tournament, naming them as troublemakers. She's promised a big surprise for the two of them at the PPV! The Internet rags are now in flames with comments about this revelation!</center>

His heels crunched against the fine grains as he walked slowly along the beach. He moved at a stately pace to better appreciate the view. Waves of white light lapped against the shore and, sinking down below the horizon, a sun burning with pale ferocity made everything crystal.

He frowned against the brilliant light, seeing something strange in the distance, moving against the surface of the sun. On a hunch, he stooped down and picked up a handful of grains, each a tiny diamond.

His vision was keener than any mortal's and they pierced the facets of each of the miniature stones, perceiving, deep within the heart of them, a tiny, almost imperceptible flaw.

"They're all the same."

Her voice carried on the wind that cut him like a knife-edge. She was standing before him suddenly, taking his hands in hers. Golden fingers intertwined with his own as the grains drained away, leaving only a single diamond in his pale palm.

"The flaw runs deep, through everything in my domain."

"Even here?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Even here." Her voice was controlled enough to avoid betraying any emotion, but they had been together too long for him to make any mistake about her meaning.

"What should we do?"

"My power is failing. The Shadow can only be held at bay for a short time longer."

"I have seen with my own eyes the Armageddon that rages outside these crystal walls."

"That is the beauty of crystal, beloved. It brings fresh clarity..."

"But with this flaw...?"

"As they die, so do we. Blind, we will not resist the Shadow for long."

He breathed deeply as the cold wind stirred his tattered coat. "Then...there is only one solution..."

"Only one," she nodded.

"The one who can save us will be summoned."

He looked into her golden eyes and saw her crystal tears, each one with the same flaw as the rest. Each one tainted by the same Shadow and he wept too.

* * *

Darkness was calm as he entered the locker room. Freya wasn't.

"Bitch!"

"You didn't want to carry that trophy around all year anyway."

She gave him a murderous look and nearly walked right into Revenant as she stepped out of the bathroom. She looked at Darkness and Freya with confusion. "What happened? What did you do this time?"

"It's not me," Darkness assured her, "just our Commissioner."

"Oh right," Revenant said with a dismissive shrug before seating herself on one of the benches. "What did she do to you?"

"Didn't you see it?" he asked.

Revenant rolled her eyes. "I don't watch wrestling..."

Freya kicked over a waste paper basket with a growl. "Good. It's stupid. I beat him fair and square."

Darkness held up a hand to placate her. "Exactly. So what's the problem? Do you need a man in a striped shirt to tell you you've beaten someone?"

"It might be nice, yes!"

He shook his head. "Whatever. Stern said she has something in store, I suppose."

"Oooh," Revenant exclaimed, "any idea what it is?"

"It's a surprise," Freya growled again, casting around for something else to kick.

Darkness sighed as he hung his belts up on a pair of hooks on either side of his battered jacket. "Yes, well, I've been given surprises before. I'm certain it's nothing we can't handle." He flexed his prosthetic hand as he looked around. "Where are The Children? Back at the hotel?"

"I wish you wouldn't call them that," Freya said severely as she slumped down on the bench beside Revenant, "it's kind of creepy."

"You came up with it," he said mildly.

"Well I didn't think I was coining a running joke..."

Darkness began packing his holdall swiftly. "Either way, we should find them. I still don't know if Inferno is coming after me again, or whether Malaki has something up his sleeve."

"Malaki?" Revenant looked from Freya to Darkness and back again.

"The World Champion of FWRFed," he exclaimed, pulling on his shirt.

"FW...what?"

"RFed. It's another wrestling promotion. He's the champion of it."

"Oh right. So he's as good as you?"

Darkness barked a short laugh. "What do you think?"

Freya shouldered her own title belt as she stood up. "Let's just get out of here," she suggested.

"Agreed." Darkness put his coat on, placed his belts in his bag and slung it over one shoulder. "The longer we hang around here, the more chance we have of someone showing up to ruin our plans."

"We don't have any plans," Revenant pointed out as she got to her feet too.

"Exactly. And I'd rather not have that compromised by someone doing something to make us need some."

* * *

They were in the parking lot when Darkness stopped and tilted his head slightly.

"What?" Freya narrowed her eyes at his back.

"Something..."

"God, you think you could try saying something useful for once? It's like hanging around with a sphinx."

"A what?" Revenant asked.

"A big useless lump of rock in the middle of the desert."

Darkness looked around the parking lot, frowning until his eyes matched up with the buzzing in his head. He nodded at a nondescript black sedan parked across the way. "There."

He led them over to the car and, as they approached, one of the blacked out windows to the rear began lowering. Darkness smiled slightly at the pale, symmetrical face that gave him a playful smirk.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to notice I was watching," Selenia said.

"You sure you didn't cheat by whispering something?" he asked, tapping a finger against his skull.

"Positive. Your Slayer Sense is all you need these days."

Freya sidled up next to Darkness. "Ah, Mrs. Dante..."

A dark look passed over Selenia's face. Darkness nodded slowly at her. "Of course," he said in a careful voice, "congratulations."

"Thanks..." the succubus murmured softly.

"Let's see the ring then," Freya snapped, reaching for Selenia's hand. The woman initially seemed reluctant but, with a quick glance at Darkness, slid her hand out of the window.

Freya grabbed it roughly and looked at the slim band of white gold around her finger. "Very nice," she said without feeling.

Revenant craned her neck over Freya's shoulder to see the ring too. "It is nice," she agreed, "I think I prefer yours though, Darkness."

Selenia and Freya both looked at him in surprise.

"What? You both know I was married."

"Sure..." Freya said, "I just didn't know you had a ring..."

"Well I do."

Involuntarily, Selenia glanced down at his false hand. "Where do you..." she started to ask before stopping herself.

"Well not there," Darkness said in a flat tone. "And I guess I won't be getting remarried anytime soon either."

"It's almost like Dante knew," Revenant sighed.

"What?" Darkness and Selenia asked together.

"You know..." Revenant waved her hand, "...like...you can't wear a ring now..." she trailed off at the looks she was getting and then thrust her hands into her pockets and looked at the floor.

Darkness turned back to Selenia. "She's right," he murmured, "I can't wear a ring now."

"So?" Freya had her arms folded and was cocking an eyebrow at the two people staring at each other over the black half-lowered window.

Selenia ignored her and began to nod. "You can't wear a ring..."

"I can't wear a wedding ring..."

"Which means that..."

Darkness spun around, running a hand across his beard. "When Dante and Kermit fought on that rooftop...they didn't just run into each other by sheer coincidence. Kermit was hunting him. Why?"

"He thought he'd kidnapped his girlfriend."

"Jess?" Freya interjected again, "Dante kidnapped Jess?"

"Who made him think that?" Darkness pressed, almost talking over the Bleeder Champion.

Selenia's lips moved for a few seconds. "Kermit came to him after...he asked him about..."

"I know," Darkness interrupted, turning around. "I know who set it up. I know why I lost my hand."

Selenia saw the fire in his eyes and nodded to herself. "It looks like you know what to do."

"I do."

"What the hell is going on?!" Freya shouted, throwing out her arms in exasperation.

"We have plans," Darkness told her as he turned away and stalked back towards the arena. Revenant shrugged and followed as Freya gaped at them both. She turned back to Selenia who just have a small shrug as the window rolled up, hiding her from view.

* * *

"You're insane!"

Darkness gave Gwen a flat look. "I suppose she brought you here, did she?" He nodded at Freya, who gave him a withering glance.

"Yeah, I got a cell phone now," Gawain grinned, holding up said device. "Good one too."

"Well I'm flattered you've all come to see me off," he said, glancing ‘round at all twelve of The Children who stood in a semi-circle around his bike in the darkened parking lot.

"We're not seeing you off," Gwen told him matter-of-factly, "we're either stopping you, or coming along."

"Whoa," Freya interjected, holding up her hands, "I'm not going anywhere. I vote with just the stopping thing."

"It doesn't matter," Darkness told them all calmly, "I'm not running a democracy. I'm doing what I'm doing, and I'm doing it alone."

Gwen made an exasperated noise. "Anything could happen to you!"

"I know. It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Well we're not," she snapped.

"Tough. You don't decide what I do or do not do. This is important - more than any of us realise, perhaps. I have to make this journey, and I can't risk any of you."

"But if we all go together, we all have more chance of coming out alive," Galadd pointed out, his voice rumbling from deep within his chest.

"Hey, no one's going anywhere," Freya said again, levelling a warning finger at Galadd.

"Except me," Darkness said, mounting his bike.

"No!" Gwen shouted at him. "You can't stop us following if you go!"

"Maybe not. But I can make you think twice about what you're following me into."

With a grim look, Darkness raised his hands. On either side of his bike, two streaks of flame shot across the parking lot, before rising into the air and joining together to form a flaming archway some two hundred yards away. All the werewolves stepped back as a blast of heat erupted from it, and shadows clamoured at its edges.

"Where I go," Darkness said in a low voice, "only the Antichrist can tread."

His bodyguard said nothing, but Revenant broke from them and jumped onto the bike behind Darkness.

"You're definitely not coming," he told her.

"Oh yes I am."

"You're not ready for what's in there."

She gave him a hard look. "You know what I've been through."

"If he's in there, you can't kill him again," Darkness said softly.

"We'll see."

"Alright." Darkness turned to his assembled companions. "No one else. You won't follow me in there, not if you know what's good for you."

He started the bike and revved the engine before roaring towards the flaming portal. As he accelerated, a dark shape suddenly ran after him.

"Llenlleawg!" Gwen roared.

"Oh bollocks..." Before she knew what she was doing, Freya was in her lupine form, racing after the young werewolf. As Darkness's bike was swallowed by the fiery gateway, Llenlleawg disappeared through too and Freya couldn't stop herself skidding into it and through. The Children started forward, but the portal closed, leaving only dying flames on the asphalt.

Freya leapt off Llenlleawg and, changing into her humanoid form, tackled him to the ground. He rolled over onto his back and came under attack from a flurry of slaps courtesy of the Bleeder Champion.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing?!" Freya shouted at him.

Llenlleawg held up his arms in an attempt to deflect the barrage. "I...I..."

She paused in her attack on the young werewolf for a moment. "Do not tell me you've done this for her..." The look he gave her in response told her everything. "I don't believe you," she said, climbing off him, "couldn't you have tried impressing her some other way? One that didn't involve us being stuck in..." she waved her arm around at the red dunes, lightening-rent sky, cracked tortured earth, "...Hell! On our own! Weaponless!"

"I don't think we'll need any weapons..."

"And why would that be?" Freya asked, spinning around to face him. Llenlleawg pointed. In the red dust there were bodies. Hundreds of bodies. Some were partially covered in the blood-coloured dirt that had been blown over them, but there were corpses visible as far as the eye could see. The sky was dark except where forked lightning split it apart. The land around them was as parched as any desert, but ugly tears marked where some terrible catastrophe had ruined it. The horizon looked strange, as if it was further away than she was used to.

"What do you think happened?" Llenlleawg asked in a hushed tone as he picked himself up.

"Something to do with the War I guess."

He crouched down by the nearest body. "It looks almost...fresh..."

Freya joined him. It was the corpse of a man, the skin tanned dark from exposure, ugly scars across its torso. They would have looked almost fresh if it wasn't for the dust clogging them up. "It smells stale. I don't know why it's not decomposing, I think it's been here a while." She stood up. "I think we should start moving, I can't smell anyone around now, but I don't want to be caught standing around if something does decide to show up." Freya started walking towards a distant low rise.

"How do you know which way to go?"

"What sort of Shadow Slayer are you?" Freya felt bad as the words left her mouth and saw Llenlleawg's face fall. "C'mon, shut your eyes and take a deep breath."

The Neophyte did as he was told.

"Okay, which way did they go?" Freya asked.

"I don't know..."

Freya took his arms and turned him on the spot. "Open your eyes. Which way did they go?"

Llenlleawg saw a long single tyre track stretching off into the distance. "Oh."

"C'mon," Freya said, trudging off in the direction of Darkness's singular trail, "since we're in magic land, the least we can do is not pander to them by using your magic powers."

**

Darkness and Revenant rode through the gathering gloom. They'd slowed down to weave through the ruins of buildings; pieces of masonry that'd be thrown down in the cataclysm, and the numerous bodies that were scattered everywhere.

Revenant held onto Darkness's waist. She looked around at the destruction and shivered. Nothing moved. There was no noise apart from the engine of the bike. Glassy staring eyes seemed to follow them down what once could have been a road.

"Where are we going?" she finally asked. It felt to her like they'd been driving for hours, although that was possibly just because of the monotony of the landscape.

"I don't know."

"So why are we still going?"

"Because I'll know when I get there."

The silence lapsed between them for a while. "Why are there humans here?" Revenant asked eventually.

"I don't think they're humans. Not anymore."

"Then what are they?"

"I don't know."

"But..."

"Are you planning on asking a lot of questions?" Darkness interrupted.

"Well I've never been to Hell before."

"And maybe you shouldn't have come this time either."

They drove up a small rise and as they crested it, Darkness cut the engine. Revenant jumped off and stood at the brow, just above the steep decline before them. Below her, a dark river wound its way across the landscape. There was a wide bridge crossing their river to their left. It arced across the filthy water in a low curve, supported on baroque struts of black steel that seemed to defy physics. In the distance there was the dark, glowering shape of a squat metropolis with a tall, impossibly slender tower erupting from it like a needle lancing a boil.

"I'm going for a look," Darkness said from behind Revenant.

"Okay. What are we going to look at?"

"We aren't going to look at anything. I'm going alone."

"But..."

"No," Darkness snapped, "for once you're going to do as you're told."

Revenant thought she saw something flash in Darkness's eyes. "Okay," she replied in a small voice.

"Good. Just stay here with the bike."

Revenant watched Darkness negotiate the steep slope, occasionally sliding as the sand and rubble beneath his feet gave way.

"Whatcha' lookin' at?"

Revenant whirled ‘round and opened her mouth in shock as Freya sauntered up the slope behind her. Llenlleawg padded beside her.

"W...what are you doing here...?"

"Followed you."

"Why?"

Freya shrugged, ignoring the smell of panic from the other werewolf. "Seemed like a good idea at the time." She stood beside the dhampyr and frowned at Darkness. "What's he doing?"

"Going to have a look at that bridge, I guess. He told me to stay here."

"So?" Freya asked.

"He got angry."

She waved her hand. "That's no good reason to do what he says. He's at his most stupid when he's angry."

Llenlleawg made a shocked noise. "Should you be talking about Darkness like that?"

"He ain't my First, Llenny." She started to make her way down the slope. "You guys can feel free to stay here if you want. Don't worry," she said, turning and smiling at them, "I'll take the rap if he gets all...fighty..."

**

Darkness walked slowly through the carnage on the bridge. Most of the bodies were bluish, bloated, scarred monstrosities, covered in crusts of dried, colourless ichor. Here and there were stranger things: squat, grey-skinned beasts with immense mouths filled with serrated teeth and scaled bests with ragged, membranous wings. They were all, without exception, dead.

As he neared the centre of the bridge's span, the demonic corpses began to be interspersed with different ones. Bloody, rent wings of all colours, noble-faced warriors with shattered shields and broken swords. Strange, wheel-like constructs banded with staring, lifeless eyes lay in pieces here and there. As he came to the very centre, he saw something with tore the breath from his lungs.

Surrounded by bodies of all kinds lay a figure all in white. A shining steel breastplate, caked with dried blood covered his broad, proud chest. His pale, sharp features were faded and grey and his eyes stared vacantly at the twilight sky. Blonde hair was plastered to his scalp by blood. At his side, clearly dropped only at the uttermost end was a blackened blade, stained dark by a now-extinguished flame.

Darkness dropped to one knee and stared into the angel's sapphire-blue eyes that now stared sightlessly through him.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. With a lurch he spun around to see Freya standing over him.

"I...I didn't Sense you..." he murmured. He didn't think to ask what she was doing here in the first place.

"You were distracted." Her voice was flat, unsure.

Darkness accepted the explanation and returned his gaze to the body in front of him. Revenant and Llenlleawg stood around it, careful not to tread on the damaged white wings that were spread across the stone surface of the bridge.

"Who was he?" Revenant asked.

"He was Michael."

Freya blinked. "Like...Michael the Angel? The one who cast out Satan and all that?"

"Yes. This was Michael, the Angel of Light."

"How do you kill an angel?" Llenlleawg murmured softly.

"Betrayal."

"Of what?" Freya asked.

"Of everything," Darkness told her in a voice she could barely hear.

The four of them waited there, silently, beside the body of the former Angel of Light and the rest of the slaughtered Host of Heaven as Darkness brushed the blonde hair from Michael's face and gently closed his lifeless eyes.

"Get back!"

His voice was a roar, carrying over the empty plain further than it had any right to. His sword was already in his hand.

"I see you're still holding onto that thing," the demon said, not bothering to alter the smirk on his face. His black eyes never changed as they regarded the Shadow Slayer with a twinkling that had nothing to do with amusement.

"Darkness...Revenant..." Freya cradled the girl in her arms. Her body was convulsing rapidly as blood pooled in her eye sockets, oozed from her open mouth.

"What did you do to her?" Darkness asked through gritted teeth.

Bleeder smiled. "I gave her a lesson in empathy. It'll give her a chance to grow."

"What do you know about empathy?"

"More than you imagine..."

The shadow-things still flitted across the centre of the bridge, circling, never quite showing themselves, fading in and out of corporeality whenever Llenlleawg tore his eyes away from Rev long enough to glance in their direction.

"So, Darkness," Bleeder said with a flash of his bloodstained teeth, "what brings you here?"

"I don't answer to you."

"Of course not. The Antichrist bows to no demon." Bleeder circled the Slayer who held his sword out at his side, stepping around to follow the demon's movements. One of Bleeder's pale hands reached out, perilously close to Freya.

Darkness flinched, and she looked up, meeting Bleeder's eyes without hesitation. "I have your belt," she said calmly.

"Do you? That must be nice."

"Not really. I keep having these annoying little dreams."

"Yes, I hear that can happen..."

Revenant rolled over, spilling out of Freya's arms and tumbling to the flagstones below. She began to cough, spluttering blood before her breath started to come in great ragged gasps. Llenlleawg immediately knelt beside her, his exposed muscles tensing as he stopped himself from reaching out to her.

"Strange company you keep these days, Nightwalker," the demon remarked as he continued to circle them.

"These are strange times."

"The question is, why would you bring people you care about into the line of fire like this? Oh...wait..." he smirked again, "...I forgot who I'm talking to. I forgot what you did five years ago..."

The point of Darkness's sword was directed at Bleeder's throat in an instant, Darkness staring down the long blade at him. "Pardon me?" he asked, deadly calm in his voice.

"Didn't you hear what I said about your daughter before?"

Darkness's eyes narrowed. "You don't know anything about my daughter."

"Can you be certain of that? Really?"

"I was told..."

Bleeder's hollow laugh rang out. "Yes, you were told: by an incompetent werewolf who knows less than nothing. When did you start trusting beasts like him?"

"Hey!" Freya rose to her feet, but Bleeder stepped away from her, gliding across the bridge and standing away from the group.

"I know what you came here to find, but think about what's at stake. Think about what I could tell you."

"You know nothing," Darkness insisted.

"Is that consistent with your experiences of me, Nightwalker? Really?"

"Nothing I know of you is consistent in the first place."

Bleeder laughed at that. "Then, I suppose you must trust your instincts. Either you take what you want from me, or you risk losing the most important thing in your life."

"I didn't come here to be blackmailed," Darkness told him.

"Then why did you come here?"

"You know what I want!" he roared.

Bleeder bared his teeth. "Then take it, if you care so little for her!"

There was no hesitation in Darkness's movements as he hurled himself towards Bleeder, bowling over the black-coated figure. Bleeder moved deftly, but Darkness was faster, rolling atop the demon and pushing his blade against his throat.

"You wonder why I'd risk my daughter for this? The answer is that there is no risk. You don't fight for as long as I have without knowing how to be in control." His prosthetic hand clamped around Bleeder's throat. "Give me what I want, then tell me what you know - if anything - and I'll spare you."

"What...makes you...think...I fear death...?" Bleeder rasped.

"I know how demons think. I know what they value."

Bleeder laughed a gurgling laugh through the choke. "How can you come so far and learn so little? Haven't you seen Dante and his lady wife? Don't you remember the redemption he gave her?"

Darkness narrowed his eyes and Bleeder grinned at him, grasping his wrist firmly and wresting free from the choke without apparent effort.

"You've made three glaring errors, Nightwalker." Bleeder, still holding Darkness's wrist, raised fingers as he counted. "First, you misjudge my character. Badly. Second, you've assumed I even have what you're looking for. Which I don't. Thirdly, you think that you being able to see me and touch me means I'm here in front of you..."

Darkness tumbled to the ground, staring at the empty space beneath him. Bleeder's boot caught him in the jaw and sent him sprawling back onto the stones before pinning him to the floor by his chest.

"I'm not," he hissed.

"So what? You kill me now?"

"I'm not here, remember? I can make your little surrogate daughter's brain pop, but only because she's still young and weak. You, despite the amusing way I'm treating you, are still a bit too strong for me to zap at will. Especially with your friends to back you up."

He looked up and grinned at the other three people on the bridge. "It's charming, really," he assured them.

"Get to the point," Darkness growled.

"There is no point, save this one: what you seek is harder to get than you can imagine. You can't just charge in and take it from me. Even if I did have it; you're on my turf now, no matter what jumped up ideas you have about your station."

"So what will you do? Send us back?"

"Why bother? You're just as neutered here as you would be on Earth."

Bleeder took his foot off Darkness's chest and the Shadow Slayer picked himself up, reaching for his sword as he did so. He nodded to Freya. "You shouldn't have followed me. I'm going to send you home."

"Uh...no," Bleeder said, waving a finger, "you're not getting out of this that easily. You got them into this mess..."

"Hey, don't go giving him all the credit," Freya interrupted, "I got me into this mess."

"Whatever," the demon shrugged dismissively, "the point is you're here, and you aren't going home."

"How are you going to stop us?" Freya challenged, sticking out her jaw.

"Like this."

* * *

Freya was on the ground, and she had no idea why. Her head was spinning, and she groggily pushed herself up to her feet. She frowned at her surroundings. Everything was dark and the red desert and the bridge had been replaced by something strange and new. As far as she could see, she was surrounded by an endless, twisted forest. Black, gnarled trees loomed around her, each one seeming to leer with its own grotesque face. From each branch hung some weird fruit and, as she took a step closer to one of the weird bunches, she immediately recoiled when she realised what it was. Blank, swollen eye sockets stared back at her from each of the putrid, diseased heads.

"Ew..."

She tried to get her bearings, but she couldn't get the carrion stink out of her nose. She looked around for Revenant, Llenlleawg or even Darkness, but they were nowhere to be seen. The only sign of life she could see were the rotten head-fruits, swaying in the gentle, stinking wind. The air was close and foul.

"I'm never coming here again," she vowed, picking a direction at random and starting to walk.

* * *

Llenlleawg was up on his feet quicker than Freya, turning this way and that. He was in some kind of huge underground cavern, carved from what appeared to be bloodstained granite. There were five passages leading from the chamber, but what grabbed his attention was the statue that appeared to be wrenching itself from one wall, half imprisoned in the living rock, an expression of agony and rage on its noble features. There were scars like lightning bolts across its eyes and huge, partially formed angel's wings swept back into the wall.

"Hey...that looks like Darkness..." he murmured, tilting his head to one side.

A groan to his left made him turn abruptly and he saw Revenant coming to. He immediately rushed to her side and tried to hold her in the most platonic way he could.

"Rev? Are you alright?"

"Ugh...no..." She looked at him and wiped the blood from her lips. "Why is there blood on me?" she asked, suddenly alert, "Who did I eat?"

"No one...it was...uh...this guy...."

"This guy?"

"A demon. I think..."

Revenant held her head and took a deep breath. Using a nearby wall for support, she struggled to her feet. "Where are we? Why is there a statue that looks like Darkness in the wall?"

"I don't know," Llenlleawg shrugged, "to either question."

"Okay," Revenant mumbled, "so what are we gonna do?"

"I have no idea. Find our way out of this cave I guess."

"Alright." She looked at the five possible exits. "Any ideas?"

"No..."

She pointed at the one closest to her. "Eenie...meenie..."

* * *

Darkness was standing in a huge open hall. The walls were made of rusted iron. Everything in the room, which seemed to have once been some kind of mass dining area, was made of the same material, and it was all irreparably corroded and ruined.

"This is Hades," he summarised, "the Iron City."

It used to be. You're smarter than your friends.

"I'm older," Darkness told the voice of Bleeder in his head. "Plus I've been here before."

I know. I thought I'd give you the advantage.

"Where did everyone else go?"

They're still here...by which I mean; in Hell. Which isn't very helpful, as this Plane is very much larger than the surface of your world.

"So you separated us? Smart."

I know. It stops you from getting on my nerves by trying to use the Power of Friendship against me.

"You won't keep us apart. We found each other once - all of us came together from our various corners of the Earth."

Not really. Three of you come from the same country...

"Britain's bigger than you might think..."

You don't have to tell me that. Where did you think I grew up? This accent isn't just to make me sound smarter than you.

"Alright."

Darkness walked around the room for a few moments before seating himself cross-legged on the floor and placing his sword in front of him. "The best thing to do when you're lost," he said to the air, "is to stay in one place. It gives everyone else the best chance of finding you."

They won't find you.

"We'll see."

He heard the mocking laugh of Bleeder in his head. Fine. Sit there. We'll see how much patience you really have.

Darkness smiled slightly, but said nothing. The silence stretched.

"I think this tunnel is getting smaller."

Llenlleawg was stooping slightly, his shoulders occasionally brushing the walls when they sloped in far enough. There was no light in the tunnel, but the werewolf and the dhampyr had no trouble finding their way.

"You may be right." Revenant was in front, her hands held out and running along the blood-red walls. There was a sudden bump and a muttering of curses.

"Definitely getting smaller..."

"We'll carry on a bit further, see how it goes," Rev said.

The pair moved slowly, Revenant testing their path as they went. The tunnel began to slope downhill and continued to narrow.

"I think we should turn back now, this isn't going anywhere," Llenlleawg frowned. He was almost doubled over now. "I bet this will just stop at a dead end or something."

Revenant stopped. She was not as bent over as her companion, but she still had cause to stoop in the confines of the tunnel. "I think you might be right." She managed to turn around, brining her almost face-to-face with Llenlleawg. The air was warm, and they had both begun to sweat. The werewolf's nose flared involuntarily as her scent filled his nostrils. He attempted to pull away and create some space between them, but suddenly found his shoulders wedged between the sloping walls of the tunnel.

"Uh..."

"What's ‘uh'?"

"I think we may have a problem." He tried to move. "I can't move back." There was a hint of panic in his voice.

Revenants eyes widened, an odd sight with her tiny, black pinprick pupils. "You can't be stuck! I don't want to be trapped down here!" Revenant tried to push him but stopped when he yelped in pain. "You need to move," she hissed, "I don't want to be trapped down here just because..."

"Wait, I think this opens somewhere," Llenlleawg interrupted.

"How do you know?"

"I can smell the fresh...fresher...air..."

"Well," Revenant said, turning around with some reluctance, "I guess we'll keep going this way then."

The pair continued down the ever-narrowing passage. Revenant found it easier, being so small, but Llenlleawg struggled thanks to the large build that was the trademark of his species. Suddenly, as she struggled through a tiny gap, Revenant came out into a wide passage. A few steps later, and she was standing in a much larger cave. There was a large opening to one side that looked like it had recently been demolished. There were what appeared to be rents produced by an axe or sword, though she couldn't image a weapon powerful enough to have smashed through rock like that.

She approached the ruined wall and peered over it. They were very high up, looking down into a vast chamber. There was a round table and chairs set up in the centre.

Huffing and puffing drew her attention back to the small tunnel they'd come through. Llenlleawg pulled himself through the last opening and landed in a heap in the small cave.

"C'mon, get up," Revenant snapped, "we need to find the others."

"But we don't know where they are..."

"Hence the ‘find' part." Revenant returned to the ruined wall and reached out, hanging onto a rock. "Get up, we need to move."

Llenlleawg got up as Revenant swung herself over the wall and into the main cave. He watched her descend a short distance. She didn't appear to be using any handholds. With a sigh, he climbed over the wall and began to move down the wall after her at a much slower pace, trying not to look down.

**

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

Freya found herself in the same clearing she'd woken up in earlier. It was the third time she'd ended up there - somehow she'd managed to get turned around every time she set out. She sat down on one of the protruding roots of the weird, black trees and put her chin on her hand.

There was still no noise and, even when she'd been traipsing through the seemingly endless forest, she'd heard nothing. She looked at the gnarled vegetation and the horrific fruit they bore and sighed again. She imagined she heard something snicker and wondered if her belt's namesake was watching. She had half a mind to speak out; give in and get him to take her back to the bridge. She knew, though, that it wouldn't work, even if he was listening. Imprisoning her in this gloomy forest was some kind of game for him.

There was another noise and this time Freya was certain it was real. She stood up and looked around for a weapon. There didn't seem to be any dead wood on the floor, so she took a firm hold of a branch that was swaying near her head and, with a grunt, wrenched it free.

The tree seemed to emit a low, otherworldly moan.

Just the wind... Freya told herself, ignoring the fact that the foetid air was too still for any breeze to make a noise. She also ignored the viscous sap that leaked from the branch: the blood-red sap.

The noise came again, and Freya was certain there was something else nearby now. She lifted the branch defensively. The noise was like scuttling; something small moving in the undergrowth. She suddenly spun around as the noise came from behind her.

"Who's there?" she ventured. The only reply was movement just out of sight. She couldn't smell anything over the stench of the rotten head-fruits. "Come out; show yourself," she added hesitantly, secretly hoping that whatever was lurking out beyond the clearing wasn't too...anything.

"A squirrel would be just fine..." she muttered to herself.

The sounds came closer. They were obviously plural now. Slowly, from behind the warped trees, small figures started to appear. They looked like toddlers, except for the blue hue to their skin and, Freya noticed, they seemed to be sewn together. They began to waddle towards her, their completely black eyes wide. She wasn't sure what to do and, in her confusion, she began to lower her improvised weapon.

The odd little creatures were kind of sweet, in a funny way, Freya thought. They tottered uncertainly, occasionally stumbling. One caught its little foot on a root and fell forward, landing on its face. Apparently unperturbed, it pulled itself up, balancing its oversized head before continuing its wobbling gait towards her. The closest one approached her, coming within a few metres before stopping.

The tiny creature looked up at her, its stitches visible down the centre of its soft, infantile face and across one of its chubby shoulders. Though it was unclothed, its gender was indeterminate - it seemed to be neuter, like a living children's doll. As she stared at it, it broke into a wide grin, baring a set of razor-sharp teeth.

As Freya gaped at the thing, it jumped with agility that was at odds with its earlier stumbling progress. She just managed to raise the branch in time, sending the toddler-thing flying into a tree. As it slumped to the ground, it let out a wail, like a human baby, that made Freya's blood run cold.

As she looked around in horror and saw the rest of the little monstrosities advancing on her. They numbered around two dozen. The sound of shuffling behind her told her she was being surrounded.

"I'm really starting to hate this place..."

**

Darkness sat in the hall of Hades, legs crossed and eyes closed. His good hand clasped the hilt of his sword. Slowly, he exhaled, centring himself and opening himself up to his environment. Hell warped his Slayer Sense; made him feel like he was looking through a fish-eye lens. Somehow it was like the sensations were being reflected back at him, propagating and interfering, leaving him unable to determine any kind of useful information.

His eyes snapped open as he heard the sound of something approaching. It was strange for his Slayer Sense not to pick anything up and, as he tried to focus it, he managed to cut through the interference for long enough to determine that there were less than a dozen individuals on their way to his location. He recognised their signature.

Darkness rose to his feet in one swift motion, rolling his sword into his fist. He spread his arms and, as he turned slowly, his coat billowed out, surrounding him.

The massive rusted doors, almost hanging off their hinges were pushed open. Seven figures shambled in to the vast chamber. They were stooped and deformed, their appearances wildly divergent, some with horns and tusks, others with large talons and dark scales covering their ragged forms.

Darkness smiled. "It's been a long time..." he whispered.

The lead creature let out a yelp and its companions fanned out around him, raising crude, rusted weapons. Yellow and red eyes glowered out beneath deformed brows, eyeing him with suspicion and hatred.

Darkness walked slowly towards them. They moved around to his flanks so, as he approached the leader they began to surround him.

"Nightwalker," the creature slurred, widening its mouth to reveal jagged, yellow teeth. Its yellow eyes watched him from beneath a single horn. His face was bloated and scarred.

Darkness didn't give any reply, but spun nimbly on his heel as one of the things swung its heavy axe towards him and drove his sword through its shoulder, slamming it right up to the hilt. The creature roared in fury and Darkness pulled out his sword as he kicked another of his assailants in the stomach. He spun the blade in a wide arc, slicing the throat of the one he had already wounded and brining it around through the skull of the second.

Another one came at him, and Darkness ducked low, dodging the sweep of the crude glaive aimed at his head. He stabbed his sword through the attacker's stomach and then rolled with the thrust to cleave a fourth monster in two as he rose.

Only three remained now, wary of the warrior. One darted towards him with deceptive speed and Darkness slammed his elbow into its mouth, shattering teeth and bone. At the same time, he stabbed another in its hunchback as it tried to come low and attack him with a club studded with jagged pieces of iron. Darkness whirled on the spot, drawing out his sword, dancing like a matador as he impaled the deformed thing a second time, then swept its legs out from under it and dropped a knee into its skull, shattering its bloated face.

The one he had injured a second ago came out him with a roar and Darkness staggered it with a kick to the midsection before slamming the pommel of his sword into the back of its head. Grabbing it by the throat with his prosthetic hand, he propelled it across the room to land in a broken heap against a corroded wall.

The leader of the beasts was the only one that remained. They circled each other. In its misshaped fists it carried a halberd in a two-handed grip which it twisted rapidly so the bladed head became a cylinder of whirling steel.

"Is' an honour to meet yous," the creature snarled, its face twisting into a facsimile of a smile, "I've ‘eard so much about yous..."

"Really?" Darkness smiled coldly, "I'm glad to see my reputation still carries some weight amongst your kind."

"Yer...I've ‘eard stories about yous...I even once knew someone who met you..."

"Oh?"

"Don' spose yous'd ‘member ‘im. ‘Andsome lad. Almos' looks...'uman..."

"Looks can be deceiving."

Darkness spun around on the spot. Before the thing could react, his blade sliced into his shoulder, sending it to its knees with a bellow of agony. It tried to lift its halberd and strike out, but Darkness's knee driving into its jaw sent it sprawling across the iron floor.

Darkness advanced calmly as the creature pulled itself up, grinning through the blood that burbled through its broken lips. "It were an honour...really..."

"I'm glad."

"Seein' yous work...like an artis'..."

Darkness let the ghost of a smile pass his lips.

"We could a' used yous out dere today..."

His sword was already arcing through the air as the words left the Dilute's lips, and the realisation came too late to stop it separating head from shoulders. Darkness paused as the thud signalled the end of the one-sided fight.

His gaze travelled to the gap between the doors where there, sitting on the dirty floor in front of a second door that led out into the outside world was the carcass of one of the stocky grey creatures he'd seen on the bridge. The blood seeping from its wounds told him it had been killed only recently and the ropes used to drag it that were now unattended told him who had done the deed.

Emptily, he turned to look at the seven corpses of the half-men he had just killed without a thought.

Impressive, but don't they say to look before you leap? Bleeder chided.

*Darkness in shattered light, an empty silence growing. The abyss.

"Yes, it's here. You're feeding it... "

Darkness closed his eyes, knew when he opened them, he'd see...

The demon knelt by the head of the general, shut his open eyes."Go home, it's over. I have business to attend to."

"You know I can't do that."

Bleeder paused, stared, without emotion. "Yeah, I know. Pawn of destiny. You're fucked in every way and you'll fuck anyone who tries to put a stop to it. Does your entourage know what you're here looking for?"

Both knew he had kept secrets.

"And yet they'd all die for you. How cute. Go fuck yourself.

You know how it's done.

Go home. Write a suicide note in your diary in Ancient Summarian verse,and then tear it out and papercut your cock with it until the church bell rings and an angelic choir tells you you've earned your wings. I have no time to play with you anymore."

Darkness took a step forward, all that followed was inevitable from this moment. His hand heavy with the weapon: "All you've got to offer are insults. Where were you all my life?"

"Watching. Standing by your side. Waiting for you to catch up when you fell behind."

"Laughing all the while." His new hand touched the blade, and he felt nothing...

"Lest I cry."

The sword was a flash of light, cut the demon's lips open wide to smile without end. A crimson kiss.

Darkness wasn't fooled. Not anymore. "No, it's not that easy."

"No, it's not."

He was alone.

Another thrust, and the bleeder's hand fell from it's wrist..."Fight me."

The bleeder's tired chuckle inside, reminding him. "Already did. Already done."

"But you're hiding from me."

"Who are you, to just call me out? The World Champion? Which world, not this one surely?"

*Through the ribs, of the fallen illusion and into the heart of the beast. "I am the anti-Christ."

"And our world is dying for your sins."

*****

"More statues." Llenlleawg wiped his forehead with his wrist. The bleeding was worse. He'd fallen just 10 feet from the ground, but he'd fallen ugly.

"Can you stand?" Revenant didn't look at him. He'd flinched from her before, now she flinched from him. Both were aware of something between them...

Needing.

The statues were almost all of people they knew. "There's Freya." Llenlleawg's voice echoed, even as he whispered to himself. It was as if they were performing for an audience...even if the audience was only each other. "Dante, and the demon who...." He didn't finish. He had only been able to watch...

"It's okay."

He knew he could stand on his own two feet, all he needed was time...

She needed him to not need. Not now. He had to be strong...

In case she wasn't...

*****

It was the scream. Genuine fear. Helplessness. It was the way the other dolls turned away from her, even the one that had smiled at her, reached out to touch one crying. The first finger to touch was tender, curious. The doll touched the other's tears, it's lips touched the other's ear, as if to share a secret, just between the two of them.

The teeth pierced the skin, tasted the muscle underneath, as it twitched, and the doll's cries became a scream.

And Freya, who told herself she knew better, ripped the dolls apart from each other, the blood black, cold, the doll like an infant screaming as it's cheek fell open.

It's teeth were sharp.

So were hers.

She became a wolf, unconscious of the change...

Now all was quiet.

The little ones were feeding.

Their mouths not suited to the task, their mouths appeared to suckle as they chewed.

She had killed for them.

She didn't know what it was she had killed. Something else had moved in the forest, and then it had stopped moving in her jaws. It's blood was in her mouth, even as she reclaimed her human form.

She was all too aware that whatever she had killed, couldn't be the only animal in the woods. Every sound now had extra meaning.

She held the wounded doll in her arms. It wasn't too alien. A little dicipline, and it no longer tried to bite.

She wasn't sure what she thought of herself, that she was doing any of this.

That something else she had killed, had hatched from the fruit.

That fruit, something deep inside her whispered, was human once.

She knew there would be a price to pay.

A whisper of footsteps behind her, too close, too soon, she turned to see...

Her.

Someone beautiful.

Someone she knew, but she didn't know where.

Someone with twilight eyes, crimson and gold...

Someone who knew all her secrets, and who's smile forgave her for them.

She knew she should be afraid.

She knew that option was being taken from her.

"Welcome to Hell." The woman offered her a nod of the head. "Sorry I kept you waiting, it's not everyday we get guests." The unspoken message seemed to be "Are you insane?!"

Freya wasn't sure herself, insanity explained everything.

The infants tore the meat away from the bone, and then with a snap, broke the bones, seeking out the marrow inside...

The radiant woman ran one golden hand down a quivering branch. Freya was no less wary of the creature who seemed to illuminate the clearing, despite her reassuring words delivered in a voice that resonated like some barely heard symphony.

"Their roots are suicides, you know..."

Freya frowned as she straightened over the almost motionless infant that had begun to mewl helplessly on the floor. "Suicides?"

"Yes. Their suffering feeds these trees and ensures that they grow healthy and strong to bear the fruit that grows into their children." She gestured towards the mob of demonic toddlers a dozen or so yards away who feasted with noisy glee on the corpse Freya had almost unconsciously procured for them.

Freya felt an involuntary shudder make its way down her spine. Her heckles, already risen, were now straining against her flesh. "People who commit suicide..." she began, hesitating over how to phrase her question, "...they go to Hell?"

The woman smiled, her eyes radiant, her hair glowing like some ephemeral halo. "So some say. Their suffering in life is reflected in Hell and, the day they destroy themselves and tear the hearts from the chests of those who love them unconditionally, a new sapling grows in this forest, feeding from their broken promises and discarded dreams. The soil is hatred: the air is pain."

"That's...fucked up..." Freya murmured.

"Of course. This is Hell. Their souls grow into the fruits you see there; their swollen faces stare sightlessly out from their twisted prisons. They can feel, but they cannot see. When the time comes for the fruit to drop, it births the tiny children you see surrounding us. They're stitched together from suicides and abortions, savagely lashing out at anything they can in their envy and hatred for those who were stronger and better than them in life: the ones who survived to have lives on Earth, while they are sentenced to an eternity as a deformed mockery of childhood."

Freya stared at the child at her feet and took a self-conscious step back from it as it opened its pure black eyes to stare into her.

"Didn't you think it could get more horrible?" the woman said softly, moving towards Freya, causing the Bleeder Champion to back away even further.

"Who are you?" Freya asked her, "And why are you telling me all this stuff?"

"Everything I tell you is true. Are you scared of the truth?"

"I am when it's stuff like...babies stitched together from...things..." She continued to regard the demonic infant with distaste.

"You have to know what they are to understand them. The reality is disturbing I know, but you can't be afraid of how things truly are."

"Sure you can," Freya replied as she lifted her chin in defiance, "life is scary. It doesn't get less scary from knowing how dangerous things can really be. If anything, things are more frightening when you know how fucked up they are."

"True, but the level of danger doesn't really change with your knowledge of the situation, does it? Better to be prepared for the inevitable. Better to know what you're up against."

Freya nodded. "Yeah...I guess..."

The strange woman was now just a few feet away and Freya felt oddly self-conscious next to her.

"You shouldn't be afraid of me," she chided gently, "I'm here to help you."

"Tell me who you are then. I don't take favours from strangers."

"I'm the woman who made your belt possible."

Freya glanced down at her waist. "You're T. J. Maxx?"

The woman arched an eyebrow at Freya's confusion. "No your other belt..."

"Okay, I get it. So what are you? Bleeder's girlfriend or something?"

"‘Or something' is a good term for it, yes."

"Great," Freya nodded, "now what the hell do you want from me?"

"I have a gift."

Freya took another step back, the expression on her face wary. She held up her hands. "I don't know who you are, and I don't want any ‘gift' from you."

"You distrust me because I talk so openly about what men fear. Are you and I so different, really?"

"Yeah...we are. Really, really different."

The woman sighed, the sound echoing around the macabre forest. "Very well, perhaps you needn't keep the gift then. Just carry it, and give it to your friend."

"Which friend?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Ta-Te smiled as she drew out a hand that, though already a luminescent gold, seemed to pale into dull greyness next to the band of glowing power around her fourth finger.

* * *

Revenant pulled her coat closer to her body as she walked across the floor of the vast chamber towards the massive round table in the centre. Llenlleawg struggled to his feet and looked after her. He slunk near the wall, unsure of what to say to her, conscious of something strange between them.

The dhampyr reached the enormous slab of ancient wood and reached out tentatively with a small hand. As her fingers brushed the worn surface, the table changed, sparking into life like some temperamental machine.

She jumped back, startled, almost landing in Llenlleawg's arms. She turned and gaped at him, but for once his attention was transfixed by something other than her. The grey featureless surface of the table had been replaced by a strange image. Revenant freed herself from the werewolf's grip and approached the wavering picture.

"What is it?" Llenlleawg asked her.

"It's...a map."

"Of what?"

"I...have no idea..."

Her eyes scanned the image, picking up the strange geographical details. The picture was three-dimensional, the mountains and valleys appearing in relief, the seas shifting as she watched. The lands it depicted were unlike any on Earth, huge continents arrayed into vague concentric circles that defied any rational understanding of geology or plate tectonics. The land was a thousand different colours and, from Rev's privileged vantage point, she could make out every conceivable type of terrain: dense jungles, deserts of endless ice, mountains of black iron, oceans of polished skulls.

She ran a hand over the surface of the map, and it seemed to shiver at her touch, moving with her hand, allowing her to shift and focus her vantage point. She made a noise of wondrous discovery as she began to manipulate the image, swooping across the bizarre topography of the strange land.

Llenlleawg approached gingerly, standing to one side of her, separated by an invisible barrier. "This is Hell," he guessed.

"Uh huh," Revenant nodded, already a step ahead of him. She moved her hand, sliding the map in front of them so they were able to make out details of the red desert.

"There are bodies," Llenlleawg observed.

"Bodies?"

He pointed. "Look, all over the ground, those little specks. They're bodies, I think."

"I think you're right," she agreed, "where do you think they came from?"

"Didn't Darkness say there was a war here?"

"Yeah...but...not with people. Why would there be bodies?"

Llenlleawg shrugged and Revenant started to move the map again. Eventually she came to what appeared to be a vast city. Much of the metropolis was ruined, and a huge silver spire was at its heart.

"That's the city we saw from that bridge," she realised.

"Can you get closer?"

"Yeah...think so..." She pushed her hands forward, moving closer so the ruins of the city appeared in stark relief. "It's like Google Earth," she giggled and Llenlleawg smiled at her, infected by her childlike enjoyment of the curious interactive map.

"Hey look," he said, "there's someone down there..."

"Oooh..." Revenant peered down into the winding streets, spotting a dark figure. "He's moving. Is this in real time or something?"

"I dunno. I guess."

"Let's go see who he is." She pushed in still further, until the man was six inches tall, standing in a warren of broken walls and rubble, like an action figure making his way through a play war zone.

Revenant peered down at him, smiling faintly as her face hovered a few inches from the tiny man. He looked oddly familiar. As she and Llenlleawg continued to stare, the man in the map paused and turned. He looked directly at them and frowned.

"Can he...can he see us...?" Llenlleawg asked.

"No...it's just a map...how could he..."

Her words were cut off as the figure suddenly grew in size and then, to their horror, stepped out of the map and onto the table as the image winked out of existence. Revenant and Llenlleawg stumbled back, stunned, at the man that now stood before them clad in brazen armour that seemed stained black as if by soot. His black hair was slicked back into a ponytail and his neatly-trimmed goatee framed a mouth full of gleaming fangs. His eyes burned with dark fire.

"Careful who you spy on, children," the man warned, wagging a finger at them, "you never know who might be looking back."

Llenlleawg already had his spear in his hand. He moved between the man and Revenant, squaring off in front of her protectively.

"Please," the stranger laughed, "she's hardly the one who needs protecting in this room. By my count, you're the only one of us in any real danger."

Llenlleawg gaped at the man as he stepped down from the table, somehow treating the three-foot gap like a small step, though his physical size didn't visibly change.

"Put down your stick. I want to help you, since you came so far to look at me."

Llenlleawg didn't budge, even as the man stepped up to him.

"There are few who can stand against me, Son of Lycaon," the figure said softly, "and you are not numbered amongst them. Step aside. I will not warn you again."

Llenlleawg still didn't move.

"Llenlleawg," Revenant murmured, "get out of his way..."

"No." His voice wavered slightly, but he stood firm.

"I can kill you with a thought, child..."

"So why don't you?"

The man smiled, revealing his fangs again. "For her, of course." He reached out to Revenant, "Come here, little one. I know what it is you want."

Revenant tried to tear her eyes away from the stranger's, but she knew what he was offering, and she knew he could see into her mind and pluck the thoughts from her head effortlessly.

"You and I...we're so alike, Revenant," he told her in a comforting tone, "the Abyss runs in our veins, guiding our hands, and controlling our destiny."

Powerlessly, Revenant stepped past Llenlleawg.

"It is hard, I know," he reassured her, holding out his arms, "to be so close to the living, when you number amongst the dead. I know how you yearn for him."

Llenlleawg stared at the armoured man. "Yearn? Who...I mean...she yearns for...?"

"For you," he smiled, "didn't you realise?"

"Well..."

"She yearns for your blood. She yearns to kill you, as she has killed so many others."

Revenant's eyes were vacant and, for the first time, Llenlleawg saw the hunger in them; the thirst she was barely suppressing every second of every day. How long had it been since she last fed?

He tried to back away, the fear he had pushed into the back of his mind while face-to-face with this strange man now surging to the fore at the thought of what Revenant might do.

"Fear not, child," the man continued, cupping Revenant's chin in his hand, "I can give you what you desire." He extended his arm, his armour flowing back from his flesh like something organic to reveal a tanned wrist, the veins seeming to strain against his skin. "Feed...and know release..."

Revenant plunged her fangs into his wrist, drawing the blood from the stranger as Llenlleawg stepped back, cringing from the bestial display. The stranger threw his head back in ecstasy as Rev drank her fill before she too fell back, her hand pressed against her lips and a look of horror in her eyes.

"Better?" he asked with a smile, flat like a shark's.

"Who are you?" She hissed.

"I'm the Morningstar," Lucifer said, "and now I've helped you, it's time for you to help me."

She shook her head desperately but, in a flash, he reached out and grabbed Llenlleawg. He pulled the werewolf close to him, wrapping an arm around his throat. Llenlleawg tried to struggle free, but Lucifer's grip was like stone.

"I know why you came here," he thundered, "and what the Nightwalker seeks. I hope he finds it...and I hope he cares enough to come looking for his precious wards."

"What makes you think we'll go with you?" Revenant snarled, still wiping at her face self-consciously.

"What makes you think you're in a position to resist? My blood runs through you as we speak - while you carry a part of me, I control you." As if to demonstrate he extended a hand and slowly lifted it. Revenant found herself lifting off the stone floor, unable to prevent herself levitating at Lucifer's command.

"Now, we shall see how much Darkness cares for his so-called Children..."

Freya stared at the golden ring as Ta-Te drew it off her slender finger and held it out.

"This is what he came for, isn't it?" Freya took the ring and stuffed it into one of her pockets.

"He didn't tell you?" There was a hint of amusement in Ta-Te's voice.

"I didn't plan on coming. It was a last minute sort of thing." Freya looked about, feeling uncomfortable as the golden eyes continued to stare through her. "Any chance you can point me in the direction of an exit before you disappear? I had some difficulty earlier..."

Ta-Te nodded. "I will show you." She looked down at the infant at Freya's feet. "What will you do with that creature?"

Freya looked uncomfortably at the pale, patchwork child. It was pushing and pulling at the flap of skin on its cheek. It seemed to be struggling between self-preservation and the desire to feed. Trying not to be too disgusted, Freya lifted the wounded creature onto some exposed roots, she then fended off several of the others with her feet, so that she could tear off a leg from the animal she had killed for them. She took a moment to look at it for the first time, and saw it was some sort of strange, spiny reptile.

She returned to the wounded one and knelt down beside it. It held out its small hands for the meat, taking it greedily when Freya handed it over, before consuming it like some macabre ice cream cone.

"Such pity," Ta-Te observed, "why would you bother with something that disgusts you so much?"

"It's my fault the others started on him."

"It..." Ta-Te corrected.

"Whatever." Freya pushed the flap of skin back on the thing's face. She flinched as what looked like maggots crawled out onto its clammy flesh. She stared in amazement as the wounds healed, the white pupae holding the skin in place and excreting some kind of thread that rejoined the damaged surface. "It's sewing itself together..." she murmured.

"As interesting as your new-found wonder is," Ta-Te said, "I thought you wanted to get back to your friends? If you'd rather stay here though..."

"No no no, I'd like to leave." Freya got up and dusted off her knees. She checked on the ring in her pocket before giving Ta-Te a nod.

Ta-Te smiled and walked away, seeming to cast a faint glow on the gnarled trunks as she passed, looking as wild and natural as the trees she weaved between.

**

Darkness walked between the fallen iron columns of Hades. A vast tower rose out of the city above him and seemed to split the sky in two. His sword was in its baldric - he hadn't heard or sensed anything since he'd left the halls of the Dilutes. A film of red dust covered everything; the aftermath of storms, but with no activity, the sand had not been removed.

He stopped between the ruined gates of the city's entrance. The plain stretched out before him and in the distance he could make out the shape of the other city he had seen from the bridge, with its own immense silver column, dwarfing the one above his head, rising from its squat bulk. In the other direction he could see a huge shape, like a wide, low mountain, red against the tortured twilight sky.

"And then there is Dis," Darkness muttered to himself, looking to what he thought of as west at dim shape of the city he had once visited at Dante's behest.

But what you want isn't in Dis...

The voice was different from before.

"Bleeder?"

There was laughter.

Don't mistake me for that fool, Nightwalker.

Darkness gritted his teeth. "Who are you, and what makes you think you know what I want?"

You don't recognise me? Your own arch-enemy?

"You're going to have to narrow it down..."

Another laugh reverberating through his skull. There was a flash of fire accompanying it and a familiar sensation that was somewhere been scent and sound.

"Lucifer." Darkness's knuckles whitened.

Indeed. Now, about your quest...

"You don't know anything about my quest," Darkness growled.

You think you can hide anything connected to that...artefact...from me? It was created to bind me. It is mine. I make it what it is.

"So I'm told."

So I know why you came here, and I know what The Bleeder wants. But the situation has changed...

Something changed; the presence in his head shifted. Darkness?

It seemed to waver, but the small voice in his head was instantly recognisable. "Rev!?" Darkness was already running, reaching for his sword, even though he knew neither Lucifer not Revenant were close enough to strike.

Lucifer's laugh filled his head again. We shall see how the dhampyr likes the taste of her werewolf boyfriend...

Darkness suppressed the sick feeling in his stomach as he realised what was at stake. The presence left his mind, but his pace didn't falter as he headed directly for the immense tower he could see on the distorted horizon.

**

"So where are you leading me?" Freya paused for a moment to look at the scenery around them. They had passed through the forest, seeming to cover the leagues of twisted foliage in a matter of hours. When she tried to think back through the journey, it was as if she was attempting to remember a dream: time and distance had been distorted and confused. Now they were in a cold, barren desert of brown dust beneath a twilight sky, climbing a low rise.

Ta-Te continued upwards. "Pandemonium," she replied calmly.

"This Ring had better be worth traipsing across Hell for..."

"You can't even imagine."

The pair crested the slope and found themselves looking down into a valley. It was an oasis of life; a sprawling shantytown covered the basin. A large, marshy river wound its way through the chaotic settlement.

The two women worked their way down the hill towards the makeshift buildings. "What is this place?" Freya asked.

"This is what's left."

They walked across the ill-defined border of the town, and immediately were plunged into a close, foetid air and an oppressive, dark atmosphere. There were no buildings as such, instead hovels and alcoves were marked out by soiled drapes and tattered pieces of cloth, hung from pieces of iron and blackened wood. The dwellings were constructed amongst ruins and rock spires, like carrion living in the skeletal remnants of some colossus.

The winding, narrow streets were almost empty where they had entered; only a few shadows and low, hulking shapes flitted between and behind the crude cloth walls. As they penetrated deeper, the sound of bellows and cheers assailed them. It got louder as they went further in, until they passed through a crumbling arch into a wide area where the buildings stopped. The square was full of...

"Demons..." Freya stopped walking.

"Yes," Ta-Te replied simply, "what did you expect?"

"I...I dunno...I've never met demons before..."

Ta-Te let out a twinkling, silvery laugh. "What about the Earthborn? His Succubus? My Bleeder? The Abortions in the Suicide Glades?"

Freya shrugged. "Dante and Selenia aren't what I'd call demons...and I didn't get much time to ‘meet' Bleeder."

She looked at the baying crowd. Minotaurs, massive monsters with huge bunched muscles covered in thick, dark fur clad in ad-hoc plates of crude iron armour lowed loudly from their bovine faces. Their horns were wider than Freya was tall. Gorgons, their heads covered with living, writhing snakes, their skin scaly and olive-green screeched wildly at whatever the mob was watching, waving inch-long claws in the air.

Freya felt eyes staring at her from the edges of the crowd. She located the source of the staring after a few moments. Black and pupil-less eyes stared at her from an almost featureless face, slits where a nose should be. A fork tongue flickered briefly before settling between thin, colourless lips.

Ta-Te moved through the throng with ease; it seemed to part before her, though no one actually moved. Freya ducked and dived between alternately massive and diminutive, but always weird and deformed bodies to keep up. She stopped next to the golden demon at the front of the crowd. In the middle of the space, two men - normal men, not demons - fought. Their swords were rusty, their shields battered and broken.

With a sluggish movement, one pushed past the others guard and drove his sword into his chest. Blood sprayed out as the sword was forced deeper, its ragged edges tearing at skin and muscle. The slain man fell to his knees, screaming, but the crowd's cheer drowned out the noise of his pain.

The blunt sword was withdrawn, spilling more blood across the dusty floor and over the victor of the fight. The man on his knees touched his fingers to the gaping wound on his chest, flinching as he brushed against an exposed nerve. Two demons emerged from the multitude and hefted the loser to his feet, ignoring the now bewildered expression on his face and dragged him from the makeshift arena.

"How come he's still alive?" Freya asked.

"How can you die when you're already dead?" Ta-Te countered. She looked up as another fighter was dragged into the space, screaming as he tried to free himself from the grip of the monstrous creatures that held him. They hurled him to the floor as the victor of the last fight wiped the blood from his chest and arms and lifted his damaged sword, clearly exhausted.

The new fighter scrambled up to his feet and, for a moment, Freya caught his eye. He looked young and healthy, there were no scars on his body as there were on the other combatant. A sword was pushed into his hand and, disgusted, he flung it to the ground before attempting to bolt. He hit a wall of demons and was forced back into the ring. Undeterred, he charged again, and was once again repelled, this time hurled bodily to the ground by a minotaur.

"Fight!" the beast bellowed.

The man screamed something incoherent, and Freya realised he was speaking a language she didn't know. It sounded a bit like German. There were tears in his eyes, and his ragged clothes were already soiled.

"Would you like to watch another?" Ta-Te asked conversationally, "I'm sure they'll persuade him to pick up his sword eventually."

"No," Freya said quickly.

Ta-Te smiled at Freya's speedy reply. "Squemish?"

"Not normally. Why are they fighting?"

"You ask a lot of questions..."

"Yeah, well there's a lot of stuff people don't tell me."

Ta-Te's eyes sparkled. "They fight because they are made to. They have no choice."

"Are they humans...or demons?"

"Neither. They are the Damned."

"Oh...so they're people in Hell..." She frowned at the gruesome spectacle before her. "What did he do?" She asked, looking at the terrified man who was still attempting to escape.

Ta-Te shrugged. "Who knows?"

"But...if you don't know why they're in Hell, why do they make them fight and torture them?"

"You talk as if Hell is some kind of dungeon where bad people are punished for doing evil things by compliant demons."

"Well isn't it?"

"No. This is the natural order of things."

Saying nothing more, Ta-Te began to move away. Freya glanced back at the fight, grimacing as the reluctant man finally took up his sword and was brutally run through by his opponent. His scream was bloodcurdling, but he didn't die; he just stood there, shaking and shrieking until the blade was pulled from his chest and he fell to his knees.

The two women entered the narrow, winding alleys between the ruins and rocks. Further into the town, noise and clamour filled the air. There were creatures hanging from every crevice and balcony, regarding them with cold, predatory eyes. The sound of hammers on anvils spilt the air. Groups of the Damned were chained outside what appeared to be establishments, filthy, ragged clothes barely covering their emaciated bodies. They were men and women, elderly and even young children, of all races and colours.

As they walked past one group, demons with onyx-black skin and rippling muscles were moving them. There was a scuffle as some of the prisoners attempted to fight their massive captors. One blow from a demon's forearm sent the half the group staggering backwards. The scene played out like a silent movie: not one member of the ragged party made a noise, they just stared with empty, blank expressions from hollow faces.

A young man was lifted form the ground, turned roughly upside-down and passed to another demon near the crumbling wall. Along the top of the roughly marked out building that was constructed against a ruined wall ran a line of rusty hooks. In one swift motion, the man was lifted and the end of the first hook forced through his ankles. There was still no noise, but the remaining members of the group redoubled their efforts to escape.

Freya stood gaping at the scene. A minotaur, larger even than the ones she had seen in the crowd, emerged from the building. He carried a weapon; a huge spiked ball on a heavy chain, too large to be called a mace or morningstar, which he used to flail at the unruly Damned, smashing them into the wall, audibly shattering bones and splintering skulls.

A woman was forced to the ground by one of the beast's hooves and she turned her face towards Freya. She saw that her lips were sewn together and that blood covered her chin. Freya stared at the other Damned and saw that they all had their mouths stitched closed in the same fashion.

"Come."

Freya felt cold fingers touch her arm, and she let herself be led away as the demons continued their gruesome task.

They continued through streets, demons of all shapes and sizes filling the paths. "I thought all the angels were dead," Freya said as she saw a pair of vibrantly coloured wings ahead of her, protruding from a woman's back.

"That's not an angel," Ta-Te laughed.

The woman turned and walked closer to them, and Freya saw that he legs were not humanoid, but feathered like a bird's and ending in three-toed talons. The woman's orange eyes bored into Freya before she passed them silently.

"Harpy," Ta-Te explained, unabashed at the creature's piercing stare.

They meandered through the crowd, Freya following in Ta-Te's wake as the multitude parted unconsciously before her, trying not to look closely at the things they passed.

Screams punctuated the air, and a foul stench filled Freya's nostrils. There was the sound of barking which caught her attention. Lying on the side of the path was a body, its head covered by a burlap sack, but its screams were still audible. A large black dog lifted its head from the belly of the unfortunate, its maw covered with fresh, crimson blood. Immediately after, another head was raised beside it.

"Oh, I know those ones - that's a Cerberon," Freya nodded.

"This is where I wanted to bring you." Ta-Te led the way into a wide, makeshift hall that was set between two huge, curving natural rock formations. Along the walls, more Damned were hung up by their ankles. In one corner a tall, wiry creature with pale skin sharpened a thin, curved knife on a pedal-powered grinder. Sparks flew towards the line of living carcasses.

Once satisfied the knife was sharp, he walked to the nearest victim and cut into his leg near the ankle. With a very careful movement, he drew the knife down the calf towards the knee. Using his free hand, the demon pulled away a thin sliver of flesh which dropped to the floor with a wet sound. The knife was returned to the top of the fresh wound and drawn down again, removing another slice of skin.

The victim of the grotesque butchery thrashed uncontrollably during the ritual, but the demon skilfully held him as still as possible with his knees. His chains prevented him from lashing out and, like the ones she had seen before, this Damned had his mouth stitched closed, causing his screams to come out only as muted gurgles.

On a podium in the centre of the hall a minotaur seemed to be auctioning off the occupant of a cage. The creature's armour was elaborate, with massive spikes adorning his shoulders. As he turned away to give another order, a body was revealed, impaled on the spikes on his back.

Freya gasped, putting her hand to her mouth to stop herself retching as she saw the body twitch and shudder despite the multitude of barbs that pierced its tortured body and held it in place.

The cage's occupant was dragged out, and the minotaur lifted a huge axe. He swung it in a smooth arc and the legs of the prisoner were separated from the rest of its body at the knees. Freya gagged again and fled from the hall.

Ta-Te found her leaning against a wall, well out of sight of any crowds, breathing heavily.

"Why show me that?" she asked the demon furiously. "Why do they need to be like this?"

"Because this is the way things work."

"Why? All the torture...surely with what's happened...with this war...it would be better to not treat each other like that... What good comes from this?"

"Good? Do you forget that you're in Hell? The Damned are tortured by demons. Eventually, if they accept their fates, they may become demons too and with that transition they become the torturers in turn."

"But why? What kind of universe has things like this in it? What kind of God would punish people forever for making mistakes?"

"God?" Ta-Te's surprise looked genuine. "You think God has anything to do with this? This is the one place - the only place - where God has no power. His gaze cannot enter Hell."

"Then there's no hope for these people," Freya murmured, her face pale, "they just get tortured forever, and the only chance they have to escape is to become monsters too, and carry on the cycle of horror. This is fucked up..."

"Yes, it is. But the cycle isn't endless."

"It isn't?"

"Hell is dying. This is a refugee camp. Eventually even these ones will be found and join the corpses on the plain. This is the one place they have to maintain their normal way of life."

"Their way of life?!" Freya spluttered. "Their ‘way of life' is disgusting and...and...abhorrent...and...." words failed her.

"Yes," Ta-Te agreed sadly, "but it is life nonetheless."

**

Lucifer stood on his balcony overlooking the ruined city of Pandemonium. Llenlleawg was chained to a wall by a heavy iron collar, his spear cast aside, just out of reach. Revenant sat meekly on the other side of the room. She kept glancing at her werewolf companion, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Don't worry, my little dhampyr," Lucifer smirked, "the Ring is on the move...I can feel it...as soon as I have what I want, you can have what you want." He looked at Llenlleawg. "If you can restrain yourself from killing him, I may let you keep him as a pet."

He laughed as the Neophytes regarded him with hatred and fear.

"Come, my puppet." He raised his hand and Revenant was made to stand. "I want you to stay close, in case Nightwalker is planning any surprises."

"Pandemonium," Ta-Te announced as they stood before the crumbling gates. The path into the city was choked with bodies.

Freya's fingers wrapped around the Ring in her pocket. She took a deep breath as she looked around her. "He's here?"

"He arrived before us, yes," the Succubus explained.

"Why?"

"He's looking for something."

Freya frowned. "Looking for something? I have the Ring - what could he be looking for?"

Ta-Te's eyes flicked towards Freya and then back to the gates of the city. "What he seeks he must seek alone...." she said carefully.

"You're just not going to tell me?"

"This quest is part of his journey - not yours."

"Seems silly that we end up at the same place if we're looking for different things..."

"It's the journey that's important, not the destination."

Freya rolled her eyes. "You know you're worse than him sometimes, right?"

Ta-Te laughed and took a step towards the threshold. "Are you coming?"

"Are there any more monsters torturing people in there?"

"No, they're all dead."

"Good."

Ta-Te gave her a sideways glance. "No, it's not good at all..."

* * *

Darkness stepped through the open doors into the large room. It was dark, and the only decoration was a twisted black throne at one end of the long chamber. The climb up the huge tower had been long. The city, as far as he could determine, was completely deserted, save for the bodies that were littered everywhere.

"Darkness!" Llenlleawg tried to leap to his feet, but the chain that held him to the wall pulled him back down.

He strode into the room, dashing to Llenlleawg immediately and investigating the collar that bound him. "Are you alright?" he asked, running a finger over it experimentally.

"Uh...do I look alright?"

"I mean physically. Did he hurt you?"

"No...I think we're just bait..."

Darkness nodded. "I know. Where's Rev?"

Llenlleawg pointed across the wide room, and Darkness turned, seeing his ward huddled in a ball against the opposite wall. Darkness rose to his feet and approached her slowly. "Revenant?"

She didn't reply and, concerned, Darkness reached out towards her. His fingertips brushed against her hair...

"Nightwalker!"

Darkness spun around and there, framed in the door that led out to a balcony was the armoured figure of Lucifer. He walked into the throne room, grinning at Darkness.

"I knew you'd come," he said, his voice sounding warm and welcoming, in harsh contrast to the predatory black fire of his eyes.

"And I knew you wanted me to," Darkness told him calmly, "I have no time for gambits and second-guessing. I'm here. Now let my Children go."

Lucifer laughed. "Of course. They have no value to me. They are insignificant - the only being in the length and breadth of Hell that holds even the slightest interest to me is you."

"Touching."

Lucifer held up a golden key. "This is for the werewolf. The dhampyr can go free when she wishes - her body has already assimilated my blood. Only fear binds her now." He threw the key to Darkness, who caught it out of the air with his good hand.

Darkness glanced at Revenant, but didn't press Lucifer over his cryptic words. He looked down at the key in his hands. "What's the catch?" he asked with a frown.

"Catch? There's no catch. Save your family."

Darkness was already halfway towards Llenlleawg when he stopped dead. Lucifer gave him a wide grin.

"So..." Darkness began, "we're here again?"

"Of course."

"It doesn't seem the same to me..."

"Oh but it is," Lucifer gloated, "you see, you can save them, but it'll do you no good. Just like last time, I can simply hunt you all down as soon as you leave this room. All you do by saving them is delay the inevitable. You're only real chance to save them - and yourself - is to do what you did last time."

"I don't think so."

"Fight me, Darkness!" Lucifer bellowed.

"Not again," the Shadow Slayer said, kneeling down beside Llenlleawg and unlocking his collar. The werewolf bounded to his feet immediately and then grabbed his spear. He rushed over to Revenant and lifted her upright gingerly. With a small sob, she turned into his chest and clung to him desperately.

"I'll come for you," Lucifer vowed. "I can find you. While you have the Promethean Ring, you cannot escape me."

Darkness frowned. "I don't have the Ring..."

Lucifer missed a step as he walked towards him. "What...?"

A small smile ghosted across Darkness's face. "No. I forgot all about it when you took Revenant and Llenlleawg."

"But..."

Darkness ushered his two wards through the double doors. "Our fight will have to wait a little longer," he smiled.

"I'll still find you!" Lucifer roared.

"Unless something distracts you," a voice from behind him said.

Lucifer whirled around to face the figure on the balcony. His tattered coat brushed against the floor as he stepped through the door. Eyes of shattered glass met Darkness's steel grey and something passed between the two of them. Darkness turned around and left the throne room, leaving Bleeder and Lucifer together.

"So," Lucifer grimaced, "you still have it then?"

"Only one way to find out," Bleeder replied. He reached behind him and drew out a long, slender blade that shone the same blue-black as his eyes, like an icicle deep under the ground.

Lucifer danced back and a black sword appeared in his own hand, seeming to swallow up any light that touched it. He lifted it above his head and bared his fangs as Bleeder gave him a bloody smirk.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," Lucifer said.

"I know. So have I."

"You really think you can beat me?"

"I've been training. I think I can hold my own."

"I doubt it."

Lucifer charged, swinging his blade towards Bleeder. The demon raised his sword just in time, blocking the attack.

Lucifer grinned again over the crossed blades. "Good start."

"Thanks..." Bleeder grunted.

"It's a pity it won't last."

Lucifer lashed out, planting a boot in Bleeder's gut and sending him sprawling back towards the balcony. "Let's finish this..."

* * *

Darkness grabbed Revenant's hand as they walked through the passageways of the tower. "We have to hurry," he told her.

She mumbled something incoherent and Darkness turned to her.

"Are you alright?"

She shook her head.

"What did he do to you?"

She turned away from him, pulling her oversized sleeve across her face. Darkness looked at Llenlleawg.

"He...he made her drink..."

"Drink?"

"From him. He said she wanted to feed, so he made her do it from him..." he held up his hand, "from...uh...from his wrist. And then he could control her."

Darkness grabbed Revenant by her pointed jaw and turned her face towards him. "Revenant..."

"What?"

"Did he hurt you?"

She pushed him away.

"Answer me!" he bellowed.

"He was in my head!" she screamed back at him, "I could hear his voice and anything he told me do I...I did..."

Darkness's face hardened. "What did he make you do?"

"Nothing," she said, pushing him away, "he was just in my head."

"He...said...things to you?"

She looked at him and then tilted her head just slightly. A tiny nod.

Darkness didn't need to ask what Lucifer had said to her. He didn't need to be told what wound he had poked and prodded at to break her like this. With a grim look, he looked back down the corridor the way they'd come. He held onto Rev's hand tightly, caught in his decision.

"Darkness! Oi!"

All three of them turned around to see Freya rounding the corner, smiling. Her face fell as she saw the looks her companions were giving her. "Well it's nice to see you too," she said.

"How did you get here?" Darkness asked her.

"Ta-Te showed me."

"Ta-Te? Where is she now?"

"She said she had to deal with something," Freya shrugged.

"Didn't you ask her what?"

"No, she kept complaining about how many questions I was asking..."

Llenlleawg looked from Darkness to Freya. "Are we going home now?"

Darkness considered the question. "I didn't get what I came here for, but I've put you all in enough danger..."

"Hey," Freya interrupted, "can't say I disagree with the second bit, but I do have something for you that might help with the first."

She dug into her pocket and pulled something out. As Darkness stared at her, she opened her palm, revealing the glowing golden band sitting there. Llenlleawg, Revenant and Darkness gathered around, staring at the Promethean Ring.

"That's it, huh?" Revenant asked.

Darkness extended his hand to take it, but then paused. "No...you heard what Lucifer said...he'll just find us and take it once he's finished with Bleeder."

Freya frowned and looked down at the Ring. "If he can find it at any time, why couldn't he always take it?"

"He can find me," Darkness explained, "thanks to the Mark of the Destroyer. It's too dangerous for me to have this while we're in Hell."

"Right...so what do you suggest, Hotshot?"

"You have to keep it," Darkness told her, taking her hand in his prosthetic and closing her palm with the other hand.

"And is there a reason he won't come after me?"

"You're insignificant," Darkness said.

"Right...thanks..."

"No...I don't mean it like that. I mean that he doesn't know you. He can't find you like he can find me."

"Yeah, okay," Freya grumbled, shoving the Ring back into her pocket. "But you're here now. If he finds you, he finds me."

"That's why I'm going back."

"What?" Revenant demanded.

"Yeah," Freya echoed, "what?"

"You three have to get out of here. I'll hold Lucifer off for long enough and once you're out...you know what to do..."

"But how do we even get out?" Llenlleawg asked.

"The Ring controls the Gates of Hell. Get to the nearest thing you can find that resembles a gateway, and the Ring will do the rest."

Freya nodded. "And you'll meet us back on Earth?"

Darkness gave her a significant look. "We'll see..."

"Hey," Freya jabbed a finger in his chest, "you'd better meet us on Earth!"

He smiled. "I'll do my best. But if I'm not out in an hour, you know what you have to do."

Freya looked uncomfortable. "It'll take us most of an hour to get to the nearest gateway I can think of - the entrance to this city."

"Right. So don't wait up."

"Darkness...I..."

He held up a hand. "I don't have the time."

"But..."

He turned away and was already around the corner before any of them could stop him.

* * *

Lucifer drove the pommel of his sword into Bleeder's temple, sending him staggering back towards the edge of the balcony. The pale demon bled from a dozen cuts, but he continued to fight, moving his sword sluggishly.

Lucifer, grinning and unharmed, save for a slight limp where Bleeder had gotten lucky, opened another bloody wound on Bleeder with a sweep of his dark blade. He slammed a knee up into his gut, blasting the wind from his lungs and then, gripping him around the throat and heaving him into the air, slammed the Bleeder down onto the ornate railing that separated him from a thousand-foot drop to the ruined city below.

The devil held his sword in the air as Bleeder tried to fight his way free and then slowly let it fall. Bleeder looked at him.

"This is too honourable for you..."

"What do you know of honour, traitor?"

"You're one to talk - you never showed an ounce of loyalty to me: your master!"

"That's because I knew what a crappy master you were going to turn out to be!" Bleeder spat.

Lucifer laughed and then tilted Bleeder down on the edge of the balcony. "Goodbye, Bleeder. I always fucking hated you."

"The feeling is more than mutual, Satan."

"Don't call me that," Lucifer said as he pushed Bleeder off the balcony, watching him spin end over end through the air, before turning away.

He stopped as his eyes fell on the double doors opposite him. Darkness was standing there, arms held at his sides, looking relaxed, but clearly coiled like a spring.

"You came back..."

"I felt like I owed you."

Lucifer smirked as he walked towards Darkness, favouring his right leg. "Didn't you see what happened to Bleeder just now? What makes you think I won't squash you like I squashed him."

"Bleeder? Bleeder never broke out of the midcard," Darkness scoffed. He pointed a thumb at his chest. "But I'm the World Champion."

Lucifer laughed, but the smile never touched his eyes. "What happened to your little friends?"

"They're in safe hands."

"Good." Lucifer hefted his sword and narrowed his eyes. "But...I wonder how you're going to justify fighting me..."

"You killed my wife."

"You don't believe in revenge."

"You killed Michael."

"You never knew him."

"You kidnapped my Children."

"They aren't yours - not really."

"You betrayed us all when you handed over Hell to the Abyss."

Lucifer considered. "Alright then." He lifted his sword. "Last time, you didn't do so well against me, I should point out."

"I've changed."

"So have I." Black fire erupted behind him, framing him in flickering shadow. "I'm the Lord of Death!"

"And I'm the Angel of Death," Darkness said calmly, "and last I checked, a lord is just a mortal, but angels live forever."

"Tell that to Michael."

"I intend to." Darkness drew his sword and held it before him. "One way or the other, Prometheus; this ends tonight."

They charged towards one another and their blades clashed in the centre of the throne room. For a second they both pushed against each other, their feet searching for purchase on the smooth flagstones. Bared teeth. Iron gazes meeting.

"You know you'll lose," Lucifer grunted.

"No I don't. Never underestimate the power of unassailable self belief." Darkness pushed and, with a yell, sent Lucifer staggering away. He swept his blade through the air and left a ribbon of crimson across his enemy's smooth cheek.

Lucifer stared at Darkness. Aghast, he dabbed his finger against the fresh cut. "You...you bastard..."

"Actually, I'm the good guy."

"I know. I hate it."

Their swords met again, but Lucifer was faster, and spun around, breaking the momentary deadlock and causing Darkness to stumble forward. He twisted and pulled up his sword, aiming the point at the base of Darkness's spine, but the Shadow Slayer let his momentum carry him forward so he landed on the floor, before deftly whirling around and taking Lucifer's legs out from under him, watching as Lucifer winced when his right leg was struck.

Darkness leapt up to his feet and ran at Lucifer, only to find the demon's left foot in his stomach that sent him careening through the air. He landed high on his back, but let the motion bring him back up to his feet. Lucifer was before him in an instant, driving his forehead into Darkness's face. He felt bone crunch in his nose and blood trickling down his face. An elbow to the jaw knocked him sideways, and Lucifer's sword drove down, aiming for his side.

At the last second, Darkness managed to dodge as he fell, and the sword only grazed him. It was sharp though, and left a thread of searing pain across his ribs. An armoured foot slammed into his chest, winding him, but Darkness was able to get a grip on the ankle with his prosthetic and twist Lucifer off, to land in a heap at his side.

He was up again, chopping wildly with his sword as he tried to recover his breath. Lucifer dodged every uncontrolled swing before rolling back to his feet and slashing Darkness across the stomach. The Shadow Slayer's coat had long ago been discarded, and the blade left a tear in his faded black shirt. Blood began to well up and stain the cloth.

"How long is this going to go on, Darkness?" Lucifer demanded.

"As long as it takes...."

Lucifer lifted his sword and tilted it downwards before hurling it into the stone. It stuck there, quivering, embedded in the solid floor.

"What...?" Darkness gaped at him, and let his own sword drop slightly.

"Enough games. I don't even need my sword for this."

Darkness could only stare blankly as Lucifer was on him in a heartbeat. He grabbed Darkness by the arm and then drove the palm of his hand into Darkness's chest. The force of the blow send him flying, but Lucifer's grip on his arm was strong, and he felt his shoulder nearly pop out of its socket. His sword was sent flying.

He tried to lift himself up, but Lucifer slammed his left knee into Darkness's arm and sent him back to the floor.

"You know, I never got the fascination all you characters seem to have with this wrestling stuff," Lucifer said conversationally, "but it seems like it is kind of fun to really beat someone up with your own two hands like this. I'm starting to see the appeal."

Lucifer dropped down, slamming his knee into Darkness's spine.

"Let's see how far we can push you before you break..."

* * *

Freya, Llenlleawg and Revenant reached the gates of Pandemonium. They paused. Freya looked back at the Tower of Sheol and furrowed her brow.

"We should go back..."

Llenlleawg looked conflicted. "He said we should go."

"You always do what Darkness tells you?"

"Yeah...it's kind of my job. I'm a Shadow Slayer and he's my boss."

Freya sighed. "Rev, you got anything to add?"

"Let's get out of here," she said.

"You want to leave Darkness behind?"

"He knows what he's doing..."

Freya threw up her hands. "Great, so not only do you do what he says, you also believe him when he gives you his hero crap."

Llenlleawg and Revenant both looked at each other before turning back to Freya and giving her a nod.

"The whole world is insane," she sighed, "but I want to get the fuck out of here too." She shuddered at the memory of what she'd seen on her journey through Hell and took the Ring from her pocket. She stared at the golden object for a moment. It was an unadorned band, like a wedding ring.

Experimentally, she held it out and pointed it at the fallen gateway. Nothing happened.

Pursing her lips, she looked at the Ring again. "Anyone got any instructions?"

"Maybe you should...you know...put it on..." Llenlleawg suggested.

Freya looked reluctant, but slid it onto her ring finger.

As soon as she did, everything around her seemed to change. She blinked, trying to figure out what was different, but there was nothing she could put her finger on. Instead, she had an impression of the membrane that separated Hell from Earth, and could feel the places where it was weak. Reaching out towards the gateway, she pulled at the veil, and opened the Gates of Hell.

A flaming portal erupted before them and, gingerly, they stepped forward. It was like the one Darkness had opened to bring them here, but different somehow: larger and more important looking.

Freya led the way and, as they stepped over the threshold, she found herself back in the parking lot from which they'd left. She looked back, expecting to see the ruins of Pandemonium, but there was only fire. Llenlleawg and Revenant stepped out to stand beside her.

"How long has it been?" Rev asked.

Freya looked down at her watch. "Fifty minutes? Something like that..."

She held up the Ring and stared at the open Gates. She knew she could close them any time she wanted. Close them forever.

* * *

Darkness slammed into the wall. With a wet sound, he sunk down to the floor and chocked up a glob of blood.

"You're tough," Lucifer admitted.

"We all...have our...talents..."

He tried to stand up, but his limbs were shaky. Lucifer kicked him in the gut, sending him bouncing away. Where he landed, he left a smear of blood. His shirt had been torn away, and his torso was covered in bruises. His body felt like it was on fire.

Lucifer stalked up to him and smiled, showing off his fangs. "Had enough yet?"

Darkness wiped blood from his mouth. "Do I...look...like I've had...enough...?"

"Kind of."

"Check...again..."

Lucifer reached down, grabbing Darkness by the throat and hauling him to his feet. He lifted him clean off the floor and looked into his eyes.

"Yeah, it looks like you've had enough to me."

"Lucky...me..."

"Not really."

Lucifer drove Darkness down to the floor, causing the flagstones to visibly buckle. As Darkness gritted his teeth to prevent himself crying out in pain, he was lifted again.

"I'm going to enjoy finally ending you, Darkness."

"And that's...why...you won't..."

"What?"

"End me..."

Lucifer frowned. "Say again?"

"See...there's a difference...between a hobby...and a job... You can...do something...well...or you can do something...you enjoy. It's hard...to do both..."

"What are you getting at?"

"Don't play...with your food..."

Darkness kicked out, hooking his foot around Lucifer's right knee. He twisted his ankle, turning it sharply against the demon's joint, driving him down to the floor with a roar. Darkness slammed his knee into Lucifer's forehead and then ground his heel against the demon's injured knee.

As Lucifer cradled his damaged limb, Darkness walked slowly across the room and grabbed his sword. Lucifer stood up, but Darkness rushed him, smashing him across the skull with the pommel.

"See...a warrior isn't good because he's strong...or...because he's smart...what makes a warrior good is...patience." He sat on Lucifer's chest and held his sword against his throat. "You wait long...enough....everyone leaves an opening. It's how I...always win..."

Lucifer tried to push himself up, but Darkness's weight held him in place. The sword pressed against his flesh.

"Finish it!"

"No."

Darkness didn't lift the blade.

"Then let me go if you're going to be a pussy about this!"

"I don't think so." Darkness breathed deeply, composing himself. He grabbed Lucifer's chin with his prosthetic hand and tilted it so he was forced to meet his eyes.

"I'm not going to kill you, Lucifer. I'm not going to kill you because I don't need to. You're never going to forget that I beat you today. And you're never going to forget that I held your life in my hands, and I let you live. I can kill you right now, but I won't. And when you look back on this day, you'll remember that the reason you're still alive isn't because you were strong, or fast, or clever, or underhanded, it was because of mercy. It was because I took pity on you."

"Is that supposed to make me feel bad?"

"No, it's just the truth. You're beaten. I beat you. You have no power now."

Darkness stood up and stepped away from Lucifer. His feet were unsteady, but he could still move under his own power. The devil eyed him from the floor.

"One thing, Darkness..."

"Oh?"

"You said you haven't killed me like you had a choice..."

"What's your point?"

Lucifer pulled himself up to his knees. "My point is that you and I both know that you let me live not because you won't kill me, but because you can't. I'm not scared you won't be so merciful next time, because I know you're so dumb that you'll never give in to your base desires and kill me."

Darkness smiled. His teeth were bloody. "But that would require you trusting in someone else. You'd have to be able to understand someone like me to use that knowledge, and the truth is that you'll always suspect everyone else of being just as untrustworthy as you. You don't know I'll be merciful next time - you can't know, because of who and what you are."

"And what is that?"

"A betrayer. I might not kill you, but you can't be sure of that. So don't think of coming after me, alright?"

Darkness turned away, leaving Lucifer on his knees in his throne room.

* * *

Freya lifted the Ring on her finger. It had been more than an hour now. She already had doubts about this swimming in her mind.

"I can't do this..."

"He can get out himself, can't he?" Llenlleawg asked.

"Not after this," Freya said, shaking her head, "but the longer I leave this open...the more likely something else is to come through..."

"And if Lucifer won..." Revenant began.

Freya steeled herself. Her heart was beating fast. "I can't do this..." she repeated.

Suddenly, a familiar noise assailed her ears. She frowned, trying to place it before, flying out through the flames, the dark shape of a motorbike roared into existence.

She, Revenant and Llenlleawg fled as the bike slammed into the asphalt, sending Darkness spinning away. They stared at him as he shakily picked himself up.

"You're late," Freya told him.

"Had to get my bike..."

Llenlleawg stared at Darkness, taking in the multiple cuts and bruises that adorned his flesh. He was wearing his jacket, but his chest was bare, and a mess of blood. He ignored their stares and held out his hand.

"Freya. Give me the Promethean Ring."

Freya looked at the ring on her finger and back up to Darkness. He moved his open palm closer.

"Give me the ring, Freya," he repeated.

"I...I... No."

"No? Freya, this is not the time..."

"I don't think we should close the Gates." Freya folded her arms.

Darkness let his arm drop to his side. "Why?"

"Have you been to Hell?"

"Where do you think we just came from?"

"No," she said, shaking her head, "not the place, the people..."

"What about them?"

"You can't leave them all shut in there. It's not up to you!"

"If we don't then the Abyss will come through. You know why this has to be done. The denizens of Hell will walk on Earth if we don't, and the Abyss will have won."

"They're already on Earth, remember?" Freya waggled the necklace around her neck at him. "You'd just be delaying the inevitable; it's not a real solution."

"So what would you suggest?" Darkness folded his arms.

Freya threw out her arms. "I don't know. We train harder, learn to fight better, you actually do something with your Slayers now that you're the Big Boss."

"Do we tell the whole world what to expect when demons start killing people?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not talking about throwing the Gates wide open and letting everything through willy-nilly. Just...don't shut them forever."

"This is the only solution!" Darkness roared.

Revenant huddled closed to Llenlleawg. Neither of the Neophytes said anything.

Freya rolled her eyes. "Oh, we always have to do things your way, don't we?"

"I'm the leader! That's how it works! Do you think I'm running a democracy here?"

"Maybe you fucking should be!"

"How would that work?!"

"Simple: you take a vote when you want to do something. Whatever option gets the most votes is what we do. Most of the civilised world seems to have worked it out."

"The civilised world isn't dealing with what I'm dealing with."

"‘What I'm dealing with'? Don't you mean what we're dealing with? This isn't ‘The Darkness Show'!"

"I never invited you along to be part of this..." Darkness replied, his voice dropping an octave.

"No, you never invited any of us. In fact," she flung out a finger, "you wanted to kill Rev when you first met her!"

Llenlleawg started forward, shocked, but Revenant held him back. She whispered something to the werewolf, but he didn't relax.

"That was a mistake. We all make mistakes, Freya," Darkness said.

"Except when it comes to decisions that affect the fate of the world, huh?" she challenged.

"This is different. This is my responsibility - I can't afford to make a mistake this time. Too much is at stake."

"Exactly!"

His face hardened. "This is my decision to make. I'm the Antichrist."

"So Hell is yours to destroy, is it? Blah blah blah..." she flapped her hand like Pacman, "...did you forget about your pals; the Incubi?"

He seemed to ignore the question. "Give me the Ring!" he repeated.

"If you want it; come and get it!"

For a second, he seemed like he was about to, but then stepped back and deflated. For a moment he looked vulnerable, covered as he was in blood and bruises. Freya saw him, for only the second time, stripped of his total and complete confidence in himself and his path. It was as disorientating as the first time.

"I don't think you held Lucifer off for long enough to let us escape just so you could beat me up, did you?" she said softly.

He recovered a little of his wounded pride. "I beat him, actually..."

"Great, but you've never beaten me. And I don't think you would, in the shape you're in right now."

"That's why I was asking instead of just taking..."

"Nice to see you're thinking of the consequences of your actions for once," she snapped without thinking herself.

Darkness walked towards her. He towered over her, but she didn't flinch from his steely gaze. "This isn't over."

"I know. But you're not getting the Ring, so get used to having this argument if you plan on bringing this up again."

He turned on his heel and stalked away. His gait was affected by a noticeable limp, but he didn't let it affect the theatrics of the gesture. Righting his bike, he mounted it and kicked the engine into life, before roaring away into the night.

Freya looked at Revenant and Llenlleawg. "He's wrong, you know."

Revenant looked empty, Llenlleawg conflicted.

"He has no right. Those people deserve the chance at redemption too."

"Even Lucifer?" Revenant asked in a hollow voice.

"Darkness said he beat him," Llenlleawg told her, as if explaining something to a slow child.

"He didn't kill him though," the dhampyr replied without looking at her companion. She rubbed her arms like she had a chill. "I can feel him still...inside..."

Freya gave Llenlleawg a significant look. They could smell each other's concern, and the cold fear that radiated from Revenant.

"He only thinks about his duty," Freya said, "his war. He doesn't do the things he does for people, no matter what he says. That's why he can't have this."

Freya lifted her hand and squinted at the raging portal that was still behind them. She concentrated, sensing the membrane between worlds again. She knew that it would be a simple matter to close the Gate forever, but she didn't want to do that. Gently, precisely, she eased the Gate shut, closing it without locking it: balancing a huge weight on the head of a pin. As it slid as shut as she wanted she felt her power withdraw, as if tying off a knot and letting it sit in place. Breathing hard, she slipped off the Ring, and the world went back to normal.

"There. That's that sorted."

**

From beyond the Earth, they watched the events at the Gates of Hell.

"It worked," Bleeder smiled.

"I knew she had the guts to stand up to him," Ta-Te agreed. "That's why I picked her."

"It takes a special person to stand up to the Antichrist...to the Angel of Death..."

"Only human eyes can see him for what he really is: a man, with man's ideas, man's prejudices and man's fallacies."

"But she isn't human," Bleeder interjected.

"She's human enough: the best of human, beast and demon in one being. She is the only one who could have wielded the Ring."

"He will try to take it from her..."

"He won't hurt her. He loves her."

Bleeder looked at Ta-Te. This was part of the story that was new even to him. "Loves her?"

"Another reason I picked her," she smiled, "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out."

Bleeder laughed. He still bore fresh wounds from his thrown fight with Lucifer, and a few ribs had been broken in the course of Ta-Te's daring midair rescue, but he was otherwise unharmed. "I feel bad that we set them back so far..."

"That, beloved, is where you come in."

"Oh? I have to do even more to save the world today?"

"Not today; at the wrestling show. Another fight, I'm afraid."

"Is it for as good a cause as the last one?"

Her eyes sparkled. "For ratings - the highest calling of all."

"Bleeder returns?"

"For one night only."

"I hate one night stands..."

She looked hurt. "But you were always so good at them."

"Only when I knew I wasn't the one providing the entertainment."

"The real cause," she confided, "is those two again. They need a common foe. As long as you keep it quiet that we set this whole thing up, they should be suitably united."

"Ah, hate conquers all again?"

"Exactly."

Their crystal realm was still flawed, still in danger, but it was also still alive. And life, no matter how tainted, is always preferable to death.

There's always room for redemption if you can cheat death for another day.