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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Obsequium_Minaris on 2025-07-05 00:32:34+00:00.

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XXX

Alain could only stare in awe as Az set about freeing the rest of their friends from their cells. After a few seconds, he shook his head, then looked over towards Father Michaelson.

“What happened?” he asked. “And why couldn’t you just do that earlier?”

“This is what I was talking about – the secrets Azazel and I were keeping from you,” Father Michaelson said. “Truthfully, we both planned for this to happen eventually, we just didn’t expect it would be so soon. I was hoping to have had a bit more time before doing it, if only for the peace of mind that it would have worked for sure, but we were forced to take a bit of a gamble. Thankfully, it paid off.”

The young priest shook his head. “For a brief explanation – the secret meetings Az and I have been holding? Those were him seeking absolution for all his sins.”

Alain blinked in surprise. “…Let me just get this straight: you gave a Greater Demon the sacrament of confession?”

“Indeed, I did,” Michaelson said with a nod. “And thankfully, it paid off.”

“Hang on, I’m confused,” Sable interjected. “Is this something Az requested for himself?”

“It is indeed, my lady,” Az confirmed as he came up alongside her. “Father Michaelson approached me a few weeks ago, when we first arrived here, and said he was impressed by my journey of atonement so far. He asked if I would be willing to go even further, and I replied that I was willing to do whatever it took to set myself upon the correct path.” Az shook his head. “I can never truly make up for all the evil I did, but I am trying to be a better person – trying to live righteously, despite everything. Michaelson saw that in me, and gave me a chance to see it through to the end. It took no thought on my part for me to accept his offer.”

“So that’s what those meetings between you two all the time were about,” Alain surmised. “You were having Az basically spill his guts out to you.”

“I was,” Michaelson confirmed. “And he was all too willing to not only reveal everything, but also accept responsibility for it all and seek to do better. But as you can imagine, it was not an easy process.”

“Is that what him lying on the floor and babbling in Latin was about, then?” Heather asked, a hand on her hip.

Michaelson nodded. “It was. Unlike the rest of you, Azazel was faced with a choice upon his entry here, one that was rending his very soul until he finally made his decision. His choice was to either embrace the path I had set him on fully, or to fall yet again. Thankfully, I was able to push him towards the former, though secretly, I suspect he didn’t need as much of a push as I might have initially thought.”

“Don’t be so sure, Father,” Az chimed in. “The forces here really did not want me to abandon them the way I was set on doing. You pushed me over the edge and onto the correct path.”

“Be that as it may, it is unfortunately still not complete,” Michaelson lamented. “I think you know what I mean.”

Slowly, Az nodded. “I do.”

“Well, we don’t,” Danielle added. “What’s missing, exactly?”

“Az has undergone almost everything he needs to be a true convert,” Michaelson replied. “Sure, much of it was impromptu out of necessity, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose. That being said, there is one key part of the ritual he is missing, and this Communion. Until he has undergone that particular sacrament, he is still incomplete.”

“Incomplete…?” Alain echoed. “What does that mean?”

“Truthfully, even I don’t know.”

Heather crossed her arms. “So the big man needs to eat some bread and drink some wine before he’s whole again, and hopefully, once he is, he’s capable of stopping Lilith herself. Is that seriously the plan we’re going with?”

“You saw what happened when he was baptized,” Michaelson pointed out. “I can confidently say that something like that has not happened during any other baptism I have performed. Someone upstairs has taken an interest in him, for very good reason. I don’t know what will happen when he is finally, truly converted, but I have no reason to believe it would be anything less than spectacular.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Scripture, for one. God does love it when his prodigal sons and daughters return to him, after all.”

Heather let out a tired sigh. “Alright, so let’s assume you’re correct about that. Is he really going to be capable of taking on Lilith, even with whatever blessing may await him?”

“Cleo herself just mentioned that Lilith needs to recover her energy,” Alain pointed out. “That means we have a window, however brief it may be, where we might be able to shut her down. If we can get Michaelson to give Az that sacrament, we might just have a chance of pulling this off.”

Sable crossed her arms. “We’ve gone through crazier plans than this. At least this one seems to have tangible evidence in favor of it working. Besides, it’s not like we’re in a position to try anything else just yet.” She turned towards Father Michaelson. “I don’t suppose you have some bread and wine among your personal belongings?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Michaelson confirmed. “And in any case, I would need time to properly consecrate the offerings.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Alain stated. “Anyone know where we might be able to find bread and wine in hell, of all places?”

“You won’t,” Az confirmed. At Alain’s confused look, he added, “Demons, even lesser ones, don’t require nourishment the same way mortals or even undead do. Remember, they are fallen angels, which are divine in nature, and therefore, they do not abide by the same physiological rules that the human body does. You will not find food or drink here. We will need to make it back to the mortal realm for the sacrament to take place.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Alain patted himself down, frowning in the process. He’d already known himself to be completely unarmed, his weapons and most of his gear having been confiscated at some point prior to his imprisonment, but having it confirmed certainly didn’t help anything.

“So, we’re unarmed, we’re all trapped in hell, we don’t know a way home, the mother of all vampires is awake and no doubt out to kill us, there are hordes of Demons and other horrible creatures out to get us, and Sable’s psychotic sister is still out there somewhere and is probably now willing to kill us painfully if she sees us again,” Danielle surmised. “Is that correct?”

“Mostly, yeah,” Alain admitted. “You forgot about the part where the world is basically ending, though.”

“Come now, my friends,” Az remarked. “Now is not the time to despair. We must make haste and find a way out. After all, if they brought us here in the first place, then there must be a way to send us back.”

“Oh, I’m sure there is,” Michaelson said. “And it’s probably a ritual of some sort. The only question is, how are we going to find out what needs to be done for it-”

At that moment, there was a loud explosion from outside the cell block. Everyone except Az stumbled as they were knocked off-balance by it. Alain’s hand drifted to an empty holster, and he let out a small curse of frustration, knowing he was currently worthless in a fight. The five of them steadied themselves just in time for a figure to step into the cell block with them. Az and Sable readied their fists, prepared to take on whoever had just appeared before them, only to hold themselves back when they realized it wasn’t Cleo.

Father Alex blinked in surprise as he stared at the six of them. “…When I overheard the Demons mentioning that they’d captured some prisoners, I suspected it was your group, Alain. Can’t say I’m surprised to see I was right.”

“Thanks, I think,” Alain replied, though he couldn’t hold his smile back as he stared at the older priest. He was dirty, his vestments and face covered under a thick layer of powdered red brimstone, and yet the layer of grime couldn’t hide the almost supernatural, ethereal glow of his eyes as he appraised them all. “It’s good to see you again, Father.”

“Likewise.” Alex turned towards Michaelson and gave him a nod. “Good to see you’re still among the living, Father.”

“You as well,” Michaelson said to him, regarding his old mentor with a warm smile.

“And not only that, but he succeeded in returning a sheep to the flock who was once thought to be gone forever,” Az stated.

Father Alex nodded. “Yes, I sensed the energy shift a few minutes ago. The Lesser Demons did, as well – they won’t come near this structure as long as you’re in it, at least for now.”

Alain let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to know…”

“Hardly,” Danielle pointed out. “That just means that they’re going to send in the big guns. We probably don’t have much time at all before some Greater Demons and Cleo arrive to clean up their mess.”

“You would be correct,” Father Alex stated. “Here, stand back. I am going to open a portal back to the mortal realm.”

Alain was surprised. “You can do that?”

Alex simply nodded. “You would be surprised at the kind of information one can glean from a Greater Demon whose head you are holding under a lake of boiling blood.”

Alain stared at him. "…Is that what you’ve been doing down…

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