Power & Fire

NOT EDITED

It has been days.

Four days to be more precise.

Four whole ass days, walking and sometimes flying around the huge city trying to look for someone, anyone, who showed any signs of actual life. Eventually they would depart somewhere further away, but they had to come with terms about the possibility of their city being transformed into a giant cemetery. Watching your friends, family and people that you once knew, become still, unresponsive....dead.

It's not exactly easy. Four days but at least half of each passing day was spent crying and trying to keep each other safe from a mental breakdown. Now wasn't exactly the time to let emotions drive and make their decisions. They were aware that this somehow wasn't the end, it just couldn't. They were both blessed, even though right then it felt like a curse, with an infinite amount of power. They were the holders of the Virtutem Ignis, that had to mean something beyond the obvious chaos and destruction.

There has to be.

The hardest part was done. In fact it was done seconds after their moment together, which was, to check if their loved ones were alive.

And unfortunately, the response wasn't exactly what they had wanted.

No one showed any vital signs.

And it was devastating. They both begged, cried, screamed, cursed but most importantly, they both hurt. They hurt very much in their own hearts. So much that for a few seconds it felt like their ribs would eventually penetrate their beating muscle, and the fact that they could feel each other's emotions didn't exactly help. They were stuck on a loop. A loop made of heartbreak and guilt.

It took some time and emotional strength but eventually they left the bodies behind.

It was hard, very hard.

Castiel was still feeding the hope that somehow at least her Father would suddenly rise. He was after all the king of the dead and the doomed. Yes, they did check for vital signs, but then again the Devil doesn't exactly own a beating funcional heart. How could they be sure that he was, in fact, dead?

They waited and sat down while looking into the horizon.

The corpses were already starting to show signs of decomposition, the bodies were slowing turning grey and the urge to hurl while looking at the people you cared about the most slowing turning into dust was growing stronger and stronger. As Castiel bent over ready to spill more acid, yes acid, because there has not been a single thing entering their stomachs for the past few days, but then again they no longer needed to eat to survive, Virtutem Ignis remember? They were divine creatures now. Well, as I was saying, as Castiel bent over to throw up, she noticed the little specks of color underneath her feet, small leaves of grass and the tiniest purple flower blossoming right under her body. And then it clicked.

If she could make the grass grow from bland dirt.

Did that mean that she could bring things back from the dead?

A new feeling of hope started to grow inside of her. Sharing her thoughts with Jason, they both decided to give it a try, what's the worse thing that could happen? After surviving the end of the fucking world, they had absolutely nothing to lose.

So they sat down and tried to make sense and come up with a way to put their power into work. You see the problem with magic is that it's really hard to control, hence why there are so many magic books, and spells and recipes to make things easier for the practicer. They had the power, they just didn't exactly know how to use it.

They were slowly feeling their sanity dissipating.

The lack of food in their bodies, although not essential, was still able to feed some repercussions, adding a twist of post traumatic stress disorder and a growing depression, their minds weren't exactly in the right place. In fact they were so out of place that in the middle of the most profound silence they started to hear a soft melody echoing through the air.

! TW; DISTURBING SCENE AHEAD READ WITH CAUTION C; DEALING WITH CORPSES AND DEAD PEOPLE!

And, as every sane person does, they started dancing. Slow dancing in fact. With each other for the first few minutes, then started to replace partners, and switching them, doing an enthusiastic and overwhelming dance with corpses. They didn't mind the weight of the unresponsive and rotting bodies. They just wanted to dance with their friends. Twirl around to the sound of a mutual hallucination while dragging soon to be skeletons to accompany their movements. Their heavy bodies were slowly starting to release some liquids, leaving a trail of yellow and red underneath them, each step creating a chaotic piece of art on the dirty ground. The blood providing the color, and the feet providing the form, as the heavy weight was dragged around the revolted soil, leaving dragging marks all over the place.

My, my what a sight.

Having both attended so many balls and social parties in their distinct lives, they were very much accustomed to ball dance, so their moves weren't that terrible, the complete opposite actually. They were coordinated, elegant and gracious, their partners on the other hand...

! END OF SCENE! SAFE TO READ

They were only able to break out of this mysterious trance when suddenly a thud echoed through ground. Startled by the noise, they both snapped out of it and recoiled in disgust and sadness for what they were doing. No words were spoken after that. They just...just couldn't. The shame, the torture.

Jason just kept watching as Castiel slowly lowered herself down onto the ground and grabbed the book that had fallen from Axel's teared pocket. It was the book that she had gifted him, the one with ancient spells with simple instructions, kinda of like an ancient 101 guided magic book for dummies.

Everything was clicking in their heads and like a thirsty man in a desert attacks a glass of water, they reached for the book desperate to seek it's knowledge.

And there it was, chapter 54:

How to resuscitate a living being

Oh, if only things could be that simple!

***

After 5 whole hours and countless tries, they put the book down, realizing that their efforts were in vain.

Surely enough, they managed to give the corpses some more humane and alive features, the skin of the dead wasn't as pale as before, but the heartbeat still remained still. No matter how hard they tried, how many times they read the instructions, how many fingers and hairs they twisted and cut, nothing seemed to work.

As horrible as it sounded, they definitely didn't use their friends bodies as experiments. It was selfish, but it was easier to manipulate a stranger's meat and bones then the people they used to talk to and smile with everyday. As the rulers of the new world, they shouldn't be sentimental about it, they should have been fair and treated everyone -dead or alive- equally. But in that moment, that decision protected themselves from theirselves, they could not possibly imagine the despair they would fall into -again- if they accidentally messed up and disfigured a friend's face. It was already disturbing enough to see them dead, but at least they would try to preserve their physical dignity.

As time passed, their motivation seemed to dim more and more.

It was useless.

They were dead and they could resuscitate them, it was unnatural, and forbidden.

Exhausted, Castiel leaned on Jason's shoulder, who was sitting down in front of a random woman's body, lightly closing her eyes shut with his fingers. "What are we going to do now?" She asked softly, sadness and tiredness heavy on her voice. "I don't know... Maybe...uh, just maybe..." He hesitated with a sigh, leaning his head against hers.

... Maybe there really is no turning back. That was what he intended to say, but even if he didn't exactly say it out loud, Castiel understood what he meant.

Rubbing her eyes she let a frown adorn her face.

Maybe there really is no turning back.

...turning back?

She slowly raised her head from Jason's shoulder and looked around, searching for something, and once she saw it, shoe rose tp her full height and started to walk towards it.

Jason wasn't oblivious to it, so he asked;

"What are you doing?"

His tone was not harsh, just concerned. He was after all watching his soulmate rummaging through dead bodies, pushing away the ones that would get in her way like sacks of potatoes. Only when Castiel pulled out a black covered notebook with a golden stamp on top of it, did he understood.

Aramazd's journal.

Castiel wasn't exactly confident about this. But something awoke inside her mind when the words "turning back" echoed through her brain.

Who knew more about the Virtutem Ignis other than it's holders? Aramazd. She remembered the time that the whole power had been transferred to her, Aramazd went to visit and check in with her about what new possible powers would awaken within her. They were all just guesses, but all of them were right. Every suspicion that Aramazd had, every single one had been proven correct, and they were all written down in his journal that he seemed to carry everywhere. That same journal could be the portal out of this nightmare, she didn't exactly know how, but she had a good feeling about.

Turning back.

Her time manipulating abilities back then allowed to freeze time, the possibilities now that she was not alone, were simply endless.

Meticulously turning every yellowish page, she immersed herself in Aramazd's theories, and what she found left her speechless...and hopeful.

All she had to do was to believe in herself. And that's where Jason would play the part, to build her strength, she would teach him how to do it and he would teach her about being confident about it.

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They would make it work.

Together they would go back to the past.

And so they did, a gush of strong white wind surrounded them both as they held each other's hands. Different spirals of colors and orbits rushed through their minds, their souls. Their whole beings were being transcendent through time and space. The complete wreck around them was rewinding at the speed of light, causing them both to feel extremely lightheaded to the point of becoming completely numb to the cosmic around them. Time kept going back and back and back, neither of them really knew when to stop, when was the defining moment, the breaking point of all the tragedy.

At birth? That sounds like a poor self deprecating joke.

In the middle of the battle? Kill Clarence and move on? But what about Nero's bond with him? He would die too.

Nero...

Nero!

Of course! The day that Clarence made his offer to Nero!

Castiel didn't need to say it out loud or even move for Jason to understand. They were connected now, two souls intertwined, sharing their thoughts and communicating through telepathy. They both were the holders of the Virtutem Ignis after all.

Virtutem Ignis, was going to be another mystery amist all of this; what was going to happen? If they were going back in time until the moment that Nero solved himself to Clarence and stop him from doing so, then that would mean that he wouldn't pass his half of the power to Castiel and she would share it no longer with Jason but with her brother instead, as it was supposed to be. But then again, what would happen next? How could the new world be rebuilt if she was not sharing her greater power with her soulmate?

However they didn't have more time to think about this, because as they finally opened their eyes, they found themselves in the middle of a busy street, a car almost running over both of them, they only acted out of impulse and dodged the car while walking away hear the honk going off angrily, the sound getting more distant by the second. It's safe to say that they were in shock. Not only for being almost ran over, but they surely got emotional when they saw the amount of people surrounding them, the noise, the music, a bustling city, alive. Never in their lives did they think that would get relieved by the thought of a car running them over. But none of that was important. Their target was. And Nero was just turning around the corner.

He was looking down onto the ground, a sad atmosphere surrounding him, his eyes never drifted from the grey pavement underneath him, as if looking up would physically hurt him. And eventhough Castiel hated seeing her brother upset, it surely was better than seeing him dead with his heart ripped and thrown to the ground in front of his corpse. Therefore, she couldn't help herself and ran towards him, engulfing him in an intense and emotional hug. She hugged him so tight and started crying that she actually tackled him into the ground.

"Castiel what the hell are you doing? People can't see me, you look absolutely crazy, what the hell is wrong with you?" He hissed at her whilst still in her embrace, he had been sad before and now was feeling slightly annoyed, until he saw her tears falling down her cheeks.

"Cas? What happened, what's wrong?" He said worriedly while trying to grab a decent hold of her to keep her stable.

"I love you so much Nero." She replied while hugging him once again.

And somehow he understood. Not the whole situation, but he understood, and accepted her love and appreciated it, a lot. Things weren't exactly easy, he had just found his soulmate, but Allegra also told him that it would be too dangerous to turn himself human. He was devastated. So despite the circumstances, hearing his sister remind him how loved he was, uplifted his moods significally. They were twins after all.

While all that happened Jason looked at Castiel crying and hugging air in a distance trying to figure out what was happening. It all made sense as soon as he heard the name 'Nero'. She was hugging Nero, she was able to see him. He could not. And that meant that the Virtutem Ignis had returned to its original owner. The thought made Jason feel rather empty on the inside. Not necessarily sad, just empty.

Eventually Castiel pulled her brother towards a vacant place, Jason following her, and the three of them sat down and explained -well tried to explain- what had happened. At first Nero was hesitant to accept the truth but as soon as Jason started to describe, from his own perspective, what felt like to hold such an intense power inside him, Nero started to believe them, and after all why would his sister lie to him?

They all agreed to let Nero retake his previous route and allow Clarence to introduce himself to him. As a person of supernatural status, Clarence could also feel Nero's spiritual presence. Not see him as Castiel could, but just like he could summon demons, he could feel them.

And the roles went as predicted, they had seen the now future so, they automatically had the leveraged hand, it was their mission to change that. Clarence made his offer and gave Nero time to think about it before giving him a definitive

answer.

Clarence didn't predict however that instead of being consumed by heartbreak and envy, Nero would be loved and supported by his sister to convince their Father of Clarence's intentions.

Sitting down next to the Devil, never really gets easy. No matter how many times you do it. So while Nero and Castiel full on egged Lucifer with information, Jason sat still whilst nodding his head respectfully, Aramazd just kept writing and taking notes of everything.

Unlike Nero, Lucifer didn't doubt this story in the slightest bit. He had been suspicious of Clarence as responsible for random demonic possessions and hearing his daughter speak so sure of herself, feeling her slightly traumatized but incredibly matured aura, he had no important questions left.

He was going to kill Clarence, without wasting anymore time.

As of lately, that concept had showed itself as important. Time. Aramazd thought to himself whilst keeping his stance neutral to the whole situation.

So in a matter of seconds, as Lucifer raised his hand towards the sky and clenched his hand in a fist in front of him, Clarence's body started to appear in the middle of the room, little by little. He was kneeling by Lucifer's feet, one knee resting on the ground while the other respectfully propped up and his head lowered to the ground as every other creature summoned by the Devil should be. How educated of him. To keep a mask of dull respect for the ruler of Hell, while secretly trying to dethrone him and become the most powerful creature in this world. Fucking rat.

And Lucifer hated rats.

Clarence, feeling more presences in the room, took a peak and his eyes bulged out of his face as he was Castiel and Jason looking at him with fire of hatred burning their eyes, it all made sense to him as soon as he felt Nero's presence. 'That little shit' Clarence thought.

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"Think about this Nero, do you really want to die alone?" He tried to irk the youngster.

Before anyone had time to react, Castiel slammed Clarence's body towards the nearest wall.

"Shut the fuck up you monster!" As she slammed him hard again, against the wall.

"Leave" *slams his head* "my brother" *slams his head* "alone!" and she slammed his head once more before letting his body fall to the floor and turning around to look at her brother. Everyone was.

Nero was conflicted, his face expressionless making everyone worry about what he could possibly be thinking. Clarence saw that as an opportunity.

"Allegra won't help you, you know that..." He whispered while looking at Nero in the eye.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?!" Castiel yelled frustrated with the whole situation.

Clarence being fueled by anger and hunger quickly grabbed Castiel and held a holy blade against her throat. Ignoring the woman he held hostage, he continued to speak towards Nero.

"I'm the only who can help you Nero, trust in me" He said with a crazed look swirling his eyes, a big smile spread on his lips, numb to the pain of Castiel's efforts to get out of his hold. He was bleeding but the special blade against her throat stopped her from doing anything too drastic.

Lucifer on the other hand was completely furious. Rage was consuming him more and more each passing second as he looked at his daughter being submitted to danger by a lunatic that had previously worked for him. The flames were licking him higher and higher, burning him with scold hot white fury.

Castiel remembered the last time she had seen her father like this, it was once again, right after he found out about Clarence and she especially remembered the words he professed after, 'Clarence is mine'.

"No one else will be able to do it, know one else knows how to do it! YOU. NEED.ME!" Clarence kept going almost foaming from the corner of his mouth.

"You see that's not necessarily true." Aramazd finally interrupted the whole charade. And as he spoke this words, Castiel finally managed to unbalance Clarence and struggled to turn the blade against his own throat. However none of that was necessary as Lucifer appeared behind Clarence in a flash and twisted his neck to the left, instantly killing him.

Then proceeded to store his soul to torment later, what mattered right now was to burn his flesh to make sure that the motherfucker didn't find a way to come back. Castiel was taking short rapid breaths as her heart kept palpitating out of her chest, the only thing being able to relax her physically was the embrace that Jason had managed to quickly put her in. She looked at her father in the eye and muttered a 'thank you' while grabbing her throat.

"I told you he was mine." He murmured.

And just like that her heart rate went up again, making Jason hug her even tighter, pulling her into him, while she stared from over his shoulder to her father who had a knowing glint sparkling on his eye and smirk. But that expression disappeared as soon as it appeared, gas lightening her into thinking that it was all her imagination. The only thing being able to pull her back was Nero's voice as he talked with Aramazd.

"What did you mean? Can you help me?" He said, his tone full of hope.

"Me? No." He shortly replied as he turned his body towards Castiel.

"But he can." Aramazd revealed as he used his index finger to point towards Jason.

Of course. The transference.

"You will pass the Virtutem Ignis to him, then you will severely weaken. Your powers might come back, but only those that belong to you with or without the Virtutem Ignis, the ones that are natural to you, inhumane strength, aura reading, the basics, much like a human but with spiritual awakening in a way. You were cursed to become the Light Ghost because you were responsible for the Virtutem Ignis, removing it from you, will also relieve your curse." Aramazd explained. "And since you have apparently done it before..." He continued while looking at Jason and Castiel, you know, the couple who came from the future.

"It should work. From what I've heard no curse was passed upon Jason after he received the power." It was true.

A moment of silence fell in the room.

Even though it had already been done, it was still a big decision to make.

"Nero, what do you say?" Lucifer asked while looking soberly at his son. It sadden him to know that his son would not be as involved in the supernatural world as he had hoped, but it also filled him with joy to know that his son would be free from his curse and be able to follow his path in life with his soulmate by his side...besides the power wouldn't be falling into bad hands, he might not be a fan of Jason because he was dating his daughter, he still knew that he was worthy of it. The kid had grown. Immensely so. No longer a spoiled brat. It was time to give him a chance and keep the world in balance.

Everyone looked at Nero expectantly.

"I will do it."

THE END