The next morning, Alexander woke up with Samantha in his arms. Spoon to spoon in his bed. At first, he thought he was dreaming, but when he smelled her hair, which smelled like fresh green apples as usual, he knew it was real.
"Are you awake Red?"
"For a while now Alex."
"Do your parents know you're in my bed? Does Samael know you're in bed with the Antichrist?"
She chuckled a little sadly at the second question:
"Mom and Dad know. Mom told me to stay with you because you needed a familiar and friendly face when you woke up. To keep you from slipping back into your reliving. But I think we'll keep this a secret from Sammy for a while."
"Yes, I think that's a good idea. What happened to me, Samantha? I remember being in the shower and the next thing I knew I saw your mother's face and then nothing."
She turned to him and said with watery eyes:
"It was horrible to see you like that, Alex. You were completely gone; you were stuck in a reliving. You were no longer here with us. You were begging Mom for help."
"O..."
He swallowed audibly for a moment:
"Then I guess I owe your mom an apology."
She kissed him gently and said:
"No Alex, you shouldn't. You needed help and we gave it to you, we always will if you need it."
He thought for a moment and then blushed a little:
"Oh man, is it true that I called your mother Mom a couple of times?"
She laughed a little:
"Yes, you obviously needed a mother and she was there for you as a mother."
They lay there forehead to forehead for a while until he said:
"I feel completely burnt out, Red. I'm not going to make it to practice with Michael and Celine today."
"Alex, it's not bad to take a day for yourself once in a while. Today is your day, our day. Today we do what we want, no pressure, no business. Okay?"
He nodded gently.
"Yes, that seems wonderful. Just the two of us."
"My father, Aisha, and Franklin are here. They want to join us for breakfast."
"Ah, crap. Let me guess, called for reinforcements because your mom knows I would tell you my story. I know I should tell you, Red, because I made a promise. But I'm not sure I want to tell everyone. But Casiel definitely not!"
"I know, love, but these are our parents. If you can't trust them, who can you trust? And Cas has already left for the day because we asked for some privacy."
"Sam, I'm the wrong person to say this to. My past experiences with parents have not been spectacular."
"True, but Aisha is your real mother and she would never treat you that way. Franklin is your stepfather; he is a good man and cares very much for you. You know my parents, and you know they are good people."
He sighed:
"Yeah, I'm going to take a shower. Maybe I'll find a bucket of energy somewhere. And no peeking this time, Red!"
He said playfully angry as she giggled, remembering very well that first morning in the infirmary.
"Too bad, because that tight bum and your broad shoulders are a real work of art!"
She giggled. Now he was really blushing.
Hand in hand they entered the dining room and indeed the four gods were sitting there. Three of them saw the scars on his arms and neck, which had not yet faded, and were shocked. Even though Salome had told them they were there and all over his body, it was still a shock to them.
"Good morning Samantha, good morning Alexander."
Robert said:
"Sleep well?"
"Not really Daddy."
Samantha said a bit softly as Alexander said grimly:
"Like a corpse Robert."
He was not really in the mood to be the sunshine of the house and his optimism had been temporarily depleted the night before. Robert knew where it came from and did not take the grim answer the wrong way. He could not imaging what the boy was feeling or going through at the moment. They took their seats at the table and there was the usual chatter, except for Alexander who was completely silent until everyone was finished and the table was cleared. Alexander had another cup of coffee in front of him and tried to avoid the stares of those present. Robert spoke:
"Alexander, please look at me."
With difficulty, he did as he was asked.
"When a soul enters Hell with a marker that sends that soul to the worst part of Hell with special treatment from the Demons to appease their Prince, something they did with fervor by the way, some sort of alarm goes off. To my shock, five of them arrived in quick succession yesterday. Something I had to see for myself. At first, I was angry, no, furious, because the "don't kill" law exists for a reason."
Alexander said:
"My Lord, I wish I could say I'm sorry, but I can't."
"I wasn't finished, boy, and this is all family at the table, so drop the titles. Like I said, this is a family helping family."
Alex had tears in his eyes and could only nod, Samantha took his hand firmly.
"I visited these souls in their cells. All five of them, without exception, were black souls destined for hell anyway. Maybe not the deepest circle where you send them but still deep enough. What I saw made me almost sick. What makes me really sick, though, is that the four of us here at this table are responsible for what happened to you because of our decision thirteen years ago."
Alexander shook his head, looked at Lady Salome, and hesitated. She smiled at him encouragingly and said:
"Alexander, my boy, call me what you feel the need to. I don't mind or dislike it at all, on the contrary, neither does your mother, Aisha. You have two mothers now and we want to fulfill that role very much, so..."
Now he couldn't hold back the tears and they rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't speak for a while. When he found his breath again, he said softly:
"Robert, I already told Mom. This is not your fault. You made a decision that you thought was best for your universe. You didn't know for sure at the time that I could be a danger to your daughter or your universe. I bet if I had landed in another universe with gods with no moral compass , they would have killed me the moment I showed up. Simply to prevent me from growing up and becoming a danger. You made a decision prompted by your goodness; you left me alive but at the same time took no chances. And I'm sure that once I talk to those four idiots from my universe, it will turn out to be a stupid mistake. No one is to blame. It will turn out to be just a stupid coincidence that I ended up where I ended up. A stupid coincidence that what happened to me happened to me. No more and no less."
When no one seemed to have anything to say about this statement, Samantha asked in a low voice:
"So what happened to you, Alex, can you tell us?"
He took a few deep breaths and looked her straight in the eye:
"I wish you had never made me make that promise Samantha. Truly, you are so much love and light. You should not be exposed to this ugliness."
He drank the rest of his coffee, took a deep breath and said:
"Yesterday I killed five people on earth in an unpleasant, very brutal, very bloody, and slow way. I killed the two people who were supposed to be my parents, a nurse who was supposed to be looking out for the welfare of her students but didn't give a damn, a doctor who swept several cases of assault and sexual abuse under the rug, and a sheriff who knew about most of it but did nothing but drink. I killed the man who was supposed to be my father the same way he killed me but with a lot of interest built up over the years. The only reason, and stupidly the only reason, he did what he did to me is because I was smarter than him since I was three. Now I know that was a byproduct of my Nefilim side, that my IQ was much higher than normal for a human child. He absolutely hated that, so he took out all of his anger and frustration on me because he was nothing but a stupid loser at everything he did."
His whole story came out of his mouth. Once he started, he couldn't stop, and he didn't spare the details. If they wanted to know, they would know. He told them about the whipping wounds from a belt, the cigarette burns, the broken bones from kicks with a heavy boot, and the smaller fractures in his face from fists. And then the cage, barely big enough to move in, locked up naked and injured, with no way to escape his own excrement. When he was done, he looked down at the tabletop, afraid to look up, afraid of what he would see on the faces of the gods. Samantha was nestled in his arms, crying softly with her head on his chest. He heard two other women crying quietly at the table. When Franklin spoke, Alex heard that he too was struggling to speak through a thick lump in his throat:
"Alex, you need to know, you need to realize that none of this is your fault, none of it is deserved. They did this to you because they are monsters, and they paid the price. If you hadn't done it yourself, I would have done it myself once I found out, that's a given!"
Robert added:
"And I would have gladly helped Franklin. They are now in the deepest circle of hell and their suffering will continue for a very long time because I gave the Demons there free rein over their souls."
He looked at Franklin and remembered Samantha's words that this was actually his stepfather since Aisha was his mother.
"It's hard Dad, it's so damn hard..."
"I know son... It may not look like it now, but it will get better with time, a lot of time."
After a pleasant day spent together and more sightseeing in the city, Samantha and Alexander stepped into the living room of the suite, laughing loudly. A sound that was silently welcomed by all present. To their surprise, they saw all four Gods together with Celine, Michael, and Samael. Celine had told the two brothers what had happened. While shaking her head, she told them that it was not a good idea to make this boy angry, because he seemed to have no problem to go Old Testament and doing it slowly, bloody, brutally, and very painful. That he would become the rightful Prince of Hell if necessary. She asked the rhetorical question that if he was capable of such a thing at thirteen, what would he be capable of as an adult?
Alex said smiling:
"I thought you guys could never stay anywhere for long?"
"There are exceptions Alexander."
Aisha said.
"Oh like what?"
"Spend some time with my son if you want?"
He plopped down in a seat with Samantha practically on his lap. None of the gods objected, all four of them knew the two belonged together and were meant to be.
"I would love that, Mom. If it would be possible for you to do some extra work to keep this multiverse running and give us all a little more time together, I think that would be great. When you think about it, we are one big family and I would love to spend a lot more time with you."
She smiled at him, touched by his request, and said:
"I'm sure we can do that. But for now, is there anything you want to know or talk about?"
"Actually yes, it has been itching in the back of my mind for a few days. Lucifer the damn Morningstar and NO I don't want to see anything Mom, not a single picture, yuck, just hear words. Seeing it once with my mom in the starring role was more than enough. One more time and I'll need a therapist for the next few centuries."
He said mischievously. Aisha blushed a little, something he had thought impossible for a goddess.
"So what do you want to know?"
"Two things actually. First, who is Lucifer, and I mean in his soul?"
"Lucifer is an innocent soul. The punishment he received was completely unjustified and completely misplaced and just a gigantic overkill. If he was guilty of anything, it was that in his enthusiasm he went too fast and too far without thinking of what his father was capable of. Or rather, in his naiveté, in not believing what his father was capable of. His crime was to demand that Angels be given the same freedom as humans. Something that this God could not possibly allow because he wanted his angels to always be under his complete control. His punishment was to be banished to Hell forever, to rule there as King, impossible to return to Heaven, because if he returned, he would be destroyed immediately. Cut off from his entire family. From the brothers and sisters, he loves so much. When it comes to Heaven, his father, and his mother, he is full of hatred and venom, and rightly so, I would say. But when it comes to people, especially the innocent, he is nothing but good and light, no wonder, because he is the Lightbringer. But make no mistake, when it comes to protecting them, he is no different than you. You are truly his son, for you both can and will go Old Testament to protect the innocent, as you have proven."
Alexander nodded, smiling. He liked this image of Lucifer. He turned to Samael and asked:
"Hey Growler, you are the Lightbringer here, never wanted to start a little revolution?"
He raised his fist:
"You know, like Che Guevara, VIVA LA REVOLUCUTION..."
The angel shook his head. Once he had cleared his head from the verbal pounding this boy had given him, he began to like him. It was as if he just lit up every room he entered. He said:
"Yes, like your father, I was about to do something stupid because I was jealous of humans. It turned out that I was as stupid or naive as Lucifer, that we had free will for a long time without really knowing it. Dad and Mom took me aside and gave me an earful. Made it clear that I was stupid."
Alexander looked at him mischievously:
"Hmmm, apparently that must happen to you every so often, Samael."
The Lightbringer laughed heartily. And Alex continued:
"I can guess the answer to the second part, but I think I want to hear it anyway. Since you don't know who you are when you are in a body on an earth, then of course you don't know that you have a spouse. So if you are with someone or married on a earth, it cannot be considered adultery. But what does Dad think about this and the fact that you have a son now, that you can actually interact with me now?"
Franklin answered himself:
"I think it's great that we finally have a son, a boy. Something we never thought possible. Even though I'm not your biological father, from the moment I knew you existed, I couldn't wait to meet you and I love you as much as your mother does. I can't tell you how sorry we are for making the wrong decision. I don't know what your morals say about this, Alex, but your mother and I are pretty open about it. She takes vacations, has people she loves, but so do I sometimes, not as often as your mother because I don't feel the need to take vacations as often."
" First of all, this Dad, Robert, and Mom. Stop saying you're sorry. It happened, we can't change it, and I have no desire to dwell on the past. My morals don't say anything about this Dad. You and Mom are open and honest with each other and no one is forced, everything is by free will. So where is my right to judge? In my opinion, no one has that right, not even God. Live and let live is my motto."
"Does that apply to everything, Alexander?"
Robert asked.
"I threw your Ten Commandments in the trash can a few days ago and replaced them with eight letters."
"You did what now?"
Michael asked confused. Meanwhile, Samantha was laughing, while Alexander had a big smile on his face as if he had just caught the canary. Sam said:
"Oh yeah, you need to hear this."
She told the story of what had happened in the Hall of Knowledge after Laia had said it was impossible. After a few seconds of silence, Franklin said:
"I'll be damned."
Then Alexander said:
"Mom, Dad, your multiverse is broken, but don't worry, I'll fix it."
Now it was Aisha who asked in amazement:
"You will do what now?"
"Of course. Mom, Dad, you know who I am and what I am, right?"
"Yes, of course, you are my son and Lucifer's, so you are the Crown Prince of his Hell."
"Not quite right Mom, think about it."
After a minute Franklin said:
"Oh, bullocks..."
Alexander pointed at him and said:
"He gets the picture."
"I, we have always seen you as the son of Lucifer, his Crown Prince, because we thought something else was simply impossible. But you are also the son of Aisha, so you are also our Crown Prince. The Crown Prince of the multiverse, of all creation in this multiverse."
Now everyone in the room looked at him in amazement.
"Yes, so move over old people, a new generation is coming!"
Samantha laughed out loud, and Celine had her face buried in her hands, but people could see from her shoulders that she was laughing just as hard. When everyone had recovered a bit, Alex asked with the same smirk on his face and in that casual tone of his:
"So, Dad, Mom, tell me, how long will it take for me to reach my full powers as the Antichrist?"
His parents sensed from afar that something they hadn't anticipated was about to follow.
"About five years."
A light went on for Celine and Michael that this was exactly the time Alexander had requested for his training.
"And how long will it take for me to grow into my full powers as Crown Prince of the multiverse?"
They looked at him puzzled and after a few seconds Aisha answered:
"Maybe a few thousand years."
And now it was Celine and Michael who started laughing. Alex said dryly:
"Time I don't have, so time I have to steal."
And for the four gods, the pieces of what he had said during their last meeting fell into place. After a minute of complete silence, Robert said:
"Holly fuck..."
And began to laugh out loud.
"Yep, now that we know my trans-location is working properly after my little outing last night, I think it's time to make a flaming sword."