God's Gone AWOL

[3] This is NOT Home.

They were falling. And Leslie was screaming.

Amidst the chaos, Atticus twisted his body and looked up. As it turned out, the three of them had been unknowingly standing on a trap-door. When Bentley pressed the button, she must have activated some mechanical network that caused it to open. That was the strange thumping sound they had been hearing. It was a classic trick, like something out of a cartoon. But they had fallen for it and now they were plummeting through another black void of unidentifiable size or depth. Good going, Bentley.

The angel, being an angel, opened his wings to slow his fall. Once he had gained some aerial stability, his first reaction was to grab Leslie. Since Leslie had no wings to protect himself, his entire mortal body would shatter as soon as it hit the ground. So Atticus scooped him up mid-air and continued their descent at a steadier and safer pace. However, whether it was the fault of gravitational force, or just plain shock, Leslie fell unconscious the moment he was lifted into his guardian angel's arms.

Atticus sighed.

Everything was quiet on Pomegranate Hill.

The fog that had settled in for the night was only just now starting to lift, leaving behind a sweet, soft haze. Specks of dew beaded the folded petals of all the resident flowers awaiting the kiss of sunshine to wake them from their gentle slumber. The whole hill was enveloped in a comforting silence, making way only for the light bubbling of the creek nearby. Occasionally, a bird would whistle out a little tune to greet the rising sun. But other than that, everything was still as a painting.

Until a figure in red landed SPLAT in the middle of the sparkling grass.

"Ow..." Bentley tried to pick herself up off the ground. "Why'd you catch him and not me?"

Above her, Atticus was gracefully floating downwards with an unconscious Leslie laying weak in his arms like a fairytale princess.

"He doesn't have wings. You could have stopped yourself from falling at any point," He told her.

Atticus touched down lightly and took in their surroundings. It was Pomegranate Hill, he knew that much. There was the creek, the flowers, and most importantly, the actual pomegranate tree. But it was different from the last time he saw it. And it took a moment for him to realize what had changed.

There were no graves here anymore. Neither Lilith's nor Bentley's.

Bentley also seemed to notice something off about the place, and quickly raised the compass again. However, the needle had gone back to spinning aimlessly in circles. She shook it once, twice, but at no point did it ever pick up pointing in a specific direction again.

"Why-- why are we here?" She asked.

"I think the compass..." Atticus started, "Led you home,"

It said "Home" on the box. Where else could it lead?

Atticus never had a huge attachment to Pomegranate Hill. He had only ever visited it once, and that was shortly after Bentley passed away. But he knew that Bentley had spent countless hours of her earlier years in such a place. Playing in the water, snacking on pomegranate seeds, fooling around with her brother and sister. For years, the little square kilometer of Earth had been regarded by both feuding realms as "The Hellbourne Territory", so not even other demons would dare set foot anywhere near it, fearing they would offend any of the three siblings. After two of the Hellbournes died, the whole area became a monument to their lives, but still nobody visited it.

So if Bentley ever had anything close to a home, this foggy hillside might as well be it.

"This isn't my home, this is Flower Hill. This is my tomb if anything," She said, looking around bitterly.

At first, the angel said nothing and went to prop the still-sleeping Leslie against the base of the tree. As he made sure the man was properly upright and not in any danger of rolling into the thorny rose bushes, he thought very carefully. Then spoke in a low voice.

"Home isn't always a place," He said.

As if to prove his point, the sound of distant laughter broke through the cloudy veil, startling the two of them. It wasn't a hostile laughter, nor a mocking one. It was the most frightening type of laughter of all, the laughter of happiness, simple and pure. And it was coming from somewhere in the fluffs of remaining fog.

With the wave of Atticus' hand, the last clouds dispersed, revealing the full, breathtaking, high-definition picture that was Pomegranate Hill in it's entirety. Complete with two figures dressed in white, splashing and wading around, up to their knees in the clear, rushing creek.

One had long black hair, hanging around his face in dark, glistening wet strings. Various tattoos of different shapes and sizes traced their way up his muscular arms and across his collarbone. His wet clothes clung to his figure, revealing more ink, tracing across a set of sturdy abs underneath. A set of shining black eyes lit up the rest of his handsome features as he laughed and messed around in the water.

Although Xander wasn't really related to Bentley by blood, Atticus could still see the physical similarities the two siblings shared.

However, the woman in the water had very few similarities noticeable on sight.

Both Xander and Bentley burned with the heat of a flame --although in Bentley's case, Atticus would describe it as a never-ending trash fire-- but the heat that Lilith Hellbourne emitted was more like sunshine across the rocks of a desert. It was an earthly warmth. A living warmth. Her face had a stronger structure to it as well, with high cheekbones and bright green eyes that didn't resemble either of her siblings in the slightest. Her long hair was pulled up and smoothed into a ponytail, which hung tightly over her olive-toned back. Looking at her, Atticus felt as though he had seen a ghost.

Bentley looked as though she felt the exact same way.

"What the hell?" Her voice did not sound in the slightest bit happy.

Down in the water, the two demons were in the middle of yelling at each other with the biggest, most delighted smiles Atticus had ever seen demons wear.

"Stop that!!" Said Lilith,

"You splashed me first!" Xander replied.

"That's cuz' you never bathe, you stinky little lizard." Lilith splashed him again.

"Hey! I'm an amphibian! When Bentley gets back, I'm telling her that a snake like you doesn't even know the difference,"

Even though he was a centuries-old being of dark power, Xander stuck out his tongue like a child. Lilith retaliated in the exact same manner, so both were blowing raspberries at each other like a pair of toddlers.

Atticus was ready to make some light-hearted comment on how cute the scene was, but when he saw the look on Bentley's face, the words caught themselves in his throat. She wasn't smiling, nor did she look frightened. If anything, the look in her eyes was just... empty. Staring forward with a hollow sadness that could never be filled.

The angel suddenly understood exactly what she was feeling. The real Lilith Hellbourne was dead. Her grave was supposed to be directly under their feet. Although Atticus wasn't present when she had passed away, he knew it hadn't been a peaceful death by any standards. It had been brutal and violent, and Bentley had no other choice but to watch it all happen. This illusion was forcing Bentley to look at someone whom she had said a painful goodbye to a long time ago. The situation was all too familiar to Atticus.

"If you're uncomfortable, we can try to go somewhere else," Atticus said softly.

"I'm not... I'm not uncomfortable. I'm just confused,"

She did not look confused in the slightest.

"Remember that this is part of the enchantment," He told her, "It's just another riddle that we need to solve,"

"But why does this riddle have to be so--"

Without finishing her sentence, Bentley started walking towards the creek, her face empty of all expression.

"Bentley?" Atticus tried to follow her, but she showed no reaction to his presence at all. "Bentley! Slow down for just a moment. Don't act too rashly. They might be dangerous."

He planned on physically restraining her again if she tried moving any further, but his attention was quickly pulled away when a soft groan came from the person laying under the pomegranate tree. After a moment of hesitation, Atticus abandoned Bentley and hurried back up to the top of the hill to check on Leslie.

"Urgh." Leslie pulled himself into a proper seated position, "What happened? Where-- Where are we now??"

Leslie's head spun left and right, trying to take in the scenery. Atticus hauled him to his feet and dusted off his uniform.

"We're safe it seems," Said the angel, "Are you alright?"

"A little dizzy,"

"If you can walk, then walk," Atticus ordered, his voice perhaps a little harder than he had meant it to be.

Down at the bank of the creek, Bentley had stopped her trance-like sauntering. Even though they were rolling around just three meters away, neither Lilith nor Xander acknowledged their sister's presence at all. They just kept playing around and teasing each other without a second glance in her direction. As soon as Leslie was functionally walking again, Atticus abandoned him and hurried down the hill to Bentley's side.

"Wait, where are we?" Leslie called after him.

"We're in an illusion," Atticus replied.

"In a what??"

"Remember how Bentley pressed the button and it burned her hand?" Atticus said, his brain realizing everything as soon as he said it out loud, "I think that somehow, this place must be specifically made for her,"

"So not only am I in my own dream, I'm in hers as well?" Leslie looked so bewildered it was almost funny.

"This place isn't real. That's all I can confirm,"

Although he was looking at the man still on the hill, Atticus' words were directed at Bentley.

"Does it really matter if its real or not? We're safe here," She said, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Are you sure about that?" Atticus asked.

"Wait." Leslie wasn't done talking, "So what would have happened if you or I had pressed that button instead?"

Even though Atticus ignored him, the angel had actually been wondering the exact same thing. Assuming his theory was correct; because Bentley had been the one who opened the door leading to this illusion, it was tailored for her and her alone. And since Pomegranate Hill was such a taboo place, the one behind the entire enchantment wouldn't be able to recreate it so perfectly if they didn't have extensive knowledge as to the layout of the physical area. Which meant it had to have been recreated directly out of Bentley's subconscious. Atticus had never heard of a spell working this way before, but it didn't seem too far-fetched when he really thought about it.

So what would have happened if Atticus had pressed that button back in the gallery? Would it show him similar fabricated encounters of the people he had left behind in Heaven? No. He hadn't left anyone in Heaven. He had no "Happy Place" like Bentley did. Maybe if he pressed the button, they would have just ended up in another big black void. That was the only thing he could think of.

He looked at Bentley.

"We can't stay here for long," He said gently, "This place can't be part of the real world. It could be a trap,"

"Even if it is, I wouldn't mind. The real world hasn't done anything for me lately, has it? At least it's nice here," She said.

Her voice was clear, but her eyes were not. They were still fogged over with that same hollow look of sadness that couldn't be dismissed by words alone.

With a loud splash, Xander was shoved down into the water and held down by Lilith, who was cackling above. He flailed his arms for a moment, coughing, sputtering. Droplets of water flew in the air before tumbling back down onto him and Lilith. The two wrestled a while in the water.

"Okay! Okay! I'm clean already!" He wailed.

"Nope!" Lilith replied, "Not even close! I still see grease in your hair!"

Back onshore, the three were watching the chaotic scene play out, each with wildly different expressions. Although Leslie had been spinning around to stare at their general surroundings, his eyes faltered when he saw the violently thrashing Xander being pinned down under the rush of the creek. He suddenly seemed very interested.

"Who are these people?" He asked.

"These are Bentley's siblings," Atticus replied.

She was still staring forward, having never once looked away or even blinked. Sighing slightly, Atticus shifted his body so he was standing directly between her and the creek, blocking her line of vision entirely.

"Stop looking at them." His voice was more commanding this time, "They can't see you."

It was as though he was a pair of scissors, instantly breaking her focused string of attention. As soon as he spoke, her eyes cleared up, resuming their natural lively red glint.

"It beats looking at you, pretty boy." She poked him on the tip of his nose.

"Oh my gosh, are you two flirting?" Leslie asked like a dramatic high school student.

Bentley's face turned a slight shade of pink.

"Leslie, I will cut out your eyes and force them down your throat--" She started.

Atticus wasn't flustered at all, so he quickly budged into the conversation in order to avoid any serious threats that Bentley would never be able to follow up on.

"Have you ever read 'The Odyssey'?" He asked.

"What?"

"Do you remember the island of the lotus eaters?" He continued, "The men travelling with Odysseus who ate the lotus flowers forgot everything about their previous lives to live in blissful apathy forever. They refused to return to the real world,"

"Yes, I know the story. What's your point?"

"My point is that in this case, we are the lotophagi. This place is the lotus tree. We need to break out before it corrupts our minds into accepting this as reality,"

"Okay? So how do we do that?" She asked.

Atticus paused for a moment, thinking.

"We need to look for another door," He said finally.

...