The InBetween

Nineteen Swapped Stories (Miguel's POV)

"So, you're CERTAIN they weren't eaten? If those second ring demons were that hungry, they wouldn't be TOTALLY against cannibalism, would they?"

"No Miguel, if they were that starving and random children fell into their pit, the demons would have definitely eaten them."

"So, they WERE eaten?!"

"No Miguel."

"But they could be?"

"Yep."

The boy couldn't control his nerves. He was shaking despite being boiling hot, and although Death's honestly was appreciated, the dead-panned way he delivered it was the furthest thing from comforting. It had been a while since they kicked those demon's butts and were now approaching a boiling magma pit. A few demons hung around there, wearing the same clothes with a pentagon as Life and Death. Death suddenly stopped and forced everyone to huddle, protecting Miguel and Connie with their wings from the sight of those little devils.

"We need a carriage before we go jumping in that bog pool of slag." Death whispered to the group.

"We do?" Miguel enquired.

"You wanna just jump in without any protection? Now THAT'S burning in hell."

"Why do we even need to go in there?" Connie asked.

"That isn't just some pit," Life explained "It's the portal to the second ring. Each layer of hell is coated with that lava, to just jump in without some sort of protection, I mean, you'd end up as mutated as the folks already down there."

"So, here's the plan..." Death started before standing back and allowing himself to transform into something else. Their wings tucked in, wheels appeared where their limbs should be and soon enough, the image of Death as a demon was replaced by a dark, dingy carriage made with rusting iron. Inside were grey leather seats and chained handcuffs that extended from the floor.

"Death?" Miguel called out. The grim reaper managed to shapeshift into an object?

"He can hear us, he just can't speak." Life clarified whilst hopping into the vehicle. The kids looked at each other, shrugged and just headed in. The carriage was pulled by Death's cold cloak, which oddly phased nobody. 

"Here to deport Lilith's sacrifices," Life said to the demons. The looked at each other and peered into the vehicle to see the lambs themselves. Connie started blubbering "Oh please! I'm innocent, I don't wanna die! Again!" Miguel stared with loss in his eyes before getting the hint. He glared at the demons.

"We'll bust out of this somehow!"

They seemed to take mild pleasure in the kid's misery and gave Life the nod of approval to head on in. Miguel thought the magma would be sweltering hot, but they just had mild stuffiness, like being in a hot car on a sunny day while your parents are taking forever in the grocery store. Life smiled "That's the power of Death! So cold and numb it can block out even the most hellish of burns."

Miguel smiled back, pushing down the slight existential fear he got from that sentence. He looked at Connie, who was staring at him with rather sad eyes. When she got his glance, she quickly turned her away as if she hadn't been staring. "You okay?" He asked. A part of him still felt bad for getting her into all of this. "I understand if you're still somewhat mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just...I'm sorry."

Those words really threw Miguel for a loop. "For what?"

"For blaming you for all the awful things in my life. For saying your friends deserve to be here. That was all talk because I wanted to hurt you. Now that we actually ARE here, I'm just so disgusted I had the gall to say to such a thing."

Miguel wasn't sure what to say. Normally he would just say 'I forgive you' but that sounded kind of shallow at a time like this. Life was just watching, waiting for his response. "Sounds like a solid apology to me." He commented.

"Connie, it's okay. You were upset."

"That's no excuse."

"Well, we're going to save them now. I'm sure once Jacob sees us he'll forget why he's even mad," Miguel replied. "Also, once Tyrone sees his gift he'll only punch us a few times."

"What are they like?" Connie asked.

"Tyrone and Jacob? You've met them."

"Yeah, but I spent most of that time hating them. I would like to know what they're like through the perspective of a friend."

"I would too." Life crossed his legs, ready for a story.

Miguel chuckled. He began with the story of how he met them. When he was five Jacob was being picked on and about to be thrown in a garbage can by some teenage bullies when Miguel stood up for him. Of course that ended with both of them thrown in the can. It took four hours until Miguel's brother found them, which allowed for some great bonding time.

The two met Tyrone a year later when he moved into their neighborhood and school from uptown. They appreciated his smarts about legacies and memoirs and Miguel liked how he could take a punch. (No disrespect to Jacob). "I think what really cemented our bond was our love for early 2000's pop," he explained "Specifically Kesha, and our favorite song from her, Die Young.

"Die young?" Life questioned.

"Is that the song you guys were performing when we met in Limbo?"

"Yup."

"Die young," Life repeated "I can't decide if that aged horrifically or amazingly."

Miguel kept the three entertained by embarrassing stories of him and friends. Maybe times in the Withering Woods when they dared each other to lick random things, or just fought and played together. Only when Miguel was talking about their last scheme before the party did he realize he really, truly missed his friends. 

Desperate to change the subject before tears spilled, he asked about Life. "So, you guys are deities? Did you have a beginning? Were you and Death once babies?"

"Death and I did live a life before becoming the demi-gods before you..." Life told a very detailed tale of how he and Death were actually once Adam and Eve, and after Eden fell they took on the role of looking over humanity and keeping the balance of Life and Death expectancy. One thing that confused the group was that even though Life remembered Eden and all the times there as a human, he had no idea whether he was Adam, or Eve. 

"It's a mystery. But I think we're better off with it being unsolved. Now on Earth, we are separate nearly all the time, doing our own duties. When we're off, we travel the great beyond together. Most of time we're in purgatory though. I personally don't visit hell often, when I do I don't dare go near the lower circles of it."

The next few hours were spent with the three exchanging all kinds of stories. Either some century-old mischief Life and Death got up to while disguised as humans, Connie talking about her old town before moving, or more of Miguel's tales of embarrassing bets he had with his friends.

Now, they had reached the lower ring, and Miguel felt closer to these guys now more than ever. He'd call them all his friends. He wasn't even scared of Death after knowing of his secret obsession with stand-up comedy. Connie was looking the brightest Miguel had ever seen her. How shocking everyone was in their best mood despite being hauled off to a place called the dark castle.

Reaching the front of their new prison, Miguel's nose scrunched up with disgust from the awful smell. "Is that the castle itself?" 

They noticed a battle happening from one of the windows and multiple other demons trying to stop them. The fight was between two shadows and an anthropomorphic mold pile. Life asked a stranger if this is where the sacrifices were kept. Instead, the stranger jutted her head back an cackled. "You're too late! Those souls were hauled off to be sacrificed two hours ago!"

All the hope in Miguel's heart dropped. He almost felt like falling over. "We have no use for these two," the demon continued "However, a few of us have been rather peckish lately..." she barred her teeth madly, revealing  sharp fangs. More demons copied her actions, surrounding them. "Now hang on a second..." Life said, spreading his wings which covered the children "They're MY meal!"

A demon randomly sprung out at Life, ripping it's teeth through his wings and wounding him. More jumped on him, preventing him from standing to protect Miguel and Connie.

The kids stood back to back as all kinds of demons surrounded them. Mutilated, normal looking (or as normal as you can look with a missing eye and misshapen nose)

 All Miguel could think as he and Connie slowly lowered their balled hands in front of these monsters, about to experience their second, more painful death, was:

So close, yet so far away.