-Michael-

Michael exhaled. “That was a close one…” he said, looking to the side to see Charlie’s face near his. It seemed that Charlie had put everything they had into that last spell and they were completely unconscious. However, they were still clinging onto Michael from behind, resting their chin on his shoulder.

That’s what the fuck I’m talking about, kid! Good shit! You really showed that bitch who’s boss! For once, Mike was praising his contemporary. Michael couldn’t help but smile as air burst from his nose humorously. It felt good for once; being the hero of the story, not the fool. For the first time, Michael thought that maybe climbing Tartarus alongside Mike and Charlie truly was possible.

Michael slowly helped Charlie lie down, admiring their peaceful face as they lay unconscious. He didn't mean to, but he just stared at them for a few seconds, not even blinking or moving a muscle.

Stop being a creep.

“What!? I’m not even-” Michael immediately jumped to defend himself from Mike’s teasing, but he contained himself. Again, he exhaled. “Shut up, Mike.” he whispered as he summoned his healing flash in his hand, placing it upon Charlie’s lips and pouring the potion delicately into their mouth. Reflexively, Charlie swallowed and the Health Flask immediately went into effect.

Charlie drew in one large breath as they leaned upward, nearly clashing with Michael as he dodged out of the way. Charlie looked around for a moment, feeling around their body and face before looking up at Michael.

Michael smiled warmly at them, moving Charlie’s staff closer to them. “I believe this belongs to you. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

Charlie grabbed the staff, avoiding Michael’s soft gaze by keeping theirs locked onto the weapon. “Thanks for uh… saving me. I thought I was done for.”

“We saved each other, remember? I’d be at the bottom of Tartarus if it wasn’t for you.” Michael stood on his feet, offering his arm to Charlie. “Let’s keep going.”

It was then that Charlie looked up at his face again and as they did so, their pupils dilated ever so slightly. That boy they knew before, that scared young man, was all but gone. He was beaming confidently, at least that’s how it appeared from the outside. Internally, Michael would be the first to tell anyone that he was scared shitless of what was to come. However, he knew then that he could fight.

Charlie grinned softly, grabbing Michael’s hand as he lifted them to their feet. "Thank you." Charlie said, this time maintaining eye contact with Michael. The two of them awkwardly shared a glance for a moment, though for Mike, this moment felt like ten million centuries.

Holy hell enough of this googly-eyed bullshit can we get moving already!

“Shut up, dude.” Michael whispered shaking his head as he led the way to the wall of fog that would transport them to the next floor. Charlie was still getting used to the whole two guys in one body thing, tilting their head curiously before raising a question.

“So, you guys can talk to each other?”

“Yup. You know that voice you hear in your head sometimes that tells you to do something bad? It’s like that but ten times louder and more annoying.”

And when I'm in control, it's more like five hundred thousand times more annoying.

"Wow, Mike, I didn't know you could count that high! Good job!'

I'm going to kick your ass one day, just you wait.

Charlie laughed as they watched Michael and Mike argue, though they could only hear what Michael was saying. “I see… And you guys can like…switch out by cutting yourself?”

“Yeah, if we draw blood, we switch who has control of the body.”

“Huh. Interesting, so...” Charlie stepped through the wall of fog first, still continuing the conversation. Michael followed closely them, stepping through the portal to find himself standing someplace quite different than the rest of Tartarus.

Beneath his feet was lush grass, spreading out as far as the eye could see. The sky was bluer than any sky he’d ever seen, filled with puffy clouds and a couple of rainbows arching around the horizon. However, Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell… There’s no way we made it, right? Mike?” As Michael said this, he bumped his back into another being. Quickly, he turned around, only to see a white-haired demon before him. This demon had those blackened limbs and horns that Michael could recognize from his own new body. It wasn’t long before he realized he was looking at himself for the first time; or rather, he was seeing Mike for the first time. He could tell it was him due to those golden eyes of his.

“Mike…” Michael whispered, seeing Mike somehow standing before him in a separate body. Mike scoffed, looking Michael up and down. “So this is what we look like, huh? I gotta say we’re handsome a guy. By the way, I have something for you.” Mike put out two hands as if he were giving Michael something. “Go ahead and pick one.” A smile adorned Mike’s face, though the intentions behind it may or may not have been good-spirited.

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Michael hesitated for a second before pointing to Mike’s right hand. “This one.” The moment those words left his mouth, Mike punched Michael as hard as he could, sending him to the ground.

“Ow! What was that for!” Michael asked, rubbing his cheek which then had a pink outline of Mike’s fist.

“I already told you what would happen if our bodies were ever separated. I’m a man of my word.” Mike proclaimed with his arms crossed and an even larger smile on his face. Meanwhile, Michael was fuming. However, before he could retaliate, a familiar voice called out to them.

“Michael? Mike? Thank goodness, you two made it!” The two of them turned their heads to see Petra standing beside them, pushing her glasses before placing both hands behind her back and swaying side to side gently.

“Petra?” Both boys said at the same time.

“Ah, you remembered me?” she said.

“I mean, how could I forget such a-” Before Michael could finish this sentence, Mike punched him in the stomach, sending Michael right back to the ground.

“Shut up, you idiot!” Mike flicked the pain from his hand before redirecting his attention toward Petra, who was then covering her mouth with her hand in shock.

“You are rather violent.” she said.

“I get that a lot. Anyway, you wanna tell us what’s happening? Where are we?”

“Oh, right.” Petra pushed her glasses toward her face one more. “You see, I have no power in Lucifer’s realm, however, I found that on certain floors, it is possible for some of my own power to sort of seep through the cracks. Well… I’m not supposed to be doing this because technically it is cheating and cheating is bad but…” Petra buried her face into her hands, hiding her embarrassed expression. “I don’t want to be fired!”

Michael rose to his feet, holding onto his stomach which still stung from Mike’s punch. “So you’re here to help us?”

Petra nodded quickly. “Yes. I can give you both a blessing. Oh! Uhm… I played this one game on the PlayStation thing that the humans invented and it called these things perks!”

“They have PlayStations in Heaven? What's your favorite game?” The moment Michael asked this, Mike’s eyes darted toward him.

“Sorry.” Michael whispered.

“Anyway, these Blessings that I will bestow upon you are sort of like those. You get a little boost. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to touch both of you.”

Michael was going to comment on what she just said, but Mike’s icy glare prevented him from even opening his mouth, knowing it would result in yet another punch.

Petra placed her hand on Mike’s chest first and an ethereal, white glow emanated from that exact spot on his body. “Mike Ray Thompson. I looked through your file again, just out of curiosity, and I saw that you are a very angry man. That rage inside of you has been used as a weapon throughout your entire life, even as a child. That crime you committed, the one that led to your execution, was a result of that anger, yes? I understand why you were angry then, and if it were up to me, I don’t think I would have sent you to Hell personally…”

Michael raised a brow. ‘If an angel thinks his murders could be forgiven, then I wonder what exactly led to them?’

Petra continued. “...It is not up to me, as I simply place the souls where they are said to belong. However, I believe that if you send in an appeal, there is a chance for you to get a new opportunity in life! I will even talk to God himself... But I doubt he'd take the word of someone like me into account. I believe that you aren't that bad of a man, Mike. Therefore, I bestow upon you the ability to turn your anger into tangible strength!”

[Ability Unlocked]

[Rage: Grants the user the ability to grow more powerful as their anger grows]

Petra’s eyes then found Michael and she placed her hand on his chest. “And you, Michael Ray Thompson. I have looked through your file as well. You… You’re a good man. Your entire life, you’ve always wanted to be strong enough to protect others. That lack of strength has held you back your entire life, that fear of being too weak. Therefore, I bestow upon you, the ability to make those around you, including yourself, more powerful!”

[Ability Unlocked]

[Energize: Grants the user the ability to ability to double the amount of physical or magical damage dealt by oneself and/or allies for a period of time]

“That is all I can provide for you this time. Our connection is once again severing. May we meet again, soon. Goodbye.” The moment those words left Petra’s lips, Michael found himself transported back into Tartarus, stepping through the wall of fog as he was before he was transported to that mysterious garden. He found himself inside Marut's laboratory once again, though this time Harut was there with him, which Michael found odd since he'd just seen him standing at the bottom of Tartarus.

“Hey, it’s Marut and I guess that’s his brother!” Charlie said, running over to the two twins. For Charlie, there wasn't any sort of vision or displacement into another realm. Walking through the wall of fog was business as usual.

“Uh… Did you just have that dream about Petra too?” Michael whispered to his bodymate.

I sure as hell did.

“Weird…” Michael then looked down at his watch, seeing that he’d earned one hundred Hell Bucks, along with enough EXP to level him up twice after defeating Alecto. “Looks like I'm level three now and got six skill points. I guess our levels are separate too. Whoever is in control when we kill an enemy gets the EXP.”

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

“I agree…So this means we should try to take turns killing bosses until we get some sort of EXP-sharing ability if that exists.”

And I assume this ‘EXP share’ does exactly as it sounds.

“Yup. We’ll both get EXP regardless of who kills the enemy; that is if there is such a thing here. Maybe we can ask Marut about it.” Michael started fiddling with his watch. “But for now, I’m going to give myself five points of luck and one point of intellect.”

Let’s go see what the little twerps are selling, and then let's test out our new abilities! Had Mike been in control of the body, a devilish grin would have been on his face. However, Michael gave a slight grin in his stead. He too was excited to see just what Petra's blessings had in store for them.