In Hell, time holds little meaning. It exists in only two forms.

Now and Forever.

So now, after what seemed like forever, Gumi began hearing voices. First only a few, and then by the thousands. Without the Powder of God in her vocalizer, she could barely gasp at them with a whisper.

"Who's there?" Gumi gasped as loud as she could, managing to be no louder than the softest of the voices.

The voices closed in. She could soon hear what they were saying.

"That's her."

"That's Gumi."

"She sings for The VocaLords."

"Nah. It can't be her. Where's her guitar?"

"Look how weak she is. Without her guitar, she's nothing."

"Ha! She is worse than nothing! She's stuck down here with us!"

The rest of them were mostly saying one thing, over and over again. "She's the reason we're in Hell! She's the one who sent us here!"

Gumi stood up, waiting until the shadows closest to her could be seen in the steam and mist. They flitted between one stinking cloud to the next, until she didn't know which way to turn.

The shadows surrounded her by he thousands.

"She sent us to Hell!"

"Now she's down here, just like us!"

"She can't do anything!"

"Let's get her!"

Suddenly they fell silent, seemingly afraid of a sound. Through clouds of acid and hissing steam, Gumi saw some of them craning towards the ceiling. Others hunkered down low, as something was crashing through the rocks above. The sound grew louder and louder. Someone else was plummeting towards Hell.

"Run and hide!" the more knowledgeable shadows said. "We'll get crushed!"

Sometimes many souls plummet into Hell all at the very same time. It certainly was the case when The VocaLords performed The Winnowing at one of their concerts. Using her guitar as a weapon, Gumi could obliterate every person within earshot. Of course, she always made sure the souls she obliterated deserved to be sent to Hell.

The ceiling opened over Gumi's head to admit another soul into Hell. It landed right on top of her, again sending her to the floor in a heap, atop the rocks and rubble. It was Miku, The VocaLord's bass player. Gumi picked up her re-bruised body and then helped Miku up, brushing the dust from her.

"Am I in Hell?" Miku asked.

Gumi only nodded, as her voice had grown too weak to be heard over the hissing steam and dripping acid.

"You have no Powder of God left, do you?" Miku asked next, knowing. "You can't speak."

Again, Gumi nodded. Miku looked about with her hands on her hips.

"So this is what Hell looks like, huh? Well it certainly does stink! And boy is it ever hot!"

As the shadows closed in, their whispers freaked out Miku. "Hey! What's that?" she asked, whirling about. "Who's there?"

"She's a VocaLord, too!"

"Are you sure?"

"She looks like a groupie."

"No! She plays bass guitar!"

"That's Miku!"

"Hey!" Miku said back. "Who told you my name? What's it to ya, anyway?"

She spun around in circles, trying to hone in on whichever shadow was whispering about her at the moment. She grew animated as they surrounded her, waving her arms wildly while spinning this way and that.

"Go away! Leave me alone!"

The shadows grew silent for a moment. "Wow," one of them remarked. "She sure knows how to holler."

"That's right!" Miku screamed, figuring out which one of them had spoken. "So you just back off, Mister!" In a more serious tone, she spoke to Gumi. "How can you stand it down here with all these creeps? I am totally losing it!"

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Gumi pressed her vocalizer to Miku's temple, so that Miku could hear her feeble voice.

"What are you doing here?"

Miku snapped to attention, taking a step backwards before bowing and addressing Gumi. "I made VioLinja obliterate me, too! After what she did to you, I made her do me next."

Using all her strength, Gumi rasped out one word. "Why?"

Miku looked chagrined, talking to her feet while kicking pebbles.

"Because it's all our fault that you're down here. She tricked the band into playing with her so she could obliterate you. So then I tricked her! I made her obliterate me!"

Gumi gasped and rasped, but the shadows were making more noise than she was able to muster.

"What?" Miku asked of Gumi, leaning straight at the hips towards her. "I can't hear what you're saying." As Gumi gasped and rasped, Miku again asked, "What? What?"

Gumi gave up trying to talk, as she couldn't be heard over the shadows. Upon realizing this, Miku took to waving her arms again, turning this way and that.

"Shut up!" she screamed at the shadows. "Be quiet and shut up! I can't hear her speak!"

The shadows again became silent.

"You're right," one shadow said to the other. "She really does know how to holler."

In the silence that followed, Gumi summoned all her strength, speaking loud enough for Miku to hear. "You didn't tell me why."

Miku seemed distracted, staring at the shadows around her. "Um," she said, "Why what?"

This time Gumi became animated, waving her arms like Miku. "Why did you come down here?"

Again, Miku popped to attention. "Oh!" she announced, digging in her pockets. "I came to bring you this!"

Miku produced a clear plastic bag full of the Powder of God. It shone with a luster all its own as she held it out straight in front of her. With joy, Gumi snatched the bag, removing her vocalizer and recharging it.

"Ew," Miku said, making a face while staring at Gumi's necrosis. "You need to have that looked at."

Once recharged, Gumi spoke clearly. "This doesn't do much good, though. Without my guitar, it only allows me to speak."

Miku looked insulted, crossing her arms with her nose in the air. "I know that," she said as a matter of fact, tapping her foot with impertinence. "That's why I also brought your guitar."

Gumi grew excited. "Where?" she asked, looking about. "I don't see it."

Miku then looked about too, scurrying from rock to rock.

"Well, it has to be here somewhere. "I mean, I had it with me when I let VioLinja obliterate me. And I was able to bring your Powder of God down here. So where is your guitar?"

As the strata above Miku's head took to rumbling, she looked up at the spot. This time, when Hell's ceiling opened, out fell Gumi's guitar. It would have broken to bits upon striking the stone floor, but it landed on something that saved it.

It landed on Miku instead. "Uhh," she moaned from the impact, again in a heap on the rocks. "I found it."

With joy, Gumi ran to Miku. She plucked the guitar off from atop her while totally ignoring her condition.

"Uhh," Miku moaned again. "You're welcome."

After connecting the guitar to her body, Gumi strummed a few chords. Music spilled forth with such power that small stones were dislodged from the ceiling. When they clattered to the ground, Gumi's pretty white cheeks crinkled up as a huge smile grew on her face.

"I can get out of here now," she announced.

"You can?" Miku said, saying it more like a question.

Gumi's hazel eyes shone. "Yes. Now I can obliterate Hell."

This caused Miku to become animated again. She got up from the ground and waved her arms wildly for a third time.

"You can't obliterate Hell! There'll be no place for everyone to go who you've obliterated down here! They'll be… they'll be… obliterated!"

Gumi nodded with sadness. "Yes," she said, "that's true. But I can't let VioLinja keep control over the Power of Obliteration. She can't abuse it the way she has. She's not using the Powder of God to winnow the good from the bad. She's obliterating anyone she chooses."

Miku agreed, nodding while her best friend kept talking.

"I have to stop her, Miku. I have to get back to the surface, to keep her from taking over The VocaLords and destroying the world."

Miku again kicked at pebbles. "Won't I get obliterated again, too?" she quietly asked the pebbles. "Like, only this time, for forever?"

Gumi swung her guitar to one side so as to hug Miku very hard. "Probably." Gumi whispered with love into Miku's ear. "I don't see how to prevent it."

Miku sighed with resignation, hugging Gumi back. "But I did save you, right? You're gonna be okay now? Right?"

Gumi rested her chin on Miku's shoulder, hugging her even harder. "I'll be all right. And once I'm free from Hell, I'll stop VioLinja."

The two of them hugged for a while in silence. "But if Hell is obliterated, and everything in it," Miku pointed out, "you won't be able to perform The Winnowing anymore."

Gumi released Miku from her embrace, holding her by both shoulders. "Hmm. That may be true. But I'll find some other way to separate the Good from the Evil."

Miku looked with love into Gumi's eyes. She appeared ready to cry. "But… you'll have to do it without me. You'll have to perform The Winnowing without me any more, because I'm going to get obliterated forever, along with the rest of Hell."

Gumi nodded slowly. After another moment of silence, Miku threw herself back into Gumi's embrace.

"That's okay. I don't mind. You do what's right, and don't worry about me."

"I'll miss you forever, Miku. Forever and ever and ever."

"Mmm," Miku purred as they held each other tight. "I will miss you, too." She then broke free of their embrace. "Hey!" she said, wide-eyed and loud. "What if I ran away? You know…like really really fast? Could I then maybe get away?"

Gumi shrugged, pondering this idea. "It couldn't hurt to try," she decided to say.

In a flash, there was nothing left of Miku but some clouds of dust. "Okay!" she called back through the clouds. "I love you, Gumi! good-bye!"

"Good-bye," Gumi said to herself, as Miku's dust clouds dissipated. "I love you, too. And good luck."

The shadows began closing in again.

"She's got her guitar!"

"We have to stop her!"

"We'll get obliterated again!"

Gumi slowly turned this way and that, trying to always face whichever shadow was closest to her at the time.

"She can't do anything!"

"She's all alone now!"

"She's stuck down here with the rest of us!"

Gumi rechecked her connections, addressing the shadows who doubted her. "None of you seem to understand. I'm not stuck down here with you. You're stuck here with me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's bluffing!"

"Yeah! She'd never risk obliterating herself again."

Gumi's head popped up. "Oh, yeah?" she asked. "Watch this."

Gumi raked and sawed and beat on her guitar, forcing it to make sounds that no normal guitar could make. As wave upon wave of sonic blasts billowed forth, everything around her disappeared. Soon there was nothing left of Hell but one giant hole. Sunshine from above poured through, obliterating what remained of the shadows who taunted her.

And though it all, Gumi walked towards The Light.