Dead End 2: Deathly Di-Di-Doo Ch.16 (Patreon)

[Death's Vigil]

— Didi —

Death was everywhere, everywhen, and with everyone. She was a constant, and her attention was Endlessly divided across all of Creation. Still, some received more of her focus than others. Even Death played favorites.

Her Hand was one who received more than his fair share of attention; Didi was not ashamed to admit that. She treasured her time with Sean. One partition of her being was nigh-always by his side in the Dead End they’d built together.

Another who received more than her fair share of attention was the rightfully proclaimed ‘Daughter of Death’, Alice.

Alice would never be alone again. Didi had taken her in, and she took her responsibilities as an adopting mother seriously. Another partition of her being — always — was dedicated to watching over Alice.

Now, as Didi’s ‘Sean’ partition lay with him and Gabriel, finding a way to make their unique arrangement work best for them, her ‘Alice’ partition was enjoying the show her daughter was putting on.

“DEATH DOESN’T WANT YOU TO DIE FOR HER!” Alice screamed, and Didi nodded in approval.

Alice laid down the truth of Death for those debauched cultists. She shared what she’d come to know about Death, about Didi, and thankfully, the cultists listened.

Didi could see how close some of them had been getting to death before Alice stepped in. The poor, misguided fools… They took her presence in Gotham as proof of something and tried to run with it unto death. Happily, they would kill themselves to join Death, some greater purpose. The ones who already had from their number had found nothing of the sort when Didi met them.

A boy cried as the pain grew too much for him. Life had left his body right there on the street. Didi was there for him, sitting by his head. He reached blindly.

“It hurts! It hurts-!” He called out.

Didi soothed him. “It doesn’t. Not anymore. Can’t you feel it?”

She patted his reaching hand with her own, and slowly, the boy’s soul calmed. With her aid, peace claimed him before oblivion. And when he was ready, she helped him up and walked him to his eternity.

Another — a girl much too young — didn’t even realize she was dead initially. Her stimming mind raced and raced, too fast to feel her heart give out. She entered Death’s embrace at full tilt. Didi held her as she tried and tried to run, run, run, run-!

“Faster, faster, faster-! If I can only outrun Death-!” The girl shouted.

“Run as you like. I’ll be here to catch you when you stumble,” Didi replied, patient as only Death could be.

The girl ran, and Didi kept pace through the purgatory before eternity. She let the girl work off all the drugged and desperate inertia in her soul. When she tired, when she stumbled, when she was ready, Didi took the girl’s hand and walked her to her eternity.

It was a shame: the spoiled fruits of that cult claiming to follow her concept. They filtered Death through their lenses of chaos, and only pain came out the other end. Why the rush — Didi thought — why the descent into doomed madness?

As Alice said, it was not at all what Death wanted. But those souls had chosen their path; they’d meet their end one way or another, even early and rushed and mad. All Didi could do, when they did, was be there for them, just as Alice preached.

She was glad when the cult turned from madness to musings with Alice’s help. Their rush unto death slowed and waned. They found something more real to follow, something in Alice’s spoken truth of Death, and Didi watched them do just that as Alice tried to flee from the faith she’d inspired.

Didi shook her head fondly. Her dear daughter, young and inexperienced but so very lively. Didi knew Alice liked the attention more than she would admit — a mother knows, simple as. Whether or not that somewhat selfish appreciation would turn to ready and rightful leadership remained to be seen. Didi wouldn’t keep Alice from finding out herself, though — that was her mistake to make and her growth to grasp.

She knew Alice had only spoken up against the cult’s misinterpretation in her defense. But the girl was more powerful and influential than she realized.

Alice had declared herself with the metaphysical backing only an accepted daughter of Aspects could claim. It was simply natural that people listened, and when she spoke truth, it was simply natural that people followed from there.

Didi watched Alice’s journey through the darkening streets of Gotham. She wasn’t worried for her daughter’s safety for even a moment, not even when Alice encountered a second cult, even more mistaken, malicious, and maligned than the first.

The Church of Blood were followers of Trigon, and Trigon was by now very, very, very dead. Sean had beaten him to bits on Raven’s behalf, and Didi had passed him on to his eternity regardless of the Demon’s rage and resistance. That death would quickly have become clear to his followers. Thus, with their Demon so very dead by Death’s Hand, was it really a surprise that they turned their worship to Death herself?

It was a twisted sort of worship, fitting for followers of that Demon. Didi didn’t accept a scrap of it, of course, but that didn’t stop the Church of Blood from trying to crusade in her name. It didn’t… until Alice happened across them and spoke truth that their twisted hearts could not deny.

“DEATH DOESN’T NEED MURDER-!” She began.

Things spiraled into violence from there, as was the Church of Blood’s preference.

Even as confident as she was in her daughter, Didi couldn’t help but hold her breath as she watched. Screaming Death’s Truth the whole while, Alice defended herself against the dead-set retaliation of Brother Blood.

She borrowed her magic heavily from Raven; Didi knew Trigon’s estranged daughter had more than a small bone to pick with everything her father had created. She lent Alice the magic willingly. Alice made a showcase of power as a result.

“Unbeliever!” Brother Blood shouted. “False prophet! Death needs only Blood! Who are you to-?!”

The irony was thick enough to cut with a knife, but Alice didn’t need a blade.

Alice declared herself, “I am Black Alice, Daughter of Death, Daughter of Reincarnation, the Heir to Magicks Known.” 

Psionic power, pure magic, and conceptual truth overlaid her voice and bolstered her words. Didi found the scene adorably… enthusiastic, backed by the fierce purpose that only the young and spirited could so earnestly claim. Oh, Alice’s titles were true and real — she was Didi’s daughter, and Sean’s, and a potent figure in her own right — but Didi made sure to preserve the way she presented them so she could show Sean later.

Brother Blood denied Alice’s declaration with the very murder he preached. Blades of blood exploded from his hands to tear Alice from the sky. Predatory energy — Pure Red — lined the blades; the violence of nature threatened to engulf Alice in a sharpened tsunami.

In response, darkness surged from Alice’s dusk-cast shadow, and Hellfire flared along the surging shapes. Alice’s constructs tore through the incoming wave, and she burst out the other side.

“Mom doesn’t wish Death upon anyone!” Alice preached her own message to counter Brother Blood’s misinterpretation. “She’s not Murder, or Genocide, or some Bloody Excuse! She-! Just-! Is, Endlessly! She’s patient! Kind! Understanding! Compassionate! Welcoming! She’s the Peace before Eternity, the Final Companion of All, the Inevitable but never Evil!

“If you’re killing in her name, if you’re calling upon her power for your own ends, if you’re acting for her, you’re doing something WRONG! There’s no driving morality to death, no divine justification, and certainly no damned cause to take up in her name!”

Alice burned through all of Brother Blood’s magic. The blood mage, pretending at faith in Death, screamed; the predatory nature of the Red fell silent before the Daughter of Death as she told only truth, for it understood Death even if its wielder did not.  Channeled through Alice, the shadows and Hellfire of Raven’s magic scoured Trigon’s strongest soldier to the blood, the bone, and the barren, broken soul.

“She doesn’t celebrate herself; she doesn’t crave more of herself. She knows better than anyone how terrible Death can be...” Alice’s voice fell to something soft and poignant, even through the fighting.

“She knows how great it can be. How regretful and relieving, too.  Most of all, she knows how final Death is.

“She knows… So, she does what she can to help us embrace it, but only when we must. Death… Death doesn’t dream of Death. But when it comes — and it always does — she’s there, a final friend to guide us unto eternity.”

At her feet, Brother Blood burned and passed. Didi caught his soul with a gentle but firm hand on the spiritual shoulder and made him watch Alice’s final words to him.

“She doesn’t wish Death upon anyone… Claiming that she does, acting in her name as if she does, when she gives us all each a moment of her Endless attention at our ends, even you…? Alice shook her head. “It’s just disrespectful.”

Where only Didi could hear, Brother Blood lamented his death. “My cause, my faithful…” 

“It’s in good hands,” Didi told him.

“As punishment, I presume,” Brother Blood spat. “For damning myself in your eyes.”

Didi just shook her head. “I am here, Sebastian. Your line has avoided me with your Pool of Blood, but never to the point of Cheating Me. I don’t approve of your practices for immortality, or of you attacking Alice, but still, I am here. You haven’t damned yourself.”

“Then, the girl — your daughter… She speaks true?” Sebastian Blood asked.

“She does. I’m rather proud of her.” Didi smiled. “Now, come; walk with me.”

“I-… I am not ready,” Sebastian admitted.

“Then we’ll watch a little longer,” Didi promised, sitting on nothingness with front-row seats to Creation — so close yet so far. She invited Brother Blood to sit beside her. “Eternity can afford to wait.”

Sebastian took up her invitation. “… Thank you, Death.”

“It’s what I do.”

And it was. Her duties as Death: they didn’t discriminate, even if Didi didn’t personally like the soul she was keeping company at their end. Of course, that didn’t have to ruin what she really wanted to be doing.

The partition of herself with Sebastian was pushed ever-so-slightly to the side, and Didi continued to watch over her daughter.

IIIII

The rest of the Church of Blood, now headless, fell in with the first cult Alice had swayed in Didi’s name. Her words were convincing, and the message she preached was worth something to many. Alice could no longer hope to ignore the new role she’d assumed, but neither was she ready to fully embrace it yet. She and Elaine set out once more, in search of another dark corner of Gotham where Death lurked.

They bantered as they went.

“An abandoned church or something? I mean, if we’re gonna attract cults everywhere we go anyway…”

“What’s the worst that can happen? 3xMessiah?”

“Maybe it’ll be your turn, huh? Did you think of that?”

“Nah, I’m blessed, not cursed.”

“Oh, this should be good,” Didi chuckled to herself.

She called out to her cosmic cousin, as Aspected as her. “Michael, are you seeing this?”

Didi knew he was watching over his daughter just as she was watching over hers. And he was much better company to keep than the foolish, passing soul who’d attacked her daughter.

She heard a sigh from Heaven in response. “I am. She has tempted Destiny, hasn’t she?”

“I would think so. Would you care to join me in person?”

“… I can spare a portion of my attention. For Elaine.”

“For Elaine.” Didi nodded in knowing approval.

The Demiurgic Archangel, Regent of Creation until his daughter could take up his Father’s role, stepped forward from nothingness to Didi’s side, not so much teleporting as creating himself anew in another place.

“Michael!” Didi smiled and joked. “Oh, it’s been so long!”

“All of a day,” Michael deadpanned; his twitching lip gave away his amusement. “You know, there is business in Heaven that needs seeing to.”

“Business more important than your Elaine?”

“… No. I have already missed too much of her life due to captivity, death, and rebirth. The divine bureaucracy can hold for another night on its own.”

“Very good.” Didi smiled. “You’ve done well to run it on your own for so long, but it isn’t going anywhere. Family is more important, isn’t it?”

“With old wounds being mended within ours? Certainly.” Michael nodded back. “I… I must thank you and your Hand, Didi. Again. You brought me and Lucifer together in a more casual setting, where his schemes and my defenses were… irrelevant. It’s been far too long since we had the chance to simply sit beside each other.”

“Meeting Gabriel and bonding over Elaine helped with that as well, I’d imagine,” Didi commented.

“Indeed.” Michael smiled softly. “She is… good. Just good. And her version of Father… I can hardly believe that His death could be preferable to His abdication, but I have seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears.”

“He’ll wake eventually. And when He does, I would bet Desire’s ass that this Creation will be one of His first detours,” Didi assured.

“That will… certainly be something,” Michael muttered before shaking his head. “But something for the future. Now, how do you think my Elaine will join in your Alice’s prophetizing?”

Didi giggled. “They intend to find a church. If they find a cult in a place like that, it’ll be one much more in line with Elaine’s nature than Alice’s — though I imagine the message they preach will be much the same and have much the same effect.”

Side by side, they settled in to watch over their children. Alice and Elaine forged ahead into the darkening night, while Alice’s new followers did as their title suggested: following their truth-telling, Death-declaring messiah.

“This does take me back,” Michael mused.

Didi nodded in understanding. “A slightly different situation, but the bones are similar. Alice makes for a charismatic prophet. It helps that she’s simply speaking from the heart, with true belief in me, rather than me speaking through her.”

“Isn’t that always a fascinating paradox?” Michael agreed. “Direct divine word tends to falter, while the same message filtered through a mortal perspective tends to find fertile ground. There is a reason Father acted as Christ.”

“Truthfully, I have no real part in this one. It’s all Alice, setting straight those who attempt to worship me in… rather objectionable ways,” Didi admitted. “I’m hardly surprised that cults like theirs are springing up in Gotham. My presence here is known. But it’s nice that someone is finally doing something about them.”

Michael hummed, “Hmm, the real question then becomes whether or not your daughter’s fledgling movement will be sustainable.”

Didi’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “It helps that she’s already laying down commandments in my name. ‘DEATH DOESN’T WANT YOU TO DIE FOR HER!’ and ‘DEATH DOESN’T NEED MURDER!’ and, of course, ‘DEATH AS A FRIEND IN THE END’. I think there’s more momentum on her side than she realizes.”

“Existing cultish structures, too. A diversity of followers,” Michael added. “Gained without yet stepping on any divine toes, too, surprisingly. Dionysus doesn’t much care for his ‘Children’ here in Gotham.”

“And Trigon is Dead and gone.” Didi nodded. “Perhaps Destiny is setting her up for success? As a gift? He hasn’t spent much time with his niece, but he is aware of her.”

“You are the favorite of all your siblings, even if they show it in their own… unique ways,” Michael said.

“Mmm.” Didi smiled. “I think I’ll need to arrange for another Endless family dinner at the Dead End soon enough.”

It didn’t take long for the girls to find another dark corner of the city — they were the rule in Gotham rather than the exception. Now that she was looking, Didi could see strings being pulled to guide their feet through the night. Only vaguely, of course — Destiny was not her domain — but it confirmed her suspicions that her only older brother was helping his niece along.

And surprise, surprise: in that dark corner of the city, another cult — this one with major elements of secret society, too — was waiting to be found by Alice and Elaine.

Gotham Cathedral was a monument to gothic design, even amongst the rest of the city’s architecture. It was a masterpiece of peaking arches, columns and piers, towers and flying buttresses, all cast in moody shadows by the city around it. The style was rare in the New World, and Didi knew its history well.

The architect responsible for the Gotham Cathedral had tried to Cheat Death, after all.

A man named Mister Whisper had sold his soul to a Devil — not Lucifer, to Didi’s knowledge — for 300 years of life. That alone wasn’t enough to Cheat Her; it was a perfectly reasonable demonic deal, and a limited one, at that. Mister Whisper, however, did not leave his quest for immortality there. He designed the Cathedral as a grand soul trap, intending to kill all of Gotham with a plague and use the trapped souls for his immortalizing benefit. Such a grand exchange of innocent Death for selfish Life Cheated Her. But worse, if his plan had seen success, he would’ve Cheated hundreds of thousands out of Didi’s company at their trapped ends.

Batman foiled his Cheating plans, and Didi cleaned up where Batman couldn’t, breaking the soul trap in the Cathedral’s design. Its current inhabitants would be ignorant of that history, thankfully.

So were Alice and Elaine, but that history certainly made the Cathedral a powerful place for Death — likely why, Didi thought, Destiny would direct them here.

On their approach, the Cathedral was utterly silent, seemingly populated by only shadows in the night. Alice and Elaine pushed open the doors, more curious than purposeful. Only two of Alice’s followers were bold enough to follow them within: Lacoste from the Children of Dionysus and Mother Blood from the Church of Blood.

To Didi’s amusement, as that bold and unlikely pairing left their groups, Chaos and Blood began to mingle. The Children of Dionysus — perhaps Children of Death, now — freely shared their lively entertainments, welcoming new brothers and sisters. In return, the Blood cultists shared the portion of Alice’s message they’d heard. Both cults turned further toward Death, even in Alice’s absence.

Seeing the pair enter behind them, Alice spun; she fiercely shook her head and crossed her arms in an ‘X’. “Uh-uh, no way! Back off, ya crazy cultists!”

“YEAH-HUH~!” Lacoste laughed in that loud and chaotic way of his. “You’ve got this living and this dying thing down, Black Alice! I’m gonna follow ya to the end! It’ll be a party, EYEAH!”

“You made my love bleed,” Mother Blood said. “And in doing so, you showed us a new way, a better way — a way of more than blood, of purpose and finality in Death. We will be lost without you. Take responsibility, Daughter Death.”

Alice’s face screwed up in frustration. “Ugh…”

“C’mon, messiah,” Elaine teased.

Alice threw her hands up. “Fine! Whatever! It’s better than you idiots running off on your own! But Lacoste? You’ve gotta drop the ‘sadism unto Death’ bit. And… I don’t even know your name. Blood-Wife or something? Whatever it is, you’ve gotta drop the murder entirely and really tone down all the blood stuff.”

“Our blood will always run thick,” Mother Blood insisted before hesitating. “But as you say, Daughter Death. You have made Death’s message clear to us; we will do Her work no longer. You may… In place of Blood, for he is Dead and in Her company, you may call me Sonya.”

“RIGHT ON~!” Lacoste exclaimed. “Now, what’re we looking for in here, Black Alice, Dark and Delightful Daughter of Death?”

“How should I know?” Alice huffed. “I’m not a fortune-teller or some precog. Destiny’s just my uncle.”

She stomped off before Lacoste or Sonya could react to that bit of information. All of the eyes on Lacoste’s costume blinked at her back. Sonya just nodded to herself, reassured of her decision to follow ‘Daughter Death’.

Elaine turned to the following pair with a flashing smirk. “What, you thought Death didn’t have siblings? No shot. And don’t even get her started on her dad’s side of things. C’mon, you’ve still got a lot to learn.”

She hurried after Alice. The mystery, the chance to understand Life and Death and more, and the hope for purpose left Alice’s followers even more fervent and eager. The eyes of Lacoste’s costume grinned. Sonya’s blood stirred. They followed.

“And thus, to her new followers,” Didi observed, chortling to herself and Michael. “The lore of Black Alice deepens.” 

Michael laughed as well. “She’ll outline a complete and accurate Aspected Cosmology before she even notices people are taking notes!”

At first glance, the interior of Gotham Cathedral was empty, populated only by shifting shadows cast by candlelight. When Elaine caught up to Alice, they both slowed to enjoy the ambience. Still, something… Destiny drew them deeper.

“He’s being unusually heavy-handed here, isn’t he?” Michael noted.

“And if we ask, he’ll deny it so calmly that we think we’re mistaken.” Didi shook her head with fond amusement. “Best if we just watch and see what my brother has in store for this gift of his. As much as Alice seems to be huffing and puffing, I know she’s enjoying tonight.”

“As is Elaine. The company is good for them. So is the stimulation they seem to be finding around every corner,” Michael chuckled.

Just as he said that, Alice and Elaine turned a corner in the Cathedral. Around it, they found an improperly closed hidden door. The girls glanced at each other and shared a grin. They didn’t hesitate to push open the hidden door. A dark staircase waited on the other side, spiraling into an underground void. The pair didn’t hesitate to descend upon it.

Halfway down the spiraling stairs, the walls fell away. An inverted Cathedral awaited them there, darkly mirrored from the one above. Impossibly unsupported stone walkways took the place of the nave’s aisles and paths, while the space for pews was empty air, showing rib vaults and arched ‘ceilings’ hundreds of feet below.

Peeking into the well-lit anti-nave, Alice and Elaine saw the third cult of the night that Destiny had arranged for them to find.

Fitting for the setting, it was an estranged and unorthodox subdivision of Christianity, an offshoot order that Michael immediately recognized.

He groaned. “Oh, not these fools. If they’re worshipping you now, Didi, you have my condolences.”

“Hmm?” Didi hummed inquisitively.

“The Order of St. Dumas — who was never a saint, who mistook a battle between New Gods for a battle between Heaven and Hell, and who genuinely tried to create a ‘Satan’ while still claiming faith… but I digress.” Michael rolled his eyes. “They’re a splinter of the Knights Templar, and honestly, I try to put them out of my mind as much as I can.”

“Hmm,” Didi hummed again, this time in understanding. “Yes, that sounds about right. If the trend of Alice setting misinterpretations straight holds, they’ve turned to worship me as well now. I wonder why… A merger of faith, perhaps…?”

“With how loosely they ‘follow’ Heaven anyway? I would not discount anything from them,” Michael deadpanned.

Alice and Elaine, looking in on the anti-church, reacted with excitement and confusion.

“What the fuck…?” Elaine muttered.

“What the fuck…?!” Alice repeated after her, grinning just a little wildly.

A selection of the Order’s members stood on the main stone walkway below, leading up to the altar of the inverted Cathedral. They were clad in armor, suits of plate and mail, and unlike the Children of Dionysus and the Church of Blood before, there were only a few members to the latest cult of Alice and Elaine’s night — four warriors and a leading priest rather than hundreds of partygoers and dozens of blood-worshippers respectively.

At the inverted altar, a bishop knelt in prayer. He was clad in vestments of the cloth, with a mask of steel upon his face. Behind him, the rest of the order stood at silent attention.

“Are we wrong…?” The Bishop asked, his voice echoing softly throughout the space. “Are we wrong to worship both Him and Her…? He died for our sins, and She was the Death upon Him. He visited Her kingdom for those fleeting moments before resurrection. We see, we hear, we know, and thus, we attempt to keep faith in their names.”

Amused by the idea, Didi shook her head. “I don’t think he realizes how little I had to do with Christ. That was all the Presence’s work.”

“It’s still a better philosophy than most I’ve seen from the Order of St. Dumas,” Michael replied.

“Our Order has been through much — so many trials and tribulations in His name. And in Hers, we now realize,” The Bishop continued. “Our past, our cause… it is Dead. Slain by the sword of Azrael, as is the Satan from whom the Line of Azrael sprang. Never before has the Order been lower. Yet still, we persist.

“The Line of Azrael lies in ruin, our greatest creations, our Avenging Angels of Death. The other sects — in Spain, Switzerland, and on the Isle of Santa Prisca — have fallen due to hubris and corruption and retribution. And thus, we are left without direction. Lost as we are, Dead as our Order is, how could we turn to anyone but Her?”

The Bishop stood from his prayer and turned to face the Order’s warriors behind him. “All of you are pale imitations of the Line of Azrael. It would not be right to recreate His Angels of Death when we have been given the chance to turn to Her cause, for that is where our Order has gone wrong for so long. Now, we change, and we try anew. You are Dead men and women — raised by faith in Him and Her, the divine miracles of the Angel Maker, and the willful work of mortal minds. You have died for your sins, as Him before you, and visited Her kingdom for mere moments; ’tis a mere recreation but a righteous one. 

“I name you not Azraels. Let Valley have the name; he has earned it and made it his own as an Angel of Mercy rather than one of Death. Become Abaddons instead, Angels of Death as the Abyss.

“What is Dead has nothing left to lose and nothing left to gain — only reason to do work in Her name. Your mission, my Abaddons, is not simple: you will spread the good word of Death, the final enlightenment of the soul, and you will defend Her work. No life shall be spared or saved under your watch; if She seeks to claim them, She will have them.”

“By Christ Unto Death, Father Voivode!” The Abaddons chorused in reply. “By Him Unto Her!”

“… I take it back,” Watching from above and all around, Michael deadpanned. “This isn’t much of an improvement at all. It’s just as extreme as I would expect from the Order, and just as blasphemous, too.”

“I can see what they’ve done,” Didi said softly. “The Abaddons all bear the slightest mark of Death, but not my touch. Somehow, likely that damnable Mother Box I can sense, they concealed themselves from my company long enough to be revived as they are now.”

She shook her head sadly. “The misguided fools don’t even realize they’ve Cheated Me…”

Michael grimaced. “The New Gods and their creations are always… tricky. Not quite Aspected, but closer than most other beings could dream of reaching. I really should’ve done something about the Mother Box the Order claimed and founded itself around. They don’t understand what they hold; until now, everything they’ve used it for has been relatively petty. Even that Satan of theirs was just a semi-mortal enforcer. Now, though…?”

Michael turned to her and bowed. “I must apologize, Didi. Due to my past inaction, you’ve been Cheated.”

Didi waved off his apology. “Apology accepted but unnecessary, Michael. Ultimately, they are responsible for their actions. Even then, it could’ve been much worse. I was Cheated fourfold here — four-fluke, more accurately. Now that I know to look, the New Gods’ creations can’t actually block me. These four will be the only Abaddons to ever exist, especially, it seems, if our daughters can help it.”

She said the last with amusement, still watching over the girls in question. Where Didi and Michael reacted to the more esoteric implications of Father Voivode’s words, Alice and Elaine reacted to the preached purpose within them.

“What the fuck?!” Alice recoiled; Voivode’s misinterpretation and the actions he’d taken in pursuit of it were perhaps the worst she’d encountered tonight.

“What… the… fuck…” Elaine agreed with a nod.

“They too have mistaken Death for something she is not, then?” Sonya asked, having followed the girls into the hidden staircase perch above the inverted Cathedral.

“NO SHIT~…?” Lacoste whispered rhetorically, his voice quiet but still laced with chaos. “For one, there’s all the crossy-wossy BS they added to it-…”

“Actually, that part’s fine.” Elaine shrugged. “Not really accurate, but harmless. I doubt Dad likes these idiots, but it isn’t because they’re trying to worship the Presence and Death simultaneously.”

“Dad…?” Sonya asked, bemused.

Alice picked up where Elaine left off without answering Sonya’s confusion and curiosity; she hissed, “It’s the Cheating Mom where they really fuck everything up…! Cheating Death goes both ways, ya know! Cheating people out of Life, when they can be saved, is just as bad as Cheating them out of Death!”

“How do you want to handle this?” Elaine asked. “I do feel some responsibility, so I guess it’s my turn to put in some work.”

Alice turned to her, smirking. “Heh. Told you so~…”

Elaine rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Shock and reason?”

“You swoop down and stun ‘em all Angelic-like, and I’ll hammer some sense into their Cheating skulls.” Alice nodded.

“Right…” Elaine muttered to herself, searching for confidence. “Here goes nothing, I suppose…”

“You’ve got this,” Alice encouraged. “Spread those wings. I’ll be right behind you.”

Taking strength from her effective cousin, Elaine summoned her wings. Lacoste and Sonya both took steps back in shock and awe, just the reaction Alice and Elaine were hoping to elicit from the cult below.

Glowing gold with divine light, Elaine flew from the staircase and came to hover over the Order. Immediately, Father Voivode and his Abaddons fell to their knees.

“Blessed! We are blessed!” The Bishop exclaimed.

Elaine just shook her head. “Nah, I’m blessed. You lot are… well, you’re kinda about to royally fuck up everything you claim to worship.”

“No…!” Father Voivode gasped. “It cannot-! Please, Holy Messenger, who comes to us in His name?”

“Elaine Belloc,” Elaine introduced herself. “… I’m Michael’s daughter, and technically, the heir to Creation, I think…? Dad kinda runs shit as a regent now; the Presence… isn’t so involved anymore. I’m not really here in His name, or Dad’s, anyway. This is all me, and all Alice.”

“I believe you.” Father Voivode bowed his head. “Truly, I do, Heiress! But surely, we have not been abandoned-!”

Elaine awkwardly shuffled in place mid-air. “It’s… complicated. Dad has it handled, mostly. And we should really be talking about you, mate. That mission you gave your… Abaddons…? Yeah, don’t.”

Alice, as promised, was right behind Elaine. She came flying in on overly dramatic wings of bone that made Didi giggle to herself as she watched.

“DEATH HATES BEING CHEATED…” Alice declared, the truth in her words reverberating into the very soul.

“Dodging her eyes and company is Cheating Death. Avoiding her with malicious intent is Cheating Death. Ruining the deaths of others for your own gain, spiting her when she says it’s your time, and disrespecting the will of all life to naturally resist death to the last all Cheat Death. And that is the only true crime in her eyes, the only injustice she can’t accept. The only time I’ve seen Mom angry was when she was Cheated. If you do, you won’t even feel her wrath; the moment you cross her, you’re already Dead, and she will come to collect.”

“But she doesn’t need ‘her word’ spread; Death is already Endless,” Alice continued with every eye upon her. “She doesn’t need swords and shields to enforce herself; Death will always be Endless… She doesn’t offer some-… some final absolution or enlightenment; you can find it with her, sure, but it’ll be yours, not hers. She’s just… there in the end — Endlessly, for one and all. And that’s all she needs to be.

“Death is Death. Accept her, don’t Cheat Her, and she’ll be there for you when you need her most. It… It really is that simple.”

“Another commandment straight from the lips of Death’s Daughter,” Didi noted.

Michael laughed. “She really is making a whole canon for you! Honestly, I’d say it’s about time someone did.”

“Oh, stop,” Didi demurred, still smiling. “I never truly needed one. This is for Alice more than it’s for me.”

Below, the Bishop and his Abaddons stood in eerie union without raising their heads. The revived warriors drew the swords at their side and laid their blades across their hands, offering them up to Alice. Finally, the Bishop looked up at Alice and Elaine with conviction set in his shoulders.

“… We have much to repent for,” He said. “We were wrong. I-… I was wrong. I see, I hear, I know, and I readily admit my sins. I would have acted against Death without your intervention. As you say, She needs no shield or sword, no converting word upon faithful lips, for She is Endless. Instead, if you would have us, I would offer our Order to you, O’ Daughter of Death.”

Alice stared at them, blinking at the offer. She didn’t answer it immediately, instead turning to Elaine with a sigh.

“… We did it again, didn’t we?”

“We?”

“Oi! You’re in it too this time! If I can’t run from this, neither can you!”

IIIII

Alice and Elaine left Gotham Cathedral with yet another cult in tow. Voivode and his Abaddons kept close to both girls, acting rather standoffish to the other two following cults they met outside.

“They switched up rather quickly,” Didi mused.

Michael shook his head. “Hardly. They haven’t been truly faithful for a long time. In fact, I would say following Death is nothing new to them, though admittedly never done like this before. Their Line of Azraels were assassins first and foremost. The real difference is that their Order is now in tatters, and at their lowest, they’ve found new life through our daughters.”

“That quick to abandon them, hmm?” Didi hummed.

“Absolutely. You can have them.”

“Alice and Elaine can have them, more accurately.”

Sharing amused grins at the trouble such zealous swords and shields would surely cause for their girls, they nodded in unison.

“To passing minor annoyances onto the next generation,” Michael proposed, creating mugs of cocoa for the toast.

Didi graciously accepted, chortling, “Quite. It’ll be a good learning experience, at least. They’ve done well so far, but the real challenge will be maintaining momentum.”

“Or keeping the subcults from tearing each other apart,” Michael added. “Or running off on their own with the girls’ momentum. Or growing their message out of control before the girls realize.”

Didi nodded in agreement. As Michael said, Alice’s followers were divided.

The Order was most eager to prove itself useful; they aimed to repent by acting as their new messiahs’ swords and shields. The Church of Blood, lost and without leadership, found new guidance in Alice; their experience would surely give rise to structure and scripture soon. And while the Children of Dionysus/Death were mostly along for the ride, they were the most numerous of the followers, and that mass could easily begin to snowball.

“As is, things should be mostly manageable-…” Didi began, only to cut herself off as she felt her older brother’s hands on the strings of fate around Alice in an uncharacteristically direct way.

“Okay, there’s no denying it that time!” Didi declared, raising a fist in Destiny’s Endless direction. “I saw that, Des!”

An infuriatingly calm and innocent breeze on Endless winds answered her with denial. Destiny wrote it in his book as fact: ‘I did nothing’. That was the truth that would be recorded by the rest of Creation, and Didi could do nothing but pout as Destiny’s ‘nothing’ did something before her very eyes.

Alice jolted as the slimmest string of omniscience pulled at her magic. Didi followed the vision right to the other side. She found a dark and richly decorated room there, one that screamed old wealth of the kind that truly ruled society from the shadows. Within the room was a secret meeting, a cabal, a cult of men and women with their influential identities hidden behind owl masks.

“Death… can be harnessed-…” One of the Owls proclaimed.

Alice, of course, took some issue with that from halfway across the city. “Oh, Hell no, she can’t!”

Instinctively, she called upon a magic of mass teleportation. She took Elaine, Lacoste, Sonya, and her new Order with her, appearing in defense of Death amongst the Court of Owls.

The whole room felt her anger and disgust at the Court’s greedy presumption — the truth of Death struck through her words.

“DEATH. IS. NOT. YOURS.”

Didi sighed, “Yes, because Alice absolutely needed schemers on top of swords, structure, and supplicants.”

Meanwhile, Destiny was calm. Destiny was serene. Destiny was distant and uninvested.

… Destiny was totally not laughing.