"I'm so relieved."
"No joke," you agreed. Signaling to turn left into a plaza as you watched for traffic. "Good to finally hear an answer."
"I can't believe your other doctor told you your symptoms might have been psychosomatic," Alastor lamented. "What a quack."
"To be fair, what other basis did they have to go off of when I couldn't afford a more thorough exam?"
"Still, having someone medically gaslight you into thinking there's nothing wrong is ghastly and unprofessional."
"Good job hun, you used the word gaslight right." You chuckled with a soft sense of amusement.
"Well I have you to thank for teaching me. We didn't have such terms in my time."
"Next week we'll work on slang." You smiled with a hint of teasing sarcasm.
"Sounds lit."
"Okay, no. Never mind."
"Did I use it wrong?"
"No but it sounds weird coming from you." You admitted with a laugh.
"Oh. Word?"
"Stahhhp." You giggled.
Pulling into a parking spot you turned the car off and removed your seatbelt. There was a quaint little sub shop nearby and you were feeling a bit peckish. Probably due to the fact that you didn't eat much for breakfast that morning, but you didn't have much of an appetite then either. You felt a bit rattled before your appointment and you weren't really in the mood to eat; however, now that things were looking up and put into motion for you to recover, your appetite was now back in full swing.
"You don't mind grabbing an early lunch with me, do you?" You asked. "Prescription's not ready to pickup for another twenty minutes anyway, so I figured we'd kill some time and grab a bite."
"I don't mind at all, darling."
Both of you exited the car and made your way to the little restaurant. Alastor holding the door open for you as he allowed you to walk in first. A small little cough leaving your lips as you covered your mouth with your inner elbow.
Glancing around you noticed there was only one other person dining inside, who was wearing a bulky set of headphones and seemed to be paying attention to whatever he was doing in his phone. Aside from that, the only other person seemed to be an employee who came out as they heard the sound of the door opening. It was quiet, the lunch rush hadn't seem to come storming in yet.
After ordering you both got your food and sat down next to one of the windows. The employee returning back to wherever they were lurking before you two had walked in. Still eerily quiet aside from the faint sound of loud music coming from the other strangers headphones.
"Cannot wait to tell Jess the diagnosis." You mentioned as you took your last bite. "She's been bugging me all morning with text messages."
"It's sweet how much she cares about you." He said. "Having friends like that is a good thing."
"Indeed. I'm very grateful. She must be reevaluating the whole friendship with me right now," you half joked with a light little laugh. "Between yesterday and before that finding out we got married way after the fact, I think she's gonna be a lot more skeptical and nosy with me."
"Well you both have the rest of eternity to get passed that." He said matter of factly as he finished his food. "Maybe if you're willing to wait a while, she could be your maid of honor when we have an official wedding."
"What do you mean?" You wondered. Furrowing a brow as you looked at him with great intrigue.
"Well, she's going to hell too now so odds are we'll bump into her. You can rekindle from there."
"Why are you so sure she'll go to hell?" You asked skeptically and also a bit defensive on your friends behalf. "She's never done anything bad. I mean, she's made some poor decisions before but they were never with malicious intent."
"Unfortunately it's nothing she did," he explained, wiping his fingers with a napkin. "It's simply what she knows."
"Go on?"
"She knows there's a heaven and hell. She knows there's a reward for being a good person. Her motivations are now corrupted by default, even if she remains sinless otherwise."
"What the fuck??" You blurted. Almost choking on your beverage you sipped on. That bringing upon another a coughing fit. Alastor looked at you with concern as he hoped you weren't actually choking, but you were coughing so you could breathe well enough to get air in. You gave him a thumbs up to assure him you were fine and he leaned back in his chair.
You were stunned, furious, and disheartened all at the same time. One little mistake of not keeping the curtains drawn or just not being careful enough and now she pays the price for it? Someone you had known almost your whole life was sentenced to sorrow and punishment for something that was out of her control... She now knows how the afterlife works, whatever otherwise morally positive motivations are now corrupted and therefore rendered meaningless. That wasn't fair, that wasn't fair at all.
"Let... Me get this straight..." you paused as you caught your breath. "So, she's damned by default, like me?"
"Sort of. Your sin was summoning a demon, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, I'm afraid, yes."
"Man, what the fuck." You huffed angrily. Setting your drink down a little harshly and turning your gaze to look out the window. Alastor noted that your lower lip was quivering a little and your eyes had become glossy. He wasn't sure if you were teary because of the coughing fit or if you were trying not to cry. His heart twinged a little in his chest.
"Darling?" He asked wearily.
"That's not fair." you murmured with a sniffle. Shaking your head 'no' as if you should just shirk the emotions away with the simple gesture. "She didn't do anything wrong."
"I'm not disagreeing with you, but I'm afraid that's just how it is-"
"You really didn't have some sort of amnesia spell in the back pocket??" You whisper yelled. The man before you taken back a little by your sudden outburst, his eyes widening a little as he sat back in his chair. He then glanced around to make sure no one in the vicinity had tuned into your conversation. Once he mentally confirmed that no eyes were on you both he turned his gaze back onto you.
"You can put me to sleep, bring me to hell and back, disguise me as a demon, shape-shift to look human, on-top of so many other things; but you couldn't just wipe away that little piece of memory?" You continued in a whisper once more. "That's where it gets too complicated for you?!"
"Do you have any idea how intricate of magic that is to just wipe a piece of someones memory? What do I look like, the men in black??" He snapped back quietly. "Of course I've never had to worry about erasing someone's memory of me, no ones ever lived to tell the tale!"
You clenched your jaw. Sitting all the way back in your seat with your arms folded across your chest. Your throat tightened and burned with anger and remorse. "Such bullshit." You murmured under your breath.
"Sweetheart who are you really mad at? Me or the situation?" He sighed. A glint of red flickering within his otherwise honey brown eyes. "Redirect your anger, please."
"Sorry I just found out we eternally damned my best friend and I'm feeling very expressive right now." You spat through gritted teeth.
"I understand. But aside from that, this isn't exactly the appropriate setting to be lashing out like this."
"Then why, pray-tell, would you choose right now to tell me?"
His mouth opened to speak for a second, but no sound left his throat. Instead he quickly shut his jaws again and pursed his lips when he realized you had a bit of a point there.
"Touché. Bad timing on my part." He admitted. "Look on the bright side, you two still get to associate and spend time together in the afterlife! You only have to wait until she eventually dies as well, and then you'll never have to be apart from each other again!"
"But I don't want her to suffer!" You sighed. A single tear escaping and falling down your cheek. "I don't care about that... yeah we'll have each other, but she'll still be miserable. And I don't want that for her..."
"Miserable... is that what you think you'll be when the time comes?" He wondered, furrowing a brow. "Even if we 'have eachother'? Is that how you feel? Miserable?"
Oof...
"Alastor, come on I didn't mean-"
"No, no. I see." He said. Getting up from the table and taking the garbage left over from his order in hand.
"Al. Come on, please sit back down." You asked. Holding your head in your hand as you watched him step over to a trashcan and threw his wrappers away. "You know that's not what I meant."
He merely kept his chin up and kept walking.
"I'll be in the car." Was all he said as he brushed passed you. Exiting out the building in a bit of a huff.
You rolled your eyes and let out a quiet groan. Great. Looking back out the window you saw him making his way over to your vehicle. Feeling the key fob in your pocket you pulled it out and unlocked the car for him. Funny, even in a bad mood he still waved his hand to you to say 'thanks' before getting in the car and sitting down by himself. It wasn't above you to be petty and just keep the car locked, and make him wait outside for you; but this was not the time.
"Date stiff ya?" The only other stranger had commented as he looked up and noted you were now sitting by yourself. You looked over and noticed he had removed his headphones and was turned away from his table slightly. "Like some company?"
"My husband is psycho and will kill us both, do yourself a favor and stay over there my dude." You warned with an air of nonchalance.
"Alrighty." He nodded. Returning his attention back to his phone and putting his headphones back on.
You looked back out to Al sitting in the passenger seat of your car. The grown ass man pouting like a child with his arms across his chest and a sour look upon his face. How does someone over a century old have the emotional maturity of a toddler at times? You thought. Then again, I'm over here snapping at him like I'm any better.
Throwing away your own garbage and making sure that you had your phone, wallet and keys you went out to the car as well. Taking a deep breath to try and stabilize your mood before opening the driver's side door.
Alastor was quiet as you sat down next to him and shut the door. Despite still being in human state, the sound of frequency at different pitches were radiating quietly off of him. Accompanied by the consistent tone of light static. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. He didn't even look angry. You couldn't exactly read his face at the moment, but you could be sure that he wasn't feeling great. You took another deep breath, a quiet one, and broke the quietude.
"Would you like to talk about this now, or would you like some more time?" You asked calmly. "It's up to you."
"We can discuss it now." He answered back blankly. Blinking a couple times before relaxing his posture a little and unfolding his arms. "Apologies for storming out of there, firstly."
"And I'm sorry for getting snippy with you." You offered. "Alastor please believe me when I tell you that is not what I meant back there, I love you so much and I am not at all implying that I'll be miserable. You know how I feel by now, or at least I'd hope you do... I'm sorry if I haven't made you feel secure enough in that area."
He sucked in a deep inhale. His eyes and other features had softened as he looked over at you. "I do know. But I worry anyway... Perhaps because I still feel remorseful."
"I don't really blame you for feeling that way..."
"Regardless. I handled that poorly."
"I did too." You said. "I love you..."
Leaning over he gently pulled you in for a hug. You hugged him back, keeping him close and resting your chin on his shoulder. The sweet woodsy, smoky smell of him soothing the edge off your mood as you breathed in. He felt a similar sense of relief as he felt your warmth. "I love you too my dear."
Pulling away from the embrace you covered your mouth as you released another cough. "Can't wait to start taking that medication I hope it fucking helps." You muttered to yourself. "Alastor I'm sorry again for getting agitated with you. You aren't wrong in the sense that yeah it's cool that I'll have her around, but aside from my own selfish desire to have a friend; there's no reason she should be sent there when it's her time. Besides, she's not tied to you like I am it's not gonna be easy to find her, how would either of us even know when she arrives?" You sniffled.
"She's just gonna wake up one day in hell alone and scared, and something bad could happen to her and she's not gonna know why any of that's happening... I don't want that for her... I can't feel happy knowing I'm subjecting her to that..."
His expression fell to one that was sorrowful as he looked down dismally. "I don't want that for her either." He said. "You're most certainly right, it isn't fair."
"We can't tell her this," you blurted out. Anxiously curling your finger over your mouth. "She'll spend the whole rest of her life depressed and scared..."
Alastor stayed quiet for a moment before he spoke up again. "Perhaps it won't have to come to that." He stated.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not going to make any promises," he said with a sigh. "Because I can't make any guarantees. But, I will try to see if there's a way to undo what was done. If not a spell, perhaps hypnosis may work."
"You mean it?" You blinked away another few tears.
"Again, no promises." He specified. "Memory is dicey and intricate in practice. Science is still learning how the brain works, and magic is no different."
"Worth a shot." You shrugged with exasperation. "I don't want her to suffer if she doesn't have to."
"That would mean that if she continues to do good in life and she goes to heaven; you're accepting that you'd never see her again once your time comes to leave earth. You understand that, yes?"
You swallowed hard. You didn't want a future as a demon for her, but of course that didn't mean you wouldn't miss her terribly regardless. What a bitter pill that was.
"Granted if we do this and it works, but she does something wrong later on that gets her damned anyway, it is out of my control." He added.
"Right..." you sighed with a nod. "Yes, I understand."
"Are you willing to accept that if I find something that works?"
"...Yes." You said with a nod. Wiping a stray tear from your face.
"Alright." He nodded as well. "Alright... I'll see what I can do."