Chapter 8

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     The woman took a stance, ready to run away from the strange thing she was experiencing in front of her. Scarlet looked at her sinner's mark. "How convenient." The woman, frozen in shock, let the cigarette she was smoking fall out of her mouth.

   Scarlet swung her scythe towards the woman, and the woman swerved right on time, the scythe cutting off a chunk of the woman's hair instead of her head. The woman, coming to her senses, turned around and started sprinting down the alley. Scarlet chased after her.

     The woman kept running. "What the hell even is-" her sentence was cut off by one of her heels breaking, her ankle rolling and interrupting her steady running pattern. "Wha-" she fell on the ground face first, and quickly turned around to see Scarlet above her.

   Scarlet held up her weapon, ready to bring it down on the woman. Her eyes started to water. "Wait, please.." The woman started crying. "A-are you from the red spades? Please, I never did anything to you..."

   "I don't know what any 'Red Spades' are... But you're definitely a sinner."

   "W-what do you mean I'm a-" the woman couldn't finish her sentence as Scarlet brought her scythe down on her, and it went through her. The two girls were sent to hell.

   "The sinner you have brought me.... Is so boring." Satan complained, lying face first in a pile of grass. They were in a rocky mountain area, just like earth but with no other sign of life besides the three beings and the plants around them. There was also an eerie red glow. "Eh?" Did he always have a problem with who she kills?

    Satan turned his head to look at her. "Seriously, this is the best you could manage? The first level is sooo unexciting."

   "W-wait, what do you mean? I brought you a sinn-" Scarlet was interrupted by the woman screaming. "Whereeee ammmmm iiiiiiii?!?!?!" She cupped her face with her hands. "Is this a joke?! A gameshow?!?! What the hell is happening???? I seriously did nothing wrong, what the hell did I do to deserv-" the woman's rambling was cut off by Satan, hopping up off the ground.

    "You've completely earned your place in hell, you filthy sinner!" That woke him up... He really likes tormenting sinners.

    "You are a woman who has worked at a five-star restaurant for 15 years.... With a love for Escargot! Every single day you would eat one off of a customer's plate... Totaling more than half a million dollars in stolen snails!" Scarlet gave him an 'are you fucking kidding me' look as he explained the woman's sin.

    "Thus, you have been sentenced to an eternity in the first circle. Your punishment..." Satan pulled out a snail, holding it in his right hand and pointing at it with his left. "An eternity of being chased by this snail! If it catches you you'll itch like crazy!"

    There was a moment of silence between the three spirits. "Is... That it..?" The woman asked. She had expected much, much worse. "Run before I change my mind." The woman quickly turned and started running in the opposite direction.

   '..can something stupid like that make someone a sinner?' She thought to herself as she watched the woman's retreated figure. Satan set down the snail and it slowly chased after her. "The first circle is barely different than limbo... Soooo unexciting. There are a lot of people here, but this circle is so huge you probably won't run into one. The punishment of the first circle is simply, loneliness."

    "So if there's a hell and a limbo... Then there must be a heaven too, huh." Satan put a hand on his chin. "Yeah, yeah. A sparkling heaven full of angels and crap like that." Scarlet sat down on a rock nearby. "And a god?"

    Satan looked at her from the corner of his eye. "...yes, there is one of those, too." "Alright. So... Are there like... Reapers in heaven? But for good people?" "..archangels. Instead of an x to mark a sinner, archangels can see a halo to mark a virtuous person. They can ascend those virtuous people straight to heaven, if they wish. But honestly, you probably won't run into one. They only come down if they have a good reason to. And you're more like coworkers, than anything..."   (Foreshadowing skdnkaj)

     "Sins, virtues... I don't get it. It seems so random. Like that woman, how on earth would she be a sinner for eating snails?" "She's not a sinner because she ate snails. She's a sinner because she stole. Those snails had an agreed upon monetary value. She stole day after day, totaling up to thousands of dollars in poached snails. In the end, the Mona Lisa is just a canvas and paint, right? Yet anyone who destroyed it would be a criminal. Humans have put value to it far beyond what it literally is."

   "Yeah, but there's only one of those. There are millions of snails just sitting around." Satan smirked. "With that logic, killing humans isn't a problem. There's so many of them just lying around. This is a hell for humans, and thus, I judge sins based on the values sustained by humans."

   "....and you really enjoy it, huh? You're...pure evil." Satan smiled sweetly again. "Ahh, Scarlet. If you talk to me like that I'll totally fall in love with you."

   She scrunched her face. "Disgusting." Satan leaned in closer to her face. "My little toy is so judgemental. Remember you're an unforgivable sinner in the deepest circle of hell." Scarlet looked down. ".. You keep saying that, but I'm having a hard time believing I'm the worst sinner."

    "...you're not the worst. Don't think you're so special. There are other people in the ninth circle, some of whom have done worse than you. Serial killers, scummy businessmen, world leaders... All the kinds of people you'd find in the ninth level."

    "Alright then... Who was the worst?"

    "The worst sinner... You won't find them in the ninth circle. Not even that punishment is enough for them. I took care of them myself."  (Ooooo mysterious)

    Scarlet went back to Chase's apartment and stood in front of the door. '.. Why is it every time I get an answer... I'm just left with more questions?' She thought as she opened the door and walked into the apartment.

  "Sinners don't get presents from Santa y'know." - Graveweaver

   (Revised and checked for errors: yes, once)

Words: 1089

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