Sympathy For the Devil [Keith Richards]

Pleased to Meet You

Keith already regretted agreeing to this deal.

However, he really hadn't much choice, because he surely didn't want to die in a month and her offer was too good to pass by. Over 40 years in which he could live like he wanted to without caring about anything at all. This sounded just perfect. Nearly too good even. Especially when he had no real idea what he was supposed to keep his side of the bargain, but he doubted it would be easy.

"So what is our first step?" Keith asked Persephone, who took a sip out of her cup as if he hadn't just asked her a question. She looked totally disinterested, but Keith supposed she had now what she wanted and didn't need to play nice any more. He should have known that she was one of those woman, who were only interested in you, when they needed something and after they got it they couldn't even remember your name.

"You'll have to convince Charon to bring you to the next level," Charlie explained. "Hell has about 9 circles and you have to pass them all, if you want to get to our boss."

"9 circles, seriously? Who comes up with this stuff? Can't you just have an elevator? And who is this Charon? Another person out of some legend I don't know?"

"Yes 9. I suppose this means you haven't read Dante Alighieri Divine Comedy?" Charlie asked. "It actually gives a very good explanation of how Hell is-"

"Why should I? Nobody told me I needed a degree in mythological shit to go to Hell," Keith interrupted him. His patience was growing shorter and shorter and he surely didn't want to sit just around and do nothing, when his life depended on getting Persy to her boss. Keith didn't need to know every single background story, but just enough to get her down and nothing more. So that he could finally go on with his life and forget about this.

"Dante was a famous Italian poet, who-"

"It doesn't matter who he was. We don't have time for a literary discussion," Persy interrupted Charlie this time and Keith was really glad, because she seemed more like a practical person, right to the point and not discussing things until they had caught dust. "We have different topics to cover. Our first step is indeed Charon, which should be the easiest. In different mythologies, he's the ferrymen and takes souls across the river Styx to the underworld and he's nearly doing the same thing here. He has a thing for music and if you do your job right he should take us to the first circle."

"So I just need to play some guitar and he lets us pass?" Keith asked. Again this sounded strangely easy. Too easy and if he had learned one from his stay in Hell, nothing was as simple as it looked like.

Persy shrugged. "Usually that works."

"And then?"

"We need to pass certain tests or well you need to, because only a human soul can. All I can do is help you," she explained.

"And what are these tests?"

"They differ from person to person," she replied again shrugging. Making Keith see less and less the man eating playfully, but manipulative beauty in her. It probably was only an act to have her way with unknowing souls like him.

"Like with him?" Keith asked gesturing to Charlie.

"It's similar in a way and totally different in another. There are of course certain rules and aspects that always remain the same. The nature of the tests for instance, they always have the same layout. The first circle is only a gate, where you'll get asked if you really want to proceed or not. Then the next seven cover what you would call the deadly sins or capital vices. Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. The last one is where we want to get and there's no test."

Keith sighed. This definitely didn't sound like a walk in the park, but at least he had finally some information to work with, even if he had no idea if this helped him much or not. This business was still rather ominous and these tests didn't sound too good either. He probably was the wrong person to give them a try, couldn't she have chosen somebody else who maybe had a quieter life style than him? Because he surely hadn't really lived a sin free one until now and he doubted that he would if he got out of here, especially not with this bargain. He would be stupid to pass up on all the fun, but first he needed to get out of this mess.

"What happens if I fail the tests?" he wondered aloud.

"Nothing, of course. You're already as good as dead," Persy said smiling, which irritated him once more, especially if he had interpreted Charlie's questioning look correctly. She was plainly lying.

"What happens?" Keith asked again.

"Noth-"

"Persephone will get erased," Charlie interrupted her, which earned him a very frightening glare. Persy was definitely not somebody one should cross and he wondered more and more if Charlie could really be that reasonable, because this seemed like a really dangerous move on his part.

"He doesn't need to know that!" She exclaimed.

"He does! He should know what the risk is," Charlie said towards Persy before he turned towards Keith. "If you fail a test, you get send back and die in the month, Persephone however will disappear forever. Her existence is on the line and you should be aware of this, when you face a test. It's not a game and surely it's nothing you should take lightly. Only a few did ever manage to pass them all and I'm very sceptical if you are to become one of them."

"Rea-"

"No, Persephone! I still think this is a very bad idea and I worry about you..." Charlie interrupted her.

"You shouldn't," she said smiling sadly at Charlie, making Keith feel like he had stepped into something very personal between the two. Could it be that they were more than friends? Was this even possible in Hell? It seemed so unreal, but everything had up until this point, so why couldn't a supernatural being that looked like Charlie Watts be in love with a devil that looked like the most beautiful woman Keith had ever seen? Even if it was unfair, that Charlie had her, but Keith supposed he had probably earned this for putting up with him and Mick all the time.

"I know," Charlie said and touched her hand.

Keith cleared his throat. "So what now?"

"We go. It's getting time..." She said as she pressed Charlie's hand one last time and the gentle drummer smiled at her in a way that nearly broke Keith's heart. They obviously were close. She offered Keith her arm and he took it sighing.

It might be comfortable to appear and disappear as you liked, but it definitely was no pleasant feeling. Keith felt like all air was pressed out of his lungs and then suddenly it was pressed all back in the next. Coughing he fell down to the ground of wherever they had arrived.

"Wasn't there some other way to get here than this?" He asked as he got up and eyed his new surroundings. It seemed like they had appeared in some sort of cave, even if Keith couldn't see much. All he could make out were some vague rocky figures. It was too dark to recognize more. The only light source was a light ball that Persy held in her hand, which she probably had made appear out of thin air again.

She shrugged and walked on, leaving Keith no other choice than to run after her. Even if he couldn't see where exactly they were going to, following her this time around was easier. There were at least no tricky roots for him to stumble over.

"What are we looking for?" he wondered after a few moments.

"You're looking for me and it seems you have found me," a voice exclaimed from behind him that sounded all too familiar. "Pleased to meet you."

Thank you for reading, voting and commenting!

Oh and if there are any things that are unclear, just comment or message me and I try to clear it up. I know I'm mixing different mythologies/literature/religions together and I'm not sure if everything seems 100% logical.