Taming The Afterlife

Le Hell

Sera's P.O.V.

I woke up to find myself laying on a bed of clouds. As I studied it closer I saw that each whisk was carefully woven together to make a floor that was both soft and sturdy. "Amazing." I whispered before standing up. I looked around to see multiple strangers waiting with signs in their hands and smiles on their faces. Then more people came out of the cloud ground and embraced those who were waiting in hugs. It was almost like a weird reunion. 

But the people weren't people. They looked like people but they were all see through blue ghosts who didn't have legs. They all pretty much looked like variations of the Genie from Aladdin. 

I looked down at myself and sure enough, I looked like that too. "Strange." I mumbled. I began to wander a few steps forward with a sad frown when I realized I had no family up here. Then out of no where a giant cloud man grew up from the ground. 

He had odd shaped blue swirling eyes and was made entirely out of clouds. "HELLO!!" The creature said, opening his cloud arms as if he was expecting a hug. I jumped backwards before awkwardly extending a hand. "How do you do?"

"I do very well, how about you?" Before I could reply, the creature answered his own question. "Just kidding, you're dead so you're doing terrible BUT now you have reached the After-life!" As he said this, fireworks of stars exploded in the air behind him. 

"So is this like heaven or does everyone go here?" I asked, looking around in confusion. The cloud creature shrugged before answering. "Kind of, this is the After-life and down there-" He paused to point to the floor. "That's the After-death, but everyone has their own names for these places."

He let out a sigh before pulling something that resembled cloud pants over his blubbery belly. "Who are you and why aren't you giving all these other people this talk?" I asked, gesturing to the other dead ghosts around me. "Well I am Alfalfa and I'm the cloud in charge. The reason you get a personal introduction is because you literally have no family up here." My eyes furrowed when a spark clicked in my brain. "What about my biological parents?" 

"Both your biological parents are in the After-death. And your adoptive parents completely forgot about your existence when you became a shield agent because of an amnesia accident." The cloud explained, almost growing bored of the situation.

"Oh... What about my friends? Like Tony, Clint, and Thor?" I asked, earning a shake of the head. "Friends don't count, only legit family can meet you at the entrance."

"It's a good thing I died before Loki then, he wouldn't have been able to bear not having me great him at the gate and Thor is a half brother so I don't know if that would count." I said, thinking aloud. Something made the absent minded cloud cringe. 

"When do you think Loki will get here? Does time work differently in the After-life?" I asked, bright light burning in my eyes. "Your husband is Loki?" Alfalfa asked with wide swirling eyes. 

"Yes." I answered. "Well I don't exactly know how to tell you this but... Loki doesn't get to come to the After-life. Whenever he dies, he goes to the After-death." I blinked my blue ghost eyes a few times, unable to process what was just said to me. 

"What?"

"Well when people do enough bad things, the person in charge down there-" He paused again to point to the floor. "It doesn't matter if they change, when the other boss claims them it's final."

My ghost eyebrows furrowed. "No, no that can't be. He doesn't deserve that. Is there nothing you can do?" The cloud creature shook it's head. "Nope, Loki's spot must be filled otherwise down there-" He paused again to point to the floor. "Will come up here and it won't be for a party."

I furrowed my eyebrows sadly, trying to think of a way to keep my husband safe from his impending doom. "Could I take his place?" I asked, only option I could think of. At this Alfalfa practically jumped out of his skin.

"You want to go down there?!!" He asked in a frightened whisper, violently pointing to the floor. "If it would keep my husband safe then yes. I will gladly take his place." I said confidently. 

"Can I talk to you in a little bit more private place?" He asked, taking me into a hidden cloud room before I could even answer. He sat me down in a cloud chair before pacing in front of me. "Look Sera, I just went over your Earth record and you are literally the purest person ever to exist." He said, flipping through a book that appeared out of no where. 

"You have L I T E R A L L Y  never done a bad thing in your life, always going above and beyond, you have done more good things that I have and I can't even to a bad thing if I wanted to!" Alfalfa exclaimed. "Basically you should be running this place instead of you, you deserve to be in a place better than this and you want to go down there?!" He asked, pointing to the floor.

I just nodded confidently. "Sera, do you know how bad it is down there? I'm not even allowed to know all the things but it is worse than you could ever imagine! Like, H O R R I B L E!"

"I know but I also know that Loki doesn't deserve to be there either. And if there is any way to keep him out, I will, no matter what it take!" The cloud creature sighed before raising a glowing hand. 

"You're sure about this?" I nodded in response. "Once I send you down there I can't bring you back, you'll be stuck there for eternity."

"My heaven cannot be heaven without Loki." I said before a bright light surrounded me. I felt myself being pushed and pulled and squished until I landed on something hard. I opened my eyes to see a completely metal castle filled with screams and cries. It was oozing with fire and surrounded by a moat of what I assumed to be metal. The floor was covered in burning spikes and I felt a chill of fear run down my ghost spine. 

As I pushed myself up to a stand, I noticed that my legs began growing back and my ghost hands returned to skin. Now returned to my human form, I was dressed in the same thing that I was wearing when I died. In this case it was the new and improved mission suit Brooke had designed for me.

It was a solid black with glowing orange cracks traveling through it that sprouted from where my heart was as if the fire was melting through the suit. I held out my hand and created a ball of fire in my hand. A smile came to my face when I discovered I still had my powers.

When I turned around I saw a glowing creature composed of lava with a giant eyebrow looking thing atop his head. "I understand you are the one who is to take Loki's place?" The creature growled in a dark voice. 

"That's me, I'm Sera! What's you name?" I asked innocently. "I am Surtur, now come along, it is time to start your eternal suffering." He growled before gesturing to the castle. "Getting right to the point, I admire that in a leader." I said, trying to get him to smile.