E X P E L L E D

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THE WINDS HELPED to push the bodies to shore, gushing waves sending flesh flying onto the sand. Dimitri did not need to move a muscle for the unconscious bodies to come to him one by one. When the first body hit his feet, he couldn't help but jerk backward in shock, eyes never leaving the unmoving body. It took what felt like forever, with his breath held and heart stopped, before the body twitched up into a sitting position, coughing up mouthfuls of water.

Following that first man, more started to awake, all hacking up water from their lungs. Some groaned in pain while others stared at the sky groggily, wondering what had just happened to them.

The first man, the one closest to Dimitri, thumped at his own chest a few times before smacking his lips. He glanced over at Dimitri's direction, eyebrows furrowed and forehead wrinkled.

"Excuse me, sir," he started, voice a little hoarse. "Where is this place?"

Dimitri continued to stare wide-eyed at the strange man, one whose name he was searching for through his mind. After all, only the dead and the immortal have the ability to enter Lucifer's carefully protected domain.

"You are in Hell," Dimitri answered slowly, gauging the man's reaction. "The land of demons."

As expected, the man did not take the news well. He scratched at his head, panic and alarm running clearly across his expression. Beads of perspiration were starting to trickle down the sides of his forehead as he scrambled onto his feet, patting the sand from his loose clothing.

"Impossible!" The man cried, "I've done only good all my life! I was never tempted by evil and the devil's ways. When I was alive, I was a mere farmer that gave to the world and offered to God. How is it that I am in Hell when I was just in Heaven minutes ago?"

It took a good minute but Dimitri finally remembered the man's name. Out of all the people that had died, out of all the names that Dimitri had seared into his memory and jotted onto a personal notebook of his, there was only one that matched the appearance of the man before him. He dipped his head down a little so that he could speak to the man at eye level, frowning.

"Apologies, Abel, but I think that you and all the other deceased had just been expelled from Heaven."

With nowhere for the deceased to go, Dimitri had no choice but to bring them towards the castle. Just before the large gates was a small forest, enough to provide shelter and cover for a few hundred people. On top of that, demons hardly roamed the surrounding lands of the castle and forest, aside from the rare few that had more courage than others. It was safer for the expelled souls to hide here than left stranded on the beach.

"Will you be alright?" Dimitri asked, a hand placed on Abel's shoulder as he spoke.

The man could only nod a few times in silence, eyes downcast and frown forlorn as he shuffled his feet. Ever since Dimitri had broken the news of the possibility of being kicked out of Heaven, that was all Abel did— silently lamenting his poor fate.

Seeing that Abel was silent, Dimitri dropped his hand back down to his side. Tucking them into the pockets of his pants, he took a couple of steps back in the direction of the castle.

"If there is nothing more, wait here. I will head in to ask about this change in the situation. I will be back with answers very soon." With that said, Dimitri turned to leave. However, he hadn't even taken two steps before he felt a pair of hands latched onto his wrist, almost begging him to stay.

"Mister, are you the devil?" It was a child, one that lingered with the group a little behind Dimitri and Abel when they were all headed for the forest. The little girl that gripped Dimitri's hand could not possibly be even a day over eight years old and yet there she was. Dead.

"No." Dimitri shook his head, squatting down so that he could properly speak to her. He didn't like to look down on people— not those who didn't deserve it, at the very least. "I am Death."

"You won't take my papa away from the world, right?" The little girl continued to ask, her grip only getting tighter by the second. "He is a merchant. He is still very young."

Dimitri wanted to argue that the little girl, too, was very young herself. That she had more to live for than her middle-aged father that was probably nearing the end of his lifespan in two or so decades. Yet, he fought to keep his lips tightly shut. Instead, he smiled at her.

"Humans decide when their life ends, not me. I merely make sure they get the afterlife they deserve."

"Then is it true that we all deserve to go to Hell?" This time, the little girl's nails dug into Dimitri's skin, drawing blood. "Because we are all not good enough for Heaven?"

Dimitri's heart twisted painfully. The expression on the little girl's face was one that mirrored his own during the first few days he arrived in Hell. He knew very well the question that was running through the girl's mind, the burning query that would fuel her nightmares if left unanswered.

Had Heaven abandoned us?

"No," Dimitri rested his large hand on the girl's head, ruffling her long ebony hair. "I promise to make Hell a better place for all of the deceased. No matter how long it takes, no matter how much effort is spent, I will make Hell a worthy place for peace. Don't worry about it too much."

That was all it took for the girl's hold to loosen. She finally let go, fingers returning to the small ribbon of her apron before nodding a few times. She took a few steps back as if signaling for Dimitri to go to wherever he needed, as if showing that she now trusted him.

The sun had already set when Dimitri finally made it back to the castle. There, all three of his brothers awaited for him. Lucifer, as usual, was missing. Not even his shadow could be found anywhere along those stone walls.

"Where have you been?" Calvin asked, looking up from a leather-bound book in his hands.

Dimitri noted that it was a book about battle tactics and deduced that they most likely had started discussions without him. Time was running short and their plan had to come to life beyond the surface of parchment soon if they wanted to make any significant change. Now that a new issue had arisen, they needed to take action now more than ever before.

"Initially, training." The spirit of death crossed the room in quick strides before dropping down onto the couch. Sprawled across the cushions, he pressed the back of his hand over his eyes, shutting the light out from his point of view.

Fabian scoffed from the corner of the room, arms folded across his chest. "And after?"

"Dealing with souls that had been expelled from Heaven."

The three other fallen angels fell into silence, all of them whipping their heads to stare at Dimitri. While Fabian and Wilhelm had their eyes wide and jaws hung agape, Calvin looked rather unsurprised by that statement. Instead, he sighed once, clapping his book shut before placing it on the table between the couches.

"So this is what Heaven had been reduced to, I see." He shook his head, running a hand through his snow-white hair. "I believe that the wait is over. It is time to set our plans into motion.

Having been recovered from the initial shock, Wilhelm and Fabian both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Now, it is not just for the four of us. It is to create a better place for the rest of the deceased that had been expelled from the once-blessed grounds of Heaven. Lucifer will undoubtedly not allow these souls to stay. Even if he did, he would come up with a plan to make use of them. It would be best to create our own domain that can accept and hold the concept of the afterlife," Fabian added.

"It is time, then." Wilhelm wore a wicked grin. "Let us start the rebellion."

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