**Brief warning 'nd Also Spoiler: Much Ado About Suicide**
Glass shattered everywhere. That, coupled with the pain blossoming along his arms made the ceiling swirl and blur. He blinked a few times, shifting his gaze to the beautiful boy cradling him. His arms were on fire - not anymore, but it still felt like it. And he couldn't exactly breathe like he was supposed to. Everything felt fuzzy.
A demon had done more to him than controlled his mind. They'd altered it. Now he couldn't even see straight without feeling like he was about to fall asleep.
But he could see Ben and he could remember that the other was wanting to get the Enchantment. If he just kept him here long enough, maybe he could just... keep him here... long enough...
"As I was saying," he said, "you look awfully handsome in that outfit. I'd hate for anything to happen to... to you."
The other was quiet in reply, holding Ewan's wrist. He clenched his jaw, soon speaking softly. "What happened to you?"
"I have no clue but everything hurts," he muttered. His head throbbed with every word he spoke.
Ben kept his jaw clenched and soon he shook his head. "That isn't what I meant."
Ewan gazed at the other longingly. He knew what he meant - he knew it was because he'd changed. The way he looked at Ben, the way he talked to him, even the way he breathed around him. It had all changed and now here he was, laying on the ground with a numb mind, watching the other risk his life for everyone else.
Numbly, he reached up and wiped the blood off Ben's cheek.
The two shared a look. Ewan felt lost in Ben's eyes and for a moment, everything was perfect, but he soon blinked, and Ben tensed up again.
"I'll be back in a minute," he said, going to stand up, but Ewan grabbed him tightly by the arm.
"What if you're not?" he asked.
Ben grinned sheepishly, opening his mouth to reply, but Ewan stopped him. He mumbled, "I won't be seeing you in Hell."
"I didn't say you would," Ben added.
"You didn't have to," Ewan whispered, setting his head back. It felt nice to just be cradled in Ben's arms but he knew it wouldn't last forever. He sighed through his nose. "Ben, you don't have to do th-"
But the sight of Ezra made him hesitate.
The teenage boy was standing with his arms held out, looking more confident than seemed possible. He was grinning, too, because this was Gregory. He'd taken lives in his greedy ways and now he felt like he could rule the world. Ewan had felt that power before - not from taking life, but from torturing them. It was the instinct of a demon to enjoy hurting Sinners, to draw power from their pain.
Overseers had a more diverse palette.
"Please, Ben," Ewan mumbled. He was too exhausted, too in pain to physically keep Ben there. But he tried to grip his arm and make him look at him. "Come on. You don't have to."
"I do," Ben said. "Just hang tight, alright?"
"I don't want to," Ewan hissed, gripping his arm as tightly as he could. "Please. I don't want to, Ben. Please - don't risk going out there, don't do this to me, plea-"
But Ben was up again and this time Ewan knew there was no getting him back. Not if he left like this.
"God - Ben!" he yelled, trying to get up, but it felt impossible to even sit up. He simply watched the other stand up and shift his heels into the dirt, facing the demon boy with no fear. Blood dripped from his chin. It looked terrifying and sent chills down Ewan's spine, making him realize that Ben, right now, was just a mortal facing one of the most powerful demons in Hell.
"You're not going to win, Ben Sawyer. The angel is losing as well as the mortal beside her. Everyone is going to die."
Ewan flicked his gaze over to Charlie and Elizabeth fighting off six demons. They were both bloody and beaten, but Ewan was too weak to help, too weak to think about lifting a hand.
The people had fled, apparently, when all the glass broke. The glass that now lingered on the ground, shattered along the plants, glistening like water.
"You're at a loss, Ben. You're done. Give up your life again and allow me to return to Hell with every other demon that doesn't want to be here."
Ben sighed through his nose. "No," he said simply.
This brought both Ewan and Gregory pause. It would seem that in such a dramatic moment like this one, he would have more to say. Something noble about protecting the population, about protecting the world from evil. But he didn't continue and Gregory shifted awkwardly.
"You're less than I thought you were," Gregory admitted. "And my standards were low, Ben. Granted, I didn't think you'd come back from the dead. So maybe you're stronger than I thought. But you're dumb, mainly, and that's hardly redeeming at all."
This only drew silence from Ben. It seemed to be irritating for Gregory, how silent the other was. Ewan couldn't think straight enough to understand if it was a smart tactic or not.
The Overseer snapped and the fighting across the greenhouse came to a halt. Ewan's gaze flicked over to find Gabrielle on the ground, chest heaving. Charlie was still standing, holding his gun, ready to fire. But the demons were at bay.
"I have your Enchantment, Ben," announced Gregory, drawing the attention back to him. "How are you going to face me? How do you think you could kill me or send me back to Hell without killing your friend? You're losing, Ben. The only way this ends is through bloodshed."
"What do you want?" Ben asked. He spread his arms. "You've brought, what, ten demons up here to take on an angel, two mortals, and a demon? What do you want?"
"I want you to die, Ben. I-"
"Yeah, but why?" Ben asked. He spoke casually, fluently, as if things weren't going to Hell. And Ewan noticed it was just to keep Gregory busy. Distract his mind. Maybe so that Ezra could show up, maybe so that Ewan could... levitate the Enchantment out of Ezra's heart.
Gregory clenched his jaw. "I was told to. The Devil wants you down there."
Ben sighed through his nose. "Yeah, but why?" he asked again.
"I don't know his motives," Gregory scoffed. "In fact, I don't care about his motives. I just know that I get to rack up a body count and I get to bring someone like you to Hell."
Ewan took in a deep, shaky breath. He had to do this. If he wanted to save Ben, if he wanted to save everyone here, he had to get out of whatever the demon put him in. He just needed to overcome this crippling headache and fuzziness that made him unable to think. He just had to.
The demon who'd done this to him was still against the wall, very much alive. The Enchantment around her neck glistened. There was no getting out of her grip, and as long as she was alive, her powers would continue to work.
He would just have to do this.
Ewan glanced back over to Ben and Gregory. They were still talking but the demons behind Gregory were getting ready. A fight would break out soon and Ben would stand no chance against the hoard of super-powered dead guys with an agenda.
He lifted his hand, trembling, and tried to surpass the fuzziness in his head. He tried to think of anything that would give him a clear head, anything to focus on the Enchantment inside Ezra's heart, anything to just help.
And gradually, he felt a tug against his telekinetic grip. It was the tug of an object, but he knew what he was gripping.
In his second of happiness, it appeared Gregory felt it, and he let out a breath of surprise. Ewan didn't know what it felt like, but he assumed having your Enchantment drawn out of you felt like having the life sapped from your very being.
As he continued to drag out the Enchantment with all his might, he noticed Charlie running towards the group, blood smothered along his face and staining his green sweater. He had a look of determination in his sunken, dark eyes and it took Ewan no effort at all to understand his goal.
He wanted to use the Enchantment instead of Ben.
An apology, probably, for killing him.
Everyone noticed everything at the same time and everyone acted on everything.
Ben drew his gun from his belt and aimed it at Charlie, yelling inaudibly for him to not come any closer. Ewan could hardly hear it - too absorbed in wrenching the Enchantment from Gregory and having the Overseer pull back.
The demon clasped his hands over his heart, struggling to keep himself tied to the body, and Ewan was tired. His vision was blurring to the point where he could only differ Charlie and Ben by the way they were interacting with each other.
How Ben held the gun with an insecure sort of dignity, yelling.
How Charlie only ran, pleading - begging Ben to not take on this Overseer, to not take a demon into his consciousness.
"Just let me do this," Charlie yelled. His voice echoed distantly.
And just as Ewan's eyes began to flicker shut, a different force overcame him. A stronger one. And he didn't have to try anymore, didn't have to fight against the invisible strength gripping his head - he just did. As if everything that had happened hadn't. He felt fine. Pure.
Like someone else.
Rising to his feet, he lifted a hand and pulled effortlessly.
The Enchantment ripped out of Ezra's chest and the boy collapsed to the ground, almost lifeless but Ewan knew they had time. They had to. Without thinking, he whipped the Enchantment to Charlie. The boy grabbed it from the air and fell to his knees in front of the blond boy on the ground, slipping the Enchantment over his throat.
It glowed a demonic green.
Ben dropped the gun.
"Charlie, stop!" he yelled.
But Charlie already had his hands on Ezra's chest. His body trembled as he used everything in him to keep the dying boy alive. The boy whose heart was exposed and cut into.
The boy, Ewan knew, who died the second the Enchantment was ripped out of his body.
The demons stood at bay, all six of them wondering who their Overseer was, wondering who they should fight or if they should get involved. Some of them ran at Ben, knowing their goal in this life was to at least destroy him.
Ewan made a dive for it, feeling around Ezra's body until he found Ben's Enchantment, and he hurled it at him.
Ben didn't catch it. A demon grabbed his leg instead, lifting a clenched fist charged with Hellish power. The other held Ben down, gripping his throat.
The boy writhed beneath the demon. He spat and swore but nothing worked, and with a flick of Ewan's wrist, the Enchantment landed on Ben's chest-
- in time for the sound of broken bones to resonate through the greenhouse.
Ben groaned in pain, gathering up enough strength to extend his hand.
A simple motion that otherwise would have done nothing if not for Ben's special alliance with Hell that still made Ewan's head whirl. A simple motion that sent a black circle of energy through the woman, cracking her Enchantment clean in half.
A simple motion, in fact, that sent the black shield straight through her, through the air, through the chests of every other demon in the greenhouse.
They collapsed one by one like flies.
Ewan's own thoughts were coming back to him. He blinked a few times, wondering just what power the demon had to make him feel so different. Gradually, he brought his gaze to Ben.
The boy that didn't know his best friend was dead.
The boy who probably had plenty of broken ribs.
The boy who was now staring helplessly at the ceiling, hands on his chest, trying to heal himself. It looked pitiful.
Ewan turned to look at the two bodies on the floor beside him. To Ezra's lifeless one and Charlie's miserable one. His eyes were blank as he focused all of his energy, all of his being, into keeping this one boy alive that would never live again.
"Stop," Ewan whispered, taking slow steps towards the other. "It's... it isn't going to work."
"Get him out," Charlie heaved. "I can't... God, don't, don't take it off, wait-"
Ewan extended his hand forward to grab the Enchantment but Charlie's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, bending it... bending it... until Ewan heard a snap.
The pain registered instantly, scalding his wrist and making him gasp out. Tears came to his eyes as he gazed at the other, not wanting to hurt him. He really, really didn't want to.
"You were foolish enough to think I wouldn't overcome this pathetic mortal?" Charlie scoffed through tears. His lip trembled as he continued. "He's weak. Just like Ben. Just like everyone in this damn room. You may have defeated my demons, Ewan, but I am the one that will send everyone back to where they came from. I am the one that will k-" He took a breath, tears pouring down his face. "I will kill Ben," he whispered. "And I'll send you back to Hell. Back to square... B-Back to square one."
Ewan let out a shaky breath, looking the other square in the eyes. "Charlie," he said. "Charlie, it's me. Don't. Please-"
He scrambled back, yelling in pain as his broken wrist hit the ground. But he had to get back, he had to get time, he had to bring Charlie back. He just had to.
But the other approached calmly, wiping tears away emotionlessly. "You've grown soft," he said through a wilted smile. "So, so soft..."
"No, I'm not -" Ewan choked on his words, pulling himself back with one hand. "I'm not going to hurt you just to save myself, I know he's in there. I know-"
Gregory flicked his hand and sent a shard of glass into Ewan's chest. He grunted, hearing the thump and feeling the pain but not having the guts to look. His arm gave out, sending him to the ground.
"Go to Hell, Greg," spat Ewan.
"No," Gregory teased, "you."
The Overseer slammed his combat boot against Ewan's chest, shoving him to the ground and pressing... pressing. Ewan growled, using his good hand to try to push the demon away, but Charlie said, very simply, "Stop."
And everything in Ewan's body came to a halt.
The Avaritia's mind control was unique in the sense that it happened through touch. It wasn't like the Ira's, where Ewan could feel nothing and couldn't remember anything. And it wasn't like the Gula's, where he was shocked into complacent silence.
He would remember all of this. His life being torn out of him.
Because the demon reached down, the most menacing grin on his lips, and took Ewan's Enchantment in his hand. "Everything's going to work out," said Charlie's voice. "Just close your eyes..."
It felt like life escaped him and he knew this was going to be the end, he knew this was how he left the Surface and went back to Hell. This was how he disappointed Satan and how he met Aliyah again, after a failed mission, but it stopped.
It was Charlie. Fighting himself. Struggling for power as he battled mentally with one of the strongest demons in Hell. Ewan let out a choked breath, glancing down to find the Enchantment's chain had broken. It was still in Charlie's hand - any subtle movement and the Enchantment would slide off his neck and he'd be gone.
Where to, he didn't know.
He looked up, vision blurring. He couldn't move without the Enchantment sliding off and that meant he couldn't reach up and take Gregory's Enchantment. Both of his hands still ached - one broken, both having previously been scorched.
There was only so much time before one of them broke through, and chances were it would be Gregory.
Gravel shifted behind him. The sound of Ben lifting himself off the ground, wounds healed.
Charlie's eyes opened but they were Gregory's gaze. His look snapped down to Ewan and he felt his heart stop, felt his mind freeze up because this truly was how he went out. Ben watching and everything.
The demon looked up to Ben, letting go of the Enchantment to take a few stumbling steps back.
Ewan grasped for the Enchantment, making sure it stayed in his hands, and eventually he found the courage to look up.
There was Ben. Grey force fields in either hand, wind beginning to swirl around him, electricity even gathering in his hand, and it was all going to be put down on the singular Enchantment on Charlie's chest. Blood was still strewn across Ben's cheek, though somehow through the demonic look in his eyes, he looked pleasant. His jacket and jeans made it seem like he was still a teenage boy who didn't understand his abilities.
That's all he was, really.
Glass erupted from the ground by Gregory's hand, flying towards Ben, but the wind caught it and brushed it to the side. Plants and glass continued to hurl its way through the air only to be cast away like feathers. Nothing was going to hurt Ben.
"You think you're tough, hm, Ben?" Gregory hissed. "You think you're something special just because you've got that bloody priceless Enchantment? You're wrong. Even if I can't kill you, there are other ways I can make you wish you were dead. Other people I can take away. Just so you know everything would've been easier for you if you'd eaten a bullet."
This caused the boy to stop walking. He clenched his fists and mouthed, "Who?"
Through tears and red eyes, Charlie said his own name.
Everything, then, happened in a second. Ben reached out a hand, a shield flying from his grip, but Gregory reached out his own hand and a shard of glass flew from the ground and slid with sickening gracefulness across his neck.
The shield slammed against the Enchantment, shattering it, and all that was left was Charlie's bloody, dying body.