#I'm going to edit this and continue/rework into something formal and something more intense and weirder soon

[castlebyersafterdark]

🌈REVELATIONS ⛪️

Safe. Out of breath, but out of sight.

They locked the doors to the church and strained and struggled but pulled together to drag one of the pews in a barricade against the doors. Just as one extra precaution. They'd lost the demodeer herd a mile back but adrenaline kept them on a steady bolt, overly panicked as their reconnaissance mission failed and turned into one of survival and waiting.

When in danger, find shelter. Blockade. Stick together. Stay quiet. Wait for the next signal. Hope your radio didn't die and you reminded unseen.

"I think we're alone now. We're fine. We're totally fine." Breathless, and braced against the side of the nearest pew, Mike gave himself reassurances out loud while Will crouched down and focused on level breathing.

"Yeah. Safe," Will repeated. Not something he'd accurately felt in years. Couldn't remember.

"Hey. Hey come here."

Mike pulled Will to his feet and held him close. Chest to chest. Arms wrapped around Will's back. Big hands cradling skull and shoulder blade as Will sucked in a shakey breath and held on just as tight.

"I got you. We're good. We're safe."

"Sure," Will disagreed, voice a dark laugh and cheek a wet stain as he reluctantly pulled himself away from Mike's neck.

Mike had been doing that a lot recently. Hugging him. Touching him. Going out of the way to make sure he was doing alright. Keeping him safe.

It made Will nervous. Liking it as much as he did. He shouldn't.

"...and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he..."

Will stopped in his tracks. What -

The lights.

(continued under cut)

Will stepped closer to inspect the electric candles, one built into each side of the pews. He leaned in to listen to the preacher's words, softly echoing from the other side in the scattered, floating particles of light. In the right side up, church was in session.

He stepped away and walked slowly along the rows of wooden benches towards the front of the church, catching snippets of the passage being recited to the gathered congregation with fire and brimstone fury as he walked along the trails of light, which flickered as he went and distorted the voice like an in between radio station.

"...and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had..."

Will stopped in front of the altar after ascending the set of stairs. Back in reality, where vines did not cover the church and perpetual night time covered the land, golden sun would wash down through the stained glass and bathe the sanctuary in a kaleidoscope of light and color. Blue, gray and the danger of red comprised Will's current palette - this world he'd help to shape.

He braced his hands on the altar and took a deep breath. Almost thought touching the wood - the mimic, the doppelganger of that thought to be sacred table - would burst him into flames.

"Will?"

He spun at the sound his name and turned to Mike. The glittering specs from the lighted pews lined the aisle, suspended in the damp, dark, stale air. Unmoving like a starry night, unlike the few specs that had clung to Will as he'd walked by. A magnet for the tiny dots of energy.

"Are you ok?"

"...which is the Devil, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, that he should deceive..."

Will brushed off the specs of lpreaching, pixie dust preachings, warnings for the eternal soul. Look where he stood. A mockery. Back in Hell again. Willingly, this time.

"This is where they held my memorial service. When I, you know..."

He said it nonchalant, a pained smile on his face as he leaned back against the altar. Casual. Whether he belonged there or not.

"When they found that fake body."

"When I died. Before you all buried me."

"But you didn't."

"Most of you didn't know that."

He'd heard it, some of it. The preacher's voice just like today as his younger self took solace in the safety of the church. A voice that praised his poor young soul. Prayed for his salvation. All for a dummy stuffed with fluff. A rubber boy in a facade of a casket with needless tears dropped on the lid.

He remembered his grandmother, his father's mother, had tried with him and Jonathan. Forced them certain Sundays, forced his father to sit uncomfortably in the pews beside his boys, not so dutiful but trying. Joyce never went. Always worked Sundays.

The attempts were abandoned even before Lonnie ditched them all.

"But I knew. I never gave up on you."

"...and I saw an angel come down from heaven..."

His pale face shone in the blue darkness and dim light. Determined. True.

"I know."

Will waved a hand over one of the wax candles on thin iron stands that dotted the raised platform of sanctuary. It lit without spark or match or touch. He did it again to the others in his vicinity.

The things he'd discovered he could do terrified him.

Mike watched his best friend in awe.

"Kind of hard to believe a boy like me is hiding in a place like this. If I tried this on the right side..."

"What do you mean?"

"Mike..." Will took a steadying breath. Fearful. Terrified. Suddenly brimming with truth. When better than following a moment of life-or-death, in a place that glorified confessions. "Don't make me say it. Please. Don't make me. You know what I am."

"I don't-"

"Mike."

And Mike fell to his knees.

Hands covered his face. Shuddering breath. Crumpled before the altar, before Will.

Will descended from his place on high and rushed to Mike. Kneeled in front of the love of his life. Begged to understand.

"I've lied to you. I've lied to everyone."

"What-"

"I'm sorry. Will, I'm so sorry."

"...and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain..."

Mike took Will's hand in his own, and raised it, in worship, in love, in benediction to the boy he'd been devoted to since life had begun to fill memory. He kissed the knuckles, smelled the scent of smoke on skin from otherworldly fire. And let go. And made a decision.

And kissed Will.

And kissed him and kissed him. And was kissed back.

He didn't have to say it.

Gasps of breath. Hands grasping at shoulders, arms, faces, frantic. Mouths seeking their counterpart. Over and over.

The faintest sound of yelling. Candles burning bright. The lights that lined the aisles flashed and flickered, in tune with the sealing and slide of new lover's lips.

"Mike."

Foreheads pressed together. Mike's hands cradled Will's face, more force than intended but secure, a lifeline. A promise.

"Mike, is this real? It's... it's not-"

"It's real. I'm real. He's not here. You don't- you don’t feel him, right?"

Will felt Mike's pulse. His heartbeat.

Visions lacked either, they'd all found. On rare occasion when they were able to get close enough to check.

"Are you... are you like..." Are you like me? Abominations together. Unholy beings. No. Not a mistske. How could something that felt so right and good and beautiful be evil. "I thought I was so alone. Are you-"

"I don't know what I am. I'm working on it. But not... not how I feel about you. I think it's always been you, Will. Always you."

Will's smile could split the sky, could light up the entire dismal dimension. It belonged to Mike. All for him.

"It's always been you too, for me. I'm in love with you."

Another crashing kiss.

The lights flickered and surged.

"...stay calm, everyone! Join me in prayer. Together we will stand against this evil. This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer! Join..."

And the lights burned brighter yet, flickering in a circling rotation, then random, surging with power. All while two boys seeking refuge in a tainted and tarnished place of worship expressed pure love and devotion to one another.

Darkness, after the lights all burst on the other side. A final echo of yells rang out from the lingering specs of light until they also faded away until all that remained was the conjured burning candlelight surrounding the altar.

Mike stood, and took Will with him, never parting as they kissed and stumbled to the nearest pew...

(to be continued...)

🖤🖤🖤