Hey, guys!

I know I haven't published anything in a really, really long time, but I've been going through old files lately, and I found some pieces that just need a little dusting off, nothing too major. Hopefully, these can tide you over until I can get back to my multi-chapter fics.

Enjoy!

It is so close now.

So close.

Victory is almost in his grasp.

(He does not think that he can lose)

He can almost taste the blood of the Christ.

(Once they called him Morningstar)

Satan is there, you know.

(Once they called him Lucifer)

In the crowd below the cross.

Mocking.

"If you are the King of the Jews, why don't you save yourself!"

(He used to shine so bright)

Reveling.

"Death to the False King of the Jews!"

(He used to love and be loved)

He has almost won.

(He has already lost everything)

He is so very, very close.

(He does not know this yet)

And then…oh, and then.

Christ throws back His head (and he doesn't almost flee for fear of armored Hosts descending, he doesn't) and He screams.

"IT IS FINISHED!"

And the sky goes black.

(He knows darkness, he is the Prince of Darkness, the Prince of the Air and this is a power greater than any he possesses)

Satan can hear the Curtain tearing, feel God's devastation sweeping across the face of the Earth.

His demons panic and scatter, abandoning the bodies they had been possessing.

(His brothers would have stood beside him no matter what but he has no hold on them now, no hold save for the ones who fell with him and burned)

But Satan only laughs, because he has WON.

'Oh, take that, you absolute FOOL!' he almost screams at the sky. "You gave them your Son, but this is MY world now, and they follow MY orders, and I WON!'

He reaches out, snatching Jesus in his bloody claws and summoning his own demented, twisted Host of Darkness as he drags his prize, the failed, abandoned Christ, down into the depths of Hell.

(He remembers falling, he remembers burning, and oh, it feels WONDERFUL to inflict it on the Son)

He's won, he's won, he's won.

(He really thinks he has)

He can't believe it.

(He just doesn't understand yet)

God lost.

Jesus failed.

And Satan has WON.

Death is victorious, and the Gates of Hell open wide to claim their victim.

(Oh how wrong, how wrong, how wrong)

"You lost, Jesus," Satan hisses gleefully. "And I won, I won. The Earth is MINE. It and all of its people. They belong to ME, and just you wait. I will drag every last soul down to Hell with me. I will burn it all."

There are no physical forms in Hell, not like on Earth, but Satan gets the uncomfortable feeling that Jesus is looking at him with compassion and grief.

Like Jesus knows something Satan doesn't know.

He doesn't like it.

Time is different down there. No days or minutes or seconds, just an eternity of drawn out, never ending agony of hellfire with no relief in sight. He has no idea how long it's been by mortal reckoning, nor does he care. He revels in his victory over the Christ, and the fires burn hotter and the burning waves of the lake crash higher.

He has won.

(Oh, fallen angel, so dark and wrong and sad)

But…

What is this?

There is Light.

There is not supposed to be Light down here.

There is not supposed to be hope down here.

The Gates of Hell are not supposed to be lying in ruined, broken pieces, shattered by the power of God and the Son.

Souls are not supposed to leave.

There is not supposed to be any escape from this place.

HE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO LOSE.

(He understands now)

Jesus is rising, wreathed in Power, Grace, Love, and Light, rising from the darkness and Death falls broken to the fire, defeated.

And Satan can only scream his wrath and rage, because he knows what this is.

(He knows the Scriptures, knows them well)

He watches, seething with fury, as his hold on the world and the souls that dwell in it slip farther away with every passing heartbeat.

(Again to fall, again to fail, his destiny for eternity holds nothing but flames)

His victory is gone.

It is so far away now, he knows he will never reach it.

(It has burned as surely as his wings)

Jesus has won.

(There is a moment)

The Grave has been conquered.

(Just a heartbeat of time)

Death has been defeated.

(When the Christ looks back upon the one who once was so bright and there is grief in His eyes)

And Satan (Morningstar, Lucifer, Angel) is alone amongst the ruins of the Gates of Hell, left with nothing but his kingdom of fire and ashes and the knowledge that he has LOST.

(The moment has passed)

The demons are screaming in terror at the Light and the Presence of the power of the Most High.

(Christ turns His eyes Heavenward once more)

The weight of his once-there-long-gone wings drag him down farther into the fire.

(Light and Hope and Love such as this will never pass the Gates of Hell again)

He screams his fury and all of Hell trembles with his wrath.

(And Darkness falls once more)

And Darkness falls once more.

So, obviously I have no clue what really transpired for those three days that Jesus spent in the tomb. But I have always found Satan to be a heartbreaking being. I mean, he lived in the presence of God and when he fell from grace, he lost that.

I do not think that Satan is redeemable. I think his fate was decided long, long ago. But this little idea got in my head and wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote it.

What did you guys think? I would love to hear some feedback on this.