. 10

Matt narrowed his eyes as he appraised Bob, who simply grinned back at him.

"You should lighten up. Anyone ever tell you that?" Bob casually floated onto a tree branch to sit on as he spoke. "Get it? Lighten up?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "You are... not what I was expecting..."

Bob's smile faded for a moment. "Yeah, well... people have a

lot

of expectations of me. How could even

I

live up to them all?" And just like that, the weariness went away and he was grinning again. "Besides, what

were

you expecting? Big guy floating in the sky with a big bushy beard like some kind of... toga wearing Santa Clause ghost giant?"

"I was

expecting

to find my mother." Matt growled.

Bob gave Matt a skeptical look. "Come on, Matt. This is

me

you're talking to. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt and all that. You know she's dead. You knew your father was dead. Your awareness of that is why you were searching for them all of a sudden. We should be straight with each other."

Matt grit his teeth and balled his fists. "Straight with each other, huh? Okay then. Did you kill them?"

Bob began to softly chuckle, slowly floating back down to the ground. "I love that you're actually preparing to fight me. You're good, kid... but you're not

that

good. I would have thought Death would have eased up that superiority complex you're growing."

Matt could almost hear Nora in his head reminding him to think before he acted, and it triggered in his mind just

Who

he was preparing to fight. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his aggressive stance. "You didn't answer the question."

"Of course I didn't." Bob shrugged. "It was a stupid question. You could argue that I kill everyone. Though Death has a pretty clear role in that as well, of course. But in your parents' case, it's kind of a team effort. I set the board. You moved the pieces. Death does the damage."

Matt's eyes widened. "What did I have to do with their deaths?"

"Caught that, did you?" Bob chuckled. "Did you ever wonder how only two angel/demon hybrids have come into being in all this time? It's almost as if angels are necessary and demons are necessary, but they're purposely and systematically kept as far apart as possible specifically so

this

doesn't happen."

"...why?"

Bob gave an exaggerated eye roll. "You have no idea what you're doing. Death does. Think of the power levels you two are throwing around and ask me again why I wouldn't want

more

of you."

"Fair point..." Matt begrudgingly admitted. "But-"

"Why couldn't I just make it so that the offspring of demons and angels aren't ridiculously powerful? Or maybe even that they can't have children in the first place?" Bob interrupted. "That's like asking why I can't make two plus two not equal four. Or the age-old rock so heavy I can't lift it deal. Which I can do, by the way... To an extent. It will be too heavy for me to lift until I actually try to lift it. It's weird...

"Anyway, I could explain the delicate intricacies of creation with you, but it would be a

very

indepth conversation and I don't feel like getting that into it. Ask Nora later. Point is, powerful being plus powerful being equals super powerful being. And if that happened on the regular, reality itself would be in utter chaos. I think we can all agree on that."

It wasn't an answer Matt wanted to hear but he could get the logic of it. "So if an angel and a demon do have a child..."

"They both die. There's an intrinsic taboo built into that coupling, especially. An angel's grace and demons don't mix. Usually. You've broken the status quo with that, but at this point, it doesn't really matter. Break the system all you want."

Matt's eyes narrowed again. "Where are they then? Their souls, I mean?"

"Your father's was burnt up at the moment of your conception and your mother's was burnt up the moment she gave birth to you." Bob laughed softly. "I suppose there

are

remnants. They were what Lilith followed to find your father. And your mother birthed you here, so the remnants of her soul are everywhere in the garden."

"...I was born here?"

"She begged me for that. Which was redundant since I wanted you born here anyway. I needed you to be a secret. And you were until that squirrel. But that all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

"...how did I get from here to my parents? The parents who raised me."

Bob chuckled. "Are you forgetting who I am? My will be done and all that. You went where I wanted you to go and were raised by who I wanted to raise you."

"...So, everything that has transpired has done so according to your design?" Matt quoted, raising an eyebrow.

"Funny. I do have a thing for unlimited power, but I digress. That is not the question you want to ask. Go on then."

"If you not only allowed me to be born, but purposely kept me hidden, then you wanted me for a reason."

Bob grinned widely at Matt. "Yes. What reason could I possibly have for wanting the horsemen of the apocalypse?"

"I don't acknowledge that title."

"And my name's not Bob. Doesn't stop me from being who I am and fulfilling my role, does it?"

"But I'm not fulfilling that 'role'." Matt snapped.

"Aren't you though?" Bob winked mischievously. "You have chosen your other three horsemen."

"They're not my-"

"One connected to Hell." Bob began to count off. "One connected to Heaven. One connected to Earth. Interesting. In a sense, the realms that you have to destroy."

"I'm not destroying anything!" Matt growled.

"Funny... Normally one doesn't build an army when they have no wish to destroy anything, correct?"

Matt paused a second before he answered. Mostly because he was thrown as to what 'army' he was building until it clicked. "I freed them. They are not my army."

Bob chuckled again. "I wasn't referring to the deities, but let's talk about them, shall we? What was it that Aphrodite told you?" As Bob spoke, it was Aphrodite's voice that came out. "I would happily defy my nature for you."

Matt's face soured at the impression. "That's not-"

"Little known fact." Bob interrupted again. "Aphrodite wasn't solely a love and lust goddess initially. She was part war goddess. Astarte is also part war goddess. Ishara punishes oathbreakers. I could go on. I'm simply saying when you put all of these deities together, even the ones who are only lust goddesses would, as Aphrodite so lovingly put it, defy their nature for you.

"To anyone outside of your circle, you are absolutely building an army. Along with making alliances with both Heaven and Hell which is an interesting way to go. But personally, I don't care. Have fun with how you wreak havoc. Take your time. I'm nothing if not patient."

Matt could feel his anger getting the better of him and he took another breath to calm himself down. "Okay... okay... Why are you so keen on the destruction of everything?"

Bob let out a loud sigh. "That's not the question you want to know. You're just going in a roundabout way of asking. What you want to know is what is the point of this? This reality. This existence. And I must say, Matt, you ask the hard questions. No one has ever asked me that one before. Do you really want to know?"

"...yes, I do."

"Alrighty then!" Bob clapped his hands in excitement. "I like you, Matt. You're a good guy. So I'll just keep it straight with you. In the beginning, depending on how you define the 'beginning', there was me. And me alone. There was nothing but me. Which might sound lonely, but you need to know what the alternative is before loneliness can even have a meaning.

"Anyway, I just got... bored after a while. Who knows how long it was. But I grew tired of my endlessly pointless reality. So, I went to sleep. And I had a dream...

Am

having a dream? Not going to lie to you Matt. I'm still not entirely sure whether I'm still sleeping or not... You know that feeling when you wake up but you're not sure if you're still dreaming or not? That is my entire existence.

"Anyway, anyway. Big bang, space, planets, angels, old ones, I think you can get the gist of it. I'm not alone anymore. Not only am I not alone but I have these beings who worship me, which does make sense considering I dreamt them all up."

"Wait wait wait..." Matt interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Reality is a dream to you?"

"Yes. Well... I guess it would be more of a lucid dream really. Not only am I aware that I'm dreaming, but I can change things."

Matt paused for a long moment. "So none of this is real to you? Me, humans, angels, demons, souls, none of it?"

"You love movie and book quotes so much. How about this one? What

is

real? How do you

define

real?"

"...that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Matt finally answered.

"Getting philosophical, are we?" Bob gave Matt a skeptical look before his amusement returned. "Okay smart guy. You got any quotes from sci-fi authors that can answer how you define reality when your belief or lack thereof actually

can

make it go away?"

"I don't know..." Matt grumbled, "You seem pretty done with reality and it's still ticking away."

"Ticking away. Funny choice of words there." Bob chuckled. "You want to know where I truly fucked up?"

"...humanity?"

"I

never

should have made a creation in my image. You might have noticed this by now, but I am

far

from infallible."

"Clearly." Matt replied curtly.

"Agreed! But that's just the thing. When you're me, it's very easily to fall into the trap of hubris. Every other creation I've made either consciously or subconsciously, has a natural equilibrium with everything else. But

people

... fuck's sake... They're like fucking wrecking balls, they are. Do you have any idea how much it fucks with your head when the creatures most like you seem Hell-bent on destroying themselves and everything around them? What does that say about

me

?"

"Humanity is more than destruction. You

know

that. You have to know that..."

Bob rolled his eyes. "Oh sure. There are flashes of good. But let's be honest here. If there's anything that proves that I am fallible it is that humanity exists in their current form."

"Just because we're flawed doesn't mean we're without hope." Matt urged.

"You are

not

human." Bob corrected. "There is no 'we'. There is a 'they'. You only identify with them because you grew up with them. But you are not the same.

"It might not seem so to you, but you are still

very

young. I've been here from the beginning. Humans can barely stand themselves for a couple of decades, so how am I supposed to for their entire existence?"

"Because you made us! Them! Whatever!"

"I learned it from you, Dad! I learned it from you!" Bob quoted with a laugh. "If you really think humanity is worth saving, you'd ask Nora. Short of me, nobody knows humanity better. But she will give you the same answer as me. Without humanity, reality is boringly simple, and with them it's such a clusterfuck that it's not even worth it anymore. 'Reality' is intrinsically and entirely fucked. I'm done with it.

"And don't tell me that I didn't try. I did. I used to be heavy handed as fuck but I realized pretty quickly that doing things that way was pointless. I step back and the exact same shit

still

continues to happen. I'm completely irrelevant. Me! Fucking irrelevant! Have you ever had a dream where the people in that dream don't believe you're real? Talk about a mindfuck and a half... This reality had a good run. It really did. But there's nothing of worth left for it to do. It's gone stagnant, if not full blown rotten."

Matt didn't have words. He just stared at Bob unable to even think of another question to ask. What was the point anymore? The creator of the system has lost all faith in that system.

"Good thing I have you to destroy it, right?" Bob playfully nudged.

"You're wrong." Matt said, coldly. "I don't care who you are. You're wrong. I'm not destroying anything..."

"Look. I get it. The utter pointlessness of existence is a lot to take in. That's fine. Take your time. Go whatever weird route you want to go to get where you need to be. Continue being a superhero or whatever the fuck it is you're trying to do. As I said before, I'm nothing if not patient. Have your fun. Just make sure you turn off the lights after you're done cleaning up my mess."

Matt just looked at Bob in silence. He had nothing more to say.

Bob on the other hand, continued grinning. "Everyone wants to know the point of existence. But none of them can handle it being pointless. I did warn you."

"I can handle it just fine." Matt finally replied back. "But I don't agree with my role in it. If you really think I'm going to do what you want me to, then you don't know me as well as you think."

"We'll see about that. We'll see. Just look at it this way. I'm not going to act against you. The ball is

entirely

in your court. This is all

your

game. So if you're right, then reality will just continue to tick on. But let's be honest here. If you don't destroy it then they'll just kill themselves. You're just putting everyone out of their misery at this point." Bob noted Matt's continued glaring and chuckled again. "You do you, Matt. It's all any of us can do at the end of it all."

Matt could tell that Bob was entirely serious. The fate of... everything was on his shoulders. He felt... heavy. "I don't want this..."

"Neither the

fuck

did I!" Bob's hands were thrown up in exasperation. "I just wanted to sleep. And all of a sudden I'm in charge of an entire fucking reality. Humans lose their minds when they're in charge of a fucking state, much less a country. I'm in control of

everything

. You think I wanted this? I don't know how I ended up here more than anyone else. All of this responsibility

literally

just dropped in my lap and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the expectations and the blame and the endless shitstorm of...

everything

... Is it fair that I'm putting it all on you? Of course not. But that's how it is. Life isn't fair, even for beings like us. I've been dealing with my shit for a

very

long time and I'm... I'm tired... So it's your turn now."

When Matt went to argue, he saw that Bob wasn't even there anymore. But then again, he didn't think there was actually anything left to say between them. They were diametrically opposed. The responsibility was officially on Matt's shoulders. And he didn't know what to do with it any more than Bob did, apparently. All he knew was what he

didn't

want to do. Matt simply took a seat against a tree and closed his eyes. He needed to be alone. He had a lot to think about.

But for now he was just going to enjoy his surroundings in silence. It wasn't surprising that he was born here. Nature had always been a thing with him. It had a way of calming him down. It felt like home. And it was a calm that he needed considering that he was apparently surrounded by the remnants of his mother's soul, who died giving birth to him because their all-powerful creator was sick of the reality He created.

Matt could feel that his familiars wanted to console him, but he just needed the time to himself for now. He needed to just be... in his own head. He wasn't in any danger. As Nora had insisted, he couldn't be in a safer place. Even Death had never stepped foot in the garden. So he took advantage of his surroundings. He dropped his guard and for a little while and just... allowed himself to be the human that he still felt he was. He temporarily cut himself off from everything and everyone. His responsibilities would still be waiting for him later.

But for now...

There was nothing...

***

It didn't help.

As the four returned to the temple, Matt could feel the awkward tension from his familiars and even from Lilith and Nora. But he needed to be selfish for now. Just this once. And they all understood. Nobody said anything. They just left Matt in peace as he went to the bedroom alone and went to sleep.

"Daddy really has a way with people, doesn't He?" Lilith finally spoke.

"Master is going to be okay." Laila murmured. "It was just a lot to take in."

Meanwhile, Mara was fidgeting uncomfortably and staring silently at the bedroom door.

"Mara, we

can't

." Laila sighed. "Master wants to be alone."

"I

know

that." Mara growled. "You think I don't know that? I want to help. Why won't he let me

help

?"

Laila put an arm around Mara and rested the demon's head on her shoulder. "We all want to help. And we

are

helping right now by giving him space. That's what he wants right now."

"We need to calm ourselves." Teriana stated, looking at the door as well. "Master may have cut himself off from our emotions but even he can't do it completely. Our anxiety will only make his nightmares worse."

Mara and Laila quickly shot Teriana a look. They'd completely forgot about the nightmares. When they both looked at the door, they were even more worried than they were to begin with.

"They are not, technically speaking, nightmares." Nora pointed out. "They may take the form as such, but they are, in truth, psychic attacks meant to break down Master's mind since attacking him physically would be quite foolish. It's a rather ingenious plan, all things considered."

Everyone froze before turning to stare at Nora.

"Yes, I can see how that would be quite the shocking revelation. I only bring it up now because in Master's current mental state, if there were ever a time to take advantage of it, it would be now. The moment I showed up, the attacker knew she was on borrowed time."

"...are you joking?" Mara asked with an eerie calm to her voice.

"No. I am not."

"Why the

fuck

wouldn't you-?" Mara stopped mid thought and ran to the door. "Master? MASTER!"

Everyone immediately dashed after Mara to wake Matt up, though Lilith and Nora lagged behind. "What

aren't

you telling them?" Lilith asked with a cautious curiosity.

"Quite a bit actually. I am sure that we will have a very long conversation about this after everything is sorted. I... made a judgement call. They may not like it, but I felt it was necessary."

Lilith gave Nora a look. "You do know if this 'judgment call' results in Matthew's death, we're going to be joining him very shortly..."

"Yes. I am aware of that. I have no regrets."

Meanwhile, Matt's familiars were completely oblivious to this conversation because they were all trying their hardest to wake Matt up. Unfortunately, their efforts were for naught.

The lights were off, and nobody was home.

***

This wasn't Matt's usual nightmare or even the sometimes rather nice dreams that lead up to it. He was restrained against an invisible wall. His surroundings were consistently changing. The only constant was that Matt was aware that he was dreaming and yet had no control over what happened.

"I knew she was going to be a fucking problem..." A familiar voice growled, warping the surroundings yet again. "Bitch needed to mind her own fucking business."

"Lynette...?" Matt was able to get out as he struggled against his bonds.

The fairy slowly walked into Matt's field of vision. She was clearly Lynette but just like the surroundings, she seemed to almost be flickering. But whereas the surroundings were constantly changing into a variety of things, the fairy herself seemed to be switching between two.

There was the Lynette that he'd grown increasingly close to. Pale skin, short black hair, cute face and beautiful wings. But the other was something of an inversion. She lost all depth in the blackness that covered her entire body. The blackness was only broken up by her white hair as well as what should have been the whites of her eyes, which were green with white irises instead of the reverse. It was... unsettling to watch.