Chapter 74: Requiem

"He's gone."

The Ghost Rider dismounted his Hell cycle and looked around the battlefield that was once a desert. Looking over to his left, he saw a large trench in the ground. It was deep and spanned the length of a football field. Craters and debris were strewn out everywhere. It was clear that an intense fight happened here.

"His residuals are everywhere… what or who was he fighting?" Ghost Rider walked forward until something caught his attention in the distance.

"This sword." Ghost Rider knelt and examined the broken and shattered blade. It was gold and silver; its craftsmanship was otherworldly. "It's radiating positive energy. Was Blackheart fighting an Angel?"

While it's true that he can't sense an Angel's soul, he could still feel their Holy positive energy; in contrast to his Demonic negative energy, it was evident when an Angel used their power. 

"Why was a servant of god fighting Blackheart?" Ghost Rider asked as he stood up and scanned the battlefield. 

He remembered Amy telling him that there were two other angels on earth beside her; could it be one of them? Off in the distance, he spotted another large crater; it was as wide as a small lake and seemed very deep. "Hmm."

Walking over to the crater, Ghost Rider peered down and saw something that made him pause. Slowly, the flames surrounding him disappeared and left behind a wide-eyed Harvey. Stepping forward, he slid down the smooth slope of the crater until he stopped next to the object in the center of the large pit. It was a body.

It was that of a young woman with long, ghostly white hair strewn around her. She wore a dirty blood, blood-stained battle dress under cracked and broken silver armor. One of her armored gloves was missing, drawing attention to the holes in the center of both her palms. Down below, her grieves were cracked and caked in dirt. Two bloody holes were also found on her feet.

Everything paled compared to the large circular hole in the woman's stomach. Flesh, innards, and blood could be easily seen from inside—a large pool of dried blood lay underneath the young woman's body. In the center of her chest was a very large stab wound; it was six inches long and wide enough you could slip your hand inside. The wound was precise and clean, contrasting the hole mere inches below it.

Harvey fell to his knees with a thud, the young woman's body a few inches away. The world around him became muted; Harvey could only hear a loud ringing noise in his ears. Unknown to him, something deep inside him snapped. 

"…Ah… Amy…" Harvey said weakly, his voice was weak and unbelieving.

With shaking fingers, Harvey slid aside a few strands of Amy's now white hair from her bloody face. Due to his jittery fingers, he accidentally touched her forehead. Amy was cold and lifeless, which caused him to yank his hand back as if he were burned, an action that was no longer possible for him.

"No… no, no, no… Amy? Amy, wake up. WAKE UP!" Harvey said as tears fell down his cheeks. "Don't do this, Amy. Please don't do this to me…"

Grabbing Amy's body, Harvey pulled her close to him. He lifted her so she was now leaning heavily on him, uncaring that his expensive new clothes were now stained with blood. Harvey rocked her body softly back and forth; he brushed her dirty, blood-stained hair to try and offer her some comfort.

"Please don't… please don't…" Harvey cried as he hugged his dear friend close to him. "Please, I can't lose you too…"

An unknown amount of time passed, and Harvey continued hugging Amy's body close to him. At some point, the tears stopped flowing down his face; he stayed sitting there with a cold and dead expression as he held Amy's corpse. Closing his eyes, Harvey slid his hands under Amy's knees and lower back. On her back, he felt two large gouges in the flesh with broken bones sticking out slightly.

Slowly, he made his way out of the deep crater, carrying his friend in a bridal carry. Behind him, in his footsteps, were small patches of fire. When Harvey finally reached the surface, he continued walking aimlessly. Only to stop when he saw two large, bloody, and mangled dove-like wings. Harvey stood there and stared at the wings with his dull eyes.

"It appears I was too late." A calm, soothing voice spoke behind Harvey, causing him to turn around slowly.

Several feet away stood a tall blonde man with hair that reached his shoulders. The man's blue eyes looked down where he held Amy sadly, pain and guilt in his eyes. The blonde man wore an impressive gold and silver suit of armor with a large red cloak flowing behind him. The armor vanished in a flash of yellow light, and an extravagant and expensive-looking suit took its place.

Looking up slowly, Harvey saw several dozen more men and women in suits of similar but less impressive armor. Each one of them had two large dove-like wings on their backs. They were all equipped with different types of weaponry; said weaponry was held at the ready. They were looking down anxiously at him, prepared to strike at a moment's notice.

"It seems that Blackheart placed a bounded field over this area. Smart of him… I couldn't sense their energies until their battle ended." The blue-eyed man said slowly with a frown. "My apologies, I am Saint Michael."

Harvey said nothing but continued staring at the Angel, his expression unchanging at the sight of one of the most powerful Archangels. 

"You must be Harvey Miller, the one who has bonded with the Hell Lord, Zarathos." Michael said evenly. "The spirit of vengeance."

"...and also my sister's dear friend." Michael smiled. "I do not wish to fight you, Harvey. I believe my sister would not wish for us to do so."

Michael walked toward him until he was five feet away. Looking down sadly at Amy, Micheal frowned and gained a sad expression. "This is my fault. Should I have pulled back my siblings sooner before they were attacked, they would still be alive. This will be my sin to bear until my last days."

"Harvey." Michael held his hands out. "I know my sister's passing has affected you dearly. But will you allow me to bring her body back to Heaven so she can rest? Chamuel has earned her rest, wouldn't you say?"

Harvey looked down at Amy's body and closed his eyes; it wasn't until now that he saw that she had a small smile. Even in death, Amy was still smiling at him. Opening his eyes, Harvey walked up to Michael and gently handed him his friend.

"Thank you." Michael smiled and looked up at the legion of angels above. With a commanding nod, they all shimmered and vanished. "Today shall be the last day any of God's servants will step foot in the mortal realm. From today onwards, humanity will be in charge of its own fate. Be it they thrive in our absence, or they cause their destruction."

Harvey watched Michael walk away with Amy's body in his arms; a pristine white blanket shimmered into existence in the space above her and landed gently over her body. 

"Harvey, a word of advice." Michael stopped and turned to him, a severe expression on his face. "In a different world, these words were spoken. I feel they apply to you and hope they will serve you. When this individual said these words, they were misguided and lost. But they remain true all the same."

"We are but men, drawn to act in the name of revenge we deem to be "justice". But when we call our vengeance "justice", it only breeds more revenge... forging the first link in the chains of hatred." Michael quoted. "This is goodbye, Harvey Miller. I hope we never meet again."

Behind Michael's back, two large golden wings fluttered out and released a strong gale of wind that caused plumes of dust to fly out. With a final nod, Michael soared up to the sky and disappeared into a shimmer of light. Leaving Harvey all alone in the battered desert. Looking down at his blood-covered body, Harvey closed his eyes and clenched his hands into tight fists.

'Harvey.' Zarathos finally spoke. 'What will you do now?'

Harvey slowly opened his eyes instead of their usual orange color. They were now glowing a sinister bright red. Black and orange mist-like energy surrounded his body in a chaotic swirling dance. Fire ignited from under his feet and exploded in a powerful wave, incinerating the desert into black ash. Harvey stood surrounded by a large field of blazing hot flames; they danced around him with each breath he took.

"…I'm going to tear Blackheart apart."

•••

"I can't believe it, Demon's are actually real?"

Pietro sat on the bar stool and watched as Wanda applied the finishing touches to the bandages on his thigh. When she was done, He thanked her with a smile and turned to the commotion inside the Pritchett home.

"Yes, Manny. Demons are very real. Angels, too." Alex said as she finished explaining the supernatural facets that Harvey and Amy were involved in.

After that dog Demon attacked Mitchell, he retreated inside his home. Cameron and Lily were able to catch a glimpse of his fight before he ran off into the city. After he was gone, Mitchell called his sister and father about what happened. So, with Demon's existence out of the bag, Alex thought that they might as well explain everything they knew. There was no point in keeping it secret at this point.

It was also quite a shock to them to learn how close they were to certain death if Pietro didn't step in to take out the creatures of the underworld.

"And Amy is an Angel?" Manny said with some reservations. "This is still hard to believe; I'm gonna need some hard proof."

"I believe it; whenever I was around her, I got the same feeling as when I was in church." Gloria smiled and looked pleased with herself. Baby Joe coed in her arms, seemingly agreeing with his mother. "At least now I know why Harvey always made my skin crawl; he had an evil Demon inside him. Dios mio."

"Zarathos isn't exactly evil." Wanda spoke from beside him. "He's not that bad, well, except for the time he threatened to destroy my soul."

"He did what?" Claire asked, bewildered.

"Manny, trust me when I say that this is all true. One came pretty close to killing me." Mitchell said tiredly, a glass of wine in hand.

"Hold on one second." Cameron walked up and turned to Claire. "You all knew Harvey was the vigilante Vengeance and the hero Ghost Rider and didn't tell us?"

"Harvey's a superhero!" Lily said from her spot on the couch.

"We didn't know from the start; we found out a few months ago during that attack at the Expo." Haley said with small bags under her eyes. "We didn't tell you because that's the whole point of a secret identity."

"I knew it." Jay said with a slight grin. Causing everyone to look over to him.

"Knew what, Jay?" Phil said with a raised eyebrow.

"Back when Alex was… taken. Harvey was injured in his leg when he chased after her." Jay said with a thoughtful look. "That same night, that vigilante Vengeance was injured in the same place. It was only a theory of mine, but I never thought it would be true."

"Wow, really, Grandpa? That's amazing!" Luke looked impressed. "You're like a detective!"

"Well, at least we know now that Harvey's fine." Alex said with a relieved smile; she, too, had slight bags under her eyes. "Thank you, Wanda. For finding him."

"No, it was Amy that found him." Wanda smiled and shook her head slightly. "You can thank her when she comes back."

Knock Knock

"That gotta be Harvey!" Luke said excitedly and jogged to the door. Opening the large door of the Pritchett household, they were all shocked to see Harvey standing there—clothes covered in blood.

"Harvey?" Alex, Wanda, and Haley said in surprise.

Slowly, everyone walked up to the front door and looked at him worriedly. Harvey said nothing but looked at everyone with a cold, expressionless face. Pietro felt nervous at seeing his friend like that, so before anyone could move to get closer to him. He stepped up to Harvey.

"Harvey, what happe-"

"Amy's dead." Harvey spoke suddenly, cutting him off. Harvey's tone was chilling.

Pietro's eyes slowly grew wide at what he heard; silent gasps echoed behind him. His body numbed as he shook his head. For as long as he knew Harvey, Pietro had never heard him utter a lie to him or his sister or anyone. But his mind couldn't fully comprehend what he said; he refused to understand.

"…what?" Wanda whispered in shock.

"That's not funny, Harvey." Pietro growled. "Stop joking around."

"Pietro." Harvey placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's gone… Blackhe- a very powerful Demon killed her."

Silence filled the room; everyone present stood there with wide, shocked eyes. It was hard to believe, but there Harvey stood. Covered in dry blood. 

"No… no, I just-she was just…" Pietro whispered and fell to his knees and hands. Wanda quickly ran to his side with tears falling down her face. She looked at Harvey's face and saw tears stains on his cheeks.

Harvey kneeled next to him and pulled him and Wanda into a hug. No one knew what to say as they silently listened to Pietro and Wanda cry.