Scene 6: Michael

(Back in JACOB’s study)

(LIGHT UP on JACOB trying to collect the pieces for his charm immediately after the end of scene 3. The storm can be heard in the background as MICHAEL materializes behind JACOB as a hologram)

MICHAEL: You fool! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ve killed us all!

JACOB: Michael, wait, I can explain!

MICHAEL: No explanation you provide will undo what you’ve done this time! Because of you the Tower is dying as we speak, growing weaker every second now that you’ve gone opened the Vault! Without the soul of Auroras to keep the Tower whole, the very Tapestry will collapse in on itself!

JACOB: I had to do it. I was running out of time. We were running out of time!

MICHAEL: No! We had plenty of time before you screwed us all. You were the one running from a deranged man’s nightmare while we were out fixing your mistakes! You cowardly, petulant child! We ran out of time the second you broke the seal of the Vault. We’re already spread thin enough as it is, and now we must recall the entire coven of Descendants to fix this! It seems like every time we move past something you’ve done, and I beg the others to forgive you, it only ever comes back to bite me in the ass!

JACOB: But Michael, I did it! What you sent me here to do. I found the Raven! I know where it is, and what it wants!

MICHAEL: Enough of this! The Raven is no more than a story concocted to scare children! I sent you on that little hunt because I thought it would be impossible! That’d you’d at least be distracted until you did us all a favor and died. I sent you here because it was easier than putting you down.

JACOB: Michael, you have to listen to me. The Raven is real, and he is coming for us. For the Tower.

MICHAEL: We have enough on our plate without worrying about some fantastical beast lurking amongst the shadows! Already the dead are piling on our doorstep as their souls refuse to merge back into the Tapestry. The elder races are fleeing to the outer edges en mass and the greatest terrorists that have ever walked the planes have escaped from their holds. Simultaneous attacks have already begun from all fronts. Olympus and Paradise have fallen to the hordes of the dead and mechanical alike as their infernal queen only adds to their ranks. All of this and more because you had a whim Jacob. All because you couldn’t wait for us to make an informed decision about the signs. The Raven being real or not doesn’t matter, because we were dead the second you decided to open that door Jacob. This is all on you!

JAOCB: Open your eyes Michael! We’ve been doomed from the start! Everything has been leading up to tonight, and none of us could see it. Why do you think everything is happening right now? Whose banner do you think the Talon flies? Is it coincidence that so many of our enemies bear the name of the Raven? You taught me yourself that coincidence doesn’t exist! Everything happens for a reason Michael. All roads lead to the Tower, and when we get there the Raven will be waiting with Hell itself at our doorstep.

MICHAEL: I won’t stop everything we are doing and let it all be destroyed simply because a reformed criminal suddenly grew a conscious. Lives are at stake! Heaven is the last ship in our fleet capable of ferrying the remaining souls back into the strands. If we abandon everything for the Tower, we lose everything, and I’ll be damned if I let my home burn for you!

JACOB: If the Tower falls, everything you’ve done tonight will be in vain!

MICHAEL: Enough with your nonsense! Once Gabriel, Raphael and I return to the Tower and fix the seal you destroyed, the Tower will be fine. My concern is the war that has suddenly sprung up around us. Until this business is finished, you will sit where you are. Afterwards Gabriel and Raphael will come to collect you. Then I’ll do what I should have done twenty years ago. I will not have you putting my work, the Creators work at risk any longer!

JACOB: Michael please! If Cassandra and Edward are free, we’ve already failed here! You know as well as I do that, they’ll be marching to free Penelope. Once they have her, the Raven will be awakened and given a physical form. We have to get to the Tower before they do, or we won't have a chance at stopping them!

MICHAEL: As soon as Edward managed to free himself, I had the child moved here so that I could personally see that she stays here. There is no chance of anything (Laser fire is heard offstage before the sound of alarms) Goddamn it! You stay where you are Jacob!

JACOB: Michael listen to ….

MICHAEL: Enough! You will stay put while I clean up this mess! (MICHAEL brandishes a flaming sword as his armor activates. He walks forward to face the enemy, but just behind him is the RAVEN)

JACOB: Michael behind you!

(The RAVEN embraces MICHAEL from behind as the hologram cuts out. JACOB sits a moment in shock before screaming out in anger and frustration as he punches the floor repeatedly)

JACOB: You stupid son of a bitch! Why couldn’t you have listened! Heaven doesn’t matter, the worlds don’t matter! Nothing matters when they get to me! For fucks sake! Every time. I just needed another minute! Another second! Now… now he’s dead. Oh god. Michaels dead, and now they’re on their way here. I just… please… if any of the old gods are still alive, please… just give me another minute. Another minute. Another minute. They don’t have Michael and they’re coming for me. Don’t you understand Michael? It was me, always me. Every me. My flesh and blood that leads the Raven ever onward.

(BLACKOUT)