Author's Note: For anyone who read Contravene and also happened to read my bio, this would be another work that follows the lines of Contravene. It's not the same characters or situation, but the theme of using uncommon or rare character types. Hopefully this one will be at least as good as Contravene, though I suppose the goal is to have each work be better than the last.

For a look in to what's to come, the featured image on my DeviantArt page (Moga) is the preview image for this story. I also have a journal entry up with a character quiz for the two main characters in this story.

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1,2

The whole floor was void of life, if you ignored the one moving creature that there was. The entire place was a world in and of itself; a microcosm made out of red rock and bubbling lava. It was usually bursting with activity, sound a constant roar of voices, and vision a blur of people bustling from one place to another. But, for the moment, only one soul dared stir in the silence. No one else dared move and reveal their hiding place, for the consequences would be terrible, even more horrible than the place already was. Thousands of feet above the ground, worn smooth by the passage of billions of feet, the great ceiling shook, stalactites trembling as they clung to the vast rock roof. Here and there small rocks and great chunks of stone were dislodged, falling downwards, their velocity accelerating to speeds fast enough to kill any person unfortunate enough to be hit by the falling debris.

A stalactite lost its hold, thousands of years worth of mineral buildup sent freefalling downwards, dull tip pointing towards the ground. It barely missed the one lone individual who had not taken cover, falling very close to his path and forcing him to hurry away from the resulting explosion of rock. The individual very nearly swore at the close call and ensuing inconvenience, but held his tongue. He liked to think himself above the need for such vulgar words. He was a small, proud creature, measuring barely four feet in height. The two antennae atop his head were flattened in agitation, dark ruby eyes glaring at the shattered stone goliath as though it had done him some personal wrong or unbearable inconvenience.

The imminent danger did not divert him, however. He had a job to do, however much he loathed the prospect of it. He hurried forward, dodging danger when need be but otherwise keeping a direct coarse towards his destination. As he drew closer to his goal, he was able to pick out sound other than the rumbling of the ceiling so very far above his head. It was a horrible, screeching wail that sounded over the individual thunderous poundings that were making the ceiling crumble.

Walking briskly down the straight, impossibly wide tunnel, his antennae perked for a moment as he was able to perceive the passage beginning to open up ahead. He picked up his pace slightly, not eager to fulfill this particular part of his job but wishing to get it over with. Although he could see the path widening, it still took him a good ten minutes to near the end of that particular tunnel. He turned right, following the sweeping curve of the omnipresent rock along for a minute or two, until it opened up in to an antechamber, the walls falling away in curves impossible to measure with ordinary equipment and the ceiling arching upwards even higher. He had entered the bottom right hand part of the room. On the left, another enormous tunnel connected the room to a higher level. All around the right, left, and bottom walls of the room, lesser tunnels dotted the red walls, leading down in to the depth of the scarlet rock. What was considered the front wall was essentially nonexistent, since there was almost no rock to found. Instead the entire space was filled with an enormous, sweeping staircase, faintly glowing a pale silvery white.

The entire staircase had a tendency to annoy everyone within the microcosm. It wasn't that the denizens didn't appreciate a change of scenery, it was just the sheer snobbery associated with the stairway. For one, certain persons liked to boast that the steps were made out of nothing but solid purity, hence the faint glowing. Secondly, those same persons had a horribly annoying habit of standing at the top of said steps of purity and look down at everyone else with pure contempt and smug superiority on their faces. Which is why it was commonplace to hurl insults and make rude gestures at the staircase whenever one passed by.

However, all cursing, hand gestures, mooning, derogatory comments, and all other maturely immature and downright immature behavior had been suspended a few months prior. Not that there was much of an enforcement policy on the decree; it was just part of a larger effort to, as they were told, "Clean this damn place up." They were then told, via an overstuffed, brightly colored, and overall too-friendly rainbow patchwork puppet "It's reeaaallll messy!"

It was also one of the reasons for Hell's third ever construction project. In order to "clean up," it was decided that the underworld was entirely too crowded and another level was needed. Due to the fact that there wasn't room above the first level of Hell, and beneath the seventh level was Purgatory, it was decided, as the puppet told them in a rather squeaky voice, that the third level would be split in half horizontally. It was also decided that, because mortals had actually managed to figure out that Hell did indeed have seven levels, not to confuse the mortals by calling the new level "eight." Instead the split levels were dubbed "three a" and "three b." Or, more accurately, "three b" and "three a," because, the puppet said, the higher level was for people who had sinned more and "they don't deserve to have level a. So they get b; b for bad."

That was why High Demon Kyuubi was making his way up from level three a to the landing, for lack of an actual name for the chamber he was in, of lower level three a and upper level three b. The decrees and the sheer stupidity of the naming, however, were not the reasons he didn't curse; that was just a personal preference that had existed long before Hell had began to burnish its reputation. He was also in an extreme hurry, as he began climbing up the pale silver steps. By the time he got back, and this he knew for a fact, someone would have taken his chair. Or he'd be hit by a large piece of falling rock. Or be thrown bodily off the staircase by a purity prude. Not like anyone would bother to help if either of those last two scenarios came to be reality.

He was well aware that he could have gone faster if he'd bent over slightly and used his hands to help move him up the stairs. However, he had a lot more dignity than that and even the pace at which he was moving was too fast for his pride. He didn't want to appear too eager or arrive too soon. He was a powerful demon, not a dog, and certainly not an amah. But he had no choice in this; he was under direct orders from his superior.

At the top of the staircase stood, or so appeared to to most people, a massive, partially transparent foot. There were three talons-like digits and a thumb, all arranged quite close together; more of a paw than anything. Once one was close enough, granting that one got close enough, the foot connect to a leg, impossibly thick yet proportional to the giant paw. The forearm angled gently backwards before kinking at the elbow with the upper arm pointing forward. The shoulder was one smooth curve beyond the abilities of any normal protractor, merging cleanly into a poorly defined neck. That was because the neck was really no different than the chest, torso, abdomen, or tail. It was all thick, round, and serpentine; a pale, semi-transparent blue with the occasional band of darker blue. In fact, in one could ignore the legs and head, the creature was nothing more than a snake of enormous proportions. Perhaps some would even include the legs and simply say that the creature was pre-biblical; which it was, but that was besides the point because it was unlikely that any of them had ever heard of the bible. It was the head that was the deterrent of this idea and the cause for terror. Instead of the rounded snout of a snake, the mouth was decidedly beak-like, slitted nostrils set wide apart on the curve that ended not in a point but a narrow, rounded tip. Hidden within the gaping cavern of the creature's mouth was a set of venomous fangs taller than full grown trees, pearly white despite the being's age, and covered in a thin film of salvia, causing them to gleam sinisterly in any light. The giant's eyes were proportional - large – and a shining blue. It was the eyes that were perhaps more frightening that the fangs, for the blue orbs were more prominent and in immediate view. Although bright, the eyes were disturbingly shallow, nothing but cold contempt held within the icy orbs.

As the small male scampered towards where the giant being stood, the massive creature turned his head to regard him with a frigid gaze. He considered the smaller being for only a moment before moving his head back to its previous position, the movements of head and neck slow and regal, like the movements of an old king. As the other past him, the creature kept his head held high, staring out over nothing.

Internally, the small one relaxed slightly, letting out a metaphorical sigh of relief. It appeared that the guard was not going to stop him this time. He kept his fast pace, however, wary of the sentinel changing his mind and stopping him for discriminatory questioning. Almost as though the other had heard his thoughts, the massive tail lifted heavily in to the air, arcing thickly before slamming in to the ground before the other. The ground shook with the impact and smaller male was forced to retreat several steps, stumbling backwards as he struggled to keep his balance.

He clenched his eyes shut tightly, biting the inside of his cheek as he felt his hands curl in to fists, his sharp fingers digging in to his palms. Forcing himself to calm enough to not take his anger and frustration out on the guard, he relaxed his hands and open his eyes, gazing at the other. His gaze was hard, but so was the giant's. They stayed locked like that for one long, precious moment before the smaller male broke the contact, snarling at himself. He hadn't wanted to back down, but time was too valuable and slipping by even as he moved unhindered, let alone when fools stepped before him.

The serpent smirked, head lifting a little bit higher in a show of superiority. One of the small male's hands closed in to a fist again. Perhaps this is all the bigot wanted: a crude toll of subservience. But then the giant tilted his head and spoke to him:

"You are not welcome here and yet here you are, standing within these sacred bounds, contaminating purity with your filth. I wonder, what would happen to you if I were to, say, inform certain persons of your… unwelcome presence? I shudder to think, the trouble you would be in would be more terrible than you yourself are, perhaps more terrible than your slave-driving master." The creature chuckled darkly, the tone contrasting sharply with his talk of purity.

"I was sent here," the small male snarled in reply. "It seems that your precious Goddess has committed sins of her own that need to be rectified."

The giant reared his head back, blue eyes flashing dangerously as he hissed at the other, flecks of saliva escaping his mouth. "You dare accuse Hier of such, you son of sin?! Hier is capable of no sin, her word is law, purity of the highest degree! There is no 'rectifying' to be done! The only thing you bring with you is the stain of sin, a sprawling morass of it that has no place here, no right to exist anywhere. Oh, how I await the day I am allowed to descend in to Hell and obliterate it, smashing it to little pieces and destroying it along with all the sin it contains!"

The small one growled again. "I was sent here," he repeated, "by my superior. I came, as I was told."

The beast snorted at him, pulling its head away from him as though he was some disgusting thing he had stepped on by accident. "Well I suggest you crawl back in to your dark hole of a home and tell your 'superior,' as you so nicely call him, that I don't care what excuse you come up with. Hell's vermin will not cross in to Elysian so long as I, Urururra, guard of Hier, stand point at its entrance."

"Than I dearly hope," the small male growled, "that Hier will still allow you such positions with a death to your name."

Urururra reared backwards, looking as though the other had deeply affronted him. "That… thing," he spat out the word as though it was a deadly poison, "is nothing! A bastard child! It has no place here!" The serpent was screeching, each statement becoming progressively higher pitched.

"Well she sure seems to care for 'that thing,' as you so affectionately call him." The small male scoffed, staring with open defiance at the distressed serpent.

Urururra hissed at him again, grumbling dark, unintelligible things to himself. His body arced and twisted, coiling with itself. His front feet lifted off the ground, leaving his body resting on his back haunches as he agonized over his choices. The small male watched him, agitation becoming more and more apparent on his face the longer the other took to make a decision.

Finally, Urururra slammed his front legs down again, shaking the ground once more. Fury blazed in his eyes as he glared death at the small male. "Fine than," the serpent spat, and the small male had the distinct feeling that there was some real venom contained within the spit, "but don't think that your going to be left unattended, vermin."

The smaller's cheek twitch slightly. "The very beginnings of thinking about having such thoughts had yet to even considering forming within my mind," he ground out. The serpent gave him a haughty, distrustful look before its tail began to move, the middle lifting off the ground first, the thick base and lighter tail tip following its lead. The tail crashed back to the ground once more on Urururra's other side.

Even as he was allowed to pass, which he did in a hurry, the small male glared a large assortment of very sharp, pointy objects at the giant snake, wishing that there really was a chance the imaginary weapons could cause the other real, physical pain. This job really should have been labeled as a semi-suicide mission. Not that he would necessarily be killed on sight or launching some sort of one-man kamikaze attack, but the lure of attacking Urururra or causing himself physical pain in order to deter these thoughts was incredibly tempting - to those of lesser will power anyway. If there was nothing else he was proud of, he prided himself on his self-control alongside his work ethic; unlike his slacking coworkers, apparently.

The terrain he now walked through was much more pleasing to the eye than the oppressive red rock beneath the staircase. The place he was now in seemed to be one never-ending expanse of rolling green grass, dotted pleasantly with tall, leafy trees and patches of colorful, sweet smelling flowers. It was warm and bright despite the lack of a visible sun or any other light source. The trees provided expanses of cool shade, slightly cooler than the temperature out in the open. The grass, green as that supposedly found on the 'other side of the fence,' was soft and springy beneath his bare, two-toed feet, flattening without resistance but popping back up as soon as his foot moved.

As he moved, he kept his eyes forward, attempting look determined and as though he belonged in the green world. This, he hoped, would at least deter anyone interested in questioning him; a tip he had picked up from one of his coworkers. Unfortunately, the trick only worked so well.

"Yo! Kyuubi!" He flinched, a habit he had picked up whenever he traveled in to Elysian. He relaxed almost instantly though, recognizing the loud, friendly greeting. He turned to look over his shoulder, watching the other's form approach him from behind.

She looked vaguely like he did, except with most of her limbs positioned differently. Her eyes were a dark, mischievous red, a slightly twisted sort of intelligence constantly working in their depth. Her curled antennae bobbed as she jogged up to meet him, wooden hoops suspended within the curve of her antennae jumping with each slightly lurching step she took. Her legs were rather like that of a dinosaur, not completely set off to the sides but not entirely underneath her either. As she moved, only the single toe one each of her feet came in contact with the ground, her heels forever in the air. Like him, she wore no clothing, but perched on her head was a wooden adornment, highly polished and clearly identifying her as someone of importance. The polished band wrapped neatly around her head, a neat curve that dipped down at the center of her forward to form a small, slightly sharp point.

He gave her a nod of greeting as she caught up with him, grinning at him as she slowed down to trot alongside him. "Afternoon, Leor." The grin momentarily turned in to a smirk as she gave him a calculating glace over.

"So, you here for the little guy?" Her tone was light and conversational as she asked.

He gave her another nod, this one in affirmation. "So I have been told." Leor gave him an odd, critical look.

"Don't ch'ya think you should have brought somethin' with you than?" Honestly slightly startled and confused, Kyuubi glanced over his person, registering a great lack of having anything at all and not finding anything wrong with this.

"What do you mean?" he asked her with genuine curiosity. Leor looked shocked at his question for a fraction of a second before her face broke out in an amused smirk.

"Don' worry Kyu-Kyu," she cooed gently, patting him on the arm as he tensed at the use of that nickname, "I'll hook you up with all you need." Here she snickered, patting her chest as she gave him a confident grin.

"Don't call me that," he snapped, jerking away from his touch. Leor laughed slightly, looking at him with affection clear in her eyes.

"Aw, but it's so cute…"

"Exactly," he muttered in return. Leor frowned at him.

"See, this is exactly the opposite of what you're always spazzing out about."

He twitch. "I don't spaz."

"Well than you've never see yourself rant, because you go in to these little twitchy convulsions and, let me tell you, it is down right hilarious to watch. Serious, you like get this eye tick thing going and you just start twitching…"

"Greeaaat…" he drawled, tone deadpan.

"Isn't it?" She smiled at him again.

"No." was the flat response.

"Well that's because you're not fun," Leor countered. As Kyuubi opened his mouth to respond, she cut him off. "And we're almost there. You go ahead, I'll go get all the stuff you forgot." As she darted off, he found himself yelling after her:

"No one said I needed to bring anything!"

"Not an excuse!" Leor bellowed back before she disappeared from view. Kyuubi continued onwards alone, disgruntled as he tried to figure out what it was that he was supposed to have brought with him. He racked his memory, but honestly couldn't remember being told that he needed to bring anything with him. This… This was just unheard of. High Demon Kyuubi did not forget anything when it came to his work. That's what made him so much more efficient than his coworkers and the reason why he had been sent on this… asinine… mission… Crap.