Cactus Flower
A/N: Writing practice. Most of this is self-indulgent, the rest is speculation on what the angels in the AnE universe are doing, if they exist.
"You're going to charm every person you meet. They're going to worship you like a god."
AU: If Iblis had a daughter born fourteen years before the Okumura siblings.
Yukimachi Senryū is born to an actress at the prime of her life. Yukimachi Ayako, or 'Kiki' as she is commonly known, is a well-loved actress in the film and theater industry, and more so loved by a foreign magician named Ignacio.
"She's going to be beautiful woman, our daughter." He says as Ayako cradles the sleeping child. Surely, the girl will be taking after her mother.
"Of course." Ayako laughs. "I'm her mother, after all."
Ignacio laughs as she places their child in the crib. Ayako steps back after a few moments and rushes past him. He frowns as he watches her slip into the veranda. He approaches her as she fiddles with a fresh cigarette and a near-empty lighter.
"And for my next trick—" He smiles, producing a lit match between his fingers. Her eyes widen slightly before she plucks the burning match from his hand to light her cigarette before throwing the burnt match to the side. She turns away from him, steps close to the edge. He watches. She closes her eyes and breaths in tobacco and nicotine.
Wisps of smoke from her cigarette spin around him and he couldn't find a better time to tell her:
"I'm the King of Fire." He continues when she doesn't respond, "Iblis."
At that moment, his appearance changes. Ignacio's brown hair gradually becomes a brighter shade of red as it grows until it reaches his shoulders in a bright sunset shade of red. His hollow cheeks become fuller, the wrinkles in his face disappear, the deep russet shade of his eyes transform into a youthful shade of bright green. This is not the man that had loved Ayako, but it is the devil who gave her a child when she could not.
"We've had this conversation before." She murmurs, almost biting into her cigarette. "We've already had a child. A healthy, handsome child. The King of Time is her godfather, isn't he?"
Iblis nods curtly. Samael's spell had made giving birth a lot less painful.
"And you've sealed away whatever she inherited from you. She'll be fine." She dismisses.
"Ayako—"
"We had a deal, Ignacio." She turns to him then, eyes threatening to spill tears. "You promised me one thing, and there it is." She points her cigarette to the direction of the crib. "Thank you."
Ayako smiles and Iblis thinks that if he had a human heart, it would break.
"You've struck a deal with a devil, Ayako." Iblis smiles in spite himself. "You know the consequences."
"She's my only child. She's going to be beautiful, charming, everyone will adore her. They're going to worship her like a god."
"Be careful, Ayako." He replies and she smokes some more. "You might come to regret that."
Lies. Ayako has been worshipped all her life. How could she regret that now?
Iblis looks at her face and asks under his breath, "Why couldn't you have asked for eternal youth?"
Ayako smiles and then frowns, taking another huff from her cigarette.
Her silence saddens him. If he were honest, he would tell her that he'd love seeing her youthful, expressive face every singe day of his immortal existence, but then he'd also tell her that he couldn't give her that. No one could, not even the King of Time himself.
"She's going to be beautiful." Ayako states before throwing her cigarette to the tile. "She's my daughter and she's going to be beautiful."
"Yes." Iblis agrees before producing a rectangular box from a burst of fire and smoke from his hand. "Here."
She takes the box with both hands. "What's this?"
"She's going to need it, should my older brother come for her."
Ayako knows part of what he's talking about and nods before opening the box. Inside, there is a gold dagger with a jeweled hilt sheated in an intricate scabbard. It looks as if a treasure from some ancient kingdom. She grits her teeth before asking, "This is her heart?"
"Her fire." Iblis responds. "It will protect her."
Ayako wraps her arms around him and murmurs into his neck, "Her fire," she repeats, "will it be the same as yours?"
"Of course." He says so assuredly. "She is, after all, my only daughter."
Later that night, Iblis visits Samael. He stumbles through the door and manages to limp all the way to his brother's parlor. Samael is there, sitting comfortably on one of the outlandish chairs, drinking tea from an ornate cup.
"Brother!" Samael greets him.
"You have my thanks." Iblis breathes out as he falls into a nearby seat. He peels away his clothes, revealing his burnt, wrinkled chest and his bandaged arms and legs. He looks at himself in pity. "Just look at me."
"I am." Samael replies. "You're at least ageing better than the rest. Seems quite a shame that your body begins deteriorating now. She liked you."
"Haa…" Iblis groans. "Just like fire, huh? Here one moment, gone the next?"
"You have a child." Samael states.
"You said so yourself, Samael." Iblis adjusts in his seat. "What if we had offspring? What if we had secured a way for us to stay within the world of Assiah while retaining our full power?"
"That was a long time ago." He dismisses, drinking from his cup gingerly.
Iblis laughs loudly. "You just haven't found the right person yet."
Samel lowers the cup on the table beside him. "So you're going to possess your own daughter?"
Iblis thinks for a short while. "I could try."
Samael smirks. "How interesting. Should you accomplish such a feat…"
"Find a woman and try it yourself."
Samael's smirk widens. "If she has inherited your fire, then—"
The end of Samael's coat is burned in an instant. He glances at it before returning to his younger brother. Iblis looks unapologetic.
"You will protect her, brother." Iblis' hand is set aflame. "I made a promise."
"You and your little promises." Samael mocks.
"Says the one who goes around and makes dreams come true." Iblis rolls his eyes.
Samael smiles then, and Iblis does the same.
"We love these humans too much, don't we?" Iblis muses.
"I will protect her, brother." Samael replies after a beat. "She is my…only niece, after all."
Iblis laughs at Samael's difficulty in accepting the fact.
Nearing dawn, Iblis ventures out with a new body fresh from Asylum 13. It doesn't suit him as much as his previous one, but at least he could spend a hundred more years in Assiah. His red shoulder-length hair was cropped short in a barber's cut and in a cobalt color, his green eyes from before were now a dull shade of brown. He looks different, but he knows in time, his red hair will return and his green eyes will appear.
He just has to wait.
"The King of Fire." A booming voice surrounds him as he walks out the hidden tunnels of Asylum 13 and into the docks.
A burst of white fire comes crashing down, but he easily diverts it to the open water.
"That's me. Who are you?"
"Eden."
Iblis' smile turns into a bitter frown.
"So it's my turn, then?" He sighs. "I just got a new body and you want me to leave? What a waste of valuable research."
"You have a child."
Iblis' body becomes engulfed in flame.
"Don't you dare touch her."
"Eden has yet to determine the fate of your child. Your fate, however—"
Iblis sets the entire dock aflame, shooting fire into the sky, the water.
"Coward!" He calls out haughtily.
White fire comes crashing down on him again, and he diverts it, and then another, and another, a barrage of white fire comes crashing from above him and he diverts all of them.
"Fight fire with fire?" He shouts. "I thought you were better than that!"
At that point, white lighting comes crashing down in the form of a spear through his chest. He chokes, coughs blood, smirks.
"Ah. The spear of light." He chuckles, blood dribbling down his chin. "Who else would they send?"
A figure in a white hooded cloak appears from behind him in a flash of light.
"Zadkiel." Iblis hisses.
"Return to Gehenna. You are not needed here."
"Is that Eden wants? What do you think to achieve should you manage to throw us all back in there? You can't keep us locked away, angel."
"No." Zadkiel's voice echoes around him. "There is trouble in Gehenna."
"How dare you—"
Another spear pierces him, this time through his stomach. He sputters blood. One more spear, and he would be paralyzed.
"Beleth seeks your throne." Zadkiel tells him. "You know this, and yet you continue fooling around with these mortals."
"You wouldn't know, Zadkiel." Iblis concludes. "You wouldn't know the joy of being with these creatures."
"I would, but then I'd be cast away like you."
Zadkiel's words struck a vein in him. How highly these angels think of themselves!
"Secure your place in Gehenna, Iblis." He continues, "Then you may return to these mortals."
"Beleth could have the throne for all I care, these humans need me."
Zadkiel frowns in disapproval.
"Return to Gehenna."
A third bolt strikes Iblis through his head, and he screams. Zadkiel presses his palms together, a loud echoing boom erupts from his person that shakes the burnt dock and the still water. He mutters a phrase under his breath and a magical circle comprised of angelic scribe appears below Iblis. Golden chains emerge from the circle, wrapping around Iblis before the magical circle opens to reveal a crude entrance to Gehenna.
Zadkiel's nose twitches at the scent of the hellish realm.
"Return to Gehenna."
Iblis' new body is not yet accustomed to his powers, and he cannot force himself to fight against the bonds that are slowly pulling him down. Struggle as he may, the chains remain tight around his body.
"Return to Gehenna."
Zadkiel walks in front of him and holds his palms open before his head, the same magical circle appearing on his dark skin. He swings his arms above his head, golden light trailing after it, as he continues his muttering. He pushes his hands down, and Iblis feels a powerful force being pressed down on him.
"Return to Gehenna."
Another chain appears around Iblis' mouth and he begins being pulled down even faster. He begins feeling heavy, a tightness closes upon his throat and he struggles to breathe. He is already waist-deep into the portal. It is only then that he lowers his gaze and accepts the inevitable.
"Eden will protect your daughter."
Iblis eyes shoot back up at Zadkiel's hooded face and the final sight he sees before being absorbed by Gehenna is the angel's golden eyes and assuring smile.
"This is the Will of Eden."
The world shuts before him, and Gehenna has never looked bleaker.