Mother Malice
Author's Note- now I'm going to fast-forward a bit relative to the events from Riviera to a bit after the battle with Aghart, one day after to be more specific. Oh, and now the story will follow exclusively Malice for the rest of the story, at least I hope it will. Other than that, I have nothing to say... Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Next of Kin
It began as a typical morning, but it was significantly quieter than usual. Malice got up, washed herself, got dressed, and proceeded through her normal morning schedule- save for preparing breakfast for Ein. Once she was done eating her own breakfast she simply sighed and sat in the dark morning kitchen. Some tears fell from her face, but she took no notice of them, she could only think of what Ein may be doing now on his mission.
Hours passed, and all manner of improbable situations Ein may or may not be in or have been in flashed through her head. Malice was thinking of what Ein may do if Ledah were to die first (a highly improbable situation, bordering on impossibility) when there was a soft knock on the door. Malice didn't hear it in her own world at first, but once the visitor knocked a second time a bit louder she noticed and dragged herself to the front door. Malice rested her hand on the knob for at least a minute before she summed up the desire to open it, and she was very surprised at what she saw.
An angel robed in violet with dark blue hair stood a full foot lower than Malice's normal vision level, but his staff stood at least 2 feet taller than him, making noticing him not a problem. The visitor's hair was fairly long, his bangs just long enough to block a view of his eyes; his face was quite young looking, almost childish in appearance, but looks were very deceiving as to the true nature of the visitor in front of Malice now.
The visitor was none other than Hector, one of the 7 magi that oversee the operations of all Grim Angels. Malice knew Hector was the one in charge of Ein and Ledah's mission, and his presence meant only bad news- either one of them died, they both died, or for some reason Hector decided to cancel the mission- which even if that was the situation it would be more likely Ein would return and tell her about it, such a duty is too insignificant to take up the time of the busy magi.
"Come in, and please have a seat, exalted magi. Would you like something to eat?" Malice offered, she was quite starstruck, a magi visiting even the most important Grim Angel is a rarity, and a great honor; despite his obviously grim tidings.
"Thank you dear, and no; I've already eaten, but coffee would be nice." Hector said weakly.
Hector began for the kitchen, but he walked very slowly, as if he were carrying a great weight on his back, and he leaned on his staff of office with his whole body. Wordlessly, Malice took one of his arms around her shoulders (bending her knees a bit to make up for the height difference) and she half-carried him into the kitchen.
Obviously Hector was very fatigued, as he wobbled his way into the kitchen he was leaning heavily on his staff with one arm and equally heavily on Malice's larger frame with the other arm; his face was battered and beaten as if he'd been up for weeks with no rest. Dark circles clouded his eyes, which seemed to barely be able to keep themselves open.
"I will get straight to why I came; my reasons for coming are twofold; a grim tiding I'm sure you expected being one of them." Hector said before he even sat down. Hector seemed to be having great difficulty even speaking, between each word or two he had to exhale and take another breath.
What's he been up to that makes him so fatigued? Malice thought, almost out loud to change the subject.
Malice returned her thoughts to Hector's reasons for coming, and she sighed deeply- she knew what was coming, the only mysteries remaining were who died of the two of them and what his second reason for coming was. Malice made a pretty good guess for the former, but the latter remained shrouded in mystery. To desperately fool herself into thinking she didn't know what was coming next she focused on making the coffee with more haste.
"Your son, Ein, has been lost in battle against an accursed guarding the final approach to the heavenly island of Riviera; I'm sorry..." Hector said, very genuinely offering his condolences for her loss, still in his near-exhaustion it seemed he was about to shed a tear or two; his eyes watered, but nothing came out.
A long moment of unsettling silence passed, it seemed like neither of them were even breathing. Minutes passed, still not a word or movement; until finally Hector broke the silence.
"Are you alright?"
"At least I can take comfort in knowing he died against such a potent breed of demon..." Malice said, fighting back a veritable ocean of tears.
Malice finished preparing a pitcher of coffee, she shakily poured a cup for Hector and handed it to him; his hand shook twice as much as he grasped it and placed it on the table for the time being. Hector took a few sips after a momentary pause, which visibly made him feel better.
"You misinterpret what I said- I said lost, not killed. I was told all this by Ledah- a guardian spirit took him away once the accursed was slain, we can only assume what happened to him after. Another thing Ledah wanted to make perfectly clear is that Ein was the one who killed the accursed, Ledah claimed minimal credit for its demise." Hector explained between sips of coffee, which perked him up a bit.
Are you joking? Ein, kill an accursed? One that Ledah couldn't? Now I'm pretty sure he's just flat out lying just to make me feel better, but that's understandable, I suppose. At any rate, it really doesn't help much...
"Are you alright?" Hector repeated after a minute or two of silence.
"Let's just move off the subject please, what's the other reason you came?" Malice said, more than a little surprised at his continued sympathy for her feelings; not like that made much a difference, her grief greatly eclipsed any other feelings.
"I understand, but this may appear to you as even more depressing than the previous news... Maybe not depressing, more like shocking... or disturbing... at any rate, are you ready for it?" Hector said; Malice guessed his inability to properly explain was a result of his lack of sleep. Was surprising what he was looking for? Maybe that's just not strong enough, I guess I'll find out...
"I'm ready for anything." Malice said, a clear lie, a small forced smile added a hint of eagerness.
"You have been chosen to take Ein's place on the mission to Riviera" Hector said flatly, without any of his previous kindness and/or fatigue.
Am I surprised? Not quite, more like massively pissed off and insulted! Does he really expect me to take a mission on the same day my only child died? Much less the exact mission he died on! What happened to honoring the dead? Or feeling sorry for the family!?
"By the look on your face, I can guess you aren't happy with your new assignment." Hector said, with a tranquility that only served to make Malice angrier, but since he was a magi Malice stifled her anger and urge to punch his face in.
Does he even understand the pain I'm in? I suppose he never really could, but he has to know I'm never going to accept this. Whose damn stupid idea was it to pick me for Ein's replacement, anyways!? Malice calmed a bit at the thought, or rather just redirected her frustration toward a target other than Hector.
"It's a bit too early for me to take any mission, much less one that took my son. I'm sorry, your grace, but I cannot accept such an assignment." Malice said with enough of a calm tone to surprise the magi visibly.
"You're not going to like this, Malice, but I must invoke the Rite of Conviction for this assignment; you do know what that means, don't you?" Hector said quite nastily, all manner of tranquility lost from his now cold, uncaring voice.
Malice knew what the Rite of Conviction was, it was a tool for desperate magi to force an angel to do an assignment or else be immediately executed or banished, if they were lucky; if they were unlucky, extreme torture until death.
Backstabbing bastard! What it means it you're willing to kill a mother with a recent dead son to get a replacement! If he weren't a magi I'd rip his head off and shove it in the same place I'd like shove his assignment, someplace I'm about to kick him in. I swear to god, if he was the one who suggested to the other magi to assign me to this mission and pulled this Rite crap on top of that, I'll kill him in a heartbeat!
Malice didn't have the patience to ask him that now, so she just said what came to her first.
"Get out of my house, NOW" Malice said with a deadly fury in her voice, barely managing not to scream at him and/or violate his body with her diviner, which lay against the wall next to her, easily within reaching distance.
Hector nodded and silently rose out of his seat and walked out of the kitchen, this time not leaning on his staff like a tired old man. Malice watched him with silent fury as he left the kitchen, she then followed him to the front door. Hector slowly opened the front door, then as he stood in the open doorway he turned and spoke.
"You have until 3 this afternoon to go to the entrance to Heaven's Gate, if you are even a minute late I will assume you refuse and I will carry out the Rite myself. You have been warned, and thank you for the coffee." Hector stated in a serious tone as he walked outside into the busy street, quietly closing the door in the process.
Malice stood in momentary shock at what just transpired. After a slow recovery she began to cry, but she again took no mind of it. Silent in mind and body she walked back into the kitchen, picked up the half-filled coffee cup Hector had been drinking from, started to bring it to the sink, stopped and threw it against the wall, shattering the cup and splashing coffee on the wall; a shard of the cup flew perfectly at Malice and cut her left cheek, it bled lightly, but she didn't notice or care.
"Someday you'll get yours, you SON OF A B**CH!" Malice screamed at the top of her lungs as she fell on her knees sobbing.
It wasn't even 9 in the morning yet, and all this already happened...
"Ah, so nice you came Malice, and quite early, too! Nice and prompt with your orders as always!" Hector sneered. Malice offered no reply, other that a low growl; Hector either didn't hear it or pretended not to.
"As a gift from me to you, I offer you this Immoral Rosary, I gave one just like it to your son before he left; but it was broken in the battle against the accursed." Hector said, with a surprising tone of sincerity; Malice didn't buy it. Hector reached in the folds of his robes and took out the gold cross known to give grim angels strength, then he outstretched his hand for Malice to take it. Malice hesitated, wondering if he was serious; As if he read her mind Hector nodded and even added a little smile, and Malice cupped her hands under his and he dropped in in her hands.
"It's got the same color and shine as Einher Jar..." Malice thought out loud. Hector pretended to not hear her. Malice turned away from Hector and put the rosary on, then slid it under her outer robe and the black shirt under it; then she turned back to face Hector with a bit less hate than before. Closer to my heart that way...
"Now for your current orders; Ledah awaits your arrival at the edge between Riviera and Heaven's Gate, once you meet him and summon me the usual way." Hector said, taking extra care not to sound condescending like he would to a rookie angel.
"I understand your grace, and I must apologize for my earlier behavior." Malice said as she bowed deeply to the magi.
"I apologize as well, I let my sense of duty cloud my eyes to who I was talking to. I did not take your feelings of losing your son into account, but now isn't the time; we both understand and forgive as angels should, now duty calls." Hector said, with a faint hint of a smile on his face.
"Of course, I will leave immediately; but first of course..." Malice said quickly.
Both of them closed their eyes and prayed, then Hector quietly spoke a prayer in ancient Asgardian language, ending with "May you grant us, the faithful, your surest protection, O heavenly father; and punish the wicked who harm our kin. Amen" clearly he was paying homage to Ein.
"Amen" Malice parroted a moment later, and off she flew.
Perhaps he isn't as bad as I thought, but I still hate him for that damn Rite! Anyways, what's with him being so kind suddenly? Back at the house he was so... demanding, putting that in more blunt terms, a flat-out jackass; why the change of heart?
Author's Note- Yay, done again! (rereads own work) hm, a bit excessive in the profanity department (revises). Kind of weird how last chapter I talked about using like no profanity and here I think I used too much, it's better now though. Oh, and before any of you Rose fans start to hate me for the lack of Rose this chapter, I fully realize she wasn't even mentioned at all this chapter, but in this context Ein's 'death' basically would make Malice think 'Rose who?', so yeah... besides, Rose wasn't really a major character in Riviera and I forget her a lot as a result; so my bad, get over it.
