Hello and Welcome back. Chapter 7... woo...
(Dis)claimer: I do not own Hetalia, Hidekaz Himaruya does and I thank him for it. Everything else in this chapter belongs to Fay, Ven, and Tobi.
We do not mean any disrespect by referencing things of spiritual value. If we did our research wrong, tell us.
WARNINGS: This chapter will contain details, some plot, Fay's writing, and another cliffhanger.
Now, without further ado, THE STORY:
A Pen? Are You Kidding Me?
Chapter 7 - Le Bad Guy
It took little more than a week for another sign of the Pen of Life to tempt the three supernaturals. It wasn't going to do much for them to simply wait in the forest for a sign, as comfortable as it made Kiku, and going back to the city would be counterproductive also. While the buildings held many places to hide, Kiku had been there too long and it was doubtful anything they were looking for would turn up in such a populated area. They took less traveled paths between the surrounding towns and had to stay out of sight much of the time as Kiku had no working disguise for himself. Seeking refuge in the few supernatural communities they came across was not a viable option either, because of their varied species.
Searching the towns also began to take less time due to the light aura the Pen produced, something Lovino and Feliciano could sense. With the Pen's current bearer being part of Kiku's dimension, he was able to track them as well. The places that held neither of these presences were ones the group could pass over. The process of searching and hiding was time consuming.
Lovino groaned.
"This damn pen is becoming more fucking trouble than it's worth."
Feliciano looked up at him and frowned. He was unwilling to voice similar thoughts, which combined with Lovino's recent restlessness could cause the demon to leave. He was a friend now, no matter what anyone thought, and he didn't want Lovino to leave it up to Kiku and him to find the Pen.
Luckily the demon caught the look and rolled his eyes in response. "No fucking way some pen is going to discourage me… Besides I have nothing better to do." Feliciano smiled and glanced back at Kiku momentarily. The kitsune had been finding it much more difficult to be cheerful recently, but he was still with them. Lovino noticed the kitsune slowing down and sighed.
"We can't keep going like this. It's not like we're suddenly going to be able to sense it!" He kicked the dirt and scowled.
The world seemed to love irony, or at least hate Lovino, as the angel among them suddenly jumped and looked between them frantically.
"Do you feel that?!" The light energy was strong, and familiar.
The brunette wanted to claw his eyes out. "Yes… faintly…"
"We have to go get it, ve~!"
"Just… right now..? Isn't it with some evil bastard?" The brunette looked between them for agreement.
Kiku watched them carefully. "What is it?"
"We sense the Pen." Feliciano looked at Lovino again, considering his words with a bitten lip.
"It just fucking reappeared…"
Kiku paused. "I think it's a bad idea, but we don't seem to have another choice."
"What do you think, Lovino?"
"Uh… well… It would be dumb to just go off on a damn whim, but we have no other leads so… I guess we should follow it.."
Feliciano nodded and smiled at him, before searching for Kiku's opinion. The kitsune looked down under the angel's gaze. "We'll go then?"
~~~~~Line Break~~~~~
Lovino grumbled about stupid pens and bad feelings. He looked at Feli with a somber expression, but covered it with annoyance. "What the fuck are we going to do we do when we find it?"
"I'm not sure, but when we find it we have to look for Kiku's bird skull afterwards, ve~" He answered hastily.
"Oh."
"You don't have to help me." Kiku put in. "I could go my own way if I'm going to be a hinderance." He remembered joining them on the chance that their thief was the one who had his skull but if the thief was his brother… Kiku stopped himself.
"We should help you anyway, ve~" The angel assured as they walked towards the source of the Pen's light.
They were moving to a more run-down part of the city. The buildings were boarded over and the streets dirty. Kiku had been here once before, but hadn't stayed long. Now he followed the other two warily. He couldn't sense the item in question, but had a feeling they were heading towards something of immense power.
"Where does it seem to be coming from ve?" Feliciano asked his darker counterpart. Lovino looked around and between the tall buildings.
"I… I can't tell. Maybe that way some more." He gestured ahead of them and huffed. "There's something else here and it's fucking me up. I knew this was a bad idea."
"Something else?" Kiku asked from behind him.
"Yes, something else. I don't fucking know what but it's there." He growled. The combined feelings were making the hair rise on the back of his neck and his tail twitch in its hiding place. He was simultaneously angered and terrified.
"It must be the one who stole it, ve~"
Kiku stopped walking. "I can feel it too. It's familiar, like something from my realm. The heaven or hell that I know." Not his brother then, Kuro was someone he could recognize anywhere. The clash of relief and disappointment was painful. The angel followed this news with confusion.
"Why would someone from your realm want the Pen of Life in the first place, ve~?"
"I don't know…" The kitsune searched for any reason why they would even know about this pen. All that he knew of other spiritual realms were things he had learned from humans in passing, and never anything this specific.
"This is strange…" Feliciano said softly.
The demon among them stopped also. Evil was evil, no matter what realm it was from, so he assumed that's why he could sense them. But that meant…
"Oh shit… They know we're here."
"What do we do now? Do we just leave?" The angel worried, looking around.
"Didn't we already know this was a trap?"
"Yes, but a demon can fucking dream we just sneak in for once."
"Should we keep going?" Kiku asked, summing up their predicament nicely.
Lovino calmed down a little. "Yeah. Let's go."
They followed the energy signatures of both the Pen and it's current holder to the only building it could come from, something large enough to house the combined powers.
"Another warehouse?" The kitsune commented.
"Figures, damned criminals have no class."
They moved towards the large building slowly, feet dragging with trepidation. Lovino stopped at the door and Kiku held his arms at his sides, waiting for someone else to open it. Feliciano opened the door and peeked in slowly, the demon right behind him.
"I can't see anything."
"Does anyone have any light?"
Kiku held out a bright flame to Feliciano. He took it and walked inside. This area was cleaner and more open than the last, with only a few boxes pushed to the corners. The only occupants of the space were the three supernaturals and one other standing in the open looking at the ground in front of themselves.
The person turned to look at them. "Hello." He greeted cordially, tone matching the business-like clothing he had on. Kiku gasped and tried to make himself smaller on instinct. The scents in this place and the feeling of it gave him a feeling of foreboding. The air crackled like the storm weeks prior, and the scrap of fabric in his pocket smelled similar.
Feliciano stared at them, frowning, and moved in front of the kitsune and demon protectively.
Lovino's eyebrow twitched. This guy was a grade-A asshole, he could tell, and the temptation to be rash was too strong to resist.
"Who the fuck are you?" His voice started off strong, but wavered and trailed off towards the end of the sentence.
The apparent villain laughed once and even that sounded forced. "I am not someone you have heard of." He answered. "You must be the demon, Lovino? Hiding behind an angel, that's not normal for your kind is it, though I could expect it from-" He looked between them,stopping to stare at Kiku. "No, you aren't my missing canid. What could you be doing with these two? Sustaining yourself by them?" The person guessed mockingly. "My niece never knew how to pick the right creatures to associate with, nor did the sister who spawned her."
Kiku growled.
"You haven't introduced yourself though." The angel said with an irritated frown.
"Susanoo, the sea and the storm. Brother of Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, the sun and moon."
Lovino's face clearly said he had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
"Why do you have the Pen?" Feliciano asked, shifting nervously.
"Reconciliation."
"How would you even use a fucking pen to do that?"
"The same way I have before." Another glance was cast to the floor before him and with a flourish of the Pen, new marks were added to the design. Not marks, characters. Feliciano watched with fear. He had no idea what would happen if the Pen was used to write outside of the Book, but he couldn't force himself to move. Kiku and Lovino were both growing upset by their own identical situations, though Lovino found it in him to speak first.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"I'm doing a few things." He answered amiably. "I'm experimenting, and setting an example." He looked up at them. "Are you going to say anything… Feliciano? Or, no doubt your resident kitsune is Kiku, who I've heard so much about."
Kiku snarled.
The god chuckled. "Your doppelganger made the same face."
Feliciano glared at him. "Give back the Pen, it's not yours. You'll hurt yourself, or someone else. I don't want to fight you but you have to stop."
Susanoo was humored by the words of such an optimist, but ignored him in favor of continuing to anger the fox. "Did you ever wonder, little flower, why your brother would come to me, and steal for me?" When Kiku said nothing he continued.
"Your Kuro is a long way from celestial, even further than your own outcast self -yes I can see that, don't look so surprised- We're alike there. But either way there were… misconceptions." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a sun-bleached and picked clean hawk's skull. Kiku immediately stopped growling -Lovino had picked up for him- and gasped at the sight of his missing item.
Feliciano stared in shock which quickly turned to anger. He wasn't at the point where he lost control of his power, but he was still furious at this god who was in one way or another hurting everything and everyone he cared about.
The bone returned to Susanoo's vest pocket. Several more marks were made to the design at his feet.
"Give that back to Kiku." The angel said, not as a request, but a cold demand. His wings flared menacingly and Lovino nodded, though at the same time he took a step away from Feliciano.
"If he comes to get it." The deity answered in a similar voice. With that the last mark of a symbol was finished, spacing the entire design out evenly, and beginning the spell it was meant to cause.
A mingling of screams was heard as Susanoo walked away.
-End Chapter 7-
On behalf of the three of us, thank you for reading and keeping up this far.
Notes: Sooo... this was a chapter. It happened. More stuff is going to happen in the next.
By the way,
The Usual: Rate and review please, the three of us want to hear what you have to say, so we can make the story better for you. It's a lot of hard work and our only pay is your opinions, and whatever jokes we can make amongst ourselves. Seriously, tell us anything about the story, what you liked, what you hated, something funny, how bad we've screwed up the characters, anything.
Next chapter estimate: Chapter 8 is being edited. I don't know what else I have to say, except that it's called "Bound." Make of that what you will.
Again, thanks for reading and we'll see you in Chapter 8! *blows kiss*
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