In a time where so much is unknown to mankind,
it is hard to believe that places beyond the here and now exist,
but they do,
places where wars are raged and battles are fought,
and people are killed,
they do exist, and I will tell you their stories...
All is quiet at the palace,
This is the calm before the storm,
Once they leave there is no turning back,
Life for them will be forever altered...
-B-l-a-c-k-e-d- -o-u-t-
Chapter twelve
((Haven't seen her for a while…))
"One potato, two potato, three potato," the competitors glared playfully at each other, "FOUR!" the pair of children screamed. Mytsereu eyed off the male child, he was the son of one of the court nobles, and he had bet that he could beat her at the potato game, which she was determined to win.
"Five potato, six potato, seven potato," they paused for a brief second, preparing themselves to strike "MORE!" both of them pulled out small pocket knife sized blades with their right hands and stabbed at their left hands, which they moved quickly and lodged their blades in the wooden table they were seated at. They pulled their knives out and continued the game.
"Eight potato, nine potato, ten potato," they paused again and pulled their blades out of the table, resting them under the table again "BED!" they shouted and got ready for the final part of the game.
"Eleven potato, twelve potato, thirteen potato,"
"YOU'RE DEAD!" the pair pulled their blades out and stabbed at their opponent's left hand. Both young demons managed to avoid having their hand stuck to the table.
"Ouch," the young boy complained, "you got my finger," he moved his hand onto the table to show a small cut on his left index finger.
The empress and a large group of court officials entered the room where the children were playing, "Come on Mytsereu, your tutor is probably waiting," the young girl pulled her blade out of the table and followed her mother out of the room.
"Did you see that mother?" the young girl questioned.
"I'm afraid I did not," the demonic ruler smiled at her daughter.
"I got him good! I nearly got his hand this time!" Mytsereu exclaimed in excitement.
The empress chuckled quietly to herself, "Calm down, you need to concentrate for your tutor,"
The young princess sighed, "Yes mother,"
((But why?))
The demon prince walked down one of the many corridors of the palace, he couldn't help but think about what the future may hold.
Now that the angels had agreed to meet with the demon monarchy there was really no telling, the war could very soon be over. Then what?
Without a war the position of warlord was relatively useless, so Kaiba could very soon be out of work. Which was just fine by Yami, he really didn't want to have to marry the demon queen to make sure that Kaiba Seto couldn't become heir to the throne.
The prince turned a corner and wondered what the demon queen's motives for agreeing to his proposal were. He had originally thought that she just wanted to outdo the warlord because they had never been on the best terms. But now that he had time to himself to think about it, perhaps there was another reason.
He had often wondered what her life had been like during the war to make her the way she was. The demon queen had been Akunadin's champion, so she probably felt very out of place in the court now. The prince had also wondered if the female demon had any children, she had never openly admitted that she did, but she never openly admitted anything.
And it would put her children in danger if anyone found out who their mother was, so keeping them hidden would be the best plan of action. Supposing she did have a child, and supposing her child was a son, it would explain why she changed her mind so quickly. The demon queen had gone from trying to kill the prince to agreeing to marry him in a matter of months. Both these plans ultimately placed her (and any child she may have) in a position of power.
Thinking of children brought up another pressing matter, if Yami were to marry the demon queen, they would be expected to produce an heir.
The thought made the young male shudder, not exactly his idea of fun. He wondered if this thought had already occurred to the demon queen, it was unlike her to miss something which could threaten her power. If she didn't give birth to an heir after the first few years of the marriage people would begin to gossip about problems in the royal family, which would destabilise the dynasty.
Perhaps that was her plan, but then she would also suffer, as she would be part of the family. It was a very confusing, and rather unfortunate, situation the prince found himself in. He wished that he could get a second opinion on the whole scenario, but to do that he'd have to confess that he was engaged to the demon queen.
Yami felt a sudden impact in his stomach and was knocked off balance by the unknown force. He regained his balance and looked down to find a young girl, no more than twelve. She had short black hair which curved inwards just underneath her jaw line with deep purple highlights at the bottom and eyes which were an envious shade of green.
The girl gave him a look of sheer horror before darting off down the corridor he she had just come from. Curiosity got the better of the prince and he sped off down the hall after her, he had never seen a child run so quickly before, not even Mytsereu was that fast.
((Funnily?))
Ishtar Malik and Ishtar Marik landed at the front of the demon queen's estate, they folded their wings, but didn't completely retract them. The pair gazed at the rather large gate marking the entrance to the fabled dwelling of the demon queen. They were rather antique looking, like the rest of the estate.
The demons began walking down the path to the residence, neither one spoke, they both knew what was waiting for them.
This was not the first time they had had to clean up after an 'accident'. There had been many such occasions, funnily enough most of them had occurred in the main hallway of the house.
((Best not to tell then…))
Isis stormed down one of the many corridors of the palace, she was not in the mood to speak with anyone, least of all the demon who was following her.
"Isis!" he shouted after her, but to no avail. Sick of pursuing her he stopped, "I'm not going to chase after you!" he shouted so she could hear, "I'm willing to talk, but you have to stop!"
The seer paused for a moment, she contemplated her options, then stalked back to where he was and slapped him square across the cheek.
The demon raised an eyebrow at her, unfazed by her sudden outburst, "What was that for?"
"What do you think Bakura? I warned you! I told you she was trouble! And what do you go and do?" Isis was screeching by the end of her statement.
The legendary warrior brushed a strand of his white hair to the side, "What is your problem? Why are you so concerned about what I choose to do?"
The female demon went to yell her response, but stopped suddenly.
"What?" the other demon spat, "If you have something to say, then say it,"
Isis drew in a deep breath, she answered in a much quieter voice than she had before, "Because I care about you Bakura, I don't want to see you dead,"
The white haired fiend was taken back by the woman's statement. He wasn't quite sure how to take it, "What's that supposed to mean?" he hissed.
"It means…" the blue eyed woman tried desperately not to blush but didn't succeed, luckily her tanned skin hid most of it. "It means that…" she shook her head, this wasn't going to work, "It means that I consider you to be a friend, and I don't want to loose another friend to her,"
This seemed to satisfy the warrior, Isis exhaled heavily and watched as he turned and walked away without saying another word. She sometimes wondered how he would react if she just told him how she felt… She smiled sadly and shook her head.
He'd probably kill her in her sleep.
(('Special of the day' indeed…))
The scene was quite typical.
It was what Malik had once jokingly referred to as the demon queen's 'special of the day'.
One couldn't quite tell if she had been strangled, suffocated, choked. Or a bizarre combination of the three.
A small group of maids and cooks had gathered around the body in disbelief. Yes many people had been killed in the exact same manner, but never someone so close to the demon queen.
One girl was sobbing over the dead body, she had similar features to the deceased demon, she looked up when she heard the pair of male demons enter.
"Malik," She flung herself at the familiar male demon and clung tightly to him, fearful to let go.
Ishtar Malik attempted to comfort the distraught woman and moved her away from the site of commotion. Marik moved in to inspect the damage.
"It was awful Malik," the girl sobbed onto his shoulder.
Malik sat her down on one of the couches in the living room, "It's okay, Aika" he felt rather awkward comforting her, but attempted it anyway. When she began to calm down he decided to start asking questions, "What happened?"
"I'm not entirely sure how it started, I walked into the hallway and saw her lunge at Aki," the girl chocked back tears, she tensed up for a moment and shouted "Look what she did to her!"
"Okay, calm down," the male demon managed to get Aika to sit down again, the female demon wiped the tears from her cheeks. Malik wasn't quite sure what to say, Aika and Aki had been sisters, the pair had looked alike ever since they were young and as a result were very close.
"What if she comes back early?" Aika almost whispered.
Malik shook his head, "Don't worry, she'll be held up at the palace for quite a while, she told Marik and I that she intends to catch up on paperwork for the rest of the day," This seemed to bring some sort of relief to the distraught girl.
"What happened this time?" Marik asked the head chef.
The male demon shook his head, "I'm not entirely sure, there was no argument, no screaming match, nothing. She just ran after Aki and then…"
"Do you have any idea why she lashed out this way?" the tanned demon wisely avoided using the demon queen's name.
Again all the chef could do was shake his head, "No, it was all quiet, all we could hear was her talking to a man, then she opened the door and found Aki standing there. They both waited for a moment, then Aki ran and she chased her down the hallway…"
((Who do we have here?))
The small girl quickly dashed into the office and slammed the door shut behind her.
"What is it?" The woman seated at the desk asked only looked up briefly to check who her visitor was.
The child spoke in a panicked tone "I think the Prince saw me."
-B-l-a-c-k-e-d- -o-u-t-
Reviews:
BlackPanther17 - Meh, long reviews are good reviews! It gives me something to do... I have no life... Anyway, don't you worry about Tora Yuri and Bakura, I have plans! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Kayrana - Crazy? Compared with the characters in this story you are perfectly sane... I think this is the slowest update ever, in the history of this story, and the chapter wasn't even that long... ah well...
Sashire - Don't like Tora/Bakura huh? Bet you're glad they didn't come into this chapter then...
TK: YEAH!!! I'M ON HOLIDAYS!!! And I have dedicated these holidays to finishing this story!!!
SK: Wonderfull... sarcasm now I have to associate myself with you more often... /sarcasm
TK: Quiet you! R'n'R! LATER!
