((A/N: Hurray! Chapter twelve, in which you can recognise a new Idiot Seraphim pairing if you squint.))

Chapter Twelve.

The Dark Chef sat on his throne, absentmindedly twirling his abnormally large spatula between his hands. Things had been quiet for Sixurc. After the failure a few months ago, half of his Eliminators had left. Only the most trustworthy and desperate had remained. He knew that, if he wanted to shower the world in darkness, he would have to try a more solid approach. Though the use of the prophecy had been thwarted by the Wonder chef, his true heir was still out there. There was more than one way to have the evil side surface. Yet… He would have to find his potential heir before he could try anything.

"Lord Dark Chef?"

The Dark Chef snapped out of his ponderings to see Remiel and Abyssion kneeling before him. "Yes, what is it?"

"My lord, I have found a new recruit for our cause." Abyssion said hastily.

"He did not! I found him! Me!" Remiel spat in an irritated way.

"Is that so?" The Dark Chef sounded almost bored as he leaned forward, one of his arms propped up on the armrest of his throne.

"Yup! And he's a Seraph, too!" Remiel added smugly.

The Dark Chef remained silent for a moment, gazing at Yuan, who was standing behind the two Eliminators, not doing anything of particular interest.

"Very good, number two. Step forward." Sixurc's number one spoke.

Remiel got to his feet, sticking his tongue out at Abyssion before stepping towards his leader. The Dark Chef pushed himself up from his throne, placed a hand on Remiel's shoulder and smiled. In a way, the smile was rather cold. Remiel knew, however, that was the best he was going to get.

"You did good, Remiel." Was all the Dark Chef said.

"Thank you, my lord." Remiel bowed his head, yet couldn't help but grin slyly.

From the other side of the room, there was a loud crashing sound. Immediately, both the Dark Chef and Remiel turned to stare at Abyssion. Abyssion, however, raised his hand to point at Yuan, who was standing next to the shattered remains of a vase.

"Uhm… Oops." The blue-haired seraph laughed nervously.

At once, Remiel saw his promotion shatter along with the extremely expensive vase.

"You are Yuan, correct?" the Dark Chef asked, still appearing calm as he sat down in his throne again.

Yuan nodded.

"Come closer, Yuan."

Yuan rubbed his eyes in a tired way, the caffeine still blurring his vision slightly. Not once did he stop to consider that he was in the lair of Cruxis' greatest enemy. Instead, he simply stepped forward, stopping in front of the Dark Chef, who looked at him with a thoughtful expression

"Hmm… And what makes you think you can be an Eliminator?" the chef asked.

"I dunno… I was told there'd be coffee." Yuan muttered, shrugging. "Hey, why do you have such a large spatula?"

"Because it's my symbol of power." The Dark Chef sighed, getting mildly annoyed.

"It looks weird. Can I hold it?" Yuan tried to touch the spatula, but it was quickly pulled out of his reach.

"No! That spatula is for my-" The man broke off, his eyes widening slightly. For a moment, he seemed to be considering something as he eyed Yuan up and down again. "Could you turn to the right for me?"

Yuan shrugged and did so, turning right to face the wall. Then he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, getting bored with the situation and wondering when he'd get more coffee.

The Dark Chef put a hand to his chin, before a strange smile appeared on his face. "Yes, you're hired."

"Hurray!" Yuan cheered.

"Are you sure about this, lord Dark Chef? I don't trust him." Abyssion muttered.

"Ah, you're just jealous that I found such a good recruit!" Remiel snapped back at him.

"Listen carefully, Yuan. Tonight, at midnight, we will make it official with a ceremony." The Dark Chef said.

"Really? A ceremony?" Yuan smiled liked an excited schoolgirl.

"Yes. It is at that ceremony that you can hold the spatula. Now, I must go and prepare. I will see you at the top of the tower of Damnation at a quarter to twelve to start the… initiation." The Dark Chef pushed himself to his feet.

"Will there be coffee?" Yuan asked eagerly.

For a moment, the Dark Chef considered this. "Sure, why the heck not?" Then he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"How unfair… We never got a ceremony…" Remiel whispered sadly, and Abyssion gave a stiff nod in agreement.