Chapter 12 – Fated Encounter.
Rotten wood crunched underneath Leo's boots as he tromped through the abandoned village. He winced as the dull crack of wood sliced through the calm daytime ambiance of the wilderness some ways off the beaten track of the Danann Highway.
"Nobody here, right, Hawk?" Leo asked to nobody in particular.
His malak appeared in front of him with a flash of green, conducting perfunctory scent checks for anyone in the area.
Leo commented idly, "I doubt it. Looks like this village has been abandoned for a while now. The townsfolk must've decided they would be better off living in Port Zekson or Loegres rather than dealing with the constant daemon attacks." He glanced around analytically. "Still, it looks like they left in a hurry. Might be some good loot laying around…" He trailed off.
Hawk gave him an accusatory glare.
"Hey! None of that sass, mister. I don't even come from this world, you know! Looting is no problem for such a well-travelled guy like me."
Hawk rolled his eyes.
Leo shrugged. "Well, that, and also it looks like nobody's been here for over a year now, so I might as well pick up anything I might be able to turn into equipment."
He glanced idly around at the landscape surrounding the village. Plains, mountains, and the occasional copse of trees. The usual Midgand fare in terms of biome diversity.
The man took a moment to close his eyes and savor it all. The wind blowing softly in his hair. The chirping of bugs in the sea of grass invading the abandoned village. The brilliant sun kissing his face. The feeling of being free. Of being on an adventure.
He'd never stop loving this feeling.
Leo opened his eyes in surprise as Hawk gave him a nudge on the leg, pointing with his nose.
"Human?" Leo asked.
For some reason, the wolf didn't seem to know how to answer that.
Leo blinked. "That's strange…" He looked off at the direction Hawk was indicating. Deeper into the abandoned village.
"Well." He decided abruptly. "That loot won't pick up itself. Might as well explore a little." The man shrugged. "Let's go, Hawk. Keep a nose out for me, would you? Warn me if any daemons are nearby." Hawk nodded in response.
The two of them began to stroll through the quiet town, ears and eyes opened.
"Ah!" Leo breathed as his eyes caught on something shiny inside a house. "Look at that! A treasure chest." His eyes glinted greedily. Hawk rolled his eyes at his master's hoarding problem as he made a beeline for the house in question. Suddenly, the wind shifted, and Hawk's nose was blasted with a vast variety of scents. He yipped in alarm.
"Yeah, yeah! Bug me all you want, little mutt." Leo blatantly ignored his malak's calls, walking forward heedlessly. He stepped into the doorway of the rotting house. "Nobody else is going to want this…"
He froze.
Right across the doorway he had entered was another doorway, through which a strange figure had stepped through at the same time. Both of them froze simultaneously. Leo's eyes darted between the stranger and the chest. The stranger's eyes darted between Leo and the chest.
Both their eyes narrowed at the same time.
The stranger opened her mouth first. "Well!" She chirped. "I'd say that, as the saying goes, the lady should go first in this case." She took a step towards the chest.
Leo wasn't giving up that easily. He scoffed. "That's a bit sexist, don't you think? I'd say that instead, the gentleman should go first in the interest of a more civil society." He took a step towards the chest.
The stranger grinned behind a long dangling strip of hair in front of her face. "Ah… A worthy adversary."
She laid her hands casually behind the back of her ridiculously pink hat, observing conversationally, "Actually, I was under the impression that a more civil society would provide the elder person with their just desserts." Another step was taken.
Leo shook his head. This was too easy. "Then by that logic, shouldn't I get the chest, since I'm 28?" His brow furrowed as he took another step closer. "How old are you, exactly?"
The stranger's grin grew. She gasped in mock offense, "How dare you sir! What kind of civil person would dare ask a proper woman her age?! I'm shocked! Horrified! Flabbergasted!" She cleared her throat and observed wryly, "I do believe I deserve just compensation for your savagery, wouldn't you agree?" She took two steps forward.
Leo cringed. How did he not see that one coming? He had majorly underestimated her. He had to think fast. "Well, since you've indirectly admitted that you are my elder, I suppose I am therefore honor-bound by society to take possession of your worldly belongings for safekeeping, for the old and senile must be protected by the young and strong." He took two steps forwards.
His adversary observed dryly, "My, my, what a helpful strapping young man. However, you'll be pleased to know that this senile old woman is perfectly in good health, and in fact, still employed to this very day! So, I'll be taking this treasure chest for safekeeping." She took a long step, nearing dangerously close to the chest.
Leo grunted and drew himself up proudly, deciding to play a different card. "I'll have you know that I am in fact, a veteran, and unemployed at that. I served my time using my life to protect the common folk such as yourself. I believe that the countless lives of innocents I've saved are more than enough reason for a working elder such as yourself to relinquish some of your already sizeable income." He took a similarly long step.
The two were now nearly nose-to-nose in front of the chest.
Her eyes narrowed. "I don't believe I will. Such is the world we live in. To the victor goes the spoils. Otherwise, some might say that life would not be worth living." She reached out for the treasure chest, slowly.
Leo's eyes narrowed as well. "Is that so? Perhaps we should have a good long discussion over the merits of being completely deaf to the complaints of the common folk. To those who could use such spoils to raise their complete standard of living as opposed to a mere supplicant in their income." His hand rose towards the chest as well.
"Why, I believe we will. After I take what's in MY treasure chest." Her hand landed on the lid of the pristine iron-engraved chest.
"You mean MINE, of course. I saw it first." Leo laid his hand on the spotless glossy lid as well, his eyes never leaving the woman's.
The woman scoffed. "Ohoh! Is that so?" Her expression grew dark. "I'm absolutely certain that I saw it first. Besides! I'm sure I can put whatever's in here to better use than you ever could."
Leo let out a rough bark of laughter. "Oh? Is that so?" He looked meaningfully down and up, gesturing at the woman's outlandishly pink outfit. "Remind me, what do you do for a living, again?"
The woman's grin grew. Unbeknownst to Leo, her hand inched closer and closer to the lock of the treasure chest.
She declared, "I'm glad you asked! I'm thrilled to introduce you to the wise sorceress who travels the eleven seas, who scoffs at the might of dragons! The illustrious Mazhigi-"
"MAGILOU! LOOK OUT!"
The self-proclaimed sorceress suddenly squeaked as her speech was violently cut short when the chest she was ever-so-subtly opening suddenly came alive and tried to bite her hand off.
CRASH!
A man wearing purple leapt down from the broken roof of the building and slammed the lid of the apparently sentient treasure chest shut with his weight before it could pounce on the two of them.
"AHHHH!" The so-called Magilou squealed, diving away from the monster in shock.
"JESUS CHRIST!" Leo squeaked simultaneously as he leapt backwards in reflex.
He gaped as the man in purple leapt off the monster before it burst open violently, avoiding the daemon's lunge and pulling out two short swords. The man began to dance skillfully around the monster's charges as the chest bit at him with its lid. Leo watched incredulously as the man sliced and dodged with a distinctly foreign sword style, holding his own against a daemon.
He shared a glance with the witch gasping for breath on the ground next to him. "You… can have the chest." He breathed.
Magilou shook her head, similarly winded. "No… It's yours. The generous Magilou… insists." She caught her breath and suddenly began cackling to Leo's confusion. "Kahaha! What a rush! To think there are daemons out there disguised as treasure chests!" She languished into the air. "Oh, cruel fates! Must you torture me so?!"
Leo ignored the strange woman and instead focused on the fight going on in front of him. His first instinct was to pick up his gun and help, but still, something felt… off about the man. He made a quick glance to the doorway he'd entered through. His eyes narrowed as he spotted Hawk running towards him, clearly on edge.
"Oh! A puppy! Come to bite me to death as well?" Magilou drawled as she lazily sat up in a cross-legged position. Hawk cocked his head at the strange woman.
Leo shook his head down at his malak. "Ignore her, Hawk. What's wrong?" He asked seriously, keeping an eye on the raging daemon and the man fighting it.
"Talking to a pet? Oh! How quaint! And they say I'm mad!" Magilou commented dryly.
The two ignored her. Hawk gestured urgently at the fighting pair. "What?" Leo asked. "What about them? The chest daemon?" The wolf shook his head quickly.
"…Hold up. Did that wolfie just shake its head?" Magilou rubbed her eyes in surprise.
The two ignored her. Leo concluded, "So the man then. Wait. Is he…"
"Hey! It's rude to ignore a witch you know!" The woman suddenly butted in front of the two.
Leo flinched at the woman's proximity. "Gah! Gerrof!" He exclaimed, dodging her to intrusive form in favor of staring suspiciously at the man in purple and his progress in defeating the daemon.
Safe to say, he was doing pretty well.
"When I'm this close, I won't miss!" The man declared as he charged right in front of the stunned daemon. The man readied both his swords.
"Form 0: Sunder!"
Leo gaped as the man's arte pierced the daemon chest soundly, rending two giant gouges in the front of the chest. It slumped to the floor, motionless. Whatever the man had done had obviously killed the daemon.
"Heh. Not bad." The man commented viciously as he sheathed his swords expertly behind his back. He turned back around to the other two in the house. "Magilou, you've got to be more carefu-"
Leo gasped audibly as he saw the man's face. All of it.
At a first glance, the man in purple seemed to be an ordinary human. That's what Leo had thought at first, he realized as he recognized the face of the man whom had chatted with him in the Bloodwing Butterfly Bar a few nights prior.
But now, in the aftermath of battle, Leo clearly recognized the jarringly bright blood-red eye giving off a harsh red glow. He was a daemon. And a jaw-droppingly powerful one at that.
Hawk began to growl. Leo's muscles began to tense.
"Hm?" The daemon noticed Leo's presence. "Oh! It's you…!" His human eye narrowed as he took in the tell-tale signs of tension in the man's stance. He glanced at the strange wolf pup at his feet.
Magilou abruptly made her presence known again, now leaning against a wall between the two. "My, my, this is interesting." Leo was surprised to see that her expression had dramatically changed; a calculating and intrigued smirk now twisted her face.
"A lone daemon…" she waved broadly to the man in purple. The arm shifted to gesture at Leo.
"…and a lone exorcist."
Leo's breath quickened as the daemon in front of him began to stare at him as a predator would prey.
"Quite the encounter." Magilou's declarative words punctuated the tense silence that followed. Her fanged smirk widened in anticipation.
Hawk let out a low growl.
"Huh." The man in purple commented seriously, slowly reaching for his sheathed blades behind his back. "So, it turns out you're an exorcist, and I'm a daemon. Funny how the world works."
Leo grunted in return. "And here I'd thought you were a pretty swell person, from that nice living advice you gave me that night." He lifted his arm in preparation to unsheathe his gauntlet blade.
The man in purple huffed a laugh. "What a shocker. Turns out I'm not even a person at all." He gave a savage grin. "Well, since you're an exorcist, it's your job to take out monsters like me, right?"
Leo gave a shrug. "I suppose that's in the job description. I'll be honest though, it's a bit unnerving to see a daemon as human-like as you." He admitted.
The man laughed. "That'll change, don't you worry." His eyes greedily drank in the details of his new foe. "I hope you're good with that blade of yours." His hands landed on the hilts of his blade.
Leo's fists tightened.
The man grinned savagely. "Wouldn't want to fight a weakling!"
With that, the man charged at Leo with shocking speed, unsheathing his blades and holding them out behind him as he charged across the room like a bull.
Leo quickly activated his gauntlet blade and deflected the twin strikes, his feet skidding on the floorboards from the harsh strength behind the blades. Following up quickly, Leo spun his whole body around and swung his blade in retaliation, forcing the daemon to jump backwards a step and give himself room to breathe.
The daemon laughed as he landed a few steps away. "Not bad! This'll be good practice!" He yelled fiercely as he charged back in, his short swords held at different angles.
Leo cursed as he narrowly dodged one blade whistling over his head and blocked the other. The daemon's moves were incredibly sophisticated and nuanced. There were obviously many, many more years of experience behind those two short swords than Leo's own.
This was bad.
"Hawk!" Leo called urgently as he made a slashing stab at the daemon. His sword was caught in between two crossed blades and locked. His opponent smirked viciously.
In response, Leo's malak howled and cast a fireball at the daemon. The monster cursed and disengaged from the lock as he was forced to dodge the fireball, preventing him from capitalizing on his possession of two blades to Leo's one.
Leo didn't let up and instead went on the offensive, focusing on quick stabbing techniques that gave no ground, pushing the man more and more backwards.
His opponent growled and his red eye glowed. Leo registered the warning signs and quickly abandoned his offensive by diving into a roll to the right. The hairs on the back of his neck stuck up as he felt the heat of an arte roasting the floor where he'd been just a few seconds ago.
Quickly recovering from the roll, Leo pivoted his torso to dodge a follow-up swipe of the daemon's second blade and retaliated with an unorthodox kick to the daemon's ankle. Caught off-guard, the daemon cursed as his leg involuntarily locked for a moment.
Leo abruptly sheathed his blade to the surprise of his opponent.
The man instead bowed his torso forcefully forward, angling his right shoulder towards the daemon. His right hand grasped the barrel of his rifle and jerked it forward while his left hand reached behind to disengage the safety and pull the trigger.
CRACK!
The report of the discharged firearm bounced deafeningly off the walls of the confined space.
"Gah!" The daemon recoiled in pain and surprise as a shock of cold daemon-killing metal entered his left shoulder with an unbelievable amount of force, making him involuntarily drop his left sword. "What the hell-"
"Hawk!"
The malak promptly sent an intense fireball at the daemon whom was helpless to dodge the arte.
"AGH!" The daemon screamed in agony as he burned, falling to the ground and rolling to put the malak flames out. When the flames suddenly puttered out magically, he shifted his body to rise and retaliate when he sharply registered the poke of a blade against his neck. The exorcist stood over his prone body, his gauntlet blade re-extended and poised to slit the daemon's throat.
Leo grimaced at the very human-looking face staring back at him. "Sorry, man." Leo muttered.
Amazingly, the daemon at sword point smiled. "Don't be. You fought well. I lost." He closed his eyes.
Leo gave a stiff nod. He drew back his arm to deliver the fatal blow and save the people this daemon would terrorize next.
Hawk suddenly let out a vicious warning snarl. Leo froze.
"DEVOUR!"
Pure luck saved Leo's life as he chose to dive to the left as an enormous blood-red claw swiped viciously through the air where he'd just been occupying.
Another daemon?! No… a red claw!
Leo's eyes widened as it registered. The daemon that had escaped Titania. Maimed Oscar. Killed all those exorcists and razed Hellawes. The one Eleanor told him to kill, no matter what.
That monster was here!
He landed from his roll and leapt away, unsheathing his sword while turning around to face his new opponent.
And then the world froze.
A time, so, so long ago.
A different world made up of a sea of orange leaves.
A distant, tranquil village.
A normal, caring family in a warm household.
A sicky, endearing boy who wanted nothing more than to explore beyond the horizon.
A stout man who wanted nothing more than to safely guide his family through life.
A kind-hearted hunting partner who was full of joy, optimism, and love for her family.
"Velvet…" Leo breathed. "Velvet Fucking Crowe."
"…Leo?!" The abnormally low yet jarringly familiar voice gasped in response.
The two stared at one another, completely and utterly frozen in time. Each had never expected to see the other ever again. Each had gone through so many different paths and turns. Each had become so different. They were two ships that had encountered each other again in some faraway ocean.
Utterly changed.
Leo's eyes took in the woman standing in front of her in shock. Her carelessly-maintained clothes. Her strikingly long, barely-tamed hair. Her bared sword, slick with fresh blood. Her voice low and growling from disuse. Her jarringly cold eyes. Her harsh, untamed disposition. Most of all…
His eyes fell on the most invasive, unnatural thing about this new Velvet.
The claw. The vicious, serrated hand of a daemon attached to this twisted rendition of the friend he had treasured.
The claw that this Velvet had used, knowingly and willingly, to kill and destroy.
And oh, how she had. This Velvet had been the one who broke out of prison. This Velvet had been the one who burnt his friend Oscar's eye out. This Velvet had been the one who had murdered all those exorcists in Hellawes and doomed the city to ruin. This Velvet had been the one who had taken poor Jason's brave exorcist father away forever. This Velvet had been the one whom Eleanor had told him to kill.
Leo's fists tightened.
He supposed… people changed. And sometimes for the worse. It would seem that his childhood friend was no different. This Velvet in front of him was not the Velvet he called a friend.
This Velvet was a killer.
Velvet's own mind whirled. The moment she had laid eyes on the man's face; a figment of a past whom she'd disowned; emotions she'd thought she would never feel again had burst out in waves like water out of a bursting dam.
This can't be. Leo can't be alive. He… must've died over the years. That's what I thought! He must've!
No…
He's alive. He's alive! Despite it all; the years of torture, of agony, of being trapped in the bowels of rage; a shockingly strong part of Velvet's stone-cold heart began to swim to the surface.
That idiot's still breathing!
She clamped down on it. There was no room for distractions now.
I'm not the Velvet he knew. I'm a daemon. It doesn't matter.
It. Doesn't. Matter.
…And yet, despite her persistence, a disgustingly persistent part of her still sang in joy. Joy that she wasn't alone. That all the villagers of Aball weren't dead by her hand.
That there was someone who could understand her.
There is nobody who can understand me. I am a monster. A therion. A daemon-eater. I've killed, and I've destroyed. I am nothing more than a daemon with a single goal. That is all.
And if Leo stands in my way…
She glanced at her claw for confirmation. Ever-present. It was a part of her now. That was what she was. A monster out for revenge. The claw clenched.
I'll devour him too. Just like the rest of Aball. For Laphi.
The wind whistled eerily through the silent village outside. Nobody said a word.
The injured daemon lying on the floor glanced between the two in befuddlement. "Uh… guys?" He coughed up blood. "Did I miss something?"
Leo ignored him and looked closer at this new Velvet.
Those eyes… so full of hatred. So full of malice… Were those really the same eyes as the woman whom he had hunted with? Chatted with? Laughed with? Were those really the eyes of Velvet Crowe, the older sister of a remote frontier town who wanted nothing more than to make her brother happy?
No.
They weren't.
These were the eyes of a murderer. Of a monstrous, unreasonable daemon. Daemons… Monsters who destroyed villages without thought. Leo's eyes widened as a horrible thought came to his head.
Was she one of them? One of the daemons who had destroyed Aball?
Was that why Artorius had said she was 'gone'?! Was that why Artorius didn't tell him what had really happened?!
No way. There was no way. She was so loving and kind to everyone in the village. The Velvet Crowe he knew loved the village of Aball and would've liked nothing more than a quiet, peaceful life with her family.
There was no way…
There was no way a human would do that.
…But aren't daemons inhuman?
Leo sucked in a breath. He had to know.
"Velvet." He tasted the name that he hadn't used to address anyone in years.
"Aball… You didn't… did you?" He asked, deceptively quietly.
The woman across from her stared at him, her eyes getting colder and colder at the accusation. There was no need for clarification.
Her terrifying claw tightened into a fist.
"I did."
The answer was so… infuriatingly nonchalant. She had just admitted it as if she'd just told him what she'd eaten for dinner!
Leo closed his eyes in consternation. "You're… not the Velvet I knew, are you." He breathed. It was a statement of fact, not a question, and they both knew it.
"Obviously." The response was cold and callous.
"Then… I suppose it doesn't matter what face you wear." Leo shook his head vigorously, clenching his fists in mounting determination. "I'll just… have to make sure the monster you've turned into doesn't ruin anymore lives." He met those familiar eyes with determination flaring in his own.
"I'll put you down for good, daemon." He declared firmly, his stance hardening.
For the briefest of moments, Leo thought he saw a flash of hurt in Velvet's eyes. He blinked. And when his eyes opened again, the woman's amber eyes were hard. Cold. As if no emotion had ever touched them. The eyes of a killer. There was nothing left of Velvet in this monster.
"You're welcome to try, exorcist."
With that, she exploded into action.
Caught completely off-guard, Leo grunted in pain as a surprise kick slammed into him with inhuman strength, hurtling him towards the wall of the house. The rotten wood snapped laughably easily; he crashed entirely through the wall and into the daylight.
Leo grunted in pain as he landed hard, his lever-action rifle digging painfully into his back as he struggled to find his bearings.
He cursed as he registered the ominous silhouette of a monster in the cloud of debris in the wall. A sword on one arm and a massive claw sprouting from the other.
He got to his feet and crossed blades with his former hunting partner as she rammed into him with terrifying ferocity, his boots digging through the grass from the force.
No, the daemon who looked like his former hunting partner. This wasn't Velvet.
With a yell, he shoved the daemon off from his body and promptly called out for his malak. "Hawk!"
Velvet swiftly leapt into the air, dodging the fireball sent at her feet. In retaliation, the woman flew with the grace of a vengeful ghost towards Leo, a steel boot headed his way.
He grunted as he raised his sword just in time to parry the hidden blade he knew Velvet kept in her boots. Leaning with the momentum, Leo instead used the opportunity to swing her boot in the other direction in an effort to throw off her momentum.
Instead, Velvet simply twisted around in the air and bent her knee with the swing, bringing her other foot about with the given momentum.
CRACK!
Leo grunted as the steel-hard boot slammed into his skull and sent him flying into the dirt, involuntarily groaning in pain. Hawk took the opportunity to harry the daemon with fireballs, forcing her to dodge the rain of mana-intensive artes while Leo regained his bearings.
Shaking his head free of stars, Leo reached for his rifle and cocked it.
Velvet twitched at the familiar telltale sound.
CRACK!
The daemon swiftly dodged the familiar projectile with a backflip, the round merely slicing through a few strands of raven hair along the way before burying itself into a nearby wall. She landed gracefully and charged at Leo, roaring a battle cry.
Leo parried with his gauntlet blade, stepping back and returning with a precise stab. The daemon pivoted cleanly away and then retaliated with a sharp acrobatic kick. The man barely managed to sidestep the move and in return sliced at the offending appendage with his sword.
The daemon hissed as the blade made contact, slicing a light gash into her leg. Not letting up, Leo hounded after her, forcing her to back off slightly and leave him some breathing room.
Making up his mind in an instant, the man indicated succinctly with his left hand. Hawk quickly got the message and howled, charging directly at Velvet, forcing her to focus on defending herself from both the flaming artes and the threat of being bitten.
With a furious cry, Velvet leapt forward past the artes and sliced at the little pest. At the last possible second, the wolf vanished abruptly in a flash of green.
"What?!" She gasped, glancing around warily and realizing that her opponent was nowhere to be seen. "…Hiding, are we?" Velvet muttered dryly as her eyes leapt from building to building.
"You always were a coward." She spat venomously.
CHINK-CHINK!
Velvet whirled around in surprise to find the man a few houses down in the middle of the path, the metal barrel of his rifle trained directly upon her.
Click.
Time slowed down. The trigger had already been pulled. There was no way she could dodge. She would have to take the hit.
CRACK!
A malak?!
Of all the things Leo had expected to find with the murderous daemon wearing the face of his long-lost friend, a malak wearing the clothes indicating service to the Abbey was not one of them. The malak looked like a damned kid. A kid that looked disturbingly familiar.
One had leapt in front of the daemon he was shooting to kill.
Velvet's eyes widened in a shocking display of emotion.
"LAPHICET!"
The scream was irrational and automatic. The howl of an older sister watching her beloved brother put himself in danger.
PING!
The fired bullet bounced harmlessly off the Malak's raised shield arte.
And just like that, the world turned on its head. Again. Leo's eyes bulged.
No… no. This wasn't right. None of this was right.
A monster wouldn't've done that. A monster wouldn't've named a kidnapped malak after the brother she used to love with all her being. None of this made any sense.
Everything Leo had seen up until this point told him to keep fighting. To kill this daemon. Daemons weren't human anymore. They were wild, crazed, irrational beasts whose only purpose was to kill and destroy. They were evil. And nothing more.
…But what kind of evil monster would see her brother in a kidnapped tool?
He raised his gaze above the metal sights of his rifle.
The daemon…
…No, Velvet was absolutely livid. Irrationally livid. There was so much anger in those eyes; so much emotion.
So much human emotion. The emotional, irrational drive to protect one's sibling.
And then, suddenly, he was somewhere else.
He was back in a warm house in Aball, staying up too late with Laphi. Talking about ships, travelling, the world; the future. He was scared for his life while Laphi hid in the covers in fear of his sister's loving wrath, grinning sheepishly as he faced down Velvet glaring at him with her wrathful amber eyes.
Right now, those same eyes were glaring angrily back at him, zeroing in hatefully on the perceived threat to her beloved brother's well-being.
This was her. This was Velvet Crowe.
All the things; all the terrible things she had done. The destruction of Hellawes. The raiding of Vortigern. The killing of Jason's father and the orphaning of a son. The killing of dozens of other exorcists simply doing their duties to protect their families.
She was a monster.
But… she was also Velvet.
She was still human, even if only partially.
Only a human could do something as stupidly sentimental as naming an emotionless Malak with her dead brother's name and then REACTING to it being in danger as if it were her brother. This was her.
Suddenly, he didn't want to fight anymore. This was Velvet.
He gave an incredulous laugh, breaking the tense silence. His laughter was so out of place that Velvet's ire wavered, causing her to hesitate in charging at man. All of a sudden, that hugely pressing sense of mortal peril had vanished. He knew, no matter what, that his old hunting partner would not kill him.
He needed to talk to her. Properly. He needed to figure out what was going through her head to make her do such things. There must be a reason. Another side to the story. Because she was human. She wasn't a mindless monster. He'd bet his life on that.
And there was no way the human Velvet he remembered would commit such horrific acts unless there was a very, very good motivator.
He needed to know. She deserved that much from him, at least.
"I'm done. That does it. You…" Leo fully lowered his rifle and stepped out of firing stance. "You're you, Velvet." He breathed.
The shock and undercurrent of horror running through Velvet's eyes broke Leo's heart.
She's been broken. He realized.
The woman stammered, grasping for a response. "No… I… I…" Her body shook with emotion. Hope, despair, longing, and self-hatred. All of it boiled in her mind all at once.
She shook her head violently and forced herself to look at the ever-present claw of her left hand. The red haze came back, on command. All of it. The hatred, the motivation, the commitment to being evil. Good.
She roared, "…I am NOT!"
With a wordless scream of fury, the monster charged at her old friend, her angry red claw raised high.
Leo would not lie to himself. He was absolutely scared shitless.
But, he was calling her bluff. And he'd stick with his guns.
On that mental note, he gently tossed his own gun on the ground some ways away from him for safekeeping. This only served enrage Velvet further at the GALL of this pathetic exorcist and his naïve assumptions.
As she neared him, he did nothing. Nothing but face her with a sad expression. Haunted by what had happened to his old friend. He knew she was trying in vain to convince both him and herself of her own monstrosity.
Because she didn't want to accept herself for who she really was.
Leo cried out involuntarily in pain as Velvet's daemon claw violently encased his entire body, the wickedly sharp claws tearing deep and bloody gouges into his stomach. His entire body felt like it was on fire. His boots left the ground as he was lifted up easily by the monster's inhuman strength.
He was completely and utterly at the mercy of this raging, unstable daemon.
"I am not the Velvet you know." She hissed furiously. "That person…" Velvet shook her head crazily. "…that person is DEAD!" She cried in a tone verging on hysteria. "I am a monster! I am a therion! The only thing I want is…" She clenched her eyes in emotion.
"…IS REVENGE FOR LAPHICET!"
The claw began to come alarmingly alive around Leo, pulsating and undulating around him. Suddenly he began to feel weaker and weaker, as if his very life force was being forcefully sucked away by the second. He abruptly realized with grave certainty what was going to happen.
He was about to die.
Revenge… for Laphi…?
And yet, Leo smiled. A sick, delusional, nostalgic smile. Despite the peril, a memory came to mind. A warm, obscure, ridiculously fuzzy detail at utter odds with the chaos of the present.
He choked out a weak laugh that rang out over the squelching of the devouring hand. "I always said so, didn't I?" He met Velvet's crazed, irrational, familiar eyes with a warm smile.
"You always were a real daemon when it came to your brother."
And just like that, all the rage fled in an instant. No matter how hard she grasped, her insatiable rage, her old companion, her only constant in the last three years; all of a sudden was nowhere to be found. Here was a real fragment of the past, a person she had called a friend. A person whom had trusted her with his life and had almost become part of her family. A family she thought she'd lost forever.
That idiot was here. And he still trusted her. He knew her. Who she… was? Who she… is?
In that moment of immobilizing, terrifying uncertainty, she didn't know what to think.
Leo crashed roughly onto the ground as the claw consuming him abruptly released him. He immediately hacked up congealed blood onto the grass, gazing up weakly at his old hunting partner standing uncertainly before him. Hawk appeared from inside him and whined over his master's broken body, quickly starting to heal the bloodiest gashes on his stomach.
Leo rubbed his wolf's fur gratefully, noting wryly, "I knew Artorius was bullshitting me when he told me you were gone." He coughed, meeting the woman's wavering eyes. "You're not. You're still here."
With that name, Velvet's anger resurged like a wave with awesome intensity. That was right. She was a monster hell-bent on revenge.
"…Artorius? How…" She asked in a low, trembling voice.
Leo hacked out more blood, waving off Hawk who wined in worried protest. He stumbled to his feet with effort, at length forcing his legs to move so he could reach his rifle laying on the floor. He picked it up, wiping the dirt off the receiver with care and turned his attention back on the daemon. "Yeah. The Almighty Shepherd. Savior of the world. Head of the Abbey and de-facto ruler of the entire Holy Midgand Empire. I'm sure you've heard of him."
He let out a hiss as he bent his arm awkwardly to reach inside his coat, pulling out a few gels and slathering them on the skin underneath his shirt. He then reached back in and grabbed a roll of bandages, wrapping them around his wounds. "I've been all over the world, Velvet." He winced in pain as he tightened the bindings. "I'm sure you'll want to hear more about it."
Velvet's eyes narrowed in impatience. "Tell me. Now." The command was cold. "What do you know about my target?" Her anger mounted. "Or I'll suck it out of you." The terrifying claw rose in the air, hovering above the man ominously.
…Her target?
Leo sighed and paused in his medical self-treatment, meeting Velvet's eyes calmly. "You're not going to, Velvet. You're not." He rose a single questioning eyebrow.
She wouldn't, and they both knew it.
Everything. Every fiber in Velvet's being told her to grab this man – this arrogant, cowardly man who had the gall to ignore her threats – and torture him. Squeeze every last secret out of her that might be beneficial towards her revenge. That was all she lived for after all, wasn't it? And after every last useful word had been uttered from his mouth, she would kill him and devour him, leaving no clues to for his exorcist buddies to find and follow.
But she didn't. The claw hung in the air, trembling.
The wind blew through the town, the only sound in the unbroken silence.
"Whoa! What the hell?!"
And it was broken. Leo looked behind him surprise as the daemon in purple clothes, the witch Magilou, and the man he recognized from the bar in Loegres approached the two motionless fighters led by the little malak called Laphicet.
The man in the trench coat asked roughly, "What the hell's going on here?"
"What?!" Magilou gave out astonished commentary. "Has the insatiable daemon eater been sated? Gasp! Does someone have a tummy ache?!" She cooed.
Leo blinked.
I guess they're all with Velvet…
He started as the woman in question growled behind him. He turned to watch her shake her head sharply and, to Leo's shock, turn her claw back to a normal-looking arm wrapped in bandages.
How the hell…?
She whipped her now-normal left arm back down to her side and turned on her heel, stalking off.
"He's coming with us." She called shortly behind her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa – what?!" The daemon swordsman exclaimed in disbelief. "We're bringing an exorcist with us?! Just like that?!"
Velvet sighed and stopped, explaining over her shoulder, "He'll give us information on Artorius."
Both the daemon and the man in the trench coat looked in disbelief at Leo. Leo, for his part, gave a simple shrug. "…You heard the woman. I guess I'm tagging along." He supplied, firmly knotting the bandages around his waist with a grunt.
"Leo?" The softly spoken shorthand sounded so agonizingly familiar to Leo. It sounded almost like the Velvet he used to know. He turned to look at his former hunting partner.
Her face went dark. "If you run, acquaintance or not, I don't care. I won't risk you going back to the Abbey. You're my dinner." It was a promise. He didn't doubt it for a second.
Leo laughed nervously. He responded with a lofty wave, "Wouldn't dream of it, honey."
To the man's surprise, Velvet responded with a distinctly human-sounding scoff. He smiled, despite himself.
Still Velvet indeed.
With the threat having been given, the clawed daemon walked briskly off.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group just stood there watching the woman walk off in shock. The daemon in purple blinked a few times before letting out a resigned sigh. "I just can't get her." He ran his fingers through his hair, inadvertently displaying his blood red eye and blackened face to Leo.
This guy too… so human.
The daemon noticed Leo staring. He tensed.
And then the daemon grinned. "I guess we're travelling together now." he observed dryly. He asked conversationally, "What's your story with her anyways? I take it you know her…"
For his part, Leo was valiantly suppressing the urge to reach for his rifle and continue fighting the daemon standing nonchalantly in front of him. The years he'd spent believing that these things couldn't be human had left deep prejudices in his mind that wouldn't be overcome in an instant.
He took a shaky breath, "Sorry man. Not quite used to the whole…" he waved his hand vaguely. "'Daemons-that-are-human-like' thing yet. Not enough for chit-chat, at least." His eyes wandered anywhere but the daemon's clearly inhuman features.
"Ah, fair enough." The daemon nodded sagely. "I guess things will eventually get clearer as they go along anyways." He gave the exorcist an appraising look. "Well, we can try this for starters." He offered a hand, to Leo's surprise. "The name's Rokurou Rangetsu. You're a good fighter." He commented genuinely.
Leo stared at the daemon called Rokurou in shock for a few seconds. He blinked a few times, staring at the offered hand before sighing.
"…Fuck it." He muttered to himself.
He clasped firm hands with the daemon and shook. "Leonex Davidson. And you're not exactly a pushover yourself. I'll openly admit that I only won 'cuz I had an unfair advantage of surprise." He pointed with a thumb over his shoulder at his rifle.
Rokurou glanced at the weapon with interest, then waved a dismissive hand. "Ah, nonsense. All's fair in love and war. Besides," his eyes, both human and demonic, gained a rather manic glint while his smile seemed to grow fangs. "Heh. It just means I need to get better."
Leo's eye twitched as the man walked off, grinning madly. Yaksha. Definitely a Yaksha. He concluded.
"So, you're an exorcist."
Leo turned around to see the man from the bar strolling over. He cringed. "You're not going to tell me you're a daemon too, right?"
The man shook his head. "No."
Leo sighed in relief. "Oh good. At least there's one other normal human here."
The man shook his head again. "Wrong. I'm not human."
"Huh?"
His eyes narrowed.
"I'm the Reaper." He declared darkly.
Leo blinked. "…Fuck's sake." He sighed in resignation.
Shaking his head, he offered a resigned hand. "Well then, Mr. Reaper. The name's Leonex Davidson. Thanks for the life advice on ship steering."
The man clasped Leo's hand with a fighter's grasp. "Eizen. Did it work out for you?" He asked.
Leo glanced sourly over his shoulder where Velvet had disappeared. "Hell if I know, Eizen. you'll be the first one to know if it does."
The man grinned sharply. "Aye, that's life for you." He gave a rough encouraging pat on Leo's back. "Keep sailing."
Leo nodded appreciatively. As Eizen walked off, he turned around to the rest of the group. …And was faced with the one thing he did not want to see this far away from the Abbey.
"BIIEEEEEENNN! Leo! PLEASE! I beg you! SAVE ME FROM THE BAD-BAD!"
Leo recoiled as a familiar malak suddenly popped out of nowhere and pounced on him, tearing at his clothing and staining it wet with tears.
"Jesus Christ! Bienfu?!" He stammered. "How in the-?"
WHACK!
Leo gaped as the witch from before, Magilou, nonchalantly smacked the absolute stuffing out of Bienfu. With a little self-righteous hmph, the witch knelt down and collected the defeated malak by the ribbon.
"Bieeeeeeeeeeeeen…" The malak could only mumble in shock as spit dribbled down his chin.
"I'm glad you're with us, Leo-boy!" The witch chirped casually, as if she hadn't just absolutely destroyed a praetor's greater malak in the previous moment. Her eyes narrowed deviously. "You'll be making things much, much more interesting for the near future, I'm sure." Her expression hardened. "But be warned! The great Magillanica will not tolerate any stealing of treasure chests in the future!" she declared pompously. With that, she twirled around and sauntered after the group, crying malak dangling in hand.
Leo stared.
"…Yep." He concluded aloud. "I'm the only normal human here."
He blinked. "…I guess I know who Bienfu's original owner was then." His eyes narrowed. "But that begs the question. Did she steal him from Eleanor…?" He shook his head. What a mess. Eleanor would have a fit if she saw him right then; that much was for sure.
Leo suddenly noticed a blob of golden hair trailing after the witch giving him a few curious glances. The man called out after the malak. "Laphicet!" The name tasted strangely on his mouth.
The malak stopped walking and turned fully to the newcomer, head tilted adorably to the side in curiosity. "Yes?" He asked in a youthful voice.
"Thanks for getting involved."
Simple. If Laphicet hadn't gotten between himself and Velvet, one of the two of them would've been dead. And he was pretty sure it would've been him if that were the case.
Leo added, "And I'm really sorry for shooting you." He gave an apologetic grin. "It was kind of an accident."
The boy nodded hesitantly. "You're… welcome. And…"
"…I forgive you."
Laphicet tasted the words strangely.
That having been said, the boy hesitantly turned back around and went back to following the group, sending few curious glances over his shoulder as he did so.
Leo watched the boy leave. "I can see why she gave him that name…"The exorcist muttered to himself. He sighed. "…What a fucking mess." His mind whirled with the implications of his choice to follow Velvet.
The last thing he wanted to do was to go up against his old exorcist friends. He was bound to if he followed this particular daemon. But… despite how illogical it was, he still found himself wanting to follow his old friend out of sentiment. And worry.
She was human. She definitely was still the person he remembered. But at the same time, she wasn't.
Just what had happened to her? The things she had done… Why did she seek revenge for Laphicet? And why against Artorius, of all people?!
He needed more answers. And the only way to get them… would be from the daemon's mouth. And after that…
Leo ran a hand through his hair as he shouldered his gun.
After that he'd judge if the monster Velvet Crowe had become was worthy of redemption in his eyes.
He sighed and began to walk, following in the footsteps of the villains he'd be travelling with. For better or for worse.
"…Why the hell do I make life so complicated for myself?" He muttered self-deprecatingly.
Down by his heels, Hawk coughed something distinctly sarcastic.
"Shut up, you."