Interlude – Serafall Leviathan
(Confession and Penance Arc)
The Great War between the Three Factions was a brutal affair that only ended when the strongest fighters of the war, the Biblical God and the original four Satans that ruled the 72 Pillars of Hell, killed each other, taking a large portion of each of the Factions' dwindling armies with them in the process. After the climactic battle that took the lives of some of the strongest mythical beings in the world, all three races, Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels, were left in shock.
The Devils had lost all four of their leaders and the most of the families of over half the Pillar clans as well as a majority of their entire military. The surviving clans were in varying states of exhaustion and disarray. Some, like the Bael and Belial, retained a good portion of their resources and were able to claim dominant positions in the new hierarchy. However, most of the remaining Devils were in no condition to do much of anything except focus on recovery. Of the 72 Pillar clans, 39 had effectively gone extinct, and less than 10 had enough power to command any authority. Their opponents in the war were in similarly dire straits.
The Angels had also lost their leader and much of their forces. The reclusive and pious Faction wanted nothing more than to retreat to salvage the system God left behind. Their new leader, the Great Seraph Michael, went out of his way to implement his race's isolationist policies in the years that followed the unofficial end to hostilities. Heaven essentially closed its gates to all, cutting off communication with the rest of the world for centuries. Only the continued existence of the Church let others know the Angels were still alive, if not particularly well.
The Fallen, despite managing to preserve the life of their own leader, were at a severe numerical disadvantage even with the losses sustained by the other Factions. The Governor General of the Grigori, Azazel, was the only surviving leader of the Three Factions from before the war. He was notable for being the only one of them to avoid participating in battle personally whenever he could. Many of his own people resented him for his supposed cowardice, but his vastly superior strength discouraged others from attempting to unseat him.
The deaths of the Biblical God, the four Satans, and well over half of all of the combatants should have brought about peace if for no other reason than a lack of organization and manpower to continue fighting. Certain elements within the Devils disagreed. Lack of unified leadership led to a splinter in Devil society as two disparate ideologies rallied powerful clans to their banners.
On one side were the Devils who believed in the original Satans' reasons for starting the Great War in the first place, led by the heirs to the clans of the four Satans. The Old Satan Faction, as they came to be called, wanted a decisive end to the war. At its head, Rizevim Livan Lucifer preached the natural superiority of Demons and Devils as justification for his actions. He argued for a return to the time before the war, where power ruled and was absolute. His call attracted fewer of the Devils, but those who joined him tended to be more powerful than those who didn't.
On the other side were the Devils who viewed the deaths of their fellow comrades and their leaders as a sign of the wrongness of the Satan's reasoning. The Anti-Satan Faction, led by the scions of the Gremory and Astaroth Clans, were opposed to further conflict because they believed it would lead to the extinction of the Devils or, at best, mutually assured destruction of all of the Three Factions. Sirzechs Gremory and Ajuka Astaroth campaigned for reform. The late Satans had ruled through fear, and such a rule was unsustainable and unhealthy. Their call appealed to the weaker Devils, as well as many the surviving members of the Pillar families whose lines had nearly gone extinct.
With each side anticipating an attempt from the other to take control of the infrastructure and technology left behind by the original Satans, their leaders began recruiting in earnest from the more neutral Devils.
The Sitri Clan was well-known for being master manipulators of their chosen element, water, able to adapt it to offensive, defensive, and supportive roles as the situation dictated. They had not been prominent members of Devil society before the war, nor were they very powerful overall. Their versatility was their strength, but lack of specialization hurt members of the clan when it came time for contests of power between individuals. However, the current heiress was an exception.
Serafall Sitri was born early enough to participate in the final battles of the Great War, but late enough to not know how or why it had started. Like the rest of her clansmen, she survived the war by being fortunate enough to be assigned to the artillery corps. Unlike the other Sitri Devils, she chose not to spread her talents across a wide variety of applications. In fact, she distinguished herself by developing a variation on her family's signature water avatars that they used to help them fight in close quarters. Typically, the water avatars were meant to be surrogate fighters, their creators controlling them remotely from nearby to avoid direct damage. Hers covered her body to enhance her capabilities, and solidified into ice to act as armor.
In one particular battle that saw the rearguard ambushed by a contingent of Fallen, she used her avatar of ice to fight them off. Her actions earned her praise from all of the Devils she helped save, as well as the Satans themselves for managing to preserve their supply line. Against her wishes, she was given command of an entire battalion comprised of about five hundred Devils. Her battalion also led most of the artillery regiment she was part of, numbering about three thousand in total.
The unexpected end of the Great War meant that she was still the leader of her mostly-intact regiment of magical artillery. Almost half of them had their fates decided by the clans they were a part of, but after all was said and done she had over a thousand Devils left that looked to her to see which of the new factions she would support. Her indecision was interpreted as neutrality, and she gained a following all her own as one of the most prominent Devils to refuse contact with either side. Though she wasn't clan head, Lord and Lady Sitri were mostly ignored for being less powerful than her.
Eventually, she was the last major player that had not made her intentions clear. The leaders of the Old Satan Faction and the Anti-Satan Faction were already preparing for civil war, and if either could win her over, the support of the Devils under her could potentially swing initial momentum in either direction with a well-placed strike. From Rizevim, she received an ultimatum: join her forces to his, or forfeit her territory, which bordered the Satan territories. From the Sirzechs and Ajuka, two people she had served alongside during the war, albeit briefly, she received what seemed like a polite invitation for a meeting to discuss her tenuous position.
Being young and inexperienced, she accepted the invitation from the Anti-Satan Faction for a meeting, thinking she could use the opportunity to distance herself and her family from the dangerous affair and declare neutrality. In the eyes of her subordinates and the rest of Devil society, it was as good as having chosen. Her acceptance was reported to Lord Sitri while he was in the middle of formally ceding a portion of the Sitri territory to the leaders of the Old Satan Faction. He was actually sitting in a meeting with Rizevim when the other man received the news. Attempts to take him hostage failed when the Anti-Satan Faction launched the first attack of what would become the Devil Civil War on the meeting location.
Ajuka, having purposefully drafted the invitation to Serafall in such a way that she would be likely to accept it, used Lord Sitri as bait to lure out Rizevim, who had gone into hiding in preparation for his own assault. The preemptive strike was wildly successful, especially since Sirzechs and the head of the Sitri Clan managed to incapacitate the heir to Lucifer in the chaos. Unfortunately, the Anti-Satan Faction failed to capture the leader of the opposition, but the surprise attack did result in the death or imprisonment of many of the higher-ranking officers of the numerically inferior Old Satan Faction. For the duration of the Civil War, Rizevim would never show himself in public or personally participate in battle, allowing Sirzechs and Ajuka, later joined by Falbium Glasya-Labolas, to claim victory in key locations, including Lucifaad and Agreas. When the capital of the Old Satans was taken with their faction's leaders nowhere in sight, the trio proclaimed the end of the short war mere months after it began. Rizevim and the other heirs to the Old Satans were never found.
During all of this, Serafall found herself once more an unwilling commander. The only difference this time was she did not do much fighting. After the initial stages of the war, both sides mostly left her alone. The Old Satan Faction didn't have the resources to devote to hunting her down or retaliating against her without incurring unacceptable losses. The Anti-Satan Faction was more than content to let her and the Devils under her leadership act as a passive distraction. Even when she did nothing, she still drained valuable resources from the enemy due to her territory's proximity to theirs.
In the aftermath of the war, she was approached by the leaders of the Anti-Satan Faction, Sirzechs, Ajuka, and Falbium, and asked to be a part of the new government, perhaps one of its leaders. The Devils she led voiced their support. Her parents gave their approval. The rest of the Devils also saw her neutrality during the conflict as a good sign of her ability to lead under pressure. She adamantly refused. In the months following the Civil War, she was inducted anyway.
Needless to say, Serafall Leviathan, Satan of Foreign Affairs, was more than mildly annoyed.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Serafall's duties were simple. She was in charge of any dealings with the Angels or the Fallen, as well as maintaining at least neutral relationships with the rest of the world. The Angels hadn't left Heaven for almost a decade, and the Azazel, the leader of the Fallen, publicly announced his Faction's intent to avoid conflict. He even went so far as to establish lines of communication with all the new Four Great Satans, going over Serafall's head in order to do so. She didn't really mind, since she wasn't the biggest fan of her job anyway and it made it saved her the trouble. It also gave her more free time, which she mostly devoted to production of her magical girl show.
She had gotten hooked on the idea out of the blue one day and made the mistake of mentioning her wishes to be 'like a magical girl in her own show' to her parents. They took her seriously and, after careful consultation with several business-minded Devils, concluded it was an excellent opportunity to take advantage of her popularity and status. Ajuka heard about the venture and was more than happy to provide whatever assistance he could, viewing it as a way to reduce the fear others felt towards more powerful Devils. That the star of the show was slated to become a Satan herself in the near future was just a bonus. Said star was simultaneously peeved at having something else about her life decided without her input and ecstatic at the chance to live her dreams. Her excitement was dampened after she was inducted.
Early on, Serafall did her best to weasel out of her responsibilities. She sent silly messages all the time, was overly friendly with anyone she dealt with, and even went out of her way to poke and prod at Heaven's gates every so often. This backfired on her when her efforts were rewarded with positive results in more than one way.
Azazel actively encouraged her behavior and appreciated her attitude. Her complaints about the stuffiness of her diplomat's robes were met an offhand suggestion to wear whatever she felt was comfortable. Thus, she began wearing her magical girl outfit all the time. When they met again, he had blinked and immediately offered to sponsor her show to broadcast it to a wider audience via magic. Ajuka, by now keeping a close eye on anything concerning the Satan that was quite possibly loved the most out of all of them, heard about this and negotiated a deal with the studio that produced Miracle Levia-tan. Soon, the show's acts were being reenacted everywhere, and magical copies of recordings began distribution. Serafall's popularity skyrocketed further, much to her confusion.
The Great Seraph Michael, questioning why some of his Angels suddenly fell despite Heaven's gates being closed, discovered the cause was the Devil that had literally knocked on the front doors to his domain. In the first communication from Heaven in several years, he politely asked her to stop whatever it was she was doing, as it was detrimental to the continued functionality of God's system. His request for a meeting was lauded as one of her greatest successes, much to her dismay. When it was discovered that Gabriel, the Angel's equivalent to her, was a fan of the show, Serafall's position was cemented. The Foreign Affairs Satan was dumbfounded.
So it was that Serafall Leviathan resigned herself to her bureaucratic fate.
Decades passed. The Devils established relations with the other pantheons, who were surprised at how different the new Satans were compared to the old ones. Tensions between the Three Factions remained high, but their leaders had at least a tacit understanding with each other. Michael relented in his Faction's isolation once he determined God's system was not in danger of immediate failure. Azazel happily offered reports on his Faction's activities as a gesture of goodwill. Sirzechs, Ajuka, Falbium, and Serafall each busied themselves with their respective jobs.
Sirzechs, the Satan of Domestic Affairs, could be seen in public frequently with other High-Class Devils, constantly working to smooth relations between clans who had been on opposite sides of the Civil War. Ajuka, the Satan of Technology, began work on a secret project to counter the population problem the Devils faced. Falbium, the Satan of Military Affairs, grudgingly but dutifully rebuilt the armies of the Devils, also making sure to discipline and train those he felt were slacking off more than he was. As for Serafall, she attended a bunch of boring meetings with old people.
The people she met with were part of a previously hidden group of reclusive Magicians that maintained their own governments within the governments of the world's many nations. They called themselves wizards as if that were some sort of distinction that deserved praise.
Centuries ago, all of the wizards and witches went into hiding to avoid persecution at the hands of the less magically-inclined population, and they were assumed to have gone extinct. Serafall learned that this was due to a law called the International Statute of Secrecy. It was anyone's guess how they had actually managed to hide from the rest of the magical world for so long, but she was relatively certain it had something to do with their unique brand of magic. Wizardkind could not only survive contact with raw magical energy, but manipulate it to work their spells.
Their abilities made them both dangerous enemies and desirable allies… or as research specimens for those less friendly. Serafall's attempts to impress this fact upon their hardheaded International Confederation were met with incredulity and general dismissal. Only their leader, the oldest of them all, seemed to take her seriously. His voice was unfortunately drowned out by the majority. The catastrophic failure of their Statute dominated most of her meetings with them, and the prevailing opinion was that it should be reinstituted as soon as possible. When she asked them how they planned on accomplishing such a feat now that all of the Three Factions and many others besides knew of their continued existence, they were evasive with their responses.
It was only a matter of time before regular humans found out about magic and began asking questions, which was a situation none of the mythical beings were comfortable with. As it turned out, mentioning this fact was the turning point in their conversations. Wizards were apparently terrible with technology, a fact that was only somewhat explained by the tendency of modern electronics to fail in the presence of their magic. Ajuka's best guess was that since a wizard's body channeled magic like other bodies did electrical signals, the magic amplified that and short-circuited anything nearby, but his theory was untested and the answer was unimportant. What was important was that once they had the concept of television and remote surveillance explained to them, almost all of the wizards had panicked, turned towards a bunch of hooded figures in the corner, and demanded to know why their countermeasure had failed.
Serafall's pointed question about what 'countermeasure' this was went unanswered, and she was ushered out of the council chamber in short order. Less than five minutes later, she forgot all about what she had heard once she exited the building. It would be several months until she inexplicably remembered the incident, and by then, it would be too late.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"'Unspeakable'?"
"Sounds like them. Every government's got their share of top secret projects. For us wizards, the Unspeakables are the ones who work on them."
Serafall fought to stay calm. Nothing was out of place in her room. Her blue eyes stared back at her from her standing mirror, next to the open door of her expansive closet. Several different outfits were strewn across the floor inside. Various stuffed animals sat on shelves mounted haphazardly on the walls. Posters of her posing in her signature magical girl outfit were plastered anywhere there happened to be empty space, and the whole room was painted pink and blue. In one corner of the room sat an out-of-place coat hanger, reserved for her boyfriend's use.
She turned to look at her bed. On it, sitting in one big pile, was all of her lingerie. The ornate wooden dresser nearby had all of its drawers open and emptied from when she had done so earlier that morning before remembering she had a meeting to attend. The dress she had picked out for her date was next to the pile, the eye-catching midnight blue fabric still just as appealing as it had been when she set it aside. Everything in her room was exactly where she had left it.
And yet, it was all wrong. The inside of her mansion felt foreign to her. The whole world twisted and turned in a dizzying blur of colors if she looked around too much. The picture of her and Harry on the dresser distorted before her very eyes, the background becoming a dozen different places at once, their clothes morphing to match. Sometimes, he had his arm around her. Sometimes, she was on his back. One time, they had even gone on a date in the snowy region of her family's territory. He wore a pouting expression as the snowman he'd built was outshone by the lifelike ice sculpture next to it. She was beaming at him. Who had been holding the camera?
But none of those pictures sat on her dresser. She stared down at her hand, at the engagement ring on her finger. The pink sapphire set in it was mesmerizing, but as always, her attention was more directed at the silver band. The moment captured in time on that little square sheet of paper was of her on top of him after he proposed. It was taken barely three days ago. At least, that was what her mind told her.
No. She remembered it clearly. It was the one and only time he had ever gone so far. They had never gotten to that stage in their short few months together. The very thought simultaneously delighted and confused her. Hundreds of dates, culminating in a proposal. And yet, their first meeting took place less than a year ago. How was such a thing possible? Why was she only now remembering him? Her head throbbed painfully.
The world shook. Serafall blinked and regained her balance before she fell. Her initial thoughts were that she needed rest and medicine. Then the world shook again. She realized her room was actually shaking.
"Wha…?"
The third tremor was much longer than the first two. When it continued for several seconds, the warding built into her mansion activated on its own to preserve the integrity of the building.
The Satan territories didn't get earthquakes. Heck, most of the Underworld didn't get earthquakes. Serafall wasted no time in contacting the other Satans. Ajuka was the first to pick up.
"Serafall? Where are you?"
"Is the Underworld shaking, or is it just me?" she asked seriously.
"It's happening everywhere. We don't know why, since there's no epicenter," he said.
"Eh?"
Her bewilderment was short-lived as the shaking grew stronger. Emergency wards activated and stabilized everything, but she had already begun levitating.
Despite her normally ditzy behavior and relative youth, Serafall was, at the very least, above average in intelligence. She'd never gotten tested for it and never finished formal schooling due to the Great War and subsequent Civil War, but life-threatening situations had a way of motivating people to learn things.
No large-scale shaking like an earthquake could occur without an epicenter in the Underworld. If there were a way to take control of and move the whole mass of the planet Earth, then somebody could cause tremors without a central point, but the Underworld didn't work that way. First of all, it wasn't a planet or even a defined mass. As far as any of the Devils or other mythical beings knew, the Underworld had no end. Nobody had ever reached any sort of barrier indicating a border and returned to tell the tale. It was like an infinite plane in every direction. Therefore, anything resembling an earthquake had to have an epicenter. For Ajuka to say none existed meant the origin of the tremors wasn't in the Underworld to begin with. The only problem was, not even Sirzechs or the Old Satans could project enough power to shake an entire dimension from another dimension.
As her thoughts raced, Serafall's body wasn't idle. She finished crafting the long-distance teleportation circle in seconds and was about to utilize it… until her magic failed. She barely had time to register that she could no longer feel much of anything before she abruptly fell from the air. Since the ceiling of her bedroom wasn't that high to begin with, she didn't fall very far, but the surprise factor caused her to stumble as she landed.
The world shifted.
Serafall blinked and found herself on the floor. Her mind was fuzzy, as if she just woke up. She got up and looked around in confusion. What had she just been doing? Sleeping on the floor? The silence of her bedroom offered no answers. Everything was exactly how it always was, the sparse furniture and plain walls doing little to add any warmth to the room.
She never really liked her bedroom of her mansion. It felt empty no matter what she tried to do to it. Eventually, she'd given up and just had the entire thing reverted back to the way it had been when she moved in. The lone decoration on the white walls was a single poster of her posing for her magical girl show. The door to her closet was closed, having never been opened since the first time she examined the room. Actually, now that she thought about it, she had opened the door one other time. The itchy formal diplomat's robes were probably still hanging in there. Otherwise, all the clothing she needed for her everyday duties was in her dresser. She only ever wore her magical girl's outfit, so at least getting dressed was simple.
It was strange though. Something felt wrong about the situation. Deciding it was just her mind playing tricks on her, Serafall shook herself from her stupor and exited the room. The less time she spent indoors, the better. Looking outside the floor-to-ceiling windows in her hallway, she saw the same barren landscape as always. The Satan territories weren't much for scenic views since the Civil War when they had been the focus of much of the fighting. Idly, she wondered why the artificial sun was already setting. Had she taken a nap?
Maybe a shower would help. Certainly, some cold water would ease the building headache.
Serafall paused mid-step. She didn't get headaches. Devils were normally the very picture of health, the more powerful ones even more so. They of course suffered from specialized diseases and ailments that were unique to them, but for the most part, mundane things like headaches were not counted as symptoms. The only time a Satan would ever get a headache was from magical overexertion.
She put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. Her reserves were near full. Why then, was she unable to channel any of it? Panic was unlike her, but she had never experienced powerlessness like this. Her mind fought to come up with a plausible reason for her condition. She came to a conclusion quickly. It was possible she had her powers sealed without her knowledge and was left in her bedroom so she would be unable to interfere with whatever the perpetrator planned to do. Being as powerful as she was, Serafall had not been sealed before, but others described what it felt like and she recognized the signs. It also conveniently explained why she had woken up on the floor.
If that was the case, then she had several priorities. Serafall turned around and went back to her bedroom. First, she had to determine if she was correct in her assumptions. It was not unheard of to seal a Satan's powers; it had been done during the Great War for very brief periods of time. But, to do so required a specialized ritual. The Biblical God was able to craft spells capable of the same by Himself, but the Angels under his command, even the Seraphs, needed to band together to accomplish such a feat. Even then, in all but one case, the Angels participating in the ritual were unable to do anything else except stand still and maintain the spell. In that singular case, the Satan had been sealed using the Three Holy Relics.
Serafall didn't delude herself into thinking she was the equal of any of the Old Satans. However, she was not so weak as to be restrained by remote seals either. Since the presence of others in or around her mansion would surely have been noticed by the surveillance wards, that meant there was most likely some object or anchor responsible for her inability to use magic. She threw open the door to her bedroom.
Her instinctual usage of a searching spell was thwarted by her inability to channel any magical energy. She frowned and walked in, looking around critically. The empty feeling assaulted her senses again as she went around poking and prodding at different parts of the room. Nothing appeared different, but visual indicators could easily be hidden by magic. Serafall picked a random spot on the wall and kicked it lightly. When she didn't feel anything, she kicked with full force and caved it in, revealing the adjacent room. Lack of magical control over her energy apparently didn't translate to lack of natural Devil attributes such as enhanced strength. Pleased with her discovery, she went around and did the same thing to the other walls.
After the destruction of her bedroom walls, followed by the bed itself, the dresser, the door to her closet, and the shredding of her diplomat's robes (it made her feel better), she didn't find anything. Serafall huffed irritably. Her room was as empty as ever, so there were not many places to hide things to begin with. She could systematically dismantle her entire residence, but time was not on her side. She tried to channel magic again and predictably failed.
Why didn't the Satans have any sort of non-magical means of communication in case of emergency? In her head, she knew it was because it was unthinkable for a Satan to be sealed in the first place, but she pushed the thought aside. Her options were limited.
She could always pick a direction and run. If the seal weakened based on distance from the anchor to her, she could contact someone for help once she had enough control to do so. That assumed she was not bound to her mansion. It would be child's play to set up wards around her existing ones to keep her from going too far, and without magic, there was little she could do except brute-force her way through. More than possible, but once again time-consuming. Also, what if the seal was on her somewhere? Actually, that was a distinct possibility.
Serafall took her clothes off and walked over to the mirror she had thankfully left intact. No visible markings. She turned around and saw nothing on her back anywhere either. Again, this didn't mean much since magic could hide things and only an amateur would not have thought of such a simple countermeasure. Then, her eyes alighted on an unfamiliar piece of jewelry. A silver ring on her hand that she had somehow failed to notice earlier.
She examined it closely, weighing her options. There was a good chance it was a very powerful artifact. The way her eyes kept sliding off of it only meant it was also enchanted. Enchantments meant traps. That it wasn't visually disguised meant she was supposed to see it. No doubt she would be unable to take it off without some sort of consequence. The question was, was it worth it? She was a Satan, after all. Plus, the wards around her mansion monitored her well-being. If removing the ring physically or mentally hurt her, it would register and warn the rest of the Satans she was being attacked. But what if that's what was supposed to happen? What if gathering the Satans to her was part of the plan?
The ring seemed to laugh at her. Serafall glared at it balefully.
Eventually, she decided anything was better than remaining helpless. Just in case, she put her magical girl's outfit back on. As soon as she was redressed, she grasped the ring on her left ring finger and twisted, trying to pull it off. She felt a strange tugging sensation from her stomach as she was pulled forward without actually moving. It was disorienting and uncomfortable. The world spun around her as she travelled through space. The environment became a blur. When everything came into focus again, Serafall found herself once more on the ground, this time in a place that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Strange, eerie trees made up a forest on one side, while she could see a castle and a lake in the distance.
"Where…?"
"You have arrived."
Serafall jumped to her feet and pointed a finger in the direction of the voice. A magical circle sprang to life at her command, much to her hidden joy. She turned to face the speaker a moment later and saw an elderly man in dark blue robes.
"Who are you?" she asked warily.
"Irrelevant. If you must have a name, call me Merlin," the old man answered.
She blinked. Merlin spoke, cutting off her next question.
"We have no time. The ring, please."
"The ring?" Serafall looked down at the hand that wasn't preparing to fire her best doom laser. "What do you want with this ring? Were you the one who sealed my powers?"
Instead of responding, the man popped out of existence with a crack, reappearing right in front of her. Serafall's surprised yelp was accompanied by her spell going off, but a wrinkled hand on her wrist made the freezing laser impact the ground harmlessly, generating a large patch of ice. Grey eyes stared into hers as Merlin's other hand reached down and grasped her other hand. His hand on the ring on her left hand snapped her out of her surprised state and she kneed the old man in the gut. She then kicked him away.
His aged features showed no signs of pain as he gently floated to the ground. In his right hand he held the ring that had previously been on Serafall's finger.
"Hey! Give that back!" she cried indignantly.
She didn't know why exactly she wanted the thing that was responsible for sealing her powers back, but it was a rather pretty ring, even if the weird stone set in it was a bit off-putting. She could get it replaced with something like a sapphire later. Merlin ignored her and tossed the ring over his shoulder, a swirling black-and-white portal opening up to swallow it. He then casually deflected several ice spears and regarded her with something she thought was curiosity.
"Hmm. I still don't understand how he was able to tell the difference between you and me," he mused. "When I assumed your form on that day that the two of you met, he was somehow able to distinguish between us even though I replicated your mannerisms perfectly."
"HEY! Keep your hands off of him!"
For some reason, his statement angered her greatly. It was strange. Wait, who was Harry? Merlin's gaze sharpened, unnerving her.
"…Interesting," he commented. "We've determined that he cannot passively effect changes in the physiology of others, and this spell is supposed to be otherwise infallible if you cannot already manipulate raw magic. How is it then that your soul remembers?"
The headache was back. Serafall winced as it hit her. Why? Why was everything so familiar? She'd never been here before. Why did that name make her happy? She didn't know a Harry, did she? It wasn't a very common name. What was that part about her soul? What manner of Magician was this man?
"Who are you?!" she demanded.
"Mm. A much more difficult question than I had first thought. But again, we are short on time. If you ask me again later, I promise to answer you in full. Unfortunately, your presence here will disrupt his concentration. Farewell."
Merlin raised his hand and waved at her casually. Magic washed over her, and she felt the tugging sensation again. She tried to summon her own magic to counter it, but the other man's energy seemed to devour hers. Belatedly, she realized he used raw magic. Was he a wizard then, like the others she had been meeting with recently?
There was no counter to raw magic. But, that didn't mean she was at his mercy. Whatever the old man was casting apparently took a while to complete. With a thought, she preempted the spell and teleported herself next to him. To her disappointment, he wasn't very surprised. The way he caught her punch shocked her.
"Serafall, once was enough. I would much rather you didn't hit me again," Merlin said flatly.
While her mind was still playing catch-up to what had happened, she was pushed backwards. A moment later, a spell hit her and she was utterly unable to move her body from the neck down. She twisted and turned her head to try and struggle free, thinking the wizard had conjured invisible restraints on her. She soon realized that was not the case.
"What the heck?"
"Mm… still imperfect," the man noted. "Truly, the path to being a true wizard is long. It is inconvenient that I am not allowed to use my normal magic as part of my training, but I suppose sacrifices have to be made."
Merlin waved his hand in her direction again. The tugging sensation returned. Serafall tried to teleport again, but as soon as she thought of it, she was hit with a compulsion to stay still. She shook her head rapidly, doing nothing to help her headache, and tried once more. The compulsion was even stronger.
"You are making this much more difficult than it has to be. I want to send you home."
"Well, I don't wanna go!" she said petulantly. Merlin deadpanned at her, the expression making his aged features look disappointed in a grandfatherly way.
Serafall fought the urge to grin. This was a serious situation! Probably. Her powers had been mysteriously sealed, and the instrument used to seal them was in someone else's possession. What if it was used again later? She had to at least get it back. Something inside of her agreed wholeheartedly with that plan, though she didn't know why. Also, that same something was telling her not to give up, or else she'd never see this place again. She'd never see him again.
The old wizard sighed and raised both hands. Suddenly, Serafall felt very sleepy.
No! No no no! Wait! She couldn't let herself fall asleep. She couldn't let Merlin send her away. If she did, that was it. She didn't know what was going on anymore. Her head hurt so much. But, she knew that ring was the key. She absolutely had to get it back. It was the one thought that dominated everything else.
Words came unbidden to her lips.
"Finite Incantatem."
Something in the surrounding environment reacted to her words, gifting her with energy she'd never wielded before. Blazing green eyes stared into hers for a brief instant. Merlin showed surprise for the first time since she'd appeared. Surprise, and a hint of panic. Serafall felt the magic holding her in place fade away, along with her drowsiness. She got to her feet triumphantly with a smile. She had no idea what she did, but apparently it had worked. She pointed at the old man.
"Alright bub! Now you're gonna give me that ring back!"
He didn't react at first. After a few seconds, he breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Did he foresee this?" Merlin said to himself. "Or was it just luck?"
Serafall's smile faded.
"Hey! Pay attention!"
She cast a wide-area freezing spell on him. Merlin muttered something under his breath and her spell vanished into thin air as if it had never existed. A moment later, he disappeared with another crack. She whirled around, ice armor already forming on her body as she stayed on high alert. Alas, her efforts were in vain as the old man floated several meters in the sky above her.
"Ahh, he's going to be angry with me again…" Merlin remarked idly.
Serafall looked up. A flash of red was the last thing she saw before she fell unconscious.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Waking up this time was completely different. Without knowing exactly how she knew, Serafall could tell the whole world had changed somehow on some fundamental level. Then, she opened her eyes.
"Good morning, Sera. How do you feel?"
Ah. So that's what it was.
"Harry…"
"Before you say anything, let me say that I'm sorry. I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you. And don't worry, I'll bring them all back, even if it takes everything I have."
Everyone… her parents, her sister, her friends and family. How many people…?
"I'll leave you to recover," Harry continued. "Whenever you're ready, I'll be waiting in the next room over. Take your time." He got up off of the bed and made to exit the room.
"Wait."
He stopped at the doorway.
"Please. Don't leave me again…"
Harry returned to the bed. When he sat back down, she hugged him tightly.
"I don't blame you," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt. "It's not your fault."
"It is," he said quietly. "I was the one who selfishly broke free. Everything would have worked out if I didn't interfere in the Great War. All because I wanted to meet you earlier. And look at me now. I'm still bound by the Hallows."
She didn't know or care about what he said.
"Nobody could have known. You didn't know. And you still don't."
"What?"
Serafall hardened her resolve and reached out with her newly reawakened senses until she found the ring, or rather the stone set in it. The Resurrection Stone responded in the affirmative to her unspoken question. Good. That was one down.
"I'll take them from you. Give them to me."
"Serafall, you don't understand-"
"No. You listen to me, Harry. I've had enough of you leaving me alone. I'm not gonna let you die and leave me again. If that means I have to go and punch Death in the face myself to get you back, so help me I will find a way."
Harry stared at her.
"Sera, I-"
"Nuh uh! Don't you 'Sera' me! I've already got the stone's approval! That just means the cloak and the wand and BAM, I'm the new Master of Death! You'll be free to be with me forever!"
"Sera, that's not how the Deathly Hallows works…"
"Yes it is! Well, not quite like that, but it's basically the same! Now gimme the other two!"
"No."
Serafall blinked.
"Wha?"
"I said, 'no'. I won't let you die for me, Sera. I may not know everything about them, but I know that accepting death is a condition for the Hallows to work."
"Accepting Death is easy! You did it when you died; I can do it without dying!"
"That's not how it works!" Harry almost shouted. "If you accept death, you die!"
Serafall's mouth opened in a little 'o'.
"Harry, is it possible… you don't know?"
It was Harry's turn to pause and blink. His initial fury at someone he loved essentially planning to commit suicide subsided, though it simmered just below the surface. Centuries of control reasserted itself.
"Know what?"
"Death. Did you ever ask the Hallows about your contract with them?"
"Yes. It's why I wanted them destroyed. My magic is bound to Death until they are passed on or I kill my soul. My only other option is to destroy them."
Serafall let go of him and sat up.
"So… pass them on to me?"
"Sera…"
"No no no wait. The whole thing about 'accepting Death' isn't talking about dying. You have to accept Death as your master." At Harry's contemplative look, she continued. "It's like a Catch-22. By accepting that you must die, you are given power over death. The Hallows took this to the extreme by giving their owners power over Death. Capital 'D'."
"And you know this, because?"
"They told me! Er. The stone told me."
Harry deadpanned at her, but his expression soon changed into one of realization.
"Wait, do you actually talk to them?" he asked with sudden urgency.
"Uh. Yeah? Don't you?" Serafall asked.
"As in, with words? They talk back?"
"Well, I get vague ideas from the other two, but the stone talks to me. In fact, you'll never guess who it introduced itself as at first! I mean, later I found out it tricked me, but still it's practically your dad anyway."
Harry wasn't paying attention to her, lost in his thoughts. Eventually, he whispered the most prominent one aloud.
"Why do they talk to you, but not to me…?"
"You're the Master. Duh. Why would they talk to you?"
He inhaled sharply. He didn't move for several seconds. When he finally did, it was to get up and beat his head against the indestructible frame of the four-poster bed they were on. Serafall giggled at his, in her opinion, overdramatic mannerisms. His cloak was definitely to blame for rubbing off on him, not that she minded. He eventually stopped.
"So. Now that we've established I'm a total moron, does that mean…?"
"Yep. Why do you think you can't actually use Death without the wand? Some 'Master of Death' you are!" she teased. "You're still bound by the contract though."
Harry grabbed her by the shoulders. She paused at the serious look in his eyes.
"This is vitally important, Serafall. Do you understand?"
"Uh. Yes?"
"I will never do this to you again. But tell me honestly. Will you die?"
Serafall blinked. She smiled gently.
"No, Harry. I won't."
He stared into her eyes for a long time. The eyes weren't actually windows to the soul, but he developed the habit of using them as such ever since he discovered his new abilities. Harry looked at the love of his life and searched deeper until he found her soul, or at least the physical representation of it. It was everything he thought it would be, shining brightly despite the singular black streak in it. The cracks running through it were gone with the full restoration of her memories, though it still fluctuated from time to time, its shape unstable. As if sensing his eyes on it, the amorphous blob of matter bounced around playfully.
Harry examined her soul. It told him all that he needed to know. It gave him the answers to the questions he wanted to ask without him having to ask her. With some guidance from the stone, Serafall hid nothing from him, giving him full access. She even tried to push some naughty memories at him when he lingered a little longer than her needed to in her soul space. Reluctantly, the Wizard pulled himself away. The last thing he checked on before he left was the Piece bonded to her. It had integrated itself seamlessly into her magical core and was doing its job of stabilizing everything admirably.
When he blinked, he was once again staring into familiar blue eyes.
"Okay," he agreed.
"Mm?"
"Okay. You can have them. But," he said quickly when he saw she was about to pounce him, "one at a time. I saw what happened to you when you first accepted the stone."
"Urk," Serafall winced. "Ugh. Fiiine." A thought occurred to her. "Hey. Does that mean I get to call you 'Master' all the time now?"
"Please don't."
"Oh come on! You know what I mean when I say it!"
"I know what everyone means when they say it. I just don't like to be reminded."
Serafall deflated slightly.
"…Why do you hate your magic so much?"
"I think you mean my title. But, there's a simple reason. My title and my magic take from others without giving anything back. 'Tyrant' is an apt descriptor for what I am."
"I disagree," she said while she hugged him. "Don't forget the other word, Mr. Noble."
"…Right. I love you too, Sera," he replied, hugging her back.
"Mhm."
They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Later that night, as she lay in bed naked next to her sleeping husband, Serafall whispered the words she'd never gotten the chance to say before, at least not fully as herself.
"I love you too, Harry. Don't worry; this time, it'll work out. We'll both make sure of it."
For a moment, her irises darkened to a violet hue before returning to blue. The golden hourglass on the bedside stand glowed softly, unnoticed by the two occupants of the room.
