37. Monsters and Maidens

Noel was pacing.

Pacing came in handy sometimes, if you were someone who had a lot to think about and was so restless that sitting down or even merely remaining immobile would be identical to torture by a guillotine. His dark boots slammed over the floor, and he hoped to Elathan that his brother could hear the loud quakes, because soon enough, those would be coming for him. And rest assured, these boots were not made for walking.

The Eyes proved to be more useful than for visionaries. This creature interred by negligees was pret-ty well taught in the language of the kage-oni Shadow Dancers, and quickly it became Noel's 'favorite' person—but saying that Noel has a 'favorite' person is a little radical, because by saying that he's basically declaring there is one person in the whole universe he can stand, and there were days he couldn't stand the Eyes—and even then, did the Eyes technically count as a person?—when it nicely took the letter that Silas was being a douche about. It would cost him more than a vision (the Eyes was greedy and would do anything for money), but it was worth it, if it meant sabotaging Silas's ridiculous party plans. The whole time that he was communicating with Elomne he was putting another foot inside of his grave. Now, just to figure out what he was planning, and Noel would have the legal ability to kill him. Not that he wouldn't do it if it was illegal. He'd still do it anyway, and tell the public that the kage-oni fell out of a window or something.

"I really don't care what I pay," Noel told the Eyes, pacing back and forth across the floor of his throne room in front of the very chair itself. He'd commanded all help to stay out of here for now, since this was a private matter—all except for Eustace, who was standing in the corner quietly. Noel's reason for doing that wasn't an act of protection; he was doing it to keep his one-up on Eloquim, who would've pounced on Eustace if he was anywhere out of Noel's sight, demanding answers of him. Still, the bug-eyed servant considered it something of protecting him. He'd thanked Noel for his kindness all the way here. It was tempting just to leave him out there and let Eloquim eat him alive, but he needed to keep his messenger from pointy dog teeth for now. "Just read the letter—aloud, smartass."

The Eyes kept the paper in its hands, looking down at it. "'To former leader of the Shadow Dancing community,'" it began.

"Oh, great," Noel grumbled. "What a wonderful title. I'd hang myself if that was my name. And the hell: 'Shadow Dancing community.'" His nerves allowed him to snort, jittery.

The Eyes went on, and with each word, a feeling was knotting in Noel's stomach. "'As per our written word beforehand this one, I, Elomne, current leader of the Shadow Dancers, will pursue the plan you have set for me. I have already arranged means with Catherine, the powerful witch I was talking to you about earlier with our correspondence. She has willingly offered to agree to our deal, but she had one negotiation that I agreed to, since it plead fair: She wished us not to kill the band of ninja that you hate so much—she said it be her duty by Nature to keep them from total harm, but she did decree we are allowed to maim them, battle them, attack without killing. I sought it fair. In return for her services, I promised her what she was after, what you offered. The Yin will be captured by my people and transported to her without serious bodily damage. There will be no'—"

"Wait a second," Noel stopped dead in his tracks, slowly turning to face the Eyes at his back with such a bared fang that he saw the creature take a step back. "Did you just say the Yin?"

"It is written here, the symbol for Yin." Eyes nodded. "I did say so."

Oh, that manipulative bastard. Why didn't Noel think of this? Of course Eloquim would offer up Seiko, knowing it would piss Noel off to no end. He had no idea in Hell who Catherine was, but he heard the word witch, and that wasn't too cheery a sound. Plus, Eloquim wasn't stupid enough to ship Seiko off to some harmless foster mom. Catherine was inexorably dangerous. She wouldn't be nice to Seiko, especially with her powers of the Yin that she oddly never tried to master. No, this was a train set on the ride for disaster.

He grit his teeth as Eyes went on. Now he was going to kill Eloquim, legal or not. "'There will be no question about the night our assail takes place, while we attack the ninja and steal the girl from her home. It will happen today, and whatever time Catherine sees fit for herself. I was told she must prepare for her ritual first.'" Noel almost choked on his own tongue.

"'But despite the deal with Catherine, there is still a need for this Yin. As you already know, Kaos the Deadly was destroyed in the dimensional explosion, where I too should have died if I had not escaped so early. I do not know what Catherine intends to use the girl for, but I can tell you that she is needed for the Shadow Key, which currently is misplaced. It was said to have been destroyed in the explosion, but something that powerful does not just die along with a mere bomb. It still remains in that tattered dimension. With Catherine's help, I have bargained that if she opens that dimension for me, allowing me to slip inside and find the Key, my Shadow Dancers will offer her undivided protection and assistance. That may not seem much in my eyes, but to that wanted witch I am sure it'll come to her use. You see, though she is bound by Nature, time has made Catherine darker, and she does wish for what we do: the destruction of Nature during the Great Battle, so that she may no longer be Nature's advocate slave.

"'What Catherine does not know is that she will not be keeping that Yin for long. Kaos did tell me many great things in his day and one thing he did mention was the Heart of Darkness. That is what is used to complete the Shadow Key's assembly; you need the darkest heart in the whole universe to complete it, by taking the Key and jamming the cage into the chest of who holds that heart. When the heart is removed and lies within the cage, it will crystallize and awaken the Shadow Key's true power. Kaos suspected brilliantly that the Heart of Darkness belonged to the Yin, who naturally carries a dark heart. I have made it my duty to figure out if this theory was correct or not. That is why Catherine doesn't know I will be 'borrowing' the girl from her as well. And when the Shadow Key is completed, my Lord, the only thing standing between you and Earth is the gate in which I intend to open.

"'Our siege begins today. I plan on seeing you soon, and to your last note: I hope this attempt on ousting your pest brother works better than before. The Underworld could use a leader who knows how to take over Earth. Elomne.'" Eyes let the paper fall into one hand, splitting from both that held it to fall to one side. "Your brother intends to take over Aboveground, I see."

Noel's fists, so tightly clenched underneath his black gloves, his anger that pushed him forth this Rising boiling hotter than ever before. His hatred toward his brother now surfaced, tightening its jaws around him, making him wish to destroy that bastard with everything he had—and that was a lot. For the moment in time, he didn't care about the monster inside of him he tried so hard to depress. In fact, at this moment he accepted it; this was what he was, a demon, a monster made by anger and fueled by hatred. He was nothing more than that, was he? His focus hung onto every word Eyes said, lingering in the air between them, still shadowing over Noel with an eclipse so dark there was no light, no joke left in this.

'Ousting' him, eh? So in previous letters, Silas was planning on overthrowing him, most likely so he could take over the Kingdom of Death and charge into Aboveground when the Gates were open, spewing out every last demon that was ever invented and born. He wanted to be the one to lead that attack because he knew that Noel would never allow it as King.

That son of a satyr. Noel felt the fiery rage building up in his hands, the gloves getting warm; he could feel it crawling through the veins on his jaw and clambering up his cheeks, visibly webbing his skin with lava. His shoulders tensed. He knew all along that his brother was doing something fishy, but he never thought it would come to this. He never thought Silas would be planning to get rid of him. His own little brother.

There was no brotherly bond there; that much was obvious. There never had been. Noel had wanted to build one, but it never sprouted, instead only watering a heavily competitive relationship that didn't even count as a relationship. But there was never any expectation that Silas might want to kill Noel.

Noel had every reason to kill him now. Silas didn't stand a chance.

He didn't wait for Eyes to do anything more. He began walking quickly towards the large doors in his throne room, taking long strides that way, and with fury he threw open the large door so severely there was the sound of something cracking. And these were large doors, audience. Very large.

Stampeding the hallway, he felt the fire in him getting worse, his anger growing. A brother so riddled by power he will not stop at anything, I suppose. He has no limits. He bargained Seiko for the mere pleasure of pissing me off—I'm guessing he WANTS to see me mad. He wants to see the monster I truly am. He hasn't ever seen what I can be, since he's never been around, but I don't doubt he did his research on me before he stepped into my life. How foolish I am to have let him in! This must've been his plan from the beginning. It must've been his intention from the start. A twisted attempt to rule what I own so he may take over Aboveground.

He'll never get it. I'll kill him before any worth happens.

He kicked open Silas's bedroom door without any expectation to see him in there—and rightfully he saw no one. He turned around to go look elsewhere. Though this castle was big, there were not a lot of places to hide.

"Looking for me?"

Noel spun, finding Silas walking down the hallway calmly, holding a dapplejuno in his hand. He seemed unconcerned about the anger on Noel's face, instead enjoying himself picking at the skin of the fruit, his clawed feet coming over the carpeted floor. Noel bared his teeth at him. "You," he growled, and threw himself at his brother.

Silas stepped out of the way at the last second, letting Noel whiz past him, still looking unbothered. "Oh, what have I done now? Is it that I'm stepping on your carpet barefoot? You really need to take anger management."

Noel skidded to a stop and turned around back at him, and flashed his teeth. "Don't pretend you don't know, you bastard."

"Who said I didn't know?" Silas continued picking at the dapplejuno's skin, preoccupied.

Noel threw himself in his brother's direction again. "You're dead!"

Silas yet again evaded the quick movements, stopping at another side to put his hand on his hip. "How can I enjoy this fruit in peace if you're trying to tackle me?"

Noel whirled back. "Cut the games. I know everything."

"Do you now?" Silas didn't care. He kept his look bored. "So, then, what's the square root of eighty-two?"

"RAGH!" Noel flew at Silas again. I won't miss this time. His outstretched hand, reaching for his brother's throat, was seconds away from a grab when his brother somehow shifted out of the way, bringing up his leg to kick Noel's feet out from underneath him, making him fall to the floor. Damn it, Noel thought, pushing himself onto his hands and knees, feeling Silas pushing him back down with his foot.

"I don't know what you think you know, but I can tell you that you're no match for me." Silas pushed down once, hard against Noel's back, but Noel refused to fall, instead reaching back with one hand and grabbing his leg, flinging him to the side with great strength. The Dapplejuno discarded, Silas hit the wall and slid to the bottom. Noel got to his feet and pulled off his gloves.

"I believe it's the other way around," he said. "I know all about your little plans, and trust me, you're not getting away with them."

Silas chuckled, pushing himself up. "Oh, do you, now? Well, I ought to be surprised, little brother. I'd think that you wouldn't have figured a way to read my letter. But you always have been resourceful."

"Allow me to use my resources while I torture you to death." Fire licked through Noel's veins, turning his skin into a glowing orange. He let that show in his bare hands and across his face, flowing around the long scar on his chest and into his dark heart, seeking Silas's death more than ever.

"Quick to threaten."

"You're trying to 'oust' me, you idiot," Noel growled. "I can threaten you all I want."

Silas wiped the corner of his long mouth as if something was matting to his fur there. Highly doubtable at this point, where details like that seemingly vanish from importance when priority 1 becomes destroying the very thing you see standing in front of you, which threatens to take you down and out, one way or the next.

"So it didn't take you long to read my letter," Silas intoned. "Not surprising."

"Does it really matter?" Noel flattened his own voice. "Enough talk, more decapitation."

"You're so dumb."

Noel pulled back his fist to punch out the traitor, sure that his aim was just right enough to slam into Silas's face and break that pathetic snout into ash, until the glitching of Silas's image before him led to the swing of a knuckle through empty air, slamming hard into the floor underneath. The carpeted ground fractured into a caved-in assault, where pieces of the floor actually broke off and jutted out of the ground, creating an inverted mountain. But there was no Silas wedged into that mess.

Noel turned around, finding that the sneaky kage-oni was leaning against the opposite wall, cavalierly inspecting his claws. His gator tail curled around his ankles. "You're dumb because you don't see what is obvious. I expect as much from a—well, what are you again? Didn't they call you a kakureta-Kere-oni when you were born?"

He bound together his teeth by clench, but held himself stable for a moment, wanting to regroup but finding that is not so easy when one was of his kind. Silas nodded to himself as if he'd solved his own mystery, exaggerating the tone of his voice. "Yes, yes, I think that was it—kakureta-Kapre-oni, a fire-demon hidden within a demon. Your power of fiery relatives and women, I don't think Father embellished that much, did he? After all, he was never fond of Kapre's descendants…"

"I'm no descendant of Kapre," Noel denied, hands afire, having repeated this argument all his life. Every time he would say it, it became less and less realistic in his mind until he was an "age" not too far ago. "My mother was human, unlike yours."

"Doesn't mean Kapre spirit couldn't inhabit you in the womb," Silas stare-outed him, flat and unbothered. "We all know what you are. Everyone's known what you are since you were born—it was the scandal of the Risings, dear brother. Everyone knows, but the King ordered the gossip cease or it would fare terribly." He shrugged. "It's no secret you're a hidden fire demon cast down from a Kapre."

A Kapre was—well, according to demonology written in the Book of Shinichi, was different from the Earth Kapre, which were large and lived in frosty climates. A Kapre in the Underworld was a demon said to be fashioned straight from fire, living on through fetuses with the essence of the pipe smoke that the first Kapre burned at his lips. The powerful smoke from his pipe supposedly penetrated the womb through inhalation by the mother and turned her child into a Kapre descendant without "blood relation." Kapre were only ever male, and they supposedly carried with them a scent much like the undeniably riveting smell of the first Kapre's pipe, which drew in females for all the wrong reasons. An Underworld Kapre was very dangerous. Because of the fire in its "genes," a Kapre had a short temper. And, well, that's that.

Noel hated having to hear one more second of Silas's meaningless, vomit-worthy speech. He surely is one to talk about being a demon, says the kage-oni. Worthless kage-oni, trying to give Noel a speech about his inner demons… He shoved his leg up to give Silas a kick in the chest, one that would come with his massive strength, swearing left and right that this time there was no way that he could miss. He couldn't. It wasn't possible.

But he only had to blink in order for Silas to be somewhere else: behind him.

He saw it coming, changing the course of his kick before it got to the original destination, and got his own landing on Silas. He slid backwards onto the floor, tail dragging between his legs.

It's not hard for the King to stomp forward, aiming his next hard, lava-stained punch into Silas's stomach and drive him many feet under the ground with the amps of his blow. He could feel the anger ready to blow off its cap, seconds away from unleashing his inner, more cruel and unstoppable self, the part of him that was controlled by the lava. Fire already is such an unstable thing, so unpredictable in its path—but turn it to lava and it spreads just as quickly. Having that in place of blood, his own brand of curse by the Kapre demon he was, made you unreliable. For all these years, holding down that instability was all he wanted to prove—especially to his father. He wanted to show everyone he was not who they thought they saw. Unlike every Kapre before him, he could hold down his bad side, and never let it take over.

At times like these, it was hard to forget that promise. Often he played his own advocate and named off all the reasons why it was perfectly fine to go off at less once. Silas needed to be taught a lesson, and it's not something you do with well-watered words. His father, who he tried so hard to impress, was not around anymore to be pestered with. In fact, with his abandonment, he cared no more for what he thought. It gave no reason to not let go of everything and let the rage take over.

The only thing usually grounding him these days was the thought of losing himself. What if he raged once, and then was forever gone? What if he became a Kapre for the rest of his life?

The last thought on his mind now was self-preservation.

Noel drove his fist into Silas's gut, the pure lava of its makeup driving into him. The guttural scream of agony given by this betraying insanist was worthwhile the few other lost attempts. He smelled charring flesh, which felt good to taste. He lifted his foot and stepped down on the tail that tried to come up and slap him. He drove his fist down further. He was burning a hole right through Silas.

"You're—so—dumb," choked the Shadow Dancer. "So—dumb. You—fall—for everything—so easily."

Noel raised his hand and prepared to break Silas's neck.

And then, glitching again, Silas disappeared, and reappeared leaning against the wall, the hole in his stomach already beginning to heal itself, smoking heavily. His glassy eyes bulged a little.

"Of course I wanted to oust you from your throne," he dictated. "I want to rule this kingdom so badly. The only way to do that is if you die—or leave the Underworld, after which this time you can never return." Silas's bated breathing matted sweat into his fur while his body worked to close the wound quickly. "You know how it goes. You've already left the Underworld and your throne for that hidden portal once, and you know that if you do it again you're gone for good, banished to Aboveground forever, forfeiting your throne to me. So I thought of ways to get rid of you—I even got myself an insurance policy."

"Insurance," Noel repeated under a curled lip. He really didn't want to sit through this, but he was compelled to listen.

"Oh, yes. If I can't just kill you to get the throne, I'd go for the next best thing—the one thing you seem to care about most."

And that was the kicker. He scowled, ready to pounce again and kill him, ending this oration. "Seiko," he grumbled.

Silas nodded. "And even if you kill me, nothing will stop my Shadow Dancers from getting to her anyway, which will do you no good, and even at that matter, I would come back anyway, thanks to Shinichi's river. You know what they all say: Love is rare, especially for you. I don't think your human conscience could deal with knowing you were the reason she died, the one thing that could have saved her. Trust me, you fool. I know you hate ruling this kingdom. I know you hate it. You don't ever do anything with it—you let it sit and only interfere when needed. That is not ruling a kingdom; it's monitoring it. A king should be involved. Plotting like history is ready to repeat itself. I'd be doing you a favor by taking away the burden, and letting you go live your life happily with the woman you love."

"Except your bastardice is getting annoying, so I think I'll just kill you now." Noel started to advance forward.

"But wait!" Silas stuck out a hand in a let me bargain a little more gesture, but quickly the King grabbed it and twisted it the wrong way, a snap of revolution coming later. Yada-yada with the screams, the writhing, so forth—all it took was a heavy foot to the hands-n-knees Silas's back to make him collapse. His brother was no expert fighter. Neither of them really were, but how do you fight a demon whose strength is unmatchable and his hands hold what can eat all of you in under a second? Silas knew his odds here—probably why his mouth kept running.

"S-sh-sh-sh-sh-ow h-him-m," stammered he who needed to die already. A Shadow Dancer's body healed itself from unfatal wounds at a quick pace, but the broken bone was taking a few more minutes than this one would've hoped. Noel was just going to end it by choking him to death with his bare hands, bending down at his knees with his hands already extended for the end. The shine of his orange hands in Silas's eyes reflected back at him the fear Silas must've felt.

Eyes came into the corner of Noel's vision, appearing out of nowhere, as normal. He didn't want to stop himself, not even when Eyes said, "I will show him," up until he heard the wisp of its prophecy mist and the sound of a struggle—involving a woman.

His head snapped up, looking to the circle-shaped mist mirror that showed him the image that dragged him from his rage and into truth. It was the hood of a Shadow Dancer that caught his eye. Well, not specifically just one dancer, but plenty others, and that was the moment where Noel was dealt his final ultimatum.

His hands went out like the snap of your fingers.

The kage-oni swarm hastened around a man who stood tall, and familiarly tall, at that. His face only brought a lovely scowl to Noel's face. Figures that this was coming—through a numbed mind he chastened to loosen his grip on his ex-brother's throat, allowing Silas to gasp for the air that he needed to get back. Sure enough, his body would start rapidly healing the burn wounds there, but—who the hell cares about anything but the fact that this vision was flipping a finger at the King?

And the worst part is, Noel thought with dread, this is all live.

Elomne stood tall in the middle of this swarm, with a face like a fox, and eyes more dreadful than being speared recurrently. His smile was too much like the Cheshire cat's Silas had told him gave nightmares to children. He had his own cloak hanging down over his body, but unlike everyone else, his hood was down—go figure. He wore his grin stretched thin to his crow's feet, and when Noel saw what he was grinning at, he was thrown into indignation far worse than anything before.

Seiko stood with her back against the wall, her chin tilted up, staring down her nose at Elomne, who pulled out a long, shiny, scary, pointy, not to mention long and thin and loonnnggggg impaling blade. It could've been one of those things you, gah, what's it called, "fence" with, but it was too short, and it was still blade-y, not really toothpick-y. He held it out, and it was right there, seconds from puncturing the milky white skin on Seiko's neck. "Nothing personal, dear," Elomne said to her. "You were just been born into the wrong binds of Nature."

Seiko looked terrified. Noel watched Elomne put the blade underneath her chin, STILL SMILING, and rolled his eyes from her hair down to her feet like the perverted pedophile demon he was. "Not much going for you, girl," he told her, stepping closer, thinking he was funny while Seiko almost had a heart attack. "I don't see what everyone else sees when they say you're the Yin. On the outside I see nothing but patheticism. I guess it can't be helped what you look like; your fate would be all the same either way: Your death will be pleasant to deliver."

"You're out of options," wheezed Silas underneath Noel, slowly pulling Noel's hands off of his throat. He had built this cleverly around them, making sure he had leverage, a one-up, one foot in the door of victory before this ever came to the King's mind. "You must now make your choice. It is either this kingdom, the one you bore without your excitement and dedication, or this girl, the one who you love and in my mind would be more devoted to. And I wouldn't try killing me, either. I'll only come back, thanks to the river in the wood," said Silas quietly. "You can no longer eliminate me. Now, I'd quick make your choice, and lucky for you, the Eyes is good at ripping through dimensions to create a small, temporary portal capable of holding only one man. It's her, or it's this kingdom. Decide."

In the mirror, Elomne began dragging the tip of the blade across Seiko's neck, creating a necklace of thick, red blood to begin running down her throat, down her shirt, turning everything, everything! a canvas of crimson. She started choking, her eyes so scared.

Noel stared at Seiko's image. The blade, slow, drew further over her neck. Noel's heart started to pound; his vision blurred, his breathing quickened, and everything in the world heightened. All he could see was those tendrils falling down her neck, how scared she looked, the fact that ELOMNE was grinning and that he was even there DOING this, when she belonged to no one but the one monster in all the dimensions Elomne should know better than to piss off.

Noel looked at her. I've loved you for five human years, he thought, knowing everything was written on his face. Sometimes I think you're the only one in the universe who would be capable of loving a monster like me, because you understand better than anyone what it's like to be one. We are not so different, you and I. If you died when I was able to save you, when I had that chance, I could never live with myself.

Time stretched on for hours in that moment.

Let Silas win, or save her. Let Silas win, or save the woman you love. Let Silas win, or spend an eternity trying to put yourself back together again.

"I only want you to be happy, brother," Silas whispered quickly as a last prompt—pathetic one, too. "The thought of killing you isn't in my best interest. Why not send you on your way to be happy, even if it only is for a short while? At least you know you can protect her better than her friends ever could."

Noel knew what he wanted to do. It was all or nothing. There was a chance that this so-called portal that he was never warned the Eyes knew how to create would lead him into some endless void for the rest of his life. It could be a trap set just like the rest of the traps Silas had spindled under his nose. He could be put into a place worse than Hell if he jumped in, because in what alternate universe would put Silas in the position of the loving older brother who wants what is best for his brother?

But if the portal really did do as it was supposed to, would it haunt him forever because he didn't find out?

Going through it would mean putting an end to this rebellious, competitive feud. It would mean that Noel would have thrown in the towel, letting his worst enemy win this whole thing, surrendering every single argument and cavalcade of who is better. He'd be handing over the key to his pants, saying, "Here, why don't you have them." It would mean every single thing he's ever done to prove to Silas that he was the better brother would be worthless if he just walked out of here, for a girl. Hell yeah, love is rare. Is love even WORTH giving up this battle? He spent so much energy, time, function into the rivalry he had with Silas, both trying to prove their worth, their egos higher than the suns in the sky! What was a woman? Really? What was a woman to giving up the chance to prove to the lovely Silas who was king? He wanted his brother to be the one to give up. He wanted his brother to be the one who would kiss the ground he walked on (begrudgingly or not, speak whatever) and have to bow down to him. He wanted to prove to Silas that there was no room for the error of shadow-dancing ways. That being a fullblood was better than a smelly, slimy halfsy like the formerly Deadly in front of him. Eloquim, who figured himself high and mighty in his coven of dancers! One day, he would bow to Noel. Bow and eat dirt while he did.

So what is love to this? What purpose is it to him? What would he lose if he let Seiko die?

Immediately after he thought that, he regretted it like a fool. He would be losing what he woke up to in the Rising morn, yearned for in the pitch of Rising night. He would be losing the fuzzy feeling inside that he got when he looked at her, or when he saw her smile, or when she stuck out her jaw in determination and defiance. He would be losing what he felt he only lived for (aside from his rivalry). He would be losing someone to think about when he was sitting on his throne waiting for someone to screw up so he could tear their head off. He would be losing someone he would dream of touching, holding, embracing. He would be losing his dark princess. He would be losing someone who made him keep his eye on his goal. He would be losing his focus. If he let her die, the guilt would nearly kill him. He'd never live it down. Never do much but choke on it. Unlike many demons, Noel was able to guilt over things on a burden, because of his human mother.

His missing father had done the same thing Noel had, so maybe you could say it was embedded into his brain. Before Kai had even been born (but after Silas, who is only a half-brother to them), Elathan had fallen in love with a human woman from Aboveground, and without a royal heir to take over his throne was able to secretly move back and forth between Aboveground and the Underworld to meet her, falling for her more and more. How that was possible still remained a mystery, because he should not have been able to come back after exiting—maybe he just killed himself over and over again to return, but that still doesn't explain some complicated parts of the story.

The Shadow Dancers had been trapped in Aboveground, believing there was no way to return back to the Underworld, which they so desperately wanted, making it their goal to find a way home. When they found out Elathan was travelling back and forth between the dimensions they were pretty mad. On his last trip to Aboveground, Elathan had gone to retrieve and take his lover back with him to the Underworld and, essentially, opened the Gates somehow to bring her down here, since she couldn't die and be reborn down here. It had been close-cutting, but Elathan and his lover made it down here, accidentally leaving their newborn son Kai upstairs so he couldn't come back down with him, but APPARENTLY Mama wanted it that way.

It had to be genes. Genetics. However he got this awful way of falling for a human, it was a burden, yet it didn't feel like one. When Noel was looking at Seiko, he felt like he didn't have a responsibility, or a load to watch over this kingdom, or a duty to competition. He felt a little normal. Little less like an overworked circus pony and more like a something. Maybe not a person, but a something. It was corny, but she was his light in darkness. She reminded him what it was worth to live. Letting her die would make him…lose that.

But he couldn't let Silas win. His ego would be destroyed.

"Tick, tock, tick to—"

Noel reached down, activating his power, and dug his thumbs into Silas's eyes. There was blood, the sound of wailing like no other, the shredding. He pushed in as far as he wanted until he felt satisfied, and then he took his hand and branded his muzzle with the burn mark of a Kapre, muting the screams to mumbles. Silas cried blood tears. His nose bled. Noel grabbed his brother by the neck, rolled off him, slammed him into the wall, stepping on his tail as he then hurled him back at the ground with such force, the floor did that ground-splitty thing and made fragments fly up, but since they were on the bottom floor it didn't rip through it completely. And then he bent down, and he snapped Silas's neck.

He did this all in a matter of 2 seconds.

Don't you just love demonic super speed?

I will be the monster you accuse me of being, brother, and make you regret it, he thought quickly, looking down at Silas's dead body, feeling no remorse over it but rather the problem he had with letting this go unsettled. Killing Silas still didn't earn him his bow-down-and-kiss-my-feet happy ending, but what demon gets his very own happy ending? His light was in trouble, and he needed to save it.

Well, cheers to abandoning responsibility. Fingers crossed I don't die or spend eternity in an endless void. M'yeah, there was the chance that this was all part of Silas's plot, and that the vision actually took him nowhere, but if he knew anything was true about his brother, it was that Silas was true to his word. This thing was a portal—but a portal leading where was the true question.

He hurled himself into the portal Eyes had for him featuring a front seat towards the death of his dark princess, throwing one last look at the summoner as he passed. From underneath the endless grave, Eyes looked back at him: bald head wrapped with black markings, purple eyes, pale lips matching its skin tone so correctly its mouth looked like a line across the lower of its face. Noel saw something there in his character appraisal for the split second before he crashed through the surface of the portal: Honesty battling with loyalty.

No time to ponder. He was sucked into a black nothing.

…

It feels funny, being torn through time and space and darkness. You're cold, but you're hot. You're liquid, but you're solid. You're nothing, but you're something. Noel could only compare the feeling to being sucked through one of those dirt-eating monsters that humans use on their carpets…Oh, what do they call them? Vacuums? Noel was being eaten by a vacuum that kept squeezing him and stretching him, playing with him almost as if he were being reflected in water, and someone was poking at his reflection. His head was being socked by the fist of a minotaur and the hoof of a centaur at the same time. His limbs were being yanked on in different directions. He was falling and spiraling at the same time.

Noel fell along the ladder of existence, going from the dark Underworld that Shinichi created to the realm Nature made. He was literally switching teams as he fell—but it also felt like he was flying up, too. He was now no longer a resident of the Underworld. He was disowned, because he had run through his limit. He'd forfeited the throne to Silas. Eloquim. Whoever he wanted to be now. The people would hear of how he abandoned them—would they hate him? Would they be relieved? Would Silas become their god, or would they overrule him? Noel would have no way of knowing anymore. He'd given it all up.

He felt stupid for a moment at the choice he made—choosing a woman over power! What kind of idiot must he be? He had given up a luxurious life for taxes and bills and higher education and baseball teams! He had given up being the King to being a nobody. He had passed off the baton for nothing.

Yet…he had a chance, now.

A chance…a chance at life. At one that wouldn't require being a King.

At love.

You sappy idiot, shut up. He gritted his teeth (Or he might've; he couldn't tell if he really could do that right now). What kind of idiot are you? A sappy one. Knock it off. It's—

He was going to say, "Un-Kingly".

…

And then, there he was. Bursting through what felt like the surface of water, Noel emerged from the vacuum, the damp weight of human atmosphere hitting him as he started falling headfirst out of it. At the last second, Noel saved himself, flipping himself to his feet, feeling them hit the ground an instant after he sensed it. His boots smacked against the ground harder than he wanted them too, loud. His eyes, so used to the Underworld's atmosphere, got blurry, and adjusting to everything made him suddenly realize (as he had the last time he came up here) the sound of his heartbeat, how bright the lights were here, breathing noises coming from nearby. An adrenaline rush moved through him. Seiko is here, he thought. I need to save her. This is what I came for, right?

He lifted his head, and his blurry eyes picked up on a small, slight, black-haired figure in front of him, definitely a familiar woman. He wondered if what he'd heard a second ago was a scream. Blinking, the demon reached out his hands, cursing his Underworlder eyes for not adjusting quick enough, clamping his hands down on the slight shoulders of the woman in front of him, her pale face and gray eyes barely describable with the soft tone, bright lights, and repeated blinks. For the first time, the woman that Noel had been watching from afar was in his hands, her silky black hair just as soft as he'd imagined it would be on his skin. He blinked again. "I found you." There goes my voice, being gruff again. It's the weight of all this oxygen. It's going to take time getting used to it again…

Ah, yelling. Somebody was yelling. Great. Words? No, he didn't get any words; the shape and details of Seiko's body in front of him were finally starting to form, and he could marvel at her for half a millisecond before someone hit him.

…

"Take care of her for me…"

The echoes of Mitsuko's voice, eating away at his dream, ceased to leave him alone. She faded away into nothing. "She means so much to me." In the empty dream, he reached out, trying to find her again, but she was gone. "Please, it's my dying wish…" He called her name into the darkness, finding only his echo could respond back. "I don't know where I'm going now, but I will miss you, and I love you, Yuki Akamatsu, don't forget that…" He called for her again, reaching out, looking for a hand to hold.

"Protect Seiko from all harm for me, because I no longer can."

His hand found something to hold onto. It was not another hand, but fabric. Fabric?

He peeled open his eyes, surprisingly sharper than he would have thought them to be. It had been about a decade or so since he had last slept. He did not know he was able to do that. Or even…to dream. But was it even a dream? Or was it a vision?

He heard her scream. Mitsuko, he thought, gasping and catapulting to his feet, knowing that his whole body was in pain, that he was wretched beyond the warnings flashing in his eyes, but he did it anyway. The door to the room spread wide open, and he could see her, frightened. Her scream…

That's not Mitsuko, he realized after a second. That's—

A pair of hands clamped down on Seiko's shoulders from someone hidden by the slid-back door, two black-gloved hands that dug their fingers into her. A deep, scratchy, gruff voice growled, "I found you."

Yuki reacted. He could hear Mitsuko's plea in his head, still plain as day, her face in front of his eyes asking him with all her heart.

…

Noel stumbled off to the side, hitting a wall and sliding down it like a man drunk off his ass, a pain in his jaw blossoming. Shockwaves of pain ran up his temple, and he made a noise, staring at the wooden-planked floor as it came into focus. Holy crap. He blinked a couple of times and reached up to finger the spot where he'd just gotten socked in the face.

He looked up, and the first thing he saw was Seiko. She was staring at him, not exactly scared—she was in slight shock. Noel looked at her throat. Where's the necklace of blood? Where's the cut in her throat? Where's the Shadow Dancer army that was surrounding her? Who punched me in the face?

This was a different scene than the one the Eyes showed him.

He became angry at the snap of a finger. I've been played. Played by his own, power-hungry brother and Eyes. Silas must have paid it more than Noel was giving to translate to make a fake vision, therefore getting a rise out of him and causing him to choose.

That son of a—

Noel was on his feet, looking at who had punched him—a woman, it looked to be, with long white hair falling down her shoulders onto a white shirt, eyes narrowed, standing in a doorway beside Seiko. She was looking at the woman with awe.

He couldn't help the growl that came out of his throat, but it wasn't supposed to be menacing; it was a pissed growl, directed at his brother, who he'd just let himself be FOOLED by. He had been FOOLED, pushed into Aboveground by a LIE. He had a policy about hitting women, so he obviously couldn't fight back—he went to touch his face. Im such an idiot.

Probably not the smartest idea to growl and then raise your hand. The woman grabbed Noel by the shirt, twisting the front of his uniform and using surprisingly great strength to spin him around and "throw" him—Noel fell on the floor and skidded across the slick surface until he stopped, getting to his feet and rushing at her with lightning speed. That policy may or may not be revoked because he was pissed off, and this woman was only making it worse. His grabbed onto her and slammed her into the wall. A loud noise of crackling answered. He was then scratched in the face, somehow finding himself back into a tussle as he was thrown on the ground, several other dance-like attempts at battle following. She's strong, he thought, throwing an attack and finding her countering it easily, her long hair twirling around them in the air like this was part of a performance. Noel was shoved, the woman was shoved—it was a back and forth struggle until, somehow, he ended up on his back on the floor, and the woman sitting on top of him, heavier than he thought.

He felt pain all over his body. His vision was iffy. "Look, lady," he said tolerantly, happy to find that his voice was almost normal. "I'm not gonna say this doesn't turn me on, but it's in your best interest to get off me."

The woman's face turned pink, and she frowned, stern and incredulous and angry. She grabbed a fistful of his collar, yanking him up into a crunch so they were almost nose to nose. Wow, personal space. "I'm a boy," she growled through her teeth. Noel froze, eyes sliding down south from her face, and widened. Oh, Elathan, it's true.

The boy slammed Noel down into the ground.

GHAAD/N!