Ever After

My Next Life as a Villainness, All Routes lead to DOOM

(Two of Two)

The group descended a cramped stairwell, and Hazuki felt a strange wrongness in the air. Travelling between 'books' they had ended up in some very dark worlds... and this felt very the same.

The red haired boy they were searching for sat in one corner, the darkness kind of writhing around him. He looked up as they entered, scowling... then blinked. "Who are all of you?" he asked.

'I wonder if he expected his classmates to come?' Hazuki thought as she took up a fighting stance with her katana.

"All right, Sirius," Venus started, then felt a hand on her arm.

Katarina quietly asked, "Let us talk to him, first."

"What." Venus blinked.

Maria added, "He has always been very kind, Miss Venus. Please, let us try."

Venus looked at them thoughtfully, then looked over, "Hazuki?"

"Well, why not," Hazuki agreed. She looked over at Lilith.

"I'm just tagging along anyway," Lilith shrugged casually.

"Look at these READINGS!" Quill seemed engrossed in her data.

Hazuki winced art her comrades attitudes. Not that she was surprised, mind you. She shrugged apologetically to Venus.

"Go ahead," Venus told the two girls, "but if he tries to hurt either of you, he's going down."

Interestingly, the young man seemed less hostile to both girls, especially Maria. Hazuki could sort of 'feel' the darkness pulse and shift, then it seemed to disappear entirely.

Quill noted excitedly, "The Dark Magic appears to be a seperate entity! He's rejecting it!"

Hazuki sensed the darkness swirling in midair, almost like it was looking for a new host...

"Venus Love Me Chain," Venus yelled as she launched her attack. Like a buzz saw the chain links tore the remaining shadows into bits.

"Nicely done," Hazuki said as she sheathed her katana, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Thank you, both," the formerly cursed young man bowed.

They got his story as the group walked back to the school. Apparently, he was actually Raphael Walt, who had been the half brother of the real Sirius. Sirius' actual Mom kidnapped him, and tried to use Dark Magic to put Sirius into Raphael's body. It failed, but left Raph possessed by a Dark Magic Ghost and Sirius' memories. So he posed as Sirius while plotting his revenge against the nobles who did all of it to him.

"Wow," Lilith blinked as they digested that.

"Thank you for your help, Venus-sama," Katarina beamed.

"You're welcome," Venus answered, It was a bit disappointing she hadn't found anything interesting, magic wise.

With that Venus raised the time key... and was gone.

"Do we disappear like that?" Quill had to ask.

"We teleport out MUCH cooler," Lilith said firmly.

The authorities at the school got involved, and Sirius/Raphael was taken away. He seemed eager to spill the beans of the real Sirius' mother, and there was talk of some sort of plea, as he had been possessed etc etc etc.

At the same time, Lilith did something with her magic to make them unnoticed.

"Why didn't you do this when we had to sneak around?" Hazuki asked, mildly annoyed.

"I didn't feel like it?" Lilith shrugged.

"Lilith," Hazuki frowned.

Quill put a calming hand on Hazuki's arm as she noted, "She might not be able to do it normally. This IS a high magical energy universe."

"Oh," Hazuki nodded.

Once the officials left the three found Maria and Katarina again, who in turn took them to the kitchens where Eve/Hatsumi had been assisting.

"Which is ironic, considering Eve can't cook," Lilith noted.

"Hey!" Hazuki protested.

"The girl could ruin pancakes," Eve sighed.

"I liked them," Hazuki pouted.

"You were blinded by love. Or possibly lust," Lilith teased.

Maria just giggled. "One of the princes liked her pancakes because they were 'unique.' I was never sure what he meant by that," she said.

They reached the spacious kitchens, and the group hung back as Lilith looked around.

"Huh, interesting," Lilith murmured.

Finally Hazuki asked, "Can you sense Hatsumi?"

"There's a lot of other effects covering it up," Lilith noted, frowning.

"Is magic that common here?" Quill asked Maria curiously.

"Well, almost all nobles have magical abilities of some sort," Maria explained.

"That's a lot of magic," Hazuki blinked.

"Hmm," Maria nodded.

Lilith stalked over, looking annoyed. "We've fallen farther behind," she reported.

"Damn it,"Hazuki sighed tiredly.

Maria looked over the three women worriedly. "You do look tired," she offered mildly, "you could stay here and rest abit."

Lilith gave her a suspicious look, "Are you interested in MY Hazuki?"

"Hey," Hazuki protested that.

Maria blushed, "No! I like Katarina-sama!"

"Huh," Lilith blinked, surprised to see a woman not falling for Hazuki.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Merry Christmas!" Eve cheered.

"Don't you, like, pre-date Christmas?" Loki asked

"Don't be a stick in the mud!" Eve smiled as she added, "And I didn't date Christ. It was a one night thing."

"WHAT." Thor blinked.

"Ooops. Ignore that." Eve winked.

Normally Eve would just be crashing the Arisugawa's Locket Christmas party, but she realized she'd popped in there a bit TOO often. So she jumped forward to Crystal Tokyo era. And ended up at the Divine Host, a bar for the former gods.

As belief in them faded away, the Gods powers declined. And the otherworldly realms they existed in collapsed as well. With nowhere else to go most entities ended up on Earth, left as semi-immortal but largely powerless entities.

"Does being in the comic books increase your belief?" Eve had to ask.

Thor looked embarassed, "A little, though I find I act more like the comic book character. It's a bit of a trade off."

"Ah," Eve nodded.

The hall was filled with various former gods and goddesses. There were alsp alien gods, who hung out there because they liked the company. Soome gods even had multiple versions of each other, due to major revisions in their holy writ.

"I was the basis of Christianity! I deserve a bigger spot!" Zeus complained.

Everyone just ignored that. He always got cranky on Christmas...

Brigid, a fire goddess and saint, smiled wryly as she poured them a drink. "Still being chased across the multiverse?" she asked.

"Hazuki is so clueless! She can't see that Lilith would be perfect for her," Eve pouted.

"Love is confusing," Brigid agreed. She looked thoughtful, "Have you thought about asking Cupid for help?"

"Those love arrows almost never work out well," Eve noted.

Brigid smiled wryly, "Point."

Artemis sauntered over, the brown haired hunter-goddess looking amused. "I never understood you two feuding over this mortal," she noted, "Why not share?"

"Brigid rolled her eyes, "Not all of us like harems, dear."

"Yeah, yeah," Artemis waved that off. "Trust me, a group of ladies and some imagination is a LOT of fun."

"Wine?" Eve suggested, heading off an argument.

"Please!" Artemis agreed.

To be continued...

Notes: No offense meant to any religions. I'm an atheist, personally. I will likely edit this later, as I kinda went blank on old gods...