Part XXXVIII: Cain
Itachi observed through half-lidded eyes as Underworld deities who had earned the social standing to be invited to a meeting consisting of Cronus' most elite circle, gathered near the imposing double doors of the palace. They would soon enter a torchlit, stone passageway leading towards an elaborate chamber wrought of lustrous onyx marble, hidden away from the eyes of even the servants. A room that had historically been designated for the drawing up of war plans.
It was an assembly Itachi could not afford to miss. He had been careful as of late, ensuring he did not spend undue amounts of time on the surface that would lead to further questioning on the Uchiha patriarch's part. It would not do to have his loyalties questioned at this time. Shisui had been sent away, to deliver a personal missive from Cronus to Olympus, and whether or not that had been an intentional move on their leader's part to separate the two of them was as yet, unclear - albeit highly likely.
Itachi lingered at the high, arched windows that overlooked the group huddled beyond the palace doors below. They were unwavering in their loyalty to Madara, and it was their mindless obedience that Itachi was required to mirror. The role he had chosen for himself was no less crushing than the one the Fates had thrust upon him. There were no lengths he would not go to, to ensure the safety of his family and the peace of the three realms. And well did Itachi know that the price of peace was blood.
His gaze dropped to the droopy-headed moonflowers in the surrounding gardens. Angelissa's unexpected appearance, as well as the entire mystery surrounding the way she was clearly being targeted by some higher power, had severely complicated things.
You took liberties with her.
Those were the words the foolish nymph had spoken. Bold words for someone building a castle on a cloud. For someone making declarations of love to another who likely did not even know that the life they were building was more fleeting than a passing shadow, more fragile than a house of cards. It required a single summons, and it would be as if she had never been on the surface at all. Had the shadow nymph truly forgotten that? Did she feel no shame for thus leading her mortal companion on?
And yet, despite the open hypocrisy of her words, Itachi was forced to admit there was some truth to them. The very air surrounding him seemed to still as he recalled the sensation of Angelissa's warm lips pressing against his. The way her slim fingers had trembled as she clutched at his cloak, the way her eyes had found his, searching for something she dared not ask of him.
When he had finally been able to break away from his duties some two weeks later and met her by her sister's graveside, he had clearly seen the unspoken questions in her eyes. The yearning, the confusion, the wondering as to his prolonged absence and yet, she had refrained from voicing any of those concerns and received him with the same openhearted manner he had grown accustomed to.
He was acutely aware that the closer she drew to him, the more danger would surround her. But he had also grown to understand that restraint and self-deprivation did not count as such when another person was also suffering - as Angelissa had suffered when he had abandoned her for all appearances. And how wrong had that decision proven to be? After being provided with the truth of her situation, she had adjusted far better than he had ever thought possible. She had fared far better than she had when he had left her without explanation. Far from being stricken with panic, she seemed calmer - observant and collected. She had even gone so far as to barter with him, he recalled, as amusement flickered briefly in his dark irises.
His short-lived amusement swiftly faded as he surveyed the arrogant, posturing gods beyond the window. There didn't seem to be a safe place for Angelissa in the three realms. Although danger would gravitate towards her in his proximity - it would have to get through him first. It was as the goddess Atropos had said; in order to protect her, he needed to keep Angelissa close.
And when she is close, keep her even closer.
It was all that he had to go on at the moment. Much of the puzzle had fallen into place. There was no doubt as to who was responsible for Kokytos' death. Just as there was no doubt that his mother was inextricably involved in the plot against Angelissa. The evidence was condemning - her orchestrated attack on the mortal through the hounds, the fact that she was the master whose identity Vetty was prohibited from revealing. However, interrogating her would serve no purpose apart from alerting the other parties involved - and Itachi was certain there were further parties involved. It would not suffice to know who was targeting Angelissa; it was the why of the matter that was far more concerning.
He had seen with his own eyes or heard tell from reliable sources on multiple occasions that Angelissa had exhibited powers that should not have been possible for a simple mortal to wield. She had displayed abilities of healing, commanded gravitational force - as if torn from the stars themselves, and who knew what else might manifest itself, given time? Were these unusual manifestations the reason why danger hounded her?
It was unheard of for a mortal to suddenly come into possession of divine attributes without celestial interference. More often than not, he had turned the troubling question in his mind of how she had come to acquire such gifts.
The heavy, stone doors were pulled open and Itachi watched the men stream into the palace, talking amongst themselves. The swaggering, overconfident manner with which they carried themselves was a natural consequence of their intoxication with Cronus's theories of underworld superiority. Drunk out of their minds on the hopes of ruling the world, they would balk at nothing to meet their master's aims. The deities slowly entered the palace and his mother's gardens were once again as abandoned as they had been not ten minutes earlier.
The mere thought of his mother filled him with a dark sense of foreboding. An uneasy chill settled into the depths of his heart as he recalled the way he had come across Nyx in the hallway, weeks prior. Her state of dress, her expression, the breathless way she had sought out her own chambers all added up to a very telling tale. The implications were too apparent to ignore, and yet, that was precisely what he would be required to do until he unearthed the rest of the information he needed to uncover all those involved in the plot against Angelissa, an innocent mortal, as well as all those doomed to eternal limbo beneath the seas.
His eyelids lowered infinitesimally as he recalled the state his mother had been in, the sheer panic in her midnight irises as she had met his eyes. His heart clenched at the thought of Sasuke learning what he had come to know. Was the Goddess of Night's indiscretion related to the attacks on Angelissa? His instincts indicated it was likely.
"Through no fault of his own, he happened to chance upon a goddess who belonged to another…"
Itachi turned away from the arched windows, burying the matter in the depths of his mind. There was no use dwelling incessantly on what he had already come to understand. An emotional response would serve no use. He merely had to accept the situation for what it was, and form a strategy to navigate the chaos and use it to his advantage. Just as he had always done.
He owed Pasithea a debt of gratitude for agreeing to shadow his mother in their absence and keeping them informed of her actions. It could not be much longer now, until the extent of this wicked plot was unveiled. And then, justice would be served regardless of who the perpetrators turned out to be. True justice was, after all, blind by nature.
Itachi made his way down the hallways leading towards the designated meeting chamber. His footsteps echoed against the bare walls as he quietly passed multiple barred doors. A palace as ancient as that of the Uchiha had its fair share of riddles and mysteries - and that was precisely what lay hidden behind those locked doors.
Just as the large double doors leading towards the war conference room loomed nigh, a panicked voice echoed in his consciousness.
"Thanatos! It's looking really, really bad!"
The open concern in the grave voice ringing in his head gave him pause, just as he noted Cronus' intimidating form towering in the doorway, bidding the gathering enter with a magnanimous sweep of his hand.
"I don't know where your crow is! I'm on my way to Elissa, but I think we'll need your help!"
Cronus turned towards the tall, masked Uchiha and the corner of his mouth lifted into a sneer. "Thanatos," he purred. "How good of you to join us."
"Please hear this! Please answer!"
There was no acceptable excuse for missing a war meeting, especially given Shisui's absence. It would immediately alert Cronus to their actions. It would amount to insubordination. Not to mention that they could not afford to remain in the dark about the Uchiha patriarch's next plans. But the danger Slayte warned of…
Lend ear to your nymph.
He had granted her of his very own powers. That had to be enough to keep the threat at bay for the time being. That had to be preferable to drawing Cronus's suspicion and damning the three realms themselves. Slayte had proven herself to be capable time and time again. She would have to see to the threat for now.
Cronus observed him expectantly, a challenging glint in his eye, almost as if he were expecting Itachi to bolt. And so, instead, Itachi merely murmured, "Good eve, my Lord," and joined the others collecting around the marble, oval table.
"Oh, Elissa. Please be safe."
Itachi narrowed his eyes as he reached out with his chakra to the familiars he had commanded to maintain sentry near Angelissa at all times. When only an aching, echoing silence reverberated back towards him, he lifted dark eyes towards the deity at the head of the table. Cronus' delighted smirk was firmly in place as he lifted a goblet of ambrosia in a toast. Itachi's calculating mind turned the situation over and over, deciding on his next course of action as Cronus observed him from over the rim of his goblet. It seemed, to him, that he had been dealt nothing but losing cards in a game of Cronus' choosing.
To abandon the meeting and damn the three realms - or remain and consign Angelissa to her fate. It was his choice and yet, it was no choice at all.
"There, there, darling," Cain purred, stepping closer to Elissa. "No need to be so alarmed."
He reached out a hand, possibly to cup her cheek, but Elissa jerked instinctually away from his touch. She stepped backwards, further into her apartment, her hazel-irises, positively ablaze with fury, never leaving the taller blond.
"Don't touch me," she seethed.
"I've only come to smooth things out, just as I said." Cain shrugged nonchalantly, closing the distance between them again. "You'll be a good girl and hear me out, won't you?" He cocked his head to the side to fix her with an unnerving blue gaze. His unperturbed confidence was so at odds with his haphazard appearance, it sent a shiver of unease down Elissa's spine. "I would hate to have to be firm with you."
"You're out of your mind," Elissa shot back with a cutting glare. "Who do you think you are?"
Cain only responded with a low chuckle. "I've always thought it was adorable how you tried to keep me at arm's length. It only made you all the more irresistible."
Suddenly, his laughing, azure eyes turned harder, colder - there was a hint of steel in them as he narrowed his eyes at her. "But enough is enough."
"Vetty!" Elissa cried out in her mind. "Vetty, where are you?!"
Cain prowled insistently closer and Elissa went on retreating, until they were nearly at the end of the narrow hallway. Her mind raced; there was no way she was going to dash into her bedroom unless she could be certain he wasn't close enough to follow. Unless she could be certain she would be able to lock the door safely behind her. Being locked into her bedchamber with Cain was the worst possible scenarío. But where else could she run to? She needed to get to the balcony, to Itachi's crows.
"It's a wonder you're standing at all," Cain mused, unhurriedly closing the distance between them. There was only so far she could run. "I would have thought you'd have succumbed to it by now."
Elissa froze, the skin at the back of her neck prickling in alarm. "What are you talking about?" she bit out, her stomach twisting with dread. "Succumbed to what?"
Yet another nauseating chuckle escaped his throat as his towering form leaned in towards her, "I told you, darling. We need to talk."
Having come to the end of the hallway, Elissa's back pressed against the wall and Cain wasted no time bridging the distance between them. He pressed both palms to the wall on either side of her, caging her in his arms as her eyes darted to her surroundings, looking desperately for some means of escape, or better yet - something with which to defend herself. A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes fell on something else entirely - Vetty, curled in on herself, her fur seemingly standing on end. Elissa had never seen her so limp, as if someone had kicked her to the side and she had fallen unconscious.
She glanced at Cain, only to find that his gaze had followed her own, and had noticed the cause of her distraction.
He clicked his tongue, impressed, "Well, that explains it."
Elissa took advantage of his momentary inattention, and jerked her knee upwards with as much force as she could summon, catching him between the legs. He doubled over with a breathless, wheezy curse, and she wasted no time in turning and ducking under his arms to escape him.
"Vetty!" Elissa rushed towards the feline. A part of her knew that there was more to Vetty than met the eye. That she wasn't simply a cat - but an underworld cat, a demon cat, and one that had gotten her wrapped up in all this chaos to begin with. But another part of her could not deny that Vetty had provided her with unparalleled comfort and solace, that she had been there for her in her darkest hours, that she had never once abandoned Elissa or left her alone. And that part of her was a larger, truer part, the part that loved Vetty fiercely and did not care what the truth of her identity was. The part that was stricken with horror at seeing the stubborn, mischievous cat so weak and hurt.
But before she could cross the few strides towards Vetty, Cain - who had sunk to his knees - grabbed a hold of her ankle and sent her crashing to the floor.
"You'll regret that," he seethed darkly, as he began dragging her back.
Flailing desperately for anything to use to defend herself, Elissa caught sight of the vase she had spied earlier, perched precariously near the edge of a tall table. Without thinking twice, she kicked out with her free leg, striking the table and sending the vase tumbling towards her. She caught it smoothly and before Cain could realize what she was doing, she lifted it over her head with both arms then hurled it at Cain with all the strength she could muster. The vase shattered against his face with a resounding crash and porcelain shards littered the carpet.
"Fuck!" he cursed, bringing his hands up to his injured skin, and Elissa scrambled away from him, eager to get back to her feet and to get back to Vetty. It was a mad dash, with Cain recovering more quickly than she had expected, pulling her hair, and her, elbowing him in the stomach. But at the end of the scuffle, Cain stood just before her, lifting Vetty by the scruff of her neck.
"If you don't want anything to happen to her," Cain bit out, angry and out of breath as blood trickled down his forehead. "I suggest you sit down and listen, for once. I've had just about as much of your attitude as I'm willing to tolerate."
Elissa bit her lip, staring helplessly at Vetty, who was just now coming around, her eyes cracking blearily open. Hadn't Slayte said she was immortal? Slayte herself hadn't been able to kill Vetty, so what could Cain possibly do? But the sinking premonition that the incident with Cami and Cain's sudden visit were not unrelated, made her hesitate. What was she truly dealing with here? If Cain was really just a human being, why was he so fixated on Vetty? And was this Cain at all - or yet another double, just like the clone that had masqueraded as her friend?
"Vetty," Elissa called out telepathically, as Cain caught his breath. "What's wrong, Vetty? Tell me what we're dealing with. Please! How can I help you? Tell me what I need to do!"
Cain, seeing Elissa's apparent resignation, ran a hand through his hair and straightened his jacket before sinking into an armchair, never once releasing his brutal hold on Vetty.
"Sit," Cain instructed, indicating the loveseat opposite. "There is much to discuss."
Vetty squinted at Elissa, who wavered between rushing towards the balcony and being seated as she had been instructed. But the balcony doors were just beside Cain, and he would likely intercept her before she had so much as reached them. Perhaps, the wisest course of action for now, would be to let him say his piece and think up a plan while he was distracted?
"You've been poisoned." Vetty murmured into her mind, and even her telepathic voice sounded weak to Elissa.
"What?" Elissa blinked at the feline, whose eyes slipped closed again. "When? How did this happen?" An unsettling sensation crept down her spine as she suddenly recalled Cami's unexpected, disturbing visit. "Was this when Cami was here? Or whatever was pretending to be her?"
Vetty did not answer directly, "It's all I can do for now to keep the damned effects at bay through our blood bond. I'm sorry, Elissa."
Frowning in grim determination, Elissa steeled herself, "Is that why you're sick? Forget the poison, Vetty! I can take it. Just help me fight off this piece of shit until Levi and Slayte get here."
A scoff echoed in her ears, "You don't know what you're talking about."
When Vetty seemed to slip back into a nearly unconscious state, Elissa bit her lip. 'Alright,' Elissa thought to herself. 'I'm on my own. I just need to make a new plan. I'll survive this, I will.'
With Vetty out for the count, Elissa reasoned, she could only hope to feign surrender until Cain was distracted enough for Elissa to make a mad dash for the balcony. She would have to set all her hopes on that for now. Levi and Slayte should be there any minute, she reassured herself, glancing at the clock. It had been nearly half an hour since Slayte had assured her they would be right over.
As if on cue, her cell phone lit up on the table, familiar music echoing through the still room - disturbing the ominous atmosphere. Cain glanced briefly at Elissa's phone, one corner of his lips curling up in a derisive sneer as he saw the photograph that lit up on the screen and the name associated with it.
"Well, don't keep them waiting," Cain drawled, gripping Vetty more firmly. "I'd make sure they don't come here," he added, twisting his grip until Vetty mewled in pain. "We wouldn't want this poor kitty to suffer anymore, would we? Unless you want to say your goodbyes to her, now."
Elissa hesitated, her eyes fixed unseeingly on Vetty. She was immortal. She was. But then, why was she so sick? Could she afford to bet Vetty's life on that conjecture?
Elissa crossed over to the table and picked up the phone, praying Slayte would tell her they were just pulling up now. That they would be there in a minute.
Elissa swallowed thickly before she spoke, in an attempt to keep her voice even, "Slayte. Hi."
"Hey, Elissa." Slayte's response echoed dully in her ears, completely oblivious to the terrifying situation Elissa found herself in. Elissa knew she had to convey what was going on somehow, but how - with Cain watching her so closely and his fingers digging into the scruff of Vetty's neck?
"I'm really sorry but something came up, and I don't think we're going to make it."
Elissa felt a scream blocking her throat and she did her best to fight down her rising sense of panic. She was betting everything on holding out until her friends got there, but if they weren't coming at all? Her stomach dropped painfully as if filled with lead. She had to somehow express the gravity of the situation. Her eyes fell on the helpless Vetty, caught in Cain's lap as she heard Slayte ask whether she would be alright.
"Oh yeah, sure," she bluffed. "Don't worry about it. I'll chill with Vetty and we'll have a Harry Potter marathon, it's all good."
'Please understand, Slayte. Please,' she prayed mindlessly, hoping her friend would catch on to the hidden message.
"What?" Slayte's voice, confused and taken aback, echoed in her ears.
She saw Cain frown, as if sensing there was something he was missing and he gestured for her to end the call, his eyes narrowed distrustfully.
With forced cheer, Elissa followed up, "I said I'll watch Harry Potter with Vetty, don't worry. Anyway, I have to go. Talk to you later!"
Uncertain whether or not that had been enough to alert Slayte to her situation, Elissa replaced her phone with a sinking sensation of despair, lifting concerned hazel eyes to Cain, wondering whether or not he had caught on to her deception.
"Well done," he nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Have a seat, darling."
Elissa stepped around the sofa and sat down stiffly, alert, her eyes narrowed at Cain, even as her mind worked hastily to figure out her next move. She needed to lull him into a false sense of security and then work from there.
"It's been a long game of cat and mouse between the two of us, hasn't it?" Cain drawled, stroking Vetty in his lap.
Elissa remained guardedly silent; she knew how much he loved to hear himself talk.
"Your master hasn't been good to you, has she?" Cain chuckled, turning towards the cat. "Leaving you behind in that shelter, despite the blood bond. I'd say you owe me thanks, for letting you out of there."
It was as if icy water rushed through Elissa's veins. Cain was speaking of things he couldn't possibly know, unless…
She suddenly recalled their early meetings, those first hours in a nearby coffee shop where he had questioned her on Itachi and Shisui, having claimed to have seen them in the area as well. But that was impossible. Slayte had told her in no uncertain terms that they were invisible to mortal eyes, hadn't she? It was only through Vetty that Elissa had been able to see them at all. Then… what was Cain, really?
Her eyes widened with horror, and suddenly his silhouette framed against the early moonlight streaming in through the glass balcony doors seemed ominous and foreboding. His bright blue eyes seemed to glow a threatening crimson. She unthinkingly brought a hand to her mouth, to stifle the gasp of surprise that threatened to fall from her lips as the pieces began to fall into place.
"Ah, there you are now." Cain laughed, lifting his glittering cobalt eyes towards her. "Coming around, are we?
"I admit, it was amusing to listen to you whine about things that were entirely out of your depth. How the god you favored did not return your affections. And I was patient through it all. Didn't I listen to you bawl into my ears about the nymph who was risking her life to protect you?"
He shook his head as another dark chuckle tumbled from his lips. "It was entertainment of the finest caliber, watching you stumble into my arms."
Elissa found herself abandoning the idea of not giving in to his attempts to lure her into conversation. "It was you?" She questioned, stunned beyond belief. "You were the one after me?"
Cain shrugged in response, "In a manner of speaking." The corners of his lips turned upwards in a smug smirk. "I have a guest, you know." He tapped a lone, long finger against his chest where his heart should have been. "And I was given a gift to impart to you."
He extended his hand towards her and a reddish-purple miasma seemed to ooze from it, filling the very air in the room. Elissa watched it draw nearer to herself in horror, and as it did, a sensation like thick sludge seemed to push through her bloodstream as her very heartbeat seemed to cause a dull throbbing, even as a veil of static settled over her mind. Familiar, disconcerting thoughts echoed through her consciousness. Levi and Slayte aren't on my side. I can't trust them. I need them now and where are they? It's always the same with them.
She gaped at Cain who was snickering to himself as if he had witnessed something unbearably humorous. She was sickened to find his laugh charming, appalled to realize she found him attractive.
Cain knows what he's doing. He always has the upper hand. I'll be safe with him.
"Stop!" she cried, clutching her hands to her ears as if to block out the terrible thoughts. It was familiar and disgusting; it made her stomach turn with nausea. Everything she had begged forgiveness for, everything she had spent tearful, sleepless nights regretting - was rekindled to life with awful clarity. She was horrified by the thoughts presenting themselves at the forefront of her mind as if they were her very own.
I hate Slayte. She's never cared about me. All she cares about is -
With a furious cry, Elissa lunged from her seat straight at Cain - a splitting headache searing through her skull - and reached for his neck unthinkingly. White-hot rage at the fact that she had been so manipulated, that he had planted disgusting thoughts into her mind that had never been her own - that she had allowed herself to be deceived by them - burned through her bloodstream. She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to wring his neck.
But Cain reacted with lightning-quick reflexes and before she rightly knew what had happened, he had pinned her arm behind her back and pushed her painfully down against the glass coffee table.
Cain tutted in disappointment as she writhed in a desperate attempt to wrench herself free. "That won't do. You agreed to be a good girl and listen quietly."
"Get the fuck out of my head!" Elissa shouted in a blind rage, struggling furiously against his hold.
"Oh, I'm not just in your head, darling. How much time do you think the two of us have spent together, hmm? All those long days and nights together. I'm inside you." Cain breathed hotly into her right ear, making her skin crawl from his unwanted closeness. "I'm in your very bloodstream," he gloated, smiling down at her helpless form.
Elissa's mind reeled. What was he saying? A part of her already knew, and yet, hearing him confirm his manipulative behaviour out loud made the reality of everything she had already suspected no less horrifying.
"I've been passing on the gift slowly but surely, all these months. You're full of it, Elissa, don't you realize?" He went on. "Poor little darling. You were so confused and upset, and there I was, with open arms, waiting. How sweetly you came to me. All your thoughts, your emotions… I toyed with them, and watched you do exactly what I wanted. Like shunning those imbeciles you keep company with. Seeing how far I could make you stray from your own inhibitions. What a delightful game you were."
Elissa clenched her teeth and felt tears of anger stinging at her eyes. The awful thoughts she had had, the horrible emotions she could scarcely believe she had felt, had caused a sickening wave of regret to clench around her heart like a merciless steel claw for weeks on end. She had been thoroughly ashamed of herself and confused by her own uncharacteristic actions. But to learn that those emotions had not even been her own? That they had been something implanted into her by another? That those chaotic, destructive feelings were a foreign interference?
"You…" she couldn't even bring herself to complete the insult that had loaded itself on the tip of her tongue, as incensed as she was. Her entire body quivered from the force of her fury. She had never felt so violated. So utterly repulsed.
To think that she had let Cain so close, that she had willingly allowed him to touch her. To kiss her. Nausea churned like a maelstrom in her gut and she bit back the urge to scream. How she wished she could undo it all. To go back in time and erase the blight of him from her life.
Everything made horrible sense. Of course she hadn't been in her right mind at the time. She recalled the alarm bells that had blared when she had first met the young doctor. How something about him had just felt so off. It was little consolation to know that it hadn't been an idiotic lapse of judgement on her part that had pushed her into his arms and caused her to tolerate his presence. It had been him, corrupting her mind with his so-called 'gift'. Poisoning her thoughts, turning her into a version of herself she hadn't even recognised.
No wonder Slayte and Levi had been so concerned. No wonder Itachi had regarded her with an aloof air of thinly-veiled pity outside the Paradis club, on the night where she had very nearly thrown aside all her inhibitions, invited Cain up to her apartment late at night and almost actually allowed him to-
She stemmed the thought, overcome with a smothering surge of disgust that left a bitter taste in her mouth. That had been his influence, too. When in her life had she ever allowed herself to become wasted to the point that such trash was freely able to take advantage of her? Knowing that he was the root of it all enraged her. The hatred Elissa felt for Cain in that moment burned hotter than a thousand suns.
He had taken advantage of her. His toxic influence had almost cost her everything. Her best friends. Her safety. Her own sanity. He was a monster, in every sense of the word.
"Now, where was I?" Cain mused, smirking down at her. "Oh, that's right. Consider me, if you will, minding my own business, living my boring, privileged life down in Cambridge. When a mysterious stranger appears and makes me a once-in-a-lifetime offer. Who would turn down the opportunity to experience the supernatural?"
Elissa blinked, forced to remain in place, listening in disbelief as he went on, "I was given an inhuman charm and the ability to turn anyone's head that I wanted. No matter what I said, people believed it." Cain chuckled to himself, a terrible sound that evolved into a genuine laugh. "What a lark! You can't imagine how much fun I had. And all I needed to do in exchange was share my body with the generous stranger - well that, and find you."
He pushed her arm higher against her back and Elissa bit her tongue to keep from crying out. "Find you and bring you to heel," he muttered darkly. "And I almost had you. Only, you just wouldn't stop fighting me, would you? Every time I thought I had wiped every stupid thought from your mind, you proved yourself an even more insufferable nuisance than I thought."
He sighed - an aggrieved sound, as if he had been dealt a great injustice - before continuing, "Well, no matter. Nothing that cannot be amended."
With a lopsided, deranged grin, he concentrated more of the formidable energy he had summoned into being, allowing it to seep into her very body from the point of contact where he held her wrist. "Now hold still for me, darling," he instructed, as the miasma grew thick in the air around her, oppressive and all-encompassing. Elissa gasped. She could feel her consciousness fading as she found herself struggling to connect any two thoughts, and instinctively knew - in just a little longer, she would be a hapless doll unable to resist him at all.
No, she thought vehemently. No! She wouldn't let him control her again! She had to make him let go. She needed to break free. Desperation and fury coursed through her veins, manifesting like a bolt of lightning that she felt crackle along the arm Cain was grasping in his hand. A strange static, humming sensation surged through her body as she screamed, "Get off me!"
She heard Cain inhale sharply in surprise. The fingers on her wrist spasmed before loosening marginally - but before she could piece together what exactly had happened, she heard a furious hiss and a startled expletive, and then Cain had suddenly released her. She wasted no time in pushing away from him, desperate to increase the distance between them.
Spinning around, she saw that Vetty had, with what seemed to be her last burst of strength, flung herself at the doctor and was furiously clawing at his face. Not wanting to waste a moment of the advantage Vetty had miraculously provided, Elissa darted towards the balcony doors. She needed only to reach Itachi's crow, to tell him what was happening. She had no doubt he would come save her, if only she could reach him. Fumbling with the latch in her haste, she finally flung the doors open - only to freeze in horror at the sight that met her eyes.
There had to be at least a dozen crows littered over her balcony. Dead. Their wings were stuck up at odd angles, or torn off entirely, each frozen stiff in a puddle of its own blood. Her last hope of reaching Itachi - destroyed.
There was no time to grieve the hopelessness of the situation. Even as panic threatened to seize her limbs, she whirled around to find Cain pinning Vetty to the ground, his large hands wrapped around the cat's neck as he leaned forward to apply pressure with the weight of his whole body. Even as Vetty yowled and struggled for breath, Cain only increased the force with which he was crushing her windpipe.
There was no time to think. Elissa, acting on reflex and frantic to help her cat, ran back to the kitchen and lunged over the counter to pull the largest chef's knife she owned out of the knife block before racing back to the site of the struggle, her heart slamming against her ribcage. Clutching the knife firmly in her fist, she drew her hand back as far as it would go, ready to plunge the blade into Cain's shoulder when, suddenly - with inhuman speed - Cain turned and caught hold of her closed fist with his own. His grip was painfully firm - as if his very bones were made of iron. Cruelly he increased the pressure on her hand and she cried out in pain.
"Think you're clever, do you?" he sneered. "Scheming little bitch."
That was all the warning she received before he crushed her hand in his, snapping her bones cleanly. Excruciating pain bolted up the length of Elissa's arm and a mindless, piercing scream burst from her throat. The kitchen knife tumbled from her limp fingers and she sank to her knees, cradling the injured hand helplessly, unable to even touch it without exacerbating her torment. She didn't know how to hold her limb to try and ease the pain.
Her scream ended only when her breath gave out and then the sound waned into helpless, pitiful whimpers as she blinked back the tears blurring her vision.
Cain showed no mercy and closed in once more, ready to put an end to what he had begun. He reached a hand towards her and then froze, before suddenly withdrawing his hand as if burned. Elissa stared at him, trying to make sense of what was happening through her agony. He seemed to be veiled from her by a pale blue veneer.
The tall blond turned on his heel towards Vetty and Elissa followed his gaze, to find the feline standing shakily on all fours. Her eyes were glowing a pale blue and Elissa realized the veil she had perceived was actually a barrier of sorts, erected by Vetty for her protection.
Cain circled back to Vetty, and Elissa was distracted from her pain by the sight of her living room lamp lifting - seemingly of its own accord - into the air, levitating as if held aloft by some invisible string. The lamp hurtled forward, a spark bursting through the dimness as the cord was pulled forcibly from the plug. Cain lifted a muscular arm to block the incoming projectile and the lamp broke to pieces against it.
Vetty's fur stood on end, her back arched, as she stood hissing and spitting at the taller man. Suddenly, the fight began in earnest, almost too fast for Elissa's stunned eyes to follow. Knives flew out her kitchen, flying towards Cain with frightening speed. He dodged them nimbly but could not avoid one long carving knife embedding itself in his left arm. Furious, he rushed forward, dodging and blocking as plates, cutlery, and books all came hurtling towards him. From behind him, the large flat screen television came crashing against his head, knocking him to the ground. Elissa gaped in shock as the television fell to the ground beside him, the screen cracked beyond repair.
Vetty bounded towards Elissa, her steps hindered by the strain of controlling the poison coursing through the brunette's body. To Elissa's great dismay, however, she saw the infuriating doctor rising back to his feet - once again recovering far too quickly.
"Vetty!" Elissa cried out in alarm, but the warning came too late. With a furious snarl, Cain released more of the awful miasma into the atmosphere, smothering Vetty entirely in a cloud of it and tainting the very air she strained to breathe. Elissa looked on in terror as Vetty stumbled, struggled to her feet - and then tripped over, before succumbing to the poison mist - motionless.
A cry of pain and horror escaped Elissa's throat as the barrier Vetty had cast abruptly dissipated into thin air.
Cain turned his blazing blue eyes towards Elissa then and reached for the knife buried in his left bicep. Tearing it out, he tossed it carelessly to the floor before stalking towards her.
"You're more trouble than you're worth," he growled, closing the distance between them.
Elissa knew she needed to get away from him, to get up, to run - but her broken hand pained her so greatly, she feared the slightest movement would heighten her already staggering pain to blinding proportions. But between enduring that agony or allowing Cain to close in, she was left with no choice at all. Clenching her teeth, she scrambled back, another scream catching in her throat as her throbbing hand protested at her movements. But she wasn't fast enough. Cain's arm shot out, fingers closing around her throat as he lifted her with inhuman strength into the air. Elissa cried out as he jostled her broken hand in the process, but her scream was stifled when he crushed her windpipe in his merciless grip, cutting off her ability to breathe.
"This has gone on long enough," he hissed. "It's time to bring it all to an end. None of this was yours to begin with." His voice wavered in pitch, falling higher, then lower, until it no longer resembled his voice at all. It settled into a low, distorted growl. "This was never meant to fall into your hands, wretched mortal."
Elissa squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to cling to consciousness throughout the searing pain, through the darkness creeping into the edges of her vision. She could feel that disgusting reddish-purple aura closing in around her, threatening to take over her senses, and realized with horror, that that was precisely what he intended. To smoke out her consciousness and take over her mind completely.
"It was mine," he snarled. "To begin with, all of it, mine."
The venomous mist was clouding her senses, and for a horrific second, she almost had a longing to give in to it. To be free of the terror flooding through her veins, the pain plaguing her body, but she fought against it with every fiber of her being. There was no way she would let him win, not as long as there was a conscious thought in her mind to cling to. She dug the fingers of her functioning hand into his forearm, trying to summon what last vestiges of strength she possessed to fight his influence.
A resounding crash echoed through the apartment building at that moment, and a familiar, concerned voice reached her ears.
"Elissa!"
Elissa opened her eyes with difficulty to find that her friends had arrived and were rushing towards her. There was a flash of movement as Levi grabbed Cain by the throat and hauled him backwards, dragging him to the floor with so much force there was a resounding crack as his head hit the floor.
With a gasp of relief, Elissa fell straight into Slayte's waiting arms, her eyes watering from the intensity of the pain in her broken limb. Her friend seemed near to tears herself, holding Elissa close as she tucked her hair behind her ears murmuring words of comfort as Elissa clung to her. Guilt still plagued her as she recalled the alien thoughts Cain had streamed into her mind. She caught Slayte's sharp intake of breath as her eyes fell onto her misshapen hand.
"Elissa..." she whispered in concern.
"It was him, Slayte," Elissa choked out, her entire body trembling from adrenaline and the toxic effects of the miasma Cain had pumped into her. "It was him all along, and I-"
"Shh, we're here." Slayte hushed her, hugging her closer. Elissa swallowed and blinked through the haze to see Levi straddling Cain's chest, throwing one punch after another at his face, fresh blood splattering over her carpet with each blow. She noted Levi's battered appearance and the bandages peeking out from his sleeves and collar. Slayte had said something had come up. What on earth had happened to her friends?
"What's wrong?" Levi drawled, in a voice so calm it was unnerving. "I thought you were having fun." His words were punctuated by yet another brutal punch to the face, and yet another crack - one Elissa could only assume meant Cain's jaw was broken - echoed through the living room as a bloodied molar flew through the air, landing just at Elissa's feet. She pulled away from it in disgust.
"Well," Levi continued, gripping the doctor's blond hair and lifting his head to better observe the blood streaming down his face. "I'm the one having fun now." His voice was so chilling, even Elissa and Slayte fell into stunned silence, seeing an entirely new side of him.
Slayte observed Levi quietly, apparently unaffected by the blood on his hands. She had always sensed an undercurrent within him. A dangerous one - one that had first come to her attention when she had seen him easily flip the kitchen knife that first day so many years ago. The inkling had never left her, that he was capable of great violence. That there was a coldness within him - unfeeling and removed - clinical, almost. What she had learned about his past had only served to reinforce that impression. But it did not frighten her. If anything, she felt relieved, and relied on him more completely, knowing he was capable of doing what needed to be done.
But Elissa didn't need to see this.
"Come on," Slayte murmured, helping her to her feet. She was nearly certain the blond would be dead by the end of this. It was about time. "Let's get you out of here."
"Wait," Elissa protested and gestured towards the black cat lying helplessly on her back a few feet away. "Vetty's hurt!"
Slayte immediately scooped up the feline. She held the underworld cat close to herself, murmuring, "Gods, Vetty. What happened to you?"
Holding Elissa's good hand, she draped her friend's arm over her shoulders and began to help her hobble out of the living room. Elissa cast another look over her shoulder, concern for Levi welling in her heart. He was injured, and Cain's superhuman strength and speed had been anything but normal. She needed to warn them about what they were up against.
"Elissa," Slayte tried to distract her, not wanting her to witness the violence, but Elissa shook her head.
"No, stop, Slayte! It's not safe. We can't leave him alone with-" But her words were cut off with a gasp that had Slayte's head whipping around to see what had caught Elissa's eye. The two of them froze in place, unable to believe what they were seeing.
Cain's body twisted and contorted like a skeleton caught in the wrong skin, his flesh convulsing like bubbling slime. His rib-cage expanded like a bird unfurling its wings and Levi was thrown forcibly to the ground as Cain began staggering into an upright position - but he no longer resembled the doctor they had come to know and despise.
His body looked like something unleashed from the laboratory of a mad scientist; a frankenstein of various monstrosities combined. His ribs protruded from his chest like two freakish rows of fangs, where the chambers of his heart could clearly be seen beating in the center. Four gargantuan, spindly legs that resembled those of a spider protruded from his right hip. Each black leg ended in a sharp point that looked as if it could cleave through flesh and bone. From his left side a writhing, grotesque mass of violet, slimy tentacles held him upright. The asymmetry caused him to move in a lopsided, uneven fashion as the spidery legs were longer than the tentacles. A single, leathery crimson wing protruded from his left shoulder blade, large enough to wrap the three of them in it. His right arm was replaced with a giant, black claw, constantly emanating the dark aura he had poisoned Vetty with. He had grown in size and his lumbering form brushed against the ceiling as he stumbled forward. He was like a creature from a nightmare, merely bearing the doctor's face like a mask.
The girls looked on in horror as one slimy tentacle whipped out and wrapped itself around Levi with blinding speed. The tentacle drew back, before flinging him towards the opposite wall. The girls screamed as his body flew past them before colliding against the wall and crumpling to the floor.
Elissa and Slayte exchanged panic-stricken glances, before Slayte handed Vetty to her and they separated from each other in wordless understanding. Slayte dashed towards the monster towering over them. Summoning as much of the shadow powers as her arm cuff would allow, she blocked out the mortals behind her from Cain's view with a solid, jet-black wall of shadow.
"Slayte! No!" She heard Elissa's alarmed voice call, before the darkness drowned it out entirely, leaving Slayte alone with the demonic form before her.
"Lord Thanatos..." She prayed for his intervention. "I can't do this without you. We'll all be killed!"
And then there was no more time to think as she lunged at the monster, two shadow-blades in her hands.
Ignoring the pain still exploding through her hand and arm, Elissa raced towards Levi and after setting Vetty down, one-handedly rolled him onto his back before pressing two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief at finding it, but knew she had to somehow rouse him. They would need all the help they could get and it simply wasn't safe here.
"Levi, wake up! You have to get up!" She helped him into a seated position, trying to be mindful of his injuries as she gently shook his shoulder. He hovered between consciousness and unconsciousness, and Elissa was almost beginning to despair when he finally blinked at her.
"Elissa?" he shook his head, to clear the dizziness, but that only seemed to make it worse and he reached out for the hand she offered him. After taking a moment to collect himself, he raised his head towards her. "You alright?"
Elissa winced, and just then Levi caught sight of her other hand. "That piece of shit," he cursed. Without wasting another moment, Levi unbound the bandages from his arm, and reached for her hand.
"Levi, you can't!" Elissa protested. "You're hurt!"
But Levi was in no mood to humor her concerns. "Shut up."
Casting a cursory glance at his surroundings, his eye caught on scraps of the wood of some bit of furniture that had broken in the chaos. Without another thought he reached out for one and broke it into shape over his knee. He gingerly took hold of her wrist and brought her hand in towards himself. "This is going to hurt."
He didn't wait to meet her eye, or ask for her consent as he began wrapping up her hand. She cried out as he bandaged it tightly, affixing it to the makeshift splint, but when he was done with the first aid, her pain was somewhat more tolerable.
Nodding at the wall of black that had appeared to block them off from the living room, he pressed, "What's that? Where's Slayte?"
"She's fighting. I think she put up that wall."
"Tch." Levi stumbled unsteadily to his feet, but Elissa caught hold of his hand. When he turned towards her, she merely shook her head.
"We'd only get in the way, Levi. We have to trust her."
Levi scowled before turning back to the opaque, ebony barrier. He hated the idea of leaving Slayte alone on the other side of it, but was Elissa right? He glanced at his injured leg - the state of it had only worsened with the fall he had just taken. Their surroundings were spinning unsteadily, as well. He felt as if he were underwater. Was there anything he could do to help her, or would he just prove himself a handicap?
Elissa bit her lip, her eyes fixed on the wall Slayte had erected between them. Was there any way to support Slayte? There had to be something she could do. Her eyes turned to the helpless Vetty, then darted back toward the balcony doors. Her mind raced. She needed to call out to Itachi. But how, when the crows he had left for her to communicate with him had been massacred in cold blood?
Levi turned towards Elissa with grim determination. "Let's get you out of here. That's what she would want us to do. Probably the reason she put up the damn wall in the first place."
Elissa hesitated, looking from Levi's unfocused grey eyes to the shadowy wall just beyond. She knew that he was right, that she, as Cain's 'assignment', had to get out of there more than anyone, but… a part of her refused to accept it. A part of her warned that if she left Slayte to fight Cain on her own, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Logic insisted that Slayte was an immortal, that she would be fine, but Elissa's eyes lingered regretfully on Vetty's still trembling form. There was no knowing what Cain was capable of, the extent of the damage his demonic powers could inflict.
"He's dangerous. We can't leave her here alone." She glanced at Levi again, noting that he still looked out of sorts. "Can you walk?"
Levi did not immediately answer, and Elissa frowned in concern. "Levi?" she pressed. "You hit your head pretty hard. Can you walk?"
With a grunt, he stepped toward her, indicating that he was capable. Elissa took a deep breath and turned back towards the black wall.
"I'm done running away and letting other people fight my battles for me. I'm the reason all of this is happening." Her eyes took in her surroundings, trying to think of her next move. "I'm not leaving Slayte behind."
Levi frowned at her, but did not argue - largely sharing her sentiments.
"You."
The single syllable left Cain in a low, disembodied growl as his scarlet-flecked blue eyes focused on the raven-haired nymph who stood dwarfed in his shadow.
"Oh, I've wanted to put you in your place for as long as I've known you." Every word seemed to change in pitch and reverberated eerily in the wreckage of Elissa's living room. Cain lunged at Slayte, swiping at her with his jet-black claw.
Despite his alarming speed, Slayte managed to jump out of the way - barely evading in time - and the claw caught on Elissa's sofa instead, sending it flying across the room and slamming into the shelving.
"Rest assured," Slayte panted, lifting the twin blades defensively. "The feeling is mutual."
Cain initiated an onslaught of attacks and it was all Slayte could do to stay one step ahead of him. His speed was terrifying, nothing a beast so cumbersome should have been capable of. Slayte cursed herself for relying so heavily on the abilities of the shadows and not training her actual, physical fighting techniques. Surely, if she were more talented in battle, she would be of more use to her friends? As it stood, while maintaining the wall of shadow protecting Elissa and Levi, she was severely limited in the use of her shadow abilities, and her paltry fighting skills were showing - to her detriment. She could only pray that her friends had taken advantage of the cover she had provided to flee the building. If they could only get out and buy enough time, then surely Thanatos would eventually arrive.
Throwing herself to the side to avoid being speared by one long, thin spider's leg she gritted her teeth and swiped at the appendage with her shadow blade, cleaving it neatly in two and sending Cain stumbling. Slayte had no time to catch her breath, taking advantage of his weakness to cast strike after strike at the other legs, cutting him down bit by bit, even as sweat beaded on her forehead.
With a roar of outrage, Cain stumbled halfway to the ground, just close enough for Slayte to make the final strike she had been working towards. With a desperate cry, she launched herself at his midsection and plunged her blade between the protruding ribs - but the bones were faster than she was and they criss-crossed protectively over his heart before her blade could reach the organ, each bone piercing right through her arm, holding her helplessly aloft. Slayte screamed in agony through clenched teeth and glanced around desperately for help, only to look on in horror as the thick tentacles oozed towards her.
Furrowing her brow, desperately holding back her cries of pain - the last thing she needed was for Elissa or Levi to rush in - she clenched her eyes shut. Was this the end for her?
Just as her vision blurred, dark spots growing before her eyes, Thanatos' words came back to her.
Do not forget who you serve. You are not like the others of your kind.
You are no mortal. It is time you stop thinking like one.
As much as she might wish it, the truth of the matter was indeed that she was no mortal. She was Slayte, nymph of the Underworld, servant of Thanatos, God of Death.
With a furious cry of determination, she brought her left arm up and. summoning her shadow blade back into existence, sliced through her right arm at the elbow, freeing herself to fall back to the ground where she quickly scrambled backwards to escape the tentacles seeking her out.
Pale and trembling, she glanced at what remained of her right arm. This was becoming a frustrating habit. Blood was gushing forth from where she had severed the rest of the limb and although she could not heal herself as Itachi had, she could use her shadows to stem the flow of blood, at least. She needed to hold out as long as she could - to ensure Elissa and Levi could escape.
Please, Levi… You know me. You know what I want. Please take her and go.
She could only hope he would act on her wishes and not his own. Struggling back to her feet, she dispelled the shadow blade, collecting the shadows at the stump of her arm instead - effectively stopping the blood loss.
Slayte observed with mounting despair that the spider's legs had regenerated in the brief time she had been caught by Cain. His entire form was thrumming with a power she knew was not his own. She glared up at him. All that mattered was that she dragged this out for as long as possible.
"Always knew you were a piece of shit," she spat, trying to keep her voice from wavering. "Thanks for proving me right."
What they needed more than anything was information, after all.
Cain chuckled darkly in return, his voice more level, leading her to believe it was actually the doctor responding. "You should have known where your insufferable manner would lead you."
Slayte shook her head and immediately regretted it, the action making her dizzy. "And I told you, I would kill you, remember?" She stumbled backwards, leaning against the broken shelving.
"Bold words," Cain seethed. "For someone who's about to die."
Slayte laughed low in return, fixing him with a stubborn glare. "What do you think my master is going to do to you? I might die here, but you won't live long after this. That's the price anyway…" she gestured towards his body weakly. "For what you've allowed them to do to you.
"Only a fool like you," she spat, "could have thought this would end well for you."
In place of an answer, he swiped at her with his black claw, causing her to sidestep it clumsily. A cry of alarm escaped her throat when she felt something slimy curl around her ankle. She glanced down in alarm, but it was too late, the tentacles were made of solid muscle and no sooner had it wrapped around her ankle than it slithered around the rest of her, pinning her arms in place and closing around her throat, squeezing with all the force of a carnivorous snake.
Refusing to bring down the wall of shadow, Slayte held out for as long as she could - but her consciousness was fading fast and with it, the barrier she had so painstakingly kept in place.
Elissa - who had been waiting for precisely that moment - dashed forward, clutching a discarded kitchen knife firmly in her uninjured left hand. Levi called after her in surprised alarm, and when she did not even hesitate, took after her with a curse. Elissa threw herself towards Slayte and plunged the knife into the tentacle before drawing it out and hacking at it repeatedly to free her friend.
"Let! Her! Go!" Each strike of the blade was punctuated with Elissa's aggravated cries.
Slayte coughed and gasped for air, before opening her eyes and seeing Elissa, much to her horror. Had they not taken the chance to escape? What had she even been fighting for, then?
Levi stepped between the two girls and, taking advantage of the gashes Elissa had managed to gouge into the tentacle, tore the remaining muscle violently apart with brute strength. Slayte slumped forward, coughing as she filled her oxygen deprived lungs greedily, just as she heard the clattering of Cain's spidery legs approaching and saw the tentacles writhing towards their new target - Angelissa.
No longer burdened by maintaining the protective shadow barrier, she took hold of both Elissa and Levi with masses of shadow and drew them away from Cain. Positioning herself firmly in front of the two of them, she shot Levi a livid glare, "What are you still doing here?!"
"The fuck happened to your hand, brat?" he hissed in response, returning her glare with a scowl of his own.
"Guys!" Elissa interrupted in warning, her eyes fixed on Cain. "This is not the time!"
Slayte glared at the infuriating blond before raising her left hand, summoning tens of shadow spears and propelled them forward with the force of a gunshot - impaling Cain in countless places. When the shadows dissolved, however, they saw that his wounds simply closed up as if they had never been there at all. His lumbering form crept ever closer and Elissa cast a nervous glance at Slayte, who scowled at their opponent.
"Levi, get her out of here. Please!"
Before he could answer, Elissa spoke up. "No! You're thinking of dying here, aren't you? I'm not letting that happen! All of us go, or none of us do!"
"Elissa!" Slayte shouted angrily, in what was an unprecedented tone between the two of them. She turned to her friend to fix her with a desperate, furious look. "Don't argue with me! Go!"
Elissa was momentarily taken aback, but her brows furrowed as she responded evenly, "No! He wants me alive! If you want to help me, save yourself, Slayte!"
"Incoming!" Levi shouted, grabbing Elissa by the waist before he leapt to the side.
Slayte threw up a shadow barrier at the last minute, but it held only for a few seconds before the spindly leg pierced straight through it, and it was all Slayte could do to dodge it. The other three legs attacked in quick succession, forcing her into a heart-rattling dance for her life. She had no time to think - let alone summon her powers.
And then, out of seemingly nowhere, Cain's black claw swooped in and struck her down, crushing Slayte entirely beneath it.
"Slayte!" Elissa cried.
"From the beginning you were the one I should have gotten rid of. Always a bloody nuisance." Cain's guttural growl was back to the disembodied, distorted tone he had adopted along with his new form. The red flecks in his eyes, Elissa realized, were growing and had almost completely swallowed up his irises. Her thoughts spun in a hurricane as she recalled that Itachi had told her not to look into any crimson eyes but his. Were these eyes they had to avoid meeting?
As if sensing her gaze on him, Cain's eyes fixed on her with a murderous glare. Levi pushed Elissa behind himself protectively, but he was mercilessly overpowered within three swipes of the tentacles, plucked from the ground like a weed and held aloft in a crushing grip.
Elissa froze. The realisation that both her friends' lives were hanging in the balance caused her heart to pound riotously within her. She had to do something! Her eyes fixed on Cain's exposed, beating heart in the center of his chest and a plan came to life in her mind. Clutching the knife she had used to free Slayte, she stepped bravely forward.
"What do you want from me, Cain?" She swallowed, unsure if she would be able to reason with him at all. "You said you just wanted to talk! Well, I'm listening."
A dreadful laugh echoed from the blond's lips. "A little late for that, don't you think, darling?"
The mocking term of endearment sent a shiver down her spine, but she drew closer anyway. "Let my friends go," she demanded. "Let them go, and I'll listen to whatever you have to say. I'll do anything you want."
"Oh?" Cain's face seemed amused, and the tentacles' writhing intensified with excitement. "And what's stopping me from just taking what I need from you? Why do I have to listen to you?"
"You need me alive, right?" Elissa announced, bringing the knife up to her throat with a trembling hand. "Let my friends go or you'll never get what you want."
Cain drew closer still, his furious eyes burning into hers from the distance of merely a few paces. "You don't have what it takes," he hissed. "As scared of death as you are."
Elissa bit her lip. She thought of Itachi. Of Elysium. Of Evangeline.
Death, himself, is your protector.
"You're wrong," she threw back firmly, tossing her head back bravely as she pressed the cold blade more firmly against her skin. "I'm not afraid of Death."
Cain faltered for just a moment, taken aback by her change in demeanor from the Elissa he had known and manipulated for months. That second of hesitation was all Elissa needed to rush forward and fling the knife with all her strength into the gaping hole in his chest. She had lured him just close enough, and prayed her aim would prove true, but the impact was lessened when the knife glanced off one of the ribs and instead of piercing Cain's heart, it only nicked the pumping muscle. It was enough, still, for him to scream in agony - a terrible, blood-curdling sound.
The tentacle holding Levi released its grip and he stumbled blindly towards Slayte as soon as he hit the ground, desperate to free her from beneath the black claw. Elissa retreated as Cain flailed about wildly, lashing out in pain, but she could not make it far enough as three tentacles shot after her.
"Levi!" She cried out for help, but the raven-haired man was too far away, and too weak to do anything. Suddenly, faint shadows lifted slowly from the ground and sliced blindly through the tentacles - the last of Slayte's powers, as she struggled to keep an eye on Elissa. Elissa tumbled to the ground like a ragdoll, a piercing wave of fresh pain assaulting her injured hand.
The massive black claw crushed down on Slayte with renewed force in angry retaliation and she screamed in agony as Levi grasped for anything he could find, stabbing at the claw in a vain hope to release his girlfriend, before she finally fell mercifully unconscious, succumbing to the pain.
Their last protector out for the count, Levi was once again plucked from the ground, fighting all the while, and further tentacles wrapped around Elissa anew, drawing her in and bringing her face-to-face with Cain.
"All of this over one stupid, little girl."
His brows furrowed in anger, and Elissa knew his patience was spent. Her right hand burned in pain, she knew she had abused it and probably worsened the break, and the tentacles squeezing her midsection were likely to soon break her ribs as well. But worst of all, that familiar miasma was settling around her head, closing in, and she could already feel conscious thought leaving her.
Elissa glanced towards her friends - Levi struggled to breathe despite the appendage wrapped around his throat, and Slayte lay crushed beneath the claw, unconscious - or worse. Vetty, lying crippled on the ground. Swallowing thickly, Elissa bit back tears. She had refused to run in hopes of protecting Slayte. Hoping against hope that there would be a way to save her friend's life, but now - had it all been for nothing?
The miasma seemed to be tying down her very thoughts, restraining her mind as surely as the tentacles were restraining her body. She was dimly aware that Cain was leering at her, his face inches from her own - but that dim awareness was no longer enough to awaken an emotional response from her mind. She was slipping.
Her eyelids fell closed, unable to believe the struggle had been for nothing, and Cain had indeed secured victory. That wasn't supposed to happen. How could it have all gone so horribly wrong?
"Itachi..." She forced her sluggish mind to think in prayer, even as her thoughts spiralled, any hopes of salvation dwindling away with her fading consciousness. "You... said… you were… my protector..."
She felt Cain's warm and sickly sweet breath on her face as he seethed in that disturbing, inhuman voice, "Did you think you could deny me and live?"
Her vision began to darken. Then came a sound in her ear like a whip slicing through the air and before she rightly knew what was happening, she felt herself tumbling through the air and braced herself for the inevitable impact with the floor, only to be caught by a steely, unyielding arm.
She recognized his scent first.
Pine. Woodsmoke. Security. The feel of his cloak beneath her fingers - thick, soft fabric that felt like a wool and silk blend. Her seeking fingers found the familiar, antique clasp before she finally found the strength to open her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath of surprise.
Lifting her gaze, her eyes fell upon his sweeping jaw line, onto the gilded mask glimmering in the dim lamplight, and caught on the threatening glint of his glowing scarlet eyes, fixed on Cain in deadly calm. The very aura radiating from him was lethal. So much so, that even she, cradled protectively in his hold, could not help the shudder that shot down her spine. He was truly Death in person, and he had come to deliver just the same.
"Tempting death before one's time," Itachi's solemn voice washed over her senses like thick, black velvet as she sagged against him in relief, "is the custom of fools."
Cain was clearly taken aback by his arrival, and he snarled in the deity's face even as the tentacles that had been cut down regenerated. "I know you. The interloper." With an expression of unadulterated wrath, he growled, "This girl is mine, you have no business here."
A single, angular dark brow rose almost imperceptibly at Cain's words, and Elissa fell into a stunned silence, gazing at the disfigured doctor in open-mouthed dismay. How far gone was Cain to not realize he was staring Death in the face? She realized then, that he, too, was consumed by the poisonous mist he had attempted to pass on to her, that it had clearly confounded his mind and addled his sanity.
Cain released a deranged cackle, the protruding ribs clacking against one another as he did so. "You think yourself a god, do you? Hahahaha! Look at me! I'm no less than a god myself!"
"If you are determined to be a god," Itachi lifted a ringed hand unhurriedly to his golden mask, bringing it slowly away from the angular planes of his face. "Then I will judge you as such."
Elissa swallowed thickly. Cain was too far gone to realize it, but Itachi's meaning was clear - he would show Cain none of the mercy he might have otherwise, taking pity on his mortal nature.
Cain wasted not a moment in lunging towards Itachi, certain that his movements would at least be encumbered by Elissa's presence - but the raven-haired deity did not so much as flinch. As Cain clambered forth on long, spindly legs, the slimy tentacles shot forward, eager to wrap themselves around his new opponent. But with a burst of fire, a wall of fierce flames sprang to life between Cain and Itachi, burning right through the tentacles that dared to linger too close.
Unintimidated, Cain drew back and summoned a great gust of wind with one swoop of his giant leathery wing. To his great horror, however, the flames only seemed to burn higher. Itachi did not so much as pay heed to the fact that even the two in Cain's grasp were going to burn to ashes along with him.
Desperately flailing, he flapped the wing repeatedly, hoping to put out the blaze, but again, the fire only grew in intensity.
"Those who fan the flames of cruelty," Itachi announced darkly, stepping towards him. "Must burn in them."
Cain gaped at Itachi's intimidating form, his cloak billowing behind him ominously and his long, raven locks swaying in the winds Cain had swept up. The crackling fire, soon to consume the entire apartment, flickered on his impassive, stony face and the sparks grazing his cheekbones did not intimidate him in the slightest as he stepped ever closer to the misshapen mortal.
"Wh- where's Elissa?!" Cain demanded, for he could no longer see her, but no sooner had the words left his lips than a great ball of unabating fire bloomed to life in his mouth, burning his tongue to ashes. He opened his mouth to scream, but the inferno within him escaped along with the sound of his agony and consumed his entire face. It was a pain like nothing he had ever felt before, excruciating and debilitating.
Just as he reached the point of unconsciousness, the flames extinguished, and Cain caught his breath weakly, near delirious from pain. He whirled around to face his enemy, and furrowed his brow to find that the room was empty entirely of the wreckage that had littered it only moments ago, and that Elissa, Slayte, Vetty and Levi were also nowhere to be found. Only Itachi stood across from him, resolute and unyielding, observing Cain through unmoved crimson eyes.
"You will not speak, but as I command."
Indignation spurred to life in Cain's chest, and rebellion was on the tip of his tongue, but it was subdued by an overpowering fear. Those unfeeling scarlet eyes pinning him firmly in place knew no mercy. And the memory of the flames consuming his form was still too fresh a torment.
Still panting, Cain regarded Itachi distrustfully and when small flickers of flame burst to life along the carpet, growing steadily and creeping towards him, he scrambled backwards, his sharp, spidery legs clicking against the floor as he did so, only to find that the fire was growing behind him as well.
There seemed to be no escaping it; these flames were impossible to extinguish. In a rage, he lunged at Itachi instead - surely, incapacitating his opponent would put an end to whatever this technique was - but the Uchiha disappeared before his very eyes, sending Cain tumbling headfirst into the blazing fire. Another scream erupted from Cain's chest as the flames consumed him. When he opened his eyes, he found Itachi standing just over him, his arms folded over his chest, looking down at the blond unmoved; judge and executioner in one. The deity was engulfed in flame but unaffected by it, and despite the blaze surrounding the two of them, his eyes were as hard and cold as ice.
"What is this?!" Cain shrieked. "What are you doing to me?"
"An illusion," Itachi explained patiently, unaffected by Cain's cries. "In this world, time flows according to my will. You will remain until I release you."
Cain's screams died down as his very lungs were consumed by the inferno.
"Centuries," Itachi added. "If it pleases me."
Cain struggled to wrap his mind around the concept. There was no way this was an illusion. The pain felt so real. The skin and flesh melting away to ash before his very eyes. The agony shooting through his nerves and the terror paralyzing his limbs. It was impossible to believe that it only existed in his mind.
Once more, the flames extinguished suddenly, and Cain found himself standing just where he had been, in Elissa's abandoned living room, face-to-face with Itachi.
"What is your assignment?"
Cain scowled, even as he trembled in anticipation of the next onslaught of fire. He had no doubt that his torment would not end until the raven-haired deity had received precisely the information he sought - but did he dare to betray the intimidating, mysterious stranger who had approached him nearly a year ago?
He wasn't given time to consider, the now familiar flames were creeping along the carpet yet again, rising ever higher, ready to consume him once more.
"I was told to seduce her!" he blurted, his terror now overwhelming every other instinct. But Itachi's unyielding gaze continued to bore into him, and the heat was beginning to sear Cain's skin anew, catching on the fine hairs of his spidery legs and rushing up the spindly limbs.
"To gain her affection and loyalty! To pass on the influence I was given!" he shouted out everything he knew, not knowing what exactly it was Itachi wanted to hear.
"By whom?" Itachi questioned further, as the flames drew up to his abdomen.
"I don't know!" But even he knew that that answer would not suffice for the deity. "It was a man with red eyes, he wore a cloak and never showed his face!"
Itachi waited a beat - two - allowing the flames to reach up to the blond's shoulders before posing a final question.
"Why?"
Cain screamed in agony, unable to form words - he desperately tried to answer the question through the pain.
"She has something! Inside of her! He wants it! I don't know any more, I swear -" his explanation broke off in yet another scream as the flames consumed his face entirely once more, prompting Itachi to close his eyes slowly and dispel the illusion entirely.
Cain blinked, breathless, to find everything in precisely the state he had left it in. The cracked television lying on the floor, the sofa on its face strewn in the middle of the room, Slayte crushed beneath his claw, Levi all but limp, struggling with the last of his strength against his tentacles, and a masked Itachi before him, holding Elissa firmly. It was as if not a second had passed and he hadn't spent what had felt like hours burning alive. However, he no longer felt that he had the advantage and could not stop his trembling. His pupils were dilated with fear, and he could not bring himself to pull his gaze away from Itachi's threatening form. He needed to get out of here. To get away from him. Slayte and Levi were as good as dead. That had to count for something. Maybe the one who had assigned him this miserable task would spare him.
But before he could even so much as consider his next course of action, he felt a heat approaching. He scrambled backwards, horrified, and found black flames creeping up on him - they had already begun claiming his tentacles. These were a thousand times hotter than any fire he had ever known in his life and an unabating scream of horror burst from his throat, quickly growing hoarse and tearing his vocal cords in its intensity until nothing but a hollow, whistling sound escaped his throat.
The flames rose higher and higher, consuming him entirely. He was burning alive and this time, it was no illusion. Cain's gaze sought Itachi out, the only one who could put an end to his agony, but there was no mercy to be found in those dark eyes - no pity to speak of.
If you are determined to be a god, then I will judge you as one. Suddenly the words of warning that the composed deity had spoken to Cain returned to haunt him. The cruel punishment he was receiving was nothing but divine in its nature. There was no hope of leniency.
Elissa's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the unnatural black flames. She had never seen anything like them, felt the intensity of their heat even from the safety of where she stood. Yet she could not bear to watch the gruesome sight and turned her face away, burying it into Itachi's tunic, breathing the scent of him in deeply, trying vainly to block out the piercing screams. Itachi's arm wrapped around her, holding her protectively in place until the ordeal was over.
As the ebony flames spread towards Cain's tentacles and inched along the claw crushing Slayte, Itachi summoned shadows to lift Elissa's two injured companions and carry them away from the lethal blackfire, depositing them gently on the ground some distance away.
The blaze swiftly reduced Cain's monstrous form to ash, until a movement in Itachi's scarlet irises commanded the dark flames to extinguish. All that remained of Cain was his head and torso, as well as the human part of one arm - down to the elbow - and that was what tumbled to the ground. Whether he lived or was dead, it was impossible to tell.
Itachi pulled Elissa gently away from himself, peering with concern into her terrified face. Cupping her cheek, he wiped away the tear budding in the corner of her eye and murmured an apology.
"Forgive my delay, Angelissa. I am to blame for this." His voice was so heavy with regret that Elissa wanted to stand on tiptoe, wrap her arms around his neck and assure him of the contrary while she wept into his shoulder, but everything that had happened - from Cain's monstrous transformation, to her friends' injuries, to Itachi's sudden appearance - left her winded and at a loss. She felt weak and disoriented. The awful aura Cain had poured into her still remained, making her dizzy and confused.
Itachi reached for a flask tied to a belt at his hip and unstoppered it. He ran the pad of his thumb delicately over her lower lip and her lips parted without conscious thought. He allowed two drops of a golden, glimmering liquid to fall to her tongue.
The sweetest sensation washed through her. It tasted of honey and flowers and sunshine. It rushed through her system with the potency of a tidal wave, driving every confusion and weakness from her body. As if a pristine spring breeze was flowing through her veins in place of her own thick blood. She blinked up at him, suddenly clearer in mind than she had been for months.
Ambrosia. Her addled mind supplied. That must have been what he had given to her.
Itachi glanced down at her, satisfied with the effects of the ambrosia as he saw her disoriented gaze clearing, but his eyes narrowed as his gaze fell on the sorry state of her wounded hand. A fresh wave of fury coursed through him as well as regret that the insolent mortal had been allowed far too mild a demise. But he cleared his expression of any lingering wrath - unwilling to frighten the young woman in his arms.
He reached for her hand with the gentlest of fingers, with the lightest of touches. She bit back a whimper as he undid the bandages wrapped around the broken bone, registering that the treatment was not Angelissa's work - she could not possibly have bandaged her own hand this well - nor Slayte, who was unlikely to have the necessary knowledge of how to treat a mortal's broken bones. No, this was the work of a soldier, someone familiar with bloodshed and injuries, and Itachi silently acknowledged his debt towards the mortal that kept company with his servant.
Elissa winced as the last of the bandages fell away but as Itachi took her hand in both of his, she felt a familiar, cool sensation sweep over her injury. Looking on in amazement, she watched as Itachi's shadows encircled her hand before seeping into her skin, and as they did, her pain faded like the last rays of sunlight giving way to the onset of the evening. She blinked in astonished awe and carefully tested her hand, opening and closing it before looking up at Itachi, tears of gratitude glistening in her eyes.
She couldn't believe how close they had come to certain destruction. Their inevitable demise had been imminent but in a matter of mere seconds, Itachi had put an end to the terrible threat, without barely lifting a finger. As terrifying as Cain had been, he had never stood a chance in front of the deity of death and Elissa was beginning to see, for the first time, the true, formidable power that lay dormant beneath Itachi's gentle demeanor.
"Thank you," she whispered, reaching for his hand, intertwining her fingers through his, astonished to find that she didn't feel the faintest twinge of pain. Itachi returned the gesture, closing his hand around hers, and she felt his warmth provide her with a comfort that shouldn't have been possible, standing in the wreckage of her living room. Her protector had made good on his word and had come for her.
All at once, the horrific events of the evening rushed back to her, and she drew away from Itachi in concern, stumbling over her own feet as she hastened towards her friends. She drew suddenly to a stop and stood stock still among the chaos, tears pooling in her eyes as she saw Slayte's motionless form and Levi kneeling behind her, head bowed. She could not move forward or backwards, terrified to confirm what her eyes were seeing.
Itachi turned then, to where her friends were, and she was suddenly recalled to the present.
"Slayte!" Elissa pleaded, taking hold of his cloak. "Help her, please!"
Itachi met her hazel eyes briefly, and nodded.
No sooner was Levi freed from Cain's ruthless hold, than he stumbled towards Slayte - an instinct so deeply ingrained that he had taken his first step towards her before he had even truly gasped for his first breath of air. Disoriented and with darkness tinging the edges of his vision, he fell to his knees beside her, catching his breath. The state she was in sent a chilling, displacing sensation through every nerve in his body.
His eyes traveled over her form, resting on her face with an odd sense of distance, as if he were a thousand miles away. As if he were nothing more than a dead man walking - incapable of conscious thought or feeling. It didn't feel real. He felt like a ghost observing events that couldn't truly touch him - observing people he himself couldn't reach.
There she was, her long, raven hair streaked and matted with blood. Her chest had collapsed as if the majority of her ribs were broken and her severed arm was bleeding out. It would shortly cause her death if her crushed ribs hadn't already done her in.
If she was even alive at all.
The horrible thought spurred him to action and he furrowed his brow as he slowly reached for her pulse, as if afraid of what he would find. He felt a faint, weak flutter against the tips of his fingers and stared at her blood splattered face, stunned. He had helped treat a lot of wounds in his time, but he didn't have the faintest idea what to do for her crushed rib-cage. How to ease her pain or whether she could heal from it at all.
Biting his lip, he undid the buttons of his white shirt and shrugged it off, revealing a black tank-top underneath, before tearing it into manageable, long strips of fabric. He fashioned a tourniquet out of what was available to him and bound her right arm as well as he was able, wiping the sweat off of his nose as he worked, ignorant of the blood he smeared on his face in the process. It was giving him something to do, and doing something was preferable to thinking, better than feeling. Something he could focus on and block everything else out.
"Don't die, brat," he murmured, his tone more irritable than he had intended. "You're supposed to be immortal. You said I'd go first. Keep your stupid promises, Slayte."
When a shadow fell over the two of them, Levi lifted his silver-grey gaze to meet the onyx eyes of the one who had plagued the two women of his life to no end for the past year. He had always intended to give Thanatos a talking to whenever he finally met him, but Levi's mind blanked at the sight of him.
There was something about him, something hauntingly familiar - like an old companion whose name one had forgotten. There was something tempting about him, like a guest for whom Levi had long been waiting. Like a guide who would finally lead him to where he wanted to go - but before he had time to think about what that meant, Itachi broke his gaze away from the mortal, raven-haired man and turned his ebony eyes to Slayte.
Summoning thick, black shadows he gestured towards her with two outstretched fingers, and the dark wisps obediently floated over to Slayte, settling on her, before seeping into her body, becoming a part of her. Levi watched in awe as her sunken chest resumed its usual form and the remaining shadows gathered at the stump of her right elbow, forming a black mass, before condensing and giving shape to a new arm entirely.
Elissa stood just at Itachi's shoulder and observed the proceedings with a hand clamped over her mouth, biting back tears at Slayte's condition. When Slayte sucked in a sharp breath, she could not help but release a choked sob of relief.
The nymph's eyelids fluttered open, and the first face she saw through the haze was that of Itachi, towering over her.
Her brows furrowed in distress and she breathed in short, panicked gasps as her eyes darted across her surroundings searchingly. The name that spilled from her lips was unintelligible, but the man in question would have recognized her call even without words.
Levi brushed the stray strands of raven hair away from her face, an unspoken reassurance that he was nearby, and she had nothing to fear.
Slayte's expression relaxed somewhat, recognizing that familiar touch, although she was still unable to see clearly. With a sigh of relief, she blinked through the haze as the recent event came back to her. "Elissa?" she queried, panic in her voice, as she turned towards the comforting touch.
"Lives," Itachi said quietly, the single syllable of confirmation filling the very air with renewed confidence.
Slayte turned her dark eyes onto the deity of death, finally fully registering what his presence meant.
"Lord Thanatos," she managed, her voice hoarse. "You came."
Itachi nodded, for once, taken with a quiet appreciation for the reliable nymph. Had Slayte not been there, his delay would have had disastrous consequences.
Her eyes slid shut and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods…" and then, thinking better of it, amended, "Thank you."
"I'm right here," Elissa provided through her tears, falling to her friend's side and reaching for her hand. "Thank you for protecting me."
Slayte's eyes shot open then and she struggled to sit up with difficulty, her hand reaching out blindly for support and catching onto Levi's as he held out a hand to help her into a seated position. Her conflicted brown eyes met his penetrant silver irises briefly before she tore her gaze away and turned back to her friend.
"You stubborn fool, Elissa!" Slayte seethed, her voice shaking. "I told you to go! You could have been killed!"
"If we had gone," Levi interrupted, his voice heavy with disapproval. "You'd be dead."
Elissa frowned in anger, even as a fine tremor ran through the hands that were tightly gripping Slayte's. "That's not how friendship works, Slayte. You don't get to sacrifice yourself protecting me while I just leave you here to die! If you can lay your life down for me, then I can do the same for you!"
Itachi observed the three of them, connecting the pieces of the conversations he had had with both Angelissa and Slayte and understanding, for the first time, the unique dynamic between them.
"E...lissa…" a hoarse, choked voice rasped and the group turned in unison to the source of the sound.
Elissa stiffened in place, fear clawing through her heart. Cain's dull blue eyes were fixed on her, no trace of red remaining in his irises. His eyebrows were furrowed in pain and his eyes glistened with - was it tears? Of agony? Of regret? The charred stump of his arm reached out towards her and his cracked lips parted anew. It was a miracle he was able to speak at all, given how badly his body had been burned.
She felt a sickening dread twist in her stomach. What did he want to say? Did she even want to know? Even after all this, why couldn't he leave her alone?
She didn't want to hear his apologies - or his threats. She didn't want to hear anything he had to say, not after what he had done. Nausea and disgust churned within her. Would she never be free of his manipulation? How could he have possibly survived the scalding black flames?
Before she could think further on the matter, a movement beside her obscured her vision of the remains of the blond. Surprised, Elissa raised her head to find that Itachi had stepped between the two of them, his cloak billowing before her eyes. Unable to contain herself, her eyes sought out the doctor, feeling the inexplicable need to say or do something, but not knowing what - as if her instincts sensed that something irreversible was about to take place.
"El… issa…" Cain attempted again, lungs rattling, drowning in a pool of internal bleeding. "I…"
Itachi's right arm extended towards the man lying prone on her living room carpet. Elissa looked on in stunned silence as the death deity closed his hand into a fist and suddenly wrenched it to the side. As he did so, a garbled, horrific scream burst from Cain's throat, and he convulsed violently as a faint wisp of something was ripped from his form, soaring obediently towards Itachi before disappearing from her sight entirely.
Elissa froze, eyes wide, lips parted. She knew, immediately, what it was.
A reaping.
He had reaped Cain's soul, she realized, her heart hammering thunderously in her chest. And the cruelty of it - the excruciating, ruthless way he had torn the human's soul from his body - sent a shudder of fear down her spine. This wasn't how she had come to know him. This wasn't what she had thought death would be.
Itachi half turned, meeting her eye over his shoulder. She could not look into those piercing dark eyes for longer than a moment before she averted her gaze despite herself, shocked and unable to come to terms with what she had just witnessed.
She had refused to hear Cain's dying words - the last, perhaps, he would have ever spoken as himself, free from the influence of whatever had possessed him. And while she despised him, while she had wanted to kill him with her own two hands for every despicable thing he had done to her, seeing how completely overpowered and helpless he had been in Itachi's presence caused her entire body to prickle with discomfort. Sent her mind reeling.
Cain had undoubtedly deserved everything that had happened to him. He had clearly dabbled in the forbidden and bitten off far more than he could chew when acquiring his so-called 'gifts'. But the violent way he had convulsed before losing his life replayed endlessly - hauntingly - in her mind's eye and she was struck with a rising sense of panic, as well as an overwhelming desire to escape. To run away from Itachi's penetrating dark gaze, to take a moment to breathe, to come to terms with what had just taken place.
Were all souls severed in such a way from their mortal vessels? Were spirits and bodies torn asunder with such force? Did the process hurt as much as it had clearly pained Cain in his final seconds? An overwhelmed Elissa found herself struggling to process the concept, and suddenly her entire body was overcome with fine tremors all over again.
She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and blinked in surprise to find Levi's solemn grey eyes looking down on her, startling her out of her thoughts.
"You're a state," he scolded, and she was indeed. Covered in blood, hair tangled, her clothes torn from the struggle, dusted in debris and god knew what else from the battle. She felt so coated in the chaos it was suffocating, but it paled in the face of what had nearly happened to all of them.
"I'm fine," she got out, but her voice came out small and garbled. Slurred, almost. It sounded to her as if it came from somewhere far away. Slayte turned towards her at the sound and Levi's brows furrowed in concern. To reassure them, and herself, she pulled away from Levi's grip on her shoulder but was overcome by a wave of dizziness and stumbled, only to be caught by Itachi's firm hand at her elbow.
Elissa looked from Levi to Slayte to Itachi, but their faces seemed to blur together, before fading entirely to black.
She awoke in her bedroom. The textured ceiling paint swam across her vision, cleared, and came back into focus. The way the light of her ceiling lamp shone through the whimsical lampshade, casting illusions of butterflies and fairies was so familiar and ordinary it filled her heart with an inexplicable sorrow. As if the ordinary and mundane were a long-lost friend she had been separated from for far too long.
She grew aware of a warmth by her side and turned her head in confusion to find Vetty curled up against her side, sleeping soundly and at ease. The sight of her brought the memories of recent events crashing back down and Elissa squeezed her eyes shut against the terrible images that flashed through her mind. Cain's monstrous transformation, the awful miasma, the blinding pain in her hand, the sight of her friends cast aside and crushed like helpless insects, and the imminent, inevitable death that had loomed over them.
Until Itachi had arrived.
He had saved them all with no more than a glance of those crimson eyes, a sweep of those dark lashes, and - she recalled with a shudder - a single movement of that deceptively elegant, regal hand. This was the first time, she realized, that she had ever brushed against even the outer fringes of the true power he commanded and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.
A faint knock sounded, interrupting her thoughts, and Slayte's concerned face appeared in the doorway. Elissa forced a smile, though it came out as more of a grimace, and gestured her friend in as she slowly sat up on the bed.
"You blacked out," Slayte informed her, watching her friend closely for any lingering signs of discomfort. "It was probably the-"
"-ambrosia?" Elissa filled in knowingly. Whether it had been purely down to that, or whether shock, too, had played a part in contributing to her fainting spell, she wasn't quite sure.
Slayte seemed taken aback, but recovered and nodded. "The mist he was using to mess with your mind couldn't be healed by normal means."
Elissa nodded wearily, "I know. I'm thankful." It had been a relief unlike anything else when Itachi had tipped that sweet drink into her mouth and finally cleared her thoughts of Cain's terrible, disgusting influence. The sudden inebriation and loss of consciousness were a small price to pay in exchange.
"How long have I been out?"
"Not long. An hour at the most," Slayte provided.
Her answer was met with another understanding nod and quiet fell between them.
"Are you okay?" Slayte asked, as the silence stretched on.
Elissa swallowed thickly. "I guess." She hesitated, before adding honestly, "No, not really." Shaking her head, she went on, "I can't believe it. All this time, Cain was poisoning my thoughts, my feelings. All the messed up things I did, all the times I wouldn't listen - all those horrible things I said to you and Levi, Slayte, I-" she broke off, voice clogged with emotion, feeling tears of remorse and renewed anger burning in her eyes. "I'm so sorry. It was like he changed me into a completely different person. How could I let him get into my mind like that...?"
Slayte hugged her close, protective and reassuring, before releasing her. "Shh. It wasn't your fault. It's alright now. He can't hurt you anymore. We'll get this sorted out. Don't worry about anything, okay?"
Elissa sucked in a slow breath, trying to regain her composure. She knew that Slayte could not truly promise her that all would be well, but she could not help but feel that the shadow nymph needed those empty reassurances at the moment just as much as she did. She reached out, grasping her best friend's hand with her own. "What about you? Are you alright?"
"Good as new," Slayte nodded, testing her arm again. She seemed to have recovered from the terror of the situation with her sheer stubbornness and nerves of steel and Elissa found herself wondering once more how many times Slayte had faced similar horrors for her sake, while she had remained entirely ignorant.
She swallowed thickly. All their lives had been in danger because of her. Because of something Cain had said she possessed. The awareness of that fact plagued Elissa with unrest and a smothering sense of guilt. If not for her, Levi and Slayte would never have been dragged into such peril to begin with.
Her friends had been protecting her from the shadows all along. Even Vetty, who had initially been sent by their enemy, had loyally risked her own life to protect her. Cain had done his best to sever their ties, to divide them, to turn Elissa against two of the most important people in her life - and yet they had endured. Levi and Slayte had refused to give up on her, and Elissa didn't know how she could ever repay such a huge debt.
Slayte, seeing Elissa's gaze slip to the black feline, spoke up comfortingly, "Lord Thanatos has seen to Vetty. She seems to be doing much better."
"Thanks," Elissa murmured quietly, shooting her friend a grateful look.
"Nothing to thank me for," Slayte shook her head, her expression grim. If it hadn't been for Thanatos, it would have been the end for all of them, and the crushing knowledge of that bore heavily on Slayte's shoulders.
"No," Elissa insisted. "I don't just mean for today. For every time you've been there to save me. You've gotten hurt so many times because of me, and…" she swallowed again, meeting her friend's gaze in earnest. Squeezing her hand tightly, she finished, "I never would've made it without you. So thank you."
"Oh, Elissa," Slayte's eyes welled with tears. Blinking them back, she squeezed Elissa's hand back affectionately. "I'd do it all again in a heartbeat."
"I know. That's why that jerk wanted to keep me away from you and Levi so much. He knew you could see right through him," Elissa frowned. She'd believed that she had seen through Cain at the start too - before he had begun corrupting her mind without her knowledge.
A brief silence ensued, before she cracked a lopsided grin. "You figured it out. My message."
"Of course I did," Slayte blinked at her. "You? Watching Harry Potter of your own free will? And a marathon on top of that?" She shook her head.
A small, dry laugh escaped Elissa's lips, "Thank God it worked."
"They're not all that bad," Slayte placed her other hand on top of Elissa's. "The movies, I mean. This," she gestured vaguely toward the bedroom door, where the wreckage of Cain's attack had taken place. "This is pretty bad."
"Well, I'd take a Harry Potter marathon over this any day," Elissa remarked wryly. She then recalled how Slayte had initially mentioned that they were unable to make it, and how dishevelled Levi had appeared to be upon arrival. "I was worried you might not show. You said something came up. Did something happen?"
Slayte shook her head, unwilling to burden her friend with any further worries at that moment. Elissa didn't need to be involved in anything else when she was already entangled so deeply into the supernatural. Humans, Slayte thought, were obstacles that significantly paled in comparison and that she and Levi could surely take care of together.
"We're going to figure this out. I'm not letting Thanatos leave you alone anymore," Slayte scowled.
Alarm crept through Elissa at the possibility of another disagreement arising between her friend and Itachi. "Is he still here?" When the nymph nodded, Elissa's heart skipped a beat and she said, "No, Slayte. Let me talk to him."
"It's fine, don't worry." Slayte drew her hands back and waved. "I have some things I need to discuss with him, anyway."
Elissa hesitated despite herself. They were all on the same side, but she knew how riled up her friend could get, especially when she believed strongly enough in something. "Don't get yourself into trouble over me."
Slayte nodded reassuringly, and glanced back toward the partially open door. "Are you okay to get up? Do you want me to stay?"
"No, it's okay," Elissa sighed and ran a hand through her hair, frowning where her fingers caught in the matted tangles, "I'll be there in a minute." Her eyes caught on the pitiful, blood-spattered, torn fabric of her top. "Let me just change out of this."
"Alright," Slayte patted her shoulder gently. "Don't worry, okay?"
The words sounded wrong to Elissa's ears. They had very nearly died, all of them together. The man she had been keeping company with for months had turned out to be working with the enemy and transformed into something out of a nightmare, right before her eyes. Even if it hadn't all sunk in completely because of the shock of the situation - it was a terrible ordeal to process, and only served as a precursor to even more horrifying events to come, she feared. What else would her unknown enemy throw at them in an attempt to acquire whatever it was she supposedly carried?
"How am I supposed to not worry?" Elissa's eyebrows drew together at the odd suggestion.
Slayte winced, recognizing the truth of her friend's rebuttal. "Just don't worry too much, we're in this together."
Elissa remained silent. That was precisely the problem and what deeply troubled her most - that her friends had been forced to face such dangers because of her in the first place. A terrifying thought then crossed her mind. If she sought out the enemy the next time they made their move, if she perhaps attempted to bargain and let them take whatever it was they wanted from her, would her friends' lives be safe? Would they no longer have to risk themselves for her sake? Would the pain that had been shadowing her steps for almost a year finally be over? She couldn't bear to watch Levi and Slayte suffer again. She had almost lost them, almost watched them die before her eyes. If anything happened to either of them- Elissa couldn't even stomach finishing the thoroughly upsetting thought.
Slayte gave her one last reassuring nod, before turning the door handle and exiting the room.
Elissa watched the door close behind her friend before dropping her gaze to the cat resting peacefully beside her. She raised a hand to stroke Vetty's fluffy black fur and paused as her eyes caught on her fully healed right hand.
Itachi had healed her injury. Once more, he had mended broken bones. The same death deity who had so mercilessly torn Cain's soul from his body had healed her hand with the gentlest of touches. He returned kindness with kindness, and evil with evil. That was the way he was. It wasn't fair to hold him to an unrealistic standard, was it?
Shaking her thoughts from her mind and forcing herself to her feet, Elissa gathered up some clothing and turned towards her bathroom in a daze, as if a part of her foolishly hoped to wash away the entire traumatic experience that had just taken place.
When she emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and an oversized white sweater, her damp hair tied back into a messy bun, Elissa felt somewhat more ready to face the chaos that had exploded in her life. She knew that having a meltdown over it was not going to be an option if she wanted to survive. It wouldn't help in any way. And so she reeled in her emotions and plastered on a brave face.
If she curled up into a ball and wept for days on end, she knew exactly where that would lead her. Back to being sheltered by her friends, allowing them to take on all the danger and all the hurt while she remained ignorantly shielded behind them. She had vowed to never let that happen again. Tears could wait. Fear could wait. She needed to take her fate into her own hands - before someone else did.
She saw with a welling sense of gratitude that her friends had somewhat put the living room to rights. The torn up sofa was back in place and set upright, the broken television and table were set against a far wall and the scraps of wood and shattered glass and porcelain had likely been tossed out or swept up. One could almost imagine they hadn't just fought for their lives in this very room. Even Cain's corpse was nowhere to be found.
Elissa found Levi in the corner of the room, dumping a dustpan of debris into the trash can.
"Feeling any better?" he asked, seeing her come in.
"Yeah. Thanks." She moved towards one of the more intact sofas where Vetty was curled up, now conscious but still weak. She stroked her cat behind the ears, whispering her heartfelt gratitude for the feline's bravery, before walking over to Levi.
"Where's Slayte?"
Levi nodded to his far right, and Elissa moved in that direction to find her friend and Itachi standing in the corridor. Itachi had his arms folded across his chest as Slayte spoke animatedly, gesturing with her hands. She seemed angry, but Elissa knew her friend well enough by now to decode what her demeanor actually meant - Slayte was nervous. Whatever she was trying to communicate, she seemed to have come up against a wall.
Elissa turned back to Levi who had joined her and was watching the pair through narrowed eyes. How the two of them had gotten so caught up in this world of immortals was beyond her. She sighed and lifted Vetty into her arms, holding her close for comfort.
"What happened to Cain?"
Levi cast her a look. "Your boyfriend took care of it."
"He's not my..." she began automatically, but trailed off, seeing Levi's disbelieving expression. She recalled the way Itachi had caught her and held her close to himself as he had put an end to Cain. Of course, Levi would have seen all of that.
Taken aback by the title, she felt warmth pool into her cheeks. It was unsettling to hear Itachi referred to by that term, something so casual and ordinary given their still tentative and undefined relationship, but she knew Levi likely didn't mean anything by it and thought better of dragging out the topic by arguing over it.
They had shared a kiss, but now, with everything that had happened, those passionate touches seemed far away - almost as if they had never even happened at all. And when she thought of the way Itachi had wrenched Cain's soul from his body with the very same hands that had set her pulse racing… she didn't know what to think, or even what she wanted. She needed time to sort through all of it again, to come to terms with everything. She chanced another glance towards the corridor, where Itachi listened quietly to Slayte's not so subtle, harsh whispers and the blood rushed to her face when she found him staring coolly back at her over Slayte's shoulder from beneath thick, dark lashes. Elissa's gaze dropped to the ground, unable to return his gaze and she turned back to her friend.
"Are you okay? You seem upset," Elissa addressed Levi, referring to his irritable tone.
Levi looked up at her, somewhat taken aback that he had been so transparent with his temper.
"Not with you, don't worry about it." He ruffled her hair in passing before casting Slayte a parting glance and continuing about cleaning up the last of the remaining mess in the living room.
Elissa absentmindedly stroked Vetty's fur as she watched Slayte argue one-sidedly with Itachi. The raven-haired deity was no longer staring at her, and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "We're really out of our depths with those two, aren't we?"
Levi did not even look up as he huffed in annoyance. "Guess so."
"Are you guys gonna be okay?"
"We will be."
He spoke quietly, with a determined, threatening undertone to his words that clearly conveyed his displeasure at the situation as a whole.
Elissa bit her lower lip, concerned. She could not remember having ever seen him this disagreeable. He was grumpy, yes. Snarky, always. But he was usually patient and kind and soft-spoken, even if the words he chose to speak were scathing. She glanced at Slayte, so wholly absorbed in her conversation with Itachi and thought she understood the reason for Levi's demeanor. A sharp stab of guilt pierced through her. She didn't want any tensions to arise between the two because of what was happening to her.
"I'm sorry," she offered. "You're both going through so much trouble because of me."
"None of this is your fault." He answered. Then, moving the topic quickly along, he questioned, "What did the asshole want? Did he say anything to you?"
For one awful moment, Elissa thought Levi was referring to Itachi before she realized he could only mean Cain, and the recollection prompted a fresh surge of anxiety.
Clearing her throat, she filled Levi in. "He had some kind of … weird, toxic mist. It messed with my head. He said someone made a deal with him and gave him special powers in exchange for finding me and infecting me with it. It's what he did to Vetty," she held the mewling cat close to her chest. "All this time, he was poisoning my thoughts, influencing my actions…" she clenched her teeth, reining in her fury, and sighed sadly.
"I think that's what caused all our fights. I just- I wasn't myself. And I couldn't figure out what was wrong. My thoughts and feelings were all over the place. It was that bastard, manipulating me. He wanted to isolate me and break us up all along."
Levi blinked at her, taken aback. He had known her actions were out of character for her, but he had never even considered the possibility of mind-control. Then again, back then, he hadn't known anything about the supernatural elements of their situation, not even the truth of Slayte's identity.
"Tch," Levi scowled. "Always was a piece of shit."
"Yeah," Elissa agreed as she perched on the sofa, still watching Itachi and Slayte carefully, ready to intervene if it seemed like Slayte was going to get herself in trouble.
Levi tied up the trash bag and tossed it neatly against the wall before finally turning toward the two immortals. "Oi," he snapped, loud enough to interrupt their exchange. "You lot want to fill us in?"
Slayte glanced back at them, then looked at Itachi uncertainly, but he was already passing her by and rejoining the rest of them. With a resigned sigh, Slayte followed in his footsteps.
The regal death deity swept past Levi as if he had not even spoken, holding Elissa's gaze until he drew up beside her.
"Angelissa."
The single word, spoken in that familiar low voice that always served to disarm her utterly, dark and guilelessly mesmerizing, sent a shiver down her spine that she attempted to conceal by sitting up straighter. She was suddenly distinctly conscious of Slayte and Levi's eyes on her, and felt her pulse quicken despite herself.
"A word."
It could have been an invitation or a command, she wasn't wholly sure but she nodded regardless, eager to escape the concerned gazes of her friends as she set Vetty gently down and followed Itachi out of the living room. He wasted no time leading her towards the balcony, where they could speak in privacy, undisturbed.
He held the heavy, drawn curtains aside for her and allowed them to fall closed behind him as they stepped outside together. As he closed the balcony doors, his gaze swept over the murdered crows and Elissa gulped at the sudden, cruel reminder of the horrors she had endured earlier, lifting her arms to hug herself in an attempt to restrain the fresh tremors that threatened to overwhelm her. Itachi glanced at her over his shoulder, and his expression softened with regret.
With a sweep of his hand, the crows dissipated into shadow and floated up into the night sky. Elissa watched them rise and disappear among the stars. It was surreal to think of everything that had happened, that they had survived at all. That Itachi had dispersed her fears just as he had dispersed those crows.
She silently stepped forward to join his side and raised her hazel eyes to meet his penetrant gaze behind the gilded barrier of his mask. A moment's silence passed between the two of them as sentiments unspoken but understood were silently exchanged.
The hooting of an owl hidden in the trees below broke the midnight silence and Elissa shifted, suddenly aware of the intimacy of the moment.
"Are you well?" Itachi queried, his voice uncharacteristically soft, like the pit-patting of summer rain on a roof.
"As well as can be expected," she nodded, "all things considered."
The raven-haired deity took a step forward and reached out to tuck a few strands of chestnut hair behind her ear. His hand lingered at her cheek as he searched her eyes, as if to reassure himself of her wellbeing.
"Forgive me." The words were spoken ruefully, and so quietly she scarcely heard them.
Elissa's cheek grew warm beneath his palm. "There's nothing to forgive."
When her words failed to clear the remorse from his eyes, she pressed on, "I mean it. You came, you saved us all. You protected me." She reached up and held onto the hand cupping her face, meeting his eyes compellingly. "Just like you promised."
A soft breath escaped his parted lips - an inaudible sigh, heavy with regret - as his hand fell away. "That remains to be seen."
"What do you mean?"
"The threat towards you is more severe than ever. The patience of our opponent grows thin." Itachi shook his head, "Your safety on the surface cannot be guaranteed."
Elissa faltered. What was he suggesting?
"What happened today was…" she gestured vaguely, groping for the right words, "terrifying. But we made it out. We just need to be better prepared next time. I need to be stronger. Maybe you could loan me some of your powers, too, like you did with Slayte?"
"Angelissa," Itachi reproached gently. "You should not need to fight."
Frustration crested within her and Elissa took a step back. "I don't exactly have a choice, do I? I'm what they're after. What am I supposed to do? Hide behind my friends forever and just count the casualties while they risk their lives trying to protect me?
"I can't do it anymore. I can't stand watching while everyone gets hurt because of me." She threw up her hands in a helpless gesture, "I'm constantly being attacked, Itachi. There's no knowing when or where the next ambush will be. I need to be able to protect myself!"
Itachi fell silent, understanding her sentiments. "It is not possible for you to bear my gifts. Your friend was born of shadows, making such a transfer possible."
"Okay," Elissa planted her hands on her hips, and glanced out towards the woods in the distance as she struggled to calm her mounting panic. "Okay, something else then. Cain was just a human but someone gave him the power to almost kill us all, even Slayte."
"Yes," Itachi agreed, slowly closing the distance between them, "but at a price."
Elissa squeezed her eyes shut in frustration and pressed a hand to her temple as her mind raced for a solution. "What price? As long as I know what I'm giving up beforehand, I can-"
Itachi's large, warm hands settled on her shoulders and Elissa's eyes flew open. "Angelissa," he soothed. "Be at ease."
She felt her lower lip trembling and tears stinging her eyes - and cursed herself for it. "How?" she asked, battling to steady her tremulous voice. "How can I calm down after- after-"
But she could not bring herself to continue. She could not bring herself to list the horrors that had visited her only hours before, as well as the agony of knowing that for months, she had been corrupted by the enemy - but she did not need to speak them aloud. Itachi's arm wrapped around her shoulders and he pulled her in close. The warm scent of pine and woodsmoke was a balm to her senses and she buried her face in his tunic, holding back tears. Why was it that in his embrace, she felt so ready to come undone?
"There is no shame in weeping," Itachi murmured gently. "Least of all in my presence."
His reassurance broke the dam holding her tears at bay and she finally allowed the anguish of the day's events to catch up with her as she sobbed into his chest. Itachi held her close and patted her back tenderly, allowing her to grieve, to come to terms with the fact that she was no longer safe in her own home.
When her sobs finally subsided, Itachi spoke once more. "Lend me your ear, Angelissa. There is much to discuss."
She nodded, showing no sign of pulling away from his embrace, just as he did not loosen his hold on her.
"You have been poisoned."
The breath caught in her throat. She had almost forgotten about that. She had almost thought that the ambrosia had cleared all remnants of the disgusting mist that Cain had seeped into her.
"But…" she began in confusion. "That drink you gave me...?"
"Only temporarily assists. A healer must tend to you immediately. Vetty can only withhold the effects from you for a limited time - and at great detriment to her own health."
Elissa finally pulled away from him and wiped at her eyes as she glanced towards the balcony doors in concern, hoping Vetty was alright.
"She's hurting because of me, isn't she?" she questioned. "Because of our bond?"
Itachi nodded.
Another loved one, suffering because of her. Taking a deep breath, Elissa turned back to the god of death, the light of a furious determination shining in her reddened eyes. "What do I need to do?"
"You must decide."
"Decide what?"
"You cannot remain on the surface in security. The resources required to protect you can only be found on Olympus or in the Underworld."
Elissa blinked up at him, stunned. "But… what do you mean?" Her mind struggled to accept what she was hearing, even though she already knew precisely what his words were conveying. A harsh truth. That she could not remain as she was. "I have to leave? My home? My family?" She lifted a hand to her head, clutching at her hair, a mindless gesture that reflected her inner anxiety.
When Itachi nodded again, Elissa shook her head, staggered. "For how long?" she got out.
"The duration of your stay is as yet, undefined. The threat must be eliminated to ensure your safety," he reasoned.
"But- wait. Undefined?" The world felt like it was spinning. Everything was moving so fast. Too fast. How was she meant to leave town? Not just town - but the surface itself? To vanish entirely for an unspecified length of time, removed to a place where she would be all alone, surrounded by immortals? Panic gnawed at her. What in the world was she meant to tell her family?
"But how do you know I'll be safe there, either? Cain was possessed by someone. He had these glowing red eyes - but they weren't exactly like yours. Doesn't that mean whoever was using him is also a god from the Underworld? And if an Underworld god could be targeting me, what's stopping Olympians from doing the same?" Elissa took a deep breath, a thousand questions still on the tip of her tongue, but Itachi raised a hand to stem her line of interrogation.
"Olympus is uninvolved. I have communicated the situation to Zeus, and an official, covert investigation is underway." Itachi held her gaze meaningfully, "You would be safe there."
Elissa bit her lip, "But I would still have to leave my life behind, not knowing when I would see my family again."
Itachi nodded, but not without sympathy, "That is the price."
Elissa turned away from him, sucking in a deep breath as she attempted to compose her racing thoughts and riotous emotions. She couldn't believe the situation she had been flung into. Olympus? The crowning seat of the ancient gods themselves? The notion was daunting, terrifying. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like up there. Would she be guarded at all times? Essentially a prisoner, forced to remain under strict watch until the threat was removed once and for all? What if it took months for that to happen? Years? How could she possibly bear it? How long was she expected to put her entire life on hold?
She swallowed thickly, overcome with turmoil, dismay, anger and frustration at the unfairness of it all. At how helpless she felt, having no real choice at all. Either place would force her to part from her loved ones.
"Would you be there?"
He shook his head regretfully, "My presence on Olympus would raise suspicions. Visits would be rare. More so than they have been."
Elissa's eyebrows furrowed as she mulled over the information she had been given. "Wait. If Olympus is investigating, but the Underworld isn't… then that means, you either don't trust the higher ups in the Underworld or you suspect they're directly involved." When Itachi did not immediately answer, she turned to meet his eye. "Am I right?"
Itachi did not answer, his silence and his piercing onyx gaze serving as confirmation enough.
Elissa bit her lip, her gaze falling back to the tiled floor of the balcony as she turned the awful situation over in her mind. It was unsettling, for reasons she could not quite place, that Itachi seemed to trust Olympus more than the Underworld, his own home, the place where he surely commanded more influence.
"There were moments where Cain wasn't lucid. It was like whoever was possessing him was speaking through him, somehow. He said that I had something that belonged to him. Can't we set up a negotiation? Maybe find a compromise and put an end to all this?"
Itachi narrowed his eyes in disapproval at the suggestion.
"Whatever it is, I don't want it! I just want my friends to be safe, and I want my old life back!" She exclaimed. "I was never meant to be involved with these things to begin with, right? And if I somehow got my hands on something of theirs by accident, I guess it makes sense that they're trying to take it back, but I didn't take it on purpose! A deity would understand that, wouldn't they?"
With the patience of a kind teacher, Itachi replied, "It would be foolish to relinquish what has come into your possession without knowing what it is and without verifying its true owner."
"But I don't want it, Itachi!" Elissa cried. "Whatever it is, it's the reason everyone got caught up in this mess! Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"
"There are factors to consider." He said. "Factors that could prove to be more weighty than the lives of those you seek to protect. Time and again, the fate of the three realms has been at the mercy of the decisions of individuals. No decision is without meaning, without significance to that balance. Even those of a young mortal maiden."
Elissa frowned in response and, at length, Itachi reached for her hand, intertwining his fingers through hers.
"I ask your trust. If you will allow me, I will protect you and those dear to you to the best of my ability. However, I cannot do so without your trust."
She looked up into those familiar, long-lashed enticing eyes and found nothing but sincerity within them. She hesitated, feeling conflicted and torn. Then, with a sigh, she finally relented.
"I trust you," she answered earnestly, closing her fingers around his. "I just…" her eyes lowered to their joined hands. "I'm so tired of being hunted. Of things feeling like they're out of my control."
Shaking her head, she acknowledged that the only way to take control back was to face the threat head on. She steeled her resolve, accepting that Itachi was right. They had to change tactics. If she vanished from the surface, then surely that would lure the enemy away from the people she loved and turn their focus onto her entirely instead? Her misery in comparison was a small sacrifice to pay to ensure the people she cared about were safe. If she remained as she was, then she - and everybody else close to her - were as good as sitting ducks vulnerable to even further attacks. Cain had almost killed them. She couldn't even begin to fathom something even worse being unleashed at them.
"What about the Underworld?"
"The danger would ever be nigh in the Underworld, but that also means our enemy is far more likely to misstep and reveal himself. There are those that I trust in the Underworld who would guard you, but it is without doubt the option that carries the greater risk."
"But you would be there," Elissa interjected, meeting his gaze.
Itachi nodded, "I would."
She pressed her lips together. To go to Olympus, where she knew no-one, and where Itachi could not follow, but where she would be safer - or to enter the lion's den, where she knew the raven-haired deity would be close by. Along with Shisui, and anyone else Itachi trusted. Both choices were difficult - but knowing that Itachi would be there, made the second option significantly more bearable.
Her mind was made up.
"Then I'll go with you. We could lure this bastard out into the open and put an end to all of this faster than if I were to go to Olympus, where he might just choose to wait it out until I can't take it anymore and catch me off guard then. They have all the time in the world, I don't. They know that. They know I'll want to come back and see my family. The moment I'm weak, the moment I say I can't take it anymore, I want to go home… it'll all be over."
Itachi's silence served to confirm her deductions. Releasing her hand, he murmured, "The choice is yours, Angelissa."
She nodded, heart thudding painfully in her chest.
"Well then, I-"
The door to the balcony flew open, cutting their conversation abruptly short.
"Out of the question." A glaring Levi stood in the doorway staring the two of them down.
"You take a hit to the head or something?" Levi scolded, "Why are you letting yourself get caught up in his thinking? There're always more than two options, dumbass."
He reached out for Elissa's arm to pull her back inside but Slayte, realising that he had interrupted Thanatos and her friend before their conversation had even finished, held Levi back.
"Let's all calm down, okay?" she interrupted, trying to be the voice of reason for once - a role she felt entirely unsuited for.
Elissa watched her friends bicker and realized Slayte must have informed Levi of Itachi's plans already. The nymph whispered something harshly to her boyfriend, likely attempting to deescalate the situation, and he, in turn, struggled to shake her off in order to give Elissa a piece of his mind.
A part of her yearned to selfishly drop everything and stay where she was, regardless of the consequences. Another wanted to shirk the responsibility of making such a grave decision entirely. But she knew what those instincts were, fear and a resistance to change. She could afford to give in to neither if she wanted to maintain the presence of mind to navigate all of this.
She was a mortal in a battle against the gods. If she lost her wits, she would lose everything. The minute she failed to take the decision into her own hands, others would step in and decide for her - and Elissa was done with that.
"Oi," Levi snapped, finally pulling free of Slayte. "You're letting yourself get carried away by these two. Who says you have to go anywhere? You can come to the tea shop. Sure, it'll be uncomfortable for you for a while, maybe, but you won't be alone and you can't get ambushed like this again. Slayte and I will be with you and we'll be prepared for whatever comes."
Slayte fell oddly silent and lowered her gaze at Levi's words. Elissa looked from one of her best friends to the other, torn. A solution that spared her from leaving behind the human world as she knew it would be the best option, the most comfortable one. For her.
But as her gaze fell on Slayte's clasped hands, recalling that only an hour ago, she had lost one of those arms completely, she bit her tongue. She glanced at Levi, bruised and injured, his clothing stained with blood, and recalled that he had been injured before even entering her apartment. She didn't buy for a minute that nothing had happened to him before they'd turned up. Her mind drifted back to the way he had undone his own bandages to wrap up her hand. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't keep relying on her friends to stave off the supernatural for her. The price was simply too high.
Their safety, she decided, was the priority.
Elissa shook her head resolutely. "No, Levi. I've made up my mind. I'm going to the Underworld with Itachi."
Slayte lifted a hand in weak protest, "Elissa, it's too dangerous. You can't…"
"Itachi will be there. He'll keep me safe," Elissa reassured her, her decision set in stone. She knew she sounded far more confident than she felt. Not over Itachi's abilities to watch over her - in him she trusted entirely. But she had no idea or concept of what new horrors lay in wait for her, lurking in the shadow realm.
The thought of entering the mythical land of the dead, so far removed from the sun's warmth and light, filled her with the terror of the unknown, set her stomach knotting tightly with nerves. It wasn't a place for the living. And yet she had become irrevocably tied to it the moment Vetty had initiated their bond. On that fateful day, her life had changed forever.
The afterlife was the very thing she had dreaded growing up. It was symbolic of the finality of death, the fragility of life, of all her fears culminating into a single place forged of darkness.
But she recalled the vision Itachi had shown her, the peace Evangeline had found in Elysium. Surely the Underworld wouldn't be all terrible. Surely Elissa herself could endure it. She had to.
"We're not getting any closer to finding out who's after me here." She said to her friends. "And they won't stop their attacks. We almost died fighting Cain. I can't just wait for the next one to happen. I have to take the fight to them. They can squirm while I'm right under their noses. I'll have more of a shot of provoking them into revealing themselves."
"Tch," Levi frowned at her. "It's your life on the line. You're walking into the lion's den. No one can ask that of you."
"And no one is. This is what makes the most sense to me, this is the best way to resolve this as quickly as possible." And keep you guys out of it, she added to herself.
"What would your brother say?"
"My brother isn't making this choice for me," Elissa retorted. "I am."
Levi's eyebrows furrowed in distrust, "I don't like it."
"I have to do this, Levi." Elissa held his gaze firmly, "I have to make the choice I'll least regret."
The corners of Levi's lips turned downwards in distaste at being confronted with his own words, but he relented with a muttered, "Tch."
Elissa glanced back at Itachi, who had been watching the exchange in silence.
"When do we leave?"
"We must make haste," Itachi nodded at her, for all appearances unsurprised by her decision. "And arrange for travel away from the eyes of other deities."
Slayte shot him an unhappy look, irked that Elissa had decided just as he had predicted in their earlier conversation. The thought of parting from her best friend filled her with pain and anxiety, and she wished she could somehow convey to Elissa what a terrible decision it was, but… at the end of the day, she had to allow Elissa to make her own decisions. Hadn't she promised herself she'd do just that? Why did that never seem to get any easier?
"You're taking her as a fugitive?" Levi complained to the masked deity, unintimidated when Itachi turned those piercing dark eyes onto him. "She isn't a stowaway or some criminal. Who knows how long she will have to stay there. Is she gonna be holed up in some shitty basement for years?"
"Levi…" Elissa warned, tension slipping into her voice.
"What?" Levi scowled, "If he can't even keep you safe in front of his contemporaries, how's he supposed to keep you safe from the enemy?"
"I trust him, Levi. He's been protecting me all year," Elissa protested, struggling to keep the peace.
"Has he?" Levi shot Itachi a disbelieving look. "How do we know that? How do we know he isn't the reason you're in this mess to begin with?"
"Levi!" Elissa countered, aggravated, "That's a rude and groundless accusation. Are you forgetting he saved all our lives earlier? That's not exactly in his job description!" She shook her head incredulously. "This is my decision, and I need you to trust me. And him."
Levi fell silent with a scowl, but he could not help but notice that Itachi had failed to react to the accusation. Slayte, too, was giving the death deity a confused look and he realized that she must be wondering the same thing he was. That perhaps the accusation wasn't as groundless as Elissa believed.
"How much time do I have?" Elissa turned towards Itachi, putting an end to the discussion.
He unfolded his arms, and met her eyes with that familiar, solemn expression, as if taking her measure, drawing her in. "We must leave without delay. You have a few minutes, at most."
"What?!" She felt the breath leave her lungs in a shocked exhale. She had hoped for a few hours at least, to put her affairs in order, to say her goodbyes to her family, to think of a plausible excuse to account for her vanishing into thin air. Something other than: 'Hey, Mum, I'm being hunted by some vengeful god who maybe wants to kill me, so I'm just going to chill in the land of the dead with that Thane guy I told you about for a while', didn't quite seem to cut it. How could he expect her to leave so suddenly?
"You have been poisoned," Itachi reminded her quietly.
Elissa's eyes darted back to Vetty, who still lay on the sofa. Guilt washed over her as she took in her cat's horrendous condition. She had been fighting back and hindering the effects of some celestial poison in Elissa's own blood-stream for hours, and as Itachi had told her, the feline wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
"I'll... go pack some things, then." She felt shaky, and ill at ease, but she refused to let it show as she nodded at her friends and headed back to her room, Slayte following closely on her heels.
As soon as the door was closed behind them, Slayte approached her, expression plagued with worry. Inside her chest, her heart was hurtling. She couldn't believe that her best friend was about to go to the very dangerous place she dreaded most - and that she was being forced to let it happen. Everything was slipping out of her control. She wanted to grab hold of Elissa, and never let go. To shackle her to the surface. To plead with Thanatos for another way. To do anything that would stop the nightmare situation they were in from unfolding.
"Elissa. Please. Think about this. You don't have to go."
"Yes, I do. It won't stop otherwise," Elissa answered tightly, sick to her stomach as she dragged a large navy backpack out from under her bed. The little flower designs on the canvas fabric were ridiculous, especially considering her destination. Feeling like she was caught in a surreal nightmare, she turned to her dresser and began packing undergarments, a hairbrush, and other basic necessities. She automatically lifted her phone and charger out of habit, before she caught herself, blinking at them blankly.
"Something tells me there's no reception down there."
Slayte shook her head. "No electricity, either."
"Oh." Elissa pressed the electronics into Slayte's hands and opened her closet, eyes skimming unseeingly over her clothes and accessories. "Just text my mother every once in a while. And Gabe. He'll probably call. I need to think of a reason why I can't answer the phone. Oh, God."
"Elissa, stop. Listen to me. Olympus would be safer-"
"Maybe I've gone on a trip around the world. Yeah. That works," Elissa mumbled to herself, gathering another handful of staple garments and dumping them into the bag, before grabbing some essential toiletries. She wondered whether there were stores in the Underworld where she could top up on basic supplies. It was a thoroughly ludicrous thought, and she knew it made no sense. She was trying not to give into hysteria.
"Elissa-"
"Slayte, don't!" Elissa threw down the items in her hands. Fisting her fingers into her hair, she closed her eyes, and whispered, "Don't. Please don't try to talk me out of it."
Slayte fell silent, her lower lip quivering. She couldn't think of anything worse than being parted from Elissa in such a horrible way. Who knew when they would see each other? And yet she saw that her friend was barely managing to keep her composure. If this was awful for Slayte, then she couldn't imagine how much more terrible and frightening it was for Elissa, who had to leave everything behind.
Crushed with guilt, Slayte found herself wondering whether she had inadvertently brought all of this onto Elissa with her own actions. Had she never left the Underworld to pave a new life for herself to begin with on the surface, had she never met Elissa and Levi - would Vetty have ever crossed paths with them? Could her friend have somehow been saved from all of this turmoil? Or was it something that would have happened anyway?
Finally she said quietly, hesitantly, "I wouldn't take too much clothing. The palace will probably provide for you."
"Palace?" Elissa froze. The enormity of what she had agreed to suddenly came crashing down on her. She pressed a palm to her forehead, as she sank onto her bed. "Oh my God. What am I doing?"
Slayte fidgeted nervously, seeing her friend's discomfort. This was the worst possible outcome she could have imagined. When she had confronted Thanatos, distraught and insistent that she could no longer protect Elissa on her own, that the surface itself was no longer safe for her, the death deity had stoically insisted Elissa be the one to make the choice.
In her wildest dreams, she never would have dreamed that Elissa would have chosen to go to the Underworld. She deeply regretted having brought up the conversation at all. It was her own incompetence that was driving Elissa to this terrible fork in the road. Surely, if she had fought harder, if she had never left Elissa's side, none of this would have happened, and she would never have to let her friend go to that dreadful place.
Unable to help herself, she joined Elissa on the bed and drew her into an embrace. "Don't go there, Elissa. You don't have to. Really. You can stay with us. I'll protect you better, I'm sorry."
Her reassurances only reminded Elissa why it was so important for her to go. There was no other way to stop Slayte from repeatedly throwing herself into danger for her. She needed to go see for herself what was going on. Needed to find her opponent and face her fears. With Itachi by her side, she would surely be fine.
If she could only meet with the person who was targeting her, she would figure it out somehow. Whatever it was she was carrying, it wasn't anything she wanted in the first place. Despite Itachi's warnings, she couldn't help but feel that if only she could hand it over, life could resume as it had once been.
Elissa shook her head, pulling away from the comfort her friend offered. It wasn't fair to have a breakdown in front of Slayte. Not when there was no other way, and no way she was changing her mind. She needed to pull herself together.
"No." She announced. "It's fine. I'm going to be fine. I'm going."
Slayte bit her lip, torn. She watched her friend shakily rise to her feet, to continue packing up the things she thought she might need, and ghosted over her shoulder, handing her whatever she asked for, nervous and beside herself.
"Look after this place for me, will you?" Elissa muttered distractedly. "I don't know when I'll be back. I hope it won't be too long, but-"
"I will," Slayte promised. Then she cleared her throat and folded her hands in front of her as she leaned against Elissa's dresser. "Listen. Stay as close to Thanatos and Vetty as you can and don't trust anyone while you're there. Don't take things they offer you, not unless it's someone you know."
Elissa glanced at her friend, but continued packing her belongings.
"Especially don't trust his mother. Her name is Nyx."
Elissa paused, noting the way Slayte clenched her hands together, the knuckles going white.
"We didn't mention this because Itachi is still investigating it, but Vetty belongs to her. It's highly likely she sent her here."
"His mother?" Elissa turned to Slayte in shock, trying to stomach how and why she would be involved.
Slayte nodded, "Yes. I told him about it. To be honest, I'm not sure how seriously he's taking it, but it's something I remembered recently, that Vetty was often by her side."
Elissa frowned, trying to make sense of it all. There was no way Itachi would just disregard such important information, surely? Or was he so partial to his family he found it difficult to consider it objectively? She tried to dismiss the thought. That didn't sound like him. He wasn't one to skip over any details.
"Even if you're afraid, don't show it. They thrive off of that."
Elissa zipped up her bag, watching the tense way Slayte spoke, and answered quietly, "You had a really hard time there, didn't you?"
Slayte dropped her gaze and nodded. "You're going under Thanatos' protection, you won't have to face the kind of things that I did, but still," she looked at Elissa imploringly. "Be careful."
"I will," Elissa nodded, more confidently than she felt. Her heart pounded as she took one last longing look at her room. Catching the tearful look on Slayte's face, she blinked back the wetness in her own eyes, and said, "Hey. Don't cry. I'll be back soon."
They shared a long embrace before the two of them returned to the living room, hauling Elissa's backpack.
Reuniting, the group exchanged grim nods as Elissa set her bag on the sofa. Speaking in hushed voices, they arranged for the care of her apartment and her mail, before Elissa gathered herself and decided it was time to inform her family.
She stood by the living room windows, with her back to her friends and watched the moon slip behind the clouds as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She knew what she was going to say, had rehearsed it in her head, but actually lying to her mother, with whom she had always been completely honest, who had always been understanding and supportive to her, broke her heart. The phone seemed to weigh heavy in her hands as she speed dialed her mother's number.
The three of them listened quietly as Elissa explained how she had suddenly received the opportunity to work and travel, that there would be little internet access where she was going, but she was excited and didn't want to miss out on this once in a lifetime chance. She lied so convincingly it was painful to watch as she waved away her mother's concerns and feigned happiness about the forthcoming adventure, even as she clasped the trembling fingers of her left hand into a fist.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she listened to her mother's indignant response - that it was all so sudden, how long had she known and how she needed to sit down to take this in and be sure. To come over so they could at least see her and drive her to the airport, and that it was her grandfather's birthday in three days, couldn't her trip wait until after that?
Elissa closed her eyes, biting her tongue to hold back a sob as tears spilled down her cheeks. She couldn't let her mother catch onto the fact she was upset. She couldn't afford to break down. She forced herself to be composed, and took a long, silent, deep breath, before speaking again.
"I'm sorry to be springing this on you so suddenly," she apologized, wiping away the stray tears that trailed down her face, her voice entirely steady in contrast. If she wanted to convince her mother, she would only have this one opportunity to do it right. "Slayte and Levi are taking me to the airport. You don't have to worry."
After a number of reassurances offered with false confidence, Mrs. Caelum finally relented. "If this is so important to you, I support you, honey. You know that. I always will. Please try to get in touch when you can. At least let us know when you arrive safely."
Promising to do just that, Elissa finally hung up on her mother. Overcome with emotion, she kept her back to her friends and silently wept. She didn't know when she would be seeing her mother again, or her father for that matter. Gabe, Cas, even Serena. Was this year the last time she would have the opportunity to visit Evie's grave? She had no idea what was waiting for her on the other side. As much as she swore she would do everything to be back as soon as possible, she wasn't naive enough to deceive herself about the very real possibility that she might never return at all.
She felt a touch on her shoulder - a large and warm hand - and the familiar relaxing sensation that often coursed through her at Itachi's touch. What she had assumed was him using his powers to command her body to be at ease. She sighed before lifting her tear-rimmed gaze to meet his understanding, onyx eyes and nodding resolutely.
Anger roared through her. Rage at her circumstances, at the danger they all found themselves in. She was furious that she had to say goodbye to her mother, not knowing if it would be the last time she ever spoke to her. That she had to put all her dreams on hold, because she was walking a tightrope stretched over a fatal chasm, and of all the people reaching out to help her, not one of them could quite reach her, no one could save her.
She needed to learn to walk it better. There was no other option.
Who should she direct her fury at, anyway? Itachi, who was clearly torn about tearing her away from her life? Who had already cut her off once to prevent just that from happening? Slayte, who looked like she was about to burst into tears and physically keep her from leaving? Or Levi, who looked like he wanted to kill someone? The one who had earned her wrath wasn't present, and she would hold it in, fan the flames into an inferno, until she finally met the one deserving of it.
Stepping back into the center of the living room, Elissa faced her friends. She hugged Levi first, whispering, "Thank you so much for everything, Levi. You're the best."
"It's not too late to change your mind," he advised, his eyebrows furrowed with concern.
Elissa smiled weakly, but shook her head. "My mind is made up."
He ruffled her hair awkwardly before letting her go, "You're a fighter, and don't you forget it. Come back soon, Elissa." His rare use of her first name had her chest constricting with emotion and she nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.
She turned to Slayte next and the raven-haired nymph's eyes filled with tears as she caught Elissa in a fierce embrace. "Don't go, Elissa. Please don't. You don't have to do this." Her voice broke and Elissa could feel her tears fall to her shoulder. "Stay with me, please."
Elissa smiled at her friend, appreciating the sentiment, although she was certain that she would do no such thing. Today marked the last day Slayte had let herself be hurt for Elissa's sake, she would make sure of that.
"Thanks for everything, Slayte. Take care of yourself, and look after Levi." Patting her shoulder comfortingly, she added, "I'll be back before you know it."
Slayte gulped miserably, realising she was fighting a losing battle. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself. Come back, I'll be waiting for you. We both will."
Elissa nodded before bending to lift Vetty in her arms and turning back to Itachi. Their eyes met, determined, and the death deity lifted his hand, opening a spiraling violet vortex with a gesture of his ruby-ringed fingers. Elissa swallowed nervously. It reminded her far too much of the vortexes she had so desperately been avoiding when they had been attacked by the hounds. But she was with Itachi now. He would keep her safe.
Itachi rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder, guiding her towards the portal, before coming to a stop just before it. He turned on his heel and met Slayte's eyes expectantly, as if to ask what she was doing. Elissa, understanding his intentions, felt her heart leap into her throat. There was no way she was going to let Slayte go back there. She turned towards her friend who had gone ashen, horror written on her features.
Slayte suddenly felt impaled into place, unable to move a muscle. She stared at him, petrified and fearful. He couldn't mean for her to return, could he? She could feel violent tremors coursing through her, as her mouth opened and closed in a wordless plea. Please don't make me go back there.
"Your prolonged stay on the surface, in return for guarding Angelissa," Itachi reminded her, his voice even and compelling. "That agreement has come to an end."
Words failed Slayte as she stared at Itachi in despair, feeling as small and vulnerable as she had in her childhood, on the run from vengeful deities who chased after her for sport, hoping to see her cry. She felt absolutely helpless, at the mercy of one more powerful than herself, unable to so much as speak for herself. She shook her head in a meager display of wordless resistance, unable to approach Thanatos or draw further away from him.
Levi had noticed it, from the very beginning. The way her entire body tensed up in the shitty reaper's presence. How the deity was the center of her focus whenever she was in the same room with him. How she scarcely dared to breathe in his vicinity and never turned her back to him. There was respect, he knew, but there was also fear. So much unadulterated fear that he hated to see it.
He had known Slayte for six years now, and had coaxed her true personality out of the terrified shell of a person she had been back then. He had never known what precisely she had been so afraid of, or who had caused her to doubt herself so terribly. Whose judgment it was that had made her seem worthless in her own eyes. Even when Slayte had finally come clean, he hadn't been able to put a face to the name, hadn't seen the whole of it as clearly as he did now.
Her form was lined with tension from head to toe as she stood beside him, trembling. Her brows were furrowed with both anger and fear, and he hated it. It reminded him of the Slayte he had found cowering beneath the kitchen counter. She tended to mask her fear with defiance, as she was doing now, and it bothered him to no end. Why was she so afraid of the masked idiot? Why did she fear him still, long after she had abandoned his world? Why couldn't she shrug off whatever influence he had left on her?
Crossing the short distance to Slayte, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind himself as he faced down the deity standing across from them, serving effectively to shield her from his gaze.
"Levi," Slayte called his name, dread knotting her stomach as she reached for his shoulder. As much as she wanted to hide behind him, as much as she wanted to let him protect her as he had done more times than she could count, this was Thanatos, the god of death, and she simply could not allow Levi to face him. Renewed terror swept through her at the mere thought, this time, for his safety.
"Shut up," Levi snapped, effectively silencing her. She squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't happening. How could this day have gone so terribly, terribly wrong?
"She isn't going anywhere," Levi announced then, his voice as steady as if he were informing a customer the coffee machine was broken as he addressed Itachi.
Itachi returned Levi's gaze briefly, before lifting his long-lashed gaze to the dark eyes of the terrified nymph over his shoulder.
"There are few that can be trusted with her protection, even in the Underworld. Will you let her go there alone?" It was that familiar voice, one she obeyed for over 800 years, that washed over her with persuasive force that she struggled to shake off. Could she truly let Elissa go alone? But what protection could Slayte hope to provide in that world?
Fight for me, that's all I ask.
The words Levi had spoken to her days ago, echoed back to her. To not give in without a fight, that was what he had requested.
"Tch," Levi interjected irritably. "I'm the one talking to you, what are you looking at her for?"
"Levi!" Slayte exclaimed in alarm at the brusque way he was provoking the death deity, and reached for his shoulder again, to pull him back - to protect him, but he cast her such a withering look over his shoulder that she immediately fell silent.
"Oi, I thought I told you to shut up."
Turning back to Itachi, he added, "Aren't you supposed to be a god or something? What do you need her for? What do you expect her to do that you can't do better yourself?"
A long silence stretched between them, where Itachi held Levi's unrepentant gaze and Elissa and Slayte held their breaths. Slayte squeezed her eyes shut, willing the entire situation away.
"And if you don't need her," Levi continued, his cold, unfeeling tone at odds with the next words to leave his mouth. "Then leave her here. Because I do."
Slayte's head shot up in stunned surprise at the admission, her heart flooding with warmth. Her mind blanked, his simple words wiping every conscious thought clean from her mind.
"She is not of your world," Itachi explained patiently.
But Levi was quick to retort, "You think Elissa belongs to yours?"
"All that lives, will inevitably come to rest in my realm." The stoic answer had Levi narrowing his eyes, even as the truth of those words, from the individual speaking them, sent a chill through him.
"She stays," he announced simply, and when Itachi only met his gaze in silence, he added, "Try me. Don't underestimate the lengths a man who knows he's going to hell would be willing to go to."
Itachi turned his dark, imposing gaze away from Levi to meet Slayte's eye over his shoulder again and a moment like an eternity lingered in the air, where the two young women scarcely dared to breathe before Elissa tugged on his cloak.
"Please, Itachi. Let her stay. I'll be fine, I promise. Please don't make her come," she pleaded, hoping against hope that he would listen to her. That she could put an end to this awful stand-off.
Itachi half-turned, hearing the desperation in her voice, and saw the tears pooling in her luminescent hazel eyes, before he relented, casting Slayte one last parting glance. He placed a hand on Elissa's shoulder and led her through the portal, before the three of them disappeared before their very eyes.
Slayte released a pent-up sigh of relief before allowing herself to sag forward, leaning her forehead against Levi's shoulder. Tears stung at her eyes. Levi had saved her. Had faced down Thanatos himself, for her sake. Had confessed to needing her. And still, she was caught in the clutches of fear unable to believe everything that has happened. What had been salvaged? What had she lost? How had it all come to this? Was Elissa's safety the price of her freedom?
"Tch." The single consonant comforted her beyond words as Levi turned and took her in his arms. The raven-haired mortal stroked her back reassuringly and she wrapped her arms around him, sobbing against his chest.
Entering through the portal was like walking through a tunnel of pitch-blackness without a compass. If not for Itachi's firm grip on her shoulder, Elissa would have had no sense of direction at all. Her heart galloped riotously in her chest as shadows wisped around her, and ice-cold, howling gusts of wind tore at her hair and clothing. This was the magic of the gods themselves, she realised. Dark magic was swallowing her whole. She squeezed her eyes shut, battling to keep herself from giving into a mindless state of panic. Itachi was right there with her, she told herself. She was safe.
Then, all at once, silence and stillness returned. Elissa opened her eyes to find the shadows evaporating around them, giving way to a dense forest cloaked by night. Itachi, at her right, extended a familiar hand towards her, the gold rings on his elegant fingers glinting in the moonlight. She readjusted her backpack and clutched Vetty closer before interlacing her fingers through his, drawing strength from his touch.
He met her eye quietly and she could feel him send that familiar energy into her body that always served to soothe her heart and calm her nerves.
"Thank you," she acknowledged, holding his gaze sincerely. Further words were not required, she felt. He knew what she meant. For saving her, for protecting them all, for sparing Slayte. This was the kind deity she had come to know. All thoughts of what he had done to Cain were far from her mind at that moment.
Instead of an answer, Itachi lifted her hand to his lips, brushing the faintest of kisses against the smooth skin of the back of her hand, leaving tingles in their wake.
"Come," he instructed, leading the way through the forest. "The entrance to the Underworld is nearby."
Elissa nodded and they moved forward in silence. Moonlight filtered down on them through the thick canopy of leaves overhead, the crunching of twigs and undergrowth beneath their feet was heralded by the hooting of owls and the chirping of crickets. A thin layer of mist lingered about the forest, a cloaking shroud over what lay beyond.
When she suddenly noticed that Vetty seemed to have fallen asleep completely in her arms, Elissa was first taken with concern, but then assumed that she must have simply been exhausted by the events of the day. At least she hoped that was the case. It was only when she felt her own limbs growing steadily weaker, step for step, that a rising sense of alarm began to creep through her. One she could not seem to shift. A foreboding feeling that something dreadful was about to happen.
She blinked as her vision started to swarm with grey at the outer-fringes, clouding over. Inside her chest, her heart fluttered, its rhythm suddenly chaotic, uncoordinated. Light-headedness overcame her, and she began to shiver violently.
"Itachi," she panted, and suddenly Vetty felt too heavy to hold, and slipped out of her grasp entirely. Elissa drew to a startled stop, sweat beading on her forehead as she reached out blindly for her companion's cloak, missing it entirely in her uncoordinated haze. "I feel dizzy."
Itachi immediately halted. His keen eyes assessed her state in an instant and he turned back to her, sweeping both her and Vetty effortlessly up into his arms before Elissa had so much as finished speaking. Cradling her close to his chest, he hastened towards the entrance of the Underworld.
Elissa felt relieved to be off her feet and clung to him as she tried to dismiss the fatigue consuming her, but as they continued, a crushing weight radiated from the centre of her chest, one that seemed to intensify with every step.
"Itachi," she struggled to articulate, for her tongue felt like it had turned to lead. "I... can't… feel…"
The final word trailed off. She seemed to grow heavier in his arms, filling the death god with a prickling sense of unease. He quickened his steps further still. Vetty had warned him that Angelissa had been poisoned and that it was taking all of her strength to keep the effects of the poison at bay, but he had not anticipated that Vetty, an immortal being herself, would succumb to it so soon. There was no time to waste, he needed to have the venom analyzed and provide her with an antidote as soon as possible.
When he glanced down at Angelissa in concern, his heart constricted at the sight that met his eyes, the horror of it nearly stopping him in place. Suddenly, he could scarcely breathe. The world seemed to be spinning around him as a foreign emotion he rarely ever experienced and could barely recognise - that of sheer dread - clawed at his chest.
Her complexion had turned ashen and her lower legs had transformed entirely to stone. The petrification had already reached her knees, and was slowly spreading higher.
She was turning to stone before his very eyes. A cold, wrenching, displacing fury coursed through Itachi at the sight and he disappeared in a flurry of black feathers, abandoning all stealth to cross the rest of the way into the Underworld.
The fate that had met the myriad of women littering the ocean floor was rearing its ugly head for Angelissa, but he would not allow it. So long as he lived, he would not allow her to meet with such a cruel end. At that moment, he was ready to defy everything to save her.
Whoever had dared to inflict her with such a terrible poison, would rue the day they had seen the light of dawn. The characteristically patient god of death was gripped by a fury so forceful, a wrath so all-consuming, his eyes glowed menacing crimson in the midnight darkness. Obsidian black shadows lingered in his wake, withering away any foliage they touched before dissipating into the air.
The transgressor, Itachi swore, would pray for death.
As the cave that served as the entrance to the Underworld loomed closer, Itachi narrowed his eyes, and slipped into the familiar darkness with all haste, his destination clear in his mind.
"Persevere, Angelissa," he murmured. An uncharacteristic touch of desperation tinged his voice, the plea nearly a command. "Only a little longer."
Author's note:
Thanks for your patience everyone. WE'RE BACK BITCHES. Please review, feedback is gold.
