The first time I had ever spoken to Father was three years after the appearance of Amai-nii in my life. His voice was melancholic when he spoke of matters of Gehenna, but whenever he spoke about my mother, his voice became as sweet as honey and soft as silk. His smile, the rare ones, were beautiful, his angelic blood that still flowed in his veins attributed to that. And his flames, his bright divine blue flames that sparked with life, were in its own a jewel. A jewel that he said was difficult to inherit, not even my brothers have been able to inherit the flame. Iblis came close when his powers came to him, but they were that of a regular flame if a regular flame included angelic powers. To say the least, we were all surprised when my powers manifested only a week after meeting Father.
My body's core temperature rose dramatically, but my skin was cool, the type of cool that you only get when sitting under the shade of a tree. When Amai-nii noticed the manifestation he called for Samael and Iblis in hope of helping me figure out my power. Imagine our surprise the moment I blew up in a flash of blue because I complained about the recent lie Yukio and Father Fujimoto had told me.
Blue. The same blue I had seen dance around Father, the same blue he used to save Mother and me from burning at the stake. The blue that caused many exorcists to die in the process of saving us.
I watched as the flames danced between my fingers licking my arms like a puppy. Trailing my body, familiarizing itself to me, it acknowledged me as it's person. Father had once said that it could only be passed within a family, but it was rare, however, it passed itself to me. Father said those with the blue flames would one day unite the four dimensions of Caelum, Purgatory, Gehenna, and Assiah. The whole story sounded ridiculous, and I had no desire to believe in it, however, the way he told it, sounded real. It made me want to believe in it.
My first official training started only a month after, my father had encouraged me to start earlier than my brothers, and none complained. In order to successfully complete my training, Father had brought in each of them to help me get through the necessary teachings of both a demon and an angel. It helped that each were exceptional in a different subject in order for me to learn. The training was not as easy as I had hoped, it included getting up at the crack of dawn on occasions and even the occasional whack on the head when I did something wrong. Which were more times than I could count.
Iblis had been my go-to teacher when it came to helping me hone my flame, help me wield it as my own. "Don't let it control you, accept it, and control it yourself. Our flames, no matter how different they may be, are an extension of our hearts. They can be easily influenced by emotions and can turn deadly when we least expect it to be. That is why I will help you calm those emotions first before we begin training with your flames."
Meditation was a constant when under the teaching of Iblis. Even if it seemed stupid and unnecessary the routine became calming after the first two weeks. My emotions had never been more at balance then they have been in my life. They felt real and supportive rather than destructive and false. They flowed around my mind in sync with it's every thought and aspiration, and it felt wonderful. Never had I felt so at peace when I was meditating.
Iblis had told me that it would be best to meditate every day if I was able, but if not at least 3 times a week would suffice. And suffice it did.
By the time we had gotten to controlling my flames, my emotions and thoughts didn't clash with one another. Instead, they mixed together to create a harmony out of my mind and heart. I was able to successfully control my flame within two years, it took practice but my brothers had promised that control over my powers would come in due time. Beel-nii had told me that it took him over a decade to be able to control the insects that now follow and trust him, imagine his surprise when it came to controlling my flames less than half a decade. Heck, he glared at me for a week straight during training.
It was after the first two years of training that I noticed shadows begin to creep around me and watch my every movement. My brothers were confused as to why the usually shy demons had begun to surround me, listen to me, and most importantly protect me. It was Father who explained the situation and gave me the title Princess of Shadows, it would take more training and a situation that allows me to prove myself to the fallen angels of Gehenna to obtain the title Queen.
Queen.
Classes at True Cross had officially begun in the second week of cram school where we were thrown right into the lion's den, metaphorically speaking. If the scholarship exam was difficult, classes here were for serious players only, and I have already seen some students drop out. Currently, we were in the kitchens on an assignment given to us by Madam Yao, a famous Chinese chef who was teaching us due to a favor (one of many) she owed Mephisto. The assignment was simple, create the cuisine that influenced you to cook, when I say simple it means that the cooking part was simple, the grading on the other hand.
"C, the pastry is a little underbaked. I watched when you were applying the frosting, and I noticed that the cake was still warm. If you wish to be a pâtissier, you would have known that the first rule of decorating a cake is to not rush the process by placing frosting on a yet to cool cake. The decoration is a bit much, there is too much going on, that I can't even concentrate on the taste and simplicity of the chocolate if you wish to continue studying here, and this applies to all of you, you should never rush a masterpiece. Never." Said a stern voice at the front of the room.
The whole kitchen was quite as we saw Sato Haruo's shoulders droop with shame, he grabbed the small plate and returned to his station in silence, not even looking up when the people around him encouraged him not to give up. I glanced at his cake and noticed that there really was too many decorations going on to even allow a person to focus on the cake itself. I sighed as I went back to my work, so many students have either gotten a B or C, not one has even come close to an A, and it is my duty to get their hopes up. As I placed the last of the dish on the plate I took a deep breath before making my way down the aisle. I looked down at the first dish I had ever created in my life and hoped this would allow me to take a hold of that A. The word, that was written using ketchup, on top of the yellow egg gave me that hope.
Onwards!
Onwards indeed.
Madam Yao watched my movements with those beady black narrow eyes, "What did you bring for me Okumura-chan?"
"Omurice." I smiled. "It was the first dish I ever did by myself, and it allowed me to keep moving forward on the thought of being a chef. That and it was the only thing dad cook until I took over the kitchen.
"In order to create this dish I used 3 eggs, a quarter of heavy cream and salt, a teaspoon of vegetable oil, half of a small onion, ⅓ of a carrot, one garlic clove, 160 grams of cooked chicken, 260 grams of cooked rice, and 3 tablespoons of ketchup. Oh, and a healthy helping of determination. I hope that you enjoy the dish I have prepared for you Madam Yao."
The Chinese women nodded as she grabbed one of the metal spoons she had on hand. I watched as the spoon broke into the egg allowing for an aroma of flavors to be let out, the steam began to rise in front of our eyes, as the filling ever so slightly pop out from underneath the egg. She allowed herself a spoonful of a little bit of everything and led it to her mouth. I bit my lips, not knowing of the outcome that would occur; my brothers have always found it surprising that the only thing that has ever scared me was people criticizing my dishes, but who wouldn't find it nerve-wracking to see someone, not like the food they create? I could hear the way her teeth gnawed at the food when she swallowed it, and the hum of satisfaction that came from it. The sound that came after that, is what made my eyes sparkle with glee, that had a few students behind me gasp. I didn't even notice that I had held my breath waiting to hear that one letter.
"A," that was all she said, with a smile gracing her once stern expression. I bowed, and before I was able to remove the dish, stopped me by continuing to eat it and waving me off to my seat.
With a smile still evident on my face, I walked to where Sato-san was currently looking at me in awe and grabbed an unused spoon on his station. I dug into the cake, allowing the chocolate to be tasted by all of my taste buds. Madam Yao was right, it was still slightly underbaked, but the taste of chocolate still remained. I smiled at him once I finished the slice of cake in all of its glory along with the raspberries and strawberries that were used to decorate.
"5 more minutes were needed to have baked this perfectly, at least one minute was needed for it to cool, and I would have chosen two small raspberries to have decorated the cake. We all learn from our mistakes, I would know, that same dish took me about two weeks to perfect, and even then I sometimes mess it up. I know that you will do the same and learn from this experience as not what to do next time. I believe in you."
Those last four words have been ones that I have used on other classmates, and I believe they loved hearing them. It was hard to have someone believing in anyone, who wasn't family, it always took an outside source for humans and demons to be, motivated. He nodded in return, his eyes turning from shame to determination at my words.
"Yes, ma'am!"
My eyes widened in surprise before I smiled and made my way back to my station that still needed to be attended.
As I did so, I glanced every so often to the remaining students as they were each graded. Not surprisingly, no one came close to getting Madam Yao to smile or to even receive an A from the famous chef. My dear Mephy did say I had the best culinary out of all the scholarship applicants; however, I wasn't sure if he just said that to flatter me or because it was the truth. Either way, I have been the only one so far to receive an A from our difficult professor.
30 minutes later, the class had come to an end and all stations, and kitchenware had been cleaned and accounted for. I was left the duty of closing up the kitchen as we left following the professor. Taking one more look around I could spot an Ukobach sitting in the corner watching me, waiting for me leave its domain. Bowing to her, I left and locked the door behind me.
Looking over both shoulders and seeing the coast clear, I brought out the training room keys. Slipping the burgundy jeweled key into the kitchens keyhole, I turned it and walked into the newly renovated room.
Entering into the wide space I could see a multitude of weapons aligned the far wall. Dummies to the right, and a changing room to the left. Kicking off my shoes, and pulling back the bob of hair I had, I stepped onto the tatami mat and was I was met with a strong tackle on my right. With a loud howl of excitement and delight, Astaroth began his training session.
Grabbing a hold of his ram-like horns from where they had contact with my side, I lifted his head and growled. His gaze met mine, and the fight was on.
A fight against a fallen angel isn't the easiest fights to win, they often take centuries to win just against one. However, when a fallen angel and their half fallen angel sibling fight, it's hell on earth so to speak.
As our fists clashed one another, the room trembled at the sheer volume of contact being done. The walls vibrated and created cracks all around us, leaving nothing unscathed. The effect wasn't any different when our magic was being used to fight one another. As my blue colored magic met his crimson they canceled each other, bested each other, and missed each other. The demons we have at our beck and call came as they sensed our fighting, my shadows not yet used to fights were bested by Astaroth's rotted demons.
As we got closer and closer to the weapon-filled wall I quickly grabbed a katana. The shape, weight, and size fitted perfectly in my left hand as my right was currently holding a dagger. Opposite me, Astaroth took hold of a magic tipped spear, that began to turn dark when he touched it. Spotting a chance as we distanced each other made it look as if I was going in for the hit, instead I threw the dagger and it implanted itself in his right shoulder. He let out a cry of pain before changing his stance quickly to let his non-dominant hand take hold of the two hand weapon. I smirked and jumped back as he lunged forward ignoring the steel weapon embedded in him.
Before either of us were able to dig into our full potential, our bodies froze over, the hands on the clock facing me stopped working. My eyes searched for the source and found Mephisto and Egyn staring at us with annoyance. That is when I saw the damage we had done. The rooms foundation was on a tilt, cracks were scattered around the room, the tatami mat was torn, and the room was a mess.
Mephisto flicked his wrist and let us go, "I just renovated this room, did you really have to go and destroy it?" His gaze burned into my eyes, the glare he gave us reminded me of the one he had given to Lucifer when he was annoyed. Giving him a nervous chuckle, I let the katana drop to the ground and to my awaiting shadow. Scratching the back of my head, I looked down in shame, I really hated to disappoint my elder brothers. But, it was kind of funny.
"So it was a surprise attack today Astaroth?" This was Egyn who asked with his fox face and amused tone. Next to me, Astaroth shrugged his shoulders at our older brother as a response.
"She's got to be prepared for anything that they might throw her way. I know she already proved herself long ago, but..." I could see the hesitation that the next statement brought to Astaroth. And I knew why. The whole incident wasn't one of my fondest memories. I could still feel the scorch marks on my back, and the scars that had not faded were torture. Astaroth turned to me unsure if he was allowed to even bring it up, that name. That name that is forever ingrained in my head and skin.
"I know. We don't want another encounter like that of Gabriel again," as I said that name my scars burned and my head ached. I swallowed as I saw the scars underneath my leggings burn through, and the wounds on my back returned. This was the curse of an archangel, a curse that would never disappear until the one who put it there died. I glanced at my brothers as they cast their gaze away from the bloody name, they blamed themselves for it. They always have. Father was furious, he tormented angels who were under the charge of Gabriel, he burned the gates Caelum more times than I was originally told. Purgatory had become hell, and the souls wondering in there, scattered to the far reaches, trying to escape the fury of Father. My brothers were no different, they sent plagues upon their cattle and in their fields. Fire rained down from the sky, water became scarce and dirtied. Insects had infested many, and their food, anything that rotted there was kept for a far longer time then it should have been. Time was at a still or went too fast at occasions, the sky would have no light, and when there was it burned in a deadly blaze. Air became polluted and thick making it impossible to breathe, the earth that they used became uneven and would at times quake leaving a devastating wake in the aftermath. Spirits and ghosts had become unstable slaves, they fought against their masters, tricked them, and refused to work any longer. While the shadows lurked and silently drained the life of their attached person. It was a sight to see. All of this occured while I was in bed "sick," or was it I playing hooky? (Yukio and Father Fujimoto believed it so either way) for a week.
I breathed in letting the pain dampen before I spoke again. "It won't happen again. Because I know that you all will be by my side and help through it. By that time Father will be us, so will mother even though we may not see her for a time."
My brothers smiled slightly, at the thought of us all being together. It hurt us not being so, however, Grandpa decided the best course of action is to not let Father step one foot in the soil of Assiah. He was afraid of what Father would tell the humans, such as him being the true creator of this dimension. It was one of the many threats that consumed him, but it wouldn't be the last. A new threat was forming and he knew this.
"Princess?"
I blinked away the trance I was caught up in the look over at my brothers. "Huh?"
Sighing Astaroth spoke, "We asked what your meister will be."
My meister? Oh right, Yukio had told us that we should be thinking of what type of meister we wish to do, I hadn't even been to think of that until now. Each one of them had their perks, but if I did more than two was that too suspicious?
Doctor, Tamer, Knight, Aria, and Dragoon, which to choose. I hate the usage of guns, too loud for my style. Doctor, I had Amaimon to thank for the training, also Lucifer since his vessel being all...yeah. Aria with their verses and chants sounded boring, but using to exorcise a demon from a human they are so be attached to? Not so boring. Tamer was one that I consider taking part of so that one was definite. While a Knight? For Gehenna sakes, I used sword and katana as my prime choice of weapon so of course, my primary meister would be that of a Knight.
"Guess we'll see where the future takes us bro."
As Yukio and I waited for the rest of the cram students to show up to one of the abandoned dormitories, I let out a yawn. Yukio glanced at me and I smiled sheepishly in return. Shaking his head he looked back toward the pathway leading to the building and leaned against the entrance. Sitting on the last step, I watched the first set of three arrive at the building. Eyebrows, Paku, and Shiemi. I watched their interactions mostly in the way Shiemi was being treated by the scowling girl. As much as I wanted to say something to Shiemi about this, she was adamant about making friends of her own; however, her definition of friends was off. Getting up I walked them through the interior of the building and informed them of the sleeping arrangements.
"The first floor has the kitchen, cafeteria, a lounge area and the dormitory office, the same format as the girl's dorm. We will be using the second floor for sleep and the baths will be used by the boys while the third-floor baths will be used by the girls. On the second floor, there are a total of five rooms. The left side of the hallway will have three rooms which will be used by the boys, two to a room. The right side has the two rooms that we will use, two girls to each room. There are two sets of stairs on either side of the building. The one on the left leads to the dorms while the one on the right lead to the bathrooms, don't worry each dorm level is connected to the bathroom as well. Hope none of you mind the sleep arrangements.
"Here, this lists out the schedule we will be following while our stay here," I said as I handed them a schedule Yukio had asked me to give to the girls. "Go ahead and choose one of the two rooms, I'll room with whoever, I don't really mind."
I watched as the girls nodded and made their way to the second story. When my attention turned to the males that just walked in. I watched as the Kyoto group and the puppet weirdo and the hood male followed behind them. I waved in their direction as they walked past; however, I frowned slightly when I felt my gaze follow one in particular. Turning away from them I came face to face with Yukio's knowing look and a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes at his train of thought, I quickly denied the fact that of having feelings for the guy. If I did, it had nothing to do with any romantic feelings. Romance was at the bottom of my list at the moment.
Moments later, the class had made their way down to the first-floor with the required textbooks for this study camp. Yukio began a long drawl of what the exwire exam would be like, but the way his nose twitched I could tell it was a lie or part of a lie. As we sat in one of the closed off rooms on the first floor, we had finished up a practice exam and were beginning to turn it in. Hearing the shuffling of clothing coming from my left I glanced up to see the three girls leaving the room, Paku and Eyebrows up front, and Shiemi in the back holding textbooks that clearly didn't belong to her. Grabbing the last of my things, I slipped out of the room before Yukio or any of my other classmates could speak to me. I followed the chattering girls (Shiemi was being excluded out hardcore) and let their shadows do the spying for me.
Apparently, they were about to take a bath as soon as they dropped their items in their dormitory. I stopped walking for a moment letting them turn the corner before me and letting them drop off their belongings in their rooms, I knew I would room with the blonde. Letting them walk out and go to the stairs again, I followed soon after, abandoning my stuff in the room I would share. Again, I tuned my shadows to Eyebrows Radio, only to hear a flat-out rejection of allowing Shiemi bath with them. Oh, this won't do, this won't do at all. I frowned, wondering why the young witch had yet to do anything about the situation at hand, but she refused to budge, so she was that type of witch. As I finally saw a clear view of the young girl's back, I could she was trying not to cry, or to be angry. Sighing at the scene, I walked up to her and grabbed her shoulder pulling on it toward the baths. I could hear a voice of hesitation coming out of her but I ignored it even after we entered the changing room. The voices that I could hear from the outside were silenced and we were met with a glare from Eyebrows and a smile from her companion.
"Sorry, hope you don't mind. Shiemi and I will be bathing with you two, we have a long day tomorrow and I'd like to get to bed as soon as I can." Did that sound sarcastic enough? Maybe. Yes, and to finish it off I gave them a sweet smile.
What came next shocked us.
Paku was flung across the room, a rotting smell invaded my nose, and the smell of Paku's human blood triggered something in me. Protect. Human, protect. I swallowed a lump I didn't even know I had and glared at the demon that had entered this domain. The mid-level Naberius looked down and shame trying to ignore my stare. On one of its hands, I noticed a rune signifying that he was under orders from an Exorcist. I know brother allowed demons through his ward, to an extent, but they are sworn under oath to not cause any damage to the humans living there. If there was one that caused panic they would be dealt with immediately, seeing as that wasn't the case now, an exorcist had summoned it. I clicked my tongue before getting the other girl's attention.
"Shiemi, I need you to contact Yukio right now just in case he didn't hear that scream also check on Paku. Your Greenman will be able to summon any plants that you ask of it, you know why. Eyebrows, concentrate! If you don't get a hold of yourself right now then you won't be able to summon your two Byakkos." My authoritative voice made the two girls take action.
Grabbing my sheathed sword I ran toward the direction of the demon hitting it directly at the center of the rune. Hopefully, that shocked the exorcist who summoned it enough, and it did just so. The demon's body faltered for a moment, shimmered before it went back to normal. Damn, not enough. Scenarios from my earlier fights against one of Astaroth's kind came to me in mere seconds. Were the lights were on? Check. Humanoid or canine form? Humanoid. Necrotic seepage? Not at the moment.
Behind me, Eyebrows began to chant the verse she had used in the classroom before, Shiemi had pulled out her phone and quickly texted something before turning her attention to Paku.
Allowing myself to take in all of our surroundings I knew what I had to do. Grabbing a marker I had stuck in my pocket that morning I uncapped it and ran around the locker room, marking up the place with red liquid. At the moment my crappy rune would have to do, "Eyebrows! Get your Byakkos to get you, Shiemi, and Paku out of here now. I can't summon this demon until I know that you guys are safe, he doesn't play well with other exorcists. Now go!"
I could hear hesitation coming from Shiemi and a shocked voice coming from the other girl. However I ignored it and began to distract the Naberius that was in front of me, apologizing to me as it swung its fist in my direction. Scrambling of feet, and hushed female voices caught my attention as I saw them finally leave the room, outside I could hear Yukio's and the others footsteps running up the stairs, but that was all it took for my chant to begin.
"Ni kazu shio ha chuu ei u jo, ni fuoha gen den no i tai ke, en kin nai kan, shin ki ei satsu, i na ra ke ha ki se no e ma."*
The runes around me began to glow dimly before they burst in blue flames, the ground began to become mushed, voices of demons flowed in my ears and the door of Gehenna took hold of the demon above it. The Naberius tried to claw its way out but whatever the door has a hold of would never let go. I watched as the first head went under the bubbling mess, he probably already saw his home. The second head looked straight into my eyes and thanked me, the rune on his wrist already dissolving, freedom from those who abused their power. I smiled and silently wished him luck when a demon is ordered by an exorcist to attack their own master or mistress, it is chaos and torture for them mentally. They fight back, they gnaw, they growl, and most of all are not allowed to channel their full strength. Exorcists truly do not know how to care for the demons they summon.
Vanishing the gate as Yukio walked in, I turned to him and gave him a look.
"We'll talk about this later."
Grabbing the remaining clothing that belonged to the girls I made a quick get away from the scene. However, not before I heard gasps of horror coming from everyone. Stopping I stared at them in confusion, and that's when I felt cold. Looking down I could see my shirt was cut and the cloth was loosely from my body. Had I been that caught up in distracting the Naberius that I neglected my state of attire? The cold on my back shook me to place. My back. The word scarred on my back. The name permanently etched on my back. Gabriel. The world turned black, the pain was intense, and I knew, he found me.
My lesson: Pain comes no matter who we are, no matter what we do. Pain sucks.
* post/117833344615/my-habit-of-looking-random-crap-up-finally-paidthe literal translation for Kekkei. Lol.
I hope you all have a fantastic 2018!