From the depths of dark solitude. From

The eternal abode in my holiness,

Hidden set apart in my stern counsels

Reserv'd for the days of futurity,

I have sought for a joy without pain,

-Stanza 4, Chapter 2, The Book of Urizen, William Blake


She had formulated a plan to go meet Vergil without any problems arising. She swung her legs over her bed and blinked a few times to clear her eyes as they tried to adjust to the dim hour so choose to wake up from. She stretched her arms up and glanced over to one piece she had been working on, which laid in the corner of her room awaiting from her to pick up and work on it again. She stared at the partially empty canvas where a garden was beginning to form in a bloom of roses but many of them were dead. She stood up and walked over to it, grabbing it up and tried to envision what colors were left to be put on the canvas.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her thoughts so she was ready to get on with her day. She walked over to her closet and stared at the many varieties of clothing she could choose from before deciding on a gray skirt with a simple white blouse and a hat to cover help cover her face if need be. She stared at the outfit before undoing the buttons of her nightgown to put on the new outfit for the day, hardly caring that it might attract attention from the Guards by not wearing a more standard outfit. The nightgown fell and she shrugged on a camisole then pulled on the blouse, carefully buttoning it up and changed her underwear quickly. She grabbed the skirt and pulled it up then tying it tightly against her waist, which showcased how small she was compared to other women.

She did not want to be seen as an object to be taken advantage of.

She released a harsh breath at the thought that had rushed through her head and hushed out a silent swear. She took a glance at herself in the mirror that hung on the way and she stared at her petite figure baring the exact way she wanted to be perceived. She nodded at this and snatched the hat off of her bed, making her way to the door and opening it to be face to face with Leor who blinked at the sight of her.

"Good morning, Mistress." The servant said and Elena offered a soft smile at their appearance.

"Good morning, Leor. I guess Nero requested for me to be up." She spoke and the servant nodded at this while Elena stepped out of her room, gently closing the door behind her.

"Indeed, Master Nero had requested that one of the servants shall go with you on your shopping trip." Leor announced and her eyes turned dark at the mention but sighed in response as she straightened herself.

"Alright. I am prepared to head out now if someone is ready to come with me." She stated as she began to walk towards the grand staircase that was laced with red velvet on the steps. Leor followed her and they had folded their arms behind them, eyes seemingly focused elsewhere but they were able to stay on track. Then they blinked and offered a smile to Elena once they made it to the bottom of the staircase.

"Rotem shall come with you, Mistress." Leor concluded and Elena was relived that Rotem would be the one to go with her as she has been able to disappear and hide from him easier.

"Wonderful, I will grab my bag and I will be ready to go." Elena said as she moved towards the entrance, grabbing her bag from the coat hanger that stood before the entrance.

"I will let Rotem know that you are ready to leave, Mistress. Give Rotem a minute and they shall be ready to join you. Please be careful when you leave and I shall see you when you return." Leor spoke and Elena nodded at this, gripping the bag tight in her hands as the servant walked away to go somewhere else within the manor. Elena closed her eyes for a second. Hoping she could pinpoint Vergil, but her vision decided to look somewhere else completely, she was confused to see just the bare ocean with waves crashing against each other. She frowned at this as she opened her eyes again, hoping to return at her current state but her vision remained at the ocean.

Shit, she thought and decided to make the best of it by just following the direction of the waves, a bright blue sky with few clouds were in the air. She could only see the ocean and nothing jumped out at her or anything yet her ability seemed to be focusing on the water. The waves remained calm by something off far in the distance that had cloudy and dark skies that looked ominous. Before she tries to look further into what was beginning to appear in the distance, her vision whipped back to her current state and she released a harsh breath that was caught in her lungs. She blinked wildly as she saw the now concerned gray eyes of Rotem, whose veil covered their lower face. The servant bore a simple black robe with a rope knot tied around their waist and a loose right shelve, showcasing the missing limb to the world.

"I am alright, Rotem." Elena told the silent servant who merely nodded in the agreement since it was known in the household that Rotem has lost their ability to speak long ago. The servant tilted their head to the side with small pieces of their black hair spilling past their forehead and Elena moved to the door, knowing that she was wasting her time simply waiting for a response.

"We shall head out," Elena stated the silent servant who gave a quick nod of their forehead before following behind her, making barely any sound in their steps. She bit the inside of her mouth as she began to think of she could avoid the silent servant but it was something to concern herself with once she got close enough to the location she told Vergil to meet her at.


Vergil leaned against the wall of the stone building that Elena told him to meet her in the morning. His fingers tapped aghast his arm as the sun made its way up and over the horizon, which would officially conclude that Elena was running late or she broke her promise. He scowled at this and debated about moving on to the Archives himself and find the information he was looking into.

"You did come!"

The voice of Elena caused him to snap his head in her direction and noted her different appearance from the day before, where today she looked more informal and at ease in the clothes she bore. She smirked at him like she knew that she had gotten there right on time before he was going to leave.

"Good morning, Vergil." She said as she leaned against the wall next to him, which caused her hat to bend at the action. He continued to stare at her before he huffed and moved off the wall, looking to her with readiness to approach the Archives.

"Before we go in, I need to change my clothes as do you. We need the guards to believe that you are one of my servants escorting me to fetch books." She explained and Vergil's eyes narrowed at this, displeased that he would have to do this but overall was not surprised at the suggestion.

"Fine." He simply stated and she nodded at this as she then approached the building's entrance and he followed behind her. He observed her every move as she stepped towards a staircase that was empty besides the few doors that lined the walls and connected to the path. She stopped at a door that was labeled 404 and stared at it for a second before pulling something from her bag, he watched as a small key emerged in her grip and she placed into the keyhole. Turning it, erupted a small click to announce that the door was unlocked and she turned the handle and opened it up.

Before them was a small room filled to the brim with art supplies and canvas that lined the wall. She stepped inside and he followed in suit, taking in all the objects within the room that did extend to a small bathroom. Against one of the walls happened to be a desk that had some books stacked upon it while pieces of paper and pens were scattered around it.

"Welcome to my studio." She spoke and he couldn't help but notice that the top book on the desk happened to be The Book of Urizen by William Blake.

"Please ignore the clutter for the moment since it won't take long for us to get going once we change." Elena announced and she glanced at Vergil, noting that he stared at the book with both sorrow and interest, "You can borrow the book."

He merely blinked at her offer and his gaze traveled back to her, eyes narrowed in the unease that she had caught him staring.

"I, unfortunately, have other books I need to read but you are free to take it." She told him and his fingers at the notion as he remembered from reading the book back in his childhood home.

His mother smiled down at him when she noted the thick book in his small hands, Her lips pierced together and her long, flaxen hair fell past her shoulders which she brushed back with her thins hair, Her soft dark eyes twinkled at the sight of him reading and knelt down to him.

"Are you enjoying the book, Vergil?" She asked him and he nodded, opening his mouth to respond to her.

Then he was back to the present and Elena had ignored his spacing out to gather the clothes needed for their adventure.

"I will be really quick to change. Feel free to look at the book, Vergil. You are clearly interested in it and I do not mind you reading it." She said as she looked over her shoulder, a small smirk on her lips once she knew that he did focus on the book. She stepped into the small bathroom and closed the door behind her, not knowing once she was gone from his sight, he grabbed the book and began to flip through to chapter two. Near the beginning of the chapter was the illustration of Urizen, bore with a long gray beard and some sagged skin was pinned under a rock. Vergil stared at the illustration before directing his gaze to the stanzas and he began to read the story, his gaze softened at pleasant memories of receiving the book.

"Blake created some beautiful illuminated prints."

The more comment caused his head to whip in the direction of Elena who now wore a similar outfit to the one she had on yesterday but this dress was colored red with a white cloak drenched around and seemed to swallow her whole. She had in her hand a Sinclair Edwardian Club Collar white shirt with a red satin puff tie laying onto of it. She gently took the book from his hands and looked at the placement he was in before putting down its original spot.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of red and the corners of his lips turned to a displeased smile. Her expression narrowed and sighed at the notion of how strongly Vergil reacted to the outfit.

"The Guards will not allow you in unless you have the proper clothing on. Your pants and shoes are fine but your coat and vest will attract unwanted attention and possibly refusing to be let in. The Guards aren't stupid and if they see something suspicious they might report it to their higher-ups." She informed him and snatched the shirt and tie out of her hands without any vocal disagreement as he entered the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

She crossed her arms over her chest at his reaction and rubbed the bridge between her brows, hoping that her plan would be good enough to fool the Guards.

She did think of the plan enough but she was worried that she barely knew the half-Demon.

"Is this acceptable?" His ruff voice caused her to see that he had changed clothes quickly and she frowned at the tightness of the shirt from the muscles that stretched across his body but he did apply the tie on correctly.

"Yes." She said and pulled her hood from her cloak up, "Please put on your hood too. Unfortunately, your hair will draw questions but we can say that you have albinism."

Vergil remained stoic at this and she crossed her arms over her chest, gray eyes growing annoyed.

"You know, you owe me for doing this for you." She stated and as he had gracefully placed this original cloak over his body and he paused at this statement.

"I owe you nothing." He said and she laughed at this, which was not the reaction that Vergil had expected as her laughter was quite soft.

"I can counter you on that, Vergil." She said as she then leaned against the desk, glancing over at the many paintings that lined the wall and began her argument, "I have given you food, an opportunity to get you into the Archives, and a solid disguise to get by the guards. Once this has been done, you will owe me for granting you access into a place that you, an Outsider and partial Demon should not be allowed to. You may not find everything today also so if I grant you access until you are pleased then your debit with me will pile high up. So, please do tell me that you do not owe me."

She uncrossed her arms as she now looked towards him and he looked utterly confused at how certain and with all the evidence that she had against him was clearly something he had to pay her back with. He tried in his head to counter her argument before deciding to inquire more about how he could her pay her back.

"I saved your life."

She laughed again at the stamens like it was hysterical and she stalked towards him, mere inches away from the power-hungry man.

"You choose to do that. You could have left me for dead." She said then her anger dulled down before rubbing her eyes as a small headache began to form in the back of her skull, "Though saving my life is a great deal, it doesn't cover everything I have to offer you."

"You value these future endeavors as something greater than your own life?" He asked solemnly and she nodded at this while he now sighed, brushing back some of his hair, annoyance driving through him like a sword.

"It wouldn't be anything big." She explained as she directed his attention to the empty canvases and she picked one up that did have some sketching onto it, a silhouette of a man posed, "I only want to be able to use you as a reference for some of my pieces."

It did sound something easy if anything.

Vergil stayed silent before looking around at the studio, noting what he assumed were completed paintings as some were stylized in a realistic way in the form of dramatic motion and heavy contrast in both Baroque and Rocco style while others did have a Post-Impressionistic style from the soft fluid motion of a brushstroke and change of subject matter being distinctive without a human subject matter.

Her work was impressive. Perhaps he could do this so he could find the books he had been looking for for so long.

He sighed at this and she waited for him to say something before he glanced up at her.

"If it is something simple and not take much of my time than I will agree to your conditions." He said as annoyance was hinted on his tongue but she glowed at this, clearly happy with his decision.

"It is not anything that will take much of your time." She seemed to promise him and he still looked unsure but decided for an irrational moment to nod in agreement. She gleamed at this before pulling the hood of his own cloak up and headed to the door, waiting for her. She walked to him and before opening the door, she placed her arm in front of it, blocking him and with barely touched each other.

"You will pose as one of my servants at my household, whose name is Rotem. The Guards have never met them so you will be fine to use their name." Elena explained and Vergil continued to stare at her.

"Will this servant question if they have been seen near the Archives?" Vergil asked her and she glowered at him while rolling her eyes at this.

"No, they normally do not leave the manor nor they will know. I have handled that." She staled with annoyance before she opened the door up, "If you have any more questions, ask them while we are on way. I don't have time to debate with you since I need to get back before the day's end."

"Fine." He answered and scowled as she stepped foot to outside the door and followed behind her, closing the door and making no other comment as they headed down the staircase. Their footsteps echoed around them and once they left the building, Elena turned to the left and he now walked closely side by side to her. Her gaze was driven downward as if she was trying to avoid detection and since it was the morning time, not many people looked at them in question.


"…How far is the Archives from here?" He asked in curiosity and she sighed as they passed by a few empty stores which were beginning to open up for the day. Her gaze looked up to him and he couldn't help but stare at her eyes that looked at him with amusement.

It reminded him much of his mother's cheerful gaze when she looked at him and asked him what he was reading, especially when it was something he was enthralled about.

He bit the inside of his mouth at the mere thought of his mother and she answered back, "It is not that long. It's about a five to ten-minute walk from where we currently are. Also, be prepared to comply with any questions the Guards may have about you. I will simply agree to any story you portray and go with it."

"Are you not concerned that you will be caught?" He questioned and she laughed at this, something soft like the wind in the air.

"No. I know something if things go south so I am not worried about it." She said and he opened his mouth to say something else but more people began to form into the streets, "I have a few plans in mind if something happens."

She looked back down to his sword in his hand before she whispered, "Could you perhaps tie your sword to your back or side to draw less attention?"

Vergil could only stare at her wildly before deciding to tie his beloved weapon to his waist by its dark blue strap. She looked relieved at this and she turned left down an alleyway, which had they passed by a few sketchy looking characters but she remained focused.

She was focused on the task on hand.

Some catcalled her and she only glared at them in response, anger tinted in her eyes at the comments but did speak out against them directly. Vergil made no move to defend her as he saw no reason to since even saving her life did not equivalate to letting him into the Archives so why should he interfere with something that did not concern him. She directed her attention to the opening to another street way and she struck her head out from the alleyway, seeing that no one of importance noticed them. She motioned him to follow her as he did and she walked into the street before stopping on the side of the road, a smirk gracing her features.

"Now, this will be the interesting part." She said as then looked back to Vergil, "Welcome to the entrance of the Archives, Vergil."