Angra Mainyu
Arc One - Arrival - Part Seven
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Humans really were such simple creatures, interesting in their own silly ways even if they were immortal. Most demons of her rank usually were just able to play and torment their eternally damned souls in hell, never actually seeing them in their living element. There really wasn't much difference... Staying on her perch on the open windowsill, deep midnight blue eyes just watched as Muraki greeted the team and they exchanged a few words. Brad and the doctor seeming to have a little smirk war. Really it was like watching something go back and forth... Grown men who were really children in a game of ping-pong, pretty much ignoring the rules of the game and making up their own. But both seemed to be making up their -own- set of rules and forgetting to tell the other. Each just trying to smack the ball back to the other faster and harder than the last return to prove their advantage over the other... and yet, hide it.
Really. Fascinating stuff.
Turning her dark gaze out, Aya looked over the city, the skyline darkening with a scattering of clouds blocking the moon and stars illumination. There was a growing darkness in her eyes as well, a slight hunger for what her purpose was. Just as the demon which was summoned into Sakura was a bit hungry upon arrival from the hell realm for blood, mangled flesh, destruction, and pure agonising pain, the demon housed in Fujimiya Aya's body was no different. Even if far more controlled than that lower more primal urge controlled one. Actually it had been the difference in host bodies which had been key...
The nearby chaotic energy and dying souls had provided it with a bit of what it needed as it came in through the opened portal, but it was still a destructive demon of pure evil and chaos. That -was- its purpose. Everyone needed a purpose right? But before it could go and start wreaking havoc and destruction on the unsuspecting little mortals... there had been the slight matter of who had brought it forth, and the contract of its service being indebted to Schwarz while it remained in this host vessel. So it couldn't serve its purpose and feed its own need and go out and crumble buildings and cause blood to flow in the streets because mister future seer kept insisting that he was waiting for a proper time and manner in which to unleash the demon's power.
In the demon's own hardly humble opinion, he was simply wasting valuable time. There was only so long a demon from another realm could be here before others started feeling the off currents... and started being determined to set everything right. Little mortals never much liked beings from other realms being involved in their piddly little existence.
But she was just a full evil incarnate, what did she know? No one ever listened to the granter of immortality.
Tugging a bit sharply on her braid, savouring that pain for a moment, Aya narrowed her eyes as she listened to the conversation. Really, the Irishman could be a bit more grateful to the relatively nicely given immortality. Had she known he would be like this she would have granted the other three the gift and then just crushed him like a bug to prove to him how immortal he had -not- been prior to her arrival. Smirking a bit at that and allowing the thought to slip out, not caring if Schuldig heard it or not, Aya suppressed a chuckle. Why not let the members of the... all-powerful Schwarz know that they were thoroughly annoying a quite powerful demon. Something that was truly a foolish thing to do. Even if there were four of them. And one of her.
She was not just any normal demon you know. She was a destruction demon! With breasts!
And soul possession and brimstone but she was bored. How long were they going to discuss these things? Sure she had been in existence for eons in a realm of terrors and evil which would make all of Schwarz scream like children in fright. All the traumas on earth couldn't compare to what was her 'home'. She came from a world of no certainties and even less stabilities. Could one blame her for being a bit restless? She had been here... for three days. In this building while the sun rose and set on this world just ripe to be crushed like a fruit, blood running like juice. And still. It just sat there. Perfectly living and untormented. It was depressing. It had been three days, she could have gotten at least a small foothold on turning the world to a hellish realm. Maybe just destroyed half of Tokyo, struck some fear, possessed some souls, had some minions...
Piddling with the dark raven hair as the males chatted a bit more about goals and such. Undoing the ties at the ends, she fluffed her long cascades of hair back over her shoulders, running her pale fingers through the strands. She really couldn't sit here any longer. She was restless as well as getting a bit... hungry. Even Schuldig was starting to look good and she knew that was off limits. Though it would remind Schwarz of her blood thirst for carnage, she doubted they'd like to see her spill the telepath's blood or any of their blood on the floor. Setting her hands on the windowsill she lifted and raised her self to sit back a bit. Her gaze moved over the males, attempting a tiny trick to draw all the room's attention to herself. If it worked, fine. If not, fine.
"Well since you boys are discussing plans for the future, I feel I am really not needed for such a thing. I know my purpose in the scheme of things," she said coolly, glancing over to Brad, "even if some feel it is best to postpone displaying that purpose. So while you four continue your grand thoughts on world domination, I'm going to go explore the city. I like to see how things look before they're completely crushed."
Smirking lightly, the girl didn't wait for a reply and lifted herself up from the window and swung her legs up, the white skirts of her dress whipping about her lithe form as she plummeted down from the window from the fortieth story. Suicidal? Not quite. Just showing off and deciding to not use conventional exit ways like elevators. Or doors. As she passed the thirtieth floor, not giving a damn about detection and using all that time for concentration, one of her demon traits Schwarz had yet to know of showed itself. Large black wings sprouted forth from her back and beat the air to catch herself easily, quickly carrying herself up above the rooftops to fly, just another dark patch against the dark clouds.
--
There was no doubt that the others were quickly remembering the incidents of their deaths, something that made Omi less and less inclined to speak of his memory of that mission, or lack therein. Given the adverse reactions thus far to it, he almost took comfort in the blank stretch of memories. Without knowing what went on, he couldn't feel torn about who, if anyone, was at fault. As cold as it sounded, without knowing his death's details, he could remain unbiased as a manager was supposed to be. Something he normally faulted at, but tried his hardest to be. Maybe being distant in this would be good, to help everyone sort things out.
The only problem was that his lack of memory also gave him a lack of confirmation about the truth that the Shinigami had spoken. The reactions of the others was enough to extend a night's sense of trust to their visitors, but Omi would need to talk with the others before he decided anything else. In private, where perhaps his lack of knowledge about the mission wouldn't seem so weak to display.
Sighing softly, the sapphire-eyed youth nodded to Youji before retrieving the gun laid on the chair. "You can sleep here tonight," he said, restating what his older friend had. "When you partner is feeling better, we'll continue this discussion. If you need anything, there's a kitchen in the next room; maybe some water might help him?"
A swift glance was spared to the stairs, the youth's mind working on how well the security system would work with the roof door broken. He could reroute the feed to cover for the evening, at least. "I'll be upstairs if anything else is needed," he added, one more look given to the pair.
Staying where he was, Tsuzuki continued to rub the back of Hisoka's hand, not interfering as memories started returning to the four new Shinigami. Memories can be bad. Very very bad. That was something he knew from personal experiences, having his own memories to deal with that nearly brought his end in the first of the gods, and he knew that right now, anything he could do would not be very welcomed on their parts.
"Thank you and we will, but I think that you covered everything we need for the night," Tsuzuki replied with a weary smile, nodding at the upstairs. "We know how this can be quite a shock to people so we won't impose on your time while you four work things through. We'll stay over night but if you need more time we'll go somewhere else and start some of our investigations to give you room."
Waving good night to Omi, Tsuzuki turned around to look Hisoka over before getting up and fetching some water from the kitchen. It took him a few moments to find a glass, but he soon came back with two of them, one for himself and one for Hisoka. Placing his glass on the coffee table, he dipped his fingers into the cool water and held them over Hisoka's lips, letting the moisture drip onto his soft looking lips. Seeing no reaction, he repeated the process.
Once the other acknowledged the offer for the night, Omi nodded and started up the stairs. For safety's sake, he kept the gun with him, planning to give it back once he was certain about the two Shinigami and their purposes. Until then, it was smarter to keep any potential weapon away from those that were still partial unknowns.
Keeping his eyes to the stairs, to prevent himself from tripping or stumbling - though that was hardly the problem, the stairs known well to him from multiple times traversing them - Omi tried to still the bewildered thoughts distracting him about what they had just been told. There was so much information, and so few ways to confirm it. Already he had intentions to investigate what he could via his computer; perhaps there was surveillance evidence, or information from Kritiker he could snare in the middle of the night. That was the advantage to being the manager of an assassin group; whenever he wished it, Omi could simply send a single message to a contact in Kritiker and have what information they could pass on given to him. If anyone within the organisation knew about these mysterious agents called Shinigami from this odd Summoner's Office, he could likely have the details about it before the night was out.
With that in mind, the youth slipped into his room, eyeing the light still keeping everything bright. Maybe he could find out how that happened as well; perhaps some freak power surge in their district or something. Flicking the lightswitch on and off a few times, he sighed. Each attempt to shut of the light ended in failure, the bulb still burning brightly. Muttering a soft curse, he closed the door behind him and reached for his jacket, hung on the hook behind the door. Using it as insulation for his hand, and a chair for a height boost, he unscrewed the lightbulb a bit, enough that the glaring brightness dimmed to shadows again.
"Memo, call an electrician to fix that," he murmured softly to himself, setting his jacket on the back of his computer chair and eyeing the screen. After a moment of consideration, he slipped into the chair and booted the system up. With his prior nap, he figured he had a few hours in which he could freely search for information. Then he could sleep again, if nothing came of it.
--
Demons were always so adamant towards being the centre of attention when they chose to display themselves. Muraki granted Aya the glance she so wished from him, feeling the presence of the darker power within her craving acknowledgement for destruction. Watching the young lady fall back from the safety of the building, he arched a brow and nodded. It seemed that Schwarz was being a little too closed-in with their new toy. As a result, the summoned creature clearly felt restless and perhaps even useless in a world that was not bowing down to her chaos. That sort of withdrawal was to be expected; you couldn't expect to take Godzilla out of Tokyo and not find it building a scaled version of the city to destroy in the interim. It was a way to satisfy cravings, as the demon had likely just gone to do.
Turning his gaze back to Brad, he simply smiled thinly. "Never did I say that our goals could work together right now, Crawford," he replied smoothly. "Just that an alliance could help the two of us achieve our desires that much sooner. However, perhaps my timing was poor; you all seem restless and not inclined to discuss the possibilities of the future. Perhaps we should arrange to meet at a later time, when the moment suits you more. No doubt you already know where I find employ in this city; you can contact me through that when you are ready, or I shall simply contact you when the time comes."
Nodding his respect, or something to be seen as that, to Crawford, Muraki headed towards the door he had entered through. Reaching it, he paused again to glance back at the room, slight amusement touching his silver eye. "Do take care of yourselves in the interim; even an immortal can have an accident, and I would hate to find any of you upon the surgeon's table for repair."
With that, the white-clothed man placed hid hand upon the door and opened it. Taking the physical route out, he awarded himself a certain sense of victory. While the meeting had been unintentionally cut short, he felt that enough good came of it to have been worthwhile. The Schwarz puppets still needed time, though, something he felt that three days had been enough for. Nothing to concern himself over, though; he had all the time in the world to wait for them to be ready for the tug of the puppeteer's string.
"No you didn't," Brad replied, resisting the urge to add that the doctor didn't say anything besides lay claim to their good fortunes. Which in a way he had brought it all about with his cryptic puzzles and clues. The immortality was for the benefit of Schwarz; Brad longed to go to Rosenkreuz and exact a bloody vengeance on that institute on a personal level. He had made the reservations for a private jet to take them there tomorrow, having first needing the time to adjust to the gift of their demon. And while he had been keeping Aya inside most times, he did not tell her outright that she cannot find whatever she needed. As long as the demon kept its part of the bargain and left Tokyo mostly intact, he could care less how much destruction she caused to the rest of humanity so long as she didn't get caught. People just assumed things from what he said far too much of the time.
"We will do so, Doctor Muraki. You have a good evening," Brad added, watching as the doctor left. Once the door closed behind him, the American turned to regard the rest of Schwarz currently in the room. "If you are that restless Schuldig and Farfarello, go out and do whatever you deem as fun now. I never placed you four under house arrest so I do not know why you two are acting like sulking children. I don't trust that man and I gather from the way he was not saying anything that he sees us as the Elders had. But unlike the Elders, he is crafty enough to use what he sees against us. Tomorrow we are heading for Rosenkreuz and letting Aya do whatever she wants to that place after we've done what we've planned for, so make sure to get some rest."
Pulling his knife from his lips with a soft popping sound, Farfarello rose to feet, eyeing Brad like the man had an extra head. Smirking slightly, he put the weapon away, speaking in a humour tinged voice, "Have you ever poked at something you never seen before, trying to figure out what it is, Crawford? Books explain nothing even when they are the famed Book of Demons especially when the Church had damaged the most important information inside them. If it was so powerful, the Demonchild would not have needed us to break the barrier and bring it here to thrive, yet it feels it superiority over us. Why is that? Are demons truly angels that fell or are they a figment of man's darkness personified?"
Raising an eyebrow at the Irishman, Brad felt a headache start to grow. Leave it to the God-hater to want to know more about a demon...
Waving a hand in dismissal of the rest of the room, Farfarello headed for the door, banging out with a laugh. Pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, Brad sighed faintly.
--
Sitting out on the fire escape outside his bedroom window, an unlit vanilla scented cigarette dangled in Ran's hand, the man just casting his violet gaze up to the bright night sky. There was once a time when he adored the night sky, enjoying laying out in his backyard with his sister and just picking out constellations and making up stories about them, and names for the ones they didn't know, or making their own. The starry sky was just endless and had been filled with possibilities when he was a child and growing up, his father telling him each star in the black velvet sky, so far off but very real, was a possibility for him in the future. Reach for the stars... that way if you only get there halfway... the moon is still well within reach. They'd once been a comfort of the mysterious wondrous possibilities of his life, the redhead utterly enthralled with staring up at them...
The same stars and moon that had shone down on him every night of his life...
The same ethereally glowing heavenly objects that had been blurred by clouds and rain the night his entire life changed. It was similar tonight, dark clouds starting to patch over the brilliant night sky. The same night sky that had concealed him in shadows every single night as he came forth to make his kills, striving always forth for a future where Reiji would be dead and Aya would be safe to awaken. And for what.... he'd completely utterly failed. His sister had possibly killed him and all of his teammates, perhaps she was dead... or she was running rampant with intents to destroy the city... or she was in Schwarz's hands and wasn't even herself. It had been his fault that they'd all died... he should have insulted he alone go to the temple where the ceremony was taking place. It was his sister, his alone to regain... it hadn't even been an official mission, Birman had found the locations on her own as a favour to him.
And Birman and Manx... were they dead too because of him?
Squeezing his eyes shut, he leaned against the fire escape landing and opened his eyes again, looking up. The night sky had always seemed bright with possibilities... now it seemed duller somehow, less bright, like it was mocking him. All of that was gone for him. Maybe it had been gone since he first became an assassin. No road to happiness can be paved with the drying blood of others spilled by your hands. No wonder at least one member of his team blamed him. It hurt a bit to be looked at that way by Ken, as the younger assassin had once looked at Kase after learning the truth. As if he had betrayed him and stolen away his life.
His apartment door was currently locked, all knocks would be ignored by the man if he could hear them. If any came... He just still didn't want company. Didn't want the pity and comfort he didn't deserve, didn't want to see the anger he did deserve. He hadn't really liked leaving as abruptly as he had but... he'd been forced to. Or maybe he kept his door locked to the others that night because of the simple fear that no one would come talk to him, and this way he didn't have to know that fact.
He really was pathetic sometimes in his own hidden ways, staying aloof fully when he half didn't want to, and feeling the hurt from that lonely part of him.
Sighing softly Ran turned his gaze to peer down at an old photo he held in his hand that they'd paid to have taken at the carnival years ago of the two standing in front of a blossoming cherry tree, the female Fujimiya sibling holding a clear plastic bag filled with water with the fish Ran had won for her at a carnival game. Both smiling so brightly without a care in the world... he hardly recognised himself. Looking up to the stars he'd tried in vain to reach to all his life, he narrowed his eyes faintly. "Couldn't I even find peace in death?"
He looked down again and flicked the unburned cigarette from his fingers to fall into the alley. It too could bring him no comfort. It couldn't miraculously return his teammates their lives. As for himself... he supposed it didn't much matter really. He'd felt cut off from life for years. Probably deep down he'd always known that never could he return to a normal life... one day he'd die, every mission was a risk. Only thing to do now was train his abilities as best he could and do his damnedest to do what he always did... protect his sister. Even if he wasn't very good at it... someone had to try to at least find her and figure out her state, and how she could be returned to her normal state and live out a happy life. That was really all he'd ever wanted after he saw her struck down by a car, his parents dead in a house that had just exploded around him.
Footnotes:
Review response time! This is where we answer the questions that have been made in reviews so far. ^^
Story flow may seem a bit jagged in cases because this is being written in an RP setting, which means each character is being written by a different person. Viewpoitns, thoughts, centrality all varies with the character. We can't really fix this, because it would take away a great deal of the depth in each character, which would (in turn) hurt the story itself. Sorry. ^^;
Talking about the angst; thanks for telling we got that part done. Myself, I'm a fan of the first three episodes and dislike the Kyoto arc of Yami, so it's not really fan-specific angst that's happening. In the next arc, as the characters settle, a bit more humour filters back into the Yami section. This arc is a character-testing arc, since none of us have every written for Yami before; expect a few mood fluctuations in the characters before something is settled on. ^^;
Schwarz is gonna see something a little different from the usual 'we are evil, fear us' routine that everyone and their puppy uses, worry not. However, I will not disclose what it is yet; that's for you guys to read and find out as it happens.
As for the requests for Tsu/Hisoka moments... We'll see. ^.- In gaming it's a little in-the-air what happens, so if sap occurs, it's not really planned. We all love our fluffy moments though, so there stands good chances.
Thanks for following the story so far! Reviews, comments, etc are always appreciated and we answer questions as we can about anything regarding the story. Forget not the Yahoo group, if you want a preview of what the arc parts are gonna be.
Read our ff.net profile for information about who we are and what AM is.