Sorry! I meant to update sooner, but my main computer died, and everything had to be reinstalled. I went over a week with out internet. *shudders* I did learn some useful things from the ordeal though: any mention of Defiance and how much I can't wait for it is guaranteed to end a conversation; it is possible to rearrange a room more than twice a day, including desks and beds; doing so is almost like doing a block puzzle; and despite how hard you push, a desk/shelving unit will not fit in a place half it's height

VladimirsAngel - ^^ I got tape! *hugs* I know you're there, but I'm here. Curse our different time zones...

sylvanon the wolf gurl - I'll get right on it!

MortalSora - Thankies. Just wait and see...

Tom T. Thomson - ^^ I think Raziel agrees.

AmuseMe - Really? I feel special now. *sappy smile*

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Kain sulked on his throne, determined not to show how bored he was. He was a god, dammit, and gods don't get bored. They also don't have attendant ghosts telling them to kill themselves. His eyes sought and found that spirit and he glared.

He was stuck in here with that. And only that. His sons were all busy doing something that he supposed he had agreed with. None of them had any backbone, especially his first-born. If Raziel gained one, he might be interesting enough to talk to. Big if.

Seeing she'd finally caught his attention, Ariel turned up the intensity of her tirade. "You must kill yourself if Nosgoth is ever to be restored. Even I can feel the land dieing-"

Bah. Kain droned her out and studier her for the upteenth time. Too afraid to come near the Pillars while he was here, she hovered exactly 25 feet away from the Balance Pillar. That slut's a necrophiliac's wet dream, he thought.

"...kill..." His undead ears picked up one of his favorite words. He snapped out of his reverie only to realize it was still the Bitch. Ariel's eye glittered as she caught on, shouting the word just to keep him paying attention.

"You must KILL yourself. KILLing yourself is the only way the land will stop being KILLed..." Ariel lectured as she came as close as she dared.

"Why don't you shut up?"  Kain asked conversationally. He only hoped none of his sons around. If they caught on to the fact he was talking to a ghost...

Ariel blinked, surprised he was talking to her again. It had been decades since he had. Not one to miss an opportunity, she continued to lecture, "You must die Kain! All of Nosgoth is dieing! You, and you alone have the power to save it!"

"Why don't you kill me yourself?" Kain taunted. Ariel threw up her hands in disgust.

"In case you haven't noticed, a body is needed to wield weapons," she hissed. "If our positions were reversed, I would kill myself in an instant to prevent you from the agony of being bound to the Pillars!"

"That's very nice of you." Kain muttered as he picked up a piece of his Pillar damnit, not hers, and hurled it at her. With an outraged squawk, Ariel vanished, letting the stone continue unobstructed to strike the double doors with a CLANG.

Instantly the doors banged open and Raziel and Turel rushed in, claws raised and ready to rip apart any who had dared to disturb Kain. They looked around, startled to see only Kain in the room.

"Well?" He said icily. Let them think they were the reason he was mad.

"Sire - Lord- Father," Turel started, obviously scared out of his mind. To help him out, Kain shifted slightly to show off the hilt of the Soul Reaver better. Turel gulped and went silent, growing even paler if possible.

"Father, we heard a noise and I thought to come and see if you wanted anything," Raziel said respectively with a quick deep bow. He shot a quick venomous look at Turel.

Kain let it slide. He now knew what fractions would form and fight in the next few years, and thought it suitably entertaining. Turel would waste no time in getting Dumah to side with him, and because of an earlier conflict, Rahab would join them as well. Even with the weaker members of his brood, Kain knew Raziel would win. And if it didn't look like he would, Kain would help with a few 'natural' disasters.

Trying hard not to squirm too much, Raziel flinched when Kain meet his eyes. "There is nothing you could do for me," he said slowly, leaving no doubt in the brothers' minds they were below what he considered helpful. "Yet." Kain simply added the last for effect, drawing the word into a hiss.

He thought it quite entertaining to see how fast they dropped into deep bows and rushed out the doors, letting them slam shut.

Ariel reappeared to his left. "You shouldn't treat them that way." The Bitch admonished.

"Bite me." Kain muttered. Ariel scowled at him, the bare bone of her face lending force to the glare. If he had still been a fledgling, he might have felt something. Obeying a sudden impulse, Kain blew a raspberry at her. Disgusted, Ariel vanished.

But only for a little bit, Kain thought to himself. This time, I'll do something that'll keep that bitch away.

....

Days later, the brothers' unanimously voted for Raziel to go check on Kain. The only one with an objection was Raziel himself. "Why do I have to go?" he whined.

"Because you're his favorite." was the reply.

Sulking and scared, Raziel crept up to the double doors to Kain's throne room. The rest of the brothers peaked around the corners, eager to see if Raziel would be punished.

Raziel shot a dark look back at them, and cracked open the doors.

Kain was backed to his Pillar, throwing small pieces of rubble at stray sunbeams behind a barrier formed from debris from the other Pillars' tops.

Raziel stared, blinked, and closed the doors as quietly as possible. He turned back to his brothers, "Uh, he doesn't want to be disturbed right now."

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*poke* Review? Please! Any particular match up you want to see? Tell me!