Disclaimer: I don't own Legacy of Kain or any other identifiable pop culture references. Any fake fan-people that I create are not references to real fan-people. I am not intending to step on any real fan-names.

They eventually got back to Jennifer's apartment. Azrael had stumbled a few times as Cynthia mentally tried to call him back, but his loyalty to Kain was stronger.

Raziel could not allow this to continue. Azrael still possessed the naivety that had caused so much torment. "Do not trust him," Raziel quietly sneered to his younger self. "You don't know what he's willing to do."

"Do you really expect that words will turn him against me?" Kain sneered.

"You will not use him, Kain," Raziel spat.

Kain visibly bristled, "How dare you imply…"

"Stop it," Jennifer interrupted through clenched teeth. She stood at rigid attention and addressed Kain, "I humbly request a private audience with his Majesty." Her tone was heavily laced with implications.

Seeing that Jennifer was giving him an opportunity to save face, and knowing what humiliations his refusal would bring, Kain reluctantly followed her into the bedroom.

"Raziel deserves his say, without your interference" Jennifer said.

"You hate me, don't you?" Kain asked. "I've seen how some of them still want me dead."

Jennifer took Brightflame off the bed and hugged her for moral support. "I see you as an antagonist, mainly. I came in on the middle of the story, and I saw how Raziel was willing to spare your life before I saw the real reason why he wanted to kill you."

"I don't intend to lose him again," Kain said, speaking of both his sons.

Azrael stared angrily at his twisted reflection. How could the Master allow this blasphemous creature to live?

Raziel had not bothered to resume his human guise; he was not confident in his ability to maintain it through this stress. "Do you not wonder about this pitiful form I have come to inhabit?"

Azrael took a moment to study the scarred flesh, "Enlighten me."

"Kain sacrificed me on the slim chance that he could save his empire. He ordered me into the abyss." Raziel said, ignoring the pain that came from re-opening old wounds.

"And yet you live," Azrael sneered.

"I did not survive," Raziel insisted, deciding that the Elder God's explanation was the easiest.

"I imagine that your execution had more to do with that insolent tongue," Azrael sneered.

"I could not prevent my transgression," Raziel said sadly, lifting the tattered remains of his left wing. He realized that it was the pain of the abyss that fueled his anger towards Kain, and that Azrael would not be swayed by mere words. Still, he had to know. "My clan would have inherited this gift, but Kain decimated them."

Azrael was silent as this information sunk in. Eventually, he asked, "Did my brothers meet similar fates?"

"They were allowed to evolve, but they became grotesque." Raziel said. "Then they fell to my vengeance."

"Fratricide," Azrael hissed.

"He needed their strength," Kain said as he walked back into the room, "just as I needed his anger."

Azrael grew despondent. Surely his Master had gone mad. Finally, he spoke. "My Lord, if you are not under the control of a human, why do you not rule this place?"

"This world does not belong to us," Kain said sternly. "I suggest that you forget the empire."

Azrael clenched his jaw, furiously holding back an outburst that would surely earn him a harsh reprimand.

Kain saw Azrael's response. "Nosgoth is nothing more than a fantasy to these people." He yanked Blood Omen off the shelf and tossed it to Jennifer. "Show him."

Jennifer inserted the game into the PS2 and gave Kain a questioning stare as if to say, 'Are you sure about this?'

Kain correctly guessed at her question and said, "It's worse when you don't know."

Jennifer started the game, but decided to watch the other's reactions instead of the FMV. Kain seemed to be interested, but not surprised. He must have seen the game before. Jennifer was glad at this; she had once played through to the pillars. At least Kain could not blame her poor combat skills for losing the first battle.

Azrael's face was a mask of confusion that slowly dissolved into grim understanding, but Raziel's reaction was the best. He had seen original playstation games before, but never one this old. His eyebrows were twisted to their limit in some strange but unreadable expression at the quality of the graphics.

Jennifer avoided the heart of darkness cards and quickly played straight to the part where Kain killed the assassins. Her nerves jangled as Mortainius spoke in the Squid's voice. At least, that was the image that she got. "Do you hear that?" she asked the vampires.

"You know that's Mortainius," Kain said as if he were speaking to an imbecile.

"Are you feeling okay, Jennifer?" Raziel asked in concern.

"I'm fine," Jennifer insisted. Obviously they couldn't hear that the voice was wrong. Both of them had heard the voice of the squid, and Raziel had talked to the other version of Mortainius. She reminded herself that sanity was submitting to the perceptions of the majority.

Kain turned to Azrael. "Do you understand? We are nothing more than images, playthings for the humans of this world." He forced Azrael to meet his gaze. "Even our bodies are illusions here, as is our hunger."

Azrael had been shocked into silence during the first minutes of the game. He nodded, not trusting his voice to remain strong. His Lord had betrayed him by giving up. Even with their world reduced to a fantasy, they were still strong enough to rule this one.

Kain had taken Jennifer aside to discuss something with her. The girl's manner was reserved; she demonstrated only hints of the respect required when dealing with an emperor, yet Kain tolerated it.

Then there was his future incarnation. Yes, he had proven that he was stronger, but he had no right to the name. Emotionally, he was weak. Azrael had seen the concern that the wraith had shown for the human that had enslaved him. Azrael addressed his older self, "Why do you care about her?"

"I saw the way Cynthia treated you. Jennifer actually seems to care how I feel." Raziel said. "Besides, I've learned an interesting skill while under her care." He finally felt that he was calm enough to trust his human form.

Azrael drew back in surprise. "You look like a human," he snarled.

"I've been many things," Raziel said. "This is simply a form of convenience."

Kain disappeared on some strange errand, while Jennifer succumbed to the need for sleep. Raziel spent the day telling Azrael about the things that he learned while adventuring through Nosgoth's past.

.