Chapter 13: Council is in Session

Tasuki peered suspiciously at the black gate. "I dunno, Akire, I've got a weird vibe comin' from this place, like I'm headed to an execution or something." Akire shuddered, recalling what happened just a few minutes ago when she almost got sent to Hell (limbo, eternal damnation, etcetera, etcetera...). "Execution, you said? No, execution is just the beginning in this place. Where you're headed after is what you've got to worry about." The redheaded bandit let out an exasperated sigh. "Boy, cheerful lot today, are we?"

Akire turned her attention to Mikhail before they entered the council room and asked, "What was that white void that was eating away Ikegai's mind?" The Councilman replied, "You do know you were risking your life for a gamble when you two entered Ikegai's mind? There are serious repercussions, you, know, when you invade a mind. That's why it is very ill-advised to do so. It was lucky that Ikegai didn't die immediately or you two would've been dead with him." Akire smiled and said, "Aren't we dead now? Doesn't it make no difference?"

Mikhail opened the black gate, where a group of impatient Council members sat, fuming, on their comfy swivel chairs. "Smug little shmucks," Akire thought, but then stopped herself from saying it out loud for fear that the remark will cost her one push into the flaming chasm that is the express train to Hell. But they were forced to keep their thoughts to themselves anyway, for the loud banging of an iron gavel, followed by a "SIT!" from one of the Councilmen, gave them quite little room for much thought.

"Stand up, Paladin!" the middle Councilman bellowed, probably the main judge. Akire, much to her displeasure, immediately scrambled to her feet, wondering why she was ordered to sit down in the first place. "With all due respect, sir, I do have a name, and don't let's not get mad at someone when she doesn't even know what made your Honor so upset," Akire said, with only a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Nevertheless, the Council wasn't in such a good mood today. Councilman Mikhail sighed, rolled his eyes, and proceeded to an empty chair next to the judge.

The Judge (let's just call him judge, shall we?) was about to return a very nasty comment when they were interrupted by a loud wail from Ikegai, who's got an even more demented look right now after his near tumble into the pits of Hades. To make things worse, Tasuki took off his boot and threw it at the pathetic man, shouting, "Shut up, you crazy moron!" Akire hid her face in her hands and mumbled, "Tasuki, land sakes, just pipe down a minute, would you?"

That was probably the last straw for our dear judge. Mikhail grimaced, expecting to bear the full brunt of the coming blast, as he covered his ears. Sure enough, Judge whacked the pedestal with his iron gavel with full force. "Think you two are funny now, do you" he said, temples twitching as he pointed the shaking gavel in Akire's direction. The poor girl's still covering her ears so tightly that she didn't a word. Unfortunately, Judge misread these actions and shouted, "EMPRESS AKIRE! YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME, YOU IMPUDENT PALADIN!"

Councilman Mikhail already removed his fingers from his ears, when Judge roared his heart out, all the while banging the gavel on the podium. Akire slowly uncovered her ears and said, "So that's what you were saying! The gavel sounds were quite interfering with my hearing."

Judge finally calmed down, but he surely wasn't going to let all this slip by him. He's got a nasty surprise waiting for Akire, one she should've seen a mile away. "Well, Madame Akire, it seems like you are showing a bit of disrespect to your elders." He paused, letting the foreboding statement to sink in. "Therefore, since you so despise being in our presence, we will remove you from our sight, permanently. Effective, oh, say, immediately, you are stripped of your Paladin title. You will NOT venture beyond Amria, you will NOT wield your Paladin abilities and you will surrender you Ring now!" Then Judge sat down with a smug expression on his face.

Akire calmly took off her ring, but her eyes betrayed her anger, and before long she wasn't able to keep her composure. She shrieked as she threw the ring at the Council. "Am I just a rag doll who does all your dirty work for you? ANSWER ME! I have been in your service for 16 damned years, risking life and limb, and now that I screw up you just...THROW ME AWAY! "

The judge bared his teeth and pointed a threatening finger at her. "Cease your ramblings, you insolent woman! There is no overturning my decision! I am immediately sending you back to Amria. You have your duty as Empress, don't you foul this up, too. Or is removing you from being a Paladin not enough for your disappointments?" As he spoke, a dimensional gateway opened in front of her, only unlike the normal portals, this one sucks in the person who's about to enter.

"Well, then, your 'Majesty', get in!" the judge said. Akire, who was fighting against the pull of the portal, suddenly went limp and gave up. In fact, she willingly walked slowly towards the portal, sobbing quietly with her mouth drawn tight. "Your will be done, O Omnipotent Council. It's always your way or the highway, isn't it?" she whimpered.

Tasuki's gaze darted from Akire's dejected expression to the Council's cold stare. "Whoa, this ain't right!" he said to himself. So, grabbing his other boot (after giving Ikegai another whack behind the head with it), he quickly threw it at the portal before Akire can go in. The wormhole, sensing "someone" has already entered it, imploded and closed itself. "Hopefully, I can get that boot back, I've been to hell and back with that thing," he muttered.

"Scuse me, fellas, hope you don't mind me puttin' in a few words about all this," he said, sitting down in front of them (his foot got too cold). "We DO mind," the judge said, while some other councilmen nodded their heads in agreement. "Wait! Here him out," Councilman Mikhail said. Judge got really, really pissed at that point (he'd done nothing but send souls to hell all afternoon) and said, "What is the meaning of this, eh? Getting a bit one-sided are we?" Mikhail, without missing a beat replied, "Look who's talking, 'brother'. You accuse me of being one-sided when you wouldn't even hear Akire's side of things. Anyway, why do you not want to hear this young man out? Are you afraid?" Judge grew silent, as did the others. "P-proceed," he finally told Tasuki, barely unable to contain his anger, and shame.

Akire was stunned. She knew that Tasuki was a save-the-damsel type of guy (in a way...), but she never actually knew he can talk it out of a situation. Or try to. She always knew him to be a punch-me-burn-you type of guy. But then again, she'd only met him a few days ago. Not really sure what to do next, she kept silent.

Seeing all eyes turned towards him, Tasuki gulped nervously. Obviously, proving his point besides sticking his fist inside a guy's craw wasn't one of his strong points. And his nervousness showed that he hadn't actually thought through what he was about to say. Seeing as he can't win this through polite and reasonable debate, he settled for the only way he knew: irritable frankness. "Look, over-pompous jerks," he began, "that woman's been working her butt off for the past few years for you self-righteous pigs and you shoo her off just like that! What the hell is that all about?" Akire grimaced. "I'm going to hell for sure," she thought.

The fang-boy continued, "You sit there all day, and the only thing you probably have to worry about is getting butt cramps! Oh yeah, and I guess you guys also are afraid of snapping your wrists off from all that gavel-pounding!" Judge's eyes widened in anger as he said, "You disrespectful delinquent! Do you know what I can do to you for those insults you said?"

Unfazed, Tasuki sneered, "Oh, I got a pretty good idea. The real question here, mister, is if you guys are so damn powerful, why don't you do her job yourselves? Get off those comfy chairs and see what it's like to be constantly be threatened by death, or stay under the sun trying to track down the bad guys. Seeing as you're all so invulnerable and strong, why don't you spend a few days down there in the mortal world? See what it's like to bleed and break for once."

"But-!"

"Whassamatter? You guys chicken? Or are you just plain lazy? Too comfy lyin' on your butts for eternity?"

"LOOK HERE, YOUNG MAN! SHE HAS MADE GRIEVIOUS ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT! AND HER ACTIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES PROVE IT!" The Judge roared, going very red and breathing heavily. Akire, watching everything as though dazed, suddenly came to her senses and quickly put in a word before Tasuki says anything else.

She put one hand on Tasuki's shoulder partly to thank him and partly to stop him. Her other hand's palm was facing the Council as a token on submission. "I...I admit that I do make mistakes. After all, everyone is...human. But I can learn to change, if you would just please give me another chance. If you look at my situation, I am young, and I have my country's affairs to manage." (Tasuki: "YOUR country?")

Councilman Mikhail said, "I agree with you, but only partly. Your mistakes right now have already fairly large repercussions. How much more if you make more of them in the future?" Akire was silent, searching for answers. But she then glanced at Tasuki, and found what she was looking for. "Then perhaps, I should get some help." Mikhail leaned forward and said, "Help, Akire?" She nodded, patting Tasuki's shoulder. "Without him I couldn't have done anything. Shouldn't we be allowed to have more allies? I met Tasuki only by chance. If Ikegai didn't hide in their world, I wouldn't have gotten a chance to meet him." Tasuki said sarcastically, "Aww, shucks, Akire, you're makin' me go red!" Akire muttered, "You better cut that out, mister!"

Judge then said, "Then it proves your incompetence in the field! The previous Paladins didn't need that many permanent allies! What will you do, form an army?" Akire lost a bit of her composure and retorted, "And how OLD were the Paladins then, hmm? As I can recall, you picked the previous Paladins who already had experience in other situations. I was picked because circumstances didn't leave you much option. That is not my fault. And neither is it yours, may I add. I promise to do better this time around, and if I fail you can take this away from me."

There was a brief silence, then murmurs erupted from the Councilmen. Finally, after much persuasion, Judge declared, "Ahh, very well, very well, you are given another chance." Akire cheered, and raised her hand. "Gimme 5, dude!" she said gleefully at Tasuki, who of course doesn't know what it means, since unfortunately high-5s weren't invented yet. So she quickly put down her hand and said "Heh, just a week or so ago I was asking myself why I even accepted this job in the first place!"

Councilman Mikhail stooped down to pick up something and tossed it to Akire. "I believe you will be needing this," he said. Akire niftily caught the object, and saw that it was her ring. She kissed it and said, "Oh, baby, I promise I won't toss you away like that ever again!" She then patted Tasuki saying, "Time to go back, the others are probably getting worried."

"Hold on! Not just yet," Judge said. "Due to the trauma your bodies have endured in the mortal world, you'll have to be put to sleep first. Then, his memory of the past few hours have got to be...wiped clean." Akire's jaw dropped. Tasuki, of course, wasn't taking this very well. "That's not fair!" he whined, "Why do you have to do that?" Akire said, "If you remove his memory, he'll be bickering and bickering against me again! And there won't be an Ikegai-kidnaps-us-makes-us-friends situation anymore! He'll hate me forever!" Mikhail shook his head and said, "My hands are tied on this one, Akire. His body, above all, endured the most severe damages. In order for us to undo most of it, there will be consequences in his brain functions." Akire tried arguing, saying, "But, but, his brain's ALWAYS been like that!"

"I HEARD THAT!"

"And if you take away anymore of his memories, he'll become even more retarded!"

"Don't push it, lady!"

Mikhail gestured them to be silent and explained, "There's also another reason. No other mortal except those that have become Paladins are allowed to see this place and then sent back to their earthly forms. You, Akire, are excused because of the obvious reason that you are the Paladin. But mere mortals like him are only supposed to be here for the final judgment when they're, you know, dead."

He turned to Tasuki and said, "Lie down and rest. You'll wake up in the mortal world quite a bit rejuvenated." Tasuki bared his teeth. "I won't let you mess around with my head. And I won't lie down!" Mikhail said, "Sure you will. You're feeling very tired, after all the blood you lost and the wounds you got from the fights, you just want to lie down and rest." Tasuki felt himself growing sleepier and sure enough, he was lying down on the marble floor. The minute his eyes were fully closed, he disappeared.

"If only there was another way," Akire said, "but, as you said, there's nothing that can be done." She saw all eyes turned to her and she sighed. "I suppose I should be going now. Let's get this over with. And thank you again for giving me another chance." She then glanced around the room and spotted Ikegai. For a second their eyes met, and it sent a shiver down her spine. She immediately severed her gaze from his, and asked, "What about him?" Judge said before Mikhail could reply, "He is our business. No need to know what his fate will be. Worry about him no more." Before she could say another word, her eyelids began to droop, and finally closed.

"IKEGAI'S BODY IS GONE!"

"I'M NOT GETTING TASUKI'S PULSE! NOTHING'S WORKING!"

"Please, everyone! Please! Do everything you can!"

"Miaka, I'm sorry there's just--wait! H-he's breathing! He's alive! What about Akire?"

"She's not giving us anything! Oh, dammit! It's like she's reluctant to wake up!"

"W-What?"

"Oh, friggin' heck, she's awake! How the heck did these two do it? Dead one minute, yawning the next!"

The light of the sun blinded Akire momentarily, as her eyes flickered open. She covered her face with both hands and mumbled, "How's Tasuki?" She held her breath. "Maybe, maybe they changed their minds, maybe he's still got his memories," she thought as she waited for an answer.

"I'm fine! Now shut up!" Tasuki's spiteful reply cut a knife through her heart, and she groaned under her breath. They undid his memory after all. Nuriko put a finger to his lips and said, "Shh! You've just woken up after we almost lost you both, and the first thing that came out of your potty-mouth is THAT! She was asking you nicely, for heaven's sakes!"

Akire raised her hand to stop them and said, "Don't mind it, Nuriko. Don't mind it. So, what did we miss?"