Ryu smiled humorlessly as he took in the perfect replica of a building he had spent two millennia in. Yes, perfect. Absolutely.
Hell was a realm where nothing was what it seemed. It shaped itself to the mind of the person using it. There was a general basic look, but it wasn't the hostile landscape with rains of fire and endless chasms everyone thought it was. It wasn't much different from Meifu or GensouKai in that regard, but it was Hell. And Hell was what everyone made of it.
Those banished here to eternally serve their sentence would end up in their personal hell, a space that read their minds, shaped the matter around them to reflect what was hell for the individual, and for Ryu, hell was his prison.
He walked out the main door and looked at the landscape. A replica as well, with no blade of grass amiss. Only one thing told him that this wasn't Meifu...
Ryu looked around, feeling his demon blood rise to the sensation of being home. This was where the creature he had absorbed had come from. This was...had been its home. And because he reacted so strongly to it, he knew he had successfully managed to go into Hell. That and the fact that he couldn't feel the Palace around himself. The Palace was a semi-sentient being, connected to its Master, able to shape itself to his will, and that was gone.
Now the blood reacted and it called out.
"Ah, the lost sheep returns."
He turned and looked at someone who hadn't been there before. It was a man, not much taller than him, with glasses perched on his nose, dark eyes glinting behind them, and dressed in... a brown tweed suit? The man smiled at him.
"Who are you?" Ryu asked, then tilted his head. "Scratch that. I know who you are. The Lord of Hell."
The man in the tweed suit smiled more. He looked like the bookish type, at home in an office, a paper pusher, a calculator on legs, a book keeper. Still, the eyes were off. The eyes and the aura. It gave Ryu the creeps and the coldness permeating his soul had nothing to do with the fire of Hell.
"I am Astaroth. And you are Ryu, the demon slayer. You took in one of mine, erased his existence and made him into you. Quite an accomplishment, I have to tell you. Few humans have that power, but you were more than a master at it. You did what few of your kind dream of."
Ryu didn't respond, just met the inhuman eyes levelly.
"This place brings it out, doesn't it?" the Lord of Hell asked casually. "You can hear the call of the wild nature of your other self. You want to be what Enma-Daiou never allowed you to be."
A grin made Ryu shiver.
"Poor guy. Your true self sealed. Cruel punishment. Let me help you with that."
Astaroth snapped his fingers and suddenly something ripped through Ryu, something tore at his very core, turned it inside out, curled under his skin, crawled along his nerves and sizzled through his mind.
His mouth opened for a scream.
Knees distended, skin broke and deformed and there was a sharp pain as something exploded out of his back. His agonized cry echoed inside the realm and he dug his fingers into the ground. Horrified he looked at what they had become. Claws. Sharp and taloned, the skin of his hands and his forearm... his whole arm... everything.. was suddenly a leathery-scaley mass, like a hard shield.
"Now you are what lies inside you," the Lord of Hell chuckled. "Now we can proceed."
Ryu was panting, on his knees, the pain only slowly ebbing away. All his joints ached, his head was pounding, and an unusual weight on his back was pushing him down. He turned his head and to his horror discovered a pair of large, bat-like wings. His hands were no longer human; they were clawed, armored... ending in taloned hands. His color was a dusky blue on black. He could see it on his arms and legs and his tail. A long tail ending in a stinger.
His demon self.
He was glad there was no reflective surface because he would probably have nightmares of his true self, looking into a face that was no longer his own.
"So, Ryu, what brings you here?" Astaroth asked pleasantly.
He glared at the powerful being. "You seem to know everything, why ask?" he ground out.
"You are rather impertinent for one in such a precarious and vulnerable position." The Lord of Hell chuckled. "But I like impertinence. I believe you would get very far in my realm. I can think of a few positions..."
"Not interested!" Ryu managed to fold his wings and sat back, trying to gain a sort of balance.
"Probably not. Too bad, too bad." The tongue clicked once and the intense eyes held an expression of regret. "You are still owned by Enma anyway. Wouldn't want any political conflicts over such a fine specimen."
Ryu snarled softly.
"Temper, temper. So... ask your questions. You came here, such a long way, and you shouldn't go home without the answers."
He staggered to his feet, towering over the smaller man, but Ryu had no illusions as to who would be the winner should he be foolish enough to attack the Lord of Hell.
"A shinigami was lost in transfer between Meifu and GensouKai. He was separated from his shikigami, which got into GensouKai. The realm closest to the artificial wormhole was Hell. I want to know if you had any unannounced guests."
Astaroth studied him silently, then smiled slightly. "Why should I tell you?"
"Because you don't keep unwanted guests, as well as souls that don't belong here," Ryu shot back. "Only judged souls end up in Hell and stay here. You wouldn't keep an innocent, let alone a shinigami."
A chuckle. "So true. They're more trouble than they're worth. Well, you're right with that, but no one came here either."
Ryu stared hard at him. "No one?" he repeated.
"No one. I was aware of something happening outside my realm, true, but no unauthorized entry was registered, aside from you."
The Lord of Hell wouldn't lie, Ryu knew. Keeping souls who didn't belong here was a bureaucratic nightmare and forcing them into Hell was just the same. Only the judged ones resided here. Anyone else was either a tolerated guest, visitor or an intruder. All were dealt with accordingly.
"The wormhole didn't touch Hell?"
"No. It was close, but it didn't connect." Fingers interlaced and the bespectacled eyes glinted. "Now, if that's all, I think we should get back to our daily business. Your visiting hours are over, Ryu. Drop by again should you feel like coming home for a while. Homesickness can be cured."
A smile was added to the sweet words and Ryu gritted his teeth.
"Not likely."
"Never say never. Now..." The grin widened. "Good-bye. Give my regards to Tsuzuki. I knew his father well. Too bad his time came so soon."
And Astaroth snapped his fingers.
There was a brief rushing sound, a sensation of being sucked into a tunnel, then Ryu disappeared into darkness.
° ° °
The gate opened with a rush of power, spewing out the only traveler. Watari had a satisfied, pleased smile on his face that the experimental idea had worked, but the smile was wiped off the moment he saw what had come through.
It was only for about five seconds that he saw it. Tall, clawed hands and feet, armored, winged, horns... and red eyes that defied the term 'human'. He saw the creature of Hell, took in the long tail with its sharp blade at the end, the pointed ears, the fangs, and the fear broke through with a vengeance. Watari stumbled back, gasping, the palm top cluttering from his numb hand.
Demon! his mind screamed. Demon!
Memories flashed back at him.
"Shinigami," the devil growled over the din of the alarms.
Watari's eyes shot open wide in shock and he scrambled back. A devil! The devil! The thing that had tried to kill him before!
Baal - here!
In Meifu!
An energy blast raced toward him and he sprinted out of the way, the shelves around him exploding into a shower of burned paper and metal debris.
"You are mine!" the devil screeched.
Watari was flung forward as the creature hit him again and he felt bones crack under the impact. Pain shot through his leg, his back, and he spat blood.
"I waited long enough," Baal whispered, towering over him, baring long fangs. "You will be a very tasty meal."
Watari started to tremble more.
No, no, no!
Watari felt the breath leave his lungs as he was thrown against the wall, the bricks breaking under the impact. He slumped to the ground, groaning softly. The demon jumped and he felt its claws dig into his leg.
He screamed in pain.
Blood gushed from the deep puncture wounds, joining the blood already pooling around him from numerous injuries. His body was trying to heal itself, but there were too many wounds, too deep, and something was keeping his body from responding quickly. The scientific part of his mind told Watari that the demon's saliva was probably poisoned, stopping or slowing down the healing.
"Weak creature," the demon whispered, its hot breath brushing over his blood-matted hair. "Pathetic."
Watari swallowed hard. His experience with demons had been rather... unpleasant lately, and the appearance of Baal, as well as the fact that Watari's own soul had been sold to Hell by his former best friend had left marks. A lot of them.
And they hadn't healed yet.
The creature shifted. There was an inhuman cry as wings shrunk back into the twisting, writhing mass of muscles, as limbs returned to a human anatomical shape, as the horns disappeared. It happened in seconds, but it was the most horrifying and painful thing Watari had ever seen.
The screams would follow him for days.
Collapsing onto the ground, curling up with whimpers of pain, a very human looking Ryu had his eyes closed and was shaking uncontrollably. Watari stared at the naked man, the man who was a demon. He hadn't really believed it until the moment Ryu had passed through the Gate and hadn't been pushed back by the barriers. He had never given it a thought that the Count would have a demonic look as well. The red eyes... had been almost normal.
Now...
Watari drew a shuddering breath, unable to tear his shocked gaze from the groaning man who was barely able to keep himself from shaking.
Demon...
There was a difference between knowing that the Count, Ryu, was a demon, and then seeing him in his true form.
Rikugo knelt down next to his lover and wrapped his coat around the naked figure. Red eyes opened, clouded, almost delirious with the agony he had gone through.
"Demon," Watari whispered.
Tsuzuki was suddenly at his side, face pale but composed. "Watari?"
"How... how can Enma let something like that live here?" the scientist whispered, shell-shocked, still not able to think clearly. "This creature..."
"His name is Ryu!" Tsuzuki said harshly, voice low and cutting through Watari's haze like a blade. "He is a man!"
"A demon," Watari repeated, feeling cold.
"Watari, snap out of it!"
Strong hands grabbed him, shook him, and he blinked as amethyst eyes bore into his golden ones.
"Yes, Ryu's a demon! So am I, for that matter! I just don't look it! Get a hold of yourself, Watari! Now!"
The scientist took in a shuddering breath, then pushed back the memories and his emotions.
"I... I just didn't expect him to... well, look like one," he murmured.
He gazed at the barely conscious form, cradled in Rikugo's arms, the shikigami's fingers stroking over the unruly, black hair. He was whispering softly to his lover.
"He does. And I saw him for the first time, too, in case you're wondering," Tsuzuki told him firmly. "Now snap out of this!"
Tsuzuki walked over to where his shikigami was still holding the man in question. Ryu was conscious, but he seemed to be in pain. Red eyes glowed with the intensity of it.
"Hey," Tsuzuki greeted him softly.
"Hey. I'm back."
"So you are." An unspoken question hung in the air and one look into the agonized eyes told Tsuzuki that Ryu was far from okay or fine.
"He doesn't have him, Tsuzuki," the Count whispered. "I talked to the Lord of Hell and Terazuma never made it there. There was a disturbance, but no wormhole connected with the realm."
"Shit," Tsuzuki muttered, realizing what that meant.
Terazuma was adrift in Limbo.
"Sorry," Ryu murmured.
"Not your fault." Tsuzuki gave him a smile. "Thank you for trying."
He squeezed one cold hand and Ryu nodded at him. Tsuzuki shot Rikugo a look and the shikigami nodded. He would take care of the totally exhausted man. The shinigami turned back to his colleague, pleased to note that Watari had somewhat recovered from his shock.
"Watari?"
Watari tore his eyes away from the two men. Ryu, wrapped up tightly in the long coat of his lover, was leaning heavily against Rikugo, barely able to walk.
"I... I need to go through my data again," the scientist mumbled.
"And we need to tell the others what happened."
Watari nodded, still working through his shock. Tsuzuki grabbed him by the arms and held the amber eyes with determined violet ones.
"Yutaka," he said firmly.
"I... Tsuzuki..."
"We need to focus! You need to focus!"
"Yes... I... of course." Watari shook himself, running a hand over his hair. "It was just unexpected. My track record with demon is rather... uhm... bad."
Tsuzuki gave him a sympathetic look. "I know. But Ryu isn't a demon or devil like the others. He's like us."
Watari smiled wanly. "Yeah. Sorry."
"It's okay. Just... give him a chance."
"Okay."
"Good. Let's go then."
"I'm staying."
That had Tsuzuki stop dead in his tracks. "What?"
"I'm staying here, Tsuzuki. My equipment is already here and I need to run some data."
The amber eyes held a firm expression, not to be swayed from what Watari thought had to be done, and Tsuzuki met the hard eyes with a smile.
"You sure?" he only repeated once.
Watari nodded. "Yes, Tsuzuki, I'm sure. Terazuma is out there, in Limbo, lost and probably already suffering from the effects. We need to find him and the only way to do so is to continue looking. I can do that from here."
It was also the safest place. Watari had a few suspicions as to what had happened to Terazuma, why he had disappeared, like kidnapped, and if his suspicions were correct, the Palace was the only place where he had a measure of safety. The Count was the master of this place and no one, not even a Lord of Hades, could enter if Ryu denied him access.
"Okay," Tsuzuki agreed. "You do that. I'll see Hisoka, tell him what we found. I'll let Tatsumi know as well."
Watari watched Tsuzuki leave. The uneasy feeling residing inside his stomach was increasing, but he had no time to ponder every theory he had, turn it over and over in his head. It would only make his brain explode.
tbc...