This took quite a while to write but I'm happy I reached this point cause the build up is slowly starting to crumble.
Many thanks to Nekonomihm and morde24 for helping me fix a few things with this chapter.
(EDIT) Fixed up a few things with the Sona Smut to make it less confusing to read. And gave more depth to Abslon's memory.
I also added another clue amongst the two as to what entity Abslon is.
Sona
She had felt as though she had made a very, big mistake.
She had first needed some mayonnaise for the Greek salad, some chocolate for the cookies and the desert casserole that she had planned to make for the event.
But now, before she even left the house, Sona felt that she needed one of her everyday cup of coffee or perhaps for the first time, something stronger.
Courtesy of the crimson haired nuisance standing in her passage right now. Some of her peerage members in tow.
When Sona saw the wisp of red hair, she was instantly reminded of the unfortunate conversation she had with Serafall right as she ended the school semester this year.
Sona was secretly really hoping that Serafall could make it to the Christmas celebration this year, so much so that she admittedly was a tad bit excited for the 25th.
Unfortunately in that call, Serafall had to cancel due to diplomatic meetings between her, Falbrium and the Norse Faction due to the fallout of Loki's attack on the Underworld.
And to her bitter disappointment, as a favor to Sirzechs because he also couldn't be there, she had to invite Rias into the celebration.
She couldn't help but stare at the position Rias was standing in with a wee bit of trepidation.
Serafall was supposed to be standing there.
In her dumb magic girl outfit waving that stupid magic wand at her.
Calling out her name with jubilation as she rapidly invaded her personal space with her tight-ass hugs.
Not this naïve red headed princess that couldn't even live up to her own 'Ruin Princess' namesake when it counted.
Still though, Sona felt that she should at least try to enjoy the Christmas holiday until Serafall arrives a few days after, then rock her world in New Years.
Though looking at the apparel that her supposed childhood friend had donned on, she sighed, and instantly regretted picking up the phone all those weeks ago.
Rias carried a glass tray of macaroni and cheese, no doubt prepared by the Hyoudou parents.
She donned a female cut of Santa Clause's robes cleverly hidden by her white, oversized fur coat.
Akeno, trailed behind her as usual, brandishing a second box of decorations, Christmas lights and the bells, going by what was sticking out of the lid.
She was, at least, a tad bit subtle in her clothing, opting for the simple jeans and the long-sleeved purple wooly sweater.
Akeno waved at her with a smile, offering the most basic of greetings till Rias turned to where her queen was waving at, and found Sona frozen at the stairway.
"Ah, Good morning Sona. I hope we weren't too late."
"You nearly were, actually."
To be fair, she had never expected them to come in the first place, since they had to prepare for the tournament coming up in just a few months now.
"Ah! My apologies. As you can see, we were busy getting ready for the event."
Sona quickly scanned her apparel, squinting her eyes at a particular feature.
"What the hell are you wearing? And, is that a fur coat? Why are you wearing that!?"
Rias shrugged.
"It was cold out. And it's going to snow in the evening."
"When Akeno was dressing up, didn't you stop to think why she chose the purple sweater rather than your fur coat?"
Rias stood silent for a while and sheepishly twilddled her fingers.
Sona grabbed the bridge of her nose and motioned the duo inside with a tad bit of frustration.
"Whatever, just get inside and help around so long. And take off the damn coat while you're at it."
The longer the redhead stood there, the more that Sona felt that the aneurysm that comes with being associated will rise again.
When she dashed towards the front door, she found Saji there waiting. Dressed in black jeans, blue sneakers and grey t-shirt with a brown jacket.
She gave him a nod and bent down to put on her shoes whilst Saji opened the door.
"Where are you heading?"
Damnit.
She had hoped that the two of them would be fast enough to make a beeline to the front door and out avoiding the redhead who was prone to her vice of asking unnecessary questions.
She sighed and pulled out a list that she gave to Rias whilst she was putting on shoes.
Silently, Rias began to read the contents of the list.
"Mayonnaise, chicken breasts, chocolate, sage, mint—this is a grocery list Sona."
"Yeah, and?"
"Why don't you get one of your members to do the grocery shopping for you?"
"Because I don't need my Peerage to do something that I'm supposed to be able to do myself."
Going by the dirty look Rias was giving her, she clearly felt the cheap shot that Sona had given her.
Sona had to hold down a chuckle to make sure that she kicked the floorboard with just enough force to make a perfect fit inside her shoes, and not break the fragile elevation of her little house.
She snatched the list away from Rias and placed it in the back pocket of her blue jeans.
And while it may have been a tad bit more petty of how she is normally, after her disappointment of her elder sister's absence and her pent up stress over housing this child of a king.
Sona had felt that this moment of pettiness, was well-deserved, ironically for the efforts of her saint-like patience through tolerating Rias.
And as she opened the door with a smile, Saji could see that she had enjoyed herself a bit with that retort.
She didn't feel even the slightest bit of guilt as she walked onto the already icy pavement and motioned for him to join her.
Abslon (9 Years Ago)
…I can't breathe…I can't breathe.
Fire, all around me. It's so hot that it's unbearable.
I can feel my skin getting charred by the residual radiation and searing heat left by the numerous flames that erupted throughout the ruined path.
A cruel mixture of being burned by the heat of the fires around me, and getting pricked by the severe cold of the chilling snow on my feet, as I made my way to the summit of the ruins.
Continuous rough coughs from the smoke making my lungs feel like they have been stabbed once again.
My footsteps got weaker and slower as I went closer and closer to summit where she awaits.
Soon, the ugly stench of faint iron and the disgustingly sweet smell of burning flesh reached me, and burned my nostrils. My heart bleeds.
D̛͐̍o̵̤̞͠ň'̠̈́̋ͧ̕̕͜t͕͙̒ ̐̾ç̯̎͢͢r̺̀͢͜y̱̍,̢̥͘ ̯̩̅̎̕d̶ͥ̎͏̀o̙̓n̸ͦ̿͛͞'̸ͮ̓͗͢͏ţ ͑ͬ̏̕s̡͘͟h̝͇̩̀ò̡͉͓̭w̩ͭ̏̏ ̯͇̀͠͝t͕̼̔̇h̢̖̗͆̿ͮé͟͜͞ ̯̖̝ͭͦ͜͜͢d̢͎͋ͯe͢s̴͚̝ͨ̂͜͠ͅp̨̝̩̀a̜̋i̴̳̞̼ͥr̴̢̨̅̓.̴̟ͬ̋
I chocked down my tears and cries of pain as I stepped across the broken and sharp stones of the debris.
D̖͖o̸͔͇̪͏̸n̮̣͕̈ͣ̋'̛͚̝̩ͩt̢͇͎ ̫͓̦ĉ̭͈̭̄̂r̵͇̠̲ͮ͢y͍.̡͐ ̨͑ͪ͐̕͟Ḑ͍͙̂̌ŏ̴̗̗͈n͏'͓͒͊̉͜ṯ̴̡̞̄̒ ̰̦̦͆̆͢s̙̤̙h̸̹o̪͙̖͏w̬̝̩̅͑ ̸̵̺̠̯t͉̠ͬ̿̕͠͡hͭ͌e̳̯͂͊ ̷̮̄d̡̻̯ͫ͑͆͟͡e͇͋s͑̽p̫͌͒͐͢͏a͛̒ī̡͔̳̞̋r̠̀̍ͤ.̛͍͔͎̒̓͠
My painful heart surges in anxiety as I see her in the far distance, staring into the full moon as she usually does, even in a situation like this.
The fire trailed towards the two of us, igniting the night sky and the cold air with its fiery and fierce glow.
And yet with all the heat that scalded me and her, she had still managed to make me shake and stand as still as a board just staring at the long silver hair falling from her back.
I could see a small phantom of myself, rusted iron bands bound to my wounded and bloodied wrists.
Rusted chains dragging behind my wounded ankles and frozen feet. Slowly making his way towards her.
Ḏ̻̖̒ͪ͏͘o̡͂̀͠ṋ͐͊͘͠'̭ͭͯ̏ͅt̸̝̩̦̃͌́ ̻́g̡͍ͤͪ͟o̢̤ͩ͂͟ ̛͓͕͐͟tͩ͑̈́o̢͎͈̥͠͡ ͪ̚͜͜͝ḩ̧̜͛͋ͬe̐͐̂͡ͅr͓̘͔͏̛.̩ ̶̷͙̟D̡̧̧o̥̕͜n̛͎͓̠̂ͩ̕͞'̧̼͉̕ͅt̴͇͠ ̱͔͂͏̀le̠ͯt̲̗̆ ̴͓̱̯ͪ͊h̢͢͠ẻ̵̶̞̂̊͠r̄ͦ̈́ ̋g̨͔̔͒͟͠ḛ̞̓͏͜t̛̫͗͟ ̸̺̭t̍ͭ́͜ọ̷̧̙ͨ͘ ̧͉̼ͨͯ̚͘͠y̵̏̓͋o̢u͐ͣ͑.̲͚̩
Regardless of my efforts to call out to my phantom, slowly, it moved towards the imposing figure.
Slowly she turned towards him, her red eyes blazing in intrigue.
Don't do it, don't go to her.
No matter what I did, the phantom of myself had always slowly edged towards Kurlean.
It was like that day was happening once again before my eyes.
She smiled, and she edged closer to my phantom instead, brandishing her long katana with the white hilt and tsuba.
And slowly, she began to draw out the katana from the scabbard at her waist.
At the last chance to back away from her, I screamed till my voice became hoarse.
But to no avail, I couldn't even save a phantom of myself from a monster like her.
I felt like crying when I saw the phantom disappear before my eyes. My knees gave out, and I felt like I wanted to be burned alongside this place in the ever-consuming fire.
"Oh? That's really interesting, you calling me a monster."
My eyes through the heat and the brightness of the numerous fires could make out Kurlean sitting on the debris of what's left of a wall.
Her katana back inside her scabbard and her red eyes brightening in sheer smug amusement.
"What makes a monster? Is it soulless action or the way we look?"
"If good and evil are two sides of the same coin then what actions classify a monster, and what actions classify a human?
"To you, my pet. What does a monster mean to you? Where do the lines between humanity and damnation blur for us two monsters?"
Kurlean then looked at the palm of her hands, and with a scowl, clenched it fiercely.
"It's sick." She growled.
"The fact that you are clinging to a speculation that turns you into something worse than a monster. This blight called humanity!"
"It blinds us with the stigma called morality, mercy and kindness!"
"I don't blame you for not seeing the sickness behind this word. After all, I too, was once at its mercy."
Kurlean stays silent for a moment, her sheathed sword appearing in her hand as she stared at the sky, stroking it with her palm.
She let the fierce flames rage and crack around us, seemingly oblivious to it, but at the same time, wanting.
Eventually, she turned her sight onto me. Her glowing crimson eyes holding me in place as though I were paralysed.
However, the longer I stared into those eyes, the more my heart would pain.
Slowly, I could feel the slight touch of something wet sliding down my cheek, burning my broken lip and wounded collar. My heart stings and yet I could not clench it to ease its pain.
"But, I've realized it." She said, with even more of her famous smug, deranged smiles.
"And eventually you will too, my pet."
"You will come to realize that humans are far crueler than us monsters, simply because they always have a choice."
The smugness in her face left and in it, replaced with a melancholic smile.
Numerous black hands arose from the shadows beneath me, it latched against my wounded arms, legs and the few articles of clothing I was wearing.
Kurlean stretched out and offered me her hand, and as the distorted hands began to drag me into the abyss.
Slowly, my hand began to raise towards hers. It began to painfully darken as small black glitches and distortions started to appear, slowly erasing my arm. And in place of it a claw formed out of black distortions appeared
The glitches didn't stop, enveloping my elbow and soon enough my shoulder. It was only until the distortions and the black hands reached my neck did I realize that the darkness was devouring me.
Before I even had a chance to let out a painful scream, I was devoured by the shadows the hands dragged me towards. Then all I saw was darkness.
Abslon (Present Time)
Surprisingly, I never woke up with a scream. The cold sweat was still there, the shaking still constant. But not a scream.
I still had my eyes closed, but I was wide awake trying to fall asleep again.
The screeching of the Lascheis Du Blac halting towards a stop is what jolted me awake from that nightmare.
I could feel my body's sluggishness and slight, aching pain rising from my neck and scalp.
I was leaning on something bony yet soft.
It was so irritatingly painful that often I wished to distance from this hard orifice, yet the pleasantly warm touch of soft yet tender skin, and the scent, the delightful, calming and enthralling scent of cold lilies, vanilla and sage is what called out sweetly towards me. Prompting me to keep my head on the hard surface.
"Abslon, wake up."
I felt a soft hand give me a little shake, coaxing me to open my eyes. Nonami was beside me, her green eyes looking a little droopy as if she herself had just woken up too.
"We have arrived?" I was half asking and half making sure.
Personally, I knew that we had just arrived at our destination.
The screeching of the metallic wheels on the railways and the sudden frost that latched onto the window of the luxury train.
Nonami gave a little nod, affirming my thoughts.
Slowly, I lifted my head and distanced myself away from her shoulder, giving her space for her to maneuver out of the train seat. My body went into an immediate shiver, the air was cold.
"C'mon, we need to get you warm before you get out there. I heard its cold at this time of year in Japan." Nonami said.
She reached for her suitcase stashed near the top shelf, and as she pulled it to the table and dug inside, she pulled out a white thermal coat. My, white thermal coat.
"You forgot to pack this, so I picked up your slack as usual." Nonami teased and offered the thermal coat to me.
I noticed how warm it was when I put it on, and how comfortable the small amount of fur had felt around my neck.
I looked behind me to see Nonami getting ready too, ditching the maid uniform and opting for skinny jeans and a green sweater, for a moment while she put on the jeans, I tried to look anywhere on the train besides her and her green clad derriere.
She joined me afterwards as we headed towards the entrance of the Lascheis Du Blac, two suitcases in tow.
Slowly, she and I pried open the trains doors.
Suddenly, I was hit with a gentle blast of cold wind.
We made our way out of the train and eventually joined Tristan and Azazel at the edge of the station when the luxury train made yet another series of screeches against the railings as it departed.
"Whelp, were here. Didn't expect to make it at this time, but were here."
Azazel moved a hand towards his head as if he was scouting something out in the distance.
"This is Kuoh?"
"Why are you acting like you haven't been here before Tristan?" Azazel questioned, turning to Tristan with a curious yet smug look on his face.
"What are you talking about? I've been here dozens of times when hanging out with you."
"I know, but you haven't seen Kuoh during the winter."
"What makes summer any different?"
Before Azazel could retort, I blanked out of the conversation they were having.
Instead paying attention to the little white snowflake slowly gliding down and landing on the very tip of Azazel's nose.
Then my attention glided to another, which fell all the way from the bluish night sky right onto the white fur of my thermal coat.
Soon I began to count many of them, an endless amount of white snowflakes falling down from the sky as though the night was crying out its timeless tears.
I raised my hands and looked at my palms, aside from the causal paleness from recovering anemia, there was a slight redness at the tips of my fingers that I only noticed through the constant little flames I made with my frozen breath.
The air and the wind were cold. But not unpleasant. Not the unpleasant storm of constant stagnant and freezing winds like in Estrella.
The snow and the gentle breeze of air cold enough to cool the heat moving towards my ears, reminded me of the rare times that Emihide and I would explore and make castles with the freezing snow.
Nonami gently grasped my hand. She too was cold, I could tell from the redness of her skin too.
She wasn't as warm as she was back in Lascheis Du Blac, but perhaps that was the difference between her hands to her shoulder.
She led me towards the ledge where Azazel and Tristan were, and stood beside me as we scanned the city.
I was mesmerized by how well the blueness of the white sky matched with the simple small city.
The city itself wasn't remarkable at all, the buildings remained on top of each other and some shared a wall. I could see small alleyways that lead to one of the traditional shopping streets I've heard Nonami mention in one of the rare times she reminisces about her past.
I could see the slim silhouettes of many electrical lines and power cables across the alleyways, shopping streets and some of the houses nearby, connected to a power line.
I could smell the soft metallic scent of cold metal and hear the numerous car horns in the distance, wailing, wailing and wailing as if they were a new type of annoying police siren.
Screaming bloody murder with ever present road rage.
It was simple, it wasn't as grand or extravagant as Las Vegas or Manhattan, nor as serene as Seattle or Massachusetts. It was compact, plain, without attention.
In which its very atmosphere seemed to threaten realism rather than promise the illusion of beauty.
As magnificent as a place I came from, it was the brilliant view I had of this plain city from this railing of a random train station that cast a spell on me.
I was hooked, it wasn't a fight. This city had a hold on my eyes as I continued staring into its plainness.
"Look over there Abslon!"
With a light tap to my back, Nonami pointed inward to the city center, where a large oak tree was planted at the center of the park nearby.
A Christmas tree.
I dunno if it's one of the ones we got each year in the Moonshade Manor, or maybe it's one of those plastic models given by how large it has to be to be seen from here at this railing, but it wasn't impacting me as much as the overall view of the city itself, and Nonami obviously noticed this given by the way her smile faded a little, but still remained.
"I understand it isn't as interesting, given your reaction towards seeing Kuoh for the first time—"
"No, it's interesting. I've never seen a tree that big before, even at the Moonshade Manor." I said, turning to face her. "It's just isn't as beautiful."
"Well that's to be expected, they haven't lighted it up yet."
"They decorate that big thing?"
Nonami nodded. "I'll take you there on the day they light it. Promise." She smiled at me as she left the suitcase standing and leaned against the railing
"For now, let's get going. I'm sure after the train ride that you don't need to sleep, that's good. Azazel's Christmas decorations won't hang themselves when we get there."
Sona (9 Years Ago)
She never killed her father, but Sona felt like she may have helped to speed the process in some way.
Solely because it coincided with a breakthrough of her own physical growth.
His death seemed insignificant compared to the events that eventually fell through.
Serafall and Sona had both talked about their father the week after he succumbed to the lingering wounds of the Great War.
Their mother certainly cried as her own retainers tucked him in a bright white sheet and carried him over to the Sitri Medical Center.
The war took so much away from the proud man that Corvetous Sitri was, till the last moments of his life he was a frail, abrasive and obsessive man with pale-ish hands and face.
Despite the familial relations towards the two of them, Sona couldn't bring herself to care as much about her father's sudden departure more than she should as a loyal daughter of the Sitri.
That night, while both herself, Tsubaki and Serafall were young and the Great War still ran strong, their parents argued over the Non-Aggression Treaty that was reached with the Fallen Angels and the Angels in the middle of the Great War.
Their mother, Kishiya Balthazar, who was normally a quiet and soft spoken person was furious.
For what the Angels did to her now extinct Extra-Demon House, the House of Balthazar, she wished for the war to continue despite the losses that incurred during the unified suppression of the Heavenly Dragons, Albion and Ddraig.
She remembered how tense it was looking at how the two of them kept staring at each other that night.
How her father kept making use of the small ornate penknife to annoy her mother by scraping the black shards from the bowl of his favorite pipe onto the food he had barely touched that evening.
Sona reminisced in her father's tactics of manipulating her mother.
He always knew exactly how to use his ornate pipe against her.
The exact time. the exact moment.
She was telling him exactly how the rising Old Satan Faction would take advantage of the weakness shown by the Archduke and the High King Zekram Bael to overthrow him and how it beckon a coupe-de-grace that would escalate into a Civil War that Devilkin would be hard pressed to recover from.
Sona would remember Corvetous just replacing the pipe in his mouth as if it were a piece of his latent anatomy, continuously interrupting her mother as he spouted.
"It was for the best." "We couldn't have handled it any other way."
She agreed. Given the recent devil uprising that was occurring in Vesarima at that point in time, Sona would imagine that even All-powerful Satans like her sister would be hard pressed to defend against enemy attack and their very own race at the same time without suffering numerous tragedies that are almost detrimental towards Devilkind.
But with how self-important and foolish her father seemed at that moment he took the pipe out his mouth, held it by its bowl and pointed the black stem at her mother, all future conversations and persuasion flew out the window as she just remembered her mother getting angrier and angrier the more her fool of a father spoke to her.
Normally those were the moments that Serafall, Tsubaki and herself silently slipped away into her Older Sister's room.
She remembered how the beige walls seemed purple when the tinted windows glow hit against its solid frame.
The rise and fall of her mother's voice as the two of them greatly distanced away from the tense dining room, her loud screaming reached that floor, but the words themselves were lost in the distance.
She remembered how embarrassed and giddy she felt as she sat on the purple satin sheets of Serafall's bed. Letting out small giggles with her white knuckles in her mouth as Serafall pushed a chair against the door.
Together. Tsubaki and Serafall rapidly stripped her of her clothes and when Serafall was pulling her pants down, their hands touched briefly.
Sona was quite thin at that time, never eating much food. Represented by how much her skin clung to her ribcage, and how the hard, muscular ridge of her buttocks resembled her short shoulder blades. Faint traces of black hair grew between her legs.
After all the time that has passed, Sona still found that she could remember nights like those quite vividly.
The childish game at that time was simple.
Serafall and Tsubaki were the corresponding Russian Doctor and Assistant examining a special sickness that aroused within her.
Despite their good efforts as children, they still spoke in very much clipped Russian voices as either of them stood beside Sona's naked body.
The raspy, tired, insistent drone of her mother's voice came from downstairs. Serafall had a rather medium-ridge of cheekbone beneath her violet eyes which gave her the deep look of some wild animal yet retained the innocence of bunny-rabbits that crowded her bed.
The soft line of her lips were just broken my two bright white teeth and she had to do her casual pout to conceal her smile.
Sona had always longed to be the one to examine her sister's well-developed body, but for some wondrous reason that even now as she looked back at that night couldn't fathom, the game never allowed that to happen.
They began by rolling her to her side and then to her belly, stroking her back and thighs with their fingernails.
Touching pounds of her sensitive skin with their cold hands sent pleasant volts of sparks surging through her body.
They looked into her mouth and between her legs with an old torch they smuggled inside the room and they found the little flower made of flesh.
Tsubaki spoke to Serafall regardless of the broken and muddled child form of the Russian language that spewed out of her mouth.
Asking each other what they thought of her vagina while choking back an excited giggle.
Sona could still feel the cold sensation Serafall's cold and moistened finger making contact with her entrance, and she didn't know if it was the cold air that came with being stark naked in a bedroom at night, but a small tremor ran up her bony spine at that moment.
Tsubaki stuck close to the Satan, watching her closely as she herself moisturized her finger and slid it alongside Serafall's.
"Remember, you're supposed to be sick."
That's what she would remind herself each time when the three of them, especially Serafall, played this little game.
With her two cold and soft fingers, she would open and close and sometimes touch and insert her finger into Sona's slit as if she was really looking inside for possible sicknesses.
"Wot do you think of zis, Doctor?"
Sona's heart began to pound. The next few minutes she remembered really clearly each night, from the child Tsubaki's broken Russian to the moment Serafall's finger went inside again.
And once more, Sona found herself holding back a shiver.
"Remember this is supposed to be a game."
"Da. It's nothing serious." Serafall said crisply, with her own take of broken Russian.
In a rasping crescendo of inhaling and exhaling, Serafall began closing Sona's slit with her thumb and cold finger.
"But ve vill votch for further developments ja?"
Sona had almost outwardly begged her to go on when she removed her fingers from her entrance.
"You're sick. You're supposed to be sick."
"It's Serafall's turn." Tsubaki claimed.
She moved behind her back and slowly removing the business attire she was wearing. Green jacket first. with the black skirt following soon after
Sona couldn't take her eyes of her beautiful big sister as she slowly began unbuttoning her t-shirt, one button at a time with each button slowing the pace at which she unbuttoned at.
The third button revealed her large cleavage. Big, voluptuous and ample breasts trapped in the confines of what remains of the t-shirt.
"You're sick."
Serafall began shaking a little when she reached the last two buttons holding her breasts back from bursting out her top.
But suddenly, she rapidly rushed for her green jacket and held it over her breasts.
"No. Not tonight."
As always...
She moved away the chair blocking the door to her room and moved outside, proceeding to then close it and distance herself from the door, down into the hallway.
Sona stood on shaky legs and slowly grabbed her panties from the floor, she put them on and went left into Serafall's private bathroom then locked the door.
She remembered sitting on the edge of the bathtub with the panties she just put on, now around her ankles.
She thought of Serafall's pale alabaster fingers between her legs. Poking, prodding and stretching out her vagina.
And in an attempt to re-immerse herself in that same feeling, Sona had brought herself to her quick, dry stab of sexual pleasure.
She remained doubled up after the spasm passed, unaware of the voices downstairs long ago ceasing. Nor of the numerous stabs to her conscience.
"You're sick, Sona. Sick, sick, sick."
Abslon
"How was your first night?" Nonami asked, brushing her teeth beside me in the mirror.
Clad in her undergarments and short black tights.
"Different." I said.
"Not used to sleeping in a smaller bed?"
"More like not used to being woken up by the car horns outside."
Spitting out the toothpaste onto the sink and turning on the water, and watching it swirl into the drain.
Nonami gave a melancholic smile.
"I'm sorry." she uttered.
"For what?"
"Nothing. Just felt like it was the right thing to say."
Nonami looked away and began using one of her towels to wipe off some of the toothpaste she had left over.
I smiled.
"Now you're the one that is weird."
"What's so bad about being weird?" she questioned.
"Absolutely nothing. People just use that word to describe something that's different."
I let my hand fall towards my side and looked at myself in the mirror.
"Am I weird?"
"You're Abslon."
I feel my cheeks pull into a small pout.
"That was terrible."
Nonami interrupted me with a tight hug.
As her half naked body pressed onto me it suddenly felt a lot warmer than the time on the Lascheis Du Blac when I leaned on her soft shoulder. Lavender and honey, her smell changed again.
Slowly, I felt her pull my head more towards her chest. Then drag her other hand gently through my hair as if she was combing it with her fingers.
"You're Abslon. The kid that likes crappy movies and Adam Sandler."
"That adores Nutella and coffee and to swim against the currents of the heated pool."
"You're just you. You're just your weird self." Nonami stated.
It somewhat made me a bit happy hearing her say that, though it was a bit unnecessary because I haven't been feeling down as of late.
"We still have to pick out trees?" I questioned as I looked into her eyes.
She nodded, releasing me from her hug.
"Yeah. We'll head out after breakfast. I guess Azazel will show you around most spots and the school while Tristan and I do some grocery shopping for the little Christmas event we'll be holding here."
"There are lumberjacks here?
"I don't think so. But there is a person who sells pine trees nearby to the school." She shrugged as she grabbed the towel and tossed it over the steel bar near the shower.
Slowly, Nonami pulled down her black tights then unclasped her bra.
She covered them with her arm and turned to stare at me, I took that as a cue to turn around and look away.
Soon I heard the shower head spray water and pelt down on her skin until there was a small mist forming on the shower glass, making it hard to see into the shower
"What's the school like?" I asked.
"I dunno. Apparently the school is closed for the winter and is only reopening next spring."
"You're going to be fine by yourself tonight? I'd take you with to the club, but I don't think you'd want to spend Christmas Eve in the slammer." Nonami asked.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. And if the visions come, I have the Andoroxyn. Hopefully that'll be enough to at least get me through the night."
Sona (Present Time)
"No Saji. That one is too big. It won't be able to fit inside the house for the event." Sona said. Turning away from Saji tapping against the rather big oak tree near to the entrance of the warehouse.
"You think so?"
"I think I know what the inside of my own house looks like Saji."
Saji moved away from the pile of Christmas oak trees and looked at Sona.
"I was suggesting that we plant these outside though."
Sona placed her hand against her chin.
It was a good suggestion. While her house was small, her backyard was big enough to accommodate the tree and the two peerages that will be situated at the event.
"But if we plant the tree outside, we'll have to move the event outdoors. And I highly doubt a party beneath the freezing winter would be pleasant."
"It may have worked if there was not going to be snow tonight."
While it didn't work, Sona had to give credit when it was due.
Saji's plan would've improved the Christmas party because there were a lot more things that she could do outdoors than inside.
Unfortunately, fate had decided to send two of its biggest 'fuck you' gestures in the form of Rias and the potential of being snowed in with her, all weekend.
"There should be some smaller trees deeper inside the warehouse. Should we check it out?"
Sona nodded, and walked alongside Saji.
She came across numerous felled Christmas trees. Some she had seen before in television, and some she had seen just outside Kuoh Academy.
There were also others that she had never even heard of. And when Saji named each tree that tore her curiosity, some of the names she had heard were just ridiculous.
The bark was colored black, and the wood itself orange. And its name, Jungle Oak.
The tree certainly didn't look like it came from any sort of jungle she had heard, seen or even read about.
"By the way, President. Hasn't Azazel not contacted the school in quite some time?" Saji asked.
"You're right. To be honest I expected him to at least meet with the Gremory Peerage on the last day of School to allocate some training time."
She placed her hand underneath her chin in thought.
"The most likely person he would've contacted is Rossweisse. But she's in Azgard enjoying her own celebration, and we have no way of contacting her besides getting hold of Serafall or any of the Satans and requesting communication."
"But then there's the meeting with the Azgardians and the Devils over what happened with Loki." She explained.
Sona then sighed and grabbed her hair in apparent frustration.
"I don't want to think about this much, it's all such a big mess."
"But uuh, President? Is that not Azazel over there?"
As Sona followed the sight of her pawn she spotted Azazel near the cluster of felled birch wood Christmas trees.
However, he was not alone.
Accompanying him were a man and woman pair, the latter with his hands in their pockets and stroking his beige-brown hair.
The woman with chestnut, near auburn hair and emerald eyes, she donned a lime green sweater with blue skinny jeans.
Sona got the feeling that Saji was staring when the woman faced away from Azazel and opted to look at the birch wood instead.
Giving him a front row view to how tightly the skinny jeans strained against the admittedly very shapely ass.
But it was that moment when Sona noticed that the female's hands were holding another's.
There was a third person there, a child perhaps. Or maybe a teen who was a little lost in Kuoh. Azazel's friends certainly didn't look local.
Sona turned away and decided to give Azazel some privacy amongst his acquaintances.
He was in town, and judging by his appearance here in this workshop, it seemed that Azazel was holding a Christmas party of his very own.
Saji quickly walked alongside Sona.
"You're sure that he's not up to something shady? Maybe something that requires a little violence?" he whispered.
Sona scoffed a bit.
"Who? Azazel? My sister has only seen Azazel fight twice in her entire life. When they all united against the Heavenly Dragons and that one time with the Old Satan Faction at the Peace Conference."
"I highly doubt that he's capable of planning something shady. Perverted however? That seems more likely. But I guess we'll see."
Abslon
It hasn't even hit 11 pm. And I already feel like everything has gone to shit.
The Andoroxyn despite all its bitterness and effectiveness against my visions feel like they are just making things worse.
I'm hearing things, vast speedy winds and cold air.
Gunshots. Its continuous loud cracking and booming in the sky. Even as I lay on the sofa, I'm staring straight into a barrel of a Berretta M9.
Hearing the sound of clicking and seeing how the barrel shifts and moves as someone cocks back the hammer.
It started when I thought I was a good idea to play Modern Warfare 2 while Tristan, Nonami and the others went outside for the Christmas party.
The first mission was simple enough, Cliffhanger was as good as always.
But it ringing, the banging and all the numerous visions happened right around the time we entered an airport in COD.
The computer raising a Berretta to the unsuspecting crowd. My hands began to shake. I felt cold again but couldn't take my eyes off the screen to check whether I left the door open or not.
"W̡h͟ẏ͜ di͊d ý̢ǫ̎u ̽d̛ͦo̅ it̀?ͮ Wḧ́y͏ ͑d̛id ̓y̌ỏu k̒͏i̓͟lͩ͠ļ ͪth̄em?"
The people and the crowd disappeared, the airport too. Suddenly I was standing on the frozen bridge.
Berretta M9 in my hands. I could feel its heaviness, its weight and every ledge and sharp ridge of its cold metal. Hear the rhythm of the spring as the hammer cocked back.
I saw myself, small, frail and covered with wounds and scars.
Some of them still bleeding.
Broken chains once again latched onto my arms and legs. I saw myself at the moment I was most afraid.
"D̀́iͨ̚d̈́͌ ̸̨ẁ͝e̿͘ mͤ͌́͟eͧ͜aͯ͟n̶̑ n̉oͬţh̶i͜n̉͜g̶̛̿̓ ̸̵ͥͦt͗́͢o̔͒ ̶ͤ̏͘y̑ͨ̀òūͧ?̸ͪ"͆
My young self, standing there looking straight down the barrel of the gun I pointed at him.
Hands shaking, staring right into the dead eyes of my past self, looking for something, anything to latch onto yet I still couldn't drop the gun.
"I ͊͏ğ̅̕͡ȗ̈͟e̢̒s̡̛͑͒sͯ̀ ̢̋t̢͒̌͢h̶͆́aͤt̑̀͞'̵͑s̿ ̸̕o͛k͏ã̷̧̌y̸̌,̧̨̃ ̄͢Ȋt̨ͯ̚͘ ͗̍͜͢m̽͜a͘ke̷̶s̕ ̴̌́ī̋͘t̢̒̈́͟ ̆͛́e̔͠͏ȧ͜͡sͪi̇e̎͑̀͟r̢̈́͏ ţ͆ỏ́ ̡̅͘ḑ̆͋͡o̴ ͧ͡tͦ͘h̶͘i͑͏s̑̈́.̡̑͐"̑̀͏͜
I tried to resist the dark shadows tugging against me, but in the end.
The loud crack sounded against the cold air.
And the young shadow of me fell to the ground, bullet through the head.
The stench of rusted iron and burnt gunpowder emanated through the bridge, masked only by the cold rain that pelted against the bridge.
The sound of gunshots wouldn't stop, they kept sounding over and over inside my brain and each time the gunshot rang through my head, I found myself staring down the barrel of that very same gun.
"It's so nice out! Look at the Snow!"
Shooting me through the head. It hurts, it hurts, and it hurts.
It hurts each time it sounds. In my rigging ears, bleeding and deaf from the powerful crack of the berretta.
My eyes, blinded by the muzzle flash of the gun cocked and aimed at my head.
Over and over, the gunshot sounded and ached my head. Each time sending a wave of pain surging through my body.
Standing up, I walked over to the bar table to take my Andoroxyn tablets.
My body felt sluggish and it was painful to move, but I wanted the pain to stop.
So I dragged my body towards the table, when I reached them, I poured numerous amounts of tablets and mistakenly took them without water.
I slammed my hand against my mouth, trying to prevent myself from vomiting out this disgusting medicine.
With great effort, I chugged it back down my throat and instantly felt very dizzy.
So dizzy that I even fell flat onto the wooden floorboard, dragging some bottles of whiskey with me, and didn't even feel the slightest pain when the bottles smashed against the floor and my head started to slightly bleed
I felt sleepy, and once again I stared at the ceiling fan as my eyes began to get droopy.
Round and round it went, and I didn't even notice when I closed my eyes.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Slowly I opened my eyes, and was met with that familiar flow of purple violet hair.
She latched onto my hand and dragged me across the snow, this time slow and steady as if she was being mindful towards my wounds.
Unlike the other time, it was this time along with Emihide and the kids traveling into the deep birch wood frozen forest did I discover that I was a lot less willing to go along with her this time.
The children went on ahead, dragging Emma in tow as her red tail randomly thrashed around and around.
Emihide turned and said something to me, but never once had I heard it.
Eventually, we reached where the children were playing around, creating snowmen and snow angels. Somewhere in that moment I collapsed on the ground and couldn't feel my body.
My back ached and it felt like something ripped out of back.
After sometime of laying on the snow, Emihide lifted me up and placed me on her lap.
Her eyes shifted, and for once I saw how melancholic she looked. It began as a mutter and small whisper, but she started singing to me.
I couldn't make out the words she said, but I could feel myself getting sleepier and sleepier. For some reason, I cried.
It was the first time that I have ever cried. There was no peep, nor outward scream of despair, but a silent shedding of a single tear hitting the cold snow
I turned my head towards the few children we had.
Running and spinning around. I stared at the beautiful little flame that Emma had conjured and nurtured as though the flame were alive, fading, but alive.
Something about seeing that flame, resonated within me, and slowly for the first time, I slept.
"Remember, No Russian."
That was the first thing heard when I came through and was staring at that exact same ceiling fan. It felt like my mornings, my body refused to get up while my mind is trying to resist against the constant dizziness I was battling against.
Soon enough, I slowly managed to get to my feet and was suddenly hit by unbearable nausea.
Which caused me to rush towards the nearest sink and vomit out my entire stomach.
Ugh, I hope Azazel could forgive me for ruining his sink.
I turned on the water to wash away my vomit when I noticed how disgusting my throat and tongue felt like.
The lingering bitterness of the Andoroxyn tablets still there. Now I regret taking so many of those things.
There was nothing in the fridge, nor the ruined bar that could get the taste of bitter processed fish oil out of my mouth, so with much thinking, I grabbed my thermal coat from sofa, put it on and left the house.
Forgetting about the clean up and the game that kept looping my in-game death.
The cold wind came down harshly with the snow.
Almost like a blizzard but still tolerable for people to outside and have fun. I suppose the snow here will never match the likes of Estrella, simply because of this coa
It was a slow trek through the building snow, looking at the wires and the small packed houses on the way to a store.
I began to think of how similar it was to my memories, the snow, the coldness and the sadness and emptiness I felt in my heart.
It began to get heavier and heavier the more I walked. Raising my foot up and down, thinking about Emihides song and the Beretta M9 to my head.
I grabbed my head. Don't think about it.
Dͦon't ̷̿c̵̈rͣyͨ͢.́ ̡̀D̒͜oͣņ͛'̀t ͠s͌̕h̵ỏ͞w d̅es͒͟p̛ȧ̵i̷ͧr͝.̷̊
Something was glowing.
I looked up and saw a bright 7 attached to a convenience store. I looked at the wallet and noticed a had some money lying around for something I could eat.
With a large ding, I entered the 7/11 and went straight to the back of the store. Luckily, there weren't that many people, in fact I was one of the only ones inside here.
It's justified, no one really wants to spend their Christmas Eve inside a convenience store.
Choosing something to eat was easy enough, the hardest part was getting to the till.
The cashier of the 7/11 so kindly tilted her head.
She was saying a bunch of words, but I think that she was asking me if I need assistance?
I tried to interpret it using some common signs such as pointing towards the food I got but to no avail.
The language barrier really wasn't something that I had wanted to deal with tonight in too of all the things I had running through my head with the song the snow and the gunshot through my head.
My saving grace came from someone placing numerous amounts of coins and bank notes besides my food container.
A woman, unlike one I've seen before, yet felt familiar all the same.
As she came to my side, I got a better look at her.
The first thing I noticed was her glasses and violet eyes behind the transparent lenses.
Her hair, short, black and cut along the sides leading towards her neck, it smelled like ice and cold lotuses. A unique smell.
She said a few things to the cashier, making occasional points towards me, afterwards she turned to me.
"You were too long, so I paid for you."
Remarkable.
She was the first person here that could speak English as though she were a foreigner herself.
Being fair, she looked like she was. But she carried herself with the same locality as the cashier did.
"Thank you."
"I wanted to buy that, but you got the last box set before me."
I looked down towards the food, then picked it up and offered it to her.
"You paid for this, I'll just look for another one."
The woman was clearly not having any of the polite niceties that occurred within movies.
"How about we just share it?" She offered.
She looked tired herself, as if she couldn't get any sleep. She has a lot of things on her mind, like myself.
So I'd rather not trouble her with something like this.
She pulled out two sets of complementary chopsticks from the counter.
I shrugged.
"Okay. Sure. But be patient if I make a mess, I'm not exactly used to eating with chopsticks."
Finally, the two finally meet. now the epic shit can finally commence.
As people may have noticed with Sona's memory in part 3, I have decided to make Serafall a little more mature in this fic, to help with the dark theme. Hope there's no problem, cause she's gonna be like this for a while.
The next chapter will probably feature the very first fight scene of melancholy, so I'm a tad bit excited and worried at the same time.It'll probably be a little shorter than this one, but I'll give it my all.
Some of my friends on SGO created a new server, come and join if you like and get some advice on writing or even just hang out.
Discord Link: https/discord.gg/NP9FJKS688