Title: Demon's Despair. Demon's Determination
Ship: Ryou x Yuusuke
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 4,692
Genre: Romance, Supernatural||Rated: G
Challenges: Advent 2015-2016, day #6, favorite pairing; One Big Series Bingo, Shadow Demons, #107, write about an enmity; One Ship Boot Camp, Ryou x Yuusuke, #1, beloved; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #33, 4,692; Include The Word Boot Camp, YGO, #13, plausible; GX Rare Pairs Week 2022, day #4, captured
Notes: This takes place in my Shadow Demons universe, where Yuusuke is a shadow mage, Ryou is a demon prince, and Fubuki is an angel of love.
Summary: Binding a demon prince isn't an easy task yet someone's done it. Someone who wants revenge for acts in Ryou's distant past - and they seek to get it by taking away his present and denying him a future.
Binding a demon prince wasn't easy. It could be done, if one knew the demon prince's true name. It wasn't impossible. But it wasn't likely and Ryou had truly not believed there was anyone in this world who could do it. Those who knew his true name were few and far between. Honest and Fubuki did, of course. As angels, they were some of the few who could even pronounce it properly. Juudai knew his name; Juudai knew the True Name of every demon and devil of every rank, and rumor ran that he knew the Name of a significant portion of the angels as well. But Juudai wouldn't give away someone else's name unless they'd angered him to the point he wouldn't even deign to destroy them personally, and so far as Ryou knew, he'd done nothing to anger the King of Hell that much.
That left very few other options. Edo might know - but they'd not spoken to one another in centuries, and Edo wasn't the type to take petty vengeance like that. If he determined that he could no longer stand Ryou's existence, then the fiery phoenix would come and deal with him personally. He'd not give away Ryou's name to someone else and let them reap the benefits of entrapping a demon prince.
There were the Hunters of the Amber Goddess - but those who served Her typically dealt with vampires, not demons. So that wasn't an option he considered seriously.
Truth to tell, no matter how hard he thought or strained against the enchanted bindings that kept him in place, he couldn't think of who it might be or how they might get hold of his True Name. By every measurement he knew, it shouldn't have been possible.
For a few moments he even considered the possibility that they'd somehow forced Shou to reveal it. That wasn't entirely impossible. His brother knew his Name. His brother was a demon as well, and could be summoned - or would be able to be summoned one day. Juudai liked Shou, however, and tended to keep him near at hand. Ryou had only been summoned a handful of times in the past because of odd circumstances - not the least of which was an angel of love thinking he needed to get set up with a shadow mage.
Which had worked out rather well, but that wasn't the problem here and now. So far as Ryou knew, Yuusuke was all right. He could vividly recall how he'd ended up here.
He wasn't sure of how long ago it had been. Time didn't seem to exist in this place. But their small group had strolled along, heading more or less towards the town of Horomaki. Rumor had it that they had a small infestation of imps and that meant it was uniquely suited for their particular talents. If Yuusuke couldn't persuade them to depart, and if the existence of two powerful angels didn't do the trick, then Ryou would step in and order them to get back home. There wasn't an imp in any world that wouldn't obey the word of a demon prince, especially one like him that had the ear of the King.
Pain wasn't something that Ryou knew very well. He'd experienced it a time or two and found it interesting, even intriguing to a degree. But the pain he'd felt at times before then wasn't anything compared to the shriek of iron in his mind and the clash of silver and shadow that tore into his essence, what humans might call his soul, wrapping tight around him, and pulling him through the dimensions.
He'd barely had time to scream. He'd definitely not had time to say anything, before he found himself in the center of a circle crafted especially to bind him and only him. He opened his mouth to demand to know where he was, but not a single word had passed his lips - an enchantment of silence, one that by all that he knew shouldn't have worked at all. And yet, like so much else, it had.
So from then until now, if such words made any sense here in this timeless abyss, he remained. There wasn't any room for him to move more than a finger's width, and silence rang out in the nothingness all around him. All of the power he exerted against the bindings did nothing. This place was truly crafted to keep him captive, and he had no idea for how long.
"What a pathetic sight." A voice of cold iron and contempt welded together. Ryou could not raise his head to see who it was but he heard footsteps regardless. He thought whoever it was made a point of having their steps sound, when no other sound came here. Effect. Annoyance. "So much for the mighty demon prince." Oh, the contempt grew even stronger with those words.
Ryou could not move but he pressed mental lips together and came to some quick conclusions. There were few who might have been able to do this - and he'd all but forgotten about this one. He knew the voice now that he'd heard it. It had been so very long. Eons, as humans reckoned time. For demons, perhaps not so much. But he'd lived among humans for years now.
A flicker of pale white wings came before him and a hand reached into the area around him to tilt his head back, raising his eyes so they met icy pale blue ones. The Angel of Reversal stood there - Iaoth, as some called them. There was a smile on those pale lips - everything about them was pale, save for the burning hatred in their eyes.
There wasn't much that could scar an angel or demon, save the weapons of the other. Ryou had scarred this angel once, in the very long ago. Their own scars rested on him, hidden by his black feathers. Iaoth brushed cold fingers up from his chin and over his head.
"I really did not think that she spoke the truth, but here you are. Completely at my mercy." Again that rage surged through pale eyes. "As I was once at yours. And you had no mercy then."
Ryou wasn't going to deny that. He merely twitched, what would have been a shrug if he'd had the freedom to move. There wasn't ever any mercy between angels and demons when their paths crossed in anger. Everyone knew that - except for Fubuki, who insisted that everyone could get along if they tried hard enough.
"Do not expect to see that shadow mage of yours, or his angels," Iaoth advised him. "As I am certain you have noticed, this place has no time. It is not connected to the realm of mortals. You and the mage have not signed a contract with one another. Therefore, you can stay here no time at all - and it will be centuries before you return to the human realm. If I let you return at all."
In the handful of years he'd lived among humans, he'd seen the expression of rage and terror on their faces, mostly when he showed up. He almost never felt it for himself. One needed a certain amount of connection to humans to experience human emotions. He knew that he was growing that - it was inevitable, when one associated with humans. But he'd always faintly favored the softer ones, since he'd experienced more of those with Yuusuke. Of course, he'd experienced anger before, and frustration, and annoyance. He'd never felt fear to this extent. The idea, the simple idea that without warning or time to say good-bye or anything he'd been torn away from Yuusuke, from those he considered friends - it wasn't right at all. It wasn't what was supposed to happen.
He was supposed to be beside Yuusuke for all of Yuusuke's natural life, to persuade him to a bargain and a contract at some point, so when Yuusuke's life reached its end, they would be together in Hell. Contrary to what many humans thought, Hell wasn't a place of punishment. Especially not for those whom Juudai favored. Yuusuke would be honored there for his knowledge and for being Ryou's consort. They would be together for all time. If Yuusuke wanted to be reincarnated, then Juudai could arrange that, and Ryou would find him again when he was old enough.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to spend who knew how long in a timeless void, with Yuusuke never knowing what had happened to him.
Iaoth chuckled. "I can feel it already - your despair. The loss of your hope. Demons don't do hope very well, do they?" Again their fingers brushed over his face. "I can taste it. So delicious. Who knew that demon's despair could be like this? I should have tried it sooner."
They had always fed off of emotions. Most of the time it had been human ones, and the kinder, softer ones. This didn't harm humans at all and frequently could be a source of help to them. But before now Ryou had never known them to feed off of demons, let alone the despair of a demon. He fought to keep it from them, to deprive them of even a flicker of emotion. But when Iaoth spoke, it wasn't that easy.
"Has he passed yet? I won't tell you. Truly, I don't know. I don't care. He means nothing to me. But you hurt me. You lured one of those I guarded to the side of evil and I will never forgive you for that." Those icy fingers trailed down him, and the touch of an angel on the skin of a demon was like tiny drops of poison and pain. Ryou could do nothing to resist and Iaoth savored his impotent fury at that.
He wanted to at least have the option to talk back, to fight back. But the angel did not allow this. "I think you are going to be of great use to me. Already I feel stronger just by being here where you are. I'll return later. Perhaps someday I'll bring you the mage's soul - wouldn't it make a lovely night-light?"
Ryou would have bitten them if he could. He would have lashed with his tail, struck with his horns, done anything and everything to prevent that from happening. But the bonds kept him in place and Iaoth gave a chilly laugh before fading away into the endless shadows all around him. Ryou called up every scrap of power he held within himself and struggled against bindings he couldn't even see, nor could have if there were lights.
Nothing. Nothing at all.
The maddening angel - or perhaps mad angel - had been right about one thing. There was no way to tell how much time would pass in the human realm while he languished here. It was perfectly plausible that Yuusuke would grow old and pass away, or fall victim to something that Ryou could have protected him from, before the demon prince found a way out of here. It wasn't something he wanted to think about, but in between bouts of trying to find the faintest weakness in the restraints, he had to think of something, and his thoughts inevitably turned to his mortal lover.
He could make a bargain with another demon to find me? He wasn't sure of how possible that was. Most demons of the kind of power it would take to find him here would be able to scent Ryou's magical signature on Yuusuke and not come anywhere near him unless they could clear it with Ryou first. And with Ryou here, that wouldn't be happening.
Perhaps Juudai can help? That, or Honest or Fubuki helping, would probably work better. As far as Ryou knew, it wasn't possible to keep a demon's location away from Juudai. But he had to know what to look for, and if they didn't ask Juudai, then there wasn't any way he'd start looking. No one liked asking Juudai anything if they could help it.
There had to be other answers, ones that he couldn't figure out just yet. Exactly what they might be eluded him. All he could do was rest in this place of nothingness and anticipate the next time the horrid angel turned up.
For the life of him - if such a term could be said to apply - he had no idea of how long that took. But Iaoth returned and moved right over to him, sinking ephemeral fingertips into his essence.
"The despair deepens," they murmured. "You are like the finest of wines to me. So rare, so tasty. I will drink deep from you."
That wasn't at all what Ryou wanted to hear. He tried to pull back, despite knowing that he couldn't. He'd not given up that hope yet, but all his efforts only made Iaoth chuckle even more.
"Do you regret corrupting my charge?" Iaoth wanted to know. They didn't wait for a response that they weren't going to allow Ryou to make in the first place. "I killed him, you know. It was for his own good. Best to have his soul cleansed and kept safe than put where you could work your foulness on it."
They held up their hand and a gem appeared in it, gleaming as bright as the sun, as pure white as the moon. "Here it is, safe and sound."
Ryou didn't remember this one's name. There had always been few who could summon him, but this had been so long ago and he'd had more interesting parties to deal with. But he knew one thing for certain - the proper place for a soul, be it corrupted until it couldn't be human anymore or so pure it glowed, wasn't as someone's night-light!
Perhaps something of that made it into his expression. Iaoth tossed the gem carelessly between their fingers. "Safe forever, with me. As he would not have been with you or with that King of yours." They hissed softly. "You may be assured I've not forgiven him for his corruption of Johan Andersen, either."
I wouldn't call it corruption. More like they all fell besottingly in love with one another. Ryou commented silently to himself. Few knew the particulars of that. He did for two reasons - he'd seen it happen and what he hadn't seen Fubuki mad a point of telling him. In great and horrible detail, with pictures included. Demons didn't have nightmares as a general rule. Fubuki liked trying to figure out what might do it. He'd certainly come closer than Ryou cared to admit.
If Iaoth could tell what he thought, they gave no hint of it. They tucked the gem back into their belt pouch, before regarding Ryou again. "I think the next time I come, I'll have the essence of that shadow mage with me. Look forward to it." And then again, they were gone.
Ryou knew every language of mankind and the underworld and had a passing familiarity with that of the heavens. While he couldn't speak aloud now, he recited each and every curse he could in his mind now, backwards and forwards. How dare they! How dare they threaten Yuusuke like that!
If he's trapped like that, then I'll never see him again. If Yuusuke passed a natural death, then he would go either to Heaven or Hell and have the option to be reborn. If Ryou could ever escape from here, then they could see each other again. Fubuki would probably fight for it, citing something to his superiors about the "healing power of love" and "two lovers separated by tragedy, now reunited". There were enough angels of love who would eat up that kind of nonsense.
No. That wasn't going to happen at all. Ryou wouldn't let any of it happen. He'd not let Yuusuke's soul be taken by this angel nor would he just molder away here. Demons might not have hope, but they had something else that shone just as strong and could provide just as much strength.
Determination. Willpower. Ryou's outstripped every demon he knew save perhaps Juudai, who had Yubel and Johan to support him. So now he focused his thoughts, centered on the bindings all around him. He knew everything there was to know about demon magic, and a bi here and there about angelic magic. He also had a very strong smattering of human magic, with a strong bent towards shadow magic. I there was a way to escape this, then he could find it. He would find it. Nothing in this world or any other would make him give up on that.
First, to find out exactly what the bindings were crafted of. He closed his eyes and relaxed himself, letting the power that held him captive wash over him, so he could taste it and learn it for what it was. He remembered his oldest teacher - Samejima. Samejima taught him that one could do nothing without knowing what one worked with.
This was the magic of light, without a doubt. That wasn't a surprise. Demons were, for the most part, weak against the like. There were exceptions, though Ryou wasn't one of them. He rested and tasted, drinking the knowledge in, despite how horrid it tasted to him. Ah. Yes. Now he knew the spell - Binding Chains. Just the sort of thing that Iaoth would use to bind him.
But just as darkness could be weak against light, light had its own weaknesses. Such as darkness itself. He might not control it to the extent that Juudai did, but Ryou saw no reason to let that stop him. He'd been steeped in shadow for longer than mortal civilization had existed. If anyone could get out of this, then he was that demon.
He couldn't move his lips or his fingers or his wings or tail. What he could move was his mind, and what was magic, especially demonic mage, except for the exertion of the mind and will over that which was around them? What could be a weapon of deeper darkness than one of the first demon princes to stride across Hell itself, third only to the King and Consort Yubel?
So he strained. So he fought for the tiniest scrap of energy, of darkness to work with. It wasn't easy in the slightest. But he refused to give up. He folded the weapon of his will around the binding spells, and ever so slowly, he could feel them starting to give way. Perhaps it was just as well that time didn't exist here. It meant he had all the time he needed to work with. So he worked his will on the enchantments, and bit by bit could feel them give way. He'd not tried this before - and now that he had, he wondered if Iaoth had lied about - anything. Everything. Or perhaps even worse, had told the truth. Just to let him try to escape, give him that flicker of hope only to whisk it away, crush it into powder.
If that happened, he promised himself, if Yuusuke died without him, then he would wage war against Heaven itself to get him back. He wold tear the golden gates open and leave a mass of bloody feathers and broken minds in his wake if need be.
Such an image kept him going, until once again he heard those unnecessary footsteps that betokened the approach of Iaoth. Now he resumed his position, though he was far more capable of moving than he'd been before. He waited. This would be it.
Iaoth strolled up to him, wings swaying gently behind them. In their hand they held a gleaming stone, black as onyx and nightfall. They regarded it distastefully as they approached. "So this is what the soul of a shadow mage who whored himself out to a demon looks like."
They tightened their grip on it. Ryou could not let this last for another breath. He surged upward, wings snapping outward, tail lashing around to catch hold of Iaoth's legs and yank them down, snatching away the gemstone. The moment that he did, he could feel what was in the gem - or to be more accurate, what wasn't.
"This is nothing," he growled, savoring the first words he'd spoken since finding himself here. "Nothing but rock."
Iaoth laughed, before reaching up to snatch the gem back and crush it to powder between their fingers. "Perhaps this one is. But who is to say that I can't still take his soul? You think he'd not give it to me, in exchange for you? Love blinds humans. Angels know this far too well."
Ryou's claws dug into the skin of Iaoth's throat. He didn't like touching angels, especially ones that didn't like him. It was worse than them touching him. But for this, he'd do it. "You'll have nothing of his, no matter what."
"What can you do to stop me?" Iaoth taunted. "You can escape my bindings but can you escape here?"
Ryou started to tighten his grip. Now that he was out of the enclosure, he could feel the spells that kept him in this realm/not-realm and he wasn't certain if he'd ever be able to get through them all, or that he'd know which way to go if he did. He'd never been here before. He couldn't begin to guess the way to either Hell or the human world.
"Oh, I think with a little help, it shouldn't be a big problem." A very familiar voice spoke. Ryou jerked his head around to see Juudai standing there, leaning on a column of darkness that hadn't been there a moment before, his tail casually twitching, his wings spread for balance, and his eyes shimmering molten gold.
Ryou glanced back at Iaoth, whose eyes now shifted over to the King of Hell. Fear flickered through their expression, and just as Iaoth had savored his own despair and fear, now Ryou savored theirs. No one wanted to see Juudai with his eyes that color, not when he also smiled like that. His eyes revealed his emotions, for good or for ill - and right now, ill seemed far more likely than anything else.
"Let them up," Juudai ordered, pushing himself off and strolling over. "You've got a lover and a couple of friends to get back to."
Ryou nodded, taking a step back and releasing Iaoth, who scrambled away, but not very far. Not when Yubel's foot landed on one wing, and Johan's demon-crafted sword slammed down on the other side. Both of them looked every bit as angry as Juudai himself did. Juudai smiled.
"We'll take care of this. Heaven gave them into my hands. They won't bother you again." Juudai regarded the angel as one might a mildly irritating bug. "I'll see to that."
He raised one hand and flicked something towards Ryou, who caught it automatically. "That's a guide to your lover. You owe me a favor for this - he was getting ready to make bargains he's not ready for."
Of course. That wasn't a surprise. He'd worried something like that might happen. As much as most demons would keep away from Yuusuke because of Ryou's scent on him, there were still those who might be drawn to him because of that. Better that they never got the chance.
As the three closed in around Iaoth, Ryou focused his thoughts on what he'd been given - a line of shadow that led out of here, giving him a trail to follow. He shot along it in a breath, feeling himself sliding through the dimensions until light burst into being all around him. The light of the sun of the mortal world - he sank to his knees the moment he entered it, breathing hard. Traveling like that drained his power. Perhaps that was part of why he'd not been able to work his way out sooner.
But he was here now, and he could feel Yuusuke's presence not that far away, along with Honest and Fubuki. He spread his wings, leapt into the air, and spun until he found which way to go. Swift as the wind he darted along, before aiming downward, and crashing more than he landed in front of Yuusuke.
"Ryou!" The shadow mage grabbed for him and Ryou grabbed back, arms going around one another, lips touching lips, wings wrapping around the mortal.
"Yuusuke," he whispered, the fear and despair that had settled into him from the moment of Iaoth's first words dispelling at once. He brushed his horned head gently against Yuusuke's skin, savoring the sense that the other was alive and all right and it didn't seem as if that much time had passed. "How long?"
He was ready to hear anything. A few months. A few years. Not that it mattered, not now that he had returned, but he wanted to know. At least it hadn't been a few centuries. But if he judged this area right, they'd not gone on far from where they'd been when he'd vanished.
Yuusuke peered up at him, violet eyes blinking quietly, full of worry fading into relief at having Ryou back with him. "Just a few hours. What happened? Where have you been?"
Ryou had never been so relieved, not in all of his long life. He didn't release his grip on Yuusuke, nor did Yuusuke release his on the prince. "I'll tell you," he promised, glancing over to where Honest and Fubuki approached, Fubuki with arms and wings spread wide to embrace him. At least the touch of this angel wouldn't hurt. "Let's sit down first. There's a great deal for me to tell you."
And he had never been happier to have the time to tell it in.
Chaos Valkyria wasn't one to swear, but she considered changing her habits just for this. In absolute truth, she hadn't expected the other angel to keep the demon prince for long, but she'd expected it to be longer than this! She'd not even been able to get her plan started properly, since as soon as the demon vanished, the angels and mage started looking for him, instead of being sensible and praising Heaven they were rid of him! She most certainly would have! Anyone with sense would have!
This isn't over, she swore. It might take longer than she'd thought to lure them all into a more well tailored trap but this would give her time to get any unexpected flaws worked out of her plans. This did offer information, though - the King of Hell himself watched over them, and if she failed in the slightest way, then her fate would be like Iaoth's - not something she would care to experience. The demon king didn't destroy his opponents. That wasn't his way at all.
Fallen angels had to come from somewhere, after all. Once he'd sated his wrath, of course.
Her metallic wings flicked against one another as she rose up into the skies, cloaking herself in concealment, and darted back to her hidden citadel. She needed to improve the defenses there to the point not even the King of Hell could enter. Then she needed more ways to deflect suspicion so he'd never even look this way. Humans would be good for that. Everyone expected humans to use magic to attain their goals, either angelic or demonic or whatever else they had a talent for. There were others who could be recruited to serve her cause as well – such as the vampire Queen Camula. Bad blood existed between her and the demon prince.
It might also be entertaining to summon a certain phoenix and let him unleash his sacred flames. Both of them could be very useful for her needs.
All she needed for that was the proper bait.
Or perhaps the right term there was who she needed for the proper bait.
The End
Notes: There's not much I enjoy more than tormenting Ryou. Well, at least in the GX branch of things.
Binding Chains is a Light-attrivute monster. Gyakutenno Megami, Goddess of Reversal, is a Fairy (Angel) type monster, also Light-attribute. I intend to do a lot more with Chaos Valkyria and her plans, too. I have Ideas! (Don't I always?)
