Chrysalis Heart

by Yincira

AU. What if the story was about the plight of the demons? Nina's more heroic, Azazel doesn't disappear, Belphegor doesn't die, Kaisar's more self aware.

14. Sanctuary

· · · · · · ·

"Don't worry, they always let me do this cause I don't turn into a dragon when anyone bites," Nina said. "I give the kids some candy afterward and tell them to be careful with the bleeding, but I don't have candy now."

Holding Jeanne's jaw with the other hand, Nina pinched the rotted tooth out of her mouth, getting a yelp from her patient in return. While Jeanne spat blood, Nina folded the tooth with the others in a bit of paper.

"Well done!" Jeanne just threw her lunch up. Hmm, that usually didn't happen with the kids.

When Nina stood up, she found Azazel at the edge of the clearing, gaping. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just pulling some rotted teeth," Nina said.

"Rotting?" Azazel's face twisted like he'd swallowed a fly. "But she's still alive. Is she cursed by Dromos?"

"No," Nina said, too tired to go into detail. "It's just part of bottom line mortality. We can rot while we're still alive."

Nina went into the woods with the teeth and found a strong tree. Any part of people was to be given back to the earth, so Nina buried them here.

On the way back, she gathered. It was late August or something and the first mushrooms were out; Jeanne and Nina both knew which were edible. Azazel with his flight and serpents could hunt easily. Still, she wished they hadn't unloaded all the food from the carriage. Bacchus and Hamsa hasn't even done it all the way, they'd kept some wine. Most of those were empty now thanks to Azazel, so Nina rinsed them and filled them with clear water for the journey.

Jeanne still sat in the same place when she returned, gazing at the meadow like it was a treasure. The sunlight did make it lovely here, but to Nina it highlighted mostly just how sickly Jeanne was. Full of scars, emaciated where Nina was only thin, eyes sunken deep in her skull. Her hair had matted and twisted, calluses covered her feet and hands. It'd become better soon, Nina vowed. She'd make it so.

Azazel stood with the hippogryph, who was weary of his presence; apparently the carriage had been tiny before and he'd had to kicked it to make it grow. Azazel blamed drunk magic, but the hippogryph hadn't like it. Now he tried to feed it something in what Nina guessed was an attempt to make peace.

"What's that?" Nina asked.

"Feed that'll keep vun going without having to graze," he said. "And hopefully get it to take my orders better."

Nina could guess he had some trouble with that, but he didn't elaborate. Short sentences was the most she got out of him, and she feared that if she pushed he'd avoid her again. Most of the time he already traveled outside the carriage, she didn't want that to get worse.

Another serpent broke from his arm again. It was usually the same spots, and the left side of his face had started scabbing. He was sick too, if in a different way than Jeanne. She couldn't even imagine what it must've been. Jeanne had mentioned they'd gotten him from the arena and that there was some kind of poison like Amira's, that was as far as she knew, and he wouldn't talk.

They'd been through hell, and they were only two freed while so many more suffered. If only she had killed Charioce. If only she could control her dragon self. She couldn't do anything about that yet, but she could make things a little better for these two. Once they'd been reunited with Mugaro, she'd see what they'd do about the kingdom. For now, that meant climbing a tree, reading the last of the stars and directing the hippogryph the right way. One step at a time.

· · · · · · ·

Rumors went through the ranks of the castle that reflected the protests of the upper district. Between the lower distrct taken over by demonic forces and the castle trying to recoup from the war lay a district of middle to rich people more than a little discontent. Charioce's reputation was in tatters with both the war, and an unparalleled hostage situation at his hands.

If one thing was good about being on an airship, it was leaving those behind the perpetual reminders of the kingdoms's erosion. Karl von Essenbeck might as well be bursting from the seams with pleasure at this scenario, and his blimp was positioned to overlook the fiasco by floating at the hillside of Anatae, right atop a gathering army of promised but late reinforcements.

Kaisar had joined the Black Troupe after sending word to the castle he would manage relations, which was entirely true. He just was managing it with duplicious intentions. That led him to the sickbay of Karl's ship[, where a doctor investigated Rocky and its recent implant with entirely too much needles and no words at all. Not until Karl called him up did Kaisar get some kind of prognosis.

Karl sat in a wine red room, thick curtains and the scent of smoke. Kaisar was invited to take a seat with him at an small rounded coffee table. It had overlook at the wasted city, but unlike when Kaisar had met up with the man, now his attention was on Rocky.

"May I see?"

Kaisar stretched his arm and Rocky unfolded; they had agreed that when in public Rocky would pretend to not be sapient. Fortunately. The stone itself would be enough of a problem.

Karl had a report from the doctor, which he skimmed over while looking at the green stone.

"Someone must have treated this before," Karl said. "The usual stones cannot just be implanted on people."

Kaisar hesitated, and almost at once Karl said, "If I am to cover for you, we must play open cards."

"A demoness worked with it in such a way that she diminished its harm to her and ... well, this hand. It's ... it's an independent entity. After I lost it, a zombie master bit it."

"Did this zombie master do anything to it that made it resistant?"

"No, it happened ten years ago. If anything changes, it must have been Belphegor."

"Oh my, Belphegor is your demoness? Really?"

"Is that surprising?"

"A demon known for sharing knowledge with humankind," Karl said. "She was a much desired pact demon, but too crafty to bind. Do you have any idea what she did?"

"I don't think she herself knows, she finds this whole thing rather illogical. Perhaps it was Rocky."

Karl raised an eyebrow.

"It's the name Rita gave to my hand."

"Really," Karl deadpanned. "Sometimes I feel like reconsidering XVII's fate mumbo jumbo, but maybe I should consider a ruse. Ah well, we shall see. So, here is what we will do : you return to the castle and I will claim I gave you this rock as an emergency feature due to trouble with gods that had failed to retreat. In a fit of chivalric heroism, you offered to take the stone when I was about to infect myself."

Kaisar couldn't say that would fit him anymore, when it had been Rocky who had done so. But maybe he would have if this situation was real; Karl wasn't the risk of dishonor in the way Azazel was.

"That may be about as credible as we could invent," Kaisar said. "I will provide you whatever information I can, and I trust you will keep me up to word on the Black Troupe's plans."

"Naturally, lord Lidfard," Karl said. "I would shake your hand, but where we come from we shake with the left and yours is, well, not that healthy."

Kaisar sat back and folded his hands, forcing down the urge to defend his honor — this was a sacrifice, not a disease.

Karl continued, "A few others thing I would like to know now : is it true that the rag demon is Azazel, that Jeanne d'Arc was indeed Charioce's prisoner, and that they escaped together?"

"Yes, all of those are true."

"Oh my heritage. This will be something grand," Karl said, sounding more like he meant delightful doom. "And is it true Favaro Leone is on their side?"

"... yes. Why is that relevant?"

Karl held up three finger and said, "What those three share in common is reputation. Favaro is a rogue hero, Jeanne a beloved saint and Azazel a feared monster. Each of them opposing our king has a different effect for what I like to call the infrastructure of respect. What I would like you to do as a member of our circle is to test the waters and further undermine this respect."

Kaisar smiled wryly. "There already is plenty there, and not only on my behalf. The Orleans Knights long for the old days of glory, when we lived by the code and fought without trickery and magic."

"Excellent. Let's take that further," Karl said. "I would like it to leak to the inner and the urban circles that the rag demon is Azazel, Anatae's invader, and that he has been here for years. I want to destroy the idea that humans have truly been safe under our king and his intended media route that this is all the fault of the gods. I also want Favaro Leone to be known as being an underground hero actively opposing the king. Can you make that happen?"

Kaisar nodded. "What if the king traces this back to me? His network is quite thorough."

"The king will not easily dispose of you because you are a hostage," Karl said with a chuckle.

"What?"

"Come now, I hinted this already. You were followed before, and now he keeps you around for something. I'm not sure what, though."

"It's because of Rita," Kaisar said. "She is the zombie master I referred to before."

"Well ... that explains the undead dragon Merlin was using the other day. Alright, maybe we can do something about that. We will speak later, once I have considered what to do with all the interesting things I learn from you."

None of this man's plans involved the demons coming out alright, but in between Charioce and Karl, the latter was more likely to take things the right direction. Restoring the knights to honor would automatically mean a better fate for the citizens, human and demonic alike.

He wanted the Orleans Knights to come out of this with their honor intact. There was no way around it, and perhaps it wasn't the most noble he could do ... but he couldn't be like Jeanne and just throw it all away. She had done so once, no surprise she was willing to leave it all behind again. He'd find a different way.

· · · · · · ·

Jeanne didn't get better, so they had to take way more stops than healthy humans would've needed. He didn't mind. Mugaro would be safer in heaven for now, he didn't have to be there, if at all.

Whenever their stops were close to an area with a strong nexus, Azazel would sit down and try to summon. It had worked somehow with Jeanne and Nina, and despite the odds he'd been able to tap into hell's reservoir before to summon skeletal warriors, which he's initially assumed with Rita's presence making it easier. It clearly wasn't.

He always sat down with his eyes closed for concentration, but Nina was loud so he noticed her well before she crashed into the meadow.

"What're you doing?"

Might as well take a break. "I'm trying to summon Belphegor. She wasn't anywhere in sight when I picked up Jeanne."

If she was captured he'd break her out that way, if not then ... well, she's be further from danger anyway.

"Oh, that's why hunting sometimes takes you longer? Is is that nexus stuff? Any luck?"

"Obviously not."

"What if she didn't make it?" Nina whispered.

"No, she's alive. I just can't summon her. I don't get it, it worked with you."

"Uh, I think someone helped out with me. There's this ghost girl who hangs around Favaro, and she turned into a demon and made a gate on my end, and there even was this weird vision thing ... Hey, if you can use this to figure out who's alive, what about the others? Are Dante and Eligos okay?"

"They are dead." Just shut up.

"Are you sure? Maybe Belphegor's just more sensitive to earth nexuses? She's spent more time here, right?"

"I saw them die." Please shut up.

"Oh ... I'm sorry," Nina said and she meant it and it was annoying what the hell was she even apologizing for? "Anyway, I think Jeanne needs a doctor. She can't keep anything down and she just passed out for a while. She's awake now, but she can't stand without getting dizzy."

That spurred her to speculate on how to get a doctor and how to pay, which Azazel solved by just flying to the nearest town and finding a doctor.

The human in question was a short old guy with glasses and the thick robes of a more traditional type, wandering home after visiting a patient. He started shaking in his boots because of course, conveniently turned to run. Azazel grabbing him by the coat and flew off.

When he set the human down at the carriage, Nina said, "Azazel, I was gonna go to the village and ask."

"This was quicker. It's not like you can pay him anyway." He shoved the man to Jeanne, who tried to look affronted but was too busy staying upright on her rock. "Figure out what's wrong with her and fix it."

One of the benefits of looking the way he did, wings out and all, was that he didn't even have to threaten anyone. The guy would be spinning all sorts of horror scenarios in his head. Looming over terrified humans was no good for their producitivity, though, so he stood at the edge of the grove. Nina came to stand with him.

"You're gonna fly him back after this, right?" she asked.

Probably not, now he thought of it.

"Don't kill him, okay?"

Azazel dragged his thoughts back to existence and realized that oh, right. Witnesses. "He could betray us to those following."

That set Nina off into a sputtering rant, "We can't know that. Never, we're too ... too small to see predict everything right. I mean, make that call. Whe'd just be guessing, because we have no idea who he is, other than that he's someone who decided to make saving people his job. Come on, do you really want to kill him, or is it just your first solution? Cerberus was able to deal with that knight kid somehow, right? ... What did she do anyway?"

"Fed both of them really drunk or got some incriminating material, I don't know nor care. Things we cannot do with any credibility ... you know I spared that damn captain with the weird hair? He saved Charioce from you that one time you did try to kill him. Who knows what will happen."

"Well, we're still just guessing. Maybe we'd all die if this doctor turns us in and maybe it won't matter and probably won't matter and so when it comes to these decisions, can't we just let him live? It's not the same as with Kaisar, he doesn't have any power, and we can't just go around and kill everyone who is sligthly inconveniencing us!"

What the hell? She hadn't, and he hadn't done that either ... who was she even talking to? Him of course, and that was more than grating. He hadn't even done anything since that blond brat.

Nina blubbered on, "It's not the same as with people who hurt others okay. I get that. I'd ... I get that, but this is different. You know that, right? This isn't a bad person."

"I know it's not the same, but you brought it up!"

Why was she so anxious about this? Or had she always been? Given that he'd failed to notice Mugaro's holy powers, how much else did he miss?

Did she need him to actually state the obvious? That just was that it felt like be was bowing, something he had resented for years. Then again, he had been forced to bow regardless, and it had been done by making him kill when he didn't want to. In light of all that, it shouldn't be so difficult to cave a little to Nina. Even if her anxiety didn't make sense.

"I won't kill him," he said.

That wiped the tension off her so easily, it was ridiculous.

When the doctor cast them another weary glance as he approached, Nina actually flat out said, "Don't worry, come on over, we're not gonna kill you or anything!"

Azazel face palmed.

"For what it's worth, nobody would believe me. Especially if I were to include your names. Now if you don't mind, I'd prefer to walk home. It'll give me time to convince myself I accidentally drank mushroom brew."

"And?" Nina asked. "How's Jeanne doing?"

"It's clear she has been starved and overworked for years. She says she's been eating meat. That won't do, her stomach cannot handle that kind of food after so long on a meager diet," he said. "I suggest you feed her soup and broth, and increase the meat and other rich foods in smallest of increments. She also has numerous infections and suffers from hypertension. I don't have medicine for that at hand because I was abducted and couldn't pact, so I suggest you get some soon. I do have medicine that makes her sleepy, but that may affect the stool. I also recommend to do something about the calluses, because they make walking harder and she may just have brittler bones. She must be more careful than usual to avoid breaking anything."

He pressed a package in Nina's hands. "Again, understand that eating normal food will kill her the way she is now. It will take time to get adjusted to a regular diet. I suggest you seek out another doctor soon ... and maybe not abduct them. Just visit at night time or something?"

"Alright, thank you for your help. We'll be careful."

The doctor nodded a few times before fleeing from the grove. Nina walked with him for a little anyway. Azazel just went back to trying to summon Belphegor. The last he wanted was sit around and watching someone else die.

· · · · · · ·

Someone tried to summon her again, but couldn't even offer the energy to make it pass. Belphegor ignored it and focused on the work she didn't know how to do beyond cracking open this lock and freeing whoever was inside.

The stench of liquor, spells and sweat greeted her. Scarce beds lined the wall. On them intoxicated women lay, each with their horns and wings cut off. A storage more than a bedroom, it was no unusual fare for slave quarters in the seediest parts of the red light district.

"I found them!" she called up before going in. "Don't be afraid, it's over. Your master is dead. Anyone who can get up, please do."

Lines spoken so often, she found it difficult to sound gentle.

"Is the king defeated?" one asked, barely able to focus on Belphegor's face.

She hated to say, "No. We have a complicated situation. Let's just get you all out of here first."

Olivia had no rescue teams going; she set free stronger slaves but didn't provide any medical aid or food. Rather, she encouraged them to run rampant on the city. Cerberus was setting up a little kingdom in the slums and winning the support of gangs and gladiators and had a tentative truce with Malphas and Divesepid for now. That left Belphegor to look after the remainder. For her team she had just Durahanem and Rachel with her group.

"Out there will be humans with green shards in their arms, be assured you do not need to fear them. They are our fellows," she said. "And they are enemies of the king."

Rachel and her followers were content to break down the red light district for now, where Belphegor knew her way around. With the looting, she needed that, but it probably wouldn't last. She wasn't Eligos, had no idea what to do next after freeing people, while Rachel itched to take down the kingdom. For now though. That was all she could work on.

They had a row of carts on the street, where they loaded food, clothing and most importantly survivors. Durhanem had a few other orcs and some of the skeletal warriors to pull them, with the humans encircling the small caravan in case anyone tried to claim the food.

When Belphegor emerged after the last survivor, she found Rachel aside the door, throwing up.

"Are you alright?" Belphegor asked.

"I shouldn't have eaten that pork," Rachel mumbled, but she kept walking. Her lower arms had blackened with countless veins, which began to show up elsewhere on her body too. Skin around it flaked.

"Once we get home I'll try something else to hinder the leeching," Belphegor said. "Maybe I need another metal for the bracelets ..."

"No, it's definitely the food. I think I need poorer crap. Saw some demons with the same problem, all got ill after stuffing themselves," Rachel said. "I'm doing better than them if you ask me. Or those folks."

Rachel nodded at the women on the cart. Most of them were numb, huddled under blankets without much response. Their collars still glowed, but the real problem was the drugs that kept them compliant.

"So, what are you going to do with them?"

Belphegor ran her hands through her hair. "I have no idea. I'm a scientist, not a community manager."

"Yeah, you just had Adva and her friends wander the slums with nowhere to go," Durahanem said. "Cerberus won't be interested in taken them in, not in this state."

"Listen, I'm trying!" she snapped. "I just can't science my way out of this, I don't have answers."

"Uh ... if you wanna science, when we get back you could construct something closer the heart?" Rachel held up her arm with the thing she'd based on the cannister in Kaisar's home. "Cause this stuff's making me feel at least a little better."

"I'll do that," Belphegor said. "But it won't be enough."

Not nearly. She had imagined that killing Charioce would lead to an uprising if they played it right. Dante's wish for them all to get out of the city, perhaps return with an army of Lucifer, that had still been followed with the idea of a clean liberation.

Further down the street was human pimp being ganged upon by his forther slaves, face slashed upon so he couldn't cast the torture spell.

Behind Belphegor, a cloud walmed up to reveal Furfur. The tip of the deer head dropped next to her, whispering, "Why not keep those alive a little longer, see how much pain you can inflict yet? Don't they deserve to suffer more?"

"We have the victims to tend to first," she said yet again. Furfur had been going throughout the shadows with such whispers, so prevalent that one might think he was the voice of all. Determined to ignore it, she picked up the handles of the cart.

Rachel took a step clsoer to Furfur, who disappeared right away. "You think that guy's not that strong? He keeps shying away even from me. I'm not exactly a trained warrior."

"Let's not find out," Belphegor said. "Everyone, comfortable? We're going now."

That got a weak yes. She expected most who got themselves healthy again would join under Cerberus's wing, now she had expanded her reign more. A few would perhaps join Olivia. Neither of the two ladies were that urgent in obtaining followers, there wasn't a creed yet either put forth. Belphegor didn't know how to pull together a stance of her own, either.

They passed through silent streets. Humans had either holed up or were herded away by Olivia's faction. Here and there a home was broken open and demons freed, much like her own endeavors, scattered bursts of relief.

Below the reunions and the joy of their relative liberation, the ugly backdrop became clearer and clearer.

Olivia's human and demon allies went around, untouched as they whispered of Olivia's new court, promising the downfall of Charioce while being entirely too vague on how they hoped to achieve that.

On one corner stood an elderly demon, preaching to a hopeless audience. "We are not free! The humans will slaughter us if that barrier comes down! There won't be mercy! That fallen angel has brought us a whole new host of problems!"

Through the window of one house was visible a human made to serve their former slaves. It could be worse, it could be better.

A group of human teenagers had mingled with freed demons, shouting of revolution in the name of the Red Troupe.

Another block had a small feast going on, mead and meat and salt and bread ransacked from the surrounding shops with no regard for future food shortages; and there would be because the armies from the other provinces had already arrived. Any traders would be redirected before they even close close to the demonic barrier.

On the plaza below the barely repaired tower stood the largest group of demons yet, gathered around a dozen pyres. On it burned the skeletons of countless slaves throw into mass graves or set to compost piles. There was no celebration here.

Belphegor resisted the urge to stop, as she'd done at first. Demons did not pray, they remiscienced, and she had run out of fond memories both of the hell and of the land of humans.

· · · · · · ·

The sun loomed over the horizon, early promise of a warm day. Nina had wrapped herself in blankets against the biting cold of the autumn night, which she braved because they were almost home and the hippogryph needed to be told where to land. She had some trouble with that herself since she'd never flown here. Or flown at all.

Half her mind was on ran everything she wanted to say again, only to change the words again. What she told her mother would be most important, and ... and ... too painful to be entirely honest about and ... oh, she recognized the silhoutte of those mountains!

"Hippogryph, a little to the south ... yes, now ahead!"

A light trickly of power brushed across her as if she fell through water when they passed the anti summoning barrier . That had to be from the magic awareness she's learned from Azazel and Jeanne. She so had to get them to teach her more, but first she climbed to the door and swung herself in.

"I hereby welcome you to my home valley!"

Azazel didn't respond and Jeanne's attempt to talk resulting in throwing up again. Not morning people clearly.

Nina climbed out and was about to huddle up again when a dragon rose from the forest's edge, soon swerving to fly next to her. Aww crud, that was Militsa on watch duty.

The dragon spun overhead, transformed and landed on the roof. Militsa was so good with transformation, she could appear instantly with her hands on her hips and a glare on her face. Not even a hair was dislodged from her braid.

"Ninati, what the everloving earth are you doing with a divine carriage?"

"Uh, it's a long story," she said. "Can we do this once we landed?"

"You're landing at the check point," she said.

Oh, no, they'd search the carriage and find a knight and a demon. Nope.

"I've got sick people on board so no, I'm going right home, right, hippo? Don't like that and you can try to see how anti-gravity magic works on your flight."

The hippogryph rattled in what probably meant yes, and Nina hoped that meant the hippogryph could actually mess with that.

Militsa at least wasn't chancing it. She transformed back, lowered herself and soon eturned with Zlata. They flanked the carriage pointlessly as Nina tried to find the platform of her mother's tree in the dawn light.

The village lay up the largest tree in the valley, but her mother lived in a smaller tree next to it. Since her mother was full time creche and babysitter, her tree had a platform high in the top for the many little dragons to land on and learn to deal with the high winds. The hippogryph found it a good place to land.

Militsa and Zlata also found it a good place to drop down as humans and close in on Nina.

"First you run away, and now you return reeking of gods and demons? What the hell did you get into?" Zlata demanded.

"I didn't run away ..." Nina said as she jumped off, and made a point of standing between them and the nearest door.

"You didn't ..." Zlata turned to Militsa. "She says she didn't."

"I bet Libushe's into it, she was already so vague about it."

"What would my mati be into?"

"Are you stupid?" Zlata said. "The reason we only let the adult men out is cause they can most easily get away with accidental displays of power. You are a girl and aren't controlled at all even when you're not bursting out of your skin! You're the last person we would let go wander the world!"

Nina looked down.

"What's all this shouting?" Nina's mother appeared at the top of the stairway, holding an embroidered cloth with bread and salt. She nearly dropped those when she saw Nina. Anything else Militsa tried to say was cut off when Nina's mother stomped up to her.

"You shut up!" her mother snapped. "Can't you see my girl is in terrible shape? You can save your complaints for the council."

The greeting set down, her mother took her by the shoulders and looked her over again. The concern in her face was almost too painful to bear. "Nina, you got so thin! What's with those dirty clothes?"

Gone were all plans to explain like a proper adult.

"It's a bad story," she said with a forced grin. She fell into her mother's arms, holding as tight as she could without hurting. "I missed you."

"Oh, dear, what happened?" Her mother rubbed her back, swaying slightly. "You stopped sending letters and now come home in rags and a flying carriage?

"Did you steal this thing?" Zlata asked. "Is anyone following you?"

Nina let go of her mother and said, "I didn't steal it, but, uh ... we aren't followed as far as we know, but there's people who would like to."

Zlata growled, and Militsa started pacing.

"We?" her mother asked.

Nina opened the door, where an unsteady Jeanne leaned out. She helped her step out.

"Mati, I request sanctuary for her and my other friend. Zlata is right to assume we might be followed because we have escaped from the king's prisons. Jeanne has been there for two years, she's sick and needs a place to recover."

"No way—" Militsa started, but Nina's mother did that thing where she set her hands on her hands and glared. She might not be a dragon, but she was an imposing woman if she cared to be.

"I will give sanctuary. I don't know what she did out there, but it seems better than anything you've done in your life," her mother chided before turning to Jeanne. "Hello, dear. My name is Libushe, and any friend of my child is welcome in my home. Unfortunately I do not have final authority, but our lady is not unreasonable."

"Thank you. I'm Jeanne d'Arc."

"The Jeanne d'Arc? As in the lead of the Orleans Knights? Nina, you brought home freaky friends," Zlata asked. "What's the other one?'

"I am neither a saint nor a knight anymore," Jeanne said. "And I've never had any quarrel with dragons."

Militsa leaned into the carriage, only to draw back looking pale. "She brought a demon here."

Nina's mother quirked an eyebrow at Militsa.

"The hell kind," Militsa said. "Or is this some kind of chimera, hmm, Nina?'

"He is a demon from hell," Nina said quickly. "But I wouldn't have brought him here if I wasn't sure he wouldn't harm us."

"Zlata, go alert Qhispe." Militsa slammed the door. "He doesn't look like he's moving, but we have to take precautions. I'll stay around to keep an eye out."

Zlata flew off and Militsa settled in a nearby tree. Nina carried Jeanne to a guest room, made sure she was settled, then returned to the carriage with the intent to get Azazel out too.

Her mother had apparently taken a look inside already and was rather more nervous than before. Maybe she'd expected a small, harmless demon.

"Nina ... I'm afraid a lot of the relatives are going to be worried if there's a demon in the house."

"That's ridiculous. He's not going to hurt anyone, especially not kids," Nina said.

"It's not just what he'll do directly, Nina," her mother said. "There's indirect harm such as manipulation, and the dangers dark magic poses to the safety barriers and so on."

The carriage door slammed shut, leaving them in the dark.

Nina noticed a few of said parents on the boardwalk already. Two of them had sleepy kids in their arms to carry them onto a dragon's back, ready to fly off. Word must have spread already.

Nina opened the door again and said, "I'll bring you something to eat later, okay?"

Azazel still lay on the couch and still didn't move. That'd have to change, but first ...

Inside the house it was stormier than ever. A flock of kids threw themselves at her. She laughed even as she toppled over, covered by familiar faces. Topping off the pile was Meep Meep, her furball pet. Spirits, she didn't think she could've missed this so much.

Nina's mother housed all the kids of single fathers and others who were either off to work or occupied in the village, and orphans. Her knack for handling dragons wasn't limited to Nina's father, after all, but now it had found a different kind of limit : people didn't want their children to be here. Another kids was carted out while Nina entered.

It was overreacting, especially when they saw her and got more nervous. Started whispering about Nina bringing trouble here. One person suggested the humans would invade soon. Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely overreacting, but maybe she also should change her clothes now. The dirty prison garb wouldn't give a good impression of her adventures.

Her mother had vanished, Nina found her again in Jeanne's room. There was a tray of bread with cheeses and meat, which Jeanne had already rejected in favor of explaining what she could eat.

"Are you alright here? If any kids come bother you, just shout or bang the walls."

"I'll be alright," Jeanne said. "Thank you."

"Mati, I'm going to change clothes, and ... then we can talk. Please let Jeanne rest some more."

In her room, she quickly pulled clothes from her drawers. She's brought her best things to Anatae, so this was all the old stuff. That was good enough. She burried her face in the cloth, smelling home before putting on the softest. Then she tore off the prison clothes and tore it to shreds.

In the corner of her room was a small pot for heat in the winter. She stuffed the shreds in as quick as she could and fumbled to set them alight.

As she watched the flames, she sat utterly still for the first time in days. All the words she'd put together were ashes. Foolish, in light of everything that led her to Anatae. The bits and pieces made more sense now : her mother shuffling her onto the road at the break of dawn and discouraging her from saying goodbye to the kids. She must've wanted Nina to have a chance to grow and prove herself, only for Nina to come home and prove everyone had been right to fear what mess she'd cause.

By the time her mother entered and sat on the bed, eyes pleading for an explanation, Nina still didn't know how to make it sounds right. Especially when she wasn't even sure whether to regret any of it. If she hadn't run into Azazel there would have been no rebellion and all those demons would be still alive. But Azazel and Jeanne and many others on the island would be dead, probably. Maybe Mugaro too. She couldn't go back and count the bodies to find out whether it would have been better if she had never arrived.

"Nina, please tell me what happened."

Tell her what happened, oh spirits. It'd been easier if all she had to say was that she got involved in a rebellion against injustice. Difficult relations between tribes were close to her family's heart.

"Well, I tried to be a good bounty hunter and catch a bad guy, only for me to learn there's a far greater criminal who had to go down. So I tried that and it didn't go well. It all started when this one bratty knight decided I was the first bad guy's ally ..."

She started small, how well everything had been going except the lack of bounties, and how she hadn't understood just how wrong everything in the capital was until her encounter with Azazel. She told her mother of the slums so she understood what Nina had fought for, and dwelled on all the people she met in the resistance. But the details petered out the darker the story became.

She left away the parts that any of them had been tortured and enslaved. She was in prison, all of them had been, that was enough. Her mother looked worried enough already, so Nina focused on the strength of her mysterious immunity and made it sound like she was a greater power than she had been, only inconvenienced by the imprisonment. Jeanne helping her postpone the transformation was a bit trickier, so she talked faster.

When it came to her most recent transformation, she simply said there happened to be another handsome man around and let her assume he was a guard or fellow prisoner, and swiftly went to repeating what the doctor had said and yeah, maybe Tzala and Militsa had a point on finding out whether they'd been followed.

"That is a lot to learn ... I suppose I don't know enough of this clan's history but if there are other demons who are good, you were right to help them. I'm not sure what to think of their methods though. They didn't have any human allies?"

Nina shook her head.

"And the demon you have up there is the leader of that rebellion?"

"That was Dante, but Azazel got it rolling."

"I see. Well, I don't like how that demon seemed to push you around, especially not what he tried to do to trigger you, regardless of whether he had a good goal. Does he do that often?" her mother asked.

Nina shook her head. "No, only when I had to become a dragon. He's pretty uncomfortable with that, actually. So you don't have to worry I'm constantly fending off unwanted advances."

"Alright. Did he ever apologize for that?"

"No, but there wasn't much time and it was really awkward and ... mati, people are dead because I failed. That's a bigger problem. I have to fix this."

"You can't blame yourself for that, dear, I'm sure you tried your best."

"But I didn't!" she blurted out. "There's also that I met someone else, whom ... I think I fell in love. We dated. That's another part that made it more difficult to transform the safer way. Eligos was pretty smart and he spent a lot of time asking me about my limits. I should have told him about how I really transformed, he'd have told me to quit growing an immunity, and he'd have made sure there was back up right away if option one didn't work. I didn't even think about how dating someone might cause a problem, I was too busy with the butterflies. Now I wish I hadn't indulged in it."

Nina's mother had lived such a fairytale romance, her own story felt all the worse in comparison. No way she was going to get up and confess that her own romance was with the villain and countless people were dead now. She couldn't even make sense of her own feelings; she didn't want her mother to be unhappy, didn't want the shame and the guilt, and most of all didn't want people to die at all. It wasn't supposed to be love that made that happen.

"I need to control my dragon form because I still have three tribes to save. I'm sorry to break my promise of bringing home more money, but I can't be a bounty hunter in this time. I have to be something bigger. We're starting with finding my friend Mugaro in heaven and I plan to ask her to rejoin the demons. We will find a better way. I have to do this, mati. Do you understand?"

Her mother nodded despite her uncertainty. "I know you must. You take after your father in that way. He always was heading out into the world and protecting those he cared for, and he would not stop even under the fires of Bahamut ... Ninati, promise me you won't be reckless."

Nina embraced her mother, knowing the story of her father's death all too well. "I won't follow him for a long time. Really, I meant it with being strong against this enemy. I only got caught cause I was off guard, but I won't trust that person again, and it's not like I'll be facing Bahamut any time. I'll be okay, and I'll make it so for everyone else too."

· · · · · · ·

El's head swam in prayers and magic after days of sealed meditation. Ne only caught a glimpse of sky before Gabriel brought nur to another sterile place.

"Jegudiel, stay steady," Gabriel said. "We are almost there."

Jegudiel, that's what they called nur now. Gabriel had decided upon the name in the honor of some old angel who had been dedicated to restoring faith. Even Sofiel did it now. Ne did understand it had to be weird for them to use El, but it stung.

Gabriel brought El to was a hall contained countless rows with small stone tablets on them, each depicting warped human faces. They passed through on a single floating platform, Gabriel's presence looming behind El.

"These are all humans who sinned be selling their soul to demons and committed evil in their names," Gabriel said.

Some of the rows circled around a single pedestal, which every now and then contained a piece of horn, bone or armor. The circle they stopped at had an empty pillar at the centered platform. Already present here were a number of the higher gods.

Gabriel urged nur along to the empty pillar, which Gabriel placed her hand upon.

"This place belongs to a demon whom we have yet to annihilate," Gabriel said. "You know him : Azazel."

Gabriel tapped the center of the empty pillar. Out of it spun a stream of light threads weaving together into a cube. From this centerpoint, fractals grew into a quadric cross all overhead and beyond the shelves. Each point bore a name of a human, and a whirl of crimes in script El could barely read.

"These are all the pacts we traced back to Azazel," Gabriel said. "This is who he is : not so unlike the king you thankfully know to hate as you do."

El shook nur head. "It doesn't make sense! He never felt like a bad person. I can tell that, I'm never wrong. I'm not."

That prompted head shaking and discontented murmurs from the surrounding gods.

"I suspected you would say something naive like that. Listen, Jegudiel. Perhaps the Azazel you know behaves less by the crimes evil dictates now that hell is weak. You might not be outright wrong in your discernment. We have not yet had a time in the world where the power of hell was weak, so maybe there is less of the weight of darkness behind him.

Still you must understand, he chose to embrace the darkness and became one of its greatest perpetrators, despite having all the clarity of a god's light behind him. Such is pride. We gods can only be infallible if we guard our balance and let the light of Elyon govern us, and Azazel may merely lack the opportunite to engage in such debasement as before. As much as it pains me to praise Charioce, he did cause there to be less darkness."

"You mean he'll go back to being this evil if he succeeds at restoring hell to its former glory?"

"Yes, as long as he is a demon he will. Gods are children of the light and demons children of the darkness, they are related but not the exact same thing. Demons will always stray to the darkness. Now he just is more like humans, who commit less fully to either the light or the darkness because they are too young, and never live old enough to become a fully sapient being," Gabriel said. "But in the end, Azazel did embrace the darkness by choice, unlike those born in hell."

"But there are really kind demons, they aren't all like this," El said, unable to find the right thing to say to the scene itself. There were so many lives lost thanks to Azazel ...

"Now now, if your idea of kindness relies on how much one spends on helping individuals each day, surely I will not register high. I think of the future of a nation and spend my days with papers and planning," she said. "Not that I wish to shame you for your assumptions. You are a child, is is understandable you hold a simplistic view of good and evil. As it stands however, you have to accept that if Azazel rekindles the darkness, he will become worse again. And this will grow again."

El couldn't count all the names in the light, there were too many.

"It's like a disease?" El asked.

"Exactly," Gabriel said. "I am so glad you understand."

If the only way for demons to be good was to be cut off from the darkness ... what that king did wasn't the way to go, but maybe there was another way.

Gabriel set her hands on nur shoulders, pushing nur back into the kneeling position. El's knees hurt, but ne bit through it and put nur hands together again. Maybe, maybe if ne truly got a hang of this, ne would be able to heal Azazel from the darkness. Then once Charioce was defeated, they could all live in heaven. Azazel had said once he'd never go back to heaven, but maybe he thought there was no cure. There hadn't been a cure for Dromos either before El.

"I understand, lady Gabriel. I will become better in the light."

"Good. I will spread your name to the nations," she said. "Your new name. Learn to meditate and you will surely begin to hear prayers in your name, as the god you truly are and you will find even greater strength."

· · · · · · ·

Usually her mother had about twenty kids, give or take, to look after during the day. About eight of those of those slept here, but it was only four tonight. That meant a little less hands to help prepare the vast amounts of food the day crowd would need, so Nina offered to help her mother out, only to be rebuked. There'd be less of a day crowd after all, and her mother insisted Nina rest.

That was pointless. She'd already rested and eaten enough on the way here. Jeanne was the one who needed the rest. Nina checked on her and found her sound asleep. She kept checking up throughout the day for lack of anything else to do but dodge the questions of children — she didn't feel much for trying to dress up the tragedy as a fun adventure she'd had.

She also went up to check on Azazel in the carriage. The hippogryph was happy to be let loose, but Azazel couldn't even be pried off the couch. He just laid there. Doing nothing but occasionally grow and reabsorb snakes from his arms. He should be up and making plans for the next rebellion and talk to her over what went wrong. She didn't know how to start, she didn't know any Azazel without words of rebellion on his tongue.

That left Nina to wait for the judgement of Qhispe, the leader of their settlement. At several thousands of years old she often slept, and she was incredibly tranquil about everything. Even if someone shook her from her sleep, Nina would bet she wouldn't be in a hurry unless there was outright violence. It wasn't bad to wait when Jeanne needed to recover and there probably wouldn't be a siege on heaven any time soon, but it wasn't satisfying. She could pick up her old rhythm, but it didn't feel like her life anymore.

Just as she was stuffing a criminal amount of pillows in a corner, someone flicked the back of her head.

"Hey there squirt, I heard you had unusual guests," said the someone leaning around the wall.

"Ladis!" She got up and hugged him, only to find him unyielding. She quickly let go. "Uhm did you meet them already? Cause I promise you, they're not gonna endanger the village."

He didn't look any less worried at that, but he knelt so he was closer to her eye level.

"I was in the area, keeping an eye on rumors about you." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "By the time I got to Anatae you nowhere to be found and the capital was chaos. What on earth have you been doing?"

"Mati can tell you more cause I'm being the host of my friends, but the short story is that I joined a rebellion against an evil king and it didn't work and I'm now a fugitive."

"Oh, Nina. That's ... that's no good."

"I know."

I came here after word was you'd escaped. I'm surprised I didn't meet you on the way," he said, finally cracking a smile. "Maybe you got better at being sneaky at least?"

"We went by hippogryph, they're really fast! Though, we did have to make a lot of stops because Jeanne's sick, so maybe you flew past us," she said. "Wanna sit with us this evening? We have a lot of story to cover and mom's real busy anyway."

"Nah, I'm going to handle a few things downtrees ... you made quite the stir, Nina."

He left so quickly, it was the first time she really felt she had wronged her home. There were people she'd expected rejection from, but none of those were close to her to begin with. He was her uncle, he'd always been nice and— someone else had also always been nice and— she shook her head.

Oh well. She'd look after the kids, they were happy for her to be here. If not the adults.

By evening, half the kids were gone from the tree. A few had been brought back because absolutely nothing demonic happened and the panic eased a little, especially after Qhispe had woken for a moment and declared that yeah, she could sense a powerful demon and no, he wasn't doing squad so she wasn't either. As dinner approached, the mysterious demon in the carriage was the blaring topic among the remaining kids, who now had bragging rights for being allowed to stay.

"If he's not dangerous, why isn't he here?" Roka asked Nina, hanging off her arm as she tried to balance a bucket of potatoes.

"Because your parents are paranoid," Nina said with a grin, and maybe it was time to pile it up. "Just so you know we'd all be very dead if he felt like it but we're not because he's not into that. He can't even do it accidentally, I'd know because he taught me a few things about how we use our power."

"I wanna see him!" Miski jumped.

"What did he teach you?"

"Punching through rock. I'm still work on metal though," she said. "And I think I need more lessons."

Nastya clung at her dress. "I wanna punch through mountains."

"I wanna punch through Bahamut," Miski cheered.

Nina's smile faltered, but she pushed it back in place.

The reason there even was a daycare was that many adults had been lost during the rage of Bahamut, including her father. Some were outright orphans. As much as Nina wanted to say that maybe some day they'd be strong enough to take down the world's greatest enemy, she couldn't do that anymore.

"I don't think that's possible. You'll become an awesome dragon when you're older, but you can't be strong the right way if you don't know your limits. When Bahamut arrived, the world survived because everyone worked together," Nina said. "All so the hero of fate had a chance to take down Bahamut and you know what? He was only an ordinary human."

"You're only saying that cause you want humans to be cool," Roka said.

"But if we all learning to punch through mountains, if we go together we can punch through Bahamut," Nastya said.

Nina's chest tightened and she looked around. Oh, there. Jeanne walked out of her room on her own, but slowly and bracing against the wall. Nina freed herself from the clutter of kids. "Should you be out of bed?"

"I'll admit to having a headache, and my eyes have been hurting lately," she said. "But it's better at night. I'd much rather not be alone."

"Got it!"

Jeanne got a spot in a half walled off, warm corner full of pillows, which Nina had arranged earlier. No kids allowed here, they'd have dinner on the other side.

"Did Azazel leave?" Jeanne asked.

"No, he's just up in the carriage," Nina said, and since her mother just walked in, she added loudly, "And I'm probably going to bring him a fire pot because demons don't like the cold much and he got out of prison not too long ago, and then he won't be so lonely."

Then she flitted to the kitchen so her mother, already feeling guilty on locking guests out, had time to quietly question Jeanne.

The kitchen was all vapor and scents and had some of the older kids helping. Ladislao was at the table peeling veggies and declined an offer of help. Nina killed time by sticking her nose (and sometimes finger) into pots and making sure Jeanne had some light stuff to eat without strong herbs, grease or fat.

When she returned her mother was still in Jeanne's corner. At Nina's approach she stood and said, "She says that demon is an old enemy of hers, but went out of his way to save her, and has taken care of her child for two years. Is this the Mugaro you mentioned?"

"I think we all saved each other at least once," Nina said. "Except Jeanne to Azazel, unless there's something I don't know yet."

"No, it was just me trying to kill him ten years ago," Jeanne said. "I'll admit I'm surprised he doesn't hold a grudge over that."

"He does grudges only against people who really, really hurt his people," she said, and she left away that she herself wasn't so sure what he'd do with the Anataens if he won, but she was sure he wouldn't hurt anyone here. "Or any kids. He got pretty pissed though when Cerberus wasn't nice to Mugaro."

"Alright, this is just too ridiculous." Her mother stood up and threw the door open. "Go get him. There's a few adults coming by, again, but I'll deal with them."

All too happy to oblige that.

She passed by Ladislao as he left the kitchen, looking after her mother stomping to the door. When he locked eyes with Nina he shook his head with a hopeless smile, and the I know what you're doing look. She just grinned.

· · · · · · ·

He didn't hate solitude itself. No point to it. Charioce's dungeon wasn't the first time he'd been tied up underground, nor was the failed rebellion the first time he'd lost someone. Any weariness would pass, he'd be fine. But with neither of Nina and Jeanne around, there were no distractions to keep his thoughts from wandering back. After he'd gotten out of the mountain, he'd had his dedication to Lucifer. Right here and now there was only waiting. Nina and Jeanne expected him to go along to heaven, and then what?

Not moving wasn't easy, but it felt more natural. Perhaps Lucifer barely ever moved because he'd become so good at waiting out grief. He had cared far more for heaven's cause than Azazel had.

One of the doors burst open and Nina blared, "Good news, you can come in after all!" because leave it to her to instantly ruin a mood.

"No."

"We have a lovely fire and lots of food."

Oh for hell's sake. "I don't get cold."

"You mean you don't freeze or get ill in the way humans do," Nina said. "I don't do much of that either, but it's still cold. Come on in, mati's dealing with the annoying people and you have to try her roast."

"You think I can go have a damn party down there?" Almost everyone was slaughtered not even a month ago, how could she be like this?

Nina grabbed his arm, trying to pull him up. He jerked away, locking her with a glare. The little pout she made in response was just, ugh. Like nothing had happened.

"Get lost!"

"No, not when you're up here being miserable. There's no need for that."

No need? What the hell was her problem?

"Don't you get it, do you? they're dead! I brought in Merlin, I drove Mugaro away, and everything ... " He sank back, finding his anger already drained.

She didn't blare again. Instead she sat on the couch opposite of him and took two tries to start.

"You're doing a mourning period?"

He wasn't being official like that, but ... perhaps he did. Or maybe he should, just to honor the dead. Not that this damn carriage was the right place. Like hell he's mourning in heaven's domain.

Nina sighed and said, "I'll start again, okay? I'm sorry for nagging about your intentions with the city when that wasn't at hand. That was a bad time . But right now we're not having a party, we're just having dinner. That you're mourning doesn't have to mean you have to be as miserable as possible all the time, right? Come on, my mati is a really good cook and I bet Jeanne would love to hear more about Mugaro. I would too, and it'll be good to make people trust you more."

Nina didn't come close to Mugaro's relentless pleading puppy eyes, but she had her own kind of persuasive stubborness that demanded compliance. Things had to be alright so one had to do this or that, and she was so sure she knew what had to be done. Feeling so certain about anything, let alone one's own actions, was stupidity. But some sense could be found in it being easier to avoid any mobs coming to lynch him in the night. Not that he couldn't deal with them, he just wasn't sure he could deal without bloodshed.

"Fine."

So he let Nina drag him down the stairs, steer him through the door and almost right into an potentially-future-mob in the hallway.

The group went dead silent when they saw Azazel, except for Nina's mother, who smiled and said, "Welcome to my home," and held out a piece of bread with salt.

"It's our greeting," Nina said.

Oh no, he was not going to be a spectacle here, take part in some ceremony while those people watched. He just teleported right beyond the group and walked on from there.

Nina caught up just as he entered the living room, while behind them the arguing resumed. Nina had the bread and salt in her hands, but set it aside on a table. One of the many children snatched it right away.

Wordless, Nina guided him to a corner where Jeanne sat. He dropped himself next to her with crossed legs and from there on the plan was to sit, eat whatever they put in front of him and get through the damn night.

Every so now and then, children clustered up to stare at him, but Jeanne had a knack for stern soft warnings and they drooped off before it became a spectacle.

Nina returned with two colorful blankets under one arm that also held a tray and two small steaming pots under another. She sat the pots before them, dropped the blankets and started unloading the tray. A weird fluffy thing jumped around her, which she introduced as a pet of hers. He entertained the idea it was Favaro's hair zombified for about two seconds.

"Since Jeanne can only eat soup, mati made a whole lot of it. There's a kishka and roast for Azazel and I that you can have a bit of, and the nuts should be okay for you, but the rest you gotta be careful for. Llapingachos are potatoes and cheese with bits of meat. The bălmuș is all egs with a bit of mushroom and meat, maybe you can try that. The knish is filled bread with fried stuff, probably too heavy so the pan de yuri is probably better for you. We have tea too, which is a plant from the east dissolved in water, it's good for your health."

Not a party? Did they always eat like ... well, if Nina's appetite was any indication, that probably was common fare.

Jeanne got a blanket wrapped around her. Azazel sat it coming and yes, there she was. He'd have shrugged it off as early as last month, but he only stiffened. Which was ridiculous. Nina moving closer wasn't going to hurt him and these weren't chains.

"So the snakes don't scare the kids, okay?" Like that was the real reason.

Jeanne was much more at ease with those whole thing, she practically glowed as she worked down her soup, already looking better than any time in the carriage. Nina closed the circle and started chowing down.

If he ever did get to telling Lucifer in detail what had happened, this was the sort of thing he'd absolutely skip because it was off and exactly the sort of thing Lucifer would make worse when writing it down in a historical record.

He'd be skipping a lot. Lucifer wouldn't be interested in the kind of detail Jeanne wanted about Mugaro. How would he even explain that? Oh yes, I did in fact unwittingly adopt a human angel hybrid who turned out to be crucial in the war. If there was a way to tell Lucifer anything without bringing that up, he needed to figure it out. Maybe Rita was still alive and he could convince her to pretend she'd taken in ... if they even got that far. What Nina and Jeanne had described on Dromos's real form left no hope for Lucifer to stand against it. Not while it still mattered.

Jeanne didn't want any detail on him either. Ever since their first conversation, Jeanne hadn't brought up his past. Almost like a protocol, she kept the conversation on Mugaro alone. He still didn't know what to expect she'd do, if he indeed accompanied them to heaven. Would she hand him over, demand he be purified somehow? The gods would kill him on sight.

Jeanne's chosen topic today didn't help make more sense of her.

"I would like to know how your village came to be," Jeanne said to Nina. "The magic at work here isn't like anything I've encountered before in demons. In some ways it falls together like when multiple gods are in a blessed place."

"Really?" Nina said. "I don't know anything about energies, but I know how we got here. Way before even Bahamut, when Satan still ruled hell, there were a bunch of demons who didn't like how cramped it was down below. As adults we're really huge dragons, so the old ones only got to be dragons when sent to war on the surface. You can imagine it's not fun being only free to be all of yourself during fighting. At least three families got fed up with that moved to live on the surface. We only found each other later, actually, now we exchange members. Qhispe is from the other tribe, she'd moved in together with her brother when he married here."

He couldn't make sense of Nina's deal either. Or this history. It hadn't even occured to him there was a history of hell that he had to know. Heaven neither, even as he had lived there.

Then again, he'd spent two years with Mugaro yet hadn't realized there was divinity at work. Charioce's mocking fool and Nina's fond dense blended together into the one thing he was clear on : if there was one person he was sure he couldn't trust, it was himself. So just sitting here and not doing anything grand was for the best.

· · · · · · ·

Jeanne woke up some time after restless sleep, but no need to hurl and the world did not spin. She was only wasted and stiff. She lay quiet and listened, holding onto the sense of peace that promised to slip away any moment, because it always did. She had no trust left for peace.

The chatter of everyday life around the house went by, the way she had only known it before the years of battle, loneliness and chivalry. When she was a little girl in a large home in a world where she never even dreamed of seeing the gods.

Nina's mother entered and placed breakst on the bedside table. Jeanne sat up. She found small portions of light food, each prepared in warm cups. Libushe put a pillow behind her back, then took a chair next to the bed.

"Nina told me you've been through a lot," she said. "How are you feeling?"

She had lord Michael to talk to, there was no need to burden this woman with it. "I'm fine, thank you."

"That must be the strength that made you worthy of being a saint," Libushe said. "I would like to ask you for advice, but perhaps it is better to rest still?"

Jeanne tried to look alert. "Does it concern Nina? I would be glad to hear more about her."

"Oh, you're aware already? Of course you are ... but it may take some time. Are you sure you rested enough?"

"I have. Please let me hear Nina's story. I owe her my life, the least I can do is try to help her in return," Jeanne said. Some wicked part wanted to know more about anything that could explain what she'd seen between Nina and Charioce, but she pushed that back. "I've been able to help Nina a little with her transformation issues, but since I do not know its roots I've only been able to provide a crutch of sorts. Perhaps I can do better if I knew more."

"Well then. What can you tell me of Nina's fighting style, as a dragon? I've only heard about it from people trying to spare my feelings."

"She knows the enemy and she knows to spare the right people. I can't tell you more, I have only seen her fight in the dark and mist, when I myself was at my limits. I do have the impression she has experience though. Is that true?"

Libushe nodded. "Indeed. Her problems are beyond just controlling transformation. You see, Nina is chronologically 37 years old. A little over half that time was spent in dragon shape."

"But she looks so young."

"This clan is a variant of demons who altered their innate ability to shapeshift so their imago in smaller form fit the human template, rather than that of the demons. Typically this human shape ages along chronological, but in Nina's case her shape is set back exactly the way it was before she transformed. It's one of the consequences of her hybrid nature."

"What are the other consequences?"

"She can't think so well when she turns into a dragon and she can't remember when she turns back into a human. And of course, she cannot transform at will. When she was little, everything that got her even slightly excited caused her to transform. She'd stay a dragon for varying times. Over the years she learned to control her emotions. Joy was first, next sorrow and anger and at last even fear. We were unable to teach her how to deliberately trigger the transformation, however.

I think part of it might be that Nina doesn't want to be a dragon because she knows she'll lose her mind, unlike the others. You know kids ... they're not always as kind as they should be to those who are different. There even was one time where she was shoved off the boardwalk, and she would have died if she hadn't transformed in reflex. For a few years her increased emotional control meant she turned into a dragon less, up until she encountered her first crush. She hadn't managed that trigger yet. It was up on the woodwalks or in a room, her father was there too. We're not sure because half the place came down when she transformed ... neither the young man nor her father survived."

Libushe sniffed, but forced her face to remain even. Jeanne could see where Nina took after her mother.

"We found her roaring, altering between trying to get the blood off her hind leg and spurring what remained of him to stand. We couldn't calm her down. And when we uncovered my husband's body, she want on a rampage in the forest and ran off. Thirteen years she remained a dragon, during which she roamed the lands searching for food, and surviving. She returned some time after Bahamut's rage, maybe even because she was thinking clear, but we couldn't ask. When she turned back, she was my little girl again. She didn't even notice I'd gotten older, but she noticed her father was gone. With all the losses we suffered, I couldn't bear to tell the truth anymore. It was an easy way out. I told her her father had died a hero, saving people from the rain of fire.

She was restless in the village, and she wanted to help me out since I'm living on donations and working as babysitter now. I can't move back to human civilization with her so easily, and she knew that. But after Favaro, a rather good looking man, was able to mentor her with only one incident, it felt like things got better. I would have sent her along with someone else, but nobody in the village trusted Nina to not be a liability. Favaro assured me his divine friends had the ability to take Nina away in case of trouble, and even had the ability to grow and shrink creatures. So I let her go to Anatae in silence, hoping she would get the exposure that she needed there while in safe hands. I suppose it did not quite work out as intended. I am glad you were able to help her subdue an unwanted transformation, is there perhaps a way your blessing could help her other problems?"

Not that Jeanne knew, beyond dispersing energy, but there were some very obvious gaps to be addressed. One couldn't train an adult by treating them like a child.

"Miss Libushe, I can say something, but it is not what you hope for. Ninati did notice the timelapses, and she isn't a girl anymore even if she looks like it. She didn't speak because she didn't want you to be unhappy. Her imago, as you call it, fits only the years she lived in human body, not her actual lifetime. If she is 37, even if she is naive in certain things, she was still shaped by those years she lived through. You tell me so freely of her, but have you tried working with her to resolve the issue? I am under the impression she does not even know her father's true fate.

Libushe looked more than a little shocked. "How would I begin though? My little girl wanted to be a hero and then hoped to be a princess too, not a monster. How could I tell her such a thing like her killing her father? How do we assign fault if Nina killed anyone after she ran away? Where do we even start?" Libushe asked.

Jeanne lowered her eyes. "I cannot be the one to advice you on this. You see, I'm the one who ... I'm the one who ..."

Libushe looked at her, confused. Jeanne gathered her strength and said, "I am the one who unleashed Bahamut. I am not the wise saint you hold me for."

"What? That doesn't make sense ..."

"Consumed by my wrath at what appeared abandonment, I killed the gods that kept Bahamut at bay. I carry the guilt for millions of lives, something I can never hope to atone for even if I paid with my life. Whatever Nina might have done in self defense is surely more worthy of consideration."

Libushe shook her head still. "You do not strike me as someone who would kill millions just out of anger. I cannot believe that."

"I was weak. A demon tempted me with the promise I would be salvation for the people, no need for divine aid, only for the rage unleashed have me abandon my people in favor of killing the gods. If I had been stronger, I would not have been tainted so much that any reserve, honor or compassion was drowned away. I spent years deeming myself devoted and balanced only to be caught off guard. I cannot help Nina with her monster, when my own is so much worse."

Jeanne turned her face down and wanted to crawl into a hole. She feared condemnation, even when she knew she desered it.

To her utter surprise, Libushe pulled her into a hug instead. "Oh dear, I'm sorry, I should not have expected you to be a savior."

Jeanne couldn't keep her composure anymore. Leaning into the woman's shoulder, tears broke free. Letting herself be held felt selfish in many ways when she had rained so much death on the world. So she didn't let it go on for too long, and folded her sorrows back in the box, and offered to help Libushe look over the children.

Libushe didn't seem to buy she felt better, but after Jeanne mentioned she liked children and missed her own, she helped her out the room with the promise she might tell a story to the smallest. Nothing about knighs defeating dragons, of course.

It was her first clear look at the house. Part of the tree was visible on one end, and a hall went around a circular central room that lay in the crown of the tree. Most of the layout was guessed by looking out the windows at the other houses up the taller central tree. Wood made walls and everything, but thinner walls, and countless baskets were woven of reeds. Not a rock in sight, except for the hearth.

The central room held a swarm of children in soft cream and yellow clothes, each with colorful embroidery. Simple clothes, but far more complex than anything she'd been able to afford, let alone make in her years of poverty. This place was perhaps without riches, but it was with time and safety. A number of the children were brown skinned, but not in the way the people from the lands south of Anatae were. Their features were different, but nothing like that one there ... wait, that wasn't a child at all.

Emerging from the crowd was an old person barely half a meter tall. Jeanne might've pegged her as a man due to the thin beard, if not for a child mentioning her name as Qhispe; Jeanne had understood earlier she was the village matriarch.

Her head twice the size of a human, her hands tiny like a baby, she looked off even next to the children. Her skin was brown like a human, but her nose was red and had no bridge, the nostrils being practically between the eyes. Most notable were the bushy eyebrows that acted more like head hair, so long and thick they fell aside her eyes and could hold ornaments. Of all the demons Jeanne had seen, this one had to be the most peculiar.

"Ah, Qhispe, I'm so glad you found time today," Libushe said. "There's been so many unpleasant talk, surely you can dispell it?"

"Oh, sure. I had a look just now. He's a fallen angel, powerful enough to use his full name without risk of summoning and I'll bet you he can open portals. If he wanted to start trouble he could have, even with all that self sabotaging he's doing. Tell the next nuisance to not bother my sleep over this, they've been pests enough already." Her eyes fell on Jeanne then. "And you would be the former saint of the Orleans Knights, no?"

"I am indeed," Jeanne said, glad at least one person understood the former part.

"I'll want you and the other adventurers to visit me for an official council soon. There's a few things my people deserve to know, but we'll leave you some moretime to recover. Now now, no protesting. I'll see you when you're able to walk without using walls."

Libushe helped Jeanne sit on a nearby chair, because Qhispe wasn't departing yet.

"So how are you doing with the new world order?" Qhispe asked. "Must be quite a shock to see humans on top for once. I'll admit I've never seen that in all my ages."

"Are you truly a demon?" she asked, because she had never seen something like an old lady demon leading a village and it was rude and yet she had to know — most female demons she'd encountered in her old days had been succubuses.

"Quite, I'm an old demon allied to the gods. You ought to have seen their faces when they realized that. Dragons of divinity exist, but alas, no, by blood we descend of the demon tribe." She tapped her round ear, which looked human apart from the long earlobe. "I'm missing the pointy ears and I already got a few gods in denial though. You wanna deny it?" she said with a grin.

Jeanne shook her head, though she had a lot of questions that were far more rude. And painful. Such, how did she resist her dark nature?

"Good, all the better for our trip," she said.

"You'll bring us to heaven?"

Qhispe nodded. "Been meaning to visit my old buddies some time anyway. I wonder how much changed since Zeus was in charge, actually. I'm told it's been Gabriel and a few others since then, but I'm sure you can tell me about that when I'm less sleepy. Give you some time to adjust some of your old views too, and your curiosity."

"My apologies for my rudeness," Jeanne said.

"I'll live," Qhispe chuckled. "I imagine you've got a harder time adjusting."

Beyond them in one of the halls around the central room, a loud crash preceded a kid running by, dragging Azazel by the legs. He had his claws in the floor to no avail.

Libushe stomped over to them. "You behave right now and put him down!"

"The old lady said it's safe!" the kid called, now no longer visible. "We're gonna play!"

"That's not the point!"

"Yes, I'm readjusting some old conceptions," Jeanne said. "Rather sharply."

· · · · · · ·

"I didn't think you'd go outside!" A laundry carrying Nina found him halfway down the tree, where he'd caught on a branch. "Or is just more of you not bothering to move?"

"Those brats got the idea to play demon slaying," he grumbled as he climbed onto the stairs. He'd been just a little off balance because one of his disobedient serpents had grown out at a bad moment.

"Oh," Nina said, and ran up the stairs where the kids met her halfway. The scolding echoed down. "Hey! That's not a fun game for him. Where we just came from someone really did that to demons. It was really bad, so if you want to play with him it has to be something nice."

Azazel willed the snake that had disbalanced him back into oblivion. There were too much right now, and it was because those brats got him to think about that damn king.

Nina jumped back down put the laundry on a small elevator and pulled a robe, which rang a bell up in the tree. Up above, her mother peered over the edge.

"You don't have to do that, Nina!"

"It's okay mati, I'm not tired or anything. But if you don't mind, I'm going to show Azazel around the place, okay?"

"Go ahead, dear!"

"Tch, do you want to make the problem bigger?" he grumbled.

"What problem? Don't worry about that, it isn't as bad here as in Anatae." Nina started ticking things off on her hand. "They'll stare a bit but the kids aren't really afraid cause tension with hell is boring adult talk, there won't be mobs cause everyone respects our good leader, and maybe you'll be a little less dark and ominous if you're seeing strolling. I promise we'll get out at the first sign of trouble, okay?"

"We're leaving soon anyway."

"I hate to dissapoint you but we're not moving until Jeanne isn't even a little on the brink of death. Come on, it'll make it easier for us too," she said while pulling him along. "The old lady is sleepy today anyway and we won't have the big meeting till tomorrow."

"Meeting?"

"Oh, just a formality. If a tribe member like me reveals the secret, the council comes together and argues a bit. No biggie. All the people in the area think we're just superstrong elves or something, and they're just gonna asked a few question and that's it. We're not gonna be throw into jail or anything. Anyway, I'll run, I could use the movement after being cooped up so long. I'd rather have that you fly. The way you used to leave wrecked roofs in your wake can't be good for our trees."

When Azazel grew his wings, she gathered the feathers he lost.

"We don't waste anything here," she said. "They're magic, right?"

"Not by much. Why?"

"Good enough for a trade," she said. "Now come along."

Nina's home was on a smaller tree next to the main village, built on a tree so thick it could cover a while human village at the roots. How something that big could be alive without absurd amounts of magic elluded him. It wasn't just one tree, the entire forest was made of giants.

Hell was all darkness and fumes and high walls, heaven was all light and radiance and high walls too. This territory had the height and grandeur to fit, but not built. It was entirely by the presence of ancient trees that dwarved even the grown dragons.

Most of the ground was grass, except for a small terrace before the central tree; Nina said that during holidays people danced here. She herself was here more often to teach the little kids to dance, and teach herself. When other dragons got flight lessons, that's where she spent her time. He half expected her to demonstrate, but she claimed she'd lost interest in dancing.

A river ran through the forest where a group did the laundry like they had neither servants or magic to do it for them. No slaves either, of course.

At the edge of the valley was a small stone outpost with inn and a tiny market, where the women sold their craft to passing human travellers. Azazel stayed behind as Nina went to greet some people.

They just sold trinkets to get money. In hell, the could have been miners, warriors, a power to be reckoned with. Even here on earth they could just settle in the mountains where the mecha would be at disadvantage and reign supreme. Why choose to live in a forest and be poor?

If there was a greater power dynamic at work here, he couldn't find it. Heaven, hell and Anatae were all governed by the powerful, this place supposedly was governed by the elderly on the premise they were wisest. He wasn't unaware that societies existed without a strict hierarchy, but had never imagined such powerful beings could function in it.

When Nina rejoined them, she had traded the feathers for a few of those trinkets.

"They're gifts for everyone. Those feathers were useful, Yari says I'm practically overpaying." She had clip with dark red gem for Jeanne, a blue and gold hairclip for Mugaro, a necklace with a pink gem for her mother, and ... oh no ...

"I'm not wearing that," he said.

"It's not for your hair, silly." She missed the point, and clipped the silver-purple thing on his belt. "See, it fit your colors scheme and now you're not so drab anymore. You used to be a bit more ornate, what happened to that?"

"My standard clothing is formed by my own magic," he said. "It changed when Cocytus fell, it's nothing unusual when one is low on magic."

Sort of true. He was down to just his shirt, pants and boots, the waist belt being the last purple bit left. It getting less ornate had nothing to do with being low on magic, he didn't control it. Right now, most of the time he couldn't even keep his serpents from emerging.

Nina was already on her way to the next thing she wanted to show him all the way on the other end of the valley. The river emerged from some kind of ancient temple. On a ridge below it, across the second waterfall, was an unusually large wooden house. According to Nina the leader of the village lived there, Qhispe. Nina wanted to go there early to see whether she wanted to tell the story of the prior fight against Bahamut, but he declined because she'd been around already to question him. He had no mood to listen to her talk about some old battle.

"Oh, okay, no war stories. I've got plenty of others, just come along. Wool's next."

Nina poured at stories like her life depended on it, but not in the way like she was selling anything. He couldn't pin what she was doing, just that she didn't want to stop talking, and that she knew way more people than he could keep track of. He didn't know anyone in the slums other than Rita, even Mugaro had more connections there.

He let her talk about them, but didn't go near anyone for introductions.

Asking where they got their food prompted a long rant on trade, import and bargain that Nina herself didn't understand well, and a visit to the deer breedery. Deers tended to flee areas with dragons, so they had barred areas to keep them around and have a kind of casttle that flourished below the canopy. Everyone also spent their usual hours in small form to avoid needing more food than the forest could give, even though said forest was full of more edible stuff than he would've imagined.

Nina asking the members of the rebellion for what changes they wanted to see in hell started to take on a different tone. He'd expected just complaints about the hierarchy and the treasure or best locations. It could be more than that. Were those papers still around?

As they closed back to Nina's house, they came across an oversized meadow where dragon kids played high above the ground. They kept changing into human shape in mid air, falling, and changing back to dragon before they got too low, just to throw around a ball. Each wore a sash that didn't vanish along with their clothes in dragon shape, making for at least four teams.

"This is the hard game, where you're only allowed to touch the ball with hands," Nina said. "But not hard core enough for them to be allowed to play close to the ground."

On said ground were a group of adults, keeping watch. Half of them now had their eyes on Azazel with the same look demons got in Anatae from humans.

He clenched his fists, almost hard enough to drive his claws into his flesh.

"Hey, Nina the Failboat, go get us a few new balls, okay?" a kid yelled in mid fall.

"Not if you ask like that!" she yelled back. "Really, what do they think? Just cause I offered to do it a few times doesn't mean I'm always gonna do it."

"Why do you even hang around here if you can't play? Or did you?"

"Maybe I played the ground version when I was really little, but now I couldn't even if I transformed right now. You've seen my wings."

On a stupid impulse he was sure to regret later, he grew his own wings out. "Want to prove them wrong?"

Nina looked confused for a moment, before a grin broke. "I'd love to."

She grabbed one of the colorful sashes on the ground, then Azazel hooked his arms around her waist. "I fly, you catch."

He took off. She didn't get flustered, let alone turn into a dragon. So much for that trigger; not that he had anymore plans for that.

Playing with dragons was nothing like when he'd been a child playing with other angels. In heaven with feathery winged folk, one always played careful. Dragons were rough and cared little for finesse or even injury. A kid's wing tore at one point, only for a quick transformation to fix it. The adults below were only around to avoid collisions.

The game itself was barely sensical. They were teams, but the members could switch in the middle as they saw fit by just changing the sash they wore; Nina couldn't do this so easily when held.

It wasn't a real challenge to him, none of these kids had a strategy or even grace in the air. He'd be complaining about boredom more loudly if the game wasn't rigged the moment he and Nina entered.

The kids weren't allowed to storm ram each other, and none did so with Nina. Just, Azazel was much bigger and it was easy to collide with him without touching Nina.

When one of them hit him between the wings so hard he nearly dropped Nina, who lost the ball she'd finally caught, he pushed back. The kid was sent hurled away.

"Wait, that's against the rules!" the kid called in a moment of transforming back and forth.

Nina poked him with her elbow. "We can do this without cheating!"

"They're cheating too," he said.

"Come on, it's not the same," Nina said.

"Fine," and he dove for the ball when it sailed between a branch clutter too narrow for dragons. Nina missed by a hair, so Azazel braced against the tree, leaving shattered bark.

"Don't ruin our trees!" one of the adults below yelled, because of course.

Someone turned into a dragon, stretched a wing in their path and just batted them away. Coming from a dragon, that sent then sailing past several giant trees. Azazel steadied himself enough to avoid the trees, but didn't catch the air at this speed. Four trees further a dodge steered him too close to the ground, where they fell into the shrubds between two massive roots.

And so he was on his back again, now with his wings stick in the green. The fell wasn't that painful all things considered, but it was a fall and it was embarassing. That last one used to hurt more, now it was almost accustomed.

Note to self : stop being impulsive. This was a bad idea. Everything he did was a bad idea.

Nina flopped off as he let go and sat next to him, laughing for some reason.

"What's funny? We failed." And it was painfully obvious they were looking for an excuse to kick them out of the game.

"But I got to be part of it today. I missed playing with the other kids, I couldn't keep up after they started flying."

"They knocked you out of it."

Nina flapped her hand at nothing. "So what? They know you're sturdier anyway, they don't do that normally." Then more serious, she continued, "I thought you didn't want to do anything nice because you're mourning."

"I'm not practising anything, I just wanted them to shut up."

"Good enough," she said. "What do you want to do next?"

He pulled a twig out of her hair and flicked it away. "You could get my wings out of this crap. The way I'll do it get more complaints about vegetable damage."

Nina had his wings untangled from the shrubs without a beat, short enough for Azazel to kill his urge to get out.

Azazel almost got up, but halfway through the movement realized he had nowhere to be. Mugaro was in heaven, Lucifer in Helheim, and they weren't leaving. Azazel wasn't leaving either, not soon.

And he was out of Anatae. He could lay here and nobody would come in for a torture session, and he wouldn't have to kill any demon here. Why that struck him only now, so much later than it had became reality?

"Hey, are you alright?

Nina leaned over him, sunlight through the canopy behind her. How could she be like this, with that damn worried smile like the worst that had gone down was a little crash landing.

She had to be lying. Jeanne was a wreck, he'd seen his own people broken for years. That didn't just go awa. Even if Nina had only been enslaved for a few weeks she shouldn't be like this, glowing as if she'd just dropped from heaven. Mugaro could smile despite pain, but Nina acted like she threw it away the moment she stopped talking about it. That couldn't be right.

"Are you?" he asked.

"It's just a few scrapes, nothing new for me." As she stood, she pulled him along. "Hey, once we defeated the king we can come here again and then we'll play to win, okay?"

Oh great. Why did she just have to start on that again? Like he needed the reminder. He unfolded his wings and left.

"Azazel?" He heard her, but refused to look back. Nina could argue as she wanted, he really wasn't going to start another fiasco and get the wrong people killed.

· · · · · · ·

Jeanne got her first true sleep in years, but the unease never truly went away. It likely would not until she was sure El was safe. No matter how often she told herself the gods would ensure El's safety, it was never entirely sure. Charioce would want to ensure El's death more than ever.

Nina arrived late in the evening, her arms full of sweet flowers. "Good dusk to you! How are you feeling?"

"Quite well, all considered," Jeanne said as she sat up.

Nina put the flowers in a vase next to the bed, left and returned a little later those blankets. "Need extra? We have plenty and it's still warm enough for most kids to go with just one. Winter's usually later below these trees."

"Thank you. You know, with you having arrived to Anatae as a bounty hunter and turned to rebellion, I didn't imagine you having such a homely job," Jeanne said. "What made you consider to become a bounty hunter? You seem well off here and with so many to care for."

"We're still pretty poor even by local standards, and I thought I could fix that. Mom can't get a dragon job and I can't either, so when Favaro dropped by I just knew I had to badger him into being my mentor. If I could bring in a huge bounty, then mati wouldn't need to think of táta just when doing the household."

Nina's father was a hole in the household all too apparent. Perhaps Nina had run from the memories as much as she did it for her mother. It didn't sit well with Jeanne to keep the truth back from Nina.

"Will you keep me company for a little while?" Jeanne asked.

"Sure!" Eager, Nina sat crosslegged on the foot end of the bed. "I had some questions anyway. What's heaven like? Any rules I should know about?"

"I honestly have no idea, I have never been there myself," Jeanne said.

"Oh, but ... isn't Mugaro's father that archangel, Michael? How can he so yet never even invite you to his home?"

"The relations between heaven and earth are distant. We mere mortals cannot hope to aspire as equals to the gods."

"Hmm, you never bring up Michael when talking with about her with Azazel around. Is that a sensitive thing or do you not know him that well?"

"I imagine Azazel will not have fond memories of him, and I would prefer to avoid conflict," Jeanne said. "And I might not know lord Michael well in the way that makes the kind of questions you'd ask easily answerable. I know him in spirit, however."

"When we go to heaven, won't he be around anyway? Then I'll just ask him and you can learn to know him better too."

Jeanne's face fell, but she spoke anyway. "Lord Michael is not with us anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I can't imagine what it's like to lose a lover, but I know it's been really difficult for my mother. Is there anything I can do?"

"Oh, he was not my lover. Lord Michael was my patron deity, the god who had blessed me to channel his power. Our love was platonic, a divine bond that exists on a different level than earthly ties. El was not born through the earthly means, but a sacred host. See, I was once intended to host the god key so lord Zeus could remanifest back into the physical world. Surely lord Michael used this capacity to create El. I did not need to carry for months."

"Ooooh, so when you said El appeared like a light you meant that literary?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. I suppose I could have been clearer. El appeared as a three year old child too, capable of speech. In more way than one it's been easier for me than many others, and I am grateful for El's company. Before it I dragged myself through a lonely, purposeless life. Lord Michael always watched over me and I prayed for a direction, but I had not imagined he would be able to still give even after death. It is more than I dared ask for."

"Michael must've been a great person if someone like you can feel he's being too nice to you."

The bar was much lower than Nina imagined and this really should be the end of the conversation, but ... by the gods, Nina had spared Charioce. Nina herself might not have moved against her, but if she was close to the one who did, this might mean Nina could not be trusted entirely. Jeanne had to know and this topic made it easy to start.

"Nina, do you have anyone you are in love with?"

That got a very uncomfortable little laugh. "I guess I do."

"Who is it?"

"Uh ... it's not easy to explain. You're a saint and all, and, uh ... " Nina took a deep breath. "See, I have a bit of a bad taste in men."

Oh Michael. Jeanne felt she ought to address this now, but where to even begin?

Gently was probably best. "How bad?"

"Really bad."

"Do you you want to tell me about it?"

"Uh ... you have no idea how bad. It might not be good for your sleep, maybe we should do this later."

"We're not talking about Azazel, are we?"

Nina pulled up her legs and seemed to lock off, staring at the wall only. "No. I did have a bit of a crush on him, just a little bit, but the more I learned about him and the more I interacted with this other guy who was really much nicer, the less that mattered. He was my dream : someone I could be close to without fearing the dragon, who pulled me along into forgetting the worst. Then that guy turned out to be even more of a bad person. And yet, it still feels as if I was born to dance with him, but what I know is that he's done so many horrible things that I should hate him. And ... oh, how do I put this? Uhm ... I just want him to better."

"Did he do any of those horrible things to you?"

"... yes."

That was it, then. "I know it's Charioce."

Nina's stiffened and turned her face down. "How?"

"His behavior towards you was peculiar," Jeanne said, and right away decided not to go into detail. Nina was practically trembling.

Folding her hands, she chose her next words with care, reminding herself that with her own sins she had no business falling out at Nina over something like this.

"At another time, I would advise you to not let the failings of your beloved by a one strike you're out situation. Lord Michael has forgiven me for for my sins, embraced my contrary faces, but Nina, this is not the same as you and Charioce. He continues relentlessly. He has waged war agains the gods without any provocation, and even the demons did not deserve such a fate as he bestowed them. He may spare you for a time, but only within the confines of convenience," Jeanne said. "Lord Michael offered me forgiveness, but only after I had returned to the light. After I became better."

"It's not like I fell in love with him while I knew who he was," Nina mumbled. "I'd been fired so I tried to earn money with an arm wrestling challenge, he just showed up one day ... and kept coming back. Only when I went looking for human allies did I learn who Chris really was. I still don't know whether they knew all along who I was, or it was some freaky coincidence. He won't tell me anything. I guess I should have told you."

"I saw you and him. It was his touch that turned you human shaped again," she said, and left out everything after that because it was just too unsavory. "But I'm glad you're telling me now."

"Are you angry with me?"

"No," she said. "Feelings are errant and hard to control. Lord Michael knows I myself have been betrayed by mine."

"Treachery ... yes, that's a good word for it. I fell for his face of the perfect prince. All that time, there wasn't a single moment I suspected he was anything but a kind man. He was so convincing, I don't think he was acting. There was no reason to ... which one is his real face?"

"They are both faces of his, and unlike with me, his comes out even without demonic pact," Jeanne said. "Lord Michael was a god who had the power to purify me. You are just a woman on earth, the way he is a man. It is no magic that brings out his darker face nor are you in a position to purify his evil away. You must approach this as a mortal woman who has suffered at her lover's hands."

"But I'm not. I'm a dragon too, and it was my responsibility to take him down."

"You're not obligated to be the knight or saint of anyone, Nina. From what I understand, you only came to be a bounty hunter. The scope of an kingdom of such magnitude is not yours."

"No, you don't understand! Azazel and Dante and everyone else went through so much trouble to give me a chance to kill him, and I wouldn't because I love him." Nina's face crunched up as if she cried, but no tears came. She covered her eyes with her arms. "Every day people suffer and die. They could have been free already and they're not because I cannot make myself hate him enough that I remember he must die when I become a dragon."

"As a dragon, you can only act on how you feel, right? Are you really yourself as a dragon, or is that only half a face?"

"I do everything in halves, that's true."

Jeanne regretted her words at once. Surely it would not do Nina any good to hear that when her half blood nature already brought her scorn at home.

Nina just burried her face further into her knees, and Jeanne waited for her to choose her words.

"He did so much worse to you. I should be helping you, not the other way around. If I'd done it, there wouldn't have been a war and we'd all be free already."

"To be honest, there would be a power vacuum, and no guarantee the next king would even want to abolish slavery and retun peace with the gods," Jeanne said. "When I saw that the world is larger than you, I mean you alone must not bear it because it is impossible. So there was an unforeseen reality. That was not a choice you made, Nina."

"Still, I want to solve it, but I don't know how," Nina said. "If there's a way to take all of me into my dragon self, I have to find it. I cannot let there be a third time where my stupid heart gets people killed. I should have worked on this sooner, because I learned I can build an immunity just from exposure. I could have found a way already."

Jeanne sighed. Words had run out, and nothing she said seemed to help Nina. Perhaps she wasn't qualified to even try advising on sin and attribution.

"Don't tell my mother, okay? She would worry sick. Not Azazel either, a lot of our friends died because of this," Nina asked.

"I understand, I won't," she said. "But please know, if you want to talk about it I will be here. I can't solve your block or your feelings, but maybe it will just help to tell me. I often find support in letting lord Michael know of my troubles, maybe it will help you too."

"Thank you," Nina said. "And you should tell me too. I bet there's a lot my village gets wrong about knights and kings and pyres."

Jeanne nodded and absolved Nina quietly, while wondering whether her inability to help Nina move on was because somewhere in a deep, dark corner, she held spite for the girl. Hopefully it was only because she wasn't wise enough.

· · · · · · ·

The wisest had gathered within the central house above the waterfall, along with a few less wise people, but that wasn't smart to say out loud. Qhispe sat central to the main room, surrounded by a flock of other oldies all too inhuman to go out into the human world. Opposite of them near the entrance was a bench for the visitors, and on either side a curved row with a few prominent village members. The circle of judgment.

On the bench sat Nina's guests. Azazel slumped forward with his elbows on his knees, eyes turned down. Jeanne sat on the other hand sat very proper and alert, looking like she was ready to burst into apologies or defenses whatever was needed. Nina herself had a spot between them, but stood as soon as Qhispe said her name.

"Nina, you not only revealed your nature while you were gone without approval, but actively involved yourself in a war against humanity. What do you say for yourself?"

"I didn't know I didn't have permission, okay?" Nina crossed her arms. "And I don't think that's what Mati would have told, and you're leaving things out. It's not against humanity, but against an evil king who happens to be human!"

"We're saying exactly what matters : your actions could spark retaliation. Furthermore, you have brought one of the most renowned knights to our home, and a demon who serves under the current supreme lord of hell," Qhispe said. "You are playing with lives, child."

"I didn't reveal it to any humans," Nina said. "Though I guess a few of them figured out out."

Not that she had expected this to go any other way.

"Let's assume for a moment you haven't been followed and our secret is safe ... up until the point you kill this king. The entire world will know that their savior from hell's evil, their beloved king, was killed by a dragon. An ally to demons no less. People already suspect something is off around this area, but they leave us alone and do nothing but gossip because we do not give them reason to be aggressive. That will change if you succeed, and we can expect to be dealing with any army they can still send. Skybeasts, airships, fire and explosions, those can all kill us. A well planned siege would starve us. Did you consider this when you agreed to partake in that rebellion?"

"That won't happen! If Charioce falls, Jeanne and Mugaro will lead the people to a better place. Right, Jeanne?"

But Jeanne just averted her face.

"You were the greatest knight of the human tribes, right? Their hero. Who better than to explain my people what's going on? If you take a lead against Charioce, I bet you'd make the world a better place!"

"No, if I act alone, no good comes from it," Jeanne said.

"Of course it will. You can just inspire the people not to attack us!"

Jeanne might as well be flayed when she spoke, "At my hands, the gods who restrained Bahamut during the hours of crisis have died. My sin has caused thousands of deaths. I have no business making such judgment nor promises, Nina. You will find few who carry greater guilt than I do."

Wait, what?

Qhispe thought the same and wanted to know more, but Nina lost all track of the conversation as her mind reeled. Perhaps not as bad as learning who Chriss truly was, but still ... Jeanne? It shouldn't surprise her at all, she'd even hinted at sins, but this? It didn't fit with Jeanne's kindness.

If she really thought about it, she had never seen Chris display any actual contempt for the suffering all around. He'd always explained it away, but Jeanne hated him. Was that only because she was a victim of it, and wouldn't mind otherwise? Who else around her was different than she thought?

Grasping at the present, she caught up to the conversation. Qhispe questioned Jeanne on her actions afterward, while Azazel shifted his legs so the other one was pulled up. Pretty sure she'd heard one of those dismissive little sounds in there. What was he suddenly so irritated at?

"And your thoughts on your kingdom?" Qhispe asked Jeanne.

"I believe Charioce XVII's reign must end. I have no fondness of the former king, but this is worse. Even my own people are enslaved when it suits him. I cannot do anything, but if any of this powerful clan could, perhaps the world stands a chance. I just am not qualified to partake in his downfall. Perhaps you can do so better, closer to the gods as you still appear to be."

That got the entire room arguing. Zlata stood up and said, "No way. We're not doing this! We've always kept out of the rest of the world and should keep it like this!"

"If I may say something ..." Ladislao stood up, bowed and said, "I've been in the cities near the capital and have succeeded at laying low. Rumors of Nina's activities spread. I visited Anatae but failed to find her. However, during the rebellion I saw Charioce aided by other shape shifting dragons. He already knows our kind exists. The ones I saw did not have a collar and were in such a position they could fly away : see, their rebellion had a holy child capable of shutting down their primary weapon of the humans."

"I see. This king is not hostile to all demons, just those from Satan's old order," Qhispe said.

"So what?" Nina said. "Even if he doesn't go all out, what he does right now still is evil. Anyone who's been to the big cities can tell you : the demons are kept as slaves or starve in the slums or are forced to kill each other in the arenas. Jeanne as a human suffered too and Mugaro isn't the only innocent child dying! How can you just dismiss this all when we have the power to do something? I'm immune, that's probably something we all share. Just a few of us could free everyone in the capital, and from there on we can—"

"Enough," Qhispe said, not harshly, but firm enough to allow no arguing. "I have to prioritize the fate of our clans. We have come a long way to distance our people from the reign of hell, toiled greatly to settle ourselves on the earth and left the ways of violence behind us. We will not pick a fight with that king and his strange weapons, especially not for the legions of hell. We owe them nothing. Our relations with humans may be strained, but we need not have war with them."

"Charioce wages war on the gods too! Were you not allies once?" Nina asked, but she already knew she was losing this.

"We are neutral, and our ties to the gods is only that of allies. Perhaps if any of them approached me and asked for aid, backed by a good strategy, maybe. But even then I would take caution. As of yet, there is no provocation that justifies us going to war. Or would any of those who worked among humans say otherwise? What would happen, you think, if our kind became known, as may just happen due to Nina's actions?"

To Nina's sinking hope, Ladislao continued.

"The king already employed two of our more outwardly demonic kin," Ladislao said. "And he employs demons among the Orleans Knights too. We are not hell he knows, and he has much to lose after the recent war. We can expect some very aggressive job offers if he were to show up on our door, but not outright violence. We are even safer than before, unlike when hell reigned."

Azazel had listened to all of it without nary a movement, now he tensed. Nina wanted to say something defensive, but still had no good answer for his plans for Anatae.

"If I am not mistaken, you are a fallen angel," Qhispe said to Azazel. "Where we from within chose to distance ourselves from hell's ways, you from the outside submerged yourself. I take it you have the carving stick to go along with it?"

"Yes."

"And if your lord were to take over the human kingdom, could you garantee our safety?" Qhispe asked Azazel. "Heaven might just be too weak to make a difference for us otherwise."

Azazel looked up for the first time. "I cannot."

"What do you mean?" Nina asked.

"I cannot even guarantee my own people their safety. Not by my hand, let alone lord Lucifer's."

Nina recalled he'd said before Lucifer wasn't acting. Maybe that meant more.

Ladislao put a hand on Nina's shoulder. "There's no point invoking fallen gods. They are worst of all, they chose evil."

"Tch." Right here, she knew that meant something like you moron.

"You disagree? Then tell me, what kind of person are you?" Ladislao asked. "What world would you leave behind?"

"That's not what I disagree with. I've slaughtered hundreds for fun, I earned my reputation. It's that you say we our fall was a choice."

"You're not making this easier," Jeanne whispered.

"What is there to make easy?" The scathing tone took over and he stood up with his wings unfolding. "They know what the demon courts have done to the surface world."

"From the devil's mouth, there you have it," Ladislao said.

Zlata, Militsa and few of their friends stood up, almost encircling Azazel as he tried to leave.

Azazel didn't even blink, he just jumped up at the roof, striking a hand around the smoke hole and out he was. A few black feathers drifted down only to be blown aside as a ripple of force came from Qhispe.

"Sit down!" We're also not going to pick a fight with any demons." Qhispe gestured at Jeanne. "I'll be giving them a ride to Vanaheimr, then this business will over. Peacefully."

"But—" Tzala started, only to be cut off when Qhispe shot her a glare.

"Girl, these are my final words. This meeting is dismissed, but I'll gladly recall it if anyone does anything like provoke Lucifer."

They accepted that. Nina cast a hopeless look at Ladislao, who just ruffled her hair and said, "You're too young to know just how much it is important we protect ourselves. Keep your friends for all I care, but no rebellions. You're in over your head."

"I am, but that doesn't mean it's not needed. If nobody else does—"

He leaned over. "Nina, do you want to die out there and leave your mother all alone?"

She shook her head, and he left it at that.

As the room emptied, Nina sat next to Jeanne. "Why did you say so little? Can't you as hero of the human people do something?"

"There is not enough will to resist among the humans," Jeanne said. "And what sway I might have is less than Charioce suspects."

"Are you afraid those crimes you mentioned are going to be public?"

"I must say, a little, but moreso what I might do. People's fear are not entirely unfounded."

"What if they'd somehow come to see who Chris really is?" she whispered. "Jeanne? We have to stop him."

"I don't think I can help you," Jeanne muttered.

She had to, but if nobody worked along how did she start? How to even get people on her side, when she didn't even know anyone well enough? Now Jeanne had also turned out to be a mass murderer ... how the hell did she manage to always get close to mass murderers? How many other people were secretly mass murderers?

· · · · · · ·

Jeanne returned to Libushe's home by carriage. When she stepped out, Azazel was already waiting to get in. She stayed in the door, blocking it. "You could just sleep down there and stop Nina from fretting."

"I don't sleep," he said, prickly but not moving. The way he glared at her was new.

"If you have something to say, then s—"

"How dare you play the suffering saint."

"What? I assure, you am not playing at anything."

"Quit the act, I don't need your bullshit martyrdom to overshadow out my sins before a crowd. A worse murderer than me? What are you even going on about?"

"Wouldn't you know? You were there during the crisis at Eibos," she said. "When I murdered the gods and thereby unleashed Bahamut, it killed millions. I know what it's like to—"

"You're serious." He looked stunned for a second. "How can you ... it's not the bloody same."

"Perhaps I didn't go pick random people to torment, but the cost of lives is surely higher. Likewise, I might not have acted out of sadism, but I gave in to a demonic power and it set free all the hatred I had bottled up for the gods. I fell, the way you did. The result is a great loss of lives."

"Oh, shut up, you were just mind controlled. That is nothing like my rebellion, or anything that happened after that!"

"Mind control?"

"Tch. Did Kaisar never tell you about Martinet or did you decide it didn't matter? The captain brat couldn't convince his thief friend to kill him after years of murder attempts, do you really think he's got a secret world destruction wish to have unravelled?"

"That's exactly why he might have been vulnrable," Jeanne sputtered. "Favaro Leone was hardly the purest soul."

"Do you even know how he took the potion?"

"I wasn't there. Were you?" Jeanne said.

"No, but I know demonic pacts. They're dissolved with magic, not medicine. The zombie girl, your lieutenant's friend, she is a doctor."

Jeanne shook her head. "Kaisar's little friend had nothing to do with this."

"Yes she did! I was in the room when she made the damn anti dote! Martinet developed a physical ... something. Like a pact, it transfers power of the demon lord to the host, but it also changes the mind. The way zombies are controlled by a zombie master. The zombie girl needed only an example of a demonic channel and she could reverse engineer it."

Jeanne shook her head. It had been Michael who had cured her. Now he really was lying. "I'm not being deluded what happened, I remember every second as clear as day. I'd hoped you'd keep the serpents tongue down, but I suppose you can't help it. I will not be deterred to think lightly of my sins and that is the end of that. Please move."

He just spread his wings, blocking the way out more. "Your sins? I bet you never even had a bloodthirsty thought in your life. You have no idea what kind of thinking it takes get up decide, good day for some murder."

"I suppose it will feel easy because you've been engulfed by the darkness for so long," Jeanne said with maddening certainty." I've been both holy and cursed only for a few hours, but is nothing about the latter is—"

"You don't know better what it is to be a demon than I do!" Azazel's wings flared, the white in his eyes growing. For the first time since their recent meeting she felt like she stood before a hostile demon, but all that happened is that he flew away.

The boards where he'd jumped off had broken. Jeanne carefully went around them and met Nina's worried mother with assurances. This really was nothing but the exact kind of spiritual conflict she'd expected from the get go, and it was remarkable that all her time with Azazel had been so low on tension, all darkness considered. No need to fret, all was well. He'd spooked her a little, surely that was the reason she shook a little in her knees, and not because she feared he might be honest.

Unwanted, an old drunk conversation from when Favaro had been one of her knights drifted to remembrance. "Transforming back healed the wound, but that damn shit should've worked faster. Amira her last control when it looked like I was dead. She might still be with us."

· · · · · · ·

Nina was in the middle of cleaning up after the kids and trying not to fret about the reveal that not two but three people in her life were mass murderers when Azazel barged in. His arms were full of plants and rocks and bark, and on his face was the first normal look of determination. Without a word, he unfolded a wing and nudged her along to her room with it. There, he dumped it all on the floor.

"Uhm, what is this for?" she said as she closed the door to lock the swarm of curious kids out.

"Jeanne is driving me up the wall with her suffering sinner nonsense! She won't believe me when I say she was mind controlled, so we're going to prove it." He gestured at the mess on the floor. "Help me make a possession potion."

Oh thank goodness, it was just two after all.

One look across the haphazard way everything was thrown together, and Nina asked, "Do you actually know how to brew stuff?"

"I was in the room when Rita made the antidote," he said. "She told Bacchus and Hamsa what she needed and they went out and bought that stuff, and my memory is better than a mere human's."

Really, did he expect her to believe he knew what he was doing after hearing Rita complain about his utter lack of self care for weeks? Nina just crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, I wasn't actually watching," he said. "But I've made a lot of pacts and I know when it's right."

"Right."

Jeanne had mentioned something about sin, but Nina hadn't realized it was that bad. So it was worth getting her room a little dirty, anything that'd make things better. So, she snatched a kettle with warm water and a few towels to keep the floor clean.

Once she was back in her room, Azazel had already separated herbs into piles and was now mixing two in his hands; having a lot of magical snakes made it easier to get things done. She sat opposite of him and tried to help, which mostly involved her grinding things in her hands. He had trouble with that.

After some pushing, he explained what everything did, but it was hard to keep track of. Some of the herbs had effects and powers that didn't match at all what the doctors in her own village could do with them, yet it worked when he used it.

Nettles were just stringy to her, but apparently in the right combination had magical powers of infection somehow. A lot of the other plants were local and he just hoped they were close enough.

Quartzes were conductors to him, but balancers to her town. Grinding them to fine dust and ingesting them sounded like a bad idea, but apparently this had happened to Jeanne before so it'd probably be fine. Assuming this was what Rita had meant when she'd muttered about counteracting quartz crystalization.

Claws were handy for cutting rock, less so for finely holding small spoons; he couldn't do it with his black hand at all so Nina covered parts where one had to add tiny pinches at the same time. Of course, Azazel could levitate things close to him and manifest snakes with fine precision. He wouldn't say it, but he didn't manage that precision anymore. Worse, the snakes emerging from his flesh caused his arms to shake. Nina was sure it'd have to hurt.

"Hey, maybe we have some medicine that can fix that problem." She nodded at the snake.

"It's nothing plants can fix," he said. "Just focus on this."

Of course.

Did did try to focus, but the actual magic was incomprehensible to Nina. She could feel the magic move, but not interpret it while Azazel conjured circles and flicked flames and turned goo purple without any visible prompt. Could all demons do magic like this, had her own people lost it?

By the time Azazel levitated droplets from his palm into a small vial, she still had no idea, and a lot of curiosity.

"Where's that furry pet of yours?" he asked.

"Meep Meep? Nah, I'll try it myself!" She snatched it, dodging his hand and two snakes before gulping it down.

It didn't know what to with her.

It teethered on the edge of her hybrid soul, laying over her like a veil and trying to subdue all thought. It might have taken over if not for her dragon reflex to flare up. It didn't push her to transformation outright, but the pulse returned and washed it away. She folded her hands before her heart and dismissed the energy, just to get rid of the transformation altogether.

Left was a tickling sensation and rather amusing knowledge.

"Didn't take, but only cause I'm too magical. It'll probably work on Jeanne."

"What is wrong with you? That wasn't tested!"

"It is now!" she said with a grin. "So, was the command you put in it something like go get me cake?"

"What? No."

"And there's this very clear sense you don't want anyone to know the cake is for you."

"I don't want a cake! I just thought it would be something you could do without it looking suspicious."

"Uh huh." Totally going to get him a cake somewhere. "Alas, I'm afraid we don't have cake in this village, but you've got plenty of time to figure how to hint me which type you want before the next town. I've got a little money now, but don't make it too big. You still owe me an apology anyway, so maybe it'll just be a slice, not a whole one."

"I don't want cake shut up and tell me where Jeanne is."

She directed him where to go, and remembered her mother had rules. Also, knowing Azazel the command Jeanne would get wouldn't involve cake now. Probably be flashier, and maybe the house should be empty.

She found her mother and said, "Mom, I know I promised to help babysitting, but could we have some privacy? We need to do some magic, but it's pretty delicate, so if you could keep the kids from the upper level that's be great."

Her mother gave her a peculiar look, then her eyes widened and she said. "Oh! Of course. Sure. No problem at all. I'll take them out for an air game."

· · · · · · ·

Jeanne was just in the middle of taking a careful walk around the boardwalk when Azazel swooped her along. It got her so nauseaus she sat down wherever the trip ended and couldn't take a look or complain before she'd steadier herself.

The end point turned out to be just inside Nina's room. Azazel jumped over her, since she blocked the floor before the window.

"Azazel! I have a door. Did you even ask her?"

"This was faster."

She slapped his wing. "We're not in a hurry. You ask next time, got it?"

He grumbled something that might be affirmative.

Nina hunched before Jeanne, holding out a small cup."Look what we made!"

The thick liquid within made her want to crawl into the earth, before it made her crawl out of her skin.

"It's the potion that Martinet guy made. We recreated it so you can take it again and see it's real possession and not you," Nina said.

Azazel dropped down on the bed, arms behind his head. "Like I tried to say before, Martinet would have instilled a command upon it, like "take your fancy ass god killer sword, go to Eibos and murder the gods upholding the barrier" with a complimentary cue on how to ride a flying demon. I don't know how to do that last one, but commands I handle. You can't know ahead of time what the command will be."

Jeanne gave Nina an incredulous look. "You want me to let Azazel possess me?"

"It's not real possession, dammit." He conjured up a snake from his palm; not the kind that emerged from the flesh."It puts some of my power with will manifest within you. Like these things. You will carry out what is programmed and any new command I give you, but not what I think afterward. Take it and quit whining."

Jeanne looked between cup, demon and Nina's hopelessly optimistic smile as the latter said, "Don't worry, I was here the entire time and I'm positive it's not going to explode or poison you. This stuff doesn't work on me, so it's gotta be something that's only bad on humans!"

That could have been more assuring.

Ineffective words aside, nothing about this scenario was like Martinet's temptation. She wasn't in a dungeon, rather had broken out of a dungeon with Nina's help, and seen Azazel broken out by Kaisar, who once was his enemy. Azazel's behavior since forth had been nothing but helpful. That he lacked the motivation to do something truly evil seemed more likely than that he was an extremely good actor with an indiscernible yet solid reason to potentially aggravate a whole village of dragons.

A thousand past prayers screamed she shouldn't do this, treachery all over again, she was in a village of demons, don't do it again!

One single voice of reason just told her they had no evil motivation.

"It's okay," Nina said, and either she was the best liar or the most stupid person, or perhaps this truly was safe.

It wasn't a voice at all that compelled her to take the test, just a feeling that Nina drew upon. Some way of trust she'd lost.

Her hand trembled, and she couldn't make it stop even as she swallowed the potion.

The same bitter, salty flavor and the familair lick of darkness, seeping into her soul and wrapping around her heart and pulling her physical form along, dressing her in a simulation of her devil's armor of ten years ago with more of Azazel's style thrown in.

Azazel didn't look it lately but he was terribly powerful, a bastion ready to invoke for guidance from hell's fires if only she wanted to.

But she did not. She wanted something very different. As the potion took over, that was all she wanted, not even to think about anything else.

Jeane got up, went out the door hopping on one leg and flapping her arms, all the was around the circuluar boardwalk of the house. It was vitally important that she did so, and thus she paid haste to it. Quacking along the way.

She returned to the room and stayed in place, still a duck without being a duck.

"Maybe we should keep her like this, easier," Azazel said.

Nina pulled at his wing, and he tossed Jeanne a small black sphere that she swallowed on another untold command. The darkness seeped out of her, leaving her behind in a lighter variant of the dark armor and ... oh gods ... profoundly aware of the mortifying act she had just performed.

"How about you tell us about your deep, dark obsession with ducks that you've surely been fighting against for years," Azazel said with an insufferable smirk.

Jeanne's offense was burried below the avalanche of everything being so wrong. There had been no struggle against the darkness. The struggle preceding her falter had been just what she'd felt it was at first : sorrow at betrayal, not the pain of a hidden evil. She'd spent ten years believing that had been the start of darkness, buthere was no devil in her heart anymore than that there was a clownish duck.

She had not murdered millions by breaking the barrier on Bahamut.

Ten years that guilt had defined her very life and now ...

Azazel lying there looking smug was so ... so ... offensive precisely because he was being mostly harmless.

She still tried to find some hidden string that could explain this all as some evil plot but ...

The door burst open and there stood Libushe. She took in the whole scene with horrified eyes that crossed the potion and ingreients before settling on Nina.

"Nina ... you're not having sex."

Dead silence fell, during which Nina and Azazel respectivelly took pink and purple hues.

"Mwuhuehwhat?" Nina blubbered.

"The village is in a ruckus because they saw that dark possession spell cast on that poor woman. Nina, how could you?"

"I'm fine," Jeanne said automatically. "I'm better."

Literary. The throbbing in her head, the sickness, all was gone.

Jeanne ran her fingers over her bare right arm, trying to find the whip scars from the past years. A cut had been in her flesh where she'd pried out a shard, before learning to reject its toxic power. All gone. Even her usual muscle had returned, perhaps moreso than before now the usual had involved hard farm labor again.

The first transformation had put her back into perfect health, even her missing teeth were back. Mildly hungry and thirsty, but not unbearably so. A perfect medium. Was it just some cover up perhaps, because the spell needed her to be optical, some poor bandage of magic ... maybe Michael had healed her so transforming back didn't break her ... but he hadn't been able to heal himself ...

Favaro Leone had been shot in the chest with an arrow and lived. Dark magic transformations healed by default and left behind a healthy body even in its absence.

She wasn't a mass murderer, she had no inner devil, and even if she had, it might only have meant the ability to heal because the murders were the commands of Martinet.

Blurbs of a heated conversation in the present reached her consciousness. Oh, right. Reality included being in a town of dragons.

"But I asked permission!" Nina pouted. "You said yes!"

"When I said I was alright with practicing arcane magic in your room, I thought you were being shy about telling me to please not walk in on you losing your virginity. I might not be most keen on your partner being a murderous demon, but I understood that it's difficult to come by guys who can uh, get out unscathed if you were to transform. I appreciated that sought my cooperation and would've put up with your room possibly exploding, but I find you were practicing actual dark magic? Not in my house, young lady."

Azazel got purple enough to match Nina and was inching towards the window.

"And you! We let you stay her on good faith, just for you to pull out the arcane magic within the week? The barrier over these area is extremely fragile and important, and there apparently is a tyrant out there hunting my daughter down, and you just get her to play around with evil pacts?"

At that last part there was a flicked of anger to mingle with his mortification.

Amid her crisis of faith Jeanne head enough presence of mind to remember the duck thing had not been nice. She sat down in the window, daring him to shove her aside.

Azazel looked miffed and just went through the wall, leaving behind splinters and feathers.

This was her reality now. She wasn't a mass murderer, dark magic healed, Lucifer's right hand backed off by being given a stern look, and the biggest problem right now was a mother arguing with her daughter over not fornicating out of wedlock and with a demon. This was ...

This was seven layers of ridiculous.

This was also a dillema she could not easily address here. Soon she was be in heaven, surely she could get her answers there. The way things were now, she might actually stand before the gods without the burden of an unrepentable sin. Later. Jeanne gathered her worries, folded them in a box for later, and acted.

"Miss Libushe, please understand, it's something I needed," she said, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "I have been gravely misinformed about the nature of demonic power and they did good by revealing the truth to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember what I alluded to the night we arrived? I'm the one who killed the angels that had kept Bahamut back ... at least I thought so," she said. The words that came out didn't come close to encompassing what she felt, and in a way that made it worse. "Azazel claimed that those were not indicative of my nature, but the result of possession. We put it to a test. You need no concern yourself over this type of magic breaking protective barriers lest he'd given me orders to kill the source of it. He has not."

"There. She's not mind controlled on saying that, you can just ask Qhispe to check, okay?" Nina said.

Libushe gave Jeanne a searching look, particularly at the strange armor. Jeanne took the band off her head; a useless ornament of twists with a single feather, attached to a chain of now white squares. Handing it to Libushe, she said, "There was darkness here, but it vanished with the antidote. Feel free to have it tested by any sage, if you believe I am not reliable."

The heavy sigh and heavenward glance were clear enough. A mother's resignation.

Nina didn't know she'd won already and went on."Come on mom, you can't exactly ground me anyway, I have to go to heaven soon," Nina wheedled. "And it won't happen again."

"I suppose it was a misunderstanding, but next time you should be more clear about it," Libushe said. "I now have to deal with explaining this to the entire village and where do I even begin? They are already so at edge because of there being a demon."

Jeanne took a deep breath, and straightened herself out. "I believe there is something more urgent for you to bring clarity on. Please tell your daughter the truth."

"The truth about what?" Nina asked.

Libushe dittered and wouldn't look at Nina anymore. Jeanne added, "How is she ever going to understand herself if she doesn't know where to begin? At least the truth is a starting point."

"Tell me what?" Nina asked.

"You see, dear ... uhm ... why don't I go cook something and get Jeanne some new clothes? I have to think about how to put a few things first."

"It's alright, perhaps it will help if I go around in this to make the change clear. I mean to have a few more words with Azazel anyway," Jeanne said.

And she ought to pray too, but how to even begin asking lord Michael about any of this?

Maybe she'd get herself some new clothes first.

· · · · · · ·

El sat alone within a domed sanctuary, eyes closed to lock out any distractions left. The first whispers of praying voices had begun to reach nur, always the same mantra over and over again.

"Saint Jegudiel the Archangel, angel of praise to God, pray for us, that in every act, in every job, in every work, and in every labor we may constantly carry out the will of the Lord gladly and in praise for all He has given us. Amen."

According to Gabriel this would make nur more powerful as it carried faith, but nur didn't feel anything other than a weakening of the clarity the unicorn had left nur with. Part of El wanted to go back out and meet the unicorn again, but Gabriel wouldn't allow it. Even Sofiel's time with El was more regulated now.

The silence and lack of stimulation was supposed to be enlightening, but it was almost unbearable. Nothing all around, but the praying voices that nur could not answer.

So when the knock on nur's head came startled El so much, nur wings shot out and eyes went open.

Before nur stood a smiling angel with a familiar face : the one who had helped nur get to Bacchus and Hamsa before. A stark contrast of browns and geometic shapes and ornate cloth against the monotone marble of the sanctuary, even the angel's voice was a soft and vibrant, "Hello there, El Mugaro. Call me the Magedatidot."

"I'm ... I'm Jegudiel," ne muttered. "And how did you get in?"

"You are not, and the Magedatidot is only a title I've been given too." Ve folded vun long dress up and sat opposite of nur. "Both of us have been given names and fate has no purpose for us. I got in because I do not feed on faith, but fate and folly."

"You're weird," ne said. "Why did you help me get to Bacchus and Hamsa before?"

"Cause you need to learn, but things went a little wrong now." Ve gave an apologetic little smile.

"I failed to bring down Charioce, I know. I can't heal the world yet. I failed my destiny."

The Magedatidot shook vun head. "As the prophet I declare no. Fate finds you rather much of an obstruction that must be worked around and it favors Charioce XVII. All practical things taken into consideration, he would have won no matter how good you are at healing. The power of Dromos goes deeper while you cure the surface alone. Your way will be by another."

"And what would that even be?" El asked. "Heaven is my only teacher now. I still have to save my mother and everyone else and ..."

"Azazel too, you can say it. I already know and will not tell, I see no sin in attachment."

"But ... but he's done so much ... at least Gabriel says so."

"Gabriel is not lying about what Azazel has done, buuuut ...," the Magedatidot said. "One question you must keep with you now : what could you hold, goodness or people, when you are asked to do something with the future?"

"Jegudiel, who are you talking to?" The entrance gate opened, and Dione's forehead emerged.

"Oh, sorry, must go," and within a blink the Magedatidot was gone.

· · · · · · ·

Goddamit why were humans so humiliating. There was nothing left to lose to his pride as a demon lord, but still something as a demon, and this was so not okay. Why did humans have to be so weird about sex, and in such a way it get even him on the spot?

When a carriage door opened he hoped it wouldn't be Nina, and hope was met for once. Jeanne entered. She'd shed the transformation outfit in favor of a colorful local travel style, and cut some of her long hair. She didn't struggle to walk or look sickly anymore.

Confident but still weary, she took a seat on the couch adjacent to his.

"I wanted to thank you. I think it helped me reconsider something I need to face," Jeanne said, because she was a fool.

"Taken, you can go now."

"Actually, there was a lot of panic about your little stunt," Jeanne said. "Qhispe has agreed we'll leave sooner to alleviate said panic. Did you need to choose something so visible?"

"I know you knights and your damn honor. It's a frame of display, you would never have chosen something that disgraces yourself. Then again, if you can convince yourself you wanted to kill Michael, you're probably half mad already."

"About that. It is not madness, it is faith. I was given the impression the world works a certain way, which you challenged to the core. If dark magic did not enhance any inner evil of mine, and it is as you claim a matter of one's own choices, then why are so many demons I have met so evil?"

Aaaand there it was. The big fancy existential questions he had no answer to. "Don't ask me. I don't even know whom you met."

"Gods know how, or perhaps they do not, but the transformation healed me," she said. "There is so much that needs to be understood better. Aren't you at least curious to understood the nature of heaven and hell?"

He closed his eyes. "No."

"Then what do you want?"

Don't bother, don't bother, don't bother ...

"I want my people to be free," Azazel said. "And once I would have them restored to our former glory, but now I don't know what that would even mean."

"Perhaps you should come with us to heaven, and we can unravel a better future from there. I do not believe the gods meant El any harm even if it appeared abduction. Surely they believed to be saving El from danger, but if El was your ally then we can clarify that. The wisdom of the gods might not be as all encompassing as I had thought, but it has supported the world for a long time."

Supported the fields of faith. Hah.

He did want to see Mugaro again, or at least know she was alright. Breaking Mugaro out of heaven would be impossible, though. Now he got to this point, it wasn't like there was a safer place to take El anyway. Earth was all but ruled by Charioce, hell was locked up or too desolate. Or ruled by Lucifer, who might just consider Mugaro an asset.

"What do you even think you'll find in heaven?" he asked.

"I am not sure," she said. Hmm, doubt. Better than he'd expected. Maybe she wouldn't turn him over right away.

"Azazel, I believe we both have a lot to learn about ourselves, and I truly think we can make that start in heaven. If for no other reason, you must understand it is the one place Charioce has not yet planted his flag in."

Helheim was still untouched. He could go there with his tail between his legs, maybe even convince Nina to go and never mention Mugaro. Maybe Lucifer would make a better plan. Maybe not. Probably not, if he returned with a story of so much failure.

"Fine. I'll go." See how long he lasted.

Jeanne would have said something else if not for the inhuman scream down the tree. Nina.

Azazel shot off up, pulled Jeanne along and landed before the tree, some distance from a gathering crowd.

Nina just came to a halt on the grass far from the tree, surrounding by the telltale pink light. She had her arms clutched across her chest and teary eyes wide, almost like she was mad.

Jeanne ran for her, holding out her hands brimming with magic potential.

"No! Let me try. I'll stay me ..."

Despite her effort, the pink light took over, and two women stepped back to transform into dragons. One of them pulled a massive chain from between the tree roots.

"Wait, she won't do anything!" Jeanne called, just to be ignored.

Azazel unleashed a dozen snakes from between his wings, blocked the way before either dragon. "Nobody's being tied down."

Nina's history of rampages would have them set to subdue her, but he wasn't at all patient for that kind of thing now.

They didn't try, less so for respecting him and more because what Jeanne managed. It didn't look like anything, but the light diminished.

Jeanne began to take step backs until it was only Nina holding the light, her eyes closed in concentration.

Libushe ran up, a cloak in her hands, but Nina did not transform. Her expression turned calmer with every breath.

By the time Nina was stable, she hadn't even lost her clothing. Dropping her arms, she turned to her mother and said something.

Azazel landed next to Jeanne. "What was that about?"

"It's not my place to tell you," Jeanne said. "You can ask her yourself later."

The crowd dispersed, Nina and her mother went back inside, and Azazel killed the time by retrieving the carriage.

The hippogryph got a last meal before picking up Nina and Jeanne, along with a flock of children and Libushe. Azazel flew along outside, avoiding the crowd.

Aside of Qhispe's home was an open area where the carriage could land. Qhispe already stood there and was idly complaining about her travelling plans and paranoid villagers.

Azazel kept away from the farewell rigamole, which started with Nina hugging her mom followed by group hugging the kids and promising to bring the kids better than souvenirs : an angel. She no doubt meant Mugaro.

Qhispe shuffled away from the group and enveloped herself with pure light. This dragon had once carried the weary gods back to Vanaheimr, so she had to be large. He wasn't prepared for how much.

Qhispe as a dragon had dark brown scales with white markings, long gray manes and even some gold ornaments on her spikes. Unlike Nina, she was elegant and had an even back, and even the bone extensions on her legs were a row of multiple movable spikes rather than the useless blade at Nina's forearms. She was so colossal, her head alone was bigger than the whole of Nina's dragon form. If she shared Nina's immunity, she would be able to just land on Charioce's castle without even a real fight, and that would be the end of it. And a whole village of them ... hell would not have fallen with them on their side. What had they ruined so long ago, to lose this tribe to the human world?

The humans just stood in her shadow with simple wonder that was soon replaced by more farewells. Libushe gave Jeanne a hug that surprised her, but which she readily accepted.

"Take care of her, please," Libushe told Jeanne.

"I'm afraid she'll just end up taking care of us instead," Jeanne said with a smile. "But I'll be there if she needs me."

Azazel went to the other side of the carriage before Libushe got any mushy ideas, but she followed him around anyway.

"Uhm, Azazel?"

"What?" He leaned against the carriage, didn't look at her and hoped it came across as contemptuous disregard.

"I can't pretend I'm at peace with you and everything you've dragged my daughter into, and to be honest, I'm not entirely dismissive of rumors you'll tempt my daughter to hell. But she's surrounded by good people and you haven't really tried yet, so ... I hope it stays that way."

"Ha. I wasn't very good at tempting people. Everyone I pacted with already was utter scum," he said. "I couldn't seduce Nina even if I wanted to."

"I take it you don't want to, then?"

"What for? She already wants to help the demons," he said. "What she does after that is not my concern."

"And what will you do after that?"

"I don't know." He really didn't. There was no going back to the way he'd lived before. He'd serve Lucifer, but Lucifer barely commanded him anything. He didn't know what to kill time with other than that. Mugaro would probably live with Jeanne and not need him. He'd be a problem if anything else.

If his people could even be freed from Charioce before he wiped them out.

Nina and Jeanne got in through the door on the other side, and he was just about to use that as an excuse to dodge Libushe when Qhispe picked up the carriage. Azazel's act of aloof leaning in the shadows ended up with him flat on the ground. Of course. Why wouldn't it. "If nothing else I'll become a shephard of scapegoats."

Libushe had the nerve to laugh.

He got off the ground before the hoard of kids piled onto him and waited in the air for the dragon to take off. Nina and Jeanne hung out the carriage, waving.

"Protect your friends, Nina!" Libushe called after them.

Azazel didn't doubt she would try. Even as she'd failed to kill Charioce, she'd come for him. He's much rather she'd gone for Charioce instead and let him die.

· · · · · · ·