News outlets covered it nonstop. Good thing Matt was blind because he could guess that it was probably blowing up online too.
An explosion that rocked upstate New York–no one seriously injured. Conspiracy theories were have been posted online too. A report made by an eyewitness said that the one who caused it was, in the witness' own words, a big-tittied, platinum-haired, youtuber-looking young woman in a slutty Asian get up.
Matt could feel the vein in his head pulse in annoyance. Then again, this was New York: what isn't on the news?
"Tell me you're joking." He just left Mirajane for ten hours and she comes home regaling a tale about vampires and vampire slayers–and casually blowing up one of the more affluent buildings in New York.
It was a good thing no one was seriously injured and that there were no reported fatalities, but this was just…
"It really wasn't my fault," Mirajane apologized, hunching forward. The sincerity's on her voice too, he could tell.
It's sad because Matt believed her but, "You can't just go and blow buildings like that," They were having a cup of tea on Matt's living room, "that's not how it works here." How did she even managed to destroy a building just by herself? As far as he knew, Mirajane was incompetent with explosives. Or is she?
"Yes, I agree but–"
There was a knock on the door.
Matt wondered who it could be, considering it was around ten o'clock.
What's worse was how he noticed Mirajane became alert. With clenched fists, she sat upright and maintained a stance where she could pounce at any second.
"I'll get it." Matt said, standing up.
"No, let me." Mirajane insisted, already up and walking to the door.
For a second, Matt felt the air surrounding Mirajane stir–like it was excited, but that rarely happens. And he's only really ever seen it on the first time the Iron Fist and Mirajane met.
"O great and merciful king," a man began. Two people kneeled in front of them. They were powerful-looking with frames that could have rivaled Luke Cage's build. Both men were relaxed, exuding a sure sense of reverence before Mirajane.
Huh?
"Forgive us for our transgressions!" the other yelled with such conviction and sincerity. Mirajane was surprised by their words because it was directed at her. And this was Mirajane who didn't get intimidated by Luke Cage; who didn't flinch at a Hulk episode in Stark's area of the city; and the same Mirajane who genuinely thought that Hand operatives were inconsequential.
"I'm sorry?"
One of the men, with great ceremony, looked up to meet her eyes. Mirajane saw deep sea eyes full of regret, which contradicted with his tough features. His black hair glistened with sweat under the orange light of the hallway. "We have done you a great disservice by putting you in harm's way."
"What?" Deep within Mirajane, the demons stirred. Seilah, Mirajane could tell, was smug.
"We did not mean to put you in danger!" The other, bronze-skinned, leaner but softer-looking than the other, appeared to be distraught. His mud-colored hair was disheveled and windswept, heaving a little like he was out of breath. "This we swear it!"
He made a gesture to flail himself towards Mirajane's feet but the young woman simply took a step back, settling for a stance that was defensive.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa!" Matt could feel that vein pulsing again, "Everyone, let's go over the top."
The new guests(?) declined to sit on his couch, not out of disgust or anything but with what they claimed as their rightful place.
"We are not equals with our king, seeing as we are mere subjects of our king," said brunet, standing erect–like a person with a military background, at least that's what Matt was able to discern.
Mirajane was oddly silent this whole ordeal, especially since these two men referred to her as their 'king'.
"What does that even mean?" Matt asked, leaning against a nearby door frame. Observing Mirajane and these two men proved to be difficult because Mirajane was silent, as if she's in deep thought, while the two men before her appeared to just be happy standing in front of her.
One of the males opted to speak but Mirajane beat him. "Matt," he felt her eyes on him, "can I trust you with everything I'm about to tell you within the next few minutes to stay between us?"
"That's a pretty odd request, but you have my word." Mirajane has a track record of being an honest alien. Not that she was a bad alien, but there's some precedence that aliens tended to be bad. Like Loki and those Chitauri that tried invading New York years ago.
"Well, don't get surprised too."
She introduced herself as the [Queen of Curses], or according to this person, often romanticized as [Goddess of the Chill Moon].
Matt was blind, you see, so he couldn't really describe what happened. One moment, they were having a normal conversation, the next moment the small hairs all over his body stood up. The air suddenly tasted bittersweet and then he could hear a continuous sound of what he could only describe as the 'sound of light'. When he asked Mirajane, she also told him that she has no what was happening.
"But it's your powers." Great, Matt's starting to believe all of Mirajane's malarkey. "How can you not know about your powers?"
"It's different. Magic here is different."
The being that Mirajane was able to appear out of thin air spoke, "We guess that the [Laws of Magic] here is very different from where we're from."
Sigh. Matt had the habit of doing that this past couple of minutes. "Okay…?" He doesn't sound convinced, "But why are you here now, curse queen?" He turned to Mirajane, "Why's she here?"
What he wanted to say was 'No one is making any sense right now so please explain to me, preferably in English.'
Mirajane nodded, "Well, this here is one of my demons, Seilah."
"Demon?"
"Yes," Seilah said, "D-E-M-O-N." He felt hands grabbing his and placing it over her head. Oh, those are horns.
"So, like the devil?" It was a religious thing and that's the only thing he knows as a point of reference.
Mirajane tilted her head pensively, "Kind of, but not really."
"That's more or less a title," Seilah said, taking a seat on one of the armrests of Mirajane's seat. "In our world, at least."
"Okay." Matt nodded.
Mirajane was giving him bite-sized information and the gesture's worth appreciating, "But that doesn't explain why a building in upstate New York's blown to bits."
Mirajane gave a weak laugh, as if insinuating that it was some joke. "Well that-uh, well, when I was walking home…"
"…which leads to me tracking down owner of the thralls seeing as Seilah told me that one can easily locate the progenitor of a coven seeing as it's like a fingerprint from those tv shows I watched from your television."
"I didn't know that." One of the men standing before Mirajane whispered to the other. Matt overheard it, of course. Heightened senses, and all.
"It was definitely gaudy of that Elder Vampire to set a trap right in front of her doorstep." Seilah said, crossing her legs in what Matt could 'see' as discomfort. She was sitting on an armrest. Matt may be a lawyer but he doesn't like living in a wide space so his receiving area can hold four people at most. Besides, he doesn't cultivate friendships deeper that acquaintances seeing as he has a very dangerous hobby.
Mirajane didn't react to Seilah's words and continued explaining her night, "So I wanted to just scare her a bit make her believe that avoiding me would be in her best interest."
"So you blew up a whole building for that?" Matt asked.
Seilah gave a light chortle, "If only she would."
"Seilah." Mirajane warned. When the demon shrugged and stood up, making a beeline to his modest bookshelf, Mirajane continued her story. "So I went to her floor and gave her a stern warning."
"And then she blew up the Elder Vampire's residence along with the Elder Vampire." Seilah said, nose already in one of Matt's old textbooks from college.
He 'saw' Mirajane's eyebrows furrow in concern, "It's not like I had a choice. She's already killed her victim by that point."
"Wait." Matt raised a hand, "What victim?"
This was the cue for the men to speak up. The raven-haired one appeared to hold himself more with esteem while the brunet acted more jovially.
"Our previous maste—no, the one who turned us likes to feed on live humans."
"Like a trashy TV show vampire villain."
The raven-haired one crossed his arms and placed a hand over his chin, "I am curious as to why we're still alive."
The brunet pursed his lips, eyebrows clenched. "Yeah, why are we still alive?"
"Huh?" Matt asked.
Seilah flipped the page of Matt's textbook, "Once an Elder Vampire's vanquished, his entire lineage goes with him, provided they've developed their magic enough to resist their [Vampire Imprint]."
"Maybe," the brunet began, "maybe our king knows."
His eyes immediately fell on Mirajane.
The platinum-haired young woman shrugged, "I'm afraid I also don't know myself. But maybe Seilah could explain to us."
"I haven't the foggiest idea of what you're insinuating, Master." Seilah flipped the next page.
"When you used [Macro] on them, what else did you do?"
Seilah didn't meet Mirajane's eyes, "Well, how was I to know that my [Macro] can easily overwrite the [Vampire's Imprint] on a thrall?"
"Wha–" Mirajane had another demon explain what a [Vampire's Imprint] was before processing what Seilah said, "And you didn't tell me?"
The demon shut the book close and looked into her master's eyes, "I wasn't sure of what I did until they got here."
The platinum blonde sat silently for a second before: "Are you telling me the truth?"
Seilah nodded, "Absolutely. On my name as an Etherious, and as your loyal retainer."
Both women met eye contact for the longest time before Mirajane broke it.
"If it helps," Seilah returned the book on the bookshelf and brought out another one, "At least now you have more manpower."
Matt had trouble piecing things together, "I don't follow."
Mirajane let out a frustrated huff, "Apparently, I have my own thralls now."
There was a moment of silence that passed between all the people present.
"My king, are we really that repulsive to you?" The raven-haired man said dejectedly.
Mirajane's hands were immediately waving no in front of them, "No, it's not that. What I meant to say was that I didn't ask for this, and neither did you."
"Well, the one we served before you didn't think much of us either. And she made us do a lot of things that we didn't want, now that I think about it."
That got Seilah's attention. She was all up and into the two men, looking at them from head to toe. "A thrall with free will? Or is it? How interesting."
At everyone's perplexed look Seilah continued, "Thralls, especially new ones are notoriously known for being blindly loyal to their progenitor. It was not unheard of that newly created vampires worship their creators to the point of fanaticism. They'll be like this for the first few years, sometimes decades, until they generate their own resistance to their [Vampire's Imprint] left by their progenitor."
She walked around the two males, like a predator encircling her prey, "Both of you, judging by your latent magical powers, can't be more than a few months old. Well at least that's you," she pointed to the brunet. "You on the other hand," she turned to the raven-haired, "You're probably a little over a year or two at best?"
"Well, does it hurt them? The [Vampire's Imprint] and the lack thereof, I mean?" Mirajane asked.
Seilah leaned closer on the brunet, arms crossed closely to her chest. "Are you in pain?"
Both men shook their head no.
"Good. Can we remove the compulsion on them?" Mirajane asked, "If they have their free will then getting rid of their compulsion could make them return to before they were vampires, right?"
Seilah sighed, "That's awfully naïve of you, Master." And merciful but she didn't say. "To answer your question, yes we can but I don't know what will happen."
"Why's that?"
"Three things come to mind. One: we don't know how the [Laws of Magic] work here and undoing what we've already done can inevitably and will most likely make it worse. Two: if we did, four things could happen;
A: either everything works out fine
B: the [Vampire's Imprint] returns and I don't know what happens after that
C: they turn to ghouls seeing as they are now masterless and start attacking indiscriminately, or
D: they follow their progenitor's lead and spontaneous burst into ashes."
She let that sink in for a moment. "Three: something unexpected happens. Which can either be good or bad."
Seilah turned to Mirajane, "Are you willing to make that decision with those odds, Master?"
A tense silence followed, with Mirajane and Matt out of words, Seilah occupying herself again with Matt's bookshelf and the two thralls deep in thought.
"If it helps," The brunet broke the silence, "I think I'll go with what our new king wants."
"Huh?"
"Well, you are more concerned that we've been forced into this position and gave us a chance to break free from this predicament. The one we served before you wasn't like that. She was greedy and selfish and only thought of herself."
Seilah burst his bubble, "Well, Mira here's in the same position as you. She's just as a victim of my magic as you."
"Yes but at least she asked," for the first time since the brunet entered the apartment he smiled, "And that's all that ever matters to me."
"I agree," the raven-haired man finally chimed in, "Whatever your decision is, we'll be more than happy to accommodate."
The demon nodded and turned to Mirajane, "Well?"
The woman in question was quiet before: "In that case, I have a question."
"A question?"
"A question you both must answer truthfully."
A moment passed before both men nodded. "Fire away, my king." The brunet said.
"If you were not influenced by the compulsion; if you did not feel the need to think of me as your king, will you still follow me? Will you still follow me knowing that I might leave this world? If you were your own original self, would you still follow me?" There was a stir in the air before Seilah faded back into the darkness.
Matt 'saw' Seilah turn into wisps of energy that then moved and combined with Mirajane.
The two thralls saw Mirajane transform. She resembled Seilah now, but with Mirajane's face and aura.
"As your king, I compel you to tell me the truth: if you were not in any compulsion, would you still follow me?" [Macro] was laced in her voice. Matt had to cover his ears through instinct. Heightened senses made it feel like he tasted sound too–like Mirajane's words were like honey that he could gobble up. It was only through his training that made him control himself from losing his mind to the sheer allure of Mirajane's voice.
The raven-haired man smiled, "I'll follow you. I know it will be an adventure of a lifetime."
The brunet grinned, "Yup. Until the end of time."
"I am not in need of thralls though." Mirajane said.
"We can serve you in... other ways." the brunet told her. "I was a model before this, I could earn a few bucks for you."
Mirajane shook her head, "No, I don't need money too." Lie. "I mean I don't need your money."
"Well, on the side I've also pros–" the brunet began before Mirajane cut in.
"I don't need you in that way too." Mirajane could feel her face heating up.
"We can protect you," the raven-haired man began, "not that you'd need it but we can stop people from bothering you. I'm ex-military and I've worked as a shadow before."
Mirajane shook her head, "I have no need of your services. Period."
The brunet pouted, "Well, if you'd want, we could be friends?"
The raven-haired looked at him harshly, "You! She is our king!"
Mirajane quickly diffused the situation with a raised hand. "We could be friends!"
"Awesome!" exclaimed the brunet.
"But..." trailed the raven-haired.
"Want to be my friend?" Mirajane asked.
Just like that, Matt saw the man cave, "Well, i-if it is your wish."
"And days later, something will happen in the game!"
"Oh, an event flag?" Billy Kaplan was speaking his friend during lunch time.
"What's that?"
"In video games, especially in Japanese visual novels–that's Japanese novels in game form," Billy gushed, "event flags are situations in which the main character, that's us the players, advances the plot of the story. If it's a JRPG, it is most usually a signal to start a sidequest."
"Then that's just a plot point. But Japanese." His friend said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right!" Billy laughed.
"You're such a weeb." his friend laughed with him.
Their moment of laughter was cut at the appearance of a troll. "Well, well, well, looks like the fag's having fun and we can't have that."
That killed the mood right away. Billy came face to face with the school bully, John Kesler. He was taller than most kids, bigger than most kids and ate more than most kids. He also tended to go after those weaker and different that him.
"What do you want Kesler?" Billy groaned.
"I can't have my school full of happy fags. That just won't do."
"Leave him alone, Kesler." Billy's friend came to his defense. They were attracting a small crowd now. Everyone didn't like Kesler but no one really could do anything to him because he was a relative of the school principal. Not close enough that the principal would say they were family but not far enough that the teachers could reprimand the student.
Before Billy's friend could say anything more, Billy was shoved forcefully on a locker.
"I don't like your tone." John Kesler had the friend pinned to the wall.
"Leave him alone, Kesler."
Billy was already trying to push Kesler away but the bully was too strong, too heavy to move. He made an attempt to shake him like a ragdoll which made Billy end up on the floor, being shoved forcefully by the kid.
He sat up and saw Kesler about to punch his friend in the face.
"Stop it!"
The next thing he knew, Kesler's been pushed outward, smashing his body on the concrete wall. A few kids nearby heard the unmistakable sound of bones cracking before the school bully flopped on the ground like a bag of meat.
Event flag indeed.
"Are you sure about this?" Odin respected his wife greatly but… "You don't want me to come along?"
"Asgard still needs you." Frigga had her battle suit on. It still fit her seeing as Frigga also trained, albeit not intense now, every chance she could. Her trusty sword's sheathed on her hip. "I'll just vanquish a demon."
Odin felt comfortable knowing it wasn't Blackheart or Mephisto that Frigga's hunting but he still worried for her safety. "And your Valkyries'? Have they mobilized?"
Frigga had her handmaidens enchant her hair long hair to stay in the up-do bun they did for her. "Yes. But not the entire fleet. Just a few trusted ones."
"Get Eir too."
"No, she's needed in the medical bay."
"At least get Brunhilde."
Frigga turned to her husband. "I find it endearing that you worry about me, Odin, really, I do. But it's just a demon. What else could go wrong?"
Now that's a death flag.
BGM: Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere: On the Path to Regret
Koukai no Todoku Michi no Ue eto
watch?v=4USQRS265aQ
They wanted to cast away their names: it held so much power over them and had so much misery attached to it. What power the two thralls were talking about, Mirajane didn't know but they so much as believed in it vehemently so Mirajane believed in it as well. They asked Mirajane to give them new names because it signaled a new life and a turning point of their lives.
Not wanting to deprive them of their wants, Mirajane indulged them a little.
With great ceremony, two men knelt before her. "If you will, my king."
As if in a trance, Mirajane followed their lead. Seilah whispered in her mind how to do it. A small magical circle appeared before her. Demonic in nature but should Jennifer Kale investigate, she'd find it... non-threatening, non-lethal and actually supportive.
Sure of herself, Mirajane stood before them–men who so willing accepted a life of service as her friends. 'At least in this world,' Mirajane thought–when it was time for her to leave… well, she'll worry about it then.
"Then, henceforth," her words coming out naturally like a fish naturally knowing how to swim, "I, who carry the weight of your existences," if she had an audience, they would see power radiated from the mage, "I give thee thy name,"
The language she spoke was turning more and more incomprehensible by the second–as if her mouth spoke of ancient tongues too impossible by normal human vocal cords to replicate. To compensate, perhaps unconsciously, demons rose up for their master.
'This may be what they meant by power.'
Out of instinct, her demons rallied within her. More than one were clamoring and screaming in glee, as if yelling 'that is my Master! That is the ruler of all demons!' Seliah tried to control her excitement. Sitri was smug. Halphas was like a proud parent. Every demon inside her rejoiced.
The brunet, Mirajane called out his name: "Robert Ignis." With magic laced in her voice, she called out that name. Robert Ignis: A bright fire that shines in the darkest of hours.
The raven-haired man, the platinum blonde christened: "Theodore Emunio." Conviction was clear in her tone, and power supplied by their king enveloped them. Theodore Emunio: A gift of security and strength. Unwavering strength despite all odds.
Seers refused to comment about it but on that day, a new kingdom was born.
Together, they were reborn. Thralls they may have been before, now…
Now they were hers.
The Demon's brood.
Robert Ignis and Theodore Emunio.
Mirajane called them Bob and Ted.
Can't get any more basic than that. Oh the humor. But together, her demons believed that Mirajane is one step closer to her goals.