Hey guys - it's been a while since I've written for you guys! Things are much better, to anyone who's wondering. I'm working on my book, of course, and I'm a quarter of the way done! It's not much, but it feels like a ton hahah. Anyway, I got a new roommate! And she's super sweet, too. :) Muuuuch better than my last roommate (I can guarantee that I won't wake up across from some random guy...ick).
Anyway! I hope you enjoy this chapter! This chapter will also be the first part of the end of this Gehenna 'arc'; the next arc will be more rebellion-based. I hope that you'll like it!
Replies at the end, and this is the end of the ark AND I've been gone for a long time, the replies will be long. Thank you for being so patient with me. :)
. . .
Raziele's POV
. . .
Raziele almost shouted Agni's name when he reached her kitchen, but he thought better of it when he got close. He instead peeked inside the door with clammy hands; there was no one inside but Agni. She was humming to herself as she boiled something on the stove; her voice was off tune and basically horrible, but he didn't mind at all.
It was the sweetest sound he had ever heard.
"Agni," he whispered. He had buried his emotions, but his voice sounded tight and strained. "Agni," he said again.
Agni whirled, her eyes bright and ladle held in her hand like a weapon, but she lowered her arm when she saw him in the doorway. The spark, however, didn't leave her eyes.
"Raziele," she breathed, and rushed towards him. Before Raziele knew what was happening, Agni enveloped him in a tight hug, though she took care not to jostle Rin, who was draped over his shoulder like a dead thing. "What happened?" she asked as she seamlessly transitioned from hugging Raziele - who was pretty startled - to carrying Rin, since she was much bigger and heavier than Raziele was.
Raziele followed Agni into the kitchen, his senses focused on every subtle noise around him. The beep of the oven. The sound of water being boiled. The silence in the hallways.
"Sophiel and I found Rin," Raziele finally admitted, "and we got in a, ah, fight with Satan." He didn't mention the humans . . . he still wasn't sure what to make of that, to be perfectly honest. Human soils just don't descend into Gehenna without a reason, unless . . .
. . . and suddenly it all clicked together. Samael - the King of Space and Time, the one that had been banished to Assaih years ago.
"Raziele?"
Agni's voice jolted Raziele back to the present, and he continued, "We didn't win, but we didn't lose, either. We escaped. We lived."
"You won," Agni stated. She had never liked Satan.
Raziele's felt his shoulders droop. "We won," he murmured, but his heart wasn't in it. "But Rin was in the Pit for - "
"He was in the Pit?!" For some reason, Agni reacted to this news more than the encounter with Satan. She clicked her tongue in disapproval. "No one he looks awful." She had leaned Rin against the cupboards; his head was bowed over his chest and his dark hair concealed his eyes. "And Sophiel?" she asked. "How is she?"
"She left," Raziele said honestly. "I don't know where she is." It worried him, but he tried not to dwell on it too much. "Xavier is dead."
Agni paused for a moment in shock, her ladle frozen in the giant bowl of soup, before continuing to stir slower than before. "He's dead," she repeated.
"He's dead," Raziele confirmed. "Rin killed him."
"Rin never struck me as a killer."
"He never struck me as Satan's son either, but there you have it," Raziele retorted. There was an edge to his tone; he closed his eyes to gather himself together, then continued, "He killed Xavier. There are witnesses."
Agni turned to Raziele, her eyes changing to a crimson color. "There will be blood over that," she promised him. "Xavier was a General; his death left a void in a hierarchy that will spark an anarchy to fill. The hierarchy could crumble."
Raziele hadn't thought of that. He had never had a mind for politics. "Not with Satan there," he said. "He wouldn't allow it."
"But could he stop it?"
Raziele hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yes."
Agni watched him for a moment, the silence heavy between them, before she turned and sighed, "Not even the King of Gehenna is all powerful, you know. Do you remember Samael?"
"Of course."
"He went against Satan," Agni recalled.
"And he lost," Raziele pointed out.
A faint smile burned Agni's lips. "Did he?" she asked, but when Raziele asked for an explanation, she didn't say.
. . .
Rin's POV
. . .
There was a fire in the distance. Sapphire burned the sky and choked the air black. The ground was dry, parched, a crimson shade that flaked with the slightest breeze. White bones littered the land; bleached, dry bones that had been dead for centuries.
Or maybe, just a moment.
Rin's indigo eyes scanned the horizon, their red, slitted irises alive and burning. A sword was held in one hand. A sheathe was held in the other . . . or what was left of it.
Power like his didn't need to be contained. Rin slid his eyes, bored and unbreakable, over the sheathe, then let it drop to the ground below.
Power like his couldn't be contained. His was a power unlike any other; a fierce power, an unstoppable power, a divine power. His flames were his own, and he could use them as he wished. Who were they to decide his path, who where they to choose how he wished to use his own gift? Because that's what it was, a gift, and he had the right to burn what he wished.
Wasn't he, after all, the rightful Prince of Gehenna?
Rin raised his eyes.
He wanted to be . . .
King.
. . .
Rin's eyes snapped open and he shot upright, visions of dust and bones in his mind. The pain that followed was swift and sudden and he doubled over, a breathless gasp on his lips that he couldn't stop. However, his thoughts were pinned on the dream, the dream where he slaughtered everyone - everything - for a throne he didn't want . . . !
Or do I?
The thought came unwanted and unbidden, and Rin pushed it out of mind with swift fury. He didn't want the throne of Gehenna. He wanted his life back, his life in Assaih, those mornings where Yukio would wake him up and get upset that he didn't wake up earlier, those lunch breaks where Bon and Konekomaru and Shima and him talked the entire time of stupid stuff that didn't matter.
He wanted that life back.
He didn't want the crown.
"Rin! You're awake!"
Rin, startled, flicked his eyes to the voice only to relax when he saw Raziele watching him with a careless grin. "Somehow," he replied as he gingerly leaned himself against the cupboard again. Now that he was paying attention, he realized that he recognized this place. He was in Agni's kitchen, and that meant food.
His mouth watered at the thought, and when he smelled the scent of soup on the oven, he nearly drooled. He unconsciously raised his wrist to his mouth, his eyes focused on the counter across from him.
But then he remembered.
"Where's Yukio?!" Rin demanded, all hunger and exhaustion forgotten. He didn't forget the pain, however; he almost sat up before remembered how that worked the first time, and forced himself to remain on the floor. "He was here...!" He jerked his head to the right, then left; he couldn't see Yukio He vaguely remembered something about breakfast, and that he was going to make rice and omelets for dinner . . . had it been a dream?
A damn cruel dream, Rin thought bitterly.
"Ah, you mean your brother?" Raziele asked, standing to grab a bowl. "Yeah, he was here, but he left. Disappeared into a mess of light, actually."
Rin went cold. "Did he . . . ?"
"Die? Gracious, no." The demon dunked the bowl into the soup and scooped out a good amount. He handed it to Rin with a warning not to cut himself of the chipped edges, then sat down next to him. "Nah, he, Amaimon, and the blonde went back to Assaih or something. Apparently they ran out of time in Gehenna."
"But he was here," Rin insisted. He hadn't touched his soup yet. "He was here."
Raziele blinked, his rosy eyes confused. "Yeah, he was," he stated, "but I don't see how that makes much a difference. He's gone now."
But it did. It made a world of difference. Rin watched the brown, chunky soup slosh around in the bowl. He could just make out his reflection in its murky surface. Yukio is all right. And he's looking for me. Rin didn't know whether to be horrified or elated . . . maybe a mixture of the two, and he smiled, a smile that was an echo of a different life. Suddenly he didn't feel so cold and hurt anymore.
Suddenly Raziele's hands were cupping the bowl. "Drink," the demon ordered, and forced the bowl towards Rin's lips. "Don't make me force feed you."
"Leggo," Rin slurred as he took a sip.
It was warm.
. . .
Sophiel's POV
. . .
I'll find them.
Sophiel darted down the hallway after checking to make sure that it was bare. She could hear drunken singing from somewhere in the distance, but she ignored it. Her lips had already healed.
She had an idea of where to go; Raziele had only trusted one person, though 'trust' might be too strong of a word. She hadn't known him for very long, but she had known him long enough to realize that he trusted no one, not even her.
But she wasn't torn up over it. In fact, she admired that trait. It was smart . . . and that's why she wanted to prove that she could be trusted as fast as possible.
To make him smile.
It took a couple minutes to reach the kitchen. She could smell the scent of warm soup before she could see the doors, but she put it out of mind. The first thing she saw was Agni bent over someone and Raziele - Raziele was standing next to her, his face a mixture of cold seriousness and silly playfulness.
It was a look she hadn't seen in a long time.
"Found you," she breathed, staggering into the kitchen. Raziele turned towards her, his eyes wide and bright. Bright and filled with warmth, and Sophiel knew that he was happy to see her. And for some reason, that made her happy as well.
That look of his faded in an instant. "Blood?" he said, his pink eyes questioning.
Sophiel glanced at her hands; she had forgotten. "Not mine," she said quickly. Raziele handed her a bowl; she stared at it for a moment before beginning to drink. "Dead bodies I had to shuffle down to the furnaces. Not mine," she repeated.
"After you regain your strength, you should all leave," Agni suddenly declared, her eyes serious and rusty red. "Satan will come here eventually. This is like a game to him, and trust me, he will come."
Trust. That word again. "Why?" Sophiel asked, comfortable enough to ask questions.
"Because Raziele and Rin fought against him and won," Agni stated, but Sophiel noticed how Raziele's face darkened when she said it.
"I wouldn't call that won," Rin muttered, his hand gripping the edge of the counter. "Maybe survived . . . " He pulled himself up, his jaw clenched and eyes squeezed shut. Though, when Agni made a move to help him, he growled at her.
Very demon-like, Sophiel noticed.
"Agni is right," Rin continued. "We have to leave."
"Leave where?" Raziele demanded, arms crossed over his chest. "This is Gehenna. He'll know."
"Once I came here . . . Mephisto dragged my soul down or something to show me this place," said Rin. "I saw a mountain in the distance. We'll go there."
"You're mad," Raziele told him.
Rin only grinned.
"And what will you do then?" Agni asked, her voice feigning calm. "Satan will hunt you down."
"So we'll face him," Rin stated, turning his eyes towards her. They were a rich sapphire hue, their irises showing just a hint of crimson. "And this time, we won't just survive.
"We will win."
Dum dum duuuuumm! After this chapter will be the rebellion ark . . . hopefully it won't be 36? 37? chapters like this one. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry I've been away for so long - school and life called, but everything is back to normal. :) Anyway, replies!
Fire Wolf Spirit - from now on, I'm saying 'Holy Bananas'. I'll give full credit to you :P
Janazza - Thanks so much for the advice and help and general support. :) Honestly, it meant a lot - yeah, it was tough, but everything got sorted out for now. There'll be another talk during the summer (since nothing can really change right now) but I'll always be a writer first. Nothing can every change that :) I hope that your brother's girlfriend is back on her feet - best of luck to her.
Higekimaru - Thanks for the awkwardly worded and round-about compliment. :) And thank you so much for the support - it sucked, a lot, but I think that everything is all right again. Like I told Janazza, I'll always be a writer first. And I'll always update too, just to through it out there.
Dowgma - Justin - this was the sweetest thing. Thank you so much for the kind thoughts and support; honestly, I would have had to leave college the 4th of this month if I had changed my major, (which would have sucked as a freshmen), so a lot has happened, but I made it through all right and everything is great again. :) Just one day at a time, and besides, no matter what happens, I'll always be a writer first. No matter what. :) Again, thank you so so much. Lot's of love right back to you, and I hope that you find something in your job that you love (and from a note my friend gave me - "For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope ou live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again" - F. Scott Fitzgerald.) Stay strong, and thanks :) -Kayla
AnonymousAndrea - Thank you for your advice and support as well. Unfortuently, I kinda failed in the changing majors department, but I've decided that I'll always be a writer no matter what I do. And who knows? One day, I might be able to change my hobby into a career. Maybe! :)
ericamixon - Thanks!
DarkestDemonsInTheSoul - Hahahah :) Thanks for understanding! I hope that you liked this chapter!
Guest (Jan 25) - I'll definitely keep that in mind. :)
I think that's it for now. :) Again, thank you for all of the support and warm wishes! Not even kidding, they brought me to tears. Repeatedly. Damn you all. :')
Much love, and stay awesome,
Rand0mSmil3z