Hi hi!
So, I just finished editing this chapter to make it shorter. I feel kinda bad, these chapters are just long walls of text.
I mean, I hope that you guys really do enjoy this story, and I'd love any sort of comments, but I feel like my pacing is either a bit off, or maybe I'm just constantly a bit too harsh on my own writing.
Either way, just know that a lot of thought goes into these chapters. Like, I do more work for this than I do for homework. It probably shouldn't be like that, but I'm not about to take no shit from nobody.
Anyway...With that said...
ONWARDS!
"I still don't understand why I have to go."
For what seemed to be the millionth time, Kuro could hear Corvus sigh from behind the door, as she continued to look over the picked-out dress with utter distaste, "It's a formality to go through with. It's tradition for the prince of that year to bring his soon to be to social gatherings and meetings."
"You know what isn't tradition?" Kuro snickered, giving one more chocked gag before finally slipping the dreaded thing on, "Dating a Rifter."
She took the silence from behind the door as her success, before adjusting the collar of the dress. She made a face, but hey, it could have been worse. He seemed to like to stick to handing her long flowing gowns, most of which she'd never bother to walk the streets of the Rift with.
It was just low enough to brush against the ground, which would make it a pain if she had to break into a sprint. If the last meeting taught her anything, it was to expect the unexpected.
The color was too bright for her, it was borderline eye-rape pink, the color slowly making its way into a dark purple the further down you went.
Right before she walked out, she kept her eye on the door, before taking a piece of paper and pen she'd stashed there to doodle while she did her business. Quickly writing down some important information, she shoved it into her boot for safe keeping.
Pushing the door open, she gave Corvus a look, "Still can't find anything casual?" She murmured, trying not to make it obvious that she'd shoved paper into her leather boots.
"That's as 'casual' as you'll be getting for now." Corvus murmured, looking her over, "...Where is the crystal belt?"
"Why would I wear this?" Kuro grumbled, tossing him said belt with distaste. The only positive of having something like that would be to possibly blind someone, "Maybe it's because nothing about a crystal belt says casual?"
"I assumed you'd want those over the gold belt." Corvus said, looking confused as he pulled on a very expensive looking black coat.
"...No belt. Period." Kuro grumbled, half tempted to go over to the window and throw it out, but with how heavy it was, it could probably kill someone.
Tossing it to the side, she walked over to her dresser, grabbing her boots that sat at the foot of it, and was about to put them on when Corvus cleared his throat, "What do you want?"
"Maybe these would be a bit more proper for the setting of the meeting?" Corvus suggested. Turning around, Kuro eyed the high heels he held in his hands. While they did look nice, seeming to be carved from a sort of red and black glass, she shook her head, "I don't wear heels."
"There's a first time for everything, Kitten."
"No, you don't get it, I don't know how to walk in heels."
"Is it not an innate behavior?"
"...Okay, I'm going to ignore how sexist that comment is if you'd be willing to drop the heels."
Kuro sighed with relief when Corvus finally put them back who knew where, before looking around, fiddling with her fingers, "So…What is all of this for?"
"The heels and dress are merely a sigh of nobility and status."
"What? No, not the stupid dress." Kuro muttered, "I'm talking about this whole meeting thing. I mean, I didn't grow up under a rock, but why bother with a meeting? And heck, why are you invited?"
"You ask so many questions, you know that?" Corvus grumbled, fixing his tie as he tried to dodge the question.
"Curiosity killed the cat." Kuro shrugged, tempted to kick his shins, "But it'll kill you first if you don't answer the question."
"I'll explain of the way," He sighed, looking out at the slowly but surely brightening sky, "We're most likely gonna be late."
Corvus held the door open for her, making sure to close it behind her, before walking on, Kuro giving him that demanding stare all girls give guys, "It's an important gathering for the seven of them, so that we may speak of how our...advancements have been going. It is a rare sight to see them all together outside the castle walls, so other then it being a yearly formality, it is also an honor to be in their presence."
"Why?"
"Believe it or not, you Rifters give the nobility a lot of grief." Corvus muttered, fixing his hair as he walked on, "There have been many nobility assassinations, and while some are linked to others within the high ranks, some of them have no leads."
"Then why would you tie it to the Rifters?" Kuro asked. Well, it was not hard to think that if a noble didn't do it, it was probably the work of a Rifter, but still, she'd assume them to be too proud to even mention such common people, as they referred to.
"Other than there being no one else?" Corvus murmured, laughing humorlessly, "It's because we have no other leads."
"So, lemme get this straight." Kuro sighed, shaking her head, "You're willing to take a quick route that could be wrong over actually trying to find the persons behind it?"
"That's how the nobility works here." Corvus said, sounding just as, if not more, irritated about the circumstances, "Legion has a way of running things, anything for the public lighting. He's smart, but also very manipulative of the system."
"Well, with what you've told me, I'm sure that there is nothing against the idea." Kuro murmured, looking about the lavish castle.
She wasn't an idiot, it wasn't hard to cheat the system, especially when you aren't important enough to be monitored and watched, but to think that it could get you all of this or more.
In all honesty, she liked to think that she had done what she had done for fun. Sure, it started off as a sort of job she was tricked into getting, but after a while, it became enjoyable.
"Do what you love as your job, and you'll never work a day in your life."
...Er, it was something along those lines.
She was snapped from her ever-growing thoughts when Corvus stopped before her, standing before the familiar grand door, "Do I have to go back in there?"
"I promise that there will be no knives thrown at you this time." Corvus said, about to push open the doors, only to pause, "Well...I promise that none will come in contact with yourself."
"Well, at least you're being honest with me." Kuro muttered, the air growing warmer as he pushed the doors open.
Besides all the empty spots around the room, nothing had really changed from the last time Kuro had walked in.
She assumed that the grand throne at the front of the table was for the King, but once again for some reason, it was Legion's smoky outline that sat there instead. Arc sat off to the left, glaring right across at Corvus as the Crow sat down, Kuro sitting to the vacant seat next to him.
She slapped his hand away when he tried to hold it, nearly hissing.
Once the tension eased up a bit, Legion sighed, "Now that we've all arrived, I call this meeting to order. Let this be quick, get to the point, Mammon."
Kuro looked over to the one that seemed to have just started laughing for no real reason. The demon wore his hair spiked up, the gold with strands of silver just like his eyes. He wore a tailor-made gold coat with dark orange trimmings today, and black dress pants. If the rest of his clothing didn't make it obvious what he represented, there was a thick gold chain hanging around his neck.
The fox sin grinned like, well, a fox, before pointing over to Corvus, "I don't know about everyone else, but Corvus has been improving-."
"Stop with the lying, you stupid fool." Another voice muttered angrily.
The one opposing the sin of Greed had long dark green hair, ice blue eyes glaring the fox sin down. He wore a long sleeve fancy red coat over a black tank top and shorts. The bottom of the coat spread out almost like magic, making way for those knee-high boots.
From what she understood about these seven, er, six excluding Legion (whom she still didn't know why he was there).
"Like you haven't done something like that before, Leviathan." Mammon grinned, seeming untouched by the irritation flowing off of the sin of Envy.
"How much did you bribe them with this time?" Leviathan scowled, not bothering to sit back down.
Mammon laughed, shrugging his shoulders, "Let's just say that I can't count that high." Kuro really couldn't help it, she liked this guy.
To this, Leviathan scowled, "You stupid fool, easily bought." Kuro really couldn't help it, she hated this guy.
"Can we move on to the real issue here?" Another voice asked.
Kuro turned to someone a bit farther down the table. He wore a plain white coat lined with gold, which reached all the way down to the floor. Underneath was a red vest and long dress pants. He had piercing pink eyes, as well as short and messy orange hair, "Corvus, so far, you've yet to prove that you could be a worthy king."
Something told her that this meeting wasn't supposed to go like this.
Kuro could have sworn that this would be about something to do with the issue of the Rift. She was kinda looking forward to seeing what the rich people had to say, but it looked like it was pointing to a rather rich prince instead.
"Tell me about it, Beelzebub." Leviathan scowled, giving Mammon one last look, to which the sin of Greed just grinned and smooched the air, "No wonder the king won't show up, I wouldn't either if I had a son like that."
"Why is the king not here, Legion?" Beelzebub asked, giving the right-hand man to Satan a rather hard look. It was something you wouldn't expect from the sin of Gluttony.
"He has...a lot of messes to clean up."Legion said, as if trying to find a good way to break the news.
"I bet you that it's because of that stupid date stunt he pulled yesterday." Leviathan scowled, finally throwing himself back into his chair, "Damned fool."
"Now then, we don't have to worry about that too much." Someone else spoke up. This one had long wavy russet hair that looked as if it was preened to perfection daily, as well as dark yellow, almost golden, eyes. He wore a thin black tank top and shorts, his leather jacket hanging over his shoulders.
The part that stuck out the most were the heeled leather boots the sin wore, both feet put up onto the table as he reclined in the chair, "It was a social showing of emotion, I say that it doesn't count."
"Shut up, Asmodeus." Leviathan scowled, "If it was you in charge, we'd have a lot more sex clubs and extreme PDA. It's a good thing that incubi and succubi faction was cut down during the clash."
"Do NOT bring such a thing into this conversation." Asmodeus glowered, his easy-going facade melting into a bomb of rage that could go off at any given moment.
"Calm down man, let's be real here." Mammon said, looking like he was trying to ease the tension, "Your faction is known for fucking like rabbits."
"Back to the problem at hand,"Legion sighed, rubbing his forehead, "Sathanus, what do you have to report on our prince?"
For the longest time, Kuro thought the armor at one of the seats was just for show. So, of course, when the helmet came off, Kuro stared for a bit longer then socially acceptable.
The sin of Wrath had hard-to-read merlot-red eyes, his hair black and glossy, kinda like a sort of Dracula-hair style.
The armor he wore looked as if it had been carved out of black obsidian, the chest plate holding many dents and scars from a millennium of battle.
"...He shows no interest in the militia." He finally said, voice so deep that Kuro swore she could feel vibrations through the ground, "Either way, he is not captain material."
"I guess that settles it." Legion said, giving Corvus a look. At least, Kuro assumed so, it was hard to read a thing trapped in smoke, "Prince Corvus, you will be hereby exiled from this castle and stripped of your title."
It took Kuro a moment to process it, before she shook her head, "Wait, the fuck you just say?"
"Stay out of this." She heard Corvus murmur under his breath, "You'll make it worse."
"What the fuck are you talking about, exiled and stripped of his title?" Kuro went on, ignoring the Crow.
"Exactly what it sounds like, you Tempter scum." Leviathan spat, "He'll be no better than you."
"Wait, legit?" Kuro went on, before looking to Legion, "That can happen?"
"Who invited a Tempter?" She heard Leviathan growl, slowly standing up, "Be silent unless spoken to, fool."
"Okay, first off, no one asked you, Excalibur." Kuro sneered, "We didn't like you in Soul Eater, so we won't like you in Black butler."
"...What?"
"Don't question it, I can only make so many self-aware fourth-wall-breaking jokes." Kuro said, before giving Legion a pointed look, "But, since I've been spoken to, I take this as a reason to ask you; what right do you have to take away a title of a prince?"
Legion seemed to glare at her, a bit of anger in his usual calm facade, "As I'm sure you're aware, I am the king's right-hand man-."
"But you're not a king." Kuro finished, smirking, "And, correct me if the dumb commoner is right, but only the king has the power to do anything like that, correct?"
"You watch your tongue." Beelzebub warned, "We hold titles you could never dream of."
"So, in that case, you should know that as well as I do." Kuro said, a smirk on her face as she went on, "It's a bit odd how we decided to have this meeting without our king, isn't it? Especially when all the seven sins would be in the same place, which I'm told doesn't happen a lot."
"You sound like you're implying something." Asmodeus said, leaning forward as he put his chin on his intertwined fingers.
"Well, I'm just saying that it's such a great coincidence, in your favor no less, that the king isn't here to agree with this ruling you all just HAPPENED to agree on." Kuro said, before waving her hand to the side, "But that couldn't be possible, right?
"Surely you're all aware that even such a thought could result in a punishment worse than death? It would be a shame if it were found out that Legion himself managed to get the sins to follow him rather than our king. Hell, have anyone of you read the bible? Actually, don't answer that, you'd probably burn up on contact, but this is sounding pretty familiar."
"...You couldn't possibly be implying treason?" Sathanus scowled.
"That's exactly what I'm implying." Kuro shot right back, grinning as she sat back down, almost daring anyone to say something against her, "But hey, by all means, go ahead and call my bluff. Maybe then we can have the king as our third party."
The table was silent, before Mammon howled with laughter, pounding on the table, "She got us! Oh, my Satan, a fucking common Rifter! That's the one that can see right through you, Legion!"
No one else spoke, besides Leviathan muttering angrily where he sat, before Mammon turned to the only one who had yet to even move, "Hey, Belphegor, isn't she one from your faction!?"
Kuro looked over to the sin Mammon was gesturing to, finally, a familiar face.
He had light blue hair that looked like it slightly defied gravity, curling upward a bit, right before his shoulders.
"Oh my God, It's Aikuro Mikisugi."
He had soulless pitch-black eyes, the sort that looked as if they were trying to hypnotize you into eternal sleep. It was a popular myth that looking him in the eyes for too long could put anyone to sleep.
The bear sin wore a fancy looking brown coat over a white dress shirt, which had been messily tucked into his long khaki pants.
"She looks the part," Belphegor finally said, eyes narrowing as he gave her a look, "But doesn't act it."
"Can we get back to the point at hand?" Leviathan scowled, giving Legion a look.
The two seemed to have come to some sort of agreement, before Legion turned to Arc, "Have you anything to add to this? You were the original one to bring up this issue."
When Arc said nothing, Legion sighed, "With that...Prince Corvus, Prince Arc, you're excused."
The two rose from their chairs, for the first time since the meeting started, Corvus was returning the glare that Arc had been sending.
Corvus was about to help Kuro out of her chair, before Legion stopped him, "We'd like a bit more time with her, if you don't mind."
"With all due respect, I do, in fact, mind." Corvus said, that shit eating smile looking more threatening with each passing second.
"Then maybe you can go and respect our decision and wait outside." Leviathan threw back.
The two shared a look, before Corvus' hand left Kuro's shoulder, "Five minutes." He growled, before leaving, closing the door behind him.
It suddenly went from fairly humid to bone chillingly cold. There was a bit of warmth from where Corvus' hand once was, but even that was slowly fading.
"Now, how do we dispose of a Rifter in less than five minutes?" Leviathan thought allowed.
"As much trouble as she's caused, I cannot allow you to execute one of my followers." Belphegor spoke up, "Especially one this...charismatic."
"Finally, I was wondering when I'd hear that sweet, sweet sarcasm." Kuro grinned, trying to laugh off the tension.
"How were you able to grasp such an idea?" Legion hissed, red orbs narrowing.
"That answer depends on my question," Kuro smirked, challenging him right back, "Why did you think such a thing would work?"
"...She's smarter than she looks, I can grant her that much." Sathanus mused.
As she looked around, the only ones that looked pissed off were Legion and Leviathan, the other sins either looked emotionless or uncaringly chill.
"...I believe to say that someone like her will be a bit of a…hindrance." Leviathan scowled, giving Belphegor a look, "I don't see why we just remove this filth."
"That can come later."Legion scowled, giving Kuro a look, "You're free to leave."
"Much too kind." Kuro grinned, doing a mock bow, before leaving, "Oh, one last thing."
"What is it now?" Leviathan seethed.
"It doesn't matter what you do. In the end, know that you're all puppets being used." Kuro deadpanned, before smiling, "Aight, later!"
With that, she walked into the clear corridor, mind now cleared. With that out of the way, she had a quick mission to go through with.
"...That dick just up and left without me."
Once she was able to find her way outside to the gates, that is.
Marax looked around, sighing as he stood outside the castle gates. Just as always, he stood on guard, learning on his weapon.
Nothing ever really changed, but at the same time, the repeated yet boring was better than the unknown and dangerous.
"Hey, Marax."
Speak of the devil, and he'll send someone else, being how he was king.
"Good evening, princess Kuro." He said politely.
"Dude, not you too." Kuro groaned, standing within the walls, leaning in so that it looked like she was trying to slide through the bars.
"...Is there something you want from me?"
"What? No!" Kuro grinned, laughing awkwardly, causing Marax to give her a look.
"...Umm...No?"
"..."
"...Maybe?"
"If there is anything that's similar between you and Vale, it's the fact that you'll only ever talk to me if you need something."
"...Well when you put it that way, you make me feel like shit, but hey believe what you wanna believe." Kuro grumbled, looking around, before leaning a bit closer, "So…I need a favor."
"...I know that I am a guard, but may I say 'I knew it'?"
"Go right ahead."
"I knew it."
"Feel better?"
"Just a bit." Marax murmured, looking around to make sure that no one was around, "What do you need?"
"Do you ever have time to go into the Rift?"
"As of late, we've had to expel a lot of the guards to the Rift, I'm sure I can go with them, but I'll have to leave soon." Marax sighed, rubbing his head.
"Well, if you have the time, I need you to send this to the guys in the bar." Kuro said, passing him a note.
Marax looked it over, before taking it, knowing better then to try and read it over, "Consider it done."
"Great, thanks a bunch Mar-Mar." Kuro grinned, about to walk off, before Marax stopped her.
"I heard about what happened in the meeting with the sins."
"Yeah, I told them, didn't I?" Kuro chuckled.
"I…Do not how to put this without either making it sound like a threat or an insult."
"Don't worry, the Rift can't be better than whatever you have to say."
"...Are you out of your mind!?"
Kuro jumped from the near shout, her mind rattling for a tiny bit, "Jeez, okay."
"Just...Keep in mind that your actions will have consequences." Marax said, trying not to sound like a stereotypical teacher.
"I know, and don't worry, I can take whatever they dish out."
"That's not what I'm trying to get at." Marax sighed, trying to quickly wrap this up, "While friends can be your greatest strength, they can also be the source of your greatest weaknesses. Does that make sense?"
"Don't worry, oh great Grandmaster." Kuro grinned, winking before slipping back into the castle.
With a groan, Marax looked around, before moving to join the wave of guards, "I'll be taking point, three of you go to guard the entrance of the gate."
"Sir, yes sir!"
Marax couldn't help but enjoy the sound of his title. With all the changes going on, he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hear it.
Shax closed up the bar, sighing lightly. It was getting rough without having Kuro around.
She was the life of the party, in a way. Many demons would come around to hold a chat, and whether she liked it or not, she was pretty likeable compared to the rest of his team.
She was the one that would mean well, deep deep down inside.
Vale worked for himself. He masked it decently well, and he does care for others, but for the most part, he was in it for the money and power.
Zagan, while he didn't do it only for the money, he also didn't think things through. For the longest time after they disbanded from Winter's gang, he had to micro-manage over Zagan's shoulder. He wasn't a complete fool, but Shax was pretty positive that, even if he could, Zagan didn't bother to think.
As he cleaned the counter, he heard footsteps coming down from upstairs, watching his younger brother walk down, rubbing his eyes.
And then there was Abraxas. He watched as his brother shuffled behind him, going through the bar to the back, most likely to look for food. Abraxas was a very different demon back then, both physically and mentally.
Way back when, Abraxas was reliable, but also very...fragile, to put it nicely. Now days, he was strong, but also very fickle these days.
"Hey, big bro?"
"Hmm?" Shax murmured, keeping his eyes on the bar. The damn thing, no matter how much he cleaned it, it would always look too dirty to leave alone.
A bartender's curse, he supposed.
"Have you seen what's been going on outside for a while? Lots of guards all over the place."
"Yes, I've noticed, as has everyone else here." Shax deadpanned.
"No, not that." Abraxas said, getting louder as he came out of the kitchen, a plate piled high with food on it, "Look out the window and see for yourself."
Shax sighed, slowly but surely moving from his post, before pushing down the blinds, just enough to see the outside.
"...There's nothing there, you idiot."
"What? No, you can't see it from here!" Abraxas corrected, taking a seat at a table Shax had just cleaned, digging into the food, "Go upstairs."
Shax said nothing, slowly walking up the stairs, fixing the cuffs of his sleeves as he did so. He passed by the still vacant guest rooms for the team, into the meeting room, and up the trap door.
What he saw from the roof was...different.
It was a more or less straight road that lead to the bar, but while the buildings acted like the walls of mazes, the roof allowed for you to see over said buildings.
Shax wasn't liking what he was seeing.
All over, there were these platforms being rolled and pushed into place, all the while onlookers were pushed back.
"I don't get it." Abraxas said from behind him, a trick that Shax had grown use to over the years, "No one's fighting back."
"They don't seem to be causing any harm." Shax noted, but he knew better then to trust anything that came from the capitol, "Besides, I'm willing to bet that most of them either can't or will not doing anything out of fear."
"I'll never understand them, they're like cattle." Abraxas murmured, shoving a piece of bread into his mouth, before tugging at his hood, "They could be so strong in numbers, but they just follow."
"Which is why we pick up the slack." Shax sighed, before turning to his brother, "Call in the other two, if those are what I think they are, we're going to have quite a bit of trouble on our hands."
Abraxas nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets, before walking off, leaving Shax alone.
The fox demon studied the platforms, the way they were built. It all looked fairly very familiar, but at the same time, it felt too coincidental.
Nonetheless, he thought it all over.
They took Kuro, after that the guards began to show force against the Rifters. Maybe they knew that Kuro was a part of them? No, they made sure to cover their tracks, besides, Vale had said that Marax wasn't really in complete control anymore, so it had to be a shift in power that was causing all of this.
But they slowly began to invade, showing their force of strength, which was most likely to both take care the ones who dared to stand up to them and to make sure that no one else would try to stop them.
So, with that said, they must feel as if they have enough control to begin moving supplies into the Rift.
But still, even by looking over past moves, it was hard to tell what was next.
What was their end game here?
By the time she'd gotten back to the room, which wasn't easy since she still wasn't used to the huge area, Corvus was sitting on the bed, shirtless.
Kuro groaned, trying her best to look away, "Do you have to just sit there and look all charming?" She groaned, looking for a comfortable pair of PJs'.
"...Darling...I've been meaning to ask…" She heard Corvus say softly.
"Well, go on, it's not like I'm leaving anytime soon." Kuro muttered, making sure he wasn't going to turn around, before quickly changing.
"...Why did you defend me?"
"Besides the fact that I hate being part of a stupid system?" Kuro murmured, sitting down on her side of the bed, "Leviathan was really starting to get on my nerves."
"...Is that your only reason?" Corvus asked.
Kuro rolled over to look at him again, "Well, it was kinda the spur of the moment, but enough about me, are you okay? You look pretty shaken over there."
"I'm fine, I just have a lot of thought to do." Corvus murmured, before finally laying down. Kuro couldn't help but think that his eyes looked a little dead.
She was never one to think before doing, everything with her was just what felt good at the moment.
So, you can be sure that it wasn't planned when she kissed him on the cheek, "Hey, don't worry about it, okay? They're not worth your time."
With that, Kuro rolled over, yawning before quickly knocking out.
She didn't notice that Corvus didn't sleep for the next hour or so, his mind abuzz with all not only all of his problems, but he could swear he was feeling something else, something...foreign.
I can't write these things without someone involving the seven deadly sins, I swear.
I can't help it, it's just so interesting. Lately, someone gave me this idea where the soul colors from Undertale corresponded with both one sin and one virtue, so I don't think I'm giving up my Hail Satan craze anytime soon.
Also, I just wanna clear up, Kuro isn't just suddenly jumping to cover Corvus because she's falling in love or anything. I'm trying to write it so that, in defending him, she's not only defending herself (since they all kept pointing out that she was an issue), but she was also trying to get the point across that Corvus couldn't learn from just books, he needed help.
but, for those of you who want them to have their moment, don't worry, we're getting to that part soon.
I try not to write stories where the two characters just fall in love because it's either a self insert fan fiction or it just doesn't feel right, you know? A relationship is suppose to take and have steps. If it's one of those "love-at-first-sight", it's no better then those two month High school relationships that are good for nothing else then drama, le mad screwing, and more drama.
It's not only like stupid puppy love, but it also just doesn't feel right, you know?
...Great, never mind, now I'm confused.
But with that said, hope you all enjoyed, feel free to drop a review, and I'll cya next time!
Till then, bai bai!