Galaros stood in the Needle of Light, quietly thinking about the future.

He had moved from the Land of Light to Erie, to help maintain things there. The demons and angels in Erie both answered to him, which seemed to work well with Bon-Bon's support. Axel hadn't been able to stay. The Dark Land was too dangerous, too heavily populated. It needed the attention of the High Lord to keep things down to a slow simmer. That was nothing like the Land of Light, when they weren't at war with the demons. The angels could get on quite well without him.

He slowly glanced around at the Needle. It was a new construction, a beautiful tower built in the angelic style. There were plenty of demon buildings too… it seemed like the architects on both sides were trying hard to outdo each other. Galaros thought the demons would have a difficult time beating the Needle. It was pale stone, set with more of his glorious glass windows to give it color, and reached up very high into the sky. The Virtues had even managed to put in a lift, for the non-flying angels and demons. It was magical and soundless, bringing people to any level they cared to visit. Naturally, the Virtues had made the top couple of levels their home. The uppermost level was almost a replicate of the Eye of Light, in fact, with the same cherry trees and the addition of orange trees from the Dark Land. It was very beautiful up here.

If only there was one particular person there to share it with. Galaros sighed to himself. It was going to be some time before Riku finished his last year of school. But he could be patient. He was very old, after all. Although… Galaros tilted his head as he had a thought. Thinks were going quite well here. Perhaps he could… go visit Riku for a week or two, possibly a month? Bon-Bon could easily transport him to the Destiny Islands. Bon-Bon was turning out to be like a god… only moreso, since most of the Olympian gods couldn't open portals to other realms as easily as breathing.

Before he even knew he had decided, Galaros found himself flying down the side of the tower. He knew where Bon-Bon was right now… he could sense her brilliant power easily. She was in one of the demon buildings, a low slung, comfortable structure that was being used as a general meeting hall. As he entered the building, Galaros paused for a moment to study the Golden Child. Her appearance hadn't changed much since she had first come among them. She was still wearing a white sundress with a gold, floral print in one corner. Her long hair was split into two sections, each capped by a large pink sphere and her face had a pert, cheerful beauty. Her eyes were a vibrant green, a perfect match for Axel's. The only real change in her since the first day she had been born was her horns. Instead of leaving the golden horns alone, she had had golden jewelry fitted to them, studded with diamonds and dangling little charms. It was a beautiful effect.

"…So I really think we should do this." Bon-Bon was trying to sell an idea to a small circle of demons and angels. They were all looking highly dubious. Galaros met Artemis gaze, and she made a grimace. What was going on?

"What's this?" He asked curiously, and Bon-Bon looked up with a brilliant smile.

"Galaros! I was hoping you would stop by." Galaros lifted his eyebrows, wondering what atrocity she was trying to inflict on them. Bon-Bon had many ideas and while some were brilliant, a lot of them were quite insane. From the looks of the people around her, this one was on the insane side. Although maybe Bon-Bon was right, you could never be sure. "I think demons and angels need to be fertile." Galaros blinked. "Not VERY fertile, but fertile. The population has no natural growth at the moment, and it's going down quite a bit in the Dark Lands, actually."

"Really?" Was all he could think to say. How were the demons dying off that much? But then, they were demons. They could easily think of something deadly to do just for fun.

"Really. They're a bit crazy over there and peace seems to have sparked off a whole bunch of safaris into the deep South. I don't know if you know much about that, but it's just as dangerous as the deep North." Galaros winced at that. The deep North, or the ice tombs, was obscenely dangerous for angels to travel in… unless they happened to be seraphim. Seraphim could usually get out alive, although that was not assured. There were violent ice storms, gale force winds, and a cold that made the rest of the Land of Light feel warm as the Dark Lands. But the rewards for such a trip were great… the ice tombs were full of precious metals and gems. Not to mention the rare ice plums, which could be used to make sweet mead with magical properties… it could give you a vision of the future. That was the only worthwhile part of such a trip, in Galaros' opinion. The visions imparted by the sweet mead were truly profound.

"You might have a point." The angels and demons all stared at him, and he could almost hear what they were thinking… that they had gotten by just fine for centuries with no children, and was he insane? Galaros smiled gently at them. "It might do us some good to be a bit more… attuned to the cycles of nature. Other creatures breed here, after all, or we would have no wildlife. But I do think that we should be very infertile, so the children will be treasured. Especially by the demons." If children were common in the Dark Land… well. Demons preyed on each other all the time, and children could easily suffer the same fate.

"I'd say that's offensive, but you're right, we're a pack of bastards." One of the demons at the table acknowledged. "I just shudder to think how all the women will react. I see a growth industry in condoms." There were quite a few winces around the table, and Artemis actually giggled at the thought. "Time to invest in the rubber plants." Artemis laughed out loud at that, and Bon-Bon looked satisfied.

"It's decided then! I'm going to look into that." From the looks on some of the angels and demons faces, they were trying to remember when exactly they had agreed to Bon-Bon's proposal. But there was no point in fighting it, and the group broke up to give him some time alone with Bon-Bon. "So what exactly did you need Galaros?"

"You probably already know." He said, amused, and Bon-Bon flashed him an urchin grin. "I would like to go to the Destiny Islands to see Riku. Is that possible?"

"Sure thing! And just remember Galaros… things can always get better!" Galaros blinked at the cryptic utterance, and looked at Bon-Bon carefully. Had she felt something? Bon-Bon could see the future sometimes, although she wouldn't tell anyone exactly what she had seen. But the smile she was giving him seemed… pleased? "Want to go now?"

"If you could." There was no real reason to wait. Bon-Bon could handle everything in his absence. She laughed, lifting her hands, and abruptly the world… changed.

Galaros looked around, stunned by the abrupt shift… and even more stunned by the realization that he was vastly overdressed. Erie was cold enough that a few light furs were not amiss. But he was standing on a tropical beach now, and he could already feel the sweat beading under the leathers and furs. Muttering a few swear words, he quickly pulled away the furs, followed by his leather over shirt. He was still overdressed in slacks and a long sleeved shirt, but it wasn't actively painful. Hanging the extra clothing over one arm, he made his way off the beach.

But where was he going? Galaros quickly realized that he had absolutely no idea. He could have flown around and looked but… he didn't think many people had wings in Riku's world. Although he actually knew very little about it, aside from the anecdotes Riku had relayed to him.

Walking away briskly, he tried to find any building that might be a school. Wiping away a bit of sweat from his forehead, he paused to ask an older woman for directions. Looking quite charmed, she gave him a street name and a few directions… although they mostly consisted of turning left at the general store. The Destiny Islands were not very big at all.

It suddenly occurred to him that this whole thing had not been very well thought out. Strange. He usually was quite good at planning… but where was he going to stay? With Riku? Riku's parents might not be too pleased with that. He did have money on him, but it was Land of Light currency… which was mostly gold and silver, so it would have value, but he'd need to get it changed.

When he reached the school, it looked like they were on recess… or perhaps they were done for the day. There were plenty of children outside playing, of all ages. Galaros hesitated, looking around in vain for Riku. A teacher was frowning at him… probably because he was a stranger and too old to be a student, although not by much. Galaros sighed, running a hand through his hair and adjusting the clothing on his arm. He finally decided to approach the teacher, honesty being the best policy… well, sometimes.

"Hello. I'm looking for a friend of mine, his name is Riku?" Her frown didn't ease much, and the children were all giving him curious looks. But then…

"Galaros!" Galaros turned to look as Kairi slid easily through the playground. She seemed astonished to see him, but pleased. "How have you been? Oh, how did you get here?" That was truly astonishing. In fact, it should have been impossible. Galaros smiled at her, pleased to see her.

"I had Bon-Bon send me. Things are very calm in the Land of Light, at the moment, and I wanted to see Riku. Is he around?" Galaros couldn't spot him, and that silver hair was quite distinctive. Kairi frowned.

"He's at home sick. But you could go see him." She hesitated a moment… she would get in trouble for it. But… "I'll take you there. It won't take long."

"Kairi, you have classes." The teacher said with a frown, giving Galaros a considering look. She still didn't know him… but Kairi's friendliness counted for a lot. Everyone knew Kairi, Riku and Sora had made many friends in their travels.

"I know, I'll make it as fast as I can." She promised, and the teacher considered it… then nodded. She didn't really want Galaros hanging around the school all day. It would distract the students, if nothing else… and maybe some of the teachers. A very handsome stranger was definitely unusual in the Destiny Islands. So Galaros and Kairi started off at a quick walk.

"I'm afraid I didn't plan well for this visit." Galaros admitted as they walked. "It was… an impulse." That puzzled him, now. Why had he acted so quickly? And why had Bon-Bon let him? She would normally have pointed out that he needed a few changes of clothes. He normally would have thought of it. Was there some reason he needed to be here? But what?

"Here it is." Kairi opened the door to Riku's house easily. No one in the Destiny Islands bothered to lock doors. They didn't need to. Galaros frowned, his nose wrinkling as they stepped inside. "What is that smell?" Kairi sounded worried. It smelled bad in the house… not a longstanding smell, but sharp and penetrating.

"Vomit." Galaros said quietly. He was intimately acquainted with the smell. It brought up bad memories… from his childhood, but also from later. He'd never been any use with weapons, really… he could fight now, but that was because he had the power of a seraphim behind him. As a Virtue, though, he had been involved in one war with the demons and numerous skirmishes… his place had been as a field medic. Kairi looked very concerned, and called out.

"Riku!" She started quickly searching for him, starting in Riku's bedroom… and the likeliest spot was the correct one. Riku was sprawled out on his bed, wearing only pajamas, and there was a puddle of vomit on the ground beside it. As if he'd tried to get up and make it to the bathroom, but hadn't had the strength. He was sweating heavily and his skin had a grey tint. Galaros was immediately kneeling beside him as Kairi tried to cast a cure spell.

"That won't help." Cure was meant for wounds, injuries, even broken bones… not something like this. Galaros quickly stripped away Riku's pajama top, and the silver haired boy blinked at him heavily. Galaros looked into his face, and winced… he was sure Riku wasn't really seeing him. Or at least, not understanding what he was seeing. His skin felt almost as hot as Galaros' own. Pressing his hands over Riku's body, he quickly found the source of the heat and Riku whimpered in pain. "There's something wrong inside…" Galaros closed his eyes, and very carefully let his perceptions range into Riku's body. This was delicate and dangerous both. As a Virtue he wouldn't have had to worry, but for a seraphim, touching living flesh this way… one mistake and he would burn Riku from the inside out. Fortunately, Riku was too far into his fever dreams to force him out. Even the least resistance would have stopped him from doing this. "Damn." He could perceive the problem and it wasn't good. Something inside Riku, a small organ, had ruptured and died and now it was poisoning everything else. Riku could easily live without it… but it needed to be removed immediately and the poisons cleaned out, or he would certainly die.

If Galaros had been a medical doctor, he would have known that he was sensing a burst appendix. But he wasn't. However, he was a Virtue who had been through many wars… and he knew what to do.

"Kairi, go make some tea. Asi bark if you have it, chamomile if you don't." Galaros said calmly as he stripped Riku completely. He could do this. He'd done it before, although not for a long time. "And get me some clean cloths." Kairi's face went pale as Galaros gently touched Riku's abdomen.

"Galaros, what are you doing? We should call the ambulance…" But her voice wavered. The Destiny Islands didn't have a hospital, it was too small for that, so Riku would have to be taken to the mainland… and that would take hours. They did have a doctor on the island, but Kairi didn't think he could deal with this. Could Galaros?

"There's no time for that. I can do this. Go." Kairi hesitated, then went. She trusted Galaros. The seraphim briefly bathed his hands in fire to disinfect them. Then, taking a deep breath, Galaros lengthened his nails into sharp claws and began the operation.

If he hadn't been able to sense within Riku and deaden the boys' pain, it probably wouldn't have worked. Galaros had no real medical training. But he could sense the location of every important blood vessel, and knew precisely how far to cut, how deep. And fire was his ally. If Riku began bleeding too heavily, he could quickly cauterize the area. His advantages gave him a degree of skill equivalent to a true medical doctor, and soon the ruptured appendix was removed and sitting on the bed beside Riku. Now cure spells were effective, and he had Kairi cast them repeatedly until the bleeding stopped. Using the cloths, he removed as much of the blood and poisons from within Riku as he could. Riku would still be very sick for some time… but now he should get better. Hopefully.

"I've called the doctor. He's going to be here soon." Galaros nodded, although he wondered what the man would make of this makeshift operation. Probably be horrified… but Riku could use some medicine to control any secondary infection, and Kairi hadn't been able to find asi bark tea. And Galaros knew this world wouldn't have the other tinctures and potions the angels used for wound fevers.

Shaking and covered in blood, Galaros pulled himself to his feet and went to the bathroom to clean himself off. He felt… sick. He'd been so focused during the operation that he hadn't had time to think about what he was doing, but now that he was finished he was tortured by doubts. Should he have let Kairi call the ambulance? Would Riku be okay? That was the main point… nothing else mattered.

Time would tell.

Axel gazed at his mother, worried. She was deeply asleep on her new bed, and looked like a broken flower in the dim light of the Keep.

She wasn't, of course. A tall, slender woman, she resembled him greatly. Her hair was smoother, less spiky, and she typically wore it in a thick braid just past her shoulders, but it was the exact same shade of red. And her eyes, when they were open, were the same vibrant green. Her features were like a feminized version of his own… and Axel thought he'd gotten the better of that deal. The things that were handsome on a man were a bit too strong on a woman, but she was still very pretty. She'd aged well, with only a few lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth to betray how old she really was.

Axel smiled faintly as he thought about his childhood. His time as a Heartless and Nobody made him appreciate her more, now that he could remember his mother. He'd never thought about it as a child… she'd just been there, his mother, dependable as a rock… but now he knew she'd been a very good mother. Constantly making order out of chaos, she'd managed two children, a part time job and a husband who was very nice but had a terrible memory. Dad had been notorious for losing his car keys, among other things. He'd even managed to forget about a family vacation, until his mother stopped him at the door and asked where he thought he was going. He'd been trying to go to work. Axel still couldn't comprehend how his dad had managed to forget he was on vacation, but they'd teased him about that for years.

Not that his mother was a saint. She had a temper, and could exert a gentle pressure on her children whenever she really wanted something that was almost impossible to resist. That was the thing about her that worried him. That and the fact that she still treated him as a child… or teenager, anyway. She hadn't adjusted to the fact that he had grown up.

But maybe seeing the Dark Land in all its terrible glory would fix that. It would likely be hard for her to think of him as a child the first time he incinerated a demon in front of her… but Axel felt a strange twist in his heart at the thought. He didn't want his mother to see him as a monster. Even if he was, in a lot of ways.

With a sigh, he stood and leaned over, gently placing a kiss on her forehead. She stirred but didn't wake, and he quietly left the room. He wanted to talk to Blynda. Maybe the First Lady of the Hourglass would have some insight into what type of demon his mother would become, although she would usually require blood for that. If so, he would just have to wait until his mother awoke.

Blynda wasn't hard for him to find at all, although he couldn't sense her presence like the King of Light could sense his angels. For the good and simple reason that there were just too many demons packed into too tight an area. But a few questions led him right to her… she was watching a show in the courtyard. It was actually quite good, Axel thought. If a touch on the obscene side. But what else could you expect, with succubi and leccubi involved?

"Blynda." He greeted her, and she turned her head to smile at him.

"High Lord. You want to know what kind of demon your mother will be?" Axel nodded, unsurprised. She might have just guessed or she might have seen that… it was hard to say. "I do not need to scry. Your mother will live up to her name." Axel blinked.

"Her name? Orinda? What does that mean?" He'd never heard that his mother's name had a meaning, before. Blynda's smile turned vague and dreamy as she answered.

"It is an ancient name… it means serpent of fire. Just like you, she will hold the fire in her hands. She will be an elemental demon." Axel swallowed. He hadn't expected that. If anything, he'd expected his mother to be a siren or maybe a succubus. Elemental was the catch-all category for a demon that used the elements and didn't fit into any other category… and they tended to be powerful. Very powerful, sometimes. It was a bit unsettling… but after a moment of reflection, Axel decided it was a good thing.

At least his mother would probably be able to defend herself, if push came to shove.

"Y'know, Sora, I've been thinking." Chemistra said quietly, smoking on her pipe.

"Hmm?" Sora looked out over the city. It was a beautiful sight at night… lit with lanterns and the same phosphorescent lights the demons used in the Keep. He and Chem had drawn the night patrol this week, so at the moment they were perched on a spire like a pair of gargoyles. Which annoyed the real gargoyles to no end, but that was just too bad.

"I've been thinking about what Axel said. You know, about grandbabies." Sora blinked and turned his head to stare at her, surprised. Chemistra had been vehemently against the baby idea, so Axel had quickly dropped it. "It got me thinking. I'm almost three hundred years old, or something like that, you know?" Sora nodded. He knew Chem had been around for a while. "When I was a girl, the only thing girls could do really was get married and have babies. And that didn't bother me. When I was a girl, I'd watch the families in my village sometimes. And when I saw a kid who was acting like a brat, I'd think to myself, I don't want a kid like that. And when I saw one who was being good, I'd think to myself, that's the kind of kid I want." Chemistra paused, taking a deep draw of her pipe. "I even dreamed about having kids. Then… when I was a whore, I gave up on that. Only a damned fool would have kids as whore… and then I was here, and I forgot I even had the dream in the first place. Forgot I ever wanted kids."

"Until Axel brought it up." Sora said softly, and Chem nodded.

"Yeah. I'm still not sure I want them, but… I'm remembering that I did. And maybe I still do. I need to think about it." Sora held out his hand for her pipe, and Chem passed it over with a small smile. "Don't tell Axel about that, 'kay? I don't want to get his hopes up." Chemistra thought that Axel liked the idea of kids for himself, not just his mother. That part of his dreams back when he'd been Lea had involved getting married and having a family. Sora nodded.

"Your mothering instincts can be our little secret." Sora promised with a grin, and Chem gagged.

"Mothering instincts! Darkness, demons shouldn't have those! That sounds terrible." Sora laughed and passed back her pipe, which Chem vanished as she stood. "C'mon, we better get moving again before Semmins gets all butthurt."

"On it." Sora leapt easily from the spire, soaring through the air with a few quick wingbeats, and Chem followed a second later.

The Dark Land might not be perfect, but he would never give it up. He loved flying too much.