.
.III.
Omnipotence
The Lost angel
crying black blood
jagged teeth
and a crown
of white
knuckle bones.
While it could be considered mildly creepy, he liked to watch her.
He couldn't help it – the kid was fascinating! He'd never seen anything like it before. He'd certainly heard stories; there was one shinigami he knew that had taken a particular liking to killing children when he needed to collect more years, and the methods he chose were highly creative. Apparently killing kids was different than adults due to the fact that they didn't understand the concept of death, while the relatives would always go nuts in the aftermath. It never really appealed to him, personally.
Anyway, the little one had captured his attention in a way that, previously, only her mother had. The two were similar at first glance, but at the same time he could almost feel something from the kid … like there was some sort of potential there. He couldn't wait to find out what it was, honestly.
Not to say that Elise wasn't interesting. The woman could be brutally cruel when she needed to be, and her borderline bi-polar shifts were what made her so surprising. Her effortless manipulation of her mother after her father had died was inspiring.
Already he could feel the same chill he got around Elise from Kurai.
This is why he was oddly disappointed when she stopped being able to see him.
It was just before she started talking. Elise had been so relieved that the girl wasn't mute that she pretty much ignored the death god's melancholy. All they could talk about was 'complicated learning patterns' this, and 'potential mild autism' that, and it had him climbing the walls, sometimes literally. Vile's sour mood wasn't much different than his normal behavior though. Still, they'd had wonderful silent conversations, and now the little brat turned around and started acting like she was a normal kid. It was bloody infuriating!
Oh, he enjoyed being around Elise sure enough. She was one human that wouldn't fade from his memory for decades, centuries, to come. But Kurai – Kurai was different. And he didn't think that it was just because she was a child, and therefore went about her life without the fear that it might end.
No, her gaze was heavy. So, as he watched the toddler sleep, he decided that she would see him again, no matter the cost.
He didn't know what it would do to him.
During his time in the human world he realized how much he hated being an immortal death god. While he had no responsibilities or obligations, virtually nothing holding him down, he wished for the connections that held the humans together. The only way they could survive was to have something to hold onto. For him, all he could do was watch as his flesh slowly rotted over centuries, until he could no longer remember his beginning and had nothing but eternity to look forward to.
It kind of sucked.
Despite his self-loathing, he found himself oddly comfortable in the situation. After a couple years a routine had been established, and he was perfectly content to go along with the flow. It wasn't uncommon to find him lounging on the living room couch or curled up in the master bedroom's walk-in closet. During the evening he would watch the news with Tsuki, hanging from the ceiling. Every once in a while he would watch the kid for a few minutes while Elise did some chore or another. Even if only one occupant could actually see him, he found himself to be a part of the family, as strange as it sounded.
He was a fool, and he knew it.
Because while he may have all of time at his fingertips, humans had expiration dates.
And there wasn't a damn thing he could change about that.
The last time he'd been at a hospital for an extended period of time had been when Kurai was born. He'd never once left Elise's side then, and strangely enough she didn't mock him for it afterwards. Maybe it was the baby thing, or maybe he was getting soft; he couldn't really tell. Not that he wanted to be able to tell in the first place.
This visit was nowhere near as welcome as the first. His strangely human habits just made him stand out more, even if no one could see him. Vile dared not enter the actual room, so he stayed outside, leaning against a very solid wall and rubbing his forearms as though he was cold. Loose scales dropped to the floor like lead, holding his breath, and he doesn't need to breathe.
Every human here was going to die. Maybe not today, but if he wanted, he could tell exactly when. Could make it happen. It had been a long time since he'd actually paid attention to their lifespans. And all he could do now was curse himself repeatedly. He hadn't been paying attention. He'd been … too human.
It needed to stop.
(Before it killed him.)
There was movement in the room, and suddenly Elise was standing in the doorway. The last time he'd seen her so worn down and anxious was when she was a teenager. An overwhelming urge to kill something overcame him, to soothe her pain, but this time her problems weren't so easily solved. She was upset because she was afraid, but for completely different reasons. This time she's afraid for someone. It enraged him, igniting a fire in his belly he'd forgotten existed.
She closed the door behind her forcefully, and stormed down the hallway without acknowledging his presence. The total disregard stung, oddly enough. He'd forgotten that she could do that do him – to him, a being that she should fear above all else.
He followed her before he can tell himself not to.
Elise stood in front of the bathroom mirror, splashing cold water onto her face and trying to rub the exhaustion from her features. She threw on a sweater and jeans earlier, not even bothering to brush her hair because holy shit Kurai was coughing up blood. Anger roils around in his stomach, and it's been fucking centuries since he's felt nausea. What is up with that?!
He shouldn't care. He really shouldn't care. Why would he, a death god, care about the soon-to-be-over life of a little human girl? Why should he care that her mother is breaking apart in front of him?
"Elise…" he whispered, quite pathetically.
"Don't you dare," she growled, her hands gripping the edge of the counters, knuckles white. Vile jerked, his muscles tensing under his paper-thin skin. "You can tell when everyone dies, Vile, and I don't want you to patronize me because of it. You may be a friend, but this is my daughter. So you can shut the hell up."
The silence stretches between them, and he has nothing to say.
Why do you care? A voice in the back of his head taunts.
So he thinks, and she leaves again, probably to return to her mate and prepare for the child's demise.
Why do I care?
He didn't feel much like a god in that moment.
His wings ached. It'd been a long time since he'd used them.
His skin stretched over them, across bone and cartilage, and there are holes and tears. Ever since he got them he was glad he didn't have feathers. Damn things would get everywhere. But it makes him look more like a demon instead of an angel, as Elise sometimes calls him when he's being emotional.
He flies for hours, circling the city like some great vulture. Roars of angerand pain sliced through the air, but he's the only one around to hear them. When he finally calmed down enough not to slaughter any poor sucker to go near him, he touches down in Kurai's hospital room.
She's pale, and her breathing is thin and shallow, even with tubes stuffed down her throat. He thinks he still saw blood in her hair. The father is nowhere to be seen, though he probably had to speak with the doctors or whoever else, and Elise is staring listlessly ahead, back to ignoring him.
Vile's throat feels dry.
Silently, as not to disturb anyone (even if he doubts they'd hear him), he approached the foot of the bed. Elise tensed, hardly noticeable to someone other than him, who's seen her at her worst. It's almost as if she expected him to take Kurai's soul and fly away, never to return.
It's not fair, he thought, and if he actually had skin on his face he's sure he would be demonstrating the reptilian equivalent of a scowl. Freakin' dinosaur skull. The heart-monitor started to beep quicker.
"What do you want, Vile?" Elise hissed, and he catches a glint of cold fury in her gaze. It's not as cruel as it could be, he notes. She'd always been soft on him, even after he murdered her father.
"How did this happen?" he speaks before he thinks, but refuses to take it back. She looked a little shocked, and raises a singular eyebrow. Her eyes were searching, looking past his monstrous appearance to whatever is underneath.
For a moment, he thought she's going to tell him to leave. Then, she sunk back into her chair and looked utterly wreaked. "It's a genetic disease, and really rare. We think she got it from Tsuki's side of the family. His father died the same way."
"Oh," he breathes (and he doesn't breathe), "What does it do?"
Elise sneers at him, which catches him off-guard, "Does it even matter?" She has no idea, probably, but she's right. It doesn't matter. All he knows that it's sudden, fast acting, and the kid's pretty much running on fumes. The disease is ripping apart her insides, and even if she would survive the attack, the next one will be worse.
The thinking returns and it darts around his head frantically. If Kurai was being attacked, he could have saved her. It would have killed him, yeah, and the fact that he even sees this as a possibility scares the shit out of him. He'd do the same for Elise – he's known this for years. Still scares the shit out of him.
The fact that he can't do anything is what makes him so angry. He's one of the oldest beings in existence, has seen humanity struggle to take its first steps, civilizations rise only to fall, and blood and death and war, and he can't save one little girl.
He can't, and the realization makes him want to scream. He can't.
A small nugget of information bobs to the surface of his mind.
(Maybe she can.)
"Elise," he croaks, and she watches him with sharp, iced eyes, "There's something we can do."
It's like a switch has been flipped, and she's on her feet and clutching at his shoulders, fingers digging into his scales. Her eyes are wide and frantic, maniacal, and cold washes down his spine at the look. She's so desperate it reminds him of his usual dislike for humans, but this time it only brings him sadness. "What do I have to do?" she begs him, "Please, Vile. I'll do anything."
He doesn't doubt it.
"It's black magic," he warns her anyway, "You will die."
Just like when she was young, a dark look crosses her features, and a grin takes its place. Tears threaten to spill over and mar her pretty face. "I don't care Vile … I was going to die anyway."
He shudders.
"It has two parts," he says quietly, dragging his long fingers up her back, crinkling her sweater, "You will have to forfeit your life, and then you must pass her ailments to another."
"Can I not take them on myself?" she questions in return, resting her forehead against his collarbones.
"No – your remaining years will be given to her." Elise still had years ahead of her – enough to give Kurai a long life. But it had its price. "This deal will mark her," he adds.A deal like this hadn't been made in … millennia, he thinks. Humans had long ago forgotten what darkness lurked in the shadows, and where the stories of demons even came from in the first place. They used to give up so much for so little.
Elise considers it for a moment, quiet in his arms, "How?"
"She will have the eyes of a death god. She will know when everyone around her dies."
He didn't have to tell her this. That little detail had often broken deals centuries earlier by angry parents not willing to demonize their children, not willing to curse them with it. They assumed the child would be better off dead.
Shinigami eyes – those bent on vengeance could give half their life for it. Humans touched by death at the core of their very soul, stained and doomed to know things that no mortal should know. A brand of magic that used to get people burned at the stake.
But it's the last thing they can do. The question is whether or not Elise can die with the knowledge that not only would she have killed an innocent to save her child, but the child would be forced to carry such knowledge.
"… When?"
He blinks, and then tilts his head to the side. "You're actually considering this?"
"This is my child, Vile."
Laughter rips through his chest, rough and broken, "Why are you so surprising?"
"Vile," she says warningly.
"You're going to have to be more specific on your 'when'."
"Will I die immediately? Will she get the eyes immediately? When will the other die? Will she be healed?" she fires off the questions, and her fingers scrape down towards his shoulder blades. It doesn't hurt, though a few loose scales fall. He exhales a puff of air onto the top of her head.
"I can give you one year," he shifts so he's resting his chin on her shoulder, curling over her protectively. "She will be marked by your death. The other will be given her disease, but it won't heal her current state, and the other may not die right away."
"Who does it have to be?"
And here's the deal breaker: "A blood relative."
After a moment, he can hear Elise's hard tone, "Any relative?"
"Yes."
Without hesitation: "My mother then – she's old, nobody will be able to tie it to us."
He'd be lying if he said he didn't expect it. Elise is a monster in her own right. She pulls away from him, looking up at him with stone-cold eyes and a fairly disturbing smile on her face. He wonders how much Kurai will take after Elise, or if she'll be more like her father. Either way the kid will have a difficult life ahead of her.
"Do it," Elise orders.
He obeys.
A/N: I've been messing around with the eyes again. Most of this is head-cannons that have popped up over the years. Demon deals = shinigami deals? Instead of selling your soul you sell your life force? Seemed solid enough in my head (and will probably be made into a plot point in CRIMSON). I'll likely go back to RED and edit my own text to fit with this. Besides, RED is a little outdated in the first place. This time I have more family history and characterization. It should make things a little spicier.