Chapter 24
What do I do? Everyone's walls are breaking down!
Emerix looked unfazed but turned and ran. I sighed and saw Amara, not worried at all.
"I knew quite a long time this is how it would end." She said, crossing her legs. "And I opted a while ago to the fact that I could not prevent it."
"You just gave up! They're you friends!" I shouted at them. She looked at me, surprised.
"Don't be foolish, you have to learn, you cannot save the world. There's going to be something you can't stop and some things you shouldn't get involved in. The quicker you learn it, the better off you'll be." Amara said. She smirked. "And everyone has a little evilness in them; sometimes you can't help but cause trouble in the first place."
I looked at her, comprehending what she said. I looked at Sen. I hope protecting him is one of the things I can do. One of the things I'm supposed to get involved in.
"And of course, there are things you don't deserve. Like how Derra did not deserve to be treated as such by Emerix. And how Emerix did not deserve Derra." Amara said. Her smile has become creepy.
"And, as I possess a unique skill. Premonitions, seeing into the future; I know things that others don't. So here's my question for you. Do you know if your worthy of Sen?" She said.
It never occurred to me that Sen could do better…. I guess he could… being with me got him involved in all this shit.
"Of course, no that we have a little intermission in all this… annoyances we can focus on more important things." Amara said standing up. "You relationship is fine. Sen wants no one other than you, do not worry." Amara looked down.
"And neither of you will die in this war." She finished. I looked up at her.
"Even if you told me we were going to die, I would make sure we will live." I told her. She smiled at me.
"That's the attitude. Keep at it, don't give up…." She stopped talking and left and it became quiet. I looked up at the ceiling.
If I'm not worthy of Sen, I'll make myself worthy. I know it.
"You survived… good." I looked up.
"Gen, Hiba, you're alright." I said. Gen nodded, but stumbled to be caught by Hiba.
"Did you finish the guy off?" I asked, remembering that insanely powerful ayakashi that attacked us. I couldn't do anything to help…
They shook their heads. "He's still out there somewhere looking for you guys, probably laughing his ass about something, that stupid Angel."
"Hey, I resent that so much! How dare you insult a lady behind her back!" I was surprised to hear Angel as he popped his head down to look at us from the window.
"You creeper!" I shouted at him, immediately standing between him and Sen.
"Aww, so cruel." Angel said, jumping into the room. He smiled.
"It seems my old master Lilium is a horribly plain coward and doesn't deserve my assistance. Ah, the tragedy of all the time a wasted helping that woman because I empathized with her, alias, her curtain will reach the ground very soon." Angel said.
"What are you talking about, her curtain will reach the ground?" I asked, still somewhat hesitant to trust Angel.
He looked at me and made himself at home, sitting in a raggedy couch across from me. He crossed his legs, showing off his high heels, making me sigh impatiently.
"We'll, ayakashi can be like humans. If they are forlorn and hopeless, when the smallest opportunity to pull themselves back up again presents itself, they will invariably grab it. No matter the cost, they will grab it if they believe it's the right things to do. And Lilium did just that, your little kitty here also did it." Angel said.
"For the kitty, poor unconscious kitty, his spider's thread rope out of the well was the red head Derra. It was sad to see her go, we related so. Alias, everyone had only a certain amount of chapters in their story. Derra offered revival and Sen took it, although he, surprisingly, thought about how his actions would affect others." Angel said.
I looked down at Sen. Derra died to revive him, I would never forget her. Never.
"And I was the opportunity for the witch that's caused all this, Lilium. She was so sad and alone… that I empathized her. Being who I am, I tend to never have anyone a majority of the time. I opted to help her, so I could feel useful." Angel said, twiddling his thumbs and looking down.
"She was alone and wanted revenge on the people that left her alone so, at her orders, I burned down the village she lived in when she was alive. It gave her happiness and gave me worth. We were codependent on each other sadly…. Two lost lives with no worth left but to cause others pain and are burdens." He said. Standing up.
"Now she's gone and I am without a master, so you no longer to need to worry about me being against you in this ayakashi war." He said bowing. I felt kinda bad for him.
"But I-I'd really like t-to stay p-please." He said, blushing at looking at me. It surprised me and I couldn't reply. My speechless seemed to make him answer himself.
"Oh… that doesn't surprise me…. I will leave don't worry." He said bowing and he jumped out the window he came in.
"You should have accepted his offer, his power would have been useful in our battle." Hiba said, helping Gen sit where Angel previously sat.
"It would of…."
"You mean you want pretty old me AROUND!" He immediately jumped back into the little hideout through the window again and smiled, overjoyed.
"Nobodies ever actually wanted me around, not out of pity…." He said, mellowing at true realization of what Hiba said.
"Oh, it's not me you want, just my abilities… ok…. I'll help, don't worry." Angel said. He immediately stood up straight again, happy as he usually is.
Or at least, the fake happy he usually is. I want to learn more about him, just because I have a feeling he's hiding everything; bottling it all up like Sen used to.
"I'd love to do this, but I do require a little priiiiice, if you please. There must always be a price, this creepy little devil girl you to say the all the time, can't quite remember her name. Oh well, Shall I name my price or do you want to offer?" He said, his eyes shining.
I sighed. "What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing yet, but when it comes to me, I'll be sure to tell you right away hmm." He said, smiling sinisterly. He looked out the window and snapped his fingers. He glared.
"It appears I can't make him go away. That darned Gingross managed to revive himself, umph, well you're WELCOME!" He shouted out the window, suddenly having vanished from in front of me to stick his head out the sorry excuse of a window in this shack.
"You revived them?" I asked, scooting closer to the dozing Sen next to me.
"Of course I did, former Lady Lilium requested it to power up her army, she was rather devastated at Tsurosa's death you see, Lilium is, and oh how do I put it? A pansexual, and boy did she have hidden feelings. Of course, I really don't like the thought of two females…. Ugh" He shivered. "I don't want to think about it, it repulses my very soul! I'd rather be the devil's main course or have the curtain prematurely fall on my performance!" He shouted frantically as he hugged himself. I looked at him sweat dropping.
"What to do with you….?"
"Hmm, you can do whatever you want, Yoshimori-Darling." Angel said, kicking his feet up on the wobbly table after returning to the second sofa.
"I want you to tell me all that you know." I said.
"Sadly, sweetheart, you don't have enough lifetimes for that." Angel said, flipping his hair over his shoulder. "But specify a subject and I'll be glad to help."
"Lilium's weakness." I said bluntly. He smiled a big villainous smile.
"Well, you see, the woman is virtually immortal as I am. But alias, everyone has a weakness, like myself even!" He said, exaggerating everything with eccentric movements.
"She has that ability of almost automatic recovery as I'm sure she's explained to you, thinking you'd die after that confrontation. Her body is made of plants, and thus the body can be re-grown from the tiniest bit. However, as that chef she fought earlier discovered, she can recover a severed limb much faster than a broken bone." He said, his psychotic smile plastered on his face.
"You've sure said nothing for how long you've talked." I scolded him, irritated. He put up his hands defensively.
"I'm also assuming you discovered that catching her whole body in a kekkai and destroying it doesn't work because she can still recover from the microscopic pieces left of her before you can perform the portal vacuum thingy." Angel said, spinning his finger in the air when he said 'portal vacuum thingy'.
"Yeah… that was a pleasant surprise." I remarked sarcastically.
Angel chuckled. "You cannot kill her because there is a similar situation to Christeenala occurring here."
That surprised me, "What's that mean?"
"The Lilium that you constantly run into and battle can be compared to a shikigami. It is a copy that only uses a 10th of Lilium's actual power."
"A 10th! That can't be possible!" I shouted, making Sen stir in his sleep. I immediately covered my mouth and let out a muffled sigh.
"Only a 10th? This whole time it's only been a 10th?" I asked. Angel nodded.
"A majority of the Guardian's you've faced so far only used a fraction of their power against you, it's hard not to underestimate your prey when you're so powerful. I wasn't even using a quarter of my full strength against your friends back there…. Oh, and byyyy the waaay, I'm sorry for attacking you." Angel ended with an "innocent" face. I sighed.
"So where's the real Lilium?" I asked.
"Probably hiding out in her own dimension, she's rooted there now, as unlike most landlords, she cannot leave. From what I know about her plan, she intends on taking over Karasumori and The Guardian's Castle, then she'd probably go after the Kokuburo Castle and Lord Oro's dimension." Angel shrugged, "I never really bothered to learn what her true goal is."
"When you say rooted-"
"I mean literally rooted." Angel cut me off. "She's literally rooted to that dimension, but can send numerous shikigami posing as her out to do her dirty work and, well not any more, do her assignments as a guardian. She is in complete control of the shikigami, so if your surrounded by them, you can't do anything cuz she would be able to see you from every angle. They all share their senses." Angel said. He took in a deep breath and waved his hand.
"I'm not gunna talk anymore about that plain woman, I'll answer other question though."
"What are you exactly?" I asked, curious.
"Well, I am a powerful, pseudo-immortal ayakashi." Angel said with a shrug, drinking from a cup of tea I never noticed he had.
"No, I want to know exactly what you are, is there a specific name for it?" I asked. Angel froze and looked at me with a small smile.
"Well, then I suppose you learn, I am one of the many in the ayakashi world that can be seen as a human god, in the sense." Angel said. "I happen to be a Death God, but I am currently off duty as that god, there is another currently taking my place." He said, taking another sip of what I'm guessing is tea.
"Why did you quit?" I asked, trying to learn more about this new…. Ally.
"Hmmm it was because of a certain thing. You can never be the same after a thing like that. Not outright crazy, but getting there in others' eyes." He said. "As a reaper, anyone who dies must be reaped for them to truly die. If they die, but aren't reaped, they become a zombie of sorts." Angel said calmly, calmly for once.
"Everyone born must be reaped, miscarriages and stuff are special cases, won't explain those, but everyone has to be reaped, and a Death God is sent to get them. All Death Gods are in equal authority with one another, and take orders and assignments from Death himself, who is seen kind of like the king of Death Gods."
The story is actually capturing my attention. I always had an interest in these….. religious myths and legends, they were always rather captivating. Of course, not as much as cake baking! But neither can even compare to being with Sen!
"I was given an assignment that was rather unique. I was familiar with reaping both human and ayakashi, so that wasn't the case. It quite a long time ago, I do believe the humans call it the Industrial Revolution. I was sent to an English town, as I frequently was, to reap a young person. That was the uniqueness. It was to be the first time I would have to reap a child. I was young and thought nothing of it."
"Industrial Revolution? How old are you?" Sen mumbled. It surprised me and I hugged him tight in happiness.
"You awake and well!"
"Hey! Don't ever ask a lady her age!"
"I want some tea too…" Sen mumbled, seeing the tea cup Angel was drinking from. He pointed to the stove.
"I made it there, pour yourself some." Angel said. Sen stumbled to his feet.
"No, let me get it Sen."
"I can do it Yoshi… I am still Sen, you said it yourself, and I won't let you help me unless I fail 100 times first." He said with a smile. I smiled back.
"So you're out of the lovesick phase too? We both stayed there to long, it made us seem out of character." I said.
Sen smiled and looked at Angel, "continue your story please lady, it is quite interesting."
Angel smiled happily at being called a lady and nodded as Sen poured himself some tea.
"Anyways, I ended up in a factory filled town with crowded buildings and a putrid yellow sky. I went to the human's home and easily broke in without breaking at thing, years of practice. I had brought all my weapons, in case of interference by other ayakashi or supernatural creatures. I'm sure your aware that there are more than just ayakashi." Angel said. I nodded.
"I found the young girl's room and saw her on a bed, buried in blankets with tons of medication near her. I was surprised to see the medication, a working class family affording this medication. She was asleep, and I meant to kill her in her sleep, but I accidently woke her. She sat up, calling out 'whose there?' but I didn't answer as myself. I changed my voice to sound like her mothers, who I had previously met while in disguise so I could reach a sinner whose time had finally come, different story. I got sidetracked, give me a sec!" Angel took a deep breath.
"But she could tell I was not her mother." Angel said. I froze, his voice suddenly sounded exactly like Tokine.
"And I had to drop the façade." Now it sounds like Gen.
"She could not see me, yet, she could tell who I was." That time.. he sounded just like Sen.
"I looked at her blind eyes and sickly figure and wondered how she could still smile. She just smiled and asked who I was, and said that if I was there to see her mother that I would have to leave and come back later." He said, back to his normal voice. "I told him that I wasn't there for mom, but for her. She said that she knew why then. She asked my name."
I saw a tear roll down his cheek.
"I couldn't say my real name, because that wasn't what I am. An Angel is nowhere near what I am. So I said I was Death and she smiled knowingly. She said that she was ready, with only 2 dying wishes. One, that her mother does well without her, and that her mother still goes on. I granted that selfless wish. But her second wish broke the rules, it wasn't selfless. She wanted to be able to see the death that takes her life. I shouldn't have granted it, but I did. For the 5 year old girl lying on her deathbed, chatting with the grim reaper." Angel said. He sighed. "I didn't get in trouble for granting this wish, because it was my first case like that, but I didn't care. I did a selfless thing for once, instead of worrying about my own ass."
"It was so hard to reap a child. They haven't yet had enough time to experience life, the pains, the joys, the wonders. But she still had to die, or she would suffer the pain of living in a rotting body till she was nothing but a skeleton with no way of truly passing on. She had to be reaped, to save her from a fate worse than death. It had to be done. So, she asked my real name after she could see me."
He stifled a sob.
"When I told her 'Angel' she said it was such a pretty name for a pretty lady. I was finally recognized as a woman. It felt right. I told her to close her eyes, I told her that I was going to make it as painless as I could. And then she was reaped. Of course, killing a child will leave any sane person, changed…." He said. He looked at me with a big smile, but tears rolling down his cheeks.
I nodded, "That's horrible."
"It's the job of Death, you have to learn to get used to it…" Angel said. He jumped up waved and jumped out of the window. I sighed and Sen sat down next to me. I put my arm over his shoulder and kissed his cheek. He smiled.
"I'm happy your ok, Sen." I said. Sen nodded.