Author's Note: Wouldn't it be the ultimate troll if it turned out all this time, everything Tatsumi had experienced in the DxD was just a fanciful hallucination that occurred after death and none of it was real?
I'm not saying that's what's going on, but… just saying. That'd be very trollsy of me, eh?
Chapter 36: Kill the Doubts
Large didn't even come close to describing the scale of the cemetery. Rows upon rows of headstones, bedrock hewn into perfect rectangles. They stretched for as far as the eye could see, disappearing only when it rolled up over the top of a hill or over the horizon. A name was carved upon each stone, along with the day of birth and death. Beneath the date was a small quote, dedicated to the fallen. Often there were flowers sitting before a headstone, an offering from those loved and left behind.
It was obvious at first glance that a great deal of care had been taken with each one. An achievement of no small feat considering the sheer number.
Another feat of no small measure was how well maintained it all was. Cobblestone paths, stones fitted neatly together, wound their way through the enormous graveyard. Each stone looked as if it had been hewn from rock just the day before. Even the soft, gentle green grass was perfectly manicured.
One place in particular though, saw more attention than all the rest.
In the very center of the vast cemetery was a comparatively small walled in section. The stone wall wasn't particularly high. A full grown adult could see over it. It wouldn't keep anyone out, but it wasn't mean to. The whole cemetery was dedicated to the fallen, those that fought in the great war not for greed or power, but for an ideal. Those within the wall-off section were those that went above and beyond. Men and women who sacrificed not just their lives, but their right to even be known.
The headstones within lay blank, unmarked.
Those that needed to remember those that laid within, remembered and paid tribute.
The final resting place for those destined to be written out of history.
Or at least it should have been the final resting place.
The dead normally had the decency to stay dead and resting in their graves. However, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone that a certain dead individual had a certain sort of allergy to being dead, one that often caused him to survive or revive when he really shouldn't have.
And thus, Tatsumi was at a loss for words as to what to do or say as he sat there with his lower half still buried underground, staring down at an obviously, and understandably, stunned and shocked Mine.
Her usual, vibrant pink dress swayed about her in the gentle breeze that blew across the cemetery. There was a light dusting of dirt and soil lay across the vibrant pink, thrown across her from Tatsumi's sudden eruption from beneath the earth. Her hair was still as vibrant as always, but long gone were the ponytails. She wore her hair down now, a single, large mass of beautiful locks that swayed in the breeze.
For a long, silent moment, the two of them just stared at one another. Drinking in deep the sight of the other. Countless emotions raced through her eyes. A stunned shock was first, followed by disbelief that slowly morphed into confusion. A dozen more emotions flicked across her eyes and her face. Too many, too quickly, for Tatsumi to grasp. As the small woman before him slowly processed what she saw before her, a single emotion settled upon her.
Fear.
"I'm not going down without a fight!" Mine shouted as she jumped back several steps. Out whipped a large can of something in one hand while the other grasped the empty air behind her back as even after all these years she instinctively reached out for her ruined Teigu, Pumpkin.
"Wait! Mine, it's me!" Tatsumi protested quickly even as Mine squeezed the top of the can. A large wave of the foulest, most stomach curling spray washed over his face. "Oh gods, the smell!" Tatsumi gagged as he reared back in agony. It was so wretched it burned! His nose was on fire! What was in that thing?! "Gah! Ugh! Cough! What—bleh—help…!"
He clawed at his face as he desperately tried to get rid of whatever that was Mine had just sprayed at him. Forget Pumpkin, that thing was on an entirely different level!
"Wait… you're… Tatsumi?" Mine asked slowly as her fear slowly shifted back into confusion. Her eyes flickered down to the can in her hands and for the briefest of instances Tatsumi saw mortification flash across her face.
You had better feel guilty for spraying liquid hell in his face. Egads, what he could even taste it! Tatsumi keeled over to the side and emptied out his stomach.
"What… gah… what is that?!" Tatsumi gasped out. "I'd rather get hit with Pumpkin than that!"
"It's…" She glanced at the can and another bout of guilt flashed across her face. She quickly hid the spray can beneath her dress. "It's your own damn fault for scaring me like that!" Mine snapped at him. "Do you have any idea what I've… what…" Her head bowed as she gripped her dress tightly in her fists. "I… Taven and me… we…" When she lifted her head to stare up at him once more he saw tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes. "Damn it, Tatsumi! If you're going to die at least let me know if you're going to come back!"
Tatsumi didn't have any words to say to that. What could he say? He had left her behind. He couldn't even use the excuse that he couldn't as a reason why he didn't, because when given the option to… to what was it again?
Right, he'd died and left her here all alone despite promising he'd return to her.
He was a terrible person.
The ground rumble as Tatsumi pulled the rest of himself out of his grave. "I'm sorry," Tatsumi said, getting on his hands and knees, prostrating before her. It must have looked very strange to anyone that looked on to see a massive dragon kneeling before a tiny woman barely taller than his head. He slowly lifted his head. "Next time I'll let you know."
He was in the same draconic form he'd used in his final battle against Esdeath. The one he'd died in. The one Akame had killed him in. Could he return to his human form? He didn't know but it felt like he could for some reason.
"Why do you say that like you think there's going to be a next time?!" Mine demanded through her tears. She rubbed her eyes furiously, scattering droplets into the breeze. There was a fierce look in her eyes. "Isn't giving up your humanity and dying for the world enough? The world owes you!"
"The world doesn't owe anyone, anything," Tatsumi rumbled. The world cared very little about the on-goings of individuals. Someone had mentioned that to him once. He couldn't remember who though.
He shifted his attention from Mine to himself. It was there, in the back of his head. Knowledge on how to return to his human form. It shouldn't be possible after becoming the Tyrant, but the knowledge was there… would it work? There was only one way to find out.
It was slow at first, so slow he thought that it wasn't going to work at the start, but gradually he did begin to shift. Small changes at first. Scales shifted, becoming rounder and smaller. Then larger changes as bones shifted and shrunk, muscles compacted. Redundant organs disappeared and the pair of wings on his back retracted inside. His body protested every inch of the way.
Tatsumi collapsed to his knees, panting in exhaustion upon the grass beside his unearthed grave. Exhaustion pressed down upon him from all directions. Bones creaked with each breath he took, muscles ached and even his eye lashes hurt!
As Tatsumi stared down at his hands he noticed something off. Gone were the smooth fingers he was used to seeing. In their place were worn ones, as if they were many years older than they should have been or rather, had been.
Or perhaps they were the right age.
"I don't suppose… you know some place we… can talk in private?" Tatsumi gasped as he lifted his head to give Mine a weak smile. "And possibly some food? It feels like I haven't eaten in seventeen years."
"You—" Mine released her deathlike grip on her dress with a harrumph. "Fine, I guess since you're too weak and helpless to do anything on your own, I will do what I can as is proper of a loving, caring wife."
Tatsumi didn't recall getting married before he died. It was probably best not to comment on that, all things considered. "Thanks," he said as Mine helped him up to his feet.
Tatsumi intended to use all the time it took for Mine to take her to wherever she had in mind to figure out what the hell he was going to do and what he was going to say.
He'd rather have another life and death battle with Esdeath than this. What was he going to say to her?
Tatsumi was utterly confused.
~o~
Tatsumi wasn't surprised to find out that Mine didn't live in the Capital like so many others did. She had spent much of her early life fighting against it and its ideologies, working with Night Raid and the Revolutionary Army to topple the corrupt Empire. It was where Lubbock had died. It was where he had been killed. It was the place of so many unpleasant memories.
Her home was near the western border, close to where she'd grown up. Tatsumi had thought it'd take days to get there but a lot of changes had occurred over the past seventeen years he'd been dead. The canals that ran through the Capital now ran throughout the entire country. Large, steam powered ships freighted large numbers of people and cargo along those canals covering large distances in a very short amount of time, something that had only previously been possibly via the use of specialized Teigus.
Even here though, she didn't take up residence in the small town near the border. Instead she had a small house on a parcel of land just outside of it. Several acres of land ringed by a low, chest-high wall to keep out the more docile wildlife. The back wall butted up against a large, dense forest that stretched to either side as far as the eye could see, broken only by the canal they had arrived by and a hard-packed dirt road that ran alongside it.
Near the front of the property, resting at the end of a short, winding dirt driveway, sat a simple, one-story log cabin. Signs of subsistence farming could be seen to the side of the log house. A sizeable garden filled with a large variety of vegetables. On the other side of the property was a copse of fruit trees that were already brimming with ripe fruit ready for the picking.
It felt strange, stepping into that log cabin. There was this warmth to the place that he couldn't quite describe. Almost like he had finally come home. The place had been well taken care of, which was no surprise considering Mine's perchance for perfection. Everything was in its place, exactly where it should be and nowhere else. A small couch sat in the middle of the front room, facing a stone hearth across a soft animal rug. It laid cold now due to the warmth of the days, but had seen much use in the past. Tatsumi could almost envision Mine sitting on that couch, drinking some tea as she stared into that fire, reminiscing about the past.
Above the hearth was a mantle upon which rested a number of paintings and pictures of Night Rad, including a delicately carved clay sculpture that had all the members posing together. A nostalgic and beautiful piece of work despite its impossibility. Sheele and Bulat had been killed prior to Chelsea and Susanoo joining.
"Wow, this place is nice," Tatsumi said as glanced about the room. It was simple, homely. Everything was well-made, but nothing was too extravagant. "I thought for sure you'd have the place filled with expensive stuff."
"It was, once," Mine said delicately, "I learned very quickly that a young child thinks 'put that down' means 'throw it against the wall as hard as possible'."
Tatsumi winced ever so slightly. He could only imagine Mine's reaction to that. "Taven was a bit of a wild-child then?"
"Takes after you more than I'd like," Mine said, sniffing delicately as she bent down and undid her travelling boots. She stepped out of them and gave him a quick, sidelong glance before continuing. "He's just as bullheaded and reckless, something that didn't change as he got older."
"Ah-ha… ha…" It seemed their son had given her quite the hard time growing up. He decided to change the topic. "Have things improved with the West?" Tatsumi asked her as she made her way across the room.
He honestly hadn't expected her to move back out here. There were quite possibly as many bad memories in this part of the country as there were in the capital.
Different memories, but no less traumatizing.
She stopped in the doorway to what appeared to be the kitchen. She gave him a small smile over her shoulder. "Mmhmm, the Kingdom went out of its way to make amends and pay reparations to the neighbouring countries for the damages caused by the Prime Minister and Esdeath." She stepped through the door and continued, her voice floating in from the kitchen. "They accepted them pretty easily. I think they were just tired of war and wanted to put it behind them. Things have been better since then, the discrimination from my childhood..." her voice trailed off into intelligible mumbles.
Tatsumi shucked his own boots from his feet and quickly followed Mine into the kitchen. He found her pulling a pack of cured meat from a small pantry. She tossed it on the counter, next to the wash basin, before making her way over to the smokeless fire pit.
"I can do that," Tatsumi said, quickly making his way over to the fire pit before she could. He threw a few logs and a couple chunks of coal into the pit and lit it with the flint sitting next to it. "You did all have me make meals for you when Night Raid was still around."
He saw Mine smile out of the corner of his eye. "We did, didn't we? Our son didn't inherit your cooking skills. I think I might look forward to having properly cooked meals again."
Tatsumi chuckled lightly as he adjusted the temperature by shifting manipulating the heat currents with metal plates. "I saw a garden on the way in. I don't know what vegetables and spices you have but—"
"I'll be right back," Mine said as she started back towards the main room. She paused at the doorway again and threw a backwards glance at him. "And please don't die while I'm in the garden."
"You're not going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Never."
Tatsumi smiled as she left and quickly prepared the meat while Mine went to the garden. Tatsumi had just finished dicing the meat up into small chunks when Mine returned with an armful of ingredients, far too many for Tatsumi to ever use up.
"I didn't know what you needed," Mine said by way of explanation.
He recognized all of them. There were at least a dozen different combinations he could use with the meat. There was no need to make it all go to waste though. "Do you have any bearian sausage and ichty ribs?"
"Yes," Mine said and went to the pantry to grab them.
With the two of them working together it didn't take long for a large, full-course meal to be prepared and placed upon the kitchen table. Mine had learned a few things in the seventeen years she'd been forced to care for Taven alone. She didn't have the aptitude for cooking, but she wasn't incompetent either.
"And no Akame to eat everything on us before I even finish cooking," Tatsumi mused as he stared at the large spread on the table.
"I'm not sure what she missed more some days, you, or your cooking," Mine said glibly as she took at seat at the table. She didn't waste any time taking a bite of the seasoned ichty ribs. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as an almost orgasmic moan escaped from her lips. Tatsumi had a sudden, strange vision of her clothes being ripped off in an over-the-top and ridiculous manner, before reality reasserted itself and Mine was back, smiling happily at the food on the table. "Oh, I've missed this so much."
"Not me? Just the food?" Tatsumi asked, chuckling as he sat at the table across from her.
"I guess it's nice to have you back too," Mine admitted.
"Oh gee, thanks," Tatsumi said sarcastically. The wide grin on Mine's lips made it impossible to take offense at her statement.
Tatsumi piled some food on his plate and dug into it. His body immediately reacted, finally having the sustenance it needed after seventeen long years of nothing at all. He could feel renewed strength and stamina flowing through his limbs. The Tyrant, or at least certain traits, was still very much still inside him even in his human body. It made Tatsumi wonder where he ended and it began, or if there even was a beginning and an end.
The two continued to eat in silence, just enjoying each others company and the good food.
It was near the end of the meal when Tatsumi finally decided to speak up.
"There's been a lot of changes since I died," Tatsumi started. "So many I barely recognize the place."
"A lot of new technologies and theories were created during the war both to fight with and against Teigus. Now that the war ended, those theories could be applied to more mundane, civilized things," Mine said as way of explanation, "or at least so I've been told." She glanced past him to the door. "There certainly have been rapid changes and development in many areas, especially transportation."
"How is the Kingdom?" he asked. "I guess it's better than the Empire."
Mine gave him a deadpanned look. "A festering cesspool of disease and garbage would be better than the Empire." She snorted and looked away. "The Kingdom is so different from the Empire it's hard to imagine that one gave rise to the other." She shook her head from side to side as if even she couldn't believe the difference. "I keep thinking it will go bad. I keep waiting for it to happen. Every time I step into a city I think someone will try to…" she wrapped her arms around her body and hugged herself tight. "I wish I still had Pumpkin."
Some things you just didn't get over. Scars of the war, especially the things they'd seen and had been forced to do, would never truly heal. No one was immune to them, not even Tatsumi. It wasn't so much his own suffering he was worried about, but the suffering of those he cared about.
"That spray would dissuade even the most powerful Danger Beasts," Tatsumi said comfortingly.
"Good," she smirked and gave him a sly look. "Thank you, Tatsumi, for being my first test subject. I'm glad to know it's effective."
"Why am I always the one people test things on?" Tatsumi muttered.
"What was that?" Mine asked archly.
"Nothing," Tatsumi said quickly. "So, the Kingdom?" he asked, hoping to shift the subject back on track.
"Right," Mine said, "the Queen seems to be intelligent enough, capable too. She can be as firm or as gentle as she needs to be." She grimaced. "I don't know much about her personally. Taven is always bringing home invitations for me for tea and stuff but I've never cared much for that sort of display." A downcast look crossed her face. "Night Raid is best off disappearing."
"We were a part of the darkness of the Empire," Tatsumi said softly. "Part of the problem, and the solution. We are better off just fading away into obscurity."
"Yes."
They were silent for a time as they reflected back on the days of Night Raid. The thrill of the hunt, the feeling of satisfaction when they brought down a target and brought a bit of light back into the world. The pain and sorrow when Sheele, Bulat, Chelsea, Lubbock, and Susanoo died.
It was Mine that broke the silence that time. "Taven is going to be taking his test to get into the Royal Guards soon," Mine said happily. "He sends home money to help out from time to time. He's got your sense of responsibility at least." She frowned slightly. "Hopefully it doesn't get him killed like it did you."
Still not letting it go it seems.
"The Royal Guard, huh?" Tatsumi mused. "That's what Sayo, Ieyasu and I all set out originally to become. We wanted to join the army, be a part of the royal guard, and do some good for the country." Send money home as well as their village hadn't been doing very well. "So he's about to manage what I never could."
"I hear he routinely trounces all the other guards during practice so I have no doubt he'll pass," Mine said, crossing her arms beneath her bosom and grinning wickedly. "Which is only expected from our son after all. Anything less isn't acceptable. From his last message, it sounded as if he expected the Queen to make him one of her personal bodyguards." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "She better not get any funny ideas about him. Just because they're the same age doesn't mean she's allowed to take advantage of him. I'm not old enough for grandkids."
"Think she'll use his promotion as an excuse to disappear with him for a day or three?" Tatsumi asked.
Mine opened her mouth to shut that idea down and froze. A moment later she snapped her mouth shut and quickly left the room. "Don't you move! I have a message to write."
Tatsumi leaned back in his chair and peered through the door into the main room and watched as Mine quickly wrote something down on a piece of parchment at the small desk near one of the bedroom doors. She was mumbling to herself, under her breath. Tatsumi was only able to pick up a few words.
"…fall for… feminine… careful… no grandkids… stay healthy… love…"
Done, she rolled it up and sealed it within a small scroll case.
"We'll be making a trip to the town first thing in the morning," Mine said when she came back.
Tatsumi felt a large drop of sweat roll down the back of his neck. Poor Taven. He could only imagine what he had to go through growing up with Mine as a mother, and Tatsumi's reputation as a father.
"What happened to everyone else?" Tatsumi asked as Mine came back to the table.
Instead of sitting down she started collecting the dishes. "Akame and Najenda both survived," Mine said as she carried the dishes to the sink. Tatsumi got up and helped her. "Leone she…" Mine stopped and wiped her eyes. "Damn her. At least she got that fat bastard, the Prime Minster."
So Leone had died at the end as well. Damn it. Tatsumi had a feeling he'd already known that Najenda and Akame had survived. But Leone? He had hoped but… "She almost made it." His eyes started to sting as he padded his way softly to her side and emptied the last few dishes into the sink. "At least she got her kill. That's how she'd have wanted to go."
"A slow death in a bed due to old age really isn't like her, is it?" Mine agreed quietly.
"I can't even imagine her being old," Tatsumi said wryly. "She'd have wanted to go out wild and free, partying from sundown to sunup."
"She would, wouldn't she?" Mine said, smiling now.
"Yes," Tatsumi said softly. He brought his hand to his chest and clenched his fist over his heart. There was something he needed to say to her. He turned to face her fully and bent at the hips, bowing as low as he could. "Mine, I just want to say… for what it's worth, I'm sorry." That burning ball guilt searing the pit of his stomach. It demanded an apology. He had treated her horribly. He didn't know how, or why. It felt more than just dying on her. "I really am. I wish I could have been there with you, and with Taven. I'll do whatever you want as recompense."
There was no response, no sound, nothing, for a long moment. It went on so long that Tatsumi thought he might have said something wrong, but was too scared to look up to see her expression.
Then her hands came down, cupping the sides of his face. She lifted his head and forced him to look at her full on. He could read her at all. The face, her eyes, it was completely neutral. Had he said something wrong?
Then she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Whatever I want? What I want from you right now… requires that you go take a bath. You smell like you've been rotting in a grave for seventeen years."
"I—" That wasn't quite the response he'd been expecting.
"Tatsumi, that way," Mine said, pointing out the kitchen door. "You're not coming to my bed smelling like the grave."
"Yes dear," Tatsumi said obediently. Now that she had brought it to his attention he did smell rather wretched. How had she been able to take it?
"Now."
Tatsumi was out the door and bolting for the bathroom as quickly as possible.
x~X~x
"Where are we?" Mine asked after the teleportation spell concluded. They weren't on solid ground anymore, that was certain. She called forth her power and cast a wide net of energy about her trying to get a feel for where they were. Nothing at first, causing her to frown and push her 'Dominion of Sight' as Azazel liked to call it, further and further.
It took a few moments but eventually the outlines of buildings appeared far below her. Directly below there were a number of small homes and business. A suburb. She could feel the faint outline of much large buildings at the outer fringes of her zone. She knew they were over a city, but she didn't know which one. There weren't any readily identifiable landmarks nearby.
Mine turned to face her companion. "Was it really necessary to drop us five miles above the city?" she demanded.
Azazel's chuckle was her first response. "Call me curious."
She frowned. "About what?"
"How far your dominion can extend." She could feel that wide grin on his lips and she just wanted to hit him for it
She kept her temper in check though. Azazel was her only way to get to where she needed to go.
"It can extend as far as I want, it just gets less dense the further away it's pushed," Mine retorted. "At this distance I can do little more than feel what's about me."
"That's all most can do," Azazel said.
"'Most' can see for over 300 kilometers from this height. I can barely make out six."
"Now, now, there's no point in getting upset over that," Azazel said quickly, making placating gestures with his hands. "We're right above our target. Let's head down, you should be able to feel it."
"Right above?" Mine asked, frowning again. That didn't make any sense. What she was sensing directly below didn't match what she thought she knew.
"Right above," Azazel confirmed. Without another word he flipped around and darted towards the ground.
Mine quickly followed, trusting Azazel that he was being honest and was not simply trying to lead Mine into another embarrassing situation, something he had been fond of doing before he'd pawned her off to Night Raid.
She drew in her Dominion as she neared the ground, getting a better feel for the complex she and Azazel were headed for. There was a tall stone wall around the entire property, easily twice as high as the average Japanese man. An expansive structure dominated the front half of the property, it's gentle sloping roof, tile shingles and artistic carvings a hail back to the old traditional Japanese buildings of the pre-Meiji era. The back half of the property was open, exposed to the night air.
An open-air hot spring, split in two by a tall wall to separate men and women. It seemed rather busy as well. Azazel was, of course, staring unashamedly at the women's side of the open-air hot spring. Mine wouldn't have been surprised if Azazel came here often at night just to stare lecherous down at them.
"So how are they?" Azazel asked as he she caught up to him.
"Who?" Mine was genuinely confused.
"The men, of course," Azazel said. "Your dominion should give you a far clearer picture of their assets than most—"
"Shut it pervert," Mine snapped, blushing deeply. She had been distinctly trying to ignore the fact that she could, indeed, feel everything about the naked men in the hot spring. Trust Azazel to make her keenly aware of that. "I have no interest in them."
"Uh huh, but I'm right, aren't I? You're blushing—"
"Don't make me hit you," Mine growled low.
Azazel just laughed but didn't say anything else until they landed on the sidewalk just outside of the establishment.
"You don't have to be too embarrassed," Azazel told Mine as he gave the man leaning against the arched gate a small nod. Mine frowned at him as she followed Azazel inside. "Most of them are Fallen Angels. This is a place we can come to relax and not worry about being found out while in the Human world."
"Most?" Mine asked, tilting her head to face Azazel.
"Devils visit sometimes as well. No Angels as of yet though."
Mine would be very surprised if any Angel ever showed up to bath in a house owned by Azazel. None of them were that stupid.
"That's all well and fine but… shouldn't this be Tatsumi's old place?" This was where he had lived before moving to Kuoh City, or at least where he used to have lived.
"Bought it from the previous owners. They seemed only too happy to leave." He paused at the front entrance of the hot spring establishment. Tilting his head back Mine felt him smile at her. "I didn't even magically coerce them and I gave them a fair price. I already feel I've made back my investment."
"Pervert," Mine fired back at him, knowing full well how he'd made back his investment.
"It's enjoyable," Azazel said as he slid shoji open and stepped inside. "If you didn't restrain yourself so much, you'd feel the same."
She did not restrain herself. That was offensive. She was brutally honest with everyone about everything. The heat that built up between her legs every time Tatsumi walked in the room had nothing to do with being a pervert. It was probably just some side effect of ingesting him…
Mine scowled darkly. Why had he fed himself to her? She couldn't understand it. How could anyone consider that option? One's survival instinct just didn't let you think of feeding yourself to another as the first option.
"Thinking about that?" Azazel asked softly.
"No," Mine said quickly, too quickly. She felt Azazel's brow raise and flushed again. Damn, even if he was a massive pervert, he was still the leader of the Grigori. One did not get that position by being stupid or unobservant. "Let's just get this over with."
He arched his brow again. "I believe we're doing this for you."
"Shut it!"
Azazel just laughed as he turned and led her through the establishment. Mine followed closely, her heels clicking softly off the polished hardwood floor. The place was busy, far busier than Mine would have suspected. They passed a small line at the front counter and people waiting nearby for their turn to get into the baths, there was a limit to how many could be in at any one time. More to prevent fights than fear of overcapacity, Mine realized quickly. There was an entire room dedicated to massage chairs, and nearly all of them were filled with women sighing softly as they drank cold milk.
Only half of them bothered to cover themselves. Mine had to kick Azazel in the rear to get him moving again.
Eventually they stopped at a small room far away from most of the hustle and bustle. A single male fallen stood guard at the door. Mine recognized him, one of the few Fallen she genuinely liked and got along with. Partly because he preferred men and Mine didn't have to worry about inappropriate or unwanted advances from him. His huge pompadour was still as surreal as always.
He tilted his head respectfully to Azazel as they approached.
"Anyone tried to go through?" Azazel asked.
"No," the man said. "People are curious, but not that curious."
"How many have you sent screaming?" Azazel asked, grinning.
"Just a few men," he said with a sigh. "So hard to find a real man amongst them. I'm still waiting for the day I find him."
"Well, keep up the good work, Bulat," Azazel said as he slid the shoji open. "The last thing we want is Great Red to come busting through here."
Mine completely agreed. Great Red should stay exactly where he was. It was nice hearing something responsible out—
"Can't have my lovely sanctuary of breasts ruined by his massive bulk."
Right, of course. She should have known better than to expect any sort of responsible thing to come out of his mouth.
"In here, Mine," Azazel called out.
He'd already gone inside. Mine quickly followed, already knowing what she'd find inside. Hanging in the air was a large portal opening up into the Dimension Gap. It was large enough for a single person to step through. The metal ring that surrounded the rift was a stabilizer, allowing it to remain open indefinitely so long as the ring was not damaged. Although the rift was open, it was also blocked. A sheet of metal, molded to fit perfectly over the opening, had been fashioned and then further enhanced with countless magical runes. A tactical nuke couldn't break that cover open. One would have to be at least a ten-winged Angel to have any chance of damaging it.
However, the stabilizer was far more fragile than the cover itself, meaning that one was far more likely to break the stabilizer and cause the rift to snap shut than they were to pry open the cover.
Azazel stopped beside the rift and turned to face Mine. There was a serious expression on his face. Serious enough that it caused Mine to come up short. "Before we head over there, there's one thing I'd like to mention."
"What is it?" Mine asked cautiously.
"That spell you used in Asgard."
"Spell?" Mine asked, tilting her head to the side to regard Azazel in confusion. What spell? She thought back to her time in Asgard, a time she really didn't want to remember at all. A lot had happened. "Which one?" She'd thrown a number of spells around. Her favorite being the huge spear she'd thrown down Nidhoggr's throat.
That definitely ranked number one for her.
"Morningstar."
Oh, that one. She'd have dropped a Pulsar on Hel if it weren't for Themis stopping it.
"Yes?"
"Don't use it ever again."
Now Mine was utterly confused. "Why? I can obliterate a large area with it and—"
"That's exactly why," Azazel said. He was still deadly serious. "And it's not just a 'large area.' That spell, the Morningstar, can destroy a planet. You're lucky you used it in Asgard. That's one of the heavens and it's a fair bit sturdier than Earth on account of who lives there. It could probably survive the impact with a Pulsar." Azazel looked away to stare at the outer wall of the place. "Earth is differently. You don't even need to hit Earth with it. Just bringing it within orbit would cause irreparable damage to the planet. It'd burn off the atmosphere completely and rip everything on its surface apart with gravitational forces far beyond it's ability to withstand." Azazel turned back to her. "There are rules that govern the powerful and now that you have ten wings and access to your bloodline spell, they apply to you as well. Any technique, any spell, capable of causing global destruction is banned. This is a rule all entities on this planet obey. From Great Red and Ophis to the various Devils, Gods, Angels and Buddhas. As much as we fight amongst each other, we fight for ownership of this planet and no one wants a dead, empty world."
"I understand," Mine said. Global destruction was bad. Humans might irritate her to some extent, but she didn't hate them. Besides, this was Tatsumi's home. She wasn't going to blow it up.
"Do you swear?" Azazel pressed her. "This is too important not to have your solemn promise. If necessary I will seal it." Magical energies sparked between his finger tips.
He'd make good on that promise, Mine knew. Azazel wasn't serious very often, but when he was, he was a force to be reckoned with. Even with her newfound power she was no match for him. Not that it mattered. She wouldn't fight him over this anyways. It wasn't that big of a deal.
"I promise."
"Good, see that you do," Azazel said. The magical energies swirling around his hand died away. "I don't want to see you get killed by Themis or one of the other top ten powerful entities because you threw a second Morningstar in a fit of rage."
"I won't," Mine promised again.
"Good, then let's go find the other you in Tatsumi's world," Azazel said as he turned around and unlocked the cover over the rift.
Finally, this was it. She knew Tatsumi didn't want this. She knew this would cause problems, but she didn't care. This incessant spiralling sense of dread and pain. She didn't know what to do, what to feel. She hated all this uncertainty.
It needed to end.
~o~
Mine wasn't quite sure what to expect when she stepped out of the Dimensional rift and into Tatsumi's world. Dragons flying freely in the sky. A medieval fantasy setting with knights and mages. Maybe even just a quaint country town filled with simple humans living simple lives.
One thing she had not expected was to come face to face with a city that seemingly had no end. It didn't matter how far she stretched out her Dominion she simply found more buildings, more streets, and even more people.
A good number of which, mostly children, seemed to be dressed up as magical girls or shinobis. Mine didn't even want to know what happened to cause that. Were shinobi and magical girls really popular here or something?
She shrunk her dominion so that it was concentrated on a half-mile radius. At that range she could make out even the most minute of details. The people around here didn't seem very different from the humans of her world. While their level of strength was greater, approximately thrice that of a human from her world on average, it was still inconsequential.
Perhaps Tatsumi, Akame and Najenda had been exceptions even here?
"So, now that we're here, what's your plan on finding Mine?" Azazel asked her.
Mine turned to Azazel and stared. Plan? She thought he had the plan. She'd been so focused on getting here and what she'd say to the Mine of this world that she hadn't thought about how to get from point A to point B.
"I hadn't thought that far."
"I thought as much," Azazel said, grinning widely at her. "Just follow me. I want to explore. I'm sure something will happen."
"We're staying away from bath houses," Mine told him firmly.
"But there so good at obtaining information!"
Mine blew out a long sigh. She had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.
~o~
The three circled him cautiously, their swords held easily, yet firmly, in their hands. Each step they took was carefully calculated, more of a slide than an full lift so that their balance was never disturbed. Each of them were older than he, late thirties, and another in his early forties. Professionals all of them. veterans of in the old Revolutionary Army.
Now they were members of the royal guard. Some of the best soldiers the Kingdom had to offer. They wouldn't put up much of a fight against a powerful Teigu user, but against everyone else they had few equals.
Few, save the one they were circling now.
One of them, Captain Raven, had fought against Esdeath herself in that final battle. Nearly lost his life too, until the forgotten hero, Tatsumi, saved him from Esdeath's spinning meat grinder of ice.
But he couldn't let that distract him now. These three wouldn't hold back. They would show no mercy. He would show none as well.
They were too good to present an opening for him, so he'd need to make one himself. The toe of his steel boot tinked softly off a small stone on the ground.
He became a flurry of movement. He lunged towards Captain Raven even as his steel boot dug into the hard-packed dirt beneath the small stone. The Captain took a step back, preparing himself for the charge he thought was coming, only it didn't. With a heave, he launched the small stone into the air and slammed a steel-clad fist into the stone. It shot at the second soldier, Sergeant Itania, with pin-point precision, a gift he inherited from his mother. The soldier, already stepping forward to intercept his attack on the Captain, was unprepared for the small stone to come hurtling at his face.
There was no time to wait and see the stone connected. No need either, as he knew it would strike true. Spinning on the ball of his foot he charged towards the third soldier, Sergeant Carlin. He didn't curse or despair, this was a veteran of countless battles. He faced him with a stoic resolve that he admired and looked up to.
Even if he was hopelessly outclassed.
The Sergeant swung his blade, fast and precise and with enough strength to cleave a boulder in two. To him though, he might as well be in slow motion. They always were. Mother had said his father had been a powerful swordsman, someone capable of going toe-to-toe with the best Teigu users in the Empire. He had inherited that skill, and more.
His eyes flashed, turning yellow with elongated slits. He could see into the future, briefly, a few moments at best, giving him a sense of how the Sergeant would react to anything he did. It presented so many openings it would have caused a lesser person to lose out of sheer indecision.
But he knew it didn't matter how he won, only that he did. Something his mother had ingrained in him from the moment he could talk. There was no such thing as a clean fight. There was only the victorious and the dead.
His muscles bulged and the ground cracked beneath his feet as he surged forward, reaching super-human speeds only possible with the use of a Teigu. Sergeant Carlin could only stare on helplessly as he easily slipped around behind him and cut him down, dropping the man to the ground in a heap.
The other two, Captain Raven and Sergeant Itania were already rushing towards him having recovered from his earlier feint and attack, but it was all but over. What had started as seven-on-one was now only two-on-one. They both knew they were defeated, but their pride wouldn't allow them to admit defeat unless it was handed to them.
All the royal guards were like that. It was what separated them from the regular army. Individuals that would charge into hopeless and impossible situations if it meant buying the Queen an extra moment of time to get away.
He blurred forward, dancing around their blades as if they were little more than children waving around sticks and branches. His steel practice sword thunked solidly into their sides and backs, causing what would have been fatal wounds had their weapons been real and not blunted steel.
"That's it!" The voice of the exam's proctor rang out across the training yard. A white handkerchief floated towards them to punctuate that it was over. The five that had been downed before Itania and Raven nosily clattered to their feet. They'd been instructed to remain laying on the ground after being downed to properly simulate a real battle field. Corpses didn't just disappear after all, they became obstacles one had to account for. "The exam is over. Taven has successfully suppressed his opponents."
Cheers thundered across the training yard. There were stands all about the oval field. They were usually fairly empty, but today they were packed to the brim with every open spot filled. The exam to get admitted into the Royal Guard were not normally publicized like this, but Taven had garnered a bit of a following since arriving here in the Capital. That he was the son of Mine, the woman that defeated the General Budo, and Tatsumi, the one that had brought down the Shikoutazer and helped suppress Esdeath long enough for Akame to kill her, was probably the worst kept secret in the Kingdom.
He cursed Najenda for spilling that secret on his first day here.
"Congratulations, Taven," A soft, feminine voice drew his attention to the beautiful woman approaching him. She wore a long white gown with blue accents along the fringes. Tiny little green vines crawled their way up from the hem, stopping just shy of her waist. All along the green vines were little flowers in full bloom. The dress was cut with a high slit to allow for ease of movement, although the deep V that exposed an ample amount of her bosom was not standard at all. Her brilliant violet eyes sparkled with happiness as she came to a stop before him. "One does not need to best the royal guard to become one, simply demonstrate sufficient skill and courage. You have inherited both from your parents. I am happy to accept you into the Royal Guards."
"Thank you for your words of praise, your Majesty," Taven said, bowing low to Queen. "I swear to do my utmost to protect you and your own."
"… our…"
Taven tilted his head as he tried to hear what his Queen was saying. "Your majesty?"
Her long black hair swayed from side to side as she shook her head. "It is nothing, Taven," the Queen said. "And just call me—"
"Taven!" A new voice cut into the conversation. A look of annoyance briefly flashed across her beautiful features before she turned to face the new arrival.
"This had better be good," the Queen said, her voice filled with all the imperial authority of the throne.
Taven recognized the newcomer as Yew, a messenger for the palace. The young boy blanched as the Queen glared down at him. "M-My apologies Queen Akeno, but I just thought that Taven should know his mother is here, in the capital with a strange man."
"Mother is here?" Taven asked, whirling around in surprise to face the messenger in full. "But she swore to never return here." This was where his father, Tatsumi had died.
"Speak, you know better than interrupt me for such a minor thing," Queen Akeno stated imperiously.
Yew nodded his head vigorously. Everyone was listening in now. "Y-Yes, your majesty. She's here in the Capital, not far from the royal palace. What's more, she appears to be blind. There are bandages around her eyes but Yuffie assures me that there's nothing behind them."
"What?" Taven shouted in surprise. "I have to go—"
"And there's more," Yew went on.
"More?" Akeno asked, suspiciously.
"Yes, she's with a strange man who seems to have an unhealthy obsession of peeping on women bathing in the publics baths."
Taven spun around to face the Queen. "Your majesty…"
"I think I'd like to take a trip into the city," Queen Akeno said suddenly. "I would will take my usual escort plus one, I think."
Taven bowed to the Queen again. "Thank you, your majesty."
"You're welcome, but only if you call me, Akeno." Her lips quirked upwards. "'Your majesty' is much too formal an address for the two of us. We're far too familiar with one another."
Taven swallowed hard and nodded his head hesitantly. He wasn't used to seeing that predatory look in the Queen's eyes.
~o~
Evening had settled upon the Capital, the sky stained a deep orange from the setting sun. The buildings cast long shadows and the last vestiges of light spilled out across the cobblestone streets from the alleyways between buildings.
The streets were starting to empty, the busy traffic of the day giving way to the peaceful quiet of the night as everyone hurried home towards the comfort of friends and family
Not all places of the Capital were emptying though. As many of the inner streets and primary thoroughfares emptied, a few grew more crowded still. The cobblestone roads that ran alongside the large canals for instance. There were wharves all along it, and where there was a place to dock a ship or a boat, one would find an establishment to service those upon them.
"Are you finished?" Mine snapped angrily as she dragged Azazel out of yet another pub.
"We'll see, it depends if we find another pub or bathhouse while we wander about this metropolis," Azazel said, letting his subordinate drag him out without protest. "And this is only the eighth."
"That's eight too many," Mine snapped. "Whatever it is you're trying to do, it failed. We need to find a place to stay before it gets too late. Preferably one that doesn't have more rats than people."
What was with this man? She knew he was a perverted fool want to lose himself within every vice known to man, but this was way beyond the norm. There had to be a reason for it. Every time she turned around he'd disappear. She'd be forced to search for him, only to find him peeping through the wall of a bathhouse on that poor woman or cheating his way through the coin purse of that poor sod. The first four times he'd been thrown out by the bouncers before she'd gotten there.
She'd was getting better at tracking him down now. This last time he'd barely found someone to cheat out of all their money before she'd dragged him out.
They were here to find the Mine of this world, not take a tour of every bathhouse and drinking establishment in the Capital.
"Well, it seems eight is all I'll need," Azazel said suddenly. He straightened, stopping in the center of the street.
What was that? Mine frowned and hesitantly let go of him. She fully expected him to disappear again until something appeared at the edge of her Dominion of Sight. The thick crowd, made thicker by the oncoming night, was parting as a large carriage drawn by four horses rumbled down the street towards them. Alarms bells started ringing in her head. That carriage was far too nice to just 'wander' its way onto this street. Not when there were larger, nice, and smoother boulevards it could take to get to wherever it was going.
Encircling the carriage were nine soldiers, two on each side, two at the rear, and the rest up front. One of the one's in front was different from the rest. He felt stronger, more primal.
A bit like Tatsumi, actually.
That's when it clicked. She knew exactly what Azazel had been doing this whole time. They didn't need to find Mine, they just had to make themselves visible, and they'd come find them. Mine had a son, Taven, who would most certainly come to her if he knew she was here.
That didn't explain why the carriage was here.
They waited patiently as the carriage rolled up and stopped in front of them. A crowd immediately formed around them as curiosity brought onlookers by the hundreds. Mine felt more than a little self-conscious, especially since the young man she was certain was Tatsumi's son, Taven, was staring at her so intently.
"Careful, my Queen, the cobblestone is a bit loose here," the Knight said as he held an arm up for the carriage's occupant.
Queen? Why was the Queen here? She instantly shot Azazel an accusing glare, wondering if he'd done something she hadn't been able to stop in time. The innocent look on his face did nothing to reassure her.
"Thank you, Captain," a familiar voice floated out from inside the carriage. A delicate hand reached out and accepted the Captain's arm and out stepped the Queen of the Kingdom.
The moment the person inside stepped out Azazel started howling with laughter, causing everyone around them to instantly go on edge. Weapons were drawn and pointed at them in case they made a wrong move. They both ignored them, there was nothing to fear. Those weapons might cut their clothes, if that. Instead Mine could only stare unseeingly at the person she felt. She knew her. Had seen her many times before, only she wasn't a Queen.
Well, she was, but a different kind of Queen. She started to snicker as the irony start to sink in. Now she knew what Azazel found so humorous.
"A Queen here and a Queen there, who would have thought?" Azazel wheezed out between his fits of laughter.
"I think you should stop," Mine told Azazel, trying herself to keep her amusement under control. What would Rias think if she learned that her Queen, Akeno, was also a Queen in Tatsumi's world? But a much more powerful Queen, relatively speaking. "Even if it is rather ironic."
"Mother, what's wrong with you?" the one she suspected was Taven asked her. His words all but confirmed his identity. "What happened to your eyes and who is this man?" He pointed his sword at Azazel.
"I too wish to know who you are and why you seem so insistent on breaking the laws of our country to peep on its women," Akeno stated firmly as she stepped up beside Taven. The guards formed up around her.
"Well, do you wish to take over?" Azazel asked Mine. "We are here for you, after all."
"Fine," Mine snapped irritably. She faced Taven full on and without any sort of warning flared her full power to life. Ten black wings erupted from her back as she drowned the city around her in her power. "I am Mine, but I am not your mother. I come from a different world, a world where your father found himself reincarnated seventeen years ago after he grappled with the Tyrant's soul in death." She let her power ebb as she retracted her wings into her back. "We're not here to cause trouble. There are some things I wish to speak of with your mother. Issues related to Tatsumi, to your father. To the man we both know."
She didn't care about the looks of shock and disbelief on their faces. Subtlety wasn't her forte. One way or another, Mine would have her resolution.
x~X~x
Tatsumi rested the trowel on the wall after smoothing out a crevice. He leaned back and let out a small, satisfied noise escape his lips as he relieved the strained muscles. One did not recover from seventeen years of decay in a couple days, even if that was someone that had the regenerative prowess of the Tyrant. Being bent over all morning filling in the mortar along the chest-high wall that surrounded the property showed Tatsumi just where and what parts of him were still very much recovering.
There was a lot more bending over to do before he was finished too. The wall had looked fairly solid from a distance but the truth had been something far different. It was covered in cracks and holes where the mortar had crumbled due to a combination of age and weathering.
After they'd returned from their trip into town that morning, Mine had tried to help. She seemed to think that if she let him out of her sight he'd go and die on her again or something, but the exertion and the warmth of the day had taken their toll on her.
Najenda had been right. She wasn't physically fit anymore. She didn't even have a fraction of the strength of the Mine of old.
He frowned. Where had that thought come from? Well, whatever. "Back to work," Tatsumi mused as he grabbed the trowel once more. "This isn't going to fix itself."
Tatsumi quickly went back to work filling the holes and cracks in as best he could. Parts of the wall were crumbling away entirely and were in dire need of real repairs, not the haphazard slapping of mortar that Tatsumi could provide now. A job for another day.
The sun slowly worked its way high into the sky as Tatsumi worked his way along the back wall. It was nearing noon when a clattering rumble drew his attention across the property to the dirt road that ran past the homestead.
A large, horse-drawn carriage was clattering its way towards the house. It wasn't just any carriage either. It was large, sturdy, and trimmed in gold. Tatsumi could tell at a glance it was designed both to please the eye and withstand an ambush. If the carriage itself wasn't telling that someone of importance was arriving, the four thoroughbred horses pulling the carriage were.
Horses of that sort of breed were not something the average person could get their hands on.
Tatsumi grew alarmed when the carriage didn't just drive up to the house, but stopped outside the gates.
"Ah, who…" it couldn't be. Mine had only sent the letter this morning. Could it really have reached Taven and the Queen and… no, this felt different. He knew the Queen wasn't here to meet Mine because of the letter.
Especially when there wasn't an escort.
Tatsumi glanced down at the trowel and bucket of wet mortar in his hands. "I need to change." He didn't think the people who had arrived were here to hurt Mine, but he wasn't going to take that chance. And if it was the Queen, it wasn't proper to meet her in a workman's attire covered in splatters on mortar.
~o~
Tatsumi quickly pulled the clean sweater over his head as he stepped out of the bedroom. It was a simple, plain beige sweater similar to what he'd worn during his early days of Night Raid. In addition to sending the letter off to Taven, Mine had decided to buy Tatsumi a little something as well.
He made his way over to the entryway and pulled his boots on. Mine was already outside and considering she wasn't screaming in pain or shouting in rage, he could assume that whoever was here wasn't hostile.
That didn't mean there wasn't some sort of urgency though.
Their voices floated inside, muffled by the thick door. It made it impossible to make them out clearly but he could hear the incredulity in Mine's voice. Whatever was out there, while not hostile, was enough to put Mine on edge.
Tatsumi pulled the front door open, stepped outside. "Mine, who is it—" Tatsumi started to ask before he froze in place, staring.
He'd been partially right on his earlier assessment. The Queen was here, or at least the person who he assumed was the Queen judging by the crown she wore atop her long, thick wealth of black hair. He violet eyes twinkled with amusement as she looked on the situation unfolding before her.
Shouldn't she be with Rias?
An idle thought gone as quickly as it had come.
A boy stood beside her and Tatsumi didn't need anyone to introduce him. He looked so much like Tatsumi did when he was his age that he couldn't be anyone other than his son, Taven. He looked good in crimson and black, the colors of the Royal Guard. The armor looked as if it had been tailor made for him and the sword at his side good, solid steel.
Mine was there as well, dressed all in pink as she was wont to do. She stood several paces ahead, her back to him with her hands on her hips. She was pointing accusingly at someone that looked so uncannily similar that the two could have been identical twins. The only difference was that the one who could have passed as Mine's twin had black accents on her pink dress, and wore a blue cloth around her face, covering what Tatsumi could tell were empty eye sockets.
So odd was it seeing the two of them there he didn't even notice the last individual standing off to the side, behind the blind Mine.
He blinked twice and rubbed his eyes, not quite believing what he was seeing.
"Mine?"
"Yes?" "Tatsumi?" The two Mine's said at the same time. "Wait, why are you here?" The blind one asked. "You should be in school!"
"What do you mean why is he here? This is exactly where my husband belongs!" The sighted Mine snapped as she rounded upon the other. "And what the hell is school?"
"That's my father?"
"My, if that's what you'll look like in seventeen years then I have much to look forward to," the Queen said, eyeing Tatsumi up and down.
"No!" Both Mine's said at the same time as they rounded on the Queen. Akeno, or rather the Queen, looked surprised at their sudden outburst.
BZZZTT
Tatsumi blinked and shook his head to shake off a familiar bout of vertigo. He had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on here.
"Oie, what was that?" the man behind the blind Mine suddenly spoke up. He took a couple steps towards Tatsumi, frowning worriedly.
"What was what?" The blind Mine demanded.
"That flicker," the oddly familiar man said. Tatsumi stared at him, frowning to himself. He felt like he knew him. The name was there, right at the edge of his consciousness. It kept flickering in and out of his thoughts like a leaf blowing on the wind. "Tatsumi, just try to hold on. Don't let—"
BZZZTTT
Tatsumi wobble on his feet. He reached out and grabbed the doorframe, steadying himself as he tried to shake away a second bout of vertigo. It was getting rather annoying.
"What's happening to him?" Mine asked worriedly. He didn't know which Mine said that. Maybe both of them did?
The name floated in and this time he was able to grasp it. He knew this man. That dark hair with the blond bangs, the long maroon trench coat. The belt fetish.
Tatsumi tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Azazel?"
In that instant it all came flooding back. Seventeen years in a different world. A second family. The love, the warmth, the pain, the despair, the regret. All the people he'd saved. All the people he'd killed. All the people he'd loved, and all the people he'd damned. The parents and sister he failed to protect. The Mine he had left behind and the Mine he had gotten hurt because he hadn't wanted to let go. Everything. It slammed into him from all sides like an unstoppable tidal wave of emotion and sound.
A massive wave of vertigo washed over him.
"NO!" Azazel roared.
The last thing Tatsumi saw was Azazel surging towards him with a terrified look on his face.
BZZZZTTT
With the sound of breaking glass, the world shattered around him.
Author's Note: Yes, I'm really leaving it there like that. Leave a review and let me know what you think! Also, next chapter might be a bit simply because I'm going on vacation next week and will be away for awhile. But, expect it before the end of August regardless.
Note on Akeno: If there are AgK characters in the DxD world, why can't there be DxD characters in the AgK world? You know, just saying.