NMHA Ch. 32 - Reverberations


A/N:

Another huge-ass chapter. This time, I'm not splitting it into half-chapters, since it's a bit less of a continuous story and more snippets of what's going on with multiple characters. It's also the end of an arc, and closes out the prior ten chapters or so, so it wouldn't feel right splitting it into two.

Should be a lot easier to digest, though I still would implore you to pace yourselves. 78 pages on Google Docs is no joke.

That being said, enjoy!


Diodora's veins had turned to ice. His throat worked, mouth open in horror, but in the bloodstained halls silence was the only sound, deafening in its totality. As he walked amidst the upturned tables and ruptured bodies, one thought remained. That thought consumed his mind with three desperate words. 'Where is she? ' he agonized, that overarching fear blotting out even the fury that should have since boiled over at the execution of his, their, movement. The others were nothing: he could lay them to rest after she was found.

Even now, images flashed before his eyes, memories of the times they shared. Of the laughs, smiles, and gentle touches that had led to so much more. Of the heavens themselves smiling down at him as he'd lowered himself to a knee before her, joyful beyond words as he pledged himself to her, as she herself had to him when her fingers wrapped around the piece emblematic of a King's closest ally and friend.

Most of all, he remembered her at her lowest, when he found her broken and beaten on the streetside, abused and abandoned.

His breath caught, and for a moment he couldn't breathe. Even back then, she had been beautiful in his eyes. Even then, when her own were so hauntingly empty.

Even then.

Even then.

Even then.

Even now.

He wasn't sure when his legs had given out, forcing him to his knees, but he didn't care. All that mattered was her. The golden tresses that formed a porcelain face were matted with rusty red, that lifeblood removed from its host body by the head-sized hole through the center of the chest.

Even now, she was beautiful, and were it not for that hole and the glassiness of those opened eyes, he could have mistaken her for merely sleeping.

A circle formed in front of one hand, coating his fingertips in water as he brought her in close, resting her head on his lap to start running his hand through her hair, cleaning it like he had the morning before.

Even now, there was nothing more he wanted than to lift her up, fix her, make her whole, see her smile one more time...


As they both held each other close in his bed, Diodora could only wonder just how blessed his life had been.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" he murmured, running a hand down the side of her face as she stared back, a returned affection clear in her own eyes and smile.

"Idiot." He got rolled eyes, but the way she snuggled closer told the real story. "I was probably going to die on those streets, you know. Sisters aren't taught how to survive outside the church when they get excommunicated."

"I'm not sure how I would have slept if I'd just left a woman crying on the streetside."

Her arms around him tightened, her smile lessening as her thoughts returned to that day. "After everything that happened, everything I'd learned, I think I was a bit too shell-shocked to cry."

"I wasn't talking about externally. I could see it in your eyes."

A faint rumble against his chest. "You talk like you were in my head even back then."

"Just because I'm good at that kind of thing doesn't mean I don't have empathy, or that I can't tell when someone saw their whole world crumble." he defended himself, then made a wry smirk. "But last I checked, I doubt you would have complained even if I had been. The only thing you ask when I'm inside you is for more."

"Oh, absolutely," that rumble turned into a full laugh. "You know I can't get enough of it."

"You're insatiable," Diodora said, though the smile on his face was wide and earnest.

"And you love it, so don't complain."

Naturally, he did no such thing, instead choosing to let his aura reach out and mingle with hers, letting their minds touch and bask in the raw intimacy of being laid bare to the other as they drifted off.


He let his aura reach out, to touch her mind again, to feel her still.

...And found nothing.

His shoulders started to shake, and his eyes started itching as though something had gotten stuck in them.

Nothing.

Nothing was there.

The hand cleaning her hair stopped, and drew away to rest on her cheek.

Where was she?

Why couldn't he feel her?

She was right there.

Something primal and dark clawed from inside him, howling to be let out, but even that was ignored as his mind was stuck in a loop.

Where did she go?

What happened?

The hand went to her eyes, wide and glassy as they were, completely unresponsive.

When had he been left so completely alone?

Her eyes slid shut, lids gently pushed down by that single hand before it all crashed home.

As the emerald orbs were closed for the last time, he realized then.

His shoulders trembled, even as he set her back down on the ground with as much gentleness as his shivering body could offer, before all those vile things inside him were let loose.

Her body came to rest against the ground.

She was gone.

He was alone.

Something inside him broke, and the emptiness in his arms began suffocating him, sweeping her back up to hold her close as it all came flooding out.

The deathly silence of the hall was shattered by the anguished scream that tore from his throat, violent and raw as he held on to the light of his life, refusing to let go even though that light had been extinguished.

He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to walk away.

He didn't care.


At some point Diodora recognized he was no longer the only living person in the underground hall, something hot pressing against his arm. His eyes lifted to stare dully at an unfamiliar face, but a horribly welcome distraction all the same.

The other individual spoke, tone layered with sympathy. "You look like someone who could use an incredibly strong drink."

Thoughts crossed Diodora's mind. Who was this person? How did he find this place? What sort of asinine comment was the one he asked?

The mug pressed against his arm again. "Drink."

He realized then just how sore his throat was, and how dry it felt. One arm lifted, haltingly, to take the drink and gulp it down in one go. Immediately his throat burned from the heat of both temperature and alcohol concentration.

He accepted the burn all the same, even as it sent him into paroxysms of coughing.

"Better." The other living person nodded his head in approval before turning to look around the room, letting out an almost casual whistle. "Yeesh. I haven't seen this much red in a single room since my family's last big get-together. Talk about what a pain cleaning up that mess was, what with all the blood and figuring out which severed body parts go to which next-of-kin-"

"What the fuck do you want?" Diodora rasped as his arm tightened around the body he had cradled to his chest. His vocal cords protested after the abuse he put them through, but paid them no heed.

"To see what had ol' Zekram's panties in such a twist,' ' the other replied easily, glancing around the room again with an almost impressed look on his face. "Gotta say, you must've become quite a nuisance to have him go for scorched earth like this."

Diodora stilled, eyes narrowing as the other casually name-dropped someone he knew and was not on good terms with. "Zekram did all this?" he whispered, tone screaming danger as all these feelings that were coursing through him honed in on that name. The dullness in his eyes started fading, replaced with a murderous edge.

"Of course not. He wouldn't dare dirty his fingers with this kind of butchery: he thinks himself above such 'brutish' actions." The other harrumphed. "Arrogant ass he is, he obviously had someone else step in, someone he has leverage over."

Considering who Zekram was, that didn't exactly narrow down the list of culprits, even if he himself was supposedly the mastermind behind... all this.

"Who?"

The other shifted, before letting out a sigh. "That's not any of your concern."

That immediately set Diodora off.

"Like hell it isn't!" he screeched, the only thing preventing him from storming to his feet being the body he refused to let go of again. "That bastard had someone else destroy everything me and my fiancee tried to make, and put a hole in her chest to fucking boot! He and that someone are both going to pay, and I don't care who I go through to make it happen!"

"Really? You?" The man scoffed, disdain coloring his tone now with all its acerbic glory. "The washed-out aristocrat who was and is mediocre at best when it comes to anything he does? You're going to take on a society whose titans could crush you like an ant?"

He didn't know, did he?

"I don't care what it takes. I will have vengeance," Diodora hissed.

"Don't make me laugh." The brown-eyed man lifted his head, nose flaring with disgust. "You can't even let go of your fiancee's corpse, how in the world do you think that a pathetic worm like you can take on a system that's been in place for millennia?"

This piece of trash offered a drink, and now was castigating Diodora? Acting like he had the right to talk down on him even after seeing his world completely fall to pieces?

How dare he?

How dare he?!

"You want to know!? I'll fucking show you!" The body in his arms came to rest on the ground as he rose to his feet, power surging around him as he lashed out, fully intending to break this bastard who had the gall to insult him like this, to rip and tear his way through the other individual's mind and leave them a drooling husk, uncaring of how he was breaking his promise-

But instead of finding purchase in a mind with his frenzied mental assault, instead the world around him tore, ripping apart to reveal an even uglier scene than before.

Bodies that were merely ripped in half were now strewn in pieces, gore and viscera covering the floor. Where whole corpses laid were bodies charred beyond recognition, and the sudden smell of sulfur threatened to overwhelm Diodora. Before he had been in the mausoleum of a massacre, but now he stood in the middle of the results of a depraved butchery.

When had he been under an illusion? How did he not- no, he knew how he missed it.

The reason was at his feet, after all.

Shaking again, he dared to look back down at the body of his beloved... and immediately turned away to vomit, bile splattering against the bloody floor.

Unlike the bodies that were charred beyond recognition, this one was still recognizable.

And that made it all the more horrific.

If this was what he'd initially found himself seeing... he realized almost offhandedly that it could have broken him.

Would have.

This was all to break him.

...

No.

He refused.

He refused.

He'd break them instead.

He'd break them all, and tear their world out from under them by the fucking roots!

Diodora turned around, seeing the individual standing a few meters to the side of where he had been in the illusion, crossing his arms and nodding almost sagely.

"Thaaaat's more like it," he praised, the disdain from before having fallen away entirely for a pleased glint in his hazel eyes. "There's the fury that I expected to see. The hatred, the anger... and most of all, the resolve."

"Who killed her?" Diodora wouldn't ask again.

This time, he got his answer. "The Crimson Meteor Dragon."

Tannin? One of the Ten Kings... he was responsible for all this?

He was considered an honorable warrior, too, and one who put great weight in family. He'd become a Devil and became one of the Ten Kings for his family! What honor was there in... in this? In utterly mutilating someone's fiancee solely to hurt them?

How? Why?

The thoughts in Diodora's mind all fell away as dark reason returned.

...No. Those didn't matter.

He was a culprit too.

That was the only thing that did.

Diodora decided then and there Tannin and Zekram's days were numbered.

"I'll explain more later. For now, let's take this someplace less... messy." The other individual's nose crinkled again. "And perhaps get you washed up. Blood, pus, and vomit-stained clothes is not a good look for you."

He wouldn't thank him for the drink, nor how both that and his previously drained emotions kept him from completely breaking upon seeing the true extent of the massacre they were standing in. But, he was curious all the same. "Who are you?"

A shrug, an almost coy smirk rising to his lips. "An ally in the path ahead of you. That's all you need to know for now. You'll learn it in time anyway. The better question is, do you plan to take that path?"

"I'm appalled that you'd even ask," Diodora growled, walking up to the other individual.

Their eyes locked, and a pleased smile spread across the other's face. "I knew you'd make the right choice. I get the feeling we'll get along just fine."

With that, he spun on his heel, walking over to a less-dirtied spot on the ground to begin the formation of a circle. "One first-class ticket to a bathhouse fit for a noble who nuts for nuns, coming right up!"

Diodora watched him work with a slightly furrowed brow, and an outright snarl at the crassness of his supposed new 'ally', but moved to join the other anyway.

That is, before he paused, staring back at his fiancee's corpse.

They would pay for snuffing out the light in his life.

"I promise you, Tara," he murmured, closing his eyes. "I will avenge you."

Then he turned around, and joined his new silver-haired acquaintance in the teleportation circle quickly forming around on the ground. A moment later, and the two vanished in a burst of force that smashed pillars and sent the entire hall tumbling down, a mass grave for those who lost their lives.

Diodora didn't look back.


Ajuka wished he could be anywhere else, rather than this sham of a trial the Assembly was putting on.

Indeed, how could it be a trial if Luna weren't there?

It was just a sentencing, and even if she had been here it would have changed nothing.

She was being purged, after working to try and change the government from within.

But she'd forgotten one thing.

Governments are slow to change internally.

Especially when the system itself was built to maintain and conserve, rather than progress.

Especially when it was run by literal beings descended from the original demons of the Ars Goetia.

There was good reason why he preferred the solitude of his labs over the din of Lord Bael castigating his own blood, and the utter lack of voiced support for said extended blood relative.

Science was simple. It was straightforward.

It wasn't... anything, like this mockery of truth and facts.

"Is something the matter, Lord Beelzebub?"

Ajuka lifted his gaze up, prompted by Bael as he stared neutrally Ajuka's way.

"My apologies. I was merely lost in thought."

"Anything worth sharing with the assembly?"

He shook his head. "No. Your evidence is sound-"

'Which suggests this entire thing goes all the way to the top-'

"-as is your logic. Dame Bael's absence is suspicious, as is the absence of her allies from the FFP."

"Indeed." The Duke of the highest house nodded, turning to the other. "which is why I believe it is prudent to convict Dame Bael on charges of monetary fraud, absenteeism, and contempt of court by refusal to appear before us in lawful proceedings."

Were Ajuka a more outgoing individual he'd have laughed at the audacity. As it was, his expression merely slid half-shut as the others began pitching in their own two cents.

Namely, about what a conviction might entail. After all, nobody would so much as raise a complaint.

Usually OSF and GKF members were at each others' throats, but they were disconcertingly unified in ousting a so-called 'troublemaker'.

Indeed, they spoke as though she were already convicted.

Admittedly, in the eyes of the citizens, and in the eyes of the Underworld's skewed justice, she was.

His attention turned to one of the Assembly members who had started speaking.

"I believe it prudent to return the Bishop she stole from our son to the Naberius family as part of the reparations," one of them supplied, the lord of the Naberius family in fact.

"I am not quite sure how to take you suggesting that a piece be stripped from their King," Ajuka felt the need to speak up. "Peerage members can only become members if they possess sapience."

"Animals are animals," Lord Naberius sniffed. "That the one she added to her Peerage looks and acts similar to humans changes nothing; they're little more than cattle and thus belong to the Naberius family as property."

'Ah, yes. Anything that isn't like you is beneath you, is it?' He wasn't amused.

"We could discuss the semantics of what makes an animal all day, Lord Naberius, though in short I wholly disagree with your opinion and leave the matter as such." The green-haired leader glared at the family head. "But if you expect me to accept the idea that a Peerage member will be stripped from their Peerage without consent from either King nor member, then I am afraid that I will need to intervene."

Naberius shrugged.

"Then we will simply find the other and return them to the family. They are not part of a Peerage after all."

"We will discuss what to do with the missing test subjects for the Naberiuss' research at a later time," Lord Bael stepped in, having noticed the faint narrowing of Ajuka's eyes. "For now, all in favor of charging Miss Bael and stripping her of status and land?"

The result was nearly unanimous, as was expected, and the news would unsurprisingly spread like wildfire.

Nobles were rarely stripped of their title, after all, even less so than those that were elevated to high-class.

The only Pillars that dissented were the Astaroths, the Phenexes, and the Gremorys, oddly enough.

The Astaroths and Phenexes were a given, given their ties to her, but the Gremorys had the Beelzebub Maou blinking in surprise. He supposed Zeoticus wasn't overfond of the idea of a young woman being cast out, particularly given said woman's prior good terms with his oldest son and what she had done for his daughter.

Still, it was little more than virtue signalling, given the supermajority.

It was somewhat common knowledge that Luna and Lord Valac were far from friends, however, so his vote against her was expected.

Regardless, Ajuka could only watch on with disappointment.

'What a waste.'

"And now let us return to the matter of the Youkai that the Naberius family have claim to by way of $#%*( Naberius."

What?

"I'm sorry, could you please repeat that Lord Bael?"

"Of course. Now that more immediate matters have been addressed, we should discuss the two youkai that by law belong to (*%$& ."

His eyes narrowed, as though he'd noticed he'd bit into something sour. "Hm. Something does feel off about that. You seem unsettled, Lord Beezebub. Do you have any idea what might be going on?"

Ajuka stared long and hard, before finally speaking again. "...Lord Naberius. I understand this may sound asinine, but what is your child's name?"

He got a strange look and a sneer, but also a nod. "Asinine indeed. Still, I will oblige all the same. Their name is ! $(*# Naberius."

Now it was Lord Naberius who looked unnerved, emphasized by the way he swallowed. "Wait, that's not right. Their name is # %(&%... No, that isn't correct either. That... that is not right at all. What is going on?"

The researcher's eyes widened, and a cold sweat broke across his entire body. That wasn't right. How the others weren't noticing he didn't know, only Lord Bael pointed out that something was wrong.

Did it have something to do with themselves saying the distorted words? There was something there, but it was beyond incomprehensible. He was sure the others were hearing the exact same thing too, yet didn't so much as blink.

'No. That can't be right, can it?'

"Then let me continue the line of questioning," he started, slowly, "but... is your child a son or daughter of Naberius?"

He got more than one scrutinizing look from the nobles, but he didn't care. He had to know.

"They are a... they are..." Naberius trailed off, eyes widening as blood drained from his face. "They are... they... What?"

"Lord Naberius, what is the matter?" one of Naberius's allies spoke up.

One hand rose to his hair and grabbed it, pulling it as an expression of increasing alarm began contorting his face further. "I... I can't remember. Why can't I remember? Why can I not remember my own child's gender!?"

Ajuka bolted to his feet, eyes wide as his chest froze in terror. The only time that this ever happened before was-

"Lord Beelzebub, Lord Naberius, please settle down." The fact that a Satan and a member of Assembly were both panicking was unsettling in its own right, particularly as they both were researchers to boot, Devils of logic rather than emotion. But order needed to be held in the Assembly. If he had to be the calm, soothing voice in the room to keep order, so be it, even if he himself realized something was very wrong here.

"I met them before, I should know too." Another member pointed out, swallowing nervously "I… I don't remember anything either. Did someone cast a memory spell on us without our knowledge?"

More whispers, more concerns bubbling to the surface.

"Enough!" Lord Bael slammed a hand on the table to return order to the Assembly. "We shall handle this as we have handled every mystery and challenge; with discretion and decisiveness!"

That got the Devils settling down, though a deep sense of unease still filled the room.

"I agree. Lord Bael." Ajuka spoke all too calmly, a faintly trembling gaze shifting to the leader of the GKF. "Get me any and all legal records of the Naberius child. Lord Naberius, get me all research information pertaining to or procured by your child."

Normally, someone as diametrically opposed to Ajuka's political leanings would have taken the order as a grave insult, but instead a shaking and ashen-faced Lord Naberius simply nodded, getting up and leaving the Assembly without another word.

That in particular was unnerving, to the point that the other family heads started muttering among themselves again, this time in worried hushes, and Lord Bael had to ask.

"Lord Ajuka, what is going on?"

"Hopefully, a prank in horrible taste. More likely..." He swallowed. "More likely, something unspeakable."


"This is where it all went down."

"Mhm."

"Is there something you notice?"

"Oh, certainly. The fact that one warehouse is littered with bodies and the other has its ceiling smashed through is somewhat hard to miss."

"Your powers of perception are truly breathtaking," the black-haired cadre drawled, crossing his arms and turning away with a scoff.

"Why thank you, I pride myself on them. And my good looks, of course. By the way, before you ask: yes, traces are still here."

He had been about to ask just that, but turned back with a scowl as his thoughts were predicted and promptly answered. "I do not understand, Azazel. Why in Father's name would you just stand by and observe when that... thing, was running amok?"

"Her," the black-and-blond-haired scientist corrected offhandedly, staring at one of the pieces of debris directly in front of him. "No way on God's green earth is she just a 'thing'."

The look on his face told Kokabiel that Azazel was both being facetious and perverse. "The way I see it, this is definitive proof that 'she' needs to be put down."

"I disagree. I'd say that the damage is limited enough to warrant our current strategy of wait and observe."

"Are you joking?!"

"Of course not. If anything, I'd say that all things considered, there's a reason for me to be quite serious at the moment."

"Then why did we not kill her when she was down and out!?"

"Well for one, she had both an exorcist and a noble helping her out of the warehouse, and the noble had his Peerage en route. If word got out that we cut down members from both other factions, I'd find myself elbow-deep in a diplomatic incident, and I've little intention to waste all my efforts so recklessly!"

"You truly believe that one upstart human and a flaming chicken, both exhausted to the near inability to stand, could fight us for more than a few seconds? We could have erased them before their reinforcements arrived."

"Don't underestimate the kinds of technology humans have been able to come up with," Azazel warned. "especially in terms of information sharing. I can prepare us for a lot of methods of surveillance or recording, but eventually something's gonna slip through, and I'd rather not be the one at fault. To say nothing of the tenacity both humans and devils share."

"And letting that creature wander unchecked isn't any less of a 'security' risk to you?"

"Well, we don't know the full details of why this happened. For all we know her parents were murdered in front of her eyes."

"I fail to see how that has anything to do with the fact that she may have been possessed by that thing."

"If only the world were so black and white. If there's anything I've learned, it's that context is key."

"If there's anything I've learned, it's that once something happens once, it can happen again."

"And that's why we're continuing to watch. Because that way, we know when to finally act."

"So remind me again, if this isn't reason to act, then what would be?"

"Why, when she goes on a rampage, of course."

"And this isn't a rampage?"

"In case you weren't paying attention, the bodies aren't human," the Governor-General shrugged, listing off his reasoning on three fingers. "Collateral damage is much lower than a crisis would entail, and the situation was both self-contained and self-resolved aside from cleanup. That is not so much a rampage as an incident; certainly worth noting, and allocating more resources for observation, but not to take decisive action."

"It all sounds like excuses to not do what needs doing to keep this world safe to me."

"If you can provide me with better reasoning to go after an innocent girl's life for something she can't control, I'd be welcome to hear it."

Kokabiel snarled, unfortunately incapable of doing so. "You've gone soft, Azazel."

He got a smile in return. "I brought us all together so we could survive the Great War. The fact that I can 'go soft' as you put it, I think, is telling of the kinder times we live in."

"The kinder times that, as you put it, drove an 'innocent girl' into a berserk rage that left over a hundred bodies in her wake?"

"Anger's better than emptiness. At least she's still able to feel. It's better than many got at the hands of Devils."

The cadre stared at the Governor-General for several seconds, before shaking his head. "Why are you making an exception for this girl? The leader I followed would have already acted to remove her, an unknown variable, from the equation."

"For that very reason, actually: because she's a unique variable in our stagnating world. We've changed little in the past century, while humans are advancing so much."

The man with black and gold hair shifted, pursing his lips briefly before continuing. "I... may be acting a bit on sentimentality here, but I almost feel as though it is fitting to let someone who originated as a human try and change the world she found herself in. To bring it to the modern era, instead of lingering in the past."

"Faith and optimism won't ensure our people's survival, Azazel. That's the reason why we left Father in the first place."

"Neither will reckless action. I was younger then, more foolish. I've found since then that I save more of our siblings' lives when I wait, rather than immediately act."

Once more, Azazel got a shake of the head after several seconds of scrutiny. "Then I'd say you're even more of a fool now."

He spread raven wings, and took off into the air, leaving his leader on the ground to stare at Kokabiel's abrupt departure.

In a way, Azazel could completely understand where his brother was coming from. Luna was dangerous. That was an absolute given, especially since she did in fact leave traces of that at the scene of her going berserk.

But if they killed her and she wasn't what Kokabiel feared she was, they'd have made a terrible, terrible mistake.

He understood the cadre's concerns, but Kokabiel had been fighting on a different front...

"Perhaps I am more the fool now." he admitted, quiet, almost wholly to himself. "But is that truly a bad thing?"


Aquamarine eyes opened, staring up at a ceiling she didn't recognize.

Wait.

No, she recognized it.

The hotel from before?

She rose to a sitting position, holding a hand to her head.

Last she remembered, she'd...

'Oh, god.'

No, there wasn't a 'last' she remembered.

She remembered it all.

Her parents dying at that bastard's hands.

Her going berserk, a black power stronger and more intoxicating than anything she'd experienced before shooting through her.

The terror on the Naberius's face as she effortlessly overwhelmed him, the smell of piss and shit as she tore him limb from limb. The squeals that battered her ears as she impaled his escaping, mutilated body and pulled it back in for the finishing blow.

How she relished in it all.

...How there still was a burning flash of satisfaction as she remembered every vivid detail.

Something flickered inside her, something ugly.

Something that she recognized as her own.

And then...

Ruval.

Masaomi.

How they had found her, they hadn't gone into detail. Maybe it had something to do with Masaomi being an exorcist?

They... fought off that black influence that had taken control.

Only, was it really an 'influence'?

It was hard to tell, especially considering how she still felt.

Speaking of the two however, someone entered the room. Lo and behold, it was the very same blond who had come to her rescue, dressed in an almost casual wear; khaki pants, and a white tee.

It looked nice on him. It was also strange; normally he wore far more formal clothes, even in casual settings.

"How are you feeling?" A familiar voice, and one she'd come to recognize as a person she could trust.

One of the fleetingly few.

So how did she feel?

Many different ways.

Rage at the Underworld's injustices, complemented with a desire to hunt down and kill every last Devil.

Despair at a world that was nothing like the happy-go-lucky harem romp that it had been in her first life.

Guilt, horrible enough that she wanted to sleep and never wake up.

Disgust, that she'd fallen so far from the standard she wanted to hold herself to.

"Like shit," she openly admitted, glancing to the side. "Though... considering my parents..."

"So you remember what happened?" He sat on the side of her bed, smiling kindly down at her.

'Stop looking at me like that.'

Her eyes turned downward.

"...Everything."

He breathed in, then breathed out, slowly. Sapphire eyes slid shut, and that smile on his face fell slightly. "Then you remember what you'd wanted to do?"

Luna swallowed a lump in her throat. "Y-yeah."

"You still want to follow through, am I mistaken?"

Huh? Her eyes flicked up to Ruval. He reopened his eyes and looked back down at Luna.

As tolerant and accepting as always.

'Stop looking at me like that!'

Luna closed her eyes, choosing not to answer.

"I get it," he continued, turning back away. "Wanting to wage war against the government that persecuted you. You tried so hard to change the world, only for the world to eat away at you in turn. It took and took, and gave no quarter in turn. Now all this... I can understand the hatred you probably hold in your heart right now."

Finally, she spoke, choosing her words carefully. Not to avoid a minefield like she would normally, but to speak her mind as clearly as possible.

"I was being influenced by that thing that you two had to fight because I wasn't strong enough," she said in a low tone.

"You nearly killed us both. I would say you are plenty strong."

Luna smiled, but she couldn't meet Ruval's eyes.

"There's more than one kind of strength. I... suppose I'm just not as strong-willed as I thought."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because... I lost control of myself. Because I want- wanted, sorry - to do all those awful things..."

"That was no slip of the tongue." The Phenex heir cut her off, causing her to turn back to him at the sharpness of his tone. "You think you are weak because you still feel all those things you did back when you were possessed."

Luna looked down at her hands, resting in her lap. Several seconds passed.

"I was being influenced by that thing..." she started again, licking her lips. "But... it was working on what was already there. It was already there. That hatred. That desire to burn everything down. That grief... that guilt."

"You were willing to drown in it all."

"That's probably why I lost control like I did." She swallowed. "I... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still willing. Even now."

Ruval sighed, turning back with a wry, self-deprecating smile. "Sometimes, I forget that you are still just a civilian, and one who sees the world from the eyes of a human at that. Still… you are a lot stronger than you think."

'Stop looking at me like that!'

She let out a huff of bitter laughter. "Just not where it counts, it seems."

"You'd be surprised."

"Cut the crap, Ruval." Her eyes closed, and she willed forth a fraction of those vile feelings pooling inside her.

Even now, she could feel the air around them leeching, that same aura she had been emanating back when she first lost herself.

Ruval's eyes shifted, noticing that the once-healthy flowers in the corner of the room were now wilted.

She released it, allowing the world to return to its normal state.

The flowers, however, remained wilted and dying.

He watched, then furrowed his brow as she turned to gauge his reaction at her apparent ability to call on that fell power again.

"What do you plan to do now?"

Luna blinked, not quite expecting that particular question, and flopped back on the bed, letting the air escape her lungs in a rough exhale. "...Hell if I know."

"Then take some time to think." He stood. "Masaomi is also here. He is busy making food, it has been a couple days since everything unfolded and so decided to take it upon himself to make dinner. You will likely see him soon."

"What if I don't want to talk?"

"Then we'll try again later." Ruval stood, stepping back over to the door. "...As far as I'm concerned, we haven't saved you just yet."

She rose back up on her elbows and lifted an irritated brow at the blond. "Even though I'm already out of danger?"

He stopped opening it, turning back with an all-too-kind gaze.

"I want you to be happy, Luna. That's when I'll say I succeeded."

'...Stop...'

She snorted, anger flickering across her face at his audacity for saying something like that. "A bit late for that."

"It's never too late to start anew. You taught me that."

Her eyes then noticed that the white shirt Ruval was wearing was… darker across his back. Way darker.

As though the skin beneath had been blackened.

Had… had he been scarred?

Had she scarred him?

Was his back disfigured because of her?

As Ruval shifted, the darkness in that white shirt didn't shift like the rest of his shirt did.

It… it was a scar.

No.

No, she couldn't do this.

She couldn't.

She couldn't hurt him again.

He had to go, he had to go, he had to go-

Luna made to call forth Worldweave, ready to fire off some stardust to drive the Phenex off-

But recoiled back in bed when she hit an internal wall, as though she were covered in unicorn dust again, the feedback causing her to curl up in bed with hands to her temples.

"Luna!" Ruval was by her side in an instant. "Are you alright?"

If anything, the pain both felt fitting and filled her with a desperate sort of rage. He didn't get it, did he? "Grhhhhh-! Take a hint and fuck off, bird-tard! Leave! Go!"

He paused, clearly indecisive, though finally conceded when she turned her head to level an acidic glare his way.

The nobleman stepped back to the door, this time not turning around. He almost seemed hurt by her vitriol, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly, but his voice remained soft. "...Masaomi and I both stand by what he said before. You don't have to deal with all this alone."

Then he closed the door, leaving Luna to her thoughts once more.

'I know that. But… I don't want to hurt either of them again. I'm not wrong for wanting to keep them away for their sake... am I?'

The bond she had with Ulan was silent.

...

Fine.

The last thing she needed was someone else in her head when it was already so filled up anyway.


"How is she?"

"Angry. Lashing out. Unwilling to talk about what is bothering her in any meaningful depth."

"Basically like me when I was younger, then."

Ruval scoffed. "Not going to declare yourself above such things?"

"I became an exorcist because I wanted to kill youkai. It's different now, but I'm not going to deny that I was... angry when I lost my parents. Hateful. I was that way for a long time." Masaomi turned from the stove to stare at the door which separated Luna's room from the rest of the penthouse suite. "And neither of us have the immediate catharsis she wants."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"Be there for her." The exorcist's face curled into something unreadable. "I didn't have anyone to turn to, to share the true depths of my feelings with. She does."

Ruval sat down at the table, turning to lift a brow at Masaomi. "Are you jealous?"

The black-haired man rolled his jaw before he responded. "A little bit. I was never someone with many friends, and that didn't really change in the Church. But I think having to figure things out for myself - for the most part - back then was for a reason, and that this is it."

The blond stared at him for a few seconds, mulling over the exorcist's words before said exorcist spoke again.

"Did she see your back?"

'Did she see your scar?'

Masaomi didn't say the last word aloud, but the Blue Phenex was fully aware of what he meant. He'd been the one to suggest showing it without bringing the topic of lasting injuries up, after all.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of it himself. Him, a Phenex, disfigured? It was a preposterous thought.

And yet… here he was. Alive, if injured, yet his back was marred as though it were still covered in the essence of the shadows of those last moments beneath the eye of that.

Yet another supposed impossibility, whose impossibility was brushed aside because of the Worldweaver

It was a reminder of just what Luna represented, both to him and what she could be for the world at large.

Ruval nodded. "...I think she did, through the shirt. Right as I was leaving, I think I saw her face paling."

"She probably blames herself."

"I… was hoping she would understand the subtext. That she would see it, but also see I am not upset."

"If only it were that simple." The exorcist let out a soft sigh. "It just makes it all the more important that you in particular be there for her."

The Blue Phenex lifted a hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"You... are not like most exorcists I know."

Masaomi could have made some sort of belligerent remark at that. They both knew he had one at the tip of his tongue, but instead decided to be honest.

"That's because I've tried to change the kind of exorcist I am, I think. Someone who protects, rather than hunts, like the Church seems to prefer these days. It... lets me have more perspective."

Masaomi's eyes returned to the door once more, speaking again. "...She's got a good heart."

"Hm?" Ruval tilted his head. That wasn't to say he disagreed - quite the contrary - but he was curious what the human meant. "How so?"

"She cares. Even now, she's probably thinking that by lashing out she's protecting us."

Another lifted brow. "How does that even make sense?"

"It doesn't, does it?" the exorcist chuckled. "But remember that she lost her parents, Ruval. I saw the bodies too; they did not die peacefully. She's angry, she's grieving, and she's confused on where to go next."

His chuckle settled into a smile. "I think that warrants being illogical for a little while, don't you think?"


That's right.

He'd gone through the same thing she did, hadn't he?

Luna stepped away from the door, returning to the bed and climbing atop it, crossing her legs and holding a pillow to her chest.

But calling her illogical?

Maybe some part of her recognized that maybe she wasn't being the most... thoughtful right now, but something about that particular word made her gaze sharpen and hackles rise.

She knew he wasn't trying to brush her feelings off, but even so that was a poor choice of word on his part.

Illogical.

Well, that was just emotions in a nutshell, wasn't it?

It was illogical for Ruval to be enjoying himself when she was trying to kill him, after all. Or for her to want to burn the entire world down. Yet, he had. And she did.

Masaomi was right in one regard, though.

Luna didn't want them to get involved in what she was feeling right now.

Indeed, even now her eyes glanced down to her neck, and as she willed forth those negative emotions once more something formed: a thick choker of sinuous black and pulsating red, alien in appearance and almost snakelike in its texture.

She knew what it represented. What it had nearly done to her.

But what was the collar in particular? She had an inkling, but as it was, she could only voice its name.

"Cataclysm Eclipse," she murmured, tasting the name that had been at the forefront of her mind when she wondered what to call it all so briefly.

As though it had already been there.

Luna found it all too fitting.

'Even if it is edgy as fuck.'

She was at least able to get a small smile from that moment of dry humor.


Masaomi knocked and stepped inside the bedroom, seeing the brunette wrapped around a pillow, staring down in silence as he carried in a tray of soup with grapes on the side and a glass of milk.

He'd almost sliced apples for her, but Ruval suggested that she might not take kindly to them as matters stood.

The exorcist might not be overly fond of the nobleman, but he'd been in contact with Luna for a much longer period of time, so he was willing to defer to the Phenex's judgement in this case.

"I brought some lunch," he offered, setting the tray on the bed in front of her, albeit to no major response.

Seeing as Luna didn't immediately reach out after being unconscious for two days, the black-haired man let out a soft exhale and reached over to pull a seat up to the bed. "Yen for your thoughts?"

"Unless you're trying to poison someone I don't think you'd be that interested in 'em right now," she remarked, lifting her head from its place atop the pillow around her arms to stare Masaomi's way.

Masaomi leaned in, tilting one head to the side as he smiled. "Try me."

"Well, where am I supposed to start?"

"From the beginning would probably be a good place."

"Fine. Genesis, 1:1. In the beginning, there was nothi-nnnnng!" she cringed and lifted a hand to her head even as the exorcist laughed.

"I'm not a fan of the System's backlash, but I think you might have earned it there with your cheek."

"Kh." Her eyes slid half-shut as a self-deprecating smile rose to her face. "Maybe I did."

After a long moment, Masaomi spoke again. "I'm serious, though. Let's walk through your thoughts. Together."

She looked down. "It's not going to be pretty."

"Just because it's not pretty doesn't mean it's not important."

"Speaking from experience?"

"I was... in a bad place for years." Masaomi coughed. "I told you what happened, right? It was only when I was able to walk through it all that I could finally let go."

Luna's grip around the pillow tightened. "What if I don't want to let go of them?"

"Nobody wants to let go of the people they love. I didn't. I still haven't." Her eyes flicked up to him in askance, to which he elaborated. "Just because I let go of my desire to kill every youkai for my parents, that doesn't mean I let go of their memory."

A part of her was already aware, but the rest was awhirl amidst the unsurety. "How?"

He rested a hand on the tray and pushed it forward gently. "Time. It will take a long time, but the scars will fade. It won't be easy. There will be times where everything comes crashing home again. If you keep moving forward, though, then eventually that grief will change to acceptance."

Luna stared at the tray now, but Masaomi could see she was thinking. Acting, rather than wallowing.

That was progress.

The exorcist picked out a grape and slipped it into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing it, he continued. "Especially when you are able to separate your grief from your memories of them. Because the two aren't the same, no matter how much it might seem like that's the case now. It took a long time for me to realize that. But it doesn't have to be for you."

She looked back up at him again.

"Remember them. Honor them for what they did for you. Don't let their deaths define you, but let their memory inspire you to live a life that would make them proud."

The brunette was quiet, and remained so for a long time.

But, she started speaking again, and when she did, it was with echoes of reminiscence.

"...When I first woke up as Luna, it was in the hospital." It was quiet, almost reluctant, and she almost had to drag each word out of her memories at first.

But as the brunette continued speaking, her voice grew firmer, more sure in her decision to start sharing her memories of her family. "I had no idea where I was, or what had unfolded to have me awaken in this body..."


As Masaomi left the room at Luna's request hours later, she was left alone with thoughts.

Live a life to make Thelastia and Loedrick proud?

It was... a noble idea. One that she could even get behind, but all the same she had her doubts.

What about the ones she'd killed to get where she was now?

What about them?

Didn't they deserve to have their deaths justified too?

That meant she had to go back, right?

She didn't want to go back.

She couldn't.

If she did, she was dead. Simple as that. Even if she somehow escaped the purge, eventually it'd become too much, and she might explode again.

Even thinking about it, the choker reformed around her neck, pulsing with dangerous intent, though her own vision of it was limited.

She could certainly feel the weight around her neck though, and the way that colors started fading out from her surroundings. If she lost control like that again... next time she might not have anyone to get her out.

That couldn't happen.

But she couldn't just let the bodies be for nothing either.

"...Would it truly be okay for me to run away?"

The brunette said it to the air, but she shivered all the same as though being gazed upon with a disapproving glare.

Even the thought made her feel guilty.

Damned if she did, damned if she didn't.

One hand lifted to her face, cupping it as the Worldweaver struggled to not get caught in that downward spiral again.

What could she do?

She had two paths ahead of her.

That much was obvious.

Stay and face the consequences.

Or flee the Underworld, disgraced and with the past seven years of her life wasted.

What would happen?

She'd die at the hands of the shadow government controlling the Underworld.

Or...

She'd be crushed by the guilt again.

Luna lifted a grape.

The sweetness tasted bitter in her mouth.

But, it was food all the same, and so she started eating.

She could also waste away here, but then that would mean that her parents' killer had won...

Luna refused to concede defeat in such a manner. If nothing else, she'd do that much.


Her chest rose, then fell.

Swelled, then sank.

In, and out.

It was a rhythm Kuroka had grown familiar with over the years, watching her sister sleep fretfully on foodless nights.

This was not a foodless night.

Indeed, a tray had been delivered to the bedside, filled with warm foodstuffs so she wouldn't have to leave.

The tray had since gone cold, as had the food on it.

Instead, she just watched Shirone, ignoring the growls of her stomach like she had for years before.

This wasn't then.

She had a tentative place to stay now, someplace where she and her sister could sleep easy. There was food, food enough that they could eat every day. They had an ally, a patron, someone unique and powerful enough that she truly believed they would be safe from the vile person who had killed their mother and sperm donor.

Yet it had still led to this.

All that power, all that supposed safety, yet her sister was still suffering.

Considering her state, it would be difficult for many to see.

Not her.

She could see the slight creases in her sister's white brow, hear the ever-so-small hitches in her breath every eleven minutes and six seconds.

Kuroka counted.

Shirone was suffering, and for what?

"You haven't touched your food."

The black-haired yokai turned to see similar black hair pulled into twintails, the eyes of one who had seen long years of conflict peering at innocent snow.

And the world around that face, solemn yet kind... immediately, she shivered.

Cold.

It was so cold.

Was that testament to the newcomer's overwhelming might, or was that a hint of the person she really was?

"I'm not hungry."

Her stomach growled, as if to protest the point.

She received a kind smile in return. "You don't want to eat without her being able to do so alongside you, do you?"

Kuroka ducked her head down. How had she known?

The newcomer's chest puffed out in a huff of a contained laugh. "I can't blame you. If Sona were the one in that bed, I'd be in your exact place myself."

The teenager looked back up, and back at the twintailed visitor. "Your own sister?"

"Mh." Serafall nodded. "My baby sister. Well. A bit older than an infant now, but she's still so young."

The youkai blinked slowly. "Why are you trying to relate to me?"

"Because I understand your worries. About making sure she grows up safe. About making sure that she's happy." A moment of pause, before the twintailed woman continued. "And also because, I want to ask something of you."

Kuroka's eyes narrowed, immediately suspicious. "...As long as you recognize I might not say what you want to hear, nya."

"That's why I'm asking, silly." She stuck her tongue out, a hint of playfulness shining through before her expression firmed once more. Serafall's eyes turned to the unconscious if not comatose Shirone, and she fell silent, contemplative.

Finally, she spoke, as though having searched for a better way to speak her mind and failed. "What does being a sister mean to you?"

That took Kuroka for a loop, eyes widening at the question which she had not at all been expecting. "E-eh? What do you mean by that?"

"I suppose it's kind of a strange question to ask, hm?" Again, Serafall let out a small huff of laughter. "But consider it a curiosity to learn what it means for someone else."

"...Why?"

She turned her gaze back to the unconscious Shirone. "Because I've been having... second thoughts. About what I'm doing. Why I'm here. I fought way back then, fought two wars, to protect innocent people against the bad guys who'd hurt or oppress them. But these days... have I become one of those bad guys myself? I can't help but wonder."

"You feel like you've become com... complacent?" she tried. "And that it's affecting your moral compass?"

"You're a smart one. Big word considering your origins. But... I suppose so."

Kuroka tried not to preen at that. That being said, once her own eyes returned to her bedridden sister, any glee she felt immediately withered away.

"I think... being an older sister is about... looking out for your younger siblings."

Serafall tilted her head. "That wouldn't be everything though, would it?"

The youkai hummed.

"No," she finally agreed. "It wouldn't. I... I think it's important to look out for them. But it also means being willing to care for them, it means standing up for them even when it would cost you."

Kuroka stared down at her stomach again. "There were times when I was on the streets that it was tempting, so tempting, to just take what little food I managed to scrounge up that day and have it for myself. To leave my sister slowly starving while I slept on an even marginally-full stomach."

"Did you?"

"...Once or twice," she admitted, shaking her head slowly from side to side, cringing at the very reminder. "But afterwards, when I thought about Okaa-san, and what she did for us, I just felt... so guilty. Guilty that I would put myself before the only family I had left. It sickened me to be so selfish. To anyone else, I'd have done it without a second thought, but for Shirone? No. Never, never again."

Serafall's voice was soft. "It almost sounds like you were trying to be your sister's mother in her place."

The youkai's tongue flicked across her lips, wetting a mouth that was suddenly dry. "Sisterhood and motherhood aren't too different, I think. It's about putting them before yourself, nya. It's about protecting them, nurturing them, guiding them into becoming the happiest, healthiest, and kindest person they can be. Even if you have to put your own life, or your relationship with them, on the line to do so."

She turned to the older girl. "That, I think, is what sisterhood means to me."

"It sounds like your mom taught you well."

Kuroka's gaze returned to her sister. "I wish I could believe that. Maybe I did before, but then this happened, and now I don't know when or- when Shirone's going to wake up."

Her speech hitched there, but Serafall knew exactly what she meant.

Serafall hummed. "Sometimes, bad things happen, and the most you can do is roll with the punches."

Kuroka snorted. As if she wasn't aware of that.

"If I could take her place right now..."

"You would."

"In a heartbeat, nya."

"That sort of bond is really moving. I'm almost kind of jealous." Now the twintailed woman half-pouted, half-smirked. "You're pretty wise for a teenager, y'know."

"You have to be, to make ends meet for your baby sister and yourself on the streets," Kuroka smiled, though it was somewhat wan all the same. "Still, when I see Shirone like this, I still can't help but feel guilty."

"Do you think it's your fault she's like this?"

"Not... directly, but even so." After Jaspal explained the likely cause of her sister's going berserk, Kuroka was going to have words with Luna. "If I'd been stronger, if I'd been smarter, if I'd been faster on my feet, then maybe she wouldn't be like this now."

"You did everything you could."

That platitude was enough for Kuroka's blood to boil in an instant.

"And everything I could wasn't good enough!" she snapped. "Doing everything I could means that Jaspal got a life-threatening concussion, I had to get a blood transfusion after losing so much that I was only able to stay conscious because I was actively channeling Senjutsu, and my sister is in a fucking coma!"

Her arm also lifted to the bandaged shoulder, and the grafted-on flesh beneath.

Serafall took it all in stride, replying quietly but firmly. "You could all be dead; you two by your sister, and your sister by security forces once she was found next to your bodies. Do you think she'd get away by pleading insanity if a noblewoman's blood was on her hands?"

That stopped Kuroka cold, and she swallowed hard. She knew full well how nobles got preferential treatment in the eyes of the law. If she and Jaspal had been killed there...

Her throat tightened.

"Sometimes that's all you can do; mitigate the damage. If you expect to escape from everything scot-free, then you're going to be sorely disappointed." Serafall crossed her arms beneath her bust, frowning thoughtfully. "You, Jaspal, and Shirone are all still alive. You and Shirone will still be able to see each other, once she wakes up. Somehow, I doubt she'll be like this for long. You two are survivors, and cats are pretty tenacious to begin with."

Her frown flipped into something a little more playful. "Nine lives and all that, isn't that right?"

Kuroka pursed her lips, taking in the twintailed woman's words. "And that's why I want to stay here, so she can wake up to someone familiar."

"That's also why you should probably get something to eat. So you don't starve yourself to the point of needing medical treatment yourself."

The youkai made to raise protest, yet was immediately shut off by her visitor. "No buts. She'd want you to be okay too, wouldn't she?"

Damn her. Damn her for being right.

"...She would," Kuroka conceded, looking over at the untouched food, the hand on her shoulder moving to wrap around Shirone's; her sister's breath had started to shudder ever so minutely once more.

It was an action not unnoticed. "I'll get you some more food."

Huh? She looked over at the woman offering. "Why?"

"So you can stay by your sister's side," Serafall smiled. "Just like I would, in a time like this. And as thanks, for the food for thought you gave me."

With that, she turned to leave, stepping out the door and closing it to allow the sisters some privacy.

Kuroka continued to sit and watch, letting her ears and tails manifest like her sister's were, gently resting her tail on the younger girl's cheek.

"It's okay, Shirone," the youkai soothed, reaching out to stroke through pure white hair. "I'm here. You'll be okay."

She failed her sister.

But she wouldn't let it happen again.


Serafall stepped out from the inpatient room a second time, having delivered the extra meal from the dining hall as requested, looking over at the battered heiress leaning against the wall, a rather ungraceful stance from the normally-composed woman.

"She'll be okay. They both will."

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

"Call it a psychologist's intuition."

Jaspal gave the twintailed woman a raised brow, as much as she could with the bandages around her head. Being a noble had its perks, and she was quite glad she got a healer so quickly. If only the same could have been done for Shirone's condition. "As far as I am aware, you are lacking in the credentials department to call yourself that."

"I might not have a degree, but I could totally get one if I wanted," she pouted back. "I'm all over that stuff, like flies to honey! Or, wait, maybe that wasn't the best comparison-"

"I get it." She lifted her hands in a placating gesture, prompting Serafall to settle down.

"Have you decided what you're gonna do?"

"I..." Jaspal swallowed, stern face falling for a more concerned one. "I do not know. I know better than to think Father would not disown me if I step too far out of line, and completely disregarding his order as patriarch of the family would have me thrown out of the house."

"But the cost..."

"Mh. He hired mentalists to help me with my... 'remedial' training." Ruby eyes glanced away, conflicted. "Unfortunately, they are from that particular family."

With most Devils, she wouldn't be confident saying this.

But this was Serafall Leviathan she was talking to. She almost undoubtedly knew the seedier areas of the aristocracy already.
"He might just be setting me up to be turned into a trophy for one of his allies. I... fear that may be exactly his intent."

"That's messed up."

"That is what my King said when she first heard about the fate I was working to avoid. In crasser terms, admittedly, but the passion she said it with was... admirable." Jaspal sighed. "Unfortunately, father is the head of the family. If I wish to remain in it, I must obey. Especially given my current standing."

The twin-tailed woman frowned. "Do you truly believe that's going to happen to you?"

"I wish I could say no. But unfortunately, even if what I hear is only hearsay, I... believe it to be true."

"So you... think you're gonna be brainwashed into being a trophy wife."

"To be quite frank, considering the extent of my 'mistake' I fully expect that to be my fate. Why waste years attempting to conceive a new heir or heiress when you can just have mentalists poke around enough to 'fix' the faulty one you already have?"

The twintailed leader's expression turned downward, not denying the possibility.

For Jaspal, that was telling enough.

She shivered.

"And you'd subject yourself to that?" The disgusted expression on Serafall's face told her opinion on the matter.

She didn't want to. "I have to."

"You could run away, you know."

Ruby eyes looked away. "And lose what influence I have? Lose my title, my home, my name?"

"At least you'd still have your sense of self."

Jaspal wished she could argue the point, but she couldn't.

"Why are you so keen on pushing the idea I should run?"

"Because you don't deserve that fate!" Serafall swallowed, then continued. "Believe me, I've had enough experience in my time to know that it can really mess someone up if someone else breaks into their head and rewires it. You're not a bad person, you don't need to be 'fixed', as you put it."

Ruby eyes locked with Serafall's, knowing and accusing.

"Is that experience as the victim, or the perpetrator?"

The Leviathan closed them. Swallowed again. Spoke.

"...Both."

Jaspal shook her head slowly, breathing out and pushing herself off the wall.

"I cannot run away from this, though. If I lack a family, then where will I go? What will I do? Who will I have to turn to?"

"You... know you're part of a peerage now, right? You have allies to turn to, even if you lose your surname in the process."

Jaspal's face grew stony. "It's her fault I am in this situation to begin with."

The other woman was conflicted, deciding whether or not to say something, before she gathered her resolve to do just that.

"Do you really believe that Luna is to blame? Or are you just looking for a scapegoat because you can't bring yourself to confront your father?" Her words were cutting, but her expression was thoughtful, sympathetic even.

The ruby-eyed heiress's expression turned to stone, and she swiveled on her foot to walk off, not trusting herself to remain calm if she spent any more time with this woman. "We're done here."

Serafall watched her go, and let her, but decided she needed the last word all the same. "Please, think about it Jaspal. What is it you want, and what is it that's keeping you from it?"

Her words, raised to cover the distance gained between them, caused Jaspal to stop briefly, before she continued and eventually stepped out of sight.

Before she did, however, the svelte ravenette fired back, leaving Serafall stricken with thoughts of her own. "Funny you should say that. Considering what you did to my King, I do not believe you have any right to tell me what to think."

As Serafall was left alone, she looked down, deep conflict warring across her face.

Jaspal was right. She was fully aware of that; she'd fucked up.

But she wanted to make it right.

Somehow.

Her gaze shifted back to the door where she knew that Shirone and Kuroka were behind.

Then, her head turned back to where Jaspal had left, where she'd gone to make her decision.

Serafall wanted to make it right.


Jaspal tossed her jacket against the chair and collapsed into the hospital bed assigned to her.

Theoretically, by now she could check herself out of the hospital despite the concussion. After being assigned a healer, it should take no longer than a week to clear her of any long-term ramifications from such a blow to her head.

She could have already left, to be quite fair.

But, staying was a temporary reprieve from her father and his demands.

She had gotten injured fighting Shirone after all, though not nearly the same way as the other two.

Still, it warranted a checkup to ensure, or if nothing else that she'd walk off with minimal injury.

She'd called her father regarding her condition and that she had to help suppress someone who'd gone berserk.

He accepted her explanation, if begrudgingly, but told her in no uncertain terms that she was to return home at the earliest safest possibility.

Even now, she was technically violating that order.

Still, unless he decided to look into her health records, she'd have at least another day to come to a choice.

It tore at her to make it, though.

Was she running away?

Of course not.

Well.

Maybe.

She wanted time to come to her decision.

Time her father wouldn't have given her if it wasn't for her hospitalization.

Ruby eyes glanced at the window, overlooking the city, then to her lap.

How could she choose between her family and her own desires?

Weren't the two supposed to be synonymous?

No. If that were the case, then she'd have already gone back.

She wanted...

She wanted to be free to make her own choices, to sink or swim on her own merit, rather than be tied to her name or under anyone's thumb.

Maybe... maybe that's why she accepted Luna's offer two years ago.

But she didn't want to lose her family either. As... harsh, as her father can be, and as absent as her mother was, they were still her mother and father.

("Do you really believe that? Or are you just looking for a scapegoat because you can't bring yourself to confront your father?")

Damn her. Damn that twintailed bitch. She didn't know what Jaspal had to go through. What she might have to do if she went home.

How could she? Serafall had power, she had fame, she had looks, she had everything she'd need to get by just fine in this damnable place, while people like her had to supplicate themselves to big names just to survive.

Yet... her words still pierced deep.

She didn't want to run away. She had obligations to fulfill.

'But to who? To him? To the one who's oppressed and belittled you your whole life?'

Jaspal's teeth grit, wishing she'd had something strong to drink.

Then, her shoulders fell, expression slackening as a thought occurred to her.

Was that how her mother felt? So desperate for an escape, but too unwilling to run away, that she'd turn to the bottle and completely close herself off to the world?

Or was it... that was the only way for her true self to shine through?

She had obligations to fulfill.

But... were they to her father? To her family?

Or was she thinking about becoming another casualty to his desires?

She didn't know.

And the idea that she had no idea what awaited her on either end terrified her.

Her mouth worked, tongue flicking to moisten its dry surfaces.

"...I'm... hiding, aren't I?"

But what else could she do?

She was damned if she ran away, and damned if she stayed.

("I'm not mad at you, I'm mad for you.")

She wished it was her fault.

("I never should have taken my hands off the reins...")

But in the end...

("If I do not hear you say 'Yes Father', and follow my orders like a good daughter, then I will disown you on the spot.")

The only one at fault for her current situation?

Jaspal's thoughts turned to the other heiresses. Many were in a similar situation as her; often being married off for alliances of convenience, but those being 'tutored' by the Dantalion family were so very few, usually daughters of the most conservative houses.

She's spoken with those daughters before.

Dantalions didn't exactly have the greatest reputation, thanks in no small part to their mentalist corps, but they were effective all the same.

("I gave you everything you have, and this is how you repay me? With gross incompetence and inane decisions that have crippled the company for years to come? Disgraceful. Come home as soon as you are cleared to return so that we can begin your remedial classes immediately, do you understand me?")

And the gazes of all those who went through the Dantalion 'tutors' were all empty. Little more than arm ornaments for their husbands or masters of the house.

It... it's been him, hasn't it?

("Are you scared to confront your father?")

Jaspal lifted her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging herself close.

She'd been taught to always obey the head of the family. Always act in the name of the family. Always seek to advance the family, even if it meant giving away her body or walking away from her dreams.

She wasn't being selfish to want to step out and seek her own fortune, was she?

The ruby-eyed ravenette swallowed.

So why did she feel guilty about it?

Or was that, too, trained into her at a young age?

She didn't know.

Or... or did she?

Was all of her stress as it stood his fault?

He was just protecting the family-

("That's a standard that needs to go.")

Her eyes squeezed shut as a whimper escaped her lips.

No, he was protecting what he saw as his property-

Jaspal stilled.

Property?

Was that what she was?

No, she was more than that.

To him?

...Perhaps that was what he saw her as. Just another tool to use and discard if it stopped working.

No. Not 'perhaps.'

Her father had little to no regard for anything other than the business, that much she could easily say. Maybe himself, too. Narcissistic, maybe? Or was it that he was a full-blown sociopath?

Or could it be both?

She didn't know.

But perhaps she was starting to realize that returning like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs would only have her beaten like one until she fell into line. Especially now.

Especially with Dantalion tutors waiting for her when she returned home.

("What is it that you want?")

She wanted to make her family proud.

But she didn't want to lose her sense of self to do so.

Was that selfish?

No, that wasn't a good question.

Was that wrong of her?

...That was a better one.

And she didn't think it was wrong to have her own desires.

But even so...

She wasn't sure she would make the right choice.

Especially when she wasn't sure what the right choice was.

Family? Or self?

How could she choose, when family was such a significant part of who she was?

...But she had to. Because if she didn't, it would be made for her.

Even if it was the last one she'd make, Jaspal wanted it to be hers to make.

So after thinking long and hard, she finally did.


Days passed, and not once did Luna leave her room, though Ruval and Masaomi occasionally left the penthouse for their own reasons.

Not once did Luna leave her room. Until maybe now.

Never though, was she left without either individual. If Masaomi was gone, Ruval was there, and vice-versa.

Luna stared at the door, close enough to touch the handle, wondering.

Why were they still working together to ensure one of them remained in the penthouse?

Did they think she would try and hurt herself if they were gone?

Or was it because they wanted to make sure she had someone to talk to whenever she needed?

Maybe both?

She wasn't sure, neither of their intent nor if she appreciated it or not.

It was hard to tell what she believed in these days, especially in the dark of night when the whispers returned.

Whispers she knew were dredged from the darkest parts of her psyche by Cataclysm Eclipse, but her own all the same, and awfully tempting to sink into to boot.

What was it she wanted?

Freedom.

Happiness.

Justice.

Absolution.

Meaning.

They seemed so mutually exclusive the past days, and it left Luna feeling lost in her thoughts and her fears.

Of what she could do.

Of what she could become.

Of what she would face along the way.

But as time wore on, the grim haze that sapped her of any energy had started to lift, if only a little bit.

Still, she knew she had to keep moving.

If Luna stalled, she'd drown.

And for her parents, they'd died so the Naberius could try and break her.

It was heartless, cruel, and evil.

They'd have wanted her to fight back even after their passing, she knew.

Even if she herself felt like lying down and letting the shadows take her... she couldn't.

Not if she wanted to live a life that would make them proud.

Her expression pinched, and she twisted the knob.

The rest of the suite came into view, and over in the kitchen she could see Masaomi cooking something. Judging by the spices, he was trying something Italian. Had he picked up recipes during his time in the Vatican?

He turned around at hearing the door open, eyes glimmering with relief as the exorcist recognized what had happened. "Luna. It's good to see you out of that bedroom."

'...Please don't look at me like that.'

"Sorry for worrying you," she murmured, looking away to the table where she took a seat. "I've... I've been through a lot. Of a lot of things."

"Of course." He returned to the food, and continued stirring. "It's okay, though. I know it's been horrible for you these past few days in particular."

"In particular. The past seven years in general, though... it's hard to think about what a huge waste of time it was," Luna scowled down at the tablecloth where an empty plate sat.

"I wouldn't say it was a huge waste. You've made an impact, even if it's not quite what you were hoping for." Masaomi turned to glance at her from the corner of his eye. "And you're not exactly human anymore either; seven years is the blink of an eye for your kind."

Her face contorted into a repressed grimace. "I'd... ask that you do not mention what I am."

The black-haired man returned his attention to the food he was making, though he remained in the conversation. "...You've decided you hate Devils, then?"

"How can I not? I've been betrayed and backstabbed by the race as a whole, to the point where the number I can actually trust could be counted on a single hand."

"Not all are like that."

"No," she agreed after a second. "Just nearly all the ones in power."

"Speaking of one in power, a certain Serafall called yesterday, a call Ruval picked up. Sounds like she caught wind that you'd been kidnapped and wanted to check in to see how Ruval was doing."

Her? Luna's eyes narrowed. "What did he tell her?"

"He told her that we'd found you and brought you back someplace safe, though your parents were killed by your kidnapper before we could get to you in time. She sends her condolences."

Condolences? "I don't want a fucking 'I'm sorry for your loss', especially not from her."

Masaomi turned back to smile in Luna's direction. "No, I didn't think so. Still, it's important to let you know that we're not the only ones who want to make sure you're okay."

Luna's scowl deepened and she looked away.

"After being the one who got me into this whole fucking mess to begin with, I really couldn't care any less what she thinks."

"Yet you still kept correspondence from her, and are at least close enough that she called to make sure your friends were okay after you yourself were kidnapped."

Her scowl was just shy of turning into an outright snarl. "She has no right."

That got the exorcist humming. "I'd talk to her first, before you jump to any conclusions. According to Ruval, she sounded pretty beaten up over it all."

She shook her head, choosing not to say anything else on the matter.

"And what about Jaspal or Kuroka?"

"Your Peerage members?" He put a pot lid over the cooking food and turned back to Luna. At her nod, he nodded back. "Apparently Jaspal and Kuroka were hospitalized."

Luna stood sharply, eyes wide. "What? How?"

"I don't know the details, but apparently Kuroka has a sister? She went berserk, and by the time they managed to stop her she fell comatose, but not before inflicting some serious injuries on both in the process."

The brunette stilled, before sitting down slowly to cover her face in her hands. "Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

She should have been there for them, she should have been there!

"Hey, calm down." The exorcist briskly walked over to rest a hand on the table. "They're all in stable condition, Jaspal's already been cleared to leave the hospital, and Kuroka only needs to stay another night to make sure her blood levels are where they should be."

"And what of Shirone?"

He frowned. "I... didn't hear anything about her."

Her hands lowered to rest on the table, as though to prop herself back up out of her seat. "I need to see them."

"I understand your need, but right now you're persona non grata in the Underworld. If you go to them in person, you're gonna get arrested, or hunted down outright."

Luna got up from her seat now, teeth bared. "Then what the fuck am I supposed to do? I'm not going to turn away from them after they got hurt! They're my Peerage, my partners, my responsibility to make sure they're safe!"

"Well, you could get into contact with Serafall. She spoke with them a couple days ago."

Luna's tone turned far too neutral for Masaomi's comfort. "...She set you up to this, didn't she?"

"No," he denied, emphasizing the word as much as he could. "But she's currently the one closest to them, and someone who from the sounds of it is heavily invested in wanting you to be okay."

"She's also part of the same government that wants to imprison me because I made too much noise," the brunette pointed out.

"If she was, she wouldn't call the very hotel you are currently residing at without warning, she'd just bring you in."

He made a good counterpoint, but it was still not something that Luna was interested in doing.

She wanted to see them.

But she didn't want to see her.

If not now, though, then when?

She was the reason that Luna was where she is now though.

If Serafall hadn't put that compulsion on her...

Luna shook her head.

"It's not that easy."

"Why not?" Masaomi turned to walk back and continue making the food.

"She hung me out to dry."

"And she's been trying to make things right, right?" he pressed.

"Some things can't be made right."

Masaomi turned to glance at her again. "Then why did you keep speaking with her all the same?

"Maybe I wanted her to get a taste of hope before I stole it away," she muttered.

He stilled. "I don't believe that."

Luna laughed, high and cold and so forced it was brittle. "Well you'd best believe me when I say; you don't even know half of who I am."

"If you were really truthful about that kind of cruelty, then I don't think I'd have stopped Touji-sensei from attacking you when we first met."

"People change, Masaomi. Especially after they go through the shit I did."

"But that doesn't mean they have to change for the worse."

"Maybe, but I'm not quite so lucky to come out stronger for this," the brunette drolled. "At this point I may as well just accept what I've become."

Masaomi breathed in, and breathed out. "That's an awfully nihilistic point of view."

"What else am I supposed to do? Hope for the best? That's not gonna change what I've done, or what I'm probably gonna do going forward."

"You'd be surprised."

Luna pulled a face. "So, you want me to hope that things will get better and try to be that optimistic kind of person? I've been a cynic ever since I'd entered my teens, so good fucking luck with that."

"Well, what about when we met for the first time? Trying to reason with a sworn enemy in contested territory is pretty optimistic."

"There's a difference between being a naive fool and recognizing that there's a chance to end an encounter peacefully."

"I dunno, I'd say you were being pretty 'naive' back then, in your words."

She shook her head slowly. "Not when I knew about you two beforehand."

"Yet you could have said the same for one of the Devils who'd abandoned you, right?" Masaomi rebutted, almost lightly.

The exorcist got an ugly glare from the Worldweaver for pointing that out, but she looked away. "Fine. I get what you mean."

He sat down across from her. "I'm not asking you to pretend like nothing happened; I'd be insulting you if I did."

"Then what the hell are you asking me?!"

The answer was simple. "Not to lose hope."

Luna's gaze returned to her plate, slowly shaking her head from side to side.

"A little late for that."

"Then... find a new one."

"You say that like it's easy."

"Oh, it's absolutely not going to be easy," Masaomi agreed, all too emphatically before his voice returned to a soft seriousness. "But if you want to keep moving, then there has to be something you're trying to achieve. So what is it that you want to do?"

The brunette rested an arm on the table, running a finger around the plate. Inhale. Exhale.

"First and foremost..." she started, slowly, "I want to make sure my Peerage, my friends, are okay. Or at least, that they will be."

"Then you'll want to talk to Serafall, since Jaspal and Kuroka are both in the hospital."

Luna scowled, but she didn't immediately dismiss the idea out of hand like she had the first time.

Masaomi smiled. The brunette was recovering slowly, but he'd take it.

"...Do you smell smoke?"

The exorcist sniffed a couple times at Luna's prompting, then bolted for the pan he'd left on the stovetop for too long. "Shit, the food!"

She rolled her eyes and snorted, but the black-haired man stole a glance behind and saw a trace of a smirk on his friend's face.


Moonshade: I heard that you called yesterday.

Moonshade: And that you'd learned about my parents.

Moonshade: What do you want?

Moonshade: Make it quick; I've little patience for bullshit right now, especially from you.

Luna sat back from the computer, staring at the messages she'd sent.

Were they antagonistic? Yep.

Could she have been nicer? Oh, absolutely.

She didn't give a fuck.

The brunette was about to turn away from the chatroom before she noticed that the other member had begun typing.

Had she been waiting?

MGIRL&IRL: I want to apologize.

MGIRL&IRL: For putting you in this situation in the first place.

MGIRL&IRL: When I helped put Sirzechs's plans in motion, I'd thought that we were putting you through a crucible to make you stronger

MGIRL&IRL: If I'd known that your parents would have been casualties, if I'd realized what it would cost you as an individual...

MGIRL&IRL: It would never have happened.

Luna clicked her tongue, and quickly belted in a response.

Moonshade: Shame that time isn't something that can be rewound.

MGIRL&IRL: It is.

Moonshade: Why did you get in contact with my Bishop and Pawn? Considering what you've done, you don't exactly have a good reason to do so.

MGIRL&IRL: You're right, of course. I failed you.

MGIRL&IRL: Betrayed you even.

MGIRL&IRL: I already said I want to make things right.

MGIRL&IRL: If I can't help you or the FFP, I can at least help your Peerage.

The brunette's nostrils flared.

Moonshade: What did you do.

She sat, tense, waiting for a reason, any reason, to close the chatroom and block her then and there.

MGIRL&IRL: Paid for their hospital bills.

MGIRL&IRL: Offered a job to Jaspal so she doesn't have to go back to living under her father's thumb.

MGIRL&IRL: Offered to arrange protection for Kuroka's sister so Kuroka herself can concentrate on becoming powerful enough so this doesn't happen again.

Moonshade: You have no right.

MGIRL&IRL: Maybe not, but if I have to step out of line to try and fix at least some of the hurt I've caused, then so be it.

The tenseness began to drain away, though it left her feeling tired.

Moonshade: And what about Shirone herself?

MGIRL&IRL: Comatose. Or, rather, stuck in some sort of nightmare and can't wake up.

Moonshade: You didn't think of leveraging your Dantalion heritage to try and awaken her?

MGIRL&IRL: It's a supernatural curse. If it was psychological in nature, or a weak one, I would have already done so. I've never seen something quite like this before either.

Moonshade: That's awfully convenient.

MGIRL&IRL: I know it's hard for you to believe, but I don't exactly feel warm and fuzzies seeing a woman sitting over the unresponsive body of her child sister.

Luna scowled. No, she didn't. The brunette knew that. But she was still not pleased that Shirone was still unconscious.

That she was apparently suffering from some nightmare curse didn't help matters either.

Moonshade: Then can you tell me how the hell this all happened anyway?

MGIRL&IRL: As far as I can tell, something happened that caused a pulse of corrupted life energy to emanate from Jaspal and Kuroka, and Shirone had been in the middle of channeling from Kuroka when she got a full blast of it.

MGIRL&IRL: Jaspal theorized that it had come from their Evil Pieces.

MGIRL&IRL: Considering that, from what I've gathered, you saw your parents die around that same time... I think their pieces resonated with you.

Luna's eyes widened, and she pushed herself away from the computer screen, standing sharply and turning to pace, trying to keep her breath even.

Serafall was lying. She had to be.

Or, was this another game? What was she up to?

It was a good explanation though.

The pieces fit.

And if she really was telling the truth...

Then it was her fault Shirone was trapped in her own mind.

Her fault.

Her fault.

Her fault-

'Fuck. Fuck! Fuck, fuck-'

"FUCK!" she shouted, Cataclysm Eclipse wrapping around her neck as she turned and punched the wall with eyes closed, going straight through one of the wall studs.

An additional crash made itself known, and as Luna reopened her eyes she saw one of her weaponized extra wings from before had manifested and joined her fist in punching through the wall. Another was at the ready, if she was going to continue her tantrum.

They certainly did much more damage than just her fist, and she was very glad that this section of the wall was mostly just insulation. Though the wing had punched through to the outside...

She withdrew wing and fist with a grimace, hearing the stomps as Masaomi heard what happened and was leaping into action.

"LUNA!" He burst through the door, stilling when he saw the collar around her neck and the extra wings extending from her back.

Her eyes had shifted from blue to red, he noticed, but her physical appearance was otherwise unchanged.

"...Sorry. I lost my temper." She turned to the hole in the wall, making a face. "I'd fix the wall, but Worldweave is offline for now."

One black brow lifted in a mixture of confusion and concern, focusing in on her extra wings. "Offline?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I think I overused it, so now it's burned out or something." She swallowed, feeling rather mortified at the notion. "Sorry for alarming you. I'd... like my privacy back, please. And maybe something to cover the hole."

The exorcist looked unsure, but eventually nodded.

"I'm... going to want a bit more feedback on why you have another pair of wings now, or why you still have the collar that nearly dragged you down to... whatever that thing was. But that can wait."

"...Thanks."

Then he stepped back out the door, closing it behind him.

Luna took another deep breath, and exhaled, the wings and collar both fading into a quickly-dispersed black mist as she returned to the computer and sat down.

Another message had appeared during her brief outburst.

MGIRL&IRL: By the Morningstar... what happened to you, Luna?

She wanted to know? Luna would oblige.

Moonshade: I... I completely lost it.

Moonshade: Nearly lost myself because Worldweave went haywire.

Moonshade: Transformed and everything, to boot.

Moonshade: Even now, it's had its... lingering impact.

The brunette glanced down to her currently-bare neck, and touched it gingerly with one hand.

It took Serafall several minutes to finally reply.

MGIRL&IRL: Will you be okay?

Luna grew a grim smile. She was glad Serafall recognized that asking Luna if she was okay would have only set her off.

Moonshade: I don't know

Moonshade: Right now, I just feel, idk

Moonshade: Hollow, I guess.

Moonshade: I'm not sure how much of that is the side-effects of my meltdown

Moonshade: Or how much of it is because I saw my parents die in front of me

Moonshade: Ruval and Masaomi have been helping, though.

Moonshade: I think I will BE okay

Moonshade: But I don't think I will be for a long time.

Moonshade: Especially with everything else unfolding.

Once more, it took a couple minutes for her to respond.

MGIRL&IRL: I'm glad for that much, if nothing else.

MGIRL&IRL: ...I want to see you again.

MGIRL&IRL: I want to see the result what I put you through.

MGIRL&IRL: After everything that you've been through, all the things you have to deal with now

MGIRL&IRL: I understand if you don't want to meet face to face again.

MGIRL&IRL: But I need to see for myself the end result, of the sort of person I've become.

The brunette stilled as she read Serafall's string of messages, pulling a conflicted face at the implications.

Moonshade: And how will I know that you aren't just gearing up to drag me back to the Underworld, if not kill me outright?

MGIRL&IRL: ...You don't. But I'll bring Jaspal or Kuroka with me, if they want to come along. I know Jaspal probably wants to have a word with you about what happened, herself. Maybe Kuroka too.

If what Serafall said was true, then they both absolutely would take her to task.

In a sense, she almost welcomed the idea.

Moonshade: You're asking a lot of me, to put my trust in you again.

MGIRL&IRL: I know.

Moonshade: Why should I?

MGIRL&IRL: I wish I had a better excuse, but ultimately, it would be an excuse all the same.

MGIRL&IRL: I'm just being selfish.

MGIRL&IRL: Wanting to see for myself the results of my actions.

MGIRL&IRL: Wanting to be a better person if for no other reason than to soothe my own conscious.

MGIRL&IRL: I have no right to ask you to meet me face to face again.

MGIRL&IRL: But I have to

MGIRL&IRL: If for no other reason, than to try and stop being the villain I'd once fought against.

There was a not insignificant part of Luna that just wanted to shut Serafall down then and there, make her feel the same sort of disappointment and pain of abandonment, of being left to rot.

But as good as it might feel for a second, Luna wondered if by doing so, she'd just be feeding into the monster she was so tempted to become.

What would her parents want her to do?

Do what would make her feel good?

Or what would make her feel good about herself?

She swallowed.

Inhaled.

Exhaled.

Moonshade: We both know I'm a fugitive now. You'd catch heat for doing this if word got out.

MGIRL&IRL: You are.

MGIRL&IRL: And I could.

MGIRL&IRL: I don't care.

Luna swallowed.

Inhaled.

Exhaled.

Moonshade: Even if it meant that your sister would have a tougher time too?

MGIRL&IRL: I talked with someone recently about what it means to be an older sister.

MGIRL&IRL: She said that an older sister should nurture their younger siblings to be the healthiest, happiest, and kindest person they can be.

MGIRL&IRL: I think she's right. I've always wanted to set a good example for Sona.

...Luna had a suspicion she knew who Serafall was talking about, and nearly smiled at the thought that even a centuries if not millennia-old Ultimate-class could adopt wisdom from a teenage catgirl.

MGIRL&IRL: And that means doing the right thing.

MGIRL&IRL: Even... ESPECIALLY, if it's not the easiest, or even lawful, thing to do.

MGIRL&IRL: Besides, conflict breeds character, and it'd break poor Levi-tan's heart for Sona to be a dry, straight-laced boor!

The unfortunately harsh but accurate description of Sona in canon almost had Luna laughing again.

But it did finally make her smile all the same.

'Live my life in a way to make my parents proud, huh...?'

Moonshade: ...Alright. Then we'll meet again soon. I'll ask Ruval to give you the details.

Moonshade: It'd be... nice, to see a familiar face again after all this crap.

MGIRL&IRL: Thank you, Luna.

MGIRL&IRL: For giving me the chance to make amends.


"I'm being called back on-duty."

"Hm?"

"The Church wants me to return," Masaomi clarified. "Touji-sensei's heading back into work tomorrow, and as his apprentice I'm expected to join him. He called about an hour ago."

Something unpleasant stung inside Luna. There was a part of her that wanted to ask if he would stay, but even more than that... "I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble."

"Hey, none of that now." He leaned forward, steepling his fingers and pointing them the brunette's way with a tilt of his head and a smile. "If I didn't want to help, I wouldn't have gotten involved. Granted, that might have meant Ruval's Bishop would have tossed my body down the river, but I could have left after we got you back, or even after I led him to you at the warehouse."

She shook her head, a grim sort of amusement bubbling forth. "His Bishop is that violent?"

"Nah. He himself was just shy of going on a literal warpath to get you back, and didn't care who got in his way to do so."

Fiercely protective of that which he saw as his... That was a Gremory trait, wasn't it?

Or was it more a matter of something else?

"Flattering," Luna drolled.

"He doesn't strike me as the kind of person to typically do that," the black-haired man's fingers wrapped around a halfway-filled cup and lifted it slightly to tap against the tabletop. "It's pretty clear he cares for you a lot."

The Worldweaver crossed her arms, closing her eyes. "...I know. And I'm glad that there was at least someone above me in that godforsaken place that I could trust."

"What about you?"

Her eyes reopened, and she stared blankly at Masaomi. "Eh?"

"You could do a lot worse with Ruval." The exorcist rolled his jaw, setting the cup back down as he continued in a casual tone. "He's callous, he's selfish, and he's arrogant beyond belief. But he's also steadfast, patient, and loyal. And I literally just about said he'd go to war to see you safe."

Luna could only gawk at the black-haired man. "We were just talking about you returning to duty, when the fuck did this become about my love life!?"

Masaomi lifted a brow and smirked. "I said nothing of the sort. You interpreted it that way."

"How the hell was I supposed to? You spoke like I was going through a husband catalog!"

"You do realize you're blushing right now, right?"

The brunette scowled, trying to keep the heat from rising any further to her cheeks. "That's because you're prying into personal affairs! I feel violated!"

"Alright, alright, I'll drop it," he chuckled, holding up his hands to placate her. "Still, I find it funny. I accidentally walk into the bathroom and see you naked, and you tease the hell out of me before giving me a shiner without warning later. I so much as bring up the idea of romance, and you're practically steaming from the ears. Most girls would be the other way around."

Luna crossed her arms and looked away with a pout. "Yeah, well, I'm not most girls."

"I could tell that much," he drolled, lifting a brow. "After all, you went the extra mile before giving me that black eye. Don't think I didn't see the hip sway that morning."

She glanced back and smirked. "Hey, I know what I've got, I'm not against showing off a bit."

"Oh I'm not complaining, far from it!" the exorcist laughed. "Just commenting. Does that bond to another person mean that much more to you than your modesty does?"

The Worldweaver's gaze returned to the table, and she pointedly lifted a cup to her lips to take a long drink, holding a finger to signify she was thinking and needed a second. The taste of grapes was a bittersweet one as she mulled over his words.

The cup tapped against the table, and her expression had turned solemn.

"Yeah. This isn't my old body, after all. I've had the... opportunity, to live another life, in another body. I've always figured that the body houses the mind, which houses the soul, y'know? So having a sort of confirmation that's the case means I don't really put as much weight on topics like modesty as many do."

"So what if you still had your own body?"

"I'd probably be a lot more reserved, that's for sure," she agreed, though not necessarily for the same reasons as she'd let Masaomi think.

"Why's that?"

"Human." One without matching chromosomes, to boot.

He opened his mouth, paused, then closed it. "...Fair enough. So being non-human's affected your actions?"

"More emotional, more in-touch with my physicality, more physically and magically powerful, and a hell of a lot hotter."

"What does the last one have to- nevermind." At the Worldweaver's smirk with a tongue slightly extended from the lips, the black-haired man coughed and pointedly looked away.

Luna's expression fell again, wringing her hands forcefully. "...Besides. I hurt him. I scarred him. How do you think the Underworld will take it, when a Phenex comes back with a back that looks like it was badly burnt?"

Masaomi turned to face her again, seeing as serious matters were back on the menu. "He doesn't care about that."

"But he should." She swallowed, guilt worming its way through her stomach as she thought about it. "He… he was so close to dying. I could tell, even as I was back down there. Any measurement of time longer, and I mean any, regardless of how small... "

Her throat closed on her. It took Luna a moment to work it free. "...He almost died because of me."

"...You should hear it from him," Masaomi eventually decided. "But from what I can tell, he's not upset at all. If anything, in his eyes a scar like that's a small price to pay to bring you back."

She wasn't sure how to take those words. In a sense, she was glad he didn't seem outwardly angry about it, but the fact still stood that she'd hurt him. She hurt him in a way that he'd carry that injury for the rest of his life.

How could he just… wave that off?

She didn't know.

She could hardly understand.

So instead, she changed the topic.

"So I take it you'll be leaving pretty soon, to meet back up with Touji?"

The exorcist nodded. "Yeah. It's been... a time, but when work calls, we just have to do what we need to, right?"

"Right." She paused, then swallowed. "Masaomi, I-"

"Hey." He cut her off, but not unkindly. "You've apologized enough. I forgave you before, so before you go at it again, that remains unchanged."

So it was.

Somehow, that actually comforted her now. Even if she still had her doubts, and those guilty thoughts about Ruval's back.

Was he hiding something himself?

...She didn't know.

She didn't want to know.

She felt guilty about that, but if he wasn't going to bring any lasting injuries of his own up...

"Mh." She smiled. It was a small one, but it was steady. "Thanks."


It was a beautiful late afternoon.

The temperature was perfect, warm against her skin with a nice cool breeze causing her hair and clothes to billow gently in the wind.

The sun was covered by clouds, but not in such a way to block out the blue sky, nor blot out the shadows extending across the park.

Indeed, she could see one coming up from behind her, then another, then another.

"Ruval. Serafall. Kuroka. Jaspal." Luna turned back around, adjusting the strap of her backpack as she turned to look at the others. She smiled. "I'm glad to see you all again."

Three of the four looked like they'd seen better days. Ruval still looked roughed up, even if he wasn't heavily bandaged like he'd needed to be after the end of her meltdown.

Save for his back, which the Worldweaver knew would remain a dark memento of this time.

Kuroka, however, was a different story, with bandages wrapped all around her, a testament to how many wounds had opened on her before she and Jaspal were able to escape.

Even Jaspal, someone that Luna had promised would have little need to fight, looked worn. Her eyes had bags under them, as though lacking sleep, and her visible skin was also pockmarked with various cuts and bruises. To say nothing of the gauze around her head.

The only one seemingly untouched was Serafall, but even she had something of a slightly pained expression on her face.

Luna was worried that she'd get upset or panic when they met face to face again.

But all she felt was a faint sense of relief.

It was good to see her again, she'd realized. It was good to see them all again.

Then she idly wondered how messed up it was, that she did despite everything.

Or perhaps it was because of everything?

It was hard to tell sometimes.

"Leaving so soon?" The blond commented, gesturing to the backpack.

Filled with the few things Luna felt the need to keep even after she left.

Granted, she had a good bit of stuff in her Dimensional Gap hammerspace, but she was still barely able to lift an apple telekinetically before she started experiencing feedback again.

She'd overstrained Worldweave something fierce, that was for certain.

"I can't stay," the brunette replied, shifting the arm straps again. "After everything that's gone down, staying would only result in disaster."

"So you are turning your back on the Underworld?" Jaspal... challenged? No, simply questioned, expression scrutinizing Luna carefully.

The Worldweaver smiled, though it lacked humor or joy. "Yeah. My standing in the Underworld's FUBAR, to the point that going back's a death sentence. I don't like the idea much either, but I've been coming to understand that sometimes you gotta know when to walk away."

"'Fubar'?" Kuroka spoke up, getting the gist but not recognizing the anagram.

"Fouled up beyond all recognition," the twintailed woman supplied offhandedly, expression inscrutable as she stared at Luna.

"Oh, that's what you meant." Ears flicked as amber eyes rolled. "I grew up on the streets; I've said 'fuck' plenty of times, nya."

Ruval closed his eyes, breathing in and out slowly, evenly. Luna almost wondered if he'd try to convince her to stay.

But instead, he reopened them and smiled back, though it was somewhat fragile. "...I had hoped it would not come to this."

"But you knew it would."

"I did. I know enough about the Underworld's workings to see the signs. I did not want to see them. I wanted you to be wrong about them." The blond freely admitted that. "Yet, you were right. Are, right. If you returned now, you would be killed or worse."

That prompted the maou to snap out of her thoughts and focus back on the immediate topic.

"Even the public's turned against you," Serafall added after a brief moment, an unfitting flaring of her nostrils and a sharpening of the eyes indicating the extent of her distaste for the matter. "Many that had thought you something special are now calling you a con artist, a fake, or... other, unsavory things."

"Lemme guess, the tabloids are wondering how many people I've slept with to get to where I'm at now?" Luna deadpanned.

Ruval's expression pinched, and he pulled a handful of something out of his jacket, before letting them scatter to the wind.

Ashes.

"Well, that's answer enough for me." Oddly enough, that just reinforced the idea to Luna that she'd made the right choice. "And what about the house?"

Serafall hummed. "Last I checked it was a Bael property, so it's fine. They did reclaim the house, though, and strip you of all your titles and assets. It was only because Ajuka intervened that your Peerage wasn't split up as well."

Luna's eyes glided over and landed on the twintailed girl. "Did you ask him to?"

"No." She shook her head. "He decided that even if you were to become an undesirable, your Peerage shouldn't have to shoulder the punishment by virtue of simply being part of yours."

"So he finally decided to grow a conscience." The Worldweaver sighed. "If only he'd done so earlier."

The small group fell into an uncomfortable silence, before Jaspal spoke up again. "Lord Ruval filled us in on what happened to you up here."

"You mentioned you're still dealing with side effects from losing control like that," Serafall pointed out. "What happened?"

Luna swallowed. "Kuroka... you might want to try closing off your senses."

The youkai paused, then widened her eyes as her King called forth Cataclysm Eclipse, the choker and wings forming around her neck and down her back once again.

She stood there, but now she had six wings, as she did back when Ruval found her in the warehouse.

Kuroka's hackles were fully raised as she stared at the... the… thing, before her.

This wasn't the person that made the world move, this wasn't the power that the world seemed to love.

This was...

This was...

"Luna... what the hell is that?" she hissed, barely keeping herself from attacking her King on the spot for the sheer sense of wrongness that emanated from her. Especially since it was the exact same as the stuff that had possessed her sister. "Why is it on you? That thing, it's... it's gross, it's wrong, it- it's evil."

Ruval himself grimaced, recognizing both the wings and the collar itself. It wasn't exactly the same as the blood-red thing that she had worn with the wings initially, nor was it a prisoner's yoke like the one that had nearly dragged her into an awaiting eldritch maw.

It was a combination of the two, and the fact that she could manifest it like this did not settle his concerns for her in the slightest.

Even Jaspal seemed unnerved, taking a step back and swallowing hard. Perhaps her senses weren't as keen to the world as Kuroka's were, but her analytical eye could immediately tell that the collar and wings that had sprouted around Luna were bad news.

The Magical Maou, though, only had an introspective look.

"...This is what you have to deal with now?" Serafall asked, walking forward to take one of the extra wings and gently rub her hands against it.

It was hard. Sharp. Angular. Unfeeling.

It was a wing meant for war.

No.

It was meant for murder. Slaughter, even.

And if it was something that Luna could manifest on a whim like she had...

"What have we done?" Serafall whispered, lifting a hand to her mouth as shame bubbled up inside her, eyes gleaming with that same feeling. "What did we do to you...?"

"Enough." The word was said quietly, but what the brunette meant was clear as the wings and collar dispersed into mist. "You've done enough."

"I see." The twintailed woman closed her eyes, and swallowed. "...I'll be going then. Thank you, for... letting me see for myself."

For a moment, Luna almost let her do so; let Serafall leave without so much as a goodbye.

But then, a word escaped her.

"Wait." The word was simple enough, but it came from the Worldweaver of all people, all the more surprising given the circumstances.

Luna was rather surprised at herself for saying it.

Yet, she had. So she forced down the lump in her throat threatening to close off any connection to the twintailed Leviathan, and continued.

She smiled again, if even halfheartedly. "It wouldn't be right to travel all the way up here only to leave immediately, would it? You screwed up, yeah, but... you are trying to make things right. That... that should stand for something."

Then the Worldweaver turned around, both because she couldn't bear to see the almost hopeful look in Serafall's eye and to gesture for them to follow her. "Let's get something to eat. Then figure out what comes next."


Dinner was both a solemn affair and a cathartic one.

Simply being able to sit by, and enjoy the company of the few she could call friends in the Underworld, was a feeling that Luna missed dearly.

She'd never much felt it before either, even when she wasn't a wanted criminal.

Maybe she should have put more effort into bringing everyone together like this, rather than focusing on her own advancement.

As she bit down into a third burger, Luna could barely contain the satisfied groan from the taste.

Even when chips were down, there were some things in the world that were still good.

It was a quiet meal, interspersed with occasional comments, but ultimately it was one where everyone was enjoying their time together.

Luna, at least, had no clue if they'd ever meet again.

Perhaps she would have been more confident before.

If the 'vacation' that Ruval had set up for her told her anything though, it was that this world wouldn't wait for her, and it wouldn't make exceptions for her either.

Nothing was safe.

But she'd made her choice.

If nothing was safe, if nothing was sacred, then it would fall on her to make it so.

Luna had already lost enough.

She'd given up her conscience, her time, her blood, sweat, and tears to try and make her impact, to make the world she lived in better.

She lost her parents as a result. Everything fell to pieces.

No more.

The Underworld tried to break her, and she was done with that abuse.

And that meant leaving it, leaving all the bodies she made behind.

Even now, the brunette wasn't proud that she was leaving behind a bloody trail.

But she planned to make things right. Not just for her parents, but for those who she killed along the way.

What was it she wanted?

She wanted to be a force for good in the world. To make the lives of those around her better.

But she also wanted to be happy. To be able to hold her head high when the day of judgement came.

And if that meant going against the world itself, then she'd burn it down to start a new, kinder era.

Her eyes glanced over to Ruval, who met her gaze and smiled at her.

"It looks like the fire in your eye is coming back."

She exhaled, looking back down at her food.

"I think I see what I need to do a bit better now."

The brunette wasn't strong enough yet. Her allies were scattered, most of them probably dead. Her Peerage was limited, and events were on the horizon that would shake the world to its core.

After it cost Luna her parents, she was done expecting pieces to fall into place.

"I'm glad."

Kuroka blinked, then voiced her confusion. "What do you mean by that, nya?"

Luna inhaled, then exhaled.

"I haven't been in the best place. I'd go so far as to say I've been... pretty close to the brink. But after everything I've gone through, I think… I think I see the path ahead of me now."

Her gaze shifted between her two Peerage members. "I'm sorry, for hurting you two in the process. I know I screwed up, but I want to try and make it up to you both. Somehow."

Kuroka and Jaspal both met her gaze, before the ruby-eyed ravenette spoke. "There is much that I wish to say to you, most of it unkind. But… I also recognize that you have been struggling as well. We will speak later, but for now, let us simply enjoy what we still have."

Given the firm look and nod that came from her Bishop, it was clear that Kuroka agreed.

Luna did too.


"What have you all decided to do?" Luna started, after they'd all finished their meals and stepped back outside.

Immediately, a privacy ward sprang into existence around them, courtesy of the twin-tailed woman.

"I'm going to keep doing what I always have. Helping run the government and keeping PR running smoothly," she offered, though tilted her head this way and that. "Aside from that, remember how I asked Jaspal and Kuroka if they wanted my help?"

"I refused," Jaspal tossed in, a neutral gaze on Luna. "I wanted to see what had happened to you, and now that I do I wish to remain. We are partners in this grand game, and you are my King, are we not? It would be remiss for me to turn away."

Huh? Luna blinked, not comprehending what Jaspal was saying. "...Wait, what about your father?"

The svelte ravenette shivered. "...I do not want to talk much about him. I came to a realization, and with that realization came another that I need to take my own path. Or at least, choose for myself who I wish to follow. And for all that he has done to raise me, my father is not a man to be suborned to."

"But you'll be disowned!"

Jaspal's shivers intensified at the reminder, but she didn't turn away. "So I will. That just means that when I return, I will have to show that attempting to shackle and sell me, and then disowning me when I would not comply, was the worst mistake he has ever made."

So... she was going to stay with her? She wasn't going to leave?

Luna seemed almost taken aback, turning to Kuroka. "And what about you? I know your sister's in a cursed coma-"

"I'm sticking around too," she interrupted, staring up at the brunette with a look bordering on defiant. "I failed Shirone as a sister. I hurt her, and now she's suffering, because I wasn't strong enough."

That defiance turned to something self-deprecating, which in turn quickly turned into resolve as their gazes met again. "I don't know when she'll wake up, but I'm going to make sure that next time, I can and will protect her. Shirone may hate me for leaving her alone for who knows how long, but I refuse to fail her again, and that means getting stronger however I can."

"I will ensure she has a guard 24/7," Ruval tacked on, "and Serafall has tapped her network to ensure that any iota of Shirone's location is erased for her protection. The only people who will know about her are the ones that Serafall or I vet personally, to say nothing of actually visiting."

The brunette swallowed, that feeling of catharsis within her swelling upward before stilling as she recognized that as things stood, Shirone might end up even more alone than in canon. She almost regretted saying this by virtue of Rias's brother, but she wouldn't deprive Shirone of a new family. "I see. If I may, I have a suggestion: allow Sirzechs's sister to visit her, if the opportunity presents itself."

"His sister?" Ruval blinked owlishly. "Why?"

"Long story short, future visions."

That blunt answer nearly made Serafall trip, arms flailing to keep herself from falling over before catching herself and spinning to face Luna in shock. "Waitwaitwaitwait, Luna-tan is a Seer too?"

"N-not quite. It's more... visions of a similar timeline," Luna clarified, willingly divulging this information, if cautiously.

Sirzechs almost certainly already knew, after all, as did Ajuka. She still wasn't sure she could trust Serafall completely, but at some point she'd learn anyway, if she hadn't already and simply forgot. Or was acting.

"Not the point though. Point is, the two will work well together, and as long as that particular string of events pans out in a similar fashion, then she will be in a good Peerage, with good people. Not just pretenders like Sirzechs."

That didn't sit quite right with Serafall to hear her friend being called a pretender. It reminded her far too keenly of what the TSF had called him during the civil war. Still, she let it slide. Luna had been hurt by Sirzechs, after all, so her view of him was... understandable.

Kuroka frowned, thinking it over over the course of several seconds, before nodding. "...I don't like the idea of my sister being in a Peerage considering what we nearly went through... but I'll trust you, nya."

The twintailed woman crossed her arms, before holding one out like a fingergun. "Then consider it done. Levi-tan is on the case!"

"And what about you?" Finally, Luna turned to Ruval. "...You've been pretty quiet for the most part."

"I am... not quite sure," he confided. "I will return to the Underworld, but beyond that I am still wondering."

His gaze lifted to meet her's. "That being said... if I could have a word with you in private before you leave?"

Luna watched him, unreadable as he was by now.

At the cusp of her finally being free, would he betray her, to try and keep her for himself?

The thought, the worry, crossed her mind.

Almost immediately, she shot it down.

He'd been nothing but truthful, honest, and kind. He hadn't turned his back on her, went out of his way to make sure she was okay, put his life on the line to pull her back from the brink-

She recoiled mentally.

How could she distrust him, after everything he had done for her?

For keeping her alive, and sane?

The very thought made her ashamed.

He deserved better.

"Yeah. We can talk one-on-one."

She got a small smile and a nod in turn, as they all continued along.


Luna sat down back on the couch at the hotel, now that Serafall had taken her leave.

It had been an intensely uncomfortable affair. She had wanted to say more, but she didn't know what to say, and it was clear that Serafall had the same thoughts. That meant they left on awkward goodbyes, and even thinking back on it she could only cringe slightly.

Still. It was... honestly refreshing, to see her again. In a way that Luna hadn't been expecting.

She'd offered Jaspal her room, which the heiress had accepted, and Kuroka wanted to hold a vigil for Shirone for the night, so she'd be outside.

Of course, that meant that now the only people in the room were her and Ruval, who was seated on the other side of the couch, arms looping around one pulled-up leg.

He was looking away right now, thinking of what to say.

"Do you know about the Sleeping Sickness that Devils sometimes fall into?" the Phenex heir started.

Luna stared at him. It was an odd question, but she obliged regardless. "Yeah. Sometimes Devils fall asleep and don't wake up. Sometimes, they waste away, literally sleeping to death."

"Mh." Ruval nodded, pleased with her answer. "I feel as though that was what I was like before."

"Eh?" The brunette blinked slowly. "What do you mean?"

"Wake up. Put on my mask. Greet whatever woman warmed my bed that night. Greet my Peerage. Greet my family." He closed his eyes, tapping the arm of the couch with one finger. "Go do the same thing I did every day: train, participate, and win. Go home, talk with family, eat food, go to bed."

Ruval sighed. "Rinse and repeat. Day after day. One day apathy took hold, but that was even before I found myself in this loop of events that seemingly took up all my time."

He rubbed his head, letting one sapphire orb reopen. "It was all the same thing, again and again. Why bother trying, when there was nothing I needed to really try for? I was going through the motions, no more, no less. It was not so much living as it was merely existing."

Luna sat and listened, eyes closing as she nodded in acknowledgement. Once she reopened them, her voice was quiet. "...Does this have anything to do with the Marchosias that tutored you?"

The Phenex's hand lowered to his side. "Perhaps. He and I were like brothers, and it was painful to hear that he had died, even if it was to keep Falbium Asmodeus from taking a critical choke point before the rest of his forces could safely retreat. A noble death, but a death all the same."

His circling finger started tapping. "But it just added to the growing ennui I felt, more than anything. Eventually, I simply... stopped caring. One could say that even though I was awake, I was a man afflicted with the sleeping sickness."

"Was?"

"Was." Blue eyes shifted to meet her own. "So imagine my surprise, when my parents asked me to look for and into a Lunarunn Bael. Imagine my surprise, when Ajuka comes to a gala, a rare event in and of itself, with a commoner woman alongside him. Imagine my surprise, when that commoner and Lunarunn Bael were the same person. Most of all, imagine my surprise when she proves to be the individual that stood out the most, and I mean that in the best possible way."

The brunette's expression soured. "You know what happened to me up there though, right?"

"I do. Yet, you managed to capture my attention in a way that others failed to for a long time all the same. For the first time in who knows how long... I was intrigued. Curious. Sought to know more, for the sake of knowing more."

Luna glanced down, one hand lifting to her neck to press two fingers against it lightly. Seeing what she was wondering, Ruval smiled and nodded.

"That, more than anything, was why I first offered you that pendant."

"Then I initially turned it down."

"That excited my dormant curiosity even more." He sat up, spreading his arms as though wondering aloud. "Why was that? What was your reasoning? Why is it that you would turn down an offer found in fairy tales? Then you explained. That you had been coerced into your position. That you had been abandoned by the very people that brought you to that gala. That you were flattered but not interested."

"Which you took as a challenge," she halfheartedly accused.

He didn't deny it. "How could I not, when the way you spoke suggested you were not as closed off to the idea of a real relationship as you would claim?"

Ruval started pacing. "For the first time in such a long while, I had something that interested me, that excited me, that gave me a reason to go out of my way. Something I needed to work for, in order to do right, and do right by. At the same time, in a stagnant world, you were a breath of fresh air. A whirlwind even, and it was not until I let myself take that breath and ride along that I realized I had been suffocating for so long. Slowly, but surely."

He finally stopped, then turned to her, and tilted his head with a smile.

"One day, perhaps not this century, or perhaps not even this millennium, I would have closed my eyes and chosen to never wake back up, because this life and the next would have been no different to me. But now? Now that I've seen so much more, now that you've shown me there's more to the world than the box I'd kept myself in, now that I have finally woken up from the sickness that had kept me asleep for so long? I abhor the thought."

The blond returned to one of the other seats, letting himself rest against the cushion before breathing out an exhale. With it, his expression fell, and his posture slackened; rather than the very image of a noble, he was but a man, reluctant and wanting,

Yet despite those two feelings coloring his posture and tone, another reigned over the two: acceptance. "You helped me start living again, Luna, helped me realize how to stand on my own terms, by my own beliefs. Even if you are the reason my back appears scorched now. And that is why I will do the same for you. Even if a part of me wants nothing more than to keep you close."

She knew he'd wanted her to stay, but this...? "You mean to say you'd have tried trapping me?"

He grimaced, but nodded, meeting her gaze evenly. "I am selfish. I will admit to that without a doubt. I have said before that I wish that your need to leave were not the case. I was understating just... how much I would wish for you to stay. For things to remain the same."

Yet, he was talking about this as though it were past tense. "So what changed?"

"I realized just how poisonous the Underworld is to you. If I kept you trapped down there, even in a gilded cage, it would kill you. It would kill you as it nearly killed me."

The blond swallowed. "I do not want that. Even if it would mean making myself happier for a time."

"So you would let me go, so that I might be able to survive?" Luna looked down, hands in her lap as she mulled over the heir's words.

"No." Ruval shook his head. "So that you would be able to live. To laugh. Most of all, to be happy."

The brunette swallowed too, working around a lump in her throat.

"Ruval... I-"

"It is alright. It took some thought, but I came to this decision, and will stand by it all the same." He smiled again, though it was a quieter, more solemn one. "Though... I do wonder. If things had not spiralled out of control so utterly, would you have...?"

Ruval didn't finish, instead standing up to walk up to Luna, holding a hand to her. She took it, though still refused to meet his gaze.

"May I?"

At her slow, tentative nod, the Phenex heir pulled her up and into his arms, holding her close as he took in her scent, and the way she felt in his embrace.

It felt right, yet...

She was trembling.

"What a cruel question to ask," Luna murmured, almost hoarsely, shaking her head from side to side as she buried it in Ruval's chest. "You were the only one down there who looked out for me in that viper's nest. Who had no ulterior motives. The only one who stood up for me, the only one who was honest with me from the very beginning. Even Jaspal was just hunting for allies when she first reached out to me, but you? You were curious, and courteous, nothing more. I dunno if it's Stockholm Syndrome or just thankfulness, or even something else, but..."

Given how she stiffened, it was clear she was deeply conflicted about something.

"I'm not sure it would have. Worked out." The words were quiet, like the brunette wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe them herself.

"Are you sure about that? I like what I have seen of you thus far," Ruval replied.

For some reason, that got a shake of her head even as she laughed. "...You really don't know the half of me."

"I know enough." He tilted his head. "Though I... wouldn't be against coming to know those things too."

She stilled. "Even if it might alarm or disgust you?"

That got the blond scowling. If he were a cruder person he'd have made a crass joke, but as it was... "Do you think I would turn away now, after plunging into the abyss to save you?"

The return question had the Worldweaver quiet for nearly half a minute before she spoke again.

"...You know how I said I was reincarnated?"

At the heir's nod Luna coughed, froze, then forced the words out. "I... I never said anything about... what gender I was. As a human."

Ruval frowned, before realization crossed his expression. "You mean...?"

The brunette made a sound of affirmation, stiffening again as though preparing for him to release her. "Yeah."

The Phenex froze, eyes widening as he recognized the implications of what she was admitting.

"...I see," he said after a moment, tone carefully neutral. "Does anyone else know?"

"You're the first."

"Why tell me before anyone else?"

"You've always been honest with me. I..." her words failed briefly, before she repeated herself. "I trust you."

Probably more than anyone else. The words were unspoken, but Ruval could almost hear them all the same.

"Even though I might turn away with alarm or disgust?"

"..." Her shoulders started to tremble again. "E-even then."

Perhaps, if he'd known about this earlier, he would have. It would be a novelty, something laughable, yet he knew that she was dead serious.

And that if he'd brushed such a thing off, it would have hurt her.

"Then you are a damn fool." The emphasis with which he spoke those words had Luna stiffening, but the only thing he actually did was try and hold her closer. "I implied it before, but I'm going to say it in no uncertain terms now. I will not turn away from you. I don't care who you were before, or what your origins are. All I care about is who you are now, and who you want to be."

He extended his arms so he could look her in the eye. Indeed, the motion had snapped her gaze up toward him, so he could see the doubt, the fear, and the hope running through the Worldweaver. "So tell me Luna: who do you want to be?"

"...I want to be myself," she whispered, looking away. "But... I'm not sure who 'myself' is, or what to make of 'myself'. Am I the human? Am I the Devil? Am I the guy who got hit by that truck, or the girl who sold her soul?"

"I cannot answer that for you."

She swallowed. "...I'm sorry. You're right, I- I shouldn't push that on you."

"You misunderstand. I cannot answer, because that is for you to choose." Ruval gripped her shoulders. "It is your decision to make, on who you want to be."

Then he pulled her close again, against his chest as he stared out into the distance. "But whatever it is you decide, I promise you: I will accept you, and I will support you."

The blond's grip, steady and accepting despite all the things that she'd done to him, all the things he'd had to go through because of her, was enough for the brunette's floodgates to finally crack.

He could feel the way she gripped his clothes, holding on for dear life as tears leaked out and two words escaped her lips over and over. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

They remained like this, and Ruval remained steadfast in his acceptance the whole way through.


Finally, the two pulled away, Luna wiping her eyes as she stared at the mess she made on Ruval's coat.

She felt… clean. Clean in a way she hadn't in a long time. Light too, even if she knew that might not last.

"...Sorry. For giving you so much trouble," the brunette said, smiling softly. "And for crying all over your coat."

"It is alright." Ruval nodded back. "...I think I have decided what I plan to do when I return home, though."

He did say he was unsure what he'd wanted to do when he went back.

"Hm?"

"I'm going to start spreading my wings again. I've been settling for far too long. That means retiring from the Ratings Games."

Eh?

"Retiring?"

"It would be... difficult, to juggle both that and taking the mantle of Lord Phenex."

Ehhhhhh?

"Aren't your parents still quite satisfied with remaining Lord and Lady?"

He waved it off. "I'll just have to make it clear that I have what it takes for them to leave it to me."

"How?"

"By proving that I am done resting on my laurels." The blond lifted his chin slightly, eye sharpening as the air around him grew more intense. "Your leaving our world will be the impetus to my inheriting your ambition."

She stared at Ruval. This was far, far more than she'd expected. "...Do you mean to continue my ambitions too?"

"To make the Underworld a kinder place. To make it someplace that you - and that others - might one day be able to not just survive in, but live in."

Luna looked away, something flickering across her face at the thought. "That's... that's flattering, that you'd continue my mission like that, but I... it'll make you a target."

"Better that an established, powerful, and highly reputable family be one than someone who had to cobble together a platform of her own, out of nothing. The Underworld is not kind to newcomers, so managing even as long as you had is truly commendable. But... perhaps I might be able to succeed where you lacked seniority."

Which wasn't her fault, but it still left a sour taste in her mouth as she turned to face the Phenex again. "You don't have to do this, you know. You're facing an established system."

"I know. But after seeing you, learning about you, learning about the stories of those like Jaspal and Kuroka? After seeing your struggles? How can I turn away from that, when I have the chance to do something about it?"

That got Luna to smile. "Almost sounds like you want to try and make up for lost time."

"...What can I say?" Ruval chuckled, conceding the point. "You helped me see the light."

The brunette turned her head to the side to hide the embarrassed grin. "That was corny."

"That does not make it any less true."

Perhaps not.

"...Thank you, Ruval. For everything."

"You are welcome, Luna. Remember that."


Blank.

They were all completely blank.

Oh, the research itself was perfectly fine; any information regarding the tests themselves were untouched. As were legal regards not regarding the Naberius child's name, appearance, or actions.

That being said, the tests were certainly of a... questionable sort.

He couldn't pay them heed right now, though.

The green-haired researcher pored through the papers, trying to see if there was even one that wasn't touched by this information blank.

Not a one. He double, triple, and quadruple-checked all of them, spending long hours in his lab with an increasingly cold feeling in his chest.

Blank.

Blank.

Blank.

'Luna, what did you do?'

Any reference to the Naberius child was completely gone. Erased. Wiped from the books. Where their name would be was completely empty of content, that their own father couldn't remember whether they were so much as a boy or a girl, was truly horrifying.

It could only mean one thing.

He lifted up a phone and dialed in a number.

Thankfully, the individual at the end of the line was typically quick to answer.

"Hello, hello~?"

"Sirzechs, what the fuck did we unleash!?"

"Ajuka?" The cheery attitude faded away immediately at the exclamation. "Explain."

The green-haired researcher did. "Luna erased the Naberius's child. There's not so much as a trace of them left."

Shock, and a not insignificant level of impressedness. "She copied the Power of Destruction?"

Sirzechs didn't get it. He had to though; he had to. "No, she erased them. From. Existence."

Ajuka ran a hand through his hair, voice rising in pitch and speed. "Sirzechs, Luna didn't just kill the Naberius brat, she fucking annihilated any and every record, image, or memory of them!"

He got silence from the other end of the phone.

Then, stark realization.

"Oh, shit."


Elsewhere, completely uninhabited, something tore the sky. Like a claw tearing through a veil, a rift split open in the world, and from the endless colors behind reality came two figures before the tear froze, then disappeared as though time had reversed.

One of the two newcomers was young, at least in appearance, clothed in a black dress and looking around with a small, almost irritated sneer forming on her face at the chirping wildlife and sounds of nature.

"I cannot believe I am helping you with this," she muttered, casting a dark glare at the individual who'd exited the rift with her.

Where the girl was dressed in all black, this figure, a thuggish-looking man with short and spiky, bright red hair, jeans, and a loose red T-shirt grinned. "C'mon, Ophi, it's not that bad. Think of it as a vacation from our typical endless battles for dominance. You could probably use a break from losing all the time anyway."

She stared dispassionately over to her companion, before letting out a 'tsk' and looking back away. "You talk too much."

"Oh, I know just how keenly you hate my guts." He didn't seem put off about their troubled history though, instead flexing an arm and hand as if testing them. "But there was something... seriously not right not too long ago in here. Something I should have noticed earlier."

That got him a quizzical eyebrow. "Something that scared you enough to ask for help?"

"Fuck that noise! I'm not scared of anything!" he rebutted, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. A moment later, however, his expression firmed. "But it does make me a bit... unsettled. It's been a long time since I felt something like what I did echoing throughout the Gap."

Ophis stared at her companion, completely quiet for an uncomfortable period of time. "...You mean that."

As usual, he wasn't bothered. "Yup! So, remember the plan?"

"If you can call 'find and squash the source' a plan."

The redheaded male pouted, almost childlike in his disappointment. "Don't be such a spoilsport, it's a great plan!"

"For a simpleton, perhaps."

"Simple is as simple does." Then he stuck a tongue out.

Ophis could only sigh.

This was going to be a long hunt, especially considering that Great Red seemed wholly intent on sticking with her.


As Luna stared upon the warehouse, she took in a breath.

Her memories of them rose to the surface.

Of their meeting in the hospital room that she first awoke in.

Their welcoming their daughter home.

Their sitting with her, even facing the pressure of the redheaded bastard who'd betrayed her.

Her mother's smile as she looked upon Luna before the gala.

Her father's retiscience, but ultimately acceptance, of her ambitions, and the comfort he provided when she needed it from the gala.

The pride they'd had, when she rose so far, so quickly.

They might not have given birth to her in particular, but they were still Luna's parents.

They were still her parents.

Who was she?

Human. Devil. Male. Female.

She was all these things, though not at the same time and certainly the former of both categories for the foreseeable future.

But most of all...

The soul that Ulan had brought to this world was the one who had tugging shadows, regrets and dark desires that haunted even now.

Yet...

Devils were creatures of ambition and adaptability. Humans were creatures of dreams and ideals.

Luna had been both at one point in her life. One could argue she still was.

So hers would be the soul that strove to be the best of both, and to strive for happiness through those ideals, ones once discarded years ago.

She'd struggle. She knew that much. Even now, it was hard to keep from breaking down again, memories eliciting fury and sorrow.

But she was better than that.

Or... at least, she wanted to be.

For them.

For the souls undeserving of the pain and demise her existence caused them.

Maybe then, she'd be able to put her guilt to rest.

"I promise you, Mom, Dad," Lunarunn Bael breathed to the wind, a single tear trickling down her cheek as she lifted her hand to the pendant around her neck, the one she had thought lost to her. "I will make you proud."

With that, she turned around, and nodded to Jaspal and Kuroka with a tear slipping from her cheek. They each spread their wings, and took to the skies. By the time the tear splashed against the ground, they were gone.

Luna didn't look back.


A/N:

boy, there sure are a lot of events that occur because of that meltdown. there's no WAY any of this will blow up!

ah, sarcasm

In any case, I apologize for the late chapters. I lost steam midway through the previous chapter, and had both work and school come crashing down on my head simultaneously. Incidentally, it's kind of interesting since I managed to belt out this beast of a chapter while finishing up the last 25% of the other. Second long chapter is long. Needed all the length to really explain all the results of the meltdown, and move on. I'm even already more or less finished up with the next one.

It's a shorter one though. But, I think shorter is warranted after these two massive chapters

Also, five hundred favorites and six hundred follows! Someone get the champagne!

...Oh, right, I don't drink. Uh. Who wants root beer instead?

Next chapters will be speeding forward a bit more. There's plenty to be done in this world of Devils and Dragons, and little of it can be done over the course of roughly a week. It also gets us closer to canon, and hoo boy I'm excited to have this groundwork start unfolding.

Strap in folks, it's gonna be a trip.

Tempura Wizard out.