Rose-Torn (Rising)

Summary: 'You rebirthed an angel as the devil. Is it possible for a God to…''

JJ's unspoken question hangs in the air.

In eerie unison, Yuri and Lilia throw their heads back, laugh short, sharp and high, before looking at him with crimson eyes illuminating the night.

''Darling, love has always been a monster.''

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuri on Ice

Note: This was written for the Yuri on Ice Fantasy week 11/19/17- Day Seven: Black. I used the prompt ''Wrath''. I also have entries for day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

This is part of the Land of Gods and Monsters 'verse (fic 8) but can be read as a standalone. (If you're curious about what happened to Yuri before this, I recommend reading Heaven Hatred (Falling Down))

Everything started in the sea, so the legends tell us. In the beginning of time, Hiroko rose from the sea, her volcanoes budding, splitting the ocean. Seafoam splashing as the other Gods rose. Minako, she who pained the sky, she who painted the sun, she who painted the night. Seung-gil, serene at the bottom of his heart, the stormy top tussling the ocean. Phichit, the World-Born, ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail. Yakov, the first human, immortalized by the Gods, and the nightmare who was born his opposite.

And at long last, the earth split open, and Love was born. The last primordial to come into existence.

The sea lapped at the earthen opening as the God rose from the molten lava, red-hot earth-essence dripping off his frame. His first breath was sparrow-born, birds flying around him. His first step swan-song, black swans joining the choir. The first flutter of his eyelids invented worship, and by god, what a sight it was.

And there, my dear readers, this story begins.

The first thing he asks, language forged by his very lips, is: ''Hey, why don't you dance with me?''

The first sentence in the entire world, and nobody reacts, because he is love, he cannot exist without communication, and the world needs to learn how to talk back.

But they don't. No one does.

At least- not to him.

So JJ tries a spin, lifts his feet, and begins to dance on his own.

The Heavens are made by another generation, reigning the primordials in. The play a tune, he dances to it, for no other music is allowed. The wild things are muffled away, and Love is one of them. Jean-Jacques is chained to earth.

He created speech, but no kind word is given to him. He invented worship, yet no creature not made by him gives him a second glance. In the endless expanse of loneliness, he is only accompanied by his feathered friends, who have wings he does not possess. Doves, swans, sparrows surround him as he cultivates, with strong, weathered hands, myrtle and roses from barren ground. What he touches becomes fertile, if only through his sweat, tears and blood alone.

He is a God, but no one follows, so he stands up and builds his own power, softly and quietly, a Divine Monster indeed.

It gives him power. It gives him heart.

The King of Misfits, they call him, the King of Love. He who hurts everybody and is never quite good enough. They don't recognize his gifts, the soft emotions, the bonds he gives so freely to every creature alive. Steel wrapped in silk, if you will search for it- love is something to fight for, something to hold on to. They war over it, so they must care about it. It's fine if they do it for his gift only- he's learned to defend himself by now.

He learns to bluster, he learns to be bold, if only on the outside, his heart, his hurting heart, so vulnerable.

And still, when he visits Heaven and hears the whispers behind his back, he cannot help but flinch. The child before him, the angel-teen, looks at them and sneers. There is no grace in it, but by God, it is holy disdain.

"Take it," Yuri says, his eyes burning embers when JJ flinches once more. "Take their insults, make them yours. You are a King, now act like it."

He does and dreams of an angel with burning wings, pushing him higher, higher than the sky.

(The swans call him ''Le roi'' from that day forth)

He never forgets the boy with the burning eyes. They haunt his dreams when he sleeps at night, screaming at him: ''What the fuck are you doing, you can be better, you can go higher! Why are you waiting for them to notice you, you fucking idiot?!''

He has to laugh when he wakes up, because an angel talking like that? The King does not believe it. But then again, he has seen stranger things. The dawn of time is an awfully long time ago, after all. Strange, how the company in his dreams makes his laughter less hollow.

The clouds turn red, a sea of fire in the sky. JJ gasps as they scatter, a speck at the horizon bursting through. A dark silhouette, a boy-man falling, cradled in blackened, burned wings.

Shadows dance across the sky, but it is no despair the picture paints. No, the boy's arms are stretched out, his head thrown into his neck as he laughs, the sound of his madness resounding over the plains of Earth. Blond hair flying around his face, white skin unblemished, limbs arched, muscles strained to the top of his ability.

Ecstasy must be the name of this creature.

JJ is speechless, his words stolen by the man falling from the Heavens.

This… this is beyond holy grace.

The ground shakes as Yuri lands. The force should have caused his body to break, but he is no glass-hearted angel, he is a diamond with a heart of fire, unbreakable, eternal, his only fear the fire dying, so rage on he must.

He feeds the fire. He feels it in his feet, in his blood, in his bones.

Breathing heavily, he pushes himself up, raking the hair out of his face as sweat rolls off his back. Rolling over, he looks at the sky. Reaching up, he grins, teeth exposed. One day, all of that will be his.

Lying in a crater, wings turned black, Yuri's chest bursts- his very heart rising to the sky.

One day.

He crawls through the deepest, darkest caverns on earth, to the place where lava flows freely and the air burns his lungs.

There he finds her. Lilith, the mother of all monsters, her hair as black as her soul. She's facing the flowing stone, alight in red-glow.

''Teach me,'' he breathes.

She turns around, sharp green eyes glaring him down as she raises her hand. Cupping his cheek, she speaks. ''Sell your soul. Pander it off to me.''

Her voice is like a whiplash, harsh, severe and bruising.

''Whatever the cost, if it means victory, if it means soaring higher than the heavens and above, then I will gleefully sell my body and soul to you.''

She nods, her chin a knife. ''Call me Lilia.''

And that's it.

She births him anew. An Angel, heaven-forsaken, Lucifer he becomes. The Morningstar has always been the brightest, and also the first to fall.

Yuri needs to learn how to dance with the devil, and who would be a better teacher than Lilia for that?

(The nightmare born Yakov's opposite, the heavens call her. Yuri knows why. Calling her a bad dream is easier than facing the terrifying reality of her strength)

JJ sees Yuri fall- sees him learn to dance as devil on the ground in order to ascend. He thinks: hey, that's a nice tune! And dances along.

The new rhythm, the new regime… He can deal with that.

Something wretched but beautiful blooms like a rose underneath his skin.

(He has spent too many hours staring longingly at the heavens, at their celebrations far and wide, knowing Love was not invited for he only broke hearts.

''Why give a gift,'' he can hear them whisper, ''only to wrench it from us?''

And it poisons his heart and mind, because can't you see? I am not death- not even Love can survive without nourishment.)

The saccharine smell of flowers spreads.

Yuri crowns himself the Ruler of Hell, and while Jean-Jacques has no guarantees at all, ''Take it,'' echoes within his mind.

He listens.

The angel is draped over his throne, youthful face crowned by his golden hair, red eyes shining in the dark.

''Boy Love,'' Yuri laughs, ''Have you come to join my court?''

JJ does not say: angels cannot have courts.

JJ does not say: what have you become?

JJ does not say: You are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen.

JJ says: ''If you'll have me.''

Lilia is an enigma and JJ… JJ can't resist asking.

He swallows. ''You rebirthed an angel as the devil. Is it possible for a God to…''

His unspoken question hangs in the air.

In eerie unison, Yuri and Lilia throw their heads back, laugh short, sharp and high, before looking at him with crimson eyes illuminating the night.

''Darling, love has always been a monster.''

A sirensong is audible above the waves, and it is as if the bells of hell are ringing. Out with the old, in with the new! They scream.

If the Ship-sinker can sing his sailor home, then the world must watch in wonder.

While all eyes are on the reunion, Yuri sets the heavens on fire (white dresses burning).

Marble is pretty, but the slightest acid devours it. Why would the rich soil grow lemons if not to ruin Heaven's halls?

The Primordial Lovers reunite, but Love followed the Devil to Hell.

Lightning splashes across the sky, and Heaven might be ruined, but Yuri flies too high, and it smites him.

Icarus, he is, wax wings melting, dripping to the earth like raindrops as he falls. His eyes flash red before he loses unconsciousness, eyelids covering the glow of Hell's bells ringing. His limbs fold to the wind, a ragdoll tossed wherever by the storm.

Lilia cries, screams in fury, but they chain her down, iron manacles biting into her skin. They freeze her, an ice sculpture of sin and sadness. Yakov the Immortal comes to her, his hands trailing over her face, tears dripping down his wizened face. And just like that, the primordial that was not supposed to be one, clenches his fists and goes searching for his pitchfork.

Humanity is good at carrying torches, and he still holds one for her.

JJ stands in the rain, forgotten as always, but accusing eyes searching for him. The roses underneath his skin grow, their thorns showing. He runs across the plains, across the mountains, across the cities and the valleys. And there, in the place of his birth, the flow of magma he was born from, he catches Yuri as he hurtles down.

Cradling the Devil in your lap, what a concept. Carding his hands through golden strands, Jean-Jacques admires the black horns and heals Yuri's wings by breathing. Sometimes even Lucifer is vulnerable, but JJ will carry Yuri all of his days. On his broken back, if he must.

Love and War have always been entangled, and this will not stop now. It is about living in the moment, about admiring what is there right now, no matter what may come, what may be lost later. It's about what has been lost and learning to live with it.

That is what this love is.

Catching Yuri was a choice. There is no going back.

Monsters gather in the midst of Gods. What were the Heavens? They ask. Who put them in place? Who- who made this atrocity happen? They stare at smoking ruins, no answers coming forth.

Some of them turn to power, in all forms, to war.

This is how JJ meets Christophe.

The manticore licks his lips. "Not enough- I want more. Oh, won't you play a game with me?"

JJ's face hardens, a grin sneaking through his mask. ''Oh, I will play you.''

He reaches into his skin, reaches into his heart, and stretches his arms above his head. He crowns himself with a wreath of thorns. He is the king, le roi, and it is time he makes them acknowledge that.

Yuri wakes, on his head a crown of roses wound from Love's heart. Laid down on a bed of myrtle, surrounded by the whole wide world gazing at his wounds, but never touching. They're there, all of them, but he has eyes only for one person.

He rises from his dwelling place, stands on his own legs, and speaks as words should be spoken.

''Love, what I want is not anarchy- I need the right of the strongest! I need to soar above all others! Enter the competition, Jean-Jacques. Play the Game of Gods and Monsters!''

With worship in his eyes, swansong in his feet and sparrows surrounding him, JJ kneels as he yields to war forever. ''I will.''

Yuri lifts his head and smiles, reaching for JJ's shoulder with certainty betrayed by the trembling of his hands. ''Angels only fall for Love. But Love be with the Devil, who would have thought?''

JJ rises and seals his lips over the Morningstar's.

Revolution, is their name.

"I think this business of good vs. evil is of no interest to the power hungry"
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, Pearls Of Eternity

Author's Note

The Pliroy came out of nowhere and kidnapped this fic.

The ''Sell your soul'' exchange was planned, but then I remembered canon… And went to watch the scene and found out it was so much like what I had in mind. The dialogue is, as a result, very much like the dialogue in their actual first meeting.

Aphrodite is the Godess JJ is based on in this case. Swans, sparrows, doves, myrtle and roses are all her symbols.

I likened Yuri to Icarus, but far more accurate would be to liken him to Phaeton- but I did not because I doubt everybody would know that name.

Lilith was Adam's first wife, and has been seen as a demon in many incarnations. She also separated from him and refused to go back. In this case, Yakov was based on Adam. Him ''carrying the torch'' was a deliberate movement of war- the flaming torch is one of Ares' symbols.

Isabella, whose name means "pledged to God", is one of JJ's black swans. She's the first one who calls him le roi.

Aphrodite's (JJ) different birth was inspired by an absolutely gorgeous piece of Dark Souls fanart by Laura K Cannon.

Songs I listened to while writing this:

Beautiful monster – Ne-Yo (Yuri's theme song in this installment)

Woman by Kesha.

Hell's Bells by Gregorian

My Heart Will Go On by Gregorian

Le roi means the king in French. It's a play on "Leroy" and French is considered the language of love.

I made mention of the doves only early in the story because, quite obviously, there was no peace later.

Writing this verse was a absolute joy and I hope you guys enjoyed this journey too!