Angra Mainyu
Arc Two - Supremacy - Part Eight
----------------------------
A low laugh from pale lips was the only answer Farfarello gave him. The Irishman's single amber eye glinted with more than natural intellect, a sullen fire growing in its depths. Slender, dainty-like hands flexed, the lean muscles of his arms twisting underneath his pale skin.
Brad was afraid of this. Farfarello had always been a bit unstable at the best of times, a walking time bomb of unexplored temper and violence. The presence of the demon had made him a little more paranoid, bringing back his drive to harm himself and everyone else in order to punish God. Brad had hoped that Farfarello's driving need had grown dull after the death of his mother, but no, it had only been repressed by the events afterwards.
But now, Farfarello looked ready to fall right back into his old patterns.
Biting back a faint sigh, Brad took out his gun and holding it by the barrel swung the grip hard against Farfarello's skull. He had expectations that the blow wouldn't really hurt the psycho. He just wanted his attention.
His head moved with the force of the blow, a trickle of something dark marring his silvery hair, tricking down the side of his face. Turning to look at Brad, Farfarello's eye narrowed.
"We are leaving, Farfarello," Brad stated, not flinching from the hostility in that single eye. Scowling, the albino moved towards the car, one hand rising to wipe half-heartedly at the fluid. Turning his attention to Schuldig, Brad returned the gun back into its holster. "Schuldig, keep an eye on him. I did not bring any tranqs to use on him."
//Now is not the time, Schuldig. Just get into the car. Your kitten is going to be fine.//
"We will think about it, Doctor Muraki," Brad said, waiting for Schuldig to do as he was told. "I will advise to stray from arguing with a madman whose only thoughts are to punish God and all of His agents, and self-mutilation. When he talks about recent events he tends to be rather unsure of what happened inside his skull and outside it. We had better get going in any event. Until we talk again."
Nagi eyed the other members of Schwarz, standing outside the car. Whatever had happened, he'd missed it in his absorption with the demon battle. Farfarello had blood on his face, and it looked rather like Brad had hit him with the gun. Curious. Some backsliding was going on here. Then again, as long as Farfarello didn't try to touch him, Nagi, they would be fine...
Truth was, Nagi really didn't like Schwarz all that much. He stayed with them out of duty, not love. Or even like. He liked Weiß a lot less, though. And Schwarz was against Weiß. Ergo, Nagi would stay with Schwarz. Sometimes he thought he was the most sane of the four of them, but it wasn't his place to speak. He just did as he was told.
Silently, he swung the other doors of the car open with his telekinesis.
--
"Ahhh quite the bishoujo with your eyes open, aren't we Aya." Grinning softly Youji took another bite of the apple offering a non-bitten portion to the girl. "Kudou Youji, notorious womanizer, rake, and all around playboy at your service. That is who I am. I'm quite saddened my reputation doesn't precede me but in special circumstances such as yours I think I'll forgive you." The blonde's smile widened as he let his eyes rake over her nubile form but with none of the predatory gleam that usually went hand in hand with the perusal. He was only teasing the girl hoping to get a bit of a blush from her.
He had a real fetish for getting innocent minds to blush. It made his day hence why he tried it on Omi several times. He was quite happy he'd have a new victim now. "As for where you are... You just happen to be in my bed and wearing little next to nothing. Now had I not known you were nicely dropped on my bed and didn't actually -plan- on being here I'd have no choice but to accept the blatant invitation that a beauty like you would be presenting to me in such a situation." A hand reached out to playfully cuff her chin as he winked, "But I think I'll spare you a night of ravishing.... For now." The last was said with such a wide charming grin it reeked of Harlequin Bishiness.
The soft rose color spread over the girl's cheeks at Youji's words and she parted her lips to speak, only to squeak faintly. Which just caused a slight flush of embarrassment to heat her already pink cheeks. Quickly closing her mouth and coughing and hoping to cover that slight awkward moment where the man with her was just so... dazzling, she momentarily lost the power of speech. Shifting on the bed and not really knowing what to say to his words, she sat up a bit more and curled her legs under her, letting the skirt flow down about her, a bit more covering. Nodding softly with a smile, she accepted the apple and held it in both her hands for a moment. She didn't really feel especially hungry... even though she could barely remember the last time she'd eaten. At that thought she blinked and thought for a moment and then shook her head, the seal on her too solid while she had been possessed for her to remember while conscious and while thinking about it anything the demon had done while in her form. Thankful... that included its morning... feast.
Taking a bite of the apple to fill the silence as she waited for her power of speech to return, wanting to give it ample time as she had never before met anyone like this charming male and it was going to take some getting used to, she swallowed and glanced at him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Youji-san... You know my name so you must know my brother... Thank you for loaning me your bed for a short nap." Tilting her head to the side she thought over what he had said, blushing again in memory as she did so but her brow quirked up slightly. A mirror to her brother's eyebrow raise when something perplexed him or caught his attention. As well as his own silent question, answer, inquiry for more, 'you are unworthy' gaze, 'you are correct' gaze...
"You said I was dropped into your bed..." she said softly, holding the apple lightly in case he wanted another bite from his side of the fruit. "How did I get here, exactly?" Persistent in finding out what she wants to the end... she is her brother's sister.
"Isn't it obvious? You're an angel from heaven here to purge the sin from my bed." He grinned again deliberately dodging the question. He didn't want to be the one to explain things to her. It wasn't his place. That was a decision best left for Omi and Aya... A brief frown flittered for a mere second. Aya was going to need another name for them to call him from or it was going to get confusing really quickly. Especially for Ken, though that would be a riot to see. "See. Only angels wear see through gowns like that and are as beautiful and sweet as you are. And only an angel would merely nibble into an apple that delicious and crunchy rather than just crunch happily away at it. So if my logic is correct. If it looks like an angel, and looks like an angel. Then it's an angel. Hey... Aya starts with 'a' and angel starts with 'a'. We have even more proof now." He grinned and leaned forward more as a distraction tactic to get Aya off her too curious thoughts and buying the elder Fujimiya more time to get down hre. "So... what's a dirty old man and horny devil like myself got to do to corrupt an angel such as yourself?"
--
Across the hall a trembling hand pushed the door to the elder Fujimiya's room and looked in. A bed which was made, a dresser with one framed photo on it, two large bookshelves, and a katana hanging above his bed. That was all the man's room consisted of. The room was devoid of much of anything personal and color. Actually one bit of color did grab his attention. A very familiar arrangement of vivid deep reds and vibrant yellows caught his attention. A small flat arrangement of bright yellow daffodils and sweet William mingled creating a thick bushy mat of petals. A soft smile broke over Ken's lips as he moved further into the room. He looked down noting the special care it was being given. Fresh water probably changed the day before. The faint aroma still lingering around it.
He'd kept it.
Every birthday for as long as Aya had been with them, Ken sent this particular arrangement anonymously every year.
Daffodils for unrequited love, and sweet William for a wish to see a smile.
Ken never expected to see it. The fact that he was looking at it now brought a goofy boyish grin to his face.
--
With a slow breath drawn in, Omi was starting to feel more human again, rather than a piece of road kill flattened by demonic tires. Feeling his fingers close around his bow, he tightened his grip and drew the weapon slower to him. Then, with deliberate ease, in case he was injured and had not realized it, the youth began to sit up, feeling a few minor bodily cries that this was not a fun activity and that he should lay down again and let it all be. That being against his basic sense of self, he quickly disregarded the minor calls of sore pain in favor of getting his knees under him again.
The words of his companion finally registering, Omi nodded slowly before turning his bright sapphire eyes to Ran's violet ones. Aside from the remaining matte touch of slower recovery, his sky-dyed eyes were as human as they had been a moment before. No dark evil shadow lingered in the brightly tinted iris, and no frost accompanied his look. Only a weak smile, to show that he was okay, lingered in the boy's blue gaze. Very much okay, even though he'd had the wind completely knocked from his lungs and mind.
The vivid reminder that they were still in the midst of a fight returned the Bombay stillness to his gaze, the young archer crawling towards the building ledge to peer down below again. "Is it dead yet?" he asked softly, watching the creature spiral towards the ground, the odd blood seeping from multiple wing injuries. Seeing the signs of motion that still broke the demon's form, clear evidence of a negative answer to his question, Omi quickly shifted mental gears. "Wait, never mind... Is there any way -to- kill it?"
--
Having gained enough height on the demon, Byakko hovered for a moment, taking a deep breath to use the power of the wind to flatten the creature back to earth. The demon lashing out at the ofuda and the subsequent attack on Omi was missed during the climb, but Byakko could feel the taint in the air of the demon's dark powers.
Tsuzuki clung to his fur like an oversized burr, his twilight hued irises widening as he looked down between the furry ears at the distant ground below. It was not a sight he wanted to see on an empty, well almost empty stomach. Closing his eyes and swallowing hurriedly, he wrapped his arms around Byakko's neck and buried his face into the sweet fur.
Shaking his head, the Shikigami dropped like a lead ball, all four paws underneath it, the claws extended as the tiger headed straight down for the demon's falling form. Mouth opening, Byakko readied a tornado of air to smash it into the ground.
It was a case of facing the claws or facing the twisting winds.
--
//What?// Schuldig asked, slowly turning from watching Omi on the roof to Crawford. Had the American heard his thoughts about going to...gasp... -help- Omi and flee Schwarz? Sure he broadcasted sometimes. The gods only knew he wasn't perfect at keeping his thoughts in check or blocking others out all the time, but Crawford was, more or less, a dense wall to his telepathy. Someone Schuldig pretty much only stuck by at times for the blessed silence the man offered him to the Voices that constantly seeped in.
No. Crawford couldn't have Heard that. Schuldig was pretty sure that he had kept the traitorous thoughts on a very tight leash. Even another telepath in the vicinity would have had trouble Reading him. Sooooo... he guessed that the man simply meant what he said. That Omi could take care of himself and be fine.
At least he hoped so. One never could tell with the American's Gift of premonition. Which meant he would have to be very careful in what he thought and planned from there on out. One way or another, however, the German -would- find a way into Kritiker.
Glancing at Farfarello, noting the blood for the first time with a quirked eyebrow, Schuldig offered him an empty, lopsided grin. "Did you get a little over excited about seeing the pretty, redheaded kitty again?" Not waiting for the reply, but knowing one would likely come, Schuldig slipped passed Farfarello, shot Omi one last, furtive longing look, then climbed into Crawford's car.
--
Moving over to the ledge with Omi to watch the current situation more closely, Ran's gaze stayed close on the boy in cool cautious observation before he cast his attention down to the plummeting demon and Shikigami closely following. The disappearance of the man in white on the other rooftop, and the lingering presence of Schwarz a few blocks away was still in the forefront of Ran's mind as he took in the happenings here. Hardly calm and safe enough to assume the Shinigami and Byakko would take care of the demon and Schwarz would stay away for Ran to go back inside and see how the search for his sister was going. He knew, even still mildly dazed, Omi would not leave the near aerial observation of the scene until all things had settled and the threats... all of them... were gone. And with so many uncertainties about, he couldn't leave his teammate up here alone. Even for his sister he hadn't seen in so long... he'd have to trust Ken and Youji to find her and keep her well as she was finally returned to where she belonged.
Well he wasn't fully one-track minded about Aya. Be impressed.
"I suppose we shall find out one way or another, soon enough," Ran answered in his usual soft serious tones, leaning a hand against the ledge of the roof as he peered down. "It bleeds like every other living creature.... well, logically figuring, that was blood. And Tsuzuki seems intent on doing something..." With the shock of seeing that thing come out of his sister having time to dissipate, as well as her departure from the scene, some of the uneasiness in his eyes faded. Easily he returned to his coldly observant self, watching the dark haired Shinigami in action. The easily observed fact that Tsuzuki seemed to be scared of heights was morbidly amusing...
Well... it would be had the situation not been so dire.
The hard push of air sent the demon spiraling down to the pavement in its awkward and uncontrolled fall even faster, the pavement approaching just as quickly as the crimson eyed tiger was gaining on the spiraling down dark form. The bolt and rapid gunfire had torn its wing too badly for it to attempt a sudden shift of its wing to catch the air and cease its plummet. Pools of the oddly colored metallic liquid spread on the pavement as it struck, the landing soundless except for the heavy crack against the pavement. As it struck so suddenly and Byakko was close behind in the air, the tiger's claws easily sunk into the flesh of its back where the wings jutted out from its body.
Ran's head tilted to the side as he watched the bronzed blood of the creature flow as the Shikigami caught its prey, his violet eyes still and emotionless even as a hot wind flowed down the street. The black leathery skin of the demon turning to ash and crumbling as the blood left its form, the dark ash scattering away on the wind as the blood dried up to a matching dust, catching on the breeze to scatter to be no more in the world it the demon was never meant to see. "One question to arise in this chaos answered..."
--
It was not the prettiest or the smoothest of landings. The white tiger's paws and legs showed traces of the demon's dust, turning the coat a dull sooty black in places. The wind died down, the Shikigami twisting his head to glance at the man clinging to his back. Chuckling to himself, Byakko opened his maw and snagged Tsuzuki back the color of his shirt and pulled him off his back.
Yelping as he was tugged away from the silky furred back, Tsuzuki's unusually colored eyes popped open wide, trying to twist his head to see where he was and what was happening to him. Finding himself dangling from Byakko's mouth like a kitten being carried by its parent, the Shinigami stopped struggling and tried to look pleadingly at the Shikigami to be put down.
Placing the male gently onto the ground, Byakko dipped his head to nuzzle Tsuzuki's check. The color in his eyes softening to soft orchid, Tsuzuki hugged the white tiger, whispering something into one fluffy ear. With a deep rumbling laugh, the Shikigami butted Tsuzuki in the chest and vanished back to his home plane.
He stood there for a few moments, his face in deep thought then shaking his head, Tsuzuki tried to straighten his shirt and hair, a grin falling into place on his lips. With a shout he flung himself at Hisoka, trying to get a look at the other male hidden inside of Tatsumi's shadows.
"Wai! Hisoka! Are you okay? You freed the girl and we got the demon! We are the best... oh hi there Tatsumi, and Watari! Are we all going to go to breakfast together? I'm hungry!"
Tatsumi allowed the shadows that had been active during the demon's short lived reign of terror fall as the hell creature was destroyed. He wasn't so concerned about Schwarz causing much harm to the Shinigami at the moment and Tsuzuki deserved to be able to see his partner. Even if Hisoka wasn't in the mood to be glomped, an action that was inevitable with Tsuzuki around.
"I suppose breakfast would be nice, but it would only be fair to Weiß if some things were explained a bit better to them before we went anywhere. Watari-san and I haven't properly introduced ourselves after all," Tatsumi responded, crossing his arms.
--
//Don't act so surprised that I know about your obsession with the Takatori boy,// Brad replied, eyes narrowing as he herded the group back to the car. //It is not that hard to remember how much you liked that blonde even if I do not appear like I am listening to you.//
Looking back at the shadows around Muraki, Farfarello didn't bother to answer Schuldig. What he wanted to do was cut at that white flesh and see the red stain on that white clothing. Though he may have professed to being their 'savior', the only savior that Farfarello knew was the one that was the Liar's Son. Saviors were not to be trusted, they were not to be listened to. They used people and tossed them aside, they tore the psyche into thin strips to nibble on, they were the spreaders of lies and pain. And that this savior of theirs had also tended demon lore meant that he was doubly untrustworthy and unfit to be drawing breath.
But before he could whip himself into another frenzy of hatred towards the doctor, Farfarello felt the touch of cold metal against his temple. Glancing over, he blinked at the sight of Brad's cold caramel eyes staring straight at him, the precog's lips pressed into a thin hardly amused line. Again he had his gun out and the barrel was pressed against his skull, the gun cocked and waiting.
Survival won out over his obsession. Rolling his shoulders in a shrug, Farfarello gave Muraki one last look before slipping into the car, settling into the backseat and folding his arms across his chest. Reholstering his weapon, Brad shut the door and went to the driver side, getting in and starting up the car. His expression grim, he glanced up at the two in the backseat, and sighed faintly.
"We are cleaning out the apartment the moment we get back. Everything we cannot easily carry I want to see destroyed. I don't want to leave any traces as to where we are going, not even a forwarding address. We've cut our leashes with Este but they have long memories. But this is our territory and I am not about to give Schwarz up to them or anyone else. Not when we managed to break free of control in the first place."
--
Virent eyes, formerly glazed in a state of exhaustion, blinked and widened at feeling the touch of Tsuzuki's hand - well, it was more of a glomp, given the older Shinigami's velocity on arrival and apparent need to use Hisoka as a sort of glomping-brake. For someone who generally avoided touch, a sudden glomp could be unnerving, especially when it carried the jubilant wave of triumphant emotions.
Scowling irritably as he tried to hold onto his own feelings amidst the aura of Tsuzuki's, Hisoka tried to shove the violet-eyed man back, his attempt weak in execution. It was hard to push someone away when one could hardly move their arm enough to push even in the slightest of fashions. "Baka," he muttered, giving up and letting his hand drop back to the pavement, rather than spending more of his already low strength on trying to keep it raised. "Don't you care that you could have gotten yourself crushed flying around like that..."
Shaking his head slightly at the other's blatant actions, he sighed softly. "Baka," he repeated, trying to shift his weight enough to get up. After a few seconds, he gave up and sunk back into his kneeling slouch again, literally too tired to move. "Don't go risking yourself stupidly like that again."
Still preening over his victory of information, having had proven to him that his calculated guesses about the new Shinigami abilities, Watari held up his hand to 003 expectantly. After a few minutes, where the death of the demon went with only casual notice by the unruffled scientist, the miniature owl made a few grumbling noises and winged over a bag of birdseed that it had, by some method of the imagination, managed to have hidden on its avian body - the physics of Watari's owl friend were generally the sort that sane people never questioned, since it was insanity that those rules applied through.
With the prize of the bet in hand, Watari grinned and pocketed the birdseed for later, when he would likely give it back to 003 in the form of dinner or a snack for the overfed bird. Then, after a semi-eternity of not paying attention to the battle, he turned amber eyes on the fading remains of the demon curiously. "Oh, that was it?" he asked, watching the last traces drift away in the breeze. Frowning, he adjusted the set of his glasses on his face and scrunched up his nose in thought. "I'd thought it would put up more of a fight than that..."
Seeming in silent consideration of that for the moment, Watari paused and shrugged. It was a matter that he could consider later, once he had on hands his notes about what demon had likely been summoned to the host body. Until then, he could worry about other matters, such as whether or not anyone had been marked by the demon...
"Okay, who's first up for a demon-search?" he proclaimed, rolling up his sleeves. The first response he got was an extremely tired glare from Hisoka, the youth apparently remembering the in-depth strip search the scientist had given Tsuzuki after the preliminary face-to-face encounter with the Devil's Trill demon.
Okay, given the youngest's look of utter don't-go-there, Watari reconsidered. "Fine, breakfast sounds good," he said in a somewhat sulking tone. Then, just as quickly, the pout forming on his lips disappeared as his eyes brightened. "And maybe we can talk with the new Shinigami! Find out which of my all-correct assumptions are correct."
--
Being turned away by Schwarz was, no doubt, a slight ripple to upset his plans, but it was not going to stop Muraki from gaining what he wanted. Nothing slowed the persistent doctor, as some of the more independent victims of past had learned in the most difficult of fashions. Well, nothing stopped him, and he could stand for the occasional slowing of his intent. In the end, nothing mattered save the acquisition of his wanted prize. He always won, and he would with Schwarz, it would just take time.
Smiling in mild amusement at the inter-member treatment of the group, Muraki simply turned and walked away from the psychic assassins, allowing his feather white teleport to again take him from the scene. Time was of the essence to some, but he would eventually be able to control time, and until then he could bide it as long as he needed.
- end of arc 3 -
Footnotes:
Normally we would take this moment to respond to the reviews on this arc, but there has only been one. Thanks, sol-nemesis, for giving us some feedback!
At this time, we'd like to take a moment to thank all our reviewers/readers of Arc One. your feedback is what motivates us to keep writing!
There will be a short story written by Ran and Ken's players uploaded soon, and then one of us will get to readying arc three's first bits for download. We're nearing the end of the thrid arc already, so it shouldn't be too long.
Reminder for those wanting to know who we are. Our ff.net profile and Yahoo Group should answer those questions, and any others you may have.