A Heart for a King

Chapter 1: A Heart from Forgiveness

Written by: AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

AN: This has been a commissioned multichapter piece, the events in this story take place after Kingship, Cooking, and Companionship.

I leave it to you the reader to decide if this is 'canon' or not for now. I'll know better myself when I see how it comes out. :) For now, enjoy.

...Nazarick…

Ainz's return to Nazarick was always a cause for happiness among the guardians and the many permanent residents of the tomb. It had, over time, become a cause for feasting whenever he was gone for any length of time. In this particular instance, the Sorcerer King had been gone for a full week, seeing to negotiations and instructions on expanding trade ties between the lands he ruled, including the newly settled region discovered off the western coast by some of the first expeditions to venture out into the unknown.

The Sorcerer King, for his part in all this, insisted that if they wished to feast and celebrate his return, then they do so by taking a day off of work to enjoy themselves, each in turn would give their report to him as to the status of their activities in his absence, and then would join their comrades on the sixth floor.

Of course his departure on this occasion had been objected to by Albedo. "Sire, why do you need to negotiate, just give them orders my love, and if they do not obey perfectly, crush and then replace them."

Ainz struck wise undead pose number two, resting his chin on his skeletal fist and leaning forward in a pose his homeworld called 'The Thinker'. "I believe that would be short sighted Albedo, for four reasons. Firstly because willing obedience always beats forced obedience. Second because it would mean neither I nor they had true faith in the rationale of my ideas, third because there may come a day when I face someone I cannot simply 'crush' and so must keep my negotiating skills sharp… And finally," he could not smile, but there appeared a pleasant aura around him, "because it gives me information about what is going well where, what the strengths and weaknesses of various locations happen to be, so that 'if' I ever have to crush a rebellion, I have already gained advanced insight into weaknesses, given from their own lips."

Albedo had clasped her hands together and her eyes shone like stars, "Oh, my lord! My wonderful lord! How could I have missed your deep insight into all of this?! I'm so proud, so impressed!"

She began to inch closer to him, her wings trembling, and Ainz thought about the hidden reason for his enjoyment in a brief departure. A relief from the fear of disappointing the children of his friends, and… a discomfort with the ever looming possibility of an overabundant interest in trying to reproduce with him on the part of his obsessive guardian overseer.

"Albedo… calm down… don't force me to have you confined again…" Ainz said, sensing her desire rising within.

"Oh, Lord Ainz… please… just…" She began.

"Guardians! She's losing it again!" Ainz shouted, prompting Cocytus and Sebas to tackle the overseer and drag her back as she tried to claw her way over to her master.

Ainz sighed. "Confine her for a day, I suppose I can't fault her, I have been gone for a week, it must have seemed an eternity."

"It was." Aura said with an emphatic nod.

"B-But we hope y-you had fun, L-Lord Ainz." Mare said with an anxious face and an equally anxious voice as the Guardian Overseer was literally dragged away.

"I did actually, over the last ten years my followers outside of Nazarick have grown tremendously in both their quantity and quality. The Governor Queen Draudillon has not descended into a bottle, Vanysa's operations continue to bear fruit and have done much to root out ties to the remnants of Zuranon from the old nobility and the purges are making way for new talent to rise. These visits of mine are heartening demonstrations of the progress and the peace of my rule." Ainz said proudly.

"Speaking of Vanysa," Demiurge said, "When will she be returning? We have each been busy with our projects lately and though she has sent suggestions, it would be ideal to have her present for these experiments."

Ainz gave the archdemon a look that if he'd had he a face of flesh, would have been amused. "If you simply want to see your paramour, you need only ask, I regret having taken her away from you for so long."

Demiurge was not capable of blushing, but the insight of the Sorcerer King caused him a moment of consternation, "My Lord, I would never dream of compromising a mission you have given to anyone, with my own selfish desires!"

Ainz laughed, "Her work is all but finished, at this point she can brief the Governor Queen and let her agents tend the remainder on their own, I'm sure she'd be delighted to return to your side."

"Let it be only as my Lord wills it." Demiurge said, an undertone of contentment in his rich voice.

After the reports were all completed, a few hours later, Demiurge found himself in his office with a gold skinned demoness.

"Hi Demi, good to see you again." She said with a fang filled smile. He smiled in return, before he jumped on her with a lustful gaze and they began to tear into one another.

When they were both finally exhausted, sore, and… healing, the two began to put on a change of clothes that they'd learned through experience it was a good idea to keep handy when they worked together.

"So I understand you're making progress on the morphomantic item?" She asked tentatively as she pulled up a replacement pair of pants.

"Yes," he said as he began to button a white shirt down the middle, "I believe we're ready for a 'successful' human trial."

"Have you been conducting trials from the normal beings like humans, elves, and whatever other criminal elements you get sent this way? I sent you twenty four Zuranon agents in just one month, were they of no use?" She asked unhappily.

"They were, but most of the time they would explode, it would work when I killed them, but there was a limited range they could transform into, and even those who survived, were unable to reproduce with anything."

Vanysa's face fell, "Does that mean… I'll never actually be able to bear a child?"

Demiurge could only shrug. "Yours was a unique case, you changed to a higher being using an item of the Supreme Ones before being raised to life. These new items are more limited, so experiments were necessarily going to end up… messy." He kept his real thoughts from passing over his face.

"You deserve an heir, the notion that I might not be able to give you one…" Vanysa shuddered, "I understand the feelings of Lady Albedo and Lady Shalltear when I think about it."

"Well, that is why we work, that our Lord may have a line that endures forever even if the unthinkable which we shall not name, should come to pass." Demiurge replied.

Vanysa went over to the desk of the archdevil and picked up a piece of paper after she got her shirt on, "Demi, how has Astraka been doing while I've been away?" She asked casually as she read over the document.

Demiurge buckled the belt of his pants and smiled, "He regrets his existence daily, per your request he has not had his manhood mutilated or harmed, nor has he been 'violated' as you say, in accordance with your promise. However that left much we could still do, and it has all been done. Daily he is restored, and daily he begs for the end."

Vanysa smiled with happiness, "Were it not for him, I would still be human, I would never have tasted the sky, nor would I have ever been elevated to be seen in your eyes as I am. Perhaps it is time to give him a chance to end his agony." She said in a winsome voice.

"Are you ready to forgive him?" Demiurge asked in disbelief.

Vanysa set the document down and looked over at the monster she loved. "Tell me something, my wise archdevil, what is forgiveness for?" Her voice was gentle as a babbling brook, so much so that it threw him off.

"I do not understand the question." Demiurge said with a hint of annoyance, as lack of comprehension was not something he was accustomed to.

She smiled, "Let's walk and talk, the items we need are already waiting for us?"

"They are." He replied.

"Good." She said, and strode to the door with her hands behind the small of her back, her wings still trembling in the afterglow of physical release.

When they were on the way down the hall, she elaborated, "If I forgive him, I may give him the release of death, and that 'seems' on the surface at least, like I'm doing 'him' a favor, doesn't it?" She asked.

"It does." He replied firmly and with clear displeasure at the notion of giving Astraka such a gift.

"But what if I were to tell you, my precious archdevil," she skipped a few paces ahead of him and put her body in front of his, before beginning to walk backwards, "that I am happy. Truly joyful. That I have almost everything I want out of life. A good home, a good life, a wonderful lover who gives me exactly what I crave. I have fulfilled my childhood dreams and touched the sky, while I have wonderful comrades all over the Sorcerous Empire who will not abandon me, not to mention of course, that I serve the finest king to ever be."

As she walked backwards Demiurge did not break or slow his stride, there was no need, they had danced this dance a thousand times, she knew exactly how to move to keep pace with him and exactly where to turn or move down the hall to get where she wanted to go.

"Then I would say I believe you." Demiurge said with a cocky little smile.

Vanysa grinned her toothy smile back at him. "Good, but there is one blemish on my happiness still, and that is Astraka. I have never been able to let go of the hatred, rage, and pain. The things he did and the things he had done. All that humiliation, all of that degradation, it consumed me for a long time. And as long as I 'have' to make him suffer, a part of him will always rule over me as if I were still that helpless peasant girl trembling in fear inside that carriage all those years ago. To 'forgive him' is not done for his sake, it is done for mine. So that 'I' can let go of it all. So that 'I' can cut the last thread to my former existence and embrace my life as it is today and will be tomorrow."

Demiurge was quiet for a long time, and Vanysa fell smoothly into step beside her mate. "I see." He finally said in a slow, drawn out voice. "If that is the case, and you are doing this for yourself and not for him, then so be it." Demiurge added after a few more moments of thought.

"I knew you'd understand, so, why don't you go get the things we need, and I'll go visit the fool who craved to be King of Men, one last time." She smiled happily and did not look as they forked paths.

She entered the room a short while later where Astraka had been kept. She entered the room in her human shape, one he knew very well, and he looked up limply from where he sat draped in chains.

"Hello Astraka." She said sweetly.

"B-Back again…" He whispered out, his eyes were filled with terror, "No more… please no more… I can't… please mistress Vanysa, I'll do anything… just don't hurt me anymore…" His was the face of a broken man who longed for the end of his own sanity.

Vanysa pulled up a chair and sat in front of him, she put her foot out 'almost' within his reach, and he immediately went for it, he'd learned it hurt less on days he abased himself to her, but she was just beyond what he could manage, she'd done that sometimes, watched him stretch out his tongue knowing that 'if' he could touch the sole of her shoe it would hurt much, much less, only to fail and wail thereafter.

Still, even though he knew he hadn't a prayer of touching her that way, he knew he had to try, not only out of vain hope, but also because if he tried hard enough, sometimes that resulted in less pain too. So every muscle strained against his chains as he stuck out his tongue, making desperate noises as he did so. Desperation sometimes pleased his mistress of pain.

"Do you know how long you've been here now?" Vanysa asked casually. That made him freeze, it was an unexpected question.

"No… thirty years?" He guessed.

"No, you've been here for… oh going on twelve years now. Kept in good health, I could keep you suffering for a natural life of another sixty or seventy, and that is assuming I do nothing to keep you young and start all over again." Vanysa said, watching the look of horror sweep over his face in place of his previous desperation.

"But, I've come to realize something." She said, "A part of you was still hurting me, even after all these years, and as long as I felt the urge to keep coming back to you for another session, well some tiny fragment of your life would still control me."

Astraka sat in silence, mystified, he stared at the woman in abject confusion.

"I'm truly happy now, so much of my life is wonderful, and whether I want to admit it or not, a part of that is because of what you did to me, horrible as it was. So, I've decided to forgive you. Not for your sake, but for mine, so that I can let go of everything in the past, and go on living and being happy from today onward."

"Am I… Are you really going to let me go, mistress, this isn't a trick…?" Astraka asked.

"Yes and no." She said, "You are going to be given a chance to serve the supreme being you dared oppose. Your reward for this service is a 'chance' to live. If this kills you, it kills you, but if it doesn't, then I will let you go. You will be given no money, no food, no water, and the world you knew is gone, you are forbidden from ever contacting any member of your former family, and you will never be permitted to hold a public office anywhere in the Sorcerous Empire. What you do beyond that, I do not care, because you will be nothing to me anymore. You will be a peasant, just like I was."

She leaned forward, "Weak, powerless, and poor, nobody can ever know who you were, you'll need a new name, which I will give to you and which you will live by for the rest of your days. But… you will be free. I do not usually let my prey go, but you were more… personal than all the rest. So your freedom is 'also' the final end of my past, as if you never existed in my life at all. Too, it is a gift to your father and mother, they died last year you know, within days of each other. They begged so hard for you before I caught took you, it reminded me of my own mother, my fiance, what they went through for me." She shook her head, she looked 'sad' which was something that Astraka did not expect.

"When your parents were dying, I went to see them, they'd begged for an audience with me, and I happened to be in the area doing something for Pope Neia, so I went. They begged for you again, I guess they at least, truly loved you, their most foolish son. I didn't promise them much, but it was… touching I suppose." Vanysa said, watching as he stared in rapt attention to her story.

"So… now here we are, I'm ready to move on, though I guess it took me long enough, as an immortal, well I have all the time in the world. You though, not so much." She smiled a toothy smile at him again, "So now you have a choice, it has been awhile since you had one of those, hasn't it?" She asked.

He nodded with a numb expression on his face.

"So, you can either beg to serve the Sorcerer King in an experiment, and gain either the freedom of death or the freedom of your life, whatever is left of it that you still have. Or… you can stay here, I won't be back to visit, but I'm sure Neuronist will have all kinds of fun with you until you die of old age. What will it be?" Vanysa asked.

"Please! Let me serve his majesty! Mistress I beg to serve! I beg of you!" He shouted out, twisting in his chains as he sought to entreat her, struggling to come close enough to use his tongue to influence her decision.

"Granted." Vanysa said with a smirk. A moment later, the door opened and Demiurge entered into the dim chamber.

"Does he understand what is to happen?" Demiurge asked in passing.

"As much as he needs to, and he's 'very' willing. I suspect that if I was right, then the change was influenced by the target's willingness to participate. Our dog here has been suffering for many years, he's very eager to offer himself up for this. Aren't you, boy?" She whispered as she went closer to him, when she came within reach, it was all the broken former ruler could do to yelp and bark like a dog to show his enthusiasm. He'd learned that particular game from Shalltear, much to Vanysa's amusement.

"Alright, what will we make him into?" Demiurge asked.

Vanysa thought the matter over, "Let's turn him into a ratman. It's a fairly complicated change, it is a fairly weak being, and it suits him very well."

Demiurge laughed, while Astraka looked at them in fear and uncertainty.

He didn't see anything for a few minutes after the light as bright as the sun went off in his face, but he felt a great deal of agony as his body reshaped itself. He gasped and cried in pain and rolled about the floor as bones and flesh and muscle were reorganized. Finally, his senses began to return, he smelled 'everything' around him, the dim light seemed brighter, he looked down at his hands, they were no longer human. He felt his body and felt matted, dirty brown fur.

"What… what am I Mistress?" He asked with a squeaky voice.

"A ratman." Demiurge said, and pulled out an appraisal scroll. After he used it, a dim blue light washed over Astraka, and the archdevil looked satisfied. "Marvelous, absolutely no sign of degeneration, his body has accepted this transformation and it will not turn back on its own."

"Any chance of explosion?" Vanysa asked indifferently.

"None evident." Demiurge said with optimism.

"Do you think he can breed?" Vanysa asked.

"Probably, and that might work out for the best if he does, ratmen are not a very intelligent species, if he breeds for a few decades when they come into season, the race might become more useful to Nazarick." Demiurge's voice held a positive note as he spoke.

Vanysa's smile was radiant, "A fitting end for the man who would be king. Rutting with the women of the ratmen in caves and warrens and filth to create future assets to Nazarick, until he dies. Say, what are their lifespans?" She asked.

"About forty to fifty years if they're not killed." Demiurge said thoughtfully as he searched his memory.

"Well, that is something." Vanysa said with a shrug, "Now it needs a new name." She looked down at the four foot tall ratman that had once been a towering king, "Your name is now 'Eek'. You will answer to no other." She said and she reached down and plucked a whisker painfully from his nose.

"This," She said as she held it up, "Is so we can find you whenever we need to, it is how they found my corpse after I died under your torture, if you should ever rebel, ever turn against us, ever become a criminal, we can find you in hours, and I will keep you alive here for another hundred years. When you perish, assuming you do so 'free', I will find your corpse the same way, and have you buried next to your parents, keeping my final promise to them. Do you have any questions, Eek?" Vanysa asked.

Astraka... Eek, shook his head vigorously and dared say not a word.

"Good." She said, "Now, I forgive you. Go live as you wish under the terms of your parole, scratching in caves just beyond the borders of the Sorcerous Empire, as I soar in the sky over the lands you once sought to rule, and regret me for the rest of your short and pathetic life."

The gate was opened for her quickly after that, and 'Eek', scurried through to whatever fate befell him.

"Now we're ready to try it with His Majesty, do you know what he wishes to try?" Vanysa asked.

"An Angel Lord, a giver of life, his opposite number." Demiurge said with pride.

"Fitting that the lord of death who gave me life, should have both realms of the divine to himself. Can I be there when it is offered to him?" Vanysa asked hopefully.

"That is his decision, but he has never refused a request of that sort before, so I see no reason why not." Demiurge reminded her.

An hour later they were in the great hall, Ainz had chosen to tell none of the other guardians of this project, in particular he had kept it from Albedo and Shalltear, and that made this 'feast day' an opportune time for a trial.

'My luck stat is really paying off.' Ainz thought to himself with what happiness he could manage without his limiter activating.

Demiurge and Vanysa took their time explaining what had been done and the successful human trial and the release of 'Eek' the former King Astraka. This had caught Ainz somewhat off guard, he'd expected that one day he would die in Nazarick of old age, or that Vanysa would kill him.

"Are you truly alright with this Vanysa?" Ainz asked with concern.

"I am, My Lord. Letting him go, allowed me to let go of the last tendrils of power his actions had over me. He is free, true, but so am I. Let him live out his days eeking out a living on the scraps of whatever society he migrates to, and at least before his end he rendered one good service to the one true king." She said both emphatically and proudly.

"Very well, then let us see the fruits of your work." Ainz said, and took the item in hand, it was a small rounded object shaped like an egg, meant to look like the race change item that had been used on Outer Guardian Renner to turn her into an archangel.

"Wish me luck." Ainz said wryly, and the flash of light went off in their faces.

Pain wracked his body as he felt the changes taking place, and as it faded, he looked down at his hands, expecting to see the glowing white aura of an angel being, and found instead that he had very ordinary human hands.

Demiurge and Vanysa were looking at him, aghast and in utter disbelief.

"Mirror! Bring me a mirror!" Ainz said in a sudden panic, his voice sounded very familiar, but more importantly, he realized he was panicking, emotions ran wild through his mind, and the suppressor did not activate, nor did it seem like there was any chance it could or would.

Demiurge ran to a wall, and pulled a mirror off of it, then brought it over to where Ainz stood. The Sorcerer King looked at the reflection staring back at him in shock, he was, in a word… himself. A little taller than he remembered, a lot shorter than he was used to feeling in the undead body, but it was 'almost' his own face, slightly more angular, as if the skull were some amalgam of his Overlord body's and the one he used to have as his own, but the almond shaped eyes, and everything else, was much as he remembered it.

"Demiurge? Vanysa? What… happened?" His voice went breathless and dazed. He was, in every respect that he could tell… entirely human once again. His heart was pounding in his chest, all he could say as he put his hand over it was, "I… have a heartbeat…" as a sudden rush of glorious wonder swept away all other emotions.