Chapter Text
-
‘We are all our own devil; we make this world our hell.’
-
Gebel did not have many pleasant memories of the alchemists guild, but there was one time he and Miriam sneaked out together. Morrigan and Galene covered for them and they wandered the night together, just the two of them.
They could finally see the stars like he promised her. It is a beautiful night. They were never allowed outside of the guild, so Miriam never really had seen the stars or gazed upon them like he did in the times where he managed to sneak out.
“sorry, Miriam.. I’m just a bit tired.. why don’t we just rest here for a bit, before we head back?”
He wants to close his eyes forever, really. To drift away in the pleasant dreams he could have and ignore the reality of their.. ‘condition’. Perhaps it’s a bit selfish of him to think like that.
“Gebel.. Don’t give up.”
His eyes snap open. He can’t see her face, her hair is covering her eyes. She’s smiling.
“…what? Miriam, I..”
He can’t get an answer from her. He reaches out for her beautiful face; but he feels like he’s drowning. No. Not drowning. He can’t..
He can’t breathe. He can feel the bandages so tight that they’ll cut off his blood supply, wrapped around his wrists, body and neck—the searing pain from his many, many crystals don’t stop. They don’t ever stop. He’s forgotten how cold they are and the pain spikes rapidly. It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts—
“M..Miriam..!”
He can’t see her. Why can’t he see her? It’s dark. He doesn’t like it— He doesn’t like it! He- He needs to be near her. If he’s near her, then the pain doesn’t matter anymore.
“Someone- Anyone!-“
No one will answer his pleas. He accepted that a long time ago, but.. he wants to live. He doesn’t know what’s happening, but he wants to live.
He rips off the bandages covering his chest in one tear just so he can somewhat breathe; then he sees it. Many ritualistic markings are carved into his flesh which itch and burn. A gaping stab wound over - no, aimed at his heart. By all logic.. he should be dead. But the crystals have started to heal the wound slowly, the pain is now the proof he’s alive. He can hear screams outside and inside of the guild building.
“Good evening.”
The woman sitting calmly in the midst of the bloodied chaos is the only voice he can hear. At least, he thinks it’s a woman, as it’s changed shape to look like one rapidly.
Ah.. Yes, he.. he remembers. He knows what this thing is. A demon. A very strong kind of demon, if she bothers to change shape to suit his mental state. Well. What little of one remains, as he knows it’s hanging on by a mere thread.
The alchemists before them are dead, torn to pieces. The bodies near him, he recognises. Elizabeth, Alexander, Galene.. his and Miriam’s friends, their kin; now lifeless corpses lying on an altar. Executed mercilessly—No. Not executed. Executions are for the guilty. They were sacrificed. The same stab wound and ritualistic carvings mark their bodies.
His fleeting illusion of safety snaps under the weight and he feels sick. The scent of blood clings to his clothes. The bandages which cover his crystals are still tight and itch.
“. . . Not even a hello?.. a greeting?.. tch. Typical. Fine, let me do the work.
You called for me. In the deepest depths of despair, your suffering and spilled blood has brought me to the surface, allowed me to walk upon it once more.. so you have my attention.”
She offers him a seat. The tea in front of her is still hot. Is.. is this some kind of joke?.. but he won’t say no to a drink. His throat is killing him.
“I expected.. someone more monstrous, truthfully.. for a demon, I mean.”
“It is for your benefit, not mine. My true infernal form would break your mind with the current situation. Do you think I like pretending to look like a filthy human?”
“. . . Is.. is that a trick question?”
He isn’t even being spiteful there, her human form is gorgeous. If she was blonde, he’d be more into her personally. She rolls her eyes and sips her tea.
“. . . You get that comment for free, considering the circumstances. I will offer you my help, and in return.. you shall grant me what I desire after your time here is up.”
“Which is..”
“When you die, as all humans are destined to, you shall be dragged down to the Inferno as per its laws. All shardbinders are going to go there when they die. It’s not my policy, it is because you are all demons by the laws of the world.
The only upside, for you, is that when you in particular die, shall have certain bonuses since you serve me. Mainly, protection against other infernal demons that would wish to kill and eat you. Somewhere to stay, and..”
She sips her tea slowly, pausing just for dramatic effect. Gebel internally rolls his eyes at this. Get to the point.
“Well, I’m sure your beloved Miriam could use all the help she could get when she eventually joins you down there.”
“Don’t you DARE insinuate!-“
“Do not raise your tone with me.”
“SHUT UP!.. just.. just don’t. Don’t you DARE imply she’s.. Miriam is..”
He can’t breathe. Even sipping the drink slowly isn’t helping as he’s choking up at the thought. No no no no no, she can’t.. they can’t.. He always believed at the end, when they did die; he always believed they had a chance to have a genuine life up in heaven. A good life. Together. With their friends.
They would to go to Heaven, when they die due to the curse, right? That’s the only thing that kept him going alongside Miriam. This life of suffering, this senseless agony; It can’t be all there is to it..!
“I see. I hit a raw nerve, didn’t I?.. Apologises. It is not my intention to make you feel worse, truly. Merely.. I am a woman of logic and that’s all there is to it.”
She finishes her drink, setting the teacup down slowly. He’s still shaking, but she refills his drink as it’s spilled on the table from his nerves and anger.
“. . . What do you need me to do, for this.. contract, that you are proposing.”
“If you insist on calling it that.”
“I don’t exactly have a choice.”
He snidely points out, sipping his drink. He doesn’t know what kind of tea it is, but at this point he doesn’t care. Her smug tone annoys him.
“Do not have a tone with me. I am giving you options, and you certainly have a choice.”
“Fuck this.”
He’d rather take his chances on his own. What was he thinking, to accept a demon’s deal? Stupid bastard that he is. He needs to find Miriam and Johannes.
“Either you leave and risk letting the curse kill you, yet again; Or, you can listen to me and change that reoccurring fate of yours.”
His heart feels like it’s stopped dead. The slow rhythm of its beats prove he’s alive. Such words are illogical from her. She’s just a demon. He shouldn’t listen to her.
But he feels it is absolute truth. Somewhere deep down.. he just knows it. He’s felt the crystals devour him from the inside out multiple times. That ‘fate’.. isn’t out of the realm of fiction. He can’t counter back how she’s potentially lying.
He can’t even see out of one of his eyes. His arm is more crystal than flesh. It’s only a matter of time.
-
“Miriam.. where are you..?”
Body won’t move. Head hurts. Think, stupid, think, where would she and Johannes be. Got to find them. Then get somewhere safe. Somewhere. Anywhere. Better than here.
“Hey. Idiot. The fuck are you doing, standing around like that?.. you look like shit.”
“M.. Morrigan? Your alive?”
“.. alive?.. eh, I guess I am. I was out for a smoke with Jolene, we just came back through the other entrance. Why, what..”
Her smug attitude stops dead when she looks at him. Jolene covers her mouth in shock. Ah. He isn’t looking the best, is he..? He figured that would be the case even with his new ‘situation’.
“. . . Sorry.”
“Why the hell are you apologising, it’s not like you did this to yourself. Stupid. Come on.”
Morrigan may seem harsh, but she has a level head on her shoulders. She cares a lot more than she implies. Plus Jolene keeps her grounded from being as cynical as he is deep down.
The duo drags his cursed body away from the building, barely. The ashen sky makes Morrigan feel sicker than usual, she’s pretty sure the sky is never this ashen usually. Gebel then grabs Morrigan close, too close than usual.
“—What the hell are you doing?”
She’s about to kick between his legs before she notices:
The demon in front of them. Many legs. Many claws, and a few feline faces. Gebel had heard most Labolas are the first to wander out of the Inferno, but to see one that looks like a cat is.. rather adorable. Miriam loves cats. If you ignore the fact it’s massive and more like a tiger, of course. A very scary, big, growling tiger with multiple ways to kill you.
“Well, it was nice knowing you two. I’ll hold it off. Get going before it eats you both.”
“M-Morrigan!”
Jolene squeaks, clutching her tightly. She’ll admire the fact she was all for sacrificing herself - when Morrigan couldn’t care less about anyone but herself and Jolene - almost instantly later. The Labolas tilts its head.
“.. you’re all quite small for demons.”
“What of it.”
Gebel asks. Staring down a demon like this is rather thrilling. He can now see why Morrigan often picked fights with the demons the alchemists summoned.
“.. Nothing. Just stay out of sight. The others may think your easy prey since your small.”
“You.. aren’t going to eat us?”
Jolene asks, hesitantly.
“No. Too small. Besides, you three seem out of place here. It’d be rather rude of me to eat a fellow demon that hasn’t even tried to attack me first.”
It’s many heads then notices Jolene staring intently at it. The ears twitch and it tilts its head, gesturing for the girl to speak freely.
“. . . Um.. can I pet you?”
“—are you kidding me?”
Morrigan asks Jolene. Not even out of pure malice, more.. now? Really?
“W-What, it’s a cat! Look at it!”
“. . . I hate to admit it is rather tempting, but Morrigan has a point, Jolene. We need to move.”
“Aww..!”
Jolene is practically dragged away by Morrigan as gently as she can. The Labolas curls up where they’ve left it, its many tails occasionally striking and skewering some unfortunate human that goes near it.
“You need new clothes, and I’d like a new coat. Let’s go shopping.”
Jolene tilts her head at Morrigan’s comment.
“…? We don’t have any money.”
-
Carnage is just a language only the demons speak. Bloodshed comes naturally and feasting on the so-called ‘humans’ is second nature.
Blood blooms like pretty flowers within the church after mere seconds. Morrigan was never one for a stealthy approach, and knives suit her style of causing as much pain as possible. Those who didn’t notice the three are swiftly cut down by them or the horde that follows them, but those who run into the office behind them don’t have anywhere else to go either.
They grab what they need. Warm clothes. Whatever money they can stuff in the pockets. Shoes that don’t have holes in them. Then they leave just as quickly as they entered. It’s nothing personal.
Apparently, from what Morrigan and Jolene heard, Johannes left with Miriam right before the ritual occurred. She has come down with some kind of ‘sickness’?.. Gebel doesn’t understand it. If she truly was sick, wasn’t leaving the guild - as dangerous as it was - a bad idea? It at the very least was a roof over their heads. He’ll find them eventually.
~
The ashen sky makes him feel sick. The many people inside their homes avoid even looking at him as he calmly walks through the town. The soot covered sky scares them to begin with, so he can’t blame them for presuming the worst with him.
A woman, a baker, trips and falls near him. The poor lady was rushing to head back. It’s not exactly his problem, but..
“…Here.”
He offers his hand out to help her up. He may be wandering to find demons to kill, but he will help those who need it. He receives a stern slap in return with her calling him a ‘beast’, and the woman takes off running.
It then hits him; He’s alone, in a place that would rather spit on him, than accept his help.
Zangetsu isn’t one to dwell on such matters usually: him being alone is quite normal. His line of work ensures it. But he has lost many friends, and his lack of another working eye is proof.
He only came to England because he just.. had to do something. Something to distract himself. His work keeps him grounded and focused instead of grieving. He can grieve later. Vengeance against the demons will allow him to continue forward on this path.
The Priestess that was his friend was driven mad. The others torn apart from an ambush from the demons. He couldn’t even save them. He said he would, and he couldn’t even do that. His teacher, Asami.. he hopes she hasn’t followed him, personally. She can’t even see anymore due to those monsters and now shrieks in terror at them, when she once could cut them down quicker than he can.
The people here, in this country.. need a lesson in manners. Quite a lot of lessons, actually. He’s somewhat glad he’s alone, as the others would have punched first and asked questions later. Not that he himself isn’t tempted to, of course. Racist piece of shit creatures that don’t even bother to use manners, clean themselves properly or treat others with the same respect he treats them.
Just as he’s about to leave this place, one woman who isn’t afraid of him, or calling him a few names, gives him a sly wink and a smile. Her attire says enough for what she does.
. . . Oh, what the hell. Just for tonight.
-
He doesn’t particularly care who the woman is. She’s gorgeous, doesn’t flinch at or mock his appearance and actually bothers to talk to him like he’s a friend. Good company and decent drink makes him more social than he likely should be.
He takes the moment after to just rest his eyes. Being safe is a luxury he doesn’t afford very often, and he hates to admit that it’s rather nice to rest beside a friendly face for once. Even if it is a ‘fake’ one that only wants him for some money.
“…Zangetsu?”
“Oh fuck me, not her.”
He curses out of pure reflex. Fuck, no. He’ll take a demon over his teacher finding this out. The last time he bothered to lay with someone back home, he spent the last few hours of that day being lectured and chided by Asami.
“What’s wrong, is it your missus?.. tell her I’m from the church, that usually gets ‘em to go away.”
The woman asks, taking a good eyeful of his shirtless appearance in bed.
“No— wait, you’re awake?”
He was trying to sneak out, truthfully. People don’t take too kindly to him to begin with and he’d rather not overstay his welcome. He did give her a good tip, however. He may be many things, but Zangetsu isn’t rude and her service was quite good.
“..Oh! Thank you, but you didn’t need to-“
“Just take it. Keep her busy and I’ll even come back to give you more.”
“Bit too late for that.”
“Dammit..! Hello, Asami-“
His presumption is cut off by a pair of cold hands hugging his body tightly. This isn’t Asami, thankfully, as she would’ve slapped him first before hugging him. The downside is that it’s the Priestess and she’s likely caused a few problems. Not because of her, more for the people around them.
He’s then slapped right after she lets go of him. He doesn’t flinch, but the pain is annoying him.
“—Ow.”
When did she learn to hit that hard? Normally she uses her magic..
oh, wait, he remembers, he taught her so she wouldn’t get in a situation where she couldn’t use her magic. Dammit!
“Y-You leaving abruptly was very rude, Zangetsu!.. I told you, that I’d come with you!”
“Priestess. I told you not to follow me.”
“Yes, but you cannot come to some country across the sea by yourself, when you’ve lost friends and an eye..! You barely had time to grieve or even process it..! I-I was worried you had gotten hurt, and..”
Her ramblings are annoying him, this early in the morning. She’s angry out of concern, yes, he’ll deal with it once he’s somewhat more awake.. or at least trying not to leave early from bedding the woman nearby.
“. . . You wouldn’t happen to have another drink, would you?”
“Nope.”
“…Ah.”
Well, shit. There goes that distraction. This is going to be a very long five minutes for him.
“So.. is she your mother?”
The woman beside him wonders, to make conversation.
“No.”
He curtly replies.
“You sure? She slapped you like my mother does and yours did to you, that had to hurt.”
“No. Again.. and my mother didn’t slap me, thank you.”
He replies, sighing heavily. He feels for and grabs his wooden flask out of his red jacket and takes a sip. He doesn’t particularly like using his flask as it’s Saké, his favourite, and he doubts any Englishman could make Sakè or make it right; but he’d just like a clear head in the morning.
“Your concern is appreciated, but I am perfectly fine by myself, Priestess.”
“W-Well, I’m following you, and that’s it. We have work to do. You promised I could help you until I cannot anymore.”
“When we were back home. We aren’t there.”
“I’m still staying with you.”
He rolls his eyes internally, soon sighing.
“. . . well, you do seem to be a lot better. I’ll give you that.”
“I’m a very good actor.. I just.. I was so scared, and angry you left.. and didn’t say anything..!”
He lets her be upset and cry, as his own sorrow about what happened prior would flood oceans. He’d never admit it, of course.
-
They’ve given up hope, days after. The rubble blocking the exit to the church after those monsters left can’t be moved. There’s no food or water.
Just as the few survivors are about to lie down and accept death, they hear it. A voice, echoing from behind the rubble.
A voice..?
It doesn’t seem possible, but those within can hear it. Not just a voice. A melody, a song. A beautiful hymn.
“Oh worship the Queen, all-glorious below~
Gratefully sing of her power and her love:
Our shield and defender!~
Even during the Ancient of Days, those who follow her shall be pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise~”
The rubble is blown away with a wave of a hand. Her face and body are perfect like a porcelain doll. Despite her appearance and the mismatched colour in her eyes, she truly is an angel. She must be. White Wings. A heavenly voice.
“Oh, my.. how terrible..! Do not fear me, little ones.. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner! Those monsters.. even they’ve hurt those from Paradise.”
She flies into the room quickly, each flap of her wings reassuring each and every one inside.
“Paradise?.. you’re..”
“Yes, yes..! Oh, I’m so sorry. Please, forgive me.. but do not despair. This suffering, you all have endured and survived.. is truly a trial sent from god himself. I will guide you all, for my penance.. I.. I hope you all can forgive me for being so late..”
“M-Miss, you saved us!”
“No.. I.. I failed you all. I was too late. But I promise, I shall deliver to you all glorious news, advice and guidance..
Now, then..”
Her fanged grin is inhumane, giddily smiling. If you looked oh-so closely at her, those beautiful eyes have no light in them. The extra set of teeth within her mouth. The subtle, small details.. she’s cleverly hidden.
“…Shall I guide you all, to the gates of paradise?”