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accomplished
tired
rushed“OI! Lucifer, what was that about? ‘Push aside your work spend an indefinite amount of time with us’?! Are you out of your mind?!” Tsuzuki protested rather vociferously the second the three of them reappeared in the Koutei’s temporary chamber. His crimson-streaked hair was ruffled more than usual as if it agreed with the pyrokinetic’s opinion and he slipped out of his more ceremonial red-embroidered white overcoat. “All of Hades is going to be up in arms over this you know!”
“Hn. For once I have to agree with him, Lucifer.” Amaya followed suit, pulling off her silver-lined deep blue sleeveless overcoat as well before brushing her long bangs out of her eyes, tucking some wayward strands behind her ears as she also faced the black-clad man.
Chuckling lightly at his Shushous’s disagreement with his conditions, Lucifer discarded his own long black trench coat and flung it at the nearest mahogany armchair before perching himself at the edge of the large king-size bed. He let them stew over the situation at hand while his eyes wandered over the room in its newly redecorated state. Raphael’s staff would probably have a fit; all of the usual red and gold trim had been replaced with black and silver, as were most of the white materials in the room. He knew that Tsuzuki and Amaya had done similar overhauls on their temporary lodgings as soon as they had stepped into their rooms and seen the overly white decor. Speaking of his Shushou though, he now had two rather disgruntled subordinates stubbornly waiting for his reply and seeing that even Amaya was starting to look rather impatient with him, he decided to casually switch the topic somewhat. Crossing his legs, he leaned back on his hands. “I think I would be more worried about the massive culture shock the Circle’s about to face.” Catching the sideways glance the blonde threw at him, he amended his statement. “Well, at least your former Fukutaichou.”
“Culture shock is going to be one massive understatement.” Seeing that Lucifer wasn’t going to change his mind, his third-in-command sighed. “Please tell me I’m not going to have to babysit that brat for an entire two weeks.”
“He’s hardly a brat now, don’t you think?” Lucifer smirked. “I’d say Ambriel’s growing up to be a fine young man.”
“A short young man with a ridiculously short fuse, mind you.” Tusuzki snorted. “Not to mention that I can feel his distaste miles away…”
“Hn. Sounds like a certain someone I know.” Came Amaya’s dry interruption. “Minus the shortness of course.” She smirked slightly.
“Oi!” The flame-wielder pretended to be wounded. “That hurts.” He pouted. “I should like to think that I can keep my temper under check if needed, thank you very much.” He huffed at the blonde before giving her a mock menacing look. “You’re lucky you still have those stitches to worry about… Otherwise I could make you take those words back, ne?” He smirked teasingly.
“Heh.” Amaya snorted in a rather unladylike manner. “Even if I was blind-folded with one hand behind my back, you would have no chance.”
Lucifer chuckled. “From past experience, I’d put my money on Amaya.” He grinned cheekily at the male Shushou. “Sorry, Tsuzuki.”
At that, the fire-wielder scowled. “Oh, what a blow to my ego and self-esteem that is,” he said sarcastically.
“Good.” The black-haired one threw him a sly look. “Taking your pride down several notches might actually be good for you.”
Amaya’s eyes twinkled at him in agreement.
Tsuzuki rolled his violet eyes at them both. “Lovely. Good to know, Koutei.” He sighed in defeat, seeing as how when the other two ganged up on him in a verbal sparring match, the odds of him winning were slim to none. So, he returned the conversation to the previous topic. “What about this portal business though? I’m not sure that’s a good idea either.”
“I would agree on that point, but Kai has a point though…” the Koutei trailed off briefly, gathering his thoughts on the subject. “As much as I don’t like leaving a backdoor open to this realm either, the tradeoff is only fair.”
“But if the portals can allow any of the Fallen to return to Elysium – something most of them most likely won’t do by the way – then that’s their problem. They should be the ones to tweak the magic coursing through them, not us.”
At that, Lucifer held up a hand to forestall any further comments from the other male. “Perhaps, but even so, I must agree with Kai that the portal ought to work both ways – not that I’m expecting that many Elysians to cross the border, mind you. Now that we have split into the two realms, communication between us is of the utmost importance. If the Circle is to hold a meeting with us, they need to be able to come to Hades just as we are able to go to Elysium. However,” he paused for emphasis. “I refuse to have our side of the portal be as free as their side is right now. Back door or not, I will not put Hades in the way of a possible blind assault.”
“I can spell it so that we’ll be alerted to anyone who crosses it.” Amaya offered as she gingerly took a seat next to the Dark Lord on the bed.
“Hn, I think we can do better. I’d say we have enough power to make the portal selective, no?” The Koutei arched a fine black eyebrow at the other two.
“Selective?” Tsuzuki narrowed his eyes. “And how do you propose to do that?” Then it dawned on him. “You want to put a passphrase on the portal so that entry will be determined by one’s answer.”
Lucifer smiled. “Very good.”
“Normally, the portals will open to anyone who knows the password and has a signature crest that is not on the banned list.” Amaya mused. “You, on the other hand, want to make it so that only those whose crests are not blacklisted can call up the door. Then, if they do not answer the question you want to use as a passphrase honestly, the door will remain locked no matter how hard they try to open it. Tricky.”
“Tricky… but not impossible.” The black-clad man began drawing patterns in the air with his gloved hands. “Here’s what I’m thinking… we form the exclusive protection spell but exchange these characters,” he pointed at the ones that form the details for the door. “With these ones.” He traced out new words: signature crest instead of incantation, summon in place of open, seal in place of close, and examine over password.
“Don’t use examine.” Amaya held up her index finger and began tracing out a different set of symbols instead. “You’ll want to insert a different sequence altogether in place of a password.” Slowly, silvery characters representing the long version of the trial spell. “Specify ‘honesty’ as the object in question, and ‘crosscheck heart with answer’ as the method.”
“Aa.” Lucifer nodded. Spell-casting was the water shushou’s forte and he followed her advice, revising the spell he had just crafted.
“Also, you might want to leave the password characters in there. Let them summon the door by drawing their crest into a stone tablet or something; the password itself is the trial we put them through by asking our question,” suggested Tsuzuki. He rearranged several of the lines, and put back the appropriate characters in a flaming gold color. Surveying their work, he looked vaguely pleased. “If they answer the question truthfully and honestly, and they are not entering Hades for their own selfish purposes, they will be admitted. Of course, this will extend to the Circle and the Thrones as well.” Despite the seriousness of his words, Tsuzuki couldn’t help snickered at the thought of the looks on Elysium’s highest-ranked beings if the door saw fit to reject their answers.
//And of course my brother’s chagrin provides much amusement for you.// Amaya mentally smacked the young man for it.
“Ow…” Rubbing at the invisible bruise, he threw a mild hurt look back at her. “You don’t have to be mean about it.”
Ignoring his shushou’s antics, the Koutei simply looked thoughtfully at their work. “Perhaps a warning ought to be in order… it would be wise to make this spell go both ways and have the Circle put in a similar control on entry into this realm as well.”
“And who gets to be the unlucky messenger?” Amaya raised a pale blonde eyebrow. In unison, Lucifer and Tsuzuki exchanged looks and then looked back to her. At that, the hydrokinetic rolled her eyes. //Oh please… just because he’s my brother doesn’t mean I’ll do it.//
At that, Lucifer engaged her cajolingly, “I’m sure that they’ve discussed this already and that this won’t be a novel idea. It’s not like you’re telling them we retracted our agreement, although I would think that Ambriel and Rosiel would be rather pleased if that were to happen.” Seeing that she still looked rather miffed about the idea, he switched tactics. “Pretty please? I’ll assign your paperwork to Tsuzuki.” Lucifer grinned. //It’ll free up quite a bit of time… especially since you won’t have to stay up so late at night to do them…//
“Hey! You can’t just do that! I have enough to get through as it is!” protested the other man weakly.
“Hm…” Lucifer pretended to look thoughtful. “You’re right. I suppose we can compensate you as well.” He leered lightly at him.
Knowing full well what the taller man had in mind, Tsuzuki suddenly flushed as deeply as the red in his hair. “Er… on second thought, maybe I’ll just do the paperwork.”
The water wielder was on her feet in a flash and reappeared quite effortlessly in front of him. //Are you sure about that… Tsuzuki?// Her mental voice fairly purred at him, something she would never do in real life. The switch in her demeanor would have been unsettling to anyone who were unfamiliar with her temperament, but the two men were had long since become used to it. Of course, they were among the few privileged enough to see her break out of her stoic façade occasionally, and she was clearly in a playful mood now, her misgivings forgotten and out of mind.
Although it should have been impossible, her target turned even redder. “Your stitches.” He gulped audibly. Unable to contain his amusement any longer, Lucifer burst out laughing and despite his obvious embarrassment, Tsuzuki still did his best to nail his Koutei with an evil glare. “Somehow I doubt we’re getting that portal done anytime soon… or that the trip back as a matter of fact.” Eyeing the other two’s combined agreement at his words, he sighed. “I don’t suppose the doors come with locks do they?”
oOo
“Impressive, you managed to push me out of your brother’s mind… it’s too bad really that you didn’t let me linger in your own for much longer after that. You have a most delicious mind, my dear.”
Again, soft caresses ran down her cheek, as above her, golden eyes gazed intently. Oh yes, her eyes were closed in slumber, but the heat from the gaze was palpable on her pale skin.
“It’s too bad I didn’t think of doing this a thousand years ago. But then again, isn’t a drawn out game always more fun?” A feral grin. “I already had your brother within my grasp… a second time shouldn’t so hard. And then… it’ll be your turn. Like brother like sister, won’t that be sweet?” Demented laughter echoed through her mind and she tossed, trying to muffle it to no avail. “Do what you want, but it won’t be long before you’re mine too… and soon after that, I will have both realms under my command.” There was most definitely a gleeful undertone to the ominous words. “And then…”
Suddenly the pressure against her cheek increased, and the fingers turned, digging sharp nails into her skin. A second hand enclosed her throat simultaneously, cutting off her airways. Deep laughter echoed in her ears as she struggled hard to breathe, feeling consciousness rush forth into her mind.
“Why wake up? You should just sleep there and keep dreaming… I can give you nice dreams… besides, once I’m through with you and your beloveds, you’ll wish it was all just a dream—“
“Amaya!”
“’Aya!”
She twisted, jerking awake quite suddenly at the insistent shaking of her shoulders. Her deep blue eyes flew open and for a brief moment, the world remained dark. Then, as sight returned to her, she could make out the shapes of the other two Fallen surrounding her on either side. Her breathing slowed down, although as the adrenaline faded, it hitched again when she felt a stab of pain. She winced, and Lucifer’s sharp black eyes followed her own as she looked down to see her bandages seeping through with blood again due to the now-torn stitches.
“… what happened?” queried Tsuzuki softly. He moved closer, pulling her against him so that her side would be exposed to the black-haired man, who promptly leaned in and began concentrating on forcing the stitches to redo themselves. It was painful since she was awake this time, but she gritted her teeth and clenched her fist in the sheets. “You started tossing and turning like you were possessed. We woke up at once, but it took us a good amount of time to wake you up, which never happens.”
“Gold… eyes…” ground out Amaya while Lucifer finished the last touches on the stitches. Feeling his power recede from her body, she released the breath she didn’t know she had been holding in and tried to focus on the nightmare she had just had. Strangely, although it had been intense, she couldn’t remember a thing about it, which was also quite unusual. She frowned. “I don’t remember…”
“There’s no other presence in the room either…” noted Lucifer. “I couldn’t feel anyone else in the room while we were trying to wake you up… that was the first thing I searched for.”
“Gold eyes huh?” Tsuzuki gazed down at her. “Like Kamui and Subaru?”
“Darker… as if the gold had been tarnished by something and lost its brilliance.”
Digesting that fact, the three of them sat in silence and contemplated the recent turn of events ever since they got the invitation to return to Elysium for the meeting. First the golem attack, then Kai’s possession, and now the nightmare. It was clear that there was a third force at work here, playing both sides of the divide as if they were puppets on a string. The thought of not knowing what lay ahead was disconcerting, and in Lucifer’s case, he could not help but think back to Kagami’s warning that a dangerous storm was brewing, one that could result in a huge catastrophe and wipe out everything as they knew it if they failed to choose correctly. He clenched his fists unconsciously, and it wasn’t until he felt a soothing touch from Amaya that he realized he’d pressed his nails into his palm so hard that he’d drawn blood.
Knowing that Lucifer's mind was preoccupied with other thoughts, the blonde remained silent and lifted his hands to her face. Then, as he watched without really seeing what she was doing, she placed gentle kisses along the cuts, closing them up with just a touch of her power. At that the Koutei was pulled back to the present and he refocused his black gaze on her. It was a rare display of affection on Amaya’s part and the black-haired man instinctively drew her nearer to him in an equally silent, yet grateful response. As the pyrokinetic was still gently cushioning most of the blonde’s weight, Lucifer’s act resulted in Tsuzuki being pulled along with her as well. It would have been a sweet sight to see had it not been for the disturbing circumstance that had brought it about. Despite the uneasy fluttering of their minds over the recent turn of events, exhaustion caught up with them eventually and they drifted off into an uneasy slumber when the first rays of sunlight first began to graze the horizon.
mellow
thoughtful
sleepy
shocked sleepy
surprised
blank
impressed
exhausted
amused