"Oh, Yuuka, Yuuka, we can!" He proclaims callously pushing the girl away from him. "You wanted the sword, didn't you? It was your desire that led us here. That filled the map." The real show was happening on the other side of the wall. He wish he could've joined that instead...
"Oh," he adds, "Don't call me that name. You can call me...Akurai. Yes, Akurai will do." He didn't even try to hold back his laughter now.
"It's curious," he muses, "I never knew a place like this existed in the Castle. Full of pointies and stabbies. Oh, Yuuka, look at this one!" He grabs an axe - elongated, oddly shaped - and stares at it for a minute. He recognized this one; it gave birth to him all that time ago. He looks to the next, a spear as thin as a needle quickly tossing it to the side. Then, he makes his way to the pedestals. "Ohhh," he grins, "It must be one of these!" One by one, he haphazardly takes each weapon from the pedestals and examines them closely looking for the one Yuuka was looking for. If he was where he thought he was, maybe he could see their pedestals too. They would need to be quick if they wanted to avoid punishment. That is exactly why Akurai would end up taking his time. "Oh, is it this one, Yuuka?" He would take another weapon off of its pedestal one by one, sure to make ruckus along the way.
The dreamer nearly fell as Akurai shoved her away, confusion creasing her brows. He wasn't masquerading as Yukai-- no, he never was. After catching herself by a chest, she analyzed the other, barely keeping a steady breath.
Akurai. Not Yukai.
She shook her head, both to answer his question, and to express her denial of the Nightmare itself. He was so noisy, it mirrored the commotion beyond the door.
When was it going to open?
"Not Ergo, not Pinocchio, either." She insisted, weapon names rolling off the tongue naturally rather than read off any of plaques. She pushed herself up, once again standing as she clutched painfully at her chest. "You can't," She gasped, "It isn't here. The map is old."
Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to calm the burning, silence the screaming mixed with gurgles, bubbling-- up and out it splattered, the contents of her stomach, the tea she consumed. She had swiftly leaned down as not to launch it, liquid remnants dripping off her chin. The pain, the discomfort didn't feel like it would stop there.
"Akurai," She spit, her fingers wiping at the residue. "Akurai, Takuto said, we have to go back. Yuuki won't, we can't." Pleads, as if Akurai even knew the way back. She didn't care if she had to pry the man away from the weapons, but they had to leave. They had to leave before the doors opened-
"Ergo? What the fuck are you on about, kid?" he growls as he throws another weapon about. It...wasn't here? No, no. That couldn't be right. The sword had to be here because Yuuka's heart had shown the way. Yuuka's heart-
Yuuka's heart.
An absurd laughter overtook the nightmare as it set in. And in tandem, her suffering began. Akurai makes his way back toward her, swabbing a bit of the tea from her face and giving himself a taste. "Oh, very clever," he thought aloud at the taste. "Very clever. But I doubt something like that will be enough to protect her, my dear friend. The power of dreams mean nothing here any longer."
"Takuto? Why should I care what a -" His voice was interrupted by the door.
As the double set of doors opened inwards, a head soared inside, splattering at the other end on a wall. Blood stained upon impact as the head fell, rolling under a table and out of sight. In strolled the enraged queen, followed by several of her impish servants and a single red-headed guard. Either he believed the two inside the weapon room to be harmless, or thought that was where the two belonged in the first place, given he hadn't moved out of line from the rest of the party. The servants all seemed to be her maids, no butlers in sight. Skeptical looks were exchanged between them, whereas the guard only brought a hand out from under his cloak and yawned.
Yuuka flinched as the queen discarded a blade to the floor, harshly scratching marble as it clattered to a stop. The woman hardly paused for the two, and instead glanced over them as if they were nothing more than décor to the room themselves. Yuuka took a step back, summoning whatever strength she could as to not gasp or shake.
"Bring the javelins, the halberd, and a bastard sword." The queen demanded, effective immediately as the servants went to collecting the weapons. One pink-haired servant rushed over to the bloodied head, only giving the outsiders a cautious, yet sympathetic glance on her way.
"Rose, summon Ginza to reorganize this space. She's taken far too many pieces of worth home and I'm sick of it." She hissed, noting one of the emptied displays. Without skipping a beat, the pink-haired maid bowed before shuffling herself away, leaving the severed head for another servant to retrieve. Yuuka wordlessly pleaded to the maid to take her with her, and would've gladly followed her as well--
A shiver of excitement ran down The Nightmare's body as she walked in and his eyes widened. A fascination overtook the dream as he witnessed the bloodshed, witnessed such perfection before him. He lets off a soft squeal in harmony with Yuuka's flinch as he stood wordless before the red queen. He dared not to speak until addressed.
"L-L-LADY LILLITH!" a giddy exclamation of ecstacy as he bows awkwardly before her. "Yes, my queen, yes! It is I! I am Leviath... I am Leviath's servant between worlds, yes, I am! I have brought a package for him, I wasn't expecting-"
He was again interrupted. This time by the clacking footsteps of the dress shoes of a man approach from the door behind. Almost all other noise seemed to disappear as though even-keeled footsteps slowly grew closer . Between each one, an incontrollable giggle escaped as he waited in anticipation for his approach. Akurai scoots across the floor to Yuuka, pulling her closer to him from the scruff of her shirt. "Ohh, here they are, Yuuka, here they are!"
At the doorframe, the figure stopped to slowly look throughout the room. He is well-kept, a serious look on his face. Carefully, he ambulates over towards the decapitated head, peeking under the table and taking off one of his gloves to examine it closer.
"This death was a mercy, my love," his soft voice echoed throughout the room as he turns to her with a gentle smile on his face. It didn't really matter; it was probably the first of many. "Don't worry about the boy. He is part of my...affairs." His attention fixes to Akurai as a chill is sent up his spine. The devil's smile was all but gone the moment it left Lillith's face.
"M-master," he speaks, "This is...Yuuka Kokoro. Missus Kokoro's half."
After a pause, he bends over to set down the head, put his glove back on, and finally dug around his coat pocket to check his pocketwatch. After a brief deliberation, he places it gracefully back into his pocket before turning to her.
"You." A powerful tone of voice. "You are the one, aren't you? Yuuki Kokoro?"
The Nightmare raises his hand and dares to stand up. "Actually, sir, her name is Yuuka. Yuuk - A. With an A."
He turns to her, examining her and the tea at her feet. He makes his way over to her again with that calculated, slow pace. He grabs her arm with care and stares at the veins on her forearm, placing a finger on them.
"You are certain your name is Yuuka Kokoro? I would be careful about lying, little bird. Liars are liable to receive certain punishments." He makes a vague gesture to the head he had set down moments ago.
The queen's brow raised at the boy's stuttering, but Yuuka couldn't hold her attention on the two. With a clean sleeve, she wiped away the remnants of tea on her face, hiding her gasps behind a hand.
She practically yelped as Akurai pulled her down, already unsteady on her feet. She squirmed out of his grasp as best she could, for a moment-- before becoming quickly overwhelmed by the rulers' aura. Her legs gave out beneath her, and with the help of the Nightmare's pull, she fell fully to the ground with him.
Could none of them there feel it? Their voice held power itself, but the harshness of their very presence was splitting. They dragged her brain in different, muddied directions. But Yuuki, Yuuki was covering her eyes-- no, clawing at her eyes? It was all so confusing, she couldn't tell.
Yuuka jumped, her stomach in her throat as Leviath held up her arm. What was he doing? Was he asking for something?
"What's the point in bringing her back if it's not the right one?" Lilith growled, a second before the girl could even speak. That had given her a chance to remember, a moment to focus. Center the pain. The queen glared over at the groveling mess, and Yuuka had to resist the miniscule urge to join her, after he dragged her into this mess.
"Yuuka is Yuuka. Yuuki is..." She gulped, hesitating as she searched for a proper answer. Nothing felt right, but Yuuki's hand remained at the edge of her vision, holding onto her from behind."With Yuuka." Gently, she tried to pull her arm away from him, knowing it was futile. The head, the threat-- she didn't need to see it to know her stakes. Instead, brightened eyes met that of the King's, and somehow, the pain immediately dulled.
Leviath's eyes glazed over the young girl considering several theories about her at once. He quickly shoots back a reassuring smile to his love before beginning to dig his fingers into her skin. His nail carefully dives down into the girl's skin until it pierces the vein causing blood to spill out. His hand moved without regard to her pain, but with impeccable efficiency and speed. Akurai squeals in the background and recoils at the sight.
The daemon king brings his bloodied hand to his nose and gives Yuuka's blood a long inhale. His eyes widened. "She smells of you, my love," he returns his attention to Lilith in a heartbeat, grabbing her hands in his. "And Yuuki is with her too. Perhaps you need a new pet?"
Akurai begins to laugh behind him, but Leviath's gaze does not leave from Lilith's eyes. "Father! Have you really not realized it yet? She even said it! She said it!"
With a glare, he looks back at the nightmare with disdain. "What might that be then?"
Akurai's laughs continue between his shit-eating grin. "Oh, you'll find out soon! Yes, you will. Once you tear her apart and skin her like a rabbit! Make her intestines outtestines! You will find her source," he faded to a muted whisper, "and maybe Yuuki will be there as well. A two-for-one deal."
It was clear Leviath was used to his antics; he had paid his comments no mind at all. He reaches into his coat pocket, looking at a golden pocketwatch and considering the time. There was still time. "Well. What do you think, my dear? Yuuka Kokoro from Solarisclan. Could she hold it?"
Teetering the edge towards total irritation, Leviath's hand held her back from falling completely. Her other half, so focused, so alluring, her everything. Gently, she placed a hand on his cheek as he glanced down at his pocketwatch. From there, she guided a finger down to his chin, lifting his gaze back up to hers.
She hadn't been paying any attention to what the loon had been saying, honestly. At least, not to the point where she could follow his bothersome riddles. Whereas Leviath might've decoded his speech, Lilith had only heard that which was directed at her specifically.
"Another one of your charming projects? I don't see why not. You make the impossible possible, my miracle." The queen's voice ended barely above a whisper as she closed in the space between them. She slid her finger down to his chest, stopping only when she leaned in close, softly pressing her lips to his.
It was only momentary, though. She leaned back after, casting a quick glance over her other's shoulder.
Annoying.
The young one was clutching her arm in close, pulling once again at the Nightmare. If Leviath hadn't momentarily quelled her-- If Leviath hadn't mentioned how similar she smelled to herself, maybe she would've struck at the brat. Get rid of their tiresome company, and be alone with themself.
As her finger runs down his chest, Leviath lets loose a small moan of anticipation as he suddenly pulls her into a tight, passionate embrace. His hand runs up her hair as he greedily swipes another kiss before pulling away. He takes his bloodied hand to his love's lips, tracing each with the dripping red liquid as though it were lipstick. After he finished coating her lips, the devil sticks in his finger coated with the flavor, gently penetrating her mouth.
"What a sweet thing you are." He concludes giving her a caress on the cheek. "Very well."
The king turns to Akurai. "You are sure she is here? Really here?"
"Y-yes! at least i believe so. Yuuki is a different story. Not the type i can read."
"Hm. Then it seems we have a family reunion on our hands."
The king turns to Yuuka, determination placed on his face. "Yuuka Kokoro, is it? Or. Would you rather me call you mother?" he scoffs. "It is past time for you to experience the rivers of blood you cost me." He pulls Yuuka close to himself with one hand with the force of a god grazing his other down from her neckbone to her chest. He rested it there for a moment feeling her beating heart and urging for Lilith to do the same. "To think you would come so willingly to my doorstep like this under the pretense of Yuuki Kokoro. Just how long were you planning on running away from me?"
Utter confusion. Whatever the King rattled on about, her eyes painfully pleaded with the Castle staff, even the nightmare to get her out, take her home--
"Akurai-"
Her breath hitched as Lilith's nails traced down to her chest, meeting with Leviath's. Except Lilith had pierced through fabric, reaching for flesh and skin under what should only be a dream.
Why did it hurt when she was only supposed to be sleeping? Why didn't Takuto tell her what would happen if she went looking? Why couldn't she breathe?
"I don't know-" She gasped, yanking her arm away from him. "I don't know any of it-" She twisted, trying to contort her body somehow away from the two. She fought the new grip on her waist, the claws digging into her, and the scratching out. "The river is a dream, and the house, and the fishermen, and the sword, and you, too. Dreams don't make sense, so Yuuka doesn't know."
The confused girl's words were of no concern to Leviath. He simply began to move his hand deeper beneath her skin tearing her flesh and muscles as though she were a soft pillow. Deeper and deeper his hand went sifting through her chest until he reached the top of her ribcage. With a surgical snap,, he pulls the first of her many bones from her body. Once he had retrieved it, he lets go of her leaving her exposed lung to breathe, feeling the fires of hell against her exposed organ. If she were lucky, one bone would be enough to prove her the sword he imagined her to be.
He takes the bone and creates a deep laceration from the palm of his hand up to the joint of his elbow following his cephalic vein perfectly. So deep he went in anticipation that his entire arm almost split in two. His blood flows as a river, as does Yuuka's, seeming to flow for an eternity. Akurai remains completely silent at the sight.
He turns his attention back to Lilith with a smile on his face. The pain was hardly visible behind his eyes as he handed her the bloodied bone, placing it gently in her hand. "If it is truly her," he speaks, "we shall dance on her body and make love as we never have before. Lilith, my eternal love, open yourself to me."
If she was the sword that had separated the two, finally, his search would come to an end. And finally, he and Lilith could be together without interruption.
Whatever semblance of a smile that was on the queen's face faded, replaced by that of a slight scowl. It was clear she didn't fully agree with his request, however, she complied. She flipped the bone in her hand, acquainting herself with the feel of his tool while more blood collected around them. A puddle was too large of a comparison to her beginnings; their collective blood spilt was no larger than a mere droplet of that. But the symbols were familiar- etched on the bone- matching that of their own rivers.
Perhaps it was possible.
With her free hand, she grazed her nails against the bone, sharpening it further. After shaping it into a true and proper weapon, she brought it down on the buttons of his suit, parting the jacket as she clawed away the shirt beneath it, tearing away the sleeves by whatever force necessary. He was left with only tattered pieces still on his frame, save for his pants left untouched and his tie tossed aside.
Giving glance to the heaving mess on the floor, she bent down and yanked her upwards by her hair, dropping the bone in the process. Of course, she disregarded the blood trailing out of her mouth-- instead, she was much more interested in the gaze the her eyes held, the gateway to what would otherwise be a soul, given that the sword's form would contain it.
Blue. A blue so deep no light could get through, hazed over with pain-
"Hmph. Always so complicated." The queen complained, drawing a finger around one of the tool's eyes. Yuuka squirmed against her, gasping desparately as she tried to gain any footing, but slipped.
Out came her eye along with its nerve, torn from the source. The scream hardly lasted with air Yuuka could barely contain, losing her fight. Lilith chuckled, slipping the eyeball into her mouth as she continued to dig a finger in deeper, searching-- but she didn't need to search further. As Lilith bit down on the eye itself, she was met with a hardened crunch, blood swelling into her mouth as liquid leaked from the eyeball.
It burned, but not as she expected. Iron tasted sweet, yet hot as it slid down her throat, boiling her insides, a euphoric warmth that she'd forgotten the feeling of: Holiness.
While she crunched the glass-like shards of the eyeball in her mouth, she plucked out its pair. A present for Leviath, once they were whole again.
Rising to her feet with both the eyeball and bone per hand, she finally dragged the weapon along her own arm, carving symbol after symbol with swift and natural accuracy. To become bloodier, messier-- up her arm, through fabric as she trailed it to her other hand, then up and around her neck.
"There is only one true love." All irritation vanished with her final words, bringing the sharpened bone to her tongue. Crimson filled her mouth as she dropped the tool, it clattering to the marble ground beneath them. She pressed her lips to his, forcing them apart as blood seeped and spilled between them both. A mess of fluids as she reached for his arms, his hands-- becoming connected as her flesh began to melt onto his, burning and fusing the two to become one once more. Bones cracked and fell, the excess of her body giving out and crippling before him.
Glass eye was shoved into Leviath's hand as she melted, sizzling into a form once abandoned.
"You must know exactly what we are. Those chosen by the Goddesses. Those destined to live and die again and again. Discarded like toys whenever they get bored or consumed by their affairs." I don't think anyone else knows or sees it. I have been trying to come up with a name for them. Their souls are special, consecrated by those who see their utility. What have I come up with? Well, when you see them and their connections, it can be overwhelming. They feel magical. They mean so much that they cannot be lost even between worlds. Connected by something through time and space impossible for mortals to understand. So, I simply call them
Mystical souls.
Leviath hungrily leans into her kiss, biting and ripping pieces of His Love like a feral beast as she begins to melt. The hot fires of their love emitted a bright flash of light. In an instant, the bloody mess was purged from their body coating the walls and the floors in their place. Their figure was naked, genderless, and vulnerable. On their knees, they hold gently on the forming blade, barely connected by nerves to Yuuka's body. Slowly, they open their eyes to reveal beautiful gold irises. They carefully rise with purpose as the white wings on their back begin to unfold. Spotless yet crooked as though the bone holding them together had been completely broken. Their feet splash in the blood on the floor as they reapproach Yuuka's body. They gently grab the arm of the collapsed girl's body giving it a reassuring caress with a smile on their face. "To think. The dream saw it before me." The frustration was evident on her face. They move their hand, re-coordinating their actions in the heavenly body they had long since lost. As long as they could take this form, then...
Their eyes stared right at the girl's soul.
"Yuuka Kokoro." He speaks in a monotone voice. "Rejoice. Today, your soul will become something much greater."
The one of fate in all likelihood. They looked similar enough. He reached his hand forward to her chest once again to begin... but felt nothing but a cloud before her.
A crying, shivering dream had thrust himself on top of the girl. Defensively, he clutched her bloodied body and held himself over her chest. Through hyperventilating breaths, he spoke, "D-don't! Don't touch Yuuka!"
"Huh? The dream? You are still alive?" Annoyed, Leviath grabs the pest by his collar and ripped Yukai off of her with gargantuan force, throwing him against the ceiling. As the dream hits the wall, he shatters into millions of pieces, an explosion coursing into every nerve of his body. Nothing but a gory mess is left in his place.
Contented, they return their attention to Yuuka to find--
The dream there again.
Tears of fear and pain run down his eyes as he grips Yuuka tighter in a desperate, futile embrace. "Y-yuuka is just a girl! She likes to sleep a lot and dream a lot! Don't hurt her like this! We were having tea, and she was having so much fun, and she really didn't have a reason to be punished I don't think. I think she will go to heaven because she is so sweet and nice, so please, sir! P-please l-l-l...lord..." The dream's grip loosens around the defenseless body as he brings a hand to his face in a vain attempt to protect himself from whatever came next.
The blade reached his face, and the room was overtaken with his screams. Carefully, the duo carved the symbols into his body, the pain beyond anything he had experience before. Time past as the symbols were traced on the dream from head to toe. He used every inch of his strength to hold himself over Yuuka and her chest as his muscles faded in and out of extreme shock. The screams continued as he shouts over and over again. "Don't hurt Yuuka!" "Don't hurt..." "Don't..." "I'm sorry" "I'm sorry!" "Please..."
In the darkness she felt, she heard. Where she could hardly lift a finger before, newfound strength had managed her to reach up, brushing against fabric and grasping it as tightly as her fist would allow. His voice was Akurai's. His voice was Yukai's?
In the darkness she felt cold. Warmth was leaving her from her chest, from her face. From below her the blood ran cold, the freezing marble stealing any warmth and replacing it with its original frigidness.
In the darkness her pulse echoed, slowing. Each beat was a syllable. Am... Ni... Re...
But there was no pulse, no beat to begin with. Instead, it was a chant. One that only she could hear, it seemed, as it blared into her eardrums. A weak distraction from the rage erupting from the devil themself, the pain emanating from the dream himself.
Where had the fabric gone? Where were his pleads? She could only hear sobs, the cries- but were they her own, or his?
Away from the darkness, she was sleeping. He'd wondered how, with so many lights in her eyes. No matter how many times he called out, shook her, she wouldn't wake. He warned her. Told her not to stray too far, anywhere he couldn't reach. And so he worried, gnawing at the ends of his fingernails; unable to sleep. In a way, she couldn't, either.
