Adapt to Live [Part 4]
Nov. 4th, 2015 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.
Warnings: Side-character death.
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Word count: 2,458
Total word count: 10,061
Status: Work in progress
"Of course I..." M-21 trailed off, dropping their gaze. They could recognise M-09, but they hadn't even looked at M-60. "What-" They couldn't get the words out their mouth. They wanted to know, but were scared of finding out what the answer was. "What are you doing here?" As a demon, and it only looked like M-09 had changed their wings and gained a set of horns and a tail. The rest of their body was the same as M-21 knew them.
Anger flashed across M-09's features as they narrowed their eyes and lifted their lip up in a sneer. "Why are you here, M-21?" Their tail lashed, acting like a whip. "Still looking like that?"
M-21 wasn't supposed to tell the demons anything aside from they were to be their death, but this was a batchmate. "I was-"
"-created for this job," M-09 finished, their hands curled up into fists. "'I was created so I wouldn't change when I passed through the barrier.'" Their voice was mocking. Bitter.
"How did you..." M-09 had been called to serve their Lord long before M-21 had; M-09 shouldn't have known what the Lord had told them. M-21 hadn't told anyone what their Lord had told them, hadn't had the chance to before they'd stood before the barrier and had to walk through it.
"How do you think, M-21?" M-09 flared their wings out, starting to shake. They were gripping their head harder, their breathing going harsher. "I was told the same thing!"
No. "But the Lord-"
"Said I was the only one They'd created, right? Why do you think I'm here?" M-09 glared at them. "This was the task They gave us!"
If the Lord had had given M-09 the same mission. If - not if, when M-09 changed into a demon… Why was M-21 different? They'd been told they'd been created to pass through the barrier without incident, but so had M-09. And the others...
"The Lord abandoned me, M-21!" M-09's voice was raising until they were shouting. "Abandoned us!"
"They - They wouldn't-" M-21 couldn't doubt their Lord. They were they Lord. There had to be a reason why They were doing this.
M-09's face twisted into a snarl. "They sent us here to become demons!"
That couldn't be the reason. Couldn't be, but M-21's core was twisting at the news, the bits of information they had been finding out falling into place.
"How many of our brethren have you seen here already? Our batchmates?"
M-21 didn't say anything, their wings trembling.
"Didn't you ever wonder why you never saw us again?" M-09 roared.
"You'd been given a task by our Lord," M-21 said, and there was an almost growl from M-09. "We thought you were busy."
"You thought we were busy? Hah!" M-09 starting pacing. "You thought we wouldn't think to come visit you again? We were batchmates. If your task had been in Heaven," M-09 said, jabbing a finger in their direction, "would you have forgotten us so easily?"
No. Never. They would have taken any chance however small they had to flit over to their batchmates to check on them. They hadn't forgotten them while they'd been in the physical realm either.
They had thought the others were happy with their Lord given task and hadn't wanted to disturb them.
"Why are you so lucky to not change? To not lose-" M-09 cut themselves off, their lips twists. They flapped their wings, and that had always been the signal M-09 was about to start a spar. "I'll turn you, and then you'll see." See what? And.. turn? The air crackled as M-09 unfurled their aura. "Then you'l know what we went through!"
M-21 summoned their sword, holding it ready even though M-09 hadn't summoned theirs.
M-09 disappeared.
M-21 paused, keeping their sword just in case. Why say that and then flit awa -
Magic buzzed at their back, and M-21 was too slow to whirl around.
Between one second and the next, M-21 found themself shoved to the side, an arm tingling. The air crackled with power and - it was the demon from before, the one who'd tried to get them to fight properly.
"No!" M-09 howled. "Let me change them! Fight with me, not against me!"
"I'm not one of your contracts, ass!" the other demon yelled, and there was the whip in the demon's hands. M-21 hadn't noticed it before, too distracted with the demon to notice it didn't just have one tip but multiple, each crackling with purple lightning.
That demon was still facing M-09. They raised their arm up to strike and no. M-21 couldn't allow that. M-09 may have turned into a demon, but they were still M-21's batchmate.
The demon's head snapped around as M-21 lunged at them, not thinking to even summon their sword. There was no time to. M-21 caught them enough by surprise to make them stumble.
"Ang - shit!" The demon jerked and M-21 scrambled back as M-09 yanked their sword out. M-09 threw the demon away, turning to M-21 again. M-21 flapped, backing away.
Their mission was to kill demons, but M-09 was a batchmate. They couldn't just kill a batchmate with no thought!
Power was building in M-09's hands, but M-21 couldn't move to defend themself. They didn't want to.
Was this what their Lord had been trying to do? Turn Their angels into demons so they would fight each other? Why?
Their Lord couldn't see what was going on - but the connection they had with their Lord...
M-21 couldn't talk to their Lord through the connection, but what if their Lord could see things that M-21 could?
M-09 disappeared and M-21 knew they would appear behind them next but they didn't want to fight, didn't want to defend themself.
Except M-09 appeared right in front of them. M-21 saw them for a second and then the demon's whip wrapped around M-09's throat before they were yanked back.
A snap cracked through the air and M-09's wings faded from view as they thudded to the ground.
M-21 couldn't move, only stare at the body.
M-09's eyes were staring up at the sky, their face slack. From under M-09's sleeve, their mark poked out on their wrist. That had been M-09's body. If that had just been a host, M-09 should have left it when the body died.
But they hadn't.
"Why did you kill them?" M-21 tried to demand the demon, their voice wavering.
"Angel, I thought you said you were trying to kill demons?" the demon asked, pressing a hand to their side. Blood was spreading out from the wound M-09 had given them. "Me killing a demon should make your job easier, right? Unless you don't want anyone else doing your job for you."
"I didn't want you to kill them!" They weren't going to see M-09 again, wouldn't see any of their other batchmates that had been sent here? …Had all of them been sent here?
The demon frowned and unsummoned their whip, watching them. "You were going to let them kill you?"
"They were my batchmate!" M-21 couldn't think, knew it was a bad idea, but they had to do something, direct the wild fire on their chest. They summoned their sword-
The world whirled, their body tingling from the familiar lightning attack.
This time, the demon pressed a hand to their collarbone, pressing them to the rooftop. "So they left Heaven. If that's what they decided-"
"They didn't decide to!" M-21 cut them off. "Our Lord ordered us here." They tried to summon their sword.
Another blast of magic from the demon made them lose their concentration, their sword slipping through their fingers.
"Stop trying to attack me," the demon said, their lips pursed. "I didn't come here to hurt you."
"You came here to kill my batchmate!"
Something flickered across the demon's face, too fast for M-21 to identify.
"I came running because I sensed a fight going on." The demon sighed. "You should stop running away from Loyard and Landegre."
"Didn't run," M-21 said, their eyes drawn to the redness slipping through the demon's fingers. Some dripped out, falling through them and hitting the rooftop. "Seira's downstairs."
"Then stay with them, angel," the demon murmured, giving them a small push. Why did the demon seem worried? Their batchmate had tried to kill them and a demon was looking out for them. When had everything stopped making sense in M-21's world? "They know what they're doing." Far more than M-21 did.
"Okay." And now they were taking orders from a demon instead of their Lord. At this rate, M-21 would turn into a demon.
The demon nodded and then went over to M-09's side.
"…What are you doing," M-21 asked, watching them, but not getting closer.
"You said one of them's downstairs. A dead body discovered here brings people who want to know how it happened." The demon reached out with their unbloodied hand and closed M-09's eyes. "It's better they're not found here." Then they lifted their head, looking at M-21.
"Do you want to say goodbye?"
M-21 gave them a blank look.
"It's…a tradition in some places here. Telling someone who'd died your last thoughts or feelings one way or another. It helps give a bit of closure to the person, might help them feel a little bit better."
Make them feel better. How was that supposed to help when everything M-21 knew was wrong, that they'd just sat by while the rest of their batchmates had been forced to turn into demons? That their Lord had lied to them?
"I don't think it will," M-21 said, turning away and flying back to where Seira was.
The only thing left that was constant in M-21's world was the connection they had with their Lord, and that felt more like a sleeping beast now, ready to take their mind apart at any moment, than a comfort.
* * *
Tao winced as they cleaned up the wound the demon had given hir. It felt worse than it looked, which was good in some ways, but it still hurt.
Ze looked up at the door opening and gave a weak smile to Boss.
"You call this an 'accident'," Boss said, shrugging off their jacket and draping it over the back of a chair before going over to inspect the damage. There had been too many incidents where they'd had to help each other back to where they were staying, trying to not leave a stain all over the floor.
"That was over a text, and I didn't try get in the way of a sword intentionally, you know? The angel surprised me."
Boss sent hir a sharp glance and then focused on the wound again, brushing their fingers close to it.
"The angel was in a fight when I found them," Tao said as Boss opened up their first aid kit. "Turns out the angel didn't want me to kill them."
"I assume the other demon didn't quite feel the same, seeing the state you're in," Boss muttered, pulling out the tools he needed. "How deep?"
"Not much." Ze'd been able to block most of the blow, just not all. "It would have been nice if we did have healing powers," Tao grumbled, preparing for Boss to start sewing hir up. "It would make this a lot easier."
"It's a good thing our bodies are more durable than most, or else you wouldn't be talking right now. Now hold still."
Tao concentrated on other things, staring across the kitchen. "There's something weird going on, Boss."
"Like you jumping into a fight? And worrying me?"
Tao couldn't swat at Boss like ze would have normally done, so ze flapped hir wings instead since that didn't make hir tense hir muscles. "They were in trouble!" Tao sighed. "The angel knew the demon, said they were batchmates." Like Tao and Takeo. "That their Lord had ordered them over here."
Boss paused. "I don't suppose they said who their Lord was?"
"They were a little distracted," Tao said, hearing Boss snip at the suture. By a lot of things.
"Of course." Frankenstein hummed, looking over their work. "It's more important to find out why Heaven is doing there. There's no reason for them to, unless something's changed since we were there."
"It has been a couple of millennia," Tao said, breathing out as Boss stood up. "Thanks."
Boss nodded, brushing their wing to Tao's, since their hands were bloody. "It's still a worrying change of events." Boss straightened, and went to the sink to clean up everything they'd used.
"Mm."
Boss looked at hir over their shoulder, frowning. "If both of you were attacked..."
"The angel's alive."
Boss raised an eyebrow, waiting.
"I made sure they went back to the Loyard." Tao moved to rub the back of hir neck, but stopped, wincing at the sudden movement. "I would have stayed but, well." It was risky trying to stick close and watch the angel when there was a demon hunter right there next to them. Hir presence would cause problem in itself and ze needed to look after hirself too.
Their hands clean, Boss came over again, and gave hir a gentle hug.
Tao exhaled in an exploding breath, wrapping their arms around Boss and clung to them, just needing the feel of a warm body near them again, hearing and feeling Boss's heart thrum through their skin.
"You're to stay in bed," Boss said into Tao's hair.
"Yes, Boss." No moving unless ze absolutely had to. Ze knew the rules, on the occasions Tao hadn't been quite so lucky in a fight. Or the other way around. It did mean breakfast in bed, which was nice.
It would be nice to conk out in bed after everything that had happened though.
* * *
M-21 was numb. Couldn't feel a thing as they followed Seira home.
Seira had pretended that she wasn't feeling that well, and that was another problem they had made with Seira and Regis. Now had forced Seira to lie to her boss.
What was going on? Was everything they knew a lie? Who could they trust? Their Lord? Their batchmates? Or the demons?
"What happened?" Regis said, rushing over to them as they were entering Seira and Regis' home. "I'd sensed a lot of energy." Regis checked them both over and then started to walk in line with them.
"We're fine," Seira told him. "Our friend got into a fight."
This time Regis sent them a sharp look, and M-21 felt another pang as they continued to follow. The two couldn't even talk in public about them, that was the extent of their isolation.
__________________________________
I don't think this'll go past 30k, haha. Ah well.
Summary: After leaving Heaven and turning into a demon, Tao was sure things had settled to some kind of normality. The angel coming down and not turning into a demon wasn't something Tao thought ze would ever see.
Warnings: Side-character death.
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Word count: 2,458
Total word count: 10,061
Status: Work in progress
"Of course I..." M-21 trailed off, dropping their gaze. They could recognise M-09, but they hadn't even looked at M-60. "What-" They couldn't get the words out their mouth. They wanted to know, but were scared of finding out what the answer was. "What are you doing here?" As a demon, and it only looked like M-09 had changed their wings and gained a set of horns and a tail. The rest of their body was the same as M-21 knew them.
Anger flashed across M-09's features as they narrowed their eyes and lifted their lip up in a sneer. "Why are you here, M-21?" Their tail lashed, acting like a whip. "Still looking like that?"
M-21 wasn't supposed to tell the demons anything aside from they were to be their death, but this was a batchmate. "I was-"
"-created for this job," M-09 finished, their hands curled up into fists. "'I was created so I wouldn't change when I passed through the barrier.'" Their voice was mocking. Bitter.
"How did you..." M-09 had been called to serve their Lord long before M-21 had; M-09 shouldn't have known what the Lord had told them. M-21 hadn't told anyone what their Lord had told them, hadn't had the chance to before they'd stood before the barrier and had to walk through it.
"How do you think, M-21?" M-09 flared their wings out, starting to shake. They were gripping their head harder, their breathing going harsher. "I was told the same thing!"
No. "But the Lord-"
"Said I was the only one They'd created, right? Why do you think I'm here?" M-09 glared at them. "This was the task They gave us!"
If the Lord had had given M-09 the same mission. If - not if, when M-09 changed into a demon… Why was M-21 different? They'd been told they'd been created to pass through the barrier without incident, but so had M-09. And the others...
"The Lord abandoned me, M-21!" M-09's voice was raising until they were shouting. "Abandoned us!"
"They - They wouldn't-" M-21 couldn't doubt their Lord. They were they Lord. There had to be a reason why They were doing this.
M-09's face twisted into a snarl. "They sent us here to become demons!"
That couldn't be the reason. Couldn't be, but M-21's core was twisting at the news, the bits of information they had been finding out falling into place.
"How many of our brethren have you seen here already? Our batchmates?"
M-21 didn't say anything, their wings trembling.
"Didn't you ever wonder why you never saw us again?" M-09 roared.
"You'd been given a task by our Lord," M-21 said, and there was an almost growl from M-09. "We thought you were busy."
"You thought we were busy? Hah!" M-09 starting pacing. "You thought we wouldn't think to come visit you again? We were batchmates. If your task had been in Heaven," M-09 said, jabbing a finger in their direction, "would you have forgotten us so easily?"
No. Never. They would have taken any chance however small they had to flit over to their batchmates to check on them. They hadn't forgotten them while they'd been in the physical realm either.
They had thought the others were happy with their Lord given task and hadn't wanted to disturb them.
"Why are you so lucky to not change? To not lose-" M-09 cut themselves off, their lips twists. They flapped their wings, and that had always been the signal M-09 was about to start a spar. "I'll turn you, and then you'll see." See what? And.. turn? The air crackled as M-09 unfurled their aura. "Then you'l know what we went through!"
M-21 summoned their sword, holding it ready even though M-09 hadn't summoned theirs.
M-09 disappeared.
M-21 paused, keeping their sword just in case. Why say that and then flit awa -
Magic buzzed at their back, and M-21 was too slow to whirl around.
Between one second and the next, M-21 found themself shoved to the side, an arm tingling. The air crackled with power and - it was the demon from before, the one who'd tried to get them to fight properly.
"No!" M-09 howled. "Let me change them! Fight with me, not against me!"
"I'm not one of your contracts, ass!" the other demon yelled, and there was the whip in the demon's hands. M-21 hadn't noticed it before, too distracted with the demon to notice it didn't just have one tip but multiple, each crackling with purple lightning.
That demon was still facing M-09. They raised their arm up to strike and no. M-21 couldn't allow that. M-09 may have turned into a demon, but they were still M-21's batchmate.
The demon's head snapped around as M-21 lunged at them, not thinking to even summon their sword. There was no time to. M-21 caught them enough by surprise to make them stumble.
"Ang - shit!" The demon jerked and M-21 scrambled back as M-09 yanked their sword out. M-09 threw the demon away, turning to M-21 again. M-21 flapped, backing away.
Their mission was to kill demons, but M-09 was a batchmate. They couldn't just kill a batchmate with no thought!
Power was building in M-09's hands, but M-21 couldn't move to defend themself. They didn't want to.
Was this what their Lord had been trying to do? Turn Their angels into demons so they would fight each other? Why?
Their Lord couldn't see what was going on - but the connection they had with their Lord...
M-21 couldn't talk to their Lord through the connection, but what if their Lord could see things that M-21 could?
M-09 disappeared and M-21 knew they would appear behind them next but they didn't want to fight, didn't want to defend themself.
Except M-09 appeared right in front of them. M-21 saw them for a second and then the demon's whip wrapped around M-09's throat before they were yanked back.
A snap cracked through the air and M-09's wings faded from view as they thudded to the ground.
M-21 couldn't move, only stare at the body.
M-09's eyes were staring up at the sky, their face slack. From under M-09's sleeve, their mark poked out on their wrist. That had been M-09's body. If that had just been a host, M-09 should have left it when the body died.
But they hadn't.
"Why did you kill them?" M-21 tried to demand the demon, their voice wavering.
"Angel, I thought you said you were trying to kill demons?" the demon asked, pressing a hand to their side. Blood was spreading out from the wound M-09 had given them. "Me killing a demon should make your job easier, right? Unless you don't want anyone else doing your job for you."
"I didn't want you to kill them!" They weren't going to see M-09 again, wouldn't see any of their other batchmates that had been sent here? …Had all of them been sent here?
The demon frowned and unsummoned their whip, watching them. "You were going to let them kill you?"
"They were my batchmate!" M-21 couldn't think, knew it was a bad idea, but they had to do something, direct the wild fire on their chest. They summoned their sword-
The world whirled, their body tingling from the familiar lightning attack.
This time, the demon pressed a hand to their collarbone, pressing them to the rooftop. "So they left Heaven. If that's what they decided-"
"They didn't decide to!" M-21 cut them off. "Our Lord ordered us here." They tried to summon their sword.
Another blast of magic from the demon made them lose their concentration, their sword slipping through their fingers.
"Stop trying to attack me," the demon said, their lips pursed. "I didn't come here to hurt you."
"You came here to kill my batchmate!"
Something flickered across the demon's face, too fast for M-21 to identify.
"I came running because I sensed a fight going on." The demon sighed. "You should stop running away from Loyard and Landegre."
"Didn't run," M-21 said, their eyes drawn to the redness slipping through the demon's fingers. Some dripped out, falling through them and hitting the rooftop. "Seira's downstairs."
"Then stay with them, angel," the demon murmured, giving them a small push. Why did the demon seem worried? Their batchmate had tried to kill them and a demon was looking out for them. When had everything stopped making sense in M-21's world? "They know what they're doing." Far more than M-21 did.
"Okay." And now they were taking orders from a demon instead of their Lord. At this rate, M-21 would turn into a demon.
The demon nodded and then went over to M-09's side.
"…What are you doing," M-21 asked, watching them, but not getting closer.
"You said one of them's downstairs. A dead body discovered here brings people who want to know how it happened." The demon reached out with their unbloodied hand and closed M-09's eyes. "It's better they're not found here." Then they lifted their head, looking at M-21.
"Do you want to say goodbye?"
M-21 gave them a blank look.
"It's…a tradition in some places here. Telling someone who'd died your last thoughts or feelings one way or another. It helps give a bit of closure to the person, might help them feel a little bit better."
Make them feel better. How was that supposed to help when everything M-21 knew was wrong, that they'd just sat by while the rest of their batchmates had been forced to turn into demons? That their Lord had lied to them?
"I don't think it will," M-21 said, turning away and flying back to where Seira was.
The only thing left that was constant in M-21's world was the connection they had with their Lord, and that felt more like a sleeping beast now, ready to take their mind apart at any moment, than a comfort.
Tao winced as they cleaned up the wound the demon had given hir. It felt worse than it looked, which was good in some ways, but it still hurt.
Ze looked up at the door opening and gave a weak smile to Boss.
"You call this an 'accident'," Boss said, shrugging off their jacket and draping it over the back of a chair before going over to inspect the damage. There had been too many incidents where they'd had to help each other back to where they were staying, trying to not leave a stain all over the floor.
"That was over a text, and I didn't try get in the way of a sword intentionally, you know? The angel surprised me."
Boss sent hir a sharp glance and then focused on the wound again, brushing their fingers close to it.
"The angel was in a fight when I found them," Tao said as Boss opened up their first aid kit. "Turns out the angel didn't want me to kill them."
"I assume the other demon didn't quite feel the same, seeing the state you're in," Boss muttered, pulling out the tools he needed. "How deep?"
"Not much." Ze'd been able to block most of the blow, just not all. "It would have been nice if we did have healing powers," Tao grumbled, preparing for Boss to start sewing hir up. "It would make this a lot easier."
"It's a good thing our bodies are more durable than most, or else you wouldn't be talking right now. Now hold still."
Tao concentrated on other things, staring across the kitchen. "There's something weird going on, Boss."
"Like you jumping into a fight? And worrying me?"
Tao couldn't swat at Boss like ze would have normally done, so ze flapped hir wings instead since that didn't make hir tense hir muscles. "They were in trouble!" Tao sighed. "The angel knew the demon, said they were batchmates." Like Tao and Takeo. "That their Lord had ordered them over here."
Boss paused. "I don't suppose they said who their Lord was?"
"They were a little distracted," Tao said, hearing Boss snip at the suture. By a lot of things.
"Of course." Frankenstein hummed, looking over their work. "It's more important to find out why Heaven is doing there. There's no reason for them to, unless something's changed since we were there."
"It has been a couple of millennia," Tao said, breathing out as Boss stood up. "Thanks."
Boss nodded, brushing their wing to Tao's, since their hands were bloody. "It's still a worrying change of events." Boss straightened, and went to the sink to clean up everything they'd used.
"Mm."
Boss looked at hir over their shoulder, frowning. "If both of you were attacked..."
"The angel's alive."
Boss raised an eyebrow, waiting.
"I made sure they went back to the Loyard." Tao moved to rub the back of hir neck, but stopped, wincing at the sudden movement. "I would have stayed but, well." It was risky trying to stick close and watch the angel when there was a demon hunter right there next to them. Hir presence would cause problem in itself and ze needed to look after hirself too.
Their hands clean, Boss came over again, and gave hir a gentle hug.
Tao exhaled in an exploding breath, wrapping their arms around Boss and clung to them, just needing the feel of a warm body near them again, hearing and feeling Boss's heart thrum through their skin.
"You're to stay in bed," Boss said into Tao's hair.
"Yes, Boss." No moving unless ze absolutely had to. Ze knew the rules, on the occasions Tao hadn't been quite so lucky in a fight. Or the other way around. It did mean breakfast in bed, which was nice.
It would be nice to conk out in bed after everything that had happened though.
M-21 was numb. Couldn't feel a thing as they followed Seira home.
Seira had pretended that she wasn't feeling that well, and that was another problem they had made with Seira and Regis. Now had forced Seira to lie to her boss.
What was going on? Was everything they knew a lie? Who could they trust? Their Lord? Their batchmates? Or the demons?
"What happened?" Regis said, rushing over to them as they were entering Seira and Regis' home. "I'd sensed a lot of energy." Regis checked them both over and then started to walk in line with them.
"We're fine," Seira told him. "Our friend got into a fight."
This time Regis sent them a sharp look, and M-21 felt another pang as they continued to follow. The two couldn't even talk in public about them, that was the extent of their isolation.
I don't think this'll go past 30k, haha. Ah well.