viceofvoices | Of Courts and Courting

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Of Courts and Courting

Traveling beyond enemy borders is no easy feat no matter who you are. It takes some finesse and knowledge and maybe even a generous amount of luck. And if you're trying not to be found? Doubly tricky! But Hild managed. After all, her love life was on the line.

Since their botched wedding, Hild and Krichevskoy went about life much the same way they did before, only now the tensions between their two clans of demons was focused primarily on a third threat: the monsters and lesser demons who had risen up much earlier than anticipated thanks to Hild's secret meddling. And while that meant Hild and Krichevskoy no longer had to get married, it seemed she had less and less time to even spend time with him out of her own free will. War councils and spell preparations, magic training and scouting missions...really, all she wanted to do was sneak away and spend time with...

Pausing under a tree in the forest lining this border of Krichevskoy's kingdom, the cloaked Hild paused and grinned to herself, swept up in the memory of their last encounter. He'd actually kissed her back, which was more than he'd ever done before. Hands to her cheeks, one of the most powerful demons in the universe squirmed in bashfulness as she recalled the event, oblivious to her surroundings.

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He had tried to concentrate on their song for as long as he could. It was something to distract himself with, but that brought the fear within him to a horrible crescendo. It was for the best that he was in the air--he would have been gone in seconds otherwise. Instead the "fight" of fight or flight kicked in, and he could feel something split and separate from him, attacking while he was immobilized.

Something was holding onto him, squeezing him, strangling him in an attempt to stay, and through the dizzied haze of fear and fight and horrible brightness, he was lucky to be aware of anything. It felt like he was burning at some points, at others a terrible, sharp pain pulsed through his head as images filtered in, faster than he could process. It would be familiar if he could get past it all, if he could see past the blur of pain and dizziness in his head.

It was too much.

"S... Stop...!"

Slowly, the wound in his shoulder opened again, first pouring black smoke, then switching between the smoke and blood. The curse's grip might have been loosening, but it was still holding on fast.

Neither Hild or Dagr responded to Krichevskoy, continuing their onslaught. However...

Through the images in his head, Hild appeared. Even as she was casting magic, she had placed a psychic projection in his mind to attempt to soothe his battered psyche. "Krichevskoy..." she called wordlessly, her presence a gentle point of light in the otherwise painful tempest in his mind, as if she were the eye of the storm.

Her loving presence wrapped around him even as, in the physical realm, she and Dagr continued to battle the curse. The god had an extra task for himself as well, making sure the blood Krichevskoy was losing was being regenerated so he wouldn't bleed out.

"We cannot stop now," Hild whispered in Krichevskoy's soul. "Or you will die. Hold on, my love...we are gaining the upper hand."

That calm, steady light... He tried to focus on her alone. He could hardly hear a word she was saying in the chaos, and it was incredibly difficult to see her. He was so dizzy, and it was tempting to allow his consciousness to fade away to stop the dizzying images. The fear was fading, replaced by a numb tiredness. Was it the magic working on him? Was it the incessant battering of familiarity in his head? He didn't know where one started and one began. He'd even somehow managed to shut out the feeling of his skin--or something attached to his skin--tearing from his body.

All he had was that light in his mind.

The music reached its crescendo -- the whole of creation was condensed in that unearthly melody, the fabric of reality humming in resonation. An explosion of golden light, starting from Krichevskoy's floating body, bloomed through the room and over the inn, continuing to expand over the town before fading away.

As beautiful as it was, the climax of the magic also tore the rest of the magic out, evaporating the darkness completely. A wet splash of blood spurted from Krichevskoy as well, but what would have been a fatal, sucking wound was almost immediately closed.

The music faded and Krichevskoy, solid and restored, fell back onto the bed, with a scar in the shape of a pentagram on his arm the only sign of his torment.

Edited 2012-12-28 22:42 (UTC)

Though faint, the light of life still shone weakly in Krichevskoy's eyes. He had focused as hard as he could and for as long as he could, but it was all he could do now to stay awake. Later he would wonder at what had occurred. The blinding, beautiful light, the teamwork of gods and demons, the two working in tandem to save him. He'd look back at the two's interactions with one another and feel pangs of jealousy.

For now, all he really noticed was his normal, flesh-toned skin, and how he felt as though he could sleep forever.

"...finished?" he managed in a faint, hoarse whisper.

Dagr and Hild looked a little worse for wear themselves, both panting for breath and pale. Still, it was nothing compared to having your soul assaulted and put back together. Hild reached down and brushed Krichevskoy's hair from his face.

"Finished. Rest now, darling. You're safe."

Dagr watched the exchange with a completely neutral expression before turning away and heading out of the room without a word. Hild followed with a final glance at the demon on the bed, quietly closing the door behind her.

"...you nearly risked everything, splitting your concentration like that," Dagr said in the hallway after a moment. He lifted his hand to re-attach one of the complex earrings hidden under his hair, and with a brief gust of wind, his power was once again sealed, his appearance back to normal.

Hild leaned against the wall, eyes shut, obviously exhausted. "What purpose would there be in healing his body if his mind was destroyed?" Her voice was soft, weary, yet still somehow petulant in response,

Dagr sighed quietly and took her shoulders in his hands, gazing down at her. "There you go, on the defensive again. I was about to praise you for your quick thinking."

She didn't look up at him, but neither did she shrug away his touch. "What will you tell them?" It seemed his praise was not her priority at the moment.

"The truth. That the decision to open the conduits of inter-dimensional co-existence has been met with the expected risks, but as of yet, things remain in balance."

Hild finally did lift her head, her eyes back to their normal hue as she peered up at Dagr. "...they...they won't demand I step away from his world, will they?" There was a subtle pleading tone in her voice as she looked up at the god.

He smiled and patted her head, brushing back her bangs. "I will do everything I can to assure that never comes up," he said, before embracing her entirely. "...it is, after all, the least I can do."

It was several days before Krichevskoy awoke, and when he did, he felt as though he could still have slept for another week or two. His movements were sluggish, and he kept reaching up, curiously exploring the scar on his shoulder. Sometimes, to some degree, nothing in the room felt real, and he would take the time to press his hand to the walls or the furniture to make sure it was still there, or that he wouldn't fall through.

His head still throbbed from time to time, and he would rub his temples until the flash of familiarity passed.

Krichevskoy looked down with a measure of surprise as his stomach gave a low, gurgling sound. "It appears I am hungry," he said, realizing that it was the first time he had been since he had lost his memory.

The last few days, Hild had also been replenishing her strength. That first harrowing night, still unconvinced that Krichevskoy would be able to recover, she slept next to his unconscious form, protective even in sleep. After it appeared he would be okay, given enough rest, she allowed herself to relax. Unlike Krichevskoy and his demons, Hild's kind generally didn't sleep unless pushed to an absolute brink after a large loss of power, so she'd made use of her time in other ways: investigating the cause of all of this trouble, ordering her demon generals and generally resuming leadership of her clan, but from a distance.

She hadn't expected Krichevskoy to wake for another few days, so when she opened the door, Hild froze in surprise to see him up. "Ah...! You're awake!"

Krichevskoy looked up, blinked a few times, and nodded. "Not for very long. How long have I been asleep?" he asked as he pulled out a chair to sit down on. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell her he was already thinking of going back to bed and napping for another day.

"About five days," she replied, entering to walk towards the window-side table. Said table was cluttered with books and scrolls she'd had delivered, most of them from Krichevskoy's culture. "How are you feeling? Do you remember anything?"

After organizing the mess somewhat, she stepped towards him, concern in her eyes as she took in the sight of his weary appearance.

Krichevskoy shook his head. "I'm not sure. There are things that feel more familiar to me now, but I don't know for certain. It is as though they are just on the cusp of returning, but just far enough away to be out of reach." He sighed. "It would not be as much of a problem if I did not feel as though I needed to write someone, and if I knew who that person was."

She posed confidently, one hand on her hip and the other at her chin. "Fufufu~ I expected this. I had a list of your vassals as well as your family registry delivered." She walked to the nearby table and handed him some papers. "Why don't you look through this while I get you some food? You must be famished."

And then she left, humming happily to herself.

"Ah, thank you," he said, a clear note of surprise in his voice. Krichevskoy sat down and poured over the lists, frowning in concentration. The names triggered a couple memories--some more pleasant than others--but he couldn't say any of them sounded like the person he wanted to write to.

But if it wasn't any of his vassals or a member of his family that he wanted to speak with, who was it?

Hild arrived with a tray of food -- bat soup to restore his health and mana, along with Soma and a slice of shortcake. "Well? Any luck?" She placed the food on the table before sitting as well.

He shook his head. "A few more embarrassing memories, but its none of these people. Were there any more records you were able to find? Anyone else I may have visited that you gathered from speaking with my vassals in the past?"

Krichevskoy took the tray of food thankfully and immediately started digging into the soup. His eyebrows shot up a fraction after the first bite. Whoever it was who had made this was quite talented.

She chuckled, reaching over to pluck the strawberry off his shortcake for herself. "We all have embarrassing moments, my dear. It's good for the humility." Then she sat back in the chair, arms crossed under her chest as she looked up in thought.

"Hmm...I'm afraid I can't think of anything. There's a chance you might have relationships with beings from other realms, I suppose, but I have not been privvy to such information." She grinned. "Most of the information your vassals have given me has been of the blackmail sort of material~"

He had been afraid it would turn out to be something like that. That would probably explain the multitude of embarrassing memories that had returned just by reading his vassals' names--his mind had deemed it important to inform him of the blackmail material each one had on him.

Still, there was something she said that brought up another memory, one of fields and flowers, of calm and serenity. "Other realms... That may be it." The name had yet to come to him, but he did have some vague idea of coordinates. Maybe if he wrote the letter and sent it there...

She watched his face as he struggled to make the connections his brain was trying to give him, her smile fading. Hild then reached across the table again, pulling out a blank scroll of parchment and a pen.

"Here. Why don't you try writing down your thoughts? It might flow easier than you think. Just let it come naturally."

Krichevskoy set the tray of food off to the side for the time being and took the pen in hand, immediately setting work to penning the letter. It rambled in points and sometimes he wondered if his explanations were even making sense, but near the end the coordinates, dimensional gate coordinates, were clear in his head, and he had a vague idea of what the individual he wanted to send the letter to looked like.

It had been remembering Dagr with his power unsealed that had done it. Something within him had recognized that holy aura and silver hair from somewhere, but it seemed it had taken the curse leaving his body for the dots to fully connect. The only thing he didn't have was a name.

Once he had finished, he focused his attention on a nearby candle and reached around for sealing wax that wasn't there. He didn't realize what he was doing until he had fumbled around for it a few times, seemingly working at least half on muscle memory. "Ah." Perhaps he would look for an envelope instead.

"Hild, how familiar are you with dimensional gates?"

"Familiar enough...why?" She stood up and walked around the table, leaning on him without care to his personal space as she peered at the letter. "Do you recall who you wanted to send this to? Ah!" Hild looked shocked, eyes wide.

"Is it a secret lover?"

"Wh, What?! No, of course not! It is just to a friend!" he insisted, nearly choking on his words.

The letter's tone was grave, yet familiar in tone, if not filled with uncertainty. Primarily it described what had occurred nearly a week ago, as well as many apologies for being unable to remember a great deal of information about the recipient. It asked for a meeting, but beyond that, it wasn't anything particularly startling.

"He is but a friend."

She smiled to let him know she'd been teasing him and took the letter from his hands. "Yes, yes...I'll get this to him right away." Rolling it, she rummaged for a hard scroll case among the stacks of books and papers. "But I'm hardly going to leave you alone now." She opened the window with a bright smile, reaching outside...

...and pulling in a figure in dark clothing by their cape. "Gah!" the figure grunted, crumpled to the floor.

"Ma-chan~ As long as you're going to spy on me, you should make yourself useful, wouldn't you say?" Hild's voice was honey poured over ice as she smacked the hard scroll case upside the interloper's head.

The figure stood with a wince, and it was initially hard to tell if they were male or female. Clearly a demon of Hild's race, they had red markings as well, with long, wavy blonde hair and an outfit suited more for practicality than fashion. Their voice, however, sounded female, despite the coarseness of it.

"H-H-Hild-sama!" the aforementioned "Ma-chan" stammered, cowed under Hild's stare. "I wasn't spying, honest! I was making sure this --" and she slanted a scathing glare to Krichevskoy "-- snake wasn't doing anything improper!

Hild lifted a hand and laughed elegantly, slapping the girl upside her head again with the scroll. "How you joke, dear~ Now take this to the Netherworld's dimensional gate and make certain it is delivered properly, yes? You know what will happen if you fail...♥"

"Snake?!" Krichevskoy cried, incensed. "I am hardly a snake, and I would not dare do anything 'improper!' What sort of man do you take me for?!"

Krichevskoy tore a piece off of one of the nearby parchments and quickly scratched down the coordinates for the letter's destination and handed over to "Ma-chan." "Whoever it is currently working the gate will likely have to perform a few... 'bypasses' of sorts in order for the letter to reach, as I recall," he instructed her curtly.

"Anyone can see what a lowly demon you are!" the demon girl immediately snapped back, still rubbing the spot where Hild had smacked her. Equally incensed, she tore the paper from Krichevskoy's hands with a disdainful sniff. "That you would dare consider yourself worthy of the Daimakaicho is proof enough of your poor character!"

Hild, meanwhile, watched with mild interest as the two demons argued. "This Mara will do as the Daimakaicho wishes, but --" she pointed dramatically at Krichevskoy, cape fluttering -- "I will never accept you as Hild-sama's consort!"

"Yes, yes, you've talked too much," Hild finally said, pushing Mara towards the window. "Now be on your way. Watch out for assassins!" And with a push, Mara fell out the window with a cry.

Krichevskoy gave one last huff and stalked back and forth once Mara was gone. "How dare she talk to me like that! I haven't even done a thing to her!" He threw his arms up in frustration. "Snake! She called me a snake!"

He crossed his arms and threw himself into a seat on the bed, effectively ending his hissy fit.

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