27 This and That

The Cheshire arch of the seventh hell, Underland... she heard the call of an old friend and, with a twirl, vanished in a small puff of lilac smoke. It took only a moment for her, as she'd grown powerful enough to forgo the Hall of Exits entirely long ago. In the space of a moment, Charlotte found herself standing upon a floor something like a chessboard, squares of glossy white and matte black alternating in every direction, spotted with tall, quartz pillars at random intervals that rose to a ceiling as soft a blue as the sky just after dawn, when the moon has failed to hang onto its position any longer and, like the last of the soldiers defending the shores, fallen into the earth to rest. The memories that such a thing brought back... men and women falling into the quicksands along the southern border of the wastes, their dying screams ripping into the night with the hate of a thousand beings twenty times their size... yet fall they did, even as more came from behind to crush the opposition, with no choice but to trample the bodies of their fallen brothers and sisters. Truly, a war that could have ended Gods... but Underland, the white forestry, was no joke, in spite of the appearance of Charlotte's queen.

"So, this Hina girl..." Upon the throne sat a most diminutive girl who didn't appear as though she could possibly be older than eight or ten. Long blonde hair fell down her back in a tangled, frizzy mess, and the poofy blue and white gown that she wore was oversized- comically so, practically trying to swallow the child within. "You said you were training her, but what does that mean, exactly?"

"Hina... she's a sweet girl, but I've been implanting many of our tactics in her unconscious while she sleeps. As soon as that part of her is triggered, the girl will transform in every way but a physical one... they're calling her kamigoroshi, up there."

"God killer..." this child nodded, slowly planting the tip of her index finger at the corner of her mouth. "I fear for your future adventures, old friend. It's true that your lover is powerful, yes, but even if she could stand up to the gods themselves, that leaves millions of enemies who could potentially slaughter her if she slips up, not to mention the arch of them all. That woman isn't safe, Charlotte..."

"I'll keep her safe, and so will Emily, Aurelia, Nao. I just can't believe that Nao and Hina haven't figured each other out yet..."

"Indeed, it's a most hillarious story. I can just see it now... Hina will scream; Aika?! Wh-What the hell, why didn't you ever tell me?! I'm not so sure what Nao will say, but she doesn't seem to be jealous, so you'll not have to put her in her place... Do you think it's possible that they actually haven't caught onto who the other is?" This tiny queen smiled, seeming quite amused.

"Actually, that is what I suspect, yes. They've never talked about their pasts much in front of us, for one reason or another... I don't think it would take much to make them spill. Aika was in love with that fox girl when she arrived too, it isn't as if these two were a devoted married couple."

"This is fair. Perhaps I'll pay a visit to their minds as they sleep, hm Charlotte? I'd love to sink my feelers into their pasts and learn a few new things."

"Of course you would," Charlotte laughed softly, shaking her head. "Of course you would, Lu..."

"Hm, do I sense a lick of disrespect? You know as well as I do that this form is only to lull, confuse... perhaps you need to be taught a lesson? I can pick a form more suited to you for that, though, of course, I've been further into your head- and body- than anybody could ever reach~" As Lu spoke, something thick and flexible snapped around Charlotte's ankle and calf, gripping almost painfully.

"Ah, you truly are suited to be the queen of this hell, aren't you~? If this is the road you plan to walk though, I'll need you to lose the child act, the lack of definition in your body is kind of a turn-off~"

"Oh of course Charlotte, I can be your dream girl just as easily as anybody else's~" The strong woman, standing around 171 centimetres tall, nodded with a grin, brushing her glossy hair back and glancing down at the dress that could barely contain her rather... lush, body. "Maybe I'll share my gift with your friends as well, one of these days, and they'll understand why you're so, ridiculously strong~"

"Lu's influence does that to you, h-??!" Charlotte's eyes widened and her lips curled in a smirk as another of the things on her leg took advantage of the fact that her mouth was open.

~~~

Emily stared down two angels, two women without distinguishable features, just barely tanned skin, blonde hair and violently blue eyes. They were attractive, sure, but that couldn't dwell in her mind, not now.

"Go, Emily! Don't fight like an honourable angel, just fuck them up!" Aerendyl cheered from the sidelines, and the angelic women surged forward. Listening to him, Emily tucked her wings in and launched herself into a flip, ducking neatly between the heads of these women and using one of them as a springboard to turn and land on her feet. As the kicked woman staggered away, the other angel lashed toward Emily, but she parried the incoming lance by scissoring her knives, and then filled them with raw electrical power, forcing the angel back with mana that Emily had long since become immune to. The other angel was back, and Emily swept her arm up, twisting sharply to the side and coming around with a punch that rocked her, sent her careening and spinning once, sweeping out her leg to stay upright.

"Back, damn you!" The angel with the lance suddenly went in to spear Emily's chest, and though the Fell Angel twisted, a gash was opened in her shoulder, deep, immediately gushing something like gray ash, very unlike the golden Ichor that had flowed from Hina's wound before.

"Here we go, Charlotte~" Aerendyl muttered, unheard by Emily as the Fell Angel ducked, jumped, spun and hacked downward with force enough to shatter concrete. That angel staggered back, and Emily leveled a kick with her chest, making contact before dodging back and lunging, forcing back the one she'd punched. When this woman was off balance from the force of her parry, Emily ducked and swept the legs, downing this angel... and then she snapped her left wing away from her body, pelting the remainder with her razor feathers and forcing her down as well with no shortage of finesse.

For a moment, she only stood there then, panting softly, looking down at the women at her feet... and Emily's mind wandered back to the days she'd spent as a small, demure borderline lolita before the forty one Succupixies had violated her and mutated her into this curvaceous, absolutely adult form. She'd come so far, now... who'd have thought that the pathetic, weak teenage girl would one day stand up to two angels and survive, even thrive? How had she managed it?

"You did good, Devil Girl!" Aerendyl launched himself and landed beside her, hands in the air as if for a fearful surrender. "We really aren't planning anything big for you just yet, but damn will you be ready, I bet a squad of fifty of humanity's finest soldiers wouldn't be able to grab that fine ass!"

"Ha!" Emily found herself laughing lightly, a bubbly noise that rose from her throat easily. "Not you though, huh?"

"Emily I could grab both cheeks and make them go clap before you could even draw your blades." Aerendyl nodded seriously, but in his azure eyes was a playful gleam.

"Speaking of... I don't mean to get too serious, but what happened... that day, with Hina? I remember you attacking me, and bleeding out but waking up okay... but Hina looked like some kind of otherworldly fallen god, how did you bring her back?"

"Has Hina not filled you in?" Aerendyl blinked calmly, curiously.

"Well, I don't want to pry at her, that had to have been enormously traumatizing... but I do want to know how she came back from such an edge."

"I... alright, that makes sense." Nodding, Aerendyl twirled his blade and tossed it across his chest, stabbing the strange metal into the ground and leaning on the grip of his weapon. "Well, we knew that having sex with her was killing you, but we couldn't really just tell any of you to stop... it wouldn't have been so bad, except that toward the end, when she was having those blackout episodes, her energy was spiking as well, making the effects on you much, much worse. So, we had to kill you and revive you as angels, or at least angels in part, to continue your lives." Aerendyl paused, then shifted slightly.

"Hina... was far gone, but her demon's blood was blending smoothly with her mortal half... she was becoming more humanoid, but wrong. In truth, she could have lived like that, as a demon, and though she would have been insane at times, she could have lived a full and fulfilling life. However..."

"However?" Emily blinked calmly, angling her head a bit and tucking a few stray locks of her blizzard hair behind her pointed ear.

"Look, I actually care about Hina, but I'm not the one calling the shots here. There are plans for her that even I don't know, and all I do know, is that orders were passed down saying she had to become an angel, in part. So as she came out of Henrik's castle, I attacked her. She put up a fight, and she wasn't weak, but I'm a lot stronger than her, and I put her down just like the rest of you."

"Hm. What are you, then, Aerendyl?" Emily laughed softly, really just happy that Hina was alive and well now. "To be so much stronger than her, what could you possibly be? Don't give me any angel or even archangel bullshit... Hina wiped out the Summoned Heroes like it was nothing. She'd become a god and we both know it."

"As far as you know, I'm only an angel, but it's probably likely that there's more than that in my blood. Speaking of, Hina is now a hybrid of several things, if you're unclear. Angel, de-"

"I am clear, thank you. What are you, though, Aerendyl?"

"Determined, aren't you~? I'm many things, truly... but that's a story for another time." Aerendyl walked forward slowly, and into Emily's ear he whispered cryptically; "How about... I lied, I know the plan, but I'm afraid you'll find out much, much later. They say a true leader does not sit on high, but rather walks among his people, will you remember that for me?" He brushed past Emily then and continued walking as her violet eyes rapidly widened, lips parting in a small, stunned "o".

"Hina n-never stood a chance, did she...?!"

"I'm glad you understand, my devilish friend."

~~~

Aurelia collapsed into the clouds, panting and gasping weakly, her four wings- like something out of an otherworldly bible- twitched and flicked as she slowly staggered to her feet. It felt strange... supposedly the trick to standing on the clouds up here was something stupid like believing in yourself. Well, Aurelia didn't doubt the possibility, but she kept falling over in the soft stuff when there wasn't easy stone and dirt to walk in.

"Come on, Aurelia, your species is built for agility! You don't want to land, you want to bounce, keep going... try again girl!"

"I'm tired, Aerendyl... but I'll go."

"Stay strong for me!"

"I'll stay strong for my pet badger," Aurelia whispered in a tone that bordered on sadistic, and dropped off the cloud, allowing herself to sail downward at jarring speeds that a squirrel could survive but an ordinary human could not. Letting Aerendyl's encouragement fade away into white noise, Aurelia simply fell through the air. Light of the dying sun glistening on her barely tanned, sweaty skin, Aurelia closed her eyes and let her mind wander back to a simpler place.

Walking through the forest, that day, Aurelia was nothing but an ordinary Succupixie with powers to match, quite unlike the freak she'd eventually become. Wearing something like a Japanese school swimsuit in black with a diamond cut under her cleavage, she giggled sadistically. Legs clad in both thigh high boots and slightly higher socks crushed gravel underfoot, and her massive coat, which hid her four shimmery, insectoid wings, swayed here, there and all round as she walked. The most notable thing here, though, was the blade at her hip; it belonged to one of the Farrald soldiers, a slightly long blade much like the Tanuki's Claw of the future.

They were following her, of course... they wanted to take back the sword of their fallen brother. Aurelia... well, she wouldn't give into her succubus instincts, but she'd allow herself to indulge in some of her other, some of the urges more demonic in nature.

"Ah, I'm so, so sorry!" Aurelia whined like some kind of helpless child as the first of the soldiers burst through the tree line to her left, using his comrade's blade to separate head from body and then upper half from lower in the space of a few seconds. She spoke their tongue easily; because for somebody who was weak outside of sex but refused to become a prostitute, the collection of knowledge was a greater weapon than any blade or bow. "Were you upset that I harmed your friend? How could I have known?! I'm just a dumb, fucking, whore, isn't that what he said??" Whirling, Aurelia cut an arrow out of the air and flicked her wrist, not even bothering to watch as vines tore from the earth and speared the archer forty seven and a half ways from Sunday. The rest of the attackers backed off a bit, seeming to be wary of her for the moment... and Aurelia smirked.

"Ah, but really, who is it that's dumb, at the end of the day? I didn't stop moving in enemy territory, after all~" Before Aurelia had finished speaking, more of those vines had speared all of them and strung them up like some sort of bloody, horrific garland for the holiday tree. Dumb foreigners, they'd never seen a Succupixie... but they should have done their research, and their lack of preparation wasn't her fault. After all, she could grow a plant or sixty just as fast as grow her breasts!

This memory passed through Aurelia's head... she hadn't been very strong, but she'd been in her home turf, and while most of her race did indeed beg for semen and sex constantly, she'd trained herself, forcing her abilities outside of sex to grow... for a time, she'd even disguised herself as a human and attended one of the academies.

Now, what the hell had she let become of herself...? Four wings snapping open, Aurelia wasn't conscious of the decision to ride the crest on this magical wave of bullshit... pivoting in midair, she hurled herself sideways, rolled across the surface of a cloud and sprang, soaring at breakneck speeds to land and keep going. Sweat glistened on her tanned skin and her heart raged... but she was fine... falling, pivoting again, rolling, crashing through and bouncing around... when something flashed toward her face, Aurelia bucked sideways and grabbed it, yelping with more surprise than pain as she snagged from the air... a softly shimmering arrow...?

"Even able to stop an arrow... by catching it, no less? Hang onto that, Aurelia, you're going to need it." Aerendyl was lounging beside her in a bed of cottony cloud. "Also... I think it's time you go back to your old ways, don't you? I know you've had enough of playing at cute and innocent... trust me, Hina doesn't need you to be soft and defenseless all the time."

"How...?" Aerendyl was holding up her old outfit... the one she'd lost to flames and smoke long ago.

"You're my creation, aren't you? I'm the one who transformed you... it only makes sense I'd want to see you happy, no? Go ahead and change... I'll find you in a bit to take you back." Smiling warmly, Aerendyl leaned back and dropped through the cloud. Aurelia stared at the bundle of fabric... and then, confused but swallowing her hesitation, she did change, there in the clouds, stretching. How had he gotten these clothes back, she was sure they'd burned... how had he even known about them...?? Slowly flexing a hand above her head to see how the sleeves fit her, Aurelia giggled and poked her tongue out, her favorite clothing putting her into a more playful mindset.

"I can get used to this again, no matter how he got them~ Hina doesn't need me to be soft all the time? Well, maybe I'll crack her shell instead, once or seventeen times... really, though, Aerendyl, just who are you...?" Sighing, she slowly tucked that shimmery arrow into her coat pocket, unsure why he wanted her to keep it but doing so.

~~~

Nao wrenched on the angel's lance and rammed her head toward the angel when they came close, though in the end she condensed the atmosphere before her face to blast the blonde bastard back, throwing the blunted end of his lance into the man's face... and she leapt off of the platform, then, tucking her wings and rolling to her feet on a cloud below... by now, this was becoming routine motion. Since her powers were geared toward battling large hordes of enemies, that's what she was doing, angel after angel assaulting her from random directions...

She'd never had these thoughts or problems as a high school student in Japan, obviously... she was just Aika Asuka, a pretty high school student with simple friends and a simple boyfriend. Sure, she could have dated around and had more fun than she did, but truly she only wanted to keep her head down... once in a while, she'd even found herself wishing she'd been born a man, or at least not attractive like she was. That wasn't her being egotistical, either, nobody could deny the sheer quantity of stares constantly directed toward her while in public.

Then Hinata dropped dead, falling down the stairs, and she'd charged after him, only to fail to catch him, trip, fall as well... and she'd woken up as a demon girl, being pulled out of a river by some blonde man who called himself Lif, protected... She'd met Miyuki, the summoned hero, and fallen deeply in love in ways that she'd never felt. Often, at first, Nao found herself wondering if she was an awful girlfriend for so easily forgetting about Hinata... and then Miyuki was killed, and that elf, William, he was planning to try and bring her back... but Nao was forced to run...

She'd found Hinata as well, later on. Funny that he'd become some weird sort of adorable badger girl, and insanely powerful to boot... so was Nao, she could probably end every life within a thousand miles in the space of ten or twelve seconds... but only at the cost of her own life. She could become a god of the world, but it would mean the end of her life, just as she'd neared while in the Capitol... but they'd used her, used Hina more, used all of them... that risk was necessary. Now, she wanted to tell her. Hinata! It's me, your girlfriend from Japan! Let's run away from all of this, find somewhere to hide and live safely! How could she, though...? After all, even if she'd once again fallen madly in love with the ex-male hero who had been summoned at the same time as her... she'd fallen for Miyuki harder than she'd loved him prior, and almost immediately. She was in no position to demand all of Hina's attention... and besides, this harem thing wasn't so bad, not really. How often did a Japanese girl with strictly traditional parents get to let loose like this, allow herself a little bit of hedonism and let her needs run wild?

Whirling and catching a blade, allowing it to skate along the solid flame she'd conjured, Nao bent the shape into something like a chain, grabbing the angelic weapon and wrenching it away... then, perhaps not the wisest decision, but as the sword flew away through the air, Nao drew back her arm and powerfully slammed her fist into the angel's jaw, sending him staggering backward before she leapt to another cloud.

Miyuki was dead, but what if William Pendragon did, somehow, manage to revive her? Would Miyuki feel the same way now that she'd seen the extents to which Hina would go, how strong his soul was? Would she feel no interest at all for the red fox? Or, would that new and hedonistic part of her mind try to drag the fox hero into the harem...? Would she be returning? It was, truly, a question to ask. Neatly flipping back, Nao gagged as something rammed into her ribs and she was sent rolling across the soft yet firm- like concrete with a pillow above it- cloud and staggering to her feet. One of the angels, a woman and roughly her own height, was coming at her like a brawler, leveling a kick with Nao's head- it hit, and Nao fell to her back, arching, gasping.

"How's it feel, bitch? I noticed you like to fight with your hands, so I thought I'd give you a taste. Now get up, alright? Or can't you, since you're only a pathetic demon playing at pure and holy...? My, nothing more than a counterfeit, of course you can't really stand up to us..." Giggling in a would-be cute manner of voice, the angel slowly backed up, waiting for Nao to stand... her hair having been cut short into a bob again by one of the maids, Nao didn't have to worry about it getting in her eyes as she slowly stood, raised her fists, starting to bob her knees.

"Oh? Going to fight me like one of the punks on the street back at your home?" This angel, whoever she was, actually seemed amused.

"No matter what you think, being beautiful comes with its cons. I know what I'm doing... so let's do this." Nao nodded, rocking side to side slowly in a mimicry of a certain famous boxer she'd heard of back home while learning to defend herself.

"Wait, seriously?" The angel shrugged and rolled her eyes, tying the honey colored hair that fell to her shoulders behind her head. "Alright, if this is how you want it... but the raw strength of an angel isn't something to laugh at, counterfeiter~"

"Shut the fuck up and put some force into your words, blonde bitch," Nao suddenly snarled vehemently and pressed forward, lashing with a controlled, straight punch. Caught off guard, the blonde buffoon staggered back, blocking the hit, and then turned, attempting to sweep Nao's legs out. Raising her leg, the Chochin Obake simply rammed her foot down, listening to the sound of bone crunching under her entirely inhuman strength.

"Are you stupid? Sweeping the legs, that isn't a thing!" When the angel tore her leg free, Nao flattened her hand and jabbed with her fingertips, crushing the woman's windpipe, then kicked her to the edge of the cloud. Evidently shocked, angel girl tried to sit up... Nao slowly straddled her lap as if to make out with her, but slowly gripped her throat instead, purposefully making it harder to breathe.

"You're right, the strength of an angel isn't something to laugh at... but I'm not less than you, I'm more. Do you understand? Because if not, I have no problem hurting you a lot worse. Killing you... would be a bad idea, but oh, doesn't that just make it sweeter for me, cutie~?"

"That demonic p-power..." Breath raspy, weak, voice dying. "It's gone... to your head..."

"Maybe it has, but I don't give a damn." Nao finished it, knocking this woman unconscious with a series of seven left jabs to the face, giggling as blood soaked her fist, as cartilage tore, bone crunched, the fluids golden in color and filling her with renewed vigor. "NEXT!!" The demonic angel added as she stood up. "Come on, see how they do it on the streets of Earth! You really think I'm less than you?! I've been down there working my ass off, you GOD DAMNED GLORIFIED FIGUREHEADS!"