Love Is Dead

"Ven. Ven. Ven." Tid-bit said as she used Ven's shoulder to poke him awake, having repaired his body with her skills... Melding of flesh and metal to be specific. 

Ven groaned as he woke up, finding himself in a dark room. Tid-Bit smiled and activated her night visionm revealing what looked like a rather luxurious apartment filled with ancient Egyptian artefacts. "Where... Where am I?" He asked Tid-bit, only for her to shrug in response. "I believe we are in Devouring domain." He tried to move, only to find himself bound to a chair.

Ven let out an electronic sigh, still recovering from his shot to the head. "Hellooo? Anyone here?" He yelled out, hearing a slight thud from the bedroom. "J-Just a minute." A young woman's voice was heard. He sighed, using a classic portal technique he learned from a game, placing portals above and below to build up momentum before launching himself against the wall with a crash.

"I need to stop relying on that one..." He said as he began putting himself back together, picking up his ear and dusting it off before having Tid-Bit stick it back on. He sighed as he took off the face mask, turning to the bedroom. "Alright, you in the bedroom, get out here." He said as he reached for Heartbreaker, that was conveniently left on the couch, while approaching.

He poked his head through the door to find a young woman with long, large Purple and red rabbit ears, along with a set of horns resembling antlers. She leapt in surprise, quickly pulling out a gun sword, similar to Heartbreaker. "W-What t-the hell a-are you!? S-Stay back, dead thing! M-Mom said y-you'd be out till she got back!"

Ven shrugged, summoning a portal sneakily behind her as he smirked. "Neat ears, almost as cute as mine. But looks like your Mommy never told you it ain't nice to kidnap strangers." Just before she could react, Ven punched towards her, opening a portal in front of his hand, redirecting the strike to the back of her head before kicking her in the stomach as she recoiled forwards. She seemed to pass out on the floor as Tid-Bit began scanning the nervous Jackalope. 

"Uhm... Ven? I think she's-" Before Bit could finish, Ven was already tying her to the bed. "Relax, she ain't dead. It's not like her partner will return at any mo-" He cut himself off, even though there was no noise at the door. Tid-Bit rolled her eyes, not amused by Ven's joke. "not what I was going to say, but alright."

After a few minutes of tying the poor girl to a rather lavish bed, Ven began looking around as Bit called Avis and Vinea to let them know where they were. As he searched through the apartment, he began finding the same symbol of a Jackal head over multiple cases and items. "Huh. Weird." He muttered as the door began to open. 

He quickly readied Heartbreaker as a large woman entered the room, an old weapon from his past on her back. "Hey, Vex. You think he'll wake... Up..." It was Zamtika, The woman who both figuratively and quite literally stabbed Ven in the heart. He froze up, looking stunned. He had no idea how to feel. Anger that she killed him? Happiness that she was still alive? Sadness for the (to him) few weeks that he's spent dead? Or lust (that he didn't really feel anymore) that she still looked exactly the same besides greyer hair?

Tika slowly moved forward, reaching out and poking him to make sure he was real. "A-Are you r-really #-#######?"

Ven then knew exactly what he felt at the name, instead shooting her in the foot. "Don't call me #######. It's still Ven." 

Tika didn't really react to being shot, rather used to the sensation, and mainly due to her Oni body healing her so quickly, instead laughed while tears fell from her eyes in joy as she grabbed Ven in a bear hug, nearly crushing his spine. "You little Rabbit! Mollia, have I missed you!"

Ven kicked about, never having been able to escape one of Tika's hugs. "Let go of me! You f-" Luckily Tid-Bit just cut off his voice by switching in. "Can you let us go now?"

She looked down at Tid-Bit, who was speaking through Ven, quickly crushing her spine before dropping him to the floor. "Who the hell are you!?" She yelled in a confused fury, grabbing her lance as she held it above Tid-Bit's head, though Bit just smiled as she began standing up, Ven's body looking like a broken puppet as she twisted it back into place.

"You remember me as Eden. But Please. Call me Tid-Bit."

Tika looked horrified, trying not to vomit as she swung at Bit, who quickly ducked the attack. "Stop this, Killer." She said tauntingly. Tika began swinging wildly, trying to hit Tid-Bit as she dodged every attack with Ven's mangled body. "Just let me repair him. Or is that to hard? You couldn't just let me live, could you?" 

Tika continued her wild assault before using a portal of her own, redirecting her lance swing full force through Ven's chest, skewing the heart. "Y-You demon. D-Did you just come back to haunt me?" She muttered, like she was forced to relive a nightmare, but instead of waking up, she heard Tid-Bit's electronic breath. "This isn't like the first time. You can't just skewer my heart like Eden's... Or his." 

She sighed, walking off the lance and placing the heart back in, as it was still attached by tendrils to Ven's body. "Now. Lets you and me chat."

Ven woke up a few minutes later, now sitting in front of Zamtika, who was raving frantically. "Uhm... You look like you've seen a ghost." He smirked, stretching his fully repaired body as Tika took a deep breath.

"So you're back? For real?"

"Shocker, I know. I'm assuming Bit caught you up?"

"Yeah... You're keeping your killer in your chest for what reason?"

"My killer? MY killer? You killed me! HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK EDEN KILLED ME? YOU LITERALLY STABBED MY HEART!" He yelled, causing her to flinch. "W-Well... Uhm... Sorry? I didn't think I'd see you again until I died..."

"News flash, Oni. There ain't anything after. It's all just a black void. Ya wanna know how I know? Because... YOU KILLED ME!" He yelled again, storming off to the window of the apartment to find a good spot to portal away.

"Ven, wait!"

As soon as Ven looked out the window, he noticed something that stopped him from using a portal to get away. "Hey Tika... Is it usual for a giant deer monster to be eating people off the streets?" Tika looked dumbfounded, quickly walking over with a nervous expression. "Oh shit... It's Wendy."

She quickly rushed over to a bookshelf, slamming a book back, shutting the windows and doors with a metal plating. "Sorry Ven. But we can't leave here for awhile." She sighed, quickly sorting out her feelings as she glanced around. "Also... Where's Vex?"

Ven shrugged. "I dunno? Who's that?" He said flatly, crossing his arms as he walked over, his ears twitching slightly. "Uhm... Our daughter..." She nervously laughed. Ven, meanwhile, looked more confused before letting out a laugh.

"Yeah, right. You had a kid. And, in the nearly 300 years I was dead, she was born and lived that long... When an Oni can live for thousands of years... And don't fully mature till 400... And have multiple recorded accounts of half Oni children living for thousands of years... And we banged the night before Eden... And you survived Eden... And that girl in the other room had..." Ven looked stunned after it all clicked for him.

"Oh shit. I just punched my own daughter in the face." He nervously laughed before getting a hard sucker punch in the stomach by Tika. "YOU DID WHAT!"

Tid-Bit appeared in front of Ven, who was now on the floor, with an amused smile on her face as she booped him on the nose and saying in an electronic sing song voice: "I tried to tell yooou."

Meanwhile, Avis and Vinea were sitting in front of the TV as Senshi ate a piece of popcorn while she sat on one of Vinea's vines. "You think Ven will need us in Devouring?" Senshi asked, though Avis waved her hand dismissively. Vinea shrugged and gave her a small pat on the head before passing her more popcorn. "We already called Rat. Apparently she's sending her guy over to help. So... Wanna watch this Helluva Hotel Ven recommended?"

"Eh, s-sure. Why not."