āI don't think... that this is how the whole possession thing is supposed to work.ā
Kazehana gave that some thought, in the end simply shrugging and deciding that offense was more her style than defense anyway. If the best thing to do with a demon Prince trying to possess you was fight back, wellā¦ sheād fight back. That was the easy part of this whole thing for her. Deciding how to do that, or figuring out the exact mechanics, were the tricky parts, but in the end, it usually came to her somehow, either through someoneās teaching, something she read in one of Tsukiās books, or just by pure instinct.
They found their way back to the original spot shortly after the other two, and she noted her sister reading, Cass sitting crosslegged beside her with his arms folded into his sleeves as usual. He seemed to be contemplating something or otherāAsmodeus himself was staring at some kind of object in his hand, lookingā¦ a little more down than As usually did. She grinned ruefully at Tsu-Tsuās warning to him, shaking her head slightly, dislodging a few fluffy snowflakes from her ponytail in the process. āThanks for the vote of confidence, Tsuki, but donāt oversell it. Weāll see what happens.ā For someone who walked with such swagger and bantered with such a sharp tongue, Kaz could be surprisingly uncertain of herself at times. Nevertheless, she wasnāt the kind of person to make excuses, so she moved from Morganās side to stand a few yards in front of As, smacking one fist against the opposite palm and clasping it, bowing so that her hair fell over one shoulder.
āIf I had a lick of sense, Iād ask you to go easy on me, but dad always told me Iām braver than I am smart,ā she said with a half-smile, rising from the martial artistās bow and rolling her shoulders to loosen some of the stiffness the cold had induced. āSo instead, Iām telling you to do your worst, if you donāt mind.ā Her tone suggested that she doubted heād mind at all.
Morgan shook his head with a smile, plopping down on the park bench. Kaz really had no idea the level of potential she had buried within her. Still, without being able to access it yet, even with the advice he'd given her, the girl would be in for a fight. Asmodeus was no pushover, not when it came to things like possession. He figured this would be quite the interesting battle of minds.
Asmodeus raised an eyebrow and grinned. "I do not doubt that your sister is powerful, Tsukiyo, however; she is unpracticed. That is the purpose of these lessons." He also inclined his head when Kaz bowed to him. The girl had respect, and that was important. "Bravery and intelligence rarely go hand in hand, I'm afraid. But that is not to say that those who are brave are not smart." After that, he said no more, he merely stood tall and crossed his arms over his chest. He took a deep breath, centering himself, and focused the brunt of his mental force directly at Kazehana's mind. Begin.
Kazehana took a deep breath when she observed Asmodeus settling into position, and she too raised her inclined half so that she was standing tall, and rooted her feet firmly to the ground beneath her. Approach all things with firm foundation. Only when you can embrace gravity can you learn to leave it behind and fly. Her father had told her this once, and while it had been made in reference to martial arts, she figured that, as with many of the lessons heād taught her over the years, it worked just as well for a lot of other things, too.
Within her mind, she stilled, and waited, quiet and seemingly entirely serene, but it was the stillness of a predator waiting to pounce, a great cat, muscles coiled and bunched and held in place like springs, unmoving but still dynamic, and she waited for the breach in her mind that would signal the approach of the invader. She felt it first, fractions of a second before his thought sounded inside her mental landscape, and she followed Morganās advice faithfully, attacking at once, the coiled springs and silent tension releasing with a metaphorical snap, the would-be predator swiping for the thing that had entered her domain, the very sanctity of her mind. Kazehana pushed back, with blunt force and sharp stabbing knives of mental energy all at once, throwing everything that she knew how to throw at the incoming mind. She would not give in without a hell of a fight.
Perhaps it was because his mind had been wandering before. Perhaps it was because he simply wasn't expecting such a brute force attack. Either way, what was supposed to be a possession of Kazehana had become a reverse situation, and in fact Asmodeus was the one who found himself possessed, his mind invaded. The force of her attack on his mind actually caused As to take two steps backward before he froze. Morgan raised an eyebrow. He had been right, this was becoming interesting.
Asmodeus found himself transported back in time. He was not a Demon, not yet. No, at this point in time he was not even a Fallen Angel. When was this? It had been so long ago...
He was standing on a sand dune, looking out over a large plane. There were many people down below him, most of them working, some of them standing over the others, whips in hand. They were building things from stone, square bases laid out in foundations. He remembered now. It was roughly 2584 BC, and this place was Ancient Egypt. The structures being built would eventually be the world renowned Pyramids of Giza. There was a woman next to him. She wore traditional long white robes, her dark hair cropped short. Her emerald green eyes shined as she stood by him, but kept her distance. His scarlet wings rustled in the wind slightly.
"Why do you come to me, Yuemae? Just because you can see me, does not mean anything other than your lineage." The woman regarded him with her feline eyes. He found himself drowning in them, and that was dangerous. "We can help each other, and you can help my people, Asillian."
-Don't call me that.-
He shook his head sadly. He'd found himself falling in love with a mortal woman, and he was now paying for it. She had been stoned by her own father, thinking she was seeing demons. Asillian had then gone after them, which in turn caused his own fall. The year was now 1587, the place, Roanoke Island. He had been a Fallen Angel for years upon counting, drifting from place to place, making ties to no one.
The colony established there didn't last. The Island had become his own refuge, and they had invaded. The original colony was never found, and in the end, Asillian had solidified his own fall, and he became a Demon. He was still not quite the level that he would eventually achieve, but he was no longer Asillian. He was now known as Asmodeus, but he wasn't a Prince, not yet. That would come about at a later date, when he took interest in another Angel, the one called Morrigane. He was very interested in the Angel, and he was formulating his own plan on how to--
Asmodeus finally managed to wrest hold of his body, but his anger was palpable. It technically wasn't Kaz's fault, but that didn't stop him from physically attacking her. Until Morgan stepped between them, a scowl on his face. The claws that had been meant for Kazehana found their way into Morgan's shoulder, a very demonic glare in his eyes. Morgan just stared down at him at his shoulder bled.
Whatever Kazehana had been expecting to happen as a result of her fight to keep Asmodeus out of her mind, this was not it. She was a silent spectator upon his memories, looking out at them through his eyes, feeling the same emotions and reservations and doubts as he had, but unable to say or do anything. It was like some kind of rollercoaster ride that she hadnāt asked to be on and had no ability to stopāthe only thing she could do was hold on. And then it was simply over; she came back to her own body with a shudder and a sharp gasp, taking a step backwards as she was forced to adjust to her own parameters again. That had beenā¦ if that was what it felt like to possess somebody, why in the world did demons ever do it? It hadnāt been at all pleasant, more harrowing than anything, though whether that was a function of possession itself or what sheād seen in his mind, she did not know.
Her eyes widened and came back into focus, leaving her staring somewhat blankly at him, even as his eyes seemed to bore holes through her head. It appeared heād lunged for her, though Morgan was in the way, and Cass was standing now as well, not alarmed-looking, but flicking his glance back and forth between the three of them with evident caution. Kazehana didnāt quite know how to interpret what sheād seenāshe understood it, and the implications of it, butā¦ it seemed like something that nobody else was ever meant to know. Least of all some human girl. Well, not human, exactly, but close enough to count.
Something feltā¦ strange. Reaching up, Kazehana touched her own cheek with the tip of a finger, looking down at it with dull surprise when it came back wet. She wasā¦ weeping? She hadnāt realized it, but without her own ability to interfere, she must have simply reacted naturally to the pain and sorrow she felt in him, or felt upon learning of him, she knew not which. Swallowing thickly, she bushed away the thin tracks and met his eyes over Morganās shoulder. āIām sorry,ā she said, quietly, but it did not stop her voice from cracking slightly. āI never meant toāā But she stopped there. There was nothing else to say, nothing she could say without revealing what she had seen.
And she would not do that.
Asmodeus glared silently at Morgan, who was standing between him and the source of the pain that he felt, an emotion he had not touched in over five centuries. But the more rational part of his brain began to work again as he stared at the Fallen Angel, green eye meeting red ones. He heard Kazehana's words, and something snapped. He wrenched his hand away from Morgan's shoulder, and with a low growl he turned his back on all of them. His voice was thick as he spoke.
"That's enough for today. I...need to be alone." He didn't wait for any of them to respond, he simply began walking, vanishing into thin air after five steps. Morgan let out a breath he hadn't realized that he'd been holding, and he sighed, rolling out his shoulder as the puncture wounds healed. He turned to Kaz. "Hey, you alright? I haven't seen As snap like that in a long time."
She shook her head faintly, regaining her composure and the familiar stubborn set to her eyes and mouth, but she stared at the spot where the demon had been for a number of seconds after heād left it. āIām fine,ā she said, breathing a gentle sigh out through her nose, ābut Iām not so sure about him.ā That was all she seemed inclined to say about the matter, though, and Cass shrugged slightly.
āAs will be fine. Whatever you saw must have shaken himāwe all have something like that. Give him a bit of time. For now, I think we should head back.ā He offered a hand to the seated Tsuki to help her to her feet, and set off in the direction of the girlsā home.
They found their way back to the original spot shortly after the other two, and she noted her sister reading, Cass sitting crosslegged beside her with his arms folded into his sleeves as usual. He seemed to be contemplating something or otherāAsmodeus himself was staring at some kind of object in his hand, lookingā¦ a little more down than As usually did. She grinned ruefully at Tsu-Tsuās warning to him, shaking her head slightly, dislodging a few fluffy snowflakes from her ponytail in the process. āThanks for the vote of confidence, Tsuki, but donāt oversell it. Weāll see what happens.ā For someone who walked with such swagger and bantered with such a sharp tongue, Kaz could be surprisingly uncertain of herself at times. Nevertheless, she wasnāt the kind of person to make excuses, so she moved from Morganās side to stand a few yards in front of As, smacking one fist against the opposite palm and clasping it, bowing so that her hair fell over one shoulder.
āIf I had a lick of sense, Iād ask you to go easy on me, but dad always told me Iām braver than I am smart,ā she said with a half-smile, rising from the martial artistās bow and rolling her shoulders to loosen some of the stiffness the cold had induced. āSo instead, Iām telling you to do your worst, if you donāt mind.ā Her tone suggested that she doubted heād mind at all.
Morgan shook his head with a smile, plopping down on the park bench. Kaz really had no idea the level of potential she had buried within her. Still, without being able to access it yet, even with the advice he'd given her, the girl would be in for a fight. Asmodeus was no pushover, not when it came to things like possession. He figured this would be quite the interesting battle of minds.
Asmodeus raised an eyebrow and grinned. "I do not doubt that your sister is powerful, Tsukiyo, however; she is unpracticed. That is the purpose of these lessons." He also inclined his head when Kaz bowed to him. The girl had respect, and that was important. "Bravery and intelligence rarely go hand in hand, I'm afraid. But that is not to say that those who are brave are not smart." After that, he said no more, he merely stood tall and crossed his arms over his chest. He took a deep breath, centering himself, and focused the brunt of his mental force directly at Kazehana's mind. Begin.
Kazehana took a deep breath when she observed Asmodeus settling into position, and she too raised her inclined half so that she was standing tall, and rooted her feet firmly to the ground beneath her. Approach all things with firm foundation. Only when you can embrace gravity can you learn to leave it behind and fly. Her father had told her this once, and while it had been made in reference to martial arts, she figured that, as with many of the lessons heād taught her over the years, it worked just as well for a lot of other things, too.
Within her mind, she stilled, and waited, quiet and seemingly entirely serene, but it was the stillness of a predator waiting to pounce, a great cat, muscles coiled and bunched and held in place like springs, unmoving but still dynamic, and she waited for the breach in her mind that would signal the approach of the invader. She felt it first, fractions of a second before his thought sounded inside her mental landscape, and she followed Morganās advice faithfully, attacking at once, the coiled springs and silent tension releasing with a metaphorical snap, the would-be predator swiping for the thing that had entered her domain, the very sanctity of her mind. Kazehana pushed back, with blunt force and sharp stabbing knives of mental energy all at once, throwing everything that she knew how to throw at the incoming mind. She would not give in without a hell of a fight.
Perhaps it was because his mind had been wandering before. Perhaps it was because he simply wasn't expecting such a brute force attack. Either way, what was supposed to be a possession of Kazehana had become a reverse situation, and in fact Asmodeus was the one who found himself possessed, his mind invaded. The force of her attack on his mind actually caused As to take two steps backward before he froze. Morgan raised an eyebrow. He had been right, this was becoming interesting.
Asmodeus found himself transported back in time. He was not a Demon, not yet. No, at this point in time he was not even a Fallen Angel. When was this? It had been so long ago...
He was standing on a sand dune, looking out over a large plane. There were many people down below him, most of them working, some of them standing over the others, whips in hand. They were building things from stone, square bases laid out in foundations. He remembered now. It was roughly 2584 BC, and this place was Ancient Egypt. The structures being built would eventually be the world renowned Pyramids of Giza. There was a woman next to him. She wore traditional long white robes, her dark hair cropped short. Her emerald green eyes shined as she stood by him, but kept her distance. His scarlet wings rustled in the wind slightly.
"Why do you come to me, Yuemae? Just because you can see me, does not mean anything other than your lineage." The woman regarded him with her feline eyes. He found himself drowning in them, and that was dangerous. "We can help each other, and you can help my people, Asillian."
-Don't call me that.-
He shook his head sadly. He'd found himself falling in love with a mortal woman, and he was now paying for it. She had been stoned by her own father, thinking she was seeing demons. Asillian had then gone after them, which in turn caused his own fall. The year was now 1587, the place, Roanoke Island. He had been a Fallen Angel for years upon counting, drifting from place to place, making ties to no one.
The colony established there didn't last. The Island had become his own refuge, and they had invaded. The original colony was never found, and in the end, Asillian had solidified his own fall, and he became a Demon. He was still not quite the level that he would eventually achieve, but he was no longer Asillian. He was now known as Asmodeus, but he wasn't a Prince, not yet. That would come about at a later date, when he took interest in another Angel, the one called Morrigane. He was very interested in the Angel, and he was formulating his own plan on how to--
Asmodeus finally managed to wrest hold of his body, but his anger was palpable. It technically wasn't Kaz's fault, but that didn't stop him from physically attacking her. Until Morgan stepped between them, a scowl on his face. The claws that had been meant for Kazehana found their way into Morgan's shoulder, a very demonic glare in his eyes. Morgan just stared down at him at his shoulder bled.
Whatever Kazehana had been expecting to happen as a result of her fight to keep Asmodeus out of her mind, this was not it. She was a silent spectator upon his memories, looking out at them through his eyes, feeling the same emotions and reservations and doubts as he had, but unable to say or do anything. It was like some kind of rollercoaster ride that she hadnāt asked to be on and had no ability to stopāthe only thing she could do was hold on. And then it was simply over; she came back to her own body with a shudder and a sharp gasp, taking a step backwards as she was forced to adjust to her own parameters again. That had beenā¦ if that was what it felt like to possess somebody, why in the world did demons ever do it? It hadnāt been at all pleasant, more harrowing than anything, though whether that was a function of possession itself or what sheād seen in his mind, she did not know.
Her eyes widened and came back into focus, leaving her staring somewhat blankly at him, even as his eyes seemed to bore holes through her head. It appeared heād lunged for her, though Morgan was in the way, and Cass was standing now as well, not alarmed-looking, but flicking his glance back and forth between the three of them with evident caution. Kazehana didnāt quite know how to interpret what sheād seenāshe understood it, and the implications of it, butā¦ it seemed like something that nobody else was ever meant to know. Least of all some human girl. Well, not human, exactly, but close enough to count.
Something feltā¦ strange. Reaching up, Kazehana touched her own cheek with the tip of a finger, looking down at it with dull surprise when it came back wet. She wasā¦ weeping? She hadnāt realized it, but without her own ability to interfere, she must have simply reacted naturally to the pain and sorrow she felt in him, or felt upon learning of him, she knew not which. Swallowing thickly, she bushed away the thin tracks and met his eyes over Morganās shoulder. āIām sorry,ā she said, quietly, but it did not stop her voice from cracking slightly. āI never meant toāā But she stopped there. There was nothing else to say, nothing she could say without revealing what she had seen.
And she would not do that.
Asmodeus glared silently at Morgan, who was standing between him and the source of the pain that he felt, an emotion he had not touched in over five centuries. But the more rational part of his brain began to work again as he stared at the Fallen Angel, green eye meeting red ones. He heard Kazehana's words, and something snapped. He wrenched his hand away from Morgan's shoulder, and with a low growl he turned his back on all of them. His voice was thick as he spoke.
"That's enough for today. I...need to be alone." He didn't wait for any of them to respond, he simply began walking, vanishing into thin air after five steps. Morgan let out a breath he hadn't realized that he'd been holding, and he sighed, rolling out his shoulder as the puncture wounds healed. He turned to Kaz. "Hey, you alright? I haven't seen As snap like that in a long time."
She shook her head faintly, regaining her composure and the familiar stubborn set to her eyes and mouth, but she stared at the spot where the demon had been for a number of seconds after heād left it. āIām fine,ā she said, breathing a gentle sigh out through her nose, ābut Iām not so sure about him.ā That was all she seemed inclined to say about the matter, though, and Cass shrugged slightly.
āAs will be fine. Whatever you saw must have shaken himāwe all have something like that. Give him a bit of time. For now, I think we should head back.ā He offered a hand to the seated Tsuki to help her to her feet, and set off in the direction of the girlsā home.