"Mm." Ani looked around her room, searching for a certain object. She slowly got out of her bed, her whole body now healed. "Where did I hide it again?"
The blonde rummaged through the piles of teddy bears and dolls sprawled around her bedroom, but careful as to not make much noise. "Eh, nope. Nope, what's a chainsaw doing inside my room?" She tossed it behind her. "I thought I already threw this away last week."
"Aha! There you are." She pulled out a jar hidden behind a mountain of mangas, the insides of it blurry and indescribable. One thing is for certain though, the sloshing of liquid inside hinted what could be in it. "Tamamo-chan regenerated a new eye for me, but I only like you!"
She pulled out a round object, but before it can be seen, she hugged it. "Now, if I could just... mm... this new one."
Pop.
"Then, put you back...! There." She blinked a couple of times, the right side of her face now drenched in blood. "Err, why can't I see in my right eye? It's all red." Then she smiled. "Oh well, I like red anyway!"
Celleya noticed their 'wounded' friend giggling inside her room. She knocked from outside, stopping the blonde girl from her antics. "Ani? Are you okay there? Do you need something?"
"Yikes!" Ani covered her mouth, and dived back to her bed. "I-I'm okay, Celleya-chan." She feigned a weak voice, all the while poking her right eye. 'Why is my vision still red! Do I have to turn it on?' She mentally whined. 'I don't know where's the switch though...'
She stared at the ceiling of her room, having nothing more to do. "I guess I'll just wait for it to heal. I mean, I accidentally cut my hand a few months before, and it healed in just 3 days. Surely this'll heal too." She covered her head with her bedding as she closed her eyes.
"I wonder what's happening to Hexhine-chan now." Ani giggled.
=≠(Unknown Palace: ??:??)≠=
The endless sea of clouds above the sky hides a gigantic castle. Mysteriously, the dark palace floated in mid-air, with only the huge inverted mountain below it. Various statues of gargoyles sits atop the many pointed rooftops, their crimson eyes making them look more alive than what they're supposed to be.
As if it wasn't enough, the pitch black surrounding of the palace added even more to its already terrifying appearance. Looking down below, the bottom isn't even visible to a human's eyes. Numerous debris of rocks and boulders orbits around the whole premises, looking like gravity doesn't even have any meaning in this wretched place.
A yell broke the mind-numbing silence, seemingly coming within the menacing castle. Inside, a struggling girl can be seen tied to a pillar of some sort, with four other more lining beside it. Below the bounded maiden was a huge purple gemstone. Several white particles can be seen coming out from the black-haired girl, going directly to the aforementioned rock.
"Ugh, can somebody shut that girl up now?" The Crimson-eyed VampMaiden, Mimi, spoke from her throne.
Quasar, who was leaning on one of the pillars before, stood straight, scratching his head. "I'd like too, though I can't knock her out. Damn goddesses."
"She's weakened, you weakling!" Mimi threw her chalice at the boy, who easily dodged the normal attack.
"Then why don't you try it yourself?! You can't get her under you illusions too!" Quasar yelled, a tick mark appearing in his face.
"Tch." The blonde sat back, not having any comebacks for that. "And when we need our stupid boss, she's nowhere to be found."
"Goddesses really are on the league of their own." Quasar crossed his arms while leaning back again. "Especially Lesha. Good thing she's on our side."
Mimi, on the other hand, was thinking of an another equally mysterious topic. "Have you seen who were our 'contractor' there? When she last met up with me, she was dressed in a robe from head to toe."
"Ah, yes." Quasar smirked. "I didn't expect it to be her. I thought that girl was the most closest one to that demon."
The vampiress rose an eyebrow. "I wonder how that girl was able to subdue this death goddess here." Mimi closed her eyes. "As far as I know, she's just a human. She smelled like one."
"What, you underestimating humans?" Quasar snapped his head at her. "I'm a human too, yet you can't beat me, VampMaiden."
"You can't kill me too, idiot." Mimi shook her head. "What I meant was that insane girl can't be a normal human. I mean, a measly girl knocking out a goddess? Inconceivable."
"Now that you've said it..." Quasar trailed off, staring at the writhing form of Hexhine. "I've been near enough that palace of that demon, and the only magical signature I've felt there was mine, yours, Lesha's, that demoness, of course the demon lord's, and the death goddess. Meaning, she might not even know what magic is."
A yawn brought the duo's attention to a nearby door, where their master, Lesha, walked out of. Rubbing her eyes, she addressed her two cohorts. "Geez, you two are too noisy."
"L-... Master." Quasar corrected himself. "Do you know something about that servant of Sitri's?"
"Oh, you mean Ani? Yes, I know her. A little." Lesha got back inside her room, and brought out the book she's always seen carrying. "And Hexhine-chan, be silent." She held her hand towards Hexhine, then covered her in a dome of light. Her wails finally stopped.
"Finally." Mimi stood up from her throne, walking near her so-called 'boss'.
"So, what about this Ani?" Quasar followed her not long after.
"Do you both know who the first ever fallen angel is?" She grinned, flipping some pages at the book. "That's right. Ani, or Auri, was the first fallen angel in all history."
"So she isn't a human after all." The vampire queen smirked to herself.
"She wasn't, but now, she is just really a human." The blue-haired goddess stopped at a particular page.
"No magical abilities or anything?" Quasar rose an eyebrow.
"None. Just pure human." The goddess touched the white paper, with the unreadable letters in it begining to move. "Here, let me show you who that girl really is."
The whole page bursted in an array of different lights. After a couple of seconds, it died down, revealing that the indescribable words before are gone. Lesha smiled, then closed the book.
"Sorry about that, I just absorbed that particular history into me. Tamamo-chan's book is so awesome." She quietly giggled.
Getting incredulous looks from her subordinates, she coughed. "Sorry, sorry. As I was saying..." she closed her eyes, all the while smiling.
"The angel named Auri, or what you two know as Ani now, was an archangel before. I've met her on a handful of occasions, but we never really talked to each other. All I know about her, was that she's the daughter of Gabrielle, and is the one who's supposed to kill the past Sitri."
Everything around them began to distort, the walls, floor and ceiling waving as if they're some kind of liquid. With a flash, their surrounding changed from a dark and gloomy castle, to outside an equally ominous looking palace.
"This was the current Sitri's castle before. He only have his servant with him this time." Lesha pointed to a balcony above the castle, where Sitri and Ani can be seen standing still. "Ani is very loyal to her master. She'll do anything for that demon." Lesha smirked at the unbelieving gaze her two companions is giving her.
"Yes, anything." Lesha shrugged. "It's just that the demon lord isn't an opportunist as you might think. And apparently as dense as bricks."
"Going back," Lesha coughed to herself. "Ani was the only servant to ever serve Sitri for this long. How long is actually that? I take it's something between 2 and 3 eons. Though, Sitri made it look to her like it was just 6 years."
"That little girl?" VampMaiden asked in shock. "She would look more appropriate as my little sister! She can't be older than me!"
Meanwhile, Quasar was contemplating on something. "Why is her body not aging? I could somewhat understand the demon lord, but, even an angel's body should at least age even by a tiny bit in 3 billion years, right?"
"Oh, silly Quasar." Lesha shook her head while smirking. "Who said her body's still an angel?"
"Then, she's really a human?" Quasar widen his eyes. "Wait, doesn't that should make her age even more? Humans barely reach a century, let alone an eon."
"Your right and wrong." Lesha held her pinky finger up. "She's a human," then another finger. "an angel..."
"and a devil."
Mimi narrowed her eyes. "A hybrid..."
Quasar nodded, as if already knowing everything. "I see now. Her three different genes are fighting on who's the dominant one, yet no one can win. Thus it continued fighting. This effectively rendered her body in a frozen-like state."
"That's correct, Q." Lesha smiled. "Now, here comes the big question. If something like that really did happen, her human brain would have already exploded from the strain. But she's clearly still alive. How did that happen, hmm?"
Sakurai Mimi grinned. "She has a mental fortitude of that of an impenetrable wall. Just like that Sitri, and me of course."
"That's the fascinating fact about Ani," Lesha changed their scenery again, into the current mansion of Sitri in Tokyo, just out in its frontyard. "Her mind was strong, too strong that it slowly broke itself. And what Ani we have now..."
Their surrounding distorted, showing the room where Ani and Hexhine hid when the trio was attacking. Hexhine was quivering under a random desk, with Ani mysteriously smiling beside her. Something shone behind her, and when they got a closer look at it, it was some kind of intricate-looking dagger.
"Is probably the most insane person you'll ever meet."
=≠(Sitri's palace)≠=
"Achoo!" Ani tentatively rubbed her nose. "I don't have a cold. Was somebody talking about me?"
The girl suddenly jumped out of her bed, stretching and blinking all the while. "Yey! I feel good now. And I can see again!" She lightly poke her right eye. "Ehihihi."
"Ani," the door behind her slowly opened, revealing the worried look of Thalia. The vampiress quietly got inside, closing the door behind with her foot. "are you feeling alright now?"
Ani turned around, wearing that usual unreadable smile of hers. "Yep! I'm okay now, see?" The little girl started running all around the room.
Thalia let out a small gasp when she saw the face of Ani. Half of her face was colored red with blood, seemingly coming from her right eye. 'I thought Tamamo already cleaned her?'
"Ani, there's still blood on your face." She stopped the energetic girl, lightly grabbing the blonde by her shoulders. As she walked to a nearby closet hoping to find some clean cloth, she heard Ani talk.
"Thalia-chan? Won't you lick it?" Ani hugged her from behind. "I thought you like human blood."
Thalia sweatdropped at that. "Geez, Ani. I would never do that." She grabbed the white sheet, dampening in on the basin of water beside it. "And besides, I already drank my fill for the day. Don't tempt me like that again."
"Okay." The girl ended her hug, opting to just sit at the end of her pink bed. "Does it smell good though?"
Thalia rose an eyebrow. "Your blood does smell good. Why?"
"Doesn't it make you feel hungry?" Ani lowered her head, foreshadowing the upper part of her face. "Doesn't it make you think what I taste like?"
Inwardly, Ani was giggling. 'I know your hungry, Thalia-chan. I burned all of your blood packs last night.'
Thalia's green eyes dilated, but she hurriedly shook her head. "A-Ahahaha. Very funny, Ani." She stood up, sitting right beside the girl. "Come on now, let me remove those blood."
Ani turned to the vampire, her smile never leaving her face. The first few swipes from Thalia was slow and sure, the red substance slowly sticking to the cloth. "A-Ani, could you come closer so I could clean you better?"
"Sure!" Ani smirked at the dilated eyes of her friend. She moved to her right, then leaned her face still smeared with blood close to the vampiress' face. "Is this good?"
"Y-Yes." Thalia began to wipe her face again, this time even more slower.
Thalia unknowingly let her fangs grew as she stared at her bestfriend's bloody face even more. 'Thalia. Just stick to the task at hand. Your better than this...' The green-haired girl thought to herself.
"Tha~lia~chan." Ani's smile grew along with the heir's teeth, the girl inching closer and closer to her face. "Are you okay?~"
The scent of blood was so intoxicating to her nose. The smell began to flood her nostrils, as the vampire unconsciously grabbed the tinier girl by her shoulders.
"Thalia-chan?" Ani tilted her head, though she's laughing mentally. 'Come on now Thalia-chan. Bite me. Bite me and be vanquished by master. Ehihihi!'
"Ani..." Thalia's eyes had completely shrunken, and her fangs was already visible when she opens her mouth. Not really knowing what's happening, she pushed down Ani to her bed, eliciting a sudden 'eep!' from the girl.
"T-Thalia-chan? What's happening?" Ani clasped her bestfriend's cheeks.
With a sudden snap, Thalia's fangs sunk in the--
"Thalia?" Tamamo suddenly went inside, stopping the vampire in her tracks.
Wait, what?! She was already supposed to--
"O-Oh my, I didn't know you two..." Tamamo's cheek reddened, looking at the provocative pose of the duo. "had this kind of relationship."
Thalia blinked, her eyes going back to normal. "E-Eh? EHH?!" The vampire unceremoniously landed in her back from suddenly jumping. "What in the--?!"
Ani, on the other hand, laid still at her bed. 'Tch, so close.' She looked at the smirking fox behind her slightly opened door. 'Did she anticipate this?'
Tamamo opened her fan, covering the lower half of her face as she giggled. "Oh, and Thalia, Sitri brought you another package of your drink. Why don't you get it?"
"R-Really?" Thalia slowly got off the bed of her bestfriend. As she walked away, she looked back at Ani with a conflicted expression.
"Now, Ani. Let us know if you want anything. We'll be just outside." Tamamo smiled, then closed the door.
Ani smiled back, though it quickly disappeared as the fox was finally gone. "I'd like to have your head, if you don't mind." She quietly growled.
=≠(Unknown Castle)≠=
The blue-haired girl Lesha sat unmoving in her chair, her hand clasping the same black quill. "How did Tamamo knew something was gonna happen? That can't be a coincidence..."
"Does she already know I'm tampering in everyone's fate?" She slowly closed the book in the table in front of her, a soft thud echoing from the timeworn tome.