Accordance of Bones

A deep breath, a moment to enjoy the scent of fresh air, then an exhale which calmed the senses. A single small bird fluttering down from the sky and landing on the balcony railing to rest its wings. She’d smile and chuckle as it hopped in the cautious way expected of such creatures, but when she held out her hand, it would casually accept the offer and hop onto her finger. Its new perch lifted to her face as the two took a moment to stare into one another’s eyes as if to measure one another, then another smile as she turned her attention to the sky. Its bright blue hues accented with golden rays and white clouds washed over her with a sense of peace, and she couldn’t help feeling as if this were the type of thing she’d always wanted. Yet there was more that she wanted still. More she wished to experience with both freedom and happiness. 

“What do you think, little birdie? Do you believe I could reach those heights on nothing but my dreams?” She’d ask the creature. Its lack of worded response was expected. All but a single chirp. “I thought as much.” 

Another question almost left her lips, but then the door to the balcony flew open. Her head spun around quickly, and when the small creature took flight in a panic, she sighed as she watched it flutter away. Her full body now turning to face the attendant which had disturbed her peaceful rest, but it was nothing she found fault in. Audo loved company, after all, so she greeted them with the same smile she’d offered the bird. 

“My lady!” He’d say as he fell to his knee. 

“Now, now. There’s no need for the formalities. Why do you all refuse to call me by name?” She’d respond. 

“A sudden matter has arisen!” The panic in his eyes was clearly serious, but she’d found it more reasonable to calm her allies before increasing the agitations. 

“My. Surely it’s not so serious that you can’t be calm. Take a few breaths. Slow down.” 

“Apologies, but I cannot do that! This is a matter of the utmost urgency!” She sighed again and looked back towards the horizon and its sky. 

“You’re all no fun. There’s no harm in relaxing.” 

“I see you’re still causing just as much trouble for your subordinates as always.” A voice which immediately served to erase her smile. It didn’t matter how playful or jovial her mood had been; especially not when Jaiho had chosen to show his face. “I can already tell you’re not pleased to see me.” 

“And yet still you came. How very like you,” she responded while waving for the attendant to leave. 

“I understand you’re still upset."

“Do you? Because I don’t truly believe you do. In fact, I find it hard to believe you can even fathom the concept.” 

“Regardless of whether I do or not, an important matter has come up.” 

“Wow!” She exclaimed while returning her attention to the horizon. An attempt to have it act as the source of peace it had been mere moments ago, but it had proven itself incapable. Her mood was now soured and she couldn’t hide it. Regardless of his reasoning… or at least until he spoke it. “Don’t you have anyone else to clean up the messes you two craft? If it wasn’t obvious, I don’t much care to associate with either of you.” 

“They’ve done something which has put several lives at stake.” 

“Obviously. I could have told you both how ridiculous it would be trying to jail a Chisuke. Myha is Kikana’s son, after all. He’s bound to be troublesome.” 

“I’m not talking about Hellfire… I’m talking about Vandeverance.” 

She froze. The very name like a trigger she could never forget. It wasn’t something as flowery as some long-lost love or as serious as a rival. She’d assumed he’d come speaking about Hellfire who’d been locked up not too long before the current events around herself, but instead it was someone far more detrimental and dangerous. A long-time prisoner she’d been tasked with monitoring since before her initial time being locked away. She’d been so busy dealing with her own problems and situations that she’d entirely forgotten about the one person she’d made sure to keep on her mind. A claimant whose very existence was a direct danger to others so long as she lived. A claimant who, unlike herself, hated everyone in a way which corrupted their very heart and soul. 

———

Each step seemed almost like it was faster than the last. Several heads turned as she passed by numerous Woxia and Gimnai, but she didn’t have the time to give them any form of attention. They were likely all concerned to see an expression on her face which was entirely foreign. Panic, fear, anxiety; a face which revealed how utterly frightened she was of the very thought of what she might come to find awaiting her. Vandeverance, much like herself, had started as a human, but unlike herself she did not have the grace of being made a claimant from day one. She was made a claimant by the sheer luck of Eviax’s pity. Found on the brink of death and revitalized with a new chance at life. She was still young, but she had also seen firsthand the way her parents had been mercilessly torn apart by claimants going to war in the area she called home. A memory engraved so deeply into her mind and heart that after being made a claimant, after being repaired and convalescing, and even after being remade into a new being to fit that recovery… it ate away at her every thought. 

A son made to watch as his parents were torn apart limb from limb; suddenly waking to find himself a completely different thing from what she knew. What she’d assumed to be reincarnation instead being explained as some twisted form of grace. And then, after spending several years learning what her new life would be, she finds that the ancient which governs over life barely cared to even give the slightest bit of personal attention to the lives she made. Complacency became rage, rage became scorn, then scorn became rage again. That rage became resentment, and resentment became loathing. Loathing turned to abhorrence, then enmity. Animosity became everything, and that animosity would manifest into a pure and unchangeable hostility. A process which sounded like it would take months or years but instead happened in an instant. One moment they were observing, the next they were holding down a claimant so feral it would be easier to call her a rabid beast. 

Destodai wanted her dead; Eviax wanted to know what had caused such a sudden outburst, but Jayhe sought to tame the claimant and make it follow her will. And so, with that she was locked away. A prisoner of the Prism and a personal conquest for the ancient of order… but Audomattadjia was still left thinking about what had been said before she’d made her way back to the place she once called her home away from home… 

— 

“What happened?” Audo asked as she finally looked at her ancient. 

“We don’t know for certain. You know as well as the rest of us that Vandeverance was a bone sculptor. She’d been taught to shape and prepare bones to replace claimant amputee limbs as well as in preparation for the lives Destodai put together. From Eviax’s accounts she was particularly devoted to her work and put an extraordinary amount of care towards her every craft. But all of a sudden, she just snapped. Almost as if she wasn’t the same person anymore at all.” 

“How did she manage to get out of her prison? Did I not design it specifically to keep her properly contained?” 

“That’s just it,” Jaiho started with a sigh. “One of the claimants assigned to check in and do daily rounds assumed her prison was empty and that she had escaped, but when he got close enough to give it a better check, she grabbed ahold of his arm from inside.” 

“That shouldn’t be enough to get out.” 

“And she didn’t. Apparently, her nails dug into his arm, and he said he’d felt them scratch at the bone. Then, once he’d left the area to go tend to the wound, another claimant witnessed his skeleton duplicate from his own skeleton. You can imagine how horrifying the description was considering the factor of flesh housing the bones, but I’ll shorten it to the flesh on his back bursting open for a skeleton to emerge from within.” 

Audomattadjia looked visibly nauseous at the thought of it. “That’s something she could do?” 

“So it seems. And the second skeleton apparently picked up the nearest item that could be called a weapon and started attacking anyone on sight… the thing had to be dismantled entirely before it stopped moving.” 

“She still hasn’t been executed after all of this?” Audo asked with a concerned stare. “Other claimants are in danger now.” 

“Jayhe refuses to believe she cannot be tamed in some way, and she refuses to back down on that. This is the first time she’s ever done anything like this, but I don’t want to take any chances. If execution isn’t an option, I’d at least request an appraisal on her prison cell itself. That’s why I thought I had no choice but to come to you.” 

— 

Personally, she wanted to refuse and leave it to Jaiho and Jayhe to handle, but with claimants being victims she knew that wasn’t a risk she could consciously make. If the lives of other claimants were on the line, she would have to do something to handle this. If it was only an appraisal, then it was something she could do… but that didn’t keep her from standing outside of the door as if every muscle fiber in her body was screaming at her to keep out. 

Audo had attempted to hold conversations with her in the past, but they always ended the same way. Her points were far too realistic and valid, often making her second-guess her own choices and decisions. She picked away at her own morality with cynicism and reality, often leaving morality as a secondary factor. She wholeheartedly believed in the culling of problems and worshipped the idea of erasing all things she viewed as vile, even if it made her vile in the process. She was no martyr, nor was she a saint, but she was more than willing to call herself a slayer. Although only that one instance of violence against Destodai had landed her in that prison, she’d made it more than clear that she was willing to do it again. And the second time she would not fail. 

Audo sighed, placed her hand on the door, and pushed it open with a subtle creak before her eyes widened ever so slightly. As surprising as it was to see the state of her accommodation, she would only let it show so much. The prison itself was as she remembered it. Bars crafted to keep her in and others out, spacious enough to move freely, and illuminated by soft lights which would not agitate the eyes. It was all the exact same… save for the piles of bones which now littered the entire floor within. Each set of bones was well polished and cared for, and each set had its own specific detailing and personality. However, among it all, the one thing that was missing was the claimant herself. She was nowhere to be seen, and that alone made it obvious as to how someone could have been caught off guard. There wasn’t a single sound to be heard, but her house scent was undeniably present, so she searched. 

Her eyes would scan the right side of the prison and see nothing. Then they would turn to the left where they’d see nothing more than before. She’d look down and eye the bones for any sign of movement, and it would be there where she’d see motionless piles of smooth white. Her eyes would coast upward to perhaps find her latched onto the top of her cell waiting to strike, but it was entirely empty where she could see. Her next course of action was to simply call out to her and draw the woman’s attention, but it was during that very thought she’d return her gaze forward and find someone she’d never seen before standing directly in front of her. Or at least that was what she’d thought at a glance. Skin like lead and moonglow blue eyes. Short hair, the color of alabaster and a distinct lack of clothing which had gone to show how little that had come to matter to her. Indeed, this was certainly Vandeverance. Audo could still tell even with the large horns of bone protruding from her skull. It was her cocky and smug smile which gave it away, followed by her distinct voice. 

“How odd. To think you’d show yourself here after so long. Did you wish to chat again? Or did you come to whine?” 

An accent like no other from a culture of ancient humans which likely no longer existed, of which she was the last remaining. Every O extended into an OO; every I pronounced its letter name. R’s pronounced as A’s, and U’s all silent. All done without ever parting her canines. It was impossible to forget and was the first thing that stood out to her the moment she’d arrived in the Prism. When asked, Eviax had told Audo she’d started by speaking a language that merely was nonexistent in the vocabulary they knew. A dead culture for dead people, and yet one they all could understand as usual. 

“I only came to talk and perform a daily inspection.” Audo responded in a casual manner. However, the woman’s smile only grew with that answer. 

“Seems you’re still just as much of a fool as before. I envy your blissful ignorance.” 

“I see insults are still a staple part of your vocabulary.” 

“Hah!” The first instance in which those canines parted since her arrival, and of course it was to laugh in her face. “It should be expected that I speak the truth when I see it.” 

Audo watched as the woman turned and walked away. A finger rising as if to call for someone to follow, and with that action a skeleton rose from the bones littering the floor. In fact, there were so many bones that ground itself couldn’t be seen underneath the layer of pale white. The skeleton that did rise, however, was distinct in how similar it was in stature and build to Vandeverance herself. It followed behind her and, once she stopped, fell to its hands and knees where it would act as a chair for the time being. Audo took note of the way some of its bones had been damaged with cracks and small fractures, but it was still more than sturdy enough to hold her weight. She’d only just arrived and was shown the type of thing those claimants had to subdue. 

“You’ve made some… rather unique changes to this place since the last time we spoke.” 

“Yes. I was bored of stone floors and half-hearted accommodations.” Her response was bland, as if the conversation was beginning to lose her personal interest. 

“You also seem to have changed much yourself. From fancy dresses and long hair to horns and bare flesh? I can put in a request for some new clothes if you desire— 

“Don’t bother. They wouldn’t last long anyway. But you,” she started as a finger pointed in her direction. “You don’t seem to have changed much at all. Betrayed, yet still hoping for those ancients to throw you a bone? When I’d heard the news, I laughed at first, but seeing you now it’s just pitiful.” 

“I don’t desire conflict, Vandeverance. I only want peace for everyone. Nothing more.” 

“Leave it to you to expect decency from the indecent!” She’d laugh again. 

“I don’t find anything funny about it.” Audo’s brow would furrow. Small sparks and embers forming in the air around her but fading just as quickly. 

“We are so fundamentally different, yet so similar. We were both humans once, although I suppose our circumstances were different. I was human for some few years, but you were made a claimant before even your first year had passed. Both our parents dead with circumstances we can’t be pleased with; both our lives torn up from the roots. What I don’t understand is why you’re so useless.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You heard me. I am a claimant of life, but the ancient of life is a bastard. Someone who deserves death more than anyone else. I know that better than anyone. That’s why I made an attempt. You, on the other hand, got sedated and imprisoned for what amounts to nothing! Guided distrust! And now here you are, advocating for peace as if that wasn’t the case before.” 

“Perhaps I simply have more willpower than you to hold myself to a standard above mindless murder and violence.” Audo spoke. 

“Or perhaps you simply have yet to truly lose what matters in a meaningful way. I suppose you cannot blame the ancients for your parent’s lives as I can, but at least I was able to see them off.” Vandeverance responded. 

“And what? Is that why you attacked those claimants and injured so many? Because of some grudge with Destodai?” 

“Huh? Hah! Is that why you’re here? To interrogate me on my reasoning? Well, sorry to say, it amounted to nothing more than my boredom.” 

“You’d kill people out of boredom?!” Audo snapped, but what she did not expect was Vandeverance to snap back. 

“Is that not what your ancients do?! Is that not what your precious claimants do?! Say what you will, but all you creatures have ever done is trample the lives of those you consider beneath you and treat it as if it’s simply another day! Even your failure to act against those who have done you wrong is an additional blight to the pile! Another allowance of the wretched worms to do as they please with the lives of others without facing or even expecting any real consequences!” 

“It has never been so black and white.” Audo retaliated. 

“It has always been black and white. There are no grays with life and death. Oh! That is, unless your ancients deem you worthy of many lives.” Vandeverance paused before laughing and rising back to her feet. Her pace picked up as she approached the edge of her prison and stared directly into Audo’s eyes. “You just don’t want to see it, but that only makes you just like them.” 

This was exactly why Audo hated talking to her. Vandeverance was not the type to ever back down when confronted in an argument or debate. The longer it stretched on, the more accurate her words became, and eventually she would simply bombard you with facts and points that simply could not be denied. Rebuttals became sparse and eventually waned to nothing, and all that was left remaining was mere feelings against reality… and Vandeverance was a firm believer in the basis of reality. If she ever did believe in some form of religion of God when she was human, that had long since passed since she’d become a claimant. And Audo had concluded a long time ago that the loss of whatever beliefs she once had only added to the hefty blame she placed solely on the ancients and claimants. She hated them all, and she wasn’t afraid to say it. Only so few people ever gained the slightest shred of her validation or grace, fewer her trust, and she was once one of them. 

“Vandeverance. Do you feel no empathy? Do the lives of others matter to you so little that you’d gladly crush them all just so you can achieve what you desire?” The question brought a deep frown to the claimant’s face. 

“You know, I once thought you might finally understand. The strategy you employed for your own escape was marvelous, after all. You could have easily eviscerated hundreds, possibly thousands, from your prison and caused unprecedented damage to the Prism… but then you proved me wrong. You got your freedom and went right back to doing nothing.” 

“I didn’t want to harm anyone. I just wanted to be free.” 

“Of course, because that’s all that matters to you. That’s all you’re good for if you can’t even hear her voice,” Vandeverance said as she waltzed back to the center of her prison. 

“Is there really no way to change your mind? To have you see things another way?” Audo asked. 

“If you truly don’t want anyone else to die, I would suggest investing in a prison idiots cannot reach into. That insight will be your reward for the company, but don’t expect me to just let any trash escape my grasp if I can reach them. Now begone.” 

“I see. Thank you for your consideration.” There was no response. Only the sight of the Origui slithering into the piles of bones until she was entirely out of sight. Like a snake in the grass. 

Audomattadjia took all the blame on herself, and it was only natural that she would. While she was known for her skills and exploits on several battlefields during her active time, Audo’s primary purpose was in designing and creating prisons and cells for the purpose of containing claimants. She took their skills into consideration as well as their physical attributes and created personal spaces for confinement with those details. There was almost no claimant of high priority within the Prism whose containment was not designed in some major way by Audomattadjia. That included claimants like Lilith and even the prison she herself had been kept within. Hers had been crafted with the idea of holding ancients if need be, but it was unfinished and therefore failed in its purpose to keep her properly secured from others. 

She calmed herself down. Unfurling her fists with a deep and slow exhale as she’d normally found herself doing after holding conversations with Vandeverance. The two were fundamentally different in the way they thought and acted, but somehow, they always managed to hold conversations where no one else could. Even if they often became heated debates. Where Audomattadjia was capable of forgiveness and letting matters rest, Vandeverance could not fathom such concepts. She was the type to immediately take revenge and do so with as much animosity as possible. What really stuck out to Audo however was something she’d said in passing right before their conversation ended. Referring to a voice that she’d apparently expected her to hear, but obviously that was a one-sided thing. It was something she’d have to think more about later. 

Audo turned and began making her way to the exit. Her eyes continued to mark details around the area to consider other possibilities that might need fixing, but paused and turned back when hearing Vandeverance’s voice one more time. 

“You should hope I never leave this place, Audomattadjia. If that day ever comes, I’m tempted to see how much I must take from you to finally open your ears.” 

———

After many years had passed and many events had taken place, many individuals had found themselves in different situations. By now Audomattadjia had found herself once again in the Prism. This time as a prisoner again, and with an entirely different frame of mind. She was calmer than anyone had expected, but that only made everyone who saw her feel as if she had some plot or plan prepared to spike off at any moment. However, that was not the purpose of the day. The door opened, footsteps approached, and when those steps became silent, she would not respond. She knew those steps. She knew every single detail about them from the length of the stride to the weight of every footfall, and this time forgiveness was out of the question. 

“Audo…” Jaiho started, only to be met with silence. It was expected. “I know you don’t want to talk, but this is too important.” 

Her silence was like its own form of dagger scraping at his heart. Not because it was violent, but because he knew the woman Audomattadjia was before this. After the first time, she’d closed herself off with distance but still interacted when it was necessary. Now, however, she’d closed herself off to him entirely. Closed herself off to everyone as far as he knew. Even so, he wouldn’t allow that to keep him from saying what needed to be said. 

“Audo, I only need you to listen to me. Please. If there’s anything you can tell me, then I need to hear it. I’ll appreciate any information you can give me.” Another moment of silence, and Jaiho would sigh before stating his purpose in being there. “Vandeverance Origui has escaped, and no one knows how or where she’s gone. There isn’t a trace. Not a single clue.” 

A single loud thud brought silence, although she didn’t turn to see him. The book which had been in her hands now lies on the floor while she sat motionless in her chair. Her hands trembling ever so slightly as she remembered the final words that woman of bones and violence had shared with her. She remembered those akin to a promise, and all she could feel was anxiety. The worry of what might happen if she learned of her children. A whisper in her ear. As if chaos itself were making an attempt to guide her through any means of escape; to safeguard her children from the monster no doubt searching desperately to discover their existence and ties to her… then she understood, for only a short moment, what overwhelming soul she’d been so casually conversing with and how dangerous she truly was. A single thought crossed her mind in that moment. 

“Chaos is like an urge constantly driving me through my soul. A part of me I can’t ever fully ignore… but what voice does she hear that guides her to kill ancients of all beings so brazenly?” 

Mein Fräulein

Several things could be considered a mistake leading up to this very moment for Jaffe. Her latest quarry had proven to be more troublesome than originally anticipated, which did manage to leave a few scars but nothing so extreme as to be an issue. Some blood never ruined the mood under a moonlit sky; even if it was her own. It did, however, make the job take longer than she’d expected. There was also the promise she’d made with Gabi beforehand. A date of sorts, although it would be delegated to just lazing around her mansion, but a date, nonetheless. Telling her she might be late was met with a simple, “if you’re late, I’m coming to get you”, and perhaps rather ignorantly she’d ignore that threat. All considerable failures on her part, but none more than the oversight of having not showered before making her way out here to the middle of nowhere. 

If things had turned out the way she’d hoped, there would have been more than enough time, but they didn’t. It had taken entirely too long to track down the object of her desires, and that meant she didn’t have enough time to freshen up at all. That meant Arthur’s scent was still overwhelmingly fresh on her skin and clothes. An issue which would be easily resolvable with a very meticulous bath to counteract the proficiency of Gabi’s sense of smell… if Gabi hadn’t followed up on her threat. She didn’t even hear her wings overhead and only managed to take notice of her when those two dark limbs came between her and the moonlight. Her eyes turned up, jaw clenched, and she didn’t even bother to smile. She could tell from the way the Dimea stared down at her like filth that she’d already been found out. 

“You could have just waited at home,” she attempted to play it off as the woman descended. “I just finished up here so let’s… go… back?” 

Each word became increasingly difficult to say. The farce less valid as Gabi’s feet touched down on the ground right in front of her, and she stepped forward with every fiber of her body meant to intimidate. There was something absurdly beautiful about it, but then again there always was. She got close, close enough to taste, and then her nose twitched. 

“I knew I smelled something annoyingly unfamiliar.” The first words to exit her mouth and they were clearly livid. 

“Well duh. I don’t smell the same every day.” 

“It’s not a house or cologne I’m smelling, whore. Don’t play dumb. The odor of sex is all over you.” 

“Well… are you sure you’re not just horny or something?” Distraction is what is needed. Anything to distract her from what she was currently doing, but the moment Gabi’s hand grabbed ahold of her collar and pulled her even closer, she knew that wasn’t going to work either. 

She could hear her nose sniffing. Feel the air of each breath on her neck. And when she was done analyzing her like a bloodhound, Jaffe would find herself pushed away and on her rear. “Hältst du mich für einen Narren? Ich teile nichts, was mir gehört.” 

(Do you take me for a fool? I share nothing that belongs to me.) 

The first thought that came to mind as she watched Gabi’s wings stretch outward was consideration for how entrancing a sight it was. Then she wondered if she’d ever even heard Gabi speak German outside of her movies before as the woman’s wings carried her up into the air. It wasn’t until she saw the woman turn in a very distinct direction, her wings fray, and her partner burst into the distance with enough force to echo through the air that she’d consider the implications all of this held. There was no real reason to worry about lives being lost, for the most part, but with Gabi involved the chances of damage to the surrounding area and property was practically one hundred percent. So, she’d reach into her pocket, retrieve her phone, and with a few accurate and rushed taps on the screen, she’d make a call. 

The sound of his phone would catch his attention, then the ringtone itself would signal to him who the caller was. There was no hurry, and perhaps that was why he lifted the device in such a casual and relaxed manner, but once Arthur answered and lifted the phone to his ear, there wasn’t even a moment to speak. 

“Where are you?” She’d ask in a clearly panicked tone. 

“I’m home, right where you left me. You do remember you were here not too long ago, right?” He’d respond while leaning into the cushions of his couch. 

“Are Eric and Jillian around?” 

“No. If I recall, they've both wandered off. Why?” 

“Shit. Well, how far could you get away from there in about say… thirty seconds? A minute?” 

“Is there something I should be concerned about?” 

“Technically no, but possibly, yes?” Jaffe started. “Look, I may have made a teensy, tiny mistake. If someone knocks at your door, don’t open it.” 

“Why would I do that?” 

“Actually, never mind. Open it and act like you don’t know me at all. I doubt that would work, but hopefully that at least confuses her long enough to second guess doing anything outrageous.” 

“Her? You’re talking about Gabi, aren’t you?” 

“You know what? Just don’t open the door and hide.” 

“Look, love, I doubt it will be that— 

He paused when hearing two knocks at the door. Only two regular knocks without any fanfare or anger. What was more unsettling was the silence which had come before and subsequently followed them. He didn’t hear anyone approach and now that they had come, there was no sign of life occupying the opposite side of the door. It was familiar, but in an uncomfortable way. The type of approach he’d come to expect from assassins and murderers under the cover of darkness. Particularly Lilith's favorite Chisuke. He’d heard about the woman from Eric, but this was nothing like he’d expected it would be. 

“Open the door! Open it!” Jaffe’s voice snapped him out of his own thoughts, but practically a step too late. What came next was the sound of wood straining under the weight of the unknown, the stress of the door’s lock and hinges creaking and popping before the door itself was ejected from its frame. Falling flat on the floor and revealing the woman on the opposite end. 

“Well. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He’d start as he eyed the mess. 

“You didn’t think you could hide, did you?” Her question was serious, but almost in a dramatic way. As if it were meant to be theatrical. A Dimea through and through. 

“Perhaps you should be patient enough to let people get to their doors before you break them down. I have no reason to hide from you.” 

“Do you think this is a game?” 

First and foremost, one thing was made blatantly obvious. Jaffe was no liar when it came to Gabi. It was no wonder she practically worshiped the very ground this woman walked on. In fact, looking at her himself, it felt almost as if she had undersold her descriptions and praise. Even when she was being overwhelming threatening and poised to attack, she held every single attribute which the standard ladies of her family sported and more. Just looking at her face would make it obvious that she was one of Kana’s descendants, although the way she dressed lacked formality. However, more troubling was that secondly Eric had also not been false in his assessment of her. Albeit just as guilty of underselling it. Saying she doesn’t hold back was the greatest understatement yet. 

The first step she’d made into his home was coated in the darkest of auras pouring from where that foot fell. It was like her malice had manifested into reality and was seeping out like an overfilled glass as her element. Her eyes burning with that familiar Chisuke crimson, and yet she lacked every single trait her father and grandmother prioritized. It couldn’t be more obvious when her approach was coupled with her reaching into the pocket of her shorts and retrieving five rings. Familiar rings. Rings she proceeded to place on every finger of her right hand before rolling it into a tight fist and pulling it pack with all the strength she could manage to fathom. Arthur wasn’t afraid for himself, but the building was another story. 

“Wait!” He’d call out just in time for her fist to stop just before fully extending to reach him. 

“Speak.” 

“Oh wow. I wasn’t actually expecting you to stop. Still, it’d be an issue if you destroyed the entire floor of this building, wouldn’t it?” 

“I can just pay for that, dumbass.” 

“You can pay for the lives you destroy and people you kill?” Arthur asked with a confused expression. “It wouldn’t be worth it anyway. It’s not like you can kill me.” 

“If your goal was to piss me off as much as you possibly could, then congratulations. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted someone dead as much as I want you right now.” 

He’d expected her to immediately fly off the hinges from the descriptions Eric had given of her attitude, but instead she was relatively calm despite the way she spoke. In fact, surprisingly, he was shocked to see one of the kittens in his possession choose to approach her without reservation. She’d eye it for a moment, sigh, then remove the rings from her fingers and offer that same hand to the creature. The last thing he’d expected to see was her lifting the creature from the floor and holding it in her arms with so much care; making it obvious what she'd removed her rings for. Her expression had done a complete one-eighty as she pampered the kitten with as much love as she could muster, and that made his chest thrum. It was almost too familiar a sight in some strange way. 

He found himself stepping forward to get a closer look at her. Fitted leather combat boots, jean shorts cut almost too short, a black tank top with a brand he’d never seen before plastered on its front, and a worn fleece crimson shirt. Her hair was tied into a thick, single braid which was now in the claws of the kitten, and her eyes, which were once the exact opposite color, were now an impossible to ignore blue. He felt as if he were seeing something, or perhaps feeling something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. It wasn’t until he’d gotten close enough to hear her every breath that he’d see her eyes flick on him. Sapphires he did not recognize, before returning to deep red. 

“Do I know you?” He’d ask. Her response would remain simple and expected alongside a rising right hand. 

“Are you insane? You're a dead man.” 

Jaffe found herself envious of Gabi’s wings in more ways than the one when she’d finally arrived at Arthur’s residence. The way she soared through the air was as delicate as one might expect, but the moment she chose to become violence, speed overtook grace. Compared to traveling the same distance on foot, it would always be a more preferential choice. Thankfully she was athletic enough to make the run, and that itself was something to be proud of, but once the door came into view… or where the door once stood… she rushed over to find Arthur examining the damaged frame. 

“You’re not hurt, are you?” She’d inquire. 

“You were expecting me to be hurt? I’d normally call that concerning, but I get the reasoning behind the worry.” He’d respond while stepping aside for her to enter. 

“I’m surprised that’s all the damage she caused.” Jaffe spoke while stepping inside. “It’s always going to be difficult dealing with a…” 

She paused once her eyes turned to the side. A corner of the room normally occupied by cats now housing red eyes and darkened shadows. Gabi, surrounded by every feline the home had to offer and with an expression equal in both disgust and agitation. For a moment she reminded her of Gahbreal, riding the line of that same stoic yet irate expression, but that was simply an expectation. As much as she had come to hate the man, most of her tendencies leaned heavily towards mimicking his own. That was why she knew exactly what was going to come out of her mouth. 

“Go on. Difficult dealing with a what, exactly?” Her voice wasn’t angry, and that’s what scared her the most. 

“A, uhm, beautiful and respectable young lady. Or a bitch, for short.” She responded before finally noticing the splatter of blood which covered her clothes, right arm, and the speckles on her face. “Of course you tried.” 

“Leave it to you to involve someone more annoying than they’re worth.” Gabi stood and as she did, the creatures surrounded her feet. “I was waiting for you.” 

“Aw, how cute. You wanted my permission to leave?” 

“Perhaps I hadn’t made myself clear when we first started this, but I refuse to share. Not with anyone. I don’t care who and I don’t care what.” 

“Is that right? Sorry to say, but you’ll just have to put up with it, songbird.” 

A challenge which made Gahbriogyva so immediately livid that her reaction was beyond anything Jaffe had expected to that point. There were no snide remarks or insults under her breath. Just widened red eyes as the kittens instinctually scattered in all directions. Her right hand rising as what sounded like a malformed scream tearing across realms accompanied the arrival of her clawed gauntlet. Jaffe had seen it resting in its display case in Gahbriogyva’s home numerous times, and every time she did there was an urge to take it. However, that urge was heavily outweighed by the overwhelming sense of dread which loomed over the thing no matter what time of day. As of the it instinctively hungered for more violence than any one person could hope to provide. Even seeing it now was taxing on the nerves. 

It dripped with blood despite having not touched a single person, and that blood seemed to sizzle upon the floor it fell to. Despite that its claws were so sharp they held a subtle sheen even with barely any light shining on them. It was almost as if the thing were pulsing with some agenda beyond merely being a weapon, but beyond that was the way it seemed to change her partner the moment it was called. Her eyes focused, her expression vacant of anything below seething agitation, and her entire body primed to strike. There hadn’t been a moment where she resembled Gahbreal any more than this that she could recall from ever knowing her, but there wasn’t even a moment to let her mind think on that for long. Not when the woman charged her so quickly that she couldn’t even react. 

Sure, there was some violence involved in their relationship. For the most part it came rather naturally, and there was a specific methodology to the way they engaged, but this? The way her hand clasped around her throat the very second she was within range? That action alone felt as if it could have killed someone lesser. The claws did not dig into the skin, but it felt as if the gauntlet itself were digging directly into her mind. Scrambling her thoughts and scraping her skull. Jaffe couldn’t focus enough to even consider the possibility of if this was the madness she’d described, but that was primarily due to her undivided attention being concentrated on Gahbriogyva’s quickly tightening grip. The gauntlet felt as if it were searing her fingers as she attempted to break her hold, but all she could feel was the increasing force of constriction. 

Her eyes slowly rolled into the back of her head as she could feel the way the Dimea’s hand attempted to force that fatal snap. All her strength was stolen within seconds but returned when she crumbled to her knees coughing and gasping for air. A change of heart, perhaps, but that wasn’t what she expected. Instead, she’d look to see Arthur’s intervention. Having directly grabbed and twisted Gahbriogyva’s arm to force a release. This was another new visual. Seeing anyone physically challenge the winged claimant at all. 

“That’s more than enough.” His brow furrowed. 

“If you want to die first then I’ll gladly oblige you!” She responded as she pulled her hand away before immediately pulling it even further back. Arthur recognized what she was doing the very second her fingers straightened like a blade. 

Jaffe had seen her fight before, but when Gahbriogyva’s hand descended on Arthur and he caught it, it brought a very clear realization along with it. From the way their collision rattled all the decorations from their positions around the room, to the shaking of the building around them. She was dangerous; Jaffe knew she was dangerous, but now the level of that danger was overly clear. Gahbreal had told her in passing that his daughter was not the type to be trifled with unless she wished to die, but this amount of force was beyond what she’d known most others to accomplish. Worse than that, she knew this was the output with her not going at it with her all. Even so, Arthur defended himself perfectly and threw her aside, but that was merely the catalyst which caused her wings to sprout from her back and stop her momentum entirely. 

“Did you really thing you could beat me with a technique one of my own lives taught you?” Arthur questioned her, only for Gahbriogyva to respond in the most typical way possible. Unlike her father, but more akin to her mother. 

“For the audacity of believing you can take what’s mine, and the mistake of believing you deserve more than me, your punishment is death! Death by violence!” 

Every muscle in her body activated as the air filled with the thick odor of blood. The stale and sticky blood of the houses like a sickeningly vile aura. Her teeth clenching, eyes sharpening into red pins as the air vibrated with the overwhelming weight of vile power. Her violence. Her brow furrowed, wings frayed, hair stood on ends as she looked more like a claimant than she'd typically ever allowed, and then— 

“THAT is ENOUGH!” Eric’s voice halted the rising enmity. It was implied that Eric was someone who had managed to gain a considerable amount of control over Gabi, but it wasn’t nearly as obvious as it was now. 

“You’d dare to interrupt me?” She’d respond in a final burst of anger. 

“ENOUGH. You’ve caused MORE THAN enough damage. Come. NOW.” 

Jaffe watched as, for the first time she'd ever witnessed, Gabi surrendered in combat. Her feet touching the ground with the most subtle of taps and her wings folding at her back as she stepped forward. The gauntlet melted away like flesh from bone and splattered on the ground into a pile of bubbling darkness, before seemingly seeping into her shadow and vanishing entirely. As she passed both Jaffe and Arthur by, she didn’t even bother to look at either of them. To Jaffe that stung more than anything else. It was one thing to have her angry with her, another to have her yell or complain, but being treated like some stranger that didn’t exist was a completely different feeling from her. 

“I’m going home.” Gabi would start. 

“No. YOU are coming WITH ME for DINNER.” 

“For what? My chef makes better food than whatever fast food slop you’re offering.” 

“YOUR AUNT wouldn’t be pleased to hear you say that about HER cooking.” Eric would respond. 

Gabi would be silent for a moment before inevitably saying, “fine.” 

She’d be the first to walk away from the collapsed door. Eric would look in at Arthur, then Jaffe, then back to Arthur before giving him a wave and following behind his niece. It only took a few moments after that for Lizbett to step forward with the most ominous of glares, and a few seconds after that for Mist to arrive with a yawn… still fully dressed in her sleep attire. 

“Well, would you look at you. The fuckup of the hour.” She’d begin while looking at the damage caused to the property from the outside. “I hate my job so much.” 

“You sound more like your boss every day.” Jaffe would respond. 

“How normal of you. We may both be Testua, but you’re clearly missing the majority of the brains our kin can manage. You should just be glad you made it through the night, although we never know what tomorrow holds.” 

“Yeah. Definitely sounding more like her now,” Jaffe would respond again to the agitation of her kin. 

“You know what? I don’t know what I expected.” Mist would speak before pulling out a notepad and quickly writing down several things before placing it on the floor outside of the door frame she’d yet to enter. “Call the number on there and they will handle the repairs.” 

“That’s why you’re here?” Arthur would ask. 

“With all due respect, your highness, our boss doesn’t concern herself with things she considers to be beneath her. Gahbriogyva is a paragon of power. A prodigy. It’s my job to handle paperwork in situations like this. Nothing more.” 

“And you just happened to be around?” 

“Part of my job is regulating schedules and documents. The moment she left her home outside of that schedule I considered the possibilities and began tracking her down.” For a moment he didn’t want to believe her, but it didn’t look like she cared either way. 

“How do you guys always get around so fast? Wouldn’t it normally take days to get here?” Jaffe asked. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Mist responded before yawning and walking away. “Come on, Lizbett. I’m tired and my night is ruined. Fucking bullshit. This job only ever has me dealing with idiots.” 

Lizbett stared at Jaffe for several long seconds before following the Testua until their footsteps faded into silence. Of course Gabi’s overprotective driver would be mad at her, and it was only natural that Mist treats her the way she did… she treated everyone that way. Arthur took the opportunity to retrieve the slip of paper where it described all the damages, the cost for each of their repairs and the amount they’d be willing to spend to accommodate those repairs. He had to read it again just to be entirely certain. 

“They’re willing to pay more than the entire place costs…” 

“Well, consider it kind. As sharp as her tongue is, Mist doesn’t slack when it comes to work. Not to mention she’s got some deep pockets.” Jaffe responded while walking over to look at the exact amount. 

“More importantly, how do you plan to resolve this?” Arthur asked. 

“It’ll take some work, but I’m not sure if this is something I can recover from. Gabi normally doesn’t get this offended.” She paused and thought for a moment. A silence which ended when she’d resolved herself to simply say, “I’m worried.” 

“You shouldn’t have much to worry about. Considering the first thing she did was try to get rid of me. She likely just wants you all to herself.” 

“I don’t know. She’s a lot of things, but she’s never really been greedy… unless combat is involved. I’m pretty sure that siren could fight for days without a single break.” 

“If you’re going to give up, I won’t complain. That just means I get all your time.” Arthur joked. 

“Asshole,” Jaffe laughed as she clung to his frame. Perhaps naturally, or maybe out of necessity. 

There was a feeling she couldn’t shake when the thought of an end to what she’d managed with Gahbriogyva was considered. It was always a possibility, but it didn’t seem real until that very moment. For the most part, it was difficult to keep Gabi from absorbing all her time whenever the winged claimant had gotten the chance. Against what most could fathom or bring themselves to believe, the Dimea had proven to be rather clingy, actually. Perhaps it was due to the influence of her mother, but Gabi was easily described as unnaturally addicted to doting within the confines of their relationship. Aside from the rampant sexual romance which flooded most of her actions, every moment outside of that was constant physical contact. She practically demanded it and became violent and standoffish without it. That was why being ignored by her felt so distinctly unnatural. 

However, Arthur’s mind was on something else entirely. The odd familiarity. A subtle feeling that Gabi was someone that he knows. Or at least someone he once knew.