Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[Amara<3]

"Kaori, you'll have to kill me," the Keera with Kaori and Izuki said as they dashed down the road of screaming and suffering people. "And tell the others to kill the real me too. That's the only way to stop this madness. I don't know what they're planning, but I know it isn't good and i don't want to be a part of it. They'll have to it while I still have control over my body."

"No," Kaori said as a final word. "There's got to be another way. I'll have to come back too, with the charm."

"No, they want that back. Almost desperately. Keep it hidden in the same place over on the other side. If they somehow manage to get over there with you, there's plenty enough space in that world that they wouldn't even think to look if you have to move it." Once they got to the portal, Kaori turned to Keera.

"We have to close it." Kaori and Keera seemed to have a perfect moment of understanding. Yes, they would have to. "I'll ask the gods to look here in the future and try to help Keera out of this, and they can't, then kill her, as she's requested. I love you, my sister."

"Forever and always," Keera said in both places, even though Lamia was controlling one. "Now get out of here." Then the thought came up, the one that Keera had been trying to supress. Kaori had the charm.

"Wake up!" Michi screamed through all the girl's fatal dreams. Only a few actually woke. Akui was the first, and looked like she'd gone insane and back. Twice. "Let me guess, rainbows and butterflies?" Michi asked and Akui looked Daggers at her. Owari woke next, but that was it. Sora was too deep in the horror to even have heard the words, and the others just seemed to have blocked out her voice. "Two is better than none, I guess. Girls, keep on your game. Keera's not Keera right now, but it doesn't mean to hurt her. Try to stay on top of the game here until Lamia can't keep control anymore. Wear her out and try to keep her and Lucifer away from the sleepy heads."

Owari's gaze moved to Lucifer and her face went from frowning to absolutely joyous. Akui pinched Owari and her face went back to the way it had been, but her eyes still shined with the dark pleasure of simply seeing the demon. He seemed to amaze her in some sick and twisted way.

"Come with us Keera," Izuki said and Keera turned to her, confused. "If they kill the other you, then you can transfer that you into this body, and be on the other side with Lamia. Then Lamia will be on the side where none of the others can influence her. If you're lucky, she won't be able to make the pass through to this one."

"I don't think it works that way..." Keera said but Kaori seemed to smile. "What are you thinking?"

"Just come with us for now. We won't close the portal just yet. If it turns out that the other you keept Lamia and doesn't die, you'll know to come over and sit safely in the past and wait for Lamia to come up again or we figure out how to use the charm."

"No, whatever I see, Lamia will see and in turn tell everyone else when she takes my body again. I can't let that happen."

"Then just sit and play Queen while we figure something out. Come on!" Kaori said and grabbed Keera and Izuki, pulling them into the portal, and Keera willingly went with them. "Besides, we'll restrain you when you lose focus on this body. I've done before when I had a weaker heart for killing you over and over again. Maybe we could even talk to your grandfather if plans a surprise visit." On the other side, the air was pure and fresh, and they headed back to Keera's home.

[skyacezero]

"Hm?" Lamia's head lifted slighly. "Well, now isn't this interesting?" she mused. "What is it?" Lucifer asked. Lamia closed her eyes and smiled. "It seems that baby sister has the charm," she said. "Oh, great," Lucifer said. "Where are they now?" he asked. Lamia looked over o him. "They passed through a temporal anomaly and closed it behind them," she explained. "Great, so we came all this way for nothing," he said and opened a dark gateway. He whistled.

Chrissy looked over her shoulder and growled. "Just when I was about to have fun...." she said and threw the sign down. "You got lucky this time, Dandrige, next time, you won't be!" she said and appeared next to Lucifer, then stepped through the gateway. "In the meantime," Lucifer turned to Lamia. "You stay alive," he said and entered the gateway himself and it closed beind him.

Darryl got out of his hiding place and rushed to everyone. He spotted Keera. "Keera, is everyone alright?" he asked. The Keera in front of him giggled. "Sorry," Lamia's voice said. "Keera's not here for the moment..." was all she had to say. "You....you're the Demon Lord inhabiting Keera's body?!" Darryl said. Lamia sarcastically gasped. "The boy CAN be taught," she said. She started towards him only to stop short and stagger. She put her hand on her forehead. "I'd better leave before her brain shuts down," she looked at Darryl and smiled. "Catch you around, kiddo," she said and fainted. Darry rushed forward and caught her. "Hey! Keera!" he said and gently shook her.

[Amara<3]

When Chrissy left, Michi began waking everyone up by forcing their dreams out of them. They all woke with a start and one screamed, but other than that they were alright. Owari watched Keera-Lamia until Lamia left and Keera was the only one left. Sora looked over to Keera and sighed. She rarely fainted unless there was a real problem with her, and this was one of the few.

"Judging by your reaction, Daryl, and what she called you..." Michi said from her kneeling position by Kaminari and looked over to him. "She was probably the devotion of Necrolon's, isn't she?" They both stood and everyone walked over and circled Dayl and Keera. They all then kneeled or sat around them and waited.

Keera's eyes fluttered, and her forehead winkled in frustration, then opened her eyes. She realized she was in Darryl's arms and swallowed. "She's safe, and in two ways, so am I," Keera whispered and smiled.

~~~

Keera looked at Kaori and smiled, and in turn Kaori smiled at her. Izuki kept her sights on the road leading down to the water. "Keera, we may... have a problem..." Keera looked down at the beach and saw why. There was a battle raging and blood pouring everywhere and seeping into the water with the waves.

"This isn't good..." Keera said and her eyes started turning darker. "Why are they fighting right here?" The closer they got, the better they could see, even with their demonic vision. "That's not... that's our people down there!" Keera began to run down to the them. Kaori and Izuki shouted for her, but she didn't stop. When she got there she ealized something else: this wasn't her people. Her crrazed cousin was taking on the humans and demons that could not go into the waters. Keera was infuriated and casted ice all around her as many turned on her. Kaori and Izuki raced down the path once seeing that Keera had fozena great number of both sides. "Keera, we should go," Izuki said and the battle raged on as they walked, everyone vey careful not attack them.

Once down into the kingdom, Keera's army was assembled, still ready to go to battle if Sage's army came down. Keera let them stay ready and passed without a word. Her sensei was quite surprised as all three of them went straight into the castle. Keera walked into the grand hall, and sat down without a word. Kaori had stopped to talk to a servant and Izuki followed Keera into the room.

"I'm going insane with that Lamia," Keera whispered and Izuki simply nodded. "She's going to destroy me before I figure out how to fix myself and cast her from me. I would sooner have simply changed bodies and have dealt with that thing in my original with it's super powers. We're going to find anything on that charm that we can. We'll have to check the libraries' books, and with my Sensei, and if we can even find out where it was made, we'll have a start."

[skyacezero]

Darryl shook his head at what Michi had said. "No, she wasn't," she said as he helped Keera to her feet. "She was someone I knew from school back home," he said. "You okay, Keera? Feel like anything's missing?" he asked.

(Hey, have you ever had one of those dreams that you just wanted to stay in and never wake up, but eventually you do and you try to fall back asleep so you can see it again?)

[Amara<3]

Keera looked at Darryl and didn't move, like she was thinking about his question. "A lot seems to be missing. I don't suppose you'd know if they inhabit the entire soul, or just the part that broke?" She sighed and closed her eyes again. "What a terrifying experiece. How does Lilith's do it? How has the body not broken apart yet?" She lifted herself from Darryl, giving him a smile without opening her eyes. Kaminari put her hand out and Keera took it.

Sora watched with curiousity as the two near-twins stood together. "How did you know her hand was there?" she asked and Keera opened her eyes. Kaminari smiled. Michi walked over as well, and three nearly the same people stood together. "Kaminari and Michi are related, and they happen to look like you Keera, are you three related?"

"I'm not related to them, no." Keera replied.

"We function almost like one unit, we know where eachother are and the movements we make on a constant basis." Kaminari explained and Sora nodded. Se was still curious, but let it go.


((Yes I have actually. I hate it when that happens. I'm going to need some direction with the charm thing, unless I'm to make it up myself, but I'm sure you had a plan with it.))

[skyacezero]

((The direction is that the charm can only be used by a Demon Lord and it's used to purge other Demon Lords form their host bodies and kill the demon lord, but it has a very low success rate, often killing the host's conciousness instead of the demon lord's or kill both of them. Darryl and Keera and everyoneone else don't know how to use it until the good Lilith tells them how.))

"I don't know how Lilith or any of them know how to stay in one piece," Darrly said, shaking his head. "As for the inhabiting part, they reside only in the part that's broken, but the rest of the sould startts to waver as the Demon Lord's consiousness overpowers the host's, eventually replacing it altogether," Darryl said. He gave a yawn and looked over to city to see the sky turning blue from the breaking dawn. "Wow, time flies when you're dealing with evil demons, doesn't it?" he said.

((BTW you miss me?))

[Amara<3]

((Okay, so could Keera use herself? Also, say she could, and used it on Lilith and it worked, would the good Lilith be able to do it back, or is Keera still stuck? and YES I freaking missed you! Lol.))

"I'm ready to stop this whole ordeal short," Keera whispered and Sora's face dropped. The other two stared at her and didn't know what to say.

"Keera, that's not why we stayed," Sora said angrily. "We stayed to help you get rid of this problem, not get rid of you."

"Well I'm going back to hell then, and I'm going to see how much fun I can stir up," she said, looking around. Then she sighed. "Except I have no idea how to get there."

"Well, if you down downward by that piece of rubble for a couple miles, and make a left, you should see the sign," Sora said angrily, crossing her arms. The other two rolled their eyes, and Keera looked back at them.

"Sora, I'm talking about the real hell, not some imaginary place," she growled. "I need some answers, and I need them soon, or you will have to get rid of me. So put up and shut up, I'm doing the best I can here," she growled.

"Than bring Lamia back to our Japan with you, and we'll figure something out," Kaminari said and Keera didn't even consider it. Then Keera turned to Darryl. "Do you suppose they were around in Feudal Japan? Especially Lilith?" The gears seemed to be turning in Keera's head, but in what direction, no one could tell.

[skyacezero]

((Well no, Keera isn't a Demon Lord and neither is the good Lilith. So unfortunately, Keera is stuck with Lamia for a while. A bit of foreword though, Keera eventually does succumb to Lamia, and the way that's going to happen is going to be an M. Night Shaymalan-style plot twist.))

"I'm not sure. It depends on what year it is. Maltheus, Lilith, and all the other Demon Lords were running around in Europe in.... the year 1213 if memory serves me right," Darryl said. "That was about seven-hundred ninety seven years ago, so how far back would we be going?" he asked.

[Amara<3]

"About five hundred, give or take a few decades," Keera said and Michi nodded. Sora bit her lip. "Wherever they were at that time, I want to visit and see them," Keera said with a smirk. "See if we can't knock some off then so we have less to worry about now, if you know what I mean."

"You want to mess around then to screw things up now," Kaminari said, almost angry. "That could make things worse for you, you know," she said angrily. "You could even be dead now if you go back and do that."

"I could also be alive and not afflicted with this crap," Keera growled, and Sora who was about to talk, closed her mouth.

((Okay, well, for the sake of another rp which is relating to this one, Keera doesn't give in completely, and she finds a round about way to get rid of Lamia. Except I'm not sure whether I want her to anymore. I'm thinking that they share the same body at the same time, if things go as planned. Hope you don't mind. I'm sort of playing Lamia on my own in that one, I'm not trying to take her over on you or anything, it's just for the one.))

[skyacezero]

((That's okay, I don't mind at all.))

"Well, it wouldn't matter, much even if we went back, we'll have missed them by about two or three hundred years, and I don't plan on waiting 'til 1942 to meet them," Darryl said. "On top of that we still need to figure out why Maltheus is so interested in these 'Gates of Oblivion'," he added. "Any ideas? 'Cuz I'm just drawing a blank over here,"

[Amara<3]

"Destroy the world," Sora said airily. "That's the only thing that comes to my mind."

"You know it would be easier for us to go back home," Kaminari said. "We shouldn't be here at all to begin with, and if that's the case WE can wait until then and they won't know what's coming. We'll already know a lot about them before they surface."

"Did everybody miss that?" Sora asked, crossing her arms. Michi looked at her with a solemn frown and a shrug, rolling her eyes and then shaking her head, looking the other way. Kaminari stared blankly, and Keera seemed to be counting something on her fingers for one reason or another. "If we encounter them when they appear in Europe, or whatever, when they first band together or appear, they'll know about us now too. Then we'd be doubley screwed. Now is a better time than any to do our best against them. They know nothing about us either."

"Yeah," Keera said suddenly. "That's a good point, but to be truthful, I don't even know much about you guys."

"Might be a good thing," Michi said in a whisper, even though everyone heard. "The less you know, the less Lamia knows. The less Lamia knows, the less she can tell her boss."

[skyacezero]

"Oh that's right! I don't mean to change the subject, but what ablout that bounty hunter that was after me?" Darryl said. "She said that the gods sent her, is there anyway I could meet them and at least plead my case to them?" he asked. "We have enough problems without a bounty hunter on our, I mean MY back"

[Amara<3]

Keera looked at Darryl sideways. "Interesting," she said and sat back. "Maybe. That could help you at least, but I don't think it would the current problem of the world being destroyed. I would help but I don't know if I can communicate with them at the moment. I mean, they gave me my body back but I can't just ask favors. I'm in that great of standing."

[skyacezero]

"I see," Darryl said. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he added. "At any rate, that charm thing that the good Lilith gave you seems to be......to be...." Darryl yawned. "Sorry 'bout that. Apparently the Demon Lords don't want us to figure out what that charm is for or even how to use it,"

[Amara<3]

"Oh I'm sure we know what it's for," Keera said and sighed. Sora came behind her and gave her a gentle hug. The others sympathized with her in their heads, each looking another way at all the surroundings, thinking of all the problems that didn't seem to have any answers.

((I think we should move on from here. I'm not really sure what else to do.))