Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[Amara<3]

"Nice to meet you." Sora said and raised her eyebrows. She giggled a little, looked at the lake, and then back at him. "Where are you from, Hell?" she asked everyone seemed to smile a little. "That's the only place I can think of that has no lakes, other than a desert."


"That 'if' makes it sound like I actually have a chance at it not happening," Keera smirked. She liked that. There was only thing she needed to do now, was figure out how she was going to get the damn thing out of her. There was a possible idea, but she never let that much of her soul out each time she made a copy of herself. "So how much of my soul did you manage snag without me knowing?"

[skyacezero]

Darryl let out a small laugh. "No, I'm from a city in the States, sorta' after your time," Darryl said. "I have seen an ocean before, but trust me, you wouldn't want to swim in it, least not where I'm from,"

"Oh, I didn't take any part of your soul. When your soul was fractured, something had to fill it in, if not, you'd end up in a padded cell for the rest of your life," Lamia said. "Geting rid of me will not be easy I'm afraid. You see, not only am I attatched to your soul, I also reside within the very depths of your subconcious,"

[Amara<3]

"Well, I've never been to the States. Is that East or West from Japan?" she asked and Izuki sighed. "What? I'm curious."

"Sora, Keera's in trouble." Izuki said and Sora's upbeat attitude drained out of her face. "We're going to the future to save her."

"Well why didn't you say so? Oh, we have a new friend and says he knows Michi," Sora said as if it were important. "Mikel! Come here boy!" she called and there was a rustle in the bushes not too far from them. "Come on!" she said and turned to the bush. A jaguar came through the bush, cautiously looking at the new people. It padded it's way over to Sora and rubbed it's head into her hand.


"I'd rather be in the padded cell," Keera said as she walked past the library. "I'll figure out a way, and besides, I always knew I had another personality." She said turned down a hall that looked like the one she'd come from. It'd be pretty easy to get lost in here, I bet. Though for Hell, I sort of expected something a little extravagant, she thought and sighed, but kept walking. "I'll find a way to get you out, believe me. The only trouble I might have is trying not to die while doing it."

[skyacezero]

"If i remember enough from geography class, the U.S. would be.... east of Japan," Darryl said. He noticed the jaguar come out of the bushes. "Where did he come from? I didn't think jaguars were native to Japan," Darryl said.

"Good luck to that," Lamia said. "But lwt me ask you this, why do you protect, when you know that part of you craves to slaughter?"

[Amara<3]

"Ha, well, I'm not sure, probably not." Sora looked at it's eyes, and laughed. "It was a stowaway on a ship. That's apparently how he found Michi. You see, she's practically allergic to thunder storms, so it was a thunder storm when the ship came in, and he saw he basically dying in some place by the western coast." She blushed a little. "I can tell what animals try to tell me though their eyes. He knows where Michi is right now. She's coming this way. You might be a little surprised by how she looks, Darryl."



"Thanks," Keera replied. "I protect because I have been for hundreds of years. I've dominated that part of me that wants destruction. I don't want to kill innocent people, I don't like it anymore. I have no motive for that sort of entertainment," she explained and abruptly stopped. "And I know what you're trying to do. The more I think about killing people, the less I'll want to protect my sister, quit it." Keera growled under her breath, and took a deep breath.

[skyacezero]

"Surprised? Try me, I've seen enough weird stuff that not much really surprises me anymore," Darryl said. "I mean how weird can this Michi person look?" Darryl suddenly got a tad suspicious. "Wait a sec. She's behind me, isn't she?"

"Ha! You lie!" Lamia said. "Your hands are so bloodstained you protect innocents only to try and wash it off," she continued. "The truth is that you enjoyed it, every second of it. There is a killer inside you. You don't have to deny it," Lamia cooed. "By the way, simply not wanting to protect Kaori isn't enough. She would have to be put out of the picture, premanently. You see, Kaori isn't just your sister, she's become the very embodiment of your sanity,"

[Amara<3]

"Ha ha, he's good," Michi said from behind Darryl. Her voice was soft like Kaori's, and also like Keera's dangerous tone without trying to sound so. Kaori gestured for him to turn around. When he did, Michi was far enough back that he could see every inch of her. From her tall form, to her hair and eyes, Michi looked exactly like Keera minus one thing. Everything that was blue on Keera was replaced by a light lavender. Michi's hair was pale lavender, as Keera's pale blue. Right down to the eyes, different shades of purple depending on her mood, like Keera's blue ones that also changed with her mood.

"No relation," Kaori said with a small laugh. "None whatsoever."


"Oh, how much do you know, exactly? Have you so-called Demon Lords been watching me since I've been a small child? Do you really know what lies in my heart? I have the soul of a killing, chaotic demon, but that doesn't mean my heart is the same." Keera growled, but at one point, she had been nothing but a killer, gone to rampage all the people who ever dared talk ill about her family, and any village within a mile of her ocean kingdom had been destroyed as well. It was all by her own hand, and she would admit it, but she had a reason. No, it wasn't an excuse to just simply kill people. She'd despised all humans and even demons that had anything to do with the battle that her father died in.

She stopped the moment Lamia had mentioned the fact that Kaori held what little sanity Keera had left. That was also true. Without Kaori, Keera wouldn't care who she killed or how she killed them. However, a thought came to her. "None of you can touch her, and you can't make me hurt her."

[skyacezero]

"Could'a fooled me. I'm Darryl by the way," Darryl said. "So who're we missing now?"

"The soul and the heart are opposite sides of the same coin," Lamia said. "When you see face to face, you see your true self. There may be a resemblence, but they never face the same direction," Lamia finished. "As for your sister's well-being, we'll see. We'll see....." Lamia's voice seemed to fade away.

[Amara<3]

"Okay, we have Izuki, Michi and Sora. Itsumo went to get Nikko, so that leaves Kaminari, Atokata and Akui," Kaori said, and the women all nodded at the same time.

Michi smiled, "You know, I think he's a bit out numbered. Imagine the possibilities." She laughed a little. "Joking, of course. I wouldn't dream of anything happening to our only hope at saving our Mistress."

"I could." A voice came from the darkest place from them. A girl, no older looking than seventeen came out of the shadows, her dark make-up and clothes making her mable-like pale skin seem even more pale than it was. "I like seeing death, especially watching it happen. Unless of course it's one of us, then it's not so enjoyable."

"Oh knock it off," Izuki growled. "This is Akui Seibutsu. She takes her name to a literate term, 'A desire to harm living things' and she sticks to it like glue. I'm surprised she bothers with us. Or rather that we bother with her."

"Now now, Izuki," Michi said and smiled again. "How would Keera like hearing that coming out of your mouth? She'd probably hit you both." Akui rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Well it looks like there's only two people left to find, unless Nikko and Itsumo found them already. We should head back in case they're waiting."


Keera didn't say a word back, but felt as if she'd accomplished something against them already. Maybe not physically, but she made plain and clear that she doesn't desire to hurt anyone, especially her sister, and no can make her. She'd sooner die, and they didn't want that. Good. Her heart would win over her instinct, she'd done it before and if they tried to pull it out in front of her, she' just put it behind again. She knew that was harder than it sounded in her head, but she knew she could do it again if she had to.

[skyacezero]

"We'd better head back and meet up with them," Darryl said. "But where are they waiting at?"

"So where'd Barbatos run off to?" Lucifer said. "I haven't seen him for a while," Lilith looked over to him. "He went back to the mortal world, I sent him to find and kill that Dandridge brat once he gets back to the present time," Lilith said. "He does have back-up I presume?" Lucifer said. "Oh yes, he does," Lilith said with a sadistic smile on her face.

[Amara<3]

"Probably back where we started from," Kaori said before Michi could guess. "Hopefully they have Atokata and Kaminari with them. Even though Kaminari is one of the stronger ones, no offense girls," Kaori sort of smiled a little as Izuki glared at her. "She's the second hardest one to find."

"Well let's go," Izuki huffed at Kaori and started back the way they'd come, back to the village. A bunch of villagers watched them go through and were murmuring to themselves about the group. They knew Kaori and Sora, and knew that Izuki had come out with Kaori, but that was it. However, they'd known about a group of demons that had never been completely out in the open about themselves as a group, and the villagers wondered if this was them.

Back at the place where Kaori and Darryl had come through, Nikko, Atokata and Itsumo were waiting, but there was no fourth. "I see no one found Kaminari yet," Itsumo said with a frown. "We looked where we saw her last, but the people there told us she'd disappeared a few days ago without any notice about where she was going." Kaori sighed and shrugged. "Are we going without her then?"

"I guess so, we don't have that much time I guess. Oh, before we go," Kaori said and turned to Darryl. "It's safer if you tell us what we need to know now, rather than in the other time where they're probably looking for you and I... well, at least you." All the girls stood a little uneasy, except Sora, who never seemed very uptight about much.


((I don't really think there's much for Keera to do right now unless you bring someone into the picture with her))

Keera leaned against the wall and watched the portal between this era and the past, very intently waiting on Kaori to come through, unless she'd decided to take a run for it and leave Keera to battle it out on her own. She knew of course that Kaori would never do that, and a slight fit of rage threatened to burst from her as she knew what Kaori was doing now. She was getting back up, the same back up that Keera hadn't wanted involved.

[skyacezero]

"Okay, here's what you need to know, and it's everything I know," Darryl started. "The beings that've taken Kaori's sister are called the Seven Demon Lords. They were comprised of Maltheus, Lilith, Belphegor, Lucifer, Barbatos, Leviathan and Beelzebub. In my time, three years ago, me and Necrolon killed Leviathan and Beelzebub. They replaced one of them with a new Demon Lord, Mephistopheles and he's dead, too," Darryl explained. "These maniacs have tried to destroy the world to reshape it in their own way twice. The first time, they tried to used some kind of 'end-of-the-world' ritual that Necrolon interrupted. The second time, they tried to use a V-3 nuclear warhead. Looks like they're shooting for a third attempt, but I have no idea what they're going to try now. The last thing that you need to know is that every one of them is EXTREMELY dangerous in a one-on-one fight but the ones you really need to watch out for are Lilith, Belphegor and Lilith's avatars. Any questions?" Darryl finished.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Lamia's voice came back. "That your own sister would betray you like this. So what are you going to do?"

[Amara<3]

They all listened intently and at the end, even Sora seemed dispirited. She looked around, and noticed two girls walking up the path. Her eyes brightened and she clapped her hands together. "Look Kaori! He comes the last of them!" Kaori turned apologetically to Darryl and looked at the two girls.

"We heard," Kaminari said and bowed to all the of them. "That we were gathering somewhere, and the only place I could think of was here. We also heard what you said," she said gesturing to Darryl and looked completely serious. "In hearing it, I'll assume that Keera's in a whole lot of troube that she can't handle."

"Looks like she's in over her head, as always." the other girl said and Izuki rolled her eyes again for what was probably the seventh time now today.

"She's always gotten out of it on her own," Izuki said.

"She hasn't been involved with demons like these," Kaori said and turned back to Darryl. "How long have these Demon Lords been in existence? Were they around at this time?"



"It makes me upset that she's going to get them killed," Keera said and stopped. "She hasn't exactly betrayed me, just gone against my orders. The only way she could betray me is to try and have me killed. She's trying the exact opposite."

[skyacezero]

"The original Demon Lord, Chernobog, he's been around for who knows how long. The other Demon Lords came into existance during the early 1200's," Darrly said. "When their little ritual failed it dragged them into purgatory and they were there for about seven hundred years 'til a bunch of German idiots let them out," he finished.

"Is that right? In case, I can't wait 'till your body's mine," Lamia said. "Oh, the fun I'll have with them,"

[Amara<3]

"There's about five hundred years difference between this time and the next, which means they're around now... minus the hundred years that Keera's been gone and then another two or three hundred for how old she was when the war happened..." Kaori said, voicing her calculations.

"That makes it so that only Chernobog would know about Keera's original powers that she gave up using a long time ago. Hell, she might not even remember those powers. If she does though, they'll be stronger than they were when she was only fifty... maybe. I doubt revert back to those though. Not that she isn't smart enough to think back that far, but I don't think it's her next logical step." Sora sighed, hummed and looked around at everyone else, wondering what they could do to stop these people. Then she got a bright question.

"How did you and Necrolon kill the Demon Lords that you did, Darryl?"


"I'd sooner have them kill me," Keera growled and spun back around the way she'd come, almost smacking into someone. A little growl escaped her lips, but she let no further noises or words escape her mouth.