10.

Fatherly Advice

"What?" Dante exclaimed staring at Auronmar with bewilderment and disbelief.

Gahn took a stern step forward, jerking the unconscious Reyna in his arms. "But why did ya tell me to leave them alive if—" His face soured as he glared at his king, realizing his intentions. "Ya shouldn't do this. It's stupid."

"Gahn, you know very well she cannot kill me," Auronmar spoke to him though he kept facing Mundus.

The Teleporter shook his head. "Ya don't know for sure!"

"Please, Gahn. Stop moving so much. You are disturbing Reyna's healing process."

He briefly gazed down at the emerald girl in his arms. The healing waves from her seeped into his arms and chest and vibrated down his legs, healing up the remaining cuts and gashes Reyna's own mending waves had not reached. Even Dante, simply standing next to them, was receiving regenerating relief from Auronmar's powerful healing spell.

"Gahn," Dante said though his sight was on Reyna. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed and opened his mouth to answer.

"No." Auronmar cut him off before a word could be uttered. "Do not waste time here any longer. Gahn. Dante. You shall now leave."

Mundus at last was prompted into speech. "Such I shall not allow to occur."

Auronmar extended an arm out, signaling Mundus to stay in place. "That is the price of having me. You must let them go."

Mundus quickly shifted his eyes to Reyna before leering at his father and saying, "No, I shall not."

The demon king caught his glance. "I am sure you will meet her again. Do not worry over that."

Mundus' glare intensified. "Such is not my concern. I merely—"

"I am positive your mother has my retrieval as a priority, yes?" His words held the odd mixture of casual superiority only royalty could convey.

The demon prince could only quietly glower at his father.

Auronmar nodded as if to say that was the end of the discussion. "What I do not understand is why you"—he turned towards Gahn and Dante's direction— "have not taken off yet when I had ordered you to do so a minute ago."

Dante was taken back only to retort with teeth bared and spite oozing from his stance. "No! I haven't seen you in months, Auronmar, and now that you show up to actually do something, it's to surrender? To tell me to run?"

The powerful demon in white did not answer. He merely turned away from them to face his son once more.

Angered, the mortal boy took a step forward, but Gahn's voice held him in his tracks.

"Dante, just come with me," he quietly told him. "Master Auronmar has his...reasons."

The Berserker looked at him almost horrified. "No! I won't! You were fighting too. All we need to do is take care of Mundus and—"

"And bring the wrath of an entire demonic army and its queen upon us?"

"But the time lapse isn't the same here! We still have time to hide and get stronger."

The truth and logic in his words left Gahn momentarily speechless. The demon sighed. "Dante, ya have to trust Master Auronmar. We just need to do as he says and leave. Now." He gently looked at the mortal beside him.

"Fine," he spat.

Gahn grinned and his usual charm cascaded over his face. He shoved Reyna into Dante's arms. "Follow me and here. I'll even let ya carry her."

"Wait!" Dante called as he struggled to properly carry Reyna's body.

"What?" Reyna groggily spoke. She opened her eyes and immediately straightened away from Dante, alert but tensed as she took in her surroundings. "What's going on?"  

"Just stay with us, cutie. We'll tell you on the way. Hurry up!" Gahn's distant voice called as he already took off running.

Puzzled, Reyna simply watched him go. "Did he just...? Why are we leaving?" she asked Dante.

He kept a stern face. "I'm not sure, but let's just go."

Her sights transferred from Dante to Mundus. The moon demon met her gaze and her body ached with the ghosts of the wounds he delivered. She scowled. "Yeah, let's go."

They took off, following Gahn's essence. Once their three Magika spirits grouped up, they disappeared and fled under the cover of Magika Suppression.   

Mundus pushed past Auronmar to give chase. The king's hand shot out and grasped Mundus' arm. His claws slightly set into his flesh. "I shall not allow you to pursue."

His son growled at him and pulled his arm out of his grasp. "The absurd conditions for your capture were not agreed upon. Their imprudent effort to flee is a futile effort."

The eldest of the Dark Bloods gave a small grin and brought a hand up to his lips. "I do not think it as so."

Auronmar's words only angered him further. "Your words are as incomprehensible as your actions! What, exactly, pleas you to surrender?"

The king's face fell. "I wish to speak to you."

"Such is the cause of your submission?"

"Not entirely, but it is part of it."

Mundus crossed his arms, irritated, but nonetheless said, "Very well. Speak."

His expression softened and he stared at Mundus with waning eyes. "I believe you still love Reyna."

The young Dark Blood laughed. It was rich and loud, but it did nothing to change Auronmar's face. "The near death I bestowed upon her went unnoticed by you?"

"Well, I'd say it's an improvement from your last love interest." Auronmar chuckled.

Mundus' scowl was his answer.

"I want you to put thought into something, Mundus," the king said as he stepped closer to his son. "When you first saw Ayame, what was it that kept you from killing her?"

He eyed him carefully. "Why do you ask me this?"

Auronmar returned the stare. "You have been under your mother's service since the civil attack. During the wars of that time, she had taught you to kill Magika infused humans upon sight, no doubt. Especially the powerful ones like Ayame. What was it that kept you from killing her?"

"Such a foolish question you ask."

"Why is it so hard for you to answer it?"

Their lengthy silence that followed was finally interrupted by Mundus' sigh. "My encounter with her was upon her nightly training. It intrigued me she was engaging in such an activity without guilt at that fact she was in defiance to her clan's code."

"It was that simple thing that caught your attention. It was that simple feat which caused you to give her a chance. You were introduced to another side of humans. You interacted with one, trained with one, and eventually fell in love with one."

"I am unenlightened at what your words elude to."

The king smiled. "I will explain it to you, but I ask you answer me another question. What kept you from killing Reyna?"

Mundus snorted. "I was unable to slay her. Our existence resided within the same physique."

"You eventually separated from her, yet you still did not slaughter her." Auronmar's smile spread.

Mundus turned away from him. "Such foolishness."

The king came up and stood next to his son, facing the horizon. "You see what I am trying to convey."

"I doubt any importance lies in answering your inquiry of Reyna."

"Amuse me and answer it all the same."

Mundus gave Auronmar a sideways glance. "I...I do not hold a valid reason."

"You mean besides your eventual feelings that you developed for her, correct? When you 'awoke' within Reyna, you did not feel immediate dislike for her, did you? Though I am sure you did not present yourself in the best of lights.

"Humans are not that bad, are they? Not only did you not feel spite towards Reyna but that human Amon certainly was not killed by your hands. Even Reyna's parents did not suffer your wrath. What your mother taught you about them was not all the truth, now was it? You gave them another chance, coming from your experiences with Reyna, and saw once more how there is no need to kill them. You even fell in love again."

In his eagerness to prove his father wrong, Mundus grinned. "However, the amount I did slaughter outweighed the amount I did not."

Their conversation was brought to an end when the two felt a rise in someone's Magika. It was approaching them and didn't take long to reach them.

"Ugh. That's you, right, Mundus?" Cerus' voice appeared as he staggered up to the two Dark Bloods. A sleeping Flow was in his arms.

"Of course. My essence is of my own, is it not?" Mundus sneered as he walked up to the demon and began to heal his wounds. The jade streams also penetrated Flow. Once healed, the little wolf jumped down Cerus' arms, shook its small body, and proceeded to run around the ankles of the three demons. Cerus smiled, sensing his Sprit's recovery.

 "Yeah, I guess so," the Shape Shifter told Mundus. "It's just Dante's punches literally blinded me and the rest of my senses are all out of sync. He hit me harder than I've ever felt. Even harder than you."

Mundus' growl was heard.

"Sorry. Shouldn't have said that.  I'm just sure my ability to sense essence it broken or something 'cause I feel like I'm sensing...Auronmar?" Cerus' eyes widened as Mundus' mending waves gave him sight again and his guess was confirmed.  

"Hello, Cerus." Auronmar nodded.

The Shape Shifter gaped at Mundus. "Did we somehow win?"

"Erian is in the right upon bestowing you the title of 'idiot,'" Mundus sighed.

The three demons turned to their right as the demon that had been spoken about was approaching them. When the bloody Erian finally came into view and up to them, he gave them all a small smile.

"I am pleased to have you agree with me," he told Mundus about his earlier comment.

The demon prince returned the smirk and proceed to mend The Seer's wounds.

Erian's cold sight fell upon Auronmar but he spoke to Mundus, "He surrendered upon the condition you released the others?"

"How'd you figure that out?" an impressed Cerus exclaimed.

"Auronmar is before you, unharmed, while the two mortals and that insufferable demon's presence is long gone, and you did not 'figure that out' yourself?"

"Well, you don't know the blows I just suffered from a while ago! I couldn't think straight."

Flow came up to Erian and gave little yaps as if to emphasize his mater's words.

"Of course," Erian said and then turned to ask Mundus, "What shall we do now?"

"The two of you shall remain within our newly acclaimed fortress until further instructed to do otherwise. Do not fail to state your intelligences to mother, Erian. I do not reside in the mood of explanations," Mundus ordered.

Erian and Cerus nodded.

"We," Mundus spoke to Auronmar, "shall begin our immediate depart to the human world."

"You will need to allow me to change the castle's defenses if you wish Cerus and Erian to enter. It will not allow them access as it is now," Auronmar said.

All turned to Mundus in wait of his command. They walked back to the castle in a leisure pace. One that, surprisingly, did not irritate Mundus. When they arrived at the fortress' encircling wall, Auronmar simply placed a hand on it. His touch unlocked the barrier. It was all –the walk and the opening of the castle –done in silence, but it was also all done for Auronmar to show he was surrendering peacefully.

Mundus locked sights with Erian and Cerus, saying their orders remained the same, before he turned and bounded away. Auronmar gave a lengthy, sad gaze at his castle before following. Erian and Cerus watched them leave before turning to the castle.

"Mundus really must've trusted Auronmar if he believed he unlocked the castle without even testing it," Cerus said as he placed a hesitant hand on the high, grey wall.

"You are supposed to walk through it not touch it," Erian said and taking his own advice passed through the thick wall.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, Flow. Apparently, we just need to walk through."

Flow padded next to Cerus as the two phased into the castle. Erian was several paces ahead of them, exploring. As new "guests" in the one-story fortress, they appeared in the main room. It was an enormous, empty grey area with nothing but multiple doorway openings to the right and left walls of it. The frames had no doors and were high rectangles of moss agate. The agate's dark branches were submerged in solid white bricks like seaweed in an ocean of milk. Cerus picked a hallway at random and entered it while Erian continued walking down the entrance room until he reached the back wall.

He gazed up at the massive, bronze torch chandelier, the only apparent furniture in the room. As he stared at it, Azul's voice emerged. "It was there, was it not, where we hid in wait of Mundus?"

The Seer's eyes briefly widened in surprise before narrowing to match his seething expression.

"Yes," Azul continued, unaware of Erian's reaction, "I remember. We each sat on one arm of that huge chandelier, holding our giggles as we waited."

The hybrid weapon by Erian's side glowed. Blue waves of light briefly caressed the dull walls before Azul emerged out of it, for the first time ever, without consent from her master.

"Azul," he whispered in disbelief and awe.

She ignored him as she slowly walked away from him, eyes locked up on the chandelier until she was directly below it. The hem of her snow white skirt was stained a fuzzy black. Azul cupped her hands together by her chest, eyes full of wonder. "Mundus," she said. "He was...is so handsome."

A low growl emerged from Erian's throat; his discontent kept him rooted on the spot. The fury in his eyes was not aimed at Azul –though he was watching her every move. The anger was at himself for every letting her Chain with Mundus. 

Azul's memory was returning.

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Author's Note: Yay! Update! So...how are you guys doing? Enjoying the story so far? 

I don't really have much to say, so I think I just created this A/N out of habit. Oh well...

Thanks for your support, guys! ^^