An Ocean of Red [Private]

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

In the endless blizzard, Deniel trod a path that few would ever dare to go, and even fewer would survive. He was at the northernmost region of Iceberg at the time, just finished paying a visit to a certain location that he held dear within his heart, and a deep hatred within his mind. Draped in his rugged black cloak, the fabric swooshed in the wind of ice and hail, exposing the body underneath that had only a thin layer of clothing as protection. Though in spite of it all, it showed no signs of freezing or anything of the sort. The hair of Deniel was pushed right against half of his face, but he made no motion to brush it away, for it would only be brushed back. Ice, hail, and snow pounded against his body repeatedly in the path of the blizzard, but he kept his eyes focused in front of him, and did not stop moving for a moment. He had navigated this blizzard several times by now, and knew all of its tricks and secrets: the main one was no one would ever get out unless they knew where the Icecrown Citadel was. So as one might imagine, people that so happened to be passing by or attempted to navigate through perished underneath a thick layer of ice. He had no notion as to how many corpses were beneath his prints underneath countless layers of ice, but he did not care.

After a while, Deniel was suddenly no longer being pelted by the blizzard... in fact it seemed like it had all but vanished with his surroundings, though he knew the trick to it all. Someone did not wander into the blizzard until they were deep within its heart, and they were not out until it seemed like they were never in. Arianna's blizzard was a phenomenal form of Magic. Outside of the blizzard, the frozen wasteland of Iceberg was actually a little more... peaceful to say the least. In the twilight, one could stare up at the starry lit sky if clouds were not in its way, and this particular one seemed to have such fortune. He stared at the landscape ahead of him, filled with fissures, glaciers, frozen lakes, and forests coated in snow. "What's next, Deniel?" With a look of determination on his face, Deniel ventured forth on his path, not answering his dragon--which had been wrapped around his shoulders like a scarf--until he was several in. "We go to Sin next. I'm visiting dad's palace once more."

"You can't mean to access his laboratory again. Those secrets you find... they never please you, y'know."

"I know... but I can never bring myself away. I want to know... I need to know. What did dad do and discover?"

On his path, Deniel picked up a familiar scent, one he was all too familiar with in fact. He stopped in his tracks as his nose twitched a bit. He sealed his eyes shut, and focused all of his attention on the scent of smell. It wasn't too far... but there was no doubt in his mind it was "Yuno..." he whispered to himself. He'd no idea what she was doing in a land like Iceberg, but was dying to find out. He made a sudden bolt from where he was standing and entered a forest of ice and snow, going through all of the branches and leaves one by one, his cloak nearly snagging on one of them. The scent was getting stronger and stronger, making him know that he was just moments away. Deniel burst through the brushes just as he witnessed Yuno being penetrated by an arrow from an unknown location.

Time seemed to slow down in his perspective, witnessing the sharp metal penetrate through her flesh, and bring a look of pain onto her face. He made no hesitation to hold out his sword and summon his blade, the black dragon on his shoulders shifting itself to mist and traveling into his palm. It manifested and materialized itself into a sheathed black katana, one he drew with his right hand by the hilt, and just in the nick of time to cut another incoming arrow away. Without saying much of a word to Yuno, Deniel made the unusual move to throw his blade into the shadows of their surroundings, and all he could hear was the sound of a wound being formed by a katana blade, and blood gushing out. He held out his hand once more, and by some force of attraction, the blade came right back into his palm again, only to have him throw it once more at another place he knew a hunter was. Meanwhile he kept the scabbard in his hand to knock away any and all incoming arrows, which had been two more.

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

There was one more... it had been a group of three that attacked Yuno. Quite small in numbers, but those arrows and stealth were more than enough to bring down weary travelers. Deniel killed two, but the third was smart enough to realize that an arrow was perhaps not the best choice against someone like him. With frost breath escaping his mouth, Deniel held his blade with both hands, and moved very slowly as to not make any sort of sudden moves. The third was somewhere nearby... he did not flee. He was using stealth, lurking to see if they could find an opening in Deniel's stance and posture. The Nephalem stayed on his guard, until he heard something. Just from behind him, a resident of Iceberg came out. They were dressed in very thick clothing appropriate for the weather, and their weapon of choice was a spear alongside their sets of bows and arrows. The bladed spear came in for a jab at Deniel, with the side of his katana deflecting it and shoving it away.

Deniel took the chance to close on, a spear-wielder's biggest weakness. Nidhogg's blade ran down the spear to keep it out of harm's way for him, before driving the back of the blade towards his stomach area, hard enough to knock him out. He didn't kill these citizens of Iceberg, not even the ones where Nidhogg had cut them. They would certainly live... just enough to knock them out. With them out of the picture, he turned--expecting Yuno to be there--but instead found nothing. "Well, then..." sheathing the blade Nidhogg back inside of its scabbard, he searched for prints, and found them; fresh. "Hm. I wonder what she's up to." And with a gust of wind, he vanished from where he was standing.

Deniel was back at Yuno's home long before she was; he knew that it was her place because of the smell. It smelled exactly like she did, and that was something he couldn't forget given the long periods of time he spent together with her. It certainly was fairly decent, and he began to wonder just how many places she had in different locations. He found himself in the kitchen first, searching for any strawberries. Concluding that there was none, he simply made a bowl for himself, and awaited her return. She came back not long after he did, and no doubt still had the arrow in her. The scent of her blood was strong... and it was her first priority. She came into the kitchen, not noticing him given his position out of her line of sight, and started to pour vodka on her wound to disinfect it. Deniel slowly approached Yuno, and then made a very sudden move.

"Hold still now." He grabbed on to one of her shoulder, and then the arrow in the other. With a harsh yank, he pulled the weapon straight from where it had planted itself while also giving her a kiss on the cheek in a way to compensate for the pain. "Well... that was easy! What have you been up to, huh?"

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

Luckily for him, in spite of his slight intrusion and sudden removal of the arrow in her, she was just as happy to see him as he was her. Her hand's met his, and for a moment he was believing that they would share a wonderful kiss after being separated for just a little over a month, but that would have to wait a little later. He was so distracted about other things on her that he forgot there was an open wound on her shoulder. She approached a mirror--which he found it just a little bit odd that she kept a mirror there, but... whatever. That was something trivial. "I'm just as surprised as you are." While she was cleaning off the open wound, he made himself a little more comfortable. He hadn't taken off his cloak or anything since he entered, and she was almost out of everything. So for the few moments that she did so, he went by the door, hung up his coat and cloak, and removed himself of his combat boots just in time for her to turn back to him.

"Well, I've just been..." he didn't know how to put what he was doing. Of course he wasn't going to bluntly say he visited the place where his parents lived as humans, and died, and his mother froze over when she was reincarnated before it became a killing grounds for Nephalem. "Visiting familiar places. Paying some respects, but aside from that..." He changed the subject to one she might find much more enjoyable, and... intimate. "Hold still again, dear." He placed the palm of his hand just above the open wound in her shoulder. Deniel was not a healer by any means, but he did possess ONE healing spell in all of his arsenal of destruction, but it was quite potent as well. His hand glowed purple with Chaos Energy, closing up her wound and leaving behind just a small scar that would heal in a day or two.

"Now with that taken care of, let's catch up, shall we?" He knew the best way to catch up with her after a month of absence. He turned her around to face him, and his lips met with her's for the first time in a whole month, and so did many other things.

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

She had taken quite the surprise to him being able to heal her, and in fact... when he first discovered the spell by accident, he was also quite surprised as well. He never knew in a million years that he would be able to heal someone, though primarily in combat he used it for himself. He wondered if perhaps he could heal more. Of course all of those thoughts were rushed away with his time spent with Sayuno, and he long forgot about it after the few hours. Eventually they found themselves laying on a bed, which he had to admit was quite comfortable, especially with her there. So comfortable in fact that he found himself nearly falling asleep at that point, but he was awoken by Sayuno, who had been tracing his scar on his chest. Did she find it attractive in any way? If she did, then... he wouldn't have to worry about it ever. "Yes...?" He asked her, his voice quite soft and tired at the same time. His eyes were still closed, but he wasn't asleep. His arm was right around Sayuno's shoulder area, and he had her pulled in very close to where he laid down.

He wasn't sure what she was going to ask about this time, but was somewhat relieved that it was only about who he paid his respects to. He wasn't going to lie, naturally, he just wouldn't tell her all of the details. He might do that about himself once she was willing not to lie about herself, but... no harm in many things. "Family members," he said, his voice still sounding a little bit quiet with his eyes still closed. Shortly after the kiss she gave him, though, he opened his eyes and said the next part normally once more: "Dead family members. Brothers and sisters." He had a lot of those, but he only knew the name of one: Vergil. The rest were nearly forgotten in history. He leaned right into Sayuno and returned the kiss she gave him earlier, feeling too comfortable to budge even an inch from where he was with her, "And you? What exactly were you searching for in his frozen wasteland?"

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"Loss". It was funny for her to say that it was his loss, and that she was sorry for him. He didn't bother telling her that not only did he not know their names, but... they were all strangers to him as well. He knew nothing about a single one of them, except that they were all his brothers and sisters, and each of them perished at the hands of Diabolos and Arianna. They were all forgotten, so he figured it was his duty as their only surviving brother to visit their graves... which was in the form of either frozen bodies encased in ice, or skulls meshed into obsidian. He felt nothing for them, in the end.

She seemed to be here for a far more interesting thing than he was. Something in a book? Those kinds of treasure hunts were always delightful, and he did wonder what it was that she had. She put herself in his shirt, and he slipped on his clothes to cover up his lower body as well. What she had said didn't sound all that ridiculous at all; he learned that in this world of Magic, anything was possible, and that was no exaggeration either. He had seen quite a number of phenomenal things. He gently picked the flower up off of his chest, and inspected it quite carefully. Just as he did though, time itself seemed to freeze right around him, as he was spoken to within his mind by a familiar voice, and he spoke back.

Deniel.

Dad!? What do you want?

Your little girlfriend there... you know what she is, right?

What is that supposed to mean!?

That flower has the power to detect and reveal demonic beings... so if you hurt her...

Dad! You honestly don't believe that--

She's a demon? That I'm certain of. And if you hurt her, you too shall know.

Not on your life.

Everything moved back to its regular speed as he inspected the flower just a little bit more. His eyes went to Yuno once more, but then immediately behind her as he recognized a figure. A red spirit had appeared right behind Yuno, an unmistakable one at that. Tall, brooding, broad shoulders, and an enormous blade in his hand raised to the sky. Diabolos the Black Devil, while in his 'human' appearance as a spirit, unleashed a clean cut across the back of Yuno, making sure that a wound was inflicted, but not one that would be life threatening to her. Upon seeing Yuno be cut by his father, Deniel lashed out by attempting to grab on to his father and tackle him to the ground, but found that he went straight through the man, with Diabolos grabbing the flower out of his hands as he fazed through. "DAD! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

Diabolos flung the flower with a small flick towards the wound inflicted by him on Yuno, and stared back at his son. "Watch closely, kid. She's a demon."

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

Deniel saw it, and Diabolos had as well. There was no denying it, of course the Black Devil himself was much less surprised about it than his son as. The blade that was in his hand had vanished, leaving only him there with his fists against his hips, and a smug look down at his son on the floor. "Forget women's intuition, listen to your dad once in a while! Hahahah!" A slap on the back came straight to Deniel, who was still having quite the hard time comprehending what had just happened. He hadn't the slightest notion what he should be mad about... his dad attacking her, her lying to him, or that he had been falling for a demoness this entire time. And there was also something he was concerned about. "How did you attack her...?" he said quietly to Diabolos. By all sense of logic, if Deniel couldn't hurt his dad, how could he hurt Yuno? Or even smack Deniel on the back? It wasn't that he hadn't been concerned for Yuno or about what just happened... it was just the only question he could properly formulate.

"That... I will explain another day, but for now..." he turned his gaze right back to Yuno, gave a silly grin, a peace sign, and was gone just as fast as he arrived, "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone!" Deniel's head was now low with Diabolos gone, leaving both him and Yuno in silence. "How come you didn't tell me...?" He asked her. He wasn't quiet anymore, but he did sound more serious than ever. And he knew what her answer might have been, or was going to be, so he spoke up yet again: "I'm a Nephalem! I wouldn't have abandoned you because of it or held it against you! What bothers me isn't that you're a demon... it's that you never told me. Why?"

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

All in all, he still had no idea why exactly he was upset, or whom he was upset at. He just felt an anger boiling inside of himself, one that caused him to take deep, heavy breaths as Yuno gave her own defense against... accusations he never made. He never said she lied, she just never told him. Though she did have a fair point in the fact that he never asked. At the same time, why wouldn't it matter? Obviously one of her real reasons for telling him was out of fear that he would hold it against her, leave her, or just do something about it in general that wasn't good nor happy. Throughout her speech Deniel's breathing only got heavier, and there came a very intense glow in his eyes that developed underneath his shadowed gaze. Though still, after all that had happened... he really couldn't find a way to direct his rage at her in any way possible. In fact, after the last thing she said, he felt pity for her if anything. And a little sentimental.

She wasn't human in the end; she never told him, but that was actually quite... fortunate. A human partner would mean a lot of limitations, but her? Well, things might be for the better that way. "There's all the reason," he said finally. The glow in his eyes had finally faded, and he was no longer breathing heavily at all. Quickly he brought her in to a kiss with his hands at her waist before continuing again. "You don't need to give me a reason, dear. I already have one." His hand went for her cheek where he had gently caressed it, his ruby eyes staring into hers. "The fact that you are a demoness doesn't bother me one bit. I think it might be one of your most redeeming qualities... among many others." He delivered a wink to her before bringing their lips together once more.

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

It was hard to tell where he should even start with her. Literally seconds ago it seemed as though she was perfectly fine, and that this entire revelation would be brushed right over their heads, but instead it seemed as though it would turn into a fight. Or perhaps it already had, an argumentative one at least. "Is that what you think? Foolishness." What he said was in reference to her saying that she didn't care what she thought of him; if she kept it a secret, there was no doubt in his mind she was scared of the consequences. All of those who wore human skin but were not humans did... he feared the same at one point, and he knew many others who did as well. Of course if she was going to be in denial about it, that was merely something that she needed to get over. And something else that managed to slightly tick him off was her accusation that he... considered her lucky to be looked at her? One thing he did garner from that that seemed to be an important detail was that she knew who Nidhogg was... interesting. Had the dragon spoken with her without him knowing? Though aside from that, her words weren't helping the situation at all.

"You don't care, huh? You don't care about anything that makes me who I am?Because that's what you just said." He stood up tall, and went for the rest of his clothing, starting with his combat boots, speaking as he put all of it on: "If we're not here to be nice to each other, then why'd you welcome me into your home? Twice. Why'd you bake a cake for me? Why did you take me with you to the Black Market? And you don't think I care...? You're clearly mistaken. If that's not kindness to you, then... maybe you don't know what kindness is. That, or you refuse to know. Just like I once did." Now he had the rest of his clothing on, and had started to head towards the door, but before he went out, he still had a few things left to say to her. "I once knew a demon who was more ruthless than any other, but in his dying breath, he expressed more sentiment than most other people I have ever met... and he taught me that regardless of how different we think we are to humans, we will always harbor their emotions. The good and the bad. You can choose to accept that, or not care." The only thing he left behind was his shirt, mostly because it was torn up. He walked outside with his coat wide open to his upper body, but quickly covered up what was underneath using his black torn cloak, and without another word, he was already off and away.

Deniel trudged through the snow with his boots leaving deep prints, and his eyes a glare in front of him. All of it seemed to be unnecessary to him, but it happened anyway. Yet the more he tried to get it out of his mind, the more he seemed to think on it and be even more upset about the whole ordeal.


Back inside of the house, very shortly after Deniel left, the second of the two spirits had come fourth. She was standing at the far end of the room, a very voluptuous woman with wavy hair that went all the way down to her mid-back, and a dress stopping just at her ankles. Her voice was sweet, soft, and the way she carried herself was filled with purity and innocent. "Just like his father..." she didn't sound at all disappointed or surprised about it. She was just merely stating that her son was like her husband. "I'm Deniel's mother, Arianna... and I suppose I should apologize for his behavior, but I also need to ask something that I can easily see between the two of you: do you love him?"

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

His footsteps in the snow became even heavier, and he could feel his body internally heating up from his running emotions. His breath once again started to speed up, and for a moment he ceased all movement aside from his breathing. From out of his mouth, frosted breath littered the air around it, until suddenly he took off sprinting in a completely different direction. "I, the White Angel of Supremacy, am the beginning of the end..." His pet Nidhogg, realizing the danger, immediately jumped right off of the Nephalem's body without him noticing, and retraced his enormous steps backwards as his master ran the other way.


Naturally Arianna had expecting the girl to be resilient, so she made sure to stay patient with her in spite of what she said. One might think it to be ironic that Arianna cared for Deniel so much after all she had put him through, but after the events of her death, nothing could separate her and Diabolos from him. Her hands were folded right in front of her as she stood there, listening and conveying very little emotion. Sayuno certainly had a lot on her mind, and although Arianna did wish to address it all one by one as it came out, she remained patient up until the end to make sure that she was finally finished, and that she could offer her any advice she could. And she certainly did seem to be in dire need of it. The girl was hugging her knees at a wall, a position Arianna was all too familiar with once upon a time, but that was a distant memory. The woman approached the girl, and stood in front of her; though her tone was still soft and sweet, her words were quite harsh in some way. "My child, it has less to do with shoving it into people's faces, and more to do with embracing who he is.
Unlike many others who try and hide who they are." Afterwards, Arianna joined the girl sitting down next to the wall, and her next words were much more comforting than the last.


Meanwhile, out in the blizzard, Deniel had finished the chant, and had reached the point of no return. Now his footsteps were clad in thick white armor, and his appearance could be something that seemed to be a dragon in armor; nothing human about him really, aside from the fact that he was a biped. Though all traces of sound from him had been erased aside from his footsteps, there was no heavy breathing whatsoever. Following the blizzard, Deniel had arrived at his desired location, and with the wings on his back, he took off straight for the enormous palace known as the Icecrown Citadel. And with his knowledge and wings, he was able to bypass most of the citadel and go straight for his destination.


"It's ironic that you doubt yourself; Deniel constantly says that because he is a Nephalem, that he is destined to be alone. And he realizes that many of his friends are less of friends, and more of allies who wish to take advantage of his power and reputation. Perhaps you could be more of an asset to his life than you may think." The two women would be left with each other for several minutes, perhaps for Sayuno to give out her feelings and response, but very shortly, one of the two that had left came back. It was none other than the small dragon Nidhogg, who had grown a little bit considerably in size with the fact that he seemed to be capable of carrying a person on his back and his shape changed from a serpent to what one would expect a dragon to be like. "Yuno, on my back, now!"


At the Icecrown Citadel, Deniel had finally reached his destination, and there he stood in complete stillness and silence. The emotions from earlier were still running through him, and the environment he had chosen had made them much worse; the frozen throne. Beneath him in the room made entirely of ice, he saw the vast array of bodies frozen in ice, dead for perhaps hundreds of years each of them. His brothers and sisters that Arianna had killed. At the moment Deniel was still and immobile, without a sound or even a twitch of his muscle. Though contrary to his appearance, his mind and body was racing with an uncontrollable rage and despair. "Dad..." he finally said, well aware of the presence of Diabolos in the room. "Keep me away from everything, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..."


With Yuno on his back, Nidhogg had raced fourth from the cabin they were located in, leaving Arianna by herself, but the spirit of her had quickly vanished elsewhere. He raced through the woods and out of the trees into the open, knowing exactly where to head to. Very quickly on their journey, the both of them had ran into a blizzard, and a very harsh one at that, seemingly out of no where. As Nidhogg seemed to take random turns and directions, he explained the situation to Yuno, and the reasoning behind his actions. "Deniel is at the Icecrown Citadel right now, the former home to his parents. And he's... he's not himself quite yet. The only way to get to the citadel, however, is to navigate through this blizzard. And the only way to do that is to know what lies on the other side, and where." It was a very confusing curse, but also an effective one, for this blizzard that had been raging on for hundreds of years killed many travelers and warriors seeking to best it, only to find themselves trapped until their deaths. "And once he calms down, I think you both owe it to each other to say how each of you feel."

At the Citadel, the Frozen Throne was at the very top. It wasn't a part of the rest of the constructed building; it was created by Arianna as her own addition. Within the icy walls, father and son clashed with each other uncontrollably, with the father much more on the defensive. Occasionally his son uttered words with very little meaning, such as "Purge", "Silence", "Annihilate", and "Silence". They were all directed at Diabolos, who--to the Alpha White Angel--was the first obstacle in his rampage... but a very tough one at that. Diabolos proved to be very resilient, and in spite of how much damage he seemed to take, he only got up once again to fend off the Alpha.

Once Nidhogg and Yuno had reached the destination, the blizzard suddenly cleared, and not a single bit of snow seemed to drop to the ground. The sun was shining brightly, but did not give off enough heat to melt the snow on the ground... or the ice covering what was head of them. An enormous castle that seemed to be quite old, but also sturdy; several stories high with many towers and windows, but its most unique feature was the fact that it had been completely encased in ice. Nidhogg's eyes went for the highest point in the Citadel, a tower that stood above all the others, though the very top of it seemed to have a cylinder of ice: The Frozen Throne. And the Frozen Throne was emitting an enormous amount of Magical Power, that came from both Diabolos and Deniel clashing with each other. "Let's go." Nidhogg was unable to penetrate to the Frozen Throne itself, so he merely crashed right through the nearest window of the tower section directly beneath it before bringing Yuno all the way up to the top.

In the last few moments of The Alpha White Angel and Diabolos battling, Nidhogg and Yuno had finally arrived. The Alpha White Angel had been restrained by Diabolos with its arms forcefully strangling its own neck as Diabolos pinned it down with him on his back. The Alpha's gaze was turned towards the newcomers, Nidhogg and Yuno, and it slowly started to struggle to make its way over to the newer, easier prey. "Oh no you don't!" Diabolos increased the force of him strangling Deniel, knowing full well he could perhaps kill the boy, but he didn't want to risk getting Yuno and Nidhogg killed for his sake. "Nidhogg, how much time is left!?" The Black Devil looked for the dragon, who was already back in its smaller form; "Just a few seconds longer, Diabolos. Keep him held back!" The White Angel was slowly freeing itself of Diabolos's grip, with the Black Devil struggling to keep him restrained. Eventually the Alpha managed to free itself right from Diabolos, but just before it could come to Yuno and Nidhogg, the armor surrounding it had cracked like shattered glass.

Every last bit of it shattered right from his body, and underneath it was a much more pale Deniel than the one Yuno was familiar with. His body was now limp from the strain he had undergone, but his eyes also sealed shut. He quickly fell to the ground on his back, and the bits and pieces of armor that was left from his form briefly glowed blue, and then vanished in the air as if they had never existed. With his work done, Diabolos had no words, but instead look towards Yuno. He shrugged once, and was gone along with Arianna. All that was left in the Frozen Throne was Deniel on the floor, Nidhogg beside Yuno, and the corpses encased in ice just beneath them.

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"He'll live, he always does," Nidhogg explained. He followed behind Yuno to the body of his master, with his eyes still sealed shut. Sayuno kissing Deniel's forehead did seem to stir him in his sleep, but only slightly; his eyes were still closed. Then she turned towards Nidhogg with a nod, as if expecting her to help him. Nidhogg had only one thing in mind. He approached his master's head, and gave him a hard smack with his tail. Immediately Deniel's eyes jolted open, and his hand would have went to his cheek to slightly rub it, but in his current state, his body wouldn't respond to any commands. In his current state, only the features on his face could move, but not even his neck would budge. "Ow! Hey!" Nidhogg gave a small bit of laughter before jumping down from where he was on Deniel's chest, and gently nudged his cheek as well. A little bit of fun he could have with Deniel was the fact that he, well, couldn't stop Nidhogg from doing anything, so it grew all the more tempting. "He can't move in this state, Yuno. At least for a while. It'll come back to him." Nidhogg slowly walked away on his hind legs only, and nudged Deniel one last time before heading out of the room on all-fours. And he only had one comment left: "Do what you will with that."

Deniel's eyes had been opening and listening the entire time, and at long last he looked up at Yuno. The first line of action he wanted to do was caress one of her cheeks, but his body didn't respond to it at all. So all he did was offer her a small grin, and a relaxed sigh. "In spite of being on top of the graves of all of my siblings... I could have my head rest on your lap like this for eternity... Hahah." Perhaps Yuno wasn't really in the mood for jokes after what just happened, and what she possibly witnessed. As the Alpha White Angel, he had no memory of the events that occurred once his mind was taken over, but the fact that she was here must have meant a lot of things. So the least he could give her was an explanation. "I came here to try and get you out of my head, but here you are... You wouldn't have come here unless you cared, and you wouldn't have gotten here unless you were guided here. I guess the one thing I can and should confess to is... I love you, Sayuno. I didn't want to admit it at first, and I tried denying it out of my thoughts, eliminating the thought by coming here, but... it's still there. I can't deny it."

Down at the floor beneath the Frozen Throne, Nidhogg walked down the steps one foot at a time, and hopped down the last few. Arianna and Diabolos were both waiting, the red and blue spirits. "How'd it go?"

"How the hell should I know? They're still talking. You two intervene with this a lot more than you should."

"It's the least we could do after what we did to him, Nidhogg."

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"I'm glad... I'm glad I'm not the only one." Once more he attempted to see if he could move any part of his body, but he received no response from any of it. All he could do was move his eyes, breathe, and speak. "Quite the embarrassing position I'm in," he said amidst the silence, and sealed his eyes shut. "It's a reckless thing, no doubt about that. It does help me from time to time, I guess."


"And how do you think this will redeem the two of you?" Nidhogg inquired upon Arianna and Diabolos. It looked quite silly with him significantly smaller than the two, but they paid no heed. "Nothing you do will make it up to Deniel, or all of your children." Diabolos was about to speak up, but to the surprise of both Nidhogg and him, Arianna spoke first: "We realize, Nidhogg. This is not in an attempt to forgive or redeem ourselves, we are beyond that; this is for him, not us. We can never sit idly and watch him waste his life away." Though it seemed to be a reasonable answer, Nidhogg burst out laughing instead, "Hahahah! Love? That's what you provide for him!?"

"In the right form, it provides happiness. Enough for someone to endure the most rigorous of pressure. Trust me.... I would know."


"I don't have a house, you know... and I'm not that rich. If... if that's not a problem with you anyways." In his own attempt to rid themselves of the awkwardness, and establish a few things about himself, he just gave a few random facts to see what she thought about being in love with a homeless person.


With the help of Nidhogg one last time, Sayuno and him were able to get Deniel past the blizzard once more, and into the main land of Iceberg. There, they headed back to where Yuno had set up her living quarters, with Deniel still unable to move, and dropped him down on her bed. After a few minutes, though, he showed signs of movement with first his fingers being able to move, his hands, and then eventually the rest of his body, albeit painfully.

Notes

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

"We shall see." Hearing the call of Sayuno moments later, Nidhogg made his way back up the staircase leading to the Frozen Throne, with Arianna and Diabolos vanishing once more. Nidhogg, turning into the medium sized dragon once more, assisted Sayuno in getting out of the Icecrown Citadel the shorter way once more--skipping pretty much all of its interior--and helped her take Deniel all the way back.

Once they arrived, Nidhogg knew that they would need more time for privacy and themselves, so he went off to do his own things. Deniel found himself in the comfort of the bed--which although he couldn't really feel anything--was just plain better than a floor of solid ice. After they returned, he found some of his senses and body returning to their normal state once more; the pillows she laid out for him began to give him a feeling of comfort, and his body's limbs could feel their softness as well. "It didn't hurt much in the first place...I can't feel a thing." Of course now Deniel could start to feel things, but he wasn't going to admit that; the feeling of her hands touching and massaging him was plenty for him to just keep his mouth shut. He tried moving his body one more time, and this time he actually had some results. He twitched his fingers, on the opposite end of the bed which she was sitting of course, and managed to even move his wrists a little bit. The fact that his body was coming back to him meant it was only a matter of time, though aside from that, he couldn't move anything else.

"Sorry...? Heheh..." He didn't know what to say about her scolding him. If she wasn't his friend, Nidhogg would have never taken her to Icecrown in the first place, but he did had to admit what he did was reckless. Always. He could feel more movement returning to his body, but didn't bother interrupting her going on and on by simply moving. Though in all honesty, what she was saying had been quite flattering to him; he never thought he would meet someone so eager to merely take care of him. His eyes went down to her hand caressing his cheek, but only for a moment, before looking back up at her. "Yuno..." he whispered briefly, but she wasn't done. As she spoke more, he could feel more strength returning to the rest of his body, beyond just his arm and wrist, and all the way to his spine. What she said was a lot to take in, and he didn't have many words to respond with, but it was probably exactly what she wanted.

After she kissed him, he managed to make himself sit up, though his lower body was still limp, and bring himself to an embracing hug to her. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Sayuno. I love you." He brought himself away after moments of having her in his embrace, and said something that was once again a little awkward: "And yes. I'd love something to drink. Strawberry juice if you have it~"

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