Magic Hunt at MFing Aokigahara

[disorder_heaven]

The fact that Urushihara had a keen eye for patterns and trends was one of his less appreciated skills. As one of the war generals in Demon King Satan's army, it made his division highly feared and nearly unstoppable.

Here, it had gotten him something more along the lines of a snarky comment from Ashiya. "About time," or something like that. Hard to tell. Urushihara hadn't really been listening.

Either way, upon Urushihara's elaboration regarding the Suicide Forest, Ashiya had grown more and more uncertain. Eventually comments about warning signs and body sweeps deteriorated into snide remarks about cell phones failing to work and the pitch blackness that came with noon.

A bowl of miso soup full of something-whatever beta took care of the bitching, but Ashiya managed to come out of the bathroom just long enough to lob a thick volume of Maou's favourite manga at the back of Urushihara's head. So, when Maou returned home from his long, hard day at MgRonald's, it would be to the sight of Urushihara on the ground and Ashiya in the bathroom groaning dramatically.

Just another day at the Devil's Castle.

Comments

[mickeyd_emon]

"Please, don't." Maou looked back to his friend, expression anxious. "Neither of us are gonna die in here."

Said Satan, as he led Lucifer deeper into a suicide forest.

[disorder_heaven]

Urushihara shifted and grumbled to himself, but a rustle a little behind them and to their right made him jump, backing up almost directly into a tree.

"F-fuck, man, by the time we get out of here the sun will have gone down and we won't be able to see anyway... W-what the hell was that?!"

Had something with glinting red eyes darted behind Maou, or was it only the reflection of his own demonic gaze?

[mickeyd_emon]

Maou spun around, but he couldn't track the thing before it disappeared beyond his vision. He took a deliberate step back, stumbling closer to Urushihara.

"I don't know. I-it was a trick of the . . . dark, right? It had to be . . ."

[disorder_heaven]

"Dude, back off, I can't see..."

Normally, hiding behind the Demon King's nearly two-meter tall form made him feel safe. However, with his current ability to see already so limited, he felt irritated. He braced a hand against Maou's back.

"C-come on, man. Stop foolin' around and get us out of here."

[mickeyd_emon]

"Okay, fine!" Maou thundered, throwing his gigantic arms into the air. He turned on Urushihara. Magic blasted from him, staining the darkness red. Somehow, the air managed to feel more oppressive.

"I admit it. I'm lost!"

The red bled out of the air, returning the atmosphere to normal.

[disorder_heaven]

To Urushihara's credit, he did not piss himself and faint. He cowered, but only slightly, crouching into a submissive but defensive stance. His wings spread slightly, making his small form appear much bigger than he really was. Despite the slight tremble in his voice, his tone was sarcastic.

"You could've told me. I can get us out. I just need your help."

He didn't feel right showing up his king, but if Maou had only told him the truth, they could have been out of this accursed forest an hour ago.

[mickeyd_emon]

Maou's great shoulders settled back as he reeled in his anger, though it still broiled beneath the surface, fed by the roots of Aokigahara. If he hadn't been so stubborn, Maou could have gotten them out earlier, as well. He swiped that thought to the side to deal with later. He wanted to hear Urushihara's advisement.

"What did you have in mind?"

[disorder_heaven]

"I was going to ask you to give me a boost," Urushihara said, his eyes clearly wary, even in the low light. "But I think I can manage."

He turned to the tree he stood against and scaled it with an athletic aptitude that didn't seem to fit one who so rarely left their one-room apartment. He spread his wings as far as the impossibly dense trees would allow, making a slight sound of discomfort. Once he was clear of lower, overhanging branches, he flapped. Hard. Just once.

The effect swept away all the leaf litter, all trash and debris, everything but the rooted trees and Maou himself. Urushihara cleared the treeline and made another pained sound, this one more of frustration than anything. "...We're going the wrong way. Get up here."

[mickeyd_emon]

Maou frowned to himself, bothered that Urushihara didn't specifically ask for a boost in the first place. Lucifer could rely on him! Right?

He huffed a frustrated breath and pulled himself up the tree with ease. With one leap, Maou burst through the tree tops, slowing on his ascent to hover near Urushihara. He surveyed the view, a hand propped on his hip.

"Oh, damn. You're right. We're not even in the right galaxy." They were indeed heading deeper into the forest, and not even in the complete opposite direction. "Let's fly a bit o' the way and drop down closer to the edge."

[disorder_heaven]

"We should've flown up here the moment we decided to turn back," Urushihara grumbled in an undertone, admonishing himself silently for the comment even as he said it. He flapped, out of habit, before flying lazily over the trees. Even from up here, he could feel the forest, as though the trees themselves had ill intent.

[mickeyd_emon]

Maou shot a glare at Urushihara, though it lacked serious heat. He was right, and Maou knew it. It was his fault they got lost, and he accepted that responsibility.

"Yeah," he grumbled. "That was my bad. But we're up here now."

Of course, accepting that didn't mean he had to be happy about this disaster of an excursion. Maou levitated after his general, catching up shortly. He gave Urushihara more than enough space, and not just for his wingspan. Whether it was for Urushihara's sake or for his own irritation, he wasn't quite sure.

[disorder_heaven]

Urushihara was a clever man, and knew full well that Maou was only acting like a complete ass because of the forest's influence. However, that didn't make the pill any less bitter to swallow, and it was hard to excuse him for his behavior. For a time, he flew in silence.

A little ways away from where the forest would spill out and open to the main road, Urushihara stopped.

"If you don't want us spotted," he said quietly, "we should touch down here."

[mickeyd_emon]

"Right. Let's go," Maou said before pencil diving into the foliage, not bothering to spare a glance to see if Urushihara was managing with his wingspan. He alighted on a higher bough, checking for nearby, living humans, before dropping to the floor. He took a few steps toward the treeline ahead, every silent footfall a higher notch turned on the Devil's furnace. The general feeling of wrongness the forest bred camouflaged the strangeness of its effects almost completely, but the anger still didn't quite belong.

So the flames twisted themselves into the right shape, roots writhing in both Lucifer's and Satan's hearts. It hit Maou with the memory of pain he thought he'd long since outgrown, of a wounded ghoul lying alone in a field that held the still bodies of his tribe. A kid hopeless and angry, even at his rescuer. That moment contorted into the heavy blows of losing three of his generals, one by one, like a man gradually losing limbs as he climbed, the clifftop in sight. Sure, the left arm wasn't as big a deal, particularly since he knew it would reattach. Fighting with only one limb of four, however, was a futile endeavor. The fact he still tried didn't mean he didn't feel the phantoms where that support once was.

[disorder_heaven]

Urushihara slipped down into the trees, not entirely unscathed. The branches seemed to reach for him, to tear into his skin as his feet touched the forest floor. In his current form, however, these were nothing more than a momentary discomfort. They vanished quickly, healing as quickly as he'd gotten them.

Pain sank into his heart, not anger but a despair he hadn't felt in what felt like centuries. And centuries it had been. The memory of falling caused a pain that was almost physical, wracking his body to the point of him stumbling back against the gnarled branches of a tree. Like him, it grew more twisted with the passing years, seeking a light it could not find, yet aging despite all reason. Urushihara's body convulsed as the human left him and he became Lucifer, all anger and regret and selfishness and hate. He looked up at Maou, and the pupils of his eyes burned.

He barely noticed Maou's state, all torn up in his own memories. As was his personality, all he could think of to hold back his own pain was a snarky comment, not hurtful but playful, perhaps darkly so.

"Maybe we should've brought Emi along. Better Half could cut a path through this damn forest."

[mickeyd_emon]

Red eyes throbbing and strained snapped back to Lucifer's. Maou's teeth grit. "Yeah, it cuts through a lotta shit, 'specially what's supposed to stay standing."

Even as he said it, he regretted it, but he couldn't stop his tongue from lashing out. When the Demon King hurt, he fixed the source. But he couldn't fix this.

"Unless you feel like gettin' shish kabobbed again t' be left in this damned forest, let's avoid that, okay?"

[disorder_heaven]

The words were unexpectedly harsh, and cut Lucifer as deeply as the blade had. He bared his teeth, the slim strains of light filtering through the trees painting his face with shadows.

He would leave him again, wouldn't he? But Lucifer couldn't say that. He complained quite often as Urushihara, but not as Lucifer. That divide was clear as day while in these forms. Even so, this wasn't Ente Isla, and as loyal as Lucifer was to his master, he could disobey him here and only have the one demon to deal with.

"Fine, Sire. Then let's take the easy way out. We can't all get cut down in battle, so I believe your way of being defeated is to bail." His head shot up, seeking and instantly finding a break in the trees. "And my Gate is there."

One of his wings cuffed the Demon King's damaged horn lightly as he suddenly made to take off, his great speed and agility surpassed only by the king's himself. There was a burst of violet energy that lit up the entire forest, and it appeared now to be full of the bones of humans and animals who had tried and failed to escape, lighting up all the angels who had fallen and demons who Satan had failed to save.

Lucifer wanted out of this forest like any wild animal would want out of a cage, but his words to the king might not have been so easily forgiven.

[mickeyd_emon]

The words stoked the red-hot coals within Maou, but they weren't his main concern. In the middle of war, again, the subordinate with which Satan had the most history was going to leave him high and dry. Fear shouted within his hollowed-out chest that Lucifer was going to create a true Gate and leave.

But this time, he could do something about it.

The only warning was shadows clinging to his body as if his flesh was smoking. Satan stepped forward and all but flicked out of existence like static on a missing channel before reappearing between Lucifer and the canopy, his leg already on the downswing. He was counting on the Fallen Angel's speed to add to the force of his kick. He intended to send Lucifer back down to Earth.

[disorder_heaven]

The pain registered as a wall, blocking conscious thought from Lucifer's mind.

Every attempt to think on what had happened, on what he'd done to deserve as forceful an attack as he'd received, was blocked by a pain that went beyond his ability to heal. Pain caused by demons was pain that stayed. The ground had bent to his form, every imprint of every feather of his wings marking the forest ground. He tried to fold them around himself, but found he could not move.

He didn't understand why, but he couldn't focus hard enough. A cough resulted in warm and wet tickling his cheeks, and he stretched out an arm, hearing the bone crack into place and only then crying out in pain. He pulled himself out from the angel-shaped tomb Satan had tried to cast him into, but could not stand on his own two feet. He stayed, crouched below Satan, his own quivering wings folding to protect himself from the red glow of his master's eyes.

Like falling once hadn't hurt enough. Would he die in this forest? Was that the intention? He could see flashes of red and violet; maybe it was the reflections of their own eyes, but all he saw were angel eyes, the angels before and after Satanel's reign both watching him in utter contempt.

He gripped his arms with both hands for a moment, exhaling shakily and bowing his head to regain himself.

"Fly...up."

That was all he could say. His intention, and his path out of the forest. The floor was their enemy, and now, with it crushed deep all around him, it ate away at all of his nerves and strength, reducing him to a trembling wreck. He made no effort to fly.

Maybe the mistake had been flying ahead of Satan, or trying to escape at all. He didn't know. But he flexed one wing, and another snap echoed across the woods, louder than his snarl of discomfort.

[mickeyd_emon]

The sound of Lucifer's broken wing pierced through the smog of anger and fear that the forest had crafted. The pain of seeing his general so ruined was far worse. The darkness he had gathered melted away, and regret flashed in his dilated pupils.

Fly up.

A heavy click resounded in his mind, eternally echoing with that horrible snap.

"Fuck." Satan dropped down beside the crater, hovering just over the ground. "I'm so sorry, Lucifer. I thought . . . you were gonna go back to Ente Isla. This place-- What you said--"

He swallowed a jumble of words. They were only excuses, and this Demon King didn't deal in excuses.

"I have more than enough magic to heal you. Here. Hold still." He reached out to Lucifer, slowly.

[disorder_heaven]

A million replies, some snarky, some reassuring, and some just pathetic, raced through Lucifer's mind. There was nothing for him in Ente Isla. Why didn't Satan just go back now? He didn't want the devil to pity him. He was fine.

Just fine.

Instead of a response, the action he took spoke. He drew back from Satan's outstretched hand like an animal recoiling further into its cage, embracing the pain for fear of what was unknown. The words were unspoken (Don't touch me!) but Lucifer's face read no distrust one way or another.

His wing had snapped back into place, and he flapped them once, very slow and experimental. He glanced up again, purposefully avoiding Satan's gaze. When he spoke, he didn't sound afraid or bitter or snarky.

"Let's just go."

There was no tone at all.

[mickeyd_emon]

Satan withdrew his hand, slow and accepting. His eyes were downcast, and after a silent beat, he nodded.

"Okay. Exit's that way," he said, pointing toward the evening light. That much was obvious, but he really just needed something to say.

He straightened and glanced at Lucifer, waiting to make sure he could fly or walk on his own. Then Maou could levitate toward the forest's edge. There was no way he was going to touch the earth of Aokigahara again.

[disorder_heaven]

Lucifer flew, but he was obedient despite his burning urge to escape from this whole situation. His wings carried him to a remote part of the edge of a forest, near a mountain trail that was off-limits at such a late hour. A few trees in, just in case, he descended. By the time he'd stepped out onto the path, he'd folded his wings back into himself as though absorbing them.

At least now he'd have some magic stored up... Or whatever he didn't use to heal himself, at any rate.

Despite his misgivings, he waited for Maou, standing alone on the quiet road and watching the ominous line of trees.

[mickeyd_emon]

Maou touched down in the grass beyond the forest not long after Lucifer. Seeing he had waited for Maou, he held up a hand. Wait, please. He wouldn't hold it against Lucifer if he flew off, but Maou needed to take care of something, first.

The Demon King headed to the signs near the trees, his edges glowing red with magic. They, like all the others, pleaded with people to not kill themselves. A message that must have largely gone unheeded. Satan could not save the lives he had lost, or repair all the damage he had done.

But he could at the very least prevent some. He reached out to the line and began intoning Entean. Every sign in sight shimmered momentarily. Maou's words revealed his intention rather quickly. He was casting a spell similar to the magic he had attached to the Tanabata papers at MgRonald's. If they could be summarized in one word, that one was Gather. This was Please. A mild suggestion. Barely even hypnotism. He only gave the signs a little more of a chance.

"Whew," Maou exhaled, now in his human form. That was one problem down. Only 98 to go. He headed over to the road on which Lucifer had been waiting.

"Hey," he said. "I still owe you a real meal."

[disorder_heaven]

"I'm...not really hungry anymore," Urushihara replied, his wings having faded but his tone still very stoic. "To be honest, I'm just tired." And sore. "The sooner we can go home, the better."

He felt better, now that they were out of the suicide forest. Not a lot better, however; his body ached terribly, and he felt as though too heavy a step might cause him to break into pieces. Though he knew better than to blame Maou for what had happened, it was still difficult to look him in the eye.

More bothersome was the fact that all that negativity had stemmed from somewhere. Which meant, deep down... Maybe Maou really did resent Urushihara, perhaps even hate him.

Somehow, that hurt worse than the bones he was still setting. Humans bodies were so weak. He wiped the blood off of his cheeks, finally daring to glance up briefly at Maou. "Shall we?"

[mickeyd_emon]

"Yeah." Maou slipped his hands in his jeans pockets. He refused to give Urushihara anything less than full eye contact. His expression was thoughtfully mild, but otherwise unreadable.

He was concerned about Urushihara's injuries, but he was leagues more worried of what his friend was thinking. His actions--no, he would call it as it was--beating him into the ground didn't seem to affect the strength of Urushihara's loyalty. But if this created a rift in their friendship, Maou would have to put more of his off-hour time into repairing it than he could afford! Literally!

Maou also really wanted to keep their friendship.

He canted his head down the road before heading onward, not chancing a single glance to the evil behind them. They took a train to Sasazuka in relative silence, Maou remaining overly conscious of the space between them for the entirety of the journey. As he planned to do until Urushihara could look at him without looking like he expected a blow. Or, well, he'd accept it being less often, at least. Baby steps.

Before Maou could accomplish any of that, though, they had to walk back to the apartment. Rather than taking his usual route home, however, Maou led them down a dark alley.