The Underground - Tora x Saga - 29/32
Title: The Underground
Author: silveryxdark @ arcoireis
Chapters: 29/32
Pairings: Tora x Saga [main], Shou x Hiroto, Shou x Tora, Reita x Saga, Saga x various, other various pairings
Bands: Alice Nine, the GazettE, An Cafe, vistlip, SCREW, more to come?
Genre: Romance, paranormal, angst, drama, smut
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Manxman, smut, liberal messing with traditional stories?
Disclaimer: I'll never own them :'(
Summary: In the Underground dwell demons, spirits and cambions of every kind. Ruled by Queen Aria, the most powerful succubus in a century, it is a dark, hellish court. Among them is Prince Saga - borne of Queen Aria and one of her mortal lovers. A cambion - half-incubus and half-human - he is blessed with deadly beauty, powers of seduction and immortal life, yet cursed with insatiable lust and mortal strength and agility, lesser than the other demons. Outcast his whole life for his human blood, things begin to change as he comes of age...
A/N: At the end.
Previous Chapters:
[PROLOGUE] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6A] [6B] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18A] [18B] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26A] [26B] [27] [28]
Interludes:
[Interlude 1] [Interlude 2] [Interlude 3] [Interlude 4]
As expected, the next evening, two of the Queen's guards arrived at the apartment. Iv and Ko-ki had stayed overnight while Yuuto returned. Hiroto was in a daze on the couch, as he had been for most of the day. Shou had not simply not returned - Hiroto had tried going to find him, only for them to end up screaming at each other, as Hiroto revealed before he collapsed, sobbing, on the couch.
Saga walked out hand in hand with Tora and nodded at the guards, who had come with Yuuto. "You are here to question them, yes?" he asked clearly.
"Yes, Your Highness," one of them, Takeru, replied.
"Then, do I have your word that they will be able to return after they are questioned?" Saga asked.
Takeru looked slightly uneasy, while the other guard, Shinpei, nodded and said quietly, "Yes. They will simply be questioned. As far as we know they have committed no crime."
"Do I go along, then? After all, I am the victim. I will have to give my testimony, won't I?" Saga said, smiling kindly at the two obviously uneasy guards.
"Well... Your Highness, our instructions were to bring back Tora and Hiroto. Another team of guards will be coming to take your testimony later. They are some of Her Majesty's most trusted guards. She does not wish to bring you into any more danger, Your Highness," Takeru explained with a frown.
Saga nodded - he supposed it was reasonable enough. "I hope Tora and Hiroto will return as soon as possible. You may carry on with your duties, then, Takeru and Shinpei." He turned to Tora and kissed his cheek. "Take care."
"I will, love. You too," Tora said softly, and Saga let go of his hand.
Hiroto was staring forward blankly. Saga patted his arm and Hiroto turned to look at him, forcing out a smile. "It's going to be okay, Hiroto," he said kindly.
Hiroto bit his lip and nodded. Then he and his brother teleported out with Takeru and Shinpei. Saga felt no worry - he was certain that they would be fine. He thought back about the day - how he and Tora had gone to see Kanon and Miku, who had hugged him, happy tears streaming down their faces, telling him how glad they were that he was back with them. How they had gone to the cafe, and talked to everyone there, and all of them had also been happy to see him back. Teruki had even insisted on giving him coffee and food on the house, and Umi had cooked extra large portions for him.
All was well enough in the mortal world, but in the Underground... Well, there was, surely, turmoil over the news that the great Duke Asmodeus and the convicted Reita had been arrested for treason. News like that spread easily. It was wiser not to return, at least for the moment.
A flash of light alerted Saga to another presence, and he turned to see his brother, standing wide-eyed in the almost-empty living room. "Is Hiroto here?" he demanded.
Saga shook his head. "He already went for questioning. He will be back."
Shou glared at him. "How do you know?"
"I trust them. Tora and Hiroto. Takeru and Shinpei. Mother. Do you really think she would let them be held for nothing?" Saga replied, slightly exasperated. Shou was really quite stubborn.
At that point, however, Shou practically crumpled. The fight seemed to go out of him, and he sank into the couch in a daze, looking much like his lover had before. "I should have trusted Hiroto more... I went back, and had a shouting match with everyone. Mother, Kai, Nao... everybody. Then when Hiroto came trying to look for me... I started yelling at him too. I wasn't thinking," he said blankly. "Saga, you should have seen the look on his face... I hurt him, Saga. I hurt him so badly..."
Saga could tell how much this distressed his brother. He was clearly terrified of losing Hiroto, like how Saga himself feared losing Tora. Shou and Hiroto were opposites - one ice, the other fire. Shou was, however, still utterly different from the one he had known for years. He knew how to love, now - but it had backfired on him.
"Shou," Saga said softly, "Hiroto still loves you very deeply. He knows you care - but you've done a pretty bad job of showing it, I'll be honest. You have to trust him."
"You don't know how much Hiroto means to me!" Shou snapped.
Now Saga was really fed up. "Shou, come on! Do you really think I don't know? I understand how you feel - Tora and I were much the same way! Tora means as much to me as Hiroto does to you. And, haven't I had much more reason to be angry? I was betrayed by my first lover. I was abused since I was born. My so-called people are disgusted by me. I was assaulted in a more horrible way than you can comprehend. Tora could have left me by now - he could have abandoned me and I could have remained in my traumatised state for eternity! But he didn't, because -"
"Because he loves you," Shou whispered. "And you love him. You trust him."
Saga nodded, tight-lipped. "So why don't you trust Hiroto?"
"It's hard to. Growing up as the pampered crown prince of the demon throne, I never knew who to trust. If I could even trust. Then... Hiroto came along and invaded my heart and soul, if I even have one. I'm scared to place so much trust in him, because I never have. But look where that fear got me," Shou said bitterly. "Losing him."
"You haven't lost him, Shou," Saga said, more patiently. "Trust him slowly, then. He will understand."
"I've hurt him so much. Will he even want to see me again?" Shou murmured.
"Then go seek him. Prove to him that you really do love him. Or, if you want, you could always stay and wait for him to come back. Then you can make up, no?" Saga said cheerfully. "Have that annoyingly loud make up sex that Tora claims you two tend to have after a spat."
Shou flushed red. "Right. I'll do that. If Hiroto... yeah," he mumbled, looking highly embarrassed.
The tension was not so thick in the air, now. Yuuto was standing with Iv and Ko-ki, all three of them smiling slightly. Then the three of them suddenly looked up, and in a flash, Ko-ki was gone. In another few seconds, he returned, with two mage-guards in tow.
"Well, here are Mai and Yasuno!" Ko-ki said cheerily. "Buddies since training school! Should have known."
"Yasuno and I are on official business, Ko-ki," the one with large, piercing eyes like Shou's said dryly. The other (Yasuno, presumably), with shocking pink hair, just shrugged and patted Ko-ki's head.
Then they turned and greeted Shou and Saga. "Well, Your Highness, we have been sent to take your testimony, provided you are well enough. Are you, then?" Yasuno said, eyeing Saga critically.
"Yes, I am," Saga said quietly. "Sit down, please, and I will begin."
So they did, and Saga began to recount everything he could remember from that fateful night, seven months back. How Tora had been called away by Asmodeus, leaving him alone, and how Byou and Jin had broken in. How his warded necklace had burned, and how Byou broke it. How they forced themselves on him, and how Jin had cursed him.
"Hold on. You say... terrible things," Mai said softly. "If we may ask... what do you mean?"
"It was as though all my deepest fears had come true. I saw them as illusions. Jin created them... and all I can really say is that I never want to experience that again. Memories implanted, memories violated. That... is a terrible thing in itself," Saga said quietly.
"Very well. Continue, please," Yasuno said.
Saga continued, saying how he had been saved only by Tora, Shou and Hiroto - especially Tora. How Tora had tried to protect him, wracked with remorse for accidentally letting it happen. How his mind had slipped away from him, how he had begged Tora to help him.
"You know what happened within the next seven months," Saga murmured. "I was trapped in the cage of my own consciousness, reduced to being a child. Always, Tora stayed by my side and took care of me. I would never have returned, without him."
Yasuno and Mai nodded, looking solemn. "You have great strength to overcome the evil that has been done to you. What Byou and Jin did was... despicable. Worse than the lowliest demons," Mai remarked coldly.
Yuuto let out a choked sound, and they turned to look at him "I'm sorry," he whispered.
None of them spoke a word - it was no secret amongst them that he was deeply in love with Jin, and that it had broken him to know the damage Jin had caused. Yasuno and Mai exchanged glances, before they bade the princes farewell and left.
It was also at that moment when Tora and Hiroto returned, both looking as they did before they were taken in for questioning. Shou and Hiroto stared at each other, frozen, while Saga quickly moved to Tora's side.
"It went well?" Saga asked in a hushed voice.
Tora nodded, eyes fixed on Hiroto. "I don't think he's fine, though..."
"Hiroto, I'm sorry," Shou whispered. "I'm so sorry... I love you."
Hiroto's eyes filled with tears, then he strode forwards - and slapped Shou. "You're a fucking idiot!" Hiroto hissed, before seizing his face and kissing him furiously.
Saga exchanged a relieved smile with Tora. Perhaps, he thought, things would really be turning out better.
I hope to be finishing this before my exams start. If you haven't read Interlude 4, a link's at the top - I'd say it provides a lot of insight into Jin and Yuuto's relationship and their behaviour. Maybe it should've been a proper chapter. XD Well, the final 3 chapters are coming up~ I hope you'll enjoy them ^^
Author: silveryxdark @ arcoireis
Chapters: 29/32
Pairings: Tora x Saga [main], Shou x Hiroto, Shou x Tora, Reita x Saga, Saga x various, other various pairings
Bands: Alice Nine, the GazettE, An Cafe, vistlip, SCREW, more to come?
Genre: Romance, paranormal, angst, drama, smut
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Manxman, smut, liberal messing with traditional stories?
Disclaimer: I'll never own them :'(
Summary: In the Underground dwell demons, spirits and cambions of every kind. Ruled by Queen Aria, the most powerful succubus in a century, it is a dark, hellish court. Among them is Prince Saga - borne of Queen Aria and one of her mortal lovers. A cambion - half-incubus and half-human - he is blessed with deadly beauty, powers of seduction and immortal life, yet cursed with insatiable lust and mortal strength and agility, lesser than the other demons. Outcast his whole life for his human blood, things begin to change as he comes of age...
A/N: At the end.
Previous Chapters:
[PROLOGUE] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6A] [6B] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18A] [18B] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26A] [26B] [27] [28]
Interludes:
[Interlude 1] [Interlude 2] [Interlude 3] [Interlude 4]
As expected, the next evening, two of the Queen's guards arrived at the apartment. Iv and Ko-ki had stayed overnight while Yuuto returned. Hiroto was in a daze on the couch, as he had been for most of the day. Shou had not simply not returned - Hiroto had tried going to find him, only for them to end up screaming at each other, as Hiroto revealed before he collapsed, sobbing, on the couch.
Saga walked out hand in hand with Tora and nodded at the guards, who had come with Yuuto. "You are here to question them, yes?" he asked clearly.
"Yes, Your Highness," one of them, Takeru, replied.
"Then, do I have your word that they will be able to return after they are questioned?" Saga asked.
Takeru looked slightly uneasy, while the other guard, Shinpei, nodded and said quietly, "Yes. They will simply be questioned. As far as we know they have committed no crime."
"Do I go along, then? After all, I am the victim. I will have to give my testimony, won't I?" Saga said, smiling kindly at the two obviously uneasy guards.
"Well... Your Highness, our instructions were to bring back Tora and Hiroto. Another team of guards will be coming to take your testimony later. They are some of Her Majesty's most trusted guards. She does not wish to bring you into any more danger, Your Highness," Takeru explained with a frown.
Saga nodded - he supposed it was reasonable enough. "I hope Tora and Hiroto will return as soon as possible. You may carry on with your duties, then, Takeru and Shinpei." He turned to Tora and kissed his cheek. "Take care."
"I will, love. You too," Tora said softly, and Saga let go of his hand.
Hiroto was staring forward blankly. Saga patted his arm and Hiroto turned to look at him, forcing out a smile. "It's going to be okay, Hiroto," he said kindly.
Hiroto bit his lip and nodded. Then he and his brother teleported out with Takeru and Shinpei. Saga felt no worry - he was certain that they would be fine. He thought back about the day - how he and Tora had gone to see Kanon and Miku, who had hugged him, happy tears streaming down their faces, telling him how glad they were that he was back with them. How they had gone to the cafe, and talked to everyone there, and all of them had also been happy to see him back. Teruki had even insisted on giving him coffee and food on the house, and Umi had cooked extra large portions for him.
All was well enough in the mortal world, but in the Underground... Well, there was, surely, turmoil over the news that the great Duke Asmodeus and the convicted Reita had been arrested for treason. News like that spread easily. It was wiser not to return, at least for the moment.
A flash of light alerted Saga to another presence, and he turned to see his brother, standing wide-eyed in the almost-empty living room. "Is Hiroto here?" he demanded.
Saga shook his head. "He already went for questioning. He will be back."
Shou glared at him. "How do you know?"
"I trust them. Tora and Hiroto. Takeru and Shinpei. Mother. Do you really think she would let them be held for nothing?" Saga replied, slightly exasperated. Shou was really quite stubborn.
At that point, however, Shou practically crumpled. The fight seemed to go out of him, and he sank into the couch in a daze, looking much like his lover had before. "I should have trusted Hiroto more... I went back, and had a shouting match with everyone. Mother, Kai, Nao... everybody. Then when Hiroto came trying to look for me... I started yelling at him too. I wasn't thinking," he said blankly. "Saga, you should have seen the look on his face... I hurt him, Saga. I hurt him so badly..."
Saga could tell how much this distressed his brother. He was clearly terrified of losing Hiroto, like how Saga himself feared losing Tora. Shou and Hiroto were opposites - one ice, the other fire. Shou was, however, still utterly different from the one he had known for years. He knew how to love, now - but it had backfired on him.
"Shou," Saga said softly, "Hiroto still loves you very deeply. He knows you care - but you've done a pretty bad job of showing it, I'll be honest. You have to trust him."
"You don't know how much Hiroto means to me!" Shou snapped.
Now Saga was really fed up. "Shou, come on! Do you really think I don't know? I understand how you feel - Tora and I were much the same way! Tora means as much to me as Hiroto does to you. And, haven't I had much more reason to be angry? I was betrayed by my first lover. I was abused since I was born. My so-called people are disgusted by me. I was assaulted in a more horrible way than you can comprehend. Tora could have left me by now - he could have abandoned me and I could have remained in my traumatised state for eternity! But he didn't, because -"
"Because he loves you," Shou whispered. "And you love him. You trust him."
Saga nodded, tight-lipped. "So why don't you trust Hiroto?"
"It's hard to. Growing up as the pampered crown prince of the demon throne, I never knew who to trust. If I could even trust. Then... Hiroto came along and invaded my heart and soul, if I even have one. I'm scared to place so much trust in him, because I never have. But look where that fear got me," Shou said bitterly. "Losing him."
"You haven't lost him, Shou," Saga said, more patiently. "Trust him slowly, then. He will understand."
"I've hurt him so much. Will he even want to see me again?" Shou murmured.
"Then go seek him. Prove to him that you really do love him. Or, if you want, you could always stay and wait for him to come back. Then you can make up, no?" Saga said cheerfully. "Have that annoyingly loud make up sex that Tora claims you two tend to have after a spat."
Shou flushed red. "Right. I'll do that. If Hiroto... yeah," he mumbled, looking highly embarrassed.
The tension was not so thick in the air, now. Yuuto was standing with Iv and Ko-ki, all three of them smiling slightly. Then the three of them suddenly looked up, and in a flash, Ko-ki was gone. In another few seconds, he returned, with two mage-guards in tow.
"Well, here are Mai and Yasuno!" Ko-ki said cheerily. "Buddies since training school! Should have known."
"Yasuno and I are on official business, Ko-ki," the one with large, piercing eyes like Shou's said dryly. The other (Yasuno, presumably), with shocking pink hair, just shrugged and patted Ko-ki's head.
Then they turned and greeted Shou and Saga. "Well, Your Highness, we have been sent to take your testimony, provided you are well enough. Are you, then?" Yasuno said, eyeing Saga critically.
"Yes, I am," Saga said quietly. "Sit down, please, and I will begin."
So they did, and Saga began to recount everything he could remember from that fateful night, seven months back. How Tora had been called away by Asmodeus, leaving him alone, and how Byou and Jin had broken in. How his warded necklace had burned, and how Byou broke it. How they forced themselves on him, and how Jin had cursed him.
"Hold on. You say... terrible things," Mai said softly. "If we may ask... what do you mean?"
"It was as though all my deepest fears had come true. I saw them as illusions. Jin created them... and all I can really say is that I never want to experience that again. Memories implanted, memories violated. That... is a terrible thing in itself," Saga said quietly.
"Very well. Continue, please," Yasuno said.
Saga continued, saying how he had been saved only by Tora, Shou and Hiroto - especially Tora. How Tora had tried to protect him, wracked with remorse for accidentally letting it happen. How his mind had slipped away from him, how he had begged Tora to help him.
"You know what happened within the next seven months," Saga murmured. "I was trapped in the cage of my own consciousness, reduced to being a child. Always, Tora stayed by my side and took care of me. I would never have returned, without him."
Yasuno and Mai nodded, looking solemn. "You have great strength to overcome the evil that has been done to you. What Byou and Jin did was... despicable. Worse than the lowliest demons," Mai remarked coldly.
Yuuto let out a choked sound, and they turned to look at him "I'm sorry," he whispered.
None of them spoke a word - it was no secret amongst them that he was deeply in love with Jin, and that it had broken him to know the damage Jin had caused. Yasuno and Mai exchanged glances, before they bade the princes farewell and left.
It was also at that moment when Tora and Hiroto returned, both looking as they did before they were taken in for questioning. Shou and Hiroto stared at each other, frozen, while Saga quickly moved to Tora's side.
"It went well?" Saga asked in a hushed voice.
Tora nodded, eyes fixed on Hiroto. "I don't think he's fine, though..."
"Hiroto, I'm sorry," Shou whispered. "I'm so sorry... I love you."
Hiroto's eyes filled with tears, then he strode forwards - and slapped Shou. "You're a fucking idiot!" Hiroto hissed, before seizing his face and kissing him furiously.
Saga exchanged a relieved smile with Tora. Perhaps, he thought, things would really be turning out better.
I hope to be finishing this before my exams start. If you haven't read Interlude 4, a link's at the top - I'd say it provides a lot of insight into Jin and Yuuto's relationship and their behaviour. Maybe it should've been a proper chapter. XD Well, the final 3 chapters are coming up~ I hope you'll enjoy them ^^