[fic] ...And the Beast (digital devil saga "beauty and the beast" AU, Serph/Sera/Heat)
Title: ...And the Beast
Author: harukami
Prompt: Digital Devil Saga - Beauty and the Beast
Wordcount: 2168
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Once upon a time, there were two princes.
Author's Note: I apologize for two things: First, making this a fairy tale beauty and the beast instead of a disney one, and second, for perhaps skirting the border of "AU/Canon" a little more closely than I should have in the format for this; I hope it still counts and isn't violating any rules. *g*
Once upon a time, there were two princes.
Much could be said of the princes, how different they were, and how similar, but that is a story for another time. Both fell upon hard times; one to a curse, the other to poverty.
It dawns on them slowly, as they make their way through Svadisthana. They all realize their hunger at once, but they understand it at different speeds; when Heat has made his first kill it thrills through his veins and he only has eyes for the body after, stalking forward as saliva fills his mouth and he doesn't even have attention left for Argilla cringing back and the disgust on her face; whatever.
He does, however, notice when Serph settles in beside him, reaches out with pale fingers, tears a scrap free, puts it in his mouth. Heat snarls at him and is only half-sure why; there's something distant in him that wants to wake up at the sight, but right now it's simply These are the new rules: they must feed and there may not be enough for both of their hungers.
The impoverished prince had betrothed to him a lovely princess, who had been used to the best of all things, but resolved to keep her chin up and make the best of her new life. They were forced to retire to a small home, barely comparable to the one she'd had before, practically just a crack in the ground where it rained all the time, almost a desert of rock and metal-dark sky.
Still, she was determined to keep her chin up, and sang as she went about her day of tiresome chores.
One day, the prince discovered news that perhaps one of his ventures had not been lost after all, and, excited and hopeful at the thought of improving both his lot in life and his fiancee's, he asked if there was anything she wanted him to bring back from the city as a gift.
The princess, though of course elated at the news, was still cautious, and did not want to disappoint the prince should the news turn out to be untrue. Instead, she laid her hand on his shoulder and, haltingly, said, "Truthfully, it has been so long since I've seen a plant in this barren place that the best gift you could ever bring to me would be a rose in bloom."
The prince promised her it would be so, and set off for the city.
Alas, along the way he found himself becoming terribly lost, so that wherever he turned he seemed only to know the landscape less and less. Instead of the city rooftops and the spires of its temples looming high, he found himself instead approaching a white and beautiful castle. He thought at first of turning away, but it was getting late, and he was hungry. Perhaps, he thought, he might find some kind master in this place who would take pity upon him.
Sometimes when Serph went into Sera's room to watch her sleep -- or more often to see her wake and talk quietly with him about nothing of herself, because she remembered little and what she remembered seemed to cause her pain -- he would find Heat already there.
It seemed natural enough to just take a seat beside him to watch over her, but Heat never seemed to like that. If Sera was asleep, he'd leave shortly after, irritable and with his footfalls heavy enough to risk waking her. If she was awake, he'd make an excuse to go, which seemed like a relief to her -- it seemed that she wasn't comfortable around Heat, which could only astound Serph, because who wouldn't be comfortable around Heat? Still, there it was, and it left Serph feeling faintly torn, and a little unhappy. Sera coming to the base was a source of comfort and joy, but at the same time there were walls that had not been there before, and flares of emotion and anger; he didn't really remember the days before, so there was nothing to imagine going back to, but he could yet imagine a future to head towards.
Inside, the prince wandered the halls of the apparently-abandoned castle until he came to a den. Within it, the room was comfortable, with a large chair and a roaring fire. Assuming that the room was laid out in anticipation of someone's return, the prince took a seat there and, in comfort, drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke, there was no sign of company, but a tray had been laid out with food on it of the sort he liked. Grateful for his absent host's kindness, he ate with enthusiasm.
After the meal, he felt renewed energy and thought he was ready to head on towards the city again. He took a look around the castle, as best he could, for his host, but most doors were locked and those that were not held no persons that he saw. And so instead, regretful for his lack of politeness, he headed out instead to leave.
As he passed, it being daylight now, he saw that the gardens were beautiful; well-tended and full of flowers of all manners. Most particular were the rose-bushes, and he thought of his princess's wish -- these roses, he thought, were more beautiful than any he would find in the city, and so he plucked one.
No sooner had he done so than appeared before him a terrible beast.
More and more, lately, Heat has been finding it hard to contain his rage; more, he's been finding it hard to want to do so. There's a strange savage pleasure in letting himself feel rage, letting himself lash out, to the point that he's found himself almost -- or sometimes, when Serph isn't around to stop him -- actually hitting even members of his own tribe.
It'd scare him, if it didn't feel normal enough to just shrug off.
Still, here's the worst feeling: when he comes back and everywhere there's the dead and maimed and Sera isn't there, and it's Serph's fault, in the end -- Serph who went along with all these plans and walked them right the hell into trap after trap so that they weren't here to protect her when they needed to.
It settles inside him sick and angrily like Serph did it just to spite him and even then, when he spins to lash out and strike Gale and Serph catches his hand to stop him, he can't bring himself to hate Serph. That just makes him angrier, and he can't be sure why; it's like Serph's taken some part of him away and he can't feel the right way any more.
He was stunned at the sudden appearance and its fierce demeanor, and drew back with the rose still clutched in his hands.
"Who told you you could take my roses?" the beast demanded. "Was it not enough that I gave you hospitality in my castle, and was kind to you? Is this how you repay my favour?"
Stunned and rather uncertain of his fate, the prince nevertheless drew his courage about himself and, somewhat haltingly, explained to the beast about his situation.
At this explanation, the beast seemed to change; though still offended, he seemed not to have damned the prince to his death and instead seemed to have heard the problem and taken it in. "It was not you who desired the rose," he asked finally, "but this princess you are betrothed to?"
Relieved, the prince agreed that this was so.
"I understand," the beast said. "Bring her here; she may stay among all the roses she might desire."
The prince hesitated at that; it seemed to him that the beast may have misunderstood, and quietly suggested that he simply bring the flower back to his princess.
"No," the beast said. "She wants the rose; she will have it, but under my terms." And with that, he swept away and left the prince there in the garden, alone and quite unsure.
Sera is gone, and they need to get her back.
To say that the thought is weighing on Serph's mind is to underestimate the intensity of it; it is just about the only thing that he is thinking, and it fills him until he might choke. Sera has been taken, and they must get to the top of this strange castle to get her back. He ignores the story as it unfolds room by room; it's just a fairy tale, and it's irrelevant to Sera.
In a strange sense, he finds himself terribly relieved that Heat is just as desperate as he is, though it makes him behave foolishly -- if there are two of them working on this and trying so hard, they cannot possibly fail.
The prince found his way back to his small and impoverished home without any of the confusion that had marked his original trip out. There, the princess came out to greet him with a smile, which didn't falter when she saw the serious expression on his face, for she simply thought that he had discovered that his hopes had come to naught.
"Welcome back, my prince," she said, and curtseyed. "Did you get me a rose?"
At that, grief touched the prince's face, and he took the princess's hand and explained what had happened.
For a long moment she was silent, and then she managed another smile. "Without a doubt, it's my fault," she said, "for asking such an outrageous request of you. Of course I will go."
The prince's hand tightened on the princess's and he bowed his head.
This story, the story of the two princes -- honest to God, it creeps Heat out, angers him, because the good prince is so clearly Serph and the evil prince is so clearly Heat and the princess is so clearly Sera, which means that whatever the hell is going on here, someone knows too much about them, but still little enough to get them wrong. That or he's missing some part of the picture, but he doesn't think he is. Not that he gives a damn if anyone'd think he's evil -- he is who he is and the world can be fucked if they care that much about it -- but it's violational and he finds himself getting angry on his and Serph's behalf.
That aside, there's something really damn wrong here and before he passes under it he stares up at the portrait of the princess mourning over the body of her prince, and he feels strange, uneasy, angry, sick; he can't make out the prince's face and he keeps imagining his overtop, which is hell because he knows it should be Serph's.
When they returned to the castle, the prince leading the princess, the beast was standing in the garden and waiting for them. He seemed to ignore the prince, only looking to the princess. "Good afternoon, princess," he says.
For a moment, the prince's hand clenched on the prince's, but then she was smiling and stepping forward. "Good afternoon, beast," she said, pleasantly.
"You may go," the beast told the prince.
"No," the prince said. "I will stay."
The beast glowered at him. "Did you not understand the order?" he said. "You are to leave her with me and return to your home."
"I cannot," the prince said. "It would be very lonely."
The beast seemed then only to have eyes for the prince. "Do you think I care at all for your loneliness?" he demanded, low and growling.
"I think it's possible," the prince said. "But more to the point, my princess will know of my loneliness, and will worry. And you, eventually, being not a cruel man, will let her go so she can see me. And then you will be lonely; why shall we allow that to happen when it can be avoided?"
The beast drew himself up to his greatest height, which was quite impressive, and snarled, "Do you think I'm not a cruel man? What do you know? Are you judging by my hospitality? And what if I were to tell you that the meal you enjoyed was of the remains of previous visitors who tried to steal from me?"
The prince gave this uncomfortable question the thought it deserved, then replied, "Then I have enjoyed eating the remains of your visitors and am as damned as I already could have been."
The beast looked over them both with a wild eye that seemed, for a moment, both relieved and hopeless, and turned away. "Do as you like," he said, and so the prince and the princess both came to live with the beast.
Heat looks terribly serious as he turns to face Serph. Serph hears Gale's advice to fight Heat, but he cannot imagine that being necessary; Sera will understand that as well. Captive or not, Heat is his comrade. Fight Heat?
"No," Serph says. "I can't."
Once upon a time, there were two princes. One prince was always kind; the other was brash, and took a liking to violence. Thus, they came to be known as the 'good prince' and the 'evil prince.'
This is not that story.
Author: harukami
Prompt: Digital Devil Saga - Beauty and the Beast
Wordcount: 2168
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Once upon a time, there were two princes.
Author's Note: I apologize for two things: First, making this a fairy tale beauty and the beast instead of a disney one, and second, for perhaps skirting the border of "AU/Canon" a little more closely than I should have in the format for this; I hope it still counts and isn't violating any rules. *g*
Once upon a time, there were two princes.
Much could be said of the princes, how different they were, and how similar, but that is a story for another time. Both fell upon hard times; one to a curse, the other to poverty.
It dawns on them slowly, as they make their way through Svadisthana. They all realize their hunger at once, but they understand it at different speeds; when Heat has made his first kill it thrills through his veins and he only has eyes for the body after, stalking forward as saliva fills his mouth and he doesn't even have attention left for Argilla cringing back and the disgust on her face; whatever.
He does, however, notice when Serph settles in beside him, reaches out with pale fingers, tears a scrap free, puts it in his mouth. Heat snarls at him and is only half-sure why; there's something distant in him that wants to wake up at the sight, but right now it's simply These are the new rules: they must feed and there may not be enough for both of their hungers.
The impoverished prince had betrothed to him a lovely princess, who had been used to the best of all things, but resolved to keep her chin up and make the best of her new life. They were forced to retire to a small home, barely comparable to the one she'd had before, practically just a crack in the ground where it rained all the time, almost a desert of rock and metal-dark sky.
Still, she was determined to keep her chin up, and sang as she went about her day of tiresome chores.
One day, the prince discovered news that perhaps one of his ventures had not been lost after all, and, excited and hopeful at the thought of improving both his lot in life and his fiancee's, he asked if there was anything she wanted him to bring back from the city as a gift.
The princess, though of course elated at the news, was still cautious, and did not want to disappoint the prince should the news turn out to be untrue. Instead, she laid her hand on his shoulder and, haltingly, said, "Truthfully, it has been so long since I've seen a plant in this barren place that the best gift you could ever bring to me would be a rose in bloom."
The prince promised her it would be so, and set off for the city.
Alas, along the way he found himself becoming terribly lost, so that wherever he turned he seemed only to know the landscape less and less. Instead of the city rooftops and the spires of its temples looming high, he found himself instead approaching a white and beautiful castle. He thought at first of turning away, but it was getting late, and he was hungry. Perhaps, he thought, he might find some kind master in this place who would take pity upon him.
Sometimes when Serph went into Sera's room to watch her sleep -- or more often to see her wake and talk quietly with him about nothing of herself, because she remembered little and what she remembered seemed to cause her pain -- he would find Heat already there.
It seemed natural enough to just take a seat beside him to watch over her, but Heat never seemed to like that. If Sera was asleep, he'd leave shortly after, irritable and with his footfalls heavy enough to risk waking her. If she was awake, he'd make an excuse to go, which seemed like a relief to her -- it seemed that she wasn't comfortable around Heat, which could only astound Serph, because who wouldn't be comfortable around Heat? Still, there it was, and it left Serph feeling faintly torn, and a little unhappy. Sera coming to the base was a source of comfort and joy, but at the same time there were walls that had not been there before, and flares of emotion and anger; he didn't really remember the days before, so there was nothing to imagine going back to, but he could yet imagine a future to head towards.
Inside, the prince wandered the halls of the apparently-abandoned castle until he came to a den. Within it, the room was comfortable, with a large chair and a roaring fire. Assuming that the room was laid out in anticipation of someone's return, the prince took a seat there and, in comfort, drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke, there was no sign of company, but a tray had been laid out with food on it of the sort he liked. Grateful for his absent host's kindness, he ate with enthusiasm.
After the meal, he felt renewed energy and thought he was ready to head on towards the city again. He took a look around the castle, as best he could, for his host, but most doors were locked and those that were not held no persons that he saw. And so instead, regretful for his lack of politeness, he headed out instead to leave.
As he passed, it being daylight now, he saw that the gardens were beautiful; well-tended and full of flowers of all manners. Most particular were the rose-bushes, and he thought of his princess's wish -- these roses, he thought, were more beautiful than any he would find in the city, and so he plucked one.
No sooner had he done so than appeared before him a terrible beast.
More and more, lately, Heat has been finding it hard to contain his rage; more, he's been finding it hard to want to do so. There's a strange savage pleasure in letting himself feel rage, letting himself lash out, to the point that he's found himself almost -- or sometimes, when Serph isn't around to stop him -- actually hitting even members of his own tribe.
It'd scare him, if it didn't feel normal enough to just shrug off.
Still, here's the worst feeling: when he comes back and everywhere there's the dead and maimed and Sera isn't there, and it's Serph's fault, in the end -- Serph who went along with all these plans and walked them right the hell into trap after trap so that they weren't here to protect her when they needed to.
It settles inside him sick and angrily like Serph did it just to spite him and even then, when he spins to lash out and strike Gale and Serph catches his hand to stop him, he can't bring himself to hate Serph. That just makes him angrier, and he can't be sure why; it's like Serph's taken some part of him away and he can't feel the right way any more.
He was stunned at the sudden appearance and its fierce demeanor, and drew back with the rose still clutched in his hands.
"Who told you you could take my roses?" the beast demanded. "Was it not enough that I gave you hospitality in my castle, and was kind to you? Is this how you repay my favour?"
Stunned and rather uncertain of his fate, the prince nevertheless drew his courage about himself and, somewhat haltingly, explained to the beast about his situation.
At this explanation, the beast seemed to change; though still offended, he seemed not to have damned the prince to his death and instead seemed to have heard the problem and taken it in. "It was not you who desired the rose," he asked finally, "but this princess you are betrothed to?"
Relieved, the prince agreed that this was so.
"I understand," the beast said. "Bring her here; she may stay among all the roses she might desire."
The prince hesitated at that; it seemed to him that the beast may have misunderstood, and quietly suggested that he simply bring the flower back to his princess.
"No," the beast said. "She wants the rose; she will have it, but under my terms." And with that, he swept away and left the prince there in the garden, alone and quite unsure.
Sera is gone, and they need to get her back.
To say that the thought is weighing on Serph's mind is to underestimate the intensity of it; it is just about the only thing that he is thinking, and it fills him until he might choke. Sera has been taken, and they must get to the top of this strange castle to get her back. He ignores the story as it unfolds room by room; it's just a fairy tale, and it's irrelevant to Sera.
In a strange sense, he finds himself terribly relieved that Heat is just as desperate as he is, though it makes him behave foolishly -- if there are two of them working on this and trying so hard, they cannot possibly fail.
The prince found his way back to his small and impoverished home without any of the confusion that had marked his original trip out. There, the princess came out to greet him with a smile, which didn't falter when she saw the serious expression on his face, for she simply thought that he had discovered that his hopes had come to naught.
"Welcome back, my prince," she said, and curtseyed. "Did you get me a rose?"
At that, grief touched the prince's face, and he took the princess's hand and explained what had happened.
For a long moment she was silent, and then she managed another smile. "Without a doubt, it's my fault," she said, "for asking such an outrageous request of you. Of course I will go."
The prince's hand tightened on the princess's and he bowed his head.
This story, the story of the two princes -- honest to God, it creeps Heat out, angers him, because the good prince is so clearly Serph and the evil prince is so clearly Heat and the princess is so clearly Sera, which means that whatever the hell is going on here, someone knows too much about them, but still little enough to get them wrong. That or he's missing some part of the picture, but he doesn't think he is. Not that he gives a damn if anyone'd think he's evil -- he is who he is and the world can be fucked if they care that much about it -- but it's violational and he finds himself getting angry on his and Serph's behalf.
That aside, there's something really damn wrong here and before he passes under it he stares up at the portrait of the princess mourning over the body of her prince, and he feels strange, uneasy, angry, sick; he can't make out the prince's face and he keeps imagining his overtop, which is hell because he knows it should be Serph's.
When they returned to the castle, the prince leading the princess, the beast was standing in the garden and waiting for them. He seemed to ignore the prince, only looking to the princess. "Good afternoon, princess," he says.
For a moment, the prince's hand clenched on the prince's, but then she was smiling and stepping forward. "Good afternoon, beast," she said, pleasantly.
"You may go," the beast told the prince.
"No," the prince said. "I will stay."
The beast glowered at him. "Did you not understand the order?" he said. "You are to leave her with me and return to your home."
"I cannot," the prince said. "It would be very lonely."
The beast seemed then only to have eyes for the prince. "Do you think I care at all for your loneliness?" he demanded, low and growling.
"I think it's possible," the prince said. "But more to the point, my princess will know of my loneliness, and will worry. And you, eventually, being not a cruel man, will let her go so she can see me. And then you will be lonely; why shall we allow that to happen when it can be avoided?"
The beast drew himself up to his greatest height, which was quite impressive, and snarled, "Do you think I'm not a cruel man? What do you know? Are you judging by my hospitality? And what if I were to tell you that the meal you enjoyed was of the remains of previous visitors who tried to steal from me?"
The prince gave this uncomfortable question the thought it deserved, then replied, "Then I have enjoyed eating the remains of your visitors and am as damned as I already could have been."
The beast looked over them both with a wild eye that seemed, for a moment, both relieved and hopeless, and turned away. "Do as you like," he said, and so the prince and the princess both came to live with the beast.
Heat looks terribly serious as he turns to face Serph. Serph hears Gale's advice to fight Heat, but he cannot imagine that being necessary; Sera will understand that as well. Captive or not, Heat is his comrade. Fight Heat?
"No," Serph says. "I can't."
Once upon a time, there were two princes. One prince was always kind; the other was brash, and took a liking to violence. Thus, they came to be known as the 'good prince' and the 'evil prince.'
This is not that story.