Digital Devil Saga (Serph/Demi-fiend)
Title: Dance of the Daring
Author: emerald_embers
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad language and violence
Pairings: Mild Serph/Demi-fiend, reference to Demi-fiend/Pixie, Demi-fiend/Cu Chulainn
Wordcount: 1492
Summary: Naoki's in a different world to the usual and isn't happy about it.
Disclaimer: Non-profit fanfiction, this lot aren't mine.
Prompt: 25th - Digital Devil Saga, Demi-fiend/Serph; struggling for dominance - conscient of the other's strangeness, blind to their own.
Notes: Sorry for lateness!
Naoki couldn't be certain whose trickery sent him here - humans, Lucifer or perhaps even the Great Will - but he wasn't happy about it. He at least knew why he'd been pushed around again, that someone was unhappy with his choice of Reason - or lack of choice.
But it was a violent world he'd been left in; more violent than the circular world, and that was saying something. There didn't seem to be one place of rest and to kill wasn't enough for the demons here - they hungered, they devoured. And they reminded him all the more of his own inhumanity in that their forms, before they shifted, were humanoid. He hesitated to fully call them human because the matching hair and eyes were just wrong and he'd never met a human who took on demonic powers without outside help.
He was tired of doing what others expected and deliberately created a mirage for him and the others to travel in, a simple trick learnt through studying Kabuchiko Prison for phases on end. None of these ravenous otherworlders seemed to register their presence, too busy scavenging scraps left by others or doing their own hunting. Bones were crushed, blood scoured from the floor by thirsty tongues - Cu Chulainn found it distasteful to the point of nausea but as far as Naoki was concerned, for a world content to destroy itself through gluttony, it was at least a tidy one.
He found himself a place of rest at last, a room few others frequented, and camped with the others, keeping watch while they slept. He'd call them if he needed them.
Naoki did not expect to be disturbed and was furious when it happened, woke Girimehkala and Cu Chulainn to battle at his side should they be necessary. Not the usual scavengers this time, though; orange tints to areas of their clothing marked them as different but, more than that, their movements were coordinated. Barely so in the red-head's case, but his whole attitude screamed barely repressed fury while the others seemed relatively comfortable with one another. Even coordinated, there was something a little odd about their behaviour and it was unsteady breathing on the pink-haired girl's part that let him click on. Something in the air wasn't agreeing with them, and there was only a moment's pause between her collapse to the ground and the others following suit, the green-haired one at the back collapsing last with peculiar grace for his height.
Huh. Interesting.
It would have stayed interesting, except that something shifted in the air and Naoki found his mirage world rudely interrupted by the red-head blasting him with a grenade.
Funny that once upon a time that would have been enough to tear him apart, but now it barely meant bruises. He ran to punch the red-head in kind and show him the meaning of brute force, except that the silver-haired man and pink-haired woman seemed to have a thing or two to say about it judging by their expressions after the initial confusion at finding themselves in a mirage.
Very well, then. Intruding on his mirage meant they deserved a taste of his version of reality.
The yellow demon of the woman looked ill, holding herself wrong, the red-head's equally red demon collapsed and bleeding lazily over the floor, but the silver-haired man's white-crested demon merely nodded to her and she carried the red demon away to lie with his passed out green friend. The blue one had looked eager to help from the start, hovering anxiously but waiting his turn, and the white crested demon touched a non-bladed finger to bright wings in support before returning his attention to the battle. He'd been happy enough to cover the others during the switch, facing Naoki near constantly despite the lack of visible eyes, a clear challenge daring Naoki to break the rules of battle for this world.
Naoki knew better than to take it, waited his turn and bore the brunt of a bladed slice into his stomach before sending Cu Chulainn against the woman, watching spear pierce leathery skin and smirking. They'd been a decent match but nothing special, and the white-crested one was on his own knees at the end of the next round.
White-crest looked at himself, then at the winged one before gritting his teeth and nodding. The winged one shook its own head frantically but there was no change in white-crest's expression and Naoki bore out the fierce series of slices that came next with something of a struggle but nothing to shout about, waited for the winged one to cure its apparent master so as to send the others against him, only to find it coming at him fast with attacks that were weaker than white-crest's but too agile to dodge.
White-crest fell at Cu Chulainn's next attack, Pixie shrugging again at her lack of mana, and Naoki ran to smash the winged one's chest open.
Only that it dodged. Again. And again.
And the movements were almost automatic, almost unthinking, but again it attacked and again it dodged, only Cu Chulainn's spear connecting, and again it attacked and Naoki would have run forward except that Cu Chulainn grabbed him and forced him back.
The winged one hesitated and Naoki glared at his Irish warrior, found the glare returned.
"Retreat or death," Cu Chulainn muttered, "And for you there is no choice."
Wings reverted back to a slightly bloodied but ecstatic looking blue-haired boy who set about healing his companions as they reverted in turn, silver-hair first then the girl.
"Nice one, Serph," laughed the boy in an inexplicably Jamaican accent. Did this world even have a Jamaica? "Didn't t'ink I had it in me."
'Serph' said nothing, just sat up and sighed a little before patting the blue-haired one's shoulder.
"Well, I know ya trust me but -" He cut himself off as Serph got up to head over to Naoki, looked twitchy, but waited.
Naoki glared back in challenge at Serph's calm expression, didn't know what the silver-haired man was thinking and had no plans of struggling to find out, yelped when he found himself wrestled to the floor and bit on the shoulder by teeth that weren't designed to tear. As if he lacked reason enough to be furious his own men weren't coming to aid him, Serph's freakishly calm eyes seeming enough to stop them in their tracks despite the fact he could feel flesh giving way to bone, panic setting in at the idea of having the skin torn away completely, when suddenly Serph pulled back with bloodied lips and smiled.
The girl approached and Cu Chulainn did step forward then, but she seemed intent only on passing a small jar to Serph before standing back and saying, "He doesn't seem a very willing comrade."
Naoki watched the jar open, pale fingers dipping into orange paint that matched the marks on the others before swiping them down his chest and across his shorts in one long diagonal stripe.
"Welcome to the Emb-" began the girl before Cu Chulainn cut across,
"The demi-fiend has no alignments with any Reason."
"Any what?" asked the girl. "Reason for what?"
Cu Chulainn looked about as confused as she did and Naoki left the two talkers to sort their issues out themselves, turning his attention back to Serph, whose expression seemed disturbingly affectionate as he met Naoki's eyes, one hand now resting against his cheek and leaving stripes of paint while the other kept his balance. Naoki was all too familiar with that sort of look from both Cu Chulainn and Pixie, knew what it was normally a prelude to.
What sort of freaks were these people?
"Hey, guys? Best get moving or Gale'll be pissed when he gets up."
Pixie seemed to be done finding a chakra pot, shared some of its results with Naoki through makatora. "You don't belong here anyway," Pixie said, nodding to Naoki to continue.
Not as much of a struggle as expected, to expel the 'Emb-' from his mirage; easier than it had been to create it.
Had to be Lucifer's idea, sending him someplace as crazy as this; the Great Will was more preoccupied with judgement and punishment than pandering to its own twisted sense of humour. Very well then; see what sort of plan Lucifer had for dealing with a smash in the face as soon as Naoki got back.
It was entertaining to watch the strangers get to their feet in their version of the world, looking confused as they headed for the door; and strange to watch Serph look saddened at his clean fingers. The reality of the mirage couldn't cross over into another world.
Naoki did his best to ignore how, not for the first time, he felt like he was on the wrong side of the world.
Still, at least this time it was deliberate.
The End
Author: emerald_embers
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad language and violence
Pairings: Mild Serph/Demi-fiend, reference to Demi-fiend/Pixie, Demi-fiend/Cu Chulainn
Wordcount: 1492
Summary: Naoki's in a different world to the usual and isn't happy about it.
Disclaimer: Non-profit fanfiction, this lot aren't mine.
Prompt: 25th - Digital Devil Saga, Demi-fiend/Serph; struggling for dominance - conscient of the other's strangeness, blind to their own.
Notes: Sorry for lateness!
Naoki couldn't be certain whose trickery sent him here - humans, Lucifer or perhaps even the Great Will - but he wasn't happy about it. He at least knew why he'd been pushed around again, that someone was unhappy with his choice of Reason - or lack of choice.
But it was a violent world he'd been left in; more violent than the circular world, and that was saying something. There didn't seem to be one place of rest and to kill wasn't enough for the demons here - they hungered, they devoured. And they reminded him all the more of his own inhumanity in that their forms, before they shifted, were humanoid. He hesitated to fully call them human because the matching hair and eyes were just wrong and he'd never met a human who took on demonic powers without outside help.
He was tired of doing what others expected and deliberately created a mirage for him and the others to travel in, a simple trick learnt through studying Kabuchiko Prison for phases on end. None of these ravenous otherworlders seemed to register their presence, too busy scavenging scraps left by others or doing their own hunting. Bones were crushed, blood scoured from the floor by thirsty tongues - Cu Chulainn found it distasteful to the point of nausea but as far as Naoki was concerned, for a world content to destroy itself through gluttony, it was at least a tidy one.
He found himself a place of rest at last, a room few others frequented, and camped with the others, keeping watch while they slept. He'd call them if he needed them.
Naoki did not expect to be disturbed and was furious when it happened, woke Girimehkala and Cu Chulainn to battle at his side should they be necessary. Not the usual scavengers this time, though; orange tints to areas of their clothing marked them as different but, more than that, their movements were coordinated. Barely so in the red-head's case, but his whole attitude screamed barely repressed fury while the others seemed relatively comfortable with one another. Even coordinated, there was something a little odd about their behaviour and it was unsteady breathing on the pink-haired girl's part that let him click on. Something in the air wasn't agreeing with them, and there was only a moment's pause between her collapse to the ground and the others following suit, the green-haired one at the back collapsing last with peculiar grace for his height.
Huh. Interesting.
It would have stayed interesting, except that something shifted in the air and Naoki found his mirage world rudely interrupted by the red-head blasting him with a grenade.
Funny that once upon a time that would have been enough to tear him apart, but now it barely meant bruises. He ran to punch the red-head in kind and show him the meaning of brute force, except that the silver-haired man and pink-haired woman seemed to have a thing or two to say about it judging by their expressions after the initial confusion at finding themselves in a mirage.
Very well, then. Intruding on his mirage meant they deserved a taste of his version of reality.
The yellow demon of the woman looked ill, holding herself wrong, the red-head's equally red demon collapsed and bleeding lazily over the floor, but the silver-haired man's white-crested demon merely nodded to her and she carried the red demon away to lie with his passed out green friend. The blue one had looked eager to help from the start, hovering anxiously but waiting his turn, and the white crested demon touched a non-bladed finger to bright wings in support before returning his attention to the battle. He'd been happy enough to cover the others during the switch, facing Naoki near constantly despite the lack of visible eyes, a clear challenge daring Naoki to break the rules of battle for this world.
Naoki knew better than to take it, waited his turn and bore the brunt of a bladed slice into his stomach before sending Cu Chulainn against the woman, watching spear pierce leathery skin and smirking. They'd been a decent match but nothing special, and the white-crested one was on his own knees at the end of the next round.
White-crest looked at himself, then at the winged one before gritting his teeth and nodding. The winged one shook its own head frantically but there was no change in white-crest's expression and Naoki bore out the fierce series of slices that came next with something of a struggle but nothing to shout about, waited for the winged one to cure its apparent master so as to send the others against him, only to find it coming at him fast with attacks that were weaker than white-crest's but too agile to dodge.
White-crest fell at Cu Chulainn's next attack, Pixie shrugging again at her lack of mana, and Naoki ran to smash the winged one's chest open.
Only that it dodged. Again. And again.
And the movements were almost automatic, almost unthinking, but again it attacked and again it dodged, only Cu Chulainn's spear connecting, and again it attacked and Naoki would have run forward except that Cu Chulainn grabbed him and forced him back.
The winged one hesitated and Naoki glared at his Irish warrior, found the glare returned.
"Retreat or death," Cu Chulainn muttered, "And for you there is no choice."
Wings reverted back to a slightly bloodied but ecstatic looking blue-haired boy who set about healing his companions as they reverted in turn, silver-hair first then the girl.
"Nice one, Serph," laughed the boy in an inexplicably Jamaican accent. Did this world even have a Jamaica? "Didn't t'ink I had it in me."
'Serph' said nothing, just sat up and sighed a little before patting the blue-haired one's shoulder.
"Well, I know ya trust me but -" He cut himself off as Serph got up to head over to Naoki, looked twitchy, but waited.
Naoki glared back in challenge at Serph's calm expression, didn't know what the silver-haired man was thinking and had no plans of struggling to find out, yelped when he found himself wrestled to the floor and bit on the shoulder by teeth that weren't designed to tear. As if he lacked reason enough to be furious his own men weren't coming to aid him, Serph's freakishly calm eyes seeming enough to stop them in their tracks despite the fact he could feel flesh giving way to bone, panic setting in at the idea of having the skin torn away completely, when suddenly Serph pulled back with bloodied lips and smiled.
The girl approached and Cu Chulainn did step forward then, but she seemed intent only on passing a small jar to Serph before standing back and saying, "He doesn't seem a very willing comrade."
Naoki watched the jar open, pale fingers dipping into orange paint that matched the marks on the others before swiping them down his chest and across his shorts in one long diagonal stripe.
"Welcome to the Emb-" began the girl before Cu Chulainn cut across,
"The demi-fiend has no alignments with any Reason."
"Any what?" asked the girl. "Reason for what?"
Cu Chulainn looked about as confused as she did and Naoki left the two talkers to sort their issues out themselves, turning his attention back to Serph, whose expression seemed disturbingly affectionate as he met Naoki's eyes, one hand now resting against his cheek and leaving stripes of paint while the other kept his balance. Naoki was all too familiar with that sort of look from both Cu Chulainn and Pixie, knew what it was normally a prelude to.
What sort of freaks were these people?
"Hey, guys? Best get moving or Gale'll be pissed when he gets up."
Pixie seemed to be done finding a chakra pot, shared some of its results with Naoki through makatora. "You don't belong here anyway," Pixie said, nodding to Naoki to continue.
Not as much of a struggle as expected, to expel the 'Emb-' from his mirage; easier than it had been to create it.
Had to be Lucifer's idea, sending him someplace as crazy as this; the Great Will was more preoccupied with judgement and punishment than pandering to its own twisted sense of humour. Very well then; see what sort of plan Lucifer had for dealing with a smash in the face as soon as Naoki got back.
It was entertaining to watch the strangers get to their feet in their version of the world, looking confused as they headed for the door; and strange to watch Serph look saddened at his clean fingers. The reality of the mirage couldn't cross over into another world.
Naoki did his best to ignore how, not for the first time, he felt like he was on the wrong side of the world.
Still, at least this time it was deliberate.
The End