The Red Hand

"My... My Father?" Ariel's eyes widened in surprise at the mention of Demon King Lockheed. "Why are you bringing him up? He's..."

"A barely clinging on to life almost corpse?" Akagi said, her words about as gentle as a sledgehammer to the face. “Yep, I know.”

"Real tasteful there, Akagi..." Elariel sighed. "You just couldn't help but say something like that, could you?"

"I could've said much worse if you think about it." Akagi shrugged. "I could've called him Mr. Beef Jerky!"

{You're terrible, you know that?} (Yumi)

{Are you complaining?} (Akagi)

{I never said I was, did I?} (Yumi)

"If I knew it would do anything, I'd punch you in the face and rip out your throat for saying such words." Ariel hissed.

"But if you did that I wouldn't be so inclined to fix him." Akagi said with a devilish smirk.

"Fix..." Ariel stammered, caught off guard by Akagi's words. "What... What do you mean?"

"I mean fix." Akagi repeated herself before turning and motioning for the others to follow her into the main building. "Come. I'll talk more about my plans inside. We've got a lot to cover, and I'd like to get it over with quickly."

{What?} (Ariel)

"You heard her." Silfana said as she followed closely behind the Demon. "Let's go! The faster we get through this, the faster I take the next step in claiming the throne that is rightfully mine." She said with a smile and skip in her step.

"I..." Ariel was still stunned by Akagi's claim that she could heal her Father and it took Elariel putting her hand on the Demon's shoulder to snap her out of it.

"You'll get used to the chaos... eventually." Elariel sighed as she shook her head, on one hand happy to have another friend in misery and on the other feeling bad that someone else was now subject to Akagi's whims.

{I think...} (Elariel)

______________________________________________________________________________

"Alright, and in ya go." Halifax said as she tossed the unconscious Penelope onto the floor, smacking the Demi-God's head against the concrete. "Mind the drop." She snickered as she closed the door and activated the cell's magical restraints. They weren't perfect but likely more than enough to prevent Penelope from breaking out, at least until they applied more sturdy restraints.

{Penelope going missing is definitely going to draw the ire of Reflia. This idiot is her most loyal child and one of the few that kept around all these years. It may be for the best that I didn't kill her since if Reflia comes poking her nose around down here, Akagi can capture her and get this thing to a conclusion without needing that dammed Axe.} (Halifax)

"Whatever..." Halifax stretched as she took a seat on one of the benches in the room. She figured it best to keep an eye on the Demi-God until Imp's tools arrived since leaving her alone would risk a breakout attempt. "I'll leave that hard stuff up to her." She yawned. "With her around I don't need to think about that stuff anymore, which is nice."

{Just sit back, relax and pet the kitty.} (Halifax)

"Hard stuff like principle?!?" Amakusa exclaimed as she entered the cell, her face still pale and sickly and her hair a complete mess. She'd been mentally shaken by the battle with the Demons and her trembling body and disheveled appearance gave Halifax the impression that she was a single push away from a total mental breakdown.

{Oof.} (Halifax)

"You look like you had some fun." Halifax said as she reached into a magical storage space and pulled out a bottle of deep purple wine, offering it to her. "Care for a few drinks? I had Akagi get me some of that good stuff from Earth. Maybe a few bottles will take your mind off things" She winked.

"How can you..." Amakusa growled in disgust as she came over and smacked the Divine's Blade's outstretched hand off to the side. "Why are you just going along with all this?!? How can you just act all normal after all that?!?"

"Didn't we have this conversation already?" Halifax said as she sat Arcus down and leaned him against the bench. "I told you that I've gotten to the point where I just can't be fucked anymore. I don't want to rehash things again, though drinking with you might be fun."

"I thought that you said you still wanted to be a Hero?!?" Amakusa shouted at the top of her lungs, which caught Halifax off guard. "Hell, you said that you needed to be one still! That it was important to you! And yet you not only sat back and watched Akagi slaughter so many people but you also participated!"She'd been forced to watch the whole event and was internally begging someone to step in and stop the madness. However, nobody did, nobody would and frankly nobody could.

{I saw it all... I felt it all... She mad me feel joy, pleasure... I was happy to...} (Amakusa)

"Correction, I only fought Penelope." Halifax said as she pulled out a glass and poured some wine. "I never raised my blade to a single member of the Demon Army. That wasn't my goal and I would have refused to do so if Akagi demanded it."

"You backed the action with your failure to stop it!" Amakusa screamed, her eyes shaking back in forth as she became more mentally unstable. "Come on! I don't know you that well, but from everything I do know about you, this should've been the time for you to make a stand against Akagi! I would've had she not turned me into her fucking mind slave pet, so I'd imagine someone like you, someone whose entire life has been about protecting people, would take exception to so much death!"

{Are you fucked in the head?!? I know the people of this world deserve some of what's coming, but this?!? This is way out of line! Akagi can't just be allowed to get away with all this! She's killing people just for the sheer pleasure of it!} (Amakusa)

"Need I remind you that Akagi did offer the Demons reasonable terms and they instead chose to march down here and declare war on her." Halifax said as she sipped some wine, watching with concern as Amakusa's mental anguish continue to spill into her physical actions as the Heroine's body twitched and convulsed.

{She needs some rest. Akagi may have gone a bit overboard in making her watch that whole ordeal.} (Halifax)

"What was that phrase Akagi taught me to use in situations like this one? Oh yeah, I think it was fuck around and find out." Halifax laughed. "I like that one."

{I don't think FAFO is applicable in this situation!} (Amakusa)

"So you think that killing a hundred thousand people is fair?!?" Amakusa asked while putting her hands to her head and shaking it back and forth in despair. "That because they snubbed her very clearly intended to be rejected offer that they should die?" She said while practically spitting at Halifax due to how angry she was.

"Why not?" Halifax shrugged, not feeling any sympathy for the Demons. "She gave them ample opportunity to do things peacefully, so pardon me for not getting more upset about how things turned out. Especially since they participated in the war so enthusiastically."

"You..." Amakusa paused, completely aghast at the Divine Blades' words. "Did... Did she get you too?" She asked, the words slipping out unintentionally.

{She must've! Akagi must've fucked with her! Hahaha! I figured you out, Demon!} (Amakusa)

"What?" Halifax paused mid sip, perturbed but also deeply angered by what the Heroine had just said. "What do you mean get me?"

{Don't you go fucking implying what I THINK you are!} (Halifax)

"That would be the only explanation I can think of!" Amakusa said while cackling like a madwoman. "She must've done the same thing to you that she did to me! Yes! That's the only thing that makes sense!"

{Otherwise, no real Hero of Justice like her would act this way! She must've been corrupted before we even got to Earth! The evil kitty turned the great Hero into a puppet! Just like she did to me!} (Amakusa)

"Hold up! Akagi never did anything like that to me!" Halifax jumped to Akagi's defense. “You've gone fucking crazy, Shiroe! Calm the fuck down! I know you're a bit-”

"How can you be sure?" Amakusa asked through a defeated/psychotic laugh. "She could've just added a bit to your personality and then ordered you to forget whatever she did. After all, that's more or less what she did to me!"

{The kitty made me different! It made me bad! It made me this way!} (Amakusa)

"But she still left the you in you!" Halifax said, getting increasingly aggravated at the Heroine's accusations and also becoming increasingly concerned that her mind was breaking down at the fundamental level due to stress.

"Halifax, she put an underlying personality that can and will take control of me. It forces me to be entirely loyal and devoted to her! The only reason she left me 'normal' on the surface is because she's a sadistic monster who enjoys making me suffer!" Amakusa yelled back while moving away from Halifax slightly, her entire body shaking. "I'm damn sure it wasn't because she couldn't make me entirely disappear! Look at those Black Company people! They were supposedly a bunch of delinquents she captured and now they're fanboys/girls for Team Akagi!"

{And that isn't even getting into the mess that is the rest of her followers! The kitty has made us all fucked up! She's corrupting our very souls! I would never feel this way if it wasn't for her! Hahahahaha!} (Amakusa)

"Akagi would never do that to me!" Halifax screamed, her energy erupting out from around her and sending the wine glass and bottle shattering against the wall. "Don't go saying things like that about her!"

{HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?!?} (Halifax)

"Why are you so sure?" Amakusa asked while continuing to cackle. "What makes you so willing to trust her? Why are you defending her so heavily? It seems more likely to me that you were corrupted by her-" Her words were paused as Halifax grabbed her by the throat.

"Shut your mouth! SHUT IT!" Halifax roared as she tossed Amakusa across the room, slamming her into a wall. "Akagi would never do that to me!"

{She wouldn't! She wouldn't do that to me! Not her! No! NOT HER!} (Halifax)

"Then how else... How else would you explain your changes?" Amakusa asked between coughs, seeming to enjoy the reaction she got from Halifax. "Unless you mean to tell me that your Hero self was nothing but a lie."

{The kitty corrupted you! She took away the Hero you were!} (Amakusa)

"No, it wasn't a lie... But..." Halifax agonized as she began to second guess herself. Amakusa had clearly gone crazy from her trauma but her words seemed to tickle a deep fear that lay buried in Halifax's mind. "I'm still me... I just... She... I..."

{It couldn't be true... That would mean she... And she wouldn't... SHE WOULDN'T!} (Halifax)

"Go on, say it. Say what you really want to!" Amakusa smirked as she got to her feet. "Stop holding back and break free! Say what's truly in your heart!"

{I've got her! I'll break Halifax free from whatever control the kitty has over her and then we can work to stop this madness! Together we can defeat the evil kitty and restore the world!} (Amakusa)

"I... I..." Halifax began to cry as she fell to her knees.

{Yes! Yes! Reject the kitty!} (Amakusa)

"I just... I just... wanted a friend..." Halifax said as tears flowed from her eyes, her words catching Amakusa completely off guard and partially snapping her out of her insanity. "That's all I've ever wanted..."

{What?!? The kitty is friend?!?} (Amakusa)

"Was that really too much to ask for?" Halifax said through tears, her voice little more than a quiet squeak. "All my life... I've never really had anyone that truly cared about me... I was always just a tool... Something to be used... The few times I met people that did care about me... It was always so nice... Helia, Sherry... They both treated me as Halifax the person first and foremost... Everything else about me... None of it mattered to them... I was their friend and that's all they cared about..." She continued, her voice fluctuating due to the emotional roller coaster going on inside her head. "Akagi... Akagi made me feel the same way... When I met her, she didn't ask me to lend her my power. She didn't force me to submit to her... She asked nothing of me..." She gave a small smile as she wiped away some tears. "To her... I was just Halifax. Not some tool to be used in her schemes, not some Divine Blade that needs to be revered... I was just me." She laughed quietly. "Akagi spoke to me, emphasized with me, and even swore that nobody would ever use me again... So... So when I met someone like that... Someone who treated me like a person... A friend... I'm sorry It's just that I've just been... I've been so lonely..." She said as she wrapped her arms around her body. "I've been so alone for so long... And I don't want to be alone again..."

{Oh... Um... I'm starting to feel like a real asshole now for unleashing a massive trauma dump... What the hell did I just do... I... I barely even remember... I came in here... And I... Why did I just do all this to her?} (Amakusa)

"She's not perfect." Halifax said with a sniff. "I won't sit here and say I like what she's doing, but... With everything taken together... What the Gods did, what the people of Enoris did to the Spirits... I just find myself asking if it's really worth getting angry about stuff like this when the people of this world treated me like a tool while she treats me like a friend. Why do I have to toss aside my own happiness for people who never cared for me beyond what I could do for them?" She continued, it clear from her words just how much resentment had built up over the years. "Am I not allowed to put my own happiness first? Do I not get to be happy? Am I only to exist so that I suffer while others find happiness?"

"I... Umm..." Amakusa had no idea what to say to any of this. She barely recalled anything that just happened and her temporary mental break had been quickly shut down by Halifax's words. This left her in the unpleasant situation of understanding that she'd just fucked up with no real understanding of how or why she'd done what she'd done and with no idea of how to fix it. "No... I don't think it was... wrong... to want to be happy..."

{Why did I fucking do any of this?!? Why did I have to say all that?!? I'm such a fucking asshole!} (Amakusa)

"Maybe in the past... Maybe I would've stopped her, or at least died trying." Halifax laughed knowing that that's exactly what would happen if she seriously tried to get in Akagi's way. "But I just can't anymore, Shiroe... I can't." She said with a defeated look in her eyes. "I don't really know how far she'd have to go before I stepped in, and I'm worried that a time will come when I just can't be bothered to care at all..."

{The old me confronted her on Earth without a second thought. I drew my blade on her for simply existing, but now... Now I look back on that with only a single thought... Why did I want to harm someone who has done nothing but show me kindness? Someone who's gotten angry on my behalf? Someone who shares my pain at being abandoned by those they put the most trust in? Even Helia and Sherry couldn't understand that pain. But Akagi? Not only did she tell me that my pain was valid she went as far as to capture Elariel and offered me a way to start healing... Given all that... My heart... It just seems unable to put up much resistance anymore... Its so easy to look past the flaws when she's the first person to show me that level of kindness... Akagi is my friend... My first true friend... And I don't want to lose that... I Can't lose that...} (Halifax)

While Shiroe scrambled to calm down the still sobbing Halifax, Arcus had woken up from his knocked-out state and had caught most of the ensuing conversation. He was pained by what he heard and wanted to speak up, but chose to wait until a better moment to interrupt.

{Halifax... I... I never knew that you felt this way... I'm... I'm so sorry... We... We all failed you...} (Arcus)