Double Or Nothing: A Coin Flip Away

Satan Takes the Reins

The last thing Crow remembered was clobbering through a crowd of armed guards and tripping over somebody's foot before stumbling through the rift, a shimmering curtain, almost invisible in the gloomy castle interior. Now he was face first against a cold stone floor with flower petals a few inches away. Fragrant, sweet and savory blends wafted through the air around his mask, now inanimate on his face. "Oh, my head," Crow grumbled with a cheek squished on concrete. Planting his hands on the ground and pushing himself upright, the Plague Infector dusted himself off with hands batting at his sleeves.

After removing his mask and tying the rubber and steel to his waist, Crow rubbed his face in the cool dusk air with the fragrance of a night market striking him from beyond the small alcove he had found. A closer look around revealed a flower garden, beautiful golds and oranges blossoming in every bed with fresh, earthy water gracing Crow's senses. Crow blinked twice, turning to the shimmering outline of the rift he had leapt through. "So the rift booted me out here," Crow muttered, "but why here in a flower garden? Unless there's something bigger here." It was now when the Plague Infector brought his attention to his lover's absence.

"Wait. Satan? Saty, where'd you go?" Crow called as quietly as he could. The explosion of fireworks from the stone walls nearby shook the small garden as Crow clutched himself, his throat tightening. "Oh no, did she get stuck in Hell? I hope not, that'd be no good-" Crow paused as the rift began shimmering against the brick and mortar wall behind him. Turning to the incorporeal curtain, Crow held his arms out as a ball of reds, whites and oranges tumbled out. Satan, in a flowery dress with wild roses in her dark cinnamon hair, swirled to life as she leapt into Crow's arms and caught herself. A spiraling poinsettia, Satan caught herself upright in Crow's arms. Their star-filled eyes rippled with the bright flashes of fireworks in the night sky.

"So there you are! I was worried you didn't get through the rift!" Crow exhaled. Satan leaned back, untying a ribbon stuck to her hair. "Ha ha! You get so cute when you worry about the lady who rules Envy. But," Satan sighed, leaning back in the dusty cloth sleeves of the Plague Infector with his gold cross dangling down at her collarbone, "I appreciate the worry. Thank you." Crow smirked, setting Satan upright and dusting off his slick black gloves. "What's with the dress? Is this your Living World disguise?" Satan floated her hands across the edge of her frilled dress, smiling with a warm, radiating light in her freckled features.

"Oh my goodness! We must be in Madrid! Oh, I love this beautiful city of love and passion!" Crow coughed, wiping cobwebs from the ground off of his shoulder. "I thought the city of love was France," he replied. Satan chuckled, her grin luring Crow forward to the steps out of the garden. Fireflies hummed around the Lady of Envy when she strode through the floral display to the crowded streets parading at night. "Well, I suppose it depends on your perspective, Frenchman. But I have always incorporated my love for bullfighting and the artistic flow of Spain's regal aura in Envy's fortified elegance. There's something so magical about this country and its simplistic nature."

Crow shrugged back his comments, joining Satan at the steps down to the festivities below. Sliding his hands into his dusty brown robes, Crow's cool, barely tanned face glowed in the cracking of fireworks. "But if that rift took us here, what could possibly be so big in the Living World that it brought us to-oh boy," Crow trailed away, the flashing beams of spotlights bathing a large, illuminated colosseum in showers of reds, greens and sprawling colors of golds and purples. Although Crow's eyes widened with unfathomable shock, Satan's eyes gleamed with a bright and wild sense of excitement.

"It's a bullfighting ring! Those colors in the confetti represent the ranch this sacred bull came from and their to-be deliverer!" Crow turned to Satan with a shrug, his eyes jolting around, up and down, and anywhere but on his lover's eyes. There was something so unnatural about seeing Satan without her shining gold armor, although he had seen her without anything to wear plenty of times. The sensation of Satan's hand dragging Crow down the steps toward the crowd pulled the Plague Infector out of his trance-like state. "Well wait a second! Why would the Crimson Stripe be so obsessed with a bullfighting ring?!"

Satan slowed herself, walking just above a pace. Her eyes were excited, but they had darkened with a hint of confusion. Her senses of caution and common sense as the Queen of Envy were slowly returning. "That's...a good question, Harold. Unless he's trying to meet some important people in the middle of this bullfight?" Crow shook his head, the beak and goggles on his belt jangling on the cobbled stone street. "No, this Stripe guy is up to something. I just don't get it. If he really wanted to raise some chaos," Crow gestured his glove to the shining sky above, "then why interrupt a ceremony where hundreds...of...people..." he trailed off.

Satan chewed at her lip, scooping up a flower from the ground. Already the crowd was dispersing, flowing into the glowing colosseum for the match to begin. "I don't know who he is, but this killer needs to be put down. I'll run him through like whichever bull is fighting tonight. Blade by blade, with a quick thrust down through his spine and straight into whatever pulpy heart is still beating in his gut! If, that is," Satan growled, "he has anything to call a heart or soul."

Crow had stopped breathing, remembering to step back a few inches when Satan stepped into one of her moods. It was terrifying to watch the woman he had dated and dined with change her demeanor so quickly. 'Then again,' Crow coughed quietly, 'nobody can really brag about dating the owner of a Sin, can they?' Satan exhaled, brushing her hair back. The curls of dark brown furled around her arms and behind her striking red dress, frilled and glossed in sparkling gold highlights. "I'm sorry," she sighed, "sorry you had to see me like that. It's just...I'm worried about my people." Crow pursed his lips, sliding his screw-less hand into Satan's. "It's okay. We'll save Hell, I promise."

Satan sighed, a smile creeping back beneath her sparkling eyes. "I'm holding you to that, Doctor Richmond. Now c'mon, let's get in there and see what's happening!" Crow was jerked away from his feet, soaring fast to keep pace with the Queen of Envy. "I've never been to a bullfight before!" Crow shouted over the faint cheering in the street and the fireworks in the sky. Satan turned back, her eyes sparkling with wild roses and showers of gold confetti. "You haven't? Like, not ever?" Crow shook his head with its wide eyes and shaky smile. Satan laughed, tossing her curled chocolate hair back with a hearty laugh. "Oh my god, you're gonna love this stuff!"