Bloody Dawn - MCD AU [REWRITE PENDING]

Thirty-Nine - The Breaking Point

Dante watched as his employer stalked up the hillside, his employer's face hidden in the shadow of his hood. Aphmau stood beside Dante, her hands and wings bound by a strong cord. To the other side of Aphmau was a fiery-haired woman in a teal dress fading to aquamarine.

As Dante's employer came closer, it became clear they weren't alone. To their side was... Aaron?

Aphmau's heart soared, then plummeted when Dante's employer lifted his hood to reveal... Laurance!

Aaron stared at Aphmau, but she couldn't meet his eyes.

"Well, here you go." Dante said, pushing Aphmau. She stumbled forwards a few steps before being caught by Aaron, who unbound her hands.

Snap!

Aphmau flared her wings, breaking the ropes that bound them and knocking Aaron back. She took to the air, Aaron following seconds behind.

"Aph wait! That isn't Laurance!" Aaron shouted, blowing Michi's cover as the gray imp removed her illusion and clashed swords with Dante.

Aphmau stopped. She turned around and looked at Michi, who was striking at a barely defending Dante from the air with her claws, and once again Dante's eyes... seemed to change in a way Aphmau couldn't explain.

Michi was really letting Dante have it,  and despite everything he had done, Aphmau knew he was good. She had seen it.

"Wait! Michi, stop!" Aphmau shouted, coming in for a landing and using her wings to knock back the fiery-haired woman, whose eyes also seemed... off, but in a way Aphmau couldn't quite place.

Michi paused as Dante, exhausted, fell back onto his butt. Aphmau, like the kind soul she was, ran over to help him up, knocking his sword away in the process. She paused, however, fascinated at the way little triangles of light seemed to dance and twirl around in his irises.

"Uh... do you mind?" Dante asked, pushing Aphmau away gently as he stood up.

"Sorry." Aphmau squeaked, grabbing Dante's sword and handing it over to Dante, who resheathed it.

"It's just... something about your eyes... something I can't place." Aphmau explained, while Aaron helped up the fiery-haired woman off to the side.

"Eyes? Lemme see." Michi said, pushing Aphmau aside. Michi firmly-- and rather roughly-- grasped the sides of Dante's face, starting into his apparently not-so-normal eyes, scrutinizing them.

"They look normal to me. Don't see what you're so worked up about, Aph." Michi concluded after letting go of Dante's face.

"Okay then... I guess we... uh... actually, what do we do next? I know Travis is acting as a guide to get the others to Kasumi Mountain, but uh..." Aphmau stuttered, stumbling over every word as she tried to figure out what to do about Dante and the fiery-haired woman.

"Kasumi Mountain? But I thought that peak was cursed." Dante said.

"What do you mean, cursed? Is this some kind of trick? Are you trying to scare us? C'mon, speak up!" Michi growled as she tackled Dante, pinning him to the ground.

"What he means is that there's a legend concerning that mountain." The fiery-haired woman explained as she pulled Michi off of Dante, setting the pale, almost violet gray imp down on the ground beside Aaron.

Aphmau looked at the fiery-haired lady expectantly, sitting down on the ground and motioning for Aaron and Michi to do the same. "Story time! Yeyas!" The little potato squeaked.

Everyone looked at the fiery-haired woman, even Dante. Sighing, she sat down to begin the story.

"Legend has it that Mount Kasumi, also known as the Ice Fang Mountain, the Frozen Star Spire, the Halos Crest or the Peak of Cursed Blessings--"

"What's with all those weird names? Why not just call it one thing?" Aphmau interrupted.

"The mountain is very big, and there are several villages near it's base. Each village has a different view of the mountain, thus each village calls it by a different name." The fiery-haired woman explained before continuing with the story.

"As I was saying, legend has it that Mount Kasumi wasn't always covered in ice. It used to be an active volcano, and the magma within was said to be so full of magic, that the mountain was the supposed birthplace of the fire-based weapon, tool and armor enchantments used in legends."

"But when the volcano erupted, it destroyed the town that had been looking after it. So the survivors climbed to the top, and, with the power of incredible magicks, placed a curse of endless winter on the mountain."

"But even curses can fade. So, to maintain the curse, the survivors founded a village at the peak. A village whose descendants would protect the mountain." The fiery-haired woman, now satisfied, stood back up. Everyone else stood as well.

"Well, guess you'd better get going." The fiery-haired woman said as she grabbed a satchel full of supplies and shoved it into Dante's arms.

"Where is he going?" Michi asked.

"With you. You're going to need a guide until you rejoin your friends." The fiery-haired woman explained. Michi stared at her dubiously.

"Why?" Michi prodded.

Dante sighed. "Because we used to know Laurance a long time ago and we know that whatever it is he's planning can't be good. We'd rather live than die you know."

Aaron looked a little dumbfounded that two mortals would've known a demon, but then again, Aaron himself was proof of the possibility for a mortal to become a demon, so...

Wait.

Aaron's raven-feathered wings trembled, as he came to a startling thought.

Demonflame was what made a demon a demon. With it, an angel or a mortal could become a demon.

But... what would happen if a demon's demonflame was removed?

Said demon would die, but what if there was a way to change a demon's demonflame into a mortal's heart? Or an angel's core?

As the group agreed to let Dante come, Aaron was lost in thought.

Dante and the other woman said they knew Laurance.

Their eyes, while appearing completely normal to Michi, were not mortal eyes. It was hard to see, but their pupils were slightly almond-shaped, almost like a demon's.

Could it be that Dante and his neighbor were once demons?

If so, how, why, when they did they become mortals?

Raising more questions than answers, Aaron pushed the thought to the back of his mind as the group- Aphmau, Dante, Michi and Aaron- continued off in the direction of Kasumi Mountain.

Things were coming together.