Rogue Adventures - A Tale from Neverbeen Universe

18

To his contentment their search for the escapists continued. When Thanatos asked him to come along, Azrael all but bolted from his office chair and followed him to persuade Phobos once again. After a while of beseeching the rude man begrudgingly agreed. And Ayumu also joined the party, as usual. At least they knew now who they were searching for. Azrael could understand that Thanatos was worried for his friend. But their duty couldn't be neglected, this case couldn't be overlooked. Friend or foe, it should matter not who it was — if they escaped from the Otherside, they would be nothing but fugitives, 'jailbreakers' who had to be caught at any cost.

Azrael had no pity for Raphael and Gene. But for Thanatos's sake he would treat them gently. He valued his colleague's opinion, and if he worried for them he would support him. He deemed Thanatos's initiative to hunt them down a good thing and a sure sign his friendship with the Daemon wouldn't cloud the other Reaper's mind.

They started their manhunt right where they left off earlier. It took Phobos a good while to be able to follow the fugitives' trace, and Azrael became more impatient with every passing minute. But eventually they teleported a few times until they reached the foot of a volcano. At first Azrael thought the seal technician had been mistaken, but then he noticed something at the top of the volcano: someone was there, someone who didn't belong on Thisside.

"They are up there!" he pointed in their direction and so they set in motion to get to the top. A few moments later the four of them reached some kind of temple where there indeed were the two escapists. One of them was in a fast paced fight with another guy, the identity of whom Azrael couldn't exactly pin down. He somehow didn't seem to belong here. But Azrael forced his attention on Gene and Raphael with the intention of catching them while they still could. "Mister Phobos, please use one of your banishments so we can capture them," he bade.

Just then Raphael leapt for a prism gem on the altar. But Phobos was faster and he ensnared the Daemon in an influence. The prism slipped from Raphael's grasp. The other Daemon teleported and tried to catch it, but it fell and clattered over the banks of the lava lake and sank into it with a hiss and a splash.

"Damn!" the man was swift to teleport away as a sudden explosion erupted from within the volcano and shot hot lava high into the sky with a ghastly moaning sound. The lava rained down on them, but Ayumu protected them with a magic shield which she quickly threw over them all. Azrael was thankful for that as the lava would certainly have ruined his suit. In the meantime Phobos had totally captured Raphael in his influence, Azrael noted with delight; Gene put up no fight and held up his hands as soon as he noticed there was no escape.

"Gotcha, Bloody Frailtard! You ain't going nowhere, asshole!" Phobos growled triumphantly, while Azrael noticed Raphael's somber mien. But the Daemon said nothing. He couldn't possibly escape and Azrael assumed, he knew as much. The other Daemon was obviously gone, and Azrael quietly wondered who that man had been and why he seemed so odd. Maybe Thanatos had noticed it also. Azrael would have to ask him later when they were back on the Otherside.

Maybe they could go to a café and have a nice cup of coffee to celebrate the success of their mission. Or they could go either way and Azrael would cheer his colleague up as he might feel down because he had to haul in his friend. Azrael didn't know what was on Thanatos's mind — he never did because the older Reaper was so hard to read — but he thought they had earned that coffee, and coffee was something Thanatos enjoyed. Of that Azrael was sure, and he shared that sentiment.

But first of all they would have to get the fugitives back to the Otherside, fill in their forms and detain them. And they had to decide how to proceed with them. So far only Tecelli had to deal with escaped undeads as he liked to create them. Or at least Azrael had not been a Reaper for such a long time to witness what to do with those who broke the law and broke out from the Otherside.

In theory he knew what was within his due diligence of possible actions, but he had never had to use them. Therefore he was glad Thanatos was with him; he certainly knew how to deal with this situation. Though Azrael was not certain how strict or hard the older Reaper would punish his friend. Maybe even Thanatos could turn a blind eye, but Azrael was not so sure about that. His colleague valued their code of conduction and their principles as Reapers very much, and Azrael respected that.

In general Azrael respected his former mentor a lot; he was his first go-to-person if there ever occurred problems or if he wanted advice or another opinion on work related matters. And after the case of the soul thief he felt a little closer to the polite Reaper; he couldn't help feeling they shared some kind of bond — his first bond ever since becoming Reaper. Azrael cherished that, as delicate as that relationship might be.

Though he was sometimes overtaxed and didn't know how to approach his colleague. Yet somehow Thanatos seemed to always understand Azrael, he was able to calm him down and offer profound advice and help. Now Azrael felt this was his opportunity to finally give something back to Thanatos, so assisted him with capturing Raphael and Gene.