Disclaimers: All characters belong to rightful owners.
Story concieved by Lee.


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"Wh-what the... what the hell are you doing to me?!" Sam exclaimed in pure suprise as he suddenly found himself levitating a few inches from the ground. Like a man drowning, he groped for something onto which he could hold as he shook his head.

"F-fine! Explain whatever you have to explain just... just..." Biting hard into his lower lip, he gripped the nearest building in a vise tight grip and, letting his words take on a bit of desperation, turned his face to the other. "...just tell me that I'm not going insane. Please...?"

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Sophia sighed slightly, but nodded her head and stopped trying to tug Mr. Alraune out. She admired his manners and goodness, of course, but now it was all too easy to see how vulnerable he was to any predator who came along. "Of course."

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Seeing as Wolfgang didn't offer any objections to his plan, Darran handed Cordero to Para and ducked back out. There was a pretty big crowd by now, kids and their parents, so it actually wasn't as easy to find Wolfgang's family as he'd hoped. He sighed and made his way to the outskirts, circling around the edges of the crowd. "C'mon... c'mon... they must've arrived by now..."

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Lucia grinned. She was finally getting somewhere. "No. Of course, you're not going insane... as stated before, I am Lucifer. It's not like lifting you a couple of inches off the ground is going to be too difficult for me. Now stop being ridiculous and let go of that wall."

She rolled her eyes, gently settling him back down on the ground. "Okay, this may take a bit of explaining. A long time ago, I turned against God and lead many angels in an uprising against humanity because the bugs had taken our place as His most beloved creatures. From the beginning... from even before the revolution, there was one angel who stood beside me. He was the only one that I would ever call a true friend, and that was you, Samael..."

She smiled fondly at the boy, but her face soon slid into a scowl as she continued her store. "Eventually, He punished us for our crimes against Him by sealing us away. But one of my followers, Promethesus escaped and broke the seal. I returned to God, begging for his all- encompassing forgiveness, but He wouldn't give it to me that easily. So now I am here, as a mortal, and it is my job to collect 100 humans souls before He does so that I can return to heaven... and you can help me, Sam! Together, we can corrupt the humans. Together, the two of us again... just like the good old days."

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Well, fuck. Maybe the little run-in with Dante hadn't been a total waste of his time, but the bitchiness at the end certainly could've been cut out. Kein walked quickly back through the park, still trying to get his damn sandwich, a scowl tailored to repel everyone plainly evident on his face. Intentionally avoiding the masses of annoying little children gathered around a stage, he skirted the large crowd and continued down the path. What with the inner grumbling he was currently wholeheartedly absorbed in, he certainly paid no attention to running feet behind him.

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Throughout the story, Sam listened in deep silence and, though it would only seem natural to object, to site it all as pure madness, he knew that it wasn't in the slightest. The nightmares, the strange feelings, the confrontation at the park, it was all supported by Lucia's tale.

"You... want Samael--or me... or... or whatever--back?" He murmured quietly after a pretty long period of silence. Still, his tone wasn't incredulous or angry or anything else one would probably expect; more, it was just softly curious, resigned. "You... want my help in harvesting these souls so you can go back to God?"

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Tears, tears, tears... nothing but tears.

That was all that Kisoku had left in him at the moment. He didn't care where he was running to. He didn't care if his tears blinded him to the people around him or even to oncoming traffic. When faced with the reality of his horrible love life, the young Japanese man quite frequently lost normal functions of his brain like the ones that told him that survival was important.

And so it was with tears in his eyes that he ran into the person directly in front of him... the last person that he would have wanted to see at the moment.

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"Yes, Sam. You're the only being in this entire world that I feel like I can trust!" Lucia grinned, grasping the boy's hands in her own. "Oh Sam, please don't say no! Please... it's been so hard doing this all on my own, for nearly two years!"

Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. She blinked them away quickly. It was bizarre, feeling uncontrollable emotions like that... she really had no idea that she had missed the rebellious traitor to this extent. Certainly, she had fallen into a deep depression after his death... but her heart had hardened a great deal over time.

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"I... I can understand that this's all been so hard on you, but..." Sam frowned and, giving Luc's hands a soft squeeze, he inclined his head slightly. Even if it _did_ explain everything, he naturally still had questions and thoughts he had to sort through. "...can I have a little time before I decide?"

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"Of course! Of course... I wouldn't want to pressure you into this." Lucia breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't an outright rejection. That was all she could really hope for.

"Sam... I could show you a bit... about the past... if you want, that is."

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"Of our past..." Sam murmured softly as he worried at his bottom lip. Well, there was the hope that it'd be at least I little bit more pleasant than the things of which he'd been dreaming for the past two years, but, of course, that was a bit unlikely. Still, he nodded slowly. "Yea. I... I think I'd like that, if it isn't a big strain on you or anything."

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"Alright... I promise not to fry your brain or anything." Lucia grinned, taking in a deep breath as she took a step closer to Sam and place a hand on each of the boy's temples. She closed her eyes, and concentrating, projected images into the boy's head.

//It was a scene of unspeakable bloodshed and terror, as silvery creatures bathed in the blood of humans... and their bodies were everywhere: ripped into pieces, contorted into horrible shapes. Any intelligible faces were drained of life and eternally marked with a look of complete fear.//

//"How could He? How could He do this to me? To us..."//

//The silver winged beauty looked over his shoulder at the silent angel sitting in the corner. He eyed him thoughtfully, continuing to brush long, dark locks of hair. "You're always so quiet... come, help me brush my hair."//

//Two figures merged, crashing and colliding in harmony and passion. They were as one...//

She pulled her hands away from Sam's temples, unwilling to give the boy anymore information. "So... there you have it. A bit of your past..."

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Sam winced at the projection of the bloody scenes that were only too familiar from his endless nightmares, but the worst part of it all was the deep anger, resent, betrayal he felt overwriting it all. The sense of these emotions was so strong, so bitter that they could only be real. Still, this bitterness was easily overtaken by the sweetness, the serenity of the rest and any trace of the wince was soon replaced by a blissful, serene smile that lingered even as Lucia drew her hands away.

"You... you were the only one in God's number to even look at me, to even try to approach me." He whispered as he inclined his head. "You had me brush your hair, then we walked together in His gardens. You didn't fear me or revile me or hate me as the others did. You were... my dearest friend... Lucifer..."

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"Ano... thank you... again... those words... me-mean a lot to me..." Sasurai lifted a hand to wipe any tears that were forming. Oh this hope... this contentment, feelings she had thought long gone and dead inside of her. Maybe this could work... maybe they could be friends... maybe... he wouldn't disappear like her family, he would be there.

And maybe pigs could fly, Hell would freeze over, and all the people of the Earth would really be aliens taking over the planet. Ah yes... the beautiful cynic, how she hated it. Yet to have hope was a dangerous thing... something so fragile that it would break and everything would go back to normal... painfully normal.

Snapping away from her thoughts, she saw Lemy glance at the ground, "Hmm?... Oh... I-I-I try my best..." Stroking her little friend, "He's... been there for me-me... I want-want to be the best friend to him-him... so he won't-won't-won't..." don't say it don't say it, "...Leave me..."

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"I can't imagine why he'd want to leave..." Lem murmured quietly as he shook his head. Liftng his head, he smiled soflty to girl and mouse as he brushed back a few errant curls. "You're so good and so kind with him and, as you've said he's become spoiled; beyond that, though, you seem to be such a good friend to Mousy that he'd be foolish to leave such a kindhearted, gentle, generous friend..."

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Sasurai, of coursed, blushed as Lemy used all those words to describe what kind of friend she was. She forced down the instinct to deny his words, and again go off in a train of self-pity and hatred. Besides, she was used to those words from him. Honestly, the more he said those kind things, the more she wanted to believe him. Though she never could... but she could humor him and pretend. "Well... I only try to return my gratitude to him. I know now he won't leave."

Mousy nodded, as it seemed, in agreement. "See, even Mousy knows that." She smiled back at her human companion, stroking the soft ball of fur in her hand.

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"It seems that you do it very well..." Lem agreed softly as he offered both another soft smile. It was almost something to envy, even if it was just friendship between a mouse and a girl. Something so deep, something so beautiful and warm... how could anyone not envy that? Shaking these thoughts aside, he reached to once again stroke at Mousy.

"I... I'm glad that you have each other." He managed as he again lifted his eyes to Sasurai. "Even... even if you both have so much sadness, I... I'm glad that you have each other."

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Shittsui frowned slightly at the little girl. There was something about her he didn't quite like, some sort of perceptiveness... But he quickly turned that frown into a smile and told Nev to go ahead. "I'll order for us while you're talking with this charming lady. You wanted salad? Any particular type of dressing?"

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Alexei kept his eyes firmly on the evilness before him, clutching his fork tightly in one hand. If the man showed any signs of hurting Sophia's friend then he'd be upon him in an instant.

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"Ah, I think Italian, if they have it. Otherwise, I'll just take it dry." Nev replied after a moment. Offering Shittsui a rather apologetic smile, he called over his shoulder as he let Sophia lead him out of the building. "I'm sorry about this. I promise I'll only be a moment."

"So..." Smiling kindly, he crouched down so as to be on eye-level with Sophia and, tipping his head on side, he raised a single eyebrow. "What's on your mind, Sophia?"

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