After a thorough interview, which thankfully did not cycle back to her, Malz, Ferro, and Anko were rood in a wing of the castle’s extensive basent, which was one part of a network of tunnels and rooms called the Underway, which added a completely new layer to how complicated the city’s construction was.
Before leaving them with the guards at the door, Jian warned them, "The first two to three floors tend to be safe, but don’t try to go much deeper if you don’t have to. Chainsfree was built on top of older cities, and what hasn’t sunk is often occupied by dangerous creatures. Monsters too."
He specifically did not answer when she asked if they were allowed to explore a bit, instead giving her an evasive "I’m sure soone will let you know when that’s allowed."
Why tell us about how to stay safe in the Underway if we’re just going to be imprisoned?
When she brought this up to Ferro, he shrugged and said "I guess they think they won’t imprison us forever. We didn’t have anything useful to tell them about the Duat after all."
A few of their questions had co harrowingly close to dismantling the narrative they’d built, but even Anko managed to defend them with true but vague answers.
Her favorite question had been "Where did you get those clothes?" To which Anko answered, "From a crazy guy who said he was two people. He had magic like you wouldn’t believe."
But now, after a night of fitful dreaming and waking up in a cold sweat, Malz rembered her earlier resolve enough to do sothing about it. So she left a snoring Anko and stepped into the hall. Trying the door, she found it locked, but a mont later the guard opened it.
"Can I help you Miss Aiko?"
"Is there a place I can get a bath?"
"I’ll have to get another guard before I can take you."
And probably watch in there too...
"N-never mind," Malz said. "I’ll just ask my friend to clean with magic."
The guard nodded, and Malz retreated from the door. On her way back to her room, she noticed the sounds of talking coming from Ferro’s room, which was across from hers. She gave his door a knock.
"Just a mont!" A mont later, Ferro appeared, his suit half-doffed to the waist, with a blush on his face. "Is everything alright?" he asked.
Malz specifically ignored the golden piercings in Ferro’s nipples as she said, "I can’t sleep. I woke up sweating and... Would you be willing to clean with magic? "
He nodded, eyes understanding, and shifted aside to open the door further for her.
His room was like hers and Anko’s. One small table, two chairs, two beds. A narrow little slot with bars and a tiny pair of spell circles that allowed air to be circulated in and out when charged. They were currently active.
Malz strode in and took a seat on one of the chairs, sitting backward to avoid pinning her wing on it. She pulled off Ferro’s cloak and placed it on the table. Underneath, she still wore the black suit Kiryu had given her, and she reached up, stroking the collar from opposite ends. It was a handy function, and one she’d discovered by going into the nus of the wrist control device an discovering a manual written in runescript.
How it all unfolded and disappeared was a mystery to her, but she suspected so kind of inbuilt dinsional storage. One hidden well enough that she couldn’t find it, even after a couple of hours of inspecting the collar - all while she listened to Anko trying to saw through her pillow with her nose.
The only thing left behind after it finished was a collar of smooth, circular tal about her pinky’s size in diater, rounded at both ends. It was flexible enough to remove, and the reverse gesture would unfurl it.
She heard a sputtering sound from behind and turned, locking eyes with Ferro.
"What is it?" Malz asked.
"I didn’t expect you to get naked!"
"How else were you going to clean ? These suits breathe nice, but it’s not like they let anything out." That wasn’t entirely true, as there were slight crusts of salt at places where the body sweated most, but Malz had noticed there was a griminess to her suit’s interior. Most of that had been left in her bed, however, as a result of her discovery about its storage abilities.
Now that she thought about it, she also needed to ask Ferro for a new blanket.
"I guess you’re right... but, it’s just..." Ferro scratched at his neck nervously.
Malz quirked an eyebrow, but that was when she noticed how he was holding his suit. Trying to keep her from seeing...
She turned, coughing awkwardly. "Well, um, I an... I-It doesn’t have to be awkward! I trust you, and it’s not like you haven’t, um... seen ..." She’d started her escape virtually naked, after all, and she had the sunburns to prove it. Though oddly, she hadn’t felt them much when wearing her suit. She looked down at the ground. "I just don’t trust myself with magic right now."
"I guess you’re right..." Ferro swallowed his nervousness and approached. A mont later, Malz felt the tingle of magic starting to remove the gri from her skin. A few places - those with sunburns - felt a bit more raw than others.
Even if it wasn’t as rejuvenating as a bath, she felt a bit more human with every pass of his hands...
Not human. I’m an... She took a breath and sighed. Who was she kidding... The mories she had from thousands of Aikos only confird the harshest truth that Heaven would have never wanted to know... Everyone, Myriad, Angel, or Demon, all ca from the sa stock. The sa template. A template now so rarified they didn’t even have a kingdom to call their own.
Humanity.
The oldest race of the Myriad were also her race’s progenitors.
Angels were not special. And yet, the mont Malz accepted this, she felt oddly... free.
Like the so-called "Angelic Burden" to safeguard Ayther and civilization had fallen away, replaced by simply being a part of the world instead of soone who was supposed to hold herself as separate and special. Even her rebellion, the darkness she shrouded herself in, the repeated inclination of every copy of Aiko that ever ca from Heaven, began to feel more like it ca from her.
It wasn’t sothing she could entirely wrap her mind around. There were so many contradictions riddled throughout the Triune Worlds and her lives that to fully encapsulate them might take the rest of her lifeti, even if she managed to evolve into an Arch Seraph and stop her aging.
"I’m done."
Ferro’s words jolted Malz out of her reverie. "Thank you," Malz replied. She rubbed her collar, redeploying her suit.
"Your wing is looking much better."
"You don’t have to comfort . I know the rest of looks horrible." Malz drew a hand along her arm, imagining she could feel the scars through the suit.
Ferro sat on the bed, shaking his head. "It might not an much coming from , but I don’t think beauty is just a body thing. I’ve t... slept with... a lot of beautiful people who disgusted . Not because of how they looked, but because of what they did."
"Like the one who owned you?" Malz asked. "You never said much about him."
"I’m ready to say more, now that we’re safe," Ferro said. "I think... talking about the things that hurt will help put the fear aside. I know Lanoch might still co after , but I don’t have to fear it. And honestly, I feel like what we gained from Kiryu will give more than a fighting chance if he does show up."
"Wish I could say the sa for ," Malz said.
"What are you afraid of?" Ferro asked gently.
Malz leaned a bit more heavily forward into the chair. "I’m afraid that... one night I’ll wake up and this will all be a dream. I’ll still be in so hole in Heaven’s basent. Still be surrounded by demons that would torture just for fun, since they already tortured for everything I know. I’m worried that Anko will betray , even if she says we’re friends. She would have. You would have. To stay with that Kiryu guy."
"That wasn’t my proudest mont," Ferro admitted. "I’m just... lost. I would be lost, on my own. I’ve spent so long trying to get away so I could have a chance to find my family that... I don’t know what to do. And following Kiryu felt like it was more solid than coming here and just... waiting. I thought you two would leave once we arrived."
"Maybe that would have happened," Malz admitted. "We all have our own stars to follow. But I don’t think that’s a good idea now." She stopped for a long mont to think. Should she tell him?
"Why? If I may ask."
"Because... I’m not myself. I don’t know what to do about the fact that... ever since I put on that necklace, I’ve been having mories that are... from different versions of . Different lives. Thousands of them."
"I... think I knew," Ferro admitted. "When the Ankos gave the necklace, they said it was sothing like a record. I tried to access it, but it never let , so I just kept to the phrases that protected . And if you’re like them, then maybe they wanted you to have it."
"And now Kiryu has it," Malz chuckled bitterly.
"He’ll be back," Ferro said, his voice ringing with faith.
"I hope so."
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