literature

Shakugan No Hybrids: Chapter 4

Deviation Actions

AngelsWillFallFirst's avatar
Published:
161 Views

Literature Text

Chapter 4 : Persona non grata

Malachite slows down a bit, allowing Shana to catch up with him.
“My cooking skills aren't exactly my specialty, but I should be able to find something more or less acceptable”.
“I take it the necklace doesn't eat?” he says as he nods in the direction of Alastor.
“You have sharp observing skills hybrid” Alastor replies to him.
“I do not have to perform acts like eating, sleeping or drinking like ordinary humans or denizens.”
Malachite’s eyes widen momentarily.
“Not having to eat seems wonderful.
It is a necessity, and it can be enjoyable, but the preparation is so..boring.”
Suddenly, as if he remembers something important he stands still.
With a smothered ‘upmf’ Shana bumps into him as her annoyed reaction gets silenced by Malachites leather coat.
“As a matter of curiousity, what do YOU eat, little hunter?” he says as if he didn’t notice her bumping onto him.
“I really need to think of a way to sense him” Shana thinks, “or this is going to be embarrassing!”
“Well...I usually buy food. Wilhelmina never taught me how to cook. However I have started to learn.”  She answers the question.
Malachite’s eyes narrow as he hears Wilhelmina’s name.
“I would prefer it if you.. did not mention her.
She and I.. don't get along really well.
As was to be expected.
The only conversation we had ended in me running and avoiding her projectile attacks.
Unfortunately, I wasn't entirely succesful in those.”
He makes a painful face as he says that.
It is obvious that his meeting with Wilhelmina didn’t end well at all.
“So I hope you did not plan to invite any..guests.”
“He ..knows Wilhelmina?!” Shana thinks shocked as she blinks in confusion.
“You...knew her? You have fought her in the past?”
“Wilhelmina is very thorough.. how is it possible he still lives?” she wonders.
“I would not exactly call it a fight.
The definition of a fight assumes both sides have an equal chance of winning.
Probably hide and seek comes a bit closer.
With me hiding and her seeking.”
As they turn a corner, Shana hears the sound of water.
The houses all look old and worn out.
She recognizes this place as the river district, not the safest or most luxurious place in town.
Yuji never came her, and she always instinctively avoided the place, leaving it up to Wilhelmina to patrol here.
Malachite does not seem to be worried however, and appears to feel right at home.
“Why was she after you?” Shana asks as she follow him.
“It happened a few years ago, back when she still traveled around the globe on her own.
I wasn't that experienced with living alone at that point, nor did I know how to recognize flamehazes.
Hmm, I cannot recall exactly where it was, somewhere in the Middle East probably.
Back then Sabrac made a lot of colatteral damage as he was chasing something of great value.
A treasuretool.
When Wilhelmina arrived Sabrac was long gone, but I was still wandering around in his footstepts, convinced that whatever should excite Sabrac should excite me.
I suppose she thought I had something to do with this.
And stupid as I was, I casted a fuzetsu upon her approach, revealing my nature.
Next thing I knew I was out of charges for Counter, and she nearly split me in half.
She probably thought I was dead, since she did not bother to check the place where I crashed.
Don't ask how I recovered, you would not like the answer.
But Miss Carmel somehow suspects me being here, as she is more around my territory then I'd like her to be.”
That explanation sounds plausible, but somehow Shana knows that he is lying.
Not about him meeting Wilhelmina, or that he fought her, but the reason he gave..somehow it doesn’t add up.
“I will need to figure this out later” she thinks.
“Wasn’t there anyone else around then?” she asks instead.
“I am sure being Dantalions son means you could have asked for aid pretty easily”.
“The others pretty much despise me” he says.
“You could say I am a bit of an unwanted guest in Guze right now.
That might have something to do with the fact I damaged Serei-den.”
Shana is lost for words.
Impossible! She utters. You did.. what?!.
Malachite shrugs. “Oops?” he says in a perfect display of innocence.
“Why..did you do something like that?  And why?” Shana asks.
“It was..a bit of an accident.
Not that I regret it to be honest, in our world you either get killed or be killed.
However, I suppose most of it started after you killed my  brother.
Because of that I left Europe and went to the Serei-den in the first place.”
“Alastor? What is he saying?” Shana asks in confusion.
“Mm...”
“Allow me to remind you” Malachite continues.
“You remember that newly born denizen that did not even knew your name?
I am pretty sure he knows it now, since you dispatched him pretty quick.
He never was into reading outlaw reports as much as I did.”
“Hmm...I can't recall...” Alastor finally says.
“Are we supposed to remember every Denizen we get rid of?” Shana states slightly annoyed.
“I suppose not.
Unless the denizen in question tried to eat Konoe Fumina.
That was shortly after we parted ways anyway.
I had the feeling the conflict we were engaged in wouldn’t last for much longer, and I had no intention of sacrificing my life for denizens I could care less about.
The rising was a small war, but chaotic, with people from both sides wanting to chop my head off.
“The rising? He..fought in the rising?” she thinks surprised.
She doesn’t know much about this rebellion, since outlaw HQ in Zürich destroyed almost all reports about it because of the gigantic amount of flame hazes that died in it.
Wilhelmina fought in it however, she spoke to Alastor about when she was young and training with Shiro. Malachite must be older then he looks..
“Your brother..tried to eat Hecate’s servant?” she finally says.
“The Faux Vessel wasn't exactly what I'd call a servant of the Master Throne.
But still, yes, we are talking about the same.
I am still not sure if that makes him extremely brave..or just very stupid.
You killed my brother that day.
Not that it matters, as it meant I didnt have to try it myself.”
“Who exactly was your brother?...Don't tell me...” Alastor asks with a commanding voice.
“Don't tell you..what...Alastor?
Isn't it obvious?”
Malachites face shows extreme enjoyment as he continues to avoid giving a straight answer.
Losing control of herself Shana grab his coat and forces him to stand still.
“Who was it? Tell me! I need to know!” she says.
“Enough of those wordgames already!”
In a flash of movement Malachite whirls around, freeing himself from Shana’s grasp while using the speed of the movement to give her a push against her chest.
Surprised Shana staggers, and takes a few steps back.
All enjoyment from Malachites face is gone, and he looks focused.
“Don’t try that again” he says slowly with a low voice.
“This is going to be a real problem” Shana thinks.
In a real battle his lack of power would be largely compensated by his unpredictable movement.
“To answer your question flamehaze, since you ask so nicely:
My brother was Kasha, Gravel of dashing crook.
Eventually, he is who made me turn my back to Guze and its inhabitants.
I am ashamed to say that once I was just like him.
In the past, I used to devour humans.
Just as he did.
But unlike him, I started to feel remorse.
Preserving my immortality when needed is one thing, wading in existence for the fun of it is another.
And The Rising allowed such..perversities.
That was back in the time we were in Eastern Europe.
I turned my back on him and walked away eventually after seeing he would never change nor understand.”
“So that was him...” Alastor says as he and Shana remember the denizen in question. “He never actually mentioned you...perhaps the fact that you are not pure blood made everyone hide your existance...A really rare kind of Denizen… and Human! Malahite The Cross...the bridge between Humans and Denizents...”
“If there is one thing I am not it is a bridge crimson God.
Denizens either ignore me or try to eat me, Rinne hunt me on sight, and pretty much every flame haze I come across tries to slice me open.
You could say I am on my own side if any.
Anyway,
After I returned from Europe, I stayed on Serei-den for some time.
You see, balle masque doesn't really care about the nature of the denizens living there in general.
It was some sort of a safe haven.
It was fine for a while, until I started to wander.
The Sereiden has so many twisty corridors and hidden passages I could explore them for days.
As a teenage half-denizen despised by most of my kind, it was a welcome change.
It has been centuries ever since, but I have warm memories of my little expeditions.
Unfortunately, even in my domain of darkness beneath Sereiden I wasn't safe.
Even there, other denizens came to mock me, even hurt me, since my hybrid nature made me weaker in raw strength then even a Rinne.
Being the son of Dantalion didn’t mean much.
It was that day that deep inside Sereiden I found the device that allowed that darn rock to float.
But unfortunately my tormentors followed me there.
And things got..a bit out of hand.
I had one thing my tormentors never saw before.
And that was my unrestricted spell, Counter.
It allows me to deflect a full-scale attack back to the attacker.
Unfortunately since I can only hold a limited amount of power of existance, I can only do that a limited amount of times, since I never trained it.
I suppose one of them really wanted to kill me that day.
The deflection did not hit the attacker, but the machinery behind him.
As a result, Sereiden lowered in altitude, smashing the top of a mountain.
When I heard the sounds, I knew it wouldn't be wise to stick around.”
“Hmm...Counter? “ Alastor says after Malachite’s long monologue.
“Itis one really useful unrestricted method but unfortunately it can't deflect every attack! Since your limited strength doesn't allow you to...”
“Ah, that is where my other Hougu comes in” Malachite says and he points at his necklace.
“One hougu to enhance my concentration enough to cast unrestricted spells, the other to enhance the power of my signature spell.
If you used this Hougu, your unrestricted spells would be pretty devastating.
For me however, it allows counter to deflect pretty much any attack, including attacks that would usually vaporise me.
Still, my strength is indeed a limiting factor, thus after a certain amount of deflections I cannot hold it up anymore.
Yet it surpised plenty of Rinne looking for an easy kill.”
Shana suddenly feels a bit sorry for the hybrid.
She figures that he must be very lonely for a long time now.
“You must feel like an outcast” she says.
“I suppose outcast is about right.
“Originally father probably meant this hougu to actually absorb a spell then turn it against the attacker.
Since I "borrowed" this hougu after I had to leave so suddenly, it isn't finished.
But I take advantage of what it CAN do.
You could say that little hougu is the reason I am one of the few mistakes of the Seeking Researcher that hasn't been.. "rectified" yet.”
He suddenly stops for a house like any other.
It is small, hasn’t been painted in ages, and the glass in the window is broken.
“Its not much, but it fits my needs.” he says.
“Please take a step back.
There are certain..security measures in place.”
Cautiously Shana takes a few steps back.
Malachite raises his right hand and a bright green flame bounces from his hand to the door.
She catches a small glimpse of an extremely complex spell pattern before it dissolves, unlocking the door with a loud *CLICK*.
Malachite makes an ironic bow towards her as he says: “Please enter  my palace”.
Shana is not sure if she should simply ignore him of finally punch him in his face.
“Kh! Such an irritating guy!” she thinks.
Finally she decides to ignore him, and passes the doorstep, into the hybrid’s house.
Shakugan No Hybrids is a story within the Shakugan No Shana universe, following an alternate timeline.
Basically, this story picks up somewhere in the last quarter of season two.
This means that all the events from Shakugan No Shana Final never took place.
Yuji discovered the true identity of Konoe Fumina, and thus the events of the last few episodes of season two ( near christmas ) never happened either.
The start of this story kicks off in January after that christmas.
This is a co-production, based on roleplay conversations between me and :iconflame-haze--shana:
© 2013 - 2024 AngelsWillFallFirst
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Flame-Haze--Shana's avatar
It is moving smoothingly!;)