A Kraken Time

Another day another stack. The Queen of the Underworld finally had all of the formalities of her position under proper control, all alliances and such in order, every important matter up to date. It helped that he was no longer in her hair, though she continued to field rumors of him trying to respawn elsewhere. At least tracking down and eliminating those traces got her out of the office every once in a while. That and visiting her little princess. The demoness smiled faintly; it was hard to believe how much the girl had grown since she last saw her, proudly showing of her new skills to her "Nana". Was this what life was like as a grandparent? If so, it was something Ao could get used to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a prickling in the back of her mind. Since formally taking the reins, she had constructed a rather large weather system, hanging over the entirety of Tartaros. The winds and the rain it produced told her of the comings and goings within her administered territory; lightning punctuating the earth and thunder rolling left its own mark. While draining to maintain at first, since freeing herself from the tithe system and killing the demon who controlled it, Ao found herself with far more ethernano at her disposal. Nonetheless, her attention honed on the new arrivals as they picked their way across her domain. Should she greet them? Aojiro looked at the nearly complete stack of paperwork, thinking.

She disappeared in a crack of thunder, coalescing into storm energy that soared through the weather system. Another earsplitting crack of thunder would sound as a flash of lightning split the sky, revealing her to the new arrivals she had sensed.

"And you are?"

A rarest day indeed. Never in a hundred years would she had even considered backpedaling into a place she left so long ago. It was surreal to a degrees, filled her up with excitement and ever the slightest bit of worry. Stories told, and a whisper through the grapevine lead her back after so long. Rumors that daddy dearest had been finally given the axe he so long deserved. She was intrigued by this development, prompting to seek answers for herself. Accompanied by her Soldier of the Dark, the two braced the lands in hopes of uncover the truth. It was after some time that their endeavors brought them face to face with the current governing power. A woman of gargantuan size, a literal Amazonian who dwarfed even Kageri.

"Ooh," the black haired lass started, glancing the woman's figure. "Why do I get the feeling you already know?"

"Probably because I have a well-founded suspicion," was the tart response. She sniffed slightly. Ao was certain of it; a Bonez. They were popping up everywhere these days; whether it was because Kraken was dead or something else was anyone's guess. She doubted any of them had happy childhoods.

What didn't add up, however, was the scent's closeness to her own. It was more than cousins, or an aunt/uncle relation. She only had two other siblings as far as she knew; a rambunctious kitsune and a withdrawn, though amicable arachnid.

"A rephrasing then. Who are you exactly?" Ao continued, her gaze cold. She noted the masked figure next to black-haired demon as well. "And who are they?"

"Well, you're not polite as all I see." Giggling, Kageri placed a hand atop the shoulder of the man standing to her left. Though before speaking again, she opted to glance for a little while longer. The resemblance suddenly becoming clear as day; her woman's snowy hair and those looming vermillion eyes were unmistakable. The two shared an identical linage, a connection distanced by age.

"He is my wraith, Dearest Andreas." Answering lightly while her fingers danced across the man's chest. "Bonez, Kageri Bonez, next of kin to Kraken, and probably the oldest. Those who really knows generous my father was with his seed."

And there it was: the missing puzzle piece. That vermillion gaze Geri noticed narrowed. "A sibling. Yet another sibling to be precise. Soka was right to call him The Whore; he was in more ways than one," Ao mused aloud, her tone flat. She couldn't help but be unenthused by the appearance of yet another Bonez sibling. Would they be like him? Someone else? Maybe worse? Ao was beginning to see how much of a headache her family was to the rest of the world.

Not to mention the possessiveness of the stoic figure; it was territorial in a way Aojiro was familiar with. Only difference was she ate hers..most of the time. She was trying to improve her eating and mating tendencies, but alas.. die hard.

"Andreas and Kageri..noted. Does he speak? Or are you the one always talking?" Ao asked, before deciding to introduce herself, "Aojiro Bonez, of The Whore Kraken."

"Bonez," Kageri spoke into a whisper, he glaze never living Aojiro's. The prior assumptions deemed correct by Ao's own accord, bringing smile a to surface at the corners of Kageri's mouth. She wondered of the many more potential a that were out there. Wondering of the many origins and the root of their strength. Giddy just by the mere thought of a pool of undiscovered power just waiting to be amassed.

"Yes, he speaks, only when told." Tracing circles around Andreas' chest, she command the darkness that encompassed his body downward, revealing the man behind like opening a chocolate bar. She instantly hungered with lust, though soon pushing it aside while in presence of her sister. "Introduce yourself."

The man's growing golden orbs met Ao's before he bowed respectfully before her. "I am Andreas Foster, server of all that is Bonez. Pleasure to be at your service."

Aojiro frowned. "Nice to meet you." Truth be told, she didn't like the posturing. Never mind how robotic he sounded; it struck her as problematic. And the way Kageri lavished attention on him, it was clear she considered him hers to use. Was she the reason he sounded like that? If Ao was a betting woman, her answer would be yes. Bonez had a way of....breaking things. Messing them up until they were the way the Bonez wanted.

"Next question then. Why exactly are you here? This isn't a vacation spot for one and their lover."

"I'd never imagined coming back here, if I'm being honest." The demoness confessed, her own vermillion gaze traveling back to her sister. This one wasn't like her, in fact Kageri could guess that Ao was conceived less than a century ago. It was the undeniable stench of new blood Bonez. A generation determined to turn away from their roots in turn for a prosperous and fulfilling life, whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Word on the street is that Daddy Dearest has been killed? You would happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Sounds typical," Ao retorted. If Kageri was turned off by the "new blood", Aojiro was disgusted by that old pungent smell. Yes, Kag was older by a long shot..and seemed every bit a part of the old gen her kin despised. It felt oxymoronic to put conservative and Bonez in the same sentence, but that's all that came to mind. They wanted to the same mindless carnage and "accumulation of power". For what? Ask one and you'd see their pea-sized brain struggle to come up with an answer. All they did was kill, rape, and pillage with reckless abandon. Berserker Bonez indeed.

"So the news reached your cozy little nest? How quaint. Maybe I do, maybe I don't. What matters is his deadness. Does his death bother you?"

Kageri laughed hysterically into a snort, stepping into Aojiro's space. Their difference in height becoming more apparent as she peered closer. "Hardly, child." She offered, biting her lip as her eyes landed upon Ao's revered bust. "I just find it amazing that an individual or rather.......a set of individuals managed to overpower and eventually kill him. What a day that must have been." Her laughter grew with her words. "I would have enjoyed to see his face in those final moments."

In that moment the two locked eyes, the truth being ever closer. "It was you, wasn't it. Certainly you could have done it alone, am I wrong?"

Ao followed her gaze. "Yes, they aren't small. A pain in some sense but I'll live," she offered before a wry smile appeared, "teamwork makes the dream work."

When Kageri added the last part though, the wry smile became a full-grown, murderous grin. "Guilty. I didn't want to be too greedy; sharing a kill with friends and family now or then warms the heart."

"Oh honey," Kageri cooed in response, rubbing her sister's just lightly. "Murdering an tire populist is where it's at. Nothing get the blood pumping like an early morning massacre." The lass fanned herself as if her were warm, despite literally standing in rain.

"Their screams and cries! The horror written on their faces as you drain every ounce of life they have." She turned to Andreas, noticing his stoic disposition had changed, a mixture emotions appears on face. "Oh deary, you have to stop living in the past, that was over five years ago. And plus, you're all mine now."

"That's old news. Anyone can do that; you don't have to be a Bonez to make it happen. I spent seven years working off my frustrations with every dark guild I found," Aojiro responded, largely dismissive.

What caught her interest, however, was Andreas and his reaction. The stoic guise finally dropped, and a tsunami of emotions replacing it. If she had to guess, rage and despair were foremost. Maybe a little hatred too. She raised an eyebrow.

"What did you do to him?"

"What any Bonez would do." Kageri grinned lightly as she traced the outline of Andreas' jawline. "Details of which don't really matter. All that matters now is that he is with me." Andreas' visage returned to it's former disposition, though the tale forever lived on in his mind; he tried his best to not let it show. Truth be told, he would much rather be dead than serve the creature responsible for the death of his hometown.

Aojiro watched his expression revert to normal, clearly unconvinced. "Which is code for destroying everything he held dear and....him too? Those details clearly matter to him. He smells odd too," she commented.

"Yes, yes. Maybe I did." The demoness reply rather dismissively. "His smell?" She cooed, leaning into his muscular chest, taking in his scent. "What does he smell like? Chocolate, maybe. Mmh, we do love our chocolate."

Ao waved her sister's comments away in annoyance. "Not that. He smells a bit like you, alongside his own scent..along with some wrongness; probably a sign he shouldn't be here. What exactly did you use on him?"

"Let's just say that his heart beats eternally." Kageri answered shortly, feeling the rhythm of Andreas' heart. "I give him a higher purpose in life, to be by my side under I no longer feel the need to keep him."

"That's not a higher purpose, that's called being used nincompoop," Aojiro paused. Since when did she become such a moralist? When she realized that she gave more than a passing fuck about this world? Or maybe when she realized how far she had deviated from herself? It had to be her little princess. "Is it your inclination to caress him every second of the day?"

"Excuse the hell out of me. Serving me is definitely a higher purpose than death." Kageri waved her sister off before guiding her hands back to Andreas. "Not sorry, I can admire the body I helped to create all I want. It is mine, after all. But enough about me. After you going to invite us to your place or will you continue to be the rudest sister I've ever met?"

"The rudest sister you've ever met? How many sisters have you met?" Ao shot back, her annoyance growing by the second. So much for visiting her granddaughter today. "Remind me why I should invite you, who just showed up with a ten foot tall attitude, to my place." This was nothing like her meetings with her other siblings...old vs. new indeed.

"Oh, you're the only one." Kageri said with a shrug, completely oblivious to Ao's annoyance. "But still the rudest one I've met. No sense of hospitality, really. No manners and no sense of community toward your sister. I'm honestly baffled." Her smirk did not fade as locked arms with Aojiro. "Because I'm your sister after all."

"That's because you smell like old gen. And not in a good way," Ao snorted before disentangling herself from Kageri. "If you're that desperate for shelter, follow me. And don't try anything foolish." She turned before walking, expecting them to follow.

Ao proceeded to detach herself from Kageri's grasp much to her disappointment. "No hugs either? I'm hurt." Wiping a fake tear away, a giddy Kageri and indifferent Andreas followed their follow Bonez toward her estate. "I'm excited to see your place."

"You have to earn your hugs just like anyone else," Ao called over her shoulder before stopping. "Since we're a good ways away, we'll take the faster route." She placed a hand on Andreas and Kageri before morphing both into storm energy. She would do the same to herself before whisking all three of them into the main room of her home.

Once there, she solidified all three of them once more, noting her sister's expression was only giddier. "This is the main room, where guests and others are received upon first entering the space."

Feeling a surge of power flow through her being before suddenly being transported to the main room of her sister's home, Kageri found held intrigued by her sister's display of ability. It was similar yet very different than her own transportation technique. "That was interesting, what do you call it?" She asked while taking the new scenery. "Very chic, Ao. I like."

Andreas on the other hand remained silent, looking straight on at Aojiro. It was at this time that he finally took in her height, the Amazonian stood at an interesting 6 foot 7 to his 6'3. He had never came across a woman of her statue. Despite what his face showed, he was definitely intrigued in the "younger" sister.

"Atmoódeuw is what it's called," Ao responded before taking a seat, "thanks. It didn't look like this originally; among his many failures, no sense of style was one of them."

"Both of you, sit down and make yourselves comfortable, since storytime is in the near future. You want the grand narrative of how the whore died correct?"

"Oh yes," Kageri said excitedly as she took a seat on the nearest sofa, allowing enough room for Andreas to sit beside her. "Do give me all of the details. I'm curious to know of the feats jn which it took to kill him. I'd imagine it was quite the show."

"Well let's start from the top shall we? The first matter was locating the whore himself. That proved simple enough, the bastard calling a distant mountainous region home. Then we started. It was myself and our sister Asoka; a tag-team duo of sisterly love. We're probably the ones best suited for fighting him anyway. The battle itself was pretty dry; all we were doing is evading a living, breathing parasite. His blood was parasitic, and his curse is a bitch and a half. Imagine evading something that is meant to destroy and take over you..." she paused before giving Andreas a long, knowing look.

"Either way, Asoka is a wizz, so she found an ingenious way to separate him from his abilities, I mopped up his attempts to use either of us as a springboard for revival, and skewered him with my abilities when the opportunity arose. I vaporized him down to nothing, while Asoka broke down his curse completely, releasing all of the souls trapped inside him...including my own mother." The windows of the room shatter as her rage whips up a ravenous wind. She quickly reigns it in.

"I would have made him suffer a lot more had I known he had done such a thing. But something tells me he his getting his due down in hell. Besides, I have the joy of hunting down every piece of him trying to revive and annihilating it on the spot." Ao's smile is murderous, her red eyes becoming an electric, sparking blue.

"Oh my. And I assume this Asoka character is of relations to us? Perhaps a another sibling?"" Kageri ears perked as she listened to the tale of her father's demise. "How ironic is it that Kraken was killed by the very daughter he didn't appreciate. Serves him right."

In that very moment, Andreas had finally felt as if he weren't alone. He could relate to a degree, the anger and hatred felt by the pain of loss. A feeling he was all too familiar with. At a point it was all he ever thought about. The day he would happily seek justice for the murder of his people, my mother and dearest kid sister by the hands of the demon to his right. Justice which seemed like nothing but a far-fetched dream given the circumstances of his current enslavement. A dream is all that it was. All that it will ever be.

"Yes, Asoka's my older sister, making her your younger sibling," Ao commented, "I still can't forgive him for that. Not only absorbing her like that, but also keeping it from me...one could say his futile efforts to revive himself give me ample opportunity to work off that mountain of rage. Maybe I'll reach the bottom of it someday."

She then studied Andreas, seemingly guessing where his mind was. "It remains a dream only if you allow it to," Ao added. Truth be told, she had planned on killing Kraken for a while, but had wanted to make sure it went off without a hitch. It was enough to be able to kill him on her own; she wanted guarantees that he'd stay dead.

"Pieces of him still exist, you say." Kageri's hands went towards her massive horns. "Somehow he managed to separate himself. That's very interesting indeed. I hate him but damn he's resourceful. Any idea of where the piece are primarily located?

Andreas didn't miss the hint Aojiro threw at him, it was astonishing how she could easily decipher his emotions just by looking at him. Despite wanting to, even with all the power he now posses he would still be powerless to deal the killing blow.

"Yes, he did. The whore likely anticipated someone coming after his life at some point considering how unpopular he was. Where are they? Little holes in the wall type places. Out of sight, out of mind locations. I encountered one piece when I was in a non-descript forest, and it tried to talk to me. I smited it on the spot."

"But yes, that's the general story. So what have you been up to besides generating misery?"

Kageri paused for a moment, recollecting memories of her most recently events before draw nothing but blanks."It would appear that misery is all this one knows." She eventually said with a shrug. "It may seem arbitrary to you, but my entire life has been based upon destruction and harnessing power."

"Arbitrary? No. It's probably the most Bonez thing a Bonez could do. Sometimes I wonder if a Bonez would die of body failure if they became a pacifist. Still...doesn't it feel a bit monotonous after a while? Same thing day in and day out. It's like signing documents sometimes," Aojiro responded.

"I know I sure as hell haven't tried. When destruction and murder is all you've been raise to know, it's all you well ever be. And I'm content with that fact." Kageri's voice became light, her words didn't seem as sure as the usually do. "Besides, had I not been the way that I am, my dearest Andreas would not be here."

"Is he your dearest though? Can you say that with confidence after destroying everything that mattered to him? That's not what someone would do to a person they considered "their dearest"," Ao retorted. She heard the wavering in her sibling's voice however; was there a way to get through to her maybe?

"Well, it's all in the past. Far too unchangeable now. All that matters now is that he is with me." Kageri said, full on disregarding Ao's words. "He'll be my dearest whether he likes it or not. Free will is not an option for him."

"Are you dense? That's not how having a dear one works," Ao rebutted, "pretending the past doesn't exist won't prevent it from effecting what happens now. I expected you to be smarter than that." So much for getting through to her; it seemed that she was just as hard-headed or delusional as a certain someone. Which made her dangerous.

"Perhaps I am. He is dear to my heart and her." Kageri replied through gritted teeth while her legs shift uneasily. "Yes, yes. Whatever you say sister." Her hands found the area near Andreas' upper thigh. "He and I both know what happens now. My intelligence has little to do with owning him. It is a simple as that."

"And her? Pray tell who this her is," Ao said, her focus honing in on this word. The tension in the room thickened by the second. "That doesn't make it any better."

Kageri sighed into a fit of laughter. "Darling, it makes everything better. If she's satisfied then so am I." She noticed the room seemed a lot more intense, only to make things more interesting. "And by her of course, I mean my vagina. He treats her so well, she can't get enough in all honesty."

Aojiro frowned, before her expression turned red. She facepalmed as the tension left the room. "How crass can you be....." Part of her recalled how touchy feely Kageri was with Andreas earlier, and the long stare Kageri reserved for Ao's chest area. "Just how lecherous are you? Actually, I'm not sure if I want to know."

"Curiosity killed the cat, ma'am. And he sure as hell kills mine. Straight on slaughters it." Kageri own face reddened with lust. Her hands finally finding their way to Andreas manhood. "Sometimes but can be a bit overbearing but luckily he has the stamina to keep with such urges."

Aojiro's temper flared now. "Can you not? You're in someone else's home. I don't care how lusty you feel right now, but you're not about to do it front of me," she snarled.

Kageri couldn't suppress the smile that crept it's way onto her face. "You don't have watch, Sister. Feel free to join at your leisure. Andreas would definitely enjoy you. I can tell!" Much to Andreas' dismay, he could tell that the younger sister was definitely not up for the adventure Kageri was offering.

"Perhaps it would be best that we hold off until later. You wouldn't have to upset your sister, this is your first meeting her after all." He quickly spoke, trying to diffuse the situation.

"What about not in front of me and in someone else's home do you not comprehend? NO. I'm three seconds away from kicking you out of my home. Have you no respect for your sister's home?" she yelled. Part of Ao wondered when she had become so respectable, remembering a time when she would have taken Kageri up on her offer.

"Fine," Kageri sighed while her grin still remained plastered across her lips. "I sincerely apologize for disrespecting your home. Believe me when I say that sometimes it really is hard to control myself."

Having been freed from Kageri's grip, the man took it upon himself to personally apologize. "I too would like to apologize for such inappropriate displays." He took to his knees and bowed before Aojiro.

"Nicely done, Andreas. Look at him, just groveling before you." Kageri added, with a laugh. "How can you still be upset with him?"

"I'm not upset with him. I'm upset with you; it seems having a modicum of self-control is incredibly difficult for you to muster," Ao said, still a bit muffed. If Aojiro was being honest, she found this conversation exhausting. How many times had she felt ready to combust? Too many. It wasn't worth it in her opinion.

"Look, if you need to do it that badly, you can leave now and go do whatever kinky thing it is you're dying to try out." The demoness massaged her forehead.

"I promise I'll contain myself, sister." Kageri pleaded, positioning herself in a more appropriate stature. "I was enjoying our conversation, don't let something so small ruin the beautiful connection we were forming. I know you felt it as much I did."

Ao glowered at her. "Something so small you say. It seemed a pretty big deal to you," the demoness commented before raising an eyebrow, "beautiful? It's not so much a connection as it is an evaluation of your personhood. I find it..prudent to be suspicious of my fellow Bonez given our porous track record...and I don't take kindly to homewreckers, related or not."

"Alright, alright." Kageri said lifting her hands in surrender. "I understand sister, I really do." She sat quiet for a moment, thinking over the information she received mere moments ago. "I tell you what. I'll give you some much needed space for the time being, I have some things I must investigate." The lass stood from her seat before heading over to the exit. "Is there any chance you think you can keep an eye on Andreas for me? I promise, he'll at least behave."

The Underworld Queen harrumphed. "So now I'm a babysitter? Noted. What exactly are you looking for?" Ao asked, before watching her sibling leave. She would then turn to the silent Andreas, studying him intently, her gaze building in intensity. "What is your backstory?"

"Nothing to worry your little heart about!" Kageri yelled in response as the left Ao's home.

Andreas sat quietly and watched at Kageri left, basically handing him off to Aojiro for the time being. Her question struck a cord in him, causing slight discomfort. "Well, I don't feel like it's important. Not really something I desire to get into."

Aojiro sat back. "That bad huh.....it's always the same. Scaring and scarring family members, romping through cities leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Murder, murder, and murder until massacre is reached. Seething, insatiable bloodlust. Then after you're finished, realizing the sky is blood-red, you're surrounded by bodies, isolated from any loved ones, and with the recognition that you're a monster. Worse, a monster among monsters; so depraved, so disgusting that even other monsters are terrified of you. And then you understand that no one will willingly tolerate your company; that the numerous bounty hunters who tried and failed to kill you are testament to that. So you seek refuge in the thing that led you to sorry existence: the berserker blood. Ripping and tearing until you enjoyed it, until it became all you lived for. The destruction of others filled the empty crevasses of your crooked heart. It didn't matter that even your kin despised you; the squelch of crushed hearts and the snap of spines was what kept you warm at night. The world hates you? So be it. You'd break them under foot like everyone else. Mistaking your insatiability for carnage as love for it, until the world quiets. Alone again. No one to love or be loved by. Universally hated, but they're all in the afterlife. Sitting on a planet by one's self. You realize the quiet you sought and achieved wasn't heaven, but hell."

She paused. "Apologies for the tangent."

"It's quite alright." Andreas said with a whisper. "There's a lot of truth behind of what you spoke. The last seven years of my life, if you can even call it that, have been nothing but hell. I've become something so unrecognizable to myself, a lot of the time it feels like a bad dream. Brought back from the dead, to serve, enslaved to Bonez. I've become so use it now, I just obey and do as I'm told without question. This heart of mine beats for as long as she wills it. I choose now to reflection upon my past because it reminds me of how weak I was.This demon I've become is truly dark and evil, that part enjoys killing, enjoys the thrill of the hunt and endless sex. But that's not really me."