90 Chapter 90
Baraquiel found himself unconsciously back away from her, the pain of her words reaching towards the deepest depth of his heart.
"I…I'm sorry, Akeno."
"GO AWAY! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU EVER AGAIN!!!"
"..."
Seeing his daughter glare at him with such hatred, Baraquiel couldn't hold on anymore.
"I…see."
With his heart torn to pieces, he couldn't bring himself to stay any longer. With tears in his eyes, a teleportation circle formed beneath his feet before he vanished.
Vwong!
It was cowardly, but he felt that if he stayed any longer, he would lose his mind.
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|DxD|
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Present Day
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Boys all over Kuoh had woken up to find their precious computers had short-circuited and their hard drives destroyed. It was truly a tragedy that even had the blonde smile awkwardly at the destruction he unintentionally-intentionally wrought.
Glancing to Shuri who was looking at him funnily, Igor proposed a question.
"How about we…"
He gestured by placing to fingers on his forehead.
"Fufufu~. Yes, Dimori-kun. Let's go see Akeno."
"Great!"
Grabbing her hand, Igor focused for a bit before they vanished.
Tswii!
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|DxD|
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Akeno was feeling immense pain. Over ten minutes have passed since her father left yet it still felt like the second after he told her that it was his fault she lost her mother. She couldn't stomach it. She couldn't imagine that her father, the one she used to hold so dearly, was the one responsible for the destruction of her family.
She could still remember it vividly, every single thing that happened to her after she ran like her mother told her. She did try to fly towards Cleria's mansion, but it was unfortunate that she flew right into the path of her pursuers. It was the worst moment of her life, a moment she would never forget.
She could remember the clear disgust some of them had in their eyes while others saw her as a toy to "use" before killing her. She could see it in their eyes. She was not reflected as a person in those pupils. She was a beast, a creature that must be exterminated, a failed existence that must be eviscerated, an entity that must cease to exist.
To her family, she was Akeno. To them, she was a beast that must be put down.
'We found the demon!'
'Quickly surround her!'
'Don't kill her too quickly! I still want to play with her~.'
'Play with her? With an abomination of all things?'
She did not understand what their words meant, but she knew she had to run. And run away she did. They relentlessly chased her across the forest, their cackles and mocking laughter sounding closer with each flap of her wings. They were toying with her like a dog. They wanted her to feel fear, to descend into despair, to collapse into the hole of hopelessness.
She desperately tried to escape their pursuit, yet she couldn't make it far before their attacks damaged her wing. Akeno could never forget how helpless she felt when she had to hide from their search, how much she had to scurry just to escape their relentless pursuit. The vastness of the trees had served to temporarily hide her, but the Himejima knew she was in the vicinity.
Their constant mocking and the derogatory terms they shouted out during their search made her wish to not have inherited her fallen heritage. Being called a demon, an abomination, and scum that shouldn't exist were all words she had to listen to as she hid. Even recalling that memory made her feel the worst of pains, the complete feeling of being worthless. It was a memory she didn't want to recall, but it surfaced to her mind just soon after her father left.
To her, it was the fact that he was a fallen that resulted in her mother being hunted. To her, it was because she had his heritage that her mother died. The pain she felt that the bloodline she inherited was the reason for her mother's death magnified the pain she felt.
Akeno couldn't help but collapse to the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks as her anger subsided in the place of sadness. She didn't try to restrain them. She was angry at Baraquiel, but also sad that he was gone. A deep part of her knew that he was not truly responsible for her mother's death. Despite that, she couldn't bring himself to forgive him…because he wasn't there when they needed him the most. When she was on the brink of despair, he wasn't there. When her mother died,, he wasn't there. It was all because he wasn't there that made her feel so frustrated, so angry…so sad.
Having sat on her knees, her hands were placed on her thighs with her head lowered. In such a big room, she appeared irrefutably small. Despite the gentle morning rays of the sun peeking through the open windows, the atmosphere in the room was incomparably dark. The room was rich in classical paintings and decorations. The room itself could be said to be full of life with stylish furnishings that fully made use of the expansive space. But right now, items and trinkets that would've caused her to gaze in awe or childlike wonder held no place in her mind or heart.
For a whole minute, Akeno did not move. The only trace of her existence was the occasional choked sob that would escape through her mouth. Not once did her tears stop running. A normal child should be screaming and wailing with all their might. But after everything she'd been through, she no longer had the energy nor the will. She cried when the Himejima hunted her. She cried when she almost died in their hands. She cried when she found out Igor was no longer there. And now she cried when she found out their death of her mother. She no longer had the energy to cry anymore.
In light of having lost the two most important people in her life, she only had one person in her mind that she truly wanted to see.
"*Hik*…big b-brother…"
He was the only one she had left that she could rely on. She could only feel safe when she was in his presence. He was strong and she could depend on him when she now had no family left. No number of mathematical calculations could quantify just how much she wanted to see the blonde in that moment. The absolute relief she felt when he saved her could only be matched by the absolute sense of loss when she woke up only to find he was no longer there. Having lost her mother and harbouring hatred for her father, he was the only one left, the big brother that she could hope to lean on for support.
Akeno unfortunately did not know Cleria that well. The amount of times she'd seen the silverrette could be counted on one finger. The same could be said for the blonde, but she knew him longer and spent more time with him than anyone else outside her family. She shared the same house and ate the same food as him for weeks. Having grown up alone due to the scars of being shunned, she never had any friends. The children that tried to befriend her were the same ones that called her monster when she revealed her wings before their memories got erased. Only Igor ever saw her wings without fearing them and it was why in such a moment, she needed someone to tell her its alright, to tell her that she was not a monster, to tell her that her heritage wasn't what caused her mother to die. In such a situation where she suddenly found herself alone, she was in desperate need of companionship.
And it appeared that she would get it.
*Dakaang*
The door opened, causing Akeno to look up with a brief flash of hope. But her eyes soured slightly when she saw it was only Cleria. The silverrette entered the room before gently closing it.
She looked at Akeno with gentle eyes before stepping forward.
"Akeno…"
The little hyrbid wiped her tears and stood up to address Cleria's call.
"Yes, sister?"
"..."
Cleria could only sigh at how Akeno tried to portray herself so calmly. She heard everything from behind the door and could naturally guess just how much the little girl was bottling up in her heart. In all honesty, she did not appreciate how Baraquiel did things. With how he explained the situation, it would be obvious that Akeno would blame him. But she didn't interfere. A part of her wondered if this was a good move on her part judging from how terrible the little girl looked.
Unfortunately, there was nothing much Cleria could do due to how unfamiliar she was with her. The only time she had last seen Akeno was over four years ago when she had to see Baraquiel regarding the incident the blonde had caused with the giant golden sphere he brought down in the forest. They had only crossed eyes and delivered greetings before it ended there.
But that didn't mean she would stay idle. Walking over to Akeno, she crouched down before bringing the girl into her embrace. She said nothing and only served to give her a warm hug. No words were said and none were needed.
Slowly, Akeno began to release sobs again. The comforting warmth was like the battering ram that shattered the walls she tried to put up. She tried not to cry, to make herself strong. But in the end, she was only a little girl who hadn't even reached ten years of age. With how much she experienced in a single day, it was already magnificent that she did not descend into a trauma-like state.
She wrapped her arms around Cleria and buried her head into her shoulder. She let out all her tears onto the shoulder she was provided. Even if she tried to, she couldn't hold them back. She clung on tightly to Cleria like a lifeline in the ocean of turbid emotions she was in.
All this time, Cleria remained silent as well. A small stream of tears trailed down her cheeks as she gently rubbed Akeno's back. In this moment, both of them indulged in the comfort of one another, the pain of loss being eased through embracing each other.
But never ever did they imagine, the sudden change of events.
Tswii!
Silence…
"...heh?"
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AN
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