The Red Hand

Chapter 169 – That Which Can Never Be Regained.

*GULP* *BITE* *MUNCH*

After discovering that she could indeed eat real food. Silfana requested to be fed, something Akagi easily agree to. Currently, the vampire lord was inhaling a large quantity of food from the kitchen table at Akagi's home. While the rest of the group stood around, either shocked or laughing hysterically.

"Man, she's got quite the appetite." Hishya was genuinely shocked at the amount of food being consumed by Silfana, and was beginning to wonder where it was going. "That's like her fourth whole chicken..."

Silfana turned to her with food in her mouth. "You try going thousands of years on nothing but blood! I haven't had anything else to eat since I turned into a vampire! So *Plpppt*" She blew a raspberry.

{I just... what the fuck...} (Hishya)

"As nice as it is to have Silfana no longer running around. What's going to happen with her other thralls and vampires?" Superbia asked Akagi.

"I took care of them." Akagi said. "I don't want vampirism running around my world, so I had my team destroy them. Silfana gave me names and places, and Chloe dealt with them all. So now, Mixu and Silfana are the only vampires left in the world." Akagi looked to both women. "And let me make myself clear it will stay that way. No making more of your kind without my permission."

{I'd rather not have vampires fucking about unsupervised, thank you very much.} (Akagi)

"I mean, I'm not going to do that anyway." Mixu shrugged.

"Why are you so against it?" Superbia asked. "Not like I want more vampires running around either, but I figured you wouldn't really care."

"Being totally honest, I dislike vampires." Akagi scratched her cheek as she tried not to look directly at Mixu. "And by dislike vampires, I'm specifically referring to Silfana's kind who are assholes and think humans are nothing more than cattle. Never liked that crap, so if I can prevent that issue, I'd like to."

"Hey, not my problem that most humans are weak." Silfana shrugged as she continued feasting. "Oh man, this is so good!" She smiled as she chowed down.

"Well getting past that whole issue." Mixu sighed. "Though I might not like it, better Silfana be here than running around killing people I guess."

"Yeah, Aoi's gonna have a fun time explaining this to the higher-ups tomorrow." Superbia gave a wry smile. "Glad we don't have to be in on that meeting."

"No, but unfortunately the fun's not over for us." Hishya looked at the two of them, her collar clanking. The two of them had been informed of why she was wearing it and were trying not to bring attention to it, lest they get fireballed.

"What do you mean?" Mixu asked nervously. "Silfana was 'defeated' so that's it, right?"

"It would be if we didn't need to deal with two more world bosses." Hishya gave a dead smile. "So I look forward to working with you!"

"There's more?!?" (Superbia x Mixu)

After a quick explanation, Akagi informed the two that somehow Rivenshaft and Serval had returned.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Superbia exclaimed. "We have to fight him again?!?" She'd been at the final fight and nearly died a few times. "That monster killed so many of us, and now we have to beat him again?!?"

{What the fucking fuck?!?} (Superbia)

"And let me guess, Akagi won't be helping?" Mixu rolled her eyes.

"Serval is on you all, but Rivenshaft is mine. Can't have someone claiming to be the bigger Demon around here." Akagi laughed. "Besides, you can do it! Plus there are some other players I can persuade to help."

{I'm sure my freeloading tenants would love to be conscripted into the final battle. Plus Eris has been training like crazy in the dungeon. I imagine she'd love a chance to strike down the Dragon Emperor.} (Akagi)

"Do you know when or where he'll appear?" Superbia asked.

"Nope." Akagi shrugged. "Though the law of averages says the Council will probably send them straight for me."

"Great, more fun." Mixu put her head in her hands. "I really should just run away and hide somewhere."

"Please don't..." Superbia groaned. "It's gonna be hard enough with what we've got to win this."

"I believe in you guys!" Akagi smiled. "You got this!"

The three of them just glared at her in irritation, exasperation and disapproval.

After a bit more discussion, Superbia, Mixu, and Hishya decided to head off for the night. They wanted to return to Tokyo and speak with Aoi and the rest of the RRT about the impending battle. Yumi was not actually at the estate at the moment, as she was busy with negotiations, so Akagi had someone else take them back.

Once things settled down, Silfana was given over to Kira to be dealt with. Akagi'd let the half-dragon decide what to do with her since she was usually in charge of deployments and general security. The Demon had a few ideas about what to do with the vampire but was still mulling things over and would speak to her later.

Late into the night, when most everyone else was asleep, Akagi slowly crept into Alice's room. The girl was asleep in her bed, snuggled up with the stuffed crow Akagi'd given her. She walked over slowly and stroked her head, which caused Alice to wake up.

*Yawn*

"Mama?" Alice looked up at her. "What's the matter? You look sad."

"I just wanted to check on you, that's all." Akagi smiled. Her face was a bit sullen as if something was eating at her. "Sorry for waking you. I'll let you get back to sleep." Akagi pulled away, but found her sleeve grabbed by the young girl.

"Don't go..." Alice said. "You look sad, and when you're sad, you need to hug it away." She sat up and pulled Akagi into a hug. "Mama shouldn't be sad..."

Akagi hugged her back. "Thank you, it's just... I saw someone today... and what they said... it... it brought back so many things..." Akagi squeezed her. "Since I woke you up, how about I sing you a little lullaby? That way, you can get back to sleep."

"That sounds nice." Alice looked up at her and smiled. Sakura was the one who usually put Alice to bed, so this was a nice surprise for the girl. Akagi swiftly pulled Alice onto the floor and put her in her lap, hugging her tight as she began to rock Alice back and forth in her arms, and sing a song. One she'd heard many times during her childhood. It was a lullaby that Shima would sing to Kana when she couldn't sleep, or when she was afraid during the night. As she sang, Akagi slowly cried as Alice fell asleep in her arms.

{I'll make sure I'm not like her, Alice. You won't have to continue on without a Mom, and while I'm not perfect, I'll do everything I can to make sure I'm there for you when you need me most. I promise you that I'll always be here, now and forever.} (Akagi)

Kana's room was next door, and she was awoken by the familiar song and was confused by the sound of Akagi's voice coming from Alice's room. She looked at the time and saw that it was nearly four in the morning and decided to check on her sister since she'd never heard her sing that lullaby before.

After waking herself up, Kana waited in front of Alice's room until Akagi put Alice to bed. As she slowly crept out the door, she turned to Kana, who could see her sister's face was red from crying.

"Are you alright?" Kana asked with worry.

"Not really." Akagi let out a small laugh.

"You wanna talk about it?" Kana seemed like she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Akagi thought for a minute before letting out a sigh. "Let me go make some coffee first, we can chat in the living room."

{I wish Yumi wasn't busy, otherwise, I'd go squish her...} (Akagi)

Akagi made a pot of coffee and the two sisters moved into the living room, cups in hand.

"So... where to start." Akagi looked uncomfortable. "First of all, sorry for waking you."

"It's fine, I decided to get up. It's not an issue, but what's wrong? Why were you crying, and why did you sing that song?" Kana knew exactly what it was, but was still confused what made her sister sing it.

{I didn't even think she knew that stupid song.} (Kana)

Akagi took a sip of her coffee and let out a deep breath. "I met Shima again tonight, Kana." She gave a wry smile. "Silfana was going to attack her, but we stopped that whole mess. On a side note, the vampire is now my newest team member, but we'll discuss that later."

Kana nodded.

"So after I pawned Silfana on your girlfriend... I got a moment to speak with Shima... alone." Akagi looked down into her coffee. "And do you know what she told me?"

"Something bad I assume?" Kana clenched her fists.

{Dammit mom!} (Kana)

"Not exactly.” Akagi laughed. “She...She told me that she was sorry, Kana." Akagi looked up at Kana, who was shocked.

"Yeah, that was my reaction too." Akagi let out a quiet laugh. "She wasn't lying either, she was genuinely remorseful for her past actions. Shima told me that her life flashed before her eyes as Silfana was going to attack her, and that she saw you and all the good memories she'd made over the years."

"S-She was sorry?" Kana said quietly.

"Yeah, she told me that at the end of her little trip down memory lane, was an image of me in her arms as a newborn. She said that on the day I was born, she was so happy to become a mother, and that for whatever reason she'd forgotten that joy and came to hate me." Akagi sighed. "Shima seems to have no idea why she'd come to hate me as she did, and is now in a minor crisis over it. She told me that she was sorry and that she failed both of us as a mother."

"Is-isn't that a good thing? Does this mean you and mom will-" Kana was cut off by Akagi shaking her head.

"I will never ever forgive her, Kana." Akagi's words were quiet, but the anger was palpable. "Even if she was manipulated into acting the way she did. That doesn't just magically make it all go away."

{Being controlled... What would I do with all these feelings? I remember not just what she did to me, but what she DIDN'T, and honestly I think the latter is much worse than the former.} (Akagi)

"But, why would you being a Demon Lord affect her?" Kana asked. "I mean, I've spent my entire life around you, and I didn't turn out like them."

"Who knows, and there's no guarantee that's what even happened." Akagi shook her head. "Nothing in my knowledge pool mentions the family a Demon Lord is born into being made to hate them."

"We'll at least she finally understands what she did was wrong!" Kana tried to put a positive spin on things. "Now we just need to get dad to change, and hopefully things will get better."

{Maybe... maybe there's a slim chance that we could be a family again...} (Kana)

"Does really matter Kana?" Akagi looked up at her with teary eyes. "Regardless of if they change their minds and understand what they did was wrong. I can never get it back! I can never have loving parents! Can never reclaim those years they took from me!" Akagi yelled, catching her sister off guard.

"I never got to have a mom sing me to sleep, and tell me it would all be ok!" Akagi stood up. "Shima took that from me! Taichi took that from me! And for all my power I can never experience being a little girl, scared of the dark who's comforted by her parents. I never had their love! None of it! And I... I..." Akagi started to laugh through her tears. "That song, the one you heard me sing to Alice. That was the one Shima used to sing to you all the time. The only reason I even know it, was because I could hear her through the wall." Akagi took a moment to calm herself. "Whenever I'd hear her sing to you... I'd make sure I was extra quiet so I could listen in through the wall, just to close my eyes and imagine she was singing to me, Kana. That she loved me enough to comfort me during the night when I was afraid, but she never did. No matter how much I was afraid of the dark, no matter how hard I cried for my mother... she... she never came." Akagi sat down. “My mother never came... she never came...” She started to cry again.

{How could you do that to me Shima? You ignored the cries of your own child. You left me alone in the darkness when I was so afraid. You... you abandoned me when I needed you the most...} (Akagi)

It was a sad story and just one of the many things Kana didn't know about her sister's suffering. She was honestly lost for words, not knowing what to say to make her feel better. Akagi was right, she could never get back what she'd lost. No matter if someone adopted her or how close she got with Yumi or others, no one could give her the childhood love she'd been robbed of.

Kana slowly stood up, going up to her sister and hugging her. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I... I never thought about that..."

{I'm going to fucking wring that woman's fucking neck!} (Kana)

"You don't need to apologize, it's not your fault." Akagi laughed. "But thank you." The two stayed like that for until Akagi told Kana to go back to bed, since she had school in the morning.

"Fine, but I want you to come with me." Kana smiled.

"What?" Akagi didn't expect this.

Kana tugged on her. "Come on, Yumi's not here, so come with me. You can even turn into the cat tonight. I'll hold you." She laughed.

{Don't get used to this. I still don't like it but I'll treat you this one time since I feel so bad.} (Kana)

Akagi shook her head. "Fine, but next time you want to snuggle with the kitty, you can just ask." She winked before bursting out laughing. The two headed to Kana's room where Akagi got comfy. Kana enjoyed the squishiness of Catkagi, something she'd deny till the cows came home. Though in the morning, she found it very hard to get out of bed since Akagi was simply too warm and fluffy.