Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Shadows of a Crimson Moon ❯ Elzeiver Magdelena, the Abandonment of Marseille Tarot ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

 
Taking in a billowing sigh, Botan had successfully led Tari, who had been befallen with what Botan would soon discover to be her very archetypal silence, to Koenma's enourmous doorway.
 
“Well,” She turned, facing Tari's silhouetted figure, “this is it. Are you sure you don't want to go back and rest for a while longer?”

A slight, almost unnoticeable refusal insinuating from a small shaking of her brow was Tari's only reply.
 
With a coil and a minor jolt, the entry was ajar, and there was no chance of looking back now.

~.:.~
 
“Tari. Let me just begin by saying…I am deeply honoured.”
 
Koenma stood upright on the face of his oak bureau, cheeks a soft dawn tint and eyes their usually luminous auburn, holding their constant child like glow.
 
“You may take a seat, if you would like one, Tari. There's one near you—just there.” He pointed a stubbed forefinger to the side of her.

She averted her lime coloured gaze, following the direction of where he was indicating, and there, rather unsurprisingly, rested a wooden stool.

Silence overcame her when she latched onto its presence with her chi and psyche like a Hawk would its prey, shifting its position swiftly.
 
Slowly, she sunk into it, her back meters away from its face, knobbed wrists quiescently situated upon the arms, and one leg resting over the other, her cloak enveloping her frail figure in darkness and obscurity.

Generally, her image was of death, demise that had taken her many years before, yet not fully. Her glowing eyes reminded Koenma of two stars dancing in the reflection of the sea, their jade light radiantly piercing the darkness she was abandoned within.

Her skin was as white as the plastered walls surrounding her and the toddler, blatant and shockingly clear scars and drastic remnant of torture wounds upon her pale lean legs and arms.
 
He clasped his arms behind his back, soaking in the image of the young woman before him.
 
“Well,” he began steadily, eyes focusing intently on where his feet were carrying him while he paced continually, “Tari. Do you know…exactly why you were put into the life you were a victim to? Was any justification given?”

Her head shook solemnly.
 
“Very well. Then, let me start at the beginning.”

Tari could hear the scraping of dull voices radiating from beyond the office walls.
“Once, long ago, there was an age where the Spirit and Human worlds were connected. Yes, and what a mess it was: demons slaughtering innocent humans because of their access to their reality, and humans in dire need of aid from my father. That was when he called upon Her.”
 
Tari's eyes darted upward from a section of the flooring.
“Her name was Cornelia, and she was rumoured to be the most strongest, wisest, and certainly the most beautiful of all Angels. My father needed her help in restoring peace among the two worlds, by retreating down to earth, and destroying all cross humans and demons. Do you know what I mean by that term, Tari?”

She nodded slowly. “The vampyres. My ancestors.”

Her lavish and rousing voice brought a quavering through his spine.

He smiled, continuing onward after a moment of soaking in her luxurious timbre.
 
“Exactly. Now, when Cornelia was sent back down to the two Worlds to exterminate the entire liege of Vampyric life, she secretly held the fate of both the Spirit and Human worlds. This, meaning that she had the ability to salvage and protect it from eminent danger…or destroy it.
 
However, she also had the power to disconnect the two from one another, and put them in a symbiotic connection, oblivious of each other's existence. She herself would be able to rid the world of the vampyres, and this thought never attempted to stray her, especially when she encounters Vathek, the strongest of all Vampyres; their own god.

From that moment on, it was war between the two, both deciding that they were to be triumphant, and survive the outcome. Yet, just as markedly as they had met, Cornelia's heart began to swell with the Vampyre lord, knowing that deep in the bowls of his black heart, he was not at all the evil lord so many found him to be.

That was when she grew aware she was carrying his child. That child, Tari…
 
…Was you.”

Her eyes darted upward like a firearm, her conscious fizzing like an over churned cauldron.
 
“She decided that she would conceive you and love you, as did your father. Humans and demons equally adoured you, and it was you who brought them together, in a slight way. Her angelic soul, and your father's Vampyric one caused you to survive in sunlight, and also possess a reflection.

In the end, Cornelia passed her talent to you. The gift of minor control over the Human and Spirit Worlds, which, she had in fact divided into two, as formerly planned. She and Vathek lived for quite a time, rather peacefully, protecting and loving you; putting nothing above their beloved offspring. But they could only do so much, until Tadashi came.”

Tari's oesophagus closed sharply at the sound of the name. She gave out a deep, swelling shudder, which consumed the shred of vigour she possessed.
“Both Cornelia and your father Vathek fought him for ages and ages, keeping you far away from his grasp. He wanted your talent, because he knew that Cornelia possessed it when she first came down to earth. And…unfortunately, they both died trying to protect you at the last moment. And that was when he imprisoned you. And that was where you remained, until just a few hours ago.”

Tari, when hearing the final component of words, lowered the substantial, towering hood, back down to her shoulders.

Koenma, continuing with his incessant marching across the desk, seemingly missed a step while observing. Her appearance startled him in a pleasing way—a way that shocked him yet gave him a great rational depiction of her character.

Her face glimmered in the bright shine of the ceiling lightings; her brilliant verdant eyes paralleled the vivacity of the world around her, yet absorbed nothing.
“Tari…if you don't mind, I would like to ask you a rather…personal question.”
“Then please, continue on.”

He trembled slightly at her deep, sombre words, and then quickly proceeded.
“Tari, I would like to help you…kill Tadashi, if it is acceptable with you.”

She gave him a grave smile.
“You have done so much for me already, my Lord. I would feel rather unappreciative and impudent for what it is you have already done in my name if I accepted such assistance.”
“Nonsense. I am asking to aid you, you did not ask me.”
“Yet nonetheless…”
“I'll leave you to think on it, then. Though please, recognise that I enforce no pressure whatsoever.”
 
She nodded in consent to his plea, arising nimbly to exit.

Taking a deep bow, she turned to the large wooden door she had used as an entrance, but was halted by his words.
 
“Tari, are you afraid of Tadashi coming after you?”
 
She was still for a diminutive instant, smiling limply with her familiar downcast gaze.
“It is as a sensible man once said, Lord Koenma. `We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.'”

Koenma's eyebrows rose extensively.
“Plato.”
 
And suddenly, with a slender, gentle wind materialising from nowhere, Tari took her absence, humming a formal rendition of God Save the Queen.

~.:.~
“Koenma…are you…crying?” Botan's large, lilac eyes widened dramatically.
“No! Go get the boys, and just leave me alone!” He fussed and gave out a heavy whinge, patting his eyes with a sector of material from his teal coloured sleeve.