Withdrawal (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro moved his arm around a bit to make sure he had full movement in it while Nirad responded. He looked up at the demon after he asked his first question. Even though it was hard to make out expressions on the beaked demons, Atsuro could tell that the demon had a rather serious expression on its face. And then Nirad looked away and sighed.

"...Well, all I know about it is that it has something to do with why Abel was the way he was earlier, before he went off somewhere," Atsuro said. But based on Nirad's reaction, he could guess that it probably wasn't anything good.

[mugenginga]

"Abel killed a woman today, attacked Cain and did something to him, and he's probably gone off to hurt someone else," Seth looked up, his eyes dark and pained. They were horribly distant as well, "And it seems to have to do with this 'Magatsuhi'."

Nirad nodded. His suspicions had been confirmed. Atsuro, however, knew nothing about Himitsu. He'd seen the aftereffects of Cain and could have guessed on the King's absence. But it didn't change he knew nothing about Himitsu. Kaido had a serious expression as well as the news as delivered. He made another tch noise.

"About time he started showing his power," he muttered.

Nirad shot him a glare. There was a difference between showing his power and falling victim to it. Abel, for all his power and authority, was a very young demon. Considering most demons could be immortal if they had enough power and Abel had that power as a right of his throne, it was a dangerous ledge. It didn't surprise the Garuda that Cain had not informed the King of the specifics of his demonic nature. That human had always been very need to know, and he seemed to have a funny idea of what was needed to know. He turned to face Seth and Atsuro, and crossed its bird-like arms.

"You know of Magatsuhi even if you have not heard of it by name. The energy of the 'internet' that the General tapped into was a source of it, that which allowed the summoning of demons. At its basest, it is a form of energy created by strong emotions," Nirad closed his eyes, "The reason demons attack humans is not simply for the bloodlust, although I won't deny that is a powerful draw. You have heard the stories of humans selling their souls to demons? It is perhaps better described as surrendering the strength of their emotional core."

"The greatest source of Magatsuhi are human emotions, the most abundant production of it? It comes from humans who are frightened or in a state of panic. Consider it a spice if you wish, but it is perhaps better described as a drug for those who can not control their lust for it. I believe the terms modern humans use for the cravings is 'psychological addiction' - It has lead many a demon to ruin, but generally not before a massive slaughter of humans."

Nirad finally opened his eyes again, and the look was dead serious, "I suspect that the woman you mentioned was the first human His Majesty had killed. It is a natural response of humans to experience blinding fear and panic as Death places Its hands around them. And now that he has experienced it, there could very well be a killing spree before he feels satisfied... and if he can't get it under control soon, it will lead him, and quite possibly humanity, to ruin."

Kaido had said nothing as Nirad went into his explanation. His eyes had widened. Of course he'd heard those cliched stories about "fearful" humans being the favored prey of monsters. Now he had the explanation for it. He sat down again and tried to think of words. None would come. Seth had tried to remain calm during the explanation, but as it went on he realized how much of a mistake it had been to leave Abel on his own. He squeezed his eyes shut and looked away. Shit, all they could do now was trust Abel to bring himself under control. Cain had known the reaction could be like this, he knew he had... what were they supposed to do now?

[Firebreath Fishslap]

As the explanation went on, Atsuro seemed to be going through various stages of panic. Magatsuhi had been the unspoken reason demons had attacked people in the lockdown. It was how demons were summoned. It was like a drug to demons. And Abel, with how much his demonic side surpassed his human side in dominance now, Abel had ended up with a rather violent reaction to the magatsuhi.

And that wasn't all. Abel had killed someone today. Abel had shown his dislike of this Himitsu person before to Atsuro, but Atsuro had no idea how much Abel hated her. Abel had actually killed her. And the rush from the fear and panic she'd given off had probably caused all of this... But K1 didn't kill people. K1 never killed people; even during the lockdown he hadn't killed anyone. He'd told them to just knock the Shomonkai out during that final battle. He'd told them to avoid killing people after he became Abel. And with how close to the new moon it was... he was likely in a lot of guilt over it.

That had been why Abel had been hiding in his hotel room like that. Why he'd gone through a whole box of graham crackers. Why he'd been alone. But he'd drained Cain's magatsuhi and left him alive... Abel had probably figured out how to get it without killing people. He could feed his habit.

"...Ha... haha... you've got to be kidding me..." Atsuro finally said. All he could hope for now was that K1 came back to them sane and with the least amount of blood on his hands possible.

[mugenginga]

Nirad glanced around the three people in the room. Seth was perhaps doing the best in regards to all this. He was upset, but not fearful. The Garuda suspected the Prince had been carrying suspicions along these lines. Kaido was glaring at him, but it was a mask to cover his true emotions. Nirad settled on Atsuro, who was having the most negative reaction. Well, if he had understood the stories correct, Atsuro had been the one that knew the King in his humanity the best.

"All of you need to calm down," Nirad said.

"Shut up! I'm calm!" Kaido growled.

"No you are not," Nirad said slowly, "None of you are, although some fo you are closer than others. Did you not hear me explanation? Demons can sense rising panic and fear. Considering His Majesty's likely condition at the moment, it is not impossible that he would attack you. You especially, Enforcer, as he seems to have the least in the way of human attachment to you."

"What can we do?" Seth stated.

Nirad turned back to the Prince, "For now, nothing. For when he returns... it may be safest to send me out to judge the situation, Your Highness."

Seth looked up, "But he might kill you!"

"Better myself than any of you. I do not give off the same manner of Magatsuhi, I would have the greatest chance of survival."

Seth frowned deeply and looked away. Nirad was right, of course. The demon had made a point of saying all of them were giving various levels. In terms of reaching his brother's humanity, he would be the best choice. In terms of knowing his humanity, Atsuro. Kaido was just a bad idea. The problem was sending Nirad was expecting to interact with the demon called Abel. What if Abel needed someone to reach out to his humanity. He hung his head.

_{"I'm going to kick Cain's ass when he wakes up..."} Seth growled beneath his breath.

"This is insane..." Kaid muttered.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself. He'd had to learn how to calm himself quickly after Abel started reminding them several times that demons could sense one's fear. That seemed like a massive understatement now. They didn't just sense someone's fear. They fed on it.

Once he was calm he looked back up at Nirad. He looked down again as Nirad stated that he'd be the one to judge how bad the situation was when Abel returned. Nirad was treating Abel like a dangerous demon who was liable to fly off the handle at any moment. Well, Abel was, technically. And it probably wasn't likely that Abel would be in his human mind when he returned. Not if he actually did go on a killing spree.

All of these thoughts went through Atsuro's mind as he stepped forward and objected to what Nirad said.

"Wait," Atsuro finally said. "Let me meet him when he gets back. K... Abel will just feel more threatened if we send a demon out to see if he's alright. And as long as I keep my emotions under control, he won't attack me, right?"

Atsuro was aware of the kind of danger he was putting himself in if Abel really did attack him. If Abel didn't control himself (or just didn't care), Atsuro would probably die. But there was still the posibility that Abel might really have control of himself. Maybe there'd be more K1 than Abel. Atsuro knew that if the K1 emotions were dominant, Abel would be having a major guilt trip over anyone he'd attacked that day. An even larger one than the one he'd had earlier over Himitsu (it had been over Himitsu's death, Atsuro was sure). Abel would need the influence of one of this friends nearby if that was the case. Especially since Seth wasn't anywhere nearby Abel right now.

[mugenginga]

"Tha-"

"I'll handle it," Seth cut the Garuda off. He felt all eyes turn to him. He closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair, "This is my fault in the first place. He was insistant about me leaving him alone earlier, and I did so despite it being a mistake. Even before that, if I'd just kept near him without suffocating him, none of this might have happened today at all. Atsuro, I'm sorry, but you're expecting to meet K1. Nirad, you're expecting to meet the King of Bel. Both of you will react in a manner for that."

Seth hung his head and closed his eyes, "Can either of you say for sure you can go with an open mind for which side of him will be dominant? I've not said this directly very often, but I know how important I am to what have become little more than out of place emotions for His Majesty. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get older. As Nirad said, demons of the right power level can be immortal. Not in the sense you've said Beldr was, but in the sense that the only way for them to die is to be killed. I'm still human..."

"Still, I want to be there for as long as I can. I think if anyone stands a chance of surviving if the King of Bel is dominant, its me. Atsuro, Nirad, Kaido, he almost killed me once," Seth reached up and rubbed his throat, "That was the first time I clearly remember a truly demonic outburst. You were all there, I'm sure you remember as well. I can get directly between Abel and his prey and come out battered but not dead. If I had made a fuss, Himitsu would likely be alive. I'd be hurt, but she'd be alive. I could have probably given Cain an opening to avoid attack as well, although I would have caught hell from both of them."

"If it is K1, which I'm not counting on, I can act as the sibling I both am and was. Nirad, you'd cause those emotions even more torment. If it's Abel, I think I can calm him down. He might attack me, and he'll probably attempt to absorb that Magatsuhi thing, but I think I'll get through it. Atsuro, you'd be too busy trying to reach K1 to just accept the attack. As the King of Bel, he has an eye for hierarchy. I don't know if this is something to be 'proud' of, but I've noticed I seem to 'know my place' better than any of the humans and quite a few of the demons."

Nirad bowed his head, "If that is Your Highness' wish, I will obey."

"I think you're all nuts to go to meet him if he's in one of his moods, but better you than me," Kaido shrugged.

(OOC: Don't bring Abel back just yet. There's a bit more I want to cover but Seth has chatted enough for a reply to come. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro didn't know what to say. He wanted to meet K1, to make sure he was alright... but Seth was right. Dammit, Seth was right again. It was almost painful to Atsuro. He hardly understood his own best friend anymore. It was better to send Seth out to make sure things were alright with Abel, because Seth would be relatively safe, just like he said. And Seth was right. He would be trying to get through to the K1 emotions because of how close it was to the new moon. It usually worked...

Atsuro looked down. "...You better be right. If you're not, we're all screwed."

He felt stupid. And most of all, he felt jealous of Seth. The only person who could really get through to K1 anymore. Of course he was close to K1, they were twins after all. But it didn't make things better for Atsuro.

He took a breath. He knew he was thinking some pretty stupid things. And Seth was his friend too. He didn't need to be thinking things like that.

"...Just be careful," Atsuro finally said.

[mugenginga]

Seth's eyebrows angled downwards as he saw Atsuro's reaction. He looked away and adjusted the chain keeping his cape on. He couldn't know what Atsuro was going through. Abel had already absorbed the energy of most of the Bel demons when he'd met him. There might have been a chance to know the true K1. He didn't think Yuugi would have befriended him after he really began to slip. But Atsuro did, and the poor teenager probably felt like his friend had been killed by Abel.

He closed his eyes and let his expression flatten to unreadable. When he looked up again his eyes may have well have been looking on the other side of the planet for distance. It was the expression that made him look most like Abel, at least when the King was in his true neutral moods. He gave a small nod of understanding to Atsuro. He turned to Nirad.

"I'm correct in assuming it will be hard for His Majesty to get the urges under control on his own, correct?"

"Giving the current evidence, yes," Nirad stated.

"I don't trust Nyarlathotep in this case. Nirad, how much do you think you can help him?"

"I can't be sure. The most I can do is explain it, and I suspect His Majesty will find me pretentious for doing so. As a demon he should know more about what is going on than his human emotions may realize. The issue is the balance... Your Highness, permission to speak freely?"

Seth's expression came a little closer. He looked saddened, "Always, Nirad. When its just us, always."

"It may not be in his best interests to retain his humanity."

Seth tensed up. Kaido raised an eyebrow. The Prince's fists had clenched together. His gaze had narrowed and Nirad broke his gaze. The Prince was not known for staring demons down. No one in the room could realize this, but Seth seemed to have changed today. It was likely a result of what had happened with Himitsu. Nirad sensed Seth's pulse raise with anger, but it dropped back down again. Seth was scowling still, however.

"Consider this an order. You are to help him with balancing his urges. Not losing his humanity to them. One despot doesn't need to be replaced with another."

The Prince tended to not talk openly about his hatred of God. Cain would go into preachy speeches from time to time. Abel would sometimes bring it up. But Seth tended to keep it to himself. He had already dropped using terms like blessed and holy by the time Atsuro had met him, but it tended to be the most he showed of rebellion towards the deity. However, the implications were pretty strong for what he meant here. Abel had become the King of Bel to save humanity from God's iron fist. He didn't become the King of Bel to simply rule from a darker version of the same throne.

"I am going to His Majesty's room to wait," Seth said, turning to leave. Nirad blinked and headed after him.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro clenched his fists as he heard what the Garuda was saying. It would be in Abel's best interests to lose his humanity? Atsuro had been fighting to keep K1 from being lost to Abel. At least the best he could, considering the one keeping the true hold on the K1 emotions was the one currently staring down Nirad, something Seth didn't often do.

It was only after Seth returned to his and Abel's room together with Nirad that Atsuro turned toward Kaido. "I'm gonna go lay down." He stepped over toward the bed, and didn't bother even taking his shoes off before just falling on top of it. The events of the past, hell, fifteen minutes had just overwhelmed him.

-----------------

Abel didn't return until later that night. The sun had been long down when he finally made it back, and he didn't seem to be all there as he stepped up the stairs. He actually stumbled a bit toward the top of the stairs. His expression wasn't flat, though. His eyes were more hollow than lifeless. He just seemed a bit empty altogether. Like it has been his spirit that had been drained, not his victims.

Abel's headphones were hanging from around his neck, which caused them to hang a bit oddly due to the general construct of the headphones. There was a wound on his left temple from when a woman had struggled a bit too much, even when he had been draining her magatsuhi. He had said Bakura was going to be the last one, but his instincts said otherwise. He hadn't been able to stop the flow with her. She was lying dead somewhere now. He wasn't sure where. He was only vaguely aware of the events of the night, really. Just the important parts. Everything else was oddly fuzzy.

Abel seemed vaguely aware of which hotel room he had been staying in as he pulled a key from his pocket and pushed it into the lock on the door. He finally got the door open, and pushed it open. It took him a moment to see Seth sitting on the bed nearest to the door, but when he did, Abel took a step forward before his eyes regained a bit of focus. He was aware of what he had been about to do before he'd stopped himself.

"...Seth? You're still awake?" Abel asked. He rubbed his head. "You were waiting for me, huh?"

Despite the events of the day, there was more K1 there. A bit of struggling essence that was more prominent because of its attempts to remain. One didn't drain three people of their magatsuhi without taking hits to their humanity. Magatsuhi empowered demons, after all.

[mugenginga]

Seth wasn't sure how long he'd been just sitting there. At one point he'd considered room service, but realized Abel might have a problem with that. So he'd gotten a mostly empty box of graham crackers. He'd nibbled on the corner of one before forcing himself to eat the full thing. He was too upset to feel hungry. He'd drawn Nirad back into the COMP at some point, he hadn't bothered looking at the time. Then he'd sat back down and just zoned out for a while.

The sun had been setting when he'd hit some sort of stasis between asleep and awake. However, when he heard someone struggling with the door he was on his feet. He looked away and forced his pulse back down as he sat back on the end of the bed. He averted his gaze as Abel took a step towards him, not as much afraid as resigned for the quick step forward. However, it then stopped and Abel spoke. Seth tensed a bit before looking back towards... K1.

"...Are you okay?"

He didn't mean the wound. His eyes had wandered to that, but that wasn't the source of the concern. He stood up, but didn't move forward. It seemed to be K1, and he was willing to approach the situation like that. He knew his brother's reaction to his question would indicate what mood he was in. He allowed himself to look concerned.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

K1 looked away from Seth as he answered his brother. "...Not really." His eyes wandered from Seth to the box of graham crackers that had been left on the bed that afternoon. K1 sighed, and sat back down on the other bed. He kicked his shoes off before pulling his legs up close to his body.

"...Keiji... I think I'm losing my mind," K1 finally said. It was the only explanation he really had for everything. Maybe he wasn't losing his mind. Maybe he was just losing his humanity. But both seemed just as bad to him in his human mindset. If he lost his human emotions, he was just another bloodthirsty demon. A demon king, one who would likely win the war against God, but a demon nonetheless, and one who wouldn't care anymore what happened to those he had considered friends, family, and loves in his human life. If he lost his mind, well, he'd be insane. That was pretty bad in itself.

He crossed his arms on top of his legs, and stared off at a space on the wall. It was the same space he had been focusing on before, if only because it was directly across from where he had been sitting on the bed earlier that day. There was nothing special about that space. It was just there.

[mugenginga]

K1. Definently K1. Seth hadn't realized he'd been bracing for an attack of some kind until the tension just dropped. His eyes were in total focus, the kind of thing the only seemed to do when he and K1 were alone. They'd get damn close around Cain, and almost that close with Atsuro, but K1 was really the only one who saw Keiji these days. He sat back down on the bed, moving a bit so he was at the side as Keiichi drew his legs close. His face was full of caring concern as K1 expressed his own concern. Seth watched him for a few moments and decided to speak without being sure his brother could hear him.

"I've told Nirad to help you with things, K1. Cain... he's still out, at least he was last time I checked. He should have told you about things before all this happened."

Seth stood up. K1 didn't appear to be hearing him. He took the single step towards K1's bed and sat down on the bed beside him. He pulled up his own legs and looked at his brother. He glanced at the spot on the wall as well.

"K1, have you... are you still..." Seth bit his lip, "What I'm trying to ask is, are you still trying to deny things?" He closed his eyes, "I know this sounds nuts, but I'm getting the impression you aren't accepting that you're... you're a demon..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

K1 bit his lip as Keiji asked his own question. He immediately shook his head, and then nodded. He looked away from the spot on the wall and then looked toward his brother. He looked depressed.

"How am I supposed to accept that I'm losing everything that made me me because I took some throne? Dammit, I never wanted this! I only did this because Cain convinced me this was the best way to save humanity. The only definite way," K1 pulled himself closer. "...Half the time I'm not even sure I'm in control of my own body. I always feel these... urges. Instincts. And they've been even worse since I killed Himitsu."

He started shaking. These were the worries that had been plaguing his human mind since that morning. Ever since he'd returned to sanity after killing Himitsu. K1 hugged himself close.

"...I can't even remember everything I did today. Just bits and pieces. But I remember enough," K1 finally said after a moment. "...I attacked Bakura. I drained all the magatsuhi from him, but that wasn't the only thing I did. I took Cain's knife and cut a scar into his face to make him look just like that stupid spirit in his necklace. As a gift to Atem. I attacked some other lady too. I just killed her. I don't know what I did after that."

[mugenginga]

Seth looked away as K1 continued to vent. That's what it was, venting. Seth wanted to argue the point, but he saw the value in letting his twin continue. He didn't know the full story. The only options he knew about were becoming God's lapdog and the one Keiichi had taken. The first one had been "offered" to him as well. He couldn't just tell K1 it would have been a bad choice, because it had just been earlier that day he'd been wondering if killing the one brother of this life would have been a better choice for everyone.

His eyes widened as Abel said what he'd done to Bakura. It wasn't the attack itself that bothered Seth. Abel had left Bakura alive, so it had been an improvement from Himitsu. But he'd cut his face to make him look like... Thief King Bakura, had Atsuro said? He pulled his legs a bit closer and shook his head. He made sure K1 was done before speaking again.

"I'm not telling you to accept losing yourself, K1... I'm saying that you can't deny things," Seth made a 'heh' noise, but it was pained, "Maybe you do need to kill from time to time. I'm not saying to embrace things, I'm saying accept them. K1..." Seth looked down, "You're a demon. Maybe its something like telling me not to... sleep or something. The more you fight things like that, the worse the problem will get. You're a human... but you're also a demon... I don't like it, either, but I can't deny it anymore than you can."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

It took K1 a few moments to respond after that. He had looked a little nervous after Seth gave the example of not sleeping. K1 didn't want to bring up the fact that he was sure now that he wasn't getting any kind of restful sleep at all. The loss of the dreams after he had become demon king... he was pretty sure that any sleeping he did now was only as a benefit to his human side, and even then, they were dreamless nights. Even his old nightmares about the Lockdown had been better than these dreamless nights.

He pulled his legs closer again. He was avoiding looking at Seth, still not sure what to say. He still didn't want to accept the fact that he was now and forevermore a demon. Even if he somehow managed to give up the throne and resume a normal human life, he'd always be a demon.

"But..." K1 said, and shook his head. He'd gotten himself into this stupid hell, and look where he was now. "...I don't know. Somehow, I just feel like accepting it would be like giving something important up..." He finally stood up off of the bed. "It's late, Keiji. You should really be getting to bed."