Christmas is not Christian (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro had looked toward Cain at the same moment Seth had. The expression on Cain's face gave no indication that Cain hadn't known, which meant whatever was wrong with Abel, that wasn't it. Cain's response to that confirmed things, including Atsuro's thought about Cain already knowing.

Seth had reacted before Atsuro could. Atsuro noted the usage of "oniisan." Seth never used that term in regards to Abel. At the most he called him just Keiichi, and Atsuro couldn't remember ever hearing Seth call him K1.

"Cain, what the hell's wrong with K1?!" Atsuro demanded. As it was, he was now officially worried about Abel. Something being wrong with Abel would affect all of them, meaning that they could all be in big trouble. Plus, even with everything that had happened... K1 was his friend. Even with everything that had happened, Atsuro knew that one fact.

[mugenginga]

"He wouldn't want me telling."

Atsuro wouldn't get to respond to that. Giving who the man was, Atsuro probably would be aware he could have dodged had he wanted to. Seth jumped forward and slammed Cain against the wall. There was a noticable height difference between the two. Seth narrowed his eyes and looked at Cain. The man was still smirking as Seth yelled.

"I know you can come back with your memories," Seth growled, "You will tell me what is wrong with Abel or I wil kill you."

This was ridiculous. He had forced him out of bed with a taunt. A taunt Seth had been able to tell had pissed Abel off. It wasn't a matter of a lack of dreaming, and Abel hadn't seemed sick. Seth had been too introspective lately to realize Abel was acting nervous. He didn't know that his twin had gone out of his way to avoid being seen with his shirt off, a problem he'd never had before among their all male group.

Cain flashed a dagger he'd pulled out in the light in a manner specifically so that Atsuro would catch it. Seth wasn't aware of it, and Cain didn't seem inclined to use it just yet. It wouldn't be clear to Atsuro he had let the black haired teenager see it on purpose, but given Cain he might suspect it. The man wasn't sloppy. However, Seth seemed unaware of it. There was a rather King of Bel like glare from the younger twin, although it wasn't as severe as what he'd given Enjin a week ago...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro's eyes widened as Seth slammed Cain into the wall. Things were going south fast. Cain was refusing to say what was wrong with Abel, and whatever it was was obviously something major. However, all of his thoughts about what was wrong with Abel and why Cain wasn't saying it went out the window as Cain flashed his dagger. Atsuro didn't know why Cain had a dagger out or why he hadn't used it yet, but he was now worried for Seth's safety.

"Seth, don't! He'll kill you too if you do that!" Atsuro yelled. If the situation escalated any further, someone was going to end up badly injured at the least.

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

Abel was still sitting on the stairs in a bit of a daze. He'd come down to do something, but now his head hurt. Something to do with the date... Cakes, that was it. He was heading out to buy Keiji, Atsuro, and Yuugi christmas cakes. He needed to hurry if he was going to buy some.

He stood up and walked through the lobby to the door.

[mugenginga]

Cain could already feel the strength in Seth's grip weakening. The teenager was having a very bad day. He hadn't even wanted to get up, but the man had purposely pressured him out of it. The dagger was lightly held as Seth's shoulders slumped. He pulled back from Cain and shook his head.

"It would be pointless. Cain, what is wrong with Abel?"

"Is there something in your mother's genes that makes you deaf? I believe I stated Abel wouldn't want me telling."

"Since when have you given a damn about that before!?" Seth looked almost ready to leap again.

Cain put his dagger away. Seth noticed this with wide eyes. When had he... right, Cain. Seth scowled and looked away. His head was turned so that it was away from both Atsuro and Cain. The silver haired man looked towards the stairs and gestured.

"If you are that curious, shouldn't you be asking him? I believe he's gone off to get presents for that holiday you seem to think is Christian in origin."

----------

Lucius hadn't actually gone out that morning with the intentions of meeting the Bel Court. He'd put special care into the outfit his human form was wearing today and had been enjoying the dirty glares he got from people. Usually he played for humor with his outfits. Today he was just out to piss people off. The black hooded sweatshirt with "goat's head" pentagram on the back, red and dripping with blood, the tight black jeans with the inverted cross design on both bath pockets and around the bottom several times with silver studs, the black shades, and even an inverted cross pewter earring in his right ear - the latter he'd chosen due to common misinterpretations about ear piercing and sexuality. The hood was pulled up, so one couldn't tell he had his ponytail up.

No, he'd just been walking past the hotel with his hands in his pockets when he'd sensed Abel. If it had just been that, he very well might have ignored it. But it was more than that. There was a change to his energy from before. It was muted somehow, and the "teenager" couldn't get a fix on just how. It was enough that he'd almost missed the presence. He had a feeling that... difference as to blame. He'd pretty sure he'd run across that kind of "taint" before, but... Lucius smirked and chose to sit down on a bench in front of the Hotel. He could get glares just as well this way, and Abel would probably be able to sense him. He leaned his head back and waited for the "King of Demons" to show up.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro was still glaring at Cain as he spoke. Seth was right; Cain was only holding that information back for his own amusement. He turned to Seth.

"You should go find Abel. He'll probably tell you if you ask him." There was a bit of bitterness in his voice as he said that. Abel tended to tell Seth everything except in special cases. There was a time when Atsuro would have been in Seth's place in that department, but ever since K1 became the King of Bel...

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

Abel stepped outside the hotel, and as soon as he did so, he sensed Lucius. He hadn't even needed to see the man to know he was there; after the past two encounters, he could immediately recognize Lucius' energy. He couldn't just avoid the human-formed demon, either, because Lucius had chosen a bench right in front of the hotel. He'd been waiting for him.

Abel gulped and summoned his courage before walking over to Lucius. He glared at the man, though he had to admire his gall in the outfit he chose. It was like he was trying to intentionally piss people off. Which was entirely likely.

"Why are you here this time?" Abel growled.

[mugenginga]

Seth clenched his fists as Cain hit exactly why he was irritable today. Before the rift had appeared between him and Atsuro, he'd talked about his past. The other teenager would be aware why Christmas might bother him. Catholic by raising, after all. He didn't react further in a way that Atsuro would see over his tone. But his face looked pained. That was something he needed to fix. He'd partially caused it, and he didn't want to be responsible for putting a rift between two best friends. He didn't say anything, but he fully turned and ran towards the stairs.

Cain turned back to Atsuro and smirked, "He can't seem to let go of his Christian 'sensibilities', can he?"

----------

Lucius gave no response. His head was leaned against the back of the bench and he seemed to be looking at the sky. It was as if he hadn't heard Abel. This was unlikely, and in fact untrue. The blond was just trying to annoy Abel. It would be amusing if the teenager got a large head over assuming Lucius couldn't sense his power. That was definently some kind of limiter, after all... Even with the power increase, the fallen angel had to wonder how the hell a demon that needed a limiter had managed to become the king of demons. A demon that needed a limiter and almost pissed his pants over meeting the 'devil'...

Well, at least he seemed to have grown some.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro glared at Cain for that line. "Can't you leave them alone for five minutes? I don't know what's wrong with Abel, but that doesn't mean you have to taunt Seth about it."

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

Abel glared at Lucius. He would have thought Lucius hadn't heard him if it weren't for the fact that this was extremely similar to some behavior of Cain's, which meant the demon was just playing with him.

"Fine, whatever," Abel said. He continued walking down the sidewalk. He didn't need to deal with Lucius on top of everything else right now.

[mugenginga]

"I taunt because I care," Cain smirked. It was... actually hard to tell how much he was joking, and whether he was at all, "He isn't the sort that can handle a communication breakdown. I suppose if your interest is in having Abel kill him, it's none of my business..."

----------

Seth reached the bottom of the stairs. He glanced around the lobby, and took the opportunity to catch his breath. Thing was, if Abel had decided to go for a run, he'd never find him. Still, there was a chance he could catch him outside. Seth was glad he hadn't bothered to put his cape on. His outfit would attract less attention without it. He ran towards the door.

----------

Lucius had planned on letting Abel go. If he was still too frightened to face him, that was his problem. A rather humorous one, really. However, something his brain had been searching for since he sensed Abel again clicked. He smirked and looked up, allowing his shades to fall so that if Abel looked at him he'd see his eyes peeking out from over top them.

"Now now, no need to walk off in a huff, Hito-Shura."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro couldn't tell if Cain was joking or not by that comment. He never could with this man. And then, of course, Cain had given his taunt at the end there. Atsuro glared at him, and then headed back into his room. He didn't need to deal with this right now.

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

Abel froze as Lucius got that last word out. Hito-Shura...? What did Lucius mean by calling him a "demi-fiend?" He turned around and looked toward Lucius, and at the moment he looked more startled than anything.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" Abel yelled.

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Section two done with permission. XD)

Cain smirked as Atsuro stormed into his room. It wasn't like he didn't pull stuff like this all the time. He shrugged to himself and pulled out his COMP. Kaido wouldn't be back for a while unless specifically called. He pulled out the devices stylus and was on a screen that could be nothing but homebrew in a few seconds. There was little more than that to do in the absence of trouble, after all. He opened the door to his bedroom and walked in.

----------

Lucius pushed his shades up and stood up at Abel's yell. It was almost a screech, really. Given what he could gather from both Abel's appearance and what he'd gotten from some of his sources, Abel had once been human. That explained a lot, but not the recent raise in power. However, the backstory coupled with the raise in power made something very likely. Lucius smirked and walked forward. The angle made it look like he was going to walk past Abel and ignore the reaction.

He was a single step behind Abel when he changed his direction. The speed at which he changed direction was blinding. Anyone that was watching (it happened that no one was at that instant) would swear Lucius teleported. It wasn't a trick or an illusion, it was just that any human in the area wouldn't follow his movement. With the limiter on, Abel would be lucky to get even a blur.

He would, however, be more than aware of an arm suddenly coming in front of his throat and his shirt being yanked up, showing the faint symbols on his stomach. Lucius hit a pressure point in Abel's back, forcing him to arch. Lucius leaned his head forward and managed to see Abel's stomach. He smirked and spoke into Abel's ear. The distance was close enough that the natural heat from Lucius' mouth would be mildly unpleasant in Abel's ear. Beyond that, it was the demonic tongue.

"I think you know what I mean, despite the process looking rather slow..."

"Abel!!!"

Of course, this was the point that Seth managed to get out of the hotel. He hadn't seen the marks yet. For one, they were faint. For two, Lucius kind of had him in a rather awkward position...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel hadn't seen Lucius coming by a long shot. Even with how he'd been keeping his eye on Lucius, his power was at mostly human levels. He simply hadn't been able to keep up with how fast Lucius had moved. Because of this, he hadn't had much of a chance of stopping Lucius from putting an arm around his throat and yanking up his shirt, showing off the markings on his chest.

A few people who had just been walking by before stopped and gaped at the scene. A few were disgusted, particularly one couple who seemed to be on their way back into the city from a visit into the park. Abel didn't care about them, though this was an awkward position to be in out in public. It probably looked like some pervert was trying to molest him.

"Let go of me dammit! What the hell are you doing?!" Abel growled. Lucius' words stuck in his head. The man had meant these markings when calling him a "demi-fiend." That worried Abel. A lot.

But when he heard Seth's panicked yell, that was when Abel officially started freaking out. He was struggling to get free from Lucius, which wasn't going too well. Fact was, Lucius was stronger than he was, even without the limiter. But he couldn't take the chance of Seth seeing these markings.

"N-No! Dammit, let go of me!" Abel yelled. He reached up and tried to pull Lucius' arm free from his throat, but he couldn't get it to budge.

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Kinda sorta god modey. You know what? From now on assume any godmoding in Rei no Kaado is done with permission or changed quickly if not. XD)

Lucius was the type of person to roll with developments. He hadn't had a clear idea of what he had planned on doing after making his point to Abel. Odds are he would have let him go. At least those were the odds until Seth came out and gave his rather loud and panicked shout. Lucius smirked as Abel's vain struggles intensified in response to the yell. Oh, that had more than a few good points. One, the teenager's name. He doubted that was lacking in symbology. Two, one of his allies was nearby and absolutely freaking. Well, might as well give him a show, right?

Lucius tightened his grip around Abel's neck to the point of severely constricting airflow and snatched his right arm due to the throat being blocked with his left. He gave a hard twist, pulling the arm to Abel's back with the right angle to break it. It would make the jerks even more painful. He planted one foot and jerked so that Abel would be facing Seth if he looked straight forward. The shirt was still held up with one finger, due to the way Lucius was holding Abel's broken arm.

Seth had Almighty energy swirling around him. His entire focus was on Lucius. He didn't know who the teenager was, but a Megidola wouldn't feel good. It would probably hit Abel too... but right now Seth was more concerned with freeing him. Due to the direction of his focus, he wasn't seeing the markings. Lucius wondered if the twin (it quite simply had to be) already knew about the markings. Not that he truly cared.

"Let him go!" growled Seth.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel hadn't been able to do anything to stop Lucius from breaking his arm, and after the act, Abel stopped struggling as much. He was in a lot of pain from that, and the broken arm only made it harder to attempt to get away from Lucius, which had been just what Lucius had wanted.

A moment later, Lucius had jerked Abel around so that he was facing Seth, and Abel's heart skipped a beat. Seth would have seen his markings. Dammit, Seth would have seen his markings! Seth was the person he was trying to keep them the most secret from! Abel hadn't quite realized that Seth was more focused on Lucius than himself.

"Keiji! No! He's trying to provoke you!" Abel choked out, which was a fairly literal description of what was going on due to the tight grip Lucius had on his throat. At this point he was actually having a hard time breathing. In response to the pain from the broken arm and the constricted airflow, his markings were actually glowing a light red, and if Abel was lucky, this wouldn't cause Seth to notice them.

If he was lucky being the key phrase there, as this group didn't have what one called the best of luck.

[mugenginga]

Unfortunately, Abel had a rather good point. Seth had pulled his hand back to throw the attack when he almost stumbled from shock alone. There was something on Abel's exposed lower chest, and it was glowing. The lack of concentration cancelled out the charge and the Almighty energy from Seth's hand faded. Lucius jerked more on Abel's broken arm, and his smirk would only widen from Abel's probable reaction. Seth looked trapped regardless of how Abel reacted.

"He's awfully fragile for a demon, isn't he, Keiji-kun," Lucius lifted up a foot and slammed it down at a slight angle on the back of Abel's left knee. Given his near human status at the moment, it would shatter. In a human it was known to be a permanently crippling sort of injury. At least he had the 'decency' to release Abel so he could fall to the ground. He had an animalistic yet greatly amused growl, "Not fit to rule a human throne, let alone a demonic one."

"Abel!"

Seth was back to charging up a spell. Abel said the teenager was just provoking him. But damn it the action was working. If he kept standing by, it was very possible the teenager could kill Abel. No, not a teenager. He didn't know who the person was, but if he'd been able to do that much to Abel, Seth couldn't accept he was a mere human. And those lines... a demon? He couldn't be an angel... Abel was going to have to remove that limiter if the fight went on...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel had a trapped expression matching Seth's as his younger brother spotted the markings on his chest. This was what he'd been trying to avoid, and Lucius had forced Seth to see. Abel's trapped expression was replaced by a gasp of pain as Lucius jerked more on his broken arm. Then Lucius said his bit before shattering his knee. Abel gave a yell of pain, and fell to the ground, finally being released.

He hit the ground hard, and didn't move for several moments. He couldn't move his leg pretty much at all, and moving his right arm only made it hurt worse. In short, his whole body was hurting very badly. With his power suppressed, his demonic energies couldn't attempt to patch him up.

At this point, he just wanted to hurt Lucius for putting him through his. For forcing him to reveal his markings to Seth, for injuring him like this... He was done with it. He reached up to his MP3 player with his left hand and tugged it free of the headphones it was plugged into.

The affect was immediate. Abel's eyes slitted, the markings glowed even brighter, and his energy flared out as he somehow stood up, despite the crippling injury to his knee. He glared at Lucius.

"You bastard," Abel snarled. He moved a few steps away from Lucius before focusing a Holy Dance into his hand and tossing it at him, the four hits of the attack separating into separate orbs and flying at Lucius.