fandomtownies | Black Swan Drive, Thursday Afternoon

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$devil's nest

Black Swan Drive, Thursday Afternoon

Rikku hadn't slept in two days. There was a giant hole in reality over her bed. And it was probably what was causing all of the weird little bumps and hiccups in gravity and time-space lately. She still wasn't any closer to doing it right, and she was running out of time.

This was why Rikku was in town. Because it was Thursday - hopefully, it was Thursday, anyway - and Jude was at Luke's and she would find him and tell him everything and it would be better somehow. Right? Maybe. At least he wouldn't yell. Right? Maybe. Right.

Sparky Repairs, Fandom Troopers ... Photo Hut. Wait, what!? She turned around and walked quickly the other way ... nope. Photo Hut, and then, no matter how tiny her steps were, she jumped straight to the other side of Unicorn Street, standing outside the Fandom Troopers office.

Of all times for reality to get bendy on her. She could have screamed. She nearly did scream five minutes later when she still hadn't gotten any closer to Luke's. It was doing this on purpose. This was someone's idea of a sick joke. Karma or something. She tried crossing Black Swan Drive, but the empty building across from Luke's was missing, too.

That's when she noticed the sign for the Devil's Nest. It didn't look open, but for some reason, she wanted to check anyway. The sign seemed so reassuring and, well. Real.

The bar was empty except for a blonde man sitting at the grand piano, playing. He looked up when she entered the bar, watching her with the same dettached interest as one would have of an ant. "You're late my little nail."

[Locked to the Devil Himself, whose modding was entirely with permission.]

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Rikku jumped when he addressed her. "I'm sorry, I'm lost. Where I want to go isn't there. And I'm not a nail, I'm a Rikku."

Lucifer smiled at her, or at least went through the motions of one. The only emotion behind it was a sort of predatory amusement. "Oh, but you are, little one. Whether or not you save the kingdom or destroy it has yet to be decided."

"The kingdom?" She walked forward to the piano, both fascinated and scared. Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. "I saved one. That's what started all of this."

A chair slowly appeared next to the piano, as if it had been invisible before and there had been smoke obscuring it was gently blown away. "Yes. And now you wonder if the sacrifice was truly worth it. Is her pain worth saving the kingdom?"

Rikku stopped sharply. How did he ...

She took a deep breath and sat down. "She's dying. Not her body, her self. I think it'd be easier for her if she had died."

After a moment she stared at her hands. "Sometimes I wish ..." She couldn't say that. "... that we had failed."

The playing abruptly stopped. "Do you?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I didn't think it would be like this."

She shook her head. "I shouldn't say that. All of Spira, it's new, it's changed, it has a chance now, it ... it's not a place of dying any more. But maybe it is. The same spiral with a coat of paint. Why did she have to pay for it herself?"

After a moment, in a lower tone, she added, "Why did we have to pay for it? When we were right all along?"

"Right and wrong are meaningless in the end," He said, turning in his seat to face her, leaning partially on the piano. "All that matters is who lives and who dies."

"That can't be true," she said softly. "It all has to matter, or else ... what's the point? If he died for something he believed in, but he's dead ... I don't even know if he's dead."

Rikku shrugged, helplessly. "It's hard not to hate them. The Yevonites and their pointless religion and what it did to my people. To all of Spira. Especially us, when all we did was dared to not believe." To herself, she added, //"They don't deserve her Calm."//

//"And this..."// He looked around at the shifting walls. //"Will it help her if you can't control it?"//

Rikku winced. //"So ... so then it is my fault. I knew it. I just thought ..."//

She stared at him, realizing she'd lapsed into her native language. //"You speak Al Bhed!? You ... you're from Spira, that's how you know all of this! Who are you?"//

//"I am from many places."// Lucifer replied calmly. //"You may call me Lucifer."

Rikku nodded, wondering if that meant Lucifer wasn't actually his name.

"Then how do you know all of this?" She closed her eyes with a sigh, slipping back into English. "You're not another one of these fake-god-things, are you?"

"I am no God, fake or otherwise." He stood, causing the bar to return to normal and the lights to come up. "I simply have the skill to bend things my way."

It wasn't a lie, really. It just wasn't exactly the truth either.

Rikku nodded. "If you can, does that mean ..."

She straightened her chin. "You know what I was trying to do."

"I do. And I must say it was quite a shock to feel it happen," Lucifer said, stepping toward Rikku. He ran his hand along the side of her face, not quite touching her, just ghosting over her skin. "Such a small thing can cause so much to happen."

His voice was doing strange things to her. She swallowed, willing herself not to lean against his hand.

"You did?" She shook her head very slightly. "I didn't mean for any of it. Just ... him. That's all."

Her eyes looked up at him hopefully. "Do you know if ... is he even ... was it even possible? What I wanted?"

He stared down into her eyes, looking into her to see the truth of her actions. "If he is truly dead, no."

Rikku held his gaze for a long moment, then dropped her eyes to her hands. "I was hoping you could tell me that. Can he be dead if he never existed? Was he ever alive?"

"Tell me." Lucifer crouched suddenly, keeping eye level wither her. "Would you have died for a man that did not exist?"

Rikku took a long, shaky breath, and looked up to meet his eyes. "I ... would have died for him. For her. Them."

Satisfied, he stood again, looking down at her coldly. "The do what it takes to complete this. You set events in motion that can't be stopped anymore. You must take control or be crushed by it."

Rikku nodded. "I'll ... I'll try."

His tone confused her. "I'm sorry. Did I - break something? That you needed?"

It was her weakness that disappointed him. If she couldn't keep it in control, she never should have tried it.

"You broke nothing of mine," He replied.

Rikku shook her head. "I'm ... I'm still sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. Any of this. Why didn't he tell us? We could have ..."

She bit her lip and fell back into silence.

At that he took a bit of pity on the girl, forgoing his usual condescending tone. "It does not matter if you meant for it to happen. It is and the only thing you can do now is fix your mistakes."

Rikku nodded. "You're right. You're right. I need to finish this. I need ... he's more important than all of this. She is. I'm her Guardian. That's all that matters."

"Do what you must." He turned and started walking toward the bar. "That is all we can hope for."

She stood up, uncertain about what to do next. "Are you ... do you know how to ... what I should do? How to do it right this time. What I did wrong. Please."

He stopped long enough to give her a glance over his shoulder before continuing toward the bar. "I might."

"Really?!" She stared for a moment before jumping up and following after him. "T-tell me. Please. If ... whatever you want, just ... please."

Such a dangerous thing to offer. But luckily for her, Lucifer wasn't there to grant favors. Another ripple in reality caused a glimpse of bare shoulders and still bleeding stumps of wings to be shown before he blinked out of view entirely.

Rikku gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. His ... his back was ... he ...

And then he was gone.

She ran forward, reaching out blindly --

-- And found herself outside the Devil's Nest, blinking up at a reassuring, real sign.

She stared at it for a few seconds, looking at the street around her, feeling a strange hysterical laughter building up in her throat.

Had any of that happened at all?

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Black Swan Drive, Thursday Afternoon

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