Anyone who has watched YuYu Hakusho are punching the air right now because yes, Hiei of the Jagan and master of the Darkness Flame is indeed a member of the Blood Guard. At this point in time, he is only a trainee. He would be an apprentice blade were it not for his near constant search for his twin sister and his blatant obsession with the pair that had saved his life and his mother's. Van's sensory abilities had fascinated him so much that he sought out a demonic scientist to implant the Jagan eye into his forehead, but he had no training or mental discipline to control or utilize its powers and actually lost his memories for a while. It is during this period of amnesia that Hiei is reunited with the twin that he does not remember and Yukina doesn't know that he is her twin, having no idea what her brother was supposed to look like.
Eleanor Oswald is currently unconscious from the prolonged exposure to the Makai's rather toxic atmosphere, so she can't exactly tell them that their siblings. The young fire demon had been out on patrol, making certain that no one ventured near the bandit camp that he currently called home, when he crossed paths with the leaders of that very same camp. The moment he saw the ice maiden, the Jagan flared to life, recognizing the similarities between their auras but because of his lack of experience and knowledge, he didn't understand what it was trying to tell him so he forced it back into dormancy. He then accompanied the leaders and their guests to the camp though he doubted that the human would be around long because human females were easily broken and he had seen quite a few suddenly die in the middle of certain activities.
The other one though was an ice maiden which made her quite the asset to their group, but it wouldn't stop some of the more reckless members from bedding the poor thing, being deliberately rough so that she would produce mass quantities of tear gems in the process. He didn't understand why that bothered him so much. He didn't know the girl and she definitely didn't know him, yet his baser instincts were stating that he needed to protect her. He glared at her when she glanced his way, but she simply smiled, just a small one and his glare faded along with his annoyance. Who was she to him?
Upon arriving at camp, several members whooped and hollered thinking that they had new toys to play with but the first seven that got within reach of them were now dead at the leader's feet, vines swirling around both of them and their guests. The main leader ordered that no one was to touch them, harm them, or kill them. Relief flowed through the fire demon's body, a fair bit of tension leaving him much more relaxed...an event not unnoticed by by the bandit leaders. When they walked into the main hub, he was asked to follow to them which he did so without complaint. He watched as the two women were seen to, their injuries being treated and a few plants set up to purify the air of the miasma, allowing the human the ability to recover.
They were now in the leaders personal den, a place few had ever seen. Both the bat and the fox were extremely territorial which is why the den existed but it did not explain why he was granted entrance at all. How many people could boast that they had been allowed entrance into the sanctuary of the legendary bandit thief and equally notorious thieving partner, Yoko Kurama and Kuronue?
So here he was, the fire demon without a name or a past, standing in front of the two most powerful members of their bandit gang and thus the reason why they were the leaders, and he had no idea what to say or do. He usually didn't mingle with the others, mainly because they annoyed him and he preferred peace and quiet, just relaxing in a tree somewhere. This was definitely not within his current skill set and comfort zone, but he allowed none of it to show because it would be construed as weakness and he already had it bad enough with the damn memory loss. Then they spoke and his mouth ran dry. They had noticed his reaction before when they had slain their own men to protect the females. He became confused when they didn't ask why but rather to watch over the girls and ensure that no harm befell them.
His mouth spoke before he could stop it and asked...well more like demanded to know why. Why did they want him to babysit the females that were obviously more trouble than they were worth? The silver kitsune chuckled softly, stating that it was those very same females that had single handedly escaped a fully armed compound completely unnoticed and were that not enough, the human girl had saved Kuronue's life by pushing him out of range of a bamboo trap. Hiei's eyes widened...resourceful and a life debt. The bat chose that moment to comment that this was the first time that Hiei had ever reacted to something before. The fire demon knew he was right but he was not about to admit to that aloud. The fox suggested that by spending time with them that it might allow him to access his lost memories, maybe not much but something was better than nothing.
And that was how he got saddled with babysitting the females. The human didn't wake up for over a week and the ice maiden kept an almost silent vigil over the woman that had rescued her from such an awful place. In the few conversations they had, he had learned her name but not the human's though he had been right about the resourcefulness, but he also learned that the demoness was looking for her mother and twin brother. She had been exiled after she had helped a wounded man. They made her watch as they executed him before they forced her to leave and never to return. When she pulled out a rather beautiful orb, her mother's tear gem that she shed while giving birth to her, he could only stare in shock because he possessed an identical gem...or he had. The third in command of their bandit group, Yomi, had taken it from him, believing he had stolen it from the treasury.
The black clad fire demon went silent after that, refusing to look at her or converse with her anymore. His mind and heart were reeling from this new information. What if...what if he was the twin brother she was looking for? He wasn't sure and he didn't have the stone to prove it anyways, but did it really matter? He was a bandit, a thief, a killer...even if he was her brother, he would never tell her. He would not stain her purity with his blood soaked darkness. He didn't deserve to be her brother nor could he ever be worthy of her at all. More days passed until finally the human woman awoke, but she was still quite delirious. She kept rambling about how she needed to get them to The Realm. What the hell was The Realm and why did it feel like he was just stabbed in the heart repeatedly?
Yoko and Kuronue attended to the woman who was begging them to find her godmother or some man named Van...another stab to his heart. His breathing accelerated as his head began to ache. It felt like his head about to explode from the pain. He wanted her to shut up, to stop ripping his heart to pieces...what the hell was happening to him? He grabbed his head, his hands fisting into his hair as tears came to his eyes. The ice maiden called out to him, alerting the bandit leaders that something was wrong. His tears fell and clattered in the floor as smooth round stones...tear gems. He really was her brother. He screamed in agony, the sound causing the human female to bolt upright and look right at him.
'Hiei!'
The wall between his conscious mind and his dormant memories exploded and countless images, thoughts, and feelings flew through his mind. A constant stream of tears clattering to the floor below as he remembered. His name was Hiei, a name given to him by the man that had saved his life when he was thrown off the floating island of the ice maidens. He joined the Bladeworks in the hopes of becoming one of the legendary blades but once he learned of his sister's exile, he went in search of her, so that he could bring her home...to the Realm...The Realm of the Blood Guard. He wanted her to meet the woman that saved their mother's life and even made it possible for her to touch him and raise the child she had given birth to, but he had become frustrated and impatient, so he sought out a doctor capable of implanting a Jagan eye successfully so that he could find his twin...only for that same eye to completely overwhelm his conscious mind and him not having the mental fortitude and training to use it. That's why he lost his memories because of his own foolishness.
The fire demon ran from the room and straight to the treasury, the fox on his heels. The Jagan flared to life once more, easily shattering the enchantments and runes protecting it. He didn't hesitate, dodging the secondary traps with an ease and grace that Yoko had never seen the boy do before. He watched as he systematically tore through the treasury in search of something, only to discover that it wasnt there at all. The look of fury on Hiei's face, realizing that Yomi had lied to him and the bastard probably hid it after he took it from him. The silver kitsune got the gist of what the boy was trying to convey telepathically through the Jagan and went in search of Yomi himself, only to discover that the camp was empty. His attention was drawn to the sky when he sensed a very powerful force just suddenly appear.
'If you're looking for your men then they left about two minutes after you went inside. The one with all the damn ears was leading them though judging by his so called plan, he's led them straight to their deaths. Now then, you have something that belongs to me. In fact, you have three things that belong to me; a brown haired girl named Eleanor, the ice maiden Yukina, and my girl's favorite pyro pixie Hiei. Give them to me and I'll be on my way. If you don't...*eyes glowing with blue light*...I won't hesitate to kill you.'
Ellie chose that moment to run out and placed herself in front of the silver kitsune, glaring at the third mage before yelling at him about issuing death threats to the people that had saved her life and had been looking after her all that time. Yukina rushed out, begging the brunette to come back inside so that the miasma wouldn't kill her. Hiei appeared in a blur and used the Jagan to give Van the whole story...then Ellie started coughing up blood. In a blast of wind the third mage vanished and the others got the very sick brunette back inside.
About an hour later, Van returned with Hiei's tear gem but then asked for Yukina's. When asked why, he revealed that their mother had gotten in touch with him, just as he acquired the second stone and told him about the healing properties held within. Even if he took Eleanor to Her Ladyship, there would be no way to help her. The miasma of the Makai wasn't just deadly, it corrupted a person's life force, their very souls becoming infected and slowly eaten away. Ellie was fortunate that one of her ancestors had once been an ice maiden, but that heritage had been diluted by countless generations and it's potency was lost. However, the potential was still there. It wouldn't return the life force she lost but it would purify the effects of the miasma and thus making her immune, but to do so would require the destruction of their mother's tear gems. The ones shed for each child at birth were the most potent and powerful.
They had a choice to make; the life and soul of a human girl or the tear gems of their mother that could never be replaced. The twins looked at each other, taking the other's hand before both held out the stones to the wind mage. There was no doubt, no uncertainty...Eleanor had brought them together, saved Yukina's life, restored Hiei's memories, and she was the goddaughter of the woman that saved their mother. There was no choice or decision, just fact, but even as the Pathfinder used the gems to heal the girl, something unexpected happened and they wouldn't find out until several months after they had returned to the human world... Eleanor Oswald was pregnant and she was still a virgin.
Now that was a bit awkward to explain. Apparently, Kuronue's pendant had been accidentally activated when she had come into contact with him before, touching it the moment she saved his life. The spirits of his ancestors repaid the debt of life owed to the brunette which resulted in a dual effect; the miasma was purified while part of her life force was replenished by the pendant, but due to her shortened life span, the rest of that energy and power created a new life...Clare Ravenwood Oswald. Her first name was in honor of the woman that had saved the Star Child so long ago, but her middle name was literally poking fun at a certain bat and fox who joined the Guard to watch over her and Clare.
Van reported what happened to his girl and she thanked him for fighting so hard to get her back, even her pyro pixie and his sister home too. The Pathfinder felt pretty damn awful. He had tried so hard to get to Ellie and she didn't even live to see Clare's first birthday. He watched from afar as Clare grew up, playing with the future alpha of the Wolf Clan, Graham, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get past it. He was stuck in an ever deepening rut. He practically became a ghost of his former self until someone decided that he looked better as a drowned rat. He went to yell at the person responsible and was rendered speechless. Standing before him was little Ellie or someone that had a remarkable resemblance to Eleanor. She giggled before introducing herself.
'Fourth Mage of the Blood Guard, the Magi of the Mist, The Tempest. I am Neptune of the Prism Guard and I am her Acheron.'
The Third Mage didn't know what to do or what to say, but he didn't have to say anything because she did. The Second Oracle had sent her back through time...to save him. She informed him that she was indeed Eleanor Oswald, well she had been reborn a few centuries later and that she was quite literally her own grandmother, but she told him not to tell anyone because that would be really, really painful and all sorts of awkward. She was named Ellie though so he could still call her Little Ellie if he wanted to.
He tried to apologize for not getting to her sooner and she blasted him into a wall with some rather scalding water. She wasn't called her Acheron for nothing. Due to her water powers having a much higher temperature and sometimes acidic in nature, the Star Child had given her a purpose to reflect that more fiery disposition. Acheron was the name of a river that ran through the Nether World and was often referred to as a flaming gulf or an acidic lake. Ellie stated quite clearly that if Van hadn't arrived at that exact moment, then Clare would never be born and she was kind of necessary if Artz was to get her Captain and her God of the Sea and in turn, the acquisition of the Lightning Fang, the three individuals needed to save Her Ladyship in the first place. Not to mention that if Van had got to her sooner then they never would have found Yukina or save Hiei. He arrived exactly when he was meant to.
Artz: And that's the end of this one. Though Ellie's mark is either going to be the upside down trident or a modified version of Aquarius. Haven't really decided, but good news is...
Hook: Is that she is finally getting to Starsea.
Anna: Technically she already has by including that series of events in Mars's profile.
Hook: True, but the next article will start with Clare and hopefully end somewhere near my rise to glory.
Poseidon: *smacks him.in the back of the head* Try something new, its called tact. Why because in order for you to take the stage, something has to put me completely out of commission first.
Hook: *smirks* Love the wording, brat.
Poseidon: *beams* Can't very well ruin our story, now can we?
Anna: *punts them to the Realm before high fiving her sister and strolling away*
Artz: I may just add a secondary title to this mini series. *walks away, muttering to herself*
Wonderful update! Loved it! :)
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