Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) (31 page)

The Prince went to the baby. Pulling the crying child off the floor, he held it up and allowed the blankets to fall off. The mystery was finally solved, and the Prince was overcome with joy at what he saw (or rather
didn’t
see).

A girl
! he thought. Baby Shiva stopped crying at the sight of her big brother, standing over her and gripping the baby like a football. She looked up at him and knew she was safe, and that subconscious instinct imprinted on her for the rest of her life.

As the servants and guards poured into the room, the horror of the scene sunk in. People screamed and cried out for their dead Queen. The King arrived on the scene later, breaking down and crying like the little baby Shiva. Darko sat in the corner while a team of servants covered the Queen’s body with a large sheet.

It’s a girl. That means I win. From this day on, it doesn’t matter what happens to her. As long as I can become King… That surge of power I felt, was it…rage? It felt nice. Maybe I should take up training, so I can feel that again. After all, I never want to get killed by a demon like that
…

As a team of servants carried out the dead bodies of the demon and the Queen, Darko caught a final glimpse of his mother’s remains. His eyes watered up again and the tears began flowing anew. A servant came by and placed the baby Shiva in Darko’s arms, thinking maybe holding his new sister would calm him down. Darko looked on her with wicked new eyes.

Mother died because of you,
he thought.
She was strong and you were weak
.
You should have been the one to die here tonight
!
Not mom
… The boy let his tears fall onto his baby sister. The Prince cradled the baby in his arms, pulling Shiva’s head close to his.

“Shiva, my dear sister,” he whispered softly to her. “Don’t expect me to save your life ever again.”

* * * *

Back to the present.

Swords clashed as Darko and Phoenix continued trading blows. Even with both their soul powers active, Phoenix simply could not keep up with the Prince’s extraordinary speed. Darko would appear to be right next to Phoenix, and then in a flash he’d disappear and attack from behind instead. Any moment now Phoenix knew he’d slip up.

“Strength and power are good to have, but only when they’re used to help people!” Phoenix shouted. He had to get his message out, no matter what.

“Only the weak need help, and they do not deserve it,” Darko replied lowering his blade at last. “I have no more to discuss with you.” He strapped his sword to the holder on his back and walked away.

Phoenix left the yard alive, but his mission had failed. He was there that night to see if there was any shred of decency left in the Prince. If so, he might have changed his plans. But the short walk down memory lane he’d just experienced proved beyond a shadow of a doubt: Phoenix knew there was just no way to save the Prince of Hell.

Part Three

Minutes before the morning sun was formed, a knocking on his door stirred Ash from bed. Flinging open the door in his underwear, the boy was greeted by a package laying on the ground and a courier boy already speeding off to his next destination. Ash scooped up the package and disappeared back into his flat, leaving a small fireball outside the door to become part of the morning sun.

Ash dressed and made use of the bathroom before his snoozing roommate could bogart it from him. When he emerged from the bathroom he was once again wearing his black peacoat, which had been repaired and improved by Gio. He took a moment to pin his flame-wing badge back on the lapel of the coat before going to Aura’s bedside and shoving his friend to the floor.

The two boys moved quickly through the streets of North Hell. When they arrived at the castle courtyard gates they hit a traffic jam. Hundreds of people were gathered around the gates, all vying for admittance to the Royal wedding. It was so hectic the Royal Guard had to get involved, stationing more soldiers than ever in the castle. The boys waited in a line, which was really more of a chaotic mob, for nearly an hour before reaching the gate.

Inside the courtyard, the situation did not improve. More people were gathered here, apparently waiting for the truly invited guests to be allowed inside the castle. Ash and Aura scanned the crowd for familiar faces, but they were too far back to see any. They tried pressing forward through the throng of people but made little progress. The boys became held up behind a large couple of loud Nobles.

Ash heard his name being called and turned to the left to see Yazma Bethilda, his flame teacher, not far away. Ash smiled at the lovely-looking woman, and she made her way over to join them.

“Yo, Yazma!” Aura shouted in a surprised, joyous tone. “You look beautiful!”

In keeping with her gothic appearance, Yazma wore a very low-cut, lacy black dress. Her long black hair was even tied up neatly with a big red bow. Lastly she wore black lipstick, which was the first application of lipstick Ash had seen since coming to Hell.

“Nice to see you, Ash,” Yazma said, ignoring Aura as always.

“Hi Yazma,” Ash greeted her. “I’ve gotten a lot better with my flames.”

“We all have!” Aura added. “Me especially.”

“Oh look,” Yazma said and pointed to the castle. “It’s Goddard.”

The Royal Advisor stood at the top of the steps near the gate into the castle. Holding a megaphone, Goddard addressed the crowd. “Friends and family, thank you for being with us on this
adjective
day. In just a short moment we’re going to open the castle gates and allow you all in. Once inside, you will walk at a brisk pace in whatever direction
doesn’t
have an armed guard blocking the way. Understood?”

There was a mild response from the crowd, but mostly just blank stares. Goddard took that to mean that no one had any questions. He began to pace the wall heading back to the stairs but remembered something and spun around to address the people again. “Oh, and my gang,” he said, scouring the crowd for Ash and Aura. “Ah, there you are. You’ll have assigned seats inside, so just look for your names.”

“I guess we just make our way inside then,” Ash said while watching Goddard walk away.

When the guards moved to open the castle gates, the monstrous crowd took on a more demonic presence. Everyone pushed forward and people got knocked over. Ash thought at one point he was standing
on top of
someone as he was being pressed into the backside of a large smelly man in front of him. Inside the castle, the familiar spacious lobby now felt like a single small hallway. The walls were made out of Royal Guards.

The throng walked steadily now, less agitated and just happy to be inside the castle. Many of them had never been inside the castle before. The citizens dressed in their most fancy clothing, which meant a lot of suits that looked like they were from the American 1800s. Ash felt out of place in his peacoat among all the frilly dresses and blouses. Aura wore his coat the traditional way, with his arms through the sleeves, out of respect to his captain.

Their trip through the castle halls led the boys past the cafeteria and around to the back of the castle. Ash and Aura weren’t familiar with this section of the castle, as it had little to offer the boys. The only thing back there was a chapel, and neither of them had cared enough to check it out before. The wall of Royal Guards deposited everyone into the great chapel where they spread out and started filling the pews.

After losing Yazma in the crowd, Ash and Aura waited in line to get up to the front row of pews. Their thinking was that Shiva reserved them front row seats, so that’s where they thought they should go. When they finally arrived at the front of the chapel they saw who was actually seated there.

Nobles
. Glebeck, Bliley, Machmann, and Rumbaugh. All dressed in frilly outfits and pale makeup. They shot the boys smug looks, clearly proud of their prime seating. Even Commander Stryd was seated in the front row, staring at the boys with a satisfied smirk. They didn’t recognize anyone else and assumed their seats must be back another row. When they searched the next row, they found it was also full. The boys continued to search every row of pews in reverse, fighting against the stray people desperately trying to cram into every small crack they could find.

All the way in the back of the room, in the far corner of the very first pew, two small nametags sat saving the tiny space. Ash and Aura packed themselves into the tight opening. Right away Aura noticed the man seated directly in front of them was his father. Ash followed his friend’s gaze and at the sight of his teacher he instinctively tapped him on the shoulder to say hi.

“You made it in,” Ash said.

Amos turned around, surprised. “Oh, Ash, Aura” he said. “How’s that bathhouse? Swanky, right? Oh! I’m supposed to ask Aura how Frank the reporter is doing!”

“Frank the… what are you talking about?” Ash asked, confused. He looked to his friend. Aura sat quietly, his eyes diverted and cheeks red with embarrassment.

“Oh he knows what I mean!” Amos said with a grin. Seeing that he was embarrassing his son, the man turned his attention back to Ash. “Is this your first traditional devil wedding?”

“Yeah,” Ash replied. “I hear they’re long and dull.”

“Well you’ve certainly got the best spot if you wanted to sneak in a little nap during the ceremony,” Amos said with a childish smile.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ash said. His eyes scoured the crowd around him and he discovered two of Phoenix’s friends, Dismas and Lionel, sitting in the opposite corner. Ash thought it odd that Phoenix wouldn’t even allow his closest friends to sit up front.

* * * *

Across the hall from the chapel was a series of private dressing rooms occupied by the wedding party. Goddard paced to and fro barking orders and giving time updates to the people inside.

“Ten more minutes, groom!” he shouted while knocking on Phoenix’s door. “How do those slacks fit, My Lord?” he asked King Satan through his door.

“This is nonsense!” Al Satan cried. Goddard poked his head into the room and saw the King struggling to stuff himself into a pair of dress slacks. “They fit me yesterday!” Al insisted.

“Tailor!” Goddard shouted, and Gio came running.

“Is it the slacks?” Gio asked, charging into the room without even knocking. “What the heck? Those things fit yesterday! We’re going to have to do some last minute tailoring!” Gio pulled a small sewing kit out from his suit pocket, and brandishing the thread and needle like a weapon, pounced on the King’s pants.

Goddard ignored their struggle and moved onto Shiva’s room. “Ten minutes, bride!”

Inside the room, Shiva did not feel like bride on her wedding day. She was nervous and uncomfortable staring at her reflection in the full-length mirror. The dress Gio had made for her was pretty, but it was not her style. She couldn’t wait to get back in her armor again. Her face had more makeup on it than she’d ever worn in her life, and even wearing her hair down and curled made her feel like a visitor in her own body.

Staring at the unfamiliar sight of herself, she became lost in thought.  Ash’s words kept replaying in her head, and now of all times she was starting to question if maybe Ash was right. She wondered if she would enjoy being married to Phoenix. A light knocking on her door snapped her out of her trance. “What, Goddard? I’m ready!” she shouted.

“Hey girl,” Gio said, poking his head into the room. “Mind if I come in and chat?”

“Weren’t you busy helping my father?” Shiva asked.

“Oh I took care of him
real
quick,” Gio assured her ominously. “So how are you feeling? It’s always normal to experience some pre-wedding jitters.”

“Gio, I’ve known you for a while now,” Shiva said. “Do you think I’m making the right decision here?”

“I think as long as you’re happy, you are making the correct decision,” Gio said with a smile. Shiva replied with a weak smile, attempting to fool Gio into thinking that his advice had brought her some relief. “You
are
happy, aren’t you?”

“I am, I mean I was, I mean I will be…” Shiva stammered. Gio raised a curious eyebrow, and she continued. “I’m definitely the happiest I’ve been in my life. I’m finally leading my own team, I’ve got a cool fiancé who’s an old buddy, it’s all good. It’s just…”

“You have a crush on one of your teammates!” Gio said, his eyes wide with excited gossip. “Well who is it, Ash or Aura?”

“No, Gio, that’s
definitely
not it,” Shiva insisted with a passion. “It’s just that I was perfectly happy
before
getting engaged to Phoenix. Now things are gonna go changing... What if I’ve ruined the best thing I ever had?”

“Why don’t you do what I always do,” said Gio. “Picture the last time you were really happy. If you can recreate that moment or memories like it again in the future, then I think you’ll be okay,” he said. Gio then exited the room with a smile and a wave, leaving Shiva to give his advice a try.

She shut her eyes and scanned her memories back through the last few months, certain the magical memory of happiness would be one that involved Phoenix. Shiva pulled memories like books off the shelves in her mind, flipping through each one, looking for the best parts, and finally putting it back to reach for another.

Then a strange memory popped into her head. She thought back on a time just last week when she had been sparring with Ash. The boy had hit her with an unexpected punch to her jaw, which actually floored the girl. She dropped to the grass and gripped her chin in pain.

“Oh my gosh, I really got you there! I’m sorry!” Ash said, dropping to his knees beside her to assess the damage.

“It’s fine,” Shiva said. “It didn’t hurt.” The red patch of skin around her mouth indicated otherwise, and the girl itched with the urge to rub her aching face.

“No, I totally hit you with almost all my strength! That had to hurt!” Ash insisted. He started laughing to himself. “You’re really going to pretend it didn’t hurt? Not even a little?”

Shiva’s entire face turned red at having been found out, but the girl just looked away. “It really didn’t hurt.”

“It totally hurt! Just admit it!”

The two fought back and forth about it for a while, and eventually Aura joined the conversation. The memory stopped there, and to Shiva’s surprise she found herself smiling when she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“Groom! It’s time!” came more shouting from Goddard in the hall. “Let’s get this wedding started!”

* * * *

The sappy organ music came to an end as the priest took his place at the front of the chapel. The entire crowd stood at his command “All rise!” A fresh round of music began courtesy of the organ player, but this time it was more upbeat and pleasant. Everyone’s head turned as Phoenix entered the chapel and slowly marched down the aisle. Ash was instantly jealous of his black long coat.  Phoenix lumbered proudly to the altar, standing to the right of the priest.

The music changed to a different, ‘here comes the bride’ kind of sound. Shiva was finally putting the ‘lady’ in Lady Shiva. As she entered the chapel there were gasps of awe and wonder all throughout the crowd. Ash and Aura were paralyzed in surprise. Shiva actually looked like a girl!

She looked so good in fact, most people overlooked the sad sight of her flabby father clutching onto her. He was trying his hardest not to cry, but his twisted face was giving away his grief. The two of them pushed forward until they reached the altar and joined Phoenix and the priest. King Al Satan stood off to the side awkwardly, trying to stay involved.

The priest began by allowing everyone to sit down. He thanked the people for coming and launched into a speech about what marriage meant. The speech led into a song when a choir of four men in white robes was brought in to sing. The priest continued talking, this time about Shiva. The poor bride was blushing, but it was from embarrassment.

After her life-story was wrapped up, the choir then had to sing a traditional devil love song in her honor. They said the song was meant to bring her good luck in her marriage, but all it did was make her more uncomfortable. Worse yet was Phoenix standing right next to her looking as cool and composed as ever.