Chapter Eight

"We are all born mad. Some remain so." –Samuel Beckett

I.

"So you're telling me," Regulus said slowly, "that you used to be a male bat demon named Kuronue who was is a maybe-relationship with a fox demon called Kurama, and that you were both thieving partners together before you both went on a heist that went wrong that resulted in you sort-of dying but not really. Then you got reborn as a human girl."

"Yeah," Kuronue said, not looking up from her task of carving runes into the floor. They were in her room, all her furniture pushed to the sides of the room.

"What do you mean by 'maybe-relationship'?"

"Hm…" Kuronue paused to try to put her thoughts into words. "Well, I guess to him we were fuck buddies, but I was in love with him…. So, it was a one-sided love, but a two-sided attraction."

Regulus shuddered. "Sex is disgusting."

Kuronue gaped. "You are a teenage boy, and you think sex – one of the most magnificent things ever thought up by the holy God of Sex – is disgusting?!"

"It's unsanitary," Regulus said with a grossed out face. "I'm never having sex. Never."

"Well," Kuronue huffed in disbelief. "That'll become a problem when you're forced to marry in order to carry on the 'Black line'. Especially 'cause any of Sirius' illegitimate spawn won't be recognized since he's been cast out of the family."

Regulus made a dismissive noise. "Don't worry. I've got a plan."

"And what is this genius plan of yours?" Kuronue materialized a sharp dagger out of thin air and abruptly cut into the palm of her hand.

"Whoa – whoa!" Regulus freaked out at the sign of blood. "Why're you cutting yourself?!"

"I've told you before," Kuronue said, sounding exasperated and not at all pained. "Blood works better for rituals than purified chalk."

"Well," Regulus dithered, then muttered, "I just never thought there'd be actual blood…."

Kuronue scoffed and let the blood welling up from her palm stream down her index and middle fingers. Then she crouched down and started to write in her blood. "Anyway. What was your plan?"

"I figured I'd just marry you."

Kuronue lost her balance and toppled backwards from her crouch. She looked up at Regulus with wide eyes, "… What?"

II.

"So you're telling me," Kuronue said slowly, "that you decided one day, all on your own, that you were gonna marry me so your parents wouldn't set you up with an arranged marriage to a girl who would demand sex from you when really all you want to do is curl up under the covers and maybe cuddle a bit."

"Yes," he bobbed his head in a nod.

Kuronue whacked him upside the head with her unbloodied hand.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

Kuronue crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side obnoxiously. "That was the most unromantic proposal ever. To make it up to me, you are going to buy me jewelry for our anniversaries and special occasions."

Regulus nodded easily: his family had enough money to last several of his lifetimes, with more coming in because of investments. "Does that mean you're saying yes? You'll marry me but promise to never have sex with me?"

Kuronue rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah. I'm saying yes, and I promise I'll never threaten your virtue."

III.

"So do I call you Rose or Kuronue?" Regulus asked, idly picking at his nails and waiting for the ritual preparation to be over with so he could do his part.

"Uh, that's your choice I guess…"

"Well, what do you call yourself?"

"Um… I still consider myself to be Kuronue in my head – it's been my name for hundreds of years and my mother gave it to me – but I still respond to Rosalie, Rose and Rosie…. I suppose I consider them both my name, Kuronue's just been with me longer."

Regulus nodded thoughtfully. "I'll probably always call you Rose in my head: it's what I'm used to. But I may call you Kuronue sometimes."

"That's okay," Rose smiled at him.

Regulus wasn't even going to touch the fact that Rose used to be a man. He didn't think he'd ever get used to that.

IV.

Regulus' job with the ritual was to power it with his magic, because though Kuronue was the only one who understood the confusing runes and symbols, she was unable to actually start the ritual and carry it through because of her inability to use her magic effectively.

"Just put your hands here," she indicated to Regulus the hand shaped outlines she'd made in blood for him, "and push your magic out. Of your hands, obviously."

Regulus gave the bloody outlines a squeamish look, but did as told.

He pushed his magic out and waited. For a moment nothing happened and Regulus shot Kuronue a nervous look, but then in the middle of the rune array something began to take shape and he snapped he gaze back to it.

V.

Regulus watched in amazement as what appeared to be a rough circular window came into existence in the middle of Rose's bedroom. The window looked out to a world with a red and purple sky and giant stalks of bamboo. Air, humid and a bit foul, wafted into Rose's bedroom.

There was no doubt in Regulus' mind that this was a world separate from his, and the uncertainty he had been harbouring in the back of his mind dissolved. Rose was truly who she said she was; Rose was a demon.

"You did it…." Regulus breathed. When he looked at Rose though, her face was not triumphant that she had made this previously impossible portal a reality. Her face was grim. "What?"

She looked at him urgently. "You have to keep the portal open. I'd been hoping – stupidly – that my pendant would just be lying visibly on the dirt, but it's no doubt been stomped on and buried. I need to go through the portal and dig for it."

Regulus looked at her in panic, "Rose – Rose, I don't know how I can – I mean, I don't know if I can—"

She looked him in the eye, "You can do it. You have the strongest magic out of everyone I've met in this world. You can do this Regulus." She said it with utter sincerity, and Regulus could only nod shakily before she jumped through.

VI.

Kuronue could sense Amarante's power and essence just below the earth. It felt so close, and all Kuronue wanted was for it to be back around her neck where she could let the power wash over her and clear her mind.

She had been good at hiding it – knowing the symptoms made it easier to hide – but Kuronue, for the last couple years, she had been getting visions on and off every day, and she could feel an ice pick taking chunks out of her sanity. Though it would probably take years, her sanity would surely shatter if she didn't get her pendant back soon. The only reason Kuronue had lasted longer than puberty (which had been her estimated deadline) was because of Occlumency.

Kuronue fell to her knees hard in Demon World and started digging with abandon.

VII.

It was like pulling the plug out of a full bathtub. Slowly, unnoticed yet before your very eyes, the water started to drain. Then, before you know it, where there was once a full tub, now there was only half. You think to yourself: How did I not see it happening? I pulled the plug myself, how did I not notice the water was disappearing? You look away, and when you look back, the water is only as high as two fingers width, and now you find you can't look away. Because now you notice, now you can see the water level decreasing, and you wonder to yourself: At the very end, will there be a whirlpool? Will it make the suction noise? And it does. There is a loud sucking coming from the drain, and it is fascinating to watch, to imagine feeling the noise rumbling through your body.

But what happens after, when all the water is gone?

VIII.

Regulus panted. Sweat dripped off his nose. His eyes were half-mast, and his whole frame was sagging and shaky.

"I almost have it!" Rose called out, elbow deep in dirt and worms and bugs. Her voice was strange when it came from the other side of the portal, tinny and faint. Regulus half expected to hear static.

Regulus wheezed but was unable to reply, because the last dregs of his magic had just left him. Yet, he kept his hands where they were, outlined by Rose's browning, flaking blood. As the portal shuddered and started to close, Regulus tried to push, tried to find more magic to give. He had to keep it open; if it closed with Rose on the other side, who knew how long it would take her to make it back to Human World?

He felt something give, and through his blurred vision saw in amazement as white energy surged down his arms in actual visible tendrils, and stabilized the portal. The opening to Demon World had shrunk in half, but Regulus thought Rose could make it through. He hoped.

"I have it!" Rose yelled, scrambling to her feet on stiff knees and taking a bit of a run before she jumped through the portal, tucking her limbs close to her torso to make a ball in order to fit.

Regulus tore his hands away immediately and passed out.

IX.

Regulus woke up slowly. He was in a comfortable half-asleep and didn't intend to leave for quite a while considering he could feel the awful headache he would have once he was fully aware. When he finally deigned to open groggy eyes, he wondered if this was what hangovers felt like.

"Good," a relieved sigh. "You're awake." The rim of a glass was pressed against his lips, and Regulus saw no reason why he shouldn't drink. He was probably dehydrated or something: that was why he felt so terrible. He kind of regretted that once he got a taste of the disgusting concoction in his mouth, but after he swallowed and immediately felt his headache dissipate, he thought it was probably worth it.

His eyesight sharpened and he saw Rose leaning over him, concern on her face.

"How're you feeling?" She asked.

He sat up slowly, noticing that he'd been laid down on Rose's bed. "Fine. What happened?"

"You ran out of magic during the ritual and started using your life energy."

Regulus' brain kind of stopped. For a solid ten seconds, which is a record for him. Then his eyes lit up in realization, remembering why he'd passed out, "Oh!"

Rose grinned, "Yeah."

"So where's your pendant?"

She grabbed the necklace around her neck, and Regulus noticed that there was still dirt under her fingernails, yet the chain and pendant were pristine. "Here it is." She stroked the red stone fondly.

Regulus smiled back at her, seeing that her eyes for once were completely focussed. "Good… now can I take a nap?"

X.

Raphael looked up from his glass of whiskey and book when his daughter and Regulus came downstairs after hours of being holed up in her room doing their summer homework.

"How'd it go then?" He asked. "Did you get your work done?"

Rosie smiled and came skipping to Raphael's side, taking a seat beside him on the couch and giving him a sideways hug. "Yep. Well, mostly. We got the tough summer work out of the way; only the easy stuff is left."

"That's good, Rosie."

"Oh, and Regulus proposed and gave me an engagement present. See how pretty?" She practically shoved the red jeweled pendant in his face.

"It's beautiful," Raphael assured her, and she beamed at him, giving him another – longer – hug. Raphael wrapped his arms around her, and over the top of her head he gave Regulus a menacing stare.

Regulus gulped.