Arisa felt serious, her eyes gazed at the bushes as she was ready for some people to jump out or even some creature. She remembered the creature that chased her last time when she was adventuring out in the open lands in Baska - with Alisa. First people were kidnapping, second people were going to sacrifice her, third people were sending creatures after her and fourth it was people who were chasing after her... now this? Her emotions felt angered as she clenched her fist - ready to punch someone's face. As serious as it was turning out to be, the bushes moved faster and sounded closer till POOF!

A bunny hopped out and looked at them both. It's little pink nose wiggled and ear moved a little. ''Awe... it's a cute bunny...'' she spoke in her high pitched voice. It ran off quickly afterwards. ''Did my voice scare?'' she thought out-loud. She turned to watch the bunny run off and out of no where she felt a force that grabbed her. Her body started to get dragged back from behind and into the bushes. ''Lucifer!'' she yelled and out of no where a branch whacked the back of her head. ''Owe...! Let me go! Haha'' she yelled and laughed because of her voice. She tried to twist her wrists as she felt her wrists being tied together by some nature-made material. Her light was too weak to break these cuffs of bark and vines. Suddenly in the middle of no where she wasn't being dragged anymore... But now she felt lost in the middle of the woods. Slowly, she got up with her wrists still being tied together and started to walk about.

''Where am I now...?'' she questions. The area was so dark, too dark to see, too dark to know what was there. Her head started to play games as she then yelled. ''Lucifer?!'' she feared of 'them' getting her... She ran and ran throughout the forest as she remembered clearly of her adoptive siblings being killed by these people. Her eyes opened in shock when the moon simply shined upon a body. Not just any body, as they wore the face of Fye. Her maid and friend who they killed and stuffed into the creak of the tree and all she could see now was her face... 'Please... someone...' she thought with a tear from her right eye falling down her cheek. Turning away from it, she ran. She felt so tired of being played. These silly games... people going for her to kill, use or some other shenanigans. A part of her wanted to give up, but she couldn't right now...

The two of them were on edge, worried about something approaching and ready to fight should it be an enemy. That then caused them both to be a bit silly when it turned out to be a rabbit, one who was instantly frightened off by Arisa's high pitched squealing and ran away. That was about the last normal thing to happen, as Odin lost consciousness almost instantly: a force coming from directly behind him that caused him to fall to the ground.

When at last he woke up, seemingly only a few minutes after he'd been knocked out, he was still in the camp, but he was the only one there. Arisa had disappeared, Odin had no idea where to. There was no indication of a struggle, just tracks leading into the bushes of a dragged body.Looking into the forest, Odin could feel some kind of power coming from it, but he had no way to interpret it for now. Currently, what was important was finding his friend. Thankfully, he had an easy way to do that. Raising his hands, ten of his weaker summons would rise from the ground, blades sheathed at their sides but ready in case they were required. Nodding, Odin would watch them fan out into the forest, before he himself would follow on.

His plan involved either one of two things happening. Either one of his minions would find Arisa, and then report back to Odin and lead him to his friend. That was the outcome he hoped would occur, but he had to prepare for a second one. The second possibility was that one of his minions would be killed and disperse by something in the forest. If that happened, Odin would feel it, and know where that minion was, but it would mean that he wasn't alone. He and Arisa would have someone to deal with.

God he hoped it would be the first outcome.

She wandered in the woods that was filled by darkness due to it being night. All she could hear was the coos of birds of the night and noises from insects. There were trees in every corner with some being older and more scratched up than others. She wondered where Lucifer was, but it was like things that were happening between her memories, her fears and just her mind in general it was making it worse. This place was playing tricks on her and things just became worse when she saw people behind her creeping out in the shadows. Covered with sheets like the family of the abyss themselves and all you could see were wicked grins of shining white like a Cheshire cat.

Her heart jumped and with every turn they were there standing there, closing in. ''No! Leave me alone!'' she screamed as they got closer. ''Baldar... help me.'' she whispered with tears. With that a burst of light erupted the area within an eight meters diameter. Everything was destroyed; trees and the people within the shadows. Her eyes opened up more to see they were now gone as if she felt saved. Slowly she got up, legs wobbled quite unsteady. Once she took a couple of breathers, she ran off and once again saw them behind her as she looked back. ''Leave me alone!'' she yelled and kept on running into the unknowns of the forest. Out of no where one reached her back with some sort of scythe, cutting her and making some sort of red mark. It was under her tattoo mark of what the sun gave her. Wincing in pain, she continued on running as her endurance was able to withstand the pain.

No matter how hard he searched for the angel, Odin couldn't locate Arisa anywhere. Nor could his minions, who were combing through the forest at perfect efficiency, checking every inch of the dense forest to see if they could locate her, but to no avail. As he began walking, Odin himself started hearing things, noises echoing throughout the forest from all over the place. Whatever was making the noises, it didn't sound human, nor did it sound friendly, putting the Lich on guard. Darkness had never been a fear of Odin's, not since he became a Lich and embraced it, but he didn't know how that would be affecting Arisa.

Luckily, he would find her general location before long. Out of nowhere, a flash of light and a large explosion were created, further into the forest that Odin currently was, but the sheer force of it told him exactly who it was that caused it. If the creature in the forest were darkness, then they couldn't harm Odin, but neither could they create such force. Arisa, on the other hand, could be damaged by them, but so too could her power be used to annihilate them. Unaware of her present condition, Odin and his remaining minions (after two of which had been caught in the blast) pressed on to the source of the attack.

What he saw once more made him aware of just how strong Arisa was. The trees had been destroyed, and there were piles of ash on the ground in discrete positions. Whoever was chasing her, they hadn't done a great job of preparing. However, Arisa was nowhere to be seen, suggesting she was still being chased by whatever it was. He couldn't be more than a few minutes behind Arisa, and he had to caught up to her, more than he knew.

She ran fast through the forest as she was wincing in pain. The scar was beating with imminence pain to where her eyes were bloodshot from the hardcore crying as she was being chased by men who were willing to take her. Was it all in her mind, was it some psychological phenomenon controlling her greatest fears - making them come alive?  Where was Lucifer... where was her beloved friends... her lover. The wind started to get intense, throwing leaves and branches left and right within the forest. Her head turned back for a small moment to see them not there, but out of no where she then felt pain against her face causing her to fall back. Her body hit the moist mixed dirt as she rammed into a large tree branch right into the face.

No matter how much you run, we're always watching you and we will catch you.

She could hear those words being whispered as she was in a daze. After several moments, she could hear footsteps and sounds of crackling bones. Her eyes slowly opened trying to collect on what's happening, but her vision was all in a blur. 'Am I still on the ground?' she wondered as her head turned and fingers clenched some earth soil to prove herself correct. 'Yea... I am.' she told herself and finally her vision was seeing more clearly that it was a second ago. A figure of white was close by that seemed like some figure of bones. ''Guessing you belong to Lucifer... Or so I hope.'' she questioned tiredly and tried to push herself up with her hands against the ground. Slowly, she sat up and used her sleeves of the jacket she had to wipe her face. ''Where is he?'' she questioned, trying to clean and dry off her face so she didn't look so ridiculous.

Thank god, Odin got a word back from one of his minions: they had found her. Having sent them all out in the direction of Arisa's attack that vaporised whatever had been in the area, Odin himself had run forward to try and see if he could see what his summons could perhaps not. It only took a few minutes, before all of his minions starting running in one singular direction, giving Odin the signal that one of them had found his friend. Arriving just a few minutes behind the skeleton that had found her, sprinting at a much faster speed than his summons, Odin reached her location, breathing a deep sigh of relief that he had found her.

Offering a hand to help her to her feet, Odin had to ask, his voice full of fear and worry, "Arisa, are you okay? Something knocked me out from behind, and when I came to you had disappeared. I sent my summons out, and thankfully one of them found you after seeing the explosion." Taking a moment, as he knew bombarding his friend with question straight away would be a mistake, Odin paused before asking one more, this time in a much quieter voice than previously, his tone calm and collected but still with a hint of worry, "What happened?"

Her eyes lowered as if she was questioning on if this was real or not. Was he really here? Was this real? The thing... The thing that grabbed her wasn't just a normal plant and the face she saw was real so this was real too, right? Her skin was pale as she then became expressionless. Her head tilted up to look at Odin who was asking her questions that seemed quite blur to her. Her hearing wasn't quite perfected till a few seconds later when she finally heard him asking what happened. Her head shook a little. ''I was... just suddenly grabbed and dragged through the forest and then...'' she started and gazed away from him. ''I saw horrors of my past and people chasing me. My emotions got the best of me and well... you saw the explosion.'' she stated and looked back. ''I... apologize...'' she said as if her emotions were just shot from this. When she stood up straight, Arisa dusted off her outfit from the dirt. Her head tilted downward, looked about to see if she missed anywhere and then looked back up at him.

''It seems like my past hunts me everywhere...'' she played a smile and chuckle as she tried to seem happy and even positive for her friend. ''Shall we walk back to our camp then?'' she spoke while trying to not share how scared she truly was.

Ah, an unprecedented 'attack' from the woods themselves, followed by an unpleasant trip down memory lane. As someone that knew all too much about keeping his past hidden and safely locked away, Odin knew something of what Arisa was talking about, of course he had no way of knowing the specifics of what she saw. Something about being chased, and people that were after her. She apologised for both her distress, and for the explosion, prompting a response from Odin, who was honestly glad the explosion had occurred, "No need to apologise, it's thanks to the explosion that I was able to find you so quickly. I'm just glad to see you're okay."

As she got back up, it was obvious that she wasn't completely herself, and she had been shaken up by what she had seen. This was a past she preferred never to discuss, nor did she ever allow herself to think about it. Whatever it was, Odin wouldn't ask, not unless given permission. For now, he decided it best to stick to what Arisa wanted to do, and return to the camp, as she tried her hardest to remain strong despite everything that happened. It was clear to Odin that she wasn't doing so well.

"That sounds like a good idea, let's go. We've still might still make it back before the fireworks start."

The images were like facts being smacked in her face. The shit that piled in her mind started to swirl as a pain and nauseated feel started to settle in the pit of her stomach. She felt sick. Swift images of what she saw, all she could do was keep on walking beside Odin. Slowly her skin was feeling cold as he walks were getting slower and slower till they were stumbles every couple of seconds. Why was she so cold? Was she like a flower who needed the light for warmth? Her head turned to look at Odin as she had to ask. Truthfully she didn't want to depend on anyone out of the fact of feeling stubborn, but if it was death or this then she rather feel warm and get carried.

''O-Odin...'' she spoke softly and ghostly as her tone was quiet. She shivered to a small level as she tugged on his sleeve. ''Can you carry me. I feel like I'll get to the fire too slowly.'' she questioned him and bit her lip. Arisa didn't want to say why she wanted to be carried specifically as she felt it was unnecessary. In will, she wasn't ready for death. No. There was so much left to do like finding her children and perhaps family. The wind swooped quickly making Arisa motion the same direction the wind did, but she put her weight into one side of her food to stand in place. If he rejected, she kept on walking instead in her slow steady pace.

The two began walking, with Odin naturally ending up in front as he was moving slightly faster. That slightly faster ended up becoming much faster than his friend, but not due to Odin speeding up. Arisa could barely walk, proving the mental difficulty of whatever she had just gone through. Her voice, usually strong and sure, was weak as it called for the Lich, asking for him to carry her back to the fire. She wasn't even strong enough to walk, and Odin had started moving without any thought for how his friend had to be feeling. Silently cursing himself for his thoughtlessness, Odin obliged by walking over to Arisa, and hoisting her up in a piggy back, her arms around his chest, and her legs around his thighs.

As they began walking as one, Odin couldn't help but mention, "You know, you're still the only person outside of former Grimoire Heart that knows me as Odin, so watch out who you call me it in front of. Don't want to deal with any awkward conversations." He chuckled lightly as he made his way back to the camp they had created, "Also, this is probably really uncomfortable for you. I'm all bone, sorry about that."

Odin walked on for about half an hour before they eventually made it back to the camp. Finding a comfortable chair out of the supplies that had been brought, Odin summoned a good amount of minions to make sure everything was fine. Overlooking the town, Odin and his minions sat Arisa on the chair, just in time for the first firework to explode in the night sky. It was a beautiful golden explosion, almost as if Arisa had created it herself with her magic.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Her legs were wobbling as if made of jello. Her heart was pounding like it belonged to a hummingbird and her breathing was heavy as if walking through deep snow, making the heart work. Suddenly, she felt a body against her as she was then picked up. Her face blushed quickly as she didn't expect him to actually do so. It felt nice. Really nice in fact. Perhaps it was because she never really had an actual childhood that it felt nice. Sure he was bony, but the clothes made her more comfortable for her body to be against as her chest pressed against his upper back. Arisa's strong soft arms were around his neck and placed on his chest and her thick legs were wrapped around his waist. Her scent of honey and heaven could be smelled although, due to him being a lich, he had a smell of death, but it wasn't the bad smell of a dead body. It was strange as it didn't bother her, no, to her he smelled like a man - as the man he once was.

She heard him talking to her which she listened carefully as her mind wandered off elsewhere. He was worried about people knowing his real name and didn't want her to speak of it in front of others or something like that. She smiled, ''It's alright, I'll just keep it in my mind or when we're alone sometimes. You'll be Lucifer to others...'' she spoke softly and chuckled. ''Never thought the first time I'd be carried like this would be by a Lich as an angel. Thank you...'' she spoke once more with a small squeeze of a hug from her. ''The feeling? The clothing makes it comfortable... I'm good.'' she answered about his insecurity and worry.

She enjoyed this quite a lot and perhaps too much. Fifteen minutes passed by as she nuzzled into his back. 'Why am I so comfortable against a spiny back? Is it because it's him?' she wondered as her lips frowned a little as if worried. She thought of something else as she remembered she was the Holy one's angel or so she believed as of now and he was a Lich. A signal of death as he was a reaper to her light. She motioned softly as to squeeze him a little in a hug once again. ''I don't want to lose this...'' she whispered and closed her eyes for a nap. Soon enough, it ended as she woke up fifteen minutes later and was put down to end up sitting on a chair. Her eyes gazed at Odin who was beside her watching the fireworks. They exploded a golden color like her eyes and that was when he asked her about them being beautiful. Her face blushed and looked away and then back up at the sky. 'Oh wait, he was talking about the fireworks.' she thought and gulped with a breather of relief or was it because she felt ridiculous? ''Ye-yea, it's more beautiful due to the darkness surrounding it with no other light to compare itself to.'' she spoke with a sweet smile from her pout-full lips and golden eyes gazing more at the sky as they exploded more colors. They were in so many shapes, so many colors as they reflected into her pupiless mirror-like eyes.

Thankfully, as Odin walked with an angel on his back, Arisa understood why he would want to continue being Lucifer, even if it wasn't his name. She told him she would only use his true name in her mind, or if they were alone, which Odin could grant. There were no rules that bound him to the name Lucifer, no threat of death looming for a man that spoke his true name as there once had been, many moons ago. Odin was free to be Odin if that was what he desired, but that was the issue. If you play a role for too long, you begin to forget who you were before it. Odin had been Lucifer for so many years now, he wasn't even sure if Odin was still a person that existed. Until he understood who he was, and who he wanted to be, Odin would play the role given to him, for however long that would be.

The angel on his back was another sad irony, which caused the Lich to chuckle lightly as they made their way back to camp. Darkness carrying light, evil carrying good, what an odd life the two had, and how glad Odin was that it had become intertwined. After all, it was obvious who would beat who if they had been enemies.

As they walked, Odin couldn't help but notice the occasional changes in the pressure Arisa was putting on him. For much of the walk, it was just a piggy back, with no real changes from what one would expect. However, he then felt a bit more pressure from her arms, as he realised she was hugging him as they walked. Odin said nothing, made no gesture to show her he noticed, but his face became softer. The hard bone features, which usually displayed menace and pain, showed compassion and tenderness. Arisa truly was a unique individual, and someone Odin cared much about.

The hugging then ceased as Arisa fell asleep on Odin for the final bout of the journey, waking once more in time to see the fireworks. She sat on the chair as Odin was on the ground, looking the explosions of light. Arisa replied to Odin's comment on the beauty saying it was the lack of light around it that made it so beautiful, which Odin couldn't help but agree with as he laughed before speaking, "In pure darkness, the light can shine the brightest." The links between the fireworks and Odin and Arisa's friendship were noticed by the Lich, but he chose not to mention them.

A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she heard Odin speak back to what she did say beforehand. She felt happy, warm and enjoyed this time with him. Was their bond increasing emotions? She felt a bond towards him, but was it lesser or more so than Noel's or Alisa's? She felt like she couldn't fight them unless they were hurting her, betrayed her as she would then destroy all that was in her way. She didn't want to think of the days ahead where it could be possible. The thought of fighting him terrified her to where she had a hard time keeping up with smiling.

The fireworks sadly ended as huge booms of light exploded the area one last night, but as that happened there was something in the sky that seemed to look like a shooting star. ''It's... beautiful.~ Well...'' she softly spoke and closed her eyes to wish for something in which she couldn't tell anyone. Once it was gone, or so she guessed Arisa opened her eyes and walked to the large tent with a yawn. ''Well... Time for Sleep.~ Good night Odin.'' she said sweetly with a happy smile, showing her pearly whites. Next, Arisa went in, walked towards her side and cuddles with the sleeping bag, wondering about her wish.

-exit-

With the fireworks, Arisa herself, and now a shooting star, the night truly had turned beautiful. The fireworks hadn't lasted as long as Odin had thought, but it had been a spectacle nonetheless, and the shooting star seemed to follow it as if on cue. Odin looked to his friend and saw her close her eyes, likely making a wish as was the custom upon the sight of the star.

Odin had never been one for such things, and the last time he had wished for anything he had lost all the flesh on his body, so he stayed silent, his eyes on Arisa, and then quickly darting back to the night sky when she opened her eyes so that she would potentially not notice his gaze. She then rose from her chair, with Odin standing to steady her in case she stumbled. She managed to stand with no difficulty, her strength having returned to her after the ordeal she had endured. She bade Odin a good night and retreated to the tent to get some sleep.

The Lich himself, having no need for things such as sleep anymore, stayed up and gazed into the night sky for some time, watching the stars, the lights from the town below as they dimmed and, before he realised it, he was watching the sunrise, having stayed up all night without any feeling of exhaustion having taken him.

Sometimes, this power was quite handy after all.

-Exit-