Cinder tensed up a moment, her scarred hand instinctively clasping the amulet that was worn at all times. Who could blame her? It’s not everyday a giant tree looking thing with fire for eyebrows sniffs you–
“Well, she understood that I was still in there- I don’t serve it. I have no say in the matter- It’s honestly a long story– And I’m sure you have things to do-”
He’d noticed the scars and he suspected they had something to do with the demonic possession the girl was trying to talk around. But Aku did not let people off the hook so easily, especially not when he was curious.
“I will decide what things I must do and when I shall do them,” he snapped before narrowing his eyes. “Tell me about this demon.”
“In a sense, I am. Azura was the one who helped me gain control over my body almost a year ago to date-“
Her expression became slightly downcast at the mention of Azura. Questions soon racked her brain. Was she okay?
Aku leaned closer as if to inspect the girl, his nostril twitching slightly as he tried to get a read on her scent. “And was it she who helped you contain the demon for whom you serve as a vessel?”
Casper closed her eyed, watching the visions as they came and went. It was fascinating if not horrifying. When Aku spoke the visions paused, listening to what he had to say. Casper stretched her legs out in front of her, blinking a few times.
“I guess they want to disbelieve that there’s something out there that is worse then the human mind.” Casper acknowledged. “And anything like you can be over come by that same human evil. It’s hard to say really.”
This was where Aku would thoughtfully thread his beard between a thumb and forefinger… if he wasn’t so effectively confined.
‘Hmph. I suppose human evil truly is a force to be reckoned with.’ The level of evil humans were capable of achieving was pretty impressive after all, even to a being like Aku. ‘Though I daresay the humans who call you sick would not be able to ignore ME so easily.’
“Of course! You got it, old friend,” he said, pointing a finger at his alternate.
“Excellent!” Without a second thought. Aku snatched up his alternative and pulled him down into a tight, coil embrace of a hug. “You shell be cuddling with me from now on,” Yes, this was his evil plan all along.
Aku thought he’d been prepared for whatever trick his other self had in store for him but it turned out that wasn’t the case. He was surprised to suddenly find himself in such a tight embrace.
“BLEH! YOU—” he shouted as the coils wrapped around him.
It would be easy enough for Aku to shapeshift into something smaller and hard to grasp or even teleport out of his other self’s coils. But rather than take the easy way out, he decided to stay and struggle for dominance. Two could play at this game, after all.
Forming tentacles of his own, Aku coiled them around his alternate just as tightly and tried to wrestle him into submission. In the mass of tentacles, it quickly became too hard to tell where one Aku ended and the other began.
“EXCELLENT!” Aku rejoiced, throwing his clawed hands into the air. But his joy was short-lived as he saw Azura lower her head. Once again that strange and unsettling feeling gripped his chest. What was it? Guilt?
The demon’s hands rested on his lap like two dead weights and his expression turned sorrowful.
“I deeply regret that I could not be of help to you, Azura,” he spoke, his head bowed in shame. The best he’d been able to do was stop himself from becoming another source of pain for her. A moment of silence passed before Aku’s horns perked up slightly as hope returned.
“But it seems that you have found a way to remove his mark.”
“I… did, didn’t I?”
A small smile appeared on her face, and the girl gently patted the shogun with her hand, trying her best to comfort him.
“And it’s alright, Mr. Aku. As long as he had that stupid goop on my soul, no one could help me. I’m really grateful that you didn’t intervene, I always thought that the lesser people were involved, it’d be easier to pry myself out of it, you know? And I couldn’t give Gaster the advantage of using those close to me against me.” Gaster was a tough opponent, but with her being alive and well? She was confident that she’s tougher. A success like this was something that she should be proud of.
As someone who had never been comforted by anyone before, Aku looked mildly baffled when Azura patted his hand. Though in a way, it did help to put him slightly more at ease.
“As unusual as it may sound, I am the last being that wishes to cause you harm,” he said and boy he wasn’t lying about how unusual it was. It was one thing to think such thoughts, quite another to give voice to them. He felt almost dirty at how pure it sounded.
“When I confronted the Doctor, he made it clear to me that he would not hesitate to damage your soul. I admit that I feared for you after the fiend evaded my attempts to destroy him. But it is clear to me now just how strong you have become!” The demon sat tall, his chest filled with infinite pride at how far she had come.
“As a being of darkness, I may be unable to defeat that monster,” he confessed. “But I fully believe that you can.”
Azura, being someone who was genuinely fearful of butterflies, was baffled when she found herself gently cupping the fluttering creature instead of shooing it out.
“Don’t worry, I got you.” The girl said in a gentle tone, full of warmth and care. She brought the butterfly to her bedroom window and set it by the windowsill.
But the pesky insect didn’t seem eager to fly away or leave her hand. When Azura tried to set it down, it perched on her hand once more and there it sat, opening and closing its wings. The bright red coloration on its wings looked atypical of any known species and seemed to resemble small flames.
Whatever type of butterfly happened to be, it was content to rest on her hand as though it had found what it was looking for.
The Shogun of Sorrow 