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"I have been advised not to let you visit the prisoner alone," Kazfiel told him. He turned his head over his shoulder and fixed the angelic warder a stony glare.
"I am perfectly capable of handling a prisoner I have already personally defied and defeated," he said in a tone that warned of the consequences of further argument. Still, the angel persisted.
"Michael warned me that you were in danger of bias towards this particular prisoner, Radiant One, what with him being your brother..."
"He is not my brother," snapped the Messiah. He regarded the prisoner and noted the visible pain in his features as the words were spoken, in the way he flinched and winced, despite his attempt to appear calm and controlled in his meditative pose as he in turn watched his jailers.
"I am also," he continued, punctuating the statement with the roar of silver flames that suddenly rushed up his flourished right arm, "Not outranked by Michael. Or even, technically, Metatron. So you will go to your Archangel right now and inform them that if they should ever try to pull rank on me again, our Lord's ultimate plan for them may... change.
"But... Messiah... I do not think the news would sound best coming from me..."
"Your poor relationship with your superior is none of my business. Begone," he snapped. Reluctantly, the angel teleported out of the room.
"What are you looking at me like that for, Naoya?" The Messiah turned his attention back to the prisoner, who frowned again as the reincarnation of his brother spoke his mortal name, rather than his eternal name - Cain.
"I assume you have an actual reason for this visit, dearest Naitō," the older man returned the perceived insult by using the Messiah's own mortal name. Now, that's a name I haven't heard for a long time, the Messiah silently mused to himself. The Agents of the Divine Law only addressed him as 'Messiah', various honorifics depending on their own ranks in a hierarchy so complicated as to beggar belief, or, if they felt themselves to be his equal, his eternal name 'Abel'.
The attempted jibe did not ruffle him in the slightest. He was pleased to see that Naoya's spirit still held the same fire, that he had not been broken on the wheels of the Thrones. Not that the man was receiving anything like the level of punishment that would be appropriate for the crimes he had committed and readily admitted to. The Fires of Hell had scarcely brushed against his cheek. In fact, the worst he really had to endure was a long, humiliating wait in a featureless limbo where he was interrogated every day or just left in a madding silence to ponder his eventual fate. Abel had seen the worst that the Abyss had to offer and he was determined to keep Naoya out of it, even if it meant that these ridiculous rumours that his brother was manipulating him needed to be constantly quashed.
"Do you not wish to know why I decided, after long deliberation, no longer to call you 'Brother'?"
"Because I am the antithesis of all you hold dear? Because Amane told you to?" Naoya guessed, clearly annoyed at the other man's lack of reaction.
"Far from it. Because I will not be controlled by the fate decided for me, by events long past, any more than I am controlled by the demons I bind, by you, or by Metatron," he replied.
"And yet you readily sacrifice the world for your Lord's bidding," Naoya sneered.
"Do you still not understand why I sided with Law? Because they are the most powerful faction, and I am now the second most powerful person within it."
"I should have guessed. So, when do you hope to be the first most powerful?" his eyes lit up, his grin showing off perfect white teeth. By the Lord, but the man was still beautiful, with his soft, flowing silver hair, the green silk kimono he still always wore, the effortless, deadly grace in his posture, "I suppose you would like help. Well, I'm not going anywhere. As long as we are in charge, the King of a slightly worse tyranny is not so different from the Bel King, I suppose."
"Oh, trust me, once I am confident that I am firmly in control, there will be changes, so many changes," he smiled, "There is another reason why I do not wish to call you 'brother', you know."
"Do tell me," Naoya spread his arms back and floated backwards in the void until he reclined in mid-air, head rested on his arms, legs crossed. He's already mastered the art of moving in limbo-space, noted the Messiah.
"It's because there are certain things it is forbidden, by common decency, to think about in relation to your brother, never mind to actually do," Naitō grinned, "I realise that you do not abide by such restrictive rules, that you believe morality to be an artificial tool for the weak to shackle the strong, but I, myself, find certain things simply aesthetically repulsive. Do you understand? I have never thought of you as a brother. I always saw a potential lover, maybe even a partner for life."
"And now you have me at your mercy, subject to your every whim. How clever of you."
"Oh, leave me out of your more twisted fantasies! Except the one about the Nekomata and the Succubus joining in, I happen to like that one," Naitō smiled, "I am trusting you just as much with this information as you are trusting me with your life and your," he broke into laughter at the thought, no longer able to keep a straight face, "... Purity. Seriously, though, there are angels at every tier who are just waiting for an excuse to find out just such interesting pieces of gossip and get me punished a hundred times worse than anything intended for you - with themselves as my replacement, as a reward for such observant monitoring, of course. I intend to find an excuse to release you and have you working at my side as soon as I can think of a cover story, but right now, I can't even go to the bathroom without someone trying to find out whether the light really shines out of my arse or not."
"There are other things I can still do from here, you know. More practical than being a good prisoner and keeping my mouth shut. In fact, there are things I already have in motion."
"I'm sure there are. Try not to get us both in trouble with them," Naitō gave a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Oh, nobody will ever know. And, brother... I'm still going to call you brother, you know. I simply can't help not being as squeamish as you. And I've got to say, brother, that you really do make the perfect fallen angel," he laughed as Naitō opened his eyes wide, "Yes, I am aware of who else you've been talking to about this. Who put you up to this, in fact. His power signature is so massive that it's giving me a headache just watching you both."
Naitō snorted, "I'll surpass him, too, eventually."
"I'm sure you will," Naoya grinned at him, "I'm sure you will."