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She was supposed to be nicer than the 2nd wife. Everyone knew that. But when the late Lady Gyokumen was, in no other terms for it, a complete bitch, it doesn't take much for literally anyone to be better than her.
Her son stared at her from the middle of the hallway. "Mother…" He whispered, eyes misty with unshed tears. There was no one else with him, his sister, bright as the orange flame she resembled was gone, taken by that mad scientist and he couldn’t save her. No one could. Doku, his right hand man, slain by that… that creature that called itself a god, too quickly, too quickly for anyone to react. And Yaone, his ever faithful servant, gone missing one day with her mangled body found in the corner of the castle. It was only him left now, only him with the spell to call out the fire demons they took precedence over, only him, bitterness in his eyes as he finished off the bitch calling herself his stepmother. Only him looking at the figure before him, released at last from the confines of hard stone.
That accursed Sanzo ikkou had left not five minutes before he started the invocation, using all the souls of the dead that had been left behind after the feral Son Goku tore through his castle guardsmen. The priest stayed behind to watch him feverishly draw the runes on the floor, holding onto what that blinded insane scientist told him right before vanishing yet again.
“It won’t work.” When that didn’t elicit a response. “The dead can only stay dead, you know that.”
The prince ignored him, closing his eyes in a sort of prayer as he tried his best to recreate what the crow told him minutes prior. With a shake of his head, Sanzo left through the same door his companions dragged themselves through, with what seemed almost like pity in his eyes.
It doesn’t matter. It's worth it. It has to be worth it.
With a sigh that sounded almost exactly like the warm hugs that he remembered, she straightened up and carefully stretched. Not too much mind you, just enough to allow blood to reforge their path through fossilized veins. Dark purple eyes blinked slowly at him, a strange undercurrent in them as she smiled and held out her arms.
"My son."
Without hesitation, Kougaiji ran to her, feeling very much like the small boy he was when she was suspended from life, and hugged her. She felt hard and unyielding, a far cry from the warmth and softness he remembered. A clawed hand touched his ears and he tensed, feeling bittersweet at the presence of what was not there.
"Lady Gyokumen… She took your earrings from me." He choked out, not wanting to let go of his childhood remembrances. She took a lot more than that from him, but it didn’t matter. Everything was worth it for this moment. He pressed his face into her rock hard shoulder, trying to gather his emotions as he tried hard not to break out in tears.
Looking back, that was the first mistake. Even more so from that very first crack that something was wrong. His mother was taken from him, dead in all the ways she should be. No one should have survived being encased in stone for all those years. No human, no youkai, not even a kami should have survived something so incompatible with life but also…
Also… the thing about being irrevocably dead and then somehow coming back is that, other than being by all means impossible, is that sometimes you come back wrong.
The angelic serenade that seemed to encase him suddenly went off key. "I should have killed that servant bitch when I first saw her." A vice firm hand pulled him away from her, surveying his confused and weakened state. What she saw disgusted her, tears have no place on those who rule. She looked around, seeing the destroyed attempt at reanimating her husband behind him. That servant bitch was lying in the corner, the smug expression on her face finally erased by the slit across her throat. "I have no competitors, and no husband now." She said in a high sharp voice as those kind eyes that he remembered in childhood narrowed. She focused now, listening for the voice that accompanied her as she stood dying in the stone all those years back. It was there still, cracked, faded, but she could hear the soft cawing, hear him telling her to bide her time and he’ll find a way to intervene with the resurrection, but if only she’d trust this small mechanical black bird perching on her shoulder in the dead of the night.
"Yes, but you have your loyal son, Mother. I would do anything for you. I have done everything for you." Blinded by stupidly misplaced emotion, the reign of King Kougaiji the Red came to an abrupt end as he collapsed at the feet of Empress Rasetsunyo the Unmerciful, her claws crimson with the colors of her house.
"I can always make another son.” A soft flutter of wings and a weathered half rusted crow came creaking down onto her shoulder. She reached out to pet it, slowly, as she concentrated on getting her limbs to move under her own willpower. She whispered something into its beak and sent it off with another flutter of wings. “And as promised, dear night crow, I will help you bring back your beloved moon.”