Chapter Text
Nerissa has gained a certain fondness for evenings in the mortal world.
Specifically, the ones where the moon is high in the sky, the winds blow a pleasant breeze through her hair, and the songs of crickets and cicadas accompany her thoughts.
On nights like this, she likes to venture out onto the cabin’s porch.
Deep in the woods as they are, there is solitude there, and it is solitude that the Demon craves now, more often than she would like.
Loneliness, to soothe the wound in her left by another’s parting. When she thinks about it like that, she knows that it is irrational. Probably unhealthy.
But, like any vice, it is tempting, and so Nerissa stands, arms folded before her and leaning against a wooden bar, staring up at a star-filled night.
“Rissa?”
Her lonely evening is interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and a voice calling her name. She does not move from her position, listening to the heavy footsteps behind her and the grunt of exertion as someone hoists themself onto the chair next to her.
“Rissa?”
She turns, putting on a smile.
“Yes, Biboo?”
The shorter woman, even standing on the chair, does not clear Nerissa’s chest.
“Fuwawa is finishing up that apple pie. Did you want any?”
Nerissa shakes her head. Bijou does not relent.
“I could bring it out for you.”
“How kind of you. But I’m not very hungry.”
Bijou sighs. The fluorescent lights of the porch reflect off of her iridescent body, creating tiny patches of light and color on the front lawn.
“Okay. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No.” Nerissa says. “I’m quite alright.” she adds, immediately kicking herself for lying that way in front of Bijou. Fibs like that tend not to hold up when their target is a condensed ball of emotional energy.
Unsurprisingly, Bijou calls her bluff. “You’re not.”
Nerissa sighs. She doesn’t need to say anything else. A short breeze blows across the porch.
“It’s been hard for me too.” Bijou says. “The twins, also.”
Nerissa idly wonders how, for a group who have spent centuries together, a month feels like such an incredibly long time.
That is how long it has been since they found the letter.
“We were talking earlier…” Bijou continues, casting a nervous glance at Nerissa. “Fuwawa, Mococo and I…and we want to build her a grave marker. Out in the woods somewhere.”
Nerissa doesn’t understand the way humans mourn. She doesn’t see the purpose of a stone in the ground that reminds you that someone you love is dead. Still, if it will comfort the others, she has no qualms with the idea.
So why is it, then, that a knot forms in her throat, and she cannot say so?
It is not born out of the misguided belief that their lost friend will return. She knows well, as do they all, that she is dead and gone. Such a powerful being does not leave the world without a sort of shockwave moving through it, one that resonates in the hearts of those closest to them.
She had felt it as she wept on her hands and knees, in some unremarkable place somewhere in the countryside. Sometimes, still, she wants to go back there.
Noting her hesitance, Bijou hops off of the chair.
“Bijou, wait…”
The Jewel shakes her head.
“We will wait until you’re ready, Nerissa. None of us want to push you into something you aren’t comfortable with, okay?”
“I know.” Nerissa answers softly. “I love you guys.”
Bijou laughs. It is a gentle, tinkling sound. “We love you too.”
Before Bijou can reach the door, it slams open. Mococo jogs out, a plate in her hands.
“Rissa! We got you some food!”
As Nerissa shakes her head, Bijou huffs.
“You two JUST told me to go ask if she wanted any!”
Mococo practically bounds across the porch. “We got tired of waiting!”
“You-”
Bijou stops mid-sentence, and Nerissa turns to Mococo as well. Her ears are pointed straight up, and she slightly hunches over as she sniffs the air.
“What’s going on?” Nerissa asks. Mococo goes rigid.
“Trespasser.” she practically hisses.
“What?” Bijou rushes back to the front of the porch, scanning the horizon. “I can’t see anyone!”
“No see. Smell.”
“A human?” Bijou asks, her jewels beginning to glow with unease.
“Not sure. Smell strange.”
Mococo hunkers down further, her nose twitching and a growl in her stomach. It is a side of her Nerissa has rarely seen, a more animalistic, feral stance. Her tail slaps against the porch, rhythmic and loud.
“Moco-chan! Moco-chan!”
Fuwawa bursts through the doors, her eyes flying to her sister. In moments, she has joined her, snarling and staring out into the inky night beyond.
“They weren’t supposed to come for us.” Nerissa says. “Not after…”
Fury, white-hot, drips through her like acid. It hisses inside her, her thoughts racing in its wake.
Betrayal. Like stamping on her corpse.
“Hold on!” Bijou puts a calming hand on Nerissa’s shoulder. “We don’t know if it’s-”
Before she can finish her sentence, the Abyssgard twins are off, leaping from the porch and racing off into the night. Bijou watches them go, her eyes wide, before turning to Nerissa.
“We need to follow them.”
“Right.” is all Nerissa can manage. Both of them take off at a sprint, rushing after the sounds of snarls ahead.
Nerissa’s demon wings twitch, restless, and as she leaps into the air, they unfurl behind her. Magic keeps her aloft, pulsing from her horns, and the broken one aches with the effort. To her side, she sees Bijou, levitating on her own magic, and both follow the faint forms of Fuwawa and Mococo below as they race towards the trees.
Gradually, a lone figure comes into view from the foliage, walking in their direction. The demon dogs each veer off to one side, circling around towards the intruder’s flanks. They speed up as they approach, coming at the figure in a pincer attack, but at the moment each of them pounces, something strange happens.
The intruder disappears, and in the same moment, reappears a few steps ahead. With nothing but air between them, Mococo and Fuwawa collide in the air, crumpling to the ground in a heap. Light beams from below, a flashlight, illuminating Bijou and Nerissa as the intruder calls up to them.
“Peace! I come in peace!”
Their hands reach into the air, pointing the flashlight skyward, and Nerissa glances at Bijou, only to find her already descending. She follows suit, feeling the grass crunch beneath her feet as she comes to a landing.
The intruder, still shrouded in shadow this far from the lights of the cabin, turns their back on them, pointing their light at the very dazed twins.
“Sorry about that!” they say, in a surprisingly cheerful voice. They extend a hand to Fuwawa and Mococo in turn, pulling the dizzy dogs back to their feet.
“Now then…”
The intruder turns the flashlight on herself, illuminating her face.
She is human, or at least appears to be, with a mop of blonde hair concealed beneath a brown cap. A rumpled trenchcoat all but swallows the young woman, its pockets bulging with contents unknown.
“Who are you?” Bijou asks, as Nerissa’s blood goes cold.
How are they going to explain to a human what they just saw?
The woman winks.
“Amelia Watson. Private Detective Amelia Watson. Good to finally meet you.”
“Detective?” Nerissa asks. “Is someone searching for us?”
She cannot conceive of the Gods using a human to conduct their business, but she is no stranger to the unexpected.
“No, no! Unless you count me, of course!” Watson beams. “And you’ve given me quite the run around, you know! You ladies are hard to find.”
“Wait a sec…” Bijou gasps. “You’re the taco lady!”
“...The what?”
Fuwawa’s voice is trembling as she and Mococo return to the others’ sides.
“The taco lady! Who I bought dinner from at that festival we went to!” Bijou extends an accusatory finger. “You said you-”
“Liked your cosplay?” Watson nods. “Uh…yeah…that was me.”
“But that was months ago.” Nerissa says. “Have you been following us that long?”
“More or less. Took me ages to find you out here, though” the detective says, to which the Abyssgards begin to growl in reply. “Look, I never meant you any harm. Honest. I’m willing to tell you everything…but can we do it inside?”
She shudders.
“It’s mosquitos. They look at me like a dessert!” Her voice squeaks a little on the last word.
Nerissa takes a quick glance at her friends in the flashlight’s beam. Mococo and Fuwawa look on guard, but they have noticeably not extended their claws. Bijou, too, radiates anxiety, but she meets Nerissa’s gaze with a nod.
“Fine.” Nerissa says. She turns, motioning for Watson to follow. “Follow us.”
“Right, right…” Watson’s voice floats from behind her, still upbeat. “I’ve been wanting to meet with all of you, anyway. Guessing your leader stayed behind at the house...didn’t want to get her legs tired?”
Nerissa freezes in place.
“...No.”
Her voice comes out of her, weaker than expected.
“Oh?” the detective asks, “Where is Shiori, anyway?”