- Death, Lucifer, Peter -
Saint had stayed behind. She told the two that she wanted to speak to Kahvis now before all of them started their planning. The two had been okay with the idea, sure that she wasn't going to pick a fight. Peter decided to walk ahead of the two assuming that they would want to talk on the way back.
"I don't think the others are going to be happy that you sent a vampire healer away," Death joked.
"I don't care," Lucifer responded in a tired tone. "She's a being with family and friends that care about her, not some rechargeable battery of healing."
Death sulked in his head, 'I know how you feel. I wonder how Peter feels about all this though?'
Peter knew the moment he saw the demons flood into the city that if they all survived Lucifer was going to send them away. He knew because if Lucifer didn't he would have forced him to. The only one he would have accepted staying is Sabu. The reasons for which made him feel awful.
Peter stayed in his head as he walked, 'Just because someone doesn't have people waitin' for them doesn't mean they should rush onto a battlefield,' He pictured Hell in his mind. He pictured Lao and Dimitri seeing each other again. 'Lao...I know you're the most experienced among the others, but I'd never be able to look Dimitri in the eye again if I let you stay.'
Peter felt the full weight of his position. He stared at his hands for a moment, then plucked a gray hair from his head and held it up. He wanted to remind himself of his past mistake with Cytus.
'What would I have done if any of you had died?' He contemplated.
Lucifer could see what Peter was doing. He would have gone up to him and reassured him that the aged look wasn't a big deal, however, something told him that this wasn't about appearance. He gave a glance to Death. He wanted to break the silence, he just couldn't find the proper words.
Death was waiting for Lucifer to speak first. He thought it would be rude to start the conversation again after his failed attempt at a joke. This lead to the entire trip back to Kahvis's headquarters being uncomfortably quiet.
- Saint and Kahvis -
Saint looked around the headquarters for Kahvis. She eventually gave up looking blindly and decided to ask one of the many admirers that had been staring at her.
Saint asked the nearest group of people. "Where's the leader?"
"They should be in the center of the base. If they're not there then ask Yamato." One male voice answered.
Saint checked around the center, eventually finding Kahvis in a clearing that was in-between multiple huts. They were speaking to a small group of humans.
Kahvis's voice was soft, "Every loss counts. None of you here, no one who fights with us, should ever consider themselves a lesser. Our greatest strength is each other, never forget that."
The humans Kahvis had been speaking to had deep looks of sadness on their faces. Saint assumed that they must have been the friends or loved ones of those lost in the raid. She wanted to barge right in and start asking questions, but she had enough tact to wait.
Kahvis glanced at Saint. "We will talk more about this later, I have another issue I need to address right now. Please, if any of you have any problems, don't hesitate to interrupt us."
The group thanked Kahvis before leaving.
Kahvis's tone changed back to monotone, "Yes? Let's finish whatever this is about swiftly, I still have others I need to speak to."
"Fine then," Saint said. "I have it on good authority that you are the main reason for the demon army invasion in this area. You created a situation that led to the coming war. The guild is going to want a word with you about this," Her tone sounded more formal than irritated.
"Right, the guild," Kahvis responded. "Is this the same guild that labeled the above-ground portion of this place as non-combat while the underground festered beneath it?"
Saint sighed, she didn't want to do this with Kahvis. Her prior experiences had told her that this was clearly a more difficult problem than what she initially expected. She had hoped to just walk in, yell at someone, and then leave. Seeing Death and Lucifer in the process was somewhat expected, but the addition of an unknown, annoyingly, complicated things.
"I know how you feel about their decision," Saint tried to sound comforting. "There's a reason I only occasionally work with, instead of for the Guild."
"You know how I feel?" Kahvis's eyes stared hard into Saint's. "What about the real victims of the guild's decision? Do you know how they feel? You're an ancient healer so I'm sure you have more experience with dealing with tortured, broken bodies than I, but do you have any idea how they actually feel?" Their words started to get a tinge of what seemed like anger.
'This is far more work than I signed up for Eir,' Saint thought.
"I know." She responded, giving glances to the admirers that had followed her. "Whether you believe me or not, I assure you I know very well what a broken being feels like. The Guild wants a word with you, genuinely. Maybe they'll ask for compensation, or they might just tell you to leave, either way, it's nothing violent."
Kahvis's face shifted into distrust. "I assume you have the necessary echo? I think the Guild deserves a lot of things, so getting the chance to speak with them again seems good."
"Again?" Saint asked. "When have you ever spoken with the guild masters?"
Saint was genuinely curious. According to the report she had gotten none of the guild masters had spoken with Kahvis prior. They might have been lying or purposefully leaving out information, which wasn't wholly unlike them, still, the idea seemed off.
"I've spoken with them before. If they haven't told you it should be a sign that they don't fully trust you." Kahvis said.
"Don't play this game with me Unknown," Saint warned with a look of suspicion. "If you want to speak with them let me know. I will need to confirm that you aren't going to do something insane first though."
Various races had started to filter into the initial spectators. Some had been looking for Kahvis, while others had wanted to speak with Saint.
"What exactly classifies as insane to guild masters who allowed the rape, murder, and torture of innocent lives?" Kahvis asked.
"You really want to have this conversation here?" Saint asked. "I have no problems getting into gory details if you don't care about who listens."
Kahvis found Saint more difficult to speak with than they expected. Maybe it was because they could feel the small pangs of anger in their mind at the situation, or maybe it was her attitude being less reasonable. They couldn't quite place it, so they decided to concede defeat for the moment.
Kahvis sighed. "I don't think I'm currently in the mood to speak with any of the guild masters. If you'll allow me to wait until this war is over I'll do it then."
"Fine by me," Saint said. "Bring every victim you can to me. I know they need time to heal I just want to assess the damages myself."
"Actually helpful, I guess you really don't work for the guild," Kahvis mocked.
"Careful with comments like that," Saint rubbed her index with her thumb. "Pick your fights properly."
- Peter and Oliver -
Peter wanted to meet up with Oliver to discuss their side of things in the coming war. He assumed Death's place in the war would be single-handedly fighting one army while everyone else fought the other. He planned to speak with Lucifer afterward. He approached Oliver who was still waiting by the hut with Rebecca and Julia.
"We should go meet with the other "commanders" while the upper tiers speak," Peter said.
"Can I talk with you alone first?" Oliver asked.
Peter had an idea of what Oliver was going to ask, which annoyed him. He just wanted to leave and go plan, not stand here and have what he predicted was going to be a frustrating conversation.
"Fine," Peter agreed.
Oliver gave an order to Rebecca and Julia, "You two go meet with the unknown's forces. This shouldn't take long."
'Yeah, I'm sure this will go perfectly smooth.' Peter sarcastically thought.
The two grim left Peter and Oliver to speak inside the hut.
"Alright, what do ya want?" Peter asked.
"We need to talk about what your leader did," Oliver said.
"Lucifer," Peter corrected. "The man's name is Lucifer."
Oliver gave a frustrated look at the comment. He didn't want to use the name and could tell that Peter was going to be stubborn about this.
Oliver begrudged. "Fine, Lucifer. We need to speak about what Lucifer did in the Underground."
"Which part Ollie?" Peter folded his arms, tilted his head slightly, and spoke in a rhetorical tone. "The part where he helped destroy an awful, atrocity spawnin' shit-hole? Or the part where he helped rescue a large group of tortured races?"
"Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be," Oliver's tone got serious. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. He helped an unknown, an unknown I'll remind you who is partially responsible for the death of two of my fellow grim, after what? Five minutes of convincing?"
Peter and Oliver were in a stare-down. Peter's body language was far more aggressive. He might have tried to be more diplomatic, but after everything he had dealt with leading up to this moment, he felt an unshakeable desire to defend Lucifer's actions.
"I assure ya that I plan on givin' Luce a long and detailed lecture on his decision-makin' after this is all over," Peter kept speaking, stopping Oliver from responding. "HOWEVER, and I need to be as clear as an echo when I say this, this is not the time and place for you to bitch to me about Luce's choices."
This situation would normally have been a small argument, maybe. Unfortunately, Oliver had lost two friends, and Peter had nearly lost his team twice. Neither was in any mood to concede their place, leading to Oliver saying something he shouldn't.
Oliver pointed and his tone started to turn bitter. "Lucifer owes Death his life, a fact he and YOU should remember," His tone shifted to condescending. "I wouldn't think it's too much to ask that he not potentially fuck over MY leader because of impatience."
Peter pointed back. "Don't ya fuckin' talk down to me about history. I'm older than Zach and I guarantee I know more now than ya ever will."
"Your age doesn't mean shit if you're going to act like a child!" Oliver leaned forward with his shout. "How about you acknowledge the Devil's mistakes for once?"
Oliver using the "Devil" name lead to Peter punching a hole in the stone wall with the side of his fist.
"ALRIGHT YA LITTLE SHIT!" Peter shouted.
Some of Kahvis's soldiers peeked into the hut. Peter's punch combined with his shouting had drawn unwanted attention. He looked over at the humans who were all clearly looking at his hands and hair. The stares were enough to snap himself out of a mistake. He moved towards the crowd and out of the hut, saying one last thing to Oliver.
"Lucifer is your better, no matter what ya think of him, and I'm sure Death feels the same," Peter whispered.