"Ah, you want to gloat, is that it?" Michael laughed derisively, "I'm not sure you have much to gloat about, Clover! You took me again and I stole the necklace right from under you. It's hilarious. And now what? You've aligned yourself with the Empire? Does it feel good to sit under the Emperor's feet? Maybe you're just angry that I finally bested you. Seeing your bloody face down in the mud, you can't imagine the feeling,"
"Are you done?" Clover leant back on the bars across from Michael. "I'll admit. This time you got me, Michael. Are you satisfied?"
"Satisfied?" Michael stared back with sharp golden eyes ecstatic with rage, "No! I'm NOT satisfied! "
He gripped hold of the bars with wild eyes glaring at Clover.
"I won't be satisfied till I've taken everything from you," he spat, "And Every time you let me, I'll keep taking till there's nothing left!"
"Did you really love the Raven that much?" Clover remarked coolly.
"Don't you dare say his name!" Michael screamed, "He's the Cirillian wizard to you. You lost the right to call him by name when you killed him!"
"You hated him," Clover said flatly. "You told me so. You don't remember?"
Michael threw a fist against the bars, "So what?! Did that mean I gave you permission to kill him?"
"I had already killed him before we met, Michael," Clover responded.
"Yeah," Michael breathed, "A fact you neglected to mention,"
"You wouldn't have accepted my help if I told you," Clover said softly.
"Damn straight!" Michael snapped, "He loved you. You knew that right? I found it in his diaries after he died. To think, he would be killed by the one he loved so badly. You were the reason he was such a crazy old bastard in the first place. You drove him mad! "
"No, I didn't," Clover exhaled, "You know that. He was playing with very dark magic. His paranoia and everything else that came afterwards was a result of his own decisions. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen to me. By the time I tracked him down, he was a different person,"
"You tracked him down to kill him! What did you expect?!"
"No, I didn't. It's true he had broken some promises to me and I wanted to confront him, but I didn't go there to kill him. When I got there he was already out of control. He was beyond reason. He attacked me. There was very little I could do, but I still regret it,"
"Oh, not the accident story again!" Michael scoffed, "I don't want to hear it,"
"It's the truth. I didn't mean it and I'm sorry," Clover said soberly. "I'm sorry I killed him. I wish I could take it back but I can't. What am I supposed to do? I loved him as well, Michael."
"You don't love anyone," Michael responded with waning conviction.
"You can believe that if you want," Clover sighed, "but I don't want to fight with you anymore."
Michael glanced up wearily, "Why are you doing this? They can just force me to help. Why are you apologising to me after all these years? What are you planning?"
"I'm saying sorry because I am," Clover said gently, "I should have said so from the beginning but I was too angry. And because now, I need you to help me, Michael,"
"What do you need my help for?" Michael muttered.
"Help me save Ace," Clover entreated, "I don't want what happened to Raven to happen to him as well,"
Michael became very still, "It's too late for him, Clover,"
"I don't believe that," Clover said resolutely, "I can save him,"
"Dark magic is like an addiction," Michael said gravely, "Once you start, you can't stop. I thought he was different but I was wrong,"
"No," Clover argued, "This is different! There's more to it. I'm sure of it. There's someone who's been interfering. This incident confirmed it!"
"I think it's easier for you to believe that than the fact that he's gone off the rails," Michael said subdued, "He almost killed Bird. That child has a darkness in him. We all saw it coming,"
"No! I don't believe that" Clover expelled the words breathlessly, "I just have this feeling. He needs our help. He's not in control anymore,"
Albaric had been listening quietly. "How do you know that, Clover?"
"I...I just know," Clover frowned. "I can't tell you the full details but there's someone who has had it out for me for a long time. Over the years their efforts have gotten more persistent. I thought I finally got rid of them but I was wrong. And now, I think they've gotten hold of Ace instead,"
Michael scanned Clover's face doubtfully. They were afraid?
"Who?" he interrogated.
"It's better if you don't know," Clover said quietly.
"This person, they want the necklace?" Albaric questioned.
"No," Clover swallowed, "They want me."
"Oh, so it's someone else you pissed off," Michael scoffed, "What did you do this time?"
"I can't tell you," Clover said quietly, "but it was something quite bad, even by my standards."
"Right!" Michael snapped, "You fucked up and now we have to clean it up?"
"I have a way to deal with them," Clover said gravely. "but I need the necklace first,"
"I'm sorry but I also find all this hard to believe," Albaric crossed his arms. "If we don't know the full details, it's going to be hard for us to help,"
Clover seemed to reflect for a moment before answering, "A long time ago, my father...He..made a deal. I was promised to that person, but I didn't want to go. So I ran away."
"A promise? Like a fiance? " Micahel stared incredulously. "So that old woman, she was talking about you? 'He will have the child'. The child is you, right? So, you ran from your fiance. So what? Is that really so bad?"
"It wasn't that kind of promise," Clover said, annoyed. "And it didn't end when I ran away,"
"Clover," Albaric's brow furrowed, "What kind of person could make you run away in the first place?"
Clover's features became strained, "You don't need to know. All you need to know is that the person I ran from has unbelievable power and not long ago I played a bad trick on them. I thought it was enough to throw them off the trail but I was wrong. I made them even angrier. They've been trying to get at me ever since. I think they're the one who took Ace,"
"No one took him, Clover," Michael cut in," he left of his own accord,"
"And I'm telling you if that person was involved, it won't be as simple as that!" Clover snapped. "This person works like a snake coiling around people's hearts. The use of dark magic only made it worse. If only I had realised earlier..."
"Let's say we believe you, and Ace was somehow compelled by this person," Albaric said thoughtfully, "how can we get him back then?"
"We need sister Rena to purify him or bring him back to the temple," Clover said somberly. "That'll be the only way to reach him now. If we can do that, he might give us the necklace willingly,"
"Purification?" Michael's eyes narrowed, "You think he's become a demon?"
"Even if we reach him, assuming that person doesn't interfere with us again, It's been too long already. Without my magic, he will have become a demon. That's probably what they intended all along. It will be near impossible to convince him now."
"If you're right, this is going to be harder than I thought," Albaric exhaled uneasily, "Demonification is...already very difficult to deal with. He'll have all the magical capacity of a normal human. Only It will be demonic magic. It's basically the equivalent of being a demon lord. Only he's been taught by all three of us."
"He was hard enough to deal with before," Michael sighed, "Haven't we basically made someone unstoppable? Someone who knows all our weaknesses and who has a grudge against all of us? How are we going to get him to come back willingly or at the very least get Rena close to him?"
"And what if that person intervenes again?" Albaric added.
"I can deal with that person. I just need the necklace," Clover said darkly.
"But We need Ace for that! " Michael scoffed. "And we don't even know where he is,"
"I can use my men to find out. If he's in the demon world I can find him," Clover replied. "The problem will be what to do when we find him,"
"Well let's try to talk with him first," Albaric suggested, "Even after demonification, the person doesn't change entirely. It might not be completely hopeless. If we can just convince him to come home..."
"Don't be naive, Albaric," Michael shook his head. "This is going to get messy. He's not going to come without a fight,"
"Micahel is right. That's why we can't go to the demon world divided," Clover said with conviction, "I know Ace and he's definitely not going to come willingly. In fact, if we're not careful, he could kill us all."