Henry turned to Azreal. "Before that though...I'd like to bring up our earlier discussion. Did I prove that my drinks just might be valuable? I think you can properly appreciate the art of the Knockout, can you? It's a rare mix that is more powerful than Heaven's Rain. If I show you these mixes, you must promise not to tell anyone. I don't want anyone else other than you or me to be using these mixes. They are mine, and I decide who deserves to get them."
"You are including Aegis and Angelus in the 'do not tell' category, right?"
Henry nodded. "You can share drinks with them, but don't show them the recipes."
Azreal nodded. "That's fine."
Henry then lifted a large hand to Azreal. "You make a promise to a fellow man, you shake his hand as a sign of that promise."
Azreal took Henry's hand, and grasped it firmly, giving it a single shake.
"Now, as we get drunk and fly out to the stars, I'll show you...let's see...how about we start with the only exception to my rule, the Three Isles. I'm giving you permission for this one because it's a good one that most people like, and it's deceptively powerful. It's a great weapon against women, and I've seen it work."
Dawn was just an hour or so away, but neither Angelus or Aegis knew that. Both of them were fast asleep, with Angelus sprawled out on the couch, and Aegis quietly asleep sitting up in a chair with his arms crossed. They had chosen to wait out in the living room should Azreal return at some point during the night, and would look for him tomorrow if they had to.
One would have been amazed to see Azreal's sense of direction even in his current condition, stumbling around the darkened streets of Pirus, guided by mere torches. To him, most of the world was currently a blur, with Azreal recognizing various locations as he wandered back home.
He had gone all out, and Azreal had passed out at some point. When he woke up, Henry was out cold, and Azreal had a burning desire to go home, and he set out to do so. And it had been a long journey. (Though it probably would have been much shorter had Azreal been able to walk in a straight line, and hadn't fallen over a number of times.)
In the darkness, Azreal merely mumbled to himself, not even really paying attention to what he was saying as he walked all the way back to the apartment. It was at the stairs that he stopped and finally truly noticed the world around him.
"Fu-hic you stairs, why don't you go play your games shomewheres else, huh?" Azreal asked the stairs, which surprisingly remained silent.
"Fine, be that way." Azreal said next, brushing off the stairs as he grabbed on to the railing for dear life as he took the first step. It was on step three where he missed a step, fell forward, and rolled the short distance back down the steps.
Azreal hissed in pain as he grabbed his head, which was throbbing.
"Aaahh, fuck! Stupid ass fucking stairs!" Azreal protested at the stairs, gesturing wildly with one arm while the other held his head.
"Okay! How about we try this?" Azreal asked as he approached the stairs once more, but this time, he got down on all fours, and began crawling up the stairs. When Azreal realized that this was going to work, he laughed triumphantly.
"Hahahaha, stupid stairs, didn't see this coming, did ya?" Azreal mocked the stairs as he climbed.
Once he finished climbing the stairs, Azreal tried to stand once again but failed miserably as his jelly legs collapsed under him and he fell face first back onto the floor.
"Fffffuck...whaaaateverrrr, I'll just crawl, nothing wrong with that." Azreal growled to himself as he once again got on all fours and began crawling through the darkened and quiet hall of the third floor.
Even though he was crawling, his sense of direction prevailed once again as he stopped himself in front of the correct door, regardless of whether or not his current hazy mind could read the number on the door. To him, all it was was a blur on the door, and little else. However, there was a rather big problem.
Reaching the door knob.
At this point, Azreal no longer trusted his legs, which had already protested when he tried to stand on them earlier, and the stupid doorknob was so damn high on the door.
"Just whooose idea was it to place the damn...uh...whatever. The thing, why is the damn thing so high up? How are kids supposed to open doors?" Azreal asked the door, expecting an answer.
"Aww, you suck. Can't even answer a simple question huh? C'mooon, I can keep a secret." Azreal pleaded with the door, which still remained silent.
"Dammit." Azreal muttered, and was back to square one. Reaching the thing, that was what he need to do.
As he reached for it, it seemed far and distant, to far for Azreal to reach. Yet, when his hands clasped around the knob, it felt very close and something he could easily reach.
Instead of opening the door, however, Azreal instead tried to use the knob as leverage for him to stand. When he got off of his knees, he put too much weight on the knob, which was unlocked, and cause the knob to turn.
Azreal shouted as he fell to the floor due to the knob suddenly turning and Azreal losing his grip. His fall forced the door to swing open, which Azreal then hit himself with when he tried to rise and brought his hand closer to himself without realizing he was still holding then doorknob.
This time, the door hit him square in the nose, and this time, Azreal released the door as both of his hands flew to his throbbing nose as he fell to the floor.
"Oww...mutherfuckersonaofbitchcocksucker!" Azreal shouted all at once through his enclosed hands as he held his nose, feeling warm fluid seeping out both through his nose and on his hands.
The disturbance woke both Aegis and Angelus. Aegis stood and went to Azreal upon seeing him on the floor, while Angelus was a little slower to rise.
"Wha..." Angelus yawned as he rubbed his eyes. "What's going on?" Angelus' eyes then fell upon Azreal, and Aegis was kneeling next to him.
"You alright?" Aegis asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine, better than ever actually!" Azreal stated his hands swung about in a drunken and uncoordinated manner. "Pain helps harden the heart, or something. I dunno, I just made that up."
"Damn Azreal, you're fucking torched." Angelus commented.
"Ya damn right I'm torched! I'm on fire!" Azreal shouted.
Aegis turned to Angelus with a look. Angelus shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't mean anything by it!"
But Azreal was ignoring them, and continued on. "But...that flame of me has died, woe is meeeeee....under the seaaaaa....wait, that's a great idea! I can make a song out of that!"
"No, you can't, you're drunk." Aegis said flatly. On one side, it was good to see Azreal not so broken, but, this version of him might be even worse to have around.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't deserve to have a dream, I don't deserve anything!" Just like that, Azreal's happy demeanor vanished, replaced by a depressed one, which began to sob.
"I loveth her! I loveth her!"
Aegis raised an eyebrow as Angelus sighed.
"Loveth, really? Aegis, please give me permission to stomp the living shit out of that bitch. This is because of her."
"Relax Angelus, the last thing we need is you causing a disturbance and get thrown into Confinement. Those days are over." Aegis then turned to Azreal, and hauled him to his feet.
"Time for bed Azreal."
"Wha, bedtime? But maaa, I don't want to walk the kids..."
Angelus blinked twice at that, and sighed into his hand as he shook his head. Aegis, somehow, had shown no surprise at all as he slowly walked Azreal to his bed, and gently laid him down.
"Hey ma, can you make the world stop spinning so much, please?"
Instead, Aegis went and fetched the garbage can and placed it next to Azreal's bed.
"The garbage can is next to the bed when you need to puke. Good night Azreal." Aegis said as he began to walk out.
"Good night ma." Aegis heard as he closed the door, and sighed. Another couch night.
Angelus was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as Aegis came back to the living room.
"Look what that fucking bitch did to him! He's a fucking mess!" Angelus gestured to the closed bedroom door. "Tell me we're gonna get her back for this."
"If the opportunity presents itself. For now, we sit back, and clean up the mess as best as we can. Think about this as well, as you just heard, he didn't exactly sever his emotional ties to Danica completely. It's near impossible to completely erase the memories and feelings that he developed and held for months in a single night, no matter how much one drinks. So, if we do something to Danica, he might get worse. Plus, you would end up in Confinement, thus placing an even heavier burden on us. Especially since, as you said, Azreal is a mess, and most likely will continue to be so for a while. Just relax, and be patient. And most of all, let Azreal be the one to confront her, not you. He deserves it."
Angelus relaxed a little as the tension in him subsided. "You're right, if anyone should kick her ass, it should be him. Or are you going to stop him because of him getting thrown into Confinement?"
Aegis shook his head. "No. In this case, it would be better if he took his revenge if he so desires than to try and stop him. But, I don't think it'll come to that. I think he'll settle this with words, and walk away, though this will be a scar he carries for life. And there is nothing we can do about that, the damage is already done. Are you working tomorrow?"
Angelus shook his head. "No."
"As much as it may annoy you, you're on babysitting patrol. Keep Azreal on his feet, and focused on his life. Thankfully, he has off tomorrow, otherwise I'd have to go in and explain why he would be late or perhaps not even come in. But, keep him somewhat active around the house, don't let him dwell. If he does start drifting, however, don't ignore him. Try to be the ear he will need to vent to."
Although Angelus sighed, he had accepted the reason for this one. "Yeah. I'll look out for him tomorrow. I'm guessing though that he won't be up until sunset tomorrow."
Aegis cracked a smile at that. "Probably. Good night Angelus."
"Night Aegis."
As Angelus had expected, Azreal had mostly slept in the entire morning, leaving Angelus so bored that he had picked up one of Aegis' books at random and began to read brief parts, lose interest, and randomly pick another.
As he scanned through the books, Angelus realized that he had never really seen what exactly it was that Aegis read. And he had...some sort of odd taste. It felt like Aegis had every single kind of story possible.
The first was a murder mystery of some kind titled 'In the Shadows' and Angelus turned to the back of the book where a very obvious caption that said that Geoffrey did it, and Angelus put the book back, shrugging his shoulders. At least he knew who did it.
The next he pulled was some kind of story about someone who could travel from the future and into the past, this one called 'The Cycle of the Dragon'.
'What kind of title is that?' Angelus thought to himself as he read the first few pages, then got bored with all of the science details which seemed forever ongoing as Angelus flipped ahead a few pages. Angelus put that one back.
The next one was something Angelus was not expecting, named 'Lust and Revenge'.
'Travis, a man with a broken heart on a dark mission of revenge. Sophia, a stubborn, willful, and beautiful creature who gets anything she sets her sights on. Fate brings them together for a single night of fire and passion.
Travis, not wanting her to get involved with his current dilemma, attempts to leave Sophia behind. Sophia, however, follows him, refusing to give up. Will their passion prevail, or will they both burn together by the fire that they had started?'
Angelus raised an eyebrow, and began cracking up.
"Really Aegis?" Angelus fought to contain his laughter as he opened the book. "This seems like something so cheesy, why the fuck would he read this?"
His laughter stopped, however, upon randomly reading a caption partway through his book that instantly caught his complete attention.
'His tongue ran between her bare breasts.'
"What...the...fuck...?" Angelus said as he read on. The author spared no details as Angelus read this particular segment, and Angelus decided he needed to read this from the start of when this started happening.
The next words Angelus spoke were partway through this segment.
"Wait...he's gonna stick it in her butt!? That's fucking disgusting!" And yet, he read on. For some reason though, the characters enjoyed the act, much to Angelus' confusion.
"How the fuck does that work?" He asked himself on occasions, continuing to read on. Once the steamy scene ended and the book returned to it's boring story, Angelus flipped ahead to see if there were any more such scenes.
Since he was reading an erotic novel, there were plenty more to be found, and Angelus read two more scenes before he realized that he had reacted strongly to what he had read. He quickly put the book back, somewhat ashamed at how it had affected him, and went to his room to deal with his reaction.
When Angelus emerged from his room again, he found that Azreal still wasn't awake yet, and Angelus wasn't sure if he wanted to find any other strange books that Aegis might be reading.
Unfortunately, there was nothing else to do since he was confined here and babysitting Azreal today, so, he plucked another one from the shelf. Yet again, Angelus found another strange story, but a different and more creepy kind. This one was titled 'Eyes of the Moon'.
'In the quiet town of Joshua, a terror unlike any other in the world awaits in the darkness. For decades, this terror haunted Joshua, a monster from beyond the world, which fed off of the life force of teenagers.
When the monster kills his younger brother Ralph, Castor takes matters into his own hands and vows to kill the monster himself. His only weapons are his friends, and his own spirit which the monster seeks to feed upon.'
"What the fuck?" Angelus asked aloud once again as he opened it up to the first page, which began with a grisly murder not of Ralph, as he had expected, but someone else.
This time, however, he didn't put the book back. Instead, he settled on the couch completely, finding himself more and more drawn into the story.
Angelus was about twenty pages into the story when Azreal emerged, who turned, went to the bathroom, and closed the door. Angelus did not notice any of this, too absorbed in what he was reading to hear Azreal's slow and silent steps to the bathroom.
Nor did Angelus hear Azreal's puking as Azreal felt his insides continue to twirl and his head continued to pound in revenge of what he had done to himself last night. True, he had gotten so drunk that only portions of the night came back to him, but, now he was paying for it.
Azreal heaved into the toilet once again, this time, little else than water coming out. Most of the chunks he had he already spewed into the garbage can that Aegis must have left next to his bed sometime last night, a part of the night when he had blacked out. He sighed a deep and heavy sigh once he finished, glad that this round was over. Unfortunately, the pain in his head would not subside one bit, nor were his eye and ears any less forgiving. It fucking hurt to see or hear anything!
Azreal managed to get himself to his feet, and very quietly turned the knob and opened the door. Angelus, who was taking a small break from his reading, heard the door open and turned to Azreal, and their eyes met.
'He looks like shit.' Was the first thought Angelus thought to himself upon seeing Azreal. His hair was an absolute mess, even though he kept it short. His eyes were very narrowed and barely open, wincing from some sort of pain and badly bloodshot. Heavy bags were under his eyes as though he had not slept for days, and he himself looked like he had not eaten for days either.
Instinctively, Azreal curled slightly into a defensive position, which caught Angelus' eye. Angelus slowly began to grin a very evil grin. Oh, what he could do to Azreal right now...
Instead, Angelus' grin faded as Azreal curled more and more as Azreal's expression turned to fear.
"I promise I'm not going to do anything to you today. Today, we don't talk or discuss or argue or whatnot about...recent events. And no snide remarks or cruel jokes from me. You get a break today, one that you...probably need."
Azreal relaxed a little as his eyes focused more clearly on Angelus. "Uhh...is that you, Angelus?" Azreal asked.
Angelus rolled his eyes. "Yes it's me, and I'm being serious. Today, I'm helping you out. Don't get me wrong, don't try to turn me into your bitch today, but, if you need something important, you can ask me and I might get it for you."
"....thanks Angelus." Azreal said, turning towards the kitchen.
"Aegis got some water this morning that he put in the cold storage for you." Angelus said as he returned to his book.
"Cool." Azreal muttered as he slowly walked toward the container, opened it, and found about a dozen glasses of water. "Sweet." Azreal mumbled as he grabbed one, closed the container, and turned towards the couch.
He was about to sit down, but something strange caught his eyes that he hadn't noticed earlier. Angelus was reading.
"Wha...Angelus, what is that?" Azreal asked, pointing at the book.
The question caused Angelus to lift his head. "What?"
"That?"
"What, this?" Angelus asked, gesturing to the book. Azreal nodded, and Angelus looked at the title.
"Uh, 'Eyes of the Moon', it's some kind of horror book about a monster that eats teenagers in some really fucked up ways. In fact, this whole book is creepy." Angelus said as his eyes returned to the book.
"So, if it's creepy, why are you reading it? In fact, why are you reading at all?"
"Cause I've got to know what happens. I've already tried reading the last few pages of the book, and that didn't tell me shit. So now, I gotta read the whole damn thing." Angelus responded, not taking his eyes away from the book this time. "Besides, I gotta stay home today and look after you, and there isn't much else to do around here."
"...sorry."
"Don't apologize. I'm not blaming this on you. If I was, you'd be hearing about it."
Azreal had to crack a small smile at that. It was good to know Angelus was still on his side, and that he still cared.
Azreal went and joined Angelus on the couch. "That's out of Aegis' collection, right?" Azreal asked.
"Be careful, Aegis has got some fucked up and weird tastes. There was this one book I found, and half of it was all sex scenes and shit."
"What!?" Azreal blinked.
This time, Angelus put the book down and scanned Aegis' bookshelf as Azreal joined him.
"Here, this one I think." Angelus pulled Lust and Revenge from the shelf, and took a look at the caption of the book.
"Yeah, it's this one. Careful though, some of the shit in here is nasty. You have been warned." Angelus said as he went, sat back down, and began reading 'Eyes of the Moon' as Azreal sat down with 'Lust and Revenge'.
"So, what do you want to do about lunch, I'm kind of hungry." Azreal spoke some time later, and still has not turned away from his book.
"Can you actually eat now? You got all of your puking out of you?" Angelus asked.
"Hardy har har. The one in the bathroom this morning was the last one, and I think we've been here for a while now."
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