Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"<So this Wood-Carved Raven is only $60?>" Makima asked the curator, who stood beside her with a friendly smile as she inspected the case. 

"<Yes and if you're interested in more, we have beetles, fur rugs...if you want to spend a bit more, there's a Black Cleoniceras that might tickle your fancy.>" He offered.

"<I see...maybe I'll buy it for someone dear to me.>" Makima smiled back. "<If you don't mind, would you close this place down? I want to be the only one in here for a while.>" 

"<Of course, ma'am! No trouble at all!>" He nodded before moving around to politely shoo all of the other very confused patrons outside. Makima moved on to what looked like a wooden tooth down the line, not reacting when someone towered next to her out of nowhere. 

"Something about the Spinosaurus that intrigues you?" Makima greeted, the being with the flaming head and the bundle of sticks composing its neck barely acknowledging the inquiry. 

"This dinosaur was the largest one of all of them...it died all the same." An upper body adorned with a jagged mantle of burning branches had arms that resembled ashen logs crossed over them. "They had their time and passed without incident...do you think they needed a protector?" 

"Being non-sapient creatures necessary for the evolution of higher lifeforms, I imagine they didn't." Makima kept her eyes focused forward, barely acknowledging the heat she felt from the apotheosis beside her. 

"...At one point, you were the most component among us. The one most likely to elevate humanity to another level altogether...you were the Conquest needed to bring the ultimate triumph." The Fire Devil finally turned her head towards Makima, who kept her serene smile as she didn't face back. "Can you tell me why you have been complicit in the slaughter of so many, yet a select few are worth abandoning the advancement of our kind and humanity's? I'd like to hear why you have become the antithesis of all you stood for in such an audacious manner."

"You really want to know? Because it's becoming apparent that I'm not the only one here who likes to hear herself talk." Makima tilted her head, closing her eyes as if in thought. "I suppose...I've never really cared about people at large. There are those who like pleasing people, being admired, hearing of their accomplishments...I suppose I'm no different. But in the end, I've never truly cared for what humanity is, only what it could be. And as soon as I was satisfied with enough of it, I was willing to let the rest of it bleed to feed the ones I picked. People are useful but in the end...they're really quite tedious altogether. Does that answer your question?" 

"...You're worse than how Shi described you." The Fire Devil blinked the two vertical eyes on the right side of her face. "Would you like to hear the best way to purify something stained beyond repair?"

"Oh, by all means..." Makima finally turned her head towards the being, narrowing her eyes at her. "I'm all ears..."

"<Hey, they have cricket snacks here!>" Sulya ran in, holding boxes of candied insects. "<Hey, where did everyone g--->" 

She was cut off by the Evolution Store exploding, sending glass and debris into the street and at horrified civilians.

Chapter Text

Jack Droit was born in Red Deer, Alberta. His father was a cop decorated many times by the unit and his mother worked at a sports museum. When he was five, he was taken to live with his mother after one particular night where his father was involved in his mother's trip to the ER. When he was eight, he had heard that his father had shot himself on duty. 

He graduated his high school at the fifth of his class. He went to Red Deer Polytechnic where he majored in sociology and minored in theology. For his doctorate, he traveled to Karuizawa to study the effects of the aging population on the social atmosphere of the city. There, he met a young woman named Akigo who helped him adjust and tutored him in Kanji. The two would eventually marry, leading Jack to get his citizenship and move to Japan for the remainder of his life. 

Jack would produce a child with Akigo, a daughter they named Yuko. To support them both, he quit his scholar job and got a higher position working for a sales company. Having an intuitive knowledge of people's desires from a young age, Jack was able to climb the ranks of the corporate ladder very quickly, eventually making middle management. He kept his Devil Breed status to himself save for official documents, grateful he was able to make a living and provide for his family without having to work for Public Safety to assure rights for himself and his loved ones. 

One day, on a break from work to find his daughter a special trading card, he found a young woman with grayish pink hair outside a gaming shop. Wearing an old-fashioned school uniform, he barely paid her any mind until she spoke to him. 

"What do you think about heroes?" She questioned, confusing him into stopping. 

"Huh? Uh...I like them? I don't think any differently about them than others, I suppose." He replied. 

"Would you like to be one, Jack? To cure the many ills plaguing society?" She asked, facing him directly. 

"I'm sorry...have we met?" He scratched his hair. "I don't recall if we've worked together or..." 

"I hate to upend the little life you have here...but you have the blood of a particularly powerful Devil. One that can actually pose a problem for a great evil here." She reached out with her hand, her multi-ringed eyes seeming to spiral. "It's time for you to fulfill your true destiny..."

From that day forward, Jack could hear the thoughts of everyone. His wife, his daughter, his co-workers, strangers, everyone...his initial talent had been enhanced. Extramartial affairs, Yakuza executions, planned assaults...he was privy to them all. He found it harder to separate his own thoughts from others, putting more distance between him and his family as his output at work began to suffer. He strongly considered turning himself into Public Safety for the sake of protecting his family in case he did something unwise...but a chance passing by of the headquarters clued him into the true identity of a red-haired woman while she was on the phone with a housemate. 

Jack knew what he had to do. He got his finances in order, wrote a note to leave on the counter and kissed his sleeping daughter's head goodnight for the final time...he left his house, leaving only his humanity behind as he headed into the city. 

***

"Multiple dead...a sword stolen...I see. I'll be right in. Send out an alert to everyone on active duty." Makima ended the call and stopped outside the apartment door. She'll have to cancel the dinner she was already late for tonight...Asa will be disappointed but she'll understand when she explains it to her tomorrow afternoon. She was looking forward to Kouki's soba noodles herself, however...but she was interrupted by her own ruminations when she spotted a blond man in a blood-splattered white button-up and tan pants approaching her, gripping the hilt of a katana. 

"Miss Sanetomi...oh, you're not using that name anymore, right?" Jack greeted with a smile. "What do you want me to call you?" 

"My name will suffice." Makima's expression was unamused. "You're the one who has been on the rampage today? Rather unassuming, if you'll excuse my judgement...is there a particular reason why you're doing this?" 

"I wondered why I was cursed with this power...why I was forced to hear the worst of everyone everyday...but now I get it. This isn't a curse, this is a gift..." He pointed his blade at an unreactive Makima. "The Horseman, the Knight...of Conquest. When I kill you, I'll be saving this world from further ruin. You and anyone that shares your poison...I'll kill them all to save this planet." 

"...Why don't we discuss this somewhere more private?" Makima narrowed her eyes as he dashed at her, his sword ready to swing.

***

"So...Moral Committee, huh? Pretty boring, huh?" A man with spiky rosy brown hair with bangs slicked up the back spoke to a taller young man walking next to him down the sidewalk. "And you really want to join PS immediately after graduating, uh..." 

"You can call me Yoshida." The young man smiled back, not really giving his full attention. "My parents were members so I have a lot of respect for the commission." 

"Well, it's not like you have much choice. With that blood in you, the guys will be knocking down your door if you want---" The man instinctively froze, drawing his sword as he looked forward for the oncoming danger. 

"Is something---" Yoshida inquired before a redheaded woman landed in front of them, her uniform scuffed as she kept facing in the direction she was just thrown from. 

"Your sword, please." Makima held her hand out, awaiting the blade as the agent stared. 

"Um..." The man looked conflicted, only for Yoshida to quickly swipe the blade from his hands by the hilt and hand it over to her. "Hey..." 

"Thank you." She spoke before Jack's blade collided with hers, sending a shockwave that blew Yoshida and the agent back more than a couple of feet. 

"Look at all this strength you can give up without trying!" Jack cheered as he kept swinging at her, easily evading Makima's slashes as he parried. "I guess this is the power of true evil!" 

"I could say the same for you...you wield that blade like it's a club and you forced me to this point." Makima acknowledged, shooting a chain from her wrist at his ankle...only for him to stomp on it and slice at her neck. She dashed back, narrowly avoiding her throat getting slit before blocking more of Jack's swings. 

"You're hiding something from me...show me how powerful a Horseman truly is!" Jack demanded. "You'll never win like this..." 

"Most people fighting me make this mistake but I still have optics to keep in mind...you'll have to be satisfied with what I give you." Makima countered, parrying each of his strikes. "Like that thing behind you." 

"The bird you summoned?" Jack looked above, spotting a murder of crows flying overhead...only for a giant tentacle to wrap around him from behind, suspending him in the air. 

"I meant the boy...surprised that the birds provided enough of a distraction. Didn't think it would work..." Makima pulled her katana back and leapt to thrust it through the man's chest, twisting it as soon as it was in. Jack coughed out blood directly onto her face before she landed on the ground, himself being lowered to the street to kneel. "Good work again, young man." 

"I felt I should do what I could to help." Yoshida rebuttoned his shirt as he approached from behind. "What's going to be done with him?" 

"It looks like he'll have to be dealt with here...he's too dangerous to risk being taken into custody." Makima prepared her wrist, Jack barely seeming to acknowledge her presence as she did so.

"To delay it...is to deny it." Jack muttered as Makima swung her blade faster than Yoshida could follow, lopping Jack's head off in under a second. 

After a minute, a taller man with a Glasgow grin approached from the side with several more agents, inspecting the mess. 

"Oh, looks like it got resolved...I can call Himeno off." Kishibe noted before spotting Yoshida. "Is that..." 

"I think this young man has earned a recommendation." Makima faced him with a smile. "Put in a word for him with the higher-ups...he's looking at a bright career in this commission." 

***

Jack's body was taken into Public Safety custody for examination. Reports of his short massacre, as restrained as it was, made the news. His wife and daughter were forced to move in with her mother. Yuko was made to cut her hair and answer to a different last name. She was told to deny her connection to her father when asked. The last conversation she had with her mother was her asking what happened to her father, leading her to find her mother's corpse in the bathtub the next morning. She would devote most of her academic life to studying, growing up to join Public Safety at eighteen with a S ranking on the tests. She would use part of her salary to pay for her demented grandmother's upkeep. 

Makima would investigate the cause of Jack's breakdown but would come up with dead ends...until recently. 

Dissipating the electric field around her, she sighed as she stood on the roof of a building near what was the Evolution Store as the civilians ran in the streets below her. 

"No matter where I am, I always end up cleaning up another mess." She ruefully noted. "I'm feeling more like a maid than a savior."

Chapter Text

Makima leapt from the rooftop as it burst into flame, keeping an eye out for a familiar white-haired woman...only to freeze in mid-air, finding all the heat from her body evaporating as she couldn't move. 

"<Thanks for the heads-up on the museum...although I wish you told me that you were going to destroy the entire place in an explosion instead of burn it down. Could have got my other me out quicker.>" Sulya watched from the debris on the street, the Fire Devil looming besides her. "<I was hoping to find some bug snacks in there...do we finish this now?>" 

"As soon as possible." The Fire Devil held out her palm, ready to ignite the spot Makima was in...only for multiple murders of crows to gather around the Control Devil in the sky, forming a fluttering sphere around her to the confusion of the two on the ground. When they dissipated, Makima was gone. 

"<Oh darn...did we lose her?>" Sulya pouted, huffing out condensation. She began to ice the asphalt around her as the Fire Devil scanned to the side. "<She can be anywhere now...>" 

"...There." The Fire Devil suddenly launched several explosions in the direction of the dashing redhead coming at them from the other side, deftly dodging each combustion before jumping up and kneeing Sulya in the face. Several teeth were catapulted from the terrorist's face while she was plunged down the other side of the street. She then swung her electrified leg at the column of fire composing the True Devil's head, noticeably vexing the latter. "Using heat to combat heat...what an interesting maneuver. Is now truly the time to experiment?" 

"I just needed to stay here for longer..." Makima landed with her hands on the ground, ducking out of the way of several ice spears thrown her way. They instantly melted before even touching the Fire Devil, landing in a small deluge on the ground...that Makima promptly charged to electrocute Sulya before she chopped down on her with her frozen axe from behind.

"So useless..." The Fire Devil sighed before breathing fire on them both, Sulya creating a column of fire to push herself out of the way of the blast and Makima grabbing onto the pillar to avoid the same attack. A swarm of aflame centipedes followed them up the cryo-tower, Makima finding her hands icing over as Sulya hung upside down, her legs wrapped around the shaft of the ice. Makima slid a chain out from her wrist and gripped it, the skin on the fingers breaking as she whipped it at the firy bugs skittering up to her. Soon, she felt the pillar melt...the Fire Devil had lit a fire at the bottom. Sulya responded by forming a sword and letting herself towards Makima from above. The Control Devil ensnared the chains around Sulya's waist and flipped her over, aiming her toward the Fire Devil via riding her back.

The Fire Devil's flame intensified as she glared up at them, an inferno building up around her as Makima held her own burning wrist as her flesh began to scorch away behind the cindering Sulya. 

"Bang." 

A massive hole tore a hole in the Fire Devil's right side, leaving their right arm erased and a part of her side obliterated. She struggled to stay upright as Makima stood in Sulya's ashes, pointing her finger at her as electricity crackled around her. 

"I doubted your resolve...I won't do that again." The Fire Devil mumbled out before a bright yellow light enveloped them both, Makima squinting her eyes before widening them at the vision before her: the Hero of Hell, lofting over her. 

Paralyzed, Makima had no idea how to react to the facsimile before her. Despite being an illusion, it had the proper scent and aura of the real thing. Could the Fire Devil really conjure something like this under her own power? Before she could speak, the Hero of Hell opened his mouth, his maw stretching inhumanly wide to reveal something emerging from the abyss within...

Makima came out of his opening, smiling serenely. A sudden unexplainable terror came over Makima, who shook uncontrollably before forcing herself to remember how she got here. 

A massive shot of electric energy was fired, scattering the Fire Devil's body along the ground, walls and ruins. Scorched, bleeding, exhausted, Makima sunk to her knees to breathe. She barely had time to register the ice wall forming around her. 

"<I may be out of continues...thanks for that, Miss Fire...but I can ensure that you'll be going down with me.>" Sulya approached from a nearby store, her eye sealed over with burned tissue. "<Humanity will perish...you've failed, Control Devil.>"

Makima closed her eyes, simply preparing another plan. Then, an explosion shattered the ice. 

"Hands off, yeti...that witch still has a few months in her contract." Reze announced from a rooftop, preparing another explosion.

Chapter Text

"<Ah...everyone just wants to interfere today.>" Sulya sighed as she formed a massive ice club, swinging it at Reze as the latter leapt down...only for it to explode in her hands before she was met with a combusting kick to the stomach, sending her flying to a nearby streetlight. 

"<Learn to share, witch...you should have realized that more than a couple of you want Makima's head on a platter.>" Reze taunted before looking over to Makima, approaching her as the redhaired Devil remained on the ground. "Are you seriously too hurt to stand?"

"It looks worse than it is...the Snake Blood should handle all of it." Makima replied, looking to the side. "You're not finished, by the way." 

"Oh?" Reze turned her head to find Sulya "melting" into snow, a wind building up as a wintery tempest blew through the street. Reze felt small, sharp icicles hit her skin as a voice rung through the air. 

"<Humanity's time has come...the age of the Devil is here.>" Sulya solemnly announced as the artificial blizzard picked up. "<When this race is wiped out, then and only then...will we receive a proper follow-up to the original Star Wars trilogy.>"

"This is annoying...how can I kill her without lighting up this whole street?" Reze scanned around as she bleed onto the asphalt. 

"...Pay attention." Makima pointed her finger up to the sky, squinting before speaking. "Bang." 

A bright ball of electricity was shot into the sky through the snowstorm, Reze watching before flicking a small fireball at it. The ignition exploded with enough might to cause smoke to cover the sky, raining water down on them both as they waited for a response. 

"That's it?" Reze asked. 

"Seems so." Makima answered, barely reacting as Reze scooped her into her arms to walk off. 

"Himeno and Angel told you that you blew up a gift shop...Asa will be mad." Reze mocked as she stepped in multiple puddles.

"Just another sin to make up the mountain." Makima snarked back, barely hanging onto Reze as she was carried off through the wreckage.

Chapter Text

Outside, a stylized pink recliner hit the pavement as it was thrown through a window of the Smithsonian Design Museum. 

"Yoru, p-please calm down...!" A frazzled Fami approached the snarling War Devil, the latter's hands still shaking from her tantrum. "We don't own any of this stuff and it's impolite to break things that don't belong to---" 

"SHE CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS! SHE CAN'T KEEP GIVING OTHERS WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE!" Yoru screamed as Barem walked in, Fami flinching from the noise. "She won't give me the time of day but those two...the way she slaughtered them without mercy...she needs to look at me that way! I'VE EARNED THAT MUCH!"

"She's really riled up...and you're sure we couldn't send her with the Fire Devil instead?" Barem asked Shi, the latter sitting at a chair in the back of the room in front of a glass table with a clay-like figurine on it. 

"She's too important for the big plan...and I can't trust Makima to not get killed by her." Shi sighed out. "Yoru's too strong to simply be a threat in this state. If you doubted Sulya so much, why didn't you ask to go with the Fire Devil yourself?" 

"Eh...fire with fire is a bit too redundant for my taste." Barem shrugged. "I prefer variety in my team-ups." 

"It has nothing to do with lingering sentimentality for your former employer?" Shi lazily drifted her eyes up at him.

"...I'll get back to you on that one." Barem mumbled back, slicking his hair with his hand. 

"The way the Bomb Devil carried her...AAARRGGGH!!!" Yoru threw a display table through the wall, to Fami's horror. 

"The United States are alarmed but true fear hasn't claimed the hearts of the populace yet." Shi stroked the head of the long-haired man statuette. "For humanity to truly be saved, we need terror on a scale the world has never seen..."