Still Human

“I’m still ⸺ human.”

Blades pierced Guisei’s skin, and he let out a sharp scream. His eyes opened to a world of white. Sweat dripped off his skin. He frantically searched for Mammon. His breath was rapid and untamed like the hollow beep of the machine analyzing his vitals.

The hard, burning stone beneath his fingertips had become soft sheets. Chaos to comfort. He reeled back from it all, believing the pain he felt that night would never end. Guisei couldn’t tell which was worse: the pressure, what he saw, or the fact that when faced with the chance to take his dream by force, all he could do was ⸺ watch.

“Right,” he muttered, utterly defeated.

His eyes scanned the length of his arm. He winced at the reminder Mammon granted him: a permanent contract in the form of a black tattoo. It slowly slithered down his wrists, withdrawing itself to his palm like the marking was alive in a way. A diamond-shaped symbol remained on both sides of his hand.

Guisei closed his eyes to everything around him. It didn’t matter how much comfort he had or even how he got there. All Guisei knew is he failed, and this only remained to be a hollow reward for him.

His ear twitched at a familiar sound.

Nabi muttered something sleepily under her breath. She remained near his bed, trying to keep watch over him while fighting against the eerie temptation of sleep. Her skin shone in the morning light. She gazed at Guisei with her dull scarlet eyes once the strands of her dark hair passed by her white pupils.

"Its about time you woke up, Greed," Nabi said. “Your expression…it’s darker than usual.”

Her head bobbed up and down, doing her best to stay awake. Guisei seemed confused before straightening himself. His expression returned to the dull, carefree one he usually had. He watched her fight to return to her sleep in his eyes, a fierce battle one barely can overcome.

In response, he raised his fingers to her forehead and flicked her.

"Wake up, princess," Guisei said.

A sly smirk spread across his face when he watched Nabi wake up to cup the red mark. Her apathetic gaze grew colder in response to the display.

Nabi thought of returning the favor.

Guisei, on the other hand, thought of escape.

“No need to thank me,” she whispered.

Guisei glanced at Nab’s fingertips. They appeared almost burned against the rest of her skin.

“You healed me?” Guisei asked, but already knew the answer.

A splitting headache grew within him like a nail continuing to drive itself into his head. Memories flooded into him. It was all blurry to him, but one thing alone remained clear. The same man that looked like an eerie reflection of himself.

“Where’s Mammon?”

Nabi froze at the mention of him. Her gaze narrowed at Guisei questioning why he would even ask now given his state something about it was ⸺ off-putting.

All she could do was shrug, only to wince at the deadly stare Guisei had on his arm. The memories still ran through Guisei’s head like the tattoo that spread across Mammon’s body during the ritual. He caught the image in his mind so he wouldn’t forget.

"Those markings Nabi, when you found me, did you see them?" Guisei asked.

Nabi hesitantly nodded, her lips parting to change the subject, only for Guisei to shoot back at him with another question as quick as the one before.

"So, Mammon's power—"

Before he could get an outright answer, Nabi stood up with a hollow sigh. She made a careful note to not sleep in hospital chairs despite how many times she felt like she had experienced this before. Different situations….same Guisei.

Nabi shook her head at him. The sunlight grew outside the window to the room and the hellish night had ended. Guisei let his eyes fall onto his arm, one that barely felt like his own at the moment. The power he coveted for so long. His desire was at his fingertips, yet it remained so far at the same time.

Guisei felt the burning pain of his emotion build in his arm, leaving him in a trance. A question lingered in his mind, but he brushed it aside at Nabi’s bitter tone, awakening him to the world around him.

“Greed. When you recover ⸺ we still have a job to do.”

“Right…. Curse Academy.”

Even when the days passed and his other injuries healed, Guisei was still trapped in the foreign feeling of his arm. A harsh pressure swirled around it, choking the edge of his skin. Guisei tried to ignore it like the sunlight that beat on him and Nabi as they traversed the courtyard of Leviathan’s palace.

Sunlight crept through the large gate when it opened to the sight of guards in black armor. They lined the road while the sun beat down on their armor, an odd sight for Guisei and Nabi, who were more accustomed to the gray skies and nighttime than the mountainside offered.

“It’s bright,” Nabi said.

“Bright and hot — Damn it! Why are we going this way, Nabi?” Guisei said.

"It's faster this way," Nabi said in retort. A bead of sweat dripped down her face.

Guisei appeared unconvinced, moving ahead of her. He inspected Nabi from head to toe. A bead of sweat dripped off her face like another drop into the jar of lies she seemed to tell him, yet Nabi’s gaze stopped him from prying even more.

“I mean… We could’ve taken a train or something too.”

“It’s faster this way.”

Nabi appeared to be resolved, much to Guisei’s displeasure.

“Fine… Fine. You’re way too stubborn sometimes, you know that?”

“Mmm,” Nabi muttered.

With each step they took, both felt like time was longer than what it was. The golden sun beat down on the two, yet they continued. He flailed his arms around, striking the hot, moist air around him in fickle anguish.

"Ughh!"

After some time, they arrived in a garden. Snapdragons that had yet to bloom lingered in the flowerbeds. Each path led to a symbol at the garden's center. A snake devouring itself: the symbol of envy.

"This was the 'faster way', huh? I know there was one of these in the castle," Guisei said to himself at the thought of a similar symbol.

Nabi took a step onto the symbol, letting Guisei's words go in from one ear and out the other.

"We made it, finally," she said aloud. Like a sharp blade, Nabi pointed to Guisei, curling her finger towards him to beckon him closer.

Annoyed by the sun's rays, Guisei removed the black and gold jacket he made and tied it around his waist. Guisei approached Nabi. His eyes flickered to her, remembering the ritual she had to perform last time. Before she could say anything, Guisei cut Nabi off.

"Hold on. I can do this. Wasting blood like that will be bad for your reiju storages, anyway."

"Fine," Nabi replied with a hint of reluctance, her eyes carefully examining Guisei.

Her mind returned to the day past and the state she witnessed him in.

The cavern Guisei was led into was cold. A shiver ran up Nabi's neck. Her gaze sliced the blackened walls of the steps with idle fury at the thought Guisei ended up getting into something he wasn't ready for. She clenched her fist at the concept that Mammon could have wasted time in the transfer.

As blue light overtook the dark walls, she found her gaze fall upon the sight. Black miasma surrounded the body of Guisei, his breath thin like a corpse barely clinging to life. Nabi took a knee, extending a finger to prod his skin. Hot, like his skin was set on fire. He had entered a familiar hell to her, and she despised it.

A voice echoed in the distance, calling out her name. It continued, over and over and over, to where it should have given up on trying to get her attention, yet like the crack of a whip, she heard her name….

"Nabi!"

Nabi looked around idly before taking in her surroundings. The one who called out to her stood before her, tilting his head.

"Are you sure you actually slept before we left?" Guisei questioned, circling Nabi with inquisitive eyes.

Nabi flicked his forehead.

"Now we're even, Greed," Nabi said, focusing on the symbol, "Don't use blood this time. It'll take longer, but it's fine."

Guisei conceded with a nod. "Fine, that works out, but I'm gonna need some space for this." A cheeky grin bloomed onto his face. He clapped his hands together, allowing his reiju to ripple through the garden.

Nabi noticed Guisei’s control over his reiju, noting how sloppy it was. Her gaze flickered to the symbol's emerald hue being overtaken by the gold of Guisei's reiju. Flashes of light moved through the air, swirling around the two.

Mimicking the light, they slowly broke down from their feet to their heads into reiju. The light collapsed in on itself, and with a flash, the two disappeared from the garden, leaving only remnants of the reiju to mark their presence.