Out of the Mirror

[7twistedwishes]

The elevator door opens to a wide hallway, carpeted and tastefully decorated. The Devil leads the way along, opening the door marked 108.

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[7twistedwishes]

The door opens into a large comfortable apartment. Rainfall patters against the windows and obscures some of the view out of the city. The air is pleasantly cool and scents lightly of wildflowers.

"I hope this will suffice, but if you need more, well... now you can just have more."

[mirror_alice]

"It's perfect!", Alice replies with a delighted laugh. She spins in place, looking around the apartment.

[7twistedwishes]

It skirts the edge of luxury, and should be perfect indeed for her: everything is the right color, the right shape and form to be a quiet refuge where to relax.

The Devil walks over and guides Alice to the window, so her Daeva can see the panorama of the city and the Bay. "Your hunting grounds. All you see, and beyond."

[mirror_alice]

Alice who has become Aeshma looks out at the city hungrily. "So many people," she says with a dark laugh. "So much Wrath simmering under the surface, waiting for the right spark."

[7twistedwishes]

"And I give you a can of lighter fluid and a book of matches." The Devil wraps arms around her waist. "Go, and set the world on fire."

[mirror_alice]

Aeshma laughs, a dark and terrible sound. "Oh, I will," she says with a giggle. "So many different ways to burn..." she muses, pondering.

[7twistedwishes]

"And to enjoy yourself. Take your time getting familiar with the city... then you start your work."

[mirror_alice]

"My work is enjoyable," Aeshma teases, "But there is so much I haven't seen, haven't done yet..."

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, I am sure you will naturally do something close to work while discovering the details of your new life." The Devil knows Alice, very well. "It is your world now. For you to do as your heart desires."

[mirror_alice]

"And by sating my own desires, serve yours as well," Alice says with a smile.

[7twistedwishes]

"I did not choose you on a whim, of course. I saw your darkness, and knew it would fit well into your new function." She holds Alice close, almost tenderly. "You will shake this world."

[mirror_alice]

"It is a curious thing, that I should find my proper place after so many years and so many trials..." she muses, leaning into Scarlet a little.

[7twistedwishes]

"You found me." And the Devil found Alice, a fortuitous encounter at the End of the Universe.

[mirror_alice]

"Indeed," Alice says with a chuckle. A distant crackle of fire and the clang of swords edging into the sound.

"And I've never been better."

Wrath embodied in flesh by the Devil's will stares out over the skyline of San Francisco. People go on with their lives, oblivious to the fact that something wicked has set up house in their very midst....