Who Am I?

The Royal Fortune was taking off into the skies above once more, with the group planning on making their way to The Peacewell Hotel: Trademark under Infinite Destinations Travel Agency. 

Everything on the ship was rather normal except for the tangible tension that was brought into every compartment that Verum stepped into. It was no secret she wasn't liked, for obvious reasons and she knew it. 

As the rodent casually strolled about the front deck, her attention was suddenly caught by Avis and the finally unfused Vinea chatting together. 

"So we agree we gotta deal with the doppelgangers?" Vinea sighed, followed by Avis nodding in agreement. "If they are anything like the originals, they'll probably be reckless.... And surprisingly durable."

"If ya wanted advice, why don't you ask me?" Verum said as she appeared behind the harpy with a light chuckle. "Rat..." Vinea mumbled. "Or is it Mollia?" Avis said with a light sigh, not bothering to turn around and look in her general direction.

"Verum. Just call me Verum. And I gotta say... You two got quite a bit older since the last time Rat saw you. Almost makes me wish I knew you two before." She smiled as her tail trailed up Avis's leg. 

"Are you still immortal?" The harpy asked in a flat tone.

"Yeah? Wh-" Before Verum could ask why, Avis played a riff on her newly repaired guitar, sending out a blade of air that cut through the rodent's body like paper. Yet the rodent once more rewound her body back together and with a boisterous laugh, she said; "Is everyone gonna do that to me?"

"You bet." Vinea said as he raised a vine like a thumbs up. 

After a bit of time, Verum decided to at least try and help the two with the "Devoted" as she called them. She went on to explain that the Ven and Zamtika copies were nothing more than extremely high quality shades constructed of both Rat and Mollia's memories of the two. 

And the best bet of finding them would be to think like them. 

"And you can't just erase them with another truth because...?" Vinea asked with a sceptical look. "Beeeecause I have no clue how. I just came into existence like yesterday."

"Wow... And Lucy is letting you live?" Avis muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Verum to hear. "She can't kill me, she would be lonely without her first real friend and.... I'm the reason this story is so great."

"Again with the story talk. If you talk our ears off again with another long winded tale of your past..." The harpy sighed, readying her guitar for another nice slice to the rodent's chest. Yet Verum's eyes were drawn to the now slowly beating heart that powered the guitar.

"You... Still have that thing?" 

"It's a reminder of who I was and what I became. Y'know, because of you?" Avis said as she clutched her instrument ever tighter with her clawed hand. "Oh keep your hair in a knot. Rat didn't really expect you to turn into a harpy, she just wanted to hide the thing for awhile."

"Why do you act like you're not her?"

Verum went silent at Vinea's question. She hadn't really thought about who she was. She didn't really want to know who she was really. So, like Rat would do before her, she sidestepped the question with another question. 

"When did you get so smart in your old age?" 

"I'm not old! Avis is older than me anyway." He grumbled, crossing his vines with a light pout. The harpy let out an offended gasp, trying to slap him yet only striking the air. "I'm still young, you overgrown great oak!"

"Says the wrinkled phoenix."

"I'll leave you two alone." Verum smirked, calmly slinking away as the two began to argue over who looked better. 

As Verum made her way down the lower deck of the airship, she poked her head into the medical bay, finding Oia still hiding underneath Ayre's bed. "You're still here?" She asked, poking her head under the bed. 

The doll remained perfectly still, though that only gave Verum more of a reason to talk. "So... I heard your thing is dreams, right? You... Create endless nightmares. Can... You uh... I dunno... Suppress a part of someone's mind?" She asked with an awkward look, holding up a small ball of light to better look at the doll. Yet as she shined the light in its direction, it had suddenly vanished.

Verum tried to get out from under the bed, though accidentally bumping her head against its frame. After she finally got out, she turned back to see a patchwork doll that resembled her own form standing at her feet.

"Why would I help you...?" The doll asked, its stitched up lips slowly breaking apart with every word. Verum squatted down to its level, giving it a scratch behind its rat ears. "Because if you don't, I'll just incinerate you like the twins." She said in a cutesy tone. 

"A... Very compelling argument. Fine. What did you want me to do?" It seemed annoyed at the threat, yet knew Verum would follow through on it. The rodent gave a sigh and whispered her memories she wanted gone.

And at the same time as that, Lucy was sat alone in her room once more. Staring up the the familiar chains that always brought her comfort. The Warden had been thinking about her life, and soon she began thinking back to the day she was born. 

Demons in The Iris weren't so much born as they were made. They would all start out the same, a negative emotion born of a desire. Maybe it was someone filled with envy over another's success, perhaps the desire to indulge in any matter of deplorable acts or even the one's own pride could be the factor in play.

But what could truly birth a demon? A body. 

If enough negativity was produced, a demon would appear and take control of a recently deceased body, creating a new demon. As they rose, they erased the name their body had originally and choose a new one. One that defines who they truly are. 

Yet if a Demon was called their original name, their hold over their body would weaken dramatically. 

They were feared through out the lands, and none more so than Pandæmonium, The First Demon and Second of The Divine. No one was sure of what Pandæmonium was though, she seemed to have been around long before Demons were well known. Some say she was a fallen angel who cursed the world to create an endless army while others claim she appeared when the first man knew pride. 

Yet the stories about her mother were all well known tales, there was one story that no one really knew.

The Overlord's Prized Sculpture.

As the story goes, Pandæmonium grew bored one evening and decided to walk among the human's in her sister's city. The Overlord wandered the streets in a human guise, watching and observing a festival in Paradise's name. 

As time ticked on, Pandæmonium had found her way to an art gallery. The demon, lightly intoxicated by the night (and enough vodka to kill ten men), observed an artist creating a sculpture of her sister to present as a tribute. 

'No one had ever made such a beautiful tribute to me.' She thought. And soon enough, the somewhat drunk demon had challenged the sculptor, a young woman with shining amber hair and two caring blue eyes, to compete in a sculpting contest.

The sculptor accepted the challenge, and soon a crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle. They were each given a lump of clay and told to create a sculpture of what they truly wanted. 

The artist's created a model of her work being worshipped by those around her, even Paradise was worshipping her work. It was a stunning piece that made the people think, and Pandæmonium knew that. 

But the Overlord was still far behind, she continued her work yet with every bit she built up, she began to wonder... What was it she actually desired?

She was a god who had her every whim catered too. What more could she need? 'Perhaps I could part my wisdom onto someone else? Yet... None are even close worthy of my knowledge or power.' Her mind began to race as she began to think about her future. 

She was immortal, yet she had known of one capable of slaying her. Perhaps her time could be potentially cut short. It was these thoughts that shaped her work and as the demon worked away, she finally finished her work.

A sculpture of a demon. One that resembled Pandæmonium yet held her own pride. The crowd was curious. A statue of a demon? How... Bold. To them, it was so different. Few had actually seen what a demon had looked like, so to see a sculpture of one was bizarre. 

As the two presented their pieces, Paradise herself had arrived to see the festivities. She could see through her sister's disguise, yet remained quiet. 

"These statues... Is this really what you want?" The angel questioned to her sister with a light giggle. Pandæmonium could only sigh, lifting her hair to reveal one of her eyes. She told her younger sister that she wished for a child. One that could bare become her successor.

Parfait stared at her sister for a while before whispering to her; "Then why not make one?" The angel shot her a knowing smile before clapping her hands. It was like the world itself went dark, even the moonlight vanished for a few brief moments. 

Pandæmonium appeared before the artist in her true, chain bound form before the her. 

"You wish to be worshipped? I can offer you so much more. All you have to do is become my kin and you shall be so everything you ever wished."

The artist was dumbstruck. The Second Of The Divine was offering her such a deal. Yet if she accepted, she would surely be sacrificing her humanity. Her friends, her family, her life. All for a demon who drunkenly challenged her. 

But a chance like this would never come again. 

"Tell me your name, O new born mine." Pandæmonium said in a booming voice as she leaned down to her new child. The artist took a deep breath before loudly announcing her name.

"I'm #####..."

With that, Pandæmonium plucked the artist's heart from her chest, and as her body fell lifeless, the light returned to the world. Yet, both the artist and her opponent had vanished, the only thing left was the artist's sculpture, broken and twisted with a demonic sigil drawn underneath.

No one knew what happened to the artist or her opponent's sculpture.

Except for Lucy.

Her mind returned to the moment she came to be. 

In the deepest pit of Pandora's Tears, Pandæmonium used her sculpture to create the perfect daughter. She used the artist's heart as a base, corrupting it with her influence. Maybe a bit too much of her influence really, as the Overlord had created a heart capable of binding even herself to her daughters whim. 

A Heart capable of creating contracts. 

Yet that ability would be useless on its own. So, as Pandæmonium began putting the final touches on the sculpture, she clawed out her own heart and along with ######'s heart, she delicately placed them inside the hollow statue. 

"A name is all you need now, my dear. A name you will one day choose for yourself. Until that day comes, you may have a name that once belonged to me." The Overlord mused as she lowered the sculpture into a pool of boiling blood. Pandæmonium thought for hours on which name to use for her daughter. The demon was known under hundreds of aliases, but one stuck out the most.

"Arise, Lucifer Vincula. You shall be my Pride embodied and Last Of The Divine."

That was the day Lucy was born. 

And it was only after three years of teaching her daughter, that Pandæmonium realised how boring being a parent was. So, instead of caring for her, She instead sent her off to Pandora's Melody to live with her aunt. 

"Ah... Childhood." Lucy mused as she grabbed Parfait's Halo. 

With a sudden shake, The Warden heard Senshi over the ship's intercom saying that they had finally arrived at their destination. 

Now, the Royal Fortune was hovering just above the luxurious Peacewell Hotel: Trademark under Infinite Destinations Travel Agency.