Xibalba

[Kotomine_Rin]

Ezekiel

"Nah, they ain't mine." His expression turned into a wry smile. "Don't confuse human hearts for something so valuable. Just like this body, it is all for the purpose of bringing back the wyrm from the depths."

He bowed.

"Do you believe in gravity?" He asked her cockily.

[Aiden]

Serana

The lich raised an elegant eyebrow in bemusement. "What relevance does science have to the matter at hand?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Ezekiel

He shook his head sorrily. "No no no no no no no... That's not what I'm talking about, friend. People are pulled towards each other, or towards a specific place, sometimes towards destiny. Lots of people think that's just fate, or chance. Coincidence. They're what you'd call idiots."

He grabbed her hand and kissed it, and looked up to her with a sharp smile.

"This world has a will, it has something it wants to see through. For some reason, you and I met on that fateful day. That miracle is nothing more than gravity that pulled us together, to that time and to that place.  Nothing more than the will of this world that pulls us in its course. It's gravity that saved me, and let me meet someone reeal special. And it's what will pull us towards the end of our goals, I'm sure of it."

[Aiden]

Serana

Serana pulled her hand back, and looked away to the red crystal on her desk. But damn You, she could still see what this looked like from the perspective of her guards when it acted like this!

"Your optimism is unwarranted. And distracting."

She was going to have to dissuade it from believing they were friends. Later. When You wasn't speaking so much other ridiculous nonsense. Her eyes turned back to him after her moment of lost composure.

"Now, do you have the means to find what I seek, or not?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Ezekiel

He sighed. Did she really have to be like that? He almost felt like crying his thousand eyes out.

"I found what you seek, before you even thought about getting your paws on it, girl." He snarled, less at her and more at the memory. "I guess I could try again, but..." He yawned. "Nah, don't feel like it. Or rather, it'd be a fool's errand. At least as we are now. Besides, power that isn't your own is worth less than rat shit in the middle of the road. Why not just train and get stronger or something?"

[Aiden]

Serana

The elven necromancer put her arms into a position that made it seem like she was about to lecture her minion for that one. She even held a finger up in front of her face.

"Even with all the knowledge and skill in the world, the living cannot go without food and water. So it is with magic - ever reliant on the powers of the world."

And then she pointed at it.

"Tell me of what you found, then."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

He smirked devilishly and bowed.

"The largest magic source in the city would be the Omphalos in the Citadel of Sorcery. It's an old district, which is where all of the great wizards of old and new pour their knowledge into. If you could get your hands on that place, you would have nearly limitless magical power. Then there's Pine Garden. A smaller, more modest spot surely, but maintained by potent magic. Drawing on it would not be the worst idea, I think..."

Right, there was still that place he tried to use. But thinking back on it, he winced in pain and had to shut an eye as he tried recalling the name. Right, yeah, that was also an option...

"There's a few more. Really, it's not like it's choice that's lacking. This city might as well be a chinese buffet when it comes to this kind of stuff."

[Aiden]

Serana

Chinese?

Serana gently sucked in another whisper from the dying nearby, seeking the knowledge she needed, and found the definition therein. She inclined her head. "Then we are spoiled for choice. The question becomes which is the most lightly defended of them?"

She crossed her legs, and motioned to You once more.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

He sighed. As much as he liked the idea, it... wasn't a good one.

"I bring fire, blood and night unending where you wish, but even if we did breach one of their defences, the others would not just sit yknow?" He looked up and scratched his short stubble, pondering with the same smile as ever. "I don't mind it myself, heck, I would welcome it but... you have something to live for, and now I do as well. Nah, too risky. I love you even more for suggesting it though."

Man, he didn't get to stretch his muscles in forever though. Maybe he should grab a bite or two after he was done...

"It'd be easier to start small and work our way up. Instead of dealing with an entire district and their forces, if you wrapped one of its lords around your finger... well, snatching the prize under their feet would be all the easier, no?"

[Aiden]

Serana

The lich seemed to go as still as a corpse in rigor mortis. It wasn't an immediate transition, but rather the slow realization on her servant's part that she simply wasn't moving at all and the unsettling sensation that perhaps she never had been. Serana settled that way for some time until the corner of her mouth twitched upward, abruptly.

"I suppose it has been some time," she began to say in a distant, reminiscing tone, "Since I have had to indulge in the games of living politics. I do hope I haven't grown rusty."

Now all that remained was to figure out who to cozy up with.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

His eyes sparked up for a moment and he looked concerned. He held his hand out and opened his mouth, but stopped the moment she spoke.

He grinned and ultimately chuckled. "Gems don't rust, idiot. I'm sure you'll do great, you're my precious after all. But..." He sighed and looked away for a moment. "I... don't think I'll be much use with that. I was never a leader, or someone who inspired other people. Just a beast who creates and consumes life as he sees fit. Politics are a weakness to me.... I am far too weak."

For a moment, he wasn't sure what to say.

[Aiden]

Serana

"I don't keep you around for your skill at wrangling degenerate beasts, You." Serana waved off his speechless self-deprecation quite literally. Then she rested a hand over her chest. "No, I believe we shall simply have to rely on me for such thankless subtleties."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Zeke

"...You break my heart lady." He shook his head with the same sly grin, as if the apologetic look was never there in the first place. "Fiiiine~! So what do you keep me around for? DO I have anything in particular to look forward to?"

[Aiden]

Serana

She blinked as if confused by his question. "You are already doing so much. I was going to have you butcher my foes and slurp up their souls through a straw, but You have been quite adamant that we cannot take the direct approach. I am following your advice in this matter."

Serana inclined her head for a moment, as if to acknowledge its point.

"What else is it you desire, then?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Ezekiel

Doing so much? No, she had to be kidding. Was this some sort of sick joke? Or perhaps penance? It's not like what he was doing was that special, anyone else could prove as much of a crutch as him. It was... weird. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this. Or anything at all.

He closed his eyes and smiled, like the answer was obvious.

"I just want to live without fear. I want to cull the me that was branded with defeat. I want power, riches, worship, glory, and love. I want everything, so I never have to fear losing anything again."

For a moment, his expression turned sad.

I want what I cannot have.

"Is that why you took them all?" A sudden voice that was not his own escaped from his own lips. No, rather, the lips he borrowed, from the body that was never his ever since that day. And a sharp pain filled his head for a moment.