Vaan continued for as long as he possibly could, gazing intently at everything his demon showed him, But after a while a searing pain started to dig its way into his skull. The second he felt that pain begin to intensify, he called out to Abaddon. "That's enough," he shouted, a shocking lack of insistence in his voice. The images stopped immediately, and the flaming gray demon appeared in their place.<br/><br/>"I think you've had more than enough training for now," the demon said in his deep voice, the sound of crackling flames almost drowning him out. "Your coping with the knowledge by numbing your own emotions. You'll kill them off that way, and you can't ever utilize red or royal hellfire without emotion. You'll weaken your capacity for blue hellfire that way too."<br/><br/>"What about white hellfire?" Vaan asked. "That exists too, doesn't it?"<br/><br/>Abaddon seemed to frown at him again. "Accept the possibility right now that you may never meet the conditions necessary to wield white hellfire-- royal hellfire too, for that matter."<br/><br/>The boy nodded his submission.<br/><br/>"Good," the demon said. "Wake now. You have been away from the waking world for too long."<br/><br/>The world of darkness faded away then and Vaan's eyes slowly fluttered open. He saw Merle above him. He must have fallen asleep on her lap. "Thank you," he said quietly, then sat up, looking around. The area where they were was unscathed, but a glance toward the town through the gaps in the trees revealed only glimpses of a waste land.<br/><br/>---------------------------<br/><br/>When it took Death so long to reopen the portal, Hatsu and Azrael felt worried. Azrael in particular. The beautifully-winged demon resolved to work harder when they came back inside. Hopefully, that would relieve his master of enough duties to get adequate rest. On the other hand, he could use some rest too. The keeper of souls still hadn't regained the energy it took to separate from the girl Anaka.<br/><br/>----------------------------<br/><br/>Hatsu felt Sam lace her fingers in his and he returned the gesture, trying to supply to her the confidence he hardly had himself. When the portal finally opened, they walked out right behind Death. Hatsu's mouth nearly dropped at the sight of what the city had become. Nothing was left at all except the central tower.<br/><br/>"I think you might have been right about the whole training thing," he whispered to Sam, bending over to be at ear height. "We could use some--at least<span style="font-style: italic">I</span>could.<br/><br/>----------------------------<br/><br/>Hiei waited very impatiently for Death to open the portal. He wanted to leave as soon as it was open, but a crowd of people had gathered in front of him. He was forced to wait for them all to go through before him before he dared take a step.<br/><br/>Once he was outside, the antisocial Hunter took the least amount of time possible to stand in awe of their flattened city before shooting over to the edge of Death's cloak. Hatsu caught sight of him and got a sinking feeling.<br/><br/>"Hiei?" he asked.<br/><br/>Hiei looked at Hatsu and shook his head, turning to face away and vanishing.<br/><br/>-----------------------------<br/><br/>Hiei didn't want to risk being seen for stopping in the middle of the big open space. He forced himself to run to the edge of the forest outside the city. Having such speed, he wasn't meant to be an endurance runner, and he couldn't control it. By the time he was at the forest he'd picked up so much momentum that his feet were hardly touching the ground. When he tried to stop he pitched forward and tumbled for another mile into the woods, smashing against rocks and trees as he went. When the momentum finally ran out, the Hunter just lay there on the fallen leaves, fighting both to get back the breath that had been knocked out of him and the breath he'd lost from his run. His body was covered in scrapes, scratches, bumps, and bruises, but he seemed to have all his limbs, and no broken bones. He couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't a smear on the forest floor.<br/><br/>"You owe me," Alastor said. He'd manifested into that child-like form of his and was leaning over his host. "I won't give you any defense boosts the next time you do something that stupid."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">So that's why...</span>Hiei thought.<br/><br/>"Uh huh!" Alastor exclaimed. "You're welcome.... So," he said after a while, "was it worth it?"<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Yeah,</span>Hiei thought.<span style="font-style: italic">It was worth it. I didn't have any obligations toward any of them anyway.</span><br/><br/>"You have no regrets?"<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">None.</span><br/><br/>"Even if they die?"<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">It has nothing to do with me.</span><br/><br/>Alastor smirked. "Get some rest and let your body heal. After that, I'll tell you a little story."<br/><br/>Hiei was half asleep before he could question what his demon meant. These last few days had been exhausting.