#kayv

Originally, I was going to put in a bit I wrote concerning V and Kay talking about whether she has a Devil Trigger or not. I’ve been writing this fic for months, and Kay’s changed a lot during that time. And while I have been writing this fic chronologically for the most part, there’s some bits and pieces I wrote ahead of time when the inspiration and good wording came to me. This was one of them, and it ultimately got changed because of the change in Kay’s character. However, it’s been a long time since I first drafted this post and I don’t exactly feel like digging through the history on Google Docs right now to find it. Sorry.

What I can share though is the original version of the post-Goddess Statue upgrading fight! I actually quickly came to dislike this scene since it ultimately didn’t fit the vibe the next scene and couple of chapters have going for them. I tried to salvage as much of it as I possibly could, but I figured keeping the original here would still suffice.

The two of them continued down the path, resuming their journey. They could feel the rumbling underneath their feet grow more intense, stopping once it felt the strongest. Roots broke through the ground in front of them, thankfully far enough that they couldn’t attack them. In front of them, red pools formed on the ground, Empusas forming out from underneath them.

Kay did groan this time. “Seriously?! More bugs?!” she complained. “Come on, I wanted to try things out on something new! Not the same old shit we dealt with hours ago!”

“Patience, Little Wanderer,” V said. “Unfortunately, we will likely be dealing with these weaker demons for some time, especially while we are farther away from the Qliphoth itself,” He glanced up at the sky, the demon tree still visible from this distance. “Though as time goes on, and the roots continue to spread, stronger adversaries will make themselves known. Besides, would it not help to practice on a foe you are already familiar with?”

Kay sighed. “I guess you’re right. I’m just sick of fighting these damn things already. I want something challenging!”

“I understand your concerns, but for now we must make due with what we have.” V summoned Griffon and Shadow to his side, intending to play more of a supportive role in this fight. He wanted to see what Kay could do.

She pulled out Fenrir, twisting the handle and bringing out the chainsaw blades. “Whatever, let’s just take ‘em down!” she exclaimed.

She looked over the group before her, six normal Empusas and three flying ones. This would be easy to handle. Running over to the first two, she revved up Fenrir and struck it through the first Empusa. Blood drenched from the entry wound, getting all over the Empusa next to it as she cut through it like she usually did. It was slower than usual, but it did the job just as effectively. She cut through its midsection, the demon collapsing to the ground as it died. Her attention turned to the second one, and she stuck Fenrir into its head. She grabbed the handle and revved it continuously, more blood shooting out from the wound as the blades cut faster. She slowly pushed Fenrir in further, and within seconds the demon stopped flailing. She kicked the body out of it, slicing it normally just to be certain. So that’s what that move could do.

She sensed another Empusa behind her, jumping out of the way of the attack before doing a second jump in mid-air. Holy shit, it felt good to finally have that ability, she’d wanted to do it for years! She jumped behind it and cut it into three pieces, enjoying the rush of battle as she went for one of the Green Empusas.

V removed his cane from a felled enemy, sending Shadow to strike at another demon. He looked over at Kay as he fought, watching her take down demons with ease. Admittedly, he too wished they had another kind of foe to practice on, these Empusas went down too quickly. Perhaps some light conversation would make things more interesting. “If it isn’t much trouble, I believe I have my question ready.” he said.

Kay didn’t look back at him. “Okay then, go for it!” she called back.

“Where do you come from?”

Kay performed a double jump, hacking at a Green Empusa as she thought. “Uhhhhhh, I actually don’t remember!”

V raised an eyebrow at that answer. “Truly? You cannot recall your birthplace?”

“Sorry, I know that’s not an interesting answer, but it’s the truth!” she admitted. “It slipped through my memory years ago. You?”

The Green Empusa he was fighting fell to the ground in a purple hue, and he finished it off with his cane. “This very city actually,” he said. “It’s been quite a long time since I last came here though.”

“Oh, shit. Guess that’s why you wanted Dante to help save it then?”

“You could say that.”

The final enemies were defeated, leaving no trace of them behind. V turned back to look at Kay, his heart pounding in his chest a bit as he saw she was dripping with demon blood. Of course a chainsaw axe would leave more of a mess than usual, but the sight was something else. ‘Hehe, are your thoughts going places, V? Admit it, you like what you see there!’ Griffon teased, though V refused to acknowledge it with a response. What was he even thinking anyway? He was merely surprised to see her like that, nothing more. Any other implications were ridiculous and not worth entertaining. The bird was just trying to get a rise out of him.

Thankfully for him, Kay wasn’t aware of him looking at her. She looked down at her clothes, seeing her shirt littered with bloodstains. “Yeah, should’ve seen that coming.” she sighed. At least demon blood vanished quickly so it wouldn’t stain anything. She didn’t even want to think about when she could possibly clean anything.

She nearly flinched as she felt something wet brush over her hand. Looking over to see what she felt, she saw Shadow had walked up to her and had started licking the blood off her hand. She stood there frozen, uncertain about what to do. Did she say something? Ask V what was going on? Just stand there and wait for him to stop?

“Well, well, well! Looks like the kitty’s warming up to ya, girlie,” Griffon said, perching himself on her shoulders. “I ain’t ever seen him get this close to someone other than V. Kinda weird, actually.”

Kay scoffed. “Weird for you, maybe,” She finally looked up at V, who was now observing Shadow intently. “Okay, so, is it safe for me to pet him or something? He’s gonna like, bite my hand or anything?”

Griffon made a shrugging gesture with his wings. “Eh, I doubt he’d do that unless V told ‘im to. Even though it’d be funny if he did!” he laughed, quickly removing himself before she could take a swipe at him. “But yeah, go ahead, I ain’t gonna stop you.”

After putting away Fenrir, which had returned to its normal state, Kay slowly moved her free hand over Shadow’s head, softly petting the demon panther to test the waters. Just as Griffon said, he didn’t attempt to bite her, he didn’t even back away or show any sign of discomfort. Instead, he just stood there and let her pet him. Kay smiled, happy to obtain the approval of one of the familiars.

V watched the scene unfold before him, similarly shocked by Shadow’s actions. Granted, it was good to know that he liked Kay considering the circumstances, but he truly hadn’t expected him to show such affection. He’d have to keep an eye on things and see if this changed any further.

“It would appear that you’re taking to your new skills well, Little Wanderer.” he said, returning to the subject at hand.

Kay stopped petting Shadow, earning a displeased huff from him in the process. “I’m, uh, not sure one battle is enough to say that, especially against such small fry like those guys.”

V nodded. “True, one battle is hardly enough to determine such things, but I have a good feeling about you and your skills. In fact, I believe you have what it takes to fully utilize your demonic powers to their full potential.”

Kay’s smile fell a bit. “What do you mean?”

“I am certain you know what a Devil Trigger is, do you not?” V asked. Though he figured it would be something she was aware of, he didn’t want to assume after having to tell her about the Divinity Statues.

“You mean that thing Dante can do where he turns into a demon?” she asked. She hadn’t seen him do it often, but that was the only thing she could think of that would possibly be called a Devil Trigger. V confirmed her guess with a nod. “Yeah, I know what that is, but I can’t do that.”

“You can’t?” V asked, genuinely perplexed by this revelation. “Regardless of skill level, I would believe you should have some access to that ability.” Most hybrids could acces a Devil Trigger of some kind by now, so it was strange that she claimed she couldn’t. He could sense her power, she had the means to do so in theory. Did she simply not know how to access it because she’d never tried? Or was there something deeper going on? Had she never had a catalyst to awaken it?

Kay froze, looking at V blankly as she tried to think of an excuse. She shrugged, trying her best to look natural but awkwardly smiling instead. “Nope, don’t have it! Maybe it’s just…not available to me or something?” she nervously laughed, hoping her words could get her out of this conversation. “Oh well, it’s fine! It’s not like I need it that badly, you know?” Great, wonderful excuse! Way to get out of that situation smoothly!

Ah, so this was another subject she was unwilling to divulge. But she reacted so differently compared to the other times. There was something more to this, he was certain of it, but there was no point continuing with this line of thought. But he couldn’t just drop it entirely. “True, you do not technically need a Devil Trigger,” he began, playing along with her bad excuse. “However, it would still be beneficial to have access to it. It will allow you to unleash powers that would otherwise remain dormant. Perhaps we can work on unlocking it during our time here.” He smirked at her.

Great, now she felt bad about withholding the truth from him like this. But what could she do? This wasn’t something she was comfortable talking about, even if she knew he wouldn’t care about such things. Things had to be this way though, whether he believed her or not, Kay just wasn’t ready to confront that. “Yeah, maybe so.” she muttered.

“Alright, alright, enough chit-chatting! We gotta get moving!” Griffon said.

“True, the demons alone are not our only troubles,” V said. “The roots will continue to be a problem as we move forward. We must keep ourselves focused.”

“How are we supposed to deal with them anyway?” Kay asked, glad to be getting away from her issues for now.

“We cut them down,” V explained. “We cannot stop them entirely, but we can prevent them from engulfing Red Grave City entirely. Though at this early stage, the roots will unlikely be removed so easily. Our efforts would be better utilized taking care of the demons.”

“We should also keep an eye out for civilians,” Kay added. “Evacuation efforts aren’t going to get everyone, it’s better that we help out people as much as we can if we find any.”

V didn’t respond. Perhaps she had a point there, but the Qliphoth would harvest blood regardless. Saving one or two people wouldn’t make much of a difference, and he knew that. But shooting her down wasn’t the best idea, at least not entirely. “...We’ll see what we can do.” he finally spoke.

Kay took notice of his hesitation. Was there something wrong with her idea? If the Qliphoth feasted on human blood, then saving people would give it less blood to drink, right? It could buy them some time, if only a little. But she didn’t feel like arguing about it right now, not when they had things they could be doing. “Anyway, let’s keep going! These roots aren’t going to get rid of themselves, you know?” Before he could interject, she began to move forward, humming to herself all the while.

V walked behind her, conflicted over their next course of action. Besides, how likely would it be that they would come across other people anyway?