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Cherry Tulips
Title: Cherry Tulips
Fandom: Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea
Character(s): Ver, Laurentia, Vendetto, Rosaliya, Sal, Princess Tosatsu, Artamos
Pairing(s): None
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 1,000
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Character death
Summary: Post-Normal End 1. Ver appeals to her Devil for help.
Notes: Yes, writing.
From the shore of a nearby island, Ver sees red seep into the water, the deep red of blood.
Laurentia is patching up some rabbit soldiers, while Vendetto talks about payment with Princess Tosatsu. The original terms of this job were hastily arranged, and amounted to little more than ‘protect the Blue Sea residents’. Some of those in the town escaped with them, but only very few.
“You failed,” says Tosatsu, wiping her eyes off with her sleeve. It’s not just seawater there, though she claims that’s all it is when Ver or anyone asks. “Uomi’s probably dead or worse somewhere. You’re not getting a cent!”
“Now, now, we all did what we could,” her father says. “And, look, we managed to save a few, so surely they’re at least entitled to partial payment?”
Vendetto leaves the crying princess to talk with her father and comes to stand beside Ver. “Well, that was a bust,” he says. “...Look, I’m sorry about how it turned out. I know you were friends with the witch, and-”
“It’s not over.” Ver stares into the water for a moment longer, before jerking her head towards him. “I won’t let this be the end of it.”
“Do you have a plan in mind?” asks Laurentia, finishing bandaging a rabbit. “Or are you just saying that because you can’t accept it?”
“I hate doing this, but I don’t want to screw around with anything less.” Ver turns to Laurentia. “I’m going to need to ask you for a portal home.”
Laurentia smiles at that. Laurentia smiles at many things that aren’t funny. “You really are desperate. Certainly, I’ll be happy to assist you in any way you need.”
“Guess I’d better come along,” says Vendetto. “I always wanted to meet your Devil, anyway. She can’t be as bad as mine.”
They send the rescued Blue Sea residents to stay in the Tosatsu Kingdom. That should be safe enough, for now, and they’ll likely have a better time there than in a world full of demons.
The trip home is short: Laurentia’s portals are efficient. Soon enough Ver is leading the other two to the gates of Rosaliya’s castle.
It’s a beautiful castle, surrounded by lush gardens full of every type of flower known to demons. Ver ignores all her surroundings, marching with single-minded determination through the hallways and up stairs until they reach the throne room.
Rosaliya Phantomrose is sitting on her throne, chatting with one of her servants, but she cuts off mid-word when Ver pushes the doors open. “Is that you, Ver? I haven’t seen you in so long!” A guileless smile breaks out across her face.
Ver doesn’t return the smile. “I need your help.”
Behind her, Vendetto and Laurentia wait, on edge. They’re well aware that Rosaliya’s servants all have their gazes fixed on them, and all of them are armed.
Rosaliya sighs. “That explains that. Tell me what’s happened.”
So Ver does. She tells the whole story, about the Sea of Death and its history as she knows it. She talks about the carnage she saw when she was struggling against its forces, fish ruthlessly cut down where they stood or killed when they tried to run. She talks about Wadanohara: sweet, gentle, innocent sea witch Wadanohara, who’d been corrupted by the sea and used as a tool to spread the bloodied waters further.
By the time she gets to the end of her story, Rosaliya is crying. Her servants have tissues prepared for her, and she wipes her face and recomposes herself before she answers.
“I understand. Even if it’s in Satanick’s world, I can’t allow a place like that to continue to exist anywhere.” She pushes herself off her throne and approaches Ver. “We’ll go. I’ll see it personally.”
Rosaliya’s portals are easier to fit a small army through than Laurentia’s. She is at the front of her army, despite numerous protests from her troops that she should be at the back, where it’s safer. Ver, Laurentia, and Vendetto are somewhere in the middle.
The demons in this army are much stronger than the rabbits of Tosatsu’s forces, and it’s far easier to push back the inhabitants of the Red Sea this time. Some of them, Ver notes to herself, look very much like ones from the Blue Sea she’d seen before. She keeps that thought quiet.
A white shark stands in their way, with enough mockery in his laughter that Ver assumes he’s either powerful or simply stupid. “I didn’t expect to see the mercenaries now, of all times,” he says. “Why bother? The sea is fully red, Wadanohara is completely mine… Are you expecting to be paid?”
Rosaliya’s eyes narrow. “You’re the one who changed the witch, Wadanohara?” she asks. It’s impossible underwater to tell if she has tears of anger.
“Oh, you heard~?” The shark grins. Ver wants to punch it off him. Next to her, Vendetto grips his lance tighter, and Laurentia’s smile briefly disappears. “Yes yes, she’s mine now. She took a little convincing, but I enjoyed-”
“That’s enough.” Rosaliya holds out one hand. “Disappear now.”
He laughs again, and a flower blooms on his cheek: a dark crimson rose. Another appears, cutting through his skin and his clothes. Then another, while he’s still surprised by their appearance. Then more, increasingly quickly turning his skin and the inside of his body into the material for roses. He tries to say something but a flower blooms in his throat and turns his words into choked sounds. He lashes out with bloody tendrils but those too become flowers and harmlessly fall to the sea floor.
In the space of a minute or two, nothing is left of him but roses.
Rosaliya steps over the patch of flowers when she walks past: Ver doesn’t have the same restraint or respect for flowers and digs her heel into it.
Wadanohara has always liked white carnations the best. If worst comes to worst… Ver will let her Devil know.
Fandom: Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea
Character(s): Ver, Laurentia, Vendetto, Rosaliya, Sal, Princess Tosatsu, Artamos
Pairing(s): None
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 1,000
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Character death
Summary: Post-Normal End 1. Ver appeals to her Devil for help.
Notes: Yes, writing.
From the shore of a nearby island, Ver sees red seep into the water, the deep red of blood.
Laurentia is patching up some rabbit soldiers, while Vendetto talks about payment with Princess Tosatsu. The original terms of this job were hastily arranged, and amounted to little more than ‘protect the Blue Sea residents’. Some of those in the town escaped with them, but only very few.
“You failed,” says Tosatsu, wiping her eyes off with her sleeve. It’s not just seawater there, though she claims that’s all it is when Ver or anyone asks. “Uomi’s probably dead or worse somewhere. You’re not getting a cent!”
“Now, now, we all did what we could,” her father says. “And, look, we managed to save a few, so surely they’re at least entitled to partial payment?”
Vendetto leaves the crying princess to talk with her father and comes to stand beside Ver. “Well, that was a bust,” he says. “...Look, I’m sorry about how it turned out. I know you were friends with the witch, and-”
“It’s not over.” Ver stares into the water for a moment longer, before jerking her head towards him. “I won’t let this be the end of it.”
“Do you have a plan in mind?” asks Laurentia, finishing bandaging a rabbit. “Or are you just saying that because you can’t accept it?”
“I hate doing this, but I don’t want to screw around with anything less.” Ver turns to Laurentia. “I’m going to need to ask you for a portal home.”
Laurentia smiles at that. Laurentia smiles at many things that aren’t funny. “You really are desperate. Certainly, I’ll be happy to assist you in any way you need.”
“Guess I’d better come along,” says Vendetto. “I always wanted to meet your Devil, anyway. She can’t be as bad as mine.”
They send the rescued Blue Sea residents to stay in the Tosatsu Kingdom. That should be safe enough, for now, and they’ll likely have a better time there than in a world full of demons.
The trip home is short: Laurentia’s portals are efficient. Soon enough Ver is leading the other two to the gates of Rosaliya’s castle.
It’s a beautiful castle, surrounded by lush gardens full of every type of flower known to demons. Ver ignores all her surroundings, marching with single-minded determination through the hallways and up stairs until they reach the throne room.
Rosaliya Phantomrose is sitting on her throne, chatting with one of her servants, but she cuts off mid-word when Ver pushes the doors open. “Is that you, Ver? I haven’t seen you in so long!” A guileless smile breaks out across her face.
Ver doesn’t return the smile. “I need your help.”
Behind her, Vendetto and Laurentia wait, on edge. They’re well aware that Rosaliya’s servants all have their gazes fixed on them, and all of them are armed.
Rosaliya sighs. “That explains that. Tell me what’s happened.”
So Ver does. She tells the whole story, about the Sea of Death and its history as she knows it. She talks about the carnage she saw when she was struggling against its forces, fish ruthlessly cut down where they stood or killed when they tried to run. She talks about Wadanohara: sweet, gentle, innocent sea witch Wadanohara, who’d been corrupted by the sea and used as a tool to spread the bloodied waters further.
By the time she gets to the end of her story, Rosaliya is crying. Her servants have tissues prepared for her, and she wipes her face and recomposes herself before she answers.
“I understand. Even if it’s in Satanick’s world, I can’t allow a place like that to continue to exist anywhere.” She pushes herself off her throne and approaches Ver. “We’ll go. I’ll see it personally.”
Rosaliya’s portals are easier to fit a small army through than Laurentia’s. She is at the front of her army, despite numerous protests from her troops that she should be at the back, where it’s safer. Ver, Laurentia, and Vendetto are somewhere in the middle.
The demons in this army are much stronger than the rabbits of Tosatsu’s forces, and it’s far easier to push back the inhabitants of the Red Sea this time. Some of them, Ver notes to herself, look very much like ones from the Blue Sea she’d seen before. She keeps that thought quiet.
A white shark stands in their way, with enough mockery in his laughter that Ver assumes he’s either powerful or simply stupid. “I didn’t expect to see the mercenaries now, of all times,” he says. “Why bother? The sea is fully red, Wadanohara is completely mine… Are you expecting to be paid?”
Rosaliya’s eyes narrow. “You’re the one who changed the witch, Wadanohara?” she asks. It’s impossible underwater to tell if she has tears of anger.
“Oh, you heard~?” The shark grins. Ver wants to punch it off him. Next to her, Vendetto grips his lance tighter, and Laurentia’s smile briefly disappears. “Yes yes, she’s mine now. She took a little convincing, but I enjoyed-”
“That’s enough.” Rosaliya holds out one hand. “Disappear now.”
He laughs again, and a flower blooms on his cheek: a dark crimson rose. Another appears, cutting through his skin and his clothes. Then another, while he’s still surprised by their appearance. Then more, increasingly quickly turning his skin and the inside of his body into the material for roses. He tries to say something but a flower blooms in his throat and turns his words into choked sounds. He lashes out with bloody tendrils but those too become flowers and harmlessly fall to the sea floor.
In the space of a minute or two, nothing is left of him but roses.
Rosaliya steps over the patch of flowers when she walks past: Ver doesn’t have the same restraint or respect for flowers and digs her heel into it.
Wadanohara has always liked white carnations the best. If worst comes to worst… Ver will let her Devil know.