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"...Ok." She owed him, she knew, for so much more than he'd ever know.

"You know that I was an outcast in my family because I had dark magic inside me, in a family of white magic users. When I was four and I came into my powers...my mother tried to strangle me, and I didn't know what I had done wrong. I was banished to the basement when she failed to kill me, and that's when...That's when Eldest came to me in a dream. I was the Hero of Prophecy, he told me, savior of all things good. This was right after I'd been assured that I was nothing, less than nothing, and he told me I could be a hero. All I had to do was give the blood oath. So I did...And my training began." The memories were right there, anxious for release, and she sighed, settling into the tale. Beside her, Eldest remained silent, studying Ialo. Attack the Ancients, huh? Well, he could've tried...

"It was mainly self defense and basic spells at first, training in secret. I was out in the forst one night, practicing under the full moon, when...Satan caught my black magic trail. He thought I showed promise, his minions said, and the Ancients...they were eager to have me infiltrate the...enemy camp, I suppose. That was the first time I went down into Hell, and I was scared to death. I'd just turned five, so I'd been in training for a year. It was so hot, so scary, so many demons around. But I'd learned...keeping your face blank no matter what usually helps things. So I began training down there, and I became...I became Satan's pet." She shuddered at this, rubbing her arms as though chilled.

"He saw to my training in Hell's realms, and I...rose quickly in the ranks. I turned out to be a very skilled assassin, much to Satan's pleasure and my...chagrin. I gathered information on anything and everything, and the Ancients would copy the information from my brain, using it all in any way they could. I was put into Hell's Guard with Arzol when I was eight. We trained together, he and Gambit and Dunstall and me. I was better than them, in strategy and execution, so before long I was heading the Guard. I killed on command, and I learned to act like I enjoyed it." She closed her eyes, better to remember.

"Before long Satan began letting me go solo. I was Shadow Runner then, protogee and favored pet of Satan. There wasn't a realm I didn't have access to, and whatever I could wish for was in my hands within the minute. But I didn't want that. He tried...Satan tried to get me to stay with him, in hell, and leave the Top World behind. He would never have guessed that I was the Hero of Prophecy that he'd been sending me out to search for now and again. He just didn't want to have to track me down on earth every time he wanted me to amuse him or do his dirty work."

"No one ever noticed when I disappeared, because a servant usually left a plate in front of my door for meals, and it was easy enough to charm the plates. I would go out at dawn and return at dusk, sleep for a day and repeat the process. Sometimes I'd be gone for days, and no one was any the wiser. I tried to play the good daughter whenever I was allowed upstairs, but they wouldn't even let me do the act. So I started spending more and more time in Hell. There I had a throne, a circlet of royalty, everything I could want was in my power to have. All I'd have to do was give my soul to Satan, and I'd be able to live there forever, in a seat of power beside the Boss himself." She shrugged, and the thought appealed to her no more than it had years ago.

"Then, when I was fourteen, when you first met me, Satan was getting edgy because my power kept increasing off the scales, and he had no explanation for it. It was time to give up the act, and stay permanently in the Top World, in this school. I revealed the fact that I was studying under the Ancients, and Satan was...out for blood then. I'm the top spot on his personal hit list these days...Ever since I gave that blood oath eleven years ago, it's been my destiny to fight Satan. I never really gave it much thought, it was always a worry for tomorrow." She sighed, and then shrugged.

"But then the visions started coming at night, when my body was tired but my mind was racing. It was my future, after my battle with Satan. There were two scenarios. In one, I died and Satan walked away grinning. In the other...in the second one both of us were dead in that bloody pit, and the Ancients took over Hell once again. I couldn't take it. I saw the faces of those I loved, dead because I hadn't been strong enough. If I was dead, they'd have to find a new hero, one every century. If I were dead, everyone else could live. I didn't want you, or anyone else to die. I didn't want to have to keep seeing your deaths, and mine, over and over again whenever I closed my eyes...I couldn't take it." She shook her head, rubbing her temples.

It was warm, she thought, and stared in fascination down at the hand that held hers. What was he...he was holding her hand. Not to pull her along anywhere, or to keep her from roaming. He was doing it to...comfort? That was...strange. Strange, but...comforting all the same. Hm.

When he mentioned following her off the cliff, her hand tightened in his, and she shook her head, her eyes wide like an owl's. "No, no, not you, never you, you're-" my hero, my idol, my elder, my father, my friend, my mentor, my confidant, my light, my port in the storm, my savior, my sanity. All these raced through her head, yet none could pass through her lips. He was everything she aspired to be, and he had wanted to follow her in her ultimate sin, ultimate coward's way out. That would never do.

((...yeah.))

"Anything? Tell me...tell me why you ever wanted to jump. What's your story?" She demanded, disturbed by the look in his eyes.

"...Ok." She said simply, used to people not wanting to tell her things. She knew there was more, much more to it than that. But she owed him, so she wouldn't pry.

"I kept a big dirty secret from you, it's only right you're allowed to keep one from me...But you did promise." She added, her eyes narrowing a bit. She was coming back, slowly but surely, finding her steady ground again.

"The note...It wasn't to ask for help, wasn't to bother you with anything. I was just...sorry that I had to let you down, that's the only reason I sent it. And...If I've learned anything, anything at all from this whole thing, it's that things are a whole lot less complicated if you just plant your feet instead of making tracks. May as well face whatever it is head on instead of...taking a fall you can't get back up from." She said, sighing to herself.

Danni nodded, flushing a bit. "I...I know. I can remember, sometimes, a little bit of what happened when I was...hiding. Night came, and...and my father. They came to Montana, and then...In the desert, a snake like Ophi...Something like that." She found her eyes were suddenly heavy, and like child she curled her legs up under her.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so...tired all of a sudden." Without another word, she laid down on top of the sheets, and was asleep before her head hit the blanket.

Only then did Eldest speak, looking at Ialo from across the unconscious girl. "There are things you wish to say to me, young dragon." He murmured, his hand resting on Danni's shoulder.