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The old man grinned crookedly. "Death is a dancer I know very well... I can tell a murder from an accident, and a murderer from an innocent... why did you kill him and then come to me, Netsubo?"

"That's true," mephistophiles said. "She really didn't mean to kill him."

"She did at the time," the old man said. "I'm a necromancer, not a repairman for the wrongs of others."

"Remember the war, Milenko!" Mephistophiles said in a warning voice. "Remember Auschwitz!"

The old man bowed his head somberly. "You saved me... I never forget, even temporarily... is he a soul that you love, Mephistophiles?"

"Yes," Mephistophiles said after a pause. "I love Faust VIII's soul. He deserves to live, or at least die in something other than a Pirates of the Caribean t-shirt."

"I'll need her help," Milenko said. "I need the blood of the killer and the blessing of the beloved... and in this case, Netsubo is both."

"As much as it takes," shrugged the necromancer. "To do a proper raising, you have to ameliorate the effects of the means by which the person died. So, if it was an accident, you have to destroy the vehicle of destruction. If it was a suicide, the seed of the person's undoing must be removed. If it was a murder, then the person who commited it must die."

"Not death!" Mephistophiles cried. "Look.... yes, she did kill him, but she cares about him more than any other human being alive!"

"That doesn't make any sense," old Milenko said, raising an eyebrow.

"She was being controlled, you have to at least understand that!" Mephistophiles shouted.

The necromancer thought. "Well... blood and a blessing... I suppose that we'll be able to do at least a partial raising with a pint or two of blood. Since you fulfill both roles, even though that's highly irregular...."

"Why can't the sea become the sky?" Milenko countered. "Why can't a stone love? Why can't...."

"We get the point," Mephistophiles sighed. "What he's trying to say is that, even with your death, a full raising is impossible. The best you can do is revive the body and then find an otaku like Anna to bring the soul back, sort of like Lee Bailong."

"Well, you did stop his heart," Milenko shrugged, lighting candles and preparing to begin the raising.

"But it's not her fault!" Mephistophiles said angrily. "She has very powerful blood, it's a blood bane, even! I bet you could bring him back fully!"

"A devil you are, Mephistophiles, but an expert in the craft you are not. Once, during my life, I knew another with the blood bane who tried to revive her beloved through her death. But instead of bringing him even partially back to life, she erased him. It was as though he'd never existed."

Mephistophiles put his arms around Netsubo, cradling her shoulders and rocking her gently back and forth while Milenko put stitches in Faust's neck.