[Back from the Belly, Back to the Beast] Part 2

(This chapter starts in Tomoko's perspective, ending in ???'s perspective)

"UGH, EVERY ONE OF THESE HALLWAYS LOOKS THE EXACT SAME!" Tomoko shouted in exaggerated annoyance. She had to do her best to keep up her bravado, as this was one of the only places or things at all that made her feel genuine fear anymore.

It's not that the place was spooky in atmosphere or anything. Honestly, if you weren't aware beforehand it would be pretty easy to not figure out that the world's most dangerous creatures were all here.

From Demon Lords to mechanical horrors, there was little that couldn't be found here. She consoled herself once again that there was no shame in not wanting to go to a place like this. Even if there was no danger here, why would anyone want to?

Except of course, Gabriel was almost always here. Why he would choose to spend so much time in such a horrible location (especially now that she had seen the decor), she could never understand. No matter how hard she tried, there was a lot about Gabriel she could not figure out.

She took a moment to pause and think about it, becoming quickly distracted by her own thoughts. 'Well, I know that he is rather compassionate, he helped me after all. However, he has a weird coldness to him I can't figure out. I also know that he also lost his father, but he refuses to speak about how his father died or even his father in general. I swear, I would have an easier time getting conversation from a random crate in this world.' She let out an annoyed huff as she thought about how difficult Gabriel was.

This annoyance nearly immediately vanished as she heard the familiar voice of the man in question from behind her. "I feel like I remember being told that, and I quote, ‘Nothing could bring you down here, whether it be the most handsome man or any form of treasure.’"

She spun around, a smile forcing itself onto her face before she quickly wiped it off. She was supposed to be mad with him, after all. She recollected herself and leaned slightly to the side to go for a sassy look. "Well, someone would never come out of their weird monster dungeon, so I had to come make sure you hadn't gotten yourself killed, or worse." She looked at him with a poor attempt at a judging look, nearly entirely broken by her smile fighting to retake her face.

A smirk crossed Gabriels's face as he thought of one of his signature clever comebacks, "Ah, so it's me that brought you here then? Does that make me better than the most handsome man? That's all I can take it as, after all." She could never agree with herself on his smirk. Part of her wanted to punch his face every time she saw it, and the other wanted to kiss him.

Deciding to do neither, she tried to find her own retort. "Maybe I should be worried you're gunna fall or something. You spend way too much time around monsters, after all." She was somewhat proud of that one, until she saw his reaction.

He tensed up, and the friendly smirk he had was gone from his face. It had been replaced by the cold, empty expression he had when he was serious. His eyes were more distant than normal, until he closed them in order to refocus.

After a mere moment, he opened them once more, focusing on her. "Regardless, what is it you sought me for? Surely you would not have come down here for a simple discussion, especially when I believe you were assigned an angel to serve for the time I was busy."

Tomoko felt somewhat hurt, as well as angry with herself for seemingly hurting him. However, she did have a good reason to be here. "Yeah, I found something weird on my assignment, and the little cherub couldn't tell me a thing about it."

Gabriel simply held out his hand expectantly, seemingly wishing to get straight to examining it instead of hearing a description first. Tomoko begrudgingly looked through her bag before finding the strange core she had gotten from that painting, handing it to him.

Once she had made it outside to the angel, she discovered it was not, in fact, a dungeon core. However, it was whatever was responsible for them thinking there was one there. Whatever it was, it was powerful, and it was seemingly exotic enough that not even Citrinas had any information on it when they met to talk.

Despite all that mystery, Gabriels eyes immediately shone in recognition as he examined it in his hands. "Where did you find this." His voice was serious, more so than Tomoko had ever heard him before. He looked up at her before asking again. "Where?"

She was slightly put on edge from his reaction, her timidness showing through her usual mask. "It was in the dungeon I had to clear out. There was almost nothing in it aside from-" Her mind suddenly flashed back to the vision, to the memories, to the nightmare. "Aside from that."

Gabriel looked at her with a suspicious expression, but pressed no further. He simply began walking past her, speaking briefly as he went. "Come. Thanks to you, I have to visit one of my father's old friends."

Tomoko blinked a few times in a stunned state before quickly snapping out of it and chasing after Gabriel, who had gained a bit of a lead by then. "Wait, what do you mean by that? You never talk about your dad, let alone his friends." As they kept walking, she realized something else of importance. "Wait, if we are going to your father's friend, why are we going deeper into the prison?"

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I whistled to myself as I adjusted the little furniture I had to the most minute detail. Just because I couldn't see it in the endless darkness I lived in, didn't mean I couldn't enjoy being organized!

As I moved the last item just a centimetre to the north 27 degrees west direction, I felt around to make sure every other thing was in place. I couldn't risk messing this up, after all. I had waited centuries for this scene, and I would not mess up my true chance to grasp my place in this grand fable.

As I sat down, I let my count come back to the front of my mind once more. As it became closer and closer, I could not hold my excitement, waging my finger to it like a metronome. It was one of the few things that had kept me in order, and now it was about to pay off.

As the numbers dwindled down, I began to speak them aloud from sheer giddiness. "ten, nine eight!" I recalled everything I had done to get here. "Seven, six, five!" All I was enduring to get to what was about to happen. "Four, three, two!" And I went quickly over the script I was to follow. "One, zero... Showtime."

As I finished, the entrance to my chamber gave way for the first time in a count of years perhaps only I had kept track of. Stepping through, was the greatest hero to ever live, the one I had been waiting for all this time...

Next to them, was the bratty bitch who would play the antagonist in the story I wished to weave.