A constant battle (Mariya)

“Why don’t you just let me take over for a while if you are so exhausted, Azrael? I can make it enjoyable for all of you and you have to do nothing but sit back and enjoy the show.” Azrael sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, slowly losing the will to continue this constant battle with Seth. Every minute of every day, the red eyed boy was just waiting for a moment of weakness to take control of him, just like three years ago when Azrael had surrendered his control for only a few minutes to withdraw from all the outside influences which had seemed to be just too much at that time. But it had taken Seth only these short moments to destroy the one friendship he had managed to build.

“Pleeeaaase! Maybe I did go a bit too far that time, but it was my first outing and I overreacted, alright? I promise that I will behave this time, yes?” Why couldn’t he just shut up and vanish again into the darkest corner of Azrael’s mind? “Because I’m too awesome to be locked away, my dear friend.” Came the prompt reply and Azrael squeezed his eyes shut in frustration at hearing a dark chuckle follow. He had come out into the Courtyard to have some peace, as he had been feeling tired and exhausted the whole day, but it seemed that Seth would not even grand him a few moments of silence.

“You don’t even have to give me your whole body; just your right arm would be enough. I swear no one will get hurt! I promise!” “What do you WANT, SETH!” Azrael roared back at him, slowly having enough. It wasn’t good to push the wrong buttons with him and Seth was just not letting up today. He realized his mistake a bit too late and before he could control himself again, his wand had shot an explosion spell towards a random wall. Debris burst everywhere and hysterical laughter filled his head. “Boom Baby!”  Seth cheered and Azrael could see him jump up and down behind his eyes. “Fuck you…” he muttered and rested his forehead on his palms wishing for someone to come. Around other people he usually had the power to control himself. Just when he was alone it seemed to become harder and harder every day.

Walking down the halls mariya chose to have her hair pink today hanging in pigtails framing her face. After her trip to see her aunt morana she was feeling better about the things that used to scare her about herself. Preparing to go work on a ritual she made her way down towards the courtyard her favorite place to hide that was within the castle walls. A sudden blast caught her by surprise and she screamed throwing up her hands to protect herself. The debris crashed around her but her energy created a shield strong enough to protect her. Rounding the corner fuming she wasted no time and walked up to the boy "What the fuck do you think your doing!?"

Slowly, Azrael lifted his head from his hands to look at whoever was talking to him and he found himself staring blankly at a young Slytherin girl for several long seconds before his mind caught up with him again. "I'm sorry?" he asked her, sounding confused. "The explosion, Azrael, the explosion." Marius explained patiently and Azrael nodded to himself. Of course. "She doesn't seem impressed ... bitch!" Seth growled, but Azrael managed to keep him under control for now.
"It was not my intention to harm anyone." he told the Slytherin calmly, his usual detached expression coming back to his face. She did not seem to be hurt though, so he really did not see a reason to apologize. "Good boy!" Seth snickerd in his ear.

She softened a bit realizing something was going wrong with the ravenclaw he looks so tired and he seemed to be constantly distracted in a way. "Are you okay?" she asked in a calmer voice.

Running a hand through his hair, Azrael let out a sigh, his body losing its tension as he realized that the girl was not looking for a fight. He really did not have the energy for an argument with anyone today. "No I'm not." he answered bluntly. "Careful there, my friend!" Seth suddenly appeared next to him, hissing into his ear. "You don't want her to ask questions, do you?" Azrael grimaced slightly, admitting the truth in those words. Even the other three seemed to be in agreement with Seth for once. Deciding to quickly change the subject, he asked "Who are you anyway? I don't think we have been introduced before."

"Marvolo Mariya Gaunt Carrow" she said offering her hand "though everyone calls me Mariya" she watched him untense himself her eyes not leaving his as she took in his tall frame and pale complexion "whats wrong?"

He stared at her hand for a few moments, Seth and Corvin battling in his mind about whether he should take it or not. Finally, to his own surprise, Corvin seemed to win out and Azrael reached out to shake the smaller hand of the Slytherin. "Nice to meet you. My name is Azrael Nuka Horus." he inclined his head politely, then he withdrew his hand to fold it with the other in his lap. Her question made him frown slightly, but he held her gaze. "I ... had a little disagreement with myself. That's all. What leads you out here?" Not that he was really interested in her, but everything was good to keep her from asking more questions. "Just snap her neck and be done wi NO! Shut up! I handle this"

Sitting on the bench she crossed her legs sideways so she could face him "i use the viaducts for rituals on occasion" she said "your eyes are interesting" she said with a small smile "its like theres a fight going on right behind them"

Azrael couldn't suppress a snort at her choice of words. A fight indeed...more like a damn war which was raging every day. "I'm a conflicted person." he muttered under his breath, barely audible. Taking a closer look at the girl, Azrael's interest was spiked when she mentioned rituals. "What kind of rituals?" he asked, now slightly curious.

"Anything" she said with a shrug "i've been gifted with wandless magic since birth, the rituals i use it for is old craft invoking gods and goddeses working with spirits and the energies of the universe. Theres more then one way to make magic do something for you" reaching into her bag she pulled out a deck of tarot "Do you know what these are?"

"Aww... and here I thought some interesting dark rituals, rising demons or even better, rising the dead!" Azrael had to smirk slightly at Seth's disappointment, though he himself was rather glad to hear what kind of rituals she was talking about. Wandless magic was usually only practicable for the most skilled and powerful wizards, so he was impressed to hear that she could use it since birth. "Tarot Cards... I was forced to work with them during Divination." Azrael said. "Yes and taking this rubbish was the worst mistake you ever made!" "Though I must admit, I never got the hang of it..."

"what we know in the classes is nothing compared to the real deal" she said with a chuckle "demons arent very fond of tarot cards you know though they like curse seals even less"

Azrael nodded. He would be surprised if their Divination teacher taught them even half of what they should know about the subject. But then again, the douche obviously had no plan of anything anyway... "Of course not! She's probably drugged the whole time, the old bint!" Seth commented, still leaning over Azrael's shoulder to glare at the Slytherin. There obviously was something he did not like about her, not that Azrael cared one bit. "Demons, huh? Well I'm no a demon, so would you show me what you know about these cards?" he asked her.

"your of earth course your not a demon" she chided him with a smirk taking her bag off her shoulder she stood up holding her deck in her hands, looking at the boy for a moment she smiled once more then looking at her cards she said "Tell me about Azrael Nuka Horus" she shuffled the deck four times in quick succession then threw the cards into the air, the deck scattered above her and began to fall then froze hovering around her like paper stars stopped in midair.

Leaning forward slightly, Azrael watched the Slytherin's actions in interest. He had never seen someone perform this kind of magic before and was actually curious what she would be able to tell about him. "Do you really want to know?" came the whispered question from his left ear and he felt a shiver run down his spine. ".." he couldn't answer this question, but his Ravenclaw curiosity had gotten the better of him. The cards froze and Azrael frowned at the girl. "What do they say?" he asked cautiously.

After a moment the cards that did not pertain to him neatly folded into a pile at her feet, turning to the first she furrowed her brow "the tower says you are dependeble but isolated your stuck in the top room theres a door that wont unlock...lost memories you cannot touch"she said softly turning to the second she said "Temperence is reversed which means you have relationships..." the four of cups flew to join temperence as she spoke "with four other people..these relationships are unbalanced they are causing you pain" she turned to the next card "the devil tells me you have much hatred inside of you much need to fight destroy to burn"

Bracing himself, Azrael listened closely to what the Slytherin made of the Tarot cards, Seth and Corvin on either side of him, staring over his shoulder and Marius and Cyn lingering not far behind them. The first card was not too troubling for him, as most people knew that he was a loner most of the time, but her following statements made him tense up.
He had always felt that something was missing in his memory, like a puzzle that had been removed and locked away deep in his mind, but his family just told him to forget about it every time he asked. Even know he could feel a headache approaching, as his thoughts lingered too long on the subject.

Azrael sneered darkly at no one in particular as she started to talk about his relationships. "Do we have a relationship, brother?" Seth leered at him and wiggled his eyebrows. "Pain? I'm causing no one pain, do I, sweetheart?" Cyn shrieked, glaring daggers at Mariya, but Azrael knew that the Slytherin was quite correct with her analysis. At her last words, Seth could not stand still any longer and starting jumping up and down, laughing hysterically again. "BURN, DESTROY, KIIIIILLLL!" he chanted over and over. “You see? Even the little girl knows that you want it!” Azrael could only stare blankly ahead, trying to process the Slytherin's words. Finally, he nodded and looked up at her, conflicting emotions in his eyes. "I see you truly understand this art..." he said, though his voice sounded slightly strangled.

The cards flew back to her and she slipped them into her bag "your friends are quite loud you know" she said nonchalantly

Azrael glared slightly and pressed his lips together. "My friends?" he asked suspiciously and leaned forward a bit. Could it be that she could actually read his mind? "Let's hope not...although." Seth grinned and bared his teeth. "You hear me, little worm?" he called, but Azrael felt uncomfortable with the thought.

"I feed worms to my snakes" she said with a wolfish grin "i am no worm" she sat down next to him once more folding her long legs under her. "I'm not a mind reader persay but i can hear you speaking, i'm not so good at picking up thoughts more picking up speech. Something me mum learned from my great uncle" she looked at his tense frame and nodded a bit "And yes i've been able to hear them this entire time."

"What?" he hissed and got up from his seat to start pacing in front of her. "Why did you not say so straight away? Do you enjoy listening in to other people's conversations? Does it give you a thrill to mess with my mind?" he demanded to know, lashing out in anger as his heart started racing. Marius had told him again and again what would happen if someone found out about his voices. They would put him into a padded cell for the rest of his life. "Let me kill her, then she can't tell anyone!" Seth begged, making a crawling motion at him. Azrael knew that gesture, it always ended with eyes being pulled out, but he really wasn't in the mood for blood-shedding.
Finally, he stopped pacing and turned to stare at Mariya. "What do you want?" he asked coldly, thinking if what she could ask of him in exchange for her silence.

Mariya regarded him calmly "to help" she said simply "and maybe be your friend.. i didnt say straight away because thats rather rude, i could feel your discomfort the fear of someone finding out is natural. thats not exactly how you greet someone now is it? oh hello there i can hear your voices chattin on." she raised an eyebrow at him.

Gritting his teeth, Azrael tried to put some order into his crazed stream of thoughts and he motioned to Corvin to calm down Cyn who was just getting hysterical and to Marius to stay quiet for now. He had to concentrate and if he could, Azrael would banish Seth as well. Unfortunately, Seth was too strong right now to push him back completely, so they would have to deal with this situation together.
Azrael focused his attention back to the Slytherin and took a calming breath. Seth was leaning over his shoulder, looking at her as well, for once quiet and with a calculating expression on his face. "I don't think you can help me ... and ... I don't make friends." Azrael stated haltingly. Why did she want to be friends with him anyway? Especially if she knew what was wrong with him.

"You dont make friends because your scared" she said boldly "you have voices in your head, so what? I talk to snakes and i see things others can't we are all just a little bit strange" she twirled her fingers around her pink hair as she spoke "i wont tell anyone about your brothers" she said as a after thought.

"Can we trust her?" Seth asked, for once his voice was void of hysteric laughter. Obviously even he had understood that this could be a turning point for them, for good or worse. "You're weird." Azrael commented bluntly, but that was the first thing that came to his mind. Still, something told him that she was trustworthy, at least regarding his secret, so he slowly felt his body unwind again and Azrael sat down next to her. "Thank you..." he said at last, though he was still confused at what just happened.