In a small cold kingdom, the ground had been stained as red as the sky. As the sun rose, fearsome flames roared to life, screams of agony filled the morning air. In the midst of the chaos, was a ghastly creature. A demon, from the depths of Hell. The demon cackled in fiendish delight as it shot flames at a fleeing family, listening to the symphony of screams. The demon felt a tug on its long scaly tail, it growled and spun around, claws ready to dice its assailant.

All that stood before the demon, was a young girl wearing a fancy silken robe and a fur coat. She was adorned with a jeweled tiara and many necklaces and bracelets. She stared at the demon, and the demon glared at her.

“You dare pull my tail?!” the demon growled angrily.

The girl stared blankly at him with her unblinking green eyes. To the demons surprise, she bowed her head respectfully.

“Apologies,” she said, “I had to get your attention over the noise.”

The demon started, surprised that such a young child was so formal in such chaos. The child took this as permission to speak again.

“Why have you done all this?” she asked.

The demon huffed haughtily,

“Well I’m a demon,” it sneered “I destroy, then look for another place to destroy, it’s what I do.”

The girl cocked her head to the side.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because.” the demon replied.

“That’s not a really good answer.” the child pointed out.

The demon blinked and shook its head incredulously, here it was destroying things, and this little child comes up and starts asking useless questions! She even seemed to ignore the encroaching flames.

The demon growled again, and walked away, it didn’t want to deal with idiotic child like that.

Past the kingdom, into the darkness of the forest, the demon looked back, just behind it, was the child, following like a duckling follows its mother.

“Go away.” it grumbled.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” the child replied.

“I did!” defended the demon.

“I don’t believe you answered to the best of your ability.” the child explained.

The demon rubbed its head and groaned.

“You’re an idiot you know that?” the demon snarled, “you’re literally following a demon who would quite enjoy eating you for dinner!”

That didn’t have the effect the demon wanted…

“Would you really want to eat me?” the child asked.

The demon grumbled curse words under its breath.

After hours in silence and being followed the demon got bored.

“So who are you?” it asked.

The child thought for a bit.

“A princess.” she replied “I think… I’ve been traveling alone so long, I don’t really remember, I don’t even know how old I am. It’s okay though, age doesn’t matter to me.”

The demon rolled its black eyes.

“For a kid who asked so many questions,” it hissed, “you never even bothered to ask yourself who you are?”

The lost princess looked up, deep in thought .

“What’s the use looking for the past if all we can do is go to the future?” she shrugged.

The demon couldn’t answer that.

In the forest, the demon passed by an emaciated boy with nothing but a loincloth to cover him from the cold. The demon heard the lost princess speak to him.

“You do not have a coat,” she said, taking off her own coat, “here, take mine.”

The boy gratefully took the coat and left. The demon rolled its eyes.

“What was the point of that?” it asked “now you shall be cold.”

The lost princess shrugged.

“It matters not. He needed it more than I did.”

The princess and the demon passed into a village, the demon passed the starving people on the streets, but stopped to see the lost princess splitting her rations among crowds and crowds of peasants, and giving her gold and jewelry to others. Her bag now empty, and her money and jeweled necklaces gone, she caught up with the demon.

“That was stupid,” the demon exclaimed “Now you can’t get anything to eat!”

“It matters not,” repeated the princess, “they needed it much more than I did.”

As the pair continued through town, they came across a small finch with a broken wing. The lost princess stopped and the demon groaned.

“If you must follow me,” it growled “you are not bringing a pet!”

The princess didn’t reply, but closed her eyes and whispered an incantation, the finch flew away, and the lost princesses left arm went limp.

“Wha-“ the demon sputtered “food and clothes you can get back, but your arm… you only get one… will it get better?”

The princess shook her head.

“Tis only an arm,” she replied, “a fair trade to save a life.”

The pair traveled to scorching deserts, the whole time, the demon couldn’t help but think of the question… why did it destroy? It also was secretly hoping they didn’t come across another being in need, the lost princess didn’t seem to see the damage she was causing herself. Her silks were torn and ragged, her useless arm was cut and bruised from the many falls the princess had taken, and the demon could see it beginning to grey, and smelt it begin to rot a little. That night the demon stopped.

“That arm will be the death of you if it stays.” it growled “come here.”

The princess obeyed, and came closer. The demon muttered an incantation, and in one swift moment, cut the limb off. The princess neither flinched nor made a sound as the wound healed. She looked at the demon, still blank as ever.

“Thank you,” she quipped “but you didn’t have to do that.”

Days stretched to weeks, and the harsh desert was relentless, the demon kept the princess close under its wing, taking the scalding sun till its tough skin began to blister. It never told the princess, it knew she would try to take the heat with her own fragile body.

During one of the cold nights, the demon awoke to the princess speaking.

“You are blind,” she said “let me give you sight.”

The demon jumped to its feet but was too late, the princess had given her eyes to a blind woman, who left without another word.

“Of all the things to give.” the demon gasped “why would you give your sight?”

The princess looked at the demon with hollow sockets.

“It’s dangerous to be here alone and blind,” she explained “she has a better chance to make it out now.”

The demon lead the blind princess along the desert, she soon gave up her ability to walk to a roadrunner however, and had to be carried.

But although she was legless, blind, and sans an arm, the princess still would try to give what she had left. The demon made the mistake of going off to find food at one point, and when it came back, two children walked away from the princess, a toddler babbling happily, and the young teen flexing his right arm. And the lost princess sat motionless, now without arms or a voice.

“Why?!” the demon cried “why must you be such a moron?! You have nothing left to give, and no one who’s ever going to give any back to you! You’ve become nothing but a husk! And you won't accept anything, so no one could give back even if they wanted too!”

The princess looked up at the sky, tears streaming silently down her small face. The demon cut off the other useless arm and stared at the lost princess. It could leave her, and she would die here… never knowing the answer to her question, never knowing who she was… the demon sighed, and made a decision.

The demon lifted the lost princess up.

“I stand corrected…” the demon sighed, “there is one person who has the heart to give back to you.”

The princess looked up at the demon with wide sockets.

“You ask why I destroy…” the demon said. “I destroy because I’m angry at everything else… Many years ago, I lost my loved ones, and I was left alone… no friends, no family.”

A single tear ran down the demon's cheek.

“You’re alone too, without friends and without family,” the demon stated.

“Let me be the one to care for you… I may not be the best person… but I… I can change.”