“Uhm… There was one more thing. A Demon in The Angels Antagonism queerly didn’t return some time after he was supposed to. His name was--” He paused a second and his eyes widened as realization crashed over him like a commodious wave. “…Dayle.”

Anouke’s eyes also widened. “Is… That the same Demon I told you a little bit about before? When we were friends but he turned his back on me after a bit?”

“Well, there is only one Demon called Dayle. We all have different names. But, Anouke… Dayle is below Akuma now. He is the second strongest strength wise!”

Lex looked out of the window and up at the moon. It projected a fragmented border of wan colours, splintered by the different shades of shadows. He sighed. “Dayle probably turned his back on you because of Akuma. He must have found out.” 

“Akuma was part of it. He told me the reason. He didn’t want Akuma to find out, and he also thought my beliefs and what I wanted – to change the Demons – was childish and unreasonable. Impossible.”

“Urgh. Bastard left you behind because of Akuma, huh? Tch, he really is in control of us all through a bond of terror. Makes me feel like all of these ‘bonds’ and ‘families’ we were told when joining The Angels Antagonism are all forged. Now, mine and Akuma’s bond is severed.”

“Let’s stop talking about this. I haven’t told you everything. This one includes Kurkoren.” Anouke withdrew a breath, scared to have his brother mentioned.
“Well, that’s not his actual name, so… this secret is about Ariuk and I. Ariuk is--”
“Ariuk is my brother!” Anouke accidentally shouted out. “S-sorry…”
“I-It’s… fine.” He said surprised. “He’s your brother!?” Lex’s voice bellowed inside of the cabin as he leant against the recently fixed window.

A cool chill blew inside after he opened it to look at the moon and didn’t shut it afterwards. “Well, uhm… I’m sorry, Anouke. Kurkoren- Ariuk is your brother, but he’s a Demon… because Akuma changed him!” Lex squalled.

“Yeah, I know.” Anouke was dismal, looking at Lex with wistful eyes. “What were you going to say about him, though?”

“Oh, well… I actually knew Ariuk when we were younger. When he was an Angel. I used to sneak out – and so did he – to meet him. We never had planned times since things changed within our own places so sometimes one of us would just wait at our hangout place for hours, just waiting for the other to come. We always did, hardly missing days.” Lex smiled as he reminisced on the few good memories he had. The gentle wind drifted into the house.

Lex turned back around and looked outside again, looking at the flaked moonlight upon the forest grounds. “We met when I was practicing hunting by myself when I should have been in my house. I was a naughty kid, haha. I wish my rebellious self could’ve lasted. But Akuma grew impatient, and, yeah… But, yeah. That was my secret. Ariuk and I knew each other. After Akuma had taught me not to do bad things the way he always taught me things, I stopped going to meet him. And because of that, my hatred grew and grew. I think it was Akuma I grew to hate more and more. But because I couldn’t fight him, I took my bloodlust and ire out on Angels. Since that helped, I carried on.”

“Lex, it’s okay. Obviously, th-that is a surprise… So, you knew my brother. And you even snuck out to see him – even though he was an Angel. Since I saw what you did to my other brothers, I never would have expected you to have hung out with an Angel ever.”

“Yeah, I doubt many people would believe it.” He inhaled slowly, the wind playing with small hairs spiking a little out of place. “The Angels Antagonism found out and told Akuma. They didn’t take it well. They physically and verbally abused me. …Well, that’s all I had to say.”

Anouke wasn’t sure what to say to comfort him. Lex leant out of the window more, arms resting on the sill. Anouke silently wandered up behind him and wrapped his arms around him, comforting Lex with the reassuring warmth and silence. Anouke’s hands wound around his abdomen and pulled tightly. Lex let out a short, silent breath and a puff of air parted as his warm breath mixed with the cold air.

“Thank you, Anouke.” He said quietly. “I think we’ve got to know each other a lot better now, don’t you think? Hah.” He explained quietly.

“I do think, yeah.” He whispered into his back, voice soft and suppressed. “I’m glad.”

Lex’s cheeks flushed bright red. He was glad he was turned the other way and it was dark so he couldn’t see. “I-I’m glad too…” Lex blabbered. He felt his heart beating violently. As Anouke lay against Lex’s back, he could feel his heart thumping too, like a finger was softly poking at his back.