Kira
~
I stared at the blond male before me, then down at the notched lightning arrow in his hold. I didn't need a psychic to know I should choose my words carefully.
"Now listen, miss-I mean, mister." I took note of how his glare became sharper. Definitely a guy. "I have no idea who Nightmare is or where he is, let's just-"
"Lies!" He snapped, letting the arrow fly toward me.
I rolled to the left just in time for the arrow to just graze my cheek. There was the smell of ozone in the air that had accompanied his initial arrival. Turning back, I saw there were three arrows in the bow now.
'Brat's a show-off, that's for sure.' Lucifer said as I rubbed the wound with a hiss. I forced my body to move hitting away the arrows away with my weapon.
"Who is this guy?"
'The all-knowing shit is Sathanas's job, not mine.'
"Why the hell are you so useless?"
'I'll pretend I didn't hear that.'
I faced the blond guy after hitting one of his arrows back his way, "Listen. I don't know who the hell you are but I'm going to need you to stop shooting at me."
"And lower my guard so you can get away? I don't think so." He fired a few more shots at me but I deflected them all, running right at him and taking a narrowed strike.
He stopped the edge of the blade by holding it in his hands which I noticed were covered in gauntlets.
"You need to listen to me please, I am not the bad guy." I pleaded.
He pulled a dagger seemingly out of nowhere and swiped it at me. I dodged.
"The old Demona died just yesterday, I'm totally new to this and have no idea who Nightmare is or what's going on." I kicked the weapon out of his hand and summoning the best of my abilities used a powerful gust of wind to blow him back.
The blond got right back up and glowered at me.
"What will it take for you to stop trying to kill me?!" I screamed, I was slowly getting exhausted, my head was slowly starting to throb and I felt faint.
"I believe you."
I looked up at him, his glowing gold eyes were full of hate and suspicion but he was no longer attacking me.
Thank God. I fell to my knees, taking in quick breaths, "Why now, you psycho?"
I heard him scoff, "My master told me not to come after you, you're powerful and would kill me without hesitation." He took a few steps she the gap between us was less, "I can sense how weak you are and I'm sure it's not just from exhaustion, you're new."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm still not sure about your connection to Nightmare but if I notice even one suspicious action, I'll place an arrow right through your heart."
"Why? Demona helps people doesn't she, I didn't like the chick as well but she saved me."
"And that's why you took her place?"
"It's complicated." His look turned questioning but there was no way in hell I was telling my story to one stranger that just tried to kill me. "Hey listen, you want to take down this Nightmare, right?"
He nodded slowly, eyes searching every inch of my face. I put my hand up to it.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Your Mask is still up, I pulled mine down a long time ago, it's only right that you do the same since it's a sign of trust."
"Mask?"
"How ignorant are you?"
I frowned, "We can handle etiquette later or whatever but what I'm trying to say now is that we should work together. If you help me train, I can help you fight Nightmare. Sounds good, yeah?"
'Are you sure it's right to work with this kid?' Lucifer asked in my head.
'Two heads are better than one, am I right?' I threw back.
"It will make things easier." God-Messenger boy said in a contemplating tone.
Our discussion was interrupted by the hiss of falling sand coming from the ceiling.
We both looked up to see bodies dropping from the ceiling and hitting the floor with heavy thumps.
"Don't think you've won just yet." Belzeblub's voice boomed all around us, "I'll get a new body, and the next time we meet, you'll both be at my mercy, that is if you survive my pets." As his voice faded out, the bodies on the floor began to move towards us, mouths open and revealing fangs.
'He must have fled the body before it was destroyed.' Lucifer said sensing the question on my mind.
"There are a lot of them," I said dumbly as I watched the zombie things.
"I can see that." The stranger boy snapped.
'Bel and cemeteries were never a good combination.' Lucifer drawled.
"Why don't you use that gigantic golden light trick you used earlier?"
"That move drained my energy, I was using my reserves to fight you."
"In other words, we're toast right?"
He spared me a pitiful glance before pulling out another dagger, "You give up too easily."
I would take that as an insult but I was getting more exhausted by the second. Was this really my end? Devoured in an underground room by zombies. If so, whoever wrote the script of my life should really be demoted for doing a pretty shitty job.
The sound of another loud crash drew our attention. A shadowed form swooped around the room on what seemed to be wings that had the color of night.
The person landed at the other end of the room, and all I heard was an excited laugh before seeing black, glinting feathers flying my way.
I raised my hands to shield my face, I felt no scratches on the upper part of my body but I felt a few not-too-deep slashes penetrate my boots to get to my ankles and calves.
I grit my teeth in pain and slowly dropped my hands to see large white wings keeping the onslaught of feathers away.
"Why the hell are you protecting her goody two shoes?" I heard an irritated voice ask.
The first stranger boy's wings fell away to reveal another stranger. This one was short, probably a bit younger than me, and First stranger.
I looked around to see that the black feathers had decimated the zombie monster's around us.
I turned to First stranger boy, he didn't have a single scratch on him. I was confused, staring from the blond to the newcomer as they glared at each other.
"What are you doing here, midget?" The blond asked.
"You could be more thankful since I just saved your life, Angel-boy. Why did you protect the demon keeper?" The shorter one with black wings asked.
"She's on my side."
The dark one cast his gaze on me, I expected to see irritation and distrust but all I could see was pure curiosity. He ran up to me, standing on tiptoes to peer into my face.
"Really?" He asked Angel-boy.
"I won't repeat myself." The blond huffed.
"Hi," I said stepping back, "Do you two know each other?" I studied the wings on both, maybe they were siblings of some sort, or maybe the same yokai race.
'They're not yokai.' Lucifer sighed bluntly, probably reading my mind. I had to figure out how to stop him from doing that.
Angel-boy saw me in deep thought, "We are not the same breed." He said firmly, "I am the chosen Angel sent down by God himself to rid this city of Demonic influence." He planted his right hand firmly on his chest, "I am God's Angel."
"I call him delusional for short." The shorter boy said, "I'm Kuro, the Dark One. If you notice the energy he exudes and the one I do aren't similar. Just like yours, mine is from dark magic. His is what some might call Divinity."
I looked between them in interest, now that he mentioned it, Angel-boy's energy did feel very different from mine and Kuro's. It had a light, easy feeling to it.
"That's... cool." I wish I could have said more but my brain was working on autopilot at moment. "I guess you both know who I am then?"
"Demona; Tokyo's Protector, Guide of Spirits, Keeper Of Demonic Forces, Helper of-"
"That's enough. I get it." I interrupted Kuro, "I'm guessing you thought I worked with Nightmare too?"
At the mention of that name, his bright ruby-colored eyes turned dark, "You're right. I followed this guy and his master here." He gestured to God Angel boy, "I want revenge, I planned to take you captive since I thought you were secretly working for him." He leaned heavily onto a staff I just noticed he was holding, "Back to square one, I guess."
"Work with us!" I blurted out.
"He refuses." God's Angel said simply.
"Ignore him, he doesn't like me much." Kuro stretched out his hand, "All I ask is that you two leave Nightmare to me in the end."
"You've got a deal."
He chuckled, flapping his wings to fly himself toward the blond, "We're officially on the same team Angel-boy, isn't that awesome."
"Shut up you noisy brat, I can hear footsteps coming." He shoved Kuro out of his face.
"Probably the authorities, they're a bit far off though."
"We have to leave." I said, "How do we get in contact again?"
Kuro waved to get our attention, "We meet at the entrance of this cemetery, midnight tomorrow. We'll talk more then." He grinned, wings lifting him higher off the ground.
"That sounds okay." God's Angel agreed, and he faced me, "You can walk yourself can't you?"
I nodded.
He spread his own wings and flew off, Kuro flashed me a smile before taking off as well.
I waited until they were gone before I set to work digging through the rubble. It didn't take me long till I found the body of a young boy.
He looked no older than ten; small, fragile, and pale. I carried his body to the center of the room and gently set it down beneath the moonlight flooding down through the hole the boys had left.
I knelt beside him and put my hands together. No matter how much I said I didn't want this, it didn't change the fact that I could have prevented his death.
If it were Hikari, the old Demona, she might have just burst in here and saved everyone.
I neglected one for the sake of my plan.
I felt like a monster.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," I whispered, fighting back tears. Helplessness was an old feeling I thought I'd never feel again but right now, as my body trembled, and my eyes stung, I could feel it coming back. Flooding me with guilt and memories I had buried years ago.
I stood up after several long minutes and started my journey home, a solemn promise in mind that as long as I would be Demona, I wouldn't let anyone I could rescue die.
I didn't need the guilt of others' loss weighing me down.
By the time I reached the penthouse, it was nearly midnight.
My wounds had healed and I was back in my normal clothes. I entered to meet a nervous Ares staring at the TV. He turned to me, relief flooding his eyes.
I ran into his arms.
"Where were you?!" He asked, shaking me furiously.
"Out being a teenager," I said.
"That explains nothing young lady!"
"I got carried away, besides, I'm fine, see." I twirled around for a bit. His exasperated sigh told me that he'd had enough of this conversation.
He dragged me towards the dining area and turned on the microwave, probably heating up leftovers of whatever he and Kat had for dinner.
"There was a sinkhole at one of the cemeteries not far from here." He stated simply, "Not to mention there were captives there, they say the serial murderer kept them down there to torture later, can you imagine that?"
"Some crazy shit happening right there." I sighed sadly.
He pulled out the bowl and placed it before me, along with some chopsticks. It was Nabe.
Nice.
I wasted no time digging in. I swallowed a mouthful, "I'm happy I'm back safe you know?"
He stared at me from where he had seated himself, "I'm glad you're back safe too."
Just his smile was enough to ease the burden of the secret I now carried. I would work hard, harder than I'd ever worked in life. All just so I could pass on the seal and keep him (and Kat) safe and sound.
***
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