Look at this art, isn't it cool?! Well it's courtesy of @xX_X_Nightmare_X_Xx (I can't do links, I'm so sorry 😭), so please don't hesitate to check them out! They're wonderful!! :D
~~~
~(Y/n)'s PoV~
Everything was dark, not in the way that a room could be dark. I couldn't even see walls around me or a floor beneath my feet. But... it felt like I was standing on something at least, so that's a good sign? I hope... The only thing I could see was dark blues and purples in streaks across the emptiness of whatever was around me, and they emitted a sort of glow that allowed me to see myself, at least. It was almost overwhelming, both beautiful and terrifying at the same time, unlike anything I'd ever seen in my life. It was like looking into a starless sky.
Somehow, though, my fear felt underwhelming in comparison to the other ways those colors made me feel. None of it was so scary that it left me paralyzed or unable to recognize how pretty it all looked. More than fearful, I was curious. It looked familiar, in a weird way. The colors look nice together, I suppose, but they also made me feel calm.
I heard a small sound behind me, and when I turned, the colors merged together and created the blurry image of a person. They had no face, no ways for me to identify them, which wasn't exactly comforting. They did have a shape though, a head with short hair that merged with the darkness, and a masculine frame made up of blue and purple. "Y...ru...oon..."
I furrow my brows. "Wh-What...?"
"Y...kno...ru...meda...oon..." He spoke again. He steps closer, facing me as well as a being without a face could. He reaches for me, tries to touch my face, but I couldn't feel a thing.
I took a step away from him, and the colors dissipate and swirl around me before creating another figure at my side. This time, the blue colors made up a feminine-looking body and the purple made up long, flowing hair. She still had no face, but she had a mouth. She tilts her head at me and outstretches her hand. Her lips spoke urgently, but I couldn't hear a word of it no matter how much I wanted to.
I stare for a long time at the shape of her hand, her palm that still resembled the night sky, but was dotted with little stars, constellations, galaxies. I raise my own hand to place it against hers for reasons I don't understand, but the moment we made contact-
My eyes flicker open, and I'm laying in my bed, alone. "What the hell was any of that...?" I prop myself up on my arms and look around. There was light streaming in through the gaps in the curtains, the room's exactly how I remembered it looking, and my door is closed. How long have I been asleep? Maybe it doesn't matter... I felt so much better than I had before.
I felt something press against my legs, and glance down to find Galaxy curled up at my side, her chin resting on my thigh as she slept. She was purring softly, and couldn't help but smile at the sight, and I reach out to stroke her back. Then my memories began to kick in and I let out a sigh. Ah, right... Ava's sick. The boys hopefully have been doing okay taking care of her without me... but there's only one way to find out. I whisper an apology to the spirit beside me and kick my legs out of bed. I still should apologize regardless of how they did... I wait for a moment after I stand, but I feel stable, and I stretch my arms over my head. I quickly change out of my pajamas, which I don't remember changing into actually, and rush out of my room trying not to think about who might have done that.
I'm stopped in my tracks the moment I step into the rest of the apartment. The main room is a complete disaster, no doubt because of the boys, and I let out a small sigh. As much as I feel bad for yelling at them, I can still be annoyed over this mess. They're all a bunch of pains in the ass... but no one ever said taking care of literal demon men would be easy. Maybe I should be less uptight...
I walk through the mess to Ava's room and open the door enough to peak in. She's laying back in bed, but her eyes are wide open. "Ava?"
"Mmm, what is it n-" She looks up and stops when she sees me. A small sigh escapes her lips as she lays her head back down. "(Y/n), I've never been so glad to see you in my life..."
I walk over and sit on the bed beside her. She has dark circles under her eyes. "Hey, what happened to you? You look exhausted."
Ava nods. "I am... They make sleeping impossible, and that's all I want to be doing right now..."
I frown, slowly helping her sit up and laying her head down on my shoulder. "I'll protect you, A, go back to sleep."
She presses into my shoulder. "No, I can't, they'll be coming back in..."
~Third Person PoV~
"3... 2... 1."
As if on cue, the bedroom door opened, revealing the Daemos boys, all except Rhys. Johnny, who had been laying at Ava's side, stands up as they enter and scurries off the bed as they approach.
"Prisoner!" His eyes flicker between the two humans. "You're both here..."
Ava sighs. "Predictable..."
"Are you better yet?!" Asch whines.
Noi furrows his brows. "Mrs. Oates said (Y/n) would need to sleep until they felt better... And both Ava and Mrs. Oates said it would be a few suns before Ava-"
"She's taking forever to recover! They both are!"
"(Y/n) is out of bed." Pierce notes. "And Ava's awake on her own today."
Ava huffs. "Yeah, no thanks to Leif."
Leif looks away from the others at that. "Whoops."
The prince glares at him. "What did you do?"
"I kept her busy last night." Leif replies with a chuckle.
(Y/n) raises a brow, briefly glancing between him and Ava. "B-Busy... how?"
During the night, while Ava slept peacefully in her bed, the edge of a sickle pokes her in the head, much to her annoyance. Ava furrows her brows and tries to close her eyes tighter, hoping it will stop, but the poking continues. When she finally opens her eyes with a hum, she finds Leif kneeling on the floor beside her bed.
"Are you dead yet?" He asks.
"I'm sick, leave me alone." Ava huffs.
The assassin, unconvinced, doesn't move. "'m just gonna wait here to make sure you don't die yet."
"How thoughtful." Ava closes her eyes again and turns away from him. However, he pokes her again, and she sits up, visibly startled. "Why did you poke my butt and with what?!"
Leif sits up straighter, looking at her with a confused expression. "I poked you with my weapon, what else would I poke you with?"
"Just let me sleep!"
"I'm surprised, they didn't bother me at all..." (Y/n) chimes in. "Though maybe I should be glad about that." They hum to themself, wondering how to take that. It crosses their mind for a moment that after they yelled, maybe Leif hadn't cared enough to go check if they were still alive. Though in reality, Leif had gone to them too through the night. He had been planning to make sure they were alive in the same way, but upon seeing their peaceful sleeping form, he mainly sat by them to guard their rest and watch their steady breaths. And then he left without disturbing them, not due to lack of care, but out of respect and just a hint of adoration...
Ava looks at the others, tiredly, head lifted from (Y/n)'s shoulder. "And he kept poking me throughout the night." It seems suddenly that Leif is at the side of the humans, and he begins to poke her head again. "Look, he's doing it right now." She furrows her brows and looks over at him as (Y/n) tries to block Ava's head with their hand.
Leif's eyes widen. "Oh, uh- whoops..."
"Cut it out, you-" Asch tries to reprimand Leif, but Noi cuts him off, looking at the two humans.
"Are you two feeling better, at least?"
"Mmhmm... I'm feeling much better, thank you guys for taking care of me." Ava speaks up softly.
"Y-Yeah, after everything, it really means a lot for you guys to look after me and Ava." (Y/n) adds. "I really owe you guys for this I think..."
Neither Pierce nor Noi are resistant to fuzzy feelings that both humans' kind words left them with, and they face both tint a soft pink shade. "Oh, uh- y-yes! Heh..." Noi smiles at the two, contentedly.
Ava briefly glances at the boys again before realizing that someone is missing from the group. "Wh-Where's Rhys?"
"Good question." Asch mutters. "Rhys! Where are you?!"
Barely missing a beat, Rhys joins the others in the room, wearing his new glasses and carrying the cookbook Mrs. Oates had given him. "I'm here! And I'm alive!"
"Woah- wait..." Ava's cheeks flush. "You have glasses?"
(Y/n) looks down. "H-He wears them pretty well, huh..." They try to hide their own blush, and luckily Rhys walks past the others to look at Ava rather than them.
Rhys looks down at the human girl, taking her hands in his own.
Noi's eyes widen. "Wh-Why are you holding her hands?"
"Princess Ava..." The advisor beams, his eyes lighting up. "I can see your face clearly now!"
"Where did you get those?" Ava asks.
"The wise sage Mrs. Oates bestowed them upon me. At first I wasn't sure what had happened and I assume that she just casted a spell on me. But," He beams. "this is lasting longer than any other spell we've tried on Daemos!"
"Huh?"
"So you couldn't see that well before?" (Y/n) asks, quietly. "And... you had to use spells?"
Rhys turns his attention away from Ava to other human beside her, and though while checking in on (Y/n), he had already seen their face, he finds himself breathless once more.
Leif raises a brow, speaking before Rhys can say anything to (Y/n). "What are you talking about?"
Rhys lets go of Ava and turns back toward the other Daemos, hoping they won't notice the subtle blush on his face. "Lady Grandma and I had been working on solving the issue with my vision distance. We've casted spells but they were only for a period of time, but these 'glosses' are lasting as long as they're on my face."
Ava blinks a couple times in confusion. "Yeah, that's what glasses do..."
Rhys turns back toward her and (Y/n), beaming in such a sweet, innocent way that flusters the two humans once again. "It's wonderful! I can't believe we've never looked into something like this on Daemos!"
"Wait, those last forever!" Noi exclaims.
"Let me see." Asch interjects, and Rhys complies, approaching and handing the glasses to him.
Asch puts on the glasses and immediately squints. "Ugh... they just make my seeing-eyes worse..."
"Seeing-eyes...?" (Y/n) asks with a small smile. The Daemos were idiots, but (Y/n) couldn't help but find them endearing. Especially when they were wearing cute glasses...
Noi's eyes lit up and he let out a small giggle. "I wanna try!" Asch passes the glasses along and Noi tries them on as well, only to frown and furrows his brows. "Aww, I see worse!"
Ava lets out a huff. "Well, duh." She mumbles. "It seems like Rhys got lucky and has similar eyesight to Mrs. Oates, and not everyone has-"
"I'd like to try." Pierce cuts her off, taking the glasses and putting them on. He too furrows his brows. "My seeing-eyes are bad too..." He mumbles, getting a laugh out of (Y/n).
"What does this mean?" Asch asks. "Do they serve no other purpose?"
(Y/n) nods, trying to speak up. "Yeah, Ava was just saying-"
"It seems that way." Pierce states, looking at the prince.
Both humans observing the moment of calm go still the moment Leif joins the conversation. "GIMME THOSE!" He phases over, stealing the glasses from Pierce, before phasing back to his original spot and examining them.
Ava went stiff. "U-Uh- be careful!" She urges.
The other Daemos look over at her. "Why?" Rhys asks.
Leif's eyes sparkle. "Maybe you can kill someone with 'em." He goes over and pokes Ava with the frame of the glasses.
"Ow! Hey, quit it!" Ava whines.
"And don't try to kill Ava!" (Y/n) adds. "I-I thought we all liked each other now!"
Leif, realizing that the glasses couldn't be a weapon, furrows his brows. "Useless piece of-" He pokes Ava again and this time, it's hard enough that the glasses break.
Rhys gasps and the color drains from his face in an instant.
Leif stares at the broken glasses in his hand with wide eyes. "Uhh... oops."
~(Y/n)'s PoV~
While Ava runs down the hall to Mrs. Oates' apartment, I manage to get the boys out into the main room of the apartment. Just watching them, I can tell tensions are high and only getting worse, but I don't know what to do!
"Everyone... stay calm, please..." I try to tell them, but Rhys seems to be beyond listening. "I-I'm sure we can figure out a solution- or just hold on a little longer..."
Rhys' hands become fists and Leif pulls out his sickles, and before I can even tell what's happened, Asch pushes me behind him to keep me out of the line of fire. Noi and Pierce are at my sides, but my focus stays on Leif and Rhys. I try to look over Asch's shoulder, but the others seem intent on shielding me, which I should honestly be grateful for. Rhys doesn't seem like the type to lose control, so who knows what might happen?
When Ava comes back in, Rhys summons his magic into his hands, his already cold glare growing colder. "You have no right to exist!"
Leif continues to glare back, his hands braced around his weapons. "You're not the first person to tell me that!"
I frown, my gaze flickering between them and the others. "You... all need therapy..."
Noi tilts his head. "What's a 'ter-i-py'?"
Ava looks over at us, clearly as anxious as I am. "What's going on?"
"Rhys is upset at Leif." Pierce states.
"I mean, I'm usually upset at Leif..." Ava mumbles back.
Pierce gives a small nod. "Yes."
"He's upset because Leif broke his 'gla-oss.'" Asch spoke up.
Ava frowns. "I mean, damn, I've never seen Rhys pissed off before. I didn't think he was that type."
"Type?" Noi questions.
"Y-Yeah, uh, like, I just haven't seen him act like that." Ava explains.
"Rhys controls his temper." Pierce adds.
Noi chuckles. "Better than any of us!"
Asch shifts, blocking me more than before much to my annoyance. "Usually..."
Before any more can be said, there's a sound reminiscent of ice from where Rhys and Leif are standing, and when we look over, the blades of Leif's sickles are blue and frozen.
Leif's eyes go wide before his glare returns. "Hey!"
"Next time, I won't miss." Rhys threatens, and his words send a chill down my spine.
"What do you expect me to do, I don't have any other 'gla-ass' for you!" Leif huffs.
"I'm sick of you!" Rhys exclaims. "For too long, you've been disobedient! Despite your past, you've learned nothing!"
"It isn't my job to learn! My job is to kill!"
"And you haven't done that, now have you?"
Those words visibly make Leif even more frustrated. "Silence!"
"-will be welcomed, once I destroy you." Rhys growls, summoning his magic again.
"Heh," Leif shifts into a fighting stance, blocking his chest with his weapons. "Bring it."
I tense, clinging onto Asch's shoulders as Ava goes to stand between them, wide-eyed. "A-Ava, be careful!"
"No one is bringing anything!" Ava objects.
"Move out of the way!" Rhys warns. "He broke my-" His eyes widen and his magic fades as Ava holds up a new pair of glasses for him. "-'gla-gla-ses'...?"
I finally step out from behind Asch. "A, what took you so long, they were ready to tear each other apart!"
Ava ignores my comment, still focused on soothing Rhys. "I went to Mrs. Oates' place to see if she had an extra and sh-she did."
"Th-Thank you..." Rhys lets out a sigh and clears his throat. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me, I-"
"Yeah, Rhys!" Leif interjects. "You should really know your place and conserve your magic, am I right?"
Rhys glares at Leif again, summoning his magic. "You-"
I rush over to cover Leif's mouth with my hand as Ava holds up one of those derpy-eyed bear ice creams she and Rhys love so much. All of the stress immediately leaves his eyes, replaced by pure joy, and his gasps.
"I-I also got this for you..." Ava adds on, her cheeks flushed, and I feel my one gaze soften at her sweetness. She's the best...
Rhys sputters out noises, struggling to find his words. "I..." He takes the ice cream from her hands and sighs once more. "All is at peace for now..." He begins to eat the treat, perfectly content.
I release a breath of my own, only to squeak and pull my hand away as Leif nips at one of my fingers. I look at him, and he grins back at me mischievously, an expression I want to be mad at, but I can't bring myself to be angry right now. He must be in a troublesome mood today... but it's still kind of charming somehow.
Ava's shoulders settle, free of tension. "Crisis averted- AH!" All at once, she's frantically looking around and I remember that the apartment is a disaster. There are books and papers and a few of my photos scattered around the floor, a plant knocked over by Ava's door, spilling dirt on the ground, and the coffee table was literally flipped on its side. "What the-? What is-? It's only been a day! How did this happen?!"
I rub the back of my neck. "I was ready to ignore it this morning..." I admit. "I still don't know if I want to know..."
Rhys nods to the two of us. "Oh yes, uh, I can explain."