The people around began to disperse. Mark stood gazing over at his friend and Darkiplier, the demon who had made his life a living hell. He placed his sword inside his holster and decided it was best (Y/n) explained the situation to him.
(Y/n) stood in silence, staring at Dark's back. She didn't know what to say, but the silence wasn't doing them any good.
"Dark —"
"Where are your sleeping quarters?" Dark breathed.
She couldn't tell if there was any anger in his tone, or rather what emotion he had at all. "I just want to explain —"
"I asked you a question." He turned his head ever so slightly to the side.
She could see the wrath in his eye, his red iris piercing her own. He wasn't happy and an explanation wouldn't make him happy either.
"As you wish." She breathed.
She walked up ahead of him and lead him back up through the "town-ish" land they resided in. He kept close to her and kept a steady eye on her as she walked. At first, he thought they residents and soldiers were staring at him, almost mocking him, but they weren't. The longer they walked, the more he realized they were staring her down. Was it respect or fear?
Being a relative of the leader had its benefits, but also it's negative attributes. She had shoes to fill, and a standard to live up to. A positive though was her living situation.
She had been designated a small home in the area towards the edge of town. It was in decent condition, no running water, but none of the homes had running water, it was abandoned after all.
They came upon it, (Y/n) continued walking up the small porch steps, opening up the front door. Dark stopped for a moment and stared at the home. He then looked at her just as she looked back at him.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, continue."
She turned and walked inside her home into the living area. Not much was there, a couch, a chair, a coffee table. She made do with what she had there. Weapons leaned against walls, as well as armor, other training equipment and supplies.
"This is your home?" He spoke closing the door.
"It's not much, but it's all mine, for now." She breathed, then faced him. "Can I get you something to drink?"
This hospitality seems so nostalgic to him, but he knew she was avoiding the subject, "Spero."
"I know.." She crossed her arms, "You want answers."
"All of them. You seemed to be withholding information and I am warning you now if there any more of these unwelcomed events that I am not aware of I will tear down this organization piece by piece."
She couldn't help but smirk at him, "Calm down, I promise I'll give you answers. All of them this time. You can't really imagine the weight lifted off my shoulders.."
"I'd assume a decent amount seeing as though you don't have a blade to your head anymore."
"Here, I'll show you where we'll be staying for now." (Y/n) walked down a short hall. At the end was a door that lead into a bedroom. It seemed to be the main bedroom out of the two in the home.
The bedroom was plain just like the other room. Curtains kept the room dark until she opened them up. A queen bed sat on an old bed frame with worn blankets on top. The hardwood floor was scratched up, but out of both rooms this seemed to be cleanest.. so he thought.
"It's not much, but it's...a home.."
Dark placed his hands on the blanket than gazed around, "It could use some...artwork.."
"I'll have a home one day, and I won't have to worry about moving around as much, but" She leaned on her wall, "answers..."
"Thank you."
She took in a deep breath, "The plan was to always bring you back here. We were only supposed to stay out one or two nights. Abigail — well you met her, my cousin, she's rough."
"An understatement," Dark spoke out.
"She's something else, but she's a good person, I promise. Storm is her father and the leader. When I arrived here I had to prove myself worthy of being a part of this group. It wasn't just given to me. So, I fought Abigail, and I beat her. She was going to get punished for losing to me, and I ended up fighting Storm. He doesn't like weakness. We never really stopped fighting, I was actually injured pretty bad, but he was impressed I was going to protect a family member I barely knew. He offered me the Commander position, but I declined and requested something else. I said I will serve the Guardians of Peace if we can break you out of that castle. Took some convincing, but we came to an agreement, he'll help get you out as long as you help us take down the G.O.D and the Rebellion. If you didn't though, it would mean you were on the loose and could hinder us, so my life was put on the line."
"I can see why you chose that, and I appreciate your care towards me. Not telling me though was your first mistake."
"And my second?"
"How did you retrieve Mark? Do you know who that man is? How we relate? You couldn't have moved close to the castle without me feeling your presence. He is the reason that —" Dark was getting worked up, he stopped himself.
"You broke the biggest law by showing me those jars. When Die escaped, I ran. I took the jars. I took all three of them with me. I figured we would have more power with the jars than without, especially since the De Uno Suo occurred in not only you but Die too.."
"Die has his own body? When, and why didn't you tell me?"
"It left my mind, I had too much going on at the time. You locked up Die without a second guess I didn't get to ask him. All I know is that his body is in that castle."
"How do you know the body wasn't destroyed?"
"Felix's soul would have traveled on. A glass jar can't stop that. I have the jars locked up safe, don't worry. Our next move is to get the body out of the castle."
Dark leaned over the bed, holding his hands over his face. It was a lot of information to take in, and part of him wanted to leave. Who would want to deal with something like this? Information carelessly thrown at him last second. He knew he deserved better than this, but now wasn't the time to argue.
"If I am correct, which I usually am, Abigail and Storm are your cousins. The Guardians of peace contain Demons, Humans and Hybrids. Mark, by some unbelievable luck, was able to get his body back, and I am forced to help the Guardians or else you will die."
"I mean...it's really not that bad."
He peeked through his fingers at her, "I was the king of the world once."
"And now I'm your higher up," She smirked, "Funny how that works now."
_________________________________
Die sat in his office with papers scattered about. It seemed as though he had more paperwork than Dark did, more complaints that's for sure. He tried to please the people but also had to balance out what HE wanted as well.
The longer he served the world the more fed up he became with it. He had let himself go decently and began keeping everyone away from him.
The borders to not only his city but all major cities around the world needed added protection, this is where demonic animals seemed to be attacking first. It didn't make much sense, but their best scientists could only pinpoint the idea that it was densely populated and easier to catch prey.
On top of all this..he was lonely..
Yes, angry, but lonely. He longed for the days in the castle where he and (Y/n) would run about before Dark put him into position. The days where he'd lightly scold Anti and her for making a mess of things. He missed her smile, the smell of her, the softness of her hair, and although he had very few her hugs.
She was so warm. Perhaps the warmest thing in this castle and it radiated, almost brightening everything she touched. The castle since had dulled, became quiet.
Die leaned back on his chair and let out a sigh. There was one piece of her that remained since she had left, and it was something small.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a small knock on Die's bedroom door. It took a few moments to answer, not really expecting guests. He threw on a t-shirt and pulled it down quickly.
"I'm coming!" He called out.
Die rushed to open the door and saw a very shy (Y/n) standing there.
"(Y/n), is there something wrong?"
"No, no, it's just, I forgot to give this to you." Her hand came out from behind her back and within it was a t-shirt. His t-shirt. "This is yours. A little bit ago I hid in your room and took your clothing because — well — no one wants to run around in a dress forever."
"Hmm," He smirked, "I thought I saw this in your room."
"I'm sorry I took it."
"Don't worry about it, I'd rather you comfortable."
"Comfortable...really?"
"Why do you seem so surprised?"
"You're a demon..."
"And?" He leaned on his doorway. "You're a human."
"And you want me to be...comfortable?"
"Not all demons are heartless, you know."
"But I'm a human, you're one of THE elite three. If anything you WOULD be the heartless one. I'm not really worth much besides my value to the Rebellion in Dark's eyes."
Die wasn't too emotional, and this was going above and beyond his boundaries. "Well, I mean, if you're going to be here, what's the point of being rude? Isn't there a saying, you catch more bees with honey or something stupid?"
"So you're pretending?"
"Oh! No! I mean —"
She smiled, "I'm messing. It's — refreshing, you know, to have someone treat you — normally..."
"Despite who you are, I cannot lie about our first encounter, it was still very nice, and my opinion of that can't just change because I found out you're a human. We think very similarly. If I may, I'm a bit excited to see what else we have in common." He stopped immediately after. Did he just accidentally flirt with her?
Her cheeks lit up in light pink, "Oh, right, well, here's your shirt, sorry to bother you..."
"Sorry to be — so awkward.."
"You're fine! Maybe you're not soooo bad." She winked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Die held the shirt she wore close to him while thinking about that very memory. He could still smell her, and it smelled like a home he didn't have, but always longed for.
Sometimes he questioned his position as king. Sometimes he didn't want it. He wanted her, and a life with her, and to just run away from all of this responsibility.
A knock erupted on the door causing him to jump. He quickly shoved the shirt into a drawer. "Come in!"
In walked Sarah, walking taller than usual. "Good afternoon my son." She smiled at him with a tray in her hands.
"Sarah, it's good to see you, and walking straight up? I thought you had a bad back."
"Oh, well, you know sometimes you just have to walk it off. I haven't walked this much in years you know."
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better." He folded his hands and placed them on his desk. "What do you have there?"
"I brought you some tea, dear. I know you've locked yourself in here for the last few days so I thought I'd bring you something to ease your worries."
"If only this tea could solve all my problems," He wiped his hands down his face. "But, it'll make me feel better in the moment."
"I assume things aren't going well?" She poured him a cup and placed it down in front of him.
"It's so much to keep up with. Every barrier we put up, they somehow takedown. Those creatures they're...strong...I'm working on a new method of entrapping them."
"Is that so? And how would you do that?"
"Extracting pheromones from one and using it as a lure. They're not overpopulated, but desperate and I can't keep sitting here while people out there are dying."
"Well, I wouldn't worry about the humans dying —" She poured herself a glass.
"The humans dying is my main concern, Sarah. If we lose the humans, we lose the demons, and we lose the hybrids. It's a food chain. We may be at the top but we need the bottom just as much."
"But without the humans, demons will be free to roam without the threat of the rebellion, no?"
"How much do you know about demons, Sarah.." He raised a brow at her.
"Not much as it seems." She sipped her tea.
He let out a sigh, "Demons need a human host. We haven't been strong enough to hold a physical form for hundreds of years. When Dark opened up the portal we all began to overtake our humans, the problem with that is that the human soul would fight back. When we perfected Soul Extraction** that's when we were able to fight the war, and win. The problem though is that if a human dies before the demon can attach itself, the demon ceases to exist. On top of that, a demon can die regardless if they aren't able to get to their human in time. If we lose the humans, completely, we lose every single chance for other demons to possess their own bodies. We're always adding souls to the collection because there are always humans to be taken over. A brother to set free."
"As a hybrid, I wouldn't need to worry about that. You see because we are both parts, we are our own parasites and host in one. There are no demons for us, we are our own. But, if you believe we need the humans, I suppose we could keep them.."
_________________________
Soul Extraction: The process in which a human soul is separated from the human body in order for the demon spirit to possess it uninterrupted.