A/N: First of all: read "The Heart of a Hero" if you haven't, as this is a sequel. You will be confused otherwise.

If anyone is an artist and would like to do some cover art, please contact me! :D

To returning readers: forgive me; this is not a masterpiece. I included Iustia again (I know y'all hate him, but I needed him to practice my humor/serious writing combination); please let me know how this strikes you. Does the humor work? Does the serious part clash too much? Is your heart moved for this new, random character? Did you enjoy Urushihara's excitement at the end (I am convinced he'd become an otaku of at least that level).

Time is limited for me, nowadays; do not expect me to update at regular intervals. Hope y'all enjoy!

"Sire, what do you mean by 'couple'?"

Maou raised an eyebrow at Ashiya and opened his mouth to speak–

"Because you can't mean a romantic relationship. The terms don't make sense."

"The terms?"

"You: the Devil King. Emilia the Hero."

"So?" Maou shrugged. "What's wrong with that idea?"

"Let me explain it," Urushihara butted in. The three were gathered around the sole table in their cramped apartment; Maou had called a meeting to discuss the events of the past few weeks with them. Emi had finally recovered from the events of "the Incident" (as her friends and frenemies called the attempted murder), and Maou was back in the house for good; he thought it best to let everyone know where he and Emi stood.

But he seemed to be running into difficulties.

"You see, Maou, as the geniuses in computer science would say–"

"He's not going to get a reference to whatever it is that you do, Urushihara–"

"I know you're too stupid to understand it, but to insult the Devil King to his face? Wow, Ashiya, you've sure grown some brass–"

"Ashiya! Urushihara!" Maou snapped, getting impatient. "Do you have a point?"

"Well, yes," Urushihara coughed, "my point–"

"Our point." Ashiya growled.

"–is that you and Emi are like darkness and light." He paused. "No, it's not even likeness. You literally are darkness to her light. Where she shines, you can't be. By definition."

"You know, because when light shines…" Ashiya began to explain the analogy, but Maou slapped him.

"Idiot. I know that!" He frowned at them. "But look: can't we put this whole 'darkness,' 'evil' thing behind us? I mean, it just doesn't sound…"

"Politically correct?" Urushihara offered.

"I was thinking 'normal' and 'sane.'"

"But Sire. You're the Devil King. It's your nature. Literally."

"Yeah, well…" Maou scratched his head.

They watched him.

"I, uh…"

They leaned in closer.

His face turned redder under their combined scrutiny.

"I don't really want to be a demon anymore."

"WHAT?" Ashiya gaped at him. Urushihara shrugged.

"Cool with me. I like this world." He turned back to his computer.

Ashiya whirled about and faced Urushihara's back. "Lucifer! How can you say that? You, one of the great–"

He waved him off. "Look, you guys figure this out. I'm going to watch Youtube videos."

Maou stood. "Well, sounds good! Glad you both agree! Now–"

"I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS!" Ashiya yelled, pointing angrily at him, as Maou slipped out the door.

The room was silent for a moment, before Urushihara chuckled.

"What?" Ashiya asked, exasperated.

"He isn't working a shift tonight. So guess where he's going."

Ashiya's jaw dropped. "No! He can't be!"

Urushihara pulled up a map on Google. "I turned on the location finder on his new smartphone–"

"HE HAS A WHAT?!"

"–so we can see where he is…"

Sure enough, the blue dot wound its way to Emi's apartment building. Ashiya collapsed on the ground, moaning.

"Looks like our little Maou is getting sweet on Emi! Isn't that something?" Urushihara cooed, poking Ashiya.

"Stop torturing me…" He groaned.

"What about torture?"

Ashiya shrieked. Standing in the (now open) front door was Suzuno. She watched them with passionless eyes.

"Uh…" Urushihara gaped at her. "How did you get in?"

"I opened the door."

"But it was locked."

She paused, looking slightly guiltier.

"I opened the door."

Ashiya sighed. "This house is going to kill me. Slowly, painfully and certainly."

"I can make it more sudden and painless, if you'd like."

Urshihara laughed. "She's certainly forward, I'll give you that."

Ashiya looked at her pleadingly. "Please tell me that you, of all people, agree that a demon is always a demon, and can't just 'magically' become something else!" He used air quotations around magic, making it seem less than reputable. Ironic, considering what they were talking about.

"Of course they can. I've transformed demons into corpses plenty of times." She shrugged, as Ashiya fainted.

"How can you say that so casually?" Urushihara frowned at her.

"Because it's true."

"You don't have much tact, do you." He glanced at Ashiya, who was laying on the ground. Suzuno nudged him with her foot.

Ashiya didn't move, because he really had fainted.

"On a serious note, now that Ashiya's out for the count," Urushihara swiveled from the computer to face her, "what do you think of the Maou-Emi situation?"

"Not going to work."

"As blunt as your hammer, I see."

She snorted. "He's a demon. She's part angel. They aren't compatible."

He sighed, and leaned back. "Rather a pity, I suppose. After what happened and all."

Her gaze softened, as she looked at the table in thought. "Indubitably."

He raised an eyebrow. "Indubitably?"

"Is that not common?"

"Try substituting 'yeah' or 'ok' instead."

"Yeah, ok."

He smirked. "I see what you did there."

He and Suzuno looked at each other for a moment, before he awkwardly looked away.

"So…"

Suzuno stared.

"Do you need something?"

"No."

"Ah. Well–" he turned to the computer, "I'll just be working on this, so…"

She walked over beside him and glanced curiously at the screen. He was on Youtube, pulling up a new anime. He glanced at her puzzled expression.

"Do you have a TV in your room?"

She shook her head. He smirked.

"Then allow me to introduce you to the world of anime…"

Meanwhile, Maou lay on the ground in Emi's apartment.

How did it come to this? He idly wondered, as he glanced over to Emi and their…guest.

For reasons unknown to him, Emi had invited Archangel Iustia to join them for their exercise and game day.

He was standing in exercise clothes with Emi in front of the television, stretched over a mat. They both were doing the splits. A caddy lady from the television was insulting them while showing them stretches.

"Now, stretch towards your left foot with your right hand–assuming you can reach past the rolls of fat in your belly."

"My belly is impeccable." Archangel Iustia said, with a serious face.

Emi sighed. "How many times must I repeat that she's not talking about you!"

"Oh." He glanced at her. "You conceal your rolls of fat well."

"SHE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT ME EITHER!"

"Hey, Emi." Maou tried to draw her attention.

"Hmm?"

"You know, there's been something on my mind…"

"Well, Lord knows there can't be anything in it, so on makes more sense–"

"Hey!"

Emi laughed and smirked at him.

"Anyway…why, exactly, did you invite him here?" He frowned as forcefully as he could towards Iustia, who continued to stretch.

"If you want to be a hero, Maou, the first thing to do is learn empathy."

Maou crossed his arms, frowning again. "You shouldn't talk down to me, Emi. I know how to be good! You were the one hell-bent on killing me in the first place!"

Emi raised an eyebrow at him. "That's rich, coming from the guy who tried to assassinate Iustia when he was talking to a priest."

Yeah, he did that. After the whole murder fiasco, he investigated who attempted to kill her. It didn't take him long to find the Archangel. Thankfully, Emi was alerted by Suzuno, and arrived in time to prevent Maou from leveling the church, priest and all.

Maou looked down at the ground. "Look, can you blame me? He murdered you!"

"You do realize I'm not dead, right?

"Attempted murder, then! But how could you expect me to sit back and do nothing?"

"You aren't supposed to do nothing, Maou!" She looked at him with a tired smile. "You're supposed to love. That's what a Hero does."

He eyed her in return. "That's rich, coming from the girl who chased me to Earth to gain vengeance."

She shook her head. "I thought you were going to keep killing; there's a rather deep difference. After all, I ended up sparing you, didn't I?"

He looked down, ashamed for a moment. "You did a lot more than that."

The words from her faux-death note arose in his mind once more:

I have always been destined to die to save someone else. That someone is you.

"Hey!" Emi walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Let's not go down memory lane, alright?"

"Alright," he looked up at her with a slight smile. "Ok."

"Good." She leaned down and gave him a soft kiss. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in the lovely scent of her hair. She pulled away after a moment and retreated to the exercise mat.

"The point of this, Maou, is to ask the question why. The answer never excuses the evil of their actions, but it does give you something more important."

He looked at her questioningly.

"A way to love them."

With that, the exercise show ended, and Emi turned off the television. She turned to the two men.

"Iustia."

He nodded, turning and sitting down in front of Maou. Emi sat perpendicular to them both.

"I will speak as frankly as I can." He sat at attention, like a stone guardian carved into the side of an ancient castle; but as he spoke, he seemed to loosen. He appeared more human.

"My duty is to be the Archangel of Justice; in order to accomplish this and ensure that I do not stray from my duties, the other angels used a powerful kind of magic on the angels who occupied this post before me." He took a deep breath.

"I experience the sufferings of men."

Maou raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? You clearly didn't feel her suffering when you–"

"Maou." Emi growled. He clamped his mouth shut.

"It's not for all humans, of course; no one could withstand such pain."

"I wouldn't say no one." Emi said softly. Iustia glanced at her, blinking, before nodding slowly.

"Perhaps not."

Maou was entirely lost. "What're you talking about?"

Emi shook her head. "Irrelevant; sorry. Please continue."

Iustia did so. "Do you know the Church of Justice in the capital of each of the islands in Ente Isla?"

"Of course."

"I am the guardian angel of those churches; when a human prays for justice, I hear their prayers directly in my mind; and, more importantly, I feel the pain in their heart within my own whenever I'm in the heavenly plane. Only engaging in warfare and duties of justice causes the pain to cease."

Maou blinked. The Church of Justice was famous for holding vigils during the War, where all those wounded by the War came to beg for justice for their fallen loved ones. He used to imagine they did it to raise the anger of the populace, and hopefully recruit more soldiers.

But if their prayers tormented the heart of one of the greatest Archangels…

"Those vigils weren't for ceremony. They were forcing your hand." Maou said, in sudden realization.

Iustia nodded. "Every time one of those vigils was hosted, it was an onslaught of pain; I had to force myself, almost constantly, to the battlefield to fight. The War forced me to become nothing more than a soldier, haunted by the pains of all Ente Isla."

Maou shook his head as he leaned back. Normally, angels and demons never had problems with PTSD; angels descending to Earth to fight...

While not rare, it was certainly temporary. The heavenly plane was another civilization entirely, just as the demonic isle was its own civilization. Though they were at war, the majority of heavenly citizens did not fight. They had lives of their own. To think that this angel's home was filled with the heartbreak of all those survivors of the war…

In a sense, Iustia suffered from PTSD, but in an opposite way; it was his home that haunted him, and drove him to war.

"I…I admit, I don't know what to say." Maou shrugged uselessly. "That's really painful. I'm sorry that happened to you."

Iustia nodded. "But that fact will never excuse what I did." He bowed his head. "My fear of feeling that pain and heartbreak drove me into the pursuit of justice to the point where nothing mattered but doing my duty. I suppose that's what the Council of Heaven intended when they set this curse upon my office: to make a soldier and dog of war, who would do anything they commanded. Even if it was, in reality, unjust. Just to make the pain stop…"

"They're torturing you!" Maou said with a stupefied look. "How–how can they–angels!–such hypocrites!"

Iustia gave a sad smile. "I always had the option to abandon my post and mantle, but I was afraid to be labeled a deserter and cast out. So I let them drive me to this…to murder…"

He leaned forward, resting his head between his hands.

"It wasn't until this case that I really considered my duty. Whether this was truly justice, and whether heaven is truly Heaven–where the will of God reigns." He shook his head and looked up. Maou was shocked to see tears glistening in his eyes.

"I know that a simply apology will never make anything better, but," he fell onto the ground and planted himself against the floor, "I am horrified at what I did and who I became. I am sorry, with all my heart, and all my soul, and all my strength, for attempting to kill her!"

Maou's eyes began to dampen. Now that he knew his pain, his suffering, he became more real to him. Iustia was no longer an evil murderer, cackling in the shadows, who ought to be destroyed. Now he was a broken human, driven to darkness, but who Emi and this unnamed priest dragged back into the light.

In other words: he was just like Maou.

With this realization, Maou fell to the ground before Iustia.

"You do not bear the guilt alone!" He cried out, his own heart breaking. Memories of Emi flooded his mind: nailed to the wall; bloodied; torn; in pain; dying; all for his sins.

"It was my evil which caused those people pain and, ultimately, tortured you! I deserved every bit of the pain you came to deliver! No; I deserved worse! All the burden you bear for murder, I bear a thousand-fold!"

"Which is why neither of you ought to be burdened anymore." Emi said, as she knelt beside the two and embraced both of their prostrate forms. "Love does not solely suffer for the beloved; it also brings them back to life. So if you truly wish to atone, and let my suffering have meaning: then live. Both of you. Live lives of love."

Yes, thought Maou and Iustia both. Let us live. Let us love.

Let us be Heroes.

It was several hours later that Maou returned to his apartment. He had bid Iustia a teary farewell, as the Archangel went to resign from his post and denounce the heavenly court for the evils they imposed on him. He would likely be severely punished, but he was their greatest soldier; it was doubtful they would kill him, as the other angelic warriors would be furious. After all, soldiers suffer together; an attack against one is an attack against them all.

Upon unlocking the door to the apartment, he heard a strange sound.

Crying.

His eyes grew wide. "What happened?!"

He burst through the door, power surging in his body, to find a scene that stupefied him. Suzuno and Urushihara lay on the floor, watching an anime of Urushihara's laptop. Both were weeping–Suzuno in Urushihara's shoulder, and Urushihara in the hem of her kimono. She didn't seem to care. Or perhaps even notice at all.

"Oh–he's hugging her! My heart's going to burst!" Suzuno cried out. This alone would have caused Maou's mind to die from sheer shock; but Urushihara's overly emotional reactions did him in.

"AHHHH ASUNA'S SO BEAUTIFUL! THEY'REKISSINGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He burst into tears.

"I LOVE this couple!" Suzuno gushed.

"Oh, just wait until Sinon comes next season. She's even MORE adorable! And her cat ears~!"

Maou fainted.