Heroes and Demons

There was a loud crash and I was thrown backwards into a wall, feeling some of the bricks chip away and crack behind my head. Ouch. I looked up but the gust of wind seemed like it was natural. I couldn't find a speck of magical energy in the air. I could swear there was talking from somewhere but I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

The next second I was soaked.

Wiping the hair out of my eyes as best I could, it was hard to see more than a few feet in front of me. I walked forward, knowing the road was somewhere around here, and that I didn't want to step into it.

Something ran into me instead and knocked me off my feet, soaking what small parts of me weren't already drenched.

"Ow, watch where you're going."

I was tempted to tell them they should be the one to watch where they were going but the voice rang too many bells. We had to stop meeting at this intersection. That, or we had to stop working so close to one another.

"That was your fault and you know it."

If it weren't for the fact we were both near blind I was sure she would have hit me. There was a womping sound and then a splash that told me she tried and had failed when I backed up.

"You know, Emi, that's not very hero-like." I stood up, knowing that an umbrella now would have been pointless even if I had one, and held a hand down to her.

True to character, she refused it, and stood on her own, shielding her eyes and trying to see into the distance. "What in the world is going on?"

"Heck if I know." I wiped some more hair out of my face but it was pointless. Now I was sure I heard people talking though and someone grabbed me by the hand, pulling me into the street I could barely see. "Woah! Wait!"

"Are you two crazy?! Didn't you hear the warnings?!" It was a human, and older man if I could trust my vision at all. He pulled me along and I realized after hearing a scream and feeling a tug back that Emilia must have grabbed onto me too.

It was a lot less wet inside the business doors we were pulled into and I took the time to free both people of my limbs and wipe my eyes clear, shaking my head and getting the droplets that feel back into my face out of my hair.

"You don't walk around during a hurricane you crazy people!" The man huffed and walked towards the back, looking back at us after he'd gotten a few feet away. "Well, come on."

I was clueless but I followed him, hearing the water-soaked footsteps of Emi behind me. I rang out some of my clothes on the way, hoping that this wouldn't ruin my uniform. We didn't have enough to pay for a new one and I couldn't go back to work with it wrinkled. Maybe they wouldn't mind if I hung it up somewhere to dry.

I was pushed when I stopped too long, thinking about how to remedy this situation and wondering if they had any posts nearby that were clean enough.

"Get going or I'm throwing you back out in that storm!"

I got going, but not because she told me to. The man was getting too far ahead of us and I didn't know where it was we were supposed to be going.

I sneezed, wiping my nose with my hand since I had no tissue, hearing her displeased with this. I wasn't about to wipe it on my uniform so she'd have to deal. Plus, the AC was cranked up in this place and I was freezing.

It seemed we were just being lead to a room away from the main one, somewhere in the center of the building. There was coffee and everything, along with a few dozen people who were sitting around doing absolutely nothing, a few smiling and talking among themselves.

"So, what are we supposed to do here?" I whispered to Emilia.

"Wait until the storm is over I guess. If you want to go out there and kill yourself, be my guest. In fact, go out there. You're not allowed in here."

I leveled a look at her. "That's not funny."

"I wasn't joking."

I sighed, grabbing a seat and touching my uniform. There was replacing it, and then there was keeping up the image I had to have while being a loyal and full time employee. If I were to just take it off, it would give the implications that MgRonalds approved of such behavior, but on the other hand if I left it on it would get wrinkled and I might not be able to get them out.

Something hit me hard in the back of head, reminding me why I didn't want to go back out there, and I put my hand where I'd been struck. "Hey, you don't just go hitting people."

"You're not 'people'. Plus, it looked like you were thinking about something stupid." Emilia sat down next to me, even with the whole room open to her. Sometimes I just couldn't understand her. Was she trying to pick a fight?

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I sat back and moved the shirt a little to try and dry it off. "Why were you outside in that weather anyway?"

"I thought I could make it back before the storm hit. Unlike some, I was at least ready for it when it came. I saw you hit that wall. I don't really think you can lose any more brain cells, so I'm sure you're fine."

Some hero. I'd never get over some of the things she did, but watching me get tossed around in the wind seemed like something she'd be sitting there laughing at. "At least I was further than you were. You work closer to me than you live."

I watched her pout but she shut up so I didn't push things. I wondered what the others were doing. They shouldn't have been out so I was sure Ashiya and Urushihara were just fine. With the lights flickering in the room we were in, I had to wonder if maybe the apartment would lose electricity. Urushihara without his computer was a scary thought.

Blink, crack, and we lost our lights, just as I was afraid of.

I sighed but jumped a second latter when I felt something grab my arm.

"Emilia, what are you doing?" I whispered harshly at her.

"No-nothing!" she stammered, letting go and backing off, but I could still see her in the low light of the room. Human's had such terrible vision. Normally I'd be able to see every little detail if I had my old eyesight back.

It was quiet, those around us settling too. I felt their fear, took some of it, using it to help with my magic. I could at least protect us if the storm hit the building too hard then. I could pick up some of the terror around me as well, in nearby buildings and homes.

I was hit in the head again and had to massage the spot lightly this time as my vision faded so bad I was only seeing blackness. "Will you cut that out!?"

"Reflex." I could hear her moving her fingers as if she was ready to hit me again and I decided that was enough power for now. I couldn't fight off the storm by myself with this little anyway, even if I could gather it, so it wasn't worth risking her wrath. I had to guess before now that this place had been hit by similar storms.

It was quiet and uncomfortable. I could exhaust some of my new energy to see in the dark, but I didn't care much for what I would see. It was bright enough through the windows that lead outside that I was fine. Leaning my head down on the table with my arms around it, I thought I might even be able to sleep. I was working a later shift tomorrow, like I had tonight, so maybe I could get up earlier and see if there were any specials at the grocery store.

"Umm…"

I waited, but Emilia didn't say anything else so I turned to her, kind of seeing her outline but mostly just seeing a black blob with wavering edges. "Yeah?"

"I- I want to ask you something. About what you said before."

She didn't continue and, demon lord or not, there was no way that I could remember every little thing that I've ever said to her. "Okay, when?"

More silence and I went back to laying down. I may have nodded off before she said something again, and it was so quiet it barely got my attention.

"My dad… all those people. You said you were sorry. I don't care. I hate you. I'll always hate you. You- you're a monster. I know that. But-but Chiho, she kind of made me wonder. Why? Why did you do all that? I just can't seem to make sense of it. How can someone go from being so cruel and heartless to- to..."

I could barely see her gesture to all of me in the darkness. She had my attention now, and I wasn't just going to ignore her when she asked such a straightforward question.

"Viewpoints, I guess. I didn't know humans dealt with so much… things in their life. I could only see the parts of them that I hated, and so I worked towards what I wanted, ignoring them."

"How- how could you change so easily now? It doesn't make sense."

I turned towards her better, half slumped in the seat so that I was facing her as much as I could. "How old are you, really?"

She seemed uncomfortable by the question for some reason and I could see her fidget in her seat. "Wh-what does that have to do with anything?"

"Maybe a lot, maybe nothing. So?"

I had to wait a while for her to answer. I didn't know why it took her so long. "I'm really eighteen."

I whistled to myself. "I didn't know you were that young." Some hero she was. She was just a kid.

"And why does that matter?"

I pointed to myself. "Did you ever wonder how old I am?"

There was some more silence before she answered. "You're a demon. I know that demons live a long time but I guess I never specifically thought about how old you are. I was guessing like a hundred or two."

I waved my hand at her guesses. "Even if I was that old, do you know how long that war I started went on?"

She seemed to have to count that. "I don't know. Ten- fifteen years."

"Exactly. What did you think I was doing before then? Did you think that I just started a war in Ente Isla because I was bored? Okay, maybe I was a little bored, but I mean the main reason."

"I don't know. You're a demon. You're all evil. I know that demons have been around killing humans forever. It was just how things are. When you started trying to take over, it was just because you were evil and wanted power."

I couldn't really fight that. "Yeah. Evil, power-hungry. That sounds like me. That's still no reason to start a war. Even we have a sense of reason. You can't argue that."

"Yes I can. I've heard and seen a lot of stories where demons go out of their way to murder, steal, and do every horrible thing under the sun. War or no war, the stories go back ages."

"Lower demons," I corrected. "You never heard anyone say that of the great demon king now, did you?"

It looked like she had to think about it again. Had they been spreading rumors about me? "You know, come to think of it, until I saw you, I hadn't heard a thing about you. You were just the one starting all the chaos, the killings. The reason I had to kill in return. You were evil incarnate. You still are."

I took some offense to that, but didn't fight her. For the most part it was true. Only through being a human was I able to see the other side like I had and still was.

"At least we don't hide what we are. I mostly started that war because I was after revenge." I didn't care for it much now. I likely had made even the scales back then, before it had turned into a war that I'd wanted to win.

"Revenge?" I could hear the curiosity in her voice. It was kind of painful but mostly just a long story that I didn't care to retell from the beginning.

"I wasn't always the one in power. There were a few others before me, in my area at least. They were all killed, one way or another, by humans. I could understand some. They dove into human territory, gaining their power as you described. There was nothing lost when they died. Someone just took their place after. But then the humans started thinking we were all like that. When you're told something long enough, hated long enough and in return have all this hate to throw back, it's really hard not to become what they say you are. I didn't used to think humans and demons were all that different, except for the fact that we live so much longer. Long ago, there wasn't much of a division. Like angels, there were even children spawn of devils and humans, kinda like the opposite of you."

"I've never heard of that."

"That's because they're all dead, or hiding, but most are dead." Those that weren't were living by themselves where they couldn't be found, too different to be human and too weak to be demon. "It's not something to be proud of and pretty rare in the last century."

"Century? You say it like it's nothing."

I cleared my throat a bit. "It's not, really. Times changed a lot. I didn't always pay attention to them, and there were worse bits where I just stayed away from humans all together so I can't remember what they were like, but a century or two is nothing all that important."

"Are you going to answer me how old you are?"

I shouldn't have to. Why let the enemy know so much about myself? Then again, she couldn't use it against me, and it wasn't like I was currently that old. "I stopped keeping track a while ago. A thousand years old I'd guess, while I was conscious of time passing. Maybe older."

I heard a gasp that turned into a cough and she slammed the table a few times, making me jump and almost knock the chair over. "Jeez, calm down."

"You're a thousand years old?!" Emilia turned and grabbed me, shaking me as if that would prove anything to her.

"Shhh!" I grabbed her wrist but didn't fight her that hard. She wasn't attacking me though it was pretty annoying the way I was half fallen over the chair. "Be quiet and let me go!" If everyone could see I could guess they would be looking at us. She had to stop getting so much attention.

She let me go and I fell back into the chair, fixing the outfit to make sure she didn't tear it or anything. "You're buying me a new one of you ruined it."

"A thousand year old demon shouldn't be worrying about his outfit."

Tsh. What did she know? She just didn't understand the importance of looking good. "Did you want to listen or fight? Because I'm sick of talking."

There was no talking after that. Then again, being human, I knew it wouldn't last long. "No, I want to know your side of the story. So, what happened? Why did you go around murdering everyone?"

I shook my head. "I didn't see it that way. Humans had killed so many of my kind, they were just another animal out there on the planet to me. I was tired of hiding. I was tired of being afraid of them. I watched those governing them for years, watching them change, seeing most of it change for the worst. Then I had an idea. If I were to take control, I could make sure they didn't kill anymore of my friends and family. I could make sure they didn't kill more of themselves, train them like you humans do dogs. Make sure that everyone got along and, with how long we live, make sure that things stayed that way."

"Do I look like a dog?!"

"Humans did at the time, okay? We knew nothing about them. They knew nothing about us. I didn't even know the human body was different than my own until I came here. I figured there was some reason that we demons lived longer, kind of like a balancing force when God and his angels chose to protect your kind over ours. By the way, you guys have some pretty messed up angels."

"Don't judge us all on that freak."

"I don't or I'd be a few dozen feet away from you by now. That was my plan though, and Alciel was more than happy to stand by my side. I picked up the others through travels around the lands. I wanted to be sure that I could fight the humans, get every tactical advantage I could before I struck. We demons would still lead that land better than you humans."

I could tell she was pouting again and there was a wavering around her form that left me worried all of a sudden. I used my powers for a few seconds, focusing on my night vision, seeing her glaring at me with her teeth and fist clenched.

"Woah. Don't do anything crazy now. You know I'm right. Look what your church has done? My generals never once turned against me or my ideals. We just were trying to make the humans understand what we wanted. They wouldn't give up control so we had to fight. War kind of makes some people crazy. I'll admit Lucifer was hard to control at the time but you know that's true of you humans too. War was your way before it was ours. We demons never warred with one another like you humans do."

I tapped my fingers on the chair. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to rule this world too, but I don't have the want that I did in Ente Isla. It's peaceful here already."

"It was peaceful back home to."

I held my hands up. "Okay, believe what you want. Anyway, I think I'm going to go out and check on the storm." It had been about an hour already. Maybe I could get back to the stronghold and make sure that my underlings were okay.

I went through a few doors to a dark sky and so much rain falling that it looked like it was a wave. I stared at it for a few moments, eyes leveled as I thought about it. I could get through the rain easy enough, but what out my work clothes? Even if I took them off they'd get drenched but maybe I could keep them clean that way in case there were any cars on the road and they splashed dirty water at me or something.

"You're crazy. You know that you can get as sick out there just as easily as I can."

"Yeah, and home base is probably much warmer than here so I don't really see the difference." I made sure the visor was put away, taking a breath and getting ready to run. I could make it in ten minutes if I booked it.

Emilia grabbed my arm and I was pulled sideways as I tried running forward, hearing her yell out as she was pulled towards me and we both lost our feet and fell.

"You stupid idiot!" I yelled, shaking her off. "What do you want now?"

"I don't like your answer from before. It doesn't make sense. You said you wanted to take over Ente Isla because it would make things peaceful, but you're a demon. You feed off of people's fear. Why would you want a peaceful world?"

"Huh?" I leveled my eyes at her again, getting off of my butt and back on my feet. "I never said it would have been peaceful. I'm a demon. It just wouldn't be a bunch of backstabbing politics and the other demons who would gain power with me would likely need some controlling themselves but hey, letting people do what they wanted to do, making sure that there was no needless killing when there didn't need to be, has to be better than what that world is like right now. I bet the church is still in power and that all those pretty little angels like Sariel are warping the minds of the rest of the humans."

I didn't try and help her up this time as she got up on her own. "Demons are so much more straight forward. I don't even understand how the rest of you can go on keeping secrets and betraying like you do. If a demon wants to kill you, they come out and say it. Take Lucifer for example. When he was after us, he went right out and told us. That's how demons are. I like that way better than this confusing way you humans act."

"And demons don't understand a thing!" Emilia stomped out of the place before me, the rain getting at her so fast I lost her after a few feet. That didn't make any sense. I didn't dwell on it though, walking out with her soon after, protecting what I could of my clothes.

I ran. It was loud and wet and if it weren't for the fact that I typically had pretty good hearing, demon or not, I don't think I would have heard the strange intake of breath. I slowed down to a walk, peeking around and finding Emilia hiding out under some larger trees at the corner of one of the business. I walked over to her. "What are you doing? I thought you were trying to get out of the rain, not stay in it."

There were tears in her eyes when she looked up at me, anger flashing across her face before she stubbornly turned away. "Just get away from me!"

I would have on any other given day, but instead I suck out the same shelter she was partaking in.

"I said go away!"

"I'd love to, trust me I would, but you're crying because of something I said, right?" I scratched my head, knocking some rain out as more drops fell through the branches. "That makes it my fault. So what did I say wrong?" Heroes shouldn't go around crying so easily. It really ruined the image.

That seemed to embarrass her for some reason and she turned away from me. I waited, hoping that the rain would let up when she finished so I wouldn't have to be walking in it then.

"Why? Why did my dad have to die because of you? Because of those stupid ideas of yours?"

I didn't have an answer for that. When I went back to take over Ente Isle I was going to change some of my agenda. This outlook on humans had really changed how I thought about them. "Alciel and I only targeted the Holy Army and others fighting us. If your dad was a part of that, he was just another enemy. As for any of those small battles, I had nothing to do with them. Unfortunately it was the idea of some of those under me to take out any villages where they could get recruits. Lucifer in particular was following the church and their movements. Their actions are still my responsibly and I apologized for killing your dad. I can't really do anything more than that."

"You can die! You can die for all the people that you killed!"

"And what about all the demons that you killed? Will you die to atone for them? Because they aren't humans, does your God excuse the fact that you took life?"

Emilia looked really mad all of a sudden again and I took a step away. "Not that it wasn't a bad thing. I've made sure to protect my underlings this time so you don't have another chance to kill them, and right now we're not enemies. There's no need to get violent."

"I do not need a demon telling me that, let alone the Dark Lord Satan!"

Why was she so mad? I just pointed out the truth to her. Her fists up made me back away and run back into the rain. "Whatever I said after that it's not my fault so I'm not apologizing!" I wasn't going to let her catch me right now. It looked like she'd really killed me.

The rain stopped suddenly. My footsteps slowed and I heard Emilia quickly running up behind me. There was another sound though and I frowned, trying to pinpoint it.

Just as she hit me I turned and grabbed her in my arms, throwing us both to the floor and erecting a barrier. The car hit it hard, making me wince against the strain of holding it. Soon there were more cars shifting around us and I looked around quickly.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

"Shhh!" I yelled at her again. She really had to pick better times to yell. I winced as a few other things hit the barrier, unhappy that we'd wound up in the middle of the street.

"These are so not my specialty."

A tree. A freaking tree came at us. It hit the barrier hard and fast. I raised a hand, concentrating and trying to hold it back. It was a fight, one I lost, and I felt the tree slam into me. That was the last thing I remembered.

…

I woke in pain, putting a hand to my head and knocking off someone else's hand.

"Good, you're awake. You know, if you're no good at barriers you should have just let me put one up. I bet we would have gotten away a lot better off.

I opened my eyes and sat up, wincing and putting a hand to my chest. I had a little bit of magic and I used it to heal most of the damage. Trying to block the tree coming at us at who knew how many miles an hour had taken most of it. "So what happened?"

"I saved you're butt, and now you owe me. I doubt the trains are running so you get to put me up until they are." Emilia stood, looking dirty but fine.

I widened my eye when I noticed this and yelled, jumping to my feet. "Oh no! I ruined the uniform! This has never happened before! Now I'll have to buy another one and Kisaki-san will think that I didn't care enough about it to make sure something like this didn't happen! Maybe she'll get so mad that I'll lose my temporary manager job! What if she tells me I have go to Greenland!?" I put my head in my hands, shaking it as a few tears fell.

I heard Emilia sigh. " Demons."