Azrael: I know, I'm a piece of shit. It has been far too long since I last updated. I really, truly, thought that I'd be getting this out within a week or two. But then I got stuck and couldn't figure out how I wanted to continue it. Amaimon felt too out of character. Admittedly, I'm still a little worried about that with this, more finalized version. I kept rewriting this, and then I kinda forgot about it in favor of other stories. I got majorly into AoT and started writing some fics for that with a friend. Now, the same thing is happening with Karnveal and YOI. We may or may not be posting those on a joint account at some point.

Anyway, I am really, very sorry for the obscenely-long wait. Hopefully, you find this chapter enjoyable in spite of that. This was the last big thing that I can remember having planned for this series. I can only remember some vague ideas for other chapters, so it's probably going to be another long wait. I apologize in advance for that. As I stated in the previous chapter, if there's anything you guys want to see with this story, let me know. Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy this next installment in the Evil Angel series.

Fifteen pairs of tiny feet stamped up the thin, winding forest trail. The children chattered excitedly as they looked around with wide eyes. Many of them had never before left the blinding lights and cacophony of the city, so to be completely surrounded by nature was a surreal, magical experience. Every rustle in the trees lead to a lot of pushing and shoving to see what had made sound. Though the creature had long since fled, the students were eager to say what they thought they'd seen.

"It was a bear!"
"Bears can't climb trees!"
"You don't know that!"

"I saw it. It was definitely a tiger!"
"No it wasn't! It was a lion!"

"Maybe it was a dragon!"
"Dragons aren't even real!"
"Yeah?! Well have you ever seen one?!"

Mr. Hennessey sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes, wishing he hadn't volunteered to chaperone his son's field trip. It was one of his few days off from work, and he was exhausted, but Robbie had been persistent. He did a quick head count to make sure that all of the kids were accounted for. While he doubted that any of the children would be able to sneak away, he didn't want to take any chances. After confirming that the correct number of children was, indeed, present, he spared a glance at the woman leading the class through the forest. Ms. Landon was as cheerful as ever, pointing out the various parts of the ecosystem to her class.

"Now does anyone remember the best way to tell trees apart?" she asked cheerfully, continuing her discussion about the importance of forests.

A boy at the front of the class excitedly raised his hand and answered, "Leafs!"

"Very good, Michael! Now there are a few different kinds of leaves..."

As Ms. Landon began pointing out the differences between deciduous and coniferous leaves on the most basic level possible, many of the students began tuning her out. Their seven-year-old minds had already wandered back to other topics such as the fantastic creatures living in the forest and when lunchtime would be. The small group carried on like this for some time - with Ms. Landon happily talking to the kids about trees while some paid attention and others didn't, and Mr. Hennessey trailing behind, yawning intermittently. It was during the lull of this routine that the unthinkable happened - a student disappeared. A boy in the back of the line slipped, and Mr. Hennessey stooped to help him. In that moment, Maria Greyson spotted a small, flower-filled meadow just off to their left. With both adults preoccupied, and the students around her distracted, Maria slipped away completely unnoticed.

Time ceased to flow in that little forest alcove. One could sit there for eternity and never notice. The sweet scent of the flowers permeated the air and birds sang in the trees. A doe and her two fawns grazed at the westernmost edge of the clearing, unafraid of the nearby group of humans. Amaimon yawned and stretched, having just been woken from his nap by the chattering children. His energy shielded the small natural haven from prying eyes, so he was not particularly concerned about the trespassers. Most humans were not able to see the meadow at all, and those who could would be struck with a sudden, terrible sense of dread and avoid the place completely. Still, the demon king turned his attention to the class to see if they posed any sort of a threat. The adult female's voice drifted through the trees as she continued to describe the different types of trees native to the area. Satisfied that he needn't worry, Amaimon returned to his previous position leaning against the tree trunk to resume his rest. While he wasn't overly-fond of humans in his forest, the ones that studied and taught the importance of nature were acceptable. At the very least, they weren't as stupid as the rest of their lot. Amaimon had very nearly begun to doze off again when he heard footsteps approach him. The Earth King's eyes snapped open, and he practically flew onto an overhead branch. Peering down through the leaves, Amaimon tried to discern the sort of person that would dare come into a meadow with such a menacing aura.

It was...a little girl? A human child, no older than eight, beamed as she looked around the flower-filled clearing. Her brown hair was pulled back into two loose, messy plaits and her dark blue overalls were already covered in mud and grass stains. Maria merrily hummed an out-of-tune Disney song and wandered the field, completely unaware of the powerful demon watching her from the trees. Plucking only the prettiest of the wildflowers, Maria collected a large bouquet and settled herself at the edge of the clearing, just beneath the Earth King's perch. Singing quietly, she sorted the flowers into piles and began to weave what she was certain would be the loveliest flower crown ever made.

Amaimon's eye twitched. He couldn't believe that little shit had just ripped up a bunch of his flowers. His brother had warned him that children didn't know any better, but it was still irritating all the same. The girl was doing something with the plants she'd just murdered, but he couldn't see what. The Earth King silently jumped out of the tree and stood behind the child. His anger quickly turned to confusion as he watched her create some sort of odd chain out of the spring beauties and forget-me-nots. She stuck a few daisies and black-eyed susans into her odd creation and tied the two ends together to make a circle, which she placed on her head with a cheery laugh. What an odd creature... Sighing, Amaimon started to leave to find a quieter place to sleep when the familiar scent of chocolate lured him back. The child was breaking pieces off of a large, partly-melted candy bar. It was only fair, the demon reasoned, that he should take her candy as payment for his flowers. When the child was distracted by a particularly-fat bumble bee, Amaimon snatched the chocolate from her grasp and took a large bite out of the delightful confection. The girl gasped and looked up at the demon king in surprise.

"He-hello, mister. Who are you?" she asked, not showing the proper amount of fear in the demon's presence. If anything, she was merely startled, which rekindled Amaimon's irritation towards her.

"I should be asking you that, kid," Amaimon replied dryly, "Care to tell me why you're in my forest?"

"My class is taking a field trip," the girl chirped, "but I got tired and came here to play."

"Right..." Amaimon rolled his eyes and was about to suggest that she return to her class, when she interrupted.

"You like chocolate, mister?" she asked, producing another candy bar from her overall pocket and holding it out to him.

Amaimon blinked, confused as to why she would willingly give away her candy. She must have just been stupid. Yes, the demon conceded as he accepted her offering, she clearly suffered a lack of intelligence. However, the unsuspected gift had mollified him for the time being, and Amaimon was feeling slightly more generous toward the child. He crouched down in front of her and inspected the odd circlet of flowers in her hair. He'd seen other human children create them in the past, but had never bothered to discover their significance. Amaimon watched for the next few minutes as the girl labored over her new project. Finally, he asked what she was doing.

"Making one for you, silly!" she giggled.

"Is that so?" Amaimon replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Uh huh! We're friends now, so we should match!" the little girl grinned at him, much to the demon's confusion.

"Friends...?"

"Yep, I shared my candy with you, so we're friends now!"

The child looked sincere and certain of her statement that Amaimon was momentarily taken aback. Is that how it worked? Amaimon didn't have many friends, but he also never shared his candy. While he was almost certain that socializing was a much more complicated process, the little girl did have a point. He definitely disliked her less since receiving her chocolate bars. The demon sat back in the grass and rested his chin on his knees, pondering the strange, simple creature before him. She returned to her odd little song and busily wove flower stems together. This new creation had many more daisies in it than did the first. The girl rose periodically to see if the chain was long enough to wrap around Amaimon's head, and – much to his surprise – he patiently allowed her to do so. The girl cheered and clapped when the crown was complete.

"Yay! Now you can be the flower prince, and I can be your princess!" she giggled, spinning in a circle.

Amaimon's lips twitched up into a small, crooked smile as he shook his head. He could hear the other humans frantically calling out a name, presumably hers. "I'm afraid that will have to wait, Maria." The girl looked surprised that he knew her name. Amaimon continued, "Your teacher is looking for you. Better get back to the trail."

"Oh..." the child seemed to be genuinely disappointed, "Can we play again tomorrow?"

"We shall see," Amaimon took Maria's hand and led her back to the meadow's entrance, "Go on now."

"Bye mister! See you tomorrow!" she grinned and waved at him before hurrying back to her group.

Once she was out of sight, Amaimon hopped up into the trees and jumped between the branches until he reached the edge of the trail. The teacher was furiously berating little Maria, who didn't seem to be the least bit sorry. Amaimon chuckled quietly. The kid was more amusing than he thought she'd be. When the group marched toward the small parking lot by the trailhead, the demon returned to his clearing to resume his nap. He replanted the unused flowers, healing their damaged stems and growing their roots using his demonic energy. Running his fingers over the soft petals adorning his head, Amaimon considered replanting his flower crown as well, but decided against it. After all, his newfound "friend" had worked quite hard on it. Though he doubted that he would ever see that girl again, he couldn't deny that he might just be able to tolerate her if ever their paths should cross again.

It was many months before Amaimon and Maria would meet again. The demon had been wandering the country that the humans referred to as "the United States." He finally looped back to the north, disliking the heat and barren earth that he had encountered in his latest excursion into "Arizona." Though, admittedly, he had been amused by the great canyon that seemed to attract the humans in droves. They thought it had been caused by the river, but Amaimon knew the truth. He had put it there centuries ago during a fight with his brother, Egyn. Still, it was nice of the humans to take the time to appreciate nature, especially since they so often destroyed it – though they still made a mess of the dwellings around the canyon. It was a bit hypocritical of them, but then again, they were humans. What did they know?

Amaimon sighed and wrinkled his nose at the stench arising from the towering city. It smelled of piss and car exhaust, with a slight undercurrent of a cuisine Mephisto called "Thai." How and why one would tie food was lost on Amaimon, but he took his brother's word for it. The demon begrudgingly trudged through the crowded street, searching for the place Mephisto had insisted upon meeting him. He wandered for nearly an hour before deciding that locating his brother would be too much work – Mephisto could just find him if he wanted to talk so badly. Nodding his approval of his own decision, Amaimon turned a corner and went in search of a sweet shop. A gas station or supermarket would do in a pinch, but it was much easier to steal candy from a sweet shop. Plus, the confections tasted better. It didn't take long for his nose to pick the saccharine scent of chocolate out from the other, less-than-pleasant smells of the city. Grinning, the demon made his way towards his prize.

Twenty minutes and one missed (ignored) call from his brother later, Amaimon walked away from the ransacked sweet shop with a cheery spring in his step. His jacket was weighed down with the copious amounts of candy, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. Popping a sucker into his mouth, the demon king attempted to find a park or some other pathetic, man-made patch of green in that horrendous city. The stench, sounds, and lights were starting to give Amaimon a headache. It was actually quite fortunate that the city began to overwhelm the demon at this point, because his search for a small scrap of nature led him back to his "friend," the girl from the meadow. It took him a moment to recognize her, and he was honestly shocked that he'd remembered her at all. Still, he decided - as he ignored another phone call from Mephisto - he may as well go say hello.

Maria sat in the shade of a tree with a disheartened expression on her face. Her father was awfully mad about something, but she didn't know what. Her mother was trying to fix it, and Maria wished she could help, but was instead sent outside to play. Unfortunately, the girl didn't really feel much like playing. She sighed and hugged her knees, wishing she knew how to make her father feel better. He seemed to be sad and angry a lot more than he used to. She missed his smile. Her father used to be so much fun, but now he was a little scary. Maria felt the pinprick of tears in the corners of her eyes, but snapped out of her depressed state when a chocolate bar appeared in front of her nose. Blinking rapidly, she looked at the candy and then at the person holding it. It was the strange boy from the forest – her flower prince!

"Hey, mister! I haven't seen you in a while!" she chirped, happy to see her odd friend.

"Hey kid," Amaimon replied, sitting down in front of her, "Why do you look so sad?"

The demon couldn't help but notice how upset Maria had looked when he drew closer to her. For some reason, she looked like she was about to cry, and that didn't sit right with Amaimon, though he couldn't fathom why. He supposed it was because he'd taken a liking to the strange child. She was like a weird, little human pet, and Amaimon was rather protective of his pets. When he saw her smile at him, his uneasiness faded almost instantly. Maria nibbled at the chocolate bar and chattered away about how her papa was upset, and how she wanted to help but didn't know how. Amaimon only half-listened, having quickly lost interest once her sad expression vanished. He only returned his attention to her when she suggested that they play a game.

"What kind of game?" he asked, curiosity sparkling in his mischievous blue eyes. Amaimon loved games, even silly human ones.

Maria hummed as she thought for a moment. "We could play pretend!" She giggled as a memory surfaced from their last encounter. "You could be my flower prince, and I'll be your princess!"

Amaimon had never "played pretend" before, so he wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but Maria seemed excited so he figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. He had nothing better to do, after all. Well, he was still supposed to meet Mephisto, but he was already late for that. So what would another hour hurt?

"So, how, exactly, do we do this?" he asked, after watching Maria prance around and since an off-key song about about dancing bears and the month of December. He wasn't sure what those two things had to do with each other, but he wrote it off as another weird human thing.

"You pretend to be a prince, and I pretend to be a princess," Maria replied, looking adorably confused. Amaimon cringed at his subconscious use of the word adorable.

"I don't have to pretend to be a prince. I am one," Amaimon deadpanned, not really understanding what she wanted him to do.

"That's right! You're getting it!" Maria giggled. He really wasn't. Amaimon didn't get it at all. Maria continued cheerfully, "Do what princes do! Fight the dragon and save the princess!"

Princes didn't do that. Well, not the saving part, at least. He'd fought plenty of dragons, sure, but he didn't go off rescuing people. That was just stupid. If they were dumb enough to get themselves caught by a dragon when they couldn't defend themselves, then they deserved to die. Still, if Maria wanted him to fight a dragon and rescue her, he supposed he could oblige, despite how little sense the notion made. He was curious enough about how this game worked that he indulged his little, human pet.

Maria ran off to pick some dandelions and started braiding them into a chain, because princes and princesses needed crowns. Amaimon rolled his eyes and twirled his forefinger in a circle. Flowers burst from his fingertip and wove themselves into a crown, not unlike the one Maria had made for him a few month prior. The little girl's eyes widened so much that, for a moment, Amaimon feared they might burst from her skull. She gasped and squealed with delight as he dropped the crown unceremoniously on her head. Maria giggled and adjusted it so she could see around the bright petals.

"It's not as pretty as the first one, but here," she said with a grin, offering Amaimon the dandelion crown.

The demon took the crown and placed them atop his head. The flowers, though dying, drastically improved his throbbing headache. Though he would never admit it aloud, Amaimon actually preferred the simplicity of this new crown. The first one had been too gaudy and seemed to be more appropriate for a female. Amaimon didn't have the same hypermasculinity complex that he'd noticed in some of his brothers, but even he felt a little ridiculous with a bunch of daisies on his head.

"That was a really cool magic trick, mister," Maria piped up, "I didn't know you did magic."

"I do," Amaimon replied with a smirk, "I'm a magic flower prince." He realized how stupid he sounded only after he'd uttered that sentence. Maria's face lit up like a star.

"Really?! Can you show me another trick?!" she gasped, looking up at him with an adoring gaze. Amaimon liked that look. Once upon a time, humans had actually worshipped him as a god, but the followers had long since turned to dust, and the temples had collapsed into rubble. It was nice to see a human gazing at him with the awe he deserved, even if it was a foolish child.

"You wanted me to fight a dragon right?" Amaimon asked, summoning his Behemoth. It wasn't a dragon, but he trusted the hobgoblin not to harm the child. He couldn't put quite so much faith in a dragon's obedience.

Maria squealed as Behemoth chased her through the park. It loped behind her for several minutes before it pounced on the girl, pinning her to the ground and licking her face. Amaimon then appeared from the shadows to "rescue" her from the fearsome beast. He swatted at Behemoth, who rolled away and growled playfully at its master. As Amaimon prepared to square off with his beloved pet, Maria interrupted.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Fighting the dragon?" Amaimon replied, confused again.

"But that's not how you do it! You're supposed to use a sword!" Maria protested.

"Why?"

"Princes use swords!"

Amaimon sighed and went to fetch a stick that had fallen from a nearby tree. He wasn't over-fond of swords, preferring to crush the life out of things with his bare hands. This child was so picky. Still, this whole "playing pretend" thing had turned out to be rather amusing, even if it was just a sanitized version of his actual life. There was something innocent about it that he rather enjoyed. He turned and faced Behemoth, "sword" in hand. Behemoth charged with a roar. Amaimon dodged and swatted at the hobgoblin with the branch. Behemoth pivoted and barreled towards its master again. They continued this game of tag for a while before Amaimon telepathically ordered Behemoth to "play dead," an odd, but amusingly-sadistic trick humans that liked to teach their pets. The hobgoblin howled and flopped onto its back, twitching its arm, theatrically.

Maria cautiously crept over to the hobgoblin's side and patted it lightly. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Amaimon replied, "Now, isn't this the part where the prince rescues the princess?"

Scooping Maria up, Amaimon flitted through the small park, the little girl's riotous laughter ringing in his ears. They ran around and played with Behemoth for a while before Amaimon felt his brother's energy a few blocks away. He bid Maria goodbye and started to walk away, but felt a small pressure on his sleeve. Amaimon looked down to see the child clutching his arm lightly.

"Thanks for playing with me, mister," Maria said with a bright smile, "Come visit me again sometime, okay?"

"Sure, kid," Amaimon promised, pulling two suckers out of his pocket. He popped one into his mouth and gave the other to Maria, "We're friends, right?"

"Yeah!" Maria chirped gleefully, "Friends!" She held out her hand with her pinky extended.

Amaimon cocked his head in confusion and mimicked the gesture. Maria linked her pinky with his and shook their hands once, twice, thrice. He'd seen this before, but, again, did not understand its significance. Maria told him it was something friends did when they made a promise so that they couldn't take it back. Amaimon nodded and waved goodbye before seeking out his brother. His spirits were oddly refreshed, and he knew that he wouldn't be breaking his promise to his strange, human pet, even if he didn't quite know why he was so attached to her.