Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    Kazuya and his friends had been through a lot recently… ICBMs falling on Tokyo, the Diamond Realm, Takeshi fusing with one of Kazuya’s demons then ditching them, saving Yuka from a demon in her mind… Adding in the fact this Yuka was a reincarnation of the Yuka that Kazuya had met and that they were linked on such a deep level made it almost too much.

    He was sort of reeling as he, Yuka, and Yuji went on their way. Too bad it was hard to really pause and think on things in a post-apocalyptic world filled with demons. Especially seeing as if there was one thing he needed it was that. Oh well, he guessed. They were just about to go to Roppongi and he needed to focus.

    Focus… He lost focus for just a minute and he found himself falling face first into concrete. Ouch.

    “Kazuya, are you alright?” Yuka and Yuji pulled him up as he groaned at the pain.

    “Yeah, I'm okay…” He looked around finally and frowned. “But why does everything look so… so normal?”

    It looked like the missiles had never been dropped on Tokyo… What the hell? Had they gone back in time, somehow? A second chance to stop Thor…? Maybe--

    A bark made Kazuya look up, standing in front of him was…

    “Pascal? A-and Takeshi?” He furrowed his brow. “What's going on…?”

    --

    Aleph and Beth had settled things in the Factory district easily enough… Things had been going by quickly for Aleph. It hadn't been that long ago that he'd been a simple amnesiac, fighting for Center citizenship. To think how much had changed, starting about when he helped that Hiroko woman…

    He wondered what was going on with Hiroko now, actually. Was she still looking for that little boy? He would love to hunt her down and ask, but he was being kept quite busy and he had no clue where she'd gone… So he really didn't have time.

    “Aleph…” Beth put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

    He gave her an awkward smile. “I'm fine, thank you. Let's go on ahead.”

    They stepped onto the elevator and, for just a moment, everything other than each other went dark. He and Beth reached for each other, ready to cling to the only thing they could see… But they were soon able to see their surroundings again.

    “Aleph!” Both Hiroko and Zayin appeared before him, excited at the familiar face in a foreign land.

    “You two as well?” Aleph blinked. “Where are we and why…?”

    “Well, I'm not sure about why, but this is Tokyo!” They all turned at the sound of another voice. Standing there was a blond man, looking back at them with his heterochromatic eyes. “At least, that's what it looks like.”

    The messiah frowned. “Two questions then, if you don't mind. What's Tokyo and… Who are you?”

    --

    The World of Sloth was annoying Tamaki more than she would like to admit. Things were going so slowly and the people walking around weren't even dropping interesting tidbits of information. At least the janitor talking about making that Akira kid a champ was sorta funny…

    But she and Reiko otherwise weren't going anywhere soon… At least she saw some people who might be some help. Yumi and Charlie had seemed interested in getting out of the Expanse too, right? They needed to compare notes.

    “Yumi, Kuroi!”

    "Hey, Tamaki." Charlie tilted his head to the side. "You with Akanezawa?"

    Yumi huffed. "I don't know about this demon emperor shtick, but Hazama's gone too far! We've got to save everyone--"

    Things went to hell for a few seconds then. Tamaki felt like the floor was falling out from under her and the confused yells surrounding her told her she wasn't alone. Was this some sort of trick from Hazama?! Was he angry with Yumi's words?!

    When she felt floor underneath her feet again, she looked around to try and get a feel for what happened and… Okay, no. This wasn't Hazama’s doing, right? He wouldn't have let her and Reiko out… Not Yumi or Charlie, either!

    “Tamaki…” Reiko walked up next to her. “What's going on…?”

    “T-this has to be some sorta trick, right?!” Charlie looked around. “We can't have actually gotten out so easy!”

    “I agree this was too easy, but…” Yumi frowned. “You think Hazama would've said something, with how he usually is…”

    Tamaki looked around again and sighed. “...This is gonna take a while to figure out.”

    --

    Nobu was counting himself lucky when he and Akira were able to just talk with Sobek. A strong demon like him wasn't an appealing fight at the moment. Not after he'd already seen Akira get knocked out so badly that he ended up… Possessed? Merged with? Amon, a demon wronged by Hazama.

    “That was nice, huh, Akira?” Nobu smiled. “Less fighting for--”

    “It won't all be that easy, so be ready to fight in the future.” Akira wasted no time cutting him off. "It's a miracle we convinced him to come with us! You heard him call me scrawny!"

    Nobu huffed. “I know that… Guess I can't even try to look on the brightside around you…”

    He walked through the door in front of him and… Blinked a few times, freezing until Akira gave him a push, placing them both into what seemed to be a busy Tokyo street. Shit, how would people react to Akira--

    They all walked past Akira as if he wasn't extremely feathery and demonic and kinda gross looking. It was like they didn't even realize he was there. What the hell was up with that…?

    “We're… Still in the Land of Nomos?”

    Akira shook his head. “Absolutely not. But… this isn't the human world, either.”

    Well, shit. Then what was going on…?

Chapter Text

    When Naoki defeated the Naga, he was ready to really tackle Kabukicho Prison. Things in the Vortex World always seemed easier when he fully threw himself into it, after all… And the easier things were, the higher his chance of coming out of all of this alive. At least he hoped that was the case.

    “Alright…” He cracked his neck and stepped into the portal in front of him…

    Only to find himself standing in the middle of a normal road, Chiaki and Isamu in front of him. Before he could think of something to say to them, flashes of red and black crossed his vision and he seized up. Was that…?

    Shit, if those Dante and Raidou guys were around he wasn't sure what to do. They'd fought once and he'd faired alright, sure… But if they ended up fighting again, especially with this new scenery…

    “Naoki…” Chiaki pulled him out of his thoughts. “What are you staring at, hmmm?”

    “Ah, nothing…” He shook his head. “Just thinking about how long it's been since all three of us have been together… Crazy, huh?”

    Chiaki hummed. “It has been a while, hasn't it?”

    Isamu looked away from the two, causing a knot to form in Naoki's stomach. “...Yeah.”

    Whatever this was, Naoki had a feeling he wasn't going to enjoy it.

    --

    Tadano wasn't sure what to do at this point. First Jimenez had asked him to fuse the other man and Bugaboo, now Zelenin was an angel… Was someone else in the crew going to go through a change like this too? He didn't think he'd be able to handle that.

    But now wasn't the time to think about that. Zelenin was going to try her hand at pacifying Jack's Squad with her hymn, so he needed to focus on that. They'd lost too many to think about anything but dealing with the issue at hand... If they lost anymore, he wasn't sure his heart could handle the weight.

    They began to phase shift and… Before Tadano knew it, he was alone with Jimenez and Zelenin in what looked like an alleyway. He thought for a moment that they'd somehow been shoved into a random sector, but he was breathing fine without his Demonica… He needed to try and figure out where they were.

    He took a step forward, only for Zelenin to pull him back quickly. He was about to ask why when he saw that Alex woman pass in front of him. She was here too?! Not good…

    Once it seemed she was gone, Zelenin released him. “This is odd… How are you alright in the open, Hitonari…?”

    “Looks like we're not in the Schwarzwelt anymore…” Jimenez spoke up with a grin. “Looks like we'll have to deal with this new dangerous mystery to get back, too.”

    Tadano frowned. Looked like Jack's Squad would have to wait until they got out. Hopefully the rest of the Red Sprite’s crew would be alright until then…

    --

    Flynn still wasn't sure what to make of this Tokyo place… So much of it just didn't make much sense to him. So much of it and its people looked decrepit and worn down, but others like that Hikaru girl seemed just fine… What was he really supposed to make of all of this?

    As far as he could tell, his fellow samurai were in the same boat… Flynn paused his walking for a moment, closing his eyes. If he thought about it, he was sure--

    “W-what in the…?” He opened his eyes at Isabeau’s voice and found himself just as confused. “What is this?”

    It was as if they were in Tokyo, but… It seemed far less destroyed and abandoned. It almost looked as if people could be walking about normally... Not to mention the fact he could see the sky, as if Mikado was no longer above…

    “This must be an illusion of some sort…” Jonathan frowned as they examined their surroundings. “I can see no other explanation…”

    “An illusion, huh?” Walter frowned. “How will we deal with this, then?”

    Flynn sighed. “I'm not sure… For now, let's try to find the source of it, I suppose.”

    --

    Infiltrating Mikado had been a mixed bag, Nanashi felt. On one hand, he'd learned more about who Hallelujah was and Gaston had rejoined them… But on the other hand, they had been forced to leave Isabeau behind. That wasn't even mentioning the information they'd gathered on Mikado’s plan. Tokyo was in trouble and it needed to be known.

    Nanashi pushed the door Fujiwara, Skins, and Flynn were supposed to be behind and fell face first into nothing. What the hell?!

    “Nanashi…!” Asahi ran to his side. “Are you okay?!”

    “Master…” Toki helped him to his feet. “Please be careful.”

    “Uh… Guys… I'm worried about him too, but…” Nanashi could hear Hallelujah swallow hard. “I think we've got bigger problems…”

    “Big problems.” Nozomi moved in front of the rest of the group. “How'd we get outside and… Why can we see the sky? It doesn't look like we're in Mikado and it's too much sky to just be the hole…”

    “Yet it looks more like Tokyo than anywhere else!” Navarre floated next to Gaston. “We--”

    “Wait a moment…” Gaston took a step back. “Is… Is that Navarre?!”

    “Y-you can see me now, Gaston?!”

    “Wait, a green glowing thing?! And he's got a name?!”

    Nanashi looked around at the scenery and his friends as they broke into chaos. “I don't know what's going on… But we need to figure it out.”

Chapter Text

Kazuya, Yuka, and company had been walking along the streets of what looked like a pre-Apocalyptic Tokyo for what felt like hours. Takeshi had, at one point, tried to walk out of the localized block area, only to end up walking right back up to them. It seemed like they were totally stuck…

Which told Kazuya that they were not only trapped, but that they were trapped in a place that just rubbed salt in the nuclear destruction wounds. Being trapped pointed to this not being actual Tokyo, after all…

“Kazuya!” Yuka grabbed his sleeve and pointed towards a figure walking past a corner. “There are others here too. We should talk to them.”

“You’re right… Let’s do that.” He gave a small nod as he started for the corner the figure disappeared behind.

“Be careful about this, there’s no guarantee they won’t just be an enemy.” Takeshi spoke up and, well, Kazuya knew he was right. They didn’t know what sort of trick had landed them here, after all…

“If they turn out to be friendly, though, this could be helpful. The more heads to put together, the faster we can figure out what’s going on, don’t you think?” Yuji gave a smile as the group caught up with Kazuya.

“Yeah… We’ll be careful, but hopefully we can all work together.” Kazuya gave a smile to his friends. Hopefully everyone would be okay with that… Because he wasn’t sure what else he could really suggest.

Takeshi and Yuji didn’t raise any argument, so he guessed it was going to work out. Good, arguing or discussing it for too long would leave too much time for whoever it was to get away. The last thing they needed right now.

Kazuya picked up his pace when Pascal went darting forward, excited at the sudden movement and pace of the humans. He couldn’t let his dog go too far ahead if there was a chance this was dangerous! He'd already lost him once and he didn't want to do that again.

Soon enough, they’d rounded the corner and standing there were five people. Four of them were dressed in outfits that looked totally ridiculous in an average Tokyo setting (though they seemed like they would fit fairly well among outfits from Yuka’s time). Despite that, the one who seemed to stand out most was the white man with the group, wearing a perfectly normal suit…

And that man seemed to the be the first to notice them, before Pascal could even let out a bark to signal their arrival in the area… Though when he did bark, the other four also turned to look at them.

“Ah, others--” The man that seemed to be the leader of the group blinked a few times as he stared at Kazuya. “You’re the Hero…!”

“The…” Kazuya blinked a few times, brow furrowing in confusion. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I know what you mean.”

“He looks different than that statue in Valhalla…” A blonde woman spoke up with a hum. “Odd, the other statues seemed accurate from the champions I’d seen in the Center…’

“Less battle hardened, though Aleph only took me to see the statues once…” The other woman with the group spoke up. “...When he was frustrated after Holy Town and wanted a reprieve before reporting back.”

“...I don’t think I’m really following any of this.” Yuji shook his head with a frown. “Maybe we should try asking if they’re lost too, before they get too caught up in whatever they’re talking about.”

Kazuya gave a nod before turning back to the group and clearing his throat. “Are you all stuck in this, uh, probably fake Tokyo too?”

“We are.” The man leading the group paused for a moment. “Ah, my apologies. I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Aleph, this is Beth… she's Hiroko and that’s Zayin… And…”

“I’m Louis Cyphre, it’s nice to meet you!” The white man who stood out among the group the most gave a smile as he cut in. “Looks like we’re not the only ones, then… Interesting.”

“If that’s the case…” The man named Zayin looked Kazuya and his friends over. “Perhaps working together to escape would be in our best interests.”

“Agreed.” Aleph smiled at Kazuya. “Would you be willing to help us get to the bottom of this?”

“We have to figure out how to get out ourselves, so… More help could only be useful, right?” Kazuya returned the smile. “I say we go for it.”

--

Tamaki was pretty sure her and her classmates’ wandering around was getting them nowhere. Maybe it was time for them to try and go into a building or something. It could end up being a big mistake, but it could also lead to them getting somewhere…!

“Come on guys, let’s go in here!” She walked up to the closest door with a smile. “Walking around isn’t leading us anywhere, so…”

“We might finally get unstuck if we go in somewhere…” Charlie let out a relieved sigh. “I thought we were gonna end up wandering until we died or something.”

“Alright, but be careful. Just barging in could get us hurt or something, you know.” Yumi put a hand on her hip as Tamaki prepared to open the door.

“I agree, speeding into things could end badly for us…” Reiko sighed. “But then again, we do need to find out something, anything about this place…”

“Then let’s get to it, okay?” Walking around any longer wasn’t gonna get them results, after all. She’d rather they have a small mess up of some sort and bounce back than just sit around and do nothing, at the very least.

With a sharp inhale, she pushed open the door, walking in and doing her best to stand tall. The other three followed her in after a moment and, well, she was lucky with the door she picked to go into. A familiar face and the familiar sight of fusion equipment…

That told her there were sure to be demons running amok, if nothing else. That or it was to use the few demons she had (all weaker than the ones she’d had on her before they got here, curiously enough)... Might be a good idea, she wouldn’t want to go back with only a Pixie and Kid Heeho at her side.

“Tamaki…” Reiko frowned and pointed at two figures she hadn’t quite noticed at first. “Is that another student from our school and… Miyamoto, but furry?”

“That’s definitely Miyamoto, but he looks like a demon…!” Charlie shivered a bit, disturbed by the sight. “What happened to him?”

“I’m not sure. I’m more confused about the other guy, anyway. If weird things happen to students we know, it’s kinda expected with what we’re going through, right? But… I never saw him at school before and… Is it just me or does he kind of look like Tamaki, but a guy…?” Yumi squinted, taking a step forward to get a better look at the myster student.

“Me but a guy…?” Tamaki blinked a few times as she looked at him. He was pretty far away so it was hard to tell, but… She could see where Yumi was coming from with that. “Should we… Talk to them?”

“I’m not sure.” Reiko shook her head. “They could be helpful, but… Miyamoto, he, ah…”

“Hey, Nobu.” They all looked over, being met by Akira’s stare. “...Others from Karukozaka.”

“Huh?” The boy, apparently Nobu, looked over. “Oh… I know those guys. Not that one, though.”

Tamaki straightened a bit when she was pointed at. “I could say the same about you… I know who Miyamoto-kun is, but not you!”

Akira frowned. “Who are you…?”

“You say you know Akira but then he doesn’t recognize you…” Nobu snorted. “I think you’re the stranger here.”

“Nah, not exactly…” Charlie rubbed his neck. “Us four all don’t know who the hell you are, so…”

“What?” Nobu grimaced. “That makes no sense!”

“But me knowing Miyamoto while he doesn’t know me makes perfect sense?” Tamaki frowned. “Come on!”

“None of this makes sense!” Yumi stepped between the two of them. “It’s like…”

“Alternate timelines.” Akira crossed his arms. “That’s the only thing that I could think of to make any sense of it.”

“Does that mean I’m a dude in an alternate timeline…?” Tamaki hummed and looked Nobu up and down. “I’m not sure how I feel about that, if I’m being honest with you.”

“Tell me about it… Not to mention the fact you seem… Cheerier than I’d ever be…” Nobu huffed. “I think it’s more than just our gender that’s different…”

“Huh…”

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck as the two fell silent. “Well, as long as we're stuck here we're gonna have time to learn all the little differences between the two of you."

Yumi shrugged. “Guess so…”

Chapter Text

Naoki was on edge every time he thought he saw any red or black cross his vision and, well, Chiaki and Isamu were clearly getting annoyed with it. It wasn’t like they knew what could happen if they ran into those guys, after all… And Naoki didn’t feel like explaining. Too much would have to go into it, especially with their current situation.

“If you’re gonna act like that while we’re out in the open, we should just go in a building already…” Isamu, still acting as weird as when they got here, shot Naoki a look. “We won’t get anywhere at this rate…”

“There isn’t much around here, anyway.” Chiaki walked towards a door. “We might have better luck if we go in somewhere.”

“Yeah, good point…” Naoki moved to stand next to Chiaki, pushing the door open. “Let’s go.”

The building they walked into seemed to be a store of some sort, walls lined with what looked like weapons and armor… None of that really interested Naoki, though. His body and abilities were all he really needed… But then again, maybe they’d be helpful for Chiaki and Isamu…

“Are these bugs…?” Isamu walked up to a case, frown on his face. “Everything else looks like stuff for fighting…”

“Magatama?” Naoki frowned when he saw them sitting there. He could use those, of course, but… Odd for there to be so many, more than he usually saw at stores.

“Are you all just browsing, or do you plan on buying something?” They all turned at the voice of a woman. Standing there was a blonde woman, blue dress on and no shoes on her feet.

Something about her reminded Naoki of that little boy and that old man… Not just in the fact they all seemed to have eerily similar faces, but… Even the vibe she gave off reminded him of them. Creepy.

“Are you the shop owner?” Chiaki tilted her head to the side.

“I am Louisa Ferre, this isn’t my shop… But the people here will need supplies somehow, so I’ll be running it all the same.”

“That so…?” Chiaki rose an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak again. “You--”

“Ah, you’re that woman…!” They all turned their attention to the now open door. A man was standing there, dressed in some sort of uniform as he stared Louisa down.

“Oh, so you really did see a woman like that, huh?” Another, more demonic, man stepped forward. “That’s crazy…”

“I honestly was worried I was just hallucinating for a while…” The first man sighed. “But now that you and Zelenin will probably see her…”

“You two shouldn’t run ahead.” A voice hit Naoki’s ears and he grimaced. He felt like someone was driving a screw into his head when he heard it… “We need to remain together if we’re to get out!”

Another human, no… Naoki was pretty sure this woman was a literal angel, appeared behind them. Naoki frowned when the woman looked at him and showed clear distaste upon seeing him. What the hell?

“Another lost lamb…” She closed her eyes and sighed. “If only my power was stronger…”

“That again?” The demonic man scoffed, glaring at the angel. “Now isn’t the time for that, Zelenin!”

“Jimenez…!”

Louisa looked back to Naoki and smiled. “Give me a moment and I’ll explain what seems to be going on. Then all of you can work towards escaping… If you can handle the angel’s voice, of course.”

--

Flynn and his allies were beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion. They had been wandering for hours now with no reprieve… And he needed to do something. Maybe there was a building they could duck into and rest in. This place didn’t seem nearly as destroyed as Tokyo, after all.

“We need to rest, going on like this won’t do us any good.” Flynn looked back at them and Isabeau gave a nod.

“Where do you suggest we rest?” Walter rose an eyebrow. “Do you think it’s safe enough to do it in the open?”

“Perhaps going into a building and making sure it’s a secure area would be better…” Jonathan looked around before pointing to a nearby building. “Maybe we should try that one?”

“Good idea, Jonathan.” Flynn nodded and started for the door, reaching for the handle… Only for his hand to touch another reaching for the same thing.

He looked over, a child who could be no older than fifteen standing there. At first, Flynn thought he looked just normal… But then he noticed what seemed to be tattoos and a scar, both slightly glowing? Was that normal here?

“F-Flynn…!” The boy took a step back, eyes wide. “You’re here too…?!”

“Excuse me?” He furrowed his brow. “Do I know you…?”

“I--”

“Nanashi…!” A girl in a blue dress ran up to the boy. “What are you-- Oh, Flynn! Miss Isabeau, you’re safe!”

Before either could say anything to girl, she was running up to Isabeau, eyes sparkling. “Oh, uh, you…”

“How did you escape Mikado?”

“E-escape?!” Isabeau blinked a few times. “Why would I ever try to escape Mikado?”

“What do you mean why…?” She frowned. “You were captured and being interrogated!”

“Why would Isabeau ever be interrogated?” Jonathan stepped forward. “Are you implying she did anything but her duty?”

“I… Wait, what?!” The girl looked to the Nanashi boy. “Nanashi, what’s going on?”

“I’m not sure…”

Before much more could be said, more people came shuffling up… A lot of people, actually. Though two stood out to Flynn immediately, one making him reach for his blade.

“A demon…! One that doesn’t seem tamed, either.” Walter seemed to have noticed as well, moving to stand between his fellow samurai and the demon-boy.

“Wait, t-that’s Hallelujah!” Nanashi moved in front of him. “He’s a friend, a friend!”

“A-and I’m half-human, anyway… My mom is a human…” Hallelujah put his hands up. “I’m, uh, only like this right now in case we run into any trouble.”

“I see…” Walter nodded a bit, turning to look at Navarre. “I’m more concerned about that one, anyway… Is that Navarre…?”

“Navarre, what happened to you?” Jonathan furrowed his brow at Navarre’s new, green form.

“Oh no…” Navarre let out a shaky sigh. “I was hoping I was done explaining myself to people when I was seen by Gaston…”

Flynn frowned as he regained his posture. This was all going to take a while to figure out...

Chapter Text

Nobu wasn’t sure how to feel about anything happening around him. A bunch of his classmates that weren’t really his classmates and basically him but a chick… At least he knew the Akira with them was his Akira. Not that that meant much in the long run, though. Akira was also Amon, after all…

Okay, so maybe he was basically alone. Not fun, but what could he do? They were all trapped and working together to get out. He could possibly pull Akira away and have them do their own thing, but…

That just seemed like it’d make getting home an even longer process. That was about the last thing they needed right now. He was sure they’d go right back to dealing with the Land of Nomos after this, after all. God, the idea of finding a way out and then doing more climbing made him shiver.

This all sucked. A lot.

But at least they were making progress. They’d finally found a building that might lead to some sort of answers, after all. It wasn’t just one room or anything, no. It was a big floor, demons lurking around…

Thankfully they were pretty weak demons, seeing as everyone here were anywhere from a little to a lot weaker than they remembered being. Hell, their Guardians all seemed to be weaker on top of that!

This was all just unfair, if you asked Nobu. He was planning on trying to pretend none of this happened once he got out of here… Maybe pretending long enough would let him forget it, even…

He walked along, thinking about what he was going to do after this so much that he lost track of what he was doing and hit right into someone. Someone who seemed to be built like a goddamned brick wall, if how hard he hit the ground was anything to judge by.

And looking up at the guy, damn was he not wrong. This guy was ripped to a scary degree. Sure, Nobu had seen tall and strong guys… But this guy was almost monstrous; he looked like he could rip anyone in Nobu’s group in half with enough effort.

“I’m sorry, are you alright?” The man offered a hand and Nobu took it after a moment of hesitation.

“Fine… Uh…” Nobu finally took a chance to take in the man’s outfit. What the hell was he wearing?

“Nobu…! Why’d you run ahead!” Before he could think of something better to say to the man, there was Tamaki, pushing him with a huff. “What if you’d run into a demon instead of, uh… A really muscular guy?! Or what if the guy had been hostile?!”

“Sorry, sorry. Guess I didn’t wanna hang out with a bunch of people I didn’t know…”

“You know Miyamoto.”

“I’m not sure if he’s more Akira or Amon, so he doesn’t count.” Nobu shook his head.

“Oh, so a guy gets possessed or, uh, fused with a demon and you don’t know him anymore, huh?!” Tamaki frowned as the rest of their group walked up to them.

“A human fused with a demon…?” The man Nobu had hit into frowned, crossing his arms. “Another one…”

“Another?”

As if on cue, another figure approached. While Nobu wouldn’t say he looked nearly as monstrous as Akira did… He was still pretty clearly not fully human.

“There you are!” He approached the other man. “Kazuya found a weird door and everyone else joined up with him… Well, besides you.”

“Oh, you guys are exploring this place too?” Yumi rose a brow. “...Guess that means there’s more people around than I thought.”

“You’re lost here too?” The demon man sighed. “That probably means more teaming up… It’ll be harder for any of us to get stronger if the group keeps growing…”

“I’m… sorry?” Reiko frowned a bit at the comment. “We don’t have to work together…”

“Aleph is sure to want to at least meet you all if you’re in the same position as us!” The first man spoke up. “We can decide after that if we all want to work together or not.”

Tamaki and Nobu shared a look, shrugging after a moment. “Sure, why not?”

--

Tadano really wasn’t comfortable with the current group he was travelling with. He had been able to do fine with Jimenez and Zelenin, despite their now inhuman nature, because he knew them before and considered them close allies… But now that they were travelling with another human turned demonic and two humans who had never fought in their life, he was worried…

He was sure he could trust his comrades to fight, but could he trust the other demon? And would the other humans be able to hold their own like he could? Those questions were at the front of his mind and not something he could easily ignore, no matter how hard he tried to do so.

“I’m going to scout ahead.” He looked at the group as he stepped forward. “We just found this warehouse, so I don’t want us to all walk into a trap.”

“Wouldn’t a demon or an angel be a better choice to go first, then?” Isamu looked over at their inhuman companions. “Probably better equipped to handle it than us humans…”

“My Demonica and my training will be fine. Besides, we all seem weaker than usual… The only things separating us at all is experience and equipment.”

“If you say so.” Isamu looked away and Tadano took the chance to go forward, weapon at the ready.

At first he saw nothing, it seemed that they were alone in this building, besides the wandering demons. So far it seemed like it was trap free, as well. Good, the easier it was to make it through here, the better. Less relying on Naoki and less worrying about Chiaki and Isamu.

That’s when something caught his eye and he readied himself to be attacked. Whoever or whatever it was moved fast and was hard to spot, but he liked to believe himself sturdy enough that he wouldn’t be taken down that easily.

A cleaver came flying towards him and, before he could so much as try to defend, someone called out ‘Toki!’ in a loud voice. The cleaver came to a stop right in front of his chest as a boy ran up and Tadano realized it was a girl in front of him. Children…?

“Why are children like you here? And why do you have such a dangerous weapon?” He took a step back, eyeing the girl (Toki was it?) carefully.

“Are you not used to seeing kids with this kinda stuff?” The boy looked at him, frowning in confusion.

“Not at all.” Tadano shook his head. “Things like that are thankfully not the norm…” Though that didn’t mean it didn’t happen…

“How do you deal with the demons, then?” Toki looked at him with a frown, no clear emotion on her face. More to set Tadano on edge…

“Well, I’m not sure… Demons have just recently invaded from the Schwarzwelt…” Were these kids forced to battle those demons? “I thought the world’s forces were working together to stave them off while we investigate, though.”

“The… Schwarzwelt…?” The boy made a face. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“You haven’t?” Just like Naoki and his friends. “...I see, is it just you two? I feel I need to explain some things to you.”

“Actually, there are others…” The boy looked over his shoulder before pointing at, well, a giant group of ragtag fighters. “There they are.”

There were a lot of people… And more of them looked younger than he would have liked. How many teenagers were here and why were they all equipped for a fight? He supposed them being ready was better than Chiaki and Isamu, but…

Something about seeing young teenagers like this made his heart heavy. No one that young should be forced to deal with this kind of ordeal… Though he supposed only seeing a few was better than the possibility of seeing many back on Earth...

Tadano blinked a few times before heaving out a sigh. “...This might take a while.”

Chapter Text

“Now that introductions are done, we can see what’s through this door.” Aleph smiled at the group as they stood around the mysterious door Kazuya had found. When Zayin and Takeshi had approached with more people, he hadn’t been sure how to feel. They seemed nice enough, but their uniform appearance was almost worrying.

Sure, plenty of Center residents had uniform appearance, but he hadn’t seen such a… Gaudy color scheme before. And, of course he had to worry, what if it turned out to be the uniform of some enemy to Millennium? That wouldn’t be good… Working with the enemy wouldn't lead enemy would just be asking for trouble!

But they turned out to be fine enough, apparently all high school students (or, in the case of Akira, previously one), who had been trapped in their school when it was thrown into a place called the Expanse… They had been fighting off demons, trying to get out of the mess for a while…

And now they were in the middle of another mess, poor things. Aleph and Kazuya hadn’t been able to try and turn the away. They could all work together, find a way out, and perhaps give these kids some moral support…

It wasn’t like they could drink to ignore some of the issues like the rest of them could, after all.

“I agree with Aleph.” Yuka nodded a bit as she moved for the door. “If we wait too long, our fear will keep up from going forward.”

“Indeed.” Beth nodded. “We have strengthened ranks, so now would be a wonderful time to see what lies beyond.”

“Then in we go…” Kazuya pushed the door open slowly. “...Now!”

And with that, they began pouring through the entrance, pausing when Kazuya exclaimed in recognition.

“What is it?” Hiroko placed a hand on Aleph’s shoulder as she moved forward. “What do you see?”

“Please tell me something good…” Charlie clasped his hands together. “I wanna get home already!”

“It looks like it leads right back to what we were seeing before we came into the building…!” Kazuya called back. “We can go back and regroup from here or the other exit, I think!”

“That’s useful, even if we’re still trapped here.” Louis gave a smile. “Don’t you all agree?”

“I guess that is true…” Yuji rubbed his cheek. “If nothing else, we should try and look on the bright side of this situation.”

Akira crossed his arms. “So the question now is do we go back and regroup, or just make a note of this and move on?”

“That’s a… Good question.”

--

Nanashi wasn’t sure how he was feeling about all of this. A Flynn and Isabeau from an alternate reality (not to mention those who became the hosts for Merkabah and Lucifer), some soldiers, and another guy with glowing tattoos… Though from what Naoki said, he wasn’t a Godslayer like Nanashi. No, more like a demon.

Dagda had been voicing his displeasure at everything happening as the group went down stairs, farther into the building. That wasn’t too shocking, though. The god clearly wasn’t big on bonds, so Nanashi having even more opportunities to bond with people? Dagda wasn’t a fan.

But, well, Nanashi was fine with it! He liked his friends and maybe, just maybe, more friends would convince Dagda this wasn’t all bad. It was probably a stretch, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t at least try.

“You’re really going along with this kid? No matter what I say?” Dagda let out a loud sigh, though Nanashi was pretty sure he was the only one who could hear him right now.

“Dagda, please… Help isn’t something I’m gonna turn down right now…” He kept his voice low, as to not upset anyone else in the group. Too much needed to be done to go it with just his friends, even if he would’ve wanted that.

“I can see that… You’ll learn soon enough learn how unneeded it’ll be.” And with that, Dagda went silent yet again.

Nanashi was just glad there was no one else joining up. That would’ve made Dagda even angrier…

--

Kazuya, now that group was moving again, wasn’t sure what to do. They went down another couple flight of stairs. Were they getting any closer to getting out of here?

--

Flynn glanced back at Nanashi with a worried frown. The boy seemed a bit off… He hoped it wouldn’t affect his focus now that they were to a giant door.

--

Aleph was a man of faith and, well, faith was the only thing keeping him moving right now. Faith he would get home, despite the fact it felt like they had barely gotten anywhere…

--

Tadano paused the group’s movement as he came to a door. This one looked different and his Demonica was picking up on something strong behind it. This could be bad if they barged in unprepared…

--

Tamaki could tell others were feeling a bit iffy about this all and she couldn’t blame them. All they’d really done was go down some floors and meet each other. Hopefully they’d find answers soon.

--

Naoki was more than a little annoyed when he found the door to be locked and they had no way to unlock it. He turned around with a huff, trying to formulate how the hell to get in there when approaching figures caught his eye.

“Hey, are you guys seeing this too or am I crazy?”

--

Nobu was just about to throw his hands up in defeat and say ‘fuck it’. Things were looking hopeless and, honestly, who knew how far down this place went. No amount of demon recruiting and fusing could tell them that… But now, maybe he was staring at something actually helpful.

“M-more people?!”

Chapter Text

When the large groups had met, things quickly went to hell. No one had spoken at first, the two groups just staring at each other as tension rose. Zelenin had finally spoke, the angel ready to make the first step towards testing the water with these new humans… But that had led to Takeshi and Akira reactly just about as badly as other demons had upon first hearing her speak.

That had been the start of an argument, people from both groups jumping in to side with either the angel or demons at random. Soon enough both groups were intermingled, arguing about this and that or trying to calm whoever they could, if they had chosen to stay out of the argument.

But calming people wasn’t working and, at some point, even Dagda and Danu had gotten involved. It was a mess of yelling, confusion, and possibly a bit of injury here and there… That’s when Tadano had fired off a shot of his gun into the air and finally silenced everyone enough to at least get introductions and explanations out…

And Kazuya, looking back on it all, wasn’t sure how to feel. There was a lot of conflicting ideas and races among them, and, well… He was afraid it was going to lead to not only more arguments, but also more deadly arguments.

Pascal approached him, barking and pulling him out of his worries, if only for the moment. He was so lucky he had a dog like him… Pascal always cheered Kazuya up when he needed it most.

“What a cute dog!” Asahi, a girl at the younger end of the age range amongst them, walked over to him with a smile. “I’ve only really seen them in pictures before now…”

“Oh?” Kazuya thought for a moment. “Want to pet him then? He’s nice.”

“C-can I?!” Asahi’s eyes lit up as she reached towards the dog. “I’d love to!”

Pascal gave a happy bark as Asahi began patting his head with a giggle. Mr. Nakajima’s gift was really coming in handy right now, supplying at least a few smiles among the group.

“Haven’t seen a dog in a while.” Jimenez approached with a grin. “Looks like he’s the type who’d like to play fetch, huh?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Kazuya nodded a bit, caught off guard by the sudden approach. “Maybe I should play with him later, if we can find a ball around here…”

“If you do, lemme know about it. I got quite an arm, sure he’ll have fun if I throw it.” As Jimenez spoke, Kazuya couldn’t help but make a note that even demons liked dogs. How neat. He wondered if Miss Zelenin would be a fan...

“Oh, fetch…? I think I read about that before!” Asahi looked to the men. “I-I wanna play with Pascal too!”

“That would be fine.” Kazuya smiled at both of them. “I’m sure Pascal would love to play with either of you.”

Jimenez and Asahi both seemed happy about that as Pascal trotted off, towards Aleph. He wasn’t too surprised to see that, honestly. Pascal and Aleph had seemed to hit it off amazingly from the moment they met… And hey, if his dog was happy, he was happy.

“I should follow after him. I’ll tell you guys when you can play with him, if the chance comes up.” He gave them both a small wave and ran off after his dog.

As he approached Aleph, he realized he was talking with Yuka. What were they up to, he wondered…?

“So, you’re a messiah as well, Aleph?” Yuka tilted her head to the side and Kazuya paused to listen in. “For the Messians, too…”

“I was shocked to learn I wasn’t the only one, honestly!” Aleph gave her a smile and laugh. “I suppose that there are more messiahs than one would expect.”

“That is true…” Yuka laughed a bit in reply to his own. “...Though I suppose you aren’t the type to do what I’ve chosen to do.”

Aleph rose an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I was to be the messiah, but… I knew my fate was forever entwined with Kazuya’s. I choose to follow him on whatever path he chooses… While you seem to be doing your duty as messiah over all.”

“Well… I want to do what’s best for the people… But I will admit that if Beth were to want to take a different path that I might not be able to keep myself from joining her…” Aleph scratched his cheek. “I suppose that wouldn’t happen though…”

“Really now?” Yuka tilted her head to the side. “Why is that?”

“I choose to follow and assist Aleph in what he does.” Beth, who had just walked up next to Kazuya, spoke up. “I suppose you could say I made the same choice as you, Yuka. To follow the man I’m connected to.”

Yuka walked over to Beth with a smile, grasping the other woman’s hands. “Then I guess I have things in common with you, just the same as I do with Aleph.”

“Ah, yes…!”

Yuka looked at Kazuya. “And I guess you have things in common with Aleph and Beth too, don’t you?”

Kazuya blinked a few times, having not expected to join the conversation. “A-Ah, yeah! I guess so. How funny…”

“I’m sure there are more similarities between all of us to be found as we go about this.” Aleph smiled as he looked across at the rest of the group. “Which should make working together go smoother.”

“Hopefully. I’m afraid things will get as messy as they did earlier…” Kazuya gave an awkward laugh, scratching his cheek.

Yuka put a hand on his shoulder, her expression soft. “Don’t worry, Kazuya. I’m sure things will turn out alright in the end.”

“Thank you, Yuka. You’re probably right… We just need to keep our heads up and do our best.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Yuka smiled at him. “Now isn’t the time for doubt. You have to be as strong as you were when you saved me.”

Or as strong as you were in your last life, when you did the same for me… Kazuya nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Chapter Text

“So, uh… I just thought of something important.” Tamaki had just spent a good half hour rounding up everyone who seemed to be even just a little bit of a leader and it was time for her to voice her concern. “We’re all pretty… Strong personalities, right?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Naoki looked at her with a frown.

“Well, we’re all able to handle our people or, er, one demon classmate in Nobu’s case… But there’d be an issue if we leave it like that.” Tamaki shifted awkwardly where she stood. “So I was thinking we should put one person in charge of the group and the rest of us will be helpers or something.”

“That seems like a good idea.” Tadano nodded. “Better to make sure there’s no way to give conflicting orders to each other so things go smoothly than risk all trying to lead.”

“That’s all fine and dandy, sure, but how are we gonna decide who’ll be in charge?” Nobu frowned. “I mean… You, me, and Nanashi probably shouldn’t. Nanashi’s younger than everyone else and we’re just normal high school students…”

“That’s fair… But how are we gonna narrow past that?” Nanashi frowned. “I mean, I’d vote Flynn as our leader, but…”

“I wouldn’t agree… Flynn seems strong, but…” Tamaki pointed at Kazuya. “Doesn’t this guy give off more leader vibes?”

Kazuya blinked a few times. “Oh, I--”

“Are we gonna forget about the, I dunno… The demon and military man?” Nobu gestured wildly at Naoki and Tadano. “Why not use one of those guys instead?”

“Zayin was saying you didn’t really trust or know another person because they were a demon…” Aleph frowned. “Why do you trust a demon now?”

“I said I didn’t really know Akira… And I knew him before he was possessed, so that’s totally different!” Nobu crossed his arms. “Totally!”

“Uh huh…” Tamaki frowned at him. “...Anyway. I think Kazuya should be in the running, no matter what!”

“And I say the same for Naoki and Tadano!”

“Well, I’m gonna insist on Flynn!” Nanashi frowned, standing up to fully face on the other two.

“Actually, while I appreciate it Nanashi, I believe it would be best for me to defer to the others leadership… I don’t know as much about Tokyo as some of the others, so it’s not right for me to take the lead.”

Nanashi deflated at the comment. “Are you sure, Flynn?”

“I am, thank you.”

“Well, I think I would prefer to sit out on leading as well. I’m in the same boat as Flynn in not knowing Tokyo, after all.” Aleph put a hand on his chest.

“Well, looks like it’s down to my pick and to Nobu’s picks then…” Tamaki tapped her foot against the ground and hummed. “What to do…?”

“Maybe they could give reasons they would be good leaders for this situation and we can all vote based off those?” Flynn suggested, finger on his cheek.

“Good idea.” Aleph nodded and looked to the three left in the running. “Would one of you like to start?”

“I suppose I will…” Tadano cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t say I know Tokyo as well as the other two, but I am trained in combat and know how to keep a cool head. If I were to lead, I would be able to do my best to keep everyone under control and level-headed, especially in combat scenarios where it could be the difference between life and death.”

Nanashi whistled. “That’s pretty good reasoning… Wonder if you guys can top it.”

“This area is full of demons, right?” Naoki spoke up with a frown. “Sure, these guys might know some stuff about demons, but I’d think I know more with how I am right now. I’ll probably have an easier time negotiating with them, seeing as I don’t need a computer to translate demons for me.”

“Good point.” Aleph put a hand on his chin. “We do have to rely on technology to understand the demons, but he doesn’t have that issue… Is there anything you feel you can bring to the table, Kazuya?”

“Well, I’m not as skilled with combat or as naturally able to deal with demons, but…” Kazuya thought for a moment. “I feel that I probably know Tokyo the best out of the three of us. I’m older than Naoki and lived there my entire life… I mean, this place even looks like the area I was living in before the bombs dropped…”

“Ah, yeah… You mentioned the bombs dropping before…” Nobu couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at that, seeing as what year Kazuya had said it happened…

“Well, uh… Now that we’ve heard them all… Who votes for who?” Tamaki cleared his throat, hoping to clear the air a bit and ignore the uncomfortable feeling it left in her stomach as well. “I’m honestly not sure anymore… I feel they’d all be good leaders for different things…”

“Yeah…” Nanashi frowned. “I dunno who I’d pick out of the three of them…”

“Why not make them all the leader, then?” Flynn crossed his arms. “They can simply be in charge of different things.”

“So something like Tadano being in charge of combat, Naoki in charge of demon negotiation, and Kazuya in charge of actions outside of the battle zone?” Aleph tilted his head to the side. “That doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

“That could work, yeah. Well, as long as they’re all willing to co-lead like that.” He looked at them. “Especially Tadano and Naoki, since their jobs could get in the way of each other if we’re not careful.”

“I’m fine with it if they are.” Tadano gave a nod.

A shrug from Naoki. “Sure, whatever.”

“I think that would work, if you’re all really sure about it.” Kazuya gave a smile.

“Then it’s settled, then!” Tamaki grinned from ear to ear. “We’ll have three co-leaders and the rest of us’ll be support!”

“Sounds fine to me…” Nobu thought for a moment. “But does that mean we should head back into battle soon? Unless there’s more that we need to figure out before then.”

“Well, I think everything is figured out, but I think we should stock up on supplies and make sure everyone is armed and armored before we go in.” Kazuya looked to Naoki and Tadano. “If you guys don’t mind.”

“Oh no, I agree. If we go in unprepared it could be a bloodbath.” Tadano turned to move. “We can go handle the shopping, and the rest could go see what the others are doing?”

“Sounds good to me.” Kazuya nodded and followed after Tadano. “We’ll all meet up at the entrance to the third floor, guys!”

“Got it!”

Chapter Text

When Kazuya and Tadano had walked off to go restock their supplies, the others had split up to go see what others were up to. Aleph finally found a group of theirs and couldn’t help but pause when he saw them. What an interesting group…

Yuji, Zayin, Zelenin, and Jonathan were all standing around, discussing something… He couldn’t help but be curious as to what it was. It was hard not to be interested in what an angel such as Zelenin was saying, though. At least in Aleph’s opinion.

“Excuse me, I hope you all don’t mind me joining in on this conversation…” Aleph stepped up to the group with a smile. “It seems interesting, so I couldn’t help myself.”

“That’s fine by me, Aleph!” Zayin gave him a wide smile. “These people here are fairly like minded to us, so I’m sure they don’t mind, either!”

“I don’t mind at all!” Yuji smiled at Aleph.

“There’s something so interesting about a human turned angel, and I’m sure Miss Zelenin is willing to share why with you as well as us.” Jonathan added with a sure nod as he looked to Zelenin.

“Of course, I welcome all children of God to listen to my words.” Zelenin put her hands on her chest. “Knowing why I chose to become an angel of our lord is sure to be a valuable lesson for all of you.”

“Then please, by all means, go on.” Aleph smiled, tipping his head towards her.

“Well, you see… There is a group, Jack’s Squad, who is threatening the life of the crew I am a part of, the Red Sprite,” Zelenin drew in on herself with a sigh. “Jimenez believed we should just kill them, likely thanks to his more… Demonic form. I wanted to find another way, and so I went to the angel Mastema.”

“I see… This Jack’s Squad sounds dangerous…” Yuji frowned, hand on his chin. “But there was an angel you could see? To ask for advice on what to do about them, or…?”

“He told me a hymn would be useful in subduing them without violence… But humans had changed so much he and the other angels with him would have no effect…” She paused, giving them all a proud smile. “Mastema was the one who blessed me with a rebirth as an angel. Once we’re on our way home, I will use my hymn to subdue Jack’s Squad. There will be no need for violence when I am done.”

“How wonderful… Sometimes one would think violence is the only way…” Jonathan paused. “But the fact you found another course of action… Truly wonderful!”

“It would be an honor to become a direct servant of God like you have…” Zayin seemed totally enamored by the idea.

Yuji, while interested, seemed less enamored than Zayin did. “It must mean you really believe in Him, if you were able to become an angel.”

“I honestly have Mastema to thank for it all.” Zelenin’s proud smile became more soft. “He was understanding of my pain after being, well, traumatized at the hands of demons. And now that he’s given me a chance to make more change for humans, I can’t help but feel indebted to him.”

“I see…” Aleph wasn’t quite sure how he felt. He had full faith in the lord, of course, but… He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to become something along the lines of an angel. He had his own role to play as the human messiah, though, so perhaps that was why he felt that way…

Perhaps it would be best for him to not focus on himself, and instead on the fact he was happy for Zelenin and for the enlightenment she had found. “I hope dealings with Jack’s Squad go well for you and your comrades from here.”

“Thank you.”

--

Naoki had seen the group of allies Aleph had found and wasted no time going the other way. Zelenin was always a headache to deal with… Literally, actually. An angel like her had a voice that dug into his skull. And seeing as it seemed she was the center of the conversation… Yeah, he had no interest in being there.

So instead he went for a group comprised of Takeshi, Louis, Jimenez, and Walter. Not one hundred percent better, seeing as Louis reminded him of that little boy and that old man the same way Louisa did, but oh well. He’d take any three of those over someone who literally caused headaches any day.

“What’re you all talking about over here?” He approached, pushing in between Louis and Jimenez, an eyebrow raised.

“I was just wondering how these two are so casual about their more… Demonic ways of living. And why Louis seems to unperturbed by it.” Walter looked Naoki over. “If you don’t mind, maybe I’ll ask you too.”

Naoki shrugged. “Go for it, I guess.”

“Then, any change you feel were for the better when this happened to you all?” Walter looked between the three demons with a raised brow.

“It was a huge power gain!” Takeshi wasted no time starting, excitement clear. “No one could stop all over me after I got this power…”

“Power is one, yeah.” Naoki nodded. “More power and being able to talk to demons are probably the biggest perks I can think of… Makes navigating the Vortex World easier.”

“I think we can all agree on power, yeah…” Jimenez nodded. “But honestly, I don’t care that much about the changes. All I care about is the fact Bugaboo didn’t die.”

“Bugaboo…?” Walter rose an eyebrow.

“My demon buddy that I fused with. That Jack bastard was already trying to fuse us and it was killing poor Bugaboo…” Jimenez grimaced. “I couldn’t let that happen, I had Tadano fuse us on the demon fusion app.”

“So you had to do it in an app?” Takeshi tilted his head to the side. “That’s odd… I was able to fuse right in the real world. Kazuya gave me one of his demons and it was easy after that.”

“You guys both really just fused with a demon?” Naoki frowned. “...I got a bug shoved in my eye.”

“Ouch…”

“Sounds rough…”

Louis finally spoke up. “How interesting… Hm…”

Walter sighed. “You know, this is all really interesting. A shame that Akira fellow refused to give his two cents when I asked him about it…”

“Too bad, maybe you can just hassle him into talking later.” Jimenez snickered. “Might do him some good if you do.”

Walter thought for a moment. “I suppose that is a good point… But for now, I suppose I have some questions for Louis…”

Louis smiled at him. “Go ahead.”

“I… Uh…” Walter swallowed. “How is it you’re so not put off by it all…? Even friends of some of these fellows seem to have some issue with it…”

“I suppose there’s just nothing that’s too odd to me, at this point!” Louis tapped his chin. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, and I’m older than I look, after all.”

“T-that so…?”

Naoki frowned. “Why are you acting so weird? Your face is red…”

“No it’s not!” Walter shook his head. You’re imagining things, and…”

“Uh-huh.” Naoki gave him an unimpressed look. “Sure.”

Chapter Text

Flynn had decided to leave the groups Aleph and Naoki had found to them. He doubted he would be much help with them, anyway… And there were plenty of people left to track down and check up on.

Soon enough, he came across a few of them. Isabeau and Yuka were chatting as Pascal napped at Yuka’s feet, while Beth and Hiroko both seemed to be inspecting a nearby building. Figuring the women with Pascal were busy with their conversation, he made his way over to the other two.

“Is there something about this building that you all find important?” Flynn looked at them, an eyebrow raised.

“It looks like a Messian church…” Hiroko looked it over with a frown. “But the door seems to be locked.”

“It’s odd, most buildings around here either open to nothing or to something like a store.” Beth crossed her arms. “Is there a reason this door is locked?”

“Perhaps it needs a key?” Flynn tilted his head to the side as he stared up at it with them. “Or perhaps it will only open for specific people.”

“I suppose we don’t have the time to worry about it, though.” Beth sighed, shaking her head. “There’s more important things at hand.”

“That’s right, we still need to figure out how to get that door in that strange building open.” Hiroko wondered. “I wonder, though… How do we get that door to open…? It seems stuck to me.”

“I suppose we’ll all have to worry about that more when we can get a better look at it…” Flynn frowned. “We had just found it when your group came across us, after all.”

“That’s true. Let’s do our best when we go back in, then.” Hiroko gave the two of them a smile.

Beth gave a nod and small smile of her own. “Yes!”

“I’ll make note of this location on my gauntlet, either way. In case it becomes important to escaping this place.” Flynn wasted no time doing just that, also making a mental note to share this information with Kazuya, Tadano, and Naoki when he had the chance.

--

Nanashi was kind of hoping he’d find a nice, big group of strangers when he went looking for people. If he could talk to them, get closer to them, maybe. That would be nice, what with his current goal of getting Dagda to start seeing allies as less bad than he currently did…

And he was lucky enough to at least run into a group that wasn’t as small as Flynn’s had seemed when he passed by his hero. Tamaki’s friends, Naoki’s friends, and Akira were all standing around together. Charlie and Yumi seemed to be harassing Isamu about something, Reiko was shrinking away from Chiaki and her intimidating aura, and Akira… Well, Akira seemed to be keeping to himself, off to the side.

Maybe his lack of interaction is what made Nanshi decide to approach him.

“Hey there…!” He gave an awkward, stilted wave as he approached. “Not feeling conversation right now?”

“No, I’m not. That’s why I’m not talking to anyone.” Akira shot him a look. “What do you want?”

“Just thought some conversation might do you some good…” Nanashi thought for a moment. What could he bring up…? “So, uh… Your name is interesting!”

“My name? Which one?” He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. “Akira or Amon?”

“Akira…!” Nanashi nodded, swallowing. “You see, a lot of hunters from my, uh, universe don’t like that name… I’ve been learning more about a man named Akira and even had dreams that seem to… Be me as him? It’s weird.”

“...” Akira looked away with a scoff. “Not sure why you’re telling me this. I’m not that Akira.”

“I know, but… Your name made me think about that…! Funny how that can happen, right?”

“...If you’re going to talk to me, don’t talk to me about my name.” Akira shook his head. "That's the least important thing about me."

“O-oh, sure…” Nanashi blinked a few times. “That means I can talk to you about other things, right?”

Akira heaved a sigh. “I feel I’m not going to get a choice, so yes.”

Nanashi perked up a bit at that. “Oh, well then… Uh, what happened to you exactly? W-why did Amon merge with you, I mean? I’m curious…”

--

Nobu felt he was the unluckiest guy around right now. He’d made the mistake of walking right into the center of Nanashi’s friend group and, well, it’d taken no time for it to delve into a mess. Questions about his COMP and why he couldn’t use his phone, shocked murmurs when he showed them his phone, and more…

“So you wouldn’t be able to summon demons from your phone…?” Asahi seemed pretty stuck on that part. “Whoa…”

“It looks really old… I’ve seen phones like that…” Hallelujah rubbed the back of his head. “But they’re usually in piles of junk and can’t be used…”

“Yeah, well this is about the best a guy like me could get in my universe! Super expensive and top of the line! Phones like yours don’t even exist… Not yet, at least.” Who knew, only time would tell… And time could only tell if he got back home.

“If phones like yours exist in our universe and just aren’t used… I don’t see why ours wouldn’t eventually be made in yours!” Nozomi gave him a smile. “If this kind of thing ever happens to us again, further into our futures, we should compare and see.”

“Guess so… But watch you guys have phones directly implanted in your brains by the time I get to phones like yours.” Nobu let out a sigh. Technology was amazing sometimes, confusing others, and frustrating always.

“Come on now!” Nozomi gave a laugh and slapped him on the back. “Don’t talk like that. I’m sure things won’t change that much… We still have bigger fish to fry than that, after all.”

“Ah yeah, you guys are dealing with… A lot of stuff my universe isn’t dealing with, huh?” Well now he just felt stupid about it all.

“You forgot, huh? Well… That’s okay.” Hallelujah gave an awkward laugh. “Not like you’d think it’s the norm, right?”

“Right…”

When would this conversation end…?

--

Tamaki had seen that, well, everyone else had everything covered. So what was left for her to do? She guessed she’d be the first back at the building… Not much else she could think to do… Kinda sucked, though. She almost felt useless at the moment.

That’s when she happened upon a trio that seemed to be no good and she wasted no time hiding behind a wall. She wasn’t as speedy as Nobu, sure, but she was fast enough to do that without getting caught.

She steadied her breathing and began trying to listen in. It was a bit hard, seeing as they were all being pretty quiet, but she was picking up on some of it. Something about Tadano, something about Naoki… And things about fighting or even straight up killing.

That… Wasn’t good.

These were gonna be dangerous people to their goals, huh? She made a note to tell everyone about them and the fact they were on the prowl as soon as possible. She just… Had to wait for them to leave first...

Chapter Text

“Alright, so we’re all ready to go in, right?” Kazuya looked over everyone one last time. A few of the group looked less than excited about this, but most seemed ready to get a move on. He figured that was good enough, but if one of the less excited folks wanted to say something, he’d give them the chance.

“I believe we’re all ready to go in.” Jonathan gave a small nod. “Please, go ahead.”

Kazuya looked to Tadano. “It’s all yours from here.”

Tadano gave a nod and in they went. Time to try and figure out how to get into that door on the bottom floor…! There had to be some hint as to what needed to be done to get through there, after all.

“How long do you think this’ll take?” Takeshi moved up to Kazuya, keeping his voice low. “I’d like to get a move on and get back to gaining strength, you know…”

“Sorry Takeshi, but no idea.” Kazuya gave him a strained smile. “Hopefully while we’re here you won’t just… Run off again.”

“Ah yeah…” Takeshi rubbed the back of his neck with a laugh. “You’re not mad about that, are you?”

“...Maybe a little. That slime was my, uh, only Chaos-aligned demon, after all!” And not very impressive… So maybe it wasn’t a big loss that Takeshi fused with it. Still, it kinda hurt that he ran off so quickly after that!

“Come on… Don’t be like that!” Takeshi deflated a bit. “None of us would get stronger if we hung around each other, especially when there was such a power gap between us.”

“Uh-huh…” Kazuya sighed. He felt trying to argue wasn’t going to do any good… He might as well leave him to believe what he wanted.

--

Tadano frowned as he let his Demonica scan the door one extra time. It really was turning nothing up about how they were supposed to open it… And the only guess he had? Well, there were three indentations in the wall… Maybe they had to find things to put in here?

“I think I’m onto something… But I’m not quite sure.” He pointed them out to the closest two. “I think we have to insert some sort of items into these. I’m not sure what, though, and I’m not sure where to find them.”

“Should we backtrack and see if we can find anything?” Tamaki put a finger to her cheek and tilted her head to the side. “I mean… Whatever we need has to be around here somewhere, right?”

“Agreed. We shouldn’t have too much trouble just looking around all the floors to find whatever we need.” Nobu nodded, crossing his arms. “They’re not that big, so it shouldn’t take that long.”

“There’s still six floors we’d have to look through, though, for three things.” Isamu grimaced. “This is gonna make all of this take twice as long.”

“He has a point…” Nozomi frowned. “We’ve already been here for a while and we aren’t making much progress.”

“Why not split up, then, hm?” Walter rose an eyebrow. “Three items, so why not have three groups look around. Each take two floors.”

“Not a bad idea.” Flynn nodded. “We designated three leaders, so they could each take a group without having to worry about who to defer to.”

“That’s a good point.” Tadano looked to Kazuya and Naoki. “You’re the other leaders. How does that plan sound to you?”

Kazuya gave a nod. “I like it. We don’t have time to waste.”

“Sure, why not… Just one issue I could see with it.” Naoki crossed his arms. “How are we gonna decide who goes in what group and who goes to what floor?”

“...Good question.”

--

After some deliberation, the three leaders had finally come up with an idea of how to divide the groups… Everyone would pull sticks and be part of the matching color group (all ends having just been scribbled on by Kazuya), excluding Pascal who would simply go with his owner. It was a bit silly, in Naoki’s opinion, but whatever. It worked.

“Alright.” Tadano turned to the rest of the group as Kazuya held out the sticks. “You’ll all pick one and teams will be formed based off the color. Green is with Kazuya, blue is with me, and red is with Naoki. Any questions?”

“Yeah, I have one.” Charlie rose his hand. “Why are we going to elementary school for this?”

“Easier than trying to sort it out manually…?” Kazuya gave a shrug. “It just seems like it’ll work the best. Besides, it’s not just elementary schoolers who do this, you know...”

Yumi nodded. “He’d know if he actually hung out with normal kids from our school.”

“Hey!”

“Come on, let’s get this going. Who’s first?” Naoki looked across the group before his eyes landed on Charlie. “How about you, since you wanted to comment on it?”

“...Fine.” Charlie took a step forward, pulling a stick from Kazuya’s hands. “...Green.”

“You’re with me, then.” Kazuya gave him a smile. “Who’s next?”

Yumi shrugged and stepped forward, pulling one out. “Might as well… Looks like I’m red.”

“Might as well have all of me and my pals go, then!” Tamaki stepped forward with a smile, plucking a stick out herself. “Green with Kazuya and Charlie!”

Reiko stepped right behind her, following what the other girl had said. “Um…” She pulled one out. “Red.”

“That’s one group and Tadano doesn’t have anyone yet…” Naoki crossed his arms. “What group is gonna go next and risk breaking that streak, huh?”

Isabeau stepped forward at that point. “I will…” She reached forward and… “It seems I’ve, ah, indeed broken the streak. Blue.”

Flynn moved next to her, Navarre floating alongside him. “I’ll go next, then… And assist Navarre, in order to make sure he doesn’t peek at the colors.”

“Well, I would never…!”

Flynn reached forward, pulling out two sticks. “It looks as if we’re also blue.”

Jonathan was the next to step forward, upon the others moving to stand behind their leader. “I wonder, will all us samurai end up together…?” He pulled a stick with red on the end. “...It seems that’s not the case.”

“Too bad.” Walter pat Jonathan on the back. “Perhaps at least the two of us will work together on this…” He pulled as well, but his stick’s end was covered in green. “...Or not.”

“I was about to say that it almost seemed rigged, but now I’m not sure.” Nobu whistled as the two made their way to their groups and he stepped forward. “Guess Akira and I’ll go and we’ll see, though…”

“Go ahead then, pull.”

Nobu nodded and pulled directly from the center. “Blue for me.”

Akira sighed and stepped forward as Nobu stared at him, seeing as it probably wouldn’t stop until he did. He pulled one out (funny to watch, seeing as he decided to do it with his giant, clawed hand), and he sighed. “Red…”

Yuka pat both boys on the back before they finally drug themselves to their groups. She reached out without looking, plucking a stick from the back of the group. “What color is it?”

“Green…” Naoki crossed his arms. “Looks like you’re with your boyfriend.”

“That works for me!”

As Yuka moved to Kazuya’s side, Yuji and Takeshi both reached for the sticks. Looks like they were eager to move in on this now that they were the last of their group in need of picking.

“Blue. That seems like a nice enough group”

“Red! Nice.”

Yuji headed for behind Tadano and Takeshi behind Naoki as Zelenin cleared her throat. “Don’t you think we should move this along a bit? We’re going quite slow…”

“You saying that isn’t going to help that any, angell.” Naoki gestured to the diminishing circle of sticks. “Just pull.”

Zelenin said nothing, instead doing just that… Only to make a face. “I see, red… Along with some of our more… Demonic allies…”

“Come on, Zelenin! Being around them might be good for you.” Jimenez snickered as he made his way to grab the stick that had been farthest from Zelenin’s. “I-- Green, huh? Guess I won’t get to see the look on your face while you’re dealing with all those demons.”

The two began to argue, Zelenin’s voice once again feeling like a drill in Naoki’s skull. He did his best to block out the voices, just until they were done. He didn’t need a killer headache while he was leading a group around here.

When he finally zoned back in, things had seemed to have started moving forward. Aleph, Beth, and Hiroko were all standing there, sticks in their hands. Beth had green, Aleph had blue, and Hiroko had red... Too bad for them that not one of them shared a color, huh? Especially with how many groups had ended up sticking together quite closely.

“Be safe, Aleph.” Hiroko gave him a pat on the shoulder before walking towards Naoki.

“Please do. I’ll worry if I’m not there by your side…” Beth placed her hands on his shoulders, leaving them there for a few moments before finally turning and making her way to stand behind Kazuya.

“I’m sure it will be fine, you two… Besides, Zayin and Louis still need to choose their groups. Either one of them could be by my side and help keep me safe.”

Zayin nodded as he pulled a stick. “It seems that won’t be me, though… I’ll be in green with Beth.”

Louis pat him on the shoulder. “Better luck next time, buddy! Let’s see what I get.” He pulled out a stick, blue on the bottom. “Oh! Look how lucky that is.”

Chiaki stepped up next to him, head tilted to the side. “I don’t know why, but something about that seems like cheating…”

“I didn’t cheat, though!” Louis gave her a smile. “Promise.”

“Hm…”

“And if you don’t believe me…” Louis gestured to Kazuya’s hands. “How about you pick one too. We can switch and I’ll be in whatever group you’d be in.”

“Sounds good to me.” Chiaki nodded. “I’ll be in blue and you’ll be in…” She pulled out a stick. “Blue too…”

“Lucky for both of us, huh?” Louis threw an arm around her shoulder and led her behind Tadano. “Maybe it was fate.”

Isamu stepped forward with a sigh. “...I gotta agree with Chiaki, that dude seemed like he was cheating. But oh well, guess there’s not much we can do about it…”

“Maybe blue is just a popular color right now…?” Kazuya gave a nervous laugh. “H-how about you pull and we see if that’s the case.”

Isamu shrugged, plucking the one closest to him out of Kazuya’s hand. “...Red.”

“Well… Let’s not get too caught up in the fact Louis got into blue basically twice in a row, alright?” Nozomi was ready to try and clear the air, it seemed. “We’re close to having everybody sorted out, so let's not lose momentum now.”

Nanashi and Asahi followed behind her. “Yeah! There’s only six of us, so why not have us pull three at a time?”

“Great idea, Asahi.” Nozomi gave her a smile as she reached for a stick, the teens following suit. “Annnd, go!”

Nozomi pulled out a green stick, Nanashi a blue, and Asahi a red. After they stared at them in silence for a moment, Nanashi spoke up. “Guess none of us decided to match our team to our outfits, huh?”

“Guess not…” Asahi gave a nervous laugh as she eyed red team. “O-oh well! Guess we’ll see how the rest of the sorting goes…”

The other three stepped forward, pulling their own sticks as the previous three made their way to their own groups. Gaston pulled a green this time, Hallelujah the blue, and Toki the red. Based off what little interaction Naoki had seen between everyone, this was… Bound to be interesting.

“I see…” Gaston looked to the green group. “I suppose there could be worse than this group…”

“And I’m with Asahi instead of Master…” Toki frowned. “I suppose others will make the group interesting, though.”

“W-well, looks like groups are decided!” Hallelujah wasted no time making for the blue group. “Time to decide who takes what floors, I guess!”

Chapter Text

Kazuya’s group had been given the fifth and sixth floor due to their leader being the least experienced in the way of battle and, well, Tamaki was almost too happy about that. Sure, she trusted Kazuya, she trusted him a lot! But things could easily go sour when the leader wasn’t used to battles or demons (at least not in comparison to the other leaders).

No one else seemed that worried, though. In fact, everyone seemed pretty calm, casual even! It was nice, but she’d expect them to at least be kind of on edge, what with the risks that came with being around here and all that.

Oh well, as long as it didn’t hold them up, she guessed it would be fine…! Really, what could possibly go wrong when everyone was so relaxed?

--

So much, so much could go wrong and Tamaki was regretting ever wondering. They’d barely made it a few feet when the first issue really broke out and… Well, why was she not shocked that Charlie was somehow involved?

She didn’t know him as well as she knew Yumi or even Reiko, but… With what she did know? Well, there was plenty of reason to expect something to bubble over. Maybe she should’ve kept an eye on him or something.

Though she really couldn’t blame him fully, not this time. Jimenez was a demon, so she was sure the blame could be equally placed on both of them… Wow, she hoped that didn’t sound anti-demon or something like that.

Wait, why would she care? Demons tried to kill her all the time!

She shook her head, focusing back in on Charlie and Jimenez. She might have to jump in to help out Kazuya if it got bad enough… She did kinda consider Charlie her responsibility, after all.

“Come on, what’s the big deal?” Jimenez tilted his head to the side. “You’re acting like I almost killed you.”

“You did almost kill me!” Charlie took a step back, pointing to the blade protruding from Jimenez’s arm. “That thing nearly sliced my neck open!”

“I wouldn’t have done that, don’t freak out.” Jimenez should his head. “If you’re that worried about it, maybe steer clear of me, yeah?”

“I shouldn’t have to steer clear of an ally!” Charlie shook his head, looking around at the others. “Don’t you guys agree?!”

“I think Charlie has a point, Jimenez…” Tamaki scratched her cheek. “Can you try and be more careful, please?”

Kazuya nodded. “I agree with her, let’s all be mindful of each other.”

Jimenez sighed. “You guys are so weak-willed… Fine, fine. I’ll be more careful it if means less of you all nagging and yelling at me… For now, at least.”

--

“You’re saying you betrayed your kingdom for your allies?” Zayin’s voice brought everyone to a halt. “Why would you do that?”

Gaston cleared his throat when everyone turned to look at him. “I, ah… Did not find Lord Merkabah’s plan for them to be just, that is all.”

“Is that so…?” Zayin frowned, shaking his head. “I’m sorry to say, but I don’t understand… I could never turn on Millennium, yet you did it so easily…”

“Perhaps Millennium never seems unjust from your point of view, then.” Gaston looked at his feet. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

Zayin paused, thinking for a moment. “I see… I suppose that is an understandable reason to turn on this kingdom of yours.”

Gaston said nothing, instead starting to walk again. Seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it, then? Well, that made sense to Tamaki. From what she’d heard, it was a pretty recent turn of events for Gaston…

“Come on, everyone.” Kazuya walked up to Zayin and put a hand on his back. “Let’s keep going. There’s still some rooms for us to check out!”

“Alright…” Zayin looked at Gaston’s back. “You and I will talk more about this later!”

Gaston froze for a moment. “If that’s what you insist on, I suppose.”

...Tamaki just hoped this didn’t turn out a total trainwreck.

--

The group had decided to stop for a while when they still hadn’t found the item they needed and Tamaki felt she needed a nap. There were so many rooms on these two floors and so far? Nothing! Not one items they could fit into one of those slots…

She was just about ready to give up.

“Are we sure we’re even going to find what we need?” Walter rubbed the back of his neck as he sat against the nearby wall. “For all we know, the items aren’t in here and we’re just wasting our time.”

“That’s a fair point, but… It’s better to search and find nothing than to not search and find out we should’ve.” Yuka chided Walter in a soft voice. “If they don’t turn out to be here, we’ll just have to plan our next course of action.”

“But aren’t you getting even the least bit tired?” Walter frowned at her, chin in hand. “It feels as if we’re running around doing nothing.”

“I understand, but I trust Kazuya and the others. If they think we should do this, we should…” Yuka put a hand on her chest. “You don’t have to agree, but could you at least try and hang in there a little while longer? For group morale?”

Walter looked up at Yuka in silence for a moment before standing again, stretching. “Well, alright I suppose. If we all get down, we won’t get anywhere, now will we?”

“Exactly.” Yuka gave him a smile. “Thank you.”

Tamaki felt herself feeling a bit more energized for this too, now! Lucky for her that Walter decided to voice his own thoughts on the matter, huh? Made things easier and she avoided a scolding from Yuka~

--

“You okay there, Beth?” Nozomi’s voice caused the others to pause long enough to notice Beth falling behind. “You seem to be distracted.”

“Ah, do I?” Beth blinked a few times. “I’m sorry, I was just worried about Aleph and Hiroko.”

“How nice of you, worrying about them like that, but…” Nozomi walked back to her, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “You should focus on yourself right now, you know?”

“I suppose you’re right…” Beth nodded a bit. “I’m just, ah, better at thinking of the needs of others. That’s how I’ve always lived.”

“And I’m sure that’s fine sometimes, but if you don’t care for yourself, you can’t care for others.” Nozomi began walking Beth towards the rest of the group slowly. “Besides, Aleph and Hiroko seem tough and loyal… I’m sure they can take care of themselves! Just ask them about what they did later.”

“That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it…?” Beth thought for a moment. “I’m just so worried… Aleph had just returned to us and Hiroko ran off without permission, so I--”

“Now, now…” Nozomi shook her head. “You’re focusing on others too much right now! We’ll need to fix that.”

“But there’s no time--”

Nozomi held up a finger. “How about this. Right now, we won’t worry about this… But if we need to go and regroup again, you and I’ll have some girl time where I just teach you to relax and focus on yourself, alright?”

Beth looked away from Nozomi, giving a small nod. “Alright.”

Tamaki smiled, that was sweet… Maybe she could get in on that girl time, too…

--

When they got to the final room, Tamaki was sure it had to be the right one! There was no way it couldn’t be, right? She have Kazuya a nod as he paused at the door and, soon enough, he was entering with Pascal trotting behind.

She followed after, watching him as he went to open the box in the middle of the room. When he opened it, she was expecting him to either give them a good to go or some sort or a negative on finding what they needed.

But instead, all she heard from him was a small whimper of “Mom…”

She walked around and held in a gasp when she saw he was grasping a bloody apron. Based off what she’d heard him say and how he was holding it, she’d guess that his mother… Was no longer with them.

Pascal ran around Kazuya, barking a few times before licking his face, as if to try and cheer up his owner. Kazuya continued to cling to it, however, still lost in thought. Should Tamaki say anything? Should she wait until Yuka said something…? She wasn’t sure.

Soon enough, though, he was standing again, looking at the group with a forced smile. “I-it doesn’t look like it’s the item, you guys. Too bad, but… I guess we should head back to the locked door. When Tadano and Naoki get back, we’ll see what to do.”

“Alright…” Yuka frowned. “Kazuya, do you need to talk?”

“Not right now… Later, later.” Kazuya looked away again and Tamaki felt her heart hurt for him. If only there was more she could do for the poor guy...

Chapter Text

The third and fourth floors had been left to Tadano’s group and Flynn was pretty sure he could see why. Tadano or Naoki would both be fine going up to the top two floors, so it was all about the rest of the groups… More accurately, the groups and their humans to non-humans ratio, seeing the difference in endurance levels.

And so, Tadano’s fully human (or mostly, Flynn had his doubts about Louis; and Nanashi and Hallelujah weren’t quite human) group was left with the middle floors. That was fine by Flynn, though. That would just mean they would be able to make it back to the final floor without much issues when they were done investigating.

Well, so long as nothing went wrong for them, that is. They needed to be prepared for anything, after all… Flynn would just hope all would go over well.

--

Well, it didn’t take long for it to become clear things weren’t going to go over as well as they could. Nanashi seemed to be in another argument with that Dagda demon and it was starting to affect group morale as a whole… Should he say something?

“Nanashi…” Aleph walked over to the boy, covering the smartphone screen with his hand. “I’m sure what you and, ah, Dagda are talking about is important… But I think it’s bothering the others. Is there anyway you two could hold off on your conversation?”

“Ah…!” Nanashi looked at his feet. “Sorry, I was trying to be quiet about it, but…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” He gave him a soft smile, putting an arm around his shoulders and walking him along. “If it’s that important, perhaps I could help you.”

“Help me…?” Nanashi furrowed his brow. “W-what could you do to help?”

“Perhaps speak with your demon friend for you?” Aleph offered with a weak laugh. “Or we could talk to him together… Maybe we could get him to calm down for the time being.”

“I mean… We could try, yeah.” Nanashi frowned, scratching at the glowing mark on his cheek. “Though I’m not sure it’ll help much…”

“Well, doesn’t hurt to try, right?” He pat Nanashi’s shoulders, basically oozing paternal vibes at this point.

“Right…!” Nanashi nodded. “Uh, sorry for distracting the group, by the way! Let’s get going!”

--

“Do you all think we could stop for a moment? Please?” Yuji held up a hand, panting as he leaned against the wall. “We’re moving pretty quickly and I’m not sure I can keep up this pace without a break…”

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad…” Chiaki replied as if she wasn’t huffing and puffing as well. If anything, it looked to Flynn like they both needed a break and Yuji was just the one who decided to bring it up.

“You might think so, but I don’t… Call me weak if you want, I know Takeshi would, but…” Yuji did his best to straighten himself, despite his heavy breathing. “I need a break and I promise to try and keep it short.”

“Good, I don’t want to be the last group back because you can’t handle some walking and demon fighting…” Chiaki sucked in some breath as she spoke.

“It seems to me like you needed a break too, though…” Yuji frowned. “Your breathing is almost worse than mine.”

“I’d be fine… I know you have to work towards your goals…” Chiaki frowned right back at him. “So I’m ready to push through it, are you?”

“It’s not as if we can’t take breaks, though… If you push yourself too hard, you won’t get anywhere.” Yuji shook his head. “Breaks and things like that are important to success, you know!”

“You think so?” Chiaki thought for a moment. “But if you sit around too long, you’ll get nowhere.”

“That’s why you need a good balance of work and other things… Don’t not work on your goals, but… Don’t push on so fast you get hurt, either.”

“...I see.” Chiaki turned on her heel. “Well, you’ve gotten your rest, right? Let’s move on.”

--

The group was taking another break, this time at Nobu’s request. Flynn was almost expecting Chiaki to say something again, but Yuji had made a beeline for her and wasted no time distracting her. Probably a good thing for Nobu, if Flynn had to guess… The boy didn’t seem a fan of being questioned, after all.

But then he saw that Nobu was talking at Navarre and he became worried for a number of new reasons. Navarre (at least the one he knew) didn’t seem the type that would get along well with someone like Nobu… Now, this wasn’t his Navarre, so there was a chance things were different, but… He wasn’t so sure.

“So, do all ghosts look like little green guys with pompadours?” Nobu tilted his head to the side as he stared at the ghost. “Because if they do… I don’t wanna be a ghost.”

Navarre scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous! I am one of a kind…! And what do you mean you wouldn’t want to be one if they looked like me?!”

“No offense, but you look pretty stupid…” Nobu shrugged. “But hey, sounds like I wouldn’t have to worry about looking like that. That’s good enough for me!”

Navarre let out an offended whimper. “Do I truly look that stupid…? Perhaps that’s why I’ve been met with so much pain since my death…”

“There, there, little buddy…” Nobu went to try and pat Navarre, only to pull his hand back before he actually tried to touch him. “Uh, by the way? How did you die, anyway?”

“Ah that… I-it’s truly not worth going into!” Navarre shook his head. “There’s more interesting things about me to talk about.”

“Yeah, sure… But I wanna know how you died.” Nobu looked right at him. “Tell me how you died.”

Navarre looked to Flynn, as if begging the other for help. He really didn’t want to talk about how he died with Nobu, then? Well… Flynn wondered, was there something he could do to possibly help him?

He finally settled on trying by telling Tadano that he was sure everyone was ready to move on. Navarre would have to make it a point to fly alongside a different part of the group as they moved, but it was probably a way out…

He hoped it helped.

--

Flynn had noticed Hallelujah falling behind the rest of the group and had been worried. He wanted to fall back with the teen, ask him what was happening, but Isabeau was quick to beat him to it. Impressive how quickly she moved in to try and talk to the boy.

“Hallelujah, are you feeling alright?” Isabeau tilted her head to the side as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “You seem distracted.”

“A-ah… Fine!” Hallelujah gave a forced laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just… A lot of this is weird to me, I guess?”

“Is that so?” Isabeau thought for a moment as they continued to walk behind the rest of the group. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“Well… One thing that’s kind of weird is, well, no offense to you and Flynn, but… You two. You two are weird.” He swallowed. “N-not in a bad way! It’s just that you guys are from another timeline, right? It’s weird that you aren’t the Flynn and Isabeau that we know!”

“Ah yes, that must be confusing. I’ll admit, the fact you all seem to know us when we don’t know you is strange…” Isabeau frowned, hand on her chin. “But perhaps this is a chance for us to get to know you when we wouldn’t usually have the chance.”

“G-good point…” Hallelujah gave an awkward laugh, shoulders deflating. “Guess I was weirded out about nothing.”

“Nothing wrong with having worries, as long as you speak to someone about them.” Isabeau pat the shoulder her hand was still on. “And please, feel free to speak with me when you’re worried about anything. I would be honored to try and help you.”

“Ah… Thanks a lot!” Hallelujah gave her a somewhat natural smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

--

Flynn, Tadano, and Louis were the only three to step into a nearby room when everyone else decided on a break, and, well… Lucky that they decided to do that, Flynn had to think. The box in the middle of the room could hold exactly what they needed, after all.

Tadano looked to Louis and Flynn before taking a step forward and opening it. “It’s a… A…”

Louis looked over his shoulder. “Oh, a bowtie! How funny… Didn’t think that would be what we needed.”

“It doesn’t fit the shape of any of the indents, though…” Tadano stood up, frowning at Louis. “Could this really be what we need?”

Louis shrugged, a smile on his face. “Not sure, but we should probably take it with us, don’t you think?”

“...Ah, probably…” Tadano placed it in a pocket. “I’m not sure I like the idea of carrying it around, though…”

“Why is that?” Louis tilted his head to the side. “Does it remind you of someone?”

Tadano made a face. “How did you…? I mean… Yes, it does. Commander Gore…”

“Commander Gore, huh…?” Louis put a hand on Tadano’s arm ,leaning in closer. “He must be pretty important to you.”

“...I didn’t know him long, so I can’t say that’s the case.” Tadano shook his head. “But he did…”

Louis shook his head. “Don’t force it, take your time! For now let’s just head back. You can always tell me more later.”

Tadano nodded slowly, a bit out of it (which Flynn honestly found worrisome). “Yes, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Yumi wasn’t sure how to feel about her group or the fact that they had the farthest to go. First two floors had been left to them, and, well… The reason for that kinda unsettled her. Demons, an angel, and a trained assassin… Not exactly the most trustworthy group, in her opinion.

But then again, only Asahi seemed totally put-off by the group. Hiroko and Jonathan at least seemed comfortable with Zelenin… Too bad for Yumi that only one person seemed to feel like she did at least knew the assassin. She was totally in the dark…

Well, she guessed she knew of Akira, but… Not really. She didn’t know if everything she’d heard was real and even if it’d be the same from timeline to timeline, after all… And, of course, there was Reiko, but Reiko was so quiet and known for being such a princess… And she didn’t know how she felt about that Isamu guy...

Maybe it’d be best for her to hang back a bit, see what everyone else did… If only for her own sake.

--

They’d been walking for a while when Yumi noticed something sorta odd. Reiko and Isamu were both hanging back like her, but… It was obviously not because of the group as a whole for them. How she could tell?

Reiko was obviously avoiding getting within a few feet of Akira and refused to even try and look up when she thought he was looking and Isamu was acting similarly with Naoki. Weird… She could guess the Reiko and Akira thing had something to do with Hazama, but… What was up with Isamu and Naoki, she wondered?

She was just about to attempt to ask him when Reiko spoke up. “Y-you know, it’s probably not a good idea to stand in the back like this… You should catch up with the rest of the group.”

“Huh?” Isamu looked at her with a frown. “I could say the same to you. You’ve been sticking at the back the entire time.”

“Ah, that’s because… Uh…” Reiko bit her lip. “Miyamoto… He and Hazama… Um… Don’t get along and Hazama is important to me, so… I guess I feel uncomfortable around him.”

“That so…?” Isamu sighed. “Well I have my own reasons for not wanting to be closer to the group, either… I’ve realized I can’t rely on Naoki or anyone else anymore. If I hang around him, I’m just gonna use him as a crutch.”

“Is that so…?” Reiko looked at her feet. “I’m sorry for assuming anything and telling you that you should move closer, then.”

“Whatever… Not like you knew.” Isamu shrugged his shoulders. “Guess you have your reasons for not being closer too, huh?”

Reiko gave an awkward nod. “Yes.”

Yumi frowned a bit. She hoped this wasn’t gonna cause issues as things went on… That would be just about the worst thing that could happen right now.

--

Yumi had decided to move up a bit in the group, if only because she wanted to make sure there wasn’t more issues going on. Because if there were she might be tempted to run for the exit and just wait at the store for everyone else to come back.

That’s when she walked right next to Asahi and could feel the tension in the air. She and Toki really didn’t seem to get along, huh? It was too bad they weren’t trying to avoid each other, in that case…

“You and Master… You’re close, aren’t you?” Toki was the first to speak, looking directly at Asahi as they walked along.

“Well, yeah! We’re basically family, after all!” Asahi frowned at Toki. “What, do you have a problem with that?”

“Basically family…?” Toki’s face twisted in confusion. “If you’re basically family, why do you like him like that…?”

Asahi’s face twisted in disgust. “What?! No…! You got it all wrong!”

“I do…?” Toki’s confusion grew, as was apparent from her tone.

“You totally do! Nanashi is like a brother to me!” Asahi shook her head. “We’ve known each other for so long, it’d just be weird to feel any other way about him, you know?”

“I… See.” Toki looked away, face going red in embarrassment. “I just assumed you…”

“Well, you were wrong!” Asahi shook her head. “I care about him, and that’s why I was worried about how much you liked him. That’s it!”

“...Sorry, then.” Toki looked away, but Yumi could still feel her discomfort and embarrassment from here. “I shouldn’t have assumed like that.”

“Uh… I-It’s okay…!” Asahi put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s just try and move on from here now that you know, okay? Uh…”

Yumi couldn’t stand watching this anymore… Too much second hand embarrassment… She just hoped these girls would figure this out without too much trouble.

--

Yumi was almost shocked to see the helmet on Takeshi’s head come off. Something about it had made him think that, well, that it was just fused to his head. She didn’t see why that couldn’t be the case, after all. Jimenez had a face that was basically permanently half a mask, she was pretty sure.

But there he was, taking it off with a sigh. “That was getting kinda warm! This place is pretty warm, isn’t it?”

Jonathan was now staring at Takeshi, blinking at least five times by Yumi’s count. “...Ah, yes.”

Takeshi looked at Jonathan, tilting his head to the side. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Jonathan thought for a moment. “How do I say this? I didn’t expect you and Walter to look so similar.”

“Huh, we look similar?” Takeshi scratched his cheek with his free hand, thinking for a moment. “I don’t think I see it.”

“Perhaps that’s because you’re not seeing yourself the same way in the mirror and everyone else would see you?” Jonathan offered. “...Then again, it could just be me who thinks that.”

“Just you, huh? That seems pretty possible to me!” Takeshi gave a laugh. “Unless you want to see if anyone else agrees.”

“Perhaps… But later.” Jonathan shook his head. “For now we should focus on the matter at hand.”

Takeshi shrugged. “Suit yourself!”

--

“So, I’ve heard you left your station without permission to find a boy…?” Zelenin looked at Hiroko with a grimace and Yumi was wishing she wasn’t near them right now.

“I did… I felt it was important to find him.” Hiroko nodded. “And in the end, it sort of got us one step closer to Aleph, so… I don’t see an issue with what I did.”

“Is that so? You had a job assigned to you in a kingdom dedicated to the lord… You abandoned that to hunt for a boy…” Zelenin sighed. “And you still believe yourself to be in the right, because you just so happened to stumble upon the messiah?”

“...Yeah, but I don’t think the Center agrees…” Hiroko let out a sigh. “I’m in plenty of trouble with them, you know?”

“And?” Zelenin rose an eyebrow.

“And I don’t need you scolding me for it too, Miss Angel. I believe my city can punish me enough for what I did, I’m sure.” Hiroko gave a tense smile. “Feel free to think what you want of me quietly, but keep it to yourself.”

“I see… If you’re willing to accept punishment, despite your feelings on the matter… I suppose it won’t do harm to let you believe what you wish.” Zelenin closed her eyes. “My apologies, then.”

“It’s… Fine. I just think it might do some good to keep that holy judgement close to your chest while we’re doing this. Some of us may not mind as much as others…” Hiroko rubbed the back of her neck. “But that also means there are some who might not react well at all, like…”

Hiroko gestured to the three demons with them and Zelenin made a noise of recognition. “I suppose upsetting them while we’re stuck here would not be a good idea… Very well. Thank you, I will consider what you said to me, Hiroko.”

“Not a problem.”

--

Yumi kinda wished she hadn’t walked into the room with Naoki and Akira when they got to the final door they needed to check… Everyone else had stalled behind, when she’d expected them to all come in, so… She was alone with two demons. Great.

“This chest better have what we need…” Naoki reached down, opening it. “Oh, wait, this is…!”

He pulled out a jacket, eyes wide. Akira narrowed his eyes, glancing at Yumi in confusion. “Is that what we need?”

Naoki shook his head. “No way. This is just the jacket I was wearing before everything started happening. I thought it was lost forever.”

“I see, so you didn’t decide to run around shirtless all the time.” Akira let out a hum. “You’re not as weird as I thought you were.”

“Says the guy running around naked.”

Akira grimaced, crossing his arms. “The uniform I was wearing was torn to shreds when this happened. Besides, it’s not like I need any clothes.”

“Good excuse.” Naoki stood up, looking the jacket over again before holding it out to him. “Here, wear this. You won’t have to walk around like that anymore.”

“Are you seriously trying to mock me over my lack of clothes?” Akira narrowed his eyes.

“Hey…” Naoki shrugged. “You swung first.”

Something akin to a growl escaped Akira’s throat and Yumi had a feeling that wasn’t going to mean anything good. “At least I’m consistent in what I wear or don’t wear.”

“So the necklace and watch make sense when there’s nothing else?” Naoki rose an eyebrow.

“I…” Akira frowned. “They weren’t destroyed, so I--”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Yumi stepped forward, right between them despite her better judgement. “If this continues I’m gonna feel like you two need to go through some team building exercises to make sure you don’t try to kill each other later. Let’s just go back and see what we should do next.”

“Fine.” Naoki shrugged and started for the door, turning back to look at Akira. “If you wanna try and talk shit about what I wear and don’t wear later, go ahead. I’ll be waiting.”

“Miyamoto…”

“What?”

“Don’t.”

“...We’ll see.”

Yumi sighed. This really didn’t seem good.

Chapter Text

As soon as Naoki and company were back to the locked door, it was time to try and figure out what to do again. None of the groups really found what they needed, as far as they could tell… So they were back to square one. Just great.

“Did you guys at least find something?” Naoki held out his jacket. “I mean, I found this just sitting in a chest…”

Tadano pulled a bowtie from a pocket and nodded. “This was about all we found on our hunt.”

“I…” Kazuya held out the bloody apron, trying to fight back the memories it brought up. “Found this.”

As soon as they all held them out, though, something weird started happening. The items began to glow and morph in their hands. It almost looked like they were being melted into new shapes, but they weren’t even warm…

When the glow finally faded away, the items were replaced with simple blocks of varying sizes. At first it really didn’t seem to make any sense, but that’s when it clicked in Kazuya’s mind. These blocks, they were…

“I think these go in the door!” He ran over to it, shoving his block into the middle indent. Perfect fit. “You guys do the same with yours and I think we’ll be through!”

“That so?” Naoki gave a snort as he pushed his into the largest indent on the bottom. “They do fit…”

Tadano frowned as he approached, slowly sliding the smallest into place. “Let’s be careful about whatever lies beyond here, then.”

Kazuya gave a nod. “I think we’re all ready to go in…”

“Let’s hurry this up a bit.” Jimenez spoke up from the middle of the group. “We don’t have all day to be standing around, you know!”

“Agreed!” Takeshi nodded, arms crossed. “There’s nothing to discuss if we can go in. We healed up, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Tadano stepped in first, holding up a hand to try and stop the others from entering. “Wait, this one is dangerous!”

Kazuya peeked over his arm and frowned. Standing there was a blonde girl, her skin a light blue and her eyes red. She was clinging to two dolls and smiling at the people who had made their way into the wide room… But when she saw Kazuya, her face twisted into a frown.

“It’s… It’s the big kid who wouldn’t die for me!” She stamped a foot against the ground, eyes welling with tears. “And then he killed Mr. Red and Mr. Black…!”

“Wait… Are you talking about me?” Kazuya pointed to himself with a confused frown. “I-I… I didn’t do anything to you! I’ve never seen you before.”

“You did, though! You did, you did…!” She wailed, shaking her head from side to side as she continued stomping her feet. “I just wanted you to die for me! I asked you nicely!”

“I-I don’t know you!” Kazuya shook his head. “And I’m sorry, but… If you were to ask someone to die for you, would you really expect them to say yes?”

“Yes!” She nodded, sniffling. “Because if you died we could’ve stayed together forever and ever and ever!”

“I… I’m sorry then…?” Kazuya really didn’t know what he was supposed to say… He’d never seen this little girl before and now she was talking about him refusing to die and killing others…?

“Really? You mean it?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Then…” She swayed a bit from side to side. “Will you die for me?”

--

After a long fight full of trying to defend Kazuya from Alice’s direct attacks on him, the group had won. For someone so small and cute, she sure was still tough… Almost as bad as when Tamaki refused to give her the gem she’d found in a magic box.

“So… It really doesn’t seem like anything changed, huh?” Tamaki turned to Chiaki and sighed. “That sucks, doesn’t it?”

Chiaki frowned. “It’s annoying, but that just means we’ll have to keep searching for a way back, I guess…”

“You’re right!” Tamaki slapped a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s work hard!”

“Let’s…” Chiaki casually brushed the hand away. “But let’s try not to waste too much time, alright? We should get back, heal up, stock up, and move on.”

“We can’t exactly move on if we don’t know where to do…” Hallelujah sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Guess we’re gonna have to try and hunt down another place to explore, huh?”

“Well, sure… But let’s wait on that!” Hiroko walked up to him, ruffling his hair. “Rest and recovery needs to come first, or we might end up dying for another demon.”

“Ah, yeah… Good point.” Hallelujah nodded. “Guess we should get back and figure out how to heal up, then.”

“Everyone!” Tadano’s voice caught their attention. “Let’s go! Stay close and we’ll try to avoid as many demons as we can on our way out.”

“Got it!”

Chapter Text

“My body aches all over…” Nanashi groaned as they walked out of the building. “Can I just… Pass out?”

“Let’s try to keep moving…” Yumi pat his shoulder, stifling a yawn. “Or at least find an empty building to rest in.”

“I think there was a nice big one this way…” Isamu pointed, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. “Come on.”

The group began walking after Isamu, people yawning and leaning against others. That fight with Alice had taken a lot more out of them than anyone first thought, it seemed. Not that Nanashi could blame anyone, it’d been rough and demons in the building had kept trying to sneak up on them while they tried to get out.

Add in the fact the third floor exit had for some reason been locked and it wasn’t really shocking. He just hoped no one was still pumped and raring to go… If they were, he felt there might not be much rest in the end.

That’s when he realized their demonic allies (minus Hallelujah) looked less tired and just injured. Uh-oh… He just had to hope that any humanity they had would be understanding of everyone else being totally exhausted.

“Think we’re here.” Isamu gestured to the door in front of him, looking back at everyone. “There should be enough room for everyone to keep to themselves in here.”

“Then let’s go in.” Chiaki walked past him, opening the door as everyone poured in after the two of them.

“What the…?” Isabeau gasped. “This… This isn’t an empty room…!”

They were standing in front of what looked almost like a hot spring, the water a strange bright green color. In the middle of the spring were two naked women, both smiling from ear to ear. One held a sign up, though Nanashi couldn’t make out what is said and the other began to speak to them.

“This is a healing spring!” Her voice was full of forced pep. “It can heal, revive, or break curses!”

“Heal, huh…?” Jimenez whistled from the back of the group. “Looks like we found a fast way to heal up.”

--

It had taken a while to pay for everyone who needed to go in, but soon enough they’d given the bunny girls all the money they owed them… Though Tamaki had to wonder where they’d put the money. She hadn’t seen a Macca box or anything…

But oh well. She was gonna take this chance to relax. She was realizing now just how badly she needed a nice, long soak… And it looked to her that the other women felt similarly to her.

“I’m a bit shocked what was on you came off, Miss Zelenin…” Beth looked at the angel, a hand on her face. “I assumed it was just a part of you.”

“I understand the shock, truly.” She nodded a bit as she leaned back. “I thought it was a part of me as well.”

“Well, I guess we learn something new every day, huh?” Nozomi chuckled a bit as she ran a hand through the dozing Asahi’s hair. “Well, most of us do, at least.”

“She must’ve been really tired out by everything that happened.” Reiko put a hand to her chin as Asahi began to softly snore. “I can see why, though. That was a real test of endurance.”

“Indeed.” Isabeau nodded. “It’s nice Asahi has an adult she can trust enough to lean on in the spring, though. I would be worried she would drown, otherwise.”

“I’m sure none of us would let her drown!” Hiroko smiled at everyone. “At least, I hope that's the case.”

“Agreed.” Yuka nodded. “We’re all friends here, don’t you think?”

Yumi shrugged, glancing at Reiko. “Sure… If not friends, we’re at least allies.”

Chiaki hummed a bit. “I think allies is a better term for this.”

“Agreed. Most of us don’t know each other well enough to use the word friends…” Toki then plunged her head underwater, as if to avoid further conversation.

Tamaki pouted. “You guys are no fun, you know? You can be friends without knowing each other for that long. Just look at me and Reiko!”

“Sure, but that’s you and her. Not the rest of us.” Chiaki shrugged. “Different situation.”

Tamaki huffed. “Not really!”

“Yes, really.”

“Explain how it’s different enough to make, well, a difference!”

“You see…”

--

Aleph wasn’t sure how to feel when all the boys and men settled into their side of the healing spring. Most seemed fine with being in there, almost even happy… But at least a few looked like they’d rather heal up any other way.

To be more accurate, Takeshi and Akira seemed to dislike the water in general, while Zayin and Gaston weren’t fans of bathing shoulder to shoulder with demons… And, too bad for them, but they were indeed shoulder to shoulder with some of the demons.

In fact, everyone was shoulder to shoulder with someone. Everyone but Jimenez, thanks to the fact so much of him was a stabbing hazard… But still, besides him? Everyone.

“I’m guessing the girls don’t have to squeeze in as much as this…” Yuji gave an awkward laugh as Walter and Takeshi’s shoulders pressed against him.

“Seeing as there’s less of them… Probably.” Charlie huffed a bit. “I guess it could be worse, though…”

“How could it be worse than this?” Akira grimaced at Charlie. “I can’t think of much worse than this.”

“Don’t like getting wet, huh?” Louis gave him a sympathetic smile. “Must not be fun having to dry off when you look like that.”

“Maybe we should’ve given him a choice to not get in and healed him up another way…” Kazuya scratched his cheek and frowned. “Sorry, Akira, I didn’t think about that.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Tadano shook his head. “He might just need more time to dry off.”

“And you saying that is why he’ll make sure to shake all the water off on you.” Walter sighed. “Oh well, that means less chance of it happening to me.”

“I feel you implying he would even do that puts you at more risk for being the victim, Walter.” Jonathan scratched his cheek. “We don’t know if he’ll use a towel or not yet, after all.”

“That’s fair, but would a towel do someone like him any good?” Walter hummed. “I’m not sure--”

“T-that’s enough now.” Aleph held up his hands. “It’s rude to talk about Akira as if he isn’t right there listening, you all… We should all just try and relax.”

“Easy for you to say…” Takeshi began to grumble. “I don’t like not having my armor on…”

Aleph let out a sigh. This was going to be an overly awkward bath...

Chapter Text

Naoki had decided to do some shopping while they all continued to rest and hunt for where to go rest. Mainly because he was interested in buying some Magatama… But that’s when he realized there were multiple of each type. Not something he’d seen in the Vortex World…

And so he’d decided to purchase the cheapest one from Louisa with one thing in mind: seeing if the other demons could ingest and gain the bonuses from them too. He just had to see if he could get them to try them…

He had to think about it, who would be the most likely to go for it? Maybe Takeshi, if he said there was a chance of more power from it. That guy and Jimenez both seemed pretty power focused, after all… But Takeshi seemed a bit more naive and easier to talk into this kind of stuff.

So off he went to start with the demon overeager when it came to gaining more power, sure this’d go off without a hitch.

“Hey, Takeshi!” Naoki walked up to him, doing his best to suppress any facial tics that could give away his plan. “Have I told you about Magatama?”

“You said they’re bugs you ingest… And that the first one you got was shoved into your eye.” Takeshi shivered a bit. “You know, that’s still pretty gruesome sounding. Must’ve hurt a lot.”

“It did, yeah, but…” Naoki held out the Magatama. “They don’t hurt when you just swallow them… And they make you tougher, so I was wondering if you’d give one a try?” He dangled it in front of Takeshi, trying to tempt him.

Takeshi thought for a moment. “Ah, why not? I’d never say no to more power!”

He reached for it, pulling the mask around his face down. Naoki made note that his face really didn’t look that different from an ordinary humans… So cases like Jimenez were rare ones, he guessed? Then again, his sample size was small…

Well, whatever. Right now it was time to watch and see what happened as Takeshi tried to swallow the bug-like creature.

Takeshi held it up to his lips and nearly bit into it, causing Naoki to kick him square in the knee. “What are you doing?!”

“Hey!” Takeshi took a step back, pulling the Magatama from his lips. “I was just trying to ingest it!”

“Ingest it whole, you idiot! They have to be in one piece when they go down!”

Takeshi frowned, handing it back to him. “Sorry, I’ve always had issues swallowing things whole… I don’t think I could do it.”

“Fine, I’ll ask someone else, then…” Naoki guessed Jimenez would be the next easiest to convince, since there was still that whole strength thing going on. “Any idea where Jimenez is?”

“I think he’s over by the Healing Springs…”

“Got it, see you!” With that, Naoki took off. Some people tried to stop and chat with him, but he was able to brush it off well enough. He had a goal and dammit, he would get at least one demon to actually try and swallow it.

Soon enough, he was back in front of the Healing Springs, Jimenez standing there and chatting with Hallelujah. That made Naoki remember that Hallelujah was, well, kinda a half demon. Should he ask the kid to try it too…?

Nah. He’d been born like that, Naoki wanted to try it more with people who’d been one hundred percent human once, like him. Besides, he was pretty sure someone like Hallelujah would just panic as soon as it touched his lips.

So focus would remain on trying to convince Jimenez to try and swallow it whole.

“Hey, Jimenez… Interested in trying something out to get stronger?” He dangled the Magatama in front of him. “You seem to believe strength is important, and this can give you a boost.”

Hallelujah blinked. "That seems like a gross way to get stronger..."

“That so…?” Jimenez crossed his arms and hummed. “Maybe I should give it a shot, then.”

Naoki dangled it again. “Then take it and try.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” He took the Magatama, sticking it between his lips. Hallelujah watched on nervously and Naoki grinned. At first Naoki thought this might go better, seeing as Jimenez wasn’t trying to swallow it…

But then he spit it out with a grimace on his face, the Magatama squirming on the floor. Well, so much for this going better. Naoki bent down, scooping it up and wiping it off on his pants, dirty Magatama sounded horrible…

“Why’d you do that?”

“Squirming too much.” He shook his head. “Not worth trying to swallow it, I might choke if I do.”

The boy still standing there worried paled. "That why you didn't swallow it?!"

“Oh come on, it doesn’t squirm that much if you just swallow it down.” But whatever, this wasn’t going anywhere… And Hallelujah was watching, clearly terrified by what he’d just seen. “...Maybe I can get Akira to try it. Where is he?”

“Hiding from you, probably.”

“A-actually…” Hallelujah swallowed. “I think he’s hanging around the Cathedral of Shadows if you really need to see him.”

“Thanks.” Naoki pat his shoulder and off he went. He was going to get at least one person to try and swallow it, as unlikely as it was seeming right now.

Thankfully, Akira was where Hallelujah said he was and he hadn’t seen Naoki yet, so if he wanted to avoid him he wasn’t going to be running off. Naoki approached quickly, gripping Akira’s shoulder as tightly as he could. The other demon looked at him with a grimace.

“What do you want?”

Naoki held up the Magatama. “Try and swallow this whole. I wanna see if it works for other demons.”

Akira gave him a look. “...No, what do you seriously want?”

“I was… Serious.” Naoki frowned. “I just want you to try and swallow it. I’ll leave you alone after that.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Akira sighed, snatching the Magatama from Naoki. “I hope I don’t regret this…”

He put it in his mouth and seemed to nearly swallow it, Naoki’s excitement growing at the possibility of seeing what happened, but soon enough that went down the drain. Akira began to straight up choke on it, hands going to his neck as he tried to force it out on his throat.

Naoki could just see the back of the Magatama sticking out and, without thinking about it, put his fingers around it and pulled. Thankfully, it came out with minimal blood and screaming from Akira.

“Shit…” Akira sucked in about as much air as he could. “I think my throat is bleeding now…”

“You’ll be fine. Just go to the Healing Springs or ask someone to heal you up.” Naoki shrugged a bit, patting his back. “You’re not gonna die.”

“Don’t you have something else you could be doing?” Akira coughed, some blood coming up with it.

“Probably, but let’s get you help first…” Naoki thought for a moment. “Oh, wait.” Without thinking, he swallowed the Magatama, earning him a disgusted look from Akira.

“Couldn’t you have wiped that off first or something?”

Naoki thought for a moment. “...I probably should have.”

Chapter Text

“Come on, Beth.” Nozomi threw an arm around Beth’s shoulders with a grin. “Let’s go have that girl time.”

Tamaki jumped up a bit, already?! “Wait! Can I come too?”

Nozomi blinked a few times. “Oh, well sure! I could probably use the help keeping Beth’s mind off some things, after all.”

“Wait…” Aleph held up a hand, head tilted to the side. “Did Beth have plans? I didn’t realize…”

“Oh?” Nozomi rose an eyebrow. “Is that gonna be a problem?”

“Ah, no!” Aleph shook his head. “If you have plans, I have no issues with her going. We were just going to go on a walk together…”

“Aleph, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were going to--”

He put a hand on her cheek and gave a small smile. “It’s fine. We can go on a walk later! You go have fun with these two.”

“If you’re sure…” Beth frowned, but gave a nod. “Please, Aleph, come find me if you--”

“Nuh-uh.” Nozomi pulled Beth away. “You’re gonna be too busy to help him. He can ask someone else while we go have some fun!”

“Yeah!” Tamaki decided now was as good a time as any to jump in. “This is girl time! No guys allowed!”

“Are there any exceptions to that…?” Beth bit her lip as they started to walk away. “L-like what if someone needs healing?”

“Yuka, Hiroko, and Reiko can handle that!” Tamaki chirped, a smile on her face. “And there’s the Healing Springs, so it’ll be okay.”

“Well, what if something important to our escape is found?”

“Then they can tell us about it once we’re done!” Nozomi rubbed her shoulder and continued walking her away from Aleph. “Don’t worry about it or anyone else! Instead, tell us about yourself.”

“Uh, well I’m a member of the Temple Knights and very skilled at what I do.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve been told I’m integral to the success of Millenium, so I do my best to live up to that.”

“How impressive!” Nozomi laughed. “But that must be a lot for one gal to deal with all on her own.”

“Oh no, I’m not the only one integral to it all. There are others.” Beth shook her head. “I’m simply one cog in the machine.”

“Still, one cog not working is all it’d take for something to go wrong!” Tamaki put her hands on Beth’s arm. “So you’re still super important to it all working and it’s still super impressive!”

“I suppose that’s true. Though I’m no more important than anyone else.” Beth bit her lower lip. “So…”

“Oh come on! You’re being too humble about this!” Nozomi squeezed her shoulder. “You can be a little more confident, you now? Maybe even a little vain.”

“Oh no, I could never!” Beth shook her head. “Being vain isn’t something I would ever want to do. It wouldn’t be fitting of someone my rank.”

Nozomi pulled her arm away from Beth. “Is that so…? I guess that’s fair enough, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… A-and there’s nothing wrong with being humble instead!” Tamaki gave a nervous laugh. “But you can give yourself a little more credit, Beth. You deserve at least that much.”

Beth looked at Tamaki. “Do you really think so…?”

“Yep!”

“And I agree!” Nozomi gave Beth a thumbs up.

“Ah… Thank you two.” Beth looked at her feet. “I’ll keep what you said in mind for the future.”

--

Aleph wasn’t sure what to do… He’d already turned down a number of offers to hang out to make sure he and Beth could spend some time together… But now? Now Beth was off hanging out with Nozomi and Tamaki and he was alone.

“Not how I planned on spending my time.” He let out a long sigh. It just wasn’t fair…

“Are you alright, Aleph?” Kazuya walked up to him, head tilted his head to the side.

“Ah, I’m fine, thank you.” He gave him a forced smile. “Just a bit disappointed that Beth and I can’t spend time together as planned, I suppose.”

“That can’t be very fun…” Kazuya sat next to him, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “But that’s alright! I’m sure you two will have time to spend together later. We’re not making much progress on getting out of here, after all.”

“Oh…!” Aleph sat up a little straighter. “Is there something I can do to help try and hunt for a way out?”

“Ah, we’re just trying to see if there’s anything unlocked. No luck yet and that Louisa lady said that it’ll become clear where to go next in ‘due time’ or something…?” Kazuya shook his head. “I’m not sure I quite understand what she means by that, though.”

“That is odd. She and Louis don’t seem the least bit worried about us being stuck here… I wish I could come across as so worry-free.” Aleph was always worried the more negative feelings he had would be broadcast and bring down morale. That was just about the last thing that was needed.

“Well, I think it’s better we can’t, actually.” Kazuya shrugged a bit. “I mean, it’s kinda creepy how calm they are, don’t you think? It doesn’t come across as a… Human to me.”

“That’s fair enough… But don’t we have plenty of non-human allies?” Aleph furrowed his brow. “Takeshi, Akira, Naoki, Jimenez, Zelenin, Nanashi, and Hallelujah are the ones that come to mind.”

“I-I mean, that’s a good point, but… it’s still different.” He scratched his cheek. “I mean, looking at all of those guys you can see the inhuman… And Hallelujah is human on his mom’s side, so when he looks human it’s not weird. Louis and Louisa are total mysteries, so their totally calm auras just… Freak me out.”

“That’s fair, I suppose.” Aleph sighed a bit. “They’re odd ones, aren’t they…?”

Maybe he should look into that later.

Chapter Text

Tamaki could not believe what she was seeing with Walter. He had asked her to come along and help him with shopping and, while she wasn’t sure why he needed her, she said yes. Now, though… Now she saw why.

Walter was utterly useless around anyone he found attractive (so, if Tamaki was recalling correctly, that meant Louisa and Louis). Guy couldn’t even make a transaction with the pretty lady without turning into a mess of garbled words and stutters…

Add in the fact Louis just so happened to walk in and start talking to Walter too and it was a total mess. Walter could barely stand right now, she was pretty sure… And she had no urge to try and help him.

In fact, it was almost fun to watch.

“What were you telling Louisa here that you wanted to buy?” Louis gave Walter a knowing smile. “I couldn’t understand a word you said.”

“Ah… Well you see, I said, uh…” Walter licked his lips and swallowed hard. He was sweating like a pig and it took every ounce of control Tamaki had to not laugh at him.

“Yes, please repeat what you said.” Louisa had an identical smile on her face. “I would love to serve you, but I can’t if I don’t know what you want.”

“Uh, I think Tamaki here c-can uh….” Walter swallowed hard when Louis leaned in closer to Walter. “Uh….”

Louisa leaned closer. “Order in place of you?”

Louis put his hands on Walter’s shoulders. “Explain what you said?”

Walter was about as red as a tomato as he looked to Tamaki with pleading eyes. He really needed help getting out of this, didn’t he? She really couldn’t decide if she wanted to help yet or not, though… She almost wanted to let it go a little longer.

“Tamaki.” Walter’s voice was quieter than usual when he spoke. “Help.”

She guessed she could help him out now. There was sure to be more chances to see in interact with either of them… She just had to make sure she was there to see it! He just had to try and remember what all he wanted to buy.

“Let’s see… Three of the best swords you have, a whip, and uh….” She frowned. There was at least four other things and she couldn’t remember one. She’d been so caught up in watching Walter that they slipped out of her mind.

"Take your time." Louisa smiled, head tilted to the side. "We have all day for you to order."

They might be here for a while… She hoped Walter wouldn’t mind that too much.

--

Tadano and Naoki had been discussing just how one could stay friends with a demonic person, seeing as Tadano would love to stay close with Jimenez, when they were interrupted. It wasn’t by yelling or someone trying to do it, though. No, it was something that would almost be easy to ignore if it had been an animal doing it or something.

But seeing as Akira was a pretty big guy and was now clinging to Naoki’s waist and shaking like a scared kitten… It was basically impossible to do so. Whatever had someone like Akira spooked would be worrying, anyway.

“What’s wrong?” Tadano knelt down next to him with a smile on his face as Naoki pat his head. “What scared you so badly.”

“I saw those people you two said were dangerous…” Akira’s grip on Akira’s waist tightened. “The men weren’t that threatening, but the woman… Something about her scared me.”

“So you came over here and clung to me?” Naoki rose an eyebrow and snorted. “I’m flattered, I guess?”

Akira said nothing, just frowning up at him and making some snide comment about Naoki eating a ‘bloody bug’ or something and him not wanting to hurt Tadano... Tadano wasn’t sure he understood, and kind of didn’t want to. Besides, he was more focused on figuring out why Alex might’ve scared Akira…

That’s when it hit him.

“Akira, you introduced yourself with two names, correct?” Tadano stood up. “What was the second name.”

“Amon…” Akira’s grip on Naoki loosened just a bit. “The two of us are one. I don’t see why that matters right now.”

Tadano’s memories immediately went to when Alex utterly destroyed and killed Amon. This was not something Akira was going to need to know, though. He didn’t need to give the boy more reason to be terrified of her.

“Ah.” Was all he said instead.

“Ah?” Naoki rose an eyebrow. “That’s all you can say? What does it have to do with this?”

“Nothing.” Tadano shook his head and turned away. “I thought I might have had a lead, but I misremembered who Akira was fused with. I’m sorry.”

Akira and Naoki shared a look, one that read to Tadano as ‘I really don’t believe that, do you?’ and he felt he really needed to hold fast. Couldn’t show any signs of the fact he was lying, for Akira’s sake.

“So it was really nothing in the end?” Akira spoke up. “It seemed like you were thinking for a few moments to me.”

“Thinking and failing to come up with anything useful.” Tadano looked away. “The most I can suggest is trying to avoid her to avoid that feeling.”

“...I guess we’ll see how that works out.” Akira sighed. “At least now I don’t feel like I’m about to die.”

“Great!” Naoki smiled down at Akira. “Now let go of me.”

Tadano sighed as Akira basically jumped up and accidentally tore his claws up the side of Naoki’s body. There was a lot of blood, a lot of yelling, and just a little apologizing. At least Akira started pushing Naoki off towards the Healing Springs instead of just leaving him there.

“Kids these days…”

Chapter Text

Flynn had to thank his lucky stars that he'd thought to check his gauntlet for clues as to where to go next. He'd nearly forgotten about that church Beth and Hiroko had found, probably fully would’ve had it not been marked down. Perhaps now it would be of use to them.

He made his way there (with the okay from the three leaders to check it out), pausing as he came to the doors. These designs weren't ones he knew, past the outfits some of Aleph’s wore bearing a resemblance… Hiroko had called the church Messian, correct? He'd never heard of that.

Hopefully it would be a helpful place, not a hurtful one. He'd hate it if it turned out now open and a waste of time… They'd already been through so much, after all.

“Here we go…” He pushed at the door and it creaked open. Well, whatever had kept it shut before was gone, then. Good enough for him.

He took a few steps in and frowned. It seemed to him that this place was crawling with angels of all kinds… In fact, it was mostly angels, if not only them. He supposed that would make some sense, since the church wasn't decrepit or anything.

“I should let the others know…” He backed out of the church, closing the door slowly. “This may be the next area we need to investigate.”

--

“I really don't like it here!” Jimenez wasted no time speaking up after a floor of holy imagery and angry angels. “Killing angels is fun, but the aura of this place…”

“It's oppressive.” Takeshi spoke up with a sigh. “I feel like hanging around here is just asking to be brainwashed or something.”

“It's not that bad…” Akira rolled his eyes. “...If anything, the angels themselves are the problem.”

“They do seem to target us the most…” Hallelujah scratched his cheek. “Maybe they can tell that we're demons or something?”

Naoki huffed. “Probably. Hell, being around here is like we're asking for death.”

Zelenin shot the demons a look, a holy judgemental look. “Then perish. It would be easier for the rest of us if you all did.”

Jimenez grimaced. “I say all of us make sure we really don't die. Make Miss Angel over there sweat battles with her fellows out.”

Zelenin sneered, but said nothing. Instead, she simply moved away from the demons… Possibly to avoid any fights with fellow holy beings as much as possible.

“Pretty sure we'd all stay alive, anyway.” Naoki looked at Jimenez. “Nothing good would come from dying around here.”

“Maybe there is!” Akira spoke casually. “It's been a while, actually. I wonder what would happen if…”

Hallelujah looked at the mumbling demon with what could only be concern. “Uh… I'm gonna stick by you, okay? Make sure nothing bad happens.”

Akira gave him a blank stare. “Whatever?”

Takeshi crossed his arms with a sigh. “We don't have time to be chatting and wondering about things like this! We should be pushing forward, killing more angels, and getting stronger. There's no way we'll be able to get out of here with how we are now.”

“Then all of you should stop gossiping!” Nobu called back to the group. “Come on! You're gonna get left behind!”

They all shared a look before silencing themselves and picking up their paces. With how much the enemies here had it out for them, they needed the strength numbers brought.

--

Nanashi had found the eventual silence the group had fallen into uncomfortable. He was pretty sure the way this church looked didn't help, either. He was a godslayer, after all… And that wasn't mentioning the fact something about this place reminded him of Merkabah.

Merkabah… He and Lucifer were surely still making plans to do numerous things… And Nanashi hadn't even been able to pass on what he knew before this happened…! Dammit, he hoped everyone else would be okay while he and his friends were gone…

“Hey there, buddy.” A hand on his shoulder made him jump, he could hear Dagda scoff. “Something on your mind?”

Standing next to him was Louis, in all his oddity. He was smiling, though the smile was clearly filled with concern. Nanashi couldn't help but feel bad for worrying the man.

“It's fine. I'm just kinda worried about Tokyo! Merkabah and Lucifer are up to who knows what right now and we're not there to help…” He kicked at the ground.

Louis’s eyes lit up with an emotion Nanashi couldn't quite place. “Lucifer, you say?”

“Yeah…” He pulled at his smartphone, pulling up an image he'd gotten of both beings from a broadcast. “That's Merkabah and that's Lucifer--”

“Impossible, there's no way that's Lucifer.”

“Huh?” Nanashi gave Louis a look, quirking an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing about him is right. How would he ever tempt those around him? How would he welcome the humans when they realize YHVH offers them nothing?” Louis pinched the bridge of his nose after his outburst. “I would never take on a form so hideous…”

“What?”

“What?”

“You said you'd never take on a form so hideous…” Nanashi frowned, reaching for his sword. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“I didn't say anything like that!” Louis tilted his head to the side innocently. “Are you alright?”

“Don't listen to him, kid. He's trying to trick you.”

Nanashi swallowed as Dagda spoke to him. “I'm alright and I know what I heard. Explain yourself, right now!”

Louis opened his mouth to speak, but his explanation didn't come. Any words he could've tried to say were drowned out by the voice of a woman, a yell full of anger.

“Tadano Hitonari!”

Everyone turned to the voice and standing there were the three people they'd all been trying to avoid up to this point. The two men of the trio stood to the sides as the woman stood front and center, demanding attention. The anger and hatred was clear on her face as she stared down Tadano.

“It doesn't matter how many you surround yourself with, this time it's over for you!” The woman's outfit changed, Nanashi sure he'd heard the suit say it was changing to combat mode.

This seemed really, really bad.

Chapter Text

The woman had wasted no time attacking them, and that lead to things going downhill very, very quickly. Tadano had braced himself and Naoki began to panic when he noticed the fact two men he’d mentioned as dangerous were here too. This was all making Nanashi not think about what he was doing at all…

His mind was racing, unsure of what to do. The woman was going right for Tadano, about ready to drive her lightsaber into his heart. Nanashi tried to will himself to move. He would be fine if he took the blow, Dagda would make sure of that, he should take the hit for Tadano--

But before he could, Tamaki threw herself in the way, dropping to the ground dead when the woman  pulled her sword back. Nanashi wanted to scream, fear and pain racing through his veins. This was like Nikkari and Manabu all over again…

Others were letting out yells and screams of fear, obviously nearly as or just as unsettled by it as Nanashi was. Asahi was sobbing, he was pretty sure Yuji was wretching… He couldn’t will himself to move before, and really couldn’t do it now.

He barely registered the fact all of Tamaki’s friends (as well as Nobu and Akira) didn’t seem that phased by her body falling limply to the floor. In fact, Yumi and Reiko took it upon themselves to start a retreat, pushing and pulling others out of the way. Charlie and Nobu ran to Tamaki’s dead body, heaving her up and heading for the rest of the group. Akira eventually began coaxing him away as well, taking a hit to the back as they went.

“Y-y-you’re hurt!” Asashi’s face was covered in snot and tears, sniffles louder than her voice. “A-And Miss Tamaki is dead. Oh my god…!”

Akira let out a hiss of pain, but shook his head. “It’ll be fine. I’ll just go soak in the Healing Springs when we get out.”

“B-but Miss Tamaki is…!” Asahi sobbed, finally burying her head in the shoulder of her adoptive brother. “Nanashi, what do we do?”

“Is it that shocking?” Dagda’s voice echoed in Nanashi’s mind. “That’s what the girl gets for looking out for someone other than herself. Nothing for you to cry over.”

Akira sighed, shaking his head. “If we’re lucky, her being dead doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter…?” Nanashi frowned up at Akira, head tilted to the side. “What do you mean by that.”

“...You’ll see.”

--

Kazuya stared down at Tamaki’s body, overwhelmed. People around him were dying again… And this time he had seen it as it happened. He wasn’t sure if that was better than finding out after the fact or not.

He was about to try and offer condolences to Reiko, Yumi, and Charlie when a bright light appeared. He watched, confused as it entered Tamaki’s body. Was this some sort of revival magic? He would have thought it had been too long to use something like that…

But no, it apparently wasn’t too late. It enveloped her and soon she was standing again, no wounds as if it had never happened. Kazuya would definitely be questioning how that was possible if it wasn’t for one thing. A figure had appeared for a moment before Tamaki stood again.

And that figure was him.

“W-what is that?”

“A Guardian!” Charlie grinned, nodding happily. “Looks like this place works like the Expanse.”

“A Guardian?” Yuka frowned, arms crossed against her chest. “What’s that?”

“It’s a spirit. They enter the body of humans when they’re in the Expanse, because we can’t actually die there.” Yumi spoke up, shrugging a bit. “We were trying to be careful until now, in case this place wasn’t like that, but… Looks like it is.”

“A spirit…” Kazuya furrowed his brow before walking up to Tamaki. “That means that spirit in you…”

“Looks like you?” Tamaki tilted her head to the side and gave a smile. “Yeah… That’s a bit weird, isn’t it? I dunno if I could explain it, though... I was actually hoping we wouldn't address it. Sorry!”

Kazuya frowned, scratching his head. This was all so confusing and, if he was being honest, made him wary of Tamaki. “Uh…”

“So does that mean all us humans would be okay if we died?” Hiroko rose an eyebrow, hands on her hips. “If so, it makes dying a little less scary…”

“Yes.” Reiko nodded a bit. “Though, non-humans should probably still try and avoid dying.”

“Yeah, only demon I know that doesn’t actually die is Akira… And that’s because he’s, uh, still Akira on top of being Amon too?” Nobu scratched his cheek. “I dunno how to explain it--”

“He’s Devilman.”

“Now is not the time for jokes like that!”

Kazuya sighed. “So… us humans and Akira can risk dying, but no one else can… And there’s a chance of Guardians looking like us, judging by Tamaki’s new one…” Could this get any weirder, or worse?

“G-guys…!” Asahi ran up, tears in her eyes as she and Nanashi drug a limp Akira into the group. “He bled out on the way up here, what do we-- Miss Tamaki?! How are you okay?”

Tamaki pointed at Akira. “You’ll see with him.”

The same light thing happened with Akira and, for just a moment, Kaxuya was pretty sure he saw Gotou, from before everything went apocalyptic. Well shit, there it was. It could indeed get worse.

...He just wanted to go home.

Chapter Text

Tamaki really did get why Kazuya was avoiding her, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. A girl gets a Guardian that seems to be you one time and you look at her like she’s gonna steal your soul… How totally unfair.

At least Yuka seemed a lot less phased by it. She was at least nice enough to spend time around Tamaki afterwards.

“I know you’re upset, but this is a lot for Kazuya to take in.” Yuka pat her back with a small smile. “Give him some time and I’m sure he’ll be talking to and going around you again… A-Akira, too.”

“Are you sure about that?” She looked over at her, trying to keep a pout from coming to her face.

“I’m sure!” Yuka gave her a sure smile and changed her patting to rubbing, a motion Tamaki honestly found soothing. “Kazuya has just been going through a lot, even before all of this started. It’s nothing against you personally.”

“If you say so.” Tamaki sighed, staring at the ground. “I just don’t want it to affect things, you know? We’re already having to pull back and regroup because we were attacked, but if he doesn’t wanna be near me or Akira…”

Yuka hummed. “I understand, but I promise things will turn out alright. If I have to, I’ll talk to him about it, alright?”

She thought for a moment. That sounded nice, Kazuya seemed to listen to Yuka. “Alright.”

--

When Flynn saw Zayin approach Gaston, he couldn’t help but be a bit worried. Zayin was quite the intimidating form and the way he was walking right now just made that more apparent. Gaston, however, held fast, looking straight ahead. Admirable, Flynn had to admit.

“Is there something you need from me?” Gaston was the first to speak up as Zayin came to a stop in front of him.

“I told you we would speak more on your betrayal of your kingdom later, didn’t I?” Zayin frowned, upset this apparent conversation wasn’t thought of as soon as he approached. “I’ve thought on it more and I want to say my piece.”

Gaston instantly became uncomfortable, shrinking in on himself a bit. “Is there really more for you to say?”

“Yes.” Zayin nodded. “After thinking on it, I truly can see your point of view.”

Gaston blinked a few times. “Is that so?”

“Indeed. While I cannot see myself betraying Millennium as it is, I would not hesitate to do what I must if it turned out they were not being true to God and His will!” He beat a hand against his chest as he spoke. “If this Merkabah isn’t doing the Lord’s work--”

“Ah, I never did say that was the case…” Gaston swallowed. “I truly have no clue if Lord Merkabah is as faithful to the lord as he says he is.”

Zayin’s passion seemed to fizzle out at that, replaced with confusion and some of what Flynn may call disgust. “...Then perhaps I cannot actually understand.”

Gaston closed his eyes and said nothing. A silence began to hang over them, thick enough to cut through with a sword if one so desired. Flynn watched on, worry growing for Gaston and Zayin’s mental states.

Eventually, Zayin turned to leave, excusing himself with a mutter. The was his shoulders tensed as he left struck some fear into Flynn. He was angry, and someone so big being angry didn’t seem like a good thing.

But Flynn would worry about that later, bring it up with Kazuya or perhaps Aleph. For now, he made his way to Gaston, placing a hand gingerly on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Gaston let out a shaky breath. “...I truly do not know.”

--

“I’m asking you please just try to see that this isn’t a situation where working on your own would be beneficial--”

“What would someone like you know about working alone? I’m sure when I say that others just hold you back.”

“Excuse me, but I used to fight in the Arena is Valhalla! I know plenty of fighting and training alone!”

Nanashi watched as Aleph and Dagda went back and forth, blinking. Aleph seemed to unperturbed by the demon looming over him as he spoke. In fact, he seemed almost scarily calm as he stared right back up at him.

“That so? Well, the boy’s my Godslayer, so don’t think that matters at all here.” Dagda leaned down and Aleph didn’t even flinch.

“...I do hate that name, Godslayer… But you do realize it won’t do you or he any good if you push him to abandon the help he has here, don’t you?” Aleph spoke again. “Your goals won’t come to fruition if you end up wandering endlessly this ‘Tokyo’ landscape!”

“You seem sure we won’t find a way out on our own.”

“That’s because I am.” Aleph squared his shoulders as he spoke. “Do you think you would have found any of the important items needed to find the end of that warehouse?”

“It might have taken us some time, but it would be doable.”

“What about the angels, then? Could you have handled the constant battery of them without others to help soften the blows?”

“The kid could take it. Even if it was too much, it isn’t hard to bring him right back from death’s door.” Dagda scoffed. “Nothing you say is going to convince me!”

“I can see that…” Aleph made a face. “Then I suggest you grit your teeth and bear it because I don’t plan on letting you lead this lost land any farther astray as long as we’re here.”

“Is that so?” Dagda continued to stare Aleph down. “I’d like to see you try.”

Nanashi couldn’t help but be worried as Dagda entered the smartphone again and left them alone. He grumbled about not believing a word Aleph said and they were soon enough truly alone.

“I’m sorry about that…” Aleph turned to him, an apologetic smile on his face. “I didn’t mean to cause such a fuss with him, especially since it’s often just you who can hear him.”

“Ah…!” He waved a hand in front of him. “It’s fine…!”

“Are you sure?” Aleph frowned, head tilted to the ground. “I--”

“Really, it’s fine!” Nanashi felt it might take some time to convince him… But he really didn’t think more worry would help anyone right now. Hopefully he could make it work.