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“Yes!” Ryo’s eyes sparkled as Akira fist dug into his stomach and sent him flying back. His body slammed against the concrete wall and left a dent there. Ryo felt his mouth crack up into a slim smile. His ribs were cracked, his face was dripping with his golden blood. But damn if he had felt this alive when he was trapped in that goddamn prison of flesh.
Akira was drooling, his spit flying everywhere as he screamed and yelled in pain. Ryo felt his eyes shimmer. This is what he wanted, for Akira to embrace Amon’s instincts and let his demon soul be the driving force within him. They could figure out how to get his empathy back later, it wasn’t like Jenny hadn’t taught a million other demons before.
That wasn’t what mattered right now though- right now all Ryo wanted was for Akira to finally abandon his ties to being human, to accept he belonged here now, with them, with his fellow demons. And if it took a few punches to get there, so be it.
Ryo could take a beating if it meant it would bring Akira closer to him, if it meant the boy would finally belong entirely to him. It was easy to take actually. Each blow filled him with love and excitement. The blood that dripped into his mouth was coppery and warm, it made his saliva shimmer with it's golden glitter, it made his mouth fill with the taste of the ambrosia he was made of.
He had to hold his wings still to not fly around in glee- even holding himself back they fluttered slightly. Akira noticed with a horrible sneer, throwing something or the other down in a rage as he yelled again.
“Stop enjoying this! Stop being happy! I want to see you suffer Ryo!” Akira’s bitter acidic words only made Ryo’s smile grow wider, his bruised face looking up towards the demon’s beautiful dark eyes with a sharp smile.
“There's nothing you could do now that would leave me in pain Akira.” Nothing could hurt Ryo anymore, this was all he wanted, all he could ask for. Even if he never managed to calm Akira down and the other managed to somehow kill him… he wouldn’t be all that upset…
“You can rather kill me and save me from this suffering, this eternal hell, or stay with me forever.” Ryo remembered some of his less than ideal timelines, he knew the pain that lied in front of him if he fought back. But if he just sat here, he could stay with Akira forever. Nothing could bring them apart, there’d be nowhere for Akira to go…
Even if he didn’t love him Ryo would be perfectly fine just having Akira by his side. Smiling piteously he looked at Akira with an expression that was almost apologetic.
“Either way I win Akira.” The demon lit up with that, his face turning a horrible angry tomato red that was somehow still visible through his dark blue skin. His mouth twisted into the thin line of a scowl as he moved out of his attack position, moving to face somewhere else. To look at anything but Ryo.
Finally Ryo’s smile began to slip. What was he looking at? He tried to bend subtly to the side and see what Akira was seeing. What was even there for him to see? There was nothing but the fiery expanses of a newly made hell. Ryo was the only thing left worth looking at here, hell, before all this happened he had been the only thing worth Akira’s time, the only one who could care for him.
Shaking off the distracting, anger ridden thoughts Ryo moved to get closer to the devil in front of him. His feet were soft and quiet against the ground, but the sound of his wings shifted alerted Akira to his movement, making the devil spin back towards him to stare at him with hellfire. Ryo couldn’t help but melt, lovestruck under the gaze, ah… all he needed in life was those eyes on him.
All Akira’s muscles were taught, holding himself back from fighting, from trying to rip Ryo limb from limb. Ryo’s mouth twitched back into a smile as he looked at the boy’s tense form. Akira was so beautiful before his transformation, after… he was just a work of art. Ryo couldn’t get enough.
Unfortunately the silence ended, and when Akira finally gave his response Ryo had to stop his appreciation to focus on what he would say.
“I could leave you alone.” Ryo’s mouth dropped into an unimpressed frown. He didn’t like where this was going at all. Even though he had thought this through a million times and knew there was nothing else Akira could do those words made him nervous. Anxious. What was the demon thinking? Why hadn’t he just given up already? Why did he never give up? Ryo wasn’t even his enemy, why did he fight so hard?
Akira looked like he was in pain, he was shrinking back down into his mostly human form and Ryo’s confusion grew. Taking a few steps towards Akira he felt his heart twist a bit when the man took the same steps back away from him. He had known this going in, he had known Akira would run away at first… he could handle it.
Taking a deep breath Ryo finally let out his quiet question.
“And go where?” Neither of them carried angry tones anymore, and while that should’ve been a relief to Ryo he found himself growing a bit queasy and upset. It was too soon for Akira to drop all his anger. What had happened? Trying to get close once again Akira only turned away, repeating those horrid words that burnt Ryo’s ears once more.
“I could leave you alone.” Suddenly Ryo realized what he meant, but it was far too late. the demon’s claws dug into his stomach and after a quick flinch, began ripping at himself. Ryo felt so much all at once he couldn’t even put a word to it, he kicked off the ground in a running start, letting his wings rush him to Akira’s side.
His hands desperately grabbed at Akira’s own, trying to get a grip on the other’s sticky blood soaked hands and pull them away, to stop Akira from wounding himself any further. Tears rushed down his face as he tried to overcome the demon’s brute strength and hold him back. There was too much blood, his grip wasn’t strong enough, he couldn’t get a good enough hold to stop him for even a second.
Pressing there bodies together Ryo swung his arms around the others neck, trying to use his body weight to pin the others hands down. He was getting desperate, trying any and everything that came to mind to stop him.
“No you can’t! Just kill me! Don’t leave me here!” He didn’t care how pathetic he sounded begging a mere human to kill him. How could he be upset when it was Akira’s life he was bargaining for? He’d do anything for his demon, even face death in his place.
He just didn’t want to be left alone again, he didn’t want to feel that pain he just knew God was waiting for everytime. Just once why couldn’t Akira be the one to kill him? Why did the demon have to so soft with him? Losing against Akira wouldn’t even feel like that much of a loss, he could handle losing if it was by the other boy’s hands.
“You're right, whoever lives here will be the loser. They’ll be trapped here forever.” Akira stopped, he finally pulled his hands out from under Ryo, away from his stomach and wrapped them warmly against Ryo’s waist. As he looked up at the boy’s fading eyes he saw a small smile creep up Akira face, one that said;
‘I won, I hurt you, I made you suffer.’ Ryo’s eyes flooded with tears. He didn’t care about any of that, for once he didn’t care about winning.
“Akira! Akira don’t!” the demon stilled, his hands going limp, falling back down to his sides. Ryo suddenly found himself being saddled with the full weight of Akira and Amon, his legs shook as he struggled to fall to the ground without dropping his demon.
Once the majority of Akira’s weight was supported by the ground, Ryo went back to trying to hold onto him. Grabbing onto the boy’s face he tilted it upwards, staring down into his greyish tinged eyes.
Ryo could hear his heart break.
No… He had done it perfectly this time! He hadn’t raised his hand to actually fight once… he had let the demon act out however he wanted and just adapted his plans to Akira’s actions… He had tried so hard! Letting a whimper out Ryo folded himself and all his wings around the demon protectively.
Not again… please not again… He couldn’t leave him again…. He couldn’t handle it anymore…