Chapter Text
Ryan was shaking, quivering in all parts of his body as if that was what he was born to do. Every other action, every other breath, every other choice was sheer accident in place of his primary function: quaking in his bones in some Godforsaken corner. This just so happened to be exactly what Ryan was doing that very second.
His eyes were massive orbs focused on the only light source in the room—the demon box.
"Sh-Shane, why is it levitating? Wh-Why is it pointing at us? Shane?" He was actually crying.
Shane always had a reasonable explanation but at the moment he was silent and that terrified Ryan even more. Any other time Shane would have gotten a hearty chuckle from the way Ryan said his name but this was different. Everything that had lead up to this instant was different.
Shane made a mental note to go back to New Orleans and destroy that old lady selling tokens of the underworld in the form of cheap key chains. When Ryan had purchased the item it was just an archaic device that had been obsolete for eons but Ryan, being the natural sleuth, found a way to bring it back to life. He could hardly remember the last time he saw one but knew it had to be when he used it on that asshole Aaron. Shane knew he should have destroyed the woman's cart the second he recognized the demonic symbols etched into her shabby wheels but, as always, he was too late.
"Sh-Shane?"
The honest answer would be "No, Ryan. It's not pointing at us. It's pointing at me." but Shane couldn't bring himself to let the words out. He knew what saying that would mean. He knew what that would look like in Ryan's already frail eyes. Shane knew it would mean the end to the only fun he had enjoyed in the last ten thousand years and so he simply sucked his teeth and shrugged, "You know what? You got me."
The box was originally 1in x 1in but, thanks to the Latin words Ryan tripped over in his séance, it grew five times its size. It casted an disturbing red glow from the inside with a small hatch opened in both men's direction. Shane raced through a million different "logical" reasons for the events but before he could throw out something about chemicals Ryan cried out, "Oh fuck, it's me! It's fucking me isn't it! Fuck!"
"What?" Shane snapped his head in the man's direction.
Ryan had imploded. He was a curled little ball holding himself together as he cried in his hands, "The time lapses, the f-fucking picture, the dreams, the outbursts, the mood swings, the appetite! I'm the fucking demon, Shane! I don't know where, I don't know how but something is inside of me! It's been fucking with me and now it's t-taking me over!"
"What!? No!" Shane almost laughed but the sight was so pathetic it actually made him sad. He wanted to immediately shout out explanations to each example but the only answer he had was "Me, me, me, ME!" and he just could not do that yet.
"It's fucking true!" Ryan spit out, "I'm fucking sorry. I'm so sorry Shane. I-I put us both in danger so many times and a-all I wanted to do was help people. I'm so, so sorry Shane. I…"
He cut himself off and where he stopped Shane angrily replied, "You're not fucking possessed by a demon!"
"I know what I have to do."
Ryan slowly, nervously rose to his feet with his hand extended toward the box. His body inched closer as Shane starred at the stupidity of the man he had grown to care for. How dumb could one person be? He slapped Ryan's hand from the air and gripped it tight to force his eyes on him, "Do you realize what an idiot you are being right now? That box had one purpose: to capture demons. If a human touches that box it immediately incinerates them. If a demon touches that box? It incinerates their host and sends them back to the pearly darkness, alright? Even if you were a demon I'd never let you touch that thing—it's ridiculous."
"THIS ISN'T A FUCKING GAME!" Ryan sobbed, "I know you think I'm just one big fucking joke but it's true and I need to go before it takes over and I do something terrible! Before I hurt someone! Before I hurt you!"
"You aren't a fucking demon, Ryan! You aren't even possessed by one!"
"Then why is it looking at us, Shane?!"
"It's not looking at us!"
"Oh, for fucksake! It's looking at us!"
"It's not looking at us, Ryan!"
"Then who the fuck is it looking at!"
"It's looking at me!"
There is was. The breaking point. The end of what had been theirs.
Shane let go of the man's hand, "It's looking at me."
"N…No…No," he shook his head, returning back the corner.
"Yeah," Shane looked to the box and with a wave of his hand sent it flying backwards to smash against the wall. He expected to hear a scream the first time he admitted the truth but there was only silence in the blackened room. Shane snapped his fingers to produce a flame, "Ryan?"
He wasn't in the corner.
Shane furrowed his browns and turned, "Ry—"
Splash.
"FUCK!"
The holy water definitely burned.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Shane shouted as he used the sleeve of his pea coat to pat out the sizzling on his face.
"Y-You're a demon! You're a fucking demon! You've been a demon this whole fucking time!" Ryan raised the holy water gun once again but Shane twisted his hand and sent the holy water flying against the wall where the demon box was. "OH GOD! HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"
"Calm down," Shane rolled his eyes as he watched Ryan back into the corner furthest from him, "If I wanted to hurt you I would have done it by now."
"You've been hurting me this whole time!"
"What are you talking about? I've done no such thing!"
"You've been fucking with me, you've been toying with me, you've been pretending to be my friend so you can what? Feed off my fear you sick fuck?"
Shane scoffed, "Feed off your fear? What do you think I am? A Reptilian?"
Ryan gasped.
"No, no, no. I'm just joking. They aren't real…well…the way this dimension has perceived them isn't real."
"How the fuck have you been pretending to be my friend and you've been a demon this whole time?"
Shane shook his head, "I haven't been pretending. I really am your friend."
"You can't be a friend! You're a demon!"
"Can you just stop shouting that word around? I get the point. Yes. You know I am a demon."
"What? Does it insult you? DEMON."
Shane was tempted to show him what a demon truly was but knew he couldn't react so quickly. If Ryan had taught him anything it was patience—patience he had to extend for his friend. He let out a sigh, "Why don't we get out of here so I can explain everything to you. We can go to that diner you like. The haunted one."
"What haunted di—AHHHHH. IT IS HAUNTED YOU LYING FUCK!"
Ryan rushed for the holy water gun but just as he did Shane made the plastic dissolve so that the holy water seeped into the area around it.
"WHAT TH—Wait…what are you doing to the box?"
"I'm not doing that to the box."
The box that had once held a freakish red glow was suddenly an eerie green as it vibrated against the floor. Shane looked to Ryan with a raised brow as if to ask "what did your demonic research tell you about this one?"
Ryan immediately replied, "I-I read briefly about something like this."
"And?"
"A-And you're the demon! Shouldn't you know?"
"Ryan, last week you told me you thought George Washing Carver invented the telephone."
"That was once! AND I WAS HIGH!"
"Alright," Shane dismissed, "What did your research say?"
"It said that when it glows this color…it's working in reverse."
"WAAAHHHHHAAHAHA I AM FREE."
As a demon, Shane had an ability that allowed him to determine the strength of all supernatural beings. It had been roughly 6,427 years since he had met a being that was stronger than he was but the burst from the box radiated an essence that was all powerful. It had been roughly been 6,427 years since Shane had felt fear and so he had no idea how to behave. The signature Bergara Shaking was already taken by the man in the corner which left Shane very few options on how to respond. He supposed that freezing in the moment was the best way to gather information while he shit himself continually.
"Is that Shane?"
Fuck, "Yeah…yeah, it's me."
"How's it been, man?" Aaron asked.
"Uhh…" Shane looked to Ryan then shrugged, "It's been good. You been locked in there for uh…"
"Almost 6,500 years. Is that your human there?"
Shane didn't have enough time to get into the details of his relationship with Ryan and so he nodded, "Yeah…that's my human."
"Cool…cool. I'm gonna kill him."
"Now, Aaron, you know the ru—"
Aaron's dusty claw surrounded Shane's throat as he growled, "You know what happens when you're locked in a demon box?"
The claw around his neck made it impossible to move, "No."
"Nothing. Nothing happens. You sit in endless nothing and so while you're sitting in endless nothing I want you to remember my promise to you, Shane. I'm going to kill your human and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Uhh…Demon…Sir? I don't know this man or demon. We are not affiliated. I would just like to go home now."
Shane leaked out a choked laugh, "Ryan, clearly he doesn't have time for your jokes. Aaron, I think there's a better way we can sort this."
"Yeah…but I like this way."
Aaron threw Shane against the demon box as he turned to shadow and tackled Ryan into nothingness. Shane was just a blip and then he was a reddish glow that sunk into the oblivion of black. Ryan was gone and he was trapped for what seemed like eternity.
Shane knew he had to break out of the demon box and quick. There were rules to harming the human of higher-level demons and so that gave Ryan some time before he was skinned alive. The terrified look in his eyes created a chill in the vast nothingness of the demon box Shane was confined to.
That wasn't even the worst part! The worst part was yet to come.
Ryan's annoying voice saying "I told you ghosts were real" after Shane inevitably saved him.
But first, he had to find a way to get out of this fucking box.