Prologue.

They are created by the negative wishes of mankind. Creatures, monsters. Demons. At least, that is what they are called. They aren't from Hell nor do they swallow souls or even follow after the words of Satan. No, they are the epitome of dark wishes. For when people wish to have money to make others jealous, those that wish for the death of others. They take many forms; blobs of no shape, something that can resemble various animals, or for the more powerful, human.

Demons are known to harbor only negative feelings towards humanity, terrorizing the very beings that created them. Humans are left unable to fight back due to every demon's common ability to regenerate at impossible speeds. The death of one demon most often results in the death of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of humans and impossible amounts of money and weapons. There is one hope left for humanity, however.

Only those that take a human shape have the ability to reproduce, though only through the help of another human. What they create is known as a half-demon. These combinations share the regeneration speed of demons, along with other common attributes; increased strength and speed, improved senses, etc. What they do not share with demons, however, is the innate sense to terrorize humanity. They hold a human soul and a heart.

It was discovered not long ago that half demons share another attribute with demons; wishes. While demons are created through negative wishes, half-demons hold a compelling interest in wishes, negative or otherwise. Should a half-demon sense a wish strong enough that resonates with them and the human holding that wish, a contract will be made between the two. This creates a 'team' of sorts. It is these teams that most commonly fight the demons, giving the human race a fighting chance. Granted, there are many teams created from negative wishes that take after the demons themselves.

A half-demon's strength will depend on the strength of his/her parents. The most common occurrence of half-demons comes from a half-demon and a human, creating a somewhat weaker, more fragile version. 'Pure' half-demons come from a demon and a human and are immensely strong. There are many other combinations that have not been researched but are undoubtedly possible; half-demon and demon, half-demon and half-demon, 'quarter' demon (if you will) and demon. The possibilities are endless.

Most half-demons are heavily discriminated against. Their attributes are fairly easy to see; blood red eyes, abnormally large canines, and an immensely muscular physique, regardless of gender. Most half-demons hold the ability to 'suppress' their demon side, giving them human features, though losing their demonic abilities.

Due to this discrimination, partners of half-demons, commonly spotted due to an image ingrained onto the bodies of both halves of the partnership and commonly called 'Hunters', are also treated poorly, despite the effort put in place to keep humanity safe.

Alfred yawned. Nothing he hadn't read before. It was all old news. He'd read through all of the basics, they were so easy to find, after all. But what he really wanted, what he needed, was nowhere to be found. It didn't matter what library he looked into, what bookstore or museum he broke into or stole from. The important information wasn't anywhere he could access.

He stretched at the table he was occupying, taking up nearly all of the space, considering his build. Everyone made a wide arc around him, the guy who was obviously a half-demon. Alfred didn't bother to hide it. What was the point? Especially because the demons that went after him seemed to go haywire whenever he showed his 'weak', human side. Alfred didn't think that he looked like much. He didn't have a lot of money to look like much, anyway. A plain, dirty, smelly, used-to-be-white T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans along with really worn-out converse that were so faded they didn't even look like they had black on them anymore. They were back from the last time he had money because he was absolutely certain he would never steal again.

Alfred knew his hair was a mess, especially considering he hadn't even seen a mirror in months. He probably looked like he had no sleep because he really was running on three hours from the past three days. But, still, his red eyes shone brightly, broadcasting his 'freakiness' to the world. No one came near him, they were afraid. Terrified. That he was anything like his parents.

Alfred stood up, apparently so suddenly that it made half of the nerds in the library jump out of their skin. He put his books back where he found them and quietly made his way out. He wasn't about to give any human a chance to demonize him any further. It was raining outside. The classic gray, dreary drizzle that soaked everything in seconds. People walked around him in a wide berth, not going near him because he just might kill them or something.

It was getting late. Alfred yawned again. Maybe it would do him some good to get another few hours of sleep before he continued his search. Maybe the next town over would have a book about some of the demons in the world. There are a few of them, Alfred had found them. They talked about 'classifications' or something, giving animal labels to the animal shaped ones, giving vague, scientific names to the others. But there was nothing on the humanoid ones. Alfred clenched his fists tightly. He had to find out as much as possible.

He walked calmly through the streets, ignoring the people that ran through the rain to find their own cab, go off to their own lives. He finally reached a highway overpass where he could see a small bundle of homeless people. Alfred didn't hesitate to plop down. He felt like he could fall asleep at any second, really. A good rest was exactly what he needed.

Alfred's eyes weren't even closed for a whole minute before he felt a fist slam into the back of his head. Alfred winced.

"Ya fuckin' freak!"

"Get the hell out of here!"

"Fuck you!"

"Go kill someone else!"

"No one wants your demons here!"

Alfred winced with every kick to his side, every punch to his head or face. He healed quickly, but the spurts of pain were hard to ignore. He saw one of them pull out a knife.

"Fine, I'll leave," Alfred stood up suddenly, enough of a shock to make everyone move away from him. "Sorry for disturbing you."

He walked back into the rain, wiping some of the blood off of his face from where someone punched him extra hard. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, clenching his fists tightly as he walked through the rain. He just wanted to sleep for once…But he knew what that meant when he was a half-demon. No one wanted him around, they'd rather see him dead, like that was gonna happen anytime soon…

Ivan was studying late into the night. It was beyond studying for tests to get some stupid grade. This was for the sake of knowledge to help him kill all of them. All of the damn demons that infested the world. He was going to do it, kill all of them. Despite what everyone else said.

His eyes started to burn and he rubbed at them. He couldn't sleep yet. He still had to finish the new textbook they'd given him that day. He was so close to being done, too. He made it past page 1500 just a little bit ago…

He was in training to be a Hunter, to kill the demons that threatened the Earth. It was his older sister that had found this…school or whatever that helped people interested in perhaps being a Hunter. Students learned about demons, studying all of the different types and learning their weaknesses. There was only a single draw back.

Ivan didn't want to be a Hunter. A Hunter fought with a half-demon, with the very things that Ivan hated. There was no difference between a half-demon and what they were born from, the damn demons that were powerful enough to masquerade as humans. Ivan knew plenty of students at the school that had…made their wishes and contracted their half-demons. They were 'friends', they were 'friendly'. Ivan didn't trust any of them for a damn minute, regardless of the smiles and fake happiness. They were all demons on the inside.

Ivan slammed the book shut. He wasn't going to finish it anytime soon. He was far too exhausted. He looked up from his desk and looked at the bed just waiting for him to sleep in. The school paid for him to have his own apartment. Just across the hall was a mostly empty room, save for a bed. The school was just…waiting for him to make his damn wish and find a damn half-demon to work with.

Because apparently the only thing to kill a demon was a half-demon. Which Ivan knew was bullshit. He'd killed plenty of demons, granted, they were low level, but he still killed them himself. It just took effort. He didn't need a half-demon to be strong. He was strong enough on his own.

Just as Ivan stood, his phone buzzed on his desk. He sighed and picked it up. It was a text. Only a very few amount of people knew how to contact him and neither of his sisters should be awake at this time. So that meant it was someone from the school. Ivan glanced at it, nodding before sending his reply. It was another assignment, a low level one fit for students like him. 'Helpless' students that still didn't have a wish to grant.

Ivan laid down on the bed, his mind and body far too ready for sleep to take him.

The prologue is shorter than most chapters are going to be. There just wasn't a lot I could do before the main action got started. Anyway, welcome to my new fic! I'm like super stoked. The idea for this fic morphed from me watching Black Bullet, but I fine-tuned a lot of things while re-watching Blue Exorcist, so there you go.

Anyway, as for pairings, obviously it's RusAme/AmeRus (because they do some fluctuating in this), but there will also be side PruCan and GerIta. There is also FrUK, but it is going to be a fairly unhealthy relationship, but that's because of things that will happen in the future.

Also, ages! I will tell you everyone's ages as they show up. Alfred is 17 and Ivan is 16.

Warnings for the fic, because they are necessary this time around. This is pretty dark and intense, so here we go. There's some pretty hefty mentions of child abuse that will go on later, obviously, considering we have children being born from creatures that seek only to destroy. There will be death mentions. Not a lot of main character death, but there's some big mentions. I'll put warnings at the beginning of chapters that will have anything possibly triggering, but consider this the first big warning. There'll be a fair amount of blood as well as weapons, such as guns. This is going to be a really heavy fic.

Other than that, that's all I've got. I'll see you all next time around.

And I do not own Hetalia, in case you were worried.