When Alfred awoke, the first thing he noticed was that he had a slight headache. This he didn't mind however, as he was much too exhausted to really care much for anything. Instead, he just wanted to resume to sleeping in the warm softness that almost seemed to surround him. Yet, there was something he couldn't quite recall at that moment that he thought would be important. After all, Alfred could almost immediately tell that something wasn't right. Therefore, he decided to open his eyes in an attempt to not only force himself to wake up, but to start investigating what was going on around him.

He was in a bedroom. He knew for sure that it couldn't have been his, as everything within it seemed to be neat and organized. Not that Alfred had a messy room himself; he just didn't really care for making sure that there wasn't a single object in his room that was out of place. He knew that this couldn't have been a friend's room either. After all, Alfred didn't really have any friends aside from his roommate. It wasn't that he was incapable of making any friends. Unfortunately, after that one incident that had happened between him and his brother while he was still in high school, Alfred had suddenly become afraid of growing close to another person. This all stemmed from his sudden fear of causing something horrible to happen to any individual that became close to him. He'd even been reluctant to be friends with his roommate.

Then, Alfred began to remember the events of what had happened before he'd passed out. Everything from the dog with empty eye sockets to the demon carrying him over a giant pit of fire and then later cornering him (or at least, that was how Alfred saw it). At first, Alfred hoped that all of that was just some horrible nightmare, and that he once again, might have somehow forgotten what his bedroom looked like. Even if that wasn't a very realistic thing to hope for, as it wasn't very common at all for one to forget about how their bedroom looked, he still believed that if this 'nightmare' was somehow his reality, he would have already been experiencing some sort of horrible torture. Not lying down on some large, comfortable bed.

However, Alfred's remaining faith in the situation immediately faded, as he saw the demon he'd seen in his 'nightmare' suddenly open the door and enter the bedroom. Alfred frantically looked around, as he tried to figure out a way he could escape from the room. Much to his adversity, the demon almost immediately seemed to have him cornered, as he was almost standing right next to Alfred in a matter of seconds. Before the demon was able to say anything, Alfred promptly backed away from the intimidating (at least appearance wise) humanoid until his back was straight against the wall.

The first thing Alfred told himself was that there was no way any good could come from this situation. He was cornered in a bedroom, on a bed, with a demon that seemed a bit too interested in him at the moment. Sure, to anyone else, the demon wouldn't have necessarily been considered to have a hungry glare upon his face. Yet due to the confusion and fear Alfred had been experiencing ever since he ended up in Hell, that was the only feeling he could interpret from the demon. Especially due to where he was at that moment. Besides, he'd always been told that demons practically represent every horrible characteristic a human could possibly posses. Sure, there was a possibility that none of that was true, yet Alfred believed that in order to avoid being in even more shock, it would be best to go along with such a pessimistic view rather than an optimistic one. Besides, what did he know about the afterlife?

A frown made it's way upon the demon's face as he witnessed the humans sudden reaction towards his appearance. Deciding that he didn't want the human to continue to be afraid of him, he crawled onto the bed so that he could be closer to the human. Then, he reached out an arm so that he would be able to gently run his fingers through Alfred's blonde hair. However, as soon as his hand came close to Alfred's head, the human immediately shut his eyes tightly and cringed, as if he was expecting to be hit. Therefore, the demon decided to start speaking to the human with the most soothing voice he could muster, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

Alfred didn't respond to this reassurance. Yet, despite the lack of reaction, the demon decided to touch the human's hair; and the only thing he achieved from doing so was a loud whimper. Eventually, after a while of having his hair stroked, Alfred dared to open his eyes. Tears began to develop within his azure orbs as he quietly begged, "Please, stop touching me."

The demon complied; figuring that it would probably be best to listen to the human and respect his personal space if he wanted him to feel safe. However, it didn't seem as if obeying the human's request helped, as Alfred was beginning to gain some worrying thoughts as to what the demon might do to him. Thoughts such as, He's probably going to gouge both of my eyes out and make me eat them. or, Maybe he'll even cut me open and relocate my organs! Alfred nearly sobbed at the last thought. However, in his attempt to keep the sobs from pouring out of his mouth, he was still unable to keep a few tears from escaping his eyes and sliding down his cheeks. Eventually, after a while of trying to keep most of the crying in, a few nearly mute sobs began to shake his body.

The sight of Alfred crying only gave the demon the urge to start holding the human. To him, it seemed as if leaving the human be only intensified his fear. Sure, the demon was aware of the fact that because of what he was, his presence was definitely not helping, but what could he really do about that? Alfred was going to be living a completely different life from the one he once knew, and he was eventually going to have to accustom to the fact that he was going to be around demons. It wasn't as if demons were the worst creatures he was going to come across either. Sure, some demons absolutely hated humans, and a few of those demons would even go as far as to ignore the law set in place to protect humans and harm them anyways. As horrible as that was, those demons were nothing compared to what some extremely powerful beasts were capable of. Fortunately, such beasts would keep to themselves, and only attacked if someone trespassed on what they considered their territory. Still, even if a pack of hungry hell hounds couldn't even hope to compare to those powerful beasts, it would still probably be best for Alfred to have a demon protect him. Even if a demon was unable to handle a pack of hell hounds, at least one would be able to fly Alfred away from those vile creatures.

Despite the fact that something was telling the demon that it wouldn't be wise to start holding the human, he decided to ignore this gut feeling, as he was no longer able to resist the urge to comfort him. Therefore, he wrapped his arms around Alfred's form. Unfortunately, this caused an immediate reaction from Alfred, as he screeched, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ME!"

Before Ivan could react, a fist flew at his cheek; causing pain to flood through what seemed to be half of his face. After a few seconds though, the pain dulled, and decided to only be present within the area he was hit. While the demon placed both of his hands on the now abused area of his face, he couldn't help but tremble with anger towards the aggression being shown towards him. However, the sudden bout of rage immediately subsided. Only to be replaced with that of sympathy towards the human when Alfred gave him a look full of undeniable guilt. Then, new tears glistened in his eyes as he said in a voice that was nearly inaudible, "I'm sorry."

After saying this, the human hid his face into his legs, and covered up his head with his arms, as if he was preparing for a full on beating. Due to this reaction, the demon couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for ever being angry with the human. The human was only scared and confused. He was only trying to protect himself. It wasn't as if his goal at the moment was to hurt the demon.

Since all of his other attempts failed, the demon decided that it would probably be best to show how harmless he truly was by silently sitting next to the human. Perhaps if he just sat there in the humans presence, and tried to show no interest in him, the human would eventually realize that he could trust the demon. Maybe even doing something as innocent as reading a book while sitting next to the human would help. Therefore, the demon decided to pick up a book that he'd left on the nightstand, and began to read.

By the time he'd finished reading a few pages, he heard the bedroom door creak open. The demon decided to look over to see what was opening the door wider from it's previous, ajar state, only to find his dog, a golden retriever with empty eye sockets, nudging it open with it's nose. Of course, no one knew whether or not a dog with empty eye sockets in Hell would be able to see, as most impairments that creatures had when they ended up here seemed to fade away. Dogs, for whatever reason, just happened to have some horrifying physical trait to them when they died and moved on to their after life, or so the humans always said so. Many dogs in this world ended up having no eyes. Whether or not that made them blind in a world that obviously seemed to have some magic in it didn't seem to matter at all, as it was a fact known by some that a dog's sense of hearing and smell could easily replace that of sight.

As soon as the dog lifted up it's head in order to sniff the air, it immediately began to wag it's tail, as if it recognized Alfred. Of course, the demon just put this off as the pooch being it's friendly self. It was certainly no surprise to him that the dog was so excited that it decided to jump onto the bed in order to greet Alfred. of course, the human was not at all thrilled to see the dog, as when he lifted up his head in order to make eye contact with those empty eye sockets, he immediately screamed. Then, he shoved the dog so hard that the poor pooch almost stumbled off of the bed, and exclaimed, "Stay away from me!"

The demon nearly gasped when he saw the human do this. It was definitely not a good sign that the human was frightened to the point where he would shove, and possibly harm an innocent dog. Even if that softhearted puppy did happen to have empty eye sockets. As tempted as the demon was to restrain the human that seemed to have no control over his unpredictable, violent acts, he decided not to risk having the human hyperventilate until he passed out again, and instead began to gently tug on the dogs collar so that any harm done to it from the human could be prevented. However, despite the demon's efforts to hold the dog back (he didn't want to pull too hard on it's collar), seemed to fail. Even when he resorted to holding the dog by the part of it's chest right behind it's front legs, the dog still slowly managed to approach Alfred until it was finally able to slip from the demon's arms. The demon watched in horror as the human began to lash out when the dog approached him.

Fortunately, the dog had immediately managed to find a way to pin the humans legs and arms down with it's paws, so that it would be able to lick his cheeks. However, the demon didn't let his guard down, as the human was still crying out in protest. Eventually though, the demon was able to relax, and just let the dog do as it pleased. After all, the dog's affection had quickly quieted the human's protest, a sign that he was finally calming down a bit. Once all of the tears had been licked off of the human's cheeks, the dog freed Alfred's arms, and began to nuzzle one of his hands in hopes of receiving a decent scratch behind it's ears. The human complied to the silent, yet hopeful request, and the dog ended up tilting it's head into the human's hand.

Meanwhile, Alfred felt a warmth grow in his stomach while he stroked the dog. He couldn't help but find the way that the dog acted and how it looked to be quite familiar. He'd once had a golden retriever with dark blonde fur such as this one. He missed her quite a bit too. Alfred hated watching as the diabetes made his dog less and less perky. He hated how the dog had eventually gone blind. Most of all, he hated how the dog had eventually obtained horrible hips, and soon had to be euthanized due to the pain she was in. Alfred remembered bawling his eyes out for days after his best friend was killed, but at least that friend was no longer suffering. One thing was for sure though; it was unfair how short a dog's life was.

Alfred examined the dog's ears, in order to search for the small tear that his dog had on her left ear, and sure enough, it was there. Then, in order to clarify if this really was his dog, he decided to ask, "Goldie, is that you?"

The dog's tail went wild at the mention of this name; giving Alfred a clear message that this was, in fact, his dog. An overwhelming wave of bittersweet euphoria prevented Alfred from questioning, or even caring about the fact that a sweet creature such as Goldie ended up in Hell, and instead pulled the dog into a tight embrace as she resumed to licking his face. Her tail still wagged quite vigorously while Alfred told her, "Hey, I missed you girl."

After the demon let Alfred and Goldie have their moment, he finally decided to speak up, "I guess I'm going to have to start calling her Goldie, then."

Alfred flinched when he heard the demon's voice. He'd completely forgot that he was still in the same room as the demon. Now trembling, Alfred decided to respond in a way that he hoped wouldn't anger the demon, "If you want."

The demon seemed to ignore the human's sudden bout of fear as he asked, "By the way, what's your name?"

"A-Alfred."

"Do you mind if I just call you Fredka?"

Alfred shook his head no, in the fear of what the demon might do if he even hinted out the possibility that he might not be okay with the name. The demon gave Alfred a warm smile, and then said, "I'm Vanya, but Ivan might be easier for you to remember. Seeing as English seems to be your primary language, da?"

Alfred couldn't help but be a bit stumped by the question. What in the world was da supposed to mean? To him, it just sounded as if Ivan had made a stupid noise once he was finished speaking. Usually, he would have laughed if someone did that, yet Alfred was of course, still afraid of the demon, and instead decided to ask in a respectful manner, "Uh, what's 'da' supposed to mean?"

"It means 'yes' in Russian."

At this response, Alfred felt his face heat up with embarrassment as he thought, I should have been able to guess that. Then, when he decided to reply, he still refused to give the demon any eye contact as he answered the previous question, "English is the only language I can speak."

There was a moment of silence, before Ivan finally stated, "You are probably very hungry right now. Why don't you come with me to the kitchen? I can make you something to eat."

At the mention of food, Alfred began to realize just how hungry he really was. However, Alfred decided to ignore his stomach's constant begging, as he told the demon, "No thanks, I'm not really hungry right now."

"Fredka, you don't need to feel nervous. You are going to have to eat something eventually."

Despite the fact that his traitor stomach was aching with hunger, in an attempt to make him accept the food offer, Alfred still declined, "Really, I don't think I can stomach anything right now."

Of course, the demon was able to see right through the lie. However, he decided not to acknowledge it, and instead continued on with his persuasion, "Maybe you just don't know that your hungry right now. Come to the kitchen anyways. I can give you something small. Maybe that will help you gain your appetite."

Alfred complied, as it didn't seem as if the demon was going to let him not eat. However, when he began to walk out of the bedroom with Ivan, he felt a sudden dizzy spell hit him. Alfred tried to use the wall for support. Yet, nothing he did to try and regain his balanced seemed to work, as soon enough, he was sitting on the floor. Ivan seemed to have noticed that there was something wrong with the human, as he asked, "Fredka, are you okay?"

"Yes," Alfred answered, as he tried his best to stand up once more; only to end up on the floor again as his legs seemed to be too weak to support his own weight. Ivan gave him a look of sympathy as he stated, "You must still be feeling weak from entering this world. That's okay. I can just carry you."

A jolt of fear spread through Alfred as Ivan leaned down so that he would be able to lift him up. Before the demon could even lift him up into his arms, Alfred immediately backed away from him. The demon frowned at this and tried to reassure him, "Nyet, don't be scared. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you."

Alfred immediately stopped moving after hearing this. What would've been the point of trying to escape anyways? He was too weak to do anything but comply to what the demon wanted him to do. Besides, how many time would he be able to get away with hitting the demon? Taking the human's lack of movement as a sign that it was okay for him to pull him into his arms, Ivan decided to place one arm on the backs Alfred's knees, so that his legs could be supported. Then he wrapped the other arm around the upper part of Alfred's torso before telling the human, "Wrap your arms around the base of my neck, so that you'll be easier to carry."

Once again, Alfred did as he was told. Then, Ivan stood up so that he could begin to carry Alfred into the kitchen. Once they were half way there, Ivan asked Alfred, "This isn't so bad, is it?"

Alfred couldn't help but shake his head no in order to express his agreement. In all honesty, he sort of did feel a bit more relaxed while he was being carried. Since when was the last time someone was willing to carry him? He was so used to having to walk everywhere or ride in a vehicle that he forgot the bliss of being carried by another human (or a human-like creature, in this case). Especially if that certain someone may have been stronger than him. He enjoyed the feeling of being able to rest his head on the demon's warm shoulder. Alfred was sure that as long as the demon wasn't carrying him across a giant fire pit, as he had last time, he would always feel safe in this position.

By the time Ivan had made it to the kitchen, Alfred couldn't help but be disappointed when the demon decided to set him down in a chair at the table. However, when Ivan presented him with an apple, he couldn't help but feel a bit gleeful. Since being carried by the demon seemed to make him forget about his fear, and since his hunger was becoming unbearable, he greedily grabbed the apple from the demon's hand, and began to take large bites from it. Ivan didn't seem to mind the greedy behavior, though. At least the human wasn't rejecting the food. Since Alfred seemed to be quite happy with eating his apple, Ivan couldn't help but let a smile grow on his face as he retrieved some matches one of the kitchen drawers. Then, as he was about to light one of the matches so that he could light the scented candle on his table, Alfred caught sight of the match and cried out, "Don't!"

Ivan flinched, and whipped his head towards Alfred, only to find that the human was now trembling and staring at him fearfully. Frowning at the sight, Ivan decided to ask, "What's wrong?"

"P-please don't light that match."

He must be afraid of fire, Ivan mused, as he placed the match back into the box it came from, Something horrible must have happened to him. Usually people aren't so afraid of fire that they freak out over someone lighting a candle. By the time Ivan had placed the matches back in the drawer they came from, he turned to find that Alfred was still staring fearfully at him. Ivan sighed at this, and decided to walk over to Alfred so that he could pull him into a hug. Then, he told him in a voice that was almost a whisper, "It's okay. I put the matches away so they can't hurt you. I promise that this place isn't going to catch on fire."

Ivan held Alfred until his trembling finally died down. Then, he looked down at the apple in his hands to find that the only thing that remained of it was a core. Ivan figured that the human must have been really hungry, as he hadn't seen him take a bite out of the apple after he'd spotted the match. Therefore, that left him with a very short amount of time to eat the apple. Ivan pinched the apple's stem with two finger's, and then told Alfred, "I'll take care of this for you."

Then, once the apple core was taken care of, Ivan asked, "Are you still hungry."

Before the match incident, after he'd finished his apple, Alfred had still been quite hungry. However, after being frightened, that hunger had immediately subsided. Now the apple, to him, seemed to be plenty. This time, when Alfred declined the demon's offer for more food, Ivan noticed that it was an honest answer, "No."

After giving Alfred a glass of water, as the human seemed to be a bit dehydrated as well, Ivan decided to lift Alfred up after he drank his fill. Then, he placed the human down on the couch as he stated, "You should probably rest here and do something that won't take up too much of your energy."

Alfred didn't really do much that day aside from eating and drinking. He was still too busy trying to accustom to the fact that he was in a completely different world. Not only that, but depressing thoughts also seemed to want to haunt his mind. Eventually, by the time the clock read six thirty, a huge wave of exhaustion struck Alfred. Ivan seemed to have taken notice of this, and lifted Alfred up off of the couch while saying, "I guess you should get some sleep now. You had a rough morning, and it seemed to have tired you out during the rest of the day."

Once more, Alfred rested his head against the demons shoulder as he was carried into the bedroom. Then, by the time they were in the said room, Ivan laid Alfred down on the bed and pulled a thick blanket over his form. Soon after Alfred was tucked in, Goldie decided to walk into the bedroom so that she could jump onto the bed and snuggle with Alfred. before turning the light off, Ivan said, "Good night, Fredka."

As soon as the door was shut, Alfred turned so that he could cuddle with his dog. It seemed as if the moment he closed his eyes, he was already in a deep sleep.