A/N: Guess you people got your wish. Here's a second chapter, which will quickly turn into a five chapter series knowing my masochistic ways. This chapter contains over three times as many words as the last one. I hope you all are happy.
Into the Flames
Chapter 2
Hell wasn't as bad as everyone said it was. It was worse.
The temperature seemed to play with Yako's skin, feeling too hot one second to freezing the next. She had no clue whether she should wipe off the building cool sweat off her forehead or huddle closer to her much warmer partner.
Scratch that, he would probably drop kick her and send her to the other side of this accursed place.
The smell of Hell was perhaps worse then the heat. The acrid taste of death, sulfur, brimstone, and something sour that she couldn't quite name stung her nose and made her eyes water even when it was dulled due to the bubble surrounding her head.
Every sound was muffled slightly, yet she could still hear. She wished, oh how she wished, she couldn't. The angry screeches, tortured screams, and drawn out death rattles were the only sounds she recognized. The others were impossible to describe to a mere human, or even to her, despite being in the place.
All instincts told her to run towards home and never look back. She couldn't though, thanks to a certain demon standing within arm's reach.
She looked over at Neuro wondering what he felt about being in Hell. This was his home after all. Unsurprisingly, she saw a large genuine grin stretch upon his face as he breathed in deeply, acid green eyes closed, savoring the ability to breathe. His human face seemed to glow as his nonhuman teeth glinted menacingly at the sky. Why he was still in his human form was beyond her.
Meanwhile, Neuro was basking in the familiar malicious aura of his origin. There were very few places with such feeling in the human realm, but he could always find it in his meals. He could hear the louse's teeth chatter clearly through the bubble barrier, whether from fear or cold he couldn't tell. Perhaps a mixture of the two, he mused.
Out of the corner of his eye he watched the bubble surrounding her head fizzle and sway slightly. This particular tool varied between two to six hours and the time limit changed with the heat, which made it hard to predict when it would be useless.
Well, they would be out of here before that happened. His hunger demanded it.
"Neuro," a voice spoke from behind, echoing slightly. He turned his head slightly to show that he was listening. A small intake of breath, hesitation, before asking, "What exactly did you forget?"
Should he tell her? The slug was here now, so she doesn't really have a chance to protest.
His silence must have made Yako nervous since she began to babble, "I mean it's not like you. If it interferes with your meal then it should be rectified immediately right? If you have to come back home just to get one or two things when you could have been out searching for mysteries, then you would be much madder-"
"'Madder' is not a word," Neuro interjected, slightly amused.
"You know what I mean!" exclaimed Yako. She let out an annoyed sigh. "My point is you don't 'forget' things or if you do then it's something that barely matters, to you at least." She shivered slightly in fear at one of the few times he had forgotten something. She's never looked at a hot spring the same way again. "So either it is something of extreme importance to everyone else, or you're lying. Which is it?" She stared at him; eyebrows down in a sharp V-shape and eyes squinted as if to see most minute detail that could reveal him.
Neuro stared right back, with glowing acid green eyes swirling in gaze. Unlike many of the times before he had to leave the human realm for health purposes, her chocolate brown eyes held only a trace of nervousness, which was outweighed by curiosity and determination. No real fear or terror.
So this is what happens when I leave for a few days. My slave grows a backbone, Neuro's mouth turned up into a familiar smirk. Then again a few days for me, turned into a few years for her, his smirk faded slightly.
Yako noticed, he could tell. Her eyes had widened almost imperceptibly and if he looked closely he could see specks of confusion embedded into her eyes.
Neuro decided to break the silence. "Hmph, you've gotten quite bold." A slightly disgusted, though mostly amused expression adorned his face. Soon it was replaced by an all too familiar malicious smirk, "well, if you really want to know..." His eyes held a certain gleam that she couldn't read, "Nothing."
Yako blinked. "... What?"
"I forgot nothing," He took delight at her pitiful attempt at an angry glare and her quickly reddening face for a moment, "But I was asked to solve a new mystery." With those words, anger was replaced by confusion once more.
"Wait, I thought that the mysteries here were so bland that they are disgusting to eat?" Yako asked.
Annoyance flickered in his face before nodding. "However it seems like I can't refuse this one, no matter how unappealing. The Demon Emperor himself assigned it." Resignation was etched into his face. He did not want to do this task, not when he had more filling and tastier meals back in the human realm. But the last demon that had refused an order from the Emperor had been sent to clean out the river, which was often populated by giant demon-eating amphibians, broken human hopes and dreams, and some of the human souls themselves, for the next millennium. And that was for a light sentence.
Meanwhile, Yako gaped at Neuro then blurted out, "Satan gave you a mystery to solve?" Now it was Neuro's turn to look confused before remembering certain modern human scriptures. He shook his head, "No, Lucifer lost power years ago. Now he works at a rather popular restaurant next to the hot springs near here. The current Demon Emperor is named Kumo Larry."
"Larry?"
"Don't ask." he said with a grimace. With that he started to walk off. Yako ran after him, protesting.
"Really, I may have to demote you to louse again. All those months of training and polishing, wasted. " He heaved a melodramatic sigh. Yako stared at him for a moment then searched frantically for anyone else around them. It wasn't like him to use the "goody-goody" voice when she was the only one with him. Unless of course, he was about to torture or guilt her into doing something atrocious or humiliating.
She spoke before he could say/do anything. "Um, Neuro, before you say anything, why did you bring me with you?" It was a legitimate question. Neuro normally wouldn't have bothered to take her anywhere unless it concerned a meal that she would have to 'solve'. But he didn't need her here, since this was the demon realm and all, so why bring her?
Neuro grinned sadistically. "Why insurance of course!" Yako blinked slowly, her mind coming up blank as she tried to comprehend Neuro's odd choice of words.
"... Huh?"
Neuro sighed in exasperation before reaching out and twisting the bubble around her head in an almost full circle, which somehow caused her real her to twist with it. Her neck produced an audible pop sound as it protested against the violent movement. Ignoring her squeals and yelps he explained slowly, "It is very hard to find an obedient and useful slave, not to mention time-consuming. It took so long for a dishrag like you to even become a third of what you are now and, as much fun as it is to play with you, I would rather not have to go through it again." His grin widened, "Thus, I brought you along so that no matter what time period or dimension I end up in, I'll always have my faithful slave with me, doing whatever I desire without complaint." He leaned in closer to Yako who was massaging her now sore neck, "Was that clear enough for you?" Yako nodded quickly before grimacing at the sharp pain shooting down her neck from the motion.
"Good!" Neuro grinned innocently. He moved away from her faced and walked away whistling tunelessly. Yako stared after him with wide-eyes before they softened up and a small smile played unbidden across her lips.
Neuro hadn't changed a bit. While her body may protest to the torture and her mind may protest to its constant ridicule, that pesky little thing called a heart couldn't help but make her feel relieved and glad.
She really was too nice for her own good.
Unbeknownst to the odd pair, two mismatched eyes were watching their every movement from the shadows. A large grin spread across one of the faces revealing broken sharp fangs. "Eh, will you look at that! Investigator Neuro came back again!" said the sharp fanged one.
"Aye, I see. An' he brought a snack wit' him. Too nice he is. Wonder what it tastes like?" said its companion.
"Not sure, but it looks familiar," replied the perplexed being.
"Aw, you're deluded you are. Been eatin' those Snaggle rocks again, haven't ye?"
"Those are good eatin's, they is! And I know I seen it before somewhere!" protested the Fanged one. The other just shook its head in disgust and disbelief.
"Believe what you want. Master Kumo has ta be told that an Outsider's been brought in anyway." It got up and walked away from its hiding place.
"H-Hey wait up! Don't leave me alone out here!" Fangs shouted out before running after its partner.
"Oh hurry up. The Master ain't a patient man, and I've a feelin' he's been waiting for somethin' like this for a long time."
To Be Continued….
A/N: Is madder a word? My teachers always told me that it wasn't but now I'm not so sure. Did you hate the slight accents like I did? Did you find this to be an overdone mess? Or did you think it wasn't half bad and that I should continue? Please review and tell me.
