Chapter 25

Loud snarling was too close, too all-over-the-place, and all the guys in the meadow swung their heads around like idiots, trying to pinpoint where the demon was coming from. Alfred yelped when a whoosh sailed right over his head, and he dove to the side, practically flopping on top of his brother to put his own back to the darkness.

However, the mess of shadows pummeled into Arthur instead. "What? Hey!"

A loud holler, and the light vanished and then peeked out again as Arthur and the demon rolled against the grass. Alfred almost leaped after them, to tear them from one another, but apparently fights in real life are much more quicker and sloppier than the ones in movies. He kind of didn't want to get into it for his own safety.

But dang it, for the safety of his friend-

Alfred yelped as a hand clamped on his shoulder, but it was Matthew pulling himself to sit and blink dumbly. "Alfred, I can't see anything. What's happening?!"

Alfred scanned the near calamity of Ivan floundering around, cackling as Arthur hurried to keep away from his outstretched claws. They came close enough for something to glint in the grass. "I see your glasses! Hold on!"

"Al!"

He lunged forward just as heavy and fast footsteps came right at him. Alfred squashed himself flat on the ground and clamped a hand over his head as someone snapped, "Stay down!" Arthur huffed and glided over him, and continued to run away.

Alfred picked up his head, blinking in surprise before scrambling back to Matthew. His voice rose in fright as another body full of snarling lumbered right over where he was a second ago, "I got them! Eek!"

Matthew jammed his glasses into place and gasped, "Are you all right?!"

"Uh, I think so!" At least he wasn't the one all soaked in the middle of the night. "Are you? You're freaking wet, dude!"

"Um, yeah! Thanks for noticing, but, oh, I don't know. I think Arthur did something that..." Matthew shook his head in urgency. "Ugh! I don't matter right now!"

Alfred asked, "What are we going to do?"

"Do you really want to get in the middle of that?!"

"We can't just sit here and watch!"

"What do you expect to do?" Matthew retorted as their friends twisted and flipped and spun around each other. "Do you have any plans for breaking them apart?"

Maybe getting a big rope and throwing it around Ivan...but then that would take getting one in the first place. Huh. Getting in there and possibly getting trampled or wacked with a wing wasn't appealing either. Ivan snapped an insult to Arthur, who bristled and twisted underneath an outstretched arm, and smacked him right upside the head.

Alfred flashed a grin over his shoulder. "Actually, it's funny you asked that!" He sprung to his feet and cupped his hands over his mouth, "Hey! Numb-nuts! Stupid demon-thing! Arthur! Yo! Caterpillar-Brows! Stop fighting!" Okay, they must be purposely ignoring him, because those were some sick roasts he was tossing around. "Mattie, come on, call off your demon, would you?"

Matthew sighed like he was annoyed by it all as he clutched onto Alfred's sweater to hoist himself to stand. "Ivan! Ivan, it's okay!" He cried like they were in a small room instead of an open field, "I'm all right! You guys...ugh, Alfred, this isn't working!"

No wonder. Alfred stomped his feet on the ground and swished his arms above his head, "Hellooooo! Stop fighting already! You're both going to rip each other apart! Not cool!"

Arthur's foot slipped as Ivan threw an arm out, and he scooted backwards with a glance toward the twins. "Stay out of this, boys!"

He freaking sounded afraid! Of this demon, who wore high heels, and ate chocolate-covered potatoes. "For fuck's sake!" Alfred lifted his leg to peel of his sneaker. Ivan laughed and wagged his tail happily, like this was some game, and didn't even notice the flying shoe until it bounced off one of the horns curling from the side of his head.

Ivan jerked to a stop, letting out a snort and suddenly stopped smiling. His head slowly tipped as he turned to steadily stare at Alfred. Then, he started to smile again, real slow and wide this time. "Angel's boy!" He charged toward Alfred.

"Agh!" Alfred shook his arms, not knowing why his legs decided to be stiff and not do something smart like backing away at that moment. "Nice demon?!"

Not nice demon. Not anymore. Alfred was yanked back, and Matthew shouldered in front of him. "Okay, you can stop! Ivan, please! Alfred was just being stupid!" A high-pitched, almost delighted growl drowned whatever he was staying. Mattie flinched and hollered really loud this time, "Don't come over here!"

Alfred peeled open his eyes as the footsteps and his brother's yelling went quiet. He peeked over Matthew's shoulder, and Ivan was using his raised hand to touch his face, thankfully not ripping anybody apart. He whispered, "Matthew?"

Alfred clutched onto Matthew's shoulders, pulling him from the gross demon claw and warned, "Hey..."

"Don't look so scared." The demon took one of Matthew's hands and put it to his forehead in some kind of calmer gesture. "I won't hurt you."

"That includes my brother, Ivan."

Alfred scrunched his face up as Ivan lowered Matthew's hand from his face to steadily stare at him. "I am sorry, but I was in the moment and he threw something at me."

Matthew actually laughed at that, "He's an idiot."

"Wha...hey!"

"Did the angel hurt you?" Some gross cooing, "You are soaked."

"I'm not cold, surprisingly. It's all right. I'm all right. Relax."

Usually, nobody relaxes when someone tells them to relax, but when Matthew lifted his other hand to touch the side of Ivan's face, things actually started to look better. Being totally third-wheeled, Alfred's eyes jumped to movement behind Ivan. Arthur slowly pushed himself from the grass, delivering his most powerful scowl into the demon's backside.

"Uh-uh," Alfred stammered, "Arthur!"

That was stupid. Ivan spun around, screeching in shock at the angel's sneaky approach. He swiped an arm after him, but Arthur did this ninja-roll forward and sprung up in front of the twins. Matthew took a step back, but wound up stepping on Alfred's other sneaker as Artie threw an arm out, now holding...a wand?

"Not so fast!"

Alfred bawked at the cheap little thing, "Is that a freaking dollar store toy?!"

Ivan went to prod one of the star's points. "Is it?"

"Be quiet back there." Arthur rolled his shoulders so his wings would stretch before the brothers. "Stay away from these boys and I may just let you crawl back to where you came from in one piece!" Ivan jerked his hand away as Arthur waved his 'weapon' at him. "You can stop things from getting out of hand, before you or anyone else gets hurt."

Ivan didn't even take a second to consider, "Me stop things? But I have not started anything! Matthew and I were just relaxing, and then, out of nowhere, you...popped up and stole him away!" He smiled and made a beckoning gesture, "If you so kindly give him back, I will consider not plucking each and every feather from your wings, yes?"

Like a chicken. Alfred would have laughed, if things weren't so tense. Arthur, of course, didn't find the same humor, and coldly replied, "You think I'm going to surrender any soul to the likes of you?"

Ivan tipped his head and pouted. "Why not?"

Really. And Matthew liked this guy.

Arthur stammered, "Why...I will not!"

"You must mean you cannot." Alfred tightened his grip on Matthew's shoulders as Ivan took a step closer to Arthur, as if he wasn't towering over him already. "You will get into a lot of trouble with the Big Wings if you do."

Okay...they were talking. Talking was good. Talking was better than plucking wings.

Ivan continued with a cocky smile, "That must be very annoying, not able to do whatever-"

Arthur shrieked and threw his arm up, cutting Ivan in the cheek with his...uh, 'weapon.' Ivan flinched and stumbled backwards. Alfred wanted to cry out, "You ruined it!" but now the big lug was freaking out over a dollar store toy replica.

"You! I warned you!" Arthur marched right after Ivan's uncertain withdrawal, intimidating such a large creature. "I warned you before, and I warned you again! Yet you did not listen! Your kind never listens! The only way you will ever learn is if you die!"

Ivan tried to say something, but Arthur's wand brightened, and this huge gust of light shot out from it, engulfing him in what had to be some holy light. Arthur reeled backwards as Ivan let out this horrible screech of pain.

Matthew yanked forward, yelling, "Ivan!"

Alfred's grasp almost slipped. "Wait! Don't go over there!"

Matthew snapped his head to glare with tears streaming down his face. Or it may have been pond water. Most likely tears with the way he was shouting, "Your boyfriend is hurting him!"

"He's not-!" Alfred groaned in urgency, "That's not important right now! You could get hurt, and two people hurting is worse than one!"

A strange expression flickered across Matthew's features, almost like was...disappointed? He hunched his shoulder from Alfred's touch and turned back to the battle. Alfred kept a good hold on the back of his hoodie, of course, trying to ignore the thought of himself being a hypocrite.

It seemed like Arthur won...right? No, wait, Ivan grabbed a thin wrist and yanked him clean off of the ground. Wait, Arthur just blasted him full of light again. Wait...

Ivan resigned? He stopped chasing Arthur with homicidal intent, and looked to the brothers with odd mirth on his dirt-streaked face. "I think it will be a bad thing for all of us if I kill you."

Arthur laughed.

Ivan uncertainly joined in.

"Sorry, abomination. I can't help you there." Alfred didn't like that expression on Arthur. "If I don't kill you, well, let's just say things will not be as sunshine and roses like you think they'll be."

The field shook as an enormous shock wave flew out of Arthur's palms. Ivan bounced along the ground like a rag doll. What a train-wreck. A demon-wreck. Ha. After that particularly rough flight, Ivan didn't get up right away. Now, it had to be done. Arthur can now stop policing around, and they could shoo Ivan back to Hell, or maybe actually sit down and talk business, whatever angels and demons do with 'negotiations.'

Arthur kept stalking toward his fallen figure, and the light around him intensified.

Alfred gasped, wanting to look away, but a ping of pity hit his stomach, for the creature on the ground nursing a stream of blood coming from his head. "Fuck, dude!" He yelled to Matthew, "At this point, I think we should grab Arthur before he does something drastic!"

"Like he hasn't done something drastic already?!"

Alfred cringed, knowing he had to approach the supernaturals real sooner than later, but...

Matthew lifted his arm in the air and started to swing it around.

Alfred gawked. "What are you doing?!" Arthur was totally about to liquefy Ivan's brains and Matthew just stood there, flapping his hands like a dumbass-

A giant cloud sailed across the clearing, right toward them! Alfred yelled as Matthew held his arms out. Ivan materialized from the darkness, and pummeled him to the ground. Alfred tore his other shoe off, honestly spooked because he thought only angels could do that, but Matthew sputtered against the beast, "No! It's all right!"

"Mattie!" Alfred dissented as his brother slipped away to leap over Ivan and crouch in front of him.

Arthur was there, too. He stumbled to a stop and glared at Matthew. "What are you doing?!"

Matthew's arms obviously shook as he held them out from his sides, shielding his buddy from the angel. "Th-that's enough, don't you think?"

Arthur scoffed, "Nothing is enough until that demon is dead!"

Alfred crouched, eying the blood caked to the side of Ivan's head. Even if it was demon blood, his hand went out to touch the horn sticking out of smothered near-white hair, but when Ivan slowly turned his face toward him with an annoyed (and beat up) expression, he jerked away to scoot closer to his brother. "Dead? But-"

"Why?" Matthew sounded a bit too annoyed for a plea, "He didn't do anything to harm anybody or jeopardize his identity! I'm not even brainwashed like you think I am. Why can't you leave us alone?!"

Arthur slowly knelt in front of Matthew, still steadily staring at him, and pointed at a rough swelling on his cheek. "Do you see what you did to me when I tried to help you? Yet you are claiming that you know you have done it completely and utterly on your own will? Without influence?"

Matthew looked down. Alfred gasped, "Whoa! You did that?!" He thought Ivan somehow got him during their spat. He wasn't sure to be offended or impressed.

However, Arthur wasn't amused, and reached over to shove Alfred back to the ground when he crawled over to investigate. Now Alfred really didn't like his face. "Well, Matthew?!"

Matthew scrunched his nose, but kept staring at the ground. "Yeah. I thought you were trying to drown me. You didn't exactly say you were 'cleansing' me, or whatever you call it."

Ivan leaned himself against Matthew's backside and weakly giggled, "You do not need it in the first place. My Matthew is very clean-"

Arthur jabbed a palm in his direction, chastising, "Be quiet, demon." Alfred caught the amused look Ivan sent to anybody that was paying attention as Artie said to Matthew, "It may have not done anything to you yet, but it is mandatory to take care of these things when they arise."

A small smile made its way to Arthur. Finally. "I forgive you, and I hope you forgive any urgency I may have had." Were they really talking this time? Alfred started to like Artie's face again. "You are a kind spirit. I know you boys cannot resist to help someone you believe is in need," a funny look to Alfred, "but I insist that you no longer roam with a demon...or whatever you have between yourselves."

Matthew snorted, "Forgive you? He's not just a demon, you know. He's my friend."

Alfred scratched his nose to cover his smile, but Arthur's expression fell to its typical pissy look. "Uh-huh. Sure. Why would you want to suffocate amongst the fires of Hell when you can join us, and nurture and praise life as you know it? This is what we do Matthew. I am not aiming to harm you in anyway, but I must cut the weeds choking your roots it if means for you to grow."

Guardian angel, all their asses! Alfred was about to call him out on it, but Ivan leaned forward again and whispered something he didn't catch to Matthew. Matthew lightly shouldered him back, hushing, "You're going to make him angry. More angry." He glanced back to Arthur and shrugged. "It's a nice offer, but I...I want to help Ivan. We're just going out and having fun. No eating souls, no jabbing people with pitchforks!"

Ivan guffawed despite being totally bruised all over, "I don't need pitchforks! I use my fists!"

"Ivan," Matthew warned over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Matthew."

Arthur nodded. Hopefully it was in agreement, and not to shut them up. "All of God's children eventually return home. There is no need to rush. These things take well-needed time."

They smiled. Everyone was smiling. Matthew and Ivan and Alfred smiled at each other. Alfred wanted a hug now. His brother was all right and not mind-boggled by a demon. At least, not in a bad way.

Arthur's wings started to uncurl from his back; he wasn't smiling with them.

"Matthew, those creatures are no longer considered Children of God! I cannot, and will not turn the other way while it continues to prance around!"

Alfred smacked his forehead. "Arthur, really?!"

Matthew grew equally snippy, "So, you'll let me go after this, but Ivan has to suffer because of my choices?!"

Ivan groaned, obviously annoyed, but probably in pain, too.

"Shut up, Alfred." Arthur retorted to Matthew, "It is its own being, too, with its own choices! I warned it to back off, and yet it still stayed! A demon's temper brings innocent people at risk!" He shoved himself to his feet, preaching about Ivan's temper when his own face was getting flushed, "I am doing this for the safety of everyone else!"

Alfred snapped, "Stop being stubborn, would you?!"

Ivan growled as Matthew shot to stand as well. "No! He isn't doing anything wrong!"

Arthur threw back at Alfred, "I. Said. Shut. Up!" His glower fell on Matthew again, "You! You're putting all of your bets on a creature that may not love you tomorrow?!"

Matthew balled his hands to fists and opened his mouth, but...nothing came out.

Arthur scoffed, almost sounding sad. "Look at you. You know it deep down, don't you?"

Matthew suddenly snarled, like some kind of wild animal, "Shut up, Arthur!"

Goose bumps erupted beneath Alfred's clothes. Arthur wouldn't have any of it, "You ignorant little boy. I was beginning to see the drive of your feelings, assuming your soul still needed to grow, but this...!"

Matthew flinched when Arthur threw an arm out to Ivan. Alfred's heart was pounding again, in a totally not-okay manner this time. "Who do you think nurtures and takes care of your spirits when you pass on? That's right. I do. After you damn your soul for the rest of its time on this flimsy hope...well, that's your choice."

"Artie-"

Arthur stamped a foot on the ground, inhaling deeply, and let it out with a quiet laugh. "Lord, I tried." Weird. He spoke much more calmly than he did a few seconds ago, "No matter how much we try to nurse some souls, they let themselves be seduced by the darkness too easily. Like they don't want us. Almost pitiful."

No, that light flaring around him...that was not a calm thing at all! When Arthur raised his hands toward him, Matthew stumbled backwards and turfed on his butt. Looks like Alfred had to be the hero. He scrambled to his feet, over legs and over his brother to shove himself onto Arthur. "Artie, no!"

Cold, clammy hands pushed against his face as Arthur stumbled backwards to get away. "What in the world are you doing?!"

The bright glow became whitewash over Alfred's eyes as he felt his glasses fling from his ears. So, he just squeezed Arthur's waist tighter. "Mattie! Go! I got him!"

"What? Are you sure?!"

Turns out, it's a little more difficult than Alfred thought to keep a grip on a creature with giant wings and smack-happy hands. "Yep!" He grunted as a palm planted below his throat and feebly shoved. "We got stuff to talk about anyway!"

Arthur shouted at the sounds of feet scurrying away in the grass. "Oh, no, you don't!" His wiggling intensified, "Let go of me! Get back here, you two!" Nasty fingers latched onto Alfred's ears and yanked. "You are not siding with that demon!"

Alfred squeezed his eyes shut as they watered from the abuse, and he plucked Arthur from the ground. Arthur's hands let go of his ears to fly around his head in panic. "I'm siding with my brother! I just want him to be happy! If he's chill with staying here, and if he keeps the demon-dude in his place, then let him! Ugh!"

Alfred hoped his brother caught that, but they may have been long gone. He didn't blame them. Arthur clamped his palms against Alfred's jaw and forced his gaze upward. He was furiously pink and pissed off, practically snarling right in his face, "Alfred Bonnefoy, you are not in the position to place command over me!"

Yet he tries to do the same? With his arms and legs and wings shaking and twitching helplessly? Hell no. "Really, dude?" Alfred would have laughed if he could get the air in, "You want to talk about positions right now? Urgh, I'm not the one kicking and screaming like a cranky toddler!"

The cranky toddler smacked him on the side of the head. "This is serious business, young man!"

Alfred sucked breath between his teeth and readjusted his slipping grip, "I am being serious! Go on! Do your crazy angel magic if you want to get away so bad!"

Arthur spat incoherently as he thrashed, but didn't get free. Maybe he couldn't? That fight may have taken a lot out of him as it did Ivan. Those clammy hands grabbed at Alfred's shoulders as he heaved, wings furiously flapping. Alfred, still stubbornly locked around his waist, found himself stumbling forward to keep his catch.

Something must have been miscalculated, as they went too far, yelling as they fell forward (or backwards, respectively), and broke apart as they hit the frosty grass.

"What in the world are you doing?!"

Alfred near-blindedly launched himself at the figure of light and squashed him back on the ground. "Don't you dare go after my brother!"

"Ow! Ow!" Arthur yelped, and a wing that bent over Alfred's shoulder repeatedly slapped him in the face. "Get off! You're crushing me!"

Of course, Alfred couldn't do that, but he wasn't going to go around breaking wings to get his own way, so he diplomatically swooped backwards and shifted his weight to the expanse of skin between those said wings. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Arthur, but you're being a real jerk right now!"

Arthur twisted his head to the side, calling over his shoulder, "Me being a jerk?! You little fuck-wit! Unhand me at once! There is a demon getting away at this moment, and you're stopping me from stopping him?! This is Heavenly business you're interfering with!"

"Business?! Blasting people's faces off is business?!" Arthur kept trying to violently wiggle beneath Alfred, still going strong after that little fight with the demon. He actually managed to get an arm free from under himself, but didn't try to drag himself away, which Al was prepared for. He started to smack anywhere he could reach. "Oh, ow! No way, man!" Alfred held an arm out to block the feeble attacks, "You're just gonna run over there...ow! And try to do it again!"

"Well, maybe they should get their faces blasted off, you fucker!" Alfred managed to pin the offending arm to the grass again, which only made Arthur's voice crack with all that ugly screaming, "Unhand me this instant, or else I...I...I-!"

Alfred busted into laughter, "You'll what?!"

"I will do terrible things!"

"Lame, dude!"

"I'll show you lame," Arthur snarled. He jerked his head back. Then did it again.

Alfred stared, dumbfounded. "Are you...trying to head-butt me?"

"Be quiet! Let me go! I can't believe you right now!"

Alfred glanced behind himself, squinting, but it sounded like Matthew's and Ivan's indistinct voices were long gone. "I can't believe you! What happened to you back there? It almost seemed like you were about to kill my brother!"

"What?!" Arthur shrieked, noisily enough to hurt Alfred's ears. "I-I wasn't going to do that!"

"Then, what were you doing, Arthur?"

Arthur put a hand to his eyes.

"Seriously?!"

"Shut up, Alfred! I don't...I don't know, all right?!"

"What do you mean you don't know? You almost blasted Matthew's face off with holy light!"

"He was with a demon!"

"Yeah! Willingly!"

"That's...no! That doesn't happen!"

"Why, Arthur? Because the other angels say so?"

"Yes! No! Argh! Stop it! Stop saying those things!"

"Or what?!" More gently, Alfred leaned down to peek at his friend's face, "Are your brains going to liquefy now?"

Arthur clamped a hand on the back of his head.

Alfred relinquished his hold, trying to sternly tell him off, "Don't hurt them."

It came out as a plea.

Arthur thrashed once free, rolling over to his side and spat out, "Alfred."

"Don't!"

Again, "Alfred." Arthur pushed himself to his hands and knees, but gasped as he grabbed his shoulder. He shook his head as Alfred rushed over to hover. "Listen to me. It's only a matter of time before the others are going to get a hold of this and come after us for answers. Even if this is all just some...off-kilter demon and your brother having extremely low standards, they're not going to see it that way! I must do something. Or they will."

"Yeah, something that doesn't involve blasting people into holy bits! There's got to be another way!"

As sharp as ever, "Like what, Alfred?!"

Alfred looked around. There was just grass and trees. "Like, um...we'll think of something! We always do!"

"Well, time's not a luxury we have at the moment." Arthur stared at the ground, and murmured, "Perhaps I should pray."

Alfred clamped his hands on Arthur's before he could pull himself to a praying position, "No! They're just going to tell you to blast them away!"

Arthur gave him a hard look. "Then, maybe I should!"

"No! Don't!" Quieter, but urging, "Please. Don't. Arthur. We can talk about this." Alfred blinked. Gasped, "We can talk about this!"

"No. They'll obliterate them. Without remorse. That's why we need to go after them-"

"That's not what I mean! Do you really, really want to kill Mattie?"

"Ugh, of course not, idiot, but-"

"You wanna kill Ivan?"

Arthur scoffed.

"Doing so would make Mattie sad, and Mattie being sad would make me really sad!"

"I-it would be an act of mercy..."

Alfred leaned in. "Do you really want to do it? That's all I'm asking. Yes or no."

"N-no, Alfred. I don't." Arthur quickly glanced around like another angel would pop out of the grass and point and yell, 'Ooh! I heard that! I'm telling Dad! You're in trouble!'

None did.

Alfred clamped a hand on his shoulder, making him jump, and flashed a thumbs-up. "That's all I need."

Arthur sat in the grass, blinking stupidly as Alfred sprung to his feet and went to hunt for his glasses and sneakers. "What?"

There the glasses were, thankfully only dewy from the grass. Alfred gently scrubbed his shirt over them before popping them back onto his face and slipped his sneakers back onto his poor numb feet. "Yep!" He chirped. "If you're willing to talk to the guy civilly, maybe we can ask him to go screw off, back to Hell or something! Maybe, like, he'll be cool with it."

"You...you want to talk to him?" Arthur's momentary marvel fell into a typical scowl. "Talk to him. Right. You want to go up to a demon...and talk to it. Would you like some tea to go along with that?"

Alfred jested, "Hey, yeah! If you don't mind!"

Arthur ducked his head, muttering, "Oh, for fuck's sake. That's your grand idea? That's what's on the table?"

"Besides blasting people?"

"Besides blasting people."

"Yep. That's it. Actually, I think I'm going to talk to Mattie, and then Mattie could talk to Ivan, and then maybe they could work something out."

"Like going back to Hell?"

"Hey, yeah! Maybe!"

"You would let your brother go like that?"

Alfred made a face, turning away so Arthur wouldn't see it. "He'd still be alive, right? And if it's what he wants, good for him. As long as he's happy."

"You don't know if he'll stay like that! A life in Hell...that's...that's atrocious!"

"Ooh, nice word." Alfred held out a hand, beckoning the angel to get off his butt. "Come on, Grumpy Gums. Are you just going to grovel in the grass all night, or do you want to be a hero?"

"What?" Finally, Arthur let out a short laugh. "That's...don't be an idiot." He latched onto Alfred's hand, and with a strained grunt, pulled from the ground. He stumbled forward, catching onto his chest.

"Whoa!" Alfred's hands hovered, unsure where to put themselves. "You going to be all right?"

Arthur jerked, taking a few uneven steps back as he brushed down his grass-stained toga. "I'm fine! This is nothing."

"Sure. It's okay if it's not. You've done enough." More than enough. Seriously. Alfred kept that down. "If you want to sit this one out, I got it."

"That's not necessary. Let's go. The more time we waste here, the bigger the chance of someone discovering that demon's still on the loose."

"Okay..." Alfred grinned as they slowly made their way down the street. He kept an arm ready behind the angel's back, just in case he needed it. "That means we're going to have to see a demon face-to-face, and talk like 'normal' people. You know how Ivan is. He'll be saying shit, and Mattie's probably still ruffled up about everything, so he'll be there, too-"

Arthur audibly grinded his jaw. "You know what? I'll sit this one out. Only because you insist that you're a demon-whisperer or some sort. Whatever. Go talk to that thing. I don't feel like looking at his face, and...ugh." He gave Alfred a long look, his scowls still powerful after everything. "If anything happens, you scream as loud as you can, and I will come down there and-"

"Ha-ha, yep! What a great idea." Alfred tenderly patted Arthur's back, nonchalantly pushing him toward the Bonnefoy house. Arthur tossed a pout over his shoulder before a twitch of the wings took him up the side of the house and onto the rooftop. Ever grateful, "Thanks, Arthur."