A loud sigh woke me from my slumber. I had gotten used to sleeping on the dusty ground of Sloth's plane of hell. Though I had woken up, I kept my eyes shut tight. Personally, I was becoming quite tired of the endless mocking crowds who came to 'visit'. An annoyed groan and a dull thud of something against the bars of the cage made my eyes snap open. Sleepily, I sat up to face the source of the noise. It was Sloth.

"Finally... You're awake... I was about to give up." They were leaning against the bars of my cage with a glum look on their face. What could possibly have persuaded them to move? Obviously, this was much more than the average 'visit'.

Stretching my wings, and pulling myself to my feet, I eye Sloth carefully. One must be wary behind bars... But after all I've done, my fellow demons were too chicken to snuff me out entirely. Weaklings.

"Greed... Your sentence is up.. They're letting you go to the surface again. Lord Xemnas has called for your aid..." They lifted the lock lazily as they slipped the key inside even slower. My heart skipped a beat as I heard the familiar click of the lock. Freedom is mine. Mine at last.

Before Sloth could fully open the door, I pushed past them as hastily as I could. Rubbing my bare wrists, I turned to face them. "Where are my things? My things that you heathens stole from me?!"

Another groan. "They're in your plane... You get them. I don't want to bother... But don't take too long. Our Lord is waiting... …." Their voice trailed off into a yawn as I walked away.

He's not my Lord... That's for sure. It will be nice to return to the surface again though... My surface.

"Thank you and goodnight, I guess..."

Didn't matter what I said, really. I could have said absolutely nothin'. Not like my audience cared. After all, they're all soulless zombies. I didn't bother to watch them go. It felt wrong somehow. Instead, I hid in my room once again, brushing away the footprints of my intruders the night before. That was the last thing I wanted to think about.

There's really only one thing that makes my stomach stop flipping. Pushin' past my desk chair, I reach for the bottle resting next to the piles of papers. Clicking my tongue, I realize as I lift it that it's as dry as a bone. Just peachy. I sank down onto my wooden desk chair.

My hand trailed to my pocket as I took out the small vial that Asha had given me the night I had seen her. It was a last minute gift... if ya could call it that. She had forced me to take it. As if I could deny her. I wouldn't. No thanks. Although, I sure as hell wasn't gonna drink it. Crazy witch said I had to... but... really?! Holy water?! As if.

Her words rang through my head, "Listen well, fool. You must drink this as soon as you get back... perhaps it will... postpone the damage you have done to your soul. Listen to Asha for once. Please."

A low groan escaped me. Why... What the hell was some blessed water gonna do fer me? It's not like I was possessed, right? Plus, didn't shit like this only work if the person using it believed in God? Cuz if that's the case, then this aint gonna work at all. Whatever. Uncorking the vial with my teeth, I pour the holy juice back into the empty bottle on my desk.

Just as I had finished, I heard a rustling behind me. I swear... If it's the big guy again, I might actually lose what's left of my mind. I shook my head slowly. "Don'tcha have anything better ta do, Windmill? Or can ya jus' not keep away from me? Trust me. I'm taken, buddy."

"Excuse me?! Heh. Well... Do you think that's a polite thing to say to a guest?"

That voice wasn't Windmill's. Hell, it wasn't like any voice I've heard before. It was melodic, but strange. It had an unearthly echo to it. Trying to hide my pounding heart, I turned my head cooly to my newest intruder.

My breath caught in my throat as my eye caught his. A tall, fit... man(?) stood before me. He stood, weight shifted to one hip as he studied the rings on his fingers. And boy did he have rings. He looked like a walking jewelry box. That wasn't what bothered me the most, though. Not by a long shot. This man was blue, had gigantic wings, horns, and a mouth filled with tusks. (Even his teeth had gold.)

"Oopsy-daisy! Workin' this long in the Circus must've ate away at my manners. And who might you be? A tax collector? I knew they'd find me eventually."

The guy let out a cackle that shook the room, and what looked like a tail behind him swished back and forth as he caught his breath again. "Close.. but not quite, mortal. I was a tax collector in a previous life, though. And boy was business good."

He stepped closer to me, which didn't sit well with my nerves. I stood in an instant, summoning a gun at my side, not yet pointing it at the guy. He wasn't hostile... yet.

"Look..." He spoke again, taking a dagger from his belt and turning it over in his hands. "I want to make this quick. And honestly... It should be. I mean look at you! They told me there was a mortal on the surface who was practically a demon already, but man... I didn't believe them. But here I am, looking right at him! Now that I know it's true, of course I can't keep away from such a prize. You must be mine. End of story. So please, do cooperate."

My brow furrowed. What the hell was he talking about?! Demons?! Asha was right... Of course. When wasn't she? Without a word I pointed my gun at him and shook my head. "Gee... I jus' don't know. I'm not one fer givin' up, ya see? I still have a lot to do in this world. So if ya would... Couldja please leave? I'm tired."

Again, he laughed, and lurched forward. He was gone. I hadn't blinked; I kept my eye on him the entire time... then... where was he? Behind me. I felt him behind me and struggled to leap forward, to regain the distance I had between the two of us. Demons are damn fast. He grabbed the back of my neck with a strength that would outmatch even our very own Stongman, Lexaeus. Hell, it'd probably outmatch Lex and Xaldin combined. With a swift whip of his tail against my hamstrings, I was brought to my knees. Shit..

"Now be a good human and die quickly. I'm getting impatient." I felt the dagger plunge into my back, right between the ribs on my left. The air that was left in my lungs quickly escaped me, but god did it hurt to breathe in. I barely could. He chuckled softly behind me at my pain and used his cloven foot to push me over onto the ground. Using one strong arm, he turned me over on my back.

Coughing hard, I could taste the blood filling my lung. Lifting a shaky arm, I tried my best to get at least one shot at the bastard. He jus' smirked and tossed my arm to the side. Without a moment to spare he plunged the dagger into my chest, staring intently into my eye. I guess he was disappointed that I wasn't so easy to kill. I could barely make a sound as more blood oozed into my mouth. I hated the taste of it. Fuck... This can't be it, right? No... Shoulda drank that goddamn holy juice... But... Waitasec... Heheh...

"Hey... Why don't you take... a seat... and have a drink... It might be a while fer me ...to start dyin' ya know..." I managed through gasps. He smiled at me and nodded, plopping down onto my chair with ease.

"Aw how sweet. I was gonna have a drink anyway. Cause I mean, if it tastes good it must be mine, right?" He snatched the bottle from the desk with the clink of his fingernails on the glass. Lifting the bottle to me he smiled wide, baring his pointed teeth. "Cheers! To your death! And taking back my crown!" And with that, the idiot drank the whole thing.

At first he looked at my bleeding form with disgust. I could see the poor guy's blue skin turning greenish, but that quickly changed to a look of horror and searing pain. He let out an agonized scream, one so loud that it made my ears ring.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! WHAT WAS IN THAT!?" A black substance dripped from his mouth and stained his teeth. No matter how much he wiped it, it seemed like it would never stop. Actually, it seemed to spread to his hands too. The guy was melting. Melting like a slug with salt.

"Yer... Y-Yer sorry ass jus' drank Holy Water. ….. What? Is that not a good drink where you come from?!" I managed to laugh a little as my head swam from the blood loss. At least, I managed to ruin this guy's fun before I died. But... looking at him melting into a black puddle, it seemed like we were both facing death. Shit... Not the ideal way to go... but Fate was never too kind to me anyway. My vision faded as I felt the ooze reach my wounded side. Though, I had become severely numb... it burned.

The world went black.

Then white.

It was the brightest white I had ever seen. It was warm. A nice, warm, spring-like light. It made me sick. Just as soon as I felt it on my face, I was stripped of the privilege. Now it felt like I was falling. A lot like the falling feeling you get when you have a nightmare. But somehow, it felt real. I hit the ground hard. Or at least... it felt like it.

Silence.

Darkness.

…

…..

…

…..

But I could still hear his voice.

Why won't you die?! HUH? Just give in to me! It's not hard. You're mine! Your blood is in mine, now why won't you just give up. You stupid human. Oh... Oh I see. This girl. This small girl that you're thinking of. Is that why? Whatever. I'll take care of her. Now just hand over your body.

Ugh... My head. My eye opened with a start as I realized I wasn't dead. Of course not. The world wouldn't let me go that easy. My wounds seemed to be healed as well. Was it a dream?! No. My room was a mess. The floor was covered in dried blood and what looked like gallons of black ink.

As I rolled over to get up, my hand suddenly pressed harder into the ground, clawing at it as if it was struggling to get away from me. His voice came back suddenly.

No... No this can't be. You cannot have beaten me. ME. I was the one who was supposed to have control. You were supposed to die. To DIE! You were mine. MINE. I am Greed! I always get what I want, dammit! What makes you so special that you would have me stuck inside you!? HUH?

"Jus' shut up... Yer givin' me a headache."

The headache wasn't what was botherin' me though. It was my head. My head, my back, my hands, hell... it was everything. It felt as if my whole body was on fire. Gritting my teeth, I struggled to get up, but to no avail. I settled for crawling. I dragged myself over to the bucket of water I had near my cracked mirror. Dunking my head inside the bucket in hopes I'd drown out his screaming as well I washed off my face. My hands brushed something hard and ridged on my forehead. The thing stretched and curled in a loop around the sides of my head as well. My breath caught in my throat as I looked up. I barely recognized the reflection. I had horns. Horns like that weird guy had. And as if that wasn't enough. I had the whole package. Teeth, wings, tail, and horns. Hell... I half expected my skin to be blue too. This was just great.

Hey! Those horns are mine ya know. You can't have them.

I managed to speak through my mouthful of sharpened teeth, though it sounded awful to my own ears. Thankfully no one else was here.

"You better tell me what the hell is goin' on here. And I'm glad yer stuck with me now... cause we got all the time in the world to talk. Now spill it, Devil Dog!"

Fine... Fine... You have a point. But please. Call me Greed. Greed the Avaricious, at your service. Reluctantly... I think we will make a good team. Now listen up. Cause I'm only telling you all this once...