This is a work of fanfiction. All characters (except Emerald) belong to Aphmau / Jessica Bravura.

Cover Art belongs to Aphmau / Jessica Bravura.

Please don't sue me.

*Contains multiple cuss words and some descriptions of bodily injury. Gird your loins, children!*

Mrs. Oates stood near the kitchen as she prepared to leave, facing all five Daemos. "All right, you boys. I think you're all more than capable of taking care of Ava and Emmy from this point on. Just do as I taught you every day until they get better. And make sure they get plenty of rest." She paused, a resigned smile working its way onto her face. "Especially Emmy: she can be too stubborn for her own good sometimes."

"We will make sure it happens," Asch proclaimed regally.

Rhys chuckled. "What I believe Asch is trying to say is: thank you. For all of your help."

All the Daemos knelt down on one knee in respect... except for Asch. He looked around at his knights and, letting out a sigh / eye-roll combo worthy of any angsty teen, lowered himself down as well.

"Oh, my!" Mrs. Oates was eating up all the attention eagerly. "You are all so courteous in such a way I can't describe. You all make me feel like a princess."

"Mrs. Oates?" Rhys caught the senior woman's attention gently as he and the others stood. "May I ask... how did you learn to heal humans as you do?"

She tucked her hand under her chin, lost in thought for a moment. "Hmm... well, I suppose it all started when I was a little girl. My mother would get sick very often. But no matter what, she would always get up to clean up after mine and my brothers' and sisters' messes. She hated a messy house, I'll tell you that." She sighed sadly. "Then, one day, she couldn't get up for the mess anymore. So as the older sibling, I had to step in and clean up for her. I guess you could say a tidy house kept her asleep... but a messy one kept getting her up!"

Mrs. Oates laughed at her own little joke before growing serious again. "But yes, basically that's where I learned to care for the sick." She paused again, giving the Daemos a little smirk. "Well... that and all those years of nursing I did!" More giggling. "Well, I've got to get going to Bingo Night now." She winked, blushing. "I heard there's a hot new hunk hosting the game tonight, and he's about my age. Oh, maybe I can get myself a Sugar Daddy!" The elder woman laughed happily at the thought. "See you all later," she drawled flirtatiously, turning and meandering out of the apartment.

Once she was out of earshot, Pierce turned to the others. "Did you hear that?!"

Rhys nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Mrs. Oates is gonna find a lava human?!" Noi gasped in awe.

"No, Mrs. Oates's story."

Asch nodded to Rhys. "I think I'm on the same page as you."

"You are?!" His advisor looked at him in shock.

"Hmm, yes."

"Wow, Asch is really getting smarter," Leif grinned, trying to provoke the Daemos prince.

"I've always been a wise battle tactician."

Pierce gave him a meaningful look. "Similar to your brother, I assume."

"Let's not talk about my brother..."

"Tell me what you thought of just now," Rhys prompted.

"We need to make a mess."

Noi was utterly confused. "What?"

"That's right. If we make a mess, Ava will hate it, and she'll be forced to get up!"

"Exactly," Rhys nodded in agreement. "It seems like humans have a motivation to clean."

"Will doing that really help Ava?" The smallest Daemos sounded skeptical.

"We should exhaust all options." To test the theory, Pierce reached over and knocked a potted plant off the room divider.

Asch laughed appreciatively. "Good start, Pierce! Now let's keep doing it!"

After about twenty minutes, the Daemos paused in their destruction. Almost everything that could be knocked over was now lying on its side. Leif had gotten a little too enthusiastic with the destruction and almost broke a few things, while Asch had started setting several things on fire. Rhys quickly brought both behaviors to a halt, noting that there would be nothing left for the humans to clean if everything was destroyed (and a reminder not to waste any magic).

Noi looked around at the mess they'd made. "Do you think she'll get up right now, or will it take a bit until she notices?"

"I am unsure." Rhys paused, thinking. "This may not have been a prudent idea right now. If it disturbs Dame Emerald, then she will not get any rest like Mrs. Oates suggested... "

A soft groan from down the hallway seemed to prove the spectacled Daemos correct. He looked to Pierce, who nodded back as they both headed towards the taller woman's room. Noi hesitated for a moment, then followed along as well.

Hot.

Everything around Emerald was hot, suffocatingly so. Something heavy and sharp was pressed uncomfortably close to her stomach. She struggled to open her eyes, not knowing if she should, but she was curious to find out the source of the roaring sound filling her ears.

A wall of fire greeted her, flooding her vision with light and danger. It wasn't too close to where she was yet, but it was enough to fill her with fear. She tried to push against the weight pinning her down, but her left arm was trapped under her body.

"Is anybody there?!" Emerald called out, immediately coughing as the hot air dried out her throat. "Guys?!"

Something scrambled around near her right hand, finally grasping it carefully. She felt fingers intertwining with hers, holding firm. "Vic? You still alive in there?"

Emerald had no idea who was speaking, just that it was someone who knew her. "Something's got me stuck!" she called back, trying to pull herself free. Now that she had something to hold onto, maybe she could -

"STOP!" Whoever had her hand squeezed it tightly in warning, another hand coming through to rest on her right shoulder. "Whatever you do. Don't. Move."

She froze, catching the near-panic in the other person's voice. "... that bad, huh?" she wheezed out, barely daring to breathe.

"Just stay still." Whoever was there ran his thumb over her knuckles, trying to keep her calm. "Fire department's on the way. Guys are trying to keep it under control." Emerald took the opportunity to glance down, morbidly curious about what was keeping her pinned.

"Oh fuck!" She slammed her eyes shut, hoping when she opened them there wouldn't be a large bomb casing resting precariously over her body, barely held in place by some twisted rebar. It was the latter which was jabbing into her skin, spiraling around from where it had been knocked loose from the wall.

"Vic, calm down." More movement over her knuckles, but the hand on her shoulder withdrew. "I'm right here. Focus on me."

"Don't let go." Emerald breathed the words out, eyes still firmly shut. She squeezed the hand in hers, desperate not to lose hold of the only safe thing. Time seemed to freeze, or maybe she passed out for a bit, but it felt like only a few moments had gone by before she heard the voice speaking again. It sounded scared.

"Vic! C'mon, don't do this. Not now." She felt fingers jamming uncomfortably against her wrist and twisted to get away, only to be held fast by the hand on hers. "Oh thank God," the voice breathed out in relief. "Vic, you need to stay awake. Okay?"

Emerald nodded carefully, finally daring to open her eyes again. She was a bit alarmed to see the debris seemed to have shifted... and not in a good way.

Rhys led the way into Emerald's room, pausing at the door as he cracked it open. What he saw was enough to make him swing it wide open. The veteran was tangled in her blankets, left arm pinned tightly under her body. Her right hand was free, flailing wildly against the side of her nightstand.

"Emerald!" To everyone's surprise, it was Noi who dodged his way around the others and rushed to her side. He grabbed her free hand, holding it it firmly between his own to keep her from hitting it against the table anymore.

To their further surprise, it seemed to calm her down some. She stopped struggling against the sheets, although her breathing was still elevated. He took the opportunity to examine her knuckles, rubbing lightly where she had scrapped them on the wood. The woman groaned again and squeezed Noi's hand tightly.

"How did you know to do that?" Pierce approached carefully, taking in Noi's actions and Emerald's response.

"Princess Ava did something similar while you guys were gone. Mrs. Oates said to just hold her hand and stay close until she calms down." The smallest Daemos was visibly puffed up with pride: it wasn't often he knew something the others didn't and he was determined to show them what he could do.

Rhys came up to stand between them. "Fascinating," he murmured, observing as well. "Perhaps we were a bit hasty in 'making the mess' after all. Dame Emerald is not resting comfortably." He reached over and carefully disentangled her left arm, immediately leaping back in shock as she suddenly sat up.

"E-Emerald!" Noi stuttered, barely keeping hold of her hand. "Are you...? "

Pierce stepped up, looking closely at her face. "I do not think she is awake." He waved his hand in front of her, frowning when she failed to react.

"I think you're right." Rhys tentatively reached out and touched her shoulder.

Emerald shuddered hard, then blinked and glanced up at him blearily. "What're you doin'?" she muttered. She looked down and noticed Noi holding her hand. "What're you doing?"

Noi let go of her like she was on fire. "S-sorry! You were having a bad dream and Princess Ava had one earlier and Mrs. Oates said holding hands could help and I just wanted to help you and - "

The veteran reached over and lazily pressed her finger against his lips. "Shush. You're loud." She flopped back down on her bed, snuggling deeper into the blankets. "Goin' back ta' sleep."

The Daemos looked at each other in silent shock for a moment before Rhys gently shook her shoulder. "Dame Emerald, would it be all right if one of us stayed with you tonight?"

She peeked out from the blankets to stare at him, face unreadable. "Sure. Go for it. Knock yourselves out." Emerald disappeared back under the comforter. "Just let me get some sleep."

He nodded, then turned to the others. "We should take turns staying with her tonight. If this is any indication, Dame Emerald is not going to rest, which means she will not recover. If she does not recover, she will not be able to assist us in taking care of Princess Ava."

Noi nodded. "I'll go first. Mrs. Oates taught me what to do, so I can stay here until Emerald falls asleep."

"Are you sure?" Pierce fixed the smallest Daemos with a penetrating glare.

"Y-yes, I'm sure." He straightened up. "You can leave it to me. I'll make sure she gets some rest."

"Well then, we'll leave it to you for now Noi." Rhys motioned to the Daemos general. "Let's get some rest ourselves. You can go next, then I will remain with her until the sun rises."

"Okay." Together, the two blue-eyed Daemos made their way out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Once they were gone, Noi climbed onto the side of the bed and carefully reached over to take Emerald's hand where it poked out from the top of the comforter. He held it carefully in his hand, examining the fingers closely as he sat there. As he looked over the back of her hand, he noticed there was a small scar near the base of her left ring finger. 'I wonder how she got this,' he thought in curiosity.

Creaking.

All Emerald could hear was the creaking of metal and the roar of fire. The rebar twisting over her body was beginning to succumb to the weight of the bomb casing resting on top of it. As it bent, the sharp ends began to dig into the skin of her lower abdomen. She twisted her head upwards, not wanting to know how close she was to being impaled. Instead, she opened her eyes to try and see who was holding onto her right hand.

All that met her eyes was a wall of darkness, so deep she couldn't even see her own hand even though she knew it was only inches from her face. Emerald tried once again to pull her left arm free -

"SHIT!" She bit back any further curses, worried she would hurt herself more. Turns out another piece of metal had been wedged near her left hand, the edge biting into her ring finger and cutting into her back. The woman felt blood flowing, but had no idea how bad the damage was.

"Vic?" The hand holding hers gave a careful squeeze, followed by another brush against her knuckles. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Emerald gasped, wincing in pain. "Just... did something stupid. Cut myself."

"Where?"

"My hand. Maybe my back." She gave the barest laugh she dared. "Guess I need to be more patient."

A low, worried chuckle answered her. "Just try to stay still. Fire department is getting the fire under control, but EOD has to wait 'til they're done."

"EOD?" Emerald dared a quick glance down. "Oh, yeah. Bomb threatening to slowly crush me." She coughed, throat dry from the air. "Fun times." When there was no answer after a few moments, she gave the hand holding hers an experimental squeeze. "Everything okay?"

The extended silence did absolutely nothing to calm her nerves.

Pierce entered Emerald's room without bothering to knock. He hadn't liked the fact Noi was staying alone with her and had been anxious to come back and take over. He found the smallest Daemos sitting on the bed next to the veteran, holding her hand as he stroked her hair.

"How is she?"

Noi jumped. He'd been so focused on the human, he hadn't heard the Daemos general coming in. "Oh! She's... " He sighed. "She keeps having bad dreams."

He furrowed his eyebrows, approaching the side of the bed. "Has she gotten any rest?"

"A little bit. But I don't think she's comfortable." He gave him a worried look. "She won't let go of my hand." Noi demonstrated, gently trying to pull out of Emerald's grip. She let out a low murmur and squeezed it tighter, curling up on her side.

Pierce frowned as he placed his hand on her forehead. Her skin felt hot, but she now had a sheen of sweat covering her skin. "She is sweating now. I believe that is a good sign." He felt a small smile creep up his face as she leaned into his touch.

Noi let out a small, happy laugh. "I think she likes you."

The tall Daemos cleared his throat, blushing slightly as he removed his hand and straightened up. "We are supposed to be courting Princess Ava."

"I know. But I don't think it would hurt." He blushed as well. "Princess Ava seems to like it when we get along with her, and Mrs. Oates already thinks we're courting both of them."

Before Pierce could respond, Emerald groaned and cracked an eye open. "Are you two done yapping yet?" she grumbled, glaring at the two of them.

"Sorry!" Noi let go of her hand and jumped off the bed in one smooth movement. He retreated out of the room, closing the door behind him. "See you tomorrow!"

Pierce and Emerald watched him go before looking at each other. The former sighed. "Do you require anything?"

She shook her head. "I'm okay for now. Just... having some pretty weird dreams."

"What are they about?" He carefully slid onto the bed, making sure not to sit on any part of her hidden under the blankets.

She scooted over slightly to make room for him. "Stuff from when I was still in the military." The veteran yawned loudly, flipping her pillow over before settling back down. "One really bad day in particular."

"Do you wish to talk about it?"

Emerald shook her head furiously. "Ava doesn't even know about most of this stuff. There's no way in hell I'm spilling it to someone I've known for barely a week." She gave him a sheepish look. "No offense."

"None taken." He deftly leaned over and smoothed her hair, keeping his hand on top of her head when he'd finished. "Sleep. You are still unwell."

She gave him a tired nod, snuggling deeper into the sheets. It seemed she was asleep again within moments, her breathing even and calm.

Pierce surreptitiously reached down and took her hand in his, hoping it would help ward off any more unpleasant dreams. Although, from what he had just seen with Noi, he wasn't sure how effective it would be...

Pain.

Emerald barely dared to breathe, as every movement sent biting pain through her lower abdomen. She squeezed the hand holding hers, desperate to find any relief from the fire that was stabbing into her. "Anybody there?"

She heard a low voice near her ear. "I'm really sorry about this." At the same time, the hand holding hers began to slide out of her grasp.

"NonononononoNONONO!" Emerald scrambled desperately to hold on, but stopped dead in her tracks when she felt the rebar slide lower, slicing through the top few layers of skin on her body. "Don't let go! Please... "

Something sharp stabbed into her sides, digging deep. She involuntarily arched her back against the pain, forcing the rebar further into her stomach. She tried to scream, but couldn't draw any breath. Her eyes flew open in shock -

- and a grinning monster filled her vision.

"Emerald?" Pierce leaned down over the veteran, gently shaking her sides to awaken her. He had left her for only a moment to retrieve a glass of water and to re-wet the cloth for her forehead, but she seemed to be in the throes of another nightmare.

She groaned and twisted, seemingly trying to escape his grip. He ran his hand over her hair, noting it was almost soaked with sweat. "Can you hear me?"

Her eyes flew open.

It was just... staring at her.

Emerald didn't dare look away, barely daring to breathe as the creature met her eyes with its oily black, unblinking ones. Teeth sharp as blades, claws like needles digging deeply into her sides, it was huge and filled her vision.

She felt something drip from her body as she was lifted into the air and brought closer to the thing's face. The rebar jutted from her abdomen, somehow disconnected from the wall it'd previously been attached to.

Hot air blasted against her face as the monster opened its mouth, teeth dripping with saliva. It removed one hand from her body and, to her horror, began to stroke her head, the movement both comforting and terrifying at the same time.

Emerald didn't dare blink, bracing herself against the pain radiating from her torso. With confusion, she noticed the fire seemed to have died down. In fact, everything had died down: no fire, no noise, no people. Not even the wall and bomb casing remained in view.

It was just her and the demon, alone in a sea of blackness and heat.

From somewhere near her ear, she heard whispering. The words were unfamiliar, foreign, yet they seemed to be trying to comfort her. At the same time, something cool passed over her forehead. It brought relief from the oppressing heat threatening to crush her.

She closed her eyes, blocking out the creature holding her aloft.

Pierce pressed the cloth against Emerald's forehead, whispering the words to an ancient Daemos fable to give her something to focus on. It seemed to be working, as her eyes fluttered shut.

He sighed in relief as her breathing evened out. 'Noi was correct,' he thought. 'This illness is not letting her rest at all.' The Daemos general resumed his place at her side on the bed, sitting up as he cradled her head in his hand.

Emerald groaned and opened her eyes again, albeit slowly this time. "Wh... wha?"

"Are you awake?" Pierce whispered.

Barely perceptible, she nodded. "Bad dream was bad." A shudder. "Maybe I'm still dreaming... "

"Sleep. I will remain while you rest."

The veteran settled into his side, closing her eyes and sighing. "For now... "

Hours later, Rhys made his way to Emerald's room. A quick meeting with Noi confirmed his fears: the taller woman had not rested well. 'Maybe Pierce had better luck,' he thought as he opened the door to her room. 'He seems to be better at calming her than the rest of us.'

Pierce looked up at him from his place by Emerald's side and nodded in greeting. The woman in question was sitting up, leaning heavily against the tall Daemos's shoulder.

"Dame Emerald." Rhys nodded to her, approaching the bed. "Have you gotten any rest?"

She shook her head slowly. "Keep having weird dreams," she muttered tiredly.

"Nightmares continue to plague her," Pierce added, reaching over to grab the glass of water on the nightstand. He helped her take a few sips, then placed it back down. "She has had several since I took over for Noi."

"I see." Rhys approached and placed his hand against her forehead. To his surprise, she leaned into his touch. "Your temperature seems to have dropped slightly, and you are sweating."

"Yeah. Fever's breaking, so I'm a puddle of gross." She gave him a weak grin. "Gonna have to do so much laundry."

"We will worry about that later." The spectacled Daemos nodded to Pierce. "I will take over from here."

The Daemos general nodded in return, carefully disentangling himself from Emerald as he helped her lie down. She briefly grabbed his hand, but a quick glance at Rhys was enough to calm her again. She released him, smiling feebly. "Still super clingy. Sorry."

Pierce gently patted her head, adjusting her hair behind her ear. "Rest. Rhys will stay with you." He straightened up and, giving the other Daemos one last nod, exited the room.

Rhys was looking through the books on the shelves of her room. "Would it be all right if I read some of these while I stay with you? There are some unusual titles here I wish to examine."

Emerald nodded. "Go for it." She closed her eyes, not surprised when she felt the bed shift and Rhys's hand go to her head.

"Would you like me to read aloud to you? It may help you feel more relaxed while you rest."

A small smile. "I'd like that a lot."

Ava sat up tiredly in her bed, Johnny Cat asleep next to her. As the sun began to peek over the nearby buildings, she quietly counted down. "Three... Two... One... "

On cue, the door to her room flew open. Johnny Cat leapt up and ran out, weaving his way through the Daemos as they came in. "Prisoner...!" Asch bellowed, approaching her bed.

She sighed tiredly. "Predicatable."

"Are you better yet?!"

Noi glared at him. "Ava, Emerald, and Mrs. Oates all said it would be a few suns before they - "

"They're taking forever to recover!" Asch shot back.

"She's awake on her own today," Pierce interrupted, his voice optimistic.

Ava closed her eyes tiredly. "Yeah. No thanks to Leif."

"Whoops." The former assassin glanced off to the side, trying to hide a smile.

Asch sounded exasperated. "What did you do?"

"I kept her busy last night," he boasted, letting out a small laugh as Noi stared at him in horror.

Ava groaned as something repeatedly poked her forehead, unsurprised to see Leif kneeling by her bed staring at her.

"Are you dead?"

"I'm sick. Leave me alone."

"I'm just gonna wait here to make sure you don't die yet."

"How thoughtful," Ava drawled out sarcastically, turning to face away from him. A few seconds ticked by before she felt something touch her again in a very... unusual place. She sat up in panic, turning to face him. "Why did you poke my butt and with what?!"

"I poked you with my weapon. What else would I poke you with?"

"Just let me sleep!"

"... and he kept poking me, throughout the night," Ava finished flatly. "Look: he's doing it right now."

Leif was standing right next to her, absentmindedly pressing his knife into her hair repeatedly. He didn't even seem to be aware of it until she turned to glare at him. "Oh, uh... " He sheepishly sheathed his weapon. "Whoops."

"Cut it out, you - !" Asch roared.

Noi interrupted. "Are you feeling better, at least?"

"Mmm-hmm. I'm feeling much better. Thank you guys for taking care of me."

The smallest Daemos blushed darkly. "Oh, uh, y-yes!" he stuttered, laughing nervously.

Ava smiled at them, but it fell as she glanced around the room. "Where're Rhys and Em?"

"Good question." Asch threw back his head and bellowed. "Rhys! Where are you?!"

The spectacled Daemos entered Ava's room, carrying an open book in his hand. "I'm here! And I am alive!"

"Rhys?" Ava blushed, noticing he was still had the glasses Emerald had given him. In all the craziness of the last two days, she hadn't had the time to take a proper look at him wearing them. He looked... hot.

"These 'glah-says' that Dame Emerald bestowed upon me are amazing! At first, I wasn't sure what had happened, and I assumed she'd just cast a spell on me. That is, until I remembered she has no magic." His eyes practically sparkled with happiness at his new discovery. "This is lasting longer than any other spell we tried on Daemos!"

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Leif stared at them in confusion.

"Lady Grandma and I had been working on solving the issue with my vision distance. We've casted spells, but they were only for a period of time. These 'glah-says' are lasting as long as they are on my face!"

"Yeah... that's what glasses do," Ava muttered under her breath.

"It's wonderful! I can't believe we've never looked into something like this on Daemos."

Noi was making his "impressed" face again. "Wait. Those last forever?!"

"Let me see," Asch commanded, stepping forward. Rhys removed the glasses from his face and handed them to the Daemos prince. He put them on, squinting through the lenses. "Ugh, they just make my seeing eyes worse."

"I wanna try!" Noi laughed happily, holding out his hand. "Oh, I see worse," he whined once the glasses were on his face.

Ava scoffed. "Well, duh. It seems like Rhys got lucky and has similar eyesight to Em. Not everyone has - "

"I'd like to try." Pierce took the glasses from Noi, carefully placing them on his face. "My seeing eyes are bad too." He sounded disappointed.

Asch looked around at his knights. "What does this mean? Do they serve no other purpose?"

"It seems that way."

"Gimme those!" Leif phased in, practically ripping the glasses from Pierce's face before phasing back. He held them up in front of his eyes, studying them closely.

"Uh, be careful!" Ava warned.

Rhys looked at her in curiosity. "Why?"

"Maybe you can kill someone with 'em... " The former assassin gave Ava a wicked look before poking her in the forehead with the folded lenses.

She glared at him, trying to dodge the pokes. "Ow! Hey, quit it!"

"Useless piece of - " He cut himself off, stabbing her more vigorously until...

Snap.

Everyone froze, Rhys letting out a horrified gasp at the glasses (now neatly snapped into two pieces along the bridge) in the former assassin's hand. Leif stared at it nervously. "Ah... oops... "

Emerald slowly forced her eyes open. She'd heard some muffled yelling from outside her door, but it didn't seem to be particularly worrying yet. 'What time is it?' She felt exhausted, like she hadn't slept at all, even though the sun was definitely coming up over the nearby buildings.

She ran a hand over her face, sputtering a little when a washcloth fell down. 'Rhys must have gotten another one at some point.' It was confusing, though: the veteran knew she'd heard him reading to her for the past few hours. 'Must have gotten a couple of micro-naps in there somewhere.'

The yelling was getting louder, which was a bit concerning.

Emerald had barely finished sitting up when Ava burst into her room, looking panicked. "Ava? What's wrong?!" The veteran tried to stand up, but the smaller woman ran over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Quick, where are your glasses?"

"Uh, there on the table." She gestured at the nightstand. "What's going on?"

"Leif tried to stab me with Rhys's glasses and broke them and Rhys is freaking out and I don't want them to break anything or kill each other."

Emerald blinked as she tried to wrap her head around the words. "Go ahead: I can fix his pair later." She thought for a second. "There's some Munchie Bear Pops in the freezer if he needs a little extra help calming down."

Ava nodded as she grabbed the extra pair. "I'll be back. Don't worry: I got this." As the smaller woman ran into the kitchen, she was worried to see Rhys and Leif squaring off in the living room amidst a sea of knocked-over items.

"You have no right to exist!" The former Daemos roared as he summoned ice in each hand.

"You're not the first person to tell me that!" Leif shot back, wielding both knives in an attack stance.

Ava approached carefully, holding the glasses and ice cream behind her. "W-what's going on?"

"Rhys is upset at Leif." Pierce made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.

"I mean, I'm usually upset at Leif."

"Yes."

"He's upset because Leif broke his gla-ahs," Asch droned lazily. He didn't seem particularly worried about the confrontation taking place.

"I mean, damn. I've never seen Rhys pissed off before. I didn't think he was that type." Ava made a mental note to let Emerald know about this later: it was definitely something she would want to know.

Noi looked at her in confusion. "Type?"

"Y-yeah, uh, like... I just haven't seen him act like that."

"Rhys controls his temper," Pierce explained patiently.

"Better than any of us," Noi added, laughing.

Asch gave a smug grin. "Usually."

Their attention was all drawn back to the fight when the sound of glass shattering met their ears. Leif stared at his weapons, both blades completely frozen over. "Hey!"

"Next time, I won't miss," Rhys threatened, voice low.

"What do you expect me to do? I don't have any other 'gla-ahs' for you!"

"I'm sick of you! For too long, you've been disobedient! Despite your past, you've learned nothing!"

"It isn't my job to learn! My job is to kill!"

"And you haven't done that now, have you?"

"Silence!"

" - will be welcomed, once I destroy you." Rhys began focusing his magic for a second attack.

"Heh, bring it."

Ava ran in between the two Daemos, looking back and forth in panic. "No one is bringing anything!"

"Move out of the way!" Rhys ordered, glaring around her. "He broke my - " He cut himself off, magic sputtering out as Ava held up Emerald's glasses in front of him. "Glah - gla-sses?"

"These are Em's, so you'll have to be careful with them until she can fix the pair she gave you earlier. But she said you can borrow these until they're ready."

"Th-thank you." Rhys sighed as he took them, placing them carefully on his face. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I - "

"Yeah, Rhys," Leif taunted. "You should really know your place and conserve your magic. Am I right?"

The ice balls reappeared as the spectacled Daemos glared. "You - !" He was cut off again as Ava held up an unwrapped Munchie Bear Pop in front of his face. His eyes went wide with wonder, magic vanishing as he gasped in delight.

"I-I also got this for you from the freezer." For some reason, Ava felt herself blushing. "Em said she bought some yesterday, and that it might help you calm down."

Rhys stuttered incoherently before he managed to compose himself, taking the offered treat. "All is at peace for now," he sighed happily.

Ava sighed in relief as well. "Crisis avert - ah!" Her eyes went wide as she finally took a good look around the apartment, noticing all the scattered items and knocked-over furniture. 'Em is going to lose her shit if she sees this!' "What the - ?! What is - ?! It's only been a day! How did this happen?!"

Having already finished the ice cream treat, Rhys met her gaze. "Oh, yes. Ah, I can explain... "

While Rhys was explaining their reasoning to Ava, Emerald slowly wandered out of her room. She had a feeling something wasn't right in the apartment, but all she was really focused on at the moment was getting to her bathroom.

'Okay, today is Saturday,' she thought tiredly. 'I don't have anything until Monday, so if Ava's feeling better, I can take today to rest and use tomorrow to get back on schedule.' Satisfied with her plan, the veteran closed the door and went about her business.

"What?!" Ava stared at them incredulously. "So... wait. You got that kind of message from Mrs. Oates's sad story about her mother?!"

Asch nodded impassively. "Yes."

"And it worked!" Rhys motioned towards her. "You are out of bed."

"Yes, but I didn't wake up because of the mess!"

"But you woke after the mess was made," Pierce counter-argued.

"What?" Poor Noi was completely lost.

"I - ugh!" Ava glared at them. "That's not how it works..."

Noi raced over and rested his hands on her shoulders. "I'm just glad you're okay," he murmured in relief, staring into her eyes. The short human blushed at the sudden, focused attention he was giving her.

"We will leave you to clean the mess, Princess Ava. Please meet with us once you are done." Asch nodded to his knights, leading the way back though their portal.

"Wait... " Ava stared after them, her face growing dark with anger. "I just let them walk away?!" She charged through the portal, hot on Noi's heels. "Stop right there, jerks!"

"Excuse me?" Asch growled dangerously.

"You guys are going to help me clean up the apartment, before Em finds out what you did."

"Uh... no." Leif shook his head.

"Uh, yes."

"Why should we?" the Daemos prince challenged.

"Because you want to learn more about the human world, don't you? Well now it's time you learn about 'responsibility'."

Once she had them all wrangled back into the living room, Ava turned to the Daemos. "Who told you guys this mess was acceptable?"

"We already told you: Mrs. Oates," Rhys explained patiently.

"Nonononono." She took a deep breath before continuing. "It's come to my attention that Em and I need to basically teach you guys from the ground up. In a way, I'm kinda glad you guys made this mess, because now you get to learn about how humans clean."

"I am interested to see - "

Asch cut him off, annoyed. "Just use your servants to clean it and leave us out of this."

Ava laughed harshly. "Surprise, surprise! Not every human has servants, and even if they did, I'm positive we would never call them servants."

"But... you're a princess." Rhys stared at her in open confusion.

"Yes. I am a... princess." The small human looked down, realizing how deep of a hole she'd dug herself by going along with this charade. 'Well, too late to back out now,' she thought, straightening up. "But! I'm learning to live on my own. So that means I do everything myself. Em isn't here to serve me: she's just helping me get settled so I can take care of myself. She cleans up after herself every day, in case you haven't noticed."

"But... you do not." Pierce looked confused.

She took a deep breath. "I know, and I've been trying to do more to help out. But this is about you guys taking responsibility for your own actions. I'm not going to make her clean all this up, especially when you guys worked her half to death yesterday!"

"Then use your magic!" Noi threw it out like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"No! Cleaning your mess with magic is called losing!"

"No, it's called being lazy," Asch countered. "Just use your magic like this." He raised his hand to summon a fireball, when suddenly -

"Hey! Don't you dare!" Everyone froze as Emerald came towards them, stopping to lean heavily against the kitchen counter. "So help me, I will slap that ring right off your horn if you keep trying to set my stuff on fire!"

"I agree: we should not be using our magic." Rhys risked a quick glance at Asch, even as he took a few steps towards the woman. "Especially since our departure - "

Asch cut him off. "I get it! We don't need to talk about that."

Ava looked between them and Emerald, confused and worried. "Departure?"

"Yes! Our departure... from... this idiotic task you are trying to get us to complete."

"Well, you wouldn't need to complete it if you didn't make it in the first place!"

"We were trying to help you get up!"

"By giving me more stress?!"

"It worked, didn't it?!" He pointed a finger at Emerald. "Look, even she's up now, and she was sicker than you were yesterday!"

"Oh yeah, because I'm such a good measuring stick for healthy coping mechanisms!" The veteran took a step towards the Daemos, but tripped over the upturned potted tree. She barely caught herself on the side of the loveseat, holding a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness hit her hard.

"Em!" Ava ran to her roomate's side, surprised when Rhys arrived at the same time to support Emerald's opposite side. They helped her sit more comfortably on the cushions, noticing the taller woman was practically dripping with sweat. "Why are you even out of bed?"

"Had to pee. Was going to make some tea." She glared at Asch. "Saw flame boy about to set my stuff on fire."

The Daemos all stared at Emerald, a bit unnerved to see her up and about already. "A-are you feeling any better?" Noi stuttered, taking a tiny step forward.

The veteran nodded. "I still need to rest, but I should be back to normal soon." She looked around at the mess in the apartment, sighing in frustration as she started to stand. "Which I'll do as soon as I get this mess taken care of."

"Oh no you don't!" Ava pushed her back down, surprised at how easily the woman toppled back. "They made this mess, they're going to clean it up, and you're going to go back to bed while I get you something to eat."

Emerald blinked at her a few times, then gave out a soft chuckle. "Well, I can't argue with a direct order like that." She took a good look around again. "How did this even happen, anyway?"

Rhys gave another quick synopsis of the conversation they'd had with Mrs. Oates the night before. As he did so, the spectacled Daemos took the opportunity to look her over. While she seemed exhausted, she did appear more coherent than she had the prior evening.

When it was done, Emerald took in the mess again before chuckling. "Ava's right then: you all definitely need to learn some responsibility and take care of this."

Leif stared back defiantly. "What's in it for us if we clean?"

"The satisfaction of having a nice place to live?" Ava added hopefully.

Asch scoffed. "That's stupid."

"You're stupid!" she shot back.

"I mean... there is some delight in cleaning." Rhys cut in helpfully, hoping to diffuse the escalating situation. He could feel how tense Emerald was by his side, all of it focused on Asch. "But I do not understand why we have to do it."

"Because it teaches responsibility!" Ava growled out through clenched teeth.

"Ugh, fine!" The Daemos prince was acting exactly like an angsty teenager. "We'll do it if it'll get your talking to stop!"

"I like Ava talking," Noi broke in, blushing. This drew a bark of laughter from Emerald, who quickly tried to cover the noise with her hand.

"Shut up!"

"I'm rather intrigued by this 'satisfaction' Ava speaks of." Rhys chuckled. "Admittedly, I don't think any of us have ever cleaned before."

Ava felt her jaw drop. "Y-you haven't?"

"I have." Leif waited as all the Daemos expressed their shock. "Uh, yeah, I have. Didn't always live in the kingdom, you know."

"What's it like?!" Noi was absolutely gobsmacked.

"It's... one... of... the most... boring and dumb tasks ever. I only ever did it once or twice."

"Eh, that's it: we're out." Asch motioned for his knights to leave.

Ava stared at him in shock. "But - you just said - !"

"Leif said it was dumb and I don't like dumb things."

"Pfft, do you like yourself?" she whispered under her breath. Emerald had to suppress another wave of laughter.

"Well... perhaps it's different from Daemos methods." Rhys cut in again, trying to get everyone refocused.

"Different from - " Emerald gasped as an idea occurred to her. "Wait, I've got it!" She stood again, slower this time, with Rhys keeping one hand on her arm to steady her. "Ava, come with me: we've got a plot to execute."

Once they were safely shut away in Emerald's room, Ava turned to the taller woman. "So, what's the plan?"

Emerald went to her desk, moving aside a box. She ducked underneath, emerging with a blank whiteboard. She grinned as she turned to Ava. "We're going to make a Chore Chart."

"A... Chore Chart? You mean, like something you'd use to tell kids what they're supposed to do so they can get an allowance?"

"Basically, yeah." Emerald sat in her desk chair, pulling out a ruler and some dry erase markers. "Our roommates need motivation and they seem to like competing with each other. Why not set them against each other to see who can do the best job getting the apartment back in order?"

Ava barely held back her laughter. "Should we make a 'Prize Box' too?"

The veteran paused. "That is brilliant." She looked towards her closet. "I think I have an old chest in there from my LARP days."

The smaller woman disappeared, emerging a few moments later holding the box triumphantly over her head.

"Perfect! Why don't you go see if you have anything you can toss in there? In the meantime, I'll finish this up." Emerald turned back to the board, measuring out seven spaces.

"Wait... seven?"

"Yeah. It only seems fair to include ourselves, if we're going to make this a regular thing."

Ava nodded, running back to her room to find things to include in the box. After a few minutes, she returned, the box rattling with mystery prizes.

"Nice." Emerald sat up and stretched, showing Ava her creation. The whiteboard had been divided into seven rows, the far left column containing a cartoon sketch of each resident. "What do you think?"

Ava grinned. "I love it." She looked closer at the drawings. "Why does Asch look so grumpy?"

"When doesn't he look grumpy?"

She laughed again. "Hmm, I notice some of these drawings have a little more detail than the others... "

Emerald found herself blushing, but decided it must be from her fading fever. "Hey, if this is going to be a regular thing, I'd like it to look nice." She opened one of the drawers of her desk, pulling out an old stack of magnetized stickers. "We can use these to track completed jobs."

Ava took them, flipping them over to see the design. "Cat face stickers? Where did these come from?"

"Some promotional thing from a company I did some editing work for while I was in college. I thought they were cute, so I didn't want to waste them on something silly." She shrugged. "This seems like as good a cause as any."

"Okay, leave this to me." Ava put everything on the floor near the door, then took Emerald by the arm. "Now come on: you need to rest."

"Wait, what?" The veteran allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "But - "

"Nope." The smaller woman gave her a gentle push towards the bed. "You ran around with them all day yesterday trying to get stuff to take care of me. Now it's my turn to take care of you." She looked away sheepishly. "Besides, I haven't really been doing a lot to help out lately. Let me make it up to you."

Emerald gave her a tired grin as she sat down on the mattress. "Thanks, Ava." She glanced over to her nightstand, noticing the broken glasses and frowning. "Hold on: let me see how bad this break is first." She picked up the frames and examined them closely.

"Is it bad?"

She shook her head. "It's actually a pretty clean break. All I need is the Super Glue from my desk, and I can get this put back together right now."

Ava retrieved the tube, but held it out of her reach. "I'll give this to you, but you have to promise me you're going to lie down as soon as it's done."

Emerald rolled her eyes, but then smiled. "I promise I will lie down and get some rest for the rest of the day."

She handed over the glue, then took a deep breath. "You think this will work?"

"If you really play up the idea of a competition and prizes, you'll do just fine. Let me know how it goes, okay?"

Ava nodded, hiding the board behind her back as she left the room.

The Daemos were all still gathered in the living room when Ava came back out, dragging the board along. 'Well, at least they didn't run off through their portal while I was gone,' she thought with relief. "I wanted to let you guys know that humans have a very special method of going about cleaning."

Asch seemed unimpressed. "Yeah. Which is... "

She pulled the board out, holding it aloft for them to see. "This is a sacred Chore Chart."

All of them seemed enthralled. "Fascinating," Rhys murmured in appreciation.

Noi gasped. "What does it do?!"

"I'm going to give you all tasks to do, and each time you complete them, you get a Happy Cat Face. If you can get three Happy Cat Faces, you get to pull from the 'Treasure Box.'" She put aside the whiteboard and pulled the chest forward, motioning towards it like a presenter on a TV game show.

Noi gasped again in barely-contained excitement.

"What's inside?!" Asch was totally into it.

Leif's eyes were as wide as saucers. "I NEED TO KNOW!"

Ava shook her head. "Nope. You guys don't get to find out until you clean the apartment. First one to clean the most gets three Cat stickers. But: you must keep cleaning until the apartment is back to the way it was."

Asch stood, summoning his fire. "I'll use my magic to - "

"No fire. No magic." Ava glared at him. "No breaking things! Nothing. You have to do it the human way. With your hands, just like Em does."

The Daemos prince sighed in annoyance. "Fine."

"I consider this a worthy challenge," Pierce boasted.

"A competition?" Rhys smiled at her. "Brilliant!"

"Now this I can get into," Leif bragged. "Especially for a prize."

Even Noi was getting into it. "I can prove I'm stronger than you guys!"

"Perfect! Now ready?" Ava dropped her hand to signal the start. "Go!"

The Daemos scattered, each eager to prove his cleaning prowess.

Once Ava was positive the Daemos were all occupied with their tasks, she went into the kitchen and got the leftover soup out of the fridge. She was pleasantly surprised to see pizza ingredients alongside the usual groceries. 'Did she get that for Noi?' she thought, a smile rising on her face.

In no time at all, the soup was ready. Ava carefully picked it up with a folded kitchen towel and carried to down the hallway to Emerald's room. "Em?" she called as she entered. "You doing okay?"

Emerald looked up from her phone. "Yeah. Just checking my email."

The smaller woman was sorely tempted to smack the phone from her hands, but knew it was important to the veteran to keep on top of her work. Instead, she set the bowl on the nightstand. "Anything interesting?"

"Nah, just the usual." She suddenly leaned forward, her eyes moving rapidly as she read something.

Ava didn't like the look on her face. "Bad news?"

"Hmm?" Emerald startled, as if remembering she wasn't alone. "Oh, no. Nothing like that." She locked the phone, putting it face down on the blanket next to her before giving Ava a half-hearted smile. "Just some spam that did a really good job of looking legitimate. Gave me a bit of a scare."

"That makes sense." She sat down on the edge of the bed, putting her hand against Emerald's forehead. "You still feel pretty warm, but at least you're sweating." Ava made a show of wiping her hand on the comforter, giving her a mock disgusted face. "We're gonna have so much laundry to do tomorrow."

The veteran laughed, reaching over to grab the bowl of soup. "Speaking of which, how'd they like the Chore Chart?" She began to eat as she waited for an answer.

"You were definitely right about the competition thing," Ava grinned. "Almost all of them are practically falling over themselves to see what's in the box."

"'Almost' all?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Let me guess... Asch?"

"Yeah." Ava sighed in irritation. "I swear, he's like a goddamn moody teenager."

"Accurate." Emerald took a couple more bites of the soup, then glanced towards the hallway. "You sure they're gonna be okay unsupervised?"

Before she could answer, Leif poked his head in. "Give me more!" the former assassin demanded, a crazed look in his eye.

"Uh, you mean you already - ?"

"MORE!"

"Okay! Jesus Christ, Leif," Ava muttered under her breath while Emerald bit back a laugh. She looked back to the veteran as she stood. "You, stay there and eat that. I'll be back later with some more water."

Emerald gave her a small salute. "Yes, ma'am."

About an hour later, Ava came back in with a fresh glass of water. "How's it going?"

Emerald looked up from her phone again, another startled look flittering across her face before she hid it behind a small grin. "Same as always. How goes the cleaning?"

"Pretty good." She sat down at the edge of the bed again. "Did you see that group text from Pop?"

"Yeah. You feeling up to seeing them tomorrow for brunch?"

"Definitely. You know I'm always up for free food." Ava picked at one of her nails. "You sure you don't mind giving me a ride?"

"Are you kidding? It'll be fun. You know I'm always ready for an excuse to take Rikki out for a ride." She held up one hand. "And before you ask: yes. I have an extra set of safety gear for you to wear. Wouldn't want your parents to think I'm putting their baby in danger."

The smaller woman laughed. "I've never ridden on a motorcycle before."

"You'll be fine. All you need to do is hold onto my waist and make sure you don't smack the back of my helmet with yours when we go over bumps. Easy."

"It sounds like a lot of fun." Ava looked down for a moment. "Did you get that pizza stuff in the fridge just for Noi?"

"Yeah. Same with the ice cream treats for Rhys." She shrugged. "If they're going to be staying here, it makes sense to get them some things they like. Don't you think?"

"I mean, yeah, but... doesn't that eat into your savings?"

Emerald looked at her seriously. "Look, I know you're worried about the money thing, but I promise: everything's fine. That extra work I did last month finally went through, I talked to the VA and got that sorted out, and I can always put in for some freelance work if we need it." She went to say more, but was cut off by a huge yawn.

"Okay, that's enough for now." Ava reached over and took the bowl as she stood up. "Try to get some sleep, okay? I'll go check on the guys and make sure they don't bug you anymore today."

Ava finished her inspection of the apartment, pleased to see the Daemos had successfully undone all the damage they'd caused the night before. "Perfect! Now, for the winner... " She consulted the notes she'd been taking throughout the day. "Leif? You've won."

"I knew it!" he crowed happily. "See?! I didn't need to grow up in the kingdom to be worthy!"

Asch glared at him. "Silence!"

"Leif, no one likes a sore winner." Ava turned back from the chart as she finished attaching the magnets. "Now, everyone else: because you guys did a great job, you all get one Happy Kitty Face! Now Leif, you get to pick from the Treasure Box."

"Alright!" The former assassin ran forward, throwing open the lid and rummaging through the contents. When he stood, he was holding a large red novelty fidget spinner. "Wha-what is this?"

"Oh, uh.. tha-that's a fidget spinner." For some reason, Ava felt embarrassed that that was the prize he'd chosen.

The other Daemos crowded in close, fascinated with the foreign object.

Leif flicked it, gasping in stunned amazement when it moved.

"How are you spinning it?!" Rhys demanded.

"I-I don't know!"

"Are you doing it with your mind?" Even Asch seemed obsessed with the object.

"It won't stop... "

Ava cocked one eyebrow. "Yeah, it spins for a while and - "

"This is incredible!" Asch marveled. "It keeps going... "

"Oh God, why did I put that in there," the small human murmured to herself under her breath.

Rhys kept his eyes glued to the spinner. "This is... satisfying to watch."

Pierce nodded, hardly daring to look away. "Very."

Ava sighed in frustration. "Whatever. You guys cleaned the apartment, and that's all that matters. Goodnight!" She turned and left them to the mercy of the fidget spinner, relieved that she'd at least been able to help out in the apartment for once. 'Maybe I could convince Em to put some prizes for us into the box,' the small woman thought happily as she headed towards her room.