A massive and chaotic energy gathered together, detaching itself from a small trembling body. It was like a storm cloud bathed in a bloody red, finding its shape, and taking on a solid living mass.

Every impulse within Ryo impelled him to flee from this awakening demon but seeing the sight of what appeared like the figure of his friend stopped him. Below he could see there was movement in him, but little strength. His form braced for whatever harm he may have been heedlessly throwing himself into and slid down the incline.

The demon was beginning to come to. He could feel the Earth under his feet, and the weight of his body, he wasn't accustomed to it yet and thus toppled to all fours. His senses were shaky still as he tried to determine his surroundings. There was a smell, a strong one, one he had become all too close to, and currently it was too close for his comfort.

"Akira!? Akira! Is that you?" Ryo spoke through critical breaths. He pulled the pale human figure up by its shoulder. Ryo nearly gasped, it was most certainly Akira, Akira in his purest form. As Ryo looked into his eyes there was a hopeless and frantic expression. He was shaking all over and couldn't even get up from his hands and knees, but he crawled anyway. There was a determination there, he forced himself to move like his survival itself hinged on it, and by the desperation in his eyes, to him it did.

Ryo watched with his heart clattering against his ribs as Akira weakly and fearfully stumbled seemingly closer to the demon. He reached his hand out towards it but strangely enough, the devil seemed just as much out of sorts as Akira himself, seeing how it grunted and writhed for its footing. But the closer Akira got the more it thoughtlessly lashed out like a wounded beast. Its tail flicked and wings fluttered aggressively as it shook its head doing all it could to think clearly again.

The blonde didn't like where this was going. Neither of them were rational, and Akira was perfectly placed to get crushed by his own demon. Ryo was horrified by the devil alone; he didn't need another reason to feel worried watching it stomp around. He quickly flung his white coat over Akira's naked body and pulled him away. Akira tried to resist, but he didn't have the strength he once did, allowing Ryo to tug him back.

"Akira, come on, it's gonna kill us!" Ryo yelled. Trying to yank Akira along was like trying to haul an anchor with how much he persisted to go back.

"R-Ryo, please, p-please, I can't…" he wheezed through every word. "I can't go w-without…I need, I need…" Akira was feeling shocked and feeble, he could hardly muster the will to stand any longer.

The demon's full attention all finally snapped into place at once as his eyes locked with his former human host. There was a strong unspoken tension between them, on one hand they were drawn to each other, but there was also a defiance. The demon broke from the standoff first and snorted contemptuously. Akira felt a drop in his gut as his eyes spread.

The demon crouched his large red body and pulled open his wings. The stance was deceiving, Akira saw it and understood the devil was setting himself to take off, but to Ryo, it appeared like a threat. Hearing Akira gasp suddenly was enough for Ryo to shoot once the demon's way. Startled but unscathed, the devil roared, rattling the whole surrounding forest.

"Don't Ryo! He's trying to leave; you're making it worse!" Akira begged sternly. Ryo looked bewildered but more than anything he was scared. He was getting to his limit and even considered taking off on his own the longer he stayed in the monstrous being's presence.

"Let it leave! Akira, we need to go right now!" Ryo demanded. Akira was torn glancing back and forth between both of them, but his attention was soon taken by the demon. It seemed irritated, it watched them alertly as it spread its wings one more time.

"No don't! Come back now!" Akira called out feverishly to the devil. For that mere second its eyes fell on him hesitantly, but then in the very next it was off the ground with one swift downbeat.

Akira's heart felt as though it was turned to ice. He watched helplessly as the devil flew higher and further away.

"No…" his eyes were pleading, and his head swayed slowly. Akira could tell he was suddenly being drug back by his arm, but it didn't register to him that he should say anything, or even fight back. The moment felt like hours yet somehow before he knew it, he was shoved back into Ryo's car as if it had only been seconds. Time didn't process to him, reality itself felt unreal. The only thing he understood was the sense of heavy and relentless dread. The car revved and Akira felt them begin to speed off back to the city. He perked back up in concern.

"Ryo, w-where are we going? We need to go after Amon, he's getting away…" Akira said in distress.

"Akira! There's no way I'm going back near that thing! Damn, this is bad! what the hell even happened, huh!?" Ryo spoke abruptly, clearly under massive stress.

Akira was a bit taken by his harshness. He swallowed meekly and replied, "Ryo, I really don't know, I'm as scared as you. Maybe even more so," his arms coiled around himself. "I-I'm not used to this, I hate feeling this afraid, I hate feeling this weak, Ryo. We need to get Amon back. I can't save anyone like this."

Ryo's eyes had mostly been on the road, but he made a brief exception to glare over at Akira. The look on his face was strained.

"Oh, just go get him back? You think we can just get him to come back? Akira, Amon is the most powerful demon there ever was, and you let him go. Devilman was humanity's last hope and now it's been doomed! That's why I'm so terrified! There is no fixing this!"

Akira was internally put off by Ryo's rigid and accusatory tone. He wanted to say something back, to stand his ground and draw his boundary, but he choked on a timidness he had long forgotten. Instead, all that came out was a mousy reply.

"It wasn't my fault Ryo, I tried holding it back, you think I wanted this to happen?" he almost pouted.

Ryo didn't look over at him, he sighed deeply and placed his hand to the side of his face.

Akira deflated, "Look Ryo, I know you're afraid, I am too, but I don't think all hope is lost. I can still sense him, we're still connected, somehow? But if we can just catch him, I think we can reunite and then everything will-"

"Everything will what!?" Ryo cut in. "Go back to how it was? Akira you were trying to hold back that thing for weeks now, he got out this time who's to say he won't do it again?"

Akira was speechless, he wasn't sure how to rebuke that point, but something deep inside him told him there was a solution. There just had to be.

"I don't know Ryo, I don't have any rational explanation, I just have a feeling there's a way to fix this."

Ryo was motionless for some time. The only movement to his person was the strobing lights of the highway, a few blinks, and the subtle reflex of his breathing. Akira waited in anticipation for any form of acknowledgement from his friend and when it lastly came it was introduced through a stout huff.

"Look, we'll think of something, but I want nothing to do with that devil until you put it back on its leash, understand?"

Akira nodded compliantly, despite feeling as though he was being scolded like a child.

"For now, you lay low. You're defenseless and there's plenty of demons out there who'd love to kill you while you're vulnerable," Ryo said now with a mildness to his voice.

Akira slumped, and kept the large white coat wrapped around him. He disliked the feeling of his own body and didn't much like being reminded of his scrawny stature.

"Yeah, I know, but what if a demon does show up? I have to do something, I mean I'm still Devilman deep down, you know," he sounded unsure.

"Akira, get that out of your head, you're just Akira now, just another human."

The blunt honesty of that statement was like a punch to the stomach. Akira felt uneasy even trying to convince himself of his new circumstances.

"Just a human…" he spoke so softly he didn't think Ryo even heard.

"You're not going to go out of your way to hunt demons or pursue anything Devilman related, you're in no place right now to do so. You'll only protect yourself until we can fix this, it's for your own good," Ryo said straightforwardly. He reached his arm over to the glove compartment and pulled a handgun out. "Here you'll need to keep a hold of this," Ryo's eyes remained on the road as Akira took the weapon tentatively.

Akira had become quiet as he gazed down at the gun in his hand. There was an ever-present gloom fogging his mind and emitting from his body. Ryo picked up on it, he knew he needed to say something.

"We'll figure something out Akira, for now just try to look on the bright side. I suppose you don't have to worry about anything demon related anymore, it's like you get to take a break. You always hated demons anyway," Ryo tried to sound reassuring but there was still an unintentional chill in his tone.

Akira felt like there was a hole tearing through his chest, "…Yeah, I guess so," his voice was faint.

The brisk wind of the night swept through the coarse dark fur that decorated the demon's body. Amon flew high in the clouds, feeling the breeze under his wings. His thoughts were still racing on the events that had just taken place. He couldn't believe it; he was finally out. After all this time, it couldn't be possible, but it had to be, these were his wings and the chill on his skin. He banked slightly to the right, then a little further to the left, testing his will.

A naughty smile lightened his face as he then decided to pull his wings in tight to his body, rocketing himself downward in a nosedive. The adrenaline pulsed through his veins tickling his insides, he saw the ground incoming and grinned wider. Right before he would have contacted the unforgiving Earth he pulled back up and darted through the trees, ducking, and swerving through the forest.

A howl of joy bounded from his lungs and resonated across the woodland. He got the inkling to land but into a full sprint, with all his speed built up he leapt to all fours and ran as fast as he could. He felt his claws hook the dirt and propel him forward with all the might in his muscles.

As he came to a cliffside he could oversee the beautiful landscape of a wild land yet untouched by man. There was a majestic waterfall that split the small canyon and gifted life to all the surrounding plants and animals. He heard its potent grumble and smelled its misty air. All around him he took in the sights, smells, and sounds of the world, every little thing he could sense sent his spirit soaring. The pure exuberance that coursed within him was addicting, he wanted this, all of this, always.

He finally came to a slow and brought himself to stand back on just his two legs as he stood on the edge of an extending rock. He looked up to see the moon in all its glory and laughed. He opened his arms to it and basked in its dim light, he was no longer confined to it. No, he lived beneath it, like any other individual Earthy inhabitant. He was nobody's prisoner.

There was something so forbidden about this feeling, this feeling of wildness. He loved it, he loved every bit of it, he loved feeling alive. He was free.

His sights set to somewhere deep beyond the stars as his face became smug.

"I'm back…" he taunted to an unseen force. A chuckle hummed low in his throat before his attention was stolen by a scent he swore he recognized. He practically giggled in mischievous glee if his hunch were correct then this would be fun. His wings burst open and before he knew it, he was airborne.

Akira grimaced as he hurried to change his clothes. He didn't want to address his skinny figure but that now seemed like a constant losing battle. The spare clothes he kept at Ryo's penthouse were noticeably looser, and much more spacious, especially in a certain unfortunate area. He scowled and took a deep disappointed breath. Akira figured he had some older clothes back at the Makimura's house that might fit this frame of his better for the time being.

His head tipped up as realization then dawned on him. Wait, he couldn't go back to the Makimura's, not like this, what would they think? Worse what would Miki think. His heart skipped thinking of her, she couldn't see him like this, no one could.

Akira's thoughts began to stray as he recalled the last few weeks of their relationship. No wonder she's been so upset with him lately, it all made sense to him now. He's been so busy dealing with himself he wasn't even considering her. Clearly there was no mystery why she had been crying when around him, and she must have never had the heart to really tell him why. He rationalized to himself with a downcast stare. He vowed in his head then and there he would fix this and soon, for her, for himself, for the world.

He hurdled out of the bathroom and back into Ryo's living room where he was typing away at his laptop, stuck in concentration.

"Hey Ryo, I think I might have an idea for how we can get Amon back, but we have to do it tonight," he said hustling down the stairs as fast as his shrimpy legs could carry him. "I'll call Miki and tell her I'm staying the night with you so we can get it done before I have to go home. Do you think I could borrow your phone? I think we left mine behind, I know she's probably worrying where I am," Akira was speaking a mile a minute.

Ryo finally tore his gaze from the computer screen and looked up to Akira with a questioning expression.

"Wait, wait Akira? You really think we can fix all this in one night, how?" something about his tone sounded both skeptical and genuine simultaneously.

"W-well," he hated how he stammered. "I know it sounds weird, but I can still feel him somehow. I think if we can track him down then, maybe I can rein him back in. If we do it tonight it'll be like it never happened!" Akira brightened at the prospect.

Ryo leaned back from his laptop and sat hunched with his hands under his chin. He seemed to be calculating something before surrendering to a sigh.

"Alright Akira, we'll try it. You've been with him for some time now so it's your call, but I wanted to point your attention to something," Ryo turned to face Akira with seriousness. Akira noticed this and gave all his focus to the blond in front of him.

"I was doing some research and I found out what might be going on here. See there are certain times of the year a demon's energy is at its strongest, and Amon's time nears the end of April."

Akira's body erected slightly, "Wait, you mean?"

Ryo nodded, "This is all perfectly timed. That's why it's been festering up inside of you for a while, he's been preparing for this. It's why you're still connected to him too. I thought it was strange how he could exist separately from you without a body of his own, but he's not. Or at least not for the time. See he must have made his energy so dense he's given himself solid mass and can walk the Earth outside of you. However, he can't live completely apart from you either, that's why you still feel him."

Akira's face drooped, "Are you saying even if we fix this, I'm going to have to deal with this every year?"

"Not exactly," Ryo got up from his seat and paced by the window. "See this is a very unusual phenomenon. I could hardly find any documents on it, but from what I did find is that a reaction this extreme requires an extreme trigger. So, the likelihood of something like this happening again is slim, especially if you can prepare for it, or understand what the trigger might be."

"How am I supposed to know that?" Akira asked dumbfounded.

"I think that's for you to find out, but from what I know about Amon, this isn't out of character for him. See there's an ancient legend among the demons, the legend of The Devil in the Moon."

Akira leaned in closer, his curiosity peaking, "The Devil in the Moon?"

"Yes, legend has it, eons ago God accidentally gifted life to his own shadow that casted on the Earth. When it gained cautiousness, God feared what he created and trapped it in the Moon immediately after it's conception. This is believed by many demons to be the original and most powerful demon, The Devil if you will. Not to be confused with Satan however, a fallen arch angel of God in the bible."

Something sparked in Akira's memory, this story was familiar to him.

"Anyway, it's said some time passed and eventually the regular demons we're familiar with began to emerge on the Earth. They noticed the figure in the Moon and speculated on its existence. Some demon must have found out that the being was alive and thus wanted to merge with it for power."

"So how did he get out?" Akira asked enthralled.

"Well…" Ryo sounded dubious. "That's where the story gets a bit muddled, different demon tribes had different versions. What is consistent is The Devil in the Moon was something many demons tried and failed to merge with. The original story was that if you were deemed worthy, The Devil in the Moon would merge with you and grant you its great strength. Whatever happened, presumably The Devil found a demon it deemed worthy, and they merged and thus was named Amon. Only the demon that existed before was lost. As Amon actually turned out to be a fragmented consciousness from The Devil in the Moon."

Akira was both captivated and unnerved by the tale, and he knew his unease came from the fact he knew this story. He finally sprung up from his seat on the couch, "So, why are you telling me this?"

Ryo spun around to look Akira in the eyes, "Because Akira, don't you see? It makes perfect sense Amon has a thing about being trapped and confined. I wouldn't put it past him to feel the same about you and Devilman. The first second he got the chance he wanted to get as far from you as possible, I bet that's his trigger."

Akira felt the pressure of the revelation stew in his thoughts. He felt numb taking his seat again and propping his head up into his hand.

"That makes sense, too much sense actually," Akira confessed. Ryo seemed interested, tipping his head to the side. "That legend, I've never heard it before, but it's familiar to me. It was my dreams; it was the nightmares…"

Understanding lifted Ryo's severe expression, "I'd say that only confirms the theory. He was even trying to warn you about what was to come."

"Yeah, but what do I do about it? How am I supposed to convince him to stay, let alone come back," Akira's voice sounded defeated.

"Well, there's something else to all of this, perhaps the most crucial thing, and I don't know how it'll all end up."

Akira's posture rose attentively, "What's that?"

"That no matter what, because Amon is still living through you, his time on his own will run out. And either he will have to simply merge with you again, or there is a possibility if he doesn't come back, he could cease to exist. Devilman could cease to exist," Ryo concluded gravely.

Akira felt his blood turn frigid, as he wrung his hands together anxiously.

"Oh, this isn't good Ryo, we need to go now. The sooner we fix this the better off we'll be. And who knows what Amon might be planning to do on his own!" Akira made a beeline for Ryo's door. Ryo chased after him picking up his stuff as he went.

"I know," Ryo said, swaddling himself in his coat. "Now remember I'll go with you and try to help, but I don't want to get too close to Amon, that's on you Akira. You think you can manage?"

Akira felt his cowardly nature well up in his throat. He clenched his fists, he couldn't succumb to failure, not this time. A vibrant spirit broke through, overpowering his natural apprehension.

"I will."