Hellsham, a small town of East Inferland
"Oh my Mother, River!" Dana finally snapped at their computer screen showing the face of her BFF (Beast Friend Forever). "Knock it off with that!"
The daughter of the Grim Reaper rolled her eyes. Unimpressed with the attitude of the Spawn of Satan.
"You know you want to go!" she insisted. "Even your mom agrees it will be good for you!"
Dana crossed THEIR arms and moved their tail in annoyance."Of course she would say that, I mean she just wants me to cause people to be bad so she will have more souls to torture…"
"Oh poor thing, living in their parent's shadow. Not at all a universal experience…" River laughed after her sarcastic remark.
"Oh shut your void!" Dana spat in their typical Hellsham accent"Alright, let's say I would like to go, which I do not, remember my cousins? Holt, Harmony, Jackson and Heath are all going to have a bloody fit!"
"Oh c'mon. That was years ago. I'm sure it's all corpses under the bridge now!
Dana Devil had spent all of their immortality in their mother's shadow. But that's something to be expected when you are the spawn of the actual Governor of Hell.
The only time they recall feeling completely content was when they were just an acolyte and playing with their cousins. But those ways are far gone now. And that disconnect was in part an underworld of their own making.
Perhaps their friend was right. Maybe they wouldn't care and everything would be all right, especially if they managed to genuinely apologize and make things right. After all, wasn't the path to Hell paved with Good Intentions?
No one bothered to tell Dana that there was an actual welcome committee for new transfers that included the whole freaking school. So it was sort of awkward when they saw them coming out of their van and seeing:
"Dana?" They saw Heath mouthing from the crowd
. Dana paralyzed in place as their long lost cousin came closer and closer. Their heart beated faster and faster.
Flashbacks plagued their mind and they set off running when their cousin finally reached them.
"Wait!"
"Dana?" The spawn of Satan heard the soft voice of Frankie Stein coming from outside the stall. "Hey, are you alright?"
They took a deep breath and slowly opened the stall's door, revealing the ghouls waiting for them outside.
"I apologize for running away," they said. "I suppose it's not everyday you see the spawn of Satan crying huh?"
"Yeah, but that's not even the freakiest part…" Clawdeen said. "That would be the part when you ran away from Heath Burns."
"Yeah I mean we know he can be a piece of work but–"
"He's my cousin…" Dana spat out suddenly causing shock amongst the ghouls. "We actually used to be Beast Friends when we were kids…
"Okay…" Cleo raised an eyebrow. "That actually clarifies nothing…"
"We haven't spoken in what feels like centuries.." Dana admitted. "And that's because I did something truly unforgivable…"
"Dana, let 's go!" A twelve year old Heath Burns yelled at his cousin who ran behind him.
"I'm coming!" they yelled back.
Their parents have finally allowed them to go alone together to the Scream Fields, where they could earn some gold coins by burning wheat and grass in order to leave fertile soil for local farmers.
"Aw man," Heath complained. "Not even I can burn all of this grass, it's gonna take hours…"
Dana rubbed their chin in thought and then they snapped her eyes open. "Oh! I have an idea: I can possess you and you can use my powers to burn all of the soil faster!"
"Yeah, let's do that!" The twelve year old saw no problem with that plan.
Dana's eyes turned red and so did Heath's. The wheat burned like never before thanks to the Demonic Power flowing through both child's veins. Everything was going perfectly unti—
Burn them! Burn them all…
What?
"Burn the animals in the farm…"
But I don't want to–
"There is no resisting the call of the Evil Within"
"Heath! No!" they managed to yell, but it was too late.
_
"I made him burn all of those innocent animals…" "And when my aunt came I didn't say anything, neither did he…but I know they know, cause that was the last time I saw them until today…
All of the Ghouls were dead silent.
"You were a kid, Dana…" Frankie was the first one to break the cryptic silence. "You had no control over your powers! It wasn't your fault…"
"Yeah well…There's nothing I can do now, isn't it?"
ANother pause from the group.
"You can apologize to Heath," Draculaura suggested. "It might not have been your fault what happened, but he still had to carry that in his conscience. It might not fix things but it would be a start.."
Dana sighed, perhaps being scared for the first time in a very long time…
"Heath…"
"Oh, so you're talking to me right now?" He turned to his locker, refusing to make eye contact."
"Alright, I deserved that." They looked down in shame.
"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for running away and never making an effort to patch things between us after what happened…" Dana managed to say, tears threatening to spill again.
The Fire Elemental didn't turn around or spoke.
"It was a bad idea for me to come here, I'm sorry…"
"Wait," Dana suddenly felt a warm hand on their shoulder. "I was actually happy to see you today…"
"Really? Why? I thought you hated me after what I did to you…"
"I was pretty shaken for a while," he admitted. "But I wasn't mad at you, I know you didn't mean it. Even mom believed me when I said I lost control of my powers so you wouldn't get in trouble…"
"Wait, "Dana's eyes widened. "you never told the truth about what happened?...Why?" they whispered softly.
"Because you were my best friend, I wasn't going to rat you out…!" Heath said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Heath," tears streamed down their cheeks all of the sudden. "I don't know what to say…"
"You could start by apologizing for ghosting us for all these years?"
"Of course…"
"And coming back to the welcome party with us,"
"Right…"
"And admitting I'm the cooler cousin in front of the ghouls"
Dana grinned and laughed. It was almost like being kids again and running though the hills…