"So…..Nice to meet you….I guess," Maou said while scratching the back of his neck.
"Mom..Dad..I uhhh…I'm sorry for you know, coming here out of nowhere," Emi said.
"Oh, it's fine dear, now come in!" said Lailah in a motherly tone.
Emi was just about to enter when her father, suddenly blocked them.
"D-Dad What's wrong?"
He crossed his arms and had this menacing dark aura around him. Maou was bothered by his presence and immediately straighten his back as if to fight. Oh boy, I knew this was never going to be easy.
"Where is my little cutie-pie?"
"Alright Alas Ramus, you can come out now," Emi blurted casually.
Turns out, the "little cutie-pie" is hiding behind Emi all this time. "Mama who is that?"
Nord's heart was broken. How could his angel of a granddaughter not recognize him? What has this wretched devil king taught her?
Emi sighed, "Alas Ramus, it's your jii-chan. You wanted to meet him remember?"
"Jii-chan?"
"Yup"
"Jii-chan!"
Alas Ramus ran out of her hiding spot and embraced her jii-chan. Nord was so happy that he closed the door behind Emi and Maou.
"Hey! I'm your daughter remember?" Emi exclaimed.
Lailah laughed at her husband's shortcomings and hugged Emi. "That's just how grandfathers are. Now come here and give mommy a big hug!"
They all ushered inside the house. From the outside, it's just a standard one-story house in Ente Isla. With a large open porch, and a tall pointed roof made out of woods. But inside, it's surprisingly spacey. Not in a bad way like the Devil's castle. But minimalistic. There's the bear fur lying across the floor. An ax as decoration, and photos of Emi as a baby. But other than that, it was just a normal Ente Isla style-decorations with some wood detailing. After being in Japan for so long, he forgot how different it was in his world.
"What is this jii-chan?"
"Oh, it's a game your mother liked to play. Maybe you'll like it as well. Want to give it a try?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay so I'll be black and you'll be white. To win, you would have to align 3 pieces of the same color. Simple enough right?"
"Tic tac toe!" Alas Ramus blurted happily.
"Well, I don't know what that is but in here it's called Alquerque de Tres."
"Al-Alque-bah! Tic-Tac-Toe!"
Nord laughed at his granddaughter, "Okay then, Tic-Tac-Toe it is!"
On the other hand, Lailah and Emilia were sitting beside each other on the couch. Filling in on each other with the stuff. Like how to deal with night crying, how to control your man without him noticing, and so on.
"Oh…so you're through with him?"
"No mom it's not like that!"
"What is it then. You live together, go out together, and not to mention Alas Ramus." Lailah said playfully.
"Well, that's your fault!" Emi gruntled.
"Oh, so you want me to take her back?" asked Lailah, now with an even more teasing tone.
"Mom..." All Emi's able to do is just grunt back at her
Lailah just smiled at her daughter. To be honest, she didn't expect her "gift" to a little demon would end up being the catalyst of peace within this land. But hey, she ain't complaining.
"Although, I can't say that it isn't weird from my perspective. The devil king is like a son to me, and the idea of my daughter going out with my adopted sun makes me laugh from time to time," muttered Lailah.
"I told you it's not like that!"
The angel shrugged her shoulders and got up. "Alright everyone, it's lunch time!"
In a split second, Nord appeared at the dining table. Alas Ramus sat atop of his shoulder, playing with jii-san's hair.
Served on the table would be a standard cuisine for the modern man. But in here, venison steak, apple and grapes, mashed potatoes, and some spinach would be considered as the menu for the nobility.
"Wow, mom, are you sure you weren't expecting anyone today? This meal is grand. I remember when dad and I would eat pottage every day." Emi joked.
"Obaachan what is this?" Alas Ramus pointed at the soup-like food across the table.
"Wait, can you say it again?"
"Obaachan?"
Lailah shrieked like a schoolgirl hearing that, "That's sooooo cute! But at the same time, I'm not that old. Why don't you call me obasan instead?'
"No! Obaachan!"
Lailah just slouched defeatedly. They sat down together and started eating the food. As usual Alas Ramus loves it.
"Ahem! Aren't you forgetting someone here?"
Alas Ramus turned her head in confusion, "Who?"
Maou cried like a little kid, "Alas Ramus, how can you forget about Papa like that?"
"Sowwy Papa, come sit here!" She said apologetically. Instructing Maou to sit beside her.
A couple of minutes passed and Alas Ramus was glaring at the only piece of food left on her plate. It was a piece of Spinach that Mama put on her plate.
"I don't want this," She said with innocence.
"Oh! Okay, just pass it to jii-chan then, here-
"Dad!" Emi interrupted the exchange. "She needs to learn to eat vegetables. I don't want her to be unhealthy because you spoiled her."
Emi felt triumphant, until he glanced at Alas Ramus. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she was sniffing. "M-Mama? But I don't like it!"
Emi stabbed the spinach with a fork and moved it closer and closer to her daughter. "Choo-Choo! The train is coming….Open up!"
"HWUAAAAAAAAA"
"So? How was it?" Emi asked.
"I won against jii-chan 3 times! So jii-chan gave me money. Look!" Alas Ramus exclaimed while holding 3 gold coins up like a trophy.
"But we need to go home now. Mommy and Daddy gotta work tomorrow."
Alas Ramus looked down for a while. "It's ok! But I wanna meet Papa's daddy and mommy next time!" she asserted.
Emi was shocked at the sudden comment. She looked at Maou and saw a glint of sadness on his face.
"Umm, Alas Ramus, don't say anything like that. Papa hasn't met them for a long time, so don't mention it again okay?" said Emi nervously.
"Why?"
Maou interjected out of the blue, "Because they're dead."
"Maou…"
"It's alright Emi. You can't teach her to lie. Just say things as it is." He replied. With that, he got up and went outside.
Emi settled Alas Ramus on her futon. They arrived at 8 and it's been an hour since Maou left. Normally she wouldn't care less about his whereabouts, but she felt a heavy burden inside her chest right now.
"Mama where's Papa?" asked the half-asleep Alas Ramus. "Papa tell a story today. He promised."
"Hold on, I'll go call him. You stay here okay?"
"Okeh"
"Good girl"
She closed the apartment door behind her and wandered through the hallways. The hallway is just one straight line so she can see right to the end but still. The eerie feeling of silence hits her as she made her way up.
Seriously, where the fuck is this guy. Does he think that he can just leave whenever he wants?
At this point, Emi is practically praying to meet Maou, a sentence that was always on her head back then during the war. Just with a different purpose. As the endless hallway fell upon her, she started reminiscing. That night, when the sky was dark and the moon was full. That night, when her blood rushes as she fought bravely against hordes and hordes of demons. That night, for the very first time, she met him. Sitting alone on his throne, resting her head in boredom. At that time, she was surprised by how relaxed he was. Even in the face of defeat, he never cracked. Until today.
"Huff…huff…You better be here.." she muttered under her breath.
"What's up?"
A sudden burst of adrenaline rushes to her head. She quickly got up and regain her vision. The chilly air brushes against her skin. The full moon dawned upon the city. There he was, The Demon King, lying on a rooftop, listening to the sound of silence.
"Alas Ramus wants to hear a story, she said it's your turn today. What's with you all of a sudden." She took a seat beside him. Only then did she realize how cold the ground was.
"That girl…Well let's go then," he got up and started heading towards the stairs.
"Wait!"
"Huh?"
"Just tell me about it. I don't like seeing you like this," Emi murmured the last part.
Maou chuckled, "I don't get you Emilia. You'll drag me through concrete and the next thing I know, you were asking me to cuddle you."
A streak of pink formed across her face, "T-That was an accident okay! I was drunk!"
Maou grinned and sat across her. "I-I need to be honest with you."
Emi grew redder by the second, is he seriously going to confess to me at this time? On a concrete floor atop a rundown apartment? But I guess the moon is beautiful tonight.
Emi's imagination was suddenly interrupted by a sudden pain in her left arm. Turns out, Maou pinched her in an attempt to get her soul back to earth. "Alright I'm listening," said Emi.
"I lied"
"What?"
"Do you remember that day? When you asked me about my motives, just before you were going to execute me?"
"Y-Yeah"
"You were right. I didn't launch the invasion because I wanna conquer the world or anything. I did it because I liked the feeling of it."
Emi saw Maou's face slowly getting paler and paler. She held his cheeks and moved them closer to her.
"Of what?"
"The feeling that I am in control of something. That I matter. That I still have a part in the world. Nowadays, I work at MgRonalds, continuously lying to myself, saying that this is for the demon race. But it never was!"
Emi was taken aback by his statement. She remembered when she snapped at Maou that one time.
"You asked me why I'm not evil anymore. I-I never was Emi. I never changed. To this day, I am still the frightened boy who just witnessed the massacre of his entire family."
Emi shook her head, "No, I know you Maou. You're a good guy, what you did on Ente Isla was nothing but an inevitable situation. But here in Japan, you can show your true self. You can be the person you truly are."
"But, if I did, you wouldn't be here."
"Of course I would! What're you talkin about?" Emi asked in anger.
Maou just sighed, "All this time, since coming to Japan, I haven't been myself. I just followed the instructions and expectations of this particular world. It happens to be aligned with your morality. That's why you're here sitting across me, and not decapitating me. The man you knew in Japan is nothing more than a projection, an illusion. I'm just an actor playing as Maou Sadao."
"Then just stop being Maou Sadao, you idiot!"
This time, Maou was the one who was surprised by the spontaneity of Emi's words. "B-But you won't like me. Nobody would. People either like me as the devil king or as Maou Sadao the model citize-
Today, under the grace of the full moon an anomaly had happened. The hero crashed her lips into the devil king. No, she was kissing the man she loves. There's no hero or devil king about it. It wasn't passionate or anything. Rather the kiss had sparked something inside them.
Slowly, as the kiss faded into the night. Emi whispered to his ear, "Like I care about that." She then bumped their forehead together, causing Maou to lean back.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Think of it as me killing all of your personas. Now just shut up!"
Today, under the freezing air of the night marks the death of the hero and the devil king.
"M-Mama? P-Papa? Where are you? It's cold and scary here. Please come back.."
I kinda dug myself a hole for the last act. So apologies for my lack of ability in executing the intimate scene. Feedback needed.