Believe it or not, i'm still in school. I get out the 30th of June. (I FINISHED EOGs TODAY! YEAH! Oh, but wait, there's that huge social studies test next week and lots of homework... Damn!)

And i really wanna make an AMV... I even have one all planned out with the song n' everything... . But i had a scratched episode (ep. 88) of KnGB that i sent back, so i only got to see 'bout 2/3s of it, and it STILL hasn't returned after WEEKS of waiting, so i can't make the stupid AMV... Gr. T.T

N' now i'm depressed... This is the last chapter of my favorite story i've worked on. You know this was one of my first stories ever? Well, anywho, anyone i've told that i'd update this on the 1st of June, i completely messed up, i meant it to be the 15th, so that's why i'm updating it today.

Hope the epilogue's alright... I personally don't care for it TOO much... but that's just me. You won't BELIEVE how many time's i've gone back and edited it over n' over again!

Anywho, enjoy the chapter! (This is actually quite a long epilogue if you hadn't noticed already. Eh. I just had a lot of stuff to put in it, that's all...)

Disclaimer: I do not own Konjiki no Gash Bell and i never will, otherwise i'd be rich and Kalu would be a real character, not a fancharacter. And speaking of which, Kalu is the only one in this here lil' story that i own that i actually care about. But you should know the deal by now, right?


A Gift from the Dark

Epilogue

A shriek of laughter echoed throughout the woods of the demon world and a moment later there was another. To the side, Sherry Belmond stood with a smile, standing by the doorway to the cabin that she now called home, watching the scene in front of her. Her azure gaze was focused on two darker figures across the yard; the smaller of the two was riding on top of the other's shoulders, gleefully laughing as her father carried her up to their home. Kalu held onto Brago just a bit tighter when she waved to her mother, poking over her father's head to look in Sherry's direction.

Brago lightly smirked as he walked over to the blonde, gently clutching onto his daughter's tiny legs that dangled past his shoulders. The woman by the cabin smiled even wider as the demon stepped up to where she was and set Kalu down onto the ground.

"We're back," said Brago as he watched Kalu run up to her mother and giver her a quick hug before turning around and running off to do something else.

"Well, how did it go?" Sherry inquired as she strolled up to her husband, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before he answered.

"She's made some improvements," started Brago as he turned around to sit on the bench by the cabin door, Sherry mimicking his actions. "But I still think she needs more training. It's going to be a while before she finally gains some control over her personality."

"Ah, I see."

It had been exactly one month ago when the family arrived into the demon world, when the whole affair with Zophise had ended. Now they all permanently lived there because of Kalu's condition, and in the short amount of time that they had spent within their new home, there had been some drastic and immediate changes.

First off, even though she learned to cope with the new world, Kalu still claimed to dislike it and would avoid any conversations that dealt with her father's world. However, Sherry had her doubts about her daughter's opinion, she herself didn't mind it too much, but from studying Kalu's behavior, she had her suspicions up.

Kalu was also still very upset at the fact that she could never return to Earth again, whether she liked her new home or not, that didn't matter, but she learned to accept and cope with this fact in her own way. But she would always think back to her old friend, Emma, whom had been killed by Zophise. Even if he was long dead, the child utterly despised him for killing her best friend. Kalu never exactly learned that Brago had killed Zophise; she had merely been told that he wouldn't be bothering her ever again.

At one point, Brago had even declared that there was a miniature Sherry running amok, one that also desired revenge on a certain being. With that said out loud, Sherry had glared at Brago and set out a disclaimer that his proclamation was anything but true. Kalu merely stared at her parents bemusedly, undoubtedly not understanding the sarcastic joke that had been made, but she laughed all the same when her parents began to bicker.

"So tell me, when are you planning on training her next?" inquired Sherry, resting her back against the bench as she watched Kalu play with her pet kitten in the distance. "Sometime tomorrow, I assume?"

The other nodded. "Same time as usual. Why bother asking?"

"Just wanted to make sure," said Sherry with a light shrug. Brago smirked as he turned his attention back to his daughter, whom was now running around with her pet kitten chasing her; she had a look of pure joy on her face and was laughing. "Well then, did Zatch make an appearance?"

Turning around to look at the blonde, Brago gave a hesitant pause. "…He did… But he didn't stay long, said he had business to attend to, though Kalu was still thrilled to see him. Tch, as if she doesn't see him every other day…"

"Well… I know that you don't really like them being friends, but try to think of it in a positive way, Brago," said Sherry in a somewhat defensive tone. "I may not be too keen on the idea either, but consider the fact that Kalu only had one other friend in the past, and I've been told she's dead now, so I believe it's a good thing she has another one again, even if it is Zatch Bell."

"Hn, whatever," With a roll of his eye, the darker being dropped the subject and continued to watch Kalu as she climbed up a tree, one of her favorite things to do. It was true, however, Kalu had become quite good friends with the king. A lot of times Zatch would come to visit her while she trained, as he had done in the past, or he would do so while she was outside of her new home, playing. It was a good thing that Kalu had long ago forgiven him for the incident with Zophise and said she didn't believe it was his fault. This only increased their friendship, seeing as that Kalu was not angry with Zatch. The king was relieved for that.

And only a few days after the family had officially moved into the demon world, Kalu had only unleashed her other personality once. It had happened when she became rather irritated during a conversation with Brago about the new world, thus her angry side, now viewed as a split personality, was unleashed once again. Seeing this, Brago decided that it was for the better to train her once again, this time he would instruct her how to control this new power of her so she could overcome the emotions just a little easier and grow to be stronger.

During a discussion about Kalu's training, Sherry had told Brago that he was not to teach her how to entirely block out her emotions, just as he had done to himself in the past. There was no need to have Kalu become cold hearted and or devoid of feeling, Sherry didn't want that, as she constantly reminded Brago that it would be difficult to teach the child emotions all over again. The demon merely rolled his eyes at her and reassured the woman that he would not do anything bad, but still wished to train her. Besides, he had previously been training her in the past, so there would be no harm in continuing it, right?

And Sherry had to admit it, there had been improvement, anyone could say that. Kalu had not become angry ever since, or at least wasn't in any situation where she had to be. It had become quite evident that the spell Zatch had placed on her to save her did not completely take away the persona, much to Sherry and Brago's disappointment. Instead, it merely prevented it from killing her. However, it still allowed the personality to emerge whenever the hybrid became angry or irritated, as it had previously done in the past. Neither Sherry nor Brago were particularly fond of this fact, but they promptly came to the conclusion that there was nothing they could do about it. They could, however, teach Kalu how to not become too overemotional, thus preventing the personality from arising.

So, once again, Kalu and Brago had returned from training that day. Usually they would practice what was needed to be done somewhere away from the cabin, but close enough so that Brago could quickly come to aid Sherry if she was in any sort of trouble or needed help. And as said before, on quite a few occasions, Zatch would come to visit Kalu whether she was in training or at home. And every time he came, the child was overjoyed.

Eventually Zatch Bell managed to introduce Kalu to all of his friends that he had met in the past. He didn't bring them all at once, no, but he gradually managed to get her to meet them all. At first Kalu was quite shy and afraid to meet some of them, but as time went by she befriended them all and became quite well known in the little group of friends she had made and was actually quite accepted.

And Kalu felt… secure.

Brago sighed as he watched the child run up to where he and Sherry were after a while more of playing with her pet kitten. Yuki was in the hybrid's arms and purring loudly as the girl laughed, stopping when she was standing in front of her parents. "Mamma, I'm thirsty, can I have a drink?"

"Of course, come on," said Sherry, standing up. The woman redirected her path to the cabin and walked in, both Brago and Kalu followed her and entered their home.

Inside, it was rather neat and well organized. Sherry usually kept things somewhat in order and clean since this was what she was used to back in the human world in her mansion; she absolutely refused to give up the habit of keeping her home tidy. Brago didn't really care much on what the place looked like and wouldn't think twice about throwing something on the ground, most likely just leaving it there for hours, days, until someone finally picked it up. But that usually wasn't the case, Sherry would most likely find something that was off and would fix it sooner or later.

A few furnishings had even been brought from their old mansion in the human world to the cabin that they now lived in, merely because of the fact that when they did arrive at the old abandoned cottage, there was absolutely nothing there. For the few furnishings that were there, they were all beaten up and toppled over onto the ground. So it was because of this fact that Sherry insisted that some things were brought from their old home. Everything else that was taken over was minor, particularly things such as photos and an extra pair of clothes or two for her and Kalu. Of course Brago went with what he already had.

Sherry had also taken the liberty to let all of her staff back in the human world that worked at her mansion go; she paid them a decent amount of money and all of them left to pursue a different job. She even took some extra money back to the demon world, only because of the fact that if she were to ever return to get something, the money might come in handy, such as getting something important for Kalu that might help her teach her. Though it was not much and very unlikely that she would ever need to go back, it was better safe than sorry.

Walking over to where she kept a fresh supply of water, Sherry picked up a glass that she had also brought and filled it with the tasteless liquid, afterwards handing it to Kalu whom took it with a smile after thanking the blonde and wandered off across the room. Kalu stopped and sat on the floor near where Brago laid down on a couch, arms placed behind his head with his feet propped up on the arm of the sofa. Sherry soon joined the two, moving Brago's feet out of the way so she could sit down. The darker being gave her a look before he moved his feet back to where they previously were, now instead with Sherry being in the way, so they were now somewhat in the woman's lap. Sherry smirked before redirecting her attention to Kalu.

"So, Kalu, did you learn anything new today?" inquired Sherry, now trying to start a conversation as she glanced down at her daughter as she took a sip from her glass.

Nodding, Kalu spoke with a muffled voice, the glass still up to her face. "Daddy showed me some other tricks I never knew before. After that we did some other stuff and he helped me practice the spells, like the Gigigray—"

"—Giganoreis," corrected Brago with a slight groan as he put his hand over his eyes in exasperation. "Get the name right." Kalu turned to look up at him with a blank expression as she put her finger to her mouth in a questioning manner.

"Didn't I say that?"

"No…"

Sherry let out a gentle laugh as she shook her head, all too well remembering the last time this had happened. She watched as Brago rolled his eyes, lightly rubbing them with his hand and sighed before dropping his hand back to his side.

"Oh…" Kalu glanced at the ground before she shrugged and took another sip of her drink as Yuki curled up next to her on the ground, deciding that it was time to take another catnap. The child smiled and began to pet her purring kitten.

Another thing that Sherry had done was to have Kalu home schooled again, mainly because of the fact that she did not want Kalu going to a demon school; she felt that she didn't need this. Brago did not like her proposal, however, not one bit. He told her that if their daughter were to become stronger then she would have to be around those that were more powerful than her, this way she could learn to cope with them and become stronger herself as well.

But that was just it, Sherry did not want this, it was completely unnecessary to have their daughter endangered with other demons like that. All right, so Sherry could defend herself, but… Kalu? That was something she had a hard time doing, plus the child despised fighting, so why bother putting her in an environment where this could possibly happen? Besides, the woman felt there was no need for Kalu to learn how to fight in that type of school, Brago could always teach her how to defend herself, yes, but she wanted Kalu to learn what she would in a human school. So this was what was to happen.

Brago literally had no other choice in the matter after the discussion; Kalu would be home schooled again, this time being instructed by Sherry, while he taught her how to control and defend herself. That was simple enough, so these were the actions taken and no one seemed to disapprove or complain about it, at least not much anyway. There were still a few quarrels, but those were minor. However, if Kalu were to say that she did want to go to a demon school, they would allow her to go, but so far she had not requested it nor given any signs of asking, so she would not be taken to one.

Even though Kalu wouldn't meet the other children in the schools, she still had plenty of other friends that would pay her visits, especially Zatch. And she didn't just befriend the demons that he had fought with during the past war—she also met a couple of the 1,000-year-old demons that her parents even had to compete against for the throne during the fights with Zophise. Such characters she met were known as Pamun and Reira.

Her relationship with the others was fairly good, though the only one she didn't get along with as well as the others was a demon by the name of Patie, but that was merely because she obsessed over the king to much to really talk about anything else, though Zatch said she wasn't nearly as bad as she used to be, even if she still scared the living daylights out of him. Then there was Byonko, the frog that Patie hung out with a lot. Kalu found him rather odd and didn't talk much with him.

At one point, Kalu even learned of one other demon that Zatch had let stay behind in the human world, known as Wonrei. Wonrei was another demon, like her father, whom had fallen in love with his bookkeeper, so after the war he was also allowed to stay behind. Kalu had never met him though, as he was still with his bookkeeper and in a completely different country from where she had been.

Some of Zatch's other friends, like a gentle demon named Kolulu, were fairly nice to her and she felt glad that there were others besides Zatch who treated her kindly. One of Zatch's closest friends, Tio, even managed to somewhat control her temper around Kalu, though if Zatch decided to do anything stupid she would still strangle him. Kanchome was still a little selfish, even around Kalu, but he was still kind. The hybrid also enjoyed playing with Ponygon, but of course couldn't understand a word he said. There were others that the Demon King had made friends with that she had befriended too…

Sherry let out a long sigh as she leaned her back against the couch, closing her eyes. In such a short amount of time, so many evens had happened. Kalu was gradually getting used to the new world, and herself, as Sherry noticed. In a way, Kalu had even learned to accept who she was and of her heritage—of the demonic attributes that had been passed down to her by Brago, whom was a full-fledged demon. What's more was that the woman also almost wanted to believe that Kalu, well, actually enjoyed the new world, even though there was a disclaimer by the child stating otherwise. But the blonde never voiced her opinions to Kalu about this situation; this was just her blunt opinion. Brago even had his own thoughts of his daughter's reaction, too, but he kept that to himself.

And at this, Sherry would smile. At least she was happy at the moment… right?

But of course, before everything started, before Kalu was even born, Sherry, in the past, had to consider the good and bad results of having offspring with a demon, not that she herself though it was a horrible thing, oh, no. After all, Kalu was a crossbreed—a hybrid, so of course something would eventually spring up in the future. But did that necessarily have to include past enemies that had a thirst for revenge?

Although with the bad there came the good, the woman had to remind herself, Koko had even always told her that when they still talked to another. Kalu was her daughter, and she and Brago were the two most precious things in her entire life. How could she possibly live without them?

Looking up from where he laid, Brago gazed over in Sherry's direction and called out her name, causing the woman to sit up and stare at him in curiosity. "Something on your mind?"

"Just thinking, that's all," Sherry replied with a smile and then noticed that Kalu was too staring up at her with her purple eyes. When her mother looked down at her the child averted her gaze and went back to petting her kitten, Sherry sighed. It was always interesting to see how Kalu turned out. Her eyes were purple, ironically a mix between her blue eyes and Brago's crimson. Certainly interesting all right. She was even the spitting image of Brago, literally, with the pale skin, marked arms and clouded eyes as well with the blue-black hair…

With the smile still lingering on her face, Sherry closed her eyes once more and began to muse over the events that could possibly happen in the future. What would await Kalu or what she would end up being like when she was older, or how long would it take to unlock all of the spells Brago had? From the current evidence she had inherited them all, or so it was assumed, so it only had to be a matter of time. Her thoughts drifted to when certain spells like the Baberuga Gurabidon would be unlocked… Best not think about that. Kalu hadn't discovered any new spells since she attacked the students at her old school on that one fateful day… Speaking of which, they never exactly went back to the police in the human world to talk like she had promised. Oh, well, they could live without knowing, it was for the best, anyway.

Though that wasn't what was important. What mattered now was that Sherry and Brago raised Kalu as best as they could, teaching her everything that they knew; the values of life, the things to cherish, the good and bad, everything and anything they could think of.

Kalu did not need to inherit the traits of past Belmond family members and go through antagonizing lessons that Sherry had to deal with in her own childhood. Kalu could live to be whatever she wished, and as for now, Sherry only desired for her to remain how she was: Happy. No longer did the child look as sad as she had many months ago, and that was good, she was no longer crying from the heart.

She wanted her to remain who she was, the daughter of the demon of the black book, Brago Belmond, and herself, his past human bookkeeper, Sherry Belmond. She hoped that she would remain as a child and enjoy life for as long as possible.

But, as Sherry viewed it, Kalu would always be one special thing in particular, the one thing that was so precious to her, no matter what happened. And she was grateful for her to be who she was, Sherry was quite proud of her daughter, and she knew that Brago was too. Kalu was one of a kind, hers and Brago's child, theirs.

Who she was, was quite special indeed.

Kalu Belmond.

A gift from the dark.


The... The... The last chapter... (sniff) T.T

ANYWHO, I really thank all of you for reading this! It made it all the more fun to write! (and i've had a lot of fun with that, too, haha, even if i got stuck on a few chapters . )

And i thought i'd give y'all a lil' treat at the end of this, so here's 16 random facts for this story. But not all of it is 100 percent accurate. Reason why is because i had put a date in this story somewhere and i used a calandar that i had made earlier this year and started figuring out the dates n' stuff for certain days by going through this story and seeing how much time passed and marking down on the calandar i made, and all the while i did so, i kept track of certain things. But i goofed up on something somwhere within that so something may/may not becorrect, but it's at least pretty close to it anyway. Anywho, here's the facts, some you may have already known, some you may have not:

(Remember this only applies to my story. Some, like age, may/may not be true)

O. Brago is about 27 in this story
O. Sherry is about 29 in this story
O. Zatch is about 19 in this story
O. Brago was 17 when the Battle for King ended (14 when it started)
O. Sherry was 19 when the Battle for King ended (16 when it started)
O. Zatch was 9 when the Battle for King ended (6 when it started)
O. The Battle for King lasted 3 years
O. Kalu's birthday is August 21
O. Brago was 22 when Kalu was born
O. Sherry was 24 when Kalu was born
O. Zatch was 14 when Kalu was born

O. Kalu inherited ALL of Brago's spells (if you didn't know this, you really weren't paying attention to the story, were you?)
O. This could be an incy wincy bit off, but the timeline, excluding the prologue, lasted about 120 days
O. For the timeline, the story started Sunday, August 13
O. For the timeline, the date for the epilogue is Sunday, December 10
O. Kalu was born 9 years after the Battle for King started (not ended, started), but the story takes place 13 years after. She was born 5 years after it ended.

Oh, and exactly one year ago i published this story, heehee! XD (i purposely updated this chapter on this date if you hadn't already noticed)

Hey, anyone that's joined on FFnet notice that survey thingy that appeared about a week ago? I hope that FFnet will eventually allow fanart, 'cause then i could post my two pictures (yes, i have two now, i kept forgetting to say that in the story) that i've drawn of Kalu for all who haven't seen it can see! SO... (crossees fingers) Yeah, and if you would like me to email you the two pics, just ask me, and i may send it, but if you don't want to, that's perfectly fine, i can completely understand.

Alright, enough of my rambling. What i want to say is that i've really appreciated everyone's reviews. That really helped me in writing this fun story. n.n Thanks, y'all! And now i go to obsessively writing Behind These Azure Eyes, which i will eventually post. For info on that just go to my profile.

Kalu's my muse now, heehee... She may/may not appear in reviews... So expect to see her again, just in case. n.n'

And lookie, this is the longest story on this section so far...

Thanks, y'all! BYE!