I do not own Rosario Vampire or any of the characters.

For Her

Something snapped. It was warm. He sighed. He had missed the warm. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be warm. Something rumbled, and it grew warmer. He smiled, trying to will himself back to sleep. He had been comfortable. He had been at peace. He had been with Mizore.

Damon's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright, looking around at the charred, blackened landscape around him, the soot mixed with snow falling from above, only for the snow to melt. He was alive, but the area had been torched. And Mizore was gone. He began to push himself up but his legs gave out and he crashed back to the ground. He looked around, seeing no one. He could see the field of Snow Whites in the distance. He could see trees on the opposite side, burning. But there was no Mizore. And there were no Fire Devils, despite that clearly being what had scorched the earth.

"Mizore!" he shouted, his voice hoarse and barely carrying. "Mizore!?" He staggered back toward the village, and just as he reached the edge of the scar, he stopped, staring down a hill to where a handful of Fire Devils, all with their wings and tails proudly displayed, were standing around Mizore, who had a blackened left eye, the other red and puffy from crying, and had a bruise starting to form on her right cheek, all of them in the middle of a field of Snow Whites, which he realized the scar had been a part of. "Mizore!"

The Fire Devils all turned as he staggered down the hill toward them, ignoring the agonizing cold, the frost already starting to gather on his fingertips.

"Is he insane!?" one of them gasped.

"Doesn't he realize he's going to freeze to death again!?" another growled.

"Get the hell away from her!" Damon seethed, stumbling but continuing to run. "Leave Mizore alone!"

"Mizore?" the first asked. "He's...for her?"

"His Majesty has lost his mind!" the third decided. "We need to warm him up immediately."

The other three all nodded and they all roared, four streams of flame flooding toward Damon. Damon exhaled, emptying his lungs, then inhaled, breathing in their flames. Warmth flooded his body instantly, flames roaring to life over his entire body before he felt flames slowly flicker to life around his heart, growing into its usual blaze as he focused on it. Then, finally, he turned his inhale into a roar, his own flames fighting the other four Fire Devils' flames back. Then, he shot forward, passing through the flames altogether, before reaching the four of them and jumping, kicking them all away from Mizore. He knelt in front of her, gently cupping her cheek.

"Are you alright?" Damon asked.

"Damon!" Mizore breathed, tears running down her cheeks. "You came back!"

Damon smiled, hugging her. "I could never leave you."

"Your majesty, you're confused," one of the four devils said. "Please. Allow us to kill this vermin and we can take you home, to where it's warm. You can rest there."

"No," Damon said. "Mizore isn't responsible for my condition. I am. I chose to come here, and I chose to die here. None of you will lay a hand on her again. Nor any of the Yuki Onna. That war is over, and I will never allow it to start again. Go home. All of you. I thank you for saving my life, and restoring my strength, but I have other matters to deal with at the moment."

The four of them hesitated for a moment before bowing, flames forming a spell circle under them before a massive column of flame exploded up from them. Damon sighed, turning to Mizore and hugging her again.

"I thought I'd lost you," Mizore sniffed, still crying happily.

"Never," Damon said. "I gave my word. I will always be here to protect you."

"Gave your word?" Mizore asked. "To who?"

"Later," Damon said. "I'll explain everything once things are settled at the shrine. I can hear the others talking. Cocoa sounds scared, and she's talking to someone named Kahlua."

Mizore shook her head. "I don't know her."

Damon nodded. "I think she's a Vampire. Which means they'll need help." He stood. "Can you make your way back to the city without being caught? I need to hurry, but I don't want you getting caught up in the battle."

"No way!" Mizore said. "I'm coming with you!"

Damon sighed, smiling, then nodded, extending his wings. "Alright. But promise me you'll stay out of the way during the fight."

"I promise," Mizore nodded.

Damon nodded, moving to pick her up, then taking off, speeding through the air quickly toward the shrine. As they flew, Mizore wrapped her arms around him, tucking her face into his shoulder. He smiled, and after a few minutes, he exploded through the wall of the shrine, descending into the room where all of the others were lying beaten and bloody, a single woman with tan skin, wavy light blonde hair reaching the small of her back, a white dress, and cross-shaped earrings was standing in the middle of them, crying. Damon set Moka on her feet and stepped in front of her, the woman turning to him as he exhaled slowly, forming his scales over his entire body. As he did, Tsukune pushed himself up, heading for Moka, only for Damon to appear between them, catching Tsukune by the shoulder.

"She's Moka's sister, right?" Damon asked. "Don't force Moka to try and kill her sister. Killing your own family is a kind of pain no one should suffer. I'll fight from here on."

"Damon!" Ruby smiled. "You're alive! Are you fully recovered?"

"No," Damon said. "I'm not. In truth, I have maybe half of my strength back, and the cold is slowly sapping it. But it will be enough."

"At fifty percent, even you might not be strong enough, Fire Devil," Kahlua said.

"That may be so," Damon said. "But this is my choice. I will use myself as a shield for as long as I can."

"You fight to protect Moka?" Kahlua asked.

"No," Damon said. "I fight to protect Mizore. All I've done for many years now has been for her sake. And if I die today, I do so in order to protect her home from Fairy Tale."

Ruby gasped harshly and Kahlua's eyes widened. Then, Kahlua shot forward, snapping a kick at Damon, only for him to block it, then shove it away. Kahlua spun around, whipping a windmill kick at him, but he ducked under it, then stepped forward, drilling a punch into her gut, hurling her backward, blood spraying out of her mouth. Everyone stared in shock as she crashed to the ground before rolling to her feet, glaring at him. She stood, reaching up to her right earing.

"I'll have to remove my limiter," she said. "Even at half strength, a Fire Devil is not an enemy to be taken lightly."

She cast the cross away just before her right arm all but exploded, transforming into a dozen bat wings. Damon narrowed his eyes. If she was resorting to the ability Vampires had outlawed, she knew how dangerous a foe he was. He shot forward, meeting her own charge and she spun, her wing blades flashing around at him, only barely missing before his tail crashed into her gut, then his fist into her face. Except, she had tilted her head to the side and turned it, allowing his fist to hit but only graze her face. His scales removed a huge chunk of her flesh, but she wasn't severely harmed. She spun in a circled, slashing downward at him, and he pivoted, flames exploding out of his fist to drive his elbow back into her throat, crushing it and sending her staggering backward. She coughed once before her throat was healed, her face already sealing up, then deflected a punch, slamming her wings into him and lifting him off the ground.

"Damon!" Mizore shrieked.

Damon's clasped hands exploded down on her left shoulder, blasting her into the ground before he grabbed her by the ankles and spun, hurling her through two of the pillars in the room and into the wall. Damon had been stabbed by the wings, but only a couple inches, and the wounds sealed in seconds. Kahlua exploded out of the crater almost the same moment she formed it, and drilled a fist into his face. He shot backward, flipping and driving his hands and feet into the ground before she appeared over him, her wing blades stabbing downward at him. He flipped to the side, barely avoiding it before touching down long enough to explode forward, his right wing exploding into her gut, launching her backward. She bounced once and he drilled a punch into her face. Then, she flipped, her wings hitting a pillar, allowing her to swing around it before streaking through the air at him, her feet crashing into his chest, both exploding into the ground.

Before the dust had even settled, she rocketed out of it inside of a fireball, the fireball exploding against the pillar she had weakened by swinging on it, and as she fell, he shot forward, his fist exploding into her wings, which acted like a shield. Then, he flipped, narrowly getting over her counter punch before flipping his foot swinging down at her from above in a roundhouse kick, crashing into her wings and sending her exploding into the ground. The moment she hit, she exploded up out of the crater, her fist meeting his and sending both of them flying backward, only for her to land on her feet, leaping again and slashing up in an upward arc as she passed. Damon shouted in pain, crashing down on his back and rolling to his feet as she leapt at him, his wounds already sealing. Then, he bent forward onto his hands and feet, his tail flashing out and smashing down on her from above, sending her exploding into the ground before Damon shot forward, fist scraping the ground in an uppercut before catching her square in the nose and sending her exploding into the wall over door to the stairway up into the shrine. She fall only for the man that had knocked Damon out to catch her, watching him in interest.

"You!" Damon snarled. "I owe you a rematch."

"Another time, perhaps," the man said. "We've concluded our business here."

"We did?" Kahlua asked.

"That's right," the man nodded. "You don't have to kill anyone anymore."

"I...don't have to...kill?" Kahlua repeated. "Thank goodness. Thank...goodness."

She passed out, the man smiling as he turned, walking to a window off to the side.

"Wait!" Tsukune shouted. "What was your purpose here!? What did you do!?"

"The time for you to understand is coming," the man said. "When that day comes, you and I will see each other again. And Damon, be sure to keep a close eye on your princess. Wouldn't want any white knights to come and rescue her from the dragon."

"The man's got jokes," Damon grunted. "Send whatever knights you want, vermin. I'll burn them all."

The man laughed and leapt backward out of the window, over the balcony. A moment later, a helicopter flew away, Damon smelling Kiria inside of it as well. He sighed, turning back tot he others, all of whom where starting to get up, none of their injuries as severe as they looked. They all left the village, saying goodbye to Tsurara on the way, before gathering on a hill overlooking the village, the bus waiting a short distance away.

"Well, I can't say I'm sorry you never got to have your ceremony," Damon said.

"But I did get to have it," Mizore said.

"What?" Damon asked. "When?"

Mizore smiled. "You went with me to the Snow Whites' field on my seventeenth, I prayed for my love, and then you came back to me."

Damon blinked in surprise before opening his mouth to make sure he was hearing her right, only for her to interrupt him with a kiss. Damon sighed, leaning into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and smiling. He knew the others were all pretending not to be paying attention, but he'd threaten their lives later. Right now, he was too happy.

"Happy birthday, Mizore," Damon smiled.

"I love you," Mizore smiled, reaching up and kissing him again. "But don't you ever come to my home again!"

Damon chuckled. "I promise nothing."

Mizore rolled her eyes, hugging him and resting her head on his shoulder, both smiling and watching the sun rise on the far side of the village before they all got onto the bus and headed home.

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