A/N: I promised a faster update speed and I'm keeping that promise.

Buwaro's POV

I was alone with her. I could see her in front of me.

"I miss you."

"I know."

We were alone. Nowhere.

Why? Why did she leave?

"Don't cry..." she tried reassuring me. Then she noticed something. "What is that in your arms?"

"Huh? Oh..." I looked down at Snowy, in my arms, still asleep. "This is a bunny I found with Rhea."

"I see." She leaned over and pet Snowy. "Make sure you take care of her."

She stood at her full height. "Listen, this is important." Her tone was soft. "That necklace of mine..."

...

"...Always keep it close to you." She started fading away. "Please, don't forget..."

I won't forget.

Her necklace hit the ground; it fell straight through her. As she vanished, I thought I saw her wings crumple in on themselves...

Rhea's POV

Okay, flying fish, blue grass, green sky, and polka-dotted rocks? Something ain't right here.

"But I just can't put my finger on it..."I muttered. Suddenly two familiar faces appeared.

"Hey Rhea!" Buwaro said in his usual demeanor. He was also dragging a rather unenthusiastic Jamal behind him.

"The two of you look different somehow." I pointed out. Namely the fact that they were both Jakkai and I towered over them for some reason.

"Different aside," Jamal said flatly "We need to get out of here before the bunny comes back and kills us."

"Why? That thing's harmless."

"She grew BIG!" Buwaro said, waving his arms.

"Just how big did she grow...?" Something told me I wouldn't really like the answer. Buwaro and Jamal both pointed above us. There she was...falling towards us?!

"Holy SHIT that's a big bunny!"

"Yeah, really!"

"We're fucking dead."

WHUMP!

"Ow."

My POV

I stood in a massive field of geometrically artistic structures, some small, others reaching into the sky. The sky itself was covered in dark clouds, unaffected by the light coming from a large, blood-red sun on the horizon. I turned to look at the single, white moon. It was massive, taking up most of the sky around it, and it was...

...it could only be described as glitching. It was flashing between a myriad of colors, then spinning, then changing size. At one point, all at once.

What a wonderful place to dream. I mean it.

The monoliths bore fleeting images, stopping and starting, changing and repeating themselves.

Those were my doing.

The moon's glitching started repeating itself in random patterns, and skipping between the patterns as well. Under my control.

It was then that I noticed water. It was an ocean, with pathways between the monoliths rising out of it. That's what I was standing on.

I imagined waterspouts coming out in random places, and showering me with water. The water level started rising, and it was...changing consistency?

I tried forcing it back down, but nothing happened. I tried to freeze the moon's glitching but it didn't stop. It just sped up.

Suddenly, the moon shattered. A massive meteor shower adorned the sky. The meteors were all coming towards me...?

The meteors turned red and fell towards the ocean. I tried imagining them flying up, like stunt pilots, but they just started falling faster. They smashed the monoliths apart, but when they hit me... it was rain. It was blood.

I lost control? I lost control of my dream?

A mountainous wave of blood rose over the horizon. A bolt of lightning accompanied it.

Kieri's POV

There was blood everywhere, and all of it was mine. My wings were unrecognizable messes of feather and bone, useless. I couldn't stand. I was cold.

I looked at my attacker, grinning sadistically over my body, and mustered all my strength to speak: "W-Why... Why are you doing this?"

The giant form of Lazuli simply grinned even more, showing rows upon rows of teeth. "Now now," she said, much like a mother scolding her child, "since when do I need a reason to have FUN?"

She drew her hand back. "Unfortunately for you," her hand made a knife gesture "I've already had my fun." Four large claws speared me through the chest-

I woke up. I was in a bed. In a really small bed. There was someone sleeping next to me-?

I jumped back in surprise at who- what I saw, and fell off the bed. The noise woke him up. "Snowy...?" I heard him mutter sleepily.

I found myself staring at another demon. He stared back in surprise with large, blood-red eyes.

I needed to run.

I quickly got up and ran through the door, slamming it behind me, finding myself in what I supposed was the living room of the house. I dashed for the front door, only to find it locked. I tried the windows. No luck either. I couldn't even escape now!

I could hear voices in the other room. The demon and... someone else, clearly female. But I couldn't hear them properly through the wall, and I had no intention of going over there to listen.

I needed a weapon. I looked around, for something, anything, I could defend myself with.

It was then that I noticed the body lying on the couch, which I would have mistaken for a dead body if it wasn't for the telltale signs of breathing. It was a Human. I remembered seeing another figure sleeping next to the demon, a Jakkai. That was who the female voice belonged to.

Were there Medians siding with Hell, now?

I finally found something: a small knife, the kind Medians use for cutting meat. I clutched it to my chest as the voices started yelling at each other. I still couldn't tell what they were saying.

Questions raced through my head. Where is this place? How and why did I end up here? Who are those Medians?

And how will I survive? Even armed, there's little I can do with the cuffs on, not to mention my curse, which could come back at any moment-

"Uh, Snowy?"

Huh?!

Poing!

I once again found myself staring into those red eyes, only now I was a bunny again, completely defenseless. So I did the only thing I could do.

I grabbed the knife and swung it wildly in front of me.

To my surprise, it did the trick. The demon cried out and jumped back, only to trip and fall on top of the Human, and the two of them promptly fell off the couch. The Human got up first, shoving the demon off him.

"What the hell...was that for?" he panted from getting woken up. Maybe if I try going ov-

He saw me. He was more confused than anything else, however.

"...Did you just give your pet bunny a knife?" he asked, turning around. "Buwaro-"

But the demon had already left.

"Wha- Where did he-?" he stuttered, only to be interrupted by more voices coming from the other room.

If it wasn't for the imminent danger I was in, I would've called his expression at that moment funny.

The demon came back, dragging a sleepy and very irritated Jakkai into the room. The Human didn't take it that well.

"Oh, okay. Your bunny tries attacking you with a knife and your solution is to get the person that's in the other room and still asleep." he deadpanned. "Instead of, you know, the one that was next to you and awake the whole time."

He was?

"There she is!" The demon completely ignored him, instead choosing to point me out to the Jakkai.

"Wow, looks like a real cold-blooded killer." If the Human was sarcastic then she was pretty much oozing with it.

I backed away; unlike the other two, I heard her act openly hostile. I needed to be careful.

"I bet you were just too rough with her." She said, a little calmer than before. She still thought I was a bunny. "You have to be gentle. C'mere..."

Too close for comfort. I repeated my earlier tactic.

Big mistake.

"That's it! I've tried being nice!" She roughly picked me up by the collar, her rage from earlier showing. "It's clear you're not a normal bunny! And unless you want me to have rabbit stew for dinner, you're going to tell me who or what the fuck you are!"

In my fear, I turned back into an angel.

I fully expected her dumbfounded reaction. I didn't, however, expect her next reaction.

"Okay, this is too much. Hand that knife over- I'm going to kill myself."

"Like Hell you will." The Human muttered disinterestedly.

"Rhea, you're scaring her." The demon came out of nowhere and extended a hand. "Hi! My name's Buwaro!"

I flinched at the sight of the claws on that hand, bringing my arms up defensively.

To my surprise, I heard laughter coming from Rhea.

"Is there something wrong with my hand?" Buwaro said with genuine confusion.

"Ah... sorry, I shouldn't laugh," Rhea apologized. "It's just that, someone finding Buwaro scary is just funny to me. Don't worry, he's completely harmless. Anyway, my name's Rhea, and that guy over there is Jamal."

"Yo."

"This is my house; we brought you here after we found you unconscious as a snow bunny."

"And that statement doesn't make the situation any less weird than it already is." Jamal added. "So, now that we got our 'misunderstanding' settled, we'd like for you to tell us who you are and where you're from."

He gestured at my wounds.

"As well as, well, why you're in this condition."

What do I do? They've calmed down, but I'm still not sure about their intentions, I'm not even sure if they know what I am. For all I know Buwaro could be their leader and is waiting for the opportunity to strike. And I still can't talk because of the collar.

But I doubted they were acting. Buwaro looked a little discouraged from my earlier reaction, Jamal looked really tired, probably lack of sleep, and Rhea...?

"Y'know what, questions for later. I'm so hungry I can't even think straight." Rhea grunted. "I'll go find us something to eat; the two of you can stay here with Snowy while I'm gone."

"But I don't wanna scare her! What should I do?" Buwaro asked.

"She's just not used to you yet. Just leave her alone for a while. You can hide in my room if you want, just don't break anything or I'll break your face!"

Rhea slammed the door behind her as she left through the room.

"Is she always like this?" Jamal asked skeptically.

Buwaro lowered his head. "Yeah...more or less..."

It seems like Jamal only joined the group recently. But this opened another possibility, one that scared me: if Buwaro tried anything, would Jamal be able to keep him in check, in his current state? He mightn't know what demons are capable of; he wouldn't stand a cha-

"Snowy?" Buwaro snapped me out of my thoughts. "Look I-I'm sorry if I scared you earlier, I really didn't mean it." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'll just be in the bedroom..."

And, true to his word, he went in and closed the door.

Did he...a demon...just apologize? I...

I turned to Jamal. His expression hadn't changed. He turned to me.

At that moment, I felt unsettled. His eyes...he was looking right through me, like he was trying to find something else out of the ordinary. Despite his earlier apathetic attitude, it was clear he was a little suspicious.

But then he noticed I was staring back, and he averted his eyes in embarrassment.

"Sorry," he said. "I, uh, zoned out a bit there..."

I got up from my spot on the floor and sat down next to him on the couch, looking at him questioningly.

"You're wondering why I wasn't scared of him, huh?" he said. I was curious about that; his lack of fear towards a demon he likely didn't know for long, or in general.

"Well..." he lied back against the couch. "Did you know that demons can cry?"

My eyes widened slightly.

He was about to say something else when all of a sudden, there was a scream from the bedroom.

Both of us fell off the couch in surprise. Was that Buwaro? What happened?

"What the hell?" Jamal said in shock and a hint of...something else. But I didn't have time to think about it because he quickly ran through the door. I followed him; even if Buwaro was a demon, he's been nothing but nice so far, far nicer than most people I knew, and he might need help right now.

We went in the room to find Buwaro sitting on the bed...and he now had blood-soaked bat-like wings on his back.

"What the hell happened?" Jamal asked worriedly. "How did you get wings? Is that normal?"

No, it wasn't. It was far from normal. But I could worry about that later, right now Buwaro needed some help. I quickly looked around for something to clean the blood off with. Buwaro simply let out strained breaths, while Jamal stayed by his side.

I found a towel, and rushed over to Buwaro, and started carefully cleaning his wings.

"Okay, so," Jamal asked again, calmly this time. "How did you get these wings?"

"I..." Buwaro tried to say between breaths. "I got it... from my sister's...pendant."

Pendant?

I saw the necklaces Buwaro was wearing. I gasped.

They were sun and star pendants! How did he get them? For how long has he had them for? I thought demons couldn't wear those because of the wards they had!

"Snowy? Are you okay?" Once again, Buwaro snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him to see that he was crying. Those were real tears, flowing from his eyes and staining his fur. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and continued cleaning his wings.

But even then my mind was still focused on the pendants. Not only could Buwaro wear them, but they were compatible with him. At least, somewhat compatible. Unlike an angel's wings, these were completely flesh-and-blood wings, which, by the looks of it, sprouted physically from his back. That must have hurt a lot.

It wasn't long before Rhea reappeared carrying a bag of food with her tail.

Looking back, her reaction was actually kind of understandable.

"WHAT THE HELL?! When did you get WINGS?!"

"Uhh..."

"And you!" She turned to me. "I was half-expecting you to be in a corner crying your eyes out, but instead I find you here chilling with Mr. I-don't-give-a-crap and Dumbass McGee! Are you doing this just to spite me?!"

"Hey, stop picking on Snowy! She's just trying to help!" Buwaro defended me.

"Yeah, lay off her, will you?" Jamal joined in as well.

This was the first time something like this happened in my life. And I had no way to express my gratitude for it...

"That still doesn't answer my earlier question." Rhea interjected.

"I got these wings from Sakido's pendant."

"That's some messed up shit." Rhea noted. "Maybe you should take it off."

That doesn't really seem like a good idea.

"Judging from HOW those wings appeared, I'm not willing to try that." Jamal said.

"And it's from Sakido." Buwaro reasoned. "I don't wanna take it off..."

"Fine, suit yourself." Rhea said.

"But they're too small for flight, so don't get any ideas." Jamal advised.

Rea huffed at that. "Anyway, I got us some food, so eat up! There's nuts, berries, bread, wow that's a lot of stuff..."

Buwaro eagerly grabbed a nut and a few berries. I took some bread. And Jamal...didn't even touch the bag. I suppose he wasn't hungry.

Then Buwaro ended up choking on his nut.

"Oh for crying out loud..." Rhea said in annoyance. "Buwaro, you're supposed to get rid of the nut's shell before you can eat it!"

"And how exactly would he have known that?" Jamal pointed out.

I took out another nut from the bag, and carefully broke open the shell, handing it to Buwaro.

"Huh? For me?" Buwaro asked as he took the nut. "Thanks! You're so nice!"

I couldn't help but feel warm inside as he said that. It's funny; even a few days ago I wouldn't have imagined that I'd meet a demon like him, and it...felt nice.

"Ooh- I saw that smile!" Buwaro said playfully. I smiled? "That's the first time you smiled since...forever! Are we friends now?"

"Heh, don't get ahead of yourself." Jamal said casually.

"It's about time you stopped being so nervous." Rhea said. "Come here, let me patch you up."

She took out a first aid kit from the bag, and started cleaning my wounds, while Jamal helped wrap them up.

"Snowy, meet Thadius!" Buwaro said proudly, while holding...a rock? "She's my pet and was my best friend before Rhea and-"

That just raises a lot of unpleasant questions.

"Why am I not surprised..."Jamal muttered.

"Buwaro, shut up for a second, I need to talk to Snowy." Rhea said. She turned to me. "I think it's about time you told us who you are. At the very least, tell us your name."

I pointed at my throat, where the collar was, hoping she'd get the message.

"Wha- I didn't ask about your jewelry!"

Nope.

"She's mute." Jamal clarified. "She hasn't made even a single noise let alone spoken this entire time."

Close enough...

"Oh well..." Rhea sighed. "I'll still help get you out of here to the Human village regardless, since you've been nice so far."

"Wait. Why do we have to leave?" Buwaro asked. "I mean, we just got here..."

"Plenty of reasons, actually: one, none of us belong here, and two, Humans are forbidden from even visiting the village. Stupid racist fucks didn't want me to have friends."

"But still," Jamal said. "There's really no point leaving now, not when half of us are sleep deprived."

"You're right." Rhea said. "Let's get some sleep for now. We leave next morning."

Since Buwaro would still be sleeping with Rhea on her bed, Jamal and I went into the living room to sleep on the couch. We decided to sleep together as well, because as Jamal put it if we didn't: "One of us would have to sleep on the floor, and we'd be unable to share the blanket...that Rhea forgot to give me earlier."

It was kind of a tight fit, but...at least it was warm, unlike before...

Feeling far better than I could've hoped, I fell asleep.

A/N: And thus concludes yet another chapter in my story. I think I'm getting the hang of this.

Guest: Thank you once again for the review. As for magic, well, considering the average magic level of most Humans in Slightly Damned, it will get addressed within the story itself soon (not telling when as of yet, but soon.).

See you all next time.