I had a Biology quiz today, but my other Biology class was canceled so whooooo! :D Anyway, I've been feeling a bit down lately, so sorry if my writing style seems a bit off. I honestly don't know what's wrong; maybe I feel a bit lonely and out of place or something. Don't get me wrong, I have friends here and know plenty of sweet people, but I really miss everyone back home too. I miss the ocean, the salt taste in the air, the sand between my toes when I walk on the beach. Gah I miss the sea. Maybe that's my problem. Maybe I'm just homesick or something dumb.

Anyway, trying to keep my head held high and I'm telling myself to enjoy the little things. :) Like, for example: Right now I'm sitting on my bed, wearing super soft socks and some comfy clothes, watching the sun begin to set gold outside with a frappuccino on the windowsill as I write this lovely story. When I think of it that way, it's not so bad. :) So, shout-out to anyone who's lonely out there or feels a bit out of place, just want you to know that you're not alone. Love you all and never forget that you're an incredible person *hugs!*

Well, guess it's time to start this chapter. :) Warning: This will be gruesome. And maybe a bit shocking. And with a bit of cussing, because that's what demons do, especially crazed demons.

...

Raziele's POV

...

Raziele raced after Sophiel as she turned right, left, right again down hallways and crawlspaces he never knew existed. The once timid demon had seemed to have broken through her shell, and for the first time Raziele had ever seen her, she seemed happy . . . and he couldn't help but feel glad as well. It was strange, that warm feeling in his chest, that feeling similar to drinking hot soup after a cold day.

Sophiel suddenly ducked behind a potted plant, though the flora had withered and died long ago. It was little more than a charcoal stick stuck into the dirt. The pot itself was cracked and broken, and spider webs clung to it. More webs hung from the ceiling; inside of them, Raziele could just make out the black shapes of the twelve-legged spiders that lived in Gehenna. He could almost see the meager, sickly light of the melted candles reflected off of their eight ruby eyes as they stared down at him.

Raziele shivered and quickly looked away. He hated spiders. Bugs in general were considered an enemy. He had faint memories of colorful moth-like bugs in Assaih, but that had been so long ago.

Besides, he tried not to think of those days. Even now, those golden memories bit into him like the tip of a spear, scarring his heart with ever single cut and gash.

A sudden, gentle hand on top of his snapped him to the present. "Are you all right?" Sophiel whispered, her single violet eye soft in the light. Her white hair perfectly framed her pale face, and she looked like a snowflake; fragile, delicate, and as beautiful as a snowflake. Behind her, a piece of the wall was missing but led to a tiny crawlspace instead.

Raziele faintly smiled, half surprised that Sophiel - Sophiel - had reached for him, half happy that she had.

"Yeah," he whispered, impatiently pushing some faint pink hair out of his eyes, and got to his knees. He cautiously peered inside of the crawlspace; spider webs clung to the walls, and grime and soot coated the ground. There were some dried red flakes beneath the ash and dirt . . . blood, maybe?

"This is a slave tunnel," Sophiel whispered, turning over her shoulder to look at Raziele. "It's where we dispose the bodies."

Raziele's blood went cold. What bodies?! he wanted to scream, but instead bit his tongue and said, "Oh . . . that's nice." His voice went a bit high at the end, so he quickly cleared his throat and added, "Where, uh, where exactly does it lead?"

"It goes down, past the torture chambers for human souls, past the prison cells, and right before the End there is the Pit. That's where Rin is," Sophiel explained.

Raziele grimaced. This sounds like fun, he thought sarcastically, then asked, "So, what's at the end?"

"The End is where the bodies are dropped," Sophiel said, as if she had been telling Raziele the color of his eyes. "The corpses from the Pit, insane demons, and slaves unfit for continued service are dropped at the End so that the Cerberus can feed. It's called the End because that's the last destination of your life," she continued, her voice emotionless.

Raziele frowned. "Have you ever been there?" he asked, and from the sudden look on Sophiel's face, he didn't need an answer.

Without thinking, he suddenly reached forward and pulled her against him. He could feel her quick heartbeat through the rags she wore. "I'm sorry," Raziele said as he embraced her. "I'm sorry."

Sophiel went tense and suddenly pushed Raziele away, her pale face bright red and violet eye wide. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as if she had something to say but couldn't find the words, and suddenly turned around in a spastic gesture. It was the most emotion Raziele had ever seen from her before.

"We should hurry," she managed, then ducked inside the crawl space and disappeared. Raziele mentally slapped himself and, taking a short breath, followed after her.

Please don't let there be any bugs . . .

...

Demon Rin's POV

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Rin opened his mouth in a wild scream. Blue flames burst into existence, forming twin horns on the very top on his head. His tail swished back and forth, back and forth, as if he was struggling to release his pent-up rage but failing.

It hurts.

The pain was immense, as if his skin was boiling from the veins up. Rin lifted his face and wailed, crawling at his face and leaving angry red scratches behind.

It hurts so much.

There was movement in the corner of his eye; before Rin understand what was happening, his arm snapped to the right and he caught something in his fist. There was a muffled cry and he slowly turned his head; in his fist, there was a pale wrist. In its hand there was a dagger made entirely out of ice; as Rin continued moving his eyes upward, a face came into focus. It was a thin face, the skin almost white, with the bluest eyes the color of the purest sky. A look a pure terror twisted its features and, slowly, Rin's lips formed a deadly smile.

There were two cracks, each distinct from the other, as the small bones in Xavier's wrist broke. A cry shattered the air as the ice dagger fell to the floor and cracked and shattered into a thousand glass shards. Cheers from the top of the Pit rose above the shout of pain.

Rin's grin widened and, in a simple yet devastating movement, he threw Xavier into the wall. Pieces of the rock wall fell to the ground and the parched dust rose in the air, though the dirt drank whatever scarlet it could. The shouts of the people above grew louder, louder, louder, dulling the world in a roar.

But Rin couldn't hear a thing.

A figure rose from the rubble. Xavier swayed on his feet and red dripped from his silver hair and into his eyes. One of his arms was wrapped his chest, as if he was trying to hold his rib cage together. His breathes came in short gasps.

"What . . . what are you?" Xavier spat. The bloody spit hit the ground and dripped off a broken stone.

Rin didn't respond. Throwing the demon felt good, but he still hurt, everything just fucking hurt like he was being squeezed and was about to burst, but there was no way to release his pent-up energy, no way to make the hurt go away.

So he raised his head and screamed, screamed for himself, screamed for the pain he felt and screamed just for the hell of it. The flames burned brighter around him, brighter and brighter until the blue flame went white, and for a second the demons above wondered if Rin was truly a demon at all; maybe he was a fallen angel, a Seraphim, fallen from heaven in the wrath of God and fell in blazing glory to the world below or maybe even past that, all the way to Gehenna.

But then Rin crouched and lounged forward, and the image shattered like the dagger of ice.

...

Xavier's POV

...

Impossible.

Xavier's eyes widened as the demon in blue lunged, almost in slow motion.

Impossible.

The General of Satan's army could see the sapphire of Rin's eyes, the scarlet irises that seemed to absorb all of the light. The younger demon's arm was extended towards him, the fingers splayed and nails like blades aimed for the arteries in his throat.

Xavier thought he had been winning. Xavier had thought that he had been the one above the others, had thought himself to be simply toying with Satan's son. All of the other times during training, he had beaten the younger demon half to death over and over and over again. He had made sure to starve the demon, to dehydrate Satan's son and push him to the brink, to utterly destroy his mind and will to escape.

Xavier's sapphire eyes widened as the fingers came closer, closer, closer, and his mind went break. He had known that Satan's son could wield immense powers - Amaimon had mentioned it one, and Samael had been quite thorough in his report. However, after all this while, the danger of Rin's explosive flames had faded to the back of Xavier's mind.

Now that danger was flooding back.

Xavier did the first thing he could think of; he ducked, and Rin's hand smashed into the wall. The General pressed his palms into the ground and summoned what power he could; the air chilled, hardened, and thin spikes jutted from the bloody ground like a gunshot. There was a faint wet sound as they pierced Rin's skin and cut through. Scarlet fell onto Xavier's face and the demon looked up.

He looked up to see Rin looked down on him. Blood dripped from his mouth and onto Xavier's cheek. The demon's eyes was bright, wild, the red pupils alive. Rin opened his mouth but a small sound escaped with the scarlet that poured out as struggled against the spikes of ice embedded inside his body.

Xavier allowed himself a faint smile.

I wo -

- and with a sudden burst of blue flames, the ice holding Rin into place melted and, in a sudden movement, Xavier slammed against the wall and faded into darkness.

Didn't expect THAT, now did you?! Yeah, Xavier had his butt handed to him on a blue flaming platter. At first I was going to end it at "I won," but then I changed my mind. Hehehehe I feel so evil, but Geezum, this is a long chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it though! Now, for comments:

ScarletRose09: Daaaw thank you! That made my day so much better :) I'm so glad that you like this fanfic, and thanks! I'll try not too haha

Janazza: heheheh you're just gonna have to wait and see! And thanks - I'm working through, one day at a time :)

Dowgma: You're just gonna have ta see what happens next :) But don't worry; I'm pretty sure I haven't messed up so far, so trust me not to mess this up :) Have a bit of faith!

By the way, my roommates are talking about M-rated stuff with a guy in the room . . . I need a healthy dosage of mind bleach right now. A HEALTHY dose. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh my ears T_T