Jesse blinks sleepily.

It's not morning yet, or at least not a decent time of day if the way the hollow is almost completely dark except for swimming gold light casting dramatic shadows on everything is any indication. They stare into the darkness for a minute, eyes slowly adjusting.

Lukas has his head resting on Aiden's shoulder, who has his arms crossed and his legs resting simply in front of him. Petra is lying facing the wall, choppy red hair splayed out behind her on the floor and gleaming in the golden light from the barrier. Maya is next to Gill, their shoulders gently pressing into each other's, although Maya's head is resting more against the wall while Gill's lolls forward slightly.

Ivor's nowhere to be seen, though- they scan the room a few times to be extra sure.

Jesse twists a little bit, now becoming aware of their head resting on someone or something with Reuben slumbering in their lap, snuffling happily. After some amount of shifting, they manage to turn their head and look up.

Red eyes with a ring of dark blue around the pupil stare back at them.

After a moment where Jesse's heart decides to go at the speed of a jackhammer and their eyes forcibly adjust, they realize that the demon lord is blinking at Jesse slightly, still silently looking at them.

A long, long silence passes as the two of them stare at each other, Jesse with their head still resting in his lap and Ivor looking at them patiently.

"What time's it?" Jesse whispers to him after a minute, trying to surreptitiously shift off his lap without him noticing and thinking that they didn't want to be there.

They did, it was surprisingly comfortable and it made them feel rather like being wrapped in a blanket, it was also just a literal demon lord that they were currently resting on and that was a bit awkward to say "Oh yeah, I was just using the lap of the oldest demon alive in Cosmos as well as him being a lord of an entire district as a pillow."

Ivor's irises flick away for a moment, before glancing back at Jesse. "Three in the morning," he whispers back.

"Oh."

Jesse shifts again, giving an inadvertent little shiver as some cold air comes gusting over them as they move and slowly sit up. Ivor keeps watching them the whole time, which does make them feel rather awkward. Well, more awkward than they already felt.

Then:

"Aren't you tired?"

Jesse blinks, looking back up at him. "Hm?"

He glances at the dark sky, before back at Jesse. His expression is vaguely perplexed. "It was nearly eleven by the time you fell asleep. Now it's three in the morning. You slept for four hours."

Jesse blinks at him again.

"... oh." A little pause. "'M not really sleepy."

The demon lord hums softly, shifting probably-sore legs from Jesse literally sleeping on them for about four hours. "Alright, that's fair. I don't sleep much at night, either."

Jesse nods with a little hum, shifting back into a sitting position next to Ivor. It's too dark to read (well... to read without killing Jesse's eyes), nobody else is awake so they don't want to turn on the lights, and Reuben is happily snuffling in their lap from where he's dreaming about who-knows-what. They give him a little rub.

The branches creak slightly as a breeze ghosts through the hollow's opening, making little chills and goosebumps pop up on Jesse's skin. They shiver slightly, reaching up and rubbing their goosebumps to try to make them go away.

When they don't, and, in fact, more wind gusts into the room, Jesse scoops Reuben up carefully and scoots closer to Ivor, trying to get a little more warmth. It's not like they have a jacket or a blanket with them.

He is quiet.

Jesse can't help but worry slightly, glancing over at him. Perhaps he finds that rather forward and thinks they're strange and odd and just plain weird.

(Perhaps they are.)

A long moment of awkward silence passes before Ivor quietly wraps an arm around Jesse and tugs him into his side gently. Perhaps to make them feel less awkward.

(He does seem to be nice that way.)

They end up staying that way, Jesse pressing up against Ivor's side slightly with his arm wrapped around their shoulders in a comforting way as the breeze continues ghosting through the room, until a small ray of sunshine peeks through the still-glowing barrier, lighting the inside of the hollow with a softer, more consistent glow and casting their long shadows across the floor.


It takes a while for everyone else to get up, even with Jesse carefully poking Maya, and Lukas waking up on his own with a stretch and a little yawn, and Aiden waking up after Jesse tentatively gets within five feet of him and hastily scampering away, and Gill just rolling over until Maya sits on him and he shoves her off with a good amount of swearing, and Petra waking up from the noise and chucking Miss Butter at the two, where it embeds itself in the wall about three inches from Maya's head-

When, in short, everyone's awake and stopped grumbling, Lukas picks Jesse and Reuben up easily, and the demons all leap down from the tree. Jesse has to close their eyes and not stare at the ground to avoid getting vertigo.

(Ivor, of course, is somehow already at the bottom without any of them noticing, and Jesse spends about five minutes wondering how that is the case.)

"Alright," Maya says briskly and rather cheerfully considering, "Let's head back to the Underneath."

Aiden gives an impatient sigh. "And then we'll waste another day, just like that."

Lukas, who is still holding Jesse, gives a shrug, making Jesse bounce slightly. (They're pretty sure Ivor's lips twitch at that, but his expression is very clear when they look at him.) "It can't be helped. We're just going to have to hurry."

Petra shrugs, glancing at Ivor. "Is there anything you need me to do? Since we're both in the same place and all."

"Considering my main task at the moment is searching for another lord, I don't think so." The demon lord thoughtfully raises his eyes to the sky, considering this a bit more. "I'll call you if there's anything I need."

The redheaded demon nods, crossing her arms. "Sure thing."

"Mmmnn. By the way, there's a messenger bird coming."

Maya tilts her head back, Lukas automatically setting Jesse down on the ground while Aiden squints, trying to avoid staring into a good amount of sunlight. Now that the clouds aren't smothering the sky, Jesse can see that the sun is a white blazing orb that seems to be tinted very faintly red at the edges.

Though that might just be the sky behind it.

"A messenger bird...?" Gill frowns, crossing his arms and tilting his head at it. "I wonder who sent it."

The bird descends, flapping huge red wings that gleam at the edges with golden plumage. Without thinking, Jesse sticks their arm out, the messenger bird hauling back to not basically slam full-force into Jesse's arm and alighting on it. It's surprisingly heavy, but they manage to keep their balance.

"Hey! How's it going for you four?"

Jesse almost drops their arm at the sound of Romeo's voice issuing from the bird, especially with Reuben letting out a loud squeal of surprise, but through a good amount of self-discipline, Jesse manages to not actually drop the messenger bird, whose mouth is moving quite freely.

"Ah, Romeo is a fan of Mimic birds," Lukas muses, seeming totally not-put-out by the fact that this bird is literally talking with Romeo's voice.

Aiden scowls at it, looking like he might want to punch the bird. "Yeah, well, I'm not a fan of hearing his voice even when we're nowhere near him."

"Ah, oops, it's five now with Jesse, isn't it?" Romeo- or, well, the bird- gives an awkward chuckle. "I assume you guys have already reached a different town by the time you get this message, but you guys are probably stuck outside 'cause I forgot to give you your ID cards. I would've been able to deliver them sooner, but I decided to make one for Jesse as well."

Jesse blinks in surprise at that.

"Oh! I'm also sending you guys a magic mirror. Contact me with the mirror once you guys receive it. I'll, um..." A slightly awkward laugh. "I'll be waiting."

The message apparently finished, the bird gives Jesse a rather friendly peck on the head, before giving a hefty flap of the wings and launching into the air.

Instantly, several things glow into existence before dropping, a mirror dropping out of midair with very little warning. It's only because Jesse's hands are out and their reflexes are the way they are that they are able to whip their hands forward and grab ahold of the mirror's frame before it crashes to the ground and shatters.

The ID cards, just being ID cards and not something that important or fragile, all clatter onto the floor, although one of them does bounce off of Jesse's head.

Aiden smirks slightly as he goes over to pick things up, scooping up the ID cards carefully while making sure not to bump into Jesse by accident. "I'll hold our ID cards. Jesse, you've got the mirror, can you hold onto it?"

"Hm? Oh. Sure." Jesse pauses, clutching the mirror tightly, before tilting their head at him. "Why me and not someone else, by the way?"

"Because if one of us holds onto it, Romeo will contact us every minute," Aiden replies, which makes Jesse hide a rather large smile at that. "Let's get into Champion City."

He gives Ivor another small bow. "Thank you very much for helping us with the tree last night."

The demon lord shrugs. "It's not a problem. If that's all you need for now, I'll take my leave. I need to continue my search."

Petra gives him a deep nod. "Call me if you need anything, Ivor."

"Of course." He looks down and gives Jesse a light little pat on the head, which makes them blink at him in a bemused way. "It was nice to meet you."

Before Jesse can even say "thank you" or "you too" the demon lord gives the October Children a nod. "You know where to find me if you need me."

Gill gives him a playful little salute, grinning. "You bet, Ivor."

A smile quirks across Ivor's face, before he's turning away and walking into-

Air.

Without any warning, the air swallows him up, the demon lord disappearing without a trace.

"C'mon, we need to get situated in Champion City and get some supplies. I have the feeling this is going to be a long trip," Aiden mutters, already walking back towards the gates while Jesse is looking around vigorously to see where he went. It looks a bit like they're doing neck exercises, actually.

"Wait, didn't Romeo say to call him with the mirror once we get the items?" Jesse calls after him, still holding the mirror tightly.

Maya shrugs, already following after him with a cheerful spring in her step. "Ah, he won't mind. C'mon, Jesse, let's go!"

"... you guys..." Jesse has a mix of a rather startled expression and a somewhat exasperated one on their face, which makes them look rather funny.

"We can't really get into Champion City without paying attention the whole way; the guards might try to ask questions and we have to be paying attention when we're talking to them," Lukas muses, before giving Jesse a small smile and a pat on the back. "Don't worry, we can call him when we get inside."

"... okay." And Jesse manages to slide the mirror into their inventory without much trouble.

Petra stretches, squinting ahead at the gates. "Huh, there's not that much distance from here to there..."

A short pause.

She gives Jesse a little grin, red eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

"Wanna race there?"


Champion City is intimidating.

Well, actually, no, it's very pretty.

But with a red sky as a backdrop, and the fact that it looks clean enough for Jesse to put a sandwich on the ground and then later pick it up and eat it (not that they would), they're a little cowed by how... sleek it looks.

Many of the buildings tower up at least sixty times their height, white with blueish glass windows and quirky building shapes that look almost futuristic and little embellishments that are made of gold. What isn't a sleek, white color is green or some kind of flower.

The roads are paved neatly, unlike the safe road outside, with lighter-colored, newer bricks, and the lawns are arranged in perfect squares or rectangles. Even the flowers look neat.

Thus, Jesse is somewhat terrified to even sneeze, cough, or make any motion that might disturb this very pretty city, even though they just ran like heck to the gates of the city, very narrowly losing to Petra. It makes sense, they really were just in it to have fun and not really do anything urgent.

They do very much like the llama statue that is up the second they walk in, though, it's very cute and they give it a grin as they pass by.

(They're pretty sure the statue beams back at them.)

"It's really pretty here," Jesse says meekly, making Petra and Lukas glance down at them. Maya's also slowed down as Aiden and Gill jokingly bicker about something like soda prices in front.

(Well, Lukas inclines his head downwards, but it's the same thing.)

"It is, isn't it? I really love this place. The entire district of Hizelk and the border cities are a lot more peaceful compared to other places around Cosmos," Maya hums happily, giving a little hop and a skip.

(She's really happy.)

"Fights don't really occur in Hizelk because the people are more interested in stuff like art and building. Actually, Yurin is redstone and machinery, Enchantra's magic, Narvid's fighting... all of the districts have their own things. Even Beacontown has a thing for defense and healing. Champion City's got this neat mix of fighting and art going on."

Jesse nods, noticing an official dueling stage where two demons are facing off. Interestingly, they don't have weapons. "Do they not use weapons to fight?"

"Oh no, they craft them. Holding a Hizelkian blade is just... man, they know their stuff when it comes to balance and design. Narvid's more efficient in killing," Maya says casually and rather brightly, making Jesse nod politely and resist turning a bit paler, "and Yurin's definitely more focused on using machinery to add a little extra-"

She makes a violent sort of motion that Jesse automatically ducks at, before continuing her monologue happily. "And man, Enchantra's weapons use magic to get some really neat effects, but Beacontown's weapons are more suited for defensive maneuvers and healing stuff. When fights take place in Hizelk or Enchantra, though, most of the people will use magic and spells rather than weapons. It's a lot less messy."

She notices Lukas giving her a slightly amused smile and tints pink, grinning at them. "Sorry, I just... I really love Hizelk. And Champion City's really, really awesome."

Petra grunts, making Jesse look over at the redhead. She's glowering at everything.

(One gardener, noticing her look, casually picks up his tools and moves away.)

"I hate it here."

Maya rolls her eyes and gently elbows Petra in the ribs. "Oh, don't be grumpy. You're just biased against the city."

"Yeah... the buildings are tall, but every single one of those apartments up there? They're all exactly the same. The top level ones are 'Diamond Class Apartments', but they're just a block wider."

Petra rubs the back of her neck, lip going between her teeth as she cuts off her rant to glance down at Jesse, who's blinking at her in confusion. "Stella's... strict about how things look here."

"Stella?"

"The baroness of Champion City." Lukas gives Petra a weird sort of grin. "Petra's... not that fond of her."

"Nope. Nope I am not." Petra crosses her arms, still walking, although Jesse can see a rather large scowl forming on her face now. "I don't like her at all."

"Aw, c'mon, give her a chance."

"Gave her one already. I didn't like what she was like."

"Give her another one."

"I don't like giving second chances, Lukas."

Jesse's so busy watching the two of them bicker teasingly back and forth that they almost miss the person with bright blue hair and purple eyes strolling past.

Wait, purple eyes?

Jesse's eyes follow them, noticing that a rather willowy figure with long blue locks and luminous violet eyes has ghosted past them. "... do all demons have primarily red eyes, or is that like... a genetic dominant trait?"

Lukas nods down at Jesse, having apparently spotted the person too. "For those with a human form, yes. What you just saw is a doll."

Jesse blinks at this.

Maya takes their bewildered silence to fill in. "Dolls in Cosmos can move because of magic. It can only carry out their master's commands, and has no will, soul, or emotions of its own."

She shifts and crosses her arms a moment later. "There's some myths that if an expert doll-maker creates a doll with strong feelings, or if someone can coax feelings and emotions out of a doll, they can gain souls of their own."

"I think it's bull; it's never happened before," Petra contributes rather lazily.

Lukas gives her a scolding sort of look; at least his lips turn down at the edges and he crosses his arms at her. "Well, doll-makers are really rare, anyway."

Jesse hums as they pass a shop window, a young woman sitting in it. Her eyes are glassy red, hair done up in a very pretty bun with a rose pinned in it and matching rose earrings. Her dress is elegant and deceptively simple, red vines curling up her arms prettily as her feet perch on the ground, seated on a chair. "'S that a doll too, then? Do you activate it or something before it can move?"

Maya takes a look at what Jesse's looking at for a moment. "Oh, no, that's a corpse."

"Oh, I s-"

Jesse abruptly stops walking, Lukas and Petra also being nice enough to come to a stop immediately while Maya trails ahead a step, stopping in front of them a moment later and turning around to see that Jesse's face has turned a very lovely shade of white, frozen in place as they blink a few times in what seems like bewilderment before cocking their head at her.

"I'm sorry, what?"


A/N: Annnnnnd that's all the time we have here today folks thanks for coming to my TED Talk

lol next chapter'll be... interesting. I dread the explanation of the corpse xD

Yes, that IS an actual corpse in the shop window, Maya was not joking. There is a... somewhat benign explanation for this.

Responses to reviews!

NinaNaranja: Oof, yeah, that sounds like a pain. I've still got a year to go before I graduate myself, haha. / Yes, I remember you well. You were great xD / Nope, not just you xD / Hehehe xD / Demons are great, yes xD

Savannah-the-Caracal: Jesse's magic xD / Ahhhh thank you; I love this story x3 / Oh! Really? I didn't know what I was doing xD

Toni42: They arreeeeee / Perhaps :3 / Yep, they're a huge magic nerd. Plus, it's so cool xD / I'm always stressed, nothing can be helped xD

TheAmberShadow: Ye :3 / Indeed! It's kinda hard not to... unless you're Aiden xD / They don't do anything! They just sleep in the same room. It's always awkward for two people of two different genders to sleep in the same room. (Well, they do do SOME stuff beyond just sleeping in the same room, but I can assure you it's definitely not sex.) / Don't worry, I'm always stressed xD

Welp! That's all for this chapter. See ya, so long, and g'bye!

x.X. A.L. X.x