Jesse swallowed the frightened lump in their throat, still staring up at the demon and, now that they weren't experiencing a bout of basically pure terror, terrifyingly aware of the feeling that someone was watching them.

(It was starting to become normal, and yet it was just enough to set Jesse's teeth on edge.)

"'M... I was waitin' for my friends to come back. They were goin' to look for someone," Jesse managed, trying to speak firmly but managing a whisper. "I don't know who."

The man inched closer, making Jesse hide a flinch but stay still, trying to breathe properly and kind of failing at that task. "Oh? And who are your friends?"

"The... um, the October Children," Jesse offered weakly. What else were they going to say to someone who could very easily kill them, if the way the bandits had tripped over themselves trying to get away was any indication?

They didn't know what they were expecting, but it certainly wasn't for him to straighten up in surprise, one eyebrow rising as his jaw slid slightly open, enough to show his teeth.

(Despite his intimidating demeanor, his teeth were perfectly normal- slightly crooked, but then again not everyone could have braces- and Jesse found themselves relaxing a tiny bit at the sight of almost human teeth.)

"... I see. Do you know where they are?" He asked at last, gathering himself.

Jesse shook their head, still trying to swallow back the frightened lump that was blocking their throat and threatening to turn coherent words into some weird string of babbles and stammers. "Um... they went lookin', and I got separated from Gill and Maya when the people came after me, an' then I ran off randomly..." And here they were, starting to babble.

The demon set a firm hand on Jesse's shoulder, making them start. "Whoa, calm down there. Can't have you losing it in Cosmos." He gave them a somewhat toothy smile. "You'd make an excellent delicacy even if you don't have your heart on you."

"... can you tell...?" Reuben had been with Gill and Maya, so it was true that they technically didn't have their heart on them. They'd completely forgotten that he was their vessel creature.

He shrugged. "It's pretty clear, friend. Humans have a sort of... internal light to them when they have their heart. You still have a little bit, but it's not solid enough to show that you still have your heart."

"Is it clear that I'm not a demon?"

The demon paused. "... truthfully, if no demon took a close look at your eyes, they'd imagine that you were a half-demon that was working for a lord, so it's not that clear."

"Oh." That was a relief, at least.

"Jack!"

Petra grinned and jogged up to the demon, her grin widening into a relieved smile when she saw him kneeling in front of Jesse, cutting off whatever he'd been planning to say. "Oh, awesome, you found Jesse."

'Jack' straightened up with a grin, clapping Petra on the back. "Good to see you, Petra." He glanced down at Jesse. "You're with them, too?"

Petra nodded, face sobering. "Yeah. We're looking into that... thing. I've mentioned it once or twice."

"Ah." Jack's smile faded almost immediately, his eyes flicking down to Jesse. "A favor for Romeo?"

"Yep." Petra looked down at Jesse and ruffled their hair, making them squeak in surprise and slight amusement. "Jess, this is Jack. He's my contact in Beacontown. He used to be one of the half-demons working for Fred."

Jesse started, then looked up at Jack. "You're a half-demon?"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "That I am. I got my heart back when Fred, ah..."

He cleared his throat. "But, uh, I figured I'd stay. Turns out I'm pretty useful as a mercenary in Cosmos." He gestured at Petra. "We've crossed paths enough to have become fairly good friends."

"Yeah, you're a pretty useful contact," Petra told him cheerfully.

He rolled his eyes and continued. "Anyways, we tend to trust each other with information that we don't trust outsiders with. Like the dilemma with the gates and such."

Jesse scrunched up their face slightly. "How do I know you're the real Jack?"

Jack barked a laugh at that, although he seemed pretty amused by the statement and not offended, which was a relief. "Oh, you're a careful one. That's good. Petra can tell."

Petra nodded, gesturing at his eye. "You've noticed how a lot of half-demons have one eye covered?" She paused, before amending, "well, minus me. I have my arm covered."

"Mmhm..."

"The short version of that," Petra continued, "is that covered bit is the most demonic part of the half-demon. Generally speaking, it's an emergency way of contacting the lord or the half-demons if all else fails, although we can really only transmit emotions or flashes of whatever sense it is."

She gestured at her face. "Eyes are preferred because even covered, you can transmit what you're seeing. Ivor picked my arm because I can transmit pain easy, so if I'm in an emergency situation that I'm not able to handle, he knows how severe it is."

Jack sent Petra a sideways look at that, but nodded. "Yes. Generally, that's the emergency contact method."

He gestured at his gray eye, and now that Jesse looked closer it looked like the iris was pupil-less, with a sort of swirling smoke in the iris and a symbol on top of it. "Mine was terminated when Fred died."

"Can you see out of it?"

(Good priorities, Jesse.)

The half-demon hummed. "Yes, but not that well. I have enough to have somewhat acceptable depth perception, but not enough to actually see if I covered my good eye."

"Oh."

Jack, taking the 'oh' as meaning this vein of conversation was satisfied, nodded and turned to Petra. "Let me guess- you need a safe place to stay the night."

"It would be appreciated," she replied, grinning at him.

He sighed- without any venom in his tone and more of a good-hearted amusement- and nodded. "I figured. Let's get you all back to the rest of your group and I'll get you into the hideout."

Jesse blinked, then looked at Petra as Jack started to lead them through the winding alleys. "The hideout?"

"Yeah. It's a nice secure place to hide for the night, so we don't have to sleep with one eye open," Petra replied, giving them a relieved smile and ruffling their hair. "And we don't have to worry about being watched or anything."

The feeling of eyes on the back of Jesse's neck prickled.

"Good," they said at last, in a tiny voice.


A/N: Generally speaking?

Huh.

We're getting close to a chapter I'm somewhat dreading writing. ... oh boy.

The coding of that user interface of that game has actually been completed! It looks pretty good... now to... code the rest of it, haha. I'll let y'all know when the demo is out.

RQTC: Any video games you like?

Fire Emblem Three Houses is... wow, I lowkey love this game, haha. I think it's just the fun of being a teacher without the boring lectures, and also the fact that the story's getting interesting. (I have not gotten very far into this game but I love it fkda;)

I am an apple. Reviews are the bites taken out of me. I'm being eaten AAAGH xD

Responses to reviews!

ThinMintE: Amazing. You've aged beautifully. / Hehe, thank you. You're pretty pun-tastic yourself. / Hehe xD / It was Isa who tamed the horse, but it's named Fyre. The name of Jesse's branded horse is actually Draco (yes, like the Malfoy), but Bob sounds nicer and no one knows that Jesse's named Bob Bob. / Thank you xD

TheAmberShadow: Nice :D / That was explained above, haha, but... might not be the full reason. / Not official official. That is to say, there is no paperwork. / Ocean you glad we did a bunch of water puns? Now we can corally (cordially) exchange puns to sea how good we are at it and tide over some boredom. / Yep! / Hehe xP / One alone can in fact read a map, but neither of them are very familiar with Beacontown or its layout since it's ruler-less and therefore very chaotic, so they figured two heads are better than one. But yes xD / Nope- remember, all demons have red eyes. Half-demons have at least one, and rulers have mostly red eyes with that little ring of color right around the pupil, so if it was Fred he would've had some other color to differentiate- probably amber. / Cassie's a baron (it was mentioned in an earlier chapter) so no, and as to it being one of the Underneathers, no xD

Darkbeast Dend: Yeah, it sucks lol / Bye!

Guest: Lol, yeah. They look like an easy target.

Toni42: Hehehe xD / Much pun xD / Haha, yeah. / Love you too x3

That's it for now. See ya, so long, and g'bye!

x.X. A.L. X.x