Aiden was shooting through the air like a bullet.
The smog was thick but he could see through it, and the earth was no longer being pelted by sheets of rain and blasts of thunder and the wind didn't tear at his wings and his body and throw dust in his face. He had a fairly clear view of the muddy ground below.
So that was something, at least.
He wished– dearly, dearly wished right now– that demons didn't have that habit of black and red. Sure, it made cleaning up after a bloody fight that much easier– but it made spotting two unconscious people dressed in those colors that much harder through the smog and the thick black mud and–
And there was a squeal, and he looked down, and his heart actually jumped for joy, if a half-demon's heart could even do that.
And if he still had his heart, but that was not an important detail at the moment.
That stupid little vessel creature– that stupid, wonderful, pink little pig was running in circles around two forms that he could barely make out and squealing like the world was about to end.
Aiden usually would've descended carefully, but there was no time to care about that or even attempt one– so he just shot towards the ground and landed in an impressive spray of mud and dropped next to them both.
Jesse's head was lifelessly resting on Lukas's shoulder, half of their torso draped across his chest like some kind of bizarre blanket. The blonde, mud-covered half-demon groaned slightly when Aiden shook him urgently, but otherwise had no response.
But both were breathing.
Both were alive.
He'd take that any day.
Aiden threw Lukas over his back, and then hesitated with Jesse for only a moment before scooping them up, Reuben oinking happily and leaping into Aiden's arms. He could tell the paused storm would only last a few minutes longer– already a few drops that stung like acid were dripping onto his head.
He could hear negative energy buzzing around like hornets, searching for a host, so he gritted his teeth and morphed into a shadow– feeling Lukas do the same on his back– and launched off.
He was now on borrowed time. Borrowed time for Ivor's hold on the storm to snap and break and release the full hell of storm on them all.
Borrowed time for Jesse to dissolve into shadows themselves.
Half-demons could handle turning into a shadow form, or having a shadow form touch them. Being half made up of shadows as a demon meant their body adapted. Could handle it.
But humans didn't have that same kind of tolerance to being turned into pure darkness.
Didn't have the same method of staying whole and pure and themselves, and not pure darkness and shadow and negative energy that festered into something monstrous.
He glanced down at Jesse as a few more drops of rain began to plink through the smog, the clouds thickening and darkening until he was squinting through them. The little human was handling it better than he'd expected, the parts where he was making contact with them leaking drops of shadow onto their skin like drops of ink on paper.
But less than he'd expected.
Maybe the whole thing with their magic sensitivity wait why was he theorizing about why they were handling this well they might die if he didn't hurry the hell up–
His wings went into overdrive, and he thought he'd been going fast before– but now he was being propelled through the air, drops of acidic rain dotting his skin like little bullets, and he dove around a blob of negative energy so sharply he almost shot at the ground–
He hauled out of the nosedive at the last second and very nearly avoided breaking his whole face by plowing himself three feet under dirt while rocketing at full speed, the smog thickening around him, but he could still see the damn landing area, he just had to speed up–
Red eye flickered down to Jesse. The patches had grown larger, slowly spreading across their little body, but it was thankfully not too bad yet–
The smog darkened.
Just a bit farther–
He almost crashed onto the landing area and slammed straight into Harper, all four of them hitting the ground hard. The older demon made only a slight sound of surprise, but he'd jerked upright and shoved Jesse at her, patches of shadow creeping over their skin.
"Infirmary. Hospital. Whatever the fuck it is. Now!" he yelled.
He had to give all of the lords this; as much as they took the fact that they were lords into account, they never let it go to their head and make their superiority get in the way of urgent matters.
Harper nodded and scooped up Jesse's tiny body; she was halfway down the street before Aiden could even get in another breath to haul Lukas up himself.
Jesse woke up practically swaddled in blankets like a baby and in someone's arms.
It was very warm and cozy; so great on that, but they felt sore all over and possibly like they'd just been flattened like a truck, so they just grumbled and wiggled a little.
Ivor was holding them with Harper sitting next to them, the two sitting in absolute (but very companionable) silence. Both lords looked down at Jesse.
Relief crossed Ivor's face, and he ran his thumb over their forehead. "Hello," he said.
He looked tired. Ghastly pale with dark circles under his eyes that would've stood out even if he wasn't horrifically pale but looked like someone had drawn on his skin with a Sharpie with his skin that pale. Harper looked normal, if a little frazzled– some white hair had started frizzing; she looked relieved as well.
Jesse muttered something incoherent and pressed their face to Ivor's stomach, deciding not to question him about why he was so pale. "Can I get my legs out? I'm in the fetal position and my back doesn't like it."
Ivor laughed– a slightly ragged sound, with how tired he looked, but he laughed and it was still pleasant– and began to unwrap the blankets somewhat. "Alright. Thought we'd warm you up."
Jesse managed to wiggle slightly before something abruptly occurred to them and their head snapped up so fast it could have potentially broken their neck if for some reason they'd been obstructed in some way. "Lukas. Is Lukas okay?" they asked him anxiously.
Harper was quick to nod. "Fine."
She lifted an arm to point; Jesse twisted to see the blonde half-demon lying in bed with his muddy clothes off in favor of a change of clothes that looked comfortable enough. He was breathing easily and he didn't look too much worse for the wear, besides being a teensy bit pale. "Resting."
Jesse settled back into Ivor's grip, relief filtering into the brief bit of panic. "Oh." Then– "Good."
After a bit of curling against his chest and listening to the lord's heartbeat (the demons had heartbeats; so strange), Jesse blinked up at them with big eyes. "Why were you two sitting together?"
"Harper wanted to act out her fantasy of marrying Ivor and having a kid," Mevia responded from where she was restraining Reuben from squirming out and running around Jesse squealing in a panic.
Jesse had never seen anyone lunge so quickly at someone. Or turn that red, although they couldn't tell if Ivor or Harper was redder.
A/N: Thank you Mevia, Harper needed to be embarrassed xD
Fun fact. Evidently I strained my back by... sitting in a chair funny.
I don't really know how I did that xD
RQTC: How many of you are grossed out by graphic descriptions of violence?
Honestly, as long as people don't go "bits of flesh and muscle and torn [insert disgusting imagery here]", I'm surprisingly not that squeamish. Then again, the most graphic thing I have written is someone getting their head taken off, but I don't think I described it as... super graphically as someone probably would've.
I am an owl. Reviews are my food. I am a very full sleepy owl.
Responses to reviews!
Happygoluckymegami: I've never seen purin in anime, weirdly enough. xD I don't think I watch enough anime to qualify. / I'm sure she'd love to ;) / Nope.
Syra Nyth: Hehe, Ivor and Harper might steal them away from Romeo xD / It's an interesting problem, to be sure. / Lol, fair enough. / He got there in the nick of time. :3 Thanks Reuben, glad you're pink. / Yeah, I can eat like... lava eggs (with the yolk undercooked), but the white disgusts me. I don't know why, it just automatically triggers my gag reflex if the taste gets too into my mouth xD
Northern Goshawk: He does have some explaining to do. xD / I think they'd just revive Jesse and then wrap them in about seven layers of bubble wrap xD / Oh, definitely. Probably Aiden more than the others, though of course he still 'doesn't like them'. (cough)lies(cough) / No, they wouldn't like knowing xD
bungaMawar001: Yay! / I cannot vocalize until next chapter xD / They're fun to write/remember. / Oh, you think he's terrifying now. xD
idontwritetoomuch: It does, but sometimes the egg taste is super overpowering and then I don't like it. That being said I try not to look at the texture too much, I have trypophobia and it gives me the heebie-jeebies. (And I googled trypophobia to make sure I was spelling it right and boy, that gave me shivers. My cousin has it too though so I don't feel lonely xD) / It's not something Jesse wants to know about. And Ivor's not really tired from lack of sleep, though that does not help xD / A little while is... uh xD / I hope you're having a good morning/night!
Saran: They're trying their best xD / Heh, yeah. / She knows full well, yeah xD / Protect the cinnamon roll. / I'm glad you enjoyed it!
That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!
x.X. A.L. X.x
Romeo's snapped back into his thoughts as the orb chimes, an illusion snaking out from the top and forming a screen above the orb.
His stomach gives a small, small, tight twist at who it is that picks up.
"What the hell is– shit," Xara abruptly yelled as she accidentally knocked over the camera for her screen, sending it skittering sideways. Her further attempts at grabbing it and resetting it knocked it off the desk entirely and very nearly punted it into the wall.
Romeo dissolved into hysterical laughter, gripping the desk to avoid meeting the same fate as the camera. He very nearly fell over entirely from how hard he was laughing.
Xara huffed, cheeks pink as she glared at him and tried not to laugh herself. "Shut the fuck up Romeo–"
"Cut!"
