Hi hi!

So, like a lot of my other chapters, this ended up being a whole lot longer then I thought it would be.

Also, it's another sort of flashback chapter, so it' just gonna be a whole lot of backstory. I was going to cut it, but since I put more thought into it than I do my own homework, I decided to keep it all.

So, read and enjoy!

ONWARDS!

Kuro shot up, a bit stiff and a little too alert for her own likings. She groaned, holding her forehead, before falling back over onto her bed.

It was the same goddamn nightmare, just continuous falling. Sometimes there would be a little something different, like something in the background that sounded like screaming, or this searing pain that would envelop the entirety of her back.

Shaking her head, she rose, before looking around. It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't in her apartment, and a moment longer to remember the night before with a very slight cringe.

Her, Abraxas and Zagan decided to go through a special place behind Shax's bar to see what the demon kept for himself. Dude must have some real troubles, since one shot of whatever was in that bottle was enough for all three of them to go doozy for the rest of the night.

The last thing she remembered before fully knocking out was Vale coming down the stairs. Judging by his expression, he was surprised by the sight, but also unfazed, as if it was something that happened pretty often.

Putting that into place, it would make sense that Vale would shove her into what was basically a spare room within the bar, within the top floor. He wasn't Zagan, dude had just enough muscle on him to look like your everyday demon dude.

She pulled herself from the bed just in time for Abraxas to basically kick down the door, a huge grin on his face, "How's your head?"

"Decent," Kuro murmured, giving him a look, "You?"

"I'll feel better when you get to the roof." Abraxas said, before looking around, "You know, as soon as you possibly can."

"Why? Isn't it a bit...early for...anything on the roof?" Kuro yawned.

Abraxas sighed, before giving her a look. To this, Kuro froze, almost stunned, Abraxas never looked serious, "Look, Kuro; I really need to have a little chat with ya."

And with that, he left.

Kuro blinked, both confused and maybe slightly terrified. It was at that moment that Kuro could see the similarity between Abraxas and his brother. When he wanted to, he could be fairly persuasive, in that sort of boss-man way.

Kuro grumbled slightly, pulling her hoodie on tighter, before making her way into the hall. The moment she closed the door, she nearly jumped, something had fallen over and crashed down the stairs.

Shaking her head, she walked on for the meeting room, sure that Shax was down there. She walked in, seeing that the trap door was already opened, before going up.

The warm breeze that hit her in the face helped to wake her up more, but the moment that a gun went off, she was a little more awake than she normally was.

She watched as Abraxas lined up another shot with his sniper, taking another shot. She watched as a glass bottle on top the other building shattered into pieces, "If you did you're Shax impression just to get me to watch you show off, I'll be more than pissed off."

To this, Abraxas chuckled, before getting up, leaving the sniper on the ground. He took off those stupid yellow-tinted glasses, "Nah, you could call it a training session though."

"And you choose this moment why?" Kuro asked.

"Because everyone else is busy," Abraxas insisted, "Downstairs, one of Vale's friends is over for a visit, brought a little menace with him. They'll be busy, and since I don't wanna be down there, I figured that I should go ahead and drag you out before you get sucked in."

"Thanks, I guess?" Kuro murmured, before looking down the still open trap door, "But seriously, what could be so bad down there?"

"Trust me, you don't wanna know."

"You should consider putting her on a leash, Dajjal." Vale growled, trying to hold back his irritation with the little girl, only allowing it out through the grinding of his teeth.

"Do you want these castle blueprints or not?" Dajjal said, ignoring another crash as he spread out the sheet onto the table, "I went through heaven and back for this; had a few friends get caught trying to get these."

"We will send in our team to see what we can do as soon as possible." Vale said, the two of them going over the plans.

Meanwhile, Zagan was scattered, trying his best to keep an eye on the little demon girl. Being big and bulky meant that he could be a lot, but not speedy.

He was nowhere close to how fast the little she-devil was.

He growled lightly, now understanding why Shax excused himself and left Zagan in charge, for once.
Either way, Shax couldn't be mad at him when he saw the mess that this little bothersome adolescent left behind.

"I'll take your word for it." Kuro finally murmured, before giving him a look, "Okay, so I'm here why?"

"I think that it's high time that you got a sort of upgrade." Abraxas insisted, before pushing her over to the sniper.

Kuro gave the weapon a look, wincing, "Abraxas."

"Yeah?"

"It looks like it weighs more than I ever will."

"That's why it's on the ground." Abraxas said, before walking over to a smaller table on the other side of the roof, picking up the bottle before cracking it open, "Go on, give it a try!"

Kuro eyed the weapon, not liking it one bit. It was just too bulky for her, "Nah dude, I'm good. Besides, we've already got a sniper."

Abraxas took a huge gulp, before looking around, "Come on, please? What happens if you don't have a knife, or a hand gun? You'll need more tools under the belt!"

"Like I'll ever run into a sniper on the field." Kuro scoffed, giving him an odd look.

"Come on, just one shot!" Abraxas insisted, "I've seen you in the field, and since I trained you, I'd deem it fit that you go ahead and try out a new weapon!" Abraxas took another gulp before walking back over, placing it on the wall next to him.

Kuro's eyes narrowed, before an idea hit, "...I'll try it out, under one condition."

"Name it."

"You tell me why we're really gunning Winter."

To that, Abraxas stiffened, "What do you mean?"

"Come on, dude." Kuro said, before flicking his forehead, "I'm not smart, but I can pick up hints. You guys have some beef on Winter, and I want to understand it."

"I don't see why you'd want to get in on this old-school drama." Abraxas sighed, giving Kuro a look, "But, I do wanna see if you could work with a sniper…"

Kuro held out her hand, "Do I have a deal?"

Abraxas finally nodded, shaking her hand, "I'll tell you whatever you want." Abraxas said with a knowing grin.

To this, she dug her fingernails into his hand, "Lie once, and I tell Shax all about how you decided that pissing all over his bar that one time was a good idea."

To that, Abraxas made a face, "You promised to keep that silent."

"Then you'll promise to tell the truth, right?"

Abraxas sighed, looking around, before nodding, "Fine, fine, whatever, just try out the sniper."
Kuro grasped the gun the way that Abraxas had, only to scowl. Everything about this gun was too big for her, "I hope you don't expect me to be able to run around with this like you do."

"Nah, I expect you to be able to sprint with that on your back one day." Abraxas said, almost snickering, "We're gonna have to build you up, twiggy."

"Shut up before I just drop the whole thing." Kuro scowled, trying to fit the shoulder of the gun into her own, "I could just go to Vale and ask."

"Yeah, good luck being either ignored or rejected." Abraxas grinned, thought something in his eyes were a bit...off. Kuro wasn't sure how or what it even was, but either way, she knew that he really wanted her to pull the trigger.

She looked through the scope, only to scowl at the odd feeling around her eye, moving away. She rested her finger on the trigger, as she aimed for an unbusted glass bottle. Letting out a deep breath, she pulled the trigger.

She knew that it would have some kind of kick, but she didn't expect it to be enough to push her back at least half a foot. She immediately dropped the gun, rising to her knees to hold the soft side of her shoulder.

All the while, Abraxas laughed, throwing his head back as he did so, "Oh Satan, that was hilarious!"

"Yeah, haha, I'm such a clown." Kuro grumbled, giving him a look, which only hardened with his next words.

"Alright, do it again."

"You spill a bit first." Kuro grumbled, rubbing the entirety of her right shoulder, sure it would go from pale to purple soon if it hadn't already, "Before I decide to lose more feeling in my right arm."

"Fine." Abraxas murmured, seeming to be in deep thought, before snapping his fingers, "Me, Shax and Zagan have a hard past with the guy."

To this, Kuro scowled, giving him a look, "I could gather that from the hints, ya douche."

"If you want more, you take another shot." Abraxas said, grinning. Kuro hated this, he was holding the bait right over her, and he knew that she'd go up to bite at it.

Kuro grumbled, going for the sniper once again, "I'm telling you, this is too bulky. Why not just have me train more with the pistol?"

"Already said, you should have a familiarity with as many weapons as possible." Abraxas insisted, a sly grin of his face as she attempted to line up another shot, "Word of advice, don't touch your eye to the scope. With that recoil, you'll get a major black eye."

"Not like it's easy enough to use," Kuro scowled, deciding to just ignore it all together, "You know, I'd love a sniper where I can stand upright and not bother with a scope and, you know, a hell of a lot lighter?"

"Keep it up, we'll get Vale to replace your pistol with a medieval bow and arrow." Abraxas snickered.

"Better than this huge piece of metal shit."

"Hey, don't talk crap about my Candi."

"...Your what?"

"Just shut up and take the shot."

Kuro scowled, lining up the next shot, only to have the same result. She was sure that her shoulder was going to fall clean off at any moment now.

"If I could feel anything on my right arm, I'd slug you."

"Don't start trying to scare me, kitty cat." Abraxas grinned.

"Whatever. What else you gonna spill? Cause, if it's not worth my time, I'm just gonna go back down and sleep a few more hours away."

"You know, beggars can't be choosers." Abraxas mumbled, thinking hard, before snapping his fingers, "Alright, all three of us use to work for the big guy."

While this was new, Kuro still gave him a look, "You can't give me a little more than that?"

Abraxas shook his head, "Fine, okay, alright...Shax was going to be his successor."

To this, Kuro froze up a bit, "...Huh?" Was all she could let out.

"You've seen Shax disappear before, right? Like, one moment he's behind the bar and the next, he's just gone? He's got this special place he goes to, filled with books and shit."

"About what?"

"Take another shot and you'll find out."

"You do realize that this gun is loud, and I can't hit a single bottle?" Kuro grumbled, doing her best to line up the sniper, "I'm wasting a lot of your ammo, don't you think?"

"You go ahead and waste all those rubber bullets," Abraxas laughed, "And I don't need to worry about anyone when it comes to noise. The guard ain't gonna come down here and no one cares to write me up, not when we got so many other things to worry about down here. Noise isn't going to kill you."

"You say that after listening to this gun go off next to the side of your head." Kuro grumbled. Maybe that's why Abraxas wasn't really one to listen, the gun must have made him deaf.

Boom, another shot, another brass-knuckled punch to her arm.

She could practically feel the smug look on Abraxas, "Keep it up, I hope your face gets stuck like that, so I can enjoy punching it in more often."

"You'll have to have feeling in your arms if you want that." Abraxas snickered, watching as Kuro attempted to get up, her right arm basically useless.

"Shut up and spill." Kuro demanded, poking her left index finger into his chest. It was going from her shoulder to her entire right side, and she'd be damned if she had to lose all feeling in her body just to fill in parts of a story.

Of course, she'd do it, but still, Abraxas was gonna wake up with his favorite hoodie slashed up, she'd make sure of it.

"Alright, calm down." Abraxas said, pretending to be intimidated, before looking around once more, "While we were with Winter, Shax was being trained by the guy, right? So, when we...Finally left, Shax took a few things to remember the place by. And, by a few, I mean enough books to fill a small personal library."

"But what kind?"

Abraxas grinned, before making stupid jazz hands, "Magic."

"...Okay, seriously, what was it on?"

"Magic." Abraxas insisted, "You've heard of Bloodborne magic, right?"

"No."

"Well, aren't you just a sheltered little girl." Abraxas said, almost spitefully, before explaining, "It's elemental magic, but since Shax wasn't like Winter and wasn't a demon born into an element, he's got to use other means of power."

"Like what?"

Abraxas eyes glinted almost evilly, "Demon blood, of course."

To that, Kuro made a face, "How the hell does that make sense?"

"I don't know, I don't make the rules here. I just know them."

"Okay," Kuro trailed on, "But that doesn't explain how you two got there in the first place."

"If you wanna learn, you'll take another shot."

"But I can't feel my right side! Feels like I lost an arm wrestle to Zagan and went again anyway because I don't listen to reason!"

"Good thing you have two sides, yes?"

"...Words cannot explain how much I hate you." Kuro grumbled, before lying down to take the next shot. She swapped her right side for her left, the trigger held in her left hand feeling only slightly foreign, before she lined up the next shot.

"Hey, you were really close that time." Abraxas grinned, as Kuro rolled over, clutching her right side.

Using the other shoulder helped, but nothing was going to stop that throbbing pain blossoming in her shoulder. And, by the looks of it, her left shoulder wasn't too far from being the same.

"Keep it up, I'll make you just as numb."

"I dare you." Abraxas laughed, "You look about as able as those balloon-people things that Shax use to have outside the bar because he lost a bet with Vale."

"I wasn't aware that Shax was able to lose...Well, anything." Kuro murmured, more to herself than anyone else, "Dude is basically perfect, the only downfall is that he knows it and likes to flaunt it sometimes."

"Well, between you and me, Shax let Vale have it since Vale was going to pay for the stupid attraction anyway."
"That sounds...oddly out of character." Kuro mumbled, before shaking her head, "Hey, don't try and divert my attention! I'm not that stupid!"

"Well, fuck, you can't blame a guy for trying." Abraxas said, shrugging as he laughed in all good nature, before going on, "Well, let's see...As you might have already gathered, we weren't living out our lives like this, in a bar and decently paid, when Shax and I were younger."

"Lived out on the streets like all the rest of us?" Kuro asked, before shivering at the memory. Her earliest memory was from hiding herself away in the unforgiving streets of the Rift, with nothing but her oversized (at the time) red hoodie, rags for clothes, and red ruby ring.

While she thought of it as a sort of good luck charm now, back then, it was nothing but a beacon for demons who wanted what they thought would be a quick and easy few hundred dollars.

"Yeah, wasn't easy." Abraxas muttered, before rubbing the back of his head, "If you asked Shax, I'm sure that he'd rat me out about how scrawny and fragile I was. That was the only reason he took the job in the first damn place."

"Took the job?"

"Winter was basically the one to pick us up off of the streets." Abraxas said, trying to look nonchalant, but Kuro could see it. There was a twitch at the end of his mouth, a sort of black look in his eye, "I never really knew why. Whenever Shax asked, all I ever overheard was some stupid shit about how Winter saw a bit of his in Shax, or something like that."

"So, some really cheesy crap?"

"Yeah, just about." Abraxas laughed, his mood lifting just a bit, as if remembering pretty bad times, "While it was a step-up from living on the streets, it wasn't any...easier."

Before Kuro could do so much as give a questioning glance, she watched at Abraxas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Once again, she could see the Shax in him, "...You gonna go on?"

"...Tell you what," Abraxas finally decided, "If you're able to shatter a glass, I'll tell you all the rest. No more in-between shots and bull."

Kuro scowled, "You know damn well that I can't make that. Closest I'll get is maybe within a foot."

"Well, that's not my problem now, is it?" Abraxas said cheekily.

Kuro grumbled, knowing what he was going for. He just talked himself into a corner, and now he was trying to turn her off of knowing more. Not that she'd allow it, she knew she was on to something good, but at the same time, there was no possible way she'd let him get away.

She was so damn close, too damn close.

She looked through the scope, only to curse. There was no way that she could hit one of those bottles on the opposing building.

To that thought, she grinned, "Okay, so as long as I hit a bottle, with this sniper, you spill the rest of it?"

"Yep." Abraxas chuckled, looking over the roof with her, yellow tinted glasses in one hand, the other playing with his jacket sleeve. It was hard to tell exactly what Abraxas was looking at, being how the dude never took his jacket hood off for whatever reason, but Kuro could tell that he had a smug look in his eye, so certain that he'd won.

With a grin, Kuro twisted around, made hard when the whole weight of the sniper was on her rather than the ground, but it didn't matter as it only took a few seconds to line up with the bottle on the wall, throwing glass shards all over the place.

The force from the gun was almost enough to send her tumbling over the side of the wall, and she would have too, had it not been for Abraxas grabbing her by the collar, pulling her back over the wall.

When Kuro finally dropped the gun, she looked up to see that Abraxas wore an expression of irritation mixed with slight amusement.

How he managed to pull it off, Kuro would never know, "I hit a bottle, now spill thy guts."

"...You can be such a little bitch at times, you know that?" Abraxas grumbled, running a hand down his face, "What I'm about to tell you is something that only Shax, Winter and I know. Not even Vale knows what really happened, Zagan too."

"Oh, in that case, I really shouldn't drop any hints to Vale." Kuro said with a grin.

To this, Abraxas' expression darkened, the expression nearly making Kuro jump, "I'm not serious often, Lilim, but you should damn well know that, right now, I am as serious as I'll ever be."

"Aight, no need to bust out your Batman impression." Kuro said, awkwardly laughing as she tried to break down the serious barrier.

Abraxas sighed, before pulling off his hood.

The first thing to catch her off guard were the ears.

Similar to how her own cat ears kinda perched themselves over her curly brown hair, the ears on Abraxas did the same, the only difference being that they had more of a softer shape then the triangles on the top of Kuro's head.

In a moment of pure brilliance, Kuro uttered, straight face and all:

"It looks like you stole the ears off of Master Shifu."

"What?" Abraxas muttered, looking up, before groaning, holding his hands over his head, in attempt to holding down the ears, "Damn, I wasn't trying to show you those!"

"Aww, but you look aborable!" Kuro cooed, before cackling. She wasn't sure how just yet, but this would be great to bring up whenever shit looked like it was about to hit Abraxas in the face.

"Yes, yes, I look cute; that's what I get for being the Red Panda demon." Abraxas scowled, before fixing his short hair, "Damn Shax gets the fox ears, chicks dig the fox ears, but no, I get to have the face of a teddy bear when I get my hood ripped off."

"I'm sorry, don't worry, I won't tell." Kuro managed to say in-between giggles, trying her damn hardest to keep control.

Finally, Abraxas turned around, lifting the hair to have the back of his neck exposed. For a split second, Kuro expected to see another pair of cute ears, only to quickly shake away the frivolous thought as quickly as it had come.

Looking closely, Kuro could see a string of numbers, looking like they had been tattooed into his neck, "...The fuck…?"

"7-12-21-20-20-15-14-25." Abraxas said, basically reading off the numbers on his skin, even when he couldn't see it, "I guess you could call that my experiment number."

"Experiments?" Kuro pressed, watching as Abraxas froze up just a bit.

He pulled his hood back on, making sure to hide it all up good, "Well, how do I explain this...When we first got taken in, Winter didn't want me. He just wanted someone to give his gang to, and in his eyes, the perfect demon for the job was Shax."

"But, believe it or not, Shax was a very...Over-protective brother, I guess. He only agreed to go with when Winter agreed to letting me in."

Abraxas then laughed bitterly, rubbing the back of his head, "But damn, if I'd known what was in it for us; I never would have pushed for Shax to agree to it all."

"I remember it so damn clearly, it could have happened yesterday, you know? First few hundred years were fine too, me and Shax had this nice big shared room, all the stuff we could ever dream for, all Shax had to do was stay in line."

Abraxas then took a seat, leaning on the wall. Kuro did the same, all while listening closely, "It's only now I see that, in the beginning, he was playing along to protect me in a way? I mean, back then, I was about as twigish as you were, probably more so."

"But, I do remember that one-time Shax finally said no. I forget, I think it was either he refused to kill someone, or he refused to go on a gang mission, but whatever it was, I remember that he didn't come back to the room for three whole days before they had me moved."

"At first, I thought that Shax was being promoted. He used to tell me all about how Winter wanted everything to go over to him, but that was kinda dashed when they had me moved to a sterile white room. I remember how it just smelled unnaturally clean, with three of the four walls being made of glass."

Kuro couldn't help but feel drawn into his words. He could try to deny it later all he wanted, dude knew how to portray a story.

"They brought in Shax to watch from the outside, and Shax had told me what went down. It was the first time I'd ever seen him cry and scream. It almost shocked me, really, he said sorry at least fifteen times a sentence."

"So, they held you prisoner till they got Shax to do what they wanted him to do." Kuro summarized, "Kinda a dick move, but nothing really new, if I'm honest."

"They did a bit more than just 'holding me hostage'." Abraxas said, trying to make the situation sound a lot lighter then it probably was, before shaking a bit, "They did all kinds of things to me when they kept me there, even when they promised not to. But, then again, you could argue that they agreed to keep me alive as long as Shax did his part."

"So, it was like that for a while, with experiments day in and day out. Winter, damn guy wanted to see if he could attain the impossible."

"There's not much that isn't possible down here." Kuro admitted.

"Well, you ever heard of a sign change?"

"Huh?"

"That's what they called it, back when I was in the white room." Abraxas groaned, shuddering, "They were running a lot of messed up experiments back there, Kuro; a whole lot of fucked up shit. They'd test weapons on those members they thought were loyal enough, be me, no, I got the special case."

He pointed to the back of his neck, "You know what those numbers stand for?"

"Each number stands for a letter, and after Shax helped me out, we found out that it spelled out 'Gluttony'."

"Which makes sense since you are a follower of Gluttony." Kuro stated, slightly confused.

"Wasn't before." Abraxas shook his head, "That wouldn't have been possible. There would be no way for Shax and I to be blood brothers. Back before, we were both Pride, just like Winter. So, it would only make sense that the guy would want to prove himself, even if it was for something kinda ludicrous."

That's when it hit her. An idea that no one would ever think to go through with, mostly because it just sounded too strange to want to change, "But it isn't possible for a demon to change their sin, right?"

"It doesn't happen naturally." Abraxas groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. Now Kuro understood why he'd do that so often, as if remembering all kinds of horrible things.

"But, long story short, that's why Shax has a grudge against Winter. The only reason we managed to get out and stay hidden for so long was because of Zagan, to a point. Guy use to be Winter's personal bodyguard, but Shax got him to turn on Frosty."

"...Well damn." Kuro muttered.

"Yeah, but that's why we're kinda gunning for him right now." Abraxas mumbled, shaking his head, "We got out, but we weren't able to destroy any information they might have gathered from the experiments. Shax and Vale think that's what the trade will be for."

Kuro shivered. She knew little about the guy, but if Kroni got his hands on that kind of information, there would be no stopping the guy.

To the thought, Kuro couldn't help but laugh, "We sound like fucking superheroes."

Abraxas was quick to join in on it, "Jeez, we kinda do, don't we?" His expression then snapped back to one that was serious, "But legit, please don't tell anyone about...Well, you know." Abraxas murmured, holding his hood tighter to his head.

"Won't tell." Kuro promised, "Must have been hell on hell, having to live with that. How does it feel, to have your sin changed?"

"What?" Abraxas asked, confused, before it hit him, "No, I don't care if you tell the team about the sin change, most of them know about it already. I'm talking about the ears."

"Why?" Kuro asked, reaching out to pet him, only for Abraxas to duck away, "They're adorable!"

"That's why." Abraxas hissed, smacking her hands away, before shooting her a grin, "How am I supposed to get the chicks if they treat me more like a teddy bear than a cuddle bug, if ya get my drift?"

To this, Kuro gave him a hard look, which she led until Abraxas finally sighed, "Okay, fine; this is the only thing about me that Vale doesn't know, happy?"

"Are you legit?" Kuro asked, a grin on her face. Just the thought of Vale being oblivious to something made an insane smile cross her face, "Well, that's too good to pass up, I won't spill. Must be a hassle to keep them hidden though."

"You have no idea." Abraxas murmured, tugging at his hood, "And, if I'm being honest, maybe I'm just a bit self-conscious about them."

"Said it once, I'll say it again, they're cute." Kuro giggled, making another false swipe for his hood. He ducked, giving her a look, which made her laugh, "Not so tough now, are ya 'Bullseye'?"

"You know what, young lady," Abraxas said, doing his best to look stern, the only thing giving him away being that his eyes were practically laughing, "For disrespecting your teacher, I want you to shoot off ten more rounds as practice."

"Aww, that isn't fair!"

I know it has little to do with the story, but I feel like we need a bit more of the background stuff, and it's really fun to write, so here it is.

Also, thank you guys so much for the ideas! I plan to use some of them, specifically what Candace proposed, but I'll have to make some alterations so that it fits a bit better, so I hope you don't mind too much.

Well, I don't have much else to say, so, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll cya next chappie!

Til then, bai bai!