This is an absolute disaster.

Captain Izuna stepped over the yellow tape and into the hospital room. There was a rather noticeable crater in the wall on her left. The large window on the wall to her front was covered by a tarp, and the way it rippled revealed that there was a large hole in the glass it covered, merely covered so that the cold November wind would not disrupt the contents of the room. To the police, these were all just parts of the crime scene, but to Izuna, they were proof that Keiichi Kimura was no longer human. No human could survive the fall from this third story window. No human could have left a crater in the wall when they threw a certain spiritually powerful maiden against it. It wasn't just his inhuman power that tipped her off. It was his mannerisms. Izuna had forced the hospital to hand over their security tapes of the day of the incident and upon investigating them noticed that something was very wrong with Kimura that day. It started when he exited the room with a girl they had identified as Yuzu Tanikawa. Tanikawa had been visibly nervous, but Kimura had been calm when they exited. Things quickly escalated to an argument, though for what reason, Izuna couldn't tell, and Tanikawa refused to tell them. Soon after the argument began, things got physical. He tore her blouse and soon after tried to strangle her. It was as Tanikawa began to scream that two others exited the room. The other two had clearly been Atsuro Kihara and their favorite traitor, Naoya Kimura. Kihara had panicked, and attempted to pull Kimura away from Tanikawa. After Kihara's attempts failed, Naoya intervened and managed to shove Kimura away from her. Kihara and Tanikawa had stood there for a few moments before Kihara grabbed Tanikawa and ran down the hall with her. Kimura had stumbled back to his room, and after a moment, Naoya had walked away from the scene as well. No staff had intervened during this entire time, a fact that was suspicious in of itself.

A few minutes then passed before Amane Kuzuryu entered Kimura's room. Approximately ten minutes later, several doctors ran to the room after what could be assumed to have been the sound of glass breaking. Kimura never exited his room through the door, meaning he had to have jumped through the window in his room. After looking over security tapes of the courtyard, they had finally caught sight of Kimura on a single frame of footage. The fact that they had been able to find him on that single blurred frame was a testament to his speed. He had been fast enough that a normal camera like the security cameras of the courtyard wouldn't be able to pick him up.

Izuna walked across the room. She took care to not step on anything the police might consider "important" evidence and proceeded to the window. She picked up a piece of glass that had fallen on the ground near it and held it up to her face to examine it. As far as the public was concerned, "Boy A" had planted an explosive in this room that had broken all of the glass and injured "Girl A". "Boy A" had then rappelled down through the window and made a run for it. "Boy A" was also considered extremely dangerous and the public was to call a special hotline to reach the SDF should they see him.

Izuna turned as she heard the sound of the door opening behind her. Entering was an SDF soldier carrying a few papers. Just from his expression, Izuna could tell the news wasn't good.

"Naoya Kimura is missing," the soldier said. "He never returned to his apartment after leaving the hospital yesterday afternoon."

Izuna swore so loudly that the soldier actually took a step back in shock. So this had been all part of that man's plan. It had been foolish to leave him so close to what essentially boiled down to a highly volatile demon, but they hadn't had much of a choice to do anything but believe him at the time. Kimura had trusted him, and at the time, they hadn't known the full extent of his abilities. Even now, all of the intelligence they had was based around the fact that as the King of Bel, he possessed "god-like" power. All of those tests they had done on him had turned up nothing other than an increased healing ability that had absolutely no biological explanation whatsoever.

After interviewing Kimura's parents, Izuna had discovered a few bits of information she wished she had known beforehand, like how the "accident" Naoya's parents had died in occurred not too long after Naoya had met the toddler Keiichi, or, more importantly, how Naoya had been the one who had been left in charge of caring for Keiichi while his parents were at work. That sociopath had likely been manipulating his cousin for the past decade.

She would have to keep the public updated. Perhaps she would mention that Naoya Kimura was believed to have kidnapped "Boy A", and that any sightings of Naoya Kimura were to be reported using the same hotline. At least the man was human. So long as his cousin didn't bring back the demons, he was completely powerless. They couldn't let this situation go on much longer, but least now she knew that wherever Naoya Kimura was at, his cousin would be as well.

"There's been a change of plans. Update the news outlets with information suggesting Naoya Kimura was the one behind the initial explosion and is now believed to have kidnapped Keiichi Kimura. Also add that civilians should call the same hotline if they see Naoya Kimura as well."

"Yes sir."

The soldier gave a bow and exited the room. Izuna looked back toward the broken window. They needed to find Kimura soon. If he had truly become a demon, there was a good chance he might reopen the gate between their world and the demon realm. If that happened, all hell would break loose.

"How are you feeling?"

Amane looked up toward Atsuro, exposing the large bruise on her face. He winced and looked away from her. Amane turned her head away from Atsuro, a twinge of guilt crossing her expression. She did not answer for a good minute, instead choosing to stare at the small orb of light in her hands. She then nodded and said quietly, "I am able to keep going, if that is what you're wondering."

Which hadn't been what Atsuro asked at all. He didn't like any of this at all; K1 was as far as they knew, gone. There was a citywide search for him, but Atsuro didn't think anyone would find him so long as he didn't want to be found. It was because Amane could at least sense his general location that they were walking through dark alleys and shady parts of town every day after school, and even she couldn't get close enough to where he was before he changed location again.

Why do you keep running? Atsuro thought to himself. I thought you wanted us to help you?

And then there was Yuzu.

She walked behind the rest other two, always staring at the COMP Amane had asked her to bring. She'd fallen into a state of depression ever since the incident at the hospital. She hardly talked at school, and if her late night texts were any indication, it looked like she was getting into more and more arguments with her mom. She'd probably been harassed by the police too; it was well known that she and K1 were close, and people who were close to the "victim" were always the first to be approached. Atsuro had been spoken to as well, though they hadn't been able to get much out of him. He didn't know how Yuzu had handled the police visit; she wouldn't talk to anyone about it.

He couldn't imagine how she was feeling. She'd always had a closeness toward K1 that Atsuro knew he didn't have. He knew she liked K1 a lot, and he liked Yuzu back, but they'd always been far too nervous about it to actually say anything to each other. And yet K1 had attacked her and run away somewhere, and the best guess they had as to why was because of that "power of Bel". Atsuro wondered if she was thinking about the lockdown again. Maybe she was wondering if they really should have just run away then.

"Hey Yoohoo, you should walk a little faster!" Atsuro called. "I don't have as good a view if you keep lagging back there."

"…Huh…?" She looked up. "Wait, what was that supposed to mean?" Another few seconds passed as the meaning of his words set in. "Agh! You would want to see that wouldn't you, Pervtsuro!"

"Ooh, Pervtsuro. That's a new one."

"Don't take it like it's some kind of compliment!"

Amane giggled, causing both Atsuro and Yuzu to look in her direction. She appeared to have deactivated whatever spell allowed her to sense K1's location, because her hands no longer glowed with the light. A soft smile had appeared on her face.

"I can see now why he is friends with you two. There is a kind of warmth you two radiate… I only wish I truly understood it," she said.

Atsuro frowned. Was she saying she didn't have any friends? Come to think of it, he never had seen Amane doing much of anything after school. "If you wanted to hang out with us, you should have asked! K1's enough of a pushover he wouldn't care. Besides, I'm sure he'd welcome another girl in the group."

"Oh, no, you really don't need to bother…"

"Yeah, come on!" Yuzu encouraged, her face slightly brighter. Now that was more like the Yuzu he knew. "We don't bite, really! Well, Pervtsuro might."

"H-Hey! Now that one was just cruel…"

And then Atsuro saw the tears welling up in Amane's eyes. She lifted an arm and wiped them into her uniform's sleeves, and she began to laugh.

"Thank you…"

"W-What are you thanking us for?" Yuzu asked. "We didn't really do much of anything…"

Amane shook her head again, laughing and crying at the same time. Atsuro elbowed Yuzu. "Let her cry a bit. I think she really needed this."

It took another minute for Amane's tears to stop. She lowered her arm from her face and looked to them, and while it was once again serious, there was a new light in her expression.

"I look forward to spending time with you once this is all solved," Amane said with a slight bow. "We should continue our search for Kimura-san." She held her hand up and formed another white ball of light.

Atsuro nodded. "Right, let's go."

"Demon!"

She tore down the alleyway, her chest rising and falling in a steady, fast-paced rhythm. Her body, blood, and soul were all human; but the otherworldly aura about her belied the truth— it was an angel, a servant of the God he so despised, who had possessed a human so she could much more easily observe the matters of the surface world. He was faster, and in the space of a few seconds he had overtaken her. She stopped and pivoted on one foot, attempting to change direction and run the other way. His arm lashed out and caught her by the neck before she could escape. It was always quite interesting how these angels would always use female forms when they masqueraded as humans, even when it was an angel that identified as male. It made them so much easier to track down, too. The angel struggled against his grasp, her cries echoing down the alleyways. It didn't matter to him. He brought his mouth to her ear and spoke into it.

"You can keep screaming if you want, but no one can hear you. I've made sure of that."

"Y-You… We knew this would happen," the angel spoke through her gasps. "Our Lord had faith in you, but He was wrong…"

He laughed, a cold dark laugh devoid of any kind of emotion. Wasn't implying that God could even possibly make a mistake a heresy? He brought their faces close together. The angel's eyes glistened with fear, but he knew she wouldn't beg for mercy. She was far too prideful for that; all angels were. He lifted his hand from her neck, fingers tracing his way up her windpipe until he reached her chin, which he seized. He jerked her chin up so that their eyes met; scared, weak, fear-filled human eyes to clouded, unblinking, unfeeling demon eyes.

"Where is Cain?"

"If we knew, we'd have killed him by now," she choked out.

"Liar."

He placed his hand on her forehead and shoved it back. Her skull shattered against the brick, leaving a bloody splatter of bone and brain. He dropped her, and she crumpled uselessly to the ground. The sense of spiritual energy faded from the area, a sign that the angel had died as well. Another dead end. He began to feel a dull headache, and put a hand on his head. He needed to find his brother. He hadn't decided yet what he'd do with Cain once he found him, but he knew that he needed to find him.

Kill them all.

The angel's deaths were necessary. Even with the innocent blood of their hosts on his hands, they were necessary deaths. He lowered his hand from his head and held both that hand and his other so that he could see his palms. Dried blood caked them, remnants of past kills. A throb of regret shook his body, and he lowered his hands to his sides. He needed to focus. Find Cain. Decide how to move on from there. He rested his back against the side of a building and closed his eyes. Focus. Ignore the blood on your hands and the feeling of bones breaking under your touch. Ignore that stench of stiffening muscle and excrement.

He shoved himself away from the wall. It was always difficult, but he could push past it. The inevitable breakdown could come after he found Cain. So long as he could hold onto himself until then, he'd be okay. He began to walk down the alley. Another pang of emotion shook him, and he stumbled, causing him to fall against the wall once again.

He couldn't do this.

Let go.

This was wrong.

Embrace yourself.

He raised a hand up to the headphones on his head and lightly touched them. The feeling of the cold plastic somehow soothed him, and his rapidly-beating heart began to slow. They were a hold on his sanity, his humanity, that part of him wished to destroy. His hand slipped from the headphones to the bandages on his face. He pulled the cloth away and dropped it to the ground, next to the angel's corpse. Slowly he began to move down the path and away from her, and once he was far enough away from her, his troublesome human emotions quieted once more.

"Your brother has been busy."

The rather fancily dressed man tossed a magazine at Naoya's face. Naoya caught it in midair before it could impact and gave the man an annoyed look before looking down at the cover. It was an magazine of the least respectable type; the kind that ran stories of Elvis being spotted marrying some cow-mutilating alien and whichever cult was rising to prominence to steal your children and sacrifice to Satan or Shiva or whichever major deity they'd borrowed from a major world faith this week and secret government conspiracies that turned the devices you use every day into weapons of mass destruction. This week's front story was all about the strange murders that had been occurring all over Tokyo. People were being found dead, usually in secluded alleys in the dark parts of town you shouldn't walk in anyways, and usually from some kind of trauma to the neck or chest or head. None of this was news to Naoya; conventional news broadcasters had been covering this for the past week. Somewhat intrigued to what this magazine's take on the subject would be, Naoya opened it up to the respective article. Naturally enough, the magazine had chosen to blame the government.

Most interesting to Naoya was the name of the author of the article. A certain Meiko Shoji had written this; the same Meiko Shoji who had initially reported on his brother's disappearance, and if he remembered right (and Naoya held a lot of faith in his memories), the exact same Meiko Shoji who had aided his brother during the lockdown. Her writing, so stagnant and factual in her newspaper articles, was so delightfully conspiracy filled here, belitting the government at every turn. It was this kind of fanatical devotion to the idea of an improbable conspiracy controlling this country's every movement that had allowed her to see the truth hidden beneath the mainstream media's censorship. She would either be silenced or removed soon with these kinds of writings. Her writing strayed too close to the truth for the government's tastes.

Ms. Shoji wouldn't know the truth of the matter, though. As much as she'd pieced together the details between her raging about the government and wild conspiracy theories, she couldn't make the connection that the explosion at the hospital and subsequent disappearance of Keiichi Kimura was connected to all of the recent murders. She lacked the information Naoya possessed of the situation. She couldn't know that the murders were not a government cover-up, but a recently awakened demon testing his new powers on the angels that remained in the human realm after the end of the Lockdown. The only reason there weren't more dead was because something of Keiichi remained. The killings satiated his demonic side's hunger for blood, and Keiichi justified them by saying that they were necessary for whatever his goal was. Keiichi was kind, far kinder than Naoya knew the demon Abel would be. The only thing holding Keiichi together now was Abel's strength. The moment Keiichi realized just what he was doing, he would break, and the demon would be all that remained.

He grimaced at the thought, the first time an expression had managed to break his mask since Loki had pulled him away to this godforsaken love hotel in the middle of Tokyo's red light district. The emotion was enough to catch the attention of the purple-suited man sitting on the bed. He gave Naoya an amused smile and met Naoya's eyes. They remained locked in a silent fight for dominance until Loki willingly broke it off by absently looking toward the window, shaded by a red velvet curtain at Naoya's request. He chuckled and folded one hand over the other before turning toward Naoya, his head bent forward ever so slightly so he could observe the man better.

"What's wrong? The news wasn't that upsetting, was it?" There was a hint of mocking to Loki's tone, slightly masked by a sound of almost compassion. Naoya didn't respond, though as usual, this only served to encourage Loki. There wasn't much he could do that wouldn't encourage him. The demon moved behind the red velvet couch and crouched down so he was on level with Naoya's head.

"Your brother's doing just what you want him to do." The demon's breath was cold in Naoya's ear, and Naoya couldn't help but flinch away a bit from it. "You should relax a little… Though, I suppose you'd prefer him over me, wouldn't you?" The demon's voice changed slightly toward the end, moving away from the suave, more adult voice to a slightly deeper, yet younger voice.

Naoya stood up from the couch and walked away from him. "You're disgusting." As he turned to face Loki, he saw the tips of the demon's hair shift from blue to the black color Loki preferred for his human form.

"No, I guess you wouldn't find that very funny at all, would you." Loki moved out from behind the couch, and for a moment, Naoya thought the demon was going to approach him again. He was grateful that Loki instead sat down on the couch in the spot he'd been before.

Naoya continued moving to the other side of the room, never once taking his gaze off of Loki. Now that he was moving, he realized just how restless he felt, and was unable to sit down again. He was tired of being stuck here, safely concealed from the SDF and God's own little servants until that moment when it would be most "beneficial" for him to leave. His patience was gone, already worn down by being brought here against his will the moment his brother gave in. Insisting that it was to "protect" him did nothing for Naoya; he knew it was merely so Loki could enjoy himself and feed on the chaos that ensued outside.

"Are you having regrets?" Naoya jerked his head toward the demon, an uncommon glare chancing his features. "You are merely reaping what you have sown. That crop you have tended for so long has finally come to fruit."

"Go to hell," Naoya snarled. Loki's grin only widened, and the demon uncrossed its legs. It turned its palms upwards and shrugged.

"As you wish." And suddenly, the oppressive presence about the room vanished, and Loki with it. The demon was just gone, with nothing to say he'd been there in the first place.

Naoya ran to the door, and the knob that would not turn mere moments before moved smoothly, as if it had been oiled. The door swung open, and Naoya ran outside into the hallway as quickly as his geta would allow him to. He did not stop to consider the circumstances of his freedom, and merely ran down the halls of the hotel until he reached the entrance. He began to compose himself as he approached the reception area. He calmly walked up to the receptionist, and explained that he and his "partner" had decided to check out. She made her obligatory comment about Naoya and his partner, and he chuckled, giving a comment about how comfortable the beds were and that he would consider using their services again. Her nervous response wasn't unexpected, as despite the business she helped run, that sexuality was outside the norm. Once he finished with their small talk, Naoya checked himself and his "partner" out of the hotel, and then proceeded into the streets. He almost immediately ducked into an alley and once he was sure he was out of sight, he pulled his COMP out from his haori.

When Naoya had been commissioned to create the demon summoning program by the Shomonkai, he'd also been asked to create a seperate program for tracking the location of every COMP loaded with the base program. When Naoya created Keiichi and his friends' COMPs, he'd loaded the same programs onto them, with a single exception: their tracking program did not run through the Shomonkai's server. Instead, it ran through a separate server located elsewhere in Japan, allowing it to run even after the summoning server had been deactivated. That program had allowed Naoya to track Keiichi's location even after Atsuro and Yuzu stopped carrying their comps. Despite the COMPs now being useless, Keiichi had continued to keep his COMP with him, almost as a "security blanket". Perhaps he'd feared that the demons would return someday.

The screen came up, showing a detailed map of Tokyo and four dots, each marked with the COMP's owner's username. A stationary one read "NAOYA". Then, only a few blocks away, two slow moving dots appeared on the screen, labeled "AT-LOW" and "YUZ" respectively. That was quite strange. In the months since the end of the Lockdown, Naoya had not seen those usernames appear on this screen even once. It was possible they wished to use the Harmonizer to try and protect themselves. Finally, there was a single quickly moving dot, labeled "K1". This dot was moving on a direct path to intersect that of Atsuro and Yuzu. The way his brother's friends were moving was strange; they slowly changed direction every few seconds, like they were unsure of their path. Someone was most likely leading them to Keiichi. That someone was very likely Amane, as it had been painfully obvious from the newspaper reports that she was the "Girl A" that Keiichi's "kidnapper" had attacked before stealing Keiichi away.

He could use Amane. SHe possessed spiritual powers that could lead her to Abel or him to her; if he stayed with her, they'd cross paths eventually. She wouldn't dare kill him; her powers or the angels would warn her of his curse. Atsuro still idolized him at least somewhat, and that would be enough to keep Yuzu in check.

Following the COMP's tracker, he began to make his way to that group. He would find Abel, and once he found him…

Well, he'd cross that bridge when he got there.

Soon after they'd started walking again, Yuzu had fallen behind Atsuro and Amane once more. She was thankful for Atsuro's attempts, if vulgar, to cheer her up, but she couldn't stay happy. Not with the reason they were wandering aroudn these dark and dirty parts of town. She wished they could just find K1 now, before anything else could happen.

Abruptly, Amane stopped, and turned back around toward Atsuro and Yuzu. She looked alarmed. Had something gone wrong? As Yuzu opened her mouth to ask, Amane screwed her face up in concentration, and the ball of light grew brighter. The odd frustration on Amane's face confused Yuzu; it was odd to see her so unsure. This had come out of nowhere, too.

"Amane…?" Yuzu asked quietly.

"I can't find him…" Amane said quietly. "He just disappeared. I can sense that he's near, but I can't pinpoint just where."

"How is that…"

"Shh!" Atsuro said sharply. Amane and Yuzu both fell quiet. A clopping noise sounded down the alley, slowly getting closer to them. It was vaguely familiar, but Yuzu couldn't place where she'd heard it before. She realized just how obvious it should have been when the owner of those footsteps stepped around the corner, wearing an all too familiar black and green robe.

"N-Nao—"

"What have you done with K1? !" Yuzu yelled, cutting Atsuro off before he could even get the words out. She wanted to punch Naoya. She wanted to do more than that. He was the one responsible for everything that had happened to K1. If it hadn't been for him, the lockdown wouldn't have happened, because the Shomonkai wouldn't have had their precious summoning server. If it hadn't been for the lockdown, K1 wouldn't have had to be forced into that stupid war. If K1 hadn't been forced to become the King of Bel, none of this would be happening to him now.

She ran at Naoya, fist drawn back to punch him. He did not move until she was nearly close enough to hit him. He brought his hand down quickly and pulled her wrist to the side and away from his body. He then twisted her arm at an angle that meant Yuzu couldn't pull it away without injuring herself. He did not let go of her, even as she began to cry out in pain.

"I'm not particularly in the mood to deal with your little search and rescue team," Naoya growled. He turned toward Amane. "As much as I would prefer to avoid working with you, I require your help to find Abel."

Amane's expression became flat. "Please release Tanikawa-san." The order did not bring Naoya's usual smirk, and he released Yuzu without any argument. She backed away only a few steps before charging at Naoya again. Atsuro caught Yuzu this time, pulling her back by her arm.

"Yuzu, chill," Atsuro warned. "Let's see what he wants first."

She ground her teeth, her anger only growing as she stared at this bastard who had ruined all of their lives. She wanted him dead, she wanted him gone, she wanted the police to just come along and find them and arrest him before he could do anything else, anything to just punish him in some way for everything he'd done.

"Unfortunately, I could not tell you Kimura-san's whereabouts," Amane continued. "He vanished just as we reached this spot. You have gained nothing by coming to us." Naoya pulled a COMP from his pocket and flicked the screen open. His expression remained flat.

"No, he's simply hiding. You're in the right spot... but once he realizes I'm here, he'll reveal himself… won't you, brother?"

At that word, it was almost like a switch had been flicked over the area, some pressure no one had noticed lifted. Soft, slow footsteps came from around the corner behind Amane. The footsteps' owner quickly revealed himself, stopping behind the maiden and staring at the four with dead, inhuman, cat-pupiled eyes.

Keiichi Kimura had finally been found.

Yuzu.

Yuzu and Atsuro and Amane. They were all there. He'd had a few close calls with them over the past few days. The human part of him did not want them to see what he'd done. They'd been lucky to never come across any of his work. He hadn't wanted to see them either, and then he realized that if he really wanted to, he'd become all but invisible to everyone around him.

But they'd managed to catch up with him. So he'd become imperceptible. He'd wait for them to pass on by. He was so tired.

But then he heard Cain's voice. The demons writhing within him became active at that moment, and Keiichi no longer had the energy to hold them back and calm them. It was easier now to let his demon side direct his tired, dying body. He was pulled up and he began to move toward Cain's voice. An excitement began to fill him, overcoming all of his contradictory feelings of fear and sadness and anger and happiness.

He allowed himself to be seen. He was sure his appearance alarmed the others. Yuzu looked close to tears and Atsuro just looked shocked. Amane's expression was nothing but infuriating pity toward him. Something else flickered across Cain's face, moving too quick for him to see.

"K1! Where the hell have you been? !" Atsuro called out.

The words spilled from Keiichi's mouth, but they were all Abel's. "Leave. I only want to talk to Cain."

"What is that supposed to mean? K1, calm down!"

"Atsuro, just go!" Keiichi yelled. "I don't want to hurt you!" They were obstacles to his ultimate goal of Cain. The demon Abel knew that it would need Cain for its revenge, and it knew that Yuzu and Amane were opposed to these goals. It was less sure on Atsuro, but after attacking Yuzu at the hospital, there was no doubt that he'd turned his friend against him.

"Oh come on K1, that's the most cliché line in the book!" But as Atsuro spoke, Keiichi could see the others preparing; Atsuro reaching into his pocket for his COMP, Yuzu taking a couple of steps back, Amane's hands glowing with a white light. Only Cain didn't do anything differently, remaining where he was, silent, beckoning. Atsuro had no idea what he was doing; how he was acting exactly like how Yuzu had when he tried to explain to her what had happened. How his best friend was denying him.

He ran to Atsuro at a blinding speed and grasped him by the neck. A vile grin spread across his face, relishing the pain Atsuro was in, a purple bruise spreading across Atsuro's neck as he squeezed. He could hear bones cracking under his grip. He could just imagine the pain Atsuro was in. If it hadn't been for the Harmonizer, Atsuro would have been dead by now. The others were screaming, Yuzu's voice resonating over Amane's, but he did not mind. But it wouldn't be much longer now… Atsuro's eyes rolled back in his head. Abel released his neck, and he crumpled to the ground.

Unfortunately, Atsuro was breathing, even with his wounds. Cain's program worked quite well, preventing death despite the severity of the wounds. He would have to commend him for that later. Yuzu began to back away from Atsuro's body, her speeding breaths telling Abel that she was hyperventilating. Delicious fear leaked from her body, flooding his body with adrenaline. He'd kill her last. (stop) Flames began to dance about his fingers, wheeling around each digit, coming close to his body, but never enough to singe. (these are your friends) He turned toward Amane, grinning now, overcome by his emotions. He'd found Cain now; (you can't please) he didn't need to hold back anymore, he could let those demonic emotions run free and slaughter them all, everyone who was a tie to his humanity, everyone except Cain.

Amane raised one glowing white hand, her face still filled with pity (you asked her to help). Glowing white chains flew out from her palm, but he knew this trick this time around, and he knew what to expect. Before the chains could even come close, he brought his hand up, sending the tendrils of flame toward Amane. Midflight, they collided and became a large fireball that then struck her and exploded out. It sent Amane flying into a wall. She cracked every brick she hit, but it was not enough to knock her out like he had been able to with Atsuro. Well, she always had been more stubborn. The flames dissipated, replaced by the same kind of glowing white energy Amane had been using mere minutes ago. He began to take slow steps toward her, the almighty energy crackling from his fingertips, begging, pleading to be used, to kill, to slaughter.

Abel did not hear Yuzu's breathing begin to slow; he had no way of predicting that she would decide at that moment to pull away from the wall and run to him, pulling him into a tight embrace. (stop) She buried her (stop it) (stop) head in his chest, which was now slowly (stop it stop it stop stop stop) getting wet from her tears soaking into his shirt. She reached up and pulled the cloth tight in her fists .

"K1, please stop…" she pleaded (look what you've done). "This isn't like you at all… You're not the kind of person who would just kill others like this, you're nicer than that. You're the nicest guy I've ever met… so please, please…" (stop talking) "I don't want you to be like this…" (stop)

He remained standing awkwardly in place, shock beginning to overwhelm him as his sanity returned. The white energy around his hands dissipated, his concentration gone. He looked around at the alley. Atsuro was unconscious. Amane was fighting to stay awake. Yuzu was embracing him in some futile attempt to calm him. Naoya was just standing at the end of the alley, doing nothing, just watching. He looked down at his hands, and for the first time, he noticed the blood coating them.

His legs felt heavy, far too heavy for him to support. They crumpled out from under him and he fell to the ground, sitting with his legs sprawled out under him like a fallen schoolgirl. Yuzu came down with him, still embracing him all the while. She really believed that would keep him calm. Maybe she was right, just for that little bit of time. He knew he didn't have much time now. The world span around him every time he so much as twitched his head, and he almost felt too weak to even talk. Every moment he was Keiichi, the voice of the demon inside him got louder and louder.

He returned Yuzu's embrace and pulled her close to him, the most he could do at the moment. She looked up into his face, saw his now human eyes, and responded by squeezing him tighter. It was almost enough to make him laugh.

"Yuzu…"

"You're back now…"

"Yeah."

He sat there, holding Yuzu, not saying anything, when Naoya spoke up. "Abel, I'll be waiting at my apartment. Come when you're ready." He could hear Naoya walking away now, leaving him alone with his friends and his memories.

The memories were too much to bear. His self-control was broken; he was nothing more than a wild dog. He realized now exactly what he'd been doing. He'd murdered people. He wouldn't allow himself to use the excuse that it was the demons, not him, because it was mostly a lie. After all, he was just a demon in human form. Those demonic instincts were far stronger than he could be. If he didn't give in, he'd go mad. They'd force him to do things he couldn't stand again, for the sake of revenge he couldn't be sure if he supported or not. And it wasn't even a split personality issue, because deep down, this was him, this was Abel, and now that he'd awakened, Keiichi Kimurawas a part of Abel. Except Keiichi Kimura was the part of Abel that Abel didn't need.

And now he realized what was happening to him, why he felt so weak, why he was in so much pain, despite sustaining no injuries.

"Come on K1… let's just go home," Yuzu whispered. "You don't need to do this anymore…"

"Yuzu… I'm… I'm dying."

He spoke softly, with a kind of fearful wonder as the realization hit. Yuzu jerked her head up to look at his face, her eyes wide with fear.

"…What?"

"I'm sorry… I can't hold on much longer. I thought maybe I could rein Abel in, but I was wrong. He's too strong… I can't keep doing the things Abel wants. So he's wiping me away."

"Please no…" Yuzu tugged harder on Keiichi's shirt. "You don't need to do this! You're stronger than that, K1! So come on, don't lie to me like that!"

He smiled, just a bit. "I'm glad you think that… but you know I'm a terrible liar."

Yuzu was crying again, and the sweater he wore was starting to feel uncomfortably itchy as a result. He gently caressed her back, in an effort to calm her, but she only sobbed harder and harder into his chest.

"Please, Keiichi…" She used his name, not his nickname, but his actual name, and it caused Keiichi to choke up from the tears that were now gathering in his own eyes. "Please… I love you."

He just nodded a small bit and said, quietly, "I know. I loved you too."

This was cruel; it would have been better if he just left, so she wouldn't have to go through this pain. But at the same time, he had his own selfish requests he wanted to ask of her. His last requests, so to speak.

"Yuzu… stay with me while I die," Keiichi's voice became choked by the growing tears, and it was all he could do to stop from breaking down sobbing then and there. "Please… I don't want to die alone."

She honored his request. They stayed together, embracing each other for several minutes. After a while, it became the two of them crying into each other's shoulders. Keiichi let himself forget that Amane and Atsuro were even there. The former had fallen unconscious at some point, having lost her fight to stay awake. The chain holding Keiichi there continued to splinter and fall away. The world began to grow dim around him, and Yuzu's sobs were growing further and further apart from him. The urge to close his eyes, to fall asleep, to give in, became stronger with every passing moment. He wanted to let go. He closed his eyes.

When they opened once more, Abel pulled away from Yuzu and left her on the ground. She cried something out, but he ignored it. There was no need to remember his human attachments any more.

"Goodbye," he said quietly, and he walked away from the girl and her friends, leaving them alone now that he had no use for them. He began to walk to Aoyama, taking a slow path to the apartments Cain awaited him at. He knew now what he would do.

When he arrived, Cain stood in front of the apartments, a woman with orange hair standing there, a gun pointed at him.

"I finally found you," the woman said. "To think you'd return to your apartment, even knowing we'd be watching it. You either have a lot of gall or you're incredibly stupid. Where's the kid?"

"You should put your gun down, Izuna-san. You wouldn't want to do anything you'd regret," Cain said. He looked over Izuna's shoulder, acknowledging Abel's presence, but not saying anything. There seemed to be a silent command to his look. Abel understood it well enough and nodded.

"You think I'm just going to let you run free after all of this? ! No… for the safety of this country, I will take matters into my own hands, and—"

A bolt of Almighty energy shot through Izuna's chest, cutting cleanly through her heart. She fell to the ground, dead before she even knew what hit her. The younger of the brothers walked toward Cain, his face emotionless, staring up into Cain's face.

"So… have you come to kill me, or to ask my help, brother?"

"You killed me before," Abel said quietly. "I find it hard to trust you. But even so, I want your help."

"Very good," Cain nodded his affirmation. "Then let us leave this place, before anyone happens to come across our friend here."

He moved to the side so that his geta weren't stained by the growing puddle of blood on the ground. Abel turned away and snapped his fingers. Energy around Tokyo that had been in place since the end of the Lockdown simply vanished, and the air suddenly became heavy, a vortex of fire forming the sky. Somewhere, someone screamed. Abel held out a hand to Cain. For a split second, the man hesitated, but he took Abel's hand anyways. The demon king closed his eyes, and after a flash of light, they were gone, and the red vortex with it. The sky became a cool autumn sunset once more. Keiichi Kimura and Naoya Kimura simply vanished from the world, never to return.

A/N: Epilogue will be posted within the next week.