A/N: I OWN NO PART YU GI OH 5DS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS!

Chapter 18: The Hold

Era's POV

It had been a week since Yusei and my friends found out about Yusei's current living state and our relationship together. Yusei's skill on the Demon Exorcist spell had never been better and it was only a matter of time before he could take the test.

But ever since the incident with Lester, the demons had mellowed out and were less common. But it only gave Yusei and I cause for concern.

At the moment, Yusei and I were flying around the air on a scouting. Yusei had done significantly better at hunting and killing demons. But something felt wrong as we flew. There was a faint sense of demonic energy. But it was only faint, and demonic energy is never faint for an angel.

"I don't like the energy in the air, Era," Yusei stated.

"I know what you mean," I responded. "The dark feeling is too faint to be normal."

"Think a demon is trying to mask it?" he asked.

"It would make sense," I answered. "But it would be weird. Demon's doing usually cast spells unless they've mastered them fully. Unlike some angels who will use a spell even if they haven't fully mastered it if they really need it. And I'm going to be using you as an example for that." Yusei gave a soft chuckle that had a nervous voice to it.

He soon turned serious again and said, "You know I did that to help you and Syd along with keeping the Afterlife safe."

I sighed. "I know. But it doesn't change the fact that you risked killing Syd and sending him to the Underworld which would weaken the Afterlife," I retorted.

"Wouldn't you have done the same if you were in my position?" he asked looking at me.

I groaned in defeat. "Yes," I grumbled.

"Then don't get mad at me for doing the same thing you would've," Yusei retorted.

"Who said I was…?" I was cut off as a demon darted passed us.

We stopped for a moment before turning to go after it. It looked back at us for a moment before flying in between buildings and Yusei and I tried to keep up. We neared a dead up when the demon darted up the wall.

"Where's it going?" Yusei asked as we followed it close behind.

"That's what I would like to know," I replied sternly. It suddenly stopped on a roof and landed. We stopped across from it. It looked at us with a depraved grin.

"What're you smiling about?" Yusei asked.

I was tense but I couldn't react in time when two sets of arms came from behind me and held my arms back. I turned to see two demons holding me. Yusei turned to help but the demon we were chasing and another grabbed Yusei and held him back and away from me.

I wanted to help him as he was wincing from the dark energy touching him, but I knew he was hiding a lot of his pain. I was also cringing, as well as hiding as much as possible. I pulled at the demons but they refused to let go.

I heard heavy footsteps land behind us and I knew who it was by how Yusei seemed to try to get to me more. I tried to fight with the knowledge of who it was but the demons holding me were refusing to let go.

"Why are you fighting?" came Brehnam's voice as I heard him walk closer to me. "You won't be hurt too much." He began to stroke my wings and I looked at him tense and wincing a bit. He grinned at me with dark energized eyes. "I want you to be alive as long as possible."

"Get away from her!" Yusei ordered pulling and yanking at his holders again. They were obviously beginning to struggle at Yusei's strength.

Brehnam walked over to him with a grin. "Don't worry, Yusei. Your angel will be alright with me. I'll make sure she is treated the best as an angel can be treated in the Underworld," he told my boyfriend.

"You're not getting her," Yusei refused. "Why do you even want her?"

"With my attachment gone, might as well take the one who killed them with me. And since you care about her so much and killed the previous king, it's the best revenge I could think of for you two," Brehnam explained walking back over to me. "She'll be stuck with me once she's in the Underworld."

"She's not going near that place," Yusei denied pulled at his captors. "Leave her alone!"

Brehnam grinned and grabbed my chin to look over my face. I quickly banged my forehead against his nose making him stumble back and grab his hit area. He quickly shook it off though and returned to me. He held my face in place as he neared his face to mine.

"Era!" Yusei called sounding worried.

I quickly head the two other demons grunt in pain and fall making Brehnam turn away from me. I let out a breath that I had been holding in relief. As Brehnam turned, a light blast threw him away from me. I looked at him as he shot the two other demons off of me and saw he was still steaming a bit but seemed fine.

'He truly is a strong angel,' I thought. Yusei grabbed me and held me against him defensively as the demons got back up.

"Do you really think you'll be able to keep Era away from me forever?" Brehnam asked.

"I'll die before letting you have her," Yusei answered sternly and defensively. He glared at Brehnam full strength and the other demons seemed to flinch at his glare. "Get out of here and leave Era alone!"

"Hmm? Don't you want to know why I'm working with those Yliaster idiots?" Brehnam asked shocking me and Yusei at his choice of words. Brehnam grinned. "They plan to destroy the world with the Divine Temple. And due to that, demons have the chance of taking down the world. Just as we've always wanted. So, why not team up with a few idiots who think we're trying to help them achieve a utopian future."

"You're not going to hurt this world," I retorted. "You'll never take it."

"But you two are the only angels right now who are fully capable of fighting demons," Brehnam retorted. "Do you really think two angels can stop Yliaster and demons?"

"We're not just two angels alone," Yusei replied. "We have our friends and other angels on our side. Until you take down the Afterlife, you can't take down this world."

"Oh, my… Did I really just hear that?" Brehnam asked with a laugh. "You should know this by now, Yusei. If the Earth goes, so does the Afterlife." Yusei tensed and glared.

"Just get out of here," I ordered. "You can't do anything more."

Brehnam began to step towards me again but Yusei sent out a light wave sending all the demons back. He slowly and gently pushed me further behind him in a protective manner.

"Tell me, do you really intend to protect her with everything you have? Do you truly care about her that much?" Brehnam asked.

"Yes," Yusei answered bluntly and I could feel how tense he was.

"Then you will see how I felt when I lost Izoa," Brehnam told him. "When I take her away from you!" He then darted away, laughing evilly and insanely. After that, we felt them disappear and the demonic energy we felt left with them.

"Yusei, would you really…?" I trailed off.

"Era, I can honestly tell you that I would give up my life to make sure you stayed safe," he told me gently. I looked into his eyes looking for any sign against those words. But I didn't see any, not even one signal.

I moved closer towards him and lightly touched my lips to his. Yusei pulled me as close as possible and held me tight. With the movements, he brought my face closer to his deepening the kiss. I couldn't stop myself from forgetting everything but Yusei for the moment. When he pulled back, everything returned and I looked up at him and his eyes met mine again.

"Nothing will happen to you, Era," he responded. He tightened his grip on me as he said, "I will never let Brehnam get you. I promise. Do you trust me to keep that promise?"

"I trust you with everything, Yusei," I told him. "You know that. Just… don't make me lose you in the process."

"I won't," he agreed bringing my head against his chest. "You won't lose me." I nodded. "I think the demons are gone for the night. Why don't we head to the garage and get some sleep?"

I slowly nodded. I knew after the situation we were just in, we were both exhausted from the dark energy that had hit us. It was then I realized a demon had never once touched Yusei. That this incident was his first full contact with a demon.

I remembered the first time I was held by the demon. It's like how people say you'll never forget your first love no matter what. With an angel, you'll never forget your first physical contact with a demon no matter what. I felt bad knowing that this was what Yusei was going to remember it as. At least mine didn't involve someone I loved being ready to be forced to a demon.

"Come on," Yusei called and I followed him into the air. When we arrived at the garage, I was about to head to the couch but Yusei kept hold of my hand. "In case the demons come out again, I want you to sleep with me tonight."

I blushed a bit. "O-Okay," I agreed.

I followed him into his room where we lied down. We hadn't bothered to change into our human forms this time. Yusei wrapped his wings around my body protectively making me blush a bit at the sign the maneuver meant which we had learned in class at Angel Academy.

"What're you blushing about?" Yusei asked and I looked at him to see him with a small grin.

"Oh, um…" I trailed off nervously looking to the side a bit. Yusei brought me closer with his arms, giving me a comforting smile. "Just something we learned in Angel Signs Class."

"What did you learn?" Yusei asked.

"Because for the longest time, angels weren't thought to be able to feel, the meaning of the sign of a male angel wrapping his wings around a girl is kind of unknown. But we learned that it shows a deep loving relationship between the two and that it's also a sign of protection the male has for the female," I explained, my blush growing a bit darker.

Yusei looked down a bit with a light blush. But instead of pulling his wings away like I would've expected, he tightened his hold on me with them. I looked at him and saw him staring at me with a small, loving grin.

"I do love you with everything I have, Era. And I want to protect you with everything I have," he told me. "You're my heart and world. If I have to hold you like this to show it to you, I will. Because I love you too much to let you leave me." I returned the grin with a comforted and loving one. I slowly tucked my head against his chest. I felt Yusei kiss the top of my head lightly before we both fell asleep.