So, I've now written three chapters in a row in the last day or so, because of the utter amount of ideas I've had for this fanfic. What makes things better is that these chapters are shorter than what I normally put out (6K to 8K words a chapter for my other longer fanfics) but as is obvious, this is not that.
Also, I want to make something clear here: This arc, aka, what I've dubbed "The Grief Man Arc" is only going to last another handful of chapters before we jump into the next major arc. It doesn't have a name yet, but once I finish up with the current arc, I'm probably going to hash that one out a bit more.
Now, before we get into the chapter, we've got to go over my response to reviews/comments
[My Response to Reviews/Comments]
(Ao3) Just_Interested: *Smiles knowing how the rest of this arc is going to go*
(Ao3) Athing: A continuation: A person who continuously got handed L after L, mind you that was undeserved, until the very end. She will be missed…
A-hem, anyway, yeah that's kind of the point. Sunny might not be the best person in the world for several reasons, and while I won't make him overtly heroic in this fanfic, he will, at the very least, be an Anti-Hero.
(Ao3) Pouuko: Ditto
(Ao3) KatsucurryTheJJBAFanatic: By the power of my stupid ass writing it and coming up with some of the most batshit insane things in the whole wide world.
Now, on with the chapter!
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When Sunny was lodged in the throat of The Shadow Devil, it got really hard to breathe, really quickly. His clawed hands were pressed up against the walls of what he guessed was the creature's esophagus, and as he slowly slid down the fleshy tunnel, he couldn't help but feel as if he was going to die… again.
This was the worst possible outcome of this whole scenario! He let himself get too cocky, thinking that since he had defeated both The Suicide Devil and The Wolf Devil, he could beat The Shadow Devil in a proper encounter.
If this wasn't a sobering moment, then he didn't know what else could be.
You know, aside from the fact that he was sliding down something's throat to his doom, that was.
"Shit! What the hell am I supposed to do!" Sunny thought, fruitlessly looking around to see if he could do anything.
"Claw your way out, dumbass!" Grief shouted from the back of his mind, as he narrowed his demonic eyes at the bottomless pit that was the stomach of the creature. He was in a lose-lose situation, and it sucked! But even still, he didn't want to kill one of his only remaining friends!
He had already killed Mari… he didn't want to lose anyone else that he deemed important to him.
"That'll kill her! I don't want to kill Aubrey!" Sunny replied to The Grief Devil, as they sighed.
"Then make a contract with The Shadow Devil to revive her once you get out of this mess! I mean, Devils can do that, you know. I'm a spitting example of that!" The Grief Devil spat back as Sunny's eyes widened.
Why the hell didn't he think of that?!
"Seriously! I can do that?!" Sunny asked as The Grief Devil snickered.
"Yup! But! You must specify that it becomes a Hybrid! Otherwise, it'll just take over the body and make it a Fiend. As long as that's your contract with it, then it has no choice. Remember that."
As Grief said that, Sunny breathed out all of the inner frustration he had. Now that he had a plan, he could, with a clear conscience, claw his way out of this mess, even if it did disturb him to a degree.
Looking to his right, he firmly placed his right hand against the wall of the esophagus, as slippery as it was. Using his chain-like fingers, he stabbed into the flesh and exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry Aubrey, but this is the only way!" Sunny thought as his fingers dug into the flesh, causing blood to spray down the throat of the creature. Moving his other hand, which he had placed on the other side of the esophagus, he did the same with that hand and positioned his feet so that he would be planking in The Shadow Devil's throat.
He glanced up at the cacophony of chains he had for a head and had an idea. "Hey, Grief. Can I control all of my chains? Even the ones that make up my head?" Sunny asked the Devil in his head, as he got a grunt of confirmation. With that knowledge, he commanded three of the chains to stab into the opposite side of the throat, piercing the flesh as he heard a visceral, painful groan come from the creature.
He winced, knowing full well that Aubrey was feeling every bit of the pain. Unfortunatly for him, he had to ignore it for now.
The chains secured him in place, and he took in a deep breath, despite not being able to smell anything in this form, before smirking. Now that he was in place, he could get out of there. Stomping down on the throat his hands were dug into to secure himself, he began to claw away with reckless abandon, even biting and chewing out chunks of flesh to quicken the process.
The quicker he was out of this mess, the better. And the quicker he got it done, the less pain Aubrey would be in.
As he clawed, bit, and even ate his way out of the throat of The Shadow Devil, Sunny felt like he was getting stronger and faster as he did so. It was like the more blood and flesh of The Shadow Devil he consumed, the stronger and faster he became.
"What… is this sensation?" Sunny thought, as Grief's laugh, filled his head.
"There are still more things that you have yet to learn about being a Hybrid~! I'll tell you more the next time you sleep. For now, enjoy the rush!" Grief replied as Sunny could see the light of day through the tears of skin and flesh. His right hand jutted out of the throat of The Shadow Devil, as he tore his way out, unhooking the chains that had been attached to the giant's throat.
He felt the sun's rays hit his skin, as his glowing, red, demonic eyes peered out from all the blood and carnage he was causing within the beast. Blood sprayed absolutely everywhere. It sprayed on the trees, it sprayed on the ground, and it sprayed on the park equipment.
And when he finally tore his way out completely, his upper body sticking out of the massive wound, he let out a primal roar, one that rippled across all of Faraway. The roar was mixed with the pained, agony-filled cries from The Shadow Devil, as Sunny looked up at the creature, snarled, then fully pushed his way out, slinging on his chains up to the top of its head, hooking it into the creature's temple.
The Shadow Devil roared in anger and pain, but not before Sunny swung himself atop the monster's head, and lassoed a barbed chain around its long neck of a body. Pulling back hard, Sunny then jumped off the monster and proceeded to use his falling momentum to run across the creature's back, infinitely extending the chain as it dug into the body of the creature, making its agonized cries even louder.
When he landed on the ground with enough force to crack the ground, he yanked down, forcing The Shadow Devil to fall along with him. Once it fell, Sunny retracted his powers, his body going back to normal, as his chest rose and fell with his exhausted breathing. His tired black eyes looked over to The Shadow Devil, who remained on the floor, gasping for air, as Sunny marched over to the creature, a deep frown on his face.
When he approached, The Shadow Devil whimpered like a scared dog. "T-That hurt! That fucking hurt you asshole!" The Shadow Devil spat at him, as Sunny huffed.
"I don't care," Sunny replied. When he did, The Shadow Devil rolled its many eyes, and switched up its attitude, no longer whimpering as it groaned.
"Damn, and here I thought acting weak would garner some sympathy… Ha!" The Shadow Devil complained as it narrowed its eyes toward Sunny. "Now, get this shit over and done with. I mean, you are going to kill me, right? Not that it matters. I'll just reincarnate in hell and come back some other time!" The Shadow Devil said, laughing as Sunny furrowed his eyebrows.
"Grief, is that true? Does that mean The Wolf Devil can come back?" Sunny projected his question to Grief in his mind, as Grief hummed in affirmation back. Sunny bit his lip, grimacing. That would've been great to know before.
Pushing that thought aside, Sunny looked over to Aubrey, who was laying limp on the ground by his feet. The ravenette let out a shaky sigh, before looking back to The Shadow Devil. "I want to make a contract with you."
The Shadow Devil blinked, before smiling with its many mouths. "Oh? A contract? And after defeating me so thoroughly? Damn, that's gutsy kid. But, alright, I'll bite. What kind of contract are we talking about here?"
Sunny closed his eyes, trying to think about what to say. He couldn't just outright demand what he wanted, otherwise The Shadow Devil would outright deny his request to revive Aubrey. As much as he wanted to believe that all Devils were like Grief, he knew that wasn't the case, as it was the same thing with humans.
So, he came up with an idea.
He'd make it so that it would be a "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" kind of contract. That way, he'd get what he wanted, i.e. getting back Aubrey, and The Shadow Devil could choose what he wanted from Sunny. It was a win-win all around.
"Are you familiar with the term "you scratch my back, I scratch yours," Shadow?" Sunny asked as The Shadow Devil hummed.
"I've heard it tossed around before from the likes of The Control Devil and The Famine Devil back during my time in Hell. But what does this have to do with the contract you're proposing?" The Shadow Devil asked as Sunny inhaled, before exhaling.
"Here goes nothing…."
"I propose a contract following those rules. You do something for me, and I do something for you. It can be anything you want, with the only exception being that it does not directly involve my death or the death of others. What do you think?" Sunny questioned as The Shadow Devil's eyes widened.
"Oh! How interesting! I believe that's the first time someone's approached me with that kind of contract suggestion, and I'm contracted to around 20 different people!" The Shadow Devil said, before narrowing its eyes. "Alright, then if you're setting limits, I shall as well. The only thing you cannot ask of me… is the identity of those whom I contracted with, who Mr. Wright is, and the person who is currently contracted with The Gun Devil. Aside from that, you're free to contract me to do anything else!"
Sunny breathed a sigh of relief. When The Shadow Devil mentionedthat he was setting his own rules, Sunny was a bit nervous he'd add "I will not revive the dead" to that rather confusing list. He wanted to question why those three things were in particular, but he knew that'd get him in dicey territory based on how serious it sounded. So, he decided against it.
"Deal," Sunny said as The Shadow Devil grunted. "Now, what I want you to do is revive my friend by becoming a Hybrid with her," Sunny stated as The Shadow Devil blinked.
"Wait… kid, you're serious? That's it?" The Shadow Devil asked as Sunny nodded. "Damn… that's, kinda selfless. Weird, but alright. Now…." The Shadow Devil began, as it flashed him a mischievous grin. "My turn."
Sunny felt a sense of foreboding coming from The Shadow Devil. Nonetheless, Sunny stood his ground, not flinching, even if he did feel like he wanted to run away. "You seem like a loser. No offence, but that's the kind of vibe you give me. So, I know the perfect workaround. Seeing as you're already friends with the female human Aubrey, it would make sense that, at least to some degree, you harbour some form of romantic feeling for her, right?"
Sunny… didn't know what to say to that. He blinked, looking at The Shadow Devil, not knowing what the hell it was getting at. He had thought about Aubrey before on numerous occasions, and… well, he did have a crush on her in the past, and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual back then.
But then… so much happened. Mari died, he shut himself away for four years, and when he came back out, just as he was about to move away to The Big City, he was killed and possessed by The Suicide Devil, who threw him off the roof making it look like he committed suicide.
If she had feelings for him after he returned, they died along with "him" at the time, if they hadn't already died when he became a shut-in for nearly half a decade.
But even still… he couldn't lie to himself, he did have a slight crush on her still, even if it was only him still clinging to the past. When they weren't at each other's throats when he came back to the public, when he and Aubrey decided to sit down and talk again and catch up… he felt that old friendship they had bloom again.
And, he felt that crush he had for her come back in full force, this time though, increased by teenage hormones.
It was too bad how everything went after the fact.
Sunny sighed, nodding in silence. Even still, he had a crush on Aubrey. However, he didn't like where this was going, as The Shadow Devil smirked. "Well, that makes this less awkward. At least, for you, anyway. Here's what I want from you, since you're so selfless, I'll be selfless too! If you want me to revive your dead friend, then I want you… to bed her, and only her for your first time. I mean, you are her friend, and you know what she likes, so it shouldn't be too difficult, right?" The Shadow Devil said as Sunny felt all the colour drain from his face.
He wanted him… to do what?!
"Of course, there's no time limit for you to do it. Actually, no, that's a lie. You have until you meet your end to complete the contract. And, if you do it with another person before you have done it with Aubrey Williams, then you will instantly die, the only loophole is if, somehow, you are raped, which I don't count as fair, so there. AND! I will explain everything to Aubrey as well before the fusion is finalized, that way she'll be waking up knowing the fullest extent of the contract the two of us made."
Sunny wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what that meant. He was expecting something generic like killing another Devil for it, or whatever else along those lines. But… it wanted him to have sex with Aubrey!? What the in the absolute fuck was that about!? Why?! What did it gain from that?! What was the point in him doing that?!
Oh, don't get him wrong, it wasn't as if he was opposed to the idea, but… making a contractual obligation made it way weirder than it had any right for it to be! Not to mention they hadn't even graduated high school yet!
Was this thing some sort of pedophile?!
"You… want me… to what?" Sunny said, slowly, as he looked at The Shadow Devil.
"You heard me, human. And, I am not budging on this."
"Why?!"
"Because you tried to kill me, asshat. Just because I can reincarnate doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. You're lucky this is all I'm asking for. I could be asking for much, much worse and you know it."
Sunny paused. Unfortunately, there was no way he could argue with that. He glanced over at Aubrey, then back at The Shadow Devil. Whatever bravado he had built up completely fell apart because of what The Shadow Devil wanted from the contract. Which, actually led him to ask a question. "What… exactly do you get from this? I mean, wouldn't you want a contract that benefitted you more than just… embarrassing me out of petty revenge?"
The Shadow Devil scoffed. "Watching two stupid children be stupid is more than enough for me. Besides, I already get a metric ass-ton of rewards just by hybridizing with Aubrey Williams, so I don't have anything else to gain. I mean, come on, kid! Pseudo-immortality? The ability to regenerate just with a drop of blood? Nigh-unlimited power? What's more to ask for?"
Sunny blinked before he shrugged. That did sound beneficial. Sunny groaned, "alright, fine. Just… revive my friend already, preferably before her other friends show up." As Sunny said that, he watched as Kim was already next to Aubrey's body, holding one of her limp hands in her own. Tears streamed down the girl's face, as Sunny felt his heart physically crack, although he could hear Grief snickering in the back of his head. He ignored it, though, as he wondered just how much of that conversation had they heard.
"Honestly, it doesn't matter. What matters is that Aubrey will live after this."
The Shadow Devil smirked, before extending one of its many hands over to Aubrey's body. One of the fingers hooked the open neck wound, as The Shadow Devil began to shrink down to a minuscule size. Then, it slithered its way into her body, and after it completely disappeared, the wound around her neck began to patch itself up.
Kim watched with a mixture of horror and amusement as it all went down, as Sunny approached the body. Aubrey still wasn't breathing, but he did remember one thing about all devils, hybrids or otherwise.
They regenerated using blood.
Sunny snagged the knife from his pocket, before flipping Aubrey's body so that her back was against the ground. Kim looked at him with anger in her eyes. She probably blamed him for this—because of fucking course she would, why couldn't his life be any easier? She opened her mouth to say something, only for Sunny to glare at her, and interrupt her before she could even speak. "Keep whatever you're going to say to yourself. I'm the reason why she died, yes, but I'm also the reason why she's about to be alive again. So shut up."
Kim looked away, as the rest of the Hooligans approached. Sunny reached down and opened Aubrey's mouth. He looked at her eyes, which were still glossed over. It haunted him, just how quickly a human life could be snuffed away.
"Not anymore. Not again. Never again."
Sunny hovered his left hand over Aubrey's mouth, tilting it sideways as, with his knife in his right hand's grip, he slashed his palm. A small line of blood streamed from his palm to Aubrey's mouth, the crimson liquid splashing against her teeth, staining the front teeth red.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The Maverick shouted, glaring at Sunny through the mop of hair blocking his face. Sunny didn't respond, as he withdrew his hand. Inhaling, he prayed that this whole thing worked, lowering his head as he dipped his index finger in the blood surrounding Aubrey, before popping the finger in his mouth to regenerate the wound on his palm.
After a few seconds of nothing happening, Sunny almost lost all hope. The other Hooligans looked just about ready to pounce on him should he move from that spot, not that he couldn't stomp all of them into the ground should a fight break out, but that wasn't the point.
And then… Aubrey's chest began to move up and down, as she inhaled and exhaled. Her eyes regained light, going from a dull blue to a bright electric blue colour, though the eyes quickly closed after they regained a semblance of life
Sunny smiled.
Aubrey was alive again, though she wasn't waking up, which he assumed was the same thing that happened when he and The Grief Devil forged their contract.
"What… the hell… just happened?" Angel muttered as Sunny stood up, looking at The gang of five with a neutral expression. Vance looked at Sunny, eyes narrowed with a mix of frustration, anger, and confusion. He looked about ready to fight but was seemingly holding himself back.
And then, he closed the distance between himself and Sunny, only standing two or so feet away from him, as he spoke.
"I want answers, you piece of shit. What the fuck just happened? You not only killed Aubrey, but then you used that giant… monster thing to revive her with your blood? Tell me what happened right now, or I punch your lights out!" Vance growled, scrunching up his sleeves as if to show that he was going to follow through with his statement.
Sunny stared at Vance, cracking his neck from side to side, before grunting. "Violence won't get you anywhere, Vance."
Vance snarled, seemingly offended by his response. And, because he was offended, he threw a punch Sunny's way, aiming to hit right between Sunny's eyes….!
Only for Sunny to catch it without breaking a sweat.
The brown-haired man blinked, before baring his teeth and throwing another punch, which Sunny also caught. Sunny then kicked Vance in the balls so hard that he spat up saliva, as he crumpled to the ground. The black-haired boy stared down at the writhing manwith no sympathy at all. He looked back at everyone else, who just stared at him as if he had done the impossible.
Sunny shook his head, sighing. "That was a Devil. The thing I was hunting. It was contracted with Aubrey, which I did not know until just now, and now it is fulfilling a contract I made with it, which was to revive Aubrey on the stipulation that I fulfill its end of the bargain. She is now as I am, a Hybrid between human and Devil. If you want to ask more questions, then you will get them later. For now, I am going to take her back to my house, because I've seen the state that her house is in, and it is not liveable. If any of you try to stop me, you'll end up like Vance. Good day."
And without any interruptions, Sunny scooped up Aubrey's unconscious form bridal style, before walking back to his place. Once he dropped her off, he was going to speak to The Mayor about what happened, and fill him in.
And then, because he knew something fucked up was going to happen once he returned home, he would brace for the worst. Because, if today taught him anything, it was that his life was now something ripped out of a comic book, and he had, somehow, become the unwitting protagonist.
At least, that was what he was garnering from this whole thing….
"This is going to suck majorly, isn't it?"
"Oh, buddy, you have no idea."
"Of course…."
[Mr. Wright's POV]
Mr. Wright sat in a tree, overlooking the park where the confrontation between Aubrey Williams and Sunny Suzuki had taken place, as a sigh escaped his lips.
He knew this was going to happen, and it wasn't as if he could be angry that what was going to happen, had happened. And while it did annoy him, Mr. Wright wasn't particularly stupid enough to think that The Shadow Devil could beat, let alone capture The Grief Devil.
In terms of power, if he were to scale The Grief Devil alongside some of the most powerful Devils he was in the know about, The Grief Devil was on par with The Weapons Devils, like The Katana Devil, The Bomb Devil, The Gun Devil, and The Flamethrower Devil, just to name a few, all of which were extremely powerful on their own right.
So, in short, The Shadow Devil stood no chance. And, nor did Aubrey.
He had seen the whole fight from a distance using a pair of binoculars, and he had to say, he was a little more than impressed at what he saw. Not only did The Grief Devil's contractor defeat The Shadow Devil from the inside out, but he also managed to convince The Shadow Devil to Hybridize with Aubrey, and, even more shocking, was that the price was minimalistic compared to what most Devil's ask for—hell, even for The Shadow Devil, the price seemed painless—not that he had heard the conversation, mind you, but he digressed.
The whole scenario was interesting. Interesting, because it made no sense. And, it was also interesting, because it also meant that now there were two Hybrids roaming around Faraway. Which, depending on how one looked at it, could either go belly-up for them or, it could land him and his Boss a major victory should they somehow get out of this scenario alive—his boss moreso than himself.
And while he was a little bit miffed that they most likely lost The Shadow Devil and Aubrey Williams to that oaf running this godforsaken town—which sucked, because the crazy ones were usually the most powerful Devil Hunters—it wasn't a complete loss.
He and his boss had plenty of Devils and potential contractors that they could throw at Faraway. Case in point was The Drowning Devil, who was already stationed here, and had been so ever since the boss came to The Big City nearly five to four years ago. While it was a solo act, the Drowning Devil was by far the most mature and less kill-happy than the likes of The Shadow Devil, The Wolf Devil, and to an extent, The Spider Devil.
Not that Mr. Wright cared all too much about the logistics of the whole thing. All he cared about was making sure that his boss was happy. And while, as of late, that was becoming harder and harder to do, with his boss being younger than him, and seeing as he had taken care of his own myriad of little siblings, he knew what best pleased them; especially if they were in positions of power over him.
And that was with results.
"And there you have it, Boss," Mr. Wright said as he bit into an apple. "The Shadow Devil and Aubrey will most likely side with The Mayor of this town."
"A shame, really. I've been meaning to see just how much she's grown since I last saw her," The Boss replied.
"I'm more than aware of that, ma'am. That aside, what should our next course of action be?" Mr. Wright asked as The Boss hummed.
"We do nothing. Remember our plan, Mr. Wright? If the Shadow Devil could not capture Sunny and The Grief Devil, then we leave them alone until they encounter The Drowning Devil. Am I understood?"
Mr. Wright frowned. "Yes, but shouldn't we at least do something about them? Aubrey will no doubt want to go after me. With her now having become a Hybrid, unless we send him out, I doubt I can take her on and win 100% of the time. Shadow, by himself, isn't that strong, but in that kind of state, he easily reaches the power of someone like The Blood Devil, or The Doll Devil."
"If we are threatened, then we will contact The Spider Devil's contractor. For now, however, we will let them be. Call me again once they have encountered, or are about to encounter The Drowning Devil. Until then, this is goodbye."
The phone line was cut on the other end, as Mr. Wright sighed, closing his flip phone before putting it in his suit pocket. He couldn't say no to his boss, even if the plan was doomed to fail.
He was confident in taking on Grief in a one-on-one, even if it had access to the powers of The Chain Devil, which it masqueraded its power as, after it, from what he heard, took a chunk out of The Chain Devil in hell, and kept it alive so that it could gain a fraction of its power. And considering The Grief Devil looked up to Pochita, who had done a similar thing with The Chainsaw Devil, the slimy bastard, it only made sense for the fangirl to follow in her idol's footsteps.
Even so, he was confident that he could beat it. Even with its true base ability, he felt as if he could win.
But, that was only if they got into combat.
And that was only if its contractor had no idea of its true ability.
For now, Mr. Wright would have to bide his time. Jumping down from the tree he was sitting in, he walked away from the scene of the fight, taking a pack of cigarettes out from his breast pocket, putting the cancer stick in his mouth, grabbed a lighter from his right pants pocket, using it to light the cigarette, before taking a long drag out of it.
Putting the lighter away, the man continued his walk through the forest. He was going to have to get used to this town for a little bit, it seemed. He lived in The Big City for most of, if not all of his life. He was used to the hustle and bustle of the cityscape, and the constant Devil sightings. But this place was different. This place, which was protected by God, had basically no Devil activity because of it, and those that did roam around the town of Faraway were weak, like the Wolf Devil or The Slug Devil.
Devils like The Drowning Devil, The Spider Devil, and The Shadow Devil were placed in Faraway by his Boss three years ago so that she could run a test, and the test had worked perfectly!
Then The Suicide Devil reared its ugly head and ruined everything. But, then Grief showed up out of nowhere and made things better….
If only The Boss had seen it that way.
Mr. Wright took another drag out of his cigarette. Oh well, not that he could change anything. Fate was fate, and if The Boss wanted to capture Sunny and The Grief Devil all by herself once The Drowning Devil was dealt with, then so be it.
And, unfortunately, he couldn't do anything to stop her.
Why was that?
Unlike his boss, he was a Devil… and they had made a contract.
And who was he to break the contract that he had made with his boss?
Oh, that was right.
In comparison to her.
He was a nobody.
Mr. Wright smiled, as he exited the forest, and stared down the household of The Desotos.
He had an idea.
If he couldn't stop his boss from doing something stupid, then perhaps he could follow through with his own plans. And, as he watched Kelsey Desoto walk out of his house, basketball in hand, he felt a smile spread across his face.
"This… could work…."
-To Be Continued in Teenage Awkwardness-