Chapter Two – On the road

"You're not my mommy! I hate you! I hate you!"

Emi just grits her teeth and clamps the wildly kicking and loudly screaming Alas-Ramus a little tighter under her arm as she climbs the four steps to the porch, and then somewhat clumsily handles the key in one hand to unlock the door.

She's happy to leave the luggage to the others; she's got her hands full trying to restrain her angry foster daughter.

The cabin is very Western and tastefully decorated, just as described in the brochure, with a small checkroom hallway leading immediately to the living room with its open kitchen, and an elegantly curved arched staircase leading to the upper rooms, but she really doesn't have an eye for it at the moment.

"Alas, calm down already." With sweeping strides, Emi crosses the living room and hurries straight through the small hallway with the two doors, one of which leads to the bathroom and the other to a bedroom connected by another door to a smaller room. The smaller room is meant for Chiho, while Emi has reserved the through room for herself and her foster daughter.

"Look, this is our room. And look, a bed all to yourself. Isn't that great?"

Alas-Ramus only roars louder and snaps her teeth at Emi's hand as she sets her down on her new, soft bed.

Instinctively Emi jerks back and the little one uses this moment to escape from her. But her legs are too short, she doesn't get far. At least she has almost reached the front door before Emi catches her again.

Maou comes in with two bags, followed by Ashiya and Chiho, who are also heavily loaded.

"Papa!" Immediately, Alas-Ramus stretches out both small arms to him. "Papa!"

He immediately drops everything and rushes to his bitterly crying foster daughter. Emi reluctantly lets go, but as soon as Alas-Ramus feels her foster mother's grip loosen, she jumps. And since Maou's grip on her hasn't tightened yet, she slips out of his arms. Deft as a cat, she lands on her feet and runs towards the door.

"Alas!"

This time, Ashiya catches her and she acknowledges it with a punch to his nose. There's hardly any force behind it, but the blow is surprising enough to make him flinch.

"You're mean!" Alas-Ramus fumes.

A silver light sparkles in her violet eyes as her true nature bursts forth. She is a powerful being trapped in the mind and body of a kindergartener, unable to use her true potential. All she has left are the weapons of a child.

"Why are you always so mean to my Lucifer? I want to go to my Lucifer! I hate you! I hate you!"

Chiho, who is standing right next to her, immediately tries to comfort her.

"Lucifer will be here soon, I'm sure, don't worry, Alas-chan."

"Yes," Maou adds, having hurried to them and now taking her carefully but firmly from Ashiya's arms, "and until then, don't you want us to clean out your stuffed animals? Think of your poor Octo, he and the others must be feeling very lonely in your little suitcase and longing for you. And you'll see, when we're done with this, Lucifer will be at the door".

Alas-Ramus stops resisting and stares at him with wide, trusting eyes.

"Promise?"

"Yes, Alas-chan, I promise."

She sniffs, wipes her nose into his jacket and is reassured. Because Maou has never lied to her and he takes his promises very seriously.

"I hope nobody saw that."

Urushihara felt his cheeks burning despite the cold - his face must be flushed with embarrassment. But what could he do?

It's this cold. He's only been exposed to it for a few minutes, and already his bladder is making itself known, and he can barely wet his pants. Now he just hopes that the short contact of his most sensitive body part with the cold has not caused any permanent damage.

He hastily pulls his clothes back on properly, cursing his increasingly clammy fingers that make pulling the zipper a real challenge.

Then he lays his hands flat on the trunk in front of him, feeling his way along the cracked bark until he feels the deep furrow that serves as his guide. One step to the right, half a turn, then ten steps and he should be back on the road.

He concentrates so hard that he completely forgets the cold for those few minutes. When he feels himself standing on solid asphalt again, he breathes a sigh of relief.

Now it gets easier. As long as he keeps his right foot on the road and his left on the slushy snow at the side of the road, nothing can happen to him.

The landmarks that cross his path every fifty meters provide additional guidance. After about sixty landmarks, a path will lead away from the road, he just has to follow it, then he will (hopefully) come across the cabin that Emi has rented for this one week vacation in the snow.

Urushihara's lips curl sarcastically under his scarf as he remembers the heated discussion Emi's vacation plans had caused in the household.

"Who said you could come, you stupid demon king?"

Emi was anything but thrilled when Alas-Ramus told her little secret in a scorching manner, and of course Maou immediately joined her plans. He would never let Emi separate his foster daughter from him. Not again.

So he saw these vacation plans for what they were: a declaration of war on his title as the best dad of the year.

And he told Emi bluntly what he thought of her plans:

"You can't just go off with Alas without me. I'm her daddy."

"I'll take Chiho and Suzuno with me, and that'll be enough for Alas as a sledding and skiing partner. Right, Alas?"

Alas-Ramus just looked up at her foster mother with big eyes.

"But aren't Papa, Alciel and Lucifer coming with us? I want them to come."

And with that, the matter was settled, even though there was some eager arguing on both sides after that.

He doesn't remember exactly what all the insults flew back and forth about, but he thinks he remembers that Emi, as usual, gradually deviated from Maou as her main target and opened a side war in his direction. But he didn't hear much of her insults because Alas-Ramus climbed onto his lap and asked him to show her the new episode of her favorite anime on the internet.

If he had known that this would be the last time he would see Alas-Ramus, he would have been more focused on her. Now all he has left are the memories of the sparkle in her eyes and her smile, and even that is fading a little more with each passing day.