Loona frowned as she walked through the Pawn District, tapping away at her phone. It was odd that she was just passing through and NOT selling Moxie's stuff in order to pay for things she wanted. Really odd. No, today she was looking for something for her friend; despite what so many would think Loona DID have friends. Or a friend. A friend. She just… didn't get to see her that much at all. She was busy with Blitzo and his dumb ideas and she was busy with work. They texted each other of course and that was good enough.

Totally.

Completely.

"Maybe a gun… she likes guns," Loona muttered to herself. Her friend was down in the dumps, having called her (and she NEVER called) sobbing and crying and Loona hadn't been able to find it in herself to mock her like she would everyone else. So she'd comforted her and told her to text her often and she was… and Loona could tell that everything was hitting her hard. So she'd told her dipshit co-workers she was taking a personal day and while Blitzo had said something about a job she'd just flipped him off and headed out to find her a present.

Booze was out because she said that one of her co-workers would just steal it. Clothing was out because she didn't share the same style as Loona. But weapons-

Loona paused just before a door swung open on front of her.

"Sorry about that," a Sinner Demon said politely, which made Loona blink, stopping herself just as she had been preparing to scream at him and tell him off. Sinner Demons were almost NEVER polite to Hellhounds. They saw them as utter dirt, of use only if they were guarding or they were protecting. But the Sinner Demon before her, wearing a dark suit and with blue hair and a cloak with a jackal on the left shoulder, smiled and bowed his head. He was wearing glasses and had a neatly trimmed blue beard… and smelled of blood, gold, and POWER. "I swear these doors are designed to smack people in the face."

"Well, it is Hell," Loona said.

"Right," the demon said before adjusting the grip on his bags. "Alright, Jackie, we have all the gold we can get. Let's get back to work. I want to get some of these beauties made up." The jackal on his shoulder raised its head up and nodded. He turned to Loona and dipped his head and the hellhound was beginning to feel really weirded out. "Hope your day goes smoothly." And then, to the jackal, he said, "Do you think we need a hat? I feel like we need a hat to tip to people."

Loona frowned as she watched him walk away, chatting away with the jackal cloak. There was something familiar…

It suddenly hit her and she scrolled through her friends messages, eyes finally going wide as she looked at a photo taken at a birthday party, a human that looked a LOT like the Sinner Demon she'd just seen standing with her friend.

At once Loona hit her speed dial.

"Aria?" she said as soon as her friend answered. "I think I just ran into your boss."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Uh… are you sure this is the place?" Greta asked Cecelia.

And it was so weird, thinking of herself as Cecelia again. She had believed, upon arriving in Hell, that she would never be that person again. That Cecelia truly was dead and she was CeeCee, the plant demon who watched porn with her roommate and taunt imps how to paint. She had been okay with that. Accepted it. Understood that Cecelia was gone.

But then Edwin Cerberus had shown up and reminded her of who she had once been.

"I'm sure," Cecelia said, adjusting her new hat. She had tapped into her savings to get a new wardrobe, going to Rosie's to get the best that Pentagram City had to offer AND gotten Greta something to wear too. She would need a partner, someone who understood business, and the secretary for Leviathan (even if she did guard an empty office most years) knew more than she did. "Come on."

The building didn't even have a sign… or at least one that was readable. There was something hanging above the door but it had been blasted by so much wind and dust and the like that there was nothing to see anymore. The lobby had one sleepy imp who was snoozing in their desk chair and Cecelia decided after a moment just to bypass them and make her way to the stairs, climbing the three flights to reach her destination.

"Wow… this is… sad." Greta looked around. "Like a thousand dead puppies sad."

Cecelia shook her head. "More like 438 dead puppies." When Greta stared at her she just shrugged. "It was a wild weekend."

The once grand and stately bullpen of The Charon Cryer, the premier newspaper in Hell, had seen better days. The ceiling was leaking, half the lights didn't work, most of the desks were empty and the ones that weren't were filled with reporters playing computer games. One even had a raccoon lying half drunk upon it. In the back was a door with a frosted window, the name Trevor Slaten written on it… and underneath was spray painted SUCKS DICK.

"Angry employee or Trevor just wanted to brag?" Greta asked.

Cecelia had to admit it could be either or. Still she stepped up to the door and gave it a knock.

"No one in here!" a man with a New York accent declared. "Lest you're the lotto then I'm in here. Otherwise you're just hearin' things. I'd suggest getting' better meds."

"Its Cecelia Pegasus. I called about meeting you?"

The door cracked open and a pale man with dark eyes peered at her. "You a cop?"

"No…"

"Because you have to tell me if you're a cop."

"I'm not a cop."

Greta chimed in. "And if she was and she was in Hell that would mean she was a corrupt one."

"…good, you passed my test!" Slaten declared, opening the door wide for them. "Come on in!"

Slaten was a stocky demon with pale skin, a long mustache made of rope that was smoking at the ends along with a hemp beard that ended in two little forks. He had a long neck that caused his head to bob about a bit as he walked and a ring of Xs lined his throat. Which, considering his office had at least five different nooses dangling from the rafters, wasn't that surprising. He was dressed in an old timey suit that reminded Cecelia of her grandfather in his later years, when his mind had begun to go and he'd thought he was a lawyer handling cases… which was odd because their family had made their fortune in lumber.

"So," Slaten said as he took a seat behind his desk, Greta and Cecelia looking at the two chairs that were seated across from him and, seeing how they looked ready to collapse, decided to not try sitting in them. "You girls lookin' for a job? Ready to put your noses to the grindstone and get the hottest stories in Hell out to the public?"

"Actually-"

"I know, I know," Slaten said, waving his hand at her, smoke coming out of his mouth. "People claim that they don't want to wait a day for the news when they can see it instantly on TV or online. But I say that people DON'T want their news to be instant. News is like a fine wine… you need to savor it. Let it age. Yes yes, there are those that claim that being told there is a tidal wave of acid coming 12 hours after its already swept through Coverter's Corner makes that useless but I say that it makes it timeless."

"We actually aren't-"

"You know what? I like you both. You are hired. Now-" he pulled out two contracts, "-you are required to sell your souls to me in order to be employed here but don't worry… I am a fair overlord."

"You're… an Overlord?" Greta asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course I am! Sure, I don't get invited to the meetings anymore and the last time I tried to get in Velvette laughed in my face and told me to piss off but the rest didn't matter. Because I didn't understand anything else she was saying! Never did get with those English and their speaking American all wrong, you know what I'm saying?" Before either could answer Slaten continued on. "And sure, I might have been forced to sell some souls to keep this place… in fact I sold 30 of them just this morning-"

~MC~MC~MC~

Edwin whistled as he happily looked over the latest contracts he had secured. "Its like shooting really stupid fish in a barrel," he told Jackie, happily tucking the deals into his pocket. "Now then, according to what I spied two days ago there is a butcher who REALLY doesn't want the Cannibals to know all his meat actually comes from cattle. Let's… pay him a visit."

~MC~MC~MC~

"-but that is just a minor blip. Old news, you know? Of course you do. Now then, I need you two to go and get me pictures of Edwin Cerberus. He's apparently the talk of the town and I want to be the first to get a good picture of him!"

Greta held out her phone, showing a photo posted on Sinnergram of the Edwin blinking in surprise as the poster snapped a selfie, the caption 'SOLD MY SOUL FOR A MILLENNIUM EYE! #WORTHIT' underneath.

"Wow, you girls are fast. Maybe too fast. We don't put out the next issue for another 19 hours."

"We aren't here for jobs," Cecelia said, cutting through the man's blather. "You currently have 12 printing presses that you aren't using. We are in need of printing presses for our new business. We are willing to negotiate with you a price, NOT involving our souls, for use of the printing presses."

"Listen, I can't just let any Sally May Housewife use my presses. Sure, I am not using them now but I might."

"You won't," Cecelia stated. "And I am willing to cover you 10% of total sales of my card game to use the presses or $2000 dollars, not including supply costs, each month."

It had been a steep cost and had meant draining all her savings to ensure that she would have enough for a year's worth of printing… but she knew that she would be able to make it all up if she could just get the cards printed. Greta had arranged for another company to package them so they just needed to get cards made up. And Slaten's presses were her best bet.

"Card game?" Slaten said. "You aren't making newspapers?"

"Of course not," Greta said quickly. "We could never compete with you."

"Well… of course not!" Slaten said.

"And when people know that our cards are printed by your paper they will be more than willing to buy more papers," Cecelia's friend added. "I'm thinking we might include a few promo cards in some papers… something to motivate the kids to start reading sooner."

"Of course, of course!" Slaten said. "I tried that with the comic section… but nobody wants to read Hellbert." He shuddered and Cecelia had to agree on that. "But yeah, I bet the kids will LOVE your card game! Really bring them in… and the actual important stuff will keep them around. I love it! So… deal?" He held out his hand.

Cecelia carefully said, "$2000 each month until either of us decides to break the contract. That's all." Because she had learned from Hell to ALWAYS make sure a deal was clear to both parties.

"Deal!" Slaten said, shaking her hand. Smoke drifted from his mouth and wrapped around their hands for a moment before disappearing. "Well, you two get at it then. I'd show you were to go but that wasn't part of the deal and I have a paper to run! So busy!"

Greta and Cecelia quickly got up and made their way out of the office, heading through the bullpen and to the stairs.

"So…" Greta said slowly, "we're gonna kill him eventually, right?"

"Oh fuck yes."

~MC~MC~MC~

"You… you can't prove it!" the butcher said to Edwin, who had quietly closed the door to the shop and locked it.

"Oh, I think I can," he said, watching through the reflection on the door as the butcher, a bull-like demon, slowly went for a meat cleaver. "Now don't get me wrong, I support tricking the cannibals… but I doubt they will be happy to learn that their prime demon meat is actually basic cow. So the way I see it-"

He slammed his cane against the ground just as the butcher raised his arm to chop his head off, Gleipnir rocketing past Edwin and wrapping around the butcher, causing him to scream as it tightened around his body so much that his hands become a distorted blackish purple as the blood circulation was cut off. Jackie lifted his head and let out a huff and Edwin could feel the Kul Elna thieves mutter in disappointment that they weren't allowed to hack the demon up.

Edwin slowly turned, cocking his head to one side as he looked at his prey.

"See… I was going to say that you were going to give me a few souls that you had collected from those that couldn't pay off their tab and I would keep this to myself. But then you had to go do something stupid like that." He tsked. "So now… you are going to give me every fucking soul you own. All of them. And then you are going to give me yours."

"I-" But Edwin tightened Gleipnir's hold on the bull demon, choking off his words.

"Your next words better be "I accept"," he warned. "Because feel that burning? Notice how that cord is cutting into your flesh? This ain't demon steel. Meaning if I make it too tight… you cease to exist and I get to hunt through your papers to find you contracts before anyone realizes you are dead and they are free."

"My… my brother!" the butcher gasped out. "He will inherit-"

"Everything?" Edwin shrugged. "That is true." He flashed a sharp smile. "Or it was until I fucking killed him." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring that made the butcher gape. "Oh, the nasty things he did… it was a fucking PLEASURE to take all the souls he collected before erasing him from existence. And unless you wish to join him…"

"Fine!" the butcher cried out.

Edwin held out his hand. "You agree to transfer all the souls you hold as well as your own to me."

"I… I agree." Edwin allowed the demon to have a bit more freedom of movement when it came to his hand and after a moment the butcher accepted Edwin's handshake. Blue fire burst around the man's wrists as golden hands appears, grasping his arms before turning into the shackles that signified Edwin owned his soul. He could feel all those who had been forced to sell their souls to him to pay off their debts suddenly stop as they too gained manacles and he made a note to contact them all, so they knew the new state of things. "Now… about your little lie to the cannibals."

"You won't say a word?"

Edwin laughed. "Oh… oh that depends on you."

"What?"

"That deal wasn't for me to keep quiet. That was payment for you trying to turn me into a brisket. You still need to pay me to keep quiet. And I'm willing to bet you have some juicy info that will allow me to turn my attention to other demons." He leaned in, releasing the butcher; he could no longer threaten him with the manacles on. "So. Let's talk."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Fuck!"

Brom raised an eyebrow at that, staring down at the startled figure that was manning the desk in front of him. He looked rather like any other office drone one would find in the corporate world, working hard to look like he was working hard when, in reality, he was just goofing around on his computer. Which many times was a good thing because it was far safer for all of existence if those that had no idea what the fuck they were doing to stay out of the way.

But what made this figure different was the look of him. While human shaped he looked like a starved bear, with a gaunt face and far too skinny body. Long claws tipped stubby fingers and fur poked out through the neck and sleeves of the dress shirt that he was wearing.

"By the Burning Star, what the fuck?" the figure exclaimed, pressing his hand to his chest. "How did you-"

Brom allowed his sword to appear at his side. "This should inform you of who I am."

"…listen, we don't take 'swords' as id cards. You got a badge or something? A business card?"

That made Brom frown and look over at Renard and Yuri. "Did he just ask for a business card?"

"He did," Yuri confirmed.

Brom tilted his head at that. "When I was last here this was a great chamber filled with captured sunlight placed in swirling orbs and orderlies caring for the gateway to the underworld."

"Geez, it has been a while for you then," the bear-man said. "We got rid of all that 3000 years ago! Or at least improved things." He turned his desk lamp to reveal that, instead of a lightbulb, it had a miniature sun happily glowing in a glass orb. "And when we got rid of the big orbs we realized that they were generating a lot of heat and do you realize how much it costs to heat some grand 3 story tall chamber the width of 4 Rotomung Fields?"

"But what about the Gateway?" Brom asked.

"Man, no one comes to the Gateway anymore! You're the first three to show up in years." He turned to his computer. "Name?"

"Brom Bones… you are sure? No one has entered the afterlife?"

"Well, plenty of people have entered the afterlife but not this one," the bear-man said. "At least not while I've been manning the desk. I suppose some could have come in while I was off the clock. We are supposed to note when a death carrier-"

The bear-man paused, nose quivering.

"Oh… a death GOD." He looked up at Brom. "Sorry about that, sir."

"Its fine," Brom said with a soft smile. "I've been retired for a while. But I need to escort these two to a friend of theirs and I thought perhaps he had ended up here."

His reasoning had been that Edwin may have ended up in an afterlife that was blocked to Selene. And the Gateway of the Burning Star worked perfectly for that. No Moon God would allow their lover to go to a Sun-based afterlife. And, at least when he'd known them, the Keepers of the Gate had been subtle and slippery… Brom had been fighting off the other Death Gatherers when SOMEONE had slipped in and claimed Edwin's soul. While it was possible that one of the ones he had battled had been a distraction he knew many of them were far too blunt for that. It had to be one of the more cunning afterlifes.

"Anyway," the bear-man said, "they are supposed to write down on the big board when a soul comes in but since its been a while I suppose someone forgot." He pointed to a white board that only had a doodle of a bear peeing into his own mouth and a reminder that next Wednesday was "Waboo Wednesday" and to "bring your own beer".

"This is removing so much of the mysticism of the afterlife," Yuri muttered.

"I can check for you," the bear-man said, typing away at his keys. "Name of the soul?"

"Edwin Chaos."

That caused the bear-man to start.

"He was here?" Renard asked hopefully.

The bear-man began to laugh. "Fuck no! You think we are good enough to net that fucking guy!" He shut his eyes, struggling to breathe. "By the Burning Star… if we got Edwin we'd have told all of the other afterlifes!"

That made Yuri frown. "Edwin is… that important?"

"More like famous," the bear-man stated. "Comes in and mocks a god, has one of the Greek Titans declare war on Egypt, travels the multiverse, and then there is the whole Loki thing." Before any of them could ask what he meant by that the bear-man said, "No… no we don't have Edwin Chaos."

Brom though refused to feel down on that. "You wouldn't have heard rumors of who might have taken him? Maybe an afterlife that is scared of revealing it?"

That made the worker think.

The death god slowly reached into his pocket and placed a crisp $100 bill on the desk.

The bear-man just as slowly took it and pocketed it.

"So he's done a lot, right? Traveled the multiverse, seen crazy stuff? I hear that Torono-O is boasting they got some interesting new storytellers but don't want to say who…"

Brom bowed his head in thanks at that and moved towards the door.

"Don't tell my boss I was slacking off, oaky?" the bear-man called out just as they left.

~MC~MC~MC~

"How is he?"

Seto watched as Dr. Crews didn't so much as twitch in her seat. The woman was one of the best psychologists in Japan, in the world in fact, and it had taken a lot of money to convince her to come work for him. Especially when she'd learned it was just for Mokuba and not himself. Crews had said, rather calmly yes but still said it, that Seto needed far more therapy than his brother.

Which just went to show how little the woman understood Seto and his family.

"Your brother is not okay and neither are you."

"We aren't here to talk about me," Seto said coolly.

But Dr. Crews just stared him down, not flinching at hisstern words. "But you are the root to many of Mokuba's problems at the moment."

"Me?" Seto said, not liking what she was implying at all.

"Your brother has very few people he feels safe talking to. You are one of them, which is a testament to how well you have raised him. Yet he feels in this situation that he can't talk to you."

"Why would he think that?" Seto asked, mildly confused but also annoyed. Clearly the woman didn't understand his brother. She must have made a mistake and gotten confused at what Mokuba was saying. She said that Mokuba could talk to him but then in the same breath said he couldn't.

"Because you have made it clear he can't," Crews stated.

"I have never told Mokuba he couldn't talk to me." Even as he said those words he ignored the text message from a few weeks back, where Mokuba had begged Seto to call him… and he hadn't. But they had talked when he got back to the mansion and everything was fine!

Crews sighed. "Sometimes it isn't your words that speak the loudest, its your actions."

"Actions speak louder than words. That old cliché?" Seto huffed at that.

"It's a cliché but that doesn't make it any less true. Edwin Chaos was one of the people Mokuba trusted. He died. Suddenly. Unexpectedly. And he is trying to deal with that. The fact that there was no funeral, that he wasn't even able to see the body, its confused him. You both have grown up fast but you must remember that he is still a young boy. Death is still a confusing thing for him, especially because he has been shielded from it even as he has been surrounded by it. Your parents, your stepfather, Edwin. He is hurting and confused, Mr. Kaiba, and he needs someone to talk to."

"He can talk to me," Seto repeated.

"But sometimes you aren't the right person. You must admit there are times where your personal beliefs and attitude do not mesh well with your brother and his emotions?"

Seto glowered at that but silently conceded the point. Mokuba was far more emotional than he was. More open too. Where Seto worked hard to keep his emotions in check (and he swore, for a moment, he heard Edwin laughing at that) Mokuba wore his openly on his sleeve. Proud of them even. As such there were times where Mokuba was clearly excited or upset and Seto…

…well, Seto appeared and the boy became ashamed and quiet.

"You have cut him off from all others he might talk to," Crews continued. "I have been told that you are preventing him from talking to Yugi Muto and his friends?"

"They would just make Mokuba more upset," Seto reasoned. "They are too blunt and don't understand how sensitive he is or how the wrong thing can upset him."

"Which leaves Mokuba feeling like you are trying to force him to talk with you and only you."

"He has you, doesn't he?"

Crews though shook her head. "Mokuba doesn't feel these emotions only during our sessions, Mr. Kaiba."

"Then you can be on call 24/7. I'm willing to pay-"

"That is not an option," Crews said, cutting him off. "What Mokuba needs is to feel safe. And he can only feel that way if he feels like he can express his emotions when he wants to. You have to let him talk to others."

"…thank you for your time," Seto said, his tone making it clear that the conversation was over.

Crews stared at him before sighing. "You can't ignore this forever. Its going to come out and when it does-"

"I will handle it," Seto said firmly.

He would handle it.

~MC~MC~MC~

Aria let out a sigh of relief when Loona gave her a cup of coffee and she could tell at once she had spiked it with something real nice. She knew, thanks to what her human disguise looked like, she'd get in trouble if she was caught doing it herself and was grateful that the other woman had been kind enough to do it for her.

They were seated at a café that was across the street from where Aria worked. It still threw Loona for a loop that her old friend… yes, she had fucking friends, piss off!... had a job. A good job too. Not manning the phones like Loona but rather a job where she was in charge of people. Sure, Aria had about 5 years on her but she'd only been on Earth for 3…

She shook her head and focused on more important things.

"So does your boss want to fuck a dragon or something?" she asked, gesturing towards the large statue of a white dragon that loomed in front of the KaibaCorp building.

"Kaiba is an ace… or dragonsexual. There is actually a debate."

Loona nodded. She'd snuck up to Earth to talk to her about finding Edwin but Aria had clearly wanted to talk about anything BUT the reason Loona was there for some reason. Not that she minded too much… Aria was paying for today. Loona mentally wondered if she could get a new wardrobe out of this…

Loona started when she heard some shouts and turned to see a demon that looked like a beaver that was also dressed as a knight suddenly appear across the street. She wondered if she had forgotten to close the portal she'd used to get the Earth or if someone else had decided to just happen and appear where she had been. Either case she was instantly on the defensive… until Aria reached over and patted her hand.

"Its fine. It's a Duel."

"A… what?"

"its not a demon," Aria said. "That's what my boss does. He creates technology, mostly for a card game called Duel Monsters. That-" she gestured at the beaver knight, "is Beaver Warrior. A monster from the game. It looks real thanks to Hard Light Technology."

"…just fucking say magic, Aria."

The older woman rolled her eyes. "Fine, Hard Light Magic. Point is that it isn't a demon."

"Huh. Maybe that's why no one really reacts to Blitzo and the rest of us showing up for hits. Used to this." She glanced at Aria. "Wait, so if that's common place you wouldn't have to hide yourself in these ugly…" she gestured at her human form.

"Not ugly. I've been told I am delightfully cute." Aria smirked at that. "And besides they only appear in duels. I can't walk around in my true form."

"I don't know… would make you very popular. You know how many kinky freaks would pay good money to fuck a wolf girl?"

The two slowly turned and stared off into the distance, almost like they were staring at someone currently reading a fanfic on an electronic device.

And then the mood was broken and Loona focused back on Aria.

"Listen, as much fun as it is to catch up-" And it was… it really was. Loona knew she was an antisocial bitch, awkward and quick to turn people away with her anger. But… Aria had always been there for her, before Blitzo had gotten her out. They had a weird relationship, in that they seemed to alternate between who was the big sister and who was little. Aria had guided Loona through the orphanage and Loona had only really taken a downward spiral when Aria had aged out and despite her begging to stay on and help had been kicked to the curb. Whatever had happened after that, before Loona had finally been let out and Blitzo allowed her to get 10 feet away from home without him tagging along, it had damaged Aria. Made her more nervous and skittish. That's when Loona had found herself playing big sister, helping her out, dealing with the late night panicked phone calls, and finally introducing her to Bianca.

It had been Bianca that had helped Aria flee to the human world.

"-but I thought you wanted to talk about Edwin."

Aria nodded at that, looking down at her coffee cup. "I do," she said. "But… it hurts, you know?"

"Not… really," Loona admitted. "I mean he can't be on Earth at the moment, unless you smuggle him up and get him a disguise, but you can still go see him. He's right there. One portal and…"

Aria though shook her head. "I can't though," she said. "I have a life here. KaibaCorp. The department heads. I desperately want to see Edwin but-"

And that's when the Kaibacorp building exploded.

Aria and Loona stared in shock at the structure as it was engulfed in flames, windows blowing out and sections of it collapsing in on itself.

"…so do I just walk through the portal or do I need to do a back flip?" Aria asked, draining her coffee in one go.