Chapter 16: Affection

He had never been a fan of hell.

Standing atop one of the high crystals still standing in the landscape Shizuo let his gaze travel across the area.

They had moved on. The crescent shape wildly painted into the landscape laid below their feet. By now the sun was already setting again and Shizuo mildly cursed the pace of time in this kind of season.

It was something unexpected for his grade of strength. His opinion on hell, that is. He was aware.

And yet-

He felt like this wasn't the place he belonged to.

Breathing in the gradually cooling air Shizuo relished in the moment of peace.

Said peace was quickly brought to an end when quiet footsteps accidentally tossed a small stone across the shattered ground.

Having passed the river of souls and crossed to the other side of the artificial valley they had reached the natural continuation of the demon made shrine.

The marble and stones closer to the crescent chasm had suffered some cracks, but overall their path continued as if nothing had ever happened.

Standing on the very top of the highest crystal Shizuo could find he let himself sink into a crouching position as his gaze circled to the quiet troublemaker.

His new shadow had found a new friend it seemed.

Chased by some kind of small worm an expression of utter disgust displayed on his face and Shizuo couldn't help but snort shortly.

This demon-

He didn't even know his name.

Well, not like it mattered. He was too weak to stick around these parts.

The destination he was heading into was quite clear from the way he kept gazing up the mountain.

It was a joke really. Maybe this demon had been sent to make sure Shizuo attended?

… nah.

Watching his shadow side step the worm with more effort than he should, Shizuo quickly discarded the idea.

Izaya was not aware he was being watched.

The last time he glanced towards Shizuo he had been walking ahead, exiting the worst of the destroyed area and entered a more decently structured part of the ascend.

By now Izaya was convinced that these stairs, marble and stones had been aligned by someone for a purpose.

Just from looking at the way the path sneaked its way upwards beyond the next hill allowed Izaya to conclude that it was leading to somewhere important.

What exactly, he didn't know.

But right now he couldn't care less-

Freaked out more than he liked to admit Izaya's heavy feet spurred into a quick jump to the side.

There was some sort of animal on the ground. Not larger than his upper arm, really, but good heavens- its appearance was abhorrent.

Dozens of legs attached left and right to the centipede-like creature and it crackled along the marble path. Izaya had never been a huge fan of insects, really, but a mutant centipede with a human face?

What the actual fuck-

"Hey, come up here."

Startled to have been addressed, Izaya's attention shortly drew to the demon. Crouching on top of one of the many stones he appeared to be watching the sunset or something.

Come up here he said-

Looking back at the critter following Izaya nonstop, Izaya made a quick decision to do as he was told and leapt for the stone.

It was warmer than expected, with a surprisingly rough texture.

Made it easy to climb.

It took under a minute at most, and with great pleasure Izaya realized the human-faced caterpillar had no means to follow as it leapt upwards against the stone a couple times before deeming its efforts useless.

"Tell me something, I'm bored."

The request came as much unexpected as it was unfavoured.

"Huh?" Izaya couldn't quite help to show his surprise.

Shizuo didn't even flinch.

What was that supposed to mean?

For a mighty demon of his strength this demon was behaving rather… silly.

Everything about him seemed fairly odd to be honest.

Sure, he definitely looked the part when it came to the human pictured aesthetics of a demon. He really nailed it with an extra dose of attractiveness to lure in victims too, and enormous strength paired with it.

But his personality?

Almost seemed like a gentle giant.

He killed those creatures of hell that Shizuo called mere critters in a flash of nonexistent mercy, but refused to snuff out human souls on accident.

The contradicting behavior really served as an epitome of unpredictability.

What did demons even do all day?

What did this demon do?

Where was Shizuo even heading to?

Izaya heavily doubted he had just coincidentally met a demon that was heading to the demon lord. But then, what was on that mountain?

His home?

Did demons have a home?

Having stayed quiet for a bit too long the annoyance in Shizuo's face grew and he frowned. "What?"

And before Izaya could really stop himself he found a question on the tip of his tongue.

"I was just wondering if you are homeless."

For a second Shizuo blinked, then opened his mouth before a very intelligent sounding- "...huh?", left his lips.

Feeling the need to elaborate, Izaya explained his reasoning.

"You don't seem like you are in any hurry to get somewhere nor return to."

His second answer didn't seem to have enlightened Shizuo any further, and for a short moment Izaya feared he might have offended the demon after all.

But all worries were void of reason, it seemed, as a quick snort eased the demon into a burst of laughter.

A bit confused, Izaya looked at Shizuo, wondering what part about his question had been so goddamn funny.

"Am I wrong?" he asked, and Shizuo shook his head.

"Very. But- No. Actually you might be right."

The confusion Izaya felt only tripled at that as he frowned.

"You are not making sense."

Shizuo sighed. "Yeah, probably."

Transforming his crouching position into one of more comfort Shizuo set down onto the crystal stone. One leg dangling freely off the height the other propped up to serve a place to rest his chin on.

Izaya wasn't quite sure what exactly about his words had served such great amusement, but looking at Shizuo now he somehow couldn't help but think it was a topic too vast for the demon to touch upon.

Shizuo had called him over to talk to him. Which Izaya appreciated, really, but at the end of the day just saying one wrong word might spell the end of him and he became awfully aware of that yet again after receiving an unexpected reaction.

But staying quiet and ignoring the demon's request was as bad an idea as running his mouth and so Izaya carefully chose his next words.

"... are you taking a break?"

This demon here might be some kind of grand specimen, maybe something like an archdemon. His age probably exceeded that of humans by hundreds. But even a demon of unimaginable strength and stamina had to run out of energy at some point, right?

Having managed to avoid any potential death traps for now, Shizuo merely showed him an amused smile.

"Why? Do you need one?" Bad question. Admitting any form of weakness was not something Izaya was willing to gamble on.

"You are the one who stopped so I would say you do," he shrugged quickly, but bit his tongue at the last part. He hadn't meant to sound as bold as he did, but to his relief Shizuo seem to be able to take a joke.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a bit too sarcastic considering your strength?", the demon asked and a sly grin crept along his jaw, "Forgive me, I mean despite the lack of it of course."

Izaya snorted.

This guy-

"Are you looking for a fight?" Izaya didn't really know what he was doing, really. He should avoid any form of confrontation, and yet for some reason this little banter just seemed too familiar to resist.

"Do you think you could win?"

What was this illogical urge to keep up with the demon?

"Maybe not in brute strength but that rarely got anything properly done."

Shizuo hummed and his brows arched into amusement.

"You think I'm just muscles and no brain?"

"I think you act first before you think."

That shut him up.

At least for a second.

Blinking shortly, Izaya seemed to have hit the nail on the head and secured his victory in this small battle of wits as Shizuo laughed.

"You might not be so wrong with that."

Izaya smirked, "So the fight is off?"

"Consider my leniency as a token of gratitude."

… gratitude, huh?

Gaze having traversed back to the battlefield they had previously passed through, Shizuo seemed unwilling to flesh out the details of his words.

But Izaya was smart enough to do so on his own.

He was talking about the human souls. About not touching them.

Seemed Izaya had surprised Shizuo pleasantly by listening to his command.

"The nights are longer around here," Shizuo suddenly continued, and Izaya tore his eyes away from the small streak of blue at the bottom of the crescent chasm, to look at Shizuo. "Sure, hell never really had the shortest nights overall, but compared to the usual thirty hours it's forty around here. So yeah, I guess you could say I'm taking a break."

Bewildered, Izaya tried to keep his face straight with the information presented.

Thirty hours?

Izaya had already suspected that something had fucked up the schedule of sunrise and sunset down here, but he hadn't expected time itself to be thwarted.

A day lasted 24h in a normal human day.

That was night and day included.

If one night was thirty, and they had been traveling through one and a half-

No wonder Izaya was getting as tired as he was.

How long had they been walking around for human standards?

"Any reason why time moves differently here?" Izaya asked, figuring that at least the ten additional hours were something not every demon knew about.

A short shrug was given as Shizuo answered. "Beats me. I guess it's connected to the freezing cold creeping around here every night but I don't know."

Unexpected silence followed from Shizuo's shadow and his eyes directed their attention back to him.

This demon looked loaded with questions.

But for some reason he seemed hesitant to ask.

"You can ask, you know," Shizuo said, and the demon jerked as if having been caught red handed doing something that he shouldn't. "It's written all over your face anyway. Why the stone burnt and where the ice came from and so on."

the demon's gaze turned wary and his reddish eyes narrowed to a doubtful gaze.

"To get laughed at for not knowing?"

Shizuo snorted. "You obviously haven't been here before so why would I?"

Izaya sighed internally.

That much for his efforts of proceeding without stirring too much attention on the demon's part.

The offer was tempting. But if he was going to take it then he had to be careful with his wording.

"Alright," he started, and a smile spread across his lips as he thought of the perfect question, "Then tell me everything you think I don't know."

Izaya thought he had been smart, really. Because this way Shizuo was going to tell him everything a demon of his mediocre kind was not supposed to know.

What he hadn't expected, however, was the topic Shizuo was targeting next.

"I have a heart." Quiet as a blade cutting through mist the statement fell and Izaya's guts plummeted. "Do you know what that means?"

Well, fuck.

Did he know? Of course not.

He had speculated that it was something unpleasant. Something frowned upon by demon society at least.

But what if that idea had been wrong?

If Izaya pretended to know and Shizuo forced him to explain he would have one hell of a time to get out of this.

But what if the knowledge of this topic was something every demon was supposed to have? What if this was a test of some sort?

Neither option seemed great and so Izaya chose the latter.

"... of course," he answered, but Shizuo snorted without batting an eyelid.

"Liar. I saw your confusion when you slipped up earlier."

Ah, fuck.

"You stayed quiet as a child having accidently set their pet on fire for the first time," Shizuo elaborated further and Izaya smiled.

"Is that something you did?"

Shizuo snorted.

"Maybe?"

Expectant silence followed as Shizuo looked at Izaya. His intention was obvious, he was waiting for Izaya to admit to his ignorance.

"... alright then tell me. What does it mean? To have a heart?" Izaya asked slowly, and a pleased smile spread across Shizuo's lips.

"You probably already figured I wasn't talking about a real one made of flesh and blood. You have one too after all. Every demon has," he started, and Izaya nodded like he knew he was supposed to.

He had no idea of course.

As far as he was concerned a heart was supposed to be nothing but a lumping vessel of muscles transporting blood and oxygen to all locations needed.

He was curious to find out what other meaning it could hold for demons.

A long pause followed in which Shizuo seemed to hesitate, but he spoke despite his obvious reserves.

"Affection," he sighed, as if stating something he wasn't supposed to, "That's what you catch from humans if you spend too much time around them. It's like a disease, spreads before you know it and suddenly you feel bad for ripping apart a million of them in the past." Izaya maintained his poker face despite the revelation.

Shizuo's words served as both good and bad character traits.

A bad one considering the millions of killed humans he had just mentioned like they were nothing but flies- and an exceedingly good one, telling that he had at some point learned morals.

"It's really a hassle. Causes nothing but troubles, really," Shizuo continued to complain as the puzzle pieces started to form a coherent picture.

Humans if this world were afraid of demons.

So demons had to be a sort of calamity.

That much had been obvious, yet Shizuo didn't hurt any of the sugar gliders and didn't rip Izaya to shreds for fun.

Same accounted for the human souls.

Affection, huh.

Sounded like a weakness in demon terms. Kinda weird to admit that to a stranger.

"Why are you telling me that?" Izaya asked and for a moment Shizuo's gaze just lingered on the raven. "Because I think you got one too."

Izaya blinked.

"How so?"

"Because you didn't touch the souls."

"You told me not to."

"You had no obligation to follow."

"But they would have die-" pausing halfway Izaya realized his mistake and Shizuo showed a winning smile.

Ah.

That's what he meant.

"... I see what you are getting at." Izaya snorted.

"I'm curious though, how did you get it?"

It was funny, the way Shizuo talked about morals sounded like catching some kind of persistent infection.

Well, it probably was, to demons.

Izaya could see it being very difficult from going to caring about a life to not feeling a shred of emotion executing one.

But no matter how he looked at it, the question wasn't one he could answer.

He had no idea what "sticking around humans" looked like.

Why would a ruthless demon even pause to start such a thing?

Given Shizuo asked out of curiosity Izaya figured it wasn't something caught on a short whim.

But considering he had no idea about a demon's social interaction whatsoever he had no story to tell.

"You go first."

Izaya was met with very much appreciated silence.

Shizuo didn't really want to talk about how he acquired his certified illness.

And Izaya was glad about it.

"I'm staying here until the moon is up," the demon announced, and nodded towards the stairway circling up the mountain. "Feel free to move ahead."

Until the moon was up, huh?

Shizuo wasn't resting. Rather it seemed like he was staying for personal reasons.

Was the fighting ground connected to him?

Or did he know the demons that had partaken in it?

Either way moving ahead was no option considering what kind of danger may lay ahead. And seeing as the disgusting human faced worm was still waiting for Izaya's descend he could very much pass on having it leap up his thighs again.

Making himself comfortable Izaya slipped onto a smaller crystal next to the large one and let his back thud against the warm material.

A bit surprised, Shizuo threw him a short glance.

"Not moving ahead?"

A shrug followed, "You look like you could use some company."

Blinking shortly, Shizuo took a moment to comprehend the demon's words.

It was an odd offer, but none Shizuo didn't appreciate, as he felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips.

This demon wasn't even half bad.

to be continued~

Slowly but surely this demon is starting to take a liking to Izaya xDDDD And soon- oh well, C: C: things will happen

xDDDDD

See you next Saturday 3

On a side note my dear lovely readers-

I FINALLY MADE IT! xD

I finished the first book of my fantasy series YULTESRA

It's now available on amazon know I have been posting some of the chapters on AO3 and said I would do the entire thing- the problem is apparently I am not allowed to post everything because of the guidelines of publishing so I have to leave you hanging at a cliffhanger C': One of my favorite activities lmao nah joke xDD

but yeah sadly I can't give you everything on AO3 Anyway, if you are interested in the story or if you ever wanted to support me in any way this is actually a non gay piece of fiction xD So gift it to your parents, to your cat, to your neighbor, plaster the road with it hahahaha Nah for real tho every purchase would mean the world to me :3

I have put +12 years into the creation of this entire world :3

For those that are interested part 2 will be coming around September 2024, part 3 sometime spring 2025 and the last one I would say roughly end of 2025 :3

Yeah it's 4 parts now instead of three xD You know me, I ended up going too much into detail- like in all my stories xDDDD