Let's do this shit.

Enjoy!

"Are we there yet?" Drake asked.

"Does it look like we are?" Steph demanded.

"No, but it didn't feel like it took this long on the way there." Nashi somewhat agreed with Drake on that one. As they walked back home from another job they'd taken, she couldn't help but feel like it was taking way too long. But that came with walking to and from, She guessed. Oh well. Not much they could do. Except walk.

"If you shut up, it'll happen faster." Elise suggested, elbowing Drake in the sides. This caused him to double over in pain, groaning.

"Ow." He hissed. "Was that deserved?"

"Yes."Ultear said. "We all know the roads long. Stop complaining."

"Ugh..." Drake moaned, massaging his sides. Nashi smiled at him.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied, standing up straight again. "Elise just hits too hard."

"You're welcome." Elise replied. The group rounded a corner, and they paused.

"Is that a guy?" Damien asked. Nashi looked forward to find that this guess was pretty accurate. Towards the stream at the side of the road, lying on his back, was a man. He had silver colored hair obscuring the side of his face, and a black cloak hanging around his body. From the distance between them, Nashi could tell he looked a bit banged up from something.

"It looks like he's hurt." Simon said. As they walked closer, it became much more apparent from the scars and bruises on his body he was indeed hurt pretty bad. Ultear leaned down and observed the man closely.

"Is he okay?" Steph inquired. "He looks like shit."

"He does, but he's breathing." Ultear replied, standing up again. "I just want to make sure. Besides, our jobs over. We aren't on a time crunch."

"Just saying Ul, he could kill over at any time..." Elise said.

"What should we do?" Simon asked. "Can we treat him somehow?"

"Not really, no." Nashi said. "None of us are healers."

"That's true." Drake agreed. "We might hurt him even more trying to-" As Drake spoke, someone grunted. A quick look around confirmed no one had done it.

"Did you guys hear that?" Nashi asked, before another grunt came. Looking down, Nashi realized the man was trying to wake up. "I think he's waking up!" They all watched as the man finally opened his eyes, which were a bright golden color.

"W-What...?" He asked, voice hoarse. "What's going on? Who're you people?" Nashi leaned down and smiled warmly at him.

"My name's Nashi. Are you okay?" She asked. He stared at her for a moment, before he closed his eyes and winced.

"N-Nashi..." He said. "Your name...?"

"Yes. That's me." She said. The man didn't reply at first, but Nashi guessed he was in a lot of pain. "What's yours?"

"...Gin." He said. "My name's Gin."

"Nice to meet you, Gin." She said. "What happened to you?"

"What...Happened?" Gin opened his eyes and sat up quickly, which surprised Nashi as she jumped back up. He looked around at the others and his surroundings, before down at his banged up hands.

"You okay?" Ultear asked.

"...I guess." He said. "Everything hurts, but I'll get over it."

"If you say so." Damien said.

"...Why did you stop?" Gin asked, looking up at them.

"What?" Nashi asked.

"Why did you stop to check on me?" He asked. "You didn't have to. You could've ignored me and kept on walking without a care in the world. You don't know me, I don't know you. You had zero obligation to see if I was okay, and yet you stopped. Why?" Nashi made a face.

"We needed a good reason to stop and check if a wounded person needed any help?" She asked. Gin looked at his feet.

"No one's that kind for no good reason." Gin said. "People like that don't exist."

"Nice world view you got there." Drake said sarcastically.

"If you'd seen half the shit I have you'd feel the same way." Surprisingly, Drake did not reply to this. "The way humans act, how we fearlessly care little for those around us. It's a sad reality."

"Well, it isn't reality." Nashi said, making Gin look up at her. "We stopped. We wanted to see if you were okay. Just because you haven't encountered anyone like us doesn't mean we don't exist out there." Gin stared at her blankly before he nodded and struggled to his feet.

"I see." he said. "Your kindness...Makes me feel happy." Nashi smiled.

"You're welcome."

"And as such, I will return that kindness with my own." He said. "You should leave me. All of you. Leave and don't look back." Nashi made a face.

"Huh?" Damien asked. "Why?"

"No doubt those three reported back to their superiors nearby."Gin murmured to himself, but loudly enough for them to hear. "I'll be rained upon my light soon enough..."

"Rained upon by light, huh?" Simon asked. "Care to explain?' Gin shook his head.

"It's none of your concern." he said, turning his back to them and attempting to walk away, but faltered from the pain. "This is my problem. Getting you involved would only..." He grunted from the pain. "Would only get you hurt."

"We can't just leave you." Ultear said. "is there any way we can help?" Gin let out a cold chuckle.

"No." he said. "Hell, if you knew who I was you wouldn't want me to live anyway. That way you'd have kept walking." This made Nashi tense. Was he any enemy?"

"And who exactly are you?" Elise asked. Gin paused, before he turned back to them.

"There's no easy way to say this, even though I'm not trying to." He said. "So, here it is." he took a deep breath. "I'm a Demon Lord takeover wizard."

This stunned the group into silence. He was a what?

"Say again?" Nashi asked, stunned.

"Have you not heard of the twelve Demon Lords?" Gin demanded. "The guardians of hell and the circles of Judgment?"

"I'd say we know a little too much about them." Drake mumbled.

"I'm one of them." He said. "Ever since I was a little boy, I've had this horrible power. My family, my village, they cast me out for it. I've been running ever since." He stared down at his hand, looking as though he was livid to see it. "All my life I've had this shadow following me, egging me on to slaughter everyone who mistreats me...It's hell on earth." That did indeed sound hellish. Although Nashi could assume a certain someone knew his pain. "I'm surprised he hasn't told me to kill you guys yet, so..."

"It sucks huh?" Nashi watched as Damien stepped forward. "Having a shadow telling you shit all the time."

"I-I'm sorry, what?" Gin asked. Damien laughed.

"Sorry," He said. "Forgot to introduce myself." He raised his hand and waved. "Damien. Demon Lord takeover wizard." This made Gin's eyes widen.

"E-Excuse me?" He said. "You're...?"

"Yeah." Damien said, smiling thorough it. "I get you, man. Having a man in a suit follow you around and egg you on blows. So? Who's your demon? Does he have a name?" Gin looked stunned to his very core at this news, but he nodded weakly.

"Yes." He said. "He has a name."

"Want to share?" Gin didn't reply, but Damien didn't skip a beat. "Mine's Xisplate." Nashi watched as Damien looked beside him, where no one was. "Right Xisplate?" Gin was also staring in awe at the spot, but Nashi still saw nothing. All of a sudden, Damien looked unimpressed. "Asshole..." He mumbled.

"Nice to meet you, Damien..." Gin then looked at the spot beside Damien. "Lord Xisplate of the 12th Circle." A few seconds later, Damien rolled his eyes.

"There's no way in hell you can convince me to address you formally, you dick." he said. Nashi, however, could still see no one. Damien looked back at Gin.

"So? Who's yours?" Gin shifted uncomfortably.

"His name is Mortavius." He said. "The Lord of the 4th Circle of Judgment. The Brute, is his title."

"The Brute, huh?" Damien asked. "Sounds like he's a pain in your ass." Gin did not reply to this.

"So you're a Demon Lord takeover wizard." Ultear summarized. "No big deal. Damien's one. Our good friend Bella is as well. We don't think badly of you, man. Really."

"..I see." Gin said. "Despite this, please run regardless. Those Demon Hunters won't not hurt you. Death by association, I'd wager. So-"

"Demon Hunters?" Steph asked, stepping forward. "Can you describe what they looked like?" Gin made a face.

"Well..." he said, thinking. "They wore dark black cloaks and jackets, and there was a strange insignia here..." Gin pointed to the upper left part of his body. Steph looked at Damien.

"Onii-chan." She said. "They work for the same guy that attacked you."

"I know." Damien said. "Same outfit."

"You've run into them before?" Gin asked.

"Not because they were hunting me, no." Damien said. "I went to find my little sister and ran into one. Damn near killed me."

"A capable bunch." Gin agreed, nodding. "They would've got me too, but..." He looked away from them. "Not important. Anyways, I don't know how close they are or if they've gotten reinforcements, so please. Don't try to help me anymore."

"Not happening, buddy." Damien said. "We Demon Lords stick together."

"That why two we've met tried to kill you?" Elise demanded.

"The sane ones, that is." Damien corrected himself. "Don't worry, Gin. These guys won't hurt you. We'll help you." Gin looked confused.

"Why?" Gin demanded. "Strangers who help in a situation like this are naive and truthfully I'm starting to see it in you people. You aren't involved. Don't just insert yourself into danger for me." Simon burst out into laughter.

"Gin, we do that way to often." He said. "We'll be okay. We've fended off bigger threats then a few Demon Hunters." Gin did not look convinced, so Nashi smiled at him.

"You're stuck with us, Gin." She said. "We're not going to let them hurt you."

"...If you say so." He replied.

"Again, I'm sorry for slowing us down today." Gin said as they came to a stop in a valley. During the rest of the day they'd had to stop many times for Gin, who was more injured than he was letting on.

"It's no big deal." Drake said. "Stopping feels like a good thing anyway. I need a rest."

"No, you're just lazy." Elise replied.

"You telling me you're not, princess?" Drake demanded. Elise raised her hand in a threat, and Drake cowered away from her. Damien smiled as he watched his friends do normal things that people did when setting up camp. Ultear and Simon piled up pieces of wood and Nashi threw a small fireball on it to make the fire glow and lit up the area. Damien looked over at Gin to find him standing off to the side and watching them do their thing.

"Get over here." Damien told him. "Stay near the fire." Gin made a face at him, but nodded and came closer to the fire.

"Alright well, who's taking the first watch?" Ultear asked, crossing her arms. No one spoke up, probably because nobody wanted to do it.

"I'll do it." Damien said. "Those Hunters won't get past me."

"My man, Damien." Drake said, lying down and sprawling out, which made his arms hit Nashi, who was trying to lay down.

"Get off me." She said, pushing him. This made Drake laugh.

"Sorry, I forgot you aren't single anymore." he said. This made Nashi blush, which only fueled Drake's laughter as he rolled away and made his back face her. Soon enough, those two along with the others were lying down and falling asleep.

Well, except for Gin, who still stood by the fire.

"You alright man?" Damien asked him, making him look over. "You look like you're spacing out."

"I'm okay." Gin replied, still standing there. "Just sore is all."

"Sit down then. Jeez, don't act so weird."

"Sorry..."

"No need to apologize." Gin nodded and walked a bit closer to Damien, sitting down and taking a deep breath. After this, there was silence between them. Damien assumed Gin wasn't going to fall asleep, given he seemed to be doing everything he could to avoid it. Perhaps he wanted to watch as well?

"I don't understand you lot." Gin said, making Damien look at him. "What kind of person does all this for a person they barely know, much less can trust? How stupid are you people?" Damien smirked.

"If being nice is stupid, we're downright mental." He said.

"This goes beyond being nice." Gin replied. "You've injected yourselves into a conflict that had nothing to do with you, with me, who you don't know, all because I told you about it. Really now. How stupid can you get." Damien made a face.

"So in all these years, you've never seen another friendly face?" Damien asked.

"That face generally goes cold with hatred once they know I have a monster living inside me." Gin said quietly. "Nobody wants to help the walking time bomb."

"We did." Damien said. "That counts for something, right?"

"..."

"Besides, you're not a monster. Neither am I. Or Bella, another Demon Lord we know." Damien opted out of talking about Taisho and Shuichi. "We're just different."

"...How do you do it, Damien?" He asked, making Damien raise an eyebrow. "How can you act so casual and nonchalant about it? You have a creature that represents death incarnate using you as a tether to our world. How can you not throw up at the thought?" Damien gave this some thought.

"...Back when I first discovered this power of mine," he said, thinking back to that fateful day. "I was excited to try it out. In my zeal, I lost control. I destroyed my home, my city, and nearly killed my little sister."

"Steph?" Gin asked. Damien nodded.

"Yeah. After that, I loathed being his tether. Every day I was haunted by what he'd done with my body, and I wondered why I had to be the one to carry the burden. I swore off ever taking over into Xisplate again." Damien closed his eyes. "But down the line, I had no choice to use it again."

"SHOW ME YOUR DEMONS, DAMIEN! SHOW ME WHY YOU DON'T USE HIM!"

Taisho's angry roar rang in Damien's ears.

"Another Demon Lord takeover wizard by the name of Taisho was my enemy. He wasn't scared of his power, though that might be because he'd lost his mind." Damien said. "I had to use Xisplate again. And I did...Which ended with Taisho being killed."

"Wow..." Gin said.

"After that, my interactions with Xisplate grew in number. It seemed like he always showed up and talked with me, even when I didn't want him to." Damien laughed weakly. "Even if it was just to mock me. But soon, I started to not be so angry when he showed up. Eventually, I started to trust his judgment and then, once he told me why he'd done what he did with my body almost twelve years prior, I came to trust him."

"Trust?" Gin asked.

"Yeah. It's still weird for me, but I'm getting accustomed to it." Damien sighed. "My point being is that, well, I just do. I've been through so much with him and I've grown so much as a person because of his influence...He's my friend."

"Aw, I'm touched Damien."

"You shut it." Damien told Xisplate, who's presence he know sensed behind him. "Don't mock me. I'm trying to help someone out here." Xisplate snorted.

"Whatever you say, friend" Xisplate said. Damien rolled his eyes and looked back at Gin.

"My point is is that I just do it." he said. "At some point you have to realize that you have to carry the burden of being one of the twelve. But, if you don't treat it like a burden, it isn't so bad."

"Not a burden? Don't flatter him, kid." A dark voice said. Gin sat bolt right up, and Damien turned. Standing by the fire was another man in a suit. He had silver hair like Gin tied up in a bun, and scars all over his face. His eyes, unlike Gin's, were blood red.

"Nice to see you, Mortavius." Xisplate said. Mortavius glared at Xisplate.

"Fuck you, how's that for a greeting?" Mortavius asked. He walked closer to Gin and glowered down at him. "This kid is the definition of pathetic. He lets anyone, ANYONE, walk all over him like he's a god damn carpet, for fuck sake."

"Get out of here..." Gin whispered.

"You have the power to make all those who walk over you bow on their knees and plead for mercy!" Mortavius shouted. "And yet you let them do it anyway! That stall owner who fucking pitied you, that thug you tried to rob you, those hunters who tried to kill you, it's always the same." Mortavius spat on the ground. "You make me sick, Gin."

"Please just leave..." Gin repeated.

"And these kids, too!" Mortavius shouted, gesturing at the sleeping others and Damien. "You got pitied to the point that they wanted to help you! Fuck these people, kill all of them!"

"Hey, calm down." Damien said, standing up "There's no need for that." Mortavius stopped and turned to Damien. He walked right up to him and into his face, grinning darkly.

"Ah, you must be Xisplate's takeover wizard." He said. "What was it, again? Derick? Damon?"

"Damien." Damien corrected.

"Ah, right." Mortavius glowered at him. "Don't speak out of turn, boy. I won't hesitate to annihilate you and then your friends." Damien gulped. His guy really had a presence. "Hear me? I won' think Vantros or Meridia was bad? You ain't seen the power of The Brute, boy. I will wipe you clean off of this plane of existence, you fucking-"

Xisplate grabbed Mortavius' shoulder, which made him freeze in his tracks.

"That's quite enough, don't you think Morty?" Xisplate asked, voice deadly serious. Mortavius slowly backed away from Damien and turned to Xisplate.

"Sure, whatever." he said. With that, he vanished. Damien let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. Xisplate turned to Damien.

"A word, Damien." He said, walking away from the campsite. Damien followed him into the dark, leaving Gin as the sole watchmen.

"What is it?" Damien asked.

"Firstly, I'm sorry for Mortavius' behavior. He's got a short temper."

"I can tell." Damien muttered.

"Anyway, that's not my main point. What I wish to speak about is Gin." Xisplate turned back to Damien. "I don't know how, but the boy has masked his scent as a demon. Which is saying something, because I had no idea he was one of us until about thirty seconds before he told us."

"Really?" Damien asked. "You couldn't sense it?" Xisplate shook his head.

"No." he said. "Which is odd because with Vantros, Akirelys and Meridia I did right off the-"

"Wait, Akirelys and Meridia?" Damien asked, feeling his temper rising. "You knew they were around?!"

"Well, yeah."

"Why was I not told?!"

"It wasn't relevant." Xisplate said, waving a hand around. Damien wholly disagreed. "Regardless, the boy's masked his presence excellently. Sadly, we'll still be found by the Demon Hunters. My guess is midday tomorrow."

"Wait, why?" Damien asked. "His scent is masked."

"Are you really this stupid, Damien?" Xisplate asked, before he sighed. "Of all the things to not get..."

"What, what is it?" Damien asked. Xisplate walked towards Damien and jabbed him int the chest with his index finger.

"They're searching for a Demon Lord around here." He said. Damien's eyes widened.

"Oh no..."

"And you, Damien, absolutely reek of Demon."

And another chapter down. I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!