3 Chapter 3: A wilted Gladiolus

d, defeated.

"Don't worry about it, I covered the hospital bill," Vincent said, hoping to cheer the man up.

"It's not about that... I need the money for medicine..." Rogue said, staring down at his clenched fists.

"The doctor said you're fine," Shiu exclaimed.

"It's not for me, it's for my daughter," Rogue explained.

A cold silence filled the room, as the sun set low. "What's wrong with her?" Vincent asked.

"I don't know... She's staying with an alchemist in the north side of town... Something about a curse..." Rogue explained.

Vincent scratched his head. "Would you mind if I tried to lift the curse?" Vincent asked.

Rogue's eyes widened, "Do you actually think you can..." Rogue looked down. "I told you... I lost my gold..." Rogue said.

"Well, how about a different form of compensation?" Vincent asked.

Rogue shot Vincent another wry look, "Sorry, man. I'm not gay." he exclaimed.

"NO, not what I mean!" Vincent replied. "What I'm saying is, if the curse is easy to lift, it'd be unfair for me to demand lots of money, but if it's more difficult than you could pay me back somehow." Vincent offered, his face was red from embarrassment once again.

"Like how?" Rogue asked curiously.

"Like... buy me dinner." Vincent offered.

"Man told you... I'm not into-" Rogue began.

"ALRIGHT FINE, Just pay me back in gold!" Vincent cried.

"Deal," Rogue said with a smirk.

Rubbing his eyes, Rogue regained most of his vision, "I guess we've not introduced ourselves yet, my name's Rogue." Rogue introduced himself.

"I'm Vincent," Introduced himself, "Shiu," Shiu said plainly.

As Rogue turned to get a proper look at Vincent, he noticed his skin complexion, in a flash it had become apparent to Rogue, that Vincent was a demon.

Vincent pulled the hood over his head, his expression shifting slightly upon seeing the expression Rogue's face.

"So, shall we get going?" Vincent asked, Rogue tore his eyes away from Vincent for at last.

"Sure, I think that magic stuff you mentioned must've been pretty strong, I feel great…" Rogue said, his voice shifted back to his usual jovial tone, despite this he was still in shock, to an average human seeing a demon is no different from seeing the devil himself!

Rogue stood up from his bed, and stretched a bit. "All right, I'll lead the way." he announced, to which Vincent and Shui nodded.

As the group left through the front door of the clinic, they made their way north, it was a quiet evening with no clouds in the sky, exposing a warm, yellow-red sky. "It's sure is a nice evening." Vincent commented, looking at the golden sky, squinting slightly.

"Yeah… although I wouldn't have taken you for someone who'd enjoy the sun like this." Rogue said, his expression shifted to a more awkward one after he said that.

"Just because I don't enjoy the sun, doesn't mean I can't enjoy the evening sky." Vincent replied jovially.

"I don't know about you two, but nothing beats laying out in the sun, on a nice summer's day." Shiu argued.

"I get sick thinking about it…" Vincent replied.

A few seconds of silence passed as the three walked onwards, past wooden building with stone bases, various street lights and the many merchants removing their stalls from the roads.

"So… couldn't you just use magic to protect yourself from the sun?" Rogue asked, thinking about Vincent's comment about not liking the sun.

"I can't really cast any of those spells, I already learned most of the spells for my elements." Vincent replied.

"Elements?" Shiu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You mean to tell me you don't know how the magical elements work?" Vincent asked with a smug look on his face.

"Where would I have learned this?!" Shiu argued.

Both Rogue and Vincent didn't have any response to that question.

"Good point." Vincent replied.

The more Rogue listened to Vincent and Shiu talking, the more comfortable he felt around them, they didn't seem like the devil anyway.

"To put it simply, a magic element is like… a talent. Some people believe that you are born with your element, other say you pick them up as you go through life. For example, if your elements are fire and earth, there is little to no point in learning water magic, since at best you'll be able to move a few drops of water at a time." Vincent explained.

"So, how many do you get? Elements, I mean." Shiu asked.

"Well, it depends on the race, humans are usually given two, beastmen get one and elves get five. That said, ultimately it's up to chance, many people are born without magic elements, and some are born with ten or more." Vincent exclaimed.

Rogue was becoming more tense, this demon… he was a lot more intelligent than the blood thirsty monsters described in the tales he heard as a child, perhaps he was an extra-powerful one. Beads of sweat were appearing in Rogue's forehead now.

"A-and how many do you have?" Rogue asked.

Vincent grinned and with a chucked exclaim… "Three."

"That's it? I though demons were supposed to be super strong?!" Shiu said, he voice a mix of disappointment and mockery.

"Hah… Not the first time I've heard that." Vincent said, as a sombre expression came over his face. Shiu realised she must have stuck a nerve and changed the subject.

"So, what elements do you have? Vincent." Shiu asked.

"Let's see, I have Healing, Light and Logic. " Vincent said.

"... Those… are the deadly skills of a demon?" Rogue though to himself, "This can't be real, he must be hiding some evil shadow… doom… magic…"

"We're here." Rogue said, standing in front of a small house, more of a hut really. The roof was made from wooden tiles, the walls were made from logs. The walls of the buildings had no windows, although they did have holes with hatches held up by sticks near the room.

Creaking the door open, Rogue took a step into the room, the dimly lit interior was surrounding the single bed in the middle of the room, "So, this is the house of the so called alchemist?" Vincent asked, looking at the seemingly empty room.

"Sure it, but you won't be able to see the interior without a little bit of magic." Rogue said, raising his arm in front of himself, and calling out, "Awareness!"

The room was flooded with a yellow light, which seemingly morphed the shape of the room itself, revealing it for a large laboratory, with various shelves of potions and large distillers. The floor became clean and polished.

"Oh, guests!" the voice of a woman said, it was smooth and high, almost melodic.

"Yes, these… people carried me to the clinic after a bad run in with Phyl." Rogue explained.

"Oh, my goodness, Vincent?!" the voice asked, from the shadows came a figure of a woman, dressed in long purple robes the top of which resembled a cloak. She had a pointy had, the type stereotypically associated with wizards.

"Mary?!" Vincent asked excitedly, moving over to the woman, they exchanged a quick hug. "My, how you've grown, not too long ago you used to be the littlest ankle biting monster." The woman laughed.

"You two know each other?" Rogue and Shiu said at the same time.

"Yeah, Mary used to be a… teacher of sorts." Vincent explained.

"It's great to see you are doing well, Vincent." Mary said, patting his head, despite the fact he was actually a little taller than her.

"Is Isaac still…?" Mary asked, looking a bit more concerned, Vincent nodded with a sad smile.

While the two chatted, Rogue and Shiu looked at the two, this seemed out of character for Vincent, but to Rogue this was a total change of character, since when is the witch of the woods meant to be acting like a grandmother?!

Rogue cleared his throat, "Sorry to interrupt your reunion but we came here for something." he said.

Mary raised an eyebrow, "Oh, if you're looking for your daughter, she's in the back like usual." she said.

"All right!" Vincent said, stepping away from Mary and towards the door where Rogue was walking.

"Wait, Vincent, you mean to tell me you-" Mary looked worried.

"It's all right… " Vincent said, stepping into the room.

As Rogue and Vincent entered the room, the door was shut by Rogue, this left Shiu and Mary in the lab.

"Oh, hello there. You must be Vincent's pet." Mary said, waving her hand over and patting her knees as if beckoning a dog.

Shiu took a deep breath, slowly breath in, hold the air in, and release… "Nobody needs to have their kneecaps busted." Shiu repeated in her head.

"Come on, I'll give you a treat!" Mary added.

Shiu took a deep breath, before cracking her knuckles.

Ignoring the commotion going up outside the room, Vincent and Rogue lit the lamp in the room, before Vincent lay a girl, her hair a light chestnut colour hair, laying on her bed, she wore what looked like a long, puffy, wool dress. Laying next to her was an equally puffy blanket.

"Daddy! You're back!" the girl exclaimed, here eyes lit up instantly.

Looking at Vincent the girl instantly froze, and began shaking. "It's a monster!" she exclaimed, in her fear she knocked over a candle, which was neatly placed in what looked like a skull.

A defeated look came across Vincent's face.

"No, this is Vincent, and he's here to try to help you." Rogue explained, patting the girl on the head and giving Vincent an apologetic look.

"So, what are the symptoms?" Vincent asked.

"Well… Fever, shivering, vomiting, sweating, speaking in tongues, levitating… the occasion throwing around of furniture."

"I'm amazed you can just name that off with a straight face." Vincent said.

"What do you mean? Is something wrong?" Rogue asked. He looked genuinely confused.

"Are you seriously not aware of the symptoms of demonic possession?" Vincent asked.

"Demonic possession?!" Rogue asked concerned.

"Humans really are ridiculously unaware of these things…" Vincent said. "That said, I'm surprised Mary didn't realise what's going on." he added.

"Is it really so obvious?!" Rogue asked.

Vincent nodded.

With a slow breath, Vincent extended his arm over the girl, "Spotlight!" he called out, as a ray of holy light shot directly down onto the girl, she shut her eyes. At first rogue was panicking, after all this is a demon lord, and he was casting a spell directly over his daughter.

Suddenly Rogue began to smell burning, "Stop it, I smell her burning!" Rogue exclaimed. "I'm okay!" The girl cried. Looking around Rogue realised it was Vincent's hand, his skin was flaking off, and ash was dropping from his palm.

"What the hell is happening to your arm?!" Rogue demanded.

"It's the light magic, demons are weak to it!" Vincent replied.

The girl's head suddenly snapped towards Vincent, "What the bloody hell do ye thing you're doing ?!" a voice came from the girl's mouth, it sounded older, and more masculine.

"Demon! Leave this girl alone!" Vincent demanded, slightly weakening his mana usage so as to weaken the light magic. "Like hell I will, sure you know how the sun kills the undead!" the voice argued.

"If you don't leave, I'll force you out!" Vincent warned.

"Go right ahead, lad. If ye can that is." the voice said smugly.

"Light folding, Light plate!" Vincent said, as the room became transacted by a flat flat of light, moving up and down, seemingly eradicating any darkness.

"Are you thick?! You're going ta get yourself killed too, ya eejit!!!" the voice screeched.

"We'll see… who'll get erased first!" Vincent replied with a smirk, his breath heavy and his skin seemingly burnt in places.

Rogue was horrified at the sight, "You don't have to do this all at once! You're injured!" he moved in closer.

"No! If I let him loose there is no guarantee I'll catch him again!" Vincent argued.

Rogue stepped back.

"Holy flame!" Vincent called out, his hands began burning a white flame, the voice began to sound like it was in pain, it cried out in agony.

With a loud addable crack, a white, whisper, coiling light escaped from the girl's mouth and began to shoot towards Vincent.

"I'll get ye now, Demon!" the voice called out, zooming towards Vincent's face, the orb sank into the ting before itself, possessing it. However, it was not Vincent the ghost possessed, but rather the skull from before. Quickly Vincent placed his palm on the skull, "Holy seal!" he said, as the skull began glowing a golden white light, before fading back to it's normal colour.

Vincent put the skull into his pocket.

"Well, looks like we're done!" Vincent said, giving Rogue a thumbs up, before falling to his knees and falling face first into the wooden floor.

The black void before Vincent, what was it…

Surely, he didn't die from such a minor task…

"Looks like I went overboard with light magic again… I guess they… he was right… demons don't use light magic."

"Go on, kill it!" the voice commanded, Vincent stood in the room, a stone hall, surrounded by short stone walls, making a makeshift arena.

Before Vincent lay an elf, their arms snapped and legs chained to the floor, "If you can't beat something as weak as this, than how can you call yourself a demon lord?!" a voice called out from outside the right, "Why don't you heal it, while you're at it!" another familiar voice laughed from the back of the crowd.

This nightmare haunted Vincent so often, it had little to no emotional impact him, Vincent hated this dream nevertheless, it always left him numb.