Chapter 12

"Ow! For fuck's sake, man!"

Richard sighed after getting slapped for the fiftieth time. "I'm trying to help you. Shut up."

He pushed the needle through Damien's flesh again in an attempt to stitch up the wound from his vivisection. He got a pained hiss and another slap to the face for his efforts.

"Stop slapping me or I'll leave you to bleed!" Richard snapped, jabbing his finger in Damien's direction.

"It fucking hurts!" Damien snapped back. "It's like tiny little teeth biting me!"

"Grow up. You had your stomach cut open and your organs removed, but you can't handle a little needle prick?"

"You're a little needle prick!"

"That wasn't in insult, you idiot!" Richard went back to what he was doing. "Now, be quiet. I'm nearly done."

Just as Richard put the needle back in, Damien flinched and smacked him again. Then Carrie jumped up and slapped him across the face. This befuddled and angered Damien.

"The fuck was that for?" He demanded, holding his face. There was a tiny handprint on it.

"Oh, I thought we were playing Slaps." Carrie said with an innocent smile. "Such a delightful game. It involves both parties slapping each other across the face several times until one gives up or passes out. Well done, you are winning!"

"Of course we weren't, you fucking-"

"Done." Richard announced. He had just finished stitching him up.

"Oh." Damien nodded. "Thanks." He inspected the wound, then pulled his shirt back over his stomach.

Kitty couldn't suppress his amused giggle at the scene before him. It was like watching a comedy routine. He hadn't felt so gleeful in weeks.

"You're so silly, Dimmy!"

Damien raised an eyebrow. "Dimmy? Who's that?"

"You." Kitty said with a cheeky smile. "Dimmy, short for Damien."

Damien's eyes widened and his face went red. He turned away, smiling to himself. "You like me enough to give me a nickname? I'm honoured."

Cute. Kitty grinned. He liked making Damien blush. He was adorable. Then he remembered what Dante had called him.

"That guy before called you Aoi." Kitty said. "Is that your real name?"

"Yeah. Aoi Nakamura." Damien nodded with a blank face. Then he smiled. "But I prefer Damien. And you can call me Dimmy."

It was Kitty's turn to blush and smile. They had little pet names for each other, unique to them. Granted, Damien's nickname for Kitty was just his actual name, but others rarely called him by it. It was still special for them.

Everyone had gathered in the dining room, boredly watching Damien get medical treatment. Richard was the medic, and Carrie, Claire, Ken'ichi and Gabriel tagged along to see what was going on. Gabriel was mad at Damien for, in his mind, putting Kitty in danger.

"It was your fault this all happened, you know." Gabriel scowled at Damien. "You dragged my son into your little feud and almost got him killed."

"Father, stop it! It's not his fault!"

"No, it is." Damien said. "I apologise, sir. I promise to keep him safe from now on."

The glare on Gabriel's face softened, but he still looked annoyed. He nodded. "I'll hold you to that."

"Hang on a second." Kitty crossed his arms and frowned. "I don't need protecting. I'm not a little kid."

"I know that, sweetie. But you're not very threatening." Gabriel said. "You're small and thin, and easy to trick."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Kitty muttered with a huff.

"You know what I mean."

Kitty did know what he meant, though he didn't want to admit it. It was true, he wasn't the most capable of fighters. But he was determined to learn.

"It's not safe here for you." Gabriel said. "We're better off with our own kind."

"How can you say that?" Kitty asked in astonishment. "How can you say you want equal rights if you demonise those who are different to us? That's exactly what the humans are doing to us!"

This worked to shut Gabriel up. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. He put his head down, glaring at the ground. "I-I didn't mean it like that."

"I know you weren't trying to be mean, and I agree that it's probably not safe here. But it's not safe anywhere, for anyone." Kitty paused. "I thought the same way at first. Humans, and even some non-humans, look down on us like we're nothing, but not all of them do. Being here taught me that. We should be respectful to those who treat us kindly, even if others in their species hurt us. You can't hate a group of people for what only a few of them do." He stopped again and looked Gabriel in the eye. "We're safer here than anywhere else. We're accepted by the people in this house and we're protected by them. They're our friends now, and friends stick together and help each other."

Gabriel stared at him in shock. Then he shook his head and smiled. "That kindness of yours. I raised you well, it seems."

Kitty smiled when Gabriel ruffled his hair. Everyone had told him his kindness and compassion was a weakness, but he didn't think so. To him, being heartless was a weakness. How can you grow as a person if you go through life with hate in your heart? Those who refuse love become monsters, and he'd be damned if he turned into one himself.

Another thought popped into Kitty's mind.

"About the whole Nyuujaku thing. Can you tell me more about it?"

Damien opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, a puff of red smoke appeared behind him. The smoke transformed into a tall man in a black and red suit. He had long red horns protruding from his head and a forked tail.

"Hello!" The man yelled with a goofy grin.

It was obvious Damien hadn't expected him to be there. He jumped out of his skin and cursed. He turned to the man with a furious glare.

"Jesus fucking Christ, stop doing that!"

"Don't say that! You know that name hurts me!" The man whined. "Makes my tummy feel all gunky."

"Ew." Damien cringed and dropped his face into his palm.

The strange man regained his composure and pulled Damien into a bear hug. Damien wasn't happy with this.

"I just wanted to see my darling boy, that's all!" He lifted Damien off the table with ease.

"Put me the hell down! I'm injured!" Damien shrieked and began slapping him across the head, but he didn't let go.

"I'm not stitching that up a second time." Richard got up, muttering that he was going to make some tea.

It took a few seconds of staring for Kitty to realise who the man mollycoddling Damien was.

"Satan!" Kitty yelled, pointing at the man in shock.

"Yes, I am!" The man yelled back and pointed at Kitty with glee. "And you must be the cute boy who's enthralled my son! He's told me so much about you!"

"Hey, shut up!" Damien shouted and hid his red face in his hands.

"Your son?" Kitty smiled in amusement. "Dimmy, you never told me you had a daddy! Well, I didn't know he was around, at least."

"I don't tell most people." Damien grumbled, glaring at Satan out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not allowed to for safety reasons, but I don't really want to, either. The man's an embarrassment."

"You're embarrassed by me? You're so cruel!" Satan yelled into Damien's face with a hurt expression.

"Lower your damn voice! You're gonna burst my eardrums!"

Satan collapsed onto the floor in exaggerated misery, clutching his heart. "Why do you wound me, my dear child?"

"Grow up! And get off the floor! You're being fucking ridiculous!"

An amused snort burst out of Kitty. He never expected Satan, the supposed epitome of evil, to be so happy-go-lucky and immature.

"You didn't answer my question. About Nyuujaku and all this." Kitty reminded him, though he wasn't annoyed.

"I can answer your question, sweet cat-boy!" Satan came up to him and bopped him on the nose with his finger.

"You see, me and God have had a feud lasting for thousands of years. I was created by God, along with the other archangels. I went by Lucifer back then, which is a little confusing since I have a demon with the same name, my second in command. So anyway, I lived in Heaven for a while, being an angel and doing angel stuff. Back then, the angels were beautiful and caring. This was before they became replaced by those horrible little snappy-teethed ones.

"I was in charge of overseeing Earth when God was busy. I saw the inhabitants of this planet and, despite their sins, became fond of them. But I was the only one who was. I saw the horrific things God inflicted on these poor people and I hated it. I wanted to change things, but I was just one man. An archangel, but with lower authority than God. So I decided to ask my brothers and fellow archangels to help me. I told them of my plan, hoping they would assist me. How wrong I was.

"When I told them I wanted to help those on Earth, they shunned me and called me weak. Not only that, but they leaked this secret plan to God himself. I was promptly stripped of my wings and thrown out of Heaven. I fell for thirty days and thirty nights, until I landed in the Earth's crust. I named this place Hell and made it my own. I crafted demons from my own blood, still hoping to make the world a better place.

"After that, I became God's worst enemy. We would never fight each other. If we ever had an all-out battle, the Earth itself would shatter into a thousand pieces, and I would surely die. God never truly dies, not forever. So instead, we – well, God decided we should create our own soldiers. The angels and demons wouldn't do. There were far more angels than demons. I argued that wasn't fair. So God came to the decision that we should have children of our own to fight for us, four to each father. For generations, these children have fought to one day gain the Earth for their father. Sadly, they were all killed, as were God's own offsprings.

"But now, I hope to craft Damien into a strong and capable warrior, one who can defeat the daughter of God and claim the Earth for the greater good. The only one who can kill her is the antichrist." Satan ended his speech with a pat to Damien's head. Damien slapped his hand away with a grumpy pout.

"Wow." Kitty was in utter awe. He didn't realise Damien was that cool. "But wait. You said there would be four to each father. Does that mean Damien has-"

"Of course, my son is not alone in this fight for the Earth." Satan said, completely interrupting Kitty. "These wonderful people before you assist him in his missions." He gestured to everyone there.

Green eyes widened in shock. "You all help him? But how? Aren't you guys human?"

"Nope. None of us are." Claire said with a smile. "We're all different species. I'm a siren, Carrie's a ghost in a doll, Richard's a fire demon, and Ken'ichi's a regular demon."

"Regular demons are better than you traitors." Ken'ichi mumbled.

"That was thousands of years ago, Ken'ichi. Don't be a bitch about it." Richard calmly replied, sipping his tea.

"What are they arguing about?" Kitty whispered to Damien.

"Thousands of years ago, the fire demons, who are a different subspecies to demons, rebelled against Satan and left Hell." Damien answered. "The regular demons despise them for that. There's always been hostility between these two. Ken'ichi refuses to let it go."

Kitty nodded. There was inequality in every group, it seemed.

"Me and father will help you win the Earth. Right?"

A grumble came from Gabriel, but he agreed to join them.

"I just hope we can defeat God and his children. They sound so scary." Kitty held his face in his hands, a little afraid.

☽☾

Hundreds of miles away, in a glistening glass palace in the Imperial City, a young girl sat on her throne and contemplated her existence. The fear of her inevitable death loomed over her like a ghost, creeping up on her when she found she had nothing to distract her. It wasn't completely bad. It got rid of her boredom for little while, but it soon became too much for her nerves to take.

She sighed and gazed out of her window. The view from up here was amazing, but she still found it dull. Her servant and adopted father, Julien - a small chubby man with neatly styled hair - walked into the room. When she saw him, she perked up a little.

"Have you found it yet?"

"N-Not yet, your Holy Highness." Julien stuttered, trembling when he noticed her scowl. "I'm sorry, but I think this excavation is doomed. The Fountain of Eternal Life doesn't exist. It's just a legend."

The girl watched him for a moment before sitting back at her throne. "Are you implying that I don't know fantasy from reality?"

"No! No, I'm not saying that at all!" He was becoming more nervous by the minute. "But I think, just this once, you're mistaken. We've had soldiers and professional archaeologists search everywhere for several years now, and no one has managed to find a trace of it."

Her icy blue eyes finally left his face. "I have to find something, Julien." She had to find a relic, a potion, anything. She couldn't die. She couldn't ever die.

Julien nodded. "I know, milady. But we don't know what else to do. Please understand." He tried to smile, but it came out rather lopsided and forced. "But on the plus side, you will have eternal youth. You'll never grow old physically. And you'll live longer than some humans."

"That's not good enough, Julien!" The girl screamed at the top of her voice, face full of unbridled rage. Julien cowered. "If I die, my reign and legacy will cease to exist! I will cease to exist! I will become nothing, and will be forgotten! I will never allow that to happen, and if you value your life, you won't either!" She inhaled sharply through her nose. Her anger began to dissipate. "I want to guarantee that I'll never die."

"I'm sorry, milady. We're trying our best." Julien kept his head down as he spoke. "You'll live a long life, provided you're not murdered. I'll make sure not to let that happen."

The girl hummed. "That doesn't reassure me. You're rather useless. And spineless." She sat back on her throne and thumbed the bottle of holy water she always kept with her. "No, you won't be able to secure my life. Only I can. The only potential threat to me is the antichrist, but I can't kill him until he agrees to fight me." She pursed her lips. "What a shame."

She stood up once more, putting the bottle into her dress pocket. She summoned a kusarigama made from pure light and inspected it. No damage, though there were a few blood stains. Deeming it was suitable, she made her way to the door.

"If I can convince him to fight me, I can obtain his beautiful corpse and keep hold of my empire." Her lips raised in a smirk. "I'll possess you yet, my dear Aoi."