One Of Us

"None of us are strong enough to control whatever is inside him. For now, he's in control thanks to the restraints Deli put on him. You can tell just by looking at him even from here, he can't be salvaged, Seraph."

"I don't get it at all. What are you even-"

"Oi!", Chopper interfered, "Don't be a chicken about it, you brat. This is on you-"

"Chopper!", Lady stopped him.

"Just tell him the truth, hag. He ain't a kid", he seemed annoyed.

"Get things going. Call Sight and Grim, we don't have much time. Tell Deli to bring him around the back. We can't let him in when he's like that", she instructed Chopper after which he left.

I stood watching them, utterly confused. After Chopper was gone, Lady looked at me and sighed.

"We always knew...that a time like this would come. But I had believed when I sent you...that you'd be coming back alone. Still, I should have known better...it was you, after all."

She turned her back to me and looked emptily into the distance, perhaps formulating her thought.

"Can you slow down? I can't..."

"Why don't you go inside? Get some...rest, maybe..."

I hated that she was turning me away right now. But I knew she wasn't gonna budge. I was infuriated with her and everyone else. I stormed back down to Valhalla. Inside was empty, except for June who was in her usual place, behind a pile of papers, cutting something out of a newspaper. She looked up at me through her crooked glasses, one of her lenses was round, the other was a rectangle. I always thought her glasses were far too big for her face. I think she nodded her head a little, perhaps welcoming me back. She wasn't one to say a lot.

I guess seeing her calmed me down a bit. I silently sat in one of the empty benches and began to think about everything. Nothing made sense. There was no way I would let anyone kill Prophet just like that. How could they be so unfair, treating him like a rabid dog?

I began to think back, on everything. All the times we'd waited on demons to clear out so we could move on, times we'd reminded each other of what remained of our memories, times we'd had to wait on each other to come back to life...Now that I was thinking about it, I realized that Prophet had had to wait far more than I had waited for him. He hated it, he had told me. But still, he was always positive every time I'd open my eyes.

"So, you're up? Good. I was thinking it'd be any day now", he'd say with a calm look on his face, holding a stick he'd been using to poke the fire with.

It was rare for us to light fire in that hell. Demons stayed away when there was a fire. Fire was the equivalent of death down there, beings that were searching for blood wouldn't head over to dead places where they detected fire. Prophet taught me that. And everything else about that place, how to make it bearable, how to keep moving. The first time I'd died, the first time he died, and when he woke up, and when we met Nasty II for the first time...I remembered everything.

The thought of Nasty made me utterly broken. I placed a hand on my chest, where Nasty had breathed his last, I remembered the burn. I didn't want to feel that again. I clenched my teeth.

"Please kill me."

"Never."

I remembered.

"Umm...Seraph", June spoke in her light feathery voice, "You ought to be out back where everyone went."

I nodded, coming back to the now. I hurried towards the back. Grim, who was rarely ever awake, was standing aside with Chopper. They were the first ones I saw. As I walked further around the corner, I noticed Lubbock. They were looking at something.

As I walked in, I saw Deli and Sight standing on either side of Prophet who was on his knees, shackled, his hands behind his back, as Sight conjured another shackle and put around his neck. Prophet wore that familiar nervous smile I remembered. I felt my blood freeze as I saw the spectacle. They were treating him like a wild boar.

"I'd never had a friend before. Thanks for sticking up for me like this."

I now understood what he meant.

"Oi!!!", I yelled almost instinctively as I lashed upon Sight, knocking my fist right in his face, and so hard I felt I broke something as he went flying back, despite his size.

I suppose I had caught him unguarded, but he did regain his balance fairly quickly and didn't land into something. On the other hand, Deli grabbed my head with her monstrous hand and shoved me back. I too managed to stay standing and didn't crash into anyone or anything.

Although, in the moment, I was completely out of my senses, anger was all I knew.

"The hell is wrong with you bastards?!"

"Calm down, Seraph", Deli retained her composure, characteristically unlike of her to do so.

"Cut the crap! I've had it with you all and your twisted policies! He's one of us, stop treating him like cattle, you-"

"Seraph!", Prophet interrupted, "It's fine. I'm...fine."

I was taken aback.

"Oi, Prophet, why are you saying that? Don't let them do whatever the hell they want! I'll-"

"Seraph!", he was trembling, "I'm...fine."

I stood helpless right in front of him, frustrated.

"No, you're not...idiot", I mumbled.

"Come here, kid", Chopper called me, " 'fore I cut you a new one."

He then proceeded to drag me out of there. Who knows what he was planning to do with me, if Lady hadn't found us and taken me off his hands, I could be dead for all I know.

"Stop causing trouble for everyone. I'll tell you what you need to know, and then you can decide for yourself what needs to be done."