Chapter Text
Krel hated that he couldn't do anything to help Douxie. Aja had gone in simply because she was closer with Angel and was better at close combat...
And he didn't feel right going into his friend's memories like that. It felt like an invasion of privacy. So he went back to Mother to work on the wormhole awhile. There was nothing else he could do. At the moment, he had to make one more adjustments. He had even turned off his music to make sure he didn't have any distractions-
"You have a friend at the door," Mother said, making Krel jump.
"Mother!" he scolded as he picked up his wrench. "I asked you to not interrupt me!"
"Sorry my royal, but this friend is insistantly asking to see you."
Krel sighed as he began working again. "Who is it? Is it Toby or Eli?" A small part of him hoped that she would say Douxie was there, all better and not possed. Unfortunately that was too much to hope for.
"No actually- It's Mary Wang." he dropped the wrench again, this time on on his foot. As he was nursing his wound, Mother continued. "I thought you said she never got your name right."
"She doesn't. It's always 'Karl this' or 'Caleb that'- she doesn't care about learning my name just like she doesn't care about me."
"Really? Because she asked for 'Krel' when she spoke to Lucy."
Krel scoffed. Mother brought up the video feed from the living room. Mary was sitting on the couch, not on her phone for once. She was checking her hair in the reflection of the TV, messing with her hair over and over. She looked so different than she normally did, not behind her phone. She seemed nervous.
"Well, either way I'm too busy right now. Send her home or something while I finish our way home."
"My royal, if I may?" Krel glared as he went back to work, but nodded. "Even if you finish this tonight, there is no guarantee that we'll be able to contact the resistance right away. There is also the problem that your sister is-"
"Don't!" he snapped, causing Mother's interface to back up. Krel sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just that right now, this is a problem that I can solve. Not the one that my best friend going through."
"But you can't just sit here and wait for news all night. It is not good for your mental health."
"Yeah? Watch me." A sigh followed a door closing told him all he needed to know. But even so, he couldn't help but look at the living room feed again, seeing Mary be disapointed by Ricky and walking out with her head hung. Krel looked to the machine in his hands then back to her. "Ay ay ay..."
. . .
Douxie knew it was a loop by now. He first realized that little fact after he found himself walking side by side with his friends again, unhurt and not frozen in stone. The first time, he only had a vague sense of deja'vu, like he had just woken up from a bad dream.
The second and third time had him wondering which part was the dream and which was reality. The fourth time however was when he remembered what exactly happened to him.
"-so he can kick this dumbass demon out!" He whipped his head to the space next to him. Angel was there, faded and tranclucent like a ghost flickering in and out of existance; not like any of the times before. Her eyes widened as she saw him recognize her, the real her. "You can hear me! I'm ri-" she disappeared again, but he felt phantom fingers brush his hand.
He wanted to talk to her, not just her dream counterpart. The real her who always surprised him, who was stubborn and kind and cared about everyone close to her. Sometimes to her detriment, but-
"Right. First task, getting past the door- should be fairly simple." He walked without wanting to and spoke the same words he'd said over and over. This hell was never changing, no matter how hard he tried to differ from the path. To learn from his mistakes.
So he was stuck in this never ending loop. Trying to open the door with his magic even though he knew it was a futile effort. He expected it to be the same, and it nearly was-
Until warm, familiar hands grasped his shoulders. It was only a moment that she came into his vision, and he heard the very distinct sound of her falling down. If could, if it were any other situation, he would have chuckled slightly.
And made him laugh- something else she did, not always intentionally. But always when he needed it. And he would always need it.
. . .
A blue glow covered the stone door as Douxie willed it to move. It creaked and shifted slightly but did nothing else. As he scrolled through a few runes and tried a stronger spell, Angel got in front of him, trying to put her arms on his shoulders.
He seemed confused and stopped for a moment before she fell through him again. Were it not for Aja, she would have fallen completely. Douxie glanced back at her warily but forced his eyes back to his apparent task.
"Why can't you talk to him?" Aja asked, setting Angel on her feet. "He seems to see you just fin- hey!"
Angel ran to follow Douxie into the temple, Aja following closly behind. He stopped before they entered, looking up at the sky.
"Where's Arch?" He asked. "We can't go in without him."
"I'm sure he's fine, Doux," The girls heard someone say. It sounded like Jim, but faint and weak like they were far off. He continued talking with the other people that only he could see. All the while, a sense of dread fell over the two girls, feeling eyes watching- waiting for them all to come inside.
No, just Douxie. It was like going through a haunted house- the actors where waiting for them to round the corner to start the next phase of the scare.
"We'll get through this," Angel heard herself whisper. "And Archie is a tough little dragon shifter- he can handle himself." Douxie nodded and entered the temple.
"Dragon-shifter?" Angel wondered aloud as the door shut. She had never heard that term before, even though it sounded like that was the actual term for what Archie was. That made her wonder which dragon and which shapeshifter were his parents.
"The assassin will what? Speak little witch," a voice echoed, sending a chill down her spine. On instinct, she reached for Douxie's hand. To her surprise, it was a solid and he grasped hers back. She glanced at him and suddenly realized, as his face blanched and would likely be pale if he weren't blue, that he had gone through this before.
. . .
Douxie hated this part, where Jim got stabbed and he was suddenly rushed to the part with him bleeding out before him, unable to do anything about it. No magic worked in here. His original thought was that only shadow magic would work here. Now he knew better.
This would always happen. He would always be unable to help his friends, he would always mess up what he said and trying to make things better.
"Douxie, wake up!" He heard the real Angel shout in his ear. He flinched away from the sound but couldn't break himself out of the loop.
"Douxie please!" Aja called from the same side. She came with Angel. That was a little unexpected; Sure, Angel was stubborn and would likely save anyone she was mad at, but Aja? What had he done lately to help her? To make her care about him? For the life of him, he couldn't remember.
"Look out!" He knew exactly what they were yelling about. Krel was pulling him away again. The tears that fell down his face shouldn't be possible. It felt like he had cried so much that he should be all dried up. Yet they continued to fall as he was pulled through the rest of the temple.
He saw Angel, the real one, a few more times before he was outside in the sun again. He always fell down and was always left to stew in his own despair. Normally, he would be heading back to his starting point. Except, he wasn't moving.
Instead, a beautifully imperfect voice raised his head.
. . .
Angel had tried so many times to get him to break out. A few times he seemed to have seen them, but it was never enough. She wasn't enough.
"There must be something we can do," she said as she fell down next to him. She felt her own tears wet her face. Her voice trembled as she continued. "I can't lose him- not like this."
"But he can't-"
"I know, Aja!" Angel snapped. "I know how he hasn't seen me since before we went through that hell house! He'll continue to go through it unless I figure out how to break him out, yet I'm the reason he's in this stupid mess!"
Aja couldn't say anything. All she could do was stare in shock at the glare that Angel was giving her. It was tainted with how heavy the waterfalls were coming from her eyes and how little sobs kept breaking through her breathes.
Slowly, her glare faded and she let her head fall into her hands. Aja let her face her grief and sorrow on her own for a few moments more before kneeling next to her and pulling her into an embrace. At first, Angel froze- Then she let her body go limp and continued her sobs.
Aja held her close, runing her fingers through her hair in a comforting motion, remembering her mother doing the same when she was a child and had a bad dream or when she had just come home from running away. "It's alright."
"It's not alright! If I had just listened to him, we wouldn't have fought! And if we didn't fight, I wouldn't have run off and left him alone! I'm a horrible-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentance!" Aja scolded, pulling away to look her in the eye with a sternness like her father or Zadra or even Varvatos would. "The Angel I know would never be like this. She is stubborn and pushes herself to help her friends, even at the expense of her own wellbeing." Aja held Angel's hands gently, rubbing circles over her bandaged hands as she took a deep breath and sighed. "That isn't good either. Varvatos always tells me that for a warrior to take care of her companions, she must take care of herself.
"Maybe you are right. Maybe Douxie would not be here if it weren't for you- but to let that dwell on your mind- it isn't good. I let that happen for weeks after Akkiridon got attacked. I thought it was my fault that they got hurt."
"'They' meaning your parents?" Angel asked with a sniff. Aja nodded solmenly. "How did you get past it?"
"With my brother, and my friends. And now, more than ever, Douxie needs our help. He needs your help."
"But I don't-"
"Think! What is something the two of you share that would help him through this? That could break him out of the de-amon's hold?"
Resisting the urge to correct her, Angel thought through it a moment. Her and Douxie both loved to learn magic, but that didn't help them considering it didn't work in the mind scape. They also shared a love comedies and sidcoms, but she was never good at jokes. Then there was the band-
Angel found it hard to keep from facepalming. Why didn't she think of it sooner? Music. He always sang or played something on the guitar when he was in deep thought.
She thought through all the songs that they knew together and even ones she knew that had helped her...
Angel pulled away from Aja's embrace and moved in front of Douxie. With a shakey breath and glance at the fake grass, she started singing.
"I remember tears streaming down your face. When I said I'll never let you go." Aja tilted her head and looked ready to protest- until Douxie raised his head and stared directly at her.
"When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said don't leave me here alone
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight."
Angel had taken a chance and reached out to brush tears off his cheek. He leaned into it and sighed shakily.
"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound...."
Angel stood and pulled him to his feet. She didn't get to finish the song, as he embraced her in a hug. It was cold and airy, but it was him. Tears started streaming down her face as she held him back.
"I'm so sorry," The two said in unison.
Douxie pulled away and leaned against her forhead. "You aren't a mistake- I've enjoyed every moment I've spent with you."
"Why are you sorry? I'm the one who didn't listen to you- who got you into this mess! If I had-"
"Guys!" Aja interrupted. The two were now keenly aware of the ground shaking. "We can save the apologies for later!" Angel and Douxie understood immediately, not letting go of each other's hand as they followed her.
. . .
How long they had been running, Douxie didn't know. Long enough for they had gotten to his Memory Lane- to see the carnage the demon had wrought upon him, somehow feeling every single one of the inky black and green tendrils though the windows. He suddenly felt like his limbs were weaker than before.
It wasn't like it was just now coming on. More like he was finally noticing it. Some windows only held static now, the name scrapped from existence.
He had to hurry. Soon, his body would be nothing but a lifeless puppet the demon could use however it liked. He could barely hold onto the people next to him. Everything was going blank.
"Douxie, please tell me you remember his name and how to banish him!" Angel pleaded as they entered a white expanse of space, a single window pane behind them. What was that doing here? "Douxie!"
"I, uh, I," he stammered.
"Ok, ok," Angel sighed before gripping his shoulders and pulling him close. "You need to listen close. I won't get to say it again."
"You won't get to say it all if you don't hurry up!" The other girl in the room yelled, readying to fight as best as possible with her weaponary limited to her limbs. By the way she was stanced, she was good at hand to hand.
"I'm trying! Douxie, look at me." Angel grabbed his face, jeking his eyes to her. "The minute I tell you his name, I need you to repeat it and add this- I banish you from my mind- You shall never plague this realm again."
"Angel!"
"I'm working on it! The minute I say his name-"
Inky green tentacles burst from the weird window pane, shattering it. "Just hurry it up!"
"His name is Za-ruk! Remember what to-" in an instant, the two girls vanished into the white background, leaving him to face the demon himself.
"The fools!" It snarled, wrapping a tentacle around Douxie and trapping him. "I have already absorbed enough power to take over your body completely! She just gave me the final push!"
"Za- za-ruk! I..." Douxie started, but as he did so, his eyes became blacker and the holes covering his body started bleeding more, painting the white expanse red. The grip of the tenacle tightened. Douxie tried to banish him again only to be cut off after saying his name again. How could he finish the bloody sentence if Za-ruk kept cutting him off?
"You, you really think-"
"I don't think! I know!" Za-ruk moved closer to Douxie's face as the wizard managed to get his arms out of the hold, laughing at him. "Your attempt at an escape is futile!"
"Za-ruk, I- ahh!!!" It felt like Douxie's insides were being crushed, a feat in and of itself considering they were in his mind. Fortunately, it gave him an idea.
With a lunge towards the ever growing body in front of him, a sickening squelch followed by an ice cold chill met his hands. Za-ruk screeched in agony as Douxie had gripped two of the holes on the side of his mouth and pulled. The tentacle released it's grip as the fake flesh tore away from his mouth.
Finally, Douxie had a chance. Taking a deep breath as his foe healed, he yelled out, "Za-ruk! I banish you from my mind- You shall never plague this realm again."
The walls cracked and Za-ruk shrank before his eyes. With the retreating from of the demon came a wave crashing against the inside of his head. Pretty soon, an actual wave rushed though the broken pane, crashing over them both.
Douxie awoke with a start, the pounding in his head worsening. With the room spinning as he tried to open his eyes, he sat up slowly. Unfortunately, he almost got knocked back down immediately.
Before he could warn her to take it easy, something came the back of his throat. Opening his eyes to find the nearest garbage can was right in front of him being held by Aja, he didn't hesitate to throw up.
"That was disgusting," he coughed as the last of it came up. Angel was patting his back as Aja grimaced at the contents of the garbage can she was holding.
"Yeah, I'll take care of that this time," Angel said, wiping off Douxie's mouth with a rag and levitating the garbage towards them. Once she deemed his face clean, she promptly threw it away. Angel brushed some hair out of his eyes with a small smile. Kissing his forehead, she stood and took the remnants of the demon to dispose of it.
Krel came in moments after she had left, ecstatically hugging Douxie. "I'm so glad you are ok, Douxie!"
"Easy!" Krel awkwardly back up, apologizing for the display of affection. Aja made a comment about how he never hugged her like that, which he instantly disputed. Douxie chuckled at the sibling tiff as Archie snuggled up next to him.
. . .
As Angel took the remains to the heetlings, killing two birds with one stone and ensuring it got done correctly this time, Douxie was escorted back to the bookstore by Krel, Archie, and Varvatos. Krel was quiet but had a small smile on his face.
"Did you finish the portal?" Douxie asked, accidently startling the boy.
"Oh, um- not yet- I should be by tomorrow though," he said.
"In that case," Vex started. "Varvatos and Zadra should contact the resistance and set up a time to meet."
"Right."
Douxie patted Krel on shoulder and gave him a small smile. "Maybe you can find time to show them the joys of earth music." He winked and made him smile. It apparently drew him from his thoughts on whatever was troubling him and made him start talking about his demo tape.
With both Douxie and Krel's insurance, Vex reluctantly agreed to help him show it off to the resistance. The old man seemed to be upset at the notion, but Douxie noticed the fond twitch in his lips.
. . .
"Hello?" Angel called out as she walked through the alley with a very heavy garbage bag. A bathtub with fairy lights no longer in use was to her left and boards with a note on it written in trollish directly in front of her. Curiously, she picked it up. Unfortunately, that language was just never her forte no matter how hard Douxie, Claire, Blinky, or even Arch tried.
Thankfully, if you knew the right rune, you could do anything.
Finally wearing her bracers again, if only to hide her bandaged arms from passersby, she called upon a translation rune and flicked it to the paper in her hand. The words glowed pink, then morphed into a few different languages before finally settling on English.
Dear future patron,
RotGut's has officially taken their wears from Arcadia. If you wish to do business with us, please visit our new location in
New Jersey.
Angel put the note back carefully as it changed back to it's original language.
She had to focus. This demon wouldn't stay in this state forever. And though she loathed to see them again, after accidently stealing their child, heetling fire was the only surefire way to get rid of the damn thing.
"Hello?" She tried again. Again, she got nothing. "Rob? Rob! I know you're around here somewhere! I have something I think you might like~!"
"Is it your fiery death?" Someone's echoey voice said from behind her. Her shadow was now surrounded by warm yellows and reds. Angel resisted the urge to jump away from the sudden heat and turned around as slowly as possible.
"Hello Margaret." Angel nodded, taking a step back. Somehow, she knew the heetling was smirking.
"If it's anything other than your long and painful death, I'm not sure I'll want it."
"Good thing I wasn't asking for you. After all, your husband at least understood our reasoning for taking him."
"We would never steal a child! Burning a human does us no good!"
"And how were we supposed to know- you know what, nevermind. I'm not having this conversation again with you." Margaret gave a loud 'hmph!' and started floating off. Angel couldn't help rolling her eyes and groaning. "You know, if you hate me so much, why haven't you been trying to kill me?"
"You aren't worth the cleanup," Margaret said simply. Angel rushed after her, holding out the black trash bag.
"Could you at least - dah!" The contents of the bag moved on it's own, almost making her drop it. Damnit, Angel worried. I thought I had more-
This time, she couldn't refrain from jumping back from the sudden heat. "Jesus!"
"What's in that bag?" Her words were frantic, almost crazed. Wherever her eyes were in that fire, they were surely glued to the twisting and turning bag.
"Um, like I said, something you'd like." Angel was trying to back up but Margaret kept pace with her. "It's a demon, or what's left of it."
"Where did you get it? They're supposed to be extinct."
"Technically, they are all just trapped in a limbo unless they are summoned or there's a powerful magic trapped or destroyed."
Margaret groaned. If her eyes were visible, Angel would be sure that she'd see them rolling. "That still doesn't answer the question of how you have him." She turned to her human form, a brown-haired woman with amber eyes and a dark grey slightly burned dress.
"The jerk possessed both me and Douxie, nearly killing us both. Since they can only be killed by your fire, I thought I'd find you." Margaret made a grab at the bag, but Angel pulled it away. She nearly dropped it but used both hands plus some magic to save it. She sighed in relief before turning a stern glare on Margaret. "You also need to stop stealing-"
"Yes, yes, I get it. I'll control my son, I swear. Now, gimme!"
"Ow!" Angel dropped the bag at the burning sensation in her hands, but Margaret was quick. She grabbed it and started to make her leave until a glowing red rope attached to her arm. The crackling electricity didn't hurt her, but she gave an annoyed glance to the girl. "I mean it- if I find out any of you are stealing and attacking- God damnit!" She let the rope fall as a little ball of fire hit her hand. "Quit doing that!"
"Hmm, no I don't think I will. And as for your concerns, you have no need to be worried. A demon's remains has enough regenerative power to feed us for centuries. Despite what you may think, we don't like stealing from humans. It's too risky an action."
Luckily, the burn was light and would be healed with a small spell. Angel looked up to find her and to send a string of insults her way only to find her gone. She rolled her eyes and shook her hand. "Fucking heetlings."
"What are doing?"
"Ah!" Angel jumped again, turning around quickly to see Detective Scott shining a flashlight in her eyes. She used a hand to cover her eyes. "Would people stop doing that? My heart can only take so much!"
"Sorry, but you seemed busy," he said, his tone unreadable. Angel tensed and was suddenly glad she had an excuse to cover her face.
"Um, I don't know what you're talking about?" Detective Scott made a sound, seeming to ask if that was the best she had. "Right, you're a detective. Can you lower the light a little so I can see you?" He did as asked and she straightened up a little bit as she muttered her thanks.
For a few tense moments it was silent, neither wanting to speak and give up what they knew. Then Detective Scott's hardened gaze because softer, if only for a moment before he gestured for her to follow him to his car. The lights were thankfully off.
"I'm sure you heard about the vandalized corner store a few months back."
Angel was careful in her answer. "Yeah. Pretty wild when I saw it on the news. I'm wondering how the building wasn't burned down." The story and town gossip had said that, so she was good letting that slip.
"Hmm. Right. Anyway, it took awhile, but our specialists finally recovered the footage." Angel froze as he opened his car door and grabbed a manila folder. She couldn't help but gulp. "Now, though I saw what happened at the Battle of the Bands, I gotta say, it was a little weird to see you of all people do that."
"I- I um, there's-"
"I'm not going to arrest you," Detective Scott sighed, completely dropping his firm facade. Angel sighed, relaxing a little.
"Thank you. And I am so sorry about that. I was trying to protect a child I thought was human but turned out to be a heetling child, so basically...." She trailed off at his confused expression, realizing that he wasn't keeping up. "Sorry."
Detective Scott shook his head before handing the folder. "It's fine. I don't think that I'll ever get fully used to this troll stuff."
"Yeah, it's a bit more complicated than that." Angel took the folder and looked it over. "What's this?"
"Something I need help with. The police department in New Springs reached out to us. Said that there were some animal mutilations and murders that they couldn't explain."
"'Blood was completely drained in each body found, animal and human alike'." Angel lifted her head from the papers.
"Something told me you didn't want the pictures." Angel shuddered as she shut the folder.
"You don't think what I think you think?" She paused, then clarified, "You got what I said, right?"
"Uh, I think so. Do they actually exist?"
"Yeah, but most of them just eat wild animals, or ones no one will miss. But I've heard of different factions still going after humans." Douxie had actually dealt with some a good few years before she had met him. That was one of the reasons he had come to her podunk town.
"Do you think you can check it out for me? I hate to ask it of you, considering how young you are-"
Angel scoffed. "I'm thirty-one, dude. I've got this."
Despite him obviously being perturbed by her actual age, he shook her hand. "Thank you. And in case you need help, my sister will help you out. She owns the forge in town."
"You talking about Tia?" Angel tilted her head as Detective Scott widened his eyes. "What? I like to make knives from time to time."
"Right, well- she's there if you need her. Um, goodbye." With that, he got in his car and left, likely contemplating the new information. Angel began the trip back home, looking the details of the case over before finally climbing into bed with Douxie.