Young Writers Society

Thanks to the blankets, Fyrsil didn't immediately notice getting grabbed and yanked back by Envy. Thanks to the wall, he could make a guess. Sprawled on the floor, back and right shoulder aching, Fyrsil groaned. He heard soft footsteps run up to him, then a pair of arms reaching down and grabbing Fyrsil roughly around where his chest was. Lifted up, Fyrsil saw Kellach peel back the blankets and stare back.

"Thanks," Fyrsil said with a smile.

Kellach looked away. "No problem," he said. Fyrsil wasn't entirely sure if Kellach was stuttering because of the pickle juice.

"F***," came a very familiar voice from the floor. Fyrsil looked towards the bed just in time to see a white paw slide under it. Followed by a sword poking out. "Get lost!" the voice said. "I ain't doin' anythin' wrong!"



Arlais tilted her head. "Infernum? I haven't heard of a place like that. It sounds amazing, though."

"Your sword says otherwise," Envy drily replied. Knowing that the sword was bound to be pointed at their face - and having learned from Reyes that being unpredictable was always a good idea when fighting new enemies - Envy stepped down on the blade and promptly broke the blade with their weight. It wasn't hard; they were heavier than they appeared to be, and they could easily redistribute their mass.


"It's not," Mage and Zogin both said, only to stop when they realized that the other had spoken. Zogin crossed her arms and looked away; Mage dropped his gaze down to the ground instead of meeting Arlais'.

Fyrsil winced as he saw the sword snap - that took an impressive amount of strength (another skill of Envy's, mayne?), and, based on how the stranger held what was left of the sword in the air, the stranger was equally surprised.

Not that it stopped the stranger from aiming what was left of the blade for Envy's foot.



"Oops, sorry," Arlais said, joining Mage in staring at the ground. So much for an icebreaker. Still, she had a question she couldn't help but ask. "Would you be okay telling me why?"



Aegeas took a deep breath.

It hadn't taken too long to get to the deck; the group had just had to go up stairs or ladders as often as they could. And he really didn't mind standing on the wood surface, gripping onto a hot brass railing and feeling the cool wind through his fur. He just had some small complaints.

"Where is the sea?" he yelled, leaning over the railing to stare at the puffy white clouds floating beneath him. He looked back and up. "Where are the sails? Where's the captain's quarters?"

"Is this even a ship?" Tristan said, wandering around the flat, circular deck and looking around. "It's not like anything I've seen before."

"Me neither," Aegeas said. He looked over at the third member of the group. "You?"

Envy easily dodged the attack, once again stepping down on the blade. The goal this time was different - it was to prevent the sword from being thrust at them. Their foot remained on the blade after it was pushed to the ground, and they kicked the broken part far away from the bed.


"Infernum's where my kind were banished," Mage softly said. "We were forced underground. The humans waged war with us whenever we tried to come to the surface, and the angels attacked use directly from above. It's...It's not the type of place someone would want to live."


Robin shrugged. "I haven't really been on ships before," she said. There hadn't ever been a need, not when she could rely on rifts to hop from place to place. She really did need to try it - cruises could give a great window of opportunity to do her thing.

But this wasn't really a ship like that.

"This is like something out of Shannara," she said, looking around with intrigue in her eyes. She was fiddling with the hem of her shirt now, really regretting her decision before she ended up here - she had never missed her fidget cube so much "I think this is an airship, but I don't think anyone in my world's been working on them. I can't speak for yours, since I'm guessing we're from different ones."

There was nothing to hint at what she had noticed in her voice. She made sure of that. But she did give Tristan and Aegeas a look to convey that she had heard someone approaching from behind. Whoever it was had been doing a good job of sneaking around, but she had good instincts.

She spun around...

...and saw the strangest looking guy she had ever seen.

His skin was a shade of light blue, and his hair was entirely white. It was partially braided; there was a main one and several smaller ones interwoven together, but some hair still hung down freely all the way past his waist. His clothes were black, and there was a strange thing on his right hand - Robin didn't have the foggiest idea what it was. A strange spear hung on his back, and a crude messenger bag rested on his shoulder.

Oh, and he was holding a strange, sci-fi sort of blaster at his side.

For a few seconds, everything went still. Kellach and Fyrsil jumped out of the way to avoid the remains of the sword, but otherwise stared at the space underneath the bed. Fyrsil just couldn't be sure that whoever was hiding there was who he thought they were. Their voice had been too muffled, even if the accent was familiar.

Then a white paw popped out, giving everyone in the room the finger.

"Kendrik?" Fyrsil said.



"That sounds awful," Arlais said. "Why would they do that? If it's fine to ask, did any of those humans or whatever those other things were called hurt you?"



Tristan gaped at the...person? that had shown up. He'd never seen any human who looked like that. Between the blue skin, impressive amount of hair, black robes, and familiar and unfamiliar weapons, Tristan had no idea what to make of them. Were they dangerous? They had sneaked up on the rest of the group, though Tristan had heard them at about the same time Robin had. At the same time, they hadn't done anything yet. And something about that messenger bag didn't make them look too threatening.

However, Aegeas had already decided - Tristan turned to see Aegeas pulling out both of his swords. When Tristan glanced at Aegeas's eyes, his stomach turned into a knot. Tristan had only seen that wild stare a few times before, but it had never meant anything good. Had Aegeas met this person before? Had something happened between them?

Aegeas pointed a sword at the person. "Get lost," he said, voice deep.

"You know him?" Envy asked. They removed their foot from the blade, sensing that the person lurking under the bed was no longer a threat - not that he truly had been to begin with.


"Because demons are bad," Zogin interrupted before Mage had a chance to even try responding. "Angels definitely had to do with it, but demons are demons. Just look at Mage and how he acts - and he's relatively tame, for a demon."


"I'm not going anywhere," was the response. The stranger raised his weapon and stepped further out onto the deck, but lingered near the entrance - almost as if he was considering running away.

"Yeah," said the hound that pulled himself out from under the bed. Getting onto his feet, he fidgeted with one of the holes in his black tank top, reading down to pocket the hilt of his broken sword into gray pants. Fyrsil noticed that some pieces of the sword had scraped his cheeks; if not for the scars hiding in the fur on his arm and neck, it would've seemed out of place.

Kendrik poked Envy in the chest. "An' I don't know you, mister break my sword and try ta rip my arm off. Who are ya'?"



Ah, so that was what they were so tense about. Arlais suddenly regretted not having an ax on hand as she glared up at Zogin. "Polite?" Arlais said, trying to hold back the bitterness in her voice - maybe Zogin was just naive, and it also wasn't like Arlais to be so angry. "Friendly? Scared? And what is that tame compared to?



Aegeas took a step forward. "That's too bad," he said. Tristan could see Aegeas's eyes dart for the entrance; it wasn't hard to guess that Aegeas would try to intercept the person if they ran. And, since Tristan hadn't had a whole lot of luck trying to stop Aegeas the last time, the most he could do was watch and wait for the ensuing bloodbath.

"Envy," the homunculus simply said, pushing Kendrik's hand away.


"Tame compared to the other demons I know of," Zogin said. "He hasn't murdered anyone yet, so I'd say he's doing pretty good."

Mage gave her a look. He knew that Zogin hated his kind - she had always made that clear. And the personality he put out certainly hadn't helped, even though he had never attempted to hurt her. But it still hurt to hear those words uttered, and he still wished that she didn't feel that way about him.

"Who are those other demons?" he asked, his voice quiet.

Zogin looked at him for a moment, then said in a completely cool voice, "The ones that killed my parents."

Mage felt a knot grow in his stomach. If her parents were killed by demons, than that had to mean that they were part of the forces fighting against demons. And if they were...

...then he and her were more similar than he ever could have guessed.

"My parents were killed by humans," he said. "They were killed during the war, weren't they?"

Zogin crossed her arms. "Yes."


He was getting hungry.

The fingers of his free hand tapped impatiently against the side of his thigh. He could feel the hunger growing the longer he lingered on the deck, and he was starting to grow more than a little worried. He hadn't had a meal in too long - he had no idea how well his wounds would heal if he was attacked.

Which was seemingly like an all the more likely possibility. There was a wild look to the stranger's eyes, and the glance at the entrance revealed that his planned escape would never succeed.

"I thought you wanted me to leave," he said. "So why are you planning on cutting me if I try to?"

"What?" Kendrik said. "I ain't jealous of ya. Now knock it off and-"

"That actually is their name," Fyrsil said, raising a paw tentatively.

Kendrik glared at Fyrsil, then at Envy. "What kinda name is that?" Kendrik said.



Well, this conversation was going south fast. Arlais wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but murdered parents and a war weren't it. She still glared at Zogin, though. Both Zogin and Mage had reason to hate and distrust each other, but at least Mage wasn't being so harsh.

"'Yet?"" Arlais said. "Do you think he's going to kill someone? Every time I hear someone say that someone else is so tame or so nice or so friendly or so innocent for their species, I know they're just being a bigot. The only reason you like Mage at all is because you're trying to disconnect him from what you think a demon is, and that's stupid."



"I have quite a lot of friends that I don't want you to go near," Aegeas said. "So why don't you just jump off this ship?"

"I didn't pick it," Envy replied. The theory that Greed had come up with was that they were Father's sins removed from him - it certainly made sense, considering their personalities. They didn't know how they truly felt about that theory, if it was true. They were disgusted to think that they had even once been a part of him, but also felt deeply ashamed.

"It was the name given to me when I was born," they said, and left it at that.


"I never said he was nice, and I never said that I liked him," Zogin growled. She hated how this woman was taking her words and twisting them around - all that she had said was that Mage hadn't killed her yet, which was admittedly more of an accomplishment than she was letting on. Many had tried killing her for getting in their way, but none had gotten through the attempt.

"He's just been acting good because Soul was around," she added. Mage didn't say anything - she was right and he knew it. He was different around Soul; Zogin didn't like that in the slightest. It implied that he was trying to manipulate Soul, and no one hurt her partner. "When it's just been us, he's had no problem with threatening and bossing me around. And Soul's told me stories, too, about how he treated Soul back when they first met. How he threatened to kill him almost constantly and how he had Soul pretend to be his slave. Tell me how that can be good."


"That's kind of rude," the woman hissed. Something about her didn't feel right, but he didn't know what. His gaze shifted between her and the one that had approached him. It was the latter that was more of a threat than the former, but he was still worried about her and the other person present.

"I can't do that," he said. "Sorry."

"Fine," Kendrik said, watching as Fyrsil wrapped Kellach up in blankets, "Ya don't give any s****. I like that. But where are we, what are we doin' here, and is there anyone else around?"



Oh. Arlais didn't know about that. She felt a little more hesitant to defend Mage, but something about Zogin's story did feel off.

"Why 'pretend?''" Arlais said. "If Mage really has the power to boss and threaten you and Soul, you'd think he wouldn't just pretend to do anything; he'd actually do it. And scared people can do stupid things to feel less afraid."



Aegeas widened his stance. "Then make your move," he said, pointing both swords at the person.

"We're on a ship," Envy explained. They leaned down and pulled out a small shard of metal that had gotten stuck in their leg, jerking it out and letting the wound and cut pants heal as red sparks danced across their skin and clothes. "I don't know where. There's other people here, but we split up to investigate the ship."


"Soul and I have a better track record than him," she said. She didn't even spare Mage a glance as she kept talking. "Defeating bad people is what we do, and Mage would just be one of many. He knows that. He saw first hand what my partner's capable of."

Mage kept his gaze down towards the ground. She didn't have the full truth; only Soul did, and maybe Janos if he was as observant as he had been with Soul. He just said those things - he never intended to follow through with his threats. And Arlais was right; it was a thing he had done because he was scared. It had worked with most people. They left him alone. But Zogin didn't, and now he had to deal with Arlais - who wouldn't have cared - seeing him just as everyone else did.


He raised his blaster. There wasn't many options. He could try to fight him, but he doubted that would end well - his opponent seemed to have the upper hand when it came to fighting experience. He could try running back into the confines of the ship, but that would likely fail just as quickly.

He was trapped, and both of them knew it.

"Hey!" the woman said, suddenly stepping between the two of them. He stared at the back of her head in confusion. "I don't know what your history is, but maybe killing each other isn't the best idea in a ship like this. Besides, he's obviously terrified - I don't think he's going to be hurting anyone."

She abruptly spun around, grabbed onto his wrist and jerked him forward a little as she showed off the hand with his feeding organ. "See, he's trembling. He's more scared of us than you are of him."

Fyrsil stared at the rapidly closing wound. Well, he'd just have to keep Envy away from anything sharp and dangerous from that point on.

Kendrik sighed. Staring up to see the hound staring back, Fyrsil watched as Kendrik scowled. "I'm guessing one those people is Aegeas," Kendrik said, gritting his teeth.



Arlais dragged a paw down her face. "Then why would you tolerate him at all? You keep talking about how he's dangerous, but not too dangerous, and I'm pretty sure you're full of crap. Either Soul stuck around because Mage really is that powerful, or because Soul thought it'd be more convenient to hang around a demon that scares other people away, or Soul has some kind of crush, because Mage has been pretty sweet when he's wanted to be."



Aegeas didn't move an inch, though his eyes focused on the hand.

"Hey!" Tristan called to Robin. "Reason don't work with him when he gets like this - either back off or find a way to take him down."

"There was someone named Aegeas," Envy confirmed. They couldn't tell if Kendrik had appeared under the bed or had hid in there, but it didn't hurt to survey the room more closely. They wandered past a closet in the corner. They would check the room itself now and then investigate the closet later-

-a hand suddenly shot out when their back was turned, grabbing them by the collar of their shirt and pulling them towards the now slightly ajar door. If Envy had been looking over their shoulder, they would have realized that the hand wasn't remotely normal: it looked somewhat humanoid, but was covered in a thick, hard black substance with long fingernails and a very familiar red tattoo on the back.

But since they didn't have the luxury of seeing their sudden captor, they broke free and spun around. Then they did the first thing that came to mind. In a single, quick motion, they kneed the captor right where it would hurt most.

There was a loud swear from the depths of the closet, and the hand swiped at them. They grabbed onto the wrist, ready to tie it behind the captor turned captured's back, only to recognize who it belonged to.

"Gr-" they started to say, but didn't get a chance to finish.

They were knocked to the ground by him, and it was then that they got a very good look at the face of the person they already knew - though that face was currently covered in a thick layer of carbon, with white slits in the place of his usual eyes.


Zogin faltered.

She knew the answer to the first part. She tolerated him because Soul did. It was a simple enough answer - she didn't want to upset her partner. But the other parts did beg the question of why Soul had let him stick around. He didn't have to; Mage repeatedly made it clear that he didn't like them, except (begrudgingly) Soul. Janos stuck around because he thought they were the best way to get back to his old status.

"I'm not sweet," Mage muttered from nearby. Zogin turned. She was astonished to see that he was blushing just like he did around Soul from time to time, head ducked down and mostly concealed by the sheet-turned-cloak that he was wearing.

"...Why do you stick around Soul?" she finally asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "You never did say."

"He asked me to," was the quick response. Almost too quick, given how he still wasn't looking at her. When he finally looked up at her and noticed the look she was giving him, he added, "...Soul's...useful. He can heal."

Well, that was a pathetic answer. Of course Soul was useful like that, but it didn't make up for all of the chaos they had gotten into in the short time that Mage was there.

"There's more, isn't there?" she prompted.

Mage shook his head. "N...No..."

...Why was his voice growing so quiet, and why was he taking so long to give an answer? Narrowing her eyes a little more, she strode over to where Mage was. She threw back his hood, trying to get a good look at his face-

-and was astonished to see that he was crying.

Mage, the demon who wasn't supposed to care about emotions like that, was crying.

She faltered again, even more confused when he went to hurriedly wipe away his tears.


Well, that was problematic. She needed to stop him, but she had no idea how she was going to accomplish that looking like this. She ran through all the different options, but all of them involved revealing the truth.

Suddenly, Aegeas fell to the deck. All that she could do was blink and stare at his unmoving body. He was still breathing, so he couldn't be dead. But how...?

She slowly turned back and looked at the person behind her. While Aegeas had been so busy focusing on the hand that she was holding, he had used the other hand - the one holding the blaster - and shot him with it.

"Shouldn't've broken my sword, a******!" Kendrik yelled, watching Envy pick a fight with someone in the closet. All things considered, at least Envy hadn't kicked him where it'd hurt. And, thanks to Envy and the otters, Kendrick wasn't stuck alone with the stranger creature that had just knocked Envy to the floor.

Kendrik pulled out the hilt of his blade, peering into the closet to see the white slits on the stranger's face (to say nothing of the stranger's black rock hands or red tattoo). He tried not to let his anxiety show through - this had to be a dragon. He wasn't qualified to fight a dragon. Not that he had any other choice. "C'mon!" he yelled, paws shaking only slightly.



Without thinking, Arlais turned and gave Mage a hug. "You remind me a lot of myself," she said, looking up at him and smiling. "An absolute dork."



Tristan's eyes widened as he saw the stranger's weapon flash, and he stopped breathing when he turned and saw his brother fall to the ground.

Tristan ran over to Aegeas, jumping over the swords that now clattered on the ground. "What did you do to him?" Tristan said, voice mixed with shock and anger as he pulled Aegeas onto his back. Other than his chest moving up and down, Aegeas lay completely still, eyes wide in surprise. It made Tristan's fur crawl.