Young Writers Society

Azazel immediately tensed when Gabriel’s voice carried over to their section of the forest on the wind. There was worry - and even a bit of terror - to his voice. Gabriel rarely conveyed any sort of fear. He knew the other demon felt it, but he was fairly good at hiding his emotions. For him to be displaying it in any sort of shape or form, something had to be terribly wrong. He glanced back at the two boys. He knew he shouldn’t leave them, but Gabriel needed him.

“My friend needs my help,” he told them. “It’s not safe to wander these woods alone. Follow me back, and we can try finding the others.” He realized after he had spoken that he was implying he knew that more people were in the woods, despite having never met them, but there was no time to lie.

He turned around and hurried towards the sound of Gabriel’s voice.

When he arrived in the clearing, he discovered several things. The vampire had returned to adulthood, and was surprisingly Ciaran, the owner of the night club he had frequented on more than one occasion to make a deal. Ciaran had apparently found a toddler who bore a striking resemblance to him. And then there was Gabriel, crouching in front of a girl who looked as if she could be a living doll.

His voice caught in his throat.

He had seen pictures of her before, the few times Quinn had sneaked him into her house. The outfit wasn’t exactly the same, but it was similar enough for him to note the resemblance. Anger began to rise up from the depths of his soul; Adriel must have sent Quinn in when neither one of them returned, not caring what would happen if Quinn - whose weapons had all been confiscated upon their capture - was defenseless.

Quinn turned her head to look at him. “Hiya!” she said. Gabriel got to his feet and pulled Quinn close to his leg, hand going protectively on her shoulder as he scanned the forest around them. “I’m Quinn! Quinn Holt!” She looked up at Gabriel. “Do I know you? You seem really familiar! Are you...Are you my uncle?”

Gabriel gave him a desperate look.

“He is,” Azazel confirmed. He didn’t know how else to get Quinn to trust them when she was this little; she had no way to know who either of them were, and both of them could look intimidating. “He’s your Uncle Gabriel, and I’m your Uncle Isaac.”

She grinned. “Are you married?”

Gabriel suddenly choked on his spit, and Azazel stiffened considerably. “Er, no, we’re just-” Gabriel started to protest, but Quinn’s grin quickly turned into a frown. Gabriel smiled - a clearly forced look - and left Quinn’s side momentarily to throw his arm around him. “Sorry for trying to trick you, Quinn. You’re right - we are. Aren’t we, honey?”

“Honey?” he whispered.

“It sounds convincing,” Gabriel whispered back.

Azazel hesitatingly leaned closer to him.

“We are,” he lied. He could already feel his cheeks growing warm as they simulated blushing; Quinn wasn’t going to let either one of them live this down once she returned to normal.

He nervously glanced around the woods, red eyes wide with terror as he waited for a monster to jump out of the darkness and attack him. The villagers would never go in a place like this, so that should have made it safe, but monsters weren’t going to avoid him just because he was cursed.

“Joshua said that I’m not cursed,” he reminded himself; his voice shook as he spoke. They always thought he was trying to do something that would hurt them when he talked like this, but it just made him feel better. It made him feel like he wasn’t alone in the scary woods, and covered any shuffling in the woods. “The villagers are the mean ones. It’s not me. It’s not me. It’s not-”

He suddenly tripped over a root and went crashing to the ground with a startled, terrified yelp. Now he couldn’t stop the tears from forming in his eyes, blurring his vision as he struggled to get back up. His knees were all covered in dirt now, and he kept getting dirt in his eyes when he tried to wipe away the tears. He just sat down and continued to sob, rocking back and forth.

Ciaran choked on his own spit at the "marriage" question, and the demon's response to it. They were...going along with it? He frowned, watching the pair with growing confusion even as the girl seemed to be excited by that idea. He glanced down at Ethan and then cleared his throat pointedly.

"Now that that...has been established," he said, ignoring the little glower Ethan sent his way. "Perhaps we should find the rest of the....children?"

"Down," Ethan abruptly muttered into his neck, distracting him momentarily, and Ciaran let him down. He watched as he son approached the girl and peered up at her. She stared down at his son with a sense of wonder and he winced. Ethan, apparently, could most definitely not control his more vampiric aspects. That look could only mean one thing; his son's eyes were glowing red. "Play?"

Ciaran sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Ethan had been a terror of a child the first time round, and it seemed that this time would be no different. "Ethan, I don't think she wants to--"

"Play!" Ethan insisted stubbornly and Ciaran groaned in frustration. There was no way this was going to end well. "Play! PLAY!"

He turned to Gabriel and Isaac with a pleading look, hoping that they might help him direct the children towards a common purpose that was not simply playing. "So, we have two children and, what? Three--no, four to find?" He exhaled carefully and muttered to himself in Gaelic; "Something tells me that I should not have left the bed this morning..."

Sevy let out a little yelp as he heard noises and something moving on the other side of the bushes. He clutched Taber tightly, and kept his eyes fixated on the leaves, in case something jumped out.

"S- someone's there." he whispered to the wolf nervously. "Should we..."

With a deep breath, he puffed his chest and mustered what courage he had, though he still had handfuls of fur that he was gripping.

"Who's there!" he called loudly, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

Gabriel ran through the list of people in his head. There was Aegeas and his brother, who Azazel must have left back in the woods when he heard him shout. Then there was the werewolf and Sevy-

Wait, Sevy? Didn't he know a Sevy? They hadn't talked all that much, but he was still one of the people who had been transformed due to that unlucky burst of magic - he had become one of the demons, if Gabriel remembered correctly.

Could it really have been the same guy?

Whatever the case was, they had some kids to take care of. He looked over at Issac. "Go get the otters," he said. He gave Issac a big, exaggerated wink and a grin. "I've got this taken care of - I'll go get the other kids with Ciaran and meet up with you."

Issac gave him an uncertain look, but did as requested.

"Bye bye, Uncle Issac!" Quinn exclaimed. She looked down at Ethan for a moment, then turned back to Gabriel. "Are we gonna play, Uncle Gabriel? Ethan wants to play."

"We'll play," Gabriel promised. He gave Ciaran a thumbs up, then turned back to Quinn and Ethan. "You know tag?"

Quinn gave an eager, excited nod.

"Well," he started, leaning down and looking her right in the eye, "there's a game called reverse tag. Instead of one person doing the chasing while everyone else runs, one person does the running while everyone else is chasing."

She gasped. "That sounds really fun, Uncle Gabriel!"

"It is," he reassured her. "I used to play it all the time when I was a kid." He placed a hand on his chest. "Obviously, I'm going to be the one who's doing all the running, since the game was my idea. Whoever catches me gets to run next - does that sound fun, Ethan?"

He got to his feet and looked over at Ciaran.

"Your papa could even join in, too," he added, looking Ciaran right in the eye. It was a perfect way to direct the kids in the right direction, while simultaneously taking care of any pent-up energy they might have had.


He froze, a sob dying on his lips.

This was really, really bad! The woods shouldn't have had any people in it. That was why Joshua always said to go there if he got chased - they were scared of what lurked in it. But Joshua was always really brave, so Micah was pretty sure he had never thought about why they shouldn't go in there.

And, apparently, the woods weren't safe from people, since he could hear someone right now!

Maybe they'd leave him alone if they thought he wasn't there? That was a good idea, right? Joshua would have been incredibly impressed with him if he was here right now; the thought made his ghost of a smile falter.

"No one is!" Micah replied, his voice cracking as he pulled his hood down farther and tried not to cry more.

This was definitely not what he had been expecting when he'd decided to enter the forest. That particular memory was coming to him slowly, in bits and pieces. Someone had definitely threatened Luca, had taken him, and Ciaran remembered that he had been enraged. His gaze slid towards his son, who was still peering up at the Quinn girl with glowing eyes. Ciaran sighed.

He met Gabriel gaze and raised an eyebrow. Reverse tag, was it? He snorted and then inclined his head. This would definitely help. "Reverse tag, right?" he asked and Gabriel nodded. "Very well, then. Ethan? Let's play tag."

Ethan turned towards him, offering him a bright smile. "Hung'y first!"

Ciaran groaned. Of course that was eventually going to come up. He sighed. "Come on, then," he said and gestured for Ethan to come to him. And he did, far too fast to even attempt to pass for human. Ciaran would have to speak to him about that later.

"Up," his son said, pouting slightly and Ciaran picked him up. Ethan snuggled into him, face going unerringly to his throat. Ciaran went very still, watching Gabriel over his son's shoulder as Ethan bit him, none-too-gently and somewhat messily, and took a couple of quick mouthfuls of his blood. Ciaran tried to keep his expression blank, but he wasn't sure if he succeeded. Regardless, the entire situation was awkward right down to core.

Sevy frowned and dropped his hands from Taber so that he could take a few steps forward. Did this person think he was dumb? Now it was even more obvious that someone was there.

His fear subsided, and he walked very close to where he had heard the voice to squint into the leaves,

"Yes, there is!" He said loudly. "Who said that, then?"

Quinn let out a startled gasp when she saw all the blood, and Gabriel was torn between letting her stare at it and covering her eyes. The part of him that viewed her as a little kid wanted to protect her from the sight of blood, while the other part knew that she had seen worse. They debated fiercely in his head for a few moments, the second half of him finally winning out.

Besides, it was kind of cute, in the vampiric-dad-giving-up-his-blood-to-his-far-too-adorable-kid way. A quiet "awww" left his lips, though it was quickly covered up by a very loud cough.


Micah froze and let out a terrified whimper when he realized that the person on the other side of the bushes was right. What was he supposed to do now? He didn't want to be found! They'd try to hurt him - Joshua was the only one who hadn't. His lips quivered. The beginnings of a sob began to leave him, his eyes brimming with tears once more.

"I am," he miserably answered.

Suddenly feeling just a little more courageous before, he went to peek above the top of the bush. Only he was really scared of what would happen if he was seen, and hesitated for way too long. Now he scrambled to get a good look in one, heroic popping up from the bushes...

...And promptly screamed, seeing the black wings on the boy's back and the wolf-person standing behind him. He lost his balance, wobbling precariously before falling back onto the ground. "Please don't hurt me!" he cried out, eyes hurrying to cover his eyes. Why had Joshua ever thought it was a good idea to go into these woods? There were only monsters in here!

That was a very confusing hug. Taber stood there, trying to process it. Why was it all so familiar to him? His tears? Someone clinging onto him? Feeling warm and safe and secure? He was pretty sure he hadn't experienced something like that before, but it stuck firmly in his head. It was overwhelming, crowding out his thoughts with a profound sense of deja vu. Now he had to question if those visions weren't just dreams after all. If his girlfriend was a real person. But, they had to be dreams, right? His mom wasn't there, the darkness wasn't there, the creatures he called friends definitely weren't there. He didn't have the greatest sense of what was real and what wasn't - his life was too weird to fit everything into one box or another - but there was no way they couldn't be dreams.

Right?

The wolf ran past Sevy, leaping over the bushes and hiding behind the nearest tree. He curled up in-between the thick roots, sniffling as he tore up the grass with his paws and rested his chin on his knees. Flashbacks and noises started rushing past him. The hill. Nighttime. She was sitting there. She wasn't okay. She wasn't responding. A flash of light. Now she was hugging him. She was okay. She was always going to be okay.

Ah, that's what they were - flashbacks. He was remembering things from the past, except something had cut out most of that past and left him a kid.

A strange feeling washed over him. Grabbing the nearest roots, he bit his lip as pain shot through him. Muscles groaned, bones cracked and grew, and he started to swell up. In only a few seconds, Taber had gone from just barely rising over the roots to towering over them.

And then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. The wolf, now an adult, fell onto paws and knees, breathing deeply. He hadn't felt like that ever, really. It wasn't that often that he could recognize something was pain.

Then he heard a noise in front of him. Looking up, Taber saw one of the kids. Whoops.

"Uh, hi?" Taber said, waving and giving a weak grin.



Good, the demon was gone. There was a chance he'd be back soon, and Aegeas decided not to take the risk of waiting around. Grabbing Tristan by the hand, Aegeas pulled him to one of the nearby trees. They squeezed between a boulder and a few roots, sitting on the cold ground. Normally, Tristan would've complained about how tight it was, but it looked like the whole blood and vampires thing had spooked him. Aegeas could relate.

In the short time that Azazel was gone, the two boys had managed to disappear. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was - they had been noticeably startled by the earlier situation with the blood, and he cursed his stupidity. He should have predicted something like this would happen.

But as he came to a stop, he didn't linger on his regrets. He had a task that needed to be completed. His gaze dropped down to the ground, and he scanned it for anything that could indicate where they went. There were no clear footprints leading away, and none of the brush looked disturbed when he glanced up.

He tried to put himself in the mind of a child. It was fairly easy, considering he had been one less than an hour ago. If he was running away, he would have gone straight ahead. But if he had thought running away would take too much, or thought that the person he was running from would be back soon, there was only one possible option left.

He would have hidden somewhere nearby and hoped that he wouldn't be found.

He glanced at the possible hiding spots, eyes finally zooming in on a nearby tree. There was a small bit of rock jutting out from behind it, but there was likely enough space for two small boys to fit between the two boulder and the trunk.

He quietly walked to the tree, easily sneaking up on both of them due to how quiet he could make his footsteps sound.

He hesitated just before reaching them, however, unsure of what he was supposed to do next. He wished Quinn was here as her adult self - she was the one who came off as more friendly, even though he had been perfectly fine prior to getting stuck in this robotic body. Now everything about him seemed intimidating, and he couldn't even smile without frightening people.

But he had a job that he needed to do.

He took a deep breath and turned the corner.

"Hello again," he said, trying to keep his voice gentle and soft. He added in an awkward wave and a hesitant smile for good measure.


Hearing the seemingly friendly voice, Micah hesitantly moved his hand away from one eye and peeked up at its source. Another scream quickly erupted from his lips. The wolf person had somehow gotten bigger! Now that he was so tall, Micah could finally put a name to what he was: he was a werewolf. Red eyes wide with horror, Micah scooted all the way back to the tree behind him and clung desperately to its trunk.

"Don't-Don't eat me!" he frantically begged. His lips quivered, and a sob quickly replaced the beginnings of a scream. He didn't want to die! He knew it was hard to kill him - the villagers he had met always tried to - but what if a monster could do what a human couldn't? His grip tightening on the trunk, he screamed out as loudly as he could, "JOSHUA! HELP!". Even if he was far, far away, Joshua would come to help him.

He always did--

--He awoke to the sound of quiet talking in the main room. Saying a quick goodbye to the doll Joshua had made him, Micah slipped out from underneath his covers and hesitantly approached the door. He opened it just a crack, hoping to a glimpse of the person outside without revealing he was awake.

Joshua was leaning up against one of the walls, and a very familiar woman was sitting at the table. Joshua looked upset - angry, even - but the woman seemed fairly calm as she sipped whatever Joshua had put in her mug. "I want you to leave," Joshua demanded. His arms were folded, and his eyes were narrow. "You overstayed your welcome."

"I've been here less than five minutes," the woman replied. Micah's heart skipped a beat. He recognized her, now. She was the witch from the outskirts of town. The one they were talking of burning, and the one who had chatted with him the other day.

"It has been five minutes too many," Joshua shot back. He tapped his foot on the ground, his armor clanking together - he had just gotten back from a night shift. "Stop asking questions about Micah."

The door creaked just a bit, but it was a bit too much - the door went swinging open, revealing Micah peeking into the room with terror clearly written across his face. The hand grasping the door frame trembled as both Joshua and the witch turned to look at him. Joshua straightened and went to join him, but came to a sudden stop as the witch uttered a few words under her breath.

"What did you do, witch? What foul magic did you cast on me?" Joshua hissed, eyes turning to glare at the witch.

"I cast an immobilization spell," she cheerfully said. "It doesn't last too long - just an hour or so - but I wanted that chat with Micah that you were so reluctant to give me."

Micah whimpered.

The woman's gaze softened as she turned to look at him. "It's alright, Micah," she said, her voice sweet. Micah shook his head. It wasn't at all! She couldn't say something like that after cursing Joshua. " He's very eager to meet you."

"H-He?" Micah nervously asked. Joshua was clearly struggling against the magical, invisible bonds holding him, but wasn't going to be able to save him. Micah was horrified when he came to this realization - Joshua always saved him. What was he supposed to do when Joshua couldn't be there to help him?

"I guess you could call him my master," the witch replied. She placed the mug down on the table. "Since I do work for him, after all."

Joshua growled.

The witch ignored him. She rose from her seat and walked over to where he was standing. He knew he should run or fight or do something, but he was petrified with fear as she took his hand. "He wants me to bring you back to his realm, Micah."

"Why me?" he whispered, his voice so quiet that even he could barely hear it. "Why-Why does your m-master want me?"

She smiled. "It's because you're one of us. He'll explain it better - he always does - but this place isn't your true home." She enveloped the room in a sweeping gesture with her free hand. "They don't accept you here. He will. He understands what it's like to be hated by the world-"

Micah screamed when a sword was suddenly thrust through the woman's heart. Blood spurted out, staining his face and clothes as the attacker twisted the blade.

"I said that you should have left by now," Joshua replied, knocking the witch's limp body to the ground as he jerked his sword out. "But you didn't want to listen, so it's your fault that your precious master isn't going to be getting his hands on Micah."

He slid his bloody sword back into his sheath and grabbed onto Micah's wrist.

"Come on, Micah," he said, giving his wrist a tug. "We need to go. We can't stay here anymore - I'm guessing the witch isn't the only one who'll be stopping by to pay a visit."

Micah looked over his shoulder at the body as Joshua led him to the door. "She-she said I was like her. Doesn't that mean I'm c-cursed, and that the d-d-devil wants me?" For a moment, it looked like her finger twitched. Micah turned his attention forward and ran with Joshua into the woods. "And that-that all the villagers were right, Joshua?"

Joshua's grip on his wrist tightened.

"No," Joshua promised, "they were wrong. You're not cursed, Micah. That witch wanted to take advantage of you. She and the devil know you're special - that you're blessed."

Micah stared at his back. "...I thought you were blessed, Joshua?"

Joshua ducked underneath a low hanging tree branch, Micah following suit a moment later. "The villagers were wrong about that, too," he quietly said; Micah's pointed ears were the only reason he could pick up on it--

--Micah gave a startled gasp, his grip on the trunk tightening so much that bark flew off. It felt like he was dreaming, but also like he wasn't. It didn't have the vagueness of all of his nightmares - he could sense everything around him. The witch's breath on his skin, Joshua's hand, the fierceness in his voice, the taste of the blood as it landed on his lips, the smell of their fire place. All of it was real. But it couldn't have been, because he was just living in the house with Joshua!

...Wasn't he?

He shook his head. Whatever the case was, he had to worry about the werewolf and the scary boy with the horrible black wings! His fingers further dug into the tree's trunk.

"Don't eat me," he repeated, this time much quieter than before.

Ciaran glared at Gabriel, having heard what he'd said and then tried to cover it up with. He could feel an eyebrow begining to twitch. Ciaran had never felt so annoyed by anyone in a very long time. He gently got Ethan to pull away, petting his hair without breaking eye contact with Gabriel. He opened his mouth only to hear a sniff from Ethan.

"Ethan?" he asked, breaking his stare down with the demon to glance down at his son. Ethan was crying silently. "What's wrong?"

"Why....why would Ni-ch bite me?" Ethan asked in a whisper, voice hiccuping. He sounded incredibly confused. "Why did I like it, Papa?"

Ciaran swore quietly in Gaelic. He'd almost forgotten about that particular quirk of the forest. He rubbed at Ethan's back in a soothing manner. "I think you and Nich are really good friends, Ethan," he said softly, expression softening. "Were you older than you are now?"

Ethan sniffed again and said sulkily, "yes."

"Ah," Ciaran murmured and sighed. He glanced up at the demon. Gabriel was still watching him. "I see." He cleared his throat, feeling slightly embarrassed for Gabriel to have seen him feeding his son. "So...reverse tag?" he prompted, setting Ethan down on his feet. "Shall we?"

The pain didn't really bother Taber - it had almost completely gone away. No, his body just didn't want to cooperate. It seemed to freeze up for a few seconds, and he was pretty sure he wasn't breathing. Then his muscles started to unwind, his body started to relax, and he could pull himself onto his feet.

That poor kid across from him looked absolutely terrified. "Why would I want to eat you?" Taber said, shaking his head. He didn't get any closer; he knew enough to know that, as much as he wanted to give the kid a hug and say that everything was alright, it'd do much more harm than good. The wolf backed up against his own tree. That ought to show that he was keeping his distance.



Aegeas grabbed Tristan's staff again and pointed it at the demon. "Hello again," he said.

He could feel Tristan move closer behind him. Thinking it was for the sake of protection, Aegeas was more than a little surprised to hear Tristan whisper, "Can we stop? This is boring and stupid."

"But he's creepy and gross!" Aegeas hissed back.

"But he's also been pretty nice so far, so maybe we should just listen to what he was to say." Tristan said.

Ugh. He'd probably be better off entertaining Tristan (and totally not because he was afraid of having to fight the demon). "Fine," Aegeas said, lowering the stick ever so slightly and rolling his eyes. He looked up at the demon. "What do you want?"

Gabriel gave an absolutely devilish grin. "Of course."

He looked down at Ethan and Quinn, the latter watching him with eager brown eyes. He thought for a moment, guessing which direction the remaining two kids were. He finally managed to settle on one. When he did, he turned back to the two kids.

"Well," he says, "I doubt you'll be able to catch someone as fast as yours truly, but try your best!"

Quinn let out a little giggle; Gabriel was glad his antics still got her to laugh, even if she was stuck as a little kid. But he couldn't linger too much on that - there was no telling when either Ethan or Quinn would think that the game had begun. Gabriel darted off. He had to keep the perfect combination of fast and slow. Quinn and Ethan had to see where he was going, but he couldn't let Ethan catch up to him (the kid has some surprising bursts of speed, likely from his dad) before he was in eye's view of the remaining two kids.

Quinn gave chase behind him.


Azazel had to word this carefully. Scaring these two would be incredibly easy, and he had the added challenge of having to convince them to come with him. Children were stubborn. Furthermore, they couldn't always see the bigger picture. It was important for them to stay together, even when they didn't know what exactly lurked in these woods.

But would he be able to convey that sentiment, or would they brush off and simply not care?

"There are...others here," Azazel said. "This is forest is large, and even Gabriel and I don't know the full extent to what's inside of it. It's dangerous for everyone to remain separated. I know you don't trust me or my friend, but you would be safer with us than without."

He paused.

"Gabriel and I deal with things like this for a living," he added. He kept out the part about them being called hunters - that would likely only frighten the two otters. "We know how to keep people safe. Gabriel's currently going to find the other children, and I'm supposed to meet up with him afterwards. Then we'll try to get you all back..." He faltered, almost saying that he would get them back to normal. "...to your homes."


"Because you're a werewolf!" Micah blurted. His grip on the tree tightened; now his trembling fingers were digging into the soft wood underneath. Joshua said he had to be careful about his strength, but Micah was too panicked to fully hold back. He knew that the tree was going to fall eventually. It already was looking a little unsteady. But he couldn't stop, not when he was so scared.

"Wolves eat people, so werewolves have to, too!" Micah added. "J-Joshua was wrong when he said I should come in here! He was really, really wrong! These woods are d-dangerous and s-scary and now I-I'm gonna die and never see him again and he's not going to save me because I went off on my own instead of waiting for him! And-And everything's all wrong now, and Joshua's not going to be able to find me-"

He hesitated, his grip loosening ever so slightly. Everything was all wrong? A sob left his lips as he tried to figure out what he had meant. Everything wasn't wrong! Everything was just as it should be, except for the monsters in front of him right now!

Maybe...Maybe he had to find Joshua, if Joshua couldn't find him? He couldn't remember where he had gone, but maybe it was the village--

--They were cornered.

Micah clung to Joshua. He could hear him counting the number of people under his breath. One for the man with the fire in his eyes. Two for the woman next to him. Three for man who looked so sad. Four for the witch, her eyes a swirling mass of colors. Five for the woman with the flower crown. Six for the woman with the eyes like the moon.

And seven for the man who had to be the witch's master.

Joshua stopped and took a deep breath, drawing his sword from his side. He took a step forward, sword tip pointing in the direction of the man dressed completely in black. All of them were dressed in the clothes that only royalty could wear, but the devil looked like he could have been a king if he had a crown.

Micah whimpered.

"Micah," the devil said in a soothing voice, "we're not going to harm you."

"I'll decide that," Joshua growled.

"The last time I checked," the man with the fire in his eyes said, studying his fingernails, "that's up to Micah, not you - Joshua, was it? It's always so hard to remember names for people like you."

"Don't antagonize him," the woman beside him said; she turned to look at him. "We don't want to make things difficult, and Joshua's already riled up as it is."

The witch stretched. "I think he just has a stick up his a-"

The sad man coughed. "There's a child present, Hecate," he quietly whispered to her, but Micah easily picked up on what was being said. Micah, confused, glanced around. The only people he could see where the group gathered, himself and Joshua. Were they...Were they talking about him? He knew he wasn't too old, but he didn't look like other kids. How had he known?

"We should just cut to the chase already," flower crown lady said, walking up to the devil and slipping her arm into his. Joshua growled in response, and the lady almost look entertained by the noise. "Micah, you're one of us. I'm sure you've had your suspicions before - your body hasn't aged. You woke up as an adult, even though you know you're only a child. You couldn't remember your name, so you came up with one yourself or someone gave it to you. You've been living on the outskirts of society, thinking that you're cursed."

"You're not," the devil said.

Joshua's grip on his sword tightened. "Says you."

"I'm not your enemy," the devil informed him. Joshua raised his sword's tip a little higher. "I've always been a friend to humans, whether they see it that way or not. I - and the rest of us - just want Micah to know his real identity."

Micah hesitantly stepped out from behind Joshua. "You...You know who I really am?"

The devil nodded. "Usually it's a little difficult to figure out things like this," he said; Joshua took a step forward and tried to get in front of Micah again, but Micah was too eager to learn the truth to hide anymore. "But you're different than most of us, Micah. Your features are more like how people see you than the rest of us."

The devil took a deep breath. Micah straightened just a little.

"Micah," the devil said, "your real name is Lucifer."

There was silence.

Then Joshua was taking a step forward again loudly demanding that the man in black "Take that back!" as tears began to spring into Micah's eyes. He had to be lying. He just had to be. Wasn't he really the devil? But when he thought about the name, and thought about himself with the name, Micah was horrified to realize that it felt right.

And then the woman with the eyes like the moon suddenly strode up.

"We're missing one," she simply said. The others gave her a curious look, but she continued bridging the distance between herself and Joshua. Now she was standing right in front of him, and Joshua turned his sword onto her instead of the man in black. "I thought it was curious at first, when I was researching Micah. No matter what I did, I couldn't find any record of a Joshua. I found records of people like you - ones who might have been family - but no Joshua was ever born. But if I trace your lineage back to the very beginning based on rumors alone, your family started with a man considered just as blessed as you."

Micah looked over at him. "J-Joshua?"

Joshua wasn't meeting his eye.

"So what?" he asked. "I'm an orphan. I don't know who my family is, and frankly don't care. Why do you?"

"Because, if I'm right, you don't have a family," the woman said. "You never have, Joshua."

And then she stabbed Joshua right through the heart, with so much force that her sword broke through his chest plate and easily pierced his chest. Blood spurted from the wound; Joshua collapsed to the ground. Micah was screaming his name over and over again as the group shifted uncomfortably, the man in black and his flower queen watching as Micah begged and begged, even when he couldn't hear Joshua's breath anymore or feel the pounding of his heart--

--Joshua was dead.

Micah's - no, Lucifer's - eyes widened as realization came crashing down on him. He didn't know why he was so certain, but that hadn't just been a strange dream. That was a memory that he had somehow forgotten. Maybe it was the witch that had made him forget, or maybe he just hadn't wanted to remember. But now he did, and he quickly let go of the tree. Tears streamed down his face in even larger amounts than before. He pulled his legs close to his chest and sobbed into his knees, the memory of Joshua dying in his arms replaying itself over and over and over and over again.

Aegeas lowered the staff ever so slightly, paws shaking. "Would it really be safer?" he said slowly, looking back at Tristan desperately.

Something clicked inside Tristan. A vague sense of familiarity crawling out from the depths of mind led him to inch forward, grabbing onto Aegeas's shoulders and trying to pull him out of the way. "To my home?" Tristan repeated. "I'd, I'd like to go home. I'd like to see the garden again. I'd like to see the door again. I'd like to see my-"

"No, you sent me a letter, didn't you?" the hound said. He was sitting on the other end of a small table, paws propped on the fading tablecloth. The lit candle next to him shook as he picked up wooden utensils and stared down at a wooden bowl.

John shook his head. "You sent me a letter," he said. The otter gripped the tablecloth. What was the hound's deal? The one time the otter got asked out on a date from a 'secret admirer', and it was a complete lie? Or was the hound just being a jerk?

The hound froze for a few seconds, fork still in the air. Then he snapped his fingers. "My brother set this up, didn't he," the hound said, a smile starting to grow on his face. "He'd love to get me out of his fur like that."

The realization hit John just as quickly. "Mine too," the otter said. "Or, maybe your brother told my brother it'd be a great idea. He'd love for me to have a partner."

"Is your brother Aegeas, by any chance?" the hound said, leaning forward.

John tentatively nodded his head. "And I'm guessing yours is Kendrik? I think I've seen you around?"

"Yeah," said the hound, reaching out a hand. "I'm Kynan, you?"

"John," the otter said, shaking a hand.

Kynan bit his lip. "That's a name," he said slowly.

The otter sighed. "Yeah, I know, it's not great. I had another name when I was a kid, but it didn't fit me. A lot of things didn't fit me back then, so I switched them up. But yeah, the name was the first one I could think of and it kinda stuck."

Letting go of John's hand, Kynan leaned back. "Well," he said, "We've got the whole night, and I don't think we've got anything better to do, so why not come up with a better one?"

John smiled. "I think I'd like that, yeah."

Tristan stumbled forward, slumping over Aegeas's back. He knew Kynan. Tristan had never seen Kynan before, but the thought of him made Tristan feel light-headed and warm. It was, relieving, even if the whole having a different name made him feel a little uneasy, like his body had just been moved a couple inches to the right.

The staff went right back up. "No," Aegeas said. "I will not let you get close to either of us. You're doing this, aren't you? You're making these visions a thing. You're hurting my brother. Get. Lost."

Tristan wanted to reply or argue, but he was too shocked and too tired to. This wasn't going to end well, was it?



Taber blinked. He was about to ask why wolves could eat people, but a few more pressing things came to his attention. Mostly that the kid - wait, the adult, he sounded and acted a lot more frightened and childlike than most the people he knew, but this guy was definitely too big to be a kid - had somehow dug his hands into the tree. The tree over the adult's head creaked and popped, beginning to sway side from side.

Eugh, this wouldn't help the adult at all, especially if the adult was frightened, but he looked too messed up by whatever memory had just hit him to notice. Taber ran forward, scooping the adult into his arms and diving out of the way as the base of the tree snapping. The wolf moved behind another tree as the falling one crashed into the ground, raising a huge cloud of dust and smoke.

"Are you okay?" Taber said when he was reasonably sure he could be heard again. He stared down at the adult in his arms, wiping away a couple tears with a claw.

Azazel knew that Aegeas had yet to fully trust him, but the newest accusation made his eyebrow twitch ever so slightly. Aegeas had no way of knowing that he was talking with one of the children - the one, in fact, he had been planning on making a deal with prior to Azazel running off. He had experienced his fair share of visions, too. He had to bite back an angry retort and think of a better way to handle the situation, even though all he wanted was to prove to Aegeas just how wrong he was.

He took a deep breath.

He could exclude the part about being a child before; that didn't matter until Aegeas returned to adulthood. What was key right now was expressing that he was the same.

"I'm not the one causing the visions," he said. "It would be foolish for me to. I've been receiving them as well - I'm surprised that you haven't gotten any yet."

He scanned the forest briefly before turning his attention back to Aegeas.

"Gabriel and I came here to discover the source of the forest's magic," he admitted. "Neither one of us know exactly what that source is, but we think it's what's been causing the memories to surface."

It was only after he finished speaking that he realized his mistake; nothing had been said that suggested the visions were memories, and them being memories suggested a truth the children likely wouldn't believe.


He should have been afraid when the werewolf picked him up and held him close, but the intimacy made his heart ache a little less. He barely registered the tree falling to the ground, and barely registered that the werewolf was wiping away his tears away. Another sob left his lips as he clung to someone he strangely felt comforted by.

"J-Joshua's gone," he managed to get out. "I-I forgot that he was gone! She...She..."

He couldn't finish the sentence, instead burying his head into the werewolf's chest. Then another ugly, painful sob left him as he realized that Joshua was the one who was supposed to comfort him like this. Joshua, the one person who had been there for him. Joshua, the one person who didn't think he was cursed. Joshua, his other half.

Joshua, his brother.

"...I want Joshua back," he whispered. "I want my-my brother..."

Aegeas smacked Azazel with the staff. "You're full of crap!" he said, trying to blink off tears. "How am I supposed to believe you if I've never had any? I was doing just fine in this forest until I met you and the others, and now they've all been stumbling around and crying for no reason and going nuts. And how could they be memories? I'm pretty sure I would've remembered stuff by now!"



"Oh no!" Taber said, cradling the man in his arms. "Did someone take your brother? Can we find him?" He suspected, especially with how the adult was crying into his chest, that it was a bit worse than that, but Taber wanted to believe in the happier option.