HOME | DD

Description
As the demon slowly regained consciousness, a dull throbbing erupted at his temples behind his horns. He groaned and rolled on his side as the throbbing grew to a pounding; rhythmic and even, almost as if he could hear his heartbeat in his mind. Damned hangovers... A sudden whiff of an unfamiliar scent invaded his nostrils and he forced his eyes to open. He quickly squeezed them shut when the flickering light of a nearby torch nearly blinded him. "Dammit!" he hissed through clenched teeth.
"Beelzebub?"
Disregarding the blinding pain, Beelzebub forced his eyes open again, the voice shooting through his ears like wildfire. "Shiona?"
She came to sit beside him on the bed. "Are you all right?"
"What...what are you doing here?"
"Me? What are you doing here?"
Rather puzzled, Beelzebub let his eyes wander past the human female, taking in his surroundings: smooth cavern walls and a low flickering torch. "Oh. I...am so fucked." he murmured when it finally sunk in. He let his head fall back to the pillow with an exasperated sigh, then winced as the throbbing pain in his skull flared up.
Shiona held a cup out to him. "Here."
"Do I gotta get up?"
She gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "It will help."
He levered himself up with an elbow and took the cup with his free hand. He sniffed at the contents before taking a swig. The liquid felt like hot fire sliding down his throat but the pounding in his skull finally receded to a dull thud.
"Better?"
"Yeh, thanks. Faun's home remedies always do the trick," He set the cup down on the small wooden table next to the bed. "So...er...how long have I been here?"
"A couple hours."
Beelzebub gently massaged the bridge of his nose. "Dammit. Mother's going to kill me. I don't even remember how I got here."
Shiona shrugged her shoulders slightly in response.
"I didn't do or say anything strange did I? I'm not myself when I drink."
Shiona's face flushed as the memory of his embrace came back to her. "N-n-not at all!" she stammered, then bit her lip.
He stopped massaging his nose and brought his eyes up to meet hers. "What did I do?" he asked slowly.
"Nothing bad." she said in a low tone.
He raised an eyebrow. "So, I still did something. Tell me."
"You just hugged me, is all."
"'Is all'? Hm..." He shook his head and wiped his face with his palm. "I need to get back before Mother finds me."
Shiona inclined her head. "Yes." Her voice had an underlying tone of sadness to it.
Beelzebub's blood froze in his veins at the sound of talons clicking on the stone floor. "Too late."
"Shiona, are you in there?"
"Yes, Matriarch Lasandra."
Lasandra appeared in the doorway. Her lavender eyes came to rest on her son. "Ah...I was correct."
Beelzebub skimmed his fingers through his hair. "Hello, Mother."
"And just what do you think you're doing here?"
He gave a one-armed shrug. "Dunna. Just woke up here."
Lasandra heaved a sigh, shaking her head so that her locks splayed around her shoulders. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I was just going to leave..."
Lasandra cast a glance at Shiona, who was looking down at the floor. "I suppose I could let you stay just for tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?"
"Bastilion Day."
"Ooh!" Beelzebub sat up. "I forgot all about that!"
Shiona stared at the demon. She had never seen him excited about anything before. He seemed like a child who learned they were getting a present.
"It is a wonderful holiday for all of the Clan, and I remember how you liked it. So you can stay until after the festivities tomorrow. Then you must return home."
"Will Frosty and Mud be there?"
"I am not sure." A small smile lifted the corners of Lasandra's lips. To hear her son use the nicknames for his old battle-mates was a wonderful sound to her ears.
"'Frosty' and 'Mud'?" Shiona asked, confusion etched on her face.
"Just a couple friends of mine."
"That's their names?"
"Oh, no no. Just their nicknames. Haha." Beelzebub chuckled.
"Oh." Shiona ducked her head, feeling rather silly at thinking those had been their real names.
He patted her hand. "Ah that's all right."
Lasandra took a few steps into the room. "I came to speak with Shiona of her new protector."
Beelzebub's heart slithered into the pit of his stomach. "Oh. Who is it?" The question burned his tongue like the hot liquid he had drank just a short while before.
Lasandra placed her fingertips together in front of her. "If Valenthia returns for Bastilion Day tomorrow, I will speak with her of the matter. As a female, she would be more suitable to keeping Shiona company."
"Erm. Frosty would be a good candidate, but she's a bit too...cold."
Lasandra smiled. "She has warmed up some since you've been away."
"Really now? I'd love to see that!"
"You shall. And since you know enough of Valenthia, you can discuss with Shiona what she is to be expecting in the next few days."
"Wait, I thought Frosty was living here with the Clan?"
"She has a human dwelling in the heart of Antarctica. She will keep Shiona there for the duration required until I can locate a Psychic," She paused for a moment, a far off look to her eyes. Her eyes snapped back in to focus after a moment and another smile graced her lips. "I have some business to attend to. I will see the pair of you tomorrow."
Beelzebub watched his mother until she disappeared from view, and still yet until the sound of her talons receded. He sighed and lay back down on the bed. "That went better than expected."
Shiona looked to him with apprehension in her muddy green eyes. "Who is Valenthia...?"
"She's one of my old battle-mates. She's not mean or anything. But she's a bit of a no-nonsense type. Straight-forward and whatnot. I just don't know if she'd have the patience to deal with you."
Shiona fidgeted her hands nervously. "But she...won't hurt me...?"
"No, no," Beelzebub said quickly in a reassuring tone, placing his hand over the human female's. "She'd get a bit frustrated but she'd never hurt you."
Shiona looked down at his hand, a light blush spreading across her cheeks.
The demon found himself blushing as well, but kept his hand insistently over hers. "Shiona. This has been eating at me since we talked about it before...I must know. You must tell me. What was the reason for you saving me?"
The human's blush deepened and she closed her eyes.
"Shiona, please."
"...you..." she started waveringly. "I..."
Beelzebub could hear her heartbeat quickening and the skin under his own grew hotter. He gave the hand a slight squeeze.
"You make me happy." she stated finally. She braced for the laughter she was certain to be coming.
"...make you happy?" Beelzebub said slowly, his brain numbed by her words. "I...do? Are...are you certain it's not Shadow?"
Shiona nodded slowly, her eyes still closed.
A low sigh escaped the demon's lips. He had convinced himself that Shiona merely was too nice to allow Jukan to remain in control of his host's body rather than she cared for him. To hear that he made her feel such an emotion had a surprisingly relieving effect.
Silence blanketed the pair as they mulled over the given conversation.
Shiona suddenly hiccupped as she suppressed a sob, causing the demon to look up sharply.
In an instant, the woman found herself in the demon's embrace.
"No more crying...please." Beelzebub said with an underlying pleading to his tone. He pressed his forehead against the top of her head.
"I don't like being here...I don't want to go with someone else. I was happy with you and ShadowWing...I feel like a shell here."
"You can't come back with Jukan in me. He could hurt you."
"I know..."
"If there were any way I could bring you back, I would, I swear. I..." he halted.
"Why were you drunk?"
He blinked in surprise, the question something he was not expecting. "I drink to forget."
Shiona pulled her head away and her muddy-brown eyes locked with the demon's steel-grey ones. "What were you trying to forget?"
Beelzebub stared unwaveringly at the eyes before him. Deep within, he could see fear. The source, he was uncertain of. "I try to forget a lot of what happened in my past. Natalie's death had left me with nothing to really live for. But I could not bring myself to take my own life. I...when Mother took you away...that's all I could feel."
"So you weren't trying to forget me?"
"Forget you?! Shiona-" He had to stop himself from blurting out what he had intended to. He chewed on the corner of his lower lip. No point in telling her now...She's just going to be leaving and we'll never see each other again.
Shiona pulled herself from his grasp and made her way out of the room without a word to the demon.
He ran his fingers roughly through his hair and heaved a sigh. "Why do I feel like an ass?"
After a few minutes passed and he realized she was not coming back, the demon decided to pay the blacksmith a visit.

Beelzebub sat on the bed examining the new mask Dirian had created for him. It was an exact replica of the one he currently wore, minus the damage that had been inflicted upon it over the years.
With minor effort, he removed the current one and set it on the table. He absently ran his fingertips along the four raised scars. The two longest ones were at his hairline and through his eyebrows, stretching the entirety of his face, the shortest one stretched from the inner side of one cheek to the inner of the other, and the last was just under his nostrils that stretched to each outer cheek. Anger flared up in his chest at the memories of how they came to be arose behind his eyes.
Jukan's maniacal laughter echoed in the demon's mind.
A small gasp tore the demon from his thoughts and he looked up.
Shiona was standing in the doorway, a plate in one hand, the free one placed over her mouth.
He raised an eyebrow, not certain as to her reaction. He frowned slightly when he remembered she had not seen him without his mask on. "You see these?"
She nodded slowly.
"These are one reason why you are not allowed around Jukan."
She made her way slowly in to the room, her eyes not once leaving his face.
Beelzebub watched her, unsure of what she was doing. He blinked in surprise when, after she had set the plate on the table, her shaking hands inched towards his face. He closed his eyes as her warm, soft skin met his rough scars. He had to force himself to keep his breathing even and shallow, though his heart felt fit to burst within his chest.
Shiona lightly traced the scar along his nose. "Are these why you wear a mask?"
"Mmhmm...so I don't have to keep looking at them in the mirror. I have enough problems seeing his eyes staring back at me."
"Who's?"
Beelzebub ground his teeth together in frustration. "No one."
"I'm sorry..." she said softly, pulling her hand away to rest against the stone of her choker.
The demon opened his eyes. "Don't be sorry. It's something I need to come to terms with, just can't seem to."
"What are the tattoos?"
"Eh...Jukan."
She tilted her head to one side slightly, her hair splaying about her shoulder.
"Shows where he is. I didn't used to have these things."
"Oh..."
"Erm..." A blush flared across his face. "You ah...can touch them if you want."
An identical blush suddenly appeared on the human's face.
In hopes of coaxing her, he closed his eyes. After a few moments, he was rewarded with slight pricks of warmth on his cheek that made his insides quiver. I don't know why I'm even letting her do this. Just feels...nice. Been such a long time.
He gasped in surprise as Shiona slipped her arms about the tops of his shoulders and buried her face in the dip of his neck. Unsure of what to do, he placed a hand on the crown of her head, putting the other arm across the small of her back.
A sudden sensation of extreme tiredness washed over him. He realized that the place where Shiona's brooch rested was feeling warm. "Shiona what are...?" Before he could finish, he was overtaken by sleep.
"I'm sorry, Beelzebub..." she whispered, giving his sleeping form a gentle squeeze.

Description
As the demon slowly regained consciousness, a dull throbbing erupted at his temples behind his horns. He groaned and rolled on his side as the throbbing grew to a pounding; rhythmic and even, almost as if he could hear his heartbeat in his mind. Damned hangovers... A sudden whiff of an unfamiliar scent invaded his nostrils and he forced his eyes to open. He quickly squeezed them shut when the flickering light of a nearby torch nearly blinded him. "Dammit!" he hissed through clenched teeth.
"Beelzebub?"
Disregarding the blinding pain, Beelzebub forced his eyes open again, the voice shooting through his ears like wildfire. "Shiona?"
She came to sit beside him on the bed. "Are you all right?"
"What...what are you doing here?"
"Me? What are you doing here?"
Rather puzzled, Beelzebub let his eyes wander past the human female, taking in his surroundings: smooth cavern walls and a low flickering torch. "Oh. I...am so fucked." he murmured when it finally sunk in. He let his head fall back to the pillow with an exasperated sigh, then winced as the throbbing pain in his skull flared up.
Shiona held a cup out to him. "Here."
"Do I gotta get up?"
She gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "It will help."
He levered himself up with an elbow and took the cup with his free hand. He sniffed at the contents before taking a swig. The liquid felt like hot fire sliding down his throat but the pounding in his skull finally receded to a dull thud.
"Better?"
"Yeh, thanks. Faun's home remedies always do the trick," He set the cup down on the small wooden table next to the bed. "So...er...how long have I been here?"
"A couple hours."
Beelzebub gently massaged the bridge of his nose. "Dammit. Mother's going to kill me. I don't even remember how I got here."
Shiona shrugged her shoulders slightly in response.
"I didn't do or say anything strange did I? I'm not myself when I drink."
Shiona's face flushed as the memory of his embrace came back to her. "N-n-not at all!" she stammered, then bit her lip.
He stopped massaging his nose and brought his eyes up to meet hers. "What did I do?" he asked slowly.
"Nothing bad." she said in a low tone.
He raised an eyebrow. "So, I still did something. Tell me."
"You just hugged me, is all."
"'Is all'? Hm..." He shook his head and wiped his face with his palm. "I need to get back before Mother finds me."
Shiona inclined her head. "Yes." Her voice had an underlying tone of sadness to it.
Beelzebub's blood froze in his veins at the sound of talons clicking on the stone floor. "Too late."
"Shiona, are you in there?"
"Yes, Matriarch Lasandra."
Lasandra appeared in the doorway. Her lavender eyes came to rest on her son. "Ah...I was correct."
Beelzebub skimmed his fingers through his hair. "Hello, Mother."
"And just what do you think you're doing here?"
He gave a one-armed shrug. "Dunna. Just woke up here."
Lasandra heaved a sigh, shaking her head so that her locks splayed around her shoulders. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I was just going to leave..."
Lasandra cast a glance at Shiona, who was looking down at the floor. "I suppose I could let you stay just for tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?"
"Bastilion Day."
"Ooh!" Beelzebub sat up. "I forgot all about that!"
Shiona stared at the demon. She had never seen him excited about anything before. He seemed like a child who learned they were getting a present.
"It is a wonderful holiday for all of the Clan, and I remember how you liked it. So you can stay until after the festivities tomorrow. Then you must return home."
"Will Frosty and Mud be there?"
"I am not sure." A small smile lifted the corners of Lasandra's lips. To hear her son use the nicknames for his old battle-mates was a wonderful sound to her ears.
"'Frosty' and 'Mud'?" Shiona asked, confusion etched on her face.
"Just a couple friends of mine."
"That's their names?"
"Oh, no no. Just their nicknames. Haha." Beelzebub chuckled.
"Oh." Shiona ducked her head, feeling rather silly at thinking those had been their real names.
He patted her hand. "Ah that's all right."
Lasandra took a few steps into the room. "I came to speak with Shiona of her new protector."
Beelzebub's heart slithered into the pit of his stomach. "Oh. Who is it?" The question burned his tongue like the hot liquid he had drank just a short while before.
Lasandra placed her fingertips together in front of her. "If Valenthia returns for Bastilion Day tomorrow, I will speak with her of the matter. As a female, she would be more suitable to keeping Shiona company."
"Erm. Frosty would be a good candidate, but she's a bit too...cold."
Lasandra smiled. "She has warmed up some since you've been away."
"Really now? I'd love to see that!"
"You shall. And since you know enough of Valenthia, you can discuss with Shiona what she is to be expecting in the next few days."
"Wait, I thought Frosty was living here with the Clan?"
"She has a human dwelling in the heart of Antarctica. She will keep Shiona there for the duration required until I can locate a Psychic," She paused for a moment, a far off look to her eyes. Her eyes snapped back in to focus after a moment and another smile graced her lips. "I have some business to attend to. I will see the pair of you tomorrow."
Beelzebub watched his mother until she disappeared from view, and still yet until the sound of her talons receded. He sighed and lay back down on the bed. "That went better than expected."
Shiona looked to him with apprehension in her muddy green eyes. "Who is Valenthia...?"
"She's one of my old battle-mates. She's not mean or anything. But she's a bit of a no-nonsense type. Straight-forward and whatnot. I just don't know if she'd have the patience to deal with you."
Shiona fidgeted her hands nervously. "But she...won't hurt me...?"
"No, no," Beelzebub said quickly in a reassuring tone, placing his hand over the human female's. "She'd get a bit frustrated but she'd never hurt you."
Shiona looked down at his hand, a light blush spreading across her cheeks.
The demon found himself blushing as well, but kept his hand insistently over hers. "Shiona. This has been eating at me since we talked about it before...I must know. You must tell me. What was the reason for you saving me?"
The human's blush deepened and she closed her eyes.
"Shiona, please."
"...you..." she started waveringly. "I..."
Beelzebub could hear her heartbeat quickening and the skin under his own grew hotter. He gave the hand a slight squeeze.
"You make me happy." she stated finally. She braced for the laughter she was certain to be coming.
"...make you happy?" Beelzebub said slowly, his brain numbed by her words. "I...do? Are...are you certain it's not Shadow?"
Shiona nodded slowly, her eyes still closed.
A low sigh escaped the demon's lips. He had convinced himself that Shiona merely was too nice to allow Jukan to remain in control of his host's body rather than she cared for him. To hear that he made her feel such an emotion had a surprisingly relieving effect.
Silence blanketed the pair as they mulled over the given conversation.
Shiona suddenly hiccupped as she suppressed a sob, causing the demon to look up sharply.
In an instant, the woman found herself in the demon's embrace.
"No more crying...please." Beelzebub said with an underlying pleading to his tone. He pressed his forehead against the top of her head.
"I don't like being here...I don't want to go with someone else. I was happy with you and ShadowWing...I feel like a shell here."
"You can't come back with Jukan in me. He could hurt you."
"I know..."
"If there were any way I could bring you back, I would, I swear. I..." he halted.
"Why were you drunk?"
He blinked in surprise, the question something he was not expecting. "I drink to forget."
Shiona pulled her head away and her muddy-brown eyes locked with the demon's steel-grey ones. "What were you trying to forget?"
Beelzebub stared unwaveringly at the eyes before him. Deep within, he could see fear. The source, he was uncertain of. "I try to forget a lot of what happened in my past. Natalie's death had left me with nothing to really live for. But I could not bring myself to take my own life. I...when Mother took you away...that's all I could feel."
"So you weren't trying to forget me?"
"Forget you?! Shiona-" He had to stop himself from blurting out what he had intended to. He chewed on the corner of his lower lip. No point in telling her now...She's just going to be leaving and we'll never see each other again.
Shiona pulled herself from his grasp and made her way out of the room without a word to the demon.
He ran his fingers roughly through his hair and heaved a sigh. "Why do I feel like an ass?"
After a few minutes passed and he realized she was not coming back, the demon decided to pay the blacksmith a visit.

Beelzebub sat on the bed examining the new mask Dirian had created for him. It was an exact replica of the one he currently wore, minus the damage that had been inflicted upon it over the years.
With minor effort, he removed the current one and set it on the table. He absently ran his fingertips along the four raised scars. The two longest ones were at his hairline and through his eyebrows, stretching the entirety of his face, the shortest one stretched from the inner side of one cheek to the inner of the other, and the last was just under his nostrils that stretched to each outer cheek. Anger flared up in his chest at the memories of how they came to be arose behind his eyes.
Jukan's maniacal laughter echoed in the demon's mind.
A small gasp tore the demon from his thoughts and he looked up.
Shiona was standing in the doorway, a plate in one hand, the free one placed over her mouth.
He raised an eyebrow, not certain as to her reaction. He frowned slightly when he remembered she had not seen him without his mask on. "You see these?"
She nodded slowly.
"These are one reason why you are not allowed around Jukan."
She made her way slowly in to the room, her eyes not once leaving his face.
Beelzebub watched her, unsure of what she was doing. He blinked in surprise when, after she had set the plate on the table, her shaking hands inched towards his face. He closed his eyes as her warm, soft skin met his rough scars. He had to force himself to keep his breathing even and shallow, though his heart felt fit to burst within his chest.
Shiona lightly traced the scar along his nose. "Are these why you wear a mask?"
"Mmhmm...so I don't have to keep looking at them in the mirror. I have enough problems seeing his eyes staring back at me."
"Who's?"
Beelzebub ground his teeth together in frustration. "No one."
"I'm sorry..." she said softly, pulling her hand away to rest against the stone of her choker.
The demon opened his eyes. "Don't be sorry. It's something I need to come to terms with, just can't seem to."
"What are the tattoos?"
"Eh...Jukan."
She tilted her head to one side slightly, her hair splaying about her shoulder.
"Shows where he is. I didn't used to have these things."
"Oh..."
"Erm..." A blush flared across his face. "You ah...can touch them if you want."
An identical blush suddenly appeared on the human's face.
In hopes of coaxing her, he closed his eyes. After a few moments, he was rewarded with slight pricks of warmth on his cheek that made his insides quiver. I don't know why I'm even letting her do this. Just feels...nice. Been such a long time.
He gasped in surprise as Shiona slipped her arms about the tops of his shoulders and buried her face in the dip of his neck. Unsure of what to do, he placed a hand on the crown of her head, putting the other arm across the small of her back.
A sudden sensation of extreme tiredness washed over him. He realized that the place where Shiona's brooch rested was feeling warm. "Shiona what are...?" Before he could finish, he was overtaken by sleep.
"I'm sorry, Beelzebub..." she whispered, giving his sleeping form a gentle squeeze.