“Woohoo!” Emily screamed in delight as she fell through the clouds, the cold moisture of the clouds letting her know it would rain soon. She’d always thought falling was a scary thing but for some reason, she felt totally at peace as if the ground she would eventually reach did not exist.

The roar of a great beast boomed across the clouds and she let out a squeal of delight and a little fear when Behemoth broke through the clouds above her, its large body completely blocking the sunlight and drowning her in darkness. On its back sat Bel with a look of boredom at her childish antics. He still wore the same clothes he’d worn when they entered Elysium.

As for what she was doing falling from the sky, it was due to an argument they’d had the previous day.

Previous Night,

“I want to go outside,” Emily challenged out of the blue and Bel almost fell from his roof spot.

“You’ll die,” was his reply as he returned to gazing at the horizon as if waiting for something.

“Who said I’d die! I’m pretty strong you know?” she refuted angrily, but his expression didn’t change nor did he even so much as glance at her.

“How well can you control the powers of your contractors?”

“Well enough,” she said with confidence and a sure smile.

“In that case, fall,” he ordered with a yawn.

“What?” Emily gaped, not fully understanding his order.

“Jump off the edge of this roof. At this height if you can’t channel neither Sahaquiel nor Raphael’s power well, you’ll surely die.”

“Wait, isn’t that too harsh? Isn’t there like a beginner’s course or something?” Emily blurted out in fright as she imagined herself as roadkill.

“If you can’t manage even that much, you’ll die once you set foot outside these walls.” With a sigh he added, “All bark and no bite. Why don’t you just go to sleep. If trouble appears, I’ll pro…” To his surprise, she abandoned all hesitation, ran towards the edge and jumped off with a determined look on her face. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips but he cut it short before it developed further.

Meanwhile, Emily was in a heightened state of panic as the ground quickly got closer. The sound of the breeze blowing past her frightened her even more and hard as she tried, she couldn’t subdue her fear, which caused her to be unable to successfully summon wind through Sahaquiel’s powers. Inches away from the earth, she shrieked in terror as the inevitability of her death dawned on her, but just before she hit the earth, a surge of power passed through her just before she crashed.

“Destructive type,” Bel mumbled as he walked up to the rubble caused by her crash. He’d also jumped from the roof, but unlike her messy landing, he’d hardly left a sound on his landing.

“WAA!” Emily yelled as she burst out of the rubble, heart pounding erratically. “Huh? Heaven looks familiar,” she mumbled but when she saw Bel looking down at her, her head drooped in depression for a brief moment. However, she perked up when she realized she was still alive, “I’m alive! Does that mean I pass?”

Bel hung his head to show how disappointed he was, “Far from it. You’re only alive because of Raphael. You still lack the ability to channel Sahaquiel when you’re agitated.”

“What did you mean by destructive type?” she asked while dusting off her body.

“It means you lean towards destruction when you’re in trouble. Which is why you’re more attuned to Raphael than Sahaquiel.”

“So, what do I have to do? Please tell me,” she pleaded, surprising him again.

“I thought you hated me?”

“My feelings towards you don’t matter. I just don’t want to be a burden to Rex when next I meet him.” If she had paid him the slightest heed, she might have noticed the brief second when a particular expression crossed his face, but as fate wold have it, it went unchecked.

He turned his back to her and called over his shoulder, “Go to bed. Tomorrow I’ll make sure you’ve mastered Sahaquiel before the end of the day.”

“Sure thing boss,” she snickered and watched as he walked away. She clutched her chest as tears threatened to well up in her eyes. No matter how she tried to convince herself otherwise, Bel still reminded her too much of Rex, and something about watching him walk away reminded her the last expression she’s seen on Rex’s face.

When the spell had passed, she collected herself and went to her room, where she fell into a dark, dreamless sleep.

The following morning, when she walked out of the castle, she lost her voice at the sight of the monstrous beast that had its head bowed to Bel, who was in the middle of patting its head.

“His name’s Behemoth,” he introduced and turned to her, “Don’t worry, he won’t attack,” he said as he offered her his left hand. With a wary glance at the monster that could very well use her as its toothpick, she took his hand and had to suppress a gasp. His hands fit hers perfectly just like Rex’s and she couldn’t help but feel the same security Rex had once offered her.

“Are you okay?” Bel asked when he saw her troubled expression.

“It’s nothing,” she lied and turned away from him to face the beast. “Just a little scared, but I’m fine now.” Clutching her chest, she stared into Behemoth’s eyes as if hoping its flames would burn away her distress.

“Well, that’s it then,” Bel said and she almost screamed when he suddenly wrapped his arm around her.

“Too much,” she mumbled against his chest while he jumped with her onto Behemoth’s back.

“Did you say something?” he asked when she’d settled on Behemoth’s back.

“Nothing,” she repeated and shrieked again when Behemoth suddenly leapt into the air and shot upwards. During their ascent, she could ‘see’ the shield of wind around them formed from Behemoth’s air splitting speed, but they soon entered the clouds.

The lack of vision did not deter the beast and it kept charging through the clouds and soon erupted above them. It spread its wings and levelled its flight, giving her a chance to catch her breath.

She did not catch a break though, because once her breathing stabilized, Bel flung her off Behemoth, and watched with a blank expression as she flailed around and fell into the sea of clouds.

Consumed by terror, she tried to regain her balance by fighting against the winds but it only served to worsen her tumbling. Soon, she began to lose her breath, and as the weight on her chest grew heavier, her sight began to dim.

“The name’s Terry Bond, but my friends call me Rex. Nice to meet you,” he greeted with a confident grin.

 He was odd from the very first moment she’d seen him. Sporting bleach white hair and an attitude that showed he didn’t care what the masses thought of him, she had undeniably been drawn to him.

When exactly did she fall for him, she wondered. Was it the moment they met? Or was it when he saved her from the vampires with that same grin. Ah, now that she thought of it, he had always been grinning, no matter what was happening around him, completely oblivious to her feelings.

An echo of laughter resonated in her mind. Was that her laugh? Why was she laughing when she was about to die? She could only blame the stupid smiling face of Rex that kept appearing in her head. His cheerfulness was contagious almost to a fault. Yeah, she’d fallen in love with that stupidly oblivious grin of his. Wait, wouldn’t that mean she’d fallen for him at first sight? Maybe…

“Die!”

The last word he’d said to her with fury and pain plainly visible in his eyes. Yes, the one time he’d stopped smiling wasn’t due to a close death encounter or the death of a friend. It had been her. She was the one who put the look in his eyes. And since then, she had been trying to overlap Bel with Rex just to ease her guilt if it was only a little bit.

But, it was enough! She’d been relying on Rex the whole time, and now she was doing the same to Bel. Speaking of which, she’d always hated the weak female characters in the movie she watched. She’d be damned if she became one of them.

Strong arms caught her and she drew in a huge breath as she looked up at her savior.

“R… No, you’re not him,” Emily said with a sad smile as she stared up at the face that was a carbon copy of the man she loved.

“Disappointed?” Bel asked with a smirk.

“Very,” She joked as she sat up and looked down at the clouds below them. “You know, I never asked for your name.”

“It’s Belz… No, I don’t have a name. Why don’t you give me one?” he asked.

“Hmm… you have white hair, so… Shiro!” she exclaimed and nodded in approval of the name she’d chosen.

“Shiro? Why do I feel like a pet?”

“Well, it’s Japanese for ‘white’ and it’s a common name for dogs,” she replied with a mischievous grin and held her tommy in laughter when she saw the dubious look on his face. “You don’t smile much, do you?” she asked, when she noticed he had returned to his blank expression.

“What about you? It’s the first I’ve seen you laugh since you got here,” he noted.

“First, huh?” Emily mused and stood up, arms spread wide to keep her balance. Luckily, Behemoth had a broad back so it wasn’t that hard.

“You look like you’ve made up your mind about something.”

“That may be true. I feel like I’ve finally lifted something off my chest.”

“What would that be?”

“How do I put it? Like I’ve finally come to terms with what I did and decided that moping isn’t going to help anything.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Bel asked, intrigued by her sudden change.

“For starters,” she said and closed her eyes as she jumped backwards off Behemoth’s back, “accept.”

As the winds wrapped around her, she didn’t fight them, but followed their course allowing them free rein over her body. She remembered what Bel had said about destruction coming from her being agitated.

With an image of Rex’s grin in her mind, she felt so relaxed; she almost didn’t feel the rough tumbling anymore. Her fingers moved on their own and before she knew it, she was suspended in the sky, the sweet caress of the morning wind dancing against her cheeks.

Slowly, she became more aware of her control and she was soon whizzing through the sky, with a broad grin on her face.

“Nicely done,” Bel said when she landed on Behemoth.

“That would be the first you’ve complimented me,” she said with a soft laugh and added for fun, “Shiro.”

To her surprise, Bel’s eyes widened in surprised and he just stared at her, dumbstruck. It was the first real expression she’d seen on him and she couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“From now on your name is Shiro. Nice to meet you.”

“Shiro , huh. Not a…” he was cut short when both he and Behemoth suddenly snapped to the North. “Our guests are finally here,” he announced as a grave look veiled the slightly playful look he’d had for a moment. “We’d better go greet them.”

“Guests? What are you…”  she started but before she could finish, Behemoth suddenly dived and through her teary eyed vision she could barely make out the castle walls which they seemed intent on crossing. She also noticed a lot of spots that weren’t there the previous day but as they got closer, she swallowed hard when she realised they were all people; well, most of them as she would later fid out.  Together they must have numbered in the thousands.

In front of the multitude stood a single person and when they were close enough, Bel wrapped his arm around Emily just as Behemoth reverted to its blade form. Together with her, he landed in front of the person who seemed to be their leader.

The leader took of the turban and revealed a girl that looked about their age. Her skin was light chocolate, with the darkest hair Emily had ever seen. She wore some type of leather armor that left her stomach exposed, but allowed easy movement. She also didn't seem to be carrying any weapons but from the scar that ran down her right arm and the few that could be seen on her stomach, it was clear she was a battle veteran.

Most of all, her black eyes held a type of bloodlust that would have scared the hell out of Emily before, had she not faced death more times in the previous month than most people did in their lifetimes.

The warrior girl got down on one knee and bowed her head to Bel, followed by the thousands behind her.

“Lord Beelzebub, Son of Lucifer, Prince of Hell. I am your humble servant, Luca Aldiea daughter of Caim, birthed to an Aludian human. We have all been summoned to aid in your quest however necessary. Please, we beg of thee to accept our aid,” she greeted with a solemn bow of her head.

“Beelzebub?” Emily mimicked, with a slow turn to Bel. “Shiro, who exactly are you?” Emily asked in surprise, overwhelmed by the multitude bowing at his feet.

“The Devil,” was his only reply.

If she had understood the full gravity of his words back then, she might have somehow averted the bleak future that engulfed all of Elysium.