Unlikely Friends

Neon Signs

Flock roamed the Hell City mindlessly. He wasn't sure exactly what he was planning to do, but he had to remain down there until Shepard called in the all clear. Along his walk, he saw a group of demons making their way to one of the many gentlemen's clubs, and another group venturing down one of the alleys just behind. When he was able to get a good view into the alley, he saw what he assumed was a VIP entrance, and no demons.

The neon sign was inviting, and seeing as no one was there, he made his way to the door. He heard the sounds of a struggle, and when he twisted the handle and pushed it forward, he saw the same group of demons beating up the bouncer. They're attention was solely placed on the quickly dying bouncer, so Flock simply took his opportunity to leave.

Each neon sign held something dark. Extortion, greed, lust- the ability to indulge and gorge 'til your heart's stolen. That- funnily enough- is not even a metaphor, there's quite a market that the cannibals indulge in. Flock never trusted neon signs, he found them too fake. They glowed lovingly, but there was something in his past life that kept him away. He returned to his walk, brightly lit by that he didn't trust.

"Hey look, it's the friendly demon!" A mocking voice said from against a broken sign. Flock looked over to face whoever mentioned him, and it looked to be a plain demon. "Lost ya' marbles or something?"

"Of course I haven't, I'm not a Trusted." Flock scoffed, trying to gauge the friendliness of the demon. He earned a little chuckle.

"Ah, that's damn right, but stupid 'nuff to go for a Punisher!"

"And who's the one deciding that?"

"Ah, no one important." The demon pushed himself off the sign and looked up to maintain eye contact. "Alright, that one was a lie."

"Then you are-?" Flock asked as he got into his defensive stance. He didn't trust this strange demon.

"Very interested in your story!" He said as he noticed Flock's stance. " 'Fraid of one smaller than you, that's funny."

"And what'd you like to know?"

"What'chu died for!" He almost sounded smug.

"You think I know?" Flock responded simply, unamused.

"No, 'course not. No normal demon does. But-" His eye flickered "-you have vague feelings of things clearly from your past. That's more than a normal demon."

"And how'd you know?" Flock said more defensively, as he formed his arm to his bone blade.

"For one, your stance. Defensive, afraid, you know I'm something else. Second, your tone. You know I'm right, and last-" He waved a hand at the broken neon sign, and it melted into fog "I found your hate for neon, and there's clearly a story for it." His accent was gone.

"You wouldn't get anything from me anyway." Flock answered quickly as he took a step back.

"But I would get something!" He stepped closer to Flock, who swung his blade right to his neck. It went clean through, but he earned no reaction from the demon as he continued to speak "I can try to unlock bits and pieces of your head."

"And I'd trust you because?"

The demon paused before he pointed down to his left. Fog formed into the shape of an angel, before suddenly looking like Shepard, though he seemed to be in distress.

"I can break your mind further, of course. Your buddy Shepard? Could lock away his memory. Make you fight him."

Another body formed from fog, similar to Flock, and just as expected, it formed to Flock, slashing down his blade onto Shepard's head.

"Or, I can poke around and unlock whatever makes me curious. Helps you remember who you were, fills the void in my head for gossip. We can even make it into sessions, like therapy!" He said in a more happy tone as the fakes melted into fog, just the same as the broken neon sign.

"Don't have much choice, do I?"

"Nope, because I'd find you again."

Flock thought about it. If this demon wasn't lying, Flock would be able to have his memory back, but the demon could be lying, and just tear him apart, from the inside out. His life, and possibly Shepard's was at stake.

"Fine. Like therapy."

"Hell yes!" The demon cheered excitedly, and even jumped up, before composing himself again and gaining his accent back. "Right, follow behind, it's too dangerous 'round here."

The demon began to lead down the road, to a set of doors under yet another neon sign.

Flock finally indulged under a neon sign.