Malice (Demonstuck/Angelstuck)

i'd be a fool of the empire

Chapter title from Borderline by Tove Stryke

Your name is Dirk Strider, and you hope things aren't going as shit-flipped bananas as you think they are.

You and Rose walk side by side, preferring the quiet over Roxy and Dave's loud theorizing over Bro's texts. You'd be lying if you didn't admit you were thinking about it, too, but Roxy and Dave are reaching so hard with their theories they'll need arm surgery.

Their chatter echoes through the dark alley, maybe the only sound in this dead night. For a human, it'd be dark as all hell out here. For you? Different story. If you were completely in human form, you'd retain human view, but both you and Rose have done the smart thing. Smart thing being, let your eyes revert. Not like there's anyone else around to see it.

You run a hand along the wall as you navigate, letting the coolness of brick run up your arm. Your breath turns white as you breathe out, and if you were younger, you might have made a deadpan joke about how you're an ice dragon.

As you glance at Rose, you notice that her now-glowing, purple eyes are narrowed. Her cat-like eyes dash from side to side, like there's something there. This doesn't put you on edge. You're confident in your own senses that there's nothing there.

You walk faster, listening to lone cars speed along some nearby road. Roxy yelps something sharply, but you don't bother looking back. From Dave's voice, they're still exchanging theories, and you don't need to listen to that.

Suddenly, Rose grabs your wrist, so hard that her nails dig in to your unfortunately human skin. The sharp pain almost makes you shudder.

"What?" You ask. Her eyes are closed.

"Shortcut." She opens her eyes and points at a nearby side-alley.

Looks sketchy as fuck, but hey, she wouldn't lead you to it if she didn't know it was safe.

As you turn into it, somehow it manages to be even darker. You're not worried, despite that. You're chill.

"You listenin' to the Horrors again?" You ask Rose.

"They are restless." Rose stares straight ahead now. "I suspect it might be because of the possibility of peace with the angels."

"Do they not like that?"

"Even though it will be beneficial for both sides if it goes well, their hate for angels still stands."

"Right." You nod like you don't think the Horrorterrors are just petty as fuck. "Must suck being a medium when they're restless."

"I'm used to it." Her voice lacks emotion, but hey, you can't really talk.

The alley turns into another, and your brain goes ah, familiarity.

There's a steep slope downwards into seemingly nothing, the only lightsource being a dull, red lamp on the ground nearby. You take a moment to soak in the atmosphere, because damn, it's kinda an aesthetic.

Roxy and Dave push past to shuffle down the slope, and Rose prompts you to follow by tapping your shoulder as she tags along.

"Can't wait to get outta this form," Roxy says, bounding down the slope.

"I'm gonna be so fuckin' glad to spread my wings, you won't believe it. I'll be like a dog that's been kept in a cage for - I don't know - a year, maybe, that was just released." Dave makes it his mission to get to the bottom of the slope before Roxy.

You and Rose exchange a glance as the two race, but with Roxy's longer legs, she has an advantage and beats him there, slapping her hands against the stone and sticking her tongue out at him.