『 I Won't Run Anymore』

Part 26 - Falling

Time seemed to run at a random interval, my mind going over everything that had gone off upon my moving to True Cross. From my first home and job; to now. What I could have done differently to avoid all these incidents. I came up with nothing as I had finally settled down erratic emotions... having no more fluids to cry with as I stood in Mephisto's warm arms; wrapped tightly still around my much smaller frame. I blinked a few times, trying to clear the puffiness and dry ache in my eyes as I lifted my head gently from Mephisto's shirt only for my face to meet with the soft fabric once again a second later. His hand was now pressed to the back of my head, fingers knitted into the roots of my locks; pushing me father into himself as his arm around my back snaked tighter to hold me in place. I managed to tilt my head up to stare at the ivory chin of the demon, eyeing his goatee as it moved in his speech.

"Let us stay like this a little longer belle..."

His fingers ran through the roots of my hair, gliding only centimetres through it before pressing softly against my scalp again to repeat the process. I looked back down, placing my head back into its original position as my eyes closed at the sweet feeling I held in my chest with his ministrations. With my eyes closed my other senses heightened a little... I could hear his heartbeat and gentle breathing... feel the slight rise and fall of his chest... and smell the sugar and burnt incense that was always lingering on him... My grip loosened on his jacket as I remembered Yukio's and my conversation, my left hand travelling up to place it flat against his chest. My palm pulsed at every beat of his heart under the clothing he wore... bump... bump... bump... bump... I opened my eyes a little, the soothing effect it had on me making it almost impossible to fully open my lids. A demon... can react in a way we least expect... they can live a human life...

"Mephisto... do you want to be human?"

The petting stopped as I heard a single skip in his heart before it returned to its normal palpitations. I felt him shift to look down at me, but refused to move from my comfortable position; that and I was also afraid of the look he was probably giving me.

"What made you ask such a question belle?"

"A demon... living a human life... I've never heard of such a thing before is all..."

My face vibrated along with his chest as a chuckle left his throat.

"But you are that very thing my dear.~"

"I know... I meant that you've always known you were a demon unlike myself, and rather than using your superiority to wreck havoc... you've settled into a human lifestyle by running a school and teaching young minds. To help humans battle demons on the side. I know your demon colours show through now and then... but it's rare... So I was just wondering if you really wanted to be human."

He and his brother have caused me a lot of shit in the past... Amaimon more so than the demon that currently held me... but Mephisto has helped me more than he made me suffer. Who knows what I would be doing, where I would've been, and still how little I would've known if it weren't for him... with my true self showing through more and more each day; could an exorcist have gotten to me? Like Daiki had tried to? Would I have been dead?

"No belle, I don't wish to be human. If I had, then I would've died many years ago before meeting you."

I blinked and finally lifted my head to stare up at the demon that was looking down at me with gentle eyes, yet with unreadable features... This man...

"Why are you so confusing?"

My voice came out as a whisper... hoarse from the pounding my heart was giving my ribs. Mephisto's smiled a fanged grin as he moved his hand from my scalp to caress my cheek with the backs of his fingers, cupping it with a velvet glove once he had finished.