The Demon's Travels. Sanctum.

I See Red

Medi felt it. His gut never lied to him. There was something rotten going on here . He thrummed his fingers furiously against the table as he eyed his game piece and Griffin, sitting next to him, drew a card after rolling a dice.

"Arggh.. off to jail again I see." Griffin grumbled as he moved his piece to another square. "Me luck strikes again."

"Why do you look so pissed?" asked Agnese, looking at Medi. "You're the one whose winning."

"Is it because Mira hasn't yet joined us at the table?" asked Hellbi with a smirk. "It's awfully nice that you're so worried about her."

"I'm not worried!!" Medi snapped. Damnit all, why didn't these fools see that anybody should be concerned when somebody was out for this long? "It's just illogical to not detect something fishy about this whole date she's on!! Where was he before all of this just suddenly happened!? How did he and Mira get so close in just 2 minutes!!? What's his angle in a world where most people hate demons!? The villagers all look at her in disgust, just like-."

"Just like you?" said Agnese, smirking. "Please Medi, stop trying to make yourself look better by making yourself seem remorseful, it's pointless."

Medi gritted his teeth angrily, he could feel them grinding in his mouth. It was true, this was a bit sudden for a change of heart, he knew how it looked. However, truth of the matter was he had changed by around 4 months ago.

The truth was that Medi hadn't met any other demons other than occasionally brushing rudely past the slaves seen in the street and at the Taverns. Occasionally he saw them on sale at outdoor auctions, collared, chained, vacant staring expressions.

The only demons he ever truly exchanged words with were the ones that killed his father and sister. Which meant Mira was in fact only the second demon he ever interacted with.

As time went on however, in spite of him exerting all his willpower into trying to hate her, into trying to keep his hatred of demons, he couldn't. He just could not bring himself to actually hate her. He did all he could. He insulted her, demeaned her, beat her savagely during training. But inside he admired her.

Her courage even in the face of his bullying. Her attempts to try and try again even after feeling like a failure and possessing such limited self confidence. Courage wasn't being afraid of nothing, no, that was just audacity. It was smart to fear things, it allowed you to ascertain danger and survive. Rather, courage, was the will to act and do things in spite of your fears. In spite of Mira's suffering and fears she continued to try.

But Medi furiously tried to wipe that admiration away. He didn't want to admire her, it felt as if he were insulting his brother and sister by doing so, even worse was how he could feel himself becoming immensely attracted to her. Her figure, her kind personality, the way she was also a huge dork which sometimes clashed with her graceful seeming figure in a way that Medi liked.

But after last night, after Mira's tearful outburst, Medi finally understood how stupid he was. Because Mira's horrible expression of survivor's guilt almost matched exactly what Medi told his mother when she came home to find her family in shambles. He screamed that it was his fault, that he had somehow brought the demons down on them.

What did his mother do? Hellbi hugged her son and told him that it wasn't his fault, that everything would be okay.

What did Medi do when Mira blamed herself however? Watched like a dumb idiot as she went to cry in the shower. The guilt after that, finally weighed down on Medi like a decisive trigger in a gun.

"I was a jackass." Medi murmured. "I need to make it right."

"Well."Ostea the mermaid smiled as she pushed one of a few drunken snoring dwarves as well as certain drunken giant off her shoulder and began to roll the dice. "You can always go out there yourself and tell her you're sorry. I wouldn't disturb her though, because I think she's still with her date. And I know who it is, I saw him out the window holding hands with her on the way to get more mimosa!"