Higher than Heaven, Lower than Hell

“I’ll have you know I have a hella independent, badass attitude!”

"Nnnnononono, I'm not a sidekick."

“Alright. I’m game.”

“I’m gonna drown you in about 5 seconds,” he says, and only kind of means it.

“Nnnnnooope. I’m cootie free.”

He recoils.

“You absolutely have cooties.”

He blanches, immediately.

“What the fuck, no. Gross, please!”

“You’re a damn liar,” he laughs. That’s the exact answer he’d give her had their roles been reversed.

“Lets just say if I have the all the cards and you don’t, it ensures you don’t get the brunt of it all if it all goes sideways.”

“…so you have no powers at all?” He truly didn’t understand this woman. She had an abnormality on her stomach, claimed she had god like ancestry on top of not being exactly human, yet she seemed to be implying that she was human?

“While that is true of most demon clans and families, there are a handful of us that have never done so, and my family’s bloodline is pure from start to finish.” Or so he was told growing up.

He cuts a glance at her.

“Depends. Do you trust me?”

Francesca raised an eyebrow. She had no idea why his trust would hinge on hers. Did she trust him? Of course not. She did not even trust herself, for good reason. But she did trust him to be fairly predictable. 

He does sidestep here and misses the full brunt of the hug attack, but she gets a sidehug in there. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I’m amazing. I can’t show ya all of it, just some. We gotta keep the rest as a trump card.”

A smirk.

“What do you take me for, some amateur? Course I have video evidence. Photo evidence of them using, too.”

Francesca leaped forward to hug him. 

“…you are a human, with some godlike powers?” Was she admitting that she was a fake demon? Since in his world demon powers were divine and of god like origin, and since the humans in his world who attained such power were considered to be fakes, his logic dictated that she was one, too.

“Of course. I would never sully my line with anything less than a purebred demon.”

“Nah, nah, none of that divinity got passed along, and she was a banished god anyway. I was born waaay after the Age of the Gods ended.” Francesca sounded mildly disappointed about this. 

“Yes I learned the forbidden art of losing a full night’s sleep. Absolutely demonic, I think I’ll grow horns any second now.”

She slung her bag over her shoulder, half wondering if going to school that day would even be worth it, but she figured if Francesca could stand being there then Al could manage a few yawns in between classes. 

“Now that I’m curious, what did you have in mind for celebration? Did you have a spell of your own to cast? Preferably one to cancel classes.”

Francesca burst out laughing at her quip. Al had a nice, dry sense of humor that she really enjoyed. 

He feels as if he heard something he shouldn’t have. 

but thats not right… 

 “why…do you have hand cuffs in your skirt?” 

its best to let the questions out before he could ponder more and allow it to grow inside of him. Making it a question that has him questioning a lot of things lately. 

“Because you never know when you’re gonna need to tie up a criminal or something, you know? You can’t just half-ass these things and expect to get out of it safely, especially when you’re a helpless little girl like me.”