Lord X

At first, Lord X doesn't even see you as anything special. In his cold eyes you are just another soul for him to to torture as much as he wants, you are just another unfortunate soul that happens to have wandered too deep into his world.

Another thing to break. After all, that's what every being becomes eventually, right?

You walk through the endless forest in his realm, which is made of flesh, palpitating and twitching flesh oozing blood and a weird slimy substance, the smell of rotten flesh and metal completely covering everywhere. You simply smile, you are used to the smell, in fact you love it, you take a deep breath and you can almost hear the screams of your past victims, begging for you to end their suffering. You chuckle to yourself, and keep walking, your shoes stepping on the flesh and splashing blood and other substances everywhere. You can't help but admire his realm, I mean, a forest made of flesh? How come you've never come up with that!

As you walk, you look at the endless red sky and black moon, then you feel his presence. Lord X stands a few steps from you, with his hands on his back, and bored expression on you, at first he is just thinking about the ways to torture you, skinning you alive? maybe pouring hot lava on you as you desperately try to run away, a sadistic and wide smile forms on his face, then he sees it, your smile; you are also smiling, as though you belong here, he is amused.

"Well now..." His grin stretched wider if that is even possible.

The landscape around you twists like wet paint, the sounds of screams and cries distort, trees fold inside out, ground split open into endless darkness. Reality shudders beneath his presence.

"Are you lost?" he asks without moving.

You simply look around, then back at him, was he talking to you? You feel a bit offended, does he think you are one of his victims?

"I'm not."

His smile falters a bit at your tone, there is no fear or doubt. He asks himself why are you not reacting like everyone else? You simply stand there completely unaffected by reality distorting and his presence, it looks as if the distortion simply flows around you, as if you belong there, but not as a victim, but rather as something else.

Interesting, very interesting, he thinks. Lord X steps closer, hands still behind him.

"No...you are not human."

You say nothing, you hold your gaze against him, you don't move, you simply allow him to approach you.

"You are also not one of my creations."

Silence.

Then he reaches toward your face. Not gently, he touches you the same way someone might inspect an unfamiliar insect, the moment his claws brush the fur on your face, he feels it. The Void.

That familiar nothingness that exists inside himself. Endless nothingness. Lord X pulls his hand back as if your face was hot to touch, and stares.

You stare back. Both of you say nothing, instead you smile, showing your sharp teeth and that's when he finally gets it, you are not prey or a victim, you are like him, in a way, another being born from the dark spaces between realities, a creature that wears a shape the same way he does with his vessel, a being that understands exactly what he is.

The realization is intoxicating. Why? because Lord X has spent centuries surrounded by beings lesser than him, fragile, temporary, breakable and insignificant beings. But now, there is you.

You are different, you can actually stay, you are not predictable.

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The obsession starts almost instantly, it's not romantic at first, he is simply fascinated about you and wants to know more, no, everything about you.

He appears wherever you go, universe, games, everywhere, there is no limit for him. He watches you obsessively, without blinking even, he doesn't want to miss a single etail about you, he also tests you, sending both victims and entities that he has created to see how you react, how you fight, how you torture them. He wants to understand you.

So he also creates impossible scenarios just to see how you react. Collapsing worlds. Warping dimensions. And every single time, you adapt and fight, with no fear or doubt; sometimes you even laugh.

"So" you turn around and stare at him, "you spent three weeks making this?" you ask as you laugh.

He freezes at first, since he is surprised that you have noticed his presence, he could have sworn that he has made sure to hide it"...Yes."

"It kind of sucks, don't you think?."

He says nothing, mountain ranges vanish in an instant as his face twists in anger and frustration. He is embarrassed.

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After that, things become even more strange.

Lord X begins to seek you out for reasons that have nothing to do with experiments  or torturing anymore. He will often sit beside you while reshaping landscapes or drag you around to show you his newest creations.

"What do you think?" he asks, as you stare at his newest experiment, three of his victims fused together, their limbs are all over and some of the heads are also fused to one another, the experiment tries to speak but it can only whine in pain.

"About what?"

"This."

"You just made a giant meatball out of your victims" you say with a boring expression

"...And?"

"It has no artistic direction." your words completely hit his ego, he takes pride in being very artistic.

"...I can fix that."

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Everyone in his castle notices the change on Lord X, especially his guardians, I mean it is  impossible to miss. Lord X is still terrifying though, still cruel and utterly inhuman. However, around you, he is patient.

He shows you a strange softness that he hides beneath layers of eldritch arrogance. Because unlike everyone else, you are not beneath him. You are the closest thing to an equal, and in a way it kind of terrifies him more than anything.

Lord X understands possession, control and obsession, but affection, trust, wanting someone to stay because they want to stay?

Those concepts are far more dangerous.

One night, beneath a sky made of thousands of stolen stars, you find him sitting silently, he holds his glass of champagne elegantly. you find it unusual because Lord X is never silent.

You sit beside him, he doesn't look at you immediately and for a long time, neither of you speak, then.

"You know," he says quietly, "when I first saw you..."

You hum.

"I was deciding how to kill you."

You laugh, you already know that, you are both EXE's so it's expected, somehow your laughing makes him laugh too, its distorted echoes. Then, his gaze shifts toward you.

Ancient red eyes glowing in the dark.

"And now?" you ask, as you stare back.

His grin this time is not scary, it's honest.

"Now I think I'd destroy anything that tried to take you away," he says.

And that's probably the closest thing to love he will ever say.

NMI

When he first meets you, he thinks you are just prey, another unfortunate soul that happens to have stumbled into his domain. His distorted form emerges from the darkness and he waits, he waits for you to scream and run away at his presence, the usual.

Instead, you simply tilt your head, studying him, every single detail of his appearance.

"...Why aren't you running?" he asks.

You blink.

"Why should I, are you giving me orders?" 

That is not the correct answer, he is expecting something else, for you to stutter and beg for your life. He frowns as he steps closer.

"You're supposed to be scared, to scream and run."

"And you're supposed to be scary."

"I am scary." he looks offended.

"Sure." you chuckle to yourself.

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At first he assumes that maybe you are just brave, so he continues in finding ways to scare you, but when it doesn't happen, he assumes that you are just stupid, then he sees your sadistic smile as you witness one of his victims slowly getting sick because of NMI. That is when he finally gets it, you are completely insane.

So he decides to watch your every move, how you react in dangerous situations. He follows you, making sure that you are unaware of his presence, and he watches, he watches as you walk through sketchy areas of the city and dangerous dark alleyways, you don't flinch, not at the group of wannabe gangstas threatening to stab you or at a drunk woman trying to cut your throat with a broken bottle.

So he decides to escalate things, creating illusions in an attempt to break your mind, but nothing works. So he tries peering into your mind, and that's when he sees something, it feels wrong yet so similar to him, and that's when he finally gets it, you are not a victim, you are a monster.

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He is very quick to accept and adapt to this revelation, people usually are disturbed and terrified by him, but you, you are different. 

"Are we friends?" he asks

"What?"

"Friends."

"You tried to kill me yesterday, dude." you say as you cross your arms, staring at his dark sockets.

"That doesn't answer the question." hes staring at you, empty expression, he's looking desperately for an answer on your face and body language.

"I don't know, maybe?"

And that's enough, he smiles widely showing even more of his dark gums and white teeth.

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He painfully attaches to you very quickly, anytime he's bored or lonely the first thing he will think about is you and he will seek you. Anytime his thoughts spiral just the thought of you or the sound of your voice calms him.

He often appears with no warning, on your ceiling staring at you as you go on with your day hunting humans or just behind you as you are speaking to one of your victims.

"You know that's creepy, right?" you say without looking at him, your victim falls to their knees and tries to desperately run away, but you know that no matter what you will find them.

"I know," he says without taking his eyes off of you.

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"It gets your attention and i like that." he says bluntly, you chuckle lightly to yourself since that is the first time ever that you have nothing to say.

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At the beginning you don't think much about his behaviour, since you just think to yourself that it is just friendship and he is just desperate for another creature like him since he has probably been lonely for a long time. You simply let him follow you around, accompany you on your missions or even stay with him when he asks to spend time together.

But then things just change.

"Who's that?" he asks as he appears suddenly behind you, you can feel his cold breath against the back of your neck.

"A friend."

"Why?"

"Because they're my friend?"

"You already have me, don't you, so why?" his hand holds your shoulder tightly, not too hard for you to complain, not like you will let him reach that point.

You simply shrug your shoulders and let him be upset.

Unfortunately for you, this just keeps escalating, he now follows you at all times and just stares and threatens anyone that speaks to you.

"You know I can have other friends, right?" you complain, you are busy absorbing the soul of a new victim.

"I know."

"Then why are you acting like that? You are not a kid"

Silence. He looks away in embarrassment, you roll your eyes at him, you can't help but blame yourself, you've let him get away with too much and now this is the result of that.

"I don't want to lose you." he says quietly.

His words surprise you, you honestly don't know what to say, did he love you or something? you quickly brush that off, you are both yokais, can yokais even feel love? No, it can't be love, it's loneliness, you know that NMI has been lonely for years, he has spent a long time being feared and avoided, so of course he is so attached to you since you are both similar entities.

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One evening, as you two walk through a temple, he stops on his feet and you turn to look at him.

"You aren't going anywhere, right?"

He looks worried, and sounds vulnerable, clearly a contradiction for a creature as terrifying as him.

You smile.

"Nope!"

The relief on his face is immediate, and before you can react, he wraps an arm around your shoulders and pulls you closer.

"Good."

"Stop being so clingy."

"No." he says, as you both resume your walk.

"You should probably work on that."

The night was quiet. You gently held a Gameboy to your chest as you laid in bed, snug under several layers of blankets. With the demon in your home, everything always seemed far colder, especially at midnight. Usually you'd be asleep by now, but it just didn't seem to come to you yet. The yokai seemed to notice, the Gameboy shifting slightly before a large entity appeared behind you. "You're awake." They stated, empty eye sockets staring into your soul. You sighed, flipping over. "I know. I can't sleep." You felt it sitting beside you, before you got an idea. "... Since we're both awake- Can I... Brush your quills?" You peeked one of your eyes open, examining his reaction. Well, you tried to examine it, but he wasn't an easy creature to read. You almost lost hope of doing so for a few seconds, before he spoke again. "Yes. You can." You immediately sat up, trying to nudge him to turn around, before he tisked and put a hand on your forehead. "I said you can, as in it's possible to. Not that you may." You groaned, he was gonna do this now? "Alright, may I brush your quills, Innocence?" You grabbed his wrist, and pulled his hand down to be able to see through his fingers. "Thank you. You may." You pulled his hand down completely as he turned his back to you, letting you see his quills. You timidly brushed your hand over his head, down the back. They felt smooth and cold, just like his flesh- Except harder. It wasn't nearly as soft as you were hoping, but you could make it work. You slowly grabbed a brush from off your nightstand, and ran your fingers through the quills a few times to get a good feel of them. His ear twitched lightly, but he didn't move from his spot on the bed. You began brushing his quills, despite them being a far cry from usual hair. His spines fell lower, as if he was relaxing. Although, you didn't really know how he felt at the moment- He never really tells you anything about his emotions or makes it clear. He wasn't grabbing you and pulling the brush away though, so that was probably a good thing.

He would never admit it, but he was shamefully enjoying this. Especially when you'd start petting between his spines, and his forehead. He felt himself decompress as you continued to brush, his head tilted down.

It was pretty soothing, actually! Up until you got pricked. You felt one spine detach, and end up in your palm as you were stroking his head, a pin prick of blood forming at the small cut. "Shit." You muttered, before lightly pulling at it- Fuck, that was a bad idea, it just hurt worse. "Innocence, what's up with your quills-?" He looked back, seeing your hand bleed lightly. "Let me handle that. You won't get it out on your own." He leaned back, and pulled your arm close to him so he could see the quill in your palm. You thought back to when you first asked- So you can't touch him without permission, but he will handle you however? Alright then, jerk. But you loved him anyways. You watched him swiftly get the quill out of your hand, not bothering to think about the pain it might cause pulling something a quarter inch deep in your skin might feel- Almost like a bee or ant sting. You winced, before it was removed from your palm. "... Would you want to get bandaged and then continue?" He looked back up at you, soulless "eyes" staring into your soul. "Mm..." You glanced at him, then your hand, before you proceeded to lick the blood off slowly. His spines instantly stood up, caught off guard by the sudden flirting. You then snatched his hand, and pulled him back to lay down with you, coiling your arms around him despite the scratching at your arms from the prickly quills. "Nah. We're staying right here." Anyone else, and he would've already put you in your place. However, he somewhat enjoyed when you'd do such cocky things- As if he wasn't a demon with the ability to slaughter you. His quills slowly fell as you kept petting his head, hand his body relaxed. "... That is fine, too..." He muttered.

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He will lower your self esteem until you believe only he loves you. He is a horrible person, and he will quite literally suck the joy out of you to feed himself. However, that doesn't mean he won't praise you or care for you. He's extremely manipulative, and wants to be the hand that can both harm and hold you. Both feared and revered as your partner. He will praise and compliment you when you do good things for him, and ignore you for the bad. He doesn't yell to get his point across, he simply stays silent. You're not worthy of him speaking to you, until you've learned better.

The closest you'll get to true romance is when you both go on walks together-- Mainly you holding the Gameboy up so he can see around him. You two can have intimate conversations, or just be silly. He is a serious demon, but he isn't afraid to be a little goofy at times in his own way.

Most of the ways he acts silly are subtle, but you can tell that he's amusing himself. Mostly playing off of things you say or do, making random jokes in his monotone voice (that may or may not make them funnier because of how normal he sounds saying it), but he loves dad jokes and the way they make you groan in annoyance or snicker at how stupid it is. He loves pestering you just enough to make you laugh, but not enough to make you genuinely uncomfortable or angry.

He CAN cook, and he has. If you come home after a long day, you'll find a plate of food on the table. One of the rare times he does something truly caring. He WILL watch you eat while invisible, but he won't show himself. He might ask you about how it was later, but he won't say that he made it for you. (It is perfectly tuned to your tastes and you know that.)

He doesn't care for touch much, but he will accept it if it makes you feel safe. (AS I said, he wants to be your safety and source of love.) He's not particularly warm. Plus, his quills are really sharp. However, in his full demonic form, he becomes less physically sharp, and is easier to cuddle with. (He's also somewhat softer.)

To get a little darker- He WILL threaten you if he has to. Try to leave? Not on his watch. He will make sure you're too scared to go, and then tell you how good you are for staying, and rewarding you for your obedience. Expect to find your favorite dish on the table in the morning.

He'll dissappear for a few hours to torment people, and will sometimes come back exhausted. He won't show it, but you'll know by the way he goes back into your Gameboy almost immediately after he appears in your room. He likes if you hold it gently to your chest. It's a strange hug, but it feels nice anyways.

Right, he can feel through the Gameboy! And he gets a little flustered when you caress the buttons, circling them with your finger gently. Or when you take out the game and run your finger across the little metal lines on the bottom of the cartridge. (It's practically connected to his body, and he can't help but feel a little hotter when you do it.)

He likes scaring you. Sometimes for fun, sometimes for control. If it's for fun, you'll hear him snicker to himself as he disappears and watches you realize it was just him. He's a little bit silly like that.

He likes having his quills played with, even though you cut your finger on them sometimes. He'll just sit on your bed and let you touch his hsir/fur/quills for minutes on end, hell, he'd let you do it for hours.

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That might not even be all of them, and i might be a little rusty after not writing for a few days tbh... But I still hope it's good!!! Heh... I was very tempted to add 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 headcanons, so tell me if you'd want that, anon!! (Typing this as my phone is on 10 percent... 💔)