#oserious

“It’s a private gathering of Oserious’s associates. He holds it every year at his home to.. celebrate the growth of his empire.”

“Still doesn’t answer why I can’t go.” she huffed and rolled over onto her side, completely ignoring the magazine now in favor of putting all her focus on Nona in her suit.

“Because, Mezuma...” Nona gave an annoyed sigh after the hundredth failed attempt at this tie, then tossed the fabric onto the floor and went towards the other woman laying on the bed. “You are not an associate.”

“Yeah but, I’m bangin’ the Blue Demon’s biggest baddy.” she grinned at Nona’s eye roll. “Doesn’t count as somethin’?”

“It does not.”

“Well.. can’t I be a plus one?”

“You will not have fun at this event, I promise.” Nona leaned down and gave her girlfriend’s pouty lips a quick kiss. “It is an excuse for old demons to gather and drink and discuss matters I have no interest in hearing. I do not enjoy these events, but I must attempt.”

“I could make it fun.” Mezuma grinned wickedly.

“That’s preciously the reason why you will not be going.” Nona was caught by Mezuma grabbing at the collar of her shirt and bringing her down for a slow kiss. The green haired woman hummed against her mouth and gently bit her bottom lip before pulling away. “The answer is still no.”

“You’re no fun at all.” Mezuma whined and gently shoved Nona away, who was chuckling in amusement at her. “I think you’re afraid of me meeting Oserious.”

“I would very much like the two of you to meet. But I would rather it be during a setting where he isn’t impossibly busy the whole evening.” Nona went to the tie on the floor and picked it up, knowing she would be disappointing Mikla if she didn’t have the tie on to complete the look. “We have been dating two months.”

“Two and a half.” Mezuma rolled off the bed, landed on her feet, and went over to Nona to grab the tie from her. “Professional killer can’t tie a tie.”

“Hush you.” Nona stood still as Mezuma looped the fabric around her neck, tucked it under the collar and started to loop the fabric, easily, into a clean knot. “My only hope for some sanity at this event will be Mikla’s company.”

“You two are friends~” she replied in a sing song tone.

“You tease me for this?”

“Not teasing.” Mezuma finished the tie knot and tucked the fabric within the vast of Nona’s suit. “Just happy you’re finally with the program that you’re a likable person that has friends.”

“Friend. Singular.”

“Baby steps.” she grabbed at the knot and dragged Nona down for another kiss. “Speaking of, when is Mikla pickin’ you up?”

“Should be soon.” Nona made Mezuma jumped out of the way by lightly pinching her hip. “He insists on coming up to show off his outfit.”

“He did tell me photos wouldn’t do it justice, or he would’ve sent me an insane amount of selfies by now.”

“You two often send each other photos of yourselves?”

“Mostly outfits. He likes seein’ the outfits I wear when I perform at the lounge. And I like seein’ what crazy patterned shirt he’s bought. Don’t worry.. I save the good stuff for you.” Mezuma winked at her.

“As much as I appreciate.. the photos.” Nona cleared her throat. “If you could not send them when I am in Mikla’s company or out working a job-”

“That’s the point of nudes, Nona. They’re wonderful surprises for your girlfriend.”

“Yes but.. I would rather Mikla not be present to see how.. flustered I get.”

“I like that I make you flustered.” Mezuma sauntered over to Nona with a smirk on her face. “I can’t wait to take this suit off you tonight.”

“If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you.” Nona cupped Mezuma’s chin in her hand and smirked at the slack jawed, wide eyed reaction she got out of the other woman. Before Mezume could even snap out of it and respond, there was a knock on the apartment door that captured both of their attention.

“Mikla.” Nona greeted when she opened the door.

“You ready to party, Nans?” Mikla entered the apartment, adorned with a fur lined brown leather jacket over a brown and red plaid suit.

“You are an eyesore.” Nona rubbed her forehead with her fingers.

“You kiddin’ me? I make this look good.” Mikla grinned, his gold toothed fangs shinning in the kitchen light. “You look fabulous by the way. I knew this would be a look and you are absolutely KILLIN’ it, Banans.”

“Please stop.” Nona shoved him away to stop him from dancing around her.

“How do we look, Mez?” Mikla immediately struck an over exaggerated pose next to Nona.

“Ready to break some hearts.” she replied with a laugh.

“No heart breakin’ tonight, ladies. Just demons and business.” he clapped his hands and did a slow spin. “Car is awaitin’ Nans, time to blow this joint.” he slipped on sunglasses he pulled from his pocket and shimmied his shoulders as he backed out into the hallway.

“Try not to kill anyone.” Mezuma helped Nona put her jacket on and grabbed her face for one more kiss.

“I can’t make that promise.” Nona quickly kissed her back. “Call me when you are off at the club. I will see if I can leave by then and come get you.”

“Nah, don’t worry. I’m a tough girl, I can make it home on my own.”

“I know.” Nona took her hand from her face and kissed her palm. “Just humor me.”

“I’ll call.” Mezuma promised and blew both of them a kiss as they headed toward the elevator.

~~~

Guests started arriving at the Oserious manor as soon as Nona and Mikla arrived. There were guards at the doors checking each guest to ensure that each demon had invites to the party. It was done to not have another repeat of the sniper assassination attempt on Mikla at the last gathering that was held. Nona was, as usual, hiding in the more hidden areas of the room, preferring to keep an eye on everyone rather than interact with them. But, seeing as Mikla has his own associates at the party, he was very insistent on Nona meeting them.

“Please stop forcing me to interact with demons.” Nona huffed angrily at Mikla after the last demon they spoke to left them to go mingle with the other guests.

“You gotta make nice with my associates, Nona. We’re gonna be workin’ with them to figure out this copy cat situation we’ve got on our hands here.” Mikla nudged her side as he started walking towards one of the long tables covered in food.

“That is why I would rather not ‘make nice’ with any of these demons.” she glanced angrily around the full room. “I do not trust a single demon in this room. Anyone here could be an allie to this ‘copy cat’ organization.

“Nah, I don’t think no one here would be. These are long time friends and partners of Oserious. None of them would even have the balls to even consider turnin’ their backs on him cause they know what he’s capable of.”

“Still.. I do not trust anyone here.”

“You hardly trust anyone anywhere. I could probably name everyone you trust on one hand.”

“You would only need three fingers.”

“Oh? Am I one of those fingers?”

“Please don’t phrase it like that.” Nona glanced over at a small gathering of demons surrounding Oserious. “I haven’t had a moment to speak to Oserious since he’s come back.”

“I did but it was to inform him of the situation and how much more information we’ve gathered from our trigger happy, locked up friend downstairs. Which, unfortunately, ain’t a lot of information. These fellas ain’t talkin’ and it’s really startin’ to frustrate the Hell out of me.” Mikla plucked a grape from the plate on the table and popped it in his mouth. “Poor ol’ man hasn’t had a break. Goin’ from travelin’ for work to hostin’ a party.”

“It use to be worse. He use to do everything on his own before you came into the picture and helped relieve some of his duties.”

“Aw, that sounds like a compliment, Nans.” he looked up at her with a pleased expression and a hand over his heart.

“Please do not make a big deal out of this, Mikla.”

“Alright I wont. I still thing the ol’ man deserves a day or two off tho.” he picked up a small plate and put a few pieces of dessert items from the end of the table on it. “Check it out, Nans, they got that chocolate you like.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her attention now focused on Mikla.

“Listen, don’t play dumb wifh me, Nona. Despite what you think, I’m an incredibly observant demon. And while you’re very good at hidin’ most of your interests from me, you can’t hid your odd and ridiculous sweet tooth from me, my friend.”

“You are mistaken.”

“Am not.” he set his plate down and picked up a second one to load it with several pieces of chocolate. “Uncle buys the stuff almost as quickly as it runs out in the house. Now, I know he don’t like sweets that much and I never touch the stuff. So who’s the one eatin’ it? Cause I only see the stuff gone whenever you come by round here.”

“You are exaggerating a simple observation.”

“But am I wrong?” he held the plate out to Nona and smiled at her. “I wont tell no one about your little chocolate secret, Nona. Well... maybe Mezzie. She’ll definitely wanna know this.”

“I curse the day you two ever met.” Nona gave him and the plate he was holding a once over before she snatched it from him.

“Cheers! There ya go, Nans. Let loose a little. You don’t always need to be workin’.” he picked up the plate he made for himself and ate a small square of white chocolate.

“My job is to make sure you don’t get into any trouble.”

“And you do your job spectacularly. But I can handle meself, Nans. I’m a big boy now and I’d like to think I ain’t as stupid as I was before.”

“Arguable.”

“Regardless, nothin’s gonna happen here tonight. There’s about 70 plus demons here, presumably on Oserious’s side, and hired guards. These copy cat demons would have to be daft idiots to try and pull somethin’ here, especially with all these armed fellas and you here.”

“We thought the same thing before you were almost assassinated in a similar scenario to this.”

“Yeah but that didn’t turn out well for that demon, did it? He’s still locked up and we’re both still standin’ here. Everythin’ works out. Don’t get yourself up in a tizzy worrin’ about every little thing, Nans.” he patted her check before sending her a quick salute and wondering off into the crowd of demons.

Nona observed from the table for a little while. She was mostly waiting for the opportunity to speak with Oserious without a crowd of other demons around him. But she was keeping on eye on things. Even with how confident Mikla sounded about everything running smoothly here, Nona didn’t want to take that chance, so in her mind everyone here was suspect.

Dinner was finally served some time later. The wait staff carried out trays of food to each of the tables in the dinning area, where most of the demons were starting to gather. Oserious was finally left alone at his table when his food had arrived, so Nona quickly made her way over to him. Hopefully her presence near him would ward off any unwanted interruptions.

“Nona, it’s been too long, my dear.” he greeted her with a warm, yet tired, smile.

“It has, yes.” she set her plate down on the table and sat in the empty seat next to him. “How have your travels been?”

“Eventful in their own way, I suppose. You wouldn’t be at all interested. I am, however, interested in what has been going on in my absence. I’ve heard we’ve been making some headway with this organization that thinks it can copy my weapon designs?”

“Yes.. we’re trying to find the organization but it’s proving difficult. The demon we captured from his failed assassination isn’t giving us any information about who it is he works for and what their overall goal is.”

“I have complete faith that they will be found and stopped. I trust in you and my associates who are undoubtedly working hard. This is a very important matter and stopping whomever these demons are is top priority for us.” he took a couple quick bites of his meal and washed it down with some gulps of water. “Now, there is another matter I wish to discuss with you.”

“That would be..”

“I’ve been informed by my great nephew that you’ve gone and got yourself a girlfriend.”

“Oh well..” Nona shifted a bit in her seat and picked at one of the chocolate’s on her plate. “Yes I have. I mentioned her to you before actually. The woman I had inadvertently rescued during that raid with Kozic.”

“You have mentioned her, yes.. That was some time ago.. two months?”

“Two and a half yes.”

“Must be serious then. I barely hear you with partners to begin with, let alone the same one for more than a week.” Oserious chuckled and sipped some water. “Well go on then, what is she like? What does she do for a living?”

“She’s a singer. She just got a job at this burlesque lounge, Fatal Ecstasy. For now, she works three nights out of the week. But she has been told she could be included in more acts.”

“This girl must be a talented to have Lady Jou hire her. That woman is not an easy demon to please.”

“Mezuma is.. she’s.. wonderful.” Nona sighed with a small smile on her face, it made Oserious chuckle again. “I have only seem her perform a couple times but she’s... amazing.”

“You are quite smitten, my dear.” he nudged an elbow against hers.

“Am I that obvious?”

“Yes. And it’s refreshing seeing you doing things for yourself. I should like to meet this Mezuma one day.”

“That was actually a topic of discussion tonight.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” Nona laughed a little under her breath. “She wanted very much to attend this party for some reason.”

“Well, obviously she would have been more than welcome, but I hardly want to be here and I’m hosting the bloody thing. I don’t think she would have any sort of fun here.”

“That’s what I told her.” Nona chuckled.

“Besides, I know the unfortunate nature of my associates here.” he gestured at the filled tables of demons with his fork. “You bring a pretty lady here and the topic of conversation will be about her. And I’m sure you will have broken your fair share of wrists by evenings end.”

“I would not harm anyone here.. On purpose.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t.” Oserious humored her with a chuckle and a playful wink. “When I am not weighed down with business and travels, you will bring her here for dinner. I am a little offended that my nephew had the chance to meet her before I did.”

“He was very... persistent on meeting her.”

“Ah yes, in typical Mikla fashion. Did they get along?”

“Terrifyingly well, yes.”

“Mikla has always had a rather trendous gift of getting along with everyone. How he manages to have any sort of entertainment at these gatherings I will never know. Why, he’s probably talking the ear off of some poor demon.”

“I would not be surprised.” Nona glanced around the room, trying her best to focus through all the energies in the room to find out where Mikla was since he wasn’t in eyesight of her. The moment she pinpointed his heartbeat, she heard it stop for a moment longer than it should before stutter back to life.

“Nona?” Oserious gently put a hand on her shoulder, alarmed by the completely out of character expression of shock on her face. Nona looked over at him with wide eyes before roughly shoving her chair out of the way and running from the table.

~~~

Mikla had spent most of the evening working the room and chatting with pretty much every demon invited to the party. When dinner was served, he retired to the balcony to have a moment to himself and have a quick cigarette. He had just lit his cigarette when a dark purple demon approached from his side and leaned up against the railing next to him.

“Mind if I bum one off ya?”

“‘ey Vanee, yeah sure here.” he handed the pack to the other demon and tossed the lighter. “Haven’t seen ya in a while. Whatchu been up to, mate?”

“Boss M’s got me runnin’ errands for him all the time.”  Vanee light his cigarette and blew some smoke out. “Really annoyin’ actually, haven’t had a day off in weeks.”

“I’m sure everyone’s busy with these new copy cats around. Any help is appreciated, mate.” Mikla blew smoke out over the railing. “Still, a party’s a nice break. You enjoyin’ yourself?”

“Buncha rich demons talkin’ about how much money and power they got? Yeah I’m havin’ a grand ol’ time.” Vanee spoke viciously.

“Yeah, these ol’ stiffs do brag about their expenses a lot, but no one here’s braggin’ about power or anythin’ like that.” Mikla looked at the other demon with a slightly confused expression.

“This whole party is a power show, Miky. Only demons gettin’ in here are the ones with the money and the power, you and I both know this.”

“Yeah, they’re powerful, but so is any other gang out there. The demons in here just happen to have agreements and morals that they’re abiding by, Vanee, you know this.”

“Morals, rules, policing, it’s all a human made construct. We’re demons. Why do we need morals?” Vanee flicked his half finished cigarette over the railing. “We ain’t got laws down here, we’re not meant to, so why do we got other demons, thinkin’ they’re better than us, tryin’ to enforce some sort of rules and guidelines on everyone else.”

“This place would be chaos if we weren’t doin’ anythin’, Vanne. Oserious wanted to give us some sort of order to this place, otherwise, demons would be tryin’ to kill each other left and right.”

“So him makin’ a demon killin’ weapon is really the solution to the ‘demons killin’ other demons’ problem.”

“Admittedly it wasn’t a great solution but at the time it was all he had. Unerverse was shit and someone had to do somethin’ before it was too late. But that’s why he’s so careful about who he’s given the weapons to. He makes sure they’re trustworthy and not gonna do anythin’ indecent with ‘em.” Mikla stood up straight so he wasn’t leaning against the balcony anymore. “Where the Hell is all this comin’ from, Vanee?”

“This shit happened in the past, Mikla. Remember The Riot?”

“Yeah I remember The Riot. Some group of demons like 60 some years ago wanted to do what humans do and enforce laws and regulations for all of us to follow. They called themselves.. ‘police force’ or somethin’ like that. They did it so we weren’t eatin’ each other alive.”

“But everyone else didn’t like it. They didn’t like these high and mighty demons actin’ like they run the place just cause they have money and use it to buy power. False power. Makin’ it hard for poor and destitute demons to survive. So they rioted and tore down everythin’ those demons stupidly worked on. Cause they was easily outnumbered.” Vanee’s face twisted in disgust. “We aren’t meant to have rules. Sooner or later, this shit’s gonna happen to you and your Uncle. The worst part is, he gave everyone ammo to take him down.”

“I don’t like the way you’re talkin’, Vanee.” Mikla dropped his cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with his boot. “You’re talkin’ an awful lot like one of those demons..”

“It’s common sense, you know it’s gonna happen, Mikla. That copy cat group is already workin’ on remakin’ your Uncle’s demon killer weapons. As soon as they do that, they’re comin’ after you and every other snooty demon in this room.”

“I don’t appreciate you comin’ here and bad mouthin’ me and my Uncle.” Mikla grabbed a fist full of the other demon’s shirt and yanked him towards him.  

“I’m speakin’ the truth, Mikla. The Blue Demon is a plague on Unerverse who thinks he’s as righteous as a God. Life thrived before him and it will thrive after him.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s fate.” Vanee grinned maliciously at Mikla.

“You ain’t just bad mouthin’.. it sounds like you-” Mikla felt a sharp pain underneath his ribs. His grip loosened on Vanee’s shirt and he fell to his knees in front of the other demon.

“Look familiar?” Vanee held out a jagged knife to Mikla, covered in his own blue blood. “That’s your Uncle’s symbol, innit?” he pointed at the carving on the base of the knife. “I get you with this again.. you ain’t survivin’.”

“Traitor.” Mikla spat out.

“You know, I was stupidly on your side when Boss M made that deal with your uncle when I joined his crew. But.. this hidden legion of demons showed me the way. Chaos is inevitable. Order will only survive when those in power are still alive. And after you’re gone.. it’s just your Uncle we need to deal with. All those demons in there.. will crumble after you’re both gone.” he lined up the blade against Mikla’s throat, ready to slice into his flesh.

“You’re forgettin’ someone.” Mikla said with a bloodied grin.

“Cocky for someone about to die. Alright, I’ll bite.. who did I forget.” he suddenly stiffened when he felt the cold barrel of a gun against the back of his neck.

“Drop the knife.” Nona growled.

“Heeey Nans.” Mikla fell against the railing of the balcony and shakily pressed his hands to his wound. “Nice of ya to join us.”

I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.” Nona kicked away the knife Vanee dropped and made him stand with his hands in the air.

“Nah, don’t worry much about it. Just a flesh wound.”

“Miklazal!” Oserious burst through the door of the balcony, ran to his nephew on the ground, and knelt down beside him. “What in the Hell happened here?” he demanded.

“This is one Hell of a shindig you’ve thrown here, Uncle.” Mikla chuckled weakly. “Seems Vanee here’s workin’ for this.. what did you call them?”

“Legion of demons.” Vanee spat out as he fought Nona trying to tie his hands up.

“Yeah them.” Mikla wiped away some blood from his mouth, wincing when his uncle put pressure on his wounded side. “Thems the copy cats, I reckon. He’s workin’ for the enemy.”

“Nona, get this demon away from my nephew and locked up somewhere. I will deal with him later.” Oserious pressed a finger to the ear piece in his left ear. “Send help on the balcony.”

~~~

Causing a panic was the last thing Oserious wanted to have happen at this party, so he had a couple of the guards quickly and quietly bring Mikla into the manor and down to one of the medical areas. The guests were unaware of what had happened on the balcony and Oserious made sure they were left in the dark about it. He had to continue to entertain them, which meant he couldn’t be by his nephews side.

“He’s lost a lot of blood. But, the blade doesn’t appear to have pierced any organs.” a greenish blue demon was summoned from the party by one of the guards to look at Mikla. “It was done by an Oserious weapon?”

“Yes.” Nona stood anxiously at Mikla’s other side as he was laid out on top of a metal table to be examined.

“It wont heal properly on it’s own, but it can heal. Unfortunately, it will leave a rather noticeable scar, since it is one of Oserious’s weapons.” the demon went searching through one of the cabinets in the room until he found a package of needles and some flexible wire. “There’s a human made medical concept called ‘stitches’ that could possible help. It keeps the ends of the wound close to together to help the flesh heal.”

“Use to do those growin’ up.” Mikla joked weakly. “Youngin’s liked doin’ human stuff like it was some type a weird fad.”

“We should start to see some improvement when I’m done, given your naturally quickly healing.” the demon threaded the wire through one of the needle holes and started piercing it through Mikla’s skin to sew the wound shut.

“He will be okay?”

“Aw Nans, you do care.” Mikla reached his hand up, slowly, and patted Nona’s face.

“Mikla, please, you’re injured.” she took the blue demon’s hand away from her face but kept a tight hold on it.

“You never hold hands with me anymore, Nona. And how come you never look me in the eye when we make love.”

“Stop speaking, you are delirious and you need to rest.” Nona felt her phone buzz in her pocket before it started ringing.

“Speakin’ of makin’ love.” Mikla giggled at his own joke. “Probably ya girly, eh?”

“Yes.” Nona pulled her phone from her pocket to see the caller ID. “I will... call her back.”

“Nah answer it now. She’s gonna get worried if ya don’t.” Mikla patted her hand with his other hand. “I’ll be here when you get back.. Promise.”

Nona stared at him for a few seconds and squeezed his hand one more time before ducking out of the room to answer her phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey babe, I just got off. How’s the party? Havin’ fun?”

“No. Not really.. I..” Nona breath shook in the phone, a very unfamiliar feeling bubbling up in her chest.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” the concern in Mezuma’s voice made the feeling in Nona’s chest worsen.

“There was.. another attempt at Mikla’s life.. I was.. I was almost too late.”

“Holy shit, Is he okay? Are you okay?”

“He has lost a lot of blood.. a demon from the party is giving him.. ‘stitches’? I believe that’s what he called them.. he told us they would help Mikla heal.”

“Please tell me you caught the demon that did this.”

“I did yes. He’s been locked up. Oserious will handle him at a later time...”

“I hope he tears that guy a new one. Fuckin’ asshole.” Mezuma gritted through the phone.

“I am sorry, I wont be able to get you from work-”

“No, no, no, I completely understand, Nona! You stay with Mikla as long as he needs you. I’ll just go to your apartment and wait for you there, okay?”

“Yes.” Nona took a deep, shaky breath. “Please let me know when you get there. I do not want to worry about you too.”

“I’ve got my gun on me. I’ll be fine. You just.. keep me updated on Mikla okay?”

“I will... Stay safe.”

The call ended and Nona shoved her phone into her pocket as she went back into the room where Mikla was still laying down on the medical table, half awake.

“They seem to be working already.” the demon spoke from Mikla’s injured side. “His body is already starting to heal itself with the stitches’ help.”

“See, Nans? I’ll still be able to play piano, no problem.” Mikla spoke with slow, slurred voice.

“He just needs rest to make up for the amount of blood that he’s lost.” the demon finished up stitching Mikla’s side and started covering the wound with gauze. “Plenty of food and bed rest for the next couple of days should do it. I will go inform Oserious of your condition.” he bowed his head at the two of them and left the room.

Nona looked down at her tired partner and took his hand in hers again. He responded with bringing their joined hands up to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to the top of her hand.

“I wasn’t worried, Nans.. Knew you’d come for me.” he tiredly patted her hand.

“You have too much faith in me, Mikla. I was almost too late..”

“Nah.. came just in time.. ‘m still here, ain’t I?”

“You would not have gotten hurt if I had acted sooner.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten hurt if Vanee wasn’t a traitorous prick, Nona.” Mikla appeared to have sobered up for a moment and made hard eye contact with the taller woman. “He betrayed us. He betrayed.. me. He joined this.. fuckin’ Legion or whatever and he caught me in a moment of weakness when I was unarmed and unguarded. You were right.. before.. I was stupid to think I could put my trust so easily into these demons. I ain’t about to make that mistake again, Nona. You and.. Uncle O are the only ones I’m trustin’ now.”

“You have.. a very calm demeanor for someone who was just stabbed.”

“Ain’t the first. Wont be the last.” Mikla let out a sigh as he relaxed into the table. “’m sorry I didn’t take your concern seriously before, Nans.”

“Now’s not the time. You need to rest.”

“Yeah, probably right.” Mikla sighed again and slowly let his eyes close. By the time Nona had pulled up a chair next to the table Mikla was laying on, he had already fallen into a deep sleep. Nona stayed by his side, focusing on his steady heart beat and nothing else until Oserious finally joined her a couple hours later.

“How is my nephew?”

“Asleep.” Nona didn’t dare look away from the young demon for a second, afraid he would stop breathing the moment she did.

“Nona..” Oserious went over to her to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Go home. It’s been a long evening for all of us. You should rest. I will watch over him.”

“You need rest as well, Oserious. You have not had a break in months.”

“And I will get my rest. But right now my concern is that both of you are well.”

“You needn’t concern yourself with me. I am fine.”

“You are not and that’s quite alright, Nona. It’s hard seeing your family get hurt.” he squeezed her shoulder.

“I imagine it would be difficult seeing your nephew this way-”

“I meant you, Nona.” Oserious ran his hand along the back of Nona’s head with a soft smile. “My dear.. you must know by now that I have considered you family for a while.”

“F-family? Me?”

“Yes and I know my nephew shares my sentiment.” he tucked his hand under Nona’s arm and physically made her stand up from the chair. “Now.. I have a driver ready for you outside to take you home. It would be rude to keep him waiting.”

“But.. I..”

“No arguing.” Oserious pointed a finger at her and took her seat next to Mikla. “Get home. Try to rest. I will keep you informed on Mikla’s condition, should there be any drastic changes. But for now, you must take care of yourself. I’m sure Mezuma is worred and wondering where you are.”

“Mezuma..” Nona automatically went for her phone in her pocket to check it and saw she received a message from the other woman hours ago saying she had arrived home safely. She looked back up at Oserious one last time and he waved her off as she left the room.

~~~

It was around three in the morning when Mezuma heard the door open to the apartment.

“Oh Nona.” she rushed over from the kitchen table and looked over at her girlfriend’s exhausted features and red eyes.

“He’s okay.” Nona spoke through a lump in her throat. “Oserious is.. he’s watching him now. He’s resting..”

“Babe..” Mezuma stepped back for a moment so Nona could removed her jacket, tie, and vest. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” she answered in a small, quiet voice. “I don’t know what is happening to me.. I.. I’m-”

“It’s okay.” Mezuma gathered the other woman up in her arms and stroked her back. “It’s okay-”

“I heard his heart stop.. for a second I thought.. that he..”

“He’s okay, Nona.” she cupped Nona’s face in her hands, making her look down at her. “You said so yourself.”

“I was almost too late.” Nona felt a tear roll down her cheek and she took a deep breath. “I let my guard down- he was.. stabbed and almost killed because of me.”

“You can’t think like that, Nona. You didn’t hurt him. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I didn’t move fast enough!” Nona backed away from Mezuma and paced around the table in the kitchen. “It is my job to protect him and Oserious. If either one of them gets hurt, it’s my fault!”

“You weren’t the one stabbin’ him, Nona!” Mezuma stopped Nona from pacing with a hand against her chest. “It wasn’t your fault he got hurt!”

“You don’t understand.. If I had not gotten there in time he would be dead. It’s my job to protect him, Mezuma. It’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault! Gods! We are you arguing with me about this?! You didn’t hurt Mikla! This was some random attempt by some murderous freak! Nona.. You saved him! You don’t have to be around him to protect him 24/7 ! You’ve got your own life! He can handle himself and he knows he's got you when things get rough! But it’s not your damn fault he got hurt tonight! Why are you puttin’ so much blame on yourself!”

“Because he’s my family!!” Nona shouted with such emotion that it made her physically reel back at what she said. They stared at each other wide eyed for a long time before Nona’s face crumbled and she sank to her knees on the kitchen floor.

“Oh Nona.” Mezuma knelt down in front of her and wiped away the steady falling tears from her girlfriends cheeks. Nona’s sudden confession made something break in her as well and she felt a little teary eyed. “Sweetheart..”

“Oserious said I was family.. He looked at me.. he said I was family. He said Mikla.. Mikla thinks I’m family... I have a family..” Nona looked up at her with a pinched expression. “That’s why.. I can’t let anything happen to them. They’re all that I have, Mezuma.. I can’t lose them.”

“Babe..” Mezuma brought Nona in for a hug and allowed the taller woman to slump against her. “You poor thing. Nothing’s gonna happen to them, okay? Mikla is one of the toughest demons I know. And Oserious is so powerful, no one would ever mess with him. Tonight was a fluke.. I know they wont let it happen again and I know for damn sure you wont let it happen again.”

“He puts so much trust in me.. I was almost too late.”

“Stop thinkin’ like that, Nona.” Mezuma demanded. “You listen.. Mikla is fine. He’s gonna wake up tomorrow and be back to his old self. And he’s gonna keep puttin’ his trust in you. Because you’re gonna be the reason he’s able to wake up tomorrow. You’ve gotta have hope, Nona.”

“Hope..”

“Yeah.” Mezuma chuckled a little bit. “Not a common thing around these parts. But hope is what lead me to you. And I can’t turn my back on the thing that brought me the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

"Hope.” Nona pulled herself away from Mezuma and sat back on her knees. “I will try.. to have hope then.”

“Okay.” Mezuma wiped away another tear from Nona’s cheek with a small smile. “Let’s get you out of this suit and into some pajamas, yeah?”

“I don’t deserve you.” Nona allowed Mezuma to help her off the floor. “I don’t deserve you taking care of me like this. I’m sorry.. for the way I am acting.”

“I like that I get to do this..” Mezuma confessed as she started to unbutton Nona’s dress shirt. “That I get to take care of you sometimes.. Cause you’re always doin’ things for me and takin’ care of me. And.. I know you said you’d do anythin’ for me and I wouldn’t have to do a single thing in return but.. I would do anythin’ for you too Nona. Cause I want to. Cause I.. I care about you so much.”

Nona was silent and stood patiently for Mezuma to finish unbuttoning her shirt before sliding it off her shoulders. When the shirt was tossed over one of the chairs in the kitchen, Nona backed the other woman up against the wall, crowding her there. Nona stared at her, as if she was planning her next move before she did anything. So Mezuma just waited quietly.

“You make this so easy.” Nona finally said. “Before you, I’ve never felt the things I feel now with anyone else. You’ve made it so easy for me to feel vulnerable and normal.” she leaned into Mezuma, pressing her body along the other woman’s, and resting her forehead against hers. “You’ve made it so easy.. for me to fall in love with you, Mezuma.”

“Yeah?” Mezuma grinned, her eyes filling with tears that she tried to blink away, and brought her hands up to wrap around Nona’s neck. “You mean it? You love me?”

“I do.” Nona looked down at her with a sudden sad expression. “I apologize if it’s too much-”

“You’re an idiot!”

“I-what?” Nona looked at her with confusion.

“I said you’re an idiot.” Mezuma laughed. “Because I’ve been in love with you ever since that first night you spent at my apartment.”

“But you’ve.. you’ve never said anything before.”

“I was afraid of sayin’ somethin’ too soon and scarin’ you off.” Mezuma admitted quietly. “Truth is.. I’m afraid of losin’ you just as much as you’re afraid of losin’ me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. Neither am I.”

“Good.” Nona ran her hands along Mezuma’s sides. “There’s so many things I want to with you..”

“Later. You’ve been through a lot tonight. I’m exhausted and you must be dead on your feet.” Mezuma pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “We have plenty of time together, Nona.”

“You’re right..” Nona backed away from the other woman’s space and went over to the bed.

“I’m always right.” Mezuma followed her and hopped on top of the bed.

“You are.” Nona fell easily into her girlfriends open arms and curled up half on top of her.

“Clearly not.”

“Oh Nona..” he stopped pacing and stared thoughtfully out the large window overlooking the vast landscape outside. “Is there no way I could convince you to change your mind on this?”

“I’m sorry, dear friend, but that is not the path for me.” she pushed herself off the door frame and walked over to Oserious.

“And I will continue to respect your decision, as I always do.” he signed and rubbed his forehead between the two small nubbed horns. “What could I possibly do to teach this bratty child a single damn thing?”

“Let me handle it. If you’ll allow me.”

“How will you handle it?”

“You will just have to trust me, old friend.”

“As I always do, my dear.”

~~~

Mikla’s usual entourage were a couple of demon’s Oserious hired specifically for his great nephew. But this night, Nona insisted on joining him to whatever club he planned on visiting. The entire idea made Mikla so ecstatic he could hardly contain himself.

“I’ve got the guard dog to the Blue Demon followin’ me around the clubs, the boys are gonna flip their tits!” Mikla bellied up to the bar and ordered himself and a few other people around him shots. He downed two easily and handed one to Nona, who declined it instantly. “Cheers.” he tapped the glass on the counter top and downed that one as well.

The evening passed in a blur of people dancing and Mikla showing off nonstop. 3 bottles of champagne later, Mikla was lounging in the VIP area, surrounded by his friends he met up with and random people he accumulated after dropping his uncle’s name a few times. Nona stood quietly in the corner and watched all the club goers passing by the lounge.

“Oi! Ladies!” Mikla shot up when a group of girl passed by the door. “Wanna come join us then? We’ve got bubbly and lovely couches to sit your pretty selves in.” The girls  couldn’t resist a chance to be in the VIP lounge and agreed to join him and the group.

"Who are you suppose to be then?" one of the girls asked, taking a drink offered to her by Mikla.

"I'm so glad you ask, love. I happen to be the great nephew of a very powerful demon." Mikla smirked. "Dark and brooding over there is my body guard for the evenin'." he crowded in the girls space. "She just so happens to be a certain wondering demon from the Wastelands."

"Wastelands?" the girl whispered back loudly. "Like, Big Blue? That's his guard dog?!"

"Sure enough." Mikla winked and drank heavily from the bottle he was carrying.

"Uncle let me 'ave her for the evenin'."

"What's he like?"

"He's a boring ol' git, if I'm bein' honest. She's the real deal, however. I've seen her break a demon's arm like it was a toothpick."

"Are all the stories about her true?" she crowded into Mikla's space, wrapping an arm around him to try and keep him as a barrier between her and Nona. Mikla mistook it for flirting and proceeded to hold her close by her waist.

"Don't sweat it, love, Miky's here to protect ya, don' chu worry."

“Hey!!” a large tri horned demon burst into the lounge and shoved Mikla away from the girl he was wrapped up in. “Fucking keep your hands off my girl, bruh.”

“Mate, she was gettin’ handsy wit me first. Ain’t my fault, ‘bruh’.”

“You keep talkin’ I’m gonna be shoving tea and biscuits down your throat, ‘mate’.”

“You can’t touch me, boyo. I’ve got a guard dog with me. She’s the Blue Demon’s guard dog. So i wouldn’t mess wifh me if I was you, yeah?”

Nona stayed silent in the corner and shrugged her shoulders, playing dumb when the tri horned demon gave her a once over.

“She don’t look like much to me, pal.” he grabbed Mikla by the shirt, easily lifting him from the ground. “I think you’re all talk buddy.”

“Oi! Put me down, ya dickhead! She’s the real deal she’ll kick your bloody face in, I’m not jokin, bruv!” Mikla twisted himself to look over at Nona, who continued standing in the corner. “Whatcu standin’ around for, get him off me.”

Nona made eye contact with the tri horned demon again and simply shrugged once again. Mikla could barely get a word out before he was slammed into the ground.

The group of people in the lounge gathered around as the tri horned demon just started laying into him. Beating him to a bloody mess. And Mikla the whole time just didn’t stand a fight against him, he curled up into a pathetic ball to defend himself.

“Alright. That’s enough.” Nona had shoved her way through the group and caught the tri horned demon’s arm, yanking him away from Mikla’s beaten form.

“Woman, if you don’t-” the demon was thrown onto the ground with Nona standing over him, twisting his arm until he screamed. “Fucking bitch!! Let go!”

“A lesson has been learned here. I suggest you leave.. Or I will break this.” she twisted his arm slightly, causing him to yell out again.

"Alright, Alright!" Nona released his arm and the demon quickly got up from the ground to gather his girlfriend and leave the lounge. Mikla’s friends began to disappear as well. One by one from the VIP lounge leaving  Mikla laying helplessly on the floor.

“Are you fucking mad!?” he spat, wiping blood from his mouth. “You just let that bloke beat me within an inch of my bloody life!!”

"Seems like you had it under control 'Miky'. You were just offering to protect that girl from me." Nona hooked her hand under Mikla’s arm and helped him to his feet.

"I don't need your help." he hissed, shoving her away from him.

"A minute ago you were begging for my help."

"Fuck off." Mikla pressed a hand to his eye and stumbled out of the lounge. "You wait until my uncle hears what happened, dog."

~~~

Back home, Mikla was sitting in his great uncle’s study, pressing a cube of ice to his eye. His already blue tinted skin was covered in darker blue, almost black, spots from where he was hit. And he was bleeding from his eyebrow and bottom lip. Nona stood by Oserious’s desk as Mikla retold how the evening went.

“And you allowed this young man to beat my nephew?” he asked, turning to look at his young friend.

“I told you to trust me, Oserious.”

“I do, Nona, I’m just curious to see how this fits into what we discussed earlier.”

“Discussed what earlier?” Mikla demanded.

“Your behavior, nephew. You have been a colossal pain in my side since you moved here. Do you understand I’ve spent years working on everything I have today? And you think you get everything by default just because you’re family.”

“Well ain’t that the point?”

“To an extent yes. But it’s my say in the end of who gets to be my partner in all this- my ward, Miklazal. And if you don’t start learning some respect for me and respect for everything I do and everyone I associate myself with, then you don’t deserve a place here.”

“How can I respect you, or this bitch, when you both treat me like I'm a child.”

“Because you ARE a child, Mikla.” Nona walked around Oserious’s desk and stood herself right in front of Mikla. “You treated me as something to parade around. Like you would with a car or a watch. I am not an object. I am not your excuse to be an asshole to people. I am not a thing you can summon every time you get a scrape on your knee. You treat your uncle and everything he’s worked for the same way. As something you can use.”

Mikla pursed his lips and huffed angrily before Nona took the ice from his hand.

“You said horrid things about your uncle this evening, your own blood. Respect it something you give to someone even when they're not in the room. And it's something YOU haven't earned yet. Especially from me." she threw the ice into his lap. "Your uncle is one of the most powerful demons in Unervrse. He doesn't need my help, I've choose to stay here and.. 'be his guard dog' as everyone keeps calling it. Oserious is perfectly capable of handling himself, I know this because he was the only demon to beat me in a fight. I killed countless demons out there in the Wastelands, and your uncle was the only one who stood a chance against me. You on the other hand, can barely blow your  nose without whining about it."

“Yeah, well, I ain’t my uncle, love.” Mikla picked up the melting ice cube from his lap and pressed it back to his eye. "And i'd really rather not be him."

“You’re not here to be me, Mikla.” Oserious stood from his desk. "I want you to be the best version of yourself and I know that I have the ability to help you mature and grow into that. But all you've done is taken advantage of the resources I've given you. You've barely given me any chance of reaching out to you. Instead, you only seem to care about partying and getting yourself into trouble. Demons have killed to try and have the opportunity to be in this position that you were born into. My legacy could be your, if you'll just grow up." “Alright well, what if I don’t live up to this idea you have of me then, eh? What if I don’t want to be apart of your legacy?”

“Then leave.” Oserious clasped his hands behind his back and wondered over to the window. “No one’s making you stay here, Mikla. You can go back home and continue being the disappointment your mother sees of you. Or you could stay here and work harder then you've ever had in your entire life. I didn't give this opportunity to you because you're blood, Mikla, I gave it to you because I see potential."

“And what about you?” he asked Nona after a moment of silence, ”Do you see ‘potential’ in me?”

“I didn’t let that demon kill you did I?” Nona answered with a smirk.

“Gee, thanks for that. Really appreciate it.” Mikla licked his bloodied lip and sighed through his nose. “You really see potential in me?”

“Yes.” Oserious spun around to his face his nephew. “I wouldn’t have allowed you to be here this long if I didn’t think so otherwise. I just think you lack focus and drive. I don’t want you here to be a replacement me. I want you here to be someone I can trust everything to. My work. My ideas. I want to be able to share these things with you and hear what you have to say. But I cannot entrust that to someone who doesn’t understand himself and his own greatness.”

“You sayin’ I got greatness in me, uncle?”

“I see potential.” Oserious chuckled. “It’ll take hard work. But I can already see you’ve got the makings in you to become a very powerful demon in your own right. Who knows? You could outshine me one day.”

“Mum told me I wouldn’t amount to anythin’.” Mikla admitted quietly. “I’d kinda like to prove her wrong.”

"Good." Oserious walked up to his nephew and took the ice cube from his hand.

"Get yourself presentable and join me in the main room, we have a guest arriving soon."

"A guest, Oserious?" Nona asked, following easily into his stride out the door.

"Someone wishes to air some grievances, Nona, and I've agreed to meet with him tonight."

"Shall I stay close by?"

"Out of sight preferably, but yes stay close by." Oserious turned to his young friend but was greeted with a faded cloud of black smoke. He chuckled and went towards the main room alone.

Mikla joined him moments later. His face cleaned of any blood and his bruises were already starting to fade back to his natural blue color.

"Nephew, tonight continues to be a learning experience for you." Oserious went to the great stone chair in the center of the room. "Now, I implore you to stay here, watch, and listen carefully to everything that happens here tonight. You are, at no point, allowed to speak. Am I clear?"

"Does that include right now?"

Oserious stared at him amused as he sat down in the chair. Mikla held up his hands in surrender and mimed zipping his own lip.

The doors to the main room flung open, forcing Oserious and Mikla's attention to the cause of the interruption. A tall and lanky demon with half of one of his horns missing came stumping through the room, followed by three other demons. He stopped several feet from Oserious in his chair.

"I've got issues with you, Oserious."

"So i've been told, Salsi. Do go on." Oserious leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other.

"You've been shorting me and my gang's weapons. We're good payin' customers, Oserious, nothin' but loyalty from us and this is how we're thanked?"

"I truly have no idea what you're referring to, Salsi. I pack and send out all the weapons myself. I keep reosters of every gun, knife, and sword I've ever sent out. I have been doing this for quite a while, you know, decades before you were a child shitting in your own pants. So now tell me this: why are you lying to me?"

"I ain't lying to ya! We ordered and bought four crates of weapons and we only got three. Teht here got the crates himself."

"Interesting you bring up Teht." Oserious clasped his hands on his lap and cleared his throat. "I happen to have an associate who stumbled upon a demon selling a box of MY weapons. And I don't particularly remember authorizing someone to be selling my merch on the western part of Unerverse, ironically, where you and your gang have set base."

From somewhere behind Mikla, there was a sound of someone pushing something heavy across the floor. Appearing from the shadows, a box  was pushed out with such force it slid onto the ground and landed almost perfectly next to Oserious.

"Do you know the weapons that are missing from your order? I think you'll find them in that box."

Salsi looked suspiciously from Oserious to the box. But Oserious gestured for Salsi to check the box himself, so that's what he did. Sure enough, after opening it, all the weapons that were missing from his order were sitting in the box.

"What the hell is this?" Salsi demanded, looking back at the three other demons he had come in with.

"Boss, he's full of shit! He's lying! He probably put the weapons in the box himself to fuck with us!"

"I am not a lying demon, Teht. I make good on my word. I sent out four crates and you yourself said you've only received three of them." Oserious spoke.

"He was the only one that saw em when we got em boss." one of the other demons mentioned.

"I ain't lying!!"

"Teht, you gotta come clean, right now." Salsi warned. "Oserious wouldn' have reason to lie to me about somethin' like this, I've known him a long time."

"Boss you've known me a long time!" Teht was becoming agitated, but Oserious remained incredibly calm during the whole exchange.

"The way I see it, mister Teht. You have one of two options. Tell the truth and face the consequences or... continue lying to your boss, and to me.. and face the consequences." Oserious shrugged his shoulders half heartedly. "Your choice."

Teht's breathing was picking up, his eyes darting wildly to each person in the room. Mikla was the only one to see Teht subtly reaching for the knife that was hanging from a pouch on his hip. He was torn between listening to his uncle telling him not to talk, or warning his uncle of the weapon about to be drawn.

The decision was made when Teht yanked the knife from the holster and flung it with precision right at Oserious's head. Salsi and his gang began yelling and holding Teht back. Oserious didn't even make any movement to avoid the knife. But he didn't have to. A cloud of faded black smoke appeared and a hand shot out to grab the knife as it was inches away from Oserious's face.

"Nona, thank you for joining us."

The smoke cleared away, leaving Nona standing to Oserious's right side, still holding the handle of the knife. Salsi and his gang instantly fell silent as Nona brought the knife up to inspect it.

"Horribly unbalanced." she flipped the weapon around, catching it by the blade and held it out for Oserious to take.

"Hm, not only was my life threatened.. it was threatened by a lessor weapon."

"You deserve better." Oserious hummed his agreement and studied the knife.

"Well now, this must be terribly awkward for you, mister Teht." Oserious rose from his seat. "Not only were you caught in a lie.. but your half assed assassination attempt was thwarted very easily."

"Please, I didn't mean to. It was a mistake!"

"Oh this was no mistake, Teht. You're now back peddling because my dear friend is here, and you're afraid of her." he shoved the handle of the knife into Teht's stomach, causing him to double over and fall to his knees. Oserious got down on one knee in front of Teht and grabbed a handful of his hair. "She is dangerous yes, but.. I have wisdom and years of experience she doesn't have. I have a vast knowledge of fighting, war tactics, weapons old and new. I've seen things you wouldn't be able to conceive in your tiny head. I'm the only one to have beaten her in combat and I'm the one who has taught her everything she knows. So, mister Teht, if you're afraid of her... you must be terrified of me."

Still clutching Teht's hair, Oserious stood up from the ground, having no trouble dragging Teht with him as he walked over to the box of weapons. Teht recovered enough from the blow to the stomach to try and grab at Oserious's arm, but Oserious was not having it. Teht's body was thrown against the side of the box, knocking the wind out of him. Mikla stood silently by, watching his uncle grab and hold Teht's left arm up against the box before stabbing the knife through the palm of his hand. Teht's agonizing scream echoed through room as dark green blood ran down his arm to the stone floor underneath him.

"Now," Oserious cleared his throat and straightened his mussed suit up. "I believe a lesson has been learned here today. Salsi, I hold no ill will towards you and your wrongful convictions. Take the box, those weapons are rightfully yours, after all. But I strongly suggest that if you wish to continue a partnership with me, you need to do something with Teht yourself."

"Yes Oserious." Salsi looked back at his two other men and motioned for them to get Teht. Both men scrambled past Oserious, yanked the knife from Teht's hand, and dragged him and the box over to Salsi. "I'm real sorry about all this, Oserious. I had no idea-"

"Apology accepted, Salsi. No further explanations needed." Oserious took his place back in his chair and got himself comfortable. "Mister Teht, you should count yourself lucky you're walking out of here in one piece. I cannot speak on behalf of your luck when you return home with your associates however. But I hope the punishment you receive is equal to the trouble you've caused here today."

"Don't worry, Oserious, I'm gonna handle it." Salsi grabbed the collar of Teht's shirt and dragged him towards the door with his other two men carrying the box out behind them.

"I believe your nephew is dying to say something, Oserious." Nona said with a chuckle, watching Mikla open and close his mouth like a fish.

"I had actually forgotten you were here, dear nephew. I'm please you finally did as you were told." Mikla began doing wild hand gestures, looking between his uncle and Nona very quickly as if he were trying to convey something to the both of them. With a sigh, Oserious put a hand on his shoulder. "You may speak now nephew."

"What the Hell?! That was the coolest bloody thing I've ever seen in my entire life!! You stabbed that guy's hand! Like it was nothing!!"

"Not so old and boring now, is he?" Nona sighed, raising a brow at the young man.

"Fuck no! I mean.. I only heard stories about you really." Mikla said, pointing at Nona. "Wasteland guard dog and what have you, but I didn't know how incredibly bad-fucking-ass my own uncle was!"

"You flatter me nephew."

"No, honestly, how come I've never heard anythin' about you? All I hear about is Nona this, Nona that! Not that there's anythin' wrong with that, love. But did he really beat you in a fight?"

"It was a long drawn out fight that inevitably ended with me being victorious. And well, here we are. The reason I stay sidelined now, Mikla, is because of how vast my empire is. I cannot afford to be doing my own dirty work anymore because I am now the head of the largest weapon manufacturers in the Unerverse."

"So you have Nona protectin' your work while you continue to grow it. You can't waste your own time and energy on petty dealings  with small groups of demons because you've got big names and partners you need to keep satisfied with your product and ideas."

"Now you're getting it." Oserious proudly patted Mikla's shoulder. "I'm still only one demon, Mikla, I can't be in multiple places at once."

"Yeah." Mikla rubbed his hand along his bottom lip, wincing a bit at his finger touching the healing cut there. "So.. where do I fit in wit' all this then?"

"That... is entirely up to you, Mikla." Oserious smiled before putting an arm around his nephew's shoulder and guiding him out of the room.

~~~

2 years ago

~~~

"Nona, Nana, Banana, my buddy, my mate, my tall lass with the big sass who kicks ass." MIkla strutted into the dining room of his uncles home, where Nona was sitting at the grand table, sipping tea and looking over a small pile of paper.

"What do you need, Mikla."

"Told ya to call me Miky, love."

"And I told you not to call me Nana or Banana."

"They're lovely nicknames, Banana, it's a common thing that friends do wifh each other, ya know."

"We're not friends."

"Oh Nanas.." Mikla clutched at his heart. "You wound me." Putting down her paper with a sigh, Nona turned her attention to the young man.

"You'll actually be clutching your heart in pain if you don't tell me what it is you need."

"Alright, straight to the point, I wanted to try and get some lovely conversation going before I asked anything of ya but you're an all business gal, and I like that about you-"

"Mikla." Nona warned.

"Some bloke's stolen one of my weapon designs."

"That's quite a serious problem, Mikla." Nona leaned back in her seat. "Does Oserious know?"

"Gods no, I don't wanna bother the old man with this. Plus I knew you and I could handle it no problem."

"When did this become my problem?"

"When I asked you for help... now... I'm asking you for help now. Please? As a favor to a friend?"

"We're not friends. And I thought you were will equipped with handling your own problems now, Mikla. I didn't spend months training you for no reason."

"And I can, usually," Mikla hopped up on the table, ignoring all the papers Nona was looking over, "but the thing is, I know this guy and he's very unpredictable, so I just wanna make sure I ain't goin' into nothin' without any sort of back up."

"How do you know who it is?"

"Well I've only shown the design to three other people. You, uncle O, and Hultt."

"What would Hultt want with one of your designs?"

"Well if I knew that I'd be handling it, wouldn't I, Nana?"

"You must stop calling me that." Nona huffed and crossed her arms in thought. "So you want me to conduct an interrogation?"

"No no no, I will be handlin' everythin' involving gettin' the information from Hultt along with the original design back. I just needed to know that I'd have back up in case he decided to go mental."

"A good point, Hultt would break you easily," Nona grabbed her cup of tea before taking a sip. "Let me know when you'll be needing my assistance."

"Oh I'll be needing it in about.. 5 minutes?" Mikla pushed himself off the table, making some papers fly off.

"Mikla, I'll kill you."

"Later, we gotta deal with this first Nana." Mikla beckoned her over to the door all while shimmying his shoulders.

"I don't know how you keep talking me into these things." they both made their way down the hall, probably to one of the meeting rooms in the back of the mansion.

"It's part of my natural charm, love. I once talked a man into givin' me his hat."

"The same man that beat you to a pulp afterwards?"

"Apples and oranges, Nans, I got the hat, didn't I?"

"That doesn't bod well for you in this scenario."

"And that's why you're here!" Mikla pushed open the door at the end of the hall. The room was small and simple. Only a long table and half a dozen chairs occupied the inside of it. "He should be here soon, so where are you-" he turned to Nona, but she was already gone, leaving the faded black smoke where she just was seconds ago. "I need to put a bell on that one.."

Mikla fell into one of the chairs and kicked his feet up on the table. He barely had time to pull out his phone to occupy himself when a large and towering demon entered the room.

"Hulttsie tootsie, how ya doin' bruv?"

"Doin' good, doin' good." Hultts sat in one of the seats on the left side of the table. Mikla put away his phone and crossed his arms while leaning back more in the seat. "Is this why you asked me here?"

"No no, just making polite conversation. Uncle O's always tellin' me small talk makes it easier to discuss serious business."

"Serious business? Miky's what's goin' on?"

"I've been hearin' things, Hultt. I got eyes and ears out there, and someone picked up that someone in here is tryin' to sell one of my designs out there. Now.. you wouldn't happen to know anythin' about that, would ya?"

"I thoght yous guys kept that sort of stuff under lock and key. How could someone get one of ya's designs?"

"You tell me, Hultt. Cause I only showed 3 people that design.. and you were one of them."

"I don' appreciate what you're implyin' here, Mikla. You sayin' I would betray yous like this?"

"Look, all I'm sayin' is... out of the 3 people I showed my design to, one of them being my uncle, one of them being one of the most dangerous women in the entire Unerverse, I don't think either of them would do somethin' like this to me. So I'm gonna ask you this only once, and I want an honest answer: why you stealin' my designs and tryin' to sell em, Hultt?"

"Listen," Hultt started after a beat of silence. "I wasn' really intendin' on sellin' em to anyone just yet. I wanted to talk to you and Oserious and make a deal."

"First off, those are my designs. If you're talkin' to anyone, it's gonna be me and only me. Secondly,  you must be really thick if you think you're gonna steal my ideas and demand to make a deal with me."

"Look if you want them papers back, you'll listen to what I have to say, Mikla." Hultt slammed one of his big hands on the table, causing it to shift a little, but Mikla didn't move his legs from their perch.

"Alright.. I'm listenin'."

"You and your uncle ruined my friend's life. After leavin' here four years ago, his buddies dropped him and his gang abandoned him after years of serving with them. Teht is a good demon, he just needed a little extra money, and you and your family ruined his life."

"Teht stole weapons. Not only from Oserious, but from his own gang. There are plenty other ways of makin' money that don't involve stealin' from your own friends and powerful demons, Hultt."

"You took everything from him! You and your damned uncle."

"Anything that happened to him when he left this building was not our doing. He received the punishment my uncle thought he deserved. Whatever his gang did to him afterwards, is not our fault. He only has himself to blame."

"His gang wouldn'ta done that to him if it weren't for your uncle.."

"He shouldn't have stolen goods from the Big Bad, Hultt." Mikla kicked the table with the heel of his shoe, slammed his feet on the floor, and stood up from the chair. "No matter how you look at this, it started off with him makin' that choice when those four crates showed up in his care. You don' betray your mates and you don't steal from people you can't protect yourself from."

Hultt's fists were clenched and trembling, by his body language it was clear he was doing everything in his power not to lash out at Mikla. But Mikla didn't show the slightest bit of concern.

"Now. Give me back my designs... or I'll beat you to Hell and take them back from you." Mikla stared Hultt down and waited for him to make any sort of movement, whether to actually give him back his designs, or try to fight him. After a few moments of tense silence, Hultt reached into a pocket inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope with Mikla's handwriting on it. Mikla sneaked it from Hultt and shoved the envelope inside his pocket.

"Your civilery and commitment to your friends will not go unnoticed. But your arrogance and poorly misguided sense of justice just lost you your job here." Mikla turned to leave, shoving his chair out of his path towards the door. Through gritted teeth, Hultt started yelling, and pulled a gun out of his pocket. Taking aim at the back of Mikla's head, he moved to pull the trigger. A cloud of black smoke appeared at his side as he gripped the trigger with his finger. An arm shot out, grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm so the gun was pointing towards the ceiling when it shot off. The smoke cleared and Nona hooked her foot around Hultt's to get him to fall to his knee before making him drop the gun and pinning his own arm behind his back.

"That wasn't a very well thought out idea." Mikla tsked at Hultt and picked up the dropped gun from the floor. "Thank you, Nona, but you can let him go." When Nona released Hultt, he made no movement to get up. He just stayed kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily and refusing to look up at either of them.

"Teht must've told ya what happened to him four years ago. He threatened my uncle's life with a knife and failed. You've threatened my life with a gun... and failed. Did he also tell ya what my uncle did with his knife?" Mikla kicked Hultt on the side of his head causing him to slam against the wall next to him. Groaning pathetically, Hultt went to reach for his head, but was stopped by Mikla grabbing his hand and holding it against the wall. Then, he pressed the gun against the meatiest part of his hand. "Oserious, being the nice demon he is, returned Teht's knife to him."

"Mikla no, please!!" Hultt begged, trying to wrench his arm away from Mikla. "Have mercy!"

"Mercy is given to those who deserve it. You were about to murder me in a cowardly way. If you're gonna shoot someone, you should at least have the decency of looking them in the eye when you pull the trigger, Hultt."

"I'm sorry!!"

"I'm sure you are." Miklea let go of his wrist and removed the gun. Hultt let out a sob of relief and brought his arm to cradle it against his chest. "You're lucky I hate guns." he handed over the gun to Nona, who took it and unloaded the clip from it. "I prefer a more hands on approach."

From his coat pocket, Mikla pulled out a pair of thick, black metal brass knuckles.When he slid them onto his hands, he flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders to loosen himself up. Hultt attempted to stand up, possibly to get away, but Mikla's knuckles met the side of his face and he dropped down to the ground with a heavy thud. There wasn't a window Hultt could get into to try and fight back. Any time he tried to, Mikla would just sucker punch him back to the ground.

This went on for several minutes until Mikla decided that he was done and Hultt was a beaten mess. Spitting purple blood out, Hultt made a noise like a dying animal and limply laid down on his side.

"Now i do feel a little bad for you, Hultt." Mikla crouched down in front of him as he removed the brass knuckles from his fists. "You just lost your job and got the ever lovin' shit beaten out of ya by a demon half your size. But, this was the choice you made when you took my shit. If you had possibly come clean to me before... maybe this coulda all been avoided.. but it's a bit late for that, innit?" he chuckled and patted the side of Hultt's head before standing up.

"Are you gonna kill me?" Hultt asked after spitting out more blood.

"No, you get to live today. But I want you to understand that everything that has happened here was entirely your fault. You can accept it now or accept it later, dealers choice. I will warn you that.. if I see your mug 'round here after today, you will not have this opportunity to leave my home in one piece again. So.. count ya blessin', if you're into that sorta thing." the knuckles were put back into his pockets and he straightened his jacket. "Nona, would you be an absolute lamb and escort this young man from my home?"

"Sure thing, boss." ~~~

"And is there any particular reason I wasn't informed of any of this?" Oserious had found out, of course, and was now holding Mikla and Nona for question in his study.

"Well it didn't really 100% concern ya, Uncle. I mean, yeah, he was one of your guys but it was my designs and my problem to deal with."

"And it was dealt with?"

"Obviously yeah." Mikla pulled out the envelope from his jacket and tossed it onto Oserious's desk.

"And Hultt will not be returning here again, I hope."

"I told 'im, he comes round here again, he ain't leavin' in one piece. I clean up my messes, Uncle, I don't appreciate the 3rd degree here."

"The fact that this demon was able to get your designs in the first place has me baffled. And while I am concerned with how he got ahold of them, I am filled with.. pride at how well it sounds like you handle the situation, Mikla."

"He did very well, sir." Nona informed.

"Aw, Nans, you old softy." Mikla playfully punched Nona's arm. "Ain't no big deal, this is what you taught me to do."

"Yes but it was your choice to listen and learn from my teachings. You've come a long way and I'm proud to see how much you've grown and how much you will continue to grow. You'll make a fine partner one day, Mikla." Oserious waved his hand off to dismiss his nephew and motioned for Nona to stay behind while Mikla left the room.

Some time later, Nona found Mikla lounging in the parlor, nursing a glass of whiskey.

"You did very well today, Mikla."

"You flatter me, love." Mikla pressed the back of his hand to his forehead and feigned swooning. "What is it you and Uncle O were dicussin' when I left? Top secret information? Takin' secret smack about me?"

"He wanted to hear the events of today from my perspective. So I told him. He's still very impressed. And he has asked if I would offer my services to you to which I agreed."

"Wait." Mikla sat up, nearly dropping his glass on the ground. "What does that mean exactly?"

"You've shown maturity. You didn't have me fight your battle for you. But you also knew your own limits and didn't try to over compensate just to prove a point. Oserious believes that this warrants more responsibility.. to continue testing you.. and I agreed with him. Oserious has given you permission to use my assistance when you need it, as long as it doesn't affect or interrupt any order he has me doing for him. So, now you wont have to ask me to do anything as a friend, I'll be working for you."

"Aha! So we are friends."

"That's really the thing you're taking away from this?"

"Yup, you and I are like two peas in a pod now, Nana Banana."

"Mikla I will kill you."

"Oh Nona, you sweet talker you."

"You're not my type."

"Devilishly handsome not your type then?"

"I'm starting to regret my decision."

"Alright alright." Mikla set his drink down on the coffee table by the couch and stood up. "I appreciate the offer, I do. And I'm willin' to accept it, knowing full well my Uncle is testin' me to make sure I ain't just usin' you to run my errands and pick up my dry cleaning. But.. let's not label it that you 'work for me'. In the pyramid of power, I'd like to think we're on the same level now. So, let's just call it 'working with each other' and go on with our lives, yeah?"

"We're still not friends."

"Aw, come now Nona, admit it you enjoy spending time with me. I add color to your black and grey life. But if you really feel that way, I wouldn't want to have you 'round me just cause my uncle said so. Everyone's got a choice, Nona. If you don't wanna work with me, I wont be offended. The last thing I would do it make someone do somethin' they don't wanna do."

"You're too chatty-"

"-It's part of my charm."

"-and it was my idea. Not Oserious's. I'm aware I have the freedom to make my own choices. I've told you before, your uncle gave me the choice to leave whenever I wanted to. But I've chosen to stay. And I've chosen to work for you."

"With me." Mikla corrected.

"With you." Nona agreed.

"Excellent." Mikla picked up his glass and went to the cabnit to grab Nona one. He returned to her with the empty glass and raised his up to hers. "To a lovely partnership and the continuing saga of our friendship."

"Not friends."

"We're a little friends." Mikla tapped his glass against Nona's and sipped his whiskey. "You've tolerated me this long, that's friendship baby."

"I wouldn't classify tolerating someone as friendship."

"I wouldn't have any friends if people didn't tolerate me, Nans. The sooner you accept the wonderful experience that is this friendship the happier you'll be. Who knows? I might even get you laid one day."

"I manage to do pretty well without your help." Nona smirked and left the room after putting her empty glass on the table.

"What?! Wait!!" Mikla roughly set his glass down onto the table and practically tripped over himself following Nona out of the study. "Nona, Nans, terrifying amazonian goddess you are, you gotta give your old pal the details. You're tellin' me you've been gettin' tail?"

"This is not a subject I wish to discuss with you."

"You gotta throw me a bone here, love. I've been here this whole time thinkin' all you know in your entire life is murder and and you're tellin' me you've got game?? I gotta know what kind fellas you're in to!"

"Other team."

"Nooo..." Mikla exclaimed in disbelief. "This whole time we coulda been out on the town together!! Mikla and Nona, charmin' the ladies. My entire world view has shifted now, I hope you know."

"You are the most infuriating person I've ever had the displeasure of interacting with."

"Aw, I love you too Nans."