The festival part 3

Amy, Aniello, and Joseph, wearing their new suits and dress of course, stood before a large stone building at the northern most point of the island. On any other day, this would be a church dedicated to the island gods but for tonight like, most years before, it would be the scene of the festival's dance. The music inside had changed genres the entire time the three of them had been walking to it. Pop, rock, or classical you name it, it was most likely played that night.

Amy started walking up the stone steps to enter the building and looked back.

"Are you two coming then?" she asked with an excited smile on her face.

"Uh, yeah! I just need to have a quick word with Joseph." said Aniello.

"OK! I'll be waiting inside then! Don't take too long boys!" Amy called back as she climbed up the stairs and entered the building.

"So, what's up?" asked Joseph.

"I don't think I can do this. Amy's talked about how excited she is about this night and I don't want to do anything to ruin it for her."

"Aniello, you're not going to mess this up! It's more likely that she's even more nervous than you. So go in their and have fun. Both of you!" Joseph gave Aniello and quick reassuring hug before telling him to get going. "Wait!" Aniello stopped half way up the stairs. "You like her, don't you?"

"I- wha-" Aniello stumbled to get a reply in causing Joseph to chuckle a little.

"I'm just saying, I'm pretty sure she likes you too. Don't miss an opportunity like this. I'd rather not like you to turn into another me." Aniello nodded and continued into the building. Joseph, however, walked around to the side of the building to a small area with a few chairs and tables facing a stone arch wall protecting people from the sheer drop down a cliff to the beach below. He sat on one of the chairs and placed his backpack on the chair beside him. Now he just had to wait.

Aniello entered the building and was met with a surprisingly dense crowd. Inside the building there was food and drink on the outside, a dance floor in the middle, and a live band at the far end underneath a circular stained glass window. Aniello looked around but Amy was nowhere to be seen. A quick glimpse of her yellow dress in the dancing crowd drew Aniello in as her manoeuvred his way towards her.

He arrived at a large man wearing a mostly unbuttoned suit dancing with Amy. The two of them began to spin and Amy caught sight of Aniello. Her face dropped to a face full of fear and the desire for Aniello to help her. Aniello breathed in and felt a rush of adrenaline flood his body as he stepped closer and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Wha' do ya' want!?" called the man as he turned around but held onto Amy by the arm.

"Sorry sir, but my sister and I need to go back to our family. Our father isn't feel too well so our mother says we have to go back to our hotel room." lied Aniello. The man looked from Aniello to Amy before smiling.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of 'er until we finish our dance." The man turned his back on Aniello and continued to dance with her. Aniello couldn't do anything when it came to intimidation but he had to do something. Aniello tapped on the man's back again but a little harder.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to leave my sister with a stranger! Let her go now!" ordered Aniello. The man tightened his grip on Amy's arm and turned around to Aniello.

"Why don't I take you and your sister 'ere outside where I can teach you some manners while she watches!" threatened the man. His face was wrinkled with rage but it quickly dropped to a blank expression. His eyes flashed purple before he suddenly started to scream. He let go of Amy's arm and Aniello guided her away with the rest of the crowd who formed a ring around the man. The band stopped as he continued to scream while the security team began to drag him out of the building.

"Thank you. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't turned up! He just appeared out of nowhere and asked if I wanted to dance with him. I couldn't even reply before he dragged me out into the dance floor." explained Amy as the band began apologise for the disturbance and begin playing the next song. The Beautiful Blue Danube began playing and Aniello held out his hand.

"Shall we display how you're supposed to ask someone to dance? Would you like to dance with me Amy?" asked Aniello. Amy smiled and placed her hand on his.

"Yes I would like to dance with you." Aniello placed his other hand on Amy's back and Amy placed her arm on top. They quickly joined the rest of the dancers as they twirled together with the music.

Meanwhile, Demitri was stood at the entrance of the building admiring his work as the screaming man was dragged away. He made his was around the side of the building noticing the music and stepping in time as Joseph came into view.

"Good evening!" greeted Demitri but Joseph didn't respond. He simply pulled the hard drive out of his back pack and presented it to Demitri.

"You promise that if I give you this you'll leave all three of us alone? AND that you haven't already done anything to Amy or Aniello nor are planning to do anything?" asked Joseph.

"I promise. Look for yourself." Demitri gestured to a small window through which Joseph could see Amy and Aniello dancing together. Joseph sighed and walked over to the balcony over looking the cliff and beach below being joined by Demitri shortly after.

"To think that a single hard drive holds everything about a gateway to a completely unknown realm and how to weaponize it into mass killing machines. Too bad no one is going to see what's on it." Demitri went to grab the hard drive but, before he could reach it, it burst into blue flames. Joseph dropped the hard drive off the balcony and grabbed Demitri. He pulled him over the balcony and the two of them plummeted down to the beach below.

The two of them landed hard on the sand and took a few seconds to recover.

"Stupid move! You've left all your toys at home remember!?" yelled Demitri as he stood up with the help of Sentra.

"I won't need them this time." said Joseph as Sentra fired a large projectile at him. A quick burst of blue flames destroyed it and Joseph stood up. The events that followed this can only be described as Joseph simply sweeping the sandy floor with Demitri and Sentra. It's quite possible that Demitri did start to get a few good kicks and punches in but ultimately they were useless. Now we find ourselves here with Joseph above Demitri surrounded by an aura of blue fire with horns and a tail.

"I must say. You have received quite a boost in power since the last time we met. Care to explain?" asked Demitri.

"He simply made a deal with the demon within him." explained Joseph with a deep voice. Demitri chuckled but winced at the pain.

"We are SO much more alike than I thought" Demitri got onto his hands and knees and began to swell. His skin turned red and he started to grow wings, horns, and a pointed tail. His eyes became permanently purple and he grew to more than twice his normal size. Joseph stepped back as a voice in his head echoed.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one out of the two of us who can fight him now. You're going to need to give me full control."

"Fine, but don't abuse having control!" ordered Joseph as he too began to swell into a red skinned demon but without wings, slightly shorter, and with blue eyes instead of purple. Demitri flew upwards and dived down on Joseph sending them both rolling backwards. They wrestled on the beach exchanging punches and kicks and dunking one another in the water. However, Demitri was able to get Joseph face down and grabbed his wrists and ankles with his large hands and feet. Demitri carried Joseph up into the sky and threw him down towards the building in which everyone was dancing.

Amy and Aniello were happily spinning and laughing together as The Beautiful Blue Danube ended leaving them together in silence.

"Can I tell you something?" asked Aniello.

"Sure, go ahead!" said Amy and they swayed side to side with the next song.

"These past few days have been the best days of my entire life. It may seen like an overstatement but my life had been pretty since I was young but I hadn't realised it. The reason it's been so great is most likely because I met you. I like you Amy but I need to tell the truth about what I've done." Amy stopped dancing and pulled away. She was in shock at what Aniello had just said but still curious.

"What are you talking about?"

"Before I met you, I was a high ranking commander in an inter-galactic army known as 'Dark Nebula'. They are the ones who organised the attack on this planet days before we met."

"What!?"

"I can't change the fact that I was I forced to have something to do with it. I was the one who fired the weapons at the planet. I didn't have a choi-!"

At that exact moment, Joseph's demonic form came smashing through the ceiling. Everyone started to run away but rubble began raining down on everyone. Amy reached out and felt a wave of energy pass through her as the rubble and Joseph seemed to freeze in midair. Everyone underneath got out of the way before they continued their fall and smashed into the floor. Demitri came rocketing through the hole in the ceiling and landed on Joseph. He began to start punching him over and over in the face sending bursts of air that knocked people off their feet.

Amy went to run away with everyone else but stopped when she saw Aniello rooted in place staring at the two demons. The demon that haunted his nightmares for weeks was mere metres away from him and this wasn't a dream he could just wake up from. Demitri stopped as Joseph began to shrink back down to his normal form. This just made it worse for Aniello. He had spent weeks living with a demon and even hugged it a few minutes ago.

Demitri turned his head towards Aniello.

"You brat! You're coming along too!" called Demitri. His eyes began to glow purple but Amy pushed Aniello to the ground. Her eyes met Demitri's and her mind started to corrupt. She dropped to her knees screaming in agony and fear for what felt like hours before instantly falling silent and collapsing to the floor. Aniello grabbed Amy's body and shook it to try and wake her but she didn't respond. A large hand grabbed Aniello's leg and he was lifted upside down to Demitri's face. Aniello passed out before Demitri could say or do anything so he threw him onto his shoulder. Demitri picked up Joseph and Amy as well as flew them back to his craft where he put all them of them in the back.

Demitri shrunk back to normal and breathed heavily. The remaining parts of Sentra arrived shortly and climbed into Demitri's coat.

"Don't worry Sentra. Now that we've got Joseph, he can build a new void gateway and we can get you back home." said Demitri. He powered up his craft and started his long flight back to Achille's ship.