5

Adremalech stood on the castle roof, looking out on the many slums of the city, not so much as batting an eye at the perilous position he was in, standing on the very edge of said roof. A fall from that height, and even he would be less than alright. And yet he remained, standing listlessly.

After that little episode he experienced, he had begun to come to terms with the standings he found himself in. And the more he thought about it, the more his mind kept drifting to one subject: making a difference. No matter how much he tried to think of something else, he kept think of it. He wanted to do something about the suffering of the world, he didn't know why, but he did. But not as king, no. His desire to rule was gone, but even if it wasn't, he'd acknowledged that it wasn't his palce to do so. He... wasn't meant for it. He could only imagine the fallout that would occur as a result of his rulership. Instead, he would step aside, allowing Alphonse to take his rightful place on the throne. After that, he would either offer his services to him, or leave on his own quest. Either way, he was not destined for the crown.

*CRACK-A-BOOM!*

He was startled out of his thoughts by a deafening sound that he could only assume was a hundred canons opening fire amidst a massive lightning storm. He frantically turned and looked for the source, not sigjting the aforementioned lightning or canons. Then, he saw it. High up, racing across the night sky, was a single, white, beam of light, rapidly approaching, before diving straight down, carving a hole in the roof, a few dozen meters away from him.

*CRASH!*

He laboured to keep his footing as seemingly the entire structure began to tremble under the weight of the impact. Thinking quickly, he jumped down to a nearby window, climbing in.

'What the hell was that?!'

He made his way across the room, swatting aside any falling debris in the process. Once out, he made a dash in the direction of where the hole had been made, ready to repel the intrusion.

After some time traversing the castle, he felt that he was getting, and, more importantly, IT was getting closer to him. He burst through the, ready for the fight of his life, only to stop dead in his tracks upon spotting something trully unexpected.

There, lying still under a piece of fallen debris, was Lars.

He rushed over to the motionless form, flinging the debris off him with ease, enabling him to get a proper look at him. There was blood dripping from his mouth, and he surely had several broken bones. Panic and, once again, concern struck him, only it was stronger than before. Much stronger. He put an ear to his chest, listening carefully for a heartbeat...

... There!

He could hear it, but it was faint, causing him to let out a sigh of relief. But he couldn't relax fully, as his heartbeat was faint... he was fading. Adremalech prepared to heal him, when suddenl-

*SLAM!*

He whipped his head around, finding a boy and a girl, who was holding some sort of spear, standing in a now open door way. Wait a minute...

He recognized the girl as the one that he had spared, a few days ago at some cottage, causing a few thoughts to fly around his head.

'How did she find me?'

'Did they just do that to the roof?'

'HOW did they do that?'

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be pondering these things. And besides, one look at the dark glare, the venimous scowl on her face, and she knew exactly WHY she was here.

"You're here for my life, aren't you?"

She didn't answer.

He took that as a yes.

"Very well then." He added, seemingly catching the boy off guard, though the girl didn't flinch.

"But it will have to wait."

Now THAT caught her attention.

"Don't give me that crap." She hissed, her eyes narrowing at him as she scowled even further.

Adremalech stepped aside, revealing the still form of Lars. Now that caught both of them off guard, more so the boy than the girl.

"He's severely injured. If left untreated, he will likely die. Allow me time to heal him, and then you can do as you please." He stated firmly.

...

Everything was quiet for a moment, before...

"Are you serious?" The girl suddenly asked, her words laced with venom, before locking gazes with him. "You kill innocents without a second thought! Who are you to-"

"Alice!" The boy suddenly called, causing the now-named-Alice to look back irritably. "That's an innocent child who's life is in danger! And on top of that, it's probably our fault!" He exclaimed, causing her to calm down, if only a little. "I understand how important this is for you, but if you do this you're no better than him!"

The girl, Alice, looked thoughtful for a moment, before relaxing further, letting out a sigh. "Alright." She breathed, before narrowing her eyes at the demon once more. "But as soon as you're done, you're bringing my parents back."

Adremalech froze at her words.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

Suddenly, her glare turned into wide eyed shock and confusion.

"Wh-Wha... why?!" She all but screeched.

"I don't have that kind of power. Some demons do, but not me."

She stared in horror, looking as if she was still trying, and failing, to process the word's he had just spoken.

"But... but..." She shook her head. "Then can't you become more powerful? And then bring them back?!" she asked desperately, eyes brimming with tears.

"Alice..." The boy murmured.

Adremalech shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. It's not a matter of power, it's an ability you either have, or don't have.... I'm, sorry." He explained.

"No..." She muttered morosely, staring at nothing particularly, before an instense look of fury worked it's way onto her face once more. Her fists clenched, making her grip around the spear tighten, and in turn, the spear began to glow. She glared at him venomously once more before speaking. "Then die."

The glow that began to eminate from the spear suddenly erupted into a massive plume of white light suddenly engulfed her temporarilly rendering her imperceptible, due to the blinding burst of light., causing him to raise his arm to block ot the light and screw his eyes shut tight. After a few seconds, her lowered his arm and slowly opened his eyes to scope the situation. What he found unnerved him.

Thanks to the ludicrously bright light engulfing her body, she resembled little more than a sillhoute, with a pair of glowing white orbs in the center of her face.

The sight filled him with a dread, a feeling that he was all too familiar with: that of death.

Without warning, she sprung forward, plunging her spear into his stomach. Without slowing down in the least, she continued pushing forward, ramming him through a nearby wall.

*CRASH!*

He was sent flying, colliding with the wall across the room, causing several cracks to apread across the structure.

"AGH!" He shouted in pain, but she wasn't done with him yet.

She stepped forth, and stomped on his achilies, causing him to shriek in pain again. She grabbed him by the same crushed apendage, and lifted him up and started swinging him around, before bringing him down and slamming him against the ground with a painful thud. She spun around the spear so that the blunt end was now facing him. She leapt into the air towards him, and brought the instrument down on him as she landed, causing a crater to appear on the floor, several massive cracks spreading. Her jab hit with a mountainous weight, so when she raised the spear again, he could only brace himself by counting as high as possible.

She jabbed him again, making him spit up blood, while the floor gave way beneath their titanic struggle, and fell to the ground below. She continued her assault, breaking countless bones and making him spit up more blood. Several more floors collapsed beneath the massacre that was happening, untill they reached the bottom floor: the torture chambers.

She seethed, glaring down at him intently, her brwathing rapid and comming in quick bursts. She lifted the spear up once more, this time spinning it around so that the blade was facing him.

"DIE!" She screeched.

Adremalech prepared for death, lamenting himself for his failure to save Lars.

...

No, there was still a way he could save him: at the cost of his life.

She plunged the spear into his throat, and his eyes widened and glowed. before...

*BOOM!*

Zac watched on in horror as a massive column column of fire erupted from where they were fighting.

"A-ALICE!!!!" He cried out in fear, but he couldn't go after her, or even get near her with all this fire-which he could've sworn came straight from hell-or he'd be burnt alive! So he was forced to wait, for two agonizing minutes, before the fire finally began to die down. He then rushed for the hole in the floor that was left by their scuffle, only to stop in his tracks upon coming face to face with... something.

It was the demon. But, different. He was now a glowing blue colour, and his body seemed to take some sort of etherial, mist like form. He soon floated past him, and Zac looked to where he was headed, and found it approaching the boy from before. It landed on him and, seemingly, merged itself with him, before any trace of the blue glow disappeared. Then, Zac noticed the blood that was on him vanish. Soon, he began to stir, before waking up.

"Adremalech..." He muttered, sitting up.

Zac couldn't quite believe what he had just seen, but shook it off quickly enough, mentally reminding himself that he had higher priorities to tend to. He turned and jumped straight down the many holes made, landing with a thud at the bottom. He found Alice laying face down. H3 rushed to her side and turned her, only to gasp at what he saw.

"No..."