Chapter Text
The demon of violence was not a recommended devil to make contracts with even within most the devils known by public safety.
Strictly off limits to devil hunters with children and families all together.
It was a horrible devil with its promises of power to poor naive hunters who thought they could control such strength from a devil so ancient.
The price of constant anger was nothing compared to the near unlimited strength from the devil especially compared to other contracts that would cost them body parts or so most of them would have thought at first.
Kobeni only found a few records of hunters that didn’t eventually snap and do something overly horrific enough to make her feel ill.
Or at least not massacure horrific.
Small enough to count on her hand.
Aoki who jammed a knife in his throat after killing only his wife but none of his children, Kazuichi who entered his daughters preschool with a gun only to shoot himself, another Hirokazu-
A different one but…..
He looked so much like the one she knew just older with hazel eyes instead of green.
She shoved that part of the report away from her and never looked at it again.
She never read what the man ended up doing.
Kobeni knew even if it was the most tame it would end up upsetting her the most.
Besides those rare exceptions, the rage had rotted away at their mind until the only thing left was mindless violence
The devil hunters anger growing and growing with no turn off switch over the passing time.
Hurting the people around them, their own family no matter how kind they once were, their actions on a steady incline of violence from yelling to punching until they went on a murder spree.
The happy go lucky family man devil hunters soaked in the blood of their children by the end of it, no longer recognizable as the person they had been before the contract was sealed.
There was nothing better to a devil than an act of violence than to one's family members.
To one’s children.
The despair and pain of the humans that followed all of it to lap and chug at until it dribbled down the devils chin.
After the murders the devil hunter usually took their own life or was put down by public safety like an animal that had gotten rabies before it could maul anyone else.
The demon of Violence would always eat their corpses in a sick feast for itself after.
Flying away in search for more and more contracts to make afterwards.
It was a thing it always eventually started to do after rebirths like a primal instinct… to what?
Watch the murder of small children by their parents?
The physical and sexual abuse on spouses from once loving partners?
Smiling through the beating and everything forced on them.
Smiling at attempts to fight back.
Smiling at a head being blown open by a gun.
There was never any winning with it, even a end like that was violent.
Truly an evil creature for devil standers which was saying a lot.
Advisable.. From everyone never to form anything with it.
To offer it anything, yet here she was one of its feathers in hand.
It wasn’t stedy.
She had only just been able to hold it up without it falling back to her side in a frenzied sudden weakness that came and went.
Of something she didn’t want to do, but had to be done if she wanted any real chance against devils like gun and control.
She needed a devil even more powerful than any of the others and violence’s feather was already in the palm of her hand.
Just about everyone feared violence more than control, even more than guns.
It was old and ancient and unbelievably feared.
In everyone and everything and happening constantly, impossible to ever stop and inside any creature.
A predator hunting and killing prey.
Prey fighting back and leaving wounds on the predator.
It was older than mankind itself and breeded like flesh eating rabbits forever to eat one another until their bellies were full with meat.
It was a thing she didn’t want to have so much of, but oh did it get her places things like kindness or compassion never once did.
She saw so many people die going out of their way to show it trying to avoid violence and everyone that had fallen back on it lived on to see another day.
He was the demon she needed.
He was the demon who could get her everything she had ever wanted.
Violence had been the one thing to keep her alive when no people ever did.
It stopped others from hurting her from such a young age.
It was just in a much more separate physical form now that she hated more than the violence inside her.
She wasn’t sure how to contact the demon.
Most people were approached by it opposed to finding it themselves, so she settled on the last place she had found one of those feathers of its.
Just a little further from her house was all.
She did not want the devil getting near her siblings again with all its threats.
Marching around with its feather just hoping it would hear her and come running like it was a house pet being called.
A pet devil.
“Violence!” she called to the demon, “hey! I.. I want to form a contract with you! Come out! I know you want to form one with me! I’ll form one with you now! I.. need your strength! That.. violence! I need it for a lot of things. I d-don’t want to be angry constantly! But I can still give you a lot!! Just come out and talk to me! I want to talk to you!!”
She wasn’t near done with her pleading.
She had a lot in mind.
Enough to let her go on for a while, but none of it was needed.
She didn’t exactly hear him approach, but she did hear the start of that high horrible cawing sound and feel the two pairs of eyes on her.
Then a shape, a large black shadow that fell from the sky that made no noise as it landed.
Creeping out to her from behind one of the buildings like a sneaking emotion she only realized was there until an imposing form was in front of her.
Eyes as white as snow as ever.
She hated the snow.
Kobeni hated being out in it.
“Hig-a-shiyama!!” It greeted and if Kobeni was letting her mind stray that way she would have thought the beast sounded happy to see her, but.. She wasn’t.
The monster was being mocking.
It was just excited in a way a cat was excited to bat at a mouse.
She couldn’t help, but to flinch at it.
“You called called called?” it snickerd with an expression that let Kobeni know fully well it knew exactly what she had called it for.
Her heart constricted on itself.
“Contract.. I want a contract,” she told it, for her record only taking a few seconds to reply.
“Rawwwwkkk?” that expression grew co*cking its head to her, “repeat! Repeat a a a a a a a-”
“A CONTRACT!!” she screamed at it, “I.. want to form one with you!!”
“Rawwwww!” It withdrew its huge head, but only by a few inches, “You want a con con contractttttttt meee!?”
“I.. need power,” she told it.
“Your own violence isn’t enough then then then?! Even with soooo muchhhh that spews out ever so!? Ever so!?” it snickered in a rather sing song tone, wings spreading out to her, “you need moreeeee violence! My violence! Need me! need me! So much unstoppable violence! Gooooood for youuuuu Hig-a-shiyama. Your violenceee. mine! Said no. so angrryyyy for yearsss but now you call call call! You begggg.”
“W..what do you want.. For it?!" She cut to the chase.
Tired already with speaking to it.
She didn’t call it here just for it to be awful, to look at this horrible monster.
It folded its wings back to its side with a snort.
Those eyes trying and failing to bore into her.
She wouldn’t give him that.
She refused to give those white eyes that now.
She hated this monster.
“I.. want… I.. want..” it spoke slowly, co*cking its head to one side then the other again.
Raising a tallan to its sharp beak.
She tensed and waited.
She knew what it wanted.
It wanted the same from every person that made a contract with it and she’d have to try bargaining with it, with this monster who liked it when she screamed.
It would try to take a lot she knew it.
Would want even more than all the others.
She braced herself.
“Nothing.”
Or.. not?
She could only look at it.
Was.. it playing some kind of game with her?
“N..n…n..” she could only get out for a second.
The monster's eyes weren't so mocking for a moment, wide, beak parted just slightly.
Even its feathers were ruffled.
They fell flat again and with her spluttering.
The look from the monster fell.
“Nothing..” it said again, the softest she had heard it speak.
It sounded like-
“Nothing?” she spoke the full word back to it like a sad mocking bird that didn’t know the word's meaning.
“More nothing than most. Moreeee nothing than everyone else..”
It reached down a claw to her and she fought not to pull out her knife and cut its arm off.
To try and slit its stupid throat to make it STOP TALKING.
Shuttering as it pressed one of its dagger like claws to her face.
He did not split her head open with it nor try to claw her face that would leave a scar on her cheek she would have to avoid looking at.
Stroking it just lightly enough not to make her bleed, but hurt all the same.
Her skin crawled.
“Your violence. I want.want. Want. your violence and only your violence. Birthed from your own disgusting horribleeeeeee heart! Not forced by my my ownnnn but from you you you!! Only to use mine away from yourself as a tool tool! Only your violence! You done muchhhh fallen fallen into blood!! Coworkers! Family! Fatherssss but I’ve seen but fragments I want to see see it ALL! To see see it END!”
She didn’t dare speak, didn’t dare even swallow the ball that was rising in her throat.
“It’s there thereeee always there Hig-a-shiyama! It’s in everyone. Everything.. but Your and only your wonderful violenceeeee is what I want to see. I want to watchhhh I want to watch it grow and grow until there is only that violenceeee! Beautiful! Beautiful violence! I’ve wanted to see see it since my birthhhhh my violent birthhh. I don’t want to miss miss a second this timmmmme!”
She dared shake her head.
The claw stroked her face.
Violence was at least smart enough to understand she wasn’t getting most of it.
“It’s a beautiful Violeceeeee your Violence is. I’ll give you a fraction. All you need as a shape! A tool made for for for your hand hand hand. More more so much more than that! All I want from you you you is to let me watch. To watch you shatter. I need need need you. Need you to shatter at the peak of only that violence after you rip and maul and destroyyyy. I want to watch it more, watch it end than I want to devour you whole covered in the innocent innocent blood and your own patheticcccc tears of desssssssperation, the finest flesh yet. To sit and watch a show a show a nice show as nothing is left of you but an unstoppable violence, your own. Nothing but that as everything else fades away to nnnnothinggggg. As you suffer suffer suffer!!! Cry cry cry!!! Hurt hurt hurt!!! Hurt othersss yourselffff. Then I will swallow you whole when even that fades. Delicious! Delicious! NOTHING BUT VIOLENCEEEEEEEE RAWWWKK!!”
The more violence spoke the more excited the monster got.
The claw ran down her face all the way to her chest where it suddenly froze and withdrew its claws before it could touch any further.
She didn’t let herself breathe, not after it told her all that.
Kobeni knew why it wanted all that, she knew fully and horrifically why from before that used to be her everything, so sour and biting her in the ass since he had respawned on earth.
Monsters couldn’t care.
Monsters only ever cared about how she suffered drugged out of his devil mind.
Even back as a fiend he was still a devil in the end.
It was downright unheard of them for them not to love suffering.
Devils loved that and she suffering and she suffered so much in public safety.
They loved it toxicity, they loved it drunkenly as an ice cream cone was tenderly placed into her hand.
A devil was always a devil.
Why would anyone go out of their way to care about her that way?
Arai had died so fast for it and Violence was a demon who acted like any other demon.
He was not ever different, he was not special and she had not had been special to him in ways of fluff and care for herself as a person.
He was not an exception for a devil, he had never been.
“Did.. you ever love me? It was never even there was it?” It was more of a breathy sniffle than words, too quiet for the demon to properly hear.
She’d give anything to have yet another long sobbing fit, but she didn’t want to feed violence further.
“Rawwk?”
“I.. I want your power to get out of my suffering! For good! W.. would you kill me if I don’t break I-”
“You willlllll,” it interrupted, tail feathers swaying like an eager dog ready to jump on a toy and rip it to shreds, “I know you will. I see you. I seeeeee. So much rage rage rage you have. So much pain you spread so much.. Violenceeee. A human like youuuuu? You will break shatterrrr you were born too and I need to watch. To love it. Loveeee everything about it Hig-a-shiyama. Just let me watch. Nothing elseee.”
“You.. not like.. Live in my head or..”
“In a humannnn mind?! Me, demon of violence in a cowardlyyyy human barrrrrraaan?! Rakk! no. Just fallow fallow. Consume you when you dieeee! Consume your everythinggggg.”
It was a golden deal.
Even if it hadn’t been she would have said yes to whatever it might have taken from her, but it all didn’t make her feel any better.
Amazing deal or not.
Eating up her suffering.
Eating it up with wagging tail feathers as she beast she hated more than any devil followed her with those eyes.
In the end none of it exactly mattered with what had to be done today.
She allowed herself a few seconds to breathe before speaking to it again.
“I.. accept the contract then Violence. Give me.. your power and strength so I can use it! and I’ll let you follow me around. I won’t tell anyone but my buddy.”
“Andddddddd?!”
She shuttered, like she was already cooling down.
“And uh.. c..consume me if I die?”
The devil grinned as much as a creature with a beak could pull something like that off.
The attempt made it look even more off putting then it already was.
It reached out a clawed hand to her.
It wanted to shake hands?
She grabbed it-
And fire burned all along every muscle he had.
From her toes to up to her neck.
Set on fire and rebuilt from the seams.
It was a pain that only lasted for twenty seconds at most but felt like a lot longer.
She tried to jerk back from the devil, but its grip was strong, she failed to break free of its clutches.
She couldn’t control the scream of pain that left her mouth nor could she stop her knees buckling from under her, flinching when claws grabbed her before she could fully fall.
Another whimper cry leaving her before the pain vanished just as quickly as it had begun besides a slight ache all over her body.
Eyes watery and damp, but she had somehow shed no tears this time.
She sniffed in its grasp.
“It’s done,” the demon told her looking down at her with those eyes of its.
Holding her for an uncomfortable amount of time before it released her.
Another strange look on its face before that smirk was back.
“My pow pow powerrr is yours. Just call call call and you’ll receive a fraction of it. I’ll be watching you Hig-a-shiyamaaaaaa. I’ll always be with with with youuuuu. I.. can’t wait to watch what you do, watch only that violence in you be left. I can’t waitttt for you to break break you.. everything that’s left!”
She didn’t mercy it with a response.
Taking a moment to use her arms to even raise herself, going to look at it but-
It was gone.
Violence had left when.. She hadn’t even heard him leave.
She knew he hadn’t left!
Kobeni shivered, but didn’t bother to look around, she could feel him looking at her from.. Somewhere.
White eyes.
Somewhere.
Everywhere, from everyone.
It was unsettling and she thought just him being around her house was bad.
She got up from the floor, not sure what to feel or expect when she tensed the muscles in her arm and mumbled a plea for help.
It built in muscle mass before her eyes at an incredibly rapid pace.
Thankfully not hurting this time, but it still felt strange.
Kobeni stopped before it could rip anything.
She couldn’t help but shiver again.
Not in fear, in anticipation.
Power… strength..
She had.. So much of it.. Perfect for what was to come.
Soon at that.
She just hoped it would be enough if anything went south in all the ways it would go south.
That there wasn’t some kind of loop in this contract only Violence could take advantage of.
Eyes on her.
Eyes on her, on her suffering.
The shaking didn’t stop.
The arm she had just bulked up especially.
She hoped it didn’t.
Violence wouldn’t get any kind of show it wanted.
No breaking.
No death.
There wouldn’t be only violence left in her and Aldo would bring the devils to where they needed.
Then all the violence would be gone.
New peace would blossom in its place like flowers after a fire.
Beautiful peace and happiness.
It willed her to stand up, the eyes still on her.
All would be right.
A flower crushed beneath her feet as she made her way out.
~
She was in her office when he came to her again.
Every big thing usually happened in here, in a office she spent more time in than her home.
That was better off being her home without her parents around to do a thing to her at least physically.
Aldo had come back to her completely unharmed.
No scratches, no bruises, no anything.
Some kind of weight she didn’t know was there lifted from her chest only for it to settle again with that odd look on her partner's face.
Yellow eyes warry and disturbed, entire form locked in one never ending cringe.
She stood up, nearly knocking her chair to the ground.
“what?! W..what did you find?! What is it this time!?”
He opened his mouth, but in the end chose not to speak, basically throwing a folder onto her desk.
It knocked a few pencils to the ground, opening where a few photos the man had taken became exposed.
They were all blurry.
Taken with the lowest quality of camera with pictures that could have only been printed as soon as possible.
Blurry, but Kobeni could still make out what was on each and every one of them, but she blinked at him like she couldn’t.
It had to be a joke, but she knew Aldo wouldn’t just randomly snap photos of something so simple and come to her acting like this and wouldn’t joke at a time like this.
Three separate blurry children bore back at her from them, holding Denji’s hand.
They all looked about eleven, maybe a little younger?
Yet another horrible twist, to this mission absolutely full of them without end.
“K..kids? Aldo.. those.. Those can’t be the devils.. That's..”
“Messed up? I..Impossible? It’s the devils I’m sure of it.. I.. still can hardly believe it but.. it’s just one f*cked up thing after the other.”
His hand reached down and tapped down on one with a black haired boy front and center, the most clear photo of the bunch.
At first.. Something in his face almost itched something familiar in her brain.
Something about the face shape, the hair color..
It was all cleared away by the boy's eyes.
At a glance, it looked normal.
To anyone who wasn’t going out of their way to look, anything strange would have flown past their head, but she was looking for something.. So she could see.
Those eyes were not normal.
There was a faint cross within his eyes, with a circle in the center of it.
Like.. the target she would see when practicing with certain guns.
The… gun devil?
She relooked over at the other photos a lot harder to tell, but looking for it, she could see how strange all their eyes were.. Strange just like the boys.
A little girl with black hair and spirals in her eyes that matched the same ones that had looked into Kobeni’s soul and tried to kill her just for being there.
The control devil.
The second little girl with blond hair and another pair of eyes she knew even more well, with a pair of familiar horns.
The anger that flared was older in her this time.
Born from many years ago at the torment of yet another monster in her life she thought she was free of.
Power.
The.. blood devil.
A new blood devil!?
He had the new blood devil too?!
What the hell!?
Why was the blood devil with him too!?
She didn’t want to deal with even more dangerous devils!!
Let alone that one!
She’d rather take any other devil than that damn one!
She despised her even more than the violence devil!
She hated her more than Kishibe.
“Why.. the hell are they.. Are they kids?! G.. Gah! And the blood devil!? W.. W..”
“How should I know!? I..I don’t know! I.. I know some can look human but this is just.. Sick! I think they even go to middle school! Middle school!” the man shook his head, “can devils just.. Control their form like that?!”
Kobeni.. Knew the shark fiend could.. A few other devils like the skin devil could as well.. But she didn’t remember anything about the gun, control and blood devil being able to do it.
Could they just?
Or did they just spawn to earth like that?!
Either way, it made her feel ill.
Demons walking around looking like literal children.
Playing a game of strange and twisted pretend to fit in like they didn’t want to kill everything!
This is why… none of them had been caught, why Denji was able to hide them.
They had been hiding in plain sight under any human's nose.
It was.. A terrifying thing to think about.
Devils that looked like kids, lurking around other people, other children.
It was disturbing.
“Does it look like I know either?!” she cried out to him, high and shaking, “I don’t know! I don’t know why! I don’t know why they would want to! The control devil looked human last time but Power always.. Went on about how great it was to be a devil! And the gun devil.. Is the gun devil! Now what are we going to..”
She didn’t need to go on, Aldo locking eyes with her told her he was reaching the same conclusion as her.
The man aotobly groaned, “this is going.. to be Difficult catching them. They’re just running around.. In public! It would look… really bad if anyone catches us as well.. They look just like kids! Kids! And now we have an extra one to worry about! Three of them! It’s hard going up just against one!”
Things had gone almost too smoothly up till now.
It had to go wrong at the start of the last stretch!
Like kids..
In all her worst case scenarios this definitely wasn’t on her list of things that could go wrong.
Kids.. younger kids at that!
That looked like younger kids to everyone else!
Entrusted to Denji…
Always around Denji, the public, looking like children.
Her stomach twisted further, kidnaping things that looked just like small kids where they probably would try and pretend to be small kids throughout the process.
“Damn…damn it!” she let her frustration win out, “Really?! R..really!?!? Something like this!? This is..” she didn’t bother finishing her sentence into what would just be more needless ramblings.
There was a noise from her devil hunting partner himself, slamming the folder back shut, even he couldn’t stand to look at it any longer.
His hand ran over it for a moment.
Then he tapped it with a pointer finger.
Thinking.
She waited for him to speak.
“My brothers.. We didn’t just do assassin work.. We kidnapped people for others too. People who wanted them alive just to.. Hurt and kill them themselves or for ransom,” Aldo started low and sickly, “I.. know how to do this too.”
Just like that some of her anger slipped away.
It really was so good to have him here, his one trick pony act was more useful than anyone else could be.
That one trick pony act was the act she needed.
“Even with everyone.. A..around?”
“Well.. ya! We kidnapped all sorts of people in all kinds of situations,” he said, but his eyes were wide, close to panic of some sort.
“Usually we wait.. Until they're alone and drag them
away with clothorohome, but.. In ones like this.. Joey and Kirtus would befriend them.. Then just.. Take them when they gained their trust and drag them to the location later.. I.. they didn’t let me do those kinds of missions..”
Being so close to demons for so long?!
That was.. more than just dangerous.
It was a death sentence!
They would maul him and eat him as soon as they were alone together!
As soon as any of the devils were!
He’d be dead with no trace left and Kobeni would be alone.
“You.. actually want to do that again!? B-but you’ll be around them for so long, not just tailing them once!!”
“No. I don’t want to do it at all! I don’t want to be around them for that long! They.. could kill me! A..at any moment! Dying is bad enough but getting eaten.. I don’t want to.. I really don’t! But.. You can’t do it.. You're not a shapeshifter, if you go, if anyone sees you out like that around them, talking to them, especially public safety.. It’d look suspicious, bad.. but I.. I’m immortal.. I’m immortal.. I..I.. I’m immortal..I’m immortal..”
“Aldo..” she stopped him from going into his own fearful rambling.
She couldn’t help but imagine Aldo as a corpse full of bullet holes.
Of a chain going through his skull or a weapon of blood stabbed into his chest.
“I.. this is the only way right? I want to be free. I want to get out of here.. I really meant it when I said.. That I’d do anything, so I’ll befriend them. I’ll get them to trust me and once I do, I’ll drag them to wherever is needed and-”
“Be careful!” it slipped out without her consent, without her even thinking about it.
She meant it all the same.
She couldn't explain why her stomach churned at it.
Aldo looked the most scared she had seen him in a while.
A new record when Aldo always looked concerned about something or the other to the point she half thought that expression was permanent on his face.
The reaction was similar to when she would get when she would bang the table out of nowhere.
The last syllable of the word echoing to both of them and caring on.
Aldo twitched from it, a new pain spreading across his face, a strange sadness.
“I’ll come back,” he told her again, but he was sweating a lot more than the last time he had told her such a thing.
He always came back in some form be it recently or throughout their time as buddies in public safety.
Every time with no fail he came back and came back and survived and survived.
From all missions together and apart, Aldo always came back.
Like a cat with nine lives, more than nine lives, not a shelter dog he looked so much like, uncaved without so much a bruise, but their luck felt like it was beginning to run out.
“You have to. You WILL.. I’ll..cover you again.. And take over if anything goes wrong.. k..kill anyone who gets suspicious. Violence can handle everything else.” That made his expression turn to something else, but he made no comment about her new contract again.
She knew he was hardly pleased, even America had the same rule with the devil of violence after all.
No one made deals with the demon of Violence.
He pulled the folder fully back to himself with a firm, understanding nod.
They were in the home stretch now.
If everything went right… the fresh air would be theirs.
