Chapter Text
Nelo Angelo looked down at the small creature by his feet. It was clinging to his leg, half-hidden under his cape. The humans that had been causing its distress lay in bloody pieces across the floor.
He wasn’t sure where they were. The men wore once-pristine white uniforms and the area was cast in a dim green light. Glass tubes and metal tables were scattered around the room. Some sort of laboratory, perhaps.
He had come here from the underworld, dragged by some incessant thought that something was wrong. He had never felt such pulls before. He had only been given orders by his master, which he followed without question. There was no desire, no insticutal tug, to follow those, only the knowledge that he must. To follow them was his very reason for existence, and so he did.
The little creature tugged at his cape. More of the white-wearing men had arrived and the little one was shirking away at the sight of them. When he first arrived, the nagging in his sluggish mind had only passed after he removed the cause of the little one’s distress, which had been the men hovering over it and inspecting it. They had been examining the little one’s arm, which was coated in red and blue scales and glowed a pale blue when Nelo approached.
The men cautiously circled around Nelo Angelo, swords raised in a defensive stance. The little creature hugged his leg tighter and he could already begin to feel the unpleasant sensation that bid him to ease its unhappiness.
He reached down to release it from his leg, its little arms desperately trying to resist. It was not very strong and he was easily able to remove it and set it gently to the side. It stayed put when he let it go and he was left to take care of the white-suited men. He was disappointed in the lack of fight they offered, their swords buying them no more than seconds once he’d engaged. All too soon, their bodies littered the floor with their comrades. The little one stood still where he’d put it. It was shaking, nearly to the point of being unable to stand. With the threat gone, he returned to it and it greedily reclaimed its hold on his leg.
A spike of fear shot through him. So different from the urging need that had pulled him to the human world. His master’s voice thundering through his head, consuming all other thoughts. He had been gone for too long. He must return to his master’s side. He must do as he is told. He must. He must.
He returned mindlessly to the place he had come from. The little creature followed him, desperate to keep pace with his long legs. He barely noticed its presence now. He must return to his master. It was his purpose.
Nelo was unsure how long he stood by his master’s side. Time had little bearing in the demon realm and even less in the fog of his mind. At some point, he was once again burdened with the pull from the little creature he had encountered before. It had not been able to follow him back to the demon world so now it tugged at him, making him aware of his own consciousness in a way he was not altogether used to. He had been called to his master’s side many times before and, in the dull stretches of standing at attention, he had always had the luxury of slipping away from himself until a new order was issued. Now, this no longer was the case. The call from that little creature made him acutely aware of the passage of time and of the dullness of his present state. He expected the feeling to fade, added to the oblivion of his experience, and yet it continued to grow the longer he ignored it. Soon it was nigh overwhelming. However, his master’s command to stay put kept him rooted in the throne room. To move would be to disobey his master.
When he was, at last, dismissed, it was on orders to eliminate a few insolent demons that disobeyed his master. He was sent to their den. The dark cave was fraught with death and blood. The reptilian demons snarled at him as he approached, eyes aglow against the dark of the cave. He did not give them the chance to attack, striking them down as efficiently as possible. The sooner he finished with this task, the sooner he could deal with the calls from the little creature. To waste time engaging with these demons would do him no good.
When he was satisfied that all the demons had been dealt with, he returned to his master’s domain. From there, he was finally able to cross over to the human realm. He crossed through to the castle of Mallet Island, the mirror portal leaving him in the long-abandoned bedroom.
Seeking out the source of his irritation was a simple matter and he soon found himself returned to the laboratory from his prior visit. As he searched for the little creature, a sharp mechanical wail filled the laboratory. Strobing red lights accompanied it. Some of the white-clad men fled from him, those who did not were struck down as they tried in vain to combat him.
He found the little one chained up in one of the rooms. Its hands had been bound to the stone wall and a thick collar shackled its neck. Emotion swirled through Nelo. It surprised him, the intensity of the disdain he felt at seeing the little one bound in such a way. He split the chains, the metal more than ready to give under the weight of his sword.
The pressure on his mind eased. The little one, still processing its returned freedom, gazed up at Nelo with an expression he was not accustomed to. Brightness filled its eyes as it reached out to Nelo. He allowed it to grab onto him. The shackles still remained on its hands and neck, too close to the skin for him to sever. They scraped against the armor covering Nelo’s leg.
A group of men in white armor met his path, armed with long lances. The little one shied off, not needing to be removed this time. The first of the armored knights charged him, their weapons meeting with a heavy clang. He was pleased to find these men could put up more of a fight than those he had met earlier. He traded blows with the knight as a second and then third joined in, attempting to overwhelm him. He found his sword somewhat ineffective, as their armor was too thick to simply slice through. He pulled back, choosing to shoot summoned swords into the armor’s chinks, finding satisfaction as the sputters and stilled movements indicated he had hit his marks.
With the knights removed, he ventured to take the little one out of the laboratory. Simply defeating the ones that distressed him did not seem to be enough and if Nelo wished to be rid of the need to come to its aid for good, he would be best off taking it somewhere out of harm’s way. The little one offered no complaint, greedily taking the unspoken offer of escape. It clung to Nelo’s cape in an attempt to keep from being left behind again. He made no attempt to remove it until they reached the outside.
Standing in the open air, the little creature began to shiver. Nelo supposed it must be cold. He did not feel it, but the little one curled in on itself, its breath visible in shaky gasps. He picked it up. It squirmed in his grasp, legs kicking as it silently demanded to be put down. He wondered if his armor felt cold to it.
Holding it in his gauntlet-covered hands, it occurred to him how breakable the little creature felt. He dared not squeeze it tightly lest he harm it. The little one seemed either ignorant or uncaring to its own fragility, continuing its protest to be put down. Still, such protest was not setting off the alarms within his mind that it was distressed, so he continued holding it.
Nelo opened a portal for himself, stepping through and finally setting the little one down onto the bed on Mallet Island. It stilled somewhat, head snapping around as it took in the sudden change of surroundings. It was no longer shaking from the cold, which Nelo took as a good sign. He had claimed this room as his own territory, keeping the other demons inhabiting the castle away from it. So long as the little one stayed put, it would be out of harm’s way. To be safe, he locked the door leading into the castle. He would have to bring it sustenance, yet this seemed a better alternative to facing its distress calls whenever he was summoned away from it.
“Thank you for helping me, Mister.” The little one spoke for the first time. It still sat on the bed where he had placed it. It had tucked its knees up and had begun picking at the scales on its right arm.
He did not answer it. Could not, even if he wanted to. He had no need for words, as they were not required to follow his master’s orders.
“My name’s Nero, by the way,” the little one- Nero- mumbled.
He offered a nod in acknowledgement, which seemed to please Nero.
Nelo studied the little one for a moment. Nero was not a demon, of that he was certain, and yet he felt different from an ordinary human. There was something familiar about him, as ridiculous as the notion was. Then there was the matter of his sway over Nelo’s mind, which could prove troubling.
Still, Nero was safe for the time being, and that meant Nelo was free to return to the demon realm. He turned to the mirror, only to have Nero bolt up to latch on to him. It was clear he wanted Nelo to stay. He had already taken quite some time handling Nero thus far, to stay longer would run the risk of his master noticing his continued absence. He picked Nero up, placing him gently back onto the bed and turning to leave once again. This time, Nero stayed put.