The Gift of Trust

Hazel wasn't surprised when he thought she was joking, yet he seemed quick to correct himself, she pulled herself up to sit on his desk with her legs crossed while he continued, asking why she would put so much trust in him. Hazel's smile was small and sad, "You gave me a chance, I don't think many humans would give someone like me a chance after witnessing what I had done. Yes I accept it's likely because you found me useful but…."

She placed her fingertip onto the collar scraping at the dried blood that was once hers. "I never fully trusted you though, you were a human, I always thought I was justified in my rage for hating your species, only to find out it was one of my own who turned on me,"

Her gaze looked dull and far away, "I don't know much about these new hunters, much less who's sending them." Then she snapped back to the present, answering his question about just hiding the artifact, "It's not that easy, someone else will find it. These types of weapons don't just disappear, no matter how badly we wish." Hazel raised her hands to hug herself gripping her arms tightly, as she crimsion waves fell into her face. "Derry, I can't even trust my own kind anymore. But…. I know I can trust you, and I do, I have for quite a while."

her expression was like a wounded animal, these kinds of talks were never enjoyable. Compared to the way she normally acted this seemed quite out of character… or was it? which was the facade, her manic behavior or this? Maybe not even she knew anymore. Finally with a low voice she whispered out, "You play a part for so long that you become it…." Almost as if hinting she hadn't always been as he knew her.

She needed to get away from this forsaken planet, where these hunters came for her even in her nightmares, re-living her death again and again. Her vision was getting blurry when face felt moist as something warm streamed down her face, she raised a hand to touch it with slight confusion. Tears? She was cryng?? She seemed genuinely shocked by her own emotion. She never dealt with the trauma inflicted upon her, and the moment of vulnerability seemed to break a dam that she had used to hold back everything that had happened and how she REALLY felt about it.

Before the snakes she was alone, very very few allies, but she had come to see them as more than a tool for her protection and survival. She cared about them.

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Hazel clutched a fist to her chest when he mentioned he cared about his whole gang lol, including her, there was a brief moment where she wondered how a guy like this could still have stern mob boss perception and care about them like he did.

Hazel attempted to hide with her hair after feeling the hot tears roll down her face, she heard him get closer but was not at all expecting his embrace. She immediately became rigid in his hold, but when he spoke, her body would ease as she slipped her arms under his, wrapping her arms under and up resting her hand on his shoulder blades. Safe? What a strange concept…. She only ever felt safe in her bunker yet here, where she was now, she felt similarly. She gazed up at him after he backed away, her eyes flicking away when he met her gaze, there was a fear of being vulnerable in her expression. This made it difficult to keep eye contact with him at the moment.

She was wiping away tears while he made a comment about not letting them have the upper hand on her, she looked up just as he was pulling on it. Her head shifted to the side and confusion wondering what he was doing her eyes suddenly widening when it dawned on her as his flames came forward, "Derry! What are you-"

Her statement interrupted as his power fluctuated, and pink flame replaced his once soft brown eyes. She was struck with a moment of awe, was he really doing this for her? She snapped out of the thought while lunging forward to stop him, "Wait! Wait, it's gonna-!" Again interrupted as he managed to pull apart the ancient metal with a scream, the magic released from it created a powerful shock wave especially in such an enclosed area. The electricity and lights flickering on and off in the room until it finally died, leaving just the dim lighting of the emergency lights.

Hazel's head was slammed against the desk, blurring her vision while she lay there waiting for some semblance of sight. The blast was so strong it broke her glamor, slowly rising to a sitting position holding her head, she was honestly just as lovely as before the glamor except now her skin wasn't quite so flawless as deep and obvious scars decorated her body one running down her right cheek, and several various ones decorating her arms and legs.


Just as he tried to steady himself, she looked up at him angrily with her glowing blue demonic eyes illuminating in the dark, then down at him after he couldn't maintain his balance, "YOU! What did you do?!" She shakily crawled towards him, quickly pushing him back down to stay sitting. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

At first it seems like she was angry with him but upon a second glance it was not truly anger on her face but something far more rare: concern and worry, "Destroying those kinds of artifacts in a space like this could have killed you! You're a fucking dumbass Derry!" She pounded weakly on his chest with one first as the other arm supported her. Her ears lowered, while the silence seemed to permeate the very air, "Don't do stupid things for me.. of all people…" she said softly, finally looking back into his surprisingly gentle brown eyes with wide sparkling blue opals for irises.

After a moment of eye contact she leaned in, like she had many times before but closer. Feeling her lips meet with his, it lasted a bit longer than a moment before she broke their contact. Then there was a subtly increasing red glow on her face which at first may have made it seem like she was blushing, after a second it would become far more clear it wasn't from her face but from her sternum. She slowly covered the glow with her hand, and suddenly she was laughing. Yet not manic as usual, it was simply soft and gentle, after a moment her clothing seem to morph in front of him changing from its normal sleeveless turtleneck dress to a completely sleeveless sweetheart cut dress, this revealed more scars with one over her right side, and the shockingly deep scar around her pale slender neck.

Slowly The laughing would fade as she looked up carefully opening her hand to uncover an area above her breast but below her collarbone that was glowing underneath the skin, like a magical shimmer a heart cut gem appeared in the area that glowed, or in fact was the item glowing, it was a vibrant red that almost seemed like a fire or something was alive within it swirling with vibrant fire like colored liquid. Finally as if regaining a bit of herself, she joked, "Well it seems like I trust you with all my heart,"

And this was not a lie the magical gem embedded in her sternum was in fact the very thing that was her life essence, this was her the only reason she could regenerate after the body took so much damage. She was getting over the pain in her head while backing away a little bit from his face.

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'Does that mean what I think it means?' Hazel looked a bit befuddled when he asked that, didn't she just tell him? Don't tell me he's about as dense as Yangcong?

But that thought sparked a reminder in her all those times Yangcong proclaimed his 'love' she knew what he wanted was only physical, it wasn't love it was attraction, yet……

Love?

Hazel's ears lowered as the realization hit her, he was asking if she… loved him, she suddenly backed away finally from his gentle caressing hand, the demonic seductress herself, now blushing vibrantly, "I-I-I……" her hands quickly rise to her rosy cheeks, she didn't know what it was she felt, it was new and warm, not like the feeling of barbed wire she felt around Yangcong…. This was easier, in fact it was almost a pleasant feeling.

She ultimately decided honesty was the best answer, "I don't know… I don't know what that is truthfully. I've never experienced it." One of her hands slid up her arm awkwardly holding herself, never more unsure at this moment than she had ever been in her nearly 350 years of life. She felt like she had to explain further, realizing in many ways Derry knew little about her. No. Truth was everyone knew very little, she kept her true self hidden at all times.

"I'm of demon nobility, we aren't allowed the weakness of such an emotion, especially my kind… we usually are used to help keep noble bloodlines strong, love is a useless emotion to us in such a situation." Then with a little chuckle, "Obviously I was never one to follow that dribble and become stock for them. Rules haven't really ever been my thing. Freedom is everything," her face lit up mentioning freedom, then dulled slightly, "But you can't change the way you were raised, how do you say… programmed?"

She corrected as in a way to signify that it was such a thing mentally ingrained into her. Despite her supposed Freedom, how many years has she adhered mentally to the rules instilled on her? Locking away any emotion considered weak, never growing…. And never growing close to anyone either, at least not that she could remember...

"I've learned more here than I have in 2 centuries of life, just being around all of you," she simply stated that she had learned something, not understanding it was emotional growth she was learning. She gazed up at him, her eyes nearly sparkling, the dim red light creating flecks of purple to reflect in her eyes making them appear like small glowing galaxies, resting a small delicate hand over his she continued, "I do know I have a great affection for you, more than I'm familiar with. I yet to understand if that means love,"

Then a slight grimace graced her face for a second, when reminded of Yangcong's behavior towards a similar event, "Just…. Don't rush me into anything, I would like to know what I'm feeling, and…" with a soft smile and gentle eyes, "I'd like to explore it further," in that moment of time, she seemed so surprisingly small, without the armor of her grandiose and confident personality, she wasn't the demon that came from the cement in that alley way. Just a small frail female looking for her place in a world she felt was always against her, trying to trap her to fill a role she didn't want.

She looked down at their hands resting together, with a smile that turned into shock, she saw the visible scars on her hand. Quickly her hands rose to her face and neck as if ashamed, "My glamor spell!.... Ah." Yet her sudden panic calmed slightly when she realized which side of her face he had been caressing, slowly her hands lowered to her lap with another carless laugh, "I guess it too late to hide them from you now,"

Her face redding further from knowing he could see them, ignoring her obvious embarrassment when she moved to look at his head wound at last, " Here, I'm not really great with using this type of magic on others," with a gentle glow from her eyes and her hands he might feel the slight easing of his pain, it wasn't perfect but it would do till he could be looked at properly.

She rested her hand against the side of his head while wiping away the blood that had dripped down his face. She instinctively bright the bloodied thumb to her lips, before realizing what she was doing. The minute his blood touched her lips her glowing of her gem pulsated, his taste confirmed his sins with it's flavor but the overwhelming hint of sweetness was a surprise, and not, at the same time.

Then she realized what she was doing, "Ah I didn't- d-dont judge me," she expressed with a slight pout and huffy tone, clearly embarrassed, while she stood and dusted off her clothing from being on the floor, she felt like she was forgetting something important but at the moment it was hard to focus.

"We may wanna get one of the maintenance guys to fix the lights before too many questions are asked,"

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Everything Derry said made her feel light and floaty, she wanted to embrace him again but felt strangely self conscious about doing so, he spoke of his soul, and the way her gem reacted. It was an incredibly rare phenomenon for her gem to react to someone and in many ways her gem was considered the catalyst for her soul, as long as it existed so did she. She itched to bring his hand to her gem but an instinctual survival based fear prevented her from doing so. Maybe it was not yet the time.

Then he spouted such a cheesy line, she laughed with enjoyment, "Keeping with the theme of diary and being cheesy?" She angled her head to the side while looking up at him, "It's okay I like it," it was strange, how many times has she heard that phrase in her life? And why…. Did it feel so differently coming from him?

Hazel felt reassured when he didn't seem upset with her taste test, If he likes you he's probably already expectant of these things, right? She thought, yet this bubbling thought made her blush again, in this moment she realized she too knew far little about Derry then she thought. She didn't even know how he became a mob boss or anything…

There was a part of her that didn't want to snap them back to their responsibilities, she wanted to just keep sitting there on the floor with him, just talking, she wanted to know so much more. Yet the prolonged glow of the emergency lights had her curious, Milkman usually kept good staff, so what was the hold up? Derry seemed to be unable to contact anyone on his scouter glasses, There was this increasing feeling of dread building up in her, like she was forgetting something direly important.

Just as Derry was walking out the door she smelled it, the whites of her eyes immediately turning black, her hand darted out to grab his last three fingers of his hand just as he walked out into the hall, stopping him the best she could, "Derry I smell blood, lots of it." Then her heart sank as she realized what she had forgotten, destroying the relic was likely noticed by its Creator, and they probably sent minions.

As if on cue a splatter of blood came out from the room down the hall he had planned to go to. A disgusted twisted being emerged, tight blue skin, and long sharp spines down it's back, it chattered wildly as it seemed to speak to someone else, "Well it's not that room either…. Oh?" The creature seemed to notice Derry standing in the hall, it greeted him with a twisted sadistic grin, while another bigger demon lowered his head to exit the bloody room, "Another snack?" The larger one asked, it appeared to look like a massive boar man, with dirty grimey fur.

Hazel froze, realizing it was too late to get Derry away from here, she didn't know how rattled he was from his previous injury, that's when she remembered humans could be fragile. A deep growl emitted from her throat as one referred to Derry as a snack. The big one was faster than it looked, up in front of Derry in seconds. Hazel was obscured from it's vision because of Derry's height and the door frame. As a massive hand reached toward Derry, it was assaulted. A long spider like appendage darted over Derry's shoulder, embedding itself into the hand and arm till it stuck out of the demons furry elbow, then was violently ripped away, leaving the hogman's arm fillet open on a bloody mess, it recoiled squealing in agony, slowly the strange fleshy appendix retreated back over his shoulder.

Smoke seemed to come from the room Hazel was in, from behind Derry, there was a cracking sound when she walked out of the smoke past him, absolute fury in her eyes, and her body seeming to morph while jagged horn-like structures came from her shoulder, her ivory horns long and gelded like a crown upon her head. Yet strangely no sign of the spider like appendage that had just been used.

"Derrick. Don't get involved."

She knew very well she couldn't fight them and protect him at the same time if he joined her in the battle, not with monsters like these, she was showing her full demonic form, black bone like armor encased her as she addressed the demons before her, "I am Noble Hazazel of the House Dargon, I will punish you and your Master for their transgressions upon me!!" The voice was harsh and roaring with vibrating undertones of a feral grow. "YOU DARE TO TOUCH WHAT IS MINE?!" The anger over flowed from the thought of them going after Derry or any other dirty snakes. Her hair floats around her like an angry Flame of crimson hair swirling ready to grab onto any enemy.

Hazel leapt forward violently, latching her mouth onto the big one's face, the smaller spindly demon lurched at her in this moment. She was quick to run her tail across him as she slapped him away with it, the sharp new knife like spines on her tail slicing into him deeply. She with the big one incapacitated she should have an easier time dealing with the one….. or not, just as the spindly demon got up to its feet, a another one similar to him walked out of the same room wiping his mouth, "What's the commoti-? Ah fuck," they seemed to know who she was and what she was.

Her body moved like a dancer the way her tail was swung around to block and counter their onslaught, but she was still outnumbered, suddenly a long blue spine like spear penetrated her upper thigh, she gritted her teeth refusing to screech out in pain for their enjoyment. Instead returning the favor as a spider-like appendage seems to morph its way out of her lower back, impaling one of the spindly demons to the wall like a bug. It squirmed desperately as she roared at it, another spider like appendage coming from the other side of her back digging into it the pinned demon.

The second one tried to surprise her from behind but was quickly wrapped up into her tail with the blades facing inward. She looked back momentarily at the demon trapped in her tail but this shift in attention would be a grim mistake. As her attention was shifting back another spine seemed to appear through her this time through her upper abdomen. Unable to hold back she screeched out while turning her attention back to the bug in front of her ripping him down the center with the two spider-like appendages. It's flesh fell limply to the ground, much like the ground up remains in her tail from the second demon uncoiling it to release its minced flesh. She shook the blood off the spider like appendages causing skin webbing to unfurl from them revealing that they were in fact wings, and not spider appendages.

She was panting heavily from the fast paced combat, despite her injuries she had at least achieved her goal in dispatching these demons as quickly as possible the only downside was she would not be able to get information from dead flesh. Pulling out the javelin-like spine out of her leg, then agonizingly quickly pulling out the one from her abdomen, with a grunt.

Now that she thought about it, maybe she should be acting like a noble but not in the conventional way she was taught. She was still a Demoness of great power and she would regain her complete power to protect those she cared about. "Sooooooo you're probably gonna need to hire another maintenance guy." She tried joking while she limped towards him, covering her abdomen wound with one hand, but ultimately her impaled leg would give out on her, causing her to stumble.


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Hazel weaky laughed at his panicking, while her armor seemed to melt back into her body running down in black veins, "I won't say no to blood, but it won't help right now," then she rose a bloodied hand to his cheek, "Hey hey I've been through worse, I will survive, I promise," her statements followed by labored breathing, "Take me to the basement, please," she asked while simultaneously admitting she couldn't get there herself by asking him to take her, she was already getting light headed, she was moving too much and freely bleeding. "I just need to get down there, trust me doctors won't know what to do with me," Could he really be so worried about her? Like she had worried about him?

If he felt compelled to heed her request, they would take the elevator down to the room of vaults, but now one wall was an old looking ornate door, this a crest of a dragon surrounded by ivy, she would weakly look over her shoulder to the door, motioning for him to go there. Inside was a strange room with a decent size pool of water, two dragon fountain statues feeding water into it one gold and the other silver. Lily pads with blooming lotuses and ivy were all entangled in the water and along the walls, strange tiny floating orbs seeming to be the main light source other than the glowing water.

"I need to be in there, I'll be under a few hours likely, I'll be fine….." she wanted to explain it to him but she was starting to fade in and out of consciousness.

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Hazel slowly sunk into the bottom of the clear water, making it opaque, only the glint of her simmering gold scales on the small glowing orb's light. She hated that she couldn't reassure him more, but she was so sleepy when her body fell into hibernation, the gem on her chest dimming in response, conserving all her energy to mend her wounds.

She faded away into a dream, the visions pleasant and revolving around Derry and ….something else? A small silver figure shimmering in front of them, it reached out towards Hazel, causing her to mirror the movement. Just before their hands touched it childishly giggled and ran away. 'Wait!' she reached out trying to stop it but her body was sluggish in this dream-like state, the small figure vanishing from her sight. When she turned back around to face Derry they were now in a garden, but not any random garden. It was the greenhouse from her old home, which was currently in ruins in the real world. Dream Derry was sitting on the outdoor lounging couch, sifting through papers, much like she'd always seen him at his desk. She approached, siding next to him on the lounge, 'What are you working on?' she asked but there wouldn't be a verbal response, just a gentle smile towards her then looking away. She followed his gaze to the small shimmering figure again, 'why won't they come to me?' Dream Derry laughed, 'Not yet,' she looked to him in confusion before suddenly it was all gone.

Her eyes snapped open casting light from her glowing opalescent blue irises, she exhaled out of gills on her rib cage before slowly moving her body. Her hand tracing down her body feeling the new scar on her thigh, luckily the wound through her abdomen went through a pre-existing one, it was just a bit more pink from the new skin forming. She sat in the water at the bottom of the pool looking upward, her hair dancing around her weightlessly, she was reflecting on the dream she had along with current events. A big part of her wanted to ignore these feelings, she couldn't really feel that way about a human, much less experience the emotions to do so….. Right? Wasn't it too late for her to learn these emotions? She shook her head, emotions can be turned off, it would be easier for her to not for that kind of bond.

Feeling like she was in control of herself she rose to the surface barely popping up her head for a calm breath while her gills purged water from her lungs and sealed up. She was starting to raise her head out of the water before spotting a figure caused her to duck back down with only the top of her head peering over the water line. It was just Derry. She silently climbed out of the pool, lengthy blood red hair draped down to the floor, she stood in front of him looking over his sleeping form.

That idiot really waited here the entire time?? Her cheeks pinkened, realizing maybe what she thought was so easy to control was already running wild. She released a resigned sigh, before cupping his face with both of her hands, her gem momentarily glowing brighter when she looked at him. She leaned in, water from her hair dripping on to his clothing, she then, placed her delicate lips on his forehead, in a gentle kiss, before talking to him in a soothing voice, "Wake up Dumbass, you fell asleep. You're gonna wreck you back sleeping like that," her words a smidge mean but her voice sweet. She really couldn't believe he stayed here the entire time, it could have been as long as a day, she wouldn't know till she could find her phone.

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