Lyan
I tried to hit Ruan on the face but he dodged and grabbed my hand, twisting it until pain erupted all over it and I fell to the ground, clutching my hurt hand.
" What are you doing?" I screamed, my whole arm in pain.
Tears were streaming down my face as I sat on the ground, defeated. Ruan had destroyed the only thing that had kept me going all this time, and he'd done it so casually, as if it wasn't worth anything at all.
" You don't know what it was"
Ruan's soft voice set me off and I glared at him, ready to destroy him, but his eyes were just sad and filled with pity, no hatred on them.
It was watching those eyes what made me think about everything twice. What if he was right? What if I hadn't known? What if he had done the right thing and I was about to commit the biggest mistake of my life?
I stared at the broken pieces all over the ground and then at Ruan. It didn't matter anymore. It was gone. I raised my head and looked at Ruan. I could at least listen to him, even if I was going to murder him later on. Even as I thought to listen to him my heart burned with hatred and my blood boiled with anger. What he had done was paramount to killing my family again, right in front of me and once again I had been powerless to stop it.
" What don't I know?" I asked in a soft tone, broken and defeated. The anger quickly went away from my heart and only defeat remained. I was tired of the secrets and the deceit. I was tired of it all.
Ruan smiled sadly and sat besides me, his back against a tree.
" That is not a relic. It's made of demonic power"
I stared at Ruan with my eyes wide open. What exactly did he mean?
" Demonic power?" I whispered.
Ruan nodded and continued.
" It was made with strong demonic power. It was very likely a high ranking devil's heart"
I stared at him and felt the need to gag. I had touched a heart. A real, bleeding heart. Yuck! I made a face of disgust as I stared at the fragments and asked my next question.
" How did it end up here?"
" I don't know, but it has been here for a very long time" Ruan's voice was off, as if there was something he wanted to say but was keeping to himself.
" Can't it really bring back the dead?" My voice was small as I asked what I cared about the most, my heart racing waiting for the answer.
" It can" My hope rose before it fell back again. It was gone now." Just like any high demon. It's a demon's heart and grudge and hence has a demon's powers"
I stopped breathing and my heart stopped for a second, because if what Ruan had just said was true that meant that I didn't need the gem, I just needed a demon, just like the one standing right beside me.
" Can you raise back the dead?" I looked at him with hopeful eyes.
Ruan nodded without even thinking about it and I smiled. I had done it. I would have my family back.
" Then raise back my family. Bring them back" I grabbed Ruan's shoulders and stared shaking them, desperation on my voice.
" I can't do that" Ruan's tone was soft as he slowly picked up my hands and got them off his shoulder.
" Why?!!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
This couldn't be how it all ended. It just couldn't. I stared at Ruan with red eyes as he shook his head. Only then did I really allow myself to fall.
I fell to the ground, clutching my knees, and began crying, sobbing right into my hands.
" I'm sorry" Ruan's tone was soft as he looked at me with pity on his eyes.
" Didn't you say you could raise back the dead?" I asked in a broken tone in between sobs.
" I can as long as the death is recent and the body is more or less intact"
That was nothing like my family. They really were gone for real.
" But... but.... you said the gem could raise back the dead" I held onto my last strand of hope.
" It has the same limitations as I do"
I wiped my tears as well as I could and my sobbing stopped little by little when I realized there was nothing I could do. My heart grew cold as I acknowledged that I'd never see my family again. My hopes all this time that it would all work out were just the stupid dreams of a little kid that didn't know anything.
" Still, why did you shatter it?" If it was just as Ruan had said it wasn't such a great thing. It was just another demon, but if it was so why had Ruan made such a face and shattered it as if it was an enemy?
" It's just another demon" Ruan said as his eyes turned to look at the shattered fragments all over the forest ground. " But since it was here it had one special ability that's very annoying"
I looked at Ruan, waiting for an answer.
He eventually looked me in the eyes and spoke again in a dark tone.
" It's what's been keeping your father away all this time"
What the fuck? Had Ruan just destroyed the thing that had been standing between Earth and total anhilation?
To be honest that wasn't even what I was the most worried about. I was worried that now that the gem was shattered dad would come to Earth.
" What does that mean to us?"
" Your dad can come in now. And so can any other demon"
My face grew pale as I realized what that meant. The humans were only winning because only a few low level demons could cross over the breach, but if the limitation on the power and numbers was gone that would change the whole game.
" I have to warn everyone" I got up and started running, picking a direction at random, hoping it would take me back to the academy.
" You don't have to" Ruan said in a low tone.
I stared at him and snorted. Of course he wouldn't care, he was a demon. All of this was good for him.
" Why!?" I screamed a I ran, not looking back.
" Because they won't even notice" Ruan grabbed me and made me stop, looking at him.
" What do you mean they won't notice?"
" They would have to try to cross to notice the barrier is gone, but they won't do that for some time, so you have some time"
I eyed him suspiciously, why would he help me?, and asked the question that I wanted to ask. To hell with all the secrets.
" Why are you helping me?"
" Let's just say I don't want to die yet"
I smiled as the realization hit me. That was right. Ruan had pissed dad and now he was on his bad side, but it that was true than why had he shattered the gem in the first place?
" Then why did you shatter the gem?"
Ruan's eyes got a sad gloss as he looked at me and he gave me a sad smile.
" I couldn't see Ashmoder get hurt anymore" He whispered before he turned around. " But do whatever you want. It's fine by me"
I took Ruan's hand before he could go away and reluctantly forgave him. If he was telling the truth, which he had no reason not to tell, then even if he hadn't destroyed the gem my wish still wouldn't have come true and I would've spent a great deal of time and effort trying to get it, so although I was sad, I would never see my family again, I was grateful at Ruan for saving me from wasting a great deal of time on something that would've never worked.
" Let's go together" I smiled at him.
Ruan smiled back and teleported us to our room. Only then did I realize something. If the gem was stopping all high ranking demons from entering Earth then how the fuck had Ruan managed to come here?
I peeked at Ruan from the corner of my eye and slowly pulled my hand away. Ruan didn't even seem to notice as he opened his door and disappeared inside without so much as a word.
I went back to bed with my dirty pijama and a feeling of defeat. Now my only chance was to beg dad to bring them back, but dad had been the one to first tell me that the gem could bring them back. Why had he told me that when he himself could've done it? Why had he lied to me all those years ago?
My head spun as I climbed back into bed with all the care of the world not to wake my guys up and I took my spot between Mark and Jack, with Fluffy, who was staring at me from the feet of the bed, completely awake, in my arms.
" Could you help me sort it all out?" I asked Fluffy in a soft voice.
Fluffy tilted his head and licked me. His care was the last straw I needed to come undone.
It had all been to much. Finding the truth about the gem, finding that demons could now attack at any given time and finding out that I could never have my family back was too much for one day.
I hugged Fluffy and cried silently, not wanting to wake up anyone. I just hoped tomorrow would be better.
Ruan
I slammed the door of my room closed and fell to the bed. I closed my eyes and let myself remember even if only for a little while.
There was no way I wouldn't recognized that heart. It was the heart of the person that still appeared in my nightmares on the bad days when I was feeling down.
Having it between my hands had made me want to fall to the ground, begging for mercy, but now he was gone. Ashmoder had made sure if it, and now that I had even crushed his heart there was no chance in hell he was coming back.
I kept repeating those words to myself time and time again, trying to hold myself together, but the cracks kept spreading.
I snapped my head when I heard a laughter coming from my right. I shook my head. There was no way that was his laugh. He was dead. I was really losing my shit right now, but the voice didn't stop, it got louder.
It told me to run and to clean him, the orders coming one after another. I stared at my hands, where the wound from breaking the heart was now gone and I clenched them.
" It's just my imagination" I kept repeating, but it seemed too real.
I knew that at this rate I wouldn't sleep at all, so I got up and silently went to the blond's room, where I could feel a familiar dark aura that put my heart at rest.
I sat down outside the door and laid my head against the wall. As the seconds passed by my heart calmed down and the fear went away until I could breathe again. Even without knowing it he was saving me again. That was why I loved him so.
I closed my eyes little by little as a voice that sounded very similar to Ashmoder's kept telling me it would all be okay and that he was gone now. I grabbed onto those words like a lifeline, straining my ears to hear them as the night went by and the sun eventually rose up in the sky.