Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Rosa gaped at the purple diamond nestled snugly in Azrael's palm.

"You snatched it from the Treasury?" She accused him.

"Sure did. I saw you looking for it, but I'm sorry to say that you walked straight past it. I guess you expected it to be more… purple," Azrael snickered.

"It is called the purple diamond," Rosa retorted as she examined the gem from every angle, then stared at Azrael when the realization hit her exhausted mind. "You knew that I was a human even back then."

"Oh, I knew way before that."

"Since when?" Rosa gaped at him in shock.

"Hmm…" Azrael straightened to his full height, and rubbed his chin in contemplation. "I can't pinpoint it exactly, but it was sometime between your first and second birthday. You were just too advanced to be a normal baby."

"I… I wasn't that advanced…" she mumbled although she knew it wasn't true.

"You're a horrible liar, you know. But it doesn't matter now. The King has figured out your secret, no doubt due to some terrible blunder on your part," Azrael shrugged and paused, looking at Rosa. She sighed.

"I left a painting of my world in his wardrobe…" she admitted, too tired to come up with a snarky retort.

"You– What?" Azrael gaped, then rubbed the bridge of his nose and finally sighed. "Well, what's done is done. The good thing is that I got Dimensional Travel right here. Ideally, I would have liked to have some time to practice with it, but we don't have much of a choice now."

"You're going to send me back to Earth?"

"I'll certainly try. Never done dimensional magic before so I can't guarantee anything."

"Why?" Rosa narrowed her eyes on him, expecting him to tell that it was all a joke and that he would send her straight back to the Demon Castle. "Don't all demons hate humans?"

"Oh, we do. Without a doubt – always summoning us to do their bidding and then casting us as the bad guys. When I realized that I had sworn an oath to one, I felt my lifespan shorten by like five hundred years," he gasped in mock horror, holding one of his hands to his forehead.

"So why are you helping me?"

"For the same reason. I can't hurt you or harm you in any way, and to be honest I would feel bad for hurting somebody so helpless. It's no fun really," Azrael sighed, and Rosa glared at him.

"So you just want to get rid of me?" she snarled.

"Pretty much. You have to admit that being tied to another person, demon or not, is pretty dreadful. And now, when all the perks of the said bond are gone, I am quite eager to annul it," Azrael shrugged and shook his head.

"So your intention was always to just use me," Rosa asked as she glared icy daggers at his persona.

"Yeah. Ideally you would have grown to like me over the years, realizing my awesomeness and then when you were old enough, I'd propose and become the next Demon King," he grinned at his own plan, but his expression quickly fell and he sighed. "So much for that."

"You were trying to groom me! Gross!"

"Groom you?" Azrael cocked his head, unfamiliar with the term. 

"It means that you're basically a pedophile."

"I am not!" he gasped, and shook his head fervently. "Do not make a mistake. I never had any attraction towards you. All I ever wanted was to use you to become the King myself."

"Jerk," Rosa sighed, disappointed and tired from it all. She never wanted to see another demon again. "If you're here to send me home, then just do it."

"With pleasure," he smirked, and closed his palm around the gem. After a moment, he opened it again and the diamond was gone. He flexed his fingers tentatively as if measuring his newfound power. 

"So? Can you do it?" she asked, her voice filled with annoyance.

"I think so? I'm not completely certain. Could you give me your hand?" Azrael outstretched his arm towards Rosa, and she took a step back, regarding it like a poisoned blade.

"Why?"

"If you think of your world while I am trying to open the portal, it will be easier for me to pinpoint the right location. Or do you want to end up on the other side of the planet?" he explained and raised his eyebrow at her. She sighed and gave him her hand.

Then she closed her eyes and thought of her home. Of the small apartment from which she could gaze upon the whole city. The place where she could paint as much as she wanted without anybody ever judging her for it. Hope began to return to her as she thought of returning there.

"Good. We're almost there. Imagine the city in more detail. Think of the streets, the buildings and the landmarks," Azrael instructed.

She thought about the small shop which stood on the nearby street corner. About her favorite trail which stretched through the forest, which cast a cool shadow even in the middle of summer. About the quaint, little street with its small houses that lead to the vast, open sea.

"Yes! I got it!" Azrael cheered and Rosa opened her eyes. She saw a portal, similar to the one that Asdeus had conjured before. But instead of the nasty bog, she saw the same sandy beach and the sea she had imagined. She recognized the wooden trails with a large billboard by their side which described proper behavior on the beach and numbers to call in case of emergency.

A smile crossed on Rosa's lips and she took a step towards the portal, when a loud voice boomed through the whole area. No – the whole Underworld.

"STOP!"

Rosa turned around towards the source of the voice, and across the lava river she saw Alphegor. He was gasping for his breath and there were large bags underneath his eyes. 

"Morrigan, don't!" he called in a desperate plea. Rosa shook her head, and jumped into the portal.

For a moment everything seemed to disappear. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she couldn't even feel. But after a moment, she regained her senses and found herself on the familiar beach, gentle moonlight illuminating the world.

Rosa looked around in awe. Despite it being the middle of the night, she could see everything in crisp detail. She saw grains of sand shimmering around her feet. Her small, gray feet. She reached up to her head and felt the firm texture of her horns. 

"I am… still a demon," she said in horror. 

Of course I am still a demon. The spell transported me to Earth, but I went in Morrigan's body.

But even so a smile rose on her lips. She could easily take her human shape once she regained her strength. The most important thing was that she had returned. 

Rosa began to laugh and fell into the soft dunes, letting the sand slip through her fingers. It felt cool and refreshing after the blistering heat Rosa felt from the lava river. But there was no lava here. No demons. No Azrael. No Alphegor.

Her smiled waned as she remember Alphegor's desperate cry right before she jumped into the portal.

Why did he sound so sad?

Rosa shook her head and decided not to dwell on the matter. She was back on Earth, far away from Doppelta and could resume a normal life again.

***

Thanks to the dark of the night, Rosa was able to safely make a journey back to her apartment without anybody noticing. The inside of the building had also been empty so after taking the elevator she headed straight to her apartment on the seventh floor.

Part of her feared that after four years, the landlord would have long since found a new tenant for the place. But her spare key was still masterfully hidden behind the post box, and she could slip inside without any trouble.

As she closed the door of the apartment, she was surprised to see that everything was exactly as she had left it. Even the canvas of a failed painting stood against the wall, propped up by a pair of shoes. She smiled fondly at it and headed deeper inside.

Everything was quiet, but it wasn't the same type of quiet as the Underworld. Instead of utter silence aside from creepy scuttling of bugs, Rosa could hear the occasional noise of a car as it passed by. There were also gentle footsteps of her upstairs neighbor and running water from somewhere within the building. It was peaceful, but not truly quiet.

Rosa's stomach grumbled, adding yet another noise to the quiet of the night, and she went to the kitchen to check the food in her fridge.

Everything must be rotten by now. Maybe I have some pasta in the pantry. That can stay good for years, right?

Much to her surprise, the food in the fridge wasn't covered in mold. In fact, it looked fresh. She grabbed the carton of milk and smelled it. Her nostrils were instantly assaulted by the putrid smell, and Rosa nearly gagged.

"Okay, that has definitely gone bad," she set the milk aside and opened the vegetable drawer. The cucumbers were oddly squishy and so were the tomatoes, but the carrots and the cabbage still looked pretty good.

That's odd. Some time has definitely passed since I left, but it doesn't seem to be long. 

Peeved by this oddity, Rosa went back to the main room and grabbed her phone. She tried to unlock it with her finger at first, but the device couldn't recognize the foreign fingerprint. She clicked her tongue, and then typed in the code instead.

Good thing that I used by birth date as the code. Otherwise I would have long since forgotten it.

She checked the date and saw that it was July 23rd.

Odd. Wasn't it July when I got pulled into Doppelta? I don't remember for sure.

Rosa opened her email to check the date when she received the message from Studio Goblin. Much to her surprise, the date was July 7th.

Only two weeks have passed? How is that possible?

But her stomach rumbled incessantly again, forcing her to return to the kitchen, where she decided to take care of more urgent matters. After scarfing down two portions of instant ramen noodles, Rosa, driven by exhaustion, fell into her bed and fell asleep.

She was woken up by the loud notification coming from her phone. Bleary eyed, Rosa got up and almost fell out of the bed in shock.

"I am really back. I am home," she said to herself, and laid back down into her bed. It wasn't nearly as large or as comfortable as the one in the demon world. But it was certainly better than the one the mole demons offered her. 

Thinking about the Underworld, she realized that things would never be the same as before. She'd seen things she had never thought were possible. She had done things no human would ever be able to do. And she wasn't even a human anymore. Her small form, horns and tail were a strong reminder of that.

That doesn't matter. I can transform into my human self whenever I need to. It won't be a problem.

Rosa rolled out of the bed, and went up to the mirror. The disheveled form of Morrigan greeted her – hair sticking in every direction, dress torn and dirty. She discarded her clothes and then took on her human form just as she remembered it.

Perfect! Nobody will be able to tell the difference.

Nodding at her own reflection, Rosa headed into the shower, eager to wash away all the dirt and grime that had piled onto her body over the last few days. It felt absolutely divine, and after a long and steamy wash, she came out feeling squeaky clean.

She picked out a long, blue summer dress with bright colors from her wardrobe and put it on, admiring it. It had been so long since she could wear bright colors. Demon Kingdom had a very gothic sense of fashion so a bright, cheerful dress like this would be impossible to find.

As Rosa admired the dress, her phone began playing the tune of bird chirping which she had set up as her ringtone. Curious, she went over to check it. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the name on the screen. Mother.