After a while, Grey stayed unconscious, but Asmodeus slowly staggered up. Dark blood gushed from various points on his body. Asmodeus painfully laughed and wheezed.
"HEH... HEH... YOU DIDN'T *wheeze* BEAT ME, BUT I'M *wheeze* SURPRISED. YOU ACTUALLY MANAGED TO *wheeze* TIE W/ ME!"
Asmodeus then staggered over to Grey's unconscious form...








...





Azrael finally stirred from his unconsciousness.
Ugh... I knew Grey would be strong, but damn...
When Azrael got up and looked forward, he didn't understand what he was looking at, but he was horrified all the same. A dark beast w/ bent dark red sticks coming from its back was holding a bleeding body by the neck. That body... was Grey!
"What the-? Hey!" Azrael shouted.
The beast paused, then slowly turned. Azrael gasped upon seeing it and covered his mouth. It had been many years since Azrael had seen Asmodeus w/ this sort of design, but this variant horrified the heck out of him. The part that shocked Azrael the most was the blood gushing from various points on Asmodeus' body.
"AZRAEL!" Asmodeus said happily (his new, more nightmarish voice made Azrael both sad and frightened), "FINALLY, *wheeze* YOU'RE *wheeze* AWAKE. COME, WE HAVE ONE *wheeze* LAST TARGET TO *wheeze* GET RID OF! =D."
Asmodeus then gestured toward Grey, who hung limply from Asmodeus' hand. Blood sluggishly dripped from a nasty gash in his chest.
"*wheeze* ALL WE HAVE TO *wheeze* DO IS *wheeze* TAKE HIM OUT, AND *wheeze* WE'LL GET OUR *wheeze* HAPPY ENDING! OWO."
Azrael, obviously horrified and disgusted at the notion, suddenly thought of everything that had led to this moment. All the killing, scheming, SOUL theft, self-maiming, and insanity. He also remembered that Asmodeus had promised not to kill innocents, but here he was, ready to kill someone who'd done nothing wrong! Azrael, who'd held his tongue and remained passive throughout his and Asmodeus' journey, could stay that way no longer as he viewed Asmodeus slowly about to kill Grey.
"No, Asmodeus," Azrael said.
Just Asmodeus' claws shakily grazed Grey, he paused as if he head his partner wrong.
"*wheeze* WHAT WAS THAT?" he asked.
"I said, no!"
Azrael's expression became that of anger. Asmodeus' face became confused as he dropped Grey and floated over to his partner.
"AZRAEL-" Asmodeus began while shakily moving his hand toward Azrael's face.
"Don't you dare touch me!" Azrael shouted while smacking Asmodeus away.
Asmodeus became shocked at that.
"AZRAEL, WHAT-?"
"Shut up!"
Asmodeus was taken aback at that.
"I've held my tongue for too long around you, but no more! You've been a horrible hypocrite who's against sin, yet you've literally mastered all of the Seven Deadly Sins. You're against murderers, yet you adopted their methods. You've fooled yourself into thinking you're in the right when you're not. You mutilated your own body beyond recognition. You've stolen SOULs from, though I will take some blame for being an accomplice. You got us sealed away and corrupted. And, despite ALL of that, you have the nerve, the fucking GALL to see yourself as a good guy?! Get the FUCK out of here w/ that! >:[."
Asmodeus was SPEECHLESS.
"I will admit, I'm not free of blame either. I should have spoken out a LONG time ago. Plus, I shouldn't have helped you. All the same, however. You. Are. HORRIBLE!"
"BUT... *wheeze* MY... OUR GOAL... *wheeze* OUR HAPPY ENDING..." Asmodeus said quietly.
Azrael then slapped his forehead.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!"
Azrael then materialized some purple magic and began to form something. When he was done, his power made a giant, reflective surface.
"Take a good look at yourself, Asmodeus!"
Asmodeus had no words for what he saw. The surface showed him a horrifying beast that had horrible eyes, a gaping hole in its chest, an ugly mouth, demonic horns, and just an overall GHASTLY appearance! As Asmodeus moved closer to the beast, it mirrored his own actions, and he realized something w/ a sickly melancholy. The monster... was Asmodeus...
"OH... WOW, *wheeze*," Asmodeus said while placing his hand on the mirror.
"Yeah, I know," Azrael said while peeking out from behind the mirror.
He then made the reflective surface disappear. Asmodeus slowly dropped to his knees, stared at his clawed hands in horror, and shoved his face in his face. Azrael, his expression softening, calmly went around his partner and began to gently rub Asmodeus's back.
"WHAT *wheeze* HAVE I DONE...? *wheeze* WHAT HAVE I BECOME...?" Asmodeus asked, lost.
"To put it lightly, you've become something terrible," Azrael replied bluntly, "But..., you can still make things right."
Asmodeus looked up at Azrael.
"WHAT *wheeze*?... NO. THERE'S NO WAY I CAN MAKE UP FOR THE ATROCITIES I'VE *wheeze* COMMITTED..."
"True, but you can at least start over. C'mon," Azrael said while standing up.
Asmodeus gave him a confused look.
"We need to get Grey home before he dies."
Azrael grabbed Grey's body, and, w/ a heave, he lifted it up. Asmodeus, in response, shot a small energy bit behind Azrael. A portal opened behind him. As Azrael walked over to the hole, he noticed that Asmodeus hadn't budged.
"Aren't you coming?" Azrael asked.
"WHY *wheeze* SHOULD I?" Asmodeus asked dejectedly, "*wheeze* WHY DON'T YOU JUST LET ME *wheeze* ROT HERE LIKE I DESERVE?"
Azrael gently lowered Grey and walked over to Asmodeus.
"What, no! I want you to come w/ us."
Asmodeus gave him a sad, confused look.
"Sure, I'm still kind of angry about what you put us, but don't want you to stay behind."
"WHY?"
Azrael put his arms around Asmodeus, much to the latter's surprise.
"Because you're my friend. Despite everything, I'd NEVER want to leave you."
Asmodeus looked at his partner w/ tears in his eyes.
"BUT *wheeze*... BUT..."
Azrael pulled back a bit.
"No more buts. Let's head back and get Grey fixed up," Azrael said w/ a sad smile.
Asmodeus thought about it for a bit, and reluctantly, he stood up, blood still gushing. He and Azrael grabbed Grey and stepped through the portal. On the other side, they were in their alleyway for the last time.
"Ok, where are this guy's family?"
Asmodeus concentrated for a bit and focused on every SOUL in the city. After a bit, he sensed Cedric's energy signature. He then teleported the trio to a crisp white building.
"Is this it?" Azrael asked.
Asmodeus gave him a nod. Azrael then let go of Grey and hesitantly knocked on the door...