I remember it all so well. I remember Mama, telling me about my birth, the first being to ever be born with angel wings tainted black. I remember her telling me about Mizu's birth, the first being born with demons wings tainted white. I remember papa teaching me how to fight. I remember meeting Zero, my faithful demon hound, and my best friend. I remember our happy family and our, mostly, happy kingdom.

I remember it all ending. The humans came so fast. Papa and Mama fought to protect me, but they couldn't take an army alone. They put me on Zero's back and he ran for days, until we broke down near a witch's house, the last of our luck. With my minuscule money, I paid her to hide my wings, and she did. My black wings were hidden in tattoos that the witch painfully engraved across my entire body, but I could still call them out, if need be.

The humans found us and...and...

"Akira!" A voice yelled at me in English.

"What is it, Zero?" I asked back. I was laying in his stomach. His black fur made a comfortable pillow.

"You were having that dream again."

I nodded in response. It's been twelve whole years since the humans attacked, I'm an adult now, twenty years old, but that didn't matter, I would live forever. I was on earth, building an army of whoever would fight to take back Heaven and Hell, my kingdoms.

I stretched out, making my joints crack.

"Where are we, exactly?" I asked.

"How should I know? I thought you had the map."

"We had a map?"

"Good point."

I stood and so did Zero. Picking a random direction, I started walking and humming a tune from the old days, you know, demon days.

"Smell any towns nearby?" I asked, passing the time with random conversation.

Lifting his snout to the air, Zero turned and reported, "About a mile to the north."

"That far?" I whined.

"Do you want to ride on my back?"

"Please?"

He bent down, slightly. Even on all fours, he still stood right below my shoulders. Gripping his fur, I climbed on his back and held on tightly. He trotted forward, slowly but surely, until we reached a small town. As the population increased, so did the amount of stares we got, specifically Zero. Angels and Demons may be allowed, but we're not exactly loved. Especially Demons.

"Any restaurants on the outskirts of town? I wanna avoid the crowd today."

"Yeah, not far from here, actually. If we go around the town, it could take about four to five minutes. If we go through, it could take about twenty, that is, if we don't get attacked by humans."

"We? I'm not getting attacked. I look perfectly human."

"You wouldn't help me? Come on, your the trained fighter here. I'm going around."

"I'm taking a nap."

"You just woke up."

"Still taking a nap."

"But, you just-"

"I'm asleep."

And, within a few minutes, I really was.

"Stop drooling on me," a voice said. "We're here."

I opened my eyes and wiped the drool off my face. Not much I could do about the sopping wet fur, though.

The little restaurant was actually pretty quaint. A sign hung above the door that said "Lucky Cat". Sounded more like a bar than a restaurant, but hey, why not?

"I'll be back," I said, walking into the joint. I was greeted with a chorus of welcomes as I made my way to the counter.

"What can I do for ya, miss?" The man behind the counter said. He gave me a partially toothless grin, and his remaining teeth were stained yellow, ew. But, other than that he looked fine.

"Well, to start off with, I'll your nicest steak. And, for me...how about a chicken salad."

"Coming right up. You can take a seat over there while you wait."

He signaled to a group of tables by the side. Most of which looked like they were filled with mercs, thugs, and assassins. My type of people.

I took a seat by the nearest table and waited. The first few seconds were agonizingly boring. Luckily, a merc came over and took a seat by me.

"What's a pretty young girl like yourself doin' in a place like this?"

"Well, for the most part I'm avoiding strangers. Oh, look, here's one. I better start avoiding you."

"Little spit fire, huh?" His hand came down and rested on my thigh.

"I hope you're ready to loose that hand."

"Big words from a little girl."

My hand had only moved to my sword and rested on the hilt. Then, I heard a howl. I jumped up, pushing the mans hand off of me and headed for the door.

"Miss? Your foods almost ready," the old man behind the counter said.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a minute. I just need some fresh air after smelling his shit breath."

Before either of them could respond, I was already outside. The first thing I noticed was a group of children. Oh, lord, Zero. What've you gotten yourself into this time?

He was by a group of strangely dressed people. They looked too good to be everyday mercs, but too clunky to be assassins. Behind the group of people, was a small child, who seemed to have no interest whatsoever in what was going on. Well, that's human children for ya. Their attention spans last about five whole seconds. Not that I'm much better.

"Hey!" I called, catching the humans' attention. "What's going on?" My hand was resting in the hilt of my sword, though I doubt I'd need it.

One stepped forward, a man that looked to be about my age. He had dark brown hair, almost black, and hazel eyes. He had strong, broad shoulders and well muscled arms. "Miss, stay back. A demon was attacking a child."

Out of everything in that sentence, one thing pissed me off more than anything. "Don't tell me what to do." I guess it had to do with the princess in me, but I just didn't like it.

The man, probably a bit shocked by my behavior, didn't move much when I brushed past him. I made my way toward Zero. The group of humans tensed as I made my way over.

"Miss," a younger one of them called. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. He had a happy expression on his face, though it was mixed with a bit of worry. "You should stay away. That demon over there's dangerous."

"No, he's not. I suggest you back off, because he's with me."

"Miss-" the last man said.

"Stop calling me that. It makes me feel old. My names Akira." I didn't matter if I told them my name, most humans didn't know about me.

"Akira, then. What do you mean, he's with you?"

"Well, whether he's with me or not really depends on what he did."

"He was attacking a child."

I burst out laughing. Zero, as absolutely terrifying as he could be, would never hurt a child.

"Zero!" I called, getting his attention. "Get over here and explain yourself."

Zero rugged over to me. The humans tensed, drawing there weapons to attention.

"What'd you do?"

"I was playing with a kid."

The humans flinched, and I almost broke out laughing again.

"See, he's good."

The first human, who was apparently the leader, made his way back over to me. He stared at me for a second and I met his stare, only with a glare. Or, an attempted glare, as much as I could give without letting out my demon half.

With a sigh, he motioned for the others to put away there weapons. "My names Peter," defiantly a humans name. "I'm sorry about all the trouble we've caused you. We owe you one."

I nodded. They backed off and made their way out out of town.

"Well today was...eventful?" I said looking for the right words.

"You're the princess of a lost country, and species. What day isn't eventful?"

"Shut it."

He laughed at me as I went back inside and paid for the food. I brought it outside. We ate and were on our way to the next town. As we stepped over the border, we were alerted by the sounds of screaming and the smell of smoke. When we turned, white specs dotted the sky. The city was under attack by Angels.

!