4Chapter 2: The Price to Pay
As Raidou and Belial passed through the area that had been blocked by a distortion a few moments ago, the demon said, "You ok? For a while, you went all stiff, man, like you'd been turned to stone."
"Yes," he replied, "Those Hourglasses..."
"Yeah, it did a mental number on you."
"That's one way to put it."
"Ya know, I meant what I said before in Ginza. After this mess, Alice, Neibiros and I are outta here. We don't need humans to be messing with us. Uh, no offense, Summoner. The demons in the Dark Realm'll be after us, too. We'll find somewhere, just for the 3 of us to live quiet lives."
Raidou nodded and said something very softly he had not said before, "When it happens, then go with my blessings. I hope you find the quiet lives that you want."
That made Belial blink in surprise.
"Thanks, man," the demon managed to say a moment later.
00000
Raidou was starting to see another aspect of what the Herald meant by a heavy price to pay for coming here.
After arriving, he learned that the demons here were rather strong...and the farther he went from Taisho 20 (He learned that the West had called his time by another name: 1920), the stronger and unfamiliar they became.
The beings that seemed to act as though they really were not in the Corridor he learned were called Lost Souls...while the others with the strange language he was beginning to understand.
The next area that he could see had an Hourglass, he couldn't even reach. That irritated Raidou, though he never showed it. What he did, though, was to go on to the next time period.
A soul nearby explained that it was the 1970's. After hearing that, Raidou noticed that this time did have an Hourglass that he could easily reach.
"Ya sure about this, man?" Belial asked, "One of us could easily take this machine on for you..."
"No, it's all right," Raidou replied, "I'll be fine. Just be ready."
Something inside the Devil Summoner wasn't so sure that he would be "fine", but he pushed it away and reached out to touch the Hourglass.
Like the first time, images flooded his mind and appeared before his eyes...
People in shops everywhere, frenzied and looking for toilet paper, of all things...
A mountain retreat, what was important about it, he didn't know...
Planes filled with red...red what, he had no idea...
He must have been talking out loud, because a nearby soul said, "Lemme tell ya about those, dude. The mountain place is really a military base...and the planes of red...that's napalm...a very nasty kind of bomb. Burns skin right off of you, leaving nerves and bones beneath..."
The words about the base still left him confused. The mention of Napalm and its effects, though, caused a wave of nausea to go through him. Raidou barely was able to stand, much less stay in contact with the Hourglass. After the nausea passed, another sensation filled him: sorrow and pain.
This...is what humans will do...?
"You okay, Summoner?"
As he was about to nod, another thing unfolded before his eyes...
00000
A younger boy, with short, black hair was giggling as a small, white being with a blue cap was tickling him. The creature he had met days ago, but kept secret from his family. It (no, he) was definitely cute, and even if he felt cold, there was still lots of fun to be had.
Take yesterday, for example. They were in a clearing in the nearby forest and in the heat of summer, he giggled as his friend made lots of snow to make snowmen and snowballs with. That had been fun for both of them.
"You're really funny, ho," the white creature said, giggling right along with him. "Wanna play hide-and-seek, ho?"
The boy didn't know why his playmate always said "ho" at the end of his sentences, but it didn't bother him that much.
"Okay," he answered, "But I'll hide and you seek this time."
"Hee hee-ho, you got it!"
That was when he heard a voice coming from right behind them.
"Tatsuro, lunch is—" His mother called.
"By the Gods above! What business do you have with my son, demon!" his father exclaimed, then demanded.
The boy winced, realizing that they had seen his friend.
"We're just playing, ho," was the reply.
"Just playing? With a human child?"
"Hey, I'm a little kid too, ho!"
"Tatsuro, go inside with your mother. Now."
The boy replied, "Yes, father," and then said to his friend, "We'll play later, okay?"
"You got it, ho!"
As his father and his friend continued to talk, Tatsuro's mother had him sit down inside the home.
"Tatsuro, how long had you been with that demon?"
"Demon...? Jack Frost is my friend."
"How long?"
"Only a few days. What's going on?"
She sighed and said, "Tatsuro, I was going to tell you this when you were older, but...you need to know now."
He remained silent, listening.
"This family, the Saaru, has a very mystical lineage."
"Mys-tee-cal?"
"Yes...capable of strange powers that others are not. Powers like healing people with the worst injuries, the ability to see into the future..."
"And...?"
She sighed and asked, "Have you heard the legend of the Kuzunoha clan?"
"The Devil Summoners?"
"Yes. Once in a while, a member of the Saaru family can see and interact with demons. Such a person usually will become a Devil Summoner of the Kuzunoha clan."
"Don't the Kuzunohas beat up demons? Demons like Jack Frost?"
"Only the ones that mean to cause humans harm. Devil Summoners can also call on demons and fight side-by-side with them."
"Wow!"
While the two continued to talk, Tatsuro's father came in.
"That demon...he truly is just a little child and a playmate, just as he said. As long as he doesn't harm anyone, he is welcome here."
Tatsuro breathed a sigh of relief.
"Father," the boy asked, then took a breath before continuing, "If I become a Devil Summoner, would Jack Frost be able to fight by my side?"
He looked hard at the boy then remarked, "You told him."
She nodded silently.
"Yes, your friend would be able to. I'll tell you now, though, that day is long off, and you might not even be able to find him by then."
He nodded then said the words that would seal his destiny.
"I want to begin training, to become a Devil Summoner."
00000
Before he could shake off the effects, he immediately remembered another more-recent battle, this one being the first time he had battled a Red Cape.
That battle had been worse than the one with Ichimokoren in its own way. At least in the first one, he was able to move around even as he had gotten hurt. Here, though...whenever the Red Cape used a beam of light, he would be so dizzy that he couldn't walk, much less fight. He counted himself lucky that his demon had not gotten into the beam's path as well. If it had, they would have both been destroyed.
After that battle, Raidou had tired himself out, and had managed not to show it as he and a just-showed-up Narumi talked to Denpachi...
The next thing he knew, they were back at the office, and Narumi was shaking his head as he said, "You've been wearing yourself out. Go upstairs and get some sleep. You need it."
Yes...sleep...
He went up to his room and didn't bother getting undressed, but plopped on the bed, ready to slip into sleep.
Mmm...sounds very good...
He closed his eyes and was easily drifting away.
"Hey! Wake up, ho!"
Hm? Who...? I don't remember that voice...
He opened his eyes, but didn't see anyone in the room. Sighing, he started again to go to sleep.
"C'mon, man! Snap out of it!"
"Raidou-ho!"
He felt something like a jerking motion before his room and bed vanished from his sight...
00000
When Raidou stayed as stiff as stone after destroying the Hourglass, the demon knew that there was trouble. What he didn't know was how to snap his Summoner out of it.
He grumbled as he accidentally opened another of the tubes, bringing forth a Jack Frost.
"Two of us out at one time, ho?"
"No time, our Summoner's in trouble."
The snow creature looked at the dying mechanism and the human that was standing before it.
"Oh no!"
"Yeah."
"Hey! Wake up, ho!" Jack Frost called out.
There didn't seem to be any reaction. The two demons looked at each other and nodded.
"C'mon, man! Snap out of it!" Belial called out, walking close to the still Summoner. He hated having to do this, but if they didn't do something, they'd lose Raidou.
"Raidou-ho!"
Belial grunted and wrapped an arm around the Summoner's waist and pulled hard. It took a couple of pulls before he was able to separate Raidou from the wrecked system.
The larger demon put the prone figure on the floor while the icy being checked out Raidou.
"His heart's beating very slowly, ho," he said as he cast Dia on him.
"Is he going to live?"
Jack Frost said nothing but cast the same spell two more times.
"Well?"
"There...his heartbeat and breathing are a lot more normal," the smaller demon replied, "He should be waking up any minute now."
The two demons heard a moan a moment after that was said, and the prone being on the floor began to slowly move as he opened his eyes.
"Whew. Don't scare me like that, boss," Belial hissed, "Man, you're liable to give this poor demon a heart attack."
"Hn...?"
Jack Frost said, "You stayed hee-ho hooked up to that Hourglass after destroying it, ho."
"We had to yank you away from it," Belial added with a grumble.
"Hmm...thank you," he said and managed to get up. He blinked, shifting to his left.
"Whoa there, Summoner," the winged, scaled demon said, "There's a Dragon Cave about a corridor behind us. It's just me sayin', man, but I think ya need to rest over there before we go on."
Raidou blinked, nodded, then lead the way back towards the Dragon Cave. A Summoner, as well as any demon, would easily be able to tell where it was, thanks to flows of purple and white power coming from a spot in the floor, or ground.
As they neared it, the Devil Summoner started to put the demons in the tubes, then decided against it. He was exhausted from the near-lethal incident with the second Hourglass. If he had slipped into sleep while connected to it, he would have either become unstuck in time...or lost within himself while his body gave out...
Everything has a price to pay here, it seems.
"We'll keep watch over you-ho," Jack Frost said.
"Yeah, between the two of us, any demons that come here while you get some sleep is gonna be toast or a popsicle."
Raidou nodded, then started towards the Cave itself when he heard the icy fairy-like demon say something.
"Hee hee. After we're done with this case and spot, I think I'm gonna make it snow for Raidou. Just like I did in the forest for him when he was a kid, ho..."
That made him pause.
Just as I wondered when I was a child...one of my demons is the Jack Frost that was my playmate...who would have guessed it?
He couldn't help but chuckle and then enter the cave itself. This time, it was not to record thoughts or findings, but to sleep within its protective field.
Just as within the Hourglass vision, it didn't take more than a mere moment to drift off to sleep.