It always seemed so easy.

But it really wasn’t.

Zero watched as Ren and Sakura bickered further up the path, the woman’s face twisted with disgust as the man’s carried a smug visage. He had no idea what their current issue with one another was, and he really didn’t care. It was always something with those two, and it was easier just to ignore the perceived problem that would be resolved just as quickly as it had been created. It was simple for him to not pay attention to their words.

But he couldn’t always ignore their faces.

How they constantly changed and formed to express all the various emotions they had. How each one came effortlessly. How they didn’t even have to think about the appropriate way to move their brows, raise their lips, or wrinkle their noses. They just did it.

Naturally.

He thought about how Sakura had tried to teach him to smile in Wei Wen. How she was able to convey so much through her lips and eyes without a second thought, and without even really feeling those things at that moment in which she displayed them.

The devil wanted to do the same, be the same, but it never worked that way even when those emotions felt overwhelming inside of him.

It was like a disconnection between his body and soul.

And the two were only seldom able to integrate.

Ivy was always trying to help him learn though, and Zero was ever the willing student. They’d lay together at night, the girl looking up at him and changing the way her face looked, waiting for him to make the same movements. She’d shape her lips and conform her face slowly, with intention, and then wait for him to mimic the movements. They’d repeat the exercises over and over, the girl forever encouraging him through his failures and small victories.

He knew that there had been improvements, and he could see it in the reactions from his companions when those tiny changes became noticeable.

But he wanted more, and he wanted it now.

However, you can want what you want as much as you want it.

It doesn’t mean you’ll get it.

Both women had told him that it would come when he felt it.

But he wasn’t always sure of what he felt.

The warmth in Zero’s hand vanished before twisting around his arm, pulling him snugly against a smaller, softer form. He looked down into brilliant violet, and he was certain of what he felt in that moment.

Love.

“How many bedrooms do you think our house should have?” Ivy asked cheerfully, her enthusiasm growing the closer they got to Hollis.

“Ren’s house only has the one,” he pointed out, thinking of the last time he and the man had been there. “That should be enough.”

“Yeah, but that was just with the two of you there. You don’t need much space for only two people. I think we should have more than one bedroom since I would like to have children.” She looked up at the pair ahead and scrunched her nose as the angel pushed the demon away from him while she kicked at his leg. “Not right now, but someday.”

Jose and Luna had been the only children that Zero had any real experience with. They could be loud and temperamental. Sometimes they cried for no reason and refused to stop no matter what you did for them. They required almost constant attention and demanded things that they then didn’t want once they received it. But despite how frustrating and stressful they could be, he did enjoy being around them. They could be sweet and charming, and it was fascinating watching how they changed from day to day, their minds and bodies expanding before his very eyes.

And if it was a child of Ivy’s, he would love it just as much as he loved her.

“How many children?”

“I’m not too sure.” The girl thought carefully about it. “Not too few, but not too many. We can figure that out later though.” She peered back up at the devil, bright and eager. “I hope they look like you.”

That was strange as he’d always imagined that Ivy’s children would look just like her. “Why would they look like me and not you?”

Her smile was so very lovely. “Because you would be their father. Of course they would look like you, at least a little bit.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Oh.

Yeah.

That.

“Because of breeding?” The boy needed confirmation.

“Yes.” The girl hesitated somewhat awkwardly. “But I don’t think we should keep referring to it as breeding, even though that’s what it is. It just seems so… passionless.”

So, like the prostitutes.

“So, it’s sexual favors.” His head tilted slightly with a small raise of his brows. “Do I have to pay?”

Ivy’s smile spread and she giggled, “No. You don’t have to pay. That’s only how it works with prostitutes. Not with me.”

“Oh, okay.” Zero nodded, beginning to understand. “I would like to have children with you.”

The girl’s hold on him tightened and she turned her attention forward as she rested her head against his arm. “Good, because I would like to have them with you.”

The fae and devil met up with the pair who had stopped at the slow-moving river before them, the bridge that had once reached across now washed out and mostly destroyed.

“Well,” Ren decided with a shrug. “Looks like we follow it up until we find a place to cross. Except you, I’m tired of your shit so your ass is going in now, and you can either swim across or drown.” He turned to the woman, but she was already sprinting upstream away from him. “Oh, she’s a quick one. Come on, you two, before she gets away.”

“How much longer do you think until we’re there?” Ivy asked as they fell into step beside the angel.

“As long as this doesn’t take all day, then we should be able to make it to Trilon before this evening. We’ll stay for the night, and then be home sometime late morning tomorrow,” the man informed with a smile. “Are you excited, Little One?”

“I am!” she chirped. “Are you?”

“You know I am. But not as excited as Sakura. Just look at her go. She can’t wait to get home.”

They followed the river, looking for a shallow area to pass until they caught up with the waiting vixen, her eyes intent on the man and hand on the handle of her glaive.

“You go first.” She glowered and motioned her head towards the river. The spot she had found was narrower and not as deep with enough larger rocks scattered for them to be able to hop across.

Ren gazed at her with concern. “What kind of alpha mate would I be if I just ran off and left you behind? You should go first. I’ll follow and make sure you don’t fall in. I’ll be there to save you if you do.”

Her hand dropped to a dagger at her thigh, and she growled, “I swear Ren, I will fucking stab you.”

He sighed and threw his hands up in defeat. “Why does everyone keep threatening to stab me lately? It’s fucked up, and I don’t deserve to be treated like this. Fine, whatever, I’ll lead the way. Don’t cry to me if you fall in though. I’m not coming back to rescue you. You’re on your own.” The angel went to the water, leaping from one stone to the next until he made it across and onto the bank.

Ivy looked down at her boots, concerned about the worn-down tread and the slickness of the rocks. “My boots are kind of old. I’m scared I’m going to slip and fall in.”

“You’ll be alright, I’ll go slow and wait for you,” the woman reassured before she began to make her way across.

“Why not just fly?” Zero asked. The girl had been practicing every day, and although she wasn’t always consistently steady, she could flutter from one spot to the next with relative ease. She had flown farther than the distance between the two banks multiple times, so she should be able to manage just fine.

She liked that idea, and her eyes lit up as she turned her cloak to ribbon and tied it around her neck. Without haste, she started across as the boy followed behind. She was doing well as she came closer to the demon, and she looked down into the water, spotting a school of tiny fish circling around the stones. “Minnows!” Ivy declared, enchanted by their shimmering, silver scales, causing her to lose her concentration for only a moment as her right wing beat faster than the left, sending her spinning and her leg colliding into the fox’s back. The girl panicked, her wings flittering faster, and she shot across the river where she was intercepted by a cackling Ren.

Sakura’s upper body dived forward and she twisted, trying to regain her balance. Her foot slipped from the wet rock, and she plunged face first into the river, sinking into its depths before shooting back up, gasping and trying to pull the mass of cherry hair away from her face. “What the fuck! It’s so cold!” She managed to find her way to freedom, only to discover a tiny transient that had wriggled its way from her tresses to in-between her fingers. A startled shriek erupted as she floundered and crashed back into the water, releasing the minnow to its home.

“I’m so sorry, Sakura!” Ivy cried out over the man’s deafening amusement. “I didn’t mean to! Are you okay?!”

It was an indecipherable mixture of noises that blended together, canceling each other out, rising and falling in a chaotic chorus of the man, woman, and girl.

But there was another sound that started up.

One that had never been heard before.

One that couldn’t be ignored.

The three went silent as they turned to the devil, bewitched by what they found.

The boy was laughing.

Big and loud guffaws that had him doubled over and struggling to breathe, his smile so wide it concealed his eyes.

It was a beautiful vision.

The loveliest of sounds.

Sakura’s eyes and lips went wide with glee. “You little shit!” She rushed the boy, latching around his knees and falling back into the water with him following, scurrying to quickly gain the upper hand and putting him in a headlock as he weakly tried to fight her off while laughing even harder. “Not so funny now, is it?!”

The girl squealed, her wings fluttering rapidly as she abandoned the angel and plowed into the devil and demon, further plunging all of them into the chilly water.

Ren observed the three in silence, listened to their joyful screams and laughter. He paid close attention to the devil, to every change in his face and pitch in his voice.

The child he had pulled from the darkness and brought to the light.

Just as had been done for him.

But unlike the man, the boy had no shadows following after, waiting to pull him back in.

The boy was warm.

Unsullied.

Pure.

And Ren realized that for all of these years…

He had been wrong.

The man hadn’t brought the boy to the light.

Zero was the light.

And he always had been.