Going Under (Beleth and Veronique)

Veronique had been back to her house one more time and she had gone this time to get something that had both made her heart wrench slightly in her chest, but also ingited a hope in her that it was going to be something that she would be able to do, she would be able to be strong enough to start to get over Alexander once she had done this one last thing that she had been meaning to do...for a long long time.

All seemed quiet at the mouth of Hell and Veronique was so scared, looking into there, feeling it's heat, hearing the sounds coming from the chattering demons below, she wished she could just turn around and go away, she wished that she did not have to do this but she had promised herself. Not only for herself, but for the angels, Hell would be one place to get help, and information...something that they needed badly.

Biting her lip, she looked in again, and went to take one step into the darkness, afraid of the red glow beneath her. Placing the foot inside the gate, a pressure was taken off her shoulders when nothing happened so she went to enter properly.

Beleth had remembered his promise to Veronique every waking moment since their last encounter. He had promised to protect her from anything and everything. From everyone and anyone. And he had meant it. Of course those who disliked him would argue he only agreed to get her to keep doing what she had been doing but it simply wasn't true. He honestly did want to protect her for a multitude of reasons.

But it was because of his promise that he was now making his way up out of Hell to the gates of Hell on Earth in South America. As he neared the top he found that his informant had been correct. Veronique was stood at the entrance to Hell and she seemed to be wanting to enter. He moved up the tunnel in front of her and waved in greeting,

"Why hello Veronique!" he greeted her with a grin before smirking, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Veronique squeaked when she could see something coming up out of Hell, they had known that she was here and had come to kill her no doubt, oh she knew that this was a mistake and that she should have fled, but there was precious little that she could do now, quickly she drew her bow and arrow, shakily aiming them at the thing that was coming out of the gates of Hell, if it was ready to attack so would she be.

Seeing the yellow eyes, and the familiar face, Veronique laughed lightly and lowered her weapon, shaking her head and placing a hand over her heart, it was so frightening she had no idea what she was doing even thinking of going in here on her own without her friend, or without Beleth to protect her.

"Hello Beleth." she said with a blush remembering what had happened last time they met "I was just...I wanted to see someone." she smiled gently.

He chuckled a little bit when he heard her squeak. That squeak still made him react lustfully but he managed to control those urges for now considering the nature of their meeting. It wasn't often than a Throne tried to enter Hell after all. When she raised her bow however he raised an eyebrow. It must be hard to see him if she was threatening to shoot him with an arrow. Personally he thought they were past that part of their relationship.

Beleth spread his arms out wide in greeting, also in a joking symbol of surrender, as he neared Veronique. Seeing that he'd spooked her merely by walking out of the tunnel he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her lightly to him. He didn't mean to scare her after all,

"You can call me Jack if you like." he told her with a smirk as he saw her blushing. She was obviously remembering what they'd done last time. Deciding to push his luck, Beleth gave her a traditional french greeting and kissed each of her cheeks. When she told him that she wanted to see someone he raised an eyebrow, "I think that narrows it down to three people. I'm here so that's now narrowed to two... you're not here to see Bart either are you?"

Veronique smiled lightly at the greeting and she kissed him in return on both of the cheeks, she was glad to have a friend with her now, she did not feel so alone and so scared when faced with the mouth of Hell, an angel going in there alone would be somewhat suicidal she thought and she could not have thought of a better person to come in with her.

A part of her however did not want him to come with her, she did not want him to know of her past too much, she did not want him to see the reason why she was going down into Hell, and she subconsciously touched the portrait that was in her pocket, and suddenly a thought occured to her...a very unpleasant one.

"No, I was not here to see you or Bart Jack." she said lightly "I have come here for another."

Feeling honoured that she would be allowed to call him Jack, Veronique smiled wider and she placed her hands holding her bow and arrow in front of her body, it was going to be troublesome to get Jack to understand why she was here without telling him exactly.

"What brings you here?""

Thankful that his greeting did not seem to have been received negatively, Beleth accepted the kisses to his cheeks with a wide grin, happy that she was more comfortable around him now. And it reassured him that she was alright. After all, angels who came to the gates of Hell were usually either battle-types looking to make a name for themselves or other angels who either wanted to fall or to die. She fit none of these categories so he was wondering why she was here.

He could tell that Veronique was nervous just by the way she seemed to be fidgetting but he decided not to press. After all, she would tell him if it was important and he could ask later if it was important. He was going to be going with her after all, he really wasn't going to let Veronique wander into Hell on her own,

"I didn't think so." he admitted with a small chuckle, "Maybe I can give you a general location? Just give me a name and I should be able to give you a general area if they're here."

Beleth, Jack, smiled when she used his name. It had been a long time since he'd let someone call him Jack and it felt good to let her say it. When she tried to avoid the obvious issue, why she was here, by asking why he was here, he raised an eyebrow,

"I'm here because I made a promise to protect you from everyone, anyone, everything and anything." he reminded her, "And you are here, at the gates of Hell, alone. Hence I am here to protect you."

Veronique bit her lip when she was asked to give the name of the person that she was here to see, and she hoped that he would be in Hell, if not, she had no idea where he would be and he hoped that there was something she might be able to do to ease Alexanders pain, if only for a little while.

Biting her lip she decided that she must at least tell Beleth that much, it was what she owed him of course, the truth, he deserved that much, and she did not want to have to lie to him, he would know anyway;

"Alexander Dumach? Do you...do you know where he is?" she asked, coughing lightly to cover the breaking in her voice, touching the picture once more and the rings that she wore around her neck, she was always reminded of the love she had for him, and wondered if it was going to ever...ever be returned.

With a small smile on her lips, Veronique felt safer now and she wanted to tell Beleth just how much it meant to her; "Thank you Jack, I, I have to say I was more than a little scared to go into that place alone...but I have a question, do all demons, do they change...or do many more stay human like you?"

Beleth saw Veronique biting her lip when he asked her for a name and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed that she was rather reluctant to give him the name for whatever reason. It was obviously a personal reason as well. But a personal reason when one was visiting Hell usually was something filled with sadness and regret and he didn't want her to feel like that. He raised an eyebrow again when she decided to tell him the name of the person. He blinked a few times when he heard the name,

"Alexander Dumach?" he paused when he saw Veronique fiddling with her rings around her neck and touch something that he couldn't see. It was clear to him by the touch to her rings exactly who Alexander was to Veronique, "I... I know of his general area yes."

He really didn't want to tell her where he was. It was a place where even the most powerful of demons feared to tread. He swallowed a little bit and simply smiled at Veronique,

"Don't worry about it. I promise I would protect you and I will do so to my dying breath. I can't have you in danger now can I?" he grinned a little bit here before frowning a little bit when she asked the question. He thought about it for a few moments, "Difficult question. A person changes more with the severity of their sin Veronique and the nature of it. Bart did something very bad so he doesn't appear human a lot of the time. I did something less 'evil' apparently so I'm more human. If you asking for Alexander... I think he'll look human but I'm not sure."

Veronique's eyes widened when she was told that he was in fact in Hell, all hopes that she had for his soul were gone, but there was still the chance that she would be able to see him once more, many times more in fact if she were able to, when Beleth had finished saying that he knew his area, she mustered up her courage and stepped into Hell, walking down the tunnel with her bow raised and arrow slotted into it,

"Then you must take me to him." she said gently "I wish to see him, if you will not take me I shall have to go alone."

Her mind was made and she would go to see him come Hell or high water and now since she was in Hell, all she had to do was wait for a flood, biting her lip she realised she had not been set upon and attacked yet, or if she had been ensnared in some trap, she did not know it.

"Why ever have you changed your views, after all, I thought I was one that was used for seducing, you speak to me as if you love me Jack." she laughed lightly "I know our friendship is strong however, and I would do the same for you, in a heartbeat might I add."

When she heard that he classed what he had done as something not bad at all, Veronique had to stop a frown appearing on her face, of ccourse he did not know because she had not told him what had happened between them, and she stopped when she seemed to reach a plateu from which she looked down and saw the many circles of Hell.

"Oh my." she said quietly. "How far down must we travel?"

He watched her eyes widened and decided that he was correct in his assumption that Alexander was most likely the fiance she had left. He had no idea what landed him where he was right now but it served him right for hurting Veronique though. He could tell by the expression on her face and the way she held her weapon that she wanted to go and visit him. Unfortunately for Veronique, the ninth circle of Hell was not somewhere you could just visit on a whim,

"You would never make it on your own." he told her without any emotion in his voice at all, "But I implore you... don't do this Veronique. You won't like what you find."

He could tell that he wasn't going to be able to change her mind at all. Despite how utterly foolish this little quest of her's was. He closed his eyes for a second before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. He had his own reasons for not wanting to go to the same circle as Alexander but now was not the time to think about that,

"Yes. And we all know how hard it is for that to happen now don't we?" he answered tightly. He didn't know why but the verbal taunt stung him deeply. He shook his head a little bit and smiled again, "Ah enough of my angsty shit. Our friendship is strong enough for me to push myself for this."

Beleth had never told Veronique the details about why he was down here but Lust was considered a minor sin compared to the other things you could get thrown down for. Like what Alexander was obviously thrown down for. When she asked him how far down they had to travel he glanced at her,

"All the way to the bottom."

Veronique turned her head and looked at Beleth, she frowned at him for the first time ever and she shook her head, there was something that she couldn't stand with the way that he spoke to her, the way that his little tight comment was supposed to make her upset and make her heart sting for what she could have implied as a result of it.

"I very well know what I will find and I tell you that I am more than ready to see it. Being a Throne. I have seen my fair share of heartache Beleth." she glared at him and started her way down to the next level of Hell, it looked cold and it looked as if it was the beginning of a very unpleasant journey.

Drawing her bow and arrow tight she decided that she would not need to use them until they got lower and lower, all the while she thought of what she was going to find, what he would look like, and what he would say, but for 200 years now she had wanted to do this, and now, now she would.

"If it pushes you to help me then do not come at all, I shall see him then I shall die, and it will be the end of it." she said quietly not stopping walking, the best way to go would be to keep moving she was sure.

Seeing that there was a clear way until the bottom of some sort of city, she flapped her wings and readied herself to jump off of the edge of the earth and down further into Hell, glad she did not have to see all that lay inbetween.

He could tell that she was annoyed with him but he wasn't about to apologise. Beleth had made two conflicting promises. One was to never go to the ninth circle of Hell. The second was to protect Veronique no matter what. He was going to keep the second one and go against the first. He gritted his teeth a little bit before closing his eyes and sighing,

"Fine, I accept your point." he told her quietly, "I don't want either of us to have to experience the ninth circle for ourselves but you're set on it so let's go."

He shook his head a little bit and followed her, literally, into the mouth of Hell. Why was he even doing this? Because he never broke a promise? No that wasn't it. He was breaking another promise with this promise right now and that didn't bother him. No he was doing it for something else. The feeling that had been growing whenever he thought about Veronique. He couldn't describe it, he had never felt like it before,

"Friendship means putting the other person's desires ahead of your own." he told her quietly, "A child told me that once. And your needs and your desires are ahead of mine my friend."

Standing on the edge of the pit, Beleth gave Veronique a small smile,

"Mind your step." he joked and took another step forwards, falling like a stone towards the distance city gate of Dis far below them. He was unconcerned and landed on his feet as if literally stepping down off a step. He looked up at Veronique, waiting for her.

Veronique merely nodded at him when he said that he was going to come with her to the place that she needed to go, the last circle of Hell was the most dangerous she supposed which was why he was reluctance, it was something that was going to test her strength which was little in the first place, biut she was determined and even if she were to die there, she would hopefully die content in the knowledge of seein Alexander again.

When she watched him step off the cliff, Veronique blinked and she almost darted forward to save him, but seeing him land on the bottom of the pit, she smiled lightly and let herself fall off the cliff, closing her eyes she let the wind rush through her and her wings opened, and she sighed happily when she stopped next to Beleth.

Gasping when she could not find the picture, Veronique grabbed it from the air as it floated down, and held onto it tightly, smiling once more she looked at the only way they could go, it was dark, and she hated the dark, making a noise of discontent she drew her bow and arrow, and walked steadily forwards. Keeping silent as she thought of what awaited her...and how it would turn out when she arrived.

Beleth wasn't reluctant to go to the ninth circle because of what it was. No if anything some of the other circles were much worse than what was essentially a glorified ice cube. No he didn't want to go down to the ninth circle for the fear that SHE might be there. And, after checking the greed circle thoroughly, it was the only place that she could be. The fact that she wanted to go to the ninth circle of Hell, no doubt aware that he would go with her, purely to see another man, a man who had betrayed her, stung in a way he wasn't expecting.

He chuckled weakly when she landed beside him. Of course he stopped when he saw her grab for the picture. It wasn't a laughing matter if that was threatened. Seeing Veronique draw her bow and arrow, Beleth stopped her with a hand on her shoulder,

"Put your bow away slowly..." he told her quietly, whispering urgently into her ear, "You see the darkness on either side of the path? Do you see it moving? Those are demons of anger. Weapons are instruments of anger. If you have one out they will become enraged and attack. I know you would feel safe with it out but trust me, you're not. Put it away for now."

He waited until she had done as he had advised her before moving forwards along the path. The darkness seemed to move but no demons came near them. After a few moments they reached the giant, walled, city of Dis. Beleth merely touched the gates and they opened,

"We follow the main road and it'll take us to the gate of the ninth circle."

Veronique bit her lip and she looked at the darkness around her, she had nowhere to put her bow and arrows expect where they were when she was not using them, the bow back on her back and the arrow in its holdster, not feeling the best having to walk under an arch covered in anger demons, she almost went to hug Beleth's arm to her but she stopped and she tried to calm herself down.

"Oh my Lord that was unpleasant." she shuddered "I hate things like that even when I was a child, arches in Gardens at night were my worst nightmare."

All but running the last bit out of the arch, Veronique relaxed, what? This was what was so scary? It was just a big gate...with stuff inside! Hopefully it was the stuff inside that was not quite as tame as the outside and she wished that she could draw her bow and arrow again to make her feel safe.

Jumping when the doors opened, she nodded and made her way through the gate and found what she thought was the main road, she had no idea where she was going and she took deep breaths, trying to tuck her wings away, but her skin seemed to shine in the dark, so her efforts were useless.

"You needn't come it, Jack, you can stay out here if you do not wish to face what's on the inside, I shall shout if I need your help." she smiled gently.

Beleth tried to be strong for Veronique and even went so far as to try to hold his hand out for her to take but it wasn't happening. She looked like she was going to give him a hug and then didn't. As soon as they had passed through the darkness she moved away from him. He wasn't important to her right now, not as anything other than a guide,

"Yes it is... I dislike anger demons personally. So brutish." he shook his head a little bit before raising an eyebrow, "Arches in gardens huh? What about the dark? Were you afraid of the dark as a child?"

Beleth looked around at the buildings that made up the city of Dis. They all looked the same, all uniform grey skyscrapers that were devoid of any type of material other than sheer bedrock. All of the demons who inhabited this area of Hell were not here for some reason. Although it was hardly surprising. Why would an anger demon stay in a boring city when there was a portal to the human world up top? When she told him that he needn't come he smiled weakly, looking very pale now,

"No I need to come. You wouldn't get in without me, the doors only open to a demon." he told her with a weak smile, "It's not going to be pretty. I know I told you this before but..."

He gestured at a small iron door built into the face of solid stone. It didn't look like much, much less the doorway to the lowest circle of Hell. But then again that was the idea. God hadn't wanted the betrayers to even have a chance of getting out,

"It's not going to be nice." he looked away and muttered, "For either of us."

Veronique smiled lightly and she nodded her head, in many ways she was glad of being slightly distracted from what she was doing at the moment, she could almost pretend like it was a completely different place to where she was, that she was just in another city, and she was like a tourist, she was going to be coming up any time now, and it would be absolutely fine, she could laugh when she got back to the surface about how nervous she had been.

"I was nervous as a child about the dark yes, I still dislike it now, however childish of me, I am so very sorry to be so...difficult, I almost wanted to hold you back there, so scared was I." she chuckled lightly.

Seeing the door to the lowest circle of Hell, Veronique thought it very plain and very unremarkable, it could the door to anywhere, it was what was on the inside that was what she was afraid of seeing, but holding her picture close to her heart she nodded her head, she could not wait to get on the other side of that door.

"I have waited, 200 years for this, I believe I am ready to hear anything that comes out of his mouth...if you are ready, then so am I." she smiled, and when the door was opened Veronique blinked lightly, there were no creatures here which was good, she could not bare to see him as some sort of rat, however, there were large blocks of ice, in which several heads were frozen, the bodies laying underneath.

Trying to desperately look for Alexander, she hopped onto the nearest block and looked frantically at all the faces.

Beleth chuckled weakly. The idea of being afraid of the dark was not something that existed to any of the demons in Hell. Even those who had died as children, like Bart, could not remember ever being afraid of the dark. When the dark was your life, or afterlife, you had no choice but to accept it and every creature that you knew actually was creeping around in the dark,

"The darkness is something you grow used to down here. But the fear of it never leaves you." he admitted before smiling a little weakly, "And that would have been bad because...?"

The door to the ninth circle was plain and boring and cold to the touch. It was so out of place that it would have been funny if the entire time it wasn't giving off the most evil aura Beleth had ever felt, which was saying something considering he'd met members of The Devil before,

"You've had a long time to prepare." he noted with a weak attempt at a smile, "I'm a young demon compared to you. Only been dead for twenty years. I... I still don't know what I'm going to say. I just hope I don't have to."

When the door was open to reveal the heads frozen in the ice, Beleth followed Veronique cautiously. As he moved down the lines he saw lots of faces but thankfully SHE was not one of them so far. He smiled faintly. Maybe he would not actually have to talk to her? He led Veronique to a side wall where he knew Alexander to be,

"He's over there in that wall I think. Why don't you...?"

"Hey jackie."

Beleth froze at the sound of the voice. It was soft and light but held an underlying feeling of malice with it. The head that had spoken was of a pale, soft, skinned woman. She would have been attractive if not for the fact that she was sneering, an ugly look that made her look like some form of hag. He turned away from her, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes,

"Please Veronique... talk to him quickly." he begged her, "I don't... I can't..."

"Oh poor Jackie!" cooed the woman mockingly, "What's the matter Jackie? She not care enough about you? Oh I know what it is! She's found herself a real man hasn't she? She's leaving you for someone who is actually a man, that's it isn't it! Oh you poor little boy... she's just like me! She doesn't love you and she never will!"

Beleth, Jack, scrunched his eyes tightly shut and sat down on the cold ice floor. He was trying desperately to block the voice out as she went on and on. He covered his ears but he could still hear her clearly. Oh he wanted it to stop... he didn't want to remember the pain! He didn't want to feel it again!

When Veronique was told that there was a possibility that Alexander was in the side wall, she hurried over there and she hoped that he would be there, something she had been waiting for for 200 years was on the other side of that room and she flew over to it, standing just beside him, and blinking at what she saw. Almost bursting into tears on sight, she pressed her hand to Alexanders cheek, which caused him to look up.

"Veronique, I wondered when you would get here." he said with a light chuckle "I knew you would be so stubborn that you would eventually come down here to see me, how long has it been, 200 years, 190?"

Smiling a little Veronique laughed happily and she nodded her head; "Yes 200 years, you've been counting."

Seeing he nodded in reply to her she couldn't help but smile broadly back at him, casting a glance back to Beleth, he looked so troubled and she gasped lightly wanting to go and help him, but when Alexander spoke again she turned back towards him and blinked lightly in shock; "Well then have you come to get me out and take me with you?"

When she explained that she could not, however much she wanted to, she gasped again when his eyes began to turn slowly black and the skin around them;

"You always were useless. Useless and pathetic. You wouldn't even give me anything before we married, which was not out of love you idiotic girl, I've never loved you, I never will love you, you were just a tool that I could use, for money, for position, and most importantly for sex." he smirked "Oh but you didn't think in my solitude I would have changed? You know...funny isn't it? A matter of a few hours, if that coach had arrived when it was supposed to, your accident would have been on time, as soon as we were married, you were to be killed, everything you owned would be mine...and I would be free to marry the woman I truly loved."

Standing there in shock, Veronique bit her lip and she blinked back tears, of course she had watched him squander her money, put her family on the streets of which they had mostly died as a result of, and most painful of all, had remarried to her best friend not a month after her passing.

"I...I..."

"You what?" he spat "You couldn't get it through your thick skull from watching it unfold in front of you, I don't love you. Do you here me? You're ugly. You're stupid. You are too trusting for your own good, and now look at what you've done to me, you made me come here, if you had just been like Monique, if you had been her, we could have been together." he smirked.

Turning away Veronique wiped at her eyes and she stood in front of Alexander one last time;

"I came here to tell you, that I forgive you." she smiled lightly "That I love you. I wanted to help you, but now I see...now I see this is where you truly belong and I was a fool to think otherwise."

Shaking her head she turned on her heel and slowly walked back over to the exit, not caring now if she was killed, or tortured, her hopes had been dashed, and her heart was broken once more, and it felt...like it would never be healed.

Beleth was only vaguely aware of Veronique confronting her old lover and the man turning out to be some kind of major douchebag, which was to be expected seeing as how the man was in the Ninth Circle of Hell. When she went to leave alarm bells rang in Beleth's mind. He couldn't let her go out on her own. She had only made it this far because he had been with her. If she went out on her own and any other demons came across her they'd kill her. After a long process of rape and torture of course, but eventually they'd kill her.

He struggled to his feet and was lurching towards the door when the voice of HER rang through his mind, insulting him once again. Beleth glanced back at HER head in the ice but she wasn't talking, merely looking at him with a supremely smug expression on her face for some reason. It hit him as more verbal abuse sounded inside of his head. She'd used the eye contact to use some demonic manipulation power. She'd imprinted part of her personality so that he would always hear what she thought about him, would always hear HER bringing up all of his fears, his pain and his insecurities.

Despite this, Beleth tried his best to ignore the massive emotional pain that came with each mentally perceived word. He moved after Veronique as she moved towards the door,

"Veronique..." he called out in a croaky voice, "Veronique wait...!"

Veronique had walked out of the still open door and was somewhat in a state of robotic thought, her only idea in her head was to get out of Hell, and never return to there again, she could not believe that she had the possible notion that Alexander would have loved her underneath it all, that he would have returned her feelings even one scrap of the way that she had felt towards him, but it was all in vain, all of her hopes and dreams.

When she came across the buildings, the large skyscrapers were as empty as before, except for one lone shadowy figure that seemed to be blurrily moving across the streets towards the Ninth circle of Hell, and towards herself, she did not however much care about what he wanted from her. She just wanted to leave, whether she returned to Heaven by death, or by escape.

Hearing Beleth saying something to her, she turned, showing her weapon to the demon coming up behind her, it seemed as if Beleth was in as bad a state as she was, so she stopped to wait for him in the center of the road, not wanting to tackle the dark gate by herself, no matter what state she was in.

Beleth stumbled forwards after Veronique. The voice in his head was booming and loud. It was all he could hear, it was all that he could think about. It even set his teeth on edge. The only thing he could relate it to was a migrane, it felt like white hot agony in the middle of his brain, as if someone was trying to saw their way out from the inside of his skull. Making it through the doorway lessened the pain a little bit, long enough for Beleth to relax ever so slightly and look at Veronique, further up the road.

His eyes widened when he saw the dark shape of an anger demon racing towards her. In her effort to turn to him, Veronique had displayed her weapon to it and it was not happy in the slightest. He roared in anger at the anger demon, something that made it falter in it's charge long enough for the now running Beleth to intercept it, tackling it to the ground. Although he wasn't one for violence, Beleth was not about to let some anger demon hurt Veronique. He growled as he took a small knife out and cut the other demon lightly on the chest. He put the knife away and staggered to his feet again, his weapons were poisoned to such a degree that the anger demon was dying on the ground even from what was little more than a papercut. Beleth moved closer to Veronique,

"Veronique..." he whispered before hugging her tightly to him, "Don't you ever scare me like that again! Please... I don't think I could stand to lose you."

Veronique jumped when she heard Beleth roar and she thought that he was roaring at her for a moment and whatever the woman he had been talking to in the Ninth Circle had said to him meant that he was now so angry with her that he wanted to kill her himself, there was very little she could do as she was seemingly rooted to the spot while she watched him charging straight at her, Veronique's mouth open a little bit as she watched him.

Although she could not see very well from the thick veil of tears that were running down her cheeks, Veronique gasped when Beleth continued to run past her, and to attack the demon that had been coming at her from the opposite direction, so it had in fact been coming for her, not to get into the Ninth Circle like she had thought it would be.

Blinking lightly she just stood there and watched it for a moment, feeling altogether very bad for the poor things as it looked as it was in a lot of pain, and she wondered just what the knives Beleth carried with him were made out of.

Now that she was being held closely to Beleth, Veronique silently let her head rest on his chest and she closed her eyes, letting her small pearl like tears spill out onto his chest and she hoped he would not mind getting wet if she could not control her tears soon;

"I know how you feel Jack, you're my best friend, I don't know what I would do without you, I would be so alone, I am just so glad that you would do this with me, and help me even when you would be hurt so much yourself. He's right I suppose, I am too trusting of people...I truly believed that..." she laughed bitterly "Never mind."

Beleth was not pleased that he'd been forced to kill but to kill for the safety of Veronique was something that made killing the anger demon seem like it was much deserved. He hated the anger demon, even as it died slowly and painfully on the hard ground. He hated it for even daring to try and hurt Veronique. For daring to think that he could separate the two of them. Beleth wasn't aware of where this possessive and protective feeling was coming from and a large part of him didn't much care. All he knew was that this protective and possessive nature had just saved Veronique's life. He would accept it a thousand times over if that was all that it ever did. He held her close to him, his arms wrapped comfortingly around her. He wanted her to know that she was safe when she was around him and the way that she was crying freely against his chest seemed to suggest that she knew she was safe in his arms. Despite everything he managed a small smile,

"There's no such thing as being too trusting Veronique. Look at me... you trusted me and nothing has gone wrong on that front yet has it?" he asked her with a small smile before it faded away. He cupped her cheek gently, "No go on... tell me please..."

Veronique felt something that she had not felt in a long time when she was with Beleth, very oddly it was a feeling of safety that had only come with being around her older brother, she had hoped that she would see him in Heaven but she had not had such luck just yet, hoping that he was not here among the other demons, it would break her heart to know that her family were here in Hell.

When he wrapped his comforting arms around her small frame, Veronique managed to forget that she was in Hell, that she had almost just been killed, and what had just happened between her and Alexander, to think about what she might be able to do now she knew that she was wrong. How would she even begin to move on from this? What had happened between Beleth and that woman too? Should she ask?

"No nothing has changed between us Beleth, you have kept my trust so well, you're like a protector to me and I am so grateful for your friendship." she smiled gently before letting it turn shy and placing a hand over his on her cheek, Veronique blushed lightly "I just truly believed that he had some feelings for me like I him, although I thought of the possibility, I never thought it would come true."