The Contract

The sun was already disappearing over the tips of the tall buildings to the west of the school yard. Well, it wasn't really a yard. More like a field. Two, considering they were split with goals and bleachers. The school was built with all common entrances to the west, and most of its windows to the west, if only to boost the moods of the students and teachers near the end of the school day. Some students, however, were not effected by this attempt to make them happier at the end of the school days.

One such student, Crystal, currently stood on the roof of the two-floor building, leaning against the railing as she looked out over the clumps of her peers flooding from the doors below. She longed to be in one of those groups. But no one really seemed to accept her. She was too open-minded, and much too quiet and awkward in large groups, so she was undesirable. She could fit in. She knew it. But she had to get her roots into the scene before she was able to lower her shields.

Even smaller groups strayed from her. Why, she had no clue. She wasn't ugly. She wasn't scary. She was just quiet. And an orphan, though that really didn't effect matters. She lived quite well on her own with money inherited from her dear, departed parents. It'd probably last until she herself died. She sighed softly, reaching up and brushing her fingers through her hair, short and silvery blonde, held out of her face with a few clips. She watched a while longer until the groups making their way from the school entrance/exit grew smaller and smaller, until only pairs and singles were straggling out. She wished she had someone to pair up with, even if it was just to talk.

She pulled away from the railing quietly, muttering something beneath her breath. Loneliness was misery. She wished the loneliness would end. She wandered quietly over to one of the 'huts' housing the stairs down on the roof, continuing her muttering. Just what would she give to end the loneliness? She wouldn't give her life. She figured that would be silly and achieve nothing, as she was certainly not a believer in the afterlife. She wanted to have a good life. She sighed and gave a nod after a while, smirking to herself. She would give her soul. Beyond that, she would give her soul to the devil herself. Not that she could really believe in the devil if she did not believe in the afterlife. But it made her curious. What if she said it outloud? Clearly?

She shivered gently. It was strange to think about such things... If something were to happen, it'd mean she was wrong about something that was huge to other people. It'd also mean that she had condemned herself. But... For someone's companionship... That seemed worth it, she thought. In any case, what she was about to do was just a test. She found herself doubtful that anything would really happen. She gave a light cough, clearing her throat, pausing to think about what she would say.

"I would... sell my soul to the devil.. For the companionship of a friend I can talk to, someone who would accept me, that I can trust to be there for me always." There... She had said it. She clasped her hands together quietly, nails tapping at the backs of the opposite hands, as they often did when she was nervous.

What a beautiful day! That was what Satan thought, anyways. Most people didn't like the look of hell. It was a sprawling metropolitan, currently stuck in the night phase. It spread out forever like a planet-sized city, except there was no end, and Hell was flat, not round. Most people preferred Paradise with it's emerald forests. She had fallen in love with the swirling neon and beautiful radiant lights. They said that Japan had some pretty cities, and she was willing to believe that, but there was nothing quite so stunning as Hell during peak business hours. Every sign was lit, every light shining. They could have been the reason the Moon shined at night.

There were constantly fey demon flying around in the sky, on designated fight paths. The dust that fluttered off their tail ends left streaks of color in the sky that compared with the Aurora caused by solar winds. Sometimes one of them would deviate from their flight path to make patterns in the sky. Fey were fey, after all. They all were mischievous. Hearts, stars, or simple smiling faces. And all around her, the beautiful forms of her daughters. And they were all beautiful. She was proud of them, from the lowest messenger carrier to the highest champion. She had spent eternities giving birth to them all. She knew them all by name, knew exactly what they looked like. She knew their favorite toys, their favorite colors. . . She knew about as much as a particularly good mother would know about her children. All of them.

They all bowed to her as she walked by. She never had been able to figure out why. Sometimes they treated her more like a ruler than a mother. She had asked a demon once, and they had been so shocked that she never asked again. With a small frown, she felt a small buzz in her imaginary pocket. She reached into the jeans she wasn't wearing and pulled out a cell phone. She flicked it open and stared down at the screen. "Crystal Follette." She said to herself, before pressing the talk button. "I would... sell my soul to the devil.. For the companionship of a friend I can talk to, someone who would accept me, that I can trust to be there for me always."

She blinked for a moment, before calling back into the phone; "Okay! I'll be right there!" She clicked the phone shut and stuffed it back into her invisible pocket. "Children~! I'm going to be leaving you for a while! Oldest one is in charge~! Please behave." The whole of Hell would have heard her message. They would be sad to hear that their mother was leaving, she was sure, but life would go on, and she would return. With a flick of her wrist, she vanished.

And appeared on Earth, before the child whom had offered her soul up. The first thing she noticed upon landing was that she appeared to be alone. In a stadium. The second thing she noticed was that she was almost the same height as the girl. In Hell, all of the demons towered over her. She constantly wondered where in Hell--pun intended--they got their massive heights from. Certainly wasn't from her! Then she noticed that this was a rather pretty girl. Her own pinkish-purple skin seemed to glow with delight simply by her looking.

Her little wings gave a tiny flutter, and her snakelike tail coiled about her waist, giving a soft hiss as it reached out, licking and sniffing at Crystal as if to get her scent so that she could be forgotten as a threat. Not that anything would threaten her. "Hello, Crystal Follette. I accept your bargain. You will give me your soul, and I will give you mine."

To see someone pop out of nowhere would have semi-startled Crystal, at best. Over in the city past the school fields, such things happened on regular, be it street preformers scrounging up money for a meal or rent or the rare thief. She had noticed that thievery was rare, but she had witnessed it twice. By now, disappearing people and people popping out of no where only awed her and made her wonder how they did it.

However, seeing someone pink, with wings, horns, and... gosh, was that a tail or a snake? pop out of nowhere more than startled her, her eyes widening. She gave a light jump, her hands lifting up to curl into each other at the base of her neck. Her cheeks reddened five or six shades, but her ears flared a bright red in contrast to her silvery blonde hair. She looked more animated in her sudden shock than she had in a while. A long while. One grew less alive in the pain of loneliness, she had decided a long while ago.

Of course, even before the woman spoke-- demon. She appeared to be a demon.. Wait, it was 'demoness' for a female, right? Right.-- She felt a sudden weight change in her mind. It was hard to grasp, but it certainly appeared she was wrong. Afterlife couldn't occur without a soul, and if souls existed, afterlife did. She opened her mouth. "Meep!" She squeaked when the snake at the woman's waist stretched out to lick and sniff at her. Oh, gosh, it was a tail! She couldn't see the snakes tail, and the positioning said that it was the demon's tail.

She stood there for several long seconds, silent after that squeak, examining the demoness that stood before her quietly. She said she would accept her soul. She would? So she was right in assuming Satan to be female? So Satan, and God, really existed, and one of the two was standing here before her? And she had really proposed to sell her soul to the one everyone was taught was the evil one of the two?

She gave a soft noise, a hand dropping down from her neck, extending a finger to tap the snake on the nose lightly. She had no fear of snakes. She stared at the pinkish-purple skinned woman a momen longer before murmuring, in a surprisingly together voice despite her shock and the continuing revalations in the back of her head. "Sorry... I'm having a bit of a hard moment grasping everything, Miss..." She was hesitant to call her anything. What was one supposed to call her? She nodded after a few moments longer, composing herself as well as she could. She was rather shaken, it would seem. "Yes.. Uh... I can't really say I know what to do, or how to give my... soul and whatnot, so... Um.. You know what to do, I assume." She was letting her nervousness leak into her words, and she silently cursed herself for the last statement. If this was indeed Satan, of course she would know how to take her soul! For a moment, she wondered what it was like to live souless.

"Relax!" She said, reaching out with her leather-clad hand, resting it upon Crystal's shoulder and smiling at her pleasantly. The snake, after the tap on the nose, seemed to take to the girl immediately, and began to rub it's head up against her hip. "Oh. She likes you~ That makes things so much easier." She said with a small nod and a smile towards her obviously self-sentient tail. She seemed completely unabashed of her under dressed, perhaps even purposefully lewd state of dress. There was something clearly rebellious about Satan's personality, like that of a teenager who had problems with authority. She gave off a sort of punkish flair, but it seemed dominated by an air of playfulness. Sure, she was the prime evil and fought God at every turn, but what teenager didn't seem like that in the eyes of her mother?

"Anyways, as I was saying. Relax! You get to have my soul before I get to have yours. You get to keep yours until you die. And then it's allllll mine for the rest of eternity." She gave a soft fount of dark laughter then, tilting her head towards the sky and lifting one of her hands. "And what I do with you down in Hell, well. . . I'm not going to give you any hints before it's time." She lift a finger, stroking the outline of the heart shaped tattoo on her breast. "I do like to play rough, though. . ." She said with a smaller, more mysterious smile.

"But until the day you die, I'm all yours. As you said, I will be 'a friend to talk to, someone who will accept you, someone you can trust and who will be there for you always'. No matter what." She scuttled forward then, wrapping an arm around the girl's waist. The snake followed behind, and lightly licked at the girl's navel. "You'll have to get used to her. She's a bit... overly playful." She said with a small scowl. Controlled the legions of Hell, yet couldn't control her tail. Surely someone so silly couldn't be the source of all evil in the world. She lift a hand up, and lightly pat the girl on the arm, keeping her held close.

"So tell me, my newest, bestest friend." She began, speaking in singsong and leaning up close to the girl. "What would you like to do first? I've got lots to learn about you if I'm going to be a good friend. Oh, I've got an idea~! Let's go to a party. I can get us invited to any club in the world, I bet." She let go of the girl then, and scuttled on ahead of her, towards the exit of the stadium, clearly expecting the girl to follow her. "We can go out, have a good time, get drunk. Come home, make out on the couch~" She twirled around then, letting out a loud sigh. "What do you say~?"

She gave a small, small noise under the hand on her shoulder, blinking from Satan to the snake and then back again. It would be hard to relax so soon after something like this, without help of some sort. Likely medication, but she didn't know. She squeaked as the snake nuzzled at her hip, reaching down and cupping her hand under the snake's head. A moment later, she let her finger rub under the snake's chin. They were supposed to like that, she had heard. She was still pretty shocked. Standing before her was the one that religions said was the ultimate evil. She didn't seem all that evil. But she didn't know her all that well to say.

She strangely felt relieved as the demon woman spoke on about the deal, though her cheeks reddened two shades more. This woman was a tease! A rebellious tease! She herself had always followed the rules, if only because of her family situation and her fear of punishment. She had learned that she was safe in the rules. She couldn't tear her eyes off Satan. She was just so animated, alive. Cheerful. It was making her feel better about the confusing situation. She didn't know what to think of eternity in hell, though. For that matter, she had no clue what to think about Satan, either!

She gave a soft sound as the woman then repeated her words that she had spoken earlier, giving a soft little nod. ". . . Thanks so much for -eee! - H-hearing me.." She squeaked, not because the woman put an arm about her waist, but because the snake licked at her. She'd never been licked by a snake before, let alone a snake that was a tail, or the tail of Satan, or the tail of Satan licking at a sensitive spot. She squirmed gently. The shade in her cheeks and her ears remained the same. She doubted she could get much redder than this, though the color in her cheeks was not even a third of what there was in her ears. "I c-can see that she is..!"

She was completely unprepared for being asked what it was she'd like to do first. Generally, she just went home after school, maybe do a bit of shopping, read and watch television... She was a fairly boring person, probably because she had no one in her life to get her out to do things. After a moment, her mouth was gaping open, and her cheeks, shockingly enough, exceeded past their previous limit, reddening several more shades, leaving her red, rather than pink. She hurried after her, but she stumbled over her words a bit. "A-ah... A party? Club? Meep, I'm kinda awkward around people! Well, people that I don't know, at least, and I don't know very many, just my teachers, and they sometimes forget who I am! And, and, and I'm underaged! I can't drink! And we only just met!" Her pitch was high, but her voice soft, as she came up to match Satan's pace.

"Just met!" She said indignantly, whirling around and placing her hands on her hips. "You're my best friend, how could you say something so terribly cruel! As if you didn't even know me!" She gave off a soft flaring huff, crossing her arms over her chest and beginning to stomp away from the girl. She paused in the middle of one of her stomps and twirled around, casting off an airy laugh; "Just kidding. I couldn't run away if I wanted to." She stepped up close to the girl again, and let her finger tip beneath the other's chin, lightly scratching it like she had done to the snakes head earlier. "And trust me, I don't want to. Because I'm a little overly-playful too."

And with that, she backed away from her almost nose-to-nose situation with the girl. She let her finger tap upon her lower lip for a moment, considering as she reached out and tugged on the girl's hand. "Come on. We have to go get you ready. You'll have to lead me to your house. But if your wardrobe is all like that. . ." She paused and eyed the very plain garments that the girl was dressed in now. "We're definitely going to need to go shopping. You'll never attract eyes if you don't dress properly." She gave a pat to her bare abdomen as if to emphasize her lack of clothing. As she pulled the girl out of the stadium into the open school grounds, eyes that managed to look at her didn't look away.

She did not seem to notice the public scrutinizing her, and merely clapped the girl on the shoulder, holding her close yet again. She realized she was probably moving along at breath-taking speeds, and Crystal was probably still mentally back in the stadium, but that was good for her. It let her proceed as she wished until the girl woke up from her state of shock. "So, first we need to get you some cool new threads. Then we need to get you some good colors." Cosmetics, in other words. "After that, it's just as easy as casting those shy little eyes at some pretty girl's way and they'll be eating out of your hand."

She figured it would be good for her to find some pretty little girl to eat out of her hand. Hell was fun and all, but when ninety percent of the people there had spent their first nine months inside of her, things tended to feel a little. . . awkward for her. It would be nice for a chance to have sex with someone who wasn't her daughter. Or a daughter of her daughter. With a slow smile, she let her eyes turn onto Crystal. Satan, despite the earlier tease of the girl, seemed to have no thought of taking the girl on. After all, she had asked for a friend, and that was what Satan would give her. A teasing one, but a friend nonetheless.

But the rests of Earth's pretty maidens? Well, those were up for grabs. So long as Crystal did not want one of them. She gave a soft coo, as she asked; "Do you know the way to the nearest clothing store? Come on, take me there. It's gotta be a good one too. One with the really hip fashion. Now I don't expect you to go dressing like me. I realize your Earthly standards of modesty are a bit different. I won't make you walk around topless but we ARE changing that top."

Crystal's mouth gaped when Satan whirled around, scolding her. Her eyes widened again, and she blinked several times in startlement, trying to find something to say- and then Satan turned around and came back. She had been joking? Gosh, she was relieved that she was. She would have hated it if she ruined a friendship minutes after it started, especially since it was her first friendship in as long as she could remember, and she had bargained her soul for it. She also hated the idea of offending someone. She squeaked when the woman scratched under her chin, but she gave a grateful little noise.

She followed with the tug on the hand, glancing down quietly at herself with furrowed brows, wondering what was wrong with what she was already wearing. It didn't take too long for her to realize what, though she had always favored the less flashy clothing. Why wear something flashy if you were awkward? She sighed softly and tried to scratch up the courage to mutter, "Guess we need to go shopping then.." Oh dear. Ohhhhh dear. She was scared. She just knew this girl was going to end up turning her life upside down. That might not be a bad thing..

She listened quietly as she followed along with the woman, listening quitly through the daze. Some things seemed to float around her head before registering. Things seemed to be happening so fast.. She doubted the evening would be any different. She reached out quietly and slipped her arm around Satan's, if only to feel more secure. Ha, she was arm-in-arm with Satan to feel secure. She listened to her quietly, giving, at one point, a soft noise to the idea of cosmetics. Ooooh dear...

She squirmed softly, opening her mouth. Then closed it. She opened it again a few moments later with a furrowed brow. "Well... I know a few places... Some are down on the square, where everyone goes for fun.. There's also those at the mall.. Neither are far away from each other, really." She sighed softly, closing her eyes. She'd never even been in most of those places. This was just going to be one new experience after another. "Um... The ones on the square are probably closer to what you're thinking of, I think.." She squeaked. She was wondering just what she'd look like tonight, among other things. Many other things.

She smiled, when she felt the girl's arm curling within her own. It made her feel nice. She reached out, and pat the girl on her clutching hand, and stepped along with her as she was lead through the town by the young girl. The girl was obviously very scared of the quick changes that were going through her life. That didn't stop Satan, and it wouldn't. Change was scary. She had been terrified when she was first sent down to Hell. Her life had turned out wonderfully! She was going to help Crystal too, but that meant doing some things that she had never done before. Exploring some facets of life she'd never dreamed of. She had to be taught how fun life could be if she simply went out and lived it!

She had better get used to this fast-pace quickly, because she didn't plan on letting her slow down any time soon.

She let her eyes wander around as soon as she reached the square, looking around for just a moment. So much to do, so much to see~ Her arm tugged the girl over, despite the heads she was turning--a pinkish woman with horns, wearing nothing but panties walking around in public? Right, no one's looking--and she began to look through the various stores. She knew what she was looking for. She told Crystal to; "Go hang out in the crowd. Go talk to people! If you're too shy, put on a friendly smile and let them come to you. After seeing you walking around on my arm, you're bound to at least get someone to break the ice with that!" And so she gave the girl a little shove so that she could shop in private.

She began picking up cosmetics, clothing. She took from many various styles, some that would probably shock the woman, and others that would probably make her blush to death. Not that she wanted her to die! She thought to herself quickly. Oh no, if it really came down to her blushing to fatal proportions, she would dunk her in water, honest! She seemed capable of catching herself on fire through blushing, after all. Especially those red little ears of hers.