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Avery laughed when Kimiko got upset. ”Hey!” He protested when she took a sip of his drink. ”If you want you’re own, just ask,” he said and plucked his drink back.

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Caden looked from Nero to Nic and smiled. ”Thank you for coming. Despite the circumstances under how we met, it’s been good getting to know you.”

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“If you want your own just ask.” Kimiko says in a mocking tone back to Avery, smirking as she turns back to her food to continue eating.

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“Likewise.” Nic says with a nod to Caden. He picks up Cass’ hand to hold it, glad that the tension had subsided at least. He watches as Nero gets up and prances over by Kimiko to explore what’s in the candy bag for themselves.

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Avery grinned and leaned forward. ”Do you want me to make you a drink, too, Kimiko?”

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Cassiopeia looked at Nic when he took her hand and she smiled lightly, intertwining their fingers and kissed the back of his hand. She truely was grateful for him, and that he was here.

Movement caught Cassi’s attention though and she looked over to see Nero digging through the candy bag. She watched them for a minute before speaking. ”Nero, did you think more about if you wanted me to help you unlock your past memories?”

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Kimiko raises her chin in a silent challenge. “Only if you plan on stealing more off of my plate.” She murmurs to Avery, now getting distracted by Cassi speaking to Nero again.

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Nero pauses with their hand in the bag, face paling as they remember the memory unlocked today before they blink and compose themselves. “I have, actually. I think it’s a good idea.” Nero glances at Caden with a small smile, still worried about what still remains to find.

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Avery smirked and stood up to get Kimiko a fresh drink and a smaller plate of food for himself. He knew he didn’t have to, but Avery didn’t mind looking after Kimiko or getting her a drink.

He walked back over, setting Kimiko’s drink down in front of her before he sat down.

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Cassiopeia raises her eyebrows, surprised Nero agreed. She glanced at Caden briefly before looking back at Nero. ”When do you want to start?”

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Kimiko glances briefly at Avery, mumbling a ‘thank you’ before looking back at Cassi and Nero. She could probably help Nero as well, but her touch wouldn’t be as gentle as Cassi’s.

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Nero rubs the back of their neck as they think on it. “Sooner than later… With Caden’s help I’ve unlocked a few.” Their left hand twitches and they stick it behind their back, realizing they hadn’t put on gloves tonight. They grab one of the marble looking candies before scuttling over to Caden and reclaiming their lap. Etiquette be damned, Nero’s memories aren’t the easiest thing to think about.

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“Is there something I’m missing?” Nic asks, glancing between everyone. The atmosphere has changed now.

Kimiko jumps in. “Demons will typically forget their human lives or really anything before they became a demon. And with a demon Nero’s age, that’s a lot to retrieve.”

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Despite her better judgement, Cassiopeia scoots closer to Caden and Nero. ”What did you find out so far?” Whatever it was, it was enough to convince Caden they were a good person, or at least someone Caden wanted to spend eternity with.

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Nero glances nervously up at Caden before fidgeting. “Well, since we’re all here, I should tell you that I’m white-eyed demon…” They stare at their hands, their right gently massaging their left.

“That’s the same rank as Lilith, for example. That’s why I was sort of able to put the chimera asleep.” Nero continues to stare at their hands in the lap, but starts telling Cassi everything so far. When it comes to the memory unlocked today, Nero freezes, not sure how to explain it without sobbing again.

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Cassiopeia slowly turns their focus onto Caden as Nero starts to reveal memory after memory about who and what they are. It made sense why Caden was so attracted to them now. Caden was naturally attracted to power, even if his dragon was still stronger. Still, Nero’s rank didn’t sit well with Cassiopeia. Nero being here could cause all of them a lot of problems. Especially if their superior tried to find them.

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Caden rubs Nero’s back while they talk and tell the group more information. Avery seems to take it in stride, whereas Cassiopeia looks on the verge of jumping to her feet. When Nero pauses, Caden looks at them and kisses their shoulder before he takes over.

He tells the group of Mundus and how they had Nero as a slave. He avoided going into grave details, especially what Mundus did to them, but he was certain the others would be able to put two and two together.

Avery looked murderous, and Caden was glad to see it. He had seen how quickly Caden gravitated towards protecting Nero, and Caden had hoped Avery would maintain that need.

”So a witch who made a deal to survive, from what we don’t know for sure, and then rose through the demon ranks quickly after enduring their own personal hell. There’s more coming to the surface but you can’t, or won’t, uncover it yourself. Does that about sum it up?” Cass asks.

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“Bloody hell…” Kimiko whispers softly as she takes in all this information. Their childish wonder starts to make more sense to her now. As Caden recounts Nero’s latest memory, a little fire starts to sing Kimiko’s shirt before she could get a grip on herself.

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Nero hates how vulnerable they are in this moment, how weak they must appear to everyone. It’s not a position they ever saw themselves getting into, but something about all of them made Nero want to be honest. They avoid burying their face in Caden’s chest at least.

“I’m trying not to stop them anymore… that’s how we… learned about Mundus…” It’s not easy for Nero to even say the name. The grab one of Caden’s hands and starts to trace the tattoos there. “But yes, that about sums it up.”

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Nic furrows his brow, not sure how to react to any of this information. Part of them wanted to find this Mundus and give him what’s coming to him, but another part stills feels conflicted. Nero knowingly made a deal with a demon - they willingly put themselves in this position. No one deserved what happened to Nero though. As Cass asks her question, Nic lifts her hand to kiss, wanting to hold her closer than ever now.

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Fire burns behind Avery’s eyes. He’s certain he isn’t the only one here who wants to tear Mundus apart, but its probably not as bad as what Caden would want to do to them.

Avery sniffs then frowns and looks at Kimiko. He starts and places a hand on her. There’s a burn mark on her shirt. ”Kimiko?”

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Cassiopeia looks at Nic when he kisses her hand. She smiles softly at him, looking down at their joined hands. She rubbed her thumb along his skin before she leaned over and kissed his cheek softly. She let his hand go and stood.

Cass walked around the table and held her hand out to Nero. ”Well, no time like the present,” Cassiopeia declared.

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Caden watched Cass stand and walk around him, so she stood on the side Nero sat. She held her hand out to them and Caden tightened his hold on Nero. ”You don’t have to if you don’t want to tonight,” Caden reminded Nero.

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Kimiko stares at Avery’s hand for a moment before looking up at him. “Sorry, I let myself get a little too mad there.” She mumbles, cheeks and ears reddening as she furrows her brow. “I haven’t done that in a while.” She glances back down at the singed part of her shirt with a frown.

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Nero watches as Cassi stands and walks over to them, sticking her hand out to Nero. “Will they be less painful to remember through your way?” They ask, hand twitching to grab theirs.

“Todays was… not easy.” They turn to look at Caden, wanting to ask them if letting Cassi unlock their memories would mean she would be more inclined to help with the branding.

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Avery continues to frown, more and more confused by the second. Kimiko never mentioned having powers. ”I don’t understand,” Avery stated, not sure what else he is supposed to say to seeing a hole in someone shirt caused by an invisible fire.

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Cassiopeia sighed when Nero hesitated. ”I can’t control how the memory comes out or what comes forward. I just, bring it about. I can stop it or break the connection, but I wouldn’t advise doing that. Once the memories start to unfold its best to let them happen and let the brain go where it needs to go. If it helps, whatever you see I will see. Whatever you feel, I feel. We’ll be connected in a sense until the memory ends.”

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Kimiko glances over at Nero and Cassi, watching Nero hesitantly take Cassi’s hand in their own. She figures while the two of them go down memory lane, she could give Avery an explanation. “When I said I used to start little fires wherever I went as a 13-year-old, I meant it literally.” She says before looking around for something to demonstrate - she settles for the bone from her steak.

“It’s fox fire and it can be influenced by my emotions. This is what I meant by how my fox can sometimes act on my emotions.” She holds up the bone for Avery to see as it starts to smoke before a little fire starts on the end furthest from Kimiko’s hand.

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Nero gingerly takes Cassi’s hand with their left, still scared, but wanting answers more than anything. The memory happens almost instantaneously, but it’s nothing like what Nero expects. They glance down at their hands and see them covered in blood. When they look up, they find themselves in the middle of some sort of battle.

They glance down again, past their hands this time, to see a crumpled figure on the floor, their knife buried. All around them is what looks to be a wedding gone completely wrong with demons fighting dragons and… “Oh no…” Nero whispers as they start to realize and remember what this memory is. People bearing a striking resemblance to Cassi or share her hair are all around, whether dead or fighting for their lives.

Nero wishes they could close their eyes and not watch, but past Nero is moving on to the next kill.

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Something’s not right. Nic quickly gets to his feet to go stand by Cass, worry etched into his face. “Caden?” He asks, hesitating to reach out and touch his girlfriend without knowing if it will end badly or not.

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Avery listened to Kimiko while she explained. He tracked her movements, staring at the bone when it started to smoke before catching on fire. He stared at it, having more questions now then he did before. Instead of searching for answers, he just watched the fire burn on the end of the bone.

”Interesting,” he commented. His attention wanders to the other end of the table to see Cass and Nero still locked in their vision quest. When Nic stands Avery frowns, and then Caden stands.

”Nic, don’t.” Caden may have been speaking to Nicholas, but the tone in his voice was unmistakable. Without hesitating, Avery stood and grabbed Kimiko by the waist, and hauled her away from the table. He set her on the ground, stood in front of her, and backed her away from the table.

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Caden tapped the table nervously while he watched Nero and Cassi. He felt his bond with Nero tighten and the bond he shared with Cassi start to vibrate. It wasn’t until Nic moved, though, that Caden realized something was wrong.

Caden stood up and grabbed Nic’s arm. ”Nic, don’t. If you touch her you could break the connection or fall into the memory.” He went to pull Nic away when he heard thunder in the distance. Caden pulled his attention from Nero and Cassi to watch storm clouds roll in. ”Nic, maybe you, Avery, and Kimiko should head inside.”

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Cassiopeia wasn’t sure what she was expecting when Nero took her hand. She figured she'd see death to innocents, maybe some other torturous practices in hell, but she wasn’t expecting a war. Cassiopeia stood looking at the battlefield from Nero’s perspective, but her own memories were starting to come tumbling out.

Cassi tightened her hold on Nero’s hand, ensuring the connection wouldn’t end until she wanted it to end. Nero moved across the battlefield slaughtering her people and maiming Caden’s. She watched her sisters fall, her brothers fight until the last breath. Cousins, aunts, uncles, her mother. Nero drained the life from her mother, and in the distance Cassi swore she heard herself screaming.

Cassiopeia opened her eyes to the sound of thunder. The world looked very different to her now. Her attention snapped to the side when she saw movement. Caden was ushering Nic away from her. Cassiopeia ripped her hand from Nero’s and lighting struck the ground behind Caden.

The concrete exploded, pelting Caden and Nero, but it bounced harmlessly away from Nic and Cassiopeia.

”Don’t touch him.” Cassi’s voice rumbled like the thunder itself. Lightening flashed across the sky and in her eyes, and her attention refocused on Nero. ”You. You led them. You slaughtered them all. You hurt Caden’s people. You wiped mine off the face of this earth.”

Cassiopeia stalked forward but Caden was faster. He sheltered the murderer with his body, and Cassiopeia glared up at him. Lightening struck the ground in several places around Caden’s yard before the shattering sound of thunder filled the space.

She looked up at her best friend; the man she was once betrothed to. ”You defend them?” Cassi’s voice was dark, and she tilted her head to the side.

”Show me,” was all Caden said. Cassi’s hands twitched at her sides, and lightening snaked through the thunderheads in response.

”As you wish.” Cassiopeia grabbed Caden’s hand and squeezed as the memories she saw from Nero bled into Caden’s mind.

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Kimiko hardly has time to react when Avery plucks her from her seat. When she’s set back down, she places her hands on Avery’s shoulder, trying to peer around him. She hears Caden suggest that they go inside as she looks up at the sky and the weather change. “Oh gods.” She murmurs as she realizes this isn’t a normal storm, it’s Cassi.

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Nero wishes they could disappear in that moment, the ground will swallow them up. Concrete pelts them but they don’t wince. As Cassi stalks towards them, they don’t move. They deserve whatever the sorcerer will do to them. Nero closes their eyes, accepting their fate. When Caden defends them, they almost push him out of the way. Nero had been right - they are unredeemable.

Instinctively, Nero wants to stop Cassi from showing Caden, but stops themselves. Better it be Cassi showing Caden the memory this time. They crouch onto the floor, tucking their legs into their arms as they await their death.

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“I’m not going anywhere.” Nic says, even as the unnatural storm rolls in. He watches helplessly as Cass roars lie the thunder. It doesn’t take him too long to realize what she must have seen. The story she told him in the car fresh on his mind.

He knows Cass doesn’t need his protection, but he stays close by anyway. He doesn’t touch Cass as she presumably shows Caden what just happened, but his hands twitch to hold her. Once he’s sure she’s done sharing the vision, he grabs Cass’ hand, gently squeezing it.

He knows there’s nothing he can say or do to help this situation. As much as Nic wants to take away Cass’ pain and sorrow, he knows he can’t. He hopes, though, that his hand might ground her a little, keep her from hurting her best friend and his lover.

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One of Avery's hands rest on Kimiko's hip, and he squeezes it when she tries to peek around and see what's happening. Avery keeps backing the two of them up until they are off the patio. When the lighting strikes the concrete, Avery spins around and pulls Kimiko in to shelter her from the raining concrete. Shards and chunks of concrete hit Avery's back, but he doesn't move until he knows it's safe.

"Are you okay? Did anything hit you?" Avery takes Kimiko's face in his hands, and examines her thoroughly to make sure she's unharmed.

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The same images that plagued Nero and Cassiopeia filled Caden's head. It almost felt like he is there again but the images are wrong. These aren't his memories. They are Nero's. He could feel Nero's emotions ripple through his body, and when Cass releases him from the memory he stumbles back and nearly trips over Nero, who huddles on the ground.

Caden's eyes flash to encompass the dragon. He feels his heart being torn in two with wanting to protect his mate, and wanting to let his friend avenge her family after all these years.

The air crackles around Caden and he turns back to face his friend. Caden's wings splay out to block Nero. Cassi's eyes flash as they look up at Caden, a fire burning there.

"You can't be serious!?"

Caden looks at his friend, pain on his face. "They're my mate."

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If Cassi's world hadn't already been turned upside down, those words certainly did it. My mate.

"What have you done?" The sky opens up, and everyone is drenched by the rain in a matter of seconds. Nic's hand is strong in Cassi's but she barely registers it. If she killed Nero. Caden would kill her.

Cassiopeia takes a few steps back, pushing Nic with her. "Cass..." Caden's voice breaks and Cassi looks at him. She can see that he is fighting, torn between what he should do, but as far as Cassi was concerned, he already made that decision.

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Kimiko really didn’t realize just how strong Avery is until now. Her hip feels on fire from his touch and just as she’s registering this, he’s spinning to protect her. Her face automatically buries in his chest until he pulls it out. They’re no longer in immediate danger, in fact she can barely hear what’s going on between the other four right now as her thoughts are consumed by Avery holding her face.

Kimiko blinks, barely registering that he’s asking if she’s okay. “Are you okay?” She asks back, eyes wide as she tries not to glance at his lips. Oh, fuck this. She grabs his face in turn and stands up on her toes, pressing her lips against Avery’s

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Nero silently begs themselves to say something, anything, but they’re frozen in place, their whole body shaking. Their hands move to cover their ears. The memory replays in their mind and Nero tries to pick out any emotion they might have had while slaughtering Cassi’s family. There’s nothing, no feeling as they move from one target to the next.

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“Cass, let’s go.” He says, squeezing her hand and trying to gently pull her away. He feels like he’s only understanding half of the conversation right now, but he doesn’t ask any of the but he doesn’t ask the millions of questions burning inside him. His focus is on getting Cass somewhere safe without her hurting anyone, especially herself.

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Avery huffed, about to laugh when she asked if he was okay, but Kimiko's lips cut him off. Shock but also a deep need overtook him and kissed Kimiko back deeply. Rain starts to pour down, and Avery pulls himself away from her.

"I don't think now is the time," he whispered, his voice deep. He opened his eyes to look at her before he turned back around.

Avery extended one arm out beside him, keeping it loose encase he needed to grab Kimiko and run. His other hand rested on her hip again while Avery quickly assessed the situation before him.

Nic was trying to get Cass to leave, and did Caden just call Nero his mate? Fuck.

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Caden says nothing. He knows there is nothing to say as he watches the pain flash across Cassiopeia's face. He made his decision, what choice did he have?

Cassiopeia takes another step back before she looks down. Nero is barely visible, but Cassiopeia's stare could burn through anything. She sneers at Caden.

"Have fun with your murderous mate," she spits before she turns.

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Cassiopeia turned away from Caden, letting Nic pull her away. In the distance the sound of trees cracking and splitting fills the air. The smell of ozone takes over and the rain seems to pick up. Cassi left a parting message and shattered the first couple rows of trees in the forest behind Caden's house. The trees burned but were quickly extinguished from the rain.

Cassiopeia couldn't see straight, and she blindly followed Nic. She was lost for the first time since that night when she lost everything.

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“Oh. Right.” She mumbles, face fully flushed. He kissed me back though, right? She starts to catch some of the conversation as Nic pulls Cassi away. Murderous mate? Kiki wishes in that moment that she could read minds or something - could discover the half of the conversation she felt was missing.

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Nic swiftly picks up Cass’ bag and his backpack as he pulls her away from Caden and his demon. Nero hasn’t moved, still curled into a tiny ball on the ground behind Caden. He doesn’t know how to feel about any of this, but he knows Cass will need him right now.

As they’re passing Avery and Kimiko, he says in a low voice. “Looks like I’m borrowing the car still.” He says, not bothering to ask. He wishes they could stay, let Cass cool down and figure out what is going on, but Cass’ last words were said with such venom in her voice that he doesn’t want to chance it. Henry is already at the front door and opens it for them and Nic nods gratefully as he tows his girlfriend towards the SUV.

Once there, Nic pulls her into a crushing hug, silently sending a prayer that she doesn’t kill him for this. “Are you okay?” He whispers as they’re pelted with rain.

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