Zane sat at a ledge near the very top of Castle Phantasm, his feet dangling off as he looked down upon the steep drop below. Why did he like going up to high places so much? Was it the view? The air? The strange feeling of superiority towards those below. "That last one is definitely a direct result of you being in my head too long." Zane commented to his companion. "Then I would say it's a positive change. You humans are far too afraid of feeling good." Zane sighed, looking down at his now much more delicate fingers. "Not a human anymore, remember?" He asked, twitching his elf ears lightly. It had been a couple months since it happened now, yet still the answers eluded him. Perhaps that was why he was up here. For inspiration. "You know, you showed up in my head only a year after turning to into a human." Zane recalled, now speaking out loud - there wasn't anyone up here to think of him as crazy anyways. "I just can't help but shake the feeling this has SOMETHING to do with demons. You guys are behind everything, you know." Beelzebub scoffed at the notion, rolling his 1000 little fly eyes. "So your foolish church would have you believe. I can't say for sure that a demon didn't do this, but it seems rather unlikely. You're far too weak, boring and generally uninspired to bother messing with like that."

Zane's head fell silent for a moment amidst their usual banter. This was really getting to him. But why? Why did all these mysteries suddenly bother him? He had spent his years after his transformation into a human just goofing around without much care, yet here he was trying to crack the code now that he was an elf again. It wasn't just the mystery of why he was an elf again either. Why was Beelzebub in his head? What caused the lord of the flies to lose large portions of his memory? And was it ever possible to get him out? And... did Zane even want Beelzebub out? "Hey... are you and I friends, Beelzebub?" Zane asked, switching once again to speaking inside his head. "What's gotten into you now?"

"Are we friends? Or are you just a demon who's stuck inside my head? Do we get along, or do we simply coexist? Are we partners or just a team?" The two had spent the vast majority of their time arguing with each other inside their head. They never had any time for such pertinent questions. But it was one worth asking. After all, it seemed as though the two of them were in it for the long haul now... "You are a buffoon, you know." Beelzebub replied. "You are a weak elven mage who spends all of his days wandering around aimlessly, chasing after women and getting himself into trouble for absolutely no reason." Zane lowered his head a little bit. That was a good point. To someone like a Demon Lord, Zane wa-

"Which is exactly why you're my friend, Zane. You are far more entertaining than any other Earthlander I could've gotten stuck inside." A warm smile soon came upon Zane's face, his head raised once again. That stupid fly was trying to pull a one-two on him... "I'd really rather not have another emotional solo thread like this again, though. It's rather gross, don't you agree?"


Zane stood up, placing his hands in his pockets as he felt the wind rushing through his clothes, hair and very being. "Beelzebub." He'd say out loud, his voice slightly more serious than usual. "You always say you want everything for yourself. Whether it's Fiore, the place where demons live, wherever..." Zane clenched his right fist lightly, his eyes scanning the many homes, shops and other buildings around Oak. "Well, I wanna help you do that. We'll take everything this world - and every other world - has to offer. You with me?"

"Took you long enough." Beelzebub happily buzzed, overlooking the cityscape through Zane's eyes. "We'll make sure everything out there belongs to the lords of the fly."

"Yeah!" Zane bellowed at the top of his lungs, raising his fist into the air and most likely waking up anyone within a 2km radius. He felt so reinvigorated.

"But uhh... how do we get down?"

EXIT