"I'll stand right next to you."

The 10 years old cannot believe himself that day for actually becoming Oga's friend. He seem so detached from the others since the first day he came to elementary school. He could understand why since maybe he didn't know anyone there. But when he introduce himself to the new kid he brush him off. Not what he expected since who wouldn't want to make friends?

Everyday Furuichi would invite Oga to play whenever he got invited by the other students and he'd wait for him to walk home together. Sometimes even staying back to "pokopenning" everything behind their school. Furuichi still wonder who that mysterious woman is for knowing their secret word.

Furuichi still follows Oga to fights with the Red Tail, despite being weak and possibly getting hurt in these "parties", he knows Oga got his back just like how he depend on him. If he didn't see Oga's expressions change he would not believe that the brunette is actually a caring person despite being so violent, just like his sister. Even though he is unreasonable at times.

Somehow, Furuichi didn't think this would be included in his already complicated enough life. His eyes scan the tiny "room", he could barely see the outline from the shadow. People of different ages are huddled together, most of them probably from the worst part of the city judging from their clothes, some of them are children like him. The smell was so foul that he keep his face buried most of the time in his arms where they hug his knees, his head was beginning to spin from the odour, and in between he could detect a faint smell of salt. Panic begin to rise in his chest, he didn't know where they are taking him, he couldn't see and there's a high chance that he's in the middle of the ocean.

His mind wandered to his family, more importantly Oga. What if he thinks he had abandon him and doesn't want to be his friend anymore, he couldn't stand the thought of a crestfallen Oga. He was so carefree even though it was only a mask to hide his loneliness, he wouldn't think of crushing the brunette. He still haven't fulfil his promise to himself to help him find someone he can turn his back on without any worries. He could only hope for the best since he highly doubt Oga would come to save him after he disappeared on him.

He'd learned many things since he boarded this ship, firstly he was on a slave ship and all the slaves are squeezed into this single room. He didn't think slave trading still exist in this century. Secondly, if he did not get his calculation wrong, three weeks had passed. There's not much of a view of the outside in this metal container, so from the number of meals they were given per day he would estimate it to three weeks the longest. Thirdly, humans when desperate can turn into barbarians. Even though he say meal, it's more like snack and the quality isn't that good and because of that fight often broke out for the food. The fights are completely different from the ones he accompanied Oga with, those are more about pride and territory while these are pure desperation, survival instinct since the start of humanity.

Being in the youngest group in the cargo, they naturally became the default target. They were given two meals a day, but thanks to them, he had to skip them all. Many children broke down sometime around after 6 meals have been served and Furuichi spend most of his time in the corner either comforting the other children or conserving his energy since he know he can't beat the adults. Looks like the time spent with Oga and in fights finally bearing fruit, if he hadn't met Oga he was sure he'd break down like the others.

Along the way he realized that his captors had been adding something to the food. With each passing day the adults, or bullies as he labelled them, started breaking down and it went from bad to worse. So one way in another, he is grateful to the adults of their actions.

Upon reaching land, they were transferred to different cargoes and sold to different people. He had half a mind to run away from them but looking at the equipment security had, he'd rather live this out with a chance to escape rather than die here.

He was brought to a mansion, hardly an appropriate place to be for people like him he thought. They were expected to clean themselves and given a proper meal for the first time in…

He cannot remember anymore.

They seem to have managed to slip something else in their drinks back then, Furuichi curse himself for letting his guard down even for a second. The looks of everyone that was brought here had an improvement after the treatment but it only cause him to turn his guard up even more, this treatment continued for a period of time. After some time, they also made them go through some 'Training', Furuichi has never felt this much fear and hate towards humanity.

Looking back at it now, he guess this was expected. Most of them were quite good looking after they were cleaned up, and he was specifically given asexual clothes and they even tie up his hair. It seems to have grown longer without him noticing. The 'Training' isn't what he'd call normal anyway…

He is in some kind of enlarged birdcage when they removed his blindfold and he was tied up. There are many masked people below the stage he was on. He could feel the stares on him as he was set up on display and the speaker starting the auction.

"Next on the stage is a young boy from Japan! Yes, he is most definitely a male. Don't be deceived by his appearance, this lovely specimen is going to capture many people's heart, making you the envy of many others. Use him as a pet, servant or even as a companion."

He grunt in disgust at the prospect since the ones that were looking at him are mostly middle age men.

"Product like him are hard to come by! His silver hair and eyes glow under the moonlight, as if an angel has descended from the heaven itself. Especially his smile, it's a rare sight to behold! But whether if you're worthy to see it all depends on your luck! We will start the bid from 100 thousand!"

He was the only child in his group after they got separated from the boat so when the bid had gotten to over 750 thousand, he was sure he's shaking. He cannot tell from what but he assumed that he'd be numb towards this kind of experience since then.

He was carried to the backstage after the bidding is done, he couldn't see the winning bidder's face among the sea of faces. The one that came to greet him a middle aged woman. She stood tall in front of his cage, her black locks frame her face caressing it. Next to her obsidian eyes are lines that seem to indicate her tiredness, there's so much compassion in her eyes that Joshua tensed up in defense from that unusual emotion and thought that this woman does not seem to fit in this place. The woman is thin, as in sickly thin, she look like those long-term patients in the hospital, her skin is also sickly pale. Combining with her white flowing sundress, she look like a doll. For a moment, Furuichi felt a small hint of sympathy for the woman for reasons unknown even to himself.

A second person appear from behind the curtains to the back stage. He guessed that he is the real person that bought him and that this woman is maybe his secretary or companion. His way of dressing was… interesting to say the least. With that flowing cape/robe? And that long green hair, he wonders what kind of person would willingly dress themselves this way. Furuichi is stared deadpanned at the horns on the male's helmet, and for the first time in a long period felt disbelief.

"So this is the child." He called cheerfully.

He shuddered. Behind that oblivious attitude is someone powerful, after so much training from different people he developed a talent which saved him from a lot of situation, he could tell the difference between real powers from acting. And this person is no small fry, that suffocating energy is prove of that.

"Are you a king?" He immediately move to shut his mouth, looks like there is still some childish curiosity not beaten out of him. And it's going to be the cause for his death.

The man burst out laughing, "I like this kid! He's entertaining not like those old guys back home," he pouted, as if someone has interrupted his fun. "Not to mention he has quite the eye. Definitely a keeper!"

Furuichi release his breath in relief, he is going live to see another day.

"Don't scare him dear. I didn't do this for your entertainment." The woman berated the man, his wife then Furuichi concluded, as if she was scolding a child. Despite looking fragile, Furuichi notice the hidden strength in the woman's voice he hadn't noticed before. All the more reason to not judge the book by its cover.

"You can't possibly be telling me to let him go after all that work." The man whined at his wife, then turned to face Furuichi who was still in the cage. "You coming with us right?" Furuichi couldn't tell if that was a question or a threat.

"Keep quiet." The man shut up at her command then he went to a corner to sulk. The woman walk forward to open the cage and waited for the boy to come out since she does not want to scare the boy.

"Let's get you back home. Do you remember where you live?" She asked gently.

At the troubled look followed by the shake of his head, the woman patted his head gently. She pretend not to notice the boy's tension at her touch. "Then do you want to come with us? It depends on you. If you don't want to, you're free to leave."

Deciding that even if he decline the offer he'd have nowhere else to go, so he accepted with a nod. As he followed the couple out the hall, he swore he had seen bodies lying in the room where he was previously displayed.

"PRINCE!" A young man cried in hysterical running towards the large balcony. "Prince Halo!" The teenager named Halo turned towards the man along with his valet.

"What is it?" He drawled, "Can't a demon reminisce in peace with his friend who just happen to have free time in a long period?" His tone is border lining annoyed, moody and amused because the man stood in attention with a panic look on his face after he said it, afraid that he has offended the prince.

"Now, now, Halo. Stop scaring the poor thing." The valet turn his head away from his friend/sir to face the fidgeting man, his smile still in place, obviously this demon is new here or else he wouldn't have reacted this way when Halo responded.

"I-I'm sorry your highness, b-but the king has disappeared! The council is looking for him, and they say to ask for your assistance." The young man shouted in panic at the last part of his sentence. Only to prove that the valet's assumption is correct.

"Again?" The young man seem shock at the answer. So the valet answer his doubt while the prince went off probably to join in the search.

"You must be new here yes?" The demon nodded, "Then I can boldly state that the king went missing is nothing unusual." The valet look proud as he explains the working in the castle and continues to do so as the young man listened earnestly.

"Father!"

"Halo! How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'daddy'?" The voice came from above.

Halo raised his head to stare at his 'daddy', who was hanging on the ceiling with a pout on his face.

The male stare deadpanned at his father, "So what are doing up there…" he hesitated. "…daddy." He spat out the word as if there's a bitter taste in it, the edge of his smile twitching.

"Don't be so mean. I'm hiding from the council, you know how they, argh! "

"His majesty is over there!"

"No! Halo you traitor!" The man cried dramatically as he tries to stand but failed.

"You're the one who's avoiding work, 'daddy'." Halo stated as a matter of fact, emphasizing on the word 'daddy', still stepping on the man's robe since he fell to prevent him from running.

"But you can do all that for me…"

"That's the king's job! I only handle the minor issues. It's really a miracle mother stayed this long with you." Halo whined as if the person he was talking to was not his father but his brother.

After the teenager finish his sentence, a few old man wearing the same outfit rush to the scene. Halo just stare at them waiting for them to catch their breath, not even bothering to care about his father's struggles to escape.

"T-Thank you, p-prince H-Halo." The old guy wheezed, still panting then coughing. "Y-You're the o-only, *cough cough!*"

"You're going to need to recover fast or father's going to run again." Halo stated, now sitting on his father's back instead of stepping on the robe, perfectly comfortable even while the said man struggles under his son's weight.

Even with Halo's famous deadpanned expression and tone, the seniors can tell he's concern for their health. (Translation: Look after your health once in a while, how else are you going to catch him?) The eldest prince has always been the kindest of demons, just like the queen. Halo has gained quite the reputation of being one of the strongest while being the kindest in the demon world, a rare combination considering they live in Hell.

"Eh? It's true then? The Prince is really kind? I only thought it was a rumour, I mean it's only natural that the Prince is strong but kindness is a little..."

"Far-stretched? So he's not a good Prince because he's kind?" There is a threat behind the valet's tone.

"N-No! I mean you don't find those attributes in Hell so uh…" The new comer is sweating bullets, the valet was chosen to follow the Prince for a reason and he does not want to find out why.

"Relax," The grin is back. "I'm joking." He starts chuckling, the young man finds that he's more scared of the valet more than the Prince.

"Again, thank you for your help Prince Halo." The elder greeted. The king pouted the whole time he's in the council's grasp.

"Father, I have something for you if you complete your work" This got the king's attention. "Only if you complete and done a good job of it, I'll give you this." The teenager take out a console and dangles it in front of his father.

The council is thanking the Prince again when the king rush to his office while barking out orders to complete his duties.

"Give me the game" A boy walk towards the teenager while holding out his hand, waiting for Halo to comply. Only to find the console out of sight.

"What the? Stupid big brother I want it!" He demanded.

"I gave you one a week earlier, another one would be overdoing it." The boy's green eyes are filling up with tears.

"You know our deal En. I decide when you are given a game, you have duties to do."

"But Beelzebub don't need to!"

"Bel is but a baby, are you telling me that you want to be considered as one too." The boy rub his eyes of his tears and quiets reluctantly, shaking his head.

"As usual Prince Halo is the only one who can control Prince En's crying." The maid nearby start their gossip when they saw the scene. "He's does his duties perfectly, sometimes doing the others as well. He's also quite popular with the demons because of his kindness, you don't find guys like that anymore." The maids sigh dreamily. "He also very strong, just what you'd expect from a Prince." Another joined in the conversation. "I wonder why he isn't in line for the throne." "I hear from somewhere that Prince Halo isn't the real Prince." "No way!" "But if that's the case no wonder he isn't in line for the throne, you think he's only being nice so he can stay?" "No way, Prince Halo wouldn't do something so low." "Don't forget he's a demon as well."

The eldest prince could hear every single word that they are saying from his position, all his training has heighten his senses.

"…"

When he hears the scream of the maids he saw his little brother has done something to them, the maids are soaking wet.

"If you wanna gossip do it somewhere I can't hear stupid, I hate annoying hags." En yelled and made a face at the female demons.

"Now, now Prince En, that isn't nice. Right girls?" The valet from before appear again, holding the younger prince in hand while smiling at the maids. The leaking aura of menace from his face made the others back away from the man holding their prince in his arms. "Why don't you girls clean up?" (Translation: Why don't you clean that mouth while you're at it?)

Halo gave them a silent thanks which both accepted and went back to his duties. Followed by his valet. "And you say I'm scary, are you sure you aren't the one scary Dew?"

"Nope, I'm pretty sure you're scary. Only when you are fighting obviously." Dew grin grew wider.

"What a demon." The two laugh at their internal joke.

"Takayuki how's your day? Are you done with training?" Iris greets her eldest son and address Dew with a smile when they enter the queen's personal chamber.

"Yes, I'm done for the day your highness." Dew close the door as they enter.

"Fine, how's your day mother, Hilda?" Furuichi went over to the table to pour a cup of tea for his mother while he greeted the two female demon.

"I am well Prince H- Furuichi. And I see you have that grinning idiot with you."

"Aw, miss me Hilda?" A sword charged at him, using his own sword he block and reflect the attack but Hilda managed to dodge it.

"Can't the two of you stop fighting for once when you meet?" Furuichi walks over to hand Iris the cup. "You'll wake Bel" The two demon stop immediately of their fight, not wanting to wake up the youngest prince.

"As usual, you're doing a great job being the middle man." Iris patted Furuichi's for a good job.

Furuichi chuckled. I'm sure you're a little confused right now, only by a little of course since it doesn't take much to guess it. Halo is Furuichi, Takayuki is Halo. After the demon king and queen brought him to the castle as a boy to play with the prince, including many training to make sure he could at least protect them, the king just suddenly announce him the elder brother of En and the new prince Beelzebub with no warnings at all. He has no problem adapting to his new status since he survive in the castle as a servant, in Hell. As a servant he wasn't a big deal, so no demon knew he was of low status. Not to mention a human, only the royal family, Aldred and Hilda knew that secret. If you're wondering who Aldred and Hilda is I'll start the explanation.

Aldred, is a human as well renamed Dew, in training within Hell to become a bodyguard since according to the generals he has potential. Another interesting fact that Furuichi knew Aldred since the day he noticed the food is drugged by the smugglers. Yes, they were in the same cargo and the both of them still remembered each other. To tell the truth, Furuichi expected Aldred to be in his place rather than him since he can't really hold his battle in strength. Most of his battles were won through great planning and strategizing. Although he guess being sneaky also count as good in Hell?

Hilda is a demon maid hired to look after Bel, his youngest brother. Unlike En who has three and one of them is Hilda's sister he heard, she is really powerful so Bel is only assigned one. Despite her sharp tongue, she is really caring to those she consider family. Furuichi guess that it includes him since she is always respectful to him, although he is having trouble understanding why Hilda can't get along with Aldred/Dew and En when she treat the royal family as her own.

"Here Takayuki." Iris took out an envelope and handed it over to Furuichi.

"What is it?" He flip it to take a look at the front and back.

"Information on your blood family."

Everyone in the room except Beelzebub went into silence. Hilda and Dew out of respect and Furuichi because he doesn't know how to react on the information. He had long forgotten his blood family and didn't spend much time thinking about because in his mind he has duties to his current family. Now that his mother, adopted mother, has brought it up, he is not sure whether to feel elated at the news for he does not have any memories and feeling for his blood family. However there was always this lingering feeling of regret left for the human world that Furuichi knew stayed no matter how long he try to forget the human world.

Not to mention there was that brunette that always invade his mind whenever he tried to remember the human world. A lonely male that always stand in front of his, without a face, holding out his hands as if wanting him to reach for it. But no matter how much he tried, he could never grab it, instead it seem to be further away The irony here is that Furuichi himself live in darkness, how the heck is he supposed to help him? He lived in Hell for god sake!

But his heart never fails to constrict in guilt and sadness whenever the he thought of the brunette. Furuichi guessed that if he ever want to get rid of that feeling is to visit the human and complete whatever regret he has left.

"I guess I'll go back."

Dew and Hilda gasped in shock, thinking that Furuichi is willing to leave everything here just to meet the family that has never been there for him. Iris only gave her silent approval, after all she did want to reunite the family. No one is to be deprived of their children.

"Don't get me wrong you two." He hold up his hands in surrender to calm them. The white hair demon can practically breathe the killing aura. "I only want to tie up loose ends. I could never abandon the family that raised me." He gave them a gentle smile.

"Even if I am to stay in the human world I will never forget the part of me that stayed here." A chuckle. "I guess I better go pack, now to tell that to the old man." He turns to leave the room, his bangs covering his eyes to hide his expression. Even thought his face is devoid of any of them.

His expression is as clear as the day he was leaving. The King is hugging his whole body crying dramatically in his shirt, En is hanging onto his one free arm screaming. This happened for the whole duration he was walking towards the castle door. Not to mention behind the King there are council members trying to pry him off and the three demon maids trying to pry En off. It was a chain of mess. The other resident in the castle has never seen a more ridiculous scene. Hilda stayed respectfully silent while Dew and Beelzebub laughed out loud without restraint at the scene.

"Nooooo! Halo you can't leave! Who will do your paperwork?!"

"Those are originally yours father! You've survived before me you can do it again."

"Please your majesty, you still unfinished work to do."

"NO!"

"Yeah! Who is going to give me new games every month and play with me every day and compliment me when I win?!"

"You have Yolda, Satura and Izabelle for that! And you can't play every day."

"That's right master En, please let go of Prince Halo and let's play a game."

"Don't wanna! You three sucks at them, I want Halo to play with me!"

"Somebody get them off!" Halo cried desperately. Dew fell on his feet from laughing too much.

"I think I'll take the situation this morning any time other than this." Furuichi thought as he stand in front of the house that was supposedly his home if that 'incident' did not happen.

He fidgeted and paced in front of the house. Countless of questions entered is mind as he thought out every possible situation. Not very good ones. It ranged from the family not even bothering to remember they had a son to disowning him at first glance. Not that it was supposed to matter to him since he already have a family, but he was a family orientated guy. Rejection is so much a guy can take.

So the pacing continues, Furuichi is beginning to suspect that people are going to call the police for suspicious behaviour. With a sigh he turn around to leave, depressed and stress out. Thinking that he'd come back tomorrow, he slowly leave the scene.

"Thud!"

The male turn his head back at the sound of something hard hitting the ground. There in the middle of the street, a girl with brown hair tied to a side ponytail. His eyes move towards the bag on the ground next to the girl, he assume the sound just now was caused by it. He walk towards the shell-shocked girl wanting to help pick up the bag for her seeing as she seem to be unable to for the moment. Sibling instinct to help, he suppose.

"Big brother!" The sudden hug from the brunette when he close in, froze him on the spot. Holding in the instinct to fight back the hold since this is the human world. Demon are not the hugging type, back where he came from. The words shouted by the girl were not registered after she call him again.

"What?"

"You came back, just like mom and dad said! See, I told my friends that my brother would come back, you didn't leave! That will show them."

Furuichi couldn't keep up with her at all, she was crying, half-shouting and laughing at the same time. He patted her back on instinct, again, trying to comfort the crying girl while trying to make out what is she saying.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

The male tensed, his eyes wide at the voice. That feeling of guilt came back in full force, almost knocking him off his feet. He breathing increase, ignoring the girl's panicked concerns, his look up to see the person who has been haunting him. This time with the face visible, his vision went black after the sudden sharp pain on his head.

AN: If there is something wrong or you don't understand feel free to tell me. This is made in my own free time + exam waiting period.