The Guardian - A My Inner Demons AU Fanfic

Chapter Three - Settling In

Emerald was awoken by the sound of the toilet in her bathroom flushing.

Repeatedly.

Giving a soft grunt, the woman pushed herself up onto her elbows. She was pleasantly surprised to find her head clear and her ribs didn't hurt as much as before, reduced to only a vague ache.

The toilet flushing again brought her attention back to what had originally awakened her. Thoroughly grumpy, Emerald got out of bed and opened her door. It was still early in the morning, given how dark everything was. It made the sliver of light from under her bathroom door easier to see.

'Why would Ava be using my bathroom?' she wondered. Nearby, she was surprised to see her baseball bat from earlier sitting on the couch. She grabbed it, then went over to the laundry room to retrieve her glasses from where they'd been knocked off her face. Finally feeling put back together, she knocked on the door. After a moment, the dark blue cosplayer (she was fairly certain his name was Rhys) opened it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I didn't mean to - "

"Just... get out and go to sleep. I need to use the bathroom." Emerald gently pushed her way past him, propping the bat next to the toilet as she turned around. She stopped, her hands midway to the edge of her pajama pants. "Uh...what're you doing?"

"I want to observe how you mix potions." His face was adorably eager, eyes fairly lit up with curiosity.

"Oh my God, you don't know what a toilet is, do you?"

"A toy-lot..." Rhys stumbled over the word.

Emerald got a sudden, wicked idea. She retrieved the bat, raising it menacingly in her hand. "Leave, before I unleash my powers upon you!"

"W-wait! I didn't mean any disrespect!"

"Too late." Emerald reached back and flushed the toilet as she twirled the bat once. That was all it took. Rhys raced out the door, slamming it shut behind him. "Just so you know," she called out, "humans enjoy their privacy in this room. Spell mixing can be very difficult."

"Y-yes. *ahem* Apologies."

* * * * *

When Emerald woke up again, the sun was barely beginning to peak over the tops of the city buildings. She stretched, reaching over to check the time on her phone only to discover she never actually plugged it in last night.

'Well, that's a kick in the pants,' she thought, sitting up as she plugged it in. 'Good thing I'm not going anywhere today...'

Emerald heard a door slam open from inside the apartment, the events of yesterday and last night rushing back to her suddenly. "That's right," she muttered. "They're still here." Realization slowly dawned as she realized they were closer to Ava's room than she was. She flung herself from the bed, ripping open her door and rushing quietly towards the living room on bare feet.

"Don't wake her up. The larger female human tried to kill me last night!" she heard Rhys whisper fiercely.

"And I'll do it again if you don't get out of this room right now," Emerald growled softly, coming up next to him in Ava's doorway.

Rhys froze, not daring to turn around. As he stood there, Noi came in, yawning sleepily. "Hey, have you guys seen one of my daggers around? It's missing."

"Quiet Noi, or you'll wake her!" Rhys was louder than he wanted to be, but both the human and the young Daemos had rattled his nerves.

From the bed, Ava let out a sleepy groan.