The Difference Between a Human and a Demon

Chapter 4- The Pain We Share

(Flashback)

Gabrielle, age 5, skips happily to her parents memorials. She was three years old when they passed away. She visits them once a month for the last year, her uncle let's her go alone sometimes. Like today, Rin had gotten in trouble again at daycare, so he is currently handling that.

"Hi mommy, daddy," she smiles, placing the flowers down. "I made a drawing of you, I sent it to granma. Uncie gave me a photo of you both. I..I miss you mommy, daddy."

Gabrielle sniffles as she stands up. She turns and a man is standing there. A man she knows.

"Mr Pierce!" Gabrielle smiles. "Did granma ask you to visit me?"

"Not exactly," he smirks.

Gabrielle frowns, she looks around at the strange men. She notices the pin on one of them men, the octopus her uncle told her and the twins about. The people who her parents fought. She tries to run but a man grabs her. She tries to fight him, but he knocks her out.

When she wakes up again, she is in an unknown building. She tries to get up but she can't, she begins to cry. She is terrified, what is going on? Where is she? Will her uncle find her? Will Mr Fury?

(Two years later)

Gabrielle walks out of her cell, her eyes no longer filled with light. She has died, she is a hallow of her former self. She has gone through 100 tests, 200 battles, and so much more. She follows the scientist to the lab, one last experiment. They place her in a large tube and attach wires to her arms and head. She sighs as the oxygen mask starts up. The tube fills with water and then pain.

Next thing Gabrielle knows, she is being carried by someone. She whines and opens her eyes. She looks up to see Phil Coulson. She cuddles against his chest, finally happy to have someone she knows. They take her to SHIELD and do check ups on her, Fury and her grandmother were pissed to say the least. Gabrielle refused to speak about what happened.

(End flashback)

"Because of those tests....I ended up with these," Gabrielle sighs, her left hand glowing icy blue. "The Tesseract, an ancient magical artifact of Jotenhime."

The twins are quiet. They did not expect her life to be so....similar to theirs. She went through so much pain, so much torture.

"I'm guessing you two went through worse, being in Gehenna," Gabrielle says to get the attention off her.

"Yea....we went through training with our father," Rin sighs. "If we did something wrong, like you, we were beaten. I.....I....."

"You can tell me anything Rin," Gabrielle says.

(Mephisto's office)

"You let them be tortured!?" Shiro screams.

"How would have I stopped him?" Mephisto asks. "He does as he pleases in his domain. He wants them to be his perfect demons."

"So he ripped Rin's wing off? Broke Yukio's bones, made them bleed, caused them so much pain and showed them their loved ones being tortured?"

Shiro cannot believe Satan made them see Gabrielle get tortured. If he does that to her, he will kill him himself! Shiro watches as Mephisto smirks, he knows that is never a good thing. His face pales as he realizes Satan didn't show them what could happen, but what DID happen. That is what Peggy was so mad at him, why Tony and the Avengers never talked about what happened to her. She was tortured.

"You knew. You knew what happened to her and you didn't tell me!?" Shiro yells.

"Of course I knew, I knew when it was happening. I'd be a poor demon of time if I didn't know."

"Why didn't you tell me!?"

"What would have YOU done? You fight demons, not soldiers. SHIELD would have ignored you because it was YOUR fault she was taken."

Shiro says nothing. He knows it is true, if he just made her stay a few more minutes, he would have gone with her. And the next day he had to blame Rin for what happened. It was not Rin's fault, it wasn't Yukio's fault, it was his. It was all Shiro's fault. He lost his best friend when the twins were born, then he lost his sister and brother in law a few years later. He could never do anything right apparently.

(With the twins)

Gabrielle hums as she helps the twins calm down. She wipes her tears. Things are so much better now, it is like a weight has been lifted off them. Sharing their pain with each other helped. Yukio nuzzles in her neck, making Gabrielle blush. She always had a crush on the youngest twin. She sighs and notices Rin is now asleep on her lap. Yukio is also asleep. Gabrielle giggles and leans back, slowly drifting off as well.

Shiro enters the twins room and is surprised to see the three asleep together. He smiles, this reminds him of a better time. Before shit hit the fan. He grabs a blanket and covers the three. He knows it will still take a long time to get them to open. But they are opening to each other. That is a good thing. Right?