"Ul-" Was all Gene could manage before Ulrich slammed the door in his face.
Lainey and Dominic looked at Ulrich, now looking considerably more pissed than usual.
"You, uh…doing okay?" Dominic asked.
"Yep. I'm fine." Ulrich replied hastily. "He just wanted to drop some clothes off to me. So I'm taking a shower." Pacing up the stairs as calmly as he could manage, which wasn't that calm.
Once Ulrich stepped in the shower, getting used to the concept of being naked in someone else's house, he turned up the shower as hot as he could handle, and began thinking. Looking back, he was kind of as asshole to Gene. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe it was a good time to just let him do it, let the chosen ones do their thing…
Nah. This was his chance. It was his chance to prove himself, to finally outdo Gene. And hey, saving the world wasn't half bad either.
But the main question was if he would have to fight him at any point. Vivian sure, she seemed like a real bitch anyways, fighting her wasn't a problem. But then the question goes to the other two members of this. 'The boy with dark hair and the girl with the incredible backstory.' It wasn't him and Lainey, so that's a further two people he didn't even know about. He would like to continue this train of thought, but the shower's hot water ran out.
A tragic event that may doom the world.
He stepped out to get dressed, unwrapping the shrink-wrapped packaging that contained his new hoodie. A pure white hoodie with blue sleeves, alongside what seemed like an entirely new outfit. A new purple shirt of his favourite band, Stockholm Syndrome with a Beverage, and a nice pair of black jeans. He only put on the shirt and jeans, and headed downstairs.
"Hey." Lainey said, before noticing the shirt. "Stockholm Beverage, huh?" She mumbled.
"Yeah. You know 'em?" Ulrich replied.
"Sure do. Those two Irish guys with the same name, right? Think I was next to them at a music festival once. Kinda shitty music, I have to admit."
"You think?"
"Irish guys?" Dominic piped in. "You Irish?"
"My dad is, but I've never been." Lainey replied.
"Ah, cool." Dominic said. "I remember my dad saying some weird things about Irish people, but you two are just staying the night, right?"
"Yeah, then we go up tomorrow, right?" Ulrich asked.
"Hell yeah, man." Dominic responded, chuckling.
"Well, you wanna go to bed?" Lainey asked.
"Go to bed?" Dominic moaned. "It's like, nine PM. And I just got past the intro for the game."
"Yeah, and I just got dressed." Ulrich chimed in.
Taking off her jacket and rolling over to the end of Dominic's felt couch, Lainey let out a quick "Try to be quiet." Before closing her eyes.
"I got a TV in my room. You wanna go up there?" Dominic asked.
And so, Ulrich and Dominic decided to move up to Dominic's room, and like his living room, it was littered with random posters and figurines alongside a woodcutters axe with gems on it, and a desk with some paper scattered about.
"Oh, shit rooms a mess." Dominic yelled, rapidly shooing Ulrich out. Ulrich waited for about two minutes, and when Dominic let him in it was slightly cleaner. All the paper was gone, there were a few things like food wrappers on the ground, and the entire room had a vague smell of cheap deodorant.
"Right, ready to play the game?" Dominic asked.
And the two played the game on Dominic's smaller TV. The two of them went through the dungeons, getting their asses kicked, but eventually making it. Ulrich looked at the digital clock in the room, and it was eleven. Ulrich decided to go to bed, and Dominic followed.
Dominic woke up, and checked his clock. 3 AM.
"Nerves must be getting to me." He thought. He tried to go back to sleep, but he ended up hearing muffled noises coming from downstairs. Just Ulrich or the other girl getting food, probably. He looked over, and Ulrich was still asleep on the floor.
But the noises kept getting louder. To almost a concerning degree. Almost sounding like one of the…
He grabbed a woodcutters axe, polished to a mirror shine, adorned with green jewels in a poor attempt to resemble a weapon from a crappy anime he watched when he was fourteen. He quietly stepped down the stairs, and peeked into the living room. The two were still fast asleep on the couch, under the spare blankets he provided them. He heard the noises coming from the kitchen, and crept in.
And there it was. One of those demons that messed up America and France, in his house. It didn't seem to notice him, as it was peacefully raiding his fridge. But if he had the right information, there are more demons on the way, so he had to kill it now. He swung the axe, but the demon dodged, causing him to fall into the fridge, headfirst. He turned around, plunging a fist into the demon, and getting his hand stuck in the gelatine-like substance, desperately trying to pull it out.
This was it. He was gonna die. For a moment, he stopped. He accepted that this was it.
And then he remembered.
"This is bitch shit!" He yelled out. Instead of trying to pull his hand out, he went in, plunging his other hand in, diving into its mass, and eventually pulling chunks off it. But every time, it would simply put itself back together.
And then it stopped.
There was a small noise on the other side of the kitchen, and the demon crawled over to it. He looked over to the doorframe, and Lainey was there, wearing a white tank top with the words 'Trik Mystik' on it, and black underwear. She inspected the flat underside of the demon, and looked over her shoulder to see him still there.
"You're dreaming. Now get lost."
When Dominic got up, he still had that dream in his head. Immediately, he went downstairs to see Lainey and Ulrich, fully dressed. Not really being able to contain his excitement, he went in.
"So, what was the deal with last night?" He asked.
Ulrich and Lainey looked at each other, confused.
"What are you talking about?" Lainey asked, with a tone as blank as her expression.
"You know, the demon you have."
"Demon? Its never one demon. If there was, we'd know."
"Bullshit! There was totally a demon at my fridge last night, and you banished it in your underwear!"
"You had some weird pervert dream about the demons, and you think I had something to do with it. If you wanna take us to Buckingham, lets cut the crap. Or I can ditch you and go by myself."
But Dominic wasn't taking it. He looked around, noticing the guitar case. And then it hit him. The flat demonic underside was due to the guitar. He immediately tried to grab it, and Lainey responded by grabbing it back, trying to kick him in the balls. But for such a scrawny looking guy, he was pretty strong, being able to wrestle the guitar case off her, opening it up and taking out the purple guitar. He began inspecting it, but then Lainey began wrestling the guitar off him again, and successfully kicking him in the balls, causing him to let go of the guitar, making Lainey lose her footing and fall back. Ulrich dove to try to save her, but the demon came out, turning itself into a makeshift cushion.
"I knew it. You two are hiding something!" Dominic yelled.
Ulrich merely mouthed the word "Shit" while Dominic celebrated to himself by throwing his fist in the air and letting out a primal scream. When Lainey got up, Damian stood in front of the door, pointing at them.
"Okay, you owe me an explanation! Why are you carrying a demon with you?"
Sure, they could just push him out of the way, but this guy could make a scene about them, or do something really dumb and hurt himself. And so, Ulrich explained everything. His town, Gene and Vivian, Lainey's demons, everything. And when they finished, Dominic stood in shock.
"So, you can control fire, and you can control a demon. And you want to go to Buckingham to find some unknown relic."
"That's the gist of it, yeah." Lainey sighed
Suddenly, Dominic's face lit up like a stoned Christmas tree. He dashed upstairs, and when he came back down, he had his woodcutters axe with the green gems on it.
"Alright, I'm fired up! Ready to go!"
"Ready to go with what, exactly?" Ulrich asked.
"Same as you, duh! Getting into Buckingham and assassinating the king!"