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Nothing belongs to me. At all.

What a remarkable scenary, jewel green blades of fresh, crisp grass evenly looming in perfect meadowy patches like it just got professionally trimmed with the practiced eyeballed snips of a prideful and patient nail clip owner. Tremendous-sized trees sprouted up from the dark, moist earth in the most impressive display indeed, no overrun vegetation or shrubbery found anywhere at all. Seriously, was there a landscaper that resides in this particular area? Almost everything was organic in every way possible. I can't wholefully guarantee that this place was cruelty-free, though, sorry animal lovers. Maybe you'll save them next time.

However, one of the trees were sadly decapitated in the midst of this lush forest-like area. Splinters of the great tree still scattered around the base of the dry, tough bark of the short trunk, inanimate and never to again feel attachment and life no matter how hard you tried to uselessly connect the two. Even the strongest of glue can't fix this dilemma, no matter how precise you placed the wood chips in the spiky wooden cast.

This one trunk with no sign of the other half of the tree available in sight for miles to come stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the tall, graceful organisms surrounding and taunting the outlier, shaming it to pure disgrace. It was apparently 'different'.

Grace and beauty along with perfection thrown away in the nearest overflowing trash bin, this particular trunk was being stepped on. No, seriously, do you see the feet on there? Forget about the other grownup saplings treading on the trunk with their roots, slowly driving the trunk to utter decline, pay attention to those fancy shoes. Yes, those black polished ones, the ones you would see a cruel rich guy wearing while a child shoe polisher attends to them just to only receive a few coin in exchange for labor. Y'know, child polishers that use black polish? The kind that can kill a werewolf?

I think you're getting it now! Fan-Ta-Stic!

Those tap shoes, prom shoes, army shoes, whatever they were, they were there. That was only one part of the whole-hmm? What do you mean 'The only part of what?' Did I forget to mention a body was there? Important details must come first, sure, if you insist so badly. A human figure was atop of the tree trunk on their two feet, confirming it was at least an anthropomorphic creature. But were they really human? Scratch that 'human' in sentence twenty-four of this damned abomination of a one-shot and replace it something like...'creature-like'.

The figure stood tall and definitely was trying to intimidate any opposing creatures that dared to even take a small peeking glance at the out of place bizarre pest. Ah, but you're not looking quite hard enough.

Yes, zoom in closer. Now you see more of the picture, although it was shaky. The figure was adorning a fine tailored suit, one that emitted an aura of superior importance. It was a slim fit, an unbuttoned baby blue overcoat along with a white dress shirt impressively fitting him well while both wrinkled magestically. Two golden buttons embroidered on the sides shone like stars-no, novas. A silk red tie wrapped around his collar in a well established way, flowing down from his neck to his looped brown belt like a fancy marble fountain. Grey dress pants covered the lower part of his body while those shoes, black dress shoes, treaded and obliviously sunk in the nature form of a wooden floor. A trunk. Yes, trunks are wooden floors now.

Given with the formal outfit I just described to you, you would've first guessed 'Oh wow, this must be such a party pooper and strict OCD guy,' but think again.

Look at the creature's head. Yes, see something interesting? Poking out the raven-haired bowlcut of this creature lies two horns, sharp ivory horns. They stuck up directly in intimidation and glory, the owner most likely proud of the final development of these nicely shaped grown up horns. But why were there horns in the first place?

Okay, now I ask of you to take a peek at their tail bone. Wha? No, it's not considered inappropriate if you stare at a stranger's buttom. Just look, jeez.

A peculiar black sleek tail sprouts out between the ruffles of this creature's clothes, the end seen as an arrowhead. This same single tail swished around excitedly as if it had a mind of its own, bound to one day smack someone away involuntarily.

Nothing about the figure speaked 'excited' at all in contrast to the hypocrite tail it currently owns. In fact, those same bricky loud inducing shoes repeatedly slammed against the top plane of the trunk, a seemingly frustrated action.

Now let me introduce you to this certain creature. This figure literally wearing a suit in nature itself is Osomatsu. As you can tell, you are currently judging a devil, a spawn from hell itself. Be careful with what you verbally or mentally say. Because I'm sure you don't wanna play with fire.

Osomatsu bared his teeth out in pure distaste, nails ready to drive in his pale skin and pierce it to an absolute mess. "Dammit! Behind again!" The red devil took this moment to hop off the trunk and woah! He floats/hovers in mid-air as he sighs and takes a moment to review over his shitty day.

Hah. The devil got kicked out of Hell. Again. Osomatsu hated Satan and those controlling demons with a burning passion. I wouldn't be surprised if he burned down the whole forest just to technically lash out at a living being and get relief from the intoxicating, smoky smell of burning wood. But the cause for his temporary banishment was for him to pinpoint and focus on bringing despair to those sinful, pesky humans, not to randomly burn down a mere few trees in the middle of nowhere.

It was not like Hell was better, though. The thought of him roughly chained to the dull concrete walls by the wrists while sitting in his throne (folding chair) didn't appeal to him at all. Even worse, the more you struggled and attempted to escape that dastardly room, the thicker the bound metal chains would get each time. Osomatsu slowly gulped at the thought of him forcefully having to wear an animal muzzle in the future and beyond if he kept his complaints up.

Ah, focus you Devil you! Osomatsu shakes his head from all those scary thoughts and focused on the environment and severity of his current situation. So by the end of the day, Osomatsu must collect a soul. A human soul, at that. So far, the devil only just got transported here, a few hours of daylight left until the deadline was due.

He was screwed, wasn't he? There was a reason why Osomatsu was a bad devil. Not as in a 'bad' and 'evil' kind of devil. Literally, Osomatsu was 'bad' at his job.

"Why couldn't have the shinigami done their dirty work today instead of me?" Osomatsu raises that question to the bright spotlight by himself, aware that he might look like a weirdo talking to himself. Sure, as if you didn't look lost in some overgrown forest with a suit on along with inhuman features attached to you while floating. Yeah. Not weird at all.

Was this some sort of test? A test that was meant to, I don't know, test his abilities? I mean, all tests do that, but this specific one could've been to score if he could handle being a devil for another 10,000 years. Eh, no big deal.

Osomatsu sighs once more, ready to give up right there on the spot. This was way too much work for him. Soul collecting was for shinigami, not the almighty superior devil. Just who in their living mind would happen to randomly stumble across this part of the forest, some poor soul just stubbornly begging to be-

A rustle nearby nearly startles Osomatsu out of the air, causing the devil to yelp loudly. He starts descending down quickly, upside down in the midst of his panic. Only at the end did he manage to take control of his flight and stops only inches and seconds away from his nose making contact with the dirty ground.

Whoops, he was 'this' close to poking a bunch of eggs. Ooooh, they were large too, dragon-sized-

Nope! That's another fanfic to come out this year.

Osomatsu discretely whispers a 'phew' underneath his breath, glad that he didn't get dirt all over his face to later cleanup with...water. That would've been a huge hassle.

Osomatsu did not just shiver there.

Osomatsu rises his head up and cranes his neck around to find out the cause of that noise, expecting a rabbit or deer to pass by and fear his presence. Instead, his deep red bloody pupils meet the sight of a young lady with a strange object held up in their tight grip.

Definitely not a rabbit.

Osomatsu slowly ascends up into the sky until he completely hides his appearance in the branches, immersed with this odd appearance of a...human? The species was confirmed based on how unaware the creature was on the devil's presence. No knowledge of magic, perfect.

Osomatsu licks his dry, partly cracked lips with his forked tongue, a delicious idea formulating in his troubled mind. Bon appétit.

Meanwhile, this particular female walks up to the empty trunk, promptly setting the object straight on the somewhat choppy surface of the cool wood. As mentioned before, she had no idea on the whereabouts of the devil. Sure, she felt suddenly more cold and suspicious of something, but of what? If she couldn't see that something, then that something becomes nothing. Simple as that.

She flattens the case and unlocks the object that turned out to be a case of some kind. The top half pops open and the hinges let it sit there like a book, swinging open warmingly for curious eyes.

There, you could see the polished and refined diverse wood of this violin there, one that was unusually sized. A fiddle, they call it.

Osomatsu couldn't contain his grin from excitement and almost blew his cover from how monumentous this opportunity was.

He needed a soul, and this poor human seemingly isolated and shrouded in the thick leaves of the friendly neighborhood trees was just the perfect site for his hunt. No one would suspect a thing as opposed to Osomatsu perhaps having to blend in some civil town and slowly stalk his target. There was no need for all that extra work, for it was already done for him.

Now, how to go along it?

Murder? Nah, he didn't feel like magically casting his trusty axe out of air and effortlessly dismembering this human to itsy bitsy pieces. Maybe enjoy himself a little and take the route of rape? Nuh-uh, prostitutes barely make him hard at all, so what's to say this human would give him a great time?

None of them appealed to the devil, a great excuse pairing up with each elimination route.

His ears twitched once the high pitch waves of a rapidly vibrating string reached his hidden location in the sky, catching his strikingly short attention. The long bows were smooth, not a single stop for a couple of calculated beats while the sound changed slightly when the human adjusted the sound accordingly into the perfect pitch with the help of the small fine tuners and delicate pegs.

The human was currently practicing, already setup and ready to play a huge chorkonzert in the time Osomatsu debated on getting their soul. They seem focused on their playing, even dancing along with the rhythm and lovingly tracing the rigid edges for good luck. The case now currently stood up on the grassy surface, the human still focusing on their surroundings even while risking their fingers to get tangled from the complex movement.

Now, the purpose of a devil was to officially ruin a human's life in the most gruesome way possible. Sure, actively murdering organisms was fun, but seeing them suffer while committing a deadly sin was even better. There was little to no justice in Hell, enabling the devil to do as much as he pleased.

With that officially said, Osomatsu swoops in and lands his feet firmly atop the trunk, a wide cheeky grin plastered on his face. Man, this was going to be easy.

The human's eyes nearly bulged out of their eyelids, the song promptly paused from this devil's sudden appearance. Give an encore to Devil Osomatsu, the one and only! "Nice tunes you got there." Osomatsu complimented the shortlived melody of the interrupted song as he gently creased out his suit, flashy to this surprised being.

Flabbergasted, the female sets the chinrest away from her jaw, resting the instrument near her collar bone. "W-Who are you!?" She outwardly demanded an answer right away, panicking while fear reflected on her wide eyes. What was the meaning of this?!

The devil didn't seem to care about how she might literally pass out any second now. Blame it upon yourself for playing in the woods when nightfall will soon arrive. "Ahh, spare me the fucking introductions! Say, you happen to play that fiddle pretty well..." Osomatsu holds up a single finger to his chin, pretending he was in deep thought the moment he trailed off. Honestly, he could care less about this minor detail if he didn't need her soul now.

The female removes the violin away from her upper body and holds it gently by the neck, letting it hang uselessly by her side. She could only nod at this point, still surprised that someone else was even here.

Osomatsu snapped his finger out of the blue, a light bulb going off in his hellish mind. "I got it! How 'bout we have a small contest?" The red devil suggested, still arising questions for the other. The female snaps back to reality and gets a grip of herself, interest rising to this proposal.

"A challenge? Of even what?" She narrows her eyes in high suspicion, finally getting an idea of who this guy was. He was definitely untrustworthy.

Osomatsu chuckled before he grinned slyly, lips curved in a devilish smile. "Well, what else would it be other than a fiddle contest?" Osomatsu's tail piked up as he questioned her slow mind processing, ready to get this show on the road. She really needs to catch up on everything before everything goes awry. Osomatsu hates repeating his boring introductions each time a new human catches sight of him, only to end up dead anyway. What a waste of breath.

"Fiddle?" She looks in his hands, near the trunk, anywhere for a case. Nothing. "But you don't even have a fiddle on you. How would that work out?" She points at all the empty space with her curved bow, proving her point with what she can technically see with her two eyes.

Osomatsu sticks his forked tongue out and snaps his finger once more, a sudden bloom of glaring red flames bursting in his outstretched hands, suddenly manifesting a solid case from pure fire.

The flames die out to reveal a clearer vision of the pure gold case that the devil possessed, shinier than any diamond in the world.

The female stopped short and stared at the impossible itself. "You mean this case?" Osomatsu teasingly holds the case up to his face for her to feast her eyes on and jingles it around, not having a single problem lifting the solid up at all.

"I gotta warn ya, I actually played the fiddle myself for a while now. I know a thing or two about how to properly work this thing." Osomatsu boasts about his skills and places the object on the trunk, opening up the case with ease as well. The female stares and watches his every move, fascinated by the very magic of this.

Osomatsu proudly opens the golden case, the instrument of his choice also gold as well!

The female didn't seem to believe on the appearance itself and raises an eyebrow at the sight. "Did you just paint everything gold?"

Osomatsu scoffs angrily, not believing the treatment he was given. "Painted? Puh-lease! I assure you this is the real deal." His scowl mutates into a sick twisted smile as he held it up proudly for the sun to shine on it.

The latter stares at display, still not buying it. "That's not going to help me believe that it's-" A wild crash drowns out her voice the moment Osomatsu strikes the instrument against the ground, merciless in his hacking.

She flinches and stands back while someone gets murdered. "What are you doing!?" Her pitch rose up in worry for the delicate imstrument. Had he lost his mind!?

Osomatsu stops and held it up once again, not a scratch nor scrape on it whatsoever. "See? Perfectly fine. And it never gets out of tune~!" He haughtily dances with the gold bar, showing off everything he had. The former groans, if not just a little bit jealous from the magic.

Osomatsu stops in mid-stride of his festive dance and focuses on the current dilemma they were in. "Ah, almost forgot! Let's also make this a bet. Just to spice things up. If you win..." Osomatsu calls attention on the emphasized 'you' and points at the annoyed fiddler.

"Then you get to keep this fiddle! Good deal, huh?" The deal makes you, as the reader, salivate. Such a prize can almost nearly guarantee your success in life. Oh, you would definitely enter in this stupid competition.

"But! If I win!" Osomatsu lowers his hand down and forms a small controlled flame in it, a reflection of some trapped human inside it loudly wailing out mournfully. "I get to keep your soul..." Osomatsu's tone nearly changed at the sentence, menacing and demonic in his dark words.

Now you were hesitant, the idea of your trapped hellish figure in one of his mirages not going swimmingly in your mind. Ah, but obtaining that fiddle if you won...

You really want it.

One harsh inner debate later, you quiety sighed, officially signing the contract to your death. "Fine. I'm down for it." You whispered your agreement, Osomatsu's red scarlet eyes brightening from how willing you really are.

"Wonderful! I'll go first to allow you to witness what you're really going against!" Osomatsu remarked as he held up his bow, fully winded to the proper tightness.

You agreed and sat on the dry trunk boredly, expecting him to quickly get lost. Sure, if you can play that's perfectly fine, but would there really be any meaning in your every note? Or is every bow just a robotic thing that was just there, void of emotion for everyone to hear?

Osomatsu gets a small brick of rosin in the middle of his palm, vigorously moving the bow hairs of his dark ebony bow across the powdered, scratched surface of his clear rosin, making sure that every hair was finely done.

Then he carelessly threw the rosin away, letting it fall somewhere on the forest floor. White powder trails the ground, marking his exact crime of littering. You nearly wanted to lunge after it, set off by his personality. Just to get one of those are expensive these days, few even bothering to get a hold of it in your small, rural town.

Osomatsu roughly handles his fiddle, holding it with his neck before he sets the bow on the strings, a small creak already created from contact.

Your eyes especially were careful now, watching for any mistakes at all. A small slip up would announce your victory.

Osomatsu first starts with a long bow, a creak resonating out from that open string. Suddenly, two clones of him rose up from the ground, one on a tall wooden stool plucking the thick strings of his bass while the other joins him on another fiddle of their own, effortlessly being the background for the main melody.

Huh?! Why were they here!?

Osomatsu grins on the chin rest and starts a complex arrangement of true improvision, sounding surprisingly excellent in his unique style. Cold sweat starts forming at the corner of your forehead, your stomach coiled in alternate forms of fear.

These clones were just playing along, not even puzzled as to why they were there in the first place. You wondered why the two doppledangers had different colored suits if they were clones, thinking it was just some spell thing or whatever. Must be the most effective way to tell the difference between them...

Osomatsu finishes off in a slower tempo, the bow greedily taking up more space until the very end, a shaky but deep vibrato at the end of it all.

The other two copies of him all finished off in a dramatic flourish and slowly melted in the ground in glowing flames of purple and pink, their work done for now. Can you bring a stool with you to Hell? Interesting.

"Hey! That was cheating!" You angrily yelled out your opinion on all this, a hater now. Osomatsu doesn't bat an eye, clearing having done this several times for fun. You vague monster.

"Cheating? Oh, haven't I told you before? I've learned a few tricks of my own, if you actually pay attention to me speaking." He dodges the topic of him very much cheating and holds up the golden case, the fiddle apparently already inside.

"Remember. Eyes on the prize." Osomatsu throws the case to a nearby tree, spiking another ball of hate for this guy. Devil. Thing.

"Fine! I'll show you what I can do!" Eager to prove yourself, you energetically threw your bow up and catched it successfully in proper bow hold, the metallic strings now meeting the tightly wound hair.

Osomatsu rolls his sarcastic eyes at the display, never thinking he would find someone so serious about fiddling in his eternal lifespan. Well, except for maybe a certain Megami. Better make that 'someone' a 'human someone'.

You started off with a long bow like the devil, starting off strong and more dreamlike. Nothing was scratchy, unlike the devil when he first started. It must've been a style he came up, an awful style at that.

After ten seconds of improvision, your foot started tapping in the appropriate beat you were playing at, your body naturally going with the flow. The bow was pressed hard against the strings, a faint cloud of rosin puffing up in the forest air as the strings only increased in volume. Soon, you were yammering your strings freely, dancing full out to the music. Every bow was a call to the world, a message, an indeciphered speech. Long. Long. Short. Short. Long. Short. Short. Long.

Osomatsu stares at your moves, only a little impressed in that smug smile he offered you. Ah, but why was he smiling like that? Wasn't there better things to do? Like kissing his role of being the devil goodbye?

But the devil sees all. And in fact, he sees your dancing feet slowly coming it's way towards the unsuspecting trunk. Alas, the poor trunk had done nothing wrong. Why must it endure such abuse?

Osomatsu holds up three fingers, symbolism for the earlier mentioned Megami. Oh, no, he was starting to countdown as the time passed on. My bad.

"3..." Your feet happily skipped around as the fiddle spun in unison of your rotating head.

"2..." One of his fingers goes to rest as your leaping feet started approaching the trunk, the grass not enough to trip you up.

"1..." Only one finger remains up, the fiddle still harmonious as ever. Well, not for long now...

"Zilch." He quickly withdrew his index finger and smiled in satisfaction to hear a yell of surprise resonating from you.

Clumsy you. You hit the base of the trunk with your foot, a youch of pain but mostly surprise howling from your mouth before a tangle of legs and arms landed on the ground, your stomach now flat on the trunk. The fiddle fell down from your arms, landing roughly on the floor. A crash was soon followed by a horrible sound of strings badly singing together in disarray. That's going to hurt.

Osomatsu takes one step, one, before he laughed boyishly, the ordeal funny to him. Too many inspirational fails are occuring today. He even slapped his knee hard the moment he found out that the bridge collapsed and became free from the crash, making the fiddle virtually unrepairable.

You groaned annoyingly underneath his tall shadow, definitely defeated by this shitty devil.

Osomatsu starts pounding his chest, finding a way for him to calm down a little faster while you only gave him a stank eye. "Haha, that was priceless! I suppose I should take your soul now!" Osomatsu was still cracking up through his informal speech, even after attempting to make it all secede.

"Gah, it's not that funny..." You had to sadly face reality of never setting foot on this world ever again. Now, you were stuck with...him.

"Yes it was!" Osomatsu brightly smiled as he enthusiastically shouted those words, now outstretching his hand out to you. A flame formed in that same hand, burning bright in the dark forest. You nearly didn't notice it was even late at all, the sun setting right now as your fiddling just managed to make time go faster.

"Ah, so you have committed the deadly sin of envy and pride the moment you made a deal with the devil. Even if you won, you probably would've been sent to Hell anyway." All of Osomatsu's unnecessary laughter ceased for now, the moment more serious than ever as Osomatsu explained your faults.

You uncomfortably stared at his outstretched hand, wondering if you really had to shake that. It was on fire, so did you really have to burn your hand just because of some bet? Dammit, you felt petty now. The loss probably made you cranky.

Osomatsu didn't pay any mind to your uncomfortable stare at his special flames, waiting for your hands to meet and finally get this over with. Time was running out, the deadline drawing nearer every second this human hesitantly pulled her hand back in thought.

"Tick tock, time is a-wasting now..." Osomatsu impatiently tapped his right foot, game over already set for her.

The human snapped out of their trance and stared at their clammy hand."I..." She takes a moment of peace before quickly taking his hand in hers, strangely not feeling pain at all. At least, not any scorching pain.

Osomatsu, however, grins and crushes that fragile hand, energy forcing itself to barracade into your very living soul. You started hissing in pain, your blurry vision crossing in a mix of confusion. What was happening?

"YoU sHoUld'VE nEvER MAdE A dEAl wITh tHe DeViL..." Osomatsu's voice distorted into something disturbing, demonic. It chilled you to your spine, if you can even feel it anymore.

What the hell?

You blacked out.

You should've known devils always went down to Georgia to steal souls.

---

(A/N): Now there's the end of this random one-shot. Jeez, I completely put three books on hold just because of this 4500 word essay. And the cover was a pain because of Wattpad Covers completely trying to crop the image from an already cropped picture from another program. Now Osomatsu is cut off :'^) I almost WANT to continue this, but it was already terrible now.

02/05/17