Hello my darling beasties, it's finally time for another chapter of my Betrayus x OC story! About time, right? (Sorry it's been so long, my darlings, but now I'm finally back at it.....) ( And there's almost 200 reads already on this, and there'll probably be even more when I'm finished this chapter..... *sniffle* *tears up a little* You guys are so awesome! Every one of you darlings!) Anyway, let's focus on some more important matters, mainly diving into some more Betrayus and Valerie interactions! (Now the challenge for me is to just get them to actually begin to tolerate each other, then go from there into the good stuff....)  Which is probably the reason you're here, to see more interactions between the  half demon  and the hot-tempered fire ghost, right? Right?  ; )  Oh, and before I forget to tell, the art above belongs to the wonderful  Anti-CosmoFangirl, not me(my art is not as good, sadly. But one day it will be better! Hopefully........ ), so be sure to send her(Anti-CosmoFangirl)some love for her awesome artwork and fanfics (she draws one of the best humanized version of Betrayus I've ever seen, and her humanized Pythor drawings are really amazing as well, and as well as a ton of her  art!  It's good stuff, trust me!) on Tumblr and this very site here! So be sure to send them some love for their awesome work! Now, with all that out of the way, let's finally begin.....(and I really, really, really  hope that I'm getting everyone's character right, especially since I have to worry about yet another character that I'm introducing in this chapter....*sweats nervously*, but anyway, hope you beasties like it!)

Valerie's P.O.V

Okay, Valerie had to admit, that her escape plan from the castle was going to be  way more difficult  to execute than she'd originally thought it was going to be.......(Of course, it wouldn't be easy, did you ever think that this was going to be easy you stupid girl? I mean, it isn't like you are trying to escape from one of this world's greatest enemies or anything..... Oh wait, you are!  How could you have forgotten?  I mean, you'd have to be utterly brainless to not remember that! You're literally trying to escape from the very  equivalent of  the Underworld, so I don't know why you'd ever think it was going to be easy..... You're in the devil's domain now, little girl, and now you can never leave...... After all, he isn't going to let you just waltz out of here all easy-like, back to your old life....  If you really thought he'd just let you run off with no repercussions, you're an even bigger fool than you look you  utterly foolish, stupid, stupid  girl.....)  Her various, somewhat semi-healed injuries from the previous days ached in agreement to that statement(okay, so maybe one day of actual rest wouldn't be enough to feel 100% okay again. Especially since her body was still so battered from the previous days of failed escapes and other chaos, and she was pretty sure she'd ended up bruising her knuckles from punching the wall last night out of utter  frustration. Now, with her still sore knuckles still dully aching hours later, she regretted that course of  action. Totally her fault of course, because of her own carelessness...).

She'd known from the day before that Betrayus wouldn't let her get away so easily-which was probably why she now had those "things" strapped tightly around her wrists- said "things" which acted like those collars that you use to shock a misbehaving dog into submission, further preventing her from even leaving the very castle(but how exactly far she could move within the castle, she had no clue. How far did the limits of those "things" around her wrists exactly reach? That would be important to know, she reasoned.  She'd need to figure that out pretty soon, if she wanted to try again to escape....).

And to add insult to injury, there was that one particular event that had happened the previous night, which she recalled with no small amount of anger on her part(it still pissed her off to no end to be even thinking about their previous exchange from last night, much to her dismay) .......

"Are you serious right now?"  Valerie could hardly believe what she'd just heard(He wouldn't, he just wouldn't, she was already pissed off enough as it was, this would just make things worse for her later if she just reacted yet again without thinking.......) , thinking that  there was no way, simply no way, no possible way that he'd actually do-

Her worst fears were confirmed by the completely and utterly smug look she received as an answer to her question. (God, how she hated that smooth, overly self-satisfied smirk of his. Yet some small, sick part of her mind admired it, for whatever reason. What was wrong with her?)

" Well, duh! If you insist on acting like a princess, you're going to be imprisoned like one. "  He was completely and utterly unfazed by  Valerie's shocked expression, and infact, it only made him grin wider to see her practically vibrating with anger(Valerie willed herself not to throw another lamp at his stupid head. But she'd already done that before, so that was off the table, so to speak. No, maybe something heavier, like a brick. He couldn't dodge that could he?  But there was a maddening lack of loose bricks around here, so scratch that idea.  Or better yet, punch him  right in his stupid, overly smug face. That'd really wipe that stupid grin off his face then, and finally shut him up too....)

God, he really was enjoying this, wasn't he? (She could tell by that oh so smooth grin that he really was enjoying this, seeing her stuck here....)  If he wasn't going to kill her, then why wouldn't he get pleasure from seeing her  inable to escape his hellish realm, forever trapped among the dead, at his mercy? She was technically his to do with as he pleased after all, so he seemed to enjoy making her squirm...... Seeing her helpless to do anything to escape her current situation, even after all the trouble she had gone through to try and escape(and failed, again, and again, and again, and again.....), now reduced to merely glaring angrily at him.....   this only  causing him to  widen his grin.

Right then, Valerie changed her mind. He wasn't just a jackass, or a asshole as she'd originally thought him to be, he'd far risen beyond that word at this point. This man couldn't be described by such paltry words like that in the slightest.

He was nothing but a wicked, arrogant, hot-tempered, egotistical, self-centered( but really, she could go on and on all day about this).... oh what was that word?  She knew what it was, yet  why couldn't she bring it to mind? It was just on the tip of her tongue....  Ah yes, now she remembered.......

He was a bastard, plain and simple. No two ways about it.

But as for what he'd just said.....

Valerie, a princess? Normally she would have laughed at such a joke(Her a princess? Yeah right!  If there was anything she knew, she definitely wasn't one of those sleep for a hundred years, kiss the frog, skip the haircut, lose the glass slipper , happily ever-after girls in any conceivable way that she could see. She thought herself more of  a heroine than  ), but with the blood beginning to boil inside her had wiped away any idea of laughing at that little comment.(And oh how she wanted to punch him right in his stupidly smug face for this.)

Okay, so she wouldn't be escaping anytime soon with the "things" on her wrists (and she still felt the sting of the shock she'd received from earlier, much to her  obvious displeasure), but did he have to really lock her in(overnight no less, probably because of the few times she's tried to use the cover of darkness to help aid her escape out of the castle. She remembered THOSE particular attempts unfortunately, where she'd wind up getting caught before she even made it one foot away from the castle....)? Putting those "things" on her wrists was one thing(she'd have been able to otherwise overlook that if those were the only things she had to be concerned with at the moment), but this was another thing entirely.

He seemed to note her expression. "Oh please, it's not like I'm locking you up and throwing away the key."  "However tempting that  idea actually is...." He muttered to himself. 

Valerie could barely keep the sarcasm from oozing into her voice. "Oh gee, guess I should wait in my literal tower for prince charming to rescue me. That is if he doesn't get torn to shreds by any of the creatures here on his way to rescue me."  Noting Betrayus's self-satisfied expression, she barely  even thought , or considered stopping herself, before she blurted out the next sentence. "Ugh! I can't believe that I actually thought you-"  She thankfully cut herself  off with a frusturated groan. What had she been trying to say? (Oh Val, I think it's pretty obvious to everybody here, I mean, why kid yourself? I think we ALL know what you were trying to say there....)  That she'd thought  that  this man had done something  out of   the  goodness  of  his heart? Yeah, and she'd just magically wake up with a supermodel body, Tom Hiddleston as her boyfriend(what could she say, she had a total crush on Loki.....), and her very own pet rainbow unicorn.

Of course he hadn't.(She should have felt relieved at that thought, but for some reason, she felt so...... disappointed. But why did she? )

God, how dumb was she? (Pretty dumb apparently.....)

 Did she seriously think that he'd even let her out of the dungeons almost a week ago because....... she'd seen something in him?  Why did she think she'd seen something good inside this wicked,  arrogant, egotistical man (Even if she couldn't entirely dismiss what she'd seen back there. She still wasn't sure if what she'd seen was just her desperate mind trying to see just a bit of good in someone who very clearly didn't have anything remotely good in him whatsoever, at least from what she had seen .......) Was she really as foolish as to believe that she'd seen something human, something halfway decent  inside this man, who'd been often compared to the devil himself?

Apparently she was that foolish. (Was she ever not? After all, she did wind up stuck in this place, and it was mostly due to her own stupidity and carelessness..... )

Betrayus's  expression seemed to falter for a moment at her words. "Thought what?"  It wasn't an accusation of anything as Valerie had expected from him(and oh, how she did expect him to fly into a wild rage at her words, something  Valerie had seen him do far too many times, and often at her, over the past few days.....), in fact, a hint of..... surprise(or some other emotion she couldn't identify) seemed to be audible in his voice, however even he was keeping his expression(But why was he? She wondered. Was she just imagining it?).

Valerie didn't respond to that question(and to be frank, she didn't know if she could answer) not wanting to admit  that she'd-she'd.......

Of course, he still wound up locking her in after everything(had she really expected him to do anything different? If she had, she was an even bigger fool than she'd originally thought she was...), leaving in her alone in her new  room/prison, however nice said new prison was(and Valerie had to admit it was miles better than the tiny pillbox of an apartment she'd owned for all of a week back in PacWorld, even if she couldn't leave her new room during the night at all.). But even if you put a wild bird inside a gilded cage, it'll still long for the woods where it once came. The wild bird wuld do anything to reclaim its freedom.  And this bird wasn't going to just become tamed all that easily, she was going to escape her cage, no matter what it took, no matter how long it was, this  bird was going to escape her cage(and finally fly away, free....).

After he was gone(God, she still wasn't used to the abrupt, vaguely unsettling way that ghosts sometimes chose to enter or leave a room, by quite literally phasing through soild objects as if the solid objects were just a mere inconvenience to them...... It still gave her the creeps, no matter how much she'd seen it happen. ), Valerie, fighting off tears(just tears of frustration, she tried to tell herself, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction that he was making her cry, she just wasn't going to do that), tried to calm herself down(and mostly failed at that part.).

Thankfully- or rather, not so thankfully, considering her current perdicament- she was going to have a lot of time to think things over, and considering that she was most likely stuck until morning, Valerie tried to occupy her mind with other matters.

She needed to focus her energies elsewhere(mainly escaping this flaming ego castle), instead of remaining fixated what she was currently focused on at the moment(for reasons she could not seem to comprehend), mainly because doing what she was currently doing, would get her nowhere, fast.

Just wondering endlessly about that wicked shell of a man was just going to drive her insane if she kept it up, she needed to focus on something, no... anything else! That bastard wasn't worth any of her time(she shouldn't care about what had just happened, and yet, why did she? Was there something really that wrong with her that her thoughts kept drifting over to him?), so why did she keep fixating on him?

Maybe there really was something wrong with her.(Oh, now you get it! And to think that you've been so unaware of that until now, it's almost as if you don't listen to me sometimes.....) After all, she was such a mess of a terrible person already, there just had to be something else that was seriously wrong with her......

She'd ended up pacing the length of the circular tower room(besides the bed, Narnia-style wardrobe, and chair, there was really very few pieces of large furniture, and it was nothing she could pick up that easily....) several times in an effort to somewhat calm herself, trying the window again(and nearly getting knocked off her feet by the shock she received as reward for her efforts. She could hear the sound of somebody giggling at her afterwards, seemingly coming from the bathroom. Which was far too puzzling..... It sounded far too feminine to belong to HIM, but who on earth could be in there at this time? And in her bathroom too, which would seem weird to Valerie on a normal day, but really, since when had things ever been normal for her? She was half monster, and she was literally in a ghost-infested hellscape of a world, nothing would probably give her much of a surprise anymore .....), and finally; punching the nearest wall in her utter frustration(she immediately regretted it afterwards, when her hand  began throbbing with dull pain soon after impact. Thankfully it only seemed to be bruised, not broken, as she'd originally feared it had been. It still hurt like hell, but at least she didn't have a broken hand to add to her current list of worries. Which, to be fair, was only growing in length as time moved on and she grew no closer to achieving her objective..... )

That was when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. And what she saw there....

Well, what she saw there very near made her heart stop beating  in her chest.

 A tangle-haired redhead with her horns poking out from her still frizzy hair(monster, monster, nobody will ever love you for who you are, monster....), wearing dirty clothes and a ratty looking army jacket that was dirt-stained and blood splotched, blinked at her, face blotchy from the effort of holding in tears. The girl's lower lip trembled as she appeared to be struggling not to erupt into noisy sobs at the drop of a hat. Her eyes held a sort of wildness to them as the girl gazed back from the mirror, for the girl had an aura around her that suggested madness or one about to go mad(or maybe she'd already gone mad, and just didn't know of it yet. Wasn't that what happened to you when you went mad? You were so sure that you were sane, but then you'd wake up and find that you were really insane the whole time? Wasn't that how it worked? She didn't exactly know for sure, for she hadn't really experienced anything like that outside of reading about it..... ). She was wild, she was terrified,  she was a mess, she was dangerous looking, but most of all....

 The girl looked like....  like..... a monster.

This monstrous girl had  been lead away by dark creatures into an unending, macabre dance, and if she didn't wake up from this nightmare she'd found herself trapped in or find a way to win back her freedom, she'd die down here.   Far too young, and all alone.

Her story would end there, with no chance of a happy ending, no triumphant return home, no escaping from the labyrinth, just death, despair, and hopelessness awaited her from now until the rest of eternity.

Unless......

Right then, something made Valerie square her shoulders and turn away from the girl in the mirror. No more of that. She was going to escape this place, for good this time. And this time, she wasn't going to let anything stop her.  (If she failed.... well, she really didn't care much about that at that point. What was failure to her anymore? She'd basically lost everything, so what did it mean to her if she didn't succeed in her increasingly futile attempts to escape?  Her mind was more focused on other things rather than thinking of the potential consequences of what could happen to her if she didn't succeed with her escape this time around......)

But she didn't count on something completely unexpected happening a few hours later.....

Somebody knocked at the door, the sound not registering to Valerie at first, but too soon, the sound registered in her mind. She paused,  her shaking hand wiping away the tears that'd formed in the corners of her eyes(she'd been crying a little, however quietly, but the tears still felt like somewhat of a release of the current tightness that was constricting her chest), the realization dawning on her all too soon.

Someone was at the door. They were going to enter the room, see what she'd been working at for the past hour or two-or however long it had been since she'd been so unceremoniously locked in here-, and then they'd ........

Well, shit. Shit, shit, shit, fuckity bugger shitwank. This wasn't going to go so well, was it?

Yeah, Valerie was a goner.

Valerie's head shot up from her work, eyes widening, a wave of  icy-cold dread quickly washing over her.  Crud, crud, crud..... Valerie began to mentally panic, digging her nails into the bedspread to keep herself from yelling out a curse word . Whoever that was, they were going to see the makeshift rope she'd constructed(using bedsheets mostly. She couldn't find any thing else to really add to the rope, mainly because the blanket on her bed was too thick to use properly, and there weren't even any curtains covering the window she could pull down to use to add length to said rope, so it was rather small), and the open window(it had taken several tries to even touch the window latch, and more than a few shocks, but she'd managed to get the window open eventually , even if it was just a few inches short of being fully open) . She'd probably have been able to explain away or hide the rope, but the window?  That was going to take a whole lot of explaining..... And there was probably no way Valerie could explain away what she'd been doing, no way at all (they'd have to be stone-cold stupid, oblivious to what was clearly in front of them, and not to mention completely  and utterly blind, to believe anything she had to say at this point.....).

"Door's locked...." She tried to keep her tone even as she called out, wincing slightly at the obvious wobble of nervousness in her voice( Can't lie to save your life, can you Val? Well that's true, considering you can't even seem to tell the simplest little lie, even when it's your own neck that's about to go on the chopping block ...)  as she tried to gather up her makeshift rope, struggling to stand up from the bed where she had been working the past hour or two(she hadn't paid much attention to the passage of time to be honest, she'd been more focused on constructing her rope than checking the passage of time, and now look where it had gotten her....). She just needed to hide the rope somewhere, under the bed, or kick it out of the way, just do something to hide it, anything at all(You're going to be so very dead otherwise Val, deader than dead, if you can't pull this off...), just really anything at all to conceal the evidence of what she'd been doing.....

Otherwise, she didn't know what she'd do otherwise....

In her panic, she barely registered the door opening with an audible creak.....

Then, the sound of someone clearing their throat caught Valerie's attention, ceasing her panic. An older man in a purple suit(and matching hat), carrying a tea tray was gazing at her curiously, one grey eyebrow raised as he took in the scene in front of him. He looked vaguely like somebody's elderly father, or  grandfather, vaguely reminding Valerie of her adoptive father(Her insides still knotted up thinking about him, and his final parting words towards her.....)Valerie with her arms full of makeshift rope, the open window, and all. Instinctively, Valerie dropped her makeshift rope to the ground with a audible thud(making her mentally wince at the sound, which sounded so much more jarring to her ears in that moment than normal).

He looked vaguely familiar to Valerie, as if she'd seen him-no, she definitely  knew that  she'd seen him before, she just couldn't place where exactly- somewhere before over the past few eventful days. (But for the life of her, she could not exactly remember why he seemed so familiar to her, although the thought had escaped her at the moment.....)

A moment of  uncomfortable silence followed, as Valerie's mind whirled, trying to find a believable excuse.(CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP Is he going to go and tell Betrayus about this? He's probably going to go and do that, he's so gonna do that. Why would he do anything different?  After all, Betrayus has probably told him all about what a pain and liar I am, and he's probably added all sorts of  lies about me, the bastard....He's probably been told all sorts of horror stories about me and how horrible I am, so why wouldn't he ?.....I'm deeeaaad, so very dead, deader than dead...... But if he was going to tell Betrayus, wouldn't he have done it already? Unless he's going to do it now or something..... Is he waiting for me to say something?  I can't just stand around like this!  I need to say something! What should I say? What should I say?)

"Well, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything of importance..." Was he being sarcastic or something? Valerie couldn't exactly tell. The tone in his voice was too even, so it was difficult for Valerie to tell exactly. He sounded vaguely British to her.  But wait, did they even have the same countries here as they did back in the world where Valerie had originated from?  Or did they just all have the name "Pac" put in front of them?  Somehow, she never bothered to ask or even wonder about this until now. And why on earth was she thinking about this now, when this man was most likely going to report that she'd been trying to escape, not even a few hours after her previous bout of chaos? She'd have to lie(verbal lying wasn't one of her strongest qualities, she'd always been awful at that.....), and hope to God that he'd believe whatever she said......

Somehow, Valerie managed to find her voice. "T-this isn't what it looks like, I-I, um....... found it like this." Great, why on earth had she gone with that?  Of all the stupidest things to say..... Was she seriously that dumb to think that up?(Yes, you are that stupid....)There was no way that he'd believe that poorly constructed piece of  complete and  utter bullcrap. (It was like her sister Harper had said. Valerie couldn't lie to save her life, even when it really mattered. It was probably one of her worst  And she was right, as was annoyingly usual of Harper to be.....)

"Young lady, I may be old, but I'm nowhere near as foolish as everyone thinks I am. "  (Yeah, he definitely had a hint of a British accent, no doubt about it.) He looked at her knowingly, his expression suggesting that he knew exactly what she was about to do.

Valerie's shoulders slumped, and she shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.......

Nothing.  Why was nothing happening? Valerie had expected it to have happened already, so why was nothing happening?(Was she dead? Wasn't she dead? What exactly was going on?) Maybe she'd died already, and this was just some sort of  near-death dream she was having before her untimely end(probably that, right?). But the pounding of her nervous heart convinced her otherwise. If she was dead, than why was her heart still trying to beat its way out of her chest in fright? Dead people didn't have heartbeats, as far as Valerie knew(but with ghosts, who really knew for sure whteter they possessed heartbeats or not?). So she wasn't dead. But why?

Vaguely confused, she opened her eyes, noting the man had set the tray down on the bedside table, and was currently pouring a cup of steaming fragrant tea.

"Aren't you going to report me to Betrayus?" She didn't mean to sound so nervous, but it was all too apparent in her voice(Valerie felt herself mentally flinch at the hitch in her voice as she spoke. She didn't men for her nervousness to shine through like that....). She moved a little away from the window, still unsure of what was happening.

The man seemed to look a little surprised at her words, but he merely shook his head. "Miss Sawyer, after the events of today, I think it'd be better for everyone if  Lord Betrayus didn't hear of this little incident."  "I was merely instructed by Lord Betrayus to 'check up on you", not report you."He didn't even look up from his tea pouring to see her reaction, merely just set the steaming cup of tea down.  "Of course, it was utterly thoughtless of me to have several other duties that I was taking care of at the time he ordered me ...." He practically muttered that under his breath, so Valerie almost didn't catch what he had said.(And  she couldn't exactly tell whether he was being serious or not. )

Valerie's shoulders sagged in visible relief. Okay, so she wasn't going to die like she'd feared.(But not tonight ...... a little voice whispered inside her head. Valerie mentally willed that little voice to shut up for the time being.) Through her relief , she still managed to register the man's next few words....

"And I presumed you would have tried to bowl me over again or throw the cockery at my head if I said anything different....."

Something clicked inside Valerie, making her stop in her tracks. "Wait, bowl you over?......." Why did that sound so-The memory flashed through her mind instantly. She remembered over a week ago, she'd..... almost knocked this man over in her panic. Great, now she was feeling bad again(as per her nature when stuff like this happened. Just another one of the many things wrong with her: she never thought about the potential consequences of her actions.).  As per her nature, Valerie felt instantly terrible (and why wouldn't she? This man probably thought she was a terrible person by now....).

"Oh my god....... I didn't think- I'm so sorry." She finished lamely, instantly resorting to beating herself up mentally over her own stupidity, as per habit (god, you really are a selfish girl Val, always thinking about yourself instead of others, don't you ever stop and think about anyone  else other than you?  Do you? Of course you don't Val, you're just too self-absorbed, too caught up in your own insignificant problems to see anything other than yourself. You stupid, careless, selfish girl ....) .

Much to her surprise, the man merely gave a light chuckle at that. "Think nothing of  it, my dear, save for the fact you gave me quite the shock that day." Valerie smiled sheepishly at that.  "But what's past is past, so pay no mind to that now."

Huh. She didn't expect this man's words to alleviate some of the anxiety worming its way through her core(her thoughts on the other hand, were mostly silent for the moment, with merely a few whispers inching their way through her mind every so often, mostly about how much of a fool she was, but those could be easily waved away for the time being, even if those thoughts would eventually make their way back into her mind), but somehow, it did.

But part of her mind wasn't going to let its guard down that easily. Valerie was as stubborn as ever, and the " So, did you come here to try and talk me out of escaping or something? Because I hate to break it to you, I don't think that's going to happen."  God, she didn't mean to sound so sarcastic when she uttered those last few words, and almost instantly after she said them, she instantly regretted them. Why was she like this? What was wrong with her?(Oh Val, what isn't wrong with you?  Let me count the ways. You're too stubborn, you're stupid, overly needy, too weird, a terrible liar.... oh really, we could go on and on!) The first person that had actually gone out of their way to even show her a scrap of kindness, and she had to ruin it(this is why we can't have nice things Val, she thought with no small amount of  bitterness directed at herself, you're just going to ruin them eventually with your bad attitude, and by.... Well, just being you. Guess the whole "re-inventing yourself" thing didn't work entirely like you'd planned, did it? Of course it didn't. Because you're still the same old Valerie, no matter how tough you act, what your hair color is, or how much you try and change who you are....). 

The man remained unfazed by her words, seemingly not affected by what she'd just said. "Not exactly. I merely  thought  you'd care for a spot of tea, a peace offering of sorts if you wish to call it that."    Okay, so he didn't seem to immediately hate Valerie instantly (unlike a certain egotistical fire ghost, not to name any names or anything, because  she was so done with his shit.....) as she'd originally feared. That was a good sign, hopefully....

He picked up the steaming cup, offering it to her, much to Valerie's surprise. It was the first decent thing someone had actually done for her since she'd came to this place after all(and to her surprise, she actually found that she missed those simple gestures of kindness that were so apparent in her old life, that she'd hardly paid any attention to until this moment), so it really was surprising to her that someone would have gone out of their way to do something for her.....

Somewhat cautiously, Valerie accepted the cup of tea, (a tiny part of her mind was completely and totally against accepting anything from this man, the part of her mind that was somewhat mistrustful of people, especially after  everything that'd happened over the past week and a bit, also because of  the tiny part of her mind that was screaming about poison.), and after  some hesitation on her part- and a little urging on the man's part- she took a sip.

Valerie hadn't expected the tea to taste like anything overly wonderful-her experiences with the various foods so far in this place had been..... less than pleasant to say the least (She'd probably eaten more bugs mixed in with her food in the past week and a bit than she really cared to have eaten in her entire life. Apparently, the majority of food here involved bugs, slugs, and other weird ingredients.). For one, she wasn't going to be eating anything that had eyeballs floating around in it again, that was for sure(an incident with a bowl of soup in the slime mines a few days back had proved it to her. What made it worse was one ghost offered to eat it if she didn't want to finish it and then fished out the offending eyeball, and popped it right into their mouth..... Or the fact that they'd referred to said eyeball as "extra protein" before they'd done so....) And she definitely wasn't going to eat anything that would go goosh (like the eyeball would have. God, she still felt vaguely nauseated even when she even thought about that..... ) when you bit into it, probably like ever if she could help it - but she really, really didn't want to seem ruder than she'd probably already appeared to be to this man(and even if it ended up tasting like swamp scum, at least she wouldn't seem more of a terrible person than she already was probably seeming), so what could it hurt to just bring a little bit of her  old, pre-reinvented self (the self she'd tried to be after THAT whole incident almost a year ago, the one she still didn't even want to recall....) back for just a little while?

And besides, she could use a cup of tea  to warm herself up(her the thin lining of her army jacket hadn't been doing that much to help her in that department) after a day like the one she'd been having.......

Wow. Valerie didn't know what she'd been expecting before(Tea with the vague flavor of swamp scum, maybe. She wouldn't have been surprised about that), but certainly nothing like this.  The tea surprisingly tasted like something akin to chai(with an almost coffee like taste), very smooth and creamy, flavored with spices she couldn't seem to name(the faintest taste of cinnamon was the only spice she was able to halfway identify, the rest remained utterly foreign to her untrained tounge), and most importantly, warm(Valerie felt much warmer now, that was for certain). This tea was probably the best thing Valerie had tried in a long time. "Wow.... This is really good!"  The man seemed to look mildly surprised at her words a first, then a small smile came over the man's face . It was almost as if he wasn't entirely used to people giving him compliments......

Okay, so she finally was finally managing not to not completely screw anything up (just another one of the many things wrong with her....) or make anyone hate her(one of the things she constantly agonized over, much to her obvious dismay), which was pretty good.....

"Thank you...." Valerie trailed off uncertainty, for she realized one thing. What was she doing? She didn't even know this man's name did she? She'd completely forgotten to ask this man's name.(stupid, stupid, stupid....) Guess she couldn't go for five minutes without completely messing something up, as per usual ........

The man seemed to notice her obvious distress, and thankfully  supplied his name(or what she assumed to be his name....). "Buttler." 

Wait, had she really heard that right? She couldn't possibly have heard that right, could she?  Oh my god, because if she did, that'd be pretty funny.....(and if she did, what she had just heard was obviously  so ridiculous she couldn't have really heard it properly, could she?) And did he really pronounce it like.... that? A tiny snicker escaped Valerie before she could stop herself, making her instantly regret her action. "Sorry....."

The man merely shrugged. "Think nothing of it,  everyone seems to have that reaction to my name, but I can't imagine why."  Well, at least he was joking(she couldn't tell exactly, for his voice didn't seem to really change all that much as he was speaking, so he probably could have, but she wasn't able to really tell) around about it, instead of getting immediately angry at her. Valerie allowed herself  a tiny smile at that.

It  actually was..... kind of nice. She'd actually missed having somewhat normal conversations with people, or just the fact that people still did things for one another not motivated out of pure selfishness.

But just as soon as they'd shared a friendly moment, it was apparently over. The man cleared his throat, and turned away, collecting  the tea tray. Right. He was clearly busy with other things, so he clearly saw no need to stay around with Valerie and chat, so she was going to be alone, yet again.....

A moment of awkward silence. God, when you heard about these in books, you really paid no attention to them(or in Valerie's case, just glossed over them until the good stuff came back), but why did these seem to drag on for  an eternity? If Valerie was a character in one of those books she read, she would have broken up the silence with something witty or clever, but she wasn't a character in a book who could just easily  change the way things were with her words(and if she was, she was doing a pretty poor job of  being the heroine of her  story, that was for sure....), she was just the same old Valerie that she had always been, no more, no less.

 Instinctively, her gaze drifted over to where the window lay open.....

The sound of  a certain  somebody 's unamused, "really, not this again"  sigh broke her out of her reverie. "If you really must insist on continuing with all this, might I suggeust waiting a while until  it's lighter out."  Valerie knew that look he was giving her all too well, what she had dubbed the "don't try this crap with me, young lady" look that her  dad used to give her(Valerie felt herself instinctively feel like an six year old girl again, who had just gotten into an argument with her dad on the first day of school....).

"Why?"  This was actually completely honest, for Valerie currently had no idea what this man was trying to suggest. He wasn't exactly trying to stop her, if anything, he seemed more unamused than angry, so what was exactly going on?

"Miss Sawyer, I know for a fact that this is a particularly unforgiving place, and if you think his Lordship is troublesome enough to deal with when he's particularly.....in a mood...."  A pause, as if he was trying to carefully choose his next words.

"Then you wouldn't  wish to see him when he's in one of his rages."

Valerie swallowed nervously, hoping to god that her fear wasn't apparent.  Wait, so what she'd seen today wasn't even the tip of the proverbial iceberg? Well wasn't that  So there was something worse than having Betrayus mad apparently..... Oh wow, it wasn't like those words sent a chill down her spine or anything...(which they totally did. Okay, maybe she was a little-no, more like a lot-, definitely that -terrified at the prospect of  what that man's full rage could entail for her.....)

Somehow, Valerie managed to keep the fear out of her voice, speaking with more bravery than she actually had. "Betrayus doesn't scare me." (Oh really? Think that over, Val..... Think long and hard about that.... Are you really sure about that?)

Her words apparently had no effect, for the man's expression didn't even seem to change in the slightest, except he raised one bushy eyebrow at that." That maybe so, but if I were you, I'd keep out of trouble. After all, there are worse things out in this world than his lordship, things a young woman like yourself  wouldn't care to meet after dark..."

Wait, what was that he'd just said? Valerie opened her mouth to speak, but all too soon, he was gone(he'd just taken up the tea tray and vanished through the wall, not bothering to even dignify her with a response. At least this time seeing the whole "oh by the way, ghosts can pass through solid objects like it's no big deal" thing wasn't quite as jarring as she had originally expected it to be) Valerie was left alone again, feeling even more perplexed than ever.

What did he mean by  that? What could be out there that was worse than Betrayus, if there was actually anything?

Maybe she should just discredit whatever the man had just said, and try to move forward with her plan. But yet.....

What exactly was out there?  Did it have anything to do with the fact that she hadn't exactly gone very far the previous times she'd tried to Valerie was a curious girl at heart, so she figured she could just take a little peek out the window, just to see what exactly "Buttler" had been talking about. (At least this way, she'd know if there really was anything out there that she needed to be worried about)

Setting down her tea(which was now beginning to cool fairly quickly), Valerie took a seat by the window, leaning slightly  forward.

Okay, so far nothing out of the ordinary(at least for this place). The strange, hellish landscape was bathed in a sort of twilight glow, the normally red sky taking on some deep wine colored undertones(and there were even a few stars appearing in the twilight sky), and the whole place seemed surprisingly..... peaceful, maybe, dare she say it? Sort of beautiful, in a completely unexpected  sort of way.....

Valerie shook the thought out of her head as quickly as it had come. What was she doing? Was this place getting to her(it must be, if she was beginning to think like that)? She couldn't start thinking like that now(if she did, then she'd never escape, and slowly wind up becoming a complacent, empty-headed doll of a girl, perfectly content to stay in her cage.....), she needed to stay focused.....

If there was really nothing out there to be worried about(and what was there? She could leave now, and she doubted nobody would notice, or even really care if she did so ), why shouldn't she just make her escape now?

But there was one thing that made Valerie nearly curse aloud when she realized it. The makeshift rope she had made? It was much too short, barely even reaching one fourth of the way down the side of  the tower. If she used it now, she'd either get stuck halfway, or wind up having to jump the rest of the way, and even with her reflexes, she might wind up breaking her leg, leaving her completely injured and vulnerable on the hard ground below, or far  worse......

Like always, Valerie had acted on impulse, and although she'd originally thought that this time, it'd work out for her, fate clearly had other plans(and that was just like fate too. In stories it caused more harm than good, creating tragic misunderstandings between two star-crossed lovers, drove brave heroes to accidentally kill those they loved, and completely fucked up relationships. Yeah, fate was a bitch in those stories, just like it was in real life.....) 

Practically fuming, Valerie almost didn't notice the flicker of a long, ink black tail, disappearing over a rock far below her...

Wait, what was that thing? It clearly belonged to another creature(and one not human), but clearly none that Valerie had seen before(what other things existed in this realm besides ghosts and three headed dogs the size of small buses? She'd only seen a small part of this so-called "Netherworld", so that might be true that there could be other creatures that  she hadn't seen yet...), so-

Screams of pain assaulted her eardrums, nearly making Valerie cry out in shock. She instinctively ducked down, trying to cover her ringing ears, hoping that somehow she could block out the sound....She could feel the sounds rebreviating inside her skull.....

 Those shrieks of pain sounded all too human, and with sickening realization, Valerie realized those screams were familiar, at least to somebody like her who'd only heard them in films, usually when ......

Those were death screams. Somebody was dying out there, clearly very painfully from the pained tone of the shrieks, and she was trapped, completely unable to do anything at all to even offer some sort of help to the person who was out there....

After a moment-which felt more like an eternity- much to Valerie's horror, the screams died down, leaving Valerie with an icy feeling slowly spreading inside her chest.

Was it over?  She pulled herself up, terrified at the thought of  what she might find......

What she saw there, would remain ingrained inside her mind for a long while after she'd seen it, the image seemingly burning into her brain, even long after she'd slammed the window shut and lay down on the bed, trying to get her terrified mind to rest. But her mind seemed focused on one thing, and it wasn't sleep.  She could hear those creatures outside, faintly keening, their teeth ripping into the flesh of whatever poor soul they were making their meal....Those sharp, sharp teeth, dripping with blood(What big teeth you have grandmother!). The wide mouth. The oily, inky-black body with the long, almost whip-like tail. The multiple pairs of blood-red eyes.......

Yeah, that definitely wasn't going to be going away any time soon(Oh look, you've been traumatized! Yaaaay......).

So there apparently was something worse than the rage of an egotistical fire spirit, and that was getting eaten by whatever the hell those creatures were that lurked out there?

Oh joy......

But thankfully, those things outside were gone when she woke up(Her sleep had been less than stellar, punctuated with dreams of tearing flesh and screams.....), so Valerie didn't need to worry much more about those things climbing inside the castle during the night (which was probably what her nightmares had been about actually, even if she didn't really remember much from them) . Although she didn't see them anywhere near the castle from what she had seen(were the creatures too scared to even go near the castle?), so she was pretty sure that those things(whatever they were) wouldn't get her during the day.

But if she couldn't make her escape during the night, then what could she do?

Twisting a strand of red hair around her ring finger, Valerie considered her options. She had basically run out of options at this point in time, and from the stunts she'd pulled over the past several days(and she was quickly running out of ideas. Chaos took a lot out of a girl), she couldn't continue doing what she was currently doing, not if she wanted to remain in one piece.

Her mind drifted over to one thought: What would your sisters do?

Her sisters(it still vaguely hurt her chest to think about them). Her amazing, infuriating, wonderful sisters. What would they have done if they were in her place?(Though she sincerely doubted that any of them would have been as stupid as she had been, because she knew for a fact that the five of them were worth far more than her....)

Harper would probably try and appeal to reason(she was the most sensible one of the six) or better yet, she would have actually watched where she was going, and have hot have fallen down a literal portal to hell....

Pheobe would have looked for another way around her confinement, and wouldn't have hesitated to stoop to do whatever necessary to escape. If anything, she was the most determined out of the six of them....

Alyssa? Well, Alyssa was..... probably the meekest of the six girls(at the first sign of stress, she "rolled belly-up" so to speak), and tried to avoid conflict as much as humanly possible , but she didn't let things get to her as easily, so she would have stayed more level headed than Valerie had.

Nico would have used her "persuasion" on him, convincing that she wasn't in the wrong, she should be let go, and better yet, convince him that it had been his idea the whole time.

Jacandra would have tried to actually resolve things(she was a mediator at heart), not just make things worse like Valerie had done....

But she wasn't any of her sisters, she was just the same old Valerie that she'd always been, no more no less, and she couldn't be anyone else(no matter how hard she wished sometimes)....

Then the thought struck her. It was a plan, the very fuzzy outline of one, but it was still more than nothing.

Right there, Valerie made up her mind. She was going to continue with her original plan of escape, but this time she'd do things differently.

She'd have to be smart this time, no more running off at a drop of a hat, no more visible escape plans.... Basically, Valerie would have to play the role of the model prisoner(until further notice), until  she could make her way out of this realm.

Somehow, she'd figure a way to escape this flaming ego castle, and the wicked ruler who resided there. She'd need to keep her mind open, be careful, and be clever.

After all, all the best heroines( Sara from Labyrinth, MabelRose from the Courageous Princess, BabyDoll from Sucker Punch, Chichiro from Spirited away....) had managed to succeed in doing so, outwitting and defeating those that held them captive, earning their freedom, so why couldn't Valerie herself?

Yes.....

But first things first, she needed something to eat(Valerie had eaten most of what she'd had in her bag the previous night, and she was already sick of energy bars after one day). Preferably something that didn't squirm or was covered in slime....

Time skip bought to you by  Apex, aka Sir who will not be appearing in this fanfic due to certain reasons

The sound of curses reached Valerie's ears from all the way over in the next room, making her visibly wince at the harshness of the words. Shouting, and biting curses mixed in with whatever poor unfortunate soul's name the speaker was currently cursing out(and it was clearly more than one unfortunate). Yeah, it was pretty obvious who was being so..... overly profane. Which was one word for it.

She took another bite of the chunk of bread she held in her hand to try and somewhat calm her nerves(God, she was nervous). She just tried to focus on the taste(chewy, made with some sort of rough grains, not one of the best tasting things she'd had, but not the worst either), rather than focus on anything else at the moment. It really didn't matter what HE did, she wasn't going to care either way(she just wasn't, she wasn't.....)....

Instinctively, she felt someone's eyes on her before she heard the door to the kitchen close.

Could it be.....

Turning around in her chair, she noted the same man from the night before-Buttler, she remembered-setting down another tray on the nearby counter, one of his bushy eyebrows raised in surprise.

Had he really expected her not to be here?(She wouldn't have been sitting right there if she'd actually done her original escape plan from the previous night...

"Why so pale? It's almost as if you've seen a ghost."

Okay, that actually got a laugh out of Valerie(and she really hoped he couldn't detect how nervous it sounded to her own ears), making the man give a small smile at that.

A moment of silence. Somehow Valerie managed to find her voice.

"What's going on back there?" With her free hand, she pointed to the room from whence the man had come, the voice still vaguely chilling her from where it came(she wasn't scared, she wasn't scared, she wasn't scared.....).

The man suddenly seemed more preoccupied with arranging the tea tray than he had a moment ago, not wanting to meet Valerie's eyes. "It's nothing to be overly concerned with. Just Betrayus having a little..... disagreement with the guards."  His tone was even, but Valerie suspected that this man-however nice he was- wasn't exactly being completely honest with her. He's probably been instructed to not let her find anything out about what was going on(and from what had happened yesterday in the study, she probably wouldn't find out what exactly all that had been about either), being purposely vague in order for her not to go looking for the truth about what was happening.

Well, she could play at that game too.

"Okay...."   But she'd need to figure out some things first, mainly to find out how exactly she was going to escape....

"So how big is this place exactly?" She needed to know the lay of this castle after all.

The man paused what he was doing, turning to look at her. "And why do you ask?"

Crap, she was going to have to do a quick save, otherwise......"Well, if I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future, I should try to keep myself out of trouble, so maybe there's something.... to do around here? Besides just sitting around."

The man seemed to pay no mind to her hesitant words. "Sad to say, there really isn't much that'd interest you. There's the ballroom, the throne room, several other unused bedrooms, the library...."

Okay, that definitely caught Valerie's interest. "A library, huh? Tell me more...."

It took a moment for the man to realize, but he gave a sigh, as if realizing he'd given away too much. "Me and my big mouth....."

Time skip brought to you by me(the author) sincerely  hoping I'm getting everybody's character right.....

Okay, so her search had been more fruitful than she was expecting. After she'd found her way to said library(and this was after getting lost twice), she'd actually been sort of surprised at what she found.

It was fairly big after all, sort of like the library she'd seen in Beauty and the Beast(she remembered being about eight year old, and wishing to own a library that was as amazing as that), except if the beast was more of a goth than a 17h century prince.(Okay, she had to admit that it was sort of beautiful, in a weird way.....)

And more curious, among the leather-bound books(some of which had looked as if they hadn't been touched for decades due to the amount of dust on them), were some more modern ones(like Stephen King and the such), mainly one that made Valerie roll her eyes at how ironic it was(considering whose castle she was currently captive in, it described him perfectly).

"Wicked? Yeah, no kidding......" She muttered to herself, shaking her head at the irony of the title.

Eventually, she'd found what she was looking for(there seemed to be no obvious organization to the way the books were placed on the shelves), and after finding somewhere somewhat comfortable to sit(there was a desk in the middle of the room, with a perfectly good chair), she began to read.

At least what she had chosen would give her a little bit of insight to this strange world....

But, like always, she got caught up in the task, barely even keeping track of the time....

Until an all too familiar voice startled her out of her concentration. That, and the claws that suddenly clamped down just above her left elbow(where she still carried the scars from the last time he'd done that....), nearly making her very nearly yelp in shock from the suddenness of it(but somehow, she managed not to).

She slammed the book shut(hoping that he wouldn't notice what she had been doing inside).

Turning her head, she gazed into that all too familiar pair of red eyes. Betrayus. Oh god, he was so close to her(close enough that she could see a few flecks of amber in his eyes if she looked hard enough), still towering over her by several inches, but Valerie instantly felt claustrophobic. The last time he'd been this close to her was yesterday, when everything had happened in his office.....

He seemed to note her somewhat shocked expression, but his expression didn't seem to change, as he spoke the next few words.

"Well, well, well. I really didn't believe it when I heard it from that old fool, but it seems that you do have a hobby, other than being a thorn in my side and destroying everything that you touch." And he said everything so calmly too. And as Valerie knew, the calm before the proverbial  storm was always a bad sign.

Was he seriously trying to get a rise out of her? Yeah, that was probably likely. Thankfully, Valerie managed to control herself, speaking in a normal, easy tone, instead of blowing immediately up(as he was probably hoping she would do).

"Yeah, my other hobbies include memorizing every title of the Scoobydoo movies, staring into the abyss,  and underwater baster weaving, so there's a few more you don't know about." Okay, those ones were a joke, and one she hadn't expected to make at her own expense actually, and to her surprise, she was rewarded with the barest hint of a smile.

Wait, did he actually find something she said somewhat funny? It was almost surreal that this was happening.

But never mind that, she needed to be focused on more important matters.

She noted with a hint of pleasure that he seemed taken aback by her calm response, and seemed to be searching for what to say next. And he'd actually released his grip upon her arm. Good, she'd actually surprised him. Then, his eyes fell upon the title of the book currently sitting across the top of the desk.

"A guide to the Netherworld and its surrounding areas. A very interesting choice for leisurely reading. I mean, the only way you'd be interested in such a boring tome would be if you were planning another breach of security......" He scanned her face, probably eager to see what she'd say next.

Crap, he'd suspected already? If he opened the book, and found what she really had been working on, then she was sunk!

"N-no. I'm just trying to keep myself busy, and stay out of trouble, my lord."  Using his honorific for the first time was a new experience for her, and she actually noted Betrayus raising an eyebrow at that. God, she really hoped he couldn't tell she was lying. At least she was sounding genuine, unlike the other times she lied(at least to her own ears.). "I believe.... my days of escaping castles are done. After all, you've clearly shown me that it's useless to try so." She didn't meet his eyes as of yet, she quickly glanced down at her wrists, with the "things" still on them.

A pause. She could tell he was considering her words, but she was unable to read his expression(jeez, when he was like this, it was almost impossible to tell what exactly he was thinking, which scared her). Valerie waited for what seemed like an eternity, unsure of her fate.

After what seemed like an eternity, that self-satisfied smirk appeared. "Hah. Suuuure they are. You know, you're going to sound one hell of a lot more convincing than that."

He didn't believe her. Of course he didn't.

Valerie made a move to speak, but he silenced her. "And don't give me any bullshit. I know when you're lying, you keep biting your lip when you do so."

"No I don't!" So wait, that's how people could tell she was lying? She didn't think that she did that, maybe it was some sort of unconscious action?

"Well you do, and I'm surprised you haven't bitten them off yet."

"Hey, at least that pain from when I do will give me something better to do than stare into the abyss."

A moment of silence.

Then, he spoke, the same disinterested tone leeching into his voice. "Entertain yourself as you see fit."

Okay, so whatever they'd just shared in that moment was gone, but it wasn't like Valerie particularly cared or anything, but why did she?

But before he left the room, he turned back for one last parting word. "Oh, and if you're able, try not to utterly destroy the place." Noting her shocked expression, he then turned and left her alone.

Only when Valerie was completely sure that he was gone did she allow herself to breathe an audible sigh of relief.

That was too close for comfort. If he'd found out what she'd been really doing, which was creating a makeshift map on a loose sheet of paper that was safely tucked inside the book, their conversation would have gone a lot differently.

But at least that was over and done with, so she could get back to the map.....

Wait. She played the whole conversation through her mind again. Then, the surprise made her bolt up in her seat, knocking several objects off the desk as she did so. No way.

Had she and Betrayus just had a completely normal conversation? The thought was almost too weird to even conceive...

Betrayus's P.O.V

Of course he'd known that the girl was lying. It was so obvious with her, that even a fucking idiot could see that you couldn't trust anything That Valerie Sawyer had to say. And who did she think she was fooling with the whole "Oh I'm done escaping castles" speech? Empty flattery and false politeness? Bitch please.

If she'd thought he'd fall for that little trick, she was an even bigger fool than she looked. He distantly heard the sound of something crashing to the ground, but ignored it. That stupid girl was probably already destroying something again, but he wasn't going to bother getting worked up about it.

True, she'd been agreeable back there, completely pleasant, unlike her normal personality, and dare he say it, sort of funny, but it was all probably just an act anyway. No matter how temporarily he felt at ease during those few moments, she must have had some sort of ulterior motive to her niceness.

And as for the mess she'd probably made?

He'd just let Buttler take care of whatever mess she'd created when the time came.

He smiled to himself at the thought.

But there was one thing that was still troubling him, no matter how much that he denied it. (Dare he admit it, it might have gotten to him more than he realized) Those last few words she'd spoken the previous night.

I can't believe that I actually thought you'd-

What? What exactly had that pest of a young woman thought? He shouldn't have cared, and somehow, for reasons inconceivable to him, he did. The idea instantly came through his mind but he dismissed it with a scowl.

No, couldn't be. Why would she, of all people, think that she saw something(he didn't know what something) inside him? Did she seriously think that he was g-

No, no ,no! She was just another foolish innocent, seeing something that wasn't even there! He was heartless, the kind of creature that lead others to their demise, a person who ruined everything he touched....

Ugh, now he really felt like he was going to barf. (It definitely wasn't because of everything he'd just thought, he reasoned)

But no matter, he had more important mattes to attend to. So she claimed she was "done escaping", fine. He'd let her play her little game, make her think she was gaining a strand of hope, and then when she did try something, he'd be ready.

But at least while she was here, he would be able to know what she was doing. After all, with his bobble-headed brother and the rest of those pathetic Pac-worlders getting so worked up about her(the funny thing was, she didn't seem like the kind of person who'd just kill like that, but when had any who had killed ever had?), he'd need to keep her close for the time being, until she could be proven of use to him.

After all, when opportunity came knocking, what better way was there than to grab it, and make it your own?

Well my beasties, I'm finally finished this chapter!(And only four weeks later. Whoops....) So, it seems we have a lot to go off of for this, and I can't wait to begin to further the relationship between the demon girl and the fire ghost, but before we do that, next chapter we'll focus on... Plot stuff!

Mainly stuff considering a certain President and a goddess of order......

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it my beasties(and I hope that I'm getting everyone's character right.....), and I'll see you soon!

And remember:

Hail Lord Betrayus!