Chapter One - You Had One Job

Emerald finished stretching just as the elevator doors opened onto her floor. Luckily no one was waiting to enter as she left, so she didn't have to apologize for sitting on the floor to do butterfly stretches. That definitely wasn't something she needed to deal with today.

'Ava better be up,' she thought as she fished her apartment key out of her running pouch. 'If she misses that interview, I don't think we'll be able to afford more than ramen and Tang for the rest of the month...'

The sound of Ava's phone alarm going off greeted Emerald as she came through the door, followed by silence and Ava murmuring softly.

"Ava! You'd better be up by the time I'm out of the shower, or so help me I will drag you out by your foot all the way to that interview!"

"Fine, Mom," Ava shouted back sarcastically, undoubtedly rolling over and going back to sleep.

Emerald rolled her eyes as she tossed her running shoes through her open bedroom door, then headed towards her bathroom. She'd set out her clothes before she left for her run, so it wouldn't take her too long to get ready today. That'd give her more time to make sure Ava wasn't late.

* * * * *

Emerald came out of her bathroom drying her hair just in time to hear Ava yelling at Johnny.

"What the hell you frickin' jerk cat?!" A loud thud, followed by more yelling. "Ugh, I hate you cat! Frickin'...ugh!"

Emerald chuckled. Well, at least Ava was out of bed now. That meant it was time to get some breakfast going...if there was actually anything left to cook. A quick glance through the fridge revealed milk, a few eggs, some leftover pizza, a tiny bit of cheese, and for some reason several boxes of Munchy Scrunchies stuffed with paper towels.

She sighed. "Looks like it's scrambled eggs or pizza," she muttered, getting the ingredients out. "Better make sure Ava gets the eggs."

" - know, I normally sleep in, but I've got a job interview today." The woman in question passed by to the window on the phone, followed by Johnny who jumped up on the coffee table.

"Hey! Off the table, Johnny Cat," Emerald called out, picking up a frying pan. "You can sit on it when you start paying rent." She continued breakfast preparations, stopping only when she heard Ava groan.

"Ugh, it's too early to deal with life!"

"Seriously?" Emerald laughed while she stirred up the eggs. "What're you going to do if you get scheduled for the morning shift?"

"I'll just ask to do the afternoon shifts," Ava shot back, almost tripping over Johnny's food bowl. "Huh? How did you carry that here?"

"Just so you know, we're out of Yum-Yums for the cat." She gave the younger woman a mock serious look. "And you're all out of Munchy Scrunchies. Looks like you'll have to have an actual 'grown-up' breakfast today."

"Heh, good thing my interview is at the grocery store. I'll just pick some up afterwards."

"Before you do that, come eat." Emerald placed a bowl of scrambled eggs on the kitchen counter.

Ava sat down and looked at the bowl. "Em, isn't this what you usually have after a run? What are you going to eat?"

"There's some leftover pizza. I'll just nuke it.""Are you sure? I know you don't really like too much junk food -"

"Hey, you're the one with the big interview today. I don't have any work coming in until Monday." Emerald smiled at her. "Besides, pizza has tomato in it, which means it's healthy! Now hurry up and eat: you don't want to be late."

* * * * *

"Chop chop, Ava!" Emerald knocked on the younger woman's bedroom door. "You need to take out the trash before you go."

The door opened and a somewhat harried and pouty Ava stepped out. "Why can't you do it? It's not like you're not doing anything today..."

"I need to drop off the rent money so we still have somewhere for you to be a grumpy pants at the end of the day. Besides, it's your turn and it's on your way."

"Fine. But I get to pick what we have for dinner tonight."

"You don't get this job, it's going to be Top Ramen and Tang until my next check goes through on the 15th." Emerald grinned. "Unless you want to start eating Yum-Yums with Johnny, then we'll have that as an additional option."

"Ugh, gross." Ava sighed. "Fine. I'll make sure to be on my best behavior." She glanced at her phone and gasped. "O-okay, now I really have to get moving!"

Emerald gave her a little pat on the head. "You'll do fine, you'll do great, you'll do wonderful."

"Wow, nice pep talk."

"Eh, it's my day off. I don't need to be eloquent all the time." She turned Ava around and gave her a little push towards the door. "Now scootch! And don't forget the trash!"

* * * * *

Emerald was curled up on her bed, reading a book and listening to a random YouTube music playlist when she heard the front doors slam open. 'What the hell? There's no way Ava finished her interview already.' She paused her music, taking off the headphones and dropping them quietly on the mattress.

'What's that smell? Is something burning?' She was starting to get a very bad feeling when she heard the sound of voices. It was hard to make out what they were saying, but there was definitely more than one and more concerning...

They sounded male.

'That's not Ava!' Emerald carefully reached down and grabbed the baseball bat she kept by her bed for emergencies such as this. She silently slipped off the bed, hefting the bat as she slowly approached her closed door.

Suddenly, the sound of screaming came rushing past her room. "AHHHHH! IT'S NOT FRIENDLY! HELP! AHHH!"

What the hell was going on out there? As Emerald continued to listen, a mix of murmuring and frightened yelling kept coming through the door. Whoever was outside, there was more than one.

And they seemed kind of...stupid.

"The human is escaping!"

Emerald started. That voice had come from right outside her door! It was closely followed by the sound of Ava screaming!

That settled it: it was time to do something! Emerald threw open her door, bat held aloft in her left hand as she rushed through.

The sight that greeted her was both confusing and worrying. It looked like some... cosplayers? ...had broken into the apartment. Johnny was lying on a pale demon cosplayer with pink-ish colored hair, orange horns, and orange and black clothes.

Two other demon cosplayers were blocking the way to the front door. The tan one had white hair with green horns and was wearing a black and green robe, his arms spread wide and a sharp-toothed smirk on his face. The other had dark skin like her own, dark brown hair with sapphire-colored horns, and similarly-colored robes with what looked to be black underarmor.

Ava was to her right, looking pale and frantic. Emerald ran out, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards the living room. "This way!"

The two women ran into the kitchen, finding themselves cornered near the stove. Emerald turned around to face the intruders, pushing Ava behind her and brandishing the bat in what she hoped was a menacing manner. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ava grab the frying pan from the stovetop.

It must have worked, because the green-garbed cosplayer gasped as he came around the corner. "A weapon!"

His outcry attracted the attention of a fourth demon cosplayer who emerged from Ava's room. This one had sienna-colored skin, curly dark brown hair with lighter blue horns, and a light blue robe over black underarmor. His right arm was exposed, revealing a tribal-looking black tattoo as well as a body built like a truck. He was definitely the largest so far.

More immediately worrying, he was brandishing a rather intimidating broadsword. This seemed to prompt the others to draw their own weapons, which included two sets of very realistic-looking daggers and a long, black staff with purple accents and what looked like a demon head at the end.

What the hell had Ava been up to?!

"B-back off, or I...I will f-heckin', heckin' scream," Ava sputtered, shrinking further behind Emerald.

"Wouldn't be the first time I made a female human scream," the green one uttered smoothly, a cocky grin on his face.

"Leif, hold your tongue," the dark blue one reprimanded.

"You know what I mean."

"I thought I dreamed you guys up!" Ava was still panicking.

"She saw us in her sleep?" The pink-haired one seemed to constantly be in a state of either panic or awe.

"She must have the ability to foresee us coming. Humans in this world are powerful." The dark blue cosplayer kept muttering under his breath.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?!" Emerald blurted out.

The dark blue one put his staff away (where, exactly, she had absolutely no clue). "Please, we mean you no harm."

A look of confusion crossed broadsword boy's face. "I thought we meant all the harm?"

"Asch isn't here," the first whispered through gritted teeth. "Please, we just need help and -"

"I saw you do magic...power...stuff!" Ava cried. "Are you the devil's servants?!"

"The...devil?" The one called Leif seemed confused.

"She means a demon."

"Ohhh."

"Hear me out. We come with peaceful intent to -"

"I've uncovered it," a new voice growled from Ava's room. To Emerald's dismay a fifth demon cosplayer popped out, garbed in orange and black with a half-cape of white fur flowing back from his shoulder. He had medium skin and black hair with large white horns curving upwards. "The source of her power."

"Really?"

"Asch and I found it before, but we weren't sure," the light blue one answered, putting his sword away. Emerald noticed the pink-haired one was also now unarmed as well, which gave her an idea.

"W-what?" Ava seemed just as confused as everyone else.

Grinning, the new arrival (Asch) pulled one of Ava's bras out from behind his back.