the gunslinger has no heart

Once the future demon king and his victim left, the gunslinger emerged from the inn.

Across the street were a library and two halflings, one of which could end the world. 

Beside the inn was a fake flower shop, a fake clerk, and a fake cause. 

The gunslinger headed to the shop. 

The boy jumped, then scrambled to his feet. 

His disguise as an old woman was fragile; anyone with who remembered their illusion classes from grade school would be able to break it.

"Hi," said the boy. "I-I mean, good morning. Unfortunately, I was just about to close this shop..."

Even the flowers were illusions.

The gunslinger took the one the boy had misnamed as 'despair' when speaking to the demon king earlier.

Since he shouldn't have been able to, the boy drew in a breath. "How much for this bloom?" The gunslinger asked. "How much for its meaning?"

"How did..." The boy's illusion broke; he was Mahieu again.

Save for the flower the gunslinger held, the rest of the shop vanished, giving place to an old, empty stand.

Mahieu's sigh was shaky. "I know you're Demonsbane. Lev's brother."

The gunslinger placed the flower on the counter . "You've yet to answer my questions."

"Uhh... I mean... the flower is free? It's not even real. But you of all people would know what it means since you were a botanist before the shitshow ha—" Mahieu cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"Shitshow?"

"You know..."

"Lev killing my parents?"

Mahieu was the color of the flower, almost as white as a demon's skin. "...yeah... fuck. Shit. What do you want? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but what do you want? I saw you at the demon's castle. The other two didn't but I did. You c-could've like." He swallowed. "Sorry. You could've just shot the demon lord again. None of this would be happening if you'd just killed the guy but you did not and I can't talk to the others about this because they'd freak out."

"The others? Lenna and... what was her name again?"

"Sinon."

"Thank you."

Mahieu had to lean against the counter. "You even know our names..." His hands shook. "For how long have you..."

"Unsure."

"Great. Just great. You're... not gonna kill Lev, are you?"

"He is a demon who bears the mark of the black moon."

"But—" Mahieu could not finish the rest of the sentence.

He closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, Mahieu aimed at the gunslinger, not with a weapon, but with his fingers shaped as one. "Might as well do this 'cuz you'll kick my ass anyway, but just know that if we have to, we'll fight."

"For a demon?"

"For our friend. And your brother."

"So be it," the gunslinger replied. "You are not my target today, but I'll accept a duel anytime."

Mahieu two finger guns at him. "Then who is, huh? The demon lord? The one you didn't kill for some reason?"

The gunslinger would've answered this had he had a response. "I'm about to rectify that mistake. Oh, speaking of which... that flower's meaning is not despair. It's mercy."

***

Lev's plan to save the world was not going well. Mahieu cut off telesphere communication for NO reason out of NOWHERE, Lenna would almost certainly fail to make a good outlaw impression, and now he and Sinon were stuck with a demon librarian named Hilda who was apparently a romance book editor on the side and wanted to help them out for 'research purposes'.

Not now.

"Just to confirm," said Hilda the demon librarian, "Your plan is to create scenarios so a couple can fall in love. It's not going well so far. Since the language of flowers scheme failed, the next plan is to stage a fight so one of them can rescue the other. Correct?"

Lev nodded. Sinon refused to look at the demon. One of them had eaten her sister or something and now she hated all of them and half of Lev. Long story.

Hilda the demon librarian had something... off... about her. Years of concealing the half of him that was dangerous meant that Lev could not tap into it very well; had he been able to and he might've been able to smell what it was. "Got it! Well, you're in luck. The book I'm editing just so happens to have rescue as a catalyst for romance. Can you use the telesphere to locate your hooded friend so I can help her?"

Lev and Sinon exchanged glances. "Well... it's not actually mine..."

"Ah. Rented? Free trial?"

He nodded.

"So it has a limited number of uses. That's fine." Hilda stretched, closed her eyes, then sniffed. "Unease... self-hatred... spite... that's a budding couple all right. I think I've located them. Bye!"

She jumped.

She broke through the roof.

A second later, the roof repaired itself.

Sinon and Lev stared at it.

She said, "Bad idea."

He said, "What did you want me to do?"

"Tell her no."

"She wouldn't have listened." Lev plopped onto the desk, sighing. Then he groaned. Then he stomped. He would've slammed his fist on the table, but with his luck, he would've probably split it in half. "I hate demons."

"Me too."

"Well, I hate them more."

Sinon sat on the table this time. She did so because there was no one else around. She spoke because they were alone. "I don't think you hate anyone."

"Shut the fuck up."

She did.

Lev rolled his eyes. Things were always like this. Nothing could ever go right. Nothing. Just when he thought he finally had a lead with this demon lord...

The cursed demon Lev and his friends kidnapped last time ended up getting sniped by some annoying band of hunters whose leader was named 'Fred' or some shit. The one before that escaped, never to be seen again.

They were running out of time. Not to mention that Hanan could still be around...

"I don't know how," Lev mumbled, "But this time, we're making it happen."

"...hmm.. honestly..."

"What?"

"Do you really think this'll work?"

No. "It has to," Lev said. "Otherwise, we're fucked. I'm not even talking about myself."

"I know."

"If the last demon queen destroyed half the continent, what's this one gonna do? Especially if it's this guy."

"I know."

"He controls time and shit. Not just that, but apparently after he got the mark, the entire county was affected, which is why the plants here look like that. As in, they were normal before. Pink and blue and stuff. Did I tell you guys what happened when I went to his castle?"

"Yes. Thrice."

"So what happened is—"

"I know."

"Then how are we supposed to fight THAT? There were six hunters. And like—not even Demonsbane could get rid of him."

"I know. But you also said that your brother held back because of the people at the tavern... which reminds me, you also mentioned that Sionn held a waitress hostage."

"Right. Wait, I thought you hated that the demon lord basically shares names with you?"

"Not really," Sinon replied. "My name was supposed to be Simone, but my sister was dyslexic, and... did you just laugh..."

"N-no." Lev cleared his throat.

"...anyway, I've come to think that if Sionn kidnapped the waitress, it's because he wanted to lure your brother to his castle, where no innocents would be hurt if they fought. He's obedient to commissary laws. No one knows why. He also didn't harm us when we tested his strength. I think talking could be an option, instead of all this nonsense."

"I did."

"Then why isn't he in on your scheme? Or Elial?"

"Because demons are prideful. He's just gonna be like no, I don't need help, and then the whole thing will fall through."

Sinon swung her legs. When around more than two people at once, even this was too much for her, let alone saying more than ten words at a time. So much for being the 'squad leader'. "How are you so sure he likes her?"

"Uhh... I uh."

"Smelled it? But what if you confused that for something else?"

"I don't think I did."

"So this whole plan is based on what you think might happen based on what you think you smelled."

"Shut up," he said. "It's more than that."

"Which is..."

"...more than that." He sat up. "None of your business."

"Then I won't help you anymore."

"Whatever."

"And I'm not talking about your matchmaker plan. I mean beta reading."

...now that stopped him cold.

Sinon hopped off the table; someone else walked in, so her 'actual conversation' free trial ended. "Let's go."

Lev followed, grumbling.

Worst case scenario—Hilda would get a bit too excited and kill them both.

Best case scenario—the power of love would destroy the curse.

Realistic scenario—while the second scheme was as good as dead, it'd be a perfect segway for the third: mend-my-wounds.

"Actually," Lev said as they exited the library, "Let's just let Hilda beat them up. I have a great idea."

"No you don't," replied Sinon, but she followed along anyway.