1vAll Part II (Patreon)
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bearing the bad news, personally.
“I come being the bearer
of bad news, Cora, we lost Paolo,” spoke the Demon King as he stood
in the doorway.
Since Joaquin and Clara
were locked away upstairs playing games together as evidenced by the
soft yelling between the two siblings indicating some kind of gaming
competition. It took all of Cora's strength to hold in her sadness,
but she suddenly felt the warm caress of the Demon King as he wrapped
his arms around her small body, stroking her upper back.
“It will be fine, Cora.
I'll take care of you...to honor Paolo's memory,” declared Azul as
he hid a triumphant smile beside the head of the stay-at-home
demoness.
There was no response from
Cora, just a soft smile, showing her sharpened fangs as she buried
her head in the King's chest. She felt safe in his arms and had
little desire to break the embrace until she heard the voice of her
stepson, Joaquin.
“Uh, what's going on?”
asked the young boy with confusion in his eyes as he stood hand in
hand with his little sister as she innocently chewed her pacifier.
“What's he doing here?” he asked again, expecting an answer.
Cora softly broke the
embrace and turned to lock eyes with Joaquin, “Listen,
Joaquin...what I'm about to tell you....” Azul cut her off bluntly
and spit it out, “Your father is gone. The job I sent him on went
haywire and he was caught in the crossfire. He won't be coming back.”
Young Joaquin took this as
a joke at first, but after noticing the serious looks on both his
stepmother and the Demon King, it began to sink in and he choked back
tears and gripped tightly on Clara's little hand. Cora went to hug
him to comfort him, but he simply put his hand in between them and
backed away slowly as Clara walked towards her mother, taking her
first unsupported steps. The young boy struggled to maintain his
posture, so he sat at the foot of the steps holding his head in
disbelief. As he silently sobbed, he felt his hair ruffled in the
same way his father had done the night before. He looked up to see
Lord Azul looking down comfortingly at him.
“I understand, boy. Your
father was one of my very best friends and if I could, I'd have
reconsidered sending him out on that job knowing then what I know
now. I promise to take special care of this family as I'm certain
that's what he would have wanted,” declared Azul as he looked down
on the little boy, noticing the ignited fire behind Joaquin's eyes.
“Perhaps one day, Joaquin, you can take your father's place by my
side as my little soldier, but today is not that day. Don't do
anything you might regret. I will handle this matter, personally.”
the Demon King said as he pulled his hand away from Joaquin's head.
From that moment forward, Joaquin had faintly trusted Lord Azul as
the slight sarcasm in his voice filled Joaquin with doubt on whether
the King was being truthful to him or not.
The Joseph Family took a
week to mourn the alleged loss of Paolo. In a strange turn of events,
Paolo being gone brought Joaquin and Cora closer together and the
King did keep his word. Each week he'd send his associate, Raul, to
deliver just enough money for luxuries, food, utilities, and little
Joaquin and Clara's education. Wanting to be twice the man Lord Azul
is as well as making his father proud in the afterlife, Joaquin began
exercising and working out to strengthen his core as well as keep him
from stagnating in a comfortable household. As the years went by,
Joaquin befriended two girls with magical ability, the only two girls
in the city that had said ability. Their names were Michelle Mitchell
and Tori Torrence, nicknamed Mimi and Toto. Mimi was a fiery red head
and was on the petite side while Toto was a spunky tomboyish Hispanic
who had a fondness for biker gloves and flying around.
They both gravitated
towards Joaquin and quickly nicknamed him Jojo, much to his chagrin.
He hated the name, but it eventually grew on him and he felt part of
the gang. Once they became teenagers, Mimi had the bright idea to
form a crime fighting group to deal with petty crimes in the city as
a hobby. She would name this group The Random Emo Cookies and
recruited Toto and Jojo to fight alongside her. Both agreed and they
cleaned up their city when they weren't going to school. Clara felt
reduced to being her older brother's annoying little sister and just
wanted to help out. It was at this point that Mimi and Toto
encouraged her to sew as they noticed she had a good eye for fashion.
She started it off by making Joaquin a very special coat with a “J”
patch on the right arm. She presented it to him and he treasured it,
never letting it out of his sight.
The Random Emo Cookies met
several formidable foes, but triumphed more often than not.
Eventually, they gained the attention of Lord Azul, who initially
wanted the 3 to work for him in the same way that Joaquin's father
did. Not wanting to end up like his father, Joaquin refused on behalf
of the REC. This greatly angered Lord Azul as he truly sought the
magical abilities of Mimi and Toto with potential to recruit Joaquin
himself at a later date. Soon after, Azul began hiring thugs to
antagonize Mimi, Toto, and Jojo in hopes that they'd give in and
join. Each one failed, but The REC would always come out of these
battles in worse condition than when they got in. It was close to the
grand opening of Lord Azul's personal arena where he'd form a Pro
Wrestling tournament that he'd be the main star of, so he wanted to
act fast and gathered a team together to bring down The REC and
abduct the magic users as well as Joaquin himself.