Ash and Snow

When Pawn awoke the following day, the first thing she noticed, other than her throbbing headache, was a ceiling she that had never seen before. Pawn studied it for a moment in confusion.

It was seemingly made of oak.

She attempted to raise her body to observe the rest of the room, only to noticed that the mattress she was laying on to be different, as well, as was the pillow, and the sheets, and the blankets. They were all beyond comfortable in comparison, even more so than the mattress she had owned in the celestial realm.

Pawn, upon successfully propping herself up, observed the room further.

The walls were comprised of large grey bricks, and the windows were adorned with beautiful crimson curtains. They matched the carpet which covered the majority of the floor.

As for the various articles of furniture which decorated the room, they were mostly demonic-style, and all very expensive looking, though a few equally expensive items from her inventory were mixed in with them as well.

"Ugh," she groaned, as she held her head, "so this is what a hangover feels like."

"Heal," she ordered, as she ran a small amount of healing energy through her hand and into her head.

The offending pain dissipated in an instant.

Pawn rolled herself out of bed.

Before she could investigate the room further, however, one of the room's two large reinforced wooden doors gently began to opened.

The celestial quickly glanced downwards at her hands to see if she was wearing her bracer only to find that it was missing.

"Bracer," she said, attempting to retrieve it from her inventory.

Nothing happened.

She widened her eyes at the realization that she had lost the item.

"Feather of fleeing," she requested, "Once again, however, nothing happened.

"A weapon, armour, anything!" She demanded.

Her inventory was empty.

Pawn grabbed for a nearby candlestick, instead.

"Morph, reinforce, sharpen," she ordered, as she channelled the majority of her energy into the brass object.

An aura of blue light formed around it as it quickly took the shape of a radiant brass spear, several feet in length.

The door opened, revealing a young female demon with purple eyes, waist-length black hair, and light grey skin, tinted slightly purple. She held Pawn's bracer in one arm while wearing one identical to it on the wrist of her right arm.

Pawn froze.

"I know your face..." She muttered as she stared at the demon.

The girl smiled, and then proceeded to walk forwards past the tip of the spear.

The celestial tried to move the spear to block her path but found herself strangely unable to do so.

The demon embraced her in a hug.

"Hello, it's been a while hasn't it?" The girl said softly.

Pawn's mind raced, eventually arriving at the correct conclusion.

"You're her daughter, aren't you?" She questioned, "you're Snow, right?"

The girl nodded as she continued her hug.

Upon finally releasing her, the girl grabbed Pawn by her hand and led her out of the room. Her spear got caught awkwardly on either side of the door and fell from her grip.

"This way," she said as they moved down the long hallway, "Ash is in the kitchen. She'll get jealous if keep you to myself."

Upon arriving at said kitchen, Pawn found a woman standing at magic powered stove, cooking bacon and eggs.

She looked almost identical to Snow, other than her expression, which was totally neutral.

After moving the contents of her skillet to a nearby plate, and removing the apron she had been wearing, she turned to address Pawn.

"Nice to see you again," she said simply, in a monotone voice, "thanks for helping us out that one time."

She formally shook Pawn's hand before handing her the plate of food. Snow handed her back her bracer, as well.

Pawn just stood there in a daze.

"How... are you, here?" she eventually questioned, "and... where are we?"

Snow guided her to a large dinning area and sat her down in one of its chairs. The two sisters choosing to sit on either side of her.

Snow then began her explanation.

"Mama's bracers have more features than simply disguising celestials as pride demons," she confessed, "there would be no point in making them if that were the case."

"Though the other features are only accessible to demons," she explained.

Ash then elaborated, slightly, on what Snow had said.

"The moment you took it out of your inventory while in the demon realm we could sense you," she explained

Pawn looked at the bracer in question.

"You were tracking me," she stated.

Snow smiled brightly.

"Yep!" She said cheerfully, without a shred of guilt, "and we could see through it, as well."

Her smile then faded slightly.

"Though, I'm sorry we didn't arrive sooner," she said solemnly.

Pawn unconsciously moved her hand to the spot which would serve as the base of her wings when they were extended.

"Oh right, I'd briefly forgotten about that," she muttered, her eyes darkening slightly as she stared at the food on her plate.

Ash and Snow gave each other a brief glance, seemingly conversing without actually speaking.

"You tried tracking him down last night, but he had seemingly already left the city at that point," Ash explained.

Pawn frowned.

She then remembered something else and turned to face Ash.

"What about all the stuff I had stored away in my inventory?" She questioned, "and where are we?"

"Is this your guys' mansion?" She inquired.

Ash smiled.

"It's yours actually," she said in a somewhat amused tone, "you bought it off some minor noble last night, using half the stuff in your inventory."

Pawn stared blankly at her.

"...A-and the other half?" She asked with hesitation.

Ash smiled brightly.