1vAll Part II

The next day, Lord Azul came

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.