Okay so there's a thing with the whole 'Mephisto' and 'Samael' business. I like to imagine that the younger characters more commonly refer to him as Mephisto since it sounds a tad clowny and suits his outward persona, while at the same time the adults (who know his real name) call him Samael which is more demony and dark. It's sort of like saying both sides of him with the two names.
**Yukio and Rin (and Yuri) don't exist in this chapter.
Sorry for the long message. Enjoy!
"Big brother, what if daddy died?" Akyla crawled into his lap and tugged his purple bangs.
Mephisto grinned down at her. "Gehenna would likely fall into chaos for a period of time before the next ruler takes the throne~" He picked at a chipped claw in dismay.
She wasn't satisfied. "Who would rule? Would it be you, big brother?"
Mephisto smirked. "Perhaps~ Yet, I hold little interest for this world. Your other siblings may end up fighting over it," he mused. What a spectacular event that would be.
Akyla paused and thought about this. She pictured each one of her brothers sitting on daddy's throne. None looked right to her, save one. "What's wrong with this world?" she frowned.
The demon's undeniable appetite for knowledge amused him dearly. He had spent less time than might've been warranted thinking through the matter. Analysing it, breaking it down into principles that he could manipulate to his favour. It may well have been a possibility, after all, and all possibilities had to be appraised. "Our world is rather… torpid," he settled with a demonic grin. "It lacks incentive, intrigue; the sorts of values that inhibit its mirror realm Assiah. Demons do not die in Gehenna, and we are curious beings, to say the least. We are able to cross into the world hanging open before us and toil with it endlessly. Would the child not run into a playground filled with sweets? It almost seems fashioned to provoke out very natures, wouldn't you agree?"
This gave food for thought. Akyla subconsciously knotted up Mephisto's hair as she mowed over the matter, chopping it down into simple terms she could easily understand. He preferred Assiah? "But it's a weak world. Made for humans and lesser creatures. Here we have real power," she dictated.
His face held a regarding grin as Mephisto assessed how he would explain his perspectives to his infantile sister. "Yes, we do. However it is the hurried march of heartbeats and the flicker that is a lifetime that draws much of Assiah's appeal over Gehenna~ Here, we have infinite time on our hands. Granted our bodies may not die of old age in Assiah as humans' and animals' do, but the prospect of others treasuring such a pitiful amount of time is fascinating~" Mephisto chuckled bitterly at his words.
Akyla again rushed to deduce her brother's monologue. She enjoyed the way he freely spoke his mind to her, unlike her other siblings who were more interested in fighting amongst each other. They'd never harbour the intricate thoughts Mephisto wove in his latticework mind.
"But what about the throne?! You'd have a whole world at your feet, big brother," she whined, bewildered as to his distorted priorities. He would choose personal curiosities over power? Maybe brother had spent too long in Assiah. She worried he might be forgetting what it was to be a demon.
"The world of Gehenna does not change, little sister. With humans, the struggle for adaptation is a vitality; though they have their separate religions and other self necessities, they strive for a single goal – to better themselves. Your second oldest brother understood that~"
This argument was hurting Akyla's head. As tempting as it was to beat her oldest brother at a game of words, she knew it was a lost cause only dragging its dead body out of the grave.
With a decisive sigh, she fumbled onto her little feet and tottered off to find bright brother.
.
.
One way to figure out where bright brother was – follow the Seraphims. Often times when wandering Gehenna Castle he left the adorable birds flying in arcs and twirls unknowingly. Before he used to do it for Akyla so she could find her way around, but since she'd become familiar with the castle, she presumed they still popped up because he was so deep in thought all the time that he didn't notice.
If anything she could use another keen mind to at the very least decelerate Mephisto's onslaught.
Lucifer sat on the edge of his bed, eyes unfocused over the hands in his lap. She snuggled against him on the soft grey quilt. "Luci, do you know about humans?"
The distant demon king smiled to himself at her innocent voice. Their sister was very cute, especially when she tried to sound as conniving as Samael.
"What would you want to know?"
She tucked one arm under his and wiggled her claws at the baby Seraphim in his palm. "What do you think of them?"
What did he think of them? They returned him to that memory he had never let fade from long ago. Their cruel treatment. Their pathetic attempts at supremacy. How easily they broke down and fell apart like an old bridge made of soft clay.
What an interesting thought. Humans; old. The two didn't compute. Or perhaps they did, in a different sense. In the sense that what demons had been, humans are now. Though they barely lived at all, during their time they simply experienced old things. The things that had become worn and torn for him and his kind.
Doe eyes stared into his face. Lucifer had to get ahold of his absence to reality when he caught the next ride along his branching thoughts. Honestly, his mind was like an ever changing train station. What did he think of them? "Humans are similar. Like demons, they all want superiority. And, like demons, only some of them can gain it." His lit eyes glinted mockingly.
But big brother saw Assiah as different to Gehenna because of humans. "Yet they aren't demons."
"No." Lucifer lulled the Seraphim to drift along his and his sister's entwined arms. "They are, in some ways, more so prey to emotion than us. A single spike of anger or sorrow can manipulate their very choices. It makes them susceptible," he added when he noticed how indifferent his sister looked.
She was a strange child. She understood things far beyond her years, but had a hard time distilling them from anything other than a demonic viewpoint. And yet, her behaviour was as gentle and honest as a human girl's. Her smile as bright as a human girl's…
.
.
Luci wasn't all that talkative, she could tell. Akyla made her way through the crimson corridors in search of big brother. Finally, she knew what to say. It wasn't like she had a trump card on him or anything, but she had found out his perspective, for which he would be proud.
She enjoyed making her brothers proud. Some of them.
Particularly strong presences could be felt, when near, by other demons. One such very powerful aura submerged Akyla as she continued down the hall that resembled every other.
You wouldn't believe black could glow until you saw those eyes. They gazed at the little demon in disturbing amusement.
Nonetheless, the child carried on down the hall. Thick, dagger-like claws prickled over her scalp as she came side to side with the owner of those glowing eyes.
"Akyla~ What is my young daughter doing roaming these halls? Where are you so eager to go?" That voice should have unsettled her. But it also should have sounded comforting to her. Whilst neither overrode the other, they both tickled at her senses in a confusing entanglement of sharpened tenderness.
"I was looking for someone, father. Have you seen big brother?" she tilted her head. Akyla knew partially the strange antics of her father's mind. Like pieces of an enormous puzzle, on one he loved it when she thought of their household as a proper family. And on another he adored her childlike mannerisms.
Satan smoothed out her mussed hair with those deadly claws. She moved her head a little closer. The devil's smile. "Ah yes, your conversation on those, humans?" His voice obtained a lilting madness. "Useless little creatures. Inadequate and weak." Such distaste, as though they reminded him of sour milk. "Samael would do wise to spend less wasted time in their pitiful realm."
He must've run into big brother too. Akyla hoped he didn't know what had initiated her and Mephisto's argument. Satan would not look fondly on possible sparks of revolt, and she did not want to lose his favour. "They do seem very sad. I had hoped they would be something more exciting." She searched the devil's face for any hints of big brother's point of view.
"Indeed~ Not far down this corridor, my dear," he grinned, his claws leaving her head to chills as he disappeared. He certainly held some of big brother's attributes, but not when it came to Assiah.
Akyla refreshed her mind after the little interlude. Bright brother's words returned. Along with the ones she had prepared.
.
.
"Back to continue~?" Mephisto grinned wickedly. Akyla hopped up onto the stool and watched as Ukobach tried to teach his master to cook. So completely in vain.
She cleared her throat softly as she gathered her words. Mephisto had to choke down a bout of laughter. "Don't you miss the people who die?"
That was unexpected. Regardless, he answered swiftly. "In Assiah? No." She gave him a sceptical glare. "There are times when I believe I might've enjoyed a life that lasted longer, but never do I miss them. It is an inevitable end for all humans to accept. The depressing fact they face that 'nothing lasts forever' is what drives them to live their lives to the fullest – and most entertaining~"
Akyla remained silent. Waiting, biding the time that could perchance mark her theory correct before she let it spill.
He turned his head to her, grin revealing sharp fangs. "They are a difficult species, no doubt of that~"
There it was. Perfect. It felt as good as she imagined pulling his pompous tail would.
"Big brother, I know why you prefer Assiah," she near whispered, so determined to get her words right. His ears twitched curiously. "You like being in control. You like pulling the puppet strings. But you also like the way that no matter how strongly you pull, sometimes, the puppets will do their own dance."
Akyla doubted she could fit that grin across Behemoth's face it had grown so wide. "Correct. And with all our power…~"
And with all our power we still cannot rule over everything. Big brother was the first of the demons to realise it: power was not control.
One big argument on power and control. So typical from Mephisto. Did the name thing come across well? I was really testing out his character in this chapter. Did I do okay? Ahhh so many questions! Please leave a review with your opinion, it really makes my day!
Love, cheesypuffsin xx