They had one day left before the cultists began their ceremonies. Mard had already started drawing plans in secret with the other demons as to when to slaughter the humans if Belial had failed.

She did not give them a lot of details when she requested they round up ten test subjects. Mard knew enough about medicine in general to know that living test subjects were good, assuming the ten they picked off and captured were enough.

He had until tomorrow morning before he would have to explain it all to Rosebud and then he would have to hope against all hope he would not be turned back into a cat.

Even during the planning session, he worried about the curse coming back at him. How humiliating it would have been to become a small house cat in front of his own people? When they planned, Mard chose his words carefully, he had to remember that these were innocent humans.

And that humans were different from demons, but not some inferior species. All that care and caution and thinking of his mate had kept the curse from returning and that was one small miracle. Though he was certain that it would end the second the first infected human died.

Unlike his reasoning that had him turned into a cat, in the first place, this was different. This was the same decision he made all those years ago. It was the right decision for the Underworld, but he would be lying if he didn't admit how difficult of a decision it was to make. After all his options had run out and nothing else would work, he had to cleanse the infection by blood and fire.

The only bit of salvation he had was the small demon pup who lived. He slid a look over at Jackal as he ate his breakfast and nodded along with whatever story Silver was telling. Mard was lost in his thoughts as Rosebud sat beside him and carefully ate the simple stew she made over the campfire. He scrubbed a hand over his face and hoped that soon they would finally hear from Belial.

"Mard, what's wrong?" Rosebud asked as she put her metal spoon into the small iron bowl.

"Our time is running short," he said as he looked at her.

Rosebud put down the bowl and took his hand, "I know. We should decide what to do if Belial doesn't show up."

He let out a breath, "we have limited options. Those people are not in control of themselves. They will do everything in their programming to summon their masters."

She pursed her lips and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. They said nothing, they didn't need to, Mard knew Rosebud was thinking through the worse options. It was her way, she could be frightfully pessimistic at times, but she was also beautifully analytical. There was always a small chance she might have a plan in her complex mind that he had not considered.

"If we do this wrong, you could be a cat again," she whispered.

"Perhaps permanently this time. The curse may figure there is nothing redeemable about me."

"Then it's a curse that doesn't pay attention," Rosebud said with a light bit of mirth. Mard smiled and put his arm around his mate as they watched the campfire and just enjoyed the serenity of the last few hours they had before he may have to slaughter many humans.

Strange how that option felt horrible to him, when it had not ever been a consideration a short while ago. He turned his head and kissed the top of her head, smiling a bit in her blonde hair. "I love you."

Rosebud hummed, "love you too.

"And I love you both," Belial's voice broke the moment and both Mard and Rosebud turned around to see Belial and several medical demons, all in their white lab coats and black suits, pour out of a swirling red portal. Many of them he recognized from the orange grove, including Larry who lost half his tongue.

Mard smiled and stood up with his mate, "where's Cobra?" she asked.

Belial smiled, "he is sleeping. We had to take out more blood than I anticipated, and my mate needs to recover."

"Mates?" Rosebud's eyes went wide before she hugged the Prince. Belial stepped back and looked at Mard in surprise.

"She enjoys hugging when she is happy," he said, and Belial nodded before she returned the gesture.

"That's so awesome, I'm sure he's going to make your life…" Rosebud shrugged, "Hell. And no, I'm not apologizing for the pun."

Mard chuckled, "I see you have spent too much time with Silver." He refocused his attention at Belial who looked mildly amused by the exchange.

"I have some good news and some not good news," Belial said.

"Alright," Mard said.

"It could not be aerosolized. We tested this with the few samples you managed to get us Mard Geer," Belial said as she and her demons opened up several silver cases of unusual syringes. "Though we were able to perfect a small hydraulic work to have the plunger automatically depress when it hits the target."

Mard took out one of the syringes, he held it to the light and was surprised at how little amount of red-purple liquid was in it. He arched a brow, "this does not seem like enough in a dose."

Belial pushed up her glasses, "that is more than enough. We discovered that too much of the antidote would kill the host. From your own words that was not an option."

He nodded, "what happens to the humans after the parasite is destroyed?"

She pursed her blood red lips, "they fall into a light coma," she motioned at the several medical demons with her, "we will need to monitor their health for several hours. If they do not wake," she let out a harsh breath, "then they will never wake."

"So, there is a risk we will kill them?"

"Yes, though a few lost people is better than an entire Plane. Remember they did this to themselves. They invited this parasite into their bodies for the backwards belief in the Elder Gods of Madness."

He looked over at Rosebud who was listening with her hands behind her back, brows knit, and lips turned down. "Do you have data on the death rate?"

Belial nodded, "out of our ten specimens. Three died of accidental overdose, six made a full recovery with some lethargy and short-term memory issues and one died after six hours in the coma."

"Rosebud, is roughly a fourteen percent loss of life, acceptable?" Mard asked, wanting to make sure that his mate was comfortable and understood the risks with what they were planning.

"You're asking me if I'm okay with killing approximately twenty-six people?" she asked as she looked at the grassy ground and then up to his coal black eyes. Mard nodded, he needed her to make this decision because these were her people.

If this was him in the Underworld, he already knew what he would do. He had already done it, killed hundreds of demons and burned corpses to protect the other thousands of demons. Mard slid a glance at Belial, he knew she was having the same thought because it was on her shoulders to make the same decision in Hell.

Rosebud pinched her forehead, "I need a few minutes."

Mard gently cupped her face, he could see a bit of moisture in her eyes and feel the conflicted sadness coming from her thoughts. He brought his lips to her ear, "take what time you need. No matter what you decide I will stand with you."

"Thanks," she kissed his cheek and stepped out of his light touch. Mard watched her walk away and sent a message to Jackal for him to keep an eye out on her.

"Heavy is the head…" Belial said.

"She is not used to such a weight. I was not ready for it either when I first ascended." Mard said.

He remembered what it felt like to have the crown placed on his head for the first time. The weight of the words as he made his vows to the Underworld and how his knees almost buckled as he stood up for the first time as the new King. Physically his black and silver crown was light, but what it meant to the demons who he ruled over it was the closest to Atlas as he would ever be.

Belial put a slim pale hand on his shoulder and squeezed it, her red eyes slightly vacant. She nodded her head and squeezed his shoulder for a moment before stepping away from him. He watched as she moved over to her demons, her long white lab coat fluttering in the wind as she moved with grace.

Mard could still feel a bit of her lingering emotions on his shoulder and for a moment he could see white feathers, covered in rose colored blood float before his eyes. He could hear the screams and feel the pain at having to turn and kill your own brother or sister. His lips turned down as he experienced the lingering pain and guilt the Prince carried with her.

The sun was shining, barely a cloud in the sky and yet it felt like the darkest day of his life. Only because his mate would have to make the hardest decision of her young life.

How many do you sacrifice to protect the rest?

Lucy walked towards the small lake, hoping it was far enough from the busy camp to give her some time to herself. It also looked peaceful, barely a ripple in the water, letting it glitter and reflect the beautiful sky above. She saw a small spot in the tall grass near the slim shoreline and took a seat.

She hugged her bare knees to her chest and rested her cheek against them. Her eyes tracked a dragonfly buzzing around a few wildflowers before it darted over the water. It was a peaceful moment and she didn't know how many more of these she would have left.

Once she became Queen of the Underworld, would she have to make more of these decisions? Would she have to allow for a few to die to save others? Was it even right to do such a thing?

"Mom…" she whispered, a part of her hoping her mom would show up and give her some advice. At this point she might even talk to her dad. Just someone else to make the choice for her.

Why would Mard do this to her?

"No," she whispered and wiped her eye as a tear leaked from it. This was not Mard's fault, he wasn't punishing her. He was making sure she understood what was at stake and letting her decide the fate of twenty-six people.

In a way Mard was seceding his authority to her, letting her choose. She knew he could just kill all the people without blinking, but he'd changed so much since the Sarah incident. How he refused to let one child die because it was not just.

Yet he also killed, without a shred of emotion, the person who threatened her life. He made that decision so quickly and fueled by his own fear and love for her. It was a killer's instinct that was sharpened by so much blood and death, that it was no longer worth the thought.

Would she ever become that person? Make a split-second decision on the worthiness of life? Who lives? Who dies? Lucy plucked a small white flower and held it between her thumb and index finger.

Behind her a twig snapped and she sat straight up, dropping her small flower. Lucy looked over her shoulder and chuckled as she saw a fluffy blonde tail slowly lower to the ground. "I know you're there, Jackal."

"No one is here," came a high-pitched voice, "just the flowers and bugs."

Lucy laughed for a few seconds, "get over here."

Slowly Jackal stood up and brushed off his cream pants as he walked over to her, his ears plastered to his head and a sheepish look on his youthful face. He took a seat next to her, "guess I am not a very good spy, huh?"

"No but let me guess, Mard sent you?"

He nodded and tore up some grass in his black clawed hands, letting the shards of green float away before he leaned back on his hands. "Not to spy, just make sure you did not get into any danger."

Lucy shrugged, "I thought so," her brows knit together as she looked at Jackal's profile. "What would you do?"

"I would let them die," he whispered with a bit of hollowness to his voice, "it is kinder than what I lived through."

"What happened?" she asked, and he plucked more grass and kept his gaze fixed on the calm lake ahead.

"I was a pup, I only remember the screams and smelling burning flesh. But then…" he paused and dug his claws into the earth, "a pair of warm hands grabbed me and wrapped me in a cloak. I remember Mard's eyes, he looked relieved and sad at the same time. He held me to his shoulder and rubbed my back, telling me it was okay, and he was sorry."

Lucy looked down at her feet, a frown settling on her face as she pictured the moment. "He was sorry?"

Jackal nodded, "I think the decision to kill so many demons to stop the plague was not easy on him. I was the only bit of salvation he got out of it and I repaid him by peeing on his roses and being an unruly pup from time to time but…" his voice trailed off.

Lucy put her hand over his and gave it a light squeeze. She said nothing as he sniffled and used his free hand to swipe at his eyes before he let out a sigh, "there was not a day that went by that he was not my vater. Er, dad." He smiled at her and flipped his hand over to hold hers, their eyes met. "Every year we remember the Massacre of the Wilds with three hours of silence and fast for the day. Mard made it a holiday so that no one ever forgot the deaths of my pack so that the rest of the Underworld could survive."

"He never said anything," she whispered.

Jackal shrugged, "Mard is complicated like that. Though between the two of us," he leaned over, "I like the Mard he shows when he is with you. The Mard that raised me was a different demon and I get why Merlin cursed him."

"Was it worth it?" she asked.

"It was, it was not fair to the demons infected but it would have been even more unfair for all the others," Jackal let go of her hand and laid back, resting his hands behind his head and staring up at the sky. He put up a hand and blocked the sun out of his eyes for a moment, his gaze not moving to look at her and Lucy quietly waited as she considered his words.

"We now know this is a parasite for the Plane of Madness, think of your world without life, the sun black, mindless chittering and the hollow shells of all your friends." His voice was trembling slightly, and Lucy started to look over the area around her.

She could see the bright colors of the flora dull to grey and wilted down instead of reaching for the sun. Lucy could see this world with no light, an endless black sky that was cold and unwelcoming. She wrapped her arms around her middle and shivered as she thought of how Natsu and Meredy looked when the lingering bit of parasite in his system reacted to the others.

That damn song he hummed.

"If Mard," Jackal's voice broke her out of the nightmare and she blinked, "had not done what he did, I would not be here and life in the Underworld would have ended."

"How do you live with it?" she asked.

"Dunno, that is a Mard question." Jackal got up and dusted off his cream pants again and picked some grass out of his tail. He held out a hand to her and Lucy took it as he pulled her to her feet. "But I would not ask him."

"Huh?" she asked, a little confused.

Jackal grabbed her shoulders, "how he lives with it and how you will live with it are different things. You might be mates but you are," he poked his finger at her chest, right over her heart, "still two very different people."

Lucy pursed her lips and knew he was right, she was not Mard and had to think this through for herself. Her choice was up to her to handle and to rationalize and to carry with her for the rest of her life.

She looked up at Jackal and smiled, "thank you," she said before she stepped closer and hugged him.

Jackal tensed for a second before he hugged her back and Lucy had her answer. She had to defend life and hugs and that if Mard had not made the decision to protect most of his people, none of them would be here.

Lucy would make sure that she knew the names of everyone who would die this day. Their deaths would not be out of spite or in vain. No, their deaths would save millions of people and sunlight and plants and everything that made her world beautiful.

If no one else knew what happened here today, Lucy would always carry the memory and that was enough.

It had to be.

She got back to the camp and walked to Mard who was looking over the demons who were strapping on belts loaded with the syringes. Lucy said nothing but gave him a nod.

Mard kissed her cheek, "we will record all their names and remember them."

Lucy figured he was reading her thoughts, if anything she realized that Mard gave not one fuck about privacy when he was worried about her. It was a little odd but that was her mate and if she had the power, she would probably do the same thing.

"That is all we can do," she whispered.

"Belial made extra doses for us, used without the parasite in our bodies, it works as a temporary vaccine," Mard reached over and grabbed a syringe, Lucy flinched.

"I don't like needles," she said.

Mard pulled her against him and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. Lucy's eyes closed and her tongue slid against his as she enjoyed the embrace. His lips moved against hers, and the warmth of his body had her forgetting the world outside of the two of them.

They pulled apart and Mard smiled at her before holding up a used syringe, "all done."

Lucy laughed for a moment before she felt her heart start to accelerate and her blood rush through her veins. She grasped at her chest and bent over, trying to suck in deep breaths of air that were now on short supply. All her lunch tumbled out of her mouth as her stomach cramped at a new level she had never felt before and black dots gathered at the edges of her vision.

Lucy dropped to her knees on the ground, pulling at Mard as he held her against him. She coughed and noticed dots of blood all over his shirt, her world went black as he panic-shouted in Infernai.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe, stay healthy.