Chapter 7

J

Later that evening I walked along the halls thing over those four little words he said. I don't hate you. Then why was he acting this way towards me? I was exhausted, I had been studying until two each morning only to get up at five too cook for the past two weeks. My body was breaking down and it and his taunts were the reason he had gotten the better of me so easily. I felt my knees buckle and I gaught myself in the doorway of one of the bedrooms….good, no one saw. I crept inside and sat on the floor; there were books everywhere, some I knew of and many others that I have never thought of. I looked to my left and picked up a copy of 'A Beacon in the Dark and looked through the first page. It seemed like an interesting read.

"You know trespassing is frowned upon even in Devildom." I jumped out of my skin! I hadn't seen Satan sitting in the large armchair surrounded by books in the candlelight.

"I'm sorry…I was just…"

"Don't worry about it, I saw the whole thing; you're tired you can sit here for a while but as payment I will need you to engage in intelligent conversation." His shaggy blonde hair didn't seem to match his primped wardrobe or demeanor, his posture was proper but something in his eyes seemed angry.

"Why are you so mad?" he looked at me surprised at first; and then chuckled.

"My brothers were right you are very perceptive. I am the Avatar of Wrath, so that question seems a little trivial. But I should ask the same thing about you."

"What do you mean?" He closed his book and looked at me more closely before motioning to his bed.

"Please have a seat." I got to my feet and sat on his bed, his green eyes locked onto me and I felt nervous.

"As I said I am the avatar of wrath, so I know anger when I see after your little spat with Lucifer this morning I couldn't help but wonder if he may be the cause."

"There was no-" His subtle glare reminded me of my mothers and I stopped mid-sentence.

"Please don't lie to me in my domain. Beel told us what happened between you two at the gym too. He seemed impressed, no one has ever gotten to Lucifer that way. I personally loved seeing the indignant look on his face this morning when you told him he wouldn't be able to keep up with you. Ha! Priceless."

"I take it you two have bad blood?"

"We have our differences but in recent years we have gotten along fine. But it doesn't mean I don't enjoy watching him squirm and you seem to do that well. But I digress." He moved from his chair and sat on the bed beside me and leaned in closer.

"You're angry…so angry that it seems to be the only thing keeping your body moving. I know that type of rage; my question is why are you this livid?" I proceeded to tell him what happened at the party and he didn't seem pleased.

"If any of us had known I would have given him a piece of my mind myself. He should never have treated you that way no matter what delusions he may have had!" He seemed to get very angry very fast. Out of the brothers I hadn't truly spoken to Satan as closely but he took my feelings to heart as though we were friends from day one. I put my arms around his to keep him from getting up.

"No please, I don't want anyone fighting my battles; this is for me to handle. I didn't want to ruin your day with my antics, I'm sorry." He calmed down and looked at me with sympathy…and I hated it.

"You know I see why the two of you don't get along; you sound just like him. Let me guess you are jabbing at him because of his actions against you and he wants you to stop being so 'defiant'."

"I guess so."

"If I know Lucifer he will not let go until you back off, and if you don't back off it's going to go around in circles until he kills you."

"Would he really do that?"

"Depends on how far you push him; it's rare to see him lose his cool, and on top of that Diavolo himself likes you right? It's very possible that he will just grin and bear it simply because of that. But I wouldn't go picking fights with him either, because if he tries anything I will have to step in." I then told him about this morning and what he had said to me.

"Huh…"

"Why do you think he's being so mean?"

"I have no idea…but if what he says is true and he really doesn't have ill feelings for you then it is safe to say that your best route is to back off."

"You mean surrender? I am not going to let Lucifer go around thinking he won!"

"But if you really want peace just let it go! I know he's an ass at times but if you are the one with the malice then you need to reevaluate the situation."

"No, he called me weak and irrelevant; I'm not going to let him win this!"

"What exactly are you trying to win? Is this really about Lucifer or do you have a deeper vendetta?" I stared at him for a minute, I truly didn't have an answer and that bothered me.

"Well, say that you are at odds with him at times too!"

"He is my brother, we will always be at odds that's just siblings. I want to know why you are avoiding my question?" his eyes seemed to pierce into my soul and I relented. The only people I had told about my past was Riley and Eliza and Levi knew I didn't get along with many people but he took it as me being awkward. Even so, they didn't even know the tip of the iceberg; could I trust Satan? Would he use my pain against me?

"When you look at me that way, you remind me of my mother."

"Well your mother doesn't get as wrathful as I can."

"Ha, you don't know my mother! Once she was so angry and grabbed me by my hair while I was sleeping and threw me out of my room. Then she grabbed me by my arm and leaned me over the railing like she was going to push me over all while she was yelling at me. It was about thirty feet down; if my grandmother hadn't stepped in I don't know what would have happened."

"That's a horrible thing for a mother to do!"

"Well….in her defense I had told my eight year old sister that she was the spawn of evil and that she needed to go off herself because our parents secretly didn't want her. All of which caused her to run away for months. And all so I could have more of our father's attention." He stared at me horrified. I don't know why I told him these things; maybe because he shared my love of knowledge or because he reminded me of my mother, or because he was the first one to ask me what was wrong.

"I'm not a nice person Satan…I think…maybe I deserve to be scorned; I can take people hating me but what I cannot stand is pity. I would rather be despised than have anyone think that I'm some low class unfortunate. It is one thing for Lucifer to simply dislike me but when he called me irrelevant and weak…when he called me nothing…." I began to choke and fought hard to pull it together, to turn that hurt into anger.

"Someone told you that before?" I nodded in response.

"Was it your mother that said those words to you?!"

"No of course not, actually that was the only time my mother yelled at me that way but she never called me names. Let's just say before I came here my only friends comprised of my plants. My own siblings and I aren't that close but you can see why."

"Was it that bad?" I thought about the garbage and the rotten cake and then every time those other kids had put their hands on me. they didn't stop beating on me until I fought back four years ago but I never told a single soul the extent of it until now.

"The kids at school singled me out and teased me since I began primary school; at first it was how I looked but the more inclined I became with knowledge the more they seemed to single me out. I never knew why really, I always looked for the reason they would dislike me and I made sure that I was perfect in every way but I refused to act stupid to please them, not that it would help. Once they told me that they didn't want to make fun of me anymore and wanted to be friends, and when I turned twelve a month later they told me they had a surprise and blindfolded me. They pushed me off the school roof and into a dumpster and threw cake and rotten food at me It wasn't until I as twelve and began to fight back but they never let up on their words and 'pranks' this scar on my hand came from a cut I got from the broken glass. I never told my parents about it, you are the first to know."

"Why did you choose to tell me?"

"I don't know…because you care hopefully." He took my hand in his and looked me deep in my eyes.

"I will never let anyone hurt you as long as you are here; I swear by that."

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"I think you get me; you enjoy books as much as I do, I know you peek at my collection when you think I'm not here. And you alphabetized them once as well; that shows you respect them and I can get behind a person like that." Out of the brothers I felt Satan was the one who understood me the most, we connected on an intellectual level and I found that very refreshing.

"Thank you, you are a really great friend."

"Ah see, you have made at least six friends in two weeks, do you still think your defective?"

"No, it just means that demons are more my type of people." He laughed at that.

"The way you treated your sister makes me think you were part demon yourself." I laughed just a little too hard at that…I'm just glad he was joking.

"Hey Satan, why is Jetèa in your room? I'm her guide not you, so she doesn't need to be in here with you unless I'm around got it?!" Mammon had been a lot closer to me since he won our bet and though his mild possessiveness was odd to me I didn't dislike it either.

"Mammon, why must you be such an idiot, she can be with whom she wants."

"But I was chosen to be her guide, not you; that makes me her guy! So if anyone wants to talk to her they have to ask me!" they both looked heated, I had never had two guys fight over me before, it was surreal. I took Mammons hand and tried to calm him down.

"Mammon, Satan was just giving me some advice; you are still my guide, you don't have to be upset."

"I aint upset, you're just a human anyway what do you know about my feelings."

"I know that I don't want you angry over me." He looked at me and blushed a little before taking my hand and pulling me out of his brothers room.

"Ok look, now I was doing this modeling gig for a magazine and they gave me a reservation for two. Belphie and Levi are busy, Asmo has a Date and Beel would eat his and my food too. Lucifer and Satan are killjoys so you are my last resort. I mean if you don't want to go I don't really care, I was just trying to be nice and all so you better be grateful!" I took the ticket in my hand and it was to a restaurant nearby called Hell's Kitchen and they were vouchers for two free meals. Was…he asking me on a date?

"Look if you didn't want to go just say so!"

"Wait…I just never been asked out like this before; I think I would like to share a meal with you." He got really red in the face and began to stammer.

"Why do you have to say it like that? Nobody's askin you out okay, I just had an extra ticket and I took pity on ya okay?!" he seemed so self-conscious and I'm not going to lie, to think that he was embarrassed this way by me was sweet and refreshing and I put an hand on his arm.

"I will get dressed." We were at the restaurant within the next hour; I had put on a pair of jeans and a nice pink sleeveless sweater and Mammon donned his black t-shirt and jeans and his brown and white Jacket. He fidgeted as we waited on our food like he wasn't sure what to say. To be honest I wasn't sure either.

"Thank you for bringing me along Mammon." He looked up and waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, sure like I said I just had another ticket is all. Nothin to get all gooey about."

"Even still, I'm glad."

"So anyway, I just wanted to make sure that you were ready for classes and stuff. Are you feeling nervous or anything?"

"No not really, I have been studying the material for the past couple weeks and though it is more advanced than back home, I can say that it won't be impossible to pass if I simply apply myself."

"Whaaa? You already studied the material? I haven't even gotten my books yet; man Lucifer's going to kill me if my grades aren't better this year!"

"If you like I can tutor you; I wouldn't mind it at all."

"Come on, the great Mammon, one of the most powerful demons in Devildom getting tutored by a human, what kind of fool do you take me for?"

"You're right, you don't need a study partner, I just figured you could help me go over a few things in the books, to help me instead?" He perked up at that.

"Yeah I can help you out and all, as your guide it's my job!"

"Ha! Look Mammon suckered Jetèa into buying him dinner! Levi strolled by with Belphie and Asmo skipped along behind.

"Oh dear, I figured when they weren't at dinner something had gone wrong."

"Would you guys leave us alone already?!"

"You might want to watch out that he doesn't skip out and leave you with the bill Jetèa you'll be washing dishes for a week."

"Now guys he may just have the money to pay for it, so whose wallet did you steal it from?"

"I aint stole anything! I'm here doin honest got it!?"

"You honest? Please is that what you told that witch you still owe money to? You will con one witch to pay back another. You are nothing but a—"

"A what? A scumbag, a crummy pile of garbage? A worthless bum?"

"No a waste of breath and flesh!"

"All three of you shut the Fuck UP!" Oh darn, I opened my mouth and my mother came out. I never swear but they made me so mad! I stood up and stared them down.

"How is anything you're saying constructive? How do any of your words help him to do better? If his actions are as deplorable as you say they are then why not simply help him make better choices? You stand there and tear him down and say such hurtful words and the only thing that does is cause him to befit the labels he was given! Science proves that when people are given a label they are doomed to become it if there is no intervention! You three are doing nothing but continuing a cycle of toxicity and I find it despicable! You are supposed to be his brothers! You are family, and if family is this vile and malicious towards each other then there is no hope for anyone else! If anyone should be ashamed it should be the three of you, coming to a public place just to tear him down when he was being honest all along! It's outright shameful!" everyone stared at me….and I mean everyone in the restaurant. Some clapped and the rest went back to their meals but Levi Asmo and Belphie were speechless.

I sat back down and Mammon just looked down like he had lost his appetite. I reached to touch him and he pulled away from me, leaving the restaurant entirely. I ran after him yelling his name but he tried to ignore me until I grabbed him by his jacket.

"Don't you think you've done enough already?! You embarrassed me in front of everyone in there! I didn't ask for you to do that, I'm not some kid runnin under his Mama's skirt! I didn't ask for you to fight for me!" I knew the pain he was feeling right now and instead of saying a word I just put my arms around his waist and hugged him close. He seemed to not know what to do for a moment but eventually hugged me back. He started to squeeze me tighter and he began to tremble.

"No one ever stood up for me before…" His voice broke and my heart hurt for him in that moment because I knew what that felt like to have so many bystanders watch your torment but no one care enough to be your voice. I hugged him tighter not saying a word; I didn't need to say anything else.

L

I was on my way to Diavolo's office when I happned upon Belphie and Asmo looking pretty deflated. As busy as I had been latley I knew I had to talk to my brothers.

"What is the matter with you two?"

"Lucifer…we're terrible brothers…" Asmo sniffled

"What trouble are you in now?"

"Jetèa yelled at us."

"She did what?!"

"Well it all started a couple nights ago when we noticed that Mammon and Jetèa weren't at dinner, Satan had told us that mammon had took her out."

"So of course we assumed that he had hatched some sort of scheme to get a free meal and we went down there to give him a hard time about it, the usual."

"Jetèa went OFF she yelled at us; she said that our words were not constructive and if he was as bad as we said he was then as family we should help him find a solution instead of tearing him down."

"And she said that the labels we give him make him doomed to befit them and that all we are doing is breeding a cycle of toxicity! Me, Toxic? Have you ever heard of such a thing?" Levi then came into the hall looking into his phone.

"OMG guys, its all online; the labeling theory…she was one hundred percent right!"

"Oh no…I am toxic! Is there a cream I can use for that? Look it up!"

"Wait now hold on! You mean to tell me that you are all upset because some human girl butted in?"

"But she's right; usually Mammon yells and says dumb things and we laugh but it wasn't until she confronted us that we saw just how upset we made him. He left without eating the food that he didn't swindle or steal!"

"I'm glad I didn't post it, I would have lost so many followers."

"We feel awful…and Mammon wont speak to us." She stood up for him…why was it the more I hear of this girl from another's perspective the more she seems like a kindhearted caring person? Just then she came out of her room and into the hall. Asmo ran to put his arms around her sniffling.

"Oh my little rose, please forgive us for being so terrible! I feel so awful that my skin is getting blanched!"

"Asmo it isn't me you should be apologizing to; you have to make things right with Mammon.

"But he wont speak to us." She tucked her hair behind her ear as she thought looking at the group of them.

"I am going to study with him and Beel, I will talk to him for you but please I am not making any promises."

"Great, thanks!"

"My flower is so sweet!"

"I appreciate that!" she walked on glancing at me as she passed but saying nothing. I wasn't needed for this after all; it has seemed that my brothers have grown to depend on her, even forming study sessions just a few days before class. Was this the real Jetèa Minamino or was this an act so she could win my brothers and eventually turn them against me? I had to find out.