Chapter 9
J
Lucifer paced furiously downstairs as we all stood terrified of what he will say or do. We were afraid to speak up and I had never asked for them to keep my secret my anxiety grew with each second but I refused to let it show on my face.
"Let me see if my understanding is correct; you snuck out of the house well after curfew to go to a club. While you are there, you get into a huge fight and caused an incident which will reflect on the school and upon Diavolo, and you thought you could just sneak back in and not acquire any consequences? You thought you could cause all this trouble and I not know about it?!"
"Well…no one wanted a fight; they tried to hurt Jetèa!" Asmo spoke up first.
"Who shouldn't have been there in the first damned place!" He turned into his demon form; he had four black wings that were massive and his horns curved from his head. I was a combination of terrified and infatuated at him; he was scary and yet so beautiful.
"Lucifer it was my fault, I invited them to the club so that we could compete in the dance off. If you are angry at anyone it should be me!"
"Belphagor….I am more than angry; it is my entire job to uphold Diavolo's good name and this schools reputation. So what do you think knowing that four of the student council officers who are supposed to be the examples of the school and an exchange student caused such a social incident will do to his name? What will it do to my name since it was my own brothers who crept from my house while I slept?! You all know better as student council officers and as my brothers and yet this girl has caused you to forget your duty and your purpose!" He stepped menacingly closer and grabbed mammon by his hair; it seemed he would be the first to receive the punishment.
"And YOU; It was your entire job to keep her in line and out of danger! You took her there knowing the dangers; you crept out knowing the rules and for what? For money that you will have squandered in mere hours?! You incompetent, thoughtless, worthless excuse for a brother!" Lucifer slammed him down and we all flinched. I leapt forward putting myself between Lucifer and the others and Lucifer to their horror and his incense.
"Lucifer please! We must think of another resolution; the incident was unfortunate but not the end. We will make a public apology, do community service even fix the club ourselves! Anything but please don't hurt them!"
"I am very tired of your insolence; you are the one who influenced them to disobey the rules! It is your presence that has caused them to turn against me! Because of your defiance they ruined everything! Now move out of the way Human!" I should have stepped aside but I stood my ground as he glared at me; I was terrified but I had to help them now when I chose not to before.
"Please…this isn't right; Violence won't solve the matter, we come to another solut-"
"ENOUGH!"
He swung at me and my instincts said to dodge, to fight back but I only moved enough to keep his attack from being severe; he sent me flying into the far wall knocking the wind right out of me and leaving scratches, luckily not deep enough for stitches. If I hadn't moved he would have broken me in half.
"NO!"
"HOW COULD YOU!" The others had changed back into their demon forms as well and looked ready to go head to head with their older brother. Beel and Satan saw the commotion and were downstairs immediately. I saw them all about to square off, they would fight their own brother who was much stronger than they were for me. no…they would be severely injured if not killed, I couldn't have my only friends taken from me, I couldn't have them hurt for my sake. Mammon was the first to go for Lucifer who took him down without much effort and slammed his head into the stone flooring nearly knocking him out. He looked as though he would strike him again and my feet moved on their own.
"STOP IT, STOP IT STOP IT PLEASE!" I had once again put myself between Lucifer and his brothers. I laid over top of mammon, using my own body as a shield; if he was going to hurt him further he would have to go through me.
"I never wanted this, I never wanted you guys to fight; I wanted to have fun for the first time in my life, I wanted to belong! I should have said no! I should have told them it was a bad idea to go! SO KILL ME! But don't hurt them, don't hurt him anymore please…" He backed away stunned…the others backed off as well they stared at me shocked at what I said and I continued to stand my ground.
L
"I should have said no! I should have told them it was a bad idea to go! SO KILL ME! But don't hurt them; don't hurt him anymore please…" she shielded my brother with her own body, she- a frail human girl would give her life for my family… I had hurt her once and that I deeply regretted even in that moment; but instead of cowering, instead of begging for mercy she came back and put herself in harm's way to protect my brothers. This is what they saw in her…if turning them against me was her plan she wouldn't have interfered, she wouldn't be trying to protect them from me if she didn't care…what had I done? The doors burst open and Diavolo rushed in with Barbatos with a worried look upon his face and I felt the full weight of my actions.
"This isn't good, not good at all…Lucifer have you heard about the incident at The Fall? There was a fight and…what is going on here?!" I saw Jetèa pull Mammon to his feet who pulled away from her; he was bleeding from the head and mouth but was able to stand on his own. He was always resilient my brother.
"Diavolo…I…was-"
"Lucifer was questioning us on the events of the night Sir. We were trying to come together to form a resolution to this….unfortunate event." Jetèa spoke up and I felt a flood of dread fill me.
"My dear, you're bleeding! What happened to you?!"
"I was attacked, The five of us, Asmo, Levi, Mammon, Belphie and myself snuck out after curfew to compete in a dance competition. I was attacked afterwards and they fought to defend me; they would've fought to the death if they had to. I did get hurt but I know it would be much worse if they hadn't risked their wellbeing for me." She embellished for me…why would she do that? Diavolo took a handkerchief and tried to apply pressure to her wound but she waved him off.
"No no, there isn't any need. I have a healing salve that I have constructed from different components and poisons from various plants. I will be fine in a couple of day's tops." She was bleeding but it wasn't heavy, I must have nearly missed her.
"That is remarkable! This balm can heal a wound like this in just a matter of days? But you must still file an incident report."
"No please, there is no need! I should not have ventured out in the first place; this is all my fault, I wanted to see the city at night and I caused so much trouble! Lucifer and I were thinking; those of us who left could make a public apology and repair the damages ourselves? Would the owners be willing to settle?"
"Actually the owners had said that the group who had caused the fight make a scene like that every other week or so and that it wasn't your fault at all. But I do believe that your suggestion would be very useful in relations with them. That is a very good solution for the two of you to come up with."
"Thank you Sir. And I do apologize again for my reckless behavior; it was inexcusable."
"Well don't go sneaking off into the night again young lady; you are in my care while you are here. I would be the one to tell your parents the news if something was to happen to you and I do not want to give such nice people such dreadful information."
"I understand." He stood and looked at me a worried look in his eye as he surveyed the room.
"All of you get some sleep; school will be in session in just a few hours. And you are still expected to attend…Mammon, are you alright?!"
"I'm fine…"
"No you don't look well at all. I will excuse you and Jetèa from classes tomorrow since you are both hurt, and she can give you some of that good medicine." He perked up a little at knowing he was excused from class, he wasn't that injured to be so excited to miss school.
"Sure thing Diavolo Sir, now that's what I'm talking about!"
"I am very disappointed in the five of you; you four know better and Jetèa even you know the rules of curfew. I have excused the circumstances of the club because that wasn't in your control but because you broke curfew in the first place you must be punished. So repairing damages will be just that and you are to have a curfew of eight o'clock for the next month. No of you are to leave the house after that time. You are to go to school, spend four hours doing repairs and come back. So think of it as being grounded." They groaned a little but nodded in obedience and Diavolo turned to leave.
"Lucifer please come with me." I followed him out and shut the doors behind me. We walked in silence for several minutes before Diavolo opened his mouth to speak.
"Old friend, I must ask you…would you ever lie to me?"
"Never Diavolo."
"Do you suspect something wrong in Jetèa's story? I saw something in her eyes that told me she was hiding something, she had always been transparent before. If she is lying about this incident I would have no choice but to expel her."
"Actually what she said was true, she was attacked and my brothers did defend her."
"Oh?"
"It's just that when they returned I lost my temper and while I was punishing Mammon she jumped in between and I struck her. Those injuries were of my doing." I heard the air rush out of him in a sigh and there were several moments of silence.
"And you didn't speak up then?"
"And call the girl a liar in front of you? We both know what she was doing."
"Very true; but it doesn't justify what happened."
"Of course…what I had done was inexcusable." Why would she try to keep what I had done from Diavolo? Was she going to use it as blackmail or was this girl just what my brothers had said she was?
"I will need each of them separated and writing a statement to the nights events. We are going to get this smoothed over as quickly as possible."
"Of course." He was quiet for another moment, chewing on his words before trying them out.
"Lucifer….I know you didn't hurt her on purpose; if that were the case she wouldn't have been fast enough to dodge you and she would have been killed. But even still…this program means a lot to me, you know that better than anyone. I hope you would practice more self-control my friend; I know that seems like an incredulous statement for you but I know she can work your nerves…" He stopped and grabbed my shoulder tightly, a surge of power exuding from him in a threatening manner.
"And if I were to find out there was malice behind that exchange…I would be inclined to think that you were in fact being disloyal to me." Diavolo was the most patient demon I know, for someone in his position this was a very rare find; but to see in his eyes the rage that threatened to bubble to the surface put chills even in my spine. I may be more powerful of the seven; but he is the next Demon King and treason was a heavy crime even in Devildom.
"I would never Diavolo…" He laughed and patted me.
"Of course you wouldn't, I know you would never betray me! Well, let's not dwell on the past. We are going to fix this first thing in the morning. I will need those statements by noon tomorrow; I will be going to The Fall myself to make an appearance in the morning."
"Yes sir." He knew; he must have heard the commotion before coming into the room; this was his way of warning me. I had always been efficient in Keeping Diavolo Proud until now and this night caused a rift between us. That damned girl….no….this was all my doing. I spent so much time being suspicious of her motives that I lost focus of my own objective. I was so blinded by my pride that I didn't see that she wasn't a manipulative bother I has sought her out to be. My brothers saw it, but when she tried to make amends those weeks ago I turned her against me. Had I made a different choice this wouldn't have happened and now here I was at her mercy and in need of her forgiveness when the entire reason this spat began was so I wouldn't have to seek it in the first place.
J
"Mammon? I have some medicine for you; this will help your head…" I crept into his room thinking he may be asleep. I hadn't seen him all morning and in all honesty I was still nervous about last night. He was so angry with me, I called him my friend but I didn't trust him with this information…but what was I to do? Now their knowing my secret would put them all on the line.
"Mammon…?" He sat on his couch in the dark with his sunglasses on; he had bandaged himself up but he needed to change them. I moved slowly towards him, I wasn't sure why but something about his brooding behavior made me nervous.
"Why are you here?"
"I brought more of the salve and some fresh bandages-"
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THAT!" he slapped the supplies out of my hand and grabbed my arm. I was afraid I couldn't see his eyes so I wasn't sure what his motives were.
"Do you think I owe you something, do you think I am supposed to be at your beck and call because you threw yourself at Lucifer?! Am I supposed to be your stupid little lap dog, wagging my tail for my master because you stood up for me?! It was your fault this happened in the first place! It was you and your stupid human smell that made them angry and started it all! You wanted to run with Belphie and leave me behind, you never intended for me to go; so what would have happened if I wasn't there; If you died on my watch? Oh wait you would have been fine because you aren't all human! So you lied to us from the very beginning and expected us to just be okay with it?! You don't see me as a friend; you see me as a tool, you don't see me at all! And I thought you did…." He stood still gripping my arm. I was only at his shoulders so he towered over me as he yelled.
"Well I aint your tool anymore! So you get out, you get out and go back to the human world to your humans and you can feel superior to them because I am not going to let you step on me anymore!"
"That is not how I wanted you to feel! Please believe me; I never wanted you to get in trouble over me, I trust you with my life!" he shoved be across the room and into his closed door, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as Lucifer's attack but my bruises didn't appreciate it.
"That's funny, you trust me with your life but to lie to me about it. Don't you ever come between Lucifer and me again; unless you want to be killed and I won't give a single damn." His words cut me deep… and I froze in shock at what he said.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM! GET OUT, GO BACK TO YOUR DAMNED HUMANS AND GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" I ran out of there as fast as my legs could take me until I collapsed in the hall unable to breath from the wave of emotion. No…don't cry, don't show weakness! The weak are punished…I took a thorn and cut at my thighs until the pain stopped and I was able to steady my breathing. I stood just as Lucifer stepped out of his room; both of us were surprised to see each other.
"What are you doing here?!"Great I was going to be yelled at again and I couldn't take it.
"I want to leave!" He looked at me shocked, even clutched his pearls so to speak.
"You heard what Diavolo said, the five of you are grounded and you shouldn't be out of bed. Go back to your room this minute."
"No! I want to leave this house, this school this place. I don't want to be here anymore! I can't take it here! I want to go home!" he looked shocked and then waved for me to come in. He stood in front of his fireplace with his back to me for a few moments and my mind began to race, would he hurt me further?
"Why is it you want to leave all of a sudden? Has something happened?"
"Oh stop acting like you care all of a sudden! We both know you want me gone; well here is your big chance! I want to leave, I never want to look at this place ever again so do whatever it is you have to do and get the hell out of here I know you want to!" he motioned to the table with the chessboard as though he wanted me to have a seat.
"I will tell you what, play me in a game of chess, if you win I will get the process going to your expulsion. If I win you are to stay and go back to your room as instructed."
"What kind of childishness is this? I have stated an issue and you will not hear me!"
"You have stated a request; you gave me no issue so I have no other reason to prioritize a girls whimsy over other matters at hand. I will make the game more to your liking; for each piece a player takes the other is to answer the question of the takers choosing but it must be the absolute truth." Why would he make such terms, why all this? Does he want to add insult to injury as well? I sat in the chair and he took his seat and turned the board.
"White and ladies first." I studied the board and made my move.
"Pawn to e4."
"Pawn to e5"
"knight to f3"
Knight to c6"
"Bishop to c4"
"Bishop to c5" he was trying to trap me early so I changed up.
"Pawn to b4"
Bishop takes your pawn. Now I get to ask you a question; I think I will start out gentle: Do you have any siblings?"
"Yes I have a brother and a sister; I am the eldest."
"Ah, my condolences; having younger siblings can be quite the frustration. I can see why you have taken to mine though and why they look to you."
"It can be taxing yes but I don't regret it; not that I have any choice in the matter anyway."
"Very true, it is your turn now."
"Pawn to c3"
"Bishop to A5"
"Pawn to d4"
"My pawn has taken yours. Now I want to know something else: Why is it you want to leave?" I thought about what answer to give him only to shake my head.
"Come now, you were the one who came up with the solution for this incident you helped transpire. Would you be so callous as to shirk your responsibility and desert my brothers to clean up your mess? What kind of friend does this with no cause? Is your plan to get them to like you just so you can devastate them later?"
"No, that is a lie; and it doesn't matter what you do or say they already despise me anyway." He looked at me for a long moment before leaning closer.
"You still haven't answered the question."
"I can't live in a home where I'm hated by those I am supposed to feel safe around. I have caused more than enough trouble by being here; I would think that you of all people would understand what I am saying." Even if the others don't tell on me, I can't be in this house with Mammon not after that and Lucifer being how he is, I cannot have my number of enemies grow so steadily. Either way, it would be best if I left. I couldn't take being ridiculed and tormented by those I once called friends.
"It's your move." We went on like this for a while longer; I began to feel a little dizzy, I wasn't sure why…but the more we played the more upset I got that he was treating my request as such a trivial manner!
"My queen takes your pawn; now tell me Lucifer, would you have killed them had I not intervened?" He looked at me deeply for a moment before taking a breath.
"You are an eldest child; you know what it is to be responsible for your siblings to have everyone look to you for guidance while also receiving criticism when they are the ones at fault."
"Yes, I know it well."
"My brothers and I get into disputes; it isn't unusual. But as for destroying my own family I would never do nor allow such a thing; we demons are rather resilient to physical harm; Mammon will be fine I believe his ego is hurt more than anything."
"But why?"
"I have answered your question, it is my turn now." W continued on.
"My Bishop takes your pawn. Lucifer why are you so hateful towards me; what have I done to cause you to despise me so?"
"In all honesty I first took you to be a know it all and shrew; you so blatantly informed me of your displeasure of me and made it known you weren't to be my companion. Then you show up to the party and rub elbows with Diavolo I couldn't help but feel you were using him to get back at me. Then you forged that apology in front of him; I was under the impression you wanted to force my hand, make me submit. I wasn't having that and since then you have been just as hateful towards me."
"You truly thought I was trying to make that whole night about you?"
"I am the Avatar of pride."
"But-"
"I've already given you two, now it is my turn." And so we continued.
"Knight to f6, check."
"And I take your knight; now it is your turn. Why did you lie to Diavolo about last night?" My face flushed and I stammered.
"I didn't lie, I said that I was attacked and that your brothers defended me."
"We both know what you did; now answer the question."
"Maybe I didn't want anyone to get into trouble; maybe I thought you didn't need any more grief for one night."
"A maybe isn't an answer."
"I didn't want you to get into trouble; you can be a complete pompous ass but you didn't deserve that! Not when it was my fault!" his expression softened visibly and it took me aback. He thought I had an ulterior motive….
"My pawn takes yours; you said in the gym that you didn't hate me, was that the truth?!"
"Yes, that is true…My queen takes your knight. What is it that causes your displeasure in me?"
"I believe I have made that very clear."
"No, you have shown it the moment we met; something about me makes you seethe and I see it in your eyes. It only grows as the time goes on. So tell me now; is it you that hates me? Be honest!"
"Yes, yes I hate you!" I was losing control again; and I couldn't steady my breathing I began to cut again under the table. He stood and leaned over the table. Getting into my face as I was close to hyperventilating.
"Why…why do you hate me so? Why is it you have had that same look in your eyes from the moment I walked into the assembly hall? Why have you been filled with so much rage since the first day?"
"You don't know anything about my rage!"
"ANWER THE DAMN QUESTION!"
"You are arrogant, self-righteous, and you gloat so much about yourself and your achievements like people should worship the ground you walk on! You think that your opinions are the best ones and that anyone who doesn't share your views is inferior to you or not worth your time! And yet it doesn't bother you! You just go back to doing your routine like what everyone thinks means nothing to you and you never let it bother you!" I smacked the chess game to the floor in fury and stood as well.
"And I hate you for that because I look at you and all of these horrible irksome attributes and I see ME! I'm angry at you because I see all of the things that turns people away, what I see in you I see in me and I hate myself. When I look at you it is like my own faults are on display! And yet you can somehow make it…you don't let any of that bother you and I can't do that and that is why I hate you!" my head began to spin and I went for the door. Before I could open it he grabbed me and spun me around to face him. I was terrified of what he would do to me next.