Demon AU Part 3

All was not well after the demoness left Hell. A new force of destruction, a small group of heretic angels lead by a couple; whose names were Ash and Angela, were gaining power in the midst of all the death and sickness in the human realm. This lead to an increasing number of angel attacks on demons and other angels who didn't share their same twisted viewpoint of humanity. But out of the two immortals, the death count of demons skyrocketed.

Periodically, guards from the castle were sent to retrieve the bodies of demons to be given back to the families of the deceased. A few weeks after Aurora left, a body was brought back to Hell by two guards. But this was no ordinary recovery, for this body was sent directly to the castle. Lilith, tending to the arrangements for an increased grave yard, looked up to see two guards carrying a body covered by a sheet on a stretcher.

"Oh no, not again. Who was it this time?" she asked. They guards stayed quiet not sure how to respond in fear of what their Lady would react. They stayed quiet a few minutes more before answering.

"My Lady...could you..could you bring Lord Satan here. He needs to see the body too", one of the guards said hesitantly.

"Oh, yes of course.." Lilith replied, leaving the room to bring her beloved mate. Once both were in the room, Lilith turned to the guards.

"Now, who does the body belong to?" Lilith asked, hoping it was not a child of Beelzebub. He already lost a few sons and daughters to Ash and Angela, she couldn't bear to have to tell him another one of his children are dead. Ask if reading her mind, Satan asked the guards.

"Is it one of Beelzebub's children?" The guards shook their heads, their faces growing more grave by the minute.

"N-No sir...the body it's…" the guard started earning a curious look from Satan and his mate. The guard simply sighed and gestured to his partner to remove the sheet. The other was hesitant to do so, but removed it nonetheless. Once the sheet was fully removed, Satan's and Lilith's eyes went wide eyed with horror seeing the body.

Laying in front of them was their first-born son Balam. His entire chest and torso had several gashes and cuts. Through the gashes, it was quite easy to see some organs and bones that were utterly damaged. There was a large amount of dry blood that stuck to his clothes and ghostly pale skin and even some around his mouth. Satan kneeled to the body and looked to the face of his child. He looked into his son's once shining blue eyes that used to be filled with joy and kindness, but now they only dim with shock and surprise. Satan felt his entire heart shatter and break seeing this. It made his insides turn and twist uncomfortably and chest burn with hatred for the angels and self-hatred. He had known that his son was away on contract, but he didn't think to send a message to come home or a warning. He knew that his son was one of the strongest in Hell, so he assumed that Balam would have defeated them. He shouldn't have assumed such a thing.

He will have his vengeance of those damned angels. After a few minutes Satan gently closes his son's eyes.

"N-No . . " Lilith finally muttered, dropping to her knees. "N-not Balam, n-not our little b-boy." She could feel grief and sadness weigh down her heart like an anchor. This couldn't be true, Balam was always so careful she thought. She shouldn't have let him leave the castle. Her grief soon turned to boiling rage and she stood up. The guards cowered a bit, seeing her blood-red ablaze with rage.

"Which one of those disgusting, low-life, heretics did this?!" She half-shouted, the plants in the room shaking with her anger and began to die, shriveling until the plants were no more than dust.

"W-We aren't sure My Lady", one of the guards said, shaking a bit, "w-we assume that Ash and Angela had ambushed him once he finished his contract. W-We found his body in an alley…."

"W-With this" the second guard announced handing a leather messenger bag to Lilith, "there's a package in there. For the young prince Malphas". Satan stood next to his mate and took the bag gently. He noticed that the bag was stained with his son's blood. He inwardly shuddered before opening the bag and getting the package out. It appeared that it was unharmed and didn't get any blood or any other stains on it. Satan gently touched his son's handwriting on the aged covering knowing that this is the last he'll see of it. Lilith went wide-eyed seeing this and her anger subsided.

"Thank you . . I have orders for you. Bring everyone back home and lock our borders. Do a headcount. We can't afford another tragedy." Lilith ordered, completely monotone. The guards nodded and went off to fulfill their orders. Once they were gone, Satan went and gently placed his hands on his mate's shoulders in an act of comfort. "We should inform the children and p-prepare for the f-funeral." Lilith replied, shaking slightly and tears falling down her cheeks. Satan nodded it her as he gently wiped away her tears. He then gently held her.

"Everything will be alright", he muttered, "it...it will be difficult, but we will recover". Even though he wanted to reassure his wife, he wasn't too sure if his statement will become reality. He felt a single tear roll down his cheek. Lilith turned to look up at Satan and gently wiped the tear away, wrapping her arms around him in a comforting way. Satan held her close and pet her head to comfort them both. While in their embrace, they didn't notice the oncoming footsteps in their direction.

"Mother? Father? Are you in here?"

"O-Oh Malphas," Lilith replied, moving in front of Balam's body. "U-um, there's something we have to tell you." The young demon came in somewhat confused. He wanted to ask his parents whether they knew when Aurora and his brother would be back. After the events of their argument, guilt and shame started to grow in the pit of his stomach and realized that he shouldn't had done and said the things he said.

When he entered the room, he noticed that the atmosphere seemed...off in way. He also noticed that his mother was in front of something and had a mixture of sadness and horror on her face.

"What is it? Is...is everything okay? You look like you were crying" he asked. Lilith rubbed her eyes then walked over to Malphas.

"Honey, t-there's been another attack . . . I-It's Balam." Lilith explained. "H-He's . . gone. He's gone Malphas." Malphas' eyes went wide eyed with horror, shock and disbelief.

"W-What..w-what did you s-say…" the young demon stuttered. Satan went over to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Malphas, but it's true...he's gone". Malphas stepped away from his parents and shook his head panickingly and quickly went over to his brother's body. His entire shook seeing the wounds on the body, but he refused that his older brother as gone. He desperately grabbed Balam's shoulders and started to shake the body.

"B-Balam come on..this...this isn't funny", he stated his voice cracking, "you're not dead...you can't be dead. Wake up! Wake up please!" Malphas continued shouting and begging his brother, refusing to accept that Balam was truly gone. He soon began slapping his brother in desperation that the limp body would awake up. "C-Come on...come on! Wake up! P-Please Balam wake up! Y-You can't be dead!" Before he could continue his assault, he felt strong arms rip him away from his brother's body. Satan held a firm grip on his son as he thrashed and tried to get out of his hold.

"Malphas you have to calm down. There's no use please" Satan told him calmly. Malphas refused to listen and continued to thrash about.

"Malphas calm yourself! He's gone! There's nothing we can do!" Lilith half-shouted, tears going down her face. "There's . . . nothing we . . we can do." Lilith rubbed her eyes again, needing to be strong for her family. Malphas stopped his thrashing and went wide eyed hearing his mother shout. Satan let go of his son and Malphas simply stood in place for a while before running off into his room. He slammed and locked his door so that he wouldn't be bothered as he broke-down. Lilith felt her heart sink as she heard Malphas faintly scream and throw things around his room. Lilith let out a shaky sigh and ran her hands through her hair. Satan gently held his mate close and pet her hair. As he held his emotionally exhausted love, he heard footsteps coming their way.

"Hey, any reason why Malphas was running off like…" Satan turned to his second eldest Lucifer.

"O-oh Lucy," Lilith replied, turning to Lucifer. "U-um, there's something we have to tell you . ." Lucifer didn't say anything as he walked behind his mother and knelt to his eldest brother's lifeless body. He face held a blank look void of any emotion, though his eyes held something a bit different. He gently placed his hands on his brother's face and closed his eyelids. Lucifer stayed quiet for a while before letting out a sigh.

"He's dead...Balam's dead", he muttered softly.

"Yes . . The heretic angels . . ambushed him," Lilith started to explain, shaking slightly as she walked over to Lucifer to putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Lucifer didn't say anything. He gently placed his head on her shoulder and let out another sigh. Satan was a bit surprised seeing this since his second son hadn't done anything like this since he was a young boy. He simply sighed and gently pet his head. They all stayed quiet not sure what to say until Lucifer broke it.

"One of you should probably check on Malphas...he's probably curled up in a ball sobbing his eyes out"

"Right, I'll go . . ." Lilith replied, gently petting Lucifer's head before leaving to check in on her youngest son. Lilith slowly opened Malphas's door and went wide-eyed seeing the destruction of her son's room. The demon in question was curled up in a ball, trembling. Lilith went wide-eyed, her already broken heart shattering seeing her son in such a condition. Lilith slowly sat down next to him and pulled Malphas into her lap, holding him close and petting his head. "It's going to be okay sweetheart . . eventually" she reassured, though she didn't believe her own words. "We . . we just have to . . pick ourselves up and . .keeping fighting." Malphas didn't say anything, he simply buried his face into his mother's lap and silently cried.

/

Several months have passed since Balam's death and Hell had only become dreary with sorrow. Balam was beloved by Hell and its residents, many more hearts were broken hearing that their first-born son was dead. There had been a funeral service of course, many nobles and commoners had come and paid their respects to the body as well as to the family. Lilith and Satan tried to remain focused on running their kingdom and raising their children but a pit had begun to grow and consume their days with depression.

Malphas was no different, remaining in his room most of the day without eating much or sleeping. The guilt of what he had yelled at his brother ate away at him and he felt like he was falling down a deep hole that he couldn't climb out of. Even though he was wallowing in all of these negative emotions, he still thought about Aurora. He thought about her often and wondered what she was doing and how she was. He was also worried about her since she hadn't came back to Hell since before Balam's funeral. He decided to ask his parents if either of them have heard any word of where she might be. He got out of his bed and ran his hand through his hair as walked to their office. Lilith held Callie in her lap and was reading a story to her, but Lilith's voice held no emotion. Malphas frowned a bit seeing this, but composed himself so his mother wouldn't have to worry about him more than she already does.

"Mother, can I ask you something", he started, "do you have any information on where Aurora is?" Lilith looked up and went a little wide-eyed seeing her son.

"Oh, Malphas. We haven't heard anything yet. But, I'm sure she's fine." Lilith reassured. What she said was the truth, they hadn't heard anything on the blonde demoness but Lilith wasn't sure if that was good or bad news.

"But what if she's not? She could be hurt or worse", Malphas said, "Maybe...maybe I should go out and look for her..." Lilith went wide-eyed and stood up, putting Callie on the chair.

"Absolutely not, you are staying here until the heretic angels are dead." Lilith replied sternly. "The guards will find Rora or she'll come back on her own."

"Mother please I need to find her".

"I forbid it! I won't lose another child!" Lilith half-shouted, her eyes turning demonic and tears flowing down her face. Realizing what she said, Lilith calmed down and rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry . ." she muttered. "Just please . . stay here. We lost Balam, I can't lose you too." Malphas went wide eyed hearing his mother shout. Hearing how scared she was. He nodded to her and left the room. Callie started to whine a bit hearing her mother shout. Lilith turned around and held Callie. "I'm sorry I shouted, sweetpea. Shh, it's okay, shh." she muttered, comforting her little daughter.

Meanwhile, Malphas went straight to his room and opened his nightstand. He pulled out an ancient black skeleton key. To any mortal who saw this key, they would have assumed that it was just a plain old key. But this particular key is special, otherworldly special. This key was enchanted. It had the ability to not only take the user to anywhere in the mortal and immortal realms, but also to anywhen. This key is incredibly powerful and is only used by high ranking nobles and the royal family.

Malphas knew that his mother would be upset if she found out that he left, but he had to go and find Aurora. He needed to know if she was okay. Without a second thought, he went over to his closet door and placed the key in its lock. He closed his eyes and thought about Aurora and twisted the key and went through the door. Sunlight streamed through the door as the bright city of Florence came into view. The Black Death that once terrorized the area had left a rebirth of art and literature across Europe. The last remains of the plague remained only in the bodies of a little boy and girl, where Aurora was. Sebastian went wide eyed seeing Aurora, but mostly relieved since now he knows that she wasn't dead. Even so she didn't look so well. She looked ill and appeared as if she hadn't eaten for some time. Makes sense since she healed all of these people, he thought to himself. It made his heart sink more with guilt knowing that it was his fault that Aurora was like this. She put her health at risk to fix his mistake. He wondered if she hated him for making her go through all of this trouble, maybe she didn't want to see him? No, no he had to see her, he already made it this far. Malphas started to walk over to where Aurora was.

/

In a small home nearby, Aurora had been disguised as an angel to fix what Malphas had done. She had been angry at him before, but now she just wanted to help. Aurora put her hands on the children's foreheads, muttering a healing spell under her breath that she learned from Lilith. Soon, the symptoms of the plague vanished, leaving the children in perfect health. The brother and sister hugged Aurora, grateful.

"Tank you Miss Angel." the boy said.

"Ya, tank you Miss Angel." the girl repeated. Aurora smiled and pet both of their heads.

"Your welcome little ones, now run along to your parents. My work is done here." Aurora replied weakly, standing up and turned to leave only to see Malphas at the door. Aurora's eyes grew wide in shock from seeing Malphas and his bad condition. His face had looked sunken in, and he appeared deathly thin. His entire appearance looked like a mess. His clothes were disheveled and unkempt, his hair was a bit of a mess and his entire essence radiated tiredness and depression. He also looked as if he haven't slept in months, and yet he simply smiled at her as if nothing was wrong.

"Hey Aurora, it's been a long time". His voice was quiet and raspy as if he was sick.

"Malphas, what happened?" Aurora muttered, going over to Malphas and gently putting her hand on his forehead to heal him. Malphas gently removed her hands from himself and just held them.

"Aurora I'm fine", he told her, "I'm just...tired is all. I was worried about you...you haven't come home in such a long time…"

"I'm sorry . . . Let's go home." Aurora muttered, feeling awful for being away for so long. Malphas nodded and took her hand into his and used his key to take them back to the castle.

Aurora led Malphas to his room, but began to grow concerned seeing the depressed mood that seemed to cloud the castle. "Geez, what's with everyone?"

"O-Oh yeah you weren't here when…" he stopped to compose himself before he continued, "Balam...h-he's...he's dead". Aurora went wide-eyed in horror hearing the news and covered her mouth.

"O-oh my . . . Malphas." Aurora muttered, processing all of it. She held Malphas close, wanting to comfort him. Aurora mentally kicked herself for staying away for so long when they needed her. "I-I'm so sorry . ." Malphas stayed quiet for a while before he replied.

"I-It's fine...I'm fine Aurora, I'm just glad you're back", he said as he gently held her back. Aurora wasn't convinced by his words and decided to lead him to her room instead, it being closer. Aurora sat him down on the bed, trying to think of anything to do to cheer Malphas up.

"Is there anything I can do for you Malphas?" she asked, unsure. Malphas shook his head.

"No...but if you could..could you.." he started unsure if she would be willing to stay with him while they laid on his bed. Aurora noticed his hesitation and smiled a little realizing what he wanted.

"Of course," Aurora replied, sitting on the bed with him. Malphas nodded and gently held her as he laid them down in his bed. He gently rested and buried his head into her neck tired emotionally and physically. Aurora gently pet his head and held him close, comforting him.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long . ." she muttered. "I really missed you."

"I missed you too." Malphas muttered. He gently snuggled into her and slowly feel to sleep. Aurora smiled and stayed still, missing Malphas and seeing how peaceful he was asleep. But that peace was interrupted a few hours later by Malphas starting to whimper and turn in his sleep. Aurora went wide-eyed and gently shook his shoulder.

"Malphas, Malphas wake up." she muttered, trying to wake him from his nightmare. Malphas gasped as he woke up from his horrible dream. He started to pant heavily and shake still having the images from his dream still in his mind. He wrapped his arms around himself to try to calm himself, but he was still shaking and started to make whines of fear and desperation. This started to worry Aurora never seeing Malphas like this.

"Shh, it's okay. It was just a nightmare." she said, hugging him, mirroring what she's seen Lilith doing a hundred times before. "You're okay." Malphas buried himself in Aurora's should as his body shook and he let out soft sobs. He soon started to mutter things such as "my fault", "I'm so sorry", and "I didn't mean it". Aurora continued to shush and rub his back in hopes to calm him down.

"I-I-I didn't mean it….I-I didn't mean it", he continued in between sobs.

"Shh, it's okay." Aurora replied, petting his head and continuing to comfort him. Malphas started to shake his head.

"But it's not, it's not okay", Malphas whimpered, "I said...I said so many things to him...things that I didn't mean...the last thing, the very last thing I told him was that I-I hated him...a-and...a-and that I wished he was dead...I didn't mean it". He started to sob even harder feeling even more guilty for what he had done.

"Hey, Balam knew you loved him dearly." Aurora reassured. Malphas stayed quiet for a while before speaking again.

"I-I'm sorry Aurora" he whispered pathetically, "I'm so sorry that I pushed you away...I-I was so angry and...and too wrapped up with my emotions…"

"It's okay . . it's okay." Aurora replied. "You don't have to apologize ..."

"But I do! I do Aurora...I was so cruel to you...I-I hurt you and not just emotionally...I'm so sorry Aurora".

"I forgive you, Malphas." Aurora replied, "I forgave you a long time ago." Malphas stayed quiet for a while and sighed as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"What did I deserve to have someone like you in my life. All I've done is hurt you and caused you so much trouble."

"You became my friend, you gave me a home." Aurora replied then kissed his cheek. "You're my world Malphas." Malphas went wide eyed hearing this but smiled and gently held Aurora.

"You're my world too Aurora" he told her. He gently held her face and kissed her lips. Aurora smiled and kissed him back.

Damn, I've missed this, Malphas thought as he continued to kiss Aurora. After sometime, they broke their kiss. Before Malphas could say anything, his stomach let out an audible growl. He blushed and held his stomach embarrassed.

"Let's get some food in you." Aurora commented, smiling a bit and helped him up. Malphas smiled back and they headed their way to the kitchen to get something to eat. Aurora went in first and quickly made Malphas' favorite meal. It's so good to be home.