Disclaimer: You know how it is

It takes far too much conscious thought, too much effort to force her eye open that morning. A groggy hazel eyed teenager is allowed only a few moments to examine the too clean room she was in, barely registering it as her assigned dorm before the memories rush against her skull all at once. Her head throbs painfully as she weakly attempts to push herself up into a sitting position, a sudden wave of nausea preventing her from even getting halfway.

"You awake now?"

She swears her heart stops beating at the sound of the voice and instinct has her reaching for the dagger meant to be strapped to her thigh. When her fingers brush against smooth skin, panic seizes her and adrenaline pumps through her veins as she finds it harder and harder to breathe. But there is a hand on her shoulder, pressing her shaking body back into the bed when she tries to jerk upward. Oddly enough the pressure isn't unwelcome; rather than heighten her panic, it brings a sense of relief which allows her eye to focus on its owner's face. "Belphegor."

He scowls at her, shaking his head at her previous episode of panic before pressing his palm to her forehead for a rudimentary check of her temperature. His displeased expression and his caring actions seem to contradict rather sharply and this realization pries a small smile from the young woman. An action which does not go unnoticed by the older male, "What are you laughing about?"

She shakes her head, smiling a bit wider at the scoff which marked the start of his inquiry, "Nothing."

Belphegor pulls his hand away without another question. He walks back to sit down in a chair strategically placed beside her bed, twirling a knife between his fingers out of habit. "You really scared Lussuria, you know that?"

Even in her befuddled state, Ebony could see through that, "Oh, is that your clever way of insinuating I scared you?"

In response the male clenches his hand around the base of his knife, "I'd watch it if I were you, princess."

She laughs lightly, an airy sound which somehow makes the air of the room easier to breathe. But the sound soon dies out as the reality of her situation kicks in. With a tired hum, she lazily drapes her arm across her eyes and mumbles, "It happened again…"

At the sound of a much more bitter laugh, Belphegor spares his sister a glance, his lips turned downward in a confused frown, "What are you talking about?"

Ebony let out a slow sigh, sliding her arm away from her eyes as she grimaces toward the ceiling, "After the incident I was particularly weak. Both mentally and physically. I was plagued by nightmares and when I was awake I was struggling to live with a new handicap. God, those nightmares…they were so real. No maid could wake me up so every night I kept reliving the moment you…" her voice trails off as her mind wanders and her hand reaches up to subconsciously brush against the square piece of gauze covering her empty socket. The sight has Belphegor's grip on his knife tightening. "…I just heard your voice and I panicked, I almost sent myself into a full blown panic attack because you spoke."

"Shut up," his comment cuts into her sentence as his knife would cut through flesh. He's smiling manically, a laugh resting on his lips as he throws the knife he had been toying with at the far wall, "We made a deal, didn't we?" He laughs then, looking up at the ceiling and spinning around in his chair once, "Don't be afraid of me. I gave my royal word not to kill you."

For a moment she is shocked into silence, but as she glances at the knife embedded in the wall she smiles, "I'm not."

The end of her sentence is punctuated by the opening of her door and Fran strolling into the room with an indifferent, "Hi senpai." His hat is penetrated by four knives before he even has the time to blink.

Belphegor's laugh is the only sound in the room, "Who said you could come in? Eh, toad?" Through his sneer it's made obvious the fallen prince takes displeasure in his subordinate barging into his sister's room unannounced yet Fran seems to ignore Bel altogether.

He points at Ebony with the same indifference he had entered the room with, "We're training after lunch."

While Ebony displays minor surprise at having forgotten about training entirely, Belphegor's sneer evolves into his famous manic smile, "Can't you see she's sick? Or are you blind? Let me just take those two useless eyes out if you can't see it—"

Fran regards Ebony for a moment as he nonchalantly cuts the older male off, "She looks fine to me."

"Looks like you're about to—"

Reaching out to place her hand on her brother's shoulder, Ebony interjects, "I'm fine. Bel, I'm fine." Said male's protest dies on his tongue when she continues, "I promise." Her attention is then turned to Fran as she adds, "I got it, frog boy. I'll be ready by then, now get out. Your hat makes me want to puke."

With the corners of his lips turning downward into an expression of displeasure Fran quickly retorts, "Your brother is the one that makes me wear this. He's the one making you sick—ow. Senpai, that hurt."

Belphegor sends the younger male a lazy grin, toying with another knife as he lets out a shrill laugh, "Shut up, toad."

"Why don't—"

"Both of you just shut up. Your bickering isn't making my headache go away."

And a few throws of a knife later, Fran exited the room with nothing more than a roll of his eyes. As the door shut behind the teenager, Belphegor turned back to his sister just in time to witness the difficulty she found in siting up. His lips pressed into a thin line as he muttered lowly, "You're weak."

It wasn't an insult, there was no malice in his tone, he was stating a mere fact and at this Ebony shrugged, "I'll be fine." With a quiet grunt of effort, she slid her legs over the side of her bed, shakily attempting to rise from the mattress. Belphegor watched on in silence, allowing his sister her independence to try this on her own. But her arms were quivering and her legs were wobbling as she finally managed to stand upright, and it became increasingly (and annoyingly) difficult for the fallen prince to stay seated. The moment she tried to take a step forward, her stomach lurched and her legs gave out from underneath her. Without a second thought Bel jumped forward, strong arms wrapping around the young female to keep her from hitting the floor. He's about to help her back to the bed but before he can move to do so her hands push him away, "I can do this," she says firmly and he lets go. He steps back for a moment, watching her arms shake as she tries to push herself back up onto her knees then onto her feet only to fall down again after another few steps.

Without giving her time to dissent, Belphegor dips down, slipping an arm behind her back and his other behind her knees, and picks her up off the floor. He places her down onto her bed again, laughing at the string of curses and threats which leave her mouth. "You're such a handful, princess."

"And you're remarkably annoying."

Belphegor's laugh tore through the air as he leaned down toward the female's face, his nose brushing against hers as his fingertips pressed dangerously against her smooth throat, "I wouldn't be saying that if I were you…I don't have to kill you to make you bleed."

Ebony's eyes narrowed challengingly, "In a few hours I'll be walking fine so try me, Bel."

Said male's smile faltered briefly as he leaned backward and nonchalantly shifted his weight onto his left foot, "This has happened before? You've stopped walking before?"

A shrug was his initial answer, his sister's eyes focusing on the ceiling as she responded coolly, "I've had debilitating panic attacks before, yes. But this is uniquely worse because I'm so poorly nourished."

Belphegor's lips curved downward in a scowl, but he turned away before she would have the time to glance over and notice, "I'll go get Lussuria now…and you better take all the shit he's going to give you for going so long without eating or drinking because quite frankly, it's the dumbest thing you could have done."

She laughs quietly at that. She had been so focused on locating her estranged brother that she had forgotten to stay hydrated throughout her journey and consequently lost consciousness after straining her body past its limits. "Will do," as Bel took a step to leave the room she called for him, smiling when he lazily glanced over his shoulder, "Thank you."

And with that final exchange Belphegor exited the room. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he found his mouth to taste bitter. Regret weighed heavily in his stomach as he strolled through the halls toward the sound of Lussuria's flamboyant laughter.

He had meant to kill her, not to make her suffer through a life of pain and fear. Or had he cared either way? He runs a hand through his hair, his scowl deepening when his fingertips bump against the smooth silver of his crown. He had been high, high off of the metallic stench of blood, of power when he dug out her eye. He had been uncontrollable, a tornado of manic laughter and silver blades. His mind was as tattered as the bloodied body of his mother when he left the castle that day.

So he shrugs off all thoughts of his sister, not a fan of the uncomfortably heavy feeling settling at the base of his heart.

"Hey Luss. I need you to check on something for me."

Whoops. My hand slipped.

Comment. Thoughts? What do you want to see happen?