AN: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Writing Stella gets more and more fun each time I write her. Mostly because you are so free to do what you want with her since we have so little to go with I guess. Anyway, enjoy this one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel
It was no secret that Blitzo had a personal dislike of the nobility in Hell. It wasn't that they were rich or lived in fancy mansions that bothered him. It wasn't the greed or the pride they always cared about to the point that insulting it was a death sentence. And it wasn't about how they were always on top while people like him were on the bottom. No, what always bothered Blitzo about the rich and powerful was that they were almost always able to get away with practically anything without consequences and not give a damn at all about the damage they caused to others. The worst part was that everyone was to blame for this. The nobility refused to change their ways because they didn't care, and they wanted to keep their power without sharing it. Those below them always advocated for change, but they become part of the problem every time they get a taste of the power. It didn't matter how much you fought to change things. There was only one actual fact in Hell: Power was everything, and everyone wanted power.
It was rare, but sometimes you would find some rich or powerful person who actually did use their powers for the better of all their subjects. Stolas was one of them. When Blitzo met him, he assumed he was like the rest and wanted Blitzo for his body without caring anything about him. Needless to say, because Stolas was so different from other high-ranking demons, Blitzo found himself attracted to him. Time and moments between them, both up and down, changed that perspective further, and Blitzo found himself falling in love with the owl demon despite his best attempts to not do so.
Stella, meanwhile, was everything that Blitzo had always assumed about most of the nobility, and there was nothing but mutual hatred between the two. Even before Blitzo entered her life, Stella was an absolute snob of a princess. She always demanded the best, wanted the best, and put down anyone who wasn't even close to her status. Stella was cold with her husband and even her daughter. She had little to no friends save for those in social circles. Yet, even Stolas told Blitzo that was just a face cover value and that deep down, nobody really liked Stella for herself. They just wanted her because she was married to a powerful demon lord, and that was all. She was a connection to them. Nothing more. The way she treated others, including her own family, was more than enough for Blitzo to put Stella on his shit list.
It was similar to Stella when she found out that Blitzo had been sleeping with Stolas via landing ass first in a cake during a tea party. Admittedly not his most delicate and subtle of moments, but he was still waking up after a night of wild sex.
It wasn't that Blitzo was poor or a commoner that bothered Stella so much, even if that did play a part. It was the fact that he was an imp. The lowest of the low. Someone not even the weakest of the nobility was supposed to sleep with or fall in love with. There was a system in Hell that had stood in place for years, and nobody wanted to see the boat rocked. Stolas and Blitzo didn't just rock the boat, they fucking torpedoed it, and to Stella, she was embarrassed beyond all belief.
However, Blitzo knew that, deep down, Stella hated him most because he, a total stranger, had done something she failed to do: Blitzo made Stolas fall in love with him and gained the respect and friendship of Octavia. For a wife and mother to lose any standing like that to a total stranger, one seen so far below the caste system, it was clear she was bothered by it, and Blitzo didn't give two shits.
This is why, after learning that Stella and Stolas had a son who died before Octavia was born, he felt nothing but total awkwardness as he made his way back into the palace. He had not expected this. None of it was expected. Stella had shown not just genuine emotion but looked completely different in tone and behavior than Blitzo had ever seen before.
And she called him by his name. His actual name.
By the time Blitzo made it back to the living room, Stella was already there with a glass of wine in her hand and leaning against the couch while sipping it every so often. Her crown was off her head, tossed aside like a piece of trash while her feathery hair was loose and flowing. She didn't seem poised or proper like a princess should, but somewhat depressed and sluggish as if she was done with everything. The bird princess looked up and spotted Blitzo. After a few minutes of silence, she closed her eyes and asked, "Where's Octavia?"
"She's still at the grave," Blitzo said quietly. "I think she's still coming to terms with the fact that she had an older brother."
Blitzo walked over to the couch and sat down before pulling out a cigarette. Lighting it up, he offered one to Stella, who took it and accepted the lighter before taking a puff. The two silently just sat there, smoking and drinking for a bit as the silence warped around them. Blitzo then asked, "Were you or Stolas ever going to tell her?" Upon mentioning her deceased child, Stella took a large gulp and sighed with a tear going down her face.
"...I don't know," Stella said, shaking her head as she rested it against her hand. "How do you tell your daughter that you were named after a son that died and whose death ruined the relationships of those you were once close with."
"I didn't think you were even once close with Stolas," Blitzo pointed out, snorting. "You hated him."
"Hated him? I adored him once," Stella replied, shaking her head. "All my life, ever since I was a little girl, I had wanted to have a loving and perfect husband like my mother said I would have one day. A prince that would care and love me with many children between us. A fairy tale, but one I believed in desperately. When I learned I was marrying Stolas, I thought my dream was going to come true, and at first, I thought things were great..."
"When did it become not so great?" Blitzo asked eyebrow raised.
"When he confessed he was gay to me in our fifth year of marriage after one drink too many," Stella grumbled, rubbing her forehead. "After that, everything went downhill. We cheated on each other, argued, fought, and sometimes even slept in entirely different building wings without seeing each other once for weeks. At first, I thought I had done something wrong because he preferred men over me, but eventually, I had to come to realize that my husband was gay and my dreams of a great marriage were dead."
"Did you even try to make it work? Even as friends?" Blitzo asked, shaking his head. "Even if you couldn't be lovers, you couldn't have just hated each other like that."
"I didn't hate him right off the bat for cheating on me. I honestly got over that when I accepted he was into men," Stella grumbled before shaking her head. "What got me to be disgusted was the fact he did the barest of minimal effort to raise our status. In the great game of ring politics, you always look for the best means to rise to the top, but Stolas refused to do so. He was content with what we had, and his actions in hanging out with the lower class made us look like a joke. I was embarrassed, and what few friends I had quickly abandoned me unless they needed something. Stolas was powerful, wise, and brilliant, but he only ever put those talents into things he likes and respects which was not to make us rise higher."
"No offense, but wanting to marry a guy to rise higher seems shallow and not a good means for happiness," Blitzo pointed out.
Stella just sighed and shook her head. "Not when your entire family is counting on you to raise their status because of an injustice from long ago." Blitzo raised his eyebrow, and Stella poured more wine. "One of my foolish ancestors decided to take part in a rebellion against Lucifer long ago, and my family was condemned for it. For generations, we had struggled to regain the status we once had while forcing ourselves to do everything possible, including spending our wealth. My marriage to Stolas was supposed to help us, but after it was clear Stolas wasn't going to raise our status to something better, my family practically abandoned me and left me to rot. Now I only see them from time to time. They believe I failed to be a proper wife to him and thus blame me for everything."
Swirling the red wine in her glass, Stella sighed. "I hated myself. I hated my family. I hated Stolas...up until I had laid my first egg. My Octavius." A warm smile then stretched across Stella's beak. "Everything changed for the better. Stolas and I were so happy at being parents we started to bond. We were slowly become friends and cared for one another. My family was excited to hear that I had an heir and were reconnecting with me, and the thought that I would have a baby boy soon made me happier than I ever was..."
And then, like a strike of lighting, Stella screamed in anger and threw the wine glass at the wall where it shattered. She lowered her head and shook with both sorrow and rage. "And then I lost him...I lost my baby boy...that day...that day I stopped loving anything...because the one time I had love at last and I lost it...because until then I never knew what love was...and I guess I still don't because even my own daughter hates me and my husband choose you over me."
Looking up at Blitzo with teary eyes, she asked, "W-What is it like? To have love, Blitzo? Tell me why you got it and I never could have it...and when I did have it, I lost it?"
"...I can't answer that," Blitzo answered with a heavy sigh. "I've loved and lost as well, but I've always had others there to help me. My sisters. My daughter. My co-workers. Even after losing Stolas...I still had them."
There was a part of him, and he wouldn't say how big or small, that could understand and sympathize with Stella a bit. It was clear she had made herself cold-hearted to the world because the world had been nothing but cold and disappointing to her. Blitzo then narrowed his eyes. "But you had to have someone, and I'm talking about the person I'm here for. Prince Gaap. Wasn't he someone you loved?"
"...Yes, but not the way you are thinking," Stella replied with a snarl. "Gaap and I...we were childhood friends. Siblings in my eyes, but more in his. I never once saw him as anything more than my best friend, yet that so-called best friend is responsible for killing my son. Ruining my life a second time. If he's also behind my husband's death, then that's just another tally mark to add to my hatred of him."
"I'm surprised you're even upset about Stolas's death," Blitzo asked.
"Just because I hated him doesn't mean I wanted him dead," Stella sighed as she got up and walked over to a painting of her and Stolas, who looked much happier and holding hands. "There were times when we were close. Friends even. Despite that, he was my husband and Octavia's father. I would never wish such a fate on him, no matter how much I wish I wasn't married to him." Stella just sighed and slowly put her hand on the painting. "Yet, I deserve a portion of the blame. Perhaps we both failed each other in the end as spouses, and I failed Octavia as a mother."
She turned around and looked at Blitzo with softness in her eyes. "I know it seems like I don't care for Octavia. But I do. Holding her in my arms was the second feeling of life I never knew I had. I love my daughter, but...but..." Stella closed her eyes and gripped her hands. "Losing my son...it still hurts...I couldn't help but feel pain in my chest whenever I held her, saw her smile, and just...acted like a child. I kept thinking how unfair it was that Octavius wasn't there. Living the life he deserved to have...I guess that's what made me push her away into hating me..."
"She doesn't hate you," Blitzo said, getting up and walking to Stella's side. He looked up at her and sighed. "Octavia does want to love you, but she thinks you hate her. Look, I'm not saying you're the parent of the year, but if you really do love her, then you need to start over with her. Because you are the only parent, she has left. Even if she was close to Stolas, she's always had some degree of respect for you, and I can tell she just feels utterly guilty for even thinking so low of you to think you had something to do with Stolas's death." Folding his arms, Blitzo shook his head, "Take it from a guy who had to deal with a hellhound abandoned by her birth parents and abused at an orphanage. You need to deal with these things together to overcome them. Because while I might be close to Octavia, I am not her parent. I am not her father, and I can't always be there for her, but you can. You need to open your heart to her, and she needs to do the same to you. Get the hell away from here and spend some daughter and mother time, for crying out loud. Learn about one another, and maybe that can help you both. Christ, I came here to learn about Prince Gaap, and I'm playing family counselor. Me of all people."
Stella let out a small chuckle before shaking her head. "I guess life's just fucked up like that, huh?"
Blitzo sighed and rubbed his forehead. "So, are you going to talk about him or what?"
Stella was quiet for a bit before she summoned two more wine glasses and poured into them before handing one to Blitzo, who took it without question. "Gaap and I were born a few weeks from each other and met when we were toddlers in a park our parents took us to every few days. We bonded instantly, and our parents got along well despite my family's issues due to our name being smeared for my ancestor's past mistakes. My mother always said that I had Gaap always around my finger by having him follow me everywhere and do everything for me. Whenever I was bullied, he would use magic to embarrass those who hurt me. When I wanted to play a game, he instantly was prepared for whatever I wanted to do. When I was hungry, he sacrificed half his lunch for me. Sometimes I wonder if he was more of a slave to me than an actual friend, but he was the one I went to when I needed someone to cry or vent at. And he was always there. Always."
"And he was in love with you?" Blitzo asked.
"I didn't really know about it until I learned I was marrying Stolas..."
***A Long Time Ago***
Stella couldn't have been happier. She was getting married! To a prince! An actual Goetia Prince! The young swan slowly looked at the painting of her future fiance that had been gifted to her by the parents of the young prince, and he looked so handsome she was ready to faint in her Greco-Roman style bedroom. His eyes were the deepest of crimson red. His black and dark blue feathers were like something out of a dream. And his figure was most profound and, dare she say it, sexy. He was dressed in a royal blue robe with star constellations glowing even in the painting. He was wrapped around in a red cape with flames at the edges and a royal-looking crown. To Stella, Prince Stolas was everything she had dreamed of for her husband.
She picked up the painting and twirled around with it as if she was a little girl before kissing the area where her charming prince's mouth was. "Oh, Prince Stolas. You and I are going to be happy forever and ever." This was what she was trained and prepared to do. To love her husband, be by his side, and give him the most wonderful of children. With it would come prestige, happiness, and love. Her parents often told of her true love in the fairy tales she grew up on, and at last, it was here.
A knock on her door snapped her out of her thoughts and she told whoever it was to come in. Rushing inside, looking like he had flown ten miles on his demonic wings to get here, was her best friend and brother-figure, Gaap Goetia. The red-skinned yet pale-faced human was swearing up a storm that his long black hair was no longer the smooth yet firm style he was known for but frizzled so much that it nearly made Stella laugh. Even his devil horns were covered in sweat. Before bowing to Stella, he fixed up his black and red robe with black chains containing various magical amulets for his different powers. "Stella, I rushed as soon as I heard and-"
He didn't get a chance to finish as the swan demoness nearly tackled him off his feet by hugging Gaap. "Oh, Gappy! This is the best day ever! I'm going to marry Prince Stolas in a few months and be a princess! Mother confirmed that Prince Stolas's family has agreed to the betrothal! It's everything I've wanted to be and more!"
"...I know," Gaap whispered as he slowly hugged back. "My cousin is...he's quite a popular figure. And a nice gentleman."
"That's right! You're family, right?! That means we will be in-laws! Oh, this is going to be so great!" Stella cooed as she grabbed his hands and beamed at him. "Maybe when you get married, we can have our future children have a playdate together! They can be best friends like us!"
"Do you really want to marry him?" Gaap asked, biting his lip and looking away.
"O-Of course I do," Stella answered, tilting her head. "Why wouldn't I marry him? You say he is nice, and he looks so handsome..."
"But do you love him?" Gaap asked, turning back to her and leaning forward, making her blink. "You've never met him. How do you know you will love him or be happy with him? He might be a prince and a higher class than both of us, but he's still a stranger. You need to know people before you marry them, Stella."
"I...I know that, but my parents have arranged for us to meet a few times before the wedding," Stella said with a smile. "I'm sure I'll grow to love him. Besides, I'm not so childish as to think it will be all smiles and games. I know that there will be rough times, but I can make it work for us. Besides, this is the day my family has worked hard for. A chance to get us to rise back from the shame of our past. Prince Stolas can help us, and my family is counting on me."
"...What if you were to marry someone else who can provide that?" Gapp asked as he stepped forward and grabbed a confused Stella by the shoulder. "Someone who not only has a similar, if lower rank, but one who has loved you since we were children? Who has dreamed of taking you in his hands and embracing you in the night? One who has always protected you and cared for you because, to him, you are the eternal sun and moon that never fades away. The star in the sky that shines and lights up the darkness."
"G-Gappy? What are you-"
"Stella, I love you," Gapp said, which made Stella freeze up while her mouth opened in shock. "I've always loved you. I've tried to make your parents marry me, but..." Gaap snarled. "Because I'm only the spare of the family, not the heir like my big brother, they refused me."
"W-What?! They never said that to me!" Stella shouted.
"Probably to protect our friendship, but that doesn't matter! I know I am not a prince or as powerful as Prince Stolas, who everyone claims is a prodigy when it comes to magic, but I have something that he doesn't have. I have your friendship and knowledge of who you really are and what you want in life." Gaap slowly knelt down and held a blushing Stella's hand. "Stella, please be with me for eternity. I have it all planned out. We can marry tonight or tomorrow and run away to a home I've secretly prepared for us with servants and farmers loyal only to me! We can live a happily ever after together!"
"...Gappy," Stella whispered as she looked into his hopeful eyes and felt her heart moved by his determination, yet she sighed and shook her head. "Gaap...you are my best friend, and I do love you...but not in that way. I'm sorry."
"...why?" Gaap asked, heartbroken. "Why not? Why do you not love me as I love you?"
"I don't know, I just don't," Stella whispered as he helped him up.
"If...If this is about me not being an heir or...or not being strong enough..."
"It has nothing to do with that," Stella said, shaking her head. "Listen, I've known you ever since we were children, and while I know you will be a great friend to me, I don't believe we will be a great couple. Not to mention I have never felt such feelings for you ever in my life. Just...brotherly affection is all."
It hurt seeing her best friend look ready to cry, but she was determined to straighten her objectives. Even if she wasn't marrying Prince Stolas, she wouldn't accept Gaap's proposal because she knew he wasn't the right one. They were friends. Nothing more.
"I see..." Gaap whispered before he took a deep breath and slowly turned around. "Then...I hope he makes you happy..."
"Gaap..." Stella whispered as he made his way to the door of her bedroom. "I'm sorry, Gappy."
"...I am too," Gaap said before he closed the door on his way out.
***Present***
"Damn, he was really thirsty for you," Blitzo said, drinking his wine. "So he wasn't a prince back then?"
"He was the Prince-Spare," Stella answered before pouring another glass. "His brother, Billren, was the heir at the time. Of course, he was found dead three months later from an apparent suicide, and Gapp was made Prince-Heir soon after."
"Suicide?" Blitzo raised an eyebrow before snorting. "More like regicide."
"That's what I figured years later after I ended my friendship with Gaap. Especially since he tried asking for my hand in marriage again soon after he was a prince, but my parents didn't want to insult Stolas's family, so they denied him again," Stella replied while shaking her head. "After I got married, he...changed."
"How so?" Blitzo asked.
"He became more obsessed with learning and mastering magic and science. He got seriously involved in politics and was always trying to prove himself to the other demons. I think, deep down, he was still trying to impress me by showing how much better he was than Stolas, but Gaap was never as powerful as my husband, nor was he ever to achieve such a higher rank than him despite his achievements."
"I can't believe, even after your marriage fell apart, you never once slept with him," Blitzo said, finishing his wine before holding it out for a refill.
"Honestly, I just cheated on Stolas because I was angry at him. None of the men I slept with I cared about," Stella whispered while shaking his head. "When it became clear he didn't care, I just stopped caring as well and slept with whoever just to feel something... But I couldn't do it with Gaap. I thought he didn't deserve to be treated like some kind of used tissue to fix a broken marriage."
"Did he ever once try to have his way with you?" Blitzo asked, and this made Stella break the glass in her hands.
"Once...and it was the day I lost my son..."
***Four Hundred Years Ago***
Stella felt her marriage was finally where it should be for the first time in her life. Or at least as close as it could get. She stood in her room, happily shining the red dotted egg that held her son and future heir to the 36th Line of the Goetia Family Bloodline. Ever since she found out she was pregnant, her entire life had turned from one of misery to utter joy. She and Stolas were able to work out their differences and eventually come to terms with their situation as a married couple with promises not to cheat on each other and get to know each other for the sake of their child. It was sad that they would never love one another, but in the past few months, she had started to know more about the prince she once dreamed of marrying all those years ago. Her family was talking to her again. Even if the reason was shallow, she was just happy to have them in her life again.
"And it's all thanks to you, Octavius," Stella whispered as she kissed the egg before placing him on the pillow that rested on his shell in the bedroom. She rarely ever went anywhere without her egg and refused anyone else to handle it save for Stolas. They looked adorable whenever he comforted it and read stories as if their son was already hatched.
"Oh, Stella!" Stolas's voice sang as he entered the room dramatically like always. She giggled upon seeing this as sometimes she wondered if her husband wanted to be a drama actor instead of a noble. "I have a surprise for you, darling."
Walking to her husband, Stella hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Oh, and what is that? Unless you have another child for me, I think I have all the surprises in the world."
"Well, that is a thought," Stolas said with a warm smile as he held her hand. "I would like us to have more children. The thought of us being parents is just...honestly, I can't remember when I've been this happy."
"Me either," Stella whispered as she lowered her head. "I honestly never thought that...we would be happy."
Frowning, Stolas sighed before lifting her head up with his finger. "Look, my dear. I know that this hasn't been the best marriage. Stars know that I've made mistakes and mistreated you at times. I mean...you married a man who loves men."
"You aren't the only one to blame," Stella said with a heavy sigh. "I am just as responsible for this as you are."
He kissed her lightly on the cheek and smirked. "We both agreed this is a new beginning for us. Maybe we can't be the best couple in the pentagram, but we can be the best parents and maybe good friends. Everything going forward will be for our son. And from there, we'll find our happiness." He then clapped his hands. "Anyway! The surprise! I thought I should let you know that I invited Prince Gaap over for lunch! He's actually here, and I know it's been ages since you've seen each other. So why don't you spend some time with him while I prepare everything?"
"Gappy is here! Oh, thank you, Stolas. I'll go see him right away!" Stella said as she hurried through the halls as fast as possible. At the grand entrance was her childhood friend, waiting in his favorite outfit: a dark crimson embroidered gothic style dress trench coat in black lacing and a black undershirt with the usual flair he loved. His various amulets were hanging from his neck along with the silver and black jeweled emblem that signaled his status as the head of his family. He had gray crocheted pants and black dress shoes along with a blood-red guarded rapier with a silver handle by his side. He looked handsome and noble as ever, and his red stilted eyes shined with joy upon seeing her.
"Stella, it's good to see you," Prince Gaap said as the two old friends hugged. "Oh, it's been so long. I'm sorry I haven't visited you in the past sixty years."
"Oh, It's fine, Gappy," Stella assured him as they held hands. Smiling, she looked at him with approval. "I love your sense of fashion. I'm surprised you aren't married yet. The woman must be diving under you for your approval."
"No woman has claimed my heart yet," Prince Gaap whispered before looking at the floor softly. "I um, hear congratulations are in order."
"Yes, I've never been so happy," Stella said with a warm smile before a thought came to her, and she smiled. "Do you want to see him?"
Before he could even answer, Stella was dragging her best friend back to the bedroom where her precious egg was lying. Once they were inside, she ensured everything was okay with her baby before presenting him to her best friend. "What do you think?! Isn't he adorable?! In a few weeks, he'll hatch soon!"
"He's quite cute," Prince Gaap said as he lightly touched his fingers on it. "Are you...sure it's yours and Prince Stolas's?"
"Excuse me?" Stella asked, blinking.
"I heard rumors that the two of you had marriage problems. Sleeping with other people and such," Prince Gaap said as he turned to her with sympathy. "You can tell me if it's not his, Stella. I won't tell a soul."
"N-No, this is Stolas's! We made sure together," Stella said as she firmly nodded. "Look, Gappy. Things weren't great, and I will be the first to admit that...but ever since I found out I was pregnant, Stolas and I have patched things up. We're becoming friends, and we both want to raise this baby together."
"But you don't love him?" Prince Gaap pressed as he put his hands on her shoulders. Upon hearing this, Stella began to see a familiar look in Prince Gaap's eyes that reminded her of a particular confession many years ago. "You don't love him, and he doesn't love you. Did I not tell you this would happen? That he doesn't know you like I do?"
"Gaap, please...not again..." Stella whispered, trying to shake him off, but he held firm.
"You know why no woman has ever claimed my heart? Because it still beats for you. I have done everything I can to make myself worthy for you," Prince Gaap hissed as he bit his lip. "I have become popular, powerful, rich, and more. I have mastered magic and science that I nearly almost got Prince Stolas's job from King Lucifer were it not for his connections. And I have never once laid with anyone because my only desire, my sole desire, has been you and forever, Stella."
"G-Gaap! I told you, I don't love you like that!" Stella said as she finally shook him off and backed away to the door. Huffing, she shook her head. "Please, just stop this, already. I told you I-"
"You've already cheated on him, and he's cheated on you! What's wrong with cheating with me?!" Gaap demanded as he rolled his eyes. He held his hand out. "I can still take you away, Stella. Away from all of this. You can bring your son with you. I will treat him as if he was my own. Just please...be with me...now and forever."
Stella just stood there and stared at her friend and saw something that she had never seen up until now. A look of desire that spoke of one thing and one thing only: obsession. Hundreds of years, and he still pinned for her despite her repeated attempts to tell him to move on. Even after all this, he still lusted for her and never once respected her wishes to stop. For the first time in her life, Stella was angry at her best friend and felt uncomfortable around the one being she once trusted with her life. This was no longer the little boy she played in the mud with. This was a man who desired a dream that he couldn't let go of. Even Stella, once as fantasy-ridden as she was, had moved on from her perfect plan and accepted simple happiness as it was.
Narrowing her eyes, Stella slowly pointed to the door. "Prince Gaap. I believe I no longer wish to have you in my company at the moment. I respectfully ask that you leave my home at once, or I will have my guards escort you."
"Y-You're telling me to leave?" Prince Gaap asked, eyes widened and mouth open. "W-Why?!"
"Because you clearly cannot get it through your head that no means no!" Stella growled, which made him step back. "Get it through your head, Gaap. I do not love you. Nor will I ever love you. And if you value anything in our friendship, you will leave now and come back when you have cooled your head!"
"...How dare you!" Prince Gaap shouted as he rushed forward faster than Stella expected to the point where she quacked like a duck. He gripped his hands on her arms and squeezed so tight she winced and looked into his eyes before gasping in horror. They were glowing bright red and black with rage deep in his pupils that it was a complete opposite from the once bright and happy lad she knew in her youth. "I have done everything for you! I have been with you since the day we were babes, and yet you reject me over and over again! What blindness has taken you that you cannot understand that I am the only one in this universe who is not only in love with you but the only one worthy of your love?! Your family has used you as a pawn to gain back their power! Your husband fucks males and leaves you disgraced, and yet you are willing to have his spawn?! And even after all these years, you refuse to leave or even kill the son of a bitch to be free, so you can be with someone who actually treats you like the princess you deserve to be! You are everything to me! Your looks! Your voice! Your face! Your passion! You are in my dreams both day and night, and all I have ever wanted was to have you in my embrace, yet you deny me this! Me, the only friend you have ever really had in your entire life! You ungrateful bitch!"
"Let me go! You're hurting me!" Stella cried out as Gaap refused to let go. Not until something large, bright, and powerful smashed into his side and sent him flying into the wall so hard the entire room shook.
Gasping for air, Stella looked to the entrance of her room to see her husband, glowing with power and looking enraged at his cousin. "Get your filthy hands off of my wife!"
"You do not deserve to be her husband! You utter disgrace of a demon!" Gaap shouted as he struggled to get up. However, Stolas was quicker and held him by the throat before lifting him up and slamming him into the wall.
"The only disgrace here is you, Prince Gaap. Get the fuck out of my house and never return, or else I shall personally end you!" Prince Stolas shouted as he dropped him on his ass and turned around.
However, Prince Gaap just roared and summoned an energy bolt into his hands before firing at the back turned owl. However, blinded by rage, he missed his target entirely, and the attack went to the side of Stolas...towards the egg. Time slowed down as Stella slowly felt her heart stop as the energy bolt continued to sail through the air. Prince Stolas had already seen what was happening and tried to summon a shield spell around the egg, but it was too late.
A blast of energy erupted from the explosion, and everyone covered their eyes before the dust settled. In an almost numbing fashion, Stella slowly got up and looked at the destruction that had been unleashed in her bedroom where her precious baby once stood. The smoke was clearing, and the table set up for the egg had been all but turned to splinters. The pillow it rested on was fluff and feathers scattered along a mix of yoke and red liquid.
Blood.
Her baby's blood.
Her son's precious shells were everywhere in burned little pieces as parts of his still-growing body were mixed in with them. Stella continued moving forward, her heart nearly stopping as her eyes began to water upon reaching the mass of blood and guts that had once been her son. Stolas stood there, horrified and barely able to stand before collapsing to his knees. Even Prince Gaap looked in shock at what he had done before seeing Stella and Stolas look at their now dead son in despair. His mouth tried to say something, but nothing came out. By the time Stella had fallen to her knees before the baby's broken egg, Prince Gaap had fled as quickly as possible with neither parent stopping him.
Their mind was focused on the egg that had once been their son, now utterly destroyed before them before his life could truly begin. Stella slowly reached down and picked up the broken pieces of her son's egg mixed with his blood, guts, and yoke and began to shake as she felt something inside break into tiny pieces.
With tears cascading down her eyes, she raised her head back, eyes open with sorrow and disbelief, before letting out such a loud scream that every window in the palace broke.
She screamed as she tried to fix the egg in a vain effort to save her baby.
She screamed as her husband wrapped his arms around her and sobbed beside her.
She screamed as they buried their child days later.
And deep down she never ever stopped screaming.
***Present***
By the time Stella had stopped talking, Blitzo was silent and looking at Stella, who was now openly crying as she recalled the worst day of her life. She didn't seem to care who she was in the presence of because not long after, she soon wrapped her arms around Blitzo and sobbed on his shoulders. The frozen imp just stood there, unsure of what to do as he was being cried on by a woman who hated him, and he hated back. Yet, for this one moment, he could let go of that hatred.
He slowly wrapped his arms around her and let her let it go. Every grief and pain from that day to now, she unleashed to the point where his shirt was soaking wet. Yet, Blitzo didn't mind. He could always get Moxxie to dry clean it later.
"...Kill him..." Stella whispered in between her sobs. "I want you to kill him. Kill him for my son, my husband, my daughter...and for me...for all the pain he's done."
"...I will, but I need to know more about him," Blitzo said as Stella broke the hug and wiped her eyes. "I need to know his abilities, his home, defenses, armies, and this NORN system he has that can predict any danger to him. If I'm going to kill him, I need your help to do it, but I also want you to do something in return."
"W-what is that?" Stella asked, sniffing.
"Be a better mother to Octavia," Blitzo said with a heavy sigh. "Look, you and I are never going to get along, but she's important to both of us. We both need to help her, and you, as her mother, need to play a part in that. I know losing Octavius was hard. Maybe that explains a lot about you, but stop shielding yourself from the world so you don't know pain...because you can't keep it out forever."
"...I... I'll try..." Stella whispered before sighing. "You know...I never understood what Stolas saw in you...but I guess I finally do after all these years."
"...He was a good man," Blitzo whispered as he thought about his lover. "He deserved better than me."
"He loved you," Stella whispered as she leaned back and sighed. "I just wish...I could feel that love...any love...because that's all I ever wanted..."
Blitzo snorted. "Love sucks sometimes. We want it so much, but it can be so painful...and yet...when you have it... it's beautiful."
"Maybe that's why the angels preach about it so much?" Stella suggested.
"Maybe..." Blitzo muttered as the two sat there, staring into the ceiling together.
Slowly, Stella put her hand on Blitzo and squeezed it. "T-Thank you...Blitz...I know that I haven't been good to you, but..."
"Just...be better...and we can maybe move on from this...for Octavia's sake," Blitzo whispered as the two stared at each other, eye to eye, and felt no hatred between them for the first time since they met. A silent agreement was made that while they would never outright be close or even friendly, they would do everything they could for Octavia. The one person they both cared about.
Blitzo's phone then went off as he opened it and sighed, "Hey, Mox? This is a bad time so-"
"Sir! The Hotel is under attack, and they cut off all demonic abilities! Get over here now!"