Mammon paced back and forth in front of the couch that his younger brothers (minus Satan) sat upon, knuckles clenching and brows furrowing as his mind sped through all of the different consequences that could come from this situation they had found themselves in. He loved Lucifer, and he loved Satan, but god did the two have issues exclusively with each other. He didn't want to pull a pity party for being caught in the middle of it, but he one hundred percent wouldn't be silent about how stressful this was for him.
Lucifer was his first family before their father, before Michael… before anyone. Lucifer was the first person that Mammon had full unconditional love for, and he was the only person that he knew would always reciprocate his love. No matter how much trouble he got into with their father, or the other angels, or the younger siblings he came to love, Mammon knew with damning proof that Lucifer would never betray or abandon him. As demons, obviously their dynamic shifted, but he knew without words that they still held that same bond–and always would.
Satan may not have been his family in the same way as Lucifer or his younger brothers, but when he saw his older brother trembling under the weight of everything that had fallen atop them after their fall from the heavens, he knew that the wrath-incarnate was still a part of Lucifer–whether Satan was part of Lucifer's identity, soul, or family, would come later. What mattered was that Satan was important to Lucifer even if the latter denied it for a while. He had always been good with kids, but the fall had changed him–it changed all of them. The loss of their little sister… it hurt everyone; no one survived without scars. Satan wasn't their sister–Mammon knew that. Something that only he seemed to be intent on finding though, was that Satan also wasn't Lucifer. Although he was born from a part of Lucifer, Satan was very much a child of his environment. He was created in shackles of rage and aggression, but he became a free man after his gruesome departure from Lucifer. Mammon knew Satan not as the replacement for Lilith, or the fractured remainder of a dead part of Lucifer, but as the man who had come in to the world kicking and screaming to try and learn. Mammon had the honours of learning alongside him; Satan was a man who liked reading and valued knowledge–a near antithesis to Lucifer's values after becoming an avatar of sin which prioritized having the world know about his power–but had few words to spare for others if not necessary. Satan enjoyed small pleasantries while Lucifer was a perfectionist.
Mammon had tried to be there as best he could for Satan because neither he nor Lucifer would have survived losing another member of their family so quickly. And all the good that did. Mammon may be stupid, he'll admit, but he was very much a people person. He watched as his own mask began to fall as Lucifer changed so much while avoiding his spawn, and hence Mammon, like the plague. He watched Satan learn the truth of how dysfunctional their family was–still broken in the aftermath of their disastrous war. He watched Satan expertly build up his own facades to cover up the curious kid who wanted to know about what he did not have. Mammon's heart broke over the years, nearly being unable to recall what the true Satan was like; the man who wanted to know what it was like to be told good job by his creator, or to be invited to Levi's room to play games, or to work out in the yard with Beel while Belphie napped beside him.
"Mamms, you gotta stop. You're stressing us all out by-" Levi. How could Mammon begin to describe his brother? The anxious introvert was one of the big brothers, regardless of his current lifestyle, and while he often helped in looking out for their younger siblings when it came to truly dire moments, Mammon would never forget how his outbursts had affected Satan.
"And I should be stressed, Levi! After everything they went through around the time Satan was born, You know that both of their issues with each other just get stronger over time!" With his frustrated arguments, he finally snapped to look at the brothers as he stilled his pacing. Levi was leaning against the side of the couch with his back to Beel who sat leaned over with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands. Asmo sat on the edge of the couch with his feet tucked to the side looking through his hair to Belphie who stood not far off, staring directly at the door Lucifer, Barbatos, and Satan had disappeared into.
"Stop with the attacks, Mammon. We were all hurting. We know you stepped up with Satan and got distant with Lucifer, but they're both changed now. They've grown. We all have." Beel's words were tired, and he did manage to steal Belphegor's gaze for just a small glance before the youngest resumed his staring contest with the door. This time it was Asmo who shook his head in disagreement.
"You didn't see. Satan took every word from every fit of anger. He pulled it apart and found meaning in every part of it." Mammon resumed pacing as Asmo's words made his frustration resurface. No side was wrong or right in this argument; they were all hurting tremendously in their first few years as demons which led to untruthful words spat in fits of anger and overwhelming emotions, and they all had their ugly outbursts, but Satan was not hurting in the same way as them. Satan took their words, and because they had struggled to get their shit together for years, he had seen no evidence to suggest that they meant anything different than what they said in a number of episodic moments with him. Levi's outbursts were the worst, and the twins couldn't even acknowledge Satan without a fight or a breakdown.
"They both think they hide it so well," Belphegor started, "They think we're playing into their pretend game of everything's fine and we can move on, but it's not hard to see that they both want it to have been different." Leave it to Belphegor to say what they all knew, but refused to think about.
The last time Satan and Lucifer had been forced to confront the topic of Satan's birth and upbringing in the Devildom, Lucifer had vented to Diavolo about his frustrations on the phone for Levi and the twins to hear while Satan nearly destroyed his room during a breakdown–catching Mammon and Asmo in the crossfire. After Satan had calmed and Lucifer hung up the phone, their brothers had forced a moderated conversation between the two which ended in a literal rift that broke the House of Lamentation into two physical halves. Lucifer had locked himself in his office for weeks after that, only coming out to make every meal and then disappear before the others came to eat. Satan had quite literally disappeared until the next school day where they saw him in classes, but he was giving the silent treatment to everyone and never appeared to return home until two weeks passed.
It had been a stressful time for all of the family, but Mammon tried to keep them together through it. He would sit outside of Lucifer's door in the late hours of the night trying to get him to sleep, and he kept trying to corner Satan at school to get him to at least come home and get an overnight bag if he was staying somewhere else for the time being. He had been unsuccessful at both objectives, but with time things returned to normal anyways. He knew better than anyone that Lucifer's strategy for dealing with his family issues was to overwork himself, and Mammon feared for Satan's safety when one of his sensitive subjects was poked and prodded. They were both so annoyingly stubborn though, and it drove Mammon insane.
Suddenly, the door opens and swiftly clicks shut to reveal Lucifer exiting the room alone and with his mask of pride and sternness on. The brothers all wait to hear what he has to say, He first waits for all of their eyes as Levi slowly turns around and Belphie's gaze hesitates on the door still. Mammon feels ready to burst and based on the look he gets from Lucifer, he probably isn't doing much to hide it. With his big-brother-announcement-voice, Lucifer begins to fill them in on the situation.
"The new creature's- excuse me, the new one's name is Baphomet. They are convinced that he is not violent and he seems quite docile. Other than the level of aggression, he is quite the same as how Satan was at first: confused. Just like Satan had to learn to speak and control his body, it seems Baphomet will also need to learn. Diavolo seems more keen on following Satan's lead on this…" The brothers all fall silent at that. It was a big blow on Lucifer's cherished pride to have Satan be picked over him by Lord Diavolo himself. "They will join us shortly in the second floor common area for lunch. Shall we?" Lucifer turns to strut his way over to the staircase (Beel rising too before quickly being pulled back by Asmo) only for Mammon to spin him around by the shoulder.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" His vulgar tongue seems to get a pass today as Lucifer just stares at him with those blood red eyes.
"Is there something you need, Mammon?"
"Yes! How about telling us anything about Satan? You're brother? We all know you're not okay right now, but that's no reason to leave us in the dark about him just because you don't wanna deal with your shit!" The look Asmo and Belphie were levelling at him showed Lucifer that they were clearly siding with Mammon on this. One glance to Beel and Levi's ashamed expressions showed that they were also worried about their blonde brother. Mammon watched as Lucifer took a deep breath before responding.
"He's alive and physically unharmed. Is that what you want?" That fucking glint in his eyes. Lucifer knew exactly what was being asked of him, but his pride was too much of a barrier to just admit that he can't tell if his brother–his son–was okay. Satan was a master of hiding hurt behind his eyes of mischievous pranks and a leather book cover, but as seemingly only part of this family knew, it was not difficult to learn his patterns and understand his tactics.
Fuck, Belphie only started acknowledging him recently thanks to their 'Anti-Lucifer League' thing, but even he was able to see the signs of when Satan was hating on himself or just on others. Lucifer prided himself in taking care of his family, but he didn't even know how to understand his son. Well, not in this scenario maybe. There was still a case where Lucifer understood Satan perfectly.
Mammon knew that Satan was a smart guy beyond just being a bookworm–his detective episodes showed that. He also knew that he was hardly a good standard to pick when discussing academic challenges, but numbers didn't lie. Right under Diavolo and Lucifer in the highest academic achievers of RAD was Satan who (as far as he knew) had lost a majority of grade points due to mandatory group projects where he would clash with his groupmates or do all the work and be punished for encouraging poor student behaviour. It was because of Lucifer that Satan maintained his high academic profile with perfect attendance, taking up tutor volunteering positions, and all. Mammon still remembered eavesdropping on the one time he heard Lucifer say that he was proud of Satan, and it was when he had tied Lucifer's grade point average. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Satan craved Lucifer's praise and recognition as he proceeded to burn himself out after that. The next report card placed him just so slightly higher than Lucifer's achievements, and the first born had refused to give him anything more than a huff of air because his own pride of course got in the way. Satan was hurting after that, so to distract himself he dove back into his studies not aiming for high achievement, but just to keep the pain at bay. Mammon had mentioned it to Lucifer afterwards, subtly asking if he noticed. Lucifer had told him exactly what the thought process was and explained its effectiveness to him.
Mammon knew that Lucifer and Satan cared for each other, but fuck they were both terrible at understanding and communicating with each other.