Chapter Four - Lost and Lonely

Alas-Ramus sits in front of the closed front door, clutching her favorite toy - Octo, a homemade octopus - and waits. She doesn't take her eyes off the doorknob for a second, barely blinking. She doesn't want to miss the moment when he comes back and the door opens.

She'd like to go out and look for him, but it's dark outside and Alciel, the wise Alciel that Lucifer told her to always listen to, said that Lucifer wouldn't like it if she went out in the dark because of him, because little kiddos shouldn't be out at night.

And Alas-Ramus doesn't want Lucifer to be disappointed in her, so she obeys.

"Alas," she hears her foster mother's voice behind her. "Come now. It's time for bed."

Alas-Ramus doesn't even turn her head.

"Alas-Ramus!"

Angrily, Emi pounds her fists into her hips as the blush slowly creeps up her face. In her mind, she curses that no-good Urushihara into the darkest, blackest hole there is. God knows, she can't imagine why her foster daughter has taken such a shine to that little bastard. She really tried to keep the little one away from him, but even when he's not around, he ruins everything.

Recognizing the telltale signs of Emi's unruly temper, Maou gets up from the cozy couch where he's been sitting with Chiho and Ashiya, killing time with a game of dice, and slowly walks over to Alas-Ramus. To be honest, he finds it touching how she waits for his general there and feels something like a guilty conscience for not worrying as much as she does and just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Without Urushihara, there is much less stress in their little group. Of course, he knows that most of the trouble comes from Emi, because she simply hates Urushihara for everything he did on Ente Isla. But because of Alas-Ramus, he'd rather put his general in his place than the heroine.

Besides, if Emi uses Urushihara as a lightning rod, he himself will be out of the line of fire.

"Alas-chan." Maou crouches down next to her and strokes her long silver hair. "Come, it's time to brush your teeth. And tomorrow morning, when you wake up, Lucifer will be there."

"Papa?"

"Yes, Alas-chan?"

"Why are you always so mean to my Lucifer?"

This question really hurts him.

"But Alas-chan, we're not mean to him. It's just that he always does something wrong, you know? And when you do something wrong, you have to take the consequences. Lucifer is an adult, he understands that."

He licks his lips nervously. He doesn't like to lie to his foster daughter.

Alas-Ramus nods, then tilts her head questioningly.

"Are you going to throw me out of the car too, like Mom did with my Lucifer?"

He gasps in horror.

"What, no, of course not. Never!"

"Why not?"

"Well, because I love you."

"Even if I do something bad? Would you still love me?"

"Yes, of course, Alas-chan."

She is silent for a moment.

"If I were out there all alone, would you be worried?"

"Yes, of course, Alas-chan. But Lucifer is an adult. You're still a child. This is different, you understand?"
She pulls her face into what Chiho always calls her cute thinking pout and just stares ahead for a moment. Then she nods and stands up.

Relieved that she has finally come to her senses, Maou gets up and grabs her hand to lead her to the bathroom. But much to his surprise, she pushes his hand away and backs away from him.

"I understand that my Lucifer needs us and you don't love him," she explains in an unexpectedly adult tone. Her next words stab him in the heart:

"None of you love my Lucifer. Only me."

Determined, she clenches her small hands into fists and walks over to the dressing room.

"I'm going to find him."

She has already pulled on the first boot and is reaching for the second when the others have recovered from their surprise. Maou is the first to wake from his paralysis. He is also the closest to her.

With a big step, he is with her. He resists his first impulse to simply take her in his arms and instead sinks into a crouch beside her.

Trying not to show his inner turmoil, he speaks calmly and softly.

"Listen, Alas-chan, I solemnly promise you that if he's not here tomorrow, we'll go look for him."

"You're lying."

He winces for a moment. He never thought that words could hurt so much.

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"You said he'd come when I unpacked my stuffed animals."

"Yes, that's true," he admits ashamedly. "But you can't call that lying, because when I said it, I was firmly convinced it was the truth."

"Alas-chan, it's snowing." Suddenly Emi is standing next to them. She tries to sound calm and matter-of-fact, but she can't quite keep the edge out of her voice. "And it's dark outside. If we look for him now, we'll only get lost ourselves. And you wouldn't want any of your friends to get lost, would you?"

Alas-Ramus gives her a heated look.

"Lucifer is my friend too! I love him!"

"Yes, of course you do, Alas-chan," Maou quickly calms her down. "And you know what? I've got a great idea: we'll put a candle on your windowsill, it'll shine all the way out, and that way, Lucifer will definitely find us."

Alas-Ramus stares at him like he's lost his mind.

"Papa, that's nonsense. He won't see the candle."

"Yes, he will, Alas-chan, he most certainly will."

"No, Papa. No candle." She pulls her thinking puff again, and after a second of pondering, she has the saving idea. She slips her charm bracelet from her wrist and hands it to Maou. "Papa, can you please hang this outside? It jingles. My Lucifer says he always hears it and knows that I'm at the door. That's how he finds his way."

Although Maou thinks his candle idea is much better, he is careful not to contradict her. He's just glad she's taking off her boot again and volunteering to brush her teeth.

"Heeeelllp me!"

Urushihara screams as loud as he can, but his voice is weak and always breaks on the last syllable and then he has to cough and it hurts his throat. The wind is cold and cutting, and each breath feels like inhaling icy nails.

From the cold he guesses that the sun has finally set and it was this thought, no, the knowledge of stumbling around alone, blind and completely helpless in the night forest that made him throw away any remnant of pride. He began to yell for help.

For so long that his vocal chords gave out.

It's a last, desperate act.

Someone has to hear him, right?

He's still here in civilization. He's not somewhere on Mount Everest. Even if it feels like that.

Don't they miss me?

"Maou! Ashiya!" He would like to call their names, but he can't manage more than a hoarse croak. "Where are you? Please..."

Suddenly, from one moment to the next, his knees give way beneath him. He sinks into the snow like a puppet whose strings have been cut.

"Please," his voice is now just a strangled sob, and without knowing it, he falls back into the dialect of the demons. "Save me."

"Why should they?" Emi's cutting voice suddenly sounds in the same language before him.

Jerking, Urushihara raises his head and instinctively tries to pierce the darkness in front of him with his eyes, until he remembers that he can't do that anymore.

"They don't care about you," the heroine continues mercilessly. "Nobody cares how you are. On the contrary, they're glad to be rid of you."

"Menti te ... mihi" - you lie - he stammers in his mother tongue.

"Non sun vultus tu," - they are not looking for you, "no one is looking for you."

Her soft, cold voice is close; he can feel her icy breath in his face.

In panic, he crawls backwards, away from her. But she follows him. A second later, he hears her soft, evil chuckle right in his left ear.

"Poor Lucifer. Poor little fallen angel."

"Abil rem!" - Get lost!- He desperately kicks at her, but this time her mocking giggle comes from the other side.

Hastily, he backs away, his back hitting something hard. There is a groaning and creaking above him, and then he feels something fall to the ground beside him. It grazes his shoulder. Startled, he yelps, but then his wildly flailing hands feel wet snow and rough bark, and he breathes a sigh of relief. No, not an attacker. Not an enemy. This is just a tree, whose stable security at his back gives him some courage again. And from whose branches a huge amount of snow has just fallen.

"Emi?" he whispers, but only silence answers him.

He listens intently, but there is nothing. As if she had never been there.

Oh, just a hallucination.

Relieved, he pulls his knees to his chest, wraps his arms around himself and makes himself as small as possible.