Hey!

I had this new idea, I didn't manage to finish the first chapter before Full Moon so it took me a bit of time to get it done, but here we are!

The story won't be too long and was inspired by an idea suggested to mundayme on Twitter. I'm also posting on AO3, and I hesitated to post this one here on ffnet. Some other stories I'll probably only post on AO3 but we'll see! I just wanted to let you know if you'd rather read on AO3 or if you don't want to miss some of my stories.

Warning for this chapter: mention of vomiting (it's an eggpreg - mpreg - story by the way), angst

Chapter 1 - Down

It was only after the fifth morning in a row spent emptying in stomach in the toilets that Stolas began to realize he may be in need of help.

It wasn't something he was easily ready to admit, given his current… Situation. If it was only the nausea upon waking up, it wouldn't really be enough for the owl to consider actually trying to see a physician, but of course it wasn't only that. There was the exhaustion, the aches, and these strange instincts that he had trouble refraining. He must still be doing a good job, because he could hardly tell what said instincts were asking him to do, he only knew he didn't want to give in to these sudden and strong urges, for he had attracted enough problems on himself and his relatives with his stupid whims already.

Stolas leaned against the cold tiled wall next to the toilet bowl, relishing in the refreshing feeling it brought him while he tried to swallow down the bad taste left in his mouth after throwing up. He stayed here for a few minutes, until he was sure he was done for the morning, before he got up to go back in the living room.

Obviously, breakfast was out of the question. His stomach was craving food that he knew wasn't in the house he was currently in. Hell, he shouldn't even be here, but with everything that happened in the span of a few weeks, he couldn't bring himself to care that he was illegally invading a human house, lost in the middle of a forest.

At least, no one would notice him here. The owners probably only came back during holidays, and he had a spell to warn him if any human or demon came close. The area was otherwise quite uninhabited, and the high trees provided a good cover anyway.

It was so lost in the middle of nowhere that the house barely had any security system at all, which made it extremely easy for the Goetia to invade with a simple portal. After a few days, he even managed to find a spare key, which was still handy to save his magic.

He did feel a bit sorry for emptying the place's food stocks, but this was obviously a secondary residence, probably for a family given the number of rooms and their decoration, which meant they could probably restock quite easily. Stolas, on his side, had nothing left. Quite literally.

All he had was his clothes. He was so desperate that he had to steal human money to buy himself some fresh food and new clothes, and he couldn't help but study the plants around, fascinated by all these Earth specimens, but it was all.

No phone, no grimoire, none of his beloved plants or his wide book collection, nothing. Just his clothes, a few essential products, and a wallet with a few more bills of Hell currency. It was all he had left, and he was reduced to hiding in the human realm, in uninhabited houses, preferably away from civilization not to attract attention. He was certainly glad to have memorized a few spells from his grimoire, the human disguise proved to be handy on numerous occasions.

But… It wouldn't be enough. If he truly wasn't well, he couldn't just show up to a hospital in the human world to be examined as a human. They probably wouldn't know what was wrong with him, especially if it was something related to his Goetia biology, and not just the fact that he was a demon.

Stolas sat in the armchair of the living room, a hand on the book he had found in the house and started reading to stave off boredom, but he refrained from loosing himself in words yet. He had to give his problems some thinking.

He knew he would need to go back to Hell at some point. He didn't want to cut ties with Octavia, but since he didn't have a phone anymore, he had to go see her in person. The main problem was that he was forbidden to return to his former home, and the last thing he wanted was to be spotted by the Goetia family. Outside of the palace, the most likely place for her to be would be at Andrealphus', but that was even more out of the question. It… Didn't leave him with a lot of options, and he cursed himself once more for losing his phone in such a stupid way.

He really should consider buying a new phone, but he knew for a fact that he didn't have enough money left for that, or he would need to steal money in Hell. It wasn't really a problem, but he despised the idea of attracting attention on him or staying there for too long, and he wasn't exactly discreet as a Goetia. Sadly, he didn't know any spell to disguise himself as another demon specie, and it made him unsure if he should try it or not. Getting a phone would take enough time for people to notice his presence, and he didn't really want another bunch of demons showing up where he was to try and kidnap or kill him. That was what cost him his previous phone, and he was still pissed at himself for it.

Sure, he knew Octavia's number by heart, but he lost more than his contacts with his phone. There were also the last pieces of his past, his pictures with his beloved. Some would still be on his Sinstagram, sure, but he hadn't posted all those that mattered, and now they were lost forever.

Stolas rested his head on the backrest and closed his eyes. He wasn't sleeping well either, and the temptation was there to try to take a nap to extend his night, but he didn't want to avoid the subject any longer.

If he was to see his daughter again, he had no other choice but to get a new phone. It was a bit sad that she would be the only contact in it, but at least it was better than nothing. It wasn't like he knew any other number by heart anyway, no one was close enough of him for that.

Well… There was another demon whose number he knew, but there was no point adding his number again even if he managed to get a new phone. As much as it pained the owl to admit it, said demon wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and he had done enough harm already as it was.

A glance at the time told him it was the middle of the morning. How long has it been since his last trip to Hell? Not even that long, to be honest, a day, maybe two at most, but it felt like months had passed already, with how quickly everything went down. He wasn't completely sure his daughter would want anything to do with him either, but he ought to try and reach out, at least.

Stolas rubbed his face with his hands, suddenly feeling drained. He was still struggling to live on his own, without servants to do most of the chores, and that was the easy part. He has been too busy finding a safe place to stay to really have time to process everything that happened in such a short amount of time. He had no idea what to do with himself now, only dark clouds awaited him when he tried to picture his future, and it didn't motivate him much. But it would be worse to just stay here and do nothing. The owners of the house would come back eventually, he needed to be ready. Holidays in the human world wouldn't happen before a while, but he didn't have a lot of time either.

Then there was this health problem. Or course, he had let his happy pills behind, but he doubted all his symptoms were related to his depression. He had a lot of them, sure, it couldn't be helped with the current state of things, but the aches, morning nausea and sudden urges definitely weren't a part of it, weren't even symptoms associated with depression.

Stolas just stayed here, chin in his palm, thinking, trying to fight off the worry and fear and sort his priorities, without much success for the former. The later was easier: Octavia came first. His health wasn't even that worrying anyway, his anxiety could explain his nausea. As for the rest… Maybe the urges were a way to try and regain control over his own life. Not that he wasn't used to having others dictate his actions, but this was a whole new level. He should be glad that it made him more free that he ever was, but the context was too troubling for that.

So, a new phone it would be for today. Stolas stood up and searched for a mirror in the house. Once he found one, he looked unhappily at his reflection.

Even if he went to Pentagram City, the place with the biggest Sinner concentration in Pride, he feared he would still stand out. Sure, some Sinners looked an awful lot like Goetias, but with the recent scandal, his face was everywhere, and even if usually, people minded their own business, they also had a reason to pay attention to him in particular.

Stolas raised his hand to touch a feathery cheek, still deep in thought. Should he take his human form? But no Sinner looked exactly like he was when he was alive, that was likely to draw even more attention.

His best bet was probably to try and disguise his features, even if he doubted it would work for long. At least, it was better than nothing. So, with what he had, he tried to go for the most unusual style he could muster, along with make up that definitely wasn't made for feathers, but it would have to do. If he could at least hide his facial features, at least the white heart shape, it would be a good start. He made sure to cover his upper set of eyes, no matter how irritating it felt, and decided it would have to do.

It didn't go so bad.

The store he chose was empty, and its shopkeeper didn't even look at him once. Stolas did feel a tad sorry for the Sinner whose purse he snatched through a portal earlier in the street, but the guy was loudly showing off his fortune to another Sinner who seemed more than done with his bullshit, and the theft had allowed her to finally flee the annoying dude, so all in all, Stolas could even say he did a good deed.

He almost asked for his phone to be set up using his previous phone number. The seller really didn't seem to be paying attention, but that would require saying his name, and that would be pushing his luck a bit too much for his taste. Plus he feared the Goetia family had access to his phone contract. Better start anew.

His new phone in his pocket, Stolas got out of the store and made sure his hood was hiding his features as he hurried to find some deserted alley to portal back to the human realm. In order to do so, he passed by a group of people watching TV displayed as a store front, and he couldn't help but cast a curious glance at the screen upon recognizing one of his favorite shows.

"Are you sure Gabriella? It may simply be what you ate yesterday with Alejandro, that man is a danger just being in a kitchen!"

"No, I checked, look! It says I'm pregnant, and they're really reliable tests! I knew it, I've had morning sickness all week, and it perfectly matches with the last time he had sex!"

Stolas froze, mind blank, eyes on the screen, as the words slowly sank in.

Ha. Ha ha ha. Now, it's ridiculous, I can't be…

But he knew how Goetia pregnancy worked. He had read all the books he could on the subject to be able to spot the first signs Stella was pregnant, so they wouldn't need to have sex ever again. He couldn't deny that all the signs were here, and the timing did match.

What a stupid idea it has been to act like if everything was normal on his last full moon with Blitz, before handing him the crystal and everything went down… He selfishly let himself have his night of sex seeing how eager the imp has been, hoping it wouldn't go too badly and it was a sign Blitz truly enjoyed their sex beyond the deal, but sadly, that was not how things turned out.

A demon before him turned to talk to someone behind Stolas, and he frowned as his gaze landed on the owl. It managed to release Stolas of his trance, and he quickly resumed his walk to find a space where he could portal safely.

By the time he was back in the human house, he was hyperventilating.

He couldn't… He couldn't be pregnant on top of everything else that was already happening. He was male, he couldn't, but…

Actually, he could. Stella had demanded him to use as many fertility spells as possible on himself when they were trying to procreate, to increase their chances of success, and be done with it as soon as possible. One of them had a side effect allowing him to lay eggs, if he was to mate with a male, and Stella wasn't, so of course it hadn't worked at the time.

No, wait, it's stupid. I've spend so many nights with Blitz, why would it only work now?

Ah…

He knew why. Same reason most spells hadn't worked with Stella.

Because of his feelings.

Despite desperately wanting things between him and his wife to be at least cordial, he never even liked her, she made sure of that with her attitude. While Blitz… He always held a special place in Stolas' heart, but it probably got worse once he realized and admitted his feelings for the imp, even if only to himself. With all the other spells, no matter how long it has been, it was also possible for a Goetia-imp hybrid to be viable.

Their last full moon was the only one where him and Blitz had sex since his feelings truly started to come out.

Fuck.

Stolas collapsed on the couch, all strength having left his legs. He was too numb to do anything else but stare at the black TV screen, trying to find something, anything, to prove his theory wrong.

He couldn't find anything. Worse, all hints converged toward the same conclusion.

Slowly, as if he may break, Stolas rolled on his side to look at his belly.

Now that he looked at it, truly looked at it, he could see a small bulge starting to appear. He brushed it with his hand, only to confirm what he already knew: the shell hadn't formed yet.

Shit, he hadn't even started taking calcium supplements, and his diet was far from healthy recently. Throwing up in the morning certainly hadn't helped. Because that was what it truly was: morning sickness. Not just some kind of nausea due to bad dreams and anxiety, as he initially thought.

No one could really blame him for thinking that though. He did have some pretty hardcore nightmares recently. They started before the full moon… No, even before that, he truly began to have regular nightmares after the incident with Striker. Then when the full moon approached, and after the night where all his dreams were crushed. Then Stella and Andrealphus thought it was the perfect timing to try and exclude him from the Goetia family before the divorce was complete. It was truly a good thing they waited after the full moon, because they somehow got wind of his deal and tried to use that as evidence. Too bad he was able to prove he had his book with him, since he got it back barely a week before the trial.

Thanks to that, he managed to keep Blitz out of it, but of course they weren't going to stop at that. Stella tried to invoke his infidelity, underlying it was with an imp, his breaches of his duties as a husband and as a prince, pretty much everything she could think of.

Octavia was watching it all, so he defended himself as best as he could without bringing up the abuse and assassination attempt, knowing he had not enough proof of both to be taken seriously, not to mention him being a male victim would probably be laughed at more than go in his favor.

It ended with him being stripped of his title and possessions, his only victory being that everything went to Via and not Stella, as the divorce was still granted ("Who would want to stay married to a plebeian", Stella had said) before the trial ended. Andrealphus was probably mad at his sister for this mistake, but Stolas found it quite funny.

That is, until, two weeks after the full moon, the verdict fell with immediate effect, and Octavia just looked at him with betrayal as the prosecutor explained he wouldn't be allowed to come back to his house.

He tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen, screaming at him that he was abandoning her for his lover, despite knowing first hand things didn't go well between him and Blitz. He simply hoped she would understand once she had some alone time to process everything.

Sadly, no one gave him time to process anything. Later that day, he realized he was now homeless, and tried to find a job, only to realize the Goetia family was preventing people to hire him.

It was worse than that: his grimoire has been passed down to his daughter, and the population knew that, so everyone wanting to enact revenge on royals decided he was a weakened target. That was how his previous phone got destroyed, and despite Stolas effectively calming down their fervor, there was always more coming for him on a daily basis when he was still in hell.

Things escalated again when Stolas saw on the news that there was a bounty on his head, from the same Goetia family who sentenced him only the day before. Seems like Stella wasn't happy with said sentence, thinking removing him was like allowing him unlimited holidays, and her brother was probably pissed they ended up empty handed. Not only that, but the Goetia family soon realized Octavia wasn't ready to take over his duties. He wouldn't be surprised that they expected him to come back to them after a few days without a job, broken and hopeless, so they could put him back on the right track after his shameful actions.

Well, that was certainly not happening.

Stolas was determined not to go back to them, and not to let himself get caught by the bounty hunters trying to capture him, for who knows who they would truly bring him to, but it didn't mean the weight of it all didn't press on his shoulders, leaving him alone at night with dark thoughts.

It wasn't an easy situation as it was, and now… This.

If Stolas still wasn't so numb, he would be panicking, for sure.

But he didn't.

Actually, he may not really know what the future held for him, but he didn't even need to think to know what he wanted to do about this.

This egg, this child to be, was his and Blitz's. He now knew the imp was done with him, always has been and probably refrained from stating so before out of fear of his status, but it didn't mean all hope was gone. Despite his situation, Stolas wanted to be there for this child, to cherish that last gift Blitz unknowingly gave him. Plus, maybe Octavia would be able to help. After all, he was banned from his palace, but this child was not. Of course, it only worked if he was sure Stella wouldn't be able to go there either, and he doubted Octavia would ban her own mother.

Plus, it wouldn't be fair to ask for his daughter's help to raise her sibling, and it would run the risk of the Goetia family noticing the existence of a hybrid. That would only piss them off more, and he was wanted enough as it was, and sadly not in a good way.

Stolas sighed, gently stroking the bulge on his stomach as the numbness moved on to a buzzing excitation of all the things he could do for this child, how he would try to be better than he has been with Via, having no excuse since he wasn't with Stella anymore.

Then the reality of his situation came crashing down, and before he knew it, tears were running down his face as he was laying on his back, looking at the ceiling.

Who has he fooling? He was barely holding up, how could he hope to be able to raise a hybrid demon child in the human world, while being in such a dire situation himself? His daughter was already the only thing that kept him going back then, he couldn't put this burden on another child.

But… He couldn't just… Get rid of it either. The simple idea made him shiver with distress, a sob escaping him in the middle of tears.

He didn't know what to do about this. It scared him even more than everything that happened these last three weeks.

He let himself a moment to cry, not caring if he was being loud or not, hugging his middle, until the emotions calmed down, and he was able to see clearly again.

As he moved to sit up, he felt something hard in his pocket, and took it out.

His new phone.

Of course, he had to break down and forget about the daughter he already had, the one he had already let down in so many ways, though all this certainly wasn't on purpose on his part, be it the sentence or… The soon to be egg.

With shaking hands, Stolas entered Via's number, and tried to think of what to say. It hadn't even been a week since he was thrown out of his own home, would it be enough for her to cool down and finally hear him out?

Even if she was, how should he start his message? It wasn't his usual number, she would be wary at first. Did she try to reach him on his old phone? Was she thinking he truly abandoned her? He had to take this into account, even without knowing what actually happened. Maybe she didn't try to reach out. Either way, saying his phone was broken later on the day he was stripped of his title should be enough, right? That way she would understand he didn't stay silent on purpose if she did try to text or call, and if she didn't, well… It would explain why he hadn't tried to reach out sooner.

It took him a lot of time, of typing and deleting, before he finally ended up with something he deemed acceptable. He almost sent a selfie with the text, to further prove his identity, but decided against it. He didn't have the proper make up to cover his exhaustion and worry, and he would have to portal to space so his background didn't betray anything, in case her phone was being watched for hints of his whereabouts. Plus, he just pretty much cried his eyes out.

No, it definitely wasn't the best time to take a picture of himself. Not to mention he wasn't comfortable with the new knowledge of the life growing within himself. Not that he intended to take a picture where his stomach would be visible, and the bulge was well hidden behind his clothes, but still, he felt… Somewhat vulnerable.

He wanted to tell Octavia, eventually. But not right now. He… He needed time to process the news himself, and really make sure it couldn't be anything else. Then, he would need to eat better than that, if he wanted to at least have a choice at all.

He sent the text after a last read over, and waited with bated breath for several long minutes for something, anything, to indicate Via had read the text, hopeful to see the three little dots dance at the bottom of his screen.

Nothing.

He stayed half an hour, just watching the phone in the hope of an answer, before he finally put it down, a hand rubbing his arm to smooth himself.

Maybe she was busy. Maybe she was with her mother and couldn't answer right away. Maybe…

He hoped she was fine. He just wanted to make sure she was fine. If she didn't answer, he'd have to try and spy around the palace…

He suddenly jolted upright on the couch, taking the phone back with renewed excitement.

What about her Sinstagram account? She always posted lots of stuff there, surely it was still the case, right?

Indeed, he only had to enter her user name to find out that her last post was only an hour ago. She was out with her mother, and was complaining about how boring the dress Stella was trying to convince her to wear was. Nothing alarming.

If she was still with her mother, it was probably a good thing she hadn't answered yet. Stolas didn't want Stella to know anything about him, and Octavia was well aware. Though, again, with everything that happened recently, he wasn't sure if she would keep anything from Stella or the Goetia family.

He sighed, closing the app and snorting at the other apps on the phone. Most of these, he couldn't use on Earth.

He hovered over the contact icon, debating with himself whether or not he should add Blitz's contact, just in case.

He quickly decided against it. There was nothing he could say to the imp that wouldn't be a burden to him, and he didn't want to be that anymore. He had accepted, even before giving him the crystal, that if his only childhood friend wanted him out of his life, he would accept it. No matter how much it hurt.

Laying back down on his side, arms pressed against his middle, knees as high before his chest as he could, Stolas stayed here, staring into space. He couldn't bring himself to do anything more for now. He knew he needed to eat, and buy some dietary supplement, but it would have to wait until he regained some energy back.

For now, he just felt drained. Robbed of his choices, emotions, former life, relatives…

There was a life developing inside him, closer than ever before, and yet, without his staff to rely on, the presence of his daughter, and the involuntary support of his imp, he felt more alone than ever.

He knew it.

Of course he knew it, it couldn't have gone any other way. What was he expecting. He was just some fuck toy for rich pricks, and he wasn't useful anymore, that was all. He knew it would happen, it wasn't a surprise, really.

So why did it hurt so much?

Blitz groaned, his office coming back into focus, and he resumed playing with the horse figurines he had in his hand in the hope it would distract him enough to stop thinking about it.

It didn't.

He had done a decent job at ignoring everything since the night of the full moon, but he so happened to stumble on the sex toy box he kept in his office for when he was to go directly see the owl after his work. They used it a bit too, when Stolas used to visit him directly in the office. He hadn't done that in so long… Not that he could really complain, he had asked the prince to stop doing that, despite all the fantasies one could play in an office.

Now it was over.

It sucked. Blitz could admit that at least to himself. He acted as if everything was fine, never better in front of everyone else, even Fizz, saying the crystal was so perfect and he wasn't dependent on anyone now to run his business. It was a dream come true, wasn't it?

So why did he feel so hollow inside?

The night had started so well. Okay, maybe not that well, there were worrying signs from the start, such as Stolas being fully clothed when he arrived. Stolas was never fully clothed, or it was silly costumes for his latest kinky idea, not his fucking regalia.

He had wanted to talk, but Blitz had just ignored it all, convincing Stolas to go to bed, that they could talk after, praying that the owl would be too fucked out to remember what he wanted to say, or that if he planned to end things, thinking Blitz was more trouble than he was worth, maybe getting dicked down again would remind him what he would miss out. It had been… What? Two or three months since the last time they fucked after all, because of the aftermath of Ozzie's.

He was really hoping it would work. The sex had been great, as usual, but also… Different.

First, for some reason, Stolas insisted on keeping a piece of clothing on top. Usually he ended up naked, save for the occasional use of a leather harness, but it wasn't often he chose to wear some sexy outfit even during sex. But why not! After all, it was his night. It covered a lot of his arms for some reason, and even if it was indeed nice, it wasn't really the sexiest stuff either, but who was Blitz to judge? Stolas always had weird opinions about what was kinky or not.

Second, the sex itself. Blitz went all out to compensate for the missed full moon, even if these weren't his fault, and there was some rough fucking, of course, but also something more tender, almost loving. It scared him as much as it made him feel warm, and he had decided to play along for once. If it was the only way Stolas would want to keep him close, it was worth a try. He needed that fucking book anyway.

But it wasn't all. Stolas had seemed almost hopeful during these moments. Sure, it made sense for the Goetia to be surprised, usually Blitz avoided that kind of stuff, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like it was indeed hope on the owl's face, for some reason.

Then he was given the crystal, and his own hopes and dreams were crushed mercilessly.

He didn't really remember the following conversation, if it could be called that way. He yelled a lot of stuff, some he didn't mean. For some reason, Stolas had looked equally crushed, like if he was the one thrown away. The nerves of that bitch!

His employees tried to understand what happened, but he didn't want to elaborate. All they needed to know was how to use the fucking fancy crystal, and they figured that out pretty quickly. Then Fizz told him off for not noticing the disguise feature, but was easily able to show him how it worked, since his boyfriend was the one making them.

The jester, along with pretty much everyone else around Blitz, had tried to get him to open up about what happened. Fizz, especially, who had a better idea of the situation than the others. Yet, Blitz was still in denial that he was hurting, because it would mean admitting he cared in the first place.

He was certain that the more time passed, the easiest it would get, but it wasn't. If anything, he felt worse, thinking back about the harsh words he said, while Stolas… Well, he may not have let the owl fully speak his mind, if he was being honest, too caught up in his instinct of "hurt before you get hurt".

"Sir!"

"Not now!" Blitz answered automatically as Moxxie burst through the door with a somewhat panicked expression.

"Wait, sir, at least let me…"

"I said not now, I'm busy! It's not like if we had any new client, I'd have heard them enter, so get out!"

The fact he was still playing with his horse figurines probably wasn't to his advantage, but he didn't care. He was the boss, if he told his employee that he was busy, then he was fucking busy.

"It's not about a client sir, it's about…"

Millie stepped in, also sporting a concerned expression, which wasn't new either. At first it worried him, seeing his employees like that, then he understood it was because of him, and he decided to make a point to act perfectly normal so they wouldn't bother worrying for someone like him.

"Blitz, it's about the prince…"

This time he groaned, rolling his eyes.

"How many times do I need to tell you? We're done, we have the crystal, and I'm perfectly fine about it, stop bringing it up!"

"Oh yeah, you're so fine you get angry as soon as someone says his name", Loona piped up from her desk in the lobby.

Blitz sighed, knowing he couldn't answer back to his daughter as harshly as he did his employees.

"Point is, we're still at work, so even if there was something to discuss about this, which there is not, now wouldn't be the right time and place."

Moxxie couldn't contain his deadpan glare.

"Really sir? You're one to talk, with…"

"Shhh, leave it to me honey!" Millie patted him and kissed his cheek before stepping before her husband. "Listen Blitz, it's not about what happened between you and the prince, but we are sure you didn't follow the news lately, and there's been quite a few things happening to the prince, and we think it's better to let you know. You can choose to do nothing with it, of course, but…"

"Then why bother? Let's just ignore it directly, no need to know what it's about!" Blitz answered easily. "See? Quicker that way, you don't need to tell me anything. If I didn't get to see it, it probably isn't that important anyway…"

A ring from his phone stopped him and he jumped on the distraction, silencing the two imps with his finger as he picked up.

"Hey Fizz, wanna hang out tonight after work? Or you want to invite me to one of your performances again?"

"… Did I call at a bad time? You're oddly enthusiastic. But no, I'm not calling about that. Did you see the news about your prince…"

"Oh for fuck's sake, why do suddenly everyone keeps coming to me about him?! He's not my fucking prince, he stopped our deal, just quit asking me to go and talk to him, I don't know what story you and my employees are making up to make us meet or shit but it won't work okay!"

There was silence on the line and in front of him, until Loona's voice filled it.

"There's a bounty on his head."

Blitz blinked, the words not processing.

"What?"

As he watched his employees' serious faces, he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Really, that's the best thing you could come up with? No one can put a bounty on a Goetia, I'm not that stupid to fall for something so…"

"Blitz", Fizz interrupted him, tone dead serious. "Stolas isn't a prince anymore, we're calling him that out of habit. He got kicked out of his home and position, and now his family are looking for him to force him to do his duties despite that, and others tried to attack him to act some kind of revenge on royals. Also, would you please put me on speaker, it's infuriating not to hear what's happening on your side!"

Numbly, the bald imp did as he was told, words slowly sinking in.

"He… What?"

Moxxie's face started to show more concern than annoyance.

"You… Really didn't know? I thought you had seen the news that he got stripped of his title and properties, but were simply trying to ignore it. But with these videos of people trying to assault him, we were thinking that maybe you wanted to do something…"

Blitz jumped from his seat above his desk to grab the white haired imp by the collar, all numbness suddenly gone.

"What do you mean? What assault video? The fuck is that about?"

"Come here dumbass." Loona's voice called him over.

Blitz released Moxxie to run to his daughter, while Millie picked up his phone to follow, his call with Fizz still connected.

The hellhound showed her father a video of the attempted attack on Stolas on the day of the verdict, and there was another, in the suggestions, titled "failed kidnapping attempt on former prince Stolas", which was an oddly clean and accurate video title for hell. The assault was from yesterday, and the video that played after, the one for the failed kidnapping attempt, was earlier today. In both, Stolas managed to escape, but not without being a bit jostled, especially in the first video.

"The fuck?! Why am I seeing that only now?!" Blitz exclaimed.

"Maybe because you never listened when we tried to talk to you about this!" Moxxie complained. "The trial has been going on for a week, but the public only got wind of it three days ago, when it was almost over."

"Relax Mox, he was avoiding everything related to the prince, maybe he skipped the news without reading what it was about?"

"How can you not see what it is about before seeing his highness' name?"

"You don't need to call him his highness anymore, you know", Loona pointed out.

Obviously, Moxxie wasn't convinced, but Blitz was now frozen, trying to process everything.

"How… Why was he stripped of his title? Why… Where is he now?"

Everyone he could see exchanged glances, even Loona, and Fizz's unease was palpable even through the phone.

"I can answer for his title", Moxxie began hesitantly. "It seems like it was an extension of his divorce with his wife that turned quite bad."

"What kind of bullshit is that? First, since when is he divorcing her? Second, what, the one asking for the divorce gets thrown out?"

"Not exactly, more like she was mad he wanted to divorce her and tried to find everything she could to get back to him about it", Loona explained, back on her phone. "But it gotta be a while since he started the divorce, it was granted during the trial."

"But… He's smart, what could she bring up that he couldn't defend himself from?" Blitz asked, afraid of the answer.

The looks he got in answer didn't help to clear his fears at all.

"Well… They didn't share all the details, but I think they tried to use the deal you had, especially the part about your sexual activities and the fact he wasn't as efficient in his duties because we had his book most of the time." Moxxie finally said.

"The Goetia family are traditional pricks, sleeping with you while being married, and the simple fact of asking for a divorce, are pretty unusual actions for a Goetia, and not ones they want to encourage." Fizz completed.

Blitz clenched his jaw, a ringing in his ears as he tried to concentrate on the situation rather than the guilt that was spreading in his chest faster than STD in a succubi and incubi's gathering.

"Where is he now? You said he was kicked from his palace? Where is he staying?"

He was getting tired of the silence that answered him each time he asked something, and the sorry and worried looks he was receiving.

"No one knows. All the bounty hunters out there are trying to find him. The reward is pretty high after all. He gotta hide well", Millie said with a soft voice.

"All I can say is that he hasn't been caught yet, the social medias are all hyped about the scandal and the hunt on him, like if it was some kind of show." Fizz added, sounding a bit disgusted by the idea.

"At least it's convenient, people are even faster to post when they spot him somewhere than yesterday", Loona snorted as she scrolled on her phone.

Blitz immediately reached for his phone, but Millie stopped him.

"Don't hang up on your friend to call him, it won't work."

"What?"

The fact she was able to so quickly guess what he was about to do effectively prevented him from ending the call with Fizz. The jester took the opportunity to continue:

"Yeah, no, Asmodeus already tried that when he saw the news, but his phone got destroyed in yesterday's attack, you can see it on one of the videos."

"Ok ok, so, you're telling me, he lost everything overnight, it's my fault, and I can do nothing about it? Peachy! I definitely would have preferred not to know, thank you!" Blitz finally exploded.

"No one said it's your fault Blitz", Millie countered with a worried look.

"Yeah, no, don't start that crap", Fizz cut off before Blitz could answer. "I didn't call you to tell you about this for you to take responsibility over something that's not your fault, and I think your employees didn't either. Plus I don't think Stolas holds you responsible either, he choose to help you with that deal and later with the crystal, and he made sure no one among the Goetias could find out who you are so you weren't brought into this shit show."

That didn't stop Blitz's guilt, but it still helped, enough that he didn't feel like fleeing the conversation as he was moments ago.

"Ok, fine! But what do you expect me to do? Like, it's not my fault but I have to help him or something?"

"No dumbass, we were just thinking you would like to know, but if you don't want to do anything about it, it's fine. You were annoyed not to have been warned before, so…"

Silence settled. Blitz still had so many questions, but he needed time to process everything.

What did he want to do about it? What should he do? Despite Fizz's words, he still knew it was his fault. He had wanted to protect Stolas from the destruction that surrounded him, but it seemed like having known him was enough to ruin the people around him. He could pretend not to care, even after his outburst, but deep down, he knew he couldn't just get back to his life like if nothing had happened.

He already couldn't get past what happened last full moon. Even if Stolas only played with his feelings, maybe…

"Blitz? You still there?"

Fizz's voice got him out of his thoughts, and he focused on his phone.

"Yeah, yeah, just… Thinking. I'll call you back, ok? Until then, if you hear anything on Stolas, let me now."

"Sure buddy. Take care."

"Yeah, you too."

He hang up, suddenly feeling very empty.

"Fuck, I… Loona, do you have a way to contact Octavia, see if she doesn't know something more?"

"She's as clueless as us, and really worried because of the assault videos. She asked me if you knew something too, and will let me know if she learns anything. She kind of lashed out at her father after the trial, but I doubt he'll wait too long before he tries to see her again, even with all the shit going on with their family."

Blitz nodded distractedly, eying his daughter's phone.

"Can you…"

"I'll keep an eye out for any new video or other stuff about him, yeah."

"Great. M&M, check if our emergency bag is full, we might need it at any time. As soon as we get a recent enough location, we rush here to get him somewhere safe so we can talk shit out, got it?"

"Sure Blitz!" Millie smiled enthusiastically.

"On it sir!"

Moxxie was all serious as he went to go over the content of the emergency bag, while Millie decided now was a good time to sharpen her ax, seemingly happy with her boss' forwardness.

Blitz was glad to see everyone serious and focused on a task. He returned to his office with a last announcement.

"I'll go back to my office to think stuff over, see if we don't have another way to track him. Warn me if any sinner comes in, we'll still be taking jobs until we got a lead."

He closed the door on various acknowledgment sounds, and sat at his office, his head in his hands.

Fuck.

He couldn't do this.

He couldn't, but there was no way he wasn't going to find Stolas, make sure he was safe - he wasn't doing the same mistake than with Striker, even if Stolas didn't ask for his help - and maybe, he'd be thankful, or at least not hate him for everything, and at best, they could start something else?

Who was he kidding? Stolas was done with him. Even if he had indeed misunderstood, then him lashing out had settled his fate. Maybe they'd be able to get a calmer closure at least.

Either way, he had to find him. He didn't want to dwell on why, nor what happened to get the owl to that point, or he'd just spiral down, and he needed to be focused. At least, Stolas looked fine, even if tired, on the videos, and none of his attackers had any blessed rope or weapon, but Blitz knew some were bound to acquire these at some point, if they hadn't already. It was only a matter of time until the bounty hunters with the right assets were at the right place to catch him. Because there were both the vengeful demons and the ones going after the Goetia family reward, and there was no way Stolas didn't know his second aggression was because his own family was looking for him after throwing him out. If he didn't turn himself in, he had to have a good reason.

He just hoped he would get to Stolas before everyone else.

03/06/2024

No idea when I'll post next chapter, we'll see when I have time to write.

See you!