A/N: The Queen and her gallant standing army

Undoubtedly the most influential pieces on the board

Hesitantly, their gazes skyward

They must be privy to any threat

The game has been set

Beelzebub's day was off to a GREAT start. She wanted to sleep in today but nooooo... the Sin of Wrath just had to call in a last minute impromptu meeting with all the Cardinals. There goes her morning of beauty sleep. She forgot to fill up her baby's gas tank so now she's flying to said impromptu meeting. Meetings she hates, might she add. Which she's late for because she decided living in the capital would be too close to work for her tastes. "Great job past Beelzebub." she mumbled, cursing her past decisions. She's NOT a workaholic, and old habits die hard. And to put a cherry on top of her oh so lovely morning, thanks to last night's...incident...she now has some very ugly bags sagging under her eyes, and no time to put on concealer.

Last minute meeting strikes again!

The demon slowed her rush and began to descend as the skyscrapers of Hellevuur began to pepper the skyline, and glided towards the Cardinal's tower. Back on solid ground, she began straightening her suit, slacks and appropriately matched orange and black tie. She hated dressing formally but the occasion called for it, and she'd be damned if she didn't put her little mark on her clothes. She slowly reached for her neck and cradled the oddly mismatched halo pendant that was attached to her necklace. Closing her eyes, she breathed in slowly.

In...1...2...3...

"Don't be encumbered."

Out...3...2...1...

"Six is a magic number."

She could already tell today was going to be a doozy.

"Here we go."

"That makes four incidents now!" Invidia screeched, pointing her slender arms at the map of Hell. "Following this path, every small town without any type of defense or protection has been attacked. Our entire outer eastern sector - "

Beelzebub slammed the council room's doors open, cutting through Invidia's spiel.

"Is a mess. Took you long enough."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Bel." Beelzebub waved her off, before taking a seat next to another short demon, whose mane of red hair was covering another pair of groggy and sleep deprived eyes. At least she wasn't the only one about to conk out.

"And all survivors' descriptions of the attackers were similar: Braves from the First Sphere wearing silver armor with gold plating led by a Seraphim." Lucifer added. "As much as I hate to admit it, if those four girls hadn't intervened we would have four rubble piles instead of three." "The fuck did we do to piss off angels of that caliber?!" Beelzebub blurted out.

The 5 other heads seated at the council table remained silent.

"So now what? We have enemies popping up left and right? How're we supposed to stop that? Beelzebub asked.

"What we NEED is to mobilize our forces in the Eastern Sector." Lucifer cut in.

"Moving forces will only cause panic." Lilith countered.

"No one is doing anything until we research the enemy and their capabilities!" Invidia screeched, slamming her hands down on the table.

"We should hide. Hiding sounds good." Belphegor, the Cardinal Sin of Sloth mumbled.

"We can't move and hide our whole population." Beelzebub sighed next to her.

The five current Sins bickered with each other, oblivious to the rising rage of their leader. His blood finally boiling over, "SILENCE! Nothing will be solved if we bicker amongst ourselves!" he roared. The current leader of hell rose from his seat. Even with his smaller stature, the six dragon-like wings and barbed tail demanded authority.

"My apologies." Invidia said.

"Forgive me, my grace." "Apologies, my grace." Lilith and Lucifer replied, bowing their heads.

"Sorry." Belphegor mumbled, coiling in on herself further.

"Sorry boss man." Beelzebub said.

"That's more like it." The Cardinal Sin of Wrath adjusted his glasses as the focus of the room turned to him. "As we can all clearly tell, a storm is brewing and a bad one at that. For now, all we can do is prepare and plan. Invidia! I want you to double down on your department's R&D. We're going to need more 'creative' methods of detecting any unwanted guests."

"Sure." Invidia huffed.

"Lucifer, how is training currently going?"

"Two more legions have finished their tactics training and will have boots on the ground in a month, sir." Lucifer replied promptly.

"Excellent. Start shuffling our forces towards the Eastern and Western fronts. Mobilize, but be discreet. Only move small groups for now. If residents start seeing heavy machinery deploying gossip and panic will begin to spread. Lilith, once your sentence is finished, pacify the public as best as possible. But don't spread any propaganda, we can't keep these past incursions secret anymore."

"Of course Byleth." Lilith nodded.

"And finally Beelzebub and Belphegor, coordinate amongst yourselves to make sure our resources and financial reserves are still in check. The last thing we need is a market depression. And Beelzebub?"

"Yeah?"

"Bring in our four 'guests' from Lilith's residence. We can provide leniency on their sentences and ruling IF they're willing to cooperate and answer some questions for us." Byleth stated.

"Yeeeeeahhhhhhhh 'bout that. They're kind of, not there?" Beelzebub sheepishly remarked, rubbing her arm.

"How are they 'not there'?!" Byleth pinched his nose, irritation returning to him.

"I- I don't know! My seal was still intact when I got there but Lily's studio was empty when I went to check on them yesterday!" she explained.

"It's to my understanding that one of the angel's is Virtue Temperantia's little sister...I understand if you pitied her..or wanted to help but-"

"What does Zelel have to do with this?! I didn't help them because of her!"

"Oh please!" Invidia cut in. "We all see the way you both eye fuck each other when we meet with the Heavenly Virtues."

"Wrong again! We're just good friends - old friends from high school - that's all!" Beelzebub screeched, her face beginning to blush fiercely.

"Mm hmm. Ssssssurrrreeeeee." Invidia rolled her eyes.

"I could care less and I still need my broadsword to cut through all that tension." Lucifer interjected.

"Issokay Bee." Belphegor slurred, patted the top of Beelzebub's head as she failed to hide her bright red face.

"The first step is to be honest with yourself." Lilith smirked.

"ALL OF YOU CAN GO EAT SHIT AND DIE!" Beelzebub yelled.

Byleth's fist crashed into the table. "Ahem. Even though we currently don't have proof of what has or has not happened, it was your seal that those girls broke free of. So you will face the consequences and be joining Lillith in her punishment. I expected more of the demon I entrusted with two Cardinal Sin positions." Byleth reprimanded her.

"Sorry." Beelzebub grumbled.

"Let me remind you all: Our current stance with Heaven is a professional one and is on a need-to-know basis. We can't risk angels running around Hell, be they friend or foe. Nor can we disclose this sensitive information to anyone outside of our inner circle, regardless of their relations." Byleth glared at Lilith.

"It was a slip of the tongue..." Lilith muttered.

"I don't care. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sin Byleth!" The other five demons responded back in unison.

"Good. Meeting adjourned."

Can't say she didn't call it. That was a doozy of a meeting. Beelzebub basked in the warmth of afternoon sun, a stark and welcome contrast to the enclosed suffocating government building. She twisted her body left and right stretching her aching limbs. Those chairs were always horrible on her shoulders. Two gentle taps on her bicep directed her gaze to Lilith.

"We all thought it would be nice to 'clear out' my liquor cabinet at my penthouse later this evening, if you wanted?"

"And y'all call me the party animal." Beelzebub shrugged. "Sure. Will the boss be there?"

"Byleth said he'll drop by although he might be late, more administrative work to attend to."

"He'd better! One last night before shit hits the proverbial fan." Invidia quipped.

"Everyone is free to bring party favors too!" Lilith added with a grin and a clap. Unfortunately for them, Beelzebub's alcohol cabinet has been empty for weeks since her last emotional..er... episode she likes to call them. Calling it a breakdown made it seem sad and she only revisited some old bittersweet memories. No biggie. She'll just bring snacks, Satan knows they'll need the salt later.

"We'll be fine as long as Lucifer doesn't bring that crappy cucumber vodka." Invidia jabbed at the general.

"You all just have weak taste buds!" he defended.

As the other Sins sans Byleth continued to chat and bicker amongst themselves Beelzebub gazed skyward.

She should enjoy tonight.

Who knows the next time they'll all be able to cut loose like this.

A/N: I'm a chess nerd and I wasn't NOT gonna use an ominous chess allegory for the story. It's still pretty on the nose though!

As always new and returning readers, enjoy! And Happy 2023!