Hey there!

This time I'm not posting too late, yay!

Warnings for graphic discussion of rape and various stress induced disorders.

Enjoy.

Chapter 38 – Progress

Blitz beamed back at him, tail wagging behind him.

"Fuck yeah Stolas! Just you watch, we're gonna work through it. This bitch isn't gonna win, alright? No matter how long it takes, I swear I'll be there and I'll help you as long as you'll have me."

Stolas' smile and gaze softened at this, and he tilted his head to the side.

"Thank you darling. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Well, for starters, you wouldn't be so hurt!"

"But I'd still be miserable, stuck in an arranged marriage", Stolas reminded him before the imp could continue.

Blitz froze, remembering what Stolas had said earlier, when he explained the situation to him, Fizz and Ozz. He knew he had told himself they would focus on one thing at a time, but since it was brought up…

"Do you really think I had that much of a positive impact?" He asked, not able to hide the hint of doubt in his voice. "I thought I only fucked up your family…"

Stolas shook his head.

"You did not darling. I think you realized by now that it didn't matter what I did, how much I tried, Stella was never happy, only reveling in my misery. My only mistake was not explaining things to Via. I should have been honest with her way before, without waiting for you to come back into my life. You made me realize that too, that I shouldn't have kept the truth from her for so long. I can't thank you enough for all you did for me Blitz, even unknowingly."

The imp frowned, before he smiled again.

"You'll thank me when you'll feel better birdie! First…"

He was cut by vibrations from a phone. Both demons turned to look at Stolas' phone on the bedside table. Without thinking, Stolas made it levitate to him with his magic, making Blitz frown.

"We said no magic", he reminded the owl with a stern tone.

"Sorry", Stolas smiled sheepishly before checking his messages. Before Blitz could ask what was up, his phone pinged too, confirming his hunch on what it was about as soon as he saw that Fizz had texted him.

"Let me guess, they're done with the bitchy assholes?" The assassin asked, unlocking his screen.

"It seems so, and everything went well", Stolas explained, relaxing even more with a sigh. "I'm… Glad."

"Yeah, me too. We'll have at least a few days to focus on your recovery only, before we decide what to do with your ex and our prisoner!"

Stolas frowned.

"Should we really wait…"

"Yes", Blitz cut sternly again. "You need to rest, and that way you'll be able to think about what you want too, and let your kid time to digest, and probably talk some more with her. Now, do you think you can explain to me what's the problem with eating? We should really focus on that first, because you need the fucking food, even if only a little!"

Stolas winced, and put his phone back on the side, without magic this time. Blitz was watching, both decided and worried that the owl would get touch repulsed again, but the owl replaced his arm over Blitz to loosely hug him as he settled back on the pillows, and some of the imp's tension eased at that.

"I just… Can't." Stolas started slowly, eyes lost in thought. Blitz stayed still, observing him, purring low in his chest to try and help ground the owl through his explanation. "I slowly lost my appetite over the weeks, because of the stress and exhaustion, but now it's just that…"

The prince tightened his hold around Blitz, and the assassin carefully returned the hug. Seeing the conflicted look on Stolas' face, the imp took a deep inspiration and decided to go for it, since it was obvious the prince wasn't ready to go into details yet.

"Did they do stuff with your mouth too, when they raped you? Is that why you're having trouble with food now?"

Stolas shuddered, a full body shiver that left him looking small and uncertain. But this time, he wasn't alone in his bubble, Blitz was still with him, the owl curling on him, like if the imp was his anchor. He didn't mind in the slightest, on the contrary, he was glad to be finally invited in.

"… Yes, I suppose. They… It's silly, really, it's nothing we haven't done already, but…"

"Hey", Blitz interrupted, running the back of a claw against Stolas' cheek, voice and gesture as soft as possible. "It's alright. I told you, there's no reason to feel shame, or to try and justify your reaction, it's valid. Whatever you're feeling, however you're reacting, it's normal and okay. Maybe weird, but that's how the body and mind works sometimes, doesn't mean there's not a way to work around it. Just try and explain what you think is at work, and we'll see how we can overcome it together, alright?"

Stolas' eyes on him were shy, but he nodded, before his eyes became glassy again, the owl obviously trying to gather his thoughts without getting lost in the memories. Blitz stayed snuggled to him, gaze patient and loving, waiting for as long as Stolas needed. He would wait for hours, and repeat it all again and again, if it meant helping him out. In the end, it wasn't even that long, only a few seconds, when the prince opened his beak again, voice a bit more decided, but still starring into space and a bit above Blitz's head as he answered.

"They did use my mouth. They… It was so much different than when I'm with you. I love choking on your cock, but here, I didn't… It just mostly hurt. Even with the smallest dick, they found a way to make it hurt, and the bigger went so far down my throat, it was still sore hours after. Cool liquids could soothe the pain, and for some reason I could still drink tea, even if it was still hot, but anything else… Anything else reminded me of… That, of the feeling of their cocks in my mouth, of having to swallow their cum. I didn't throw up the first time after they… I didn't have the occasion to. I passed out immediately after, and had to wash, to hide the evidence. The next time I had to, it's the same, I had other things to focus on and I tried to push everything away, nausea included. But when I'm with you… Fuck, it sounds horrible, but I couldn't push the nausea away. It's too strong to let me eat when I'm alone, and even with you, the… Feeling of eating awakens the memories, and the nausea gets so much worse, I just… I don't have a choice, it's only a matter of time and I knew I had to hide to throw up before my body forced me to do it in front of everyone."

Silence succeeded the long admission. Stolas was trembling slightly, eyes still avoidant. Blitz didn't say anything at first, only purring more loudly, to let himself time to process it all, to not risk blurting out something stupid in answer when Stolas just trusted him with so much vulnerability. He could not fuck this up.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Do you… Do you think it'd help, just to have talked about it? You know, if you tried to eat again? Like, would salad still trigger you you think?"

Stolas' grip tightened, and the imp looked up, curious.

"What, not a fan of green?" He tried to joke lightly.

"Ah, no, I don't mind, it's just… The mere idea of eating, just talking about it, it's just…"

"Shit, yeah, because you just told me all that. I get it Stol's, it's fine! We'll just… We're gonna figure something out, alright? We won't be able to solve all that shit in one evening anyway, so don't feel too pressured, okay?"

Stolas finally met his gaze, and nodded slowly, before he managed to relax his hold on the imp. Blitz smiled back, tail wagging, finally feeling like they were getting somewhere.

"You say that, but… You and Via are right, I will need to eat again, eventually", Stolas sighed, eyes closed. "Almost each time I tried to get up this afternoon, I felt dizzy. I need to maintain a lot less tracking spells now, so it should help, but I suppose even Goetias can't keep going indefinitely without food."

Blitz winced.

"Yeah, we said that, it's true, but don't pressure yourself too much, okay? At dinner time, we'll try to find you something you can eat, try out different stuff, with enough time between each to make sure you don't throw up, surely we'll find something at some point! When we do find something you can eat, you won't be able to ingest much, and it will be normal, alright? Your stomach is probably really small right now. We'll try to have you eat more often instead, okay?"

Stolas looked uneasy at that.

"I guess…? But let's maybe not increase the number of meals per day too much at once, alright?"

"Yeah, no, of course, we'll do little by little! It's also only until your stomach can extend back a bit. Sounds doable birdie?"

"I… I guess?"

"Don't worry, we'll spend time talking about other stuff before dinner so you can distract yourself a bit, hopefully it'll help. Remember, no one's going to force you to eat, and you don't need to hide anymore. Just be honest, even if you're being super picky, or it won't work, okay?"

"Yes, of course, I will… I will try."

"Good", Blitz purred. "It's all I ask, and Via too!"

Stolas nodded, and they waited a few more seconds, lulled by Blitz's purring, before the imp started talking again:

"Okay, so… Would you be okay to talk some more about all this, or do you think you reached your limit Stolas?"

When he felt the owl tense again, Blitz rushed to add: "Of course, both options are perfectly fine, okay? You heard M and Loona, they're fine to manage IMP without me for a while, we'll have time to continue tomorrow if you're not ready, so no pressure, you can…"

"I'm fine."

Stolas' voice sounded clipped. Blitz met his gaze, and the determined look in the owl's four eyes was both intimidating and encouraging. The imp grinned before snuggling into the chest feathers.

"That's my good and strong bird."

Stolas blushed at that, but if Blitz noticed when he looked up again, he didn't comment on it.

"So, is there anything in particular you'd want to talk about?" The imp asked.

"N- no, I don't think so", Stolas answered, not daring to brush the many subjects he knew he wasn't ready for yet.

"Okay, that's fine. I'm gonna ask questions, feel free to answer as much as you can, but if there's something you'd rather avoid, just tell me, okay? You don't need to lie, if you don't feel like it, just tell me and I'll change subject, I promise I won't insist. Sounds good?"

Stolas nodded, and despite his resolute look, he also seemed relaxed, which reassured Blitz. It seemed like he wasn't fucking it up for now. Good, he had to keep going. He could do this and get the bird's trust, little by little.

"Alright, so… Since we're already on the topic, do you mind to tell me more about the shit they did to you?"

Stolas frowned, already looking uneasy again.

"Why? You already punished them."

"Not all of them technically, but I'm not asking you for that", the assassin answered. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but all the shit they did to you caused you to sleep less and less on top of making you skip and reduce your meals until they stopped, along with the stress and shit, and I got from a reliable source that you drank alcohol to cope too."

Stolas stiffened at that, on the defensive.

"How… When you were spying on me?"

"Not me, my employees, but good to know you also did it when it was me. Again, I'm not judging you Stolas, alright? Never. If I ever sound judgmental, please tell me. But I'm pretty sure your panic attack was linked to that shit too, wasn't it?"

There was still a frown on the owl's face before he nodded slowly.

"It was."

"Can you tell me what caused your panic attack then?" Blitz asked softly.

Stolas hesitated for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Sorry, it's just… Can we not talk about… That?"

"You need to be more specific birdie. Your panic attack, the rest of your stress reactions to the whole torture stuff, or you don't want to talk about what they did anymore?"

"No, the first. The first and the second I guess. I… I can try to talk about the torture itself, maybe", he added the last word later, uncertain.

Blitz nodded easily, and Stolas immediately relaxed at that, almost letting out a sigh of respite. He did not want to tell a seasoned assassin that he went on a full blown panic attack because he heard a male voice say the word "pathetic" and for some reason it reminded him of Stella's much different voice hurling insults at him. Sure, Blitz hasn't been judging so far, but he did react negatively to some of his earlier confessions, and Stolas always had that second of fear that at any moment, this anger could be turned toward him.

It also felt oddly comforting, to try and test Blitz's word and see he did indeed respect it. No insistence, no urging to justify himself, just changing the subject, as the imp seemed to ponder over what he wanted to ask next.

"Okay, so… I guess asking you to tell me all the shit they did to you since they started would be a bit too long and stressful, but I… I mean, it's fresh, I'd understand if you didn't want to, but can you tell me what they did to you this morning?"

The owl winced, and Blitz was ready to reassure him again that he could refuse, it would be okay. But then, the light in Stolas' eyes hardened, his grip on the imp tightening in sync, but not enough to hurt, so Blitz said nothing, waiting patiently.

"This morning, they… I don't need to be too precise, do I?"

"Whatever you prefer birdie", said Blitz. "If you want to get stuff off your chest, I'm here. If you only want to keep details to a minimum, it's fine too. Just don't push yourself, alright?"

The prince nodded, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. He clearly didn't want to elaborate, it was already hard to convince Blitz not to try and go pay a visit to Stella and Andrealphus by himself when they were scheming, he wasn't about to risk it. His mind had already placed this morning's events in a thick fog, but he was faintly aware it was another coping mechanism used by the brain that could cause problems later, so he guessed Blitz's suggestion wouldn't be that bad.

"Since you started hanging around, I was asked to come to Andrealphus' place. As I told you, this morning was only the second time. It didn't change much I guess, less work for my staff and myself to hide everything, even if Andrealphus decided to get involved… Anyway. All sessions follow the same pattern: locking the door, at least when they came here and walked me to the bedroom, letting me put my phone away, and handcuffing me with blessed cuffs so I couldn't free myself, should Stella apply her threats…"

The imp squirmed a bit, already frowning, and Stolas stopped his retelling.

"Is there something bothering you, darling?"

"No, I mean, yeah… Were they always bringing you to your bedroom to torture you? I know they did at least twice, but I wasn't fully sure…"

"Yes, they did, apart from the last two times as I said, why?" Stolas asked, seeing Blitz wince.

"Nothing, it's just… I get why you'd have trouble sleeping with such stuff associated to the room you should be the most at ease in. You're alright right now, or would you prefer it if we moved elsewhere, like the living room?"

Stolas blinked, before looking up, at the space between his bed and the bookshelves, where the torture usually took place.

"No, it's… It's okay. Them stopping to come here, along with all the people who stayed with me today, probably helped. You being here helps."

Blitz couldn't help but beam at that, before his expression turned serious again.

"Okay, good. Sorry for interrupting."

"It's alright, I interrupted myself", the owl smiled, before said smile faded as well, knowing what he was about to talk about. "I don't… Feel like going into details, especially since the girls will probably want to eat earlier than we did for lunch, but… After I was cuffed, Andrealphus started by fingering me."

Blitz made a grossed out expression.

"He what?! I thought it was the hellhounds who did that shit!"

"Well, yes, with this exception. He probably wanted to start, and… It's the watchdog that you spared, correct?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He'll be able to confirm my hunch. While Stella has no interest in me physically, which was perfectly mutual, I suspect Andrealphus to have a thing for me, even if I doubt he'd admit it to anyone, even himself…"

"Oh, so he took advantage of the situation", Blitz growled.

"You could say that I suppose. He… He kept touching me until I came, then he let the hellhounds do it. It's…"

"Hey hey, I said no pressure", Blitz reminded him softly, crawling on all four to take Stolas' face between his large hands, still mindful of any hint that the owl was getting touch repulsed.

"I just… It's…" Stolas sighed, shaking his head but with no intent of dislodging the hands on his cheeks. "I want to be able to talk about it, it's just so… I feel disgusting."

"You're not, they're the disgusting ones", Blitz snapped back with so much assertiveness and confidence that Stolas couldn't help but believe it, even just a little.

"I know, that I shouldn't listen to their voices, it's just…"

"Easier said than done?" The assassin suggested.

Stolas nodded, and the imp carefully took him into his arms again.

"It's okay. You're okay. It's never happening ever again."

A sob erupted from Stolas' beak at that, and he gripped Blitz back firmly.

"That's the thing…" He confessed with a small voice. "I keep fearing that tomorrow, it will continue, that they'll resume their sessions and find something even worse to do to me. And I'd do it, anything to keep you safe, but it just… Hurts, and it's so, so tiring…"

"Shhh, it's okay birdie, it's truly over, I swear. I'm not leaving you, even if someone tries anything, I'll be there to protect you, and we'll send Fizz and Ozz on your bitch wife and brother-in-law again, okay?"

Stolas nodded shyly, face hidden in Blitz's chest, and the imp decided to purr at full volume again, letting his bird process his feelings. The shivers weren't quite as bad as when he was spiraling, so it was probably a good thing, if he was letting it all out in a more controlled way.

After a while, and a few more tears, Stolas took a loud inhale, and Blitz took it as his cue to reduce the purring.

"They raped me again, the three hellhounds", he started with a small, ashamed voice. "Rough and brutal, often fucking my cloaca and mouth at the same time. When Andrealphus decided I wasn't reacting enough, he asked them to… Do a double penetration…"

"In your bird puss?" Blitz asked softly, eyes wide.

"Yes… It… It fucking hurt… Then, they just… Kept going, beating me, stabbing me, fucking me, sometimes all at the same time, and they… They wouldn't let me pass out, saying you'd pay the price if I did. Then it stopped, they left, and I returned, and I'm… I'm sorry Blitz, I really am, but please, don't blame yourself, please!" Stolas begged as he tightened his hold again, just in time to prevent the imp to go into another spiral of self-hatred.

Okay. Right. Blitz tried to shake his head softly without disturbing the owl, instead rubbing comforting circles in his back as he turned the purring up again.

This wasn't any of their faults, but the two assholes', Stolas' bitch wife in particular. They both had to keep that in mind to move forward, and maybe if Blitz could let go of his guilt, he could help Stolas to do the same. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

"Shhh, I got you Stol's. I'm fine, I'm mad at the ones who hurt you, not at any of us, okay? Okay. I think it's enough for now, so what do you say we stay here a bit to calm down, and then we can join the girls, okay? M offered to stay for the first night, you know, for extra security. Moxxie is a great cook, but if his cooking isn't to your taste, we can ask your staff or order outside, or just ransack the fridge, what do you say?"

Stolas kept whimpering for a while before it stopped enough for his answer to be comprehensible.

"Sounds good darling."

"Great!" Blitz grinned.

15/01/2025

Slowly but surely, this day will end, I think it's been going on for more than ten chapters already xD