Chapter Text
An unremarkable morning in an unremarkable bed.
Christmas Day.
The long awaited rest, well it was actually the calm before the storm, but for now Sigma can live peacefully in a gentle oblivion.
No alarm, it was nice to sleep in though it felt more like he’d been sleeping for eternity.
See Sigma liked the idea of sleep, it was rejuvenating and calm but to the manager it felt more like a drawn out execution, when Sigma was “sleeping” it was more him laying flat on his back with eyes closed willing it to be morning already and if he did ever sleep it would be due to him passing out from pure exhaustion.
The sun was yet to rise, the clock read seven thirty, that felt more an acceptable time to get up, though he didn’t really have any plans so he didn’t know what he was waking up for.
A glass of water ?
What a depressing thing to will his legs out of bed.
He brushed his hair as he always did take long and exaggerated strokes with the brush desperately avoiding eye contact (if it was even possible to make eye contact with an inanimate object) with the bathtub.
He’d gotten a bit … hazy last night.
Hazy was Sigma's way of describing his depressive episodes.
Mainly due to his refusal to admit the severity of these hazes.
Because who doesn’t get a little bit grey every now and then ?
Sigma's refusal to accept his crumbling mental state to such an unsettling degree was almost impressive.
He took Benzos but that was just because he got a little shaky sometimes, he was just stressed.
He didn’t have anxiety.
What kind of casino manager has anxiety, he’s just a little light footed.
It was incredibly contradictory, he wasn’t an addict on the grounds that he actually did need to take the medication yet he also denied any condition that would actually call for such extreme doses.
What Sigma did in the privacy of his own home was nobody's business but his own and he hated when people got nosy.
He didn’t bother to put on anything special, he checked the records and there truly was no one at all in the casino, that is discounting himself of course.
Though he decided a lap of the casino would ease his throbbing headache.
Sigma was caught in an endless cycle, the excess medication he took caused side effects, splitting headaches being one of the main examples so to deal with such issues he would take painkillers, as many as he could before they killed him.
Nothing quite seemed to go how he wanted, no matter how hard he tried he had one relief and that relief brought him the greatest suffering.
His heels tapped loudly just as they always do, yet today their sound seemed to stretch a bit further embracing every surface before ultimately retreating back to his ear.
There was no trace of the strange men from yesterday who were once such a loud and prominent presence, only the seats and table they had sat at remained.
He wasn’t quite sure what he expected, surprise held no place in his ideal world but somehow the unexpected appearance of those two yesterday stirred a slight need in Sigma.
He wasn’t sure what he needed but he knew it was getting worse.
He didn’t know what compelled him to do so but he went over to the table they were once at, taking a seat just as he did yesterday.
There was nothing but the soft whirring of the propeller blades outside to be heard, the window view was nice though, he planned to take a long bath today but decided against it after how it went last night.
So now he simply stared out of the window, he entered a semi spaced out daze, it was the type where your head screams at you to just get up and do something yet you remain firmly cemented to your seat.
He had already forgotten what the men even looked like, Sigma's memory was exquisite but only for a day or so before his mind wiped it clear to remember to new set of data he practically shoved down his throat each and every day, he fiddled with the key Fyodor gave him in his pocket as he continued to gaze out onto the deck, eyes tracing every curve in the clouds.
Before he knew it the sun was beginning to set.
When did that happen?
He thought to himself finally standing up brushing off his coat tails, turning on his heels to take his leave.
Though as he took another step, ground was not what greeted him, no it was a lack of ground as he seemingly feel through the floor.
But that was impossible.
He hit the ground with a loud thud, that really hurt.
His body had sort of folded in half winding him on impact.
“WHAT IN THE-“
He started pulling his coattails of his head, letting them fall back to where they belong.
“Seasons greetings Sigma”
He looked up at the warm voice and hand outstretched in front of him.
“Fyodor?”
Sigma stuttered, shuffling backwards slightly getting to his own feet, making a conscious decision not to take the demon lord's hand.
He looked around the room desperately, he was very clearly no longer in the casino, instead he was in an odd style home, one of a location he couldn’t quite place.
Sat on a backwards wooden chair was Nikolai Gogol; he had a wide grin on his twisted face.
So this was Nikolais doing, of course it was.
Sigma let out an exasperated sigh, suddenly recalling what the jester had said about today.
This must be what he meant.
“С РОЖДЕСТВОМ, СИГМА !”
Nikolai exclaimed excitedly, throwing his arms up in the air.
Sigma was fluent in Russian, was this a taunt they only ever conversed in English. Though Sigma suspected Fyodor And Nikolai spoke Russian most likely for the demon lord's leisure more than anything, for such an intelligent man his Japanese remained mediocre and his written was far below the average.
“Yeah Merry Christmas, mind if I ask what you dragged me here for”
He sighed, rubbing his temple as he placed a hand on his hip.
“Christmas in the sense I know it is celebrated on the seventh day of January, though I do realise the Julian calendar is no longer one of preference”
Fyodor took a seat on the wooden chair Nikolai had gotten up to leave empty for him.
The Julian calendar ?
Was that a Russian thing ?
Whatever, Sigma didn’t particularly care, he just wanted to know why the hell he’d been dragged out here.
“But I’m curious as to what Christmas is like for those who have shunned God for their capitalistic consumerist washed holiday”
He clapped his hands together somewhat excitedly contrasting his rather hateful words.
He had a habit of doing that, Sigma couldn’t tell if it was the language barrier or if that’s just how he was, he assumed the latter but you could never be too sure with this man.
“THAT IS WHY I TOOK THE LIBERTY TO PREPARE THE PERFECT WESTERN CHRISTMAS DINNER, BIRD AND ALL”
Nikolai declared putting both his hands on Fyodor's shoulders.
Their closeness always made Sigma suspicious, it seemed everyone in the decay of angels was in some random homoerotic situationship but him.
He didn’t mind being the odd one out for once though, the very thought made him shudder.
“And I’m here because ?”
Sigma pressed maybe if he made it clear he didn’t give a fuck about their random social experiment of the week they’d send him home, though he doubted it greatly.
“I watched the movie, the one with the furry green man, the little girl in that particular moving picture says that no one should be alone on Christmas, this seems to be a recurring theme in these tails of Noel”
Fyodor spoke every syllable that ever left his mouth like it was delicate poetry that carried great meaning, it would be easy for any fool to just go along with whatever he says. Though the consequence of that was people missing some of the utter stupidity he spat.
Was he - the wanted terrorist, member of the decay of angels - Demon Lord, Fyodor Dostoevsky seriously referring to the grinch ?!
The thought almost made Sigma split his sides, he imagined Fyodor sat so focused as he always was.
Well at least he was committed ?
“I’m a grown man, I’m perfectly fine with spending the twenty - fifth alone in the comfort of my own home”
He huffed, crossing his arms.
“OH COME NOW DEAR SIGGIE I EVEN GOT YOU A SANTA HAT”
Nikolai was certainly far more acquainted with modern culture than Fyodor, that was because Nikolai existed in the real world contrary to Fyodor who seemed to live in an entirely separate space.
How they put up with each other so smoothly was unknown to the manager, and to be truthful he didn’t care to find out any further about what those two freaks got up to.
“I’m not wearing that so don’t even bother”
Sigma swatted away the jester's gloved hand.
How it happened he did not know,
But he was sat at the end of an aged wooden table, a horrendous spread of what was clearly an attempt at a roast dinner with his two toned hair topped with a Santa hat.
Nikolai and Fyodor were singing some song that Sigma assumed to be Russian Christmas song, he couldn’t translate fast enough and he didn’t particularly care to
“И ВОТ ОНА, НАРЯДНАЯ,
НА ПРАЗДНИК К НАМ,
ПРИШЛА,
И МНОГО РАДОСТИ,
ДЕТИШКАМ ПРИНЕСЛА”
They finally finished, Fyodor had been delicately playing the striking melody on the cello, singing softly whilst Nikolai yelled along the words a certain jollity about his out of key voice. It was strikingly obvious they had grown up with different versions of the song.
He noticed Fyodor's kind smile at Nikolai after he finally looked up from the grand instrument and the jesters returned grin, he couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t really supposed to be there.
He felt sort of like a teenage girl in a trio, he wasn’t anyone's best friend and he knew they would always gravitate towards each other yet he still followed them helplessly like a lost dog.
“Tell me Sigma and speak truth, do you see us as someone you can trust”
Fyodor asked, resting the delicate instrument against the wall.
Sigma seemingly snapped out of his trance putting on a face that didn’t express his disinterest quite so obviously, though Fyodor had a knack for seeing through facades.
“WELL OF COURSE HE DOES”
Nikolai interrupted, he was wearing an apron and holding a turkey carver loosely waving it around like a magic wand.
He then swiftly stabbed it into the charred bird not breaking eye contact with Sigma at some point he had removed the card so both of his sharp irises dug into his flesh a terrifyingly threatening edge to them.
He decided to agree, though of course it was not true.
He doubted the truth would cause Fyodor any real upset in the slightest but Nikolai was not a man he wished to go against anytime soon.
Silence.
“Kolya this is terrible”
Thankgod someone finally said it.
Sigma had been nervously poking it with his fork for about three minutes now, it was completely burnt but somehow it was still undercooked.
How the fuck does one manage that ?!
“I do suppose that’s true”
Nikolai sighed half heartedly, at least he was taking it well.
“I suppose setting the oven to double heat was not the correct way to speed up the process”
He observed plainly before letting out a long cackle.
“IM JUST GLAD WE ALL CAME TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS HUZAH HUZAH FOR ANOTHER YEAR WELL SPENT”
He declared taking Fyodor's shoulder once more into his palms.
Did that mean he could finally go home ?