Chapter Text
“Dagmar’s out of the picture. Her daughter is currently without any sort of mentor or supervision.”
The demon, smoking a cigar that’d been offered to him as soon as he’d showed up, blew a cloud of smoke. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“We are asking you,” the Emperor said patiently, “To take her place.”
“Can’t replace a mother,” he replied flatly.
“But you can replace a mentor, and that’s precisely what we’re asking you to do. After all, what better candidate could there be than a demon?”
“Oh, I dunno - one of you?”
“Our place is here,” the woman spoke, “Our job is too important for either of us to just leave. We’d be sacrificing too much.”
Luci inhaled on the cigar, his brows furrowing in thought for a moment. “...How old is this girl, again?”
“Five,” Cloyd said without skipping a beat, “As of tomorrow, anyway.”
“Oh, so you’re asking me to babysit.”
“No. We’re asking you to keep her on the path that our beloved Dagmar had set for her.”
“Really? ‘Cause it really sounds like you’re asking me to babysit.” He leaned back in his seat, giving a slight swish of his tail.
The Enchantress gave a slight cant of her head. “Luci, if I didn’t know any better, I’d almost guess you’re reluctant to the idea of making a child miserable.”
“Oh, yes,” the man agreed, giving a nod, “Not very demon-like at all, is it?”
Luci sat up straight, ears flattening for a brief moment as he gave a sharp frown. “Seriously? Jabbing at my nature? You really think that’s gonna work on me?”
“Well, is it working?” the woman asked.
Pause. “...Go on.”
Satisfied, she continued; “Again, we just need you to keep her on the path forged for her. Nothing more than that.”
“Just until she’s grown and ready,” the Emperor added.
Taking yet another pause, he eventually rolled his eye with a groan, flicking away the useless cigar butt. “Fine. I got an eternity anyway.”
“Just- keep in mind,” Cloyd cut in as the demon went to stand up. “She’s still a child and she’s still important to us. So if you could refrain from any... activities that could cause her serious harm or worse, that would be lovely.”
The demon eyed them for a moment, squinting slightly. He wasn’t entirely planning on disobeying that order, but curiosity drove him to ask, “...And if I do?”
“Then,” the Enchantress said, with a slight hint of a rather unfriendly tone, “We will make sure you spend your eternity in a jar in a shelf.”
Though he stubbornly kept his expression, a shiver ran down his spine for a moment. “...Understood.”
“Good. Now, go on. We’ve wasted too much time already.”
--
“Stupid box-” he mumbled under his breath, “Should’ve known this’d be a bad idea.”
He was currently sitting semi-cramped in a small box - an appropriate way of getting himself to the princess in question, he thought, given it was her birthday. He wasn’t quite counting on the amount of time that’d be spent actually waiting in there. He eventually found his ears perking forwards to the sound of footsteps. Rather tiny footsteps. Finally , he thought, listening intently and hoping that the little girl’s curiosity would lead her right to this box.
Surely enough, it did. Bean - having been the curious and playful girl she’d always been - had indeed snuck off to the present table to sneak a peek at one of her birthday gifts, and decided that opening the smallest one would draw the least amount of suspicion from her dad. However, she hadn’t been expecting the room to suddenly go dark, nor did she expect to see a large, glowing white eyeball in the box.
“Princess Tiabeanie,” a gravelly voice came, shocking the little girl as a large shadow formed on the wall. “You are hereby cursed from the deepest depths of the underworld!”
Okay, was it a sort of dramatic entrance on Luci’s part? Yes. Definitely. But hey, if he was gonna watch over this kid, he may as well have a little fun with it, right? However, he quickly noticed - even as he allowed his intimidating shadow to linger - that other than dropping the box in surprise and the wide-eyed expression, the princess didn’t give him quite the reaction he was looking for.
“...Who are you? ” she asked. The demon’s shadow drew back a bit, blinking. Her small voice trembled, so obviously she was somewhat frightened - but from a five-year-old, he was expecting a bit more of a bigger reaction.
(Kid had a bit of nerve. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t at least slightly impressed).
Deciding to indulge her question, his shadow promptly flickered out while the light in the room returned. Bean’s eyes wandered for a moment. “Your personal demon.” The little girl flinched, turning to see the demon removing himself from the box. “They call me Luci.”
Any trace of fear she had seemed to vanish once she actually got to look at him. Of course, being a child, she was small, and yet even the tips of his ears barely reached her chest. Curiosity overtaking her once again, she crouched to his eye level, much to his chagrin. “You’re a demon?”
“That’s what I said.”
“You don’t look like a demon.”
He tilted his head (and, he noticed, she mirrored the action). “Excuse me?”
“I said you don’t look like a demon.”
“...Well, I’m not really sure what you expected a demon to loo-”
“You look more like a cat.”
He gave a sharp flick of his tail, ears pinning back in annoyance and staring at her with a half-lidded, unimpressed eye. Her expression didn’t change; she merely stared back. “...I’m not a cat,” he muttered, irritation lacing the edge of his tone but remaining patient anyway.
“But you look like one! You even have little kitten ears.”
“They are not ‘little kitten ears’, they’re- whoa, hey-!” He recoiled when her small hand had reached out - presumably - to pet him, which in turn made her quickly retract her hand. “Don’t touch!”
“Sorry-” She cut herself off with a gasp upon hearing footsteps. “Oh no - that might be my dad!”
The demon gave a quiet scoff. “So?”
The girl ignored him, eyeing the box he came out of, quickly realizing he probably wouldn’t fit back in it, kicking both it and its lid under the table cloth, and-
“Whoa, whoa - kid, put me down-!” Not only was he smaller than the little girl, but even to her - though he’d never make this comparison - he weight little more than a small cat, which was proven when she’d suddenly picked him up, removed the lid of a box that was big enough for him, and dropped him in, placing the lid on & hastily redoing the ribbon. “What the h-”
“ Shush! ” she said sharply. (Which, to him, almost sounded humourous with how young her voice was.)
He gave a small huff, crossing his arms and allowing his back to slide down the wall of the box, pushing the object in the box to the opposite side with his feet. He kept his ears forward as the boot steps eventually grew closer.
“Whatcha doin’ in here, sweetie?” Though he’d never heard that scratchy voice before, he immediately figured that it belonged to King Zøg.
“Nothin’,” Bean replied, in a tone that suggested the little girl was doing something.
“Not diggin’ through the presents, I hope.”
“Nnnooo.” Even in the box, the demon could tell that she was probably giving a mischievous grin - probably because of the chuckle he heard the king give, which was followed by the girl’s giggle. A silence fell for a moment. “...Hey, daddy?” Luci straightened his posture at how quiet the princess sounded, and shifted his position so that he was pressing an ear to the wall of the box.
“Yeah?” her dad asked, his tone managing to sound soft despite how rough his voice usually sounded.
“Do you think,” she hesitated. “...Do you think mommy will get better soon?”
There was silence again. Luci pressed himself against the wall even further that, for a moment, he almost worried he’d tip the whole box off the table. Even after doing so, he just barely managed to catch Zøg’s small, “I hope so, sweetie. I hope so.”
After a moment or two, the boot steps came back again. Luci waited for them to be just enough out of distance before promptly shoving the lid off (which wasn’t difficult - this kid’s tying job was below average at best). He popped his head out, and was met with the white-haired girl standing, head lowered and frowning. He tapped a finger lightly against the box edge, looked down into the box, saw the object in it was some cheaply knitted doll, picked it up, and attempted to gain her attention (and maybe lighten the mood a bit) by saying, “Man, this gift’s pretty shittily made.” One moment. Two moments. Three. Nothing. Not even a small gasp or laugh at his language.
( “Luci, if I didn’t know any better, I’d almost guess you’re reluctant to the idea of making a child miserable,” he recalled the Enchantress saying. But from what he was seeing, this child already was miserable.)
“...Hey,” he said, loudly enough to make her slowly look over. “You got a birthday cake, right?”
“...Uh-huh,” she replied, her voice somewhat flat.
“You know what you should do? You should totally lick some of the frosting off of it.”
“...Won’t that make the bakers mad?”
“Hey, it’s your birthday. I say just do it.”
She eventually gave a small smile. She extended her arms out, and, after a moment’s hesitation, he decided to climb on one and place himself on her shoulders instead.
( Just start off small, he thought to himself. Then get to the more fun stuff when she’s older. )