Chapter Text
The latest human exchange student to the program had brought with him great entertainment simply by entering the realm. He'd fallen out of a portal and flattened the Avatar of Wrath in the process, to which nearly everyone else present found great amusement in. But that amusement had quickly shifted to discomfort and impatience when the human realized where he was and who they were. It got worse when they found out he was a witch. Mammon had visibly shrunk into his seat with Lucifer subconsciously taking a few steps closer to the second eldest, standing between him and the witch. Satan, while still upset at being crushed, seemed cautiously intrigued. The other four were wary and watched with a more critical gaze now.
Of course, the realm's prince cared not for this news. He had known, and was the sole being who immediately accepted the application with no further digging or background checking. As the witch fumed and snarled like a caged wild animal, Barbatos regarded him with a thoughtful expression. For all the oddities that occurred on a daily basis in the Devildom, it should not by any means even be considered odd that he felt as though there was something familiar about the human before them. Though he couldn't quite put his finger on it at the moment, the fuss made it hard to concentrate. He glanced sideways at his master and Diavolo only laughed at the human's antics. Though it may mean more paperwork, perhaps a more thorough investigation of hopeful applicants would be necessary in the future.
The human, Felix, gets no more comfortable in the following months. He is still agitated and highly guarded, suspicious of everyone except his bird and Solomon. It was not an unexpected connection, after all they were both magicians. What Barbatos knew about Felix came from Solomon. The witch apparently enjoyed gardening and reading. And that was all he knew, as the two humans tended to spend more time sparring than talking with each other. He had developed a theory that the witch had a strong aversion to demons given the troubled history between their species. But when he saw Felix flinch away from even an angel's gentle touch, he added a footnote that the human may just have trust issues period.
After six months it was embarrassing how much time he was dedicating to this human. But that strange sensation and feeling of familiarity whenever he was around the other was making him anxious. Just what was it? Felix's soul was nothing spectacular, not nearly as bright and magnificent as others in the program that truly tempted demons. It was actually quite dull and had no charm to it, no unique features that screamed and begged to be eaten or defiled. Thankfully nobody seemed to notice how hard Barbatos was concentrating on the issue. Or if they had they were too polite, or scared, to say anything to him about it.
At eight months he'd finally uncovered the reason for the tugging sensation in his chest that yearned to be beside the human. It had been an enormous undertaking tracing the witch's lineage and following the previous cycles of his soul but it was finally done. That the witch being a descendant of Lilith was not very shocking, her bloodlines stretched quite far after all this time. What was truly surprising was that the human's soul was so closely related to hers and perhaps may even be the same one. Or a part of the original. Souls were funny business but it had his mind reeling. The draw made too much sense now.
What followed was a mix of emotions; exhaustion from the search efforts, distress that at some point her soul had more than likely been split or divided or further altered, joy that she was in a sense still there with him, and confusion on what it meant now. It was like being so close but still being unable to touch. The witch still hated demons. But the bonding time spent with Satan lately did not go unnoticed, and Felix seemed to be very slowly letting his guard down around the Avatar of Wrath. For now, he would simply watch from afar.