Chapter Text
Things had to be going well now, right? After several excruciating days filled with anguish, pain, rage and suffering for what might happen, for so many horrible things they had seen, heard and finally witnessed with their own eyes, they had recovered Blitzø from his captors... They had found him on the verge of death, but luckily Satan was on their side and they were able to get him out of there before it was too late. Now he was sleeping off an induced coma at St. Jude General Hospital to help him recover from his worst injuries while they closed ranks and reorganized to slowly return to their former lives... So everything should be okay from now on, right?
Unfortunately, Millie couldn't count on it. Especially as she kept having those horrible dreams that started haunting her since those first two weeks their boss was hospitalized; Horrible dreams about everything that had happened:
When they'd almost lost Blitzø... When she almost lost Moxxie.
She kept seeing those terrible images repeating over and over again in an unbearable loop, reminding her a little of what they had heard was caused by that fucking bug extracted from Blitz, the Nightmare Parasite; It was all so damn real, and that was worse because all that horror had almost happened for real.
Still replaying in her exhausted mind after so much adrenaline and stress, the young female imp always felt her breath hitching, her heart felt like a water balloon that a giant hand was squeezing until it almost burst... She couldn't move, she felt like an invisible force was preventing her from being able to do anything, anything at all. Nothing could be done. She could only scream and cry.
...Blitzø's face was completely mutilated, his horns shattered, black foam was dripping from his disfigured mouth and his eyes were completely white; his mangled body hung upside down in chains as he convulsed violently, then huge glowing blades descended from the darkness and cut into the exposed red flesh, invisible whips smashed into the lacerated and oozing skin with extreme cruelty, like a demonic parody of a martyred Jesus Christ. Millie is there as a wretched spectator, screaming, writhing as much as her eccentric boss but unable to reach him, pleading through choking tears to please stop this senseless ordeal... Loona is apparently by her side as her deafening shrieks echo in her ears even though she can't see her:
"NOOO! NOOO, BLITZ...! DAD...!"
As quickly as it appears, that horrible image is replaced by the city where Millie was currently living, Imp City, being brutally torn from its foundations as if they were mere wilted leaves blown by the wind. The buildings, the houses, the streets themselves are being ripped from the ground, the earth opening up to swallow everything around it, without distinction. Devils, hellhounds, succubi and incubi and sinners; men, women, children and old people being dragged in a terrible way into the dark abyss of total oblivion; The 'Dimension of Total Destruction' spell, taken from Stolas' grimoire, which the prince himself is afraid of, had finally been activated, starting here first. Hundreds of thousands writhing in a vast ocean of agonizing screams for help, for mercy, for anything... Millie no longer just watches helplessly, she is also dragged along; she can barely breathe amidst the suffocating mass of writhing limbs stretching their hands towards the torn red skies, in a pandemonium even more terrible than any Extermination Day... Panic seizes her, but not because of what is happening, but because the one she loved most in Hell, the Pentagram and beyond, was not there with her.
"WHERE ARE YOU, WHERE ARE YOU, MO...?!"
The answer came immediately afterwards with another blurred image that gradually became clearer before her eyes: the first thing she could make out was that snow-white hair she so often tangled between her fingers, then those curved horns she loved to rub both to calm him and just for the simple pleasure of feeling them, all converged in a slender, shrunken body she had so joyfully embraced, curled up next to him and with which she had melted into a single being thousands of times during countless nights... And his face... His sweet freckled face that she so loved to kiss and caress in every corner and at every moment... This time there was no bulletproof mask that could have stopped it, now his face was completely destroyed by a shotgun bullet, disfiguring him to a grotesque and indescribable level...
This time she was able to run, feeling her heart and lungs burst into pieces, screams tearing at her throat, seeing that there were no hellhounds, but shadows swirling beside them, cackling with laughter at this sad and pathetic final act.
"Moxxie..."
Her voice came out in a broken whisper, clutching the limp hand of the only imp in all the Nine Circles she had loved and could ever love... He didn't answer. The shadows laughed louder.
"Moxxie...! Moxxie!"
Tears mingled with the water from the cold drizzle falling on their heads; Leaning over his shattered features, she brushed her lips against his bloodied mouth in a vain attempt to bring him back to her. The shadows howled with laughter and pointed at them, drilling their ears.
"MOXXIE! MOXXIE!"
"MILLIE!"
A splash of water made her open her eyes in a room dimly lit by a lamp on the bedside table. She could hear the everyday noises of cars on the street, the gunshots of street gangs or the neighbors' fights... Not the screams of Loona, nor of the countless damned souls... Or her own screams. She felt her nightgown cling to her body with an unpleasant cold sweat. She held her hand to her chest as she tried to breathe between heavy gasps, still feeling her heart like a poor little bird caught in her ribs. A larger, warmer claw squeezed hers, while the other held her back, helping her to sit up from the pillow.
...When she focused her vision better, Millie could see those bright yellow eyes she loved so much, alive, full of love and concern for her. She wanted to say something, but only a strangled cry came from her throat, suddenly blurring her eyes; Her body reacted on its own by throwing herself into his arms, clenching her fists in his blue striped pajama shirt, crying and shaking uncontrollably as if she was a frightened little girl, repeating his name between sobs, as if she wanted to make sure it was real... This scene had already been repeated several times.
It was a very discordant image of Millie´s old self, always sadistic and uninhibitedly happy, always optimistic in spite of everything they might face... All of that had been replaced by the fear and uncertainty of an uncertain future where no one was safe and no one knew what to do.
"Shhhh... Millie, my love, it's okay... I'm here... It's all okay..." Moxxie cooed to her in whispers, cradling her head against his chest and rocking her gently, humming his serenade in hopes of calming her; Millie's crying faded as the melody reached her ears, until only sobbing and hiccuping slightly after several minutes had passed. The snowy-haired imp leaned back a bit, cupping his wife's blotchy cheeks between his claws and lifting her head slightly, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "I'm sorry, I had no choice but to pour water on you, you kept screaming and wouldn't wake up, no matter how much I called you or moved you... Was that nightmare again?"
"...Yes." Millie managed to articulate, resting her head on his chest again and listening to the comforting sound of his heartbeat. Moxxie wrapped his arms gently around her again, rubbing her back and making soft purring sounds.
Whenever she woke up on her own or he had to take her out of them, Moxxie with infinite patience and love comforted her after those terrible moments, repeating to her that it was all over, that Blitzø was safe, that Stolas' grimoire was with them and above all that he would never leave her side without a fight; He would stroke her hair, rocking and lulling her to her favorite songs composed by him or he would bring his guitar to lull her to sleep with some lullaby. Millie remembered when she and her siblings would have nightmares, the other children in the shared room laughing and complaining about not being allowed to sleep until Mama Lin or Papa Joe would come in and quiet them down, sit with them and tell them a story or sing to make them forget the bad time.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm sorry..."
"No Millie, don't apologize. It's okay, I'm here to help you feel better. You always do that when I have nightmares myself, remember?" Moxxie said warmly, making him look at her. "Do you want to tell me?"
Millie swallowed. "I saw it again, Mox. When Loona and I found Blitz, all in pieces, I saw how they tortured him, what Stella told us... I saw how that fucking hellhound shot you, you didn't have your mask on, you didn't answer me... A-also what would happen if they had gotten the grimoire, a-all those people dying, us too... Moxxie, it all seemed so real..." Her voice broke, feeling new tears searing her eyes. Moxxie's grip on her tightened.
"I know, Millie. I dream about it too... But it's not going to happen, okay? Blitz is with us and we're all going to help him, we're going to fight to keep that future that hooded bastard, whoever the fuck he is, wants from happening," Moxxie said firmly. Millie nodded, giving a small smile and raising her head to look at him, leaning her forehead against her husband's. They didn't say anything else, they didn't need to, just concentrated on each other's breath, on each other's warmth.
Even with the fear of those nightmares and the uncertainty swarming in her heart like poison, Millie would continue to believe in the words of her beloved husband. So far he had not failed her and she would always count on him, for this long and thorny road of healing, not only for Blitzø, but for everyone.