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"Lucifer! Hello? Open the door! ...Please?"
This volume was certainly higher than normal for the usually soft-spoken Demon Prince, Diavolo. He himself did not like raising his voice, but in this particular moment, he had no other choice. In order to find its way to the aforementioned Lucifer, Diavolo's voice needed to be stronger. The eldest of the demon brothers was slumped over his office desk, so dumbfounded by the abnormally high mountains of paperwork in front of him that he was caught in a sort of trance. Lucky for Diavolo, his new attempt at getting his attention worked. Lucifer clumsily stumbled out of his chair to open the door for his unannounced guest.
"Diavolo! So sorry to keep you waiting!"
Lucifer's face was flushed with embarrassment. Everyone in the Devildom knew how loyal he was to Diavolo, and how he would never do anything to upset him, even in the slightest.
"Ah, don't worry about it! I'll pretend I wasn't waiting outside your door for ten minutes straight!"
After declaring this in the most passive-aggressive tone he could muster, he allowed himself to sit down in the chair opposite Lucifer's.
"Oh my, that's rather a lot of paperwork you have there, isn't it?"
The Demon Prince facepalmed internally. He would always tell himself that he'll get straight to the point, but exchanging pleasantries and making small talk were engraved deep into his nature.
Still, Lucifer appreciated the fact that someone bothered to notice the predicament he was in. His face fell to his palms, both of them massaging his temple as he tried to process the sheer amount of frustration and burnout he was experiencing.
"Yes, that's right... I have no idea where all this is coming from... Oh well, sometimes things like this just happen. Besides, this isn't even close to the amount of paperwork you have to deal with every day, Diavolo."
"I guess you could say I'm an expert in paperwork! Do you think maybe I could help you?"
"Th-There's no need for that! You're my superior, you shouldn't be the one helping me!"
"Nonsense! Let's start with this letter at the top..."
Diavolo reached up and grabbed the letter at the peak of Lucifer's paperwork mountain. He stopped to meet Lucifer's eyes briefly and proceeded with opening the letter after Lucifer gave him the 'go ahead' gesture.
"Hmm... According to the envelope, this is from one of the teachers at RAD... I don't see what business he would have with you though. You're always top of the class!"
Ignoring Lucifer's shocked expression at this unexpected compliment, he tore the envelope open and pulled out the letter inside.
Subject: MC's Drop in Academic Performance
The word "MC" itself made a flood of realization wash over him. It made him remember why he had come to Lucifer's office in the first place. His mind facepalmed a second time, knowing just how far off-topic he had gotten.
"You know, Lucifer, this actually reminded me of something. There's an urgent matter I have to discuss with you, and you need to make sure to address it as soon as possible."
"Of course, I'll see to whatever it is you need me to, but what does the letter have to do with it...?"
As he bent around the paperwork to take the letter from Diavolo, their eyes met again. Even though this eye contact lasted for only a brief second, sparks of understanding flew between them. Their dynamic might be complex and hard for others to understand, but when it worked, it worked.
"It's about MC, isn't it?" Lucifer didn't even have to look at the letter.
Diavolo nodded in the affirmative.
"Indeed, it is. This letter isn't even the only thing that makes me concerned about whether MC is actually fulfilling their intended tasks in the Devildom. MC normally has a lingering presence around RAD, but recently most demons report just not feeling that anymore. To put it simply, they haven't attended any classes for quite a while now. And now this... Don't get me wrong, I like MC just as much as anyone else here, but attention to one's duty is important, you know? I was wondering.... Have you or any of your brothers noticed anything strange about MC? Any behavior changes, out-of-the-ordinary actions, anything of that sort?"
Lucifer set the letter down on his desk and started scratching his chin, searching for the kind of answer Diavolo would be looking for. Come to think of it, he had a few suspicions here and there, but he had never given them much thought.
"You are right about having a feeling of MC's absence... To be honest, I've felt that too. However, since I've been swamped in paperwork for quite a while now, it always remained as just a background thought. My guess was always that they were busy getting into their usual shenanigans with my brothers. They do spend an awful lot of time with them."
"Yes, that is a well-known fact, but I think you should consider bringing the matter up directly with your brothers. Perhaps they know something that we don't."
The eldest demon brother again thought deeply. He wasn't always the best at starting conversations with his brothers. MC would always be the conversation-starter, the mediator, making sure everything was going smoothly. Most importantly, if any of the brother's words tried to propagate conflict without said brother being aware of it (especially Lucifer), they would catch on and suppress it before it could take root.
Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Lucifer was dependent on MC in his relations with his brothers. Now, this was not an option. He had to figure out another way, and all crossroads led back to this way being him doing it himself.
This didn't bother him as much as he expected. It was what Diavolo wanted him to do, and he would rather die than let Diavolo down, due to their promise when he had helped the then newly fallen angel all those eons ago.
"Of course. I will speak with them the first opportunity I get. Rest assured, this issue with MC will be resolved very soon."
***
Lucifer sluggishly dragged himself down the stairs of the House of Lamentation to join his brothers at dinner, having resolved to ask them about MC then. Somehow, that brought back memories he'd rather forget.
Before MC's arrival in the Devildom, family meals with the demon brothers had never been pretty affairs. There was always tension and uncertainty between the seven of them as they unenthusiastically picked at their food. Added to that were the fights, an uncountable amount of them. Mostly they were unspoken and fought with glances and glares, but on occasion bloody chaos would erupt. It got to the point where Lucifer had to put a stop to it by disbanding family meals altogether. Ironic, since eating together as a family is said to make family bonds stronger. The solution worked only somewhat until Diavolo caught wind of it and ordered them back to the dining table for the uncomfortable three-a-day.
Just when the brothers were beginning to think they would never so much as think of each other as family again, MC came into their lives. Within the span of a week or two, they reduced Lucifer's resentment towards everything and everyone, made sacred pacts with several of the brothers, and resolved the complicated conflict with Lucifer and Belphegor (freeing the latter from the attic). Thanks to MC, they started actually sharing brotherly affection like they had in the Celestial Realm: studying together, playing together, and of course eating together. The miniature wars had reduced to friendly and benign teasing. Of course, some part of the problem was still within all of them, but they nonetheless could unanimously agree that MC was their miracle worker.
Reflecting on all this, Lucifer couldn't help but think,
"We had finally become a family. So why now? Why have things changed? Why would MC desert us, when they have been of so much service?"
By now, MC's almost complete disappearance from their lives had been an issue for quite some time. Lucifer mostly blamed himself for not realizing the severeness of the problem, but also recognized that his brothers could have done something about it yet chose not to. He had Solomon set up a magical security system around the House of Lamentation a while ago (mainly because of being fed up with his brother Mammon sneaking out), which sent alerts to his D.D.D. whenever someone entered or exited the house. Nothing had come up about MC, so it wasn't like they were missing or kidnapped. He assumed that his brothers thought MC was busy doing homework or some other studies in their room.
As Lucifer finally arrived in front of the dining table, though, he decided the act was up. This was too far gone for anyone to chalk it up to an excess of homework. He silently swore that he would get to the bottom of all this. He would find out what exactly was going on with MC, and why his brothers were paying no mind to it.
He observed the scene at the table. Everyone was already well into their meals; Beelzebub was on his fifth plate. No one seemed to be talking, except to ask someone to pass something from the other end of the table. There wasn't any air of dread, but it still bothered Lucifer.
As his eyes scanned together, he noticed one chair was empty. Asmodeus, who would normally be ranting about his latest fashion mishap, was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Asmodeus?" Lucifer inquired firmly, in his signature deep tone of voice.
Mammon opened his mouth as if about to respond, but before he could, the front door burst open. In came Asmodeus, with several shopping bags anywhere on his body he could hang them. Dropping them before slumping down in his chair, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
"Ugh, you guys should've SEEN what happened at Majolish today! The store was so crowded for the new beauty product launch, I thought I was going to die! What's more, they also-"
He stopped his story midsentence when he opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of Lucifer. He looked even more dead-serious than usual, still standing with his hands an arm's length apart on the table, eyes noting each and every move of all of them.
"Jeez, what's with you today, Lucifer? You really need to loosen up. This much seriousness is NOT good for your skin!"
Lucifer did not sit down or move an inch, ignoring Asmodeus's comment.
"Now that everyone's here, there's something of the utmost importance I have to discuss with you all."
The brothers knew what would happen if they didn't listen to Lucifer, so they shifted their gaze from their plates to his face. Mammon, though, looked panicked instead of neutral like the others.
"Shit, did you finally notice that I stole your credit card? It's about that, right? I swear I didn't mean to!"
Lucifer did not expect this confession despite Mammon's nature of greed, and tried to conceal his rage as he lifted an eyebrow.
"YOU WHAT-" Remembering the actual purpose of this conversation, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
"That can be dealt with later. What I really wanted to talk about today is... MC."
The second he uttered 'MC', the six younger demons dropped their utensils and whatever else they were holding, and all stared at him with a look of shock.
A small smirk creeped up to Lucifer's face. His brothers weren't completely clueless after all. Maybe he would solve this mystery sooner than he thought.
"That answers the question I had in mind. Just from the looks on your faces, I can tell that you know something about the... ongoing situation about them. Whatever knowledge you have in this regard, spill it out right now!"
Asmodeus's stare at Lucifer suddenly faltered, and he turned his face as far away as he could from him.
This aroused suspicion in Lucifer, who lifted a hand to point towards him.
"You, Asmodeus. There's something you're hiding from me, isn't it?"
"And why should I tell you...?" His peppy and cheerful voice was now a grave mumble.
"As the eldest demon brother and Diavolo's loyal servant, I deserve to know what is happening to MC. Meanwhile, you are my younger brother, and you really should listen to me more."
His apparent businessman-like apathy towards the situation provoked Mammon into action, who abruptly stood up and gave a death stare to Lucifer.
"See, this is the problem with you! With you it's always me, me, me; Diavolo, Diavolo, Diavolo! How about ya get off your high horse for once and think about how OTHERS feel? Jeez!"
The second-born was usually the scapegoat for Lucifer's bitterness, so him genuinely trying to stand up to Lucifer was unexpected, to say the least. The rest of his brothers who never really thought much of him became fixated on the exchange between the two of them.
Asmodeus, although he never really took Mammon's side in scuffles like these, didn't think it would be worth it if he got hurt just because of his reluctance to speak. He stood and raised both his arms as if Lucifer and Mammon were physically fighting and he was trying to separate them.
"Okay, okay, that's more than enough from you two! If you really must know, there might be something I can tell you about MC..."
As soon as he finished this statement, a commotion arose among the demon brothers at the table. The only exception to this was the youngest brother, Belphegor, collapsed on the table in a deep food coma next to his older twin.
Meanwhile, the rest of them were pushing Asmodeus to speak with an increased sense of urgency, trying to force words out of him that he hadn't even gotten the chance to utter yet. Much to the fifth-born's relief, Lucifer shushed them with his classic authoritarian look.
Being the embodiment of lust, Asmodeus normally would have loved a chance to put himself in the spotlight like this. This time, though, he hunched himself up in his chair and tried to appear as small as he could. He didn't expect to have to tell this secret, which was among the deepest ones in his heart, especially in front of everyone in a context like this.
"It started maybe one or two days after MC stopped talking to us... I was walking by their bedroom door at night when everyone else was asleep, when I noticed a slip of paper on the ground in front of it. Thinking it was a note someone else had dropped, I picked it up, only to realize it was MC's... and it was addressed to me. In the note, they told me to send me a slip of paper under their door, because they wanted to talk to me. I was ecstatic to hear from them, so I grabbed the nearest paper and pencil I could find, and we started exchanging notes from under that door. Don't think me dumb, I obviously did try to convince them to come out of their room and talk to me face to face! I tried, but... their door is always locked, and they always insisted that this was the best for them. It wasn't my place to question that or to push them to tell me the real reason if they weren't ready to! I played along... We exchanged countless notes back-and-forth every night after that-"
"So that's where all my notebooks went...", the fourth-born Satan mumbled under his breath.
Even though it was brief, it was a sufficient retelling of what happened. Asmodeus silently considered this a stroke of luck, because his voice had become more and more shaky throughout. He became so quiet towards the end that Beelzebub, the sixth-born sitting next to him, had to repeat what he said so that everyone else could understand. He felt that, if he tried to speak any more, he would break down into tears in front of them.
Beelzebub had found it difficult to repeat what Asmodeus said as well, and it was for a similar reason for both of them. The fifth-born's heart and mind were racing as time around him seemed to slow, as he braced for the reaction of his brothers which already started to become evident in Beelzebub's face expression. Asmodeus knew better than anyone that this was by no means a casual confession that could or would be taken lightly.
"Are they going to get angry at me for not telling me earlier? Or will it be that they didn't get any notes from MC? Will they even believe me? I wouldn't blame them if they thought I was just trying to make myself look special..."
Mainly, he was concerned about the one detail he had conveniently left out.
"They told me to keep it a secret... And here I am just blurting it out to everyone..."
A silence that was deathly tense hung over them, filled with glares and silent murmurs. Mammon was the first to break this. As they all expected, he was the most enraged, since he had always prided himself in being 'MC's first'.
"Are ya shitting me? Out of everyone they could have chosen to confide in, they chose YOU!? Did they forget that I was their first? I'm THE Great Mammon, I should've been MC's first choice!"
Mammon's stubbornness awoke the fury inside the brother next in line to him, Leviathan.
"For Pete's sakes... Can you just STOP IT with your 'I'm The Great Mammon!' bullshit for ONCE!? And you were telling Lucifer to think of others' feelings? I bet your selfish ass doesn't actually care about MC, you just care about the fact that they didn't choose YOU for their notes thing! You're just as prideful and self-centered as Lucifer himself!"
Beelzebub, too surprised by their yelling to properly speak up for himself, uttered "Levi isn't talking in text abbreviations, this isn't looking good..." breathlessly.
Satan, who was originally going to direct his verbal wrath towards Asmodeus for butchering his notebooks, became distracted by Leviathan's accusations of selfishness. In his opinion, he was being hypocritical.
"Before you try to call someone else selfish, how about you take a look at your own self? If I recall correctly, the only times you ever bothered to talk to MC were when you needed a test player for a new game, or to rant about your pointless weeb shit... Such a fucking shithead..."
Even when trying to insult someone, Satan's eloquent personality always stopped him from swearing. Him letting himself go subconsciously multiplied the tensions inside the others, and they slowly began to let themselves go too.
The highlight of this was Lucifer. He liked to think of himself as a mild-tempered person. However, seeing any of his brothers misbehave would create an unexplainable massive 'itch' sensation in his mind that could only be satisfied by harsh words and even harsher punishment. As if that wasn't severe enough, it was him in particular who noticed that Satan, his 'archnemesis' of sorts, was acting up more than usual.
He had been pushed across the line. No matter which universe this happened in, he would have still been pushed across the line.
"...Will you all just fucking LISTEN!?"
As he screamed out this last word, he grabbed the glass nearest to him and threw it as hard as he could towards the table. It was expensive and fragile, splitting apart within milliseconds of impact upon landing at the center. Its fragments were small and sharp, scattering themselves throughout all the corners of the table, and in front of every chair. Given the fragility and quickness of it all, the sound produced by its breaking should have been brief. It actually was this way, in reality. Although, to the brothers standing around the table, the high-pitched noise appeared to ring out across the dining room for at least several minutes.
The sound was their battle cry; the die had been cast. There was no going back to the relative peace of just a few minutes ago.
As his brothers started to throw punches and tableware at each other along with the insults and cuss words, Asmodeus stood before it all. He watched as they turned into people he didn't recognize. He watched as their violence grew; Lucifer and Satan had even transformed into their full demon forms. Within seconds, their faces became a mess of blood and tears. To some stranger from outside, these would undoubtedly be tears of pure rage, but Asmodeus's heart told him that sadness and guilt were the true emotions laced inside them. This was especially true for the youngest twins Beelzebub and Belphegor; the former was fighting desperately against the streams of hot tears running down his face as he tried to shield the latter, who had been partially awoken by the fighting but still too groggy to comprehend what was going on, from the debris the others were throwing around.
The unfolding scene alone would have been enough to disturb Asmodeus, but the observations themselves didn't matter as much to him as the self-perceived reason for them.
In Asmodeus's mind, he should be the one to take the blame.
"It's all my fault. If only I had done something different, been a better friend or even something more to MC, this wouldn't have happened. My brothers wouldn't be hurting each other in front of my own eyes... To them, though, this isn't even about MC anymore, is it? They're more caught up in their own insecurities and conflicts. I really should snap some sense into them, point out their absurdity and how off track they've gotten, but I'm too much of a coward even for that."
This same thought repeated word-for-word, until the mention of MC in it finally snapped him out of it.
"Shit, what am I doing just standing here in this dumb pity party for myself? I'm being just as absurd as they are right now..."
He also remembered another vital detail about his daily exchanges with MC that he intended to bring up but could not, as the 'conversation' had already become too tense by then.
"MC didn't send me any note last night... Their room was also oddly quiet when I passed by today... Should I go check on them, or try to calm down my brothers first?"
From this thought, another thought came, except instead from his head it seemed to come from his gut. Moreover, it felt more like a command or conviction rather than a normal thought.
If it were to be put in words, this gut feeling told him,
"Leave them. Just leave them, for now. MC needs you right now. They NEED you."
Asmodeus wasn't sure where this 'need' would come from and thought it was rather extreme to describe it like that, but the gut feeling was so compelling to the extreme that Asmodeus had no choice but to listen.
He bolted up the staircase that led to MC's room, taking the stairs three at a time. The second he reached MC's bedroom door, his closed eyes went straight down towards the slit under it.
As he slowly and gradually opened his eyes, his heart prayed that he would see a note, or really any sign that MC was okay.
There wasn't. Absolutely nothing lay in front of the door.
Although common sense would tell someone that trying to listen in on someone through a locked door is snooping and an invasion of privacy, the fifth-born's sense of urgency got the better of him.
As he pressed his ear against MC's door, he didn't expect to hear anything. After all, he wasn't some hero from an action movie, so it's not like he had supersonic hearing.
To his surprise, after a few seconds, he heard an unfamiliar noise emanating from inside their room. It wasn't MC's voice, that was certain. It also wasn't loud or quiet. It was just... there.
It sounded more like... a dull thud. More specifically, the thud made when a piece of furniture falls down, for example a chair.
As anyone would, Asmodeus thought it was unusual for a specific piece of furniture to randomly fall over in someone's room like that.
"Maybe they fell over...?"
He quickly dismissed this guess when there was no exclamation of pain, which would have been inevitable if MC had simply fallen from the chair.
He kept listening, but no matter how hard he tried, all he could 'hear' was the sheer silence. If it wasn't for the sounds coming from the fight still raging on as violently as ever, his ears might have even started ringing.
The silence of MC's room had Asmodeus's full attention, so much so that he nearly fell backwards when a new noise finally reached his ear that was attached to the door.
This time, it was distinctly human. It was the sound of... coughing? He second guessed himself, considering the possibility that maybe it was coming from the war taking place right beneath him, and listened closer.
Nope, it was definitely coming from inside MC's room. The coughing was getting louder as well. Coughing turned into hacking, and hacking into full blown choking.
Before his rationale could tell him that MC was probably just sick and the coughing was nothing to worry about, his instincts took over. That said, he was still able to remember that MC's door would almost certainly be locked as it always was, and he wasn't particularly strong amongst his brothers and wouldn't be able to bust the door down like Beelzebub or Lucifer could, so he grabbed one of several bobby pins in his hair. The next thing he knew, he was frantically picking at the lock, hyperventilating and panicked. The nervous sweat from his hands greased the doorknob so much that he almost lost his grip.
"Please open! Please open... For God's sake, please open..."
Just as his patience and courage was about to wane completely, the lock clicked, and the door flew open.
The fifth-born was so relieved, he started thinking aloud.
"Yay, thank goodness! MC, are you-"
His relief was snapped away immediately as he saw MC. They were barely even coughing or choking anymore. Their room was nearly pitch black; clearly there hadn't been any proper lights on in that room for a long, long time. The draping curtains of a big wall-length window were pushed to the sides, so his being able to see largely came from the dim moonlight shining cruelly upon the horrendous sight before him.
No. What Asmodeus saw in that moment is one of very few things that truly can never be described with words, a saying that has become so watered down over time that he never knew its true meaning until now. Blood rushed to his head like never before. He just barely managed to keep from fainting of shock when his knees went weak and he fell to their level.
The fallen chair was next to MC, and the ceiling creaked ominously as a rope swung back and forth, with them in it.
MC had hung themself.
As much as he wanted to cry, scream, throw up, or curse himself to the pits for ignoring the glaring red flag of MC's sudden quietness that tried to warn him of this... Asmodeus could not. His own emotions and everything he was going through would have to be put aside for the moment. MC was hanging in a noose, their limbs spasming as their body was in full-on panic mode.
After barely getting over the initial shock, his thoughts were cleared just enough for him to remember basic and common sense first aid.
"Something to cut them down. Something to break the noose's grip. Now."
Even though it was just a minute or two ago that MC kicked the chair down, it became clear as day that time was ticking. Fast. The regular thumping of Asmodeus's heart served as the hands to this clock, as he tried not to look at MC's eyes that were flickering closed and the pale blue tinge to their skin progressively intensifying.
He couldn't bring himself to get up to fumble around for a light switch. His knees were still jelly, and fumbling would have taken more sand away from the hourglass anyway. As a result, he resorted to squinting his eyes to try to take full advantage of the insipid moonlight.
In his peripheral vision, he could make out the glint of a blade. Calling it a pinprick would even be a stretch, and for all he knew, it could be a hallucination.
"I don't care if it's really a blade or not. It's their last hope, my last hope. I need to save them... I just need to save them... I..."
The muddled mess of his thoughts was cut in on by his knees almost involuntarily bringing him up to stand. Without thinking, he rushed towards the glint, leaving behind him a trail of tears that sunk into the floor around him.
Putting his hand on where he thought he saw it coming from, he indeed felt the cold touch of a knife. Without stopping to ponder on why there was a knife in their room in the first place, he brought it towards the noose and thrusted it through the rope as hard as he could.
Sure enough, the loop that held MC's neck in a deathly grip broke away from the rest of the rope. MC's shocked and limp body fell like a sack of potatoes into Asmodeus's arms.
It was cheesy and to some extent unreasonable given the context, but Asmodeus hoped that holding them in his arms would result in a scene akin to that from one of those dramas, in which the protagonist's crush is revived just from the power of their love. He fell to his knees again and held them close to his tear-stained cheeks, as if the physical contact would cure them and bring them back to consciousness.
The fifth-born started to lose his sense of time. The concepts of seconds, minutes, and hours merged into an incomprehensible mess. In its place was MC. All Asmodeus could think about was his desperately looking into MC's eyes, searching for any little hint or hope that they would open. Even the sounds of his family fighting dissipated from his hearing.
All he wanted was for MC to be okay. However, just saying 'want' and 'hope' would be severely understating it.
"Please, MC... Please, please... I'm so sorry; so, so sorry... I should've reminded you every day how much you mean to me, instead of being so selfish. Because you really are my everything; I don't know if I'd be able to live without you, and that isn't bluffing in the slightest. And I'm also sorry for hiding my feelings until it got to this point... I wish you could know how much I love you, and that I'd do anything for you..."
His voice became as strangled as MC's neck must have been.
"...even if 'anything' means dying for you."
Asmodeus had gained enough sanity back at this point that he knew pouring out his true feelings like this would not, in itself, be able to wake up MC. That said, if MC had even the tiniest bit of life left in them, this would hopefully make them regain their will to fight against death itself.
His hands wandered to their bony wrists. They were rough like scabs and wet like blood in many places, and he squeezed them as he tried not to let himself go and ugly cry right then and there.
Thump.
Asmodeus's eyes shot wide as he felt this faint beating of a pulse. He felt around one wrist more, trying to get a better idea of its strength. Instead of getting weaker and weaker like with the pulse of a dying person, theirs was increasing in intensity.
Life had not given up on them just yet. Or, more accurately, they were not giving up on life.
Not long after, he felt one of their hands try to grasp against his. It was a very fragile grip, but it was without a doubt real.
Asmodeus's gaze went back to their face, and he saw their eyelids slightly separate from each other, as if they had been stuck together with superglue.
He nearly passed out from the sheer relief as he hugged them as tightly as he could, while still making sure not to harm their frail body still in critical condition.
A wavering whisper broke the dense air of silence around them.
"Wh... Wha... I..."
Not wanting them to waste any energy, he gingerly placed his finger on their lips to quiet them.
Still bottling up the emotions that kept piling and piling on top of each other, all he could manage were whispers as quiet as MC's. Hence, he pulled them closer to whisper in his ear.
"I'm so glad you're awake... I-I don't know what'd happen or what I'd do if I hadn't made it in ti-"
Their little bubble of relative silence, which was comforting to the both of them in a strangely disturbing and eerie way, was interrupted by an ear-piercing screech of agony so loud the distance could hardly muffle it. It was coming from downstairs.
"That's right... They still haven't stopped fighting..."
After that, he could hear sounds of clamoring and distress even more harsh than before. Neither of them could pinpoint exactly which brother the screech came from, but it was still clear that whatever happened was the opposite of good. Guilt pierced Asmodeus's heart, making him feel like a helpless child. Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes, threatening to spill out. He had lost count of how many times this had happened to him tonight long ago.
A sudden tug at his sleeve by MC prompted him to look back at them. When he did so, he saw that their face was just as riddled with worry as his was, in spite of the fact that they had just
regained consciousness and was still out of it.
"Asmo, what's happening? I'm scared..."
This did not come out as a fluent, well-formed sentence. Instead, it was a series of broken, breathless mumbles that Asmodeus could hardly string together.
In response, he covered their ears. He knew he would have to tell them eventually, he knew he would have to question them on why they tried to take their life, and he knew how close he was to breaking down from the pressure himself.
His love for MC overtook this, though. Ironic, since his nickname was 'Narcissistic Fifth-Born'. It confused him just as much as it would confuse anyone else, and he often struggled with properly making sense of his feelings. What he was absolutely sure of, though, was MC would always be the most perfect person to him, despite the jokes he would make around his family saying otherwise. His always had the conviction that he had to put MC's feelings far before his own, even if it meant betraying the nature of the very sin from which he was created.
All that mattered to him in this moment was caring for MC like he never had before, especially since they still needed medical attention.
Therefore, as he cradled MC and hummed softly in their ear in an impromptu attempt to soothe them, he simultaneously started to make plans on how to escape the House of Lamentation undetected
to get MC to a hospital without interruption.
His feelings of helplessness increased realizing what was at stake, but just then, he felt MC throw their arms around him. They began to cuddle him back, snuggling comfortably into the warmth of his body.
Asmodeus's face softened, releasing some of his tension.
"At least I could help them, even if just a little bit..."
As another piece of furniture clattered downstairs, he covered MC's ears more tightly. When he felt it was okay enough to remove them, he again leaned down to whisper in their ear.
"I love you, and I'm sorry..."
MC seemed to be getting weaker again; it was uncertain whether this was because of the stress or the effects of their hanging. All they could do was nod in acknowledgment.
"I know things are shit right now, and they haven't turned out the way either of us would have expected, but..."
The barrier that had been fighting against his emotions started to crack, as noiseless tears streamed down steadily onto MC.
"...maybe one day, we will be safe and happy again."
And as the chaos of the night carried on and they still remained cuddled up against each other against the moonlit wall of MC's room, they started to feel a tiny, tiny bit of that safety already.