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being time itself, there’s little that binds barbatos to the mortal realm. there's simply no need to - being able to hop between timelines and worlds as it pleases rids the ability to keep connections, and barbatos is okay with this. it's just how he's lived for his entire existence, from before life and for long after, before and after the cosmos fade into oblivion, for as long as time will pass.
and yet.
and yet here he stands. phantom shackles dig into his wrists, feet bolted to place until his blood runs slower from disuse and his limbs freeze, numb, standing behind the man that did this to him. he feels bare, vulnerable without the security of his powers, without himself. without time, barbatos is nothing, as barbatos is time and time is barbatos.
now he's worth no more than the average demon, only allowed to feel real at the sparse moments the prince allows it for his own benefit.
and barbatos hates it.
it hates nothing more than having to stand behind the prince, unseen and unheard and unmoving. it hates taking care of him, the manipulative child he is, and it hates being trapped inside the castle that feels more like a prison cell. and perhaps this is barbatos' own fault, for slipping up so badly that he's managed to get caught in this to begin with. perhaps he should have been more wary at the offer of the tea leaves he's sought out for so long. perhaps he should have known better than to trust the demon prince, one of the last true demons in existence.
but there isn’t anything he can do now. despite being stronger, barbatos can’t access his powers to stop this, as they’ve been locked in a proverbial cage with the key dangling just out of his reach. the prince was smart - nullifying its magic the moment it stepped into the castle, locking the doors and windows - and barbatos never stood a chance. he's always been distrustful toward diavolo, unfooled by his gentle and kind exterior; a demon is a demon, especially one that isn’t tainted with angel or human blood, and he knows this well. for it to have been trapped so easily is its biggest regret, the decision playing in its mind night after night until it feels nothing but contempt toward itself for being so stupid.
the only solace is the knowledge that it was right all along. he’s seen more than he ever wanted to, heard more, done worse than he’s ever had before. the prince is nothing but a liar, and will do anything to keep it from showing to the public, and so barbatos can’t say anything. it can’t die, no; killing time would destroy reality, and both know this - but sometimes the alternative is even worse. sometimes it wishes the prince would just kill it instead of yanking it by the hair, forcing it to stare at the slashes and bruises all over its body through the mirror, head hovering over its shoulder while he laughs and laughs.
sometimes it wishes he would just kill it instead of making it rot away. instead of taking away its entire identity until it’s reduced to nothing more than a servant (his servant. an object).
but diavolo does not incentivize things that don’t help him, and so barbatos learns to pretend. he’s a rather good liar as well - the public image remains unbroken, several demons having the gall to even say barbatos is lucky to be working alongside the prince. that it’s the greatest honor a demon could ever have. and he can do nothing but smile tersely and nod, acting like he hasn’t thought about desecrating the prince hundreds of times over and over, intrusive thoughts giving way to zoned-out daydreams of yelling and murder.
he isn’t sure how long this lasts. time means nothing when time has no grip on himself, turning seconds into centuries until he swears he blinks and suddenly there’s a charred mass on the ground in front of him, fire falling from the sky.
this is new. this is different. and it scares him, because he knows this is one of the strongest angels, and diavolo would do anything to keep him under his reign.
barbatos wants to do something, anything. to stare unblinkingly, to make gestures so small it can only hope the message gets across - anything to keep this from happening. but the angel never looks its way, and it curses its forced silence once again. it can do nothing while the phantom chains wind their way around lucifer’s wrists, taking advantage of yet another person in their moment of weakness.
it also knows diavolo will never hold up his end of the deal. barbatos doesn’t have the heart to tell lucifer so.
it’s after this when the prince tells barbatos to look into the future to gauge how useful lucifer can and will be. and barbatos can’t lie and say he particularly cared about the fate of mortals or the three realms before, as it would’ve happened naturally and in a way where he could think there was nothing he could do. but now it’s directly his problem: he’s the one being forced to help diavolo, he’s the one that’s aiding to take over all the realms when he never wanted to in the first place, and now innocent people are at risk because he was stupid.
but there’s another timeline he glimpses at. one where diavolo is gone, where the chains he carries are finally broken. with lucifer’s arrival opens the possibility of change - a way out of here. while there’s no way of making sure it works, it’s the only chance barbatos has, even if he has to do it without the help of his magic. even if it fails and both end up worse than if they just stayed subservient to begin with.
he knows lucifer won’t initiate it himself. barbatos is the only person able to carry this out, as he’s the only person who knows the extent of diavolo’s will, and as much as he doesn’t want to see somebody else subjected to it, he knows everyone bound to the prince is doomed from the start. the best it can do is warn him and hope it’s believed.
so, a week after lucifer and his siblings settle into the castle diavolo so generously offered to them, barbatos wakes up earlier than usual to grab his d.d.d. and take a shot in the dark:
Barbatos: I’m afraid there’s something we must talk about.
Barbatos: It’s of most importance that we hurry. May I come over?