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"You're blind, Lucifer."
When Lucifer steps into the attic with a meal, this is what he is greeted with.
"And you have a loose tongue." The demon says, setting it down on a nearby table. His eyes fall on the water jug, half-empty since the last time he had refilled it. Good. "Eat your food before it gets cold."
He swallows down the uneasiness in his gut and looks up. His brother hasn't bothered coming out of the blankets—not wanting to even spare a glance at him—rightfully so.
There is no reply from Belpheghor.
Not wanting to depart immediately, he sits down at the edge of the bed, places a cushion on his lap. Its purple and pink.
His tongue feels heavy. The carpet is crumpled at the corners, and he wonders if it can be fixed. The weaponry is littered with cobwebs, rust accumulating from disuse. Uneasy peace.
"You're really doing that?"
He feels guilt stab his heart when his brother stares at him from the blankets. There is disbelief in his words, and Lucifer hopes it is because he still has faith in him. The eldest feels his heart thump against his ribcage and swallows.
"Lord Diavolo desires that a human exchange programme—"
"There you fucking go again."
Lucifer hisses. "Stop it, Belphegor." The latter gapes in defiance. "The programme will be conducted and he and I will be overseeing it. Your disapproval will have consequences."
Foolish, foolish demon. Does he not realise the outcomes of his contumacy?
".....Never thought that you would be the one to follow rules or authority," Belpheghor mutters under his breath, but loud enough for his brother to hear. Lucifer inhales sharply. "Nor house humans."
He speaks the gospel truth, and Lucifer might have curled in shame, but humiliation is a necessary evil. It keeps them safe. Maybe the youngest was the only one brave enough to speak it out loud—another sore reminder of the fact that they had fallen with him from grace, and that regret now seeps into their bones. The morningstar was an apt leader, was he not?
They looked up to him, eons ago. Bathed in holy light with uttermost reverence for him.
And now they had no choice but to follow him to this realm.
"Your resentment will only lead to harm," Lucifer speaks, voice steady. "Shall you attempt to wipe out the human race or harm the human exchange student that shall come here, the Prince will deliver judgement before I even get to soften the blow."
"Then are we just going to pretend as if nothing ever happened? Is that what we have been reduced to?" Belphegor's voice is a seethed growl, and his brother finds it hard to compose himself.
".....What else is there to do?" The oldest is defeated, shoulders slumping forward unlike the prideful rigidity his posture usually is. "Wage a war against? One more? Two more? And against whom for how long?"
Belphegor takes the plate, and with disinterest pops a sauteed mushroom into his mouth.
Brain fever birds cry outside, and its a stark contrast to the white doves seen in the Celestial Realm.
Lucifer looks up at his brother, jaw tense.
"You locked me up, is that a solution?"
"If I let you free, let you express and carry out your plans, what will happen?"
"Were you always the one to be so wary? Have you become such a coward?" Eyes widened in anger, with hair a mess, Lucifer is reminded of a ghost. Maybe it was his brother all along who invaded his dreams and reminded him of his failure. Reflected in the mirror looking into which he preens himself every day.
He decides it is best to remain quiet.
Belphegor takes it as encouragement to continue further.
"What happened to you, Lucifer? Have you become Diavolo's lapdog now, huh? Ready to follow his every command and bark his orders to others?"
The eldest is careful to not speak. The room is enchanted well enough, but he does not want to risk anything. Belphegor keeps muttering and scowling, throwing pointed fingers at him like accusations in a court. "What happened to your prideful tongue now? No longer willing to speak once your mistakes are out in front of you?!" He spits out, and Lucifer briefly admires how the youngest knows which point to hit the hardest. He speaks the truth, does he not? But it is to keep them all safe, and so the eldest must shut out the sorrow in his heart and follow the rules. Even if it means not saying a word to Belphegor who curses him out and makes his life inconvenient but he is not to blame, none of them are. His ears have started ringing now. The youngest picks up the full plate and then swings—
"Answer me!"
Lucifer deflects it with his magic, and the ceramic falls to the floor spilling mushrooms and soup.
His shoes are wet. Great.
His brother is striding across the room now, eyes ablaze in fury, angered by the lack of reaction. Amethyst eyes filled with nothing but hate, and the furrow in his brows. It reminds him of Beelzebub when he's engrossed in playing Fangol.
Twins, after all.
Lucifer feels his heart sink. His nails have started to dig cresecnet indentations into his skin.
"Silence!"
That shuts up the youngest, who still glares at him.
"You will stay here until the exchange programme is over," He says, tone firm. His voice is ragged though. "Only then are you allowed to be free."
He looks down at the broken plate.
"And clean that up."
"I'll protest and protest until I manage to kill that human, I speak the truth, dare they step into the House of Lamentation—
A door swings and slams, and then Belphegor is shut again from the outside world.
He sighs, and sinks further on the floor, no longer having the energy to stand.