Existence is meaningless without Pain

He gave a dramatic sigh, snapping the fan closed as he strode over to Vergil, gently and carefully putting a hand oh his shoulder, rubbing a thumb over his shoulder blades.

"Will you ever forgive my stone heart, sweet meteorite?"

@fallencrownofthorns

Gods, he made his skin crawl. Vergil just managed to keep his face neutral and his body controlled enough that he didn’t flinch away from the contact. This was a carefully played game of theirs. No matter how much time passed, Vergil had been conditioned to have the same answer as a knee-jerk response.

I could never hate you, Master..

“Come now, sweet pet,” Mundus muttered, moving his fan down, tucking it into a pocket of his long robes, before leaning forward, smirking slightly at the barely visible flinch Vergil game him - delicious fear as always -, and slowly nuzzled Vergil’s neck, letting his hair drape and fall onto the devil.

Always moving a piece, always ready to take 5 for every one Vergil lost.

“Tell me, my Nelo, my lovely falling star,” He purred, draping his other arm over Vergil’s shoulders, before tugging him back against his own body, warm, human-shaped, comforting, “Do you miss those quiet moments between us?” He paused to draw a breath, letting it hit Vergil’s ear as he let out a small, sulty moan, carefully crafted, completely designed all to play one game, and lure his former knight back in, - like a fish, only no more splashing, not for this fragile broken creature, - willing to play Vergil and his all-too-human emotions, morallity like a fine tuned instrument. “Those secret moments no other soul saw?” Play with his emotions, make him think that the truth is in fact, something else entirely unsaid. “When you laid in my arms, shaking and needy?”

He pulled back again, pressing a small kiss, more of a flick of a tongue than anything else, to the curve of Vergil’s ear, continuing “When you begged me to fill your empty soul?” He drew back, withdrawing his arms completely. Letting him feel the cold of the air around them, make him miss the warmth, draw him in wihtout him even noticing. “How I miss -…”

Why couldn’t he move? Why couldn’t he run away? Why was he frozen? Vergil lamented this, as he tensed, Mundus drawing near. No one else made his skin crawl more .. nor did it make him feel more conflicted. No pain ever came from his hand, directly. And Vergil knew why.

Fostered dependency.

Forced affection.

Mundus made Vergil’s mind associate him with an absence of torture, even as his whims and capriciousness rained brutality down on him. 

This was a fresh hell. This immobility, even as his core was screaming at him to run. And he cursed his body, as it betrayed him. 

Do you miss those quiet moments between us?

Vergil closed his eyes and shuddered. No. No, he didn’t miss it – !

Laying with him, later, when things were not aching .. Sometimes, they would look out the tower window, together, watching the birds in the courtyard, and together, they made up stories for their little lives. 

Those secret moments no one saw?

There were moments, where Mundus could almost be playful. Where he would laugh, and it wasn’t mean. He could be snarky, but he would pour Vergil a glass of wine and together, they’d talk about how much he hated the other Fallen Angels. They had inside jokes, when Vergil was allowed to sit beside him, at court, collared and quiet. A knowing look, a raised eyebrow. 

When you laid in my arms, shaking and needy?

They both did that. Mundus didn’t allow it often, mostly because sometimes he’d slip and murmur another name but – 

The kiss brought Vergil back to reality and he shuddered again. No no no no – 

There was too much going on.

Mundus’ breath tickled his ear. His neck broke out in gooseflesh and he longed to rub it away. Then he was cold. Mundus was never warm, why was Vergil cold without him?!

Begged me – 

No, no, Vergil never .. He closed his eyes, grit his teeth, bowed his head. 

“ .. You hurt me,” he muttered, forcing it through his teeth, finally looking at him. He looked at Mundus. Fair and beautiful, but the face haunted his nightmares. “You frightened me. I was a child.” He put a hand on his chest. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have done that. If you loved me, you never .. I didn’t mind the collar. I didn’t mind the humiliation of being your thrall, after a fashion. I could live with it. But why .. why did you have to keep giving me to them?”

And just as Mundus predicted, Nelo twisted in his arms to look at him, eyes wide, cornflower blue and ocean swept red, singing at him, begging him, perhaps even pleading. It could have been so easy to reach out and pluck those eyes and turn them into their own trophy, but that would come with time no doubt.

"Do you not remember the pittance you begged from me, sweet pet," Mundus asked, hands trailing down from Vergil's shoulders to slowly grasp his neck, carefully light, purposefully gentle, a warning in itself. How easily it could be to snap it, and the hunt be over, but what fun would there be in prey that couldn't flee?

"I recall, vividly, how you used to tremble," he continued, his hands leaving his pet's neck to trail and roll over his shoulders, a pale mockery of a massage, but too tight, too rough to be called such, a joy unlike any other flooding his neuroreceptors at the delightful shiver that spread over Nelo's body.

For all his bluster and denials, his pet truly did recall, and from the way, he held himself, perhaps even missed it, but even a dog would begin to love its master, regardless of treatment, and just as a slave always remembered their torment, so too must his own.

"Tell me, sweet star," He began, fingers trailing a spider web dance across the various plains of his Nelo's beautiful form, "If you do not want me, then tell me to go." He hissed, flicking a tongue out to slowly slide over his pet's small, pale ear, teasing the lobe slightly with a nibble before pulling back.

"And thus, spoke Merlin, You shall have her body and soul, but not her heart."

Mundus smirked softly, offering a customary curtsy to the Queen.

"I had wondered just when you would approach me, your Highness. I see now that I was right to wait."

He gave a dramatic sigh, snapping the fan closed as he strode over to Vergil, gently and carefully putting a hand oh his shoulder, rubbing a thumb over his shoulder blades.

"Will you ever forgive my stone heart, sweet meteorite?"

@fallencrownofthorns

Gods, he made his skin crawl. Vergil just managed to keep his face neutral and his body controlled enough that he didn’t flinch away from the contact. This was a carefully played game of theirs. No matter how much time passed, Vergil had been conditioned to have the same answer as a knee-jerk response.

I could never hate you, Master..

Always moving a piece, always ready to take 5 for every one Vergil lost.

“Tell me, my Nelo, my lovely falling star,” He purred, draping his other arm over Vergil’s shoulders, before tugging him back against his own body, warm, human-shaped, comforting, “Do you miss those quiet moments between us?” He paused to draw a breath, letting it hit Vergil’s ear as he let out a small, sulty moan, carefully crafted, completely designed all to play one game, and lure his former knight back in, - like a fish, only no more splashing, not for this fragile broken creature, - willing to play Vergil and his all-too-human emotions, morallity like a fine tuned instrument. “Those secret moments no other soul saw?” Play with his emotions, make him think that the truth is in fact, something else entirely unsaid. “When you laid in my arms, shaking and needy?”

@fallencrownofthorns

Mundus let the hand on Vergil’s shoulder wander, slowly, softly, enjoying each tell he gently encouraged from his sweet pet.

“Now, you are mine. You mean more to me than anything in existence, sweet Angelo. My very own angel, torn from the heavens.”

He smirked, leaning closer, allowing a finger to ghost over Vergil’s lips, tender violence in every movement.

“Tell me, no, and I will leave you be, sweet. Tell me to go, and I shall break but go willingly.”

@fallencrownofthorns

@fallencrownofthorns

Mundus paused, eyes flickering to Vergil's face before he gave an exaggerated sigh and flicked a hand at him.

"Perhaps now though, you are worthy of my touch, my affection."

He shook his head. 

@fallencrownofthorns

Mundus paused, eyes flickering to Vergil's face before he gave an exaggerated sigh and flicked a hand at him.

"Perhaps now though, you are worthy of my touch, my affection."

The raven haired hunter tilted his head. “Doll? You speak as though you know me.” Which was odd because he did not know this… Was entity the right word? V could sense there was more to this stranger than meets the eye. He could feel it in his veins.

“It is not my intention to bother anyone. Only to draw strength from demons.” V aimed his cane at Mundus. “Is that what you are?”

"A demon?" Mundus scoffed slightly, a slender hand raising to stall the raven-haired human. "How droll. How quaint."

Mundus shook his head slightly and stood, the raised platform below him creaking. "Tell me, sweet, what is a Demon to a God? What is a God to a King? I am all these and more, and yet you dain ask such pleasantries?"

Mundus smirked.