blarg

She mentally kicked herself for foolishly discarding her D.D.D, as now she was left nearly defenseless should she need to call for help. Despite this, she wouldn’t allow herself to return to the House of Lamentation, not after such a huge fight with the brothers; not after they hurt her so gravely, not after she did the same to them....

Mc had been so preoccupied with survival that she had momentarily forgotten about everything, and all at once the emotions came rushing back. Hot tears sprang forth from the corners of her eyes as she brought her hand to her face to harshly wipe them away. As Mc did so, her gaze fell to the pact symbol that tattooed the back of her hand.

Mc scowled weakly at the sight; she wondered if this is what drove the brothers to be so possessive over her. They all had formed a pact with her, laying claim to a part of her soul, marking her body with their sin. And now, they acted as if they owned her, like her happiness and safety could be switched out for one another like a monetary transaction.

But it didn’t end there, did it? No, rather than voice her concerns like she had wanted to, she simply bit her tongue until it all came spilling out in the most violent way possible. She allowed herself to lose control of her emotions, to abuse her demonic pacts and leave the brothers battered at her feet.

Mc grabs the wrist the pact lies on with her free hand, teeth clenched tightly as she wishes she could tear the eternal ink forcefully from her flesh. Frustrated, she holds her palm tightly against her forehead, tears dripping from her check onto the tops of her shoes below.

Suddenly, a small idea blinks into existence in the back of her mind. If she could find a way to break the pacts, could she finally be free from the brothers’ control? Would they be free from her’s?

Mc’s heart constricts painfully at the thought. Could she really do that? Is she willing to cross such a line, to hurt her demons one final time, even if it’s for their own sake? Because in the end, no matter how much they hurt her, she loved them with the entirety of her soul. And if this would ensure that she could never force them to endure such pain again, then she would do it in a heartbeat.

Once she came to this heartbreaking conclusion, Mc knew exactly who she needed to find. Although Mc herself had no idea if breaking the pacts was even possible, let alone how to do such a thing, she had a good idea of who would have such knowledge.

Before Mc could allow herself to let her newfound resolve slip from her fingertips, she wiped the now free-flowing tears from her face before turning herself around in the street, eyes gazing in the direction of Purgatory Hall.

==================================

Back in the House of Lamentation, chaos still prevails even after Mc’s departure.

“Lucifer, get up! We have to go after Mc!” Mammon exclaims breathlessly to his older brother, limping his way to the door Mc just ran out of. He places his hands on the door, shakily beginning to push it open with enormous effort.

“Mammon, wait,” Lucifer commands weakly to the panicking demon.

“Whadda ya mean wait?! Did ya hear what she said, Lucifer? I have to….we have to apologize to Mc right now!” Mammon replies desperately, tears dripping down his bruised cheek.

Lucifer steps towards Mammon, swaying slightly at the sudden movement. “Mammon, just look around,” he says, sweeping his arm around to gesture to the other demons in the room. “We can’t go after her, not now at least.”

In response, Mammon turns his gaze to his brothers. They all lay or sit weakly on the wooden floor of the common room, in various states of shock and agony. Belphie shakily cradles a still unconscious Beel, Satan holding Asmo as he desperately attempts to help the battered demon stand upright, all while Levi sits in a heap on the floor, tentatively grazing the fresh bruises on his body with trembling fingertips.

“Our little brothers… haven’t fared as well as us, Mammon,” Lucifer breathes, struggling to collect himself.

Mammon’s heart pangs with hurt, torn between comforting his brothers and pursuing Mc. At the same time, Levi finally pushes himself to his feet and approaches Belphie and Beel hesitantly.

“Is...Is Beel okay?” he asks worriedly, gazing down at the collapsed redhead, his forehead shiny with sweat, his chest weakly rising and falling.

Belphie nearly growls at Levi, clutching Beel closer to his chest. “Stay away from me,” he hisses at his approaching brother. “I don’t want to look at you, especially right now,” Belphie says, turning away from Levi with an insulted huff.

Levi’s eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, he had forgotten all the awful words he had screamed at Belphie, all the awful things his siblings had said and done to one another mere minutes ago. Levi crouches down to Belphie’s level, wringing his hands nervously.

“Look, Belphie… I..” he trails off, wincing as he remembers how unhinged he really was. “I’m really sorry. I don’t know why I said those things to you.”

Belphie remains facing away from Levi, refusing to even look at him while his fingers trace the divots between the cool panels of the floor.

“I didn’t mean any of it, okay? I...I really don’t know what came over me,” Levi sputters, pressing a hand to his temples in an attempt to steady his thoughts.  “It..It was like-”.

“-It was like you completely lost control, right?” Satan finishes softly, frowning at his brother.

“Y-Yeah… exactly like that,” Levi responds. Satan nods silently as he finishes helping Asmo to his feet, then turns to face Lucifer.

“Lucifer…” he begins, biting the inside of his cheek as he begrudgingly swallows his pride. “I… I’m truly sorry for what I said...and did to you.”

Lucifer’s expression flashes with surprise before the eldest brother simply shakes his head. He places a hand on Satan’s shoulder, his touch no longer laced with malice or intent to harm, but with reassurance and love.

“No, I understand, Satan. You were right,” he says firmly, no shame to be heard in his tone. “I shouldn’t have put my hands on Mc like I did. Like you said, I also just… lost control.”

“Mhm,” Levi hums in agreement. “That’s why I fought with you over Mc, Mammon,” he confessed as he suddenly turns to his older brother. “I really shouldn’t have done that. But….when I saw you trying to run off with her, something totally snapped!”

“Yeah, I felt that way too. It was like, I would say or do anythin’ to keep Mc away from you all, but I told myself it was to ‘keep her safe’,” Mammon agrees earnestly. “Even when I started to hurt her…,” he finishes regretfully, his fingers twitching at his sides as he remembers how he tugged on Mc’s arm until her skin bruised. “And...I’m really sorry too, Levi. For everythin’.”

Levi nods wistfully as Belphie finally turns to face the rest of his brothers. The silence stretches on as they all begin to shuffle towards each other, huddling around the twins who remained collapsed on the floor. Although they didn't embrace, further apologies were exchanged wordlessly between the demons, each one taking comfort in the other’s silent presence.

“We….really fucked that one up, didn’t we?” Belphie finally mutters, biting his lip in a frustrated manner. They all exchange gazes, regret and shame thickly coating each demons’ expression.

“Yeah,” Mammon agrees, stretching out a hand to grasp Beel’s limp palm from next to him. Even if it was technically Mc’s doing that brought his brothers to their knees like this, he knows who truly caused this.

“Ah… poor Mc,” Asmo suddenly exclaims tearfully from beside Satan. “I never realized how overbearing we had gotten until she…,” he pauses for a moment, his body shuddering as he momentarily relives the electrifying pain he had endured mere minutes ago.

“-Forced us to listen,” Mammon interrupts, his hand moving to trace the outline of his pact symbol from outside of his shirt. “...We all need to start looking for Mc,” he says with a determined air, his spirit suddenly reinvigorated when reminded of the human.

“Yes, all of us. We all need to apologize to her,” Lucifer agrees sternly, gazing down at Beel’s motionless form. “You all, start trying to contact Mc’s D.D.D.. She likely won’t answer, but we can at least try while we wait for Beel to wake.”

The brothers nod, Asmo and Levi quickly pulling out their own D.D.Ds. After a few tense moments of the brothers taking turns calling and messaging Mc to no avail, they look worriedly at Lucifer, tears threatening to reappear on the pair’s eyes. Lucifer’s eyebrows furrow as he takes a moment of consideration.

“Keep trying. In the meantime, we need to figure out where Mc might be,” Lucifer finally announces to the group of demons.

“She’s likely headed towards Purgatory Hall,” Satan chimes in.

“It’s really the only other place for her to go,” Belphie agrees, wincing slightly as he adjusts Beel’s form in his lap.

“Yes, you’re probably correct,” Lucifer nods. “Mammon, try to get in touch with Simeon or Solomon. Ask them if Mc is there.”

Mammon swiftly dials Simeon’s number; no answer. Then Solomon’s; straight to voicemail. In a moment of desperation, he even calls Luke; it rings and rings with no reply. Mammon sorrowfully shakes his head at Lucifer. Lucifer tsks angrily at this.

Beel begins to stir fretfully from under Belphie, groaning as his gradual return to consciousness also invites the return of an aching pain, throbbing angrily throughout his body. Beel suddenly sits up straight, his head colliding with Belphie, who had been leaning over his twin in anticipation and worry. They both groan softly, startling the dazed brothers beside them.

At the sight of this, Lucifer promptly rises from his kneeling position next to the pair. “Get up, everyone. As soon as Beel can walk, we’re leaving for Purgatory Hall,” Lucifer commands, quickly striding out of the room with determination.

As he exits the room, the demon brothers exchanged stressed gazes. Although they were fiercely determined to fix the commotion they had caused, they couldn’t help but indulge the aching anxiety that had begun to creep its way into the brothers’ consciousnesses.

They wouldn’t know for sure if Mc was even at Purgatory Hall until they arrived there, and if Mc wasn’t there, then they could only imagine the chaos that would follow when they would begin to scour Devildom for any sign of her. However, even if she was at Purgatory Hall, would she be willing to forgive them? Would she be willing to even talk to them? These poisoning thoughts raced around in the demons’ minds, making them clench their fists and pull at their hair frustratedly.

As Beel’s dizzy vision begins to subside, he clutches his head before turning to see his brothers huddled around him. “What… What's happening?” he grunts, turning to face his nearby twin.

Belphie offers Beel a weak smile. “We’re going to get Mc back.”

==================================

All seven of the brothers had arrived at Purgatory Hall; they stood anxiously at its grand steps, basking in the long shadow it cast over its surroundings. After a quick moment of hesitation, they ascended the steps, Lucifer reaching out and knocking on the enormous door.

They waited for what seemed like hours before Simeon finally creaked open the door, only opening it the slightest bit to pop his head outside cautiously. His mouth gaped in silent surprise as his gaze flickered between Lucifer and the six other demons that stood behind him.

After a moment, his expression became slightly grave. “You all must be looking for Mc,” the angel says, his tone laced with suspicion.

Before Lucifer can respond, Mammon pushes his way to the door, yanking it open frantically. He moves to rush into Purgatory Hall, but Simeon is quick to plant himself in front of the demon. Mammon ignores Simeon, his expression panicked as he desperately tries to look over his shoulders for any sign of Mc inside.

“She’s here right?! Is she okay?” he gasps, Lucifer pulling him away from Simeon by his shoulder.

Simeon is silent for a moment as he watches Lucifer drag Mammon away from the door, allowing his younger brothers to restrain him. Simeon’s eyebrows draw together at the sight, a deep frown surfacing on his pristine face.

“I’m not going to tell any of you anything, let alone allow you all inside, until you explain what’s going on here,” Simeon says sternly to the crowd of demons, his demeanor uncharacteristically cold.

“Please, Simeon, it's urgent-,” Lucifer says, his tone verging on the point of begging. Simeon raises his eyebrow at this; in all the years he’s known Satan, he hasn’t seen Lucifer in such a state of distress since the Great Celestial War. However, all this does is urge Simeon to dig his heels in further, to force the brothers to confess before he reveals anything about Mc.

“If it’s as urgent as you say, then you should have no problem telling me what you’ve done to Mc,” Simeon responds accusingly, crossing his arms before the eldest demon.

Lucifer’s composure begins to waver at this; all he wants is to know for certain that Mc is safe and return her to the House of Lamentation, and this stubborn angel is the only thing standing in his way. Lucifer strides threatenly towards Simeon, looming dangerously over him as his teeth clench angrily.

“That doesn’t concern you, Simeon. It is matter that is only to be discussed between Mc and my brothers,” he says, wrath dripping from his tongue alongside his words, the volume of his speech rising. “You will tell us where Mc is, or else-,” he practically booms before he ceases suddenly.

“Simeon, what’s going on?” a hesitant voice interrupts from behind the angel’s flowing cape. Simeon shifts slightly to reveal young Luke, his balled fist rubbing away fresh tears, his eyes puffy and red from recent sobbing. At the sight of the child, Lucifer steps back and takes a moment to compose himself, placing a hand over his mouth as he fumes silently.

“Nothing, Luke. We’re just talking,” Simeon explains quickly, offering the younger angel a tense smile as he places a hand on his head, attempting to guide him away from the door. “Would you please go back to your room for me?”

“Is...is this about Mc?” Luke asks worriedly, glancing between Simeon and the distressed demons outside their door.

“Ah…,” Simeon responds hesitantly, scratching the back of his neck with a slender hand. “Well-”.

“You guys did something to her, didn’t you?!” Luke suddenly gasps accusingly to the demons before him. “You all are why Mc was crying, right?!”

Asmo inhales sharply at this, barely concealing a sob. Levi and Beel look down at their feet, faces darkened with shame.

Simeon kneels down to address the younger angel, speaking in a soothing manner. “Luke, please calm down. That’s what I’m trying to figure out, so just go inside and-”

This time, Satan steps forward to interrupt the pair. “Look, the fact is that we simply can’t tell you exactly what exactly happened at this moment, not before…,” he trails off, trying his best to maintain the composure his eldest brother couldn’t. “...Not before we know for certain that she’s safe,” he finishes, his tone sincere as he studies Simeon’s face intently.

Simeon is silent for a moment, thoroughly considering Satan’s words. Simeon finally huffs deeply, stepping away from his protective position in front of the door. “Alright. Please come in, we’ll talk then.”

He extends his hands towards Purgatory Hall’s common room, reluctantly inviting the brothers in. Relief floods Satan’s expression as he nods gratefully, beckoning his brothers to enter alongside him. Simeon watches as the brothers stream past him, each demon seeming overcome with worry, each on the verge of panic as they murmur quiet ‘thanks’ to the angel.

Once they’ve all gathered in the dimly lit common room, Simeon sits on a nearby chair, crossing his legs in a guarded manner. He eyes the demon brothers as they arrange themselves sloppily on the provided furniture. A majority of the brothers sit uncomfortably while Mammon and Lucifer opt to stand, the younger demon preferring to pace stressfully around the room. Luke sits on the floor next to Simeon, pulling his knees to his chest cautiously.

Simeon remains quiet, turning to stare at the flickering candle that weakly illuminates the room, his expression indecipherable. After another long moment of silence, Simeon turns to the brothers.

“The truth is… I don’t know for certain if Mc is safe,” he finally says.

“What?! Whadda ya mean you ‘don’t know if she’s safe’?!” Mammon exclaims furiously at the angel. “I thought she was here?!”

“She was! But only for a few minutes...,” Luke chimes in defensively, trailing off as Simeon shoots him a warning look.

Simeon huffs slightly at the demon’s outburst. “All of the sudden she showed up at our door-,” he continues.

“-And she was sobbing! I couldn't get her to stop, no matter what I did!” Luke interrupts frantically before glaring at the brothers, his eyes glistening with fresh tears. “Why was Mc crying? You filthy demons hurt her, didn’t you?!” he cries out shrilly, fists clenched in front of him.

Rather than interject to scold Luke for his insults, Simeon simply narrows his eyes at the demons, lips pursed. He places a hand on the child’s head, gently ruffling his blonde hair protectively before continuing.

“That’s what I’d like to know, too,” he says curtly. “Obviously, something happened between you all, and I need to know what that is before I reveal any more information about Mc.”

Frustrated, Lucifer tsks at this. He’s silent for a moment, considering how best to confess to the skeptical angel. Belphie, who had grown increasingly impatient with the stalling conversation, finally interrupts.

“We all got into a fight with her,” he says quickly, scowling at the carpeted floor.

“That’s it? What was the fight about, specifically?” Simeon prods as Lucifer glares at Belphie from across the room.

“Well…” Belphie begins hesitantly before Lucifer interjects, regaining control of the conversation.

“Mc was upset about the rules I had set for her,” he says flatly. “Regarding her safety.”

Simeon considers this for a moment, biting the nail on his thumb thoughtfully. “So I take it that she was frustrated with how you all were treating her?” he finally responds, Luke grumbling quietly at the thought.

Although Lucifer says nothing to this, a few of his younger brothers nod shamefully, none quite able to vocalize their guilt.

“I had a feeling that was the case,” Simeon murmurs to himself. “I’ve noticed the way you all have been acting as of late and….you’ve been out of control,” the angel says bluntly, almost relishing in the uncomfortable expressions the brothers give in response to his comment.

Despite this, none of the demons protest this observation; they know what he says is true. Although it pains them to their core, allowing Simeon to insult them for a short while is the least they can do in exchange for recovering Mc safely.

“Yeah… we know,” Beel finally says, his hand almost painfully gripping his knee in a desperate attempt to remain composed. Belphie notices the strain his twin is enduring and grips Beel’s free palm before nodding slightly at the angel.

“Simeon, we just want to find Mc. I know asking for her forgiveness might be too much to ask for right now, but we….” Asmo cries out suddenly before stuttering slightly, his voice threatening to be overtaken by a long repressed sob.

“..We just want to make sure she’s safe,” Beel finishes, pain evident in his usually even tone.

Upon hearing these words, Luke stirrs suddenly from beside Simeon. The young angel turns to look at him, his expression conflicted as he gently tugs on Simeon’s cape. The elder angel leans down towards him to lend the fidgeting child an ear. Luke covers his mouth quickly before whispering something to Simeon that brought a grimace to his features. After one final encouraging nod from Luke, Simeon sighs before straightening himself in his chair.

“Seeing that Mc is currently missing, I suppose that I have no choice but to send you all out looking for her,” he says begrudgingly. “But to be absolutely clear; I am doing this because I’m concerned for Mc’s safety, not because I believe that any of you are deserving of a chance to beg for forgiveness.”

Despite the cutting edge of his voice, the brothers can’t help but smile slightly in relief. One more obstacle hurdled, one step closer to Mc.

After a short pause to think, Simeon continues. “When Mc was here, she wouldn’t say much of anything to me or Luke…. she only asked where Solomon was,” he says slowly, gauging the reactions of the brothers as he spoke.

“Mc asked about Solomon?” Lucifer questions, bewildered by the new information.

“Yes. Unfortunately, he wasn’t here at Purgatory Hall at the time. I told her that he was most likely somewhere on the outskirts of Devildom,” he responds, Luke nodding slightly. “He has a small hut there where he can gather potion ingredients from the nearby woods and practice magic in peace. If Solomon’s anywhere at this time of night, it's likely there.”

Asmo gasps suddenly at this, perking up as he interjects, “Ah! I know where that is! I’ve been there before with Solomon...”

“Alright, let’s get going quickly then,” Lucifer says quickly, urging his brother to stand. “We’ve already wasted too much time here,” he says, shooting Simeon a deadly glare as he spoke.

As commanded, the brothers immediately rise and rush out of the room, Beel pausing for a moment to quickly thank Simeon before following the other demons. Simeon nods and waves him on, his eyes remaining focused on the flickering candle sitting before him. The room is once again silent, stripped of the chaotic presence of the seven brothers.

Following Asmo’s direction, the demons begin the long trek to the outside of Devildom, the air becoming thinner as they hike up the steep hill to Solomon’s hut. As they walk, the brother’s can’t help but become more and more worried for Mc; if she indeed traveled here to find Solomon, a million awful things could have happened to her on the way. The brothers bite their cheeks as they imagine Mc getting lost, being intercepted by a particularly ravenous demon, or falling somewhere on the steep cliffs and seriously injuring themselves.

Despite these concerning possibilities, they have no choice but to hope Mc is with Solomon, and that she’s safe. All they can do at the moment is place one foot in front of the other, drawing closer and closer to their human.

==================================

The brothers stand on the peak of an overgrown hill overlooking the glowing lights of the buildings below. Here, the landscape serves as a blurred border between the lively cities of Devildom and the sprawling eternal forest that blankets the rest of the Demon Realm.

The tall grass that covers the hill blows gently with the night time wind, rustling almost musically against each other as crickets chirp a comforting tune from somewhere within the foliage. The path the demons walked was thick with shrubbery, with the moonlight only somewhat illuminating the long forgotten trail. After a bit more walking, they finally noticed the hut that Simeon had described to them earlier.

The tiny, humble building lay nestled just inside the border the forest line naturally formed, its dusty bricks adorned with spiraling vines that nearly camouflaged it within the trees. As they approached the wooden door, they noticed the soft glow of a lantern within the hands of a hooded figure just outside its entrance.

“Solomon?” Asmo called out hesitantly to the person.

The figure turned, and it was indeed Solomon. His pale face initially flashed with surprise at the brothers’ presence, then a shade of disappointment that caused Asmo to subtly wince.

“....Asmo? What are you all doing here?” Solomon questions softly and with deliberate quietness, raising the lantern to illuminate the darkened figures of the demons.

“We’re looking for Mc, Solomon,” Asmo says sincerely, wringing his hands nervously. “Simeon told us she may be here,” he adds, his tone laced with equal parts of anxiety and hope.

Just then, Beel steps out of the shadows to point to something in Solomon’s other hand, a small item that the sorcerer had been gripping tightly. “Hey, isn’t that Mc’s D.D.D?” he says accusingly, eyeing the device that had Mc’s distinctive human scent lingering on its surface.

Solomon purses his lips at this, wordlessly confirming the brother’s suspicion as he moves defensively in front of the door. “Yes, Mc said she had lost it on her way here, so I went out to go find it for her,” he says cautiously, his gaze monitoring the volatile demons as he quickly tucks the D.D.D inside his clothing.

“Wait… so where is Mc?” Belphie questions darkly from beside his twin, taking a threatening step towards Solomon.

In response to this, Solomon quickly switches his vaguely guarded stance for a more blatantly defensive one, shifting his feet in front of the cabin’s door in preparation for a sudden attack. “She’s here, but-” he begins before he utters a noise of surprise as Mammon immediately jumps in front of him.

“She is?! Thank Diavolo!” he exclaims to no one in particular, already reaching behind Solomon for the door as tears prick the corners of his eyes.

“Wait just a minute, Mammon!” Solomon shouts quickly, but not before Mammon’s hand makes contact with an invisible field, the air around him electrifying with golden sparks of light.

The demon is thrown backwards by the force and lands harshly on his back as he instinctively clutches his hand. Mammon hisses loudly between his clenched teeth, barely able to keep from screaming as an intense burning sensation flooded the tips of his fingers.

The crowd of demons gasped at the sight, Lucifer immediately running forward to aid his injured brother. Lucifer kneels beside Mammon on the dusty path, scooping him into his arms and gently pulling him into a sitting position.

“Solomon! What did you do?!” a horrified Asmo exclaims at the sorcerer, rushing to join Lucifer at Mammon’s side.

“I-I’m fine, I’m fine,” Mammon grunts from below Lucifer, quickly recovering from the brutal yet fleeting injury, prying himself from his brother’s defensive grip. He waves away his other brothers who had all huddled around him, still clutching his hand to his chest as he eyes the apparent source of his pain.

“What is the meaning of this Solomon?!” Lucifer bellows, glaring daggers at the human as he rises to confront him, bearing his fangs protectively.

Solomon takes a step back, fearing the impending wrath of the demons that have begun to circle him. Although he cannot die, the excruciating pain that comes with being torn apart by an enraged demon is not something he would like to experience. “I tried to warn him,” Solomon murmurs underneath his breath, placing his hand on the door’s handle.

Solomon takes a deep breath before continuing in a firm yet apologetic tone. “I’ve cast a protective force field around this building! No demon can get in or out,” he yells to the demons, his arm outstretched in a sweeping gesture.

Satan is the first of the brothers to dawn their demon forms; dark feathers sprout from around his shoulders, his tail slinking down from behind his body to form a ring around him on the floor. “What? Why would you do such a thing?!” he growls venomously at Solomon.

Solomon quickly whips his head towards Satan, now the most pressing danger in his vicinity. The sorcerer knows better than to turn his back to the demons now, even for a second, to run into the cabin for cover. Therefore, as each of the brothers are reaching a point of unreasonability, he hastily begins mumbling a protection spell from beneath his breath, holding his hands out defensively to the advancing demons.

Just as the last incantation slips from Solomon’s lips, the same glowing force field that surrounded the hut flashes into existence in front of Solomon’s fingertips, barely in time to absorb the full impact of Lucifer’s sudden lunge at the cornered human.

“You have no right to keep Mc from us!” he rumbles furiously, gritting his teeth as his clawed hand bears down on the searing hot sphere of light around the sorcerer.

Sparks of ember jump from the impact site, speckling the floor below and illuminating the pair’s strained expressions in the night. The sheer power of Solomon’s shield of magic eventually forces Lucifer to jump back, but the demon quickly steels himself to strike at the sorcerer once again.

Just as Lucifer raises his hand to serve another devastating blow, Solomon desperately shouts, “Mc wanted this!”

Upon hearing these words, the air around becomes stagnant with shock, the previously volatile brothers frozen in between their equally intense emotions of anger and hurt. The moon behind them finally peaks in the dark sky, washing over the brothers with its gentle light. For a moment, Solomon can finally see each of the brothers that were previously concealed in the foggy night, their faces twisted in pain, a terrifying mass of explosively emotional demons.

“S-She asked me to keep you all away!” he continues, huffing with effort as his last bit of energy that preserved the protective shield around him begins to give way.

Intentionally or not, Satan and Lucifer’s demon forms begin to dematerialize in front of him. This is not how Solomon wanted to break the news to the brothers.

“She….she asked you to keep us away?” Mammon nearly whispers, desperately hoping that somehow he misheard Solomon, or that the human simply misspoke.

However, deep within him, Mammon knew this was a possibility, but never had he ever actually thought that Mc would be so… cold. It hurt.

And it continued to hurt as he realized that it was entirely his and his brothers’ fault. Could he truly allow himself to be pained by this when avoiding the whole situation was entirely within his control? Did he deserve to pity himself, to be angry with Mc, to even allow himself to collapse and sob right where he stands?

“Yes…” Solomon responds slowly, eyeing a clearly conflicted Mammon. He knew better than anyone that a pained demon is a dangerous demon.

It took all of Mammon’s strength to prevent his knees from giving way beneath him. His thoughts swirled together, a deep ache beginning in his head and seeping its way into his chest. He said nothing. His brothers said nothing.

Looking around at the other shocked demons, Solomon bites his lips nervously; he knows he must tell the brothers what Mc asked of him, even if it might send them over the edge.

“I’m not sure if Mc wants you to know this, but I feel as if you all have a right to know,” Solomon announces, scanning the demons, watching their faces drop as they dread the words to come. “Mc… she came to me...”

He swallows, fearing the brother’s reactions to his next words. “She asked me if there was a way to break her demonic pacts,” he finally says, desperately hoping his faintly gentle tone helped to soften such a devastating blow.

At first, the brothers don’t even react. For a few seconds, they simply stood in place, completely stunned by Solomon’s statement. Then, realization floods through them like a powerful wave, soaking their hearts with sorrow until it begins to bleed from their eyes in the form of cold, relentless tears.

“Wha- I don’t understand…,” Levi chokes out, the first of his brothers to muster enough energy to respond. “She wants to break our pacts?”

Solomon simply nods at Levi, tempted to reach out and comfort the devastated demon somehow. However, he still has more news to deliver, and there’s no telling if such a volatile demon may choose to “shoot the messenger”.

“I told her that that was impossible,” he continued regrettably, pausing for a moment as a few of the brothers began to sob to themselves. “And then she asked me to take her back to the human world instead.”

Mammon gasped painfully, his breath forcefully snatched from his lungs in response to this; the sweet, cool air of the night instead replaced with the dark sludge of grief. Though he found himself sobbing, tears would never be enough to force such hurt out of his body.

Mammon’s knees could no longer support his weight, and Lucifer quickly pulled his younger brother towards him as he began to slump to the ground, astonished. Lucifer looks around at his other brothers, seeing similarly horrified reactions.

“She...she’s leaving us again,” Mammon mumbles numbly against Lucifer's shoulder, gazing at the window to the cabin behind Solomon. He stares intently into the curtained glass until his vision blurs at the corners, praying to anyone listening that Mc would materialize before him, that she would assure him she didn’t truly want to leave.

Lucifer bites his tongue in frustration; the realization that this situation was completely out of his control and that he could do nothing to shield his brothers from such a painful lesson finally dawned on the eldest demon.

“I...I don’t believe it!” Belphie suddenly shouts tearfully, storming towards Solomon with sudden vigor. “Mc would never….,” he trails off, uncertain if he ever truly understood what she would and wouldn’t do. Belphie thought that she loved them; all those times she vowed to be at their sides for eternity, that she would never do anything to hurt them. In his heart, he knows (or hopes) that what Solomon is telling him may not be the entire truth, that there is something else at work that’s pushing Mc away from them.

“Solomon, you didn’t agree to take her back, did you?” Beel asks the sorcerer in a sorrowful tone, placing a comforting hand on his twin’s trembling frame. His gentle eyes have a pleading edge to them, boring into Solomon’s own.

“I...I told her that she wasn’t thinking rationally….that she was just acting on emotion,” Solomon responds, avoiding directly answering Beel’s question. “So I asked her to just stay the night in my cabin and decide if she truly wants to leave Devildom in the morning… once she’s calmed her mind.”

Belphie turns his head sharply at this, squeezing his eyes shut as if to block out the reality of the situation. From behind them, Asmo quickly turns towards Satan, sobbing as he embraces the still frozen demon, desperately needing the comfort of another. For a moment, all of the brothers wallow in their sorrow.

“Please Solomon, you have to let us see her,” Lucifer finally says desperately to the human. “I…-We just want to fix this.”

Solomon only shakes his head. “I can’t do that for you, Lucifer. Mc simply doesn’t want to speak with any of you,” he explains, torn between sympathising with the fellow human who takes refuge in his cabin, or the shattered demons before him.

Solomon witnessed how the brothers had been treating Mc for the past weeks, and he understands Mc’s willingness to remove herself from such abuse. However, he can’t help but question her motives; would a fight like this really be enough to drive Mc away... forever?

The wizard stews in conflicting emotions, unsure on how to be the best middle ground for the two parties. After a pause, he continues. “...But, when she wakes up tomorrow, I’ll try to convince her to give you all a chance to apologize….before she makes her decision.”

A flicker of hope returns to the brothers' expressions, Lucifer nodding gratefully. Although Solomon has provided them with a chance to redeem themselves, it provides only a fleeting comfort to the brothers. There is no telling if Mc would want to speak with them tomorrow, or if she'd even be willing to change her mind.

"You should go home, its been a tiring day for everyone," Solomon finally announces sharply, cutting through the stifled cries of the demons. "I will contact you all when Mc wakes up."

With that Solomon simply opens the door to the cabin, entering the dark room, leaving the brothers alone outside the building. Locking the door behind him, Solomon walks across the cool, wooden floor towards the small bed in the corner of the room. The soft, golden light of his lamp illuminates a figure under the sheets of the bed.

There lies Mc, cocooned in an array of blankets and pillows. The pillow she rests her head on is damp with drying tears, her expression finally peaceful. Solomon gazes at her for a moment, filled with uncertainty. He reaches out, gently brushing a strand of hair from Mc's face. Mc sighs sadly in her sleep, another tear slipping from her enveloped eyelashes and dripping down the curves of her cheek.

Solomon watches as the droplet travels down Mc's face, dripping onto the nearly dried puddle on the silky pillow below her. "Is this what you truly want?" he finally whispers, gazing woefully at the human.

He gently places her battered D.D.D on the night stand next to her, then makes his way to an old lounge chair in the opposite corner of the room. There he sits, keeping a watchful eye on Mc as he patiently awaits for sleep to overtake him, fearing what may come in the morning.

==================================

I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to come out! I honestly was so busy this week, and I totally ran out of creative juice. But to make up for the wait, here’s an extra long chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Reblogs, comments, and suggestions are much appreciated!!! Thank you all for your support! ❤️

Tag List:

Even before Lucifer's rules, Mc knew that this habit wouldn’t be appreciated by the majority of the brothers. Therefore, only Levi and Satan ever knew of her nighttime excursions, as the two tended to stay up late reading or playing video games and had happened to catch Mc returning from her walks on separate occasions.

After Lucifer had put in place his new rules of conduct for Mc, they had both pulled her aside to privately urge her to not continue sneaking out of the house for strolls. Obviously, she had no choice but to agree, as they had threatened to advise Lucifer to place a few of the brothers on night-watch outside her room to ensure the stubborn human stayed put.

That night, Mc sat woefully at the base of the window in her room, basking in the moonlight that streamed in between the silky folds of her curtains. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to burst into the night, to run through the streets freely without the knowledge of the overbearing brothers. She had long considered doing just that, even going as far as trying to decide if she could jump out the window unharmed, or reaching the front door of the House of Lamentation only to scurry back after hearing Beelzebub leaving his room to raid the kitchen.

But she had decided that this would be the night that she would finally make her grand and somewhat brief escape. Rising from her seated position at the window, she quickly pulled a sweater over her head, stuffing her D.D.D in her pocket after some brief consideration. If something did happen to her while she was out, she could still call for help.

This decision helped sooth her slightly guilty conscience as she tentatively creaked open the door to her room, peeking her head out.

The lights in the hallway had been dimmed slightly, but she could still see that everyone’s doors were shut, no light spilling from underneath that indicated someone was still awake. After a moment of hesitation, she hastily exited her room, cautiously shutting the door behind her. She carried her shoes in one hand as she walked barefoot across the carpeted hallway, making as little noise as possible.

At around the same time, Mammon entered the hallway. He had just returned home from clubbing and had snuck in the House of Lamentation from it’s back door in order to avoid rousing Lucifer. Despite how drowsy and slightly tipsy he was, he snapped to attention when he witnessed Mc’s silhouette quickly disappearing around the corner near the stairs.

He briefly considered calling out to her, but he decided to instead silently stalk her for a moment, planning to jump out and scare the poor human.

He turned that same corner, giggling slightly at the prospect of seeing Mc’s terrified face. However, he was stunned to see Mc slipping on her RAD school shoes and hastily opening the House of Lamenation’s front door, disappearing into the night before he had a chance to process the scene.

“What the hell…,” Mammon gasps quietly to himself. A million thoughts rushed together and collide in his mind.

Where the hell is she going at this time? By herself too…what is she thinkin’?! Mc knows it's not safe to go out at night like that! Lucifer’s gonna kill her if he finds out… no.. I’m gonna kill her for puttin’ herself in danger like this!

He stands frozen at the top of the stairs, nervously considering if he should get Lucifer or follow Mc out himself instead. The more he deliberates the subject, the more impatient he’s becoming; he wants to make sure Mc’s safe by any means necessary, but at the same time he can’t help but be curious about what drives her to sneak out in the dead of night, all while knowing the risks.

Frustrated, Mammon grabs at his silvery hair before reluctantly running out of the House of Lamentation, hot on Mc’s tail. As he slips into the welcoming embrace of the dark surroundings, he can faintly make out the content humming of someone down the street. He silently stalks the person, moving from a dark alleyway to a secluded building with ease. As he draws closer, he can clearly see that it's Mc, wandering lazily down the vacant road.

After a while more of walking, Mammon watches Mc as she approaches a lone vending machine, her form illuminated by its warm glow. She calmly stands before it, wallet in hand as she carefully examines all its options, looking unsettlingly casual for being a mere human alone in the middle of Devildom.

This is what she’s doing? She’s risking her life to just wander around Devildom, like it's not the most insane thing in the world?!

Mc remains happily oblivious to the seething Mammon mere yards away from her as she decides against buying from the vending machine. She turns to continue her stroll, revelling in what she believes is solitude. As Mc languidly walks down the street, she turns over the past month’s events slowly in her mind, allowing the darkness to swallow her whole as she passes between each widely spaced street light.

Mc finally lets out a sigh of relief, the cautioned breath that she had been holding within her for weeks on end escaping from her tightly wound lungs. Although she hasn’t felt this kind of liberation in what felt like ages, she can’t help but be haunted by the concerning actions of her beloved demons, even in this rare moment of release.

It's not like she didn’t understand why they were so protective of her, and it’s not like she didn’t value her life enough to not at least sympathize with their perspective on the matter. No...what she was really concerned about was how aggressive they’d become. How they became so blinded with this newfound possessive nature that they completely ignored how she felt. She sighed once again, shrugging to herself.

If they continued to not listen to her, all she could really do is wait out this period of aggression while quietly stealing small freedoms like this for herself. It would be fine, right? As long as she pretends to follow Lucifer’s rules and makes sure that no one finds out, it all would-

Before she could finish her thought, a scream ripped through her throat as a strong arm gripped her own. She frantically whipped herself around to face her attacker, only to come face-to-face with the Great Mammon himself.

Underneath the moonlight, there was no mistaking the snow white glint of her hair, his piercingly icy eyes that squinted at Mc with anger and concern. Once she had deliberated that she was in no real danger, she began mentally kicking herself for immediately being found out, and by one of the most panicky brothers at that.

“What are you doing here?!” Mc gasps, attempting to free herself from his grasp.

“What am I doing here? What the fuck are you doing here, Mc?” Mammon protests, pulling her towards him fretfully. “-Y’know what, it doesn’t matter anymore,” he angrily adds before Mc can respond. “I’m calling Lucifer and the others right now, and I’m gonna let them know I’m bringing you back home safely.”

“What?! Mammon, please don’t! You know what Lucifer will do to me if he finds out I broke his rules!” Mc pleads, clutching the front of his shirt despairingly.

Mammon usually caves at any form of touch Mc offers him, a fact that she desperately tries to exploit in this situation. However, he simply glances at her hand, then her face. Their eyes meet, and he quickly looks away, shame and worry taking turns flushing his expression.

Mc can clearly tell he's struggling to decide who he wants to side with as he bites his lip woefully. After what feels like ages, Mammon places his hands firmly on Mc's upper arms, pulling her closer to him.

"Listen, Mc... I really wanna help you out here...." he begins, his tone pleading.

"...But?" Mc questions slowly, the hope that Mammon would aid her quickly shriveling.

"...But I just can't let you risk your life like this!" he finishes, flinching prematurely in anticipation of Mc's reaction to his words.

Mc is silent for a moment, eyes searching Mammon's face in disbelief. "...Is this what risking my life is to you?"

"Yes! You know how dangerous Devildom is at night, and you went out alone-" he exclaims quickly.

"-This is... that's besides the point!" Mc cries out. "Can't you see? Can't you see that all this shit is killing me, Mammon?!"

"Wha- What are you talking about?" he says, bewildered by Mc's sudden outburst.

"All these rules, every time you or your brothers lose your shit over me, how you all treat me-I...I feel trapped, Mammon!" Mc gasps, throat tightening as tears begin to pool beneath her eyelashes.

Mc clutches his arms as well, physically forcing Mammon to witness her distress.

"You all are suffocating me! Are you seriously okay with letting me be treated like this?!" she cries out, her hands trembling slightly with emotion.

Mammon simply stares at her, his heart pained by her sudden display of vulnerability. After a moment, he gently grasps Mc's hand, intertwining their fingers tenderly. He gazes at their hands, squeezing his eyes shut as he placed them against his mouth, silently willing himself to speak again.

"...If...If that's what it takes to keep you alive, Mc.." he gasps painfully, his voice barely a whisper. "...Then I have no choice but to accept it."

Mc stares at him, the gentle nighttime breeze brushing tears across her still face. She blinks, trying to process the fact that Mammon had betrayed her.

"I thought...I thought I could depend on you, Mammon," she murmurs, dropping Mammon's hand as his chest twists tightly at her words.

In response, Mammon desperately fights the urge to burst out sobbing right in front of Mc, wanting nothing more but to hug her tightly and beg for forgiveness. Before he can allow himself to submit to this moment of weakness, he takes Mc's hand once again.

"I'm sorry...," he is all he can mutter, shame flooding his tone as he gently pulls Mc back to the House of Lamentation. As they begin the silent track home, Mammon quickly wipes his face with his arm, his sleeve stained with tears.

==================================

Still being tugged by an unusually silent Mammon, Mc watches as he swung open the door to the House of Lamentations common room.

There, she saw Asmo and Levi impatiently pacing the room, with Beel sitting on the couch looking woefully at Belphie, who sleeps restlessly in his lap. Satan sat in a chair nearby looking dazed as Lucifer stood with his back to them all, staring into the flickering light of the now dying fireplace.

As the sound of the door flying open echos within the room, they all turned to look at the scene before them. Mammon leads a now angerly struggling Mc into the room, trying his best to be gentle.

All of the brothers rise to greet her, save a half-asleep Belphie. Before Mc can fully take in their concerned faces and formulate a proper explanation, they are already bombarding her with questions.

“Where have you been?” Lucifer exclaims, the relief on his face beginning to fade into anger.

From behind him, Asmo pushes his way to Mc, quickly embracing them in the most dramatic fashion.

“Mc, we were so worried! We began to think you had been taken or ran off!” he cries out, hand clasping her's almost too tightly, Mc’s flesh beginning to turn a shade of white from the pressure.

Shaking their hand free from Asmo’s hold, Mc finds herself instinctively backing up to distance herself from the advancing brothers, feeling their concern beginning to give way to wrath.

Mc lightly bumps into Mammon, who was standing behind her. He firmly places his hands on their shoulders, making her shiver from the contact. She could feel some form of undefinable emotion slicking the room in its scent, painting her form, pulling a nervous sweat from her skin in response.

“I found her wanderin’ the streets just now...by herself," he admits, his tone coated with regret.

“What?” the brothers all exclaim in unison, absolute aghast.

“I honestly don’t understand what the problem is here...I just went on a walk on my own! I was restless, and I wanted to be alone for once, okay?”, Mc blurts out, words laden with frustration due to the brothers' reactions.

Lucifer steps forwards, looming over her with an air of absolute disappointment.

“You went outside...by yourself?”

“Yes! You guys were suffocating me, so I just wanted some time for myself to just…” she falters, trying to phrase her emotions in a way that won’t set him off. “...to just think, okay? Is that really that bad?”

“Yes, it is. You’re not naive, Mc. You know how dangerous Devildom is. You know how every demon is just another predator laying in wait for the first moment you’re vulnerable.”

“He’s right, Mc. Not all demon’s are like us- they don’t all have good intentions,” Mammon insists, sympathy flooding his features.

“I know you don’t like it, but we just want to protect you…,” he finishes. Asmo and Levi nod slightly, Belphie quietly watching from his curled position on the couch.

“I understand that, but I can handle myself! Don’t you trust me to do something so simple?” Mc sputters to them. She looks around the room for support from any of the brothers, but they’re all avoiding her desperate gaze.

“...Lucifer..” she prods as she approaches him cautiously with an extending hand.

Ignoring her advance, Lucifer answers, “Maybe I once could have, but your blatant disregard for our rules has me rethinking that.” He places a thumb on his chin thoughtfully before continuing in a more threatening tone.

“Perhaps these restrictions were not… clear... enough for you. I suggest that this be the last time you act so recklessly, or else additions to the current rules must be made.” Lucifer states coldly, his demeanor resembling that of an irritated parent.

Shocked by the threat, Mc struggles to return an argument. Feeling exhausted by the whole ordeal already, she simply states, “I… I don’t understand this. I have the right to go where I want, when I want.”

“You don’t anymore.” Lucifer replies matter-of-factly. His stern expression falters for a minute, briefly concerned that he has gone too far. After a moment of hesitation, he returns to his earlier attitude, committed to making his point.

“You’ve had too many near-death experiences in Devildom, so we must accommodate for such things. For your own safety.”

Mc scoffs half-hearty at this.

"I would think that you would understand that by now," Lucifer continues, frowning angrily at her.

Half ignoring Lucifer’s words, Mc mutters to herself, “You guys didn’t used to be like this, you didn’t used to treat me like a child...”

“Mc, when you act like a child, you will be treated like one.” he states with a tone of finality, his burning wrath threatening to bubble over the surface. It's clear he deems the argument as over, the matter sorted out.

Mc’s heart constricts with pain as she plops down onto the nearby couch, causing Belphie to assume a sitting position from next to her. He reaches towards Mc to provide some comfort, yet she’s too lost in her thoughts to notice. She holds her head in the tips of her fingers, trying to control each burning emotion that flashes behind her eyes, reeling from being spoken to in such a patronizing way by the demon she trusted most.

All this? Over a simple nighttime stroll?

The other brothers collectively take a hesitant step forward, conflicted on whether to come to Mc’s aid or to side with Lucifer. After a few tense moments, Mc collects herself and replies in a faintly shaky voice, a last ditch effort to get through to him.

“Please, just listen- I know that it can be dangerous, but I had my D.D.D on me, and no would dare touch me after what you guys did to those other demo-”.

Her complaints are cut off by her own sharp yelp of surprise as Lucifer grabbed a tuft of her shift, lifting her from her seated position on the couch to meet his furious eyes.

“You just don’t get it do you?” he hisses. “Nowhere is safe for you, especially on your own. That is why we keep you in the House of Lamentation, that’s why we have rules. Though you might be too stubborn to understand, you must follow them, or else-”.

This time, Lucifer is cut off by Satan’s hand on his shoulder, wrath radiating from his form.

“You let go of her. Now.” He commands, his normally collected facade cracking, jaw clenched painfully.

Lucifer eyes him up and down before replying, “No. She acted recklessly, so I am reminding her of her place. Leave me be, or must I do the same to you?”

Seeming satisfied with his retort, Lucifer turns away from Satan to face Mc again.

Instead of obeying his command, Satan digs his nails further into Lucifer’s shoulder, and forcefully whips him around to face him. Shocked by this sudden assault, Lucifer pushes his hand away before briefly steeling himself, no doubt in preparation for a larger, more violent altercation.

Before something much worse can happen, Asmo and Beel spring forward to intervene. Beel takes the more dangerous route, placing himself between the two brothers to form a barrier of flesh should decide to lash out at each other.

Quickly, Asmo circles around to Satan, cautiously approaching him with his hands up, speaking in a soothing tone. Despite his nervous smile and gentle words, he is acutely aware of the terrifying amount of anger that is spilling from Satan and Lucifer, filling the room with its poison. He must quell it before a mini-war breaks out with Mc caught in between.

“Satan, Lucifer, please calm down. It doesn’t need to escalate to this kind of fighting,” he coaxes.

Beel grunts in agreement, bearing down on Satan's searing glare as he stands with his back to Lucifer, loyally guarding the fuming eldest demon. Asmo’s gaze quickly flickers to Levi, attempting to grab his attention. Levi returns his gaze as Asmo then motions to Mc, silently prompting him to rescue her from the precarious spot she currently occupies.

When Satan opens his mouth to retort, his voice bellows with unbridled anger, “He can’t fucking touch her like that! It doesn’t matter what she’s done, I won’t let him attack her like that again!”

Everyone in the room freezes, instantly understanding what he is referencing. Lucifer’s eyes widen with shock, and then narrow, simmering with irritation of the highest degree.

“What did you say?” he grunts, the question offered as a final chance for Satan to back down.

Instead of taking this opportunity, Satan opts to continue his verbal assault.

“Don’t act stupid, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Satan sneers, hands raised to gesture accusingly at Lucifer.

“Do I really have to remind you about how many times you tried to attack… no, kill Mc? And now you have the audacity to scream at her for ‘risking her life’? Your hypocrisy makes me sick!” Satan’s chest heaves from the flurry of insults, the slightest hint of satisfaction lingering in his expression.

By this time, Levi had managed to navigate his way around the crowd of brothers and began slowly approaching a stunned Mc, attempting to remain unnoticed by the pair.

What? Satan knows that I’ve forgiven Lucifer a long time ago…

Instinctively, Mc steps forward in an effort to place herself between the two alongside Beel.

“Stop this Satan! Please, don’t say such things, this isn’t about those times-” Mc is cut off as Mammon grabs her arm, attempting to pull her away from the scene. He can feel the situation escalating, and he's become worried about how the attention momentarily shifted away from Satan and Lucifer to her.

“Mc, be quiet. Just leave em’ be... it's really not safe right now, so just let me take ya away from all of it, okay?” he whispers, his low voice and sympathetic eyes starkly contrasting the firm, nearly threatening hold he had on Mc’s arm.

“But Mammon, I don’t want to leave, I still need to fix this...”, she replies quickly.

“Oi! Where the hell do you think you're going, Mammon!” Levi shouts as he notices Mammon beginning to make off with his precious human before he got the chance to, drawing the gaze of the other demons in the room. Levi snatches Mc’s other free arm and attempts to pull her in his direction.

Before Mammon can protest, he exclaims, “Don’t think you can get out of this one scott-free! You were supposed to be watching her! What the hell happened?”.

“I was! She just snuck off on her own, but I found her anyway, right?! She would be doing god-knows-what in the streets of downtown Devildom if it wasn’t for me!” Mammon retorts, absentmindedly tugging Mc in his direction again while placing a finger insultingly in Levi’s face with his free hand.

“If you were watching her properly and not out clubbing, there wouldn’t have even been a problem in the first place,” Levi hisses.

Beel and Asmo watch as a new fight emerges, exchanging looks of panic as another pair of their siblings are consumed their festering rage.

Mc is once again caught in the crossfire of the fighting brothers, and can’t decide if she should join the argument or break free of their grasps first. Seeing how they disregarded her protests before, she decides to go for the latter option.

“I always knew that you’re a massive fuck-up Mammon, but I’d at least think that if Mc’s safety was involved, then you’d actually give a shit,” Levi practically spits at Mammon, words dripping with jealousy as his gaze hones in on Mammon’s hand wrapped around Mc’s arm.

Mc flinches at the rising volume of their argument as she twists her arm in the hands of both Levi and Mammon, to no avail. As she begins to feel bruises forming, she yells for them to release her.

“Guys! Let me go-” This time, Levi has pulled her harshly towards him, causing her to hiss in pain. “Ah!...Stop- you’re hurting me!”.

Mammon either didn’t hear her plea, or chose to ignore her as he shoots back, “I don’t wanna be lectured about how I protect Mc, especially from you of all people! You’re no better than Lucifer! You tried to kill her over a damn TSL competition!”

Levi’s face flushes with shame, placing a hand over his mouth defensively.

“That-, t-that’s besides the point! Y-you were supposed to save her, but you couldn’t even reach her in time!” he sputters, throwing Mammon’s failure in his face as an attempt to divert blame. Mc has begun struggling more feverishly now, continuously forgotten by the pair.

Levi most definitely hit a nerve, so as Mammon begins to snarl his reply, Belphie finally interjects.

“Levi, Mammon, let go of Mc. You’re hurting her,” he says in a disgusted tone, glancing at her reddening arms.

Although they both instantly release Mc from their clutches after exchanging shameful glances, neither of them wasted a moment before directing their rage towards Belphie.

“You, specifically, can stay out of this," Levi sneers.

Mc knows exactly where this is heading.

“No- Levi, don’t start-”, she pleads, hoping to avoid the searing words that are bound to come next.

As the seething demon continues to ignore her, Mc exclaims, “Levi, listen to me! Don’t reopen old wounds over something like this-”.

Levi doesn’t even glance at her as he approaches Belphie. Before he can get very far, Beel has already planted himself in front of Belphie. He looms dangerously over Levi, wordlessly protecting his twin from his wrath as he did for Lucifer. Despite being stopped in his tracks, Levi doesn’t hesitate to holler at Belphie from behind Beel’s form.

Gesturing to everyone in the room, Levi begins, “You know, for how attached Belphie seems to be to Mc, he’s never once apologized for what he did to her. Not once have I heard it… and now he wants to have a say in how we handle her?”

“Levi, I’m not something to be handled- and you don’t speak for me! I know that he’s sorry, I don’t need a verbal-,” Mc exclaims while choking back hot tears, feeling more and more overwhelmed by desperation.

It's all going horribly wrong, all because she just wanted to be alone for a few hours, not argued over like a prized possession. Despite her best efforts, her words fall on deaf ears. She cannot be heard over Belphies' insulted screaming and the scuffling coming from Lucifer’s attempts to diffuse Satan.

Before any of them know it, Asmo has his arms around Levi’s shoulders, desperately attempting to hold him back while Beel performs the same maneuver on Belphie.

A small sob escapes Mc’s lips as she watches the scene unfold, as her most treasured brothers tear into their delicate bonds that she so carefully crafted during her time at Devildom.

“Everyone, please stop this,” she murmurs softly.

This time, with more ferocity, “None of you get to decide what’s best for me. I’m not something any of you can just control in any way you see fit!” she yells, desperate to be heard over the commotion.

Despite this enormous effort, the brothers continue to fight amongst themselves, feeding off one anothers wrath and hurt. In that moment, they’re no longer caring demons who welcomed and protected Mc when she was flung into a new, dangerous world.

As each brothers’ demon forms begin to materialize, they’ve become a collective antagonist. Their flowering desire to shield Mc from harm is no longer out of love, but out of an animalistic instinct to lay claim on what they perceive as theirs.

It’s becoming too much for Mc, her psychic continuously worn thin by the brothers’ actions. She needs them to stop fighting; to stop hurting each other over her. And most of all, she needs to be heard. No… not to simply be heard, but to be understood and respected in the way that loving people do with one another.

That desire to be heard, for the room to be silent with only her voice echoing in the ears of her demons, the desire to be free from the brothers’ suffocating control, the desire to be seen as equal. It all smears together like pigment until it's completely unrecognizable, staining the deepest corners of her mind with its muddy hue, seeping into the outskirts of her already foggy vision. Absolutely overcome with anguish, Mc raises her left hand to the brothers.

Subconsciously, she knows that the only way to get their attention is to use the only force the most powerful demons in Devildom could never resist: their pacts.

As she lifts her other hand to support the trembling weight of her extended arm, the pact symbols aligned in various places on her body begin to warm, a soothing warmth that slowly gives way into searing pain. At the same time, the brothers' pact marks begin to glow from beneath their clothes, emitting a supernatural heat that remains unnoticed for an instant.

Each time she had used her pacts to command the demons, she had been in control. She knew exactly what she wanted to do with them, and how she should go about doing it.

This time was different. She wasn’t the level-headed person she was normally; her mind foggy, nerves set ablaze by pain, her heart pounding to no rhythm in particular. In the heat of the moment, the pacts were her only answer, the only end to the fighting.

Her voice, barely contained in the form of a low rumble, surfaced over the brothers. It echoed from behind their eyes, spawned within its cavity the way only their human master could manage.

“All of you, listen to me,” she commands, her even tone contradicting her shaking fingertips and precariously balanced stance; a fragile facade of control.

The brothers didn’t have a chance to protest before they unwittingly ceased their fighting, frozen in place as the weight of the Three Realms seemingly bore down upon their shoulders, an excruciating ache beginning in their shoulders. Aside from the hushed whimpers and grunts of the brothers, the room is deadly silent in an instant.

“None of you own me-” Mc chokes on her words, composure quickly slipping from her fingertips as emotions run rampant within.

In what almost seems like a response, the brothers cry out in pain, limbs bound firmly in the poses they held moments ago; twitching uncontrollably as they feel an uncontrollable force coursing through their veins, searing, hot, and venomous.

Its power, her power, but this time it's not reinvigorating them, it's destroying them from the inside out. The crackling sensation of energy washes over them, existing only within the depths of theirs souls rather than the room around them.

Clutching her chest in anguish, Mc continues despite the agonized cries the brothers continue to let out.

“I-” she gulps painfully. “I am not something to be controlled! I don’t belong to any of you!” she screams, her words cutting the brothers to the bone.

At the same time, the pact symbols steam angrily from beneath the brothers' clothing, indicating a surge of energy in response to Mc’s emotion.

Some of the younger demons have gone silent, faces limp and expressionless; rendered unconscious from the enormous strain the pacts. The older brothers struggle in vain against the invisible restraints that keep them bound in place, desperate to escape air around them that has seemingly turned solid against their forms at Mc’s wim. As Satan and Asmo’s eyes begin to roll behind their eyelids, Mc gathers the strength to continue.

“I don’t belong to any of you,” she cries out, tears dripping from her chin, teeth clenched tightly. “You don’t get to treat me like this…”.

The pained groans of the few conscious brothers echo within the room, amplifying the sorrow coursing within her. Mc is beginning to reach the limits of her power; approaching the climax of this sudden surge of energy with disorientating speed.

Finally, she screams with all the strength she can muster, “You all will respect me, or you will lose me!”

The moment her words leave her mouth, the stream of power connecting Mc and the demon brothers shatters, releasing them from its iron grip.

Instantly, Belphie and Beel slump to a heap on the floor while Satan and Asmo weakly struggle to remain on their hands and knees. Levi, Mammon, and Lucifer are barely left standing. The conscious brothers take deep, shaky breaths; feeling as if an enormous weight has lifted off their lungs.

Bruises have already begun forming on each of the demons’ exposed skin, blossoming over the sweat slick surfaces with murky purples and yellows.

Mc finally opens her eyes to the scene, bearing witness to what she’s done in her moment of terrifying passion. Horrified, the burning anger she felt before now twists within her until it contorts into a deep, aching regret that seeps into every fiber of her bones, soaking her in its presence until she feels heavy enough to sink straight into the floor.

After taking a moment to gulp in air, Mammon shakely lifts his head to look at her, his normally fluffy hair clinging to his wet forehead. Although his expression is hard to read, he still looks pained.

“M-Mc…,” he pants, meeting her hazy eyes with his own equally blurred gaze.

Mc looks at him, taking in how awfully she wretched his body. Her eyes flick towards the others; Belphie has started to regain consciousness, weakly reaching across to Beel’s still body from his collapsed position on the floor.

A stunned Satan moves to cradle Asmo as he faintly coughs, his hand shaking as he pulls Asmo upright. Lucifer’s palm ghosts over Levi’s back to confront the trembling demon, eyes glazed over as his free hand presses against his pounding temples.

Despite the weakness of his body, Mammon doesn’t hesitate to move towards Mc; more concerned with mending the mistakes he’s made than caring for his battered physic. Wordlessly, he tries to embrace Mc, but she instinctively backs away from him.

This gesture alone breaks her heart; she hurt him, forced him and his brothers to endure unimaginable pain through the pacts they cherished, only for Mammon to immediately try to comfort her. That guilt, that sorrow; it was once again all too much for her.

The other brothers have begun moving towards her too, their attitudes starkly contrasting that of a few moments ago.

Mc's eyes return to Mammon’s pale face, his features laced dangerously with hurt, regret, and shock. In this moment, all she knows is that she must get away; she can barely handle that look Mammon gave her, let alone the gazes that the six other brothers had.

As her name begins to fall from their mouths, she quickly turns on her heel and runs towards the door, slamming into it with her shoulder and taking off into the dimly lit hallway.

“Mc! Wait-,” Lucifer calls out to her retreating form.

“Please, come bac-” Levi exclaims breathlessly, his remaining words muffled by the sound of the door slamming shut.

Tearfully, she races towards the stairs, nearly tripping as she descends two steps at a time. In a matter of moments she’s reached the grand door of the House of Lamentation, hastily pushing it open to reveal a full moon illuminating the dark street.

There’s a moment of peace as the cool, nighttime air hits her face once again, soaking her senses in its refreshment and chilling the tears that pool in the corners of her eyes and on the tip of her chin.

This brief moment of comfort is interrupted by the sound of the doors to the common room opening, and Mc steels herself before plunging into the outside world. Her pants grow louder as she stumbles through street after street, the pounding of her feet echoing as she hits each brick in the hard pavement.

Her thoughts swirl together, so much so that she barely notices she’s going absolutely nowhere, simply away from the House of Lamentation.

After a while of running Mc stops to pant heavily, hands placed over her knees as she attempts to breath and sob simultaneously.

She finally notices that her D.D.D is buzzing like crazy, calls and texts from the brothers popping up at such a frequency that she can’t even use the device. To her, it's just another nuisance, another reminder of what just occurred. Frustrated, she chucks the D.D.D into the closest alleyway, listening to it clatter on the pavement.

She’s emotionally and physically drained, wringed dry of any remaining resolve. She crouches on to the floor, rocking back on her heels as she turns her head to the sky.

The stars above twinkle, the rays of light they emit blur into bright streaks as she blinks the tears from her eyes. In the end, it seems she got what she wanted. She’s alone in the streets of Devildom, soaking herself in the night as she had yearned to mere hours before.

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Thank you for reading Part 2! Writing this chapter was low-key emotionally draining, so I hope you all find it enjoyable! Part 3 probably won't be out for a couple days, so please sit tight while i write feverishly!

Once again, comments, suggestions, and reblogs are appreciated! :)

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Mc sat nervously at the dining table in the House of Lamentation, all the chairs filled with their respective brothers. Lucifer had called a “family meeting” earlier that day during RAD classes and had stressed that everyone must be there.

At first Mc hadn’t been too worried about the sudden order, but simply watching Mammon anxiously bounce his leg from next to her with his chin resting gravely on his palm, had her suddenly reconsidering. Everyone instantly perked up as Lucifer cleared his throat from the end of the long table.

“In light of… recent events...,” he begins his gaze sweeping from brother to brother, eventually landing firmly on Mc, making her jump slightly. He pauses for a moment, huffing slightly.

“...I have decided that there is an urgent need for new rules regarding Mc, more specifically on how to ensure she remains safe in her time at Devildom,” he announces.

“What do you mean ‘new rules’,” Mc questions, eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Lucifer shoots her a quick glare after being interrupted before continuing.

“I mean that as of today, you cannot be without an escort when leaving the House of Lamentation under any circumstances-,” he says as Mc rises quickly from her chair.

“What?! I need an escort?-'' she exclaims, hands placed definitely on the table before her.

“-That includes walking to and from RAD, walking between class periods, and anywhere else outside of the House of Lamentation,” he continues, ignoring Mc’s sudden outburst.

“That ridiculous, I can handle walking myself perfectly fine-,” Mc shouts.

“You will be required to have your D.D.D on you at all times, and you are not permitted to leave the house after 8pm,” he states coldly, staring down Mc. “All of which are effective for an indefinite amount of time.”

“This isn’t necessary, Lucifer! I know what happened last week, but that doesn’t mean you can just start making me follow all these crazy restrictions!” Mc pleads, desperately looking around the table at the brothers for any semblance of support.

However, they all avoid her gaze, a few of them taking sudden interest in the intricate carvings that adorn the side of the wooden table.

“It is necessary, Mc,” Lucifer says matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. “I know that you’re a very independent person, but these rules are for your own safety.”.

“I’m sorry Lucifer, but I won’t allow myself to submit to this-,” Mc begins defiantly.

“-You will follow these rules. This is not something that is up for discussion, Mc!” he bellows, causing everyone at the table to flinch at the sudden aggression.

“And that goes for all of you,” he commands, pointing accusingly at his brothers. “You all are to make sure that she adheres to these rules, you understand?”

They all exchange quick glaces between a fuming Mc and Lucifer’s stern expression. They all nod slowly, reluctantly submitting to Lucifer’s will. Mc flops angrily into her chair, teeth clenched as she festers silently in her own wrath.

As much as she wants to, she simply can’t win against Lucifer, especially not on this one. Seeing that none of the other brothers came to her aid, she decides she has no choice but to swallow her pride. Biting her tongue, she nods slightly along with the brothers.

“Then… that is all that I need to say,” Lucifer says, his composure restored as he rises from his seat. “This meeting is adjourned.”

In the days after Lucifer's declaration, Mc begrudgingly followed each rule. Although she was still fuming, she offered no further protest on the matter, electing to just wait until Lucifer decided these restrictions were no longer necessary.

After a while, Mc began to not be particularly bothered by these rules. Although she valued her occasional moments of solitude, having the brothers escort her from place to place proved to be somewhat enjoyable. Additionally, having her D.D.D on her at all times wasn’t too much of a hassle, and it wasn’t like she had many places to be in Devildom after 8pm.

However, Mc began to feel more concerned with the brothers’ behavior as more and more questionable moments occurred between them. She first took notice of this somewhat alarming shift in behavior when Mc was conversing with a new friend from her Curses and Hexes class; another demon, obviously.

Mc was always eager to make new friends, especially since she rarely had the chance to talk to any demons outside of the seven brothers. Her and this new demon had randomly sparked up a conversation when he had asked her for a spare pencil. He had noticed it had a design on it that originated from a popular movie franchise that he was also interested in, so the duo became engrossed in discussing the topic long into the class period. Even after the bell rang, they continued absentmindedly laughing and chatting with one another.

This caused Beel, who had recently begun waiting for Mc outside of each of her classes to walk her from period to period, to peek his head in the room worriedly. The redhead immediately noticed the lower demon and how he was leaning against Mc’s desk, deep in conversation with his human. Anger quickly sparked in the pit of his abdomen, prompting him to stalk swiftly towards the duo.

He planted a solid hand on Mc’s shoulder. “The bell rang, Mc. Let’s go to your next class,” he grunts, refusing to acknowledge the surprised demon beside him.

“Oh, it's okay Beel. You can go without me, I’ll be leaving after I finish up here in a second,” Mc says cheerfully, waving Beel on without much thought.

In response, his grip tightens every-so slightly on Mc’s shoulder, digging into the fabric of her uniform. “No. I have to go with you Mc,” he says firmly.

“Beel, seriously, it’s okay,” Mc responds in a quizzical tone, eyes flickering between his face and his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll just have my friend here walk me instead. Your class is on the other side of campus anyway, so you’ll be late if you wait for me.”

“I don’t care if I’m late. I’m not going to let you be alone with some other demon, Mc,” he growls.

Both Mc and the lower demon gape at Beel, taken aback by his sudden aggression.

“Beel! Don’t be rude! You don’t need to worry about him, he’s oka-,” Mc exclaims.

“Mc. I’m not leaving you with him,” Beel repeats, this time finally eyeing the fidgeting lower demon sitting across from him. He wilts slightly from Beel’s piercing gaze, feeling as if he’s somehow made a grave mistake by simply talking to Mc. Mc shakes Beel’s hand from her shoulder, rising from her desk to confront him head on.

“Beelzebub. I’m telling you-,” Mc begins before she’s abruptly interrupted by Beel grabbing her wrist and tugging her towards the classroom’s exit. Despite her protests, he managed to make it halfway to her next period before Mc finally wrenched herself from his grip. The other demons in the hallway disperse, fleeing to their classrooms after sensing the dangerous arua the Avatar of Gluttony was emitting.

“What the hell Beel?” she pants, rubbing the angry red skin on her wrist. She eyes him, feeling increasingly uneasy; what happened back in the classroom...it was completely out of character for him. He never spoke to her, or anyone in that way, let alone put his hands on her like that.

“Lucifer said you can’t go anywhere by yourself,” he explains, placing a hand on his neck while shame begins to replace the wrath within him.

“Yeah, I wasn’t going by myself. I said that my friend was going to walk me instead,” Mc shoots back.

Beel frowns, “You can’t trust any demon you meet, Mc. You don’t know if you really would be safe with him.”

In the back of her mind, Mc knows he’s half right; she simply didn’t know that demon well enough to confidently say he wouldn’t try something the moment she was alone and vulnerable. However, she wasn’t upset that Beel questioned his integrity anymore, she was upset that he didn’t even take a moment to consider her feelings on the matter. He simply ran off with her without a second thought, completely disregarding her ability to judge a person’s character on her own without him or one of his brothers weighing in with their own cynical opinions.

They stood silently for a moment as Mc stewed in her thoughts, the hallway empty, its air turning stale around them. Before she could give a proper retort, the sound of the school’s bell rang around them, indicating that they were now both late for class. Mc clenched her firsts angrily.

She then turned sharply and stalked to her next period, allowing an uneasy Beel to accompany her from a distance. Once she entered her classroom and slammed the door behind her, Beel began the trek on his own class. When the next period ended, Mc found Belphie waiting outside to escort her in place of Beel.

Despite this concerning event, there was a brief lull in the brothers’ display of possessive behavior; whether that be because they finally realized that they were suffocating Mc with their antics, or because Mc had been more careful about complying to Lucifer’s rules.  However, this moment of peace was soon to be interrupted.

After Asmo accidentally spilled wine on Mc during a visit to Ristorante Six, he had vowed to take her shopping for a whole new outfit, even though it only really stained her blouse. When Levi caught wind of the excursion, he decided to tag along to go window shopping for some newly released Ruri-chan merchandise.

That weekend, the trio made their way to the bustling shopping center at the heart of Devildom; the majority of the day was very lighthearted and served as a much needed break from school and the crushing protectiveness of the brothers. They all spent hours browsing and trying on clothes in Majolish, laughing as Asmo forced Levi to briefly explore his fashion sense with them. After they finally left, Mc and Asmo struggled to carry the various bags filled to the brim with clothes and accessories while Levi happily snapped pictures of the exasperated pair, offering no help as he uploaded the photos to Devilgram.

After some more teasing, Levi finally slid his phone away before reaching to take one of the heavier bags from Mc’s hand. Mc gladly accepts the aid, shifting her weight forward to lean towards his extended hand. However, her shoe briefly caught the raised surface of a slightly out-of-place tile in the pavement, causing her to trip mid-step. Before she could sprawl across the floor below, she collides into a passing demon, falling face first into their chest.

“Hey! Watch it-,” the demon shouts, falling backwards from the force of the impact.

Mc instantly removes herself from the demon. “Ah-, I’m sorry! Are you okay?,” flustered from the embarrassing spectacle she’s caused. She offers a hand to the fallen demon, smiling politely as they glare at her from the floor.

“My apologies, I accidentally tripped, and you just happened to be in front of me...,” she says quickly as they begrudgingly reach to take her hand.

Before their palms can overlap, Levi moves in between the two, slapping the demon’s hand away from Mc’s. Shocked, the demon sharply pulls back his hand, hissing from the insult.

“Levi? What the fuck was that for?” Mc gasped, Levi’s expression startlingly contradicting the joyful demon he was moments ago.

“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” Levi snarls at the demon, shoving Mc behind him despite her protests. “Stay the fuck away from us.”

At a loss for words, Mc desperately looks to Asmo for help. Rather than stepping forward to mitigate the situation as he so often does, Asmo simply moves to pick up the fallen bag and plants himself next to Levi, ignoring Mc’s aghast face.

“Guys, calm down! It was my fault, I was the one who bumped into them!” Mc exclaims, moving in front of the pair with raised hands.

“Yeah, what the hell? It was just an accident-,” the demon begins, moving to return to a standing position. Before they can get themselves completely upright, Levi shoves him to the ground.

“Levi-,” Mc yelped at the sudden display of violence. This time, she places a hand on the two advancing brothers’ chest, glaring at them both.

“If you two don’t knock this shit off right now, I’ll use our pacts to command you to stop,” she warns, hoping the anger in her tone masked the fear she felt creeping its way into the corners of her mind.

Levi clicks his tongue in frustration, reluctantly taking a step away from the terrified demon. Asmo slowly follows, never taking his eyes off them.

“Fine,” Asmo mutters. “But it would be in your best interest to leave, and never show your face around us ever again,” Asmo spat at the demon, his usually pristine face twisted into an irritated grimace.

The demon immediately takes off in the other direction, leaving the trio alone in the street. Before Mc could scold them, they both link their arms around her’s and stomp away.

“That was out-of-fucking line, guys!” Mc exclaims after a moment of stunned silence. The pair flinch a little but continue tugging her back to the House of Lamentation wordlessly.

“That was… that was absolutely ridiculous! It was just a simple mistake, and it was my fault! There was no reason for you guys to blow up on them like that!” she says, whipping her head from side to side in an attempt to read the faces of the two demons.

“Why’re you acting like that demon running into me was some kind of assasinaton attempt?! You guys didn’t used to be this… unreasonable…” she trails off, desperately trying to get Levi or Asmo to meet her eyes. “...What the fuck happened?” she asks the pair.

“I’ll tell you what the fuck happened, Mc,” Levi finally retorts, clenching his teeth as he lifts his head to look at her from behind his violet hair. “You… you were almost killed... not even a month ago. And if you think we’re just going to let something like that happen again then-”.

“But they weren’t trying to kill me!” Mc thundered, shaking with anger. “You both totally overreacted!”

“We can’t be too careful, Mc. I’m sorry we upset you, but I’d rather that than risk you being murdered!” Asmo admits, gripping her arm desperately.

“There was no danger, Asmo!” Mc yells. “Why can’t you two understand that?”

Levi and Asmo exchanged troubled glances.

“Mc, we’re just trying to do what’s best for you…” Levi pleads, Asmo nodding.

“This is what you think is best for me?! Just tearing off with me the moment I interact with any demon aside from you guys?” Mc scoffs, struggling to wrap her mind around the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

The two demons are silent, festering in shame and frustration. They avoid her eyes, struggling to produce a proper retort.

“I decide what is best for me, got it?! Because clearly, you guys have lost all touch with reality!” she continues, beyond caring about softening her insults.

Although the brothers wanted to argue back, they both elected to bite their tongues for the rest of the walk home, hoping that Mc would eventually calm down and come around to their point of view.

However, when they finally arrived home Mc ripped her arms from their grip, storming to her room while Asmo and Levi frantically tried to apologize from behind her wake. She slammed the door in their faces; they knocked the wooden surface as they pleaded for her to let them so they could make it up to her.

After a while of fruitlessly calling to her, they finally gave up, leaving Mc alone to quietly sob in her room. She refused to speak to the pair for a couple days afterward, but eventually gave up on attempting to hold a grudge on the demons she loved so deeply. She tried to drop her guard around them once again, but still couldn’t shake that uneasy feeling that had been clouding her mind ever since that day.

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Although Mc found these instances incredibly peculiar (alarmingly so), she still gave the demon brothers the benefit of the doubt. She understood that they cared for her fiercely, and that this could lead them to act aggressively; but she could not wrap her head around why they were starting to disregard how Mc felt. They had begun to handle her like a delicate piece of artwork; something to be admired from within a protective container, never to be touched by outside hands.

Despite this, she decided that for the time being she would simply grin a bear it all while she gave them a chance to calm themselves, hoping they would all eventually return to their normal selves. However, this was not the case as Mc would soon realize after she had forgotten to walk home with Mammon after classes at RAD.

As per Lucifer’s rules, Mc was to be accompanied by one of the brothers to and from school. After much pestering from Mammon, she agreed to make walking back with him a daily occurrence. The two would meet in the garden at the center of RAD’s campus and make the journey home together, chatting about their day. However, Mc had completely forgotten about this agreement one day.

Mc has a bad habit of becoming lost in thought, forgetting the world around her as she silently listens to music through a pair of tangled earbuds. Mc was often accompanied by at least 1-2 demon brothers at once, so she doesn't often get much time to simply explore her own thoughts without interruption. This, coupled with her bad habit of becoming detached from the present, caused her to simply walk straight to the House of Lamentation without the thought of meeting Mammon even crossing her mind.

She had gotten home before any of the others, and absentmindedly slumped into bed after changing out of her RAD uniform. Lazily rolling over, she reached out to pick up her previously discarded D.D.D and earbuds, music still faintly playing. She clicked on the screen to turn off the music and noticed she had 9 new notifications while her phone was on silent. There were 6 text messages from Mammon, and 4 new missed calls. Mc sat up in bed to read the texts:

“Oi! Where the hell are ya at Mc?” - 19 minutes ago

“Are you coming or not? Did ya forget about me?” - 16 minutes ago

1 missed call.

“Did ya walk home with Asmo instead of me? That hurts my feelings, ya know.” - 15 minutes ago

1 missed call.

“Hey! Respond to my calls… you’re startin’ to worry me”. - 12 minutes ago

"If you’re worried that I’m mad, I’m not! Just text me when ya get home safely, OK?” - 11 minutes ago

2 missed calls.

“That's it! You better call me back right now, or I’m gonna start freakin’ out!” - 6 minutes ago

Mc drags a hand over her face, annoyed by his gross overreaction. Mammon has always been the clingy type, something she had gotten used to and eventually found somewhat endearing. However, this was just too much…

Before she could even begin to return his calls, the door to her room burst open, swinging on its hinges and slamming into the wall with a loud bang. There in the doorway stood Mammon, sweaty, panting, and obviously very distressed. Alongside him stood Satan, Asmo, and Belphie, all looking slightly less disheveled but with equally concerned expressions. As soon as they laid their eyes on her, relief immediately flushed all other emotion from their faces.

“Wha-”, she began, but was swiftly cut off when Mammon leapt towards her to clutch her shoulders.

“What the hell happened Mc?!” he exclaims, shaking her before embracing her firmly. After a tense moment, he quickly peels himself from her form, his flushed face mere inches from her own as he continues his volley of questions.

“I really thought something bad happened to you!” he cries out, silvery eyebrows furrowed. Mc opened her mouth to explain but was interrupted once again.

“-and why didn’t ya answer my calls? I got so worried that I even called Asmo, and when he said that you weren’t with him, I totally freaked!” he says, his eyes wandering to inspect her body; still expecting her to be harmed in some way.

Mc pushes the babbling demon off of her as she explains, “I’m sorry, I had my D.D.D on silent, so I didn’t see any of your texts.”

As Mammon tumbles to the foot of her bed, Asmo quickly takes his place next to her.

“Mc! You can’t do that to us again! We really thought some other demon got to you!” he sobs, wrapping his arms around her , dramatically burying his face in the crook of her neck. Satan turns his back to them to make a call on his D.D.D, presumably to let the others know that Mc is safe and sound at home.

Overwhelmed by the sudden attention, Mc struggles to pry the weeping demon off of her. She looks to Belphie to help as he’s usually the brother that grants her the most freedom in situations like these. Meeting her gaze, Belphie moves forward, his facade of indifference faintly cracking.

“That doesn’t explain why you didn't wait for one of us to walk with you. You know you’re not supposed to go anywhere by yourself, Mc,” he says with a sigh, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to feign exasperation.

Mc glares at him; she half-expected him to be on her side, to scold Mammon and Asmo for their dramatic antics as he so often does.

“I’m sorry guys, I totally forgot to wait. I guess I just got so lost in thought that I didn’t realize I forgot about Mammon,” she admits, chuckling awkwardly at her rather anticlimactic explanation. Satan turns to face them as he places his D.D.D back into his pant pocket, frowning at her words.

“Well, it's a good thing that you at least went straight back to the House of Lamentation, because if we didn’t find you in your room, Lucifer would have asked Diavolo to form a royal search party for you,” he says, his hand cupping his chin thoughtfully.

“What?! A search party?” Mc exclaims, becoming more exasperated by the second. “Isn’t that a bit much? I mean… I was only unaccounted for for less than half an hour, right? Doesn’t that seem like overkill to you?” she questions, attempting to face Satan as Asmo and Mammon fuss over her.

Satan and Belpie, who normally jump at any chance to criticize Lucifer’s decisions, simply shook their heads.

“No, it’s understandable. We can’t afford to give you the benefit of the doubt anymore,” Satan sighs.

“Huh?” Mc says, completely vexed by his explanation.

Satan moves to place a hand on her head, his palm lovingly stroking her hair despite the troubled expression that lingers on his features.

“You better start working on your apology, because Lucifer and the others are on their way back now,” he says, only half-joking. “And from what he told me, Levi and Beel had been tearing up every inch of RAD’s campus looking for any trace of you.”

Before she can argue about the matter any further, the sound of 3 pairs of footsteps thunder against the hallway’s stairs and towards her room. The other brothers burst into her room, followed by another flurry of questions and quick embraces. After a while of explaining and apologizing, Mc finally managed to quell the fears of the brothers.

Later that afternoon, they all sat down to have dinner together, the brothers continuing to fuss over an annoyed Mc. Although this ridiculous incident hadn’t ended in complete disaster (aside from the scolding of a life-time from Lucifer), it still worried Mc. She could understand, to an extent, their protectiveness over her, especially after the most recent attempt on her life. However, she was only unresponsive for less than 30 minutes, and all of them had flown into a panic; it was completely out of character for most of the brothers.

She poked at her food, still sore about the lecturing she had received. Hopefully, this was the last incident for a long while. Little did she know, it would get much worse.

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Thank you for reading part 1! Can you tell this is my first time ever writing fanfic? lmaoo

Let me know if you guys wanna see more, because regardless I plan on making 2-3 more chapters! Comments, suggestions, and reblogs are much appreciated!