"What's better than a devil you don't know?"

caretaker.

i'll  stay  until  you  fall  asleep.

you're  not  a  burden.  not  to  me.

you  don't  have  to  act  tough  with  me.

let  me  help.

if  you  need  to  cry,  i'll  look  the  other  way.

you  don't  have  to  talk.

let  me  handle  it,  just  for  a  minute.

rest,  i'll  watch  over  you.

i  don't  care  if  you  think  you're  fine.  i'm  staying.

deep  breaths.

just  lean  on  me.

you're  safe  now,  okay?  just  breathe.

i  know  it  hurts.  i'll  sit  here  as  long  as  it  takes.

i'm  not  leaving  until  i  know  you're  okay.

you  don't  need  to  hide.

let  me  take  care  of  you  this  time.

shh.  i'm  right  here.

you  don't  have  to  put  on  a  smile  for  me.

i  don't  think  less  of  you.

i'll  be  here  when  you  wake  up.

you're  allowed  to  lean  on  me.  that's  what  i'm  here  for.

you  don't  have  to  be  okay.

scoot  over,  i'm  not  letting  you  sleep  alone.

your  hair's  a  mess.  let  me  brush  it.

don't  apologize.

cared  for.

i'm  tired,  that's  all.

please  don't  go.

i  don't  know  what  i  need.

you  didn't  need  to  come.

you  shouldn't  have  to  see  me  like  this.

i  hate  feeling  like  this.

i  was  trying  to  push  through.  i  think  i  made  it  worse.

this  is  so  embarrassing.

can  you  just...  stay  a  little  longer?

i  didn't  think  anyone  would  notice...

i'm  not  safe  in  my  own  head  right  now.

why  are  you  being  so  gentle  with  me?

i  don't  want  you  to  fix  me.

today's  just...  one  of  the  harder  days.

i  didn't  know  i  needed  to  hear  that.

can  you  stay?  after  i  fall  asleep?

sorry.  i  didn't  mean  to  flinch.

i  don't  always  know  what's  going  to  help.

this  is  the  nicest  anyone’s  been  to  me  all  week.

i'm  sorry.  i  know  i'm  a  lot.

i  don't  even  know  why  i'm  crying...

i  think  i'm  broken.

you  didn't  have  to  do  all  this  for  me.

i  don't  want  to  be  a  burden.

Phantom smiled when he saw his old friend…well, as close to a friend as Phantom had.

"Name a face and I can bring it back. I still have the pretty boy from the first time we met," he shared. "I needed this body, though. Or mor accurately, the other possessing it. It may mean sharing a meatsuit, but I get back my missing piece."

"That one was rather pretty, but I didn't seek you out just to look at you, so I don't really care what face you're wearing," he mused, his voice a bit gruff.

"I'm in the process of a rather large project. It's been quite the undertaking, but I need to know I can trust your loyalties where this is concerned. Where do you stand on Lucifer heralding the end? Because I can give you about a million reasons why that's a terrible idea."

"You know where you can put your opinions and rumors ablut me, Crowley? Up your Scottish ass," Mattaniah stated dryly, wings flicking as he kept his attention on book he'd been studying.

"I haven't been playing human with anyone. I have human soulmate, but arrangements have been made for when he passes," the older demon continued, making note of something. "What do you want?"

"I just wanna lend a helping hand, and here you are trying to bite the hand attempting to feed you. It's a doe right shame." He stated with a click of his tongue. "Word in hell is that a certain friend of yours has it out for your little human pet."

"My soulmate?" The warlock scoffed, his brows furrowed as he looked over the creature before him. He was.... certainly different. A part of him felt holy....though the closer he inspected, Dante supposed not. A small part of his subconscious wanted to say he looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen him.

"Do I know you?" He asked, his magic reaching out. Curling harmlessly around the other to feel him out. Get an idea of just what he was.

"Perhaps that's how I'll go about it. Why are you so interested in allowing me to get close? Surely you have a sense of the magic I possess," he questioned, wondering just what the catch was with this one.

Demons, whether they'd once been holy or not, didn't do anything out of kindness. Not in his experience anyway.

He'd been following the demon to find his boss. A bigger fish. Or so Ruby said.

Now though, pain was blossoming over his temple as he reached up, realizing his face was now stained with blood.

"I wasn't after you," he breathed, though he was nearly certain that this demon didn't give a shit.

"Look, we can both walk away right now." — for Tony

Tony smiled, keeping the point of his glaive aimed at the hunter.

He didn't fight much, it wasn't his favorite pass time, but it was fun sometimes with cocky assholes who thought he was just an errand boy. "Tch, if you're not after me, then who were you looking for? Evan maybe? Oooh, you're lucky it's just me and not my sister you're dealing with. She'd've killed you the second she caught your scent," he said.

He didn't even try healing his own injuries yet, blood seeping out of a few cuts, a particularly nasty one across his stomach. "Who the fuck even told you about the boss man? He doesn't stay dead very well. No more than the sins do."

"Heard he's close to Lilith. That's it. I don't even want him dead. I just need to talk to him. Ask him some questions. Lilith is my only concern," he swore, his hands up, trying to catch his breath, though he was ready if the demon came at him again. Hazel hues stayed locked on his every movement.

"Just....let me ask Evan my questions, and everyone gets to walk away, okay? Please? This is about the end of the world as we know it. You don't want that do you? Or are you on that train too? Cause seems to me like most demons don't care for the idea. No more humans means no more souls."

End of the world? Evan hadn't said shit to him about thay coming. "Fine. But no bullshit, no weapons, no spells. Nothing. You go in. You talk to the boss. You ask him about Lilith. You go your merry way. Capiche?" he said, letting his glaive disappear now.

He was more concerned about his brother's family than the actual end of the world. Lilith was tied to Mig, Mig was Mare's first kid. And if anything happened to that kid, Nina would kill him.

That wasn't his goal though. Not this time. He needed to get to Lilith before she broke the last seal.

"Little surprised to hear you say that though. Isn't that your whole game?" He winced, putting a little pressure on his bleeding temple.

"Gathering souls...."

Mare?

Michael was gaining quickly on his nephew. He'd only ever heard of him, always having been evaded, or thrown off his scent. He was doing his father's work though. Hellbent on ridding the world of another abomination.

Phantom was in the driver's seat tonight. Mare didn't have work and he was in the middle of a contract.

He knew it was Chase on the other end, worried about something, but honestly the elder demon heard very little of the shared thought. He did hear Dante mentioned and figured the archnephil would be safe enough with him. He couldn't just divert his attention in the middle of this.

"Sir..... I think I should go," he breathed, knowing he was encroaching on a private moment. He also wanted to get away from the being currently making his skin crawl.

"Go on. Keep an eye on things at the club," Dante muttered before his attention once again turned to his soulmate, his hands still resting on the backs of his shoulders. The warlock's mouth was dry, and for once, he was at a loss for words. Generally he knew how to navigate emotions but this..... What he felt coming from his soulmate was nearly too much to bear.

"I think it should at least be noted that his soul is safe with Lord Death," the warlock breathed.

"I escorted him through the veil myself. I didn't want the very angels that killed him to double back for his soul. Knowing what they thought him to be....I figured all that would have awaited him would have been torture. Even if they hadn't come back for him, if I could feel the shift of an arch-nephil dying, so could every demon in the tri-state area. They'll be swarming soon enough."