Work Text:
Beta read by Vic (faikitty) who is my hero
The staircase seemed to go on forever, a sense of foreboding weighing you down as you climbed the spiraling steps, each footfall echoing slightly off in your ears. Perhaps it was the effects of the time loop? Barbatos and his manipulation of time causing you to hear double?
You didn’t let the possibility bother you; you had your task ahead of you. Find who released Belphegor from the attic, and report back. Each time you turned the corner you expected to come face-to-face with some high level demon, someone who was up to no good. But you found yourself in front of the door, alone... Was this right? There was nobody to be seen; no one was coming up the stairs behind you... Were they already inside?
Heart hammering in your throat, you tried the door. It stuck for a second, but then with a groan, the wood shifted. Something clicked, a noise like a sparkler fizzling out. Then the door swung inwards.
Belphegor was alone in the room, curled up away from you and wrapped up in a dozen blankets and pillows. He was asleep, or had been a moment prior. He stirred, sitting up and looking around. “Lucif- oh? Wha? What’s going on?” he asked, rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand and pushing the blankets off of him. “How did you get in here? I mean, the only one who can get in here is Lucifer- wait.” He cut off mid sentence, eyes wide as he got to his feet, peering behind you.
“What?” you ask, frowning and turning to look behind you, fully expecting to see Lucifer or someone else behind you, furious.
“I don’t believe it. The door... it’s open! Did you do that? Did you open it?” he asked, face lighting up as he took a step towards the door, towards freedom. You frowned, staring down at your hands as he stopped and studied you too. Did you do it? Were you the one who opened the door, the one who broke the spell? How?
“I... don’t know?“ you stammered, glancing back at the heavy wooden door.
“But... you opened that door and came in here, didn’t you? Well, then. It had to have been you. Amazing! This is amazing!” Belphegor laughed, a gleeful celebration. “Oh, you‘ve set me free! You’ve released me from this prison! You’ve saved me... thank you so much! Oh, I knew it, I knew you’d come through for me!” His face was alive with delight, laughter pealing out of his mouth as he glanced back at the attic bed. “There’s no way Lucifer or Lord Diavolo ever imagined this would happen, a human breaking Lucifer’s spell! To think that I’d be saved by a human... oh, it really is so ironic!” His words echoed in your ears as your brain raced to piece possibilities together, trying to make it all fit. “In any event, all I can do is thank you. Now I can finally achieve what I set out to do!”
What Lucifer had told you; what he’d been trying to do... What was happening? What did he mean?
The demon in front of you opened his arms, still chuckling. Heart hammering in your throat, you hesitantly accepted the hug, feeling strong arms close around your body.
“Ah, this really brings back memories. This feeling... I wonder how long it’s been since I touched a human?” Belphegor sighed, leaning back and studying you, a grin on his face and hands resting on your shoulders. “So...”
In a flash, his expression changed.
The hands that were previously just holding you gently, the arms that had been around for a moment before in a friendly hug--they tensed. Pain raced through your body as claws sprouted from his painted fingertips, the talons piercing through your uniform. Belphegor leaned back to study you as his eyes darkened and horns sprouted from his head, curving, gleaming, and wickedly sharp. When he smiled, it was empty of all joy, his teeth pointed and deadly. Fabric tore as a tail sprouted from his back, flicking back and forth in an almost mesmerizing motion.
“Hmm, how can I express how I’m feeling right now? What can I do?” the vicious demon in front of you mused, cold eyes raking up and down your body. The blood in your veins turned ice cold. A laugh spilled past his lips, mirthless and spine-chilling. Every atom in your body screamed ‘danger’. Things were not going according to plan. You tried to shrug him off, to rid yourself of the claws digging into your flesh and the chills down your spine, but the movement only made them dig in further. Tears sprung to your eyes as very real fear filled you.
“You humans really are foolish, idiotic, weak creatures, aren’t you?” Belphegor taunted, studying you with slit pupils. “You’re so stupid that I can’t help but laugh. Don’t blame me for tricking you. Blame yourself for falling for it.” His tone was carefree but icy cold. “If you die, the exchange program will be ruined, and Diavolo’s reputation will be in tatters. Oh, the look on Lucifer’s face... I hate humans, you see,” he said, tail flicking back and forth with more agitation. A bottle was knocked off a nightstand and crashed to the floor.
You flinched, the talons in your shoulder pulling on your muscles, but the demon in front of you didn’t even blink. “I hate them more than anything in the three worlds.” The tail whipped around, the limb wrapping around your chest and again around your throat as he let go with one hand, placing it instead right over your rapidly beating heart.
“Heh. Does it hurt?” he asked as you started to struggle, your eyes wide and searching for something, anything, any possibility of escape. The binding around you was like iron, unyielding. You opened your mouth to cry out, cry for help, maybe even beg for your life, but the vice around your throat closed even tighter. You could feel the hair that tipped his tail flicking back and forth behind you, agitated still as you felt your chest slowly being crushed. His talons dug in, piercing through the material of your uniform jacked like it was nothing. “Finding it hard to breathe?” he taunted.
“I have to say... seeing a human face twisted in pain like this...” he mused as you clawed at the tail around your throat with desperation, a choked gurgle all that you could squeeze out of your blocked airway. Your heartbeat raced in your ears, pounding away as if it wanted to get all of the beats in that that fragile organ could. “Why, it’s so much fun that I can barely stand it! I- I can’t contain my laughter!” He tipped his head back and the musical notes spilled from his lips, his tail growing ever tighter around your chest.
You felt something give, something snap. Your eyes were wide, begging him with words that didn't make it past your chest. His tail was tight--too tight, crushing you. You were crushed, crumbling. Falling into pieces. The claws in your chest dug in, they pulled. You were tired. So tired... Your head felt heavy. The world started to go dark, details going fuzzy. You saw his eyes, sharp and mercilessly amused. They burned into your soul with relentless fury. And mirth. Your hands stopped clawing fruitlessly at your throat, your last breath stuck in your chest. You went limp, hands falling to your side. Something warm was leaking down your front, and spilling over your lips and down your chin.
It was the last thing you felt.
Belphegor watched as the human’s eyes went dull, their body going slack as his tail constricted one final time, feeling that fragile rib cage crumble like fragile spun glass. They were still alive, but barely, their dull body putting up one last fruitless fight as his tail let go and a choked and pent-up plea spilled past their lips on a sigh. He grabbed them by the front of their uniform, the weight nothing to him as he dragged them out the now-open door to his prison and down the spiral stairs. He could hear voices down below--casual conversation. All of his brothers hadn’t heard a word, hadn’t even sensed that something was wrong in the slightest. Perhaps Lucifer had felt the spell break, but since he hadn’t come to that feeble human’s rescue it was far too late.
His brothers were all in the living room, utterly unaware. His stomach turned to see them all in their uniforms or human clothes. Why were they wasting their time with this school? This nonsense? Reading books from the human world, playing human games, playing with human toys. The first to look up from his D.D.D. was Mammon, confusion and then alarm flashing in his eyes.
Belphegor let go, tossing the human down onto the rug with an unceremonious thump. A gurgle spilled past their lips, final breaths rattling in a broken ribcage. A similar noise tore itself out of Mammon’s throat as Belphegor stepped back, eyes scanning over the horrified looks on his brother’s faces before his eyes locked on Lucifer; instead of fury there, he found an unprecedented look of grief. It was gone in a second, the anger he was looking for descending upon the eldest’s face.
“Belphegor.” Lucifer’s voice was like thunder. The last time anyone had heard his voice this angry was when Mammon stole the demon king’s crown--or perhaps not even since Satan was brought into the world.
Mammon scrambled to his feet, heartbeat skipping several times as he rushed to kneel beside the broken body of the human on the floor. “What- what- I don’t... hang in there, please hang in there- Lucifer, do something!” he cried, pulling their body into his lap with shaking hands. There was blood--blood spilling from deep gashes on their chest, blood spilling past their lips, blood blooming into deep black bruises upon the skin of their neck and under the torn uniform.
There was too much blood. He had to stop the bleeding.
Trembling fingers tried to stop the red that was flowing freely, tried to keep it where it was supposed to be. Their eyes were half-open, irises rolled up into their skull. Their chest was barely moving, rising and falling in shuddering motions. Each movement caused more blood to spill out, running over his fingers and staining the red carpet beneath them even redder. A sob tore itself from his chest as he tried to cradle their head, to keep it steady.
Belphegor laughed that same cruel laugh. “Mammon, you look like such a fool! A human is about to kick the bucket, and here you are panicking as if it’s the end of the world.” He stepped back another step and felt an odd sense of loss; perhaps the emotions of his brother were forcing themself upon him. Or, perhaps, it was just Lucifer’s anger.
“Belphie, you--“
Belphegor tore his eyes away from the sight of the second-eldest trying to piece the broken human back together, meeting Lucifer’s gaze for a moment before he looked away. His brothers were all gathered around, Asmodeus dropping down to his knees beside the human as Satan pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder. The emotions in the air were palpable: loss, confusion, hurt, anger. The potency surprised him, as did the grief. Did they really care all this much? All for a stupid human?
“Belphie... what have you done?” The soft tone of his twin brother’s voice tore at his heart, and for the first moment he felt an inkling of regret. Beelzebub looked absolutely... devastated. Heartbroken.
“This is awful! What’s going to happen? Will they be okay?” Leviathan spoke, his tail whipping back and forth in distress.
“They’re a human. With injuries this bad-“ Satan glanced at Belphegor and his demon form, the blood that still dripped from the hand that had torn through that delicate chest. “The chances of survival are-“
Satan, always ready and willing to share knowledge and facts, seemed unwilling to voice them this time.
“Lucifer... can’t we do something?” Asmodeus’s normally carefree and lilting voice was quiet and breaking, tearing his eyes away from the body in Mammon’s lap to turn to look at the eldest and most powerful of them all.
Lucifer’s fists clenched, blood pounding in his ears. He hadn’t felt this helpless since- well. Since he fell. Since he last held his sister in his arms. “Grr-“ he grunted, taking a stride towards Belphegor. He raised a hand; then let it fall.
“Yes, yes- perfect. That’s exactly the look I was hoping to see on your face, Lucifer!” Belphegor had taken an automatic step back, relishing the look on his jailer’s face. A laugh, half triumphant and half nervous squeezed out of his throat. What exactly had he done? The devastated looks on his brother’s faces were unexpected. It was just a human, after all.
“No, no- don’t you die, please- please don’t you dare die-“ Mammon sobbed, trying to put together the shattered human in his arms, but it was far, far too late. There was one final rattling breath, one last tortured sigh. Their fingers twitched, twined in Asmodeus’s gentle grip, and then they went lax. There was a soft breeze, a whisper of some unspoken words.
A soul passing on.
“...no.” The word that spilled from Mammon’s lips was broken, devastated beyond what words could describe.
“Belphegor. What have you done?” Lucifer said, his voice devoid of anger--of any emotion, really. They could all see there was a storm brewing, a wave of torrential grief and rage threatening to spill over the eldest’s carefully crafted walls.
“I killed a human that was stupid enough to set me free and ruined Diavolo’s exchange program. Why are you all so damn upset? It’s just a human. There’s millions of them.”
“Why…? Belphie, why would you--? Where have you--? What did you--? Why…?” Beelzebub couldn’t seem to find words. Asmodeus crumpled beside Mammon, and Satan tried to gently pull them back from the body on the floor. Mammon was refusing to let go.
Belphegor was taken aback by the sheer outpouring of emotion; he’d meant to hurt Lucifer, of course, but the rest of his brothers? He figured they’d be upset, but this was different. They were completely, utterly devastated. The grief in Beelzebub’s eyes took his breath away. The horns shrunk, the claws retracted, his tail dematerialized. Lucifer took another step forward, wings buffeting the air, and then stepped back. He dropped down to one knee next to the human, taking a limp wrist into one hand and gently testing for a pulse. After a moment, he gently laid that hand back on their chest. He turned, staring at the wall.
“What?” Belphegor snapped, lashing out at Leviathan, who was simply staring at him. Were those tears in his eyes? “Don’t tell me this human got you all wrapped around their little finger and you actually cared about them. They’re a human! They’re nothing! They murdered Lilith!” His nails dug into his palms; was that his blood or just that of the human’s?
“They didn’t.”
The response was so quiet he almost didn’t hear it. “What?”
“They didn’t. She wasn’t... She wasn’t murdered.” Lucifer turned back to face him, eyes burning a hole in Belphegor’s soul. He hadn’t seen that level of grief since--since that day.
The truth weighed heavy as ever upon the fallen angel’s shoulders, the secret, pent up for centuries, finally too much to bear. What even was the point anymore? Lucifer was so, so tired. The avatar of pride stared down at the lax face of the exchange student that he’d come to care for, with the rest of his brothers. So many secrets--and this one had gotten them killed. “Lilith wasn’t murdered. She didn’t... she didn’t die that day.”
“Lucifer, what?” Asmodeus glanced up through tear-filled eyes, and even Satan didn’t look angry at that moment. “What are you talking about?”
“Lilith. When I fell, when I found her--She wasn’t dead. Not yet. She was dying, wounded mortally from the fall. But she was still alive.” Lucifer’s hands fluttered in little motions over the body of the human, touching their uniform, trying to straighten out the scraps of fabric, brushing away a stray hair. It was all too familiar. “And then--“
“And then I came to him.”
A new voice boomed in the room, making Belphegor jump. Diavolo had arrived.
“Belphegor--“ Diavolo’s face was dark, unreadable. He stood by Lucifer’s knelt form, one hand on Lucifer’s shoulder as he studied the mess that had become his exchange program. But Belphegor couldn’t even register that victory. He felt no delight. “And I offered him a chance to save her. Not as an angel, nor a demon. Some things require power that even I don’t possess. If Lucifer swore loyalty to me--“
“I swore loyalty to him. We had already fallen. And my sister was dying in my arms. With the chance to save her... I had to take it. So I did. And Lilith... She was reborn. As a human.”
The quiet words echoed like a sonic boom in the dead-quiet room. Even Mammon’s sobbing had faded to silent, shaking breaths. Belphegor could hardly hear anything over the sound of his blood rushing in his ears, each heartbeat a deafening gong. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. Could it?
“As a human? But that means-- She was-- She did--“
“She had no memories of you all. I had to wipe them. No memories of her life as an angel. But she lived a happy life, had a family. And then she died. Like all humans do.” Diavolo explained, feeling Lucifer’s very subtle shakes beneath his fingertips. He was trying to keep it contained. Keep it all in. But he couldn’t hide the trembling that carried all the way to the tips of his wings, sending a single black feather to the floor.
“Lilith was a human. She lived...” Belphegor stumbled over the words, like he didn’t know how to say them. “But-- Didn’t they--? She still died...”
“She had a family. Children. And those children had more children and--Belphie. How…? How could you?” Lucifer sounded truly broken, now. But there was no joy to be had from that. Not for Belphegor. When was the last time he’d heard Lucifer call him ‘Belphie’? “They were hers. Her blood. She was here, still, still with us. For the first time in a thousand years, she was home. And you--you killed them.”
“Lucifer-- You don’t mean- It couldn’t be that they were--? The chances of the exchange student being a descendant of Lilith... I thought you picked them randomly.”
“He did. The paper blew in the wind,” Diavolo said. “I had Barbatos go and check, and back through the many generations... It led back to Lilith. That’s why they had such a strong ability to channel power.”
“I didn’t... I didn’t know. Why didn’t you--?“ Belphegor stumbled back, legs hitting a chair and giving out, sending him crashing to the floor. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from that face--the face that had stared him in the eyes with panicked fear as he crushed the life out of their body. The lips that had tried to beg him for their life. To plead for mercy. The feeling of his tail around their neck, the give of their delicate flesh beneath his fingertips… He stared down at those fingertips, curled in his lap and stained with drying blood. Lilith’s blood. That face--he could see her in it now. The curve of those lips, the lips that were slowly turning blue. The round tip of their nose, the cleft in their chin--those were all hers. Passed down, still around, thousands of years later.
And he’d destroyed them.
And there was no one to blame but himself.
“Lilith...” Beel’s voice was just a whisper. He knelt by their head, taking it into his hands gently and running his hands through their hair. Some of it was matted with blood. “Will they--? Their soul, will it-? The pacts, will that be enough?”
Lucifer tried to speak, but nothing came out. He shook his head.
“Their soul is still celestial. They’ll join their brethren in the celestial realm. I’m sorry,” Diavolo said, taking a step back. “I’ll... I’ll send for Simeon. And I will have to notify their family. I will... I’ll be back. But I will leave to let you...”
Let you grieve.
The words went unsaid.
They were gone. They were gone, and it was Belphegor’s fault. A sob tore through his chest. He’d made many mistakes over the course of his long, long life, but this took the cake. He ached to be there with his brothers, to sink into Beelzebub’s arms and feel Asmo’s fingers in his hair. To be held and comforted. But he didn’t deserve that. Lilith’s blood was soaking the rug, bled out of a fragile human form. A thousand years of hatred was gone in a moment, replaced by a deep nothingness that threatened to consume him.
Mammon’s hands were red; his lap was red; everything was red. And they were gone. Leviathan’s tail trembled as he carefully knelt by their feet. Satan wrapped an arm around Asmodeus, who was inconsolable. And Beelzebub kept running his hands through their hair, trying to clean the blood from it.
Lucifer... Lucifer was like a statue. A brilliant piece of marble, shattered into a thousand pieces. And for once, that sight only brought Belphegor more unmeasurable pain. He’d broken his brothers. They were all he had, and he’d broken them. Betrayed them. And he’d killed all that was left of Lilith.
After all, there was no one to blame but himself.
And then Belphegor broke.