Chapter Text
Finally, after so much searching, you've found it.
You found a secret passageway to let Belphegor free.
Abruptly you opened the door, causing him to flutter his eyes open. He must have been taking a nap, which was no surprise. It seemed that each time you came to visit him, he'd be napping. Hearing the sound of you opening the door, he sat right up, rubbing his eye lazily to make sure he was seeing correctly.
"It's you!" He gasped. "H-how...?"
"There's no time. Lucifer could come up at any moment. I... want you guys to talk it out and maybe-"
"Talk?"
You stood there, confused at his inquisition and his dark change in tone. He saw the twisted look on your face and began to laugh.
Belphegor changed into his demon form, horns erupting from his head, his height grown slightly, outfit changed, and a scary look on his face. It was scarily obvious that he changed into his demon form... but why?
"You humans are all so stupid, but you especially," he cackled, brandishing his claws to it's sharpest point. "You really fell for my act! I thought after you saw me the first time you would leave. But you kept coming back. So I kept feeding you my sob story hoping you'd set me free from here."
"Belphegor-"
"No. It's my turn now. You want to know the truth?"
You tried to step back, but it was too late. He reeled his arm back and shredded your abdomen with one swipe of his claws. Letting out a pained shriek, you covered your stomach with your arms and fell backward from the sheer force, completely helpless to the furious demon. That was when you finally understood the look on his face.
He was looking for blood, death, and destruction... to you specifically.
"The truth is... I fucking hate humans." A cruel smile splayed across his face as stepped closer to you. "I want to annihilate them. But Diavolo hates when anyone disagrees with him, and Lucifer is practically his lapdog. They locked me in here because I'm right."
You tried scrambling away with one hand, the other on your bloody abdomen. He towered over you.
"Humans are nothing but..." his hand cupped your throat and lifted you in the air. "SCUM!"
He held you up in the air as he traveled through the door you came from. You writhed under his grip, but to no avail. You could only stare wide-eyed at him. There was no use in screaming since he had your windpipe nearly crushed under his grip.
"I have to thank you for being so foolish. If it wasn't for your idiocy, I wouldn't be able to stick it to Diavolo and Lucifer. I'm going to make an example by using your dead body!"
A darkened laugh escaped from his lips, grip tightened around your throat. You squirmed, barely able to breathe. Using all the strength you had, you slapped, scratched, kicked, and punched. By the way he'd occasionally loosen his grip to see you gasp, only to tighten it again, showed that all of this was just a game to him. It was no secret that an angry demon like him would be infinitely stronger than you. Your racing carotid pulse bounded against his grip. Eventually, you got to a point where your energy depleted, your legs starting to dangle instead of kick.
Never in all your days did you expect Belphegor to do this to you.
After what felt like forever, being carried by your neck, you were abruptly dropped on the floor. As you coughed, desperately trying to bring air back into your weakened lungs, you familiarized yourself with your surroundings.
With a rattled gasp, you were smack dab in the middle of the entrance hall. The gargoyles looked down at your inevitable demise.
Belphegor let out his winning laugh. "I want them to hear your screams. They have to watch you die for me to prove my point," Belphegor explained. Then, a vengeful grin crawled across his face. "So scream."
He lifted his foot and crashed it down, right on your femur. The snap you heard was something you have never heard before, and the pain was even more foreign. You've never felt such deep pain in your entire life.
You screamed. You screamed to the point where your vocals strained, your throat sore, tears immediately fallen from your eyes. Unable to control the pain, you could only slam your fist into the floor and keel over.
"HEY!"
Relief was the first feeling you felt, as you silently begged for someone to come to your aid. Worry was the next feeling you felt, knowing that this was Belphegor's plan. You turned your head, unable to withhold the bloodcurdling screams that shot out from your chest.
Mammon stood there, dumbfounded and wide-eyed. He was nearly frozen, in a state of shock as to what he was witnessing. You wished it wasn't him who had to see you in this state.
"Stay out of my way, Mammon. You're not who I want in here," Belphegor warned. He lightly stepped on your broken bone again, slowly digging his heel straight into your marrow. Thinking it was impossible, you screamed even louder than before, desperately trying to push his leg off. This only frustrated him, so he pressed down harder as punishment. You could pass out from this pain, but you were always a fighter. That much he couldn't take away from you.
"GET OFF OF THEM!"
Horns peeked through Mammon's bleach white hair, his entire form changing. His fists clenched as he revved himself up for attack. Belphegor stepped off of you, still with a grin splayed across his face. It was a fun little challenge for him, but Mammon had never been more serious. It was hard to watch them fight with your leg stinging and burning, the slightest move making you whimper and let out choked sobs. When you could look up, you saw Mammon wailing punches into the youngest, a rage coming out that you had never seen from him. Unfortunately, it became his weakness. He was becoming sloppy with his attacks, allowing the calculated Belphegor to take advantage.
The lightning ball of fighting demons finally slowed down when Belphegor had the upper hand and laid out Mammon, relentlessly punching him down. Seeing a fist shoved into his face repeatedly seemed to hurt worse than your leg. It made you scared, seeing his punches slow down. He continued to try his best to fight off his brother, even if his punches became lazy. Like you, he also wasn't going to go down without swinging the very last punch.
"MAMMON!" You cried out, your fear for him masking over the pain slightly. You reached out to him, as though you could help him.
You couldn't. You were completely immobilized.
Gradually, the other brothers emerged from wherever they were upon hearing the commotion. Beel from the kitchen, Levi, Asmo, and Satan from their rooms at the top of the stairs, and Lucifer from the study. All of them, equally, were in a state of shock at first. No one could have anticipated this. Lucifer was the first to act, entering his demon form, his eyes a glowing dark red.
"Surprised?" Belphegor quickly shoving a weak Mammon away, proceeding to pace over to you. Now that he had an audience, he had to give them a show. You watched as Mammon struggled to stand, trying to maintain his strength to save you. His leg folded, his figure falling back to the floor. He reached out to you, pained and panicked.
"MC, watch out!"
With one swift kick, Belphegor launched you in the air. Slamming against the wall, head taking most of the blow, you fell a few feet down to the floor. No matter what, you would land on your broken leg.
Everything was hazy then; your vision blurred. All you could see were figures moving against each other quickly. Up close, you could see your blood pooling beneath you and the red streak wiped down the periwinkle wallpaper where you were thrown. You couldn't help but scream in pain, wanting to reach down to your injured leg, but it would've only done more harm than good.
Then, to your relief, you could clearly see Levi tending to you on his knees before you.
"Y-you'll be okay!" Levi tried to assure, unable to keep his eyes off of the large puddle of blood spreading further and further away from your body. His lips were trembling, his panicked eyes unable to focus in one place.
Asmo came into view, worried himself, but trying to keep a brave face in your presence. Taking your hand in his, Asmo looked at you in the eyes with a frightened but hopeful gaze. "You must be in a lot of pain. You can squeeze my hand to try and relieve some of it. We'll take care of you, but you have to stay awake."
You could hear the cacophony screams and thuds across the way. It was impossible to focus on anything with this pain burning your leg. You could only make out certain lines.
Beel was pleading with his brother. "Please, Belphie! This isn't who you are!"
"It's exactly who I am!" Belphegor retorted. "I've been waiting for this moment since Lucifer locked me up!"
The eldest was demanding. "If you don't stop, I'll have no choice but to-"
"No choice but to what? Kill me? You won't." Belphegor challenged.
"If he doesn't, I just might," Satan sided.
"Belphie..." Beel gave one final plead. "Lilith wouldn't have wanted this violence..."
Your eyes began to flutter, the sounds around you mixing together.
"Please stay with us, MC..." Asmo pleaded, tightening his grip on your hand instead. You realized that your hand was releasing. Your touch was growing cold.
Levi looked even more panicked. He desperately lifted your head, his hands holding the base of your neck and the crown of your head. "Stay awake! C-come on MC!"
As hard as you tried, your eyes succumbed to the darkness, and all pain was gone.
At least for a little while.
‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ ☽༓·*˚⁺‧͙
It felt as though someone was forcing your eyelids down as you fought to bring them open. You could hear the machines whirring and beeping. A weighted blanket of fatigue rested all over your body, pain radiating from the needles stuck in your arm and the tightened cast on your leg. Before you even opened your eyes you could tell you were in some sort of hospital.
Finally, you managed to pry open your eyes, your vision a bit bleary. Your assumption was correct. But... some things didn't make any sense.
It was dark outside despite it being only one in the afternoon. The machines and IV you were hooked up to didn't look or sound familiar at all. The decoration of the hospital was clean, but had a dark theme. The walls were purple with black accents, the curtains were burnt orange. Maybe you were in a private room? No. The cough from some person a curtain over told you otherwise.
Focusing your gaze, you found a man sitting at your bedside with glowing red eyes and dark hair, a solemn expression on his face.
"Um... excuse me? Can you tell me how I ended up here?" You were taken aback at how hoarse your voice was. It hurt a little to speak.
The man sighed. "Well, after I explicitly told you to not go up the stairs, you defied my orders and ended up releasing Belphegor, who in return tried to maim and murder you. He stomped on your leg, shattering it, and clawed open your abdomen. The doctor gave you stitches and a cast. You also have a head injury that needs to be monitored. You lost a lot of blood." Then, his next sentence made you grow cold. "You nearly died."
"I-..." you croaked, eyes wide. "What? Where am I?"
The man raised a brow. "The Devildom Hospital?"
"Devildom?" You parroted, as though it was some sick joke. "Who are you?"
His eyes widened, bringing his hand to his chest as he made a slight sound of surprise. It was as though you were a ghost.
"Do you remember the names of my seven brothers?"
"Your- what?! I don't even know you! How would I know that?"
Suddenly, he looked annoyed. "If this is a joke, it's not funny."
"A joke?! Why would I joke about that?" You guffawed, despite your constricting throat. "I'll ask one more time. Where the hell am I?"
He abruptly stood, his figure towering over you. "Excuse me for a moment." He opened the curtain to reveal a horrifying void thing resembling a person, emitting puffs of dark smoke with sharp gnarly teeth and glowing yellow eyes. "Doctor?"
As soon as that... thing... turned and began to approach, you screamed in terror which startled the man. He shut the curtain abruptly and approached you, even as you tried to scoot away from him. Tears brimmed your eyes. You had no idea what the hell was going on. The shriek you let out made it feel like someone forced you to drink lava.
The man took your hands into his, balling up your fists. He made eye contact with you, still in a serious and professional manner. However, his expression had a semblance of concern and worry.
"I need you to calm down and rest while I sort this out with the doctor, okay?" His voice was gentle but firm.
"That's a doctor?!"
A sigh escaped from his lips, the cool breath crashing into your cheek. "You really don't remember a single thing, do you?"
"I... I remember getting ready for bed at home. It was raining outside... but there weren't any thunderstorms in the forecast." You tried your best to remember more than that, but that was all.
He let go of your hands and quickly left the small space, closing the curtain behind him so you couldn't see that... thing out there.
You had to get out of this horror of a hospital. So you unhooked yourself from every machine and IV connected to you. A little bit of blood leaked from your forearm as a consequence. It hurt sitting up as the stitches were fresh, but you'd rather be caught dead than be with that thing. Even if that man was kind to you.
Once out of bed, through the vacant spot on the other side of your curtains, you hobbled over to the hallway. It was hard not to walk on your cast, considering you had nothing to stabilize you. It felt like your leg was on fire, blood rushing to the spot. Upon making it to the hallway, it didn't end there. To your horror, there were more of those things, somehow even more horrifying. All you could do was avert your eyes, look down, and hope that they don't kill you.
This was some kind of nightmare, right?
You eventually made it to the lobby, which was one step away from the exit. But you were stopped.
"Well look who couldn't wait to see us!" A man with bleached hair and tanned skin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. He charged at you, wrapping you in a tight hug. The other four men also approached. You began to panic. Those beings stared at you as these tall men approached you, blocking you from your escape. Before they could wrap their arms around you, that was when you pushed the first guy off of you.
"Leave me alone! I don't know who the fuck you think you are! I don't know WHO you are! What I do know is that I need to get the fuck out of here!"
"What are ya talkin' about? It's me! Mammon! Your hero," he placed his hands on his chest with a proud grin.
"I've never met you in my life," you flat out stated, which seemed to dim the man's light. His smile fell, a hurt confusion swept over his face.
"Nice joke," a blonde guy smiled. "Forget Mammon. You remember the rest of us!"
You shook your head, your heart about to pound out of your chest. "I need to leave before-"
"Not so fast."
You froze at the familiar voice of that man you woke up to. You slowly turned to find him right behind you, arms crossed, looming over you.
"Lucifer... what the hell is goin' on?" Mammon gave a shrug and tilt of his head.
Lucifer sighed, shaking his head as well.
"They lost their memory."