#he had to make hinself leave it behind in order to try to keep fighting for zaun

[vastilyric]

Everyone's issue with the letter.

Just because jinx thinks that silco finding the letter mightve changed everything, doesn't mean that or that alone would have. It doesn't mean THATS what changed in the alt timeline.

Second.

What the hell is Vander supposed to say to silco? He lost sense and tried to kill one of his best friends after their friend died presumably indirectly by silcos hand whether he incited the riot or not which is why he takes it on him. What the hell are you supposed to say to that?

And maybe if silco had seen the letter, he would've known that Vander regretted it. Maybe it might've been a first step to reconnecting.

[symphonicmetal101]

Babysitting in the Devildom- Mammon and Levi: MINE! VS ME TOO!

You and Lucifer reached the livingroom, where everyone was supposed to be watching Solomon's magic show.

Supposed to be.

However the only thing that may have resembled a magic show would have been the smoke in the air.

Solomon was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, with a blackened pot of...something. You thanked the stars when you saw that Satan, was in fact not the cause of panic, as Simeon had taken it upon hinself to distract him with more cat videos. Asmo was in the corner, making faces at himself in a mirror you could only assume Solomon had materialized for him. Barbatos was trying to keep Luke calm and Diavolo looked close to tears as he sat on the floor near him. You could hear Beel and Belphie crying from the kitchen, but what concerned you the most were the two little demons quite literally throwing each other across the room.

"That doll is MINE!"

"First of all, she's a figurine, second of all, SHE'S NOT YOURS!"

Leviathan then used his tail to whip Mammon and run to you with what looked to be a plastic Ruri-chan figurine. However, his little legs didn't take him far enough, fast enough, as Mammon used his wings to propel himself forward and tackle Levi to the ground, where they continued to wrestle.

You felt Lucifer shift next to you. Before he was able to say anything to his brothers you knelt down to talk to him again. "Hey Luci. I know you wanted to help me with your brothers, but I need someone who knows how to be a friend. You see Diavolo? He seems kind of nervous being around so many kids he doesn't know. Do you know how you can help him?"

"Of course I do!" He huffed. With his priorities shifted, Lucifer made his way with confidence to Diavolo, as this was all too familiar chaos to him.

Now back to the other two, who were still going at it, however, it was clear Levi was getting tired. Mammon grabbed his wrist.

"Why ya punching yourself, huh? Huh? Why ya punching yourself? Ya see this doll?" Mammon ripped the figurine from Levi's other hand, dangled it in front of him and licked it. "It's MINE now."

"Eww! Levi don't touch it, it has yucky germs now. It has Mammon-cooties!!" Asmo piped up from his little corner.

"Shuddap Asmo! I got the doll now, I got the doll now, it's mine, all MINE!" Mammon danced around gleefully as he waved Ruri-chan through the air. Leviathan retreated to another corner in the room crying.

"What a crybaby! I bet he couldn't ev-"

"Mammon." Your voice rang with a clear warning.

"Uh-oh." Immediately, he started running away from you. You let him run. If he could still do that, then he wasn't badly injured, and Leviathan could be your priority. You gently placed a hand on his back, to which he flinched.

"O-oh, it's just you."

"Are you ok Levi? Did you get hurt?"

"N-no, not really. I just really like Ruri-chan, and Solomon summoned it for me because he told me you used your powers again to help him know what we like but then Mammon came over and tried to take it from me because he wanted to have the biggest toy pile in the universe, but I told him Ruri-chan was not a toy, and he said it looked like a doll and that I don't deserve to have cool toys so I should give it to him and that made me really mad because he does this all the time." Levi took a small, shaky breath. "I'm sorry I'm talking so much. You have better things to do than talk to someone like me.

"Levi, I need you to understand something." He turned so that he could see you a little better, despite having his head on his knees. "What is it?" He whispered, almost aftaid of the answer you would give him. "You are incredible, and I love and appreciate you for who you are. If there's anything you want to talk to me about- good or bad- please do! I love hearing your ideas and I want to help you, ok? Sometimes I might need you to wait a minute, but I will always make the time to listen to you, alright? Also, I can get Solomon to summon some more figurines for you, ok?"

He started crying again. He threw himself at you for a hug. "You're the best!" You held him for a moment before you registered that youstill had to find Mammon, check Beel and Belphie, make sure Lucifer wasn't smothering Diavolo, relieve Barbatos from baby duty, thank Simeon for helping with Satan, and reprimand Solomon for leaving them alone as well as ignoring what you said.

Ok Levi, I'm gonna go talk to Mammon."

"Ok." You stood up, but to your surprise, Levi latched himself to your leg. "If I stay close to you, nobody can spend more time with you than me! Lucifer already got time with you, so I need to have more time than him....even if it means seeing Mammon." You smiled down at him, ruffled his hair, and hobbled over to Barbatos. "Hey Barbatos. Thank you for helping with Luke. I know he can be fussy, I can take him back." Barbatos hesitated. "You know? I kind of like holding the baby. Maybe I can still hold him if I sit down?" You felt a bit of relief as Barbatos situated himself on the couch and reached out to accept Luke again. If he was content with the baby, it gave you two less children to worry about. You glanced over at Diavolo and Lucifer, who had found a deck of cards and were playing a game. They were fine for the time being, so you walked into the kitchen, where Solomon was still trying to make dinner despite the cries of the twins on the floor. You tried to keep yourself calm, as you didn't want to scare the kids by lashing out at the only other caretaker they had.

"Solomon." He stopped stirring the boiling monstrosity he had on the stove and turned to look at you. "What? You were taking a while with Lucifer, so I took the liberty to summon some toys and make dinner. You should be proud of me."

"Excuse me? I gave you very, VERY simple instructions to follow, and because you didn't listen, Mammon and Levi got into a fight, scared Diavolo, and the twins are bawling! Simeon and Barbatos are being more of an adult than you are! And your "dinner" isn't edible, not even by baby Beel standards!" You felt a tug on your pant leg. You hadn't noticed, but the twins had made their way to you, but Levi made it impossible for them to grab the same leg he was on.

Solomon was quiet. You sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you. Let's just order some dinner. Also...do you know if the twins are wearing diapers?" Your face contorted in disgust as one of the twins sat on your foot, to which the texture was unpleasant.

"Uh..."

"Great! To make it up to me, you can change them and order dinner. I'm going to go find Mammon."

But I-" you walked away, and headed in the direction Mammon had run, stopping to thank Simeon on the way, and to have Levi readjust hinself on your leg so you could walk faster. You walked for a while, Levi still holding onto your leg. You sighed after about ten minutes of looking. You looked down at Levi. "I guess he'll come back when he's ready, huh?" Levi nodded, then shook his head, leaving you confused. He cleared his throat, tightened his grip on your leg. and whispered, "I have an idea." "I GET TO BE WITH MC AND YOU DON'T! MC'S GONNA GET ME MORE FIGURINES THAN YOU! I GET MORE TIME WITH M-" You were brought down from behind, Levi getting out of the way before you fell on top of him.

"SHUT UP LEVI! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" Mammon stood up straight, ready to pounce again in his demon form, while Levi hid behind your recovering form. "MC IS THE COOLEST PERSON WE'VE EVER MET AND YOU MADE THEM ANGRY AT ME! NOW THEY HATE ME, AND LOVE YOU! I ALWAYS GET IN TROUBLE! I ALWAYS DO THE WRONG THING! AND THE ONE PERSON THAT I COULD HAVE TRIED TO BE OK WITH HATES ME! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING LEVI! JUST LIKE ALWAYS, JUst like always..." He choked out the last few words. His eyes were filled with tears he refused to shed in front of Levi. Tiny fists by his side, shoulders raised, and uneven breaths left him as he avoided your eyes. You could feel Levi bristling next to you at the weight of Mammon's accusation. You stood up and ruffled Levi's hair in an attempt to calm him down without using words. He locked eyes with you, and immediately backed down. He hid behind you again, glaring at Mammon, but he wasn't trying to kill him, so you considered it a win. Mammon still wasn't letting himself cry, using his sleeve to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks. You knelt in front of Mammon and gently turned his face towards you. He stopped swiping at his tears, letting them finally fall as he held your hand in place on his face. You pulled him in to hug him, which he gladly accepted and buried his face into your shoulder. You gently stroked the back of his head while you held him. You stayed like that for a while before you spoke.

"....Mammon?"

He clung onto your shirt tighter, trying to hide his face even more. He started shaking, so you held him a little tighter, hushing him gently. After a few more minutes, you tried again.

"Mammon." His grip tightened again. "Hun, I'm not going to let you go, I just need you to know I'm not mad at you. I know it's hard for you to share. That's ok! I still think you're "THE GREAT MAMMON!!" Nothing will ever change that. I know that you're a good kid." Mammon hadn't moved at all.

"....why? Why are you being so nice? Even my own brothers think I'm a bad kid. I'm always the bad kid. I don't know why, but I always want more. I don't care what it is, but I always want more and I always end up upsetting everyone. So why even try and be a good kid? Lucifer's the good kid, Levi's the shy kid, Asmo's the cute kid, and the twins are the youngest, so it doesn't matter what they do! And they always tell me I'm dumb and scummy! And I am dumb because I don't even know what scummy means! Even Asmo knows! And he's four! I-....I need a friend. Lucifer is already talking to the cool kid in red, the green hair guy likes babies and I don't want to get close to the baby like the other guy......so guess what? You get to be my friend! You're not allowed to say no!!" You blinked a couple times. Kids are confusing. You weren't quite sure how Mammon had reached that topic after just spilling his guts, but you tried to keep up. You didn't want to bring up his other comments again, worried about making him upset. All you knew was that Mammon needed a protection squad, even if said "squad" was just you alone.

"Of course I'll be your friend! Maybe...maybe the "Great Mammon" will even let me be his best friend?" He pushed away from you, flashing his million dollar smile. "Oh, maybe. I'll have to think about it." Levi cleared his throat behind you. "Hey, I thought I was your best friend!!"

"YOU'VE BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME?!" Mammon yelled. Levi just nodded. He bit his lip, looking unsure of something, then launched himself at Mammon. You were going to intervene, however, the fighting didn't ensue as you had thought. Instead a very emotional Levi had his arms wrapped around his big brother.

"....You know, if you can be nice, I can share my figurines with you. Then we can have the biggest...um..toy pile in the universe....and you're actually a pretty good big brother when you're not taking my stuff. Remember that time you got my comics back from Lucifer? That was really cool. I want to be cool like you, because I know I'm not anywhere near as cool and-" Your hand on his shoulder was enough to settle him down. Mammon was in a state of shock, then started to boast.

"Of course ya wanna be like me! I'm the Great Mammon! And...uh, you're actually not bad.....ok you're pretty cool too. Thanks for giving me another chance."

And audible sigh of relief left your lips as the three of you made your way back to the main area, where everything seemed relatively calm. Simeon was still keeping an eye on Satan, however he had been dealt into the game Diavolo and Lucifer were playing. Lucifer was sitting almost behind Diavolo in order to distance himself from Satan, and waved, smiled and gave a thumbs up when you walked in. You returned the gestures in turn, and checked on Barbatos, who was playing peek-a-boo with Luke. Asmo was still making faces at himself. Mammon and Levi strted playing nicely together with the toys Solomon had summoned for Mammon. You walked into the kitchen to find that Solomon had cleaned it. You found him on the floor "playing" with the twins. He was summoning food almost non-stop for Beel and Belphie was asleep on the floor next to him.

"Oh, hey." Solomon greeted you. "Hey. How's it going?" You plopped down next to Solomon as he summoned another snack for Beel. You watched in amusement as Beel worked his way through a slice of watermelon that was nearly double his size. "It's fine...I'm sorry, I didn't listen to you." You forgave him and just took in the stillness of the moment.

Again, the stillness of the moment.

And then the yell came.

From Asmo.

You turned to Solomon as Asmo's message rang loud and clear.

Oh boy.

Chapter 5