#i actually hate how that diavolo scene at the end of the part just cut off like that

[celestialrealms]

you guys don't understand... they make me ILL

[tartagluvr]

welcome back to the devildom

this part covers lesson 1-1 through 1-12. spoiler warnings for anything included in that span.

woooo tete actually finished a piece! and then everyone clapped. if you aren't aware, this piece is part of an ongoing series of me rewriting and expanding on scenes from nightbringer that i think lack emotional depth/just need more. explanation + masterlist!

warnings: no big ones here, just angst and emotional turmoil, i hate capital letters so, mc is gender neutral, no beta we die like my love for omswd after they added ten million chapters and dipped

word count: 4323

just a moment ago, your phone was in hand, text thread with a friend staring back at you. now, you lay haphazardly on some kind of uncomfortable wooden ground as vague and distant voices reach your ears.

as you blink away blurry hues of sleep, lord diavolo stands over your form. it takes a moment to adjust to your surroundings, quickly taking note that the lord is in his demon form. something must have happened- this is not an every day sight. shuffling to pull your tired body off the ground, you meet his gaze. "thank goodness," he speaks with a small smile. "you're awake."

as you open your mouth to speak, the lord cuts you off. 'you've been out cold this entire time. we were really beginning to worry." his words send a strange feeling up your spine, head turning past his wings to notice the brothers also in full demon form are here as well. lucifer looks displeased with whatever this situation is, mammon and leviathan both look you up and down, asmodeus just looks like…well, asmodeus, and the twins are stood together seeming uninterested. it does not go unmissed that satan appears to be not present. words are falling from mammon's lips, but you do not hear. your eyes continuously scan the room, scrambling to remember anything about how you got here and were knocked out.

"wait, mammon. they don't seem to know where they are." a gloved hand is placed against mammons tanned chest, stopping his approach. you know that's lucifer speaking, so why doesn't it sound like him? something is laced within his words that you don't think has ever made an appearance. the group seems to fall into rapidfire questions and concerns, belphegor asking if you're lost.

"lost?" you finally find your voice, though it is smaller than ever. "they smell good for a lost demon, i wonder if they are hiding some good food." beelzebub's voice is deeper. the look in his eyes as you meet them with your own hungrier than you've known.

"i-" "this facility is currently under construction, and under the direct authority of the demon king. what are your intentions of being here?" the lord has an authoritative twinge to his voice. this must be some kind of fucked up dream- or maybe solomon managed to poison you all once more with some stupid enchanted muffins. regardless, you struggle to find words as the seven demons all stare down at you. a beat of silence passes before your phone dings in your pocket, the sound nearly causing you to jump. instinctively it is pulled out, and an unregistered contact pops up to greet you.

'pleased to see you. shall i take you someplace you will be happy? somewhere that will bring you more joy than any other. a world you desire and where you will be desired.'

a short text is typed in response, demanding to know who they are. and as quickly as you had replied, more texts fly onto your screen.

'i clearly have you worried, don't i? well, there's no need to be. nothing remains hidden from me. i see everything. nevertheless, we shouldn't keep them waiting. you have received a second chance at a fated meeting. do you understand?'

a picture is sent at the end of the influx of messages, your beloved seven staring at you from the screen. your eyes look up from the image to them standing in front of you, then back down. 'i don't understand.'

'let me rephrase then. the people you meet here, you are fated to form a deep bond with. i shant tell you my name. just know that you will be entering your own past. or the time of someone you don't know. but never fear, they will always be there waiting for you.'

no more messages come in. as you look up from your phone once more, you meet the lord's eyes and feel yourself freeze up. "i apologize my lord, my friend sent me an address to meet them but it appears i got it wrong." as strongly as you try to mask your fear in a bold face lie, it wafts off you in every direction. the lord seems to ponder your words before nodding slowly, his arms falling to his sides. "i don't believe we have ever met before, which is strange as i know every demon in the devildom- nevertheless, i am diavolo, the next in line to rule the devildom…" he goes off into an all too familiar tangent of each demon brother and their respective sin. "there is one more brother, but he isn't-" a loud noise cuts his speech off, startling you. it seems to have come from the halls leading to this room, which you are now beginning to recognize as the council room of RAD. "speak of the devil…" as bewildering as this whole exchange is, you have to stifle a laugh at belphegor's joke.

satan himself bursts forward into the bones of a room, a look of true rage on his face. a heavy sigh falls from lucifers lips at this. "asmodeus, you did make sure those chains were tight enough, didn't you?" at his words a scowl crosses your features. "why would he be chained up?" its a quiet comment to yourself more than anything else, but diavolo hears.

"that demon is satan, child. the avatar of wrath himself. when i stated that lucifer had another brother, he is who i was referencing." he pauses, turning to glance at satan as if waiting for him to pounce before turning back. "they have all just arrived to the devildom." you nod as if any of his words even make sense. it really is starting to feel like some fucked up nightmare of being thrown into the past, right when the brothers lost the great celestial war and fell. something about this dream just feels so real. "avatar of wrath. i understand." your head is still nodding, eyes trained on satan behind diavolo as lucifer and mammon attempt to wrangle him into submission. this moment is so personal, so raw, that you consider looking away. as if this isn't something satan would want you to see.

with you lost in thought, satan manages to escape his older brothers grips and launches at belphegor. beelzebub is body blocking him in an instant, shielding the youngest. "thanks, beel." belphegor grunts out a praise to his twin while catching his breath. the force had nearly knocked you to the ground just from the sheer mass right next to you, beelzebub turning to you now. "are you okay too? sorry about that." rapidly your head nods with wide eyes. the tall demon sighs in relief, a smile on his face. "i'm glad. can't have a random demon pulled into our mess of a family."

his words were out of kindness- yet the effect was opposite. 'random demon' pulls at your heart. after all, you are anything but random to this group. you'll wake up eventually though, that thought comforting you. maybe you and the brothers will all laugh about this when you tell them.

"i've just about had it with all of you, this world, everything." satans low growl of a voice bounces off all the scaffolding. his hands raise from his sides as he thrashes free from lucifer's hold, eyes glowing a bright emerald. "i, avatar of wrath, will obliterate every last one of you." a breath hitches in your throat. you've seen satans outbursts, his daily battle with containing the wrath that lives in him. you know he is more than his anger, and that at the end of the day- he didn't ask for any of this. subconsciously you step forward, at the same time that he does. "oh man, we're all dead now!"

your chest suddenly heaves forward, a warm and bright feeling overtaking your entire body. the view from your eyes begins to sharpen, getting clearer and clearer as your eyes meet those dark emerald ones. a single word falls from your lips like instinct. "stay."

the hairs on your neck stand on edge, skin tingling and bubbling with something trying to break out. as if someone inside of you were thrashing about, throwing themselves at your bones to break free. until this moment, you have never felt controlled by your power rather than the other way around. in one single blink, not only is satan dropped from your view and against the floor, but so are all six other brothers. a soft whimper falls into the air as you come down, the faint taste of iron on your tongue. "sorry, so sorry." you stumble over an apology looking at the sight in front of you, mammon beginning to go off on what you've done.

the lord laughing silences him immediately.

"is this- this is funny to you, lord?" lucifer pushes up off the ground, turning to glare at you with his arms crossed roughly. "you. what the hell have you done?" your mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. because truly, you don't know what just happened. maybe the dream version of you has incredulous power in this way? diavolo's laughter dies down as he speaks. "well (your name), i sure have never met a demon like you. honestly, that was quite the riot."

"yo, what was so funny about that?" mammon grunts through his words as he rises too, one hand rubbing at his cheek from the impact. an apologetic smile is sent in his direction, but he does not seem to accept it.

"something about this meeting feels fated. after all, i myself can't personally watch over you lot." diavolo turns in a circle, surveying the battered up bunch standing around. his eyes turn back to you. "do you think you can handle them the way you just did, for a longer period of time?"

your head tilts to the side. "you mean, babysit them for you…?" the room fills with diavolo's laughter once more. he is nearly folded over into himself, amused greatly at your words. "these demons are new, as you know already. they fought in the great celestial war, and ended up here. things have become very…chaotic, because of this, and i need eyes on them at all times."

the lords speech ends, as if you are supposed to understand what he is insinuating. you don't.

"let me try that again," his arms cross against his chest with a smile. "until things settle down in the devildom, i'd like to ask you to attend to them. become their servant, show them around, the works." belphegor makes some offhanded comment in the back about how they don't need a 'babysitter with freakish powers', which the lord ignores as he bores holes into you with his gaze. waiting for your reply, knowing the answer is already yes. after all, he is the lord of the devildom at the moment. "diavolo, we not need for an attendant. just because we used to be angels doesn't mean you must treat us like children." lucifer all but pleads with him, to no avail. he doesn't break his gaze from you for even a second, not even blinking as he waits.

"i accept."

that would be how you find yourself holding up satan's feet as beelzebub carries him, the rest of the brothers and the lord all in tow behind. after all the commotion and complaints had died down, diavolo insisted you walk with them to the brother's new living situation. you'll need to be familiar with it of course for the job, but you also already know it like the back of your hand. these weird dream versions of the demons don't need to know that. the group makes it back in due time, satan still absolutely out cold from whatever insane magic burst from you earlier. the lord has all of you exchange contact information at the gates of the house of lamentation, giving you all the proper applications and such to reach him directly.

mammon falters at the gates, an expression you know as fear on his face. "hey, its not that bad." you give him a small shrug, his head turning to look at you. diavolo also turns to look at you, confusion on his features before you realize your mistake and rush to correct it. " i mean, looking at it from here, it doesn't look all too bad." he seems to take this answer and move on, you two standing as mammon finally makes his way inside and up towards the house. "you won't be staying with them, (your name)." you stand up a bit straighter at this, mind filling with worry on where the hell to go if not here. 'i, um. don't really have anywhere…"

the lord clasps a hand on your shoulder, leaning down closer to your height with his head tilted. "you don't have a place? no friends you stay with?" he sighs, shaking his head. "i won't pry. you seem young, and when i was younger i used to find myself in runaway situations too. but either way, the house of lamentation is the one place they will have all to themselves so i apologize."

your head nods as he speaks softly, feeling comfortable finally in his presence. "i arranged accommodations for you already, so you musn't worry child."

before you can reply, an all too familiar voice calls out from behind you two. "my goodness. there you are, (your name). i was wondering where you disappeared off to. i was worried, you know!" in tandem, you and the lord both whip around to see solomon walking up with a pained smile on his lips. there also appears to be sweat on his brow- as if he had been running around like crazy. "that was fast, solomon. i wasn't expecting you here yet." the lord's warm hand slides off your shoulder, as he extends it to the sorcerer with a shake. "and you mean to tell me you already know (your name)?"

seeing solomon sends a wave of relief over your entire body. sometime over a year ago now, you two had fiddled around with some dream spells to be able to link up and dream together. so any time you see his face in your dreams- he actually is there. it reassures you in this instance to know he is experiencing this nightmare too, but also that out of anyone in the world he is the one who can force wake you.

"i know them very well, actually. it just so happens that they are my apprentice." the tall sorcerer speaks with a smile, one hand to his chin. your eyes haven't left him since he appeared, though in contrast he has yet to look at you. "isn't that right?" he speaks to you. while still looking at diavolo.

"yes," the words finally find you. "its true, my lord." diavolo is shocked at this revelation, but accepts it as fact with a nod of his head before turning back to solomon. his hands wave in the air for a moment.

"i know you are quite accustomed to outlandish things but…a demon as an apprentice, that is a new for even you." solomon gives a soft laugh at this, slender pale hands moving to rest on his hips. "they're my top student, actually…" you tune out the conversation as they go on and on. staring straight holes through solomon, trying to will him to look at you. to acknowledge how crazy all of this is. to tell you to wake up. you're brought back down into your body when diavolo touches your shoulder once more, bidding you a farewell so he may return to the castle. "i'll be seeing you soon, and i cannot thank you enough for taking on the task at hand." with that, he is gone. you and the tall sorcerer are left in a heavy silence.

he breaks the tension first. "...i'm guessing you have quite the list of questions?"

"you're solomon." you state it as a fact, and his body finally turns so he can meet your eyes. a nod, and then, "yes, i am. and you're (your name), my human friend. not my demon apprentice." he pauses, a hand coming up to reach for your own. though you take a step back out of his grasp before he can touch you, a strange emotion flashing on his face. "i don't like this dream. can you wake me up?"

his hand hangs in the air for a moment, before falling along with his expression.

"no, no i can't." the smile on his face is full of pity, and a deep sense of dread builds up in your core. "this one isn't a dream, i'm afraid. can i walk you home…? and then explain it all, of course." you feet feel as if they were floating above the ground, your body just a ghost stood here. this has to be a dream, but...you know that if solomon is here and can't wake you…

no words come out of your mouth. instead you nod robotically, making no move to walk. solomon sighs and drops his head, hiding his face before reaching forward to grab your arm. the sorcerer practically walks you like a child all the way through the devildom to the housing arrangements, your form rigid and silent. a single puff of wind from his lips could knock you over.

"we're here," his voice is soft and careful as he leads you up and into the building. your eyes gloss over a plaque stating it as 'cocytus hall', but you show no emotion at this. he all but sets you down onto an awkwardly large bed before his hands are off of you. standing back now, he sighs again and shakes his head. "i'm so…sorry, (your name). let me explain." he kneels down in front of you on the bed edge, gently taking your hands in his.

there wasn't really an explanation you had thought of that matched any of what he tells you. not even in your wildest dreams had you ever imagined a scenario like this, yet here you are. the beloved human jewel of the devildom, sent back hundreds of years in the past for God knows why. you learn how solomon followed you here, chasing you through time to cushion the fall and see you make it out alive. there is a pause hanging in the air as he dares to ask how you feel. truthfully, you don't know how you feel. its difficult enough to wrap your head around your time in the devildom as is- but this? this...absolute nightmare hand crafted specifically for you? a warm slice of anger burns your chest, but that feeling begins to evolve into pure rage as he keeps careful watch of your trembling form. "i'm angry," you tell him. "i'm quite angry."

solomon tells you how barbatos helped him dive head first into this concrete slab of a past. "it wasn't easy," he notes with a tut, "though i knew more than anyone that it could only be me following you." the lord of time, essentially father time himself, sent solomon into a potential death trap after you. instead of maybe…pulling you from the past? doing anything at all to get you back? "i don't think i understand, there was nothing more to be done?" your empty eyes look up to his, a matching look in them. the gentle hold of your hands tightens slightly as solomon holds himself at bay.

"any of the brothers from your time coming here would spell trouble, paradoxically so. believe me, all of them would have jumped to follow you if it weren't there own past." his voice is soft, though his words are firm. this is fact to him, and you are to be convinced. you still have yet to be as a retort quickly flies from your lips. "is this not your past as well?"

the sorcerer chooses silence. you take that as answer enough.

"...regardless," you begin again with a sigh, "can't i just get myself out of here? i still have the ring of light." one hand snakes out of solomons hold to reach into your pant pocket, producing the small heirloom item. it is twirled between your fingers for a moment. "this has got to be helpful in some way, right?" your hand extends to hold the ring infront of solomons face. he ponders this for a while, seemingly deep in thought. his head quirks to the side, brow furrowed. "if you remember, you were given this ring to better control and contain your power." his fingers reach up, plucking the ring from you to examine it for damage. "as we are in the long gone past now, your power...well, lets just say it is a lot weaker. your pacts don't exist here, at least not for hundreds of years." these words are what finally knock the harsh truth of it all into you. this isn't just the past, it is someone elses past. you do not exist, not even the concept of you. you are a mere speck of dust floating by in the wind.

you have never felt so small. so insignificant and worth absolutely nothing. your mind begins to buzz and jump from thought to thought of how your beloved demons don't care for you. you're nothing but an afterthought for them to send solomon after when you get too out of control.

"no," you speak outloud to yourself, shaking the thoughts away physically. a painful chill runs up your neck. "explain the power thing to me."

without missing a beat, solomon gives you a slow and thorough explanation of your power. reminding you of how it was in your actual time, and explaining why it is lesser here. there is obviously still a very fine line connecting you to them, shown earlier when you were able to command all seven brothers with one word. thinking back on it, a grimace crosses your face as you realize it could've been avoided had you only added the name 'satan' in front.

"so...do i understand correctly that i have to reforge- is that even the right word? since this is the past-" you stop yourself with a sigh, head dropping. "i have to reforge all of my pacts to even have a sliver of a chance at getting home?" his face is mostly blank as you scan it, trying to get a read on how he really feels about all of this. then, he nods and his lips part to speak.

"great." your own voice cuts him off. before solomon has a chance to react, you're crying. there is a strange empty look on your face, yet tears run harsh trails down your cheeks.

"hey, hey- i'm sorry," solomon slides the ring back into your pocket, snaking his hands up your arms to rub soft circles on the exposed skin. "i'm so sorry." pulling you closer, one hand rubs soothingly at your hair whilst the other keeps you firm against his chest. it scares solomon how emotionless you look, how dull your usually sparkling eyes seem. especially with the added contrast of tears and reddened skin.

there was of course a lot of talk before he was sent here about how you might react to all of this. lucifer was beside himself imagining how vulnerable you would be without their care. mammon felt like his world was ending thinking about you being alone, and unable to call him for help. there was simply no protecting you with this. leviathan and asmodeus had actually shared similar mindsets, just hoping you wouldn't be so frightened or worse- hurt, by their past selves. beelzebub for once in his entire existence wasn't hungry. his stomach hurt too bad thinking about you never returning. and the youngest, belphegor, hadn't expressed concerns at least outwardly. he waited until the moment him and solomon were alone, all but threatening the sorcerer to bring you back unharmed. promising a war against humanity that could rival the great celestial one if anything irreversible happened to you.

solomon had just not expected the strong and brave human he grew so fond of to cry.

still he holds you, even long after you calm down. your face is against his chest, one of his hands soothing your hair as the other holds you around your waist tightly. "i' want to go home." your voice is barely a whisper, muffled against his cape. he hears it anyways, hushing you softly. "i know, (your name). but," he unravels from around you, the loss of warmth causing a sadness in you as he tilts your chin up to meet his eyes. "i'm in this, too. and i wouldn't have come unprepared."

"i don't know how i can face them everyday and not falter. i mean, they just fell." he frowns lightly as you talk, thumb absentmindedly rubbing against your chin. "you will falter, i can't lie and say you will be fine. but as i said, i'm right here with you. okay?"

his words should be comforting, yet they rather make you more angry and emotional. solomon shouldn't have been dragged into this, given the role of saving you. there had to have been other things to do before it got to this point. but nevertheless, he is here now and it has already happened. you tell yourself that you should be thankful even a single person cared enough to break time just for the idea of your safety. with a small forced smile, you nod at him. "thank you for following me, solomon. if anyone can get out of this shit, its you." it doesn't go unnoticed the way his own smile falters for a moment.

next piece, 1-17 through 1-18

<3 back to masterlist

[belphies-cuhm-sluht]

Can i request the Brothers with mc who is shy and likes to hide behind them when there scared.

Brothers With A Shy GN!MC (Headcanons)

Lucifer

He wanted to start taking you with him to his meetings with Lord Diavolo. You were important to him, just as Lord Diavolo was, and he liked having the two most important people in his life in the same room. Plus, having you there would help make him feel a little less stressed and way less overwhelmed by the way that Lord Diavolo acted.

Walking to the castle was one thing, his fingers slid between your own and holding your hand tightly. He could have just zapped the two of you to the castle, but he really enjoyed the calm, quiet walks he had with you. When the two of you got to the castle, he didn’t even realize at first that you were slowly inching your way further and further behind his back. Barbatos wasn’t exactly scary, he just gave off this… vibe… it was hard to put your finger on.

Once Lord Diavolo came out though, that’s when he noticed that his arm was now completely bent behind his back, as were you, and you were holding his hand so tightly, if you were any stronger you’d probably cut off the circulation in his fingers.

He held up his finger to Lord Diavolo, silently asking for a second so that he could talk to you in private, pulling you to the side and out of earshot of everyone else in the room. His smile was soft and warm as he listened to you, nodding slowly and thinking of ways that he could make this easier for you.

“If you’d like to go back to the house, I absolutely understand, dear. I wouldn’t mind keeping you on my lap though, if that would make you feel better. Whatever makes you comfortable, I’ll do it for you.”

Mammon

You were unsure whether he was capable of being shy. It would probably be strange for someone like him to feel that way. He was a model, he was in magazines, he had photoshoots lined up for the next year and a half. You never questioned whether he felt that way because he never gave you a reason to. He was outgoing, boisterous, and easily excitable.

His modeling gigs were a big thing for him, something that he wanted you to be a part of as well. Not in front of the camera obviously, well, unless you wanted to be in the pictures with him. The main reason he didn’t want you to be in the magazines with him though is because he didn’t want any other demons looking at you. Not that he’d ever have to worry about that.

He walked into the warehouse with you, the lights were bright and everything was… so much… It was a lot to take in. You didn’t know how he could possibly handle that at all, so much attention, it seemed scary. Showing you around wasn’t bad, but then he started introducing you to people and you couldn’t handle that. You slowly moved to stand behind Mammon, holding onto his shirt and trying to hide your face in his back. He turned around to look at you, kind of confused with the way you were acting. Your voice was low and timid as you explained and his eyes went soft as he started dragging you towards the exit.

“I didn’t know yer that shy, babe. I wouldn’ta pulled ya out here if I did. We’re goin’ back home, I didn’t need those pics anyway. Come on.”

Leviathan

If there was anyone as shy as you were, it was Levi. The guy hated leaving the house and being in public settings as much as you did, but when it came up that he was meeting with a couple of the demons that he played online with and he wanted you to come you almost choked on your water.

Of all the brothers, you never once expected that he’d be the one who wanted you to go out and be around people that you didn’t know at all, like, not even one little bit. You had heard him talk to these people so many times, but you didn’t know one thing about them, and now you were supposed to sit at a restaurant with like, five of them and stay the entire time? You were already slightly panicking just at the thought of it.

You were practically shaking as the both of you walked up to the restaurant, scooching further and further behind Levi until you couldn’t be seen by anyone in front of him, and hopefully by none of his friends either. He took a second to look around the restaurant, spotting his friends who all waved in his direction, and then he looked beside himself only to see that you weren’t there. Mini panic attack, but once he sees you behind him he lets out a sigh of relief, shoving his hands in his pockets while looking back and forth between you and the table full of his online friends.

He didn’t waste a minute, shaking his head to his friends before walking back out of the restaurant with you next to him instead of behind him.

“I didn’t want to be there either. We’ll order Akudonalds… marathon an anime, alright? Just the two of us. We’re never doing something like that again.”

Satan

Interacting with people was such a hassle, and he felt like he lost half of his IQ points whenever he had to even be around any other than you and certain brothers that he can actually tolerate. That’s why when Lucifer told him about some silly formal event at Lord Diavolos castle, he did everything, literally everything to try to get out of it.

Much to both of your disappointments, there was nothing either of you could do to not go. To Satan it sounded lame, and to you, it sounded absolutely awful. Having to get dressed up and be around a bunch of people, a bunch of demons who probably didn’t like you in the first place because you were a human. Nope, it sounded like a nightmare and you’d very much like to take a sick day and just not go.

The both of you walked into the castle, arm in arm. The main foyer was already packed with demons dressed in their finest, and even if they weren’t looking at you, it sure as hell felt like they were. It was hard to move behind Satan's back with the way your arms were connected, but that didn’t stop you from unhooking your arm and moving behind him anyway. You didn’t want to be looked at by anyone but him, and now he was definitely looking at you.

Explaining to him was easy, and while he obviously cared about how you felt right now, it was also a great excuse to get out of there.

“I promise, when we get back to the house, we’ll sit by the fire in the library, and I’ll read to you all the books you want me to. But first…thank you for this wonderful reason to not have to be here. Let’s go.”

Asmodeus

The two of you were polar opposites in the social department, and while most people would think that would be a problem, it was actually really nice. You balanced each other out, and he was always mindful of how you felt in social settings.

Taking walks with him wasn’t something that you could do often considering he was a high profile demon, basically celebrity status. On the very rare occasion that you could walk together down the streets of the Devildom, he and you took full advantage of it. You knew that you didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy it though, there would always be the one fan who would cause a scene, and then a mob of other demons would start running in your direction and he’d quickly have to get you home. It wasn’t all that bad, but it did become irritating and having that many people come at you at once was always a nightmare.

This walk was no different, and as soon as you saw the first demon, heard the first squeal, you shifted yourself to stand behind him, squeezing your eyes shut and waiting for it all to end. You felt his hand reach back to grab your own, comforting you as he dealt with the fans that had circled you.

He turned to you as soon as they were dispersed, smiling sweetly at you as he brushed his thumb across your cheek.

“Perhaps next time we’ll take a stroll through the garden instead. How does that sound, my love? Just the two of us, under the stars… I’ll pick your outfit and everything! We’ll both look beautiful!”

Beelzebub

Being the center of attention wasn’t a big deal to him, it neither made him happy or upset him. His ability to focus on something that was most important to him and completely ignore the world around him was a gift, one that you wished that you could obtain.

His favorite places were either being with you and Belphie, or being at the gym, and he came up with the sweetest idea that instead of having his two favorite things at two different times, why not just bring his favorite people to his favorite place?! To him it was the best idea he’s ever had, but to you it was the craziest thing you’ve ever heard. The gym? With a bunch of other demons? Demons who might look at you? Absolutely not. You were still adjusting to being with Beel in the same room as Belphie when it was movie night… and you knew the guy!

Of course, you loved Beel, so you weren’t going to turn down his offer, especially since he seemed so happy about it. It wouldn’t hurt to test the waters a little bit, try to get used to things. No harm in trying… right? Wrong. As soon as you got in, everyone in the place came up to Beel, asking him about weights and spotting and a bunch of other gym things that you couldn’t even focus on because the only thing you could hear more clearly than their words was your heart pounding in your chest.

He could see you move behind him out of the corner of his eye and he felt bad… he felt really bad. He didn’t even question you until he got you out of the gym and back to the house.

“I’m sorry, honey… I’ll have a rest day, and I’ll spend it here with you. We can have snacks and movies, or we can just… snuggle…? Would you like that?”

Belphegor

This man hated being out in public probably more than you did. Not because he was particularly shy, he just hated people that weren’t you or Beel. It was a logical reason, one that you understood, and you didn’t blame him for it. You’d much rather stay in the attic with him all day than have to actually face anyone.

His brothers had different plans for the both of you, and by his brothers, it was just Mammon who wanted to spend time with his little brother. You were all for staying home while Mams took Belphie out, but he refused to let you stay home. If he had to leave the house, so did you. Neither of you were happy about it, but Mammon seemed so excited, and Belphie found out that he didn’t have to pay for anything, so it might actually be worth it… might. He’s not banking on it.

Apparently there was a fair going through the Devildom and Mammon thought that it would be something that Belphie would like… all the noise and lights and… He actually thought it was something that Belphie would enjoy. It’s the thought that counts though, and Mammon really wanted to spend time with Belphie so you couldn’t hate the guy for trying by good god the place was packed. It was awful, and it was loud, and there were people everywhere. It was a nightmare on steroids, the only thing worse would be having to make a public speech in front of all these people.

You didn’t just hide behind Belphie’s back, you got behind him and wrapped your arms as tightly around him as you possibly could, not wanting to get swept away in the sea of people. What better way than to become a statue in the middle of the walk way? He chuckled softly, patting your hands as he called out to Mammon to tell him he was going home before turning around and walking leaving the fairgrounds.

“Don’t change. Never change… and go with me everywhere my brothers force me to go… okay? I really like having you around.”

[shoechoe]

Ok I'm curious how you think Giorno could have theoretically destroyed the entire Mafia? Since there's an organization map shown in ep 5 (I believe?) that shows just how big Passione is, so for me, a 15 year old doing that pretty much on his own seems impossible.

That is a good point. I thought of a couple things here, so the answer got pretty long, but I hope you don't mind. It’s around a thousand words long.

 I feel like for this, you could make a very similar argument that Vento Aureo also does not show how Giorno was able to take control of the mafia. It has him defeat Diavolo, and then it just sort of cuts to Giorno as the new Boss, giving no real explanation as to how he managed to actually... do that. Does a 15 year old gaining control of the mafia with only Mista, a relatively low-ranking guy, to back him up also not seem somewhat impossible? How did he pull the strings to do that? An answer to this really isn't given. (This is something that I would argue is another structural problem with VA's storytelling.)

 To be honest, in my head, I always imagined the most simple fix would just be to do a similar thing to how it's canonically played out, only instead of showing a scene where Giorno becomes the Don, it shows Italy starting to heal from the corruption that the Mafia caused. It could show businesses and landowners no longer being robbed and threatened on the regular, drug addicts starting to recover, etc. But you're right that doing that would leave a lot unexplained and be generally weird and confusing, arguably more so than the original ending.

 Another concept that I had was that maybe Vento Aureo could keep the general story it was trying to tell, but it has a different setting. Instead of the Mafia, maybe it could be a big and wealthy corporation like a pharmaceutical company, designed to manufacture, research, diagnose, and distribute medicinal drugs, and the CEO (Diavolo, in this case) is abusing his power for extra money? In that case, the focus on drug abuse and the main character's motivations would make a lot more sense. (Although, it would probably make the fact that the cast are half minors kind of weird, but not all of them have to actually work at the company. Maybe they end up tagging along or are connected to the ordeal for other reasons. Fugo and Narancia could just be interns that Bruno hired to boost their future careers or something.) Although, this concept would need a lot of effort put into it to rework the story in a way that fits, and it'd need to change the characters quite a bit, so it'd be understandable if this wouldn't be a change to immediately jump to.

 So, how would Giorno manage to dismantle Passione? That would probably be the biggest challenge he'd face overall, and I imagine a lot of members wouldn't take too kindly to it. Stripping them of their leadership is a step, but like you said, Passione is a pretty large organization, so he'd probably have to do more than that to get rid of it.

 After doing a little bit of research into how Mafias are typically dealt with and thinking about how Italy is portrayed in Vento Aureo, I think the best method to do this in the most believable way would be for Giorno to get law enforcement involved. (Although, the way I thought about it working would also have to have introduce some extra concepts into the story.)

 The thing with the police in part 5 is that they're pretty explicitly portrayed as corrupt, useless, and hated by civilians. They are completely unwilling to stop the Mafia, and don't really seem to attempt doing so at all. The police seem to just be a complete non-issue for Passione. I mean, yes, Passione is known to have a high population of stand users, so they'd have an easier time than the typical Mafia dealing with them, but the police don't even seem to be trying to arrest them at all.

 It kind of made me wonder: what exactly is preventing the police from getting into this? And then, I had an idea: What if Diavolo was bribing the police department to ignore him? This would introduce a method for Giorno to get an advantage on destroying the mafia: what if killing Diavolo stopped the bribing from happening, so the police actually start arresting gangsters? It would give more reasoning for the police's previous non-involvement and why they're so corrupt (and also probably give more narrative purpose to Abbacchio previously being a police officer who accepted a bribe from a criminal).

 With this, you'd probably also have the issue of other gangsters attempting to bribe the police out of getting arrested- but, since it's not coming from the Boss himself anymore, I imagine it would be significantly less money, to the point where maybe the police wouldn't accept it, or wouldn't make them stop ignoring Passione. I also think that many of the gangsters being stand users would prove to be an issue, but:

a. Giorno could get further involved with his Gold Experience Requiem (Although, I would also tweak the stand ability; infinite death is a concept I'm overall uncomfortable with and I don't think is handled well with GER, for the reasons I've explained. But, it can still be powerful enough to threaten mafiosos into hiding.)

b. Not all of them are stand users- remember, Pericolo, the capo that retrieves Polpo's fortune, did not have a stand. So, many of them would still be under big threat of getting arrested, which would certainly make a dent in Passione's numbers.

 Now, the police still aren't good here at all- they're still scumbags who accept bribes from criminals and are hated by civilians for good reason. However, with an organization on this scale, I think this would be the most believable route to go in fixing the presented problem that Giorno wanted to solve. A gigantic organization like Passione can only really be dealt with by something big like law enforcement at this point, right? So, what Giorno did was take away their motivation for ignoring criminals. It's not possible for just him to dismantle an entire criminal organization singlehandedly, but he could pull the strings to make Passione weaker and start causing some actual arrests.

 Then, we’d have the actual ending. I think the most sensical way to do it would be to forward the story to a few years in the future, so we can see how Italy has improved. Passione has been severely weakened at that point, if not essentially gotten rid of, so its influence starts to go away- we can see recovered addicts and teens who have been previously influenced by the drug trade, businesses succeeding, and other various things. I think this would work a lot better overall and show that Giorno’s initial motivation was fulfilled.

 This would probably need to be more thought out to actually be implemented, but it's an idea that I thought of. I hope it makes sense even if it might need some tweaking or further fleshing out to it.

[sand-worms]

The rest of LS that Soren didn't send in and Diavolo and Doppio <33

ALL OF THEM..??????? 🧍‍♂️ alright… under a cut because it’s a lot

Illuso

Favorite thing about him is that he seems so petty and bitchy and the fact that he is so fucking gender. His really cocky personality has really grown on me I think he’s funny as hell because of it. Also I like that he’s partnered up with Formaggio because I like the thought of them being friends despite the fact that they like bicker and are probably really competitive with each other.

Least favorite thing is the fact that I feel like his fight is sort of overshadowed by the others in my own opinion. I don’t really know how to describe it but it just sort of feels like it’s just there to me so I feel like he’s sort of underutilized in comparison to the rest of the group! This could also just because I’m personally not very attached to Fugo either and wish more was done with him as well.

Fanon pet peeve is that I feel like he’s overlooked enough that I don’t even have a pet peeve off the top of my head about how fanon treats him 🧍‍♂️

Pesci

Favorite thing is that he’s LITERALLY SO SMART even if he doesn’t see it himself!! It’s sooooo cool to me how much information he’s able to glean about someone just by how they pull on Beach Boy’s line like that has to take a lot of skill and smarts!!!

Least favorite thing is that he didn’t do enough atrocities

Fanon pet peeve is that I think a lot of people ignore the fact that he really did end up being the more dangerous of the two in the train fight and reduce him to like uwu helpless boy. Like I think he’s probably a real sweetheart but he’s not helpless.

Melone

OK favorite thing is how much his character has grown on me like I didn’t think much of him at first but I think he’s so fun and is just a weird little dude. Hot take is I think he’s a character sort of similar to Rohan in that they’re both very intense and somewhat eccentric and can be driven by a desire to gain knowledge for one purpose or another. Also he’s so fucking purple and gender!!

Least favorite thing is that the anime made him out to be more of a freak than the manga did and also the fact that they took out how when he finds pros and Pesci dead in the manga he’s shaking.

Fanon pet peeve I really kind of feel like all of LS gets reduced to one or two characteristics sometimes (which I think can be hard to avoid because we saw so little of them) but I kind of hate that he gets reduced to just being a horny little thottie by some of the fandom 😐

Ghiaccio

Favorite thing is that I personally relate a lot to him with his anger and I like seeing him yell and be angry because it feels sort of therapeutic to me. I would like to see him get angrier in fact like I would like to see him break things more. Also I think his stand is really neat and I like his confidence in his own ability!!!

Least favorite thing is that his fight is followed up by the worst most awful scene in part 5 😐

Fanon pet peeve is that I think similarly to Melone he really often gets reduced to just his anger also I feel like he gets uwuified a fair amount by the fandom as well at least in terms of la squadra.

Sorbet & Gelato I’ll do together 🥰

Fav thing about them is that they’re canon married 🥰🥰 other than that my fav thing is seeing how much Soren loves them and seeing him talk about them and knowing whatever thoughts he has about their characters is literally correct ❤️

Least favorite thing about them is obviously that there’s no content of them and we don’t know like anything about them 😔 I really wish we had some content of them interacting with the other members of LS and knew what they were like!!

Fanon pet peeve is seeing that people mostly overlook or ignore them!!!

Diavolo

Favorite thing about him is that I think his status as a villain is really actually very interesting from the perspective that he serves as a status quo of sorts while Giorno and Bruno’s group are an outside force trying to get rid of him, while usually the villain plays an outside force trying to upset a status quo upheld by the protagonists etc etc.

Least favorite thing about him is that he sucks and is the worst father ever and Trish should’ve shot him with Mista’s gun. Also he has no swag whatsoever.

Fanon pet peeve is that he gets so mischaracterized by his simps who defend him

Doppio

Favorite thing about him is I think it’s actively hilarious to think about him interacting with unita speciale at all as being some sorta intermediate between them and Diavolo because he’s literally kinda just some guy compared to them all and I think it’s funny. Also I like his slutty little boob window sweater.

Least favorite thing is uhhhhh the not great split personality thing with him and Diavolo like. That sucks 😐

Fanon pet peeve is that he also gets majorly uwuified and reduced to precious helpless baby by the fandom like did you even watch the Metallica vs king crimson fight 🤨 also hate hate hate seeing people be weird and doing stuff like shipping him and Diavolo 😐

[gundamcalibarney]

Fuck it.

JoJo Actors AU headcanons:

-Half of the actors are fans of the series and most of them are starting to become fans of it.

-Jotaro’s actor is literally Daisuke Ono but muscled and 6’5.

-The Josephs and a lot of the part 2 cast are related to each other or to other actors, Part 2 Joseph is the son of Part 3 Joseph who is the son of Part 4 Joseph. The family resemblance is uncanny. Suzi Q is played by Joseph’s girlfriend. Lisa Lisa is Straizo’s sister, Old!Erina is played by Part 4 Joseph’s wife,Loggins and Messina are brothers, Smokey is Avdol’s younger brother,Kars is Yukako’s dad,and Stroheim is Suzi’s uncle.

-Phantom Blood took 2 weeks to finish, Battle Tendency took 3,Stardust Crusaders took 4 and a half months,Diamond is Unbreakable took 5 months,and Vento Aureo took 2 months.

-The scene of Danny burning was filmed but cut due to the cast members and staff voicing their discomfort about the scene. (“I didn’t want to see a dog jump out of a furnance like, melting and on fire. I think nobody else wanted to see it so it was cut from the final product.”-Dio)

-Jonathan,Speedwagon,and William are best buddies and often drink together in-between takes.

-Dio,Jonathan,Jotaro,Kakyoin,Kars,Trish,Tomoko,and Formaggio are fans of the series from the start and are Ecstatic about being actors in it. (“I swear when my mum told me that there were open auditions for the role of JoJo i KNEW i had to be a part of it, i think i squeed at like 4 in the morning. I wanted to play Jotaro cause i thought that was the part they were going to do first cause that’s the most popular part. If i wasn’t a JoJo i was like ‘then i’m going to be a Stand!’. And then when they announced they were doing it in order i’m like, ‘i’m going to be Jonathan’, and that’s how i got in the part.”-Jonathan) (“I‘m still waiting for JoJolion to end.”-Kakyoin) (“When they approached me about the project i was like ‘oh my god yes!’ and i’m just sitting there in my chair eating my soggy chips screaming inside.”-Dio)

-Speedwagon has appeared in all the filming sessions to gives moral support and acting tips.

-Jorge and Giorno played 12 year old Jonathan and Dio. Jorge wore a wig.

-Jonathan’s actor has a twitter and often posts about the series as well behind the scenes photos.

-Melone’s actor hated playing Melone for obvious reasons and said the only reason he played him was because his friend (Who plays Proscuitto) coaxed him into doing it.

-Josuke is also the Tom Holland of it, meaning he accidentally says spoilers.

-Jonathan and Erina married on set in-character during the filming of Part 4, they engaged during the filming of Part 2. Nobody told Josuke about it. (“When Josiah and Eleanor married on set and in character i was SO confused cause nobody didn’t tell me Anything about it and then i thought it was like a added scene as like uh, a flashback. Then when it was done Daisuke told me ‘yo they’re married now.’ and i’m like *mind blown motion*.”-Josuke)

-Diavolo is literally the sweetest person on set and apologises to The Bucci gang after every Doppio and Diavolo encounter.

-Part 2 Speedwagon is just regular Speedwagon but in old makeup, He was sad that he had to cut off nearly all his hair.

-La Squadra and the Bucci Gang are friends IRL because they keep seeing each other in each others work.

-Phantom Blood movie!Jonathan is played by Diavolo.

-Most of the british cast of Part 1-2 are actually british, except George who was american and Bluford who was irish.

-The movie and OVAs were not filmed by the company that did the official one. Worthy of note is that Star Platinum played OVA Jotaro and

-The scene that took the most takes was the Torture dance. Narancia got sea sick after filming it.

-Arnold,Danny,and Coco Jumbo are the only real animals on set. Polnareff!Coco Jumbo is a prop.

-Polnareff’s pillar hair is actually made up of hair extensions+his real hair. A lot of character’s hair are wigs. Kakyoin’s noodle is natural.

-The rock in Phantom Blood and Rolling Stones are the same prop.

-Every April fools, the cast are given ‘Duwang’ versions of their scripts. Only Dio was able to rehearse them with a straight face cause he was too into it (Duwang 1-3 were made by the writers).

-The Part 3 cast actually had to go to the desert AND Egypt for the filming of the Egypt arc. Jotaro and Polnareff got sunburned badly when they got to the town.

-Koichi played child Polnareff and Jolyne played child Jotaro.

-“GOOD EVENING JOEY JO-JO!” “(chuckles) i’m soRRY I CAN’T DO THIS! (Breaks into a laughing fit)”

-There’s a tradition that the actors and only the actors do after they finish a part, they go into the costume and prop room and steal and keep one item relating to the character they play.

-Stolen items: Luck and Pluck,Dio greenscreen head prop,Erina’s necklace,Speedwagon’s bowler hat,Zeppeli’s hat,Joseph’s clackers,Caesar’s headband,Lisa Lisa’s glasses,Smokey’s hat,Kar’s head scarf,Whammu’s earings,Esidisi’s brain prop,Suzi’s dress,All of Jotaro’s hats,Hermit Purple,Kakyoin’s scarf,Polnareff’s earrings,Avdol’s scarf,Emperor prop,DIO’s pants,Thoth prop,Oingo’s hat,Anubis prop,Vanilla Ice’s belt,Josuke’s pins,Echoes ACT 1 prop,Okuyasu’s uniform,Josuke’s console,Yukako’s uniform,Book Terunosuke,Sheer Hear Attack prop,Stray Cat prop,Dark Pink Boy manga prop,Surface prop,Frog prop,Diavolo’s contact lenses,Mista’s Revolver,Aerosmith prop,White Album helmet,Beach Boys prop,Purple Haze’s gloves,Coco Jumbo prop (Mr. President included),Stand Arrow,Frog phone,Bruno’s jacket,The piss teacup.

[aspenflower17]

Finding You (Part 12 of ??)

Hi hi! I’m hoping this update finds you all well and happy. I have a lot more time this coming week to write, so I hope I can get on top of my WIPs and get the next chapter out not late on a Sunday.

Anyways, for his chapter itself, I wanted to try something a bit different. When Mc was composing her song, I had a very particular one in mind, and so when the song comes up, I’m going to put a YouTube link there that you can click on and listen to the song while you’re reading. For people that have problems reading while listening to music, it is all instrumental and you definitely do not have to click the link. I’m just trying to get more across in my fics than I would otherwise :) I will also have a link at the end of the update that will link you to the original scenes where the two parts of the song are from.

I should also note, there might be spoilers in this for people who haven’t read very far in the main story in game.

For anyone who hasn’t read the rest of the updates, here is the link to Part One if you would be so inclined to read :)

Tags!:  @simpingforsatan @naimena @hachimochi @wrathandgreed @magi-minminxiii @rensphilia @a-dream-at-night @chloelikesobeyme @getbehindme-satan @theuglypugling @oofthelazyweeb (as always, if you would like to be added to the tags list, just comment down below or send me a message about it!)

Satan / F!Mc

Words: 2,404

Trigger warnings: None that I can think of, though if you had a bad experience with the movie the song is from, that could be a problem...

“Sorry to intrude. I just heard your playing and had to find out who was making such gorgeous music,” Satan was leaning against the doorway, a soft smile on his face, “Is that one of your compositions?”

“Oh,” Mc looked down, a little embarrassed, “Yes, but it isn’t finished yet.”

“It’s still beautiful,” Satan said softly, hoping she would allow him to stay.

“Thank you,” Mc answered softly, matching his smile.

Satan cleared this throat and looked down, blushing, “So, how long have you been working on this piece?”

“Honestly, a while now,” Mc sighed slightly, “It’s something I composed in the Celestial Realm, though it never sounded right. It’s only on the piano’s here in the Devildom that it’s sounded… right,” Mc looked up at Satan at that, and he nodded, his hand resting on his chin thoughtfully, “Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get further in the piece.”

Satan cleared his throat, “Well, if you play it again, I may be able to help. I have done some composing before, though not as much as you… Anyways, only if you want to. I would hate to impose…” he was blushing furiously now, wondering why he’d even offered.

“That would actually be lovely,” Mc admitted, her heart fluttering a bit at the prospect, “A fresh perspective might be just what I need.”

“I’d be happy to assist then,” Satan said, walking over to stand behind her.

Mc looked up and smiled at him, “Thank you.”

Satan’s heart stopped for a moment, fragments of memories flying through his mind of Mc looking up and smiling at him. He swallowed thickly, and gestured for her to play, not trusting his voice.

Mc was a bit confused, watching the sadness well up in his eyes. Despite the sudden emotion, she turned and started playing when he gestured. (This song)

Satan was transfixed by the music from the first note, wondering if this was the loneliness Mc had mentioned to him so long ago, put into the notes ringing through the air. If that was the case, he had to wonder why the Celestial Realm had kept her from him. He would have cured her loneliness, no matter what it took. If she had needed companionship, he would have provided it. If she needed kind words, he would have provided it. Absolutely anything she would have needed would have been provided. She would never have had to know such pain.

In that moment, he wondered what would have happened if Mc had come to the Devildom instead of the Celestial Realm. He knew she would have been grabbed from the upcoming souls, if not by him, then one of his brothers, Diavolo or Barbatos, her ties to the realm more to do with love and friendship, not sin and corruption. Assuming she had still wanted him, he would have followed her in wherever she would have wanted to go and helped her accomplish anything she would have wanted to do. If she had wanted to move out of the House of Lamentation, he would have made it happen, and if she never wanted to leave, he would gladly put up with whatever antics his brothers felt they needed to inflict upon him. He would even have put up with their constant flirting if it made her happy. If she had wanted to become a demon, he would have helped her, making sure any adjustment she would have gone through were as quick and painless as possible. 

He imagined they would have been happy together, seeing as how his wrath was more contained and muted with her around. She had shown him what love was, helping him realize not only that he loved her but that he did love his brothers and they him, though they all showed it in very weird ways. She had helped him cut through all his self doubt, making him feel less like a monster on a self inflicted leash, a shadow of the power and man that had created him, and more like an individual with his own thoughts and feelings, valid and special in his own right. No one had ever been able to do that for him, and he doubted anyone ever would again.

When the music changed, calm and desolate, he knew this was her loneliness without a doubt. Some part of his brain also recognized she was nearing where she hadn’t composed yet. Without thinking, he sat on her right, watching her practiced hands play. He felt the inspiration for the rest of the song start to well up inside him. He also felt his anger at the situation they now found themselves in burning behind it all as well. They had been happy together before her mortality had ripped them apart. The angels knew this, and yet they had kept her from him, even though she had obviously been suffering. She hid and dealt with it well, her art a testament to that, but she had suffered needlessly. He wanted to let Mc know she was not alone and he would help her. Even if she never fell in love with him again, this was her plea for help and he would not allow it to go unanswered.

The first couple lines he played were just repeats of hers, an attempt at solidarity.

Mc was surprised by his actions, though they spurred her on, the song actually continuing past the point she had composed. She had never actively composed with someone else, and she found the action calming in a way. It was if he could read her mind on what needed to happen in the song.

Satan suddenly started playing furiously, a bit of a call back to earlier in the song, though with more gusto. Mc couldn’t help but watch as he glared a bit at the keys as if they would provide the answers to the rest of the song. She felt inspired, playing the bottom hand as he played the top. She felt more connected to him than she ever had with anyone, the composition coming together better than she would have thought possible. Their hands even touched a couple times, as they fought for use of the keys they knew would help express the magic that was happening.

Mc started a chromatic scale, lost in the moment, adding flair as she went up. She didn’t realize what she was doing until she was at the top of the keyboard, trilling between two notes. She was leaning a bit into Satan, their legs and shoulders touching as she had scooted over on the bench to reach the notes. He was watching her, their faces extremely close. He was smiling softly again.

She pulled back into her own space, a blush dusting her cheeks though she felt happy, “Pardon my enthusiasm.”

Her blush and smile made him feel like he had accomplished something, “I like your enthusiasm,” he said, his voice only coming out in a whisper.

She smiled at him, “Well, I’m glad,” then, “Oh, I almost forgot. This is for you,” she pulled a letter from the air, Satan’s eyebrows raising in interest, “It’s a reply to the one you gave me.”

He took the letter and tucked it into his jacket pocket, “Thank you. That was an interesting trick you just did.”

“Oh, I’ve known it for ages now. I left a particularly embarrassing poem out once, and another angel read it out loud in front of a lot of other angels. It’s safe to say I keep all important things hidden now.”

“Glad to know you think this is important,” Satan half teased, making Mc flush slightly.

“I didn’t realize you were such an accomplished piano player,” Mc said, trying to move the conversation in a direction that wouldn’t make her heart race.

“Oh, well, music has been fundamental in helping to develop and understand new emotions,” Satan admitted, knowing Mc was the only person he’d ever openly admit this to.

“New… emotions?” Mc, remembering the conversation between Michael and Diavolo, she tried to keep the intense curiosity from her voice in an effort not to upset Satan or scare him away from the topic.

“Yes. I… How much do you know about my birth?”

“I… I’ve learned more about it since coming here, but I still don’t know a lot,” Mc admitted, trying to keep her voice as nice but neutral as possible.

“Well, I was born from Lucifer’s wrath. In the beginning, all I could feel was anger, though it wasn’t really directed at anyone. I knew why Lucifer was angry but most of that didn’t seem to matter much. Those acts had not been directed at me; why should I care? I was just angry, because that’s all I was. The first time I think I remember feeling anything besides rage was at Lilith’s memorial.

Huh? Who’s Lilith?

“I remember Lucifer sitting at the piano, pouring his grief into the song he was playing. Though I remember music from Lucifer’s memories, it was my first time experiencing it as an individual. The song had been Lilith’s favorite, though the piano’s of the Devildom and the slow tempo Lucifer played it had made what was usually a very happy song into a funeral march. In that moment, watching all my brothers with tears in their eyes, many openly weeping when the song started, I felt a twinge in my heart, and I teared up. I remember wiping them, staring at the liquid on my finger,” he looked down at his hands at that, completely caught up in the memory.

“I thought about that moment a lot. I rolled it around over and over in my head trying to figure out what it was I had experienced. It was at this time that I asked Lucifer to teach me how to play the piano. I thought the key was in the music itself, and I practiced a lot. Lucifer is not a forgiving teacher, so I was constantly striving for perfection, but from my own expectations of myself and his. Still, even as I became a better piano player, I still couldn’t get the emotion I wanted from the instrument, though I didn’t know that’s what I was looking for. It was the most wooden playing you could imagine.

“One day, I was very angry at my inability to play the way I wanted to. I was throwing things around in my room because Lucifer made it very clear I was never to destroy the piano just because I was upset, when Beel decided to look in on me. Most of my brothers, Asmo aside, give me a very wide berth when I’m upset, though I think they do it now more out of respect for my privacy than fear. Anyways, Beel came in and asked me what was wrong. I ended up screaming about how frustrated I was at not being able to play like Lucifer did at Lilith’s memorial. He was a bit confused as to why, and I explained to him that I needed to explore the strange sensation that had made me cry. After a bit more explanation, he smiled sadly and explained that what I had felt was probably either sadness or grief. He then went on to explain the emotion in the most blunt, truthful way I’ve ever heard out of anyone, and I’ve read a lot. It wasn’t flowery or dramatic. It was someone honestly and truthfully expressing how they felt. It was a lot like when someone puts so much emotion into their music and you can’t help but understand them. His words did the same thing for me that Lucifer’s playing had done, and that twinge came back. Experiencing it in the moment allowed me to be able to ask his confirmation on what I was feeling.

“Looking back on the whole encounter, I’m ashamed of how I acted, but I’m glad Beel came in and helped me when he did. It helped me understand myself a bit more, and recognize I can feel things that aren’t anger. Without his help, who knows how long I would’ve been floundering around in the dark. Ah, but you didn’t ask for my personal history. You were just asking about my piano playing,” Satan rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish, “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Oh, no, it’s quite alright!” Mc answered, louder and more forcefully than she intended. He looked at her in shock, and it was her turn to act sheepishly, “I just… I’m glad you told me. I feel like I understand you a lot better now.”

“I’m glad,” Satan said, smiling.

“You’re at the piano huh? We were wondering where you’d gone off to,” a voice interrupted, making them both look over, “Lucifer wants you to come back because dinner’s almost done. I’m guessing you should probably head back with us,” the strawberry blonde smiled at Mc.

“Oh, you’re Asmodeus right?” Mc asked, proud of herself for recognizing him.

“Oh, you know who I am darling? Oh, who am I kidding? How could you have not heard about me by now?”

“Right…” Mc laughed a bit uncomfortably, “I also remember you from when you dropped off Satan’s letter to me as a child.”

Asmo’s eyes widened a bit, “Oh, I thought it might be you. I wasn’t sure though.”

“You weren’t sure? You had an idea though,” Satan’s voice was flat as was his expression.

“Oh, Satan, calm down. I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong. You can understand why, right?”

Satan sighed, “I suppose so. I guess it doesn’t really affect anything in the long run.”

“Glad you understand. Now, we really should get back. Are you coming with?” Asmo directed the last part at Mc.

“Sure. I should be joining Luke and Michael anyway,” Mc said, sliding off the left side of the bench, walking towards Asmo. Satan pushed the bench back when she was clear of it, and walked over to Asmo too.

Asmo grinned mischievously, “You know, you two make a cute couple!”

Mc flushed at the comment and looked down.

“Oh no need to be so bashful Satan. I’m only stating the obvious. If you have a problem with it though, I’d be more than happy to steal her away.”

Steal me away? What’s all that about?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi! So, the song I linked above is actually two different songs combined into one. It is from Corpse Bride a claymation film from Tim Burton. From that, you should be able to decide if it’s something you’d like to watch. I do think it was pretty well done and would recommend it.

The beginning is called Victor’s Piano Solo (Scene here) and the second part is The Piano Duet (scene here)

Part Thirteen

[ohbae-me]

Be You

Pairing: Mammon x OC

Words: 1,695

Rating: Mature (18+) Violence, Language, No smut but brief mention of sexual themes. Mostly just fluff though. I was amused by the Ouchie Set and wanted to write some MC taking care of injured Mammon

Summary: There had been more of them than he'd expected, and they had managed to get a couple decent punches in. He'd made quick work of them though, the rest of the bar's patrons had bailed when the fight first broke out, not wanting to get on the bad side of one of the most elite demons. This left Mammon alone with a pile of bloody limbs and a very pissed off barkeeper.

Read on A03

Ari knocked softly on Mammons door. She pressed her ear up to the door, hoping to hear a give away shuffle to show he was in there. She had been texting him most of the day, and it was very unlike Mammon to not respond to her. When he didn't show up to dinner, she had officially started worrying. None of his brothers seemed worried in the least bit, which only upset Ari more. 

She tried the door, and was surprised when it opened. He was always letting himself into her room uninvited, so she figured he couldn’t complain about her doing the same. At least she’d knocked first.

"Mammon?" Ari peeked into the room, finding it empty. She sighed as she made her way to his messy bed and called him one more time as she flopped herself down on it. The call went right to voicemail yet again. The brothers had all denied her request to go looking for him, telling her it was likely he was just dragged out by the witches again and that he’d be home at some point in the night. Something felt off though. She didn’t know if it was the pact they shared, or just her anxiety playing up but something just didn’t feel right this time. 

Mammon was a magnet for trouble. He probably got himself caught up in some hairbrained scheme again. She curled up into one of his pillows and inhaled his scent. Ari reminded herself that if the brothers weren't worried then she should just relax. Mammon was the second born, therefore the second strongest. He was smart, when he needed to be. He was also a master of getting himself out of tight situations. His charm wasn't quite on Asmo's level, but he was charismatic nonetheless. He's fine. He's just caught up in his latest money scheme! She kept running herself through the positive affirmations, trying to keep the anxious feelings at bay. She could feel the sleep pulling at her, but she wanted to be awake when he got home. Maybe she’d just call one more time...

A few hours later, Mammon quietly snuck his way through the House of Lamentation. He very much did not want to run into anyone. There would surely be too many questions he didn't feel like answering right now. He was tired. He felt like shit. He was sure he looked like it too. Those fucking bastards! It was certainly not how he had anticipated his night to end up. He could still feel the anger deep in his bones. Is this how Satan felt all the time? 

He threw his door open, kicking it closed behind him. The scenes of his night kept playing over and over in his mind, spiking his anger again. It probably shouldn't have made him so angry. He prides himself on not needing to show his demon form at every turn. There was never a situation he couldn't get out of when he needed to. Ultimately, he knew Lucifer would always bail him out. He didn't mind that people underestimated him because of it. In fact, he preferred it that way.

Still, he didn't enjoy what he'd done. It wasn't like him to snap like that. They just had to go and bring her into it. 

He huffed as he went to crawl into bed, startling a bit when he realized there was someone else there, tucked under his covers. He'd been so in his own head that he hadn't realized the stupid human had made herself comfortable in his bed. He glanced down at her D.D.D, and his heart softened when he realized she'd been trying to call him. Several times, apparently. Was she actually that worried about him? She had this uncanny ability to turn his insides to mush without doing a damn thing, and he hated it. Without really thinking about it, he reached out and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear, letting his knuckles brush against her cheek. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when she stirred at the contact. 

"Hmm. Hey, Mammon" She smiled sleepily, before shooting straight up. "Where the hell have you been?! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"Sheesh, you're starting to sound like Lucifer ya know." Mammon grumbled, trying to hide the bright flush on his face.

"You big dummy. Where were you? I've been worried, you haven't been answering, and you missed dinner-" Ari scooched closed so her face was level with his, she reached out and gasped as she gently touched his face.

"Mammon, what happened? You're bleeding!" Her words were barely a whisper, but Mammon could hear the worry in her voice and it made his heart clench. There was no way he could tell her the truth about this. She would hate him. Be disappointed in him. He didn't know which was worse. 

Ari didn't give him a chance to respond. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the bathroom. She instructed him to sit on the ledge of the bathtub while she dug out the small first aid kit she knew was in the cupboard. Turning to face him, she finally got a good look at the damage.

His clothes were ruffled up with a few small rips in the material, highlighted with splatters of dirt and dried blood. 

Under his right eye was a deep cut that left a trail of blood down his face and down his neck. He must have wiped at it at some point because his whole cheek was smeared red. His left cheek was swollen and purple as a harsh bruise had begun to form. His bottom lip was cracked, dried blood already clumping. 

Ari ran a cloth under hot water and began dabbing at his face.

"You know I'm a demon right? You don't have to do this, it'll be fine by mornin'. We heal fast." He just really wanted to go curl up in bed and have this day be done with. Though, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, it was nice to be fussed over. He just wished it was under less embarrassing circumstances. He didn't want to tell her about it, but he didn't want to come off as weak either. 

"Hush you. You still haven't told me what happened." Ari's tone was firm, but warm. Her hands worked like they had done this a million times before, gentle yet experienced as she cleaned his wounds.

"Ehhh, it's nothing really.." Mammon began. He caught Ari's glare and knew he'd have to do better than that. "Just a bit of a.. a..bar fight I guess." He tried to avert his gaze, but Ari held his chin in place as she pressed small steri-strips over the gash.

"A bar fight." She didn't look convinced, so Mammon continued.

"Yeah, you'll never believe it! I was sitting there mindin' my own business, when out of nowhere this group of lesser demons decided they wanted the honor of fighting The Great Mammon."

Ari sighed as she cracked the ice pack before placing it on his swollen cheek. 

"You're lying." She didn't sound mad, but the sadness in her tone made something twist painfully in his gut. 

But how could he tell her that it was, in part, the truth? He'd skipped out early on his last class, and went to find some poor bastard to beat in poker to make a quick buck. There has been a very drunk group of demons there who had thrown some teasing remarks Mammon's way and the night went on. Mammon had initially ignored it. All the brothers were used to those lesser demons who had taken unkindly to their position and closeness to Lord Diavolo. They were little more than annoying bugs, and it was beneath them to stoop to their level. 

'Looks like Mammon doesn't have his pet human with him today. What a shame, she looks so tasty.' Mammon's hair had bristled, but he continued to try and ignore them. 

'Such a pretty little thing, that human. The things I would do to her-' 

'I bet all of them take their turn with her, she looks like she'd enjoy being their little fuck toy, the filthy huma-' the sentence went unfinished as a loud crack filled the air and the demon crumpled to the floor. Mammon only saw red as he flung himself at the next demon. Just her name on their insignificant tongues, the thought of them even so much as thinking about her like that set off such a fury inside him and he couldn't help but want them dead. Every single one of them.

There had been more of them than he'd expected, and they had managed to get a couple decent punches in. He'd made quick work of them though, the rest of the bar's patrons had bailed when the fight first broke out, not wanting to get on the bad side of one of the elite demons. This left Mammon alone with a pile of bloody limbs and a very pissed off barkeeper. 

Mammon had calmed himself and bribed the owner with way more money than he'd ever be able to pay in order to keep him from going straight to Lucifer. He promised to clean up after himself and to have his money by the end of the week. Reluctantly, the owner agreed and left him to deal with his mess. 

Now here he was, Ari’s hands carefully holding his face and looking at him like that. As if he was the fragile one. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve her. 

"It's just not like you, Mammon. Should I be worried?" 

"Nah, nothin to worry your pretty little face over." ‘I took care of it.’

"If you say so…" Ari sighed. "You'll tell me if there's anything I can do?" 

Mammon pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her, his head on her shoulder. He pressed a kiss to her collarbone and hugged her tightly. 

"You just keep bein' you. Let your first man deal with the rest.”

[wnb-o]

Twins of Twins (Beel x MC x Belphie)

hey yoooo. i got inspired from a satan(/levi) fic on ao3, and i’ve been wanting to write it down soooo, here it is. the part that i got inspo from is when MC was talking with satan (before and after canoodling, hehe) about pregnancy, and how dangerous it can be to conceive demon babies, even for female demons. so i kinda put my own take on what could happen. 

p.s., this piece is no way related to the work that it’s inspired from. this is my take on the idea of a demon/human pregnancy. also, this fic is part of one of my favorite series on ao3, and it’s got all the demon bros (belphie is not a love interest, however, but is included in the series), and diavolo and barb! it’s got romance, smut, drama, angst, and polyamorous relationships (consensual, ofc). honestly, it’s perfect. okay, imma stop talking now.

chapter warnings: language, vomiting, mentions of animal butchering, mentions of raw meat consumption

author’s note: pregnancy ain’t rainbows and sunshine, kiddies. nor is it how movies portray it. it is gross, raw, and it’s traumatic on the mom. but i applaud those who do, whether by choice or not.

italics: past

word count: 1,343

rating: 18+, r for future chapters

now, onwards and enjoy! (i’d also like to add that this is my very first fic for this fandom, and have not written anything else in quite a while, so critique is welcome)

______________________________________________________________

Being bedridden was not fun.

Not that it was by choice, though. The two little beings in my belly were the main cause of my bedridden state. I was huge by human standards, at five months. I looked more like I was almost at full term, with twins. Lucifer had told me that demon females usually only carry for five to six months, but with the babies being half-human, they weren’t really sure on how long I would be carrying. Although, it’s very possible that I would be delivering soon.

______________________________________________________________

Lucifer lightly knocked on my door, and called my name. “MC, it’s getting late, breakfast is getting cold... whatever’s left of it, anyway.”

I woke up very slowly, with the sudden urge to throw up. I could feel the acidic bile rising up my throat as I ran to my bathroom. Lucifer must have heard my retching, and announced that he was coming in my room. He came into my bathroom and immediately knelt to my side, rubbing my back in hopes to comfort me.

“Feeling better?” he asked, as I finally stopped heaving.

“Yeah, it just came out of nowhere,” I said, wondering if I caught a stomach bug. “Do you mind getting me a glass of water, please? There should a cup in the towel cabinet, from the tap is fine,” I ask him, still kneeling in front of the toilet, and spat out whatever remnants were left.

“Of course, darling,” he says, standing up. Just as he opened the cabinet door, I saw a glimpse of a box of tampons, and my stomach dropped again. Not enough to puke again, however.

“Here you go,” Lucifer turns to hand me the glass of water, and notices the complexed look on my face. “What’s wrong, do you need to throw up again?”

“I need my phone,” I say, as I stand up. I kind of wobbled on the spot, but Lucifer reached out to steady me with his free hand. “Thanks.”

I grab the glass and down it as fast as I could (at a reasonable pace, of course), and stepped out of my bathroom to look for my phone. It was usually where I left it, on the nightstand that was next to my side of the bed. I open my phone and check the calendar, trying to count the days of my last period.

Oh, shit.

I turn to Lucifer, with a worried look on my face.

“Lucifer... I’m late.” I whisper.

______________________________________________________________

Satan kept check on my well-being, making sure that he was following everything to the book on human pregnancy (and demon pregnancy), and then some. He and Lucifer had educated me early on how a demon pregnancy usually progresses. Satan also had to do further research on any possible demon/human reproductions that might have happened in the past. He found a few actual sources, but they weren’t very legible, nor were they pretty to read about, once deciphered.

Then he had to do more research on the female anatomy, and all the little (and major) changes my body will go through, and compared it with the demon female anatomy. “I need to do as much research as possible, MC. If I miss anything, it could be a matter of life or death for you, and none of us want that.” Awww... and yikes.

The only significant differences that he was able to find out about was the pain tolerance experienced during birth, the length of the pregnancy, and the cravings. I still got human food cravings, thank God (or is it Diavolo?). But I also got serious cravings for raw meat. Like, actual straight from the source, meat. It was challenging, because we had to determine what kind of raw meat that I (or the babies, in this case) was actually craving for. Turned out to be a type of mammal in the Devildom, much to my dismay. But Beel was able to provide it for me, bless his heart.

Belphie helps him in cutting up the mammal, and he’s always complaining to me about how much work it is to butcher up a 2,000-pound mammal. Although, Beel mentions to me (without letting Belphie know) that Belphie does the task with a smile and a hum. Beel asked him once if he enjoyed doing this, and Belphie simply replied, “As long as the babies are healthy and she’s happy, then I’m happy.” It warmed my heart to hear Beel slip that piece of information with me.

______________________________________________________________

Lucifer had called both of his younger twin brothers into his study a day later after the incident. He had to make an impromptu trip to the human world to pick up a few pregnancy tests. I asked him if there were any in the Devildom, to which he replied, “Even if there were, I wouldn’t want anyone to see me purchasing them. It could tarnish Lord Diavolo’s reputation and his plan for restoring bonds over the realms.” Of course, he would say that, damn him (again).

 His gaze was fixated on the couch I sat on, an angry and contemplative expression on his face. He wasn’t glaring at me, though. No, it seemed as if he was trying to put holes on the empty spots on the couch, spots that will soon be occupied by two certain individuals.

There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Lucifer says, in an ominous tone.

Beelzebub was the first to enter, with Belphegor dragging along behind him.

“MC, what are you doing here?” Beel asked with a smile, and sat on my right side. Belphie plopped himself on the available side on the couch, and kissed my cheek. “Hey,” was all he said.

“Hi,” I replied timidly, to which Belphegor and Beel noticed right away, that something was wrong.

Belphie looked at my face for a while, to which I ignored to the best of my abilities. He fixed his gaze on Lucifer when I wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “What the hell is happening?” he asked Lucifer, with a tone that clearly said to not beat around the bush.

Lucifer stared straight back at Belphegor. “She’s pregnant.”

______________________________________________________________

Lord Diavolo and Barbatos had found out about it, naturally. Anything that happens in the Devildom never seems to slip past them. And boy, were they not impressed. A meeting was scheduled to be held at the Prince’s castle A.S.A.P., in regards to how to proceed with the pregnancy. The twins, Lucifer and I were summoned for this meeting.

“I ought to punish them for doing this to MC, Lucifer. You know how dangerous it is to rear demon children,” Diavolo said loud and clear, and glared at the twins with a disappointed look on his face. Belphie and Beel both kept their eyes on the table they were sitting in front of, both of them expressing their guilt for what they’ve done.

I raised my hand, “Excuse me, but just how dangerous is it?” I asked, feeling slightly stupid.

Diavolo sighed heavily, and rubbed his eyes in a frustrated manner.

“Rearing demon children is a very risky business, even for demon females. Because of the raw nature of their infancy, it is a danger that is considered fervently, first and foremost,” Barbatos explains in a cold tone. “As strong as we are as demons, the unpredictability of an infant demon could be disastrous for the mother, if not properly planned for.”

A chill went down my spine. Not properly planned for? What the hell does he mean by that?

“You say that it’s dangerous for even demon females... what about human females?” I ask, although I had an idea, but I didn’t like it.

Barbatos is quiet, gazing at me with a pitied look. I hated it.

“There have been very few attempts, before Diavolo’s reign, on demon and human reproduction... they never ended well. For the human involved, anyway. They always died.”

I took in a shuddering breath, and looked down at my stomach. Could this being really kill me, unintentionally?

______________________________________________________________

dun dun dun... this is originally gonna be longer than i intended (whoops), and i’m also not sure if i like the format i’m going with (jumping from present to past, and vice versa). but this is how a majority of my stories and ideas play out in my head, and writing it out like this makes sense to me, lol. i’ll try to be back with a pt.2 soon, might be up sooner if the fic is well-received :P stay safe out there, lovelies!

another author’s note: the other brothers will also feature in future chapters! also, i feel that i must warn that i WILL be writing about a very graphic birthing scene, and it’s gonna be gory (yay demon babies, jk). if that makes any of you uncomfortable, i’ll put out a warning in the chapter before the scene starts out so you can skip it.

[neverlearnedtoread]

To Kill a Kingdom

⭐⭐; me @ the main characters: maybe if you actually kill someone instead of angsting about it you’ll?? calm down???

Oh?? 👌😉😏

i enjoyed the worldbuilding! i liked the emphasis on different skin colours and richness of the setting

a strong opening - i liked the characters at the beginning! unfortunately the more i learned about them the more i went 🙄

ending scene was visually appealing. the description in this story were rich, sometimes too rich, but they were still satisfying to read; the last scene especially

No.. ❌🤢🤮

too much of the narration is internal, which, when you have young, self-conflicted main characters in first-person POV, gives you very long thought spirals. it’s hell. i do not need to be trapped in a 16-year-old’s hormonal brain while there are PIRATES and BLOODTHIRSTY MERMAIDS to be paying attention to instead

morally grey characters that became less....morally grey or nuanced or mysterious as they went on, and not in a good way, but a ‘we found some morals on the ground and we have a Good True Purpose Now’ way

there was so much travelling for no reason. the worldbuilding’s nice, but where are we going??

there is no need to moralize your characters to death. if they’re killers, they’re killers. if they’re experiencing a change of heart, i’d rather see it in the action scenes than hear about it while they reminiscence about the colour of their love interests’ eyes

one of my biggest pet peeves is when an author skims over the top of a trope but doesn’t commit. this book had so many ‘aha! you thought it would be this trope, but actually - *runs*’

Summary: Princess Lira collects princes’ hearts. No, literally. As siren royalty, she’s added one heart to her collection for every year she’s been alive, and it’s earned her the ominous title of Princes’ Bane. But she’s not allowed to kill princes just whenever - there are rules you must follow in the sea kingdom, Diavolos, and all of them are made by the viciously tyrannical Sea Queen, so they definitely don’t need to make sense, either. Sirens who prove their cutthroat tendencies by retrieving a human heart (fresh, pulsing) during their birth month get status, recognition - Lira has proven herself worthy for seventeen long years. But one day, knowing full well she’s a week early, she casually kills a land prince. For her disobedience, the Sea Queen turns her into a human, leaving her to die in the middle of the freezing ocean with the worst case of hypothermia she’s never experienced before. By some strange turn of luck, she’s picked up by Prince Elian, the only prince Lira might need to fear - the notorious Siren-Killer himself.

Concept: 💭💭💭💭💭 I’m a simple woman; I see pirates, I’m interested. I see mermaids, I’m adding it to the cart immediately. I see a pirate-killer mermaid and a mermaid-killer pirate?? Girl, I’m here. I’m hyped!! I was so excited to read this book. The murder! The intrigue! The forbidden romance between two people who want to kill each other! All I wanted were some good ol’ mermaids. *head in hands* I LOVE MERMAIDS

Spoilers under the cut - be warned, I did not like this book!

Execution: 💥💥 I think the crux of the issue was the narration. It was entirely too convoluted, mostly because it was so internal - a lot of ‘i think’ and ‘i feel’ and ‘i am’ slowed down the plot too much, and it was way too tiring to read them going on and on about how ‘im a killer; i hate being a killer but being a killer is who i am and also im justified in killing because i only kill bad people even though i hate killing. anyway killing is bad but it is also my only personality trait and-’ so on, and so forth, forever! And I couldn’t skim too much because I didn’t know why the character decided to act a certain way since I skipped all the internal monologuing. And then at some point the protagonists started making out but I wasn’t invested so I had to close my eyes to that too...I just wanted,,to read,,,about pirates and sirens killing each other,,,,,

Personal Enjoyment: ❤ It took me two whole months to finish this. It’s not a long book. It was hell. I had no idea what was going to happen at any given time, and not in a fun, ‘ooh what’s next?’ way, but more of a ‘oh god, why is this so convoluted i do not care’ way. I would read a page, close the ipad, lie down and think about fanfiction instead. and then I’d read that instead of the book. I had to borrow this book from the library twice to finish it, and I kept checking how many pages I had left. Now, you may be asking...why did I keep reading? because monkey brain said sirens and mermaids huhuhu. Don’t ask dumb fucking questions.

Favourite Moment: The first scene where Lira kills the prince and yanks his heart out of his chest...great set-up that lost all the momentum in the middle part because we spent too much damn time thinking in circles. All I wanted was some good ol’ violence and sexy banter over the violence. I didn’t need them to monologue for five years over each twitch of their soul or whatever

Favourite Character: Lira. She was cold and bloodthirsty and I thought that was going to be contrasted or played against by the male lead, which is one of my favourite tropes of all time. We love bloodthirsty women and the men who simp for them!! Unfortunately the author spent wayyyyy too long trying to set up how these two protagonists were similar, but different, but similar. I don’t care if you use tropes to take a few shortcuts. The faster you set them up, the quickly you can deconstruct them / subvert them. But we will always love a girl who can rip a heart out of a chest for fun