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justmaghookit · 1 year ago

Text

Contractual Obligations

Raphael/OC

SFW

AN: Did you know that in the case of devils one of their almost "signature" abilities is they can summon other devils into combat. I just think that's neat. Takes place in an au where my oc Belladonna has been a devil under Fierna for many years, and an on-again off-again lover of Raphael's

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The House of Hope was under lockdown. All its entrances and exits were watched over by goat-headed devils who snarled and snorted at any who dared try to get in and take advantage of its Master's absence. Not that there was much worth taking left, the greatest of its treasures had been plundered, the best of its servants slaughtered.

And Hope?

Belladonna had cut her throat himself when he'd arrived in the foyer and seen the scene unfolding. Raphael had called him, summoned him, he'd never done that before. There was a clause in their business deal that allowed them to call upon each other in troubled times, neither of them would ever use it if they could help it, it was embarrassing, a show of weakness, a blow to pride.

This time though, it seemed Raphael's sense of self preservation won against his ego. He had called and Belladonna had been contract bound to answer.

Raphael's triumph had become Raphael's tragedy. Those ithilid infested adventures had smashed through his House with all the grace of a cannon ball and had the cambion cornered. Even his ascended form unleashed upon them had not slowed them down. He was beaten, bloody, leaking hellfire from gashes in his body and drooling from his maw like a rabid dog. He roared and shrieked and lashed at them but to no avail.

Raphael had been losing.

Belladonna had slit Hope's throat open with his claws, her gurgled death peals caught the attention of the adventurers. Belladonna had had just enough time to misty step across the foyer and grab Raphael's armored forearm and teleport them both away. The cambion had fought against the spell for a moment, refusing to leave his House before the fight drained out of him and he let the younger devil spirit him away.

Raphael now lays sprawled out and unconscious in Belladonna's own baths, taking up nearly half of the space with his monstrous form. That he hadn't turned back even after the worst of his injuries had been dealt with was a sign of just how close to death he had been. There was no afterlife for devils, only oblivion, that the man had risked it for his stupid plot and that stupid crown. He couldn't think about it for long or he'd be furious at a half dead man. He hopes those damned adventurers blow themselves up with it.

He sits with Raphael when he can, pulls his three faced head into his lap and strokes his fingers across the lattice of flesh and bone. The older fiend's internal fire did not roar and it was only thanks to the faint rasping of his breath he knew he was alive. With the amount of damage he had taken, not just to his body but to the house that was near an extension of him, it could take him decades to wake. He hoped it didn't take that long, he could only keep Raphael's affairs running for so long before Avernus came knocking and deemed him unfit for his position.

Belladonna did not want to deal with the fallout of that. Better to expedite the healing process and hope he'd only be out for a few weeks.

He tilts Raphael's head in his lap, pries open his maw and cuts into his own forearm with his claws. He lets his blood drip into the other fiends mouth and pool on his tongue, watches as he swallows unconsciously, it was progress. The past few days he'd had to force feed him the power that flowed through his veins. Very few devils would ever go to the trouble to do something like this willingly, nurse another devil back to health. Belladonna would have been better off letting him die and absorbing the other fiends parts of their business deal for himself. But it was Raphael and he was…

Well he was Raphael.

So far it was a good enough answer for his own mind, but he's sure once the other devil was up and about and questioning him he'd need to figure out a better one.

Raphael wakes on the third day of the third week, his eyes shoot open as Belladonna cuts into his own arm and the massive fiend has him pinned beneath his claws in seconds. Raphael’s arms shake with the effort of keeping his body up, his fire sputters and sparks and he pants wetly over the slight devil's face. He doesn't seem to know what to do now that he has him. Belladonna reaches for his clawed hand with the arm not pinned and pets over the protruding scales.

“Release me Raphael, then I'll give you what you want.” He orders. The other devil fights himself over it, conflict racing through animal eyes as he stares down at the prey he did not have the strength to kill. He releases him eventually, stumbling to the side with a rolling snarl. It does not intimidate Belladonna, not when the great beast's legs buckle and he crashes to the tiled floor.

“Poor thing.” Bella coos at him and kneels at his head, offers him his bloodied arm and sighs with pleasure as he opens his mouth and lets his tongue slide out to lap at the blood. He lets the cambion draw his arm into his mouth, he doesn't even bat an eye as his jaws snap shut and his teeth tear through flesh and crush bone. Belladonna wraps his free hand around Raphael's boney neck and rests his head atop Raphael’s own. An arm is an easy fix, worth the loss to see Raphael’s fire flare steady and strong.

As much as he gets a perverse thrill from feeding Raphael parts of himself, infecting his very being with his presence, he cannot do it forever. He cannot afford to weaken himself to the point the cambion could overpower him. As much as it would be a fitting end to his own miserable existence to let Raphael devour him, he has too many plans in process to let them all fail. Fierna kept him busy enough to keep the ennui at bay.

He also cannot afford to babysit Raphael for much longer. The older fiend was still in no state to attend his own affairs, half feral as he was and making a nuisance of himself in Belladonna’s private chambers. Many of Raphael’s indebted souls had escaped in the aftermath of the battle in his house and while he has bullied many of the fiends lesser servants into chasing them down, those old wrung out conquests would not be as filling as something new.

Bella could hand him something from his own stocks but with the way infernal contracts worked it wouldn’t be the same. No it had to be a soul from a deal Raphael had struck himself if it was to make any difference. In the meantime he could purchase bulk grubs from the soultrade, though he’s sure the man would turn up his nose at fodder like that, he also knows Raphael does not have much of a choice in the matter.

He hears the click-clack of claws and scrape of his tail on the tiled floors of his bathing chambers, the fiend pacing back and forth, his steps uneven as his left leg still struggles to support him. Belladonna sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. If Haarlep was still here he’d know which contracts to point him to, unfortunately the incubus had met his end to the same adventurers that had nearly destroyed Raphael. If he thinks too long about their mangled corpse he’s sure he’ll throw up from distress.

He had liked Haarlep, they had been friends. Or as close to friends as fiends could get.

There was no use dwelling in what was. Devils did not deal with the past, they toyed with the present and planned for the future. In the present he fixes Raphael and he plans to obliterate those adventurers in the future.

Raphael manages to speak on the fourth week, his voice a hissing gurgle from somewhere in his animal throat.

“Why?” Raphael asks him, he lounges half in the revitalizing waters of Belladonna’s bath, trying to look noble but coming off more like a gangly lizard, his breath rattles in his ribs and hellfire flickers weakly down his spine.

“Why what?” He counters, his arms hooked over the edge of the bathing pool where the water was deepest, letting himself half float there. Raphael slams his tail into the water and the younger devil sputters and shakes his head as he’s splashed.

“Do not play Bella.” He wheezes, too large teeth snapping in the air, a growl rumbling in his chest.

He sighs and tips his head back against the edge of the bath, tries to ignore the other fiend but knows it's not possible. He’d brought him here after all. He drops his hooves in the water and stands, walks across to where Raphael lays, the cambion watches him warily as he reaches out to cup under his jaw, thumb rubbing over a protruding tusk.

“What do you want me to say? That I did it for the sake of our ”business”? That it was on a whim? That it was to have you in my debt? You know why Raphael, don’t pretend you don’t.” Belladonna answers.

I love you, I love you, I hate you, you cannot die on me, only I get to kill you, you’re part of the reason I’m like this, I hate you, I love you, you are the ruin of me, I will ruin you, I love you.

“You are a fool.” Raphael growls, he manages to curl a massive clawed hand around his waist, although he lacks the strength to restrain him there. Belladonna finds he has no reason to wiggle free.

“No more a fool than you are, my prince without a crown.” He hums to him, tipping his head forward to press his forehead to Raphael’s. The fiend’s eyes burn, filled with fury and humiliation in equal measure and his claws prickle against his skin, threatening damage he does not have the strength to inflict.

“Do not sulk Raphael, it’s unbecoming of you. Rest, heal, grow stronger for your failures. We’ll punish those adventurers together.” Belladonna promises him, pressing his lips to the center of his twisted face.

Raphael heaves a great breath. “Together then.”

#bg3 raphael #raphael bg3 #raphael x oc #raphael the cambion #c; belladona darke #this maybe appeals to like Three people but its whatever #mags writes

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