Part II (continues from Part I)
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Diavolo x you x Lucifer
Despite feeling that you must have once known him better than he's letting on, Lucifer doesn't always call on you when he visits Dia's estate. You've realised through snippets of conversation that 'Lucifer' is in fact the name he goes by, he won't tolerate 'Luci' even in jest. In spite of this, Lucifer looks regretful and a little tentative when you begin calling him 'Lucifer', and for a moment you could've sworn he was about to ask if you'd please continue using his softer nickname instead.
You find out too that Dia's full name is 'Diavolo', and you find it funny and endearing that he must've not wanted to be so formal with you by mentioning it. You afterward only call him 'Diavolo' if you're both teasing and joking around with each other, which happens more frequently now that you're not so weak as before. You hear Dia laughing more now too, and when you realise how cheery and bubbly he can be with you, you realise just how scared he must've been in those first few days when you could hardly smile back at him at all.
Just like with Dia, you've been getting to know Lucifer again slowly and gently, you know that being with you makes him emotional somehow. Sometimes on the days he doesn't visit you, you'll find something in the house that reminds you of him anyhow. Once, there was a beautiful vinyl record left in the study, its music had soothed you for hours when you couldn't sleep. Another time, there was a midnight-blue flower curled next to your place-setting at dinner, its dark, inky petals resembled stars in the night sky. Though it was forbidding in it's own way, something about it made you smile. Once, he gave you a funny sticker of himself riding a unicorn, which made you laugh so much that for once, you saw Lucifer smirk, then cross his arms as he said he's happy you enjoyed it.
Another time, inexplicably, you found a single white feather.
-
You think you might give Lucifer a tiny keepsake too, even if it's just a small shell that you found at the edge of the forest. But the next time you see him, he's in the middle of a heated argument. You're returning from a walk when you overhear Barbatos's calm voice, and then Lucifer's entirely less controlled one.
"It's only a possibility, Lucifer. Perhaps it isn't fair for them to remain so far from other humans, who may be better placed to help-"
"Better placed? What place do you imagine, Barbatos, is better than among those they love?"
Lucifer's tone is low, something dangerous simmering beneath his usual poise.
"It's not an unreasonable suggestion," Dia says slowly, but his voice is heavy, as if he's fighting every word. "I have no reason to believe that remaining in our realm is making things worse. But at the very least, I owe them that choice."
You've never known Lucifer to speak harshly to Dia, but in the pause that follows, the air crackles with an unfamiliar tension. Something stirs in the corner of your memory but you push it aside. You don't understand what they're saying, only that this fight is about you and you need to help them fix it.
"...owe them?" Lucifer whispers.
Neither notices you as you quietly approach. You see a pained, broken look on Dia's face, before he nods, allowing Lucifer to go on.
"-you don't... no, Diavolo, how could you possibly understand what you owe? When you haven't given yourself- all of yourself-"
A vague thread begins to tug behind your temples. You felt that same aching sensation in your chest as when you first met Lucifer, a sensation that becomes more painful the closer to both of them you get.
"-you loved- you love them," Lucifer whispers. "And yet you never swore yourself, never said those words, never trusted them-"
"Wait-" you manage, you can sense you don't have long before you collapse. "-he did."
Both Dia and Lucifer turn to you, Dia's expression crumpling in anguish as you meet his gaze. Lucifer freezes, his heart quickening as he sees the telltale signs that you're in pain, he makes a strangled, grief-stricken sound.
"Diavolo did make a pact with me," you say softly, a small, genuine smile on your face as the memory returns. You can see Dia's face as he knelt at your side, he was smiling at you with all the feeling in the world as you knelt too. You remember the shy, hopeful way he held your smaller hand between both of his, confessing he'd been terrified to do this for so long. He's not the same sort of demon as Lucifer and the others, he's not a fallen angel, not born of rage or war...
You remember the way Dia beamed at you as he said he wanted to be yours, then the way his smile slowly slipped, an unfamiliar note of panic in his voice as he asked if you were alright. The room had gone dark and unsteady, the same way it was becoming now...
"I'm so sorry-" you can hear Diavolo sobbing now, not in his usual reserved manner, but chokingly, he hunches over your limp body on the ground. You catch a glimpse of his tear-streaked face, he's pleading something in his own language too. The language, which you now know, is of demons. "If I hadn't... it was my fault-"
You take his hand and hold it to your face, everything feels so faraway now. Lucifer is at your other side, you think he's yelling at you to wait, that he's going to fix this, that you can't and won't leave him again.
You want to tell them that you love them, that neither of them is to blame...
"I'm so glad I remembered," you hear yourself whisper, and from somewhere in the darkness, you think you hear Lucifer scream.
-
When you wake up again you're in a comforting but lavish looking bedroom. Diavolo is kneeling by your side, one of his wings awkwardly dislodging all the little trinkets from your bedside table, the other wing looming over you. He's been holding your arm and crying into your sleeve for so long that your arm is numb and tingly, your sleeve is soaked, and Diavolo's breathing is coming in quiet sobs. Lucifer is standing with his arms crossed by the window, his expression impenetrable. You'd think he was furious, if he didn't have his wings nearly curled around himself, which only makes him look lost.
Diavolo startles when he sees you're awake. He fumbles for a tissue, still looking shocked as he swallows and clears his throat, his voice halting as he mutters Lucifer's name. Lucifer makes a terse sound and gestures at Dia as he closes the space between you, and all of a sudden the tissues are the least of Diavolo's problems as he realises you're staring at him in his full demon form. He thinks he must look horribly frightening. He's too upset to help that now.
"My name is D-iavolo," Diavolo says shakily, smiling through his tears as he collects himself for you. "-you might not remember me right now, but I'm here to hel-"
"Dia, of course I remember you," you say softly, pulling him into a gentle hug. "We're in a pact, remember?"
Diavolo stiffens, then makes a low sound as you hold him tight, his face pressed into the crook of your shoulder. Lucifer has frozen midway to your side, as if he doesn't wish to breathe and somehow undo what he just heard.
"You too, Luci," you whisper to him, trying to smile reassuringly as you hold one of your hands toward Lucifer too. You mean it to be sweet, but for a moment you're not sure if Lucifer is ready for a hug yet, you have an awful feeling neither of them had known if you'd even wake.
But the next second Lucifer is in your arms, holding you tighter than you ever thought possible.
"Don't you ever call me anything else again," he mutters, his expression severe as he cups your face in his palms. Diavolo gives a sputtery laugh as he finally finds his bearings.
"Does that go for me as well, Luci?" Diavolo manages a half-grin, then he folds back into your arms like he never wishes to leave, Lucifer's only reply is to loop his arm over Diavolo's shoulders too, pulling you both in.