Both Beel and Melody were quiet as the former led the latter down the hall. Beel’s room was at the very end, and when he opened the door and gestured for Melody to enter, she was surprised at what she saw. The room was much more neatly organized than Mammon’s, and much less exotic than Levi’s, but she found it beautiful. It was both oddly symmetrical, but with an asymmetrical charm. The left hand side of the room was done up in red and gold, while the right hand was done in purple and gold. The left featured sun motifs, and the right featured the moon. Between the sides, a winding staircase went up to a balcony. There were a lot of pictures on the wall. It looked comfortable and cozy, actually looking like a bedroom compared to the more display-oriented rooms of Levi and Mammon.

“So, this is my room,” said Beel without any flourishes to his words.

“It looks nice; it has a kind of harmony to it,” Melody said, moving towards the right hand side of the room. She wanted to get a better look on the moon that was emblazoned on the wall there. But she didn’t get far before Beel spoke up.

“No. Use my bed. It’s the one on the left. Don’t use the bed on the right. I’ll sleep on the couch.” Beel seemed rather pensive about something, and it stopped Melody in her tracks. Turning around, she took a few steps back to him. Looking Beel up and down, she shook her head.

“Beel, you’re a lot taller than me. I can easily stretch out on the couch and have plenty of room; you sleep in your bed,” she said, as firmly as she dared. Melody was not a large person, and she couldn’t imagine pushing Beel out of his bed for her sake. It made no sense. Plus, she just wasn’t comfortable sleeping in someone else’s bed, period. Especially not someone who wasn’t a relative, like when she had stayed with an aunt a few times. “Do one of the other brothers stay in here with you?” she asked. She hadn’t seen Satan’s room, or Asmo’s. Then her mind trickled back to when she first arrived. There was another brother…

“The bed on the right is my twin brother’s. His name is Belphegor. He’s in the human world right now as an exchange student.” So, that was the name of the last brother. When Melody had asked about him before, Beel had been very defensive over the matter. Melody wasn’t sure what had changed in the meantime, but, at least the mystery wasn’t hanging over her head anymore. It might have had something to do with the fact he was more used to her being around, or the fact they were stuck sharing a room now. Maybe it was because she now had a pact with two of his brothers, and was therefor ‘closer’ to the family. Either way, she didn’t feel it was right to ask the question.

“Oh, you have a twin? That must be nice.” Melody wondered if things would have been better for her if she had a twin; someone she could have bonded with. Perhaps someone else that didn’t have magic…

“Yeah. We don’t look alike though. Actually, we’re total opposites.” For a few moments, Beel was smiling as he talked about his twin. But then his expression grew worried again. “…Belphie had a falling out with Lucifer, so he was chosen to be an exchange student. Belphie didn’t want to go, but he was forced. So don’t mention his name in front of Lucifer.” Ah, at least that warning remained the same. Regardless of what Beel was willing to tell Melody, the subject was still off limits for Lucifer.

“Do you… want to tell me more about Belphie?” asked Melody tentatively. She remembered Beel saying he wasn’t able to talk about him to the other brothers, and, if he was that close to his twin, she could only imagine that would be painful. And, she only wished she had a bond like that with one of her siblings.

“Even though we’re twins, all that means is that our father made us at the same time. It’s not like we’re alike in any way.” Then Beel was smiling again, giving Melody the impression he did, maybe, want to talk about his twin. She was curious about the fact that he said he was ‘made’ rather than ‘born’, but she didn’t want to interrupt him. “Still, Belphie and I always got along.” Just as quickly, Beel was sad again; it seemed there was a lot going on beneath the hungry surface that he had always shown. “We used to have a little sister, Lilith. So the three of us were always together: me, Belphie, and Lilith. …But that was a long time ago now.”

Used to? The sister was… dead? It was the only thing that Melody could think of. Even if a sibling moved away, or was cut out from the family tree, a person never stopped being related. If they weren’t demons, Melody would have thought it could be a childhood illness, or a tragic accident. But, what could kill a demon? She was afraid to ask. Tentatively, she reached out and touched Beel’s wrist. He looked surprised, but didn’t pull back.

“Beel, it’s okay. If you don’t want to talk about her, you don’t have to,” Melody said gently. “Family is… sometimes very tricky. Something like that is so personal; you don’t owe me any explanations.” Her voice felt heavy in her throat, and she didn’t know why she felt so sad. It had been less than a day ago that Beel had almost stampeded over Mammon and busted her wall wide open, but she hated seeing him so sad. Still, she found herself looking at him, wondering what Belphegor looked like, if they were opposites. Someone small? Someone with green hair, since it was the opposite of orange? Someone thin? Or was being opposite more personality?

“Thanks Melody,” Beelzebub said, letting out a sigh of relief. He had felt a lot of tension, not wanting to tell Melody no, but even less comfortable with telling her about Lilith. He was glad she not only understood, but was reaching out to close the gap, despite her earlier scare. But then he noticed the way Melody was peering at him. “Why are you staring at me like that? I told you, didn’t I? Belphie and I are twins, but we don’t look alike.”

“Oh… um… sorry,” Melody said, looking away awkwardly and pulling back her hand. “I was just trying to imagine what the exact opposite of you would look like,” she confessed. Beel didn’t seem bothered by this.

“You know the portrait hall, right? I’m pretty sure there’s a picture of him there.” Beel was kind enough to go with Melody to the place and point out the picture. “See? Right there, that’s Belphie.”

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Melody look at the image. The demon depicted there looked a fair bit smaller than Beel, but it was hard to tell, the way he was cuddled up to a black and white pillow that was clutched in his arms. His expression was sleepy, so it was hard to tell his disposition. His hair was a dark blue-ish black color with white tips. The only thing he had in common with Beel was the color of their eyes; mostly purple with a hint of pink at the bottoms. On Belphegor they looked just right, rather than clashing with Beel’s orange hair. And though Melody had never seen Belphegor before, he seemed oddly familiar. Perhaps it was just the eyes that made her think that way, but something else nagged at the back of her mind.

“You share the same eyes though,” she observed. Belphegor seemed to toe the line between ‘pretty’ and ‘handsome’, while Beel was pretty squarely parked in the ‘ruggedly handsome’ category. Not that she would tell any of them how attractive they were; that would be incredibly awkward… especially since she lived with them all.

“I guess we do have that in common,” Beel said, and he truly did look pleased at this. “But, we should probably get you some blankets and sheets for the couch so you can settle in. And, if you hear me moving around in the night, don’t worry. I often get up for snacks.” Melody nodded and let Beel lead her away from the pictures, though she did take one last look at Belphegor’s portrait, trying to figure out what bothered her about it.

Fortunately for both Beel and Melody, the custard fiasco happened on a night before a non-school day, so Melody’s disrupted sleep didn’t matter too much. It took her a long time to fall asleep, and she was sure Beel fell asleep much quicker. She wasn’t sure if it was because it didn’t matter that she was in there, or if he was just that tired. But she wasn’t used to sharing a room anymore, and she certainly wasn’t used to sleeping in the same room as a stranger. The couch wasn’t uncomfortable though, so it was only her thoughts that kept her up. However, she eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, she was sitting alone at the breakfast table, wondering why no one else was there. Eventually Mammon walked into the room to see Melody was staring off into space. Her expression was thoughtful, and it took Mammon a bit to catch her attention, which didn’t sit well with him. Mammon hated being ignored, and what made it worse, his brothers knew he hated it, and did it anyway. At least with Melody he felt that he should be able to catch her attention quite easily, but she really did seem lost in thought.

“Oi! Human! Pay attention when I’m talking to ya!” Mammon waved his hands in front of her face. Startled, Melody focused her gaze on him.

“Oh, I’m sorry Mammon,” she said, promptly lowering her gaze. “Did you need something?”

“Get your head out of the clouds. You keep spacin’ out like that and you’ll get into more trouble than you already do.” He paused to look her over. “Somethin’ in particular on your mind?” he asked.

“Something Beel said last night confused me,” Melody said, thinking it was okay to bring it up, since Mammon asked.

“Beel? Really? Most of the time all we can get out of him is a complaint that he’s hungry again.” Mammon didn’t actually believe that, but he also knew that Beel wasn’t the most eager conversationalist among them.

“Well, he was telling me a bit about himself, but, he said that he was created, not born. But, you all call yourselves brothers, right? Are demons not born then?” It wasn’t the conversation that Mammon was expecting. And it certainly wasn’t the same as a child asking ‘Where do babies come from,’ so at least he was spared that particular discussion.

“What exactly did Beel say?”

“He was saying that being a twin didn’t mean he was exactly like his twin, but that they were just made by their father at the same time. Humans don’t talk about their fathers ‘creating’ them; we talk about being born,” Melody said. It was confusing to her. “He also mentioned that you had a younger sister as well, which sounds more like something a human would say. And… it sounds like he misses her. A lot.” At the mention of the younger sister, Mammon drew in a sharp breath, and Melody was worried that she had upset him. But he simply let that breath out slowly.

“…Huh. So, Beel told you about Belphie and Lilith, did he? I’ve gotta say, gettin’ Beel to tell you about Belphie and Lilith… for a human, you’ve done good! I gotta hand it to ya!” Mammon’s praise was unexpected, and Melody blushed slightly. “…Anyway, how do I explain this?”

There was a long pause. Melody waited, almost breathlessly, feeling a slight tingling down her spine. Her gut told her this information was important, and she worried that Mammon would leave her hanging. Fortunately, she was not disappointed.

“So, we were all actually angels up in the Celestial Realm before we fell from grace, so to speak.”

The news rippled through Melody like a shockwave. Angels? She remembered back when she first met Simeon; he had mentioned Lucifer being the most troublesome of the brothers, a fact she had trouble reconciling with the demon she knew. But, did that mean Simeon know them from before? Had Luke? Was that why he seemed so angry at them, or why they were so quick to dismiss the two angels? They were definitely demons now, but, she didn’t know how such a thing could happen. Melody didn’t know much about angels in general, but they were usually described as coming into being by the will of God, or their Father, as he was described. Yet, they were all a family, of sorts. She was about to ask another question, but Mammon seemed to be in full reminiscence mode.

“Back then, Lucifer was especially fond of Beel, Belphie, and Lilith. He loved those three. But things changed after we ended up in the Devildom. Lucifer is such a super-serious guy and all, so… after pledging his loyalty to Lord Diavolo, he always put Diavolo’s desires first from that point on, no matter what. He does it even when it’s something he doesn’t agree with, ya know? I mean, seriously, would it kill him to be a little flexible sometimes? But anyway, that’s what brought this on. When Lord Diavolo suggested this exchange program thing, and Belphie opposed it… Lucifer wouldn’t listen to a thing Belphie said. He just sent him straight up to the human world, and that was that.”

As curious as Melody was about the fate of Lilith, she didn’t feel now was the time to ask. She simply nodded her head to show she was listening to Mammon. He seemed done for the time being though.

“It sounds like it’s been hard on Beel,” Melody said softly.

“Yeah, it has been. But Beel’s pretty tough. I mean, you saw what he did to that wall, right? There’s not a lot out there that can hurt him,” Mammon pointed out. Melody nodded slowly to show she had heard. Again, it wasn’t the physical harm that worried her. Demons might be strong and hardy, but their emotions seemed just as fragile and varied as human ones. And, since the brothers were originally angels, and little Luke seemed highly emotive, she had to assume the same was true for angels as well. It was not what she had believed before coming to the Devildom, but the whole experience was tearing away her beliefs, piece by piece.

“Being tough doesn’t make someone immune to being sad,” Melody returned quietly.

“I don’t know where you get all these ideas from,” Mammon said with a shrug. “Now hurry up and get ready; with the kitchen destroyed, we’ll have to go somewhere to get some breakfast, and I don’t want to get stuck paying for Beel.” Somewhat reluctantly, Melody found herself being dragged off by Mammon. But, at least she would be fed, even if she ended up paying for both of them out of her meager allowance.