Melody withdrew into her own mind as she dragged her belongings along with her on her way to the room. Barbatos had given clear directions to the room, and Asmo was off like a shot. Simeon walked more quietly with Melody, both of them falling behind the Avatar of Lust. He seemed to see that she was deep in thought and did nothing to distract her from it. She was grateful for this but also wondered if his silence was from indifference, or from kindness. Perhaps it was just some sort of angelic wisdom, or even a directive not to get involved. A few times she was tempted to ask him but decided against it.
Finally, they made it to the room. Asmodeus was already inside, perched on a bed at the back of the room by a secondary door. At a quick glance, it was obviously the bathroom. Melody wasn’t surprised. Simeon just stepped into the middle of the room and took a long look at everything. Melody, seeing a chair right by the door, sat down and did the same. The décor was darkly beautiful, the kind of thing she had come to expect from the Devildom. The flower vases that resembled the heart organ were a bit unnerving, but it made Melody wonder if Demon’s hearts were shaped differently. Not that it mattered; she had no desire to see a demon’s literal heart. There were three dressers across from the three beds, and not much else in the room, besides the little night tables and the chair she was in. Melody supposed that guest rooms didn’t need much more than that. It was nicer than camping out, and that was enough for her.
“It looks like Asmodeus has already made himself comfortable. Which bed would you like, Melody?” Simeon asked, turning his gaze on her. His expression was gentle, but she felt her heart rate speed up. There wasn’t anything in her entire life that had been particularly holy or religious. Her mother was a witch, and though Melody had never had any magic herself, she certainly hadn’t been raised to attend Church, or say prayers. Her half-siblings followed in their mother’s footsteps, and she was certain they had all dealt with demons before, though not likely any so formidable as the six brothers and their Prince. Would Simeon be looking at her so kindly if he knew that? If he knew about her pacts? She had no answer and was afraid to ask.
“I would like the one closest to the door if that’s okay,” she said, timidly.
“I’m not picky,” Simeon said with a soft laugh. “Well, that leaves the middle bed for me then.” Walking to his own dresser, he started to unpack his single bag. He didn’t carry nearly as much as the brothers had, but, Melody supposed that worldly objects weren’t really encouraged in angels. At least from what little she knew of them. Seeing Simeon being industrious, she did the same. From the other side of the room, she could hear Asmo start to unpack as well. Briefly, he came over to retrieve the few items he had asked her to take for him, and she relinquished them without objection. Even in that short interaction, she felt apprehensive. How would she sit still long enough for him to do her hair and makeup later?
“Well, it seems we’ve gotten ourselves settled here in our room now. Our belongings are in order, and we’ve decided who’ll be using which bed,” Simeon said once everyone seemed to be more or less done. “So, Asmodeus, Melody, let me take this opportunity to say that I look forward to sharing a space with the two of you these next few days.”
“Yes, me too,” agreed Asmodeus, looking a little surprised at Simeon. “And I have to say, Melody, Simeon, you two certainly lucked out, now didn’t you?!” Asmodeus gave a tiny laugh. “Considering you get to share a room with me.” Simeon just blinked a few times at Asmodeus, as though trying to process what he just said.
“Ah, yes. I suppose you could say we’re lucky to have you on the team, he replied. Melody wasn’t so sure about the lucky part, but she supposed an angel could take care of himself. She didn’t know for certain, though. Were angels and demons of comparable strength? Most likely angels had different levels of power, same as demons.
“Hehe.” Asmo only gave a coy little giggle. “Now, now, there’s no need to hide how thrilled you really are right now.” He paused dramatically. “Stop and think about it for a moment. You’ll be sharing a room with me-with Asmodeus himself. Which means you’ll be there to see me when I first wake up in the morning, after I’ve stepped out of the show…” Asmo looked like he could go on and on about himself, but at the mention of the ‘shower’ Melody started coughing so hard that Simeon walked over to her and started patting her on the back. It was just too much. Melody’s face was red as a beet, partially from embarrassment, and partially from the coughing fit.
“Melody, are you alright?” asked Simeon gently. At first, all Melody could do was nod her head so she didn’t worry him. Asmodeus just laughed again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to so completely overwhelm you with joy that you ended up choking on your admiration for me!” Even when he was showing concern, it was all about him. As worried as Simeon was, he laughed at what Asmodeus had to say, rather than getting angry or chastising him.
“Ahahaha. I have to say, you really are funny, aren’t you, Asmodeus?”
“Funny? I believe you mean beautiful… It’s okay, you can just come out and say it, you know?” Asmo went from wiggling with excitement to a still apprehension. “What sort of image did you have of me in the first place, Simeon?”
After thinking about it for a while, Simeon quoted some lines a bard from long ago had composed, calling Asmodeus the Jewel of the Heavens. Asmo seemed to like this at first until Simeon mentioned working hard to be admired, at which point he seemed much less thrilled. Melody couldn’t quite figure out why though, after how much he talked about his looks and getting attention for them. What was she missing here? She was thinking about it so much, that she almost missed the fact that Asmo had asked her a question.
“Melody, what do you have to say about this? You think there’s actually someone out there who does not love me?” asked Asmodeus, his expression more serious than Melody had ever seen it. She was stunned by the question, and just stared at him for a few moments. During this, Asmo waited, patiently at first, but then started to look a bit agitated, so Melody decided it was better to say something long-winded than nothing at all.
“I can’t really answer that. I mean, I hadn’t seen or heard of you until coming here, so I imagine most humans haven’t, and how could they love someone they’ve never met before? So, there has to be a lot of people out there who can’t love you, because they just don’t know who you are,” she tried to reason, hoping she wasn’t sounding like she was trying to be difficult. Asmo pressed his lips together as he thought over her answer. Melody waited in awkward silence, afraid she had offended him. Finally, to her relief, Asmodeus laughed.
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“You’re so thoughtful Melody. Most people would either just agree with me, or get jealous and say something horrid and mean-spirited, but you really listened to my question didn’t you? I can’t say I don’t find that attractive,” he said with another little giggle. “Eventually, if Lord Diavolo’s plan succeeds, I’ll have a chance to charm the whole human world, and then there won’t be any question about it.”
It might not have been exactly what Melody was trying to say, but at least Asmodeus wasn’t angry at her. Or, didn’t appear to be. Melody felt he wasn’t the type to crash blindly through a wall the way Beel had, so she had no clue what to look for if he actually did lose his temper instead of just being mildly annoyed with one of his brothers. However, the conversation was brought abruptly to a halt when the three roommates heard a knock on the door. Simeon opened it with a smile, revealing Satan on the other side; he had switched out of his RAD uniform and into his casual clothing.
“Hey, the tour of the Demon Lord’s Castle is starting soon,” he announced.
“Well, I suppose we should get going then,” said Simeon easily.
“Do I have time to get changed first?” Melody asked. Satan gave her a quick glance over.
“There should be time; I’ve never seen you fuss too much over what you’re wearing,” he said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders, his eyes fixed on Asmo with a faint warning. Asmo was the exact opposite of Melody in that regard. Asmo held up his hands with a little smile as if to say, he was who he was.
“I could help you with that, Melody,” he suggested.
“No, no, I’ll be fine. Really. Just… no help.” Fortunately, she didn’t end up in a coughing fit this time, as she quickly grabbed some clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. “You guys go on ahead,” she called from behind the door. Fervently she hoped that if Asmo was also getting changed, he didn’t take too long. She definitely didn’t want to walk out on him in any stage of undress. Even when she was done getting changed, she listened at the door for quite some time to be sure he wasn’t still rustling around in there. By the time she made it back to the grand hall, several conversations had already broken out. When Diavolo spotted Melody approaching, he cleared his throat, and the conversations ceased.
“Well, it looks like everyone’s here now.”
Melody noticed that Lord Diavolo was still wearing his RAD uniform, although no one else was. In fact, it was all she had ever seen him wear. Then again, this was the first time she had seen him outside of school. Did this Demon never take any breaks? Then again, being royalty was probably a job that one never could take a break from. It didn’t seem to get him down though, or, at least not that he let show. Either way, she felt bad for him; she didn’t find the RAD uniform overly comfortable. Perhaps his uniform was made of nicer material? He lived in a castle, after all, and it wasn’t as though she had reached out to feel the fabric of his coat or shirt.
“In that case let’s being our tour of the Demon Lord’s Castle,” said Lucifer.
“…Oh man, that was CLOSE! Good thing Lucifer didn’t hear what I said,” murmured Mammon. Melody held back a sigh; what trouble had Mammon gotten into in the meantime? And why was he saying something like that out loud? She glanced between him and Lucifer apprehensively.
“Mammon, when the tour’s over, I expect you to come to my room and explain everything about what you just mentioned in detail.”
“YIKES!” Melody shot Mammon a sympathetic glance in response to the panicked look on his face.
“What an idiot…” sighed Satan, bemoaning his brother’s antics. Melody couldn’t completely disagree with him; it was a foolish thing to say, but, she still didn’t think Mammon was an idiot exactly. She couldn’t put her finger on why, however, since most things he said, and did, made little sense.
“Now, now, I think it’s nice to have at least one foolish character in the group you can tease. It lightens things up a little, don’t you think?” piped up an unfamiliar voice. Immediately Melody started looking around; was someone else here?
“HEY! Who’re you callin’ foolish?!” demanded Mammon, not even looking around to see who was calling him names.
“…Wait a second. Where did that voice come from?” Simeon actually looked startled, as he peered around, trying to pinpoint where the source of the voice was. It was the first time Melody had seen him more than calmly smiling or gently laughing.
“Whoopsie! I suppose I really should have introduced myself earlier!” A tiny black figure stepped out from behind one of the pillars. It was mostly round; the body being a head a little else. The face had large, yellow eyes and a mouth filled with little sharp teeth. Its legs and arms were so small in comparison to the body, Melody was surprised it could move at all. Perched on top of its head was a black hat with a yellow band, nestled between a pair of yellow, spiraled horns that stood straight up. “Hello there, I’m Little D. No. 2!” It wasn’t much of a name, but Melody didn’t ask about this. Also, she thought it looked kind of adorable, but she was afraid it would be rude to say as much. “Ah, but call me Number Two, if you would, mmkay?”
“Wh-What is THAT?! A tiny demon…?” asked Luke, peering at Number Two in disbelief.
“Look yummy.” Beel’s comment surprised no one… though Melody was a bit put off. But, then she remembered he said he would have eaten her the first time they had met, and they had definitely progressed far past that point by now. She hoped.
“Careful, Beel. He’ll make you sick to your stomach.” Solomon shook his head. Melody noted he didn’t seem at all surprised by the appearance of Number Two, and he seemed to know enough about him to predict that he would be adverse to Beel’s digestive wellbeing.
“Apparently Barbatos has some student council business to attend to at the moment, so I thought I’d ask Number Two here to be our tour guide,” said Diavolo, his expression showing how much he would miss his butler. “He may be small, but he’s very helpful,” he added, turning his frown upside down. At least he recovered from his disappointment quickly. Surprisingly, Lucifer actually laughed a little.
“Yes. He’s MUCH more helpful than a certain OTHER “number two” I know.” Lucifer might have been smiling, but his words were not kind or friendly. Melody flicked a glance towards Mammon, certain that the slight in the Avatar of Greed’s direction would have him protesting again. Instead, he looked baffled.
“A certain other number two? …Who’s that?”
“You know, every once in a long while, I’m actually a little envious of you for being like this, Mammon…” Levi announced with a sigh and a shake of his head. While it wasn’t kind either, Melody kind of sympathized with Levi on that one. From the way he spoke about himself, she was sure Levi would immediately pick up on any slight in his direction, and probably misattributed several slights aimed at others as being directed towards him into the bargain.
At this point the Little… Number Two… launched into a bit of narrative, introducing the tour itself. Melody was listening, certainly, but she often looked towards the three brothers she had pacts with, just to gauge how they were reacting so far. Although they were all much stronger than her individually, let alone all together, she felt there was a certain… disharmony… to their lives, and it was something she wished she could help, even just a little.
“Boring…” muttered Mammon, grudgingly trailing behind.