Avoiding running into strangers was hard.
Dodging roaming reporters was difficult.
Hiding from the police was damn near impossible.
But staying out of the way of all three? While trying to hide an Imp suffering from some unknown ailment that caused her to randomly transform into a different animal every time she sneezed?
Cobalt didn't like that his usually-abysmal luck only ever worked in his favour at the most inopportune moments. For what felt like hours, he had been carefully guiding Quinn through Brimstone, carrying her whenever she had turned into something small like a cat or a gerbil, or hiding her in alleys and empty lots whenever she transformed into something larger like a sheep or a rhino. It was grueling work, and with the sheer amount of police combing the town to find the terrorist responsible for destroying the Jump Gate, turning themselves in hoping for a minor reprimand was not an option.
B.I.D. was too far, and the sun was already low beneath the horizon, forcing the Incubus to weigh his options. He couldn't abandon her; that simply wasn't something he was willing to do. Then again, he wasn't prepared to spent the night in a dirty bicycle shed with a fluctuating demon that could accidentally crush him at any moment. His first thought was to drop Quinn off at the hospital, but that still ran the risk of her getting arrested, and it was on the other side of town.
As he hunkered in a rubbish-strewn alleyway, Cobalt peeked out into the street. A pair of police officers were questioning what few demons were out and about, cutting off his only means of egress. Biting his lip, he shivered and shuffled towards the back of the alley, where he had left his student. In what few moments she had returned to her regular Imp form, she had reported feeling dizzy and nauseous, and her pale complexion had only gotten worse. Quinn was sick.
Or perhaps poisoned.
He shook his head. There was no point in forming theories not. He had to deal with the problem at hand.
"How are you feeling?" he whispered, placing a hand on a snow-covered lump in the back of the alley.
Quinn slowly peeled an eye open and stared at him. At the moment she had turned into boar, and had laid down to rest. Pinkish mucus still leaked from her nostrils, and had begun to gather around her eyes. She just snorted in response.
The novelty of the situation had long since worn off; the Imp was probably feeling the strain of so many consecutive transformations.
"Surely this will wear off soon. If you ditch her and come back later-" Lilith suggested.
"Don't worry, Quinn. I'm not going anywhere," Cobalt interrupted, patting the transformed Imp's coarse hide.
She slowly shut her eyes and sighed.
Lilith, as per usual, had been trying to convince him to prioritise his own safety over his student's. He was beginning to get sick of the Devil's selfish attitude when it came to matters regarding his students. He had been blindly following her when it came to Devil matters, so why did she act so high and mighty when it came to-?
"You're being watched, kid," she suddenly told him.
He gritted his teeth. It seemed like the only merit she had was her perceptiveness. Odd for a woman with one eye.
"Above you. By those ladders."
Taking care not to make any sudden movements, Cobalt glanced upwards at the fire escape mounted to the back of one of the buildings surrounding the alley. Sure enough, a dark figure was hunkered there, silently watching them both.
The back of his neck prickled in a familiar way.
"Elya," the Incubus said aloud, standing up straight.
He heard the whoosh of rushing air as the Fallen in question dropped down from above, looking much worse for wear than when he last saw her.
Actually... when did he last see her? Elya had been keeping her distance from him ever since their "dinner" at her barren apartment.
Her coat was in tatters, looking as though it had been snagged in a dozen places and bearing even more dirty marks and dried bloodstains. Beneath her sole garment, Elya bore a fair few cuts and bruises all across her body, some of which were still seeping blood. Her messy hair was filled with leaves and bits of twigs, and her unblinking eyes were ringed with dark shadows, indicating that she likely hadn't slept in days. While she was always a little twitchy, something about her stance perturbed him. One of her eyelids kept fluttering, and she couldn't seem to hold still.
"My love," she breathed, her voice cracking from lack of use.
He looked her up and down.
"What happened to you?" he asked, alarmed that she was standing almost-naked amidst so much snow.
Elya staggered forward and placed a hand on his cheek.
"I... stepped beyond my bounds, my love. I doubted you. I accused you of bowing to the shadow behind you," she said in a low, choked tone.
She smiled despite the obvious pain she was in.
"But I realise now that I was wrong to doubt you. I remember, my love. I remember what you did for me when your eyes still burned. And as the fire grows once more, I see you perform your professions of love in kind. With these hands... these beautiful hands..."
Taking his hands, she lifted them up, shivering as she ran her fingers along his claws.
"... you broke them. Those who had wronged you before. And those that wrong you now. For... me..."
"She's delusional. I mean, she's always delusional, but this is something else," Lilith said, her voice tinged with something almost resembling concern.
"Elya? Elya, stay with me. When did you last sleep? Eat? Drink water?" he asked, glancing down at Quinn to make sure she was okay.
The Fallen shook her head.
"I only need you to survive, my love. This pain I feel... it is just another illusion. Another scheme of..." she rasped.
Her eyes shut for a moment as her smile widened.
"I recognise the shadow you bear, my love. A prodigal daughter, and a fallen warrior. I was wrong to fear it. To fear you. To threaten you both. I should be humbled, so I humble myself. It only make sense that you would inherit the soul of royalty," she told him, shivering as she placed his hands against her cheeks.
She was so cold.
"Royalty?" he murmured.
"I wouldn't listen to her. She's talking crazy."
Elya suddenly stepped closer, pressing her face right against Cobalt's. He staggered back against the wall.
"I- I remember it, my love. I remember what it was like to die. For those bound to the Chain, life follows death which follows life. It's a cycle. But for those who pull it... manipulate it... there is nothing. J- Just twisting and contorting of the soul into something misbegotten, rendered as dull as iron," she rasped.
"E- Elya, please, calm down!"
"Why does that which lives forever fear death, my love? Why do our gods and overlords fear us? Why do the Devils weep at thoughts of death when they hold the keys to the cleansing of sin?!"
"Elya, stop it!"
"There is nothing for them! W- We are not their slaves, my love! We are the gods, you and I! We are the royalty! They are nothing! And you have shown your right to rule by grinding them beneath your heel, just as you did Durnall! Just as you did Harriet! Just as you did-!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
He shoved her away. But Cobalt had misjudged just how light Elya was. The Fallen was forced back, and in her weakened state, could do nothing but weakly flap her wings as her head collided with the opposite wall of the alleyway. With her manic grin still plastered across her face, her violet eyes rolled back in her skull as she crumpled to the floor, collapsing in a heap next to Quinn.
"Elya!" Cobalt gasped, dropping to his knees.
He frantically tried to rouse her, but to not avail. She was completely limp.
"No, no, no, no...!"
Next to her, Quinn quietly sneezed, shifting into a small duck. As Cobalt tried to wake Elya, she waddled over and pecked at the Fallen's arm, but still she did not react.
"I'm sorry, I...!" the Incubus choked, holding a hand to the side of her neck.
A faint pulse and weak, staggered breaths. Elya was perilously close to death. Just what the Hell had she been doing to herself?!
He swallowed hard.
"What do I do?" he asked aloud, urging his Devilish passenger to offer suggestions.
She didn't respond.
"What do I do?!"
Still nothing.
"What the Hell am I supposed to do now?!"
"... How?"
Cobalt pulled a face, wary of Quinn listening in.
"How does a lower demon know about the Chain...?"
What was she talking about?
"... Oh. Immoderata."
Raising an eyebrow, Cobalt looked over at Elya. He could see her iron dagger concealed within her coat, appearing well-maintained despite its owner's haggard appearance.
He heard Lilith sigh. Not dismissively, or impatiently. But fearfully.
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"Kid. Please listen to me. This woman... she's beyond help, alright? She's done. Just... Just leave her here. Better yet, dump her somewhere where she and that fucking knife will never be found again."
Clenching his teeth, he shook his head. Absolutely not.
Wrapping her old coat around her as best he could, Cobalt hoisted Elya over one shoulder, using his other arm to carry Quinn. With both of his sickly friends secured, the Incubus took a deep breath and rushed out of the alley, fixing to bring them somewhere safe.
B.I.D. was too far. The hospital was too risky. But there was one other place that he hadn't even considered.
-----
"Nearly there," Cobalt panted, shunting open a garden gate with his foot.
Quinn just chirped weakly. Thankfully during his mad dash towards the upper end of town, she had managed to refrain from transforming into anything that he couldn't carry. That being said, her current form was a serval, and the Incubus was having trouble with carrying both the unconscious form of Elya as well as a slinky savanna cat.
Swallowing hard, he looked up at the front of the Trayer household, feeling a familiar pit in his stomach. He dimly realised that he hadn't visited his family much what with everything that had happened since the summer, and now he was only showing up to encroach upon them. But this was an emergency.
Setting Quinn down on the doorstep, the Incubus hastily rang the doorbell, checking over his shoulder to ensure that he wasn't being followed. A few lights were on; someone had to be home.
He heard footsteps and the jingle of housekeys from within. The door slowly opened, revealing a Succubus woman dressed in casual clothing, bearing short-cropped hair and a fair few facial piercings. Her face fell upon laying eyes on the Incubus, and her brow furrowed further upon seeing the unconscious Fallen in his arms.
"What?" Violet Trayer grunted, picking something out from between her teeth.
"Violet, is Mom in?" the Incubus asked breathlessly.
"She's upstairs," his sister answered curtly.
"I need her hel-"
"Abso-fucking-lutely not."
The Incubus' eyes widened.
"What?" he breathed.
"Oh, that's right, you don't even know what's going on. I wonder why?" Violet scowled, folding her arms.
"Is she okay? What's wrong?"
"Of course she's not fucking okay, you moron! You're all over the damn news, and you haven't even considered checking in with her! She's barely slept!" the Succubus snapped.
He couldn't refute that. Jezebel was always the fretting sort, especially when it came to her only son. And if he couple what Violet said with what Davis had told him, then his mother was more than likely up in her room with a case of wine, passed out in a drunken stupour.
He could hardly blame her.
"R- Right... okay, I still need to get in," he murmured.
Violet folded her arms.
"No," she said simply, narrowing her eyes.
His own widened.
"Excuse me?"
"No. You got the entire town hanging onto your every word, 'Iron Hound'. Go dump your groupies off on one of your fans; you're not fobbing your problems off on us."
Cobalt bared his teeth.
"This is my home, Violet. You can't lock me out," he said firmly, adjusting his grip on the unconscious Fallen.
"Watch me."
Without another word, his disagreeable sister slammed the door in the Incubus' face, locking it behind her with a definitive click. Frozen with shock, Cobalt stood there for a few moments, staring at the wooden surface of the door.
Violet was always a contrarian. She took pride in going against the grain with nearly everything she did, but she always seemed to have a bone to pick with her little brother. For the longest time, Cobalt couldn't fathom why. It seemed like she always singled him out when they were younger, and it was only until after his encounter with Diate that he realised why.
She was still hurting after the loss of Brass, and seemed to view Cobalt as an inferior replacement. He just couldn't live up to the perfect example of the Hellhound.
Violet blamed everything on him.
Cobalt wasn't responsible for what happened to Brass!
She couldn't rightly blame him for that!
And more importantly, she couldn't lock him out of his own damn house...!
Reaffirming his grip on Elya, Cobalt raised his foot and unceremoniously kicked the door. The lock groaned and buckled as pieces of the door jamb splintered, the entire thing bursting open under the force of impact. Violet cried out and backpedaled away from the entrance, covering her face as bits of wood sprayed everywhere. The Incubus stepped inside, with Quinn following close behind.
From deeper in the house, he heard frantic footsteps as two more of his sisters appeared. Viridi rushed in from the front hallways, while Azul thundered down the stairs, still wearing the blue apron from her job at the daycare.
"Omigosh, Cobalt! Wh- What happened?!" she gasped, holding a hand to her mouth.
He glared at Violet.
"I had a little trouble with the door latch," he said.
"Fuck you," she snapped, turning on her heel and shoving past Viridi.
The bespectacled Succubus watched as Violet stormed off, adjusting her green shirt where her sister had pushed her. Sighing, she set her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and folded her arms.
"Okay, let's take this one step at a time. Cobalt, why have you brought an unconscious woman and a wild animal into the house?" she asked in a calm and clinical tone.
He could always count on Viridi to remain impartial during arguments. She may have been a something of a know-it-all when they were younger, but at least she had practice in settling household disputes.
"Elya's in a bad way."
"I can see that. And the cat?"
"Not actually a cat, it's-"
The serval sneezed suddenly, filling the front hall with red light. When it cleared, the three Trayers were left staring at the bedraggled form of Quinn Redtile sprawled out on the floor. She shakily climbed to her feet, sniffling and groaning as she held a hand to her head.
"Ugh... pardon me..." the Imp grumbled miserably, wiping her running nose on the sleeve of her jacket.
Viridi raised an eyebrow.
"What the Hell?"
"We don't know. Every time she sneezes, she turns into something else," Cobalt told her.
As Azul looked on, completely bewildered, Viridi stepped over to Quinn and peered into her eyes. Frowning, she sharply cupped her cheeks and tipped her head back, peering right up the Imp's nostrils. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cotton swab, which she unceremoniously jammed up the Imp's nose.
"Hm..."
Pulling it out, she held the mucus-soaked cotton up to the light, where it glistened a dull pink.
"Looks like someone has been experimenting. Have you ingested any suspicious fluids lately?"
Quinn shrugged.
"Sorry love, can't reveal my sources," she murmured, irritably scratching at her nose.
"... Right. Well, you'll need an antidote. Whipping one up should be easy. Flushing your system might take some time, though."
Placing a hand on Quinn's shoulder, she nodded at her little brother.
"I'll make sure your friend receives the treatment she needs. I'll ask Amber to get a guest room ready."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks Viridi. I owe you one."
"Hm. Wire me the money to repair the front door and we can call it even."
With that, she carefully guided the Imp down the hall. Halfway down, Quinn sneezed again, turning into a sizable komodo dragon. To her credit, Viridi didn't flinch, and instead just held the door open as the lizard slowly lumbered through.
"Um... Cobalt? Is she okay?" Azul asked from the stairway as she nervously clung to the banister.
He looked down at Elya. Her skin had gone an unhealthy shade of grey.
"I- I don't know. I just ran into her like this," he told her.
Scuttling down the last few steps, his sister placed her hand against the Fallen's forehead before picking some of the detritus out of her hair.
"Poor thing. We've got to get her cleaned and warmed up," she said.
"Do you have any clothes that might fit her?" Cobalt asked.
"I might do. But first we have to clean all this dirt off her, then fix up her booboo-"
Azul cleared her throat.
"I- I mean her injuries. Sorry, force of habit."
The Incubus nodded.
"Let's run her a bath, then."
With Azul leading the way, Cobalt carried his unconscious companion up the stairs and down the hall, towards the bathroom. While she filled up the Trayer's large bath with warm water, he sat Elya down upon the lid of the toilet and tried to wake her. He shook her gently, and after lightly patting the side of her face. She groaned incoherently as her eyes slowly slid open.
They were dull and glazed, like she wasn't even present.
"Elya?" he said softly.
"... My... love..." she murmured, staring into the middle distance.
"You're at my family's place, okay? Azul's just running you a bath now."
"... Bath...?"
"Is that alright?"
"... Yes..."
With the bath drawn, Azul cleared her throat, drawing her brother's eye.
"Do you wanna go get your room ready while I get her sorted?" she asked, picking a few more twigs out of Elya's hair.
"I can't stay the night. I've got class tomorrow."
"I'll make sure to get you and your friends up early tomorrow."
"But-"
"Cobalt."
He looked up into Azul's eyes.
She was always the doting one. Just like her mother, Azul Trayer was a kind and caring person, often to the point of overdoing it. While his other sisters teased and picked on him in their own ways, she was much the opposite, clinging to him like a stuffed toy and constantly fussing over him. As overbearing as she could be, she had also inherited Jezebel's eye for people's moods.
"You need rest," she told him.
"Azul, I'm fine-"
"Remember back in Phrodival, when you got lost in the botanical gardens and instead of staying put and waiting for someone to find you, you just ran around and around for hours and hours until we had to sent Lydia in to track you down?"
Cobalt frowned. No, he didn't remember that.
"You had lost your shoes. The soles of your feet were bleeding, and you didn't even know," she told him.
Azul gave him a gentle smile.
"You don't know when to stop sometimes, Cobalt. So that's why you have us to tell you," his sister told him, patting his shoulder.
Taking a deep breath, she took Elya by the hand and guided her over to the bath.
"Don't worry about Mom. I'll explain everything tomorrow."
Swallowing hard, Cobalt just nodded and left the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Feeling a little put-out, he slowly shuffled down the hall towards his old bedroom. From elsewhere in the house, he could hear the muffled sneezes of Quinn coupled with muted swears from Viridi.
As he passed by his mother's bedroom, he stopped just outside her door. He could hear noises from within.
Shaky breathing. Not as loud as sobbing, but the sounds one made when they were too tired to cry anymore.
Feeling a lump form in his throat, he kept moving. Reaching his old bedroom, the Incubus shut the door and sat down upon the bed. He remained silent in the dark for a few minutes, not even speaking as Lilith appeared on the bed next to him. She looked shaken, and didn't speak either.
"... I feel sick," Cobalt said after a while.
"Of course," the Devil scoffed in reply.
"What?"
"One girlie tells you everything is okay, so you're fine. Then another tells you everything's fucked, so you're not."
She snorted.
"You're fucking spineless, kid."
Cobalt didn't even think as he raised his fist. His veins ignited and he slugged the Devil right across the face, throwing her back against the wall. It was like an instinct, one he was only snapped out of when he felt a hard impact against his own face.
"Gah?! What the fuck?!" Lilith cried, holding a hand to her face.
"That's my line! I am getting sick and tired of your constant judgement, Lilith!"
"Oh, and there he is! One moment he's fine with taking every punch that comes his way, the next he's throwing a fucking tantrum because his feelings got hurt!"
"Coming from the one who clams up and gets defensive every time I ask a simple bloody question about what the Hell she's even running from!"
"You don't need to know shit about me!"
"If you're privy to my life, then I'm entitled to yours!"
"Like Hell you are!"
"So you're just as spineless as me!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Then prove it! What the fuck was Elya talking about?! What is the Chain?!"
The Devil froze up. Her eyes flitted away for a second, granting Cobalt an opening. Anger and frustration seemed to boil over, granting him the strength he needed to lunge forward and grab her by the neck. Even as he felt his own throat constrict, he tightened his grasp.
"Fine. Keep your secrets. But you don't get to say a damn thing about how I live my life, do you hear me? Not a damn thing," he hissed, his veins growing brighter as he grew angrier.
"Get off me... you... fucking monster...!" Lilith choked, planting a hand against his forehead in an effort to pry him off.
"I'm not the monster. I'm not the one who's assaulted this town, again and again."
"I'm trying to stop that, you motherfucker!"
Raising her knee, Lilith roughly kicked Cobalt in the stomach, breaking his grip just enough to throw him off. Climbing to her feet, she tried to throw a punch, but he managed to intercept it, just as Izzbelle had taught him.
"What I'm doing is far more important than you could ever fucking realise, you underdeveloped little shit!" she hissed, struggling to pull her arm free.
"You're running away from your problems, just like me. You're a hypocrite," the Incubus retorted, keeping his hand wrapped tight around her wrist.
"I'm nothing like you."
"Is that right, miss 'prodigal daughter?!'"
"Fuck you!"
With her other arm, Lilith punched Cobalt in the face, crying out as she injured herself in kind. Landing in a heap on his bedroom floor, the Incubus spat a glob of blood onto the carpet and staggered to his feet, pointing a finger at the Devil as his veins grew brighter.
"I get it. You're not on some noble quest that I couldn't possibly understand. You're just an uptight rich kid running from her parents, and because of you, people are getting hurt out there," he spat, clenching his fists.
He raised his fists. He didn't even know why he felt so ready to fight the Devil, just that he really, really wanted to punch her. But Lilith didn't do the same. She just stood there, glaring at him with her one, blood-red eye.
"I lost my love for my father a long time ago, kid. But make no mistake, Cobalt, even though I despise lower demons like you and your little on-and-off harem, I'm in no rush to go home. Because if I go back-"
She jabbed thumb into her eye and popped out the Iron Artillery, holding it up to the light.
"- every single lower demon you know and love will spend the rest of their miserable lives in a cage or an open grave."
He gritted his teeth.
"So you're running from your dad."
"That doesn't matter."
"Who is he?"
"Shut up."
Cobalt narrowed his eyes.
"You never mentioned a mother," he said spitefully.
Lilith slowly shook her head.
"Fuck you, kid."
She disappeared into a mass of ferromantic magic, reforming with Cobalt. Clenching his fists, Cobalt roughly punched the wall, leaving a crack in the plaster.
"Fuck you too," he whispered to himself.
Throwing himself onto the bed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the bloodstone. Holding it up in front of his face, he stared at it through the gloom.
He'd try to get it to Alison the next chance he got.