Satan, November 5th
2009.
Satan sat on his throne with crossed legs as he glared down at the demon standing in front of him.
“I swear, it was just an accident! I didn’t mean to go into the meeting room.”
“I don’t even know if you’re lying or not. Just get out of my sight and don’t do it again, or else I won’t be as merciful.”
The demon profusely thanked Satan, bowing repeatedly as guards pushed him out the open door.
One guard called out next, and the next demon rushed in.
He was a tall demon with a light gray tail with a five-pronged star at the tip, along with a younger girl with long locks of fuschia hair. The taller demon’s sclera was reddened, lips trembling, while the young girl sobbed audibly.
Nico and his daughter.
Satan widened his eyes and raced off his throne. “Guards! We’re taking a break from this for a bit!” Satan yelled as he ushered them into the living room.
He quickly shut the door. “What happened, if I may ask?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know who else to turn to,” Nico apologized, as he tried to keep his sobs back.
“You don’t need to apologize.” Satan frowned and raised his eyebrows sympathetically.
“And I interrupted the public forum too, sorry.”
“Nico, please. I’ll interrupt every public forum for a friend.” Satan placed his hands on Nico’s shoulders.
Nico immediately backed away, more tears forming in his eyes like a storm.
‘Huh?’ Satan thought. “Oh, I’m sorry. I should’ve asked.” Satan paused for a moment. ‘Wait, Nico’s here with his daughter, all their stuff, but they’re sobbing their eyes out. Katherina! I knew it!’ Satan spoke again, saying, “Wait, does this have something to do with-”
“Yes, it does. I can’t stand to talk about it right now.”
Satan nodded. “Alright. Here, let me show you to your rooms.” As he walked them down the hallway of bedrooms, he furrowed his eyebrows. ‘What have you done, Katherina? Do I even want to know at this point?’
Hours later, Satan’s eyes bored into the oven clock, which read five at night. Satan leaned over the kitchen counter, thinking, ‘She should be here any minute…’
Faint blue and white magical particles began to appear a little bit in front of the door, until the particles burst open through the door, landing as Arsene and her new bodyguard slowly faded in as normal.
"Arsene!" Satan cried out.
"Yes, we're home. You're not usually taking a break when I get home. Did something happen?" Arsene asked as she waved off the new bodyguard, biting her lip.
"Something happened to Nico. He came to me with his daughter and luggage, all in a rush. And they were both crying. I touched his shoulder, but that was a mistake. Something's telling me it has to do with Katherina," Satan leaned in to mumble to Arsene, frowning.
"Wait, what? That's awful! Can I talk to him? Is he here?” Arsene asked while covering her mouth with her hands.
As they spoke, Satan noticed Nico out of the corner of his eye, tiptoeing down the hallway.
"Nico?" Satan called out, raising an eyebrow.
"I can't sleep. Hi, Arsene," Nico greeted, his voice devoid of any emotion as he curled a lock of his hair around a finger.
"Hi Nico," Arsene greeted back, frowning.
“I guess you guys deserve an explanation-” Nico rubbed the back of his head.
“No, no! You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to,” Satan said.
“Well, right now, I kind of want to. Can we go into the living room?”
“Of course.”
The trio walked to the living room in silence. Each took a spot on the couch, while Satan and Arsene looked at Nico, awaiting what he had to say.
Nico ran a hand down his face, before saying, “Well, I knew this was coming for a while, but my relationship with Katherina is probably over.”
Questions lingered in Satan’s head, but he bit his lower lip before they could dare to make an escape.
“She used to be so awesome, and really fun, but over time I’ve realized that she never loved me. Probably, at least. Like, she was really desperate to marry me as soon as possible, and then afterwards, she either ignored, hit, or talked down to me.”
Satan gritted his teeth as he listened to Nico’s story. He felt his skin briefly flicker to its muted, rose red color, but he breathed in slowly, forcing the appearance of his demon skin back in and his emotions on the back burner.
“But sometimes she’d also flip to her old self from before we married, like nothing ever happened. I thought maybe I did something, or therapy could save our marriage, and I tried so hard, but nothing happened. And then when she got pregnant, she didn’t have any strong feelings, and I worried about accidentally forcing her into everything, but she told me she was fine. When our daughter was born I was over the freaking moon, but she wasn’t happy still.” Nico waved his arms around as he talked.
“So, I thought it was postpartum depression. I did whatever I could to help her, but it wasn’t enough. As our daughter got older, I noticed how awful she acted towards her, until a few years ago it spiraled into full on abuse. Part of me still thinks it’s not, but after so much talking with others I can’t deny it any longer. I wanted so badly to get out, but I felt like I would die trying, plus, Katherina just made me feel so ashamed of all of this. Today, we got into a huge fight because she wouldn’t ease up on our daughter, so I finally packed as much as I could, took my daughter, and left. We don’t even know what’s going to happen next,” He gradually gained speed in his voice, speaking as if he’d die before he could get it all out.
“Nico… I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve any of that. You will always have a place here. Whatever happens, please, stay here as long as you like.” Arsene scooted closer to Nico.
“This is probably not appropriate, but, now that we’re on the topic, I’m out of a job now, since I’m also going to step down as King-Consort of Fuschia. I hate to trouble you even more, but is it possible there’s any open positions I can apply for?”
Arsene put a finger on her chin. “Well, we can always give you your old bodyguard position back.”
“Oh, no! Please, don’t fire someone so I can get it back. I can take something else, or look elsewhere.”
“Don’t worry, he’s not being fired. It was only temporary, we didn’t expect him to be a bodyguard again. He’s been wanting to take the head guard position for a while now, since the old one has been looking to retire. I know he’d be happy for this bodyguard search to finally come to an end.”
“Oh, that’s a relie,.” Nico sighed. “I’m sorry for asking so much, I’ll make my own meals and take care of my daughter on my own, you two worry about your stuff.”
“Nico, please. Don’t worry about it. I love kids, and Crow wouldn’t mind having another friend to play with,” said Arsene.
“Alright, I think I ‘m going to try to sleep again. Thank you both again, and goodnight.” Nico rose from the couch and walked down the hallway.
“Goodnight!” Arsene smiled.
The pair remained silent until they heard Nico’s door close. Satan immediately sighed. He felt as if his emotions were all in a frenzied spiral, but he pushed them all back again.
“I’m glad things worked out at least, but geez. Anyway, I’m starving, but I don’t feel like cooking in all honesty. Should I go pick up something?”
“Yeah, me either, maybe Chipotle or something? You remember my order, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Satan walked out of the palace, eyes glued to his phone. Now alone, he finally let his skin flicker back to muted red again, and clenched his teeth, frowning as he glared down at his phone.
Satan
We need to talk.
Text me tomorrow morning when you’re awake.
5:03 PM
Kathy
y
what u mad about nico
hes just a bitch boy
we can talk about it now
5:03 PM
Satan
No.
Tomorrow morning.
Your palace in Fuschia.
5:03 PM
Kathy
okay geez
calm down dude
5:04 PM
Satan, November 6th
Satan snuck out of his palace in the early morning after getting a text from Katherina at five.
He scurried through the Fuschia palace, made of aged stone walls and wooden ceilings. His all-black ensemble had a soft hood that obscured part of his face. He stopped in front of a door, checking over his shoulder, before he slowly opened it to just a crack. Peaking in, Takahiro and Katherina were seated lazily in two seats around a long table. Satan pushed the door open and closed it behind him.
“Why is he here?” Satan tore off the hood of his jacket, his skin turning red yet again.
“I don’t know, I thought maybe he should be here.” Katherina shrugged.
“Get out. This doesn’t involve you.” Satan furrowed his eyebrows in Takahiro’s direction.
“You’re so mean to me. I’ll see you later,” Takahiro sniffled, as if he were about to cry. Immediately, he teleported out of the room.
Satan quickly took a seat right across from Katherina. “What the hell did you do?”
“What? To the bitch boy? I didn’t do anything!”
“Don’t fucking call him that! And why did Nico come to me, with his daughter, suitcases packed, telling me you and him are over?”
“Oh, he’s just so over dramatic, it’ll be fine! I just didn’t want my daughter to show off those nasty demonic traits of hers, fairies are so cruel to demons in Fuschia.”
Satan’s eye twitched. “And what about what you did to Nico? What’s your excuse?”
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“Oh, I never beat him, it was just an accident!”
“Oh, yeah, an accident that happened multiple times,” Satan rolled his eyes. He rose from his chair, scowling. “I don’t want to listen to your excuses. Nico’s been my friend longer than you have, and I can tell how fucked up you’ve made him and your daughter. What is wrong with you? Nico loved you, but now you don’t? I don’t want to see your face ever again. Don’t text or call me anymore. Goodbye.”
Katherina stared back at Satan, frowning and furrowing her eyebrows. “You will regret you ever said that.”
“Try. I dare you.” Satan pulled the hood over his, head before teleporting off.
Satan, December 6th
A month passed.
Satan breathed in and out, slowly while resting in his bed. His eyes were shut, unable to see anything but the darkness.
A sudden ringtone jolted him awake. Mistakenly, he opened his eyes to see the blaring light of his phone, resting upon his night table.
Satan groaned, shutting his eyes and rubbing them with the palms of his hand. ‘Should I bother? Maybe it’s important…’ Satan hesitated before reaching out for his phone slowly.
He squinted his eyes as he read the text.
“From 20413049394… Fuck y– okay I know who that is.” Satan mumbled to himself. Turning the phone off and flipping to the other side, he closed his eyes and cozied himself up under the covers again, trying to silence his mind, but the thought kept bouncing around. He questioned, ‘Maybe I need to talk to them one more time. If I clearly lay out everything, then they’ll back off. Hopefully..’
Sitting up, Satan dove for his phone and unlocked it, rapidly texting the number back
Satan
Can we settle this once and for all.
I need you to leave me alone.
Let’s do six twenty in the morning later.
I have work though so I can’t stay too long.
If this is actually Katherina…
3:19 AM
20413049394
fine
meet me in the Fuschia palace
3:20 AM
Satan
Good
Now let me sleep
3:21 AM
Satan gently placed his phone back on his night table, and attempted to drift off once more.
‘Can’t believe I have to do this yet again… Will they actually listen this time? I feel it’ll be like talking to a brick wall, but oh well, better to try than nothing I guess…’ Satan thought as he entered the room where Katherina and Takahiro were draped over the table yet again, their long hair pratically laying on the table. They turned their heads toward him with seemingly zero reaction on either of their faces.
Satan pulled out a seat and sat down, crossed arms while glaring them down.
“Okay, let’s get this over with. Can you leave me the fuck alone?”
“Oh come on! You’re being a baby. They’re just words.”
“I don’t care what it is at this point! I’ve said multiple times, to fuck off, and leave me be.” Satan rubbed his forehead, frowning. “Wouldn’t it be better to move on with your lives?”
“Well you don’t even know the full story of what happened. There are two sides to every story–”
“I don’t want to hear it! Nico has been nothing but a good friend, but you on the other hand have been awful since the beginning.”
“But you won’t even hear my side.”
“Okay, fine, what’s your justification for abusing your husband and daughter then?” Satan glared them down.
Katherina and Takahiro’s eyes widened as they looked at each other. Katherina said, “Wow, you’re calling me an abuser? You are sick.”
“Are you serious? Nico’s been a fucking wreck, and yet me rightfully telling you off makes me sicker than you?”
Katherina pointed at Satan.“You don’t even know half of the stuff that went down, you weren’t there with a camera to record every single thing.”
“Okay then, so tell me, what’s your justification for all of this?”
“Nico and Bree are just lying, I’ve never done anything to them!”
“So what about the bruises Nico showed me? And the conversations and arguments Nico recorded and showed to me as well?”
“The bruises were faked, and the conversations were all out of context!”
“Oh yeah, sure, next you’ll tell me that you are a full-blooded fairy, or whatever else. I have work to do, I’d like to not see you again, good day,” Satan growled as he rose out of seat and prepared to teleport away, getting halfway through his spell.
“Wait, wait! I can prove it!” Katherina leapt out of her seat and grabbed Satan’s shoulders.
Satan tensed up, and smacked her hand away. “I doubt that.”
“No, seriously! Can you come back here after work?”
“No, show me it now or never.”
Katherina sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, just give me five minutes.”
Satan plopped back in his chair. Takahiro remained across from him. They glared at each other wordlessly, the entire time.
‘I feel like I should say something to him, but everything has been said at this point anyway.’
After a few minutes, clicking shoes echoed down a hallway, as it got closer. Satan gulped. The clicking finally entered the room.
Yet again, it was Katherina.
“Hi!” Katherina waved and smiled, as if everything was right with the world.
Satan only scowled back at her. “Just show me your proof already…”
Katherina pulled out her phone, and scrolled through it for a moment, before she actually showed Satan pictures.
The first picture was one of Nico supposedly applying black and purple eyeshadow and makeup around his face and eyes, the same bruises Satan saw. Satan approached the photo, inspecting it. Uncanny and unnatural shadows were on Nico’s hands, the sink, and in the background of the bathroom.
Satan laughed. He covered his mouth to attempt to mask it, but it did nothing. “Katherina. That is so obviously faked, are you kidding me? Faking evidence?” Satan smiled with furrowed eyebrows.
“Oh, so you just think women in domestic abuse situations are all just liars huh?” Katherina retorted with her hands on her hips.
Satan twitched his eye. “If I could talk with the time gods I know they would show me that you’re just a liar.”
“Okay, before you go and call me a liar, why don’t I show you a recording of an argument then?”
“Reluctantly, sure, I’d like to see how far you’d go for all this,” Satan sneered.
Katherina tapped a few buttons and scrolled around a bit, before reaching an audio recording. She tapped it, and it began with a barely audible conversation, before the audio gradually became clearer. Whenever Nico talked, Satan noticed a jump in quality or an odd sounding sentence being said.
‘Wait, she edited this conversation together! What the fuck?’ Satan’s blood boiled.
He rose from his chair and slammed the table. “Katherina, you are a fucking liar. You know what? Don’t ever talk to me ever again, for real this time! I never thought you’d stoop so low to edit and photoshop flimsy ass evidence, but apparently, I was wrong.”
Katherina’s lip trembled and she sobbed, with tears even rolling down her face. “How could you do this to me? I painstakingly looked for the best pieces of evidence to show Nico was abusing me, and yet you still believe him?”
Satan rolled his eyes. “I’m done with your bullshit, truly. Goodbye.”
Katherina continued wailing, louder and louder to the point Satan could hear it despite him leaving the room, Satan angrily muttered the spell to himself, ‘Blood magic: Teleport!’, before teleporting back to his palace in a seething rage.
Satan, December 7th
Satan laid in his bed. He curled up under his comforter like a cat, all rolled up in a ball. Despite his closed eyes, and slowed breaths, he remained awake. He tried stayingin the same position for a few more minutes, before rising out of bed, thinking to himself: ‘Okay, you know what, this isn’t working. Not a great idea but I guess if I just go on my phone for a little bit it’ll be fine…’
He grabbed his phone and turned it on, immediately noticing the thousands upon thousands of messages. His eyes went wide as he finger hovered over his phone screen.
‘What the fuck? What am I supposed to do?’ Satan thought.
Hesitantly, Satan entered his password and entered his messaging app. From one random phone number alone, he had over ten thousand messages.
‘Should I see what this is about? I guess so, if I want to figure out why I have over ten thousand messages on my phone…’ Satan slowly pressed the message from the contact. He rapidly scrolled upwards to the latest message, as he read various phrasings and messages all conveying the same thing: ‘you suck, kill yourself, you support abusers, if you don’t come back and be our friend we’ll kill you and your entire family.’
Satan shut off his phone, and held the screen to his chest. He stared up at his dark ceiling, blinking. ‘Am I siding with an abuser? But Nico wouldn’t… but abusers don’t always seem like the type. But who do I believe anymore? Nico asked for help and cried, while Katherina only showed flimsy evidence and threatened me for not siding with her. But maybe she doesn’t really have evidence to show but it happened? Ugh, I have zero idea what I’m supposed to do…’
Satan sighed, putting his phone face down onto his night table, before going back to sleep, despite the many thoughts that swirled in his bed.
Satan, December 16th
In his throne, Satan shivered, as memories of the past week flashed through his mind.
December 8th, he’d woken up to over a million new texts.
December 9th, he went out of the Hell Sector for once, and narrowly missed bullets that were shot at him.
December 10th, his servant had to evacuate the palace after receiving a letter of a bomb threat.
December 11th, he received endless calls.
December 12th, Nico came to him about being spammed with over ten thousand messages.
December 13th, Arsene came to him about being spammed with over ten thousand messages.
December 14th, his children all brought up to him the tens of thousands of text messages they’d receive.
December 15th, his palace caught fire.
And now, December 16th, nothing happened.
Yet.
He breathed heavily, in terrifying anticipation of whatever horrible event was to come.
Satan felt a sudden touch on his shoulder. His heart beat spiked and he began panting. Immediately, he said to himself, ‘Blood: Turn to an iron pitchfork!’ The chains around his waist melted down into blood, for a split second rolling down his clothes before it followed his hand he moved to the side, forming into a pitchfork that Satan pointed at the person.
“Sir? It’s just me. Are you alright?” His advisor quivered, raising his arms with his palms facing Satan.
“No, it hasn’t even been a full week of all this shit happening, and I’m still anxious. I’m sorry, is there anything extremely urgent I need to do? Otherwise I really need a break, I’m sorry,” Satan shifted the pitchfork to one hand and rested his head in the other.
The advisor ran out of the palace for a moment, Satan hearing him yell something to the line of citizens, before running back in, saying, “Nope! You’re good.”
“Thank you,” Satan sighed as he rose out of his chair. ‘Blood: transform to iron! Blood: turn into chains!’ Satan thought, as his pitchfork melted out of his hand, and spun around his waist, until it slowly formed the links of the chains.
As soon as he shut the door behind his throne, he raced for the couch, burying his face into the cushions. His mind was empty, clear, before a sudden thought appeared in his head:
‘Maybe what I have to do is keep hanging around Katherina and Takahiro. They won’t stop harassing me until they get their way, or I die.’
Shame and guilt raced through Satan’s body, as tears welled up in his eyes. ‘Nico, Arsene, I’m so fucking sorry. If I felt like it was safe to do so, I’d stop being their friend for good. If you ever find out, please don’t hate me too much.’
He pulled out his phone, opened the texts from the random number, and started writing out a text message.
Satan
I will continue to be your friend
Just leave me and everyone else alone
Please
12:00 PM
104235910
Good boy.
12:00 PM
Satan curled up into a ball after he sent the message, burying his face onto his couch.
Satan, December 19th
Satan stared blankly at the floor, while seated in the meeting room again. The door opened to Katherina, Takahiro, as well as Eris, Takahiro’s former wife, who he hadn’t seen in awhile. Satan’s eyes widened for a moment, before he lowered them again.
“Hiii!” Katherina said as she made a beeline right towards Satan, wrapping her arms around him.
Satan slowly maneuvered his arms away from Katherina, avoiding as much contact with her.
“Uh, hi…” Satan awkwardly greeted out, unnecessarily drawing his words out.
“Glad you worked things out, it’s nice to get to hang out with you again,” Takahiro gave a slight smile.
‘It’d be nice to hang out with you again without threats on my life or my family’s life, you know,’ Satan thought to himself, saying aloud to the other three, “Yeah, totally.”
Takahiro and Eris waved, exiting the room. Satan turned an eyebrow as he watched them leave, seeing Katherina leaning in towards him out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Katherina closing in the distance between them even more.
“Hey, what are you-”
Katherina’s lips met Satan’s. Satan immediately pushed her away by the shoulders, frowning.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Katherina briefly furrowed her eyebrows and frowned, before smiling and closing her eyes, saying, “You’re so mean sometimes Satan.” Katherina turned around before following Eris and Takahiro out of the room.
Satan sat alone in the meeting room, staring blankly at the floor. ‘This will be my life now. More secrets from my family, and feeling absolutely powerless. Great,’ Satan thought as a brief tear rolled down his cheek.
“Satan, are you coming?” the echoed voice of Takahiro approached towards the meeting room.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” Satan abruptly rose from the chair and wiped his eyes, chasing after them, despite the rest of his body and mind screaming at him with, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it. If you go now with them, you’ll be stuck with them for the rest of your life!’