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DESPITE THEIR ATTEMPTS TO HIDE it, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that something was seriously wrong with the brothers. Not only were they acting out of character (or maybe, they were acting in character - just the character that they were several years prior), but their relationship had deteriorated to almost non-existent over the past week.
Lucifer was still trying to drown himself in work - work that he wouldn’t share with anyone - but when he wasn’t busy in the office, he was usually downstairs fighting with his brothers. All eight of them seemed to be becoming consumed more and more by their demon forms every day and that was probably the most concerning thing.
When a demon was being “consumed” by their full form, it generally meant that they were becoming corrupted and meant that they were losing their ability to keep themselves from committing their “sin” (generally, their “sin” was also the prince that they served).
When we were in middle school, Phoenix spent a full semester taking a class that was all about demon forms and how they worked, but she ended up having to drop it at the beginning of the next semester after she came to the Palace of Darkness, sobbing to her brothers about the horrific depictions of corruption that her teacher had shown.
She was inconsolable for hours after that, though Cal, Zavian, and Dante all tried everything that they could to help her. At the end of it, she admitted that she was afraid of them becoming monsters, too. At the time, none of us understood that she was insinuating that she already was a monster.
As I went downstairs to try to talk to the princes, I was stopped by the sound of them erupting into another argument. I groaned and headed back upstairs, walking into my bedroom and slamming the door behind me. This was at least their fifth argument today. What else was there to argue about?
I sighed and looked up at the clock on the wall and decided that it was probably a good time to go to bed. I wanted to try to be asleep before their argument downstairs got so loud that I would have no hope of falling asleep anymore.
After taking a bath and changing into my pajamas, I curled up under the covers and slowly drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the sound of yelling and glass breaking downstairs.
❀
At some point during the night, I found myself no longer in the Palace of Sins. I couldn’t quite pinpoint where I actually was, but I knew that I wasn’t anywhere in Hell. As I looked around, I realized that I was in some kind of throne room and my eyes soon fixated on the circle in the center of the throne room that looked down at the world below. I swallowed and backed up, narrowly dodging back into a pedestal that had some fancy glass statue on it.
Was I... was I in Heaven? Was I in the Celestial Palace?
As if to answer my silent questions, Gavin appeared in the room. He didn’t seem to notice that I was there, even after I called his name, and continued into the room to where six people were now standing. At first, I didn’t realize who they were, but then I saw the black wings with purple and blue tips on the feathers.
I only knew one person with those wings.
“No,” I cried.
Still, no one answered me and I watched as Gavin turned the six people around and I realized further who they all were. Victor. Victor was there, too.
I began to sob as I saw the blood and bruises that covered them - particularly Victor - and fell to my knees.
I already felt like this war was my fault, so this wasn’t helping, but now I knew it was my fault. Why else would Gavin have taken the six of them? Sure, he had grudges against Victor, but he never would’ve dared to take Victor captive if it wasn’t for me.
No, he was only doing this because he wanted me to come and seek him out. He only wanted them because he knew it would get him what he really wanted - me.
As I begged for Gavin to release them, he looked at me.
“You know what you have to do, Defect. So do it.”
❀
WHEN I WOKE UP FROM my nightmare, I was covered in sweat and couldn’t steady my breathing for the life of me either. I knew that I couldn’t go to sleep when I was in a state like this, so I went back home. Not to mention, by going back home, I could find out how real that nightmare of mine was. I walked through the front doors of the castle, wrapping my arms around myself when the chilly air greeted me.
I was used to being cold - I was eternally cold despite the fact that I lived in Hell - but this was a different kind of cold.
I looked up at the sound of footsteps and realized that it was Casimir walking towards me. I only knew a little bit about Casimir (and what I knew wasn’t the greatest), but I did know he was one of Victor’s closest advisors, especially now with the Empyrean War looming over our heads. If anyone was going to know anything about Victor - and tell me what they knew - it was going to be Casimir.
I hurried over to him and Casimir paused, bowing his head in greeting.
“Your Highness, what an honor it is to see you in the palace again,” he mused, “This is an odd time, though, isn’t it?”
I looked at him, noticing that his eyes seemed to be an endless void. It sent a chill down my spine.
“Casimir, do you know where King Victor is?” I asked him.
Casimir furrowed his eyebrows at me, “No. I heard that he was ill and wasn’t seeing anyone for a while. Why?”
Against my better judgment, I told Casimir about my nightmare and about my fears of both the subject of the nightmare and the war itself being my fault. I normally wouldn’t have trusted Casimir with that kind of information, but I always felt drawn to giving everyone the benefit of the doubt until I was proven otherwise and Casimir never really gave me a reason not to trust him.
As I finished my story, I noticed that Casimir’s eyes weren’t nearly as blank as before. This time, they were filled with an emotion that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“Well, Your Highness, I hate to tell you this, but...” He paused and looked away from me.
He looked like he was getting ready to walk away from me, so I grabbed his arm to keep him there with me. “Please, Casimir,” I begged, “Tell me what to do.”
Casimir sighed and looked at me again, putting his hands on my cheeks. They were cold to the touch and the sensation sent a chill down my spine.
“You know what you have to do, Your Highness,” he told me, “You need to go to the White City and get them back yourself - no matter the cost.”
I nodded. That was what I would do, but I did have one other condition.
“Casimir?”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“Make sure no one knows where I’ve gone.”