5 Meeting "Father"; "...Interesting..." Part 2

Silence greeted the maid as the demons in question froze, smiled, or rose an eyebrow respectively. Only then was movement made, and with it came the Firstborn Prince, Lucifer's, question.

"Where is Father?"

The maid held her deep curtsy and respectfully replied, "Our Lord Satan is in his study, Your Highness."

That was all they heard and acknowledged before all of them disappeared to find him. They were to see the one and only demon that they loved and respected most after three long, long years. It was only natural that they would be excited. Of course, that was the ONLY reason, certainly not due to outrageous work issues. *cough*

ANYWAY.

They all teleported to see Lord Satan after all these years, and they were shocked that he was already doing more work.

He wore a loose, long sleeved white dress shirt with black, comfortable pants that molded his legs. His unruly and longish golden black hair was slicked back from his face while some curled strands framed his already exquisitely beautiful looks even further. His golden black eyes that held a golden pentagram in its void black depths skimmed over documents, signing them, and discarding them to their own, proper place through telekinesis faster than any of his ministers had ever done.

Several pens hung suspended in the air, signing floating documents as what obviously used to be an entire pile of was decimated in but a few short minutes. Baal silently sighed at this, Beelzebub shook his head, and Prince Lucifer held his head, all but collapsing as they collectively realized they'd been doing work wrong.

While they despaired over realizing that they'd done it all wrong during the three years of torture, Satan finished all the work, instructed the waiting maid to carry it to the administrators, and accepted his breakfast from the other maid who waited patiently for him to finish.

"Thank you, you may leave now," he murmured softly, dismissing her as she curtsied and left with a practiced step and silence.

It was during this time he looked at them and in a similar tone to the maid whispered, "Sit. There is much to discuss."

A pulse seemed to come from his words, inciting an insatiable desire for all those present to follow his command. And follow they did, sitting down with straight backs and calm eyes, waiting ever patiently for more of his glorious words that were akin to gospel in their minds and hearts.

After a few moments, he himself sat down in his luxurious and plush soft crimson chair. He motioned with his finger gently, releasing a sigh and a glance in his ministers and child's direction as all the papers and pens came to rest in neat piles and straight lines.

It was then he spoke, his deep, calm voice holding a near seductive quality as he murmured, "I heard a rumor recently. Rumors and talk of a 'Silent Lady' and a 'Dream Demon'. It appears to have incited interest in the entire realm, so I'm asking you why it has turned out this way. How does everyone know of that girl?"

Silence hung in the air as the three high-ranking demons were suddenly subjected to an indiscernible pressure; it was a presence so great that everyone in the entire realm of Hell felt it, so all encompassing Eika stirred in her silence and looked up to where she felt it, her eyes wide and her breath sharp as the presence had felt incredibly familiar yet disturbingly foreign.

'Who...?' she scarcely thought before she pushed back against it, curiosity coming to a burn within her as the odd feeling was fascinating.

Satan's eyes sharpened slightly as he felt something achingly familiar yet unknown, an abnormality that instinctively reached for him and him for it. He immediately retracted his pressure; he did not like the sensations that other force presented to him, what it made him feel. It reminded him far too much about her.

The one who was and always would be his beloved.

"Well?" he all but purred, his voice coming out like the rumble of a jaguar in a bass; dangerous, seductive, powerful, and all-encompassing. His ministers and son shivered at the voice, but one minister in particular reacted. Satan's golden black eyes narrowed, his long, black and gold lashes framing the pentagrams in his eyes as the shapes narrowed and condensed, the black beginning to consume his iris.

"Baal..." his minister flinched at his words, his steel eyes wide and his heart sputtering in fear as he sensed a faint anger in his liege's voice.

He cleared his throat, composing himself before responding, "Yes, my Lord."

"Who is that child in the basement, and what have you done to them."

Perhaps, if he had not said the last, damning words, Baal could have slipped out of the conversations topic, could have diverted it away from the girl he'd locked up. But the words came and Baal froze, knowing he would have to submit to him.

"I'm curious."

Now, the reason why all of the people in the room froze in place, hardly breathing, was because of a simple reason. Lord Satan's curiosity was his greatest strength and weakness; he could quite literally not kill a preconceived enemy if they fascinated him enough, choosing to instead go as far as to recruit and study them personally before eventually discarding or even keeping them.

And anyone who dared touch his curiosities would be eradicated, save only if the person who 'sinned' in question was more valuable and interesting to Satan. But even then, his attitude and favoritism to others was incredibly fluid, everchanging and ever morphing as his curiosity spread; even his own children were not exempt from this personality trait of his.

So as soon as he said those words, Baal knew he was screwed.

'It'll be alright,' he thought desperately, calming himself, 'he is only interested in the unknown that that 'thing' presents; once I show it to him, he'll leave me and the 'thing' away. It'll be fine, even if he does take an even greater interest in it, I have Lilith to back me in this—he's not the type to go against his wife's influence, and I'm too valuable to him. I'll be fine—'

"Baal, answer me. Did I not ask a question? Perhaps you did not hear me, so I suppose I'll repeat it more clearly so that you'll understand me this time around."

Satan leaned forward as he was suddenly in front of and towering over Baal, his eyes changed slightly; they were almost entirely black, the golden star that acted as his pupil nearly swallowed up in the void.

"What on earth have you done to that child of mine, Baal? Did you perhaps... experiment, on her?"

Baal's 7 hearts thundered in his ears, his body beginning to tremble as he realized he had miscalculated; just because he had been asleep didn't mean he hadn't been aware of everything that happened in the castle. He could only remain silent in the face of Satan's overwhelming might, sweat trickling down his aged yet still handsome face in front of an existence that was transcendent and beyond his own paltry one.

"I see... so you've finally grown some balls now that you're indulging in my leftovers, like a mutt? How funny that you would suppose a 6th dimensional being like her could withstand a 9th like me.

"There was only one woman of a lower existence whom I would humble myself towards and even deign to listen to, but that snowstorm stunt from 5 years ago killed her. Y'know, the one you may or may not have had a hand in?

"Now I hear that you took her child while I was suffering in my grief, and have been experimenting on her... Tell me Baal, I genuinely curious. What in Hell's name do you think granted you the right to interfere with my personal, meaningful relationships when you've already poached two of them? Must you snatch a third?"

Satan's eyes lost the golden star, the entirety of them black as Baal felt his soul being leached from his frame, his body falling apart as the materials began to return to Satan's own body.

"Who do you think you are? A filthy creation that I molded from my own body, showing an act of insubordination to me, your "God"? How preposterous. Tell me Baal, tell me what made you ruin everything of meaning to me, what made you so d@mn greedy, you disgusting, insignificant thing?"

Baal was paralyzed, unable to speak or move or react in any capacity. He was panicking, his body shattering before him and he was unable to do anything; he was crafted from Lord Satan's own flesh, and to his flesh he returned.

It was then his mind screamed out desperately to Satan.

'I DID IT OUT OF MY FOOLISH, PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS! I'LL TAKE YOU TO YOUR DAUGHTER!'

His shattering faltered, pausing for a bit before time seemed to reverse, the pieces that had reached so desperately for Lord Satan rushing back to clothe Baal's flesh while Beelzebub and Lucifer trembled slightly, their eyes wide as they realized that if they had gotten any ideas like Baal had, they could've been absorbed and erased like he nearly did.

Indeed, were it not for Satan's ever decreasing sentimentality over Baal being his first successful experiment, he would've long been destroyed.

They took the lesson of never defying and never betraying him to heart willfully.

"Good. Take me to my daughter now; its been 5 years after all."