Chapter Text
Four weeks till Devildom
“UGH! You are impossible!” I scream at my parents, the energy surging through my body about to start showing, having this argument again “I never get more of a moment of your time for anything I do. I’ve had the best grades, I am the ONLY one out of the six of us who have graduated high school, college, and any post college schooling with honors.” I feel myself start to glow red angrily, Bitch, calm down! I scold myself as the glow builds steadily “And that is on top of violin lessons, dance lessons, still keeping up on all of my farm chores, AND being the best alchemist in this damned family. So tell me, when have I not earned your attention. TELL ME!” My dad talks to me like I’m a little kid throwing a temper tantrum, “We have given you plenty of attention. You have to remember that there are six of you...” I interrupt, “No. I graduated high school with honors, I was the valedictorian, and I got one dinner with you guys, no party, not even a facebook post saying you were proud of me. While all five of my brothers got big graduation parties as well as a dinner after. Oh, and when I graduated from my undergrad, THREE DEGREES, another one when I was a valedictorian. I got one dinner, and my brothers all got dinners and parties. And, for my PhD graduation? SAME THING. I’m graduating with honors.” I can feel my magic crackling angrily at this point, this has gone on long enough, I need to get this energy out, “I have been perfect for all 26 damn years of my life! And I get NOTHING from you! Just a pat on the back while my brothers get celebrated for everything! No matter how small!” My mom yells back, “You know that’s not true! You’re just being over dramatic!” My magic is about to explode when she says this. I seriously need to calm down, I could destroy something, or even worse hurt someone if I don’t . I take a deep breath and count to ten in my head, I can feel the crackling go away but the glow still just as angry and bright, “Look,” I bristle with a small crackle of electricity, “I really don’t even want to argue with either of you at this point. Neither of you will ever admit that I was thrown to the waste side for my brothers.”
And with that I storm out of my parents house and to one of the empty fields. As I get to a place where I know I won’t hurt anyone, I let the seething, burning magic build again and focus it into one single fiery blast. I scream as I release all of the energy. “Okay.” I sigh out, cooling down, I walk over to my house on the other side of the farm and greet the mailman as he drops my mail off. I wave as he drives off and take it out of the mailbox. The letter on top has beautiful calligraphy in gold on a red envelope. It read Dr. Abigail Fitzgerald and my address. I open it as I head to my front door. The letter is in the same beautiful gold ink on the red stationary, it reads:
Dr. Fitzgerald,
I am pleased to hear that you are interested in the Devildom Exchange Program here at The Royal Academy of Diavolo. I have included everything you need to know about the program as well as an application for you to fill out so we can make sure that you are a good fit for our program.
I sincerely hope that the program is still of interest to you after reading all of the information and I hope you are the right fit for our program.
Sincerely,
Crown Prince Diavolo
I smile at the letter, YES! My letter worked, now just to read through everything and fill out this application and hopefully get in. I get to my door and walk in, locking it behind me. I head to the kitchen and finish shuffling through the mail, nothing too exciting other than my letter from Lord Diavolo. I look at the time, 6:30 pm, I should probably make dinner. I turn on the oven and grab out a frozen pizza. While waiting for the oven to warm up, I start reading through the rest of the information that was sent to me and take my hair out of my ponytail. I hear the ding of the oven coming to temperature and slide my pizza in and set a timer. My doorbell rings and I glare in that direction, I hear a voice on the other side, “Abby? I know you’re there. I’m worried about you.” Fuck, of course Danny came to check in on me. I go to the door and open it, “What the fuck do you want?” I growl. Danny pushes through the door and hugs me. I break down in his arms. He just holds me for a minute. I pull back, “Sorry, I just can’t take it anymore.” He wipes some tears away with his thumb, “I know sis, I know. And just so you know, you can always come to me, I will back you up every damn time. Got that? We all will.” I nod, “Yeah, I do. Oh, I have a pizza in the oven. Wanna share it with me?” He laughs, “I always want to share a pizza with my little sister.” We walk into the kitchen and talk about the day other than the fight. After I get the pizza and we sit down at the bar, Danny asks, “So was it the same fight?” I take a bite and nod, “When isn’t it the same fight?” I desperately try to keep my voice even, “They will never admit that they do that and I’m just being ‘over dramatic’ and I need to calm down.” I roll my eyes. Danny laughs, “Sounds like mom and dad. And you have every right to be mad, they fucked you over and promised you parties and stuff that never happened, especially birthday parties.” he takes a bite, “There are just so many things that we got and you never did. It doesn't make any sense to me why they would show favoritism towards us.” I laugh, “If you haven’t noticed, I actually have alchemic talent. They’re jealous of my natural abilities, while they can just do some minor things. You guys have put so much time and energy into your abilities while I just have it. I don’t know how or why, but I do, I mean all the work I have to do is put into controlling my abilities and not actually building them like you guys. And they hate that about me. That is the only thing that they see, not the amazing grades, not the perfect marks in violin and dancing, nothing.” I take a bite, “They hate me for being everything they wanted me to be. They would have prefered me try and fail to meet their absurd standards for me, but instead I took those standards and crushed them. You know how grandma and grandpa are, mom was in a similar position but couldn’t meet their vision for her.” Danny laughs, “That is true.” before he could finish his thought, his phone rings and he picks up, “Hey, Babe… What? My mom is doing…? Hold on, we’re coming.” He hangs up, “Help me call the others, Mom is being mom. Meet at my place.” I groan, “She’s taking out her anger on you guys and that’s not okay.” I get up and call Felix and Oliver as I grab my cape and head over to Danny’s house. We meet up and Danny’s wife meets us outside and we can all hear mom’s ranting, “Your mother is ranting about how you, Abby, don’t appreciate everything she’s done for you. What happened?” I shake my head, “The same argument that we’ve always had, I said that I feel like I don’t get appreciated enough for all of my hard work and they refused to accept that.” She nods, “So same old, same old. Okay this makes sense now. Thank you, Abby. You don’t have to deal with this more today if you don’t want. Your brothers are here now and they should be enough.” She smiles sympathetically at me. I nod, “I think it’s best if I don’t see her. I don’t want to snap in front of my nephews.” I say, “I will see you all tomorrow.” Felix hugs me, “Yes, I can’t wait to celebrate your graduation.” I smile into his shoulder, “Thanks Fel.” I pull back and wave my goodbye.
I go back and put the pizza in the fridge and get started on my application. I read through all of the information and take a look at the app. Hmm, well this is some... interesting information they’re looking for, well, doesn’t matter. This is my ticket out of here. I think to myself and get to work filling it out. I finish and look at the time, it's 1 am. I grab my violin from its stand and cape and head to the fields just out the back of my house. I head to the middle of the field, as to not wake up my brothers who live near me, and I start playing, still a little tense from everything. I let my fingers and the instrument lead me to what I play. I close my eyes as I feel the warm, familiar glow of my nature magic embrace me. I try to let all of the stress and frustrations from today flow out of me with the music. I feel my shoulders relax into the proper form and both the music and magic flow gently out of me. I open my eyes and smile at the beautiful flowers that I have created. I become more intentional with my creation and make the first plants just explode with giant flowers. I add in air magic and the deep green glow around me becomes swirled with a soft yellow and the mix of the warm and cool magics dance across my skin to the tempo of the music. I take a step up, my cape swishing around my legs, and step up onto the platform I created. I make some glowing balls and surround the area with them as I start to dance across the small clearing I have created within the plants. I feel the last of the stress leave my body. I play around with the plants a bit longer and then make them retreat back into the ground and dissolve the glowing balls. I finish the song, the glow fades, and the area goes back to its normal state, now I can try and get some sleep.
I walk into my house, place my violin on its stand, and walk into my room. I throw my cape over my chair and flop on the bed. For the first time in what seems like years, I immediately drift off to sleep. I have the weirdest dream right off the bat. I wake up in a bedroom that is not my own but I feel like it’s home somehow. I walk out into the hall and there is a ruckus coming from a gathering room of some sort, I’d say a common room, and I see seven men, well I know they are demons, all doing different things, a blue haired one, Belphegor?, is sleeping up against an orange haired one, Beelzebub?, one who is eating, a blond one, Satan?, is reading looking very annoyed with a purple haired one, Leviathan?, who is trying to get a white haired one, Mammon?, to give him his money back, a black haired one, Lucifer?, looks like he’s done with all of that shit, and I feel someone come up from behind me and give me a hug. I look over my shoulder and a strawberry blond one, Asmodaeus?, is there and seems to sparkle, “Good morning Abby.” He says cheerfully. I mumble a good morning still very confused on what is going on. The one who I recognize as Mammon stops arguing for a second to shout, “You’re too close Asmo, back the fuck up.” I feel a laugh bubble up as Asmo hugs me tighter and nuzzles me, “You could always come give me a good morning hug. You know I wouldn’t mind.” I tease with a familiarity that I didn’t know I had. Asmo laughs, “Do you really think I’m going to stop at just a hug, my dear?” I turn towards him, “And what does that mean Asmo?” His eyes sparkle, “Oh you know very well what I mean.” And before I can say my snarky response, he pulls me in and kisses me, with much protest from the rest of the room. The dream ends as soon as our lips touch.
I jolt awake, in a cold sweat. “What the fuck?” I shake my head and look at the time, 6 am, I should probably get up and get ready for my graduation today. I slip out of my bed and strip my clothes from yesterday. I walk into my bathroom, texting Oliver what time to come over, and turn the shower on. While I wait for the water to warm up, I look at myself in the mirror for the first time in 24 hours, well let’s see if I can fix at least this mess. The steam starts to swirl on the mirror. I step into the stream of water and close my eyes letting it wash over me for a moment before continuing my shower. I get out and wrap a towel around myself and blow dry my hair. I walk out into my room and pull out the maroon dress I had bought for this occasion. I slip on the lace dress and the black heels. I walk to the bathroom, brush my hair back, and pin it in place with a clip with a line of small, cloth, black roses. I look at myself in the mirror for a moment, lost in thought. My doorbell rings and I go down stairs, almost ready, I open my door and see Oliver standing there with a large bouquet of multicolored roses in his hands and a dress hanging off of his arm. “Oli! Thank you.” I beam and hug him tightly. “You are very welcome, my darling sister. Let’s get your makeup done and get you over for graduation.” I nod, “Of course. Come in.” I peak at the dress hanging on his arm, “What’s this for?” His smile turns into a smirk and he winks at me, “It’s for later, dear. Put it on after the graduation. It’s part of your present from your loving brothers.”I smile even more, “Really? Thank you, Oli, I mean it.” I hug him again, “Come in, let's get my makeup on.” His eyes light up, “Of course Darling, let’s make you even more gorgeous than you already are.” I smile, You really do know how to make me feel beautiful, I will always love you Bro. We walk into my bathroom and I sit on the edge of the tub as he lays out my makeup after I put the roses into a vase with some water. “I’m going to do a look that transfers over to the other dress well. So you don’t have to redo it.” I close my eyes for him to start, “Thanks Oli. You really are the best.” I can hear the smile in his voice as he starts putting my makeup on, “Anything for my little sister.”
He finishes putting my makeup on, “Come look, love.” Oli gushes, “You are the epitome of perfection, Abby.” I look in the mirror and I know he’s right. My bright green eyes stand out perfectly against the dark eye makeup, my lips have color but not enough to take away from my eyes, I don’t look like what I’ve been through. “Oh I knew you’d love it.” Oli breaks me out of my thoughts as he fluffs my curls. “I never know how you do it, Oli. I fancy myself pretty good at makeup but the way you do it on me is just amazing.” He cocks his head at me over my shoulder looking in the mirror, “Something’s on your mind, dear. What is it?” I smile, “It’s nothing. Just a weird dream I had last night.” His eyes light up, “Oh? A dream? How about you finish getting your robes on and tell me about it.” I nod and start to recount the dream as I get my robes on and do one final check in the mirror before heading over to where the graduation is being held. Before I get in the car, I drop my completed application for the exchange program into my mailbox and put up the flag.
Once there, I hug Oli and head off to my class. We talk for a bit about our papers and what our plans are for after all of this. We line up by last name and walk to the stage. Our professors talk, then it’s my turn. I recite the beautifully worded speech that I wrote and memorized and the crowd goes wild, though somehow my brothers and their families are the loudest of them all and that makes me smile. After the graduation, I’m talking with the professor who over saw me during the course of the program and my brothers come over and envelop me in a tight hug. I yelp in surprise, “Don’t do that!” I laugh, “Oh, this is Dr. Woodard, She’s the professor that oversaw me during the program and has been my mentor throughout the whole thing.” I say as they let go. Dr Woodard smiles, “I see your gaggle of older brothers are just as lively as you say. It’s a pleasure to meet you all finally.” They all wave and my parents walk up and the mood goes from celebratory to tense. I look down and Dr. Woodard says, “Your daughter is amazingly smart and a pleasure to work with, Mrs and Mr Fitzgerald. Her ideas and thoughts on her topic were so out of the box and different and it was amazing to watch her put in all of this work into her paper. Her hard work paid off. You must be very proud of her.” My father forces a smile, “Yes, we are.” She must have noticed the forced smile, “Any plans for celebrating?” Danny speaks up before my parents can, “Well, we put together a little surprise for her later.” She nods, “That certainly sounds fun, enjoy yourselves. I’m going to talk to my other students, I wish you all the best in your endeavors, Abigail.” I beam, “Thank you Professor.” She walks away. My mother speaks first, “Did you tell her to say that? You little shit.” I look at her wide eyed, “No. I didn’t. You just can't fathom that other people actually like me.” I hear a familiar voice come from behind me, “Heya babe! You spoke incredibly today. I’m so proud of you.” I turn around and see Alex, I hug him, “I’m so glad you made it.” I whisper in his ear. He hugs back tightly, “Me too. Oh, I have a present for you.” I pull back, confused. He gets down on one knee and I gasp, lost for words. The people in my program around us start cheering as I nod my yes. I kiss him and he slips the ring on my finger. Maybe it is getting better, maybe the only thing I’ll have to worry about is my parents, I think hopefully as we walk out of the stadium.
We head back and the women and kids come over to my place to help me get ready for whatever is planned tonight. I slip on the navy blue dress and walk out to the rest of the women, and they are all in awe of it. Jaz, Oli’s wife, muses, “Wow, Ol really does know style and color. You look beautiful in it.” I feel my cheeks heat up a bit, “Thanks Jaz. And he really does. He also did my makeup today.” I say and the adults in the room all nod. Sarah looks at the time, “It’s time to go. Come on, Dr. Fitzgerald. We have a reservation to get to.” I laugh, “Alright then, the surprise is a party for me. Though, I knew that already when Oli gave me the dress this morning.” Mara laughs, “Yeah, well, I guess we should have guessed that you, miss PhD, would have guessed that.” She laughs, “I just said a really weird sentence.” We all laugh and wrangle the kids and head out to meet up with the guys. We load up the cars, I end up taking the oldest three kids and Dylan, Luke’s boyfriend, with me and we head over to the restaurant. We walk into my favorite cafe in the entire world and all of the staff congratulate me. The host walks us to the back room and we celebrate, though my parents are noticeably absent.
Three weeks before Devildom
The next week goes by without much incident, I’m still on a bit of a high from graduating and Alex proposing. I get a knock on the door and I open it. The two women standing there looking at me, the taller redhead one speaks first, “Hi Abigail, I’m Britany and this is Tiffany. You don’t know us but we know you. May we talk with you?” I’m a little shocked, “Yes, of course, come in.” I move and we come into the kitchen, the two women sit at the bar, “Do you want some tea?” They both nod. I start making the tea, “So what’s this about?” Tiffany looks at me, “I’m assuming you know Alex Alvarez?” I nod and she continues, “Well he has been leading all three of us on.” I put down their mugs in front of them and take mine. I walk around and sit down on one of the stools, “This could mean a lot of things. What are you insinuating?” I ask cautiously. “He’s been cheating on all of us with the other two for nine years.” Brittany states frankly. The initial shock hits me like a sledgehammer, “Wait, what?” The shock starts to fade and I feel a boiling anger build. I can’t freak out with them here. I have to calm down just enough. “When Brittany came to me with this I was just as shocked. Did he propose to you like a week ago?” I nod, “Yes, that was also my graduation from my PhD program.” They give each other a look, “We were proposed to by him about the same time.” Brittany says. That lying bastard! “Well, Maybe we should invite him here. Confront him about this. But first I need to hear your stories with him.” They nod and we talk for about two hours over a bowl of chips and dip, our stories match up almost perfectly. The dates, first kisses, first time having sex, everything. All within days of each other. His stories, exactly the same to each of us. We make a decision that this has to happen tonight. We make our plan and I text him: Hey babe, I have a surprise for you. Come on over and I’ll give it to you. I nod to the two ladies and our plan is set in motion. I go up stairs and change into something a little more sexy than my overalls. I pull out one of his favorite dresses on me, a skin tight, short, off the shoulder, white and peach floral piece with ruffles on it and I pull out my strappy white stilettos and I put some makeup on.
I change into them and walk down stairs. Brittany and Tiffany applaud, “Girl you look ready to kill in that.” Tiffany laughs. I beam, “This is his favorite outfit on me. Might as well have him see me in it one last time before I kick him out of my life for good.” We all laugh and the doorbell rings. We all race to our positions and I walk up to the door gracefully and open it. His eyes widen and the smirk I know all too well appears on his face, “Well, Hello to you Babe.” He purrs. I keep just out of his reach, “Come this way, let me give you your present.” I almost sing. He drools behind me none the wiser to the shit storm about it hit. We walk into the family room and the other two ladies are sitting there. The look on his face makes me want to slap him. Tiffany shifts, “Hello Alex.” Brittany cocks her head, “Funny seeing you here.” I let my eyes glow angrily, letting Alex know the gig is up, “You know these ladies? Cause I certainly do.” His mouth drops, “How do you three know about each other?” I walk behind the couch and lean down between the two ladies, “They came to my door this afternoon and told me everything.” We take off our rings, “It’s over, you asshole!” we say in unison. The look on his face made me almost feel bad, “Get the fuck out of my house.” I growl, my eyes flashing. He runs out of the room and as soon as we hear the front door slam, all three of us bust out laughing. I recover first, “Well ladies, that went well.” We all start laughing again. After we calm down again, I say, “How about we get drunk off of wine and watch a movie tonight, you both can just stay here. Tomorrow we can return these rings and deal with whatever emotions come up from this.” They nod. I go to the wine closet and pull out three bottles of wine, open them, and hand two of them to the other women and I plot down between them. We all take a swig before I grab the remote, “So what do you want to watch? I have every streaming thing you could imagine.” Tiffany says, “Something stupid.” we all laugh, “Alright, I think I still have The Room in my DVD player if you guys want to watch it.” I suggest. They both nod, Brittany laughs, “That sounds good to me. Let's do it.” We then proceed to watch The Room and get drunk off of our asses.
I don’t remember falling asleep but I guess I do because I have another weird dream. This time I feel like I’m scared of something, myself maybe, and I’m crying. I hear a familiar voice, that demon, Satan, from the dream the other night, calling my name. “Here.” I manage, my voice hoarse. He finds me and sits down next to me, the rush of unfamiliar feelings about him wash over me, I love him? “You okay?” He asks, genuine concern in his voice. All I can do is nod. He looks at me like he’s debating whether to do something or not. This must be from before the other dream. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me to him, the gentle gesture startles me. He starts talking again, “You know, I have anger problems too. I mean I am the Avatar of Wrath after all.” He looks at me with green eyes that are brighter than mine. “It’s okay to not know how to handle it. Especially down here, you aren’t used to how your magic works yet.” I lean into him, “I just didn't realize I could do that. I don’t know how to control fire or electricity down here yet.” I say barely above a whisper. He nuzzles me and I lean into him more, “I know. And it has been amazing to watch you learn and master both water and air down here.” I lift my head from his shoulder and give him a look and he chuckles, “I can see the garden from my room. That little glowing ball trick must be useful. Anyways, that’s besides the point. You will soon have perfect control of both in no time at all, I have zero doubt about it.” Before I can answer, he brushes my bangs out of my face and there is a trail of electricity from where his fingers touch my face. He leans in and I let him kiss me. The dream ends the moment when our lips touch, again.
I jolt awake in another cold sweat, What the fuck is happening to me? I shake my head and the other two women start to shift. “Morning.” I say sleepily, still a little weirded out from my dream. They mumble mornings and we all stand up and stretch. Rubbing my eye, I ask, “Wanna eat here, or should we head to the cafe and treat ourselves?” They look at each other and say, “Treat ourselves.” I laugh and start to head upstairs, “That’s what I was thinking, I could really use one of their double shot cappuccino right about now. Let me just change out of this. I’m going to go burn it later.” They both laugh as I go and change. I put on an all black 50’s style dress that comes to just above my knees and put on a pair of my knee high lace up boots. I take out my new maroon cape and button it into place. I throw my hair up in a ponytail and head back down to the ladies awaiting me. We jump in my truck and head into town. We walk into the cafe and the normal host beams at us, “Well hello ladies! You look like you are ready for one hell of a day.” We laugh, “Yes we are, Ray.” I smile as he walks us to our table, “We have just freed ourselves from some extra weight and we are celebrating.” We sit down and Ray winks at me, “Well, that is something to celebrate.” Damn, he still has a thing for me? Maybe I’ll take him up on that sometime. I smile at him and he hands us our menus, “Your server will be with you in a moment. Her name is Kelsi.” We nod our thanks and look over the menu while chatting. After Kelsi takes our drink orders, Tiffany looks at me, “You know Ray?” I nod, “We met when he first moved to town way back in middle school, like sixth grade. We were in the same class through middle and high school. We were kind of a thing before I started dating you know who. Though the attraction between us never really went out.” Brittany smirks, “Well after you recover from this mess we know who you’ll be hitting up.” We all laugh, “You know what? I just damn well might.” I declare playfully. Kelsi comes back with our drinks and we order our food. We just sit and talk, I find out that we all have similar hobbies and all come from farm families. We tell stories and laugh. We eat our food, I pay the bill, and we walk down the street to the jeweler. Walking in, the guy at the counter smiles at us, “Ahh, yes. You ladies finally figured it out. I told him not to do it.” The three of us smile, He continues, “Come to the back counter, I’ll give you cash refunds for those.” He makes his way over to the back counter we follow on the other side and we make small talk while he gives us the cash and takes the rings from us.
We wave our goodbyes, with cash in hand, and head back to my place. We hug and they head home in their separate cars. I text my brothers and let them know what happened. I feel the floodgates about to break as I walk up my driveway. I close the door to my house and the tears start falling from my eyes. I slump up against the nearest wall and slide down it, curling into a ball. Moments later, I hear the door open and Oli’s voice, full of concern, “Abigail?” He must see me and come over, I feel arms wrap me up in a tight hug, “Oh honey! I’m so sorry!” I wrap my arms around his neck and cry into his shoulder. A few minutes later, I hear the door open again and four other sets of arms wrap around me. We sit like this for a while. After what seems like forever, I lift my head up, “Let’s go sit somewhere a little more comfortable.” They all nod. “The kitchen, I can make tea and we can talk.” Oli suggests, standing up, “Come on darling.” he offers his hand to help me up and I take it. He pulls me up and into a tight hug, “You’re going to tell us everything, right?” I nod. We head into the kitchen and I sit at the bar. Oli gets to work making us all tea, Danny and Felix sit on either side of me, and Luke and Skyler leans up against the counter facing me. “So, how’d you find out?” Sky asks, I can see he’s fuming. I sigh and accept the mug handed to me, “The other two women came to my door and...” Danny growls, “Wait hold on there were two others?” I nod, “Yep. they came to my door yesterday afternoon to talk to me about it.” I proceed to tell them about the rest of the evening and this morning. As I finish, there is a knock at my door and hear an all too familiar voice, “Please Abby.” I can hear his voice crack, “Can I come in? I can explain everything, please let me come in.” He pleads. I look over in the direction of the front door, terrified. I can’t face him. Not right now, I would go back and I refuse to do that to myself. My brothers tense at the same time I do and they seem to read my mind. Felix heads towards the door, glowing red and the fury of a thousand suns in his eyes. I hear them at the door, Alex is trying to push through him. I hear Felix bark, “No! You don’t deserve my sister you cheating fuck head.” There’s a bit of a fight in the doorway and Luke gets up to see what’s going on. I hear a commotion coming from the door and the front door slam shut. There’s some shouting coming from outside and then it gets oddly quiet for a while. Fel and Luke come back in, “He won’t be bothering you for a while.” Felix says, still angry about it. They wash their hands and take their places again. “What happened out there?” I ask, knowing something happened. “It’s nothing that you need to be bothered with, sis.” Felix says dismissively, “All you need to know is that he is taken care of for a bit. If he comes back you let me know and I’ll deal with him, got it?” I nod.
We talk for a while, about what to do if he comes back, about what now, and about their days. I say I’m tired and that I want to go to bed. They nod, all give me hugs, and leave. I take a deep breath, my head dropping into my hands. “FUCK!” I exclaim and start crying again. I let the wave of emotion hit me and leave at it’s will. After about an hour of crying, I pick myself up and head upstairs. I take a long, hot shower trying to wash the last couple of days off of me. I dry off, change into my pjs, and curl up in bed with my laptop and watch Netflix until I’m too tired to be conscious.
I wake up the next day at the time I normally wake up to start my farm chores, disoriented from the emotions of the dreams I had. As I get up and get ready for today’s work, I can’t shake off the feelings from the dreams, though I can’t remember what they were about. I eat and get coffee, then head out to start on this morning’s chores. I tie my hair back as I walk up to my brothers. “Hey, Abby. You sure you’re doing well enough to do chores today?” Danny asks, his voice full of concern. I nod, “I’m not letting myself just sit around. I’ll just keep thinking about everything I’ve ever done wrong and I refuse to do that.” I give a half hearted smile, “Anyways, I can’t let you guys have all the fun.” They all smile at me. With that, we all head off to our normal chores. The day is full of chores and attempting to forget that Alex exists.
At the end of the day, I walk into my house and collapse on the couch. I just sit, staring at the black screen for a few minutes before my doorbell rings. I groan and get up off the couch. I turn the corner towards the door and hear an all too familiar voice, “Please Abby. Can we talk?” I stare at the door, absolutely terrified. Oh fuck! Why is he here? What does he want? My mind races, trying to think of what to do. I remember Felix saying to call him if he comes back, so I do. He picks up on the first ring, “Hey sis, what’s...” I interrupt him, “Alex is here.” I say, unsure what else to say. I hear his growl, “I’ll be there in a second. Do not open that door.” I can feel myself start to shake as he starts to pound on the door, “Abigail I know you’re there! Let me in!” He yells, obviously hearing my conversation with Felix. I feel my magic start to drain from my hands, FUCK, this is not good! Alex continues to pound on my door. I back up and hit a wall. I slide down to the ground and start to cry again. After what seems like forever, I hear Felix yelling at Alex to leave. I hear Alex walk away and more yelling between them. There is a tense few minutes and then there’s a knock on my door, “Hey, Abby? It’s me.” I get up and unlock the door, Felix comes in and hugs me tightly, “He’s gone. I made sure of that.” I just cry into his shoulder. He holds me just telling me that everything is gonna be okay and that he’s gone. We stand here like this until I calm down. I take a step back, “Thank you Feli.” He nods, “Of course, Abby. You’re my little sister, I will do anything for you.” He smiles and ruffles my hair, “Make sure you eat, you need your strength to be dealing with this.” He hugs me and turns to leave, “Oh, just so you know, mom and dad have been ranting about it’s unfair that you broke up with him. You may get some heat from them about it.” I nod, “Thanks for the heads up.” He leaves and I lock the door behind him.
I start to get something for dinner and my cell phone rings. I pick up without looking at who it was, “Dr. Fitzgerald, How can I…?” My mother interrupts me, “Alex just called me saying that you broke up with over lies? Please tell me this isn’t true.” I grab my headset and plug it in and start explaining the whole thing. How I figured out he was cheating, what I ended up doing, and that I don’t want to talk much about it right now. She starts to yell at me, I mean screams at me about how horrible I am and that I should have just dealt with it and it’s my job to not say anything and suck it up. I just stay quiet as I let her rant at me about how it’s my job to stand by him. Once she finishes, I state flatly, “Ok, well it’s too late now. I broke with him and I’m not taking him back. I can’t for my mental health.” She blows up again, “You have too! You broke his heart, you need to fix it!” I growl, “I broke his heart? I broke his heart. Do you even know what it did to me to find out that the man that I wanted to marry has been cheating on me for our entire relationship. Do you even care what it did to me?” She pauses for a second, “No, I don’t.” Before she can talk, I say, “Well that’s all I need to hear. Do not contact me unless it’s very important,” and with that I hang up without hearing another word from her. I sigh deeply, “Fuck!” I finish cooking and eat. I flop on my bed after I clean the kitchen and start to watch Youtube. I fall asleep at some point and have a hard, dreamless sleep.
Two weeks till Devildom
The next week is hard: Alex continues to be relentless about coming by every day, my parents, my mom mostly, keeps trying to get me to go back to him, I learn that Alex is only hounding me and not Tiffany and Brittany, and I’ve gotten so depressed that my magic refuses to work, even when playing violin. I keep pushing forward, I do my chores and try to lead a normal life. Later in the week, I get a call from my grandma, “Hi Abby, dear.” I feel myself smile, “Hi Granny, how are you?” I hear her voice crack, “Not well. Grandpa died last night.” I feel tears well up in my eyes, “What? How?” Her voice is rough, “He died peacefully in his sleep.” I nod, “I’m coming over now. You shouldn’t have to be alone.” She says ok and we hang up. I grab a few days worth of clothes and head over.
I get there and Granny meets me out front crying, I hug her tightly. We head inside and within minutes my brothers show up. We order food and settle in for the rest of the evening at Ganny’s house. The next day, we get ready for the funeral. We head out to the grave site and we go through the service but I don’t remember much of anything about it except that my parents don’t show up, especially surprised that my mom did as this is her side of the family.
After the service, we go out to his favorite restaurant and share memories, my parents still not here. After a little bit I ask the question on all of our minds, “Where’s mom and dad?” Everyone looks around at each other, “No idea, they said they had plans today.” Danny says gruffly. I look at him, “Plans? What plans are more important than going to your father’s, or father in law’s, funeral and be there for your mother, or mother in law? I just do not understand.” He shakes his head, “You look at me like I should know.” He says pointedly. “You are their golden child, are you not?” I ask, bluntly, “Aren’t you their perfect child? Shouldn’t you know all of this?” He looks at me, “Do not start this. Not here, not now. You know very well I condone how they are acting. You know that if I had to cut them out of my life for you, I would without a second thought.” He puts a hand on my shoulder, “You will always be my priority in this family. It always has been. It always will be.” His voice cuts through the fog that had been covering up part of my mind, He really does love me, he always will. I nod, desperately trying not to cry here. Luke advises, “Go home tonight, Abby. You’re tired and have been through so much. We can take care of granny. You need to take care of yourself.” I look at him wide eyed, “Okay.” I say, surprised at his bluntness. We finish eating and head our separate ways. I head home and head to the shower. After my shower, I sit and watch Youtube for a while. At some point, I get hungry and grab some leftovers from the fridge. At some point after dinner, I fall asleep and have another weird dream.
I’m looking out over Devildom with the demon I know as Mammon next to me, we’re laughing. There is a different feel to this than the last dream, newer relationship maybe. We’re shoulder to shoulder looking out, I glance over at him. He is gorgeous. He looks over a second after I do, we make eye contact causing both of us to look away and blush. I take a chance and glance over at him. I realize that he is looking at me. I feel my blush deepen more. His voice soft, and almost husky, “Look at me, will ya?” I meet his ocean blue gaze again, before I can say anything, he brushed my bangs out of my eyes. The second his fingers touch my face we both pause for a second, feeling a spark pass between us. “Do ya mind if… I… um… kiss you?” He says, like this is the first time he’s saying those words. I can’t find my voice so I shake my head and inch ever so slightly closer to him. He takes the cue and closes the already small gap. And again, waking up just as our lips touch.
I wake up from the dream in a cold sweat. “Fuck” I wake up and rub my eyes. I look at the time, it’s 2 in the morning. I close my eyes and go back to sleep for a few hours. The rest of the week is normal. I get up early, do farm chores, eat, shower, repeat. Between Alex constantly pounding on my door and my spiraling relationship with my parents, my mental state is on the floor. I just hope my acceptance letter from RAD comes soon.
One week till Devildom
I wake up at 5 am to my phone ringing. I pick it up and before I can say hello, my mother starts to berate me. After about five minutes, I just say, “Mother, if this is all you have to say to me, Then I’m going to hang up and try and get a couple more hours of sleep before I have to work on your farm.” And I hang up. I wake up a couple of hours later to my alarm and multiple calls and messages from both my parents. I roll my eyes and get ready for my day.
I walk out to the normal meeting spot and I must look completely done cause my brothers all chuckle, “They’re that bad, huh?” Felix asks through his laughs. “Is calling me just to chew me out at five am, bad enough for you?” I smirk. They all start to laugh, “No! They didn’t!” Skyler exclaims. I nod, “I told mom that if that’s all she needed to say that I was going to try and get some more sleep. And then I proceeded to hang up on her and go the fuck back to sleep.” We all laugh harder. Danny recovers first, “Seriously?” another short bout of laughter, “seriously.” I nod, “Yep.” Our laughter dies down as my parents walk up to us. The whole mood changes from the joyous one to one tension filled. I look down at the ground. “We are having a family meeting at the main farm house now.” my father growls out. We walk over to the house together, I grab onto Danny’s arm.
We walk into the back door and all take our normal seats around the family room. My parents stand in front of all of us, my father starts, “We came here to talk about how the dynamic is in this family.” I tense when he says this, he won’t be trying to fix it. My mother continues, “Your father and I have talked, and we have come to an agreement that the problems in our family come from one place.” They both look at me, “Abigail.” they say in unison. My father’s voice taut, “You have been a constant pain the last few years...” I don’t pay attention to much of the rest of it. I do hear that I am disowned from the family but will still be expected to help with the farm. I feel my already dwindling magic disappear completely. Well, there goes my hope, I think to myself. As soon as disowning is mentioned all five of my brothers come to my defense. I hear the yelling back and forth, but I don’t hear the words. My world really has imploded. Everything I know and love is gone, well except my brothers. They will always love me, no matter what is going on around us. Them fighting for me now just solidifies this fact in my mind. I feel a hand on my shoulder and that breaks me from my thoughts, Felix is flushed with anger, well they all are, screaming at my parents about how every issue this family has ever had is their fault, not mine. I stand up, which silences everyone, I keep my tone even, “If that’s what you want, then fine. I will continue my duties on the farm. But, if you ever ask me for anything beyond something for the farm, I will refuse. As I am no longer your daughter, I no longer have to follow any of your rules and this is no longer a welcoming place, though it has not been for a long time.” I walk out of that house for the last time and continue forward with my day.
The rest of the week is a blur, and not the good kind. I’m just going through the motions of the day, of the proper emotions, but no emotions come. I cry myself to sleep every night. I barely eat. My magic showing no sign of reappearing.
Then, one day, I come back from a day out on the farm and walk past my mailbox, the flag saying that I had mail was up. Didn’t I get my mail earlier? I think as I open it up. I see the familiar red envelope with beautiful, gold calligraphy. I take it out and open it. It reads:
Dear Dr. Fitzgerald,
After careful review of your application, we, here at the Royal Academy of Diavolo, are writing to congratulate you on your acceptance to our exchange program. As you know, you will be joining us for one year starting in twenty four hours from when you read this letter.We look forward to you joining us.
Sincerely,
Crown Prince Diavolo
I take a second to remember how to breathe. I got in. I start to shake with the overwhelming relief and restart of my magic. They liked my application enough that they chose me. I am finally out of this place. I fumble for my phone and text my brothers. The immediate reactions of celebration make me smile. I get a call from Oliver, “Hi Oliv...” I start to say before he interrupts me, “I already have a hair appointment for you. You need a totally different look, also you are a totally different person, Love. Your hair needs to reflect that.” I laugh, “Ok, ok. I get it. When is it for?” I can hear his smile, “about twenty minuets.” Fuck, just enough time to get over there. I laugh again and shake my head, “You coming with?” I hear his laugh in real life and on the phone and look up, “Get in bitch! We’re gonna get you glammed up.” I hang up, laughing, and run over and get into his car.
We head over and have a short wait before my appointment. We look through the magazines and look at haircuts that are in them, showing each other the ridiculous one to make fun of and ones we are seriously thinking about. I flip through one and find this super cute pixie cut, “Hey Ol, look at this cut. I think it would work on me.” He casually looks over at the picture, “Yes, it would. Are you sure you want that different from your luscious locks that you have now?” I nod, “As you said, I’m a completely different person now. The long hair just doesn’t work for me anymore. It’s just not me.” He beams, “You’ve convinced me, sis. Are you gonna donate your hair?” I hum, “That’s what I was thinking. I may not want all this hair, but the least I can do is give it to someone who can use it.” Oliver hugs me and we head over to my chair and I talk to the stylist about what I want to do. He nods, “You really are going to look fabulous after I’m done with you. Do you want a full reveal at the end since it’s such a big change.” I nod and he smiles, “Then so it shall be.” and with that he gets to work. As he works, I feel my long hair come off. I can see Oli on the edge of his seat in anticipation. After about an hour, my stylist spins me around and I look at myself for the first time with my new hair style, “It’s perfect.” I say, in awe of how different I look. Oliver beams, “It really is. You look beautiful. And Alex is going to go crazy when he sees you, what he decided wasn’t worthy enough to stay true too.” He stands up and walks over to me, “This is a new start for you. Go over there, be your dazzling self, and show them that you won’t take any shit, okay?” I nod and we pay the stylist and we go out to dinner.
After I get back, I start to watch something on my bed and end up falling asleep. I open my eyes with the ring of a dark chuckle in my ears. I look up into the glowing red eyes of the demon I recognize as Lucifer, I’m terrified of him. His horns twist up and four expansive wings come from his back, blocking the view from anyone walking by. “Well, darling, aren’t you in a predicament.” His velvety, deep voice seems to penetrate every every cell of my being. He bends down so we are now nose to nose. His gaze looks directly into my soul, the look in his eyes says he knows everything. Wait what does he know? “You are so easy to read, you know little human? Your desire for me radiates off of you.” I try to answer, but my voice catches in my throat. I look down to get away from his scrutiny but can’t for long as a red gloved hand forces me to look at him again. “You can not escape it, just as you can not escape me” His knowing and predatory smirk says everything I need to know. This is a moment that is a long time coming. I gain my voice back, “You know nothing of my desires.” I try and harden my gaze and conjure some semblance of my magic or my dignity, I’m not sure which. A hint of amusement flashes through his eyes, “Oh? I don’t? Are you sure about that?” I scramble to think of something to say but can’t, his laugh radiates a pride and arrogance that is beyond what I’ve ever seen in a human, “That’s what I thought. Now, let’s sate those desires, shall we?” He leans in and the dream ends as our lips touch, again.
I jolt awake, “Fuck! Again? What is up with these dreams?” I shake my head. I throw my sheets off and notice that I drenched them in sweat. “Why do they keep happening?” I look at the time, 5 am. I get up and shower. After my shower, I pack a small bag with some of my notebooks, some chalk, and a few books in preparation for my leave to Devildom. I hear my doorbell ring and I head down to open the door. All of my brothers are standing there smiling, “Hi guys. What are you doing at my house at 7:30 in the morning?” Luke gives me a look, “Why do you think we’re here?” He grumbles, Sky hits him on the shoulder as we all giggle, “We’re here for one last breakfast with our little sister before she goes to hell, literally, for a year.” He says, trying to be happy. I smile but I can see he’s sad. I pull him into a hug, “I know, Sky. I’m gonna miss you guys too.” I get wrapped into a hug by all of them, “I love you guys.” They all mumble it back. We then head to the cafe and spend the morning laughing, talking, and eating with a side of many cups of coffee. We spend the rest of the day laughing, playing video games, and goofing around. The time comes for me to go and I give them all huge hugs and there are lots of tears and goodbyes. The next thing I know, a bright light envelops me, I close my eyes at how bright it is.