Grown to hate

Chapter 3: Mother

The sun was shining, wind was calm, birds chirped, and two boys laughed. "You can't catch me!" Mocked Asta. "It's not fair! You can run faster than me!" Liebe shouted. "Maybe you should run faster haha!" Asta said. Liebe was running out of breath, so he decided to stop. His brother noticed and he stopped running as well. "Why'd you stop?" Asta asked. "I. Need. To. Catch. My. Breath." Said Liebe while panting. "You're so lazy." "Shut up! I'm not lazy!" "Are too." "No I'm not!" "You are la-" "That's enough!" Shouted a woman. The two children looked to find their mother with a plate full of fruits. "You two shouldn't argue over little things. I don't want any of you to grow up always arguing." Licita scolded. The two boys dropped their heads and apologized. "Don't apologize to me. Apologize to each other." Licita said. "I'm sorry Liebe. I shouldn't have called you lazy." "And I'm sorry for yelling at you." Liebe apologized. "Good. Now hug it out." Licita said. The two brothers looked at each other and sighed. Asta approached first and hugged Liebe who returned the hug. "See. That wasn't so hard was it?" Licita said. The two boys separated and glared at their mother. "No." The two brothers said. "Great! Anyways, I got some fruits for you two as a snack." Licita said. The two boys rushed to their mother and devoured the fruits on the plate. Licita just watched with no surprise shown on her face. After all, they loved to eat as quickly as possible. "That was tasty!" Exclaimed Asta. "Yep. Couldn't agree more." Liebe said. Astas stomach had started to grumble and the boy held on to his stomach. "I gotta use the bathroom." He said before running back to the house. Licita and Liebe watched Asta run and laughed seeing the scene. Liebe stopped laughing, but a bright smile still lingered. The past year had been the best one of his life. "Mom." He said. Licita hummed and looked at her son. "Thank you. Thank you for everything." Liebe said. "You don't have to thank me at all. After all, a mother would do anything to keep her child happy." "I know, but.. you cared for me even when I'm a devil. Other humans left me hurt, but you.. you and Asta never hurt me." He said. Licita softened the expression on her face, but soon smiled brightly and said "You know. Just because somebody's a devil doesn't necessarily mean they're a bad guy. After all, you aren't a bad guy!"

Floosh "Ahh. That felt good." Asta said pulling his pants up. The boy washed his hands and quickly ran back outside to continue playing with his brother. Asta had left his home to find his mother talking to Liebe. The boy had an idea to surprise the two and scare them, but he could no longer think after seeing what happened to his brother. "AHH!" Liebe shouted. "Liebe?!" Asked Licita concerned. Asta ran towards the two while panicking. "Liebe!" Asta shouted. The boy arrived seeing his mother asking Liebe what was wrong; however, the boy stepped back seeing a horrific sight. "I... am... Lucifero!" Liebe said. Licitas eyes had widened seeing such a sight. "Who'd have believed a devil could have made it to the human world without a contract. I'm glad I killed time by looking for him." Lucifero said. Asta unconsciously kept on stepping back. The poor boy was shaking with fear, he had no idea what to do. The boys attention went to his mother who had grabbed his brothers body and tried to save him. "Who do you think you are?! Get away from Liebe!" She shouted holding Liebe close to her. "Foolish human. Even if I'm nearly powerless here, a nobody like you could never.." Lucifero had stopped speaking and Asta was getting some hope back. "Insolent wench!" Schunk "This boy is not yours!" Licita shouted with blood spewing from her mouth. The woman fell on top of Liebe who still had his arm through his mothers stomach. "Mom!" Shouted Asta. The boy forced his legs to move and he ran towards his family. "Mom!" He shouted once more. The boy saw his mother take out the rare grimoire she kept and began to seal Liebe inside of it. Asta arrived only to see a gruesome sight. Blood. Damaged organs. Asta nearly vomited at the sight, but his overflowing feelings had made him lose all sense of natural reactions. "Mom. Mommy." Asta said. The boy didn't know what to do. He never had seen so much blood, his worry had left for a short moment when he heard his mother whisper. "Asta, remember that mommy will always love you." "I know mommy. I'll always love you too!" He shouted. The boy tried to think of how to help his mother, a memory had invaded his mind of when he first met Liebe. Asta quickly took his shirt off and tried to wrap his mothers wound, unfortunately his shirt was too small. "Don't worry mommy, I'll heal you." He said. Astas vision had become blurry. The shock hadn't made him realize that tears were streaming down his face. The boy did whatever he could to stop the bleeding. He had no concept of death, he only knew that people could get hurt. Asta had been hurt before, his mother simply patched his wound up and it later healed. Maybe his mothers wound could heal? Why wouldn't it? "Don't worry mommy, I'll heal your wound." He said. The boy noticed what he was doing didn't do anything. He looked at the dirty grimoire and remembered his brother was sealed in it. Asta picked up the grimoire and started to speak to it. "Liebe! Please come out! Mommy's hurt and she needs help!" The boy shouted. Silence, the only answer the boy received. "Please help!" Asta began to choke on his words. The only two people he had known stayed quiet. "Mommy don't go to sleep so early!" He cried. Asta shook Licitas limp body hoping she would get up and scold him for waking her, but to his misfortune she stayed limp. "Why aren't you waking up?!" He asked. The boy began to shake her body as if his life depended on it. Blood. The red liquid kept on staining Asta. "I'l- I'll find someone to help you." Asta choked. The boy got up and picked up the grimoire. "Me and Liebe will find someone mommy. Just stay right there." The boy ran towards the demon skull. That place homed one of his most fondest memories, finding Liebe. The boy arrived and was panting. He was frantically looking around and found what he was looking for. "Maybe that place can help." The boy thought.