Deja Vu

Chapter 3: Some Well-Deserved Rest

At the foot of the stairs, the voice calls to you with your name.
Alright, already a red flag.
Great.

Well, you've gotten this far, might as well see this through.

You head up the stairs to find a hallway. Nothing special about it.

"Alright, I'm going crazy. Yeah. That sounds about right." You turn to leave when you hear a voice;

"Wait, please, don't leave. You're not crazy. I am here."

"I can't see shit in this hallway, and obviously you know more about me, than I know about you. I'm seeing a lotta red flags here, buddy."

"So you're just walking away?"

"Yeah."

"..." You hear a laugh. "Wow. Humans are more calloused than I remember."

"I just came up here to find the source of the voice. And since the source of the voice is a disembodied hallway, I'm just going to invest in some earplugs."

"I'll continue to plague your dreams until you help me get out of here. You'll never know a moment of rest."

"... Just what are you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Kinda does. If you're a land siren, you'll gobble me up the minute I release you. Also, I don't know why you're here. I don't know why Lucifer wasn't keen on me meeting you. I could just tell him "Hey, the thing in the attic is fucking up my sleep." and I'm sure he'd be willing to handle it."

"... Okay, alright, I'm a little pissed because I've been trapped up here for a while, so, forgive me."

"... Okay, I'm listening."

"Lucifer trapped me up here some time ago. I'm his brother."

"Oh wait, that'd make you the youngest, yeah? I was wondering why they said seven demons live here, but I've only seen six."

"Yeah. My name's Belphagor."

"So why'd he trap his brother in the attic?"

"We had a fight, and things went really badly. He doesn't listen to reason."

"Okay, so... I go get Diavolo."

"No. Diavolo is the reason I'm stuck in here. I don't agree with his choices. I spoke out against him, and Lucifer turned on me and locked me up in here. Diavolo let that happen, and he wants me stuck up here just as much as Lucifer does. They've convinced my brothers that I'm away as part of the exchange program."

"What is it that you don't agree with?" Your mind floods back to the voice of the angel, Luke, who warned you about demons on your first day. As far as you're concerned, none of them are trustworthy. The ones who tell you to your face that they're gonna eat you are easier to deal with than the ones who probably would do the same but hide that intent.

"He... He has secret motives for this 'exchange program'. I don't like them. I don't like him."

"And those motives are?"

"Hard to explain. But he doesn't want peace. He wants to cover up a bloodied history, and I think that's wrong."

"... Okay. Alright. Okay. So let's see. You're here."

"Yes."

"And I'm here."

"Yes."

"So.. shouldn't I just get your other brothers?"

"No. They can't know that I'm up here. If they discover that I'm trapped up here, then they'll wage war against Lucifer, and likely even Diavolo. As much as I'm angry about being trapped up here, I don't want my freedom to come at the cost of my family."

"Okay. So... It's complicated. So, if I were to do this, how do I get you out of here?"

"You have to make pacts with my brothers."

---

Aaaaand there's the bullshit.

---

"Goddammit."

"... Huh?"

"I'm not really excited about dealing with this bullshit. I just wanna survive my year here so I can fight a shady bird man who doesn't even buy me snacks."

"... I didn't understand a word of that, but does that mean you're not going to help me?"

"..." You groan, thinking. Helping Belphagor out of the attic would probably make Lucifer AND Diavolo pissed at you, putting your life in jeopardy. But if you don't help him, and Belphagor isn't lying, then you'd be aiding in a coverup of something horrific. On the other hand, Belphagor could just be a damn good liar. But, you do feel like he truly IS the seventh brother. Maybe you need to do some recon before making a decision here.

"Look. Alright. Here's the deal. I'm going to do some poking around. If your story checks out, and you are the seventh brother, I'll help you. If you're not, then I'm gonna tell Lucifer that the attic keeps calling out to me and I'm just gonna let him handle this. Do you have any evidence that can support you being the seventh brother?"

The voice sounds hopeful. "Beel. He's my twin. We don't look alike, but I know a lot about him, and he knows a lot about me. Stuff we don't really share with a lot of people. If you get closer to him, he'll be able to verify what I tell you. I love Quetzalcoatl brains, I hate anything that takes a lot of effort, and we share a telepathic link."

"If you share a telepathic link, then why haven't you told him what's been going on? I mean, out of your brothers, Beel kinda hits me as a dude who doesn't really cause problems, and wouldn't really start a fight that was unnecessary, so the idea he'd start a war seems strange to me."

"You've never seen him when he's angry. Also the telepathic link only works for physical sensations. We can sense when the other's tired or hungry or whatever."

"Ahh... Hmm. .... Alright. Okay. But that all seems pretty surface level. Is there anything else you can give me?"

"...." Belphagor thinks for a moment. This is his only chance to prove to you that he is who he says he is, and if this fails, then Lucifer will know that Belphagor has had contact with you, and he will cut that contact off entirely, dooming him to be trapped until Lucifer decides to free him. This is his only chance. "... If you get to know him, he might tell you about Lilith. ... But don't ask about her outright. ... She was our younger sister."

"..." You think on his words. You don't know the weight of them, but, you can tell that by the use of the word 'Was' in that sentence, that it's not a happy story. "... Alright. Okay. Hnnng. Okay."

You're not excited about meddling. Meddling never turns out all that great for you. In your experience, meddling always brings you more responsibility. You went from scraping by as a janitor to being the lead of an entire dorm with responsibilities and classwork. You went from tending to a fire at Night Raven College over Winter Break to being dragged into yet another overblot incident. But, this does seem to be a bit more complicated than most of the stuff you've dealt with up until now. You get a sense that you need to handle this problem with care.

"Thank you. You are my light in this dark and dreary world. Truly."

His words feel like honey, dripping off of the edges of your mind as you leave. You have a lot to think about, and it's going to take some time to get it all sorted. Hopefully, though, this means you'll get a night of good rest under your belt.