Pledged Silence

| CHAPTER ELEVEN |

The sky was grey and the air was chilled with the promise of a storm. Archer stared blankly out of his bedroom window as the car pulled into the driveway. He began to drag his suitcase down the long hallway.

Moloch stood at the bottom of the stairs. Although his eyes were dry, they were swollen and red. Previous dried tear stains also indicated his sorrow. Moloch reached out towards Archer as he walked past, taking a loose hold on his wrist. Archer stopped dead, twisting slightly to look at the demon.

"All you have to say, is three words. Three words and I'll stay," Archer whispered, struggling not to throw himself in Moloch's embrace. Tears blurred his vision. His heart stopped as Moloch muttered one word. The wrong word.

"Please..." Moloch's usually blank eyes showing more pain and misery than Archer had ever seen in a broken man. Archer's heart ached, how he wanted to stay. But he couldn't, not if Moloch couldn't admit he felt the same.

Tears trickled down Archer's cheeks as he drifted closer to Moloch, who's face brightened for a brief moment. He was so hopeful. Archer leaned forward, his lips ghosted over Moloch's cheek.

Before he left him, his heart and his home behind.

"Please don't do this, you still have time to fix it," Lilith begged, grasping the car door desperately. Her voice shaking and cracking with her own hidden tears.

"I'm sorry. Tell him how I feel, please? I can't face him again."

Lilith nodded defeated as she pulled back from the window watching helplessly as the car departed. Her heart breaking for both of her sons.

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Lilith tapped gently on her son's door before opening it and stepping inside the room. The thick black vintage curtains were drawn over the windows, leaving the room in darkness. It made it difficult, even for her, to see inside clearly.

She sighed and moved around the bed that stood against one of the walls and kneeled down next to Moloch who had his head leaning back on the side of the bed, his eyes closed and his knees drawn up to his chest.

"Why does it hurt so much?" Moloch asked, his voice breaking from not speaking for the last week or so.

Lilith frowned worriedly. "It's because you love him," she said softly. "And love hurts you just as much as sadness can. Losing anyone you truly love, is like losing a part of yourself." Her eyes stared off blankly, sadness clouding her marigold orbs. "Especially when you watch them turn into someone else." Moloch sniffled, pulling her back into reality.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. "He left," he whispered as of just realising it. "He just left."

Lilith sighed. "People do things that we sometimes don't understand, like leave, but we have to find a way around it."

Moloch turned towards her, tears brimming in his eyes. "It's my fault. I- I couldn't protect him and then, when he needed it most, I couldn't tell him how much I want-no, need him."

Lilith rubbed her hands across his shoulders, he needed time. Standing, she left the room; she knew what needed to happen.

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Moloch watched as his mother pulled out of the drive. He stared around his room. It was once crowded with the pair's stuff, however now Archer's side of the room was barren. As if he had never existed.

And Moloch had nothing, no pictures, no videos, nothing. The only thing he did have was the shirt that he had given the human as nightwear and the bitter-sweet memories that came with it. It smelled slightly of the cologne Archer had used on the last night of the wedding.

Moloch crumpled the soft fabric in his hands, tears dripping down his face as he sobbed into the soft material of the shirt. That was it. His final chance, and he had ruined it.