Alt. Ending To "How It All Began"

Adjusting

Ruby seemed to settle into motherhood nicely with the help of dice and wheezy. Belial even helped out as he and ruby began to get closer.
The boys began to grow quickly and ruby loved every moment of it. Watching mortals grow was something to behold but she had never seen it constantly from the very beginning like with her boys. By the time they were five their pearl shaped heads had molded into that of two porciline cups just like their father. It upset ruby at first, seeing so much of the man who broke her heart when she looked at them but eventually she realized that he would never get to see them, that they were all hers and no one would ever take them from her and that brought her peace.

The boys were sweet and smart and mostly well behaved. They looked up to their big brother and wanted to be just like him when they got older and dice loved looking after them and playing with them more and more as they grew and their own personalities began to show.
The red eyed boy had turned into a mischivious and fun loving boy who loved playing pranks and causing innocent trouble. Ruby had renamed him Cuphead.
The blue eyed boy was quiet and sweet. He enjoyed playing with his brother and helping ruby around the apartment. He had been named Mugman.
Both the boys liked Belial and honestly that's what earned Belial a place in their family pictures. He would take the boys to the hotel he ran in the middle of downtown and show them off as his own sons and it warmed ruby's heart to know that her boys would never lack for fatherly love or role models. They d have Dice wheezy and Belial after all and that made raising the boys so much easier on ruby's ever aching heart.

Belial, as endlessly patient as he was, was tirelessly persistent in his pursuit of ruby's heart but she was cautious. Perhaps overly so in all honesty but she didn't want to have her heart broken again. That didn't mean that she wouldn't let him steal a kiss or bring her flowers but sex and dates without the twins or wheezy or dice just never crossed their paths despite his persistence. She explained to him that she just wasn't ready to love again so soon after having her heart broken and he said he understood and told her he would be there when she was ready which made her heart warm, knowing that he would spend his little time on earth waiting for her to come around.

School was stressful for ruby when the boys started as her entire day suddenly was all to herself again. Belial was busy at the hotel, wheezy was driving the cab and dice was working at a bar in the hotel Belial ran now so now ruby had no one to keep her busy, no one to keep her thoughts occupied. So often her thoughts would slip back to the days in the casino, back to...Lucifer.

She had tried and tried to deny over the years that they had been in New York that she didn't miss him, that she was over him and she had forgotten him and their past, but in those quiet moments, when the chores were done and the house was quiet, ruby would sit on the edge if her bed and pull out the scrap book of her life she kept, and she would turn through its time yellowed pages to watch as Lucifer was always at least in the back ground of every photo of drawing inside it and her heart would ache for his fimiliar touch, to hear his gruff dark voice call her name, to see how his eyes followed her around the casino floor as she ran herself ragged. She missed him so and she longed for him but she knew that if he ever found her that would be the end. He would most certainly kill wheezy and dice and probably the twins as well. She knew that if she ever saw home again she could never trust him.
She knew the choice she made to free everyone had been the right one to make but it was risky, it was foolish, it was dangerous for more than just herself. And for as much as she missed him she had begun to fear him. A feeling she had never had before and it ripped her heart to shreds that it was now there.

Ruby sighed as she touched the old photo of a Christmas party she had thrown one year about a hundred years back at the casino, the devil looked grumpy as she held mistletoe over his head and kissed his cheek while wheezy popped a bottle of champagne beside them and pip got hit on the eye by the cork. It was a hell of a memory but it was a fond one.
She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that night but was quickly pulled from her thoughts by a knock on her bedroom door frame. With a gasp she slammed the book shut and turned around, meeting the eyes of a now concerned Belial, "ruby? Are you alright?" He asked, seeing her startled and tear stained face.
She took a breath and dried her eyes, turning away from him, "Oh I'm fine. Just being sentimental. Don't worry over me." She said softly
Belial stepped over to sit next to her on the bed and he slipped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle supportive squeeze before quirking and eyebrow at the book in her hands, "what's this?" He asked, tracing a finger over the spine of the book.
With a gentle sigh she handled the book to him. "An account of the last 1000 years of my life." She said with a sad chuckle.
"Really? That must be interesting." He said as he opened the book and started sifting through the pages slowly, smiling at the sketches and photos, "there's so much here."
"1000 years is a long time. Far longer than you'll ever hope to see." She said with a chuckle.
He stiffened a bit and looked off, seeming uncomfortable with the statement. "Yeah..."
"Oh! Oh Belial I didn't mean anything by it I just... I'm sorry. This book makes me a little dark hearted. Most of the people in it don't even exist anymore and the ones that do I haven't seen in over 5 years so i... I guess I miss them." She said, taking the book and looking down at it, tracing a finger tip over Lucifer's cheek in a photo.
Belial was quiet for a moment as he watched her, "do you.... do you miss him?"
She stiffened and closed the book quickly before standing to slip it up onto her book shelf. "No. Of course not. How could I miss someone who hated me?"
"How do you know he hated you?" He asked, standing and moving to stand behind her, his hands on her shoulders, rubbing soothingly.
"Belial I've told you what he was like. He was cruel for the sake of cruelty, even to those I cared about. He never wanted to listen to me. He treated me like a slave when I was supposed to be his eternal companion. No. I dont... I'm not even sure he was capable of feeling any kindness towards me, let alone return the love I had for him..."
"Are you sure? Did he ever say he hate d you? Did you ever tell him how you were feeling?"
"I shouldn't have had to. And no. No he never said he hated me but... look you didn't know him like I did. I didn't have to be told how he felt about me or anyone else to know exactly what he felt... if he loved me or even liked me... He would have let me go. He would have let me be free without me having to take my freedom from him on my own."
Belial went quiet and looked down as she moved out from under his touch. "Is that... is that really how he made you feel?" He asked and she looked back at him over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the pained look in his eyes.
"He did...Belial are... are you ok?" She asked.
He shook his head before looking up at her, smiling that heart stopping smile once more and he nodded. "I'm fine darling. Just... it breaks my heart to think you were caused so much anguish by someone who should have loved you and treasured you like a fine China doll." He said, coming back over to her.
She smiled and sighed. "He did for a while. I hated that too." She said with a laugh.
He chuckled too. "You are a free spirit."
She moved to slip her arms around him and lay her head on his chest. "Free as a bird." She mused.
He kissed her head before they heard the door open down stairs.
"Mommy! We're home!" Called the twins in unison and ruby chuckled and moved from Belial to the door, "coming loves!" She called as she went, leaving Belial behind, who glanced back at the book on the shelf with a guilty look on his face.