Knights of Hell

Chapter 10

Azure's PoV

I would never understand what exactly Lust saw in Wrath. Ever. I mean, he was so much better than Wrath in every way possible and Wrath didn't deserve Lust and all his love. And believe me when I said Lust had a lot to give.

"Yeah, so, Orion came, he and his puppy came and just took Envy, Xavier and Lucius to Hell," I explained, and Lust nodded a little.

"Oh, okay."

I sighed a little and eyed him. He was wrapped in my blanket, he literally looked like a human burrito. Well, a Sin burrito. A Sirrito, if you will.

"Do you still want to come with me to check on Kai?" I asked him.

He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. Now that he was actually looking at me and not at his feet, I could see he had been crying. You poor, poor bastard. He needed to move on. I knew that was a lot coming from me, but he needed to move on because loving Wrath was doing more harm than good. 

"You're still checking on Kai?"

"Yes," I deadpanned.

"Why?"

"He might not remember me, but everyone else does. All the demons, I check on him regularly, make sure he's alive."

"Do you ever speak to him?"

"No."

He looked at me and I sighed. "Azure."

"Fine. Yes, he thinks I live next door," I mumbled.

"Azure!"

"I couldn't do it!" I yelled back and he looked taken back for a second. "I tried! But I couldn't forget about him. Okay, before we left, we did say that he had no more relations with us, but what if someone or a group goes rogue? Or an Angel. They'll go for him and I can't let him die, not when he's a sitting duck here."

"So, this has nothing to do with you being in love with him?"

"Put yourself in my place," I deadpanned. "I've watched him grow since he was a baby. I've been by his side 24/7 up until he was 20, and then I went and fell in love with him, that's not my fault."

"No, but he's a priest under an angel. An Angel, Azure. You're a demon. A Knight of Hell at that. He hates you, Azure. He forgot all about you and Mint. He chose to forget all about you, both of you. He may be important to you, but if he could have done that, and with no hesitation, I'm sorry, but you were never important to him."

"Wrath hates you and you still love him," I retorted, and I f*****g hated myself when he flinched. Ah, he took a big gulp and then he nodded a little.

"Well," he said, as he smacked his lips together. "Well, you've got me there."

"Lust, I'm-"

"Simply stating the facts. I know he does. I know. And if I could change the way I feel about him, I-" he paused for a second and that second turned into a minute. "I'd still want to keep loving him."

"What the f**k? Why? I want to stop loving Kai." That was a lie, I didn't. "Wrath causes you so much pain. It would be easier if you stopped loving him."

"You're right," he said. "It would hurt less, oh, it would hurt so much less, but, I don't want to stop loving him."

I began pacing a little. Something felt off, I don't know, this whole morning something had felt off. I had wanted to make sure Kai was okay, so I could rule that out. I frowned as everything began to shake once again. I launched myself at Lust, grabbing him, making sure he was okay. Once the trembling stopped, I hissed as I stood up, f**k. Had one of the Seven crossed the split again?

"Lust, are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, I'll come. I need to stop wallowing in self-pity." He stood up and walked out the door in shorts and nothing else. I rolled my eyes at him and followed after. I eyed him, from the last time I had seen him, he had gotten more tattoos, one on his lower back, on his back thigh, and the side of his hip.

"Are you not going to change?" I asked.

"No."

"Fair enough."

So, I created a portal. The two of us stepped inside and reappeared in the apartment next door to Kai's. I went into the kitchen and I began to pull out the ingredients I would need to make some lasagna.

"What is this? What are you doing?" Lust asked as he hovered over my shoulder.

"I'm making lasagna. Kai likes lasagna."

"Yeah, I can see that," he said, as he waved the lasagna sheets I had gotten out of the cupboard around. "Why?"

"So, I can give some next door to Kai. I just make food and give it to him. That's how I'm checking in on him."

"That's stupid. Just go buy something from the f*****g store."

"No." 

Before all of this, Kai had always said he liked my cooking. Hell, sometimes we'd cook the most random item at 2 am just because we could. I missed those. I missed him. I swallowed a little lump that appeared.

He didn't say anything and sighed. "I'll be back. I'm going to go get the boards, at least we can try and find the other-"

He didn't finish his sentence. I looked over at him and his eyes were glowing pink. Well, s**t, that wasn't good.

"What's wrong, Lust?"

"Someone's here. A Sin. I don't know, I don't know how far or where from, but their energy seems weird. It's not normal."

"Weird, how?"

"Weird as in corrupted. Their power seems corrupted." How the f**k did a Sin corrupt their f*****g power? Ah f**k. Now, what the f**k did that mean? Was I going to be babysitting these cunts for longer?

"It's getting stronger!" he hissed, his legs wobbled a little and he grabbed onto the counter. He made his way to the door and went outside, so I too went with him. He moved around following the signals and I felt sick when he stopped outside of Kai's door.

I didn't hesitate as I burst through the door.

"Kai?!" I yelled. "Kai?! Where are you?!"

"Yes, well done, Azure. Announce your presence," Lust deadpanned. I rolled my eyes at him, looking over at him, he had paled a lot. But he was standing.

"Kai?!" I screamed as I ran further inside.

"Azure!" Kai yelled. I had found Kai, and I made a noise I didn't know I could make. He was there tied to a chair, all bloody and broken, and beside him stood Greed, frowning.

"The f**k did you do to him?!" I yelled as I lunged at him.

"Azure, no!" Lust yelled. I didn't really have time to focus on what Lust said as I was sent flying across the room.

As I got back up to attack Greed, he held a knife to Kai's neck. "No, no," he said. "One wrong move and I slit his throat."

Ah, I froze.

"That means you too, Lust. Any sudden movement and the human has his neck slit."

"Azure, why are you here? Why is a Sin here?" Kai asked. His lip was bleeding, he was bruised too, I could see strangulation marks on his neck. Oh, he'd hurt him so much. Ah, I wanted to cry. But, even now, Kai knew he was a Sin.

"I was making lasagna next door and Lust said he heard some weird noises coming from your apartment," I lied.

"I'm sorry, his name is Lust?" Kai said. 

"Yes, we're named after the seven deadly sins," Lust said, as he looked over at me.

"Lust, where are your clothes?" Greed asked as he eyed Lust in distaste.

"On the floor of Azure's bedroom," he snapped back. My eyes widened, that sounded so wrong.

"I always knew you were a w***e," Greed spat.

"Why?" Kai asked, he was looking at Lust, his head tilted to the left.

"I don't know, man, we just are. Now, can we focus, he has a dagger to your throat," Lust said, pointing to Greed. Wait, so he knew they were Sins but not their names?

"Azure, we want the Sins," Greed said. "Give me back, Sloth, Envy and Pride."

"Who's we?" I said as I swallowed some spit. I tried to hydrate my mouth, which had gotten really dry all of a sudden.

See, Wrath walked out of the kitchen, he was stuffing his mouth with popcorn but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Lust and me.

I looked over at Lust, whose eyes had watered. Wrath ignored him and glared at Greed.

"You said none of them would be here!" he hissed.

"They were supposed to be in Hell! With Mint and the rest of the rats!"

"Hell?" Kai said. Greed pressed the dagger harder into his skin and I saw blood. Oh, he would kill him.

Many believed the worst sin may have been Pride or Wrath and, while they were terrible beings, the cruellest Sin was Greed. People who made Greed stronger usually would go to extreme lengths to get what they wanted, even without him being in their presence. They took and they took with no mercy.

"Greed, just let him go? Okay, he has nothing to do with any of this. He doesn't even remember me!" Ah, I was scared. He would hurt Kai. Hell, he would kill him and not feel anything.

"One wrong move from either of you and he dies," he said calmly, he even dug the knife deeper into his neck. Kai let out a slight noise and I winced at how pale he was.

"Wrath, I-" My head snapped over to Lust, he was shaking and he had tears in his eyes. He took a step forward toward Wrath and he narrowed his eyes.

"Lust, move away," Greed said.

"He wants to go to Wrath, let him," I deadpanned. Greed faltered a little.

"No," Wrath said, eyes narrowing. "I don't want him near me. Kill the human if he comes near me." He had put the popcorn down now and was glaring.

Lust looked at me and the tears in his eyes, the sight broke my heart. But I couldn't let them hurt Kai.

"He won't move," I said.

"Azure, what's going on? I'm scared. I don't like this," Kai whispered, and I looked down at him and I didn't know who to help.

"Oh, that's right, you had your memories wiped," Greed sang, as he pulled on Kai's hair, he made a noise at the back of his throat.

"Azure, his power is off. I sense Angel's blood. It's pumping in his heart," Lust said.

Is that what he meant when he said he sensed corrupted power?

"Greed, Angel blood. Really? REALLY? ANGEL BLOOD!?" I yelled. He raised an eyebrow and just smirked. He pressed a little harder with the dagger at Kai's throat.

"They gave me more power."

"You're one of the f*****g Seven. One of the most dangerous beings here. What more power can you get?"

"Well, now. I'm a Sin with Angel power."

"Wrath, you-" Lust began.

"Talk to me and the human dies," he hissed. Lust looked taken back, he finally let the tears fall. Oh, you poor poor bastard.

"Stop being such a d**k to him!" I hissed. "Do you know how hard he looked for you?"

"And do you know how hard it was for me to hide? The number of times he nearly caught me. f*****g unbelievable. He's like a creepy stalker ex," he retorted as he wiped imaginary dust off of himself. Oh, I wanted to kill him. I would kill him.

Greed moved and my head snapped in his direction. "Shall I give you your memories back?"

No, that was impossible. I was the only one who could f**k around with memories. Well, beside Lucifer.

Kai looked around, at me, at Lust and Wrath, and then back at Greed, and then he nodded.

"Kai, no!" I yelled. "Don't. There's a reason you wanted to forget everything. Don't."

He'd know I was in love with him. I told him. If Greed gave him his memories back, he'd remember it all and he would go back to hating me.

"I want them back, Azure."

"No, you don't, Kai. You don't. There was a reason you forgot about me, about Mint, about all of this, us. Don't make yourself go through that again."

"Too late." Greed pressed his fingers to Kai's temple and Kai slouched forward.

No, f**k, f**k, s**t. Wrath then smacked him a minute later, waking him up.

The situation was unstable. I didn't know where Greed had gotten Kai's memories from. I had them and for precaution I let them float around. But no demon should have seen them. Hell, not even Lucifer could see the little balls that I had taken. So, how had Greed seen them, let alone catch them?

Kai's eyes darted as he looked around the room, confused. His eyes landed on me and he froze.

He remembered.

"Azure?" Kai asked. "Azure? Why are-"

"Don't talk," Greed said. "This is getting boring."

"It is. Hurry up," Wrath said, as he continued to eat the popcorn. He eyed Lust, who had his tear-filled eyes on Wrath, who muttered something and then grabbed a handful of popcorn and ate it.

"Do you have anything to say to Kai?" Greed was looking at me and I was looking at Kai, who remembered everything. See, I had thought he was pale before, but now, now he looked like a ghost.

"Mint's fine," I said. "The kids are in Hell. They're with the other set. The knights are there too."

"Kai, anything you want to say to Azure?" I expected an 'I hate you’ but instead I got silence. I didn't know which was worse.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded and I looked away. Oh, this was all f****d up. The entire reason I told him was that he was going to forget it, and now he remembered it all.

"Perfect."

I heard it. The scream. 

The dagger, the blood spraying. I ran to Kai as he fell forward in his chair. The ropes he tied to the chair held him in place. I untied the ropes and let him fall forward as I caught him.

I cradled him close. "He wasn't going to survive this," Wrath said as he walked over to us, and I ignored him. "We had always needed his spirit. He was going to die the minute Greed walked into his apartment. You should have looked after him better." I couldn't tell if he was trying to make me feel better or just rubbing it in even more.

"Kai," I cried as I held his lifeless body close. ‘Cedar! Cedar! Come to the surface, Cedar, anyone, please! Help me.’

No. No. No. No. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. Not today, please, no.

"Kai, don't die, please don't die." I was cradling his body close to me, trying to stop the blood.

The portal opened and Cedar came through, he froze for a second before he rushed over.

Lust ran toward Wrath but screamed when Greed grabbed hold of Wrath and the two just disappeared. They flew. The bastard had wings.

Lust was crying too, he'd fallen to his knees and was just crying.

To be honest, I'd be crying if I was in his position.

But Kai wasn't letting Cedar heal him and I was crying, Kai was bleeding out and Cedar was panicking. The others appeared. Yua, Nether, Feather, Mint, Mercy, Sloth, Church, Xavier and even Envy came but he was in cuffs. They froze.

"Kai?" Mint whispered as he ran and crashed beside us, looking down at Kai. He began crying and glared at me. "You said you'd protect him! This isn't protecting him!"

"Stop being such a stubborn prick and let him heal you!" I hissed, ignoring Kai for now.

"No," Kai hissed through the pain. He was clamming up and he was so pale, he closed his eyes as he grunted a little.

"f**k you! I did everything you wanted. You are going to let him heal you," I hissed, and had Mint help me hold him down, which wasn't hard because Kai was ridiculously weak, but it wasn't working.

"The angel blood he has running through him, he won't let me heal because Angel magic and demon magic. They repel, instead of helping him, I think I'm making him worse," Cedar said gently.

"But, he can't die. Kai can't die!"

I looked down at Kai and swallowed hard. "You can't die. You're not allowed to. f**k you."

"We'll try and stop the blood, we'll stop the blood and go up and get an Angel to help him. Right, isn't Lucifer on good terms with Raphael?" I said, looking at Church, who shrugged.

Kai gave me a small smile, he grabbed onto my shirt. "I hate you -"

He went limp in my arms. Everything was a mess.

"Kai! Kai!? Kai, no. Please, don't! Kai, wake up. Wake up. I'll leave you alone! I swear, this time! So please don't leave." Mint was sobbing beside me. Yua put his hand on Mint's shoulder and Mint got up and shoved his face into Yua's chest.

I rubbed my eyes and I felt his blood on my face. Church, Ocean, and Nether were with Lust, who was also sobbing. Oh, everything was a mess. His final words to me were that he hated me. And that made me cry even more. I should never have told him. I should have left it quiet.

If I had known how much this would have hurt, I would never have said anything.

"Cedar," I cried. "Can't you do something to bring him back? Please?"

"I'm sorry, Azure. I can't. You can try Heaven or find the Angel whose blood was running through Kai's veins. They could make him an Angel, but that won't change the fact that his last words were," He trailed off and I cried again.

"His last words were 'I hate you'. He hates me so much and I'm so in love with him. And now he's dead because of me. I shouldn't have done it. All of this was a mistake. I shouldn't have done it."

"What are you going to do?" Cedar asked me and I swallowed hard.

"Nothing. Knowing him, he's probably going to become an Angel. So, he'll be alive."

"He won't-"

"I know. But he'll be here. That's all I need. I'll do what I couldn't do the first time."

"Which is?" Church asked.

"Forget all about him. I loved him and he hated me. Now he's dead because of me. I'll forget about him. He didn't have any family besides Mint, and Mint is my child too. Kai didn't accept that, so I'll continue looking after Mint. I mean, I did it pretty well the first 16 years of his life, so I'll continue. I'll be a good dad to Mint. I'll find the Seven and send all of them back. And I'll forget about him. So what, if before, my life mainly revolved around Kai for the last 27 years?"

"Why are you so adamant about forgetting about him now?" Mercy asked as she walked over. She casually stepped over Kai's body and squatted down beside me.

"Because, when a human becomes an Angel, any thoughts that are about them, they hear."

"What do you mean, they hear them?"

"So, my parents have heard me curse them out for the last ten years?" Xavier asked awkwardly.

"Well, no. No offence, but your parents were d***s. Only good, pure humans are allowed to be angels and Kai already had Angel blood in him, so," Ocean said.

Mint was in Yua's arms, still crying. I exhaled a little, gently put Kai's head on the floor and stood up. I walked over to the duo and Yua saw me. He eyed me and then nodded. He moved away from Mint, who didn't let him go. "Don't leave me, Yua. Please, just today. Not you too." He clung to him even tighter. I just nodded and moved away. I think he was just scared.

"Can someone take me back to Hell, please?" Xavier said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I told Lucius I wouldn't be long."

"I'll take you," Ocean said. "Does anyone else want to go?"

In the end, only Xavier went, who promised he'd be back and he would bring Lucius too so he could stay here longer. A few hours later, Cedar had done the things you were supposed to do when a human died.

I had mainly just sat on the sofa, too worn out to move. Mint had fallen asleep on Yua and so Yua was sitting beside me, Mint in his lap, his legs on either side of Yua's and his arms around his neck with his head resting on his shoulder. As Mint's father, I wanted to strangle Yua. But at the same time, Mint really needed Yua. So I let it slide.

In the end, after almost two days, we buried Kai. Seeing him being lowered onto the ground had me crying again. People from his church came, priests and whatnot. But the Angel, the leader, hadn't. I watched and waited and the angel didn't turn up.

Mint had clung to Yua these past two days and everyone had noticed, but no one had said anything. I think they were too scared to. Mint looked ill, he hadn't had a proper meal either and forcing him to eat wasn't going to help him. I had overheard his conversation with Yua, he was so upset and angry.

He hasn't spoken to me either. I think I had made him angry too. After all that, I promised him nothing would happen to Kai and we just buried him. But I said nothing and did nothing. When he was ready, he could speak to me.

Finally, Yua, Mint and I went back to Kai's apartment. Mint took a few things, said he wanted to keep them. I wasn't going to keep anything, I would donate it all. The other two left soon after, and I was left alone in his apartment and he wasn't there. The bloodstain was still on the ground and I began crying again.

I was the whole reason he was dead. I had killed him. If I had never told him, if I had kept him separated from all of this, he would have been alive. As I was boxing things, which was taking a lot longer because I couldn't stop crying. When the majority of his things were done, I finally went to his bedroom. The room I had been dreading.

I began putting his clothes in boxes and then I found one of my shirts, just tucked away at the back. So, I ended up crying again. Against the better part of me, I put my shirt and one of his larger ones on the sofa outside, I would be taking those with me. Just one thing, I just wanted one thing of his. It’s not like he would know it was with me.

After hours, I had managed to box all his stuff and donate it all. Taking the two shirts, I went to my apartment where I was alone. I think everyone had gone back to Hell. I had told Lust to tell Lucifer about Greed and the rest too.

I went to my room and looked at his shirt. If I tried to lose weight, I could fit into his shirt. It wouldn't be too hard, just losing weight and fitting into his shirt. And I would find Gluttony. She wasn't with Greed and Wrath, meaning, we could still have her on our side.

I just needed to find her before Greed and Lust did. And the harder of the two, I would finally get over Kai. 

~*~