Chapter Text
"Unpredictable” you said firmly. The rest of the people around you stared in a mixture of disbelief and mockery.
“Seriously?” Asmodeus barged in with a doubtful laughter “that’s the word you’d use to describe your relationship with Mammon? Unpredictable?” he continued.
You could tell, by the quiet giggles they were emitting, that none of his brothers were expecting such an answer.
“Come on Asmo, give her a break, that’s her boyfriend we’re talking about anyways, she’s not going to admit that she’s living the bad life” Leviathan felt the need to add.
"Well, I think it’s a good choice of words, considering it’s Mammon we’re talking about” Satan followed; you knew well this is the way they had always been, taking him for a pushover, a scumbag, good-for-nothing, greedy idiot, but you also knew, you knew that side of him none of the members of his family had ever managed to find, or rather weren’t even interested in finding, sure, he was passionate, a bit over the top, and constantly trying to put up a show, but you were well aware that he also enjoyed making others laugh, he desired to share joy, and aimed to be loved just as much as he could love, and above everything else, you knew it didn’t matter how much he screwed up he’d never do anything to put his brothers in danger, he’d destroy the entire realm if needed to protect the people he loved, you included of course.
Unpredictable. That’s the word you had chosen that night during truth-or-dare, drinking with a couple of your friends while your boyfriend was out being scolded by the eldest brother, to describe your 6-month-old relationship with the Avatar of Greed, and boy, were you right. Not even the psychic witches up in the human world would had been able to predict this, your tears rolling down your cheeks in the middle of the classroom, as you watched a video that should had never seen the light played over and over again on your phone screen. It’s not that you wanted to keep watching, it’s just that you couldn’t stop, not while your heart stopped and your blood seemed to run dry, while your hands felt cold, and your heart felt broken, no, not broken, destroyed.
Word would reach later on Diavolo’s ears of how you stormed out of the classroom, apparently without justification according to your potions teacher, and didn’t seem to show up for any more of your classes that day; he’d later also hear a similar story about Mammon. He was well aware of your relationship and agreed to it as long as it didn’t affect your studies, but you were young and full of love, what’s a little getaway together for a day? There was no need to tell Lucifer. Not this time at least, for all he was concerned you two were just off somewhere around the gardens smooching it out. He was wrong.
His sun-kissed skin had lost all color, those bright blue eyes seemed to shine more than ever, and you, you dreaded them now more than ever. “I…” Mammon paused “Listen… I really can explain.” He said with a trembly voice.
“Explain!?” your tone was so high it bordered in a scream “Even if you could, there’s no excusable explanation for this!” with pure anger emanating from your soul you grasped your phone, tightly, and hit the play button for the fiftieth time that day, you could hear the lewd noises coming out of the speaker, the female voice was squeaky, she was loud, arrogantly loud, you were already used to it, from the million times you had watched the video, but what still brought you to tears every time was the loud gasp followed by a moan from a voice you recognized almost too well, that was your boyfriend’s voice, that was your boyfriend on top of another woman, your boyfriend cheating, and enjoying it, with another woman.
It took him a few seconds of watching to start talking again “That’s not what it looks like, that’s a witch and I…” he was going to keep going, but an almost-screech from your part shut him up “Keep watching until the end!”
He did, even if he knew every part of it by memory, he had lived through it in flesh after all, but he didn’t know this version had a little bonus scene, just seconds after he had dressed up and left the witch had turned her attention to the camera, and with a bright, conquering smile she said “Isn’t it incredible what a couple thousand grimm can get you?”
After the video was finally done a hellishly silence overcame the room, he just stared in disbelief, in shame, at the faint reflection the dark screen offered of himself. It was becoming overbearing to just stand there, dead in life, looking at someone whose face you’d rather smash against a wall “How much was it?” it’s all your managed to blurt out.
He was taken aback, confused as for why in the hell that would be the important part to you “Babe, don’t you think we should…” he intended to avoid the question, but you weren’t having it, not one bit.
“I asked how much was it!?” you yelled back. He sighed defeatedly, his gaze lowered to the floor, his bangs falling forward enough to cover his eyes “Four thousand.” He muttered.
Your knees went weak, you had to take a step back to prevent yourself from falling down, unable to look at him you turned your back and pressed your palms do your forehead “Four thousand. Four thousand!” you kept exclaiming “All our relationship was worth to you was four thousand grimm!?” you said with your eyes shut tight in a failing attempt to keep the tears from falling.
“No!” he took a step forward as he yelled in your direction “I didn’t know she was filming us. This was never supposed to get to you!” Mammon had never been great with words, quality which you used to find adorable, how he got stuck and contradicted himself while trying to act cool, but now there was nothing cute about it, it wasn’t making you giggle, it was aggravating the fire that had already been lit within you.
“And you were going to go around without telling me!? You were going to go back to my bed, claiming that you loved me, professing that you adored me, and how much you treasured me, all that knowing you had sex with another girl?!” your words had made him sink back onto his bed, for the first time in his life Mammon was thinking about the right thing to say, he remained silent for a couple of seconds, the lack of will from his part was getting to your nerves, but just when you were about to go into another fit, he spoke up
“I got summoned by her that night; young witches are more complicated than older ones, they want you to help them satisfy their own sins, they want recognition and fame, even if it’s just an illusion. She just needed me to show up for some sort of gala, it was being held at a casino, she wanted to show me off as her date and all, I made sure to not bring any money to avoid gambling in the human world, but she had a bunch on cash on her, she said it was for me to show off my skills as the avatar of greed, I began to play and I won, over and over, I won. In the span of two hours I had made almost triple the money she had gave me, I was on fire guessing the numbers, and hitting the blackjack tables, I wanted to bring it all back home, to tell you about it, to give it to you, but by the time the night was ending she came close to ask me for the money. She said that because she had given me the initial cash all the profit cash was hers as well, I got angry, really angry. I put so much effort into making all that money and I did not get to keep any with me? We argued until she came back with a counteroffer, she said I didn’t need human money where I was from so why not exchange all that money for some grimm? But since she was being so benevolent, I would have to reward her somehow.” He took a small pause to breathe, but you could notice on the breaking of his voice that he was just trying to hold back his cries “That’s when she brought up that I had to spend the night with her to get the grimm. And I knew, I knew it was wrong, I knew I had to say no, but I was so upset, so enraged, I lost control, I don’t know what happened. I just got a little…” “
Greedy?” you interrupted. It felt like a stab, a cold, aimed stab to Mammon’s heart. The disappointment in your eyes, the tiredness in your expression, the lack of love in your words.
Tears started oozing out, falling onto the brownish skin of his hands. “I’m so sorry” he said as he clenched his jaw, attempting to not break down completely in front of you.
You stared, deep in your own sorrow, with tears still leaking out of the corner of your eyes, you watched him bring his hands up to his face, wiping the salty droplets away with his palms, his eyes still fixed on the floor. You wanted nothing more than to run up to him and hug him, and if the situation were different you would most certainly had.
“Don’t worry, Mammon. This is not on you” shocking words slipped through your mouth, his head raised in surprise, eyes glimmering with hope, a shine you crushed as you continued to run your mouth “Silly girls up in the human world always claim they can change a broken man, as if the power of love was all they needed for them to stop their sinful ways. In all honestly, I always thought it was bullshit” You paused to swallow down the lump that had formed in your throat “and I was right. I can’t believe I was so blind. What made me believe I was so special to be able to change a demon?” as your heart’s resolution was finally blurted out your whole body couldn’t stand being in the same room as than man, no, as that demon.
You did not look back as the door closed behind you. You did not look back even when you heard his ripping, painful screams through the door. You did not look back no matter how much you wanted to.