Remu clapped her hands together and took a deep breath.
The air around her shifted imdiately—heavy, crackling with magic.
Without warning, her eyes snapped open, now glowing a deep, eerie purple.
A series of strange symbols—sigils—appeared around her arms, floating like ghostly tattoos made of light.
The room went silent.
Even Lucifer, who was usually all sarcasm and snark, watched her seriously now.
Remu raised both hands into the air, and the sigils started to spin around her, faster and faster.
She began chanting, her voice low and steady, the words foreign, ancient.
It wasn’t English. It wasn’t even a language most of them could recognize.
"Amun valen... tora krias... niven suvar—"
The temperature in the room dropped.
Even the lights flickered like they were afraid to stay on.
A glowing purple circle ford beneath Ruka and Lucifer, connecting the two like an invisible thread.
Neither of them moved—they just stared at each other through the humming energy.
Remu’s voice grew louder, more intense, her hair and clothes fluttering like there was a wind only she could feel.
Finally, with a loud clap of her hands, the magic burst outward in a shockwave of purple light—bright but harmless.
The symbols faded.
The glow in Remu’s eyes dimd.
And floating in the air between Ruka and Lucifer... was a single, clear word, written in glowing purple letters:
"Connected."
The room stayed frozen for a second.
No one even breathed.
Then, slowly, Remu smirked and dropped her hands.
"Well," she said, dusting her hands like she just finished cleaning a window, "looks like you two are brothers after all."
Lucifer just stood there, staring at the word like it personally offended him.
Ruka’s mouth curled into the tiniest hint of a smile.
Francisca looked like she was about to cry from happiness.
Mob whistled low under his breath.
And Remu?
She turned to Lucifer with the biggest, most evil grin on her face.
"Hey, big brother," she teased, drawing out the words.
Lucifer’s eye twitched.
Hard.
He reached for the mini-bar again without a word, poured himself another drink, and downed it in one shot.
"...I need more alcohol," he muttered under his breath.
Everyone burst out laughing.
The laughter inside the room slowly faded as Lucifer walked out, drink still in hand.
The heavy door swung shut behind him with a low thud.
Outside, the night was cold.
The sky was a dark velvet, the stars hidden behind thick clouds.
The only sound was the soft wind, brushing against the old stone walls.
Lucifer leaned against the balcony, his shoulders tense, his face dark.
He took another sip from his glass but didn’t seem to taste it.
A few seconds later, Ruka followed, quiet steps echoing faintly.
He didn’t say anything.
He just stood a little distance away, giving Lucifer space.
For a long mont, the two just stared into the night.
Then Lucifer spoke, his voice low and rough, like he was forcing the words out.
"...I never wanted to know them."
Ruka said nothing, waiting.
Lucifer gritted his teeth, gripping the glass so tight it looked like it might shatter.
"What kind of parents just... leave their child behind?"
His voice cracked slightly, but he didn’t stop.
"They didn’t even try. They didn’t even look back. Just dumped into the world like I was so... mistake."
He slamd the glass down onto the balcony ledge.
The drink sloshed out, but he didn’t care.
"When I was a kid... I used to watch other children with their parents," he said, staring at the stars like he could find answers there.
"How their moms would hold them. How their dads would lift them up like they were the most important thing in the world."
His voice was shaking now.
"I used to think... maybe one day they’d co for . Maybe they had a reason. Maybe they loved ."
He laughed bitterly, a sound that barely sounded human.
"But no one ca."
Lucifer wiped at his face angrily, pretending it was just the wind stinging his eyes.
"I tried, you know? I tried to love the people who adopted . I wanted to belong."
He turned to Ruka, his eyes burning, a raw pain in them that words couldn’t hide.
"But even then, even with them... I was just a toy for their daughter. A playmate. Nothing more."
Ruka clenched his fists, feeling the weight of Lucifer’s words, but he still stepped closer.
"...I know how you feel," Ruka said quietly. "Wanting soone to choose you. Wanting to be soone’s first choice."
Lucifer’s head snapped toward him, his face twisted with anger and grief.
"No. You don’t know."
Ruka froze.
"You had your father," Lucifer spat, voice rising. "You had soone.
I had no one."
The silence after those words was so heavy it felt like the whole world stopped breathing.
Lucifer looked down at his own hands, trembling slightly.
"...I learned to live without it," he muttered. "Without them. Without anyone."
He closed his eyes.
"I don’t need a family. I don’t need their love. I don’t need... anything."
The words sounded strong.
But the way his voice broke at the end...
It was clear.
He was trying to convince himself.
Not Ruka.
Not anyone else.
Just himself.
Ruka stepped closer again, slow and careful, like approaching a wounded animal.
"...I’m not asking you to need ," Ruka said quietly. "But... maybe you don’t have to carry it all alone anymore."
Lucifer didn’t answer.
He just stood there, breathing heavily, fighting emotions he didn’t know how to handle.
And for once...
He didn’t walk away.
Ruka leaned his back against the balcony too, his gaze drifting up to the night sky, the sa way Lucifer had been staring.
He let the silence sit for a few seconds longer before speaking, his voice soft.
"...You’re right."
Lucifer glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, still guarded.
"I did have my father," Ruka said. "And yeah, I grew up in the Spirit Realm. I wasn’t thrown away like you were."
He paused, a small sad smile forming on his lips.
"But just because soone is there... doesn’t an you feel seen."
Lucifer didn’t respond, but he was listening.
"My father... he was strong. Respected. A great warrior," Ruka continued.
"Everyone praised him. Everyone loved him. And I was supposed to follow in his footsteps. Be just like him."
He chuckled quietly, bitterly. "But I was... different."
His fists clenched at his sides.
"To him... I was just a duty. Sothing he had to raise. Not soone he loved."
The wind blew past them again, carrying the quietness between their words.
"I fought every day to prove I was worth sothing. Not to strangers. To him. But no matter how hard I tried, he never once said he was proud of ."
Lucifer’s hand tightened on the railing without realizing it.
"I wasn’t abandoned like you," Ruka said, his voice dropping even lower. "But I still know what it feels like... to be unwanted."
The two of them stood there, side by side, broken in different ways but still the sa.
Lucifer looked at him again. Really looked.
Maybe for the first ti... he didn’t see Ruka as an enemy, or a rival.
He saw soone who understood.
Even if just a little.
Lucifer turned away, clicking his tongue, trying to act annoyed.
"Tch. You’re still annoying," he muttered under his breath.
Ruka gave a small grin. "Yeah. Guess we’re stuck with each other now, huh, nii-san?" he teased lightly, using the Japanese word for older brother.
Lucifer glared at him, eyes flashing.
"Don’t you ever call that again," he growled.
But the way his voice wavered...
The way he didn’t walk away...
It was clear.
He didn’t hate it as much as he pretended.
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