An enraged howl echoed across the house, making Gratia spill her coffee over herself. She clenched her fist, counting to 10 in her head. Seconds later, she heard the sound of thundering footsteps on the stairs.
"MUM, DID YOU GO THROUGH MY ROOM?" It was Lucine. It hadn't even been a day since he'd been discharged from the hospital, and he was already being a headache.
"ITS TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR YOU TO BE SHOUTING THIS LOUD, SHUT UP!" That was Lucina, somehow sounding even louder than her brother despite being all the way in her room.
A vein pulsed in her head. What did she mean, it's too early? It was nearly mid-day. And that small exchange was enough for the two of them to begin arguing. Gratia sighed, rubbing her temples. She heard a snicker from across the table. "Keep laughing and I'll pour the rest of this on you," She threatened, raising her cup.
"I worked really hard on making that, you know," The man threw the tissues over to her, and got up.
"Bell, It's a cup of coffee, how hard could it have been?" Scowling, she wiped her jumper as much as she could.
He walked behind her and nipped her ears with his teeth. "Hard enough that I'd be very angry if you were to insult it~" His hands caressed her head, gently stroking her horns. "Want me to go deal with the kids?"
"Yeah, that'd be good." She sighed, sinking further into her chair. It was a good thing Bell finally had a day-off. She could relax and let him deal with the hard stuff for once.
"Guys, its too early in the morning for you to be arguing. Give it an hour or two and I promise I'll let you at each others throats as much-"
"Yeah, dad's right, it is too early, WHICH IS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TRIED ROLEPLAYING A DAMN ALARM CLOCK AND WOKEN ME UP," Lucina screamed. "
Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt your beauty sleep? It won't make any difference. You look horrible anyway." Lucine said, scoffing.
"The only reason I look horrible is because I look like you, fucker."
"Now, that's out of line-" Bell tried to reason, mostly offended because Lucine had his looks.
"You bitch-!"
"I, out of the goodness of my heart, saved your ass from whatever they were going to do to you, and this is how you treat me?" She sneered "Does someone need to teach you to respect your older sister again?"
"If it's a fight you want, I'll rip your fucking tail off!"
Gratia sipped what remained of her coffee while listening to Lucina's maniacal laughter. "You just got out of hospital. Imagine how embarrassing it'll be if you went straight back in,"
Bell fell down in the seat next to her, looking defeated. She glanced at him, smiling. "How'd it go?"
"Jeez, don't act like you didn't hear all of that." He poured himself some coffee, pouting. "I'll never know how you handle those two."
Seeing him look so pouty at not being able to control his children, Gratia couldn't resist giving him a hug. He snuggled into her embrace, breathing in her scent.
"It's your job to shut them up now you know?"
"Later." She held him tighter. "Let's just stay like this for now."
Lucine didn't have time for this. It had been 8 chapters with him sitting in hospital letting others take the spotlight, it was about time for him to be the protagonist. And that starts with getting home.
Which would be easy, he mused, IF HE KNEW WHERE THAT FUCKING MIRROR WAS.
He burst into the living room, giving about two fucks that his parents were having a wholesome moment together. "MUM, DID YOU REALLY NOT GO THROUGH MY ROOM?"
She scowled at him. "I did go through your room, like I said I would last week. If you weren't listening, that's not my fault." Lucine paused. Last week?
Ah. A week ago he'd still been human.
"O-oh, yeah,I forgot," He scratched his head, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Did you, like, see a mirror while you went through it."
He felt someone collapse on his shoulder, making him fall forward a few steps. "What, that dusty old thing on your bed?" Lucina's voice lazily drifted into his ear. "I took that."
"Give it back!"
Huh? What do you want with something like that?"
"W-wait, did you look into it?"
Lucina yawned, stretching her arms. "No, why would I?" She sneered as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. "It's not like its meant to be looked into or anything,"
"Tch, whatever." He said, trying to stifle a yawn. "Where is it now?"
"Dunno."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
"What the hell?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I-" Lucine forgot that people didn't say that sort of stuff in the demon world. "Just, how do you not know where it is?"
"I gave it away."
They sat in silence, waiting for her to elaborate.
"Don't stare like that!" She said angrily, looking away. "There was some redhead who asked me for it, so I gave it to her."
"That was my property! You had no right to do that, you audacious b-"
"Finish that word and I'll wash your mouth with soap." Gratia said flatly.
"-bad girl…"
Lucina grinned. "Please, that thing hadn't been used in months. If you really wanted it, you should've taken better care of it."
Lucine scowled at her. "At least tell me who you gave it to."
"Um, she told me her name but I can't remember it…"
"Yeah, that's the reason you're failing school."
"Lucy's failing school?" Bell sat up, looking at Lucina. "Are things going okay? You need help or anything?"
"I don't, Dad, he's just spouting rubbish!" Lucina glared at Lucine. "I got better marks than you, but that does make sense since you spend all your time getting into fights, and having me SAVE YOU!"
Lucine gritted his teeth. No matter which dimension he went into, his sister was still annoying as fuck.
"That doesn't matter now! Who'd you give the mirror to?"
"She was some cute redhead!" Lucina gestured wildly with her spoon. "She was really shy, really cute and she- oh right – her name was Raifu I think,"
"You could have just said that to begin with."
"It's just too much fun seeing wittle Lucine get angwy though," She mocked in a baby voice
"Tch!"
He sat down in the chair, furiously munching away on his cornflakes. His morning brain struggled to connect any dots at all. Why would Raifu want the mirror? To investigate it or something? And, seeing that Lucina hadn't been switched, could it be the mirror really wasn't the reason he was swapped?
Too many questions for a Saturday morning, he'd answer them later.
"But Dad," Lucina turned to her father. "Do we have any cousins or anything from your side?"
"Hm?" Bell looked confused. "You know I was an only child. Why do you ask?"
"Dunno, just, that Raifu girl looked like she was somehow related to us." Lucina twirled her hair. "Like, I wanted to protect her, like a maternal bond!"
Lucine sniggered into his bowl.
"Hey, shitface, if you've got something to say, spit it out!"
"Now..." Gratia got up from her chair, her tail twisting behind her. "How much soap do you think's gonna be enough?" She smiled, and they both knew they wouldn't be able to enjoy their cornflakes much longer.
***
No matter how much he washed his mouth, he couldn't seem to get the soapy taste out. It wasn't even his fault. It should have been just Lucina getting her mouth cleaned!
He sighed, walking down the streets. Now..where would a shy redhead be on a Saturday morning?
Lucine's eyes widened in excitement. There was a red cat there, AND IT WAS CUTE
"You know, you're asking to be stroked if you're as cute as that." He got down on one knee. "Psspsspssspssspssspssspsss." He simpered, stretching out his hand. There was no way this cat was gonna leave without him patting it.
The cat gave him a curiously intelligent look, staring at him with vacant eyes. It shook its red coat and darted past him.
"No, come back!" Lucine spun around, panicking. Was it gone?
"You looking for this?" Fugo was standing there. He looked pleasantly surprised, with the red cat snuggled comfortably in his arms. "Is it normal for them to jump into your arms?"
Lucine got to his feet, brushing himself down. "Not usually. You sure you haven't ,like, encountered it yet?"
"Nah, I'd remember seeing a little kitty as cute as this!" He held the cat up to the sun, which gazed back blankly at him. "Aww, you know it's rude to stare like that?" Smiling broadly, he put the cat to his face, nuzzling it with his nose. "But I'll let it go since you're such a cutie <3,"
The cat licked his face before wriggling out of his grip and running away. Lucine considered chasing after it, but why should he pay any attention to someone that ran away from his love?
"Anyway, what're you doing out today? Looking for more youngers to steal money from?" Fugo asked, laughing.
"Haha, very funny." Lucine laughed along, very much hoping that Fugo was joking. "I'm looking for someone,"
"If it's Dante, I saw him running a while back,"
"Running? Why?"
Fugo shrugged. "Tried to stop him, but he just aired me."
Weird. But oh well. It wasn't Lucine's problem what he was up to. He had to find Raifu and get that dumb mirror back.
Unfortunately, Lucine would find that it certainly was his problem what Dante was running away from.
"Good luck with your search." Fugo put up his arm in a sort of wave. "I'm about to be late for work." Was Demon Fugo slaving away for money as much as his human counterpart?
"Yeah, thanks. It's a ginger I'm looking for though, so it wont be too hard to find them."
"How does that have any correlation with anything?"
"Everyone runs from gingers, I'll just look for where everyone is running from." Lucine said, laughing at his own joke.
A voice that was unfortunately familiar sounded from behind them. "Does 'everyone' include your pussy friend Dante?"
Fugo turned around, flinching in shock from the sight of Gemu's massive figure.
"Uh, he's here for you, I've got nothing to do with-" He glanced over at Lucine.
Lucine had already started running.
"Son of a-"
A deep growl rumbled through his chest. Fugo placed his hands together and got on his knees. "I have a girlfriend and a family to support. Please have mercy and let me work in peace."
"…"
"Allow it, I need money for our dates."
Gemu hesitated for a second, before sheepishly grabbing Fugo's arm and pulling him to his feet.
"Hey-"
"I'm s-sorry, but if I don't hold you, Lucine won't come back,"
Fugo stared at him. "Bro, I'm gonna be late for work."
"Sorry…"
They waited in silence for a bit, watching a small figure lumber back towards them. "I don't usually like involving people who, you know, aren't usually involved. But Lucine had already started running…"
"Yeah, it's okay, I'll just tell them I got taken hostage, they won't really care,"
There was another awkward silence.
"So what are you planning to do to Lucine?"
"Beat him up."
"Again?"
"I-I lost last time, so I've gotta make up for it."
"Lucine was hurt a lot too though."
"He-!"
"Gemu, you shattered his arm! Nearly all of his ribs were broken, man! And what happened to you? You got like a broken nose and some bruises. I'd say Lucine more than paid for what he did."
"…It was that bad?"
"Yeah, sure." Fugo made a mental note to thank Lucina for teaching him how to bullshit.
"And he was still standing after all that?"
Fugo thought back to Lucine collapsed over Gemu's still body, and him having to fly and get Lucina for backup. "Yeah, he was standing."
There was another silence, but this time it seemed as If Gemu was thinking things over.
"Lucine's pretty cool."
"Debatable."
"I feel bad now."
Fugo gave Gemu a pat on the head with his free arm. "Don't be, it's not as if Lucine cares." Gemu's face lit up. "You mean he's forgiven me?"
Had Lucine forgiven him? Fugo deeply considered the question (for a second), and decided he didn't really care what Lucine thought. "Yeah he forgave you! And he wants you to forgive him too. He said that he'd, uh, play smash with you later to re-reconcile."
What the fuck was he even saying.
"Ah, I guess theres not really any issue then." Gemu let go of his arm and walked off, muttering a quick thank you to Fugo and waving a goodbye to Lucine.
Lucine jogged over to Fugo's side, not out of breath even after running that far.(seriously, this demon body's fucking sick) "What in Beel's name were you two doing?" Lucine grinned, laughing internally. He knew how to use demon slang now >:)
"If you didn't run away with your wings tucked into your ass, maybe you would have known, fucking coward." Fugo scowled at him, unfolding his wings. "Also, you owe me a pair of Lucina's panties."
"you WHAT-"
Fugo winked at him. "Just kidding. I can get those on my own."
Lucine could hear him cackling while he flew away. He promised to himself that, next chance he got, he was gonna spike his coffee with laxatives.