[A/N] My beloved cat died last Saturday and until now my sister and I are traumatized. RIP Minggoy. Until now, there is a lingering shame and guilt I felt from my cat's death since I dewormed him again after a week when I should have waited after two-three weeks according to the internet. I just want him to get better since he was suffering from diarrhea and the man where we bought the dewormer told us to let him take it after a week. Now, he is dead because of me and it's my fault. I would never forget the fear in his eyes when he knew that he was going to die that day. I also had a booster shot last Monday and my arm hurts so bad since the vaccine booster was injected on my dominant arm. My fingers were all swollen and numb and I was a bit fine today. All the events that happened in February weren't conducive for writing. I apologize and thanks for waiting.
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Archdemon Empress Luna
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"Stop squirming or I might drop you." Sloth glanced down at her with what used to be forest green eyes but now it had bled to black.
His eyes were as dark as the night sky as they flew, traveling from the Hazelnut Manor to the Autumn Palace.
At that point, Luna knew that the Archdemon wasn't concerned about removing his glamour and exposed his Archdemon wings in plain sight.
It was either he lost his concentration out of sheer panic or he had simply reached the point of not caring at all.
Faeries might assume that he was one of the demons outside who managed to infiltrate the Autumn Courts.
Opening her eyes, she glanced around the atmosphere in case a Fae had encountered the two of them and alerted the rest.
There was no one in the starry night except them and she found no other reason to be alarmed.
Luna already had contractions multiple times in an hour earlier at the Wine Tasting Party but it didn't just end there.
Nevertheless, she found herself strong enough to manage it while she suffered throughout the ordeal, still clutching Sloth's shoulders hard as if it was her lifeline.
"Put me down." She commanded with gritted teeth and Sloth's arm behind her thighs and her back tightened. He had no plans of letting him go. "I need to return to Apollyon."
For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to utter Sloth's name to force him to do her bidding.
She just couldn't. Did her Archdemon Familiar put her in some kind of spell?
"You are hurt," Sloth muttered under his breath as he brought her closer to his chest. "I need to get you somewhere safe for labor."
"I'm alright." She insisted as she clung to him like he was her lifeline.
"It's still not going to happen even if you tell me you are alright." Raising his head, Sloth stared blankly onto the distance and grumbled, "I'm tired from moving around the whole day. Yet, for you, I'm trying my best. You better give me time to sleep after all of this is done. I don't want the three of us to get Hell yet. I have been there since forever."
"Sloth—" Luna only managed to groan when she felt this sudden sensation of lightning hit her crotch, making her legs cramp.
The unbearable discomfort in her lower body made her want to scream and she already passed out before she could hear what Sloth was about to tell her.
"I will have to stop you if I have to. You are staying with me until we return to the Autumn Castle." Sloth said brusquely and in that instant, he could feel her entire muscles relax all of a sudden as if she was dead to the world.
"Lune. Are you still alive?" His horrified gaze fastened to her parted blue lips before it fluttered to her closed lids.
"Wake up. WAKE UP! Wake up for me, Lune." He shook her but not that hard that her brain might be dislodged from her head. "You had to be conscious during the childbirth or the babies might get trapped if you don't push it out!"
His loud voice almost destroyed her eardrums that it brought her back to this realm at once. "I thought you wanted me to suck them back to my stomach! I'm trying hard right now. Now stop shouting at in my ears." She responded irritably. "Let me calm down and rest."
The wrinkles on her forehead and her furrowed brows eased when she started to doze off after the worst of her contractions ended.
Sloth allowed her a long moment of reprieve before he encountered another problem that he couldn't solve on his own.
"The barriers. Wouldn't. Let. Me. Pass." Sloth uttered each word and paused between the next as his broad shoulder pushed against this invisible barrier hadn't encountered yet.
He tried to hit a specific area lot of times until it breaks from his strength but the power of these barriers was too potent.
Sloth followed Lune's instructions carefully about not venturing this far as her Archdemon Familiar but he never expected this phenomenon to happen.
It was none other than the effect of the binding oath, what else? "Lune. Luna." Sloth scowled at her seemingly innocent sleeping face and shook her again to wake her up, "Did you just pass out or just asleep?" He just had to make sure. "I want to sleep too. But, no one can help us when we are already this far. I am the only one responsible for you. I mean, for four souls."
At that moment, Sloth realized that he was talking to himself so he decided to descend to the forest to rest.
His sister-in-law must be simply exhausted from the earthquakes he sensed on her bulging stomach. It was good that she gave him reassurance that she was alright half an hour earlier.
He would know if something was wrong with her if he witnessed her turn into dust and go into the ethers.
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Archdemon of Sloth
Prince of the 7th Circle of Hell
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Sloth gently laid the Empress he had carried on the grass bed that he made in a hurry while he sat by a bonfire to keep them warm—no, not warm—but at least it gave them light from the pitch-black of their surroundings.
He sat casually on a dead log near her makeshift bed and chewed on a leaf he picked up from the ground out of boredom.
It had been a long time since he last ate a dark soul and he wished an entity would get lost enough to approach him there in the forest so that he could simply devour it without leaving the Empress's side.
He continued to stare at the dancing flames reflected on the huge skirts of her white gown stained with blood but the piercing sound of a banshee screaming broke him out of his reverie.
It seemed like Luna had rested well enough before the contractions started again.
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