No-one came to visit Cobalt when he was dragged out of the forest that night. Lilith had kept a close eye on proceedings from deep within the Incubus' mind, and once the doctors had finished tending to what wounds they could, the Incubus was left alone in a hospital room to recover. No-one came. Not his students, not his colleagues, not his family. For a while the Devil was filled with anger at the thought of everyone abandoning Cobalt to his fate, but after some thinking she came to realise that it was likely for the best. The doctors probably didn't tell anyone that he was back in the hospital, given all of his previous visits and the rising tensions outside the hospital walls. Between Brass Trayer's sudden comeback and the growing popularity of the Iron Hound Faithful, the last thing Cobalt needed was a crowd trying to get a look at him.

Still... It hurt to see him lying in that bed, completely alone. The doctors had swaddled his lower legs in medicated bandages for the burns and had him on IV drips for the starvation symptoms, but Lilith knew it was all mere formalities. To try and treat an Incubus was a fool's errand.

The Devil sighed and crossed the room, arms folded as she stared out the window at the moonlit sky.

The firefighters arrived first on scene, and they took to combating the blaze immediately while a few paramedics tended to Cobalt and Elya. The bulk of the medical personnel arrived after them and carried the two demons off. Lilith hadn't seen the Fallen since, and honestly, she wasn't sure whether she survived. Immoderata tore her throat up pretty good; it was astounding that she was able even able to put up the fight she did.

As far as she was aware, it had been only a couple of days since, and Cobalt still hadn't woken up. He had been out cold before, but that wasn't what worried Lilith.

It was just how quiet his mind was.

"Fuck, kid..." Lilith breathed, glancing back at Cobalt's still body.

It had all given her a lot to think on. To think that he and Elya had both suffered for so long because of something she did, all those centuries ago... Had she known killing Iota in a fit of anger would have wound up in her returning as a Curse, she...

Well...

"Fuck...!" the Devil hissed, kicking the wall.

She grabbed her face and leaned her elbows against the windowsill.

Immoderata was right, of course. Lilith was obsessed with the Rapture, just not in the same way the other Devils were. She was haunted by the horrors she saw, and by the horrors she committed. The innocent demons that died because of Devilish folly and angelic arrogance, the just and valorous protectors of Pandemonium that fell to see its people to safety, and the things she could have done differently to protect them better.

Every night, Lilith was met with the legions of Devils she used to oversee. One by one she watched them fall, until she was left with just her own. Hell's Fury, a regiment made up of the Alpha Corps. The penultimate line of defence.

Completely torn apart by Conquest. Like they were nothing.

"I'm sorry..."

Maybe they would have survived if Rho were still there to mount an effective defensive strategy. If Iota hadn't killed him out of blind jealousy. If Lilith had just accepted Iota's proposal to...

To what? Abandon her people? To elope with a Devil she had no feelings for?

"FUCK~!"

Lilith's fist collided with the windowsill, cracking it badly and casting chips of wood all over the floor. As she lamented her mistakes, she heard tapping on the window, urging her to look up, her eye wide and alert.

Thankfully, it was just a bird pecking at the glass from outside.

"Wait a second..." she murmured, squinting at it.

Sure enough, it was not just any bird, but a familiar pigeon. What did Elya call it...?

"Columba...?" Lilith murmured, carefully opening the window.

The bird fluttered away, but soon returned, cooing incessantly as if to try and garner the Devil's attention.

"What? What do you want?"

Leaning out of the window, she peered upwards to see Columba fly over to a different window and sit on the sill. She tapped the glass a few times before flapping back over to the Devil.

"You... want me to follow you?"

The pigeon cooed, prompting Lilith to sigh. A few months ago, she would have never considered a pigeon anything more than emergency rations, and yet here she was, using one as a guide. Still, if Cobalt trusted her enough to get him through a forest...

Leaping out the window, Lilith spread her wings and silently glided over to the other window, bracing herself against the frame before she crashed right through it. It was shut tight, but with a little ferromantic meddling, she managed to jimmy it open and carefully creep inside. Columba followed, hopping from the Devil's shoulder onto the floor.

They weren't alone. The room was completely dark, save for the dim lamp glowing up the bedside table, illuminating the bed's single occupant. Elya Yalfre - dressed in a hospital gown with a thick brace around her neck - sat with her back propped up by pillows. An over bed table lay before her, covered in pencils, erasers and pages torn out of a black notebook. She stared at Lilith, her green eyes wide and uncertain.

"You're awake," Lilith breathed, unsure of what to say.

Elya nodded slowly. Columba hopped over to the Fallen and quickly made herself comfortable upon the pillows. Taking a slow breath, Lilith sat down on the chair next to her.

"Cobalt's still out of it. His legs... They're pretty fucked. But I think he's gonna be alright. I think."

She watched Elya breathe a sigh of relief. Opening up her notebook, she began to write, irritating the Devil somewhat.

"What? Aren't you gonna say anything?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

She tore the page out and politely handed it to Lilith, who frowned and snatched it out of her hands. Her face fell upon reading what she had written upon it in fine, uncertain handwriting.

I'm sorry. I can't. Immoderata wanted me silenced. So it tore my vocal chords apart.

"What...?"

She heard more ripping as another scrap of paper was presented to her.

The doctors did what they could, but it wasn't enough. It's alright. I'm almost relieved. I've been silent for so long I don't think I would be able to start speaking again even if that were possible.

"Fuck," Lilith breathed, wiping her brow.

Another note.

I don't know who you are. But I know you're Cobalt's friend. And you saved both his and my own life. Thank you.

Lilith slowly shook her head as she set Elya's notes aside. No, this wasn't right.

"You shouldn't be thanking me. That... That Curse was my fault. I don't know how to explain it all right now, just... If it weren't for me, that thing wouldn't exist."

Elya cast her sombre gaze downwards, but then flipped the page and began to write. Lilith tried to say something, but the Fallen's focus was absolute, so she gave her a few moments to get the words down on paper. When she was done, she held the book up for the Devil to see.

That knife had always been in my family. It was as old as our history's. We've always lived in that house, we've always followed the head of the family, and we've always abhorred outsiders. There used to be a lot of us, until it was just my father, Mother, and me. Even back then I always found it strange that the generational heads had purple eyes.

She flipped the page.

The Curse made Mother cold and irrational. Everything had to be perfectly to plan. My father tried to protect me from the worst of it, but he wound up suffering her ire the most. She even crippled him for defying her, and yet she still doted on him. I was something more of a project to her. A perfect daughter to pass the Curse onto when the time came.

Elya turned the book to the next page, though Lilith noticed her hands were shaking.

Cobalt helped me when I felt the most helpless. He taught me how to rebel in secret ways. Up until his eighteenth birthday, when he and I finally made lo revealed our feelings to one another. I had snuck out that night, strictly against Mother's wishes. It was maybe the most memorable night of my life. The best. The worst. And the last.

She made to turn the page, but tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. Concerned, Lilith reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to keep going. You don't have to explain anything."

Sniffling, Elya shook her head and showed her the next page.

I snuck back home to find the house empty. The furniture was wrecked. I went upstairs to find that my father had hanged himself in the attic, and Mother had slashed her throat open just beneath him. I buried them once I was done crying. Then I tried to follow them. I picked up Mother's knife, and from then it had me in its grasp.

"Shit..." Lilith breathed, her eye widening as she read the words.

That dagger ruined my life. It ruined Cobalt's too. It took what beautiful feelings we had and twisted them into something perverted and wrong. And when I wasn't good enough, it tried to take him. I could only save him by committing myself fully to it, mind, soul and body.

She put the book down, shivering all over as she wrote one final note.

It forced visions in front of my eyes. Manipulated my memories. Taught me only what I needed to further harm those I love. If my voice is the price to pay for that thing finally being destroyed, then I'd gladly give it a thousand times over. I just wish I could tell Cobalt how sorry I am.

"You can still do that, Elya. When he wakes up, you can-"

She violently shook her head, causing her feathers to rattle and upset Columba. Taking a second to calm down, she scrawled upon a fresh page.

It changed him too. He's not the same. The Cobalt you know and the Cobalt I fell in love with are two completely different people.

"... The more I learn about him, the less makes sense. Seems no-one remembers him right," Lilith sighed, rubbing her eyes.

Maybe it was Immoderata. Maybe it's something else. I don't know. But I do know that things between us won't ever quite be as they were.

She took a deep breath and scrawled something at the bottom of the page, underlining it for emphasis.

I just need time to think.

"Yeah... I think we all do. I'll give you some space, then," Lilith sighed, climbing to her feet.

The Devil stepped over to the window and swung one leg out, but stopped once she was halfway through. She thought for a moment about Cobalt, lying alone in the hospital bed with no-one to visit him.

"But don't write him off completely," she called, turning to Elya, "because he still needs someone to talk to. Uh, in a manner of speaking. Fuck, I mean-"

She took a deep breath and wiped her face.

"You both need each other. Just... Just be there, okay?"

Elya glanced up from her notebook, took a deep breath, and nodded as much as her neck brace would allow her. Lilith returned the gesture and leaped back out into the night air. For a while, she flew high above the hospital. The cool air and clear skies helped settled her head, but before she could even begin to think on what she just witnessed, the Devil's arms began to sting badly, wrenching a cry of pain from her throat.

"Gah, fuck! What the Hell?!" she cried, looking down at her hands.

Nothing was wrong. Phantom pains like this could only mean one thing.

"Cobalt...!"

Folding her wings, she spiraled downwards towards the open window, opening her wings wide in order to slow her descent. She swooped into Cobalt's room and broke her fall with a forward roll.

The bed was empty. Sheets and knocked-over IV stands were scattered everywhere, and torn bandages trailed from the bed over to the bathroom door, from which she could hear the sounds of manic grunting.

"You awake, kid?" she whispered, wincing as the pain in her arms grew more intense.

She approached the door when she received no answer. Pulling it open, she flicked the light switch.

Cobalt sat hunched on the bathroom floor, shivering and shaking in his hospital gown. The bandages on his legs had been clawed off, exposing warped, scarred legs. The tiles were spattered with blood, his arms were riddled with ragged wounds, and his mouth... was flecked with chunks of his own flesh. Gasping for breath, he bit into his skin and lapped at the blood, only noticing Lilith once she cleared her throat. The Incubus stared into her eye, tears silently falling down his face.

"I- I'm sorry..." Cobalt guttered, splattering blood all down his front.

Lilith bit her tongue. Memories flashed before her eyes. Blue faces splattered in red, teeth flashing in the flames, eyes hungering for more. Fear overtook her for a brief moment, but it was quickly drowned out by discipline.

No. Not this one. This one wasn't that far gone yet.

"Alright," she breathed, kneeling down in the doorway, "let's just take a second to think."

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Kid. No more tears. They aren't helping anyone."

"Elya, she...!"

"Elya's fine. We just spoke. Kinda."

"I couldn't do a thing!"

"Kid..."

"A- And I'm just so fucking hungry, Lilith! Nothing stops it anymore! I just want it to stop!" Cobalt cried, digging his fingernails into his wounded arms.

Lilith raised her hands.

"Think about what you're doing! Would you rather be hungry and alive, or sated and dead?!" she called, putting on the strongest voice she could muster.

Cobalt's eyes flashed dangerously. They were quivering and bloodshot.

"I'm sorry...!"

At that moment, it became clear that action was going to have to take precedence over words. Lilith launched herself into the bathroom and swiftly grappled Cobalt before he could do any more damage to himself. Pinning one arm behind his back, she roughly pulled him to his knees and forced him to stare into the mirror.

"For fuck's sake, kid! Look at what you're doing! Making a mess of yourself over something that's not your fault!"

The Incubus didn't reply. He just stared at himself as the tears fell thicker and faster, washing the smeared blood off his face. His gaze flicked from one reddened eye to the other.

"You're right. I am a mess. I am a fucking mess!" the Incubus choked, completely going limp in Lilith's arms.

A lump formed in Lilith's throat as she realised the choice she made may have not been the right one. She sat Cobalt down on the toilet seat, grabbed some of the ripped bandages and ran a cloth under the tap. She had triaged serious wounds before; medical duties were generally allocated to Phi and the Red Saviours, but unfortunately their tutelage did not extend to psychological wounds.

"Let's just... Let's just get you cleaned up, kid," she breathed, gently taking his arm in one hand.

Lilith took a sharp breath.

"... Cobalt. You're no kid. Not after all that."

With what little equipment she had, Lilith began to clean and bind Cobalt's wounds. She winced every time her host flinched, but as the blood was washed away and the bandages were applied, the ragged bites in the Incubus' flesh gradually began to piece themselves back together all by themselves, glowing from within. He didn't say a word. He only whimpered as Lilith worked.

"Listen, Cobalt, I'm sorry about what I said. About everything I've ever said," she told him, tying off the last bandage.

Cobalt slowly looked up. He suddenly slipped off the toilet seat, wrapping his arms around Lilith as they were both bowled to the floor. She cried out and tried to lift him up, but stopped upon realising that he was crying, pulling her tight as he sobbed into her spectral coat.

"I- I deserve this, don't I? After everything I've done. Everyone I've hurt," he choked, his voice muffled by the silvery fabric.

"Stop," Lilith suddenly said, gently lifting him to look into his eyes.

As slow and soft as she could, the Devil lifted Cobalt into her arms, silently horrified at just how light he was.

"I'm not a sap, Cobalt. Never was. But..."

She glanced from his scorched legs over to his wounded arms.

"... no-one deserves this."

Cobalt didn't answer, rather preferring to just sniffle and stare off into the middle distance. At that moment, a pang of regret made itself known in Lilith's gut. This Incubus she held in her arms - this frail, shivering boy - was a whole world away from the reports she'd heard of the man who took down one of her own. She felt simply awful for springing the task of taking down the Alpha Corps on him, without even giving him a choice.

He wasn't invincible. He was far from it. Everything he had been through; the fights with friend and foe alike, the daunting tasks he'd slogged through, the dreadful decisions he had to make, even the Incupsychosis that still scrabbled inside his skull... It had all been breaking him down from the inside. And yet he kept a brave face, even though...

Even though he was more or less dying inside.

She took a deep breath. Over the past few months - whether by chance or otherwise - Lilith had found herself growing close to Cobalt, like he was more than a friend.

Yes... Though it pained her to admit it, the Devil had found herself thinking of the Incubus like family. As if he was a brother in need of guidance, or a son who needs protecting.

She looked down at him. His eyes had drooped shut, and his breaths came slow and steady.

"You've slogged through so much shit, without barely even a complaint," she murmured, sitting down on the toilet seat.

Gently, she ran a hand through his tangled hair. When was the last time he washed...?

"Who was I to think you'd march through it all unfazed? Gah, I'm so fucking stupid..."

With another breath, she held him close and began to carry the Incubus back to his bed, holding him close to her chest as though he were the most precious thing in the world.

"I know you can't hear me now, Cobalt, but all that shit you said about yourself? Not true."

Stepping into the hospital room, she kicked the door shut and gazed out the open window at the glittering night sky.

"You're one of the strongest men I've ever met. You've been beaten down so much, and yet you still put others before yourself. It's foolhardy, but... almost noble."

Lilith gazed down at his sleeping face.

"Cobalt Trayer, I promise you this, right now; I will stand by you when others leave you behind. I will lend you my arm when your own can fight no longer. I will carry you even through the Barbed Plains themselves when your own legs fail to carry you. And most of all, I promise to stand at your back when the end comes knocking."

She laid him down upon the bed. Setting the IV stands right and draping the sheets back over the slumbering demon, the Devil sat down next to the bed.

"You deserve better, Cobalt. You deserve happiness, love, all that fuzzy shit. Not this pain, this despair... Hurts to see you like this. I want to ease that pain, but most of all, I want to get you out of this heap of shit I've dumped you into."

She shut her eye.

"I owe you at least that much."