Chapter Text
Octavia was tired of hearing her parents fighting, especially when it involved her.
Stolas and Stella - her father and mother - were screeching at each other like homicidal demonic barn owls (don’t ask her how she knew that; some things weren’t meant for living human minds), barely paying attention to her, and yet…custody. f*cking custody . Over her . Just…why?
It wasn’t fair. Yes, Loona had said that families were complicated, but this right after she had run away the last time…
The owl-like Goetia heiress froze. Loona. The hellhound was definitely a bit rough around the edges, definitely sarcastic and rude, but she could talk to her, maybe? The last time, when she was lost on Earth, looking for a star constellation she had waited years to see, it had been Loona who found her…and unlocked a side of her she thought was missing.
Octavia felt like - in Loona - she had a sister, an elder sister she could confide in, someone braver than she was, someone whom she could…look up to, maybe? Her f*cking emotions were getting the best of her, maybe, but hell with it.
Lucifer, what if I’m being…no, time to be brave, Via, show Father and Mother what a mistake they’re making.
She was going to go to I.M.P., maybe read from the Grimoire, maybe find a way to placate her parents, somehow, maybe talk to Loona, see what she thought.
She had no idea Loona was already having a bad day.
-
Loona was pissed at Moxxie.
f*cking fat*ss (he wasn’t really fat, she admitted to herself, but she needed another reason to hate the smug little prick.) imp was beyond late to work along with Millie, his wife. Bad enough she had five f*cking years' worth of her yearly Hellbies shot (She hated shots. Shots in the pound usually meant…euthanization for the hellhounds who aged out…like she had nearly been before Blitzo - known to all as “Blitz”; the “o” was silent - had adopted her. Blitz had lied to her twice, by the way: it was not “one little prick”, and her ass was still sore from it, so he lied about not feeling it as well. Thank Lucifer the cone was off, at least.) a week ago, but now he was pacing the halls, trying to figure out where they were.
“Goddammit, if you could be any later, Moxxie, I’d need a f*cking stopwatch to f*cking time you…” Blitz muttered. If his voice didn’t clearly show his annoyance, the tic of him scratching the white and black curved horns on his bald head certainly did.
Loona knew that if the imp paced any more, he was going to wear out the floorboards - and they had survived a fire from hellectric eels (don’t ask), so she personally knew how tough they were to destroy and/or wear out. She flicked her bluish-gray hair fur to one side, her red eyes firmly focused on her most prized possession: her H-Phone 666 LX, a gift to her from Blitz for her twenty-first birthday a year ago.
Then Moxxie and Millie broke down the door - quite literally.
“You know that’s coming out of your paycheck, fat*ss,” Loona said, not even looking up from her phone as it played VoxTube videos.
No response. She raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t like Moxxie to not defend himself from her taunts.
“Okay, why are you two f*cking hours late?” Blitz demanded. “We were supposed to be using the Grimoire for our target, and-“
“Sorry, Sir, but…” Moxxie twirled a strand of his white hair nervously (not that Loona was paying any attention or cared what Moxxie thought; it was clearly phone time).
“We’re expecting!” Millie finished excitedly in her Wrathian drawl; her yellow eyes gleaming as Moxxie brushed her glistening black hair.
“What, like a prize for being late?” Loona snarked, not even looking up from her phone.
“No, silly: a baby!” Millie giggled.
Blitz’s eyes went as wide as full moons, as he looked at them, doing a double-take at them. “Wha-WHAT?!” he stammered. “So, you were-“
“Well, I took the test, showed red, then went to the doctor who confirmed it!” the female imp gushed with excitement, as Moxxie wrapped his small, gentle arms protectively around his wife’s stomach.
“Oh, that’s, uh, congrats!” the head of Immediate Murder Professionals (hence the name “I.M.P.”) said, his eyes gaining a semblance of…warmth? An unfamiliar emotion was growing in the pit of Loona’s stomach. She didn’t know what to call it, but she didn’t like it one bit.
“So, Sir, we all have a lot of back pay from our jobs, so…” Moxxie began.
“First kid’s always worth a break,” Blitz said with a jovial laugh. “Loony-Toony might have to join us later on while Millie handles the Grimoire, but-“
Loona barely heard the excited imp talking because she recognized a different, yet all-too familiar emotion bubbling up to the surface: anger.
The hellhound had a nice job as the secretary of I.M.P. Yeah, going out in the human world for occasional work was fun and all, but her job was simple: open a portal to the human world, listen for when the three imps needed to get back, reopen a portal back. She had a routine. She had time to go on her phone, go to the latest Sinstagram pics and VoxTube videos, get a cup of coffee, and wait by herself, with no one’s problems but her own bugging her.
And now this…this was threatening the entirety of that safe routine. And she was realizing the unfamiliar emotion was very familiar, after all: envy. A f*cking imp baby with Millie replacing her job, and judging by Blitz’s expression, replace his affection for her. That’s all she was, when it came down to it: replaceable. Even after she told Blitz that she’d be there with him, she was still replaceable.
The next words tumbled out of her mouth before she could take them back.
“How do you know that they’re telling the truth? I mean, are you sure Moxxie can even have kids?”
Loona immediately realized she had said something wrong with the immensely hurt look in Millie’s eyes, a pulsing vein throbbing dangerously in Moxxie’s temple as he drew his pistol, pointed it at her and shouted furiously, “YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU BITCH !”
But the worst was Blitz looking… disappointed , as he said, “Now, Loony, you need to apologize to Moxxie and Millie.”
“How about he apologizes for calling me the b-slur?” Loona snarled at Blitz without even thinking, her rising anger taking over.
“LOONA, you will apologize to Moxxie and Millie.” Blitz’s voice was surprisingly stern, even a bit angry - a tone that, to her knowledge, he had almost never taken with her.
“Oh, so you can replace me with the little brat, huh, Blitz, be a real dad as you stalk them in their private lives like you usually do? Well, guess what, Blitz: you aren’t a f*cking real dad! You aren’t their kid’s dad, and you aren’t my f*cking dad either!”
She felt a vile concoction of satisfaction and guilt course through her as Blitz looked as if she had hit him. It almost would’ve felt better to her if he had hit her back, if he said anything at all. Even Moxxie was stunned into lowering his gun.
“I-is this a bad time?” a new voice asked.
Octavia Goetia had made her appearance, all four of them looking at her in simultaneous shock, the same look the demoness had on her face.
Loona took the Grimoire from the safe, and Blitz didn’t even protest, the hurt look in his eyes saying all that needed to be said.
“C’mon, Via, we’re crashing at my place,” Loona said darkly, as she held the Goetia heiress’s clawed hand to the demon’s shock, leaving the job, the silent absence of a protest echoing in her heart.
