"With time, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am missing many things," Asmodeus explained, seated on the chair next to Zarath’s bed. "I am missing an appropriate body, for one."
"Why do you say that?" Zarath asked curiously.
"My body constantly tells me so," he answered. "Simply from the fact that it’s growing, that it wants to grow, that I want to grow."
The Succubus listened intently, finding his perspective to be as interesting as it was peculiar.
"A proper body isn’t all that I’m missing," Asmodeus muttered while staring at his palm. "Whatever it is that I sense in you, I am missing that as well. But at the same time, it is not something that you can give me. It is not something that I truly lack, or that any of the others lack, including Nyl."
"An astute observation," Zarath smirked. "It’s true, you all have the potential to obtain it."
"So you know what I’m talking about."
"I do." She nodded. "And I can tell you that you won’t obtain it, or unlock it, if you keep going the way you are."
Zarath felt goosebumps as she said those words, remembering older days.
"Why do you say that?" Asmodeus asked with a frown. "Like you said, it’s not something you can give me. It isn’t yours to give."
"No, it is not," Zarath whispered playfully before getting out of bed.
"Aren’t you going to tell me more than that?" he asked, staring at her figure clad in nothing but underwear. "Aren’t you going to show me?"
"Maybe I will, maybe I won’t." The Succubus teased. "I don’t owe you anything, do I?"
"Hm..." Asmodeus scratched his head. "You are my older sister, aren’t you?"
"And to think you were only born yesterday," Zarath sighed as she stretched her arms up. "I expected you to be a lot wilder than this. Spouting nonsense... I expected you to be raw, and here you are talking about your older sister should help you."
"You won’t?"
"I’ll do what I want," Zarath said sternly. "What’s got this kind of sentimentality into you anyway? You weren’t born with it, were you?"
"..." Asmodeus frowned silently for a moment. "Malika said that family-"
"Oh, of course it would come from her," She sighed. "If you’re asking for my advice, you should take everything that Malika told you and toss it right out of your head."
He rubbed his forehead, and Zarath continued.
"We don’t owe each other anything. We do what we want. We are Demons. Do you get that, Asmodeus?"
"I do, but Malika said that we should try to get along, and that to get along with others requires-"
"Enough about her." Zarath waved a hand dismissively. "I already told you to forget all about Malika."
"Why should I listen to you in her stead?" Asmodeus asked. "What makes your ideas worth more?"
"Because I am closer to this world’s core, aren’t I?" Zarath whispered with a sly smile. "And because you know, deep down, that I am right."
He remained silent for a moment.
"Do you love Nyl?"
"I do," Zarath answered. "But that doesn’t mean I will be at her beck and call, or that I will do things I do not want to do simply because Nyl wants me to do them."
"Hm..."
"Unlike what Malika must have told you," the Succubus crouched next to Asmodeus’s seat. "Love isn’t about sacrifice, or compromises, or anything like that."
He stared into her black eyes of bottomless darkness as she continued.
"True love is only found when two parties do exactly what they want, selfishly and without a thought for one another," Zarath explained. "You do exactly what you want, and I do exactly what I want, and if our wants can coexist, or even better, if they coincide..." The Succubus tapped his forehead with a finger as Asmodeus’s gaze started going down her practically bare body. "That’s true love."
"Hm..." Asmodeus looked away as Zarath straightened back up. "Nyl would love me no matter what."
"Would you love her no matter what?"
"..." Asmodeus thought for a moment. "I would."
"Then that’s true love." Zarath walked over to the other side of the room and picked up an apple. "But if you need to compromise for another person’s love, such as Malika’s, Naima’s, or Saphyra’s..." She continued while peeling the apple. "Then what’s the point?"
"Hm."
"It boils down to you not changing for another person’s approval," Zarath shrugged and cut the peeled apple in two. "It’s really quite simple."
She tossed one half of the apple his way.
’Not changing for another’s approval...’ Asmodeus thought as he stared at the peeled half-apple. ’Why do my sisters have to be so confusing?’
Zarath took a bite, and Asmodeus did the same.
"Malika did say that I could ignore everything she told me though," he muttered.
"She has more sense than I gave her credit for, then."
"Hm... I think your two visions aren’t so different," Asmodeus whispered.
"Then maybe you shouldn’t ignore her." Zarath shrugged and turned. "Do whatever you want, as a Demon would."
Asmodeus frowned, staring at the bitten half of his peeled apple.
"Why do you keep referring to us as Demons?" he asked. "Or rather, why do you consider us imperfect Demons?"
"Hm?"
"I’m not only speaking about you." Asmodeus scratched his head. "The way you all talk about us... It’s almost like we’re not Demons, like we’re trying to be Demons, or trying to be proper Demons."
"What’s wrong with trying to be proper Demons?" Zarath asked, tilting her head.
"I don’t understand that at all." Asmodeus sighed. "What is there to try? We are Demons, that’s all there is to it. We don’t need to try to be proper Demons. We were born proper Demons and..."
Asmodeus’s words trailed off as Zarath laid a hand on his head.
He turned to face her with a raised eyebrow and found her staring at him with a stupefied expression.
"Yeah..." She whispered in a gentle voice as she stroked his hair. "That’s exactly right." Zarath nodded.
Before Asmodeus could voice his confusion at her sudden change in demeanor, Zarath leaped across the room to grab a pair of dark pants as well as a jacket and a pair of boots.
She swiftly put them on and stepped to the window.
"Where are you going?"
"To do what I want."
"Which is?"
"I want to..." Zarath pursed her lips, gaze moving to the ceiling. "Fight some Incubi, and look at a Styx River."
"Can I come?"
"Do you want to do those things?" Zarath asked.
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Well," The small of her back rested on the edge of the open window. "It’s true love, then." Zarath let her weight raise her feet from the ground, and she fell through the window. "Catch up to me if you can."
Wasting not a moment, Asmodeus leaped through the window in her pursuit.
"Huh?" He lowered his gaze as he fell through the air, but Zarath was nowhere to be found.
"You can’t fly, can you?"
Asmodeus frowned. The voice was coming from above him. Zarath was floating in the air, standing on air.
"No," he answered as he fell.
"Well," Zarath wrapped her arm around his waist and flew upward. "Maybe soon."
Her palm connected with his bare skin, and the Succubus was reminded of Naima’s words.
’Yes, he is draining my energy,’ she noticed. ’But it’s such a tiny amount... It’s whatever, really.’
The corner of her eye caught someone.
"Saphyra!" Zarath shouted as she waved her free hand.
"What?!" The younger sister answered, opening her window a few floors above.
"I’m taking Asmodeus out," Zarath said. "Tell Nyl."
"HUH? WHY SHOULD I BE THE ONE TO... ZARATH! DON’T FLY AWAY FROM ME!"
The two were already gone.