Chapter Text
Your relationship with him started out rocky, to say the least.
Being locked up had done a number on Belphegor’s mental state. Isolation was his worst fear, and being faced with it and left with nothing but his own thoughts? Yeah. He heard once that in the human world, solitary confinement is considered one of the worst forms of torture there is. Maybe it wasn’t so different for demons.
Demons and humans, he would learn, aren’t so different after all.
When he first learned of your existence, you were nothing more than a tool for his escape. One that he started thinking about more and more often. He began to look forward to your visits. You started appearing in his dreams as his nightmares began to subside. He resisted it at first. What he did to you was his last resort, the last thing he could deny.
He regretted it. There wasn’t a single day of his life that he didn’t regret what he did to you. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve to be forgiven. Maybe the reality is that he didn’t deserve your forgiveness, but you gave it to him anyway. Sleepless nights followed, he often found himself sleeping in the attic in those days instead of his own room. Sleepless nights, thinking about how much regret he had, but feeling so…well, he didn’t quite have the word for it. ‘Exposed’ is the closest thing he can think of. He did have a mental breakdown in front of everyone, including the future Demon King and you. Belphegor didn’t really have much to hide anymore.
It was freeing, almost.
Breaking down in front of everyone was, in a way, cathartic. Nothing more to hide. The truth was out, the killing blow to the walls he constructed so carefully over thousands of years. He didn’t like that Diavolo (er, Lord Diavolo) was there, nor did he like that Barbatos was there either, having front row seats to Belphegor’s most vulnerable moment.
But in hindsight, he was happy you were there to witness it.
It was the beginning to the long, arduous road of recovery. For both you and him. Belphegor, however, wasn’t expecting you to forgive him so quickly. It made his head spin a little. If someone did to him what he did to you, he wouldn’t have forgiven them.
But here he was now, with you.
It’s rare for you and Belphegor to spend much time together. It pained him. However, now was his birthday, and while he had to share it with his twin, you seemed to focus in a bit more on him today
He’d decided he wanted to bury a time capsule for his birthday this year. He decided on it because he wanted to immortalize his time spent with you.
Even if you never got to see it.
He considered the amulet, then decided it was too important to put in the time capsule. He picked out photos that he could do without for some time, other knickknacks that reminded him of you, and finally, a handwritten letter that you had written just for the time capsule. Belphegor didn’t dare open it.
But he held it in his hands, feeling the texture of the envelope and the wax seal. A knot grew inside of him thinking about what might be in that letter. Obviously, nothing bad would be in the letter. It was just that…
By the time he opened it, you would probably be long gone.
Tears pricked at his eyes, spilling over onto the envelope. Steeling himself, Belphegor put the envelope into the time capsule and shut it.
No matter what, he would always love you, even after you were gone.