Chapter Text
A night of mind-shattering sex later, Sodo is staring at a map as Swiss tries to navigate the hobbling forest road. Evelyn is in the back, watching a movie on her tablet while they try to find the camping spot they’d rented a few weeks earlier.
“You’re sure it’s this way?” Swiss asks, throwing the wheel of the car around and taking a small path.
Sodo nods, “Yeah.”
“I can’t turn if we did take the wrong path,” Swiss reminds him.
“I know,” Sodo sighs, lifting his head. “It’s the right path, Switchblade.”
“If you say so,” Swiss shrugs with a smile.
They continue on the hobbling road for a little longer until it breaks open into a field. Sodo smiles and directs Swiss to park the car. Before the engine is even off, Evelyn is already hopping out, a big smile on her face. Sodo follows her, disentangling himself from the seatbelt and stretching his legs with a groan.
He walks up to Evelyn and they stare out over the field for a moment. Evelyn grasps for his sleeve and she holds onto it, eyes wide with curiosity as she surveys their home for the weekend. There’s a small river off to the side, with a large oak tree cutting through the middle of the field. There are flowers everywhere and Sodo can hear birds, too. Evelyn looks up at him with sparkling eyes.
“It’s so peaceful,” she says.
“It is,” Sodo nods. “Wanna help your Dad set up the tent?”
Evelyn nods happily and skips back to the car, helping Swiss unload their things. Sodo follows and pulls their stuff out of the front seat. He watches as Swiss and Evelyn carry the ground sheet to a suitable spot. Swiss lays it out and Evelyn directs him this way and that, grinning when she keeps saying he’s done it wrong.
Swiss growls and sways his tail in annoyance, sighing in relief when Evelyn finally deems the position right. Sodo chuckles and brings over their bags.
“Good spot?” he asks.
“Yes!” Evelyn nods hastily. “The perfect spot.”
She grins and holds out her hands for the bags Sodo is carrying. He hands them to her and she puts them down so he can return to the car for more stuff. He didn’t pack too much, but there’s still a lot to take when going on a camping trip. When he turns back around, Swiss is already setting up the inner tent while Evelyn tries to disentangle some of the poles.
He starts helping her and the tent is set up in no time at all. Evelyn claps her hands together while spectating and grins from ear to ear. She looks proud. And incredibly excited. But then her face warps a little and she turns to Sodo with a bit of a pout.
“I wish the others could have joined us,” she says.
Sodo knows she means Rain and Phantom, and all of the others. She would have liked to go anywhere with all of them, but Sodo knows this is something that needs to happen between him and her, and Swiss, since they’re the closest to her.
“I’m sorry, baby, maybe another time, yeah?” Sodo asks, ruffling her hair.
Evelyn nods and crouches to ruffle through her bag, pulling out a blanket and a plushie. She throws them in the tent. Sodo smiles and begins to help Swiss with the inflatable beds. It doesn’t take them too long to set everything up, but night falls faster than they had anticipated.
Swiss starts the small campfire while Sodo takes Evelyn to look for suitable sticks. Evelyn gets distracted by the fireflies she sees sprouting up everywhere and Sodo takes her hand, sneaking into the next field over so they can look at the fireflies.
As a Fire Ghoul himself, the small insects are precious to him. They congregate around him, attracted to his warm core and his fiery nature. It doesn’t take too long for many of them to circle Evelyn and Sodo like a small whirlwind.
Evelyn’s hand tightens in his and Sodo looks at her. She’s smiling from ear to ear, her eyes sparkling with the light. Sodo watches her, entranced by her. She’s beautiful. He helped her grow into this person, into who she is now, and what she will become later.
She’s strong, stubborn like all the Ghouls, beautiful in appearance and in her music. Her eyes only see the wonder of the world even if she does worship Satan (though Satan does not take away from anything, He is only there to take care of the sinners). Her faith is beautiful, her growth is beautiful, everything about her is beautiful.
And Sodo is responsible for almost all of it. He loves her so much that he wonders if his heart will explode into tiny pieces. He’d rip it out of his chest if she asked him to. He’d set himself ablaze if she asked him to. He’d risk his life if she asked him to.
He’d do anything for her.
“I love you,” he tells her.
“I love you, too, Dad,” Evelyn beams. “Wanna see who gets the most sticks?”
Sodo blanches. And then he laughs. Evelyn lets go of his hand and rushes through the whirlwind of fireflies to gather more sticks. Sodo follows, dispersing the flies to go about their business. He grabs sticks off the grass that Evelyn drops when she tries to carry more than she can, but he lets her believe she has the most sticks.
His tail flicks with joy as they make their way back to the campsite, finding Swiss as he tries to cook on an open fire, though he’s not very good at it. Sodo drops the sticks by the fire and takes the pan from the other Ghoul, scooting him aside with a hand on his neck.
Swiss leans into the touch, hums, and then pulls away to help Evelyn organize the sticks. Sodo puts bacon and eggs in the pan and cooks it all up before plating it. Evelyn is trying to set up her chair and Swiss quickly puts the legs under their foldable table.
“You want two eggs, darling?” Sodo asks. “Bread?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Evelyn says, fighting with her chair a little.
She huffs and kicks the legs, finally snapping them into place. She drops the chair violently and sits in it, crossing her arms angrily. Sodo chuckles and hands her a plate with two eggs, several slices of bacon, and two pieces of bread. She takes it with a smile, though her brows are still drawn together.
Swiss comes to sit as well and takes a plate from Sodo, smiling at him.
“Thanks, babe,” he hums.
Sodo nods and sits back with his own plate. Their dinner isn’t much, but they had little time to prepare it and Evelyn likes this just fine, so Sodo doesn’t mind it at all. They sit by the fire, eating and conversing pleasantly. It’s nice. Truly nice. He feels the peace of the meadow in his bones. The birds sing low and the crickets chirp quietly in the background. He can hear critters in the bushes and the trees.
The fireflies are coming closer, the skies turning magenta as night falls. Sodo has not been outside much, not at night or during dusk, but this time of day is beautiful. He should really get out more. It’s breathtaking.
“It’s nice here,” Evelyn eventually pipes up. “I like it.”
“Nature is beautiful,” Swiss nods. “We should go out like this more often.”
“Then can we invite some of the others along?” Evelyn questions with a smile.
“Of course. I’m sure they’d love to go.”
Sodo smiles at Swiss. The others would love to go here as well. Mountain would have a field day. Ivy, too. Hell, everyone would love to go here at least once. Sodo knows they’d make such beautiful music. Maybe do a Ritual or two just because they can.
Maybe some other things as well.
Sodo flushes at his thoughts and hides behind his hair with a smile. Swiss catches his blush and waggles his eyebrows, his tail swishing excitably. He must be thinking of last night with that wicked grin on his face. Sodo shoots him a glance. Swiss quickly looks away.
Evelyn catches their looks and pulls a face. Swiss can’t help laughing and Sodo chuckles, shaking his head with a huff. Evelyn continues with her face and pretends to throw up very dramatically. Sodo snorts; he can’t help it.
“Don’t do that,” he laughs.
“You two are gross,” Evelyn bemoans. “I’m so glad I have my own room.”
“Don’t be so weird about it. Aren’t you glad we all love each other?” Swiss chuckles teasingly.
“Satan, don’t remind me,” Evelyn hums with a little smile. “I mean, I am glad, but it was a little weird to see someone else in Dad’s bed almost every night.”
“You make it sound like the only thing I do is sleep around,” Sodo narrows his eyes.
Evelyn gives him a look. Swiss snorts into his beer and coughs it out. Well… she’s not wrong, Sodo realizes, but hearing it called out like this is a little humiliating, to be honest. He feels his face flushing and he looks away again, discombobulated.
“Dad, you do that already. But it’s okay,” Evelyn grins at him. “I still love you.”
“Oh, thank Satan,” Sodo says sarcastically. “I’m so glad my daughter doesn’t hate me for having more than one partner.”
Swiss keeps laughing and coughing on his beer. He grabs onto his chest and whines a winded noise. Sodo watches him trying to regain his breath. Then he looks back at Evelyn, startled to see a fond look on her face.
“I know it’s not entirely normal,” she begins softly. “But I think it’s nice, and I like my family as they are. I’m glad you’re my Dad.”
Sodo feels his heart swell and he looks away once again, his ears burning now, too. Indeed, their family isn’t entirely normal, but Sodo does think that it makes their lives more interesting. And the fact that they’re not human might also have something to do with that. Though they still have to tell Evelyn that.
Which is why they’re here today.
Evelyn knows their lives aren’t average, that she is connected to something different than most people, but they’ve never explicitly told her that she is part of a family of creatures from Hell and the only human around for miles. The Papas aren’t entirely human, though they once were. Sister Imperator might as well be a Demon and the remainder of them are the Ghouls.
Today, Sodo and Swiss will tell her all about her family. They will tell her what they truly are, what she can expect of them, what she can tell other people, and so much more. So, so much more. She will know everything today. Sodo will tell her all of it for her safety and theirs.
But he’s not sure he wants to do it right now. However, what Evelyn has brought up does tie into it nicely. He looks to Swiss and sees the Multi Ghoul already looking back. Swiss smiles at him, face red from all the coughing and Sodo wants to tell him how much he loves him—how much he loves them both.
“Evelyn,” Sodo starts.
“Yes?” Evelyn asks, bacon halfway to her mouth and frozen in the air as she lifts a brow at him.
“There’s… something your Dad and I need to tell you,” Sodo says softly.
“Are we moving away?” Evelyn immediately asks, horrified.
Swiss, once again, coughs on his beer with a laugh and this time the beer actually comes out of his nose. He yelps, standing up so he doesn’t get it all on his shirt, and quickly moves to get a tissue. Sodo rolls his eyes at the Ghoul’s unintentional antics and turns back to Evelyn.
“We’re not moving away, darling,” Sodo smiles at her.
“Oh, thank Satan,” she mutters in relief, biting down on her bacon. “Then what did you want to tell me?”
“There’s something you should know about the world you live in and your family,” Sodo speaks up, terrified but full of knowing he has to explain this to her.
“Oh,” Evelyn mutters and she puts her plate to the side. “Is that why we’re out here?”
Sodo nods and Swiss returns, still couching a little. He scoots his chair a little closer to Sodo’s and Evelyn copies him, coming close enough to touch. Sodo smiles at the two of them and Swiss holds out his hand, letting Sodo grab it. Evelyn frowns but doesn’t say anything, letting Sodo gather his thoughts.
“You already know our family isn’t entirely normal,” Sodo says and Evelyn nods at this. “What with the relationships and living in a church.”
“I like the church,” Evelyn protests. “And who cares what our house looks like.”
“Some people may care,” Swiss says. “But that doesn’t mean you have to.”
Evelyn nods slowly. She knows this, too. Evelyn is an incredibly smart girl for her age. Sodo is proud.
“So, what else is different?” Evelyn asks. “Milly has two Moms; I don’t see the problem there.”
Sodo shakes his head, “That’s not a problem, darling. It’s what we are that we need to tell you about.”
Evelyn frowns heavily and looks at them, taking in their horns, their pointed ears, and their tails. This is what she grew up around. This is normal for her. But she has also been seeing actual humans for five years now. It must be at least a little confusing.
“What do you mean?” Evelyn questions. “You mean your tails and horns?”
Sodo nods slowly, “We’re not like everyone else, sweetie.”
“I mean, yeah, I knew that when I went to school for the first time. Nobody there has horns or tails,” Evelyn muses. “I thought that was just an us thing, but then I realized I don’t have any horns or tails either… Am I broken?”
Sodo’s ears tip back and he leans forward to grab Evelyn’s hand, squeezing tightly. She’s not broken. Evelyn is perfect as she is and always will be. She might only be a human and not a Ghoul, but she’s not broken at all.
“Darling, you’re perfect,” Sodo says and Swiss nods hastily beside him. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re totally normal. Except for those you live with.”
“Dad, can you not beat around the bush?” Evelyn says with an exasperated sigh.
“Okay,” Sodo nods. “You know we worship Satan while everyone else in the world worships God, right?”
Evelyn nods.
“You know what we look like?” Another nod. “And you know that we can do things that the people at your school cannot?” Another nod.
Sodo inhales sharply and knows that what he says next will determine the rest of his life with Evelyn. He could either lose her because of this or gain a stronger bond. He’s not sure if he wants to know the outcome.
“That’s because we’re from Hell, darling. We’re not human. We’re Ghouls from Hell.”
A beat of silence.
Sodo is unsure if his heart is beating or if something else is thudding in his ears, but he doesn’t want to find out. He looks at Evelyn with fear and hope and an insurmountable amount of love and he wonders if she knows how much she means to him.
And then–
Evelyn smiles. She smiles and she laughs and Sodo thinks he might be crying. But they are tears of joy and not of sorrow. And Evelyn stands to hug him in a tight embrace. Sodo wonders why he’s deserving of this, why Satan has given this to him. He doesn’t know and maybe he never will.
But he knows the Lord Below is listening and he thanks Satan with all that he has.
“I love you, Dad,” Evelyn whispers. “And you, too,” she adds as she looks at Swiss.
Swiss, the emotional bastard that he is, wipes away a tear as well and glomps them in a hug. Sodo buries his face in Evelyn’s neck and inhales her sweet scent; a mix of tangerines, soft pine, and fresh beach waves.
“I love you so, so much,” Sodo tells her.
“Can you tell me more about our family?” Evelyn whispers.
“Of course, whatever you want to know,” Sodo replies, finding Swiss’s hand with his and lacing their fingers together.
“Whatever you want,” Swiss agrees.
Evelyn pulls out of the hug and stares at them. Her eyes glide over their features slowly, taking them in still. She runs a hand over Sodo’s broken horns, traces down his face to his neck, and places her palm over the scarred-over gills. She runs her fingers over Swiss’s pointed ear and looks at their tails, contemplation on her face.
“I want to know everything,” she answers with a smile.