Photograph | Mammon

Nineteen

"You're... not staying?" She looked at Mammon with slight disappointment in her eyes. He almost found himself breaking at the look in her eyes but he had to do it even if it hurt her feelings.

"I... I'll be back for dinner, I have some work in the Devildom"

"...I see" The coldness in her voice made him gulp nervously. How would she feel when she knew he went behind her back?

"Sounds like you don't want to spend time alone with Jonah" he forces a playful nature.

"It's not like that I just--" she cut herself off before she became too emotional, "anyone gets sick of their siblings after some time, and I-I was hoping to finish the art piece"

She was lying. She didn't want to spend time apart from him as she could physically feel her body worsening by the second.

His presence was enough, but he was not giving it to her.

After successfully stealing the transmitter, somehow without failure, he decided to stop by the local bakery to pick up her favourite dessert, tiramisu, to make up for not being with her. He honestly didn't get her fascination; it was pretty mediocre to him, but he'd get it for her regardless.

Feeling lucky that the bakery wasn't immensely popular and that he didn't have to wait in a long ass queue he jogged towards the taxis awaiting a passenger.

As he's walking towards the taxi he notices someone's number flickering from 70 to 0... that was only for someone who was dying with a potentially long life. He wanted to bring himself to ignore it. I mean, it's impossible to save everyone and death is a natural part of life...

But he couldn't brush it off.

With a click of his finger, he transported the deserts into Simeon's room, he'd put it in the house of lamentation but a certain beast would sniff it out and consume it like the animal he was. That beast being his brother Beel.

Once the dessert was safe, he sprinted towards the person. He would teleport but it was relatively crowded and he didn't want to cause a scene forcing him to erase human memories like in the past.

His eyes widen at the weak frail girl on the ground. She looked very ill, and she was evidently untreated. Her clothes were ragged, her hair was matted and her face was dark due to uncleanliness.

...But that was not what he saw.

"LILITH!" He screamed in agony as he supported the girl's weak body against his.

That was all he saw.

His sister.

His beloved sister, whom he had failed to protect in the past. He scooped her up in his arms and teleported to Stephen's hospital, at this point he lost all care for anyone witnessing him.

"I HAVE AN INJURED GIRL—ITS URGENT!" The healthcare staff were taken aback by the sudden commotion but without question, they rushed towards the girl and helped her onto a hospital bed without any question.

Mammon sat there waiting. He had already apologetically messaged them to cancel dinner plans. He felt a bit bad, but he couldn't leave the kid alone. At least until her parents come back. He sits there in the chair with his head in his hands as his leg anxiously shakes.

"Mark... I heard you brought in the girl?"

He lifted his head up and his eyes met with Stephen. "Is she--"

"Her condition is currently stable... but it's unlikely that it'll last—are you perhaps related to the girl at all?"

"No... I happened to see her passed out"

Stephen sat down beside him, "from data records... it appears that her parents passed away recently in a car accident"

She's an orphan? "I-I see... you said that her stable condition won't last?"

"Well, she appears to have a heart condition that was left untreated due to her parent's poverty—only a heart transplant will save her now"
"...why are you telling me?"

"Because the girl's blood type matches with hers, and as her condition is not involved with the heart--"

Mammon's eyes widened in absolute horror. "What are you..."

"She put herself down for organ donation, and her time is relatively short--"

"No it's not!"

The doctor froze. Mammon had been a relatively chill guy for the time that he had known him... so he never expected such a reaction. He then evaluated his own insensitivity to the matter. He realised just how rudely he spoke to a patient's cared one.

"Mark, I apologise for my bluntness... I should've spoke with more consideration"

"...No, it's not your fault completely... it's just a lot" he sighed deeply as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

Mammon wanted to give her another year, another year to give him and Jonah peace.

But would that year give her peace?

It was apparent that she was fully prepared to die. She even wished to use her own body to grant others a chance to live.

Who was he to take that away from her?

"Luci---"

"WHAT!"

"... YOU ARE ALWAYS SO MEAN TO ME"
"DO YOU EVER HAVE ANYTHING USEFUL TO SAY? HUH?"

"STILL--"

"LAST WEEK, you told me to pull your finger--" Mammon snickered causing another wrinkle to form on Lucifer's perfect face. "Don't waste my time"

"But Lucifer... I have a genuine question"

"...does it involve you farting, burping, pissing or shitting?"

"Okay, you know damn well I don't piss and shit for fun"

"Just spit it out..."

"...do you think we have a right to dictate others' lives?"

The oddly philosophical question made Lucifer's eyes widen, he never expected Mammon to trigger an intellectual conversation. "Well, it's dependent on the situation"

"As expected..."

"Like a parent can dictate their young kids as they're not capable of thinking for themselves reasonably... but even then there are exceptions or examples of abuse--"

"This wasn't what I was going for..."

"For mortality... I don't think we have a right to interfere"

"...you think?"

He nodded, "We all have a small purpose in the grand scheme of things... and people live with a certain knowledge of their longevity--"

"E.N.G.L.I.S.H."

He sighed, "What do you think is the biggest difference between humans and us?"

"They're alive?"

"We carry out MRS GREN, so scientifically we're alive"

"...MRS GREN?"

Lucifer didn't have the energy to point out Mammon's evident lack of revision, "What I was trying to get at is... humans all have a plan, they all have goals according to our own prediction of their mortality... who are we to take that privilege from them?"

He placed the transmitter back onto Lucifer's desk. He could NOT believe that he agreed with his older brother's ideologies and views... what happened to him?

Mammon teleported into Simeon's room... and the tiramisu was nowhere to be seen?

"BEEL!"