Seven Devils

Chapter 35 - Bittersweet

~ Chapter 35 ~

When you're sick you can feel it. You can feel the bad swarming inside of you slowly trying to take you down. But your body responds and reacts to something foreign trying to destroy you. I felt this shortly after Phoenix married his wife. Have I told anyone? No. I'm afraid to, because they'll worry. I look fine, I think I'm fine for the sake of my family but I know that I'm dying. I know I won't make it till Zora's daughter's birth and I'm sad.

I couldn't imagine the look in Tempests' eyes if he knew what I knew. He would drop everything. He wouldn't want to let me go and I am going to need him to.

I've noticed that Tempest seems fine, so do my other Devils. They're as cheerful as butterflies in the Springtime. I seem to be the only one who feels like a cancer patient. So, I've been taking notes and writing letters. Letters to Tempest, letters to my sons, letters to my Devils, letters to my daughter and her husband, letters to my unborn grandchildren, letters to my reincarnation. I've been writing and writing as much as I could possibly write in my spare time. So far, I've written three hundred letters. Clearly I have a lot of free time.

While Tempest is busy trying his best to prepare for our anniversary, I've been sitting at home only hoping I make it that far. I would hate to not make it. That would destroy Tempest and I couldn't bear to imagine him in distraught. I love him so.

There was a knock at my door, I furrowed my brow. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Your favorites," I heard my Devils say from the other side. I grinned.

"Come in," I said amused. In entered Aric, Alucard, Valen, Sven, and Rex. They shut the door behind themselves and took seats in my study. I finished a letter I was writing and hid it in my desk. I looked up to my Devils. "What brings you here?" I asked with a smile.

They looked to each other, and that's when I knew they knew. Rex was the first to speak. "Why haven't you told him?" I clenched my jaw and looked down.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Alucard saw it," Rex said. "Why haven't you told him?"

"The same reason why you haven't," I said with a glare. "Because he would die knowing that I'm dying."

"How long have you known?" Valen asked softly.

"A couple of months," I said softly. "I don't know how much longer I have left."

"Is that why you're writing so much?" Aric asked.

"Yeah," I murmured. "I don't want anyone to forget."

"No one's going to forget anything, Zelda, do you not know the effect you have on people?" Sven asked. "On us? All of us?"

"We love you for Christ sakes," Alucard snapped. "Do you not think I've told my sons about you? About how I wish it was me?"

"Stop it!" I yelled at them. "Don't scold me like I have control over any of this! I didn't ask to be a Devil, I didn't ask to be taken to Night, I didn't ask to fall in love with any of you, I didn't ask for this fate! Don't pin this on me like I saw it coming!"

Valen ran a hand through his hair and Rex stood. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath before speaking. "We came here not to scold you but to see if there was anything we could do. Tempest won't be the only one wounded by your loss."

"Don't act like them, Rex," I begged. "Don't worry about me, focus on Althea."

Rex smiled. "I already told you, Zelda, I love Althea and I always will. But what we have, what we feel for you is just something every Devil will feel for the Human. We'll always have that lust, that desire towards the Human. I can't prevent it, they can't prevent it. We don't want to love you, Zelda, we want to be able to live our own lives without worrying about you all the time, but that's just a part of being a Devil. I've accepted this the day I met you."