MH - Happy Never After

Julius had never loved him.

That truth rang through Damien’s head like a shotgun blast as he stumbled towards his dorm room. Julius had never cared about him. He fumbled with his key in the lock before finally getting the door open. One half of the room held Damien’s things, and the other held Julius’s. He had never really realized how Julius’s half seemed significantly larger than his own.

Struggling to walk those last few steps, the boy entered the room and immediately curled up on his bed, without even bothering to remove his shoes or jacket.

Julius had only ever thought of him as a tool. A toy. His opinion of him only went as far as his entertainment value and usefulness in battle. He’d never considered him a lover, or even a friend. The first person who had ever seemed to give a shit about Damien, and it had all been an act.

Damien drew in a shaky breath, only to choke on it. He’d trusted Julius. He’d only ever wanted to make him happy, to help him, to show him how much he meant to him. God, he’d sold his soul for him. Every time he’d transformed into that ridiculous outfit and put his life on the line to help battle witches had all been for Julius.

Oh, the things he’d done for Julius. The things he had let Julius do to him. He’d thought the boy’s touches were comforting, romantic… But all they had been were Julius’s attempts to further claim him, control him, ruin him so that no one else would ever touch him again, and he’d be forced to remain attached to the golden-eyed demon to get even a shred of affection in the world. He wanted to claw his skin off, he felt so violated.

What had it all been for, then? His wish was useless. His powers were useless. He was useless.  He tore the pendant that held his soul gem from his neck, and it changed back into its original egg-shaped form. Its normally bright violet glow was tainted and corrupted with murkiness, perfectly reflecting how Damien felt about himself at the moment. He remembered the first time he had held this gem, when Bater formed it from his soul with Julius watching on triumphantly. It was exactly what that bastard had wanted, another pawn in the magi game to help ease his own difficulties.

Damien wanted to smash it, break it apart in his own two hands as a final act of defiance against Julius’s scheming. But he was too weak; his pale fingers only pressed and squeezed at the gem to no avail. He sobbed.

It didn’t matter that he couldn’t break it, though. The darkness that roiled inside it would make sure of that.

Later, when Julius came back to the room, he would be greeted by the sight of a witch’s labyrinth, with his sweet roommate nowhere to be found.

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Originally I was planning to actually line this and everything, but the gritty pencil texture ended up looking a lot more raw and emotional, so I kept it.

this is probably how poor damien's gonna go out if he never gets any intervention orz

Soul gem 75%