“𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕙𝕚𝕞. 𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠 𝕖𝕩𝕔𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕪 𝕓𝕖𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕣… 𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥, 𝕀 𝕒𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕚𝕫𝕖 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟, 𝕊𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕟.”
“--Stop screwing around!”
Surely the ones responsible for the deeper mechanisms controlling his fate were mocking him at this point, they had to be; it’s by this very notion that the budding supreme primarch knows when he’s being placed in a humiliating position and can’t even do a single thing to rectify it all. --Again, again he had only begun to take a more complacent approach with Lucifer after the last incident, and yet despite everything they had clarified between them, Sandalphon can only come to one unfortunate logical truth that his creator had chosen not to rely on him.
“…𝕐𝕠𝕦’𝕧𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟. 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕚𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗? …ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕤 𝕀’𝕧𝕖 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕪𝕠𝕦.”
Why did you lie?
Why did you outright lie to me?!
Heavy footfalls strike the pavement as Sandalphon rushes out of his home, mind spinning through the dialogue now plaguing his mind, his own maddening echo chamber; that their once heartfelt meaning comes crumbling down, that his core is filled to the brim with these anxieties...
He hasn’t felt this much betrayal since before he committed the many atrocities in search of selfish validation.
“𝕀 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕞𝕪 𝕗𝕒𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕚𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟, 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕙 𝕊𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕟. 𝕃𝕖𝕥 𝕦𝕤 𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕥𝕠𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.”
--But it had never happened.
This sudden backpedaling was so unprecedented, Sandalphon would never have expected Lucifer to do something like this, to just leave him behind despite having given him such honest recognition.
If I am the supreme primarch, if I have so much apparent control over the fates of others, why am I still the one so desperately trying to catch up to you?!
“ℍ𝕒𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕙 𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕒𝕝, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕓𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕪𝕖𝕤…”
--And it’s then that the unwelcomed mixed messages conflicting him immediately extinguish his flame, and against what would most likely be his better judgement, lands him on the nearest rooftop just as he had taken flight. He stands at a devastating crossroads, wanting to justify his anger and pointing an accusatory finger at Lucifer again, but....
--..is it really his fault?
Wouldn’t this be exactly what Lucilius wanted out of this? To toy with their relationship and use the weakened Lucifer as his own Achilles's Heel to possibly take back his inheritance? To obtain those wings from him?
“--...... Hah.... What wings?”
As the glare of the sun beams down from the shifting cumulus above, the intense rays filtering through the bristling appendages at his back set ablaze to the earthen colored plumes and brush them with a shade of balmy orange...almost white to focused eye. But if only, right?
--Yes, that’s exactly it.
In the end, he doesn’t even have the righteous mantel that gives him any sort of relevancy. In the end, he’s still the same hopeless spare just floundering about, just with a little more hopeless confidence in his stride.
Lucifer-sama...
Can you really not trust me without them...?
However, his heels remain rooted to the cracked and faded shingles beneath him, waves of unpleasant anxiety filtering throughout his entire being and immobilizing him with utter dread.
It isn’t until many, many moments later that he finally decides to retreat back, accepting this hard-hitting truth, and wondering just what his next course of action will even be....