Despite her promise, Mariane didn’t tell anything to the princes, and Thomas was getting tired and furious. Every passing day was harder than the other, as she didn’t talk to him anymore, and he was unable to emute her as perfectly as he did before. The touches, hugs, and caresses of the demons were nauseating, and the more it happened, the more Thomas felt the urge to disappear. He always smiled as Mariane would, but he would inwardly flinch everytime someone came close to him. Unfortunately, this had repercussions in the inner world too, and Larotte couldn’t hug him anymore, less his aura would become even colder.

  Two months after their arrival in Hell, Thomas couldn’t stand it anymore. On that day, Mariane was coming home te, since her talk with the professor had taken a while, and the princes were already at the dormitory. That was when Thomas, who was cofronting, decided to talk.

  “Mariane, this can’t go on.”

  “Shut up, it’s my life.”

  He felt his anger rise again, but forced himself to calm down, if only for Fotgely’s sake.

  “I hate when those guys touch me. One day I might react strongly without wanting to. If you don’t want the princes to think that you hate them, you need to tell the truth before I snap.”

  The girl was pouting.

  “It’s your problem if you hate it. I like hugs.”

  “Mariane, please. You are being unfair to me. I know that it’s your life, and that’s why I’ve waited so long, but I can’t do it anymore.”

  She was about to answer, when suddenly a bck haired demon they didn’t know appeared in front of them. His eyes were arched like two crescent moons, and his face contorted in a strange smirk. He seemed like a typical bad guy.

  “I see the princes aren’t with you today. Are they already at the dormitory ?”

  Mariane, who didn’t seem to notice anything abnormal, replied in a high pitched voice.

  “Yes, they are ! Why ? Do you need something from them ?”

  “No, Mariane, don’t talk to him !”

  It was too te. The demon had deployed his bck webbed wings, and unched himself towards the girl. Before she could react, a red light was coming through his palm, and the spell made Mariane lose consciousness. Before completely falling asleep, Thomas had one thought.

  ‘So, it’s the kidnapping event, huh ?’

  ***

  They opened their eyes in a dark room without any windows, only illuminated by a weak light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a basement area of some sorts, and the bck haired demon was looking at them with his creepy smirk.

  “Finally awake ? I didn’t know humans were that weak, otherwise I would have used a less powerful spell. Well, anyway, it doesn’t matter. You aren’t getting out of here alive.”

  Mariane was completely frozen in fear, shaking, but Thomas stayed calm.

  “I told you that you would be attacked. This is proof that this world is a game, it’s a typical plot. Now, don’t worry, your knights in shining armor will come to save you soon.”

  “What are you saying ? I can’t move at all, I’m chained to the wall and we are in a basement, how would they find me !”

  Thomas was indeed feeling the cold metal on his wrists and ankles. It was strange, usually in dating games, the female lead isn’t chained like this. Unless…

  “But before I eat you, should I look at what you are hiding ?”

  The demon approached with a greedy smile, and Thomas started inwardly shaking too.

  ‘This isn’t an 18+ game, right ? Tell me it’s an innocent dating simutor !’

  But despite his desperate plea, nobody kicked down the door and stopped the man, who was now crouching over Mariane’s body.

  “I heard that human women taste good everywhere. It’s my first time with a non-demon, this will be fun !”

  Using his long nails, he ripped open the uniform vest and the suit, and slipped his fingers under the fabric, feeling the white skin. Thomas wanted to puke.

  “Kick him ! Headbutt him ! Sm your body forward, do something !”

  But Mariane was still frozen in shock, unable to even utter a sound.

  “Please, I’m begging you, move !”

  Thomas was getting desperate, as the demon brought his head closer and was licking the girl’s neck. A tear ran down Mariane’s check, and ended up on the man’s tongue.

  “I like this, it’s salty ! Won’t you cry more for me ? Or should I make you cry ?”

  He raised Mariane’s skirt and started running his fingers on her thighs. Thomas' mind was getting blurry, as if the glitch of the inner world’s living room had invited itself in his brain. He felt as if his entire being was being ripped apart.

  “Please… Stop… No…”

  He wasn’t able to move because he wasn’t in control, the only thing he could do was see and feel. He was in the body but he also wasn’t. As his mind was getting even less clear, he soon couldn’t see anything anymore. The nightmarish sensations were the only things occupying his brain.

  “Make it stop… I want to disappear, please…”

  And soon, there was nothing else.

  ***

  When the seven princes finally kicked down the door and apprehended the man, they found Mariane naked, her clothes ripped apart, with blood on her thighs. She was in shock, unable to move or speak, her gaze lost in the air without looking at anything.

  Beliar, the delinquent, immediately started punching the kidnapper to relieve his furry, while Paimon was covering Mariane with his coat.

  “You fucking asshole ! What are you, an animal ?”

  “Fuck, stop punching ! I did what any demon would have done, it’s you all who are weird !”

  Asmoday approached and spit in the demon’s face, his eyes shining with an icy coldness.

  “How dare you touch my beauty in such a crude way ? You don’t deserve to live.”

  “I can agree on that.”

  The seven princes turned their heads to discover king Bael, with a face contorted by anger. The kidnapper immediately froze, understanding his situation. He had touched a guest of the king. He wouldn’t get out of this with a few excuses.

  “Such a thing shouldn’t happen in Hell anymore, we aren’t savage beasts. Baam, take him to the dungeon.”

  The aide bowed gracefully and changed to his demon form, using his power to transport the frozen kidnapper away. With that done, Bael could finally turn to the lifeless Mariane. He crouched near her and took her pulse. Thankfully, she was only in shock but not dead.

  “There used to be several people behind those eyes, but now there is no one. How sad.”

  He had muttered under his breath, so that none of the princes could hear. After thinking for a while, he held the girl in his arms and lifted her off the ground.

  “Go back to your dorm, I’ll get her treated.”

  The princes nodded with a bitter look. They wanted to do something, be it nursing Mariane back to health or beating up the asshole who had hurt her, but they knew that they weren’t of any help as of now. The king smiled affectionately.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll call you as soon as she gets better. Now, go back. It’s far past the curfew.”

  He looked at the princes leaving, and slowly moved too, making his way to Hell’s castle.

  “I hope you aren’t gone forever, little man. I would like to know you.”

  ***

  The inner world was broken. It was not a small earthquake, like when Mariane and Thomas had fought, but a big fissure that cut even the bck void in the sky. Fotgely had shattered in an instant, and Peacock was glitching, strange poems flowing out of his open head. Anne-Antoinette seemed more or less fine, but Larotte was stuck in a cycle of growing up and then getting small again. There was only one expnation : the mind had colpsed.

  Floating above the fragments of the inner world and its half erased residents, there was a ball of light shining softly. It was Mariane. Anne-Antoinette approached, looking up at the principal personality.

  “What happened ? What was so terrible that your entire being got bruised ?”

  She didn’t get any answer, but she could guess thanks to Thomas’ strange theories, and the fact that he wasn’t anywhere in sight. For the guardian to disappear, something soul crushing must have transpired.

  Larotte approached, with her disturbing changing form.

  “Annette ? Where is Thomas ?”

  The old woman couldn’t reply, she didn’t have the answer herself. She looked at all the poems escaping Peacock’s being, as he slowly faded into nothingness.

  “It’s sad. What a tragedy. Losing two friends in a single day… Even you, my dear, are going to change.”

  Larotte nodded, while observing the poems fly towards her and mixing into her ever changing body.

  “Will I still be myself ?”

  Anne-Antoinette smiled.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you will be Larotte, maybe Peacock, maybe both, maybe someone completely different. But do not be afraid, for I will still be here either way.”

  Reassuring the personalities who were going through changes was usually Thomas’ job. He would also make sure to welcome the new personalities that would appear after such a disastrous event, but he was nowhere to be found. Did he still exist ? Was he in the control room while Mariane was recovering ? Or was he gone for good, and nobody was piloting this wounded body ? Anne-Antoinette had no way to know. She could only do her best to appease Larotte and keep an eye on Mariane.