Etana led Seiji into a large mansion whose floor was covered with soft carpets. "Are we, uh... allowed to just barge in like that?" Seiji asked uncertainly and nervously tugged at his school uniform. Etana nodded. "We are. Come on." She climbed up a flight of stairs and went along the banister to a black door with a name written on it in gold: Lucifer. Seiji was nervous. Etana knocked at the door. It was quiet on the other side until the door opened and Seiji saw him. Lucifer. And he didn't look a single bit like he expected him to. The devil had raven black, partly very dishevelled hair, a flawless face with defined features and pale skin. His face was... beautiful. Apart from the scars that adorned it, it was very pretty. His red eyes watched Seiji closely. "...Hello, Etana. I can guess why you're here.", "This is Seiji", she said. "I found him on Amaranth Road.", "I see." Lucifer nodded. For a short time, his eyes became glassy before he sighed deeply and lowered his gaze kind of troubled. "Thank you, Etana. Give me a moment alone with him." Etana nodded, turned around and walked away, and with her departure, the panic struck Seiji in the face. His heart began to race. "Come on in", Lucifer said, turned around and disappeared into the room. Seiji considered turning around and running away, but Lucifer probably wouldn't approve of it and would find him anyway, so he quickly distanced himself from that thought. Instead, he nodded silently and entered the room hesitantly. He closed the door, hoping not to make a mistake. Lucifer closed a device and pushed it onto his desk. It took Seiji a moment to realize that it was a Nintendo DS. That surprised him. Lucifer played on a Nintendo?
"Well..." The black-haired guy turned to Seiji. "...Depression, huh?" Seiji froze. "H-how do you know...?", "I control time", Lucifer replied. "It also allows me to see things from the past if I want to. It's like googling. I look for certain things in the past that concern something or someone and then I see them in the form of a vision." He tilted his head slightly. "You've had a hard time... I'm sorry this happened to you, Seiji-kun. It must have hurt, right? The scars on your body prove that." Seiji shivered silently. "...", "I know you don't usually want to talk about it." Lucifer turned to the window. "Memories sometimes hurt way more than scars do." Seiji scrutinized him. Lucifer was different. Somehow. He seemed neither threatening nor evil, neither hateful nor aggressive or angry. He seemed... normal. Seiji clenched his hands to fists as he dared to ask something: "Can I trust the people here...?" Lucifer looked at him over his shoulder. "Trust is subjective. Ultimately, it's yours to decide that. You can, in fact, trust everybody on this earth, but just a few are really trustworthy. Those who fear betrayal have known betrayal, so when you are betrayed, you gain a lesson for life, which is not that bad after all too, is it?" Seiji thought about it for a moment and then lowered his head. A shadow fell over his face. "...What do I know about trust anyway... I lied to him... I thought he'd never understand... I didn't trust him...", "Pardon?", "My best friend... I didn't tell him what was going on... I..." He desperately tried to suppress the tears that wanted to make their way down. He fell on his knees and clenched his teeth, holding back a tremble. "I didn't... trust him...! I didn't tell him I was on suicide risk....!!" Lucifer now seemingly knew what he was talking about. He completely turned around to him now and was quiet for a moment. Something dripped down on the ground before Seiji's knees. "So... you think lying and withholding is the same?" Lucifer went towards Seiji and fell on one knee to take one of Seiji's hands and hold it in both of his. "Huh...?" Seiji looked at him. "A lie is something you say. Not something you don't say. A lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one's reality to the person who we lies to, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from there on to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked... Those who lie to the world are the world's slaves from there on. Withholding the truth however is not, in and of itself, the same as a lie. It depends on the reason why you decide to hide a piece of truth inside yourself if you seek to protect yourself through this action. It's too late to take back a lie, but never too late to reveal the truth you've been hiding. That's a decisive difference. Everyone, in fact, has something he doesn't want the world to know because they are afraid of how the world would respond to it. There's no point in judging people for that. However, withholding quickly can turn into a lie if you hide truth that can deal harm to the one you hide it from, or rather, if you owe that piece of information to him, it's just not basically the same. In your case, it's not a lie. It is true, lies sometimes are moral, and withholding sometimes isn't... It really depends on the circumstances, after all. Believe me, I know that feeling when you want to tell somebody what's going on, but you can't because it's too painful to face the possibility they'd turn away from you. I am the last one to judge you for it. Life is all about decisions and making mistakes, nobody here really is an exception. Don't cry... There's no need to.", "Lucifer..." Seiji wiped over his face with his free hand and sought for hold by clinging to Lucifer's fingers. "Why are you so kind to me...? We barely know each other...", "Well... I have a lot of sympathy for broken people", Lucifer said and smiled slightly. "Let's just say, I don't like people to sit in the corner of their rooms, cry their eyes out and realize that no one knows how unhappy they are. It's not fine with me. I don't want people to cry and know nobody cares. Because if they cry... it always has a certain reason. Crying, against all odds, is not a sign of being weak, but a sign of having a heart. You're not strong because you can hold back your tears, smile and lock it up, but rather, you are strong when you cry, then wipe your tears away and move on as if nothing happened. It's just like getting punched in a fight. It hurts and you go down, but you get back up again and give it one more try. You just have to learn what's worth your tears and what isn't. It's too early to cry... nothing's lost yet." Seiji looked into Lucifer's face. And right here and now, he knew that, no matter what, this guy was good. He didn't care about the myths and legends and stories written or told about him, they were all a lie. "Are you strong enough to get up?" Lucifer asked. Seiji breathed in deeply and nodded before Lucifer pulled him back on his feet. "Raise your head, Seiji. It's not too late to start over. Don't throw your life away, it hasn't started yet... I promise you I will try my best to make you feel better. Okay?" Seiji looked at him and smiled slightly. "Thank you, Mr. Lu-", "Would you please stop that Mr-crap? Just call me Lucifer." Lucy shook his head. "No need to thank me, by the way. I do it gladly." He patted Seiji's shoulder. "You smile. That's already a great beginning and one tiny step into the right direction, young man." Seiji blushed and looked away. "...U-uh... y-yeah... right..."