"We believe that encaging our thoughts and true emotions,

makes us stronger than those who surround us...

We are wrong..."

~Pamy

The pressure and wind inside the portal made it difficult for Mammon to fly steady. From time to time a gust of wind would make his balance falter and an invisible gravitational force would pull on him making him contract more his wing and abdominal muscles until they ached from too much work placed unto them.

He cursed as once again his flight was disturbed by the chaotic atmosphere around them. Even staring at the spiraling and twisting of its space made both, Satan and Mammon, confused and dizzy.

Satan counted approximately in his head how much time they've spent searching and estimating the odds for them all to come out from the portal on time, before it closed.

Mammon complained,

"How much further?! This whole thing is getting on my nerves! Everywhere I look it's the same!"

Satan tried to calm both his and Mammon's nerves. Even he was getting a little bit exasperated by their current situation, but they had to keep on going. In no time, he was sure of it, they will find Lucifer and hopefully, Pamy with him.

Noticing how Mammon's wings have been twitching at every bating they made, opposing the pull on the gravitational force upon them, he could think of a possible explanation as to why Lucifer didn't come out immediately from the portal. The factor's impact upon wings bones and muscle made them strain and ache. The more weight they had to carry, the more the pull on them by the force affected their power flight capacity. Not even Beel's wings could sustain appropriately among this environment.

A rumble and twist of the vortex made Mammon stop flying forward and remain in place. This action took precious time from them, leaving Satan in doubt to how things will turn out for them from here. There was no way to avoid it though. If Mammon continued to fly during the portal's spontaneous contortions, his wings could break and just thinking at how far they were, and obviously, that didn't sound like a good idea.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from beyond all their surroundings. It was different from the other sounds they've listened since they entered the portal.

Mammon glanced at all sides he could.

"Satan..."

Satan's forehead began to sweat as soon as he noticed the same thing, probably, Mammon noticed as well.

"Satan... Why is it shrinking...?"

Satan yelled at Mammon.

"Forget about that! Fly back Mammon!"

Mammon hesitated but resumed flight towards the same way they had come from.

Satan wasn't sure if Lucifer and Pamy will catch up to them, but he just hoped they would.

The walls of the cortex spiraled at tremendous speed as they closed unto them and what made matters worse was, the sudden loosening of the chains do to the forces of the vortex.

_______________________________________________*_________________________________________

Everyone in the house library was panicking as the spiraling hole in the ceiling started to shrink.

Solomon fought against the surges of energy the portal expelled, to remain in stance.

He exclaimed,

"BEEL! PULL! PULL THEM OUT NOW!"

Terror crawled over Solomon's body. He knew, that whoever gets trapped inside magic portals, could either end up in a place unknown to them, but in the worst case scenario, they could stir inside it for eternity; perishing inside the infinity of it all.

_______________________________________________*_________________________________________

Satan was trying hard enough to retain the chains in his grasp. Veins in his knuckles and forehead started to made themselves visible, making apparent that he was giving it his all as to not let them loosen up.

Another rumble sounded as Mammon's energy was faltering, making him go slower than what was needed to escape.

The exit to the portal seemed close, but Mammon's wings weren't budging.

Satan exclaimed with a glare on his sweat covered face.

"MAMMON! MOVE DAMMIT! MOVE!"

Mammon yelled back,

"I AM TRYING!"

The portal was shrinking now at a faster speed. Mammon and Satan both reluctantly already accepting they would not make it decided to open up to each other.

Mammon,

"You know... You and the others are always calling me names... Scumbag, Worthless thing, Stupid Mammon and other names that to be sincere, hurt me... Yes... The Great Mammon gets hurt every time his family doesn't treat him as he would like to be treated... That is... To be nice to me... To acknowledge me as one of your brothers and my worth to you... And don't tell me that I am wrong for thinking like this... Even if I sound dramatic, I am serious..."

Satan frowned, reflecting on what Mammon was telling him.

"But you know... Even if you guys hurt me like that, I still know it's for my own good... Sometimes... I know that you guys care for me as much as I care for you all... And that's enough for me..."

Mammon looked at Satan with a smile, a genuine sweet smile.

That made Satan scowl but soon after smile back while giving his piece of mind.

"I always thought that I didn't belong with you guys. I was like Levi, not fitting in, and enjoying my time alone more than having others around... I guess I was trying to protect myself from any other emotions to open up to me. I think... I think I was always afraid to be hurt in some way or another... And DON'T try to make fun of me because..."

Mammon interjected,

"I won't..."

And from out of nowhere a pair of hands encircled them both accompanied by a low chuckle.

"It seems you two are more emotional than I thought."

Both of them became fully red as they looked up to Lucifer who I securely hugged on tight to.

I giggled.

"Stop messing with them now. We have more serious matters to attend to."

Taking that as a sign, Lucifer nodded and all of us holding tight to each other, he made a swift movement with his wings, and as fast as a projectile, went through the portal's hole, seconds before it quickly closed up on itself and disappeared.

Everyone of us laid splattered on the floor of the library, breathing heavy as we came back to ourselves after the panic.

I was the one to start laughing, and after having them all look at me with weird gazes, they joined in on the crazed laughter, proof that we were all safe and relieved.