Seven Years (Season II Opening)

Seven years. Seven years of advocating for their sons, only to be denied their wishes to have them return to their proper ages. Arguments, raged filled quarrels, distrust, and exile all targeted towards their grandfather who stole the very essence of what it meant for them to be children. And though deep inside, even he’d known he’d gone too far by the heartbroken looks in their eyes, he made them as well as everyone accept what could not and would not be changed. And perhaps in all the fighting, all the *adults* forgot one important thing. That it was the children who’d been used as pawns. No one else’s pain was greater than theirs. It took a quiet dinner, and tears in Callum's eyes as he avoided the pain in Eva’s, for her to finally see what they all had been doing to her sons.

"I-I know we aren’t your little boys any more mom…but we’re still your sons. We didn’t ask for this. Why is everyone treating us like it’s our fault? We just want to move forward…please.”

They couldn’t even look at her. Seeing her pain caused them pain, and it was then she stopped fighting, and did what was best for her son. And so seven years four brother spent, two in heaven, two in hell and three on Earth in their mother and father’s arms.

Learning through agonizing magic, and horrid experiences, lessons that no child should ever have to learn so young. And though she cried every night in her husband's arms for her sons, Eva took to the day showing them the type of true compassion that they needed. It took seven years for four little boys to become men and for the toll of their stolen childhoods to become more and more evident.

Callum grew to loathe the Heavens. The hypocrisy of his grandfather that tore into him daily, as once he was one of his most favorite people in the world. He got into a lot of trouble. His mischief leading to criminal records, thievery, his need to conquer any and everything being the sole force that drove him. Though he was smart, he had no desire for education or anything that felt remotely decent. Because to do something remotely decent, meant potentially doing something good, and if he did something good, he would please his grandfather, and he refused to do that.

He hated the hurt on his mother's face. Each time the cracks in her heart grew wider and wider. And eventually, he took to tattooing himself to remind him of his mother’s pain. Every charge, every criminal court hearing, every time he heard her cry, another mural laced his skin until his entire body was covered. And on the day, he realized he would have to start in on his face, he went to his mother and begged her with everything in him to please forgive him and aid him in redemption.

Waylon's anger had become so volatile, the others soon grew to fear him. Any and everything made him seep with rage, often Alaric being the only one who could keep him calm. It wasn’t that he wanted to be that way, he just didn’t know any other route to take. He loved to fight, he loved to kill because both allowed him to release a little more of his agony. His brothers avoided him, driving him into a deeper place of fury, until one day he could hardly breathe. The pain of being angry and alone so great, he took his first step onto the ledge.

"I heard it’s just like flying,” he said out loud, feeling Declan’s presence.

"But if you fly when I need your feet on the ground here with me…what kind of big brother would you be?”

Waylon chuckled, "You got two more.”

"Yep…but I was given three…and I quite enjoy all of them. Including the one named Waylon.”

So with the help of his brother, Waylon stepped down from the ledge and that night he went to his father and asked him for his help.

Fabian was more like his father than he realized. Nothing seemed to satisfy him. The more he took, the more he wanted, the more he needed to get some sort of feeling. His appetite for sex and blood, left a trail of drained bodies behind him. And because he was so much like his father, he had women lined up around the corner. The thing about random hookups is that sometimes after, you feel more dead inside than before. Because nothing ever satiated Fabian, the numbed pain of nothingness just continued to grow. Described as the one with no emotions, he seemed to live life on autopilot. Disappearing for weeks at a time, coming back high on anything he could get his hands on to make him feel like something other than a disgusting failure.

He sat outside of the porch of his house one night and watched his parents through the window. Alaric waltz Eva around the living room, her smile filled with so much love. But it was the way his father looked at his mother, that really got to his heart. He didn’t know it, but they’d seen him and immediately rushed outside. They wrapped a blanket around him, and he wept in their arms asking repeatedly why he didn’t deserve that type of completion.

Declan was the one Eva watched constantly. Telling Alaric something was wrong. He was the rock, he was always strong, he reminded her so much of herself. Like a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode, her baby boy absorbed every one’s pain while hiding his own. He said nothing about the looming thoughts that took over his mind, because to do so, would mean they would think he was weak. He couldn’t allow that, not when everyone needed him, not when he had to fix everything. He went to school, he worked a job, he did everything to be the best brother and son he could be. The thing about mental pain is sometimes, it’s a starting signal for the physical to come. At a celebration dinner for his graduation from undergrad, Declan looked at his family and collapsed. His heart stopped, and as he looked around, he saw Lucifer and his grandfather. He prepared to join either, but upon finding out he was to return, it was the first time they saw him cry.

"Please don’t make me go back…they’ll be so disappointed. I-I let them all down.”

When he did return to Earth, seeing his brothers and family by his side made him realize there is strength in asking for help.

Seven years. It took seven years for the ramifications of four little boys being forced to grow up too early to be seen. But with the help of their parents who would literally move heaven and hell for them, they started to walk the road to recovery.