pieces of you

all we need of hell

the hollowness that consumes seulgi is unlike anything she’s experienced, after all, she’s never known a world without lucifer. from the moment god breathed existence into her, seungwan’s presence had always been a constant. no matter how the earth changed, no matter how many wars they waged, seulgi would always stand on her side and somehow, they would always make it out alive.

 

death isn’t something many demons take seriously, not since azrael stopped her killing spree. there has been no real threat since then and perhaps they’ve all let their guards down. seungwan had many brushes with death, though there was never a wound too fatal. winning a duel against god was enough to convince everyone that she was unkillable, even seulgi believed that.

 

maybe that’s why her death doesn’t feel real, part of seulgi believes that if she looks hard enough, seungwan would reappear and mock them for even thinking she could die.

 

the sensation of seungwan’s magic slipping away from her fingertips reminds her that it is unlikely to happen.

 

seulgi’s descent into the underworld passes by in a haze, the hellfire barrier burns but it’s easy to ignore the pain when you have the death of your best friend weighing on your shoulders. she moves on instinct, making her way to someone who could ease this ache.

 

yerim prepares her usual drink as seulgi shuffles into the bar. sliding into a seat at the counter, the demon king looks up at baal with reddened eyes.

 

“did sooyoung break your heart or something? what’s with the teary eyes?” yerim remarks playfully, blissfully unaware of the burden that seulgi is bearing.

 

beelzebub buries her face in her hands before resting them by her temples, if this is what grief feels like, she finally understands why mortals wish for mundane things like happiness and peace. heaving out a breath, seulgi forces herself to speak.

 

“wannie’s dead, yerim.” she can’t help the crack in her voice, in a haunting whisper, she locks eyes with the other demon, “joohyun commanded her out of existence. she killed her.”

 

the glass in yerim’s hand shatters under the demon’s strength, she faces her fellow king, eyes rife with disbelief and fury.

 

baal’s tone is quiet yet deadly when she speaks, “are you very sure, seulgi? if this is a joke, now would be a good time to let me know.”

 

seulgi exhales a shaky breath and shakes her head, “i felt her magic fading and she left her jacket behind.” locking eyes with yerim, she murmurs, “she’s gone.”

 

“get sooyoung away from her if you want, i won’t be held responsible for what the others do to her.”

 

a warning from the fallen angel of annihilation terrifies seulgi and she knows better than to take it lightly.

 

“you’re going to kill her?” seulgi gasps.

 

“it’s what i should’ve done the first time she hurt her,” yerim slams a fist on the counter as she hisses, “if i did, she would be here, heartbroken instead of dead!”

 

her outburst catches everyone by surprise, the whole bar grows quiet. seulgi hears chairs creaking as demons rise to their feet, dread fills her when they begin approaching the counter.

 

“who’s dead?” paimon demands.

 

yerim inhales deeply, “lucifer.”

 

asmodeus scoffs, “no ing way, she can’t die!” 

 

“she signed a pact and got herself wished out of existence.”

 

the crowd of demons fall silent to process her words, for someone as powerful as lucifer to meet her end like this didn’t feel right. she should’ve had a heroic death, one where she fights to her very last breath. not one where she simply disappears because a mortal willed it.

 

“you’re saying lilith’s reincarnation did this?” byleth asks.

 

a small nod of confirmation is enough for the demons to begin plotting revenge — all except seulgi. 

 

“joohyun didn’t know what she was doing,” she tries to reason with the increasingly angry fiends but apart from lucifer and occasionally baal, they listen to no one. “seungwan wouldn’t want you guys to do this.”

 

paimon scowls, “she’s not here to stop us, is she? you can’t expect us to let this slide, she’s dead, beelzebub!”

 

“so you’re just going to kill joohyun?”

 

seeing the demons nod at that makes her feel more powerless than ever, even as a seraph, seulgi can’t fend off the entire council of demon kings on her own. 

 

seulgi turns to yerim, begging her to stop them, but from the look in her eyes, baal might be the one who leads the assault. 

 

“you’re too soft, seulgi. have you forgotten how she’s the reason we’re free?” yerim clenches her jaw to control her tears, “she gave us everything and now we can’t even do something as simple as avenging her?”

 

the demon kings roar in support of baal’s words and seulgi knows that she cannot stop them. the news of lucifer’s death will spread fast alongside the chaos. when lilith died, demons killed in her name, protesting to the fates that if they do not bring her back, they will continue to slaughter.

 

it’s impossible for the fates to bring seungwan back if her soul no longer exists, seulgi fears how much further the demons will take things this time.

 

“thousands of innocent people will die if you allow them to go after joohyun, you know they won’t stop at just one. joohyun would’ve never willingly done it if she knew what was going to happen.” seulgi urges yerim to rethink her choices but it seems that she’s set on murdering joohyun.

 

yerim leans in closer, dropping her voice low as grabs seulgi by the collar, “if joohyun truly loved her, none of this would’ve happened. lilith would’ve never done anything like this. and if everyone wants to act out, then we will bear the consequences as one realm. i don’t care if you refuse to avenge her, but do not get in our way.”

 

releasing her roughly, yerim ignores the rest of seulgi’s pleas. the demon kings begin to take their leave, some to spread the word of lucifer’s demise and some to prepare for a massacre. everybody mourns in their own way, while seulgi would prefer to curl up in bed, the rest of her fellow demons would prefer to rend flesh from the bones of mortals.

 

within minutes, the bar is empty and seulgi wishes her best friend would come back and have a drink or two before putting everyone in their places.

 


 

“she’s dead, joohyun. you killed her.”

 

you killed her.

 

seulgi’s words continue to echo in her head long after she takes her leave. with every minute she continues to think about it, the magnitude of her actions seemingly grows heavier. grief and guilt will cause her to crumble at some point, but until then, joohyun sits silently with her knees pressed against her chest.

 

you killed her.

 

joohyun never wanted her gone, all she wanted was seungwan to stop hurting people. if only she could bring her back— 

 

staring intently at the ring in her hands, joohyun raises it before her. she pours every ounce of hope into her words, begging with her entirety that it’s enough to pull seungwan back from death.

 

“i command you to return, lucifer.” 

 

the air remains still, there is no woosh of a demon teleporting into her vicinity nor does the ring fill itself with magic. she tries again, repeating the same words as her hands begin to tremble. 

 

“i command you to come back to me, seungwan!”

 

her voice cracks with desperation, still lucifer does not return. drawing a shaky breath, joohyun blinks away building tears and clutches the ring tightly in her hand. 

 

“yah…” she sniffles, “you’re not supposed to leave me alone.”

 

the emptiness that surrounds her cements the fact that seungwan is gone, tears push past her lashes and the first wave of sorrow threatens to pull her under. she stumbles back into her room, pulling open her wardrobe to cling onto the final piece of seungwan.

 

collapsing to her knees, joohyun treads her fingers lightly over the fabric, afraid that she would somehow lose her favourite jacket as well. maybe she could take a page out of seungwan’s book. draping the leather jacket over her shoulders, the scent of seungwan causes her to choke up.

 

joohyun had so many complaints about this stupid jacket, seungwan would never take it off even if there were food stains, it was gross. yet, none of those grievances come to mind when she puts it on. 

 

all joohyun can think of is seungwan, about her absence and everything she would do to bring her back.

 

alas, the mortal is only allowed a moment to grieve before beings of various realms descend upon her with wrath unlike any other. 

 


 

the angel of death makes her presence known in the apartment of bae joohyun, uncaring of the fact that she has caused some damage to the building. the commotion naturally draws out the two mortals from their rooms so they could investigate.

 

“who the are you?” sooyoung barks with every intention of chasing the celestial away, though not before she fixes the huge ing hole in their ceiling.

 

a strong wave of déjà vu washes over joohyun and she remembers how easily seungwan gave in to her, whatever she wants now, joohyun can only hope she gets it without a fuss. shushing sooyoung, joohyun quickly pushes herself in front of her sister.

 

“what do you want?”

 

olivia pays no mind to the hostility of the mortals, they are not why she’s here. “lucifer and bae hyungwon’s personal file.” she replies with her hands tucked behind her back.

 

joohyun’s throat constricts at the thought of seungwan, she’s gone yet saying it out loud would mean having to return to a life where the devil is no longer with her. she doesn’t want that to become her new reality, but she has no choice.

 

“she’s dead.” the words leave her lips with a heavy sigh. she feels sooyoung grip her arm tightly to get her attention but joohyun knows the moment she turns, she’s going to break and she can’t do that until this angel is out of their apartment.

 

olivia seems amused by her words, “lucifer is dead? by whose hands?”

 

joohyun grinds her teeth slightly and casts her gaze away from the angel, “mine… i killed her.”

 

the faintest hint of a smile appears on olivia’s cheeks but she swiftly masks it with a look of indifference, “makes my job easier, now hand over the file and i will be on my way.”

 

her remark stings, but joohyun ignores it and nods toward the table where bae hyungwon’s file is sprawled out. the angel examines the mess, picks up a sheet of paper and turns slightly towards the sisters.

 

“you read it?”

 

the question spilling from the lips of the angel is threatening and joohyun knows that she can't buy any more time.

 

whispering as discreetly as she can, joohyun urges her sister, “run, sooyoung.”

 

one blink is all it takes for olivia to grab both mortals by the throat and pin them against the nearest wall. cries of pain echo through the apartment while the angel attempts to kill them. the rules of the archives are clear to olivia and she respects them without fail — no mortals are allowed to read any of the files, regardless of whether it is their own file.

 

clawing away at the angel’s grip, joohyun chokes, “s-she.. didn’t.. r-read it!”

 

“your word means nothing to me, reincarnation of lilith.” olivia snarls as she tightens her grip, a little more strength and she’ll crush these two.

 

“i… i s-swear!”

 

black spots are appearing in her vision and her lungs are beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen. soon, joohyun thinks, she’ll join seungwan in death. shutting her eyes, she stops struggling against the angel.

 

she deserves an end like this, but the demons think otherwise.

 

“they’re not yours to kill, azrael.”

 

yerim’s voice interrupts olivia’s attempt to kill the mortals, a horde of demons rush to tackle the angel of death, forcing her to release the sisters. gasping for air, joohyun glances at sooyoung whose eyes are rife with terror.

 

seulgi appears beside her and scoops her up, without looking at joohyun, she mumbles an apology before hastily escaping with sooyoung.

 

joohyun doesn’t quite understand why an apology was necessary, and neither does she understand why the demons brought a whole army to her apartment. she watches as yerim crouches before the angel who’s pinned to the ground by the demons and pats her head condescendingly.

 

“you can continue hunting them down later... if there’s anything left of them.” she murmurs, “i suggest you take a little trip to heaven to let the angels know that lucifer is dead, maybe the seraphim will allow you to kill us instead.”

 

processing the words of baal, joohyun chances a glimpse at the demons around her. hostility drips from each and every demon, none make an attempt to hide their scowls and glares. it’s safe to assume that the entirety of hell knows that their beloved king is dead, and they know it’s joohyun’s fault.

 

yerim releases the angel with a wave of her hand and the seraph glowers at them before leaving with a violent flap of her wings. all eyes turn to the mortal and as terrified as she may be, joohyun will not plead for her life — she doesn’t deserve to, not after what she did to seungwan.

 

“i warned you once, joohyun.” yerim struts towards her, tossing a sharpened blade as she speaks, “i told you we were more loyal than you think.”

 

swallowing, joohyun resigns herself to her fate and nods.

 

“i know.” 

 

baal stares at the dagger in her hand momentarily, who would’ve thought that there would come a day when demons would be hunting down the soul of lilith? nobody expected a day when they would be avenging lucifer either.

 

biting the inside of her cheek, the dagger leaves the demon’s hands to embed itself into the shoulder of the mortal. she’ll go easy for now, don’t want joohyun dying on her before everyone gets a chance. the mortal cries out in pain and her hand immediately reaches toward the fresh wound, knowing better than to yank out the blade that’s keeping her from bleeding out.

 

the throbbing is almost unbearable and joohyun bites down on her lips to keep herself from crying out more, she reminds herself that she deserves this. 

 

she’s the reason that seungwan is no longer here. 

 

before the next demon king can make their move, the ground under her begins to crumble. telltale cracks hint at the arrival of the devil’s hound and when everyone least expects it, burger appears with an aggressive snarl. 

 

paimon attempts an attack and the hound breaks his sword with his jaws, barking to fend off the other demons who even think of harming joohyun. before anyone can say anything, burger tosses joohyun onto his back and begins sprinting to safety. the wound that yerim had caused feels like it’s burning but joohyun has to bear it so she doesn’t slip off. digging her fingers into the hound’s fur, she clings on and allows herself to be rescued.

 

even when the whole world is against her, it is another piece of seungwan who stands by her.

 


end notes:

made myself so sad today and for what? was listening to glimpse of us for the first half and then i was like nah i can't do this anymore i ended up looping love dive instead.

burger best boy btw.

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Thank you!
ILJIDO
we got a star! thanks to everyone who's shown this a little bit of love, really thought everyone lost interest in this fic by now and it's nice to know that's not the case. final chapter soon i hope 👍

Comments

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gfdahmo #1
Chapter 48: this was so incredibly fleshed out! thank you so much for the work that you do 🙏 your stories have brought me so much comfort, and i'm rooting for you to achieve whatever it is you're working towards :)
chchcn #2
Chapter 48: Hallo authornimm glad that everything to acording your wish 🥹🥹
Kuajae
#3
Chapter 48: I'd like to think that everything went well at the end😌
f8nt_echo
#4
Chapter 48: Just like Seungwan, I don't know if I'll be happy or not about this pregnancy (traumatic events c/o the fates) but I'm just glad you updated authornim 🫰🥹🫶.
Kuajae
#5
Chapter 3: lmao getting pepper sprayed😭🤣🤣
Kuajae
#6
Chapter 2: the jesus night lamp took me out🤣🤣🤣👆👆
butterscotchbar #7
I promise to leave a comment when I’ve gotten my thoughts in order 🥹
Marina_Leffy
1626 streak #8
Chapter 48: How Ironic when Heaven and Hell ready to be civil and peacefull, the fates are the ones stirring chaos. I think their child would be Kratos like, capable killing everyone including fates XD "Fates! I am Lucifer and Joohyun /Lilith's child! Here to seek revenge!!" Lmao
Thank you for updates
WluvsBaetokki #9
Chapter 48: *picks jaw from the floor* Like... OKAY I AM EMOTIONAL LIKE WTF! those fckn fates 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
maknae-mess
#10
Chapter 48: Listen you I WAITED WITH SUCH ANTICIPATION AND BATED BREATH AND CLENCHED HEART you YOU ARE AMAZING AND I'M PROUD OF YOU FOR FINISHING SCHOOL AND HAVING SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND like seriously was rooting for you all the way and I AM SO HAPPY you decided not to gatekeep this story (I am a little loopy from lack of sleep BUT I HAVE THOUGHTS) I'm glad you were able to come back with such a monster of an update and it was just so beautiful to read the entire thing even if I kind of sped read it but at first blush I have so many things to say

First of all when we left off last I could not stop thinking about Lilith and you describing it in the manner of which Seungwan Joohyun was just so /scary/ And I mean legitimately scary because you just we don't want the same thing to happen and I've waited all this time to find out that honestly truly and gladly to find that seungwan feels entirely the same

Before we delve into that I have to say fck those mthrfkn fates because we knew that they were going to get something but we don't know when it was going to come up and then it came up and I just thought wow they are really big fkn s truly harbingers of just chaos and as much as it helps the plot which I love the plot I still fkn hate them for doing these things to our babies. It's just so wild because Joohyun It's still in school and stuff She has a whole life and girly is now bearing the possible next king of hell

then Seungwan doesn't talk to Joohyun outright about how she's feeling and just goes off and thinks that she can go find the solution solve a problem and just leave Joohyun. So I get where Joohyun's so frustrated and Seungwan is definitely in need of some sense kicked into her that when they reunite I'm just so relieved that they're able to start communicating for such an important pivotal part of their lives. Our babies is going to about to have a baby as much as I'm happy I am anxious because like I said fkn fates *shakes fist at the sky*

I'm going to make a note here because I need to know what I'm going to come back to talk about and it's definitely the reappearance of sahaquiel beating the out of Seungwan, the visible changes in Joohyun already, and THEIR SOFTNESS THAT IVE MISSED

Seriously thank you for coming back and updating this because in my head I was complaining about how there was nothing I wanted to read and seeing this update made me really happy and I'm happy for you for being able to write so much and go through the edits so welcome back for a little bit and I hope you get to finish the final part soon!