coming out from the shower, the first thing on joohyun’s mind is to look for seungwan. not because she’s worried about losing her again but rather she needs the devil’s help to find her sister.

sooyoung’s well-being has taken a backseat in joohyun’s mind while she’s been trying to survive the wrath of the demons. now that she’s had time to breathe and seungwan is back, she finally has the capacity to worry about her sister.

stepping closer to the living room, she hears seungwan talking, though her words cannot be considered anything other than embarrassing.

“who’s the best dog in the world? mmhmm, you are! mwah mwah mwah!”

when the devil and her hound come into view, all joohyun sees is seungwan burying her face in his fur. a citrusy scent wafts in the air and one can only assume that burger got a shower too — and he smells too good for seungwan to resist rubbing her cheeks against him.

interrupting her quality time with her hound, the mortal makes her worries known.

“sooyoung,” the mortal blurts, “we need to find her.”

snapping her head towards her charge, seungwan meets joohyun’s eyes. she doesn’t look anxious but the subtle clenching of her jaw coupled with the slight tremor in her voice helps the devil gauge her emotions.

with one hand mindlessly drawing circles in burger’s fur, her tone grows serious.

“where did she go?”

shoulders sagging, joohyun exhales, “i… i don’t know… seulgi took her when the demons came.”

right, instead of angels, joohyun had been running from demons — very real and very terrifying ones.

“come here,” seungwan pats the space next to her on the couch, gently coaxing joohyun to her, “seulgi is more than capable of protecting sooyoung. she won’t hurt her.”

the reassurance from seungwan is enough for joohyun to crumble into her arms at the first chance.

the two intertwine their arms around each other until they find a comfortable position and joohyun feels snug and safe. resting her head on the devil’s chest, she allows seungwan’s presence to soothe her. for the first time in days, things feel right once again.

“we’ll find them right after you tell me what happened.”

sighing softly, joohyun murmurs, “it doesn’t matter, it’s over now.”

“it does, hyun.” the devil’s voice is insistent, a tone that joohyun has never heard before, “i need to know if you’re okay and i need to make sure nobody ever tries to hurt you again.”

lifting her head, she cranes her neck to look up at seungwan. “i’m okay, my shoulder doesn’t hurt anymore.” she reassures gently, “what are you going to do?”

the way the devil’s eyes darken when she speaks almost scares joohyun. she growls lowly with a restrained fury bleeding into each word, “punish them.”

the mortal immediately pushes herself up to sit face to face with seungwan.

“you’re punishing them for avenging you?” joohyun frowns, “i understand why but it doesn’t feel right.”

“i’m punishing them for taking their anger out on you. they love me but you…” she pauses before swallowing, “are everything to me. i know there’s more you’re not telling me and i know what they can be like because i am one of them.”

seungwan’s sentence trails into silence, she had once scared joohyun with her violence and the terror hidden behind joohyun’s facade feels all too familiar. 

cupping her cheeks gently, joohyun guides the devil’s eyes to her. “you are one of them, and you don’t cross lines without a good reason.” the mortal whispers, “i was ing terrified when i realised they weren’t there to save me. i thought i was going to die, maybe even close to bleeding out at some point and talking about the stuff i’ve seen is the last thing i want to do. all that matters is you’re back and i feel the safest when i’m with you.”

“okay,” seungwan bobs her head slowly, “but i can’t let them go without a punishment, that’s not how it works here.”

it seems natural for the devil to assume that every negative action has to be tied to punishment. she has never known forgiveness, all her life she’s been punished for her misdeeds and to be killed by joohyun is just another form of punishment.

“that night when everything happened, my father called me and for the first time ever, he apologised. i want to forgive him, seungwan. not because it’s easier, but because i want to move on. i want to give him a second chance, i want to believe that he can be better.” joohyun murmurs in the softest tone, a tenderness unlike anything seungwan has ever felt, “you are the devil, but you’re also seungwan. there’s still a lot i don’t know about you and your past, but you are the furthest thing from evil. i know that you can be kind. so, i forgive you, seungwan and i forgive the others too. i want you to try to forgive them too.”

“what if they do it again?”

“we’ll have to trust them not to. besides, as long as you’re with me, i’m safe, right?”

“yeah… but i broke that trust twice…”

“third time’s the charm.” joohyun offers a light smile, “i know it’s not easy but i believe that it’s a better way.”

“it’s… not…” seungwan admits with a heave. if you listen closely, you could hear the softest crack in seungwan’s voice. her despair is obscured behind a mirthless smile and she mumbles indignantly. “i’ve always been punished, one way or another. forgiveness feels like it wasn’t made for us.”

thumbing her cheeks, joohyun’s tone softens as she looks at the being in front of her. it’s no angel nor demon, seungwan is just… seungwan, someone who hasn’t been loved nearly enough as she has loved.

“maybe it can change now.”

“maybe.” seungwan nods, however skeptical she may be, if lilith could inspire an entire realm of fallen celestials, why can’t joohyun?

finding seulgi isn’t the hardest thing to do, there are many ways to go about it and while summoning her would be the easiest, seungwan assumes that it would leave sooyoung defenseless. it’s only been a couple of hours since her resurrection and demons are still slowly trickling into hell, many may have not heard about lucifer’s return and heaven will ensure they return soon enough. until then, there are bound to be stragglers all over the world. the thought of leaving sooyoung alone in a realm crawling with demons doesn’t sit well with joohyun so seungwan has to resort to good old fashion tracking.

lucky for her, burger happens to be the best tracking dog in hell, finding seulgi is a breeze. one moment they’re in hell, and the next they find themselves in the countryside. of course, seulgi would come here. demons hate the countryside, folks tend to be a little superstitious and oftentimes, lesser demons find themselves facing awfully protective wards. plus, there are more people to kill in the cities — not that seungwan would ever mention this to joohyun.

it’s the middle of the night when the devil barges into the house where beelzebub has taken refuge. the air is still for a mere second before a fiery blaze of hellfire greets her but narrowly misses her cheek. seungwan is glad that seulgi isn’t that good at throwing punches.

with the moonlight falling upon the devil, seulgi takes in the sight of her best friend with astonishment plastered on her face.

the demon gasps, “wannie?”

“surprise! i’m not dead!” seungwan beams, throwing out jazz hands before igniting them with hellfire. within a fraction of a second, the king of hell sends seulgi sprawling to the ground. “that’s for leaving joohyun to die, sorry seul.”

“yah!” joohyun screeches, pushing seungwan aside roughly, “i thought we just talked about forgiveness!”

“technically, you talked about it.”

“with you!’

the devil shrugs. extending a hand out to her best friend, seungwan pulls seulgi to her feet with ease and it easily transitions into a tight embrace.

“i deserved that.” seulgi’s fingers dig into the devil’s clothes as if to check if this is an illusion, she needs some sort of confirmation that seungwan is real and the familiar thrum of seungwan’s magic under her fingers confirms it. ”how..?”

“i’ll explain later,” seungwan says as she extricates herself from seulgi’s extremely tight hug, “where’s sooyoung?”

the fallen angel of dreams looks emotionally drained, but a gradually growing smile of relief has appeared on her lips. 

“she’s asleep, don’t worry.” seulgi reassures while turning her attention to joohyun, “i’m sorry for what i did… i… i couldn't bring myself to save you after what you did…”

joohyun shakes her head, “i understand, but you kept sooyoung safe. that’s more than enough to make up for it.”

a figure stumbles into the living room from a dark corridor, disrupted by all the commotion. a voice thick with sleep mutters softly.

“seulgi?”

catching sight of the two familiar figures sends sooyoung bolting towards them, mainly so she could wrap her sister in an embrace. one could say she had spent a lot of time mourning her sister and had no intentions of stopping. a small sigh of relief slips from sooyoung as she tightens her hold around her sister.

“i thought you died.”

“i thought i was dead too, but burger saved me.” joohyun cracks a small smile as she runs a reassuring hand down her sister’s back.

“i’m glad… real ing glad, unnie…” sooyoung sniffles, “i’m not going to leave you again.”

the sisters pull away as joohyun reassures her lightly, “it’s okay, sooyoung-ah. at least i knew you were safe.”

turning to face her demon, nobody could’ve predicted what sooyoung had planned to do. time seems to slow down as the younger mortal lifts her hand, allowing it to collide with seulgi’s nose.

“sooyoung! what are you doing?”

“that’s for forcing me to accept that my sister was dead!”

seulgi sits up, a small sigh leaving her as she nods tiredly — she deserves it.

“now it’s joohyun’s turn to take a punch.” seungwan chimes in with a cheeky grin. 

“i’m going to punch you instead.” joohyun clicks her teeth, “let’s go back because i could really use some sleep.”

dawn arrives alongside an archangel from the archives.

archangels used to frequent hell to lucifer to the fates but their presence has become a rarity in recent centuries, seeing one now makes the demons uneasy but intervention from the higher powers is expected given the circumstances. seungwan doesn’t fight nor does she make snarky comments as she always does, instead she follows the angel to the far shore quietly.

it’s been a day since lucifer’s resurrection and hell is different, solemn even. the majority have returned and those who continue their mindless slaughter will soon face execution by simikiel, the angel of vengeance. a mix of guilt and grief runs through the entire realm and seungwan attempts to shoulder the responsibility for the actions of the demons. normally, she would call upon her kings for guidance or advice but with more than half of them gone, she decides against it. 

she bears this burden alone.

“you called for me?” seungwan calls out into the darkness as she enters the realm of the fates. with a hand tucked into the pocket of her jacket, she treads the void as she had a million times before.

and from the darkness, the crones begin to come into view with the sound of clacking keyboards echoing in the vast space. they lift their heads in eerie synchronization — something that never fails to bug seungwan.

a smile appears on their cheeks and with the wave of one hand, they’re transported to a beach. a persistent fog is the only sign that tells seungwan she’s still in the far shore. beyond that, the place is completely foreign to her. the waves crash into the shore yet they sound muted, allowing the fates to speak with ease.

“a nice change of scenery can do wonders for the mind, would you agree, lucifer?” clotho hums as the fates begin to stroll in a single line with their arms crossed behind their back and their feet digging into the sand yet they leave no footprints.

the devil presses her lips into a thin line and follows them with a sigh, “what do you want?”

“a chat, lucifer, relax.” lachesis responds calmly, “the reports from heaven have been detailed and you have given us permission to punish hell if necessary. i believe you agree that hell has crossed a line.”

the demon has anticipated their conversation to start like this she merely nods, “i do, what are you planning?”

the fates stop in their tracks and atropos turns to face her, “we are not planning anything, this will be up to you and your kings, if you would like them to be involved. the demons have looked up to you as a leader and it is only right for you to decide.”

seungwan’s shoulders sag slightly, she doesn’t need to be reminded of her responsibility. “i know, and i’m trying to fix this. i will fix this. so, why did you call for me?”

“we want to know how.” lachesis demands, “how will you fix the fact that the demons have slaughtered thousands in the time that you were dead? how will you fix the depravity that has been ingrained into them over the course of centuries? will this be allowed to happen again?”

seungwan stops in her tracks and shuts her eyes to collect her thoughts. there's no reason beyond they are merely the way they are.

“i don’t know.” the words escape in a strangled whisper, “it’s my fault that they are like this, isn’t it? i allowed them to be free, including being violent, cruel and everything a saint would frown upon. i showed them that violence was the only way.”

“was it the only way?” atropos hums, “the only way to be with lilith, the only way to be free.”

for some reason, atropos’ question digs into her soul. she has never regretted her decision to kill god, but another senseless war almost happening forces her to confront her choice once again.

“it was.” seungwan murmurs, “it had to be.”

“to you, god believed in balance, that there is an equal amount of good and evil in this world. to lilith, she believed that angels brought goodness into this world. if angels are all the good in this world, then what of you and the other demons?”

narrowing her eyes, the devil grinds her teeth. she hears what they are insinuating but she doesn't like where it's going.

“what are you trying to say?”

“perhaps you are the evil he wanted in this world, for what is peace without chaos?”

of all the trials and tribulations she’s been through, this has to be the cruellest one of all. to allow her to believe that she had escaped his clutches only to realise that it’s what he wanted all along.

“you’re telling me…” seungwan begins with a shaky breath, “i killed him only to take his place?”

“his will has always been up to your interpretation, has it not?”

a sinking feeling grows in the demon’s chest as she takes in the words of the fates, analyzing everything they’ve said carefully. dread gnaws at her chest. for years, seungwan has relinquished her title as the angel of dawn. her duties were forsaken but never forgotten.

it sickens her to imagine that after all that she has done, she’s still bound to her creator. she draws a shaky breath and forces herself to confront the thoughts — what if this is what he always wanted? a perfect balance between good and evil. an evil that continued to exist without his presence because his favourite angel wanted a taste of freedom that turned out to be a mere illusion.

she wants to scream at the fates, rebut them in every way possible but not a single word escapes her lips. her limbs feel weak and seungwan has to clench her fists to rid herself of the numbness that’s beginning to creep into her soul.

she was god’s strongest angel but that title means nothing when she’s powerless against god himself.

“so, how will you fix this, our darling angel of dawn?”

in an audience hall situated in the depths of the far shore, hundreds upon thousands of celestials are gathered to discuss the catastrophe caused by hell. normally, the demons are rowdy yet no one dares to make a sound. now that they’ve been forced back to hell, the decrease in their numbers is ever so glaring and there’s blood on their hands — mortal blood.

ones that would’ve defended their actions are no longer here. paimon and asmodeus, two kings who used to rally the lower ranks are nowhere to be found and they would know better than to disobey lucifer. even with their strength, it’s not absurd to assume that they’ve been erased from existence.

lucifer tightens her jaw, eyes skimming over the thinned crowd with a hardened look on her face. the emptiness in the rows behind her makes her chest light up with a spark of grief and she has to turn away. 

“are you okay?” joohyun’s voice draws her from her thoughts as the mortal intertwines their fingers together. given the circumstances that led them to this very meeting, it feels right for joohyun to be present. she’s far too tangled in the conflict of celestials and seungwan refuses to leave her alone.

the devil forces a weak nod, opting not to speak in case her voice cracks under the weight of her emotions. she ignores the ache that runs along her jaw by guiding joohyun to sit beside her. a mortal present at a meeting of all realms has never happened before and apart from that, the angels seem to whisper about the evident decrease in the number of demon kings.

their gossip angers seungwan but she reins her emotions in, knowing fully well that any display of anger would only worsen the situation. yerim seems to understand that as well, and perhaps she’s warned the others too because no one is daring enough to shut the angels up.

the discussion begins promptly with the arrival of the fates, and as always, heaven takes the lead by listing every single crime that hell has committed. they’ve prepared stacks of documents to prove their points while hell sits with empty desks as per seungwan’s instructions. 

when lucifer is finally given a chance to defend herself, she stands with a deep inhale. with eyes glazed over, she swallows and speaks.

“i have never claimed the title of a leader, it was given to me so on behalf of the realm of hell, i accept every punishment deemed necessary. on top of that, i will relinquish my title as the king of hell. someone else will take my place and they will do what i couldn't."

silence envelopes the entire hall before a b tension finally explodes. a cacophony of protests erupts through the air but the devil hears none of it.

end notes:

struggled with this chapter a little honestly, i had a lot of dialogue written but it lead nowhere but then one night i was like! what if seungwan struggled a little! wouldn't THAT ? so here we are! this was a little rushed tbh i had a 10 day break from school and it's ending soon so i wanted to get this out first.

thanks for reading!