protests and whispers echo across the hall, from demons to angels to perhaps even the fates, seungwan’s decision comes as a shock to all.

to joohyun, the magnitude of seungwan’s words hasn’t set in but from what she gathers from the reactions of others, this is much bigger than a mere mortal like her could ever comprehend.

and for seungwan; a numbness has spread like an infection after her conversation with the fates. the gut-wrenching sorrow that has been hanging over her coupled with an insinuation that she’s still under the control of her creator has grown too much to bear. searching for an answer to freedom leads her mind to spiral into the depths of repressed thoughts.

perhaps the problem is her, perhaps the root of evil began with lucifer and lilith. perhaps the world they sought to create was never possible, or perhaps she lost sight of their dreams for the world when lilith died. 

lilith; would’ve kept them in line, they would accomplish what god and his angels couldn’t. instead, seungwan has led them down a path of violence and savagery — she has failed her. 

with these thoughts swarming her mind, the only solution she finds is to remove herself from this position.

the devil raises her palm silently and slowly, the hall falls into silence, awaiting her explanation. swallowing the lump in , she addresses the hall solemnly.

“i’ve given this much thought and this wasn’t an easy decision to make but i believe it is necessary for hell to undergo a vital change.” the devil speaks without a trace of emotion in her voice, “we’ve grown to think that we are immortal but the truth is, we could all die someday. my presence can't be the only thing that stands between hell and another war. i intend for hell to enter a new era, one without a need for fighting ever again. it is what i should’ve ingrained in the demons instead of insisting that freedom comes before everything.”

freedom was the seed sown by lilith and lucifer was the one that led them to her. in an era filled with wars, violence was the only way. 

but times have changed and so must hell.

“we’ve strayed far from what lilith had envisioned,” the very mention of the queen of hell hardens the looks on the demons’ faces but seungwan presses on, “and it’s my fault that we've ended up like this.”

the devil casts her gaze towards joohyun, swallowing as she hesitates her next words. joohyun locks eyes with her, placing her hand over seungwan’s and nodding slightly to encourage her to continue.

“i believe that we can change but i can’t be the one who leads the demons anymore. i can’t keep them in line, it’s evident from the disputes we’ve had over the years. i need to change as well, we wouldn’t be in this mess if i had restraint. someone else needs to keep us in line, and make us better than we are now.” the devil tightens her jaw, “it will take time to find someone right, so i can only ask for some trust and a chance.”

the honesty in lucifer’s words stuns everyone, especially the angels. no one could’ve foreseen an explanation this detailed from someone like the devil. lucifer always took things too lightly, even in times of disaster. not this time, however, something has changed.

atropos’ voice cuts through the quiet that has befallen the hall, “what we are hearing, lucifer, is that you want a successor?”

shifting her gaze to the crone, seungwan bobs her head slowly, “yes.”

“will it be another demon?” clotho interjects, tenting her fingers as a sly smile begins to form on her lips.

seungwan tightens her jaw, “it has to be. the demons fought for hell and it will always belong to us.”

the fates take in her words with slow nods before lachesis turns to the realm of heaven, “angels?”

in the short span of lucifer’s speech, the seraphs convened and discussed their stance. needless to say, with how seungwan rushed to make a choice, there are glaring problems with her plan. uriel steps up and speaks on behalf of the realm of heaven.

“while it seems like an appropriate resolution, lucifer cannot deny that her existence has kept us from war for a long time. we certainly did have our disputes and the seraphim agree that it is mainly due to the destructive nature of the demons. however, of them all, lucifer is one that can be reasoned with. the seraphim disagree with this decision unless lucifer finds a replacement that we agree with.”

now would’ve been the perfect chance to tease the seraphim — as much as they despise her, they need her. yet, all seungwan is hearing is how unlikely it is that she will be able to give up her role.

“finding someone right will be hard enough and i still have to listen to your opinion?” seungwan scoffs wryly, “i know you ers rejoiced at my death.”

uriel, unimpressed by lucifer’s outburst, shoots her an icy glare. “yet, we understand the importance of your existence, lucifer. whoever you choose must live up to you, and they must accomplish what you are promising.”

the devil grinds her teeth, “do you think i’m stupid? or do you not trust my judgement at all?”

feeling a soft squeeze from joohyun’s hand forces seungwan to draw a deep breath, she shuts her eyes and reminds herself that her request is more likely to fall apart if she lashes out.

“unfortunately, lucifer, we believe that it is a fair demand.” atropos interjects before the angels can speak, “we know you will not shirk your responsibilities so easily but this decision affects everyone greatly.”

“i disagree with this decision as well.” yerim chimes in, “lucifer does not speak on my behalf nor the rest of the kings of hell.”

snapping her head to the side, seungwan locks eyes with the pink-haired demon. “yerim.” she warns lowly.

there is no fear in baal’s gaze as she continues to challenge lucifer. the devil would never admit it, or maybe she's unaware of it but there are reasons as to why lucifer has kept her close. beyond friendship and her strength, yerim knows that seungwan trusts her to have her back. many times, when it comes to lilith’s soul, yerim has backed down and allowed seungwan to do as she pleases in spite of the consequences. this decision, however, is not one that the demon can get behind — she is one of the few in hell capable of opposing lucifer.

“i suggest we continue this meeting another day, lucifer has neglected to discuss this with the remaining kings.” yerim declares firmly, arms folded across her chest as her voice is tinted with authority.

exercising her right as a king of hell is a rarity, there has been no need for it until seungwan decides to make a stupid decision out of nowhere.

“this is not up to you.” lucifer snarls, her eyes glowing crimson. rage bleeds off her words as she glares at the demon.

“last i checked, i was also a king and we made decisions together.” yerim rises from her seat to jab a finger into her chest, “and you are supposed to be the most rational one out of us all.”

seungwan grabs her wrist, roughly shrugging it aside.

through clenched teeth, the devil hisses, “you don’t understand.” 

scoffing, yerim retorts, “i clearly don’t because you made your mind up without even talking to any of us!”

“because it’s my choice!” the anger that seungwan has been trying to hold down comes rushing to the surface and she explodes, seething as her voice echoes through the large hall, “everyone wants a say in what i should do but this is my decision to make!”

the demon laughs mirthlessly, “you think you can just quit whenever you want? we are here because of you! we have and will always be in this together, i don’t get why it’s different this time around. don’t you feel that it’s unfair to all of us?”

“fair?” seungwan scoffs, “when has any of this been fair to me? you have no idea what it’s like to be in my shoes!”

it seems that her words have allowed yerim to hit a breaking point, comparing their suffering over the years gets them nowhere. perhaps they will not change, they will always be fighting until the end of time — so much for fixing this together and all that bull about therapy.

a hellfire punch is delivered to the side of seungwan’s jaw and she’s sent sprawling into the empty desks behind. the hall echoes with a cacophony of gasps; starting a fight is the most logical way for the angels to distrust lucifer’s words that promise change. 

stumbling to her feet, the fire coating the devil’s fists is hotter than ever. she pulls back her arm, readying herself to put yerim in place but when she attempts an attack, joohyun steps in front of her fist, forcing her to stop immediately.

it’s as if joohyun is the only one who can draw her out of her rage-induced haze. a split-second panic breaks the momentum of their argument and forces seungwan to focus on the mortal instead.

“i could’ve killed you, joohyun!”

joohyun flinches and all at once, seungwan’s anger dissipates. the soft collapse of her expression quickly makes way for fear and guilt — she’s letting her anger get the best of her again, and she’s going to things up all over again.

the tension from the devil seeps into the atmosphere and the mortal wraps her fingers around seungwan’s wrist. joohyun is afraid, not of seungwan but rather for her.

for someone like the devil to be on the verge of breaking is a terrifying sight, especially when joohyun has grown used to her lighthearted demeanour. she’s no demon, she has no say in any of this, but the least the mortal can do is offer the devil a moment of solace.

as joohyun tugs seungwan away from her duties, the celestials watch with bated breaths, wondering if history would repeat itself. 

joohyun has no destination in mind, she simply walks with the sole thought of getting seungwan out of there. the fog in the far shore is dense and normally, joohyun would be wary about getting lost but her thoughts are clouded with worry instead. she can feel the tension rolling off seungwan despite dragging her away from her duties but it's better than sitting by and watching her spiral any further.

it takes no more than a couple of minutes before the devil speaks, her voice threatening to crack with each syllable that leaves her lips. “i need to go back.”

the mortal turns to face her, slowing to a stop as she shakes her head.

“no,” joohyun denies, “you’re not going back.”

with a heavy heart, seungwan sighs, “this is important, joohyun. i can’t just walk away like this.”

“you’ve been tense since you spoke to the fates yesterday, i don’t know what it is but i know something is bothering you. you’re quieter than usual, and i’ve seen you angry but this feels different … heavier, darker…” joohyun trails off when she notices seungwan’s gaze darkening.

letting her hands drop limply to her sides, the devil fixates her gaze to the ground and murmurs.

“i failed lilith, we all did. her death broke us and we all sought different ways to ease our pain. violence became the norm because i took too long to heal from it. if i had done something about it, maybe things would’ve never gotten this bad.” seungwan’s lips quiver as she draws a shaky breath to ease her nerves, “i’m responsible for them and they listened to me, things could have been different if i tried to change earlier.”

cupping her cheeks gently, joohyun lifts her head and guides her gaze towards her.

“out of all of them, i think anyone could tell that lilith’s death hurt you the most. you shouldn’t be apologizing for being incapable to lead an entire realm of demons when you were in pain too. the demons see you as their leader but you should’ve had yerim and seulgi, you should’ve had all your kings, this burden isn’t yours alone.” the mortal’s voice is soft, and the tears that have welled up in seungwan’s eyes begin to fall.

joohyun doesn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around the demon, “none of this makes you a bad leader, you did everything you could given the circumstances and as you said, you never claimed to be a leader. you commanded the respect of not only the demons, but the angels too, seungwan-ah.” the mortal tucks a stray strand of hair away from her face, “yes, you’ve made mistakes but you’ve also done good things. you are capable of changing, and you’ll be able to lead the demons down a better path. there’s no one that can take your place, you are the only one that can make the changes you want to see.”

burying her face into the crook of joohyun’s neck, seungwan allows joohyun to run her hands reassuringly down her back. alone she stood at the precipice of falling apart entirely but joohyun prevented that from becoming a reality, reminding her of all the things she’s neglected to see. sniffling, seungwan slips her arms around joohyun as well, holding onto her tightly as tears continue to roll down her face. she stays wrapped in the arms of her lover, feeling safe, comforted and most of all, seen.

“take as long as you need to make your choice, just remember that you’ll always find people to count on,” joohyun pulls back to plant a soft kiss on her lips, “that includes me.”

end notes:

the vibes of this chapter were mostly inspired by dpr ian's nerves. i'm not quite sure about seungwan caving under the weight of everything so share thoughts i guess! honestly, i felt like yerim should've been the one to talk her out of it but i couldn't get it to sound right. like it didn't feel right for her to be the one to understand seungwan's pain because she was upset about being blindsided by her. there's been a lot of hurt/comfort wr in the past few chapters and it feels like there's too much now LMAO... dw this is the final bit of resolution before we move on to the Ending.

anyway, thanks for reading! wishing you all a happy new year as well =)