Levi's body gave out the moment the Devil disappeared. The weight of the reality was too heavy—too surreal. The world around him spun, dimmed, and faded into black.
When he woke up, the room was quiet. He wasn't in his office anymore. He was home.
Lying on his couch, a damp cloth resting gently on his forehead, his eyes slowly opened—only to meet the familiar red glow of Jaceon's eyes watching over him with silent guilt.
Levi sat up slowly. "Was it a dream?" he asked, his voice low.
Jaceon looked away, pain evident in every line of his face. "No," he said, softly. "You saw everything."
Levi stared at him. "Why…? What are you?"
Jaceon stood, pacing for a moment before finally stopping and meeting his gaze.
"I'm a demon," he admitted. "And I was sent to take your soul. You—Levi McLaren—your life was never really yours."
The words were like knives. Levi's breath caught.
"What are you saying?"
Jaceon walked closer. "Your father made a deal with the Devil years ago… to gain his wealth, his power, his empire. And the price was a soul. Not his—yours."
Levi's heart shattered in slow motion. His father—his role model, the man who raised him with stories of strength and hard work—had sold him. Like he was nothing.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Levi whispered, tears stinging his eyes. "Why wait till now?"
Jaceon clenched his jaw, pain swirling in his expression. "Because I didn't want to feel this way. I didn't mean to care. I tried to be what I was sent to be—a monster. But then… I met you."
Levi laughed bitterly, wiping his face. "So I'm supposed to accept that? That I fell for someone sent to destroy me? You—you—the same guy I kept seeing in dreams like a warning? You were real all along…"
"I didn't plan this," Jaceon said, stepping closer. "You changed me, Levi. You made me feel things I didn't even know demons could feel. I tried to resign. I tried to leave. But I couldn't. Every time I saw you—every time you smiled—I broke a little more."
Levi's breath hitched. His mind was a storm. Love. Betrayal. Fate. Demons. His father's lies.
He didn't know what to feel. But what he did know… was that even after everything—even after all the horror—his heart still ached for Jaceon.
He had fallen for a demon.
The same one who was supposed to drag him to hell.
The same one who just fought his own brothers to protect him.
"I don't know if I should hate you… or hold you," Levi whispered.
"I'll take either," Jaceon said, barely audible. "As long as I can stay beside you for whatever time we have left."
Silence.
Then, Levi stood.
Walked up to him.
And placed his hand gently on Jaceon's chest—feeling the erratic rhythm of a heart that shouldn't feel anything at all.
"…So what now?" Levi asked.
Jaceon looked down, the weight of his new punishment pressing hard.
"I have thirty souls to collect in one month… or the Devil will take us both."
Levi exhaled shakily.
"…Then we fight this together," he said.
Jaceon blinked. "Even after everything?"
Levi smiled faintly, broken but brave. "Yeah. I guess even the Devil didn't see this coming."
---