Not Meant To Be

epilogue

It's been over a year since you've left Devildom. It's almost as if the year exchange program was one giant, crazy dream. When you first came home, it was all too surreal for you. The sun was brighter here, the heat was unbearable, you stayed inside. You wouldn't hang out with friends nor really talk to your loved ones. You fell into a slight depression. You craved Devildom, you wanted anything that reminded you of your second home. On a late Sunday night, you were shifting through your dry goods cabinet looking for some kind of tea to help you fall asleep. It had been about a month since your last solid nights' sleep. Behind a few boxes of mac n cheese, you find a small purple box of tea. You picked it up, you didn't recognize this box, you don't remember buying it. You turned it over to the front, it's lavender tea. You hold the box in your hand, staring at it for a while. You feel a tightness in your chest, your eyes start to water. You rush over to your spice cabinet shifting through your spices and seasonings. Honey. You grab the teddy bear shaped bottle and quickly begin to boil some water.

You tried your best to remake that tea Lucifer made for you but the tea bags were old and the honey wasn't the same. Which brings us to where you are now. The trees on your street are turning brown, red and yellow. The wind is chilly, you wrap your coat around you tighter, tugging slightly on your headphones. You've been listening to a new album by one of Levi's favorite human-world artists that released a few days ago. You can only imagine the House of Lamentation being blasted by these up-beat songs all day and night since the premiere. You have to admit, listening to Levi's music has helped bring your mood up, you feel closer to them, as if you still have something tangible to hold onto. You're walking towards this local farmer market to buy some organically grown lavender for your attempt to recreate Lucifer's tea perfectly. You're pretty sure you've found the right honey but the lavender never seems right. You make it to the market; you pick up the dried lavender and a few other goods before heading back home.

Once back home, you slip off your shoes and jacket, you head off to the kitchen. Your hands feel dry, your knuckles look it. You head over to the sink and wash your hands, then to rub lotion Asmo recommended you onto your hands. You smell them, cinnamon and spice. You sigh, maybe having constant reminders of the brothers isn't a good thing? Maybe holding on to your past is holding you back? It's good to remember them and rejoice of the time spent with them but holding on as desperately as you can? Could you ever move forward? You pick up your lavender and start your tea making process.

After making tea, you walk back to your room, you sit on your bed, pulling back your curtains and lifting the blinds. There's a beautiful sunset tonight with warm bright colors covering the sky. You smell the tea, it's almost like Lucifer's, maybe you've set your standards too high to ever recreate it? You open a textbook; you've decided to take ancient religion classes in school this fall. You scan through the pages, you find a page about 'Lucifer', a big ugly red demon with huge horns, extremely muscular on one picture and then one of him as a small scrawny demon with a long tail. You laugh at the drawings. Your tea should be cool enough to drink by now. You take a sip. Almost, not quite like his.

You turn the page, it's titled as "Seven Deadly Sins", you glance over the introduction before seeing the sins listed out. Pride, Greed, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony and Sloth. You imagine the boys in your head. You continue down the page, you see each sin has its own chapter about ancient religions talking and drawing out each sin as they see it. You immediately turn to Greed. You read, "Mammon, biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debased influence of material wealth. The term was used by Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount and also appears in The Gospel According to Luke." you laugh at the thought of little Luke preaching to the brothers on the Sunday morning. You miss his baked goods and his pouty attitude; you can't wait to see him again one day as well. You continue to read, "Medieval writers commonly interpreted it as an evil demon or god." you imagine Mammon as a god. The world would fall into chaos. Mammon wouldn't want that responsibility anyway; you guess the world is saved then. You finish the paragraph, "Since the 16th century, mammon has been used to negatively describe the pursuit of wealth and has been used in both religious and secular contexts." you drink some more of your tea before setting it down on your windowsill. You close your eyes, it's been a long day, you've been up since five am, you couldn't sleep at all, you couldn't stand having another dream about Devildom. You feel your phone vibrate, you pick up your phone and unlock it. You've tried to somehow get your contacts from your devildom phone onto your new human-world phone but it failed. No VPN or amount of searching the internet has led to any clues for getting on any sort of Devildom website or social media.

You got a text from a number you don't have saved in your phone. All it says is "new message" until you click on it, the number appears on top of the screen. "666"

Unknown: hey? 

Unknown: hello? Has this gone through? 

Unknown: is this y/n? 

You: yes, who is this?

Unknown: asnklkjbf!!!!!holy shit, it's LEVI, IT'S LEVIATHAN!!KJBKAHCB 

You: LEVI?!HOW DID YOU FIND MY NUMBER?! 

Levi: I can't stay on this number very long but just know we miss you and we'll see each other soon! 

You: I miss you all too! So much, so so much!! 

No response after that, your heart is racing, you can't believe that just happened, you talked to Levi, you actually got to talk to Levi! You cry out of joy, there's no denying that, that was him! There's only one nerd that would still keyboard smash for excitement! You laugh, you feel so relaxed, your eyes feel heavy, you slide down into bed. You close your eyes. You drift off to sleep. You feel as if your eyes haven't been closed for more than a few minutes before you hear tapping in your room that wakes you up. You look over at your digital clock, three am. You sit up in bed, rubbing your eyes, you hear the tapping again, it's louder, faster. You jolt your head over to your exposed window. You jump back for a moment at the large figure in your window. After the initial shock and fear leave your body, you realize who it is.

"Y'know, you're the only human that keeps me waiting like this!" Mammon says through the glass in full demon form.

"Mammon!" you spring forward, unlocking the window and pulling it up, you grab him and pull him forward. You start to cry; you hold him tightly. "Please don't be a dream, please don't be a dream, please cruel world, please let me be awake!" you shout. He turns into his human form, he's over top of you. You reach up and touch his face. He smiles and kisses your hand.

"You're definitely awake, my love." he tells you, "I might've gotten into a certain exchange program for a certain college around here." he smiles, you laugh.

"Oh, I've missed you!" you pull him back down on you; into a hug.