A/N: In order to keep this chapter from seeming confusing let me just let you know that there is a lot of backtracking in this chapter.
Posted 8/13/21
3821 words
I can't help but smile to myself as I mentally play over her features again.
I'm not really sure what this feeling is. It has definitely been a long time since I have felt it, that is for certain. But I am having a hard time defining it. What is it exactly? I paused for a few minutes to try to figure it out, but I was honestly completely puzzled. I know there is a thread of excitement mixed with curiosity at the core, but I can't completely decipher what is causing it. I brush it aside for the moment, because I really don't feel like dwelling on it.
Seokjin hadn't seemed as interested as I was and left the Earth realm before me. I stuck around so I could keep myself tuned into their telepathic communications. I wanted to know what was going on with that part of my team, but most importantly what was going on with Everleigh. It was more accurate to say I simply wanted to know everything about her, but I kept those particular thoughts to myself while I eavesdropped on what was going on with the other four members of my team and Everleigh.
When they had escorted Everleigh to her apartment they had all veiled their shock at how fast she was able to achieve pulling herself out of the veil. It was mostly due to how much she struggled the first time trying to dive into it. Usually when someone has that many issues they struggle even more so with the opposite. Yet something in Namjoon decided to push her to see if she rose to the challenge. He hadn't been able to keep how pleased he was with how she succeeded on the first attempt off of his face, but all the others were able to keep their surprise from registering across their own features.
They had also all been crazy shocked at how well she was taking the news they were sharing. But Jimin was able to reason that it was due to the fact that she has been searching for answers for five years now. He shared what little she was able to learn on her own, which was still surprisingly a lot in my opinion. After all, many things would have struck her as fantasy or myth, and she might have turned the other way when she came across such suggestions. Instead she chose to focus on taking a more scientific approach in researching why she might crave chocolate and correlated it with how it curbed her other appetites.
As they all started to gather her stuff together I tuned out of the conversation and headed to Eisodoi. I took my time traversing over the grassy hills to the gate that would take me home. I waited until shortly after they all entered Eisodoi themselves. Everleigh didn't make a comment about how she had to have been pulled out of the veil, and it was something the others couldn't help but be confused by. They waited for her to ask, but for some reason she was just able to accept it. The truth of the matter regarding the veil when it comes to Eisodoi is simply the fact that the veil doesn't exist in Eisodoi, nor does it exist in the circles of Hell actually. But it does exist in other realms of existence outside of Earth. When Elpida jumped into their conversation I jumped through the gate. Elpida was nothing but trouble, and I didn't want to hear about the drama she dredged up.
I let Seokjin know I got home okay, and we had a short discussion about how we would introduce ourselves. Of course he suggested simply waiting until she got to the house, but, of course, I didn't listen. Instead I waited until approximately the time I figured they had reached the other side of the gate, then I quickly went outside and took one of my alter forms. I first focused on the magic to transform into the one to get me near them at the fastest speed possible and took flight but once I got there I hid behind a bush and transformed into my bunny alter.
"Jungkook, you didn't just launch yourself near the gate to go meet her as one of your alters." Seokjin mentally scolded me and sighed just after.
My response was a mental representation of a visual eye roll. I'm over three hundred years old, yet the eldest still tended to treat me like a child.
"You really should introduce yourself to her properly."
"Why? I'm pretty confident she will like this alter." Who could resist a cute bunny after all?
When she fell to the ground I immediately hopped over to her. Not only to 'introduce myself,' but also out of concern that she might have hurt herself or even fainted. But no, she was glancing at each of the others in open astonishment.
"Jimin, is she okay?" Namjoon immediately asks out of concern.
Jimin doesn't elaborate his response. He simply sends the mental visual representation of a nod.
"Why did she fall to the ground exactly?" Tae asks. His question mostly stemmed from pure confusion, but it was obvious it was also laced with a touch of concern as well. It was honestly shocking that the Euralyend was showing concern at all. He considered them all brothers after a fashion, but it took him years to outwardly show any kind of emotion to us. Even now he still most often showed his blank and stoic side.
Hoseok simply chuckles in response and sends a mental eye roll as if to say something like. 'I can't believe you all aren't getting it.' Or at least that was the way I interpreted the meaning.
I go to comfort her the best way I can in this form by immediately hopping toward her so I am within arm's reach. I am unsure if I am surprised or not when she immediately lifts me and places me in her lap. I mean yes I am a bunny but this is the eighth circle of hell. She should probably ask herself if I am an evil bunny or something. I mentally snort at my own thoughts. Evil bunny.
I listen to the conversation she has with Taehyung. I make a sort of chattering sound with my teeth. I'm exceptionally pleased at how she responds both honestly and sympathetically with Taehyung. So of course I can't help the bunny equivalent of a purr escaping my lips.
When she places me down and insists on leaving me behind I simply hop onto the top of her feet so she can't do anything but pick me up again. Perhaps it was wrong of me to enjoy this personal cuddle time I was getting with her. Hell, I kind of wondered how fast she would realize that the bunny and I were one and the same. She struck me as intelligent, but this world was a new one to her therefore it might take some time to put two and two together.
When Seokjin starts scolding me again I do a full body shiver which has Everleigh shifting her arms automatically lower. I hop out of them before she realizes the movement and rightens herself. I hop out of sight back to my room before I switch back to my true form. I'm incessantly thankful that I am not a simple Wereshifter or Therianthrope. Those two particular shifter classifications lose their clothing after all. Because my shifting is part of my magic I don't have to worry about redressing because my clothing shifts with me.
I'm slightly annoyed when Yoongi enters the same time I come back into the main room. But when she doesn't immediately turn his direction, and instead seems to scan over my visage with a curious yet interested expression that annoyance immediately slips away. I almost find myself running to her as she falls to the floor. But I choose not to, simply because I'm afraid I might scare her with my rapid movement. I'm immediately thankful that Taehyung and Jimin are by her side to help her off of the floor.
I quickly became nervous again to officially greet her for the first time. My hands literally start sweating so I wipe them down the thighs of my pant legs before going up to her and reaching out to shake her hand. "Hi Everleigh. I'm Jungkook."
One thing was certain in regards to Everleigh and that was the fact that I just simply didn't understand her. I really wish I could borrow Jimin's ability for even just a moment so I can experience and decipher what she is feeling. Perhaps it would give me some kind of understanding of who she is and why she reacts the way she does.
Even while I watched her when we were standing in the alley behind the club. I couldn't get any kind of grasp on who she was. At first I didn't even know what made me so curious about her. I mean sure she was obviously beautiful, but it was highly likely she was wearing a glamour much like we all were. So that couldn't have been what made me so curious about her. Then when we all thought about what it could mean that Jimin was able to mentally communicate with her, well then I was even more thrown for a loop. I didn't think it would ever be possible that we would find someone that could be the whole center of our world. Not after we each went to Lucifer and chose to become demons. Even before that, being halfbreeds seemed to tarnish the possibility of having anyone like her by our side. Ever.
I scanned her meager apartment and didn't understand how anyone could live in such a small empty space. Hell perhaps it was the emptiness that was bothering me more than the size of it. She seemed to have nothing in this room to reflect that she lived here. No posters, prints, or photos on the wall. No random knick knacks here and there that she chose to collect. Everything in the room had purpose, but nothing in the room seemed to have personality.
When it got time to tell her about what we were, and about what she was I was certain she would finally show a hint of fear. Being told that we were all demons should have thrown her for a proverbial loop. Yet she once again didn't react how I had expected. Instead she took the information that was given to her and seemed to be able to immediately come to terms with it.
When she walked away I had expected her to take a moment to herself alone to have her freak out. That's why I followed her into that miniscule space she somehow was able to call a bathroom. I didn't know how I was going to do it but I wanted to be able to somehow reassure her that everything would be okay. Then she said something about there not being room for the both of us in the meager space. Logically I knew what she meant but for some reason I chose to push my luck even further and force myself into the room. After I had done it I knew why I had. It was because I thought this may be the only moment I would have to be this physically close to her.
A part of me was worried that once my glamour was stripped away that she wouldn't want to get this close to me ever again. That she would see the scales that adorned several parts of my body and turn away from me. But that hadn't been the case at all. She was completely honest that it did shockingly surprise her to see my scales, but she also admitted that it would take her some time to get used to them.
I was even more appreciative of the fact that she didn't pretend to accept them right away. I was pleased that she was able to admit to me that while my visage didn't frighten her that she wasn't completely comfortable with the visual yet either.
As we were walking toward our home I noticed that she kept frowning periodically and looking over her shoulder. It took me a bit to realize that the growls in the distance when we were in the veil were still bothering her. That she thought he had trailed us all the way here. It was kind of humorous to admit that she was right. He had been following us the whole time.
The minute she fell to the ground it was instinct for me to go to her side and try to lift her up. I'm surprised that I couldn't keep the content smile from growing on my face when she didn't back away from me or flinch at the idea of holding my hand. She simply let me guide her to a standing position.
When Yoongi entered the house after Jungkook introduced himself I physically helped turn her toward him. I knew that he wouldn't introduce himself. He is stubborn like that. So I do it for him. "And this is Yoongi."
Little does she know that in this moment I just introduced her to the very beast that had been tracking us the whole time.
My alter was itching to get out the moment I was done with my tasks for the night. But I couldn't verbally communicate in that form. Or rather I chose not to telepathically communicate in that form. I wasn't honestly sure if I could or not since I had never actually tried. I was able to receive the telepathic conversations, but I had never had the urge to attempt to reply before while in my alter's form.
Before I shifted into my alter I slipped into the veil. It was safer to prowl here than openly in a city. I would probably end up taken in by animal control, at the very least, if I stayed in real time after I shifted.
I took a deep breath before I let my alter take over my body. Luckily, due to my magical abilities, I was able to cast a spell before shifting to keep my clothing intact. Technically I wasn't a wereshifter or a therianthrope. I was a pureblood shifter which made the transformation equal parts both magical and physical. The transformation wasn't painful. It was bliss; the magic that caused muscles and bones realigning to my other true form. It didn't take long before I was standing on all fours and staring out at a slightly lower elevation. My vision and hearing were sharper in this form, and without thinking about it I let my animal instincts fully encompass me and take over.
The nearly frozen scenery passed by me in the blink of an eye as I moved on all fours at a rapid gait. I wasn't sure where my alter was leading me, but I tended to let him take the driver's seat in this state. I was simply a mere passenger along for the ride. It wasn't that we were completely separate mindsets, more like we were two sides of the same coin. The differences were there, but they were few and far between. Mostly my alter just reacted on a more primal level than my humanoid form.
I didn't readily realize where I was going until I heard her voice for myself. I stuck to the shadows but I watched her closely. My alter randomly lets out a gruff sound or rumbling growl periodically. I heard Taehyung explain away that the creature she kept hearing was merely curious. But even that made me want to growl fiercely in response.
I knew without considering it that I didn't want her to think of me as some kind of beast. I already wanted her to accept me for what I was. The sad fact is though that no one ever has.
I didn't follow her into her apartment. That would have been too risky. She definitely would have seen me there while she was in the veil, and even after she exited it into real time I still deemed that it didn't feel safe to attempt it. But, I did wait in a nearby alley outside her apartment and followed them all when they headed toward the gate.
I growled at a pond I passed by. I couldn't see my reflection since I was in the veil, but I wasn't fond of even the idea of the possibility of seeing my reflection in this form. After all I was not only deemed a halfbreed. I was deemed an abomination since my fur coat was the wrong color, and a runt since my dire form was quite a bit smaller than a full blooded dire shifter.
I saw her back go rigid after one of my many feral sounds left my gaping maw. I hoped that she wouldn't fear me, but that simply didn't seem like it would be the case. Mentally I sighed to myself in exasperation. In my alter form the accompanying sound to my sigh was low and gruff, nearly inaudible compared to the other sounds I could make.
I frowned when they walked through the gate to Eisodoi. My alter would have nowhere to hide there so I chose to wait a few moments before shedding this form and regaining my humanoid one.
I wasn't certain how far I was behind them at this point, but I was thankful that when I passed through the Gehenna gateway that took me close to home to just make out their backs as they went inside the house. I trudged through the ever dying brittle grass rapidly in a quick effort to get home.
I frowned to myself when her whole body seemed to jerk as I shut the door behind me. I watched as her stiff muscles slowly unlocked when she saw Jungkook for the first time. Then my eyebrows arched of their own accord when she slipped to the floor. No one commented on it, Jimin and Taehyung simply helped her back onto her feet.
Then the youngest shyly moved over to her and introduced himself. I mentally snorted at the display. Everyone was falling all over themselves to greet her. Hell even she was falling all over herself. Before I know it Taehyung is turning her in my direction. A secret knowing smile briefly pops on his face before he can will it away. Hell I doubt even he knew that he had made the expression himself. "And this is Yoongi." I hear him say.
I mentally sigh once again. I take a very brief moment to look in her direction before I move past her toward my room. Toward solitude.
Once I locked the door behind me I mentally revisited her countenance. There were so many adjectives that popped to mind when it came to her beauty. I wasn't sure I would be able to ever settle on a single one.
Being the leader I had to show that I was capable and quite sure of what I was doing. But that was most definitely not the case at the moment. The minute I realized the possibility of who she was to our Legion I had mentally thrown the proverbial rulebook out the equally proverbial window.
The biggest question I had rolling around in my head was how she could be who each of us were scared to admit. Not just to each other but to each of ourselves as well.
I rolled around the facts in my head that I knew to be true. Pureblood demon Legions were born into their group assignments. Unlike our Legion which had been organized together by both Dionysus and myself. Members of those specific pureblood demon Legions were born with a tainted soul, or pureblooded demons tend to prefer to refer to it as their 'essence' since they deemed themselves far too corrupted to actually have a soul. There is only one way to prevent their essence from becoming fully corrupted and that is to find their Center, which as far as I was concerned was essentially a synonym for soulmate. There are many ways for a demon Legion to determine that they have found their Center, and one of the easiest is through the ability to communicate telepathically.
Which has given us all pause into considering that Everleigh might be our Center. I'm sure without asking that it doesn't completely make sense to any of us, because there are a few reasons that don't logically line up. The first being only pureblood demon Legions have Centers. The corruption within created demons doesn't spread like it does for pureblooded demons. Therefore we don't carry enough corruption within us to have a need for a Center. All this information, that I know as fact, would lead me to think that because of this we shouldn't be able to have our own Center.
But then I find myself remembering something Jungkook had telepathically communicated earlier tonight. He had said something along the lines of the fact that she had to be like us. Which I originally had forgotten about and negated unintentionally without thought. Now I think that can't be the case after all because she would have known if she had been a created demon. She would have chosen that for herself. Lucifer does have to make sure all the 'I's are dotted and all the 'T's are crossed before anyone makes that kind of commitment, and signs away their humanity. But since that can't be the case it means the next closest answer would be that her other humanoid half would have to be the same as ours. That makes me even more curious because that would mean she has some magic outside of her lust abilities that she retained from her succubus side. I shake my head to refocus on the here and now rather than constantly working this dilemma out in my head, which was honestly starting to give me a headache.
Now that I am back in the moment, aware of what is going around me. I notice how Everleigh has followed Seokjin curiously into the kitchen. He immediately grabs a spoon, stirs the dish he is making, and scoops a spoonful out holding it up for her to sample. Something warm suddenly settles into my core that I don't want to dissect and focus on quite yet. Although that doesn't stop me from letting that warmth settle over me, and I know without a doubt that I will accept this feeling everytime it comes over me from here on out.
A/N: Two more really quick things.
First of all I know I threw some things out there information wise regarding at least a few of the members of the Legion. Did anyone have an questions? Guesses on aside from demons what their other halves might be? Did you pick up something you weren't understanding and wanting some light shed on the situation (I won't do spoilers but perhaps I can help a bit if need be)?
Secondly, before posting this chapter I noticed that there is 85 votes currently, and I did say that I would do a bonus chapter once we reach 100. So, I will be spending the next hour or so to proofread the next chapter and make sure it is ready just in case. I probably won't post it until tomorrow at the earliest that way I can proofread it once more with a clear head. ☺