[Y/N]'s POV
Me and two of the Vees sat together in silence, 3 plates of fancy breakfast outlining the round table. I played with my fingers nervously under the table, picking at my nails. Reading the atmosphere and looking around, Val was scrolling at his phone and probably looking at sex stuff, while Vox was also scrolling, his face looking distraught or discontented. He was probably using his phone to try and distract himself from whatever he was thinking about. I waved to him, grinning. I hoped that he'd at least look over and smile back.
He glanced over, frowning even harder as he tried to avoid making eye contact with me.
Rude.
"So...." I tried to break the silence AGAIN. I was the only demon here without a phone, it seemed. If I had a phone at the moment though, I'd a hundred percent be using it too. "What's the occasion?"
Val looked up from his phone, his wide grin falling slightly as he looked at me. "Oh, nothing dear," he began, taking a sip of whatever alcoholic-coffee hybrid he had beside him, "just providing another warm welcome here." He put down his drink, hand slithering to mine, grabbing it (unconsentually) and bringing it towards him, kissing my hand, politely-ish? Still fucking weird though.
As I resisted the urge to tug my hand back to the safety of myself, my eyes darted to Vox, who had just looked up from his phone, making eye contact with me in the process.
He put down his phone, groaning as he sighed, "Val, cut it out."
"Come on, Voxy-Woxy-get-in-my-Boxies," Val mused as he leaned from me to Vox's side in a flash. Way to switch up. Vox's gaze shot at me for help, while I sat there and watched the show. "Don't be like that~!" Vox's face morphed into one of disgust.
"Get the fuck off me," Vox scowled, leaning away from Val. He looked at me, maybe sympathising with me having to deal with this for probably the rest of my career.
I couldn't help but laugh at this scene. I mean, come on. He was repelled by Val like he was a moth to the dark.
Vox finally got his boundaries broken and pushed Val away from him. "Anyway, we're here to discuss your contract." I suddenly became a thousand times more focused. I was barely even thinking about the food in front of me at this point.
"Do we have to," Val whined, groaning like a brat. In my mind, I was like, can this grown man get a grip? But of course, I couldn't express that out loud, since... y'know, they're my bosses.
"Yes, Val, this is something that's actually kind of important," Vox chided, rolling his eyes like he too felt that Val was acting like an immature child. "If you want to keep her on your roster, you're going to have to at least tell her about the conditions."
"How did you know that she didn't know, again?" He suddenly snapped out of whatever childish trance he was in, gritting his teeth like I said something i wasn't supposed to. He glared at Vox, red eyes searching for any possible lies behind them. Vox glanced at me, as though to gesture that I told him so.
Thanks a lot.
Val's head snapped at me, seething suddenly, like I wasn't supposed to say that. How would I have known that telling Vox that 'I didn't even know I signed it' was such a crime?
"Whatever, just tell already," he sunk in and leant back into his chair, pulling out a cigar and gesturing for Vox to light it. Vox put his finger at the tip of the cigar, causing it to spark and light up. Val took a long puff of it. I felt the strong urge to hold my breath.
Vox groaned, "[Y/N], do you know how long your contract is for?" I shook my head in response. Vox looked at Val accusingly. Val only shrugged at this. Vox continued, "Do you know what you signed off?"
"Err, my signature?" I grinned as though that was ever gonna be the right answer. Vox rolled his eyes and a grin fought to appear on his face.
That fighting grin fell. I knew the news was about to be bad.
"No," he started. "it's your soul, [Y/N]."
My face fell.
FUCK
FUCK
FUCK
FUCK
FUCK
FUCK
FUCK
"Like, till the contract's over, right?" I grinned shakily, praying that there was a chance that it was true, that it was for a finite time that Val owned me.
Vox shook his head.
Everything fell. My life was falling apart more than I thought it could. I didn't care if my stomach rumbled from hunger, I didn't care if Val literally took my body right now and fucked me for everyone to see or whatever. I was owned by him. I'm basically property of this company. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not escaping from this. I am
NEVER going to be a newscaster for Vox.
NEVER going to live a normal life.
NEVER going to be free.
The more I thought about the nevers, evers and forevers, the more I felt like I was spiralling down a hole. I was so confused, I was so, so lost.
What do I do now? What is there to work towards? Wouldn't death be a better escape than this? I should have just let him shoot me from the start.
Vox stood up and walked past me, stopping to pat my shoulder before he left. He passed me a phone, with the same Voxtek wallpaper as him. Just for a moment, he quickly checked if Val was looking (he wasn't), and flashed me an empathetic look of concern. He did a little 🤙🤙, I nodded and he left.
Left me with me and Val.
At least I had a phone.
I spent my time distracting myself from Val's presence by setting up my new company-issued phone. I ate my food at a slightly-slow pace, while Val ate a meagre fraction of his food and stood up to leave. I was so excited for him to get out.
Before leaving, he leaned down to tell me, "Studio 6 at 2pm. Don't be late, slut." He walked away, heels clacking the floor behind him.
SLUT? I fucked 2 guys yesterday, for my JOB. how am I a slut?
I shook my head, planning to tune out everything he said for the rest of eternity I had to work for him for. Whatever he said, I vowed to never let it get to me. EVER.
I spent the rest of the time spent to eat trying to process what I had just heard. The burning thought of me being fucked every single day for the rest of my eternal Hell-lifetime (till Val somehow gets killed) was a terrible feeling. It struck me in my chest, it made my legs feel like jelly and it made me feel like next extermination I should just shout, "KILL ME!!!"
How strong of an alcohol would it take to just forget about everything I had just heard. I wish Vox hadn't told me about that. Oblivion is much, much more favourable than knowledge. I didn't need to know that, I could've just spent the rest of my time here hoping that somehow there could be a day that I was free from all this.
But now I know that there is no way that I'm ever going to be normal. There is no way that I'll ever get out of this job or this life. There will be no escape from Val ever. EVER.
I wanted to just curl up and cry. I bit my lips, pretending to close my eyes from fatigue to prevent a single tear from escaping my eyelids.
I had lost my appetite. HARD. I would've puked if I had eaten another bite.
I looked at my phone and checked its contact list. I tried to use it to mask the tears that were hesitating to roll down my face. I saw only one contact, Vox.
I eventually made my way out of the breakfast room somehow, stumbling around till I found the building my room was in. I quickly got into a lift and clicked 16, my mind dizzy and my legs numb. Everything stung, everything spun. Everything felt like it was running around me in circles. I was still in shock, but also in a state of resolve. What else could I do other than just deal with it or die?
I quickly tapped the code into my room's lock and shut the door behind me. I stumbled towards my bed, flopping down on it and ripping the jacket off my back. I recalled when I came out of this room, all confident and ready for whatever was being thrown at me.
I remember being hopeful.
I lazily grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialed Vox.
ringringring
"[Y/N]," Vox started. "I was hoping to tell you in a more.. indirect manner."
I burst out into tears.
"It's over," I choked on my words, my throat cluched up and my breath stuck. "I'm gonna be here forever."
"I," Vox paused for a second over the phone. "I shouldn't have done that last night." For a while, the whole contract thing slightly was off my mind as it was replaced by what happened last night. My tears took a break as I recalled that Vox got super angry at me saying "radio" and he silently walked out of my room without another word. "I didn't mean to shout like that and threaten you."
"Since when would an Overlord like you give two shits about someone like me," I retorted, the waterworks on the verge of distending as I tried to hold back whatever I could. "I'm just an object to you, aren't I." I covered my tear-stained face with a pillow, sobbing away as the thought of my fate replayed in my mind.
Complete silence over the phone.
"Can't an Overlord change?" he spoke suddenly. His voice cracked, hesitation lacing it. He's joking. No way.
He was opening up. To me? Strange choice. Why was Vox being so sentimental? Isn't he usually a smiley TV News Guy persona? why am I only seeing the boring or emotionally intelligent side of him?
I pursed my lips. Was I being too stubborn?
.
.
.
"What's making you do this?"
.
.
.
"You."
.
.
.
"Me?"
.
.
.
"Well, not really just you," Vox revealed. He sighed, as though weighing the pros and cons of telling me what he truly thought and felt. "For years, Val has had slut after slut go through his rotation of souls using them before killing them. And everytime, I sit at the side and do nothing." He made a weird noise, choking on his breath as though about to say more, but held back, knowing that he had said enough.
"So, you're going to do what to help me, exactly?"
S
I
L
E
N
C
E
...
"Be there for you."
I smiled. I still barely knew this dude. I should be weirded out by this. What kind of high-level, ultra-powerful boss would go and help some average demon like me. This is literally the weirdest situation of all time. An Overlord that's usually smiling in front of his audience is being all emotionally wise and candid, changing his attitude towards just me, and I had just found out that my soul is owned by his co-worker. But he doesn't go to his co-worker directly for my soul because that's too direct. So we have to do this in a less obvious manner?
That's basically what I got from this.
I started laughing. I laughed hard. I laughed like a maniac. I didn't know what to think. Was this going to be good, or was this going to make my life harder than it already was? What can Vox do for me anyway either than get me some company perks? I doubt he has the cure for Loss-of-Soul-itis. But it was such a stupid idea. What could really go that wrong that I shouldn't just go with it. I'm getting free assistance (kind of?)
I felt so stupid by thinking that maybe this was a good idea. That maybe any of this was a good idea. That maybe borrowing money from a pimp was a good idea. Why was I so stupid? Maybe I should at least try to be a normal slut instead of agreeing to let.. what, Vox be there for me? What a stupid thing to even think.
What a stupid thing..
That's probably what Vox is thinking of me right now. This is probably a trap by the both of them. It's probably a script or something. It's probably something I shouldn't go along with.
I started crying, still laughing like a madman, "Thanks," I finally replied.
Vox's POV
I had just hung up from whatever call that was.
What in the fucking world was that, Vox?
I should've said more. I should've had at least a few points down or something. Damn, that was bad.
I should've said why I walked out of her room last night in that manner. That would make me look much more caring and virtuous.
Gosh that was a weird call. I don't even know how we're going to interact even partially normally after whatever the Hell that call was.
I was in my office while all this was happening in my head. I sat down on my chair, leaning back as far as I could.
I thought back about what just happened.
Not a News smile, not a mocking smile, not a fake smile.
A real smile appeared on my screen once again.
Only she could give me that kind of smile.
A/N:
THIS WAS THE HARDEST CHAPTER TO WRITE. So far.
It was really hard to try and describe whatever yn should be thinking and feeling because it's tough to empathise with someone who's in that kind of situation (yk.. cus I've never been dead or a porn actor before)
and I feel like I could've done the Vox call better, but lmk if it's fine so far or if its really weird (I find it weird tbh but I'm not sure what it's missing).
TY IF YOU HELP OUT BY GIVING FEEDBACK LUV YALL sorry for making you guys wait for a chapter like this.. definitely not the greatest work but the title is definitely great.