This Couple is Unusual
Prev./Next (WIP)
Chapter 5 This couple, coffin talk
cw: flashback lesson 16 OM
The first time you died was during your first school year in the Devildom.
You have felt bad for him, being stuck in this stuffy attic all by himself. He had reached out to you early on, a whisper in the night, urging you up the stairs. That Lucifer tried to stop you only fueled your curiosity.
The big bad brother who locked the youngest up after an argument. Of course, you made pacts with the other five brothers to break the magical lock to the attic.
He was so grateful, pulling you into a warm embrace.
He hugged you tightly.
“You humans really are foolish, idiotic, weak creatures, aren’t you?”
Tighter.
You couldn’t move.
“Hehe. Does it hurt? Finding it hard to breathe? I’m sure it must be very unpleasant.”
Tighter.
“You’re so stupid that I can’t help but laugh. Don’t blame me for tricking you, blame yourself for falling for it.”
Tighter.
“I hate humans. I hate them more than anything in the three worlds-”
Your ribcage cracked, puncturing your insides.
“And I hate you!”
Why this particular scene flashed before your eyes, you didn’t know for you had already forgiven him. The time you sacrificed yourself for Lucifer or several other instances you had put yourself in immediate danger would have left a better taste in your mouth.
Now, a scythe's polished, pointy tip was millimeters away from your face. It would have pierced through your left orbit if you didn’t bend backward the time and way you did thanks to Luke’s blessing no doubt. The sharp edge of the death dealer ominously glistened in the candlelight.
“Didn’t you know that curiosity killed the cat, my dear?” a voice croaked to your right, amusement resonating within. From your peripheral vision, you could see his dark boots that had no business having this many belts (nor him having legs this long).
“But satisfaction brought it back,” you breathed out, voice shaky. A bead of sweat of fear trickled down your temple as the rapid beating of your heart continued.
Undertaker chuckled and pulled the scythe away from you, lovingly grazing the smooth side of the cutting blade. You stared at the tool that was not designed to cut grass or harvest grains. It had the shape of an elongated bone structure; the edge of the blade ended in a skull that was decorated with thorns around the forehead and the shaft went directly into the skeletal thorax with all its components.
He held out his free hand for you to take, pulling you upward. His skin felt weird to the touch, neither warm nor cold. Just like Thirteen’s. Undertaker gently turned your hand, thumb striking over the seal on the back before letting go, making you wonder if he recognized the sigil that proved your affiliation with the Sorcerer’s Society or the ring of light around on your finger. He eventually took a step backward, giving you a moment to ogle him.
Actually, without being fully veiled by his black overcoat, revealing a matching dark robe, and without his crooked top hat Undertaker even kind of looked … attractive there and then. His choice of clothing and jewelry was interesting for his time, if not ahead of it.
Moreover, with the murder weapon at hand, he didn’t look like a demented oddball anymore but the personified harbinger of death. A grim reaper, a Shinigami.
Oh.
Oh.
Now you knew he recognized you as a sorcerer and some other things about him started to make sense.
Undertaker stored his scythe away, locking the closet with a satisfying click. His lips were curled upwards when he turned back around. Since his bangs covered the upper half of his face, you couldn’t read his true emotions.
/I wonder if he has phosphorescent eyes, too./
“Heh, be more careful when snooping around, unless you’re dying to experience my coffins firsthand,” Undertaker said, snickering at his own little pun at the end.
“Err, it’s definitely not on my bucket list for 1888. Dying ain’t fun,” you quickly denied, mumbling the last part. You awkwardly rubbed your sweaty neck when you felt him staring from behind his long bangs.
Wait, he couldn’t know what a bucket list is, couldn’t he?
“A bucket list is a to-do list before ‘kicking the bucket’,” you quickly explained.
The mortician hummed “Interesting choice of words. Although, even if it’s the basis of my work, I understand death is undesirable - but - maybe such topics should be discussed over a cuppa and biscuits, don’t you think? You’re still shaken.”
This is how you ended up sitting on one of his coffins across from him, a measuring beaker with black tea in hand.
Undertaker, who sat cross-legged on another death box, held out a black urn toward you, silently instructing you to take whatever was inside. Having lived in the Devildom for so long nothing food-related should and could surprise you anymore.
Still, you must have looked baffled when you fished a biscuit in the form of a dog bone from the alienated cookie jar because the silver-haired man let out a little cackle. “Go ahead, they’re delicious, I promise~”
He was right, they were! The sweet taste was welcomed after your near-death experience.
“Gosh, you need to give me the recipe for these. I’ve got some baking-loving friends back home.”
“Hmm, I might, if you pay me with a good laugh, of course,” he answered cheekily, bouncing his crossed-over leg.
“Wait, for real? … Let me think about one…”
Undertaker waited patiently, munching on his treat.
“Okay, you see, my favorite childhood memory is building sandcastles with my dear grandfather – well, that was until my mother took his ashes away.”
…
Turned out that simultaneously eating and laughing was not a good idea.
The silver-haired choked on the cookie as the laugh got stuck in his throat, bending over, battering his chest with suppressed giggles (why) while you shot up in a panic, refilling his cup. “Oh my god, are you alright?”
He made a gesture of refusal with his hand, knocking the beverage back.
“That was a killer, young Miss,” he said once you two calmed down, acting like nothing happened.
“I have yet to ask what I owe the pleasure. I assume you're still busy with the murder case, hm?”
You lowered the recipe Undertaker gave you beforehand, regarding him with a mirthful grin. “Nope. I was gift hunting for the family and ended up in front of your store by chance. Maybe it was fate? For the article, well, I don't think the Queen's cute little watchdog would let us publish anything remotely true once he finds out who Jack the Ripper is.”
Undertaker’s lips curled into a grin as well “Oh, you figured it out?”
“Yep. Yesterday's event confirmed our suspicion. Not that you sound surprised at all, tho.”
“I had a feeling you’ll succeed. I’m sure the young Earl won’t be far behind for he is the good lapdog of Her Majesty.”
You made a face “Never have I imagined a child being responsible for resolving the disruption of the general society. Seriously, putting himself in danger like that.”
“And that collar will choke him someday,” Undertaker said, his voice dropping an octave. “If not for his self-imposed duty, his butler will certainly be his undoing.”
“Well, if the Earl can’t find a way to circumvent his contract, that is, even for a certain amount of time. Employers tend to find a way to go around their agreements, so it’s technically not impossible.”
The mortician tapped his lips with his index. A grimoire - he hadn’t considered this possibility for they are seldom found. It would require Sebastian Michaelis’ true name and free access to Hell. However, different matters solicited his attention; exempli gratia Karnstein, so he would keep your words in mind. An interesting human you were; just maybe …
A low vibrating sound broke his thoughts.
“Shit, I hate to cut our talk short but…” you said, eyes fixating on the screen of the D.D.D. you halfway pulled out of your dress pocket “...look at the time. Sata- err, my husband is expecting me soon and I still have to make the way back.”
You pushed the phone back and walked up to him.
“Thank you for the tea and cookies. I don’t know how long we’ll stay in London but I hope we meet again before we leave.”
You gave Undertaker your brightest smile, surprising the Shinigami but he gently held your outstretched hand. Hands he had taken souls with.
“Likewise, young lady. Be careful on your way back. You never know what lurks around the corner.”
“Noted!”
You took your bag from where you nearly met your untimely end and walked to the door. Grabbing the knob, you turned your head backward.
Feeling bold, you let a slight gust of wind whip around his face, revealing his odd green eyes that widened slightly at your display of magic. Proud of yourself, you winked and waved goodbye, your smile branding itself into his mind.
Laugher filled his empty store.
“What an interesting sorcerer~”
Hello folks!
Writing this chapter was really hard for some reason and I struggled with the decision of putting a scene in or not.
As you can see, this chapter is rather short, meaning I cut a scene out.
It involved the harassment of MC. (In Victorian London some men were pathetic and walked up to unaccompanied women, even from higher ranks, assuming they were streetwalkers. In this case, the reader would have been approached by Grell with the idea in mind to make the case more personal. I'm not sure I handled this well enough in my draft, so here we are)
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Onto 0-3!
The first thing I wonder when I start reading this chapter is… why does Saiki repeat himself every chapter? Just to drill it in? I guess this was a serialized manga.
And he includes the same nose joke again… except it isn’t as funny as the original. (“If that applies to you, then please just forget about this conversation” had me in hysterics the first time I read it.)
Unrelated to anything in particular, I like the large screen tone used on Saiki’s eyes in vol 0. It’s visually interesting. I think Asou sensei could have kept using this to indicate when Saiki was using his powers.
Here we go! Actually important details to the saikiverse (if you will.) One second of staring at a target is enough to get a glance, but three seconds of staring removes clothing and five seconds removes muscles as well as skin (maybe four seconds removes just skin, revealing muscle.)
No guarantee of how true this is, but I like to think it’s more or less accurate, thinking forward to the Kusuo’s birthday challenge chapter, where he has to spend a lot of time staring at an object so that he can see through it.
I had forgotten that Chuono makes his first appearance in this chapter. Yay! Chuono san is so cute.
“At moments like these, what sort of face should I be making?” is another iconic Saiki quote. This gag still manages to be pretty funny in its rough form, imo. *Now* what sort of face does one make?? The kind of face Chuono is making, perhaps. I just love the idea of Saiki meeting an illusionist in the first place. The fake “magician” versus the real psychic who can alter the laws of reality. It’s one of the genius bits in Saiki k.
I also love the intentional misunderstanding that Saiki is an illusionist. It leads to so many funny situations down the line. Why does this random middle aged man call Saiki “master”? Who knows. In this case, Saiki’s habit of letting people make assumptions really came back to bite him in the ass. (Well, that and trying to out-magic and discourage him.)
Another detail I like: Saiki missing social cues (in this case, the dip in the conversation where an average stranger would be like, ok, see you, good luck. That’s not very neurotypical of him…
I really do find this weird stunt hilarious. Saiki’s logic is so off because he inevitably ends up dealing with weirdos expecting normal behavior. C’mon Saiki.
Also, Saiki says here that he can teleport (called apport in the comic proper I believe) not just things, but people into a specific place… crazy
Saiki doesn’t understand the (reasoning behind the) eyelash/long hair simile? Continuing to build my ND Saiki case material…
Also enjoying this little panel of Ike-san holding the 500 yen coin, which Saiki definitely gave him.
Well, I think that does it for volume 0 Chapter 3….
see you all soon. 💫
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Valentine (c.g)
“i blinked and suddenly i had a valentine”
a/n: inspired by valentine by laufey! this is really bad but i have nothing else to post so this will have to do. me and @gr7mes did laufey inspired fics so go look at hers 😋.
pairings: carl grimes x fem!reader
c/w: fluff (again ik i have no variety) kissing, lower case intended, use of y/n, not proof read yet.
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you and carl were currently sitting down backs leant against a tree near his house. his arm wrapped around your shoulder while you both just sat. enjoying each others company sitting peacefully next to each other. making jokes from time to time as the bright sun shinned down on the two of you having your hand cover your face shielding you from the light.
ever since you confessed your feelings for carl, and you found out he liked you back. you no longer knew how to act around him. just the thought of someone liking you left a funny feeling in your stomach.
you had both started dating about a week or two ago. though the feelings between the two of you were definitely mutual, you almost felt like you were just too awkward. you were always awkward around carl as everything he did made your heart flutter. you had never been in relationship before and you felt out of place. there was always a voice in the back of your head telling you, you weren’t doing enough. carl was so sweet to you always reassuring you of how much he loved you.
any sort of affection he tried to show you, though you appreciated it. you turned it down not wanting to get yourself attached. you tried your best to not get get too close to anyone, i mean in a world like this you weren’t ready to grow attached to some one just yet.
i’ve rejected affection for years, and years.
he was always saying cute things like “i love you” or “your so beautiful” and you responded in the worst ways possible. or sometimes you didn’t respond at all, you felt like you weren’t ready for a relationship. but you wanted to be, you loved carl so much and you definitely wanted to be with him. you just were never taught about this relationship stuff, and didn’t know how to tell him that.
now i have it, and damn it, its kinda weird
you would think not having relationship experience either carl would be about just as awkward as you were. but for some reason he just had a natural charm that he always used on you, and oh it certainly worked.
as you guys still sat next to each other, hand in hand, your minds both else where. carl decides to break the silence between the two of you.
“you’re so pretty.” he says looking down at you with a soft smile on his face. you were beyond flattered by the compliment but you couldn’t seem to come up with a response to it. carl was always the type to give you random compliments out of the blue for no reason.
he tells me that im pretty, don’t know how to respond.
“uh- you too.” you giggle awkwardly, immediately the embarrassment washed over you when you had realized what you said. you can’t believe you just said that, he just complimented you and you responded like that.
i tell him that he’s pretty too, can i say that? don’t have a clue.
all he does is laugh softly at your comment causing you to get even more embarrassed. your face growing a deep cherry red as you wish you could go back in time at that moment.
“im sorry carl.” you began to apologize, carl was so sweet to you and you couldn’t even form a sentence around him.
“for what?” he glances at you face full of confusion. he wondered why would you be apologizing, you didn’t do anything wrong?
every time you were around carl or he said something to you, you got so easily flustered. you didn’t want things to be awkward between the two of you and you felt like you always made it like that.
“i don’t know, i just feel like your to good for me.” “your so nice to me and i cant even be a good girlfriend.” you say looking back at him frowning slightly.
“i mean your always giving me compliments and little gifts you find.” you say fiddle with your fingers in anxiety of what he might respond.
“that’s ridiculous, your the best and only girlfriend i could ever ask for.” he says in disbelief that you would ever think less of yourself.
carl saw you for what you were, you were the most beautiful girl he’s ever met. he couldn’t ask for anyone better because you were all he ever needed. it hurt him that you didn’t view yourself in the same way.
“you mean it?” you say smiling up at him
'Cause I think I've fallen In love this time
he smiles back, reassuringly reaching out to caress the side of your face. he would do anything to prove his love to you. he almost enjoyed how flustered you’d get by his simple words. he didn’t understand why you being awkward was a problem. he no longer wanted you to feel ashamed of how you reacted to certain things he did or said.
I blinked and suddenly, I had a Valentine
“of course i do.” “why wouldn’t i?” all you do is smile at his comforting words, him smiling right back. oh to be loved by carl grimes was truly an experience.
“you want me to prove it?” he says in a low tone of voice.
your eyes widened in both shock and anticipation. as usual you couldn’t seem to come up with a response to what he had said.
after a few moments of silence he cups both sides of your face, pulling you in for a gentle kiss. his soft lips on yours almost drove you crazy. his lip’s against yours almost felt
What if he's the last one I kiss?
you kiss back hesitantly at first, but slowly ease into the kiss more growing comfortable with your lips against his. he finally pulls apart from you after what felt like ages, your cheeks still a bright shade of red.
What if he's the only one I'll ever miss?
“you believe me now?” he says laughing as you do the same. carl grimes was the only person who could ever make you feel this way, and im sure he knew of it.
The first one to ever like me back, I'm seconds away from a heart attack
“sure thing grimes.” you say your heart still beating at a rapid pace just thinking about the kiss. more silence lingers between the two of you before he speaks again.
“i love you so much, y/n.”
“i love you too carl.” smiling to yourself as you lean your head against his shoulder.
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And honestly, I can't believe I get to call you mine.
a/n: zoes is much better than mines so go look at hers!!
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Some Time Later
Lucifer (The Angel)
I've been assigned to patrol the woods alone this afternoon, and I have to say, I'm grateful. I don't get to be by myself very often. Some of that is due to choices I've made; after all, I've taken six angels under my wing, pun half-intended.
But there's something on my mind that none of them would be able to understand. Or rather, a person.
The Demon Prince is trying to fix the relationship between our realm and his. Originally, Michael was going to be the representative that went down there, but it got assigned last minute to me. After spending time with the prince, it makes me wonder if Michael would feel the same about him as I do if he were in my place.
The prince is kinder than some of the angels. I originally dismissed it as him simply practicing diplomacy, but he seems genuine in his efforts to get to know me as a person. He doesn't care about titles, instead focusing on character. Despite my less than stellar behavior when we first met, he still insists on becoming an ally.
Not just the Celestial Realm's, but my ally.
"I don't know what happened back there. I haven't felt that way about him in a really long time."
Great. Someone else is in the woods. I hold back a groan, knowing that I'll have to confront them. So much for my alone time.
"I think this place is doing weird things to all of us." Another voice.
"Did something happen to you, too?" The first voice...it sounds familiar.
"I feel like I'm behaving more like a demon than a human. First, there was the cover story for our appearance that I pulled out of my ass, and then I very nearly went all Asmo on Simeon when we were looking for Belphie earlier."
"Like, are we talking sexually? Magically?" The second voice sighs.
"Magically, Satan. I'm pretty sure having sex in the Celestial Realm is akin to heresy." I mean, they're not entirely wrong. But that's not important right now.
Satan...that's the name I've given to the anger that's become a permanent fixture inside my head. At first, it was just an emotion, but then it started talking. Or rather, screaming. At first, its noises were incoherent, but then I started hearing words in a voice that was not my own.
A voice that sounds eerily similar to the first trespasser.
"We have to get out of here," he tells his companion. "There's no telling what will happen if we..." He trails off as his eyes meet mine. Immediately, he tenses up, appearing to freeze in place.
"What's wrong?" Satan maintains eye contact, and the human follows his gaze. "Oh. This is bad. Really bad."
I step out of my makeshift hiding spot, making myself fully visible to them.
"Well, this is rather interesting," I remark, putting on an air of authority. "I should capture the two of you and not release you for a good long while."
"Please don't," the human quickly replies. "We don't mean any harm. If you can just help us find Simeon, I'll promise we'll be out of your hair." They seem terrified, but at least they're moving. Satan, on the other hand, hasn't budged an inch.
"If I was Michael or Raphael, your pleas would mean nothing. Thankfully, I'm only interested in talking." I focus my attention on Satan. "After all, it's not every day one sees the physical manifestation of their wrath."
"I was there even back then?" Satan whispers, confirming my earlier suspicions.
"You've been around from the moment I took Mammon in." My statement shocks Satan. "Your presence implies our separation at some point in the future. Assuming that you're a demon, that means that I must have fallen all the way down to the Devildom, correct?"
After a moment's hesitation, he nods his head.
"Along with the five angels you consider part of your family."
"Six," I correct.
"One doesn't survive the journey. Not entirely."
"What do you mean, not entirely?"
"If you knew who it was, then you'd end up altering the timeline," the human interrupts. "As it is, you know way more than you should."
"That's one way of looking at it, I suppose," I tell them. "I see it as preparing for the inevitable." They groan at my response.
"Barbatos is going to kill me," they mutter. Before I can question how they know the prince's butler, they take a deep breath and look straight at me.
"We can answer any questions you have, but you need to help us find Simeon. Not your Simeon, but ours. He and Satan got in a heated argument, and he went off in the opposite direction to hopefully try to calm down. Is there a spot here that he feels comfortable hiding in? One where he feels he won't be found easily?"
"There is a place, but it's a bit of a hike from here."
"Good enough. Let's go."
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