Author's note: Sorry about the radio silence, everyone! Been dealing with some personal issues and that made writting difficult for a couple of days. Anyways, I hope it's over and updates will be more often, I hope. Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: All characters depicted in this story are eighteen years of age or older. Any sexual content involves only consenting adults. This is a work of fiction.
A Marvelous Devil.
Chapter 48: Start of a New Era.
Peter Parker.
Maybe there was a reason why he hadn't accepted Mary Jane Watson's offer of going to her new favorite place in the whole city.
Peter Parker, or Pete to his friends, didn't understand why he hadn't accepted his crush's many offers over the months.
Yes, obviously, the fact that he liked her made the situation stressful enough. He always got nervous around her, even though they'd been friends since high school. Now, years later in university, while they saw each other less than normal, he still considered himself her friend.
But normally, he would have gladly accepted the offer, despite being a sweating mess an hour before the supposed get-together. Especially when it was only the two of them instead of their friend group.
That didn't happen as often as he would have liked. Not that the rest were bad anymore. Age made sure that things between them passed, and while he still saw some of the previous bully behavior in Flash, he was more focused on looking good for the girls and his future as a basketball player to bother him as much as he used to before.
Hell… after Uncle Ben's passing, he'd gotten surprisingly better.
Harry was still the same, while the girls didn't care about Peter's nerdy tendencies or how often he missed gatherings because of his work.
Things were fine. Their friendships worked, but that didn't explain why he didn't make time for MJ like before.
Or why he didn't exactly patrol this area of the city that much, now that he thought about it.
It didn't make sense. Spider-Man was the hero of New York. Hell's Kitchen used to be part of his patrol route.
But it had been a year since he walked these blocks as a civilian. And it had been months since he even swung slowly through the area; now he always moved at top speed, as if he didn't want to overstay his welcome.
Peter frowned softly, hiding his face from MJ.
None of that made sense for the webslinger.
But he couldn't focus as much as he would've wanted, because MJ didn't care or even know about why he was frowning.
She was beautiful and confident. Since starting her new modeling job, she had gained an aura of success that left her glowing in his eyes. To her, he was just Peter.
Many times, he thought about telling her the truth, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. It would be too dangerous not only for him, but for everyone he cared about.
The Kingpin didn't particularly enjoy every mission he interrupted; the Maggia were still on his ass, thinking that he had stolen an absurd amount of money from one of their safehouses.
As if he had done that, Peter barely avoided sighing in disbelief. Spider-Man didn't steal, and even if he had, the money would have been long gone. He didn't know the exact amount they lost, but he'd heard it was in the millions, and they'd even started a shootout just to get his attention.
For a brief moment, Peter thought of everything he could've developed with that amount of money before shaking his head minutely.
No. Spider-Man wasn't a thief. No matter how efficient it would be to put that money to better use.
And that wasn't even mentioning the other strange events that had happened in New York since he got his powers. Sure, it was crazy enough that a simple radioactive spider could grant him his abilities, but that didn't explain all the other superhumans who had appeared over the years.
Mutants, at least, were easier to explain. He had studied a lot about their existence, believing he could have been one of them when he first got his powers, only to be disappointed when he understood that it was mere luck.
Then there were the other weirdos. The ones like himself.
Shocker came to the front of his mind; the crazy bastard always managed to escape prison. Somehow.
Then there was Tombstone, and all the bruises the tough villain left on Peter's body.
It hadn't been a week since their last encounter, and Peter still wobbled whenever he moved too fast. His power helped; he healed better than a normal human, but every time he fought against him was a damn slugfest.
Then came one of the most complicated villains he currently had. Scorpion.
His first real villain was one who had long overstayed his welcome. Peter didn't like to think about him much; instead, he focused on the most recent, who was probably the most dangerous to the city as a whole.
Rhino.
God, he hated seeing Rhino on the streets. It was only by God's grace that Rhino wasn't particularly intelligent.
Before he could spiral more into his long-ish history as a superhero, Peter felt a tug on his shirt.
"I'm telling you, Pete, this place is the best," MJ grinned brightly, her white teeth almost sparkling as she pushed the heavy glass door of The Ninth Circle. "And I heard that Dante came back! You'll finally get to meet him! He was the one who helped me with some contacts, and rumors say he can get you anything you want."
Peter opened his mouth to point out that everything felt like a bad Faustian demon or something, but MJ continued without waiting.
"And their coffee, God, Pete, you have to try it!" she chuckled to herself, entering the door.
Peter opened his mouth again, but he couldn't say anything; he couldn't even focus on what he had wanted to say just 10 seconds before.
Because the moment his foot crossed the threshold, the world stopped.
Not literally, but it almost felt like that. His spider-sense was going into overdrive in a way it hadn't done so. Ever.
He lowered his head quickly.
No matter how many bullets he was running away from, or how many gangsters he had to beat up. Not even when two of his personal villains teamed up against him.
Nothing he had ever felt during his three years as a superhero could've prepared him for what he faced.
It felt like someone had driven a white-hot knife directly into the base of his skull. Every single nerve ending on his body caught on fire at the very same second. The hair of his arms stood straight up, and his heart slammed against his throat in a way he didn't believe possible.
There were alarms of danger, warnings of a predator: thoughts of running, hiding, or, if that failed, playing dead.
To Peter, it felt as if he had walked straight into the mouth of an extinction-level apex predator, entirely of his own volition.
He froze completely. Peter almost slipped as his sneakers ground against the floor when every muscle under his clothes tensed at once.
Peter raised his eyes, expecting to see a nuclear bomb ready to go off. Or a monster of the same kind.
Instead, he saw a guy reading something behind a counter.
He was tall, unfairly handsome, wearing some casual clothes, and looking utterly bored as he passed the pages. There was another unfairly attractive blonde next to him, eating a pastry with a bright grin and poking the man's cheek while making airplane sounds and trying to feed him some of her dessert.
They looked like a perfect couple, the kind that would win prom night without a single ounce of effort on their parts.
Everything looked completely, perfectly normal.
But Peter's brain froze for the second time as his eyes fell on them. Every thought focused on grabbing MJ and running away, and probably failing. His mind was not even bothering to think about saving any other civilians inside the café because he knew it would've been impossible.
Peter felt like he was going insane. Just glancing in their direction felt like the air around his shoulders weighed many times what it was supposed to.
"Heya, Dante! It's been so long!" MJ called out brightly, almost skipping in front of the monster's direction.
Peter wanted to grab her hand, but his body didn't move. He wanted to scream at MJ to get away from him, but his mouth didn't open. He couldn't even manage to squeak.
The monster in human form, Dante, looked up. But he barely gave MJ a passing smile. His blue bright eyes locked onto Peter.
And at that moment, Peter realized something. He knew. Peter didn't know how, but he was a hundred percent sure that Dante knew what he was.
Dante's eyes brightened even more as a grin grew on his face.
"MJ," Dante smiled, and Peter couldn't help but shudder at how smooth his voice sounded. It was literally perfect, but Peter couldn't even feel jealous of him. "Always a pleasure to see you here, my dear. And who is this?"
"This is Peter," MJ grinned, "I told you I would convince him."
She grabbed Peter's sleeve and pulled him forward.
Peter stumbled, feeling like his legs were made of jelly. Every step was more difficult than the last, but this time it wasn't because of his injuries.
"And Peter, this is Dante. My savior," MJ faked a swoon, "The guy I was talking about. And that is Tandy, aren't they cute together?"
The blonde girl waved her hand enthusiastically. "Hi Peter!"
She seemed nice. Her smile was really cute, and it should've been contagious. But she felt, while not as dangerous as Dante, still to a level Peter hadn't felt before.
She was a monster, too.
"H-hi," Peter choked out, his voice cracking so badly to the point that it sounded like he was going through puberty once more.
Dante's lips quirked into a smirk.
Peter didn't like the way he hadn't stopped watching him with a kind of glance he couldn't name.
"Nice to finally meet the famous Peter," he nodded at MJ before winking flirtatiously, "I have to say you always bring such curious specimens to my place. At this point, I'll have to owe you one."
MJ blushed at his words before her eyes lit up in a way that Peter didn't feel particularly enthused.
"Still with your act," she rolled her eyes, but MJ couldn't hide how excited she got at the supposed favor.
In Peter's eyes, because she knew her for years at that point, she had the same scheming look when she was thinking of something that would help with her dream.
Dante then turned to him, almost brushing off MJ, who giggled to herself under Tandy's amused look, "Can I get you something, Peter? You're looking a bit… pale. A cold drink, perhaps?"
He threw a menu with unnatural precision toward Peter's hand, almost like he knew it would get stuck in it. The only reason why Peter didn't duck was that his body wasn't responding.
"W-water," Peter squeaked out. "Just water. Please. Sir."
"Hm," Dante hummed, his eyes boring into Peter's with an intensity only he noticed.
"Sure, kid," he grinned.
He pulled back and walked through the door behind him. Before the door closed, Peter heard a snap of fingers that reverberated in his head, and the pressure vanished instantly, as if it had never been there. Even Tandy felt nothing different than a normal human, but her lips quirked into a grin as she led them to a table.
Peter's eyes never left the blonde girl until she retreated back into the same door with a skip in her step.
MJ rolled her eyes affectionately, lightly bumping her shoulder against his.
"She's taken, tiger," she laughed, "I didn't think Pete would be the home wrecker kind."
Sputtering a response, Peter could only blush and let the misunderstanding continue. It wasn't like he could let her know they were in the presence of two very dangerous people.
MJ just grinned and rolled her eyes before a hopeful look appeared on her face. "But I'll have to thank you, Pete. Dante never goes back on his words, and I could really use his help getting more popular! And it wouldn't have happened without you. You're really my lucky charm."
"And what do you plan to ask him?" Peter finally asked after taking some seconds to control his breathing, "Get you in contact with someone he knows? You said he was really well-connected in the industry."
"It's weird," she began explaining, getting more and more animated as she continued, "He only did a single photoshoot, you know? Out of nowhere, but everyone loved it."
She fanned her face, "I mean, you can see it. He's unfairly hot, and that body inside his shirt? Damn," she whistled, laughing.
Peter felt a knot inside his stomach.
"But he disappeared from the industry after that. And hasn't done a single gig since then. Even just saying that I know him has opened doors for me that I know would normally stay closed, in hopes that he makes a return one day. I'm thinking of asking him to do a photoshoot with me! Think about all the popularity I would get if I were in his return."
And there it was. Peter liked MJ, even if he would deny it, but one couldn't say she wasn't the… ambitious kind of girl.
"Right," Peter nodded, feeling something inside his chest that he didn't know how to name. Not exactly jealousy, it wasn't that at the forefront of his mind.
It was more like the worry of MJ being so close with someone so dangerous, but not only that.
Dante returned not even a minute later, with a glowing drink inside a glass and a coffee cup that smelled heavenly for MJ.
He winked in Peter's direction and nodded at the clear glass, "It's on the house, Peter. I have a feeling we'll see each other more times, eh?"
He didn't wait for an answer, and Peter's senses stayed firmly silent even as the monster retreated towards the counter and put his arm around Tandy's shoulders, snuggling and laughing to themselves.
Peter looked at his drink in disbelief before glancing at MJ, who didn't look that different.
"Do they sell radioactive drinks here? This is not natural, right?" Peter asked the redhead, who stayed uncharacteristically silent as she licked her lips.
"That smells so sweet," MJ murmured, then looked at him, "can I have a sip, Pete?"
Before Peter could deny her from drinking the probably dangerous drink, MJ moved faster than he ever remembered seeing in P.E class, and lifted the drink from the table, drinking almost half, and looking like she wanted to gulp the whole thing.
Reluctantly, but firmly, she put it into the table and closed her eyes in bliss.
"If I open my eyes in five seconds and the glass is still there, I'm finishing it, Pete," MJ said firmly, and despite every instinct in his body saying no, he drank it whole, not even realizing what he was doing.
A warmth spread all over his body, and he felt his injuries from last week fixing themselves in seconds. He let out a surprised gasp and glanced in Dante's direction, only to see the couple missing.
He set it down on the table, feeling stupid that he hadn't drunk it whole. Even a small amount of anger at MJ drinking the rest.
She opened her mouth and pouted in his direction before laughing dumbly to herself, licking her lips.
Before he could focus on something more important, Peter couldn't help but realize something.
Didn't that count as an indirect kiss?!
Three months later.
Dante Andromalius.
"When will you stop gloating, Dante?" Tandy rolled her eyes, pouting while she sat on my lap as we observed the pair of scientists doing things I didn't understand.
Obviously, I knew what the final product would look like, but this mortal engineering confused me a fair bit.
This 'arc reactor' made me stop for a moment as my mind ran a mile a minute with the applications.
Miniaturized fusion reaction, and surprisingly stable for a planet with such a low level of technology.
The creation of such a thing alone made Tony and Yinsen look much more interesting than normal mortals, but their fates didn't stop at that.
Which confused me a fair bit.
Not Tony, I had already expected this from him. He was a nexus, for fuck's sake, something this small was incomparable to what a nexus should be, but Yinsen? His fate was not finished.
But his soul was that of a dead man walking. He had already decided that he wouldn't leave the cave alive.
And his soul was weighed with a deal he had made a long time ago. And the knowledge of his family waiting for him in the afterlife.
I hadn't mentioned that to Tandy because I was already having trouble keeping the Spitfire from jumping into the cave and saving the two of them, but it was curious.
I felt a bit bad about the heartache Tandy would suffer soon, but at the same time, it was a lesson she needed to learn.
"When it stops being funny, my light," I snorted, patting her head indulgently as Tony welded some metal parts together, "why you believe you know mortal nature better than me is beyond me, my dear."
Tandy crossed her hands and ground her hips against mine, pouting even harder as the Light Force flared around her body.
She was adorable.
"It's not fair. You probably used some magic mumbo jumbo to nudge them into agreeing when you said so."
I rolled my eyes, feeling a bit offended at her words. Obviously, she was just messing with me in her own way, since she knew I considered the art of dealmaking a sacred thing.
"Careful, you brat," I pinched her hip, "I don't do that. Desperation is the most predictable force in the multiverse. Did you know that Happy signed his own contract the moment he had some alone time? It didn't take him even three hours. Pepper was the one who took three days, and you probably know why."
"Because she has morals?" Tandy asked curiously.
"Human morals are weird," I rolled my eyes in amusement. "According to whom do they decide what's right and wrong? But whatever, that's the point of freedom. It's fascinating, even if widely inconsistent."
Tandy rolled her eyes in return.
"Whatever. I feel like it's something important," she grumbled, "at least she didn't sell you her soul."
"Because there's no point in it," I shrugged, "I'm playing from the shadows right now, and while souls are a good way to increase in power in the short term, it brings more trouble than it's worth at this point in time. Maybe later, when I conquer a dimension for myself."
"Does it not bother you, Dante?" Tandy asked carefully.
"Of course not," I scoffed, before softening my expression and turning Tandy toward me, "what of it bothers you, exactly? Is it the lack of freedom? The fact that they don't go to their afterlives?"
"Both? Neither?" Tandy asked confusedly, "It just feels wrong to take something so sacred, I guess."
I stayed silent for a moment, wondering how to break it to her.
Tandy wasn't particularly religious to start with, even before she met me and became a devil. Now, obviously, she knew that every god existed in the cosmos, in both realities.
But honestly speaking, it was rather simple.
"Do you think their gods do it for different reasons than mine?" I chuckled, shaking my head, "You know me, my light. I am fair; I offer something of equal value for what they give. A human soul strengthens me, but I don't consume them like some of my brethren. I care for them, and they spent their own existences serving me, just as they would under any other being. What is the difference between them serving their god or me? Apart from the lack of punishments I give? It's not like I particularly care about sins."
I let out a soft chuckle, remembering how free the souls under my control were. How none of them wanted to leave, how many of them wanted to fight against Mephisto just because they loved me and loved what they had under me.
The memory of the idiotic mortal that cursed Mephisto with a frying pang came to my mind, and I shook my head in amusement. A normal mortal standing in front of a cosmic horror that the majority of this planet's gods feared because he respected what I made for them.
It was the culmination of everything I was. A fair demon.
Tandy looked at me directly into my eyes before a cute grin appeared on her face and nodded, pressing her forehead against mine.
"My fair devil," she giggled, before turning to look into the cave once more. "Anyways, at least it was fun to mess with the spies during these months, it's a shame Dum Dum hasn't come back. And Spider-Man was too cute; I didn't expect him to look that nerdy."
"One of the most beautiful souls I have ever seen, Tandy," I whispered under my breath, remembering the sheer radiance coming out of the small mortal called Peter Parker, I couldn't even be mad with helping MJ with her career after giving me such a delightful gift, "And don't worry about it, I don't doubt that Dum will arrive sooner than you think. Tony should be ready for his escape in a couple of hours, and once he knows he's safe and sound, he'll want to know what happened."
"Are you truly sure you want to do it yourself?" I asked my light.
Tandy frowned deeply before nodding firmly.
She was genuinely disgusted by the captors. I couldn't wait to see her light shine brightly under the sun.
I turned my attention toward the cave. The desperation in Tony Stark's movements, and the sweat in their faces as they hurried against what they knew was coming. They had seen better days, both of them. Tony was caked in sweat and grime, standing inside the metal husk, just waiting for Yinsen to finish programming the armor's commands.
Outside the heavy metal door, the muffled sounds of shouting and gunfire escalated.
Tandy's demeanor turned even graver as she bit her lip in hesitation. Her hands gripped my knees tightly, "They're going to breach the door soon, that's C4. Dante, they aren't ready yet. Can't we interfere to give them a couple of extra seconds? I still don't understand why we have watched them suffer without doing anything."
"Because as Tony tempered those metal plates, he is being tempered by his suffering," I explained calmly, "You knew how he was before his abduction, you heard everything Pepper told us about him. When you see him now, does it look like the same person to you?"
"He doesn't," she responded quietly, looking upset that I was making sense, "but…"
"But nothing," I shook my head, acting firmly for the first time in a while with her, "he is still growing as a person, molded into something that will fulfill his bright destiny. And we won't interfere with the most beautiful thing the multiverse has to offer. A soul growing into something more."
"What about Yinsen?" Tandy bit her lip, her compassion fighting against the logic she still didn't understand.
"Yinsen already picked what he wants, my dear," I said simply.
Suddenly, I felt the eyes, which had been focused in the general direction, turn to me for the first time in all these months.
"Tandy," I stood up, and amusement entered my tone, "be a dear and prepare for visitors. Bring some of our best drinks. The very best. We're about to have a guest."
She blinked confusedly, "Here? Weren't we supposed to stay in the background so that no one notices us?"
"Few can hide from his eyes, and not even my clan trait is currently strong enough to hide from him. Be quick," I opened a portal to the penthouse before opening a second one to the Blue Area of the Moon.
No one walked inside, but I wasn't nervous as the attention turned entirely on me and the cosmic weight of those eyes landed solely on my shoulders.
A minute later, Tandy returned, and I felt the gaze on me turn reproachful as I smirked.
"Come on in, you bald fuck," I rolled my eyes, "I don't care about your oath, and it's not like you don't know who I am. Sit, let's have a talk."
A sigh entered my mind, and I noticed that Tandy winced in alarm when she 'heard' the same sound.
Tandy watched open-mouthed as Uatu the Watcher walked into our small personal dimension outside of normal space, where we were peering at the duo inside the cave.
His bald head shone in a way not even Yao's did, bringing a grin to my face as I motioned towards the empty seat.
Tandy shook her head but got to work once she received a nod from me. She served three cups of the best wine the underworld had to offer, something along the lines of apples from their own Mephisto's Queen or something.
Yes… They had a fucking Mephisto there. I was tempted to pay him a visit because if nothing else, it would be cathartic to beat the shit out of someone named like that, but I controlled myself.
It was a gift from the strange devil to the rising star of the younger generation. And it was good.
Genuinely good, but it became something else once Tandy worked her magic on it. It could hold a genuine shit ton of her light force inside without losing its own properties.
"No one in my billions of years has someone of my stature believed that the great Seere would be turned into a mortal being," Uatu's voice reverberated inside my mind.
"Can you imagine Mephisto's face once he realizes?" I chuckled, nodding at his drink. "Enjoy it, I'm sure even someone as boring as you will appreciate it."
"He would be surprised before throwing a fit," Uatu nodded with his enormous head, "the usual, as you know."
His gaze turned toward Tandy for a second longer than necessary for someone in his weight class, then toward the wine infused with the Light Force. He didn't touch it.
Ungrateful cunt.
"That doesn't explain how you did it, Seere," Uatu said calmly. "Quite a mystery for someone such as I."
"And yet," I spread my hands, "it happened. And I'm loving it. Being a mortal is fascinating, but you already know that, don't you, oath breaker?"
"Did you invite me here just to insult me?" He asked plainly, not moving from his seat.
"Nah, that's just a bonus," I smirked, "you know I never liked your kind, even if you're better than the rest."
"Dante," Tandy looked at me reproachfully, and I burst out laughing, patting her head.
"Who are you?" Tandy sighed, looking at him, "and don't mind him, Dante is an asshole."
"That I am," I piped up, "anyway, he's the pervert."
Uatu's expression didn't change, and my grin widened. Here was another someone who could erase me with a mere thought but wouldn't do a single thing because of his constraints.
"His entire species, in fact," I continued, swirling my drink, "decided a couple of billions of years ago that the most productive thing to do with their considerable power was to watch and never do anything. Pure voyeurs dressing it up as some kind of responsibility. No offense."
"None taken," Uatu replied dryly.
"Considerable power? How strong are we talking about?" Tandy asked curiously.
"Seven," I shrugged, "around that ballpark."
Her eyes went wide, almost dropping her drink in the process. She looked at Uatu with different eyes.
"That scale of yours is amusing, but mostly correct, accounting for the time you lost," Uatu observed, "a bit arbitrary for someone such as you."
"If it works, it works," I shrugged, turning to Tandy, "He could crack a planet without even trying if he wanted, my light. But their supposed oaths stop them from doing it. Not that this one particularly cares about that, eh?"
"We chose to carry a sacred mission," Uatu said, and I could see his irritation at me calling him out.
He still didn't smite me.
Uatu finally lifted his cup and drank it, closing his eyes for a moment in bliss before opening his eyes and glancing in my direction.
"You've been disappearing, Dante."
"Have I?" I grinned.
"Every couple of months," Uatu nodded, but he didn't seek the answer straight from our minds as he could have done so, "Not many beings can escape my sight, and here are two of them. Two weak ones, in fact."
"It must feel terrible," I said pleasantly, "what a shame, my friend."
His eyes didn't change, but his expression tightened, "Where do you go?"
"Somewhere you can't follow." I took another sip, "Which should tell you everything you need to know."
"Your kind are a pest," Uatu said calmly, "you might be different than the rest, but you're still one of them."
I nodded calmly, conceding the point.
"Are you going to do something about it?"
He ignored me.
"You have already interfered where you shouldn't," he continued, "The Dark Force is no longer connected to Tyrone Johnson, the Light Force user is bound to you in a way it is unknown to me. And that's not the only thing you have caused without even meaning to."
"And here you are, watching another moment in the tapestry of history, your magic already in play," Uatu said.
"Consider it some kind of tourism," I shrugged.
Tandy giggled.
He turned to look in her direction, "You were meant for something specific, Tandy Bowen, and I'm unsure if you'll still fulfill it because of his meddling. The world needed you."
"I needed her," I corrected, "and she chose, freely. That's better than what Fate offers."
Tandy's hand found my knee, looking at me curiously.
"He called you Seere. Who was he? What's that about?" she asked me.
Uatu didn't say anything, and I looked at her softly.
"Someone who is no longer whole," I smiled finally, "a very old, very powerful demon that died because he was fair and came back as someone considerably less impressive, but at the same time, freer." I looked at her, smiling, "I'll tell you about it later."
"He was one of the very few beings in recorded existence that ran an afterlife where his souls didn't want to leave," Uatu added after a moment, nodding in my direction.
Tandy looked at me.
Uatu drank the rest of his cup, then set it on the table and stood up.
"Leaving so fast? Here I thought we could watch the mortal together."
"I already know how this will end," Uatu said calmly, walking toward the portal before stopping. "There's something you need to know."
I lifted my eyebrow in his direction. Breaking the oath again, was he?
And he wondered why he was the only watcher I liked.
"You caused a big event without meaning to, when you reincarnated your light into something else," he said calmly, "what you caused that night will have repercussions that are more than what you can handle, as you currently are. And you don't have much time."
"How long?" I asked curiously.
"That is something you will have to find out for yourself," he said as he walked into the portal, and I rolled my eyes. "Thank you for the drink, Tandy Bowen. It was exceptional."
Tandy barely murmured a thank you, and I closed the portal shut, my mind wandering about what I had done.
The night I reincarnated my light was still fresh on my mind, but there wasn't anything of note…
Unless… The telepath voyeour.
I nodded to myself before shelving it for later. I would ask Yao later.
A gunshot different than the rest sounded from behind us, and I felt Yinsen's lifeforce plummet.
Tandy gasped, taking a step forward as her light exploded out of her body.
I grabbed her wrist firmly before pulling her back. "Watch carefully, my light."
And the Dark Force consumed my body, leaving Tandy inside.
Ho Yinsen.
Afghanistan.
The pain of dying felt worse than what Yinsen had prepared himself for. Every breath felt ragged and somewhat wet from the blood escaping his lips. His chest burned, and the cold he felt was final in a way he could now realize.
But he had bought enough time. Just the seconds Tony needed.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the end. To finally see his family once more.
But the end didn't come, no matter how much he waited. After what felt like minutes of complete silence, he opened his eyes.
And the world had lost its color, turning grey. The dust falling from the cave's ceiling was simply suspended in the air. A few feet from him, a muzzle flash of a rifle was frozen in its place.
And from the shadows of the cave, a dark fog appeared, and from it, a man stepped forward.
He was dressed like Tony had been just when he arrived, wildly out of place amidst the heat of Afghanistan. But the weight around him made Yinsen's breath hitch.
He crouched beside his crumpled form, his bright blue eyes locking with Yinsen's as a look of understanding passed almost too fast for him to notice.
"An angel?" Yinsen murmured almost deliriously. He had lost all hope that higher powers existed, even if he hoped he was wrong.
"You're thinking of the other direction," the being chuckled, "but that doesn't mean I can't help you. I can heal you, ensure that you survive this ordeal, and continue living."
He smiled kindly, "But I already know the answer to that question."
Yinsen smiled in return, shaking his head tiredly.
"No, thank you, demon," He breathed out, "my family is waiting for me. I will walk the path God laid out for me. I am ready."
"Who do you follow?" He nodded calmly, as he had already expected the answer.
"The only God there is," Yinsen replied, and the demon only rolled his eyes.
"It's not like my kind is accepted in Barzakh," he nodded, and Yinsen couldn't help but grin, "but I know my fair bit about it."
He pursed his lips, then opened his mouth as a ball of blue, baleful fire formed a contract that floated between them.
"Standard contract, take your time. While you do so, care to indulge in the deal that weighs on your soul at this moment? And don't worry, I have my methods to ensure your soul is untainted for your afterlife. Read it carefully."
Yinsen hesitated for a moment before starting to read the contract. It went surprisingly into depth, and despite checking everything over ten times, he couldn't say it was anything but fair. Including a clause that would basically be a cleansing ritual for his soul that would ensure a straight passage to his afterlife.
As for what he asked… it wasn't much, truthfully speaking.
Two single instances where his soul would be called once more into the mortal world for a favor, nothing that would break his morals, and in return, he offered all the information Yinsen would need to navigate the afterlife as unimpeded as possible, as well as the locations where he should look for his family once he arrived.
Yinsen felt almost delirious for even thinking about it, but despite everything, he did.
While he read the contract, he explained the other deal he had made. One that he was sure would be called as soon as he died.
"I made a deal with a man called Midas, years ago. He funded everything I needed, in the condition that my brain would be given to him after my death. As soon as I die, his foundation will come."
"Ah, mortal dealmakers," the demon sneered in distaste, "read the contract once more, it will be three instances instead. And here I wondered why your fate didn't disappear once your death was all but assured. It seems that some part of you will remain in the mortal world until you do something terrible."
Yinsen couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the knowledge.
And he couldn't help but read it carefully once more. The extra clause spoke about ensuring his brain would be disintegrated once he died. Some part of him doubted that the demon was entirely truthful, but every word, and the sheer fairness that felt almost conceptual, made him curse himself for even thinking about it.
"Can I add one more request?" Yinsen looked downcast.
"The price might change depending on what it is," the demon nodded calmly.
"Can you ensure my journal stays with my pupil? And that he survives this place?"
"Easily, and I won't add anything more." The pure understanding of the demon's eyes made Yinsen question everything he had ever learned. Weren't demons supposed to be the bad ones?
A bloodstained hand pressed its thumb against the parchment. He had lost hope after everything that had happened, but this ensured that he would truly meet his family once more and that his body wouldn't be desecrated, as well as the survival of his pupil.
Only leaving their side three times in eternity.
A fair deal.
Yinsen felt a pressure against his chest as the parchment turned into a fire that was consumed by the demon.
"A pleasure doing business with someone like you, Ho Yinsen. I hope the afterlife is everything you imagined," the demon said.
He touched his head once, and a bright flash erupted behind Yinsen's eyelids.
"It is done," he murmured, "rest well, Yinsen."
The grey shattered, and time snapped back into reality with a deafening roar that was louder than the gunfire. His vision blurred as his final moments on earth started.
But the dread was gone.
A second later, the heavy metal door blew off its hinges with a teeth-clattering explosion. The heavy clanking of Tony's footsteps echoes inside the cave. He rushed to Yinsen's side and tried to help him, taking off the suit's helm.
Yinsen gave Tony a bloody, calm smile as the younger genius looked at him with despair for his sacrifice.
But Yinsen only patted his cheek for a moment before closing his eyes, and finally, he let go.
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