Chapter Text
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When Kara came back from the sea of dreams, she found right away that something was quite amiss.
To start, she was in a wide, dimly-lit meeting room, surrounded by exceedingly handsome men. What she would have normally assumed about this in her half-awake state was that the fashion police had finally come to imprison her for her crimes against society. I mean, we're talking about seriously conventionally attractive guys - they all had these little coordinated outfits on that matched and matched with their hair colors and everything!
And like, her neck also didn't hurt, despite the fact that she woke up in a chair? So that was unusual, on top of her feeling anything but vague annoyance in the presence of men.
One of the men, with deep brown skin and flawlessly messy red hair, showed Kara a calm, gentle smile that shone in his golden eyes and began to speak.
"Welcome to the Devildom, Kara," he said, crossing one leg over the other in his seat, "I imagine you're simply overflowing with questions, so I take this opportunity to give you a moment to catch your breath. Anything that comes to mind, anything at all you'd like to ask, just go ahead-!"
Kara squinted, then licked her middle finger, using it to rub the sleep from her eyes.
And then she said, "What you said just scanned with an alarming amount of confidence even though nothing about it made sense."
The red-haired man simply chuckled, taking the woman's ill humor in stride, while a black-haired, pale and red-eyed man beside him glanced in Kara's direction.
"No, no, I suppose you're right, it's all a lot to start with. So let's take a brief step back: my name is Diavolo, and I am the acting ruler of the Devildom at present, someday soon I will be appointed as king. And this is the Royal Academy of Diavolo..."
Kara tried not to let the flash judgment show on her face, but Diavolo seemed to pick up on it in an instant.
"I know what you might be thinking," he said, "What kind of narcissist has a college named after themselves? Haha, but it was actually my father who insisted on the name. Technically I'm Diavolo Jr., so keep that in mind - maybe Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr if we want to get technical, but hey! I don't imagine this is the time for semantics. Where you're sitting right now is RAD's assembly hall, the place where we officers of the student council hold our meetings and conduct our business... And I'm the president of said council. Are you following so far?"
Kara began to shrug, but her face scrunched up slightly and she decided Diavolo's effort deserved a nod. He was polite, and he was being about as informative as he could be, but one thing in particular was on her mind.
"So - that makes sense, I think... But what I wanna know real quick is what I have to do with this establishment. And -- The Devildom? What happened to the world I know, that a whole new country could spring up right under my nose?"
"Oh - This isn't a country, dear, this is an entire other dimension!" Diavolo laughed again. "Yes, worlds do in fact exist outside of yours. I know that's always quite a shock to you humans."
Kara felt her face begin to go numb with an unnameable terror. But she chuckled along, nodding politely.
Looking over at his black-haired associate, Diavolo asked, "Would you like to introduce yourself, or should I go ahead?"
"Eh? There's no need, Lord Diavolo, I can handle myself," said that associate, "My name is Lucifer, I am the Avatar of Pride, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Kara. I'm the vice-president of this great establishment's student council, and I am honored to offer you a most heartfelt welcome on behalf of the entire student body."
He's named Lucifer. Like the devil himself. Kara decided not to worry too much about whether she was literally speaking to the devil, or this guy was just named after one of the most famous demons in history. Otherwise, it'd start getting very hard to stay calm. Besides - what was this talk about Avatars?
"I've gotta say, I still... Don't understand how this involves me. You know, no offense meant to your school or anything, it looks nice, I just... I don't. Belong here," is what Kara said, stammering slightly.
With bright eyes, Diavolo said, "Oh, but you do! You see, I'm going to be running this place a little bit differently than the Demon Kings before me... Don't you think everyone's a little tired of all this grrrr, kill the humans thing?"
Kara was especially tired of the idea, and she only just learned demons exist about two minutes ago. She grinned, nodding, fighting off a deep panic in her gut.
"Right?" Diavolo sighed, shaking his head, "We demons are civilized beings, and I'm tired of the reign of senseless killing that's characterized our species. I would much rather see humans and demons working together, playing together in perfect harmony! Of course, angels can join us too - this is why we've started an exchange program here at RAD. We've invited two humans - one of those is you - and two angels to join us here for two semesters, just... Learn a lot about each other, and hopefully prove that humans, demons and angels can all get along!"
As far as demons go, Kara figured Diavolo wasn't all bad. But there was just one problem with this utopian dream...
"Uh... Diavolo, I have to say, this is a really cool thing you've got all figured out, and I totally agree! I think we'd all like a little more peace, love and understanding out here in the human world, but... I-I don't remember signing up for this. Not saying I don't wanna try this out! But... Y'know. Consent is kind of important."
Diavolo's smile faltered for a moment, and then he looked to Lucifer. And Lucifer looked back at Diavolo, his lips tightening slightly.
"Kara, I understand your concerns," said Lucifer, voice even and professional, "But try to think of this from our perspective - or from the perspective of your race... If you had a chance to save the human race from any future wars, any future conflicts with the world of demons, don't you think you owe it to your race to try? That is precisely what we're talking about here, of course. An end to all holy and unholy wars."
"An end to the end of days..." Kara said, eyes widening as the gravity of this whole situation began to dawn upon her.
"That's a clever dear," said Diavolo. "Wouldn't you agree this is a worthwhile cause? To be perfectly honest... You were chosen for our program because of a few special traits you harbor. You value compassion and patience, you value love between all people. You believe in protecting and empowering the small, and challenging the large to be kind."
Kara... Had never been told something like this before. Sure, she considered herself someone who strove to be kind as much as possible, but was she really so especially, beautifully, uniquely kind that she could find herself in an exchange program between realms?
"Um... I... I try to, anyway... Thank you," she said, finding that all of her confidence melted away. "I-I just... Want everyone to get along. Sometimes that takes some work, and some mutual negotiation..."
"Don't I know it!" Said Diavolo with a knowing smile.
"But... Sure, of course I think it's worth it to do whatever you can for the good of all people... I-I'm decided! I agree to these terms." It was all going so ridiculously fast, maybe this was a dream, but even if it was a dream, Kara didn't see any good in restraining herself from what sounded like the ultimate fantasy: interdimensional peace! How odd that she couldn't even think of bringing about peace on Earth and goodwill towards men before peace between realms...
Diavolo and Lucifer both looked a bit surprised, but relieved smiles came across both their faces.
"I promise you won't regret this, Kara!" Diavolo said, grinning widely, "We'll both be sure to make sure your time at RAD is fulfilling and fun!"
"And safe," said Lucifer, causing Kara to question herself for a moment, "But that's a conversation for another time. As you are an exchange student, of course, you will have tasks, assignments, projects, things of that sort to complete, including a paper at the end of the year about your exchange here in the Devildom. 50 pages at least on that one."
Kara grimaced a little, and nodded. It was unpleasant, but it was certainly fair - after all, who would have trouble coming up with 50 pages of content after spending a year in another world?!
"Surely you didn't think you'd be spending your time here fooling around, did you?" Lucifer asked, sighing slightly, noticing the look on Kara's face. "Don't look at me like that. It's not like I will abandon you all by yourself in the Devildom... Actually - speaking of that!"
He then reached into his pocket, pulling out a sleek, black smartphone, and he said, "You need someone to look after you, and I think that someone ought to be my brother Mammon, the Avatar and Greed... He might be a handful occasionally, but you'll find he's dependable when you need him to be."
Lucifer held the phone out to Kara.
"... I get a new phone as part of this deal?" Kara giggled a little, clearly excited. It looked like a state of the art model, too - who knew there'd be cellphones in Hell? "Uh- Thank you!"
"Of course," said Lucifer, "It's only fair that you get something that allows you to be in contact with the rest of us... Now, will you do me a favor? Go ahead and call Mammon, he's a registered contact in that DDD."
DDD, huh...? She figured that was just a different word for phone, right? Anyway - she did as she was told, glancing over the screen and swiping until she found a folder that held her new contacts. Colorful names like Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Leviathan and... Satan filled the screen.
Satan. That's cool and normal and Kara actively decided to not be too worried about it.
She tapped Mammon's name on the list of contacts, which activated a call...
On the other end, a groggy voice began to scold her.
"Augh... Th' hell are you? Do you have any idea what time it is, asshole?!"
Kara and Lucifer smiled, tight-lippedly at each other, and basked in the understanding that this was probably going to shape up to be a very long year.
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... Please...