Chapter Text
"Can I keep him?"
Lord Raiden replied to your question with an expression of utter shock.
"...what?"
"WHAT?" The head of Shinnok wriggled in your grasp, and his face was also in shock.
He'd finally gained back a sliver of power—enough to talk and also enough to cast one spell. A simple teleportation spell that would send him, his head rather, directly into Earthrealm's Jinsei Chamber in Raiden's Sky Temple. It was supposed to work. It should have worked. Why didn't it work?
You'd gotten lost in Raiden's temple and were lucky enough to be in the Jinsei Chamber before Shinnok's head could fall in. That's why.
"Can I keep him?" You repeated it a bit slower, clapping mentally in between the words as your hands were occupied holding an ancient evil.
Raiden's jaw hung open slightly, a rare expression for the Thunder God. "[Y/n], I cannot allow you to harbor Shinnok yourself. He is much too dangerous."
"I understand that, Raiden, but you gotta listen to me for a second." You argued gently. "Shinnok can't passively gain power here in Earthrealm like he can in the Neatherealm. He's no threat as he is now, and I already stopped him from getting into the Jinsei, didn't I?" You gave Raiden a brief pause as he thought. "I can handle him, I promise." You gave a confident smile. It was true that without undead servants giving Shinnok souls to feast on and convert into power, he was no threat now. You felt him shaking with rage in your arms.
"I am not your pet, mortal!" Shinnok yelled, slightly hopping in your grasp. "I am Shinnok, ruler of the Neatherrealm! I will not be contained by some lucky Earthrealm weakling!"
After a beat, you again speak to Raiden, ignoring Shinnok.
"Plus, if you keep him locked away up here with you, you'll have to listen to shit like that 24/7." you added to your earlier argument.
"And you would not?" Raiden countered.
"Raiden, I live in New York. I'm the master of ignoring people."
Shinnok watched in horror as Raiden turned his gaze away in thought. He was actually considering your offer.. Seeing this yourself, you push him a bit more.
"C'monnn," you said, leaning forward a bit. "I won't even charge you," you joke. Raiden rolled his eyes, but a faint, lopsided smile appeared. He sighed.
"Alright, [Y/n], I'll allow you to keep Shinnok."
"WHAT!?"
You close the door to your apartment behind you with a sigh of relief. Raiden can't exactly teleport you inconspicuously home when you live in such a crowded area. So he has to drop you off in an alleyway a whole three miles from your apartment complex. It wasn't an ideal situation, but when you had realm-ending threats to deal with, it seemed worthless to complain about them.
Speaking of realm-ending threats...
You carelessly drop the backpack you were wearing on the floor. There's a heavy 'thud' and a muffled groan of displeasure right after.
"Ow!"
"Oop-- sorry!"
Unzipping the backpack, you pull out Shinnok's head and place him gently on your couch. From there, he could pretty much see the majority of your apartment. The kitchen, living room, and door to your bedroom were well within sight.
As much as Shinnok was ready to start spouting curses and threats to your life, he couldn't help but be slightly appalled by your living conditions.
"Welcome to your new prison," you announced to him.
"Are you certain this isn't your own prison?" he replied.
"Hm?" You raised an eyebrow before catching on to his meaning. "Oh, that. Yeah, it's pretty miserable, isn't it?" You sigh and take a seat on the couch yourself. "Welcome to New York. All 19 million residents live just as shitty. Get used to it."
"This is truly your home? This must be some kind of joke," Shinnok spat. You sighed again before replying.
"Yes, this is my home. Were you expecting something grandiose?"
"For an insignificant mortal like you, no." He scoffed, then scanned the apartment again. "But this... I was expecting you to have room to breathe at the least."
"Yeah, I expected that when I first signed the lease too." You leaned back on the couch. God, you missed the countryside. Hell, if you lived there, you and Shinnok would have some damn room. It had crossed your mind to move back, but with everything going on nowadays, moving was the last thing that should be on your mind.
It seemed to re-enter your brain that you had a fallen Elder God in your apartment. An evil one. Sure, he'd been decapitated, but he was there.
"Anyway, per me and Raiden's agreement, I will be keeping you from this moment on. If I suspect you of anything nefarious, I have to contact him, and then he'll be the one you have to answer to. Got that?"
"Yes, I'm aware. Now what are you going to do with me? Lock me in some corner?"
"Don't give me ideas, head," you replied. "If anything, I should put you in a box and leave you in the closet, but I'm too nice for that." You said. "So I'll just leave you here on the couch, and I guess I oughta put on some Netflix to keep you entertained."
"What are Netflix?"
And so Shinnok's new life began. A severed head confined to one side of the couch with Netflix shows he couldn't even scroll through himself. The days were long and boring. Sure, some of the movies and TV shows peeked his interest, and you even made a separate profile for him to keep track of them all, but other than that...
The fallen elder God hardly spoke to you unless you said something first. He felt as if speaking to you too often would somehow damage his brain. In his boredom, however, he did take the risk and started asking (demanding) to know where you were during the days. That opened the doors to new conversation topics. He grew curious and started asking more questions. You answered them. Why not? It wasn't like telling him why you hated your boss and coworkers was going to end the realm as you knew it.
While Shinnok couldn't eat for obvious reasons, he could smell. He found the scent of the various dishes you made to be quite good. He also enjoyed the smell of the fast food you brought home or had a slave deliver to you sometimes. After explaining that the Doordash delivery man wasn't a slave, you turned your attention to your hot wings. You ended up telling him of a time when Raiden accidentally choked on a hot wing. This was rewarded with a boisterous laugh from the head. It turns out even evil gods have senses of humor, and every once in a while you're about to get a laugh out of him.
So yeah, neither of you were as bad to have around as you both assumed. You adapted to his presence, and he to yours.
Throwing the door to your apartment open, you groaned and threw your work bag across the room. It hit a window with a thud, causing a perching pigeon to startle and fly away.
"Oh~," Shinnok jeered," someone's got you riled up, haven't they?" he chuckled.
You let the door close behind you and stomped your way to the kitchen, pointing a finger at the head on your couch. "Don't even get me started."
You grabbed a can of soda out of the fridge, cracked it open, and then proceeded to get started.
"You remember my coworker Cindy?"
"The 'office pick-me,' correct?"
"Yeah!" you confirmed with a snap of your fingers. "Well, today she skipped right up to me all happy 'n shit, right?"
"Right."
"She starts going on and on about how our annual reviews are coming up, and she's all like, 'Oh dear, I hope I get that raise. Oh me, oh my, I hope people in the office have put in a few good words for me!,'" you mocked in an annoying voice. "I'm telling you, Shinnok, it took every ounce of strength I had not to fu--"
Your rant is cut short by the ring of your phone, and you groan again before answering it.
"Hello?"
"Hey [Y/n], it's Cassie." Cassandra Cage greeted on the other side.
"Oh, hey, commander. What's up?"
"A lot, actually," she replied with an exasperated tone. "We need to talk to Shinnok. Are you home?"
Oh no..
"I am. Is everything alright?"
"Most likely not. We'll be there in thirty. Prepare the head."
Once Cassie hung up, you sighed, knowing this particular conversation wasn't going to be civil.
"Bad news, Shinnok."
"What is it?"
"Remember Cassandra Cage? The one who beat you the second time around?"
Shinnok snarled. "Yes, I remember. Why?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"She's coming to talk to you."
"WHY?"
"She said something's wrong," you replied. You contemplated for a moment. Could Shinnok have been up to something while you were at work all these days? He hasn't moved from his spot on the couch since you brought him here, but he was a sorcerer, so...
"You cannot possibly think I have anything to do with this, do you?" Shinnok asked, voice raised.
"No, no, I just..." you trail off and huff. "I don't know! You're the deity in this situation!"
"Yes, I am a deity. A deity who's been confined to a couch watching Netflix for a month now!"
"Y'know, most people would love to be you right now! You don't know how privileged you are!"
"Privileged?" Shinnok was utterly appalled.
A hard round of knocking startled the both of you out of your argument.
"Shut the fuck up!" your neighbor yelled.
"Sorry, Charles!" you quickly apologized. When the footsteps of your neighbor faded, you took a breath. "Listen, Cassie is going to be by in a few minutes. Please just answer honestly when she asks you anything."
Shinnok grumbled," Fine. Whatever."
"Good. Now let's watch the season finale of My Happy Marriage before she gets here."
"An agreeable exploit."
After a while, and after discussing the possibilities for the second season of your show, another round of knocking made Shinnok's expression fall.
"Coming!" you said. You then rose from the couch and peeked through the peephole on your door, seeing Cassie on the other side. "Friend or foe?"
"Friends. Raiden is here too," she replied. Looking over a bit, you could indeed see Raiden standing beside her. Shinnok groaned on the couch. You gave him a look before letting in Cassie and Raiden. Raiden, as always, had to duck under your door.
"Alright, now what's the problem supposed to be?" You asked, wanting to get straight to the point and not waste time if the world was in danger again.
Raiden held out his hand to calm you. "Firstly, where is Shinnok?"
You gestured to your couch and watched as Cassie and Raiden's eyes locked with Shinnok's. The fallen Elder God was already glaring daggers at the both of them. Cassie was stifling laughter while Raiden approached him.
"Demons from the Neatherrealm have been getting into Earthrealm, Shinnok. Whatever it is you're planning, we'll--"
"Wait, wait, wait," you stopped Raiden, surprising him, Cassie, and Shinnok himself. "Hold on, Shinnok has been here, unmoving, for a whole month. How do we know this is his doing?" you asked.
"There can be no other explanation, [Y/n]."
"Then maybe Shinnok could provide us with one?" You replied and looked towards Shinnok, gesturing for him to speak for himself.
For a few moments, Shinnok said nothing, but then, after a grunt, he replied," It is possible that without my power to stabilize the Neatherrealm's energy, demons may simply be transported here without precise reason."
"So, how do we stop it then?" Cassie stepped up. Shinnok smirked.
"You cannot. Not without sending me back to my rightful place in the Neatherrealm."
"Yeah, not happening, asshole." Cassie said.
"Hmm, there may be a way," Raiden hummed. "By learning the magic Shinnok uses to power the Neatherrealm, we could stop the demons ourselves."
"I'd rather choke than teach you the dark arts, Raiden," Shinnok jeered.
There was a pause. Everyone in the room seemed to just be thinking of a way to solve this problem. All except for Shinnok. The only thing he was thinking about was how funny it would be to see Raiden choke himself on a hot wing.
"Then would you be willing to teach me?" you asked him.
"...Pardon?"
You kneeled down on the floor to be face-to-face with Shinnok. "Teach me how to stabilize the Neatherrealm. Out of all the Earthrealmers you can choose from, it would be best to teach me, right? You know me after all," you said.
"That.. is true," Shinnok said, looking to the side and thinking a bit about the subject.
"You do realize that learning dark magic will be more difficult than anything you've ever attempted before?" Raiden said.
"Yeah [Y/n], are you sure you want to control the undead and shit like that?" Cassie asked.
"It's best for the realms, isn't it?" you replied. "So Shinnok, what do you say?"
Shinnok remained quiet for a bit longer, grinding his teeth in deep thought. Eventually, he sighed.
"Fine then. I hope you're ready for hell, [Y/n], because I am a very stern teacher."