Chapter Text
The fates love when they're tested. It's a nice little activity for them. Keeps their minds sharp and their wits about them. Like brain puzzles not unlike a game of sudoku, or a really clever book of riddles. They find it fun and charming to take the bait of some poor soul’s misguided challenge. Of course, most of their actions were caused by a love of their craft. There was just something about messing with people that was horribly entertaining no matter how many thousands of years they did so. And the fates had nothing but time.
Or at least, that's what you assume.
Because that's the only somewhat logical reason you can think of to explain why after missing the bus, getting rained on, and completely drenched via one huge truck and an even bigger mud puddle, ultimately missing your first day of classes, you thought: “The only thing that could make this day any worse is if the devil himself took me to hell.”
And in one moment, that had been all it was. A passing thought, nothing more than words spawned out of rage and a soul-deep disappointment of the universe at large. But then in the next, your body was twisted inside out, pretzel style, before you dropped into a seat in said hell.
You resist the strong urge to barf up your entire digestive tract and take a moment to look around. The seat under you is solid and thank goodness for that, because your grip on it is the only thing keeping you grounded. Looking down, you see the same clothes you had been wearing earlier that day, minus any puddle water thankfully. Beyond your feet, rows of identical wooden benched lined up atop tiled, stone floors. Past that, a main stage of what you faintly recognise to look like a courtroom setup, full of attractive men all sitting in various seats of the court proper. Beyond them, rolling banners line the walls in the empty space between colossal windows, which stretch up into a cavernous arched ceiling above you.
Candelabras hang from the walls in neat, perfectly even rows and chandeliers blaze above your heads in intricate arrangements of gold and glass. They together light up the small courtroom in golden-red fire light.
It takes you a moment to get over your initial vertigo from looking up, but once you do, you snap your head back towards the row of attractive men sitting in the court.
You're no stranger to lucid dreams. You must've fallen asleep when you’d gotten back to your room after the hectic day you’d had.
Because there was no way this was reality.
After all, the cast of the game Obey Me does not exist in reality except for in its mobile form.
From your spot in what seems to be a corner of the audience section in the courtroom, you recognize the scene playing out as the opening one of the game. The student council (Satan! Asmodeus! Beel! Lucifer! Your heart skips four consecutive beats) stand around a freaky summoning circle drawn into the floor, which had been glowing a bright red when you arrived, but has since cooled into a rusty orange. The candles from their various spots along the walls flicker rapidly, casting sharp shadows across the council’s features.
You see Diavolo, backlit by the crackling flames and the only one out of his seat, standing in front of the circle with an arm scratching the back of his head, as if confused.
“Sorry, seems my pronunciation was a little off,” the Demon Prince says with a sheepish chuckle before reaching his hands out. Presumably for the second time.
It's one of your weirder dreams for sure. The point of view is funny, no one is talking to you, and for all intents and purposes it feels like you're just a background character watching something important go down.
Not that you mind.
You remember this opening scene embarrassingly well. You’ve played Obey Me obsessively for quite some time. Dedicating yourself to levelling up your cards and unlocking new chapters whenever you could. You love the game a lot. The characters are fun and the art is gorgeous, not to mention the community around it. You don't know how many times you'd read through the lessons.
You'd never had a dream about the game in all your time playing it, so you feel content to just sit back and let this one play out. Regardless of you not being the MC. Anything your brain comes up with in regards to this cast of characters must be watched with utmost attention.
Diavolo chants deep guttural sounds that manage to crawl up and down your spine simultaneously. The circle on the ground glows a boiling red once again leaving the student council awash with blood red light as they peer at the symbols, clearly curious as to what is about to happen.
You can't help but lean forward a bit too.
A light flashes bright white before you have the chance to blink. A moment later you hear a thunderclap and are too slow to cover your ears to protect yourself from the noise. You groan as you try to blink away the aftereffects of the flashbang and massage your ears lightly to dissipate the ringing.
Something small and fluffy sits in the middle of the summoning circle. You squint at the familiar shape.
“Welcome to the Devildom!” you see Diavolo greet with open arms. After a second of silence in which nobody moves and the puffball just trembles, the Demon Prince chuckles lightly. “Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit surprised are we?”
The words ring out as some of the first dialogue in the game and, with a gasp, you recognize the ball of fluff on the ground for what it truly is.
“Is that… a sheep?” As in, the MC of the game? Aren’t you supposed to be that sheep??
No one seems to have heard you. The many overlapping voices start talking over each other, escalating to shouting not long after. They discuss how the human could have turned into such a small and fluffy creature. Someone brings up the possibility of a curse, someone else touches on the natural weaknesses of human bodies exposed to the Devildom atmosphere.
You sigh, wishing, more than anything, to be in that sheep's little hooves.
Wait… this is a dream! What's stopping you?
“I'll admit. It is a little bizarre,” comes a voice from the shadows behind you.
You whip around in your seat before you have a chance to make your presence known and stop breathing once you register who's been sitting there the entire time. You're quite sure your heart skips a few too many beats to be considered healthy (you should probably get that checked out).
Solomon smiles back at you, the perfect image of friendly (too perfect of an image tbh). Looking at Solomon close up, you can tell he looks exactly like his 2D png in a way that shouldn't work in 3D yet does without looking like a nightmare. Or maybe you've gotten a little more 2D? It's a little concerning how you can't really tell. Anyways, he's a full person in front of you. Imagine that.
(Well, you are imagining this. Clearly. This isn't real. Have you mentioned that yet? Hahahaha. Ha.)
“I'm Solomon, the other human exchange student here. Nice to meet you.”
You blink, processing the sound of unbroken, complete sentences (in your native language no less!) before mentally shrugging and diving headfirst into the situation. You give him your name along with a cheery wave. “I have no idea what I'm doing here,” you say honestly.
After all, you’d much rather prefer to be that sheep right now, so you really don’t have any idea why you’ve been placed on the outskirts of your own dream. Well, you'll probably wake up soon anyways. No point getting all upset about it.
Solomon finds this amusing and chuckles. “The information they're sharing right now—” he gestures at the council, “—is actually meant for you. So I'd suggest you listen.”
You know very well that the council is talking about the student exchange program, and the MC is quickly accepting the fact that they've been effectively kidnapped for a year. So you just squint your eyes at the sorcerer.
“You mean I'm the other exchange student?”
Solomon laughs again. “Did the teleportation scramble your brains? Yeah. Welcome to the Academy. You're the lucky one who got in alongside me.” Solomon smiles his fake smile again. “I wonder what kind of human you must be in order to stand alongside me in the program…”
“Well I'm no sheep,” you say, unable to peel your eyes away from where Lucifer is giving the sheep their D.D.D. (it just disappeared into their fur? Where did it go?? How are they even calling Mammon they don't have opposable thumbs???)
(Oh… dream logic. Right.)
“Indeed you’re not,” Solomon says with a chuckle as the doors burst open and a screeching Mammon comes strutting in. There are raised voices, threats made and followed through on, balls of fluff whisked away to the House of Lamentation. It's all horribly nostalgic for you and you can't help but smile fondly at the cast of characters as the scene comes to an end.
The doors swing shut behind the recently departed demon and human(?) exchange student and, without a pause, Diavolo claps his hands together in triumph.
“That went well! I'm so glad. Now the rest of you can follow Barbatos out and to Purgatory Hall. We look forward to hosting you for the exchange!” Diavolo doesn't waste time before he turns and disappears into a separate room off to the side. The other demons of the council seem entirely uninterested in the other exchange students and are quick to ignore anything that isn't themselves or their D.D.D.’s.
Solomon stands and you rise alongside him.
“Guess you're coming along with us then,” he says as he heads towards the demon butler waiting by the doors.
“Looks like it,” you say, side eyeing the other brothers left at the court, willing them to look your way. None of them do. “They wouldn't actually think that the sheep is the other human exchange student, right?” you ask with a laugh. You kinda (really badly) want the brothers to turn around and whisk you away, isn't that what dreams are for? To make fantasy reality?
Neither of you say anything for a moment. You don’t know what Solomon’s thinking, but all you can think about is the puffball and its fate you so desperately desire.
“You're right! They looked just like a cute little lamb!” a new voice exclaims. You turn to face two dazzling figures walking up to meet you and Solomon.
Luke is practically glued to Simeon’s side, causing the older Angel's already precariously styled robes to slip further off his graceful shoulders. (More erratic heart beats! (your heart definitely has some sort of condition.))
Simeon pats their charge on the shoulder. “Indeed, Luke. A very cute lamb.”
“But the human has been thrown into the demon's den!” Luke says, cheeks red with childish anger. “We have to do something about this! Can we save them from getting torn apart or something?”
You remember how borderline racist Luke was in the first but if the game and smile. To be fair, his distrust and hatred of demons was warranted on some levels, but it was very different to the cutesy dialogue you'd gotten used to from the boy in the game.
Simeon sighs at Luke's antics and turns his clear gaze towards you and Solomon. “I apologise for not introducing myself sooner, the ceremony went on a bit longer than I was expecting.” The angel nods gracefully in your direction. “My name is Simeon. This is Luke. We are the Celestial Realm's students taking part in this exchange.”
Solomon smiles back and introduces himself as a sorcerer and one half of the Human exchange students.
All eyes then shift to you.
You give them your name after a second. “I'm just along for the ride,” you add on with complete honesty and a modest shrug. You've long since given up trying to make sense of what's going on after all. If you aren't going to be whisked away by demon brothers, it looked like you were going to be whisked away by the residents of Purgatory Hall. You don't mind too much.
Solomon laughs and nods. “Indeed they're a friend I've made and would like to get to know better over our program here.”
Luke cries out before you can say anything about wanting to be more than friends with the sorcerer.
“You already have friends? Wait, but does that mean that's a demon?” the little angel points, and with a mild amount of shock you realise he's singling you out. “Are we going to have to live with a demon?” Luke cries up at Simeon.
The older angel sighs as he gently holds Luke's shoulder, who’s trembling at his side. “I'm sure this demon is very nice and is only here to help provide a bridge between the three realms.”
“I hate bridges,” Luke says with a glare before turning his nose up at you. “Especially demon ones.”
You look at Solomon and use all your dream-logic superpowers to communicate your new mischievous dream-plans before speaking up.
“As the demon representative at Purgatory Hall, I understand that you might be uncomfortable, but our Angel is right. I'm just here to help!” You throw in some finger guns to really sell it, but Luke looks more like he wants to throw up.
Simeon is about to say something when a slight cough is heard from the doorway. All four of you turn to see Barbatos standing in the open doorway smiling with closed eyes with a look that just screams ‘If you don’t hurry up I’ll personally make sure you’re not around to waste my time anymore and the only thing that is keeping me from obliterating you on the spot is my loyalty to the Young Master and his program’ and is waiting for you to follow him out.
Right. You were leaving for the dorms. You're shuffled along with the rest of this little group through the giant, intricately carved doors. Simeon and Luke in front with Barbatos and you and Solomon trailing after them.
“Purgatory Hall’s demon representative?” the sorcerer asks with a raised brow as you walk through the halls of RAD. You shrug and don't bother to look his way. You've seen his face plenty over your time playing the game, but all this background art? The detailing of the school hallways from the lockers to the open pane windows? It's like you've been thrown onto a movie set that takes place at a regal private school that is just a little evil looking.
“No harm in a prank like this,” you say absentmindedly as you pass a particularly detailed tapestry hanging from the stone walls. It’s clearly Diavolo standing over what you assume is RAD engulfed in flames. It's a little unclear if this is a good thing or not. You chuckle to yourself, and move on down the hall. “It doesn’t matter anyways.”
“Because the council will realise they’re taking care of a sheep soon enough?” Solomon asks.
You were about to say it didn’t matter because the sorcerer is a collection of pixels on a screen and this is all, in fact, a dream but, you find yourself unable to give even a dream-version of one of your beloved characters an identity crisis.
The dream goes on for a long while. Far longer than you’re used to.
Barbatos guides you all into a shiny black limo. You all pile in, and you cannot help but stare out the window at the scenery passing by.
There isn’t much to look at, turns out Purgatory hall is like a two minute drive from the school, but it’s enough for you to catch glimpses of spiraling and warped looking architecture as you drive past.
Purgatory Hall looks like a church at first glance. Towering spires of white stone pierce the devildom darkness. There are giant windows lining every side of the manor, with towering ceilings and a golden door knocker.
The four of you shuffle into the fully carpeted front hall, and you smile at the familiar blue wallpaper. A chandelier dangles over your heads and you're surprised at how well lit it is in here. Almost enough to think there might be a sun if you stepped back outside.
Luke runs off almost immediately, happy to be in a space where demons are not (except for you, of course), running up a spiraling staircase and out of sight. Simeon offers to cook something up for dinner but, when you manage to find the kitchen, you find a complimentary meal already waiting for you.
“Only three meals have been prepared?” Simeon whispers quietly, staring at the table set up. There are three spots at the table, completely set up with plates piled up with some sort of sharp-looking pasta and oddly coloured meat. There is nothing accusatory in his tone, but you can see the confusion on the angel’s face. You and Solomon share a look, during which the sorcerer sends you a cheeky smile.
“That's because humans only need one meal that we digest slowly over the course of a day,” Solomon says, sitting down in a seat that hadn’t been set. You chuckle a little at the face of disbelief Simeon makes at this as you all sit down together.
Luke comes rushing in after a while and settles down into the seat next to Simeon, visibly recoiling at the food on the plate in front of him. And to be fair, you don’t know how you feel about purple meat either, so you don’t feel bad sharing your food with the sorcerer (and, to be fair, Simeon and Luke also share some of their portions (mostly of the meat looking stuff)) and decide not to think about how long the food has been left out and if it is still safe to eat. Does the Devildom have similar food safe regulations at all?
You pause out of respect as Simeon and Luke say a quiet grace before putting your worries out of your mind and simply digging into the meal with the rest of Purgatory Hall. Your curiosity outweighs your self preservation instincts.
You’ll give credit where credit is due. This dream is doing an incredible job convincing you it's real. You definitely feel like you’ve just burnt your tongue on the food, which had apparently still been piping hot. Ow. But you notice it tastes a lot like tofu.
“So how long have you been studying at RAD?” Simeon asks, turning to you. You're the only one who's willing to have any sort of conversation at the moment (Luke is glaring at you and picking at his food, Solomon seems much more content to simply observe your behaviour and silently pick away at his meal) so naturally you and Simeon hit it off as the only two rationally-acting characters in the whole of Purgatory Hall.
“This is my, uh,” you think back on how long you've been playing this game and then consider how many times you've played through the lessons before giving up on trying to come up with any sort of accurate answer. “This is my first year here,” you eventually decide on saying.
“Oh?” Simeon says, tilting his head. “I wouldn't have expected them to assign a first year to help with the exchange program.”
You laugh a little. “Trust me, no one wants to be here more than me.” please take off your outer jacket thing please please please please—
“Well, your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated,” the angel says fondly.
Dinner is finished quickly. You assume in this dream timeline, the two angels and sorcerer haven’t known each other long enough to establish a lasting bond. So there isn't any conversation other than some awkward attempts at small talk (mostly from you) and some polite but brief responses (mostly Simeon).
I mean, it kind of sucks. If you were going to dream about your favourite game, then why not in the future? When everybody likes each other (likes you!!!) and the family drama (derogatory) has transformed into family drama (harem addition)?
Luke finishes his meal first, and you see he's pushed almost all of it off to the side and only eaten the pasta-looking dish. He pointedly does not look at either you or Solomon as he quietly asks Simeon if he can be excused.
“You're right, Luke. I think it's about time we got acquainted with this place,” the older angel says with a nod. Luke huffs.
“I've already looked around the place! I picked out my room. I saved you the room next to mine, Simeon.”
“How thoughtful. Would you be interested in helping to guide us around?” the older angel asks between fond chuckles as he gives Luke a pat on the head. To which the younger smiles gleefully and nods.
“He really is just like a small dog,” Solomon muses, just loud enough for Luke to hear. You see Luke immediately sour and glare at the sorcerer.
“I'm not a dog! I'm not! Don't call me that, I'm an angel!”
“A yappy dog, like a chinchilla…”
“I'm not!”
You listen in on the teasing with a laugh, a Chinchilla was always a bit inaccurate. You always thought of him more as a Pomeranian, fluffy and energetic. The angel and sorcerer keep bickering back and forth while Simeon tries to mitigate. You can’t help but laugh at their antics as you all clean up from dinner and all start touring around Purgatory Hall. (You’ve never done dishes in a dream before, weird.)
You realise, as you walk into this space, that Purgatory Halls looks and feels a lot like a hotel. Symmetrical hallways, stock images of what you're pretty sure was Italy displayed on the walls in glittering frames. Luke loudly exclaims which rooms belong to him and Simeon, and Solomon quietly claims the room with the biggest personal library in it.
You’re left with the only other room available, a quiet and empty room with a bed, couch, small balcony, and the same blue wallpaper that adorns the majority of this place.
You find yourself laying down in your bedroom alone as you think back on your day.
You remember missing the bus. Missing class. Getting drenched. You can't remember going back home. You really hope you had not fallen asleep without taking a shower first. But maybe that was just dream shenaniganry. Just some temporary amnesia before you wake up and everything will be as it was, memories intact.
You don't particularly mind the feeling of a dream that goes on for a whole day, but you've never had a dream where you've had to fall asleep in order to wake up.
You just hope you wake up in your own bed tomorrow so you can collect your dailies and then run off to class, with hopefully a bit more success this time around.
Is that too much to ask?
And so as you drift off with that question on your mind, like you were warned against in the first few words of this chapter, you tempt the fates.
And the fates love it when they're tested.