“You will let me keep my life?”
Nocturne nodded and was bemused when Leo started sobbing. This was a very unpredictable human.
“Why are you crying? I just gave you what you wanted.”
“I’m crying in relief,” the human explained. “When do you want to get married?”
Now that the question had been asked Nocturne was experiencing a lot of misgivings. He had just told Draven he would never let a human keep their life. His predecessor had also been punished for doing the same thing.
There had to be limits to his actions today. After all, he was interfering in the laws of the universe.
“If you can stay alive for another year, I will come and find you,” he told him tenderly. “Then we will discuss marriage.”
“I won’t take any risks and I will stay single,” Leo vowed with a tear streaked face. “Do I need to sign a contract or something like that?”
“No, I will simply mark you so you remember it and will not betray me,” Nocturne said.
He gently tugged down the collar of Leo’s shirt and used his nail to scratch in an ‘N’ for his name on his shoulder. It would remind Leo of their promise. The human watched him curiously.
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“You are dead,” Nocturne reminded him. “Now I need to sort out this accident. I cannot break all the universe’s rules. You will still have to be hit by the car, you just will not die.”
Leo winced. “Well, I guess I’ve got a month to recover before I go to university. Let it hit me.”
Nocturne stared at him. “You are one odd human. You are taking this very well. You are not crying anymore.”
“I’m very adaptable,” was the reply. “Is there anything else that needs to happen?”
“Not really,” Nocturne said and raised his arm to start work on resetting the accident. He was interrupted immediately.
“Can you kiss me before I get hit by the car again?” Leo requested.
Nocturne blinked in surprise. “You want me to kiss you?”
He wasn’t sure if he had heard right.
“On the lips this time. You’ve got to remember we’re going to get married later on,” the human reminded him.
That was admittedly a point. Nocturne just hadn’t kissed anyone for a very long time. The last person had been Draven and he wasn’t going to think about that mistake. He cupped Leo’s chin and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. He drew back seconds later.
“You can hit me with a car now,” Leo murmured. “I look forward to seeing you again.”
Leo was a very unique human to say the least. Nocturne got to work resetting time and in seconds the scene started again. This time the car hit Leo from the side and he wasn’t thrown in the air. His body was dragged along for a few seconds and hit the ground with the impact mostly on his shoulder.
Nocturne spent a few seconds there watching the cars in the road brake suddenly. The driver of the car that hit Leo rushed out to check on his prone body. He waved at his future husband even though he was now invisible and left the scene.
***
The ruler of the underworld returned to his throne room a long time later with a crossed off list in hand. To make up for his transgression earlier he had efficiently finished off the other souls on the list. Thankfully none of them had proposed to him.
The throne room was empty again and he slumped into his throne. Normally he felt grand sitting on his throne. It was intricately carved from black marble with the carvings along the border representing the underworld, hell and paradise. On the top were three small statues of the devil, the grim reaper and the archangel. They were known as the hallowed trio. His crown also depicted a similar theme. Now that he had broken the rules, the throne and his crown felt like a penance.
He clawed at his face with his black fingernails in frustration. Why had he broken the rules? Was he going to be caught now?
He did his best to remember how Azrael had been caught. He didn’t know too many details about it, he only knew that his predecessor had been caught and sentenced.
The three of them, the devil, death and the archangel were ruled by an unnamed entity. They rarely had any contact with the entity. If one of them was summoned by the entity, they were in trouble.
On the other side of his throne room was a set of grand gold doors that led out to a short bridge that looked like it went into oblivion. Stepping out onto the bridge would teleport a person into the void which was occupied by the unknown entity.
So far nothing had happened. The throne room remained silent and he hadn’t been summoned to a white void. He could only guess that he was safe. If the entity really saw everything, he would have been caught by now.
He had crossed Leo’s name off the list earlier so everything would look fine on his end. The longer that he sat in his throne without anything happening, the more confident he felt.
All he had to do was find Leo in a year and see how they felt about each other. He was looking forward to seeing him again. In fact he was already longing to see him again.
He snapped his fingers and one of his servants appeared. As the ruler of the underworld he had lots of people at his command. The servant waited silently for his instructions.
“Please prepare some tea and light refreshments,” he said. “For one person.”
“For two people please,” another voice added.
Nocturne was surprised to see the archangel herself appear in front of him. He didn’t see her very often. She was a busy person and he was sure the underworld was the opposite of the paradise she normally stayed in.
Celeste was short and had knee length blonde hair that bobbed as she walked. Her outfit of choice was always a variant on a floor length white dress. Her crown was a gold version of his.
“Why is everyone visiting me today?” he asked himself. “Draven was here earlier.”
“It’s been a quiet day,” she explained, her voice soft as it always was.
She took a seat at the table next to the window and looked out at the view silently. Nocturne walked over to join her. She didn’t speak until they had been served tea and the servant had disappeared.
“I noticed there was a soul missing today,” she observed as she poured out the tea. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.”
Nocturne was shocked into silence again. Then he began to have a gnawing feeling in his stomach. He had been caught out. How much did Celeste know?
“Don’t you want to reveal the truth? You are supposed to be the epitome of virtue. I know previous rulers have been punished for the same thing.”
She poured out his tea before replying.
“I see no reason to. I like you the best and I don’t want to lose you over this. I don’t want someone else to rule the underworld.”
“I still don't understand why you would do this for me. We barely talk.”
Nocturne was confused. Of course he was glad that she wasn’t going to report him to the entity. He was just unclear as to her true motives. He knew that people didn’t cover things up without an ulterior motive.
“The person who reported Azrael to the entity was me,” she admitted. “The rumor that ended up spreading was that he spared a human’s life, that was an understatement. It was worse.”
“How was it an understatement?”
“He changed fates for at least five human women. He would date them and when they died, he would move onto another one. The worst part was that once the women hit 30, he would change their fate so they would die soon,” she explained. “I had enough of hoping he would change his ways and reported everything to the entity. The full facts have never been revealed in case it gives anyone inspiration on how to play with humans.”
Nocturne raised an eyebrow. He had never imagined that his predecessor had been that underhanded and willing to abuse his powers. It was also interesting that Azrael hadn’t been punished until Celeste had taken action.
“In comparison, you haven’t done much wrong,” she continued on. “I also like you the most out of all the underworld rulers I’ve worked with. I just want one thing in return.”
This was the time when he felt the most nervous. He couldn’t predict what was coming next.
“You are the one with the power here,” he said. “I will do anything you want in return. I also like you more than I like Draven.”
Celeste’s face showed the hint of amusement. That was odd. She didn’t normally have a range of facial expressions.
“When the time comes, I want you to forgive me no matter what you find out about me.”
That was a confusing request. She serenely stirred her tea and he wondered if she was going to disclose another bombshell piece of information that would explain her request. Instead she was silent.
“I will support you on this mysterious personal issue that I know nothing about,” he said. “Are we making a contract?”
She shook her head. “We’re not humans, there’s no need. I will keep your secret until my end.”
“Thank you,” Nocturne replied and finally took a sip of tea. “I have been feeling guilty about it. Please know I do not intend to do this again. I am not like Azrael.”
“I will add Leo’s name to the list of souls I took to paradise today so everything looks like it’s in order,” Celeste said. “You can relax. The entity isn’t too perceptive.”
The angel stayed for a little longer and disappeared once she finished her tea. She didn’t touch the cake at all. Once she left Nocturne relaxed and felt the tension go from his muscles.
Everything should be fine from a technical standpoint. Celeste was going to keep his secret, she had falsified the records, the entity didn’t notice things like this.
The only thing to do now was to wait a year to see Leo again and talk about marriage.
The last six months had been a wild ride for Leo. Everything had been strange since the day of his car accident.He had spent some time in hospital recovering from his injuries and had missed the date with his crush. For some reason he hadn’t been too bothered about it despite looking forward to it with all his heart before the car accident.The car accident had been odd too. There had been a video of it caught on a traffic camera nearby and the car should have hit him head on judging by his position and the natural trajectory of the car. He was lucky that somehow it had caught his side instead.There were more things as well. Even though he had been looking forward to meeting new people at university and having the chance to find romance, he had turned down everyone who had asked him on a date so far.What was wrong with him?Leo groaned and massaged his stiff shoulder. His fingers accidentally probed the raised scar on his shoulder from the car accident. That accident had cursed his
Nocturne reappeared in his throne room and started pacing back and forth. That had not gone well.He would have liked to visit Leo much earlier in the day, but it had been a very busy day for deaths and his only free time had been close to midnight. That had been a mistake.If he had seen Leo earlier in the day there would have been no chance of the human assuming it was all a dream.Leo was as cute as he had been a year before. The confused look in his eyes had been adorable. Nocturne was still replaying Leo looking fearful when he moved in to grasp his hand in his mind. It pained him.Then the bigger issue returned to his mind.Leo had no memory of what had transpired after his death and therefore no memory of their promise. He should have thought of that sooner, if he had given Leo his life back then everything that had happened after he died would be removed from his mind. The scar was the only thing that remained.He growled in frustration. He had been looking forward to this day
Leo elected to ignore the resemblance between the man in front of him and Grim Reaper from his dream. There was something more important to focus on here. The man had asked to sit at his table, but there were two other empty tables outside the coffee shop. There was no need to try to sit next to him. Unless the man was trying to flirt with him. He might as well double check if his dating curse was still in operation. Leo held out his hand in the direction of the chair.“You can if you like,” he said.The man was dressed in a sharp blue suit, but something felt a little out of place. He looked to be around the same age as him so it was odd to see someone like that wearing such a nice suit. It was also too hot to be wearing a suit comfortably. This man should be showing signs of sweating, but he couldn’t see any.Unlike the man in his dream, this one was definitely a human and didn’t look translucent like he was going to fade away at any second. His gray hair was also short with bangs
The ruler of the underworld hummed happily as he arrived in his throne room. It had been a very good day.There was no one waiting for him in his throne room, which was good and bad. It would have been bad if Draven had been waiting for him. Celeste would have been a welcome sight. Nocturne wanted to tell her how his date had gone.The archangel had given him a talk on human dating. Her advice had been 90% accurate and the other 10% hadn’t gone well. She had told him that Leo would find him attractive if he wore a smart suit. Instead Leo had found it strange and had even commented on it.He was glad she had told him to find out Leo’s interests first before meeting him. Nocturne had spent some time going through Leo’s bedroom to investigate him. From there he had discovered that university was an important thing to him, where it was and what he was studying. He had returned to Celeste with all his information and she had made some suggestions.He still couldn’t quite believe he had gon
Nocturne waited patiently outside the coffee shop for Leo to return with an umbrella. This time he had remembered to dress in summer fashion, but he had fallen short when considering the daily variations of weather in the human world.The idea of walking around in the rain underneath an umbrella with Leo sounded very romantic though. He was excited to try it.He watched humans rush through the rain past him. Eventually someone with a large yellow umbrella came to a stop in front of him. The umbrella lifted slightly and he saw Leo’s face underneath.“Let’s go,” his date said and held out his hand.The ruler of the underworld took Leo’s hand. It was pleasantly warm and then the human promptly dropped his hand before he could fully revel in the moment. Nocturne’s brow furrowed. Was his hand horrible to hold?“What’s wrong?” he asked softly.“I tend to get sweaty. Let’s not hold hands,” Leo explained and moved so they were underneath the umbrella. He tilted the umbrella up so they could s
That evening Leo spent his time before bed staring up at the ceiling with a grin on his face instead of reading.He now had his first ever boyfriend.They had even kissed.He still couldn’t quite believe it. He touched his lips softly. It had been a shy kiss at first because he had never done it before. Then he had asked for a proper kiss and Nocturne had said he wasn’t sure how to kiss properly either. Leo blushed as he remembered how he had confidently claimed they both needed to practise and there was no time like the present. He had put the umbrella back up for privacy.He had left the park with a boyfriend and actual kissing experience.It was hard to truly believe that he had managed to overcome his curse and have the perfect boyfriend. He wasted a lot of time thinking about Nocturne. He had such deep eyes and every time he looked into them, he felt lost. He was so handsome as well. Leo giggled to himself and panicked when he saw the time. Had he really just spent half an hour
As the month progressed Nocturne started to become accustomed to his double life. The list of the dead would decide how much time he had to spend with Leo a day. If it was an expansive list, there would only be time for texts and if it was medium sized or smaller, it was an actual date.Contacting Leo by phone had its difficulties. He only had the phone when he was in the human world so he could only use it in the short window of time he had before collecting a soul and bringing it back to the underworld. Typing on a phone was also a challenge that he had been forced to overcome.If the soul was difficult to bring back because the human refused to accept their mortal coil had come to an end, there was no chance to use his phone.Despite all the difficulties, he was glad that there was the option to use a phone. If he was trying to date Leo 100 years ago or even 30 years ago, it wouldn’t have been an option.Then came the challenge of trying to do his best impression of a human. Celeste
It took a long moment for Leo to recover his ability to speak. He knew he was in some state of shock from the way his arms were shaking.It felt like his world had been shattered. Brad couldn’t be right.Then again, he could.Nocturne was odd.He never seemed to study. Leo had never been invited to his student house. He had never met anyone from Nocturne's university course. He didn’t have an online presence. Nocturne’s personal life was also still completely unknown to him and they had been dating for several months. He had told Nocturne all about his family and friends and his boyfriend never did the same.“I’m sorry, I know you really do like him and he is your first boyfriend,” Brad continued. “I couldn’t let this carry on once I had it all worked out. I don’t know if he’s a stalker or something else.”Leo knew that Brad had his best intentions in mind when he had started to dig into Nocturne. He just wished his best friend had found nothing suspicious.“How do you know it’s a fake
“I don’t have any romantic feelings for Atlas,” Leo said as they looked up at the sky.Nocturne glanced at him in surprise before replying. “I’m fully aware of that.”“I just thought I would tell you. I know you have complicated feelings about the entity,” the blond told him. “The only person I love is you. I don’t love your former self in any way. I feel sorry for him instead.”It was a relief to hear those words even though he had never suspected Leo of harboring romantic feelings for the entity.“I think anyone would have mixed feelings about the person who made them go through painful lives because they saw falling love as a weakness instead of something normal,” he said lightly. “I’m mostly neutral on the subject of the entity now. He apologized and he has arranged this new life for us.”“I wonder what our next life will bring,” Leo said wistfully. “We’ve both achieved a lot this time. I’m a successful author in my genre and you’re the CEO of a profitable company.”Nocturne’s foc
Nocturne found that he still had the folder with all the wedding planning information in the same place on the kitchen table. The most important thing to do was find out if the wedding was in the same place. Everything else could wait.“We are using the same wedding hall in this life,” he told Leo. “It seems this wedding was more expensive. The price for the decorations and the catering are higher than before.”Leo put four slices of bread in the toaster.“Glad to know that we’re not going to turn up at the wrong place,” he said. “My headache has gone now. What about you?”The former ruler of the underworld gently touched his head and was relieved to feel nothing.“I’m fine now,” he said.He experimentally tried to teleport to the underworld and nothing happened. It was odd to think that he would never see the underworld again whilst he was alive. When he would see it again, he would just be yet another soul there to be judged.It was bittersweet.His job as the ruler of the underworl
“I want to be with you,” Leo said fondly. “I admit that I also want to get married tomorrow. If we could somehow be transplanted back into the human world I came originally from, it would be amazing. I’m just worried that it’s not possible.”Nocturne ruffled his hair. “That was what I’m hoping for too. I would also like for the underworld to be stable after we leave as well.”Leo considered the different worlds. Technically they had all been created because of him. Atlas had created another human world after he had died as well as the current system of life and death.The other two people at the table had been created because of him too. They wanted to sacrifice themselves to help him as well. He was conflicted about everything.A while later, a stone faced Atlas approached their table.“Leo, can I speak to you in private?” he requested.“You may,” Leo said.It made sense that Atlas would want to say something to him. This was all because of him. The throne room disappeared around hi
“What options can you offer us?” Leo asked.He thought about the wedding that was waiting for them the next day with a pang.“Your first option is to enter the reincarnation cycle and eventually live another life,” Atlas told him. “You two always find each other so there is no need to worry. You two could also take up positions in the underworld."The blond knew that wasn’t something he wanted to be involved with. He was too sentimental to be dealing with death all day.“Is there any chance we can go back to the test world?” Nocturne asked. “I’ve become attached to it and I would like to have the wedding I’ve been waiting a year for.”Leo was pleased that they were thinking along the same lines.An expression of pain shot across Atlas’ face. Leo looked at him carefully and saw how tired he was looking. His skin was almost translucent.“Atlas, are your powers growing weak?” he asked quietly.“I do not have too much left in me,” the entity admitted. “I have lived for a long time and set
The two of them reached the town a little too late to recreate the timing of their first date. The lunch period was in full swing at the coffee shop and they ended up squashed on a small table between two families with crying children.Leo frowned as he thought about how Nocturne had arrived whilst he had been sitting outside the coffee shop all those years ago and asked if he could sit next to him.“How did you find where I was on the day we met for the third time?” the blond asked. “You couldn’t have stalked me beforehand because it was only the morning after I rejected you.”Nocturne stirred his drink. “Remember I wasn’t human. I teleported to your house first and found you weren’t there. I went through your bedroom to learn things about you. Then I transformed into a human and the rest is history.”“I wonder if any other Grim Reaper put in that effort to chase a human,” Leo said. “You went to some trouble to date me.”The former ruler of the underworld winced for some reason and t
Leo burst out laughing. The man in the jewelry shop had mentioned another customer before him buying a ring to propose that very evening. It had been Nocturne all along.What were the chances of them choosing the same ring and the same day to propose?“It feels like we’re fated,” he said. “The same ring and the same day.”Nocturne placed the other ring carefully on Leo’s ring finger. It fitted perfectly. Leo held up his hand and admired it.“I had been planning to gauge your opinion on marriage and then you asked me for mine,” Nocturne said softly. “I guess that should have been the clue we were thinking on the same lines. You confirmed you wanted to marry me and I went to buy a ring that I had seen earlier."Leo smiled as he realized they had followed exactly the same steps.“I was planning to propose to you when you came back from work in the hallway so it would be the first thing you saw when you came in. I was disconcerted to find you had come back early,” he admitted.“In my mind
The blond didn’t waste any time in pursuing his mission. He had seen the ring in the morning and he took the first chance he could to ask Nocturne for his opinion on marriage in person. It wasn't a conversation to have by text or over a call.His boyfriend returned from the office as he was serving up dinner. Leo had expanded his cooking repertoire over the years and had seven meals he could make for dinner. He made dinner on weeknights and Nocturne cooked much better meals at the weekend so it all worked out.Leo waited until they were both sitting at the table to broach the topic of marriage.“Nocturne, what are your opinions on marriage?” he asked. “I mean marriage for yourself.”His boyfriend raised his eyebrows. “That’s a random question. What brought it on?”“It doesn’t matter. I just want to know your opinion,” Leo replied.He had learnt over time that Nocturne was good at avoiding questions he didn’t want to answer.Nocturne frowned over the question and took a long moment to
Something strange happened on the evening of their seventh anniversary together.The two of them decided to celebrate their seventh year together at their favorite casual dining restaurant. Leo had introduced Nocturne to it on their fifth date. Their preferred table was outside looking over the harbor.During the wait between their main course and the dessert, Nocturne briefly left him alone at the table to order more drinks at the counter. Leo occupied himself by taking a photo of the candles on the table so he could post about their anniversary on his personal social media account. He was in the process of writing the caption when someone sat down opposite him.The smile on his face died when he saw it wasn’t Nocturne returning from the counter. It was a man he didn’t know.The man was attractive in a similar way only his hair was long and black and his skin was unearthly pale.“That seat is taken by my boyfriend,” Leo told him.He didn’t entirely know why this man had chosen to tak
He was ready to find this man and give him a piece of his mind. Leo moved towards the door. Angela cleared her throat and he stopped. Maybe he had reacted too fast.“You don’t have to go and punch him. Nocturne spent a lot of time working on a report for HR to get him removed for harassment. He submitted it this morning. There’s so many witnesses to everything, it should be an easy case for HR,” Angela informed him. “Levi is being questioned in the HR office right now."Leo realized that he had been naive to think that Nocturne wouldn’t use official channels to do something about someone harassing him. His boyfriend was thorough like that.It made sense that Nocturne had told him not to worry about him and that things would be sorted soon with the ‘difficult client’.He sat back down at the table. It appeared he didn’t have to go and defend his boyfriend from Levi. Nocturne had already done everything necessary.“I would still go and say something to him on a personal level,” Angela s