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“Were ya waitin’ for me? That's my human!” Mammon bounced towards them. He looked dapper as always, in his signature brown leather jacket and flashing his signature smile at MC without an ounce of guilt on his face. In fact, he looked positively gleeful to see them. MC ought to be angry. They had waited for over an hour! But…it was kinda hard to be mad when he smiled like that…brighter than the Devildom’s sunshine. Or something. They really did miss sunshine when Mammon was not around.
MC suppressed the urge to return his smile and schooled their face into what they hoped looked like a scowl. “Not fair, Mammon, why would you make me wait alone for so long? Some caretaker you are,” MC crossed their arms and made a show of looking angry, knowing he’d see right through their farce.
He strode over and casually put his arm around their shoulder, pulling them close enough that they could smell his cologne. Ooh, this was the one they had gifted him! Mammon seemed to be wearing this one more often, even though he had a ton others to choose from. He was such a nice friend.
“That’s easy for ya to say, you weren’t on cleanin’ duty today! I was sure Levi was gonna snitch on me to Lucifer so I hadta wait for the right time ‘n sneak out but not to worry! The Great Mammon did it again!” He held up a hand offering a high five. MC returned the high five knowing they, too, had a lecture coming from Lucifer for this. Sigh. Why was it so hard to deny anything to this demon?
“We could have rescheduled,” MC offered.
“No way! It’s gotta be today. The sooner we get this scheme rollin’ the sooner we start swimmin’ in grimm and I can spoil ya all I want! Now, get the item out,” he wiggled his fingers at them, practically vibrating with energy like a puppy.
“I never said I’d give you the rights to sell my spell,” MC mumbled, taking the old-fashioned compass out of their satchel. MC held it gingerly in their hands—even in the dull sunshine of the devildom, the antique metal shone; they looked up to see a matching gleam in Mammon’s eyes.
He reached out greedily to snatch the compass out of their hands but MC quickly hid it behind them.
“Mammon, no. It’s not mine, I only borrowed it from Satan for this experiment. I better give it back to him in one piece or who knows what will happen to me,” MC said ominously, knowing that will work.
Mammon deflated a bit; MC continued.
“So, like I explained the other day, if I got my spells right, this compass should basically work like a GPS app. Except, it will show you the right direction without having to punch in the coordinates or even saying the destination name out loud!” MC grinned.
“Alright, alright, I remember. Just get on with it, would ya?” He gripped MC’s shoulders and pressed a gentle kiss on their forehead. “For luck!” he grinned, unaware he had completely sucked all the wind out of MC’s lungs.
MC had to take a deep breath to steady themselves. Was it the anticipation of seeing the results of their month-long hard work? Was it Mammon’s infectious energy rubbing off on them? They weren’t sure but they could feel their heart beating out of their chest. They looked down at the compass; this was the first magical experiment of their own, done with minimal advice from Solomon. This shit better work.
MC nodded, took a deep breath, and firmly placed their destination in mind: the newly opened Karasu Kafé downtown.
They didn’t know the location exactly; just that it was within “walking distance” by demon standards, but actually far enough to make it perfect to check the spell’s reach and accuracy.
All in all, it was just a casual cafe visit. Absolutely nothing to do with what day it was.
MC braced themselves and recited the spell out loud in a clear voice.
“Hear me, denizens of darkness, you who are born of shadow and you who give birth to it.
Hear me and do as I command!
I, MC, call upon you to do my bidding!
Lead me to my heart’s way and show me where I wish to be!”
The compass needle wobbled a bit, showing straight ahead and then settled on a direction vaguely to their right.
“Come on, then,” they grabbed Mammon’s hand urgently and trotted off to wherever the compass needle took them.
“Listen, I know how hard ya worked on this but are ya sure this thing’s not broken? We’ve been walking in circles for an hour now,” Mammon prodded, a little impatient.
“It’s not!” MC replied defiantly. “I tweaked the spell last night after we made plans for the cafe visit today. It should work,” they hit the compass against their palm in frustration, hoping something would turn it around.
“Give that to me,” Mammon gently pried it off their hands. “I think I know what’s goin’ on.”
MC cocked an eyebrow.
“It ain’t working probably ‘cause ya don’t know your way around the Devildom well.
Lemme try this. You say the spell and let The Great Mammon do the thinkin’! Go on then, partner,” he nudged their shoulder with a smile.
Partner??? They exhaled. No. Focus , MC.
Besides, he did have a point and it was worth a try, MC thought. They had never been good at directions, anyway. They shrugged and repeated the spell.
The compass needle wobbled again in Mammon’s palm and pointed in a direction opposite to where it showed for them.
Oh? MC and Mammon exchanged glances and an identical smile spread across their faces. Hand in hand, they walked towards the new direction the compass pointed to.
“We’re more lost now than we were before.” MC pinched the bridge of their nose and let out an audible sigh, all the energy from earlier drained.
“I’m tired! What even is this place?" They looked around to find what seemed to be a market of sorts.
“Oi, don’t blame me ! I knew the location ‘n all, it’s your spell that ain’t working!”
Looking at MC’s defeated expression, though, he quickly bridged the gap between the two. “Aiya, don’t go looking so sad for this, it’s makin’ me sad too. It’s probably the compass’s fault, ya know? Who knows how many centuries old it is and what screwed up experiments Satan’s tried with it? I’ll get ya a brand new one to try again, don’t worry okay? I’ll….I’ll carry you back home since you’re tired,” Mammon babbled on, trying to make amends.
MC took the opportunity to bury their face in Mammon’s chest, grateful for his proximity. The day was not going the way they wanted it to, but at least they had him by their side.
“Fancy seeing you both here.”
MC broke away and turned around, startled at the newcomer’s familiar voice.
“.....Solomon?”
“What is my favorite apprentice doing here all the way from uptown?”
“I’m here too ya know,” Mammon offered dryly, hugging MC possessively from behind.
Solomon did not so much as glance at him.
“We are…um…” MC didn’t want to say lost . “We didn’t mean to come here, to be honest. What is this place and what are you doing here anyway?”
“Oh, this?" Solomon waved the expansive sleeve of his robe, "It's a marketplace where you can find a variety of things, from rare potion ingredients to kitchen items from different realms! Very useful for spellwork. I’m actually glad you found it by yourself—we will be trying out new spells soon that might need some…unique ingredients that you can find here. But today I’m just here to buy some things for the new pancake recipe I’m planning to try for breakfast tomorrow,” he smiled triumphantly.
“You came here to buy ingredients for….pancakes?” MC asked dubiously.
“Hmm? Didn’t I just say that?” he smiled. “Forget the pancakes, MC, what is that in your hand?”
MC sighed. There was no point in hiding it anymore.
Even as Mammon pulled at their elbow mumbling to go back with him, why were they wasting time with the shady sorcerer, MC realized they needed help after all. And who better to ask than their teacher?
After a quick whisper back to Mammon to pacify him, they handed the compass to Solomon and gave him a brief overview of what happened.
Solomon listened, stroking his chin contemplatively. “I see. So this was the reason behind all your cryptic questions last week? I did wonder what you were trying to do so secretively,” he chuckled, making MC look down sheepishly.
“Let me take a look.” He placed his index and middle finger on the compass and closed his eyes; MC knew he was trying to untangle and isolate the threads of magic pulsing through it to get to the essence of them. They absently wondered if they would ever get to this master sorcerer's level.
Solomon stroked the compass a couple more times and frowned.
Then, he thrusted the compass back in MC’s hand, pulled them towards himself and walked back several steps, motioning Mammon to stay where he was, ignoring his loud protests.
Even MC, who was used to their master’s eccentricity, was baffled.
“Repeat the last part of your spell for me?” asked Solomon.
MC tentatively recited it again.
Lead me to my heart’s way and show me where I wish to be!
At this, Solomon physically turned MC around a few times and checked the compass. He nodded to himself as if in understanding and smiled inscrutably.
“I think I know what’s going on,” he said. “There’s nothing amiss with this. Your spell did work, in fact a little too well. Just…not in the way you intended.”
What was that supposed to mean? MC would have known if their own spell had worked, right?
Solomon laughed at MC’s visible confusion and continued, “You said you both tried it and it took you in the opposite directions, right?”
“Yeah….?”
“Basically, your spell took you where your heart most desired you to be. Which was apparently, wherever he,” Solomon waved at Mammon, “was. Same with him. Which was why the compass pointed in opposite directions depending on which one of you held it.”
MC stilled, going wide-eyed and dry-mouthed; Gods in all realms…
“I must say I’m really impressed with this, MC. It may not work the way you intended but to draw out one’s heart’s true desire takes a lot of power—and to think you managed to do this pretty much all on your own is really commendable. I think I should up the difficulty of your training programme, I’m sure you can handle it.”
He gave a big, hard pat on MC’s back that made them stumble but they barely registered it or what Solomon had said.
For Diavolo’s sake, the compass did what ? It made sense, they supposed…but why did it make sense? What were they thinking while making it? Probably, about Mammon. No…it was definitely Mammon. Then again, they always thought about Mammon. As one does, right? As everyone should, duh, what was so odd about that ?
Speaking of….shit shit , he was right there! Was it too much to ask that he had somehow missed the whole explanation?!
Wait a minute, did Solomon say it had worked for…both of them?
MC’s eyes widened bigger as they looked in Mammon’s direction. It seemed like he had been on his way to grab MC back from Solomon but stopped halfway. He stood there looking as flustered as they felt.
Seeing his formidable apprentice and the powerful Avatar of Greed being stunned speechless was so comical it made Solomon laugh out loud. He shook his head fondly.
“I will leave you two lovebirds alone, then. Enjoy your Valentine’s day date! And don’t forget to come to the Purgatory Hall for training tomorrow, ok? I will make you dinner.”
With that threat, he turned around and left before MC could clarify it was absolutely not a Valentine’s day date.
Oh gods. Was it?
They turned to Mammon once again and found him looking at them with an unreadable expression.
“I knew…” he began to say. MC cut in, horrified, “You knew???”
“I-I knew that spell was gonna work! Your spell!!”
Oh…MC relaxed and laughed a little. “Thanks for believing in me, Mammon. I wasn’t even sure it would work.”
“Of course it was gonna. After all, you made it. Not just anyone could capture The Great Mammon’s heart more than Goldie, ya know? If you could do that, you could do anything. Wait…I did not say that.”
What the....this could not be real, right? MC pinched themselves and when the pain hit, they mentally amended their earlier statement—this day was going infinitely better than anything they could have ever hoped for, actually.
Looking at Mammon rubbing his face in embarrassment made their heart grow seven sizes. Gods, he was irresistible; MC wanted to pinch his cheeks. Ha…Maybe they should? Mammon’s flustered demeanor emboldened them like nothing else.
MC’s eyes took on an almost demonic gleam as they said, “Oh, yeah? Captured your heart, huh? More than Goldie? Since when? Was it when I first arrived and you said you hated me but you have secretly liked me all along? Jeez, Mammoney, that’s sneaky of you!” MC playfully prodded and hit his arm.
“W-what is this, why are ya interrogating me like Lucifer? By the way, Solomon said you liked me too, how ‘bout that?!” Mammon folded his arms and acted grumpy.
MC hummed sceptically, trying to channel their inner bully. "Oh, I don’t know about that, Mammoney. Since it’s Satan’s compass and all, it could be that the spell works only on demons! Who’s to say about its effects on humans?”
Mammon’s brows furrowed, “What…are ya for real? It… does it not work on humans?”
Ah, shit. Seeing his adorable face crumble dissolved any resolve MC had to bully him further. They gingerly cupped his heated face with both hands.
“I’m kidding, dummy! I don’t need a compass to tell me what my heart is greedy for. But I'm so glad it told me about yours too.”
They lifted up Mammon’s face so they could look into his golden-blue eyes. His eyes were shining bright, heavy with emotion. He quickly brought up his wrist and hid his face, muttering something under his breath.
MC ran their fingers through his soft, white hair in the way they knew he loved and asked, “What’s that?”
“I said ‘s fine! I’m not crying or anythin’. Don't start treatin' me like a child now,” came a muffled response.
MC laughed. Tsundere as ever, they mused. But it sure did make things less awkward between them. They caught him unawares with a quick, chaste kiss on his lips and grabbed his hand.
“Come on, then,” MC dragged Mammon along. “Let’s get out of this seedy marketplace and go to the cafe like we planned!”
However, Mammon pulled them to a stop. “Not so fast!” He let go of MC’s hand and changed into his demon form.
“Didn't ya say you were tired?” Taking advantage of MC’s dazed state, he effortlessly swooped them up in a bridal carry.
“Yep, that’s better. Now, let’s go on that Valentine’s day date we definitely didn’t plan. My human, my treat.” With that, Mammon winked at MC and took off into the horizon with his bat-like wings.
That day, MC learned the hard way that they cannot get away with teasing their demon without getting wooed in a way that could not be healthy for their human heart.
Funnily, they kinda looked forward to it.
