Deja Vu

Chapter 35: Every Party Has To End

Summary:

You get the last few gifts from your party, and the festivities come to an end.

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As the party finally comes to an end and Crewel and Crowley are taken for medical tending, the projection comes down. You say your goodbyes to your friends from the human realm, and Idia closes the connection.

As your human realm friends dissipate from view, the ballroom suddenly feels a lot emptier. The decorations are all still around, and it still feels warm and inviting, but, it's just emptier. It's hard to come to grips with how far you really are from your NRC friends right now. Especially in the wake of everything that happened with Crowley - Everyone you love who feels like family is so much farther away.

Grim pats your calf and you look down with a small smile. Well, not EVERYONE you'd call family is too far away. You scoop him up in your arms and he grins, motioning to the mound of gifts you got. "We made quite the haul, didn't we??"

You laugh, nodding. "Yeah, yeah we did, Grim. ..." You quietly look over the room, easily getting stuck in your own head.

Grim can see that apprehension in your face. He knows about what happened with Crowley, and he bats your head. "Nope. Nuh-uh. None of that."

"..?" You look to him questioningly.

"That ol' bird FUCK deserved what he had comin'!"

You crack. Grim never swears. You stare at him, open-mouthed, shocked. "... I think I'm obligated to warn you about your language??" Your voice gets higher as you say this, not completely sure. You almost never actually have to be a dorm leader in terms of policing Grim's behavior. You're mostly just trying to hold back the laughter.

"YOU HEARD ME. CROWLEY WAS A RUDE FUCK! ALWAYS MAKIN' US DO HIS DIRTY WORK."

"Grim, Grim you can't say that-"

"I CAN AND I WILL! HE SUCKED AN' DESERVED IT!" Grim's now punching at the air defiantly.

You find yourself bubbling with laughter as Grim successfully pulls you out of your own head. You shake your head and he just crosses his arms with an affirmative nod.

Amidst the joy of hearing your best buddy cuss out your headmage with zero respect for the levity of the previous situation, Diavolo and Barbatos come to insert themselves. "May we have a moment of your time?" You pause in your laughter to look up to Diavolo and straighten up, reflexively putting a hand over Grim's mouth to keep him from cussing in front of these two. Barbatos chuckles as Grim scowls from behind your hand. You nod to Diavolo, giving him the green-light to do whatever he's about to do.

Diavolo warmly grins and hands your gift to you. You're surprised, thinking you had everything. You open the gift and see a little card inside. You can feel the magic on it. You look to Diavolo, confused.

"This pass is charmed to allow you to travel freely between the realms. Using the spell on it, you're able to make use of the travel points, and when you hold it, you can see those points between Devildom and the Human Realm. I wanted to make sure that you always knew that you're welcome here in Devildom." Diavolo affirmatively nods, crossing his arms, his grin excited that you're finally opening his gift.

"..." Your mind returns to the last few times you'd traveled between the realms. ".. Are you sure? I don't know, it feels like me having free-reign to go back and forth between the realms could be.."

"What, problematic? I didn't see a problem there. You didn't make trouble that we had to dig you out of."

- "___ certainly has a knack for only causing as much trouble as they can dig themself out of.." Lucifer joins the circle of conversation, giving you a warm smile and a nod of reassurance.