Double Or Nothing: A Coin Flip Away

A Forceful Encounter

Pushing through the sea of flags, confetti and shouting voices blending into a furious cocktail to damage the eardrums, Crow clamped one ear to his shoulder and put his left hand over his other ear, keeping his right hand locked tight against Satan's jangling bracelet. Fighting through the crowd to the threshold of the shimmering golden arena, Satan collapsed out of breath with Crow tight beside her. Quick reflexes brought the Plague Infector's eyes toward an unoccupied bench in the corner of the room. "Quick, this way," Crow beckoned, helping Satan toward the seat.

Resting beside Crow, the Lady of Envy raked her fingers through her ruffled brown hair, slumping forward. "When did the Living World ever become so chaotic?" she gasped, slumping sideways against Crow's shoulder. The Plague Infector, twiddling his gloved thumbs between themselves, shrugged and helped Satan upright. "You did recommend this, to be fair. But something in me is glad I don't have to deal with this anymore." Satan lifted her gaze toward the glittering lights through the gates into the ring to their left. "You're happier dead than alive?"

Crow tightened his collar, his mind racing for an appropriate answer. 'Too subtle and I come off stupid, too cordial and I seem snotty. God, how do you answer this?' Crow wrestled with himself, sucking in a slow breath before responding. 'Go with your heart.' "It may sound strange, but...yeah. Yeah, I'd say so." Satan turned her shimmering gold eyes and sparkling silver earrings toward Crow. Her curiosity had peaked with such an unexpected response.

"Really? If you're truthful, you're one of the few Sinners in Hell who finds themselves truly happy with death." The crowded flare of the arena entrance blurred everything into mute silence as the Lady of Envy and the Plague Infector focused into one another. Crow took another breath before he further explained himself. "Satan, I'm unsure of who I am. Even when I was a terrible murderer and chemical villain, I felt a sense of unjust longing. I wasn't happy then, and in some parts, I...I don't know if I am now."

Satan nodded, turning toward the blurring crowds of stars and sparkling confetti in the crowd around herself and her lover. "I know a little of what you mean. There were so many cold nights I would wake up and find myself restless, unable to sit still or cling to myself. But," she continued, sliding her jewelry displayed hands through Crow's black leather gloves, "then I met you. Your calm demeanor, your working without complaint and being the voice of reason for your team are what separate you from other Sinners."

Crow turned to Satan, and for a moment, he forgot that he wasn't wearing his steel-lined goggles or his leather mask. Crow was as human as every passerby and tourist who blurred past their conversation. Despite this, Crow turned his attention toward a lighthearted topic of discussion. Sliding his right hand over his lap and folding it over Satan's other hand, Crow braced himself and his trembling body before he asked Satan for his proposal. "So, hypothetically," Crow shuddered, "how does a Sinner go about marrying the embodiment of a Deadly Sin?"

Satan's eyes sparkled with the cheers and waving flags from the crowd around their bench as her head tilted toward Crow's simple, anticipating face. After a long silence, the stunned Lady of Envy reached forward, curving along Crow's face and resting her forehead against his. The Plague Infector could feel every inch of the burning emotion bottled up behind Satan's facial features. "Crow, I," she began, then paused as a firework exploded from the arena. Both protagonists turned toward the loud explosion, something drove into the sides of the two heroes, forcing them up to their feet.

A harsh, gravelly voice rasped through between Crow and Satan. "So you're the little lovebirds the boss said to look out for. You're coming with me now, got it?" Forced into the crowd with hands locking their arms and pistol barrels jammed into their sides, Satan and Crow were forced out of the arena and up a stairwell across from the registration booths. Pushed through the doors into a hallway with lanterns and soft red carpeting, the Plague Infector and Lady of Envy were thrust to the floor with the sound of reloading weaponry fresh behind them.

"Now walk, both of you. Or I start busting caps." Crow kept one hand tight on the Lady of Envy's hand, guiding her upright as they ascended the steps. Although Crow knew he could take their unnamed captor in a duel of close combat, this was still the Living World. 'I have no clue what a bullet would do to me here,' he thought to himself, keeping his back to their captor and following Satan up the steps. Before reaching the end of the staircase, however, Crow became aware of another voice in his head. 'So how do you plan on handling this guy anyways? This is Satan, by the way.'

Crow's eyes brightened. 'You want me to throw you, duck low and give him the uppercut of a lifetime?' 'Sounds good to me! Let's give it a go.' Crow stumbled a bit on the steps, causing the guard to drive their foot into Crow's back. "Get your ass up, let's keep moving," their raspy voice growled. Crow retorted by tightening his grip on Satan's arm, flinging the Lady of Envy over his head. With their captor thrown off balance, Crow wrestled the pistol from their large hand and swung his right fist, cleaving through the ski mask and throwing their captor smashing into the ceiling in a bloody pulp of unconscious mass.

After the armed gunman had been tied up and thrown into a corner of the room, Satan dusted off her hands, guiding Crow forward in a surge of questions. "You can use telepathy?!" Crow asked. Satan laughed with her response. "I'm Satan, dummy. Of course I have telepathy!"