Do you ever just feel like you're drowning in an ocean of darkness?

"I have many names: Alistair, Satan, Lucifer, Belial, the Beast, king of Babylon, the Devil, the demon lord," He was so cocky as he took a step down from the saucer, listing all of his names as if they mattered to me. "You take your pick," I could hear the taunt in his voice as he smirked, those gold eyes never leaving mine. "But do not feel free to call me Maddox Kane." That was the moment that I realized that this man was indeed the father of the girl I had pissed off. I didn't know how I managed to do that, considering I wasn't even trying to flirt with her, but lucky me. The demon lord came for just little me.

Feeling the pressure of the water pressing down your chest?

"Why don't you try some Lucky Charms, Maddox?" I chewed on the good stuff as I motioned over to the box that was sitting in front of him on the counter. "I'll even be nice and let you have some," I grinned and he shook his head, pointing to his bag of Hot Cheetos. "It is nice of you to offer such things, but I'm afraid I must decline," He politely said, shoveling his hot ass snack into his mouth. "Besides," He smirked evilly and I narrowed my eyes. "My mouth can only handle something as elite as these chips," I raised a brow, wondering if he was really challenging me.

"Asshole, don't you dare put the most delicious thing on the planet below some salty ass chips!" I sputtered and he let out a cackle, unable to stop himself. "You should get on your knees and be thankful that this cereal is even allowing you to be in its presence," I grumbled and he smiled. I found that he was doing that a lot more and it pleased me. "Is that so?"

Soon, I was going to get him to try these, just so he could admit that they were better than those nasty things he called chips.

Do you ever just feel like you're trying to swim up to the surface but you cannot?

I looked at this man incredulously, wondering just how old he was. "Maddox Kane, are you seriously telling me that in all of the 300 something years that you have been alive," He blushed and looked away and I stared with a smirk. "You have never seen a movie?" He said nothing, confirming my suspicion and I guffawed, placing my legs on his. "Oh my god, I can't believe it. So you never seen anything like the Lion King or Finding Nemo, or even Insidious?" I recalled old-time movies from back in the day, relics that I kept hidden away because they were so expensive on the dark market.

"I...have no clue what those are," Maddox sounded so sad that he didn't know what those movies were and I tapped his cheek, pouting playfully at him. "It's okay, puppy lord. I will save the day!"  I pulled out my phone, using the hologram to surge through my movie application. Luckily for me and my intelligent and oh-so-capable mind, I managed to put a replication of the movie itself on my phone so that I could stream directly from my phone without having to buy a third-party app to use it.

"Which one do you want to watch first?" I murmured, snuggling closer to him unconsciously as he drew the lights in, the large screen projecting for us. "We can watch your favorite," Maddox snaked an arm around my waist, rubbing at the exposed skin. "Insidious it is, but I must warn you," I looked up at him, seeing him rub the stubble on his tanned face. "Yes?" He replied and I sighed. "I am a badass motherfucker, but even I get scared easily with horror movies," I frowned and he snorted, rubbing my hair.

"I'll chase away all the bad monsters for you, Troy."

Does it feel like the light keeps getting farther and farther away?

"What would you change if there weren't any of these rules that I imposed on you and your world?" Maddox gripped my chin, turning me to look at him and I hummed, feeling him remove his grip. "For one, I'd rectify the rules just so that we still had them, but they'd be fair for whoever is ruling and for the people. It wouldn't be total chaos, but it wouldn't be a dictatorship," I shrugged, thinking back to over 187 years ago when Adolf Hitler reigned over Germany, according to the textbooks.

"I'd allow it so that people could go to school and get the education that they wanted and do whatever job they wanted, provided that they have the qualifications. I'd make it so that they could reproduce because this generation will die off soon," I hummed, knowing that it was the facts. Since we couldn't have sex, our generation was going to be the last of the humankind, unless someone was feeling a little risky.

"Hm, I never thought about it like that," Maddox stared at me, deep in thought, studying everything about me. "Also, if it ever got to that point which I don't think it would, you could also think about ways to connect No Man's Land and other parts of Earth to Hell, you know, so that humans could come here and you could get to know them," I offered, knowing that it would be better for him and for the people if they knew who he was.

"I might just think about that..."

And it feels as if you're sinking deeper and deeper?

"Whaaat?" I teased. "You never thought a good ole' delinquent like me wouldn't know how to draw?" I chuckled, seeing the panic rise in eyes as he stumbled over his words, trying to fix a mistake he thought he made. "Relax, I'm pulling ya chain, Maddox," I smirked, pulling out another pencil to sharpen up the edges to my drawing.

"What are you drawing?" I felt a chin dip into my shoulder and the hot breath of a demon lord blow into the crook my neck. "You,"  I traced the outline of his jaw, making sure that it looked as deep as it was in all actuality. "Oh wow, that looks really good," He sounded genuinely impressed, his eyes lighting up with pride as he traced the outline of himself on the paper. "Wow, you never cease to amaze me, Troy," He nuzzled deeper into my neck and I fought the urge to blush, liking what he said.

"I see you've been learning how to read the Satanic bible," He pointed to the many characters and letters that I was drawing. "Yeah, Nya has been teaching me," I confessed. "I hate not understanding the simplest of things when you guys talk, so this is me trying to be nosy," I winked and he chuckled, nodding. There were still some things that I couldn't understand like what the hell Taen was. I wasn't going to ask Maddox because I had a feeling he would try and skirt his way out of the conversation so he didn't have to answer.

Bastard.

Do you ever feel like you want to cry out and scream but nothing comes out?

"You have a beautiful smile, Troy," I raised a brow, smiling even wider as hands settled in on my waist, forcing me to turn around. "And you have a beautiful heart, Mr. Demon Lord, sir," I saluted, feeling a kiss on my nose. "That's the first time I had ever had someone tell me that, so thank you," I could tell from his softened stature and the way that his hands were stroking my waist, he was content.

"By the way, I never asked," His hand trailed up my hand, rubbing against the patterns of my tattoos, enticing a shiver within me. "You obviously didn't care enough to follow the rules and yet you created something so beautiful," He was deeply in awe and I looked down, not wanting him to see the blush on my cheeks. "Could you tell me what some of them mean?" I stared ablaze, happy that someone wanted to know what they meant.

People back home didn't really care about the meaning of the tattoos that I had gotten on my sleeve because to them, it was a sign that I didn't care about what the demon lord wanted. For the first time, someone didn't see a lawbreaker (ironically). Someone saw Troy and it was ironically funny because it was the same person who invoked these laws in the first place. 

"O-oh yeah," I stumbled over my words, pointing a tattoo of waves crashing against rocks. "I really like the sound of it, so I decided to get it tattooed as a way to keep me calm," I shrugged and the man of the hour nodded, listening intently. "This one, it reminds me of my mother because she would always hug me and I enjoy being in her arms," I showed him one of a woman embracing a boy. I then took his attention to a skeleton face with a wink in its eye. "This may look stupid at first, but the meaning behind it is so complex," I grinned and he couldn't fight the grin that merged his lips as he gazed at me openly. 

"This is a symbol of who I am. No matter what happens to me, if I live or if I die, I'm still that badass motherfucker that broke every single law of yours," I winked for dramatic effect and he nodded, folding his arms.

"That you are."

But you know there would be no point because it ends here?

I shook my head, folding my arms. "Out of all the time you had, you've seriously never been to Wichita, Kansas?" Maddox frowned in reply, offering no answer. "Wichita is the plan where yours truly," I pointed to myself with a smirk. "Was born," I winked. "It is a really beautiful place. People always talk trash about since it is literally not a place that most people would go to," I raised a brow, eating some pasta that Stefani cooked for me and my humanly needs.

"Well since you said so," Maddox reached over to wipe off some alfredo sauce that dribbled down my chin, putting his thumb to his mouth as he gave me such a heated stare. "I'll definitely have to go." I nodded enthusiastically. "Of course!" I didn't know if there was much to the city because it had been destroyed like all others when he rose from Hell for the very first time. I didn't see him but from what others say, he was cloaked so no one could see who he was.

For the first time, he came to get me, knowing that other people would see his true image. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but it happened. "There are so many good places to go to in the city," I began on my tirade animatedly, unknowing of the fact that Maddox had perched himself on his elbow, watching me with such a stare of fondness, a dopey look in his eyes and a stupid grin on his face.

"I'll be sure to bring you with me."

It felt as if time was surging forward and my body was being rushed through a series of oceans, crash after crash. I had no idea where I was or what happened, but I knew after Maddox's glowing fingers touched my forehead, I was submerged into darkness, unable to open my eyes until I landed. I felt as if I was floating but as I slowly cracked open my achy eyes, I saw nothing but pure blackness looking back at me. My throat felt constricted as I fought to move around, trying to understand where I was. I could hear the faint call of my name and even if I felt myself running towards that voice, my legs weren't moving. Not at all.

"Troy."

"Troy."

"TROY!"

I could feel hands slapping my cheeks gently as if they were coercing me to open my eyes. "Please wake up!" I finally opened my eyes to see the shiny white ceiling of my home instead of darkness, and I turned to see seafoam green eyes peering into mine. "Oh thank god you're awake!" The owner of those eyes let out a relieved breath as she wiped tears away from her cheeks, kissing my hand. "Huh?" I blinked, feeling sluggish and whatnot. I was indeed very confused, trying to put together yesterday's events. It felt as if it happened two, three hours ago. "Jade? What the hell happened?" I tried to sit up, ignoring her fierce glare at the use of profanity.

"Please don't curse. The demon lord hears all," She reprimanded but I could tell she was happy to see me. I didn't know why. It had only been two days since she last saw me. Wait, there was something so off about this. Even if I did curse, Maddox was okay with it and he even told her that I was allowed to, so why was she back to this shit? Unfortunately, she gave me time to process everything as I sat up, looking at my bedroom. It was white, filled with futuristic items, minimalistic, nothing like the black and dark bedroom I was used to waking up in.

What?

"Where are we?" I asked in a clipped tone, feeling my head pounding. "Troy, what's wrong with you? Are you sure you're okay?" Jade pressed a hand to my forehead. "We've been in No Man's Land this entire time," She pointed to the window as a clap of thunder came through, reminding me of what this world was really like. It always rained here. I couldn't even see outside of the window but we could hear the chiming of the clock striking thirteen. "What?" I whispered to myself, feeling my eyes watering traitorously. "That can't be true..." Jade furrowed her brows as she stared at me. I turned to her frantically, grabbing her face. "Jade, I don't know what the hell happened, but we were literally just in Hell, you know, with the demon lord, Maddox?" I pushed forward and there was no sign of recognition in her eyes. I could feel the panic beginning to surge through me because I could literally taste these memories. 

"What are you talking about, Troy? Demon lord? I have never met him nor been to that place," Jade tilted her head, looking as confused as she could be. My chest started to tighten as she frowned, patting my head and my face with every ominous word she spoke. "You've been knocked out for 19 hours straight since I found you unconscious outside. I think you got into it with a demon cop or something," My heart started to beat with dread as my eyes widened. "Whatever you've imagined or thought happened, it really didn't," Jade sighed, confirming my worst nightmare. 

"It was all a dream."