⚠️ trigger warning: slight blood/gore/violence⚠️

I had accumulated the most points in our many games of laser tag, therefore I was the overall winner. Everyone groaned and complained about how it wasn't fair since I had been in the military and it was impossible to hit me.

"Actually, not true," Betelgeuse, now back in his snake bracelet form, interjected. "I hit her," he stated proudly.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, by lying and tricking me."

"Um, I saw no signs that said 'no using intellect' anywhere in there."

I scoffed. "'Intellect'? Yeah, right."

We got back to the condo after grabbing something to eat on our way. Everyone was exhausted and it had started raining, so we all stayed inside and lounged, chatting, watching movies, and just hanging out. Eventually, evening set in, and we all broke off in our pairs to get settled in for the night.

Beej and I got ready to turn in, and I hopped in the shower, letting the hot water pound into my back and massage away all the aches and pains from the day. I got out about twenty minutes later, clean and fresh. I walked out of the bathroom to find Betelgeuse already in bed, flipping through channels idly. He grinned when he saw me.

"Oh, hey, Angel."

"Whatcha watchin'?" I asked him, flipping the covers back before sliding in next to him and pulling them back over me.

"Just flipping. Can't really find anything good."

I snuggled closer to him and leaned up against him. He wrapped his arm around me, drawing me closer to him.

"You wanna watch a movie?" he asked me suddenly.

I smiled up at him and nodded. "Sure! What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know," he said thoughtfully, flipping the tv to the Amazon app. "I was hoping you could introduce me to some good movies that you like."

I beamed at him. "You're just too sweet, you know that?"

Betelgeuse smiled down at me and gave me a light peck on the lips. "You're my Angel, and you deserve the utmost respect."

I blushed a bit at that, clearing my throat awkwardly. Beej chuckled lightly at my flustered energy.

"Um, as for the movie, have you ever seen Now You See Me?" I asked him.

Beej stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment. "No, I don't think I have, actually."

I clapped my hands together in excitement. "Yay!! I love this one!!"

He smiled at my child-like glee, rented the movie, passed me some popcorn that he had conjured up from thin air, turned off the lamp, and hit play. As Jesse Eisenberg began to speak the introductory lines of the film, Beej wrapped his arms around me and brought me to sit directly in front of him, his legs on either side of me and his arms wrapped around my waist. I leaned back against his chest and felt him rest his chin lightly on the top of my head.

"Woah, that's some next-level illusion ish, right there," he breathed quietly, his eyes full of child-like wonder.

I smiled to myself, grabbing his hand and intertwining my fingers with his. His thumb rubbed the back of my hand soothingly. Almost rhythmically.

I smiled once again, popping a piece of popcorn into my mouth as I settled in to watch one of my favorite movies with my favorite person in both the world and Netherworld.

~

As the credits rolled, I smiled up at Betelgeuse, who had a look of awe on his face.

"So, what'd ya think?" I asked him, getting up and putting the popcorn bowl over on the dresser.

"That was amazing???? Like oh my gosh!"

I giggled. "Yeah, and there's a second one."

He perked up. "Omg we have to watch it!!"

"Not tonight, baby, I'm really tired."

"Okay. But like, I can't believe that one guy turned out to be-"

"Ah-ah!! Spoilers! Not all of the readers have seen the movie!" I cut him off.

He stared at me in blank confusion before chuckling. "You're gettin' good with those fourth wall breaks, babe," he told me as I crawled back into bed and into his arms.

"Well, I learned from the best," I told him, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Goodnight, Angel," Beej told me, turning off the tv and growing quiet.

"G'night, Beej."

A few minutes of silence later, he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Hey, babe?"

"Hm?" I asked sleepily.

"Can I.... Can I be little spoon?"

I smiled. "Sure, babe."

I turned over and faced his back, wrapping my arms around him and resting my face in the crook of his neck. He sighed contentedly and rested his hand over mine.

"Love you, my little spoon."

He laughed. "Goodnight, (Y/N)."

"Goodnight, Lawrence."

~

Betelgeuse and I sat on the roof, looking out at the sunset and listening to the summer breeze rustling in the trees.

I smiled and closed my eyes, breathing in the fresh air. I felt Betelgeuse grab my hand in his larger one. I smiled over at him, and he beamed back at me.

"Hey, Beej?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there's a way to break my curse? Like, you know how you have to marry a breather? I wonder if there's something I have to do in order to break my curse," I wondered aloud, watching Beej rub circles on the back of my hand with his thumb.

He looked down at our interlaced fingers in deep thought. "I don't know, babes. Maybe."

"Hmmmm..... I wonder how," I said, staring back up at the beautiful pink and purple sky.

"We'll find a way," Betelgeuse told me, looking back up at the sky with me.

"You think so?" I asked him, my head cocking to the side.

He squeezed my hand reassuringly. "I know we will."

I rested my head on his shoulder. "I love you, Lawrence."

"I love you too, (Y/N)."

All of a sudden, the sky turned to a blood red color, and when I looked over at Betelgeuse, he was curled up on his side, battered, bruised, and bleeding. I drew in a shocked, confused breath before darting over to him.

"Lawrence! No!" I shouted, trying desperately to stop the profuse bleeding. It was useless, however, and only made my hands sticky and stained red from his blood. "Please don't leave me alone, again," I whispered, tears streaming down my face.

Betelgeuse weakly smiled up at me, lifting a trembling hand to cup my cheek. I clutched his hand for dear life, watching as his life ebbed away before my very eyes.

"(Y/N), I love you so much," he told me, tears spilling over the threshold that was his eyes and trailing down the curves and contours of his face.

"I love you too, Lawrence," I told him hurriedly. "Which is why you gotta stay with me!"

"I... I don't think I can, Angel," he said, coughing up blood.

"Please don't go!" I sobbed, my chest feeling heavy with grief that the inevitable was coming.

"I'm so.... I'm so sorry, Angel," he whimpered, before his eyes glazed over and his arm went slack. I stared down at his lifeless body in shock.

For the second time in my long, miserable life, I was staring at the corpse of the man I loved. But instead of stifling shrieks of horror and running away like a coward, I was going to face my fears. My grief is as turning to fury, which gave me the strength I needed to cause me to be brave - or stupid.

Either way, I abruptly stood up and whirled around, eyes darting in every direction. I was now standing in a black abyss, and the only thing present besides myself was Betelgeuse's body, still lying broken and forlorn a few feet away from me.

"WHO DID THIS???" I screamed, angry tears flowing like waterfalls down my face. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME??"

My voice echoed back at me in the endless space of the void. I felt a sudden chill coming from behind me, and whirled around, finding an ancient-looking woman with giant hair and a gaping hole in her neck. Tendrils of smoke snaked their way out of this hole and up into the black nothingness of the abyss every time she took a puff of her cigarette.

"I want..." She took a long hit off of her cigarette. "...to talk."

"Who are you??" I demanded warily, not trusting this scary-looking woman for a split second.

"My name is Juno, and I have an important matter to discuss with you, (Y/N) (L/N)."

All at once, it clicked.

I was talking to Lawrence's mother.

I bristled, approaching her aggressively. "You! You're the one who did this!!" I shrieked, jabbing a finger in her direction. "YOU KILLED HIM!!"

She backed up a couple of steps, eyes wide at my sudden outburst. The demon lady then recomposed herself and waved a hand, chains appearing and dragging me down to my knees, shackling me to the floor. I struggled against the bonds, but to no avail.

"I killed him? Please, he was already dead. Besides, he's not even real. He's a mirage! A phantom! A figment of your imagination!" she told me condescendingly, and with a flick of her wrist, Betelgeuse's body dissolved into thin air.

I stared at the place where he had been lying only a few seconds prior, eyes wide in fear and confusion.

"What do you want from me?" I repeated, giving Juno an icy glare.

She waved her hand once more, and a luxurious armchair materialized behind her. She plopped down in it with a "hmmph!" while I stared at her warily. She inhaled another lung-full of smoke. "I want you to stop seeing my son."

I stared at her, dumbfounded and taken aback by her words. "Excuse me??"

She sighed and put a bony hand up to her forehead, as if this whole interaction were an inconvenience and a burden for her. That made me only that much more angry at this lady.

"I said I want you to stay away from my son," she repeated, looking at me with half-lidded eyes in a bored kind of way.

"Um, and why would you care?? You were never there for him! You've never cared!" I retorted.

"I may not care, and he may be a screw-up-"

"He is not a screw-up," I hissed, fighting back more angry tears.

"SILENCE!" Juno commanded, her voice distorting and booming all round me. I stared at her, wide-eyed.

"As I was saying, he may be a screw-up, but I still have some use for him in the Netherworld. And the last thing I need is for that disappointment and liability to be let loose in the living world."

My mouth pressed into a thin line as I glared at her furiously. Every second this woman kept talking was another extra second to solidify my pure hatred for Juno.

The fact that she spoke of Betelgeuse as nothing more than a mere errand boy and disappointment both made me burn with rage, and also broke my heart. No one deserved to grow up hearing their own mother call them a screw-up. A mistake. A disappointment. And god/satan knew that Lawrence deserved it least of all.

He had tried so hard to please his mom and make her proud, but all she ever did was tell him what an absolute failure he was. It shattered my heart into a million pieces whenever he would tell me about it. About how he never felt like he mattered. How he never felt he was good enough.

"No."

"What?" she asked me, abruptly taking her cigarette out of her mouth and staring at me with flames flashing behind her eyes.

"I said NO!"

I stood and snapped the chains, lunging out at her. Juno was quick, however, and used her powers to hold me in midair, shaking with fury.

"Heed my warning, impudent girl!" she said, putting a red press-on nail at the top of my throat just under my chin. "Stay away from Betelgeuse, or what you saw will become your reality." Behind her reappeared his lifeless, tattered body. "And as for you..." She started to slowly shove her nail deeper and deeper into my throat, causing me to scream out in pain. I felt warm blood trickle down my neck and pool at the collar bone area, stars bursting in my vision. "You'll stay out of my way, or I'll make it my business to make sure your existence is an excruciatingly painful one."

She ripped her nail out of my neck with a flourish and vanished into thin air.

I dropped to the ground with a loud "thud", and gasped for breath, coughing up blood while on my hands and knees. Feeling a wave of weakness hit me, I fell over on my side, clutching at my bleeding throat. My eyes were wide and darting around, my breathing was erratic, and my heart rate was sky-high. I tried to stop the bleeding, the panic setting in when I felt that familiar blackness clouding in on the corners of my mind.

Because as many times and ways I had died, I was scared. This felt real.

And I was terrified that this time, I wasn't going to wake up.