Alastor x Reader: SoulSearch

5. When I say No it Means Stay

"What do you mean 'No'?" I exclaimed in pure disbelief.

"I mean 'No.'" Y/n repeated, getting up to start slowly pacing next to the kitchen island, "Even if I take all of this at face value - which is insane by the way - I ain't goin' with you to Satan's armpit an' leaving my ranch."

"You don't understand! It's the whole world! All of existence, every timeline or version of it. Everything! Your farm won't matter when everything is gone!" I tried to reason.

"An' then I won't be here to care about it neither!" She fired back, "Besides, you said yourself, it's past the year 2000 where you are at, with any luck I'll be long dead by then."

"But! That's!" Why was this so hard? So frustrating all of a sudden? "Don't you care about the world not ending?"

"Fuck no!" She slammed her hand down so hard the guns jumped, "I cared a 'bout my siblings, they left. I cared 'bout my grandfather, he died. I cared 'bout a husband, he cheated and left. This world don' care about me, so I am done carin' for it."

I looked at her, slightly stunned, my mouth opening and closing repeatedly.

"Sorry." She quipped before I could respond, clearly not expecting herself to share so much, "Anyway, that's my answer. Get your devil or whatever to come back over here and bring you back to your timeline."

I shook my head, recalling the spell other Alastor and Lucifer made. I could call Lucifer here, sure, but...

"I can't," I informed her bluntly. "You have to come with, or I will die six months from now." I think? I actually wasn't sure what would happen if six months passed and I just didn't come back. Wouldn't that mean I wouldn't be present for the battle? But just as the thought coiled its way around my mind, so did the deal - no, I had to be present there or my soul would be forfeit because the hotel and the others would be attacked regardless. And based on the other Alastor's letter, Y/n here is the key to getting out of the deal.

"You will die? Aren't you a demon?" The palm she had on the table relaxed, and she looked straight at me, her eyes piercing. Interesting that this got her attention, but not the literal ending of existence.

"That doesn't make me completely immortal; a demon is just a sinning soul from Earth that got dropped into Hell. And well, Eve has made it her mission to kill me specifically in a particular way, at a particular time, six months from now. Her whole plan depends on it, in fact!" I waved my wrist, trying my best to not sound as frustrated as I was, and yet I knew my voice was shrill with it.

"Yikes, talk about bad luck." She scoffed, looking down. "But I'm still not leaving."

A suffocating silence descended upon us. What was I supposed to do here? Could I call Lucifer and have him try to explain this to her? No, I'm her soulmate; I know she has innate trust in what I'm saying because I feel it too, and if that isn't enough, she will probably just try to blow his head off on sight. Is there some different angle I can take? Immediately the thought process halted - I couldn't manipulate her into leaving; that would be wrong. Since when I cared was a different problem, but I chalked it up to this stupid contrived soulmate thing. I was really starting to hate it.

Suddenly Y/n breathed out, seemingly blowing away the heavy air with it, "Look, how 'bout you stay here for now? You got six months, maybe we can figure somethin' out. But I don' keep free loaders."

I let the pause hang, my mind going a million miles a minute but coming up blank at every turn.

"Fine." I threw my arms up in resignation; at least this would buy me time, maybe I could find a way to convince her. Besides, I could only imagine the humiliation of returning empty-handed. Me, the Radio Demon, with my reputation for being a gentleman, even if a cannibalistic one, couldn't woo a mortal woman. Oh, the embarrassment, I could already feel the cringing of my face as that short joke of a king laughed at me. "What do you want me to do?"