Leviathan looked cross, and Mammon looked annoyed. Melody tensed at this, noticing that the song was dying down, coming to a close. Did Leviathan want to dance? Beel had mentioned before that Levi usually didn’t care much to dance at all, preferring to leave these events or hide in a corner and play his games. The few times she had spotted him in the crowd, he hadn’t been partnered up with anyone. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if he had changed his mind.

“We’re dancing here; shoo,” Mammon huffed.

“Song’s almost over,” Levi said impatiently.

“Did you… want to dance?” Melody asked, looking up at Levi. She wasn’t asking him to dance with her, exactly, but she was looking to see if that was his intention. Her question made him turn bright red, and he shook his head.

“O-of course not!” he sputtered. “That’s such a normie thing to do.” He scowled, but it quickly turned to an expression of almost panic. “Besides, who would want to dance with a yucky otaku like me?”

Melody held back a sigh. She squeezed Mammon’s hand, giving him a little smile, and her expression conveyed the question of whether he was okay with letting her go. Mammon reluctantly let go, and just gave her a shrug. He was greedy, yes, and would have kept her to himself all night, just for the fact that she had been assigned as his charge for the year. But, he also knew that, if she could coax Levi into a dance, it would be nothing short of a miracle. Helping his brother out of his shell might be good for him, but, if it didn’t, he could always tease him about it later to get an edge in an argument. Mammon could be a nice older brother when he put his mind to it, but it was also part of his nature now to look for the advantage.

“I would,” Melody said. The two words were simple, meaning very little on their own, but they made Leviathan blush even harder.

“I don’t dance,” he said. “My tail, it… it gets in the way.” Melody could see how that could be the case. Especially with the more elaborate dances. Then again, other demons seemed to manage just fine. On the other hand, Leviathan’s tail seemed particularly long.

“Maybe we can find some space off to the side, and give it a try,” Melody suggested. “But, if you don’t want to dance, that is okay too. I spent most dances back home sitting on a bench. I hated school dances,” she confessed. “And I never went to anyplace to dance outside of school if I could help it.”

Leviathan really looked torn, and Melody felt bad for asking. Yet, she had the feeling that not asking would have been even worse, overall. Pensively, she watched as Levi seemed to war with himself; sometimes he would look like he was just about to speak, and then think better of it. Eventually, she reached out and took his hand. He almost pulled back completely, his body freezing in place, but he forced himself to relax as her fingers curled against his hand.

“Melody…”

“Don’t worry, Levi,” she said when the Avatar of Envy couldn’t seem to get past her name. “Why don’t we go sit over there on the bench?” She looked over to Mammon. “I’d like you to come too,” she added, “but if you want to keep dancing with people, that’s also okay.”

Levi, who was still trying to reboot his brain after having his hand grabbed, nodded mutely. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had taken his hand this way, let alone a human. True, they had given each other a high-five at the moment they made a pact, and a few times after during some epic gaming moments, but, there was a gentle warmth to the way her hand just rested in his that felt so foreign. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. He did know, however, that he wasn’t overly eager to let go, and thus he followed Melody over to the bench she had indicated. Mammon followed along, grumbling slightly, but he didn’t fully protest. Beel was there, munching happily away at the buffet, giving his brothers, and Melody, a smile. Though his eyes did widen a bit when he saw that Levi and Melody were holding hands; a rare sight indeed.

Melody sat on the bench, and Levi sat next to her, Mammon parking himself on the other side. Quietly Melody encouraged Levi to play one of his games; she wanted him to feel comfortable and relaxed after she kind of short-circuited his brain. With the game becoming his focus, Levi easily let go of her hand, though not without a momentary sense of loss. Melody leaned towards him to see the game he was playing but didn’t make any further contact. The dance continued on around them, but, she was fairly happy to leave it behind; while she had liked dressing up for it, she found that dancing around a bunch of strangers was not her idea of a good evening. Only her dance with Mammon had been truly enjoyable, and watching Levi play a game was much more her speed.

However, the familiarity just highlighted how stressful her evening had been, and once she was lulled into something more comfortable, she started to realize how exhausted she was. Gradually, she started to lean even closer to Levi, eventually to the point her head was resting against his shoulder. Levi looked panicked, like a deer in the headlights. While Mammon could have left him to sort it out for himself, he decided to be a good older brother and ‘rescue’ him from contact with a real person. Gently he pulled Melody towards him, only to realize that she had completely dozed off. Carefully he wrapped one of his wings around her so that the other demons weren’t gawking. Realizing that Melody had drifted off, Levi slid his tail around her as well. Noticing this, Beel came around from the other side of the table, still snacking away, and loomed over the three sitting on the bench. The message was clear to onlookers: don’t mess with this human.

Eventually, the more dignified music of the early part of the dance seemed to shift in favor of something louder. Not wanting Melody to wake up with a start, Mammon decided it was best to get her to her room.

“Oi, Beel! Make yourself useful an’ pick up Melody. You’re the best one to carry her without gettin’ her dress all dragged on the ground.” Usually, Beel would grumble about being ordered away from food, or even because Mammon never asked anything nicely, but he would do it for Melody. Carefully he finished eating what he currently had in his hands and cleaned them off, not wanting to get her dress damaged. She had looked very pretty in it, something he usually didn’t pay much attention to. But, he knew she didn’t have much in the way of material goods down in the Devildom and didn’t want to be responsible for ruining the things she did have.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, coming around to the front of the bench.

“What, no arguin’?” asked Mammon.

“No need; I’m not doing this for you, after all,” Beel said with a shrug. With gentle care, he leaned down and scooped the slumbering human up in his arms. Melody shifted slightly, not so deep into sleep that she was insensible to what was going on, though she did turn her face a little more towards Beel’s chest and away from the room in general. Mammon stood up afterward, making sure that Melody’s dress was snugged around her, so it didn’t flop all over the place and create other problems.

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“Levi, go on ahead and make sure that her door is open. And, don’t leave her alone in there if Asmo’s in. You guys will have to find another place to put her if he has company.” As soon as the words left Mammon’s mouth, he realized that this could be a problem. “Actually, never mind that. Let me just quickly do a once around to see if he’s still on the dance floor somewhere.” Mammon took off like a shot and did a survey of the room. Eventually, he did spy Asmo still dancing, so he reported back. “Okay, everything’s all good.” He was honestly a bit torn; he liked to oversee Melody’s safety himself, but he also knew the fun part of dancing was about to start, and he didn’t want to miss it. Finally, he decided that Melody didn’t really need him while she was sleeping, as long as he knew the other two were taking care of her.

During all this, Melody was dimly aware of what was going on, her mind not completely fallen into deep sleep, but she was tired enough that as long as it was her pacted demons that were caring for her, she didn’t feel the need to rouse herself enough to object to the plans. She felt a bit guilty though since she knew she would have to change out of her dress once she got back to the room, which required her to wake up anyhow. But, she hadn’t been carried to bed because she was sleepy since she was very little, and allowed this indulgence. Feeling safe, feeling cared for, was nostalgic. When Beel finally let her down in her own bed, she opened her eyes, though she still felt groggy.

“Thanks,” she murmured. “Sorry for not walking on my own; but, I have to get up now anyhow. Sleeping in this dress will just ruin it.” She smiled at both brothers. “But I’m glad you walked me back here. I don’t think big dances are something I enjoy after all.”

“It wasn’t a problem, Melody. You don’t weigh much.” Beel had probably never been told it wasn’t a good idea to bring up someone’s weight, or, if he had, it wasn’t a piece of information he thought was important enough to keep. “And you looked tired.”

“I am. Today felt really long; a lot happened,” she admitted. “But, I’m here and safe now, so you can go back to the table if you want.” She doubted that the dance held any allure for Beel either, but the snacks obviously did. And she didn’t think there was much point in pretending the situation was otherwise. Beel didn’t misunderstand; he smiled at her consideration.

“I appreciate that. You sure you’re okay though?” As eager as he was to go back to the food, he also felt he could stick around for a bit, if she needed anything. He was never fully satiated, but he wasn’t starving at that moment.

“I will be okay, though…” Melody hesitated. Looking between Levi and Beel, she decided that she trusted them, but she was sure the request she had in mind would just make Levi uncomfortable. “Do you think you could help undo the back of my dress?” Levi immediately went red and turned away. Beel just shrugged.

“Sure,” he said. Melody moved over towards the bathroom. She faced the mirror, her back to the door. Beel’s reflection in the mirror showed a mostly impassive expression, with a hint of concentration, as he very carefully unzipped the back of Melody’s dress down to the point she could easily get out of it. “Is that low enough?” he asked her.

“Yes,” replied Melody, holding her dress in place by the front. “Thank you so much!”

“I’ll let you get changed then,” Beel said, turning and closing the door behind him. In the background, Melody heard Levi ask Beel how he could just go in there so calmly. Beel’s response was too muffled for Melody to catch, but he sounded calm still, as his voice got further, and further, away. Left alone, Melody got out of her dress as quickly as she could without ruining or wrinkling it. She hung it carefully back up in its bag and got into her pajamas. Yawning, she tucked herself into bed and fell promptly asleep.

Disorientation and pain struck Melody like a ton of bricks. She could have sworn she was in her bed moments ago. But now she was on her hands and knees, both of which hurt. Feeling groggy, she forced her eyes open, only to see a dark and blurry world around her. Blinking ferociously cleared some of the haze, and her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, seeing reddish brown stone beneath her hands. Stone that looked oddly familiar.

“Melody?”

She immediately recognized Beel’s rumbling voice from somewhere above her. Slowly she tried to get to her feet but almost fell down again. Within seconds, she felt Beel’s large hands help her up and hold her steady. Finally standing, and able to see better, she could get a look at where she was.

“No! That’s impossible. How… how are we here again?” she asked Beel, panicking. Beel just shook his head, looking pensively down the hall. The two of them were in the labyrinth again, alone. Melody wanted to believe it was just a nightmare, her way of processing the last few days, but the pain in her hands and knees took away that refuge. Looking down at her hands, she noticed they were scraped. She was still wearing her pajamas, and the knees had shown some wear and tear. But, how?

“I’m not sure. You were walking around, and when I called to you, you didn’t listen,” Beel said, frowning. “You don’t act that way. You’ve never ignored any of us on purpose. But, no matter how much I spoke to you, or what words I said, you just kept walking around.” He sighed. “You opened one of the doors and went inside, and since I didn’t know what was in there, I followed you.”

“Then how did we end up down here?” It was clear that Melody was very upset now, and Beel couldn’t blame her. The last time they had been here was harrowing enough, but at least then she had been aware of Helene’s role in the situation.

“Well…” Beel trailed off. Then he shook his head; there was no sense in keeping the truth from Melody. “It turns out the room you walked into had Cerberus in it.”

“Wait… the three-headed dog of Hades?” Melody asked, confused. After all, nothing had really hinted at Greek mythology being present. On the other hand, Leviathan was usually seen as a sea-serpent, or monster, certainly not a purple-haired otaku who was oddly insecure despite his power.

“That’s the one.” Beel grimly nodded in affirmation. “Usually he’s under Lucifer’s command, but, he shouldn’t have been here of all places. I tried to get us out of the door we came in, but it was locked. I found a second door and thought anything was better than getting chewed on by Cerberus. But… we just ended up falling down into the labyrinth again.”

What was with this castle? How did Melody end up here a second time, from unrelated instances? Had Helene somehow cursed some of the doors before she was taken away? Melody shivered at the thought; it didn’t help that her pajamas weren’t meant for exploring underground labyrinths. She moved a little closer to Beel, both for security and for warmth.

“I think this castle hates me,” she said glumly.

“I don’t think it’s personal,” objected Beel. He couldn’t imagine someone actively hating Melody for herself. A lot of demons disliked humans or even hated them, but that was a statement about humans in general, not Melody specifically. Even the demon students at RAD he had overheard conspiring to eat her soul weren’t doing so from a place of hatred. Callous greed, perhaps, but not because they hated her. “Besides, I’m in here too,” he pointed out, a fact which seemed to ease her mind. Just a little.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last for long. The sound of something sliding along the floor made both demon and human freeze in place, their faces mirroring each other’s horror. It sounded eerily like the last time they had been here, which could only mean one thing: Henry 1.0. Only, this time, they didn’t have Asmodeus with them, nor did they have a sorcerer. Melody cringed. Maybe the snake wouldn’t find them. But, as the slithering sound grew louder, and likely nearer, her hopes on that front were dashed.

“We need to run,” Beel said, already taking off. But Melody didn’t budge. Concerned, Beel turned back. “Come on,” he urged, but Melody just shook her head. Beel almost reached out to pick her up and take her with him, but she held up a hand, finally finding the words to tell him why she wasn’t running.

“Solomon gave me his powers… at the dance,” she said, her words tumbling out. “I think I can bring Asmodeus here like he did before.” Beel hadn’t heard anything about this, but, if it was their best chance to get out, they had to take it. Still, if the snake got too close before Melody could try, he would pick her up and run regardless. He kept himself tense, alert, and ready to spring into action.

“Act quick,” he brusquely encouraged her. Trembling, Melody nodded, hoping that the loaned power wasn’t actually a prank on the sorcerer’s part. If it was, no one would be left laughing. Not even Solomon himself, she suspected.