Derek woke up in a cold sweat, his breathing irregular and his eyes were wide, terrified of what he'd just seen. He slowly brought his shaky hands to his face and rubbed it while groaning softly to himself, back slouching forward allowing his elbows to rest on his thighs.

'Why is this keep happening…?'

Derek slowly got up, finding his way through the darkness of his bedroom before finally ending up in the bathroom. He clumsily flicked the lights on and made his way towards the sink, turning the tap and splashing some water onto his pale face.

Looking up, he saw his own reflection in the mirror: it was a young man with a sharp jawline covered in a nicely trimmed goatee, and his hazel eyes matched his dark quiff-styled hair.

Derek stared quietly at himself, noticing the colors slowly returning to his face, he let out a long and tired sigh before pushing himself off of the sink, rubbing his face once again.

‘It’s been showing up in my dreams for seven days straight…’ His body quivered after the memories returned to him, the vivid images were burnt straight into his mind after seeing the same thing over and over again. ‘Is it a sign? Is he out to get me?’

Derek recalled how his dreams had gone. Every night he would end up in an unfamiliar place, the ground painted like the sky with stars dotted along the dark blue floor, as if he was standing in space. Each time he took a step, the area around his feet would ripple ever so slightly, making everything seem unreal. But then a smog darker than black would suddenly wash over his figure, it gave him the feeling of being suffocated, grabbed tightly by the throat with pure malice radiating from those tendril-like smoke.

Though what was most vivid about the dream wasn’t the realistic pain he’d felt, but the sight of those…eyes, shining an emerald green with slit pupils that seem to be staring right into his soul.

Even if they were clearly different, Derek could immediately tell whose it belonged to.

‘Theodore Varon.’

[…Fool.]

After those words echoed out from all around him, Derek would be pushed out of his dreams and into the real world once again, always finding himself sweating buckets and his heart trying to escape his chest.

‘Damn…!’ Derek shook his head as he walked out of the bathroom, finding himself a towel hung by a chair and wiping his face dry. ‘It’d been years! Why did that f*cker appear now?’

He’d had enough of this, the nights of not getting enough rest had been hindering his working proficiency, and it became way too difficult for him to properly fight while his mind kept wandering to that cursed nightmare.

‘…I need to find Rhys.’

.

.

.

Rhys sneezed, breaking the silence that’d engulfed his entire office, he slightly frowned before going back to the documents that were piled up on top of his desk, they were separated into three; the taller stack was the papers that he’d already read, the smallest one needed Theodore’s signature, and the last pile was half as high as the tallest stack, with his working pace, it shouldn’t be long until he was done.

‘…Someone’s talking about me.’ He thought to himself jokingly just as someone knocked on the door.

A female voice rang out after. “Excuse me, may I come in?”

“Sure.” After being given permission, a maid walked into the room. She had her long white hair tied into a ponytail, her black horns spiraled downwards like a mountain goat’s, and her crystal-like golden eyes were fixated on the tray of drinks she was balancing on one hand while the other carefully closed the door behind her.

‘…She sure comes here often.’ Rhys thought to himself, he’d never seen any other servants walk into the room other than her, though he hadn’t had the time to think about it much since his mind and body were occupied.

“Would you like a drink? You’ve worked hard today.” The woman smiled, placing the metal tray onto the coffee table. “I’ve brought some coffee, tea, hot choco, and orange juice, please tell me—“

“Is he telling you to do this?” Rhys interrupted the maid, looking at her while still holding onto some documents.

“Huh?”

“Ma…Master, did he tell you to serve me?”

The demon’s eyes slightly widened with surprise, before her gaze would avert to the floor, as if ashamed of herself. She pursed her lips before speaking. “…No, he didn’t. But I don’t think that master needs to go this far.”

“I deserve it.” Rhys shrugged, having mixed feelings about what he’d just said, though he couldn’t care less about pride right now considering the condition that he was in. He leaned back against his office chair, resting his arms on the armrest. “I belittled him, took a bunch of lives including his, and I even ordered my men to kidnap his father while trying to lure him out. I’m…lucky that he didn’t kill me on the spot.”

The maid slightly frowned, as if she wasn’t expecting that to be his backstory. She gave him a look mixed with both pity and hesitation, most likely not sure what to make of what he’d just said.

“Still…You’re already repenting for your sins, I think that everybody deserves a coffee break once in a while.” She looked up and smiled at Rhys, which caused him to flinch, surprised that those were her replies.

“…Do you have a name?” He found himself blurting out, eyes fixated on her as she held her gaze.

“Oh, yes.” The maid nodded, barely reacting to his sudden question like she found nothing wrong with it. “I’m Sheridan, you can call me Sheri if you’d like.”

“The name’s Rhys,” He answered as he leaned forward, picked up the documents on his desk, and continued to scan his eyes through the contexts. “…Give me a cup of coffee, please.”

Sheridan went quiet for a moment, though she would eventually speak up in an enthusiastic tone. “Right away!”

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Just as Sheridan came to give him his warm coffee, someone opened the door and walked into the room, causing both of their heads to turn toward the newcomer.

“Hm? Why are you—“ Theodore didn’t get to finish his sentence since Sheridan suddenly collapsed on her knees, she held out her hands in a praying gesture as she gave her master a pleading look.

“Please don’t punish him! I…I did this on my own! I’m sorry for—“

“What are you talking about—“

“Wait!” Rhys bolted up from his chair, dropping everything in his hands, his palms slammed onto the desk and caused the objects on it to quiver slightly, almost knocking over the coffee cup that was placed near the edge. “I gave her permission! No—I forced her to enter my room!”

“What the f*ck?” Theodore’s brows furrowed into a confused frown, he looked back and forth between the two of them as they each tried to come up with…excuses to defend each other. “Okay, both of you just stop.”

The room went silent, allowing Theodore to continue speaking. “…From what I’m seeing, you—Sheridan, right? You’re just giving him something to drink.”

“Y-Yes Your Majesty!” Sheridan frantically nodded, still kneeling on the floor.

“And you,” Rhys flinched as Theodore turned his gaze towards him. “…I’ll let you enjoy something while working the rest of your life away, I guess.”

Rhys could feel his face burning up slightly, though he sat down and turned away in an attempt to hide his flushed cheeks. “I—Thank you, sir.”

“You won’t punish us, Your Majesty?” Sheridan asked in a hopeful tone.

Theodore tilted his head. “No? I’m not going to punish someone who was just being nice, I’m doing this for your sake, not his...”

The maid smiled brightly, her eyes practically sparkling with joy. “...Th-Thank you! I’ll work hard from now on!”

“…You can get up now.”

Sheridan slowly got up before giving Theodore a bow. She then turned towards Rhys, who was covering the lower half of his face with some of the documents he randomly picked up, pretending to be working. “I’ll come to your office every day! You like coffee, right?”

Rhys glanced up at Sheridan, though his gaze subconsciously moved towards Theodore and he instantly found himself stuttering. “I…Yeah…Y-Yeah, I like coffee.”

“I knew it! So do you have any specific preferences? I want to make something that you’ll enjoy drinking.” The maid clasped her hands together as she asked.

“…I like sweet lattes.”

“Okay! What about desserts? I can get you some cookies if you want!”

“Ah, that’ll be nice, thank you…”

“No problem~”

Theodore let out a quiet sigh before turning around and heading toward the door. ‘I was just going to check up on him a bit since I thought he was relaxing a little too much…But I don’t think I need to do anything if Sheridan had taken a liking to him.’

He closed the door behind him and saw his friends and father talking to each other a few steps away, he wasn’t particularly focusing on what they were saying and simply walked up to them, gaining their attention as they heard his footsteps.

“Oh, Theo. You’re done?” Merlin spoke first with a slight tilt of his head.

“Yeah, Sheridan took care of it for me.”

“Sher…Sheridan?” Eugene’s expression instantly turned pale, his eyes widened with horror at just the mentioning of the maid’s name, it seemed that Theodore had triggered some traumatizing memories.

“…Who?” Merlin looked back and forth between his two friends.

“Someone you…shouldn’t get on either of her sides.” Theodore pursed his lips as he turned to face Merlin.

“Why?”

Eugene shook his head. “She’s a terrifying woman…I wanted to hit on her for fun but…She took it very personally.”

Theodore shrugged. “I stopped her in time, but she put carnivorous insects in Eugene’s drinks.”

“What.” Both Merlin and Lawrence said at the same time, the older man suddenly paying more attention to their conversation now.

“Shouldn’t…Shouldn’t you fire her?” Lawrence spoke with concern, frowning as he looked at his son.

Though Theodore didn’t seem to be alarmed by his servant’s psychotic tendencies and simply shrugged before saying. “Sheridan had her eyes on Rhys for a while, so I was thinking that maybe I could let it play out a bit and see what would happen. It’s like she read my mind.”

“…Are you sure that it’s a good idea?” Merlin sounded concerned, he hadn’t met with Sharidon yet, but judging from how Eugene reacted just by having heard her name, he knew that it couldn’t be anything pleasant, even if it was meant to be for Rhys.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Theodore raised his eyebrows, the corner of his lips slightly tucked upwards. “Sheridan doesn’t kill the ones she likes.”

The other three exchanged glances for a moment and Merlin would react first, sighing while shaking his head. “Alright, it’s your call. So we’re going right now, yes?”

Theodore nodded. “Yeah, let’s go. It’s just about time I wrap things up.”

.

.

.

Derek looked up at the familiar tall building, the sign saying "Griffins' Science and Technology Inc.'' hung above. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to meet with his old classmate, and walked through the double glass door.

"...Hello?" Derek looked around, finding himself looking around after realizing that the normally buzzing office seemed to be left deserted with not a single worker in sight.

He slowly threaded deeper into the building, eyes glancing around him. He was confused as to why everything was so quiet today.

"Is anyone here?" He called out again, but as he'd already expected, there was no reply.

Derek pursed his lips worriedly, straightening up his black jacket while stuffing his hands inside his dark trousers, fingers fumbling with a foldable knife inside of it as the feeling of unease rose up his chest.

After checking that there wasn't anyone in the receptionist hall, Derek ascended up the stairs and checked the other rooms, just to find that they were also empty as well.

His anxiety grew with each floor he visited, and briefly, the image of those serpent-like eyes came into his mind. He shook those thoughts away with a physical shake of his head, thinking to himself that a snake that big would be considered a monster, and it shouldn't be able to speak, only following its instincts as a gate creature.

'...It's not real.' Derek told himself, eyes glancing towards a plate fixed to a wall near the stairs, saying that he'd now reached the top floor; '31'. 'Yeah, there's no way that he can be back…'

'Huh?' Derek was expecting to see a fancy double door on his way to the CEO's office, but there was nothing but empty space there, allowing him to see the man sitting inside.

Gabriel looked up from his seat as he lowered his interlocked hands from his chin. His cold azure eyes looked at Derek as if he'd just noticed an insect in his room.

"What do you want?"

"I—" Derek stuttered over his words, feeling the suffocating air radiating from where Gabriel was seated, it was the differences in their ranks, one being way higher than the other. He suppressed his instincts to run away and continued speaking in a shaky voice. "I…I'm here to meet with Rhys, sir. I want to confirm something with him."

Gabriel didn't reply immediately and instead continued to stare quietly at Derek, making him feel even more nervous than he already was.

Though eventually, after what felt like a very long time for Derek, Gabriel would lean back against his comfortable office chair and speak. "...Rhys isn't here right now. But I think I do know what you want to say to him, I'll allow you to speak about it to me, go on."

Derek was surprised, though despite being given permission, his voice still became stuck inside his throat when he tried to speak. After swallowing the invisible lump down his throat, he mustered the courage to talk. "I've been having dreams…and…and in those dreams…This big snake kept coming to see me, it's terrifying, and it spoke in Theodore Varon's voice."

Gabriel didn't look all that surprised by what Derek had told him. "Unfortunately, that dream is real to a certain extent."

"R-Real?" Derek gulped nervously, his eyes widened after hearing Gabriel speak. "He's back…? Theodore is really back?"

"Yes," Gabriel continued in a calm tone, unfazed by the events. "Rhys was…taken away by him, I would assume that Varon had already killed him."

Derek bit his lips, eyebrows turning into a straight line, he subconsciously tightened his grip around the pocket knife in his hand. "Where…Where is he now?"

"Who knows," Gabriel replied with an unchanging expression. "I sent him far…far away, although Varon had come back from the dead before, I wouldn't be surprised if he's already back."

"Then…Then shouldn't you do something!?" Derek spoke in a frantic voice, but he would immediately shut himself up the moment Gabriel's eyes twitched.

"...Of course, don't you think I'm already prepared?"

Derek turned around just as he heard the noise of footsteps. His eyes landed on seven people who were waiting idly behind him.

"Oh, Derek's here too!"

"Hm? So everyone's called over?"

"Do you know what this is about?"

"No idea, but I think something happened to Rhys."

"What are…What are you guys doing here?" Derek was confused, not expecting every single one of his old classmates to be here all at once. They were all dressed in their class outfits, fitting their own fighting style and skills.

"Quiet, please," Gabriel spoke, and although he didn't raise his voice, somehow he'd managed to shut the entire group up, drawing their attention towards him. "I've called all of you here because of an emergency, seeing that all of you had taken a lot of our financial assets, I believe that you'll be more than willing to assist me."

"Hm?" The person to speak was Miles, he had his medium-long brown hair tied into a ponytail and was standing casually with his hands folded behind his head. His black seemingly life-less eyes stared at Gabriel with no hint of fear. "But sir, that was just for that one time, if you want to use us, you'll need to pay more too."

"Of course." Gabriel didn't seem to be mad at Miles' reckless words. "I'll pay each of you twice as much as Rhys did, all I'm asking you to do is help me find and kill Theodore Varon."

"Theodore?" This time it was a woman speaking, she was wearing a short purple skirt with a white t-shirt, barely covering any of her skin. In her hands was a short staff, its gemstone head gleaming violet just like her contact-lensed eyes, it matched her curly blonde hair that flowed to the middle of her back. "Isn't he already dead?"

"He's back…" Derek responded to the woman, she was none other than Sara, one of the two mages on the team. "I've been having these dreams—"

"Really? You have them too, Derek?" Miles spoke with a surprised tone, looking around, he saw that his classmates were also staring at him as well, it seemed that everyone had been having the same dreams. "...Theodore is really back, huh."

Everyone went silent until Gabriel eventually spoke. "...All of you will be working with one of the special forces from my side, they'd reported to me that Lawrence Varon and the others that were with him had disappeared, so there's a high chance that Theodore had taken them away."

"Can…Can you be sure that it's him?" Derek asked, still in denial of the truth.

"Of course, do you doubt my intuition?" Gabriel slightly tilted his head, and Derek almost instantaneously shook his head, feeling the weight of the older man's gaze on him.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Miles looked at his old friends, smiling with confidence. "We've done this before, what would be different about it this time?"