Zane groaned, tilting his head back over the side of his couch after a night full of eating, drinking and partying. "Alright..." He said in a clumsy way even within the depths of his own mind, Beelzebub listening with a rather unenthused disposition. "Tomorrow I am getting back to business. Gonna do all the things I wanna do on Earthland...


Zane groaned especially loud, lying down on the floor after having spent the entire night gambling all his money away, particularly displeased with his performance. "Alright... tomorrow I'm getting back to business. I swear."

"Okay, I believe you." Beelzebub sarcastically replied.


"Okay." Zane confidently assured himself, sitting down on his chair after a day of doing literally nothing. "Tomorrow, it's back to bus-" His train of thought was rather rudely interrupted by a giant fly-shaped boulder being thrown onto the tracks. "Business? Tomorrow? Yes, of course. That's what you've been saying for a while now. Weeks ago you said tomorrow. Yesterday you said tomorrow. Just. Do. It."


"There." Zane said triumphantly, overlooking the city from his luxurious hotel room balcony, his arms resting on the railing. "I did it." With this he had finally appeased Beelzebub, no longer having to suffer through the constant naggings and scoldings that the demon lord insisted on putting him thro- "Did it? Zane. You're not actually doing work. You're here to flirt with that elven girl again. What was the point of going to The Abyss if you haven't changed in the slightest?" Zane tilted his head a little, both confused and offended. "... But I have changed?" He asked, recounting all the things he had went through in his time down in what was quite literally hell. "Then why are you still spending your time - OUR time - chasing after women instead o- Zane raised his finger, intent on bringing nonverbal cues into a conversation that was happening entirely in his head. "Ah-ah-ah. Wait right there, buddy. You're greedy. I'm greedy. That's our thing. We want everything... and people are things. Thus, we can conclude that..."

Beelzebub gave up. He already knew where this argument was going. He already knew there was no end. A demon lord, defeated by a mere elven man... this was the all-time low of his existence.

So what was Zane doing here anyways? It certainly wasn't to argue with his soul-mate. It was actually to meet with his soulmate, or at least so he'd like to believe. He and Atani had something that he truly in the times they had met. He wasn't quite sure it was love, but the overdramatic part of him wished it was. In reality he was sure that it was probably just lust, but framing this as some kind of sweet and passionate love story was just far more poetic. It would make for a far greater chapter in his eventual autobiography.

He had sent a letter to Atani a few days ago, one that was rather well written... in his opinion, anyways. He had done it in a very poetic way. It was kind of nice to be able to write like that, having spent the last year and a half in a place where the locals didn't exactly "get" that kind of thing. He had given her the location of this hotel room, promising her an amazing and emotional reunion. "Asking her to meet in a hotel room. Very subtle." Beelzebub commented, Zane's hand grabbing the little fly that buzzed around and promptly pushing him out of his third person monologue for the time being. There could only be so mu- KNOCK KNOCK

Zane's  heart stopped. Was that her? Was that Atani? He slowly tilted his head towards the door, genuine nervousness filling him. Why? He had just spent a year and a half in a place that would scare the hell out of any man, yet had never been quite as scared as this before. He slowly approached the door to his room, stepping from the balcony towards the doorknob. His hand slowly but surely turned it, opening the door to see...

It was odd. The feeling in Zane's chest, that is. It was as though seeing Atani's face brought him back to a previous state of mind, even if just for a moment - back to a time when the only care he had in the world was getting into the elven woman's pants. That was a really weird thing to think of as some sort of emotional thing for him, but it was. Because his mind certainly hadn't swung in that direction for a solid year now. This too caused Zane to smile, his also filled with a different energy than his usual grin - this was much more lighthearted and mischievous than the smiles he gave to his guildmates when he returned. "Hey."

Zane raised an eyebrow at her comment, though he suppose he could understand why she'd think that after recalling his... bipolar sense of style in the past few years. "You certainly got a little bit of an upgrade though." He'd say, stepping a little closer to Atani. His right hand gently touched upon the edges of her short hair, his eyes making it clear that he was already quite a fan of this new look. "Plus the rest of your good looks are still intact too." His eyes scanned their way down her body, stopping for longer periods of time at certain intervals. "After spending over a year in hell, it's a very, very, very welcome change..." He'd mutter. This seemed much more genuine than his usual perverse comments towards Atani - it was still like that in nature, but there was a bit more sadness and weight to it now. "Ah, speaking of which, ladies first." Zane backed up towards the side of the wall, gesturing Atani to come into the room and walk past him. It was obvious why he did this, but he had still hoped that she'd throw him a bone on this one.

Once Atani was in the room he'd shut the door behind them, sighing a moment to himself. He mentioned it. The Abyss. She would have a lot of questions about it, wouldn't she? It was odd. He had hoped his guildmates would endlessly question him about it, yet he wished Atani would ask nothing. Why? "You're probably wondering how it went..." Zane spoke in a slightly darker tone now, though by no means a cold one. "Feel free to ask. You're a scholar, aren't you? This info could prove pretty valuable. If you ever write about all this though, make sure to mention me." This was probably the part where he'd add in something funny, right? "And that I was incredibly handsome, put that in the book too."

"Well..." Zane shrugged and sighed, remembering the various temptations some of the succubi down in The Abyss threw his way. "The one with the purple bat wings was incredibly tenacious about it." Beelzebub recalled. "There were certainly some succubi down there hoping to steal my soul, but they didn't have your beauty or intelligence... or rear... so I didn't really give them the time of day." It wasn't quite as simple as that: there was also the matter of wanting to keep his soul for the time being, though admittedly he might have lost control if Beelzebub hadn't been there to remind him of the danger.

Zane sat down next to Atani, wasting no time in wrapping his arm around her while he did so. Normally he would've tried to lead up to that movement a little more, but he didn't really care this time around - Zane was just in hell for a solid 18 months and the idea of Atani not liking it didn't really scare him after all that. "What, did you expect me to suddenly have blood red hair and giant demon horns sprouting out of my head?" Zane responded, a smirk on his face. He wished he did get those things. That would've been pretty cool. "I'm still the same me, for the most part. Just... less afraid of doing what I need to do. Or want to do." Zane knew he wasn't REALLY the same. It just took a while for people to notice the difference. It certainly took a while for him to see it. "I'm not an innocent person, Atani. You already knew that, given my affiliation with Eternal Nightmare. But now I'm probably about 4 times less innocent. Wait... 3.5. Yeah, that's about a fair amount..." He muttered to himself, pausing for a moment to double check his precise calculations in his head.

He glanced back to Atani, wondering if she would approve of such a thing. Thinking back on it she wasn't too mad about Eternal Nightmare itself, just the fact that he took so long to mention it to her. Perhaps he'd be best off just being honest and upfront about everything this time around? "I want everything in the world, Atani." He plainly stated, moving his head closer to her's and resting his left hand on her cheek, tilting her head towards him and gazing into her eyes. "That's the path I've gone down. I want to have this hotel. I want to have
this city. I want to have this country. It sounds crazy, but it's what I - and Beelzebub - have decided."  He didn't mention Beelzebub too much, though Atani knew about him if he remembered correctly.

"But I don't just want those things. There's something I want a lot more than any of that, someone that takes priority. I want you, Atani." Despite his many skirtings around those words he had commited in the past, the present-day Zane felt no fear or hesitation in saying those things. It was most likely the one thing Atani (or anybody who knew Zane) would most likely notice the change in - confidence. Or was it arrogance? Somewhere between those two. "Become mine." He plainly requested, his voice somewhat lower in volume. It was odd really. He and Atani had certainly met a number of times, yet for some reason or another she was the only woman to make Zane want her to be... his. That wasn't to say that would mean he nessecarily wanted to be Atani's though - he definitely hoped she didn't ask that question. "She's far too smart not to." Beelzebub reminded Zane, much to the elf's dismay.