Pick a Dream, Even a Very Selfish Dream

"Lucirien…" June whispered the name that he had also heard spoken by that voice. Then, he suddenly felt he could remember how someone caught him from falling, saving him from all the broken bones that he could have gotten. Still, it was very surreal for a demon to exist.

He only frowned at the man who was looking down at him. "If I have freed you, then why are you following me around? Aren't you supposed to be hiding and making sure that no one could ever take advantage of your abilities? Why are you here? Don't you think that I will be interested?"

Lantis only smiled, bringing his face up and drinking from the glass in his right hand. "Ah, you're right. It seemed that I have forgotten to account for your aversion to holding onto people as if you are just dragging them down. I shall spell it out perfectly for you, then.

"I speak to you right now, sweet mortal child… for you…"—Lantis looked down at the actor, but the supposed carnivorous look in those red eyes was gone—"…are beautiful."

"…?" June only blinked. He was indeed called a handsome actor, but his looks were rather subpar from those of anyone else in his supposed caliber. "Excuse me?"

"From the very moment that you walked into the doors of my tomb, I knew that you would be divine at such closeness." Lantis moved down to get his face closer toward June. "How could I leave you alone now that you are suffering? I have alleviated disasters long before the dawn of the mortals. How can I not choose to rescue you?"

June only stared at the man, soon moving out of the way and making Lantis look at the hand that lost the soft strands of June's hair. The actor only leaned on the table, reaching out to the bottle of wine and pouring a glass for himself. "Is this the responsibility that you want me to take? Sorry, but I'm not going to play right into your hand, just so you can rescue me—or whatever that really is.

"If you promised me death, I would have agreed." June only hummed. "Fixing my life is not as simple as breaking a typhoon or pacifying the raging oceans.

"Soon enough, you will also learn that it's not worth living another day." June laughed. "It's best for you to just live the life you have strewn. After all, you made yourself into a bigshot."

"…" Lantis stood with his back straight. He looked down at the lounging actor before him, the one who only found the food more interesting than his power. The demon painstakingly enslaved by the greedy humans was now being thrown away.

He took a look at his seat before walking back and sitting down again. He drank the remaining wine from his glass. "Let's have a deal, Neptune Verrier. Pick a dream, and I will help you achieve it. If you still wish to die the next day, then I will grant that death wish instead."

June stuffed his face with a steak cut before answering: "What will you get out of it?"

Lantis smiled. "You, alive and smiling."

"I've heard about devil's whispers, but never have I thought that it was just like this. You even sound like you're begging me to make a deal with you." June only reached out of a lobster leg. "Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"

When he was about to slurp the crab meat from the leg he broke, Lantis suddenly appeared behind him and took a hold of his wrist. June froze at the coldness of the hand and the tightness of the grip. He turned his head to find Lantis's face, the demon only smiling down at him.

Lantis used his other hand to stroke June's face. "Sweetie, people normally want to live, so they seek the diabolical. As for you, you are hoping to die, but a dead man will give me nothing in return. Hell is not where I will be, so what's the point of harvesting your soul? Also, I don't believe that you really crave to vanish…

"It's exactly because that you are invisible that you are full of anger in your heart. However, acceptance of your fate had weakened the fire within you." Lantis smiled again. "Neptune, let me show you what we can do together. Just make the deal with me, and the first thing that would land on your hand… is Alexander Reed's head."

June stared straight at the demon next to him. He had no idea why he froze and didn't bolt at that very moment. It seemed that everything happening to him was too bizarre to be real. However, what if…? What if Lantis was right? What if he could finally claim the things that were supposed to be his from the very beginning?

So, June thought… what would he not give to live the life he wanted?

He just looked away, however, thinking about the consequences of this action. If he ended up accepting the deal and getting condemned to Hell, wouldn't his life be harder than it was? His luck would completely run out, and he would…

June was not even completely finished thinking when his phone started to ring. Lantis released his wrist, and the actor took a look at the caller ID. It was his manager… the same one that kept on letting June's roles slide through his fingers. The actor just answered it then and there: "Hey—"

["Are you out of your mind? Why are you meeting with Lantis Castelli in a fancy restaurant, and you're even announcing it to the world? Are you deaf to the rumors that are going around the internet right now?"] The manager didn't even let June finish talking. ["June Verrier, your career is so over! I can't save you from this anymore!"]

"…save me?" June, however, only laughed at the manager. "You never save me from anything! You keep on letting my roles be given to others even after I have laid out how the role is going to be played! Even my actual movies are not being marketed the way the agency did for the others! You're just making use of me!

"Listen to me, and listen very well! My career is not over, but we are through! I'm quitting the agency tomorrow!" June laughed out before hissing, his words acid the ears of the manager. "Good luck making Reed the best star yet without me."

He ended the call and dropped the phone on the table. June calmed down his glares and turned to Lantis. "When you say 'pick a dream', can I have a very selfish dream?"

The demon leaned down behind June, letting his face nudge against June's head and his whispers directly flowing into June's ears. "I will grant any wish you make if you're willing to take the step."

"…maybe, I do want Reed's head on my hands… the entire agency, too."