Chapter Text
Ella screamed as glass shattered around her and did her best to cover Lucifer's limp body with hers. His skin was almost too hot to touch, but with a gray tint that she didn't like. Her friend didn't so much as twitch at either the contact or the sound of the explosion, and she took a moment to mentally shake her first at Rae Rae for getting her into this mess before she started trying to tug Lucifer out of the line of fire.
It was a lot harder than Ella had expected. She didn't know if it was an angel thing, or the Devil thing, or just Lucifer but dang, he was heavy.
Another window exploded, and the sounds of fighting outside intensified. Part of her was tempted to look, because hey, angel fight! but a great crack of lightning and a roll of thunder loud enough to rattle her bones spurred her back into action.
Lucifer was counting on her; she had to trust that the archangels were doing their jobs--even if it meant that the cottage they'd been staying at was falling apart around them.
Even so, she couldn't be too angry at the angels for this. Granted, she would have liked to know that Michael and company knew that a) they expected Lucifer to get sick; b) another angel was responsible; and c) they were expecting a fight, but in their defense, she was ninety-eight percent certain that none of them had expected either the illness or the fight to get this bad.
Evidently, there was some sort of rumor going around Heaven that killing Lucifer automatically made you an archangel, but what with the tiny prohibition against killing other angels the perpetrators had to get a little creative. and even without Lucifer's involvement, the other archangels found the whole situation insulting. That it involved violence against one of their own, though, was beyond the pale.
Ella also knew that despite appearances, angels weren't human, and they didn't really see things like she did. For one thing, they were insanely literal, so when Michael had told her that he would die to protect his brother, she absolutely believed him.
(The heartbreaking look he'd sent in his brother's direction afterwards just confirmed it.)
And that made the rest of it not okay, exactly, but understandable.
Michael was intense, but Gabriel was cool and Raphael reminded her a little of her ninety year old granny who liked to pretend she was above it all but could prank with the best of them. She had only seen the other archangels in passing, but they were all kind enough to nod or send her a little wave whenever she’d spotted them out and about (and wasn't that one of the weirdest phrases she'd ever uttered)? She hoped that they would all get the chance to reconcile when this was over; from what she could tell, they all deserved it.
But first, survival.
Ella had just managed to drag Lucifer into a semi-safe corner when something crashed through the wall next to her. It was definitely an angel, but it was impossible for Ella to tell who it was until the newcomer unfurled and turned to stare at her with deep, empty eyes.
"Give me the Morningstar," he rasped, and took a step forward.
There was no way that Ella could stop this guy if he wanted to take Lucifer. The rest of the wall crumbled behind her. "MICHAEL!"
Later, Ella would think back to the moment that Michael scooped them up like she was having an out-of-body experience. One moment, she’d been watching the unfamiliar angel stalk forward, and the next she was hurtling through the air at dizzying speeds. Ella took a minute to wonder why all the extra acrobatics when she realized that they were being pursued. Her stomach turned, and not because she felt like she was on an out of control Tilt-a-Whirl.
"Don't be afraid," Michael warned, just before they were hit from behind, and Ella was free-falling--
Right into Gabriel's arms. Ella couldn't help it; she fainted.
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"Lucifer. Luci, can you hear me?"
Lucifer dragged himself into consciousness and tried to focus on what was happening around him. His head felt impossibly heavy, there was a pressure against his hand, and he could hear rustling...fighting? He tried to pry his eyes open but only managed to slit them before there was a flash of light bright enough to tear a cry from his lungs, followed by someone blissfully moving to block out the light. He sighed gratefully and let his eyes slip shut once more.
"Luci," the voice said again, and there was something wrong with that, with that voice and that name, if only he could focus. "Raphael is coming, and he's going to fix you right up, and--"
Everything went gray for a few moments, and Lucifer next blinked into awareness to the sound of air rushing through his ears. He shook his head blearily and tried to dislodge himself from whatever was holding him, to no avail. He tried to focus, but everything was moving too quickly.
He ignored the voice telling him to stay awake, closed his eyes, and let go.
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Ella came back to herself slowly. Her normally quick-fire brain felt like it was misfiring every few neurons, but other than that, she felt amazing. She wasn't tired, or hungry, and nothing hurt, not even the papercut she'd gotten while she and Lucifer were playing cards…
Lucifer!
"Hey! Ella, it's okay." There were gentle hands on her shoulders, grounding her as she got her bearings. The angel before her smiled warmly, and then scrunched up his face in a way that made Ella want to pinch his cheeks. "Hi. I'm Ziqiel. I'm supposed to tell you that everyone's fine, we're in heaven and you're not dead. Rae Rae asked me to watch out for you while she and the others went to talk to Dad."
Ella blinked, and tried to focus in on something other than Ziqiel and the fact that it was really bright, and found that she couldn't. Everything was blurry, which probably should have freaked her out, but didn't. "We're in heaven?" she asked instead, as he helped her to her feet. Because sure, why not?
The angel grinned again, and Ella felt the warmth roll through her like a slow tide. "We're just outside of the western gate to Silver City," he offered, nodding toward the area behind her.
"You call heaven 'the Silver City?'"
"Yes, the city part."
He sounded so serious that Ella fought off a grin. "Are you taking me to Lucifer now?"
Ziqiel took her hand and awkwardly tucked it into his arm like he'd seen someone do it before but wasn't quite sure how it worked in practice. She didn't bother to stop the smile this time, even as he led her away from the gate.
"There's never been a living soul inside the City; there's no way to know what would happen if you were to try it. Dad could fix any troubles, of course, but he's busy with Lu right now, and he doesn't need the distraction. I'm taking you to the Southern Observatory. It's far enough away that no one will bother us, and it's really interesting."
"Oh?" Ella asked, curious to know what might capture an angel's attention.
"Oh, yes. Sometimes, we find random objects from earth and we don't know what they are or how they got here, so we keep them in the observatory. Raziel could tell us, of course, because he knows everything, but he says it's good for us to figure it out for ourselves."
As worried as Ella was about Lucifer, she had to admit it sounded kind of fun. Also, being accidentally incinerated or possibly poofed out of existence or whatever was not great, so she was going to avoid that if at all possible. "What kind of stuff do you find?"
"All sorts of things," the angel explained. Kamael found something once called a tie. He kept it wrapped around his arm for Dad knows how long, until one of the archangels took pity on him and told him how it was meant to be worn. I swear he kept that thing around his neck for a whole century after. In any case," he brightened, and Ella couldn't have stopped her answering smile if she'd tried, "if you help us identify them, we won't have to ask any of the other humans potentially embarrassing questions."
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In another part of heaven, the oldest archangels, Amenadiel, and Azrael were gathered in the Almighty's quarters, waiting impatiently for their brother to wake.
"You're sure he's fine?" Tzaphkiel asked, for what must have been the dozenth time. It might have been annoying, if anyone else had been less concerned. As it was, it drew everyone's focus back to Lucifer, as if the power of their gazes could compel him awake. It was one thing to be told that everything would be fine, after all; it was quite another to see it happen. "It seems like he should have woken by now." His eyes flitted past his father's ever-watchful gaze to land on Raphael's face.
"It could happen at any time," the healer assured. "He will be weak still, and tired, to be sure, but all will be well."
Physically, Raphael didn't say. It was going to be a bit of a dance, reconnecting emotionally. For all of them. Raphael met his father's eyes. But it was necessary.
The Almighty tipped his head and smiled, and Lucifer stirred.
Amenadiel and Azrael nudged (the former) and shoved (the latter) their siblings aside to ensure that they were the first faces that Lucifer saw when he opened his eyes. Each had one of his hands in theirs, and it was just enough to keep their brother from panicking when he realized where they were.
His little sister's presence, however, also reminded him of where he had been before his trip to heaven, and it sent a trickle of alarm down his spine. His last clear memory, in fact, was of his friend's frightened, concerned eyes, staring back at him, and anything could have happened to her between then and his arrival in the Silver City. "Where is Miss Lopez?"
"She's fine," Azrael soothed, wisely deciding to put off any further explanations for later, when her brother was less likely to kill them all for getting Ella involved.
"You've been sick, Luci," Amenadiel added, when it looked like their brother was going to start demanding answers anyway. "I know you're not thrilled to be here, but it's the only thing keeping you stable right now."
Lucifer took a few minutes to note his aches and pains, and yes, he felt truly ghastly, but beyond the wall that was Azrael and Amenadiel he could sense the others, and he just wasn't sure how he felt about that. "I don't see how--"
"I'm going to give it to you straight, Lu. You need angelic contact," Azrael hugged him tightly, and then even tighter when he started to squirm, "so you're just going to have to suck it up and deal."
What followed was a staredown that, frankly, made more than one angel in the room nervous.
(The rest of them were just jealous.)
"Azrael--"
"Ella will be sad if you don't take care of yourself."
Lucifer narrowed his eyes at her. "Rae Rae--"
"Chloe will be sad."
"Fine. But the next time the urchin tries to cry on me, I'm giving her your name."
"Beatrice is not that bad," Amenadiel piped in, and as weak as he was, Lucifer still had the strength to roll his eyes.
"The next time she complains about her parents to me, I'll give her your name, then."
"Lucifer--"
"Very well," he conceded, if only because he could literally feel the truth of the situation, "step aside, then, and we'll get some things straight."
Somewhat reluctantly the pair did as he asked, and then Lucifer was left staring at a group of once-cherished faces, many of whom he hadn't seen since the Fall. They stared back at him. Nobody moved.
After a long moment, Lucifer huffed, almost inaudibly, and shut his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm not ready." The angel otherwise known as the Devil took a deep breath, and in a nod to all of Linda's hard work, he added, "I am happy to see you, so let's just...be together for a while. All right?"
Michael crossed the room almost too fast to see, and with a broken, "I'm sorry," he pulled his brother into his arms. Lucifer let himself be held.
They stayed like that for what seemed like hours--Michael holding Lucifer, and Lucifer resting his head in the crook of his brother's neck. At some point, Michael was replaced by Gabriel, who pressed so close it was like he was trying to burrow inside of his big brother. One blink, and he could feel Raguel slotted against his back, his brother's head atop his; another blink, and he was staring into Jophiel's kind eyes as she rested her forehead against his. Raziel ran gentle fingers through his hair and someone else had literally clamped onto his leg like it was a teddy bear. Ariel and some of the youngest archangels hovered in his peripheral vision, content to bask in his presence and offer quiet support.
There was a part of Lucifer that wanted to push the other archangels away, for fear of what might happen if they got too close, but the rest of him basked in his siblings' care. He was tired, and hurting, and they made him feel better. It was everything he thought he'd never have again.
Lucifer drifted.
He came aware again to gentle rocking, the movement slow and soothing. His father was humming a melody that the two of them had come up with together, once upon a time. When the Almighty realized that his son was awake he drew back a bit, but Lucifer only grumbled slightly before letting his head shift to his father's chest and drifting off once more. No doubt, his son would be irritated with himself once he felt better, but for now, He would enjoy having his son in his arms.
(And in the meantime, He needed to think on a suitable reward for Miss Lopez. Perhaps a chest of fine gemstones? Those sort of things always seem very popular with humans.)