Chapter Text
"Do you like your fingers, little one?" asked Yukimura, with a lethal grin as he circled the trembling mortal, strapped to the uncomfortable metal chair, covered in tiny spikes. After their first year in hell, they all stopped screaming, which was quite the relief; screaming was headache-ache inducing. Some other demons found it fun, but for the older Yukimura, screaming was just unnecessary.
The mortal wordlessly shook his head and it pulled a delighted burst of laughter from the demon. It was trying reverse psychology, how cute! He did so love working with humans.
"Well, if you don't like them, perhaps I'd better take them away?" asked Yukimura, affecting a soft, gentle voice. The mortal shook his head, looking like it was about to cry in fear.
Yukimura made the most delicately beautiful smile that he could. "This won't hurt one bit, I pro-"
"Yukimura-san!" said an urgent voice from behind the demon and Yukimura lowered the knife from where he'd been about to sever the digit of the quivering human.
"What is it?" he snapped, looking quite put-upon to have been distracted from his task.
The young demon adjusted it's headband and bowed, looking a little nervous. "There's a problem down near the command centre, desu. They wanted you to deal with it, desu."
Yukimura suppressed an irritated sigh and bent his energy to snap the knife out of existence. "What sort of problem, Dan-kun?" he asked, as he twisted the nose of the relieved looking mortal, without looking back at the human.
"They said there's a fire, desu." said Dan-kun, with a slightly nervous smile.
Yukimura rolled his eyes. "This is Hell, Dan-kun. There's always fire everywhere. I'd be worried if you told me you'd seen ice. Tell the messengers to stop wasting my time."
"Yes..." said Dan-kun, looking distressed as Yukimura turned back to the mortal in preparation to rip the nose off completely, "But sir, the fire's at the archives."
At that, Yukimura paused and sighed deeply, as he ran a hand through his long hair. "I suppose I have to deal with it, then." he said, pulling a slight face. The archives were supposed to be temperate compared to the rest of Hell, and stored all of Hell’s information and texts. If there was a fire at the archives, there would be a problem with paperwork comparison between Heaven and Hell. It was practically guaranteed that Heaven would take that advantage to try and steal more souls to their fields or falsely contest the taking of souls to Hell.
"Now then, dear child, I'm afraid I'll have to depart now. I won't see you until tomorrow. But, don't you worry," said Yukimura softly, as the human's face broke into a relieved smile, "Dan-kun here will keep you company, won't he?" he said, turning back towards the other demon.
"Y-yes sir." said Dan-kun, as he removed his headband and changed his form to be a lot taller and less feeble looking, "I'll deal with it." he said, with a slight smirk.
Yukimura patted Dan's shoulder as he left, a soft smirk at the human's renewed frenzies and fear of the pain to come. Incubi like Dan were so fun to use against humans, when they could change their appearance and personalities at the blink of an eye.
With a soft snap of his fingers, Yukimura transported away from the flaming and steaming Torture Ring to the rather more temperate Archives. Or, they were supposedly temperate, in any case. Dan had not been kidding when he'd said there was a fire in the archives. The heat emanating off it was repelling, even for his tastes.
"Don't go near, it's holy fire." said Yanagi Renji, the keeper of the Archives with a grim nod from where he was standing and observing the fire.
"Renji," greeted Yukimura, with a frown. " You can't put it out by magic?" he asked, as he walked a little closer, feeling the heat lick at his skin with a slight wince. He was powerful, but even the most powerful of demons couldn’t stand up to God’s weapon.
"No." said Yanagi, with a frown. "At least, not until now. There's a two-person barrier on it. See that green tinge to the flames?" So there was. Yukimura squinted and saw the tint, but it was barely visible. Cleverly masked, to someone who lacked the observational skills of Yanagi.
Yukimura lifted an eyebrow. "Strong magic. It requires inner strength as well as outer strength. There are very few capable of it.” And those few who could, would not be able to reach the inner ring where the Archives were; not without some serious breaches in Hell’s defences. If it truly was holy fire, there was going to be a major upheaval in Hell and how the gates were patrolled. “Did you see anyone around here when the fire happened?"
Yanagi shook his head. "It was Mizuki's shift, but I was called because it was beyond his forte. He’d fled before I arrived here, something about checking on his designer clothing.” The disdainful look that Yanagi made, clearly indicated to Yukimura exactly how the older demon felt about such frivolities.
Yukimura laughed dryly as he took Yanagi's hand. "It sounds like him." He frowned a little as he felt the slight connection with Yanagi's inner energies. They were slightly twisted, which was unusual. Energy only twisted when someone was deeply emotional and that was rare for Yanagi. He obviously felt affected by the burning of the library, in a way that Yukimura had never seen before.
But Yukimura didn't comment on it; it was Yanagi's problem and they were both powerful enough to complete the spell, even if there was a little twisting. "Ready?" asked Yukimura cheerfully. "Latin spell, right?"
Yanagi nodded and they both started chanting softly. Slowly, but surely, the green tint to the flames disappeared and the magic was completed. Yukimura just frowned however, as it finished. It wasn't a fire at all. Now that the barrier was removed, he could easily sense that fact.
"It's just an illusion?" asked Yanagi with a frown as he waved his hand and the illusion of holy fire and burning books vanished, to show books that were clearly untouched by any sort of fire, holy or not.
"Evidently." muttered Yukimura, picking up one of the books. It wasn't even warm.
Yanagi cleared his throat. "There are few capable of making an illusion like this-"
"But there's only one who would be able to pull it off like this." said Yukimura, with a laugh. "I know, Renji. I'll deal with him."
Yanagi nodded, seriously. "If you don't mind. A certain frame of mind is required to deal with him, and I don't currently possess that." The other demon adjusted the flyaway hairs and cleared his throat, self-consciously. "I'll be seeing you, Seiichi, I'm going back to Purgatory, it’s my day off."
Yukimura waved towards the disappearing Yanagi, before he snapped his fingers himself to get himself elsewhere. Some humans didn't fear torture and pain, but instead loathed solitude and loneliness. For them, the everlasting plains were their eternal fate. It was their torture to wander for eons and see nobody but themselves. But for some demons, it was a refuge of sorts.
And sure enough, resting on the rocks above the plains was a white-haired figure, lazily playing with his rattail. "Was that very necessary, Niou?" asked Yukimura, dryly, as he stopped above the reclining demon.
Niou grinned lopsidedly and quite unrepentantly. Most people straightened in Yukimura’s presence, but Niou had never cared much for formalities. "You look interesting when you're upside down, boss. And I admit, it wasn't strictly necessary, but it was fun."
"I'm sure I do." said Yukimura took a seat next to Niou and leant his head on Niou's stomach, as he too relaxed a little. "It was funny to you perhaps. To me, I was convinced that we had traitors or severe breaches in security. After the other rumours, it was unsettling. I expected better, Niou.."
"Ah, c'mon, don't be like that, boss! You saw Data-man's face, right? Funniest thing I've seen in a while. He get all twisted?" coaxed Niou, as he brought his hands down to run through Yukimura's hair, gently.
Yukimura stretched out a little, elbowing Niou a bit in the process, to show his anger at the nuisance. Still, he was a demon and pain was their forte. The emotional pain for Yanagi had been high. Had Yanagi been a human, Niou would have succeeded in gaining himself a meal. "It was pretty amusing." the blue-haired demon admitted, with a small chuckle. "But it was still a pain to clean up after you."
"So next time," drawled Niou, with a smooth flick of his wrists in Yukimura’s hair, to emphasize his point, "I should do it when you don't have to deal with it?"
Yukimura's gaze flickered up to meet Niou's pointedly. "I never said that." he admonished, lightly. But they both knew that he'd meant it.
"Noted, boss." said Niou, cheerfully, as he continued to massage Yukimura's scalp and shoulders in silence, that was only punctuated by Yukimura's soft exhales and slight moans.
"So?" asked Yukimura, finally, as the last neck muscle was fully relaxed. Enough of the chit-chat now. "What did you find from Earth? This was a way of showing me you'd come home, yes?"
Niou straightened a little, so he was propped up by his elbows. "Straight to official business, boss?" he asked, quietly.
"That was implied." said Yukimura, as he sat up and stretched, languidly. "I can transform into Lucifer if that would help you report what you found with more ease."
Niou shook his head with a slight edginess. "No need, boss. Lucifer’s scary as fuck. You’re so much easier to get along with.”
“Yukimura is still Lucifer.” said Yukimura, with an amused look. “Lucifer is the title God gave me and the name of the ruler of the demons. Yukimura’s just an alias to mix with the troops better.”
“Yeah but...there’s this aura about you when you’re Lucifer, boss. Scary as in angel scary, not the fun sorta scary.” said Niou, with a slight frown. “Dunno how to explain it, so I won’t bother.”
Yukimura frowned a little, and adjusted his shirt a little. He didn’t feel he was so different when he was Lucifer, but he supposed he wasn’t on the receiving end of the show. Still, he’d never known that Niou was so affected by Lucifer. Perhaps it was better to tone it down a little. He did prefer the element of respect that Yukimura received, rather than plain fear of Lucifer that came from most other demons. “Just report, Niou.”
Niou shrugged. “You were right, the angels are stirring on Earth. There's a gigantic level of increased activity everywhere. Lots more righteous, religious killings of those seen as evil and degenerate. Interestingly, the sense of duty towards the community rather than the individual is making a slow comeback, fascinatingly. Centered around Asia more than anywhere else, though there’s weird activity all over the planet."
Yukimura nodded pensively. The last time there had been a rise of blind following had been in the mid-1900s with the World Wars and the Cold War, when the angels had involved humans in their wars against the demons. "So what do you think of it? Reason to increase our own activity to match?"
"Maybe so." said Niou, but his usual smirk was missing. “The angels are seriously bringing out the big guns, though, boss. I saw Tezuka in Japan. They’re prepping for something.”
Tezuka. One of the four archangels, renowned for his strong sense of duty towards God, on earth? Something was definitely up. None of the archangels had made it to Earth in the 1900s. “Did you follow him?” asked Yukimura, his frown only increasingly. Every word that Niou uttered made him want to call a meeting in Hell and debate it amongst the highest officials in Hell.
“He shook me, sorry.” said Niou, with a frown. “Almost exorcised me, that was a toughie to escape. I saw Shiraishi flitting around too and a couple of other angels. But the trends speak for themselves. People are relying on logic instead of their emotions; that means angels are winning.”
Yukimura snarled. “If we increase our activity to feed properly, they will take it as the start of another war, that will rival the others. If Tezuka and Shiraishi are already on earth then Sanada and Tachibana will follow and things will go balls-up.” He gritted his teeth and let his anger swirl around him and let his energies get twisted.
The air started whirling around them and the ground started shaking and the heat started increasing to an almost oven-like temperature. Niou’s smirk grew as Yukimura let himself feel the anger pulsing through him, before letting the winds die down and the energy leave his body abruptly.
“What’s that smirk for?” demanded Yukimura, as he stood up and shook himself back into place. He could feel with abandon, to the extent of destruction, but he had been an angel once. He could be calm and poised too. Now was the time for poise, not wanton rage as he desired.
“You’re really gorgeous when you completely let go, boss.” said Niou as he stood up and grinned rakishly. “It’s quite a sight to see.”
“Charmer.” said Yukimura, with an amused grin. “Don’t think this means I’m letting you off for irritating Yanagi. Now hurry up, we’re going to the main room.”
Niou barked with laughter, as Yukimura snapped his fingers and ended up in the main conference room of Hell. As Niou brushed himself off, Yukimura slowly focused on looking like he had when he’d been Lucifer. It took careful reconstruction and thought. Half of his face was sliced because of Sanada’s finishing cut in their battle. He had burn marks along his arms from when God had pushed him down and most of all, his eyes were cold and pure white.
He preferred being Yukimura, in any case. If anything, he was more physically appealing.
“Geez boss, you are scarier when you’re Lucifer.” muttered Niou, as he took his seat. “You calling the bigshots for a huge meeting? I hate those things, ends up with everyone having a shitton of work ter do.”
“They cause a lot of paperwork, I don’t deny it.” said Lucifer with a slight laugh. “But, this is Hell. And I value the assistance of my fellow demons. They have been to Earth more frequently than I, their experience is valuable.”
Niou just sighed and took his seat near the head of the table, sprawling across the uncomfortable-looking thing, as Lucifer sent out the message to all of Hell, that there was a big meeting. He winced a little, as the headache started almost instantly when he sat down in his own, very uncomfortable chair.
He didn’t know what he’d been thinking when he’d made this conference room so uncomfortable. Something symbolic about how power was supposed to hurt. All Lucifer knew now, was that it was a pain in the neck and he wished this conference room wasn’t so permanent.
The first to arrive was Yanagi, looking just a little frustrated, especially as his gaze met Niou’s. He took his normal seat, but there was a definite frown behind his eyebrows for his rest day being disturbed. Yukimura, deep inside Lucifer, snorted, but Lucifer let nothing come out.
Next to follow was Kite, who was covered in blood, but quickly snapped it away and took his normal seat next to Niou and started a conversation. Atobe was the next in, with a flamboyant nod to Lucifer, which Lucifer returned, curtly. After that, the crowd flooded in. Yagyuu, Kikumaru, Akutsu, Mukahi, Shishido and many more. He saw Dan, changed to look like Yukimura among the crowd and nodded internally at that. When the final demon, Fuji, teleported in, Lucifer thought it prudent to start.
“Fellow demons, angels stir on the surface of the planet Earth.” he started, his voice harsher than that of Yukimura’s. There were looks his way, but no one dared speak up until he was finished.
“They move amongst the humans freely. Religious deaths and sentiments are on a rise, to overwhelm our own movements. There have even been archangel sightings. Tezuka and Shiraishi walk the Earth, and if they walk, the other two are sure to follow. And all of you feel the energy changing.” Lucifer stated, meeting the eyes of everyone, whose eyes almost instantly fell to the floor, even Niou.
“So, it is our priority to decide amongst us now. Do we act and counter the angels and start yet another war, one that we may not win? Or do we wait?” said Lucifer, before sitting down, with a heavy sigh.
Atobe was the first to rise, closely beating out Yagyuu and Kite who’d also stood. “As much as it pains me to say it, it is in our best interests to wait. If the archangels walk the world, they have a plan. Tezuka and Sanada are not the type to act recklessly. Going in without more information is suicide.”
“With all due respect, I totally disagree.” said Yagyuu, politely, adjusting his glasses, “If we wait, they will see it as a sign of weakness. They seek to antagonize a conflict, and why should we not rise to counter them?”
“We don’t know what they’re up to. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t eventually attack them, but we should check their plans, first.” Atobe argued. “They may be attempting to instigate an attack for a trap.”
“My Lord Lucifer.” said Dan as Yukimura, standing up. “Is God still missing?”
There was a slight start from everyone as they turned to look at Dan and Lucifer nodded, slowly. “God is still not in heaven. Any actions taken by the angelic forces are decided by heaven and not by God himself.”
“Then we should increase activity.” said Kite. “It will be easier to counter the angels without God’s influence.”
Fuji pressed two fingers to his lips. “Is it so wise, however? Surely, we know that the angels are more ruthless in their actions without God’s kindness to temper them? Angels do not feel, after all, and merely see their actions as means to their end.” he said, his eyes glinting. “Humans will be more difficult to use as hostages this time around.”
Shishido stood up. “I wouldn’t say that, Fuji. It’s true that the higher levels of angels are definitely ruthless and emotionless, but most of the younger angels are former humans. They wish to protect humans and they’ll be easy to target.”
“Yes, but getting cannon fodder out of the way is always easy.” drawled Akutsu, with a sneer.
“Exactly.” said Mukahi. “We have to focus on what the higher levels are thinking, even if it is easier to cripple their lower levels with our usual methods.”
“Which means taking it cautious and sending spies.” said Atobe, with the same confidence he’d always had, even when they’d plotted to destroy humans, so long ago.
Kikumaru bounced up in his chair. “Oooh, there’re loads of humans who were borderline in life and could have gone either way. If we pretend that the fire that happened was actually serious...we could send spies up to heaven, right?”
“They’d all betray us, don’t be stupid.” dismissed Niou. “What mortal prefers hell to heaven? Besides, the angels didn’t sabotage us. If it was holy fire, someone needed to have set it and that would have been someone angelic. They’ll know up-top that none of them committed the crime.”
“Demons have to leave ship then...” said Shishido, with a frown.
“...which means we have to lose the battle against them, for some time.” concurred Dan, with a frown.
There were general grumblings against the idea of submitting at all, but no one made any objections to the plans. “They’ll have to be lower ranked demons.” said Yanagi, coolly. “Nobody will believe that somebody like myself or Atobe would ever abandon ship.”
“That can be arranged.” said Fuji, quite coolly. “There are many loyal demons that are younger.”
“Then we are settled in our action?” asked Lucifer, speaking up. “We pretend to lsoe by not acting, and if we do act, we act in foolish manners. Some demons spy on them, discover their purpose, and we fight back.”
“Paperwork will increase.” said Yanagi coolly. “The human whiplash of death will be tremendous.”
“When did we ever care about humans in this venture, Renji?” asked Dan, with a slight laugh. Lucifer was impressed, that was exactly what Yukimura would have said. Dan was truly a protege worth keeping around.
Atobe just nodded. “Yukimura’s right. This is our pride and our fight, to keep balance in the world, between emotion and logic. If a few million lives are lost, so be it.”
Lucifer nodded, heavily, dropping his head. The room felt uncomfortable, now that the decision was made. “Then we are settled. Go.” he dismissed, as he kept his face impassive, to hide the headache that was increasing. Most people were quick to disperse, until only Niou was left.
There were only four people alive who knew about his secret of being both Lucifer and Yukimura. There was God, who’d suggested it in the first place, when Lucifer had still been God’s most favoured angel. Sanada, the second archangel created and someone who had been one of his closest friends, before they’d chosen opposite sides. Dan, one of his original inhabitants of Hell, who'd been happy to aid Yukimura's game. And then Niou.
He wasn’t quite sure why. Niou wasn’t even a former angel. Perhaps it was sentimentality. Niou had been the first human who’d been taken a contract and signed his soul away to Hell. Either way, it made life easier to have one demon who knew about his dual identity.
Lucifer faded away to just plain Yukimura and he leant back against the uncomfortable chair, as he attempted to keep his energies straight. “...is it getting harder to change?” asked Niou, with a frown.
Yukimura scowled. “It’s nothing.” he snapped, as he straightened and forced his energies straight again. He had to fight the madness. He was the opposite to God’s logic and reason, but he was still a former angel and he refused to act on instinct alone.
“It’s obviously something.” said Niou, lounging on the end of the table, his sharp eyes glancing at Yukimura, trying to read his flaws. “You’re usually so strong.”
Yukimura’s nostrils flared as he abruptly rose from the chair. “I am still strong, Niou. I‘d watch your words.” he hissed, trying to keep his anger cold and not hot. He hated the change to Lucifer for several reasons. It was so much easier for the emotions to affect him as Lucifer. It didn’t make sense, since it was, technically, just a glamour, but somehow, Yukimura and Lucifer were forking away from each other and he was feeling the effects of it on his energies.
Niou quirked an eyebrow, as he wound around Yukimura and caressed his hands over Yukimura’s shoulders, his sly fingers digging into Yukimura’s back. “It’s not like you to lie to yourself, boss.” he said, his whisper deadly and low. “Isn’t that the fall of most humans into madness?”
Niou was also strangely perceptive, for a former human. Most former humans weren’t so perceptive or intelligent. Yukimura gritted his teeth and stepped away from Niou’s caress. “The fall of most humans is letting their emotions rule them. That’s why we take so many.”
Niou shrugged, softly. “Not what I heard, boss. It’s partially what you said, but then they pretend that they’re still logical. They tell themselves that they aren’t ruled by lust and greed and pride and sloth and pretend like their vices don’t exist. And then, when they are offered a chance at it, they snap so easily. Their lies make them so perceptible to fall.”
“Angels cannot lie. We still fell.” said Yukimura, tightly.
“Humans and angels are different.” Niou said, with a light shrug. “Isn’t that the whole reason you fell?”
He hated telling this story. Perhaps because it hurt, but Yukimura supposed that Niou had never got the full story from Yukimura’s lips, and even Yanagi only knew so much about what happened. “We fell because God wanted us to.” Yukimura said, shortly. “We fell because we had pride and humans were weaker than us. We could not stand those weaklings being paraded as God’s ultimate creation. We were told to protect humans, until our dying breath and to obey their orders. But what about us? Why were we measured as less than the worms, when we could crush millions of them in one flap of our wings?”
Niou’s mouth was parted as he looked at Yukimura, ever watchful, ever attentive. Those observing eyes were what made Niou so useful and so dangerous. “We despised it. Even the angels now despise it. They’ll never admit it, but it rankles at Tezuka’s pride and Sanada’s pride to bow at the feet of someone who has not seen what they have seen. Someone who can never imagine the sheer power of God’s true form and the power that angels and demons hold.” Yukimura sneered as he shut his eyes.
“So we were angry, but for a long time, there were merely mutters of rebellion and of discontent. And then, God told me to bow down at his most perfect human yet. An arrogant boy who called himself Echizen. I refused. The only person who I would bow down to would be God himself, for he was my one true deity. And I was cast out of my position. I did not go without a fight and I took half of heaven’s angels with me and two archangels with me.”
He could feel his blood boiling as he merely recounted this injustice. “And when we fell, we were cursed to feel emotion as deeply as humans could, but that emotion would never be able to give us happiness. The only happiness we could take would be from humans and in the end, that would only make us more miserable.” And so it ended, and so Hell was created, to take the humans that were deemed unworthy of heaven. The end. Yukimura wished it were that simple to end a story.
“It wasn’t until many many years later that I realized that God had made us like this. We were made to feel nothing except loyalty, yet somehow we still felt pride? God wanted us to fall, to create balance. To create a reason for humans to obey him and remain scared with their free will. He needed us, he needed a Hell. And he needed someone who was close to his strength to rule hell. Me.”
Yukimura breathed out, softly. “It wasn’t until many years later that I looked and I saw that angels only believe that they cannot feel. That angels simply prioritize their devotion over their other emotions. Humans and angels are not so different, in truth. Angels and demons are simply stronger than humans.”
Niou just looked vaguely incredulous, with his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows raised. “And you’ve never told anyone this?”
“Does it matter terribly?” asked Yukimura, with a sore laugh. “It’s just a philosophical musing. We’re still going to eat their emotions to live, we’re still going to damn them to eternal torment. Even if they realize we’re like them, what does it matter? All it will do is create doubt. Better we continue to think we are different, so we can continue our duty.”
There was a small silence in the room, before Niou chuckled. “It kills you, right? It kills you that God was even partially right.”
Yukimura just snapped his fingers, to smash Niou against the wall for that comment. They both knew he was right.
Niou just grinned, peeling himself from the wall, with nothing more than a twitch of his head. “Bossman, you know I’m right.” he said, as he leant forward into Yukimura’s face, with a slightly amused grin. Yukimura leant forward to pull Niou into a sharp vicious kiss, where he bit Niou’s tongue and clashed their teeth together in ultimate passion. Niou pulled away for breath, looking just a little dazed and Yukimura quirked his eyebrow and waved, before snapping his fingers and disappearing.
Revenge was sweet.