Chapter Text
Barefoot and dressed in scruffy old pyjamas the Avatar of Pride looked nothing like his usual immaculate self.
It was 3 am.
While Lucifer waited for the bottle to warm, he rested his forehead against the door of the overhead cupboard in the kitchen and closed his eyes. He was tired, deep down to his bones, soul achingly tired and he knew it was no less than he deserved.
The bundle held in the crook of his left arm started to wail again, the air-siren alert of a baby with an urgent need. Startled, Lucifer jolted out of his semi-doze and rocked him soothingly.
"It's nearly done," he murmured, smiling down at his brother who simply glared back with that pouty look so common to frustrated infants everywhere.
How on earth had they come to this?
****
Six months earlier
It was late at night as Mammon moved carefully through Doom Woods. He was no fool. He knew it was dangerous here. It was the Devildom after all, not the light and safety and comfort of the Celestial Realm.
Strangely, he found he didn't miss their old home. None of them did. It was as though something within them had always been suited to their new roles in this dark and gloomy place. They really had found their niche in their Devildom.
And yet - it was undeniably dangerous here and all the changes that had happened had definitely altered the relationship they all shared. It had only been about a hundred years and in many ways they were still settling in and adjusting.
Right now, Mammon was extraordinarily frustrated and annoyed. There was a definite problem and he was the only one who cared enough to notice!
When he'd first realised there was something wrong he'd mentally listed all his brothers, trying to work out who was best to help him. Ever since they'd arrived, Lucifer had been so far up Diavolo's ass he was probably never coming back down again.
Leviathan never left his room and right now he wasn't letting Mammon in, which in Mammon's view was entirely unreasonable. After all, it wasn't as though he'd sold everything Levi owned.
Since he knew he couldn't ask either of them for help, he'd tried approaching the younger four and had been roundly dismissed in turn.
Satan had rationally explained every possible reason why Mammon was a fool and had then demanded the return of the money that he'd loaned him a fortnight ago.
Asmodeus had been buried deep in a passionately loud and enthusiastic succubus and Mammon had taken one look and decided he wasn't getting any closer. Instead he'd settled for hollering from the doorway, "Will you stop doing that in the damn kitchen!! It's unhygienic!" before leaving as fast as he could.
The twins weren't any better. Beelzebub hadn't really listened at all, he'd been entirely focused on whether Asmo was finished in the kitchen yet. Belphegor had straight up ignored him, curling up next to his twin and pointedly closing his eyes as Mammon had tried to explain the problem.
So here he was on his own. Solving this on his own would show those ungrateful bastards. In Mammon's view their Fall had been the best thing that had ever happened except for two things - the loss of their sister and the fact that those arseholes now had no respect for him. Not a shred!
They could all indulge their sins, sure no problems, but the minute Mammon exercised his Greed? It was all "Scumbag!" and ignoring him or treating him like something scraped off the bottom of a shoe. It was about time he put his foot down as the second eldest. They needed to remember they weren't dealing with a fool here, no matter how they treated him.
As he moved through the forest, Mammon knew he wasn't mistaken. He'd felt the pulse of magic and was surprised the others hadn't noticed it at all. It was strong and it was clouded. That was all he'd been able to detect from the House and that was why he was now prowling about in the woods, being scratched by the undergrowth, eaten by insects, and trying not to feel hurt that his family had turned out to be so disappointingly useless.
Creeping closer, his senses alert. Mammon didn't feel too concerned at first. Yes, there was a problem, but he was strong and he was fast and as a general rule, he was the most frightening thing in the frightening forest. Unless Lucifer was there of course.
Green light flashed between the trees and he heard a voice that he recognised. Dammit! Witches - why, oh why, was it always witches? They gave him the irrits more than anything else he could name.
Thoroughly angry now, between his brothers and interloping witches, Mammon gathered up his infernal power. He shaped up the strongest fireball he could manage and lobbed it right into the centre of the green light. It was more than enough to deal with any witches trying to break into the Devildom.
It should have ended the whole matter.
Except -
There was a flash of brighter green, fading to white. Perhaps he should have used less power? Mammon wasn't sure where he was, wasn't sure when he was, wasn't even sure if he was. He tried to open his eyes and realised they were already open. He couldn't decide if he was unable to see or if there was nothing to be seen but total darkness.
There was a fading memory of pain. Had he seen a green light? Something about a fireball? Brothers? Witches? Did the witches have brothers? Was that it? Surely he'd remember if he had brothers. That wasn't something he'd forget, was it?
****
Sitting bolt upright in bed. Lucifer's eyes had snapped open.
There was something urgently wrong.
Mammon!
Lucifer had a vague memory of earlier in the day. On his way out to the Palace for a meeting, Mammon had tried to tell him something. It hadn't seemed important so he'd brushed the whole thing off. His younger brother had seemed a little hurt but Lucifer was in a hurry, with far more important things to do. He'd figured he could surely make it up to his brother some other time. Sooner or later, right?
Except now there was a problem and Lucifer had no idea where Mammon was.
When he rounded up all his brothers, stomping about demanding they all wake up, he was confronted with a group of bleary-eyed, sleep-ridden faces. The only person actually awake was the night owl, Levi, who was annoyed at being interrupted.
"Why are we even here?" Levi asked, "If Mammon has done something stupid and gotten himself into trouble I don't see why that's my problem?"
Giving him a sharp look that saw Levi shifting uncomfortably, Lucifer said, "It's my problem and I'm asking for your help. He tried to tell me something this afternoon - did he talk to any of you?"
There was a general air of discomfort. None of them could meet the eyes of the others. Lucifer closed his eyes, his hand to his brow. "He tried to talk to all of us, didn't he?"
Shamefaced, there was a general chorus of agreement. Frowning Beel said "I think he said something about Doom Wood? Maybe?"
****
Arriving at the edge of Doom Wood, the first thing they all saw was Mammon's car. There was an unusually oppressive atmosphere hanging over the Woods and they could all taste the magic in the air.
"Should we spread out? Or stick together?" asked Satan. "We can cover more ground if we separate."
"Yeah," said Belphie, "but we'll also end up being a horror movie trope. Whatever it is that's in there will pick us off one by one."
Lucifer shook his head. The wrinkle between his brows was looking deeper by the second. "I think we should skip all of that and head for the rather new-looking smoking crater that's over that way." He pointed in the general direction and then simply sighed when they all looked slightly surprised.
As they approached the great new hole in the earth of the forest, felled trees lay in a ring around it. Obviously something in the centre had exploded, the force pushing everything outwards.
Great clods of earth had been thrown up and dirt lay everywhere. There was a huddled, broken bundle half under a tree. Slowly they all came to a stop as they saw it. Time seemed to slow for a moment . . . .
"That's not - "
"It isn't - "
Nobody could quite finish a sentence.
They knew. The worst had happened.
Nobody could move.
Lucifer broke the silence. Sinking to his knees, his broken voice hoarsely crying "Not you too, I can't lose you too."
Reaching out he brushed the bracken and dirt aside, clearing Mammon's face, his blue eyes were open, faded, staring endlessly at nothing at all.
With shaking hands, Lucifer removed his gloves then moved to close Mammon's eyes. His hands were gentle, tender, his love for his brother obvious now. Then he froze, his own eyes wide, breathing in short sudden gasps.
"Get over here, all of you."
As his weeping brother's scurried closer, Lucifer stared in shock at them all. "We may be able to reverse this. We need to work together."
****
It was just before sunrise when Leviathan headed for the kitchen. He was about to go to sleep and in an unusual moment of conscientiousness he decided to put all his dirty snack dishes in the kitchen sink.
As Levi walked past the common room on his way back to his bedroom, he stopped a moment. By the dim light from the fireplace he could see Lucifer was sitting in the rocking chair, baby Mammon, sucking his thumb in his sleep, was cradled close against Lucifer's chest.
When Levi looked closely he realised they were both fast asleep. He took the rug from the back of the sofa and draped it over both of his brothers. Mammon's baby soft fine white hair was sticking out above the rug as he snuggled in closer to his older brother.
Carefully, moving gently so as not to wake either of them, Levi dropped a kiss on the top of the sleeping baby's head. "You're still a scumbag, but you're our scumbag."
Then Levi looked at the sleeping Lucifer. He looked carefully around the room, nobody else was here. He quickly leaned forward and kissed Lucifer's forehead, "I'm glad you saved him, old man."
Stealth mode activated, Leviathan crept out of the room. The moment he was beyond the doorway, Lucifer's eyes opened. He nuzzled the sleeping babe in his arms, breathing in his milky, baby scent.
"I'm glad too."