Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Since the reopening of the hotel, traction was slow. Honestly, it was for the best, not leaving them overwhelmed while they learned the layout of the new hotel. There was a slow trickle of lost souls that came wandering in, unsure where to start on their path to betterment but willing to learn. Unfortunately, there were quite a few more that showed up at their door that were more interested in the politics and drama. With the sudden resurgence of the King of Hell from his isolation, Vox’s desperation to get to Alastor, and the undoubtedly horny fans of Angel Dust, a large fraction of guests that showed up at their door didn’t have the best of intentions. It took all of a day for Charlie to be convinced that maybe she didn’t have to open the door to everyone. Vaggie later admitted to Lucifer she thought it’d take longer than that. 

Despite all that, though, things were going relatively fine. Charlie was beginning to expand her trust exercises past childish games, while Vaggie was relearning what control and leadership are, trying to separate herself from the military-esque mindset of the Exorcists. Lucifer’s pride for his daughter continued to grow, and he’d since found a place of understanding with her girlfriend, as two people from the same place. Alastor had become considerably more bearable since he’d allowed the fallen seraphim to heal him as well. Husk and Angel were quite an interesting duo to watch, surprisingly competent when working in tandem despite their opposing personalities. Niffty remained the one that Lucifer had no intentions of getting particularly close to, too familiar with what she was capable of with sharp things.

It was good. Really, really good. 

It was the happiest he’d been since—

Well, since Lilith. 

Lucifer fidgeted with his wedding band, considering removing it for the umpteenth time, but once again couldn’t bring himself to do so. The simple metal band was all he had left of her before he’d taken a more active role in Charlie’s life again. Misery had since begun to morph into an underlying anger, unable to bring himself to hate her but remaining bitter about having no answers to her whereabouts. She was rarely ever a topic of discussion, but he’d seen the pain in their daughter’s eyes whenever she was mentioned. Lucifer had been more than ready to shoulder the blame for her departure, to endure the heartbreak on his own, but he had found that Charlie had been as helpless as him. She was the one who’d taken Lilith’s dream into her own hands and built it up to be everything she hoped would make her mother proud, and yet… 

The angel squeezed his eyes shut, thankful he was in the privacy of his own room as he willed himself not to cry. 

After a moment of regulating his breathing, feeling the tension leave his shoulders ever so slightly, he heard something akin to a knock at his window. It was frankly concerning, considering he was several floors up, but as he turned to see what it was, he had to squint against the bright light he was met with. He nearly let out an audible groan as he moved to blindly throw the window open. Why couldn’t angels use phones like normal people?

It was only when the streaks of light rushed past him that he realized what they were probably reaching out to him for, and he felt his dread grow. It’d been a few weeks now, so he was surprised it had taken them so long to make contact, but he would’ve preferred avoiding it entirely if he could’ve. Lucifer swallowed hard, trying once again to compose himself from his previous wave of emotions. His face only displayed mild annoyance as the glowing tendrils curled around themselves, soon solidifying in the shape of a floating orb. In it, the face of Sera reflected back at him, her expression making him falter. 

She looked haunted. Her jaw was clenched, eyes unfocused, and she seemed sickly pale compared to when he had last reached out with the request for Charlie’s meeting. It did absolutely nothing to ease his nerves.

“Lucifer, it’s good to see you again.” 

A sentiment he knew was only a courtesy, but her voice sounded airy as if she were feeling faint.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, High Seraphim?” Lucifer did his best to maintain a steady volume even as his feet carried him in an anxious path around his room, knowing the display would follow his movements. The formalities felt foreign on his tongue, as they did with every strained conversation he had with his holy counterparts. They both knew the interaction was far from a pleasure on either side, but they maintained appearances.

“We believe it imperative that we follow up with your daughter, given the… recent circumstances. We also wish to discuss the future of this hotel of hers,” Sera explained, not commenting on the other’s pacing.

Just as Lucifer had both expected and feared. The last time she had gone to Heaven, war had been declared on her home, endangering nearly everyone she loved, and now that she had come out of that battle victorious, he couldn’t imagine the other side would be particularly gracious. 

“I don’t want her going alone.” He knew Charlie wouldn’t turn down this opportunity to go back, to fight for her cause once more, so he didn’t fool himself into thinking he could talk her out of it. Still, she wasn’t well practiced yet in defending herself, both against verbal and physical attacks, so he couldn’t let her walk into a potential battlefield by herself. 

While he had a growing fondness for Charlie’s friends, he didn’t trust many with her protection as much as she did. Vaggie was quite capable and knew the way of angels well, but he wouldn’t blame her if didn’t wish to return once again. Among the sinners, Alastor was, unfortunately, the most capable in battle, but he didn’t trust the demon to not be the inciter of violence, not to mention how he’d already taken a near-fatal injury from an angel before. So, that left—

“Then you are free to join her.” 

Lucifer froze in place. He vaguely registered that Sera was continuing to speak, but all he heard was the ringing in his ears. Surely in her rattled state, she had misspoken? He suddenly felt distant from his body, disconnected, his brain a storm of conflicting feelings. He felt hot, golden blood boiling beneath his skin, but it was not rage that bubbled up. Instead, it was fear, pure terror, as he felt his stomach drop.

Freefalling.

His limbs felt heavy, the blackened skin of his arms an ever-present reminder of his punishment. Though power could still flow to his fingertips, they’d been left charred by his last futile attempts at reaching back towards the divine light where creation remained pure, a place he was no longer welcome. The act of creation had become painful, near impossible for the fallen angel for a long time to come, celestial healing only doing so much to restore the once-tender hands that had only sought to bring new joys and knowledge to the world. He started at his palms now, smoothed out over the ages, but the color remained reminiscent of the charcoal they had been burned like.

Would his presence in Heaven not lead to a similar pain?

He couldn’t recall having given Sera an answer, but perhaps his lips had moved on their own accord because she was informing him of the arrival of a portal in three hours to come. Maybe the length of time was a mercy for his current state, where he now stood with a slight tremble and watching helplessly as the orb dissipated, erasing the seraphim’s face from view. 

He was alone. 

Lilith wasn’t there to hold him this time, to whisper soft words of comfort and bandage him. Just like everything else he touched, she had become another love lost to time, far away, likely without a care for the mess she had left behind. 

He didn’t have to go back. It wasn’t a demand or a call to action. It was an option, one he could easily decide against, and he knew that Charlie would be understanding. 

Charlie…

She knew only of what had been written about his Fall, as it wasn’t something he talked about. Perhaps if he had, she would’ve realized sooner his poor attempts at dissuasion were for her protection, not because he didn’t believe in her. It was Heaven that he held no faith in anymore, and in realizing she had turned out so much like him, he couldn’t bear to see her meet a similar fate. This was all still for her, he reminded himself. What kind of father would he be if he did not ensure her safety himself? Trying to hold her back had been met with frustration and hurt, he couldn’t do that to her again.

It had been several millennia since he’d given up on the hope that Heaven would take him back. Since that shift, he’d become resolute in the fact he never wished to return, instead finding comfort in the kingdom that he and Lilith had built up. This was his home, and the angels had stopped being his family the moment they cast him aside and left him falling into despair of his own making.

Charlie was his family now, and it was for her alone that he would change. If it was betrayal that made him see his former home with such hatred, then it was loyalty and love for his daughter that would make him persevere. He hadn’t realized the depth of his promise to do anything for her, but it was coming to light now just how much he meant it.

He wouldn’t have to be alone this time either. And, if he could help it, neither would she.

Chapter Text

“Charlie, dear?”

Lucifer stood at the doorway of the common area, leaning against the frame for support. Sinners, new and old alike, were conversing quite cheerfully from what he could tell, having heard their laughter from down the hall. All eyes had turned to him as he spoke, some in confusion and others in awe, not quite used to sharing a building with the King himself. He paid them no mind, his eyes set on his daughter.

Charlie stood from her chair, her smile wavering ever so slightly as she took in his current condition. “Hey, Dad. Need something?”

“A word, please.” 

Lucifer pretended not to hear the quiet voice (“Oo, someone’s in trouble~”) that he assumed to be Angel’s, confirmed a second later by Husk hitting him over the back of the head. Charlie merely nodded, politely excusing herself from the company, her smile falling into a frown as she exited their line of sight, brows furrowed in concern. 

The pair walked a good distance until they were out of earshot before she spoke again, having fallen in step with each other. Lucifer was just thankful to be moving again, unsure how much longer he could’ve stood there without collapsing and he was not going to have a breakdown in the middle of the hallway. 

“Dad, what’s wrong?” The princess asked carefully, before continuing, “Where are we going?”

“Away. I don’t know. Somewhere private,” he muttered, leaving the first question unanswered for the time being. He didn’t meet her gaze, instead glaring daggers at the carpeting. She wasn't able to say with confidence that he couldn't set the ground on fire with such a heated gaze.

Upon realizing he was wandering aimlessly, Charlie placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him instead in the direction of her room. Much to her relief, he didn’t flinch away, trusting her completely. They remained in silence for the rest of their short journey, Charlie lacking words of comfort when she didn’t know what she was supposed to be comforting him about. Her father was doing his best, but there was still so much left unsaid between them. It had pained her to notice that their many similarities included the need to fix everyone’s problems except their own, any personal strain covered with an excess of enthusiasm and overcompensating smiles. As worried as she was, she felt somewhat touched that he had come to her this time, trusting her.

Upon entering the room and the doors clicking shut, Lucifer practically collapsed against them, sinking to the floor and running his hands over his face. Before his daughter could question him again, he spoke, voice only slightly muffled.

“Heaven wants to meet again.”

And- yeah, okay, his reaction was beginning to make a lot of sense. 

“About…?” Charlie gently prodded, as if she didn’t already know the answer. 

“They didn’t say. But if I had to guess, I’d say Adam.”

The young princess studied her father for a moment in his crumpled form. She had somewhat expected him to be angry about this, and though she was sure he was, he just seemed… tired. The news of having to go to Heaven didn’t excite her as it used to, less blind to their misdeeds now that she’d been a witness herself. Still, she couldn’t help but think there was more to it than he was letting on, carefully joining him on the floor. 

“Then… what did they say?” 

A shaky exhale. Lucifer moved his hands from his face to instead run them through his hair, letting his hat fall beside him in the process. “They’re sending a portal in a few hours. It didn’t seem like they were going to take no for an answer. I said I didn’t want you going alone- hell, I don’t want you to have to deal with them at all, but-”

His breath caught in his throat as his emotions threatened to choke him. Saying it out loud would make it all the more real. It was humiliating, having to fight back tears in front of his own daughter, but he was weak to her when she offered out her hands to him. He took them gratefully, pale and dainty in contrast with his marred fingers, and offered a wobbly smile. 

“I could go with you,” he finished, his voice barely above a whisper. 

Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise. That was possible? She couldn’t deny that she would feel inherently safer knowing her father could be by her side through it all, but would that not put him at risk as well? He’d said before that he wouldn’t be able to join her, so had the rules changed? Or was it just that he hadn’t wanted to associate himself with them again? If that was the case, she couldn’t imagine he’d be any more thrilled to do so now. 

“Would you be okay?” was the first thing she asked.

“I don’t know, Charlie,” the angel replied truthfully, his head falling back against the door with a light thud. He stared at the ceiling intently as if it would have the answers he wanted, but only found it to be decorated with constellations. 

Carefully as not to jostle him, Charlie shuffled over to sit at his side, resting her head on his shoulder. “You don’t have to, you know. I have a friend up there, her name’s Emily, and I don’t think she’d let anything happen to me. They may not be the nicest up there but I think that, strategically, they’d probably know better than to, y’know… let anything bad happen.”

Despite her attempts to be reassuring, she felt him tense as her words conjured a number of possibilities in his mind as to what could happen, what further tragedies could befall them. 

“I just,” Lucifer started, his voice strained. “The angels… they were my family. My siblings. And now I’m just a folktale they use to scare the younger ones into submission.”

He didn’t actually know what was said of him since he’d been cast into Hell, but the whispers had started before then. He’d helped bring light to the world, crafting stars with care and in abundance. They would always be out of reach from the humans, their radiance too damaging for their fragile mortal forms, but free to admire from a distance. He hoped they were as beautiful as he remembered. Perhaps it had been a way to distract him from humanity, to keep his abstract ideas at bay. It had only lasted so long before he grew troublesome in their eyes once more. Still, his only creation not deemed unreasonable was his stars, so he would create stories with them, twinkling outlines of characters, creatures, and odd trinkets he thought might amuse future generations. 

He hadn’t seen their light since he’d created them, so he couldn’t help but wonder if they’d flickered out with his own dreams so long ago. 

“Do you miss them?” Charlie asked, her voice a comforting tether to reality.

“I miss a lot of things.”

Lucifer could practically feel the way her gaze shifted to their still-connected hands at his noncommittal answer, finding the golden band that matched the one her mother once wore. They both missed her.

A beat of silence passed before the princess spoke, “I promise I can take care of myself if you really don’t want to-”

“I’m coming with you, Charlie,” he cut her off, voice firm but soft as he tried to tilt his head to face her. His mind had been made before he had sought her out in the first place, but it was a lot easier to accept when he was face to face with the one he was sworn to protect. “I’m not on the same path of redemption as our dear guests, but I’ve got a lot to make up for as an absentee King of Hell and father to you. I don’t know if it’s a first step so much as a leap, but gotta start somewhere, right?”

Charlie looked at him with awe, eyes shining like the very stars he had helped to paint the galaxy with. Her response was not a verbal one, instead tackling him in an embrace and knocking him over in the process, effectively startling a laugh out of him. The floor would not be a comfortable place to stay, but he was happy enough at the moment to know she had accepted his offer, despite knowing the journey would be a rough one. 

Once she had detangled herself from him, Charlie pushed herself to her feet sheepishly, once again offering out a hand to him in turn. Only after fixing his hat back on his head did he take it, allowing her to pull him up. 

With them both standing, the princess couldn’t help pulling him into another embrace, one that was readily returned.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’ve made several steps in the right direction already,” she told him softly. He could only held on tighter in turn.

They still had to tell the others. 

It wasn’t too hard to round up the original residents, as they tended to stick together out of habit anyway, along with Cherri Bomb, who remained an unofficial inhabitant but found herself staying more nights than not. They all had a more intimate relationship with the consequences of each heavenly meeting, and Charlie didn’t feel the need to send their more recent guests into a panic unnecessarily. They were going in hoping for the best, after all. 

The small band of sinners was spread out across cushioned seating as they waited for Charlie to explain herself, the only exception being Alastor, who stood behind the arrangement, closer to the comfort of shadows. Unintentionally mirroring him, Lucifer stood almost like a guard by the door they had entered from, his grip tight on his apple-tipped cane. 

“What’s this about?” It was Vaggie who finally asked, having taken the seat closest to her girlfriend. Usually, she was the first to know about Charlie’s thoughts and troubles, so it was unnerving to have no more foresight than the others. 

“It seems like Heaven wants to finally talk about Extermination Day, which means I’ll have to go talk to them,” Charlie explained, wincing at the cacophony of reactions but plowing on so that she could get all her words out, “It was their request, and I’m not asking anything from them this time, so I really want to believe it’s not going to come back to hurt any of you or this hotel again. I’m not going in with my guard down this time. We’ve proven we know how to, um… deal with angels, and the fact they were so scared of an uprising means it’s possible, so I don’t think they’ll risk it. The seraphim are smarter than that. I just wanted you all to, y’know, be aware. Be prepared. I’m not sure what for, and I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that, but we don’t know what Heaven’s been like since Adam died. So, um… yeah.”

There was a chorus of questions, none of which Lucifer heard. Instead, his attention was drawn to a pair of piercing red eyes, narrowed in his direction. The radio demon cocked his head to the side, in a challenge? Questioning? He couldn’t tell. Alastor never failed to be extremely perplexing and it was infuriating. Still, Lucifer supposed that whatever the other was trying to convey was probably warranted, as it did seem rather suspicious that he of all people remained so silent.

It was Vaggie’s voice that broke the staring contest between the two, volume raised with urgency, “Are you seriously considering going back there alone?”

Charlie opened her mouth to respond when her father finally joined the conversation, stepping away from the door to join her side. “Of course not. I will be accompanying her. It’ll be like a good ol’ father-daughter road trip, eh?”

A beat of silence passed.

“Can’t they, like, throw you off a cliff again or something?”

“Angel,” Charlie hissed at the spider, who put his hands up in surrender.

“It’s a genuine question!”

The princess looked like she was about to tear into him, only to be startled by a laugh. Lucifer’s laugh, to be precise. She seemed almost more horrified by this, worrying briefly that perhaps he’d fully lost it in the time between their emotional moment and now.

Lucifer was many things, and among that list was a performer and a ringmaster. He had an audience now, so it was no time to get swept back into his fears. Confidence was a role he was familiar with, falling back into it with ease. 

“They’re welcome to try, but I don’t think they’ll get very far.” Upon being met with stares, he continued, “The deal I made to protect hellborns was just as much to protect them from me.”

He too received a wave of questions, but in the chaos of it all, he caught his daughter’s eye, offering her a reassuring smile, one she happily returned. He was okay. He wouldn’t be leaving her side. 

He wasn’t sure what it had been, maybe all it had taken was finally admitting to missing his former family, or perhaps it was because he’d accepted his fate of having to face it again, but speaking about Heaven had become ever so slightly easier. Talking about how it was distracted from the growing dread of how it could be now. Charlie listened with such rapture, all these stories she’d never been told as a child, hearing about the good of Heaven even from someone who had been hurt so badly by them. 

Lucifer continued his performance with each question, animating his accounts with little whisps of light that he puppeteered around the room, a trick he used to do for her all the time as a child. It was perhaps the most open Charlie had seen him with her friends, the lingering difference in power dynamic giving way to the narrative of a family. It had been what Heaven had taken away from him, and though neither of them knew it yet, the redemption of souls could very well lead to Heaven taking it all away from him again. They could live in their ignorant bliss for a few moments more, though, finding joy and amusement in the way the former seraphim’s glowing puppets had now turned to terrorize a certain Radio Demon’s shadow, a fruitless battle all done for show. 

Time was lost on the group until the portal was cut through the air, bursting into rosy flames as the passage opened from one afterlife to another. Silence fell over them before Charlie pushed herself to her feet, taking her father’s hand to help him do the same. The tension that had gradually eased from his shoulders over the past couple of hours had returned, so even once he stood, she didn’t let go. 

“This shouldn’t take more than a few hours,” the princess informed them, offering a smile she hoped would be comforting. 

“We’ll keep the place standing while you’re gone,” Vaggie assured her, moving to press a quick parting kiss to her cheek.

“Worse comes to worst, if they’re still as hung up on tapestries as they used to be, it shouldn’t be too hard to set the place ablaze.” 

“Dad!” Charlie scolded.

Lucifer only flashed a smile in response, eyes flaring red briefly. 

“You all seem to forget,” he started, tapping the apple end of his cane to his head, “I am still the Devil. I’m not down here for no reason.” 

“Well, hopefully, it doesn’t come to that!” Charlie dismissed with an awkward laugh, pulling him towards the portal. In a lower tone, she addressed her father directly, “You sure you’re okay with this? Last chance to back out.”

His expression softened, giving her hand a squeeze. “I’m right here with you, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere else.” 

If their hushed conversation was heard, it went ignored, as Alastor mused aloud, “It would be quite fun to see it all burn, wouldn’t it?”

“Fried wings!” Nifty chimed in with what seemed to be agreement.

The Morningstars shared a look, a grimace mirrored in each of their expressions, before they both stepped through the gateway, not wanting to hear however that conversation continued. 

Off to Heaven.

Chapter Text

The shift from a land with crimson skies and looming shadows into a place of pastels and vibrance was near-blinding. It took a moment of blinking, adjusting to the change, to realize they weren’t at the pearly gates. Instead, they were inside, high lavender walls lined with gold trim and a ceiling of glass allowing warm rays of light to wash over them. 

As if on some long-forgotten instinct, Lucifer’s wings unfurled behind him, stretching out in the open space that had been made to accommodate such things. The deep red of his feathers, reminiscent of the blood of sinners, contrasted greatly with the cool tones around them. There had been a time when they were as white and pure as his fellow seraphim, but when they had grown too heavy to slow his descent in the Fall, he was helpless to do anything more than wrap them around his lover, hoping that they might provide her some protection. The blood that had stained them was not of the mortal souls that hadn’t yet joined them, but his own, singed feathers falling from his beaten and bruised wings and replaced with ones meant to remind him of the fires he was now damned to burn in.

He couldn’t place where they were, it had been far too long and there was a possibility the building hadn’t existed when he’d been cast out, but there was a distant familiarity that made his stomach churn. Charlie remained beside him, being his grounding force with nothing more than her presence.

“Light-Bringer and young Morningstar,” a regal voice greeted them, drawing the pair’s attention to the High Seraphim herself. “We welcome you both on your return.”

Charlie’s hand was torn from her father’s as she was tackled by a smaller force with squeals of joy. A younger seraph, presumably Emily from the princess’ earlier mention of a heavenly friend, embraced the other with little regard to what attention it brought her. The area seemed to be purposely clear of witnesses, almost eerie in the silence that surrounded them. A quick glance at Sera showed her smile was strained as she kept a polite distance. 

“Charlie, you’re not going to believe it!” Emily exclaimed as he pulled away, though not before the hug had been returned. He was practically bouncing in place, bursting with energy. “Oh, I shouldn’t spoil it- but I’m so glad you’re here! I have so much to tell you about.”

Despite her enthusiasm, or perhaps because of it, Sera seemed only more uneasy, a look crossing her face that Lucifer could only compare to shame. He wondered if he should find comfort in her unsettled state, knowing that they were now in opposition. Somehow, he didn’t. 

His attempts at analyzing her came to a halt as his daughter’s friend turned their focus to him instead. Much to his surprise, their smile didn’t falter, holding out a hand to him. He gave them his own with a moment’s hesitance, only for them to hold it with both of theirs, shaking his hand with excitement he wasn’t used to. 

“It is so cool to meet you, Mr. Lucifer, sir! I’m Emily,” they introduced themself. “I’ve heard so much about you! I mean, like, everyone has, but still. Charlie’s doing some really amazing things and I think it’s really nice you’re here to support her!” 

What a sweetheart. Far too pure for the corrupt nature of Heaven.

“Just Lucifer’s fine,” he assured the other, a little overwhelmed. “It’s nice to meet you.”

And for once among the angels, he wasn’t lying. 

When she dropped his hand, it was to bound back to Sera, her face split with a wide grin. “There is much to discuss! But first, we have something to show you.” 

She looked to the Head Seraphim, as if searching for permission, and was met with a sign. “Go ahead, Emily. We will catch up with you in a moment.”

Apparently, ‘we’ had meant herself and the fallen seraph, as Emily practically dragged Charlie down the empty hall, only saying “You’ll see!” to the princess’ questioning. As soon as the two had passed and no longer had their elders in their sights, Lucifer noted how Sera's practiced smile gave way to a firm line, eyes trained on the retreating duo.

So she had seen it too. 

It was no surprise that Emily and Charlie had been drawn to each other, as another life might’ve had them as siblings. Their passion knew no bounds, and based on how he had greeted Lucifer with kindness, it seemed Emily had the same intentions of seeing the best in people. They were so similar, but it was more than that. Emily’s innocence, his wonder, was very reminiscent of the angel that Lucifer had once been when he had considered this his home. It was clear that Sera feared he would meet a similar fate to the fallen seraph. 

“I am surprised you came,” she settled on saying, inviting Lucifer to walk beside her. Her flowing robes gave her the illusion of floating, but he could see the gentle bob in her step that suggested otherwise. 

“Yes, well, I realized I shouldn’t be letting Charlie deal with these politics on her own.” 

Such casual conversation felt wrong, everything about this felt so wrong. The hellish royalty’s arrival was being kept obscured from the public, so it didn’t seem like they were being taken to court in any official sense. These interactions were all too personal, not allowing Lucifer to distance himself from the turmoil that came with it. The silver eyes that avoided him now were the same ones that watched him fall, wordless. 

She was within reach, a powerful figure but only one person. Those long painful years of hurt and resentment had been simmering just under the surface, yet Lucifer kept it there, not allowing it to burst forth. Though he could be the monster she and the others had made him out to be, it would do no good now. She had taken to protecting Emily all this time later, a shield that no one had cared enough to be for him. 

“Why am I here?” he asked, the contradiction to his previous statement confusing the other.

“I believe you mentioned-”

“Yes, but why is it that I can be here? It was made quite clear to me that I was never to see past the gates again, and yet, you invited me.” Despite rushing to his own conclusions of how he might protect Charlie, it had been Sera who had voiced the possibility. The confusion he had felt upon hearing her words had stirred up memories of many nights spent pleading for answers, begging to know if an apple had truly been worth this fate. He’d prayed to what left he could see of Heaven in the sky, prayed to his Father, and received no answers in return. He would not let himself be ignored again. “What could have possibly changed?”

“This.”

Walking under a high arch, the pair entered a new room, and Sera gestured to where their younger counterparts had gone. The sight that greeted Lucifer was more than just the two of them, though, as a third had joined them. The figure was not unfamiliar, a serpentine soul decked in white and gold and now holding on tightly to the Nephilim that had shown him mercy only months ago.

Sir Pentious.

Lucifer had few interactions with him, but he’d always seemed like the least threatening in the hotel. He made some pretty good cookies too. Still, he’d been the one to make such a bold sacrifice, facing Adam head-on in what had ended up being a futile attempt to protect the people he cared about. The way his friends spoke about him with such fondness, retelling his attempts at being evil as if they were little more than pranks, had the angel wondering on several occasions what could have led to his damnation. He hadn’t seemed like a soul deserving of this eternal punishment, and it turned out he wasn’t.

Charlie had done it. She’d been right all along. Everyone who told her it wasn’t possible, that a sinner wasn’t worth the effort, had been wrong. That included him, he knew, but it had also included Sera.

The High Seraphim had begun recounting how Pentious had arrived in heaven, reformed and confused. The snake had told them of how he died by Adam’s hand, recalling little more than a bright flash of light before waking up there, only to find out shortly after that the first man himself had been killed in the same battle. The Exorcists had been left scrambling without him, but Lute had taken charge instead. 

Lucifer wasn’t really listening. His gaze was fixed on his daughter, standing across the wide room where the rehabilitated sinner had likely entered to greet her. Even from this distance, she looked so happy, her hope renewed in full as they caught up, along with the younger seraph. His own presence hadn’t been noticed yet, and he was content with keeping it that way for now, not wanting to disrupt her joy. 

“You mean to tell me,” he began, his voice a low, resonant growl, “that you brought my daughter before the heavenly court, humiliated her, allowed- no, enabled Adam to make an attempt on her life in a direct violation of not only the deal you made to slaughter my people only once a year but also the one made not to bring harm to her or any hellborn, all for a cause you couldn’t even prove wasn’t possible? I would have killed Adam myself if not for Charlie, she wanted to show him mercy. Despite all this, all the death on my land, there has been a way for souls to be redeemed and you were too scared to even try, because letting my people die was easier to accept than admitting you might’ve been wrong, is that it?” 

When he was met with silence, he tore his gaze away from Charlie to look up at Sera, head hung as she floundered for an answer. It almost brought an ounce of comfort to see she had actually heard him, forced to reflect on his words, when she didn’t have a practiced response prepared about the righteousness of Heaven and how it was all part of her duty. 

“Does Heaven even know he was a sinner?” Lucifer demanded to know. 

“We are discussing how to proceed,” Sera responded, her voice strained. So, no.

Suddenly, the fact he and Charlie had not been brought before the court upon their arrival was making much more sense. It had never been about keeping them away from the public eye, not when his exile had been such a display; countless eyes on countless figures had all been trained on him, much like their spears were. He was an example, a warning, a future horror story. The discretion of today’s meeting had little to do with protecting the return of a traitor, and all the more to do with Sera’s rightful shame and guilt. If they had appeared in court, there was no way to ensure that she wouldn’t have been the one on trial.

“I see.” Lucifer’s voice was cold, despite the heat trapped under his skin, a flicker of flame just itching to be let loose. 

Sera tried to compose herself, a far more difficult task than it had been before the last few weeks unfolded. “We were hoping to discuss with you and your daughter how she intended to proceed with sinners on the path to redemption, as there is much we still don’t know about the process. As for the Exorcists-”

“There is no contract keeping me from sending them into extinction should they come for my people again.” 

To her credit, the seraph seemed to at least have anticipated this response. “They have been informed that their duties may no longer be necessary, but with Adam killed, I cannot predict how they may…”

“Seek revenge?”

“Retaliate.”

Lucifer nearly laughed, as bitter as it would’ve been. “And here I thought dear ol’ Dad’s human boy tried to spread the word of turning the other cheek.”

Sera’s frustration was growing, but any retort on how their leader had been killed, justifying their anger, was overshadowed by how many thousands of sinners they had already slaughtered mercilessly. He also suspected that the mention of their Father had hit a nerve, as in His absence, supposedly trusting that His angels would take care of business, He had become a rather sensitive topic even for the Heaven dwellers. Good. They should know what abandonment feels like. 

“Lucifer-”

“Tell me something, Sera. Do you think it’s important that these human souls choose goodness? To comply only out of fear, out of obligation, or to earn someone’s favor seems rather selfish, doesn’t it? Over half of the deadly sins come from the mind, like pride, one might say, so a soul’s classification is surely dependent on their motivations, why they choose to do something, right?” 

The Seraph was staggered by his words, the shift in demeanor to a much more casual tone as he stepped to stand in front of her. She knew better than to trust it, but at the same time, “Y- yes, I suppose so… They wouldn’t be pure if their actions were not for good reason.”

Lucifer's lips curled upward as if this was the answer he wanted, but his smile seemed twisted, demonic, hysterical. With a strong beat of his wings, his feet left the floor, startling Sera as she stumbled backward. His eyes flashed red, pupils no longer visible, and the golden snake that had been coiled around his hat took the form of a halo in mockery of her own.

From where he now flew over her, the devil leaned in close, smoke curling from his lips. He reveled in the way her eyes widened in something akin to fear. “Remind me who gave them that choice, then,” he hissed. “And if I hadn’t, if all those souls came here, how long would it have taken you to decide they were worth killing again too? If it was ever about overpopulation at all.”

“Dad!”

Lucifer landed elegantly on his feet, devilish traits retreating as he spun on his heel to face his daughter with a far fonder smile. “Charlie, my dear, you've done it!”

Whether it had taken her that long to notice the pair or if she was putting a stop to it before things could get worse, he didn’t know and she didn’t say. Instead, she gestured for him to join her, which he did happily, leaving Sera stunned in her place. 

He greeted the reformed sinner, who was almost bashful as he shook the King’s hand. 

“The irony’s quite funny, don’t ya think?” Lucifer mused with a flick of his forked tongue. “A snake being the first to fall and the first to rise. We’ve made it full circle, it seems.”

“I sssuppose so,” Pentious agreed, put at ease ever so slightly by his playful attitude. 

“We’re still trying to figure out what happened to his egg friends,” Emily pipped up, “but we’ve been getting him settled in!”

Lucifer is sure that more is said, but all he can hear is a ringing in his ears. He could feel the slow approach of Sera from behind him but made no attempt to face her. He had said what he needed to say and then some, so it was back to business as usual. The brightness, the hope in Charlie’s eyes was what kept him grounded, but the same look mirrored in Emily’s face left a nagging sense of worry. He wondered briefly if he had secured their fate in his outburst, giving the Head Seraphim all the more reason to hate the likes of him. He internally pleaded to whatever force was listening that they wouldn’t have to face that but knew he would do anything in his power to catch them, even if not literally, from their potential fall. The Hotel was open to all and given Charlie’s immediate familial attachment to them, he didn’t think she would mind if it came to that. 

“I’m afraid that Emily and I have other duties we must attend to so we cannot keep you here much longer,” Sera spoke, her calmness like a warning. She remained uninterrupted. “Now that we know that redemption is possible, we would like to make this a collaborative project, if possible.” 

Charlie seemed far more subdued with the new attention, likely recalling the events in court. “Of course, that would make the most sense. I would like the chance to discuss it with my frie- my staff, though! We have a lot to figure out, so maybe we can just, um… do you guys accept letters? There must be an easier way to talk than making meetings every time, right?”

Lucifer could feel piercing silver eyes trained on him but only moved to put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“Letters will work, and we have other means if deemed necessary. Your father knows how to deliver them.”

The tense conversation had a quick reprieve as Sir Pentious suddenly gasped, fumbling around to a letter of his own that he had come prepared with. “That reminds me! Pleassse give this to Cherri for me,” he instructed as he ever so reverently handed it to Charlie, his face flushed pink. The princess could only squeal in excitement, ensuring him that she would and that the pyromaniac missed him so much.

As much as Lucifer hated to tear his daughter away from her friends so soon, he was quite eager to end this meeting on a more pleasant note. “Let's not keep them from their work any longer, duckie.”

She nodded in understanding, turning to give her friends a parting embrace. 

While Sera set to work on summoning a portal, Lucifer turned to the younger seraph. “Emmy, was it?”

Though he was almost certain he’d recalled incorrectly, they beamed and nodded. 

“Should you ever be curious to learn more about Hell, our Hotel is always open to visitors. I’m sure Charlie would be delighted to have you.” It was the best he could offer discreetly. 

“Oh! That sounds like so much fun, I would love to! I mean, we are quite busy, but I think that would be really helpful to understand how it works,” Emily chattered excitedly. 

“We’ll make a day out of it then.” 

Unable to help himself, Lucifer reached out to ruffle his hair fondly, mindful of his halo. Any further conversation was cut off as the portal flared into existence just a few feet short of them.

“This meeting has been very… insightful.” Sera’s grimace was nearly unnoticeable if the Devil hadn’t been looking for it, finally facing her. That’s certainly one word for it.

Ensuring that Charlie was ready to go, he slipped his hand into hers once more, finding comfort in the way she gave a gentle squeeze. 

“Pleasure as always talking to you.” A blatant lie. “Give Michael my love.”

As a mercy to him, Charlie pulled him along with her, so his unsteadiness could be blamed on something that wasn’t his discomfort. Thankfully, finally, Heaven was nothing more than a light in the distance once again. They were safe, as secure as one could be in the likes of this place.

After stumbling through the portal, Lucifer was hit with a wave of cool air, ironically so as someone returning to Hell. That was all it took for the adrenaline to crash, all the suppressed emotions that had been under his indignation finally catching up to him. He was suddenly suffocating on nothing and people were approaching, surely to demand answers, making it even harder to breathe. 

Closing in, backing him into a corner, no escape but down. He dropped Charlie’s hand before she could feel the growing tremors.

“Catch up in the morning?” His voice was so quiet, weak. Pathetic. 

One glance was all it took for her to understand, her eyes conveying sympathy- no, pity. “Okay,” she agreed easily, just as softly. In a flurry of feathers, he was gone.

Lucifer collapsed in his room, dark and alone. Isn’t that always how it was, though? He was a mess, a burden that few could shoulder, so even fewer tried, and those who did had left him. Even as he hid his wings, they ached as if they carried the weight of all his sins. He could hear the rapid pounding of his heart against his eardrums in time with the throbbing of his temple where horns had once broken skin, forcing him to adapt to the changes of his body without warning. 

His bed was no more than a few feet away, but he lacked the strength to carry himself, so he accepted his fate on the hardwood flooring. Having fallen to his knees, he clutched at the fabric of his shirt, tugging at it as if it would allow for more room to breathe with each painful wheeze. 

Going to Heaven had just been a reminder of where he didn’t belong. Yet, he continued to feel out of place in the land he called his home. Perhaps there was nowhere for him, and he was destined to be desolate and alone forever.

Truly alone.

Hands still shaking, Lucifer fumbled with his ring, slipping it off as if it was causing him great pain to wear. Without much thought, he threw it across the room, watching it bounce off the wall and skitter across the floor.

“Where the fuck are you? ” he demanded, practically screaming. 

The silence that followed was even more deafening. 

He choked on the first sob, but the dam had finally burst. Tears flowed freely as he hugged himself, tucking into his body to take up the least amount of space possible. No numerical time could be given for how long he wept, but his throat burned, his vision remained bleary, and his voice was effectively ruined. His muscles ached from the tension in which he held himself and each heaving sob that wracked through him, making any hope of him moving himself obsolete.

In the morning, he would be okay. He would crawl over to his discarded ring, muttering apologies that would similarly go unheard and unanswered as he returned it to his finger. He would be able to celebrate Charlie’s success, give her all the praise she rightfully deserves instead of running away. It was only the reasoning that it would end tomorrow that he didn’t try to save himself then. 

He would be perfectly fine when morning came, but for now, he let himself be a broken man, embodying the failure that everyone had said he was.

Lucifer also wouldn’t be sure why he woke up on his mattress anyway, or how his ring had been placed within reach on his bedside table. If anyone had been a witness to the shadow slinking away hours prior, perhaps Alastor might’ve said it would only be an inconvenience if the king had become useless by banishing himself to the floor in such a way that would have him waking in pain. He would most certainly not mention the returning of any favors, or draw attention to the serpent that now branded his repaired microphone. There would be no witnesses when the morning came, though, so Lucifer would have to remain clueless when he did wake, indeed feeling better.