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Chapter Text

"Oh you tacky piece of-" 

"This isn't the Owl House." A new voice interrupted the bickering between Lucifer and Alastor, the music Lucifer's clones had been providing immediately cutting out at the newcomer. 

All eyes turned to see what looked to be a living human standing just inside the hotel in front of a brightly coloured door that hadn't been there before. They had short, curly brown hair, a white witch's hat with a tiara attached just above the brim. She had a white and purple top that almost resembled a tailcoat on, with dark, almost grey, purple trousers with boots that matched their top. An odd, purple snake-like creature, presumably some lower demon of sorts, floating beside them. 

They looked to be about the same height as Lucifer, most of the hotel's residents towering over them, though they didn't seem intimidated in the slightest. 

"This is my Hazbin Hotel?" Charlie was the first to find her voice, though it was more high pitched than usual, her words coming out as a question rather than a statement. "It's to redeem sinners so they can go to heaven?" 

"Oh, that's so cool!" The human's eyes lit up with excitement, the snake demon, for want of a better description, curling around them, its head on their shoulder. 

"You..." Charlie's voice, still higher than usual, trailed off as she pointed at the human. "You're a living human?" 

"Yep," The human nodded, a bright grin on their face. "I mean, I did die like..." They looked at their watch that matched their outfit. "An hour ago, but King's dad brought me back to life with these cool, anime titan powers! Obviously don't have those any more, but I'm good! I'm Luz, the human." 

"Why ya specifyin' that yer human?" Angel Dust asked, a glass of some amber coloured alcohol, forgotten, held by his upper hand halfway to his mouth, pointing at Luz with his left lower arm. 

Luz blinked at him, the snake demon shape shifting into a spider as if in response to Angel talking. 

"Oh, I'm used to being in the demon realm. Not many humas there." Luz laughed awkwardly, noticing everyone was still staring at her and the shapeshifter on her shoulder. "Oh, this is Stringbean, my palisman. She only recently hatched." 

"How are you here?" Vaggie asked, she and Lucifer both looking terrified in combination with shock. 

"The Collector made a portal between the human realm and the demon realm. It worked for going home, but I realised I forgot my phone and went back to get it and it took me here. Though, I guess if this is hell it's also technically a demon realm." The sleeve covering the arm Luz had behind her neck was slowly being dyed red, the movement of the hotel residents' eyes making Luz aware of it too. "Oh shoot, I'm bleeding." 

That made everyone else snap out of their shock, Vaggie rushing to Luz and getting her to sit down on one of the sofas, Charlie rushing off to get the hotel's first aid kit. Healing took less time in hell, but Charlie still thought it was important to have, infections being worse in hell than Earth. Lucifer also approached Luz, the door she had come through having disappeared shortly after she started talking. 

"Are you okay? What happened?" Vaggie's voice, though stressed, was more gentle than it usually was towards anyone who wasn't Charlie. 

"Where do you want me to start?" Luz cringed slightly, pulling her sleeve up to show a very manageable scrape, though the bleeding was nasty. 

"How about what this 'Demon Realm' you were apparently trying to go back to?" Lucifer suggested. 

"I don't know most of it, I only really know the Boiling Isles. It's made from the skeleton of King's dad, who's a titan. Most of the people in the demon realm worship titans like gods, except for titan trappers who killed almost all of the ones that were alive. Demons and witches are native, but it's possible for portals to connect it to the human realm. I honestly thought that's what people saw and thought was hell." Being close to Luz, Vaggie and Lucifer could see the dark bags under her eyes. 

Charlie came back, dressing in hand. Vaggie was the one who bandaged Luz up. 

"I've been up for over 24 hours now, but hey, it's not like Belos was about to wait with his genocide for us to get some sleep." Luz shrugged now that her cut was covered. 

Charlie took Luz to one of the many empty rooms so she could get some sleep, leaving the rest of the hotel so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone, even Nifty, was just silently following Luz with their eyes. 

"Heaven is going to kill us all." Lucifer's voice was low, before he started laughing hysterically, eyes wide and turning red. 

There had only been 2 living humans in hell before; Lilith, and Caine. 

Both were sent as punishment for their sins. Lilith, along with Lucifer, had allowed evil to find Earth by offering the apple to Eve. She had been additionally punished by being unable to birth living children. Caine was sent to hell after being made immortal after he killed Abel. 

Luz was nothing like either of them. She had come to hell through a portal created by someone other than heaven, and from what Lucifer could tell, her soul was one destined for heaven. 

They couldn't go to heaven about this, for one thing Lucifer wasn't able to pass through the golden gates, and the only one who would show up at heaven's embassy was Adam. He would just kill Luz to see where she would go, then blame her early death on hell and use that as an excuse to ignore the deal Lucifer had managed to make to protect the hell born and wipe out all of hell. 

They had to get Luz back to Earth. 

Chapter Text

Luz woke up the next morning to her phone's alarm going off. Oh, so she had it the whole time. Her mum was not going to be happy with her, but it was an honest mistake. 

She had promised her mother not to go somewhere dangerous without telling her again, but she had said she was going back to the Owl House for her phone. It wasn't her fault the Collector had made the portal wrong, or that it disappeared. 

Now she was here, though Luz was dying to explore hell. The real hell, not the Boiling Isles. She could use magic using Stringbean now, and she knew how to fight. Besides, hell didn't seem that bad. 

Luz walked over to the window of the room Charlie had given her the evening before. She had been a lot more tired than she had thought, there had been some crashes while she slept, but she was only half awake for it, the warm bed far more inviting. 

The view out the window was far more alien even than the Boiling Isles had been when she first walked through Eda's portal. Yes, the ground looked much the same as it was on Earth, rather than the skeletal remains of a titan, but it was the sky that sold it. Both realms she had been to before had the same, bright sky lit by the sun, but Hell's sky was red, a pentagram much like the layout of what Luz could see of the city, in the sky, and further away what looked like a biblically accurate angel. There was no sun or clouds to be seen. 

Vaguely, Luz wondered what rain was like in hell. 

"Stringbean, what do you say we explore a little?" Luz turned to her palisman, who was affectionately rubbing her cheek. 

In response, Stringbean flew in front of Luz, looking very wooden as Stringbean grew into a staff. 

Luz smiled, opening the window and taking flight. She assumed it was morning, though it was hard to tell, and there were already a lot of people outside. 

It was a lot more violent than the Boiling Isles ever was, even when you accidentally run into a fairy who will try to steal your teeth. Luz was fine though, flying above the buildings, not many people down below even seeming to notice her. 

----- 

"Um, dad," Charlie's voice was high pitched again, Lucifer having decided to stay until they could get Luz back to Earth, the discussion about a meeting with heaven forgotten. "I can't find Luz." 

"What do you mean you can't find Luz?" Lucifer hadn't calmed down properly since Luz had appeared, but his blood pressure was rising again. "I've been down here since yesterday and I haven't seen her!" 

"I don't know!" Charlie's eyes were also turning red, matching Lucifer's stress. "But I went to her room to check on her and she was gone and the window was open! We looked outside and she was nowhere to be seen." 

"We need to find her! We can't have a living human running around!" Lucifer's voice was just as shrill as Charlie's, the volume of their voices creeping upwards as their stress increased. 

"Vaggie jumped out the window to look for her. It's pretty high for a living human, I think, so she can't have gone far, right?" Charlie's eyes were starting to water; had they scared Luz more than she thought causing her to prefer running away than staying here? 

"Could ya both be quiet?" Angel Dust asked from the top of the stairs, wrapped in a frilly, pink robe, more tired than he usually allowed himself to look. He sounded like his throat was sore, voice half way between a whisper and normal talking. "Some of us worked all night." 

"No, this could get everyone in hell killed as soon as heaven hears of this! We need to keep Luz out of trouble until we can get her back where she belongs!" Lucifer snapped at the sinner demon, who looked too tired to deal with him. 

"I don't really get the deal. She just skipped the death stage." Angel leaned on the banister, running a hand through his hair. "Didn't even seem too freaked out by everything, adapted better than most new sinners." 

"Maybe if it was someone who would go to hell we would be able to get away with it, but she is going to heaven!" Lucifer snapped. 

Angel shrugged, moving to go back to his room to get some more sleep. 

"Don' know if it's useful, but there was someone flyin' when I was comin' back." 

"Charlie, stay here and let me know if Maggie finds her or if she comes back!" Lucifer rushed to the door, Charlie nodding and pulling out her phone and running back to Luz's room. 

Lucifer took flight, his 6 wings being stiff from lack of use, but his fear for Charlie meant he didn't even notice. He didn't even know where to look; Luz wasn't here as a sinner, nor was she dragged here by any demon, so he couldn't even be sure she was limited to the Pride ring like the sinners. 

As far as Lucifer knew humans couldn't fly, but humans also weren't supposed to be able to enter hell before they died. 

In other words, Lucifer doubted if anything he knew about humans applied to Luz. 

"Oops, sorry!" Both Lucifer and the person who had just spoken stopped mid air, almost having crashed into each other. 

It was Luz. 

"Where have you been?" Lucifer demanded, almost as though he was Luz's father. 

"I just wanted to look around. I've never been to hell before. I didn't talk to anyone." Luz shrugged nonchalantly. 

Angel Dust was right that Luz was handling the fact she was in hell better than almost everyone who wasn't hell born. Everyone Lucifer had seen, including himself, had originally been devastated they were now trapped in hell forever, but Luz just seemed interested. It was unlikely to be because she wasn't trapped, because nobody knew how to get her back, Lucifer no longer able to reach Earth after what happened with Eve and the apple. 

"No more exploring hell. Please stay in the hotel from now on, we will look into getting you home." Lucifer was working hard to remain calm so that Luz didn't get scared away leading to a much more drastic chase. 

"But hell is so interesting!" Luz's eyes looked so like Charlie's, and Lucifer found himself almost wishing he could see this shit hole with their eyes, to see the good and wonder this place could hold. 

"Don't care, it's dangerous and the people here are worse. The hotel will be safe for you, please stay there." Lucifer didn't mention the exterminations, when Luz went to heaven if she knew about them it could cause her problems, if heaven allowed her to remember any of this. 

"I've dealt with dangerous before. I ripped Belos out of the heart of the Titan and that was after he almost turned me to stone. The Boiling Isles are hardly safe." Luz shrugged, not taking Lucifer's warning seriously. 

"It's not just dangerous for you," Lucifer sighed, grabbing the staff Luz was flying on, dragging her back to the hotel with it. "Please, just... Stay hidden." 

"I can fly on my own." Luz complained, Lucifer's flight much more jerky than Stringbean's. 

"Oh, you have made that abundantly clear. I just don't trust you to fly back to the tell and not off to who knows where." 

"I was on my way back." 

"Oh, sure you were." 

"I was literally flying towards the hotel. I can fly in front if you want, but this is uncomfortable and Stringbean doesn't like it." Luz put on a burst of speed, Lucifer still holding onto Stringbean, and taking a position a little under an arm's length in front of Lucifer. "Please?" 

Lucifer fixed Luz with a stern look before relenting, flying close behind her back to the hotel. 

Chapter Text

"Why're you askin' me to look after her?" Angel sounded almost offended at Charlie's request, Fat Nuggets in his lower arms as he followed her to the reception area, where Luz was sitting under the watchful eye of Lucifer. 

"Well, you said that you had a sister that you helped look after." Charlie shrugged; she didn't know much about living humans, Vaggie also clearly didn't know what to do with Luz, Alastor would probably try to steal her soul, so Angel was the next person she thought of. 

"A twin sister. Twin. I haven't looked after a kid since I was one." Angel's hands emphasising what he was saying. 

"We can ask someone else to look after her while you're at work, but please, Angel. I'll pay you." Charlie begged. 

"This isn't about the money!" Angel was working hard not to yell at Charlie, knowing she was stressed too. 

"Is that a pig!?" Luz's excitement was obvious as she looked at Fat Nuggets. "Tan lindo!" 

She stayed on the sofa, though she was draped over the back of it and it was clear she wanted to pet Fat Nuggets. Lucifer still glared at her, though it admittedly had lessened since she hadn't tried to leave after getting back. It hadn't really seemed to have affected Luz much anyway. 

"Fine," Angel caved, rolling his eyes. "But you will be paying me babysitter rates." 

"This is Fat Nuggets, a hell hog." Angel held the piglet out to Luz, who squealed, delighted. 

"Can I hold Fat Nuggets?" Luz asked, eyes sparkling. 

"Sure, if you're careful with 'im." Angel sat next to Luz, carefully handing the piglet to her. 

Luz gasped as she touched Fat Nuggets, he was much warmer than she was expecting, like a hot water bottle. He squeaked, wriggling slightly as Angel let go, poking his tongue out. 

Luz stayed on the sofa, cooing over Fat Nuggets as Lucifer went back over to Charlie. 

"Char-char, I know I agreed to get you a meeting with heaven, but could you give me just a little while to set it up. I think I know someone who can send Luz back to Earth, I'll talk to him and after that I will get it set up for you. Just... Please don't put too much hope in this meeting, they don't like listening." Lucifer held Charlie's hand in his, looking her in the eye. 

"Dad, I get it. We aren't supposed to have the living here. If I go to heaven and they find out about Luz it will destroy all of our work." Charlie squeezed his hand, clearly disappointed, but nodding at him anyway. 

"I'll be back, please don't let her out again." Lucifer kissed Charlie on her forehead before heading to the door. 

----- 

"Can I get a drink?" Luz asked, jumping onto one of the bar stools, the stool spinning further than she expected, so she was facing away from the bar again. 

"Kid," Husk raised an eyebrow at her, putting down the bottle he was drinking from. "How old even are you?" 

"15!" Luz answered brightly, spinning the stool back to face him, Charlie sounding like she was choking in the background. 

"Yeah, there's nothing in this bar you can drink. Go to the kitchen for some water and that's all you can have here." Husk waved her away, Luz pouting. 

"Eda would let me." Luz pouted, putting her chin on the bar, though Husk didn't react much, taking another swig of his bottle, careful to keep it out of her reach. 

"Don't know who that is, and don't really care. I do not want to be on the bad side of the king of hell, so no alcohol for the under-aged." Husk shooed her away, though she didn't move. 

"Eda's the Owl Lady, and I've had apple blood and I'm pretty sure that stuff is alcoholic... Though it is sold at Hexide for all ages." As Luz spoke Husk just stared at her, unimpressed. 

"Do I look like a damn owl?" Husk growled. "And I don't give a shit if you drank before, I aint riskin' my life to give a 15 year old kid alcohol." 

"Isn't this hell?" Luz asked, sitting upright at Husk's words. "Aren't you already dead?" 

"Yes, but we can die again and I would rather not." Husk just finished his bottle, going back to cleaning. 

"Is 15 young for humans?" Charlie, who had been watching the conversation, asked. 

"Kinda?" Vaggie shrugged, she may have lived all the life she remembers in heaven, but she had a little more understanding of humans than Charlie. "You're old enough for some independence, but you still have 3 years until you're an adult, and if you're in America then it's 6 more years until you can legally drink. In most places you can't get married either." 

"Oh, but 3 years isn't that long." Charlie waved her hand, thinking about how her mother had been gone for 7. 

"How long do you think humans live?" Angel asked, looking Charlie up and down. 

"I don't really know, uh... 150 years?" Charlie shrugged, most sinners died early either due to their sins like Angel, or by coincidence like Alastor. 

Angel choked at her answer. 

"No, some can get to 100, but it's not that common. You're old by 65, and like Vagina -" Vaggie glared at Angel - "said, you're usually an adult at 18. 15 is young." 

"I may be young but I already defeated a genocidal cult leader!" Luz called over, spinning in the chair so she could look at the rest of the hotel residents. 

----- 

Trying not to panic when the king of hell came to your door on a day you couldn't gather the energy to get dressed was stressful enough as it was. It was only made worse when Lucifer asked Stolas for his grimoire to make a portal to Earth, though he wouldn't say why. 

The problem being Stolas' relationship with Blitz. 

Every full moon the two would spend the night having very kinky sex, and Blitz would bring the grimoire so Stolas could do his job, but for the rest of the time Blitz used the grimoire for his very illegal company; IMP. 

If anyone found out about it they would both be in deep trouble, and only recently Blitz had managed to get himself and one of his employees kidnapped by some human organisation. Stolas had been forced to summon himself to Earth to save them, and while it had all worked out fine, it had still been far too close. 

Now Stolas wasn't sure they had managed to get away with it. 

"I'm sorry for this sudden request, but I really need to have access to Earth. It shouldn't take long, but I need to borrow your grimoire." Lucifer spoke to Stolas very politely as the prince going through a publicly messy divorce sat across from him, wearing an ill-fitting robe that wasn't even closed properly. 

Lucifer's hair wasn't neat, though it looked deliberately messy unlike Stolas' bed feathers. He was wearing a pink and white suit, with his signature apple cane and the snake, apple, and crown on his top hat. 

"Uh, I am honoured to be able to assist you, your majesty." Stolas stumbled through the sentence, his mind working overtime to try to come up with an excuse that wasn't illegal. "But my daughter is currently trying to study magic, and I believe she took it. She's not ready for that kind of magic yet, but I'm sure you know children. She's not staying here at the moment. When the grimoire comes back I will be sure to tell you. I would rather not let Via know I'm aware she took it." 

Stolas had no idea if Lucifer bought his excuse or not, but he hoped that it was a reasonable enough lie. It was certainly true that Via was showing interest in magic, though he was hesitant to teach her. His magic had been decided for him since he was born, and he was scared to push her down the same path. She was also in a phase where she hated both of her parents, though he couldn't pretend he didn't know why - they hated each other after all. 

Lucifer sighed, making Stolas jump. 

"I do need it as soon as I can, but I would also rather not bring attention to this issue. Please let me know as soon as you have it, I'll be sure to compensate you for the inconvenience." Lucifer stood, offering Stolas a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes - Stolas had made it through. 

"I'm honoured to be of assistance." Stolas bowed as Lucifer left. 

Once the door closed Stolas let the panic surface, rushing to the phone to call Blitz. 

Chapter Text

"Oh, hey! My texts are going through!" Luz announced excitedly. 

When in the Boiling Isles her messages had stopped going through after she destroyed Eda's portal after handing it over to Belos. It had caused a lot of problems, and now she thought about it; if she hadn't destroyed the portal she would never had found the time pools and met Phillip Wittebane, so she could never become part of his plan. But she would have been knowingly helping the evil emperor. She have played right into his hand like an idiot, but she at least wasn't deliberately helping the man who wanted the beautiful Boiling Isles destroyed. 

"Who're ya textin'?" Angel lent of the back of the sofa Luz was sitting on, popsicle in hand. 

"My mum, she's not too happy about this happening again. They're trying to get back in contact with Collector because apparently they left already." Luz showed him her phone. 

Her mother texted normally, and Luz used an abundance of cat emojis. 

"What kinda name is 'Collector'?" Angel, in his glass house, threw stones at the name. 

"I dunno, I didn't name him. They're the youngest Archivist and kinda a god? So's King... I have 2 little siblings who are gods." Luz blinked twice, Angel staring at her, not sure if she was being serious. "Anyway, do you know The Good Witch Azura?" 

"Who?" 

"It's only the best book series! It's getting a live action adaptation this year, and I'm so excited! And nervous... It's so gay in the book and I'm worried they're going to ignore all of that and make Azura fall for the villain. It's really popular for those kinds of relationships at the moment, but after everything he did to her she would never love him. Plus she's so obviously in love with Hecate and no, I am not biased because my awesome girlfriend cosplayed her while I was cosplaying Azura." Luz rambled on, Angel nodding, eyes a million miles away. 

"Why would people prefer she end up with the person who hurt her?" Charlie asked, Angel slowly backing away from the conversation he had accidentally caused. 

"I know! Hecate started off in a less than friendly position but over time they grew to be close and they worked together to defeat the villain while he has done everything to hurt Azura! She's cried because of his actions so many times! They just think villains are hot!" Luz waved her hands around wildly as she ranted, Charlie nodding along with her, listening. "Oh! And another thing, he's old enough to be her grandfather! I just know the films are going to make him a teenage white boy!" 

"I like bad boys!" Nifty popped up from under the sofa Luz was sitting on, a giant needle in her hand, her eye crazed. 

"Then have him!" Luz yelled. It was unnecessary, but Nifty didn't seem to mind. 

All heads turned to the stained glass doors at the front of the hotel opened. It wasn't very common for people to come to the hotel, usually exploding a wall to get in rather than using the door, and when they did they would knock. 

"Hello, welcome to the Hazbin Hotel, are you here for redemption?" Charlie was by the door before anyone else could move, eyes sparkling at the idea. 

"I don't need-" 

"Is that freaking Belos!?!?" Luz yelled, on her feet and pointing at the newcomer, her stance like a square. 

"Who?" Angel was on his feet again, in front of Luz, though his lanky body wasn't doing much to hide him from view. 

"The genocidal cult leader who killed me!" Luz yelled, looking around Angel, poking her tongue out at him. 

"So you ended up in hell, I did try to save your soul, but you were too far gone already." The sinner at the door, clad in tattered robes much like the ones he wore as Emperor Belos, though now his mask had become fused to his face. 

Like Alastor, Belos had become part deer, though it looked horrifying, face and antlers made of gold. 

"'Too far gone' my butt, Belos! The portal just went to the wrong place! You're the one who went to hell after you died! I met the titan and got his powers so-" Luz pulled her tongue out as far as she could to the man. Light glyphs were forming in her pupils, though nobody noticed. 

"A bad boy." Nifty laughed manically, already standing on his chest, her face in his. 

"Get this thing off me!" Belos demanded, clearly still used to be in charge. 

"That's a very rude way of talking to people, Mr Belos. If you want to stay here you're going to need to be polite to the other residents, and our staff." Charlie picked Nifty off Belos, though she chastised him in a soft voice. 

"I don't need to stay in this hotel, I need to speak with heaven. There must have been a mistake, I belong in heaven-" 

"You murdered your own brother, then created people from his bones and then killed them. You started a cult, manipulated a child god, tried to kill everyone in the Boiling Isles, then stole Raine's body, then took over King's dad's body, then killed me! None of that is in the bible!" Luz yelled from behind Angel, whose arms were lowered protectively to cover her even as she poked the bear. 

"Murdering your brother is the sin that Cain committed in the bible though. It got him cursed and banished." Vaggie corrected Luz, angelic steel spear in her hand. 

"I had no choice." The sadness in Belos' voice was so obviously fake, Angel's anger showing on his face. 

"Mr Belos, I cannot get you a meeting with heaven, but you can see their embassy tower over there." Charlie pointed. She wanted to believe in the good in every sinner, but if she had to look after a living human, then letting the person who tried to kill that person previously was a bad idea. Maybe it could help Belos' redemption, but it could spell doom for the rest of hell. "I'm sorry, but under these circumstances I can't let you stay." 

"Hey, Husky, keep an eye on Luz for me?" Angel's smile didn't reach his eyes when he looked at Husk, the bartender sighing and rolling his eyes, but agreeing. 

"She ain't comin' to the bar though." Husk glared at Luz, though she was happily being distracted by Charlie asking more about The Good Witch Azura. 

Angel left through the front, though as he drew his guns he met Vaggie with her spear raised. The two didn't exchange a word, simply nodding at each other and following the trail of Belos. 

Chapter Text

"I'm sorry," Adam raised a hand to silence the sinner in front of him, he certainly didn't mean the apology. "I must be misunderstanding something. You did what? And expect to go where?" 

He had been forced to deal with religious fanatics before, Sera's requirement for the exterminations being that he or Lute handled these kinds of meetings with those in hell. He was sick of such people, committing every sin listed in the bible, and then claiming it was all in the name of the one who had set such rules in the first place. 

He had even promised and delivered a year off exterminations if they were all handed over for extermination together. So why was he dealing with another one? At least he seemed injured already, perhaps someone had tried to do his job for him. 

"I did the lord's work by trying to rid the world of the worshippers of false gods. Unfortunately I was too late to save my brother and another human, a young girl named Luz. I was forced to take drastic action to prevent them from greater sins." Everything about this sinner was a carefully calculated act, from the tone of his voice to his word choice, to his body language. 

Adam felt like a knife had been put through his chest as he realised what the sinner had meant. 

He had killed his own brother. 

Adam had never been a good father, unlike Eve, who took to it like a fish to water, and had failed to connect to his other two sons like he had Abel. It was worse than being kicked out of Eden when he discovered Cain had killed Abel. He hadn't even had time to react before he had lost his second son on the same day. 

If he could have loved them as Eve did would things have turned out better? 

And this motherfucker thought he could get into heaven not despite of that, but because of it? 

"Lute, you deal with this little bitch." Adam waved at his second in command as he left. 

He left, heading straight to the little garden Abel kept. It was one of the only places Adam would remove his mask, though it was also the only place he might run into Eve outside of the library she lived in. 

Both Adam and Eve had developed horns when they got to heaven, unlike any other winners. Sera had told them it was because of their sin in the garden of Eden. Eve embraced it, though not many saw her with her self-imposed isolation in the library. Adam on the other hand broke them off every time he could, but they would always grow back eventually. 

"Abel!" Adam called, taking the mask off, his horns having grown back just enough to be visible past his hair. 

"Dad?" Abel looked up at him, he was still alone, but it looked like he was expecting someone, and it certainly wasn't Adam. "Is something wrong?" 

"Does something have to be wrong for me to want to see you?" 

----- 

"No, sorry, but you can't go out with them. You could get killed, Luz." Charlie was talking very quickly, having just shoved handfuls of cash into Cherri's hands to take the residents out for the night. 

Lucifer was busy with something, and while it wasn't ideal, that meant it was up to Alastor to watch Luz. 

"Oh come on! I survived the Boiling Isles and Belos! I can survive hell!" Luz whined, Cherri distracted by Sir Pentious asking what he was supposed to do. 

"Sorry, but like I said, you just can't." Charlie threw Vaggie through the portal, walking through after her. 

"Angel," Luz turned to the spider sinner demon who looked exhausted, even if he was agreeing to go out with Cherri and the rest of the hotel residents. 

"No." Angel didn't even let her finish asking before giving his answer. 

"Come on bitch, she can come." Cherri draped an arm around Luz's shoulder, seemingly taking the opportunity to avoid Sir Pentious. 

"Look, if you want Lucifer to be on your ass then fuck it, but don't get me in the middle." Angel shook his head, pulling Luz away from Cherri. 

"The fuck does Lucifer care? We are talking about the fucking king of hell, right?" Cherri didn't look like she believed him. 

"I'm supposed to stay at the hotel," Luz pouted, crossing her arms. "But it's so boring." 

"Well shit." Cherri muttered. "Sorry, bitch, but if you can get out let me know and I'll be sure to get you a good time." 

"Cherri," Angel's tone was stern, top pair of arms folded, lower arms on his hips, managing to achieve both poses a disappointed mother might take. "No." 

"Jeez, fine." Cherri raised her hands in surrender, slipping a card into Luz's pocket. 

"Call me." Cherri mouthed, Luz nodding excitedly. 

----- 

"How about a deal, my dear?" Alastor's ever present smile looked sinister as ever as Luz looked up from her phone with a raised eyebrow. 

"What kind of deal?" 

"Well, I'll help you get home and away from all this danger, and in return you do something for me." Alastor's voice was dangerously light, though Luz looked unimpressed. 

"No thanks. I'm the first human witch, I'm not making such a vague deal with a demon. Besides, hell is fine. It's just boring being cooped up. They've managed to find out where Collector is, but getting in contact with them is much harder." Luz turned back to her phone. 

Luz's phone was, perhaps, the only one in the entirety of the Pride ring that wasn't even slightly under Vox's control as it was from Earth. 

"Though, if you could get me some food then I... Could tell you some fun hell facts I know." Luz offered as her stomach growled. 

"Deal." 

----- 

"Hey, this is delicious!" Luz's eyes were practically sparkling. 

She had been expecting food more like in the Boiling Isles, which she was only 70% sure was actually edible for her, though it hadn't killed her yet. However, Alastor had made normal human food. It was some kind of seafood dish she had never eaten before, but nobody could deny it was delicious. 

"I'm glad you enjoy it my dear. Now, what are these... Facts you promised me?" Alastor leaned on his arms as he watched Luz eat. 

"Hmm, well for starters it's not in the Bible, they reference an unpleasant place on Earth, but it's not hell. It was originally a frozen wasteland, but after looking into a volcano people started describing it with fire." Luz had done a lot of research into hell and demons for fanfictions before, though not many people had read them. "Oh, and Lucifer is actually a Roman deity with a sibling called Noctifer. When the Romans took over Christianity he was shifted over." 

"How very interesting." 

Chapter Text

The only thing that went well with Charlie and Vaggie's meeting was that heaven still didn't know about Luz. They had failed to convince heaven of the ability to rehabilitate sinners, and Adam had even told them they were going to the hotel first. 

And apparently Charlie hadn't been aware that Vaggie was an angel. 

And with the group Cherri had taken out for the night, it seemed to have ended on a lower note too, Angel having been forced to confront his shitty boss (Luz was pretty sure this Valentino owned Angel's soul, but she couldn't be sure), who Nifty had then stolen from. And for Sir Pentious, his obvious crush on Cherri hadn't progressed at all, rather resulting in him spending a lot of money. 

In fact, the only demon (or angel) who seemed pleased with the events that had taken place was Alastor. He had seemed very interested in what Luz told him from her hours spent researching for her fanfics, and seemed more amused than anything to hear about the other groups' disasters. 

"Legs, you good?" Husker slid a drink to Angel who was staring at a knot in the wood of the bar. 

"Fine, just..." Angel ignored the straw, downing the drink in one. "Just, trying to guess how work's gonna go." 

"Don't think too hard, can't change shit at this point. I'll be here when you get back." Husk sounded as gruff as usual, looking at a bottle he was drinking from rather than the sinner he was addressing, but it was a sign of affection he didn't usually show. 

Angel flashed a quick smile at Husk as he took the empty glass, replacing it with the same again. 

Luz was sitting with them, so neither were going into specifics, but they both knew how bad it could get. Angel earned Valentino enough money that the use of an angelic weapon was unlikely, at least with the intent to kill, but that was far from the only thing that could be done. It was hard to be sure Angel would even be able to leave to get back to the hotel, Husk was promising what could be several days of sleepless nights just to make sure Angel didn't have to lose face in front of anyone else. 

Luz had stopped trying to get Husk to give her alcohol, though he still had to guard the bar to stop her from stealing some, and was drawing a picture of Amity at the bar. Her eyes kept flicking back to Angel, though, frowning slightly at his tone. 

All eyes were drawn to the apple stained glass doors when the surprisingly loud sound of footsteps echoed from outside, a tall shadow visible through the glass. The knock seemed to spur the others into action. 

"Luz, go upstairs." Angel took her drawing, shoving it at Husk to put away, with his other arms pushing Luz towards the stairs. 

"Why?" Lux whined, though she got no response other than a stern look from Angel. 

Once Luz was out of sight from the lobby, Sir Pentious opened the door. She couldn't hear what was going on, which only told her it wasn't a fight. 

Irritated, Luz decided to visit Fat Nuggets in Angel's room after grabbing String Bean from hers. When opening the door to Angel's room, however, she didn't see the sweet little pig that could usually be found there if not with the sinner he belonged to. The curtain was waving in the breeze left by an open window. 

Wait... 

Not open; broken. 

As it had many times before, Luz's body reacted before she had consciously decided to. 

----- 

"Okay, it's safe to come down now!" Angel called, approaching his own room after seeing that Luz wasn't in hers. 

His gut dropped from seeing his open door; an open door on its own wasn't exactly a terrible sign, but the silence that it held scared him. Last night he had talked back to Valentino, and now there was suspicious silence coming from the room that should hold one of the most talkative humans he knew and his delightfully social hell hog. 

The hell hog who was a gift... 

Oh fuck! 

"The fuck are you going?" Husk called as Angel ran to the door, the royal visitor having only left a moment ago. He didn't usually go to work at this time. 

"Luz and Nuggets aren't upstairs!" Angel yelled, already out the door. Hopefully Charlie wouldn't kick him out for this, but how was he supposed to know she would be leaving through the window when she hadn't for several days. 

He had no idea where to start, running to underneath his window in the hopes there was something indicating their direction. If it did involve Valentino then he was unlikely to see shit, Valentino and Luz both capable of flying. 

Sending thanks to whatever being out there cared about the sinners of hell, Angel saw the trail he recognised as a hell hog's. Most were kept as livestock, in fact Angel hadn't met a single other demon, sinner or otherwise, who kept one as a pet. 

In fact, the gift had probably been intended as an insult, as it was after Angel had had a breakdown due to the overly reductive diet Valentino had forced on him before. Angel wasn't even sure he was able to gain weight now he had died, his body certainly hadn't changed. 

Angel didn't know if Luz had also found Fat Nuggets' trail, but it was the only one he had to try to find them both. There was no trail beside Nuggets', letting Angel breathe a sigh of relief, no evidence of Valentino being involved yet. He wouldn't fly and let Nuggets walk, if only for the reason of speed. 

After 10 minutes of running Angel found Luz, Fat Nuggets in her arms and her own pet wrapped around her neck outside one of the bars he would frequent when he wanted to get broken enough to be bumped down from Valentino's favourite toy. A few other demons were eyeing her excitedly in a way that Luz didn't seem to notice, but made Angel's blood boil. 

"Where the fuck have you been?" Angel hissed, grabbing Luz and pulling her into the only bar there with decent, though still not great, bouncers. 

"I didn't mean to, but when I saw the broken window I just had to make sure Fat Nuggets was okay." Luz Mumbled, holding the pig in front of her face, not looking at Angel. 

Fat Nuggets was nothing like King, but even though it had only been about a week she missed her friends and family, the human and the demon realm dwellers. Fat Nuggets was similarly small and cute, and thinking he had been stolen reminded her of her return to the human realm when Collector pulled King from her grasp as the world was destroyed around them. Even knowing King was fine didn't let her forget the fear and gut wrenching guilt of that moment. 

Angel sighed, running a hand through his hair as he took Nuggets back from Luz, sending a quick text to Husk to let him know Luz was found. 

"Fine, what's done is done, but don't do this again. Send Stringbean-" 

"Angel~" An all too familiar voice made Angel's hair stand on end as he tried to hide Luz behind him with his only free hand. "Come to Daddy~" 

"Valentino," Angel tried to calm himself down, out of the corner of his eye seeing the bouncers turn away from them. So much for being decent. "What brings you here?" 

Despite Angel's best efforts, Luz peered around him, visible to Valentino. There was no way Angel could take on the other sinner right now, especially not if he had to look after Luz and Fat Nuggets. At least at the club he'd had Husk and Cherri for backup, and even Valentino had seemed put off by Nifty. Besides, this bar was too empty. 

"Oh," Luz nodded, though her eyebrows were furrowed, "Bad boss." 

"You brought fresh meat," Valentino's delight made Angel want to throw up, but before he could react Valentino had already pulled Luz's sleeve up, licking her entire forearm. 

It hadn't seemed to work on Charlie, but Valentino's saliva was effectively a drug. It was how he starts to control people. 

"Ew! What the heck!?" Luz pulled her arm back, the glyph appearing in her eyes again as Valentino's saliva on her arm caught fire, it was a blue, almost invisible flame. "What? Why is your saliva alcohol based?" 

Honestly the amount of disgust Luz's voice managed to hold while her arm was literally on fire was impressive. Angel would have clapped had it not been for Valentino standing so much taller than them both, range growing and the bouncers now spurred into action, blocking the doors. 

Angel was seriously never coming back here.  

"Valentino, I- I'll be in later, she's not really good at this." Angel stuttered, looking between Valentino and Luz, only hoping that Luz could get out of here. Valentino would probably be satisfied just making his afterlife hell, keeping Fat Nuggets as a thread tying Angel to him. 

"You're coming in now. Daddy needs to teach you how to behave." Valentino was as angry as he had been when Charlie had come to the studio that time. He didn't even bother with the chain of their contract, perhaps worried Angel would resist it again, grabbing his wrist. 

"Get your hands off him!" Luz grabbed Valentino's wrist, pulling him off Angel and transforming into the Titan form she had gained during her fight with Belos. 

She gained significant height, though she was still shorter than Angel and Valentino, and from the point she had touched the moth, he caught fire. Despite his alcoholic saliva, the flames that encased his body were the typical orange hue. 

"I'm back baby!" Luz cheered, letting go of Valentino as he staggered, cursing in pain. "Wait, I mean... Can't keep me away... Uh..." 

"Okay, I think we need to go." Angel didn't bother to let Luz try to figure out what she wanted to say, grabbing her by the shoulders and guiding her outside and back towards the hotel, the bouncers backing away, clearly not wanting the same treatment as Valentino. 

Chapter Text

"Okay," Angel caught the attention of the group on the ground floor, Lucifer having shown up after being told about the visitor earlier. "Before you get mad at me it's not my fault. I found Luz, but this happened." 

Luz walked in too, very clearly different to before; her hair longer and purple, 2 pale horns on her head, her eyes having turned black and gold. She looked demonic, though none of them had ever seen a demon who looked how Luz did now. Her feet also looked like claws. 

"And Valentino is on fire." Angel finished, trying to keep his voice light, as though that would somehow erase the chaos that had befallen hell and himself since she showed up. 

"Angel, what the fuck!?" Vaggie demanded, everyone staring at Luz, who was trying to slink away. 

Angel supposed he was lucky it was Vaggie, not Lucifer who was demanding answers. Of course, it was possible that Lucifer was just too mad to yell at him. 

Lucifer was looking at Luz more intensely than anyone else, frowning slightly. His eyes had narrowed slightly, but it didn't look like he was glaring. 

"Angel.... What...?" Charlie's voice was high pitched, clearly worried as she looked Luz up and down again. 

"I have no fucking clue. One moment she looked normal human, the next this." Angel gestured to Luz with all 4 hands. 

"Titan powers!" Luz cheered, raising both arms in the air as though she had just scored a winning goal. "I thought I had lost them for good, but they came back when I got mad at the moth man." 

"Titan..?" Charlie asked, an almost maniacal smile pulling at her lips. 

"The god of the Boiling Isles and King's dad. I met him when Belos killed me and he brought me back to life with these powers!" Literal light came out of Luz's eyes as she spoke excitedly, the light glyphs activating from her emotion. The basic glyphs followed Luz's clawed hands as she moved them. 

"So, by Belos killing you, you mean..." Vaggie wasn't sure she actually wanted to know, but seeing how Luz was so clearly alive she thought it was some kind of exaggeration. 

"Oh! I disintegrated, into moss. He was aiming at the Collector, but... You know... That's a child." Luz tried not to think too hard about what had happened. She may be alive enough to freak out Lucifer, but she was still in hell. 

She wasn't even in heaven, so there would be no point looking for her father. At least her phone was still connected, and they were all trying to get in contact with the Collector to get her back. It was better than after her first time fighting Belos, when she had been forced to destroy the door. 

"Luz," Angel was the first to find his voice again. "You're a child." 

"No, I'm a teenager." 

"That's a fucking kid!" Husk yelled from behind the bar. 

Lucifer still seemed to not be able to speak, his mouth moving, but no words coming out. He looked scared looking at Luz, but not in the way he had before when she had first showed up in hell. That was a fear of something he knew, something he understood, even if he didn't have much of a chance of changing it. 

This fear look like it struck him to the core, in the way that humans feared the shadows in the dark, sounds that went bump in the night, or the fear of unseen evils. 

Whatever was going on with Luz was something he had never seen before. 

"Dad?" Charlie's voice brought Lucifer back to himself as Luz and Husk argued over if she was a child or not. "Didn't you have something to tell Luz?" 

"Right... Luz, do you... Know how to, uh..." Lucifer found his words failing him as he called out to the impossible person in front of him. 

"Yeah? I don't really know how I activated this again, and I don't know how to lose it either." Luz shrugged, surprisingly unbothered by the drastic change in her form. 

"Uh-huh." Lucifer nodded, still staring at her. 

"Do you know anything about it?" Luz asked, tilting her head to the side slightly. 

"Oh, no... This wasn't something made by God so..." Lucifer gestured to Luz, though it was clear he was talking about the Titan powers. 

"According to our dear Luz here, it sounds like you aren't a product of God either." Alastor smiled down at Lucifer, making Luz blush. 

"I didn't say that! I said he's not from the Bible! Lucifer was originally a Roman god, that's all!" Luz shouted, red grass starting to grow around her feet. "By the way, what angel level were you, because people don't really agree." 

"Huh? Um... Seraphim, why?" Lucifer looked between Luz and Alastor, mildly concerned at why Luz had told the radio demon such a thing. He was most certainly one of God's creations, in his youth he had even been favoured by her. 

"Oh! Because pop culture usually calls you an Archangel, but religion calls you either a Seraphim or a Cherubim." Luz shrugged. "I'm just curious for fanfic reasons." 

"They say I'm a fucking Cherub!?" Lucifer demanded, sounding as offended as Luz had calling out Valentino's alcoholic blood, a truly inappropriate thought to have popped into Angel's head. 

"Well... In the ones where Cherubim are among the top of heaven's hierarchy." Luz shrugged. 

"Dad!" Charlie tried to pull the conversation back to the reason Lucifer had come to the hotel in the first place. 

"Right, sorry, shut up." Lucifer put a hand in Alastor's face before he could even start to speak. "Luz, when you find out how to get rid of this I think I can send you home. I won't be able to use the spell, but there is one that can create portals to Earth. Charlie can open it for you, and you can go home." 

Luz smiled, small balls of light popping up around her. She wanted to explore hell a whole lot more than she already had, but if she could get home sooner, then when they did get in contact with the Collector she could come back to explore hell with her family. 

Maybe they'd even be able to visit heaven... 

Visit her dad. 

"I don't see why I can't go like this, call it a cosplay! I mean, I was cosplaying for Halloween before. I'm sure I could come up with a character, and the Frogvasion anniversary is a bit after Halloween, so maybe around now!" 

"Frog... Vasion?" Charlie asked, though the rest of the hotel were just as confused. 

"Yeah, when a bunch of spaceships containing giant frogs, toads, lizards, and other animals invaded Earth and a girl with blue anime superpowers fought them off! It was so freaking cool, but a bunch of people still claim it was some kind of hoax or advertisement." Luz wished she could meet the girl involved, especially now she also had cool anime powers. She really wished they could be friends. 

Angel opened his mouth, before closing it again, not speaking a word. "You know what, not gonna question shit." 

Angel walked back to the bar with Husk, where a drink was immediately slid over to him. 

"Uh, um... I can try to open the portal." Charli coughed, trying to get the conversation back on track again. She was a little nervous, never having used this kind of magic before. "Where do you live?" 

"Gravesfield Connecticut." Luz nodded, walking over to Charlie. 

Charlie nodded, opening the Grimoire to find the spell to Earth. There were a lot of spells in this book, containing most of the information to read the stars, and the spells that came with them. 

The same wall that had held the door the Collector had made back when Luz came in now held the glowing portal that showed evergreen trees and a wooden sign. The sign had "Gravity Falls" written on it, below pointing to several different tourist attractions. 

"That isn't Gravesfield." Luz pointed at what they could see through the portal. "That's Gravity Falls. I'm not sure where that is, and I don't have much money on me!" 

"Sorry!" Charlie looked through the book for a second time. "I can try again." 

This time, though, the portal opened even further away, clearly showing Mount Fuji in Japan. At least Gravity Falls was in an English speaking country. 

"Could Luzzzz'sssssssss new magic be affecting thissssss ssssssssssspell?" Sir Pentious asked. 

Chapter Text

"Can I go out now?" Luz looked thrilled as she bounced up to Lucifer, all of them having decided to give up on the grimoire for now. 

"No." Lucifer immediately shut her down. 

"Why?" Luz whined. "I look like a demon now!" 

"Not to angels you don't." Lucifer crossed his arms. With Luz's new height she was taller than him, though he seemed to be struggling to find her eyes. "And you can still die. Hell is not a place for people like you." 

"Excuse you! I managed to defeat the guy who took over the island I was standing on! I think I can handle a little scuffle in hell." Luz pouted crossing her arms. 

"Are you bullet proof?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow in response to Luz's childishness. 

"How would I know? I don't even think there are guns in the Boiling Isles." Luz shrugged. 

"There are guns in hell, we're not risking it." Angel called over from the bar. 

"Exactly. You are staying in the hotel until we can get you close enough to home." Lucifer crossed his arms. "That's final." 

----- 

"King said he's managed to get through to the Collector, but it will take a while before he can come back. I don't know how long a while is, but if we haven't heard any more by September then just use that book you told me about. I'll figure something out." Luz felt guilty as she heard the grainy but tired voice of her mother over the phone. She had already been in hell for half a month and was no closer to getting home. 

They had tried the grimoire twice more, but it was only getting to more and more inconvenient places. It was hard enough on her mom to have to take care of her friends while they were stuck on Earth, she was just one woman working at a community vet. There was no way she could afford plane tickets or whatever from whatever strange place Luz found herself in. And there was however long Luz had to stay there. 

"I love you mami." Luz couldn't think of anything else to say. 

"I love you too, I just hope I can see you soon." Camilla's voice was soft, Vee's voice joining in the background to say goodbye too before the call ended. 

Half a month in the same hotel with the same people was boring, so Luz would sneak out pretty regularly. So far Lucifer still hadn't found out. 

There were giant lifts to other levels in hell, and the other levels were less violent than Luz had to admit the Pride ring was. 

She didn't really know which ring she was in right now, but it was rather serene, lots of large houses and gardens, and not all that many people - well demons - around. 

Luz's attention was caught by a young looking demon dressed rather alternatively than those around her trying to get the attention of an older demon in an ill-fitting dressing gown on the phone as stuff got thrown around. They both looked like birds, owls really. It reminded Luz of Eda, though the demon girl's colour scheme was more like Lilith's while she was still under Belos. 

When the demon's attempt to get the other's attention ended up being useless, Luz noticed her sneaking out. 

Hoping to make a new friend, she hopped down from the perch she had found for herself, landing behind the demon. 

"Hello!" Luz's greeting was loud and cheery, startling the demon. "I'm Luz." 

"Octavia..." The demon owl straightened herself out, recovering from the startle Luz had given her. "Do you... Want something from me?" 

"Hmmm, nope!" Luz rocked back and forth on her feet, hands behind her back. "I just saw your conversation earlier and wondered if you wanted to talk about it." 

"And why would I talk about it with you?" Via looked Luz up and down with suspicion, but it didn't throw the titan cross human off at all. 

"Well, for one I don't know either you or the person you were talking to, so I'm objective, and for two I'm the one offering. It can make it easier... Also I have no idea where I am and I kinda need to get back to the Pride ring soon or I'll be in trouble." 

"If I take you there will you leave me alone?" Octavia offered with a sigh, but she liked being around this Luz more than either of her parents at the moment. 

"If you want me to." Luz nodded, though she hoped she could talk a little while longer. Octavia didn't want to explode on people like she had in class about the fact that she had been the one who let Belos get the Collector in the first place, and that the Boiling Isles would have been better off without her. "Who was that you were trying to talk to anyway?" 

"My dad. He promised to show me a meteor shower tonight, but he's too busy being mad at her." Octavia failed at keeping her voice steady, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to comfort herself. 

"Oh," It was unexpected, Luz had managed to have many conversations with people about their dads without feeling like this before, it wasn't even the anniversary of his death, but the sudden mention of a broken promise with Octavia's father made her feel like she had been stabbed in the chest. "I- I'm sorry, that really sucks." 

"What?" Octavia suddenly rounded on her, making Luz take a step back. "You think I'm being stupid because your dad always keeps his promises?" 

"My dad is dead." Luz looked away, starting to walk again, her hands shaking. "We had so many promises he couldn't keep." 

"Sorry I-" Octavia's voice died as she tried to think of something to say. She hadn't meant to snap at Luz, but everyone had always belittled how she felt about her relationship with her parents. The people she interacted with were all the same; they were all the children of arranged marriages. Promises from their parents meant nothing. "I just don't understand why he hates her more than he loves me." 

"Her?" 

"My... My mum. I know they never loved each other, but it's just one night." Octavia kept her head turned from Luz as they walked. 

"My girlfriend always wanted to compete in this semi-underground fight ring, but it ended up being on the same day as something her mom wanted her to attend." Luz couldn't relate her own circumstances to Octavia's, but maybe Amity's experiences would speak to her. "Her dad sent an abomination to make sure that she went to the other event, but we tricked it into leaving so she could go to the fight. To be honest, I was being an awful girlfriend that day, I was jealous I guess... I wish I could have issues like that with my dad. In the end he arrived at the fight and tried to make her leave, but she managed to tell him why the fight was so important to her. It was because he had won it when he was her age. He noticed more about her than her mother ever did, but he was always busy and distracted, it was the first time in years they had talked properly." 

"And what does that have to do with this?" Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow as they approached the private portal the hell royalty had permission to use, she didn't know the magic to make her own yet. 

"You want to see this thing because it's time for just you and your dad, right? A moment between you that you want to share?" Luz turned to look at Octavia, who looked away and nodded. "Rather than running away, force him to talk to you. Interrupt him, get loud if you need to. Maybe hang up for him. If he made this promise with you then you mean something to him too. When you get busy you can forget things, even really important things. I'm guessing your mum is just louder than you, but you can force him to hear you." 

"So I should what? Throw a plant at him?" Octavia looked almost offended at the idea. 

"If that's what it takes." Luz shrugged. "My girlfriend did it by not letting her dad push her aside in a fight, maybe you can do it by not giving your mum a chance to speak over you." 

"I'll... Think about it." Octavia didn't exactly agree, being assertive was hardly her forte, even when she was young she wasn't good at demanding attention. She had inherited the confidence of neither of her parents; Stella could tell anyone exactly what she thought, even plotting Stolas' murder in front of him. Stolas was always sure that people wanted to look at him, and that he was attractive and wealthy enough for people to want him. It was rare for people to even realise she was Goetia. "You can go through here to get to Pride." 

"At least you aren't running away now. Thanks, good luck." Luz smiled, waving as she disappeared from Octavia's sight. 

What an odd demon. 

Chapter Text

"Uh, Luz," Angel approached the girl on the sofa, who rolled her head back so she was looking at him upside down. She was still in her Titan form, not knowing how to release it. 

"What's up?" Luz was almost glad for a reason to stop arguing with Hunter about wolves. 

"Can you put Valentino out?" Angel was glad that it had taken so long since he had been called in to work and to be abused by Valentino, but now the other V's were threatening him to get Luz to put the fire out. 

"He's still on fire?" Luz pushed herself up and turned to face Angel properly. 

"Yes, so please can you... Stop." Angel didn't know how Luz's magic worked, but he assumed it took some effort to keep up flames that were strong enough to stop Valentino from working when he... loved his job so much. 

"I don't know how. On the Boiling Isles fire glyph magic just burns itself out, pretty quickly actually." Luz thought of when she had first learnt the fire glyph playing Grudgby. Both she and Boshca had used fire magic on the ball, but other than the paper, which burned in the glyph pattern, there was no fire damage whatsoever. 

Maybe it was King's dad helping her. 

How many times had she almost died in the Boiling Isles? 

"Could you use water magic?" Angel suggested, he really didn't want to deal with Valentino, Vox, and Velvette's anger. 

"There isn't a water glyph. I also never saw a water coven so... I don't think there is any." Luz desperately thought of a kind of magic that extinguished fire, but she was coming up blank. 

"How is there no water magic?" Angel looked dumbfounded. 

"The water in the Boiling Isles is... Well it's boiling acid, which I think is why it's called the Boiling Isles. The rain can kill you because it's boiling acid too. Oh my god, Raine's name is horrifying! Sorry, the snow is safe, and there's ice magic." Luz looked at the glyphs surrounding her. 

"Okay, but fire and ice makes water, and if the ice is safe then it should make safe water." Angel reasoned. 

"That's not how it usually works. I mean, I can give you an ice glyph, but I don't know how far from me it can be for it to still work, but they just form smoke. If you add sleeping nettles then it becomes knock out gas." Luz pulled out a piece of paper, she had long memorised all the different glyph combinations, though she was sure she could find more now that she had the power of the titan. 

"Luz," 

"Yes?" 

"Why do you know how to make knock out gas?" Angel couldn't think of a single reason why a 15 year old Lucifer said was bound for heaven might need to do something like that. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but at least if he did it couldn't be put on him. 

"The Emperor's Coven stole the palismen." Luz looked embarrassed, avoiding Angel's gaze as she finished drawing the ice glyph. "Well... Hunter stole them and I was staying with them, so me too, then Kikimura stole them from Hunter, so we were working together to get them back and Flapjack chose Hunter and then I ended up taking them back because Hunter was still going to give them to Belos because it was before he found out he was a clone and Belos was going to kill him." 

"... What?" Angel didn't think Luz breathed once in her very rushed explanation. 

"... I was rescuing palismen like String Bean from Belos' followers." Luz summarised, holding herself back from talking about Hunter's complicated relationship with Belos. 

"And Hunter is...?" 

"A clone of Belos' brother that he killed who Belos lied to and abused and almost killed." Luz rushed, flashing a smile at the end and handing Angel the glyph. 

"Riiiiiiight... Are you and, eh, Hunter in therapy?" Angel knew he didn't really have any room to judge what with his messed up relationship with Valentino, but that was precisely what made him want Luz and her friends to not end up in his brand of hell. 

"Nope!" 

"You should look into that... Seriously..." Angel turned to the door, before stopping and looking back. "How do I use this anyway?" 

"Tap it and think clearly of what you want. Never just lay them on top of each other, they don't know what to do and it causes a... Situation." Luz frowned awkwardly, holding her hands out as if she was holding a sphere, remembering when Eda and Lilith were trying to combine Glyphs and Eda caused the growing ice blob that thankfully Lilith was able to solve. 

"Right... I'm gonna go now... Look into therapy." Angel slowly backed away from Luz as he left the hotel. He really hoped this worked. 

----- 

"Stolas! Hi!" Charlie's voice was high pitched as she opened the door to reveal the Goetian prince and his daughter, having opened the door before he could knock, so Luz was still downstairs and visible. 

"Hello, terribly sorry to bother you, but I really need my grimoire." Stolas felt guilty for forgetting the meteor shower was today, but at least Octavia had managed to remind him before it was too late. 

"Is that Luz?" Via spoke up, seeing the unusual demon on the sofa. She thought this hotel was for sinners, but she had met Luz in another ring. Sinners shouldn't be able to leave Pride. 

Luz flinched as all the eyes of the hotel slowly turned to her. She had been caught red handed. 

"Hi Octavia." Luz waved, trying to ignore the anger in Vaggie's glare. "Did the talk with your dad go well?" 

"Oh, is this your friend, Via?" Stolas looked delighted hearing Luz's words. "Thank you so much for your help, I had completely lost track of the date." 

"Dad!" Octavia hissed, pulling her hat down. "We only met today!" 

"Your grimoire, sorry it's been taking so long." Charlie laughed uncomfortably, shoving the book into Stolas' chest and closing the door, having completely forgotten what she had previously been planning to do. 

"Luz, what the actual fuck!?" Vaggie demanded, causing Luz to flinch away. "We told you to stay in the hotel for a reason, you know! And yet you go and meet a Goetian princess somewhere in Pride and made yourself known to her." 

"I didn't meet her in Pride." Luz mumbled, pressing her index fingers together. "And I have since discovered that I am bullet proof." 

"That doesn't make it any fucking better!" Vaggie yelled, looking over Luz as if trying to find something. "As punishment, Charlie and I will be keeping String Bean for.... Either a week or until you go home." 

"That's not fair!" Luz yelled, standing up and holding String Bean close. "There's so little to do at the hotel! Do you just want me to sit around stewing in the fact that I'm in the afterlife but I still can't see my father!? Or how I literally died recently? Or would you like me to be thinking about how I am stuck away from my family again!? Yes, there's that stupid book, but it can't get me close enough to home for mum to not need to be overworked again!!" 

An echoing silence met Luz's words. 

Even she didn't know what to say now, she didn't know all that had been building up, but maybe it was the same as the most recent anniversary of her father's death. It was easier to focus on other people's problems, or on the fact there was a whole new realm to explore. 

"I'm sorry." Charlie broke the silence, approaching Luz carefully. "We were thinking too much about how this could affect us, and didn't really think about how this would affect you. I promise to work on it." 

Chapter Text

"I feel like I missed something." Angel felt like he had just walked into a lion's den as he returned to the hotel a little over an hour after getting the ice glyph from Luz. 

"Apparently the kid has been sneaking out of the hotel and when confronted she revealed her dad died." Husk supplied, sliding a cocktail over to the spider sinner demon. "How'd it go with the V's?" 

"Well Val ain't a cloud of smoke and I ain't dead." Angel rested his head on his hand as he picked up the drink. 

He had slipped out while Vox and Velvette were still distracted by Valentino being frozen solid by the glyph Luz had given him. No doubt if it hadn't worked he would really be double dead, but as it stood he was temporarily free. 

It seemed like the ice would last less time than the fire had, when Angel was slipping out he already saw it starting to melt. Luz hadn't been lying when she called the water boiling acid, a truly rancid smell filling the room as the acid ate away at the carpet beneath Valentino's feet. 

"Doubt they're happy with me though." Angel shrugged, downing the cocktail. 

Perhaps the fact that he knew Luz, though he denied most of the knowledge of her, would act as something beneficial for him. 

Perhaps not, though. 

"So where is the kid?" Angel looked around, surely if they knew she had been sneaking out then they would be working harder to stop her, but she wasn't anywhere he could see. 

"Charlie took her upstairs, no idea what they're doing, but this place ain't on fire or anything so..." Husk shrugged, topping up Angel's glass, drinking from his own bottle. 

----- 

"Do you want to talk about-" 

"Don't talk about my dad." Luz shut down Charlie's question before she even finished asking. 

Luz was sitting curled up on Charlie's bed, in Titan form it was impossible to take her shoes off as they were fused to her feet, but Charlie had assured her it was okay. Since her explosion at the rest of the hotel, balls of light and ice swirling around her as vines grew along her arms. 

"How about you tell me about the Boiling Isles? I should have asked you about it earlier, I'm sorry. Tell me about your adventures and friends, and al of it." Charlie took a seat beside Luz. 

"The first witch I met was Eda, her limbs and head can fall off which I'm still not really used to." Luz laughed wetly, remembering her horror when the Warden had cut off Eda's head. "I wasn't even there for a full day and I had already broken several witches out of jail." 

Luz slowly talked her way through the events of the Boiling Isles, Charlie very disturbed when she heard about the fairy who tried to steal Luz's teeth repeatedly, or the few times she had mistaken a creature for a tree, almost getting herself killed while chopping. Charlie also did not seem to like the idea of the Hooty, especially hearing about when he had peeled his skin off, leaving him as an eyeless skeleton, and about when he had ripped himself from the house - his body. 

The story of how Luz had discovered her first spell also helped Charlie understand why she was so comfortable in hell. She thought Luz had been exaggerating when she said the Boiling Isles was like hell, and she was right that they didn't have guns, constant murder, or exterminations, but that didn't stop it from being deathly hostile. It seemed even Luz didn't realise how many times she could have died. 

"- Then we went to the covention where everyone chooses what covens they want to join when they become adults. It turns out that the person representing the Emperor's Coven was Lilith-" 

"Lilith?" Charlie cut in, sitting up straight, her voice somewhere between hurt and shocked. 

"Yeah, she's Eda's sister; Lilith Clawthorn. She used to be the main representative of the Emperor's coven, and was the only one able to keep her palisman. She left after finding out Belos was lying to her." Luz didn't know why Charlie was so confused, from what she could tell the hell she had found herself in was a Roman Catholic version, where Lilith was more a character in Jewish beliefs. 

"Oh," Charlie deflated somewhat, both relieved and disappointed. 

"Why?" Luz was curious now. 

"Well, my mum is Lilith, the first woman. She refused to bow down to Adam, and after she and dad offered Eve the apple they were both sent down here." Charlie explained, her eyes trailing over to the book she would read aloud to calm herself down. 

"She's also not from the bible." Luz whispered to herself quickly, before offering Charlie a comforting hand. "What happened?" 

"Oh, no, mum's just... Busy." Charlie laughed, avoiding eye contact. "For 7 years..." 

"7 years!?" Luz's voice was loud, shocked at the amount of time a supposed mother was gone for. 

Camilla was a single mother, and they had never had much for savings, but even she was still very much present and caring when she had to work overtime to support 6 children and herself. How busy could the Queen of Hell be that she abandons her daughter, and probably husband, for 7 years - just under half of Luz's life. 

"It's not that bad." Charlie tried to justify, waving her hands in front of her. "She must be really busy! And it's not like she's just avoiding me, I don't think even dad knows where she is." 

"Charlie." Luz leaned in. "That's not freaking normal. When I get home you should visit sometime. Mom would love you, and I know Eda would too... Though she will try to pull jokes on you, just say if they make you uncomfortable." 

Charlie laughed at the invitation. 

"Sure, but please don't come back to hell once this is all over. I'll visit you, but this isn't something you should repeat. Anyway, you were talking about covens? What are they?" 

"Oh! They were where legal witches practiced. When you join them you get a sigil and it seals all magic but the one that coven uses. The only exception was the Emperor's coven, where members could use any magic. Except that they had to hand over their palismen and Belos would... Consume the palismen somehow. I don't know, Hunter didn't fully explain how that worked. You also have wild witches, who aren't part of a coven. Up until-" Luz's voice died as she got to the point where it was about the Day of Unity. 

She had come so close to losing her new family, Eda, Lilith, Raine, and Hunter all dying from the draining spell, King having fallen off the edge of the platform, and herself and her friends and girlfriend having to fight the practically untouchable Belos. She had thought she had gained the upper hand when she was able to brandish the sigil on Belos' arm, but it had been useless after he had turned into the goo monster. 

Then the Collector came, and while she now knew that they were just a child who needed some support, he was utterly terrifying when they had popped up, stopping the spell, blasting Belos, and tearing apart the Titan's skull. They had then dragged King from her arms as he threw her through the portal back to the human realm. 

"You don't have to tell me about anything you don't want to." Charlie's voice broke through Luz's memories. 

"Eda used to be a wild witch, but she had to pretend to be Raine, and that included the bard sigil. Glyphs are wild magic." Luz gestured to the floating symbols that still surrounded her. 

"Bard magic?" Charlie had heard mentions of the word 'bard' before, but she wasn't sure what exactly Luz meant. 

"It's like... Magic music. It can defend, attack, and make people dance or something. I don't know how to use it, even if I can like this." Luz gestured to herself, clearly meaning her Titan form. 

"That sounds really cool!" Charlie's eyes lit up, there were more than a few in hell that disliked her musical nature - it must be nice to live in a world where magic literally held magic that powerful. "Thank you for telling me about the Boiling Isles. Please talk to one of us rather than leaving, okay?" 

"Fine." 

Chapter Text

"Lucifer?" The towering figure of Asmodeus stepped back in surprise at seeing the short king, who had been isolating himself for many years, and even then was rarely seen when it wasn't for pre-arranged meetings. "What can -" Asmodeus coughed "- What can I do for you?" 

"Sorry to drop in like this, I need you to keep this top secret. Don't let anyone know; not your staff, not the other sins, nobody." Lucifer entered Asmodeus' personal living space, the staff could still access this area, but the room they were in was just Asmodeus, Lucifer, and there was also a slight shimmer of magic behind the king. 

"I'll do what I can, but I don't live alone anymore." Asmodeus' eyes flicked to the door that had snapped closed when he had announced the king's visit. 

"Sorry, I can't hold my breath anymore." A demon of a species Asmodeus had never seen before appeared beside Lucifer, panting for breath. 

Something about them screamed danger, making him very glad that the jester wasn't with them right now. 

"Lucifer, who is this?" Asmodeus looked between the two, even as one of the 7 deadly sins he was massively outmatched by either of the other two in front of him, and Lucifer had snuck the other into his house. 

"Hi! I'm Luz, the human!" The new demon reached out her hand with a smile that reflected the meaning of her name. 

She had not yet lost that habit. 

"Human?" Asmodeus asked in disbelief, frozen staring at Luz's hand, rude as it may be. 

"She's a living human. We still haven't been able to get her home, so I need you two to meet so heaven doesn't find out about her at the extermination." Lucifer explained his stress now obvious as Luz dropped her hand, looking around the room they were in. "Like I said, I need you to keep this secret." 

"Obviously. How did... Any of this happen?" Asmodeus gestured to her, as she inspected one of his statues on display. 

Like all of his decoration, it was more sexual in nature, but it was one of the more subtle ones. Usually Asmodeus had no issues in anyone showing interest in lust, but humans in hell were strange enough as was. 

"I was in the Demon Realm, and the Collector made the portal between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm wrong so I ended up in hell. It's really interesting, and I got the Titan powers back when the mothman licked me." Luz was speaking quickly, returning to Asmodeus and holding her hand out in a greeting again. 

"Please just look after her today and on extermination day." Lucifer wasn't demanding anything but secrecy from Asmodeus, this was a request. "And she's destined for heaven, so no indulging in sins." 

"I guess I can, but like I said, I don't live alone." Asmodeus took Luz's hand this time, she didn't seem to be a danger - directly at least. 

"Then say she's a minor Goetian or something. Just don't let it out that she's human." 

----- 

"Ozzie!" Fizzaroli the imp jester stretched his robotic limbs to reach Asmodeus' shoulder where he perched himself. "What did Lucifer want?" 

"Hello!" Luz popped up beside Fizz, floating using a glyph beneath her feet, making the imp almost fall off Ozzie. 

"Uh, what?" Fizz looked between Luz and Ozzie, clearly desperate for an explanation. 

"I'm Luz," Before she could finish her typical introduction, Ozzie had cut her off. 

"She's Lucifer's niece." The excuse had come to the sin of Lust's mind before anything else, and he needed to stop her from calling herself a human. "Lucifer needs us to look after her for a bit. Sorry, Fizziefrog." 

"No, it's fine! When the king of hell tells you to do something you do it!" Fizz pressed a kiss to Ozzie's cheek. "I'm Fizzaroli, you can call me Fizz." 

"Nice to meet you! I like your hat; it's like a jester, right?" Luz pointed at the horn cover Fizz had on. 

As it was a day when he wasn't going out and working, Ozzie also supposed to be having the day off, he hadn't bothered changing it from his pale cover he usually wore in bed. It was still colourful, but far less so than the ones he wore most of the time. 

"Uh, yeah. I work for Mammon." Fizz avoided Luz's eyes, not enjoying the attention on his covered, broken horns. 

"Who?" Luz tilted her head to the side innocently, though her question was in itself rather revealing. 

Fizz didn't answer her immediately, looking to Ozzie for an explanation the sin was still coming up with. 

"The... Sin of Greed." Fizz spoke slowly, unsure if Luz was stupid, massively sheltered, or he was stumbling on something he really didn't want to. 

"Oh," Luz nodded, fighting the urge to ask more questions. "I'm supposed to stay in Charlie's hotel while I'm in hell so..." 

"You said she's Lucifer's niece, right?" Fizz asked, his tone and expression making it clear that he didn't believe Ozzie's lie even a little bit, but at the same time he recognised that this was not the sort of situation where he wanted to know the truth. 

----- 

"Hey, babes." Bee had let herself in, flitting around Ozzie's kitchen to put things she had brought with her in their usual place. "Soz 'bout letting myself in and not tellin' ya, but I need a good gossip." 

"Bee," Ozzie tried to hide Luz with his great size, unfortunately for him, though, Luz was too curious to be blocked. "You really should have told me you were coming." 

"Hi, nice to meet you!" Luz greeted the honey, wolf, insect crossed sin of Gluttony, her eyes sparkling at the colourful character who looked like she was ripped from DeviantArt. 

"Babes," Bee turned to Ozzie, slamming the cupboard door closed. "The fuck is this?" 

"She's Lucifer's niece-" 

"Don't fucking lie to me!" 

"Lucifer told me to look after her today and extermination day. Whatever's making her look like that is preventing them from sending her home. She's not a demon, so my crystals would kill her." Ozzie immediately switched to the truth - there was no point in lying to Bee, not when she could so easily tell Luz wasn't a demon and that Ozzie wasn't telling the truth. 

"Right..." Bee looked suspicious. 

"I'm Luz, the human." Luz, like Bee, was flying, though she didn't have wings. 

"Sweetie," Bee's voice softened as she turned to Luz, the human's youth obvious even to her - and Lucifer would never condone their spreading of their sins, especially not when Luz had been removed from the Pride ring. "Is this mess of emotions I'm getting from you from being in hell, or is it something else?" 

"What?" Luz didn't even know where the question came from, let alone how she should best answer it. 

"I, like, feast on the emotions around me, it's why I love parties, but you emotions are... A mess." Bee spoke with her hands a lot as she gestured to herself and around Luz. "Like, I appreciate I ain't human, but you can talk to me.... I mean, the fuck am I gonna do?" 

"It's fine, probably from the Boiling Isles." Luz smiled, but Bee could taste hurt and panic in the air around her. 

The sin of Gluttony decided not to push Luz any further then, but Ozzie knew from making eye contact with her that she was going to be with him when the extermination came. Bee was going to get to the bottom of Luz's, reasonably, complicated mess of emotions eventually. 

So much for Lucifer's request to keep Luz secret. 

At least it wasn't Mammon who knew about her. 

Chapter Text

"-So then you tap it, and-" Luz was talking Bee through how to use glyphs, starting with the light glyph. Several of her own balls of light from her drawings already floating around them, though Bee hadn't managed to draw the glyph properly. "There you go!" 

Finally, Bee managed to form the small ball of light that floated up, joining Luz's. 

"That's fucking awesome!" Bee's eyes glistened in the shimmering lights. "Can I do this whenever?" 

"Um, I don't know." Luz shrugged. "I think different Titans have different glyphs, and I don't know how far away I can be while they work. Can you usually do magic?" 

"Yeah, Bitch!" Bee squeezed Luz into her side, waving her hand to summon cotton candy in a display. "I can summon Beelzejuice too, but it could kill ya, so I won't." 

"Then you might just be able to use that to make them work. Until I defeated Belos and I thought King's dad moved on... Which apparently he didn't, then all the people from the Boiling Isles could always do it, but I don't usually have magic so I needed Titan blood." Luz knew that the glyph she gave Angel worked on Valentino, and from her understanding he was quite far away, though not in a different ring. 

Bee nodded, noting the guilt that soured the air around Luz as she talked about Belos and King's dad. Every time she had tried to ask further about Luz's sensitivities Luz had changed the subject to one she thought was lighter. Even then her words were still revealing. 

While it seemed like Luz thought she was keeping it light, she still told Bee about some of what she had seen in Belos' mind, the broken masks of the previous Golden Guards he had killed, or the memory she had only seen a glimpse of when Belos killed his brother. 

The stories Luz stopped telling were also telling. 

Before showing Bee the light glyph Luz had been talking about time puddles; invisible pools that could take you to the past. She had found some while with her "kinda adopted but not legally cool aunt" so her aunt could find out how they made staircases - boring- and Luz could find the human who was in the Isles before, but as soon as Luz mentioned Phillip she looked aghast, quickly changing the subject to glyphs. 

"How aboutcha just come to my next party?" Bee suggested, popping some of the cotton candy in Luz's mouth. "These would make for such an awesome atmosphere!" 

"You are not bringing Luz to one of your parties." Ozzie deadpanned, bringing the two drinks while Fizz rehearsed for a performance with Mammon. "Lucifer would kill us." 

"It's just a party," Luz complained. "How bad could it be?" 

"People have died at Bee's parties. You would certainly die, and while I don't know exactly what happens if a human dies in hell, it will not be good... For anyone." Ozzie shook his head. "Besides, you're supposed to be back in the hotel by the next one." 

"People die?" Luz was horrified at the idea, making Beelzebub a little defensive. 

"It's not like I kill them! I just make sure that everyone is drunk and having a good time." Bee pouted, it wasn't her fault when people didn't know how to handle their liquor. 

Attention was taken away from quite how serious Bee's parties could be, when a squeak came from inside Luz's jacket. Ozzie and Bee froze, unsure what it was that made the noise, but knowing that even the smallest of hell's demons could be deadly. 

A small, purple, serpentine poked up, resting against Luz's cheek. 

"Sorry Stringbean, did we wake you?" Luz spoke softly, rubbing a finger across the not-snake's head. 

"The fuck is that?" Ozzie pointed at Stringbean, who had looped around Luz's neck and was now resting on her shoulder. 

"Oh, this is Stringbean, my palisman." Luz gently cupped the demonic purple creature, presenting them proudly. "She's a snake-shifter." 

"So she's not dangerous?" Ozzie didn't seem convinced, seeing the fangs the palisman sported. 

"Stringbean looks like a demon, where's she from?" Bee was fascinated by the small, but powerful creature Luz was holding aloft. 

"She's from the Boiling Isles. I carved her as an egg myself, but she took so long to hatch. Palisman only choose you when you share your deepest wish after all, and it took me a long time to really understand what that was." Luz laughed as she rubbed her cheek on the top of Stringbean's head. 

Bee took note of what Luz said about not knowing what her wish was, but she was far too interested in the palisman to care, stuffing her mouth with some of the cotton candy she had summoned earlier. 

----- 

"Hey Luz," Angel spoke up. 

They were in his room, with Fat Nuggets in between them, Luz petting him and Angel's arm wrapped around him. They were watching a film Angel had to get permission from Vaggie to show Luz, but he turned out to be the one best at babysitting, at least at keeping her mind off the horrific events she had been through. 

"What's up?" Luz looked up at him, a couple balls of light popping into existence. 

"I just realised somethin', ya don't swear." Angel had been thinking back through the time Luz had been spending at the hotel, but even when Belos - who had apparently killed Luz - arrived, she didn't even do as little as show the man her middle fingers. 

It was almost like she couldn't. 

"Yes I do!" Luz argued, accidentally stopping her gentle caress of the hell hog. 

"Okay then," Angel didn't want to argue, but that didn't mean he wanted to back down. "Say 'Holy motherfucking shitballs'." 

"Holy mother-forking shirt-balls." Luz spoke confidently, as though she genuinely believed she had proven Angel wrong. 

"Say 'bitch'." Angel was trying hard not to laugh - surely most 15 year olds knew how to swear, he certainly did at that age. 

"Witch." 

"Okay, you realise you didn't say 'fuck', 'shit', or 'bitch', right?" Angel tried to point out. 

"I did!" Luz argued, puffing up like a petulant child. 

"But you fuckin' didn't. You said words that are vaguely similar to censor the swearing." Angel laughed. 

"Do not teach the human to swear, Angel." Vaggie had appeared in the doorway at some point, looking at Angel, unimpressed with his antics. "Luz, it's probably a good idea if you pack your things. Extermination day is tomorrow, and we can't guarantee anything." 

"I could stay and help." Luz knelt up, her eyes large and pleading as they met Vaggie's. "I can create a shield that even angelic weapons haven't broken. I could be helpful." 

"No." Vaggie and Angel answered in unison. 

"Luz, you said you already died, and you have your family waiting for you to come back." Angel lay a hand on her shoulder. "Don't waste your second chance trying to save worthless souls like us." 

Whether Angel liked it or not Luz had wormed herself into her heart, her surprising similarities to Molly only helping her case. Damnit, he had been... Well not happy, but coping before he came to the hotel, and then each of the people he came across were either too fucking attractive for their own good, a piece of shit it was fun to poke at, or in some ways like Molly. He couldn't help but feel the need to protect this place as he had been unable to his twin. 

"You aren't worthless!" Luz shook Angel's hand off, getting to her feet and meeting his eyes, the light glyphs returning in her pupils. "You're better than I am!" 

Angel let out a bitter laugh at those words. 

"Luz, you're going to heaven, Lucifer confirmed it. Your previous death was you trying to save someone. I died because of a drug overdose I knew was coming and sold my soul to Valentino because I thought it would make his love mine. We can't be compared in any way that puts me above you." 

"You're wrong," Luz shook her head, falling back to her knees as Fat Nuggets left his place on the bed to comfort her. "I helped Belos! I taught him the light glyph, I gave him the Collector! If it wasn't for me he would never have even become the emperor, he wouldn't have made or killed the Grimwalkers, he wouldn't have been able to do the draining spell! Everyone would have been better off if I had never even been in their lives!" 

A heavy silence hung in the room after Luz's tirade. 

They had all figured out there was more to the story than Luz had previously told them, but they hadn't expected this. 

"Did you know you were helping Belos?" Angel finally asked after what felt like an eternity as Luz covered her face and shook on the floor with Stringbean around her neck and Fat Nuggets pawing at her knee trying to get her attention. 

"No! If I had known- if I had given it more thought then-" 

"Were you alone?" 

"No, but-" 

"Then, Luz, how is it your fault?" 

"Because if I hadn't-" 

"Then someone else would have." Angel cut her off, speaking firmly. 

Angel's seriousness and breaking down of Luz's argument for self-blame surprised Vaggie. She didn't think he had it in him. 

"But I taught him the light glyph." 

"And you said that you could see the glyphs in the nature of the Boiling Isles." Angel argued. "He would have found it eventually. I'm sure your friends, your girlfriend, would feel worse hearing you blame yourself than hearing what it was that made you feel guilty." 

"Luz, please just go pack." Vaggie's tone was gentle, but the time crunch was meeting its end. 

Chapter Text

"Hey, Luz," Angel knocked on the open door to Luz's room. 

Vaggie was sitting on one of the chairs, having watched Luz pack. She had gained some clothes since coming to hell, so Charlie had given her a suitcase. Luz still didn't have much, though, so packing hadn't taken long. 

"What's up?" Luz asked, Vaggie also turning her attention to Angel, who had Fat Nuggets in his arms. 

"I was hoping you could take Fat Nuggets with you." Angel looked down at his little pig, and while he could have sworn he had seen some kind of flicker, nothing was different when he looked up. "He can't exactly fight or defend himself." 

"Oh! Yeah, sure." Luz looked around, perhaps a little nervous, but neither Vaggie nor Angel were surprised. 

By now she had told them rather a lot about the battle she had fought with Belos, and while she wasn't going to be at the extermination, it was understandable for it to ruffle a few feathers. It was one of the reasons Angel was having Luz take Fat Nuggets; he was very good at comforting. 

All they needed to do with Luz was to keep an eye on her until the demon Lucifer had entrusted came to take Luz to Lust. 

----- 

They were all armed and ready to go, standing just outside the hotel, but inside the barrier Luz had managed to persuade them to let her put up before she left. They had no idea how it would stand up against angelic weapons, so Alastor was also planning to put up one of his own as he waited on the roof to be the one to deal with Adam. 

The cannibals were also excited at the idea of being able to eat the angels. 

Through the almost black purple and bright gold glyph barrier the sinners (, fallen angel, and Charlie) could see the portal to heaven open. 

"Here they come." Vaggie announced, Charlie taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Get ready everyone. We fight together!" 

Everyone readied their weapons, glaring at where the angels would be coming from. Except Nifty, who was smiling evilly as she was ready to spread chaos, jumping up and down with a cackle. 

"Now! For your souls!" Vaggie raised her spear as they all let out a war cry. 

"Let's fuck. Them. Up!!" Charlie yelled as sinners rushed past her, though they remained just withing Luz's barrier until any angels were in range. 

"The fuck?" Adam looked at his exorcist army as several crashed into the glyph covered barrier in front of them, the sinners' weapons passing through well enough. 

"They seem to have some kind of shield, sir!" Lute's voice had a hint of fear as she spoke. 

"Oh? Really? I didn't see this giant fucking shield in front of me you dumb bitch!" Adam yelled at his second in command. He did not have time for shit like this if he wanted to kill that brother killer too. "No shit!" 

Lute looked away from Adam, annoyed. Pardon her for saying what she thought when she couldn't see any form of protection over the hotel at all before some black tentacles started to form a second barrier. 

"What are you doing?" A childish, but angry voice came from behind them, making Adam and Lute turn. 

What they came face to face with was not what they expected. A child with white hair, blue and gold skin, and eyes much like Charlie's floated there. Their clothes looked like the night sky had been made into pyjamas. Despite how child-like they were, Adam felt a chill run down his spine when he looked at them, they held a power he couldn't even feel from Sera. From the look on Lute's face, she was almost more scared than him. 

"The fuck does it have to do with you?" Adam demanded, though his voice shook. 

"Nobody hurts my best friend's sister." The person- demon- thing said ominously, blue crescent moons appearing in their hands. 

----- 

"Luz!" A short girl with long pale purple hair that almost looked pink, and pointed ears ran through the glyph barrier, looking around almost feverishly. 

Angel had just opened his mouth to tell her that Luz was in a different ring, the door to the hotel opened to reveal Luz... 

Wait, hadn't she been taken to Lust? 

"Amity!" Luz yelled, beaming as she ran to the other girl, picking her up as they span around in a hug. 

"Luz... What..?" 'Amity' inspected the other's face, more people walking through the barrier, and a clattering sound came, none of them able to see through it any more. 

"Oh yeah, the Titan gave me their magic to defeat Belos and it came back. What do you think?" Luz gave Amity a little twirl so she could see everything, Amity's face going very red as she covered her mouth. 

"Luz!" A chorus of different voices called out as people of several different heights and appearances flocked around her too. 

"Mami, Vee, Eda, King, Auntie Lilith, Gus, Willow, Hunter!" Luz greeted them all, Vaggie glancing at Charlie when Luz mentioned Lilith, the demon princess pursing her lips and trying not to cry. 

There were still more people around, but they had held a little distance, clearly not as close to her. 

Luz let her shield drop, along with Alastor's - it wasn't clear to the people on the ground if Alastor had chosen to, or if it was another effect of Luz's magic, revealing a pile of exorcists with stars on their foreheads all looking like puppets as they lay in a pile and a pink and purple door that matched the one Luz had arrived in. 

A flying child was there too, hurtling towards Luz as soon as the barriers were dropped. 

"Luz! I'm soooo soorryy!" The child sobbed as they clung to Luz, who seemed a little startled, but she soon smiled, returning the hug. 

"It's okay, Collector, I know it was a mistake." Luz reassured. 

"Oh right! I actually got a new name while I was gone!" The child, let go of Luz, looking excited. "You can call me Treveze!" 

"Luz!" Vaggie yelled, making Luz jump. "Weren't you supposed to be in another ring?" 

"Technically," Luz avoided the glares of Vaggie, her mother figures, Amity, and Hunter. "I didn't agree to leave Pride, I just promised to pack and let Fat Nuggets leave Pride." 

"We watched you leave." Angel argued, a little scared for his pet pig. 

"I used an illusion spell." Luz admitted, taking a step back. 

"I did not teach her that!" Gus raised his hands and backed away. Nobody was blaming him, but he felt the need to defend himself anyway as the only one in the illusion track. 

"Mija, you promised to keep yourself out of trouble." Camilla glared at Luz, who looked concerned. 

"Come now, Camilla," Eda slung her arm around the human woman's shoulder. "We both know Luz. You saw her with Belos, there was no keeping Luz away from this." 

"Um, so about Belos." Luz piped up. "He's here." 

The group who had come for Luz slowly turned to look her. Hunter looked scared, and more than a few had eyes that almost glowed with silent rage. 

"What?" Raine was the one who asked the question they were all thinking 

"Well this is hell," The newcomers with pointed ears looked a little confused. "And Belos is dead so... Well he ended up here. He tried to stay at the hotel, but didn't so hah!" 

They all looked like they were scheming something, but Eda let go of Camilla, hugging Luz again. 

"So, how did this happen again?" Eda gestured to Luz's Titan form. 

"Mothman licked me." 

Camilla's head snapped to Luz at that. "Excuse me?" 

"Then he grabbed Angel and I accidentally set him on fire and hello Titan powers again!" Luz used her hands for emphasis. 

"Sorry to interrupt," Charlie waved at the group, looking back at the puppet exorcists. "But, eh, are they dead?" 

"No, when we were like that we were basically the same as normal, except that we couldn't really move on our own." Amity shrugged, her eyes cold as she glared at them, she had seen them flying at Luz's barrier with weapons. 

"Oh... Okay, uh... How do you undo this?" Charlie asked again as Alastor appeared beside her through his shadows, looking annoyed. 

"You use a light glyph!" Luz answered cheerily. "Or Treveze can choose to free you." 

"Don't wanna." Treveze pouted, grabbing onto Luz's arm. 

"My, who are these people?" Alastor looked slightly annoyed as he greeted Luz's friends and family, bowing. 

"Oh! These are my friends and family from the human realm and the Boiling Isles!" Luz grinned, she looked happier than she had at any point when she had been in hell. 

"Nice to meet you." Camilla nodded at Alastor before she turned to Luz, pulling a sandal out of her bag. "Luz, you are staying in the hotel. Who here knows who this mothman is?" 

"Oh shit, ya mean Valentino." Angel jumped as he came back to reality, he had no idea how long it had been since he had started just staring, but it had probably been a rude length of time. 

"Sorry I'm late Swee- what the fuck?" Lucifer finally arrived, the little red circles of his cheeks disappearing as he looked around. 

Treveze pulled Luz down so her head was below his, glaring at Lucifer. 

The fallen angel didn't seem to notice, looking around in terror. His eyes scanning over the pile of exorcists who lay uselessly around the hotel, Nifty running around stabbing them. 

"Charlie, what happened?" Lucifer's voice shook as he landed in front of her, checking her over for injury. 

"Luz's friends came to pick her up... And she wasn't exaggerating in calling the Collector, who now goes by Treveze, a god." Charlie gestured to Luz, where Treveze was still clinging to her, glaring at Lucifer. 

"I don't like you!" Treveze announced, sticking their tongue out at Lucifer. 

"What did he do?" Luz asked, trying to pull out of their grasp so she could stand up straight. 

"He abandoned Noctifer!" Treveze let Luz go, pointing at Lucifer as he still stood between them. 

"Noctifer the Roman god, Lucifer's twin?" Luz looked excited. 

"No, Noctifer the Dominion angel, Lucifer's younger sibling. They gave me the name Treveze!" The little god stuck their chin in the air proudly. 

"I don't have a sibling called Noctifer." Lucifer raised his hands, not wanting to cause the anger of the little god who was so willing to incapacitate so many angels who had the backing of heaven. 

This just seemed to annoy Treveze more, the child of the stars sticking their chin in the air and looking away. 

"Mami," Luz turned to Camilla as Treveze continued to act like an angry cat with Lucifer. "Can I come back here in the future?" 

"No!" Lucifer and most of the hotel's residents yelled in unison. 

"Humans should not be in hell. Sinner demons, Charlie, and I are also not allowed on Earth." Lucifer shut down every possibility he could think of. "I'm sorry, but this is goodbye." 

"How about the Boiling Isles?" All heads turned as Lilith made the suggestion. "You said you're banned from Earth, but knowing Luz that won't stop her, so why don't we make an agreement to let you all visit the Boiling Isles?" 

"Yeah, and we can start a business to let witches and demons pay us to hunt Belos." Eda agreed, leaning on her sister's shoulder. 

----- 

Reunited with her friends and family, Luz found it easy to return to normal, the Titan form slipping away like face paint. 

She was telling the others about what had happened during her time in hell. Despite the arguments against it, Eda gave Luz a high five when she told her about how she had set Valentino on fire. 

Camilla had forced Angel to take her to Valentino, where he insisted on not going inside. He had tried to convince her not to, but she was no having it. 

Valentino had been covered in scars, both from the fire that had raged across his skin for who knows how long, and from the acid of the Boiling Isles water that had freed him from said fire. None of these wounds softened Camilla's anger though. Not even Vox could pull the angry Hispanic woman off the moth sinner demon. 

"So..." Angel started as they walked back, definitely terrified of the woman walking beside him, especially how she had lost all of her anger by the time she came back out to meet him. "Is Luz getting any therapy?" 

"We're looking into it, but money is a bit tight right now. I've had an offer from someone in the Boiling Isles, but I would rather she spoke to a human, you know?" Camilla sighed, her concern for her daughter making Angel feel a pain in his chest he didn't want to identify. 

"I honestly think she really needs it." Angel didn't look at the other woman as he walked. 

"Not sure I like getting parenting advice from a demon." Camilla's voice was light, making Angel laugh. 

"Yeah, well... I don't want people to end up how I did, so..." Angel shrugged. 

----- 

"I'll see you in a week!" Luz smiled as she walked through Treveze's door to return to Earth. 

Chapter Text

"I'm so sorry." Charlie's voice broke as the two seraphim who had turned down her request met her at heaven's gate. 

She had the puppets of most of the Exorcists with her, the count was lower than she thought it should be, but she had no idea where the others might be. Charlie could at least be sure that she had Adam, though, due to him being so different to the others. 

Like her previous meeting with heaven, she had been permitted to bring one person with her. She would have liked to bring Vaggie with her, but as things stood, it was decided amongst them that it would be best to take Treveze. If nothing else he could prove the story about the Exorcists becoming puppets was true. 

"What?" Emily's voice shook as she looked between everyone there, not as eager as last time to greet the visitors, St Peter cowering behind his podium. 

"So... When the extermination started we got a visitor..." Charlie's voice was still uncomfortably high pitched as she kept looking over to Treveze, who was still just looking grumpy about being there, while trying to avoid mentioning Luz. "They, um, well..." 

Charlie looked to Treveze to introduce themself, but he was too busy glaring at Sera. 

"Uh, this is Treveze, who used to be called 'Collector', and... Well they're a child god. I think they're from another universe, but they have also been in a different version of ours, and doesn't like my dad specifically." Charlie gestured to the star themed child beside her. 

"I don't just hate Lucifer, I also hate you and Samantha," Treveze pointed at Sera. "I like you though." Treveze smiled at Emily, who wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. 

"Anyway... He kinda turned all of the exorcists into... This." Charlie gestured at the pile of exorcist puppets she had brought with her. 

"Don't try to hurt my family!" Treveze nodded, looking proud of himself as he thrust his chin in the air, hands on his hips. 

"And how do you suggest we fix this, daughter of Lucifer?" Sera readjusted herself, looking down at Charlie as though she was the one who had caused the chaos. 

"She has an actual name, use it." Treveze flew up to Sera's eye height, not liking how the tall woman was using her height to look down on the pair, Sera struggling to keep her face neutral in her fear and surprise. 

"I've been told that either they choose to let them go-" 

"Not happening. Hate them." Treveze immediately turned down that option. 

"Or you use the power of another god, called a Titan, but the last Titan is about 8 and doesn't have glyphs yet, and there is someone who can still use the previous Titan's magic, but that's a living human." Charlie tried to smile, but it didn't really work so well. 

"So... A living human... Has the powers of another god... Are they, like, from that universe? Will they be here or hell when they die? Or is there another system?" Emily looked confused, seemingly frozen in place as her more human form flickered. 

"No, Luz is from your universe, obviously." Treveze's voice was full of scorn, while his face was more jovial. "Dunno about heaven or hell though, she might go to the Boiling Isles' afterlife. Wouldn't be the first itsy-bitsy little human to do so." 

"St Peter." Sera addressed the winner who stood at heaven's gates at those words. "Are we missing anyone?" 

"Uh," St Peter scrambled to his feet, flicking through the book with shaking hands. "There are still some souls making their way here, but there's one soul from.. Eh... 1625 who never made it. Called Caleb Wittebane." 

"That's the one!" Treveze pointed at St Peter, who cowered away. "Yeah, he wanted to stay on the Boiling Isles, and joined their afterlife... Kinda. His brother hated it, and the Boiling Isles him, so he joined this one!" 

"So even if this Luz is destined for heaven, we can't rely on them helping out." Emily looked panicked as she took a step back from the messy pile of Exorcists. 

"I'll have Eve look into any books we have that might help." Sera sighed, shaking her head as she and Emily turned back to the gates. "And Morningstar?" 

"Yes!" Charlie flinched slightly at the look in Sera's eye. 

"For the time being we won't send anyone else, but if this is to happen again it will be taken as a declaration of war against heaven. They were not our only soldiers." 

With that threat the golden gates to heaven closed, the message loud and clear. 

Sera didn't want anyone from hell in heaven again. 

----- 

"Welcome to... The owl house!" Eda threw the door to her house wide, Hooty having now taken up permanent residence with Lilith. 

"Why's it called the 'owl house'?" Angel asked as he peered around. "Doesn't look very owl-y." 

"Hooty used to be the door... And the rest of the house, and Eda's the owl lady, so..?" Luz shrugged, plopping down on the nest Eda had made when they returned. 

It was at least now shaped vaguely like a sofa, but they still hadn't found her old one as everything was slowly moved back in. Many items had been broken or lost when the emperor's coven had confiscated everything, but Raine and Darius had offered as many snails as Eda needed. Uncharacteristically, though, she wasn't taking the lot. 

"And how does this connect to Earth- eh- you called it the human realm?" Vaggie cringed slightly. 

"Same door you just came in through." Raine lent against the wall, looking almost as uncomfortable as Vaggie was with the tour. "Luz and everyone who'll use it know how to get it to open." 

"And you, missy," Camilla looked down on Luz, her hands on her hips, Luz feeling very small. "Need to go home and have Vee catch you up. I will not have you using trips to these demon worlds as an excuse to get behind!" 

"But Mami-" 

"No! No buts! You have had a week off to recover! You are going home and being thankful to Vee for teaching you what you've missed. I will not be having any complaining!" Camilla dragged Luz back to the door, ignoring her complaints, as Vee transformed into her human appearance and following them, the door turning into the one Luz had used when she arrived at the hotel. 

"See you all later." Vee spoke more softly than either Luz or Camilla did, disappearing into the portal with the rest of her family. 

"You ever think those two were swapped at birth?" It was always impossible to tell if Hunter was being serious or joking, he just always had a sarcastic edge to his voice. 

"Honestly..? You could make that argument." Amity sighed, knowing she couldn't refute how what she used to think were human quirks turned out to be even more strange in the human realm most of the time. 

"Nah, Luz is too wild for us, maybe she's secretly from another Titan." Gus shook his head at the suggestion of Luz being the soul of a witch. 

Chapter Text

"Where were you?" Asmodeus and Beelzebub towered over Luz, Amity beside her preparing for a fight. 

"Um, I was at the hotel?" Luz clearly looked guilty as she took Amity's hand, silently telling her not to do anything. "But it was a good thing, because Treveze opened the door during the extermination, and if I had been here it would have taken too long. By the way, this is my awesome girlfriend Amity!" 

"Oh," Bee returned to her smaller form, zooming towards Amity. "You're so cute!" 

"Uh, Luz, who are they?" Amity took a step closer to Luz as Bee sparkled, looking at her, the young witch still ready to attack as soon as needed. 

"That's Beelzebub, and that's Asmodeus." Luz pointed between the two demons. 

One of the large doors opened, revealing Fizzaroli, who looked up before quickly leaving the room again. Amity could just about hear the smaller demon muttering "I don't want to know" to himself a few times, his limbs stretching as he pulled the door closed behind him. 

"If you can go home now, why are you here?" Asmodeus, unlike Beelzebub, maintained the angry, intimidating air around him, continuing to look down at Luz. 

"Um, to apologise?" Luz smiled, avoiding eye contact. "Also to get my stuff. Angel got Fat Nuggets back, but my stuff is still here." 

Asmodeus sighed, shaking his head as he reached for a bag. 

"Not to be rude, but don't come back. Hell is no place for the living, especially not for humans like you." Asmodeus handed Luz the bag that contained what the illusion of herself had brought when the extermination was happening. 

Luz wasn't sure what Asmodeus meant by "humans like you", she didn't think he knew Amity wasn't human, despite her pointed ears being visible. They knew nothing about the Boiling Isles, and honestly Luz wasn't convinced people wouldn't think they were part of a cosplay. Did he mean living humans? Or was he referring to something else? 

"Thank you! In the hotel we have a portal to the Boiling Isles because apparently demons visiting Earth isn't really allowed. Feel free to come visit sometime!" Luz grinned as Amity summoned an abomination to carry Luz's things. "It opens to just outside Eda's." 

"Awww, thanks!" Bee was also glad to taste that the air around Luz was lighter. She couldn't know if it was therapy, or the fact that she now had freedom from hell, but either way it was good. "We'll see what we can do, but we do have rings to run." 

"Well, um, it was nice meeting you." Amity waved, still a little on edge as they left the room. 

Fizz seemed eager to make their interactions as fast as possible, almost looking like he could use Hunter's dash magic as they crossed paths while passing through the door with Bee. The mismatched demon was taking them back to Pride, before departing for her own ring of hell. 

Amity still didn't really understand how hell worked, no matter how much Luz tried to explain it to her. The ideas of heaven and hell, along with the different rings, levels of angels, and types of demons were all just so different from the belief of the afterlife she, and the rest of the Boiling Isles were raised with. Where, regardless of the life you lived, you would come face to face with the Titan, who would drag you from a deep, endless nothing to talk to you for a while before your journey continued. You could sit with the Titan for as long as you needed, and there were different kinds of moving on. 

In most cases the exact end destination was left unknown, but it was believed that all the work you did in your life would be returned to you there. If you helped others, you would be bestowed the same help, and if you harmed others you would have the same harm returned. 

There were, however, stories of ghosts. If they chose to remain behind, were lost, or simply prevented from moving on by others it wasn't known. It was said that if you created a Grimwalker, you were dooming the original soul to remain on the Isles, their cause of death above their heads, until the last Grimwalker died. 

Amity had never seen one, though, so she couldn't say if they were real. 

But from what Luz had been... encouraged to tell them about her experiences after Belos killed her, at least the part about the Titan might have been true before. 

In the hotel Charlie and Vaggie stood by the portal, Charlie bouncing on her toes anxiously. 

"You didn't have to wait for us." Luz dropped the Titan form, returning to her usual height. 

"I know, but I wanted to hear about everything. You said there was music magic, what was it called again?" Charlie's looked much like Luz's, Amity noted. 

"Bard magic. You can ask Raine about it, they were the Bard Coven head." Amity supplied as she opened the door, the sunny cliff edge that held Eda's house visible, Angel lounging outside beside Eda. 

"I thought you said the coven system was evil?" Vaggie raised an eyebrow as she followed Charlie through the portal. 

"Yeah, but Raine was the head of the BATS, and later was part of the CATS. They wanted to stop Belos and his plan, and had already joined a coven, so thought it was easier to take Belos down from the inside." Luz explained as she followed Vaggie. 

"Wow!" Charlie was literally glittering as she looked around. "This place is beautiful! I can see why you like it so much here." 

"The Boiling Isles sure is something!" Luz grinned widely. "Unless it's raining. You really do need to stay inside if it's raining... And don't try to swim." 

"I won't!" Charlie agreed, shuddering as she remembered Luz talking about how Belos melted under the boiling rain after their fight. 

"Luz!" Eda waved, glass full of apple blood. "Did'ja see the last witch who went in? They're supposed to have been back a few minutes ago!" 

"No, it was just Vaggie, Charlie, and Alastor in the hotel." 

They had all agreed to never leave the hotel unmanned, especially with how Eda had decided to go ahead with the business plan of letting people pay to vent their frustrations on Belos. After learning how sinners could only die with angelic weapons, otherwise continuing to regenerate with enough time, Eda had banned the use of such glowing, golden weapons, and limited the time a demon or witch could be in hell to make sure everyone got a fair chance. Of course, she had made sure the Hexsquad and Camilla got a fair chance before opening the business. 

"Who did you even let in?" Amity asked as her abomination dropped Luz's things in her room at Eda's. 

"You think I remember everyone's name?" Eda laughed, her cheeks pink as her apple blood sloshed around in her glass. "You can check the ledger." 

"You don't even know if they're using their real names there." Amity looked down at Eda, clearly annoyed. 

"So sorry I'm-" The short man dressed in red and white was interrupted as he was thrown aside, the portal bursting open for the appearances of the newcomers. 

"I thought you said only the golden white weapons could kill the demons there!" A cat demon was almost at the point of tears, holding a clearly torn shirt closed over her chest. 

"They should be, if you were attacking a sinner." Angel raised his sunglasses, a deep pit of guilty familiarity in his eyes as he saw the torn clothing. 

"Well I'm pretty sure it was one!" The cat demon used plant magic to make up for the missing fabric. "They were really tall and fluffy, but bald. After I ripped Belos' arm off he came up to me and he- he grabbed me and wouldn't let go. He also licked me! When I used an abomination to get him away from me, he just disappeared... To ash, I think." 

"I thought joining a coven meant you could only use one kind of magic." Vaggie leaned in to Luz as she whispered, Charlie able to hear too. 

"That's an emperor's coven sigil on their arm." Luz explained, gesturing to her own arm where the sigils usually were. "They were still able to use different types of magic." 

"You killed Valentino?" Angel's mouth was slack as he asked, one hand reaching up to his neck. 

"Oh!" Luz jumped, finally realising who the demon was talking about. "He licked me too! But when I set him on fire he didn't die, and neither did the ice glyph." 

"But abominations are more complicated than just one or two glyphs." Amity suggested. "Maybe complicates spells can also kill them. What kind of abomination did you use?" 

"I didn't have any abomination goo, so I used the dirt that was around me." The cat demon explained. 

"That makes sense, because my abominations didn't do that." Amity turned to the list of rules, taking out a pen. "So as long as we avoid making abominations in hell we should be fine, but we'll ban complex spells with elements from hell." 

"I'll give ya your money back." Eda cheered, clearly drunk. "If ya killed the creep who licked Luz, you deserve that much." 

----- 

Luz spent the day showing Charlie and Lucifer around the isles. Charlie seemed excited about every little thing, even as it was all still destroyed. Lucifer had been rather reluctant at first, but as they explored more, seeing the different communities of witches and demons working together to move debris and start on makeshift accommodation for those whose houses had been destroyed, he started to lighten up. 

"Dad? Are you smiling?" Charlie started sparkling again as she saw the genuine smile on Lucifer's face as Luz showed them where the Bat Queen took care of the palismen. 

"Maybe the demons here aren't so bad." Lucifer admitted, Charlie beaming. 

"There are good demons in hell, too!" Charlie grabbed Lucifer's arm. "I just want to be able to get them to heaven! Imagine how much happier they'll be!" 

A small, dog-like palisman started pulling at Charlie's trousers, making herself and Lucifer look down. 

"It looks like you've got a palisman." Amity commented. "I guess that's a pretty deep wish of yours." 

"Aww, hello." Charlie picked the animal up, it turned firm under her hands, the staff appearing. "Oh no, what did I do?" 

"Oh no, that's normal." Luz reassured. "That's the form they take when you're flying or using magic! You can attend lessons on how to use them at Hexside." 

"If you want to catch the sunset we need to go." Amity said, putting her scroll away after checking the time. 

Lucifer and Vaggie could both fly on their own, but as Charlie didn't know how palisman magic worked yet, Amity gave her a ride, flying to the knee as they watched the sun set over the great skeleton of the Titan. 

It was different then when Luz had watched it with Eda and King. 

Back then she didn't have any friends yet, she didn't even know the Isles had an emperor, or the damage he had done. The skull was now broke, wearing a crown made of the missing parts, an arm permanently raising to the sky. 

It was still breathtaking, and a permanent reminder of what she could do when she chose to. Nobody could ever say Luz hadn't had an effect on this magical realm. 

Chapter Text

"Have you found anything?" Sera stood in an almost faux polite position of authority as she was gliding into the library. 

She could never stand to appear lower than anyone. Despite being one of the largest, highest placed angels, she was never seen walking. Even her own sister, the other seraphim, would run or walk around while taking care of the winners. 

"No," Eve, her long, curly dark brown hair falling over her face like usual as she emerged from a pile of books. Her voice was low, and her head lowered as it always was when she was meeting anyone other than her immediate children. "As I told you when you first asked, I have never read about anything like this before." 

"Have you tried?" Sera's eyes were full of condescension as she met the first woman's tentative gaze. 

"Of course I have!" Eve's voice grew louder in offense at the suggestion she wasn't trying. 

She may never have loved her husband, but that didn't mean she wanted him to be a literal puppet. There had still been no movement or sign of life from the tangled pile of Exorcists that lay in the corner of the library. 

Eve had practically memorised every book in the library, though she still read. It was the same thirst for knowledge that had led her to eating the fruit of knowledge, and spending the night with the fallen Seraphim and first woman. She knew every topic that was covered in this massive library. If she said there was nothing, there was nothing. 

"I have searched ever book in this place. There. Is. Nothing." Eve emphasised. 

She was aware there were likely books she didn't have access to, but she could only use the books she could get. If Sera wanted her to use other information, then that was unreasonable if she didn't give Eve the books. 

"Sera, maybe it's time to ask for the living human's help." Emily had entered sometime during the talk with Eve, taking her sister's hand. 

"We cannot bring a living human into the afterlife. It would cause chaos and may even lead to hell rising against us. We especially cannot handle that right now with our Exorcists incapacitated." Sera looked away from the younger seraphim. 

"Do we have another choice?" Emily pressed further. 

"We cannot have more know of this... Situation." Sera gestured to the pile of puppets. "It will cause a ruckus." 

"Why don't I go? I can try to find a way to ask her to do it, or tell us how." Emily's eyes glistened as she suggested her visit to Earth. 

"We don't even know which human among billions it may be." Sera shook her head, Eve returning to her books, taking herself as being dismissed. "It would be better if we ask Azrael to keep a closer eye on the souls coming to heaven. Make sure they don't slip through the gaps." 

"I do know who it is!" Eve noticed a slip of paper sticking out of Emily's pocket as she turned away, deciding not to mention it. "Her name is Luz Noceda, and I know where she is. Let me try, Sera, please." 

----- 

"Everyone, welcome your new classmate, Emily Levine." The teacher's voice was hardly better than a drawl, as bored as their students, though the new girl was almost shining with excitement. 

Or maybe that was her clothes. 

She oozed rich kid energy. Her skin was a soft brown, with freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, her hair was an almost white shade of blue that was honestly impressive. Her eyes were the same colour, sparking as much as Luz was sure hers were when she first entered the Boiling Isles. Emily had a neat blue and white dress that must have cost more than a pretty penny. 

Everything about her was pristine, as though she had never known a day of suffering in her life, or even been outside on a rainy day. 

Luz almost felt sorry for her. 

"Hi, I'm Emily, what's your name?" The new girl beamed as she sat beside Luz in the seat usually occupied by Amber, though it seemed she was off sick today. 

"I'm Luz." The short haired girl accepted the handshake before she turned back to her bag, looking for the notebook she had used to do her homework due that lesson. 

But it wasn't there. 

"Oh fudge!" Luz whispered as String Bean shook her head from inside Luz's bag. 

She'd gone and left it at the hotel. 

"Stringbean, can you text them asking for it?" Luz whispered, hoping the new girl wouldn't be paying too much attention to her as Emily looked around, apparently admiring the classroom. 

At least the Physics teacher took in homework at the end of lessons. It might just be possible for one of the Hexsquad to get it to the classroom in time, as long as the message got through soon enough. 

Luz couldn't focus as the teacher droned on and on. It was something about displacement and distance, which Luz guessed did apply to spells, but she could learn everything she needed to from practice. She was itching to get back to the Isles to help with cleanup and rebuilding. 

Lucifer and the hotel's residents were all being a massive help, though it turned out the different types of magic didn't mix all that well. Nifty often had to be stopped from hunting passing demons though. 

Luz was pretty sure Ed and Em had put Nifty on Odalia's trail, but was that so wrong? 

"I'll be collecting your homework in today, then I'll explain-" The teacher was cut off as the door burst open almost as though a bomb had gone off. 

Standing in the doorway wasn't one of the Hexsquad, it was Angel Dust. 

He had Luz's book in his lower left hand, and looked slightly crazed as he panted for breath. His fur made it hard to see, but he looked a little flustered. 

As Angel stood still at the door it was as though a spell had been cast over the room. Everyone was looking at Angel, the sinner himself staring at Luz. 

But when he moved the spell was broken. 

A cacophony of screams and yells filled the air as people scrambled to get as far away from the demon as possible. 

Only 2 people stayed in place, Luz, and Emily, who had a shocked look of realisation painting her perfect features. 

"Luz!" Angel grabbed the girl's hands with his upper pair, looking into her eyes pleadingly. "Yer gotta help me." 

"Uh, sure." Luz wasn't sure what exactly he was going to ask from her, but she would do what she could. 

She was a little worried, though, because she was told sinner demons were amongst the demons who were never allowed to set foot on Earth, yet here Angel was. Then again, she had asked for something that was in hell... Did that count as her summoning him? 

Did that mean she was going to hell now? 

"Husker said he loves me, what do I do?" Angel leaned in closer to Luz's face, the classroom now silent, more than half of the students having run into the corridor, the teacher crouching in the corner reciting the lord's prayer. 

Emily hadn't moved, though. 

"... Weren't you two already dating?" Luz had been under that impression watching the two of them. 

The two used each other as though they were their favourite blanket or pillow. There were also many times the two of them were seen sneaking off together while helping clean things up. The entire Boiling Isles were under the impression they were already an item, Luz included. 

"No?" Angel released Luz's hand, taking the now empty chair from the desk in front of her. "Why would ya think that?" 

"I literally saw you two kiss... Twice." Luz deadpanned, though Angel still looked confused. "You call yourself Nuggets' 'Papa', and Husker his 'dad'." 

"So?" 

"Angel... Why wouldn't people think you're in a relationship?" Luz raised an eyebrow, Emily letting out a soft laugh. 

"None'a that means I'm datin' him!" Angel argued. "I don't even know if he likes me." 

Luz and Emily stared at Angel at that. 

"You just told us he said he loves you." Emily spoke gently, Angel finally noticing her presence. 

"Who's this?" Angel pointed on of his lower hands at the new student. 

"I'm Emily, it's nice to meet you." The girl smiled, offering her hand to Angel, who didn't take it. 

"I'm going to hand in my homework, then why don't we go to Eda's?" Luz suggested, picking up her notebook. 

"Can I come?" Emily looked even more excited as she asked, getting to her feet too, her petticoats making her skirt puff out. 

"Sure?" Luz shrugged, glancing between Angel and Emily. 

She responded well to one demon, who's to say she couldn't respond well to the Boiling Isles? 

----- 

"Welcome to the Boiling Isles!" Luz cheered as she threw the door open. 

Emily's eyes were wide as she took a step back. There was too much for her to take in, and her expression wasn't dissimilar to the first time Lucifer had seen Luz's titan form. 

"What the-" Emily's voice shook, but she took a step forwards this time, closer to the open door that showed such a small part of the Isles. 

"I swear it's a lot better than it might look. We're still rebuilding after this puritan guy turned it into a cult and tried to kill everyone." Luz stayed by the door or Emily's side as Angel passed through the portal. "He's dead now, so you don't have to worry!.. And he's in hell... Eda has a business letting people punch him, not that I think you want to." 

"It's okay, just... I was surprised?" Emily didn't sound too sure herself as she cut Luz's rambling off, though she didn't sound sure of her own answer. 

"Yeah, mami was shocked when she came to the Isles the first time too... So were my friends when they came to the human realm." Luz offered Emily her hand, leading the other girl to the magical realm. 

As Emily stepped through the portal, her appearance became much less human. 

Though she had managed to save the human face and hair, rather returning to her biblical seraphim form, her skin had turned the vaguely lavender tinted silver, her freckles becoming almost white. As though to cement her true identity of an angel, 3 pairs of wings protruded from her back, gaining several feet in her transformation, now towering over Luz. 

"I didn't say anything about hell!" Luz yelled, her arms snapping to her sides as she took in the angelic nature of her new classmate. "Treveze told me everything! Yeah! They did!" 

"Oh, no!" Emily waved her hands, trying to reassure Luz. "I'm not going to tell Sera." 

"Luz? I thought you were supposed to be in s- You!" Vaggie emerged through the trees, Happy - Charlie's palisman - resting on her shoulder as she drew her spear, greeting Emily with hostility. "What are you doing here? It has nothing to do with heaven." 

"Sera wants me to convince Luz to come to heaven after she dies to free Adam and the Exorcists! I promise I'm not going to tell her anything else!" Emily didn't seem very intimidated by Vaggie's threat, looking more than a little awkward. 

"Would I be able to continue seeing my friends?" Luz wasn't exactly adverse to helping break Treveze's spell on the angels in question, as long as she could still see her friends, and they weren't at risk of any more Exterminations. 

"No... Sera is pretty determined to stop all redemption now, and I'm sorry, but you probably wouldn't even remember them." Emily's words made Luz run to Eda's side, the witch having only just returned from... Something with Raine. 

"Never!" Luz then started hissing like a cat, Eda looking between Vaggie and Emily. 

"This your sister?" Eda pointed at Emily, both angels balking in surprise. 

"Absolutely not!" Vaggie found her voice first, spinning to glare at Eda for even the suggestion. "She's a Seraphim, I'm an Exorcist!" 

"What level of angel is an Exorcist?" Luz asked, still keeping Eda between herself and Emily. "I don't remember seeing them when I was researching angels." 

"Well-" 

"They're a mix." Emily cut Vaggie off. "Vaggie and some of the others were winners who lost all their memories when they came to heaven, Lute and the rest are heaven born, so they're the children of lower angel rankings." 

"I was what?" Vaggie slowly turned her head back to Emily, somewhere between rage and hurt. 

"Vaggie? Why do you have- Emily!" Charlie came bounding to the Owl house too, the door still replaced with the portal to Earth, door still open. "Why are you here?" 

"Don't be nice to her Charlie, this bitch has been keeping my past from me for who knows how long." Vaggie growled, Happy hopping back to Charlie's shoulder. 

"I can't give you back the memories heaven took!" Emily didn't seem to know how to look dishonest, but it wasn't enough to placate Vaggie. "Not even Sera or Metatron can." 

"Funny, people stop buying that when they find out they've been lied to as long as they can remember." Vaggie had raised her spear again as the door blew closed. 

"Wait," Luz whispered, turning to look around. "Where'd Angel go? He wanted my help with something." 

"How should I know, kid? I got here after you." Eda shrugged, before she muttered something under her breath. "I forgot I can't get in at the moment." 

"Why not?" 

"Treveze asked to borrow my house for today. He did say they wanted Angel though, he might be inside." Eda shrugged, stretching as she turned to walk away, probably back to Raine, Luz's eyes lingering on her missing limb. 

It was better with her therapist, Sasha - a woman who seemed to really understand everything Luz told her, even the crazy stuff -, but it was still hard to separate herself from the guilt of everything that had happened. Everything Belos did, all the ways she helped him, and all the ways she hindered the people trying to stop him. Eda's missing arm might be a sign of her strength, of her willingness to give her own life to save the entire island, but it was also a constant reminder for Luz. Amity had told her, though, that her father was working on some prosthetics for the Owl Lady. 

Slowly creeping to the window, Luz peered inside. 

Sure enough, she could see Angel inside, but there was more than one version of him. They were mostly the same, but there was some noticeable differences. For example, one was an angel. 

What was Treveze doing? 

"Luz!" A surprised but happy call pulled Luz from the window, Charlie and the two angels focused on their own argument, not noticing the Goetian princess in their presence, a hellhound behind her. "I thought you weren't going to be able to come until later." 

"Yeah, well school got cancelled after a demon showed up. They're checking for gas leaks. So, I am free to help around here now." Luz grinned, leading the two demons away from the fighting angels. "I don't think we've met before, I'm Luz." 

"Loona." The hellhound's answer was hardly inviting more conversation. 

"That's a pretty name." Luz complimented, turning her attention back to Via. "How are things going with your dad?" 

"Don't get me started." Via looked tired just thinking about it, Luz pulling out her tamagochi to contact Amity they needed to be prepared for another rant from Via about her father's obliviousness. 

Chapter Text

"What?" When Angel had led the way through the portal he had been headed to the outside of the owl house, but now he was standing in the still pretty bare living room. 

"Hi!" Treveze greeted with a wide grin as he dangled upside down. 

"Shouldn't I be outside?" Angel gestured with a thumb to the window. 

Treveze was nice and all, but it was embarrassing enough to be asking Luz for love advice and she was a teenager. Treveze may be thousands of years old, but they were also clearly a child in the way they thought and behaved. And he needed advice sooner rather than later. 

"No! I want you to meet mum and everyone." Treveze was grinning in a way that was almost creepy. "Just take a seat!" 

Angel had no idea why Treveze wanted him, and apparently only him, to meet their family, but it wasn't like he could stop this child god when they were determined. He didn't even bother trying any more, sitting in the nest that was in the place of a sofa as he pulled out his phone. 

He had already tried to find anything helpful online before going to Luz, but in the current situation he didn't really have a choice but to try again. Maybe he would be able to find different things in the Boiling Isles compared to hell. 

He could hope. 

"You two can just wait here, I'll be back soon." Treveze sounded excited as Angel heard a slight pop to indicate he had appeared, apparently with other people to be dragged into this. 

But when Angel looked up at the newcomers whatever thoughts he had about Husk in his head disappeared. His mouth dry, heart pounding harder than it ever had for Valentino, but it was accompanied by a pool of guilt he had never truly forgotten. 

Treveze had brought Molly, Angel's twin sister he had failed in life. 

There was someone else too, but Angel didn't recognise her. She was pretty, and likely someone he would talk to if he wasn't so tongue tied by the sudden presence of his twin sister. 

The two angels were clearly from heaven, if Angel didn't know his sister well enough to figure out her status in the afterlife then the wings and halos would give it away. 

At least she had avoided the suffering he had faced in his afterlife. 

"Hello," Molly's voice was gentle, if a little scared, as she greeted him. It's not like he had expected a warm greeting though. "I'm Molly, what's your name?" 

Angel had to work hard not to show his gut reaction on his face at that question. Was she trying to punish him? Tell him he was dead to her after abandoning her that day? Or was she being completely genuine? 

Angel couldn't see any sign of a ruse from her, but in the decades they had spent apart she could have changed. 

He decided this was at least better than flat out rejection. 

"Angel Dust." The demon swallowed his mess of feelings as he offered a smile. 

While he no longer needed to, and usually didn't, use the Angel Dust persona with the hotel residents, or even with anyone in the Boiling Isles, he still felt more comfortable using it with new people. That being said, it just felt... Wrong to be so sex obsessed when he was talking to his twin sister. 

But at the same time, he didn't have the confidence to be himself. Not the person who had failed to save her in the first place. But that left him with nobody to be. 

Fuck, this was harder than it should be. 

"Sorry, I didn't ask your name, I don't think I've seen you before?" Molly turned to the other angel. 

"I wouldn't have expected you to." The angelic woman's voice was soft, her long brown hair curly and messy, and Angel couldn't tell if the flowers were just a part of her appearance, or if she had just put flowers in her mess of curls. "I'm Eve, the second woman." 

Angel was even more confused than before. 

He could pretty much understand Treveze's dislike of Lucifer given the connection to a sibling who didn't exist in this version of reality, but why did he bring Molly and Eve from heaven? Molly had a connection to him, of course, and Treveze clearly liked him, not that he was given a reason why yet, but why Eve? 

"Do either of you know where we are?" Eve peered around, interested. 

"This is called the owl house, it belongs to a woman called Eda, she's still working on getting her stuff back. We're in a place called the Boiling Isles... It's the corpse of their god." Angel had to work hard to pull his eyes away from Molly as he explained. He could hardly give a good explanation for this place, but he had tried. 

"We're on God's corpse!?" Molly shrieked as she used her wings to get as high in the air as she should inside. 

"Their god, not the one from heaven." Angel waved all 4 hands that were out, his phone forgotten. "There's this human girl who got the powers of the god in question, but the people here aren't humans." 

"I don't know if that's better." Molly's voice shook as she tentatively landed again. 

"Do you mind if we look around?" Eve peered through the doorway behind herself and Molly. 

"Like I said, this place belongs to Eda, but I won't stop you." Angel shrugged. "Just don't break or spill anything." 

He'd had a good snoop himself, and he knew he wasn't the only one. Eda had also walked in on him looking around, not that he had really been hiding it, and she didn't seem to care. He could see no reason why the same wouldn't apply to Molly and Eve. 

Taking his permission the two women disappeared, though they both went in different directions. When Molly was out of view Angel let out a sigh as he leaned back on the nest, sticks poking him roughly. Maybe it was better that she didn't remember him, but it was just another level of torture as far as his afterlife was concerned. 

Get rid of one kind of torture just to get another. 

"You can just hang out here, I'll be back!" Treveze disappeared again before Angel could ask him what they were after, but it was even more surprising when he saw who was brought in. 

It was him, that much was clear, but also he was so different. 

The version of him was an actual angel, his halo more complex than the ones he had seen before, looking like a sun's rays. He looked much like Angel, though rather than pink he was purple and warm cream, with wings that looked like they came from a raven. 

The angelic version of him looked shaken, a hand around his neck, massaging as Angel used to back when he worked for Valentino. 

"You okay?" Angel wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, the situation was so crazy to begin with, but he wanted to be sure this... Angelic version of himself wasn't about to freak out or something. 

"Yeah," The other him spoke softly, looking away from the sinner. "I'm just surprised, I'm not supposed to be able to leave heaven for a year. What's going on?" 

"The kid who brought you here is called Treveze, they're a child god. I don't know why." Angel sat upright again. 

"Right." The angelic version nodded, mumbling something so himself as he looked around the house. 

This continued for a while, Treveze popping up with another version of himself, Eve, or Molly. It was a strange mix; he wasn't the only version of himself who was a sinner, nor was his Molly the only version who was a winner, but there was a wide variety of their lives or afterlives. 

One of the other Molly winners Treveze had dropped off in Eda's house had used some powers she had to return his Molly's memories of life. 

"Tony?" Molly looked at the sinner with watery eyes, his mouth dry again as his hands shook. "I- I forgot you, how- how?" 

"It's intended as a kindness." Eve spoke softly as she wrapped an arm around the sobbing mess of this timeline's Molly. "Could you really enjoy paradise knowing who wasn't?" 

"I chose not to enter heaven because my sister was sent to hell. It took me a long time to find her though." The first angelic version of Anthony was looking at his timeline's sinner version of Molly, who seemed determined to avoid his eyes. 

"I should still have the choice!" Molly threw Eve's arms off her as she got to her feet. 

"It's not like I was the best brother, Molly." Angel tried to laugh, but it was cut off as his twin grabbed him by the shoulders. 

"You were the best person in my life! Don't you dare insult my favourite brother!" Molly's eyes were fierce as she stared deep into Angel's own, who couldn't stifle his genuine laughter this time. 

"Molly," Angel's voice shook as he tried to talk through his laughter. "You can't say that, I'm not your only brother." 

"I will tell Jonathan to his face that you're my favourite!" Molly declared. 

"Honestly I'm surprised any of you got into heaven." A sinner version of Molly was still resting her head on her hands as she watched the two reunite. 

"For us it was our uncles." A version of Molly who was clearly a sinner piped up, despite the sun-like halo and raven-like angel wings she looked more demonic than anything. 

"Yeah, if neither of us went to hell Mom would never get their body back, but every time we were caught sinning we were forced to confess our sins. We did manage to get to hell, but then mom and uncle Michael tricked us to forgive our sins again." Anthony, who was much the same as that Molly, sighed, leaning back as they were all crowded in the living room. "We still spend most of our time in hell, Molly is an Overlord." 

"I'm just surprised there are only 2 of me." A sinner who had been speaking in a low tone in Japanese with a much younger boy who looked much like him, just longer hair and less sheep-like. "I know we're adopted, but it's not like I have no relation to you, just seems odd there aren't more." 

"Sorry, I didn't ask your name." A very human looking Eve said in place of a question as she addressed the blue haired sinner. 

"Nagisa. You can call me Draco to differentiate, seeing how I can be a dragon." The demonic blue haired member said, gesturing between himself and the clearly still alive younger version of himself. 

"Speaking of, why is that one a little kid?" A version of Angel with all 6 arms out pointed to an oddly human looking version of Anthony, who can't have truly been human as he had 4 arms. 

"I'm 29." It wasn't very believable, even as he raised a middle finger, given even his voice sounded prepubescent. 

"Sure you are." The nearest Molly patted him on the head as a few laughed. 

"I finally got it!" Treveze yelled excitedly as he reappeared. 

He was accompanied with a living Molly and Anthony, looking about 16 years old, accompanied by Eve and who, by now, Angel was pretty sure was Noctifer. 

"Mum, moma, I saved this Anthony from the exorcists! Didn't I do a good job?" Angel had no clue how Treveze had managed to drag him across the room in less than a second, but here he was. 

"Yes, well done, Ez." Noctifer's smile was soft as they lay a hand on the child god's head as they grinned up at the fallen Dominion with pride. 

"What was it you wanted to ask Luz about?" Treveze turned to Angel, who was being forced to bend uncomfortably low from how the child god was holding him, the sinner's cheeks heating. 

"Nothing important, just about my relationship with Husker." Angel laughed, not that it was funny, he just felt awkward admitting it to the child, and he was clearly right to feel so as the god turned to face the others in the room. 

"Who here is married to Husker?" Treveze called, more than half the alternate versions of Angel raising their hands, though some others looked confused, opening their mouths to speak. 

Before anything else could be said, a loud yell came from outside. 

----- 

Luz, Via, and Loona joined the rest of the Hexsquad outside of Hexside, which was currently on break. Though, of course, that couldn't stop them entering. 

The witches and Hunter had set up something like a picnic in one of the classrooms, blackboard ready for them to brainstorm solutions. 

"I swear! Dad can be so annoying sometimes!" Via threw one of the muffins at the wall in anger. "It's like he never thinks that people might want different things to him! Dragging me off to Loo Loo Land because he wanted to see Blitz and not Mum! Not even listening to me there or realise how much I hate that fucking Fizz robot!" 

"So what did he do this time?" Hunter gave Via another muffin. 

"You know how he meets with Blitz most full moons, but also hasn't been for a while?" Via looked like she wanted to throw the muffin again, but the muffins Luz had brought the day before was the only food they had that wasn't very obviously from the Isles. 

"Yeah? Did he skip another one?" Gus hopped onto the table beside the Goetia, Loona avoiding looking at Via as she tried to light her cigarette, the lighter not working. 

"No, they broke up and now dad won't stop moping about it." Via complained before she stuffed the muffin in her mouth. 

"To be honest, I think I made it worse." Loona admitted, giving up on the lighter, from how Amity was looking at her it was clear that even if she had succeeded, she wouldn't have been able to smoke for long. 

"How so?" Willow was clearly concerned from where she stood by the blackboard, her palisman on her shoulder. 

"I kinda told Blitz that Stolas was trying to break up with him because of how often he seemed to be trying to get out of the full moons." Loona cringed as she leaned back on her arm. "I honestly thought that's what Stolas was doing, it's what I do." 

"So Blitz thought they were going to break up, so he broke up with Stolas first? I thought he was trying to borrow that book that didn't help Luz." Amity guessed. 

Via had told the Hexsquad about the deal, though she had also sworn them to secrecy. She would eventually learn how to use those spells, though unlike her father it was only because she wanted to, but other than teaching her the grimoire was only supposed to be used by Stolas. It was more than slightly illegal for Blitz to use it to go to Earth to kill humans, and it would not just get him in trouble. 

Of course, by that time the Hexsquad were already aware that there were imps going to Earth to try to kill humans, as a group of them had tried, and failed, to kill Luz before disappearing. 

"No, he spent all day trying to convince Stolas not to end the deal. He's also pretty cut up about it." Loona grabbed one of the more suspicious looking snacks that were on display, eyeing it suspiciously. 

"So neither of them are happy that they broke up, so... Do any of us know why they did?" Luz looked around, though obviously only Via, and apparently Loona, could actually know anything. 

"Dad's not really any help, just moping and telling me not to worry about it." Via balled the wrapper of the muffin in her fist. 

"Blitz isn't really any better, not that he fucking admits when he feels like shit." Loona sighed, pushing her hair back from her face. "Just pretending shit's fine and tryin' to work." 

"I thought he needed the book to work." Gus raised an eyebrow as he fiddled with the magnifying glass earring he had stolen a while back. 

"Stolas gave him an Asmodeus crystal, so he doesn't need the book." Loona shrugged, pushing herself back upright. 

"Why don't we lock them in a room and make them talk?" Luz suggested. "We already know the magic here interferes with both the magic of heaven and hell, so it should put them on equal footing and stop them breaking out." 

"Heaven?" Amity's eyes snapped to Luz. 

"Oh yeah, a new girl in my class turned out to be a seraphim and she couldn't keep her human form when she came through Treveze's portal." Luz waved it off like it was nothing, she was pretty determined she wasn't going to end up in heaven anyway, so it didn't really matter. 

It hurt a little to decide that when she remembered her dad, but even if her mother went there too, everyone else important to Luz in her life was from the Boiling Isles. 

"But how would we get them here? I get Via is Stolas' daughter, but how would we get Blitz?" Hunter raised the most glaring flaw of Luz's idea. 

"Loona is Blitz's daughter." Via pointed at the hellhound beside her. 

"Adopted. But I guess I could get him here." Loona sighed again as she forced herself to her feet to call Blitz. 

----- 

"Vaggie, what do you mean?" Charlie's eyebrows were knitted together with concern as she watched her girlfriend's face. 

It wasn't just anger that fuelled the fire in her eyes, it was betrayal and fear too. 

"I wasn't born in heaven." Vaggie's hand and voice shook as she kept her spear up as a threat against Emily. "I was a winner, and nobody ever thought to tell me." 

"What? But- but you were an exorcist!" Charlie was just as horrified as Vaggie, though it was obviously less personal than it was for Vaggie. 

"It's not uncommon for exorcists to be winners. If they don't have any memories when they come in and Adam approved, they can choose to become an exorcist." Emily had never been present when a winner became an exorcist, their wings and halos usually differing from other winners, but now she assumed that was because she wasn't supposed to know about the exterminations. 

"There is no fucking way I agreed to work for Adam!" Vaggie snarled, unconsciously flinching away as Charlie tried to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You don't need memories to realise how fucking awful it was to work for him. He named me after a fucking vagina, and never let me forget it!" 

"I was told you decided on that name." Emily didn't know how to fake her emotions, her large eyes just making that more obvious as her cheeks flushed gold, unable to make eye contact with Vaggie out of shame. 

Vaggie let out a cold, joyless laugh. 

"You must have never had a fucking mind then." Vaggie pulled out her wings, eyes still filled with rage. 

"Vaggie-" Charlie tried to calm the fallen exorcist down, reaching her hand out again. 

"Don't call me that!" She felt like her whole world was falling apart, she had years of life stolen from her, and the only person here capable of returning them was refusing to. "That's not my name! Tell me my name!" 

"I-" Emily paused, clearly not used to facing hostility of any kind. "I can't, I don't know the name you had before." 

The fallen exorcist didn't bother saying anything else, using her great wings to increase her speed as she charged at the seraphim. It wouldn't look good on hell or Earth if a seraphim died while on a mission to Earth, but at this point Vaggie didn't care. 

Before her spear could make contact, though, an explosion threw her off course. 

"I'm so sorry," Charlie's hands flew to her mouth as she ran towards her girlfriend, the door to Eda's house slamming open. "I didn't know what else to do." 

"What's going on out here?" Angel - except it wasn't Angel, this version was too... purple to be Angel - asked, a crowd of repeating faces spilling out of the door. 

"I just want to know who I am." Vaggie sounded broken as she no longer rejected Charlie's attempts of comfort, she hadn't really wanted to kill Emily, though she was still itching to. 

"Vaggie is a winner, and doesn't remember when she was alive." Charlie provided, her arms wrapped protectively around Vaggie as an unfamiliar face who looked much like Angel approached. 

"I can return your memories," The winner with a sun beam halo offered. "I doubt they'll be pleasant, but I know I want my memories." 

"Please," Vaggie's voice was barely above a whisper as she asked. 

-----

Victoria was the eldest of 5 siblings, being more of a mother to the others than either of their parents. They had a roof over their head, even if it was always stinking of cigarette smoke, and there was money for Victoria to make them all simple meals. By the time she was 20, she had become quite accustomed to it. 

There was never any need for any of the younger 4 to go to their legal parents for anything, as it was always only Victoria who cared anyway. 

She was the one who would skip classes to attend shows, who would treat them when they were sick, who would congratulate their wins, commiserate their losses, and chastise their misbehaviour. Victoria was the one Sammy had come out to as nonbinary, though there was nothing she could offer but her acceptance and support. 

She may have never truly had a childhood, but she would be damned if she allowed the same to happen to her siblings. To Victoria, her own life was nothing if it secured theirs. 

Then their parents brought friends home. 

It wasn't just Victoria they tried to bribe favours from, and when she would shut down each and every advance, they became angry. It wasn't helped by all the adults being larger, heavier, and stronger than Victoria. 

Even while she was bare handed she fought tooth and nail against the drunkards who wanted their way, kicking up enough of a fuss for their neighbours to hear. She had even managed to bite a chunk out of the man's hand as she struggled. 

But they weren't as bare handed and vulnerable as she was. 

It was the next oldest who held her hand as she was dying, she knew from the touch, but she couldn't hear a thing. 

----- 

"Vaggie?" Charlie's voice shook now as she watched the tears stream down her girlfriend's face as the fallen angel curled in on herself. 

"Victoria." Her voice broke from a whisper as she spoke her name aloud for the first time in almost 30 years. "My name is Victoria." 

"That's such a pretty name." Charlie smiled brightly, hoping to bring some light to Victoria's darkened face. "Much better than Vaggie." 

"I'm a monster," Victoria spat the words like they tasted foul. 

"No you're not," Charlie tried to pull Victoria's hands from her face, the winner who had returned her memories backing off to give them space. "You're amazing, you got into heaven, and you chose mercy over the exterminations. How could you be a monster." 

"I killed my own brother." Victoria's shoulders shook as she tried to control her desperate sobbing. "I raised him until the day I died, he was only 15, and I- I killed him. Oh my god- he- he apologised to me." 

"What do you mean?" Charlie didn't want to admit the most likely explanation for Victoria's tears. 

"He was a sinner, Charlie. A sinner that I- I wasn't even wearing my mask..." Victoria's hands shook as she finally pulled them back, her eyes searching the crowd. 

She scrambled to her knees in front of the child god as soon as she located Treveze, her breathing still rough. 

"Please, my youngest she- she was also an exorcist. Please, just... Let her be free, but not an exorcist." Victoria could not have pleaded more. "I'll do anything." 

"But I don't wanna free the exorcists." Treveze whinged, pouting. "What if they attack Tony again?" 

"Then I will give my life to defend Tony, I'm not asking for all of them, just my sister." Victoria begged. 

"Sera is terrified of you," Emily, too, was shaking as she addressed the child god who had turned all exorcists into dolls in the first place. "I'm sure you can force a deal with her." 

----- 

Emily had been gone for too long, and Sera was getting more and more anxious. 

Last time she hadn't prevented her partner seraphim from going to Earth it had resulted in evil finding Earth and Lucifer's fall. She hadn't even gotten permission from Metatron or God for Emily's request, but she couldn't leave hell unwatched when they had no idea how to undo whatever that Treveze monstrosity had done. 

"Hi," Sera jumped as the bored, childish voice of Treveze suddenly came from behind her. "I was asked to turn the exorcists back, but I'll only do it if you disband them and promise not to attack hell again." 

"We aren't attacking hell, we're preventing overpopulation and rebellion." Sera cleared her throat, trying to appear composed as primal fear coursed through her. 

"Then I'll make it impossible for either to interfere with the other except through me." Treveze shrugged, a rush of magic that felt so wrong on a fundamental level passed through heaven at their words. "And you're not allowed to erase people's memories any more. You made Tori cry. Anyway, they're not in my collection anymore, so I've done what was asked. I don't want to talk to you again." 

Chapter Text

Heaven abandoned hell after Treveze's attempts to facilitate redemption. He had already severed the direct connection between the two, but by Sera's command heaven prevented any who had ever been sinners from entering heaven, even if brought by Treveze. A few of their winners had disappeared immediately after the new barriers were put up. 

They weren't able to stop the child god's visits, though they were rare. 

Emily continued to attend the same school as Luz, mentioning not a word of Angel's visit to Earth or the Boiling Isles. If she was honest, though, her agreement to the secrecy was less to do with the protection of hell, and more to do with wanting to continue to visit and learn more of what Sera kept from her. It was now categorically impossible for her to fall to hell thanks to Treveze, so her questioning was no longer a threat to her. Emily just wanted heaven to be the place she had always believed it to be. 

It had been a horrifying shock to learn that Sera herself had made Victoria's family members in heaven forget about her after the other exorcists abandoned her in hell. 

That along with a few other secrets of Sera's were uncovered when Treveze visited heaven with who he claimed was his sister. She had many characteristics in common with winners, and unlike Treveze themself showed no sign of being a different god, but her halo was more in line with what Emily was told god originally considered for Dominions. 

Treveze continued to allow Charlie's letters through to Emily, though both were careful not to include too much in case they were intercepted. With the chaos heaven was still dealing with, Emily was glad to have a friend who would last for the same eternity as her. 

Emily decided not to worry too much about the winners that seemed to disappear, a small number of elder angels joining the ranks of the missing too, Treveze wasn't vicious enough to kill them. Not when Luz, Victoria, and Charlie were by their side. There were also no signs of their puppets. 

Heaven had a lot of work to do, and Emily was determined to make it the place she believed it should be. 

----- 

"Luz," Camilla lay on a bed in hospital, her time was near its end as she was surrounded by the messed up chaos of a family she had come to have thanks to the daughter that so resembled herself and her husband. She was at peace, though she wished that knowledge was enough to quell the tears flooding down her daughters' faces. "I know you'll want to stay with your friends in the Boiling Isles, but come visit your dad and I sometimes?" 

"I will, Mami, I promise." Luz clung to Camilla's hand as though she were the one on Death's door. 

Luz had been more prepared for Eda's death only about a year prior, the entirety of the Boiling Isles having stared it in the face more than once before. It was still painful, but somehow her magic teacher and surrogate mother was more fallible than the human mother. And after the loss of her father all those years ago now it was more terrifying. 

"Vee," Camilla's breathing was laboured as she turned to her other daughter, the brave little demon who had fought her way out of captivity and provided Camilla with reassurance and love she had so desperately needed more times than she could count now. "I'll fight for you at heaven's gates, so don't feel forced from the afterlife of us humans." 

"I'll come." Vee promised. 

The shapeshifter knew far more about death than Luz, having been the unwilling cause of many before she even knew what most of the Isles looked like. Camilla was still the first death of a parental figure she had ever faced, having long lost contact with the other basilisks. 

She wasn't like Luz, though, so Vee didn't even know if it was possible for her to go to an afterlife that wasn't the Boiling Isles'. 

Vee would do what she could, though. 

Luz had never been to heaven, aside from the situation with how dangerous it might be given the situation between Treveze and Sera, she couldn't trust herself. Hell, like the Boiling Isles, was like a fantasy land, somewhere she could explore like a book, where the only person she knew there was the creepy old guy who had caused her, her family, and the whole of the Isles' population so much suffering. It was as appealing as the fantasies, and unlike people claimed, Luz did know how to leave a fantasy. 

Heaven held the promise of her father, and Luz didn't know if she could resist that temptation. She didn't know if heaven was as wonderful of a place as people always described it, but they could trust that Emily would look after Camilla. 

Both sisters felt numb as they left the room once Camilla's heart had stopped, Amity and Masha offering as much comfort as they could to their respective partners. 

Camilla's funeral was a small service. Neither Luz nor Vee knew what was the right thing to do, Luz was too young to remember most of the details of her dad's funeral, though she remembered him well. All she knew was that her mother would want to be buried next to him as the love of her life. 

"It'll be okay." Amity held Luz close as she finally fell apart, the endless numb sensation that had filled Luz until the end of the funeral finally giving way to the pain. 

Masha was staying with Vee, who was still refusing to leave Camilla's grave even after 2 hours. 

Amity didn't want to say this, but she couldn't help but think she was lucky at times like these that she didn't have a good relationship with her mother. Luz may be able to be certain of the afterlife, but it didn't erase the crushing reality of her loss, a reality that Amity could never fully relate to. 

"You're not alone, you'll never be alone." Amity rubbed Luz's back as she gently rocked the woman back and forth, Luz's tears soaking through Amity's top. "You can write to Emily, she can tell you how your mum is doing." 

Luz kept crying, seemingly randomly for at least the next year, so many things, even barely noticeable things, reminded her of her mother. Luz rarely returned to the human realm, Vee inheriting most of Camilla's property, and Vee only came to the Boiling Isles when she needed to eat magic, but the two managed to keep contact. 

The basilisk had been involved in their tradition of flowers for a long time, so it was second nature for both sisters to bring the most beautiful ones they could find to their mother too. 

"Our family only owns one more plot here," Vee stared at the headstones rather than look at Luz. "I asked, and we can't buy another one, everything else is reserved." 

"You should have it." Luz also didn't look at the other visitor, now used to her titan nature to grow plants on her parents' graves to look like their favourite series that had brought them together. "At this point, you're more human than I am. I also have another family I can be buried with." 

"You don't have to." Vee's heart hurt more now they were talking about it. "He's your father, I never met him." 

"He will love you." Luz reached for Vee's hand. "I promise." 

----- 

"Is it polite to say it's nice to meet you?" A woman with pale eagle wings, dressed like she had just walked out of a history textbook, her skin almost translucently pale, fan held delicately in her fingers, her powdered white wig pinned into an extravagant updo hovered just above the ground in front of Luz. 

"Who are you?" Luz's voice echoed slightly as she asked, it was nothing like the last time she had died, for she was not in the portal realm, but that meant she didn't have to worry about sinking. 

"Azrael. I am the archangel of death." The woman spoke matter-of-factly, though her eyes and smile were kind. "The seraphim wants me to take you to the original heaven regardless of your desires, but I don't wish to force you when I myself don't stay there." 

"'Original heaven'?" Luz asked, the lack of a heartbeat in her chest making her feel awfully uncomfortable. 

"Treveze made another version of heaven with some help, as Sera refused to accept redeemed winners. It is possible to go from one heaven to the other as long as you were never a sinner." Azrael explained. 

"What about the Boiling Isles' afterlife?" Luz wanted to keep her promise to her mother more than anything, but she didn't want to lose her other family. 

"I can't say, but I have certainly met some interesting people in my time there who have never lived on Earth." Azrael took a step towards Luz, though both voice still echoed eerily in her ears. "Which one do you want me to bring you to?" 

"I'll go to Ez's heaven." Luz accepted the gloved hand offered to her. 

"I look forwards to getting to know you." Azrael smiled, for an angel of death she was warmer than Luz had expected. 

----- 

"Mami! Papi!" Luz ran to the two familiar faces, Treveze and one of the winner versions of Molly who was related to Noctifer hanging back to give her space, though they were there for her safety. 

"Luz," Camilla wrapped the now permanently titan formed Luz, encouraging the man with her to do the same. "Where are you staying?" 

"Treveze made a childish version of heaven where redeemed sinners can go. You're also welcome to visit us there. Eda, Raine, Angel, and most of my friends are there too." Luz grinned as she had both parents again. 

"I would love to meet your friends, Mija." Luz's father's voice was lower than she remembered, but it still sounded like home. "I'm told we have converted some of them to Cosmic Frontier." 

Luz groaned as Camilla laughed, though she knew she was the same about The Good With Azura, it was still overwhelming at times to listen to Gus and Hunter gush about the comic series. 

Luz truly couldn't have thought of a more peaceful way for her to spend her afterlife. Every part of her was accepted, and she had to leave none of it behind - even the parts that got Belos to condemn her truth in the first place. 

And now she had eternity. 

Chapter Text

The Amphibia oneshot is out, if you don't want to look on my page you can use this link here: A Divine Surprise (2466 words) by Wendy_Noire
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Amphibia (Cartoon), Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sasha Waybright/Marcy Wu, Anne Boonchuy/Sasha Waybright/Marcy Wu, Charlie Magne | Morningstar/Vaggie
Characters: Anne Boonchuy, Marcy Wu, Sasha Waybright, Charlie Magne | Morningstar, Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel), Lucifer Magne | Morningstar, Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Adam (Hazbin Hotel), Sera (Hazbin Hotel)
Additional Tags: Oneshot, Crossover, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Original Artwork To See, I don't really know - Freeform, just thought this would be funny, More Funny Than Angsty, Also on Tumblr
Summary:

Sasha and Marcy have to believe redemption is possible, even though their actions as teens led them to be sinners after their deaths. Anne having avoided the same fate meant they had to redeem themselves to prove to her and themselves that she wasn't wrong to forgive them. An oddly familiar voice is found in the hotel, and who knows, maybe they'll see their favourite frog scientist again.

To be clear, I do ship all three of them, but I'm not 100% sure the Anne part comes across.
There are mentions of The Owl House as they are canonically the same universe.

Or you can find it on Tumblr here: https://www.tumblr.com/wendynoire/757549106124177409/a-divine-surprise?source=share