Chapter Text
"Papa."
Anya calls out to her new father a few days after she had passed the test. She knew not to bother him and Franky after the invitation mail from Eden Academy had demanded a three-person interview (although he explicitly only said that he's too busy in her head.) There was something was bugging her since she had woken up in her room.
"Good morning Anya." He calls out softly - a fake tone of adoration, she senses. Beside him was a short man with very curly hair and a square looking face, and in front of them stood stacks of paperwork seemingly searching for a woman, a wife.
She doesn't respond yet, quickly diving into their minds to find out what exactly were they doing this time.
Her eyes lit up at the revelation.
But no! Now's not the time to get distracted, she's got an important question to ask!
Shaking her head dramatically to wave off imaginary clouds of fun fogging her mind, her emerald eyes look up at her father mentally anticipating the girl's need.
"Papa. What is a demon?"
.
Twilight blinked.
Franky blinked.
Both men blinked in unison.
Because that... out of all things a little kid could ask; they did not expect her to question what a 'demon' meant, or how she even managed to acquire such.. unnecessary religious information.
As if reading Twilight's thoughts, Anya suddenly pops in; "I read it in a book when we visited the library!"
.. Moreover, he did not expect the girl to come across a bible or any book connecting to religious terms to find interest in the demon.
But, why demon? Not angels?
"Is the demon bad?" he hears Anya asking, seeing a frown growing evident on her face.
"Yes, demons are bad."
Franky confirmed for him when he noticed Twilight taking a while to answer. What the adults did not expect was when they see the girl look at them with disbelief. Had she stumbled on the wrong section of the bookstore to read that demons are supposedly good? "But why? I wanna know!" they hear her demand and if Twilight knew better, he could head traces of her tone sounding defensive.
Twilight lets out a strained sigh and decided to explain to her thoroughly to get things over with in order to get back and continue finding a wife through the pages of paperwork.
...
Anya couldn't believe it.
Demons are bad, like really evil.
She was constantly reminded that the King of Hell; Lucifer, is an evil, evil demon.
But that's just what the book says! Or her father and the others say! Her Lucifer isn't as bad as they thought and claim him to be. And she was utterly in disbelief and denial over it when they kept telling her about his wrongdoings in earth.
Because speak of the devil. She finds him crafting ducks in her room the moment she returns inside with a dejected look on her face. And what part of this is evil?? She watches him having his entire focus directed to his creation, his snake tongue stuck out his lip, his hands delicately putting the tiniest movements and weight he could put into his work.
This Lucifer is awesome, just like her dad. He had a cool form, his really cool wings and apple canes, the silly faces he makes when Anya is sad.
He is like a papa, but Anya knew he is already someone else's papa, so she didn't want to take him away from them. She would have been thrilled to have him as her papa though.
Then there's Alastor, she glances.
From her child-like observation, Alastor is a very polite demon, and he is obsessed on putting up nice things to wear to accompany his charm and loves radio to sound like it too. His smiles are mostly creepy, but they meant no harm. That is when Anya learnt that he was simply being in control by smiling; something Anya can't do, yet. Although she could hear his thoughts sometimes sounding frustrated than what she sees outside, and the girl understood he always lied, no matter the permanent smile he had on his face.
Regardless, he seems to adore her genuinely, cooking for the girl or play with her and Anya had taken a liking to him, declaring that she still likes him the way she likes Lucifer too.
"Anya, my dear!" Speaking of the second devil, his radio voice calls out, harshly jolting Lucifer from his focus and his work immediately ruined. He was about to snap and lunge forward to the other who dared interrupt him, knowing it was intentional, but found himself perking up at Anya's return instead.
"Anya!" He calls out as well, his fallen work now forgotten from the side of his (correction, Anya's) worktable. "How did it go?" The devil himself approaches the girl; his sharp toothy grin ever so present but held the kindest smile. Although said smile did not last once he began to notice the girl zoning out. He had snapped her back to reality when he pressed his hand onto her head and ruffled it.
"Huh?" She responds a tad bit late.
A shadow materialized behind Anya, deciding to take advantage of the girl's daze to mess with the devil. "Why, he means 'the talk' you wanted to have with your father! I will apologize on his-" The red demon approached and lightly tapped his cane over to Lucifer's head twice. "-behalf that this simple-minded clown cannot even elaborate on what his question meant."
"I beg your pardon-"
"Papa said Lucy-fur's a bad guy. Twice."
A radio sounding snort came out from the red demon while Lucifer was barely fazed. But sensing the girl's behaviour tells him her adoptive father might have been a bit too blunt explaining to a four-year-old girl about heaven and hell, supposedly. Alastor had gone quiet, possibly to not make matters worse (surprisingly) and the both of them watched as Anya looked more irritated now than her original mood, her expression saying alone. Lucifer could tell the girl refused to believe Lucifer being cruel - that thought suddenly caused warmth to stroke his ego, but Lucifer pushed that away. With a gentle sigh, he looks at Anya. "Yeah, I hear that a lot."
As the girl did not budge, Lucifer picked her up and sat her over the edge of her bed. Alastor watched from the sidelines, and although while both demons originally disliked each other, they would pause their hatred to take care of a broken little girl who had been through so much. Even Alastor knew better not to let her mind run back to the trauma she experienced that day.
Lucifer knelt down in front of Anya and rubbed her cheek in a soothing manner. "And Lucifer's not a good guy either sweetheart. I've done things that are considered bad too. So you don't have to worry much about it." He says.
"It's just that... you're Lucy-fur.. You're the devil.. They said you were supposed to be so mean and nasty, burn others down to the ground... and possess others and do more bad.. But you've been nice to me... You treat me like I wasn't a sa-kri-fee-shall lamb... You're not mean at all..."
Lucifer doesn't deny the girl's claims. He had done those things when summoned to the human world, and for personal reasons he supposes, but that's not the point-
"Then you needn't believe what people say about him, my darling." Alastor steps up, gently shoving the other aside to kneel and look at the girl. "The devil is here in the flesh. Lucifer, king of hell, is alive and with you right here. What people have been saying... Well I suppose they may have some truth in their claims, but! Has he done any of that while he remained by your side? I'd say he is here tending to you like a try-hard nanny constantly fretting when your smile falters instead!"
Alastor lets out a chuckle of amusement from his description that mocks the devil in question, and while Lucifer would love to shut the radio demon up; Alastor had been doing a great job cheering the girl up better than he could.
Anya giggled, the sound of her little laughter warming the hearts of both demons. "So you needn't worry, my dear. Let's not waste time dwelling on all that nonsense they tell. All the foul claims that they spout about THE devil himself, when they haven't even seen themselves how he truly is standing right in front of your very eyes, hm?"
The girl nodded, agreeing with Alastor as the radio demon has successfully talked the girl out of her worry and denial about Lucifer. As a small smile replaces the frown from earlier, the radio demon had exclaimed his usual motto, making the girl's smile wider and brighter. It wasn't long until her attention shifts to the other and she was seen running up to Lucifer. Swiftly catching her in his arms, the devil lifted her up to squeeze out more of her laughter these two devils were addicted to hearing.
The scene portrays a colorful family consisting of an odd-looking couple of the same gender with an adopted daughter in their arms if not for an illusion blocking those who could've been peeking from the gap of the door of Anya's room.
In Twilight's eyes, he only sees his adoptive daughter cheerfully playing with her chimera doll.