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Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Inuyasha or Hazbin Hotel. All characters depicted belong to their respective owners.
The ever constant beating of wings muffled the world. The frantic pounding of feet on cobblestone. Screams that mingled alongside manic laughter. The faint scrape of a sword being drawn. Warm, thick rivulets of blood splattering the land to be forgotten. A cacophony of anguish and torment, murder and mayhem, hidden beneath the soft flutter of heavenly wings.
Those magnificent feathers now stained with the lives of the fallen.
It needed to end, and yet all she could hear were the words he had spoken. Before.
"I made a vow, long ago, to not bring harm to the souls of Sinners or interfere with the decisions that Heaven makes on high. It was meant to be my punishment, but I took it for what it really was. What my Father deemed as forgiveness, if you could call it that after he'd cast me here." His eyes had been solemn, distant. Lost in a memory that had happened nearly a millennium ago. "But I took what I could to protect… us." Lilith. He'd done it for Lilith, but he still hadn't wanted to say her name, even then. "And now that protection extends to Charlie, as my hellborn spawn. My daughter."
She understood. She did. She'd died trying to save her own child, after all, and it still hurt. It would always hurt. Especially not knowing whether she'd succeeded, or if it had all been in vain. If her own little girl had been… lost. Alone. Whether on Earth or in Heaven.
"So long as the Exorcists respect that vow themselves… there's nothing I can do." He'd looked at her then, truly, perhaps for the first time. His red pupils were fiery pits encased in amber. Passionate and full of life, if only for a moment. A single, heart wrenching moment, before he drifted back to his workbench and the ducks that resided there. To the knowledge that his daughter had been taken from him by the very woman he still loved.
But then he'd smiled, and she still wondered what he'd thought of her at that moment. The strange woman he had found at the edge of Pride. The anomaly now within his realm and his home.
"Besides." He had wanted it to be a joke among friends from the way he'd said it, but she knew he wasn't joking. Not really. "Why would I want to save a bunch of Sinners anyway? They get worse every generation. More violent. More destructive. Especially those fucking Overlords." She remembered the way he shook his head. The way he lost his smile. "It's better this way. You should understand that better than anyone, Kagome. You lived in two entirely different time periods before you died. You've seen how they are."
That was true, but it didn't change the fact that she was also a Sinner. A mortal soul doomed to eternal damnation. And it was all too obvious that he didn't like being told that, time and again.
"No." His attention fixated upon the ducks scattered across his workbench with that single word. He picked one not long after, cradling it with care. "I don't know what you are, but I do know that you are something so much more." Magic swelled at his behest, transforming the familiar creation into a swirl of color between them. His own version of an ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan. Then it settled and stayed like that, a swan in truth. One as black as night. "My Father is never very forthcoming about his plans, but someday, we'll figure it out. That much I can promise you."
The cries warbled and shook, echoing on the wind that screamed alongside them. Pulling her back into the haunting masquerade of divine intervention. A mockery of what she knew in her heart to be just and kind and true. A slaughter led by the first man… and for what?
Entertainment?
It certainly wasn't to quell Lilith's supposed uprising anymore, that much was certain. Not after she'd vanished. God, how many years had it been since she'd left? How many had it been since she'd walked away? Since she'd taken Charlie? Since she'd—
"...Lilith… but I…?"
The memory stung in more ways than one, as the sound of his voice twisted inside her head. Small, confused and broken in a way she had never heard before. It echoed on repeat, again and again and again, until she finally lifted a hand to the jewel wrapped around her neck and cut it short. The damned thing scorched her hand in retaliation, but Kagome refused to cower beneath the weight of the Shikon or the multitude of demons housed within that howled at her defiance.
Not ever, and especially not when it came to him.
He'd stood with her in the dark for an age, despite having forgotten her name time and again. Whispered encouragement. Offered her ducks, of all things. Just enough to make her laugh through the Shikon's influence and the demons that now lingered in her soul. Then, when she finally chose to return to herself, he'd lit the way. A single, flickering flame held in his hand to light the dark. A small consideration for her, despite how long she had been drowning. And when she finally woke, when she discovered the destruction she'd reaped upon his realm while dreaming, he'd just laughed. Actually laughed… and it had been beautiful. Angelic, even, and yet so much more.
Just like him, as broken as he was after the Fall and the depression and the… the…
Kagome clenched her teeth. Blocked out the faint laughter of the Shikon within. The way the demons goaded her at every turn. The way they poked and prodded at her emotions, her memories, in the hopes she'd unleash them. Whether that be upon the Exorcists or simply Pentagram City itself once again, she knew they wished to continue their fun. To feast upon the wretched so that they too might join the horde. That they might overwhelm her. Corrupt her very soul.
"No," she growled softly, shaking her head. "No."
She wouldn't be cowed by a sentient piece of jewelry she had tethered to herself with a few simple words. That she'd defeated with a single wish. That she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, was just as afraid of her now as it had been in life… but more than that, she knew it was afraid of him.
The Morning Star.
Lucifer.
A being from the dawn of time. Eons old. Capable of altering reality itself. Of silencing it forever, if he could only bring himself to hollow out pieces of her soul. Carve out the rot from within, until even the physical manifestation of the jewel around her neck became little more than a whisper on the wind. The Shikon itself wasn't a Sinner, after all. It was a parasite that didn't fall into the neat little check box that prevented Lucifer's hand. But she also knew he wouldn't, couldn't, do that.
Banishing the Shikon into the depths of her soul had been her decision. It had been born of her own free will. To ask him to even attempt such would circumvent the very reason he had Fallen in the first place. There would be consequences, no matter the outcome, and she refused to add to his burden. She refused to be.. to be…
A chorus of laughter erupted from the shadows she'd left in her wake. The jewel around her neck burned, shining a brilliant red between her fingers, as the demons pressed close to the surface. As they fed from her struggle. Her pain. Her loss. The constant ache in her heart that had somehow followed her into death itself, far from the man who'd once repaired and broken her confidence in herself all at once. The half-demon who'd given her everything, and then ripped it all away in one blood crazed night.
The man who'd possibly… who'd… murdered her daughter.
"That's. Enough."
Even Exorcists stilled, swords half swung, at the sudden crack of her voice. Heads swiveled, searching dark, blood soaked corners for the sound and finding nothing of significance. Wings spread wide as they took to the air, communicating in hushed tones. Angelic steel glinted beneath Hell's crimson sky, forming a protective circle and belaying their caution in the face of the unknown.
In the sudden confusion, the few remaining Sinners scattered in opposite directions.
Kagome's eyes swirled in the dark as she watched Exorcists alike sneer from on high. But they didn't follow, hunting for her instead now that they believed they had a heftier prize. One that might just be worthy of parading back to Adam, rather than leaving her body to rot in the street like the rest. Overlords were trickier, after all. More arrogant. More powerful. Enough to put up a challenge, possibly slip away, and if the rumors were to be believed, absolutely dumb enough to try and face five angelic blades just to prove they could in some cases.
She had no desire to play their games, though, despite what they thought they'd found. Not after the other Sinners had fled, as few as there'd been. They weren't safe, not entirely, but she could take solace in the fact that even those few had been spared with as little as she'd done. By accident, no less, as she sought to quell the hissing demons within.
Kagome smiled ruefully then. The Shikon's manipulation was legendary, after all. She'd expected it. Anticipated it when she'd chosen to witness the ongoing Extermination first hand, even. The jewel was nothing if not persistent, so there was little surprise that it begun siphoning from the madness and feeding it back to her. Only that it'd been doing it quietly. A fraction at a time. So little, in fact, that she hadn't even noticed with as lost in her thoughts as she always was.
She wouldn't make the same mistake twice. One way or another, she'd make certain of it. Even if it meant walking the streets more often and mingling among the other Sinners. Alone. It'd been so very long since she'd done that, after all. Since she'd even tried… and she already knew that Lucifer wouldn't like it. Leaving the soft comfort of the sanctuary that he'd built for only a moment was one thing, but to actually leave? Often?
No.
Just the thought of him with only rubber ducks for company in his gilded cage…
It was easy to admit they both wouldn't like it.
Her eyes tracking the battle formation happening in the sky above, the raven haired woman shook her head and finally stepped back into her own shadow. The icy chill of the void embraced her immediately; welcomed her home. Her aura bloomed in the dark as a tangible thing then, wild and raw, causing the hissing demons housed within to retreat out of deference. Out of fear. They parted like the sea in her passing. Avoided even the darkness that rippled in her wake.
A soft smile touched her features at the irony of it all.
She'd feared the void once, back when she was alive. Choked on it in her nightmares for months. Heard the Shikon's sweet temptations on repeat night after night even years after the cursed thing had been sealed away. And now it was simply part of her. A pathway between two points. A space she'd frequented quite often over the last several hundred years in an effort to understand the changes death had wrought upon her at Lucifer's behest.
But it was also different now. Kagome always knew where Lucifer was. After being acquainted with his unique angelic aura for centuries, she could find him in the dark as easily as he'd once found her. Even from far away. Even without that tiny, flickering flame that had once lit the way. The sheer magnitude of his power simply called to her instead, and once she knew, once she found him, it split the dark in two. A shining, golden thread that pierced the void itself, vibrating with recognition.
A single, silent question hummed along the chord.
Are you ready to come back now?
The void shuddered around her, demons hissing in the background, when she reached out. Her fingertips tingled with the familiar warmth of his magic. Kagome's smile brightened as her own pale, shimmering blue aura mingled along the edge of Lucifer's energy without hesitation in response.
Yes.
Then she plucked it.
I'm ready to come home.
The sweetest melody echoed along the thread for half a second before it stilled. Lucifer's power pulsed outward with the echoing silence, once, twice, and then it cleaved through the darkness like it was nothing. A shining, golden torii shimmered into existence with the display, magic swirling within its epicenter and welcoming her back to the Morningstar estate. Her own personal gateway. A creation born from the depths of her heart with barely a drop of his brilliance.
A reminder that even now, Lucifer would always offer his hand if she needed him.
…even when he barely realized he was doing so.
The workshop was a disaster. It wasn't uncommon, but it tugged the corner of her lip a little higher even before she stepped through the awaiting portal and into the fray. There were rubber ducks everywhere. So many more than the last time she'd actively made an effort to organize at least a few dozen into similar piles based on function and type. So many, in fact, that she was fairly certain that they were climbing the walls… and stuck to the ceiling.
No.
They were definitely stuck to the ceiling.
Shaking her head fondly at the sight of whatever masterpiece that certainly was, Kagome allowed her eyes to drift to the bench where Lucifer sat. Hunched over and hard at work. And completely oblivious to her sudden appearance only several feet away as he tinkered with another rubber duck that seemed to refract the overhead lighting somehow. A million pinpoints danced across his puffed out cheeks in a dazzling display of color when he shifted it, sticking out his tongue in the process.
It was brilliant and unique and just like him.
Avoiding a pile of ducks on the floor, Kagome quietly drifted closer to his work station to get a better look at the little duck. Her eyes lit with wonder, trying to comprehend how he'd manipulated the familiar plastic, yellow texture into recreating the effects of a disco ball without the use of mirrors or glass. Putting her hands on her knees, she bent closer as she whispered, "It's beautiful."
"Ack!" Lucifer flinched, jostling the table in his attempt not to drop his newest creation. Whipping his head around, his eyes huge and molten, he wheezed out a laugh when he finally realized she was standing just behind him. "Oh, ho, Kagome!" Failing miserably to appear unphased, he breathed, "I, uh, I didn't notice you come in. Not that you're not welcome to come in, of course. You know you're always welcome and everything, but, uh… when…? When did you get here? Uh, exactly? Has it been long?"
"No." Kagome knew it was best to reassure him before he rambled himself into oblivion, and she didn't make it a point to mention when he breathed a sigh of relief the moment she did so. "I only went out for a little bit, that's all. I haven't been back long."
"Oh, you did?" Setting the rubber duck down onto the table, Lucifer readjusted his hat so it shadowed his face. He tried to smile underneath the brim, but it looked cracked at the edges. Like he expected her to walk away at any given moment. To tell him that she had finally had enough and planned to explore Pentagram City in full. "That's…" Lucifer coughed and turned away then, attempting to bury his sudden lapse. "That's great. I can't imagine why you'd want to with everything those Sinners have done to trash everything I created originally, but I guess there's probably something out there that's worth seeing. Right? I mean, Charlie was talking about doing, uh, whatever it was she wanted to do to some old building, so that's probably… new…ish, I guess."
Crouching down on her heels, Kagome tipped her chin onto her fist as she tried to catch his eye again from underneath his hat. "I thought she wanted to turn it into a hotel?"
"A hotel!" He nodded in agreement, though he'd clearly forgotten. "Yes, yes, you're right. A hotel. That's definitely what it was." Avoiding her gaze, Lucifer returned his attention instead to the rubber duck he had been fiddling with before. "I can't imagine why she wants to build a hotel of all things, but that's my Charlie, always…uh," he paused, uncertain, before he added, "...thinking outside the box."
"Like you."
His head snapping up, Lucifer stared at her. "What?"
"I bet she's like you," Kagome smiled softly as she replied. "You said it yourself, just now. I mean, you're always thinking outside the box. And now she wants to build this hotel out of nowhere, which is definitely something you'd do on a whim on a random Tuesday if you ever left this workshop."
"No." He immediately denied it, then took it back just as quickly. "No, I… well, I do, but that doesn't mean, or it could since I probably would do that, too, but…" He gave up scrambling for the right words altogether with a firm shake of his head. Then glared at her lightly. "That's not why you went outside, is it? Because you know that if either of us should get to see Charlie's hotel first, it should be me, Kagome, and there's no telling when she's going to invite me… or if she's going to invite me, but regardless. I should definitely get to see it first."
"I didn't go to Charlie's hotel," she assured him, saying, "I don't even know where it is."
"Oh. Good, then." Lucifer seemed to deflate somewhat in his seat, the brief fire knocked out of him just as quickly as it'd appeared. "That's good."
"She's going to invite you, Lucifer." Reaching out, Kagome gently pressed her hand against his forearm and squeezed. He still didn't look convinced, but the fact that he didn't look away again was enough for her. "Just give it time."
After a moment, his hand settled over her own. The blackened tips of his claws stroked across her wrist, slow and steady. He sighed then, finally closing his amber colored eyes and allowed the silence to settle over them. The brilliance of his magic shimmered to life, quietly settling across her skin and strengthening the bond he'd created between them so long ago.
Kagome's features softened at the sight. She knew his hubris wouldn't allow him to just blindly accept such hopeful optimism, but that wouldn't stop her from trying. Not ever. Because if there was one thing guaranteed to pull him from his workshop and his ducks and his depression, she knew it would be his daughter eventually.
Not his realm or the creatures he'd created.
Not Extermination Day.
Maybe not even Lilith herself anymore.
No, it would be Charlie. She knew it in the depths of her soul.
…and she also knew exactly where his phone was.
Shaking her head at the thought, Kagome brushed his power with her own and whispered, "You'll see."
fin