Work Text:
Title: Devil Remembers His Roots
Category: Hazbin Hotel
Rating: T
Summary: Niffty rearranges some ducks, explains the meaning of flowers and gives the King a hug. Maybe it does take a women's touch to help Lucifer see what Alastor has been wanting him to see.
Prompt: Flowers/Hugs
Disclaimer: I own zero rights to the Hazbin Hotel franchise. I just own some of their merchandise.
~~Story Begins~~
Lucifer just stared at the wall blankly, his thoughts running over the place over his actions at the beginning of this love-filled week. It never dawned on him how much of an asshole he’s been until Alastor’s crash out when it was basically spelled out in front of him like a child learning how to identify words with their meanings while Maria was giving him the pictures. He would have let her continue attacking him with her shadows because he deserves it with how he treated her son, but Charlie and Vaggi stepped in and thus kicked her out of the hotel. They even put her picture up on the ban wall right next to Vox and some random rhino sinner who made Niffty cry and hide until Alastor was able to soothe her down.
That set off another reaction within the Hotel Crew splitting relationships apart over the whole Lucifer and Alastor ordeal which Lucifer just felt more guilt over. Charlie, Vaggi, and Angel Dust were on ‘Lucifer’s’ side stating that even though he was wrong, he doesn’t deserve to get attacked by Alastor’s mom. That every relationship will have fights (“sure, some might not be as big as this one,” Charlie’s helpful commentary said), but it starts with sorry for forgiveness and that it doesn’t deserve abuse.
Husk, Cherri, Niffty (even through she wasn’t here, Baxter gave her side) and silently Lucifer (he tried to voice his opinions, but Charlie just told him to shush while Vaggi said it was all Alastor’s fault for not speaking up earlier,) on ‘Alastor’s’ side with a strong counterargument. That every relationship is more than just love and apologies, that it takes a strong friendship to even start and to build on that friendship it requires for the friendship to be a two-way road alternating between giving and taking. Alastor has always given in this friendship and every time Lucifer offered him something, he pulled it away. Maria wasn’t abusing Lucifer, but was protecting her son because if she didn’t step in when she did, then Lucifer would have instantly chased after Alastor to continue with this discussion. (She was right and even now Lucifer is unsure if it was to apologize to Alastor or defend Lilith.)
Lucifer allowed his wings to stretch before curling them upon himself as he thought of what was the major wake-up that was needed for him to actually make a comparison between his relationship with Lilith and his relationship with Alastor. That made him feel sick to his stomach as he realized that he was no better than Lilith. Lilith always took him to places where he felt uncomfortable in, always took pleasure in the attention that came with being the Queen of Hell, never did what he wanted to do but always what she wanted to do, she even hated his duck collection and would always get rid of them when they were overflowing.
She’s not a bad person, she’s a wonderful person, but they just didn’t share the same views as each other and even then Lucifer never voiced his opinions out loud to her. Lucifer was treating Alastor the same way, but Alastor was not afraid to voice his opinions on some things. They shared similar views on that, but Lucifer didn’t realize that they could just have a quiet picnic at Alastor’s bayou as a date, that just reading together in the library is a date, that Lucifer being his devil self around Alastor while he works could be a date. Lilith had no problems voicing her hatred for Lucifer’s need for touch and after Charlie was born, she didn’t want it anymore. Alastor somehow understood that Lucifer needs touch, and he didn’t hide his discomfort, his ears twitched, a static sounded, he would tense up, but he ignored the signs. He ignored his partner’s comfort for his own.
Baxter, meanwhile, just stayed neutral and said that they will make-up at some point and even come out stronger than ever before this. When questioned, he merely shrugged and said that Niffty tells him things that she possibly shouldn’t and his parents when he was younger had a terrible fight that was close to them separating. The reason why they stayed together is that his Dad absolutely loved it when his Mother got angry and very possessive over him if she even found out that another female was flirting with him.
“Hehehehe.”
Lucifer shot up in bed, spreading his wings apart as he held tightly onto his Lucifer Duck, Bearry - Alastor’s teddy bear - and an incomplete Alastor Duck. He looked towards his workbench and stared at it as his uninvited guest - Niffty- was moving around on it.
“Uhm, Niffty?” Lucifer said.
She snapped her head up and looked at him before a wild smile broke out on her face. “DUCK!” she yelled, jumping over towards his bed and running to him and taking the Lucifer duck. She looked over at the Alastor duck and stared at him. “King Roach duck is the wrong shade of red.”
“Wha-” Lucifer said only to stop as she jumped back at the workbench.
“Hehehe,” Niffty laughed as she sat Lucifer Duck amongst the crowd.
Lucifer crawled over to the other side (Alastor’s side) of the bed and watched Niffty create a new scene.
Charlie Duck was in front of a majority of the ducks, the wedding veil back on her head and facing Vaggi Duck who was sitting at a long straight edge table by herself. The Husk Duck, Angel Dust Duck, Cherri, Duck, a brand new Niffty Duck, and the non-duck Niffty just placed the Lucifer Duck amongst the crowd.
“What are you doing?” Lucifer asked as Niffty pushed some ducks around giving them room in front of them.
“Alastor’s orders,” Niffty said, jumping off the workbench.
“He…he gave you orders?”
“Yep!”
Lucifer looked onto the floor and let out a startled yelp as Niffty jumped back on the bed.
“Niffty, when Lucifer is asleep, I need you to rearrange the ducks in his room to be in this order, then to whichever Duck you will like, you can give them this bouquet of flowers that I already ordered,” Niffty repeated.
She lifted up the bouquet of flowers which was bigger than her to Lucifer.
“Only, I don’t know who I should give them to so they will be the next ducks to get married! Husk and Angel are fighting, the lame bad guy is in heaven so I don’t know if I can give to the other cyclops, Baxter is still too afraid of Alastor to even try and talk to him and Alastor is just waiting for him to talk to him so I don’t think I can give it to myself, but you and Alastor had that HUGE fight - I still hate you by the way - so I don’t know if I can give it to you,” Niffty said.
“That is quite the dilemma,” Lucifer said, taking the flowers. “However, I think I can help you not choose.”
Niffty just blinked at him.
Lucifer summoned a clear plastic stand, not much taller than the ducks but large enough to hold onto the flowers. He placed the bouquet down on top of the stand giving the illusion that the flowers were up in the air.
“Wow!! That’s perfect!” Niffty said. “Thank you! Oh! Now I need to take a picture!”
Lucifer watched as Niffty grabbed an antique polaroid camera and hopped in the air with it and took a picture of the scene.
“Hehehe, now you can put it in your duck album!” Niffty said as she waved the photo around once it came out of the camera.
“Thank you Niffty,” Lucifer said with a small smile.
The maid placed the photo onto the workbench before jumping on Lucifer and hugging his neck.
“Alastor also gave me orders to hug the Hotel Dad ALL DAY today so he wouldn’t feel lonely or sad,” Niffty said.
“Oh, thanks Niffty, but surely you and Baxter have something planned,” Lucifer said.
“Baxter gave me a bouquet of roaches in the shapes of roses and I hugged him for it,” Niffty said. “He’s busy doing some kind of research on the best ways to get on Alastor’s good side and he doesn’t want my input over it. He wants to show him that he’s serious about me and not just using me to get insider information.”
“That’s awfully sweet,” Lucifer said and Niffty quickly climbed to the back of his body and wrapped her arms around his neck while she rested her head on his shoulder.
“You know,” Niffty said. “Alastor has an aunt that is very knowledgeable about nature. She loves them so much that she forced one of Alastor’s uncles to give them meaning in people’s dreams.”
“Oh?”
“Yep! Alastor told me that she made sure he understood what flowers mean for whenever he wants to say something to someone but didn’t have the words or the way to say them,” Niffty said. “Then he taught their meanings in life and in dreams to me while he was teaching me English, French, and even Louisiana Creole!”
“Would you like to tell me what these flowers mean then?” Lucifer asked.
He would accept that the flowers mean that Alastor hates him and never wants to see him again.
Niffty climbed onto his shoulder and then jumped off to the workbench. She pointed at each of the flowers as she spoke their meaning.
“These flowers are amaryllis,” Niffty said, pointing to an orange long petal flower that Lucifer can imagine hummingbirds enjoying, “they mean Pride.”
She then pointed to a white flower whose petals rose up towards the center, but in layers. “These are cloves and each color has a different meaning, but the white clovers mean think of me.”
“That’s not hard to do,” Lucifer said, feeling his wings wrap around himself again.
A small bundle of dark purple flowers on each stem was the next one that Niffty pointed at.
“Heliotropes mean eternal love or devotion,” Niffty said.
“Pride, think of me, eternal love, and devotion?” Lucifer said. “They don’t sound very hateful or Alastor’s way of saying that he hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you, I hate you,” Niffty said.
“Right. Anyway, I see two more flowers, what do they mean?”
Lucifer saw Shadow - Alastor’s pet shadow - rise up from the ground and leaned its chin on the work bench, his ears pinned down with a frown.
“Hyacinths,” Niffty pointed to another flower that had a lot of petals but spread outward in a vertical layer on each stem, “they mean a request for forgiveness.” The last flowers were white on a very long stem. “White orchids signify a desire for reconciliation and commitment.”
Pride, think of me, eternal love, devotion, forgiveness, reconciliation and commitment? They were all things that Lucifer felt like Alastor shouldn’t be giving him. It should have been things that Lucifer gave Alastor instead because Lucifer was at fault. He was the problem in the relationship and for once, this was something that not even his Pride could try and defend him from. In fact these meanings remind him of his time as an angel when it was all his father would talk about. Hell, his father even spoke of pride when it came to God bragging about how Lucifer was his greatest creation (hence the name Angel of Creation) and how proud he was of him.
“Niffty, when did Alastor give you these orders?” Lucifer asked.
“Yesterday when he was blaming himself for getting angry and starting the fight the other night,” Niffty said. “He could very easily just sneak his way into Heaven to be with you instead of causing the fight.”
Lucifer was an angel, the angel of creation. It will be a long road, but Lucifer has been around since before time was a concept, since before Adam and Lilith was an idea in his father’s brain. He can be around until he earns Alastor’s forgiveness through some sign because Alastor is a prick like that. Even then Lucifer can do things to protect those who Alastor cherishes (except for that TV guy. He can go die in a double hell).
“Niffty,” Lucifer said seriously looking at her. “How would you like to make a deal?”
“Why would I make a deal with you? I hate you and you aren’t King Roach!” Niffty said. “I only make deals with King Roach.”
“Niffty, what if he’s not coming back?”
“He’s coming back,” she said as she sat down and kicked her legs like a child on the side of his desk.
“Niffty, Alastor isn’t in Hell anymore. He’s double dead, okay? He won’t ever come back and I want to make sure that Husk and you - especially you - stay safe okay?” Lucifer said moving to sit cross-legged while he scratched at his head.
“You are so silly!” Niffty said with a laugh. “Roaches don’t die!”
“Niffty-”
“He won’t die because of you,” Niffty said in the most serious tone he’s ever heard her speak.
“I doubt it will be because of me and not his own stubbornness,” Lucifer said, “but if that is the case. Then I would like to protect you and Husk, to keep your souls safe until he returns. I’ll keep his section of the Pentagram safe until he returns.”
Niffty stared at him as Shadow looked at Lucifer with his ears up straight.
“I’ll finish the Alastor Duck and I’ll need your help on getting the right shade of red, I’ll need Husk to make Alastor’s Liquid Courage for tomorrow’s meeting in Heaven because Alastor was right. I should have asked him to be by my side tomorrow because I need him! I didn’t need to show off for him, I didn’t need to act like I was someone special, I didn’t need to act like I was the King of Hell. I just needed to be me,” Lucifer said.
Shadow moved to rest his body against Lucifer’s lap and happily accepted the ear scratches.
“I’ll keep Bearry and Shadow safe as well until he comes to collect them,” Lucifer said. “I’ll remake his bayou in his room and I’ll make some improvements in it. I'll redecorate his room to make it feel like he’s coming home when he returns. I’ll go find Maria and bring her back to the Hotel so she can stay safe and within my protection. I'll take cooking lessons from her so when he returns I can try and make a dish he loves that tastes like home.”
Shadow rose higher into the scratches as Lucifer talked. It lowered when it talked about Mimzy, Susan, or Vox.
“Vox mentioned something about making me a safety net,” Lucifer said. “I need to see what his part of the deal was so I can match or do double so he wouldn’t have to worry about them when he came back! I’ll need to talk to Lilith and Eve, give him a safety net-”
Shadow pinned his ears back and lowered back onto Lucifer’s lap.
“I know, you don’t like Lilith-”
A shake of Shadow’s head.
“-You’ve never met Eve,” Lucifer said and it was Eve’s name that Shadow tried to go to the ground. “Weird. Anyway, are you with me on this?” He said looking over at Niffty. “Will you allow me to keep you safe?”
“Will I go with you to meet the Bug Man at the Tower?” Niffty asked.
“Alastor gave you an order today to hug me all day, didn’t he? Why would you not go with me?” Lucifer asked. “However, you can’t cause trouble.”
“And you’ll return my soul to Alastor once he comes back?”
“Absolutely,” Lucifer said.
“You’ll convince Alastor or Baxter to talk to each other about me and Baxter making the next move?” Niffty said.
“Of course,” Lucifer said.
“Then deal!”
The magic surrounded them and Lucifer heard his daughter freaking out and Vaggi yelling over who made a deal, but Lucifer didn’t care. He changed his clothes and with a snap of his fingers, he changed the color of his clothes.
It was no longer the colors that Lilith wanted him to wear, it was in fact the colors that he wanted to wear in honor of him being the King of Hell and his time as an angel. The white and pink were gone, no longer the colors that he wore in Hell, the colors that he wore when he was also an angel. No, the main color of his outfit was now a darker shade of pink, the pink that were on his angel wings before they turned to red from his fall, with black accents that matched the black on his wings from when they were burnt in the flames as he reached Hell. He allowed his wings to stretch wide, thankful that Alastor forced Lucifer to let the Radio Demon take care of them during some of their quiet moments where neither of them wanted to get out of bed, but Alastor had needed something to do with his hands.
He scoped Niffty up and placed her on his shoulder with her arms already wrapping around his neck and he flew out of his room with Shadow trailing behind. He dodged the hotel residents that were in the hallway as he made his way to the couch where Angel Dust was standing in front of it while Husk sat on the couch with a lot of alcohol bottles around him.
“Husk, you need to stop! That’s your fifteenth full bottle of alcohol that you didn’t allow anyone else to touch and it’s not even 9 in the morning yet!” Angel Dust said.
“Dad! You’re-” he heard Charlie say but he was focused.
“Husk,” Lucifer said hovering in spot next to Angel Dust, being mindful of his wing spang. “Let’s make a deal.”
“Excuse me?” Husk said, sitting up straight. “After the bullshit you pulled the other night, what makes you think I will make a deal with you.”
“Dad, there are no deal makings here!” Charlie shouted. “Also what’s with your -”
“You can’t fool me,” Lucifer said, feeling more of his demonic features come out. He wasn’t mad or anything, but he was just starting to accept himself for who he was. “You let it slip last night that you used to be a lot worse at drinking, you didn’t explicitly say it, but you implied it.”
“That doesn’t mean nothing,” Husk said, narrowing his eyes.
“That’s a lie and you know it,” Lucifer said. “Alastor was keeping you on a tight leash with his deal with you, wasn’t he? He stopped you from drinking so much alcohol which is why you were miserable and hated him. It had nothing to do with him owning your soul.”
Husk hissed at Lucifer as he stood up with his wings fluffed up to make the cat look better while his tail wagged aggressively.
“I think you should go back to your room and stay there,” Husk said. “Because you don’t know nothing about -”
“Dad! What are you doing?”
“Husk, come on, let’s go to bed,” Angel Dust said, reaching out to grab Husk’s arm.
“-our relationship.”
“You’re right, but I think I can put the clues together,” Lucifer said. “You are an alcoholic to the point where alcohol no longer phases as much, you were also a gambling addict which is why you led - no - why you still own so many successful casinos. You figured out every trick and cheat when it comes to the gambling so you felt comfortable when betting your soul up against Alastor. It’s why you lost, isn’t it? Because you were so drunk that you didn’t realize that Alastor was watching you for all your little signs that gave you away, that you forgot that he knew you both when you were mortal.”
“You don’t know nothing -”
“Not only that, but he purposely made you angry so you would get messy with your signs, making it easier for him to win,” Lucifer said interrupting.
“Fine, you want to make a deal? Give me the terms and then we’ll play for it,” Husk said.
“I get your soul to keep you safe and once Alastor returns then I will hand it back over to him, because I realized something while just talking to Niffty,” Lucifer said. “He kept her on a leash to protect her because she would just endanger herself with either her cleaning or her bug extermination. However, if by the time he returns, I can tell you won’t go back to drinking and gambling everything away just for the thrill of it, then I’ll break our contract and Alastor won’t be able to claim it back.”
“You’re not doing this just because you have the power too,” Husk said, blinking and slowly relaxing. “You’re doing this because you care.”
“I’m doing this because Alastor did more for me this week than I ever thought, I’m doing this because Alastor is a private person. He trusted me enough to not only let me into his personal life, but to experience moments in which he possibly held dear to his heart that he thought of weakness,” Lucifer said slowly resting his feet on the ground, but he didn’t put his wings away.
“Hope, spending time with his mother, the first time he felt comfortable enough to bring me around the bar where people can see us, he gave me Shadow and Bearry to protect while he’s gone, and even after our fight he didn’t leave me alone and had someone from his past open up my eyes that he was right. That when I go to Heaven tomorrow, I’m going to need someone who doesn’t care what Heaven offers, who isn’t afraid to be brutally honest, someone who just wants to be by my side because he sees me as me,” Lucifer said. “He’s never just seen me as the Devil, the King of Hell, he’s also sees me as a Seraphrim, the Angel of Creation, and he just wanted me to be me. He wanted me to embrace both sides of who I am.”
“Heh,” Husk said, holding out a paw.
Lucifer looked at it before looking back at Husk.
“Dad, no dealmaking!” Charlie shouted trying to push Lucifer away.
Husk lowered his paw and shrugged.
“You still have a long way to go, Your Majesty, but Alastor didn’t just leave us behind here because it was fun,” Husk said.
“He gave you orders too?” Lucifer said.
“Naw, I’m not like Niffty. He asked me too and said it was up to me,” Husk said. “I could have gone straight back to my casinos, collecting more souls that way and to drink the days away. However, I choose to stay at the Hotel like he asked, to help protect the hotel in his place and to help protect you. I figured why not, since he rescued Angel Dust from Valentino for me without me even asking, that I can return the favor.”
“Husk,” Angel said.
“However, you’re right, Alastor had me on a tight leash and I hated him because he wouldn’t allow me to drink as much as I wanted, obviously,” Husk said motioning to the bottles around him. “So, yeah, I’ll accept your deal with the condition that I can take Angel and Cherri out on some nights without being called unless it was an emergency.”
“Deal,” Lucifer said with a nod as magic floored through the hotel again.
“DAD!” Charlie said. “I want to know what is going on right now!”
“Later on I’ll tell you, but for right now,” Lucifer said looking over at the front desk. He walked over there and took down the picture of Maria.
“Sire, what are you doing?” Vaggi said with her eye narrowed. “She’s banned because she-”
“Not anymore she’s not,” Lucifer said. “She’s falling under my protection just like Niffty and Husk are now. I’m going to make sure she has a permanent room here for Alastor-”
“No!” Nifty and Husk both shouted, causing Lucifer to startle since Niffty yelled in his ear.
“You do not want that,” Husk said. “Alastor doesn’t want that.”
“But-”
“You haven’t met Al’s Dad yet, or maybe you have and you don’t realize it,” Husk said. “If he’s anywhere within Al or Maria and they are injured or hurt, then he’s protective and will kill first and ask questions later. If they are perfectly fine, then he becomes a golden retriever that has ever been golden retrieved.”
Lucifer blinked. “You’ve all been warning me against his Dad.”
“Yeah, because it’s deserved!” Husk said. “You didn’t think that Alastor woke up one day and was like ‘I’m going to become a killer’, did you? No, it is in his blood.”
“No one is born to be a killer, it’s a choice they made with their free will,” Lucifer said.
“Hehehe, stay innocent my dear child,” Niffty said, patting Lucifer’s neck.
“Okay, let me make it clearer,” Husk said. “His Dad would not leave his family's side unless they were threatened. He will follow them everywhere so it is best that they do not live here because then Alastor would get bored because he wouldn’t be able to fight those who are trying to hurt the hotel, Charlie, or you because his Dad would take care of it. Alastor loves his Dad now but that was after his Dad had to explain some things to Alastor about why he wasn’t always there.”
“Riiiight,” Lucifer said, still not understanding the whole commotion. “Fine, she won’t have a permanent room here, but she is not banned from the hotel. I need to see if she will give me cooking lessons so if Alastor comes back, I can try and make him a home cooked meal that he would actually enjoy. Do you two know where she’s at?”
Husk nodded.
“Yes,” Niffty said.
“Dad!” Charlie said as her demonic features came out. “I demand an explanation now. This is my hotel and she physically attacked you! She’s a danger to you!”
Lucifer turned around and stared at Charlie.
“I’m the greatest danger to myself,” Lucifer said, turning around. “You aren’t parents yet, but you will know that if anyone tries to hurt your child then you will protect them. Maria was just protecting Alastor from me because I would have given chase and made things worse! Not once did her shadows hurt me and I’ve seen her shadows hurt people. I know Alastor won’t come back, I know he’s double dead, and even though reincarnation has never happened before, I can see him making it happen!”
“Dad, that’s-”
“You believed it was possible for sinners to get redeemed and you proved it with the snake guy! So why isn’t it possible that reincarnation will happen at one point? He might not remember who I am, but I’ll recognize his soul so until then, I’m going to protect those who he holds close to his so-called non-existent heart.”
“Why?” Charlie asked. “Why are you like this with him but not with Mom? If you would have tried harder in the relationship then-”
“I did everything for your mother,” Lucifer said. “I went to all the dates that she planned even though it made me uncomfortable and I hated it. I hated all the attention while she wore it like a silk dress, she wanted her face to be known while I wanted to keep my identity a secret. She tried to make me bury my angelic features that stayed after the Fall but she didn’t like my demonic features as it reminded her of her punishment. Your mother and I wanted two different things in our lives and when it got to the point where I couldn’t do it anymore, I couldn’t put on a mask then she wanted nothing to do with me.”
“Dad,”
“No,” Lucifer said, looking at Charlie with the most heartbreaking eyes as he backed away, his wings flapping so he wouldn’t be on the ground. “No more Dad, no more questions, no more begging me to support your dreams. You were so supportive of my relationship with Alastor, but the moment that I try to fight for it, to try and make things right, the moment that I’m working on a different start of forgiveness because he’s not here for me to say sorry too, the moment that I embrace both the Devil and the Angel in me, the moment that I do something that betters me, you question it about your mother. You even said to yourself that Lilith is happy with Eve and that I need to move on.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Charlie said.
“I made the mistake of comparing our relationship to Lilith, doing events and dates that I knew Lilith would have enjoyed, even knowing that it was pushing our boundaries because I thought that was expected of me,” Lucifer said. “Don’t try to compare the relationship I had with your mother to that with Alastor. I will never get back together with your mother and it is better for my mental health that I don’t.”
“But-”
“Husk-”
“Don’t worry, your Majesty,” Husk said flapping his own wings. “Niffty has flown multiple times with me so she knows the drill. Follow me to his territory, that’s where his Mom is.”
Lucifer nodded and Husk left the hotel, flying out of it and the two winged beings almost ran straight into Cherri Bomb who opened the door to return home.
“Dad, wait!” Charlie yelled running after him just until she reached the doorway.
“What did I miss?” Cherri Bomb asked.
Lucifer followed Husk through the sky, enjoying the sensation of flying because he loved it. He sped up to fly by Husk’s side who looked at him briefly.
“When Alastor returns, do you think he would fly with me? But wait, how exactly would I carry him? I mean, I can make myself taller but I don’t feel comfortable at that height. He can’t really hang onto my back because then it would get in the way of my wings, I can’t just carry him over my shoulders for the same reason. I can’t just grab his hands and -”
“So I finally learned when Charlie gets her ramblings from,” Husk said with a chuckle. “Alastor would absolutely love to fly with you if that’s what you want even if it does cause him some embarrassment.”
“Why would it cause him - OH! I would have to carry him bridal style, no wonder he would be embarrassed,” Lucifer said.
“Too bad you didn’t get the landing,” Husk said before diving down towards a fenced in city.
“Hey! Wait!” Lucifer said, diving after him.
“WEEEEE!” Niffty yelled in excitement.
Lucifer almost missed the platform that Husk landed on and fell into murky waters where a crocodile almost took a bite out of his wings.
“Whoa, no wonder you told me I missed the landing,” Lucifer said, backing away.
Niffty chuckled as Husk rolled his eyes. Lucifer looked around the area and saw dirty water moving around a wrought iron fence that really belonged in a gothic horror book with all the decapitated heads on the spikes.
“This is the land that he protects?” Lucifer said.
“Yep, pretty impressive isn’t it?” Niffty said.
“Right, I’ll tell Alastor how much of a good deer he is,” Lucifer said.
“Wait til you see the inside!” Niffty said, jumping off his shoulder and jumping onto the lily pads and heading over to the gate.
“You’ll be amazed," Husk said.
Lucifer followed the two and entered the fence jumping as it automatically closed behind him.
“Well, I didn’t expect to see your face so soon,” a female doe said, causing Lucifer to stop staring at the gate and forward. He looked at Maria and gasped at the scene behind her as the town was bright and colorful, children, sinners, and even some Hellborns were walking around in the city. Street market stalls were open selling foods and toys, there were restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating where people were enjoying food.
“Maria, I-”
“The Morningstar finally brings some lights to the shadows, hmm?” Maria said. “It’s about time. Come on, I have a feeling that you haven’t eaten anything since the other night.”
“Vox fed me peach funnel fries,” Lucifer mumbled, “since your shadows keep knocking anything that I try to eat or drink away.”
“Yeah, because everything that you kept trying to eat or drink until you had help was unhealthy because you were trying to drown it in misery,” Maria said as Shadow wrapped itself around her.
“You would be trying to do that too if your partner was suddenly dead and -”
“Alastor isn’t dead,” Maria interrupted. “I know for a fact that my boy ain’t dead.”
“How? Niffty, Husk, Baxter, and now even you? How are you all so sure that Alastor isn’t dead? That I don’t need to wait for his reincarnated self to come back?” Lucifer said.
“Two reasons why we know he ain’t dead,” Maria said. “The first reason is because of Shadow. If Alastor is dead, then so is Shadow.”
“But Shadow -”
“Shadow is connected to Alastor,” Maria said.
“Remember what I said, your Majesty?” Husk said.
Lucifer thought it over for a moment before looking at Shadow. “Shadow is connected to Alastor, that Alastor can hear, see, feel what is going on around it. This whole time, still, Alastor has been by my side just in the shadows.”
Shadow nodded his head repeatedly.
“The second reason is because Alastor met you,” Maria said.
“What does that mean?” Lucifer shouted, causing Maria to laugh.
“Let’s go,” Maria said. “I’ll fix you some breakfast.”
As soon as Lucifer took five steps forward, the silence that was surrounding them was gone. In its place was laughter, chattering, and music. He couldn’t help but smile as he walked the streets and not a single Sinner pointed him out, tried to hurt him, or was fearful of him. It was like he was just another member of the city. The music allowed his creativity to go free as he thought of so many great ideas that he could create and they weren’t all just of different ducks!
Lilith wasn’t here to stop him from creating, wasn’t asking how that would benefit the kingdom, he could be a dreamer, create things from whimsy, and no one could stop him.
~~
“What are you making now?” Lilith asked.
“It’s a duck step stool so this way I can step up and kiss you!” Lucifer said.
“You don’t have time for such foolish creations. Not when you have a kingdom to run!”
~~
“What is this, your Majesty?” Alastor asked, causing Lucifer to peek out from under his blanket fort to see the Radio Demon holding up a dusty duck stool that Lucifer totally forgot he hid under his bed.
“It’s nothing,” Lucifer mumbled.
“It’s not nothing, it has your signature duck all over it,” Alastor said before Lucifer could hide again.
Lucifer sighed. “It’s a duck step stool, okay? I created it because I thought I could step on it to get to Lilith’s height and kiss her. She hated it and-”
“Why not use your wings?”
Lucifer sat up and wrapped the blankets around him. “Because they aren’t always presentable to the Kingdom and get in the way and before you ask why I didn’t just ask her to bend down for it, it would ruin the surprise of me kissing her. If I make myself taller than I feel uncomfortable in my own skin anymore questions?”
Alastor looked at the duck step stool.
“Did you ever try it out?”
“No? Why would I? She didn’t like it and -”
Alastor dropped the step stool and his shadows made sure it landed correctly in front of him.
“Then, why not try it out now?” Alastor asked. “After all, how else will we know if it will hold the weight of sweet Niffty or the children in Hell?”
Lucifer stared at the step stool before staring back at Alastor. He repeated the motions a couple of times before he sprung out of bed and stepped up on the step stool becoming almost eye to eye with Alastor.
~~
Lucifer will become the partner that Alastor deserves, but he’s going to keep making things in his honor until he does because now, Lucifer will let nothing hold him back from what his duty of being an angel was. He just doesn’t understand as to why he had to destroy his own relationship with Alastor in order to start feeling the freedom he had before his fall.