Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

When Lucifer was created, he was the greatest of gods angels.

He was the morning star, the sun itself, and he was there to aid in the creation of the plan of the almighty

He was there as mountains were raised. All in the image of the almighty. He awaited the day they would all be named.

He was there as the flora and fauna were built into the Garden of Eden. He was excited to learn of what they would all be called, especially a certain creature of his creation which he was calling a ‘duck’ for now.

He remembered the day he met the first of mankind in Eden. He had not been technically instructed to go to Eden, but he knew he had to see what would be the brings which would rule the earth…

___

Lucifer had snuck down from heaven today. He was supposed to be in a meeting about some new animal that one of the younger angels had concocted. A plate-something? He didn’t recall its actual name but he did think the duck bill was a brilliant touch.

Lucifer hadn’t been specifically looking for any of the humans, instead he had been enjoying in the pleasant scenery of the garden.

He had been gazing upon one of the lovely King’s Holly bushels in the Garden, his many wings folded behind him, and his feathered tail swaying back and forward as he leaned forward to enjoy the smell.

The sound of a twig breaking was heard from behind him.

Lucifer’s head spun around quickly and his wings spread mildly in the moment of quick movement. Then his eyes widened at the sight.

The woman before him was the most beautiful thing he had ever gazed his eyes upon. He was left there standing in surprise before he heard her soft voice.

“Are you an Angel?” She had whispered softly. He dug back on his mind to recall her name, and after a moment he figured that Lilith was most likely her name.

“Yes.” Lucifer eventually answered. “I am Lucifer, the Star of Morning. And you are Lilith, the wife of Adam and the first woman.”

At the mention of her husband, Lilith seemed to scowl. She looked at though she was attempting to restrain it, but she failed miserably.

“I suppose I am.” She had agreed. “Why are you here, Lucifer? We do not see you angels often.” She had asked.

Lucifer stilled for the slightest moment, trying to figure an idea for an excuse. “I am here for a stroll of the garden. I should be able to see the fruits of the heaven’s labor, should I not?” Lucifer had spoke, his tone taking a more authoritative but still kind stance.

Lilith shook her head quickly. “Of course, my apologies for questioning you.”

Lucifer had laughed, “and punish you for the curiosity that is a part of your nature? You needn’t apologise.” He dismissed with a smile. “Would you like to join me?”

He and Lilith had spent all afternoon simply talking and enjoying the serene garden together. They had bonded over some of the creatures they enjoyed seeing the most. Lucifer had beamed when she mentioned enjoying Ducks, one of his own creations.

He knew humans would be interesting, but it was simply an amazing experience to bask in the good inside of them. The almighty truly had made his best creation with them.

Lucifer would have spent even more hours with her if he could, but alas he needed to return to heaven.

“I must take my leave, Lilith.” He had murmured apologetically to the stunning woman. “I should hope I see you again, but I would not lay waiting if I were you.”

Lilith had seemed disappointed but she just nodded silently. “Farewell, Lucifer”

Lucifer had spread his wings, giving her a smile and a quick wink, before he flapped his massive wingspan and with a massive gust of wind had shot up into the air.

He had been smiling even as he entered the portal to heaven.

___

Lucifer and Lilith met often after that. They talked of the things they enjoyed the most. Lucifer talked about his art and Lilith often sang to Lucifer. The main topic they never strayed towards was Adam. Lilith’s husband.

She always seemed to scowl or seem annoyed whenever Adam was mentioned. Lucifer one day during one of their meetings, decided to bring it up.

“Why do you always seem to be filled with distaste at the mention of your husband?” Lucifer had asked.

And Lilith had told him. She spoke to him of how he was completely ignorant of her needs and that he only thought of himself.

Lucifer decided that could not do. Lilith was such an amazing woman, she did not deserve this cruelty.

So he went to the high angels of heaven. Yes, he was one of the highest of the seraphim, but that did not excuse him of needing to have this meeting.

And Lucifer began to talk, and so began the path of which sin would take to enter the realms…

___

…

“Adam has been neglecting her! We need to intervene!” Lucifer had exclaimed to the auditorium of angels.

His wings spread out wide as he continued his speech.

“They were created to be equal, yet we stand by as The first man mistreats his first woman!” Lucifer had continued, staring up at the other seraphim.

He noted that there was a new one among them. He couldn’t recall her name but she couldn’t be older than a teen angelwise.

“We have to believe it’s almighty’s plan though, yes?” The young one had spoken up, turning towards The Speaker of God with nervousness. She had light blue feathers, and three pairs of wings.

The speaker nodded, her face neutral but continuing with her usual soft and welcoming smile. “You are right, Sera. We must not interfere. It is a part of the plan of the almighty and our interruption may thwart his great plan.” She had said.

So Sera was the youngling’s name. Lucifer had made a note in his mind to try and remember it but he knew he would likely forget it. That wasn’t the main topic currently either way.

Of course heaven was going to refuse him. Lucifer had felt himself slump at the rejection, his white wings retracting back towards his back.

“As you command, Speaker.” Lucifer had said quietly, nodding in reluctant agreement.

Lucifer left the hall with one thing on his mind. Freeing Lilith from her fate.

___

It turned out, Lucifer hadn’t needed to interfere at first when it came to freeing Lilith of her husband. Because she had already been replaced.

When he had gone into the garden, Lilith was nowhere to be found. So he decided to look outside into the barren wasteland away from the garden.

And there he found her, huddled in the cold of the desert, her legs pulled against her torso and her arms wrapped around herself as she fought to stay warm.

“Why are you no longer in the garden?” Lucifer had asked gently, crouching down before the woman with a soft smile that sent Lilith into a string of tears.

Lilith had thrust herself against Lucifer’s torso, wrapping her arms around the surprised angel's body. Lucifer had stood there with his arms raised in surprise and frozen with no idea of how to tackle the situation, before he hesitantly lowered his arms and wrapped them back around Lilith.

“Adam has a new wife” She had cried into his shoulder. Her voice full of so much emotion and sorrow than she had deserved to be feeling. “They removed me from the garden, as I failed my purpose in being his wife.”

Lucifer’s eyes had softened and he gently placed a kiss to her forehead. “That was wrong of them to kick you out. You have done nothing wrong.”

That had seemed to make Lilith become filled with slight anger. It wasn’t pointed at Lucifer, however. “But they refuse to let his new wife make decisions! She only knows to serve Adam and no else.”

Oh.

“Lucifer!” She had suddenly spoken up, her eyes wide with an idea that had seemed to begin to dissipate her despair. “Is there a way you could show her that she doesn’t need to serve Adam? She doesn’t deserve to not know how poorly Adam is treating her!” She had begged.

Lucifer had frozen rigid at the question, unsure of how to answer. His mind immediately went to-

“The fruit of knowledge of good and evil.. but it is a sin to consume it and the Almighty would punish everyone involved!” Lucifer had said with worry.

Lilith’s eyes had narrowed, her face close to his as her teary glare seemed to pierce through him. “You love me Lucifer, yes? Then do me this one thing and give them the fruit, and give me some as well.”

Lucifer was as still as a stone statue. It was true, he loved Lilith, but he did not want to be punished. This surely would not be worth it.

“Please Lucifer, for me.” Lilith begged softly, her hands clenching around the front of Lucifer’s robes.

“Okay.” Lucifer had agreed quietly, his eyes wet with the slightest sheen at knowing what he would suffer through doing this, but he had said nothing of the disagreement.

“I shall do it.”

___

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent,

Because you have done this,

Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

Genesis 3 14-15

___

It was a sudden thing, when the fall had happened.

The plan had worked. He had convinced Adam’s new wife, Eve as he called her, to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She had also convinced Adam, which had not been the plan, but Lucifer supposed that he should deserve it for being such a poor husband.

Lucifer had told Lilith of the good news once it had been done, but as he saw the glow of holy light appear from the garden, Lucifer knew he had little time.

He had not but a moment to see the appearance of holy light surrounding him and his love before they had been transported into the large hall inside of heaven.

The seraphim had shouted and demanded things at him. The room was loud and the lights were blinding.

Lucifer had only thought of the sorrow which had surrounded Lilith when she had begged him, and her fear in the present moment as the seraphim and cherubim thundered and shrieked.

And when he had been finally allowed to speak, he stood without shaking and spoke with an unwavering voice. He did not lie for in the eyes of his own, he had done nothing but the requests of one to which he held dear.

And if such was a sin, then so be it.

___

“As your punishment for bringing sin into the world…”

Lucifer remained unwavering in his stance even as he was surrounded by holy chains and shoved towards the gates of heaven.

“You will be sent down the new realm which shall be called Hell, where the most sinful of souls will roam…”

He did not resist as the chains burned and dug into his skin. They had not ever burnt him until he had created sin.

“… you will be unable to leave Hell, nor see the goodness caused by the bringing of free will…”

He had only begun to resist as the high arch angels grabbed his wings out and yanked out his feathers by the bushel, leaving them naked and bloody with golden ichor.

“… your form will be unrecognizable to others, and you can neither smite nor shove away the evidence of your misdeeds.”

Then without much fanfare, he and Lilith were shoved from the heights of the gates to heaven and plummeted down towards the dark void of hell.

Lucifer had been able to hardly think of his own danger, as he flung towards Lilith and wrapped his body and naked wings around hers, protecting her from the breaking of her bones and the heat of falling from the skies into the depths.

Flames surrounded them both, eating away at Lucifer’s form and burning long twisting lines into his flesh which drew a long scream of agony.

The ground where hell had begun to form quickly rushed up to meet the pair, and Lucifer had been awake no longer.

___

When Lucifer had awoke, he was decidedly not in heaven, or on earth either- though it was reminiscent of certain aspects. The landscape was barren, reminding him of the desert outside of The Garden, but significantly more red.

With a groan, he had tried to sit up, his eyes blinking furiously as he felt the aches of the crash begin to settle and the burns that had covered his body.

Fuck, they had been everywhere. Across his limbs and his torso and crawling up to his neck were long burnt streaks of golden flesh revealed. While he wasn’t in much pain he had been sure once the adrenaline ended, he would be.

Then his mind had shot back to the fall.

Lilith.

He had frantically stood up, ignoring the way his bones ached and his nerves turned alight with agony and an intense burning sensation.

Hardly a moment later, he had felt his legs wobble and he begin to fall forward. Only to be caught by pale limbs reaching behind him and grab his burnt arms.

Lucifer had let out a groan and leaned back into the embrace of Lilith, his wings burnt and dragging across the floor.

“Lil.. Lily…” He had managed, barely peeking a small smile through the agony. “did- did I catch you in time?”

Lilith had let out a small breath, sounding a little fond and relieved. “You did, I’m alright Luci.”

Lucifer nodded slightly to himself, the edges of his vision darkening from the movement.

“Good, good…” Lucifer had mumbled. His vision darkened once more and Lucifer tiredly shut his eyes even at the sound of his love’s protest. He leaned back against Lilith and allowed himself to drift.

Chapter Text

Lucifer was tinkering away in his workshop. He had decided to try a little more for his appearance today and was wearing his more formal outfit, even if he wasn’t going outside today.

Or any other day soon, not that anyone really cared.

Things were a bit tough after Lilith left. It’s already been seven years already but he still feels the loneliness constantly pushing down on him and furthering his depression.

Charlie- the sweet girl, had no clue. And if Lucifer had his way, wouldn’t ever learn about how truly bad things had been for a while even before Lilith left.

Looking back, Lilith was never really that great- but she was at least someone to lean on.

Father, how the mighty have fallen. From the most powerful of angels- the light bringer— The Morning Star.. to just some guy who can hardly make it out of bed on a good day.

Maybe Lilith was right to leave him.

He felt a slight tickle on his finger and his mind paused in its drifting to notice he had scabbed his finger with the scalpel.

Whoops.

Lucifer sighed and removed his white glove- now stained with a single drop of golden blood, and ignored the burn scars along his finger tips as he replaced the glove with another identical one.

He returned his attention to his latest project, cleaning off the end of the scalpel and carving the last few details into the wooden duck.

Finally time to get to painting it.

As he retrieved his paints, he thought back to when Charlie was younger, how they would spend a few hours a day together painting and building things. It was unfortunate how they grew apart in recent years, only talking whenever Lucifer called her.

Charlie always seemed annoyed whenever he called her, so he decided to give her some space in between calls. She’s grown up now- she needs her own space.

He had always been a little too distant with her than to his liking. But Lilith always insisted whenever they spent time that Charlie needed to spend more time with her mother since they were both girls. That Charlie shouldn’t have to spend a bunch of time with a father who couldn’t even bother to reveal the entirety of his face to his daughter.

Maybe Lilith said it a little meaner than that, but he knew that she was right. Maybe it was his pride, but he had long ago decided that Charlie didn't need to see what his face looked like under his veil and mask.

It was better to leave her ignorant to the true cruelty of heaven, in this instance; he had decided when she was a few months old.

Besides, no one in hell other than Lilith knew the true extent of his scarring. And he didn’t make much public appearances anyways so it didn’t matter that he kept his face hidden.

“That’s it…” Lucifer muttered to himself as he added the final details to the duck, trying to force his mind from wandering about things that didn't matter, “Almost there..”

“Now presenting…” His eyes smiled back at the other piles of duck toys in his room, “The magic-tastical backflipping wooden duck!”, Lucifer said with excitement, holding the duck high into the sky.

“And guess what?” He whispered conspiratorially to the other ducky toys, “It spits FIRE!”

He gazed happily down at the ducks, “hold the applause- please, okay.” He looked back at the duck in his hand, pulling it back close to him before he let out an angry sigh.

“Oh who am I kidding- This sucks!” Lucifer said tiredly, tossing it off to the side. It made a small thump as it hit the side of a family portrait of Him, Charlie, and Lilith.

Lucifer frowned, his face underneath it’s shadowy veil frowning.

Then, he heard his ringtone begin. Charlie had made him get a cellphone a few years back and he hardly used it- but he did like how in new phones it showed who was calling you-

“Daughter calling? Daughter calling!” He exclaimed, his eyes wide. “Daughter, daughter calling- Oh um.. uh”

He nervously fidgeted with the phone, looking back and forth frantically as he went along how to answer her call.

“Hey Charlie- oh hey char-char. No- No! That’s not good… You can do this Lucifer- It’s just the first time she’s called you in years! It just, has to be perfect”

He internally hyped himself up, before he pressed the button to accept the call.

“Heya kiddo!” He said enthusiastically, before internally cringing. She was too old for her to be called ‘kiddo’, would she get upset?

“Hi dad” He heard her voice say over the phone. She sounded a bit annoyed.

“Well, how are ya? And uh- where are you- these days..?” He asked, his tone shifting from energetic to a bit nervous.

“You know where I am dad- I told you before.” Oh shit. In his defense, the last time he called her, he had been.. doing important stuff.

Totally.

“Yeah uh well- uhm-“

“I told you when you called me five months ago- or did you not listen?”

He began to pace nervously. “No no! Just you know, just forgot- I’ve just been really busy. You know with uhm-“ Quick! Come up with an excuse. “-the recent stuff with that one Goetia prince- Stolas or something.” Lucifer said weakly, kicking a duck away from his path.

“Well! I’m actually running a hotel to rehabilitate sinners-“ That sounds like a train wreck. “-Maybe you saw our commercial?”

“Oh.. sadly I missed it.” Lucifer said apologetically. “Heh, uh, haven’t been watching too much television lately- scrambles the brain.”

He destroyed the TV during an… episode.. a few months- or years ago and hadn’t found the time to replace it yet.

“But hey! A hotel… sounds fun.” He said with an encouraging tone, that intentionally sounded a little condescending.

“Listen dad- I’ve got kinda a big ask.”

Oh? Whatever his baby girl wants she’s gonna get it!

“Well what do you need sweetheart?”

“I need to speak to heaven. Well- whoever is in charge up there that’s above Adam, above anybody- I need to go to the top!”

“Oh, uh…” How do you say ‘no’ without sounding like a dick? “Look Charlie, I don’t know if that’s really in the cards…”

“Look, dad. I don’t really ask you for much” She never talks to him much anyways so he supposed that’s true, “I never have- but this is really important to me. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever done. And, I need you.. I need your help.”

“I don’t know, Charlie…” Lucifer trailed off.

“Please, just come see what I’m trying to do! You’ll see that it’s a really good idea and heaven is bound to agree if I get the chance to talk to them.”

“Please dad”

Wait, she was inviting him over? She’s never done that! Ever! Fuck yeah he’s coming!

Wait- don’t sound so desperate.

Lucifer forced himself to sound like he was barely agreeing, “fine, I’ll be there in an hour.” He said before he hung up on her.

The moment the phone was off, he started bounding in excitement.

“My daughter wants to see me!” He whispered excitedly to the ducks. His eyes wide and happy. He kicked over the small black duck he made a few weeks ago.

“Take that depression!” The duck was named ‘depression’. He read in a book somewhere that art was a good way to express your emotions.

Fuck, he needs to actually get ready. Where was his mask at?

___

Lucifer paced back and forth as he stood outside the hotel. He was a few minutes early and could hear the residents chatting amongst themselves as they got the hotel ready.

He was wearing the outfit he usually wore during outings- a century or so ago but still, he hoped the fashion hadn’t changed too much in that time.

Lucifer also was using a magical veil made of shadows which obscured his face in darkness other than his eyes. But just in case that failed somehow, he also had his half-faced mask on the right side of his face.

Charlie had seen his face without the veil when she was younger, but he always had a mask or a bandage over the other side, but as she got older he took to wearing the veil more often around her.

He heard the sound of Charlie walking up to the door and he schooled his expression and ceased his pacing. You got this Lucifer. It’s just the first time you’ve been invited over to your daughter's place of residence.

No big deal.

“Okay everyone. It’s ShOWTIME!” He heard Charlie’s voice say through the door before she opened it.

“Hey Charlie! It’s great to see you!” Lucifer said with excitement, walking up and hugging her tightly, lifting her in the air for a moment.

“H-hey dad. Great to see you too.” Oops, she sounded a bit strangled.

Lucifer released her with a sheepish smile conveyed through his veiled eyes and the mouth of the porcelain mask.

“Sorry, just happy to see you.” Or anyone.

“Anyways,” Charlie backed up to gesture dramatically, “Welcome, to the Hazbin Hotel!”

Huh, that’s an… odd name choice.

Then he felt the brushing of a cat against his legs and he crouched down to lift her up, gently scratch behind her ears. “Awww hello Keekee.” He murmured with a soft smile before he set the cat back down.

He looked over and saw Razzle and Dazzle and walked up to them. He let out a soft amused snort at them circling him with excitement while they flew.

“Awww you two haven’t grown a bit either.” He said with a fond voice.

Lucifer’s voice shifted to a more threatening tone as he crouched near them, more eyes appearing from under his shadowy veil as he murmured. “You two better be taking good care of Charlie.” His eyes retreated and as did his horns back into his skull.

He pulled away from the two goats and walked a bit more forward into the hotel. “Well, the decor is certainly.. interesting. Lots of character-“, He paused as he noticed a new looking green bar.

“Oh! I see you did some uh, renovations…” Lucifer trailed off hesitantly.

A tall red guy appeared behind him and spoke with a loud, grating voice. He assumed it was filtered by something but his angelic nature allowed him to hear his real voice. It sounded so.. fake.

“It adds some colour, don’t you think?” The red beanpole said.

“And you are?” Lucifer asked with apprehension, his visible eyes narrowing slightly.

“Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, quite a pleasure!” The red guy- Alastor apparently said quickly, shaking Lucifer’s cane with a grin that seemed a bit tight.

“It’s nice to finally put a face, or mask, to the name! You are much shorter in real life!” Lucifer was not going to like this guy, was he?

“Yes well, thank almighty Charlie didn’t get those genetics, yeah?” Lucifer said with a fake polite smile, pretending to be wholly unoffended. This seemed to annoy Alastor more however, his smile turning tight when he didn’t take the bait.

“Well regardless, I am the host of his hotel. You may have heard of me from my Radio broadcast?” The deer guy continued, seeming to try and draw in a compliment or start a fight.

“Uh no, unfortunately, I can't say I have. Don’t really use much technology so…” Lucifer said politely.

The last time he used a radio was a few decades ago when he was just trying to listen to some music while he tinkered, and every channel just had screaming so he got rid of the thing.

“Anyway,” Lucifer said, turning to Charlie, “Hazbin Hotel! Very interesting naming choice..” He trailed off hesitantly.

“Actually, the name was my idea.” Alastor cut in again with a falsely sweet smile.

“As I said, an interesting choice.” Lucifer doubled down with a shrug and turned back to Charlie who looked as though she wanted to talk.

“Okay! Okay, anyway. Dad, look at this lovely parlor where people can get to know each other and share secrets and stories and intimate feelings! Without Alastor, we wouldn't have been able to pretty it up this much.”

“Charlie has a very unique vision. I am happy to fulfill her bizarre requests.”

Lucifer turned between the two, Charlie seeming to not realize that Alastor was trying to rile him up. He sighed and smiled up at the red deer man.

“I suppose I should thank you for helping my daughter then, yeah? How about some lava straight from the Wrath ring? Great for cooking, or decoration. Whatever you’re into.” Lucifer said, summoning a small bottle of obsidian glass which had the glowing orange liquid.

He sat it down on a nearby table before turning back to Charlie.

“Anyways, how about you introduce me to some of your other friends?” Lucifer said with a polite voice, looking up towards his daughter with fond eyes.

He walked back towards the rest of the sinners in the hotel and Charlie walked up and pulled another girl with her. “Oh! Yes! This is Vaggie, she’s my girlfriend!” Charlie introduced.

Lucifer nodded politely and held his hand out to shake Vaggie’s. “Lovely to meet you Vaggie. You treating my daughter good-?” He cut himself off a bit early as she grabbed his hand and they shook.

“I sure hope so! It’s great to meet you, uh, sir.” Vaggie said with a nervous smile.

No one seemed to notice the stilted ending luckily as a thousand thoughts raced through his head.

One of his abilities that remained ever present since his fall was his ability to sense divine energy. He had hoped Charlie would develop the ability as well but it seemed that she hadn’t.

As such however, he knew immediately that this was no sinner, or a hellborn- she was an exorcist. She seemed to realize he noticed as well as her smile tightened slightly.

“We’ll talk later, yeah?” He whispered to her, pulling her near him for a second before he released her grip.

Charlie cut in with a smile, gesturing to a snake guy behind her. “And this is Sir Pentious and Angeldust! They’re our guests!”

The snake guy- Sir Pentious, snapped out of whatever he was doing and saluted Lucifer, “Your majesty!” before falling flat onto his face.

“Heya short king~” Angeldust said with a smirk.

Charlie made a coughing sound to draw the attention back to her before gesturing to a cat guy with wings, and a short little red headed cyclops. “And this is Husk! He’s our bartender. And Niffty is our housekeeper!”

“Nice to meet you-“ Husk begins before cutting himself off at the sight of Niffty scurrying over to Lucifer.

She climbed up Lucifer’s coat and smiled up at him, “Hello! I clean,” She began before her eyes widened and one of her hands reached forward towards his face, “Ooo! What’s under this mask-“

“-Okayit’slovelytomeetyouall!” Lucifer said quickly, grabbing Niffty around the waist and setting her back down on the floor. Alastor narrowed his eyes at Lucifer behind his back, seemingly intrigued.

Suddenly, the chandelier above him fell down and nearly hit Lucifer, the fallen Angel shifting into a snake and reforming back into his humanoid form a few feet away from the fallen lighting arrangement, coughing at the dust.

“Well! It looks like you fellows could use some help around here with repairs, yeah?” Lucifer said with a roll of his eyes that seemed a bit fond.

___

After an hour or so, Lucifer had used his magic to repair all of the parts of the hotel that hadn’t quite been fixed yet. He was tempted to fix the bar to be a normal colour as well, but he didn’t want to upset Charlie or rile up Alastor.

Alastor, however, was set on trying to anger the king. He went from backhanded insults to straight up insults to trying to make him jealous of his close relationship with Charlie.

Which, it did sting a little at being replaced. But if his daughter liked this guy, he would be civil as well.

Lucifer still was confused though. He’d never even interacted with the guy before- why did he seem to be infuriated with Lucifer in every interaction? Regardless, Lucifer did his best to ignore him.

But then, as they were finishing up fixing the chandelier, Alastor finally found the sore spot. His mask.

“You know, it is awfully draft in here, why don’t you take off that mask of yours?” Alastor said with a smirk, to which Lucifer flinched.

“Oh uh, you see, I don’t really do that… revealing my face could uh,” quick, come up with an excuse, “My real face melts the minds of mortals.. it’s not really meant for you lot to see, so…”

“Yes well, we’re not really mortal anymore, are we your highness?” Alastor said with a smirk, leaning down his face close to Lucifer’s.

“Regardless I-“ Lucifer was cut off as Alastor grabbed his mask from his face, before frowning at the sight of the shadowy veil covering all of his face aside from his eyes. Which there was several more spread along the side of Lucifer’s face which had the mask.

The lights all flickered off in the room before turning back on with a more ominous lighting, the king having grown in size and his wings spread out, his horns large and flaming above his head.

“丨 山ㄖㄩㄥᗪ Ꮆ丨ᐯ乇 ㄒ卄卂ㄒ 乃卂匚Ҝ 丨千 ㄚㄖㄩ 山卂几ㄒ ㄒㄖ ㄥ丨ᐯ乇” Lucifer said with a threatening voice, sending a fearful shiver down the red sinner’s spine.

Alastor quickly dropped the mask, a nervous smile twisting onto his face. “Of course, my apologies, your majesty.”

Lucifer took the mask back and placed it back upon the right side of his face, letting out a sigh as he shifted back to his smaller, less threatening form.

“Glad we understand eachother.” Lucifer said with a polite voice, before turning back to the rest of the hotel residents-

Who were staring in a bit of shock, and Charlie with nervousness. Vaggie looked like she was turning into a stone statue with how frozen in fear she was.

“What? I’m the king of hell- what did you expect?” Lucifer asked with a slightly confused tilt of his head.

“Nothing dad, I’ve just never seen you get that angry before.” Charlie trailed off nervously.

Lucifer froze, a nervous look entering his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that Char-Char-“ He begun before-

“iT’s mE! iT’s mE!” A shrill feminine voice sing-shouted as the front doors to the hotel burst open. “I’M sUrE yOu wErE aLl WaItInG fOr Me!”

“I’m hErE, wHaT a GaS, tOoK aWhIlE bUt I’m PrEsEnT aT lAsT! iT’s mE! iT’s mE! MimzyyYyyYYyy!”

Father almighty, aid him in this dire moment.

Chapter Text

When Alastor was alive, there were many words you could have used to describe him. There were three main ones though.

He was a popular radio host in New Orleans. Yes it took a lot of work to do so as a man of colour in the south, but it was worth it to him.

He was also a son. He spent many evenings after his radio broadcasts over at his Ma’s house, cooking dinner for her and playing her piano.‘Course, she died a few years leading up to his own death, and she never knew about what the third thing you could describe him as was;

A serial killer.

This would be the thing that would likely have damned Alastor to hell regardless, but there was one more thing he did while he was alive to ensure that when he was in hell, he would have a lovely time.

He decided to summon the Devil.

It took a lot of work to get all of the blood sacrifices necessary to summon him; Lucifer. God’s Favorite, the Morning Star, the bringer of Sin into the world.

Yet, when all was said and done, he received no response. But it should have worked.

So he redid the ritual again.

…and again,

…and again.

Each and every time, he received no response from the other side. He began to wonder if the ritual was simply a load of bogus, so he changed it up slightly and reworked it.

…

“Tu es prêt à manger… I call on you,voices of the afterlife. I wish to make a deal with you.”

And he had received a response. It wasn’t a fallen Angel like he had hoped, but he decided to take what he could get.

“Why have you called me here, human? To curse? To give? To learn?”

“Allow me to cut to the chase. I know what awaits a man like me after death. But I do not want to exist in Hell a tortured soul. I want to secure myself, amongst the highest demons. I want to continue my fun!”

“Wow. That's a new one. I must say, a soul like yours is unlike any I've seen.”

“I can grant you power. Power beyond what your mortal mind can imagine. The most powerful Sinner in Hell, but you must do something for me. And until you complete this task, your soul will be mine.

“It's a deal”

…

The deal had ended up being worth it in the end, as Alastor would accidentally be mistaken for a deer and shot the next day while hiding the bodies of his victims.

Alastor had spent much of his time a bit spiteful of the royal family for being ignored, especially when he learned that Lucifer was actually the king of hell and very real.

Had he purposely ignored him? Alastor may never have known, but he had still been salty regardless.

Alastor managed to spend much of his time in hell not worrying about the owner of his soul.

He quickly rose to power.

Made a companion out of Vox.

Broke Vox’s heart.

Then he was summoned by his owner for seven years to finally serve her favor.

Then he heard about a new target of his master’s.

The Happy Hotel.

So he went to the hotel, and managed to ‘trick’ the Sin of Pride’s daughter in letting him stay.

And as time went on, he found himself actually enjoying his time in the hotel with the residents. Yes, Charlie was awfully naive, and Angeldust was way too crass for his taste, but he enjoyed watching the train wreck that was her redemption scheme.

He listened in on Charlie’s phone calls with her father, she always seemed to complain about how distant he was, but whenever he called he did note how irritated she would quickly become.

Interesting.

He had a little scuffle with Vox.

And then the hotel received a new resident in Sir Pentious.

Alastor already disliked the snake for ruining his coat previously, then the snake went and tried working for Vox to spy on the hotel.

And Alastor had to admit that deep down, Vox still was a bit of a sore spot to him. Not that anyone would know though. He was mainly just a nuisance to him anyways.

And then, Lucifer had been called by Charlie and agreed to come to the hotel. He’d done it so enthusiastically too, like he was excited to come.

It irritated Alastor how willing Lucifer was to come visit his daughter, but completely ignored all of his summons.

So Alastor decided to rile up the king when he arrived. But he was, well, unsuccessful to put it lightly.

___

Hey Charlie! It’s great to see you!” Lucifer said with excitement, walking up and hugging Charlie tightly, lifting her in the air for a moment.

“H-hey dad. Great to see you too.” Oops, she sounded a bit strangled.

Lucifer released her with a sheepish smile conveyed through his veiled eyes and the mouth of the porcelain mask. He seemed to have completely ignored Alastor standing next to him.

“Sorry, just happy to see you.” The king apologized.

“Anyways,” Charlie backed up to gesture dramatically, “Welcome, to the Hazbin Hotel!”

Lucifer noticed Keekee brushing against his legs and he crouched down to lift her up, and gently scratch behind her ears. “Awww hello Keekee.” He murmured with a soft smile before he set the cat back down.

Lucifer looked over and saw Razzle and Dazzle and walked up to them. He let out a soft amused snort at them circling him with excitement while they flew.

“Awww you two haven’t grown a bit either.” The Devil said with a fond voice.

Lucifer’s voice shifted to a more threatening tone as he crouched near them, more eyes appearing from under his shadowy veil as he murmured. “You two better be taking good care of Charlie.” His eyes retreated and as did his horns back into his skull.

The king pulled away from the two goats and walked a bit more forward into the hotel. “Well, the decor is certainly.. interesting. Lots of character-“, He paused as he noticed a new looking green bar.

“Oh! I see you did some uh, renovations…” Lucifer trailed off hesitantly.

Alastor appeared behind him and spoke with a loud, grating voice. “It adds some colour, don’t you think?” He said with a smirk, hoping to annoy the king.

“And you are?” Lucifer asked with apprehension, his visible eyes narrowing slightly.

“Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, quite a pleasure!” Alastor said with a grin, grabbing and shaking Lucifer’s cane in a way that obviously annoyed the man.

“It’s nice to finally put a face, or mask, to the name! You are much shorter in real life!” Alastor continued, his head tilting to the side with a sickening crack as he continued to egg on the devil.

Was it petty? Fuck yes it was.

Did Alastor care? Not really.

“Yes well, thank almighty Charlie didn’t get those genetics, yeah?” said the King. Damn it, maybe the king had better self control than he hoped.

It would make sense though. He was the Sin of Pride, not Wrath.

“Well regardless, I am the host of his hotel. You may have heard of me from my Radio broadcast?” Alastor shifted the topic slightly, a more smug expression shifting onto his face. Maybe fishing for compliments would work better.

“Uh no, unfortunately, I can't say I have. Don’t really use much technology so…” Lucifer said politely. He sounded at least a little apologetic, so maybe he was being sincere.

How annoying.

“Anyway,” Lucifer said, turning to Charlie, “Hazbin Hotel! Very interesting naming choice..” He trailed off hesitantly.

Now’s your chance Alastor!

“Actually, the name was my idea.” Alastor cut in again with a falsely sweet smile. This should be working, how prideful does the king have to be to not get upset?

“As I said, an interesting choice.” Lucifer doubled down with a shrug and turned back to Charlie who looked as though she wanted to talk.

“Okay! Okay, anyway. Dad, look at this lovely parlor where people can get to know each other and share secrets and stories and intimate feelings! Without Alastor, we wouldn't have been able to pretty it up this much.” Charlie butt in with a smile.

“Charlie has a very unique vision. I am happy to fulfill her bizarre requests.” Alastor said, taking the opportunity to piss off the king.

“I suppose I should thank you for helping my daughter then, yeah? How about some lava straight from the Wrath ring? Great for cooking, or decoration. Whatever you’re into.” Lucifer said, summoning a small bottle of obsidian glass which had the glowing orange liquid.

Oh! Alastor supposed that it could be useful. Maybe for some torture later… Focus Alastor! You’re trying to piss the guy off!

Lucifer sat it down on a nearby table before turning back to Charlie.

“Anyways, how about you introduce me to some of your other friends?” Lucifer said with a polite voice, looking up towards his daughter with fond eyes.

He walked back towards the rest of the sinners in the hotel and Charlie walked up and pulled another girl with her. “Oh! Yes! This is Vaggie, she’s my girlfriend!” Charlie introduced to her father.

Lucifer nodded politely and held his hand out to shake Vaggie’s. “Lovely to meet you Vaggie. You treating my daughter good?” The end of Lucifer’s question seemed a bit stilted, but it was probably just the king’s strange way of talking.

“I sure hope so! It’s great to meet you, uh, sir.” Vaggie said with a nervous smile.

After a moment, Lucifer pulled Vaggie close for a second and whispered something in her ear, intriguing Alastor to no end. Yet despite his superior hearing, Alastor still could not make out anything the Fallen Angel said.

Charlie cut in with a smile, gesturing to a snake guy behind her. “And this is Sir Pentious and Angeldust! They’re our guests!”

The snake guy- Sir Pentious, snapped out of whatever he was doing and saluted Lucifer, “Your majesty!” before falling flat onto his face.

“Heya short king~” Angeldust said with a smirk.

Charlie made a coughing sound to draw the attention back to her before gesturing to a cat guy with wings, and a short little red headed cyclops. “And this is Husk! He’s our bartender. And Niffty is our housekeeper!”

“Nice to meet you-“ Husk begins before cutting himself off at the sight of Niffty scurrying over to Lucifer.

She climbed up Lucifer’s coat and smiled up at him, “Hello! I clean,” She began before her eyes widened and one of her hands reached forward towards his face, “Ooo! What’s under this mask-“

“-Okayit’slovelytomeetyouall!” Lucifer said quickly, grabbing Niffty around the waist and setting her back down on the floor. Alastor narrowed his eyes at Lucifer behind his back.

The reaction was interesting, the king was super composed until Niffty made a grab for his mask. Perhaps he could use this later.

Alastor’s made a vague gesture with his hand and his shadow detached from him and up to the chandelier above Lucifer, which fell down and nearly hit the fallen angel, whom avoided it by turning into a snake and reforming back into his humanoid form a few feet away from the fallen lighting arrangement, coughing at the dust.

“Well! It looks like you fellows could use some help around here with repairs, yeah?” Lucifer said with a roll of his eyes that seemed a bit fond.

Alastor needed to up his game…

___

After an hour or so, Lucifer had used his magic to repair all of the parts of the hotel that hadn’t quite been fixed yet. Alastor had to admit that the magic was impressive and honestly amazing to watch in action.

However, he continued in his goals in annoying the masked demon. Insults both forward and backward did not work at all with the devil though.

But then, as they were finishing up fixing the chandelier, Alastor finally found the sore spot. Lucifer’s mask.

“You know, it is awfully draft in here, why don’t you take off that mask of yours?” Alastor said with a smirk, to which Lucifer flinched. Found it.

“Oh uh, you see, I don’t really do that… revealing my face could uh,” The king paused for a moment, “My real face melts the minds of mortals.. it’s not really meant for you lot to see, so…”

“Yes well, we’re not really mortal anymore, are we your highness?” Alastor said with a smirk, leaning down his face close to Lucifer’s.

“Regardless I-“ Lucifer was cut off as Alastor grabbed his mask from his face, before Alastor frowned at the sight of the shadowy veil covering all of his face aside from his eyes. Which there were several more spread along the side of Lucifer’s face which had the mask.

The lights all flickered off in the room before turning back on with a more ominous lighting, the king having grown in size and his wings spread out, his horns large and flaming above his head.

The sight was a mix of magnificent and horrifying. Alastor almost thought it was beautiful.

“丨 山ㄖㄩㄥᗪ Ꮆ丨ᐯ乇 ㄒ卄卂ㄒ 乃卂匚Ҝ 丨千 ㄚㄖㄩ 山卂几ㄒ ㄒㄖ ㄥ丨ᐯ乇” Lucifer said with a threatening voice, sending a fearful shiver down the red sinner’s spine.

Alastor quickly dropped the mask onto the floor, a nervous smile twisting onto his face. “Of course, my apologies, your majesty.”

So Lucifer isn’t fully immune to being riled up. Good to know for the future.

Lucifer took the mask back and placed it back upon the right side of his face, letting out a sigh as he shifted back to his smaller, less threatening form.

“Glad we understand eachother.” Lucifer said with a polite voice, before turning back to the rest of the hotel residents-

Who were staring in a bit of shock, and Charlie with nervousness. Vaggie looked like she was turning into a stone statue with how frozen in fear she was.

Why was Vaggie so afraid? Was it related to what Lucifer had whispered to her earlier?

“What? I’m the king of hell- what did you expect?” Lucifer asked with a slightly confused tilt of his head.

“Nothing dad, I’ve just never seen you get that angry before.” Charlie trailed off nervously.

Lucifer froze, a nervous look entering his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that Char-Char-“ He begun before-

“iT’s mE! iT’s mE!” A shrill feminine voice sing-shouted as the front doors to the hotel burst open. “I’M sUrE yOu wErE aLl WaItInG fOr Me!”

“I’m hErE, wHaT a GaS, tOoK aWhIlE bUt I’m PrEsEnT aT lAsT! iT’s mE! iT’s mE! MimzyyYyyYYy”

Gosh, Mimzy really had the worst timing didn't she.

“Who?” Lucifer said with a slightly confused voice, an inhuman tilt to his head.

“Didn’t you just hear me?” Mimzy whined as she strutted into the Hotel, “why’s everyone gawking? Is it because I’m adorable?”

Alastor forced a friendly smile onto his face, “Mimzy!” He said with fake enthusiasm that she didn’t seem to notice.

“Alastorrrr, sweetie, doll-face! So good to see you. How ‘you been? Good? Good.” Mimzy said with an excited voice as she walked up to Alastor. Wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

He forgot how much he hates hugs from Mimzy.

“Listen, I was in the neighborhood. I heard you were staying at this ritzy slob factory, and I figured I'd stop by, say hi! For old times sake.” Damn it Mimzy, literally any other damn time would’ve worked.

Alastor schooled his expression into a polite smile, “Of course, sweetheart! Everyone is welcome here!”

Charlie butt in, seeming a bit excited to learn a bit more about the pair. “Oh, how nice! So you two know each other?” Unfortunately.

“Oh, yeah, we go way back, ran in the same circles when we were alive. You know, this one used to frequent the club where I used to perform. He's the only one I knew who could pound whiskey like a sailor then keep up with me on the dance floor.” Alastor began to consider kicking her out just then.

Alastor let out a small cough before laughing in a fake way, “Oh, quite a talent, this gal. Ho ho, you should have seen her in her hayday!”

“Hey, watch it tall, dark and creepy. I'm still in my prime!” Mimzy said with an annoyed voice.

Mimzy turned around and spotted Lucifer standing by the staircase, her eyes widening in surprise as she stage whispered back to Alastor.

“Oh, oh my stars! Is that Lucifer?”

She pushed past Sir Pentious who was apparently in her way, walking up to Lucifer with an excited expression and getting way up into his business.

“Pleased to meetcha, Your Highness.” She said with a slightly flirty expression before whispering back to Alastor, “Alastor, you gotta warn a girl when she's in mixed company.”

Alastor had no clue if she meant something about the king of hell being a fallen angel, a hellborn, or something else. Either way it was probably offensive.

“Mm, lovely to meet you, Ma’am.” Lucifer said with a polite smile in his eyes. His voice was rather tense sounding and he seemed a little uncomfortable with how close she was.

Alastor cut back in, “unfortunately Mimzy, Charlie and I need to continue our tour of the Hotel. We can catch up later however!” Hopefully never.

Lucifer shifted slightly on his feet, “if you two want to catch up, I am fine with just Charlie giving me the tour.” Lucifer offered.

Alastor waved his hand in dismissal. And lose time to annoy the king? Never. “Nonsense- We started the hotel together and we’ll show it off together. Right, Charlie?”

Charlie nodded in agreement. “Of course, Al.”

Alastor turned over to Mimzy and smiled, “how about the others help you get settled while I finish the tour, hmm?”

Once Mimzy was headed back off, Alastor turned back to the Morningstars and followed them up the stairs.

Time to up his game.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 - Clouds of Power and Glory

Charlotte Morningstar was born during the midst of the American Civil War.

This was a fact, as she had recalled when she was very little seeing the large amounts of souls coming to hell, only for them to return to fighting each other near immediately.

She didn’t recall much about her first few decades of life, as angels- even a half Angel born of a fallen, matured incredibly slowly .

She did remember how it was mainly her mother in the care of her, how her father would spend the majority of his time alone in his workshop.

Charlie pretended to not be a bit sour about how her father always acted around her.

He had always seemed… anxious. And he always gave her back to her mother after an hour of spending time together.

She still did prefer his company oftentimes, as he was always entertaining her with his stories and showing her how to use her magic.

Something she never forgot was how he always wore a mask of some sort around her from when she was five years old and afterwards.

Charlie didn’t really remember her father’s face, but she did have a single faint and blurry memory of her father singing her to sleep one evening, his full face on display.

She never saw his face again after that night though. And her dad stopped being really close with her after that.

Her mom was pretty great though!

She was always attentive to her needs, and answered every one of her questions unless it was about her father, which the topic never really ever was brought up anyways.

She secretly liked her mother a lot more than her father. In her defense, her dad was always hiding away and barely spent time with her. She recalled a staff member of the palace calling him a ‘hermit’ and she supposed that was probably an accurate way to put it.

___

It was around the late 1930’s and early 1940’s where Hell’s population began to rapidly expand.

It wasn’t too much more than whenever there was a war, but it was beginning to become a problem.

If anyone ever asked, Charlie would tell them that she never went through an emo phase.

She knew that her father would smile with his eyes and immediately show whoever asked the single portrait he managed to have made of her during that time.

Charlie Morningstar with dyed black bangs and emo makeup.

Yeah… that was one of her more embarrassing moments.

Her dad remembered all of those details about her, even if he often forgot the date, the year, or even the names of the staff he’d had under his service for decades.

As she matured though, she had noticed how there were certain inconsistencies with her father.

Her mother said that he was just so traumatized from his fall still that he couldn’t bear being near people. She always made a point to Lucifer when they talked and Charlie was nearby that Lucifer needed to rest.

Her dad always gave into Lilith’s demands, always seeming a bit too tired to have any argument with her.

Yet whenever she spent time with him, he always seemed so happy- if a bit anxious. So she once asked him why he hardly spent time with her.

___

“Dad?” She had asked as she added the final little swoops of her paint brush to a duck she and her dad were making.

“Yes, duckling?” Lucifer said with a smile in his eyes, looking back over to her.

He was not wearing his veil that day, and had bandages along the right side of his face instead of his marble mask. Charlie rarely saw that much of his face but she recalled how her father’s eyes blinked a lot and his smile always looked like he was in mild pain.

“Why do you hardly spend time with me? Mom says it’s because you’re an introvert but I don’t think that’s true.” She had asked him then, not really getting that the question might have been a bit personal.

Lucifer had gone frozen still in that moment, his eyes wide. He blinked quickly and forced a smile back into his eyes that Charlie could tell was fake even then.

“Ah, that.” He had begun nervously. “Well I can’t really spend much time awake because heaven uh- drains my energy and stuff so I can never resist them.. so I sleep a bunch- which is why you don’t see me! Y-yeah!”

Charlie knew he was lying, even then. She said nothing though.

Charlie wondered now if she should have.

___

Charlie remembered the day her mother suddenly disappeared. She saw more of her father that day then she probably saw of him in a year.

He had been frantic, making calls on his old telephone and his tail constantly swaying from side to side in an anxious manner.

She also remembered the day that the first extermination happened.

Angels had descended down upon the pride ring by the thousands, their glowing angelic weapons slaughtering the sinners.

There had been nearly two million casualties during the first extermination.

Charlie had begged her father to know why he had doomed all of their people.

She didn’t receive a real answer other than excuses.

So she had left the palace to go live in their old hotel building after the third extermination.

___

Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,

with power and great glory.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬ 30

___

It was during the fifth extermination where she met an injured sinner. She was missing an eye and had grey skin and hair.

The sinner’s name was Vaggie, Charlie had learned.

Her and Vaggie spent time together as Charlie worked in repairing the hotel and healing Vaggie of her injuries.

And after a while, Charlie had formed a small crush on Vaggie…

Okay! Fine! It was a massive crush! But it turned out okay when Vaggie had actually reciprocated her feelings.

And it was after the sixth where she had figured an idea of what she could do to solve the exterminations.

They were because of overpopulation in Hell, right?

So what if she used the hotel to redeem sinners!?

Yeah.. it seemed like a long shot, but Vaggie seemed to believe in her!

So, the pair worked on getting a sinner to come to the hotel to be redeemed…

___

“So if I come to this dinky hotel thingy, I get to live there for free and stuff?” Angeldust had said when they approached him.

“Yes! Yes, yes, you get to live there for free! The only thing we need in return is for you to put a sincere effort into trying to redeem yourself!” Charlie had said with a welcoming smile.

“That includes getting off of drugs.” Vaggie had cut in, her brow furrowed into a more serious expression.

“Yeah, whatever you say, toots. I’m in!”

And so, the hotel had it’s first guest.

___

Charlie called her mother almost every single night.

Her phone always went straight to voicemail, but she still talked to her anyways.

She told her about her day, about the hotel, about her dreams.

Charlie never got a response from her mother.

Her dad called frequently though, she never called him back if she missed his call.

He would always act like he was so excited to talk to her, but would always forget half the things she told him by the next call.

It irritated her how lackluster he was at caring.

But, she supposed, at least he tried.

Chapter Text

The hotel was a lot creepier than he remembered it was.

The floorboards creaked and the wallpaper was peeling at places that slightly unsettled Lucifer.

He was currently listening to his daughter’s plan for redemption, not really paying attention to much but nodding along with her as she ranted to him.

Almighty, he is not looking forward to when she gets disappointed.

He didn’t really notice when Alastor was called over to go discuss something with that one cat demon- Charlie called him Husk maybe?

Whatever, it wasn’t Lucifer’s business.

___

Later, the tour finally ended and Lucifer forced his attention to return to his daughter and her girlfriend.

“…And we've almost been able to find all of Angel Dust's drug stashes... Almost.” Continued Vaggie with a smile.

Charlie smiled widely, “So, once that's out of the way it should be much smoother sailing.”

Lucifer shifted slightly, unsure how to really respond to that. “Well, that certainly is, uh…” Quick! Say something! “…is-is something.” Not literally!

“So… what do you think?” Charlie asked.

Uhhh, buy some time Lucifer- “About what?”

Charlie let out an exasperated sigh, “The hotel, dad.”

Lucifer stilled for a second, trying to not make it obvious that he didn’t pay too much attention or was disbelieving.

“Oh yes, it does… it does look much better now, doesn't it?” He chuckled nervously, “I see you remember those old shop lessons I gave you a few decades back! Although,I'm thinking this railing needs work, one good push and you'd just go right over the edge…” Lucifer trailed off nervously, trying to ignore the irritated look Charlie gave him.

“What?” Oh shit, she’s mad, “No, no, the plan, Dad! What do you think about using the hotel to help sinners?” Charlie said angrily.

Lucifer hesitated. How do you tell your own daughter that already hates you that you don’t really believe she can complete her goals?

“Alright,” Lucifer sighed, “look, duckling. I don’t really want you to get your hopes up with this. Sinners are.. the worst. Even if sinners could be redeemed, you think that most of them even want to be?”

Besides, Heaven would probably get really pissed if souls from damnation somehow earn their salvation. But he didn’t say that though.

“These are our people, Dad! I... I have to try. Just because you were a coward and didn't try to come up with a solution doesn't mean I can’t!” Charlie responded, her words hitting deep inside of Lucifer.

He wasn’t a coward, he just.. she wouldn’t understand.

“Look, Charlie.” Lucifer began nervously, “I get that you think I just don’t care but that’s the furthest from the truth! I gave humanity free will and look at what they did with it! If redemption was possible then it would have already-“

Lucifer was cut off by a sudden loud boom from the entrance of the hotel. He let out a sigh.

Vaggie let out a groan, “Geez! What now?!”

Lucifer sighed, “they’re loan sharks- hellborn from the Greed Ring. I guess someone in the hotel owes money or something.”

Another bang ringed throughout the entrance of the hotel as the loan sharks used a battering ram to attempt to enter the hotel.

“Mimzy! We know you're in there you lousy bitch!”

Mimzy let out a squeak, hiding behind a piece of furniture. “Oh shit.” She said quietly.

Lucifer let out a sigh before teleporting himself, Charlie, and Vaggie down towards the lobby within a bright ring of fire. He expected Vaggie to hurl but she didn’t.

“¿Que carajo?” Vaggie shouted as she stomped towards Mimzy.

Charlie followed with a confused expression. “What's going on?” She asked.

Mimzy let out a nervous chuckle. “I maaaaaaay be in trouble with some loan sharks I may or may not have borrowed fifty grand from- Eep!” Mimzy began before diving behind the bar counter.

Lucifer let out a sigh. He knew she was sketchy from the moment she came in.

“You better come out!”

Mimzy continued nervously, “And I may have also stolen a car... and crashed it... into the loan shark's girlfriend. But that bitch had it coming!”

Then, Lucifer moved on instinct, his wings spreading out from his back.

Suddenly, several ginormous fireballs burst through the windows of the hotel’s entrance. Glass was sent flying everywhere and almost hit Charlie directly before Lucifer dived forward with an inhuman growl, his wings extending out and serving as a shield between the two girls and the projectiles.

Nifty let out a small wall, “My windows!”

Sir Pentious let out an unmanly scream and dropped his cookies, “We’re under siege! Take cover!” He shouted as he hid out of the range of a fireball.

Charlie darted out from under Lucifer’s wings, taking Vaggie by the arm with her. Lucifer followed them, not noticing the absence of Alastor in the moment. Angeldust grabbed Niffty and also ran towards a protected space.

Lucifer let out a sigh as he turned to Charlie. This is the exact problem he was talking about.

“This is what I meant, Charlie. You think that you’re helping them and then they just turn around and they use you!” Lucifer exclaimed.

Charlie’s eye twitched before Vaggie ran out, grabbing her spear. “All of you stay safe, I’ll handle this!”

However, before Vaggie could run out she was stopped by Alastor; who placed a hand on her shoulder and had a wicked, almost anticipatory grin.

“No, my dear, leave it to me.” Alastor began, his form starting to change into a larger, more monstrous form. “It's time I remind everyone why I am here.”

Once Alastor finished his small speech, his body rapidly expanded in size and his eyes turned to radio dials. Mimzy finally stood up from behind the bar and let out an annoyed whine.

“Oh, finally! Took ya long enough!” She said with an almost complaining tone.

As Lucifer watched Alastor go out and fight the loan sharks, Lucifer had many thoughts racing through his mind.

Holy shit why is he letting that thing near his daughter?

And,

Holy shit thank god this thing is protecting his daughter.

Lucifer was confused internally with all of the different emotions running through his head, that he was for once thankful for his mask which helped aid in hiding his emotions.

Alastor is annoying, he’s weirdly petty acting, and he’s way too close with his daughter for his liking. But seeing him over there fighting the lone sharks was oddly beautiful to him. It was like when Lilith-

Wait- Beautiful?

Get a hold of yourself, Lucifer- he’s nothing like Lilith.

“LET THIS BE A REMINDER NOT TO MESS WITH THE RADIO DEMON”

At least, Lucifer sure hoped that he wasn’t.

Lucifer turned away from the sight of Alastor and noticed that Vaggie was now alone, and he tilted his head and gestured for her to come with him.

A nervous look entered her eyes before she hesitantly ran over to the fallen Angel.

“Let’s talk for a second, shall we?” Lucifer said before the two were transported to a different room in a ring of fire.

___

The two were now in the hotel’s miniature library, the lighting dim and the air rather dusty.

“You are an exorcist.” He said, it wasn’t a question.

“I was.” Vaggie corrected nervously, her body too fearful to move as Lucifer approached her.

‘Was’? So what happened then…

“I was kicked out, I didn’t kill a sinner child so they cut off my wings, took out my eye, and left me for dead.” Vaggie finished, her voice trembling ever so slightly, she stepped backward and sat down on one of the benches in the room.

Lucifer’s eyes softened and he approached her, placing a firm yet gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Does she know?” Lucifer asked her. He didn’t need to say ‘Charlie’ for her to know who he was talking about.

“No. None of them do.” Lucifer frowned, his tone softer but still serious.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t tell them. How can I know you aren't just doing this to hurt Charlie?” Lucifer asked, his voice gentle get firm. He sat down next to her, and his head was we tilted inquisitively.

Vaggie hesitated, before she let out a sigh, “I can’t really give you a reason, but believe me when I say that do love Charlie. Hurting her is the last thing I want, you understand that too, yeah?” She begin nervously, “and I want to tell her, I just don’t really know how. How do you tell the love of your life that you used to be a part of the people you’re trying to stop?”

Lucifer listened to her intently, he turned his head away and looked up towards the ceiling.

“I believe you.” He said eventually, Vaggie’s head quickly turning and staring at him with surprise. “But, I need you to promise me that you never do anything to intentionally hurt Charlie.”

Vaggie’s expression turned determined and she nodded, holding out her hand to him. “I promise I will never hurt Charlie. I love her.”

“And I won’t tell her that you’re an Angel. But you need to tell her eventually.” Lucifer agreed, before he reached his hand towards hers and shook it, a small tingling of energy traveling between the two of them as the minor deal was formed.

“Now,” Lucifer began, his tone more light and his posture easy and open, “how about we get back before Charlie notices we left?”

___

Lucifer and Vaggie had returned and very little had happened in their absence. Charlie had been busy making sure Niffty wasn’t injured and had not noticed the disappearance of her girlfriend and father.

After Alastor had finished fighting the Loan Sharks, Lucifer’s attention was brought back to Charlie when she grabbed him by the hand and brought him back to the open lobby of the hotel.

“Dad..” Charlie began, her eyes said and her voice pleading, “please just… help me.”

“I..” Lucifer began, his body movements stilted and voice hesitant, “…I can’t, Duckling.”

“You always say that- but why?!” Charlie asked, her voice full of emotion that made Lucifer’s heart wrench.

“Look, I don’t expect you to understand- but Heaven will never listen! They didn’t listen to me! They won’t listen to you.” Lucifer said with a voice so full of emotion that it made Charlie flinch, her eyes wide.

It was then he realized that his wings had formed on his back and were spread out wide, he let out a sigh before retracting them back into his skin.

“You don’t know that though, Dad-” Charlie began quietly.

“But I do!”

Lucifer let out a sigh before his voice shifted into song, “You didn't know that when I tried this all before, my dreams were too hard to defend.”

“And in the end, I won't lose it all again. Now you're the only thing worth fighting for.”

Soft flames surrounded the lair pair in a circle as they formed into different shapes. They shifted from his fall from heaven to the disappearance of Lilith to just Charlie and Lucifer standing there.

“More than anything, more than anything. I'll shelter and adore you more than anything.”

“Dad…” Charlie began with a sad expression, “I don't need you to protect me from this.”

God Charlie was so innocent, he didn’t want her to get hurt by this venture.

Lucifer let out a soft sad sigh, “I just don't want you to be crushed by them like… Like I was.”

“Dad…” Charlie turned around and sang softly. “When I was young, I didn't really know you at all. I always felt so small. But I heard your stories and I was enthralled.”

“The tales about your lofty dreams, I listened breathlessly. Imagining it could be me.” Charlie continued, “So in the end, it's the view I had of you, that showed me dreams can be worth fighting for.”

Charlie turned around, an emotional smile upon her face. “More than anything, more than anything. I need to save my people more than anything.”

Lucifer stared at her for a moment, his eyes a bit wet but no tears fell. A smile entered his eyes and onto his mask as he took a step forward. “I've been dyin' to find out who you are.”

“I've been waiting, wanting the same thing.”

“Looks like the apple doesn't fall far.”

Charlie sniffled. “Took you a while,”

Lucifer let out a chuckle, his hand reaching up to wipe a stray tear from Charlie’s face, “I've missed that smile.”

“All that I'm hopin' now that my eyes are open, is that we can start again, not be pulled apart again.” Lucifer’s wings sprung out from his back and a portal appeared above them, Lucifer gently wrapping his arms around her and the pair flying up and through the circus tent within the portal.

“Cause in the end, You are part of who I am.”

Lucifer smiled, looking up at his back where Charlie was holding on, “I'll support your dream, whatever lies in store.”

Charlie laughed, “And who could ask for more?”

“More than anything.”

Charlie echoed, “More than anything.”

“More than anything.”

Charlie echoed again, her voice lighter, “More than anything.”

Lucifer and Charlie’s voices mixed together as they sang the ending of their song, “I'm grateful you’re my daughter/father more than anything. More than anything.”

When the song ended, Lucifer let out a soft sigh with a fond look in his eyes. Almighty, when did his daughter get so big? She’s all grown up now.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the voice of that one snake sinner speak up.

“Aww, that was sssweet.” Sir Pentious said with a watery smile.

Lucifer turned back to Charlie with a hesitant look, he finally let out another agreeing sigh, “Okay, I can get you the meeting, but once you're in Heaven, I won't be able to go with you.” He began nervously, before asking, “Will you be ok?”

Charlie smiled, her face determined. “I'll be fine, dad.”

Lucifer looked up with her with a smile in his eyes. “That's my girl.” He began with an accepting look, “Good luck, Duckling.” He finished, pushing the hair out of Charlie’s eyes.

Lucifer stepped back before he hesitated for a second, making eye contact with Vaggie with a barely perceptible nod, then he waved and a circle of fire surrounded him, and he was gone from the lobby of the hotel.

___

When Lucifer reappeared in his workshop, he let out a small sigh and gently removed the mask from his face. He magically removed his more formal clothing so he was left in a plan collared shirt and his trousers.

He sighed before carefully lifting off his hat and setting it down so the veil would not wrinkle, carefully avoiding his reflection as he sat down on his bed, before laying back and letting out another long sigh.

That was… a lot. He needed to talk to someone.

He glanced up at some of the ducks on the dresser beside his bed and he smiled slightly, grabbing a duck designed to look like Charlie and gently holding it in his palms.

“Guess what, Duck-Charlie? Real-Charlie invited me over today!” He said with a small laugh, “Yes, I’m telling the truth. I met some of her friends too! She has a girlfriend now! Her name was…“ He trailed off, the exact name of her escaping him, “…Maggie.. I think.”

He let out a small snort, as if the duck had actually responded and said something funny, “yeah yeah, I’m such an old man with my memory problems. You don’t gotta be mean.”

He sat up with a sigh, looking over at his desk.

“I guess I gotta go set that meeting up before I forget to.” He said with a small chuckle, walking over with the duck and beginning to write onto a golden scroll which would send a message up to heaven.

Once the letter was finished, he closed it up and placed his wax seal upon it’s front, before it was transported with a golden glow up through the window and up towards heaven.

Once that was done, Lucifer let out a relieved breath and smiled.

“So what should I do now, DC?” Lucifer asked the fuck with a grin, before it fell slightly when he felt a bit of pain from the corners of his lips from such a tight grin.

He stared at the duck for a moment, before his smile fell and he planted his head against the desk. “Almighty, I’m going crazy or something.. talking to ducks?” He sighed.

It was moments like this where he missed Lilith the most; when he was alone in his room, or at his desk. When he had no plans to do and Charlie wasn’t there for him to interact with.

It was never quiet when Lilith was around. She was always laughing or singing or yelling-

A crash sounded behind him. Crap, his pile of ducks fell over.

Lucifer stood up and with a wave of his hand, the ducks were replaced back onto the pile. It was easy and fun to magically lift the ducks back to their spots that he forgot what he was thinking about earlier.

Once that was done, he wiped the dust off his gloves and sat back down at the desk. He opened a journal he kept hidden under some other books and papers and began to write.

He had started the diary when Charlie was only a year or so old. He’d noticed he’d been having issues keeping track of stuff like when to feed her or put her down for a nap so he started keeping track of all the stuff he did.

It had eventually evolved into him writing everything he knew about Charlie, which he would later reread so he would be able to remember if he forgot later.

He had once gone to Lilith about some concerns with his memory; angels shouldn’t be so forgetful, even a fallen one. She had brushed his worries aside though, saying that he was just being dramatic and even mortals have memory problems. Plus he was hundreds of thousands of years old, of course he wouldn’t be able to remember everything.

It made sense at the time, and it still did. Plus Lilith was usually right about most things.

Lucifer was done with his writing before he knew it, and he closed the journal before setting it back to it’s place on the pile.

Almighty, he had such a headache.

What was he working on again? Oh yeah! He was going to make another duck! This time it was gonna look like.. a moth. Yeah that sounds like a good idea, let’s do that!

Lucifer turned to the mirror and saw that he was not wearing his mask. When had he taken that off? He didn’t remember. He let out a breath that was almost amused, before taking a moment to find his mask and put it back on his face.

What was he going to do again? Right, the moth duck.

Lucifer smiled and teleported off back to his workshop, his worries of the day forgotten.

Chapter Text

The day after the visit to the hotel, Lucifer woke up at his desk. He didn’t recall how he exactly got there but saw the unfinished duck before him.

Oh! He must’ve been working on it last night.

He noticed that the duck was grey and had many moth-like features to it. It confused him slightly.

Why a moth?

Lucifer shrugged, glancing over at a sketch he made last night, depicting how the duck should look. It had grey feathers everywhere and its head should have longer grey feathers forming an almost mane-like appearance. And there was strangely an X over one of the eyes of the duck.

It confused him. But it was a nice looking design! So he supposed he should finish it.

As he worked, he let out a sigh and removed his mask to give his face a moment to breathe and rub his temples. He had such a massive headache.

Lucifer returned his attention back to the duck and began to pick up his paints, and started to paint in the details of the duck.

As he did so, he wondered why he had decided upon this design earlier? Something had clearly inspired the design yet he had no clue what it was.

Once he finished adding the base coat of details, he went over many of the lines with a mix of blacks, whites, and some golds to make certain shapes on the duck pop.

Once the duck was finished, he smiled to himself and stood up to place the duck next to some of the others. Without realizing, he’d placed it next to Duck-Charlie. It was strange how he did it, but they oddly seemed to fit together and they almost belonged near each other.

He smiled to himself and crossed his arms before playfully booping DC. Speaking of Charlie, he should prob check his journal to refresh himself on some of the stuff he learned about her recently.

Teleporting to the desk in his bedroom, he opened the journal to the most recent entry. Oh yeah! Charlie had invited him over! He’d met her girlfriend Maggie and a bunch of her guests.

He checked his phone to see the date and saw it was already a few days since then. Since when?

He swore he just saw her yesterday…

Why didn’t it feel like it’s been longer since then…

Lucifer blinked and he was in his workshop again, and ready to start carving another duck.

He looked down to see the sketch of it’s future design that was already there. It was a red duck with smiling yellow teeth and some deer traits.

Weird.

How had he even gotten here…

Lucifer saw the date on the corner of the paper did not match what had been there moments ago, the sketch said it had been a day since he read the journal but checking his phone-

It has been a day.

What happened?

Why did he even have this design for the duck anyways? It strangely annoyed him although he did find some aspects of it interesting.

He sighed and got out his carving tools, beginning to cut into a block of wood and began to make the proper shape that matched the sketch.

Before he knew it, the main blocking of it was done, and it was time to carve in the little details of the duck.

He checked the date.

It’s only been an hour, Lucifer. Stop being over dramatic.

Lapses in memory are normal, especially for someone as old as him. Lilith said so, it must be true.

Lilith- where is she? He wants to show her some more designs of his ducks-

Right, she’s gone. He sighed and continued to carve in the little details into the wooden duck.

Carving.

Don’t think about Lilith.

Carving.

Don’t think about Charlie.

Carving.

Don’t think about your face, it’s horrific- she said as much.

Carving-

Oh! Charlie was calling! She hasn’t called him in years!

Wait- that was the other day. He’s carving the duck right now.

He looked down at the duck to see it was almost finished. He smiled weakly and reached up to rub his temples tiredly-

He was stopped by his mask in the way.

When had he put that back on?

He looked back down to the duck to see it fully painted-

When did he do that?

He barely finished carving it moments ago, how was it now painted?

Staring at the duck, he carefully lifted it up in his hand, squinting his eyes.

It looked good! It was strange even as a finished product, but it wasn’t his worst duck he’s ever made.

He stood up and stretched his back, his wings extending from his spine and stretching for a moment.

Almighty, his wings itched. He needed to go preen those.

Setting the red deer-duck down next to some of the others, he grabbed DC and teleported back to his room in a small ring of fire.

He sat back down on his bed, placing DC and his mask onto his dresser and unfurled his first pair of wings from his back.

Lucifer stretched them out and begun to gently comb his hands through his feathers, gently pulling out any loose or broken ones. There were some spots he couldn’t quite reach with his hands so he used his tail to gently pull out the most annoying ones.

Once he finished with that pair of wings, he moved onto his second and largest set of wings.

He managed to get most of those wings preened as well, but there was one spot he can never get by himself even with his tail.

Lilith used to help him with that…

Nevermind her.

He moved onto his third and final pair of wings and gently preened them of all the loose feathers just like the others.

Once his wings were done being preened, he smiled and stretched them out with a yawn.

Almighty, he was sleepy.

He transformed his clothing back into his sleepwear and laid back onto his bed.

He lay there for a few minutes before sighing. He could not sleep like this.

He checked the date again.

It’s been two weeks since he sketched the duck?

His bed was warm, but he couldn’t sleep. He didn’t want to get up but he did so regardless.

He sat up for a second to rub his eyes before he felt some of his magic flicker for a second. Oh.

Dazzle was dead.

Lucifer was able to feel whenever his creations were injured or dying.

And Dazzle was dead so…

Shit! The extermination!

Then he heard it faintly.

Charlie shouting, “Let… Me… Go!”, In a strangled voice.

Oh.

No one hurts his daughter and gets away with it.

Lucifer stood up quickly and got changed into his clothing he wore in public, placing his mask onto his face and placing his hat upon his head which formed his veil hiding his face.

He’s on his way, Charlie.

Chapter Text

It had been a month or two since the king’s visit to the hotel. Charlie had not received a call from him in that time despite how the king would typically make an effort to call her once a month.

Charlie had not noticed. Alastor, however, had.

It left him wondering, why wasn’t Lucifer here at the hotel? Especially as the next extermination drew nearer and nearer. He would assume the king would be there for the battle since he seemed very protective of her during the short interaction they had.

Everything about the fallen angel was confusing.

He was the most powerful being in hell, yet he did little to flaunt his power aside from the one moment where he threatened Alastor. The king was always set on being part of the background or not very noticeable even when he was the center of attention.

The embodiment of pride, disliking attention from everyone but his own daughter.

Confusing.

He let out a sigh as he lazily smiled down at the residents of the hotel who were enjoying drinks and laughing.

He let out a fond breath as he turned to Niffty.

“Ah, the celebratory night before a courageous last stand. It's been a surprising thrill to witness these wayward souls find connection. Almost makes one sentimental, eh, Niffty?” He said with his usual grin, to which the miniature cyclops responded by giggling.

“I really like them, Alastor. They let me put on roach puppet shows without booing!” She said with an almost menacing giggle.

Alastor nodded, looking back down to the group with his usual grin, that was slightly more fond and a small bit amused. “Ah, an enjoyable collective to be around. I admit one could get accustomed.”

Niffty let out a laugh in an agreement and hopped up to Alastor’s head, placing a crown made of… roaches? Upon his head. “I dub thee, King Roach.”

Alastor let out an amused snort, it for once not covered with his radio filter, “oh to understand your twisted little mind.” He said, before he begun to laugh, the pair both chuckling for a solid minute before he finally managed to calm down.

Niffty scuttled off elsewhere and Alastor sighed, turning around to lean his back against the railing and look up.

He was still confused.

Lucifer seemed to throw himself at the opportunity to help out his daughter, yet had ignored his many calls and summonings. Granted, she was actually his daughter, but he had completely disregarded a person summoning him multiple times?

It was, once again, confusing.

Hell, everything about the king was confusing.

Alastor let out a breath, and sighed, he needed to get ready.

___

Alastor was atop the hotel with a wide grin upon his face as he saw the portals open from heaven and the exorcists come down, flying straight to the hotel.

“Let the slaughter begin.” He said with a manic cackle and a swing of his microphone. As he did so, a large sphere formed around the hotel made of shadows, trapping inside many of the exorcists.

The angels that had not quite made it within the sphere were suddenly being killed by the tens as large shadowy tentacles emerged from the sphere and attacked with angelic weapons.

This was going to be a delicious feast when he was done. He was sure the cannibals were having a jolly time as well.

He could see Adam and his commander shouting at each other outside of the sphere. Good. The longer they fought, the more time they had.

As Alastor focused on keeping the shield up, he didn’t notice Adam was advancing until he had already shattered the circle.

He quickly recovered his composure and grinned widely at the Angel.

“Adam! First man,” he began, “next to die.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Adam shouted.

Alastor’s smile widened, “Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, quite a pleasure. I am the one who’s going to be ending your life today!” He said with a voice that was far too cheery as he summoned more shadows behind him with a tap of his cane.

He needed to buy more time. He had hoped Lucifer would show up when the battle started, a foolish hope in all honesty. But clearly he wasn’t going to show.

Adam rolled his eyes, or at least Alastor assumed he was through his mask. “Nice voice! Don’t you know jazz is for pussies?”

Ugh, of course. Adam would have no taste in music.

Adam summoned his guitar before he quickly flew towards Alastor, before being haunted by the red demon’s tentacles.

Adam let out an inhuman growl and sliced away at the tentacles with his guitar before moving to attack Alastor.

“Uh uh uh!” Alastor said tauntingly to the first man, stepping out of the way of his next attack.

Alastor sent more of his shadowy tendrils towards Adam, who quickly disposed of them.

“You really think you can take me on? A mortal soul is no match for me, EDGELORD!” Adam shouted.

Alastor smirked, his voice turning to a taunt to the man. “You should know better than anyone what a soul can accomplish when they take charge of their own fate!”

It honestly surprised him how fast Adam was, considering how sloppy he had been described as by Charlie after her two meetings with heaven.

As the fight continued, Alastor continued to banter with Adam who was progressively getting more and more annoyed with the red sinner until-

“I'm going to wipe that shit-eating grin off your face, ‘CAUSE RADIO IS FUCKING DEAD!”

Then Adam swung his guitar there was a shockwave of angelic magic coming towards him.

“What just happened?” Alastor said, lacking his usual static, his eyes wide before he looked down at his microphone.

“…Fffuck.” His staff was broken.

Alastor was momentarily thrown off by the destruction of his staff not to see Adam’s shot coming for him until the last second, unable to avoid the blow in time.

His nerves turned slight with pain all across his torso as a wound was opened from his ribs across his chest.

Shit, it hurt a lot.

Shit. That still hurts a lot. This was probably the worst he’d been beaten in awhile.

Alastor forced a facade of amusement as he spoke in a mocking, yet still slightly pained voice, “Have to disagree with you there! Radio's not dead, but it is ending this broadcast...” He said before he merged back into the shadows like a blanket.

___

Alastor’s body reformed in the destroyed remains of his radio tower. He could still hear the battle going on in the background.

He collapsed onto the floor of his radio tower, his hand palming at his chest as he let out a groan of pain. He glanced down at his hand on the wound, seeing blood seep past it and staining his coat.

Damn it, he would need to visit the tailor again after this too.

Lifting his hand away, he saw that it was coated with blood.

Fucking great…

He needed to find a solution to this. He couldn’t return to the battle in time with this setback. He flinched as he heard a loud roar in the distance. It sounded almost anguished.

It was Razzle, he recognized.

He wondered for a moment about why

Then he heard a scream in the distance.

The scream was a voice almost all of pentagram city recognized. Charlie Morningstar.

“Let… Me… Go!” In Charlie's strangled voice.

There seemed to be a silence throughout the whole surrounding area for a long moment, except for where the battle was taking place.

Then the ground began to violently shake all across the pride ring, the sky turning darker momentarily. Older buildings with poor supports began to crumble and the glass windows across Pentagram City shattered.

The screams of fearful sinners could be heard throughout the whole Pentagram, it delighted Alastor even as he laid there in pain, his body slowly bleeding out.

Alastor’s smile upturned slightly, a little less forced now. He lifted his hand against his chest and sloppily added some magical green stitching to his chest, then turned to his shadow and waved for it to go watch the events of the battle, even in his pain.

The shadow nodded with a mischievous grin before blending down into the other shadows, going off to view the future battle.

The King of Hell was coming, and Alastor’s would be damned a second time if he missed it.

Chapter Text

Lucifer’s first few centuries in hell had been rough.

The fallen Angel spent much of the first century recovering from his wounds, and his body had unfortunately been permanently damaged from the fall.

He was covered in angelic burn scars that were nearly as black as the void which Hell had been before it was formed.

His wings had regrown their feathers, but they had been stained with red on their underside- a reminder of all of the lives who would be stained with sin and suffer eternally in hell instead of a peaceful afterlife in heaven.

Lilith had been devastated for the first century as well, being forced to care for Lucifer during his recovery. But she seemed much happier once he was able to care for himself again.

Over the centuries, more sins had begun to influence humanity more than pride, and as such, Lucifer needed to create demons who would aid him in the handling of the differing sins.

And so, the six other deadly sins were made, and so was the other rings of hell. He had also found a need to keep track of sinners as they came down to hell, and to maintain control over the hellborn, beings which had been created by the sins, when he or they could not.

And so he created the ars goetia. He had based their appearances in the higher angels of heaven, as they would also be the high nobility of hell.

Everything was turning out okay.

But Lucifer had not fully learned the worst addition to his punishment that the almighty had given him and how it affected him until nearly two millennia after his fall.

He couldn’t hurt the sinners.

Lucifer learned this the night a sinner, new to hell and in obvious despair, had broken into the which had been under construction at the time palace…

___

Lucifer had woke up to a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass.

He sat up quickly in his bed, only for Lilith to let out an annoyed groan. Shit, he accidentally smacked her with one of his wings. Then her eyes also opened widely and she went to sit up as well, but he stopped her with a gentle place of his hand on her arm.

“I’ll go handle it, okay?” He had said to her then.

Lucifer summoned his clothing with a circle of flames, before teleporting to a hallway where the sound had came from.

“Hey now, whoever’s in here, come out? I’m not gonna ask again.” Lucifer said, his voice mildly threatening but mainly just annoyed.

A sinner emerged from the shadows. He was wearing clothing that usually only people who had recently died wore, and he was obviously panicked.

“You! You’re Satan!” The sinner shouted, causing Lucifer to chuckle.

“Nope, I can see how you get us confused though from what I’ve heard about that new book thing you guys have. It’s Lucifer actually.” He corrected, his voice playful but still a bit annoyed.

He took a few steps towards the sinner, “now how about you get out of here? My wife is kinda grumpy and she wants to go back to sleep, yeah?” He said with a smile, going to summon a portal, but being stopped when the demon grabbed a spear off the wall and went to stab at him with it.

“I’ll slay you demon! In the name of god you shall be smited!”

Lucifer shifted into a snake and avoided the blow, though it wouldn’t have hurt him too badly if it had hit him.

Ah, he was one of those really religious sinners who thought killing him would bring them into heaven.

Fun.

Lucifer’s snake transformed into a spear and he smiled, parrying another of the sinner’s blow.

“You know, this is kinda fun! But- it’s taking too long. How about you get, out, of, here.” He said, going to stab the sinner in the stomach, knowing he would definitely regenerate and be fine later.

But then he was halted a few inches before the demon’s body. It was barely perceptible, but there was a shimmering sphere around the sinner that had been visible to him for hardly a moment, and most likely only because he was able to detect angelic magic.

His eyes had widened, body freezing when he realized.

This is what they meant when they said that he would be forced to suffer with the results of his actions.

He couldn’t hurt the sinners.

The demon seemed just as confused for a moment before he went back to attempting to attack Lucifer.

He was frozen in shock for too long of a moment as he was nicked in the side by the spear and fell back.

He had stared up at the sinner, still surprised.

“Wait- don’t-“ he had began before the sinner stabbed him in the chest with a loud yell.

Oof, that was not a pleasant feeling.

“Well that was a bit much, don’t think I warranted being stabbed.” Lucifer said, forcing himself to remain calm even as his mind raced.

He couldn't hurt sinners.

He couldn’t kill sinners.

How in hell is he supposed to protect Lilith from them?

Lucifer’s thoughts were cut short when Lilith stomped into the hallway, seeming a bit irritated.

“Seriously Lu, you couldn’t get out one measly sinner?” Lilith said with an annoyed and tired voice.

She used her magic to levitate the sinner as she walked over to Lucifer and grabbed his hand, before making him summon a portal to kick the guy out and shoving him through.

Lilith then turned to Lucifer and yanked the spear out from where it was still embedded in his chest, before placing it back on the wall.

“Go get cleaned up, I’m not sharing a bed with someone covered in blood.” She said before walking off back to the bedroom.

He had stood up and blinked, and he was in his room with his chest wrapped with a bandage, his wound already halfway healed. He didn’t remember how he got there.

___

Another issue- his face.

He was once considered one of the most beautiful beings ever created, but now it was quite the opposite.

Ugly burn scars marred the right side of his face, and he was unable to hide the extra eyes which sat upon that part of his face. It was grotesque.

Lilith never said anything at first, but over time she began to turn her nose up at the sight of it. Eventually she began gently pressuring him to start wearing a covering or a bandage at the least over that side of his face.

So he fashioned himself a mask made of angelic marble. It’s mouth moved to mirror his emotions but not synched to his lips. But it’s eye remained static and pitch black.

He only had enough marble to make one that covered the right side of his face, so he needed a solution for the left side- which while it was still mainly intact, he still internally recoiled at the sight of it.

So he used his magic to create a magical veil which turned the entirety of his face into void like darkness, aside from his eyes which remained glowing from within when he wore his hat.

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but Lilith stopped complaining to him after that.

The next issue with their punishment, Lilith was unable to have children. They tried and tried for centuries, and every time they failed Lilith grew in anger.

She took it out on Lucifer.

A lot.

Lucifer never blamed his wife, of course. She never meant it when she hit him, when she yanked out his feathers in frustration, when she ripped off his mask and dug her fingers into the scars along his face.

It was always an accident. She was just hormonal from being unable to have kids. She would never hurt him when she was in her right mind.

If she punished him for forgetting an anniversary, then it was his fault.

Besides, he should be better at remembering stuff like events and stuff. He is a seraphim! He shouldn’t be so forgetful.

Still, all attempts of Lilith bearing a child failed.

But then, around the mid 1800’s, Lilith conceived an idea. As Lucifer lacked a static gender, she decided upon having him carry the child.

It had taken a lot of convincing from Lilith’s side, but Lucifer eventually agreed.

And it worked.

They named the child Charlotte, and she was Lucifer’s everything.

And she seemed to fix everything too. Lilith stopped being so violent when she was upset, instead just communicating her issues.

She was happier too around Charlie, a smile always upon her face whenever their daughter was nearby. It was like how Lilith was when they were both just two immortals enjoying taking a stroll through the Garden of Eden.

But he recalled one time he had gone to take Charlie from her to go put her down for a nap. Lilith had taken that personally for some reason…

___

“You think I’m a bad mother?!” Lilith had shouted, throwing a hammer from Lucifer’s workbench at the fallen angel, narrowly missing his head.

“N-No, of course not! You’re a great mother Lily-“ Lucifer stammered, backing up and avoiding one of Charlie’s toys being thrown at him.

“Then why do you keep taking Charlie away?! I’m able to take care of her too!” Lilith shrieked, lunging at Lucifer and grabbing him by the wrist.

Lucifer hadn’t taken Charlie away, he had simply put her to bed and sung her to sleep.

“Lily I wasn’t-“

A loud sound of her hand smacking against his cheek echoed through the room.

She grabbed his chin harshly, yanking it towards her so there was little space between their faces.

“You need to stop being so controlling over how I take care of Charlie and- ugh! Your face is making me sick, I can’t imagine how Charlie feels when she sees it; you need to wear your mask around her.”

Lilith demanded, her voice cold and devoid of anything but malice and bitter annoyance.

Lucifer was controlling? How? He just put his kid to bed how was that…

“Look. I’m her mother, you’re her father. I take care of her, and you focus on your job. Understand?” She said, her voice cold.

“o-ok. I will, I’m sorry lily-“

“-Stop calling me that stupid nickname. And you fucking better be.”

___

Lucifer.. didnt like to think about those moments.

And he kept to his word by never showing Charlie his full face. She’d seen it without the marble mask or without the veil, but never both at the same time.

Lucifer stopped looking at his face in private too. Maybe if he pretended it wasn’t there then it wouldn’t be. No, it’s not unhealthy Duck-Charlie, shut up.

Lucifer spent more and more time in his workshop over the years. He always enjoyed the short moments he had between meetings and new projects that he spent with Charlie.

He even managed to convince Lilith to let him work teach Charlie about shop and making things, since it would be a useful skill for her adult life.

He hated seeing his daughter grow up without him. He tried to argue against it with Lilith, but she had always said the same thing.

“I’m her mother who she needs. You’re the devil. Does she really need that in her life?”

And he supposed that was true, he didn’t want to somehow influence Charlie into something negative.

Yes, it hurt being away all the time. It hurt constantly being brushed aside by Lilith. He once tried asking a hellborn if it was normal to have a relationship like this. The imp had been ‘fired’ by Lilith after she found out about the answer.

That ended up happening a lot, Lucifer recalled for a short moment. He would try making friends with a staff member, even just to have someone to talk to. But somehow they would either quit, die, or be fired for different reasons.

So he eventually gave up.

And so Charlie grew up with a ‘distant’ father.

She would never know that Lilith would hurt him whenever she felt Lucifer was spending too much time with her.

She would never know why her father always wore a mask on her face, even around her.

And she certainly would never know why Lucifer was always so distant with her.

And Lucifer decided it was likely best if she never found out. Lilith was always right about most of these things anyways.

She didn’t mean it when things went bad.

Right?

Chapter Text

The battle was raging. Everyone was in panicking mode.

Alastor had been fighting Adam earlier, but he was missing now. Charlie hoped he wasn’t hurt. Charlie used her shield to ram at the angels, a bit hesitant as she did so.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m so so sorry!” Charlie said frantically as she beat at the angels.

“Not the time for that, babe!” Vaggie shouted, slicing at the angels with her spear.

“Oh- right.” Charlie said apologetically.

In her defense, violence was not in her nature. She liked to imagine that she got that from her mother.

Several angels flew quickly towards Vaggie, ready to attack her before Charlie flung out her hands and summoned her magic to explode the exorcists with her firework magic.

“DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!” She exclaimed.

The battle continued on for several more minutes before Adam appeared with a huge explosion, sending smoke everywhere.

“SUCK MY HOLY LIGHT FUCKERS! YEAH!” Adam shouted, a wide grin on his mask.

Charlie’s eyes widened, her body freezing momentarily.

“What?! Adam was supposed to handle him. Oh no- he must be-“ Charlie began, her voice full of fear and worry.

Where was Alastor? Was he okay? Did Adam kill him-?

“-We aren’t going to last long unless we do something about him.” Vaggie said as she grabbed Charlie by the hand and ducked behind cover.

Sir Pentious glanced up towards Adam, his eyes opening as an idea entered his head. “Of courssse…”

Charlie watched as Cherry Bomb ran past Sir Pentious, only for her to be halted by him, “I’m trying to fight here! You out of your fucking mind?!” Cherry said.

“Yesss.” Was all Pentious said before she was pulled into a kiss. “Miss Bomb, I love you. Remember me!” Sir Pentious shouted before slithering off to his airship.

As the airship lifted off the ground, Charlie let out a strangled questioning sound, “Pentious?”

What in hell was he doing?

The airship floated up towards Adam, the death ray upon it aiming at the Angel and slowly readying to fire. It began to charge up before-

“Oh what the-“ Adam began before completely incinerating the airship with a holy blast of magic from his finger.

Charlie knew immediately that everyone in there was dead.

“Ha! That could’a been ugly.” Adam chuckled, not caring in the slightest.

“NO!” Charlie shouted, her voice full of anguish. “No… no no no..” She trailed off, sinking to her knees with a sob.

Vaggie ran over to her, “I’m so sorry, Charlie.” She said softly to Charlie.

Charlie let out an inhuman growl, her eyes turning a bright red from anger as she stood up, tears running down her cheeks.

“尺卂乙乙ㄥ乇! ᗪ卂乙乙ㄥ乇!”

She shouted, her voice having a growl to it and an a demonic undertone that was very similar to Lucifer’s in a way.

The two goat creatures flew over to her, sensing her fury. They both approached her and Charlie summoned a large tornado of flames. When it disappeared, Charlie had grown nearly a foot taller, had a long spiked tail running down to her ankles, and had massive horns upon her head. Razzle and Dazzle had both transformed into ginormous dragon-like creatures, letting out massive roars.

For once, Charlie was thankful her dad gave them both such a violent feature. She was not going to let Adam get away with this.

“Let’s ride!” Charlie growled.

She and Vaggie both climbed onto Razzle and Dazzle, them both taking flight. They both flew higher, steadily approaching Adam and his commander.

“Go, Razzle, Go!” Charlie encouraged, her voice full of determination.

A condescending smirk slid onto Adam’s face. “Aww, look who thinks they’re badass now!” He said.

“The traitor came to die.” Lute said before lunging down towards Vaggie and Dazzle.

She used her weapon and cut through Dazzle’s wing, fully detaching it from the beast’s body. Dazzle let out a loud roar in pain.

“No!” Vaggie shouted, her eyes wide.

As she and Dazzle fell towards the ground, Lute raised her sword and stabbed Dazzle directly in the chest and through it’s heart. The three crashed down through the glass ceiling of the lobby. Charlie couldn’t see them anymore but she heard the sounds of weapons clashing after a short moment.

Okay, Vaggie was okay. Phew.

“VAGGIE!” Charlie exclaimed as Lute got close to defeating Vaggie.

She began to go down to go aid in the fight, but she was haunted when-

“Surprise, BITCH!” Adam said with a delighted voice, bitch slapping her with his arm and sending her flying off of Razzle and into the hotel’s sign. She let out a yelp as she was electrocuted, taking a short breath to recover but then Adam flew towards her quickly.

“Risking your immortal life for sinners? That's some crazy shit, even for Lucifer's brat!” Adam said, his voice a bit confused but also clearly anticipating getting to fight her.

“These sinners are my family!” Charlie shouted, her voice filling with rage.

"These sinners are my family"! Do you even hear yourself?” Adam questioned, “You should've stayed in your place, where even is your real family anyways-?“ Adam began before being cut off.

Charlie stabbed him in the arm with her demonic pitchfork (a gift from her dad she got for her 50th birthday), and swung around. She then released the momentum and sent him flying across the roof.

“Don’t you dare talk about my family like that, you pig!” Charlie shouted.

“Fuck! That hurt!” Adam shouted, annoyed.

He looked up and saw Charlie glaring at him, he smirked.

“Heh, okay.” He said before jumping back into battle.

The two engaged in a long fight, some moments having Charlie take the upper hand, and others were Adam-

Adam’s hand wrapped around Charlie’s throat, holding her suspended above the ground.

“Let… me… go!” She exclaimed, her voice jerky and strangled.

Adam grinned, “This fight was cute n'all, but it's

i̴̡̛̛͈̥̙̲͚̟̅̾́̔T̷̈́̾̍̽̍̃̈́̕͜’̴̢̖̲̳͎͎̳̙̏̓ͅs̶̺͍͒̿́͜ ̷̖͔̙̍̉̽́̑ţ̷͙̰͇̥̥̠͎̆Ḯ̷̡͈͍͙̜̯̦͛̐̈́̒͘͝m̷̛̲̟̻͊̑̿̇̕͜Ė̸̛̐̄̋̈́͋̀̔͝ͅ ̵̢̪̟̗͍̯̪͙̭͗ṱ̷̹̦̼͕̤̤͈̭͇̓̓̆̇̾͒͂Õ̷̰̹̣̮̝̻͖͓̯͑̒̽̌̈́̔̈́̚͜ ̶̩̟̦͓͉͕̝͚́̅̍̽̂̽̐̉́͘d̵̫̙͔̂ͅI̶̡̢͖̰̺͖͙̻͗̿͆͒́͋̌͛͘̕Ȩ̷̛̦̫͖͎̱͔͓̺̰with the rest of them!”

Charlie heard her girlfriend let out a yell in the distance, it was hard to tell what she said with the lack of oxygen.

Was the sky getting darker? Why did everything seem to be shaking.

She heard birdlike screeching in the distance. was it the exorcists? Why did it seem like they were all in pain?

Then without notice, a fist appeared before her and sent Adam soaring into the damaged hotel sign, his mask shattering easily like glass.

Charlie falls for a short moment before being caught by someone. Looking up, she realized it was Lucifer. He was wearing his usual outfit, if not a little disheveled which made it apparent he came in an obvious rush, and he had all of his wings out, eyes blinking upon all of them. He also had two pairs of wings upon his head that Charlie had never seen before; he looked furious, but not at her.

Only one thought raced through Charlie’s mind however.

He actually came?

“Dad?” She croaked out, her throat a bit sore.

Lucifer let out a relieved sigh, “I am so sorry I wasn’t here sooner, duckling.” He said apologetically.

Lucifer slowly lowered down towards the roof and gently set Charlie down, ensuring she wouldn’t topple over.

Adam climbed up from the sign, his mask mostly gone and there were golden bleeding cuts along his face from where it had sliced his skin.

Adam let out an annoyed growl, “Okay, seriously! How many of you freaks do I have to fight?!”

Lucifer turned to him, the mouth on his mask sliding into a smile that was rather unnerving instead of welcoming due to the unreadable nature of his face.

He walked towards the first man, the eerie fake smile still upon his mask, and his pupil glowing through the socket of the marble face covering.

“Oh Adam~ You see, I’m the only one of these ‘Freaks’ who you should be worried about; Considering you strangled my daughter in all.” Lucifer said, his voice calm and almost sweet sounding.

Adam hesitated for a second, put off by Lucifer’s strange demeanor. He blinked away his confusion and flung himself at Lucifer with a loud shout, slamming him into a wall.

Charlie’s father shifted into a snake and slithered around in the air, before shifting back into his humanoid form, although it still had all of it’s extra wings that slightly unnerved Charlie.

“So this is what you’ve been up to since Eden?” Lucifer’s smile remained on his mask as he avoided Adam’s attacks, shifting between plenty of different animals as he did so, “I gotta say, you really let yourself go.” He continued, shifting between a goat to a snake to a bird.

Adam let out a frustrated sound, “You!? Judging me!? You’re the most hated being in all of creation!” He shouted.

Adam attempted to blast Lucifer with some of his angelic light, the fallen Angel easily avoiding the shot.

“Well, your first wife didn’t seem to hate what I had to offer~ or the second if you think about it!” Lucifer said with a cheery tone, his voice taunting and teasing the first man.

“I will fucking E̶̤͙̼͋͑͌̀͆͒͘͘̚͝N̸̨̧̳̖̭̘͛̆͛D̶̩̹̲̽ ̶̞͖̹̳̝̠̥̼̥̌̿̽͆́̑͐Y̷̩̙̗̝̥̘̦̜̱̦͊̈́͌̽̎̂͊̚̕͝Ǫ̷͙̯͈̹̘̳͔̈́͌͘Ṳ̷̖͑͂̕͠!̸̦̬̀̒͜ !” Adam exclaimed.

Her dad shifted into a horse, bucking his legs back and kicking Adam away from him. “Wow, your aim is so bad it’s a miracle you had kids!” Lucifer joked.

Charlie let out a small amused breath. She didn’t realize her dad could be so witty.

“Hold still, you slippery fucker!” Adam said angrily to the devil.

Charlie forced her attention away for a moment to run over to Vaggie to help her, but she was stopped when suddenly an angelic beast from Adam bisected the hotel, beginning to cause the center to cave in.

Lucifer quickly turned around and swooped down to catch her, moving at a near impossible speed. “I’ve got you.”

Charlie smiled up at her dad, before she heard the sound of Adam behind her dad, and his magic beginning to charge up.

“Look out dad!” She shouted, her right arm transforming into something more demonic and blocks Adam before he could land a blow. Lucifer kept a tight enough grip on her to ensure she would not fall.

“Wait- what the fuck!” Adam exclaimed.

Lucifer and Charlie glared down at Adam, Lucifer’s tens of glowing eyes all staring at Adam thoroughly intimidating the man. They then sent him flying into the ground, sending a large shock wave through the hotel remains.

With a puff of smoke, Adam sat up inside of the crater. Looking up, Adam saw Lucifer standing up there, all of his wings and his flaming horns on display, he truly looked like the fallen angel he was.

All of his eyes were glaring threateningly down at Adam, and the first man was reminded that this was not just the devil, but also one of the most powerful beings in existence as a seraphim.

“ㄚㄖㄩ 匚卂爪乇 丨几ㄒㄖ 爪ㄚ 尺乇卂ㄥ爪, 丨几丂ㄩㄥㄒ 卂几ᗪ 卂ㄒㄒ卂匚Ҝ 爪ㄚ ᗪ卂ㄩᎶ卄ㄒ乇尺. 千ㄖ尺 ㄒ卄卂ㄒ 丨 山丨ㄥㄥ 爪卂Ҝ乇 ㄚㄖㄩ 卩卂ㄚ!” He shouted angrily, his voice distorted as he began to beat Adam repeatedly for a solid minute, flames burning hotly from his hands and horns.

As satisfying as it was, Charlie couldn’t let her dad kill Adam. He didn’t need to die.

“Whoa, Whoa, dad. He’s had enough.” She said, placing an arm on her father’s shoulder. Lucifer had the most microscopic flinch but she choked it up to just the nerves of the current moment.

Lucifer let out a sigh, the flames dissipating from his hands and horns, standing back up straight and brushing the soot off of his once white gloves, that now were stained with golden blood.

“Okay Charlie." He said, before turning to Adam, “how does mercy taste then, 卂丂丂卄ㄖㄥ乇?” Lucifer taunted, his voice having the slightest growl to it.

Adam let out a frustrated sound, sitting up and pointing his finger accusingly. “No! You don't get to end this!” Adam stood up, “I’m fucking Adam! I’m THE fucking man, and you’re just some clown or something.”

He continued, stepping out of the crater, "I started everything on earth! All of mankind came from these fucking nuts! You should all be worshiping me, you ungrateful, disgusting, fucking losers-!”

Adam suddenly was suddenly cut off in his rant when a small knife stabbed through his chest from behind, a strangled wound of pain emerging from his throat. Charlie’s eyes widened, staring at the sight in shock.

“W-Woah!” Vaggie exclaimed.

Lucifer frowned, “Erm, I think you’ve got something sticking through your uh think there…”

Lucifer trailed off, before Adam face planted into the ground. And the culprit was Niffty, who was currently sat upon the first man’s back.

Charlie’s eyes widened. Niffty did it?!

“Niffty?!” Charlie said, her voice full of surprise.

Niffty sat there for a moment, before she grinned widely and repeatedly stabbed Adam again and again with her knife, his golden ichor staining her dress.

“STAB STAB STAB! HAHAHA!” She said, her voice full of a manic excitement.

Charlie noticed Lute standing there in the distance, her expression falling into shock. The Angel let out a scream and she quickly ran towards Adam’s body, Niffty scuttling off as she did so.

Lute turned Adam up to look at her, the slightest wetness entering her eyes. “Sir! Sir! Stay with me sir!” She began, before her voice turned more desperate, “Adam!”.

Charlie turned to her father, who was no longer in his more angelic form, but still had some of his wings on display, and nodded, the pair approaching Lute with serious expressions on her face.

“It’s over.” Charlie said, a slight growl to her voice.

Lucifer walked another step forward, “Take your little friends, and Ꮆㄖ 卄ㄖ爪乇, please.”

Lute glanced between all of them, before glaring and snatching Adam’s halo. “Retreat! All Excorcists fall back!” She exclaimed.

All the surviving exorcists lifted off into the sky, exiting via a portal to heaven. Lute scowled and followed, the portal closing behind her.

Her dad then spoke up after a moment of silence. “So uh, who wants pancakes?”

Charlie scowled, “Dad!”

Her father was such a dork.

___

The hotel reconstruction had been a long process. The whole thing was basically unsalvageable, though Lucifer’s magic was a huge aid.

Lucifer was happy to help his daughter fix the hotel, he was honestly glad to spend time with her at all that he didn’t really care what he had to do.

The weird radio person came back after awhile, and almost all of the residents were excited to see him again, except for the one bartender guy. Rust? Musk?

Lucifer didn't remember, but he supposed it didn’t matter too much.

On that note, he had noticed that a lot of the hotel residents, especially that red guy, had been acting a bit weird around him. Even Charlie.

Of course, he just choked it up to them being unused to his presence, but after asking Maggie one evening, she revealed that they were a bit afraid of accidentally setting the king off somehow or something after having seen a closer representation to his true form.

He’d had a talk with Charlie and she told him later that she made sure that they all knew he wasn’t going to harm any of them.

They’re Charlie’s friends! Yeah he may not like some of them, but he respected his daughter enough to be civil with them.

Anyways, after the construction finished, Charlie asked him to move in if he wanted. Lucifer had immediately agreed with her to do so, taking up a room on the opposite side of the hotel from the deer dude.

He ended up asking Musk what the red guy’s name was and put up a sign by his door saying, ‘𝒩𝑜 𝒜𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓈 𝒜𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝒹’’.

Speaking of Alastor, Lucifer found the guy was still being weird around him. But instead of being awkward, he was back to being set on pissing him off.

Which, it really annoyed Lucifer if he was honest. But he still made no action to retaliate against the sinner. Lucifer was going to long outlive him anyways, it was like babysitting an annoying toddler, eventually it would leave and no longer be your problem.

Still, Lucifer was having a great time at the hotel. It was so nice seeing his daughter so often again. He honestly saw her more than he used to when she was living with him, so it was a bit of an improvement-

-No Goldie, it’s not sad, shut up. You’re just a snake made of gold, you don’t get opinions on this.

Sure, Lucifer did spend most of his time in his new room still, but he did get out more often now which was an improvement! Plus, he got to add more updates to his ‘Charlie Journal’!

Speaking of Charlie, with Lucifer in the hotel now, he had less of a need to have Razzle and Dazzle at the hotel now. Although, he supposed Dazzle was dead now and Charlie had refused him when he asked if he should revive it. She told him that it would be cruel and that he deserved an honorable death instead of being forced back to the living, even if she missed him.

But yeah! Lucifer was having a great time at the hotel, and he could not wait to continue to aid Charlie in her goals.

After all, what kind of father would he be if he didn’t? He had to make up for all those missed years somehow anyways.

…And he supposed Lilith wasn’t here to stop him this time.

Maybe Charlie would start liking him again too.

What were they doing today again?

Lucifer sighed and went to go find his journal.

___

Alastor had watched the final battle through the eyes of his shadow, hiding in the rubble of the hotel as the fight commenced.

When the king had arrived, Alastor had been amazed as the sky turned a darker, almost bloody red. The clouds had begun to more faster and form a sort of cyclone above the pentagram, and the ground itself had trembled.

It was a magnificent sight to see the true king of hell.

When the king had finally arrived, he looked even angrier than he had when Alastor had stolen his mask.

It made sense. Alastor had only taken an article of clothing, Adam had nearly taken his daughter’s life.

He would admit to being a little jealous of the other’s getting to be in the presence in the full might of The Star of Morning.

But through his shadow’s eyes, he had seen what he assumed was Lucifer's true form. So many wings and eyes, it was as if Lucifer could see and know all. He looked unbeatable.

Alastor couldn’t tell if he was more or less threatened by that.

Lucifer clearly had the ability to tell when he was required for assistance, so why had he never responded to his summonings.

Why wasn’t Alastor worthy enough to see him?

Ugh, he was being too emotional. Besides, Alastor had no way of knowing if Lucifer would even provide him with a deal even if he HAD successfully summoned him.

After Alastor came back to the hotel though, he wasn’t quite sure at first how to interact with the king.

Apparently, the king had caught onto everyone being weird around him, and he had Charlie talk to everyone about how Lucifer was not any threat to them.

Alastor completely used that to his advantage though, pestering the king at every opportunity.

He made short jokes; to which Lucifer just laughed and said that when he was created, he was taller than most humans. Which Alastor begrudgingly admitted was likely true then, but was definitely not the case anymore.

He tried stealing some of Lucifer’s things, but the devil had cared very little and just magically summoned them back if he needed them.

And he unsuccessfully attempted to break into the king’s room, which had a magical barrier and halted Alastor at every attempt.

And yes, Alastor could read the sign, despite what the king said whenever he noticed Alastor’s failed attempts.

Still, Alastor kept trying. He would make the king tick somehow if it was the last thing he did. Alastor supposed he didn’t have much to lose anyways, and seeing the king finally get pissed off would be an infinitely entertaining experience.

And Alastor lived for nothing more than entertainment.

Besides, If Rosie was going to keep him here, he might as well have some fun.

Chapter Text

It had been nearly a month since the battle with Adam.

Alastor’s wound on his chest had not hardly healed at all, still oozing black pus and blood.

It was revolting in appearance, and getting harder to hide from the others.

Alastor sighed as he buttoned up his shirt and slid on his usual red coat. He combed his bob into a more neat looking appearance, pressing down any stray hairs.

He grinned at himself in the mirror, time to start his day.

Alastor walked through the halls of the newly built hotel. He had to admit that it’s new appearance was significantly less unappealing to the eye, and they had a larger library now!

He walked into it, strolling through the rows until he found the section of books that were popular when he was alive.

Alastor strolled through the section and searched for the book he was looking for. Once he found it, his grin widened upon his face.

The Great Gatsby.

He gently pulled the book from the shelf and brushed off some of the dust from the cover. His smile turned a little more authentic, it had been awhile since he read the book as it was hard to come by earth-made books in hell, but Lucifer had found a way to acquire them somehow.

Turning back to the shelf, he saw through the gap in books on the other side the king of hell himself. He was not wearing his full suit he was usually in, instead wearing just a plain white button up with some suspenders. He was not wearing his hat and Alastor was sure the left side of the angel’s face was visible.

Lucifer was turned away however, seemingly searching for a book with the help of a snake who looked as through was made of gold with how it shined.

Alastor’s smile widened, now was the perfect time to pester the king.

He strutted back through the area between rows and approached the king from behind.

“Well hello, your majesty! It’s such a surprise to be seeing you here at this hour!” Alastor grinned, startling the devil who had a full body flinch, instantly summoning his hat which covered the side of his face with a veil once more.

Huh. That was an odd reaction.

“Oh- uh…hello?” Lucifer said hesitantly, his voice a bit tired sounding and awkward.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Alastor said, his voice mildly condescending but he hoped his filter hid the true mocking in his voice. Lucifer’s eye narrowed ever so slightly, could the devil hear through his filter?

“Uh- actually yes,” Lucifer said after a moment, then turning to the side and placing his hands upon his hips, looking up.

Oh? What could the king ever need Alastor’s help for-

“Could you grab me that book up there? It’s called ‘Wind in the Willows’. I finally managed to acquire a, totally legal, recording for the new musical that was released a few years ago and I wanted to do some research.” Lucifer finished.

Ah, the king liked musical theater. Interesting.

Alastor raised a brow, before a smug smirk entered his face, “Why of course, your highness!” Alastor said before he stepped next to Lucifer and grabbed the book gently from the shelf.

He did not lower it however, instead holding it over the king’s head when he reached up to grab it, making the fallen angel stand there stupidly for a moment.

“…you must think you’re so funny.” Lucifer said, his voice deadpan.

Then, his snake uncurled from where it was wrapped around Lucifer’s arm and flew up to the book and snatched it with its mouth, bringing it back down to Lucifer. Alastor honestly didn’t even notice that the snake was semi-sentient until now.

Lucifer grabbed the book and rolled his eyes at Alastor, before turning and nuzzling the snake in a kinda adorable way for a moment, before it wrapped back around his sleeve.

Wait- adorable?!

Lucifer let out a huff and turned back to Alastor. “Thank you, have a nice morning.” He said with a wink, before walking off, leaving Alastor standing there with a tight grin and an ever so slightly pink face.

Alastor was left there reeling. Why the hell did he think that was cute. Why did the king WINK at him? What kind of mind game is this!?

What the fuck!?

___

Later that day, Alastor was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner he made for himself. He was not wearing his jacket and his sleeves were rolled up, and his bob was currently tied up into a bun.

He was washing some dishes in the sink when he heard footsteps sounding against the tiles, alerting him of someone’s presence.

“Oh hey! You need some help with that?” The person said. Oh great, it was Lucifer.

Alastor’s eye twitched, turning with a false smile upon his face.

Yep, it was the king in all his irritating, confusing glory. He was wearing the same outfit as earlier but was lacking a mask on the other side of his face, but it was still obscured by a veil.

“Oh of course not, your highness. You needn’t aid a lowly subject!” The overlord said with an overly dramatic, mocking tone.

Lucifer rolled his eyes before rolling up his sleeves, standing next to Alastor, taking a plate from where it was in the sink and scrubbing it with a sponge.

“Come on, we’ll go twice as fast if I wash while you dry.” Lucifer said with a bored voice, beginning a pile of cleaned plates that needed drying on the counter.

Alastor let out an annoyed huff and begrudgingly agreed to help the king, grabbing a towel and drying the plates before setting them on a rack.

As the two went about washing the dishes, Alastor eventually spoke up. “You know, I didn’t realize you would be capable of washing dishes, I would assume you’d never done it before.” Alastor prodded, goading the king into annoyance.

Instead, Lucifer let out a sigh. “Yeah I can get that, and I definitely haven’t done it in awhile. But, I used to have to do it sometimes after Lilith would fire the entire kitchen staff at the palace. She did it every few years so it became routine eventually.”

Alastor frowned, his smile tightening as he dried the last plate, now moving onto cups. “Why did she do that?” Alastor asked carefully.

Lucifer shrugged, “I stopped asking after awhile, she never really explained why she did that stuff.” He said.

Alastor’s frown deepened. That was interesting… but still confusing.

After a moment of awkward silence, Lucifer spoke up again. “You cook a lot?” He asked.

Alastor perked up, smile becoming a little less fake. “Ah yes, my ma made sure I knew how to cook plenty of her recipes before her passing.”

“Oh?” Lucifer made a curious noise.

“Yes, that woman could make an absolutely amazing Jambalaya.” Alastor began, continuing before he could stop himself, “You should try it sometime.”

Alastor froze, cheeks turning bit darker. Where the hell had that come from?

Lucifer seemed to brighten at that, his eyes friendly through his veil. Alastor that that his eye that was usually covers by his mask was red through the veil.. Interesting.

“I would like to, as long as it isn’t poisoned.” Lucifer said, chuckling slightly. “And… thank you, by the way, for protecting Charlie when I wasn’t there.”

What?

Alastor paused, not expecting that, his neck cracking as he turned to Lucifer quickly in surprise.

“Oh, and you should wear your hair up more often. It’s cute.” Lucifer said before going to exit the kitchen.

A sound of a radio screeching sounded loudly throughout the kitchen.

WHAT?!

“See you around, Bambi.” The fallen angel said with a wink before disappearing around the corner.

Alastor was left standing there in the kitchen, his eyes wide with shock, his ears pinned back, and his cheeks dark with blush. His mind was racing.

Why did he say that? Why did Lucifer say that? Were they friends now? There are no friends in hell so why did he act so nice? Did the king like him or something? How dare he say something like that when he completely ignored Alastor when he was alive?!

Most importantly; WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!

___

Alastor avoided Lucifer for the next day or so, still mulling over the events of what happened.

Sure, he still occasionally pestered the fallen angel, but he spent more time avoiding him completely.

How was Alastor supposed to even react to what had happened.

To these… pesky feelings.

Well, with one simple solution!

Ignoring them and pretending nothing happened!

During that time since then, nearly all of Charlie’s guests vacated the hotel, Vox started his smear campaign against the princess, and Vox had actually visited the hotel.

Alastor left immediately after seeing the television, not wanting to deal with him on top of everything else.

Vox had seemed annoyed at Alastor’s absence, at least that gave him a small momentary chuckle.

Today, Charlie was doing some idiotic attempt at appeasing the public by going on live television again, and Alastor was not going to stop her.

He was here for entertainment! Not success! And because he was forced to be here— but that part didn’t matter.

Alastor adjusted his bow tie as he entered the hotel’s lounge. His eyes landed onto the king of hell relaxing on the sofa, wearing his mask and lacking his hat, but he had bandages wrapped around that side of his face except for near his eyes.

He was also wearing a simple red button up with some gold accents and black trousers.

Alastor could barely make out some scarring around the king’s nose bridge, but it was mostly covered by bandages.

Interesting.

Why did the king need bandages on his face? Had he worn them before and Alastor had not noticed?

Carrying his ‘Duck Season’ mug that he had gotten to match Lucifer’s ‘Deer Season’ mug, he sat down on the couch across from him.

Alastor took a moment and noticed Lucifer was reading the book he had Alastor grab for him; Wind in the Willows.

Alastor grinned, taking the opportunity to pester the king.

Step one to solving your issues; pretend there are none.

“You’re still here? I would have thought you would have gone back to hiding away in your palace again!” Alastor said, his tone mocking.

Lucifer did not react however, simply sipping from his mug and turning the page of his book. “Charlie hasn’t asked me to leave, so I’m staying.” He said.

God, the control over his temper was so irritating! Couldn’t he see that Alastor was annoyed?!

“Yes well, I’m a bit surprised regardless. You are a rather confusing man, your majesty.” Alastor said, his head tilting with a curious lilt.

Lucifer shrugged, “I am not of mankind, so I can see that.

Alastor’s eye twitched, “You know, I am still unable to process what you told me the other day.” He admitted, his grin tight.

Lucifer’s eyes flicked up from his book momentarily, “Why? It did look that way so I said as such.”

“You don't just.. say THAT to someone!” Alastor said, his voice annoyed.

“I… don’t follow.” Lucifer said, his voice sounding bored if not a bit confused.

God! This irritating, confusing, unknowable man was driving him mad!

Alastor slammed his mug on the table, nearly cracking it. Lucifer just glanced down at it before turning back to ‘Wind in the Willows’.

“You should use a coaster-“ Lucifer began before Alastor screeched loudly like a radio.

“Fuck this! I quit!” Alastor said, storming out of the room.

He could not deal being near Lucifer right now. Or anyone at the hotel for that matter.

Especially with these weird… feelings.

Alastor sighed. Time to go visit his master.

Chapter Text

Alastor made his way through the streets of Cannibal town, wearing a different outfit than usual. He was wearing a pink and white striped suit, which he only wore on visits to Rosie.

He stopped by a bush before Rosie’s emporium, picking a few roses and carrying them with him inside of the building.

“Knock, Knock! Rosie, my dear! Alastor’s here!” He exclaimed with a wide grin.

Rosie then quickly walked down some stairs, wearing a different dress from their last meeting. She magicked a teapot and teacup which floated with her to Alastor.

“Oh Alastor! Don’t you know that it’s rude to show up on a lady unannounced? I have nothing prepared!” She complained.

Alastor’s grin widened slightly, “Oh please, no need to gussy up for little old me now.” He reassured.

Alastor summoned his shadow which prodded the already present collection of flowers in Rosie’s vase, causing them to wither and die. He then replaced them with his own flowers.

“And I just dropped by to tell you the great news.” Alastor continued.

“Oh? That’s always exciting for me to hear, do tell!” She prodded, a smile on her face as she sat down on a chair, pouring herself and alastor two cups of tea.

Alastor sat down across from her and placed a gift on the table for Rosie.

His smile tightened, "I'm sure you know all about Charlie’s little hotel and how I’ve been, ‘helping out’.” He began.

“Of course I do.”

“Yes well…” Come on Alastor, just say it! “…I just quit!” Alastor said, his voice full of false enthusiasm.

Rosie’s eyes narrowed slightly but she simply just sipped her tea before setting it down. “You what…?”

Alastor’s eye twitched nervously, he opened the lid of his gift to Rosie and procured a finger from inside.

“You see,” he took the finger and swallowed it with a crunch, “I’ve been there about a year or so, and after all the pointless singing and crying… I’m afraid I see no further reason for my presence there! We really aren’t getting any closer to—“

“Ah, bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup, Alastor, sweetie, pumpkin. I'm afraid that isn't up to you… is it?” Rosie said her voice turning dark and the lighting dimming for a moment.

Alastor’s eye twitched with irritation, “You see, I thought that t̷̛̹̖̣̹̺͇̦̣̣̅̕͜͝ö̵̘̿̉̓́̄̎͝͠o̷̡͕̥͔̥͐̂̆͐̓͋͘͝. But I also thought our little deal meant that I was the strongest sinner in all of ḥ̷̨̨̙͇̟̤̖̼̽͗̆̽͗̃̊̇͠ë̸̯̦̫́̏l̶̻̔̈́̇̈̋̔̕l̷͖̙̲͍̘͚̥͝.” He said, rising to his feet.

“Yet here I am! With the scars and busted up staff that proves otherwise.” He finished, his eyes turning to radio dials and his shadow appearing monstrously behind him.

Rosie stood up and downed a bottle of gin before setting it down onto try table. “Oh come on now, Alastor! You really thought that being the most powerful sinner- which you are, meant you could take on an archangel?!” She laughed, “You’re still as cute and stubborn as the day we met.”

God, Rosie was pissing him off, “don’t remind me.” He growled.

Rosie’s smile turned smug, “Oh, but I will.”

“You were a handsome young man, such a charmer. And quite a gentleman, if I recall. Hustling yourself and dazzling those hippy producers… Overcoming so much to be the star of your own radio show… The toast of New Orleans! But you were a bit naughty, weren’t you?”

Alastor would kill Rosie if he was able to. How dare she bring this up.

“I’ll always be impressed with how prepared you were for all this while still human. I can’t imagine how many rituals it took you to get through to the other side. But, when I heard your voice… I just know you were the one.”

Ha! Rosie had no clue just how many… and hopefully she would never know that she wasn’t the first one he called.

“It’s pretty funny that the next day, you died in the most hilarious way! Mistaken for a deer and shot while hiding a body, I mean it’s just perfect!” Rosie cackled. “Soooo anticlimactic.”

Rosie continued to cancel for a long minute, causing Alastor’s smile to twitch downward for a second.

“Yeah, ha ha… so hilarious…” he trialed off, his sharp teeth glinting dangerously.

“Look, you can toy around with me all you want, but I've been running all over Hell on some fruitless crusade for years, playing nice at a stupid hotel because you promised me power, and now I'm lacking, so you better—“ Alastor was cut off as Rosie inserted, speaking softly with a slight smug expression.

“Looks like you could really do, with a little reminder of who you’re talking to~” she stood up, booping alastor in a way that made his ear twitch angrily, “An honest woman, always there to lend an ear. I dealt with you fairly, been patient- It’s true! But remember my ‘deer’…”

She trailed off, before grinning as she thrust into song, magically summoning a stage and pulling Alastor onto it. “…you’re in my zoo! Don’t you forget, you are my pet. I say to when to sit and stay- roll over or go fetch- Don’t you forget! There’s no way out!“ she shoved Alastor and he ran off before getting trapped in a golden cage, “You’re a debtor till the day you settle your accounts.” She sang, smirking as she opened the door of the cage, petting Alastor’s ear as he exited.

Alastor walked out of the cage, glaring at her. “I’ve served you faithfully for an age- obeyed demands, contained my rage- Went off the air for years on your behalf!” he said angrily.

“I know, and you’re so kind~” Rosie said, her voice having a condescending lilt to it.

“And since you made me disappear, my name inspired much less fear!” He continued, sitting down at a magic piano and playing some notes in quick succession. “The least that you could do is fix my staff.” He growled, pulling out the damaged thing from hammer space.

Rosie grinned, “In due time. Now sing along, deer, you know the words!”

“Don't you forget.”

Alastor grumbled, “I won't forget.”

“You are my pet.”

“Yours since we met.” He agreed begrudgingly.

Rosie and Alastor sung together, “I say when to sit and stay. Play ball. Or just play dead “

“Don't you forget.”

“I'm in your net.” Alastor growled.

“The coop can't be flown!”

Rosie pulled on Alastor’s strings and made him dance like a marionette. Alastor spoke under his breath, “At least not yet…”

“The moves you make are mine, And mine alone!”

Alastor and Rosie sang together, “Looks like you'll/I’ll have to do this on your own!”

Alastor’s ears flicked with irritation, “fine!”

___

THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"I know just what to do!" The Grinch laughed in his throat.

And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.

And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!"

"With this coat and this hat, I look just like Saint Nick!"

How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 1957

___

Alastor had made his way out of Rosie’s Emporium quickly after that, practically stomping the whole way down the main road of cannibal town.

“Oh, calling me her pet. I am n̷̨͐̒̈̂̚͠ȍ̴̡̟͉̟̾̆̆̏͌͘t̴̤̠̯͖̓̿̉ ̸̼̮͊̍͗̏͐͑̎͊̕y̴̻̫̤̿͐͐̈́̀̈̋͒́̕͜o̵̢̼̒̇̅̒̈́̒̀̿͝u̴̘̭̓͐͑̀͗͗̕͠r̵̨͇͙̘̦̼̖͓͊̈̋͜ ̵̨͙̞̝͚̤̑̇̎͗̒͛̈́̈́p̷̗̲̊̏̀͘ȩ̵̨͔̩͖͉̰̄̌̑͐̓̔ẗ̵̘̪͕́̎̌̎̄̾͝͝. You lousy…

I’ll show her. Oh, she’ll see…” Alastor grumbled to himself. He paced in front of a bench which had a statue portraying the Morningstar family. Lucifer had lacked a mask on the statue, but had also lacked all facial features aside from eyes on it.

He needed to find a way to get out of this deal, that becoming his main priority now above avoiding the king of hell.

“Think, think, come on. There must be a way.” He sat down on a bench which had a plaque with the text ‘In Memory of Susan’. Holding his hair in his hands, his foot tapped as he thought heavily.

Then the thought came to him. Alastor let out a small breath, sitting up as his eyes widened.

He could make Vox be the most powerful sinner, nullifying Rosie’s end of the deal. And maybe he could take out Lucifer Morningstar along the way.

“Oh. Oh that’s clever.”

Alastor laughed, sitting up straight. “I can fix my own problems…”

___

Alastor walked down the streets of the technology district of the pentagram, sinners and hellborn alike quickly darting into alleys to avoid him. They all knew something was about to happen.

“I know you’re watching…” Alastor spoke into his staff’s radio, his eyes glowing and the words being echoed across all speakers and radios in the pentagram.

“Come on out! No need to be shy, Vox.” Some sinners who were standing out on the street darted off, but before it could run off, one in the middle exploded into a puddle of dark blood.

Vox then appeared there, his television screen glowing in the dimly lit area.

“Alastor. For what do I owe the displeasure? Did I stroke a nerve! Finally ready to plead with me to stop shitting on your precious hotel?” Vox said, his smooth voice condescending.

Alastor’s eternal grin widened. He leaned forward and taller Vox’s screen with his staff. “I’m bored of hearing your incessant slander. It’s not even clever. This ends now.”

Valentino, another overlord, appeared behind Vox in a large cloud of pink smoke that spread everywhere. Vox’s expression turned annoyed as his left eye glowed slightly. “Eugh, Voxxy, you can't just get all up in this and then zip out like that. I thought you liked it when I~—“

Velvette, who had also arrived with Val and was sitting on the moth demon’s back, cut in. “TMI Val. Now, who are we killing? And can I film it?” She said.

“No no no, dear.” Alastor said, his grin widening. “I don’t think Vox would want the public to see me put him in his place a second time.” He said, before summoning a shadow tentacle and sending it careening towards Vox who punched it away.

“F̸̡̼̙͖͚͔͉̀͋̐͒̂̕U̶͓̝̞͉̐̒̿̉̓̉̕C̶̨̧̞̳̞͈͖̤͓̱̀͋̀̈́̽̏̃̇͝K̴̤̦̳̳̒͗̎͌̊͋͝ ̸͍̂̈̐͛̎́̉̊͝͠Y̵̡̡͖̳͙̹͉̌̌̄Ǭ̷̱̪̳͈̩̋̇́̉̋̉͒̚Ŭ̵̡̡̯͉̰͚͐͋̃͐̍́͊͐͝ ̷̩͙̝̔͌̃͆̉͝Ț̴̯̬͉̦̋̃̃̀̆̋̚W̷̖̭͎̟͐̑͘I̷̘͚̗̥̣̻̤͍̾͐̂̒̆̄̔́͆͘N̸͓̹̠̫̓K̴̢̫̜͖͍̯̖̯̣͆̑̇̈́́́͋̕,̶̧̘͚̞̱̦̹͕̔̌ ̸̼̣̈́̾̄̽̍U̷͓̔̂̀͛Ḡ̵̨̦̣̺̤̩͔͎̝̓̋͠H̶̡̥̱͈͖̪̎̈́̈́͜ͅ” Vox said, before he turned into electricity and teleported.

As the fight continued on, Alastor attempted to summon his powers. However, each and every attempt lead to a streak of white hot pain coming from his chest. Fucking hell.

Alastor took a moment too long to notice Vox sending several blasts of electricity towards him. Some of his many wires slithered after them as he pressed Alastor back towards a TV.

“What’s wrong old man? Getting your ass beat by Adam fuck you harder than you thought? Ha oh!”

Vox lifted his arm, before being pulled away and thrown into a building. Alastor coughed as pink fog surrounded him, barely avoiding three several bullets being shot by the moth overlord.

“What’s the matter? Can't get it up?” Valentino said with a smug laugh, before darting through the smoke. Alastor’s thrusted two of his shadow tendrils towards Valentino, which the overlord narrowly avoided. Valentino grinned before pulling out his gun.

“Daddy’s home.” Valentino said, before shooting his gun twice at the red overlord. Alastor avoided the shots but was still punched in the stomach by Valentino. “Oh dear, does that hurt? Ha!” The moth demon laughed.

As the battle continued on, Alastor found himself hiding off into a shadowy alley for a moment. Freezing internally when he heard Vox’s voice.

“Come on out…”

Vox entered the alleyway ominously, his wires trailing after him, before he quickly turned and wrapped them around Alastor’s shadow that was hidden on the wall.

“Found you!”

Vox tossed Alastor across the street into another wall with his electronic wires, Alastor’s shirt and tie coming undone in the movement.

He grimaced as his wound was jostled, more black pus oozing out between the stitches. Damnit.

Vox grinned as he approached Alastor, using his clawed nails to cut Alastor’s stitches, holy fuck that hurt. “Someone should really put this thing out of it’s misery!” Vox said.

Alastor’s eyes widened momentarily, but his momentary fear immediately vanished when he heard Niffty’s voice.

“We’re here, Alastor!” She shouted.

Hah! Time to give Vox a better show…

___

The fight had been going decent again for Alastor’s side for a while. Husk and Niffty were much better fighters than he recalled in all honesty.

But as planned, Niffty ended up getting held at gunpoint. Now it was time to offer Vox an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“Wait. Call off your goons. I have… a proposition for you.” Alastor said.

“Excuse me?” Vox responded, his voice confused.

Alastor grinned, his head tilting with a loud crack, “Now or never~”

Vox let out an angry sound, “Val, hold on.” He said, his wires pulling the guns away from Niffty.

“We keep going back and forth… and it's growing really tiresome. -Quite boring actually, and it's making it harder for me to do what I have to do.” Alastor began, unable to keep a slight smugness from his smile. His stitches regenerated over his chest as he stood up, taking back his staff.

“Yeah, of course, you're trying to talk your way out of this. Get to the fucking point” The television demanded, growing annoyed.

Alastor’s grin widened. “How about… we make a little deal. I’ll join your little propaganda parade and be your little prisoner… I ask for in exchange is two, I try bitty c̵̛̛̼̪̣͈̤̎̆̒̈̅̆̎̆o̴͇̮̘̻͎̫͚̹̕n̷̛̲̯͍̩̖̣̞̬͈͋́́̈́͝d̴̠͙͈̟͎̟̱͈̈̽͜͝i̷̝͖̥͚͍̼̤͚̥̽̿̎̔̕ẗ̵̢̧͎̻̗͂͗̾̚ͅĭ̶̡̭̮̥͙̯͚̭͇̓̈́̀̾̿͜͠͝ó̶͋͜͠ñ̶̦̯̹̪̬̈́͌͛s̴̢̜̫̑͊̎́̚͜͝͠.”

Alastor heard Husk speak up in the distance. “The fuck is he doing?” And his smile faltered ever so slightly.

“What conditions…?” Vox asked, sounding interested.

Alastor’s smile returned to a smug grin, “Let these irrelevant little nobodies run along home, but more importantly…
you're not to ̶͔͙̜͇̈́́͜͝l̵̪̺̹̣̺̈́̈́͑̑ͅá̶̮̥̈̓̋̄y̶̨̞̠͓͓͇͉̥̅̽̔͐̀́͋ ̷̭̐͒̒͂̈́̈́́͒͐͝ỷ̶̫͈̝̇̋̑͊͑̚̚ŏ̸̮̦̟̒̎͒͐̔̇́͝͠ǘ̶͕̗̖̪̓͆̑ŕ̸̛̛̙̰̺̝̙̻̟̿͐͂̎̕. ̸̡̗̖̜̮̟͇̰̝̥̑h̵͈̰͚̖̼͖̤̯̹̊́͘a̵̧͓̱̰̹̪͎̘͔̍͗̑̀̓̓̄̚͝͝ͅņ̷̫̻̻̲͗ͅḑ̵̫͙͙̲͑̏̃͌̆̕͝s̶̷̨̢̛̛̗̲͚̮̻͕̺̩̤̟̲̿̍̎̒̓̈́̾̐̓̕͠. on ̵̧͚͈͈̭̯͎̳̹́̇̎Ĉ̵͕͚̟̝̬̹͓̙̮̋̏h̸͙̭͓̯̲́̍̊͘͠ḁ̶͎̬̫̥̮̈̆̅̑͘r̷̺̤̉̏̊l̴͓̠̟̩͕̫͆̒̒͋͛̉̈͛̄͜͝ḯ̴̱͉̳͎̓̅̾ĕ̴̛̬͍̭̩͂̾̽̆̂̌
̷̲̙̙͇̪̗͋̆̂͘ͅM̷̡̢͙̜̖̫̻̼̐͑̎ȯ̸͈̱͒͊̒̆͘r̵̜̟͔̋͒̋͌͠͠n̶̡͔̭͋į̶̠̫̝̙̤͌n̵̛̳̯͍̤̍́͛̏̋͛̃ģ̸̧̣͇̥͕̳̤̳̒̈́̀͒̅̕͜s̷̨͎̥͇̠̭̤̥͉͛̈̐̃̂͌͆̆t̴̖͍̺̊̋̍̀̄̑̓̓̎a̴͈̭͚͗͑̑͗̀͌́̄͜r̵̹͌́̑̓̈́̔͋̍́̚.” He said, some lightning sparking in the

distance.

Vox’s eyes widened, a disbelieving grin
coming onto his face. “Wait. That’s it? h-ha!”

This part of the plan was going to work now. Alastor was sure of it.

“That’s it.” Alastor agreed, “Pretty enticing, isn’t it? Think of the headlines!”

Vox stammered, his eyes wide still with disbelief. “That.. that’s… It’s a deal!” He said, reaching a hand out.

As their hands shook, there was bursts of lightning all across pentagram city. Signifying a powerful deal had just been made.

“Yes!” Vox exclaimed, “I fucking did it! Ha ha!”

Alastor grinned internally. He did it. Now it was time to set his plan into motion to get himself rid of these pesky strings…

___

After Alastor's capture, he had been paraded around town for awhile, put in the local news- he’s pretty sure Vox said something about him not having a tail?

Yeah, cause he was hiding it. Vox would never know.

At some point Vox had brought him to a smoothie place, and had ordered a smoothie for two and only drank it himself, smirking at Alastor the whole time.

Ugh, Vox was more annoying to be around than he remembered.

Eventually, Vox had brought him back to V tower, and had made him watch the television and the weird moth demon from earlier engage in… passionate fornication.

It was mildly sickening to him, but it wasn’t much worse than what he saw on the streets of hell every day.

Though he supposed Vox shouting ‘Oh Alastor!’, whenever the television moaned would be annoying to him.

Vox smiled as he sat up in his bed, not wearing any clothing. “Ahhh… Today was perfect, right Val?”

Valentino, who was currently halfway tied up and also naked, was enjoying a cigarette and a glass of some alcohol. “Uh uh, sure, babe.” Valentino said absentmindedly.

Alastor grimaced when Vox turned back ti him, “And what do you think Alastor?” When the radio demon didn’t respond, instead looking away, Vox’s tone turned more mocking. “Oh? Why the long face?”

Vox stepped out of the bed, chuckling. He took Valentino’s cigarette and took a drag before blowing smoke in Alastor’s face. “Mm, isn’t this nice~?” He said, ignoring the low hum of radio static being emitted from Alastor.

Vox walked off, his wires wrapping around the spinny chair he had placed Alastor in and pulling him with him. He put back on his suit and shoes, before bringing them both to his office which had a large window overlooking the city.

“Look at all this. I know you feel it too. And to think you could have had this all and without the public humiliation~” Vox mocked.

The television overlord laughed, "Yeah, this calls for a celebration!” He said.

God this guy was annoying, “hmm.. yes. It’s not like you haven’t been doing that all day.” Alastor muttered under his breath.

Vox pulled Alastor’s chair closer to his desk, sitting himself at his desk. “Whiskey? Gin? I could call downstairs and get you Sazerac?” He said, his voice mocking but also sounding a bit genuine.

When Alastor stayed silent, Vox let out an annoyed sigh as he sipped his glass, "You know I've waited for this moment for almost seventy years. I'm curious. What makes the princess and her crappy little hotel so great that the great Radio Demon gives up what little dignity he had left to help out with it?” Vox sipped his drink, “Or, how a guy from the 30s landed in Hell and somehow… became one of the most powerful Overlords?”

Vox’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me how.”

Alastor’s grin turned amused, spinning away in his chair. “Mmm.. nope! Our deal is for me to be your captive, I don’t when to tell you anything.”

Vox’s screen glitched, letting out an annoyed sound, “seriously? You usually love to run your mouth- but I guess being a brat is kind of your thing… isn’t it?” He turned Alastor back around to face him.

“You would be nothing without those two.” Alastor finally spoke up.

Vox hesitated, “…excuse me..?”

Alastor grinned, taking his opportunity, “You really haven’t changed, have you? Still so reliant on those around you.” He mocked. “Always seeking someone to put up with your incessant—“

Vox covered his face with wires, cutting him off. “You know, I think I prefer the silence.”

Alastor’s golden teeth began to glow, his voice echoing through all of hell through every wireless speaker and radio. “What? Don’t want to be reminded about how desperate you were for attention? Back then, you and I were as close to equals as I’d imagined down here…”

He trailed off, listening to Vox’s nails dig through his desk. “You had decent ideas, you were growing your power. And it was almost impressive… and I respected you.”

Vox froze, his eyes widening in disbelief as electricity crackled.

“And you went and ruined it. I thought you found me… what was it? ‘Inspiring’?”

Vox’s screen glitched, Alastor grinning widely as he went on and on about their former friendship.

“Oh! The tantrum you threw after-a now THAT was entertainment!” He cackled, “I did really have to put you in your place, didn't I? And you finally have me, but you still rely on others for your power as tou always have.” He finished.

Vox looked as though he was a moment away from snapping, but he paused midway, his glare turning into a grin.

“You think your little mockery is gonna make me cry- That I'm bawling ‘bout the past that could've been?”
Vox began, before swinging his arms around.

“Look around ya, Al. I've been scheming this whole time. I got a team, I got a dream, and all I'm gonna do is win!” Vox laughed, before stepping forward.

Vox wrapped his wires around Alastor and threw him across the room, “You're in my house with my rules- In my room with my tools. And worse, you're at my mercy, Cursed to watch me take it all! You've gone ass up! You're deep fried! Your last luck has run dry- At last your check has cashed. I'd laugh at how you look so small!”

Vox grabbed Alastor’s chin to tease him before he grabbed him by the wires and lifted him up. “Don't you forget,” Vox forced Alastor to dance in a similar fashion to how Rosie did earlier. “You're on my string. You can try to squirm and struggle- and it wouldn't do a thing! Don't you forget—“

Alastor cut him off, mocking him. “You're so obsessed with me. I knew you'd need me here to be your unwilling audience when you lose your marbles in act three.” He grinned.

Vox let out an annoyed breath. “You're huffing glue if you think I won't end this tale a ruler. I'm just like you except I'm smarter, sharper, brighter, newer. So I'll keep your smug ass alive to—“

Alastor cut him off again, “To show me you're not a loser?”

Vox growled, “Do you ever shut up?”

“Don't you forget—“

Vox sighed, “Oh, here he goes…”

Alastor looked up overhead. “Y̶̛̱̟͙̻̙̦̥̑̈̋̅́Ǫ̵̨̮̦̙̺̹̮̳̈́̅̆̅͛̽̈́̋̀͜Ų̴̬̬̺͓͚̠̣̭̔̐̂ͅ ̸̡̡̨͍̙̬͍̫̙̠͂̂̊A̷̗̝̹̼̼͑͒͐̿̆̊̕͘I̵̦͈͎͍͎̾̔̒͊̓͆̐̾͝N̵̺̳̱͇̑T̶̛̲͈͖̠̜̽̄̿̎͗̏͘̚͜ͅ ̴̭̬̯͔̣̺̼͈̽̾̊̑̃̚͝W̶̮̻̪̺͉͔̜̫̾͂̊̇̒́̎͝ͅO̸͖͕͉͝N̴̯̥̤̲̮͉̿͂͠ ̴̟̤̦̱̀̅Y̵͚̥̆̍͂͐Ȩ̵̘̯̦̝̠̗͎͐T̸͖̤͚̀͑̊̾̐̅͂̆!”

“Oh, I'm scared.” Vox mocked.

“You still need me like you did before!”

“So cute that you think I care!” Vox laughed.

Vox’s wires wrapped around Alastor as he backed up the tied up overlord against a table. “Now I'm the master, And you're my bottomest bitch!” He grabbed Alastor by the hair before electrocuting him.

“No more Al, the high and mighty now that I flipped the switch. Though the radio's gone dead you know, the show must go on! By the time I've had my fun you'll wish that you had stayed gone!” Vox laughed, before breathing heavily, Alastor letting out a growl as their faces neared each other.

“Ayy! You two should just fuck already!” Valentino complained, still laying in bed and staring at the two overlords from across the room.

“What? Am I wrong? And can I film it~?” Valentino continued.

Alastor already was regretting his decision momentarily.

Chapter Text

Lucifer was working in his workshop. It had been a day or two since he had seen Alastor- although he wasn’t sure if that was because he was losing track of time again. Charlie still hadn’t realized that he was bad at that stuff yet.

He hoped she never would.

He was just wearing his mask today, skipping out on wearing his hat and veil since he was just inside of his room. He did have some bandaging on the exposed side of his face though after an incident he had a few days earlier when he got his memories confused again—

What was he doing? Oh yeah! He was making ducks that stuck to things! Why? Lucifer honestly forgot- but that wasn’t that important.

Unfortunately, they were sticking to his comfy sweater. That was gonna suck to try and get off later.

He then heard knocking at his door and completely jumped.

“Hi there! Coming, coming! Just a minute, I’ll be right there…” He said, rushing over to the door.

“I wasn’t doing anything weird, I swear- Oh!”

It was Charlie’s girlfriend! Uhhh what was her name..

“…heyyy Maggie..? Do you uh, need something?” He said hesitantly, opening the door to enter a bit wider to allow her to come inside.

“It’s- nevermind. And uh… Wow, you really wasted no time, huh, sir?” Maggie said, gesturing around to all the ducks everywhere, making Lucifer freeze.

“Yeah uh…” He didn’t really wanna tell her that it was a thing he did because it helped him keep track of time. “It’s a fun hobby.. and uh, you don’t need to call me ‘Sir’. Call me uhh… Lu. Wait, no, that’s kinda weird sounding- what do you need again?”

She smiled, “You’re the king of hell, right?”

Oh! This was a question he could answer, “Yes! Or at least last I checked—“

“Well, I don't know how much you’ve heard about Vox…” Charlie’s girlfriend began.

Lucifer thought for a moment, “Name rings a bell, why?”

The ex-exorcist let out an annoyed sigh. Oh shit he was being annoying, he needed to stop being so idiotic— Lucifer absentmindedly fidgeted with his wedding band.

“Have you been uh, listening to him at all?”

Oh yeah! Charlie’s Girlfriend was talking to him.

“Nope.” He answered honestly.

“Well, he’s been hardcore shitting on Charlie and the hotel for weeks. It’s kind of driving her crazy and I—“

Lucifer interrupted her, his wings extending from his back, ripping his sweater, and his horns growing from his scalp.

“Wait a second- he’s been what!?” He explained, before he let out a small annoyed noise to himself too quiet for Vaggie to hear.

“Yeah! So, you know, you think you could go over and, like… I don’t know, smite him or something?” She asked.

Lucifer let out a sudden loud wheeze, his feathers floofing up slightly and his horns retracting back into his head.

After a moment, he managed to speak between laughs. “Oh sorry-“ quick, say a name- “Vanastasia. But uh, I can’t really do that…” He said, trailing off.

He didn’t really want to tell her his one weakness, but he supposed she needed an excuse.

“I uh, I can’t really do that kind of.. stuff. It’s kinda part of my whole uh, thing. Hell isn’t just a place- it’s a punishment. And mine is I can’t really do anything with the sinners. Can't kill them, can’t get rid of them by myself. So I just have to ignore them.”

Lucifer’s only way of getting rid of the sinners was the exterminations. That was a big part of why he agreed. He could never tell Charlie that though.

“Plus, they all have horrible taste in musical theatre.” He said, pulling out several playbills. One of them being ‘The Great Quacksby’ and another being ‘Breeze in the Trees’, an obvious bootleg of ‘Wind in the Willows’.

Charlie’s girlfriend sighed, “But Vox doesn’t know that. What if you go intimidate him? Bluff a little? To most of hell, you’re a pretty big deal.”

He is? That’s honestly surprising.

“Yeahhh… I’m not so sure…” He said, laying down on his bed and wrapping his body around a Belphehor plushie that the namesake gave him a few years ago. His wings wrapping around himself.

Vagatha sighed, “Well, I’d ask Alastor, but, you know, he’s unavailable, so—“

She was cut off as Lucifer sat up, his eyes wide. “‘Unavailable’? Did something happen?” He asked, a bit concerned.

Lucifer? Concerned about Alastor? No… he just wants to make sure his daughter and her friends are safe.

Definitely.

Shut up, DC.

“I suppose I can help in Alastor’s place…” Lucifer trailed off, his voice hesitant but he didn’t want to upset Charlie’s girlfriend.

This was probably a horrible idea. It’s like how he didn’t want to give Eve the apple but Lilith convinced him anyways—

What was he on about? Oh yeah! Vox!

“I’ll do it.” He said finally, smiling hesitantly to Vantasia.

“That’s great! Thank you so much, Lucifer!” She said with a smile.

Almighty help him, this is a horrible idea…

___

Lucifer had made his way to Vee tower after getting dressed into his formal clothing, boredly listening through Vox’s speech before he found a good spot to interrupt.

Just as Vox raised his hand, Lucifer grinned under his mask and veil.

Showtime.

Lightning struck behind Vox, causing the television overlord to look in surprise.

Lucifer flew down towards Vox’s tower, nearly all of his wings on display, however he still kept many of them hidden.

The foolish mortal didn’t get the honor to see his full glory anyways.

“You’re acting out like you want teacher’s attention- Well I’m the principal of this eternal detention! I hope you had your fun, but son it’s time to ring the bell!”

He summoned a spear of golden lightning before sending a shockwave across the rally, breaking all of the glass panes on Vee tower.

He forced a smile onto his mask, “Ding, ding~”

He saw Box flinch in surprise, but quickly readjust his suit and look at him boredly.

Did he know? But no- he couldn’t. He only told Charlie’s girlfriend and no one else.

He forced his posture to remain confident as he continued, “Sinnerman you’re getting way too big for your screen! Now I’m here to drop your punishment, it’s gonna be mean! Just in case you have forgotten who’s almighty’s damned king of hell!”

He summoned a large snake made of fire, sending it up to circle around V Tower in an impressive display of magic that came incredibly easy to Lucifer.

Lucifer flew down towards the stage, “Cause I’m the serpent, I’m the flame! The mortal world is scared to say my name. I am so spooky! I’m the shit.” He summoned several fireworks. “I am a living aspect of THE infinite!”

He swooped down to Fox, circling the television overlord, “So scheme all you want, Mr. TV-Head-man! I’m nearly a GOD, who are you? ﾌㄩ丂ㄒ 卂 ᗪ乇卂ᗪ 爪卂几?”

Dox’s smile turned smug, his hand hooking onto Lucifer’s veil and pushing his hat down over his face for a second. “Wow. Super scary. I see why they give you such a big hat. Quick thing, though…”

Box transitioned into song, his voice mocking, “It's curious you stopped by to fight me nail and tooth. “When all I mean to try is to dispense a dose of truth! We sinners do not need a king! We need someone who understands… A different kind of despot bringing respite from divine demands! New order, like what Lilith had envisioned when she threatened them. She knew Hell could be great, and we can make Hell great again!”

Lucifer could not contain the full body flinch at the mention of Lilith, his eyes widening, for a short second just long enough to make Sox grin.

Suddenly, Lucifer was then surrounded by dancers who were all singing in time and dancing with Rox, “Just imagine if we could flip the script! ‘Take the fight back way upstairs and make 'em beg and say their prayers, and what could happen if we could run this ship?!”

A boat made of lights magically appeared, “Hoist the mainsail, paint the decks?”

The crowd chanted, “Aye, aye!”

“Have a crewmate to protect, 'cause they want us all divided- That is how they keep us down. We got the guts! We got the chutzpah! We got the means to seize the crown!” Lox continued, his song being echoed by the crowd who was incredibly enthusiastic.

Sox spun around, backing Lucifer up towards the curtain as arrows surrounded him. “If you're not fuckin' stupid, then you've only got one choice, me! Vox Populi, the people's voice!”

Ohhhh that was his name. Lucifer forgot for a moment. Whoops.

Vox turned back to the crowd, dancing around the stage between the backup dancers and in front of Lucifer. “Try to picture if we could escape this hole! Never have to live in fear of days that angels may appear! 'cause here's the kicker, sinners can save their souls!”

Vox was picked up by the dancers and held in the sky, “Not by changing for redemption- but by taking over Heaven! They say Hell's too populated- that's why they exterminate. We got the numbers! We got the thunder! Let's annex their real estate!”

As the crowd echoed Vox, Lucifer realized what was happening. Cox was going to try and take over heaven somehow.

No no no.

Bad idea.

Images of white hot pain as burns were seared into his skin—

“—If you wanna see a new world, raise your fists and make some noise!”

The crowd responded, all sounding excited, “Hail Vox Populi, the people's voice!”

Vox grinned, tap dancing as he made his way through the crowd, “Manifest destiny, long as you invest in me, the rest'll fit all into place…”

Vox spun around, smiling as he returned his words to a verbal attack on Lucifer. “Meanwhile, this "king" thinks all of us peasants should be satisfied with an endless existence of suffering!”

Lucifer froze, his wings tensing up, “Whoa Whoa. Wait. Hold on—“

Vox grinned, turning back to the crowd, “Tell me, Hell, are you satisfied?”

“No!”

Vox redirected his attention back to Lucifer, his voice condescending, “Your wife knew it was wrong, Lu. Maybe that's why she's not around anymore.”

Lucifer had a full body flinch, his wings pulling back behind his back.

Lilith wouldn’t leave him because of that. She left before he started the exterminations- he only agreed because he wanted to keep Charlie and himself safe. She wouldn’t-

Lilith pulling him by his hair.

Ripping out his feathers.

shouting shouting shouting…

No.

He snapped himself out of that moment of fear, his eyes narrowing as his wings flapped behind him. “ㄚㄖㄩ 爪ㄖㄩㄒ卄ㄚ ㄥ丨ㄒㄒㄥ乇 爪ㄖ尺ㄒ卂ㄥ!”

Vox grinned, “Here it comes! Smite me! Silence me! That’s all you angels know how to do!” Lucifer snapped.

He let out an angry sounding growl that sounded unintelligible to mortal ears, pulling his fist back and swinging it forward in a burst of flame directly at Vox’s TV head.

Only to be halted by the barrier which to everyone else made it look like he hesitated. But really, he could not hurt Vox.

Vox grinned, shoving Lucifer back, “You won't do it. You're weak! They didn't banish you, they clipped your wings and chained you down here. Well I got no chains on me! Who's with me?” Vox grabbed Lucifer’s chin before snatching off the devil’s mask. He turned back to the crowd, carrying it with him in his hand.

His mask.

Oh shit his mask his mask his mask.

He needed to have his mask on- thank almighty he had his veil-

He needed to hide his face. It’s grotesque- it’s horrific! Lilith said as such-

He needs to get his mask back before she gets angry at him for taking it off-

Wait. She’s gone. He didn’t take it off, Vox stole it.

Lucifer can't get it back either—

The group of watchers cheered loudly, snapping him from his racing thoughts, “Let's unite and fight for a brand new realm! We'll direct our destinies as one nation under Vees”

Lucifer turned to leave, before being grabbed by a tall Moth dude and taunted by him and some doll lady who attempted to take photos of his face, but luckily his veil obscured all attempts.

Lucifer eventually made his way away from the two and made his way off the stage with a burst of flame.

“‘Cause happy days are nigh with Vox at the helm! Futures never tasted sweeter, thanks to our charming leader!” The crowd continued.

Vox walked back onto a throne, sitting down. “Every sinner can be a winner! Let’s take our fates to the pearly gates. We can have the keys if we trust the Vees- Give applause! Hell has a cause to rejoice!”

Vox sat down at the throne, him and the whole crowd saying the final line, “Hail Vox Populi, the people’s voice!”

Lucifer hid off to the side as he suddenly felt the immense presence of angelic magic. Only a seraphim could produce this much.

He wouldn’t face them.

Not right now.

He didn’t want to get punished for not being able to stop the rally.

He didn’t want to face Charlie while he was like this- without his mask.

Sure, he had his veil. But he was still repulsive.

She should hate him.

She does, doesn't she? She should, considering how lousy of a father he was.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Sox speak up, “First, Lucifer threatens us. Now this?”

Then, Charlie’s voice. Wait- Charlie? Why was she here-? Was she with the angels? “Wait, what? Dad?” He needed to get out of here.

Charlie spun around, her eyes finding Lucifer who made sure to angel his hat down enough she couldn’t see he was lacking mask.

“Uhhh… I was just leaving—“

“DAD!” She shouted, before Lucifer disappeared in a pillar of flames.

___

When he appeared back in the hotel, he let out a long breath, falling down towards the sofa and placing a hand on his chest.

He fidgeted with his wedding ring. Good, still there.

He reached up to feel his mask.

His mask.

Blox still had it.

Shit.

Currently, he realized Maggie was talking to some sinners. Trying to convince them not to leave, he realized.

Then, Charlie burst through the door, her face enraged and her horns growing in size as she stomped inside.

“山卄乇尺乇 ㄒ卄乇 千ㄩ匚Ҝ 丨丂 爪ㄚ ᗪ卂ᗪ!” She exclaimed.

Vanessa frowned, “What?”

“Dad! I know you’re here!” Lilith shouted-

Wait no, that wasn’t right. It was Charlie yelling, not Lilith.

Wait, Charlie was yelling?

Lucifer ducked behind the sofa, trying to avoid her seeing him without his mask, his wings stretching out from his back and wrapping around himself. “…I’m not here.” He said nervously.

Almighty, he looked pathetic.

Charlie snarled demonically, shoving away the couch and Lucifer flinched heavily, his wings curling close against his body. “Dad, what the FUCK were you thinking?! You threatened Vox?!”

Lucifer’s hands nervously grabbed one of his wings.

Don’t scratch himself.

Don’t scratch himself.

Don’t—

Crap.

He pulled out some feathers.

He forced himself to appear calm. “Duckling, I swear I was just trying to help. You see, Vavnu over there told me you were having trouble with the guy—“

Charlie cut him off, again not noticing Lucifer’s full body flinch. “I’m sorry, what?!” She said, spinning around on her heel to turn to Vaggie.

She didn’t even notice that her father’s mask was missing.

“Wait, hold on. What happened?!” Vantastia said, her voice surprised

Charlie groaned, “He ruined everything is what happened—“ Lucifer flinched again. He needs to stop doing that. “—The angels were here to set everything right, but thanks to him— and apparently you, Vox was able to spin it again!”

Vaggie let out an annoyed groan, “Charlie, that’s what Vox does! I thought do your dad could at least get him to back down, you’d stop caring.”

Charlie huffed, “Well, why didn’t you ask me?” She asked.

Vaggie made an annoyed sound, “Because you aren’t listening to me! You’re hyperfixating on what he says about you!”

“Because he’s hurting the hotel! He’s ruining—“

“Charlie!” Villium interrupted, "YOU are hurting the hotel! I know it sucks what Vox is doing, but you are playing his game!”

“What?” Charlie sounded confused. “How can you say that? Are you not on my side?”

Vegetable sighed, “I am! But being on your side means telling you the truth! I am worried about you.”

Finally. Someone who had sense around here—

“Well don’t be. If you don’t care about what I’m trying to do, then I can just do it myself.” Charlie turned away from her, crossing her arms.

“Fine!” Charlie’s girlfriend said, “You wanna bury your head in the bullshit, be my guest!” She turned around and started muttering in Spanish

Lucifer hesitated, before he took a nervous step towards Charlie, reaching a hand to touch her shoulder comfortingly.

Charlie stopped him, not looking back at her father. “I think you should leave, Dad. You have fucked things up for me enough.”

Charlie wanted him to leave?

Charlie didn’t want him- Lilith was right no one wants him- it’s because he’s such a failure.

Why can’t he do anything right?

He took a small, shaky breath. “O-Okay.”

He teleported to his room in a ring of fire. He quickly gathered his ducks and other belongings, carelessly throwing them carelessly through a portal to his workshop in the palace.

Once everything of semi-value was gone, he left a small note on the bed. ‘𝐼’𝓂 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝐼 𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊.
𝐼’𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒷𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒹𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔.’

Then with a wave of his hand, he went through the portal to the palace.

___

Lucifer spent the next however long in a haze.

He would spend a minute to take a nap, then would check the time and it had been several hours.

He would watch a show or read a book, and he’d get to the end of it without realizing or knowing what had happened.

He’s such a failure. He can’t even be sad properly.

Currently, he was sobbing on the couch, holding a tissue in his hand as he watched his bootleg, ‘The Great Quacksby’.

“I’m such a bad father, Duck-Charlie.” He said sadly, his wings wrapping around himself as he gently pat the duck on the head.

His snake, Goldie, curled around his neck and nuzzled him as a useless attempt to make him feel better.

“Awww no! Don’t do it Sir Quackington, no!” He complained to the television.

Then, his phone rang.

“Huh?”

It was Charlie.

He immediately grabbed the phone and pressed to answer the call.

“Charlie I am so so sorry I—“

He was cut off.

“Dad, I need to talk to you. I’ll send you my location, okay?”

She sounded… off somehow. It didn’t sound like her.

But he supposed she just had a very emotional moment. So he did not think much of it.

But she was asking for him! Better not to question it anyways!

“O-Oh! Of course! I’ll be there right away!” He said, reaching to put on his mask.

Right, it was gone.

He quickly threw on his hat to use the veil, and teleported to the location she sent him.

Charlie needed him, and he was going to be there for her no matter what.

Chapter Text

Lucifer appeared in the warehouse where Charlie’s location was.

It was kinda empty and a bit creepy. But he didn’t really say much about this as he walked inside.

“H-Hey Charlie?” He called out, “You said you wanted to talk? Well I’m here and I am so dang sorry.”

Where was she?

Then, a spotlight appeared and shone on the floor, revealing a large red X.

“Uhh… any reason for the new uh, creepy look you’ve got going? I wasn’t under the impression that this was your new uh, ‘art direction’…” He trailed off, approaching the X hesitantly.

“—not that I’m judging! You can follow those dreams however you want to, Duckling.”

As he arrived right before the X, he hesitated. “Am I… supposed to step on that? Is this like a prank or something?” He said.

Almighty, he wished he had his mask.

Come on! Stop dragging this out. Just pretend to fall for it, it’s just a prank. Probably.

“Fineeee, I’ll bite.”

He said, before tentatively stepping onto the X.

Then, he was suddenly trapped inside of a large glass cage. He knew instantly that the glass was made of an alloy using angelic materials.

Shit.

“I uh, you got me Charlie! Great-Great prank…” He said nervously. Every time he brushed against the walls of the cage, he felt his skin burn slightly. “C-Could you let me go now?”

He flinched when wires suddenly wrapped around his lumps and pulled them up into several different sockets inside of the cage. He pulled against them, but he found he was unable to.

They weren’t angelic so why couldn’t he- they were a part of a sinner.

Then, he heard Charlie’s voice, but it was wrong. “Sorry, Dad. This isn’t a prank...” A figure stepped out into the light up on a balcony. Looking up, Lucifer realized it was the TV guy from the other day. Box or something. “It’s a take over.”

“Y-You’re not Charlie...” Lucifer said dumbly. “I uh- hah. How about you uh, let me go and I won’t err.. smite you and….” He trailed off, trying to sound confident but failing miserably.

He then noticed that there was uhh.. what was his name? Alexander? Sitting over there, sitting in an office chair. Wait, why was he here?

“Red guy?” He said, his head tilting with slight confusing in a similar fashion to a bird. The radio demon smirked and waved his hand boredly.

Croc snapped his fingers to get Lucifer’s attention back on him. “Lu! Luci!” Lucifer flinched, “Come on, buddy, we’re past all that! We both know you can’t harm sinners.” The TV man said with a condescending smile.

Lucifer grimaced, his eyes narrowing, “Now how’d you figure that one out?” He said, finally voicing a question he was actually curious to hear the answer of.

Alejandro interrupted, a grin slipping onto his face. “Actually, It seems you’re a bit sloppy with your secrets! Didn’t even realize that anyone could be eavesdropping!” The red guy taunted.

Lucifer let out an annoyed sigh, “yeah, whatever. I can’t pay attention to everything- after a few millenia everything seems kinda boring. Sue me!” He said boredly.

Fox teleported with a burst of electricity between the two, “Hey! Could you both shut up? Please? This is my moment! I own you!” He walked over to Alice and pet his ears, causing a loud screech of a radio to sound through the air, “I own the radio demon,” He walked back over and tapped the glass of Lucifer’s cage.

“And there’s nothing anyone can do about it!” The sinner grinned.

Lucifer forced himself to look confident, “Yeah uh, whatever gets you off, guy. Not to uh-“ what do the mortals call it now? “-kink-shame but I am married.”

He paused, glancing over towards Aluminum, “still, I think.” He hesitated, tentatively tugging his hand slightly as he tried to get out of his restraints unsuccessfully.

“Wow that’s uh, kinda snug.” Lucifer said hesitantly.

Box grinned, “Like it? It’s angelic metal-“ Lucifer already knew that from how it was burning his skin. “-from my new friend, Carmilla Carmine.”

Bronx said that last part like it was something impressive, but Lucifer didn’t know who that was.

He felt Goldie curl around his waist underneath his coat.

“Yeah uh, nice name drop but I have no clue who that is.”

Clock’s eyes narrowed, “Well, you see, she is—“

Lucifer cut him off, “Yeah well, nobody really cares man! I don’t know what you’re planning, but it won’t work, alright?”

He sighed, “It’s the whole sort of thing with hell. You were a failure in life-“ Chains pulling him towards the gates of heaven, hands shoving him off the heights of heaven— “-and you’re a failure now. Alrighty?”

Locks’ eyes narrowed at him, before he grinned, “Oh Luci, you should be much more worried than that.”

Yeah, right.

One of the wires tried tugging at his hat as an attempt to pull it off, maybe intimidate him once his veil was removed.

Luckily, Goldie moved into the inside of it and held on so it wouldn’t be removed.

Good snake.

Lucifer rolled his eyes at Box, “Yeah, well, you see, there isn’t really anything you can do to kill me— trust me people have tried.” He said.

Instead of being intimidated, Knox only laughed.

“Oh, I’m counting on it~”

Wait that sounded ominous—

Then his cage was lifted up into a machine, and Lucifer’s body shook when he felt a tingle of electricity go up his spine.

Oh crap.

___

Lucifer didn’t know how long he had been in here.

He thinks that it’s been a few hours, but it’s already been blending together.

He didn’t know if it had been even a few hours or if it had been a week.

Sometimes, Lucifer would be startled by weird tickles reaching his wrists or the angelic metal burning his limbs.

He was thankful he was alone. Sure, he still had his veil, but it could so easily be removed that he didn’t feel secure without his mask.

Lucifer sighed as his tail absentminded wrapped and uncurled from around his leg, trying to pass the time.

Goldie slithered up his body and nuzzled his cheek in an attempt to comfort him again.

He blinked and he was confused. Wasn’t he just crying in his nest? Why was he in this weird glass cage—

Oh right! Charlie had called him and—

Wait.

No.

It was the one guy pretending to be Charlie.

What was his name?

Lucifer thinks there was an X involved in it somewhere.

He.. cant remember.

Oh yeah! He saw the red guy too!

Al.. Ala.. Alastair?

Wait no, that’s not right…

Alastor?

Yeah that sounds about right.

Why had he been there again?

Alastor had been tied up right? Maybe TV dude kidnapped him or something.

Wait- TV dude?

Lucifer didn’t remember meeting any guy like that so why was he just—

How did he get in here?

“H-Hello?” He called out weakly.

Goldie’s eyes seemed to look sad as it watched him, seeming to know something Lucifer did not.

There was no response.

___

At some point, Lucifer awoke with a start as he felt whatever machine he was in move.

What was going on?

He heard pounding on the metal of the outside from way above, distantly hearing, “Can the angels come out to play?”

Then, he felt it.

It was small at first, a little tingle.

“Wait- what’s happening? This tickles, nothing should be—“

Then it continued, currents of electricity flooding through him. He suddenly felt so tired.

Why couldn’t his eyes stay open for so long.

He could hardly move his tail right now.

He felt like the life was sucked out of him.

“…what’s happening?” He said weakly.

His wings were pressing against the glass of the cage, their feathers smoking a bit from the contact with the holy metal.

When did his wings come out?

Goldie floated through the air and pressed in between his eyes as an attempt to keep Lucifer up.

He smiled weakly to the snake before he then promptly passed out.

___

When he woke up, Lucifer was confused.

“What’s going on?” He said nervously.

Why was he here? What’s happening right now?

“How did I get in this spooky box?” He chuckled nervously as he looked down at Goldie who was curled up on his shoulder.

Charlie must have called him back by now, but he wouldn’t be able to respond since he was trapped.

“Oh boy this is bad. Charlie’s gonna be so mad…” Lucifer trailed off, his head tilting to Goldie.

He shifted slightly in his stands and he felt his wings burn and sizzle. He quickly retracted them to his body, his eyes startled.

Why had he brought his wings out earlier? He was- is so obviously trapped.

What’s going on?

How did he get in here?

He was just in the hotel, then Vagatha came to talk to him so how did he—

Why… cant he remember?

___

Lucifer didn’t know how long he’s been in here for.

Every time he tries to remember his brain just feels fuzzy and like soup.
Lucifer was snapped out zoning out when he heard a loud banging from outside.

Then he flinched when he heard the loud sound of metal screeching, only for a person to drop down from a new opening.

“H-hey uh, Charlie’s girlfriend…whatcha doing down here?” He manager weakly.

She paused, seeming surprised to see him. “Uh, saving you, apparently. Do you have any idea of what you’re even attached to?” She asked.

Aw crap. The one question he didn’t really know.

“Yeah uh, nope. I honestly can’t really remember how I got down here- but I’m sure it’ll work itself out.” Lucifer chuckled weakly.

Almighty he was lightheaded. Wait- he remembered something!

“Also uh, is Charlie still mad at me?”

Charlie’s girlfriend didn’t respond to the question, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out… once I figure out how…”

It stung a little when she didn’t answer.

It was just a simple question why would she answer—

Wait, what was the question?

Why was he in this weird box thing—

Oh! There’s Charlie’s girlfriend!

At least he’s not alone.

Then, Lucifer jolted when he felt another short tingle coming from the machine.

Ragtime used her spear and poked at the cage fruitlessly.

Then, Lucifer winced as he felt a jolt of electricity run through him, his angelic energy being sapped out of him. Yeah.. that was not a pleasant feeling.

Then, Charlie’s girlfriend was leaving, “I’ll come back for you!”

“Wait—“ He called back but she was already gone.

He was alone.

Goldie nudged him.

Okay, he wasn’t totally alone.

___

Lucifer didn’t know how long he was there alone.

He had tried counting in his head for a while, but he realized quickly that he would forget what number he was on.

Then, he felt the machine begin to charge up, all the lights inside turning on.

Then, he heard the sound of whatever was above him moving. Then he felt the tingling again.

It was not too bad at first, like before. Sure he felt a bit tired but it wasn’t the worst thing he went through.

Then he heard the sound of whatever it was firing, and the screams of thousands of sinners being completely incinerated.

He let out a small gasp as he felt all of the souls passing on.

Shit.

He felt so light headed.

“D-don’t let me pass out.” He muttered to Goldie, knowing the snake couldn’t really do much but he was still hoping.

He blinked furiously in order to remain awake, thankful he had his veil still.

Gosh he was pathetic looking.

Then, tons of wires came out from the ceiling and stabbed into him, opening tons of small wounds across his torso.

“Eugh— that’s not good—“ he was cut off as the machine powered up again.

Then the machine continued to drain him.

And drain.

And drain.

It wasn’t stopping.

His eyes grew heavy and he began to pant heavily, he felt like all of his energy was being sucked out of him.

His wings were forced out of hiding as he was drained, even his pair on his ears and his face shifted to something more monstrous as a last futile attempt at halting the drain.

It didn’t work, of course, it just left him stuck with all of his features on display as his energy left him.

His wings shifted slightly, then he realized he had accidentally smooshed Goldie against there glass.

“S-Sorry gol-Goldie.” The snake shook off any harm it felt and floated back up to Lucifer, wrapping around his neck as an attempt to comfort him.

He stood there panting heavily, trying to remain awake. Then he heard faint voices from above singing. He looked up, confused.

“w-what are they doing?” He slurred, his eyelids heavy.

Then, he was hit by a wave of exhaustion as he felt an explosion via angelic energy above.

His restraints came undone and he fell to the floor, all of his features still on display.

There was a crater now above him instead of a ceiling.

He reached his hand to touch his face underneath the veil.

It came back wet with golden blood which had been dripping from his hairline and out of his red eyes.

Oh! That’s probably not good!

He slowly pushed himself up, barely having enough energy to move.

Tentatively, and very slowly, he was able to crawl out of the hole and walk weakly outside of the machine.

Lucifer then spotted Charlie, his eyes lighting up.

He heard her call out. “Dad?”

Oh it was so nice to hear her voice.

He coughed, laughing weakly. “Don’t go down there… it’s uh.. a place of pain.” He chuckled deliriously before he fell forward.

Charlie rushed and caught him, looking at him with concern.

“Dad, where's your mask? Wait— did Vox take it?” She asked worriedly.

He managed a weak chuckle, it sounded distorted though with how his form was closer to his full seraphim form than his regular one, “yeahhh, he took it during the uh— whasit called again?”

Goldie flew out from under his coat, immediately darting off to wear Vox’s corpse was and finding the mask hidden on the inside of his jacket.

The snake flew back, carrying it. And Lucifer went to grab it from the snake before he turned away. He then proceeded to puke, it mostly being full of golden blood.

Eugh.

Then, he heard the sound of that one snake sinner from a while ago talking. It was the one that died right?

Charlie lit up, but didn’t want to leave her father at first.

“Go ahead, duckling.. I’ll be fi-fine.” He reassured, slowly pulling himself off the floor and giving a weak thumbs up.

She gave a hesitant look to him, before she and her girlfriend ran off closer to the screen, smiling widely.

Leaving Lucifer there alone again with Goldie.

He turned away, and let out a small pathetic whimper as he moved his hand to summon a portal, falling forward through the flaming circle and into his room.

___

Lucifer appeared in his room in the hotel, which was stripped bare of everything but a mattress and some blankets.

He slowly made his way to the bed, noticing the note he left Charlie was gone. Oh, she had actually checked his room since he left.

She didn’t hate him.. he thought.

He flopped forward onto the bed. Lucifer pulled all of the blankets toward him and sloppily pushed and placed the blankets in a messy nest.

He sighed and curled up into a ball, finally returning his features to somewhat normal, but he kept his wings out.

He threw off his hat and Goldie placed his mask down next to him in his bed.

Lucifer closed his eyes, his wings wrapping around himself protectively as he tried to relax.

Goldie slithered onto his chest and curled into a matching ball, the two laying there quietly before Lucifer’s breath finally slowed and he was awake no longer.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since the final battle with Vox.

Alastor’s arm had healed quickly, and with his new staff and his deals all ended, he felt freer than he had in decades.

He had decided to return to the hotel after a day or so, and had noticed something interesting.

The king was missing.

Supposedly, he had returned to the hotel. And every time anyone asked Charlie, she just laughed and said he was hiding in his room.

It was suspicious to him.

Alastor had seen him after the battle. The devil had looked just like what he was in some aspects. A fallen Angel.

His full form was more magnificent then Alastor would have imagined, even if it was tainted by wounds and angelic blood.

Alastor had snuck a taste of the blood left in the crater afterwards. It had been the most delicious he had ever tasted.

Regardless, he had not seen the king since.

Which was rather disappointing.

Perhaps it was that the king was too prideful to let his subjects see him after such desecration. Or maybe, he was still injured.

And Alastor was someone who liked to know everything— every variable.

So he made his way up to the king’s room…

___

Alastor knocked on the door, a grin forcing itself onto his face as he stood outside the door.

He had thought for a long while on what to bring the king of hell. And he decided upon some food since it had likely been days since the Angel had eaten.

He recalled their previous conversations and decided upon bringing the king some jambalaya. The devil had expressed interest in trying it during their talk in the kitchen.

“Your majesty! It’s been quite a few days since your subjects have been graced with your presence.” He called out through the door. “I brought you some jambalaya! Perhaps it will make you feel more sociable.”

There was no response from the room for a long moment, before there was a quiet, hoarse sounding voice.

“You can come in.”

Alastor’s smile turned smug as he opened the door, finding he could actually open it this time. He entered the room and was startled by how bare it was.

There was nothing in there besides the plan mattress which had a weird pile of blankets in the middle, and there were tons of random piles of bloody feathers.

It was kind of sad looking, and not in the entertaining way.

“Could you bring it over here?” A quiet voice vaguely resembling Lucifer asked. Then, a quiet, “please.” It was coming from the pile of blankets

Alastor’s smile faltered and he made his way over and saw that the structure resembled a nest.

A hand reached out from inside of the blanket pile, and Alastor realized he was inside of there.

He also noticed that Lucifer was not wearing his gloves. There were thick black scars as dark as night burned into his flesh all along his palm and crawling down his wrist. Alastor imagined the other hand looked similar.

“You know, it is rather rude to accept a gift without properly facing the gifter.” Alastor said smoothly, trying to not let the strangeness of the moment get to him.

Lucifer let out a small sigh from inside of the blanket pile before there was a sound of shuffling. Then the devil crawled out.

He was still covered with golden blood all across his body, but it had turned into a more crusty and hard substance than anything Alastor would enjoy partaking in.

Lucifer had his mask on and had on some pajama pants, but he was shirtless and Alastor got a full view of many of the scars along the front of his torso.

They looked painful.

Alastor also finally got his first look at the fallen angel’s face.

The side which his mask didn’t cover looked extremely ordinary. There was a bit of scarring crawling over to his viewable side of his face, but it was quite normal looking.

There were even some aspects to his features that Alasto— A PERSON might consider attractive.

Alastor did NOT think the king was pretty.

Definitely not.

Shut up.

“Take a photo, it’ll last longer.” Lucifer joked weakly, his voice sounding hoarse.

Lucifer frowned at a lack of response, “Go on, laugh at the king of pride who wears a mask to cover up how ugly he is.”

Alastor could have kicked him while he was down, but he didn’t. He usually would revel in seeing someone this broken, but somehow it just seemed wrong for the king to be like this.

“Sire,” Alastor began eventually, “it would be rather unsportsmanlike for me to kick you while you’re down, would it not? I bother you because I wanted a reaction out of you— something entertaining like anger or pettiness!”

He paused for a moment, “I don’t expect to get anything entertaining while you are like this. So!” He continued, “I shall help you get your spirits up, then I shall revel in kicking you down again!”

He grinned, leaning forward to the king, “Sound fair?”

Lucifer just blinked at him, a ray of emotions going through his face. Without the veil, Alastor quickly realized that the king was very expressive.

“You are a very strange sinner, you know that?” Lucifer said, moving to the end of the bed and lifting his legs over the side and sitting up.

Lucifer gave him a look, “You may sit as well, be rude of me to make you stand while I eat, no?” He said, motioning for Alastor to sit to his right.

The radio demon hesitated before he sat down next to the king and handed him the plate.

Lucifer looked at it in surprise. “You… actually brought me some… I thought you were just joking honestly, because I told you I would like to try some.”

Alastor paused, not expecting the king to bring it up, “You think too lowly of me, your majesty.”

Lucifer laughed at that, “I suppose so.” Alastor found his smile turning a bit more real at the sight and sound of Lucifer’s laugh.

Alastor wanted to make him smile more.

Wait— what?

Lucifer took the fork and swallowed a bite of the jambalaya, before letting out a soft noise in delight, “Oh I definitely did! This is delicious!” The king said, quickly taking another bite.

The fallen angel’s wings spread out a little bit behind him, and his tail wagged. He was pretty sure the king didn’t realize that he was doing that.

Alastor felt a wave of pride wash through him. It was probably something because the King of Hell enjoyed his cooking. Not because he actually wanted the king to like him.

Definitely not.

He’s just here for entertainment. He’s just here for entertainment.

“What?”

Alastor then realized he was staring at the king.

Whoops.

“Ah nothing! Just thinking.” Alastor said with a wave of his hand.

Lucifer took another bite before swallowing, “Nah, you have a question, I see it on your face— this is really good by the way— anyways, out with it.” Lucifer said, swallowing another mouth full.

Alastor hesitated, figuring out how ask the question without seeming overly rude. He didn’t want the king to kick him out once things got interesting.

“If it’s not too forward, why do you wear that mask? You are hardly that revolting to look at.” The overlord settled on.

Lucifer flinched, his wings poofing up a bit behind him.

Interesting reaction…

“That’s uh, definitely too forward.” Lucifer said, his voice sounding a bit awkward. “That would be like me asking about your tail.”

Alastor blinked in surprise. Then, he let out a soft snort of actual amusement before he could stop himself. “I suppose that’s true. How do you even know about that?”

Lucifer hesitated, seeming to consider for a moment as his wings settled back down. Then, “I can see everything you sinners hide. Like, for example; I can hear your real voice. It’s just.. a quirk I have being an ex-angel…”

Huh.

That was interesting— wait, he can hear Alastor’s real voice?!

“…So yeah, I can see that you have a tail, don’t know what it really looks like but I know you have it.” Lucifer finished, before taking a tentative bite of the jambalaya.

“Sorry if that uh, weirds you out. Lilith always said it was weird.” He apologized.

That set off an alarm bell in Alastor’s head.

Why would the king of hell’s loving wife say something like that often enough for it to be remembered by Lucifer?

He shook his head, a grin forming on his face. “It’s not weird at all!” He paused, before speaking a bit more quietly. “I can uh, show it to you if you want…”

Lucifer lit up, a grin settling onto the fallen angel’s face that gave Alastor a view of his almost adorable looking fangs.

Wait— what?!

“That would be cool of you actually,” Lucifer paused, as if thing for a moment, “…Alastor. Besides, as someone who hides my wings away a lot, almighty knows how messy they get after I bring them out after awhile.”

Lucifer chuckled, finishing the last few bites of his food.

He looked and sounded more lively already, just from a small meal and a chat with Alastor. The radio demon felt a strange feeling akin to pride that he wasn’t quite sure about.

Alastor hesitated, before with a small wave of his wrist and a bit of green magic his tail had formed from the waist of his trousers, having a red fur with a darker fluffy tip.

Lucifer’s eyes flicked over to the overlord's tail. Then he let out a soft little cooing sound like it was adorable. Wait, did Lucifer just sound like a bird?

“Awwww that is so cute! Why do you go around hiding it?” Lucifer asked, an adoring smile on his face.

Alastor’s eye twitched but he couldn’t help the strange fluttering in his stomach when the king called it adorable.

“Precisely for that reason, actually. I am the Radio Demon! I should not be… adorable.”

Lucifer paused looking back up to Alastor’s face with a considerate expression.

“And I am not supposed to be hideous. I suppose we’re both things we should not be, yes?” He said.

Lucifer stretched his wings out for a moment, before a grimace formed on his face when he felt blood stuck between his feathers.

“I think I need to clean up.” Lucifer said eventually. He looked back over to Alastor. “Thanks for talking with me for a moment.” The fallen angel said with a soft smile.

Alastor grinned, taking the empty plate. “This conversation has been riveting!” Alastor began, continuing before stopping himself. “I look forward to further conversations with you.”

Lucifer smiled, a bit of joy inside of his eyes that made Alastor feel happy in a weird way.

“Goodbye Alastor.” Lucifer said with a wave as Alastor headed out the door, closing it behind him.

He let out a sigh as he did so.

What the hell was wrong with him? Why was Alastor feeling these… things about the king!

He was here for entertainment, not for any genuine connection.

Alastor hid away his tail and made his way to the kitchen to put away the dirty dishes.

He needed to think about this.

___

As Alastor washed the dishes, his mind wandered.

Why did the king seem to actually LIKE him?

If the king liked him, why had he ignored all the summonings?

But then, Alastor supposed that he could use this to his advantage.

He could use this as a way to try and get some of Lucifer’s angelic blood. It was the most potent he had tasted and it would be delicious to dine in on occasion.

He could use this to attempt a deal with the king.

Alastor had seen how powerful that his angelic magic was even when it was being filtered through another device. If he had even a taste of his power— He couldn’t imagine all the possibilities.

Another thing. The king wasn’t that horribly ugly despite what Lucifer claimed during their conversation.

And with how weird Lucifer had been expression-wise, it was obvious that the fallen angel had not let anyone see hardly half of his face for a very long time.

So Alastor made a decision.

He would see the other side of the king's face; no matter the amount of lying, pretending, and befriending it took.

He would find out why the king had never responded to Alastor’s attempts to summon him.

And maybe he’d have a little bit of fun on the way.

Chapter Text

After Alastor left, Lucifer let out a soft sigh, his wings pulling close to his body.

He hesitated, before he stood up, stretching his arms above his head and letting out a small groan after his back popped.

He snapped his fingers to summon a portal, but his magic only sparked for a short moment.

He frowned before snapping again, the portal then finally opening. He made his way through into the bathroom within his own palace.

Once he was inside, he started a bath with some cold water. He removed his clothing before he dipped in the tub.

He shuddered at the cool water, before slowly easing into it. He stretched out his wings and began to slowly remove all of the many broken and bloody feathers, realigning them until they all looked somewhat decent again.

The feathers near his shoulder blades itched, and he tried to reach back to remove them but he couldn’t reach that far.

Lucifer missed having Lilith to help him with this.

How did he even get this dirty again?

There was a box… oh. He was drained.

How could he forget that?

He sighed and once his body was clean and all the blood was gone, he stood out of the bath.

Moving over to the mirror, he saw that his eye was still leaking a bit of blood. He reached under the sink and got the medical bandaging out before wrapping it around that side of his head. Some of the scars on his face and body had also opened up as well and he placed wrappings on them to slow the bleeding.

Staring at himself in the mirror, he pondered what Alastor had said.

‘You are hardly that revolting to look at’.

It went against everything Lilith said.

He was disgusting, revolting to look at, hideous.

Was Lilith wrong?

No.

She’s right, she was always right. Why is he questioning what she said over something some dumb sinner said?

Lucifer teleported to his closet and found himself a replication of his normal shirt and jacket.

He put on his normal pants and pulled on his boots over his hooves before changing into his clothes.

He grabbed his mask and summoned his hat before smiling to himself.

Okay. He was presentable.

His powers were back… mostly.

Time to head back to the hotel!

___

When Lucifer returned, he made his way down to the lobby and saw that there were dozens of sinners all throughout.

None of them noticed him though so he was thankful for that. Then, he was spotted by Maggie who was wearing a name tag with ‘Vaggi’ written down.

Oh that was her name! He made a mental note to remember that but he doubted it would stick.

“Oh hey Vaggi!” He said with a cheery facade.

“Oh-! You’re back, sir!” She said, a relieved smile on her face.

“Oh yeah well, nothing keeps the king of hell down for long!” He said with a nervous chuckle.

Vaggi smiled with a relieved breath of air. “Oh, that’s good. I was worried when no one saw you after the battle but Charlie said she saw you portal somewhere. We honestly weren’t sure if you actually came here though.”

Oh.

Charlie hadn’t even... noticed he was still at the hotel.

She just assumed he was okay.

Which—Which is fine! Lucifer is not upset about that.

She’s his daughter, he doesn’t need her attention.

He’s supposed to be there for her, she doesn’t have to worry about Lucifer. He’s supposed to be the one worrying.

So why did it hurt so bad?

“Oh.” He said quietly, “…do you know… where she went?”

Vaggi shook her head, “ah, no unfortunately. She’s been pretty busy since the hotel got more popular and she’s been trying to figure out plans for every guest’s redemption.”

Lucifer’s mask smiled, the expression looking friendly enough but if you ever paid attention for very long you could realize it was fake. “Alright. Thank you for telling me, Vaggi. I’ll see you around”. He said.

“Alright! Uh- bye sir!” She said with a wave as Lucifer walked off.

Lucifer made his way back through the crowd before ducking around into one of the side hallways. He let out a breath of relief.

He forgot how much he hated crowds.

Then, he heard a voice to his left. “Oh wow! Isn’t it the king of hell himself?”

Lucifer turned to face who was talking and saw it was some random woman sinner. “Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

She seemed to brighten at that, making her way over to him and getting up in his personal space, “Well aren’t you a cutie~”

“Uh, I’m sorry but I’m not really interested in whatever you’re about to ask me—“

“Shhh…” She said pressing a finger to Lucifer’s lips to shush him. “Come on, I’m sure I could show you a good time~ Plus I’m sure you’ve been gone for sooo longgg without getting your dick wet since your wife left~” she continued, her voice seductive as she backed him up against the wall.

“Uh, still not really interested. Besides I am still married technically even if she’s not here—“ He said nervously.

“Oh come on, baby~ No one would know—“ She pushed again, only to get cut off by a new voice.

“I do believe that his majesty said no, did he not?” Alastor said, his usual grin wide upon his face. However, there was something in the radio demon’s eyes that conveyed a lack of patience for this sinner and something maybe akin to possessiveness.

What the hell?

“Uh, yeah, I was trying to say no.” Lucifer said nervously, slightly relaxing now that Alastor was here to help him out.

“Hmph, your loss then.” She said with an annoyed voice before walking off with crossed arms.

Lucifer let out a long sigh of relief, one of his extra eyes that he hadn't even realized had opened closing back into his skin.

He looked up at the overlord, “Thanks, Alastor.”

The Radio Demon grinned, leaning forward to be closer to Lucifer’s height. “Well of course! I may be here to see bad things happen but crimes of that variety are not very fun for anyone!” Alastor said simply.

Ah. He was an asshole, but he still had standards.

Great.

“Regardless, I thank you.” He waved at the radio demon. “I’ll see you around, yeah?” Alastor grinned, all tension from earlier gone.

“Of course!” Alastor said before straightening his posture. “Would you like to join me in the library? There’s not very many people in there.”

Lucifer blinked in surprise, staring at the overlord in mild shock. “You want me to join you?” Lucifer said with a disbelieving expression.

What is this guys game? First he hates him now he’s being friendly.

“Obviously,” the demon grinned, “Why else would I invite you.?” Alastor then did something weird.

He held out his arm for Lucifer, as if he was expecting Lucifer to hook his arm underneath and they would walk together.

What the hell?

Lucifer was confused.

Was this some sort of new human custom? It had been a few… maybe more than a few centuries since he checked up on them.

Lucifer hesitated before he hooked his arm with Alastor’s and the two walked side by side. It was a bit awkward at first so Lucifer temporarily increased his height to be at a closer height to the overlord but still shorter.

He really shouldn’t have done that though, because he immediately felt incredibly tired afterwards.

Alastor’s grin took a new edge to it, like a bit of pride or satisfaction. It was strange.

As the two walked, Lucifer could hear faint whispers from behind them.

What were they whispering about?

Once the two reached the Library, Alastor held the door open for him, “After you, your majesty.”

Lucifer frowned, but entered regardless.

Once the two were inside, he turned and spoke to Alastor. “Why are you being so nice to me? It’s odd.”

Alastor paused, his eyes widening a fraction as if he didn’t expect Lucifer to ask questions.

After a moment, the radio demon answered. “I have come to realize that perhaps I was needlessly rude with you during our first several encounters. You are… not the most unpleasant person to be around.”

Lucifer blinked in surprise, before his eyes relaxed a bit. “I’m glad you think so.” Lucifer’s mask smiled with more genuine appearance and he made his way over to a table where he sat down.

While he was here, he might as well get his writing in his journal done. He didn’t remember the last time he wrote in it and he needed to make sure he had it written down for future himself.

Lucifer summoned the book and a quill, Alastor sat down across from him with his own book, having tied his hair up into a pony tail. Then the two sat in quiet peace only interrupted by the scribbling of a quill against parchment.

He wrote down everything he remembered.

He didn’t remember how he got into the box so he put the lack of memory down.

He didn’t recall how long he was in there. He wrote that down.

After a while— Lucifer wasn’t sure how long, Alastor spoke up, staring at him with a curious look in his eyes.

“What are you writing about?” The overlord inquired.

The fallen Angel hesitated, before he answered, “…sometimes I have trouble remembering stuff. So I write it down so I can remember later.” The king answered honestly.

Alastor seemed intrigued at that, “Oh? May I ask what you are writing about currently?”

Lucifer paused, considering whether he should answer. “I usually write about Charlie, but as of late I have much more to write about so… I suppose the last few days? What I recall anyways.”

Alastor seemed to freeze at that, a strange look entering his eyes. “…what you recall?” He repeated, seeming a bit confused.

Oh shit.

He said too much.

“Nevermind!” Lucifer said quickly, “You don’t need to worry about it— it’s fine.”

Alastor frowned but he didn’t argue back.

Once Lucifer finished writing his entries about the recent information, he closed the book and stood up to stretch his back.

“It’s been lovely spending time with you, Alastor. However, I must get going, I think.” Lucifer said apologetically.

Then, before he could stop himself—

“Also, your hair looks nice up, you should wear it like that more often.” Lucifer said with a smile in his eyes before he felt a sense of Deja-vu.

Alastor also paused, giving Lucifer a look that was as indecipherable as ever, but looked a bit concerned.

“Anyways— goodnight, Bambi.” He joked before he walked out, closing the door behind him.

That.. was weird.

Lucifer sighed and rubbed his wedding ring underneath his glove, walking back towards the lobby.

Why had Alastor seemed so concerned?

___

Lucifer did not see Charlie for the rest of the day, or when the next several as well. This was in spite of him searching for her as well.

There were two reasons he supposed why;

One, she was avoiding him.

Two, she had forgotten about the fact he was there.

Lucifer wasn’t quite sure which was worse.

So the king spent some time at the bar and had a few drinks.

Sure, he couldn’t get drunk. But he still liked to pretend he could ignore his problems for longer than he normally did.

And it did help, as after a while he was confused.

Why was he drinking again?

He only drank when he was sad, but he didn’t remember what he was sad about.

Lucifer sighed and drank another drink. Asking the bartender, Musk or something, for another as he spun his current one.

Why do things seem so… wrong?

Lucifer ran his finger over his wedding ring.

Why was he confused again?

He couldn’t remember.

Chapter Text

The moment Lucifer exited the room, Alastor’s mind was left reeling.

Lucifer had obvious memory problems.

How in hell had he not seen it before? The king’s strange behavior— his odd behavior.

It made so many things make sense.

And clearly it was quite severe, considering that he had told Alastor that his hair was nice looking tied up again.

Lucifer had also seemed confused after he said it, but he didn’t even seem to realize he already complimented Alastor on that.

It was baffling.

Alastor wanted to know why.

The king was so interesting and confusing, and was a box of mysteries that Alastor could not find the answer to.

It irritated him.

Alastor shut his book and stood up from his seat, he summoned his shadow with a snap and turned to it.

“Follow him.” He said. The shadow grinned and disappeared off to do as commanded.

Alastor placed the book in the library’s return bin before exiting the room, heading off back in the direction of the Lobby.

The moment he entered, the room dissolved into whispers.

They talked about how he had the king with him. How they had spent hours alone in the library together.

Good.

They understood that the King of Hell was only to be messed with by the Radio Demon.

Alastor grinned.

He then noticed the demon from earlier, she was currently walking out into the front to go smoke. Alastor silently followed her.

She sighed and lit a cigarette, leaning against the exterior wall of the hotel.

“Well hello again!” Alastor said cheerfully, making his way over to her.

He snatched her cigarette and crushed it under his boot.

“I think it’s time we continued our discussion from earlier, yes?” He stepped forward.

“You see, while the king of hell may not be able to hurt you sinners, I certainly can.” The street lights flickered.

Alastor disappeared from where he was standing and appeared on her other side, less than a foot away from her.

“And I do not take kindly to others messing with my toys. I’m sure you understand.” He got less than an inch away from her face, his form growing in height, his antlers expanding in length, and the street lights turning green.

“You… do understand, yes?” He said, his voice low and threatening.

She let out a small whimper of fear, “O-Of course! It won’t happen again, I swear it!” She exclaimed.

Alastor returned to his normal form, a smug grin forming on his face. “Good.” He leaned in, “You better.” He threatened, before he dissolved into the shadows and was gone

___

Alastor’s shadow followed Lucifer around as he went about his day.

And the king’s routine was admittedly kind of sad.

Lucifer had spent about an hour wandering the hotel to find Charlie, only for her to always leave immediately after he entered the room, or completely ignore him for other conversations.

After that, the king went to the bar and drank enough to kill a man, but was still sober, if not a little tired looking.

Then, after Husk closed down the bar, Lucifer made his way back to his room.

The shadow watched as Lucifer just stood there for a solid minute, staring blankly at something in the darkness, his eyes empty.

It was like the king wasn’t even there.

The shadow noticed the king rub the gem on his wedding band before his eyes slid over to his desk in a way that was almost mechanical.

Then the king walked over to his desk and grabbed something from a drawer, it glinted slightly in the faint light.

It was a dagger made of angelic steel.

Before Alastor’s shadow realized what was happening, the king rolled up his sleeve, took the dagger, and stabbed it violently into his wrist, the blade going completely through his flesh and poking out the other side.

Then the king did it again.

And again.

And again.

Afterwards, the king was left panting, his face appearing distorted and odd to the shadow. Then, he cleaned off the blade and set it back in the drawer.

Lucifer opened another drawer of his desk and pulled out some bandages and wrapped up his arm, then rolled the sleeve back down.

After the process was over, Lucifer then seemed to blink suddenly in surprise, the life returning to his eyes.

“…what just happened? How did I get here…?” Lucifer mumbled, seeming incredibly confused and a little dazed.

Lucifer looked down at his arm where some blood bled through his sleeve, and his eyes widened, his mask forming a sad expression.

“Oh shit- how did that happen?” Lucifer exclaimed, seeming a bit startled.

Did the king not realize he had done that to himself?

He hadn't seemed very conscious doing the whole thing as well.

The shadow was confused.

Then the king seemed to freeze, before turning to face the shadow with an unreadable expression.

But the room was so dark, he couldn’t possibly see it—

“I see you.” The fallen angel said, before he took a step forward, his wings stretching out from his back and his many eyes opening.

“I suggest you get out before I 尺丨卩 卂卩卂尺ㄒ ㄚㄖㄩ尺 卂ㄒㄖ爪丂 卂几ᗪ 乇几丂ㄩ尺乇 ㄚㄖㄩ尺 爪卂丂ㄒ乇尺 匚卂几几ㄖㄒ 尺乇匚尺乇卂ㄒ乇 ㄒ卄丨丂 爪卂Ꮆ丨匚 卂Ꮆ卂丨几”

Alastor’s shadow promptly left the room.

___

Alastor was walking back to his own room when his shadow reappeared.

He let out an annoyed sound, “Why have you returned early? I sent you to watch the king. I did not tell you to return.” Alastor growled at the Shadow, grabbing its wrist and pulling it into his bayou room.

The shadow let out a series of screeches and whimpers, before Alastor let out a frustrated sigh and released the thing.

“Explain to me, slowly.” He demanded in a low, threatening voice.

Then the shadow went and explained everything it saw, sounding a bit frantic.

Once it was done, Alastor was completely still his hand gripping the table in his bayou so hard that it snapped.

“He… stabbed himself? And then forgot?” He repeated, his voice low.

Alastor was in disbelief.

Clearly the king’s issues were incredibly bad, worse than the king himself even realized.

What drove him to stab himself? The king had not displayed any signs of depression to that extent until the moment he did it.

His shadow had found it hard to explain it but had described it as if a puppet’s strings had suddenly been pulled.

Did the king have a soul deal?

No, that would not make sense.

The king did not even have a soul to trade so it had to be something else.

Alastor needed to do some research…

___

The next day, Alastor found Lucifer in the hotel’s lounge, wearing his usual outfit sans the coat.

The king was sat down in one of the lounge chairs, wearing his mask but skipping out on the hat and instead just having a cloth veil over his head.

And as Alastor expected, Lucifer seemed to be avoiding any pressure or weight on the arm he stabbed.

Alastor made his way over to the king and approached behind his chair, before he rested his elbows on the back of it and looked down at the fallen angel.

“Well good morning, your majesty!” Alastor said with a grin. The king flinched, before letting out a sigh and looking up towards Alastor.

“Good morning uh, Alastor.” Lucifer said, sounding bored but there was a slightest bit of friendliness to the devil’s tone that sent a wave of smug satisfaction through him.

It did bother him how the fallen angel hesitated on his name though. He supposed he should be grateful he remembered it at all if his memory was truly as bad as Alastor was beginning to believe.

“Do you mind if I join you today?” Alastor asked, a smile forming on his face that was way too genuine for his own liking.

Why did he derive so much joy from the king’s presence?

Lucifer seemed a bit surprised by the question, “I don’t see why not. I think you’ll find my day dreadfully boring however.” Lucifer said.

The fallen angel closed his book before standing up.

He turned back to Alastor before holding out his hand expectantly, waiting for the overlord to take it.

The radio demon hesitated, before he took the king’s hand.

Then in a dizzying movement, the two were transported to a room Alastor had not seen before. Then, the overlord realized where he was.

He was in the Morningstar Palace.

“Well quit gaping. You wanted to join me today and I was going to spend my day in the palace today.”

Lucifer said, staring at him with a bored expression and crossed arms.

Alastor blinked and turned back to Lucifer, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

Why was he so embarrassed? He is the god's damned radio demon!

“Of course; my apologies, your highness.” Alastor said with a mock apologetic voice before following the king down several hallways.

The place was built like a maze, every turn having tons of paths to take and very few markers of direction, yet the king navigated it perfectly.

It was dreadfully empty though, Alastor wondered how Charlie managed to grow up here.

“Awfully confusing of a building. Did you enjoy making mazes when designing the place?” Alastor teased, a playful grin on his face as he sped up to walk aside Lucifer.

“The palace has magic in place to confuse every sinner who enters. Anyone who is a member of the royal family can see its actual appearance and as such can navigate it better.” Lucifer explained boredly.

Ah. So it was an illusion then.

Suddenly, Lucifer stopped and turned to face a wall where there was a large painting of Lucifer, Lilith, and Charlie when she was younger.

The king was not wearing anything on his face, but Alastor knew it was not his true face, but perhaps an imitation of what he once looked like when he was an angel.

The king approached the wall and poked it once with his finger. Then a door appeared in a small burst of golden light.

Lucifer opened the door and allowed Alastor to enter first.

The inside looked like an office of sorts. There were many paintings and family portraits of the Morningstars and some of whom Alastor assumed were the six other deadly sins.

Lucifer walked past Alastor and sat down at a large desk, summoning a quill before sighing as he grabbed a paper from atop a stack.

Lucifer hesitated, before he turned back around in his chair and summoned a large comfy chair near his desk for Alastor to sit in. Then, he made a stack of several books that Alastor had noticed in the library that he had considered reading sometime in the future.

“I’ll be working for a while, so you can read in the meantime if you’d like.” Lucifer offered, turning back around in his chair and returning his attention to the paperwork.

Then, he did something Alastor wasn’t expecting.

Lucifer removed his mask.

Of course, he still had that veil sans the hat, and he appeared to be wearing a large amount of bandages over his face underneath said veil which obscured any details.

But it still surprised Alastor.

The overlord made his way over to the chair Lucifer acquired for him and was surprised to find it was the exact type of chair that he preferred to sit in.

Had the king been paying attention to what he liked?

Alastor would not admit it if asked, but he was very flattered.

He grabbed a book and quietly opened it, summoning reading glasses and removing his monocle to properly read the text as the font was a tad too small to be properly readable.

Then, the two sat in quiet as they minded to their own businesses.

___

After a few hours, Lucifer finally finished up all of the paperwork which had been piled up over the past year or two which he had neglected.

Alastor was startled when the king then let out a small hiss of pain, sitting up in his chair.

“I’m fine! Everything’s alright. You can calm down.” Lucifer said quickly, grabbing his arm and holding it still.

It was the arm Lucifer had stabbed, Alastor realized.

The devil magicked what appeared to be some bandages and replaced the old ones which were stained with golden blood.

“How did that happen?” Alastor spoke up, already knowing the answer but wondering if Lucifer would answer truthfully.

The king paused momentarily, before he finished the wrapping.

“I… don't remember.” Lucifer said quietly, his hand absentmindedly tracing a circle over his wedding band.

Hmm…

“That’s a little odd.” Alastor said after a moment. “Does… that happen often?” The overlord asked.

Lucifer considered for a moment. “I… don’t know. I’m sure I was just careless with something or I got it when I… when I…” Lucifer trailed off, his brow furrowing as if he was confused.

Then, the king summoned his journal with a small burst of flame, and rapidly turned the pages until he reached the date Alastor realized was the day that he and Lucifer had spent time in the library.

After a moment, Lucifer continued. “I’m sure I got it during the whole thing with Box…” Lucifer finished quietly, closing the journal and setting it on his desk.

It was within arms reach if Alastor was bold enough to grab it.

“Vox.” Alastor spoke up, “He was called Vox. Not ‘Box’.” He said, his brow furrowing.

Lucifer couldn’t even remember the whole kidnapping properly? That whole thing should have been incredibly traumatic yet the angel acted as if it was barely an event of importance.

Lucifer paused at that, turning to Alastor. “I’ll… write that in then I suppose.” Lucifer said, grabbing his journal and scribbling down in it.

“What else do you not remember?” How can Alastor exploit this?

Lucifer hesitated for a moment, seeming to weigh if he should answer honestly.

“I can’t remember for the life of me how I even got in that weird jar thing. I try to remember but the closest I get is I think I was watching a video on my phone… but then I got a call and then… I was in the box.” Lucifer admitted.

So the king would have just random massive memory gaps? That’s incredibly convenient if Alastor ever needs to interrogate the king without him knowing.

“That’s… unfortunate…” Alastor said eventually, his tone careful.

They sat there for a moment, before Alastor spoke up. “May I ask you another question, sire?”

Lucifer contemplated. “Sure, but I have the right to not answer if I wish.” He agreed.

Alastor grinned.

He stood up, walking around and approaching Lucifer’s chair from the front and leaning over the king, placing both of his arms on the arm rests of it.

Lucifer’s eyes widened, seeming a bit startled by Alastor getting all up in his space.

“You may not recall, but do you ever remember receiving any summonings during the 1930’s?” Alastor said, his voice low and with a slight purr to it.

Lucifer’s brow furrowed, thinking for a second. Then, his eyes widened. “I may vaguely recall getting a few calls to summons then… although that was when Charlie was going through puberty and Lilith actually called for some backup on that one.” He said hesitantly, looking up towards Alastor.

Alastor’s eyes narrowed. “And you just ignored them…?”

“I started ignoring those after they did all those weird witch hunts and demon hunts in the… what century was that? Plus a lot of those in the 30’s were human sacrifices… I only jam with sacrificial lambs.” Lucifer replied nervously.

Lucifer only responded to lamb sacrifices?

He just needed a damn lamb?!

Alastor stood up straight, his brow furrowed in thought.

“Let me guess, those were you?” Lucifer said, his head tilting curiously.

Alastor let out an annoyed huff and crossed his arms, glancing away from Lucifer. “Don’t mock me.” He said with a growl.

Lucifer chuckled and stood up on his chair so he was a similar height to Alastor and reached his arm up to playfully ruffle the overlord’s hair and gently pet his ears.

Alastor let out a loud radio screech, but that did not deter the king who just chuckled and removed his hand.

Why did he kind of enjoy being pet for a second?

“Calm down, Bambi. I’m just teasing you.” Lucifer said with an amused tone of voice, but it lacked any bite or mocking.

Alastor let out a dramatic sigh, huffing and sitting back down in his chair and crossing his arms. “Do not call me that.”

Lucifer snorted, resting his arms on the armrest and his chin between his hands. “What do you want me to call you then?” The fallen angel said with a light tone to his voice. His tail swayed back and forth behind him in his chair in a way that endeared Alastor.

Damn this stupid king.

Alastor did pause for a moment to consider what the king could call him.

He didn’t want the king to call him something stupid, nor anything too unfriendly.

“Because I can just start naming names until you pick one—“

“Al.” Alastor cut him off. “You can call me Al.”

Lucifer blinked, before his eyes smiled in a way Alastor could tell he was grinning under his veil.

“Alrighty then, Al.” Lucifer said, standing up out of his chair. He grabbed his mask and placed it back on his face, and then he turned.

“I’ll be back in a second, I need to go grab something.” Lucifer said, rushing off to another room.

Lucifer’s journal was right there.

Alastor motioned his shadow to grab it, which it did with a grin before disappearing off.

They had perfect timing as Lucifer made his way back to Alastor and approached him.

He held his hand out to the overlord, another expectant look on his face.

“Well I’m finished up here, so let’s get going.” Lucifer said.

Alastor hesitated before he took the king's hand. Then the room spun as they reappeared in the hotel.

God, that made him motion sick.

“Well, this has been a pleasant day.” Alastor said after a moment, looking back over to Lucifer who released his hand.

Lucifer nodded, a smile appearing on his mask. “It was.” He agreed, “I’ll see you around then, Al?” He said with a light tone.

Alastor nodded, a grin spreading on his face. “Of course, your majesty!”

Lucifer paused, frowning. “No. I get to call you Al, so you can call me Lucifer. No more ‘your majesty’ bullshit. Alright?” He said.

Alastor was so good at this.

“As you wish, Lucifer.” He said with a grin before dissolving into the shadows.

___

Alastor reappeared in his bayou room and grinned proudly to himself.

He lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke, enjoying the burn on his throat.

He set it down before turning to his magic companion.

“Bring it here.” He said to the shadow who smiled widely, carrying the journal over to him.

The journal was old looking, but had been preserved by time with very powerful magic.

It was definitely Lucifer’s journal.

He flipped through the pages, seeing entries that dated back to before even the American civil war.

His teeth glowed in the dim lighting of his room.

“Let’s get reading then, shall we?”