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“Dad… how could you? You always find a way to fuck it up huh.”
No…
Wait…
I didn’t….
“Lucifer for your part in this war, you will be sentenced… to death.”
I didn’t want to….
Please.
“Now hold on one moment.”
Lucifer’s head jerked up at the buzzy sound of the Radio Demon’s voice. Everyone in the Hall of Judgement turned to look at the red sinner as he stepped forward.
“If you truly think Lucifer willingly went to Vox and allowed himself to be used to power the weapon… then you angels are all far more stupid than I thought.” Alastor found himself stepping forward and in front of the shackled king. He just looked so… pathetic down there. It had triggered Alastor’s long forgotten sense of morals, and Lucifer really hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Excuse me?” Lute flew up from her seat in disbelief, “Of course he knew! He wanted to get revenge and-“
“He did no such thing. Look at him! This angel is a soft hearted idiot who is only driven by wanting the approval of his daughter. Do you mean to imply that Charlie wanted her father to be used that way?” Alastor waved his staff around the room before pointing it at the princess.
As all eyes turned to her Charlie seemed to come to her senses… a little bit at least.
“What? No! Of course I didn’t want that! But dad went to that warehouse on his own accord! What else could he have been doing!” Charlie snapped back.
Alastor gave a long exasperated sigh, “did it truly never cross your minds that Lucifer was manipulated? I know how well Vox can mimic voices. He controls all the technology in Hell. Are all of you really so short sighted to not see what’s really going on here?”
Alastor was getting quite a bit more heated than he thought, but then again, he did just get a very nice new job and he very much wanted to keep it. How would he ever be the Kings executioner if said King was dead?
Sera looked pensive, but still distrustful. Lucifer wasn’t exactly helping matters, but Alastor supposed he couldn’t hold it against him too much. The poor fallen angel seemed utterly frozen in terror.
“That may be so, but Lucifer has been known to lie for his own benefit, how do we know this isn’t another one?” Sera asked, looking down at the King.
“Known to lie? Really? Really? Think back, how many lies do you remember Lucifer telling.” Alastor snapped back.
The crowd of angels around Sera started murmuring.
“Well there was that one time…. Wait, no…”
“But how about- no not then either…”
“Remember the- hmm… not that…”
The muttering continued as the angels tried to find an instance of Lucifer lying. Alastor’s smile just got wider and wider.
“Enough!” Sera snapped at the other angels. The hall fell quiet once more as the high seraphim stepped forward. “All of that may be true, but Lucifer still took part in the war. He-“
“As an unwilling prisoner. Are you telling me Heaven is under the impression that even prisoners of war must be punished?” Alastor was fighting quite hard to keep himself calm. He knew if he lost control of himself that would definitely not help matters. But for Hells sake!! Were all angels this obtuse?
“Silence sinner!” Several eyes opened along Sera’s feathers as she spoke. “It still doesn’t change things. Lucifer was instrumental in Vox reaching Heaven. For that he must be punished. I’m sorry but-“
“Sera, Sera.” The calm voice floated around the room and Alastor looked up to see the giant golden angel float out from somewhere behind the Seraphim. “Calm yourself, you are being too hasty.”
Sera had the good sense to look chastised. Alastor turned away from Sera to look at Lucifer. The angel was trembling where he knelt, large tears dripping off his chin to splatter quietly on the ground below.
The golden angel floated closer to Lucifer, “it’s been a long time little Morningstar.” Her hand came up to gently grasp Lucifer’s chin.
“I’m- I’m s-sorry mother.” Lucifer sobbed.
Mother? Alastor’s head snapped towards the pair with alarming speed. The Speaker of God gently dissolved Lucifer’s chains and gathered the sobbing angel into her arms.
“You’ve had a hard time down there, haven’t you starling.” The Speaker murmured.
Alastor saw Lucifer nod, still sobbing quietly.
“Tell me what happened little one.” The Speaker whispered.
Lucifer began to retell the whole sordid tale, “… and then Ch-Charlie called me and sent me her location and I-I went there and Vox was there and h-he put me in that awful machine and I- it h-hurt so much- I d-didn’t want to- I- and then- Alastor got m-me out. He saved me but it was too late. I had already ruined everything again.”
The angel looked so utterly heartbroken that even Alastor felt his own heart give a little nudge of compassion. He found himself stepping a little closer to Lucifer almost unconsciously. The Speaker said nothing for a moment, only continued to pet Lucifer’s hair gently.
“I sense no lies from you Lucifer. But as you know, the choice is not up to me. I can only hope your story will inspire some compassion from the High Seraphim.” The Speaker of God gently wiped the tears from Lucifer’s face.
As the Speaker stepped back, Alastor could have sworn he saw a look of distain cast towards Charlie and the other angels.
Interesting.
Alastor stepped even closer to Lucifer, his ever loyal executioner. All eyes turned to Sera as she looked down at Lucifer. Alastor could see Lucifer trembling faintly where he stood. Sera sighed heavily, the eyes along her feathers closing as she rubbed her forehead. Eventually the Seraphim gave her verdict.
“Fine. Lucifer. Fine. I suppose you’re off the hook for this particular mistake, but you should know how close it was.” Sera didn’t look exactly thrilled at the prospect of letting Lucifer go. “However, some kind of ramification much be given. Lucky for you this one is not permanent.”
Sera nodded to one of the other angels and a few of them flew down to Lucifer. Alastor watched as the chains rematerialized around Lucifer’s wrists. While Alastor didn’t know what was happening, Lucifer seemed to know exactly what would come next. The angel was shaking even harder, whimpering slightly under his breath.
“Come on Lucifer. Don’t make his harder than it already is.” One of the angels said.
Lucifer was still shaking his head, “No Michael please. Don’t do this.”
Michael stayed silent, instead he simply struck Lucifer in the spine hard enough for his wings to emerge. Alastor, sensing what was about to happened, stepped forward to try and get in between Lucifer and Michael, but found himself pinned in place by some unseen force.
The golden chains yanked Lucifer around until he was kneeling with his back straight. Once he was appropriately positioned, Michael stepped forward and began to methodically rip off Lucifer’s wings.
Alastor didn’t think he would ever forget the sounds Lucifer made. It was worse than anything he’d heard from any Overlord he’d killed. Cutting a glance over to Charlie, Alastor found the princess caught between a state of shock and fury. Alastor could only hope it was fury for her father rather than at him, but Alastor wouldn’t hold his breath. When Michael was finished he stepped back and watched Lucifer slump to the floor. The kings eyes were wide and glassy and he kept twitching slightly. A portal opened nearby and Michael unceremoniously kicked Lucifer through it. As the angel fell from Heaven again Alastor found he could once again move. Without considering the consequences, he flung himself after Lucifer with a last angry snarl at the assembled crowd.
As Alastor jumped, he could hear the Speaker of God’s angry shout of ”SERA!”
Alastor didn’t care. All he cared about was the Angel currently hurtling back to Hell. He shot out the black tentacles from his back, as well as the ground, hoping that one of them would catch the king before he hit the ground. Fuck all of the angels and their ridiculous politics. Alastor tried not to think about how Lucifer had been as an angel. He couldn’t help but think that Lucifer probably hadn’t changed that much when he fell. And to be stuck down here with the worst of humanity after losing your only family… well, he could see why Lucifer acted the way he did.
As Lucifer neared the ground, Alastor was finally able to snag the king out of the sky. As Alastor landed safely, he opted to have his tentacles carry the king as they were able to avoid the gaping wounds on his back better than Alastor could. As he entered the hotel Alastor saw Charlie running out of a portal towards him and he deftly moved Lucifer up and away from her.
“Alastor! Is my dad ok?” Charlie asked as she tried to see her father.
“Oh, so now you care about him? Interesting.” Alastor didn’t deign to stop and talk, he had a king to care for.
Charlie followed him like an ill-behaved puppy. “What’s that supposed to mean?? Of course I care.”
“Really princess? Really? I don’t seem to recall you falling with me to save him, nor do I recall any of your defense of your father to the other angels.” Alastor continued walking to his room.
“That’s different! He shouldn’t have done any of that in the first place!” Charlie snapped at Alastor.
“Hmm.” Alastor stopped at the door of his room and turned to the princess. “Consider this Charlotte. Everything your father has done has been for you. Vaggie told him Vox was bothering you, so we went to intimidate him, knowing he couldn’t do anything to that filthy sinner. He did that for you. He built a new hotel for you. He got a meeting with Heaven for you. He came to fight Adam because you were in danger. And yet, the moment he does something you deem as wrong he gets told to leave. Again. Of course you wouldn’t notice this in your crusade to be right hmm? For all you preach of second chances and forgiveness and ‘it starts with sorry’, you really are quite the hypocritical brat aren’t you, Princess?”
Alastor gave Charlie one more hard look, reveling in how pale the Princess had gone. Good. Maybe she would actually think about her actions now.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking the king to tend to him.” Alastor gave a self important sniff in the princesses direction before he entered his room and closed the door firmly in the princesses face.
Carefully Alastor cleaned and bandaged the kings wounds before gently laying Lucifer into the bed.
“It’s alright Lucifer dear. I’m here, I’m never going to allow anyone to harm you ever again.” In the dimness of the bayou, Alastor’s smile lit up the room.
“She’s not… really my mother…” Lucifer whispered suddenly. Alastor looked down in surprise, he hadn’t expected Lucifer to wake up yet.
“Hmm?” Alastor asked.
“The… the Speaker. She’s not really my mother…. I didn’t know… my mother…” Lucifer whispered.
Ah. Of course. Alastor nodded in acknowledgment, and gently pet Lucifer’s head. “Of course darling. Try and get some rest alright? I’ll be here when you wake dear.”
Lucifer nodded slowly before his eyes closed again. Alastor stroked Lucifer’s hair gently. Lucifer would heal, and grow strong and Alastor would take his duties very seriously.
Lucifer would never be harmed again, Alastor would make sure of that.
End.