A/N: This is kind of an AU version of the movie in which demons are thrown into the mix. But not all demons are necessarily evil, just as some angels aren't exactly good. It'll all be made clear as the story progresses.
Rating: M for language, violence, sexual content, torture, and other things. Read at your own risk.
Summary: Angels want Charlie's unborn baby dead, but a handful of demons want it alive, and a demon named Lydia has clawed her way out of Hell to obtain the child and hide it from the angels. Possessing a young woman and posing the waiting adopter, all Lydia has to do is bide her time and wait for the birth of the child. But when the angels make their move, she has no choice but to hurry to Paradise Falls to ensure the safety of Charlie and her unborn child. There, she comes face to face with the archangel Michael, and the angel and demon are forced to work together in order to keep the mother and unborn child safe. With the future unclear, one thing is certain - their lives will forever be intertwined, for good or for evil.
Disclaimer: I do not own Legion.
It was no secret that one day a child would be born who would save mankind from itself, it was a prophesy that was practically as old as the Earth itself. It seemed inevitable that it would happen. But things in both Heaven and Hell were changing, and not for the better. In Heaven, rumor was that angels were beginning to question things and that God Himself was beginning to detest his creation just as he did when he sent that flood. As for the demons, well, some might say that a few hundred or so were were not thrilled with following the rules of Hell, of Lucifer.
One demon in particular who retained a fraction of her lost humanity, Lydia, did not desire to see the baby that would be born someday fall into the harmful hands of angels.
So when Lydia and a few other demons who shared her way of thinking learned that a woman was pregnant with that very child, they went into action and took every measure to make sure that the child would come into their hands and out of the angels' reach.
Since she was one of the most… human of the bunch, so to speak, she was given the task of getting the child. So, she clawed her way out of Hell as she had many times before – not an easy task – and possessed a young woman named Sally Graves who had been in a coma and brain dead – she always preferred her vessels to be empty when she moved in. Once she managed to convince the pin headed doctors that she was alive and well, more or less, she set her sights on the child, her sources informing her that the woman who had conceived the child was named Charlie and worked at a diner called Paradise Falls.
With the help of her fellow demons, they manufactured false documents of every kind so as to convince the young mother of the child – Charlie – that her child was going to be living with Lydia Graves and her husband Ben in San Francisco. To explain the absence of a husband on the phone and during every meeting, Lydia told Charlie on the few occasions they spoke that he was in the office or something. She struck a friendship with Charlie, careful to put any worries of her's at ease so as not to make her back out of the deal. Thus far, everything had gone according to plan, though it killed Lydia to stay out of trouble so as not to give her current identity a criminal record. The demons working with her could fix her mistakes, but they really did not need that kind of complication with so much riding on them getting their hands on that baby. As it was, there were demons posing as doctors, lawyers, this, that, and the other thing just to give Charlie the impression that this adoption was real and legal, not just for show.
And then a little rumor reached her ears a few hours earlier, a rumor spread by some of the angels sympathetic to their cause that had her blood running cold.
An order had been given in Heaven, and that order was for the child to die. Why God and half of Heaven wanted to put the little twerp on ice before it was even born was beyond her, but she and a few factions in Hell wanted very much to keep him alive, though they each had their own reasons.
Lydia could not allow that baby to be killed, and though angels were not beings she wanted to cross paths with, she would fight them all if it meant keeping them from harming a hair on Charlie and the baby's heads.
Gripping the wheel of the car she'd stolen a few hours ago, she sped down the all but vacant road towards Paradise Falls, desperate to get there as fast as she possibly could and give Charlie some reason to get the hell out of there and into hiding.
She snorted, shaking her head slightly.
That was going to be fun, especially if Charlie refused to go anywhere, but Lydia would drag that woman out by her hair if she had to.
Whispers reached her ears suddenly, making her cock her head as the captured her full attention. They were the whispers of her fellow demons warning her that hell was being unleashed from Heaven, but that wasn't news to her. She could feel the angels, feel their divine presence on Earth, and it was enough to make her heart pound fearfully.
There wasn't much time left.
Tucking a lock of long, dark brown hair behind her ear, she brought her focus back to the road and focused on driving. She needed to reach the Charlie before the angels did.
Still, she couldn't help but wonder if it would be some average angel sent to do the deed or if it would be an archangel. She hoped that it was just some random angel, but in her gut she knew that it could only be an archangel tasked with the order to kill such a big ticket item, and that sent the fear of God through her.
Angels were one thing, but archangels scared her to death and were not who she wanted to get in a tussle with. If the archangel Michael was able to boot Lucifer's ass down to Hell, it would be no trouble at all for one of them to send her packing, if not kill her altogether.
As a demon, she possessed inhuman strength and agility, and while possessing a human she could ride the body around for as long as she desired, unable to die. Getting shot, stabbed, or strangled would do nothing to her, though it did hurt like hell, and holy water, salt, crosses, and whatnot could ruin her whole day, but the most any human could do to her was exorcise her and send her ass back to Hell.
Among the humans, she had little to fear of death, because the only things that could kill a demon were other demons as well as angels. So when there was a real possibility that she could come face to face with an archangel, God's strongest breed of warrior, she was understandably a little apprehensive and frightened.
The child as well as its mother, however, were worth the danger she was putting herself in. That baby needed to be born.
It felt like she had been driving for days when it had only been hours, and by the time she saw Paradise Falls it was already well into the evening and in another handful of hours the sun would be setting. She didn't want to be driving in the middle of the night when the angels came knocking in search of the child, so she was praying to God – so to speak – that she could convince Charlie to come with her quickly.
Pulling into the dirt parking lot, Lydia glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror.
When angels possessed a human it was hard not to notice. The vessel's eyes went black and their teeth turned sharp, taking on what could be called a demonic appearance. The same could not be said for demons. As long as they did not utilize their abilities to any real degree, a demon could possess a human and show little to no physical side effects for months or even a year, but eventually the body would be worn down. Lydia had done everything possible to keep from using her abilities – the strength, powers, all of it – just so that she could keep the vessel in pristine condition, and sometimes she went weeks without using them at all. But the fact of the matter was that eventually her skin would develop sores and tears like it was being stretched too tight. Eventually, she would have to ditch her vessel and take on a new one, and she wasn't looking forward to that day.
Staring at her reflection, she sighed.
This vessel was similar to how she had looked hundreds of years ago when she was still alive, still human. The dark brown hair, the hazel eyes, even the petite body type – all of it reminded her of how she used to look. Had she not taken on witchcraft as a hobby and gotten herself burned, she might not have gone to Hell, might not have been given ripped and torn to shreds by fellow demons intent on torturing her soul until she gave in and was morphed into a demon herself like so many before her.
The appearance of the vessel she was in now, this Sally Grave, reminded her of the life she had so long ago. Call her nostalgic, but she missed those days. Though she did like the wardrobe of this time more than she did hundreds of years ago, taking a keen fondness of the blood red shirt she wore beneath her black leather jacket and the dark wash jeans, the black boots, even the jewelry.
Shaking her head, getting her damn head out of the clouds, she stepped out of the car to get to the task at hand. There was a shift in the air that made her shudder, feeling the impending danger nearing with a dark chill.
Lydia wondered inside, noticing that the diner had a few customers.
There was a girl wearing a too short black skirt and tight black top over by the jukebox that needed to be updated to the twenty-first century, and a well-dressed couple was sitting in a booth.
Last time she checked, this could be called busy for the diner.
"Lydia?"
Looking towards the familiar voice, she spotted Percy looking in her direction from behind the counted
"Hey, Percy," she greeted, walking over, giving the man a friendly smile
He returned it, pleased to see her. "Been a while since you've stopped in, hun."
That was an understatement.
Staying under the radar of opposing demons, careful not to draw their attention to the child she was desperate to protect, was stressful and made her incredibly paranoid at the best of times. She had been coming to visit Charlie at the diner once every couple of weeks – hence how she knew Percy, Bob, and Jeep – and normally called every few days, but lately it was just too dangerous for Charlie and the baby for her to make contact with them.
So, Lydia had stayed away for their safety until she was forced to come out of the woodwork again.
"S'pose you're here to check up on Charlie?" he guessed, getting a beer for her.
She nodded, accepting the beer and taking a long drink. "You could say that. Where is she?"
Before Percy could reply, Bob, who was standing on a chair and smacking the TV, replied tersely, "The hell do you think she is? And where the hell have you been? I was just startin' to enjoy you comin' down and stealing Charlie for a while."
"Oh, you know, running from demons, making sure my ass isn't booted back to Hell. The usual," she replied straight-faced and honest. Bob gave her the 'are you on drugs' look, and she rolled her eyes. "I've been getting things ready for the baby and my mother's been in the hospital. Christ, take a joke, Bob."
"You got a shitty sense of humor," he grumbled.
Funny enough, she hadn't been kidding, but it was fun to yank his chain a little.
Bob hit the TV again, and Percy shook his head and warned lightheartedly, "Lord as my witness, Bob, one of these days, that thing's gonna hit you back."
"What are you talking about, Percy?" he questioned, attention fully on the malfunctioning TV mounted on the wall. "We got a special relationship here."
"Yeah, they got names for that kinda relationship."
Shaking her head at them, smiling, she said to Percy, "I'll go find Charlie."
She really didn't have to go searching, knowing full well that she should have expected her to be out back smoking to begin with. As much as Lydia liked Charlie, that human really had little care for the effects that smoking might have on the baby. There were times where she wanted to shout at the woman angrily and smack her until she got her head on straight, to just make her realize how damn special that unborn baby was to the world.
Sure enough, as she rounded the corner outside taking another drink, she saw Charlie standing against the diner with a cigarette in her hand.
"Thought you said you were gonna quit," Lydia commented.
Startled, Charlie's eyes darted her way, and she smirked when she saw that it was just her. "Said I'd think about it, and I did." Taking a long drag, she blew out a puff of smoke and added, "Decided not to."
To worried about other things to dwell on her smoking habits, Lydia asked, "How're you and the baby?"
"Find. Baby boy's been kickin' up a storm the past few days though," she replied, tapping her fingers on her rounded belly. "Been six weeks since I've seen or heard from you. Weren't for that text, I'd have thought you were backin' outta this."
"Mom's been in the hospital," she lied with a casual shrug. "I had so much going on that, well, there really is no excuse. Sorry if I freaked you out."
"Should be," she snapped with no bite. "Last thing I need is to be stuck with some kid."
"Bet you'd change your tune if you held him."
"Exactly why I don't wanna even look at him after he's born," she retorted sharply, taking another drag. "Don't need to risk gettin' attached."
That was a pretty cold way for a mother to think of her child, but it was hardly Lydia's problem if Charlie like the baby or not. As long as they were both safe, Charlie could hate him for all she cared… though she preferred that she didn't hate him.
That same chill from earlier ran down her spine, and she shifted anxiously.
Frowning, Charlie asked, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," she assured her, voice distant. She then looked her in the eye, put a smile on her face, and inclined her head towards her car. "How about we head down to L.A and do some shopping, huh?"
"What? Now?"
"Sure! C'mon, it'll be fun! I'm sure Bob wouldn't mind you getting outta his hair for a while," she insisted.
"I would, God, I would in a heartbeat, but my ankles are about to fall off and my back is killin' me," she sighed regretfully.
"All the more reason for you to leave for a while," she reasoned. "Hell, the drive is hours long and we don't even have to do anything to day. You could just stay at my place with me and my husband, and we can shop around tomorrow."
Charlie shook her head, giving her a weird look. "Now, Bob would be pissed if I missed a whole day all of a sudden."
"Who gives a shit about what he thinks?" she snapped angrily, feeling her anxiety rise. "Let's just go!"
"What's with you, Lydia?" Charlie asked, confused by her strange behavior. Looking at the beer, she asked, "Are you drunk?"
"No, I just –"
"Merry Christmas," a man interrupted, walking towards them from his SUV.
Lydia glared at the man, making him falter, and she turned her eyes back to Charlie and hissed, "You need to come with me, Charlie, it's important."
"I ain't going anywhere with you, Lydia," Charlie stated tightly, quietly. "Not when you're actin' so… fuckin' crazy!"
Looking back and forth between the two, the newcomer commented to Charlie, pointing at the cigarette, "You know, that shit ain't really good for the baby."
"Guess I should think about quitin' then," Charlie huffed, in no mood to be lectured further on her smoking habits.
Rolling her eyes at the worn out phrase, she muttered, "Day you quit is the day I grow wings."
"There a problem?" asked the newcomer, uncomfortable with whatever was going one between the two women.
"Problem? Nah," Lydia answered with a frustrated smile, already backing away from them. "She's pregnant and smoking, and the world's going to Hell in a hand-basket. Nope, no problem at all!"
As she turned on her heel and walked back around the front, she heard Charlie apologize to the guy and tell him that she was just drunk and crazy, and Lydia rolled her eyes.
If only she was going crazy.
She shouldn't have pushed that hard, wanting to get the soon-to-be-mother to come with her willingly. Lydia always did have a short fuse, even when she was human, but Charlie didn't know the half of what was about to go down or she'd be begging Lydia to get her out of there. Well, she would know soon enough, one way or another.
