Disclaimer: Not mine, however so unfortunately.
Warning: This does contain spoilers(ish) for the end of season 5. Sequel to "What Started It All" and will probably make a little more sense if you read it, but you don't have to.
Music: "Fallen Angels" by Black Veil Brides, "Angels" by Within Temptation
"C'mon, Mike, talk to me! I'm bored!" Lucifer, his form resembling his previous vessel, Nick, stood in front of Michael, in the form of young John Winchester. Knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around his legs with head resting against the wall of the Cage, Heaven's Commander stared blankly off, completely ignoring his younger brother.
The Morningstar glared, indignant. "So are we just gonna stand here and stare at each other for the rest of Eternity?" Michael didn't respond. Frowning, Lucifer glanced around their prison, looking for something to attract his brother's attention.
"Will you move if I torture your vessel?" he asked, grabbing Adam out of his hiding place. The 19 year old boy cried out in terror, the sound making a smile tug at the corners of the Devil's mouth.
"Leave him alone." The Defender's voice was scratchy and flat from lack of use, but he did not shift his gaze from the unknown point off in the distance. Lucifer grinned.
"Hmm…make me." He shifted in anticipation for a chase; one that never came. Posture slumping, he whined "Mi-chael!" When the other angel again did not respond, he turned back to Adam, who continued to quake in fear. The angel sighed, disappointed. He picked up the boy by the collar of his shirt and dumped him back where he found him before returning to where he had previously stood before Michael.
"Seriously, are you going to sit there for Eternity?" No answer. The Morningstar rolled up the sleeves of his jacket, the ever-changing temperatures spiking up and causing sweat to drip slowly down his back. "And I do mean Eternity. We're not getting' out any time soon," he tried again but to no avail.
He shook his head. "Really, brother, this is pathetic. We've been here for centuries." He cocks his head, considering. "In Hell-years that is." His light insult was met with nothing. The Devil dropped down, balancing on his haunches so he was at eye level with Michael. "I can do this just as long as you can."
After a few days of obnoxiously staring, he tired and dropped back into a sitting position, considering his brother. He'd been doing this for the entirety of the time they'd spent in Hell; sitting there in apathy, blank look plastered across his face.
"Really, Mike, you're starting to remind me of Gabriel." Lucifer made a face and cocked his head, eyes never leaving Michael's face. "When I killed him."
A shiver involuntarily wracked Lucifer's entire body and his breath materialized in front of his face, the Cage suddenly becoming frigid, and all of it seemed to be coming from Michael's corner. Perhaps he should've broken the news of their little brother's demise a tad more softly. The Commander's gaze had shifted to meet the Devil's, his ice blue eyes ablaze with the fire of his power. Lucifer swallowed, suppressing the heavy feeling of terror rising in his throat.
"What." More of a statement that a question, Michael's voice rang perfectly clear across the Cage. Everything was eerily quiet. Not a single scream was heard throughout Hell, as if the place itself was holding its breath.
Lucifer forced himself to continue staring back at his brother, a cruel smile curving his lips upward. Suddenly he was pressed flat on his back, Michael's knee pressed against his chest, his wrists gripped in one of his older brother's hands, whose other held his chin, forcing Lucifer to look him in the eye. The elder was absolutely livid, but buried somewhere deep behind his eyes was a small speck of something else; hurt.
"You killed Gabriel?" His tone was disbelieving, shocked. Lucifer shook his head slightly, continuing to stare up.
"You didn't feel it? Come now, you must've known. Your head couldn't have been that far up your ass." Michael let go of Lucifer's chin and socked him, hard. The Devil's head snapped to the side, cheek pressed against the frosty ground.
"He was your brother, your charge!" Michael's fist slammed into Lucifer's face again. "And you *punch* kill him *punch*?" The Morningstar began to feel his jaw crack and he spit blood up into his brother's face. Michael, undeterred, wiped it off on his sleeve and hit Lucifer again, centuries of agony and betrayal pouring out in one burst of violence.
Lucifer didn't bother to struggle as Michael continued to pummel him, knowing it would be pointless.
"You raised him, he loved you, idolized you!' Michael spat, delivering a particularly hard punch to the younger angel's cheekbone, shattering it. Lucifer flinched slightly and glared.
"Just like you raised me? Just like I idolized you?" The words halted Michael's onslaught, freezing a swing in midair. The older archangel's gaze spaced out and he let go of his younger brother.
Lucifer sat up, wiping the blood from his face and attempted to heal the broken bones. After several failed attempts (an angel's powers are useless in their prison), he stopped trying and shifted himself so he was directly beside Michael. He looked over at his older brother, whose arms have wrapped themselves back around his up drawn legs, eyes wide and slightly wet-looking. The sight is unsettling. Lucifer had never seen Michael look so weak before. Lucifer looked out, following Michael's endless stare.
"Would it help if I said that it was self-defense?" No answer. "He did that cool little clone trick I taught him and tried to stab me in the back." Silence. Lucifer frowns. "Aw c'mon, don't go all catatonic on me again!" Met with no response, the younger shrugged and rose. "Suit yourself," he said and left his brother to stew while he went to patrol the Cage for the millionth time, looking for a crack in the seals, a way out.
He really needed to stop tormenting his brother. Michael had more than proved that he could easily kick Lucifer's ass, but still, the Morningstar was far too pigheaded to admit to it. Hence he ended up in less than desirable situations much more often than he would've liked.
The Devil managed to dodge a vicious swing and land one of his own, knocking his brother off balance. Heaven's Defender caught himself and kicked Lucifer hard in the thigh, knocking him flat on his ass. The Devil laughed humorlessly and wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth off on the back of his hand.
"We're not so different, you and I," he mused lightly. Michael grabbed the front of his shirt and slugged him, knocking him back to the ground.
"I am nothing like you Lucifer."
"Right because you're a good son."
Michael nodded, breathing heavily. "Yes. I am. You are a monster."
Lucifer narrowed is eyes. "Am I really? My crime, what was it? I loved our Father. What is so monstrous about that?"
Heaven's Commander looked Lucifer in the eye and spoke flatly. "It is not love that is monstrous, but what you used it to justify. You have given love a bad name."
Rage curling in his chest, Lucifer smirked. "Well I got news for you, we aren't all that different, you know why? Because we're both fallen angels."
Michael snarled and kicked the Morningstar hard in the stomach. "I. Am. Not. Fallen." Lucifer chuckled, something which ended up sounding more like a cough than a laugh.
"Denying it doesn't make it false." The Commander glared down at the battered form of the younger archangel.
"I am not a fallen angel," he stated firmly, his voice giving no indication of wavering.
"Really?" questioned Lucifer, propping himself up. "Prove it. Show me your wings." When the elder did not comply, he stood and stretched, back cracking loudly. "Do they look like this?" With a grunt of effort, Lucifer unfurled his long wings. The withered feathers held a dusty black color in place of their original white, their posture slumping with a vague shadow of past strength and absent Grace. Michael stared, unblinking and the sight before him. Lucifer held out his arms, annoyed.
"Damn, you really need to relearn how to talk." The Devil grabbed his brother and roughly shoved him face first into the wall, pinning him there with his hands above his head. With his free hand, Lucifer dug his knuckles into the hollow between Michael's shoulder blades. The older archangel's back arched away from the touch, pressing him closer to the cold stone and a hiss of pain escaped his lips as he fought to keep his wings from showing. Lucifer, though, was unrelenting and finally the wings were forced to manifest. Though less withered, the once beautiful silver wings mirrored Lucifer's exactly.
Satisfied, the Devil let go of Michael, who remained slumped against the wall, beaten.
"Good son or not, you're still Fallen." Lucifer turned his brother away from the wall and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, resting his head against his older brother's shoulder. It was almost like when he was a fledgling back in Michael's charge. "Fallen just like me." He rubbed Michael's shoulder in an illusion of comfort. "I guess we get to be monsters together, now don't we?"
El Fin
A/N: Thanks for reading! Review please, por favor, s'il vous plait, bitte, per favore :)
