This story was written for a het fic exchange on LJ, the person had a prompt that said Lucifer/Lilith: In the beginning... That got me curious and this is what came of my curious mind turning over that thought of Lucifer and Lilith, in the beginning.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, just love it. No profit other than that warm fuzzy feeling. Kripke is an awesome evil genius! :)
Warnings: If you haven't seen seasons 4 and 5, this might be spoilerish/not make a lot of sense. There is some violence toward the end of the story, if anyone is intensely squeamish about blood and such.
It was way, way back in the old times, before transportation that was powered by anything other than legs, before plumbing and running water. Lilith was a girl of barely thirteen, with two younger brothers and a new baby sister. Lilith's father was away from the home most days, out working with the other men of the community. Lilith was just about old enough, thought could begin to be put to marrying her off, which was an idea that troubled her. It just seemed strange to her, and she didn't wish to be some bitter, joyless person in ten years, like her mother was, or that was Lilith's perception of her mother. Though for the moment she was still helping to mind her brothers, and gather fruit and water from the nearby plants and stream. Her mother had grown tired with her other children, the only one she made any time for was the baby. The woman spent her days in the home, tending the one room hut and the baby, and having food ready to eat at the end of the day. If Lilith or her brothers came inside before their father returned, they were told they were wicked children, and to go back outside and make themselves useful. It was one day, while her brothers played by the house, and Lilith was tending to her other chores, that she saw a young man near. She'd never seen the man before, he wasn't one of the neighbors her parents frequently spoke to. He had a charming smile though, and when he spoke, Lilith couldn't help but listen.
The young man had dark hair, light eyes that seemed to twinkle in the sun, and a smile that in modern times would have been called devilish, and had women lining up round the block for dates. He spoke lightly at first, remarking on the fair weather. She responded with a hint of caution and curiosity, her stare intense upon the young man. When she inquired about who he was an where he was from, he called himself 'Lu' and said though he was born just down the river from where she'd grown up, he hadn't had a place to call home in a while. He went where the wind took him, free, doing as he pleased, taking up work in communities he passed through for a while. Lilith wondered if he would stay a while in their community, he said, perhaps. Lilith found herself chatting to this man until nearly supper time, as he helped her with her chores. His stories of travel and freedom and the world beyond the small stretch of river she knew as home excited her. When she asked if she could travel like that someday, he said she could if she wanted to, that people could choose to do anything they wanted to, they had freedom. Though Lilith knew that had she asked her parents the same thing they'd have said no. She had inquired once of a merchant her father knew, about where he traveled and how someone took up such work, and her father had told her after a merchant wasn't a job for proper folks, and especially not a woman. That Lilith would grow up and become a wife and mother and tend the home and gather food as her mother did. Lilith spent day after day doing that, and for the most part, it was exceedingly dull. The fact this man suggested she could choose to do whatever she pleased piqued her interest. She had to go, knowing her father would be home soon, before she did she asked if Lu might return to speak to her the next day, that she would be near about the same spot doing the same chores all over again. Lu told her he would, just for her.
Lilith had a smile on her face all through supper, when her father asked what had her in such a good mood, she simply said she'd had a nice day, the weather was so nice, and her brothers had been well behaved, which was somewhat true. She knew enough though not to tell them about the stranger she'd spoken to, the man who had set fire to her imagination. She awoke the next morning with hope, happy to begin her chores, in the hope that she might have the help and some fantastic stories to help her day along. Lu did return, when the sun was high and it would be hours before her mother hollered for her to come help prepare for the evening mealtime. As he helped her pick fruit, Lu asked her if she had ever done anything her parents didn't approve of. Lilith had been more less a good child, though she did share the times she would sneak a little extra of her favorite foods, and sometimes snack on the ripest fruits as she gathered them, so she didn't have to lose the best ones to her brothers, or parents, or neighbors. She also told him of the time at the community market a couple years back, where she purposely got lost, and went exploring on her own. Lu wondered if she'd been worried doing that, if she feared really becoming lost, or getting hurt by someone with ill intentions and never making it home again. Wondering, wouldn't she miss her parents if that happened. Lilith said she hadn't been that scared, that it was more exciting than anything else, and maybe she'd miss her family, but that if she were married to some man who wished to move farther away, she'd also likely not see her family again anyway. She figured she'd get used to a life without them, and at least wandering off from the market, it would be a life of her own choosing, not the husband her father chose, and then the life after that chosen by her husband.
When Lu posed a hypothetical question to Lilith, what if she could come along with him, and join his adventures, and even choose where they would go next, would she like that, she said yes. He asked what she thought she'd like to do if she could, and soon Lilith was speaking of traveling to places she'd only heard tales of in the markets, and spending some days just sitting along the river, eating fruit and soaking in the sun. As they washed some of her family's clothing in the water, Lu inquired again, about how she'd feel, leaving her family. Lilith really felt that if she could go be free, do as she pleased, and see distant and interesting lands, then she would be happy to leave her family. Lu stated that they might not want to let her go, unless they knew where she was going. Lilith said they would never understand her seeking such adventures, that she wished there was some easy way to just slip away and know they would not come looking for her again. After a short silence, Lilith asked if he would really take her along. Lu said he would, but only if she was certain. Lilith was certain, and all she needed was a couple of days to hide some clothes and other items she thought she'd need to bring along, and she would be ready. He said two days, and he would be leaving, if she wished to join him, she was welcome, and he promised great adventures even her imagination had never conceived of.
Two days passed quickly. Lu stopped by for a bit each day to check in and chat with Lilith, making certain no one was onto her plan. She had managed to stash a few things in a small sack in some bushes far enough from the home to not be noticed, but close enough she could grab it when she left. Lu had said they would leave undercover of night, she would have to slip out unnoticed. Lilith didn't seem to think that was a problem. He was rather impressed with how smoothly it went, the girl had a knack for being sly and devious, he had thought as much when he first approached her, but she took to it all faster than he'd expected. By sunrise, they were across the river and passing through the nearest community on the other side. Lilith said she knew of no one there, though they passed through quickly, Lu saying it was best that they put some distance between them and her home. She didn't seem to hesitate at all, there was a true thirst for adventure in her, and as they traveled farther, she seemed fascinated with each place, but always longed to see the next. Not once did she voice regret at leaving her home, or even that she missed her family. Perhaps in a few ways she missed some things about her brothers, or about her mother's meals. She ate well with Lu though, he gently encouraged her swiping food and other supplies from busy markets in communities they passed through. She was cautious the first time, though not hesitant, and once Lilith got a taste for taking things without giving anything in trade, she became bolder, more confidant. Instead of simply grabbing something while the merchant talked to a trader, she would begin engaging them in conversation, speaking of imagined versions of parents, sometimes pretending to be lost and frightened, sometimes just seeming to be a playful youth floating about the market. She found it disarmed them, and made the whole venture more fun. Lu would praise her each time as well, often watching, or even playing he was her father for a merchant.
A few months into their travels, the seasons had changed, which was even better for food, as the harvests had come and the markets were full of food and textiles. It was evening, and they were sleeping the night in a small camp at the foothills of some mountains so high, Lilith had never fathomed them possible in all her dreams of far away lands growing up. She was nearing fourteen, while she didn't know her birth date, she wasn't sure that her mother even knew that, but she'd always been said to be turning a new year around when the air turned frigid, the plants went bare, and the only reliable foods were fish from the river and the animals that roamed the lands. Lilith didn't quite look like a woman yet, but she showed enough signs of it that she had noticed men in the villages they passed looking at her less like a child and more like someone they might marry. Lu warned her that those looks could harbor more than a desire to marriage, but to take of a girl things that weren't theirs to take. He seemed to make sure Lilith was tough enough to handle herself, which paid off. Lu had headed back from a market early, it was only fifty paces or so from where they'd planned to sleep the night, and she felt confident she could walk through the small thicket of trees. About halfway between the market and where her makeshift bed was, Lilith was confronted by a man with a leer she didn't trust. When he came at her, she kicked and hit and bit, and when he thought he'd gotten a leg up, she was on the ground, she grabbed for a rock and smashed it into his skull. He rolled over in pain, a thin line of blood beginning to seep from his forehead. Lilith grinned, she could have run for the camp, the man was incapacitated, but she didn't want to let him get away. He'd intended to take from her, and while she took from others, Lilith had already decided no one took from her. She'd almost allowed her family to take her very life from her, but she didn't, she'd been bold and left out on the road unknown, and she would not be afraid of anyone. The rock swung again into his head, and the man yelped slightly, but one more smash and the only sound he had left was a gurgling noise as the blood over flowed and he reached for his last breath. When she stood up, she turned to see Lu watching, smiling, looking proud of her. He said they ought to hide the body, but that she'd done well, protected herself. He asked how she felt, if she'd been afraid, if she felt bad taking a life. She was not afraid, and she did not feel bad, she felt good, it was a rush. Lilith told Lu it made her feel powerful and that it was kind of exciting, he seemed to beam, which was simply a bonus to how good she felt with herself.
"You, my dear, are going to be truly brilliant and powerful one day, soon." Lucifer was right about that, his instincts about that young girl in that little river village had been spot on. About six months later, Lilith's physical life ended when they'd gotten caught up in some bloody battle between tribes. The death of her human form was the birth of something amazing though, something Lilith was forever thankful to Lucifer for.