Chapter Eight: Brother
"How'd you survive brother?" Lucifer asked as a gentle breeze blew, and the brothers had their eyes locked neither daring to look away.
"Tsk" Brodie sounded putting his hands in his pockets, "fell in love with a Witch from the Coven you sent after me, with her help I destroyed her Coven and faked my death" Brodie summarised.
"Attacked them while they slept, fought the ones that woke up, and she had prepared something to explode supposedly taking you and her out so the survivors would believe you perished in the fighting. Smart" Lucifer figured out for himself once a clearer picture had been painted for him, Brodie gave Lucifer a single nod acknowledging what he had said. "And so what, you and your Witch wife started this Walker Institute to what?" Lucifer inquired,
"To replace the Paladins, to combat you" Brodie answered, and Lucifer chuckled,
"A fine job you've been doing brother" Lucifer teased. "So tell me, what happened to your Witch?" Lucifer asked,
"Our children were mortal; she couldn't bear to see them grow old and die, so she renounced your ways and passed peacefully," Brodie informed him, and Lucifer's eyes widened,
"You had, mortal children?" He asked shocked, Brodie nodded in confirmation,
"Shocking I know, I was surprised when I first found out but two hundred years gives you time to accept it," Brodie commented,
"The old man, Alfred, is he?" Lucifer asked in a moment of realisation,
"A descendant, yes" Brodie confirmed.
"Does he…?" Lucifer asked with a bright smile on his face
"Yes" Brodie interrupted, Lucifer walked back and forth before taking it all in and coming to a stop. The two brothers stood, not a single word more was spoken between them for a short while, Lucifer shook his head,
"All of this, for them?" Lucifer asked giving Brodie a curious look,
"I know you think them below us, but yes, all for them" Brodie answered him bluntly. Lucifer shook his head,
"You resist me so, defiantly and yet you rallied to my side and rebelled against father," Lucifer commented with a puzzled, pompous tone
"Do not, for a moment, think the two are equals. I aided you because you rebelled before we realised what you were up to. Many of us agreed with what you said, we struggled to accept Humanity, to love them as father wanted us too; but do not pretend that rebellion was on all our minds, a plan we had agreed on." Brodie retorted keeping himself calm, Lucifer threw his arms up into the air in defeat, and anger
"Oh, of course, it's all my fault, yes just blame Lucifer it was all his fault because he is the Devil." Lucifer ranted sarcastically,
"Stop trying to play victim, it was all on you, we didn't want to rebel, but before we knew it there was war in Heaven Lucifer; us against Dad and all the others." Brodie yelled, tears beginning to well up in his eyes "you act as if you fell alone, but you forget that we all came down here together, crashed into the Earth and wondered for ages looking for purpose." Brodie continued,
"I offered to take you with me" Lucifer asserted softly starting to see the pain behind his brother's façade,
"Oh to Hell, to serve you, because that has turned out so great, how are our siblings that did follow you down there, they as warped and demonic as you now?" Brodie asked although he already knew the answer. "I'd love to tell you how our siblings on Earth are doing, but you already know what happened to them, you got jealous, angry of course because we were given a ticket home, so you had us hunted down." Brodie reminded, and Lucifer stood for a moment staring at his brother with pity,
"So what, you've reduced yourself to a lowly bodyguard for Humanity as punishment?" Lucifer asked, looking for clarity, Brodie shook his head and wiped away the tears.
"No, falling was my punishment; I accepted that we all did" Brodie grunted,
"Then why, why struggle so desperately against me in their defence?" Lucifer asked approaching Brodie
"It's my punishment for not saving you!" Brodie finally broke, Lucifer took a step back shocked by his brother's confession.
"What, what do you mean?" Lucifer wondered aloud,
"I saw what you were doing, what you were becoming, I should have said something, done something to stop you then. You sowed the seeds of dissent, plotted against father and Michael, you led us into a rebellion we never planned on fighting, but you forced our hand. You turned brother against brother, sister against sister; Heaven was shaken to its core by the war you instigated. I didn't just fail to protect our home, our family from you, I failed to protect you from yourself" Brodie explained. A gentle breeze blew around them, and suddenly, Lucifer was no longer the Devil, they weren't Angels, enemies; they were nothing but brothers. Lucifer tightly hugged Brodie who finally felt a weight lift from his shoulders, Lucifer released Brodie but left his hands on Brodie's shoulders and looked him in the eyes,
"Nothing that has happened is your fault" Lucifer assured him a feeling of relief overcame Brodie. "This was all father's doing, you are here protecting them because of him" Lucifer ranted on and instantly any warm feeling left Brodie's body, he became cold and displayed it on his face, his façade, his walls were put back up, and he gave his brother an evil glare. Brodie forced his palm into Lucifer's chest, propelling him backwards and crashing to the ground.
"I always held a light of hope in my heart for you Lucifer despite everything!" Brodie cried out; Lucifer started to get back to his feet. "It's always somebody else's fault, there is always something else to blame, and you don't make people do evil Lucifer you just whisper in their ears. You aren't evil because you're the Devil, you're the Devil because you're evil, Dad didn't make you this way you are this way because that is you, the Great Deceiver, I failed to protect Heaven, our siblings, you but on my life I swear that I won't fail to protect Humanity from you Lucifer. Not because Dad wants me to, commanded me or even asked me, no I'm going to protect them because they deserve it because for all their flaws there is good in them Lucifer, I've lived amongst them, loved and laughed with them but more importantly I've learnt from them. They are deserving of our love; they are deserving of my sacrifice, one I am willing to make!" Brodie proclaimed, Lucifer stared his brother down angrily,
"Fine, I may not have my Angelic form, but I am still powerful, so if its death you want, have it!" Lucifer growled thrusting his right hand forward, and a sudden and mighty force threw Brodie back, crashing into the house and through the walls landing in the kitchen, "I may not be able to enter your fortress brother, but I can burn it to the ground!" Lucifer yelled as he summoned a ring of Hellfire around the house. The tentacle-like shapes began emerging from the ring and stabbing into the house, which immediately caught ignited, and flames rapidly spread throughout. Brodie rose to his feet in a daze and wandered the house watching it burn, he reached the library and was his books be consumed by fire, in particular, the 'The Histories and Legends of the Paladins' when he looked outside Brodie and Lucifer locked gazes for a brief moment. Soon enough though the fire became large enough that it blocked their sight of one another, Brodie quickly ran down to the basement dodging burning debris. Meanwhile, Lucifer simply chuckled, turned around and walked off
"Struggle all you might brother, my victory over the Earth is inevitable" Lucifer concluded. Brodie finally reached the basement and hurried down the corridor and ran past all the doors before finally reaching the last one, he opened the door, and lights in the room turned on as he did. The contents of the room brought a smile to Brodie's face, but part of the corridor roof collapsed, interrupting Brodie's moment and forcing him to action.
