Lucifer's body went rigid, "God." He repeated.

Sam swallowed and wondered if he had made a dreadful mistake.

"That's…that's a tall order, kiddo. What do you want to know?" Lucifer asked.

Sam took a deep breath to begin, then his mind was filled with a million questions. So many that he didn't know what to ask first. What was it like to have God as a Father? How did He create the universe? Are aliens real? Why did He make ears...?

"What…what's He like?" Sam finally stuttered.

Lucifer laughed and Sam felt the tension in the air dissolve, "I'm not sure how to describe Him to you. He's…he's big. And small. He had a presence, and you always knew when you were in it. And He was immensely powerful…" Lucifer shook his head, "You ask tough questions, kiddo. Those are hard to answer." His eyes met Sam's steadily, "But that's good. Never feel guilty for asking questions, Sam."

"He left, right?" Sam muttered.

Lucifer looked at the ground, "Yes, Sam, He left."

"But you don't know why. Michael doesn't know why. The other angels don't know why. The demons don't know why. The humans don't know why…" Sam trailed off, "He just…left."

"I wish I knew the reason." Lucifer replied.

"Ever think maybe He's still around?" Sam asked, "I mean…He's God, right? He can pretty much do whatever He wants. So maybe He is still around, just on another level—a level we don't recognize, and maybe He's still involved—and we just don't realize it?"

Lucifer scoffed and shook his head, "So, where was God, then, while you were being tortured?"

Sam swallowed and looked at the ground.

"Where was God, while you were begging for mercy. What level was He hiding in while you were screaming in pain? When you were praying, saying that you would do anything to make the pain stop? When you were being tormented without mercy, past the limits any human could possibly endure. Where was God then?"

Sam flinched at the anger in Lucifer's voice.

A moment of silence passed and the wrath faded from Lucifer's eyes.

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Lucifer added gently, "I don't think you're foolish for still having faith in God." Lucifer sighed, "In a way, I envy you. You have hope. I don't."

"Your fall…" Sam began, licking his lips as he phrased a question he had been thinking about for a while, "Remember when I said 'yes' to you and you could see inside my head, at all of my memories?"

"I remember that very well." Lucifer replied, giving Sam a small smile.

Sam gulped, "Well, during that time, you could see inside my head…but I could also see inside of yours."

Lucifer looked taken aback.

"Well, not your memories per say." Sam clarified, "But I could sense all of your emotions. You couldn't hide anything from me. Just like I couldn't lie to you, you couldn't lie to me. Because I would know."

"I would never have lied to you anyway." Lucifer told him.

"I know, but, it got me thinking…I mean…just now. About Stull Cemetery, when you were trying to get Michael not to fight and come with you. When you were explaining yourself. You said that what had happened wasn't your fault. You said that God. Wanted. The devil. You said He made you what you were. And that was true." Sam furrowed his brow, and he raised his hands for emphasis, "It was so true. I could tell something had happened. That God had physically. Done. Something. To you. Something to make you not like humanity."

Lucifer was watching him, one arm resting on his knee. Sam met Lucifer's eyes, "What did He do?" Sam whispered.

Lucifer gave a heavy sigh, "That is a long, complicated story."

Sam motioned to the air around them, "We've got time."

Lucifer smiled a little bit, but the expression morphed quickly into sadness, "Alright, Sam. But beware, this might take a while."

Hours later Sam sat at the angle's feet, gaping at Lucifer in disbelief, "God had a sister?" he asked incredulously.

"Amara. Also known as The Darkness." Lucifer explained.

"But I've never even heard of her. Not in all of my lore, or in any book, any article I've studied, have I ever come across her!"

"She was put away before humans started writing, Sam."

"Ok. So God pulled you away. He told you His plan for locking up Amara using the Mark of Cain…"

"Using what would be known as the Mark of Cain, yes." Lucifer clarified.

"And that Mark…corrupted you?"

Lucifer grimaced, "It contained Amara, a Dark Force to begin with. It did what it inevitably does—bring out the worst in its carrier."

"It made you hate humans?" Sam asked.

"Yes and no. I never liked humanity to begin with. They were less than my Father, but, for some reason He loved them more than all of us. It wasn't fair. The Mark…made what I was feeling impossible to ignore. It consumed me for days and nights on end. I couldn't help thinking about how unjust everything was. How disgusting His new creation had become –I grit my teeth and was silent for a while, but then God asked me to do the impossible; He wanted me to bow before His new creation. I said "Father I can't, they are vile, murderous! I won't bow before anyone but you!" and for that God cast me out. So you see Sam, He cursed me, asked me to do the impossible—what He knew was impossible— and then He locked me away." Lucifer's hands were balled into fists. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

Sam stared and the red soil. He didn't like the picture Lucifer was painting of God. Sam had always clung to the hope that some greater Force was at work in the universe. That some loving, wonderful, all-powerful Being was in control. But if what Lucifer was saying was true (and Lucifer had promised never to lie to him) then God wasn't justice. He was a deadbeat dad blaming everyone else for His actions and leaving when things got hard.

It made Sam sick.

And angry.

But this was only one side of the story. God would have to tell the other half. And God wasn't around to do that.

Sam sighed.

"Did I crush your dreams, kiddo?" Lucifer asked.

"A little bit." Sam admitted.

"I promised I wouldn't lie to you." Lucifer pointed out.

"I know." Sam ran a hand through his long hair and wet his lips. He took a deep breath. "What makes me different?"

"How do you mean?" Lucifer asked curiously.

"I mean I'm human. And if humans are so vile and murderous, why did you save me?" Sam demanded.

"You're different." Lucifer answered simply.

"How?"

"You're not just any human. You're my vessel. M.F.E.O. like I told you. Right from the beginning, I knew you had to be special or you couldn't carry me. And the more I learned about you, the more I realized how true that was. You…grew on me, Sam. After you freed me I did all the research I could on you. When we finally became one I got to know you even better. You may not realize this, Sam, but you're fascinating. All you're been through, all you've overcome…it's truly amazing. The fact you create your own destiny is even more incredible." Lucifer adjusted his place on the ground, leaning back on his hands and staring into the distance, with a thoughtful expression, "I remember this one instance during my first imprisonment: Azazel had committed a dark ritual in order to contact me. It was the first and only time anyone communicated with me while I was imprisoned. He told me you had been born, and left me with an image: a flash of a newborn baby, a tiny, helpless new human; my True Vessel. And for an instant, just an instant, I didn't want to jump inside you and make you my Vessel. I wanted to shield you instead –I wanted to protect you from your destiny. It was only a moment, and I disregarded the thought as soon as it arrived. But I had never felt that way before, and I haven't experienced anything like it since. It was truly strange." Lucifer sighed, and his blues eyes studied Sam's face for a long moment, "When I'm with you, I experience things I've never felt before."