Sophia's Memories

Chapter 10: All In Good Fun

Sophia bit her finger nervously. Was it really worth it? She couldn't imagine how Lucifer would react. After all his silly comments that did nothing but worry Gabriel, he had to learn that it wasn't okay. What better way to teach him a lesson than a well-intentioned prank? "I've never pranked anyone before," she anxiously said to herself. Anyway, pranking was Gabe's idea. She just wanted to have a fast-paced back-and-forth with the amber-eyed archangel and assault him with her witty comebacks until he surrendered to her intellectual prowess but that didn't assuage Gabriel. That little trickster, she thought. "So what should I do?" she had asked the youngest archangel.

"I don't know," the kid had simply shrugged. "Surprise me."

"Gabe, I have no idea how to surprise you!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "Is there some sort of method to this? Some instruction manual?"

Gabe burst out laughing, his bubbly giggles echoing harmoniously. "Oh, Sophie!" He mimicked the action of wiping a tear from his eye. "You can do anything you want. Just make it hilarious! Make him look stupid. That'll show him!"

Sophia shook her head and grinned as she thought about this, standing at the balcony of her office in Imperium, Heaven's capital. Ever since, all kinds of ideas had popped into her head. But she had always worried which ones were taking things too far and which ones were too mild to have an effect. This whole idea's silly anyway, she thought as she dismissed the plan. But I'll still have to talk to him about his behaviour!

Okay, Sophia, sound really stern, she gave herself a pep talk. Be firm and don't allow him any excuses.

She took a breath in and released it before entering Lucifer's office. "Hey, man, I need to talk with-" she stopped abruptly. Scarlet eyes met hers, but so did the blue ones of a group of angels. They all turned to look at who was interrupting the meeting.

"Sophia," Lucifer chuckled nervously. "May I help you?"

"I'm sorry, are you in the middle of something?" Her finger, which was held up in an accusatory gesture, slowly curled inwards and sank as she awkwardly smiled at all of them.

A brief silence overtook the room as the other angels scanned her demeanour for anything to worry about and Lucifer considered what to say. "Well… uh… it would appear so…"

"I'll just come back later," she hurried off into her own office, which was down the hallway and shut the door. Her wings fluttered as she sought the solace of the balcony to rid herself of shame. She berated herself for assuming that he would be alone, though it wasn't entirely her fault that he spent most of his time outside and would normally be alone in his own office. She waited anxiously as time passed and simply gazed at all the buildings below. Sunlight glimmered brilliantly from the glass windows and shiny metal exterior of the buildings. A long while passed. Laughter could be heard from the other room. Another long while. More enthusiastic participation resounded. Lucifer was known to be charismatic. Angels liked talking to him, though they still feared him as much as they did his brother. Or rather, 'respect' would be the word.

Sophia calculated the distance between the sun she was seeing and the nearest star using nothing but her fingers and her acute perception of the wavelength of light being given out by both stars. By the time she was done, she realised that everything had fallen silent around her. A little too silent. Her senses sharpened, as they did when she was playing hide-and-seek with Gabriel, and then she heard it – a very-gently placed footstep. It was followed by another one. When she realised that it sounded extremely close to her. Her golden wings perked up in alarm and she spun quickly, holding an arm up and ready to punch the intruder.

"Whoa, whoa, it's just me!" Lucifer held a hand up defensively. When she relaxed, he straightened up and reassumed his suave composure. "Though I'd really like to see you try and punch me!"

"What are you implying? That I'm weaker than you?" Sophia glared at him.

"Oh, never! But fighting is about more than just strength, chicky," he gave her that goofy grin that made her want to laugh and punch him at the same time. "So what's the sitch?"

Her unrestrained smile quickly faded away as she remembered the topic of conversation. "No sitch. Just me. I need to talk to you," she said plainly. "And don't call me 'chicky'."

"Oooh!" His face lit up when she said that. "Are we finally going to talk about what's going on between us?" He held one of her hands in his, raising his eyebrows at her.

"What? No," she drew her hand back. "What's going on between us?"

"Uh… nothing," his gaze flickered as he tried to cover up his burning lust for her. "Just this wonderful friendship that we have. Really is a blessing." He bumped a fist to his chest and held two fingers up as he gazed upwards at where God's office would be. "Thanks, Father."

"…okay…" Sophia narrowed her eyes at him. Then she shook her head briefly to get back to the point. "I need to say something. What you are doing is not okay."

His head tilted ever so slightly. "You're going to have to be more specific…"

She frowned a little, wondering what else he might have gotten up to. "I'm sorry if you think I'm being rude but someone needs to point it out. I can't have you going around telling people things that aren't true. We are archangels. People look up to us. We must not deceive!" Lucifer looked confused, to say the least. He nodded slowly, waiting for her to get into the specifics. "Especially your brother! He is young and naïve and he will believe anything you say. You can't just tell him things like "I'm moving to Earth" and worry him like that."

Lucifer huffed, breaking into a wide grin and exposing his dimples. "That's it? That's what you're upset about? I thought it was something important!" He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I'm serious!" Sophia put her hands on her hips and retained a stern expression, slightly put off by his nonchalance. "You'd better stop with your nonsense rumours!"

"Or what?" he challenged.

"This isn't a joke, Mr Morningstar!"

"Oooh, I'm sooo scared right now!" he mocked with the appropriate hand gestures. "Will I be in trouble with the teacher?"

She felt a mild anger bubbling within her. It wasn't real anger like I-hate-you anger but it was more like you'll-be-sorry-you-challenged-me. "You better cut it out," she warned, folding her arms. Her tone was mild with a patience that came from restraining fury.

"You fail to understand my intentions, chicky," he said, to her distaste. "It was all in good fun, I promise."

That statement set her off. "Your 'good fun' upset Gabriel! Doesn't that bother you one bit?"

He rolled his eyes. "He can handle it. He's not a baby anymore and you should stop treating him like one. You're spoiling him," he stated as a matter-of-fact.

"Don't blame this on me! I see what you're doing," she retorted. "No matter your reason, it doesn't excuse the fact that you've been spreading false information based on insufficient evidence. Do you realise that that contradicts what my duty entails?"

"Okay, look," he held up a palm facing her. "It's not such a big deal. The universe isn't going to end. I can explain."

"What part of 'no matter your reason' do you not get? I don't want to hear it," she dismissed him. "Maybe God will stand for your nonchalance but I won't." Challenging her with a side-eye, Lucifer decided to take his leave. On the same note, Sophia decided that a prank would be a good idea after all, her resolve strengthening.

Gasps resounded. Blue-white eyes looked up in awe. Sophia merely stood, holding her hand up to the exterior of a building. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. With a flourish, she sprouted a vine from the ground which grew upwards, latching onto the building as it became longer. Such an act of creation was hard to find, with God being the only one known to bring into existence truly living beings. This, of course, did not include beings created as part of illusions as archangels were typically capable of. So it was a true miracle that this archangel was able to spawn such a marvellous thing, green and full of life. The angels stopped and stared in astonishment as the vine fastened itself to the building and grew into and out of windows, sprouting colourful, fragrant flowers in the progress.

Sophia chuckled. She hadn't expected it to work this well. The sound of a chorus caught her attention and she turned, suddenly finding herself face-to-face with a crowd of angels. They were smiling and laughing, singing to her their praises and approval. Their song was sung in such a beautiful note that tears begged to fall from her eyes. But she refrained, channelling the warmth rising in her chest to more creation, showing them what she was capable of. Green tendrils of energy emanated from her as she connected with her surroundings. More green stalks rose around the office buildings in Heaven's capital, Imperium, and decorated their exterior. Angels enthusiastically gazed out of the windows, sensing the change. Those that were singing joined them in flying about and caressing these newly-grown stalks, feeling the life flow within them.

As the archangel strode down the street which lay in between two rows of buildings, her arms reached outwards, summoning the plant growth. She danced as she made her way down the street, giggling and throwing her head about in a trance as the sensation of being one with everything around her enveloped her whole being. Soon, the whole capital was filled with her creative remnants. Sophia hugged her hands to her body, laughing in delight as she felt nothing but peace and love. The light glinted magnificently off her golden wings, casting a lovely golden glow around her everywhere she went. The angels only admired her for this and became happy at the sight of her own happiness as they stood and watched.

"This is… this is beautiful, Archangel," an angel complimented as she stood and admired her work.

Sophia gazed at this angel, a female with angled cheekbones who was much shorter than her – most angels were. Archangels stood tall and mighty among their angelic companions. "Thank you… um…" Sophia tried to spur the angel to speak further.

"Hannah," the angel replied.

"Thank you, Hannah," Sophia completed.

"It's remarkable that you should be able to do as our Father does," Hannah continued. "God be praised for your talents, madame."

"Your words are kind, Hannah. It was God who told me that I was capable of such things and encouraged me to pursue them. I just hope I can give back to His world as much as He has done for me," Sophia replied. "Consider this my first real contribution to Heaven."

"The first of many more, I am sure." Hannah and Sophia exchanged enthused gazes and grinned, sharing this wonderful moment in which Imperium had become a tad more beautiful than it originally was. Though it seemed like a small exchange at the time, this one conversation spurred Sophia on further to become more creative and beautify Heaven even more. It also had a special place in this one angel's mind, for Hannah would remember what kind of person Sophia truly was, even when no one else seemed to remember.

Michael watched in quiet awe as a butterfly fluttered its wings on her cheeks, causing her to giggle excitedly. The pink-winged insect then joined its mates which fed eagerly on a plump, fertile flower which hung from the ceiling in Michael's office. "I'm truly amazed, Sophie," he praised. "What you've done… I've never seen anything like it. It resembles Father's work, though it bears a unique… style."

"Do you like it?" she asked, cheeks turning a deep red.

Michael's irises widened at the sight of her demureness. "Of course. It's wonderful. I'm sure Father will love it too."

"You really think so?" Her eyes held so much hope and longing. She grew delighted at the thought of finally being accepted by a divine parent. She knew God loved her, but to hear it from Him or to see Him being pleased by her actions was a feeling that would truly complete her. After all, making this… floral growth throughout Imperium required much effort and thought on her part. Though arduous, it felt like she was being her true self, manipulating the forces of the universe to make something among the likes of what God and Amara would create. If God approved and validated her, it would feel like she truly belonged and she craved that feeling like no one else. She just had a taste of it when the angels showered her with compliments, but the real rush was from hearing it straight from Uncle.

"I know so," Michael nodded. Their eyes locked for a moment and Sophia felt comforted by it. "I only wish Lucifer was here to see it."

"Where did he go?" she asked, as if she didn't know. Truth is, she planned for it this way. It was all part of her 'lesson'.

"He took a bunch of his most trusted generals for a training session out of Imperium. They should be back anytime soon," he answered. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he knows this is you."

"Actually, Michael," Sophia began. "This is going to sound weird, but I need a favour…"

Lucifer stretched out his wings and his arms, flexing his abdomen in the process as he set foot on the familiar ground leading into Imperium. It had been a long while, training his best soldiers in some isolated corner of Heaven. It was fun, though, doing what naturally came to him – combat. It was the fast-paced quick-timed moments like those that made him pure instinct, acting without a second thought and feeling only the rush of wind against his body as he moved his limbs with innate calculation. He was dedicated to his craft, like Michael was to their Father, like Raphael was to healing and Sophia was to her plants and books. So he was riding a wave of euphoria as the training session ended. He couldn't wait to get back to Imperium and kick back with good company and entertainment.

"Wow," he gasped when he glimpsed the new look of the citadel. He huffed in delight. "What happened here?" he muttered to himself. His eyes scanned the buildings in awe, following the path of creepers and vines as they wound about in exquisite patterns. "Did Father do this?" he wondered.

That was when he noticed the silence. The citadel was usually bustling with activity at this time of day, with angels rushing about their business. Where is everyone? He peeked into the windows of the buildings and sighed in relief as he saw the angels silently doing their work in their offices. Still, it was strange. The angels were usually sent to communicate among departments to get their job done, not sit inside their offices to do paperwork all day. It was as if there was a citadel-wide command for all of them to stay inside. What is going on? He wondered if he missed a memo or something.

Uncertain, the amber-haired archangel wandered further to his office building, setting to the air to fly onto the high floor on which all the archangels did their work. He knocked on the door to his brother's office, nudging it open. "Hello? Michael?" he called out. No response. His senses perked, trying to scope out any anomalies in place. Concluding that Mike wasn't home, he made his way down the hallway to Raphael's office. Again, no one was there. Next was Sophia's. Lucifer noted the new floral decorations in all the offices. They all looked pretty well-constructed. But where were the archangels? "Huh. Something's not right…" With due caution, he sauntered into his own office. Immediately he noticed that it was darker than the other rooms, almost like it was engulfed in a shadow. His eyes glowed more brightly in response, casting a dull red glow wherever he looked. Eyebrows furrowing, he took a step forward. That's when a 'click' sounded.

Snap! "What the- Let me go!" he yelled. Light filled the room and he could see what he had walked into. The same vines he had seen outside were swarming his room, covering almost every inch of the place. He could barely see his own possessions. Along with that, he now found himself bound at the wrists, ankles and waist by the vines which encircled him. Struggle as he might, he found that he was no match for these strong, green stems. A gleeful giggle sounded around him, following by a deep, chesty laugh. "What's going on?" he demanded to know.

"Sophie, I can't believe it worked!" Gabe was weak with laughter, clutching his abdomen as pearls of his giggle echoed throughout the room.

"Was this you, Gabe? You little cretin!" Lucifer cursed, eyeing his little brother with contempt.

The archangels were in a fit of laughter. They couldn't maintain a straight face long enough to answer. Especially Michael. "I normally wouldn't condone this behaviour," he began. "But brother, you had it coming."

"You'll have my fist coming at you, Mike!" Lucifer retorted in vain. He looked to Sophia, who buried her head into Michael's shoulder, her body shaking with laughter. "Get me out of here, Sophie, and I'll spare you my revenge!" This only caused her to laugh even more.

"Hey Raph! Come in here!" Michael called out the door as he heard some movement by the stairs.

The bronze-skinned archangel walked in, confused. He was in the infirmary, as he always was, but he too had noticed that something was off that day, with the angels being quieter than normal. He felt the rumbling laughter of his siblings from the lower floors of the infirmary – that's how loud and infectious their fun was. Naturally, he'd come up to investigate. His eyes took a while to adjust to the absurd sight before him. On one side, there were the hysterically-laughing archangels – he had never seen his eldest brother so happy before. Then there was the mess of plant stalks all over the room, which was quite overwhelming by itself. He'd noticed the new garden that weaved throughout the whole citadel and appreciated it, but this sight was such a mess that he didn't know what to make of it. Finally, there was a struggling Lucifer in the midst of it all, caught by the tangles of the leaves and stems. It was quite comical, actually, to see his proud and overbearing older brother in such a state. And the fury on his face! The one treasured most by their father reduced to a helpless prisoner of the very thing that improved the beauty of Imperium.

Lucifer watched in shock as Raphael broke out into a deep snicker which evolved into a chortle that matched that of Michael's. "You're all having a good laugh, huh?" he challenged. "I don't know which one of you did this, or why, but I'll get you!" Lucifer struggled even more, pulling at the vines. "Gabe, you're going to get it this time!"

"In how many millennia?" Raphael poked at his inability to get out of his entrapment. "Gabe would have grown up by then!"

"Well you're next, buddy!" As he said this, one of the stems finally tore and gave way under his angered pull. Now free to use a hand, he pulled out his short sword and cut at the vines. The laughter died slowly as the archangels realised that he was free. Lucifer stood, heaving deep breaths as he scanned their faces.

"Run!" Gabe yelled. Everyone split, taking off in different directions. Lucifer wasted no time, chasing after the easiest target – Gabriel. They flew far and wide in an attempt to distract him. Instinctively, Gabe rushed into the forests where he was most comfortable hiding, squealing and giggling as he was enthused by the chase. But Lucifer was bigger and faster; his large wings gave him the advantage of speed as he cut through the tree barks with ease.

"You're gonna pay, Gabe!" Lucifer yelled after him.

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Gabe defended himself as he became alarmed by the closing gap between them.

"Yeah, right!" Lucifer brushed off his comment, like he didn't believe that his younger brother was incapable of doing such a thing. With a swoop, he caught his younger brother's hand and pushed him up against a tree as the kid struggled. "Accept responsibility, dammit!"

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" A female voice sounded from his right. "Gabe's telling the truth, by the way," Sophia informed him.

Lucifer's eyes narrowed at her. Realisation flashed in his gaze. "You? Was it you?" he asked with a pointed glare.

Sophia simply shrugged. "It was all in good fun, I promise," she quoted him.

A brief silence passed between them. Lucifer let go of Gabe. His body angled towards her, observing her with a deadly silent scowl with those blazing red eyes that threatened to set fire to everything around them. It was in that moment that Sophia realised that she messed with the wrong archangel. Heaven hath no fury like Lucifer's, as was true across all of space and time. The quiet between them was not a calm one, it was the receding wave before the onset of a tsunami. And she saw it in his tightening facial muscles, his clenching fists, his pursed lips and that glare which could kill. Now her heart was sinking at the sight of it. But she would stand her ground, certain of her conviction that she did good.

As soon as she saw his wings inching backwards, she turned heels and took off. His wings propelled him forward in a great leap toward her as a great chase ensued. Lucifer was fast with his feathers, sure, but Sophia was equally fast with her legs. She wove around the trees, jumping over protruding roots and using this momentum to leap up and catch onto branches which then further flung her forward. Not oblivious to the rush of wind coming from the flapping of Lucifer's wings close to her, she summoned the roots from the ground. The woody outgrowth abruptly stopped his trajectory, maintaining somewhat of a barrier between the two of them. This gave her much-needed time to put distance between them. Undeterred, Lucifer slashed at the roots with his sword and with some difficulty, managed to get through them.

Forest creatures watched in naïve anticipation at this pursuit. To the untrained eye, it would seem like two streaks of light were buzzing through the woods. As they neared the edge of the forest, Sophia sharply came to a stop, her feet inches from a cliff. She looked over the edge, finding a sharp decline into a larger expanse of forests deep below that she was unfamiliar with. She hesitated momentarily. As someone who was very grounded, she wasn't as comfortable as the other angels with using her wings. It required conscious effort from her and took her another several years to master. She looked back, finding Lucifer nearing her at a frightening speed. "Here I go," she took in a deep breath and leapt off the cliff.

The cool wind felt like pins and needles against her skin. Relaxing in her freefall, as she remembered to do, she concentrated on the muscles of her wings and stretched them out. While doing this, however, she became conscious of her pursuer following right behind her and grew panicked. In the rush of the moment, her wings stretched a bit too much and grazed painfully against the rough cliff-face. Sparks flew from the touch of hard metallic surface of her feathers against the rock. She let out a short yelp as some feathers dislodged from where they grew. Suddenly, she lost control over her flight and fell uncontrollably, holding her injured wing close to her. Realising that she was hurt, Lucifer gasped and rushed towards her, his wings folding behind him to assume a more streamlined shape for falling. He reached out an arm to grab her but it wasn't enough.

They both fell noisily, breaking through the ground and landing inside a cave of some sort. Dust rose in clouds around them as they lay next to each other. Groaning, they both sat up and their eyes met. A small grin widened on Sophia's face, unimpeded by the minute stinging pain in her wing. Her hands inched backwards as she clamoured to get away from him but this time, he was faster. He pounced on her, tackling her. They both rolled on the ground, with him holding her wrists in a tight grip and her struggling to break free. She let out squeals of protest as she pushed against him. "I've got you now, chicky!" he declared in triumph, letting a wide smirk show despite his dominant feelings of rage earlier.

"Agh!" she shouted as she wrestled with his grasp.

"Just apologise and it'll be over," he offered, chuckling as he relished the feel of her futile attempts at escape. Revenge is sweet.

"I'm. Not. Sorry!" she huffed with effort as she swung a leg around his waist and pushed him off of her, catching him by surprise. He stared in surprise up at her as she pulled free from his hands and tried to get up. Regaining his better senses, he darted up and wrapped his arms around her waist, grappling with her as they both fell ceremoniously to the ground again, bathed in the light coming in from the gaping hole they created. This time, Lucifer pressed his weight against her while holding her wrists down. Sophia cried out again, her damaged wing hitting the ground with force. This gave Lucifer pause as he glanced upon her face. It was contorted with an expression of pain and she slowly opened her eyes. They both breathed heavily from the swift scuffle between them.

Sophia's eyebrows creased as she looked into his eyes. She saw no rage in them. He simply stared at her, his eyebrows crinkled like hers. Whatever this expression was, it was a stark difference to what he had earlier. Suddenly, they both became conscious of their intimacy, their faces only an inch away from each other. Lucifer felt the warmth from her body, a luxury to the freezing cold of his core. Slowly, his left hand released her wrist and traced her wing, which was folded by her side. Taken by curiosity, she lay still, observing him. The feel of his cool fingers on her wings sent shivers through her body. The tightness that existed between both their bodies made her question her emotions and thoughts, though in that moment she could focus on nothing but the excitement she got from his touch.

She winced and his head jerked towards her face. "Sorry," he eased the pressure on her damaged feathers, tracing their roots as slowly and gently as he could, massaging them to ease her pain. His eyes roved over her face, noticing her features in a new light. She saw the way he looked at her – it was the same look he had plastered on his face the first time they'd met. Her gaze too softened, drifting to his lips and his jaw and his throat which betrayed a gulp like he was savouring something. Before they knew it, their lips met and their bodies eased against each other, his right hand releasing the grip on her wrist and moving up her hand to intertwine his fingers with hers. Their eyes closed, feeling their awareness escape into each other and becoming one entity together. She felt electrified in her chest, wanting to stay in this moment forever. Yet, a discomfort at the thought of what they were doing made it into her mind. Her free hand held his cheek and her thumb traced his jawline, finally coming to rest on his chin. She slightly nudged him away with her thumb and he relented, keeping his lips away from hers by a thin, negligible margin.

Their eyes met again. Lucifer simply looked amazed, his softening gaze regarding her as if she was a work of art. Hers, on the other hand, beckoned him to move away, her free hand gently pushing against his bare shoulder revealed by his robe. It took him a while to capitulate to her severing their short-lived moment of intimacy, but he did, out of respect for her, though his yearning lips stole the chance to trace her cheekbones as they both got up. "You should get Raphael to check that out," he finally said, breaking the silence between them.

"Yeah," she nodded, her eyes fixed on the ground, still in shock at the turn of events. Lucifer absently rubbed the back of his head with a hand. He definitely wanted to talk about it. He felt a great release in that moment they had kissed. It was the best feeling he'd ever known since he was created. Excitement bubbled within him at the thought. Sophia's face, however, told another story. She grew silent and her expression was plain. No happiness, no resentment – it was unreadable and that puzzled him. Did she not enjoy it like he did? Did he upset her? Just as he was about to talk about what was on his mind, she leapt up, her agile body propelling her upwards to the opening of the crevasse and she pulled herself up onto the forest ground.

"Sophia, wait," he called out but she didn't listen. She just kept going. He followed suit, leaping up onto the forest ground. By the time he had reached it, she had walked off briskly to the cliff face. He rushed forward and made it to the rocky surface before she could and planted his palm against it in front of her, forcing her to confront him. "Let's talk about this."

She paused, her eyes slowly drifting from his hand to his face, filled with uncertainty. A momentary hesitation gripped her speech. She didn't know what to tell him. She felt a war brewing in her mind. "I… should go. Gabriel will be worried," she deflected.

Lucifer didn't blame her. He was starting to think that he made her uncomfortable and it was beginning to worry him. He simply nodded. "Let me help you," he offered, reaching his arms to carry her.

She shook her head and held her hands against him to refuse. "It's alright. I'll climb up," she said.

"No seriously, we'll get there faster by flying," he ordered with a tone that said that he would not take 'no' for an answer. He did feel a little bad that she got hurt in their chase. Seeing as there was no other option, she relented and let him carry her with both his arms. She didn't speak on the way back. She didn't so much as look at him. She just had a lot on her mind. When they finally landed in Imperium, she wasted no time in pulling herself away from his arms and walking off into the main office building. Lucifer followed silently as she made her way to the infirmary.

"What do we have here?" Raphael remarked as he spotted Sophia. She gave him a warm smile, as though nothing serious had happened. Raphael had begun to warm up to her and this much was evident in the milder manner in which he talked to her. Ever since that heart-warming storytelling session in which he learnt her struggles against Amara, he grew to have some sympathy for her, though he still had his suspicions in the back of his mind. He scanned her up and down, looking for anomalies, and she slightly stuck out her damaged wing. "Oh my, I'll have to take a look at that," he said, his healer instincts kicking in. Lucifer leaned against a nearby wall and Sophia sat on one of the beds as Raphael came up close to inspect the wing. "It's just a graze," he inferred, shooting Lucifer an accusative glare. "I have something that'll help with that."

Lucifer mouthed "What?" at his brother, who got up to get his supplies. That was when he realised what this must look like. Dammit, he thought, berating himself once again for not taking care of her when he should have. I always act before I think.

As if to make the situation worse, Gabriel sauntered in, hoping to spend some time with Raphael while waiting for Sophia to come back. But as fate would have it, she was already there and he ran up to her, enveloping her in a warm embrace. "Sophie! You're back!"

She too laughed in return. "I am." She tried to contract her wing to keep it from his view but she was too slow. The moment he pulled away from her, he noticed the damage.

"Oh no, what happened?" he couldn't help but ask. He gingerly held the arching bone of her wing between his palms, though he was a bit careless with the pressure which caused her to wince.

"It's nothing," she waved it off and silently thanking Raphael for returning with the supplies when he did so that she wouldn't have to elaborate on what had happened.

Gabriel shot a nasty glower at Lucifer. "I knew you were mad but this? What's wrong with you?" he chided his older brother.

Lucifer gaped, taken aback by what his brothers thought he was guilty of. "Wha- It's not what it looks like!" he rebutted.

"I'll show you what you'll look like!" Angry little soldier Gabriel stormed up to Lucifer, ready to kick his shin with all the strength he could summon.

"Gabe, no," Sophia stopped him. "It's not his fault. I fell."

He pouted his lips, staring fiercely at Lucifer before turning back to Sophia. "Really! I swear," Lucifer supported, holding his arms up in surrender.

"Sure…" Gabe still seemed sceptical.

Raphael grinned inwardly, amused by Gabe's anger. So much fury for one so small… he thought. He'll make a good warrior yet.

"Anyway, I'd say we're even now," Sophia said, looking to Lucifer.

"You're still cleaning my room, though," he stated, a smirk spreading across his face.