Author's note:
I have made chocolate pancakes last year and they turned out terrible. It was some cheap syrup, I imagine melted chocolate is much better. Added some banana to mine as well.
I don't know why I put this here.
I write alot on my computer, but sometimes I write on my phone too. Forgive me for not checking grammar, my phone has no built in spell check.
Chapter 17: Rest and Respite
The demon and the human had spent the next twenty hours sleeping, the two needed to catch up on some well deserved rest. Even if there were many intimate 'sessions' inbetween. They would exhaust themselves and then go back to sleep, it was a pleasant cycle. He awoke for a short time in the afternoon, the sun had long abandoned shining through their bedroom window.
The two had been locked in each other's embrace all night and day, he turned his head to see Lucy's back. He was contempt on just lying there. He moved closer to her, moving in to spoon her. He put his left arm around her stomach, his face pressing against the back of her neck. She moaned slightly when he kissed her neck, moving herself backwards, deeper into his embrace.
His drowsy thoughts drifted from different subjects: Mantus, Lucifer's cries of pains, his night in the infirmary with Malina, the whispers in the dark, that kiss from Judgement, but there was one thing that kept echoing in his busy mind: that voice. The one he heard before he passed out after the Mantus confrontation, the same one he heard again when he was waking. Of course he would look after them.
He tried not to think about it for now, he wanted to rest. He wanted things to return to normal, Cerberus barking at people on the beach being the most he had to worry about. His grip on Lucifer tightened slightly, but he tried to relax, her presence told him he was safe. His thoughts now becoming mixed into one, all random, no sense to be made...
The two continued to sleep until the late evening, he awoke to find himself laying on his back, the devil was also awake, tracing the lines of his muscular torso. He had lost a little muscle mass during his time in Hell, but he was still "one hell of a beefcake" Lucifer had once said when drunk. He rubbed his eyes with his left hand, his right arm was still wrapped around the body to his right, she was leaning against him, slowly tracing his features; the outline of his chest, underneath his pectoral muscles.
"Morning" she said softly, noticing he was awake, a warm smile was on her face. She leant closer and they had another long kiss. "Good morning" he smiled back, both of them chuckling at the irony; the time they woke up definitely wasn't the morning, the house already becoming dark. "How'd you sleep?" he asked her, she leaned on his right side, her body pushing against his. "Best sleep I have ever had" she smiled, she now placed her left arm under her chin, leaning her head on it. "How about you?"."Some confusing dreams, but with you here. I could sleep forever."
"That's the dream" she paused, rubbing her face against his shoulder. She lay there for a few minutes, "We have definitely fucked up our sleep schedule" she laughed. "Who cares, I always liked the night anyway", they lay there, listening to the sound of rain beginning, slowly lashing on the side of the house. He always liked the sound of the rain. Lucifer always wondered what it was, eventually realising it was rain. It was weird to see her worried at basic features of this world, like most demons, a life in Hell was quite sheltered. Demons rarely visited the surface, it was the Hell Priests who travelled to the mortal plane. Lucifer had admitted that she had visited in the past, but not for long, and not in his century.
All of a sudden he became quite sad, the thoughts of what would happen after he was no longer around now came back to haunt him, ruining the moment. As if by magic she could sense the change in his emotions; "What's wrong?" she asked, still not looking up at him, her face laying against his right arm. "Lucy.." he began, trying to construct the sentence in his head. "Do you ever think about when this will end?" he said, the sadness obvious on his voice. "No, I never have", she was leaning on her elbows now. He was staring at the ceiling.
"I don't want this to end...our family" he confessed, the sadness had overflowed. "Hey, shhhh, don't think about it" she said, coming in closer. She placed her hands on either side of his head, "We will still be a family, no matter what", but he knew she was lying. "Will we still be a family when I die?" he said, his mind saturated with depressing vistas of the end of his life: the demons moving on with their lives, eventually forgetting he ever existed. She didn't know what to say. She was immortal, he was not.
"Can you make me immortal?" he asked, the question conjured as if he had read her thoughts. It had been lingering in his mind for far too long. "I-I..." she stuttered, "I've never tried, I don't know if I have the power to grant someone immortality. Only th-" she stopped, her eyes averting his gaze. "Only the big man in the sky can do such a thing" she said finally. There it was. The impossibility of the request. He knew it deep down, he wouldn't be able to spend eternity with them, with her. Unexpectedly, he laughed, it snapped Lucifer from her guilt. "My parents were Christians, you know what they had once asked me?" he looked at his devil.
"What?" she asked, thrown back by his religious heritage. "They asked me when I was a young boy, what would you ask God if you could meet him?". Lucifer pondered it, but then she realised what it was and why he had brought it up now. "Can you make me immortal?" she said, smiling at the realization. "You got it" he smiled back. This change in his mood was only temporary.
"Do you think I'll go to Heaven or Hell?" he smiled, his facial expression betraying how he truly felt. "I can't say for sure. But wherever you are, I will come find you". Lucifer said, taking his hand in hers. Clenching it. "Is that a promise?" he smiled at her. "I promise" she said, clenching his hand harder. He sighed when she confirmed it, "Lucy Lucy, don't make a promise, you know you can't keep" his smile vanishing.
"You know damn well I keep promises" she spat at him, she let go of his hand. "You'd what, break into Heaven? Or worse yet find me in one of those cages.." he stopped, recollection flashing in his eyes. "What cages?" Lucifer's voice quivered, knowing secretly what he was referring to. The Helltaker sat up, swiveling his legs out of the bed on his side. He now had his back to her, he sat and looked down at the floor. He sighed, ready to tell his story.
"When I arrived in Hell, I had to walk for what felt like days. But half way through my journey I had to cross some sort of lake. It had an dark oil like substance in it" he paused to see if she knew the one. "Oh, that" she muttered, confirming she knew. "I had to walk through it, all was going fine till I saw those damn cages. Bodies stuffed in there, all still alive, all begging for death" he paused again, clearing his throat.
"I saw my torturer Lucy, the man who tried to brainwash me. The man who made me suffer. A face amoungst a sea of flesh, writhing, moving as one". He turned to look at her, she held his gaze. "He begged for me to kill him, just like I had once asked him. But, I didn't do it". Lucifer qucikly came around his side of the bed, holding the duvet to cover her body and keep her warm. She sat next to him on the bed, placing a hand on his.
"I felt happy, that this sick man was getting the torture he deserved. I told him to rot, leaving him to an eternity of pain." A long pause followed. "I should have killed him, ended his suffering. Because I realised something soon after that, I'm just as bad as him". He was quiet after that confession for some time, Lucifer not really knowing what to say. Alas she broke the silence, "But your not as bad as him, think of all the good you have done", she smiled at him, trying her best to change his mood.
"Lucy, what if I had been in one of those cages. If this never happened between us, I would die, step out in front of Judgement and she would condemn me to a life of constant drowning or trapped half submerged in a cage" his mind was now panicking. "Hey, look at me" she demanded, he swiftly obeyed. He was beginning to sweat. "That will never happen, not to you. Besides, if you were to think of all the "what ifs' you'd go insane". She stopped momentarily, he was calming down now. "This is all that matters, the here and now. Me and you. Our family".
He knew she was right. Of course she was right, his mind had just been tormenting itself again. "I know, I'm grateful for every second of it", his signature smile returning to his face. "Then stop wallowing in the past and kiss me" she demanded, he didn't need to be told twice.
The two had thrown on some loose fitting clothes eventually deciding to wander downstairs. He was wearing a black short sleeved shirt with shorts, she wore a thin red bathrobe, not being bothered by the way she looked. They figured instead of lying in bed all day it was best to stretch and find something to eat. When was the last time he ate? He didn't feel hungry in Hell, the last thing must have been the sandwich he had before Beelzebub opened the portal. He felt like he was on the verge of starvation, he was ravenous. He began first by eating all the fruit in the house, devouring three bananas, two oranges, a bunch of grapes, two pears and seven plums. He was still hungry.
He went next to the fridge and ate any cold meats he could find, slices of ham and chicken. Still wasn't enough. He decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich, planning to make three for himself. "Does anyone want a toastie?" he asked the lounge before he began. There were only a few demons present at this time: Malina was getting her gaming fix, Justice was listening to some music, Lucifer had grabbed a huge bowl of cereal, cookie crisp, eating so fast she was inhaling the bowl, Cerberus was napping in various places around the lounge.
"What's grilled cheese?" Justice asked, removing one of her earphones. "It's basically a melted cheese sandwich, the bread being slightly toasted. I'll make you one and if you don't like it, I will eat it". "Sounds good to me!" Justice smiled back. "Do you want anything Malina?" he asked the demon, she was concentrating immensely. "Bag of chips, top left cupboard" she said quickly, not wanting to look away from the screen. He went to retrieve the bag.
"Did I say stop?" a bitchy voice was heard coming down the stairs, "Ow! No it's just difficult to walk downstairs." The sound of chain being rattled was heard "I'm sorry!" a desperate voice responded to the first. He turned to see a sadistic sight. Beelzebub came walking down the stairs, covered in bruises and red marks, she had her hands chained together as well as her ankles. She was also wearing a very revealing red bralette and panties, he guessed they had tried to get as close to humiliating as possible.
Zdrada was following her down the stairs, followed by a happy Judgement. A white chain was wrapped around her metal right hand. Zdrada was wearing a large red hoodie, she had her makeup off and had some black shorts on too. Judgement was wearing her ever revealing prosecutor outfit, the same one she wore when she fought him. He always was puzzled at the outfit choice, she had said it gave her the upper hand, especially against male enemies. He couldn't deny the logic there.
He sympathized for Beelzebub, she looked rough. As they came closer he could see burn marks on her skin, presumably from Zdrada and her cigarettes. He knew he had to step in. Judgement was just about to whip her again, the chain arching over her head. "That's enough-" he said, quickly moving to stand inbetween Beelzebub and Judgement. He caught the chain on his right arm, wrapping it around his bare arm and pulling the high prosecutor towards him. The white chain had a very electric effect to it, it had left quite the mark after he had finished this maneuver.
This move had completely startled her, she stumbled forward, the pull being very powerful. He caught her, before the two collided. He made sure she looked in his eye so she understood the severity of his demand. "For one day" he finished. Judgement released herself, turning away and crossing her arms. "Killjoy" Zdrada spat at him. "Keys, now" he held out his right palm. The older sister scoffed, manifesting the red keys and throwing at his face. He was faster to react and caught them with his left hand before they hit him.
Judgement and Zdrada scowled and walked into the lounge to join the others, "Why didn't you tell me she was like that? I missed all the fun" a sadistic Lucifer joked with the two. The three of them began chatting about what they would make her do next. He sighed, unlocking the cuffs on her hands. The red shackles falling to the kitchen floor with a loud thud, he kneeled down and unlocked the chains bounding her ankles together.
The pair of metal shackles both demanifested as soon as they were off of the woman, disintegrating in a red light. The key also vanished in his hand. "I release you for today" he smiled, seeing her rub her wrists where the shackles had been too tight. She didn't look that bothered by the whole situation, some may argue she was enjoying it. "Jokes on them, I'm into this shit..." she whispered. He couldn't tell if she was joking. He decided to laugh it off, "Go get changed B" he said, continuing to make his sandwiches. She obeyed, "Thank you, Taker" she said, making sure to give him a good angle as she walked up the stairs. Why were demons always so horny?
He placed a plate with a single sandwich on Justice's lap, "Thanks, smells fucking great" she smiled, already digging in. Using her gloved hands. "Careful it's hot" he said, going to sit on the sofa next to her. "I know I am" she winked at him, for once she wasn't wearing any sunglasses. Her pale white eyes were now staring forward. He chuckled slightly embarrassed and sat down, digging into his own sandwiches.
He was inbetween the two prosecutors, Justice on his left, Judgement on his right. Zdrada was sat with Lucifer chatting about...something. Cerberus had woken to the smell of the warm sandwiches on his lap, all three coming to sit at his feet, begging for some food. "Haven't you girls fed yourself today?" he asked, staring at the three. One was sat cross legged, another was lying on her stomach, legs on in the air behind her, the other wasn't paying attention to the food, sat with her back to him, spacing out.
Judgement and Malina were currently swearing at each other, both getting extremely competitive with the video game they were playing. He didn't recognize this one, he tried his best to keep up with Malina's ever increasing collection, but he couldn't remember them all. "Who is winning?" he asked, honestly unsure of the answer. "Me!" Judgement laughed, mashing the buttons as hard as she could, "Fuck off are you" a sour Malina shot back. He laughed at the two, turning to his left to talk to Justice.
"When are we going on our date hotshot?" she asked, making eye contact with him. "I didn't think you were serious back in Hell" he smiled, he noticed Lucifer had gone quiet, most likely listening to the conversation. "Dead serious" she took another bite of her sandwich, her eyes maintaining his stare. "You have such beautiful eyes" he blurted suddenly, "Ahh, I meant you have such a nice-" he tried to recover the situation but was cut off. "Awh, save it big guy" she blushed, she always said that when she deflected his compliments, even when they were accidental. He was dying of embarrassment, Why did he say that? Blaming his hungry mind, he began eating his sandwiches.
He ate two out of three sandwiches and let Cerberus fight over the last one, placing it on the floor for them. The middle one being the victor in this battle. The spaced out Cerberus drew her attention over to the plate, licking the cheesy grease off of it. "Do you want me to get you anything?" he asked the three dopey girls, watching the one lick the plate with a smile. They seemed hungry.
"No, we had a big dinner!" one said, "Beelzebub cooked it!" another spoke after the first, "It was a big steak!" the last one chimed, she looked up from the plate as she said it. It was very rare that Cerberus spoke individually, the three smiling, all looking at him.
"A large steak? I was looking forward to that.." he sighed, "Oh well, you probably enjoyed it more than I would of" he smiled at the three. He petted the nearest one to him, who was leaning closer to him while he spoke. For some reason they took this gesture as their cue to pounce on him, all three suddenly wanting attention. He was a little annoyed that they had eaten more than him and had still begged for his sandwiches, but this quickly passed.
He tried the best he could petting all three at once, one Cerberus had her head on his left leg, another was almost straddling him, her legs on either side of him, the third Cerberus had the back of her head on his right leg. He tried not to focus his attention on the middle Cerberus, but it was very difficult due to where she was sat.
"Fuck you!" Malina shouted, throwing the controller against Judgement, she swiped the incoming controller with her metal hand, it bounced off the metal and was flung across the room. "Another win for Judgement!" the high prosecutor said loud and proud, she had her arms crossed, a large smile present on her face. Her toothy grin displaying her sharp teeth. Malina stormed out, he heard her shout from upstairs: "YOU DIDN'T EVEN GET ME MY CHIPS". He smiled, turning to see her come back downstairs, she was carrying a large bottle of vodka to replace her empty one.
He stood up, holding the Cerberus who was sat on his lap and placing her back down. All three had stolen his seat as soon as he had stood up, he walked to retrieve the bag of chips, opening the cupboard and trying to catch the bags that fell out as he did so. He didn't realise how many bags were in this cupboard. All the same brand, he grabbed one and walked back to the lounge. "Heads" he said to the Sour Demon.
"Heads?" she said, a bag of chips landing on her face a second later. She growled at him, "I did say heads" he chuckled. "Whatever dickwad, your phone was vibrating earlier, go shove that up your ass" she spat, resuming another game with Judgement. His phone? He didn't question her further, he now heard a quiet vibrating. He traced where the sound was coming from, walking towards the stairs, still puzzled as to where the buzzing was emanating from. He walked over to the coat rack, realising his jacket hanging up before the stairs, was the source of the occasional buzzing he was hearing.
He reached into his inner pocket, grasping a flip phone that was buzzing regularly. Since when did he own a flip phone? He opened it, there were five new messages on the dark screen. It took him a few minutes to familiarize himself with it, the old fashioned controls, navigating to the texts menu. He opened the messages from the unknown number.
"You need to know the truth, my daughters aren't what they seem"- the first message read.
"My husband may be extreme in his ways, but he is not evil. It has been so long...The demon of flies she has taken something from him, he won't tell me what it was"- the second message read.
"If you can return it to us, we will be eternally grateful"- the third text read.
The last two messages were voice messages, both just under ten minutes long. His thumb trembled over the play button, his mind was suddenly desperate to know. "Whatcha doing?" Modeus's voice came from upstairs, startling the Helltaker, dropping the flip phone. "Ooo-h uu-h sorry Modeus" he scrambled to pick it up, "Didn't see you there, just messaging a-a- friend?" he said, failing terribly at lying to her.
Somehow, it had worked. "Oh okay?" she bounded over, giving him a huge hug, her red turtle neck body fitting comfortably into his arms. He quickly and silently slipped the phone back into his jacket pocket, the fuck... his mind beginning to create imaginary scenarios of what the voice messages could be. "You smell nice" he said, trying to change the subject, being honest, she smelt like pineapple. She giggled when he leant in close to smell her hair, he planted a kiss on her head as well.
He and Modeus entered the lounge, both sitting on the sofa. She squeezed herself between Justice and himself, it was becoming a tight squeeze. Justice, Modeus, the Helltaker, all three Cerberus and Judgement were all crammed onto the sofa. Modeus had already placed his arm around her, snuggling close to him. He would have to listen to those messages later, what could they be?
"Alright, I'm going for a bath. I want to kick out Beelzebub anyway" Lucifer smirked, small jabs are her specialty. "Have fun" he smiled at her, watching her tail move slowly side to side, curling. He had never seen her tail do that before. "Oi, you braindead idiot" Malina said to him, "Did you not hear me?" she spat. He turned to look at her, "No sorry darling" he said ironically. He could tell she was well on her way to getting drunk. "Do you wanna plaaaaayy?" she slurred.
"Fuck sake" a frustrated Helltaker sighed, trying his best not to disturb a comfortable Modeus. Most demons who had been awake all day had gone to bed, this included Zdrada, Cerberus and Justice. He presumed Beelzebub had already gone to sleep, not wanting to be in the same room as the other demons. He was sat with Modeus and Malina now.
He had lost again to the Sour Demon, now the Happy Demon. "You know what they say, get good" she laughed at him. They had reverted to playing Smash Ultimate again, it had become his favourite one to play with her, he still needed to practice. Himself and Judgement could not match Malina in this game, so they were taking it in turns to fight her.
Judgement had vacated the lounge to grab a snack, she had wanted some fruit, but she had settled on a few granola bars. "You need to go shopping again" she said from the kitchen, she was searching through all the cupboards. "We" he corrected her. He threw the controller to his side, frustrated at his consistent losses. He had started on the whiskey, he was now three glasses deep. The ice making a satisfying sound against the glass.
"Judgement you're up" he called to her, scratching his face. What were on those fucking voice messages? His mind kept going back to it. He rubbed Modeus's shoulder, making sure she was warm. She nuzzled closer into him, her face now against his collar. His leg was twitching. Judgement came back into the lounge and sat down, this time she lay on the sofa, her head resting on his lap, her legs resting on the arm of the sofa. Her metal claws holding a thick granola bar, she was spilling crumbs on her chest.
"Have I become some sort of pillow?" he joked to the grey demon, "Yeah, you have, deal with it" she smiled, picking the controller up. Surprisingly, she played better with her claws on, the claws giving her a speed advantage. Somehow. "Alright, here we go".
"I'm going to go to sleep now" he heard a voice whisper in his ear, he turned and forgot that Modeus was at his side. "Oooh, okayyy M" he smiled, he like Malina, was quite drunk now. "I'll join you lateeee-r?" he slurred, burping half way through the sentence. "I'd like that" she smiled, loving him even in his drunk state. He had spaced out while Judgement and Malina battled, his eyes followed Modeus to the stairs. He then looked down and saw a sleeping Judgement resting on his leg, her cheek on his thigh, her horns digging into him slightly.
While he was spaced out, Judgement had taken off most of her accessories. She had removed her gauntlets, the metal utility belt that was often clipped around her waist, the metal belt buckle with a black pentagram on it, a hair pin with the initials JUDGEMENT engraved in grey initials, and a small chain necklace. He never knew she wore a necklace. All items were cluttered onto the coffee table in a messy pile.
He smiled at seeing the High Prosecutor sound asleep on his thigh, he savored the moment. Malina looked over after playing the game solo for quite some time, she saw the sleeping demon and scoffed. "Avatar of pain my ass" she spluttered, taking a swig of vodka after. "How did she get the job?" she asked him, her sour gaze trying to concentrate on him. He didn't know what to say, but he didn't care. "I'll drink to thaa-t" he said raising his glass. She raised her bottle, taking another big slug.
What did he need to do? He had to do something, he had to read something? "Malina, whaaaat did I haaa-ve to do?" he slurred, he was succumbing to drowsyness. "What? I doo-nt fucking know?" she was smiling? Her voice becoming distant. His head tilted back and he was out like a light.
Another a bit of inspiration from fanart in this chapter. The story of the sisters also drawing inspiration from another videogame, I'll see if you can guess which over the coming chapters.