Chloe pulled up next to Lucifer's Corvette outside the abandoned church and was surprised to hear the sound of a commotion going on inside. She had assumed everything would go as smooth as silk. Pulling her hand on the handle of her glock, she pressed herself against the wall next to the remains of the front door then peeked around the edge to see what was happening. The detective's eyes grew wide and her jaw momentarily dropped. This was not the scene she expected to find. There was no father and daughter hugging or heart-felt conversations. There wasn't even a demon on his knees begging for forgiveness for kidnapping the little girl.
No, What greeted Chloe was a pair of women's legs dangling by a rope from the belfry as well as two dead bodies lying on either side of the forgotten sanctuary. In the middle was Lilith engaged in a sword fight with some strange demon. The detective had no idea who or what this being was, nor had she ever seen anything like him. Maze was the only demon she had ever met in her true form and she had a normal human appearance, at least as far as she knew. This demon's skin was white as snow and his face was marked with geometric lines of black. More startling was his white cold eyes that were fixed on the Queen of the Lilim.
Chloe watched the two combatants in amazement. She had always considered Maze to be one of the most skilled fighters she had ever seen, but watching Lilith made Mazikeen's ability fade in comparison. Asmodeus was by no means an amateur either, but found himself doing all he could just block the onslaught. The others watched, confident that the demoness would be victorious. The clang of metal against metal echoed through the crumbling church as the dark prince growled and swung his sword in an attempt to catch Lili's legs. She only jumped over it effortlessly before delivering a blow to his forearm.
"I would have thought that someone with your grandiose ideas and over-blown self-importance would have planned things better . . . perhaps brought more friends." She swung her sword narrowly missing his abdomen by a hair's breadth. "Do you even have any real friends?" Her words were more accurate then she might have guessed. For all of his boasting and perceived self-importance, the demon had failed to sell his ideas of conquering Hell to anyone except Naamah and Bael. The only reason they had dared to listen was because they had seen something in it for themselves.
"The only thing I need is your death, then I will rule the Lilim and use them to conquer Hell. Lucifer can't fight them all off and I doubt any of his siblings will turn up to help."
"Maybe, but first you have to get my crown." With a growl of determination Asmodeus came at Lilith, the celestial blade seeming to come at her from all sides, but she easily thwarted each of his moves.
Seated in between the pews amidst the dust and debris was Maze, watching the battle. A rage was seething inside her as she looked upon the white and black face of Asmodeus. She had always looked up to him as a father only to find out from his own lips that he had never given a damn about her. He had only used and manipulated her. Maze's desire to redeem herself fueled by the hatred she felt for the dark prince lit a fire inside of her and blinded her to everything. She would make him pay and put an end to his treachery once and for all. She would be the victor and everyone would see it.
The devil's sword and Lilith's clashed with Asmodeus and Lilith coming up against each other bodily. For a moment the demon laughed only to be answered with a head-butt to his face before she shoved him backward and freed herself. The dark prince shook his head a moment then blinked back the pain as he managed to refocus. The white heat of his eyes flared as he looked at Lilith. He would bring her to heel or she would die, there was no other way!
The two blades once more met with Lilith's sword coming down with all her strength against her opponents causing it to flip out of his hand. Catching it as it flipped in midair, she tossed it aside and was about to put an end to Asmodeus when Mazikeen, brandishing her dagger, suddenly leapt into the middle of the frey and on to the dark prince shoulders. Lili yelled at her to stay out of the way, but Maze refused to listen. She was determined to fix her mistakes and finally prove herself to her mother, Lucifer and all of those who were her friends. She tried to stab him through the ribs and then the heart, but his demonic leather was too thick and powerful against her dagger.
With a growl of annoyance, the demon tossed Maze off of him like a rag doll and into Lilith, knocking the sword from the Queen of the Lilim's hand. Lili scrambled to grab it again, but the dark prince was quicker. He snatched his weapon up and turned just in time to run it completely through Lilith's abdomen. The thick heavy demon leather armor she wore was no match against Lucifer's celestial blade
"NOOOOOO!" roared Michael. At the same time Lucifer cried out 'Aḻakāṉa' as Velius yelled for his mother. She didn't answer, but staggered a moment then fell to her knees, her jade eyes wide in shock.
The Archangel was at her side before she could fall to the ground and ripping off his grey Henley shirt, he wadded it up and pressed it against the wound in her belly. Lucifer joined them within a few seconds with his suit jacket in hand, he placed it against the exit wound in her back. Velius quickly joined the circle and tried to be positive, assuring his mother that she just needed to hold on and everything would be fine. Lilith wasn't fooled and ordered them to get away and leave her alone. The demoness knew well that her demon blood was poisonous to any creature that touched it, even angels and she didn't want her friends to risk themselves just to be with her.
"You can't get rid of me so easily, I only just got here." Michael said, trying to smile at her while doing his best to hide the fact that he was doing all he could to prevent her blood from touching his skin.
"I'm so sorry mama." Mazikeen began to sob, realizing the depth of her mistake. There was no way to fix this and she didn't deserve anyone's forgiveness.
"It's okay baby . . . everything . . . everything is how it has to be."
"You can't leave me Aḻakāṉa," the devil commanded softly as Chloe joined the circle just behind him. She had known for a long time that his relationship with the demoness was, while complicated, closer than siblings or lovers. If she died then it would be a devastating blow to him emotionally and she needed to be strong enough to carry him through the impending pain. Wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his back, the detective's heart broke as she felt his body softly quake in horror, even as his face tried not to show it. "You promised me when you joined my dream that you would never leave me . . . remember?" Lucifer pointed out as he held her hand tightly in his. "You never lie." The devil was trying to put on a brave front, not just for her but for himself too. Unfortunately, he couldn't hide the crack in his voice or the tears that formed in his eyes.
"I'm sorry . . . I never wanted . . . to lie to you." she managed to say between gasps of breath. Lilith moved her lips in an attempt to say something else, but was drowned out by a cry of victory from the dark prince.
"The Lilim is now mine!" sneered Asmodeus. Hearing this, Lilith turned to Michael in desperation.
"Don't . . . don't let him take my crown . . . save Inara . . . save all my children."
Michael nodded then gently handed her into Lucifer's care with the command to protect her. The angel then stood and faced the dark prince. Michael's dark eyes flashed a look of hate and defiance then the abandoned church instantly filled with bright white light momentarily blinding everyone. When it subsided, Michael stood before them decked out in his full celestial armor that glistened like the sun. In each hand he held a sword made of the same shining, golden metal and inlaid with the finest deep blue sapphires.
Michael came at Asmodeus swinging the holy blades, but the demon managed to dodge, first right then left. The dark prince snarled and began slashing at the angel in every possible direction in hopes of striking at the leader of God's army. To his frustration he found that no matter how he maneuvered, he always found Michael's sword blocking him. Asmodeus attempted another swing, but Michael spun out of the way then came back around and sliced through the demon's thigh, causing him to fall backward against one of the wooden pews.
The dark prince looked at his wound, then looked at his opponent defiantly. His body was becoming tired from battling both the Queen of the Lilim and Michael but he couldn't give in to it . . . he couldn't stop. He had gone too far to turn back now and told himself that his victory was in view. He had defeated Lilith and now all he needed to do was kill Michael Demiurgos. After that, the others would see the futility and give him what he wanted. He took a breath and with a roar he charged at the angel, the two coming together in a clash of steel. The sounds of clang, bang, and clinking echoed through the old church as the two forceful beings collided over and over. The demon desperately tried to hold his ground, but only succeeded in being forced backward. Hoping to regain control Asmodeus took a step forward and sliced through the air at the angel, but Michael managed to block it. Circling his blade around the demon's, he knocked it out of his hands and off to the side out of reach. The angel then stepped forward, his celestial swords positioned on either side of his opponents neck. The dark prince stared at Michael contemptuously as he waited for the inevitable.
"On your knees, filth," The angel commanded. "You are in the presence of the Lord of Hell, Queen of the Lilim and The Commander of God's army and you will bow before us!" When he didn't move, Michael Demiurgos flicked one of his blades and slashed the demon's cheek. Slowly Asmodeus got down on his knees, his eyes glowing with hate. "As you were formed from nothing, so shall you return to nothing." Instantly the sword blades came together like a pair of massive scissors, cutting through the dark prince's flesh and bone as though they were as soft as butter and severing his head from his shoulders. It toppled and bounced like a ball on the ground, then rolled along the floor coming to a stop next to the very weapon he had stolen from the devil. A moment later his body collapsed in a heap. The war was over.
With the same flash of bright white light, Michael was back to how he was before, bare chest, blue jeans and basic tennis shoes. The angels once powerful grandeur replaced by his simple, ordinary, unassuming self. He returned to Lilith's side and fell to his knees next to her, brushing some loose strands of her hair from her face. Softly the angel told her that her crown was safe and her children were free of Asmodeus' evil influence. She nodded softly then her breathing stilled and the sparkle of life that had always burned so brightly in her eyes suddenly flickered out into dull emptiness. Her body went limp and her hand started to slip from the devil's only to be snatched up tighter by Lucifer.
The fallen angel didn't hear the soft mewling sob that issued from Michael or the way his twin collapsed against her body with large tears pouring from his eyes. He was deaf to the cries of his own son, Velius, as he called for his mother like a lost child before getting up and collapsing onto a pew in grief. The devil could only sit there staring out in a state of shock. The only sounds he heard were the echoes of conversations that spanned countless ages. There were tears, sharp words, flirtation, sarcasm, insults, but mostly he heard laughter. He could hear his own voice of course, but mostly he recalled the sound of Lilith's voice and the sweet melodious cackle she gave over a joke, or a playful tease, or the way she giggled when he brushed her skin just-so after a long night of unbridled sex.
Caught up in endless memories, Lucifer was blind to the abandoned church he was sitting in, and he couldn't feel the way Lili's body was growing colder in his arms. A million adventures were replaying themselves in his recollection, with the first one beginning at the banks of that small tributary in the Garden of Eden. How could she suddenly be gone? The only constant in his long existence was that she was always there. How many times in Hell had he awakened feeling alone and abandoned only to reach out in the cold darkness and find her hand waiting for him. He and Lilith had always been a matched pair, walking through a garden paradise together as well as through the fires of Hell. Even here on Earth, despite their constant bickering, they had never been too far apart. He couldn't fathom continuing on through eternity without her.
All of the devil's reminiscing was abruptly interrupted by Michael attempting to take Lilith from Lucifer's arms. At the thought of his twin taking her away, a rage filled the fallen angel and his eyes glowed red as he growled and shoved his twin back with his free hand while continuing to cradle Lili in the other. There was no way he would give her over to his brother. Never! No longer in shock, tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, bt he never noticed. He was too intent on holding on his old friend. Being forced to hand her over to death's icy touch was hard enough to bear, but this . . . this was asking too much. She didn't belong to him and that gutless wonder of an angel certainly didn't deserve her.
No one could possibly know her the way that he did, certainly not some spoiled little daddy's boy that didn't have the balls to stand up for himself. Did he have any real history with her? No. Did he really even know Lili? No. Michael had only fancied her because she was something of his to try and steal the same way he had snatched toys when they were children. Well not this time, he would not allow his twin to take her away, he'd tear him apart with his bare hands first.
The devil readied himself, fully expecting his brother to come back at him and another battle to begin, but instead he was surprised to see his twin just sitting there. He didn't argue, fight back or even attempt to rip her body from his arms. Nothing. Michael simply sat there, his tears silently running down his face as he pulled off his shoes and then his socks. Carefully he slipped the wool foot coverings over his hands in an effort to protect himself from the blood, then carefully he clasped Lili's bloodied fingers. The angel would have gladly fought the devil for Lilith's body and kicked his sorry ass all the way back to Hell too, be he wouldn't do it. He knew Lilith would not want the two brothers fighting over anything as insignificant as her shell so instead he would take what little he could.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Michael said softly as he caressed her cool fingers. "There was so much we were going to do, places we were going to visit . . . blackberries for breakfast."
"What?" Lucifer asked, confused as to what his brother could be talking about . . . especially at a moment like this.
"Lili loved blackberries," Michael answered, his voice cracking as he spoke.
"Yes she did." The Nephilim agreed, looking up from where he sat, a hint of a smile curled his lip at the recollection.
"Well . . . she would eat anything, but she favored fruit and . . . and blackberries in particular." The angel stared off as a tear rolled down his cheek and landed on her hand. "She looked amazing in any color she wore, but she always preferred soft styles and the color white . . . when it was available."
"My Girl by the Temptations," Velius commented softly, thinking of her favorite song. Michael smiled slightly and nodded in agreement.
"The Great Pretender and The Last Kiss are in a tie for second," he added.
Never in all of Lucifer's long existence had he ever truly listened to anything his twin had to say. In fact, the devil had made it his personal policy and may have written it into the fine print at the bottom of the long list of laws he had instituted in the underworld after Michael had thrown him into Hell at the behest of Dad. Now for the first time, Lucifer's ears weren't clouded by his own desires or the long standing feud with his twin. He was truly listening and realizing that what his son had said was right. He had never really known Lilith, at least not as well as he should have. Yet somehow this brother of his, who had never been able to spend more than a short time with Lili, knew her better than anyone. The fallen angel couldn't speak at this realization. He just sat there staring at his twin as he fully absorbed just what he was saying
"You were right brother," The angel said mournfully as he looked down at the small cold bloodied hand in his. "You were always right."
"What?' Lucifer asked, surprised to hear his twin say that. The devil couldn't remember ever hearing one of his siblings say that, least of all Michael.
"Father is nothing more than a cruel manipulative bastard that thrives on dangling our heart's desire in front of us then yanking it away the second it's within our reach." Michael's words were filled with bitterness and venom, shocking Lucifer. He had never seen his brother like this. His twin was usually the one trying to remind him that things were not as bleak as they appeared, which usually just annoyed him more. Seeing his brother sink into despair was almost frightening. "It's all just a game to him," the angel sobbed. "and we are nothing more than pawns that he moves about according to his whims without any regard for the pain and suffering it causes us. There is no winning . . . EVER!" In frustration and grief, Michael slammed his fist against the concrete floor with all of his preternatural strength, cracking it. Caught up in his own broken-heart, the angel never noticed that in the process some of the divine power of the Demiurge had seeped from him and filled the cracks in the concrete with smooth perfect veins of bloodstone. The swirls of green/grey mixed with the red reflected well his torment even even as it exuded healing energy.
"Michael . . ." Lucifer began, softly. There was a time when he would have been shouting at the Presence just as loudly and with more ferocity, but for some unknown reason the devil found himself recalling what Warren Taylor had told him about the prophecy as well as the last words that Father Frank had said to him all those years ago. Somehow all the sadness, pain and heartbreak he had felt at the loss of Lilith seemed to fade and was replaced with a calm peaceful feeling that he couldn't begin to fathom. "Perhaps I was wrong . . . I think . . . I believe . . . our Father has a plan."
"No," The angel responded, shaking his head vehemently. "Lilith had changed . . . she was living beyond herself . . . she was trying to be a good mother."
"I know," Lucifer answered gently.
"No you don't," Michael hissed. "I fought father. I offered up my life just to break my chains and be with her. WHY?. So he could snatch her away from me the very first day? What's the bloody point?"
Michael had fought, Father? This was something Lucifer had never expected. In his mind he had always seen his twin as an angelic pain in the ass stealing everything of value to him then running to their Daddy for protection. When he wasn't doing that then he was sucking up to the Presence and dutifully sitting at Dad's side just waiting to do his bidding. Was it possible that he had misjudged him? Seeing the deep pain and anguish in Michael's face, the devil could no longer deny that his brother had truly loved Lilith or that he still did. Perhaps this twin of his was exactly what his beloved 'Aḻakāṉa' needed.
Looking at Lilith's still face, he realized that for countless centuries he had never allowed himself to be completely hers and in truth, she was never fully his. Yet there was no denying that their souls were woven together down to the very core of their beings and you could sooner separate every grain of sand then rend them apart. No matter what happened or how dark his world became, she had always been a candle bringing a touch of warmth, life and happiness to his otherwise empty existence in hell.
Lucifer's dark eyes looked down at the place where his brother had punched the concrete and in particular he stared at the veins of blood stone that so beautifully filled the cracks. A realization shot through the fallen angel like a lightning bolt. The devil knew that within Michael was the power of the Demiurge which was the source of all creation. If he combined it with his own lightbringer power, which gave the spark of life, then there was a chance they could bring Lilith back to life and make her whole again. They could at least try. Being a demon there was no guarantee that it would work, but Lili had never been like the others and it seemed foolish not to take the chance.
The devil's mind was on fire with the possibility, but he also knew that even if they managed to bring her back, he still stood to lose her. He had no reason to believe that she would choose him over Michael, but that seemed a small price to pay if it meant that she could finally find happiness and have someone who loved her just the way she was. At any rate, they would still be a part of one another as best friends, nothing would ever change that. Before he could change his mind, Lucifer took a deep breath and quickly grabbed his twin's hand. Michael stared at the devil in confusion as his twin ripped the sock off his hand.
"Earn this," the fallen angel said before placing their joined hands over Lilith's heart.
Before the angel could ask what he was doing, both brothers suddenly lurched forward, rooted in place as their celestial powers fused. Black flames of mourning began to encircle Lili and the twins, forcing Chloe to hastily back away out of fear that she would be burned. Lucifer groaned momentarily as though he were in pain, and indeed, the devil felt as though he were being pulled inside out. His hand and arm began to glow a soft yellow light that flowed from him into Lilith's body. Once it had engulfed her, the flames that surrounded them changed to brilliant orange.
Like the devil, Michael also felt as though he was in agony as his arm also began to shine, but in a soft blue that moved down then through his fingertips and into the demoness. Both Mazikeen and Velius sat with their heads reverently bowed, but the detective could only tremble as she pressed her back against the wall. She didn't understand what was happening and it filled her with both fear and a strange awe at the knowledge that she was witnessing divine otherworldly magic.
When the power of the Demiurge had filled Lilith, the flames enclosing the three beings changed once again to a deep wine color that flashed and erupted into an enormous Phoenix that screeched loudly at the sky as it engulfed the two celestials and the demoness. The sound and bright light only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to startle Chloe and cause her to cry out in fright. The great bird began to slowly spin and its body transformed into a spiraling plum of green smoke that filled the church.
The detective tried to hide her eyes, but found herself unable to look away. She stared at the mist around her and realized it wasn't a cloud at all, but thousands upon thousands of tiny emerald butterflies. Entranced, she reached out her hand to touch one of the strange delicate insects, but her fingers went right through their bodies. These were no earthly creatures, but ethereal beings called forth by Lucifer and Michael. They swirled faster and faster, tightening into a cyclone before seeming to connect themselves to Lilith's eyes, mouth and nose and entering her lifeless corpse. Her body, with the twin brother's hands still locked to her heart, arched upward as far as it could go. For a moment the detective was certain Lili's spine would break in two, but it didn't.
Looking at the immense size of the plume and the sheer number of butterflies, Chloe didn't believe that there was anyway all those ghostly creatures could possibly fit inside of Lilith and yet somehow they did. The flames changed to a bright green then faded all together leaving no marks on the floor where they had been. Everything was silent as the brothers finally pulled their hands away and gasped for air. Both were disheveled, covered in sweat and exhausted from the blending of their powers, but pleased to find that Lilith's body was warm and there was no evidence of her blood anywhere. Although her eyes were closed, the rise and all of Lili's chest could be seen with every breath. Michael tore away the leather armor she wore and was overjoyed to see no evidence of a wound. Even the large ghastly abdominal scar that had been created at Inara's birth was gone. Slowly her eyes opened and she looked at the worn, bedraggled faces of Michael and Lucifer and could hear the sound of their labored breathing.
"You two weren't fighting again, were you?" she asked weakly. Neither answered but instead engulfed her in a massive hug, from which they weren't certain they would ever release her from.