AN :

Here we go, folks!

Sorry for the delay (busy with IRL stuff and 'I will not say goodbye' to write,too). We're finally cutting to the chase! You'll have some answers with that new chap - a flashback.

Thanks for your support and comments/reviews on the previous chaps.

Let's go!

INTER-DIMENSIONAL DEAD END

16

~ A Month ago - Earth plane ~

xOx

Plic. Ploc.

He liked to listen to the rain, he had always liked that.

He couldn't explain it, just that was how it was, how he felt.

So he listened.

The slight touch... noisy touch as soon as the raindrops invaded the sky for good. The noise of many, their gentleness alone. One noise, to one place alone.

Plic. Ploc.

When did it start raining?

That thought was gentle and disappeared as quickly. The next ones were as vague and boring.

Plic. Ploc. Plic. Ploc.

Strange that raindrops would never have thought of resonating differently in the world, in the skies, clouded with their presence.

Plic. Ploc.

Plic.

Ploc.

Something was resonating quite in a similar way within him, a dissonant percussion in the back of his skull. Opening his eyes seemed like the best way to escape it, just for a second.

The rhythm turned louder around him. So bold, yet humdrum orchestra. He looked at his reflection in the window in front of him, the booth seat where he was lying.

Plic. Ploc.

Another sound.

From him?

That moan sounded just like him.

Plic. Ploc. Plic...

"Shit!"

Wh-?

He turned his gaze, he turned it away from the rain, lingering as long as it could on the new sound, another shape. Whoever that was, the person didn't turn towards him once, only facing the damp, dark horizon outside. His fingertips slightly twitched and brushed the floor as that person's hands twitched around the steering wheel.

Plic….

He couldn't look away from that face, yet couldn't help but submit to his heavy eyelids the moment that the person finally turned towards him.

--oc.

He knew that face.

He knew-

Plic.

The world turned mute once more. Everything stopped on vague sensations, certainties and rainy orchestra.

Ploc.

-xXx-

Celestial lapping on windows was the first thing he heard some time later, if 'later' had any sense as he didn't even know when 'before' exactly started. The throb in the back of his head started right when he tried to move, though.

Literal starting point.

"What't…h'll…"

His voice sounded far away from his body, inelegant grunts and whispers silenced by pain and confusion. The time it took him to lean on his elbows was as undefinable as the 'later' notion. One hand trying to subdue the pain cutting through his temple by clumsy strokes, Lucifer's blurry vision lingered on the sheet beneath him.

A bed.

Where d—

"Took you long enough to emerge," a female voice said.

It sounded familiar to him, from his left, out of his sight. Lucifer slowly turned his head from an inch, towards the person sitting on the only chair of the room. Squinted eyes turned wide as he finally managed to put a name on the voice previously heard.

"Azzy?!"

"Hey, Lucifer. It's good to see you again."

A tired smile followed her words. Tired, she was…. looks far beyond than that state. Lucifer took a closer look of her as he sat on the edge of the bed. Not a few years but thousands of them had passed since the last time they had seen each other. It felt like he was seeing her for the very first time in his life.

So different from the one they had shared.

"Don't go."

"You don't understand, Azzy. He can't make us obey Him!"

"Of course, He can! And I understand it's dangerous when you don't!"

She was so young back then, she still was.

Her slender shape hadn't gotten rid of the last teenager-related curves yet. As for her clothes, they were far from any celestial memories they had lived together, all too human. Death looked definitely softer in human clothes, with those raindrops gleaming on her leather, brown jacket.

They hadn't been inside for long, had they?

If 'long' meant more than 'later' at this point.

Lucifer's gaze lingered on the rest of her outfit - worn black jeans covered to calf-level with cheap boots, brown too. Jeans and shirt beneath the jacket were a perfect reflection of her hair colour, smooth and cut to chin level. Death not only wearing black? Shocking.

Her smoky eyes hadn't left his moves once, following wearily his close inspection. Those weren't child's eyes anymore, they had lived too long, too many things. He couldn't find back that fiery gleam in them, that very one that had always shone stronger whenever he had teased her. A raindrop ran down the bridge of her short nose, then slid between her tense, yet smiling lips on her sharp-featured face.

Lucifer's forehead furrowed. His young sister's presence on Earth was disturbing, increasingly so as he noticed other details - dried blood on her right hand, partly hidden by her sleeve, her shirt ripped five inches through the fabric beneath her chest.

"Well, I'd gladly return the compliment, but.. 'good' isn't the first word coming into my mind at the moment," he groaned, rubbing the back of his skull.

"Right. Sorry about that, but you wouldn't have listened to me otherwise. You wouldn't even have followed me willingly."

"And how such bloody headache is supposed to make me more attentive, hm?" Lucifer lowered his hand, staring at her with growing suspicion. "Followed? Follow you where exactly?"

Azrael let out a sigh before crossing her legs. She moved a damp lock of hair away from her creased forehead, her expression changed as soon as the real motives about her presence on Earth started to show-off. "There are a few things we need to talk about, Lucifer. Important things."

"And those 'things' couldn't stand a five-star suite, could they? They're more fond of unexpected, rude kidnapping in the middle of the night, it seems!" he exclaimed, waving angrily at the motel room where his sister had brought him without consent.

"Oh, come on! It was just a flick! Not my fault if your head is deadly hollow from the inside."

And here was her fiery side, not shown, neither heard since that day in the Silver City, when he was about to start a losing battle.

"It is your fault if it feels full of unpleasant celestial bells now! I mean… what the hell did they teach you up there?"

The Angel of Death sneered, shaking her head. "Because you're the best one to judge how 'our' family taught me to be part of it….'brother'."

Although expected, her hatred hit him deeper, harder, than he was prepared for.

She didn't avert her steely gaze from his, darkened by a power that would have chickened out many. None of them did, determined not to submit to either guilt or rage of being left alone, abandoned by their family.

Lucifer was the first to speak again.

"I certainly do appreciate and encourage revenge against anyone daring to cause us pain, but I won't feel that positive about such manoeuvre tonight." With these words, he stood up, wincing when the pain rose again, and smoothed down his wrinkled suit jacket and shirt. "Someone is waiting for me and, as you must know, I am a Devil of my promised presence."

He couldn't tell what time it was precisely; motels weren't fond of any sorts of clock for their customers, obviously. It was still dark outside - no dawn coming anytime soon, then.

Not 'too' late, then.

The Detective would still be at her place, willing to listen to him... to see him for who he really was.

Good.

He walked to the door. Azrael didn't protest, neither physically try to stop him; she just distractedly rubbed her fingers on the armchair. She didn't even look in his direction, too busy as she was touching the cheap fabric. Lucifer's suspicious gaze stayed on her all the way through the door, until he grabbed the handle and pulled.

And pulled again.

And again.

No matter how strong he pulled or pushed, nothing happened. The door remained stubbornly closed, quietly mocking his own stubbornness to even try to get out. With muttered curses, the Devil turned back to his sister, his gaze even darker than before.

"I highly suggest you not to start what you cannot stop, Azzy."

"I don't. And I can."

The Angel of Death stood up. She took a few steps in the room and eventually stopped near the bed, turning towards her brother, who was still standing in front of the locked door, even for him. She was almost as tall as he was, two or three inches taller than the Detective.

The Detective.

He crushed the metallic handle in his grasp as fear filled his lungs and thoughts. He couldn't waste any more time here.

"Most people can't just only listen to their deepest desires all the time, Luci. We don't all have this luxury."

She shrugged and winced briefly, back to feigned strength in a split second.

Lucifer noticed it, of course.

These slight tremors in her limbs, her smile stretching around physical exhaustion - these details had nothing to do with him. She had had a rough time.

"If I did, you wouldn't just have to deal with a slight headache," she added.

"Unlock. The. Door," Lucifer growled.

"No."

"Azrael—"

"Don't bother to try threatening me," she cut him off, her tone colder than he could recall. "I'm not a child anymore, Lucifer. A lot has changed since you left—"

"Since I left?" he repeated. "Like I'd had a choice!"

"You had it, yes."

Azrael's voice broke, as did her brother's strong grip around the handle. Her gray eyes fell on the dirty carpet, taking a deep breath. "Not tonight, though."

Lucifer let go of the handle, now reduced to a shapeless heap of metal. He sighed loudly as he rolled his eyes. "After all this time... you're all still having troubles understanding free will, aren't you?"

"You're gonna listen to me, Lucifer," Azrael continued, crossing her arms over her chest. "And… if you haven't noticed yet, I give you no choice."

"Come now, think again sis! I made my own choices and I'll always do so. No matter how bloody long you'll keep me here, nothing, not even you can force me to listen to anything coming from your mouth. I am not Michael! I'm nothing like any of you!"

He knew he had stepped on Death's toes the minute the air froze within his lungs and that his back slammed the door. He tried to move, to breathe… barely able to do both.

Unable to choose.

Her display of strength amused him as much as it impressed him. How could he not be in front of such ferocity that was - whether she was willing to admit it or not - everything that their Father despised? He would've smiled if he could.

The Angel of Death walked towards him, each slow step weighed down with a power that sparkled on his skin and squeezed his lungs harder. Nose to nose with the Devil, Death's voice resonated through each air particle, "You will not shirk your duty tonight. You are solely responsible for this situation and it is your responsibility to fix it!"

Responsible?

Paralyzed, suffocating, Lucifer nevertheless managed to burst out laughing. Sort of. He coughed, laughed, then caught his breath.

"R'sponsible? 'ever said I w-wasn't. I've always been…'ore responsible than any of you. I've made a decision! Me while n-no one else dared to... especially Him. You can't say the same, 'an you? 'f course n-not!"

"I know my place."

"Right." Lucifer smiled, seeing through Azrael's feigned confidence so easily. "You know it, sit there… 'your' place, well h-hidden…'nder our Beloved Father's pedantic dress. Azrael, the brave a-angel… of death! As an horrific… responsible m-monster, I'm impressed, 'eally…."

"Shut up!"

Her powers choked him for good. He gasped, snorted, still mocking his sister's 'non-responsibilities', "A'out what, A-Azzy, mh? That w-we both know… ou're only here, h-hurt and al'ne, f-for… Him?"

Lights and darkness both started to blur his vision. Then, all of a sudden, air rushed back into his lungs and pain exploded in his knees as he collapsed to the ground. He moved his hand to his sore throat, gently massaging it.

"You're a dick, you know that?" his sister muttered after taking a few steps back.

"Sounds familiar, yes," he whispered.

He sat on the floor, willingly leaning his back against the door this time. His lighter and cigarette packet out of his pants pocket, he extended it towards Azarel who declined the offer. She walked to the other side of the room and took a quick look outside, through the closed shutter. He watched her do so, exhaling a long puff that was soon absorbed by the dusty carpet at his feet.

"What happened to you?"

She let the shutter fall back, which slammed slightly against the window, another noise silenced by the rain still falling outside.

Azrael looked at him. "You really wanna know?"

He nodded and she came and sat on the edge of the bed, her feet a few inches away from his. She looked for words, rubbing her forehead mechanically. Then, a tense smile, quivering noises out of her mouth that might have been laughs if she hadn't been that much on edge.

Shaking her head, she shrugged. "I came all the way out here determined to bring you back with me to... save the world and-... and I don't even know where to start."

"Save the world, you say?" Lucifer repeated.

Good strategy to get his attention, he had to admit. Not the most original he'd heard, but intriguing for sure.

"What? You think I'd only come here to mess with you? There are better ways to spend time, trust me!"

"Save the world and annoy me in the process doesn't sound unrealistic. So… what's threatening the 'world' this time?"

"For starters, your stupidity."

Lucifer sighed. "Didn't we just pass the part where I'm randomly accused of 'responsibilities'?"

"I'm not randomly accusing you here, Lucifer. Just stating a fact."

"Oh? Well, in that case, enlighten me. What have I done, factually speaking?"

"A gap in the Border."

Lucifer stared at his sister for a moment without blinking. He burst out laughing soon after. "All right, then... let's pretend that I give minimal credit to your nonsensical speech - how on earth would I have done that?"

"Sure, let's pretend I have time for this. You, dear stupid and diabolical brother, have - against all odds - opened the very fragile lock that keeps the many other dimensions in balance by using an object that doesn't belong to you." She sat up, arching an eyebrow. "Is that clearer for you?"

Lucifer scoffed first. Twice.

That was absurd. The word repeated itself in his mind for long seconds, that and the object that would've provoked the end of times so easily.

An object.

Making a link between the denomination and the last events didn't take as much time. Time slowed down, sunray's reflection on a sharp object. The Flaming Sword.

His possession, a long time ago.

A gap between the dimensions….

"Bloody Hell…" he gasped.

"Kinda what's gonna fall upon us all, yeah."

Hell, yes... And what else? A rift. A rift in—

His brain had hard times to deal with the news. It was…. The mere possibility of a rift was bloody inconceivable. The balance was fragile, yes; it had always been, dutifully maintained by the Divine Ruler's limitless powers over cosmos and Lucifer's help who had led, subdued the undisciplined forces of the 'Nightmare'. That was how things had worked for millennia. Longer than mankind's memory could recall, longer for many angels and celestial servants as well.

Five years on their own, not the slightest supervision… Lucifer didn't blame himself for that, and he never would. If his Father had been clever, He had necessarily delegated his task to another of his siblings.

First Amenadiel and then—

Somebody else, obviously.

And now...

All those demons, those creatures that could sense the rift, penetrate it and—

Lucifer only realized he had stood up when he started walking back and forth in the room, muttering curses from time to time, although barely three shocked Azrael enough to hear her chuckle on her side of the bed.

"It can't be…. No, this-... this can't happen," he whispered.

"I'd react the same if I hadn't seen you use my sword so carelessly this afternoon," Azrael said.

Lucifer stopped in front of her. "But— It was temporary! A temporary gap!"

It had been so. He had seen it disappear. He hadn't imagined it! It had closed quickly, just giving him the time to throw the celestial sword after their Mum.

"And you knew exactly what you were doing, didn't you?" She shook her head, wiping the blood from the back of her hand as another red drop ran down her chin. "That's you all over... rush into problems before even thinking of solving them."

He sighed, running his hand through his hair and face. He might have thought of solving this one if he had had more time, if Chloe's hadn't been in real danger, as any other human present at the beach.

It was-

It was just—

What the hell was he supposed to do?!

Lucifer's features hardened. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you have preferred that I let Mum come back to Heaven, to Dad?! And here I thought that she'd bring Hell on the Silver City!"

"Well… 'Hell' is literally threatening to destroy our home, but no. She couldn't come back up there. And Father is grateful for your decision."

"Finally something we agr— What?!" he exclaimed.

"He thanks you," Azrael repeated after rolling her eyes. "His exact words were 'I expected no less from Samael.'"

Lucifer's expression tense even more when he heard his other name. He clenched his fist, both annoyed to hear it and feeling hurt, hopeful too. Just for a name, just for Him. He hated Him, since his fall, long before that… There was nothing more to feel, to expect from Him.

"But He expects more, doesn't He? Of course He does. Bloody predictable Bastard…."

"Since you're mostly responsible for the situation…."

"I. Am. Not. One. Of. His. Slaves. Anymore!" Lucifer snarled, eyes red for a brief moment.

Azrael stood up, approaching his brother's fury without the slightest fear. "All right, knock it off! I'm off time for your boring whining about 'free will' and your shity relationship with Father, understood? We've got a real problem here! And you're gonna help me, help Father, our family and Humanity!"

"Am I not enunciating tonight?" Lucifer wondered disdainfully.

"You're really gonna let things getting worse because you can't stand giving Him a hand?!"

"Just a hand, huh? A hand for what?"

"For fixing the gap."

"Is that all?"

Azrael pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's all, yes. It would've been a walk in a park if you hadn't thrown my sword into the void with Mom!"

"Let me remind you that it was mine before it was yours."

"Great, another reason for you to move your ass!"

Lucifer threw his hands in the air. "Fucking H—!"

"The gap has been widening ever since Mom went through it. I've seen the Border grow weaker, Lucifer."

She sounded almost… scared. It briefly made him forget his resentment.

"First, I… I just felt my power. I'd felt it before when you-... when…."

She didn't finish her sentence and met her brother's eyes.

When he had killed Uriel.

He swallows, staying quiet. Nothing could excuse his gesture, so why even try? He was the very first executioner and knew perfectly well which actions deserved a just punishment. His was no exception. It was, so to speak, the exception that proved the rule. Too serious, too painful to be treated like any other malevolent behavior.

A fratricide with celestial impact.

Azrael didn't say more about it, no fair accusations. Yet, he felt them all.

Pursing her lips, she continued, "Then something happened. The air turned so heavy that it crushed me and weighed down my throat. I heard that terrible noise, like— It sounded like the sky had literally been split in half. I saw Michael, Raphael, Raziel, Gabriel... all the strongest of us, the entire Silver Legions, rushing towards the gap. I didn't even have time to wonder what happened that Father summoned me before leaving too—"

"He left?!"

Azrael nodded.

It hadn't happened since... did it ever happen?

God getting His own hands dirty?

He would never do that.

No real leads at the Silver City… as navel-gazing and manipulative as He could be, He wouldn't leave 'His' throne. It was madness. Bloody madness.

"Why?" Lucifer exclaimed, stunned by the news.

"The Border has turned weaker and weaker between Hell and us, and fast…" she explained, looking even more concerned than before. "Demons have loomed through the opening far much faster than He could've foreseen."

"Impossible."

"What, demons escaping from Hell? The Devil did it so easily!"

Disregarding her reply, Lucifer shook his head. "Father would never leave for so little. It's alarming news, for sure..." he added by noticing anger starting to gleam within her gaze. "...but the Legions can hold them off as long as it's necessary to find a solution. Do I need to remind you who commanded them before Michael?"

Who commanded both armies, both fiery hordes to lead. Imagining angels and demons fighting to death with mankind in the middle….

Lucifer barely held back a shiver. Devil or not, he couldn't ignore a storm when it was coming to them at full speed.

"Yet, He left, Lucifer."

A deadly storm.

Lucifer took a deep breath, thinking of his different options, of what would possibly result from the victory of one of the two parties over the other. And this was without taking into account the gap, which was on a completely different level of threat.

"What did He tell you? Why you and not someone else?"

"As for His choice, I can't answer you with certainty. I told you, all the others He trusted the most followed Him to contain the damage that the gap has provoked on our plane and Earth. Maybe He chose me because my sword caused this mess in the first place, maybe because of how close we were before? We both know the rest of the family would've been far less gentle with you."

He laughed, his hand back to his neck. "Gentle, you say?"

Azrael's mouth twitched and she and Lucifer let past complicity rose in their present, complicated talk.

"What did He tell you?" Lucifer insisted. "To find me and lock me up, hm?"

"True for the first one. The second is a personal decision. He wasn't able - or rather unwilling - to give me the details of your upcoming role—"

"God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He?"

"—but He mentioned a solution. Something else, nothing related to the Flaming Sword that would close the gap for good. And you're supposed to know how to get that 'something else'."

Lucifer scoffed. "You're expecting too much from the Devil, sis. Never thought I'd say that sentence aloud, by the way. Anyway… I have no clue about His 'solution', no powers over the Border and not much over Hell either lately so… looks like we're at an inter-dimensional dead end!"

"Not according to Father, Lucifer," Azrael insisted as well. "It's you and you alone who'll know how to fix this mess. All we have to do is to go to His quarters—"

"His quarters?" he repeated, puzzled.

No one; none of his siblings had ever been allowed to approach His quarters. From what he remembered, it included half of the Silver City. Even if he'd have known where it was, God had always made a habit to hide His research and projects so that no one but Him could reach them. He'd always wanted to be the only one to know, from the beginning and until the end of time.

The end felt so near.

Lucifer frowned, caught by some blurry memories of his childhood. "No one knows their location."

"You do," she said.

He stared at her, all the more perplexed. "I don't, I—"

"Lucifer, Father told me that you knew where they were long before your Fall!"

Really?

Lucifer searched his memory, meeting nothing but his doubts.

No. No; he'd—

"Let's go," Azrael announced, taking him by the arm.

"Where?" he asked, lost.

"Home!" she answered impatiently.

At first, Lucifer couldn't tell which 'home' she was referring to. Earth, L.A., his night club; these… these were his homes. Then, as the seconds flew by as quickly as the word passed through his boiling mind, he got it.

Lucifer was free of her grip in a split second, a step back and his features tense. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing, I-"

"Stop taking me for a fool! Lies have no secrets for me and they're weeping through your lips. No pun intended."

Frowning at his sudden change of mood, Azrael took a cautious step towards him; another lie about to pass her lips. "I didn't lie, I assure you. The situation is as I told you."

The Devil's eyes were red again. "You're lying."

This whole ploy to trap him...

The Angel of Death came closer and Lucifer roared with unrestrained rage. His hand grabbed her throat and lifted her off the floor with ease, wildly grinning at her gasp of surprise.

"How foolish of me to trust you," he said. "I'm usually more in the details, my bad really. But, in my defense, they taught you so well to hide the truth."

"I d'n't-...'n...lie—" she choked in his grasp, her fingernails scratching his hand.

Lucifer squeezed harder, anger flowing through his limbs like a flooded river. "LIAR! Your wounds, the blood on your clothes... your haste to make me leave Earth, to make me believe that Father might be 'proud' of me… lies, lies, lies! You're trying to trick me, aren't you?!"

It was crystal clear now.

God had never wanted his help. No, all He wanted was to punish him. Nothing would ever change. Lucifer would always be the monster to get rid of, no matter what he'd done in the past or the present.

Fucking manipulative prick!

His father knew how much he cared about Azrael, how much he cared about mankind lately. One that he cared about more than everything else. He cared about this world, this home.

His home.

"Who better than Death to kill Amenadiel, hm?" he continued, not 'caring' much about her panicked gasps and pleading eyes. "Who better than you to make me come back to Him, to obey Him quite willingly? He wanted to hurt the Detective, didn't He? Clever Bastard!"

"L-Luc-"

The air got scarce, it struggled under his hand, in her throat already filled with lies. Azrael's left hand stretched towards him, trembling, tears in the corner of her eyes. convulsing and the eyes watering. Yet Lucifer didn't stop, his hand right where it was supposed to be - stifling truth around lies.

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze harder.

Deception, manipulation... and rage. Red-hot rage. It wouldn't leave him, not until he'd squeeze enough, harder.

"Lucifer? What's going on?"

Linda?

Linda's voice. Not the best time to lecture him, really.

His sister's hand brushed his cheek, slippery touch given her growing convulsions. But it brushed it again, stubborn as ever, as death itself. Slender fingers on his left cheek, his temple.

Lucifer frowned, yet still smirking at her useless attempt to make him loosen his grip. He caught that new gleam in Azrael's eyes too late, her fingernails almost piercing his skull a second later.

"Lucifer? Wake him up!"

The Detective now?

She couldn't be here. He still had to find her. His family, His Father; they—

"Lucifer, listen to me—"

Pain exploded behind his red eyes.

Unbearable pain. Fast.

Bloody fast.

"-onna count to five and..."

Images, past events pierced his vision, his body, his thoughts. Soon, he could no longer see Azrael, he no longer saw the door shut, the bed. He was blind, blinding pain digging into his skull, his eyes….

Everything.

Corridor.

Those faces, those-

"Five, fo-"

"I want her alive!"

"There weren't just Him and Mother in the be-"

"-ree…."

Temple.

Frost.

"Tw-"

"We have to find the p-"

"One."

Two chapters left and I'd reach the french version hiatus :)

(don't worry, I'll continue that fic, that's certain. It's one of my favorites ever written.)

Back to present time with the next chap (dunno when I'll update it). Hope you liked this one.

Oh, and yes - I know Azrael isn't like that in the show. I created this version of the Angel of Death way before she appeared in the show. Also, I never watched the episode about her and Ella, so….

Doesn't count.

See u soon,guys!

Take care, stay safe.