Chapter 2
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and the answers to my questions, KelleyGaither2342, Kasjata, SPCLjmm, kimberlychytil, Emrysa Morningstar, julieannIwilson , helenareject, tsunamicats and Guest!
It helped so much and I hopefully got the facts right in this chapter and the next ones.
helenareject: To your question of how Trixie learned about the celestial. Well, if Chloe hadn't told her before her sister's birth, then I guess she would have learned as soon as Rory sprouted her wings as a toddler. Linda and Amenadiel had been surprised themselves at Charlie's birthday, when he suddenly unfurled his wings. I doubt Chloe can keep that secret from Trixie any longer from that point on, if she had tried before.
Actually I have an idea for a story of how Trixie learns of the celestial; fitting as a prequel to this fanfiction.
A/N 2: For the time difference between Hell and Earth were mentioned several different times over the course of the show, but I stuck with the one that seemed to be mentioned at least twice: about one thousand years is about one month (give or take a bit).
X – X – X – X – X
She felt him sink down next to her and eventually registered her surroundings. She was at home. Turning her head she took in the wood wall with her countless drawings, the kitchen with the breakfast-bar where they would eat their brekkie, the dining table where she used to do her homework and the coffee table in front of her. The only difference to her actual home were the missing blue dots on the sofa cushions where Rory had enthusiastically painted her first beach picture with watercolors and the floor was too tidy without her little sister's doll's and stuff animals skewed around. "This is…"
"Your home." A fond smile tugged on Lucifer's lips. "The penthouse is next door."
In awe Trixie stood up and turned around. At first she had thought the Devil had just created this replicate for her. But at a closer look, she saw an open bag of his beloved Cool Ranch Puffs on the kitchen counter next to an half empty bottle of whisky and countless photos adored the usually empty spots on the walls and some even hung on the doors of the kitchen cabinets.
He lived here.
Lucifer watched her explore her home, ogling his minimal redecorations of the photos his brother provided him with on his visits every few centuries or so. She stopped next to the dining table and ran her hands above the smooth surface.
With a wistful smile she whispered. "The table doesn't look like this anymore. We were tinkering with colorful leaves last autumn and Rory wanted to glue hers without help onto the paper." Her grin widened. "In the end a heap of leaves and the glue bottle itself were stuck to the top." The teenager looked up and met his expectant gaze. The Devil was enthralled by her tale of their trivial life. "Mom had to abrade the stuff and made a big scratch in the process."
To her surprise a cut appeared in the wood next to her fingers. Her lips twitched at the sight. "A bit larger. About two inches long." The damage to the table grew, as did her smile. Running her fingertips over the gash, her gaze travelled over the picture frames in one corner of the table – positioned so that one sitting at the one side had a clear few on all three of them. The first one was of her Mom holding Rory in her pink blanket after they had returned home from hospital for the first time, Trixie kissing the tiny baby onto her downy head.
The photo in the middle was of her mother's promotion to Lieutenant – her slightly swollen belly giving away her condition at the time.
The third picture was of Rory. It had been about a week before her second birthday when suddenly two shiny white-silver wings sprouted from her tiny back. Back then Trixie had only seen angel wings once before and Charlie's grey wings couldn't compete with her little sister's nearly white ones.
Curious which of the photos had captured the teenager's interest, Lucifer had stealthily approached her. Those three pictures were some of his favorites. But also the ones most hurting. Milestones in the lives of his family, he had missed. "Her wings are beautiful."
The brunette smiled with a nod. "Mom had been so…" She was looking for the right word. "Ecstatic."
"You mean 'relieved'?" A puzzled frown ceased her forehead as she looked up inquiring. "Your Mum was… appalled about your sister's wings. Your grown up from the future sister's wings. Chloe had misgivings about being a good mother when she first saw Rory's wings."
"How will her wings look like?"
A sad look flickered over the Devil's face briefly before a smirk formed. "Badass."
"Badass?" Trixie gapped in disbelieve at the Lord of Hell. But he didn't seem to want to elaborate. Her eyes travelled back to the innocent and angelic picture of her baby sister. A real cherub. "Mom said back then that her wings were nearly as magnificent as yours." She was tempted to ask if he would show her his, but she felt like she had lost that right at the moment. The heavy feeling in her stomach returned.
An awkward silence settled about them and Trixie desperately looked around to find anything to occupy her and break the suddenly strange atmosphere, not missing Lucifer fiddle with his cufflinks. Yet another photo caught her eye. This one bought an amused grin onto her lips as she remembered that he was now living here. The actual Devil having an extra large picture of a Christmas tree and two girls sitting with Santa's hats among neatly wrapped presents in front of it – the toddler spreading her wings widely all the while. Mom had actually sent this as a Christmas-card motive to all their Celestial insiders of their extended family. And even her own Mom. Nana had of course thought that those where some cosplay-wings on her youngest grand-daughter.
"I would love to spoil the two of you on every birthday and holiday. Even when your mother would roll her eyes and bicker." His timber voice held a tad of sadness.
She remembered the plastic chocolate cake he had secretly gifted her with around the time when her parents announced their divorce. He had almost apologized that he could get her only the little cake to play with and not the doll she had wanted to go with it. Already back then, Trixie hadn't been stupid and knew her Mom had forbidden Lucifer to buy her the doll. Tears pooled at the mental picture of her Mom and Lucifer arguing about his opulent presents until he gave in to some extent, as he always did with her mother, only to find a loophole later. Despite their arguing it would have been happy birthdays and holidays. Trixie was sure of it.
But it wouldn't happen. He had said 'her grown-up sister's wings'. So there wouldn't be any Christmases with the Devil under the tree in the near future. Not for her mother and sister on Earth and especially not for her. There wouldn't be any Christmases for her anymore. Or birthdays. Not her own and not of her beloved ones.
A thick tear rolled down her cheek. Lucifer must feel like this for a long time. Just making up 'what may bes'. Living off the photos and tales his brother provided. Not even be allowed to be an observer from afar by his own.
"Trixie?"
His worried eyes were centered on her. She tried a smile but failed miserably. "I know you would." She wiped her tear away with the back of her hand. Lucifer was here, just like she was now. Maybe they could keep each other company and speculate together over what Mom and Rory were doing in the world of the living?
They had each other now. At least. And pretending that this was indeed their apartment with Mom away to pick up Rory from kindergarten. That they would be soon home and Lucifer and her just had to bide their time together until the rest of their family came through the door.
With the back of her hands she rubbed her eyes dry and stepped forward to the sliding door next to the Christmas photo-card. Behind it was her room like she remembered it to be when she had been eleven. The countless stuff animals had long ago moved to the top of her shelf – only Mrs. Alien had her former spot on her bed. The walls in her room at Earth held posters of singers and the latest movies. The bed-time story books had given way to novels and illustrated books of the Sol System and Mars.
It was like stepping into the past. Melancholy brought new tears to her eyes, she quickly wiped away. The shelf with her games caught her interest and she approached it. "How about a round monopoly?"
Lucifer had followed her and leaned in the doorframe. "I thought monopoly with only two players is unappealing?" Not that he was arguing. He would love to play some game with her like when she had been little. Even if it would be monopoly.
She shrugged and pulled the game box from the shelf. "You can be the top hat."
"Naw. I'll be the shoe."
X – X – X – X – X
Lucifer had lit up the fireplace and produced a bottle of Pepsi and a chocolate cake with double fudge for her and fetched the Cool Ranch Puffs and whisky from the kitchen for himself. Being the Ruler of Hell had its perks. And having Satan as your friend was just as great.
Now both lay on their bellies in front of the fire – not that Hell was cold, yet the 118F weren't as unpleasant here as they surely were on Earth. But that was mostly due to the fact that she was a soul now. The game was pleasant and the strange atmosphere and the distance between them was dwindling away. Both were laughing when Lucifer ended up in jail yet again. They were comfortable with each other again, like in old times.
That's why Lucifer gave it another shot, to get the girl to talk about the incident that brought her here. "What happened, Trixie?"
Absently she started talking while pulling her top hat onto one of Lucifer's streets. "I was having swimming classes and we were jumping from the diving platform." A bunch of fake money changed the owner, her eyes meeting his. "There were only three of us daring to jump from the highest level." Of course, she had been one of them. She shrugged. "I just remember that I ran down towards the edge and jumped." Her forehead furrowed as she tried to remember her death. "I'm not sure, but my leg suddenly hurt and I was under water and I couldn't –" In a blink of an eye she just saw water and bubbles around herself, gasping for air in panic, but only swallowing more water in the process. Her eyes were wide and her breathing labored when a gentle hand covered her smaller one. Grounding her to reality.
An encouraging smile tugged on the Devil's lips. "So we can assume that your body is mostly intact and you only drowned."
Shoving the terrible pictures to the back of her mind and calming slightly down, Trixie huffed annoyed. "'Only drowned' will look great on my death certificate." New sadness welled up within her as it suddenly dawned on her that she left people behind, who loved her. Instead of preparing for her daughter's prom, her mother now had to arrange her funeral. And Rory wouldn't only have to grow up without her father, but also without her older sister. "Oh God, Mom! Rory!"
Squeezing her hand gently, Lucifer contemplated thoughtful aloud. "On Earth hadn't a full second past since your demise, chi- Trix." He smiled reassuringly at her. Back when her father had died, his body had been too severely damaged for a mere archangel to simply bring his soul back, but drowning… the odds were in their favor even without help from his godly brother.
But he would need Amenadiel's help. It would be unwise to deliver her soul personally so all her classmates and teachers would see him. Aside from coming up with an explanation what he were doing on school grounds – other than saving his step-daughter's life – some of Trixie's classmates might recognize him from picking her up at school or from her playtime pick-ups, when she had been younger. He assumed that she was still in class with some of her friends from when she had been little. "There is still plenty of time to bring you back to your body and revive you."
The girl stared wide eyed at the man laying opposite of her. "I could go back?" Riddled up by this revelation, she staggered into a sitting position. Eager to go. But Lucifer didn't made any attempt to stand up. "How will you do that?" Maybe he didn't have a plan.
The Devil diced and moved his shoe accordingly. "I'll have Amenadiel deliver your soul back. He should be able to do his godly invisible thingy, so no one will be any wiser that you have celestial connections."
An impatient frown crept onto her features. "Shouldn't you call him then?" Then a thought occurred to her. "Can you call him?" She wondered if the landline phone in the corner was indeed working and was connected to Silver City.
"No worries, Trix." Lucifer smirked encouragingly. "We have plenty of time. The flight back up is just a blink of an eye. They won't have your body pulled out of the water yet. Most likely not even figured that you won't surface on your own again." He pushed the dices into her palm. "We need to wait."
This did make sense. With a sigh, she laid back down onto her belly and shook the dices in her palm before letting them go. "How long do you guess?"
Lucifer estimated that it would take the teacher and students about 20 to 30 seconds to realize that something was wrong and the first one to jump into water. He didn't intent to wait longer than that though. But with the time difference between the heavenly and hellish realms and the earthly one, she would be stuck with him for a fair amount of time. Time he intended to set to good use and make up for the past years of their lives apart and to help her with her guilt. Next time she crossed into afterlife, he wanted her to go the other direction. "About five days here." And maybe, she could provide him with a few stories of Chloe and Rory.
Her head spun as she tried to calculate the time the past almost five years must be here in Hell. Lucifer was watching her and fiddling impatiently with his empty snack pack, waiting for his turn. Crumbling her face in defeat, she moved her top hat and bought a train station, giving the dices to Lucifer. "How long has it been for you here? You know, since-"
"A few dozens millennia."
She stared gapping at him and sadness for the Devil wrapped her heart.
The time difference between the celestial and the mortal realms had never bothered him before. If at all, it had been pleasant to step onto Earth after hundreds of millennia and only a few decades had passed by. This way, he could have kept up easily with the technological and social progress of humankind.
But now the countless millennia to equal even only one year, were pure torture. Roughly calculated a decade on Earth were 120 thousands of years. And Rory had said that she looked younger than she in reality was. "Actually, I was tempted to ask my brother to slow Hell's time to equal Earth's. I'm now glad I didn't, otherwise there would be no way back for you." Maybe his father had for once created something in his favor. Well, twice. He would be forever grateful for Chloe.
X – X – X – X – X
They had finished their game with Trixie being the winner and Lucifer again in jail. Afterwards they played a few rounds of UNO before they began to make some snacks, not that they needed to eat to sustain themselves. But both of them felt like it. Just like when she had been little, they stood next to each other in companionable silence in the kitchen, Lucifer turning the egg-sandwiches in the sizzling pan while Trixie was cracking eggs.
A moment after they had sat down onto the black breakfast bar, a knock sounded from the front door. With an exasperate huff, he manipulated the room so the noise absorption was cancelled and he called, his body slightly turned towards the door. "Yes?"
Slowly the door opened and revealed a tall demon, who looked curiously into the apartment and at the scene of his Lord eating some sticky bread with the human soul next to him, rumor had it, was his step-daughter. The one trained by Mazikeen. The one having scratched Balios.
She didn't look special or intimidating. Yet, his Lord treated her special. Like one of his visitors from the Silver City. Instead of being put into her Hell Loop to determine a first direction of the soul's problem, she had been invited to the Devil's private quarters. And that, after the entrance she had made a few hours before! "Boss, your next appointment are waiting in your office." He eventually said and waited for his Lord to come his way to the office.
But instead of leaving the not needed meal, Lucifer eyed the demon. "Karantos, please accompany those souls back to their Loops and please cancel all appointments for the next four days. No, better make it five." He could always gather a few souls quickly for an impromptu session if Amenadiel wanted to leave early with Trixie.
"As you wish." Karantos answered and carefully closed the door again.
"You don't need to cancel your appointments, Lucifer." Although Trixie was rejoicing in spending time with Lucifer.
To her joy, the Devil shook his head. "No, I'll use this opportunity to its full capacity, Trixie." A brilliant smile was her answer to his gesture as she bit enthusiastically into her sandwich.
They ate in comfortable silence as Lucifer felt the need to put some of her accusations or the unspoken lines between those, right. "I tried to support your mother and your sister and you, even from afar." This got him her attention as she looked up at him, her meal hovering before her mouth. "Before I'd left, I bought the apartment in your mother's name, so rent wouldn't be a problem. There are two saving plans for college and money for a car for each of you two."
He didn't mention the other financial safeguards he had put in place for his family or entrusted Maze or his brother with, knowing how stubborn Chloe could be if it came to accepting things. "Your Mum and I had already discussed along general lines that you shall inhere the apartment and Rory will get the corvette." A small smile tugged on his lips as a fond memory welled up. "She has inhered my love of music, even if it isn't the piano." He hoped his beloved piano would be kept in good shape, so he could accompany her again once the time loop came to an end.
There were so many things on her mind to retort, but the mystery of her little sister's time travel held the greatest appeal. "She'll play an instrument?"
Biting into his sandwich, he nodded. "In the back of my study at the penthouse is a guitar." Their equally dark eyes locked. "At her next birthday gift her this guitar, but don't tell her that it's from me."
Trixie smiled at the gesture. "I will."
X – X – X – X – X
They had decided to use the backdoor that lead not only to the backyard but also to the neighborhood and the beach beyond and spent some time at the beach together, like Trixie had wished for for years. But when they had packed up the blanket, snacks and beverage and were about to head out, another knock sounded from the front door. "Bollocks!" Lucifer cursed and barked a "Yes!"
This time a female demon was revealed behind the door. "Lord Lucifer, you wanted to be informed when one of the rare young souls arrive." She watched him contemplate a moment before placing the bag down onto a stool in the kitchen.
The Devil gave the teenager an apologizing look. With children arriving at his realm, he made an exception and concluded his assessment immediately. "I'll make this quick, Trix." He saw her nod, well used to have arrangements postponed due to her parents' work-schedule. "Stay in this room. You can't wander the hallways alone."
She nodded and approached the sink with their used plates. "I'll tidy the dishes in the meantime."
X – X – X – X – X – X
A/N: I know Rory said in one of the clips I watched that her wings had always been that way. But I sincerely doubt that, not only because she lies a lot, but also because she just said that she can't tell her Mom much to not alter the future.
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