Chapter 3
A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews, kimberlychytil, SPCLjmm and Guest! Those made my day!
And also thanks a lot to all of your, who added this story to your favorites!
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"Bloody hell, not this again!" Unfortunately there were more children in Hell than people thought and than the Devil himself would have liked. The animal-killing sociopaths usually didn't end up in his realm, though. Without conscience no guilt.
But the misguided guilt of good hearted young souls dropped them to Hell from time to time. In the past, he didn't know what to make of those innocent little creatures, who were always screaming, crying or leaking from one of their various openings. Worst was, they were completely unpredictable. And you couldn't reason with them. So he had left them in their Hell Loops, never sending any demons to worsen their self-inflicted stay with tortures.
But after his second and now permanent return from L.A. to his kingdom, he tried to free especially those most innocent souls from their burdens. Wanting to reunite them with their families in Silver City. But mostly without much success. Single therapy sessions with those young ones were pointless and usually ended with the child happily returning to the special rooms he had designed for them and which they now shared divided by age. There were no Loops for them, only endless play on adventure playgrounds, game halls and fairs.
Therapy in smaller groups was bringing at least minimal progress. Here the children were more secure than alone and tried to at least speak with the Devil. At one point he had tried to not introduce himself with his name, so the young ones wouldn't be scared – the dark hallways of Hell and the ash-rain were already enough to shake them up. Unfortunately his attempts to withhold his identity were curtailed by his demons, calling him without much thought 'Lord Lucifer'. And the deed was done. And the chatty little creatures were informing their friends in their rooms that the actual Devil was trying to deceive them by being their friend. Thank you very much, church and media.
This one wasn't any different. The young boy – comparing him to Trixie's growth process as his only measurement – he estimated him to be about 8 or 9 years old, was backing away and crying for his mother. Screaming that she shall protect him from the Devil. The classic. With a sigh the Lord of Hell leaned forward to be more on eye-level with the boy, but this only worsened his hysterics. "I won't harm you, child." He tried without much success.
Maybe his usual approach in this situation would be best and the only solution so far. Just when he was to order the female demon to bring this boy to the other children his age – this usually helped to calm them down after a few hours – two pairs of footsteps approached his current location. Straitening up, he somehow wasn't surprised that one pair of those feet belonged to Trixie. His glare settled exasperated at her. "Didn't I tell you to not leave?" He tried to predominate the wailing of the child without screaming himself.
Trixie only shrugged and pointed onto the female demon in a blood splattered yoga outfit next to her. "You said, I shouldn't leave the room alone. But Kyreen came looking for you and we talked." Word had already travelled through Hell that not only their Lord's step-daughter had arrived, but that said human soul had been trained by Mazikeen none the less. The scratch she had been able to inflict on Belios, but only due to the fact that he had highly underestimated her, had granted her something akin respect by the Lilim.
Curious she eyed the hysterical child. She mused that he must be a new arrival. It disturbed her that children this young or maybe even younger ended up in Hell. But the mechanics of Heaven and Hell were differently than the Bible taught. It wasn't about good and evil. It was all about guilt.
She carefully approached the boy and smiled gently down on him. "Hi there. I'm Trixie. I'm also new here." The boy cracked tentatively a watery eye open and scrutinized her. "What's your name?" But he only eyed her during his sobs. Suppressing her sigh, Trixie inched carefully forward. "Why are you crying?" Had one of the demons showed him their blades or had Lucifer made one of his not well thought through innuendoes?
"D-Dev-il!" His green orbs quickly darted over the teenager's shoulder to the man in the suit, who simply rolled his eyes. "Wa-nt my mommyyyyyyyy!"
"No one will harm you." She was now an arm length away from the child and crouched down. "You know, the Devil is also an angel. He won't harm you."
"No. He's evil."
"That's not true." She wiped a few strains of blond hair away from his eyes. "When Lucifer had been young, he didn't always agreed with his Daddy, God. And then he did this rebellion and his father punished him by sending him to Hell as its ruler. But you know what?" She now had the boy's attention. "God wasn't angry with him. Maybe in the beginning, but he was just a worried father trying to get his son onto the right path again."
"Whence do you wanna know?" The boy asked between hiccups and sobs.
"Because I spoke with God and he told me." Well, God had used other words, but she was sure that's what he had meant.
Quite startled Lucifer took a step closer, ignoring the child cringing. "When did you speak with my Father?" Was she bluffing for the child's benefit?
Trixie slightly turned her head and faced the Lord of Hell. "Back when God was visiting you. After Charlie's birth." She could tell by his face that he tried to remember when he had seen his father and her talk, but of course he came up empty. "After you had kicked me out and punished me with a month penthouse ban."
"Ah." A new frown crept onto his features. "That was when Dad had vanished and we were looking for him." Now she really had to tell him the full story under four eyes.
Unfortunately their exchange had only refueled the boy's hysterics. Trixie smiled at the child reassuringly. "I've been friends with the Devil since I had been a bit younger than you are now." Maybe she could kill two birds with one stone. "Lucifer is an angel." She repeated and nodded expectantly towards said angel. When he didn't or rather didn't want to grasp what she wanted, she mouthed 'wings'."
"Very well. "Fiddling with his cufflinks, he rolled his shoulders and unfurled two magnificent and glowing wings. Whiter than Trixie had ever seen white and the sight was literarily taking her breath away. Her mother had been right. Lucifer had the most beautiful angel wings there were.
The sobs had suddenly stopped and all eyes were at the boy, who looked like mesmerized onto the Devil and his wings. "See. I told you that Lucifer is an angel." When the child had visibly calmed down Trixie got back to her feet and moved slightly away, so Lucifer can do what he usually did with souls of children. But she hadn't made two steps, when a small hand grasped tightly at hers.
"Don't go!" The still frightened child demanded.
Trixie traded a gaze with Lucifer, not sure if he understood her silent question. "Only if you tell me your name."
"Tenner." And his hold got even tighter.
"Well, Tenner, how about a game of monopoly?" The boy stared as baffled at her as did the Devil. "But you can't be the shoe or top hat."
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They were back in front of the fireplace with its blazing flames. A heap of crackers, gummy bears, chocolate bars, different cupcakes and of course Cool Ranch Puffs was perched up next to them, accompanied by different soft drinks and a bottle of whiskey for the Devil himself. The boy laid of course closer to Trixie. After the first shock or rather surprise had worn off that he wouldn't be eaten and they would indeed play a game, Tenner came slowly out of his shell. And eventually he even began to open up, to the astonishment of Hell's healer. "I always hated my step-father. I had wished that it had only been my mom and me." The boy had just confessed that he and his step-father had argued again, causing him to run away. Not looking were his feet were taking him, Tenner suddenly found himself in front of a closing in truck as suddenly his step-father was shoving him to the side. Well, unsuccessfully for both of them.
Trixie was now rolling the dices. "It was the opposite with me. I figured quickly that my mom and dad weren't meant to be. That we all were better off with them just being friends." She noted the surprise on the Devil's face. "I've always loved the partner of my mom and wanted them to be together." Pure amazement was now on Lucifer's face. He had been well aware that the little Decker spawn had adored him and he in turn had developed a soft spot for the small human.
"He was the one making my mother happy. And he was the one always cheering me up when my parents argued." She turned her head to meet the stunned Devil's face. "I always felt that there was a void in his life, in his being and with being with my Mom this emptiness filled up with happiness." A gentle smile covered her lips as her eyes stayed trained on the Devil's expression. "I always had the feeling that he needed a family, who loved him." His deep brown eyes were swimming with emotion as she continued. "That this was what he truly desired." Trixie added with a smile.
This little urchin was not short of amazing. Affectionately he placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to convey his gratitude. His voice lost to all the emotions welling up within him.
"When he simply vanished and no one seemed to know where he was, not even his brother, then I hoped that something bad had happened." She didn't miss the consternation in her friend's face and elaborated. "I didn't want my step-father dead, but this thought was more comforting than he simply abandon my Mom and me." This was the truth. After hoping for months that this was only one of his vanishing acts, with him turning suddenly up as nothing had ever happened, she came eventually to the conclusion that he won't return this time.
"Over the years the doubts grew and I began to curse him. To the point to even tell my baby sister that if nothing bad had happened to him, that he really left us, then because he was a bastard and that he didn't deserve us. That he didn't deserve the tears my sister were crying or the sadness in my mother's eyes, who would just keep defending him. That he didn't deserve our love." Tears were now blurring her sight.
A heavy feeling gathered in his stomach as he saw the despair and anger and eventually resign in the girl. Something he had caused not only in his own daughter, but in Trixie as well. Only because she didn't know. Only because she didn't receive a proper good-bye. He tried to reason with himself that despite the negative feelings in those two girls he inevitably provoked, his decision to let the time loop run its course was for the greater good of his family. Especially his own daughter.
"That it wasn't my sister's fault that he went away, because he couldn't have even known of her." She remembered the newest wrong she had done her step-Devil only shortly after her death. "I was really pissed when I learned that he knew my Mom was having his daughter." She grasped his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I didn't know that he sacrificed his happiness for a good reason. And that he was in his own Hell the entire time and suffering the same as we did. Maybe even more so."
"Bert always tried to be nice to me. Gifted me stuff, I mostly threw away." Tenner confided now really ashamed about his behavior. "I've even thrown the tickets for the baseball-game into the fireplace." The hurt in Bert's face back then, now hurt him deeply. "And now he's dead because of me. Because he tried to push me away from the truck." Big tears rolled down his cheeks.
Lucifer swallowed the lump in his throat due to Trixie's confession and eyed the young boy. "Your step-father desired to protect you. He desired for you to be happy. Even to the point to sacrifice himself."
"But the truck got both of us." Tenner sobbed and wiped a hand sloppily over his cheeks.
With a sympatric gaze he gave the boy the dices. "That is unfortunate, child, and surely not the outcome this Bert desired. But neither would he have wished that the child he died for would drown in his own guilt over his sacrifice. You don't deserve to be in Hell."
Trixie nodded. "You can make up to your step-father in Heaven." Her gaze quickly switched over to her own step-father. She could and would do the same here in Hell in the time given to the both of them. "You can tell him thank you for trying to protect you. You can spent time with him there. Go to a baseball game together."
"You think that there are baseball games?" The boy asked doubtfully.
"It's Heaven. They even have sports TV according to Eve." Trixie chuckled about the gapping expression of the child. "You both will miss your Mom until her time comes and she can join you. But until then, you two will have each other." She saw the clock wheels in the boy's mind processing her words. "He's now all alone in Heaven, surely looking for you there."
"Will he be angry that I'm in Hell?"
Lucifer shook his head determined. "He will be very sad. Because that's a fate not even the Devil wishes anyone and especially not his beloved ones." His saddened gaze travelled over to his step-daughter, holding her eyes at his next words. "He loves you and he is waiting to see you again."
A small smile formed on the boy's lips while he rolled the dices onto the game board as a bright light engulfed his entire being and he was gone when the dices came to a halt.
"Did he?" Trixie asked bewildered.
Lucifer nodded, also startled. "Splendid! That was quick! Thank you for your help with this one, Urchin." Too late he grasped how he had called her. "Umm, Trixie." He amended quickly.
With a gentle smile the young brunette faced him. "It's fine. It would be nice, if you would call me pet names again."
"As you wish, Spawn."
"So this is what you do? Therapy the souls of the damned?" This was so different from the torture-tales about Hell Maze told her from early an age on.
He smiled proudly. Finally at peace with being the Lord of Hell, the Healer of the Doomed. "Yes that's my new purpose. Maybe it had been the purpose of Hell all along. But dear Dad never minded to be much forthcoming with his plans." He seized her with his dark eyes. "Speaking of which. You had a conversation with my Father?"
And so, Trixie let Lucifer in on her short exchange with God.
"He really said that?" Lucifer was speechless.
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A/N: I hope you liked Trixie's confession. She always seemed to be kinda empathic, especially when it came to Lucifer. Trixie always had this 'knowing' air about her, but not precocious.
And she did seem already in season 1 to be a Deckerstar shipper, when Chloe told her that she had shot Lucifer.
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