Precursor Note: Just so no one gets confused, the major italicized sections are memories/flashbacks.

Chapter 3

Hell Bound

The night was cold and dark. With the moon hidden behind the clouds, the stars did not shine, did not let their light touch the Earth. The frigid temperatures sank their claws deep into the ground – the beginning signs of winter. A brisk breeze swept past the man walking home.

But this was no man, and this breeze was not caused by natural forces.

Lucifer stopped, glaring at the being in front of him. He let his true form bleed through, his eyes flashing their hellfire red. He knew it wouldn't scare her – not when she'd seen that form many times before. It wouldn't scare her like it had Linda Martin.

He continued to glare at her for another moment before striding past her when she didn't say anything. He didn't want to see the disappointed look on her face. He didn't want to feel the guilt and anger that welled in his being to battle against each other when she looked at him like that. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to remember the memories that came with her presence.

"You can't keep running from this, Luce."

Her voice came with the sound of choirs behind it. A ringing resplendence that he hadn't heard in ages. He knew that if he turned to look at her, he would see her face – not the human form she'd taken but the one of her true being. He wondered if she knew she was taking a dangerous risk, doing such a thing on Earth in plain view for any human to see. A part of him realized that she knew but didn't care.

Lucifer spun on his heel, jabbing a finger out to point at her. "And why should I stop? Huh? Why?"

Her face was light – all that was heavenly and divine. It wasn't burned or scarred from the flames of Hell. Her eyes, their shining violet color, were kinder than the last time he'd seen them when she had been scolding Uriel. The dark colored hair – now a glowing auburn – flowed past her shoulders, contrasting against her pale white skin. The soft, snowy feathers of her wings and the purple accents that decorated them completed the image.

"You're destroying yourself, doing this," she said softly – caringly.

"Stop it!" Lucifer yelled at her, his hand cutting through the air to come back to his side. "Stop caring about me!"

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, shaking her head, before returning her violet gaze back onto him. "You're my brother, Lucifer… I'm always going to care."

"Yeah, well, the rest of my brothers and sisters make what they think very clear," he shot back in a scathing tone. "Amenadiel certainly made it blatantly obvious."

"You base that assumption on only what you've seen from Amenadiel," she observed, raising a hand to stop him before he could interrupt. "You can't add Uriel into that part of the equation. He wasn't trying to hurt you."

"He used me to get to Mum," Lucifer seethed.

"And you wouldn't have?" she asked, turning the accusation back on him. "Besides, pressing that piano key wouldn't have resulted in killing your human friend either way— there are too many instances in which one could have that path changed within the two day time-frame for it to have been absolute."

Lucifer scoffed, a scowl marring his features. "You would know that."

"I would," she affirmed, raising a perfect eyebrow, "because I asked Uriel myself..." Her head tilted to the side, violet eyes narrowing at him. "You never told them he was sent home."

Lucifer held her demanding gaze before he had to look away. The memories were starting to come back, and he couldn't deal with them right now. He doubted he'd even be able to get back to Lux before they came crashing back.

"No," he admitted quietly, anger draining right out of him. "No, I didn't."

He didn't dare look into her eyes, keeping his gaze focused anywhere but there. If he did, he would see the unspoken question in her eyes: why?

The air burned his lungs. Ash and dust fell from the blackened 'sky'. The roaring fires were the only sources of light in this forsaken place. He was on his back – his eyes staring blankly upwards.

"Samael?" a voice called from somewhere distant.

He blinked. He knew that voice.

"Samael?" she called again, closer this time. "Please, brother... I know you're here..."

She sounded desperate but hopeful. He didn't understand why she was here – in Hell of all places. She should have stayed in Heaven, a cruel thought echoed in his mind.

He could feel her presence gradually coming closer. He debated trying to scare her off. He was sure she had yet to see the burns that had disfigured his form. Perhaps the sight would get her to go home.

"Sam," he heard her gasp.

He slowly turned his gaze to his right, rolling his head to face her. She stood there, hands covering her mouth in shock (and maybe even horror) as she stared. But she didn't flee as he first thought she might. Instead she came closer, falling to her knees on the ground beside him.

"Sam, I'm so sorry," she choked out with a sob. Sparkling tears dripped from her chin, landing on him in quiet drops. "I— I should have warned you— I should have told you—"

"You shouldn't be here," he interrupted her. His voice was rough and gravelly – from disuse or perhaps the air he breathed, he wasn't sure… probably both.

"Neither should you," she sniffled. "Father was too harsh. Neither of you know the whole story—"

"What do you know?" he hissed at her. "I rejected Him. I rebelled! What else would He have done?"

She bit her bottom lip but didn't answer. Just as he'd thought. He told her to leave. She did, and he was left in darkness.

Lucifer huffed and, with a sharp turn, started heading back to Lux once more. He didn't hear her trying to follow him. Good.

"I'm not done, Lucifer."

He would never admit to anyone that he practically jumped out of his skin when she said that, suddenly walking beside him – her divinity masked behind the human form once more. It didn't take him long to collect himself to round on her.

"What could you possibly want?" he demanded.

"I need you to trust me," she said simply.

"Trust you?" he repeated, scoffing. He refused to look at her as he kept walking forward, determined to get back to Lux before dawn. "Look where I ended up last time I trusted you!"

If he'd been looking at her, he would have seen the frown on her face. "The last time you trusted me, you chose your name and had your wings restored—"

She had come with Him to lock Her away. He had watched the whole process – dragging Her into the cell and sealing it with sigils and wards designed to act against Her and suppress Her powers – from afar. She had pulled Him aside before He left, words being whispered between them. And then when He left, she had gone as well.

But she came back.

He felt her – a bright and holy light that shone in this dark place – as she sought him out. She had smartly avoided the twisted souls that he tormented, and she actively stayed away from the newly created denizens that had been born from these souls' suffering.

She approached him when he was alone – away from the screaming souls and cackling demons. "Sam—"

"Do not call me that," he snapped. The temperature of the area spiked as his temper flared. Fire licked the edges of the tunnel they stood in. To his reli— surprise, she didn't back away. There was only a brief shock that came over her features at his erratic release of power – she hadn't been scared.

"I— What should I call you by then, brother?"

He was about to yell at her for calling him that, too. He was not Samael. Not anymore. That was a being that had gone insane within the confines of Hell – a being locked away in the recesses of his mind, and he was what was left. And he refused to have any labels associated to his brothers and sisters who had done nothing but stand and watch as he was cast down. All but her.

"Hell looks... nicer," she commented when the flames of his earlier snap died away and the silence between them had lasted longer than was comfortable.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hell's not supposed to be nice at all," he retorted sharply. "Why did you come back here?"

"I wanted to see how my big brother was doing... You've brightened the place up since I last saw it," she answered, glancing off to the side where there was a clear view of the tortured souls and braizers of hellfire.

"Light bringer," he muttered quietly to himself.

Still, she heard it – or rather, misheard. "Lucifer?"

He smiled, mentally translating it back again. Morning Star... He liked it. "You may call me that." Then he saw her frown – her eyes looking past him. "What?"

"Your wings..." she whispered sadly. "They haven't... They're not..?"

"No, they are not," he affirmed. He took a step back when she was suddenly barely an inch from him. "What are you—"

She was behind him now – both hands on the middle of his back in the space between his broken wings. They were no longer made of the pristine feathers that shone brighter than the stars, but were now instead these torn and mangled draconic things that further emulated his marred visage. "I know this can be... out of place, but— do you trust me?"

He was frozen in place. What was she doing?! "Why?"

"Because I want to help you, Luce."

He could feel the warm and comforting energies focused in her hands on his back. He could feel the quiet grace of the energies, holding a promise of healing but also a question for permission. At his nod, she ran her hands over and down his wings, and he was struck with a euphoric bliss and an insurmountable pain.

"—and this is where you ended up. Here, on Earth. I think it's all turned out rather well."

"You left!" Lucifer exclaimed, suddenly stopping to look at her. "You kept coming back— You kept helping me, and then one day you just stopped! I trusted you to come back, and you betrayed that trust."

She had stopped with him. She hadn't tried to break free of his grip when he grabbed her by the shoulders, nor had she scowled in anger when he shook her. She simply waited for him to stop and calm down – just as she had whenever he'd lost his temper in Hell.

"I— it had to stop, Lucifer," she told him, looking him dead in the eyes. "I wasn't allowed to go back after—"

"You said He knew," he growled.

"Hell was supposed to both a punishment and a gift. A punishment for rebelling against Him the way you did, and a chance for you to be yourself— to remake yourself as you wanted to be…" she explained. "I was only supposed to help start you on that path, and I did— and I had to leave when I was done."

Lucifer let his arms drop back down to his sides, taking a step back. He brought his head down in a slow nod. "Right… because He wants me to be happy!" he sneered.

"That is all He has ever wanted for you, Lucifer!" she shouted, matching his tone for once. She had the literal patience of an angel, but even angels could lose their tempers.

"So? How's the newfound trick working out?" she asked him, standing on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder.

"It's not newfound, sis… I just never got to use it up there," Lucifer informed her. He turned back to the damned soul on the rack in front of them. "Tell me, you poor sap, what did you desire more than anything in life?"

She frowned at the display, though she knew this was what most likely what happened on an hourly basis whenever she wasn't in Hell. She knew that Lucifer dialed down all of the major torture and gore, fire and brimstone – the stereotypical aspects of Hell (though, admittedly, these aspects changed along with Lucifer's mood) – and even kept the demons away when she… visited.

Still, if punishing the wicked souls of Hell was what made him who he was now, she wouldn't hold it against Lucifer. He was well on his way to finding… happiness. So far she had only seen two other angels find the pure actual form of it through love, but they had been killed before it ever amounted to anything more than a bond.

It was something only she, God, and the remaining archangels in Heaven knew – something He wanted to keep only amongst them until the proper time. And she would wait until then to come clean with everything to her other siblings. She would wait until the end of time if she had to.

Lucifer raced back to Lux now. He was done with listening to her. He didn't care that because she was the angel of authenticity all she could be with her intentions was sincere. He didn't care that she was speaking for their Father.

So what if her words hit more at home than he would care to admit? So what if her words scared him more than when he realized he'd almost killed a brother— And to think that he'd kept that fact to himself! What would Mum have thought, seeing him come back to Lux covered in blood? She probably thought he'd actually killed Uriel.

So why hadn't Lucifer told her what happened yet? He didn't know. He just didn't know anymore!

When Lucifer finally made it back to his penthouse, he went straight to the balcony. Leaning on the glass railing, he looked up at the cloudy night sky. "Is this what you really want?" he whispered brokenly, knowing he would not receive an answer.

—o~O~o—

The angel landed softly, not disturbing a single item within the living area. Quietly, her feet padded across the tiled floor, and she looked into his bedroom for only a long moment before placing the directions on the counter top of the bar. Letting out a silent sigh, the angel made her way back to the entrance of his room, her shadow falling only to the edge of his bed where he slept peacefully – well, as peacefully as he could with the events of the last few days weighing down on him.

"She's got her claws in him… I could see them," her voice whispered under her breath.

"And yet he has even less motivation to side with Her than his brother."

She blinked, stepping forward into the room – her shadow, merely a shade in the already darkened room, creeping further up the bed. "Uriel says that there are still possibilities for Lucifer to side with Her."

"Those potential futures only occur when he loses what he loves most."

"I assume You'll leave me to discover what that is myself." She then frowned, coming to a stop only a foot away from the bed. "Is there anyway for Amenadiel to come home again?" she asked just as silently as before.

"He will find his own path… as must all who fall from grace."

A soft smile played on her lips as she watched Lucifer sleep. "Sometimes they just need a little nudge in the right direction."

She gave Lucifer a small – albeit a touch forced – smile. That smile stayed on her face even as he continued to punish the murderous pedophile. Though Lucifer's punishment for the man was a little excessive in her opinion, she could find respite in that the children, whose lives had been desecrated by this man, were in Heaven. The only reason it was Lucifer personally seeing to the man's torture was because she had brought it up – her words betraying her true emotions behind her mentioning. It hadn't taken Lucifer long to find the man's soul and begin his work.

Originally, she had only come to see how he was doing… one last time before she had to go. God had told her not to get too attached when she first asked, and just before she came here – 537 years later, her eighth and final visit – He told her that her work was done for now.

She now understood why He had warned her about getting attached. There was this horrible, gnawing feeling in her stomach that she couldn't seem to get rid of. She had to leave, stay in Heaven… and Lucifer would have to remain in Hell.

Hell was not a nice place, even for the ruler of the forsaken domain. She had seen Lucifer's throne – once decorated with things she'd rather not identify but now made solely of cold stone pillars – and the fiery pits it overlooked. She had watched as he created a semblance of order within the ranks of demons – the Lilim, descendants of Lilith, becoming his personal bodyguards. And though she had not been there for all of it, she had stayed by his side during each visit.

She knew that she'd have to permanently leave eventually. Hell was no place for an angel with the exception of Lucifer (even Azrael didn't dare linger long). She'd even come up with a whole formalized speech for telling Lucifer why… But now that she was standing beside him, she realized that she couldn't do that to him. She couldn't take out the emotion behind her reasons.

And so she went through their usual sayings whenever she departed from Hell after a stay. She never said a word about when she would come again. She simply left – the image of a genuine smile on his burned and scarred face in her mind – and she didn't come back.

Lucifer didn't wake until the sun's morning rays had begun to cast their shadows, long after she'd left. Like those thousands of years ago, she had gone without a word of goodbye.

A/N: So... does anyone want to share with the class what they think the message that God had Kemuel tell Lucifer was? Because while it was heavily implied, neither actually said what the message was.

Also, to clarify (since this was in the latest edit) – when Kemuel healed his wings in the flashback, she turned them from the Devil wings (the ones from season four) back into the angel wings that Lucifer would have had Maze cut off when he went to Earth for his vacation.

Last edited: [1/15/2020] The wording was still bothering me, so I changed it... again.

Tsukiyomi Sora: I don't speak/write/read Spanish, so I had to Google translate your review (and I got "What I want to know is what role does Chloe have in this story?", which sounds like it's right). And hopefully I'm correct in assuming that you read English (because otherwise that'd awkward) since you seem to have read this story just fine, so my answer is that I don't know yet…

Guest: Close but not exactly – You're on the right track, that's for sure. I made sure that it was subtly mentioned in that chapter – not really subtext but you'd definitely have to be paying attention and reading in between the lines. Hint – it's around where Kemuel snapped back at Lucifer.

Lady Syndra: I'm working on it ;-) Promise!