So, I forgot to upload in , sorry. You can also find this story in archiveofourown under Raphaelos.
I'm a slow writer.
"Oh look, there is light at the end of the tunnel after all. Both metaphorically and physically," Lucifer purred suddenly.
"What? Where? I can't see it!" Aziraphale questioned from where he stood behind them.
"Better get ready, the show is about to go down."
"Do you have to be so dramatic?"
…
This was a hallway, as simple as a hallway often is. Not much in it, only one colour, maybe some lines with some darker or lighter colour of whatever colour the hallway is, and of course something must hang on it: if not it would just be dull.
This Hallway only had two of those things from the options above.
Let's give said hallway a name... The Hallway, or the Hallway in Heaven, are both simple and easy to remember.
Let us call it 'the Hallway,' - it is said quicker than the other after all. Now, the Hallway bore only one colour; white, just that simple, but thankfully there was some shade on it, so it does not look so boring.
But what was outside did not matter, at least not in this moment. What the Hallway was hiding from view, was something very special indeed.
They say it is what is inside that matters. And they are of course right.
Fast, but not too fast, cracks began to form, steadily getting bigger. As the cracks grew and spread, they began to take a form. An arch formed, but this time, with a door.
Mumbling and murmurs could be heard from behind the door. Voices slowly getting louder and louder as footsteps slowly got louder and clearer, losing their slight echo due to the distance becoming less and less
"I feel like a hypocrite," Lucifer mumbled as he ' held the door' to the entrance.
"What did you do this time?" Crowley asked as he waltzed through the entrance.
"What makes you think he did something, dear?" interjected Aziraphale, following closely behind.
"It's Lucifer -" Crowley turned around, spreading his arms, as though to shed more light to his answer. "- why wouldn't he have done ssomething."
"Hey! I resent that!"
"Of course you do," Crowley mumbled.
Lucifer sighed dramatically, shaking his arms slightly. "Is everyone out yet?" Looking back into the corridor, Lucifer squinted his eyes at the darkness, taking two strides into the corridor to loudly repeat his question.
"Do you see us carrying a soul around with us or something, or are you just that bored?"
Lucifer looked back, and opened his mouth. But, before he could answer, the door swiftly closed, making Lucifer officially trapped.
"Lucifer!" Crowley yelled and joined Lucifer with pounding loudly on the door.
The pounding quickly died down, as both pounders knew it was futile to continue; the door would simply not budge under any circumstances. Knocking softly probably wouldn't do anything either.
"Why do I just have to hold the door! I should have just walked out of there, when I had the chance. Wait! Better, I should just have said no to this bloody journey in the first place-" Lucifer pounded his head down on the door roughly- "Argh! I am burning this thing down; I honestly could not give more of a shit right now. If this is now Heaven's version of Paradise, it sucks!"
"Lucifer, there is no need for such violence, nor language."
You could easily hear Lucifer's snort from behind the door. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I push something sensitive? I was just looking for the mute button while I worked this mess out."
"I think you pushed your own buttons," Aziraphale mumbled and looked to the side, not-so-sneakily eyeing Crowley who was now three steps away from the door, eyeing it with annoyance.
Lucifer, suddenly having gone quiet for a few seconds, either silently giving up or having a conversation with himself - hopefully the latter.
"Alright kids! Buckle your horses. Things might turn bad," Lucifer added the last part with a deeper and more dramatic voice.
"Lucifer?" Crowley asked, not yet understanding what Lucifer was about to do.
Aziraphale walked over to Crowley, silently taking a hold of his arm to slowly drag Crowley with him. "Crowly dear, it would be best if we were to step back while Lucifer blasts the poor door of its hinges, if it even has any."
At Aziraphale's words, Crowley seemed to realize what Lucifer was about to do, and was too late to stop it. "Lucifer don't! You will just hurt yourself using hellfire in Heaven Trust me! I know from experience, using that shit hurts here. You have access to walk on the holy ground here, but certainly not to use hellfire!"
"Then give me access! Or something," were Lucifer's last words as a loud blast came, hitting the door forcefully. The door put up little resistance, as doors often do when faced with an angry Fallen Angel.
As a small number of debris pathetically floated around, the door, formerly having trapped Lucifer, now laid on the floor, half cracked, the knob probably lying somewhere else, since it had now gone missing.
Not far away laid Lucifer, quaintly holding the doorknob, with a shocked expression on his face.
Crowley quickly made his way over to Lucifer like the protective mama duck he was, leaving Aziraphale to simply stare at the broken secret entrance.
"Lucifer what did you think you were doing!? You could have killed yourself! You almost did!"
"Lucifer?" repeated Crowley, seeing the frozen expression on his older brother's face.
Still staring straight ahead, Lucifer did not quite acknowledge his brother trying to contact him. Not really knowing what else to do, Crowley lifted his index finger, and simply poked the devil on the arm.
Three seconds of poking was all it took for Lucifer to shriek like a banshee either in pain or shock.
Instead of taking a hold of his shoulder like Crowley expected him to, he did poke a bit roughly (what are siblings for after all?), Lucifer took a hold of his hand and cradled it like a wounded animal.
"SHIT! That hurt!"
"Lucifer? Are you alright..?"
Lucifer looked at Crowley dumbfounded, gaped at him like a fish. "Am I alright?! I just blasted my hand into the holy drain like as if I had just dropped something! No! I am not remotely 'alright', I am scarred for the rest of my days, my hand is proof of my pain," Lucifer continued to rant. All the while ignoring his brother's ' aren't you overreacting just a bit?'
" Lu, let me see your hand," Crowley urged as Lucifer kept moving his hand away with a small slap each time.
While Crowley tried to get a hold of Lucifer's hand, Aziraphale hovered nearby and simply watched the show with what could essentially be described as a bitch face. "He will not bite your head off, for god's sake!" Aziraphale squeaked.
"Getting impatient now, are we?" blurted Lucifer as he rolled on the pale floor with Crowley.
Aziraphale fixed him with a dead stare, "If I was a bird, I'd know who to shit on."
"Well... The path to inner peace can also begin with four words: not my fucking problem!"
"Take it easy you two. When did you begin to but heads with people so easily? Or is Aziraphale just a special case?" Crowley snapped. "And Aziraphale, why do you get so easily riled up? It has always been you to keep me out of trouble, not the other way around."
Both Lucifer and Aziraphale looked bashfully away. While both of them looked away in shame, Crowley calmly took a hold of Lucifer's hand."
"Now, let me heal you, I'm a healer remember? -"
" the Healer-"
"Shut up."
But before Crowley was able to heal Lucifer's hand, and something for the first time in thousands of years, Lucifer violently yanked his hand back. Almost making Crowley fall over.
"No."
"Lucifer-"
"No," Lucifer repeated, licking his lips and stared blankly forward.
"But-" Crowley tried to protest, worried about his brother's sudden mood shift. "No. It is alright, okay? No need to heal it- Stop! Alright. Just... Bad memories, alright? Nothing to worry about." Lucifer added the last line impassively and stood up, mindlessly dusting his shirt for dust. And quietly looking down at the shirt for a second.
As Lucifer began to walk away, Crowley and Aziraphale quickly followed suit behind.
An awkward silence had quickly followed after Lucifer's denial.
Crowley was worried about his brother, Lucifer suddenly becoming glum for reasons Crowley didn't understand. It made him feel guilty, as if he was at fault. While he knew it was not him, he still could not help but feel it was. Seeing the blank expression made his stomach twist.
When both of them were in hell, Crowley never really saw Lucifer, and admittedly tried his damn best to avoid any spotlight that might have gotten an audience with the king of hell. A monthly or yearly compliance for his earthly work had been enough for him. No matter how much he wanted to see his brother again.
Crowley back then, was afraid that if he saw Lucifer, his older brother, he would have his fear made real.
Back in the old office were there three archangels. All of them waiting for three other people to come.
One could ask what each person was doing, but one probably would not get an answer.
"We are so productive right now," the dark-skinned angel suddenly giggled, spinning around on a chair.
Agreeing with the spinning angel, another angel, who sat in front of a big shelf, huffed, "We need a break once in a while. A nice inner peace comes with it. Everyone needs a break!"
"come on, inner peace? We don't have all day to get it."
"That is why we need breaks!"
"Huh."
"We do?"
"Yes!"
The three continued to bicker, completely having forgotten what started their bickering in the first place. As their conversation drew more and more out, different and more casual subjects came. An ambience that hadn't been seen on the three angels in a long time came over them: it somehow made their conversations flow more easily and the transition between each subject flow smoother, so smooth that the speakers did not even realize that their conversation had taken a different turn. This timeless ambience had not seen the light since war broke out, not even when the trio had been in meetings, discussing business or work. There had not been time to frivolities, even when the occasion arose or a small remark appeared. It had not come before now.
It was not unwelcome, no. It was just a shame that there were two missing members, who had craved this ambiance the most and for the longest time.
Luckily, or unlucky for said missing members, they would walk into the room and see the ambience, along with a third member, who, while not unwelcome, was not the main focus.
As the three individuals walked into the room, they could not help but get a small taste of the ambience. What they thought and felt, however, would be kept to themselves.
"Would you look at that," Lucifer cooed, not showing what he truly felt at the scene.
Having been engrossed with watching his older and younger siblings fuss about a simple squill they found lying around, Gabriel looked up at his older brother, not getting where wanted to go with his little comment. "Oh, hi-"
"Unh-unh. Don't, stop, it's not what you want and we both know it," Crowley warned his brother, sensing where he was going.
Confused, Lucifer looked at his brother questioningly. "What? I have not done anything!"
" Yet," added a different voice.
"Hmpf," Lucifer feigned hurt, but backed down.
"So. How did it go with coming up here?" Gabriel asked, staring not so stealthily at Lucifer's wounded hand, which he quietly hid behind his other hand as he stood, automatically starting the next part of the conversation.
Noticing Gabriel's gaze, Lucifer quickly put his hand behind his back, almost standing like a butler.
It was not because he was afraid that they would attack or hurt him, but he did not want to appear weak in front of others, especially not his siblings of all people. The track record for that area has not exactly been sparkling clean these centuries.
After Gabriel's not-so-subtle staring, the other archangels had also noticed the of the three knew how to approach the injury.
Uriel was frankly unsure of how to confront the situation, and did not want to embarrass herself or Lucifer.
Healing was not Gabriel's area and had never been. He knew the basics, sure. But he felt it was not his place to ask.
Michael was honestly afraid that her and Lucifer's relationship was too broken, and did not want to destroy it more, especially since there was a chance it could be mended.
"Are we ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"You know," said Michael, shrugging her shoulders and slowly walking around the room. "The time for revelations, the time when we finally admit our fault and show acceptance to each other." Reaching the desk, she lightly grabbed the quill she and Uriel had been talking about earlier.
"Those are some big words Michael, are you sure you can live up to them?" Crowley lightly teased, but the true meaning of his words still shone through.
Michael nodded, knowing her past mistakes were bigger than the others. She had more to make up for, and she would be damn sure she could make up for them. If not now, this meeting right here could put the parts needed to make up for them later in motion.
….
….
"Does anyone exactly know how to start this redemption arc or something?" Gabriel mumbled.
"Don't look at me, I don't know either. I'm still wondering what happened to the people who asked me for directions," Lucifer not so helpfully stated.
"Not helping," coughed Crowley.
"Alright, alright, why don't we just start with saying who we blame, and ask that person if the blame is rightfully placed?"
"Oh come on! That is a hideous way to start!" Uriel rebuked.
"Well, it is the only one we have right now," Lucifer persisted. "Since no one else has come forward to do their blaming. I will say my big picture blaming:" Lucifer promptly pointed at Michael. "-I blame you for starting it, and for not listening to my point of view, instead you just listened to God like a good little soldier. You forcefully threw me and those who agreed with me, out of Heaven, still without asking why we did what we did! You two could have done more- do not act innocent, both of you hid away, slithering being God's command, you are just as guilty as Michael, if not more," Lucifer pointed at Gabriel and Uriel while he breathed heavily from yelling, watching them shuffle guiltily made twisted parts of him more than happy.
Michael just stared at her brother, silently wondering about when she had neglected her duty as a sibling. "Blame me all you want, but do not blame them more than me… Did you even think about what you did might have consequences? And also why Mother had created the humans in the first place? Not to stop loving, but to show love can come from more than one place?"
"It is not about the humans! They did not ask to be created, but they were, and they are destroying their home and so much more. Remind you of someone?" Lucifer argued, sticking his hands in the air. "They did not ask to be created like they were. Neither did I…" Lucifer added the last comment in a quiet tone, all fight suddenly vanishing from him.
"Yelling at each other is not the way to overcome your issues, can you not see that? There are other ways," Aziraphale quietly but bravely explained.
"So you want us to speak in lower tones?" snapped Gabriel.
"Yes, that would be a good start," Aziraphale reaffirmed.
Uriel rolled her eyes. While she knew Aziraphale was right and that he had a point, it was admittedly hard for her to see how they could execute his point and make it work for this. She was having her own inner dialogue, thinking about how they could make this work. She had not realized that a full blown argument was taking place, but was she surprised? Only a little.
While she had no idea what they were arguing about as she zoned in on the argument, she heard her first no context sentence.
"I mean come on, why is he still here?" Gabriel snappily asked, pointing at Aziraphale.
"Because he is my friend and I need emotional support while I face you four," Crowley snapped. The others quietened at his outburst. "Alright… Why don't we just start in the past and about what happened then? Maybe that will help?" Crowley suggested, suddenly feeling exhausted.
Uriel nodded, looking around as she spoke "I think that might be a good idea, don't you all agree?"
Screaming. It was all that could be heard in the current time.
If it was not of pain, fear or death, it would be of victory. Not like it mattered anymore. It was all the same once you got used to it, it was that you could get used to it.
Hearing others scream was one thing but hearing yourself scream was another, especially since you felt like you were on fire.
You were always too stubborn to give up, and didn't care if people knew it or not.