This story was originally published on AO3 or . For all tags and thanks and inspirations please go there.

Pain.

Falling.

Red.

Barren wasteland.

Selena looked around and blinked at her new scenery. She noted a red sky with a star. The last thing she remembered was fighting in a religious war between the Judeo-Christian God and the other pagan deities including hers, Neana. She thought she had died. Selena decided to wander and inspect her new surroundings and discovered nothing. She continued walking for what felt like hours and still found nothing. It truly was a barren wasteland.

So she waited. And waited. And waited. An unknown amount of time had passed before she saw two lights fall from the sky landing near each other. She ran to inspect this odd occurrence and discovered what seemed to be a very disoriented man and a woman. The man had large white wings. He must've been an angel. Angels only exist in the Judeo-Christian religion, making him a follower of God. Noting this, Selena chose to keep her hands to herself until she determined why he was here and who the woman next to him was. She asked, "Are you alright?"

The man blinked up at her sheepishly. "I'm fine. I think. And you are?"

"I am Selena, high priestess of Neana," she cocked her head in curiosity. The woman beside the angel began to stir from her sleep, immediately catching his attention. The woman moaned and began to sit up.

"Lucifer, darling. Where are we?" She looked to the angel, not noticing Selena.

"I believe Father called this Hell, my dear. It seems we are not alone." He turned to the woman and began to stroke her hair. The woman turned her head finally noticing the priestess. It was evident to Selena that the woman was severely disoriented and needed some assistance to stand. While the angel named Lucifer helped the lady stand, Selena went quickly to check her

for injuries. "Lilith, my love, are you alright?"

"I feel uneasy and some pain in my head." She said, rubbing her head to ease the pain. "Luci, what happened?"

"I would also like to know what happened." Selena stated, looking at the couple expectantly.

"Well, from what I can gather, Father wasn't pleased with my desire to combat his decision to create humanity. And he certainly wasn't happy with my wooing of his creation's wife. His fault really, forcing a woman to marry a man she wasn't sure she even wanted. It seems we've been banished to this land for his creative failures." Lucifer began dusting off his clothing and eyeing the priestess suspiciously. "My question is, what are you doing here? You appear human and from what I know, Lilith is Father's first female creation. So, Selena, how did you come to be here?"

She felt exposed by Lucifer's stares but knew honesty would be her friend as it always was. "There was a war among the gods. We fought to keep our deities alive to worship, but He destroyed most of the gods and their most zealous followers. One minute, I was on the battlefield trying to protect Lady Neana, and the next, I was here. I've been here alone for sometime, but I don't know how much time has passed." She shook her head despondently.

Lucifer's mouth sat agape for a moment before he turned his head to Lilith. He looked between the two women before he pulled himself together. He cleared his throat and brushed his clothes again. "That's not possible. Not possible." Lucifer began to murmur. While holding a thumb to his chin, Lucifer began to pace. He would stop to look at Selena and then would return to his murmuring and pacing. After some time, Lilith slowly approached him and placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Darling, is everything alright?" Lilith's face expressed such worry. Lucifer turned to her and then gave his attention to Selena.

"Well, one of the older angels claimed that there was a world before the one Father created. Saying that deities and magic ruled before Father claimed immense power. But they were senile and the last of that generation. We were told to say that the angels made around my time were the first and that the angels of old would no longer have power in the world. I simply laughed him away as the ramblings of an ancient being. Pray tell me, priestess, was magic rampant in your time?"

Selena merely nodded her answer. "But how are you here? Alone? Why not with the other followers of your goddess?" Selena shrugged. She was more clueless than this angel was. "Give me your hand. Now!" Lucifer grabbed Selena's hand, and a golden light appeared between them. Lilith watched in awe and curiosity. Never before had either of them seen an angel's power. Lucifer dropped Selena's hand as if she was made of hot steel. He looked at her aghast and paled. He then looked at Lilith and placed his head on her. For a moment, he remained quiet. Lilith rubbed Lucifer's back while both of the women looked at each other in confusion. Eventually, he stopped leaning on Lilith and looked Selena in the eye. "The world you were born in was destroyed by Father. He sent all of the souls who worshiped your goddess to soul's past states that Father saw you as a threat. Neana was one of the deities that threatens Father, and he couldn't send you to her heaven. You have been banished to Hell because Neana protected your soul preventing you from entering Oblivion."

"How could you know something as preposterous as that?" Selena exclaimed. She glared at Lucifer, a mixture of confusion and desperation written on her face.

"Angels were given the ability to see the past of a soul's life to determine punishment or rewards for the new creation He has in store." Lucifer sheepishly held his hand up. Lilith and Selena looked at him in awe. Lucifer then cleared his throat and grabbed Lilith's hand again. "Well since we're here, let's make the best of it!" He began walking with Lilith hand in hand and whistled as he left.

"Wait! What should I do?" Selena pleaded after them.

Lucifer stopped and looked back at her, the wheels of his mind turning before what could only be described as a devious grin adorning his face. He whispered something to Lilith who blushed and vigorously nodded her head. "Well, priestess, are you ordained to give marriages?"

By this sudden turn of conversation, Selena got mental whiplash. "Of course I can. Or could. I am a priestess after all." She gave a large genuine smile.

"Well, Lilith and I think that since we got banished here for loving each other, we may as well make it official." Lucifer's grin became more sincere as he gazed lovingly at Lilith.

Lilith scoffed and gave a light chuckle, "Plus you staging a rebellion against your Father in High Heaven." she mumbled. The comment received an elbow nudge from the angel.

.

"I'll be happy to, but it'll be done in Neana's likeness if that's alright."

"Of course my dear!" Lucifer bounced quite giddily. "What will you need?"

After acquiring all that was required for a wedding ceremony to commence,they were wed. At some point after their ceremony, Lucifer looked at the bright star and said, " Well, Father, I vow to make the best of what You have done. And with that, I vow to ruin Your creations and show You where You went wrong. I will never return." He then threw what Selena assumed was a demeaning gesture at the star. Lilith ran her fingers through his blonde hair and hummed, seemingly alright with declaring war on God.

Selena just looked at him and asked, "Why are you directing your rage at that star?" Lucifer gestured at it and replied that that was High Heaven and where God resided. "Would you mind if I joined your crusade then?"

"I'd be delighted if you joined me!" Lucifer stated.

So began the building of Hell and Selena's relationship with Lucifer and Lilith.

After that day, Lucifer made night and day exist in Hell. They discovered the existence of demons. Creations of all gods that failed and ended in what could only be described as the deities' rubbish bin. Lilith's gorgeous human form began to painfully alter. Selena stayed by her side using her divine magic to ease Lilith's pain, but after a while, her magic began doing more harm than good. So she sat and comforted her friend the only other way she knew how: she held her close and stroked her hair. After Lilith's pain ended, Lilith's long hair remained its platinum blonde color, but now with long curving crimson horns protruding from her head. Lilith also grew a foot in height and could retract claws to eviscerate her and her husband's enemies. Around this time, Selena also found her body changing. Her human ears disappeared and furry ones grew atop her head. Her hair turned silver, her canines grew to fangs, a fluffy silver tail grew, and her nails also became retractable claws. Lucifer had likened her to a fox, so she claimed it. She slowly began to have new magics at her disposal. Despite these changes, her heart only darkened enough to survive. Much like before her descent, she still heard her goddess's voice, albeit faint and small. Lucifer barely changed. His angelic light was all that disappeared, but a dark and evil aura replaced it. Despite this, his power as a seraphim never dwindled.

The trio would plan which jurisdiction of Hell to overthrow. Selena would perform reconnaissance, and Lilith and Lucifer would decimate their enemies leaving enough alive to swear allegiance to their new king and queen. After claiming all of Hell's rings, Lucifer, Lilith, and Selena decided that a leader needed to be put in charge of each of the rings, but would answer to Lucifer and Lucifer alone. Selena chose to remain in the shadows of her friends. She didn't want responsibility or to change more than she had already. So Lucifer gave her territory of her own and instructed her that she alone would defend it. He also instructed her to answer his calls when she was needed.

Millenniums passed.

Hell changed.

A princess was born.

Selena rushed to her friends' side to see their new baby. Selena was named an informal aunt and was asked to help look after the child. They named the princess Charlotte.

Charlotte.

Selena burned the name in her mind. The princess was born with her father's blonde hair and rosy cheeks. She giggled and raised her hands to Selena at their first meeting. Selena knew then and there that this child would obtain all of her love not designated to her goddess.

She spent as much time at the royal palace as she did at the shrine she had built for Neana.

As Charlotte, who grew to prefer the name Charlie, grew, Selena became exceedingly proud of the woman Charlie became. She was sweet, kind, and wholesome. She reminded her of the ideal being. Someone that all deities and followers aspired to be. Even her dear friend Lucifer never shined this brightly. Or so he says. He always raved about his "apple pie" much to Charlie's embarrassment. She dated some boy Selena didn't like, but other than that Charlie could do no wrong in her eyes or her father's.