Disclaimer: I don't own Lucifer in any way, shape or form, this work is entirely fictional, any resemblances to real people and/or situations are no more than a coincidence. Also, English isn't my first language, and I don't have a beta, so I apologize for any mistakes you may encounter while reading.

Sympathy for the Dead – part 2

"Don't you know I'm no good for you?

I've learned to lose you, can't afford to

Tore my shirt to stop you bleedin'

But nothin' ever stops you leavin'

Quiet when I'm comin' home and I'm on my own"

"It will be temporary, baby, like the other times."

It wouldn't. She just knew.

Elaine rested her forehead against the window on her side of the car the rest of the backseat where she's sitting quietly occupied by a couple of suitcases she's sure she won't be seeing so soon. None of the other places let her wear her own clothes or keep her things, they say she can use them to hurt herself.

"So stupid", she thought to herself, eyes locked on the view outside the car, it was her first time in North Yorkshire, and also the first time seeing the Moors, it was pretty, but after almost one hour of looking at the grey sky and small bushes in lavender and grey hues gave her brain time to assess her current situation. Ravenscar Psychiatry Facility, or "The Lunatic Asylum" as she heard her dad call the place while fighting with her mom in the kitchen a week ago was her destination, her new temporary house. She's not crazy, but it doesn't make any good if she's the only one that believes in her sanity.

"But if you get scared you can call us and we will bring you back home.", she could hear in her mother's voice how hard it was to make that simple promise. She didn't want her back. She's scared.

Elaine is scared too.

The sky was growing darker by the minute, soon it would start to rain. When she heard them talking about Ravenscar she decided to do her own research. Elaine couldn't find much about the Psychiatry Facility, mostly because she doesn't have a computer or even a smartphone like the one Mona got for her birthday when her mum was scared that Mona wouldn't be able to call for help if something happened, when Elaine told her parents about it they dismissed the entire ordeal, after all, they live in Liverpool now, and it was supposed to be a lot safer than London. What she did find out about is that Ravenscar is a small village near the coast and storms could be a quite common occurrence, so the dark sky didn't scare her as much as the thought of being left alone in another Psychiatry Hospital.

"The Doctor said they can help you, you will be good as new in no time.", her mother was the only one inside the car trying to make any sort of conversation. It has been months since the last time she had an actual conversation with her father, he now tends to avoid her like she carries the plague, but Elaine doesn't blame him, she's the one that failed. He had so much faith in her future that he put her in all of those extra classes ever since she learned to talk and read her first word on her own, he called her his little baby genius. She tried so very hard to make him proud... But she's a freak. And now those boys are dead and they are sending her away.

White walls.

Elaine hated white walls that smelled of sanitizing, it makes her think of some of the worst places she had to stay, of nurses with cold, gloved hands, needles with drugs that would make her sleep for almost an entire day and people touching her, poking, hurting.

"You can change your clothes before going to the common room. Or the gardens, just make sure to find someone from the staff in case you get lost.", the nurse didn't seem as bad as some of the others Elaine had the pleasure to meet in other Institutions, "Dinner will be served at seven.", and after that, she was gone.

"I thought she wouldn't leave.", Grandma Shawn head started materializing, dripping from the ceiling like stale water, "How are you feeling, hun?"

Elaine just shrugged.

"It's okay."

"How's it okay?!", Grandma Furness was nest to appear, the indignation on her voice as clear as the white walls of that room, "They can't lock her here like an animal! if it was up to me I would burn this place to the ground."

"It's fine, Gran. Burning this place would do me no good. They would just send me somewhere else.", and she was so, so tired.

Elaine pulled the sweatshirt over her head, it was a dull off-white. Her teeth bit down on her lower lips, a sign that she wasn't being completely truthful but would rather keep things to herself.

She just wanted Lucifer. To talk to him. The Devil was always effective in making her smile, especially when she's sad or heartbroken, which is exactly the case right now. But there wasn't much that she could do if he wasn't coming by their little place inside her Dreams.

Later that night, when one of the nurses decided to stop by to give her the medicine and make sure she takes them, Elaine didn't fight the drowsiness. Sleep was so much better than her reality...

Elaine blinked.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to cry so badly.

Inside the Dream, once again, white space extending to every direction and full of mismatched things, Lucifer's memories and creations, some were hers, but mostly Lucifer's, and that damned grand piano. That place has never felt so empty before without her Guardian Devil sitting at the piano playing some random piece he decided on a whim, complaining about her being "late" even if they never accorded in a time for those meetings. In the waking world, she had a far easier time suppressing her feelings, the drugs the doctors prescribed her also helped in that. But in here it was impossible to keep those treacherous tears at bay.

"Haven't I told you before, little mouse? Your eyes are going to melt and fall from your face if you cry so much."

She turned around so quick she almost gave herself whiplash. Standing there as if he had never left, looking as perfect as her memory could conjure.

"No... You are not here. I'm just imagining things.", she couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it, because when he disappears it would hurt even more.

Lucifer had no idea how to respond to that, it was a first to him, having to think of how to convince someone he's real, even though they are inside the Dream and only existing as their consciences.

"I give you my word, Ela. I'm here with you.", he took his handkerchief from his square pocket and wiped away her tears, "And as you well know, my word is my bond.", he wasn't equipped to deal with a crying child, even if said child was his little mouse so it was understandable when panicked at her reaction to his words, the girl attached herself to his form in a bone-breaking hug, thin arms wrapped around his midsection, loud sobs were now the only sound echoing in the infinite room. "Fine...", he sighed giving up in de-attaching her from his form, instead he took Elaine in his arms to the dark-brown chesterfield, sitting there and letting the girl cry until she had no more tears left.

"I-... I th-... thought you... lef-... left me.", she somehow managed to get the word out between her sobs.

And that was the moment Lucifer realized he truly messed up.

"I never intended to be away for so long, Elaine.", his fingers carted through her hair, knowing the gesture would help her to calm down, "I had some matters to attend to and got caught up in an unexpected problem."

He knows that won't just erase how much he hurt her with his absence, but he was doing all of this for her. Or better say: to unveil the mystery behind her mere existence that has been plaguing him ever since he first notices the tiny being inside his Dreamscape.

"Are you going to leave again?", Elaine removed her face from his shirt to be able to look him in the eyes, hers were red and puffy from crying so much, one could notice how serious she was.

Lucifer wasn't someone used to feeling guilt, however, those big eyes looking red made a weird emotion settle in the deep of his stomach, "No. I won't leave you.", his reply was equally as serious.

"Okay...", her eyes averted his, going back to his, now stained, shirt, "I'll trust you."

It was unnerving to him how much this little creature could trust and act so unafraid of him.

"Shouldn't you be scared of me?", the question came out of nowhere. He just couldn't help but always be so intrigued by how anyone can be this close to him. He understands adult humans, they are mostly guided by their luxury. But Elaine is a child, and such a pure one at her core that he can't understand her attachment to him.

"Why would I be?", she replied with another question, he could hear the puzzlement in her voice.

"Because I'm the Devil, obviously."

"I know that 'obviously'.", he had to keep himself from grinning at the bit of sass back in her voice.

"Then why?"

"Dunno. Maybe 'cause I know you would never hurt me."

"But of course I wouldn't hurt you, you are a child.", the affronted look on his face at saying that wasn't missed by Elaine.

She gave a small shrug as if her being a child didn't make much of a difference, "Well, some adults don't care about that", she said as matter of fact.

"Did... Did your parents ever hurt you like that?", he swallowed hard, not liking where his mind was taking him.

"No.", her voice was barely a whisper while the girl burrowed into his side, "Not like that. But people don't need to beat you up to hurt you, you know?"

"Unfortunately, little mouse, I know."

This talk was making him think too much about his family for his own liking.

"Yeah... That's why I like being your friend...", her comment took him right out of his thoughts.

"Being my WHAT?!"

"...Because you don't lie. Ever."

And once again she managed to make him speechless.

The little mouse sees him as a friend. How absurd is that?

"Lucifer?", her voice was the same quiet whisper when his silence stretched for far too long.

"... Thank you, little mouse."

Ravenscar Psychiatric Facility was no place for a child, that much John knew, but he would be lying if he said the small girl did not intrigue him. She's this tiny little thing with raven-black hair and equally dark glassy eyes, thanks to the medicines they push on you inside this place, but said eyes reminded him of his little Gemma. Elaine, he heard the nurses refer to her as. She didn't seem crazy, not like the other patients around here, she's heavily medicated, he could easily tell by the way she often stares at empty space for hours at a time, but she wasn't having entire conversations with silverware trying to convince them the Earth is flat and shit, he also never saw her try to hurt anyone, usually, she's the one who appears to be hurt: bloodstains on her t-shirt collar, bruised wrists that he assumed was from the time some of the nurses had to restrain her at "the chair". It was how John called it, it was like one of those chairs you see in a dentist, they would sometimes strap you on that thing and do shock-treatments if they thought the meds weren't making much of dent on whatever mental problem you may have.

Now, say whatever you want about John, but he doesn't believe anything can justify putting a child through this sort of procedure.

"..can't find her.", he heard one of the nurses saying to another one before their steps became too far and the voices no more them a buzzing sound that would soon disappear.

"They are looking for her", he thought to himself with a bit of a grin on his thin lips. The girl was smart enough to hide when she would have to undergo her "treatment", not that it helps, it just delay the inevitable.

He kept walking towards the Chapel. No one went there besides him. Well... And now her.

Outside the sun was shining behind a thick layer of grey clouds that turned the sky into a white mass that made his eyes water if he look at it for too long, however, John wasn't interested in Britain's weather. The Asylum's uniform not doing a good job of protecting against the crisp breeze shaking the leaves on the trees and bending the blades of grass far up the hill. Quickly he got inside the Chapel, closing the door behind him hoping no one from the Asylum's staff would notice, his eyes took some time to adapt to the sudden darkness, the shuffling of clothes grabbing his attention to a tiny spot between the altar and one fo the stone walls.

"John...?", the voice was no more them a whisper, "Is that you?"

He felt his heart contrite, he knew it was absurd to feel guilty about the child's fate especially because he wasn't the one to put her in this place, but God, she reminds him too much of Gemma. Of Astra... He shouldn't get attached to her, if he did, he would try to save her from this dump. And he just knows he would mess things up and she would end up dead, because of him.

"Yes, it's me.", he said from where he was standing next to the closed door, "I brought something for you. Didn't see you at lunch, though you would be hungry.", he said showing her an apple and a few crackers he was able to sneak without anyone seeing.

"Thanks.", her voice cracked a bit for the lack of use, she only ever talked to John as far as he can tell. And sometimes she would talk to herself when she thought no one was listening. She reached for the apple with too thin fingers and he watched in slight puzzlement the child laugh looking at the apple before biting.

"What's so funny?", he couldn't help his curiosity.

"Nothing.", she said, "I thought of my friend.", she said that with a smile but her eyes betrayed a feeling of loneliness that John was too familiar with to be comfortable.

"The one that will get you out of here?", he didn't want to sound bitter, but the child would waste the rest of her life waiting for some White-Knight to come and save her from this place, from the pain and the medicine, however, no one would ever come.

"He will. I know he will.", her dark eyes fixated on the bitten apple.

A year and seven months ago. Somewhere across the Yorkshire moors.

Archibald Craven was not usually the type of man who was easily frightened by storms or the howling of the wind on the moors on nights like this, there was a time when he rejoiced in the sound and allowed it to lull him into sleep. But that was before when he was only the third child of the second wife. When he could play with the mansion's servants and was treated by them like any other child. When he was not yet Lord Archibald Craven, master of Misselthwaite Manor. Now the nights were looming, with a coldness that chilled his bones.

A lightning bolt cast a grey light into the office where he had fallen asleep while reading some documents that he should have finished earlier, in the corner of the once dark room the shape of a man sitting in a dark and worn by use leather chair made him jump to his feet feeling his heart beating in his throat and making him choke for air.

"You...", Lord Craven swallowed. A large part of the man wanted to convince himself that he was hallucinating, blaming sleep paralysis or something, but when the figure in the armchair moved to his feet and Lord Craven felt his legs tremble, he could not even run, "Did... Did you come to take my soul?"

Lucifer sighed heavily.

"Are you for real now? What is the fixation of you humans with souls? It's not like they're going to be of any use.", the Devil grunted as he adjusted his suit. One's physical form on Earth is different from your form in Hell or even in the Dreaming. There was something about being on Earth that made your physical form denser, perhaps part of the various rules that his Dear Old Daddy created so that this whole universe does not collapse under itself and that does not apply to celestial, hellish and any other planes in between. "No. I don't want your soul, you can have it. I need a favour."

"A... Favour?", the man asked uncertainly, still too scared to be able to fully absorb everything that was happening.

"You see.", the Devil started as he walked around the office until he stumbled upon an ottoman, cursing under his breath, "Where's the bloody switch?", he was looking for the switch to light up the office. "There. Much better.", Lucifer wasn't exactly one of the biggest fans for dramatic entries. Don't get it wrong, he loves to be the centre of attention and have all the eyes on his person, but something cliché like sitting in an armchair in the dark was not like him, he just decided to try it out of curiosity after reading so many descriptions of it in bad fiction books, it seemed like a fun thing to do at least once, even though discussing the terms of a deal in the dark was taxing unless it involved far fewer clothes. "As I was saying, I need a favour. Do it for me and we'll be even.", Lucifer can watch the interest rise in the deep of Craven's eyes and the desire to seize that opportunity with both hands, "I'm thinking of spending time here upstairs. And it came to my knowledge that to be here semi-permanently I need papers proving my existence for you humans as well as others... Assets."

Craven was so relieved that his trembling knees stopped supporting his body and he fell sitting on his chair.

Fake documents, real estate and money. If it were just that, it would be easy to pay that favour.

And he owed his life to Lucifer after what the Devil did for him twenty years ago.

"So, I believe we have an agreement.", he spoke with a smile that looked more like a pale grimace, "What name do you intend to use while you are here?", the idea was to start with an ID and other more basic documents before forging an entire background for him.

"Lucifer Morningstar."

To Hell with subtlety.

AN: I'll start this note apologizing for taking so long to post an update. It has been quite a chaotic time, with a pandemic, college and some personal issues. But I couldn't just give up on this story, I just love those characters too much haha

This time I decide to reply to you guys reviews. Because at the end of the day it was those reviews that motivated me to keep writing a little bit every day.

SummerPhoenix514: Thank you for reading, I have so many more ideas for this story, and I hope you keep reading it until the end!

tabrizia: Sorry for making you wait so much, I'll try to post more frequently, but no promises, the new semester will be starting very soon.

SlytherinQueen86: Haha, thanks! If things go as I want it will be quite the long story, we are now in the "before the TV show starts" and I fully intend on moving to during the TV show as the story progresses.

SnowKi: I hope you have fun with this chapter!

QuietlySeething: Thank you! Morpheus and his family will be appearing a lot more haha And Elaine is just a sweet bean that will drive Lucifer insane.

The-Effulgent-One: Thank you, And I hope I won't disappoint in delivering an interesting story (the pressure, man)

RoseAmeliaSarahNoblePond: Thank you so, so much! I'm not very confident in my writing skills, especially since English isn't even my first language, but it really warms my heart to read your review.