Later that night they found themselves back at the hookah bar. As it was Sunday, business was a bit slower than usual, so Natalie did not have to do much work. Between Nathan manning the bar, Felix running Hookahs with Laila, and Chellel working the kitchen she had the opportunity to sit with him back on her favorite couch. She had set him up with his own hookah and he had to admit, he rather enjoyed it.
"This is a lot better than the ones they used back in the day," he mused after a few moment of amusing himself with blowing smoke rings and annoying her with clouds in her face.
"Oh yeah?" Natalie questioned and pulled from her own thoughtfully. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, noting the way he had sprawled out across the couch and rested an arm behind her head, it felt right.
"Those were good times," he added and sighed.
"Were they?" Natalie shot back with a raised brow.
"Yes?" he scowled at her but as her expression remained unchanged, he thought again, and looked away. "No, not really, actually," he corrected quietly. Between the fall and when he met her, it was a rush of darkness. Angst and spilled blood, screams, and drowning himself in drugs and alcohol to forget who he was. Did he have fun in the moment? Sometimes. But he regretted everything.
"That's okay," she said quietly with a kind smile. "You are who you are, I just don't want you to feel the need to put on an act for me any longer," she assured him and patted his knee comfortingly. He gave her a kind and tired smile in return.
The moment was broken, however, as Festus himself dropped into the chair next to the couch with a groan. Despite the lack of heaven and hell, demons were still demons and angels were still angels, and they had chosen to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Festus remained as Felix when in public. The purple long sleeved shirt he wore had acquired a few new scorch marks from burning coals that day, Natalie noted with a chortle, but refrained from commenting as the demon stretched in the chair like a lazy cat.
"I never thought I would get a job and feel so worn down after only a few hours of work," he grumbled and ran a hand through his hair.
"Same," Natalie drawled and laughed when he shot her a glower.
"Well, I've been around for a few years more than you and managed to make it without ever really working before," he muttered and crossed his arms.
"So you're a bum?" Natalie questioned mockingly.
While the two went back and forth, Lucifer sat with a bland expression on his face, and pulled from his hookah. The smoke he dispelled was black as ink and blocked either Natalie or Festus from seeing the other. Light flickered from within the cloud, like lightning, before it slowly dispersed.
The two were left to stare in stunned amazement before Festus snorted and fell back into the seat, "Show off," he muttered.
"So cool!" Natalie exclaimed. "How come you didn't do that trick earlier?"
"I couldn't be a show off if it was just you," he deadpanned and smirked when Festus flinched.
"Leader," Festus called suddenly, leaning forward in his seat in a conspiring manner, "What are we doing now?" he asked imploringly. He had been going along with Laila in an effort to have some sort of direction for his life, but he had begun to worry that the longer and longer things remained as they were, the rest of his life would be spent working in the Hookah Bar. And while Laila was an amazing friend and ally, she was no Anthea, and he knew she would one day grow old and pass as all humans did.
Lucifer stared at him with a rather blasé expression, but behind the blank look, he was truly wondering what to say to the little hellion. There were things he had been considering since his return; Michael and his whereabouts, Natalie's existence, the tattoos that had not yet left his flesh, and . . . where their father had gone to. But he knew that was not what Festus was after. Festus worshiped him and all that he stood for, all that he had stood for, and he wanted to see Lucifer in charge. How could he tell him that there was no plan? There was nothing else to be done?
Lucifer clenched his fist, resting along the arm of the couch, and blew out another cloud of inky black smoke that fell and dispersed over them. He was faced with an internal decision, brought into existence by Festus' question, and he wanted to consider the outcomes carefully before opening his mouth. Should he continue to treat his followers as followers and work to build something in the new world, or allow them to finally live for themselves and make their own lives? In the long run, what he would build would not be what he had once dreamed of and would allow demons to live as they wanted regardless. But some of them, some of them were too far gone, he knew. Festus had remained loyal, and in a way, still an angel at heart. But Satan himself had murdered, cheated, and corrupted humans for centuries. As an archangel, he had been able to control himself to an extent while struggling with Hell itself internally. Some of the lesser fallen, he had seen, were not so lucky. They had been lost to the bloodlust. To the greed and madness of humanity, their souls of light forever tainted, and left to go berserk. He had dispatched a handful of them as his reign as Satan but he had never really put in effort to search them out. What to do of them? He was certain hundreds of them still roamed the Earth, killing and taking joy in the destruction of humans. Would it not be his responsibility to subdue them?
Natalie leaned forward at his prolonged silence and tried to catch his eye in concern.
It worked, his piercing gaze turned to her and they shared a moment in silence. She imploring and him searching. What should he do? He seemed to ask her with his eyes alone and she bit her lip in thought. The world was new to them all now, the borders that had kept them all in check destroyed, and the balance all thrown off. Something needed to be done, he concluded, as demons and angels could not simply exist as humans did. Not when there were demons who were too far gone to save.
He glanced back down at the seals, running their length across his arms, and heaved a heavy sigh filled with smoke and frustration. If Natalie was responsible for humanity then should he not step up to care for his brothers and sisters? He was not certain, but he now had a feeling that the tattoos had remained for a reason, and there was only one way to find out.
Lucifer dropped his head onto his fist and finally leveled Festus with a begrudging smirk, equally filled with assurance for having a purpose, and despair for still needing to do more to clean up his mess. "We find Father, and set things straight," he said simply.
Festus stared in awe. He worshiped the fallen angel before him, as he always had, but now . . .now things were different. They had fallen at his command, had brought Heaven and Hell to their knees at his command, and now, now he wanted to pull the strings to set things right. And they would follow at his command. What they would build, Festus was uncertain, but he would follow his brother to the end of time to make sure it was built.
He saw Lucifer then as he never had before. Yellow eyes caught him within their gaze and seemed to blaze through the smoky room unchallenged. His heart pounded in his chest and his palms grew sweaty in a mixture of fear and excitement. Was he attempting to rebuild the world as he saw fit in place of their now absent father? There was no man sitting there before him but a king of demons, adorned in a cloak of darkness and shinning jewels, horns and eyes blazing the darkness daring anyone to challenge him.
"Michael?" Festus questioned with a blush for having allowed his mind to wander.
"In time, I'm sure he will show," Lucifer appeased him with a wave of his hand and turned to look at Natalie again. He scanned her confused and questioning face before allowing his eyes to wander the room. Where should he begin? "First, get word to everyone who hasn't heard yet that I have returned. I'm sure the news will reach Michael soon enough. I need to talk to him, I have an idea that he may be able to help me with . . ." he trailed off in thought but returned to gaze to his follower with a quirk of a brow, "Why are you still here?"
Festus jumped to attention and stood, "My apologies, I'll get started on it now!"
As the demon disappeared through the shadows to spread word of their master's return and possible plans in the making, Natalie reached for Lucifer's hand and pulled his attention to her. "What are you doing?" she asked pleadingly.
"Nothing you wouldn't approve of," he assured her.
Natalie hummed, unconvinced, but leaned back into the couch. "I feel like this is all happening too fast," she drawled with a sigh and pulled from her own hookah thoughtfully,
Lucifer crossed his arms and dropped his eyes to the ground, contemplating her statement and the plan he had just put into action. "Them's the breaks," he grouched and leaned over onto the arm of the couch.
"I'm sure everything will work out, I mean, we made it through the apocalypse, am I right?" she elbowed him with a chuckle.
Lucifer smirked over at her and ruffled her hair, heedless of her whines, and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table. The sounds of a gun fight were playing over the sound system while every television in the room played the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones was maneuvering around a plane fighting off a group of Nazis while the two sat in casual silence.
"I see you've managed to crawl your way back."
Lucifer froze, not from surprise or fear, no, this was from pure rage. It roared to life as soon as the first word had slithered into his ear and he recognized the voice. His anger was evident as the can of coke he had been holding was crumpled and the soda spilled out to fizz on the floor. Luckily, the rug had been removed so the mess would be easy enough clean up.
A tall figure in black slid from around the couch and claimed the seat Felix had vacated moments before with a plop. Death himself leaned into the seat and threw his arms along the back with a pleased sigh. He had always enjoyed angering the Devil. He gleefully awaited the day he could collect his soul, but, he had to admit, now that Hell was no more the idea was a little less appealing. But, to be the one to collect Lucifer's soul would be lovely though, with the new system, he doubted he would even need to make the effort.
"Death!" Natalie greeted cheerily and waived at the man who had chosen to appear as human, though he still wore a long black coat over a white button up shirt and jeans.
"How are you, love?" Death returned the greeting with a mocking smile. Mocking, because he knew that in his peripherals, Satan was seething.
"I'm good! Luce finally came back to us!" she exclaimed and latched onto said man's arm with a grin.
"I noticed," Death said with some vexation. "It must have been hard without your wings, really, I have no idea how you even managed to stand against Michael in that final battle. I can understand why it took you so long to return."
There was silence.
While the movie continued to play in the background and the casual chatter of the other guests was not affected, the two sitting on the couch across from death had both frozen, and Death felt that he had made a blunder immediately. A few reasons had brought him to this conclusion, chief among them, to discuss such a topic with the one who had lost said wings was beyond rude. But Lucifer had always brought out the worst in him and it was to be expected of him. The two had never held punches when it came to their banter as their hatred for each other was openly known and made apparent by the constant death threats that they slipped into conversation. However, he did not consider, that the fallen had never told the girl that he had sold his wings for her life. He had given up all that he could for her and her alone. To tell her that would have only broken her heart.
"What?" Natalie questioned quietly, stunned, with a dazed expression.
"You fuck," Lucifer growled and threw the crumpled can at the man.
Death dodged the projectile before leaning back into the seat, eyes cast down to his knees, and bit his lip. It was an awkward predicament he had just put himself in, he realized, as he sighed and rubbed at his face. He could not meet Natalie's eyes.
"What is he talking about?" Natalie turned to Lucifer to ask.
Death pushed himself to his feet and pulled a glass orb from his belt, hanging there by a rope, and set it on the coffee table between the two hookahs silently. From within the black glass, sparks of light flitted about, ignorant of the tense atmosphere outside.
"My apologies," he muttered, "I overstepped." The 'even for us' was silent.
Lucifer stared passed the man, his jaw tight, and a scowl marring his face. While he gripped the fabric of the arm of the couch so tightly his knuckles turned white, his leg bounced in restrained rage. He was struggling not to beat Death as close to a fatal sleep as possible in that very moment.
"Leave," he ordered in an even but dark tone. It sent shivers down Death's spine and he nodded once before making to move around the coffee table.
"No. Stay," Natalie belayed Lucifer's command with a lifted hand.
Death sat back down. Really, when Satan told you to leave his presence, visibly restraining himself from punching your lights out, you did your best to leave as quickly as possible. But when the woman he loved who had recently taken on the role of 'Mother' of all those living on Earth, commanded you stay, there was not much else to be done. And so he sat, fingers drumming out a nervous beat against his knees, waiting for the ax to fall.
Natalie had not looked away from Lucifer but he had yet to return her gaze. "What does he mean about your wings?" she questioned again and reached for his hand that had balled itself into a fist on his leg.
"It doesn't matter anymore," he muttered, "Heaven is no more. I had no need of them any longer as I never planned on returning." He would not admit it to anyone, but in that moment, despite his anger and angst, he had the good humor to notice how damn terrifying she could be. Sure, he had bullied Death into leaving after the man realized he had fucked up incredibly and wanted to bow out. But Natalie had just commanded he stay and he had had no choice but to obey. In the back of his mind, he schemed on how to use this to his advantage, as old habits always died hard.
Death did not look at either of them as the spoke, and tried to to listen, really, he did, but how had nothing but Respect for Lucifer in that moment. The man truly loved the woman sitting next to him and had given up all that he had for her. Death recalled, even as he swung the scythe that severed his wings from his back, he had had a moment of regret himself. They had been enemies for thousands of years and at the removal of the wings that signified his status, he realized, Satan was no more. He was just a normal demon now. Death had kicked his one true enemy while he was down and it had been the deciding blow. It was hardly satisfying.
Natalie bit her lip and rubbed the back of his hand in an effort to coax him to respond. "When did you lose them?" she continued quietly.
Lucifer dropped his eyes to the coffee table and let out a long breath through his nose, his jaw still tense, and cursed. "Leave it be, woman," he warned her but his fist unclenched and he entwined his fingers with hers to physically reassure her that his tone was not meant to push her away.
Natalie smiled sadly, "It's alright, I know you've been through so much since we met, I just want to make sure everything is okay."
"Everything will be," he assured her as his shoulders slumped forward, relaxed after the tension, and the anger was doused by her comforting presence. He could never tell her, it would break her heart, that he had chosen to forsake the chance of him ever returning to Heaven for her life. He was glad she had agreed to drop the subject and he hoped she would forget it all together, but her knew her, and he was certain she would work it out of him eventually. It wouldn't matter to her that heaven was no more, because at that time it had still been there, just out of his reach.
It will be? Death questioned internally and wondered what it was Lucifer was planning. He lifted his gaze to the nearest television in an effort to distance himself from the two.
Natalie nodded and turned towards the glass orb wrapped in rope and lifted if for inspection. There were so few souls compared to the last batch, she noted, and turned it about in her hands to watch the small specks of light flit about sporadically. Death must have been lonely, she thought with a giggle, since his last visit had only been two days ago. He had offered the souls up as an excuse to visit. She understood though, his job could get rather depressing, and he often visited the Hookah Bar to absorb the lively atmosphere. She found that, without the presence of Lucifer, he was a rather intelligent person. He was a true old fashioned romantic with the wit and cynicism of her generation and the combination worked well for him.
"There are so few," she commented with a knowing smile and glanced at the man from the corner of her eye.
Death rubbed at his head awkwardly and let out a nervous laugh, "I know, I'm pitiful, I just like this place a lot."
"You don't need an excuse to visit us, Death, you are always welcome," Natalie assured him evenly.
"I appreciate it," Death mumbled, a bit shamefaced. He felt guilty knowing that she felt the need to comfort him when he had just caused such a scene between her and Lucifer.
Lucifer watched from the corner of his eye as she uncorked the glass globe and tipped it over into her hand. The balls of light spilled out like marbles, bouncing and quivering as they did, and slowly disappeared within the flesh of her palm.
"Do you have to do that every time?" he asked curiously. He looked about the room then, curious if anyone was watching the event, but was relieved to find that their little corner was very much out of the way. Someone would have to make an effort to look back at them directly due to the placement of the TV's and bar.
"No," she answered distractedly as she watched the last soul disappear. "The souls that Death brings me are special," she mumbled and turned to face him. She pulled her feet up onto the couch after kicking her flats off and looked him straight on with another sad smile.
Lucifer was beginning to notice that she wore them often those days. "Special how?" he queried. From the corner of his eye he noticed Death dropped his head into his hand, covering his mouth as a sort of blush worked its way to his face.
Natalie wiped at her eyes as small tears threatened to fall, "He brings me the ones that are too young to know how to get back home on their own."
Lucifer's eyes widened and he did not know how to respond to her statement. Such a thing had never occurred to him. Angels had always been the ones to attend to the children, to bring them to Heaven, while Death had dealt with those who were old enough to understand their own mortality. But, Natalie was just one person, and Death was just one person, they would not be able to complete the task on their own. So the souls who understood would return to her naturally? While the children had to be led to her by Death.
He pulled her into his arms, deciding on action over words, and rested his chin atop her head. Natalie wrapped her arms around his chest and allowed herself a moment to breath in his smell and feel the comfort of his arms around her once more before pulling away with a huff and another smile.
"It's okay though, everyone gets another go at life now, always," she stated confidently and puffed out her chest with pride. "I make sure of it."
"I bet you do," he said with a snort at her miniature display of bravado. "You're a walking recycling plant, that's what you are," he teased with a smirk and watched as she perked up with a laugh.
"I guess you could say that," she agreed with a snort.
"I see you've grown soft, Death," Lucifer observed with a derisive chortle.
"Like you're one to talk," he shot back irritably and turned his face away.
"Oh? Lucifer hummed mischievously.
"Anyways, Death, I wanted you to stay because you still owe Laila a selfie," Natalie interrupted after the two had bantered for a bit longer.
Death blinked before rolling his eyes and pushing himself to his feet. Laila loved Death, almost as much as she had loved Lucifer when she first heard of him, and had asked for a photo some time ago. Death, however, was generally busy and had been using it as an excuse to get out of taking the photo with her. No longer, though, as Natalie and made it clear he was obligated to comply.
Once Death had left them, she turned to Lucifer with a sigh,"How about we go home for the night? I'm feeling kind of tired and we have to come back early tomorrow to deep clean the kitchens and bathrooms."
" . . .we?" Lucifer questioned with a frown marring his face.
"Yep!" she responded.
Lucifer rubbed at his face before he growled and pushed himself off the couch. "Fine," he muttered and pushed her along towards the door, "but you will owe me something in return."
"Like what?" she shot back as she waved her goodbye to Laila. The goth was happily taking a selfie with a begrudging Death. She really owed that girl a present or a cake or something, she had been so understanding with Lucifer's return. Death's photo didn't seem to be enough payment.
"I'll think of something later," he grouched as she laughed on their way out.
