A/M: I guess it's a bit late now but the title of each chapter is the song I listened to while writing it. Most of them are by Imagine Dragons. Additionally, the next few chapters take place in Alaska and I literally have no knowledge of Alaska, so if anyone notices anything off, let me know! Enjoy~

They arrived in Alaska a few hours later. It was late in the day and at least ten degrees colder. Natalie had chosen to wrap up in a scarf as they exited the airport and ordered a ride over to the hotel. They had chosen to stay along the coast, per Natalie's request, and were able to acquire a hotel that had a nice view of the icy waters. Low mountains dotted the horizon to their right from their window.

With Natalie's funds, they had negotiated a suit, instead of staying in two separate rooms. A lavish living area and kitchenette separated their respective rooms. Natalie had felt that this would provide them more convenience to keep in contact and discuss the situation without having to navigate the hotel or worrying about prying ears.

Lucifer stood at the large sliding glass window that looked out onto a wooden patio and the harbor below. The glass radiated the cold of the night as the sun traveled towards the horizon at a quickening pace. His breath fogged up and blurred the scenery as Natalie rolled her suitcase into the suit and towards their shared room.

Felix was sitting on the couch, flipping through the television stations, while Laila changed into more comfortable clothes. It was too late to actually start their search, so they had all agreed to sit tight for the night and rest. Laila had offered to order room service for everyone once they had settled in.

Natalie stepped into the bedroom and took a moment to familiarize herself with the lay out. It was pretty simple, with a queen bed filled to bursting with pillows and a plush comforter, a dresser and two night stands, with a sliding glass door that opened up to the same patio. A small hall led to the closets and bathroom where she found a large claw foot bathtub and a standing shower.

"Nice," she exclaimed and turned back towards the bed to unpack her suitcase. She had brought a few changes of clothes, nothing too fancy, but an assortment of other things had been packed away as well; a book, her laptop, a spiral notebook for notes, a pillow from her own bed, and some make-up and toiletries. As she was sliding the empty suitcase under the bed to avoid clutter, Lucifer stepped in and glanced about, bored.

"I've stayed in better places," he said and dropped onto the bed with a yawn.

"I'm sure you've stayed in many a grand palace," Natalie agreed with a chuckle and took a seat on the bed next to him. "But if this isn't good enough for you, you can always sleep outside," she prodded with a snicker.

Lucifer grunted and rolled away from her, "Even I know this is better than sleeping outside, girl."

Natalie snorted and glanced about the room. The carpet was still relatively plush and was a deep blue in color and the drapes by the window matched. The furniture was dark brown while the walls danced with floral wallpaper. Even she could see that it was horribly decorated, but the bed was comfortable and that's all that really mattered to her. She was certain Lucifer didn't care either way.

Laila knocked on the doorframe as she entered wearing a black tank top and rubber ducky pajama pants. "Did you decide on what you wanted to eat?" she asked while holding onto the menu that could be found littered about the suit.

"Oh," Natalie exclaimed, having forgotten, before she picked up another that was on the night stand. She scanned through the list quickly. "I think pan seared salmon sounds really good," she stated. "Do you want anything, Luce?" she asked and glanced back over her shoulder at the man who had yet to move. His scars were still present, having been too deep for Raphael to heal, and caught the light in such a way that made it hard for her to look away.

"Nah," he grunted and pulled a pillow under his head to get comfortable. "I'm not in the mood," he added.

Natalie shrugged at Laila who gave a thumbs up before returning to the living area to place the order. Felix could be heard grouching about the lack of television channels to choose from.

Lucifer rolled onto his back with a sigh and stared up at the ceiling as Natalie stood to pick out a set of comfortable clothes to wear that night. She shuffled about in the drawer she had put all of her night clothes in before pulling out a grey tanktop and black pajama shorts. She threw them over her arm as she padded into the bathroom to take a quick shower. The flight had left her stiff and the warm water would do her some good.

He watched her go before closing his eyes against the low lamp light in the room. If he listened closely enough, he could just hear the sound of the waves in the harbor, rolling and crashing onto sand. His ears twitched as he listened and he slowed his breathing to match the steady rhythm. The moon shone down on the water, sending dazzling lights throughout the night, to dance with the stars hanging from the velvety black sky.

The waves rushed through his minds eye and their sound reminded him of something else. The wind in his ears as he fell and distant fighting. Battle cries echoed by hundreds of his followers as they charged towards the angels.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this."

Michael's voice was distant, but Lucifer could see him clear as day, standing before him with arms crossed and a frown on his face. He was all righteous anger, but below that, just beneath the surface of the façade he wore, was true anguish. It washed through him as the waves did, ebbing, but constant. His eyes had glistened, in the light of the dying sun, but no tears had fallen. Not that Lucifer had noticed, anyways, he was too busy struggling with his own emotions. Anger, hatred, betrayal. His own concoction of righteous fury that yearned to battle Michael's own.

"If you had learned to use your own brain, for even a second, it wouldn't have had to," he had shot back as fire burned around him and roared to life at his will. Claws had grown from his fingers and fangs had bit through his lip as rage engulfed him.

"If you had just suffered in silence . . ." Micheal whispered as his eyes dropped to the ground. "We could have pretended . . ."

Lucifer had frozen in disbelief. Michael had wished him to pretend? To continue suffering while the others had acted as if nothing was out of the norm. He had wished that he and his followers play along regardless of their feelings and emotions?

How dare he?

"Life is not a game, Michael, you who love humans so much should know that," he roared, just as the fire around him did. "Just because our lives are eternal does not give you the right to play with us!"

Michael stared, wide eyed, before he pulled the hilt from his side and brandished it before him.

Ah, he paused in his recollection, he had seen tears on his face that day. It had been just before he lunged at him with a death cry.

"I really needed that shower."

Natalie's voice pulled him from his memories and he opened his eyes as she reentered the room, toweling her hair dry, and sat back down on the bed. He turned over on his side to watch her as she ran the towel through her hair one last time and dropped it into her lap with a sigh. She glanced back over her shoulder with grin. "Whatchya thinking about there, lover boy?" she teased.

Lucifer snorted and propped his head up on a hand, "the fact that you still owe me for making me clean all those hookahs and that disgusting bathroom the other day."

Natalie chortled and flung the towel over him, "I didn't make you do shit, our contract ended a long time ago, you did that of your own free will."

"Our contract may have ended but you have much control over me, woman, use it wisely," he muttered as he pulled the towel from his face and dropped it to the ground behind him.

Natalie rolled her eyes and flopped back on the bed beside him, heedless of her wet hair, and rolled over to look him in the eyes. "Same," she responded quietly.

Lucifer paused, scanning her face for a moment, before he said, "You've grown."

"You think so?" she asked and glanced down at her breasts.

"Not like that," he scowled at her as she laughed.

"I'm just kidding," she snickered and slapped his shoulder.

He breathed out through his nose and rubbed at his face before dropping his hand back to the bed to smile endearingly at her. "I'm trying to say that you've matured, I can see it," he explained and settled back into the pillow. "You're just as silly as ever but . . . you've grown, emotionally," he struggled to explain as she watched him with curious and consuming eyes. He faltered as her gaze never wavered and he was momentarily lost.

"On that day, Luce, I thought I had just watched you die," she spoke, finally, and watched as her words nearly broke him. He did not express things, rarely reacted to such emotional confessions, but his eyes widened just a fraction and his shoulders tensed. She was all too aware of him and his mannerisms. She had dreamed of them for six years. "And then I was broken," she admitted quietly as tears started to swell, "and I worked to rebuild myself for six years. I tried to stay the same, to be as close to the person that you had loved, but some things change."

She had been fawning over him ever since he had returned to her, he realized, but his selfish ass had never bothered to ask if she was okay. He pushed himself up on the mattress and dropped his head into his hands as the anger and frustration, directed at himself, surged forth and growled. "Fuck!" he spat out through grit teeth. This feeling as was all too familiar. The rage and self loathing reared its head as it never had before.

No. This wasn't about him, he ground his thought process to a halt and turned about to find her pushing herself up. She had been about to reach for him and he grabbed her outstretched hand is his own and pulled her into an embrace

"I'm sorry, kid, I never meant it to happen," he mumbled into her hair and lifted a hand to her back as he felt her shoulders shake. "Nothing like that will ever happen again, there are no more 'End of Days' planned, I just need to find that idiot," he assured her as she hiccupped in his shoulder.

She pushed away from him just enough so that she could grab his jaw, "No more," she ground out and shook his head back and forth.

"Yes, no more," he mumbled and grabbed her wrist to pull her hand away.

"Oh man," she breathed and wiped at her eyes. "It's okay, you're back, and I feel better for having been able to say something. Thank you for listening," she explained with a smile.

Lucifer stared down at her, a bit awed that he had been able to set things right just by pulling his head out of his ass for one second, and nodded. "Thank you for sticking with me, Natalie," he said quietly. In all honesty, if it weren't for her, he didn't know what he would be doing with his life in that moment. Probably would have gone back to causing further mayhem with no goal in mind, no Heaven to defy, just trying to fill his life with something. But she gave him the inspiration to do more.

There was a distant knock on the front door followed by Felix calling out, "Foods here!"

"Yes, I'm starving!" Natalie exclaimed and rolled off the bed and sprung to her feet with a stretch.

Lucifer had decided to join them as they sat about the coffee table to eat. The three who had gotten food sat on the floor, while Lucifer sprawled across the couch with the television remote in hand and flipped through the stations lazily. Casual conversation flowed between the four as the night wore on and they waited for exhaustion to kick in and send them to bed. They were all too excited to fall asleep normally, wanting to find the missing Michael as much as the next, and knew that normal sleep would not come. They planned on staying up till midnight, at the least.

Lucifer had settled on watching a horror movie, knowing that Natalie enjoyed them, but the acting was horrible and he only devoted partial attention to it. Felix watched with his arms behind his head as he leaned back against the couch on the floor, his forgotten fork hanging from his mouth, while Laila seemed to zone completely watching the gore and subpar directing.

Natalie was texting someone, Lucifer noted about half way into the movie. She repeatedly glanced at her phone and picked it up to type out a response. He wanted to know who it was she was texting, as far as he was concerned, everyone she needed to be in contact with was in the room. He watched as she moved, crossing her legs and leaning on the coffee table with phone in hand, before he opened his mouth.

"Who are you texting?" he asked, though he did not mean for his tone to come off as being as accusatory as it was.

Natalie looked back at him, confused at being torn from the movie, before glancing back her phone. "Oh, I was texting Famine," she explained, "I wanted to see if she had an exact area for us to look in. I sent the text out early this morning but she just now got back to me."

Lucifer snorted, "Don't waste your time with her."

Natalie smirked, "Are you jealous?" She teased but shut her mouth when he leveled her with a sardonic stare. "In any case," she continued, "she said to try Angoon. It's an island across the . . .river? I guess." She continued lamely, not quite familiar with the area.

"We'd have to take a ferry over," he muttered with a sigh.

"Yay," Felix drawled in mock enthusiasm, but his eyes never left the TV.

"She also said that her informants were distant friends of yours. . .?" Natalie continued with a questioning look.

"What?" Lucifer said, confusion plain on his face with scrunched brows. He could not recall what she would have meant. Had she meant fellow demons? He hadn't heard of any being in the area. They typically stuck to subtropical regions and highly populated areas where the most havoc could be done. It wasn't impossible, he guessed, but highly unlikely. Regardless, he would investigate during their search.

Later that night, he and Felix stood on the patio, cigarettes lit and glowing in the darkness, while they blew out clouds of smoke and fog in the cold night air. Neither one of them spoke but were comfortable in the silence as they stared down at the harbor. The city was mostly quiet by that time and the girls had gone to bed so that they could wake up at a decent time the next day.

Felix pulled the cigarette from his mouth with a sigh and glanced down at it thoughtfully before shooting a look towards his leader. Lucifer leaned on the railing, the cool breeze ruffling his hair, while he gazed far out into the distance, lost in thought. Felix could not recall ever seeing the fallen so calm and relaxed. It felt like a precious moment, and though he blushed at the thought, he vowed to file the image away.

"She really missed you," he said, breaking the silence moments later, and watched as yellow eyes lowered to the ground far below.

"I know," he responded after another moment of silence. He took his own cigarette from his lips and cracked his neck before bringing it back to take another pull.

"She cried," Felix added, "For a really long time." He looked down at the railing and flicked some dirt away as he continued, "she never even dated or saw anyone. She was just lonely for so long, Laila was really worried for her, and I was too."

Lucifer glanced at him from the corner of his eye and let the cigarette hang between his fingers over the railing as he thought. The old him would have snapped at Felix, questioning why he felt the need to even open his mouth, but he knew better. The new him recognized this for what it was: Felix was venting his own feelings through Natalie.

"I'm not gonna lie," he finally spoke up, "I fully expected to die that day. I didn't intend to, but I knew it was likely since . . ." he trailed off but threw a thumb back in the direction of his missing wings. "I think I did die," he muttered and lifted the hand with the cigarette to scratch at his forehead with a thumb. "But something brought me back . . .I remember everything leaving me. The seals were broken and I felt like everything I was, was being drained away. Then I blacked out, and came to miles away with no memory . . ." he shrugged and pulled from the cigarette in thought. "But her voice was in my head, telling me what to do and where to go, until everything started coming back to me, bit by bit, and I managed to find my way home."

Felix hung his arms over the railing, looking down at the parking lot of the hotel, while he listened to Lucifer's tale. He hummed in thought.

"Things have changed now, Festus, I'm not the same as I once was," he muttered. "My goals have changed, and if you want to leave because of that, it would be understandable."

Felix tapped a foot against the wood of the patio floor in thought. "It's only natural," he answered finally, "that things would change. The entire playing field was leveled. We're all on the ground now, all trying to figure out what to do with ourselves . . ." he let out a sigh and ground his cigarette out on the railing. "I will not leave you, Master," he finished.

Lucifer chuckled and took one last pull from his own cigarette before flicking out over the railing and stretching his arms back behind his head. "Good, I need all the help I can get," he said and ruffled Felix's hair before reentering the hotel room through the sliding glass door.

Felix remained, and lifted a hand to his head with a slight blush.