AN: Big baller shout out to NoilyPrat for her(her?) enthusiasm and grammatical fixerupers. This chapter was written with the excitement she and my other dedicated and lovely and beautiful reviewers gave me! (Although I'm sorry to my Crowley supporters, this chapter feels like a betrayal.)

Chapter 36

Gilgash shifted, his head tilted back, teeth bared up at Crowley. Crowley snarled back, his hand was twisted in Gilgash's hair, wrenching his head back, a wide bladed knife pressing at his throat.

Crowley leered at him, "She tore the pages out of the journal for a reason, you greasy haired mongrel, why?" he pressed the knife until it bit into his flesh.

Gilgash laughed tightly, restrained by the knife, "Hades," he said softly, almost sweetly, "Did you ever think she had a very good reason for keeping this from you?"

Crowley dragged the knife up Gilgash's neck, leaving a line of red that dripped down onto his clavicle. Crowley sneered at him, "If you think I care whatever idiotic. grovelling." he snarled through bared teeth, punctuating each word by sliding the knife higher across Gilgash's jaw and cheek, "bootlicking. Reason you came up with that she would -"

Gilgash cut him off with a harsh bark, "Oh, Hades," he crooned, tilting his head and driving the knife deeper into his flesh, "You found her when she was young and you sank your claws into her when she was wounded and she loved you." He smiled serenely up at Crowley and laughter sparkled in his, "If you want the story. I'll tell you the story."

XXXXX

Gilgash's Story

The first wave of assault was led forward by Lucifer, as I had said before. They were held back, at least in the initial wave by our intrepid archers and the wailing of the dead youths. As they attacked in two waves, we were of a sufficient strength to resist them. Soon, however, and tethered to the ground I could only watch, the mighty Michael, regained unity. We could see his attack of Lucifer, striking the younger commander across the helmet and seizing his standard from him. The command of the Lucifer's battalion was given to another angel. After this, we did not see Lucifer until the end of the assault.

Their next attack came as one under the merciless command of Michael, unending angels swooping up across the battlements. We did not have enough arrows to loose. The wall was overwhelmed.

But we were not yet lost. As I said before, we on the ground were bedecked with spears attached to long cables. It was with these that we let fly on the angels as they mounted the walls. They gorged into the angels and we heaved against them, tugging them down. When they were low enough to the ground hounds leapt up and bit at them.

It was clear that the angels were not prepared for this caliber of retaliation and they broke ranks. Our high guard pressed forward and tugged angels to the ground in droves. My spear bit into the wing of the female with the dark red hair and I pulled her from the sky, I lurched out at her with my sword. Unwilling to give up, she slashed at me with her silvery blade, ripping the spear from her ruined wing. I darted forward and crashed against her, knocking her to the ground. She rolled, keeping me beneath her. When she came up above me, she disengaged and leapt back, recovering to her feet. I leapt after her, exhilarated. I swung low and as she bent to block my assault twisted back up and wrenched the helmet from her head, attempting to leave more of her exposed for attack.

Her hair tumbled from its restraints and glowed in Hell's heat. She was panting, blood trickling down her lips. She lunged for me, her teeth bared. It was like dancing. There were not many who could match me, even the Queen, unaided by the magic of Hell was not my equal. But the angel pressed me harder than any in memory.

I laughed as she danced forward, knife leading. I twirled around her, cutting the tips from wing feathers before she had faced me again. She caught me in her next attack, directly under the chin, scraping my helmet back. I pushed it off of myself, hurrying to keep it from obstructing my vision. Her blade point had torn open a gash along the side of my face that dripped blood and stung. I smiled at her.

"Shall we be acquainted before I kill you?"

She laughed back at me for that. A harsh and out of breath laugh, "Before I capture you, I think you meant."

"Do you fight every man like this?"

She lunged at me again and I barely dissuaded her blade, "No," she barked, "They usually die faster."

I laughed and smiled, nicking her shoulder across the armor, "You're welcome, then, angel."

"Anna." She said, driving me back.

"Gilgash."

XXXXX

Crowley backhanded him, blood pooling under his skin on his jaw. Crowley wrenched his face up by the jaw, scowling, "I don't care about you flirting with the pretty angel. Tell. me. about. PERSEPHONE!"

Gilgash sneered, "My Lady would have loved to hear about my heated battle with the angel Anna who could fight as well as I."

Crowley bent and barked in his face, "I am not your Lady Persephone."

Gilgash laughed, "You most certainly are not."

Crowley cut him again and he slowly licked the blood of his lips, "Alright, mighty King, I will continue after the fight with her."

XXXXX

Gilgash's Story

To a one, we fought hard. We were valiant. We were brave. We were a people taken from every corner of the Earth and given new breath and determined to protect it and the queen who gave it to us. But they were handcrafted by a conniving god. They were designed to attack. We were a people. They were soldiers. And we were losing.

The angels swept down and took us in their arms, lifting we struggling spirits in their unforgiving limbs.

We had fought Zeus who was too fierce to take captives, and we had fought Hellions who were too hungry to leave any alive. The angels came to leave us alive and snatch us away. They were not undamaged, our spears and hounds spilt much blood upon the ground. But they kept coming and we could not resist them.

The Lady Persephone was persistent. She had not given up. She had such command. Hell itself was a weapon. As they had never before, her flowers shot forth on tendrils and wrapped about the ankles of angels bearing them down into our spears and the maw of her snapping hound. But still they came.

Their wings were everywhere. We could not retreat. We could barely see. We were entirely overwhelmed.

The high guard fell back into a defensible circle, our spears raised against them.

I shouted to my soldiers, "Stand firm. Do not break rank." My fellows tightened at my shoulders, spears dancing above us, fending them off. I could see the Hellions in them. Shorter claws, fewer teeth. But their eyes were the same. I was afraid.

There was a shriek beside me. An animal's roar. The entire circle broke as he ran. Achilles, the First Among the Greeks, tore across the battle ground. His eyes alight in fury. Patroclus hung in the air, pulled back in and angel's arms. Achilles spun passed an oncoming angel and dragged it down, he vaulted from its back and he leapt. He was sight, hair golden, muscles lean. And his arm reaching toward Patroclus, whose fingers longed to take hold of him.

The high guard watched Achilles, brave Achilles. Achilles finest of all Greeks, fall. Patroclus was pulled away and his fingers did not so much as brush. He yelled as though he was watching the world end. And I suppose he was.

Of all things, this broke our resolve. Our circle broke and we fled in all directions, our discipline lost. I looked about myself, my companions being born away, blood of angels and spirits covering the ground. In all of the madness there was a single place of calm. And I shook to behold it.

My lady Persephone stood less than a foot from the angel Lucifer, her hand clutching his forearm, her eyes alight. He was leaning forward, a frightening smile stretching over his teeth. She was speaking fast. His angular face nearly touching hers.

I abandoned my spear, the enemy too close for its use and drew instead my sword, hacking apart wings as I fought toward her.

Lucifer had removed his helmet to speak to her

Lucifer was not as you saw him, old and crazed in a body that did not suit him. In his original incarnation he was so beautiful. It was almost difficult to look upon him, as though he radiated. A lean and angular face, with high sharp cheekbones and pale, straight hair he had tied behind his head. He had the eyes of a predator.

Frost grew upon the ground beneath them and his eyes swept over her like a gift he had not expected.

I fought my way to them, fearful of my Queen so close to the enemy. And enemy I feared far more than Michael.

She was speaking, I could hear her as I neared, "Are you going to let Michael take it all, Lucifer? Will you lie down and allow him another victory? Seize me and carry me to heaven where you will be forgotten in his glory?"

Lucifer did not answer but looked at her hungrily.

She licked her lips. The way she stood and held his arms, the set of her lips and color in her cheeks, even covered in armor that hid her, splattered with mud and smeared with blood, it was impossible to forget that she was a woman and a queen.

She continued, "Take it first, Lucifer," she lingered over his name, letting it melt across her lips, "Keep these souls for yourself. Do you see the opportunity you squander by letting Michael do as he is? You are a soldier in heaven, the second son, your wings clipped and desires quelled. You could be a king."

"Why are you not speaking to Michael?" He asked, even his voice rang like low sweet bells.

She laughed and put her hand on his chest, her breath coming hard, "You think Michael would have the strength? He is too devoted to your foolish father. If he did not have orders do you think he could? Do you?"

Lucifer gripped her, "No." he breathed harshly.

She smiled and even from the edge of hearing range I saw that she had power in that smile. His gaze lingered on her lips and he seemed to have forgotten a battle raged around him. "You are strong enough, Lucifer." He leaned forward as she crooned his name. "You do not need orders and commands. You can take what you want. Take all of it. Rule Hell by my side."

One of his pale eyebrows arched but still he moved closer to her, he arm wrapped around her back, his voice was breathy, "You have a king."

She laughed and her gaze lingered on his lips, "I have a liability. What I need is someone strong. A warrior. A leader. You."

I was close enough that I might have intervened but I did not, I waited, hoping my Queen had a plan in mind and not even worse taste in companionship that I had thought.

She brushed blonde hair from his face, her fingers lingering against his cheek, he breath caught and he jumped, as though he was unused to being touched.

She spoke in a much softer, less desperate voice, "Make an oath, Lucifer, take Hell from Michael, rule beside me as equal companions, leave behind your secondary command of an army that does not care for you, take up the mantle of king. Lucifer," she said so softly I could almost not hear, and she widened her eyes at him, "Lucifer, be my king."

Both of his hands were on her armored hips now and his breath was labored, looking down at her, nearly trembling. Color was blooming across his cheeks, "Yes," he breathed, "Yes. Yes."

She brushed her thumb across his lips and his breath caught, he seized her hand and she looked into his eyes, "That is not how we of Hell seal oaths."

"How?" he asked, his voice almost trembling.

Slowly, she leaned upward and touched her lips against his. He let go of her hand and stood rigidly hands frozen on either side of her, not touching her. She hooked her fingers into his armor and pulled him against her, kissing him with more force.

Suddenly and viciously he returned to himself and seized her around the middle, lifting her and pulling her close to him. It occurred to me that I wasn't sure if angels kissed one another and that this was why the great commander Lucifer had seemed nearly timid.

She kissed him thoroughly and dragged her fingers through his hair, which made him whine. He held her desperately, setting her down to touch her hair and face with gentle fingers.

She broke away and gave him a predatory smile. He returned it and, for a moment they looked like a matched set.

And then he turned and shouted to his angels. I did not, at first, see how they responded, my queen was rushing to my side and whispering to me, her face alight, and far more like her than she had just seemed, "Gil," she hissed, "Go to the palace and find Hades. Tell him to take Cerberus and run, take to the wilds, go to Earth. Make him flee." She loosed the Hellion's blade from her spear and handed it to me, "Give him this, make sure he takes the knife."

"My lady?"

"Protect the blades at all cost, Gilgash!" she barked, "And do you believe that Lucifer will let him live?"

"After that? No, not a chance."

"So please, Gil, find him and save him."

I scoffed, "Let him die, my Queen, I beg of you. You can rule much better without him."

She looked at me and I could see how hard she was working to fight the tormentors that never left her and she said to me, letting pain creep into her voice, "I need him, Gil. Please. Please help him. I am asking you. Please. As a friend."

That did me in. I saluted her and turned away, pressing my way to the palace. In the sky above me angels were fighting each other, the high guard no longer sure who to attack.

I slipped into the palace and raced through the deserted corridors. You were on a high balcony overlooking the battle. You were organizing messages and information. You never were one to join a fight. You snarled at me and seized my by the armor, "What is she doing? What deal did she make with that snake?"

I pressed the blade into your hand, "She wants you to run. She told him she would rule by his side if he fought for her. She wanted you to flee with the blades into the wilds then onto the Earth."

"You think I'm going to run?"

I smiled at you and let the ire I had felt for you since your betrayal of the queen show through, "Oh, my king, please don't. Fight Lucifer and be torn apart. I relish the entertainment."

You pressed the spear blade I had given you into my throat and your chest heaved. I laughed at you and smiled, "Did you see them down there? You and she have not had so much fire in centuries."

Outside of the palace the fighting was dying down. Michael's angels were retreating, unsure if they should be fighting their own. Michael was screaming at them to press on, and roaring curses at Lucifer. In years future, they angels would have no problem murdering one another, but this was a different time. They had never been asked that before. Lucifer's betrayal drove them back and they were unwilling to fight.

You let me drop, looking fearfully down at the new King of Hell. And with a final sneer at me, you fled, tucking the blade into your belt. It was the last I saw of you for a very long time.

When I had returned to the field, Michael was addressing Lucifer, who stood on Hell's gate. "Brother!" he thundered, "You will pay for this betrayal. I will return and we will set this land ablaze. I will lock you in a prison for all of time for this!"

But the angels were retreating, and, with a new and terrible king at our helm, hell was, for the moment, safe.

I don't know where you went, but you were unfindable. And, alongside the angels we had been fighting, we marched back to the palace to repair our wounded. Lucifer walked alongside Persephone, his wing curling about her. He shook almost, but the predatory smile had not left, still baring his straight, sharp teeth.

She took him through the palace into the throne room I crept in behind them and lurked, not trusting him alone with my queen.

She touched the throne that had been Hades' and pulled from it a long tendril of Hell stone. It wrapped itself into a circlet and transformed in her hands into a dark and heavy crown. She reached up, he was so tall, and placed it on his soft hair. His eyes were alight, on her.

She let her fingers trail down his cheek as she lowered her hands and said softly to him, "Long live the King of the Dead, Lucifer," again lingering over the syllables of his name.

He reached up and touched the crown, straightening it and running his fingers across it. He looked down at her, his pale eyes glimmering.

She brushed her hair back and tenderly reached out to the clasps of his armor and she peeled it off of him, laying it gently on the ground. He tilted his head and mimicked her action, disengaging the clasps of her armaments and letting them drop. When they were unprotected, she put her hand against his chest and he felt down her sides with his fingers, a small and curious frown creasing his lovely face.

She let her fingers caress his stomach and he shuddered, "Why did you give me a crown? Why did you betray Hades?" It was said in a rush, as though he was afraid.

She looked at him, "Did you see Hades? He cowered in the palace. He fled before the battle was over. You charged at the head of your troops. You came with fire and malice and strength. This is a lonesome job. I want a companion. Hell needs a strong king. Do you not think that I saw your strength before the battle even commenced? I knew you were destined for this crown. You were wasted as a lackey of Michael's, you were born to rule." As she spoke her hands ran over his chest and down his bare arms, pale with well defined muscles. Her gaze travelled from his warrior's arms to his broad and strong chest to his elegant, chiselled face.

He seemed nearly overwhelmed with the contact, his body twitching under her caress, "Persephone?" he breathed, his voice breaking.

"Lucifer?" she nearly moaned, finally looking him in the eyes.

"Kiss me again."

She did. And this time he clung to her, his hands touching everywhere they could reach. Her hands reached up his shirt and I could see her scrape her nails down his sides. He broke away from her and called out. She was backing him against a pillar.

His hair was coming out of its tie, and his voice shook when he spoke, sounding much less like a mighty king than he had on the battlefield, "Michael said this...this is a human's distraction."

She dragged her fingernails along the skin above the waist of his pants and pushed him softly against the pillar. "You are a king, Lucifer. It doesn't matter what Michael thinks of what you do. You have no orders to follow. What do you want?"

She stilled and waited. He looked down his thin nose at her and his fingers trailed from her clavicle, down over the swell of her chest and onto her muscular stomach. He raised one of his hands to her face and held it against her cheek, his thumb running along her bottom lip.

"I didn't -" he started, "You are so soft."

Her hands trailed over him, the thin pants he had been wearing beneath her armor hardly restricting her. His entire body lurched and involuntarily, he shouted.

"I want-" he started, his voice was pleading "I want you to continue. Keep making my body feel like this. Persephone."

She kissed him and he gripped her, she pulled back and smiled, "Let me give you a gift, King Lucifer." She began to descend to her knees and I left the throne room, to guard them from outside the door.

AN: Ok, I confess, I decided to elaborate Gilgash's story a lil more than was in the original plan. But I sort of love Young Lucifer. So I hope you liked it.

If anyone is interested, the full scene of Bobby and Young!Lucifer's tryst is now the fourth chapter in my sister story: During the Course of Ruling Hell - Go Along Porn Activity Book. I can't put in a link on this site, but if you go to my page it is there! Have fun!

P.S. How much do you think Crowley liked hearing that story?!