Chapter 38

From the Diary of Persephone

I woke up this morning coiled with Lucifer in our golden bed. I looked at him blearily. He was only wearing the loose white pants that he regularly slept in his hair was a little matted in the back, his wings were ruffled like they got when he slept on them funny.

He opened a pale eye slowly, "Morning, Sun in my Skies."

I smiled and started to sit up, but he batted me back toward him with a wing and wrapped his arms around me, "You think you can abandon the King of Hell so -" a long yawn punctuated his morning greeting, "easily?"

I twisted in his embrace so I was facing him and peppered kisses along his jaw. I ran my fingers gently over his ribs. He jumped and his wings fluttered, letting out a surprised giggle.

I laughed, and looked at him predatorily, "Is the mighty King of the Dead, Lord Beneath the Earth, Bravest Among Angels, ticklish?"

He wriggled away from me, "Is this something you want to start?"

I assaulted his ribs and he shrieked in laughter, writhing under my fingers. Dexterously he flipped me onto my back and shoved my hands above my head. I was laughing so hard at how adorable he had looked giggling at being tickled that I didn't put up much of a fight.

He looked down at me with mock seriousness, "I can only hope for your own sake that you are immune to retribution."

I gave him a look of false terror, "Oh, please, Lord of Hell, the great and powerful, please, I ask only for mercy!"

A spark in his eyes he leapt back and I thought for a moment I could make an escape, but he seized me by my legs and held them firmly so my feet stuck out in his lap.

"NO!" I shrieked, "Mercy!"

He laughed with playful darkness, "She asks for mercy from me! Do you know to whom you speak?" Then he attacked, tickling the bottoms of my feet. I thrashed, squealing in delight. I had not been tickled since I had been a tiny child. He needed both of his hands to continue so I sat up and danced my fingers over the tips of his wings.

He let out a surprised laugh and flitted them away from me, renewing his assault on my feet.

Unable to free myself I reached behind me and wrapped my fingers around the corner of a pillow. I swung it at him and hit him in the face with a soft thud.

He loosened his grip on my feet, startled, and I seized my chance, leaping up on the bed, bearing the pillow like a weapon.

He rolled expertly away from my next swing and came up with a pillow of his own.

With me on the bed and him on the ground I actually had height on him and cackled victoriously, "Thus ends the reign of the Winged Warrior!" I swung at him but he ducked. He spread his wings impressively and snarled in a playful, singsong voice, "You think you can destroy the Winged Warrior with feathers! They would never betray me!"

I leapt at him, intending to knock him to the ground, but he caught me in his arms, smiling softly at me, "Really?" he said, holding me snugly against his chest and dropping his own pillow. "What was your plan?"

I laughed up at him, "I was going to knock you to the ground."

He lifted me off of his chest and into the air, nearly above his head, I squealed. "That was your plan? You weigh nothing to me."

He let me slip down to his chest again. I wrapped my legs around the thinnest part of his waist and he held one muscular arm underneath me and the other wrapped around my back.

He leaned his forehead against mine, "If you wanted to knock me over, you should have gone for my legs."

I grinned and kissed his nose, which made him blink in happy surprise, he continued, "I think you wanted to be caught."

I tugged at a lock of his hair, "You're smarter than you look."

He kissed me and growled in my ear, "Are you happy? Trapped inescapably in the arms of your Great and Terrible King?"

I kissed him softly, pulling my fingers through his hair, "Yes," I said against his lips, "My plan was, as always, without flaw."

I kissed me with more vigour, murmuring endearments between breaths. He lay me down on the bed behind me, bending over me. I let my legs drop to curl around the back of his thighs and etched my fingers over the tender skin above the hem of his pants.

He tried to fix me with his more predatory eyes, but they were ruined somewhat by the softness in them that he could not get rid of. He growled in my ear and bit delicately down my neck.

"Is this what you would have your king do?" He asked, hands slipping up my thin nightgown.

The door opened and our heads twisted in surprise, my handmaiden was backing in, she had pushed the door open with her back, her hands holding a breakfast tray, "Morning, my lady, it is time to be -"

She had turned and seen us, Lucifer half dressed and baring his beautiful muscled chest, my hands lingering low on his pelvis. His face turning pink and bent up to look at her from my neck, his large hands still under my night clothes.

Her face was scarlet, "Oh" she jumped, "Oh! My lady. I'm sorry. I - um. I should have." Her gaze lingered for a moment on Lucifer's torso before she forced her eyes to the floor. "I'll - sorry - I um - I'll leave - I'll come back later."

Lucifer addressed her in an impressively even tone for how pink his face had become, "You may put the breakfast on the table." He said, gesturing to the nightstand with his head.

"Of course, my lord." she said in a rush, hurrying to dispose of her tray. She turned and fled, saying over her shoulder as she left, "I'm sorry, my lady."

She closed the door behind her and Lucifer looked down at me, his face tormented and blushing, eyes wide in embarrassment.

I looked up at him and started laughing. I scooted out from under him and turned to the breakfast. I selected a piece of melon and ate it slowly, savoring its sweetness. He sighed and joined me, picking at his favorite parts of breakfast.

We had the food nearly demolished in just a few minutes. He snatched the last piece of fruit from under my hand and grinned victoriously. Then his eyes softened and he offered it to me. I took his wrist and ate it from his fingers. Letting my lips linger around them. He got up quickly.

I frowned, "Where are you going?"

He turned pink again, "I'm locking the door."

XXXXX

Crowley snarled at Gilgash, "Alright, that's enough."

Gilgash snickered, "Does it hurt, Hades? Is it a knife in your heart? I should hope that it is. Do you see how fast she forgot about you?"

"Are you forgetting that soon that diary will end and she will climb to the Earth with me?"

Gilgash approached him, spitting his words, "Am I forgetting that this diary is too short? Am I forgetting how quickly the light that touched her eyes when she looked upon the King of Hell was stolen? Am I forgetting for how few days we were treated to her laughter? Am I forgetting how soon that was taken from her?"

He cut into Crowley again, his blood spattering to the ground, "I will never forget. And I will never forget who destroyed it."

"I have read her journal," Crowley shrieked, "I loved her."

Gilgash returned to leaning against Bones and reopened the diary, "Is that what you call it?"

XXXXX

From the Diary of Persephone

I had called Gilgash into the war room, dear Enkit had been taken, and Achilles was inconsolable. It was only he and I.

"If Michael returns, we may fall still." I said to him in grave tones.

Gil nodded, "He has ten times more angels than those who defected with Lord Lucifer. And our walls were nothing to their wings. How might we resist them."

I looked at him, "I don't think we will be able to. I have other plans."

"Yes, my lady?"

I spoke in a fast tone, "Gil, do you trust me?"

He answered without pause, "Implicitly and with my whole life."

"Gil, there will come a time when Michael's strength will be broken, when the angels will be in disarray. Even if we lose this war, if we can survive, we can wait."

Gil furrowed his brow, "You need to be more plain, my lady."

I licked my lips, then stopped, "Lucifer should be here."

He squinted at me, "Are you sure, my Lady? You trust him?"

I shrugged, "I dunno, Gil, it hasn't really been long enough to have any idea."

"And you want to trust him with something like this?"

I heaved a sigh, "Well, he's going to figure it out, since he's not an idiot and it will take a whole hell of a lot of preparation and how long do you think he'll be an ally if we start building failsafes behind his back?"

Gil shrugged, "And you really like him." A smile tugging at his lips.

I blushed, "I do, Gil." I said with a shrug, "I really like him."

"You light up when you see him, Persy, you don't look so much like every monster in the world is besetting you."

I laughed, "Persy?"

He jumped, "Sorry, my Queen, I meant-"

I cut him off, "I like it, Gil, you've been my Captain and confidant for hundreds of years, don't you think that we're friends by now, Hell, we're practically family."

He beamed at me, "Then I'll tell you honestly, Persy, as a friend and confidant of many centuries, that I very selfishly want you to stay with Lucifer because his second in command is very pretty."

I laughed and grinned at him, "You and Anna, huh?"

He smirked mischievously, "It seems to be the duty of we Creatures of the Dark to teach those featherheads how to live."

I punched his shoulder lightly, and he fought down his smirk, "Go get your boy, we'll talk about defenses."

I turned to leave but looked back at him, "When we're done though, I get to hear all about you and Anna."

"We'll have a drink and talk about girls."

I slipped up the hallway, seeking out Lucifer. This wasn't going to be my favorite conversation with him, and I thought I would have most of it outside the company of Gil. That talk had been warming though, if there was one thing I needed it was a reliable presence, and Gil had always been nothing if not reliable.

I found my King of Light instructing angels on inventory taking of our armaments, I waited for him to send them on their way before I approached. "Luce," I said, getting his attention and earning a happily surprised smile.

"Sephone, I thought you were training with Captain Gilgash and the High Guard."

"Can we talk?"

A look of concern crumpled his face for a moment, "Of course, should we go somewhere privately?"

"Yeah."

He took the lead, ducking into a dark supply room a few doors down, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my pants uncomfortably.

He faced me, "What is it, Persephone?" His whole body was held rigidly and his had his wings tucked close and protectively around him.

"We need to talk about new defenses against the angels, when Michael's army comes back."

He exhaled heavily and his wings loosened, "Yes, I agree. I don't know that we need to discuss that in a cupboard."

I scrunched up my face, "You chose the cupboard, Luce, don't put that on me."

He laughed and tucked hair behind my ear, I pressed on, to the part he was going to dislike, "Luce, we need to talk about a backup plan if Michael wins."

He pulled his hand back and his face darkened, his eyes glinting, "You don't think I can win?" He thundered, towering over my, anger cutting a slit up his forehead, "You think Michael is stronger than I? Do you believe me destined to fall?"

I scowled back at him, "Don't yell at me, Lucifer! Michael has ten thousand more angels than we do, if he lays siege he will have endless supplies and we will be cut off. Do you think he's going to march in here and fight you one on one? He'll drown us in angels if he gets over that wall again!"

Lucifer took a few heavy breaths and stared at me squarely, "You're right. Of course. We will devise a better defense against his armies. But-" his voice shook a little and his wings tensed again, "Do you think I could do it? Win if I fought him one on one?"

I had no idea. I had never seen Michael fight, nor had I seen Lucifer, something told me that if Lucifer were capable of winning that kind of contest he would have already done it, but this didn't seem like the time for honesty. There wasn't a chance in the world that it would ever come down to some stupid brother battle, at least not for a few thousand years, so I told him what he was looking for, "There is not a doubt in my mind, Luce."

He nodded once and seemed appeased.

"But that isn't what I wanted to talk about." I pressed on before he could ask me more about his imaginary fight with his big brother, "We will build defenses, we will fight until our last breath, but if we fail, we need to see to it that our people are protected."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there is a difference between being a military commander and being the King of a people. It is your duty to see that they are safe, regardless of personal valour."

His brow knit together.

I said delicately, "That might mean surrendering to Michael."

His wings snapped aggressively, "Do you know what that would mean? He would torture me for all eternity! He would take the people you are so desperate to protect into heaven!"

"We can wait him out, Lucifer, I know that one day he will fall and we could free our people!"

He took me by the shoulders, "Do you have any idea what they are doing to the souls up there?"

I froze, I did not. I had heard stories, my father had told me about Ash and Pamela, about the separate heavens. But I did not really know.

His face was alight with fury, "They are a fuel source, Seph, souls are powerful but they have to be burned."

My voice broke, "What?"

"They built separate cells for them, comfortable cells, to keep them from rallying. But they snatch them one by one and burn them. It will make heaven incredibly powerful, more powerful than anything."

I quaked, tears pricking at my eyes, they had Enkit, they had Patroclus.

Lucifer put his hands on either side of my head and looked at me hard, "Do you know what Michael would do to you if we surrendered? He would never let you die. Michael is ruthless. He is absolute."

I peered up at him. Is that what would happen to my Lucifer? Would it be Michael who turned him into what he was to become?

I thought this was the right time to proffer the idea I had been mulling over, I said it very softly, almost in a whisper, "We could build them a bunker."

He looked at me and gave me a sad smile, "I know how to seal a door. A seal even Michael could not break. I wanted to use it on the entrances to Hell, but the new dead would not be able to arrive. Our army would deplete and ghosts would again haunt the land of the living. But we could put it on the door of a bunker."

I blinked at him, with new hope blossoming, "Please, Lucifer, help me in this."

He set his teeth grimly and his eyes were nearly moist, "The seal is complex. It must be closed from the outside. It requires two."

I gripped his arm as I had on the battlefield, "We could close the doors, Lucifer."

"Then we would be without defense, Michael would capture us, torment us for eons."

I looked at him resolute, "I am their Queen. I am bound to protect them."

His voice trembled, "Do you ask this of me? Do you ask me to lose to Michael if I must, to see our people saved?"

I shivered and gripped the side of his face, "Yes."

He stared at me, then he touched my hair and drew his thumb across my cheekbone, down the curve of my jaw, across my lips. He felt the soft skin of my neck and looked tremblingly into my eyes, he whispered in a broken voice, "Then I give you my word." He bent and kissed me fiercely, crushing me against him.

He straightened and smiled at me, "But enough of this talk, we might yet win!"

I smiled, "That's the spirit."

He turned to leave the supply room but I caught him by the hand, before I turned around I maneuvered my face into the most sorry and timid face I could muster. "Lucifer," I said heavily, trying to stitch regret and uncertainty into my voice, "There is...something else."

He turned back, his breath caught a little when he saw my face and his wings retracted, once more hovering around his shoulders protectively.

"Yes?"

I opened my mouth and then shut it again, biting my lip. I looked at the floor.

He barked in a high tone, "Persephone. What? Tell me!"

I looked up at him, my eyebrows dipping, "I'm leaving you for Michael."

Pain lanced across his face for a split second and his wings tensed, then the slumped and he gave me a dirty look, "Do you think you're funny?"

I laughed, "I think I'm adorable."

I reached up to kiss him but he fixed me with mock scorn and turned his head aside, "No, you don't get kisses for that!"

He relented, kissing me and shaking his head, "Michael wouldn't have a clue what to do with you. He'd probably just order you to polish his spear."

I waggled my eyebrows, "That's the idea."

He put his hand on my face and pushed me away, "No, we're done. I'll see you at dinner. Stop talking."

He gave me another dirty look and left, looking over his shoulder to say, "We will meet with Captains Anna and Gilgash concerning military defense this evening, shall we?"

"Sure," I laughed.

XXXXX

From the Diary of Persephone

With the help of Anna's quick idea crafting and Lucifer's knowledge of angelic tactics, our meeting clicked along very effectively. A lot of it hinged on how well I could build and rebuild Hell, which I was getting pretty good at, but this was the largest scale project I had set myself.

We were going to lower the vaulted sky over the wall, connect it in a sheer stone impasse from ground the ceiling.

I was walking a slow perimeter of the wall, peering up at the light dappered sky above us. Lucifer walked next to me, we had left the Captains at the gate, and as soon as we had turned a corner and they were out of sight, Luce took my hand in his. Color crept up my face and I smiled contentedly.

Sometimes it was hard not to cry knowing that at any moment Michael could fly in and destroy this. I wanted to keep it so badly it made my heart twist to imagine it burning.

I scowled at the sky, "It would help if I could see up there."

Lucifer slanted his eyes down at me, "I'm sure, how convenient it would be if you had a king who could fly."

I shrugged at him, "I wasn't sure you would be able to carry me."

He rolled his eyes, "How often must I express than you weigh nothing and I am a mighty warrior who can throw you around like a rag doll?"

"Yeah but your wings are so puny."

He took his hand away, "You take that back or I'll never fly you up there."

I nudged him with my shoulder, "You won't take me up there, even if it would spell destruction for all that we love?"

"Even then."

"Are you sure it's not just because you can't?"

He pulled me aggressively into his arms and leapt off the ground, his wings beating the air mightily. The wind streamed over us and I clung to his chest. We rocketed upwards, his hair waving behind him. Butterflies assaulted my stomach and I tried not to scream like a kid. He looked down at my face and laughed.

He soared up to the topmost edges of Hell and I inspected them. I had not been in full control of the building when these had been made but I saw that it was a massive stone ceiling, as though all of Hell were a giant cavern. He beat his wings, keeping us fairly steady along the ceiling, moving up and down slightly with the movement of his wings.

His arms held my tightly to him, "So," he said into my ear where my head was pressed, "They look like stone, do you think you can lower them? Then we will carve sigils into them, we'll show the spirits ones that can repel angels."

"You can take me down now."

"My mighty Queen, are you afraid?"

"Yeah!"

"Well in that case, we'll go down as swiftly as we can." He crushed me to his body and dove, his wings sitting smoothly back so we plummeted at the ground. I clawed my nails into his back and screamed.

A moment before we struck the ground he pulled up gracefully and landed delicately on the ground, releasing me. I staggered away from him, clutching my chest. "Oh, you monster!" I shrieked.

He laughed and looked at me softly, "Do they seem puny to you now?"

I hit him gently on the chest, "Is that what that was for?"

"Oh I am a creature of vengeance."

He pushed his hair back and said in a much warmer voice, "Did I really frighten you?"

I relented, "No, I suppose I thought you would protect my life."

He reached out and took my hand again, "Always, my love."

"You're kind of a dick."

He shrugged, "You seem to like me regardless."

I did like him. He made my heart pound in my chest and he made me blush and laugh. Was it too much to ask that this one thing not hurt?

XXXXX

From the Diary of Persephone

It has been six months since Michael's failed attack. I have hardly had time to write anything down, I've been so busy with the defenses. The walls are complete, painted and carved on the outside with complicated sigils. The inside are resplendent with Lucifer's lights and my flowers. The longer it stretched with no attack, the more I dared to hope that I would be allowed to keep him.

I would never tire of waking up with his wing draped over me, or his almost luminescent grey eyes watching me under sleepy eyelids.

I woke up this morning with his fingers running down my bare back. "Good morning, bird song." He said, kissing where his fingers had touched.

I turned over and nuzzled him, still sleepy.

"Get up!" he laughed, I could feel his gaze trailing down me, then I felt his body stiffen, "Get up, Persephone." he said much more harshly a note of panic in his voice.

I sat up, looking at him bewildered. He was staring at me, his face pale, eyes glowing. As when he had patched me up I felt like his eyes were cutting through my skin. "Seph." He whispered.

"What, Lucifer, what?" My voice had taken on his panic.

"Your - Persephone, your, um."

I had not ever heard him stumble over words and it made my blood freeze.

My voice shook, "Lucifer tell me what's happening. Lucifer!"

"Your soul, Persephone." he said in a tremulous voice. "Souls… I mean." He said.

"What." I whispered, terrified that I understood what he had said.

He reached out a trembling hand and touched the tips of his fingers against my belly, "Persephone."

I shook violently, I could feel the blood leaving my face.

His eyes met mine and they were fierce, "Don't be afraid, Sephone." His voice was strong and he sounded like a King, "I will keep you safe."

I didn't say anything, I thought that I probably should but words didn't align in any order in my brain.

Lucifer pulled me into his arms and I thudded against his chest. "Everything will be alright, Sephone. I will make sure everything is alright."

The door smashed open and I jumped, Lucifer adjusted his hold automatically to block me from view. Gilgash was breathing heavily, his eyes wide.

"Michael's army is at the gates."

AN: DUNDUNDUUUUUN Whatever will happen!? Will Crowley survive Gilgash's wrath? How will Bobby end up crawling up the Earth with Crowley? Can Lucifer protect her from the wrath of Michael? ALL THIS AND MORE NEXT TIME (Probs tomorrow or the next day I am on a roll)

Thanks for reading!