TWO YEARS AGO

"Amenadiel, brother," Lucifer called out with a barely-contained grin as he glimpsed the angel wings swiftly descending into the pit. "What brings you here? I would've cleaned up had I known you were coming."

Maze scoffed from where she stood, leaning upright against the throne he sat in. "Please, as if you weren't looking forward to this day all year." She rolled her eyes as she kicked a wayward skull away from her feet. "Make it quick, Amenadiel. Some of us don't have the luxury of stopping time before we're decayed maggot bait."

Lucifer eyed her critically. "Mazikeen, no one forced you to be here. If you don't play nice, you're more than welcome to go back to those nice, fat terrorists you were blowing up earlier."

Tempting as the thought was (there was a tenderness to the way they screamed; she would have guessed they'd have made better ballads than bombs), the demon stood her ground. Though left unsaid, both she and Lucifer knew that she counted down the days to every October 31st as much as he did. She blew out a low breath and narrowed her gaze, but ground out an exasperated "Fine," nonetheless.

Amenadiel tucked away his wings as he marched up to his brother's throne, a smug smile fixed on his face. He nodded towards hell's most feared demon as he neared the stone steps. "Always a pleasure, Mazikeen."

Maze snarled in response but said nothing more.

The older angel turned towards Lucifer, and the devil raised a brow in anticipation. "Well, get on with it. I don't have all day."

Amenadiel shook his head as a slight chuckle escaped his lips. "I thought you were playing nice?"

"No, Maze is playing nice. You're welcome for that, by the way."

"Well, I am overwhelmed with gratitude," he replied with a tight smile. The angel pulled out a stack of photographs and passed them on to his little brother. "You're lucky Hilda doesn't make a fuss over these missing pictures. She just keeps assuming she lost them and prints out new copies."

"Yes, all well and good," Lucifer muttered absently. He couldn't be faulted for it, though. As his eyes took in the faded sight of his child printed on the little sheets of paper (the only way he could see her, watch her grow over time), he was overwhelmed with an uncanny emotion, the same one that struck him on her birthday every year. On one hand, there was nothing he wouldn't give to be the one who spent every day with her, dressing her up for dances, spoiling her with ice cream dates, and taking the same old photographs that he held in his hands. On the other, he knew that this was as close as he could go without ruining her. (The thought should've left him at peace, but when everything was said and done, the pictures tucked away, and his brother back watching over Sabrina from above, it only left an echoing emptiness that should have numbed him more than it did).

"Not such a little princess anymore, is she?" Maze mumbled, peering over his shoulder to look at a photograph of Sabrina biking through the park with her friends, a small smile on the demon's face (Lucifer had to check if hell was freezing over, but thankfully, its fiery walls were still intact).

He sighed and passed her the rest of the stack. "No, I guess not."

Amenadiel clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a kind, reassuring look. "There's nothing to worry about, Luci. She's a good, happy child, and the Spellmans are raising her well. Her intelligence is unparalleled at school, she's doing exceptionally in controlling her powers, and all her friends adore her. I'd dare say you've got a little angel in your hands."

Mazikeen made a loud noise from the back of her throat as she flipped to a new photo. "Define angelic for me, would you, Amenadiel?" The picture in question painted a very quaint scene of Sabrina kissing a red-faced Harvey Kinkle under the mistletoe. The lack of knives in Maze's fingers suddenly felt like a phantom limb. "This is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen."

"Now, now, Mazikeen, let's not get carried away," Lucifer snatched the photo from her grip and tried not to grimace at the sight of his sweet girl making out with a boy. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for whatever this is. Amenadiel?"

The older angel nodded his head. "Of course. It's all very simple, really. Hanging mistletoe is a human custom where-"

"Nevermind. This sort of thing is obviously beyond you," Lucifer exhaled, defeat coloring his tone. "Let's just move on to less confusing things. Maze!"

Not a second later, the woman appeared with a little black kitten in her hands, a red bow tied around its neck. "For her sixteenth birthday," Maze hissed in Amenadiel's direction, unsubtle with her annoyance over the photograph. If she had been watching Sabrina, boys would have begged and screamed and writhed before they could even touch the heir of hell. With a narrowed gaze, she shoved the animal into his arms and stalked back to her place beside the throne.

"Sixteenth?" The angel asked. "But she just turned fourteen today."

"Yes, and the ancient tome of healing spells I asked you to leave at her door should suffice as my gift for this year," Lucifer intoned, already tired of the conversation. "This creature, however, is a very special one. You see, when witches turn sixteen, they will find themselves in need of a familiar. That restless pile of fur Maze has handed you will be Sabrina's."

Amenadiel eyed the animal curiously. "And it has to be this cat instead of any other familiar because?"

Mazikeen rolled her eyes. "Because the girl isn't just any other witch, is she?" The demon snapped. "That cat houses a demon born in servitude to the child of the Morningstar, and its sole purpose is to devote itself to her every need. It will follow her to the ends of the earth if it has to. Its loyalty is the kind only the deepest bowel of hell could breed."

(There was a thing or two to be said about Maze's less-than-agreeable attitude, but if Lucifer was to be believed and this was actually her attempt at playing nice, then Amenadiel would just have to hold his tongue and appreciate her efforts, horrible as they were.)

Amenadiel adjusted his grip on the kitten and forced out a smile, the same kind he used to give his smaller siblings when he had to convince them that their parents weren't fighting. "Alright. But why give it to her now instead of waiting two more years?"

At a loss for words, Maze's gaze shifted to Lucifer, who shot back a reassuring look. With a perfected grace, the devil got up from his throne in one swift motion, straightening his suit as he got to his feet.

"You see, brother," he began, wrapping an arm around the angel's shoulders and leading him back down the steep stone steps. "Unlike all my other gifts, you won't leave this one to her directly. By the time she comes of age, the cat will find its way to Sabrina all by itself. It just has to grow up on earth in the presence of humans so that its demonic nature won't manifest in hostility towards the mortals it will come across. It's all just a bunch of semantics, but you understand the need, don't you?"

From their youth, Amenadiel prided himself on being the only one who truly understood Lucifer. When he led the charge against heaven's hosts, he wasn't the least bit surprised. After all, the eldest angel figured early on that it was only a matter of time before his little brother's pride and power got the best of him. This time, too, he knew there was something off about Lucifer. He was plotting something. But in respect of his grief (his daughter's birthday was meant to be something celebrated each year, but every time, he ended up lamenting his losses with her, as a life well lived was constantly waved in his face in the form of photographs that would never have him in the picture), Amenadiel decided to trade his suspicion for trust.

He was better now, surely, than the young angel who spat in their father's face and eventually chanced upon the pains of fatherhood, himself.

(How wrong it would all turn out to be, Amenadiel realized too late.)

"Of course, I understand." He adjusted his grip on the kitten and smiled back at his brother. "This is all, then? Nothing for her next birthday?"

"Almost forgot. Good thing you reminded me. Maze!" In a blink of an eye, the demon was standing next to them at the foot of the steps, a big white box clasped between her fingers. Just as callously, she shoved it into Amenadiel's hands without another word and went to stand indignantly next to her boss.

The angel lifted the lid and stared puzzled at its content. "It's a dress."

"Congratulations, you have eyes," Mazikeen deadpanned.

Lucifer raised a hand, and the demon silenced herself with no more than a roll of the eyes. "It's not just any dress, though." The devil explained, smiling quite smugly at his own thoughtfulness. "It was Diana's wedding dress. Witch hunters burned down Edward and Diana's first home soon after they wed, forcing them to move back into the Spellman house. This was one of the few things lost in the fire."

"How'd you find it?"

Maze sighed in exasperation. "He had me dig through the ruins for it."

"Only because it was so important," Lucifer edged, a sternness to his tone of voice. "There are few things that Sabrina has of her mother. If I could keep Diana's memory alive, just the tiniest bit more, then it's the least I could do. I already owe so bloody much to the woman."

Amenadiel had never met Diana, but from what he could gather, Lucifer always thought so highly of her. (When it came to Edward Spellman, though, it was a whole other story.) It was a sweet gesture, uniting a young woman with her mother's most prized possessions. The mere fact that his brother planned it out spoke volumes on how much he grew from the selfishness he used to harbour.

"I'm proud of you, Luci," Amenadiel moved to hug his younger brother while he stood stiffly, at a loss on how to respond with a kitten and a wedding dress sandwiched between them. "You're a much better father than you think. Sabrina will realize everything you're doing for her one day, and till she does, I will keep her safe for you. That's a promise."

Lucifer softened at his brother's words, so much that he almost felt guilty on what he was about to do next. (Almost.)

"Thank you, brother. I mean it, sincerely."

("And I'm sorry. I really am. But it has to be done.")

With one last proud (clueless) smile and the promise of next year's photographs, Amenadiel uncovered his wings and flew out of the pit in one swift motion. Before Lucifer could even tear his eyes away from the empty space where his brother once stood, Mazikeen's face was already dangerously close to his, a wild, affronted look to her.

"What the hell, Lucifer?"

"Ironic word choice."

She pulled at her hair in frustration and stepped away, every ancient curse on her tongue. "I can't believe you! You're actually doing it. You're leaving!"

Lucifer calmly sat himself back on the throne and crossed his legs nonchalantly, the least bit interested in whatever she had to say (nothing she did could ever change his mind, after all). "Oh, really? How'd you come to that conclusion?"

"Please, I know you better than you think," she said sharply. "Ever since you made me prepare the cat for Amenadiel's visit, I knew what you were gonna do. Why else would you have sent out your presents for the next two years?"

"Careful, Mazikeen. You're treading on thin ice."

"You gave them today because Amenadiel won't be back anymore. Because by the time she turns fifteen, sixteen, and all the other years after, you won't be here!"

With that, the devil's fuse ran short and he shot out of his seat, matching the demon's temperament with his own. "And why on earth would I want to be here? Out of all the beings in hell, I am the most tortured, and the only consolation I have is that by holding up my end of the bargain, my brother will hold up his and my daughter will be cared for. But guess what, Maze? Sabrina doesn't need my brother to watch over her. She's grown now, and beautiful and powerful and everything a father could hope for his daughter to be. She's going to be okay."

Mazikeen shook her head, conflicted, pure acid on her tongue as she reasoned with a man who frowned on reason itself. "You don't know that."

"But I don't know what's gonna happen to me either if I spend one more minute in this place." With a resolve set deep into his mind, he stepped away from her and unveiled his wings, towering and glorious and ready as ever to abandon the prison his father put him in. "I'm selfish, Mazikeen. It's my one true fault. The only hope I have is that Sabrina can forgive me for it one day."

(Little did he know that one day was only two years away, with his daughter undone in ways that he, himself, would never forgive. When he assumed that all would be well, perhaps he spoke too soon.)

Lucifer shook the thought away as he trained his gaze back to his daughter on the couch, nervous and restless as she awaited whatever it was that he was about to say.

"You were saying something. About my father," Sabrina pressed, anxiety written clear across her face as she braced herself for something that would inevitably hurt, would inevitably force her to pick up the pieces again (not that she wasn't used to it at this point).

He pulled on a tight smile (the kind that pinched so hard that it burned). "Yes, I do believe I owe you an explanation. Before that, though," Lucifer stalled, trying to buy as much time as possible before he crushed his every hope under his own two feet and regretted every twist of selfishness that brought them where they were.

"Whatever happened to that cat of yours?"