When Michael stepped off the elevator and into his brother's penthouse, he found it trashed, and his twin was cleaning up some broken glass with a broom. "Did you do this?"

Lucifer only grunted in response.

"I'm suddenly grateful I decided to come stay with you instead of the other way around. I would've kicked your ass if you'd done this to my place," Michael said.

Lucifer glared at his brother, as if to tell him to shut up.

"What did Amenadiel do to piss you off so much that you'd wreck your own place?" Michael asked. He assumed it was Amenadiel because he'd seen his twin talking to their oldest brother down in the club, and Sam did not look happy.

"What makes you think it was Amenadiel?" Lucifer asked.

"I saw you talking to him down at the bar. You looked pissed. I'm not surprised. Amenadiel has that effect on people," Michael said before he started picking some of the furniture his brother upended in his anger.

Lucifer snorted in response. He couldn't argue with his twin on that one. Amenadiel did tend to bring out anger in Lucifer. "He told me why you hate him so much. He told me what he said about me and how he treated you."

"He's an idiot!" Michael said fuming. That information was not for Amenadiel to tell. There was a reason he didn't tell his twin about that. Actually, there were a couple of reasons. The first was that it really wasn't about him. Yes, it involved him, but it was really about Michael and how he was treated. The other reason was that his brother didn't need to know the things their dick siblings said about him. He didn't need to know the details of how they'd turned on him.

Lucifer stopped what he was doing and looked at his brother. "Why?"

"Why is he an idiot? We could be here all day if I have to explain that," Michael said. Of course, he knew that wasn't what his brother was asking, but he couldn't help himself.

"Don't act daft, Michael. You know what I'm bloody asking? You hate me! Why would you leave the Silver City for me?"

"First of all, I didn't leave for you. I left for me, because I didn't want to be around a bunch of dicks that could turn on anyone so easily. Second, stop telling me how I feel! If I hated you, I wouldn't have worked so hard to save you when you ended up in my OR," Michael said.

"You sent me to Hell!" Lucifer said angrily.

"That was your own fault. I had to do that because of your selfishness and giant ego! You put me in that position!" Michael yelled.

Once again, Lucifer wanted to punch his brother, but this time, he restrained himself. "You're proving my point! You clearly blame me for sending to Hell, which is unbelievably ridiculous and insulting, but it proves that you can't stand me, so why would you defend me?"

"Because you're still my brother! You're still the other half of me! Unlike most of our siblings, I can't just turn that off because you start being a selfish dick! I hate the position you put me in, but I don't hate you, Sam," Michael told him.

Lucifer felt both relief and anger. Relief was obviously because his brother didn't seem to hate him, and even though Lucifer shouldn't care about that, he did. He was angry because once again, Michael blamed him, not only for going to Hell, but for Michael sending him there. Anger was winning out in the moment. "The position I put you in? You sent me to Hell! I'm the one who spent eons in Hell because of you!"

"No, because of you!" Michael shot back angrily. "You're the one who rebelled. You waged war against Father even after I warned you several times to stop! You incurred his wrath, and I was the one forced to carry it out! The two of you are the ones responsible!"

"No, you betrayed me! You could've said no when Father told you to send me to Hell," Lucifer said. True, he knew that probably wouldn't have worked out well for Michael, but he still could've done it. Lucifer would've done the same for him if the situations were reversed.

Michael laughed bitterly. "For argument's sake, let's pretend that's true. We'll forget the fact that it didn't exactly work out for you when you defied Father. What do you think would've happened to you if I'd defied Father's order to send you to Hell? Do you think he would just said 'oh well' and forgotten about it? One way or another, you would've been sent to Hell."

"But not by your hand!" Lucifer argued angrily. Could his brother not understand how much that hurt. There was no one in the world he cared more for than Michael. Being sent to Hell by him was worse than being sentenced to Hell in the first place.

"Yeah¸ that's right. It would've been one of the others, and they would've been a lot less kind about it," Michael said.

"What?" he asked, taken aback.

"When I sent you down there, I made sure you landed on your throne. Do you think someone like Amenadiel would've taken the same care to make sure you weren't hurt? Being the one to do it was the best way I knew to help you, and you have no idea what it took from me," Michael told him.

"You're saying you sent me to Hell to spare me?" Lucifer asked in disbelief.

"I did it because nothing I did was going to stop you from being sent there. At least I could control how you got there if it was me," Michael said.

Lucifer didn't know what to say. He never considered the possibility that any part of Michael was trying to make things easier for him. He only saw it as a betrayal, and it was one that hurt worse than even being sentenced to Hell in the first place. "If that's true, why didn't you tell me. You could've said something before you sent me to Hell."

"Because I was pissed! I'm still pissed, Sam! You and Father put me in a position I never should've been in! You never considered how anyone else would be affected by your actions! I hated sending you to hell!" Michael yelled.

Once again, Lucifer found himself at loss on what to say. He never really saw it from Michael's perspective. He supposed that was because he was too focused on his own anger, but looking at it now, Michael wasn't wrong. He hadn't really considered anyone else. That didn't mean he believed he deserved to be sent to Hell though. "I thought you hated me, like Dad does."He

Michael sighed. "Father doesn't hate you, Sam."

Lucifer laughed bitterly in response. "He sent me to Hell for eternity, and that was apparently him showing mercy. He wanted to have me destroyed.

Michael was quite surprised by his brother's words, however, that surprise quickly turned to fury, because he knew his twin didn't come up with that on his own. Someone had to have put that in his head. "Who told you that? I swear, if it was Amenadiel, I will pluck every feather he has from his freaking wings and then toss him off the side of the tallest building I can find!"

"It wasn't him. It was Mum. I don't know how much you know, but Dad sent Mum to Hell too for trying to destroy humanity. She eventually escaped and found me here. She told me that Dad really wanted me dead," Lucifer explained.

"Well, she lied," Michael said with one hundred percent certainty in his voice. His father was a dick, but he never planned Samael's death. That was one line he didn't believe his father could ever cross.

"How would you know that?" Lucifer asked.

"Two reasons. First, if Father wanted you dead, you would be. It's that simple," Michael told him.

"She said she managed to talk him into just sending me to Hell instead. She said she fought to protect me," Lucifer said.

Michael could almost laugh at how ludicrous that was. Now he knew for a fact their mother had lied. She never defended Samael to their father. She was one of people to treat Michael poorly for feeling bad about what happened to him. She was livid about Sam's defiance. However, Michael had no intension of telling his twin that. He didn't need to know that their mother had thought of him that way. No one deserved that. "She probably said that to get back at Father or to get in your good graces."

"I…I was contemplating sending her back to Hell. I was supposed to, per my deal with Dad. What's the other reason you think she was lying?" Lucifer asked. He wasn't sure anymore who was telling the truth, but he wanted to know the other reason Michael thought their mother was lying.

"Because I spoke with Father not too long ago," Michael told him.

Lucifer looked shocked. "You talked to Dad recently?"

"Yes. It was right after you were hurt. Actually, it was after you woke up the first time and told me you wanted to return to the Silver City. I prayed to him to ask him to take you home," Michael explained. He hadn't intended to tell his twin that. He didn't see the point, since their father refused. But if Sam thought that their father hated him enough to want him dead, he needed to know that wasn't true.

"Well, I don't need to ask how that turned out. He obviously said no, so I'm not sure how this helps your case," Lucifer said. He tried hard to hide the hurt he felt in knowing that his father still refused to revoke his banishment. It wasn't unsurprising, but it was still hurtful.

"He said no for now. He said you weren't ready, but he did say that one day you'd be able to if you wanted," Michael said.

Lucifer was utterly shocked. If Michael was to be believed, and Lucifer had no reason to think he was lying, his father had said that his banishment wouldn't be permanent. That's not something he ever thought would happen, and until recently, he didn't even think he wanted it to. "He said I could go back? When?"

"He said when you're truly ready."

Lucifer rolled his eyes and headed to the bar to pour himself a drink. "Cryptic bastard."

"Yeah, that was my reaction too. Look, I only brought it up because it proves that Dad doesn't hate you. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that your time in Hell was never supposed to be permanent," Michael said.

"It doesn't matter, I suppose. He's still a dick," Lucifer said before taking a large sip of his drink.

"Yeah," Michael agreed. Their father had always been an asshole, just so big of one that he wanted his own son dead. "Look, let's clean up this mess. I'll help."

Lucifer nodded before going over and picking up the broom he dropped. "Michael, I never wanted to hurt you."

Michael nodded. He supposed that was close enough for an apology right now. "I didn't want to hurt you either Sam. I didn't want to do it."

Lucifer didn't say anything else as he continued to pick up his mess. Nothing else needed to be said for right now.