Chapter 14

'What on Earth was that for?' Lucifer muttered bitterly as the sound of Rory's wings faded away.

Chloe glanced worriedly from the closed door, to Lucifer's irritated face, to Ellie's heartbroken one.

'Ellie, sweetie, it's okay,' she tried to soothe her as she silently started to cry.

'No it's not,' the young angel said, voice cracking. 'Nothing's okay with Rory any more, and now she's upset you both too!' Chloe took her hand in hers as her tears fell. 'She doesn't know that her eyes can flash red like that, but…'

'Still no excuse for the rudeness,' Lucifer said, his own mind a tumultuous whirl.

'Lucifer,' Chloe chided a touch sharply, turning slightly to face him without letting go of Ellie's hand. 'Your daughter just admitted to us that at one point in her life she was so impoverished she ate raw pigeons to survive. I figured her upbringing wasn't all that great, but I did not see this coming, and that's just the part she's actually willing to talk about…' She shook her head. 'Between this dinner, her session with you and Linda, and everything else she's going through, she's emotionally exhausted, Lucifer. And I pushed her too far, asked something far too personal. No wonder she snapped.' She sighed. 'She's in pain. She's hurting. I'm not upset with her in the slightest, and,' she gently squeezed Ellie's hand, 'I'm not scared of a little red eye. I haven't been for a long time.'

Ellie gave her a genuine, albeit watery smile and nodded. 'Was the session really awful?' she directed to her father. 'I know she blocked me.'

'She blocked all celestial interference, yes,' Lucifer said. 'She didn't trust your Aunt Gabriel to not spread her business all over the Silver City.'

Ellie's eyes were wide and beseeching. 'But why did she block me?'

Lucifer grasped at straws in an attempt to formulate an answer that wasn't a lie and wasn't revealing.

'Ellie told me that she and Rory can access each other's mental states,' Chloe told him, interpreting his lack of reply as confusion. 'She couldn't sense her feelings.'

'It was… a difficult discussion,' he answered eventually. 'Enlightening, but arduous. I understand her a little better now, but… you are right, Chloe. There's so much pain there. And Ellie… I'm sure that isn't something you would have wanted to experience, even for a moment.'

She glanced back at Chloe. 'You were right about that too…' she said. Then, to Lucifer, 'But I don't understand. I'm her twin, and she barely knows you and Aunt Linda, why wouldn't she talk to me if there's something going on?'

Lucifer struggled again for a response.

'Her fight isn't with you, sweetie,' Chloe said softly. 'She loves you, and she's trying to protect you.'

'Did you know things were so bad for her?' Lucifer asked Ellie.

Ellie shook her head. 'No, I didn't, I swear,' she said, and the tears fell thick and fast again. 'But I should have. I had wings, she didn't. I kept away because Grandpa said to, but I shouldn't have, I should have gone to her, I should have helped her, why didn't I help her?' She trembled from head to toe.

'Eleonora,' Lucifer said, leaning awkwardly across the table to take her other hand. 'Do not blame yourself. Please do not let that guilt take over your life! I do not want that, Rory would not want that, and believe me, you do not want that either.'

She nodded, eyebrows creasing. 'I should have done more,' she murmured. 'I should have at least sensed her out more often.'

'It's a very interesting ability,' Chloe mused.

'Sachairi and Sophea can do it too,' Ellie told them, brightening somewhat with the change in topic. She looked towards Lucifer. 'Could you and Uncle Michael ever do it?'

'Oh, sure, sure,' Lucifer said, a touch of irritation coming to the fore at the mention of his own twin. 'He blocked me during my rebellion; I blocked him back when I fell.'

'Sorry,' Ellie apologised awkwardly.

'My darling, what have we said about apologising for things that are not your fault?'

Ellie simply smiled softly and nodded.

'Ellie, can you sense your sister now? Has she gone somewhere safe?' Chloe's eyes were still soft with concern.

Under the gaze of two pairs of eyes, Ellie nervously placed one finger to her temple and focused her attention. 'She's safe,' she said eventually, and both Lucifer and Chloe exhaled with relief. 'She's quite a way away, probably Heaven… She feels…' her eyebrows creased in concentration and she spoke much more slowly. 'She's sad… but there's love there, and a little curiosity too. If I had to guess, she's talking to Cora, or maybe hanging around with the dragons.'

'Wait, dragons?' Chloe asked. 'They're a real thing too?'

'I do remember Linda mentioning you'd all told her about them,' Lucifer mused.

'Every half-angel has one,' Ellie said hesitantly. 'We found eggs buried in a far corner of the Silver City a couple of centuries ago, and Grandpa never stopped us… They're all different. Rory's is the largest, mine is the smallest.'

'That's amazing!' Chloe said, eyes wide.

'What's yours like?' Lucifer asked her.

'So sweet,' she said. 'And small, probably about the same height as me. And, not to brag, but the best behaved.' She smiled. 'I think our dragons reflect us in a way, and what we want. Cora and I wanted pets, Rory and the other twins wanted beasts they could ride around in the skies.'

'Do they have names?' Chloe asked.

'Mine is Mattina,' Ellie said. 'Their wings fade through blue, white and gold, like a sunrise.' She grinned at Lucifer, who nodded with a smile of his own. 'Rory's is Borrie.'

'Borrie?' Lucifer questioned with a snort.

'For borealis,' Ellie explained quickly. 'Y'know, Aurora…'

'Clever,' Lucifer chortled.

'Borrie's huge,' Ellie said. 'They'd struggle to fit in Lux, if at all.'

'Sounds dangerous and incredibly exciting.'

'They're all good fun,' she grinned. 'Fiercely protective of us… but we know the drill. Never to Earth, only take flight around the outer fields, etcetera, etcetera. Most angels would not approve, after all.'

'Well, stuff that,' Lucifer said. 'They're your pets.'

Ellie laughed lightly. 'Mine, perhaps,' she said. 'But I can't begin to imagine the looks on particular faces if Rory rode Borrie around Grandpa's courtyard.' She snorted. 'I imagine the Angel of Animals would be pretty annoyed, as well as the Angel of Righteousness.'

Lucifer snorted too. 'You know your Uncle Zadkiel was the only other angel besides Amenadiel to back me at the Vote?'

Ellie nodded. 'We heard as much.' She sighed. 'I'm sorry we did not go. Uncle Michael told us to stay away from it all.'

'Might be his only redeeming quality,' Lucifer drawled. 'No, there was no need to put any of the Nephilim in harm's way, or to force any of you to choose between us.'

'We had already made the decision to abstain,' Ellie said softly. 'Rory was the only one of us who wanted to fight.'

'And not on my side, I take it,' Lucifer commented, finishing his neglected drink with a small flourish. At Ellie's wide-eyed look, 'It's okay, darling. I would not have blamed her, the same way I have not blamed any of my siblings, and they, at least, actually knew me.'

'Have you… met Zadkiel?' Chloe asked as the conversation lulled. 'I remember you said there's a bunch of angels you've never met.'

'I haven't met him, no,' Ellie said. 'Us Nephilim, we sort of kept out of his way.'

Lucifer's brows furrowed. 'Why?'

Ellie shrugged and looked about the room haplessly. 'He's the Angel of Righteousness, you know?' she said. 'And we're Nephilim, a species that were never really supposed to exist – ' she lowered her voice, ' – and we're all illegitimate, which having all been born in eras where that was kinda taboo, our entire existences aren't exactly particularly righteous, you know?'

'Oh, sweetie,' Chloe breathed. 'He wouldn't judge you for existing!'

'Especially not if your Grandfather didn't,' Lucifer scoffed. 'But darling, it really doesn't matter. You and Rory are Morningstars, that is all that matters.'

'I should go to her,' Ellie said nervously after a pause, in which her eyes had shone with gratitude. 'Make sure she's alright.' She smiled at her father. 'It's getting late, I can stay in Heaven tonight, give you two some alone time. Can I stay over tomorrow night, though?'

'Of course you can, darling!' Lucifer smiled brightly at her. 'Especially if you're doing a girls' night too, keep the intoxication contained somewhat, first time drinking in a bar with your own ID, after all…'

'I won't get inebriated Lucifer,' Ellie laughed. 'It's Rory you've got to watch out for.'

'It would be really nice if Rory came tomorrow,' Chloe said to her. 'But she doesn't have to, okay? If she wants space, if she wants away from me, that's fine, it's completely up to her.'

'She said she'd go,' Ellie shrugged. 'So she probably will.'

She rose delicately to her feet, and Lucifer and Chloe did the same. She hugged both of them, and Chloe felt the same spread of warmth as before. 'Thank you for a lovely afternoon, Chloe,' she said. 'And Lucifer, thank you for dinner.'

Lucifer smiled softly at Chloe as Ellie disappeared in a brief flash of white. 'It's lovely to see her coming out of her shell with you,' he said.

'She's such a sweetheart,' Chloe sighed with a smile of her own. 'I just want to take all the pain and insecurity away, you know? From both of them.'

'As do I,' Lucifer sighed heavily, pulling her into an embrace. 'Though I know I've still got such a long way to go with them both.'

'You're trying so hard,' Chloe said softly. 'I can't speak for Rory, but Ellie knows that, and she's so happy with you.'

'She doesn't seem happy,' Lucifer sighed, equally soft.

'She's worried about her sister,' Chloe said patiently. 'She wants to spend time with you, to be close to you, but not at the risk of isolating Rory.'

'Did she tell you this?'

Chloe shook her head. 'She didn't need to. You know what she did tell me? What she really wants?'

'What?' His eyes widened, desperate. 'What does she desire? Tell me, I'll have it granted to her in a heartbeat.'

She smiled at him affectionately. 'She wants family,' she told him. 'She desperately wants Rory to resolve her issues with you, so that she can settle with you and her.'

'I want that too,' he confessed, softly, longingly. 'So much. Us, the twins, Trixie… that would be so lovely.'

'It really would,' she agreed.

They kissed, long and slow.

'Chloe…' he said softly when they eventually parted. 'There's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time now. I was going to ask on our last date night, but then that magician went and got murdered and spoilt it… and then again several times since, but there's been interruption after interruption... I've been waiting for the perfect moment, but I'm starting to think that maybe we won't get a perfect moment, and quite honestly, since when has waiting really done anything for us?'

'Lucifer,' she breathed as he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a familiar-looking velvet case.

'I… I find I don't completely know what to say,' he said, somewhat flustered, as he twirled the case a couple of times between his fingers. 'There's a lot of things that are uncertain right now. The girls, my siblings, the mechanics of the universe… None of us can be certain of the future, but what we can control is what we do right now. And if one thing is certain, it's how I feel about you.' He smiled at her, eyes full of love, and Chloe felt her own eyes leaking. 'I love you, Chloe. And whether the future has us on Earth, or Heaven, or somewhere in between, we'll be partners through it all.' He took a deep, though shaky, breath, and steadily knelt before her on one knee, gently taking one hand in his. 'Chloe Jane Decker… would you consider making me a very happy Devil, and a very happy God, and agreeing to marry me?'

'Lucifer,' she choked on a happy sob, and knelt down too to embrace him. 'Yes, yes of course!'

They both laughed, her with joy, him with relief. Identical wide grins adorned their faces when they eventually parted and straightened.

'I originally had a whole evening of romantic shenanigans planned,' he explained. 'Only then dear old Carol had to go and ruin it with his investigation.'

Chloe laughed again, and she leant upwards to kiss his cheek. 'It does not matter,' she assured him softly. 'What matters is that we're both here, right now.'

Lucifer gently removed the ring from the case, and Chloe took a moment to admire its beauty. Unlike the jewel he had given her in Heaven, this piece was a thin, elegant band expertly interwoven by twinkling diamonds. It did occur to her that it probably cost more than her entire apartment complex, but she adored its simplicity.

'I… I had an inscription engraved inside,' he told her softly as she admired it.

Chloe carefully peered at the inside of the platinum band. 'The Devil and the Detective,' she read, squinting slightly, 'Partners 'til the end… Oh, Lucifer…' A tear slipped down her cheek as he gently eased the ring onto her finger, and then she claimed him with a passionate kiss.

'I am so grateful to you, Chloe,' he said after a moment, when they eventually parted for breath. 'For taking this – all of this – into your stride the way you have. Impending Godhood, agreeing to be my consultant and my wife, all of the drama with my dickhead twin, Dan coming back to Earth, my children…'

'I love you,' Chloe replied softly, reaching up a hand to stroke his cheek. 'And whatever happens next we will figure it out together, I know we will.' She smiled softly at him as she pondered once more the immediate future. 'Though I can't help but wonder what Michael's up to in Hell.'

'Something nefarious, no doubt,' Lucifer said, pulling her closer. 'Amenadiel said he would investigate the soul whose Loop he's been hiding in, and we're meeting tomorrow to discuss his findings.'

'Maybe I can join you and help?' Chloe suggested. 'Amenadiel's probably busy with field training and studying for his exams. If he can find out the person's name, and roughly when they were alive, I can take over investigating here.'

'My dear Detective,' he said fondly, leaning in to kiss her again. 'That does sound like a good idea. My brother could probably do with the break, as you say.'

'Are you meeting Azrael tomorrow too?' she asked.

Lucifer nodded. 'Hopefully the whole story of what happened to her blade can be put to rest as well,' he said.

'You don't still think Rory did it, do you?'

'No,' Lucifer shook his head. 'But it has to be someone close to her, for her to cover for them.'

'Interesting,' Chloe nodded. 'Well, if anyone can uncover who did it, it'll be you.'

'It'll be us,' Lucifer corrected her, taking her hands to kiss them. He paused midway.

'You okay?'

'Chloe – the other ring… it's changed colour!'

'Do you often come here yourself, Cora?' Rory asked as the two Nephilim landed in Purgatory. The landscape remained unchanged since her last visit, quiet, slow, grey and monotonous. Not a single mortal soul could be seen on the barren horizon. 'I seldom see you outside of our garden.'

'When I was a fledgling,' she said, in her usual soft, sing-song voice. 'The years before Sachairi and Sophea were lonely.' She fixed Rory with an intense stare. 'Our visit here must be fleeting, for Earth moves on regardless. This place shall not know consistent time until the new age brings forth two miracles, and when the Old Book is found anew.'

'Makes little sense, but par for the course,' Rory shrugged. 'I hear you, though, we need to be quick here.' She looked around the grim island. 'You said something about showing me things? And a change?'

'Powers of flesh and powers of blood,' Cora reiterated. 'Loops of time weave loops of life.'

'What does that mean?'

'Many things,' her cousin sang. 'But I have sensed a change within your soul, Rory. You have new powers.'

Rory huffed, torn between being exasperated and impressed. 'You know my powers,' she said. 'You know I scarcely use them, and you know why.'

Cora nodded easily with a soft hum. She took the tiny, red-leafed twig she had been holding since they had left their heavenly garden and deftly threw it into the empty, parched grey land. The effect was instantaneous: another large, red-leaved tree shot up from the ground and grew outwards, branching with identical flat red leaves.

'Holy shit, Cora,' Rory exclaimed, shielding her eyes from the sudden burst of colour in the empty landscape. She recovered quickly and smirked. 'Is that my new celestial power? Divine horticulture?'

Cora snorted softly in amusement. 'I forgot you were going to say that,' she said. 'But no, your lot has been, and will be, far greater.'

Rory peered at her curiously. 'Go on.'

Cora fixed her with another intense stare as they stood together under the new tree. 'As the future is my realm,' she spoke slowly, 'The past and present shall be your own.'

Rory nodded after a few seconds of processing. 'So… I'll have visions? Like you do? But of stuff that's already happened?'

Cora tilted her head back and forth in a so-so manner. 'Flashes will come to you,' she explained. 'But what you desire to find you must seek.'

'Righto,' Rory said after another moment. 'That's… actually pretty cool. Beats the animals thing that Grandfather gave me, and seems less intrusive than the whole desires thing from Lucifer. Where's this come from?'

'I doubt you wish to know at present,' Cora said, with an apologetic smile.

'No worries,' Rory grinned. 'I'll just look myself.'

But Cora stayed her with a touch on the arm. Such a gesture always shocked Rory, for, like her, Cora kept all physical contact to a minimum. 'You must not seek your own past, your own mind, your own soul,' she warned her, voice much sterner than usual. 'If you look behind your own face, you are lost to all.'

'O-kay,' she amended after a moment. She tilted her head. 'Am I done now? In the last five years, I've got wings, immortality, and now a range of cool party tricks. Is that it?'

'I cannot say,' Cora said with another wry smile. 'Do you wish to practice in a space you won't be found?'

'Alright,' Rory agreed. 'Wait – can Ellie do this too? Seems only fair we'd find out together. She's busy fluttering around Lucifer and his favourite human like a sad sycophant right now, but she'd be around at some point…'

'Ellie will discover a new gift of her own soon, a different one,' Cora said. 'And she has already returned to the City of Silver. Time, you recall, flows not like a regular rivulet.'

Rory nodded. 'Fair enough. So what do I do? Is it a self-actualisation thing, or?'

'As it grows stronger within you,' Cora said. 'Physical and spiritual proximity will strengthen your sight. It will take time. Months, perhaps years. But for now – ' she gestured to the tree, ' – a little divine horticulture can help.'

Rory took another step closer to the tree, curiosity trumping any kind of concern.

'Think of someone,' Cora said softly, as Rory instinctively put out a hand to touch the white bark. 'And see them.'

Rory gently placed one hand against the tree, her twin sister still on her mind.

Her eyes rolled backwards in her head.

Sachairi and Sophea sat together quietly in a secluded alcove in Heaven's grand library. The spot they had chosen suited them down to the ground, as it was well hidden, and some distance from the few human souls that roamed the aisles. Soft sunlight streamed in through tinted windows, spreading tiny rainbows of light across the richly decorated space. Sophea flicked eagerly through one of the humans' new fictional releases, while her twin brother doodled slowly on an old ream of parchment. Rory had gifted him a new pen set when she had returned from her solo trip to Earth the week before – a biro pen set, apparently, and he was keen to practice with the newer human implements.

'This is extraordinary,' he had remarked to his sister several times. 'I never thought I'd say this, but I don't think I'll ever use a quill again.'

Neither twin noticed Ellie's arrival until she stood right in front of them.

'Hello,' Sophea said in surprise. 'Didn't think we'd see you for another Earth-day or two. Everything alright?'

'I thought I would give Lucifer and Chloe some alone time,' Ellie explained.

'Are they engaged to be wed yet?' Sachairi asked curiously. 'There's gossip all over the Silver City that a proposal is imminent.'

'Soon I imagine,' Ellie shrugged. 'Anything else I've missed while I've been gone?'

'Not much,' Sachairi said. 'I saw Adam loitering by the Gates earlier, but apart from that it's been a quiet day.'

'Why would he do that?' Ellie said curiously. She had seen the first man a few times over the centuries, but had never interacted with him.

'Why wouldn't he?' Sophea shrugged. 'Our garden, the other garden, the valley, the view of Granda's palace in the far horizon – the whole region near the Gates is class. And the Gates themselves are nothing short of spectacular.'

'Aye, fair enough,' her twin brother agreed.

Ellie wrung her hands in nervous agitation. 'Have either of you seen Rory?'

Sophea snorted. 'In here? Do you even know your own twin?'

The question had been light, sarcastic, teasing, but it was enough for Ellie to burst into tears.

'Oh, no, Ellie!' Sophea said in dismay, shifting herself awkwardly on the cushioned bench to wrap her younger cousin in a hug. She rocked her gently, the way she had when she was little, until her sobs subsided. 'Hey, I'm sorry.'

'Ellie, what happened?' Sachairi asked, abandoning his drawing to peer at her in concern.

'Sometimes I don't actually think I do know my sister any more,' Ellie said melancholically. And she recounted her entire afternoon.

'Damn,' Sophea said when she had finished. 'We'll not be letting Rory cook us any meals for a few millennia, noted.'

'Behave, sister,' Sachairi said, noticing Ellie's continued distress. 'It does seem that you've reached something of an impasse. You're desperate to know about Rory's lived experience on Earth, while she's equally desperate that you'll not know.'

'I just don't understand why,' Ellie vented. 'We're sisters, two halves of a whole. She knows everything about me…'

'She's a tough, clever, warrior angel that grew up in a dangerous place during a period of civil unrest,' Sophea reasoned. 'To be honest, I don't want to know the sort of stuff she probably had to do to survive that… at least me and Sach were out of there by the time the moon turned after our twelfth birthday. The western isles of the Cursed Islands were a right hellhole.'

'Rory's going through a lot right now,' Sachairi agreed. 'Be patient with her, Ellie. Her soul is tainted, damaged, cracked, sure, but still pure, and she'll come round eventually as always.' He paused, pondering a change in topic. 'Your father's queen-to-be seems decidedly wise.'

'Like Lucifer, Chloe has been so kind to me,' Ellie sighed, finally calming, with a soft smile. 'Rory mistrusts her, but I think she will do wonderful work here.'

'That's good,' Sophea said. 'It's been a while since Heaven last had a queen. Not in any of our lifetimes. I can't wait to meet her.'

They lapsed into comfortable silence.

'To answer your question from before,' Sachairi added eventually, 'I have not seen Rory. Nor Cora, for some time, come to that. Perhaps they are together somewhere.'

The effect Rory felt upon placing her hand against the trunk of the tree was instantaneous. Her eyes rolled back in her head, a strong jolting sensation spread across her gut, making her nauseated, and she felt as though she was falling…

The strange symptoms subsided almost as quickly as they began. Rory could still feel the smooth wood of the tree under her hand, though the giant plant had vanished. Rather than the subdued tones of Purgatory, Rory instead recognised one of the Silver City's many beautiful valleys. This one was not far from the Gates.

The presence of another celestial startled her. She spun on her heel to see Ellie walking the other way. Only… this wasn't really Ellie… was it? She was so short, chubbier in the face, her blonde hair curling at her waist rather than her shoulders.

'Ellie?' she asked.

There was no response.

Rory belatedly remembered Cora's words. 'As the future is my realm, the past and present shall be your ownThink of someone, and see them.'

Rory shrugged and followed along after her much younger-looking twin. It had been her she had thought of when she had placed her hand on the tree.

'There you are, little one,' a long-lost, familiar voice said, and Rory could only watch on longingly as a young Ellie turned to face someone she had not seen for many years.

'Hello Uncle Uri,' Ellie chirped, her voice comparatively a high-pitched warble. 'You wanted to see me?'

'I did,' the angelic welcomer of souls affirmed with a small smile. 'I have news for you – I spoke with Father earlier.'

Ellie's ears pricked up and her head tilted curiously. 'Should Rory hear this too? I can go get her. I have wings now!' She flexed her shoulders proudly, but did not call forth her wings. Rory snorted. She had never felt jealousy towards her twin for getting her wings ten years earlier than she did, though she had spent many a night wondering exactly why.

'Your Uncle Michael has her,' Uriel explained patiently, regarding the young Nephilim before him with a mixture of confusion and affection. 'Do you want to hear what I heard?'

Ellie practically bounced up and down in her childish exuberance. 'Oh yes please!'

The two of them sat down on the jade-coloured slope. Rory sat down too, though peculiarly, she could not feel the texture of the grass.

'God has decided that you are old enough and wise enough to spend some time on Earth,' Uriel told her. 'You will be placed with a human family for a little while so that you can learn the ways of the world, and perhaps grow taller, too.'

Ellie took a minute to mull over his words. 'I shall miss home,' she told him solemnly. 'But I am grateful to Grandpa for the opportunity. So when do Rory and I go? Where will we go?'

'Soon,' her uncle confirmed. 'And I am not sure where.'

'Hopefully somewhere pretty,' she said, reaching out her small hands to pick at the nearby flowers. 'Rory likes nature, and I like the sea.' She searched Uriel's face for a moment. 'Rory is coming with me, isn't she?'

Uriel faltered momentarily. 'She too will go to Earth,' he nodded.

'We'll be together though, right?' Ellie said, eyes widening.

Uriel's hesitation was answer enough.

'No!' Ellie cried out in horrified dismay. Even from the distance she was, Rory could feel the waves of pure terror washing over her, as her breathing came in short, sharp pants and tears welled in her eyes. 'No, no, no! Why is Grandpa separating us? What did we do wrong? Whatever it is we can do better. No, Uncle, please tell me it's not true!'

Uriel looked briefly alarmed at her outburst, but placed a hand on her shoulder to ground her. 'You did nothing wrong,' he assured her. 'But clearly, God thinks it best you grow up apart. And we are not to question His judgement, are we?'

Ellie shook her head. 'No, of course not,' she said hastily, swiping at her eyes, even as her entire tiny body trembled. 'I would never disrespect Him so.'

'We are angels, Ellie, and we will live forever,' he said to her gently, and the words tore at Rory's heart. 'A little time away from your sister is nothing in the grand scheme of things. One day, it will be the merest distant memory.'

'I suppose so,' she said miserably.

Before either of them could say anything else, Rory felt a gentle tugging sensation spread through her body. She blinked, and the image changed completely…

She recognised the next place. It was one of the smallest of the Cursed Islands, perhaps a mile in diameter, and empty save for the ancient ruins of a castle. Rory had only visited once, a stopping place whilst she had been travelling, and as she noticed a flash of blonde hair round a corner of one of the stone-shrouded walkways she couldn't help but wonder how on Earth her twin had ended up there.

Rory followed once more behind her sister. Ellie was much more grown-up, now, looking barely younger than she did in the present. Her hair still flowed to her waist, and she wore a cream damask silk dress. She strolled briskly across the stone steps, twisting her head around the entire time, and Rory wondered who she was searching for.

She did not have to wait long. Ellie rounded another two corners, and on the second nearly collided with a figure with another recognisable face.

'Uncle Michael!' Ellie squealed, and wrapped him in a quick hug before the archangel could protest. 'I missed you so much!'

'Wow, you've… grown,' he replied eventually when she released him. 'Remi wasn't kidding, you kids do grow quicker when you're on Earth!'

'Guess so,' Ellie said with a shrug, grinning at him. 'So – how is everyone?'

'Fine,' Michael shrugged.

'Oh, come now, Uncle,' she wheedled. 'You can do better than that!'

'Still haven't lost that ridiculous accent, I see.'

Rory snorted. It wasn't exactly understandable that, given the centuries in Heaven, Ellie wound up talking like the father they had never met.

Ellie pouted. 'I haven't seen you in years, and that's what you're going for?' She rolled her eyes at him. 'Spill. What's going on at home?'

Michael smirked at her. 'Why don't you come find out for yourself?'

'Grandpa said – ' she trailed off and beamed at him. 'Wait – I can come back now?'

He nodded. 'You can fly yourself, though, right? I know you've got wings.'

Ellie inclined her head hesitantly. 'Been a while since I used them,' she mused. 'Humans, y'know? Oh, speaking of, I should probably say goodbye before I go disappearing forever.'

Michael snorted derisively. 'Why? They're just silly little humans.'

'Nice ones, though,' Ellie said. Then she jumped upwards with renewed excitement. 'Is Rory coming home too? Is she already there?'

Her uncle shook his head. 'She's to stay back for a few more weeks, Father still has plans for her.' At Ellie's crestfallen look, 'Hey, you think I'm happy about it? I've had a sneak peak every now and then, and she's had it far worse than you have, trust me.' He huffed, and his voice took on a slightly sardonic tone. 'She prayed to me so often, and Father never let me respond. At least next time, I can.'

Ellie huffed too. 'She never prayed to me!' She looked at him reflectively. 'This isn't a fear thing, right? You're not messing with me?'

Michael chuckled. 'Maybe she just likes me better than you,' he shrugged. 'Rory won't be far behind. I'm Father's right-hand now, you know? I get the odd bit of information.'

'Nice promotion,' she smiled, momentary insecurity forgotten. 'How so?'

'Amenadiel's wasting time chasing your unholy troublemaker of a father around elsewhere on Earth,' he told her with a shrug. 'The seat was ripe for the taking. I'm glad you're happy about it.'

'I've had good times here,' Ellie replied. 'But I'm happy to get back to the Silver City, truly. And I'll be even happier when my sister is back with me.'

'Right, let's go,' Michael said, a touch impatiently, though his eyes twinkled. 'This cursed atmosphere is doing nothing for my shoulder.'

'Of course,' Ellie breathed. 'Sorry. I'll be right behind you.'

Rory peered closer, partly wanting a view of Michael's wings, the pieces of divinity that no longer existed. But the now-familiar pulling sensation happened again, and when she blinked, the scene changed again.

Instead of going away, the hit of nausea grew stronger in Rory's gut, and almost every other time she blinked, new visions came.

Lucifer's penthouse, night, mere snatches of conversation between Ellie and Lucifer,

'…but Rory didn't come.'

'How come?'

'They… didn't exactly get along, she'd been furious with Him for years, they'd argued something awful when she came back from Earth, but I don't know what about.'

'…she did catch me off guard, what with the wing to the throat…'

'I am so sorry about her. I know she has been angry with you for some time, but I should have kept a better watch on her, I should have stopped her…'

Rory blinked.

Lucifer's eyes glowed red as he sat opposite Ellie.

'Oh, no, Eleonora, sorry, I… please don't be frightened!'

'It's okay, Rory does that sometimes too, but please don't tell her I said that. I don't think she knows…'

Rory blinked.

'As I understand it, he was close to you both, growing up?'

'Yeah, he preferred Rory, I think…'

Rory blinked.

'…sometimes I wish Rory would open up about her time on Earth, and that our family was slightly less dysfunctional…'

Rory blinked again, and this time the scene properly changed. Though still in the penthouse, light now streamed in from the open balcony windows.

'She'll be here soon, Lucifer, maybe she just got waylaid by our cousins. Just to, uh, prewarn you, Rory's still pretty mad at you. I apologise on her behalf in advance if she says anything hurtful.'

Rory blinked, and now Ellie was standing in Lux. She snorted briefly when she saw the ghost her sister was now talking to.

'Rory's nice, though perhaps not to you. I am sorry for what you have been through…'

Another blink took her from Lux to Chloe's apartment. Rory now recognised her sister's outfit as that which she had been wearing that very day.

'Do you think it will? Go wrong?'

'It's Rory… and big feelings. I imagine she will keep herself in check for Linda's benefit, though.'

Rory blinked.

'…she's blocked me, I can't feel anything! Why would she do that? What if they're in danger? What is poor Linda is in danger?'

'Maybe Rory's just trying to protect you? It's probably a very difficult discussion they're having…'

Rory blinked.

'…she's a bit different now.'

'Different how?'

'…she's so sarcastic, yet serious, and irritable all the time, in a way she seldom was when we were younger.'

'What was she like?'

'So much fun… She used to be so friendly to everyone…'

Rory blinked, and this time her face felt strangely hot.

'I so wish she and Lucifer would sort out their differences… this anger towards Lucifer of hers, it's not new, but it's so much more intense…'

She blinked.

'Rory!'

'Ellie, sweetie, it's okay.'

'Rory!'

'No, it's not! Nothing's okay with Rory any more, and now she's upset you both too!'

'AURORA!'

Rory suddenly felt herself wrenched backwards. Her stomach stopped jolting, and she briefly registered the loss of the wooden tree-trunk from her palm. She blinked once more, and saw Cora's concerned face staring down at her.

'Purgatory…' she said weakly. 'We're in Purgatory,'

'We are,' Cora said, her voice unusually hurried. 'Rory, you are not supposed to stray so long! You have to let go! If you look too long, you fall, you drown.'

'Huh?' Rory asked, feeling dizzy as she got to her feet. An itch at her nose had her swipe at her face, and her fingers were stained scarlet as she drew them back. 'Fuck, Cora, I'm bleeding! How?'

'Your body could not handle such a long vision,' Cora told her. She tore the hem of her white skirt, and handed her a piece of the fabric. 'Don't tilt your head back.'

'I know how to deal with a nosebleed, cousin.'

'Was it something interesting, at least?'

'Oh yes,' Rory drawled as she dabbed at her face. 'Very enlightening…'

'Do you have any questions?' Cora asked her softly, as she spread her wings. No way was the oldest Nephilim going to let her cousin fly in her current state.

Rory hummed. 'Tell me about Lucifer's favourite human,' she said after a moment. 'Is she even on your radar yet? Can we trust her?'

Cora smiled, eyes glazing as they always did when she prophesised. 'Chloe Decker's soul is as bright as fire, and pure as ice,' she sang. She trailed off and looked a little more serious. 'Though…'

'Though, what?'

Cora's face turned pensive. 'The end of her pain is the beginning of yours.'

'What does that mean?' Rory frowned, suspicion curling around her heart like a vice.

'We should get back,' Cora decided. 'I shall fly you… the time difference… you have much to do and say over the next few days. We must tarry no more here.'