And on with the story and sorry that you had to wait so long but I've had a lot on my plate lately.
But I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer, so the story continues.
But before you read the story and find out the "surprise", I would like to mention two things.
and Gemwing2012 have written a little Valentine's Day story and I would be very happy if you would like to read it as well. That would not only please me but also Gemwing.
2. I'm considering answering questions again that apply to this story as well as the sequel and prequel to my first Cuphead story.
However, not all questions will be answered as I have a lot planned and would like to surprise you.
Until then
A day has passed since Alicia was freed from the clutches of the devil and Djimmi the genie was also freed from his captivity. However, there was still one tiny little problem. Well, it wasn't that tiny. Alicia was now unintentionally the queen and wife of the devil from this world. Whether she wanted it or not. The marriage proposal he kept coming around with was now signed by her. However, she was only married to him in writing. But he would certainly try to kidnap her again to plan a wedding. Alicia knew the devil. "He'll probably be planning something big again".
"What does he want to plan?" Alicia's eyes widened as she heard Mugman's voice and looked up at the back of the sofa. From there, the three cups looked down to her and were very worried about her. Blood and Varian were too, but they didn't show it straight away.
Both had a different way of showing their concern. The productive kind, you might say, as they were both too busy and Alicia had to deal with the three cups that were still demanding an answer from her. "Come on, who's planning what?" Cuphead added to Mugman's question while Cuppy just nodded.
Oh man, now I'm in a pickle. Alicia breathed in and out to calm herself down before continuing. "I was just thinking out loud," she tried to talk herself out of it, but the three cups wanted to know what was bothering her. "Come on Al", "Yes Alicia, what's bothering you?". She thought about what she could say and decided to tell the three cups what was bothering her. It was something that had been bothering her for a long time. "I have the feeling that I've made a big mistake," she cuddled the pillow and sighed sadly while paying no attention to the three cups.
Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman looked at each other and guessed what Alicia meant when she mentioned big mistakes. "Do you think she blames herself for..." Mugman fell silent, looked at Alicia who sighed even more and whispered to the other two "that she's married to the devil now?". He didn't get an exact answer from either of them. But their facial expressions said a lot. On the one hand, they knew that it wasn't Alicia's fault because the devil had wished for it. But on the other... Well... They didn't have an exact answer. Alicia was actually innocent. She was more or less framed and was now the devil's wife unintentionally. Even though she had long been married and taken by Lucifer.
Alicia knew that too, but it would be difficult for her to explain it to her husband if he found out. Of course she felt guilty, but Cuppy knew that Lucifer would forgive her. After all, he was very gentle and treated her with care. He always showed her how much he loved her and that he would always protect her. She was his one and only. And no matter how often Alicia was in trouble, Lucifer came to rescue her. Alicia missed this very much. She longed to feel his fluffy fur again or to be near him. She wanted to have that feeling of security and concern again.
But unfortunately...
Knock! Knock!
"Who's that?" Cuphead asked with curiosity and went to the front door where there was still a knock. "Yes, yes, I'm already there," annoyed, he reached for the doorknob and turned it to the right to open the door. The door opened slowly. "So who's bothering us..." he suddenly fell silent and began to stammer. The others heard him and looked towards the front door, which blocked their view of who was standing outside. "A-A-Alicia" now Alicia was even more confused "Cuphead?" she got up and went to the front door to see who was standing outside.
"Who's standing..." her gaze wandered from Cuphead to the one at the front door.
The person's feet were light gray with short pointed claws that blended into black fur that covered the rest of the body except for the hands, of course. Alicia stared up and her lips smiled as she stared into the familiar yellow eyes that stared back at her, enamored and seductive. Tears of joy ran slowly down her cheek. She knew who was standing in front of her. Someone she had missed dearly since she had been trapped here on the Inkwell Isle's with Cuppy. "Hello Alicia my love" his fingers beckoned to her. You could tell he missed her too. Just like Alicia.
She didn't know whether he was standing in front of her in real life or whether it was all just a dream and she had just fallen asleep on the sofa without realizing it. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened. Alicia thought she would see Lucifer again, but then it was just a dream and in reality she was just lying in her bed.
But this time it didn't seem to be a dream. She felt the hand, or rather the thumb, caressing her cheek tenderly as she regained consciousness. "My love..." yes, she wasn't dreaming. In front of her stood Lucifer, the devil from the book, her husband. The person she had missed the most was standing right in front of her.
"Lucifer!" she jumped into his arms and hugged him deeply and tightly. She didn't let go of him. Why should she? Lucifer realized that she had missed him. He felt her snuggle deeper into his fur, her hands clinging to him and she cried? Why was she crying? It was far from a friendly cry, but rather a sad one. Something was wrong with Alicia and Lucifer wanted to know what. "My love, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He tried to lift her head but Alicia only buried her head deeper into his fur. He knew that something was bothering Alicia and decided to calm her down for the time being by slowly stroking her back with his fingers.
She calmed down a little but still clawed at his fur. Cuphead still stared fearfully at Lucifer until he realized that he didn't seem to be a threat. Not for nothing would Alicia bury herself in his fur. He took a closer look at Lucifer and immediately saw that although he resembled the devil, there were small and subtle differences. His horns were white and shorter, his fur was fluffier and longer, his hands and feet were light gray and had white claws instead of yellow ones. His nose and pupils were also black instead of red.
He also seemed to be taller. Or that's what it looked like for Cuphead. It was clear that Lucifer was not a danger. Even if he was the devil from the world Cuppy came from. Nevertheless, Cuphead seemed to respect him. Unlike the devil from this world.
However, the one who immediately reached for a weapon was Mugman, who was ready with a broom in his hand to "protect" Alicia from the devil. "Hold on Mugsy!" but Cuphead and Cuppy stopped him from doing so. "Cuphead, Cuppy why are you stopping me? That's the devil! He wants to take Alicia back with him and-" but before he could continue, Blood covered his mouth with his paw and made him shut up. Confused, all three cups looked up at him and were about to ask when Blood said.
"I think it would be best if Cuppy told us one more thing before you do something you'll end up regretting, Mugman" the wolf was right with the statement. The two brothers, Elder Kettle, Blood and Varian didn't know how Lucifer and Alicia got together and why she trusted him more and felt more comfortable with him than with the devil.
The group slowly learned that Alicia is married to Lucifer and that she got her demon powers from him. Cuppy also explained that Lucifer has changed a lot since he got together with Alicia and no longer terrorizes the inhabitants of the islands. He helped out more and offered his help to anyone he owed. Even the former debtors and Cuppy and his brother. You could tell that he had changed for the better and had become much more popular. However, he was still treated with respect because he was still the devil. Just not as fearsome as before.
"Oohh!" said Cuphead and Mugman. The latter still held the broom in his hands and hid it behind his back. But you could still see the handle, so there was no point in hiding the broom. Cuppy gave himself a face palm when he saw the nervous grin on Mugman's face.
But Lucifer didn't see the broom because he was busy calming Alicia, who was still crying even though he was scratching her behind her ears to calm her down. Tears were still streaming from her eyes as she said quietly in a repetitive and sobbing voice, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to". This statement confused Lucifer, however. What did she mean by that? What was she sorry for? He wanted to know and asked her in a soothing and gentle voice.
"Darling, it's all right" "It's not!" Alicia replied as she stared into his eyes. They were slightly red from all the crying and you could see some of the drying marks where the tears used to run. Her hoodie was also slightly wet from the tears. "I never wanted to sign this marriage proposal!" Now Lucifer was even more confused than before.
"What do you mean?" he really hoped she didn't mean him. Of course he still felt bad for what he had done to her before Cuppy and his brother fought against him and always apologized to her for it. However, the good Lucifer feared that there was another reason why she said that. He let her calm down first so that she could tell him everything that was on her mind and that she had needed to get off her chest for a long time. With tears and sobs she told him everything that had happened since she and Cuppy had been trapped here in this world. Lucifer therefore also learned about the devil from this world and how he tried several times to win Alicia over and get her to become his wife and queen.
She made it clear to him several times that she was repeatedly rejecting this by clinging to him again and not letting go. Lucifer admired this. He knew that Alicia was loyal to him and did not marry him for his power, his money or his position as some other demonesses would have done. But because she trusted him, loved him and, above all, felt comfortable with him.
Alicia's breathing was no longer hectic but calmed down with every stroke Lucifer gave her back. The tears stopped, too, and her lips, previously drooping with sadness, slowly lifted into a smile.
She was back to her old self again and smiled at Lucifer with a broad smile. "Are you feeling better, my love?" he asked with caution and curiosity. He didn't want her to start crying again. He didn't like it when his wife and queen was sad. "I'm feeling better" reassured not only Lucifer but also Cuphead, Cuppy, Mugman, Blood, Varian and Elder Kettle. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief until the three cups suddenly realized that Elder Kettle was standing next to them and was no longer cleaning up in the kitchen. "Elder Kettle!" shouted the three cups. Alicia, Lucifer, Blood and Varian flinched in shock as the three cups shouted.
They hadn't even noticed that Elder Kettle was with them. Nor had he uttered a word. The group already suspected this because Lucifer is, after all, the devil himself. Just not the devil from this world.
But Elder Kettle didn't seem to mind. He didn't even flinch or seem to show any sign of fear. "What's the matter boys?" asked Elder Kettle as he raised the corners of his eyes. "Can't you see we have company?" Without a care in the world, Elder Kettle walked up to Lucifer and motioned for him to come in since he and Alicia were still standing outside the front door.
Neither of them said no and went into the little house. Elder Kettle closed the front door behind Lucifer. Fortunately, no one had to explain to him who Lucifer was because he had heard everything from the kitchen. "Well, that explains a lot," he said, staring curiously at Lucifer and then Alicia.
"What do you mean, Elder Kettle?" Alicia asked curiously, unaware that she was slowly transforming into her demon form. Her tail wrapped around Lucifer's. "What I mean is that I now know where you got these wonderful powers from." With an outstretched index finger, he pointed from Alicia to Lucifer, who smiled nervously.
Alicia already suspected that Elder Kettle would know this. She wanted to tell him, but had either forgotten or never had the time. But now that he knew for himself that she got her demon powers from Lucifer and not through a curse or by chance. "But since I see that your husband is not a threat to us, he can stay here." The answer surprised not only Alicia and Lucifer, but also the others who thought that Elder Kettle would chase Lucifer away. But he seemed to have quickly changed his mind and let Lucifer in.
"That's good to hear," said Alicia in a relieved voice. She was not only relieved by Elder Kettle's statement, but also by the wonderful feeling she was experiencing. She hadn't felt this feeling for a long time.
"But unfortunately there's bad news," Elder Kettle mentioned, waking up the half-asleep Alicia who was now standing bolt upright and no longer leaning against Lucifer's stomach. He himself, however, only looked from Alicia to Elder Kettle, who explained to both of them that there were only three beds in the guest room and that there was no fourth bed for Lucifer to sleep in. However, this didn't seem to bother Lucifer, who kindly explained that he would love to share a bed with Alicia. Elder Kettle already suspected this answer and agreed as long as the other roommates in the guest room had no problems getting another roommate.
Blood, Cuppy and Varian agreed that Lucifer could sleep in the guest room with them. "We don't see a problem with that and as long as Alicia is happy and content, so are we," Blood explained, shaking Lucifer's hand and welcoming him. You could see immediately that both were the same size. Well, not quite the same size. Lucifer's horns were a centimeter bigger than Blood's ears. But they both looked at each other at eye level. This was a little worrying for Varian as he felt a little small now.
But he wasn't the only one because Alicia felt the same way, even though she's been with Lucifer for a long time.
What she hadn't felt for a long time, however, was a sense of carefreeness. She felt free and without being kidnapped by the devil at any moment. Alicia was finally reunited with her husband and was the happiest person in the world. Well, at least on the Inkwell Isles.
What she and the others didn't know, however, was that in the underworld the devil was just getting up and had no idea that his darling Alicia was already united with her real husband. He got up as calmly as every day, stretched, took his trident and went out of his bedchamber either with sleepy eyes or with eyes beaming with joy to receive news in the throne room from either Henchman, Amnon or, on bad days, Stickler.
"What a wonderful day," he said as he slowly walked down the stairs that led from his bedchamber to the throne room. Henchman and Amnon were already waiting for him there, grinning nervously at him while tears of sweat ran down their cheeks. What's more, they were both standing in front of his mirror, which they covered with a curtain. The devil noticed this and asked them both "Why are you two standing in front of the mirror and why is the curtain in front of it?".
Both demons were sweating with nervousness and didn't know what to say. There was a reason why. They wanted to prevent the devil from seeing in the mirror. This one showed Alicia being hugged by her husband while he kissed her forehead. The devil was not supposed to see this sight as Alicia belonged to him too. Her signature was on the marriage proposal next to that of the devil.
However, the devil still wanted to know why the two of them were standing in front of the mirror and it was hidden by the curtains. He didn't give in and asked again and again. Henchman and Amnon knew that they couldn't fool the devil for long and had to tell him the truth, or rather show him the truth, otherwise he wouldn't believe them if they told him that Alicia was with a copy of him.
"You're both pulling my leg, aren't you?" the devil laughed as if it were a joke, but his laughter faded as Henchman and Amnon each pulled on one of the two strings that opened the curtain and gave the devil a view of the mirror. His laughter disappeared as quickly as it came and was replaced by horror. His eyes widened as he saw Alicia in the arms of someone furry. The fur resembled that of a wolf. The hands, however, did not. They looked very similar to the devil's, only they were light gray and had white claws instead of yellow ones.
He pressed his face up against the mirror and wanted to know who the person Alicia was cuddling was. "W-W-Who, who is that?! And why is he cuddling with my darling Alicia?" stuttered the devil who still couldn't believe what he was seeing. Henchman and Amnon themselves did not know who the person was as they only saw a part of him. However, as the mirror zoomed further away, the three demons gasped and dropped their jaws.
The person looked exactly like the devil himself, but there were a few differences apart from the hands, feet and claws. The horns were shorter and white like the claws, the nose was black instead of red and the eyes shimmered yellow with black pupils. "Oh, I didn't know the boss had a brother" Amnon broke the silence and quickly realized that this wasn't exactly the best situation to say this sentence.
The devil was on fire and was about to explode with rage like a volcano. Henchman and Amnon therefore kept their distance from the devil and hid behind one of the many pillars to escape the ensuing explosion. "I have no BROTHER!" roared the devil and was completely engulfed in flames while the fire around his throne room rose higher and higher the more the devil roared.
"And I won't let a cheap copy of me take away my future queen and wife Alicia!" the flames lowered again and the devil calmed down. However, Amnon and Henchman still remained hidden behind the pillar, which was slightly coked and had taken a heavy blow. The impact mark was clearly visible one head above the two demons.
Both knew what would have happened had they not been hiding behind the pillar in time and swallowed nervously before turning their attention to the devil, who drew his trident and prepared to return to the surface.
"Do you think this will end well?" Amnon asked with a trembling voice. "I suspect not," Henchman replied, his eyes wandering to the mirror. Both demons looked at the mirror and saw that Alicia was no longer in the cottage but had gone into the forest with the others, especially the "copy" next to her, apparently to visit the Inkwell Isle.
That's right, after Alicia and the others told him about all the adventures they had so far, Lucifer wanted to see the Inkwell Isle's of this world. After all, he knew every nook and cranny of the others and wanted to explore this one. Preferably alone with Alicia, but the others insisted on coming with him. And to be honest who can't say no when three mugs are looking at you with puppy dog eyes?
Nobody could. Not even Lucifer himself, who just smirked and finally gave in. "We can't wait to show you the pier, the movie theater, the prison me and Mugsy were in and the carnival!" Alicia, Mugman and Cuppy swallowed nervously when they heard the last two things. Lucifer, however, didn't seem to mind.
However, the others had to explain to him why these two places were rather reluctant to be included on the list of places to visit. Mugman was reluctant to return to prison and Alicia and Cuppy knew that the carnival, or rather Carn-Evil, should be avoided. Unless Cuphead wants to lose his soul at the skeeball machine again.
"I think we should show him the city first before we look at the rest of the Inkwell Isle's" Cuppy and Mugman agreed with a nod of their heads. Blood and Varian, who were with the group, were of the same opinion. "Oh man, really now?" sulked Cuphead, who had enjoyed going to these two places. But the majority voted for the city they were going to. No ifs, ands or buts.
So he gave in and followed the others. The road to the city was still a long way off, but one question still remained. Should Lucifer walk into the city as he was or should he go in disguise? After all, he was also the devil and could cause panic in the city.
Again, when Alicia was at the pier with the three cups to ride the new attraction, the devil also appeared behind them and although they were standing in a long line, none of the residents there seemed to be afraid of the devil but completely ignored him as if he were just a normal resident.
So it shouldn't bother anyone if Lucifer doesn't walk around in disguise. Alicia knew that Lucifer hated walking around in disguise. Of course he could be himself when he was with Alicia in her world. However, as soon as he went out with her or there were visitors, he had to take on his human form. However, this would be a bit tricky here. Especially as Alicia didn't want chaos to ensue in the city because of her and Lucifer. What Alicia couldn't see ahead, however, was the devil peering out from behind a tree and watching the group.
He fixed his eyes on Alicia and Lucifer, whom he still saw as a copy of himself. Even though there were minimal differences between the two, the devil was still of the opinion that Lucifer was just an impostor and would take Alicia away from him. "Just try to take my dearest Alicia away from me" he growled "I'll keep bringing her back to me until she admits to being mine!" He didn't seem to care that Alicia had no interest in him and was happy with Lucifer.
Her real husband!
But before he could grab Alicia, he first had to separate her from the group. Alicia was unreachable in the group. Alone, however, he had a chance. His grin turned into a laugh when he thought of a wonderful idea that he immediately put into practice. The devil aimed his trident at the sky and fired a blue bolt of lightning at a cloud that was whistling happily until it was struck by the lightning and the cloud began to cry.
As the cloud wept, its color changed from white to dark gray and rain fell from the cloud. The cloud wandered over the forest as it slowly poured its rain over the group. Lucifer heard the cloud crying and realized that the rain was getting closer and closer to the group.
"Let's see how the walk turns out when you al get wet from head to toe," grinned the devil, who could picture Alicia, who was completely soaked, leaving the group and going to him to dry off in the underworld and marry him.
At least that's what he hoped. Lucifer was the first to notice the shadow of the incoming cloud, still crying like a toddler who didn't get any candy, causing rain to fall slowly towards the group. The devil laughed mischievously and rubbed his hands together, hoping that his plan would work. However, Lucifer was one step ahead of him and snapped his fingers.
The rain fell on the group but didn't get them wet. This confused the devil greatly. "What?! Why aren't they getting wet?!" he asked himself, scratching his head thoughtfully. There was a reason why the group didn't get wet. Lucifer had conjured up an invisible barrier around the group with his powers that prevented them from getting wet.
However, the devil was not spared for long as an even bigger rain cloud appeared above him, which was even fatter and rained its entire load of rain down on him. The rain cloud was very relieved about this and continued on his way while the wet devil just looked annoyed and shook his body like a dog to get most of the water out of his fur. Nevertheless, he still looked like an old mop that hadn't been cleaned for a long time.
But the devil did not give up that easily. The little bit of rain was just the beginning of the big thing he had planned. He already knew or suspected that Lucifer was not so easy to figure out. Nevertheless, the devil gladly accepted the challenge and inconspicuously followed the group who had just reached the town and entered it.
As Alicia suspected, none of the townspeople seemed to react to Lucifer's arrival. They went about their daily lives, walking home with their full shopping bags, eating ice cream or sweets or chatting while some even burst out laughing. With the exception of a "good morning" or "hello", the residents were quite neutral and seemed to show no sign of fear when they shook Lucifer's hand. "Okay, that's a bit strange on the one hand, but also relieving," Lucifer said with a smile on his face.
Normally, the inhabitants of the other Inkwell Isles were considerate and always avoided Lucifer as much as they could. Nobody wanted to feel his wrath and therefore always tried to make him happy and content. You could say he was treated like royalty even though he was not the king of the Inkwell Isle's but only of Inkwell Hell.
What was not normal for Lucifer, however, was the following. As he and the others rounded the corner, Alicia realized far too late that she had run into someone carrying stacks of boxes containing cakes that were now flying in the air and threatening to fall on the group and nearby residents.
But with a levitation spell, Alicia and Lucifer prevented this and the cakes ended up back in the boxes in front of the one that crashed into Alicia as she turned the corner.
It was a resident who looked very similar to Pete from the Disney Mickey cartoons. Especially the old ones like Steamboat Willie. Like Pete, he wore gray blue dungarees with one flap missing and a white button. Like almost all of the residents, he also wore gloves which, unlike Cuphead and Mugman, were white instead of yellow. His fur was completely black except for his face. This was white and his nose was a light reddish color that almost looked like pink.
"Hey, can't you watch where you're going?" the cat said in an annoyed voice as he tilted his head to the side to see who he was running into. Or in his statement who ran into him. Alicia knew he meant her and apologized to him. However, like Resetti in Animal Crossing, the cat didn't seem to accept a simple apology and demanded more from Alicia than just an apology.
However, she didn't know what to say and panicked slightly. It was the same fear she had when she was forced to rehearse for a play in seventh grade that she didn't feel like doing. However, her teacher at the time insisted and forced Alicia to say the lines for the character she was playing in front of her whole class without making any mistakes.
It was as clear as mud that she couldn't do this and you could tell that she didn't know how to apologize to the cat. The cat waited impatiently and was already stamping his left foot up and down until he suddenly panicked. His teeth rattled like a rattle snake while his pupils became smaller and smaller and his body plus the crates began to tremble. Cuphead, Cuppy and Mugman wondered why the cat was suddenly afraid until they looked at Alicia, or rather at the person standing behind her while Alicia pondered.
Lucifer seemed to glow red while his horns lit up golden. His eyes looked even more menacing than usual and were fixed only on the cat. "Did I just hear you right? You don't accept my wife's apology and demand more even though you're actually the guilty one?" The cat swallowed nervously and tried to talk his way out of it, but you could barely hear a word of the stuttering he was making.
He tried to talk his way out of it, but the others agreed with Lucifer. The apology should be enough as both Alicia and Lucifer prevented the cake from going to waste. And yet the cat demanded more than that. Yep, definitely Pete's descendant. Alicia thought to herself, while the cat of course accepted the apology and disappeared immediately. Lucifer calmed down again and hugged Alicia to reassure her, while the three cups stroked her legs and looked up at her with concern. You could tell she wasn't feeling well. On the one hand, she felt guilty, but on the other hand, the cat was guilty himself. After all, he could have heard her.
Cartoon logic, she thought to herself again and wanted to forget the experience. But how? Cuphead was thinking and, as was typical in cartoons, a light bulb appeared above his head and lit up. He had an idea and decided to send Alicia to a place he had always wanted to visit. Alicia didn't know what to say and decided to follow the cup. Nothing worse could ever happen. Or could it?
Well, the devil was not far away and was on the roof of one of the many houses in the town. Why he was up here was because he wanted to see where Alicia was. With binoculars he looked around until he saw a pair of horns that belonged to Lucifer. "Ah, there you are!" he grinned diabolically as his eyes fell on two employees who were in the process of moving a piano to the top floor of the house.
There were two dogs trying with all their strength to hoist the piano up using a pulley. Two other employees were already waiting there to take the piano to the terrace before it was brought inside. The piano was already halfway up when Alicia and the others went through the underpass and had no idea that the two employees below were lifting a piano.
With snapping fingers, the knot of the rope used to lift the piano slowly came undone and threatened to crash onto the sidewalk with the piano to hit Lucifer.
The threads unraveled very quickly and the rope came undone and the piano threatened to fall. The devil saw this and closed his eyes because he didn't want to see how badly Lucifer was hurting himself. But unfortunately it didn't come to that. "What the? Where is the impact? Shouldn't the piano have fallen on this copy by now?" the devil asked himself and opened his eyes to see what was wrong.
Now the piano didn't even come close to reaching the ground as it was floating in the air thanks to the magic of Lucifer. The staff were extremely confused and at first thought they had drunk something wrong. But one of the two upper employees touched the piano to make sure it wasn't a hallucination.
"Let's take a break!" one of the employees suggested as Alicia and the others walked under the piano and greeted the rest of the employees as they went. Only the devil still seemed confused. Why didn't the plan work? he asked himself and stood in the place where the piano was supposed to fall and hit Lucifer. "Hmm... I must have misthought something".
You could say that because as soon as a second had passed, the magic that Lucifer had worked on the piano stopped working. The shadow of the piano got bigger and darker, which the devil noticed and of course, as it was usual in cartoons, he tried to run away. On the spot, of course, and could no longer avoid the piano, which fell directly on him with a loud crash. The sound of musical notes could be heard from afar, followed by a loud "OWWW!".
There was a lot going on in the park. The townspeople were sitting on benches, going for a walk or chatting. Children played on the grass, rode bikes, flew kites or played in the playground.
"And this is the city park," Mugman explained to Lucifer as the group entered the park. You could see that there was a lot going on in the park. Alicia and Lucifer saw both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Ribby and Croaks were teetering on a seesaw for whatever reason. This surprised not only Alicia but also Lucifer. "Why are they both wearing a suit and why are they teetering on a seesaw?" Alicia already suspected that her husband would say that and only gave him a slight shrug in response.
Sally Stageplay was also in the park with her husband. They were both walking across a bridge and then stopped in the middle to look at the lake and nature in general. Sally looked very similar to her book counterpart although there were small differences. Sure, she was thin, tall and had curly and fluffy blonde hair. However, the clothes were different.
She wears a white short-sleeved coat with a blue button under her chest over a light blue top, a pair of white gloves similar to Cuppy's with three black stripes in the middle, high-waisted wide sea-blue pants with a black band, and a pair of black Mary Jane shoes with small heels. Under her arm she carries a pale blue bag with gold details.
"Hey, isn't that Sally?" Cuppy asked himself as he looked towards the bridge, thinking at first that he had made a mistake. But his eyes were not mistaken. "Yes, it's Sally," confirmed Alicia, who wanted to run to her first. But she let it go because barely a second later Sally and her husband walked off the bridge and left the park.
Alicia really wanted to get to know her and build the same kind of relationship with her as she had with the baroness she had accepted as her goddaughter. However, Alicia had a rather uneasy feeling and didn't want to challenge it. Who knows how Sally would react to her. Lucifer noticed that Alicia was worried and tried to calm her down with a gentle caress. His hand ran tenderly and gently over her cheek and then slowly behind her ears, which he lightly scratched like a dog. Alicia felt it and her worries disappeared like sand in water. She was calmer than before and really enjoyed it.
She relaxed so much that she didn't even realize that she was now sitting on a park bench with Lucifer and lying in his arms while the others were busy themselves. Varian flew a homemade kite while Blood continued to study the treasure map to find out where the magical artifact he was looking for was and the three cups played on the playground nearby with some other children.
You could say it was quite relaxed if there was only one thing. The devil who had just entered the park and was already causing chaos by turning the hot dogs on a hot dog cart into snakes that chased the customers and the vendor. But the vendor and the customers from the hot dog cart were not his only victims. A couple of kids were rolling down a hill and laughing with joy until they saw something at the bottom of the hill that made their joy disappear.
It was a rock that was placed so that it was directly in the children's way as they rolled down the hill, all of them crashing into it like a pile of garden tools. The children groaned in pain while the devil rejoiced and chuckled slightly before hearing a familiar voice. "Oh that feels so good" the devil knew the voice. His tail wagged with joy and he followed the voice as the snake hotdogs chased more park visitors. A few of the snake hotdogs bit into the hotdog vendor's butt like a pack of wild dogs.
The devil continued to follow the voice until he reached a tree where the voice could be heard louder. He knew who the voice belonged to. Alicia my love. She was sitting directly behind the tree and was only a few steps away from him. The devil approached her quietly, hoping very much to take her with him to the underworld.
His hand was getting closer to her by the second. His pupils dilated as his heart beat faster and faster and he could see it pressing against his skin from the outside. His thoughts only showed how he held Alicia in his arms and how she caressed and seduced him by stroking his fur.
"Oh that feels so good" Alicia repeated in his mind while the devil stroked her cheek with his fingers. His cheeks themselves blushed more with each passing second as his tail wrapped around her waist and Alicia leaned her head against his stomach. He didn't want to let her go but wanted to continue seducing her and cuddling with her. He didn't care if Henchman, Amnon, Lilith, heck even if Stickler got on his nerves. He wanted to seduce Alicia, to love her and, above all, to plunge Inkwell Isle into chaos and fear together with her.
That was the only thing the devil wanted right now, so he focused on Alicia. Her shoulder was not far from his hand. They were almost touching, you could say. At last, my love, you will...
But however nice it will be for the devil to have Alicia for himself, he was unfortunately only number two in this race for Alicia's love. "I knew you liked it when I tickled you down there" because as the devil had to realize, Alicia was not alone behind the tree but with the very copy the devil despised so much.
The devil now saw the white horns hidden between the branches. Yes, Alicia did not say these words to him, but to the copy. His smile quickly disappeared and was replaced by a bitter, almost angry pout that turned into rage, which the devil immediately let out to an air balloon salesman. The greenish flash hit the balloons that were both on the cart and in the hands of the children and other park visitors.
"What's that screaming?" Alicia suddenly asked herself as the calm silence she and Lucifer were enjoying was suddenly interrupted by screaming. They both looked around and followed the source of the screaming with their heads and saw the balloon vendor and some park visitors running through the park screaming while being chased by vengeful balloons who seemed to want revenge.
Okay, that's strange. Since when do balloons chase people? wondered Alicia who didn't realize and knew that it was the devil's fault who left the park in a rage and didn't notice the explosion coming from the hot dog cart while the rest of the park visitors ran out of the park in panic to escape the hot dog snakes and the balloons.
Alicia and the others quickly realized that the park was now on fire and quickly decided to do something about it. Blood grabbed his wand and cast a spell on the clouds, causing it to start raining all over the park. Varian used a futuristic fire extinguisher which not only put out the fire but also made sure that the fire could no longer start so easily.
Meanwhile, the three cups tried to extinguish the fire as best they could with water, which they carried in buckets, as well as with sand. Alicia and Lucifer, on the other hand, tried to get themselves and the rest of the park inhabitants to safety by leading them to the exit. When they did, however, Alicia realized something and gasped in shock. They hadn't saved everyone yet. Five were still in the park and the flames would not stop burning. So without hesitation, Alicia went back into the park to help her friends. However.
"Dearest..." Alicia felt the hand on her shoulder and looked behind her at Lucifer, who was now staring at her with concern. Oh no, don't tell me you want to stop me from saving my friends. she thought at first but his words said otherwise "...let me help you" Lucifer knew he couldn't stop her and decided to help her instead.
Alicia didn't say no and transformed into her demon form, which made her immune to the fire. Ready, the two of them ran into the park while the sirens of the fire department could be heard outside as they arrived to deal with the problem.
The person causing the problem, however, had just appeared in Underworld and was more than angry and disappointed at the same time. The Devil actually wanted to bring Alicia to him so that the wedding and the ritual could be prepared. But instead he was more or less humiliated by the cheap copy. Henchman, Amnon and Lilith heard his footsteps as they chatted in the throne room, ready to greet the devil and his "queen". However, the devil came alone without Alicia and sat down on his throne, annoyed, while Henchman, Amnon and Lilith looked at him and said nothing.
Nobody knew what they should say, let alone whether they should leave it alone. Henchman decided to leave the throne room to get the devil a drink and the new newspaper. After all, the headlines always cheered him up when he was in a bad mood. Amnon, in turn, took the opportunity to pass on the good news to Silk and the others who didn't yet know about the other devil who was apparently already married to Alicia. This left the opportunity open for one of Alicia's rivals to ask the devil to make one of them his wife and queen.
Wagging his tail, he flew towards his master with his stubby wings while Henchman entered the throne room with a trolley carrying a cup and saucer, a kettle and the latest newspaper. "Duh boss I know you're not in the best mood right now but would a cup of tea and the latest issue of Inkwell Blotter improve your mood?" Henchman grinned nervously as he picked up the pot and slowly poured it into the cup.
With the full cup and the newspaper under his arm, he walked over to the devil, who was sitting on the throne room and breathing furiously. His nose quivered up and down so that you could see his nostrils. His temper was getting worse by the second and even the tea Henchman tried to give him didn't help.
Henchman noticed this and went back to the serving trolley with the cup and wanted to put it back on it. Before he did so, however, the Demon Imp felt someone pull the newspaper from under his arm. Confused, he looked behind him and his eyes narrowed as he dropped the cup in horror. The tinkling of breaking cup was hard to ignore.
The reason why Henchman reacted the way he did was because the devil was reading the newspaper, which didn't contain very happy news. To be more precise, it said who had put out the fire in the park. And it wasn't just the fire department, but also Alicia, her friends and the copy that the devil had been trying to get rid of all day.
His fur was on fire while the devil read the sentence and tried not to tear the newspaper, which was crumpling slightly, out of sheer rage. It was not only the text that made the devil furious, but also the photo above the text. Alicia was standing right next to the copy and let him stroke her cheek.
That was enough for him.
Enraged, he burst into flames, burning the newspaper right down to where he was holding it with his hands. The flames in the background shot up into the air like jet flames, while a wall of flames also rose up behind the devil. You could say that everything in the throne room was engulfed in flames except for the pillars as Lilith and a frightened Henchman appeared behind them. Both were able to escape the flames thanks to Lilith's ice magic and were therefore not reduced to ashes like the newspaper, the food cart and the kettle.
It was clear that the devil was not very happy about someone else making Alicia his wife and queen. No, he would not accept this. The devil should be the only one who should own Alicia and not a cheap copy. "I will try everything possible to separate the two of them!" he growled "Even if it means that I have to resort to heightened measures, I will not allow this cheap copy to take my dearest Alicia away from me!".
Lilith and Henchman looked at each other and didn't need to communicate to know that the devil had planned or was planning something big to take Alicia and get rid of the copy of himself. Because that's how the devil was. If he wanted something, he would take any risk to get it. He didn't care how many people got hurt in the process. He wanted to have Alicia for himself.
"Henchman!" the devil shouted in a deep, almost diabolical voice to bring the demon Imp to him, who flinched at the mention of his name. "Y-y-yes boss?" Henchman stuttered as he flew out from behind the pillar with his stubby wings and now stood behind the devil. He didn't turn around but ordered the following "I want you to prepare my finest demons" Henchman gulped when he heard that but he wasn't quite sure if the devil really meant that and asked "Uh, are you sure about that boss? I mean, normally you only use the demons to-" "PREPARE THEM!" the devil interrupted him and Henchman flew out of the throne room to prepare those very demons.
As Henchman already mentioned, the Finest Demons were actually only there for the use of warfare. Yes, the devil used them a very, very long time ago to terrorize the inhabitants of the Inkwell Isle's or to torture them for fun. He was the devil after all. What else would you expect from him. But to use them now for Alicia and the copy was a bit strange. At least in Lilith's eyes. She saw how much the devil had changed since he had fallen in love with Alicia. On the one hand, this pleased her. But on the other hand, she seemed to be afraid of him now. Or to see his old self again. She knew what the devil used to be like and what he was capable of.
He was not only interested in the wedding, but also in the blood ritual. This was part of the wedding and enabled him to regain his old powers. His powers that he could only use with his trident as he was otherwise weak without it. However, Lilith also knew what would happen to Alicia. Something bad. Very bad, to be precise.