Below

by Twisted Fate MK 2

With proof they were wrong, Emily can't do nothing anymore... Her heart breaks, seeing Sir Pentious' pain and loneliness. His fear. He has to do something - it's her purpose to bring comfort and joy. Peace. But Sera doesn't agree, doesn't see things the same way she does. Where will Emily's pursuit of the truth, of justice, take her? And what does it mean for her - and for Heaven?

2. Chapter 2

XxX-XxX-XxX

Official Supporters:

Obsessive Readers, Laurel

Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin

Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork, Polemoduke, Lea the Rosenwulf

If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : /2UZncAm

Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i) (slash)kfhkfUb

Beta(s) :

XxX-XxX-XxX

It took days before she was able to so much as make a window into Hell, much less a doorway. But even now that she could do it, conjuring a ragged, jagged-edged and broken little circle about as big as her head and shoulders, aiming was the new concern. She'd been opening the windows high above Hell, where no Demon would see it, while she got a feel for the power Sera wielded, but now that she was trying to open one in Pride, it was far more difficult. Three times, she'd opened one into someone home - or what she chose to call the hideous places she peered into - only to send the strange Demons inside screaming for the doors or windows. And she'd done if four more times besides that, though she'd at least been able to calm those Demons down and get a bearing on where she'd opened the window up in, and promises they'd keep it quiet.

Most of those promises had come with the suggestion Sera pay them for it later, or something a bit more… Lascivious, in one case, but they'd never made any demands of her. Too scared of her, she supposed, once she revealed what she was, to try it.

But they agreed nonetheless, and their directions helped her focus and direct the strange energy that ran from her fingers, flowing out to each window she made.

Whenever she made one, she could kind of feel the people nearby. Their lives. She could feel them when she made her first few in Heaven, too, flying higher in the divine skies than she ever had before - just for practice. Demons felt different to Angels, and Sinners felt a bit different to each other, the more she opened and tried. And, eventually, with the Sinners' help, she managed to get close enough to feel something Angelic down in Hell.

Which could only be one person…

"Okay." She sighed and took a breath, sitting on the bed in Sir Pentious' room while he slithered to and fro anxiously. "I open portals and… You try and recognize parts?"

"I will do my best, but…" He frowned, "We don't know what the Hotel looked like after the battle."

"I know, but…" She frowned, gnawing on her lip. "It's the best I can think of. I'm sure Lucifer is there either way, after what happened- I know he was at the battle."

"Yes, but…"

"We can't exactly ask Lute what it looked like." She frowned, "Or any of the others in the Host. With how many she's gathered from the River of Souls, we probably wouldn't even find a survivor to ask in the crowd…"

"Why is she gathering so many…?"

"You guess is as good as mine." She frowned, "And probably the same one…"

"She wouldn't go back to Hell so soon, would she?" Pentious asked anxiously, hood closing around his head protectively. "I-It's only been a month or so, now… That's too soon, isn't it?"

Emily… Didn't know, really. She hadn't been involved in the exterminations starting, after all. And Sera wasn't inviting her to meetings recently, either. 'To let Emily focus on her work in Heaven', her messenger had said, but Emily could read between the lines. She knew Sera didn't want her there corrupting the Council's meetings with talk about peace and compassion for Hell. Even if it was just because she was so scared of Emily falling, as if Sera wouldn't be one of the judges of that…

Not for the first time, she wondered if Sera really would cast her down into Hell - or if she was just worried the others might.

"We can't know, and… We have to warn Charlie, just in case." She saw the worry on her friend's face, written in the forlorn little hiss and the way he curled his tail around himself protectively. Smiling, she reached out to lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled, "They beat the Heavenly Host back once, Pentious. We have to believe they can again."

"I do…" He gave her a look, frowned, and drew back, out of her reach. "But…"

"Pentious?"

"Should an Angel want Angels to die?" He asked quietly, flicking her a look and smiling thinly. "I-I appreciate you, of course. I just…"

"You worry." She smiled knowingly, fluttering back to rest against the edge of Pentious' window, turning to look out between iron bars forced into place by Sera herself. Because only the High Seraphim had the divine authority to force a room in the Tower to change, even if only by a little, and uncontested. Watching the Angels flying below, she smiled and said, "Thank you, for that."

"You're welcome?" He murmured, joining her at the other side of the window, watching the world he'd earned - and been barred from - with bright, wonder-filled eyes. "I thought you'd… React differently to that."

"Why?" She smiled just a bit more widely, "You're my friend, Pen. I know you're just worried about me. And unlike my sister," she sighed the word, unable to hide how exhausted she was of her, "you aren't using your worry to try and force me to do anything."

"I would never… You're old enough to know what you're doing." She smiled and nodded and, after a moment, he asked, quietly, "Pen?"

"Just a nickname." She smiled, "I always liked playing around with names…"

"Ah." He chuckled, "I see."

After a few more moments, Emily finally sighed and said, "I'm procrastinating…"

"I am, too." He sighed, "I'm just so nervous. Which doesn't make much sense, really… Why would I be nervous to see everyone again?" He laughed a wheezing, exasperated, laugh and waved his hands, "J-Just because I kissed one of them and ran off after telling her I loved her? No, no, that'd be silly, right?"

Emily blinked, and turned slowly to him, cocking her head while her third eye opened to blink in surprise. Finally, she shot up, hovering over him and clapping excitedly, "You're in love?! Ah, and you sacrificed yourself for her, didn't you? Or him! No, wait, you said 'her'- Sorry, I'm just so excited for you to get to, you know, see them!"

"I-I mean…" He scratched at his hood, "I didn't let her, you know… Respond."

"Oh, I'm sure she adores you!" How could she not? Declaring his love and giving his life to protect her! So romantic! She had read it in hundreds of romance novels, and spun, taking a breath as she lowered herself and reached for the power, "O-Okay, uh… Focusing on Lucy."

"Lucy…?" Pentious murmured, "Ah! Lucifer! You do like nicknames…"

She just smiled, and let the power build with her, reaching out from Heaven and searching for that familiar, diluted but still oh-so-angelic feeling. It was easier, now, to find the Hotel's place in the cosmos. And, with its rough area in mind, it was even easier to find Lucifer's presence. But, instead of appearing at it, she pulled away, thirty or so feet up, and started letting the power build there first instead. A few moments passed before she opened her eyes, watching gold flow out from her fingers and along her body to coalesce, curling and twisting around itself into a ball that, slowly, condensed into itself, brightened-

And then bloomed and surged back, melting through nothing and expanding into a jagged-edged but crackless window overlooking…

"Oh, my…"

"Is that the hotel?" Pentious asked, voice mixed with… Awe and anxiety. "B-Because if it is, then I have no idea where anything is."

"This is it, I'm pretty sure…" But it was huge, with glass walls, a wide, paved front, and a huge apple on her side of the building, directly below her window. The name 'Hazbin Hotel' glowed at the front, just barely in sight, and she frowned as she closed her window. "I… Think Lucy is helping directly, now. That'd explain the big apple, at least."

"So…?"

"So," she sighed, already drawing on her power, "we reach out to him directly."

Sir Pentious must have been able to hear the anxiety, the fear, in her voice because he reached over to touch her shoulder this time, smiling warmly, "Lucifer is a good person, Emily. You can trust him, so long as you aren't trying to hurt Charlie. She's… More or less all he cares about, from what I gathered when he came to the Hotel."

"He went to the Hazbin Hotel…?"

"Charlie asked him to." Pentious nodded, "And, after she asked… He arranged the meeting in Heaven. Before the battle."

"I see…" She'd known Lucifer asked them to hear Charlie, but hadn't been told why that had been. With centuries and millennia between his exile and now, and everything they'd come to believe about Hell and Will and Lucifer's role in it all, he'd taken a frightening figure on for her.

Yet another instance where time in Heaven, with no other viewpoints, had caused her to misjudge something.

She didn't take that to be a coincidence…

"Okay, so… Second time's the charm?"

"That's not the saying, Emily…"

"I know, but…" She sighed, "I'm too tired to try a third time."

Yet again, her Heavenly power flowed out of her, condensing into the orb of light and warmth as she focused on Lucifer once again. For a moment she felt something pushing back against her, sending tremors up her arms and a shiver down her spine. But, after that moment passed, she felt the same resistance invert. Pulling her towards it, into it, until the window finally began to form. Perfectly circular, expanding up and down until it was nearly as tall as Pentious was, let alone Emily herself.

Finally, the holy light began to disperse around a pale, outstretched hand that swept down as the man it belonged to frowned and demanded, "Sera, what do you think- Emilana?!"

"H-Hiiii…" She smiled, suddenly feeling all those nerves, all that fear, come sweeping back by how easily he seized her window to forge his own. "How, um… How are things?"

"Fine." Lucifer murmured, lowering his arm and looking her up and down. "What's going on? You've never reached out to me like this- I didn't even know you could do this, Emiliana."

"J-Just Emily, please…" She sighed, shaking her head and flicking Pentious a look where he'd gone, out of view, shivering in a little curled up ball of anxiety. Smiling, Emily reached for him and said, "Come on. You've met him before, haven't you? This is nothing…"

"Emily…?"

"I suppose…" Pentious murmured, reaching out to take her hand and letting her tug him over to stand beside her in front of the bed.

"You're…" Lucifer blinked, before his eyes widened and he pointed a finger at him, laughing quietly. That laugh slowly built up, until he was cackling and bouncing on the spot excitedly, as if he'd just seen the single most hilarious thing in the world. Or the most astounding, she supposed. Finally, he choked, wheezed, punched a fist into his chest to catch his breath and shouted, "From the painting! But that means-"

"Charlie was right, Lucy." She smiled, "Sinners can be redeemed, with effort. And that changes everything…"

"Does it?" Lucifer asked, his smile vanishing in a heartbeat as he straightened and folded his hands in front of himself. "I gather from the lack of an announcement of any kind that Heaven took this news all that well. Or, well… That Sera did, at least."

"She's… Not told Heaven, beyond the Council." Emily answered, flicking her gaze towards the door and adding. "She keeps Sir Pentious locked away in the Tower of Seraphim. In, uh, your room, actually, Brother…"

"Of course…" He sighed, giving her a look and frowning softly. Sadly. "Em… You shouldn't have done all of this."

"What?" She blinked, "But-"

"You could Fall." He murmured, the words cutting what confidence she'd been able to drum up down like a Seraphim blade through so much paper. Unlike Sera, though… Lucifer's words carried no judgement in them. No unwritten, unspoken, authoritative echo of a command. He just sounded worried, and that was a comfort to her.

Quietly, she nodded and said, "I-I know, but… This is worth it."

"You're sure?"

"I am." She smiled, taking a long, deep breath and saying, "This is Heaven's Will. I believe it."

"Well… Alright." Lucifer smiled, reaching out to touch the window between them. "Heavens, I want to give you a hug right now, Emilia- Emily. You've grown so much since I saw you last. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you." She smiled, reaching out to touch his hand through the window. "I've missed you, Brother. The Tower is… Cold, without you here."

"I'm afraid I took all my warmth to Hell." He chuckled and shrugged, "Started a few fires, here and there. Thought it'd… Liven things up a bit. Which it did, but, ah, not quite in the ways I'd hoped, unfortunately. Story of my life, isn't it?"

"Only the first chapters." Emily nodded, "I… Think we're writing the next ones now."

"Yeah." He snorted, shaking his head and smiling more warmly, "How is Peter, by the way? Uriel? Azrael? Hell, how is everyone, really…"

"Was that a pun…?" She smiled, ancient, nearly forgotten, memories rushing back to her over just how… Familiar he still was to her. How comfortable how he spoke to her was. Even with a Realm between them, and centuries besides, it was all so familiar, down to the way he shrugged a noncommittal shrug and smiled a lopsided smile. Sighing, she said, "I haven't spoken to Azrael in a while, but I saw Peter a week or so ago. He was fine- A little, you know, stressed after the battle…"

"Because of Adam…?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "No one of Adam's rank has died in… Ever, I don't think."

"No." Lucifer sighed, "No one as powerful as him has died since…"

"Since…?"

"Nothing." Lucifer smiled, waving her off and sighing tiredly. "I just… Got distracted, for a second there. Anyways, what about the, uh, other Seraphim?"

"We're all fine… Just confused and anxious, really." She murmured, considering whether or not she should push him on the subject. But, ultimately, it wasn't why she was here… Whatever it was. So she forced herself to focus and asked, "C-Can we, um, talk to Charlie?"

"Charlie?"

"Yes." Pentious nodded, still nervous and quiet beside her as he slid back to rest on his bed. "I-I would… I miss her. And the others."

"Ah, of course you do." Lucifer smiled, turning and nodding, "Alright. I'll go find her. Gimme a few? She's been running around like a duck with her head cut off lately. Something to do with trouble down in the city…"

"I… Think it's 'chicken with her head cut off'." Pentious chuckled, "Uh, sir."

"Wait, what did I say?" He asked, brows furrowing for a second before he waved it off and grunted, "No, no, nevermind- Forget it, I'll go get her. You guys just hang out right here. Alright?"

"I can't really go anywhere else, Sir…"

"Ah, fuck, right…" Lucifer grimaced, before he awkwardly backed away, firing finger guns before looking at them, scowling, and turning to rush off quickly before he could, she assumed, make himself feel more awkward than he already had.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same, she supposed…

It ended up taking a while, but Emily didn't mind waiting all too much. She just sat and chatted with Pentious, listening to him talk about Hell and his friends there. And trying to reconcile how, exactly, he could sound so nostalgic about literal Hell. It all just compounded on what she'd already come to believe, that their system was flawed, somehow, at its very crux. And that they had to improve it if they wanted to move on with the light of Heaven intact.

Finally, though, she heard the door they couldn't see open and heard Lucifer stammering, "N-No, trust me, sweetheart, it's a great surprise."

"Okay, dad…" She groaned tiredly, "Just as long as it doesn't involve ducks."

"Hey," Lucifer scolded her as he stepped into view, wagging a finger at her, "don't knock the Quackers. They're-"

"Is that a portal from Heaven?" Charlie cut him off, excitement washing away the fatigue in her voice as she appeared just as suddenly, pressing her face against the mirror and turning sideways to smile. "Emily! And… And…"

"Hello, there." Pentious waved, racing out to touch the glass as Charlie stumbled back, finally fully processing what she was seeing and what it meant.

Then, she screamed, and Emily and Lucifer both rushed to close the Window. Just before the door flew open and the Heavenly Soldiers outside rushed in, dragging Emily away while she tried to explain. They surrounded Pentious, pushing him back with their spears until she was out of the room and finally managed to yank her arm out of her 'savior's' hands. The woman turned to her, holo-eyes wide on her mask as Emily shoved her aside and stepped back into the room, teeth bared.

"Enough!" She bellowed, earning surprised looks from the rest of the Heavenly Host as she pulled a gap between their tight formation and stepped through, fluttering up between them and Pentious, who lay curled up in the bed. Snarling, she demanded, "What do you think you are doing?"

"We heard a scream, Seraphim-"

"Did you hear me call for you?" She demanded hotly, heart running like a jackhammer in her breast as she turned hard, heated stares on each of them, doing everything she could to emulate Sera's authoritative gaze and raising her chin. "No? Then how dare you assault an Angel in our Tower, without even an order to grant it some inkling of meaning?!"

"W-We only wished to ensure your safety…"

"Unless I-"

"Emily." She felt a hand on her calf and turned, looking down on where Pentious had only half-uncurled, hand withdrawing now he had her attention. Smiling, he said, "It's okay. They're just doing their jobs…"

The sheer kindness there robbed Emily of every ounce of her fire and she descended, turning to give the Heavenly Warriors a look and saying, simply, "Even now, after everything, he just forgives you. You should all consider what that says about him."

They left without a word, after that, but…

Neither she nor Pentious dared open another Window, for now.

XxX-XxX-XxX

They waited a few days before she came back to even see Pentious, and another one before she dared to try opening a Window again. This time, like last time, she reached for Lucifer and he yanked control away from her, looking paranoid and ready to rumble as soon as the view clarified… Until he saw Emily and Pentious and smiled, clapping and bouncing on the spot as he rushed out of the room, nearly falling over a huge rubber duck half-finished in the middle of the empty room.

When he came back, he explained quickly, "Okay, so, I'm going to collapse the Window into a Node. Emily, can you maintain that?"

"I… Have no idea." She chuckled, "But if not, I can just open another one wherever you go. Right?"

"Ah, no. No, no, uh, noooo you can't." He chuckled nervously, scratching at the back of his neck and grimacing. "Charlie and I built an ensorcelled room in the Hotel's basement while we waited for you. This way, Heaven… Can't track it, which you should already know."

"R-Right…" She grimaced and Lucifer's face fell.

"Emily, where are you casting your Eyes from?"

"The Tower of the Seraphim." She answered, "Your old, uh, room."

"Right…" He sighed, shaking his head, "Of course you are… I forgot that's where you said they were keeping him. I did have some shielding wards in place on it, so it should be fine… Whatever! Too late now, anyways, but you need to do research on ensealment and make a place for this, Em."

"Pentious can't leave, though…"

"Then, ah, look for my book on ancient wards." He suggested, "Use the Seraphim section. It's called 'A treatise on ancient seals'. I wrote it just after Earth's creation and, hoo boy, I tell ya. Translating some of that was a pain. Anyway, should give you what you need."

"Just after…" Setting aside how that could work since without Earth, there shouldn't be anything 'ancient', she nodded and said. "Right. I'll get it right after this. Anyway, uh, holding the Node. any tips?"

"Focus on what you want to see, being moi, of course, and trying to see me." He said, "I'll ward you away, so you should just trail along behind me. Not the normal way to move a Node, but… Should work, for now."

"Okay." She nodded, "Let's do it."

Trying to keep the Node active while Lucifer warded her was, as it turns out, even harder than it sounded. She was barely even a novice at casting Portals, which was why she hadn't been able to make a Doorway yet, and even her Windows were… Flawed. This, though, was contradictory, frustrating, and took more out of her than anything she'd ever done. It was like trying to swim upriver against a current, but also not swim enough to make any progress. Trying to, instead, maintain an exact spot in the rapids for as long as she could. She nearly collapsed back twice, until Pentious propped her up, sitting on the bed behind her and holding her while she kept a hand around the little, flickering golden ball that wanted so badly to bloom, as it always did, into a portal.

It almost hurt, even, fighting it…

But, finally, she felt the Node sort of warble as something cold ran up her arms and Lucifer's warding vanished. She nearly groaned as control was taken from her again, flopping onto the bed while Pentious made space and Lucifer reformed the Window.

The new room was smaller than the other, with crates stacked against the walls and odd black candles set up on black stands that filled the air at the edge of the room in smoke. Smoke that glowed faintly, somehow, as if embers had been scattered throughout it. A rug covered the floor, wide enough for an old black couch to only fill half of it where Charlie was waiting, bouncing excitedly while Lucifer plopped down beside her and flicked a hand, spinning the Window out in front of them and letting it fully form.

"Em!" Charlie smiled, "I'm so happy to see you!"

"I am too!" She smiled, still tired but recovered enough to sit up and wave. "Sorry about the other day…"

"It's fine, dad explained it all." Charlie chuckled, "If anything, I should apologize. You didn't get in any, uh, trouble, did you?"

"We had a slight, er, kerfuffle with some of the Host." Emily grimaced, explaining when Charlie flicked her dad a look, hoping for context, "Exorcists. They're employed as soldiers of Heaven's Hosts. It's… Why they were used in the Exterminations."

"Oh, fuck, are you okay?"

"We're fine." Pentious reassured her, "Do not worry, please. I would… Rather talk about anything else than that, really, right now."

"Namely," Lucifer cut in quietly, voice turning more grave once more, "what to do now that we know that Redemption is possible… And that Sera has incarcerated the first Angel to ascend from Hell."

"Not to mention you, Lucy." Emily added, rubbing her hands together anxiously, "You were exiled for loving a woman, in part, but… Adam had done the same. So all you were truly excised for has to have been going against Sera's decisions regarding the Sinners of Hell. And if that was wrong-"

"I know." Lucifer sighed, smiling thinly, "I've already thought about it. But… This is my home, now, as… Smelly as it is. I'm here to fight for Pentious. Not for my own return to the oh so shiny glory of Heaven."

"Okay, so…" Charlie clapped, smiling widely, all teeth and mischief as she leaned forward, "I think we need to take this back before the Council… Emily can-"

"The Council already knows about Sir Pentious." Emily cut in, frowning deeply when Charlie and even Lucifer recoiled in surprise. Evidently, they'd expected - maybe even hoped - Sera was keeping everything a secret only she knew, like he had the Exterminations. Quietly, Emily murmured, "After the arguments at the hearing Charlie set up, Sera… Seems to have learned her lesson, at least in terms of not informing the Council about things."

"Of course she did…" Charlie sighed, "I guess it tracks that the head Seraphim isn't an idiot."

"Is she doing anything else…?"

"Lute is gathering a lot of souls into the Heavenly Host." Emily nodded, anxiety and excitement both flaring up her spine and creeping into her heart. She was terrified, of course, of what would happen if she was discovered but… She'd already made her decision, and took a breath to steady herself as she went on, "Far more than normal. There are hundreds of them already, and may be thousands. I… Haven't been able to keep track of it. She never really leaves the Host's barracks lately."

"But… They lost on Extermination Day." Charlie said, voice trembling slightly, "What could they need an even bigger army for…? Unless-"

"They likely mean to come down here, and make certain Hell can't uprise." Lucifer nodded, "Which means we have to worry about a Hell of a lot more than just Sir Pentious up in Heaven… It sounds like a war is coming."

"...Did you just make a pun during that, Lucy?"

"Yeah, Dad." Charlie groaned, "What the hell?"

"Is Hell ready for a war…?" Emily asked worriedly, "From past Exterminations, I'd never think it, but… The last one you had a small army ready for the Exorcists."

"We're not. Not anywhere near it, in fact." Lucifer shook his head, crossing his arms and glaring into the floor as he thought. "A thousand or more Exorcists? Hell can't stand up to that, they don't have the organization to. We… Need a weapon, to meet that. Even I will have trouble, if Lute has something ready for me."

"What could Hell possibly have that could help…?"

"I don't know." Lucifer sighed, "Emily, I hate to ask, but… Will you help us?"

"I've already made my bed." She smiled, "I have to lie in it. What do you need?"

"There was… A story, when I was young, that I read in the Archive." Lucifer explained, "It was called 'What Layeth Below'. It spoke of an old weapon, buried deep, deep below Hell itself. One only an Angel could get to. I've never… Had a reason to look for it, but supposedly it was one that had been sealed that way to protect Heaven itself. Or Hell. The book was… Unclear, and missing pages. Damaged, somehow, but…"

"I'll look for it." She nodded, "While I do that…"

"We'll start getting Hell as ready as we can." Lucifer nodded, "And I'll be ready to search for whatever it is, if you find enough to go on."

"Alright." She nodded, anxious as ever but glad to have a plan to work towards. Smiling, she said, "Good fortune and Heaven's blessings to us all."

"I'm in Hell, though?" Charlie chuckled.

"Never change, Emily." Lucifer smiled, reaching to dispel the Window, "Never change."

With the call closed, she sighed and stood, turning to give Pentious a smile, "PLease… Just hang on. I'll figure it out, I promise."

"I have faith in you." He smiled, "Thank you."

She nodded and left, chewing her lip anxiously. He had faith in her, and she appreciated that more than he could probably ever know. But…

She wished she had some in herself, right now.

XxX-XxX-XxX