As soon as he was gone, Claire nearly dropped the sword, the tip dropping to burn down into the ground, "That is really heavy," she breathed, shoulders sagging.

Husk got to his feet, flexing his wing experimentally as a shadow with cat ears slunk away from the fence post behind him. "Maybe we stop engaging with Heaven for awhile, yeah?" he groused, "Cause we are really fucking bad at it."

Claire started to heft the sword up once more, lest it leave more of a mark in the ground, but it disappeared suddenly from between her hands, "…that's convenient," she commented, brows raised, before looking around at the group and offering Alastor a hand up, which he waved away. And in doing so, conjured another pair of gloves around Claire's hands, which got an amused look, "Is everyone okay?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Vaggie said, picking up the pieces of her broken spear and frowning.

Charlie gave her a somber look, then her expression suddenly brightened, "OH MY GOSH! Claire! I just realized!" she rushed to grab Claire's newly gloved hands, beaming, "COUSINS!"

Surprised, Claire fumbled for something to say, but was saved from needing a response by Lucifer stepping forward, "And you can look to your Uncle Luci for all the remedial creation lessons you're going to need because, ho boy, this is—" he looked up towards the area where Michael had disappeared in the sky, frowning, "This is going to get messy."

"Are you okay?" Vaggie asked, having tossed the broken base of her spear but pocketing the angelic steel spearhead, "That was…a lot."

"I think so," Claire nodded, forcing a half-hearted smile, "I'm hardly the first person to discover their deadbeat dad is a real piece of work."

"Most people's deadbeat dads aren't also Archangels trying to kill them," Husk pointed out gruffly.

Claire hesitated, "There's…definitely a lot to process," she said slowly, then looked around the group with genuine relief, "But thank you—all of you. I never intended to put any of you in danger. If I'd have known—"

"Eh," Angel interrupted her, waving a few of his hands, "pissing off Heaven must just run in your family. But may I suggest we all get some fucking sleep before the next big threat comes knockin'?" He started heading for the hotel's entrance, pulling a minorly protesting Husk along with him, "This shit is exhausting."

"We just learned that Claire's dad is my uncle, the Archangel Michael," Charlie exclaimed, ignoring her father's huff of a protest, "and you want to go to bed?! How can anyone sleep at a time like this?! I have so many questions!" She rounded on Claire, eyes shining, "Like did your mom kn—"

Seeing Claire balk, Vaggie moved forward, pushing Charlie towards the entrance as well, "C'mon, Charlie," she chided gently, "Let's let Claire figure things out."

"But my questions!" Charlie whined, though ultimately gave in, giving Vaggie a tight squeeze and following her inside. Niffty and Alastor had already vanished to who knows where, leaving just Claire and Lucifer standing there.

"…I hope you don't think—" Lucifer began with a chagrinned look, but Claire shook her head at him.

"It's not your fault. I knew you'd make the call," she told him, looking down at her gloves hands and flexing them, "I thought I could lure him away before…" she looked around at all the rubble, pieces of Dazzle's memorial statue scattered throughout the courtyard, "I'm the one that should apologize. I miscalculated. I didn't know-" she stopped herself, surprised at the lump that rose in her throat which she insistently swallowed down, repeating firmly, "I didn't know."

Lucifer studied her carefully, then nodded, "I believe you." He said solemnly, letting the silence fall between them for another second before clapping his hands together and saying cheerfully, "Well, now that you're family, you've always got a place here! We'll start magic lessons in the morning! Can't let you go wandering around with the powers of creation in you! That's just a disaster waiting to happen!" Perhaps realizing his words didn't match his cheerful tone he kept the grin frozen on his face as he walked awkwardly back towards the hotel, "So. Good night, niece! Is that—I don't know what to—"

"Claire's fine," she replied patiently, though clearly waiting for him to just go.

"Yes. Claire. Which is your name! Which I will call you!" Lucifer repeated with a nod, "See you tomorrow, niece Claire! Or just Claire," he corrected himself, before clearing his throat and hurrying away, "This is definitely not weird!"

Claire watched him go and then waited there, alone, not wanting to run into anyone else in the lobby or hallway. Not even knowing if she wanted to go back inside at all. It felt like the very stable sense of self she'd always had, that solid center that she'd always relied upon, had been unceremoniously ripped away. It was unsettling. It struck something in her that she hadn't felt since the moments after she'd killed the man she'd found in her house. The moment she realized her mother was not going to ever get up off that floor.

She didn't like it.

So, she did what she'd done back then and pushed it down. Balled it up and shoved it deep down into the pit of her stomach where she wouldn't have to feel it. Could just ignore the confusing, raging emotions and do what she needed to.

Move forward.

She took a deep breath, then a step, and headed back into the hotel. As she'd expected, the others had made their ways to their respective rooms, and she was free to head back to hers. She needed some time to think and sort through what just happened. She needed to reorganize her chaos board. With the Orkas investigation finished she could now focus on—

"So, I guess you didn't really know who you were, hm?" Alastor appeared out of the shadows beside her, giving her a deeply amused sidelong look.

"Ha, ha," she said, eyeing him as she continued down the hall towards her room, "I still know who I am. What I am is another story," she flashed him a smile of her own, "But keep it up and I'll accept those remedial creation lessons Lucifer's offering."

"Don't you mean Uncle Lucifer?" Alastor drawled, keeping step beside her.

"I will flaming sword you," Claire said flatly, stopping once she reached her door and giving him a look of annoyance when he stopped as well.

"You are just full of surprises," he noted, leaning against the wall beside the door and continuing conversationally as he listed on his fingers, "Murderous rampages, power boosts, talking hellcrows, ties to royalty, and now flaming swords? I simply can't wait to see what comes next!"

"Hopefully some answers," Claire replied honestly, "Is being half-angel the same as being an Advocator? I haven't had a family in nearly three decades and now I have more than I'd like. How is my life more complicated now that I'm dead?" she asked, some of her exasperation slipping into her tone.

Alastor pushed off the wall, giving his microphone a twirl, "Well you've proven to be a capable gumshoe thus far. I'm sure by the time your father comes back to wipe you and everyone you've ever met from existence you'll have those answers and more."

"You really know how to look on the bright side of things," Claire drawled, taking out her key and unlocking the door, "What would I ever do without you?"

"Hit the ground a lot more often to start," Alastor replied mildly, giving her a critical look.

"No more plans that involve falling, I promise," Claire held up both hands in mock surrender, "Three times was more than enough."

Alastor eyed her another moment before commenting, "You're certainly taking everything that just happened in stride. Finding out your father is an Archangel that wants to kill you would've been quite the shock to most people."

All the good humor he'd managed to bring out vanished in an instant and Claire looked down, putting the key back in her pocket, "It's not ideal," she admitted, though kept her voice and expression carefully composed, "Especially since it puts you all in danger. And it was the last thing I'd thought I'd uncover here…" she trailed off, looking into middle distance down the hallway, trying to gather her thoughts, "…but not disappointing Charlie meant more to me than anything he said. And that felt important. I know I belong here. I think…" she was dangerously close to unraveling that ball of feelings she'd suppressed earlier, so she skirted only as closely as she dared.

"I think I'm exactly where I need to be." She said finally, looking up at him.

Alastor watched her thought all of that, his own thoughts hidden behind his ever-present smile. He turned abruptly to walk away from her, commenting casually as he snapped his fingers, "Maybe you aren't doing everything wrong after all."

A swirl of green magic appeared before her and Claire nearly dropped the pomegranate that manifested between her hands. She lifted it, turning it this way and that with a bemused expression, "Th—" she started to say, looking up, but he'd already vanished. She gave a little shake of her head, pulling the door open and stepping through it, still considering the fruit, "Is this thoughtful or a threat?" She mused to herself, stopping before she ran into a pile of books that she suddenly realized wasn't there.

She looked up and around with wide eyes, gasping. The entire room had changed—the clutter of books now neatly arranged in the rows and rows of shelves that lined the walls from floor to ceiling. It not only made the place feel bigger, it was bigger somehow, and she marveled at the changes as she walked further in. The lone window had been replaced with two French doors which opened onto a curved balcony, from which a large tree sprouted against the side of the building, its antler-like branches jutting up several floors to the very roof itself.

"Claire!" Hades called out happily from the branches where he and his brothers were perched, "Welcome home!"

Holding the pomegranate between her hands, Claire looked up at him and smiled.