"Ugh." Lucifer felt like shit. Which wasn't necessarily anything new but still wasn't a pleasant aspect of his everyday life. His body felt fatigued; his mind was exhausted from dealing with the constant spew of misery that came from the various citizens of Hell. Unfair bargain, territory dispute, lies and deception- it was Hell why the fuck did the Sinners and Hellborns expect anything different? And why was it his problem to solve? (Though, at least as far as the Hellborns were concerned, he could offload some of that burden onto Satan who was being a real prick as of late and, perhaps, needed a little extra responsibility to help put him in his place.)

What the Devil needed now, was just a moment to relax. However, there was no escaping the constant attention one had as the King. Even as he walked to his own mansion, he could see the flashing of camera lights, the surging of the crowd to follow him. It was maddening.

"King Morningstar!"

"Your majesty!"

"King Morningstar over here!"

"All right everyone, I have important shit to do inside." Lucifer turned on his heel to face the crowd, his eyes dilating and contracting with every flash of the camera making it unnecessary for him to blink. The smile on his face never faltered as he gave a dramatic bow to his obsessive public. "So, get the fuck off of my property or you'll be shot." He straightened his back as the crowd gave a burst of laughter. "I'm not kidding." He was still smiling.

More laughter from around him, but as the windows opened and the laser sights of various guns started sweeping the premises, the audience around him seemed to realize the severity of his words.

"Bye now~" Lucifer turned to open the door as a hail of bullets began to rain down on the crowd. God it was nice to have security. Fame could be a fucking burden, especially in Hell where envy and hate ran amok. The idolatry was nice for a moment, but soon the worship drove Sinners to become... obsessive over Lucifer, over his life, his family. They wanted to adore him, to be him, to wear his skin and live the life they thought he had. It would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. "Clear the yard. I don't want any lurkers." Lucifer entered his mansion. The security guards were poised, weapons firing at the crowd below. He was too tired to deal with any more of Hell's bullshit. All he wanted was a moment to relax, to unwind, to stop being the King of Hell for a little while and to just be Lucifer.

The door behind him closed, locking the rest of Hell outside, and providing the Devil with just a moment of the peace he so desperately craved. Still, there was the matter of the staff, so eyes were on him, even if it wasn't quite as many as had been watching him before. He didn't like it; but it was better. He could deal with the gaze of the servants for the length of time it would take for him to reach his destination.

"Do you need anything else, King Lucifer?" The head of his security was still facing toward the outside, scanning the grounds for threats. Security was a fucking pain, but they did their jobs, Lucifer could give them that much.

"No, just keep these assholes out of my fucking business."

"Of course, your majesty."

"Very good." Lucifer straightened his lapels, keeping his posture regal and commanding. He may not have been very tall in this form, but when his aura radiated power, he did not have to be in order to command obedience from his underlings. "I'll be upstairs. Do not bother me."

"Sir, yes sir!" The crisp reply was just further proof to the perfect obedience of those directly beneath him. Was it annoying to have a constant posse running through the halls? Yes. But unfortunately, it was required in order for Lucifer to maintain order in the mansion. Sure, he could populate it entirely with clones, but he was the King. Why waste energy on menial tasks? That was what subjects were for. Even Heaven understood that concept with their angelic hierarchy and pre-determined subservience. Hell just understood it a little better.

Lucifer left the servants to their tasks. It wasn't his business what they did from here on out so long as they kept out of his way and the necessary tasks were all completed. They were free to do as they pleased, as the Devil had far more important matters which required the utmost attention. One such matter was on the other side of the door before him. The Devil cleared his throat, raising his hand, and knocking gently. The door swung open and he saw two bright red eyes staring up at him.

"DADDY!"

"Char-char!" Lucifer felt his heart melt as he saw a head of golden hair with the smallest red horns trying to poke free of the gilded locks, pale skin, rosy cheeks, and a small tail flicking. He bent down and lifted the small child up into the air. The dress she was wearing almost swallowed her whole with all the frills and ruffles. "There's my little crabapple! Did you miss me?"

"Yeah!" Charlie giggled as she was hoisted into the air. Lucifer spun her around before wrapping his arms around her, holding her close to his chest. He could feel her tiny arms try to hug him back.

"Sorry I was gone for so long." He pulled away from the hug so he could bring the little princess to his face. He pressed her button nose to where a nose would have been on him if he had one. His nuzzling earned him another burst of giggles as those tiny, clawed hands pressed on either side of his cheeks. "I promise I'm home now!" He peppered her face with kisses.

"Hurray! We missed you!" Charlie gave him little kisses in return. But soon, she kicked out her legs, signaling she wanted to be put back down. As much as Lucifer wanted to keep squeezing her to him, he knew she wanted to do other things, so he lowered her back onto her hooves. She instantly did a little spin the moment she was set down, flaring out the skirt of her dress. "Do you like my outfit, daddy?" She was nearly tripping over the many layers of red fabric.

"Oh yes, it's lovely." Lucifer assured her. He closed the door behind him, stepping fully into Charlie's room, sitting on her bed. His own tail popped out, curling around himself as he watched her show off her outfit. He was impressed she could move under all of that fabric. "Did you pick that out all by yourself?"

"Yeah! Isn't it pretty!?"

"It's beautiful! What a perfect princess I see before me!"

"Yay!" Charlie ran toward him, stumbling a bit as her hooves caught on one of the several layers of tulle that composed the skirt piece. Lucifer caught her before she fully fell, and lifted her up to sit on the bed beside him. "Thank you, daddy!"

"Anything for you, Honeycrisp."

"Did you have a good day?" She looked up at him with those bright, innocent eyes, her little hooves swinging back and forth as they dangled off of the plush, pink comforter. Lucifer put a hand in her hair, stroking it gently, careful not to bump into her horns which were still growing.

"No, it was terrible!" He brought a hand to his forehead and fell backward onto the mattress. He could feel Charlie shifting, crawling beside him on the bed. He saw her looking down at him, her hands braced on either side of his head.

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes! All because I didn't have my little Jonagold with me!"

"I missed you too!" Charlie leaned down and pressed a little kiss to the Devil's forehead and Lucifer felt his own heart melt.

"Tell me that you had lots of fun in my absence."

"LOTS!"

"Oh thank goodness!" He reached his arms behind him to lift Charlie up in the air again. "I knew I could trust you to have enough fun for both of us! It was an important mission that I entrusted you with, and you succeeded." He brought his tail up to his forehead and snapped it back down mimicking the motion of a salute, as he sat Charlie on his chest. "Good work, soldier!"

"Anything for you!" Charlie flopped down so she was laying on his chest. She was still so small, so... fragile... but she was already the most wonderful thing he had ever created. From the tip of her tiny horns to the bottom of her little hoof, she was perfection. She was a light as pure as Heaven, forged in the fires of Hell. Lucifer had not felt a love so pure so... unconditional since the days before he was cast out. He forgot what a wonderful, invigorating feeling it truly was.

"How did I get so lucky?" He didn't think he could smile any wider as his tail rested over Charlie holding her gently.

"Daddy, you're being silly." Charlie poked her tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue right back out at her, which resulted in a flurry of giggles from Charlie, as Lucifer's tongue was forked and could wiggle far more.

"Am I?"

"Yes!"

"What are you gonna do about it?" Lucifer could feel the weight of the world wash away with the sound of that laugh. He wiggled his tongue again and stretched it out so that it lightly brushed the tip of Charlie's nose.

"I'm telling momma!" Charlie was grinning from ear to ear. Her round, rosy cheeks looking just like her father's. She really did have the Devil's smile. (Though she had so much more to smile about.)

"You're gonna tell your momma!?"

"Yes!"

"On me?"

"Uh huh!"

"Say it isn't so!" Lucifer brought his tail to his forehead in the fake swoon again as Charlie laughed.

"Momma! Momma! Daddy is being silly!"

"Oh no! I have been betrayed by my own daughter! My own flesh and blood! How could this happen!?" Lucifer was having fun, seeing Charlie could make everything else feel so distant. He wanted to spend all his time with her, to watch her grow and learn. (In a way she was the first of her kind. The first being sculpted from an Archangel, brought to life through the actions of Death herself. What Charlie would be capable of? No one truly knew, save for maybe the Metatron- but that bitch didn't count as she was really more of a computer than a person.) If it weren't for the everyday needs of the people. Lucifer would never leave her side.

"Oh my," there was a voice behind him, as the door to Charlie's room opened. "Daddy is being silly? That sounds like an emergency indeed." Lucifer could see a glistening sleeve as Charlie was scooped up off of him.

"Momma!"

"Hey, my little Hell-flower. Are you having fun with daddy?" There was something about the voice that was speaking which made the Devil hesitate. He hadn't been... expecting to hear it? He scrambled to sit up.

"A-Adam?" The Devil saw the First Man standing before him. He was dressed in fine clothing, his face split down the middle, half black with a vacant white eye that gave off its own unnatural glow, the other eye an empty, void-like black with a single, glowing, golden orb floating in the darkness contrasting the paper white skin on that side of his body. A crown adorned his head, decorated with glistening gems, and tall, dramatic horns that matched the half-and-half aesthetic of his coloring. Charlie was in his arms, squishing the black and white cheeks in her pale little hands.

"See," Charlie looked up at Adam, before resting her head on his shoulder. "Daddy is being very silly!"

"I can see that." Adam shifted Charlie into one arm, offering his other forward for Lucifer to take. "Welcome home, my love."

"Love...?" Lucifer took the hand with some hesitation. This... wasn't right? Was it? Lucifer was pulled to his feet.

"I'm glad to see you." Adam withdrew his hand and placed it under Lucifer's chin, tilting his head up. "I've missed you all day."

"Y... yeah..." Lucifer shook his head trying to clear it. This was... fine? Maybe? "I missed you too." He reached up putting his own clawed hand to Adam's face. Adam leaned in a little closer.

"Momma you're gonna squish me." Charlie protested, pushing Adam a little further back from her position sitting comfortably in his arms. Lucifer could feel her tiny hand pressing against him in mild protest. The Devil blinked, his crimson and gold eyes flickering to Adam's two-toned face.

"Momma?"

"Yeah, not sure why she's started calling me that. It used to be papa and you were daddy but I think she's been watching some of those VoxTek shows and has decided that I'm momma now. I dunno. I don't hate it. I explained to her that we can both be papa and daddy but if she likes this better, who am I to fix it?" Adam shrugged his shoulders lightly leaning down to bump his nose against Charlie's.

"Syn told me that you're momma." Charlie explained as-a-matter-of-factly. Lucifer's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Syn?"

"You can't listen to Syn, my darling infernal rose," Adam didn't seem at all confused or concerned. No one seemed to be. But... Syn wasn't around when Charlie was little... and... neither was Adam- "Darling?" Lucifer was pulled from his thoughts as Adam put Charlie back on her hooves and placed a hand on his cheek. "Is everything okay?" Lucifer reached up, touching the hand. It was the dark half of Adam's body, which always ran a little cooler than the paper white side. It felt just as Lucifer expected, solid, cool, real. Lucifer felt his own cheeks heat up beneath the touch.

"I'm fine."

"Daddy?" Charlie pulled on the tail of his coat, looking up at him with her own golden and crimson eyes.

"Daddy's fine." Lucifer picked her up. Holding her in his arms. She was so young, so small, he loved this age.

"You must have had a long day." Adam smiled, his hand falling back to his side. "I know work has been hard lately. So, I made you a nice dinner that we can eat all together, and then, when we finish, I can draw you up a nice bath, and you can just relax until it's time for bed. How does that sound?"

"Amazing..." Lucifer couldn't think of anything he wanted more than just a nice, normal meal and a relaxing bath.

"I suspected as much." Adam put his index finger beneath Lucifer's chin, tinting his head up slightly so the Devil could look into this mismatched eyes. He smiled, before turning his attention to the door, throwing it open. "I hope somebody is in the mood for breakfast for dinner!"

"Pancakes!" Charlie cheered from Lucifer's embrace. The Devil felt obligated to hold her a little closer, as if everything would melt away at a moment's notice. He followed Adam into the hallway, the servants were moving around, going about their daily tasks, stopping only to bow as the royal family walked past.

"Adam..." Lucifer pulled Charlie close to him. "If you're the..." he wasn't sure the exact word he was supposed to use. But his eyes fell on the crown and he figured that was a good enough indication. "If you're the queen," he continued his original thought, "why are you doing the cooking?" Adam looked back at him, having to turn his whole head so his good eye could look at the Devil behind him. He was smiling, not at all thrown off by Lucifer's question.

"Simple, my love, I enjoy it. I'm not about to stop doing something I love just because we have a staff. I've told you this before. And anyway, you like my cooking. And so does my little devilish daisy~" Adam leaned down to press a kiss onto Charlie's forehead and she laughed.

"Best pancakes ever!" She was quick to agree. Lucifer smiled, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that was settling over him as they made their way to the kitchen. He felt like he was being watched.

Lucifer

He could hear something... someone whisper in his ear as he tried to focus on the family in front of him.

Lucifer, I need you

"D... do you hear something?" There was a sensation almost like icy breath tickling where the Devil's ear would be. He had to ask. Adam and Charlie both looked at one another in confusion.

"I mean, I don't hear anything I wouldn't expect to hear in a hallway?" Adam shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you being silly again?" Charlie seemed to think it was a game. She stuck her tongue out, wiggling it around playfully.

"No... I..." Lucifer shook himself. That feeling of eyes on him wasn't lessening "... never mind. Maybe I'm imagining it."

Lucifer.

"Who is calling my name!?" He whirled around. Adam took a step back for a moment, before putting a hand on Lucifer's shoulder.

"No one, my love."

"Daddy?" Charlie looked concerned. Adam reached over, gently taking Charlie from Lucifer's tightening grip. He didn't want to let her go, but he was occupied with trying to find the source of the sound.

"Maybe you should go right to that bath, I can bring you your food in the tub." Adam put Charlie down on her hooves, walking toward Lucifer, putting both of his hands on the Devil's tensed shoulders, massaging them gently. "I can get the water running, nice and hot, just the way you like it." His voice was gentle, but Lucifer could hear the concern dripping from his tone. Adam and Charlie were about the only things that felt okay, and even they didn't seem to be one hundred percent right. Lucifer could feel the hair standing on the back of his neck.

"I'm fine. It's just-"

Lucifer, please, I'm begging you!

"My love?" Adam didn't seem to hear the voice at all. Lucifer's eyes darted around. He noticed the staff were standing still, but he saw something pale, almost glowing moving in one of the doorways where the staff had left a door partially ajar. He ignored Adam, moving toward the door. Was... that his workshop? "Where are you going, Lucifer?" Adam grabbed his arm.

"Daddy?" Charlie latched on to the bottom of his coat. Lucifer came to a stop just outside the doorway. He could see the darkness inside, seeping out into the well-lit hallway. "We need to have breakfast for dinner."

"Just a second." Lucifer pulled away from both of them. He pushed the workshop door slowly open. The room was almost completely pitch black save for an almost spotlight like light that was shining down from out of nothingness over a tall, ornate, gilded mirror... the Heaven Phone.

Lucifer...

That was definitely the origin of the whisper. Lucifer could faintly see movement from behind the glass. He started to enter the room, but Adam pulled him back again, drawing him out into the hallway. He held him, gently, by both arms, looking into his eyes. Lucifer felt his breath catch in his throat as Adam leaned closer.

"Stay out here."

"Adam..." Lucifer nearly choked on his own word. Adam wasn't restraining him, but it was clear he wanted the Devil to stay put. Lucifer felt Charlie grab onto him as well, wrapping her arms around his leg.

"Let's go eat, daddy."

"I..." Lucifer took a deep breath. A part of him wanted to stay out here with Adam and Charlie. It was nice, happy. The air inside the room lacked the warmth he was feeling. But as he looked around the hall, that warmth started to drain and he felt a sensation like cold water being poured slowly over his head, running down his back. He surveyed the servants standing still, like statues, posed in these unnatural, twisted poses. Their faces were gone. Or maybe... they had never existed in the first place. The only faces Lucifer could remember were Adam's and Charlie's. He blinked and the poses of the staff shifted to even more contorted stances. Lucifer tensed. His eyes glanced behind him at his darkened workshop. Was it his imagination? Or, did the mirror-like Heaven phone somehow seem much closer than it had been before.

Lucifer...

"The fuck is going on?" Lucifer made a move to push Adam away, but the regal First Man moved, letting the Devil go. Adam's gaze followed Lucifer's to the twisted, frozen, faceless bodies of the Hellborn servants.

"Don't pay them any mind." Adam reached for him again, putting his arms around Lucifer, putting their foreheads together. "Just stay here," he leaned in a little closer, "with us," Lucifer could feel the heat of the glow that illuminated the half of Adam's mouth on the shadowy side of his face. He never realized how warm it was before, he could even (faintly) feel the glow from Adam's white, blind eye on his cheek. "With me..." And suddenly, their lips were touching. Lucifer's first instinct was to pull away, but the Devil was not one to deny an indulgence. He leaned in, clawed fingers raking through Adam's two-toned hair as he deepened the kiss, enjoying the feel of Adam's facial hair against his chin. He knew it was an attempt to distract him. An it worked, for the moment. He heard Adam let out a noise of enjoyment before the Devil used his grip on Adam's head to pull him away. This wouldn't happen. Ever. The attempt to draw him in only shook him awake to how out-of0-place this all was.

"You're not real, Are you?"

"I..." Adam's face fell a bit and Lucifer pushed him further back. "No. I suppose I'm not." He kneeled down and Charlie ran to his arms.

Lucifer... please

"Neither of you are..." Lucifer was slowly getting his wits about him. Charlie was an adult, Adam was his maid, and his real Queen had left him over seven years before this. Lucifer knew that now.

help... me.

"Daddy..." Charlie reached out toward him. Lucifer took another step backward, toward the darkened workroom. Neither Adam, Charlie, nor the unmoving staff made any indication that they were going to follow him. "... don't go..."

"I have to." The only thing that seemed real was that voice. And Lucifer couldn't ignore it any longer. This whole scenario was... nice... and that's how Lucifer knew he couldn't trust it. He took a deep breath, eyes lingering on Charlie as he stepped backward into his workshop and slowly started to close the door.

"Bye daddy," she reached out for him one more time as Adam picked her up. Lucifer hesitated, but it was only briefly as he closed the door, leaving himself alone in the workshop. His breath hitched as he took another step back only to feel the chill of glass pressed against his back. Slowly, he turned his head to see the Heaven phone was now directly behind him, but his reflection was nowhere to be seen. The glass looked inky, black, as if something thick and viscous had been poured on the underside of the reflection. Lucifer turned, placing his hand to the smooth, freezing surface. The mirror felt like ice beneath his gloved hand.

Lucifer...

That voice again. It seemed to be coming from inside the mirror itself. But Lucifer could see nothing.

Help me...

There was the shape of a palm against the glass. He could see a pale hand, pressing on the other side of the mirror. The feminine shape, the almost ethereal color, it all looked so familiar it hurt.

Lucifer...

"Azrael?" The voice was so far away, so soft, barely a whisper. He couldn't recognize it initially. But now that he was alone, he recognized her almost instantly. "Is that you?" The hand on the other side of the mirror was aligned with his own.

Lucifer...

The image on the other side of the Heaven Phone finally came into view. He saw Azrael again, looking exactly the way she had the last time they had crossed paths, that day when she gave him the last thing he needed to finish making Charlie. She was wearing her favorite flowing, white gown with the butterfly shaped cut-out over the clavicle. There must have been wind around her because the fabric and her long, glowing, fiery white hair were whipping about on the other side. Her dark, reflective black eyes were staring at him from the behind the glass, her other hand reached up touching the mirror where Lucifer's face would have been reflected.

"Azzie?" His breath hitched.

Help me Lucifer

She would mouth the words but there was a distinct delay before he ever heard them. They came as a whisper, reverberating off the walls and burrowing directly into his skull. It caused an unsettling disconnected feeling to settle in the pit of Lucifer's stomach as he watched her midnight black lips move.

"Where are you?"

Lost... come find me.

"You're dead." His voice shook as he looked at her. It was not his favorite thing to remember, but it was something he knew was real, which separated it from the rest of the illusions around him. Azrael stared back at him; she opened her mouth and golden blood started to dribble from the corners of her mouth. She leaned forward, touching her forehead to the glass. As she looked up at Lucifer, he could see more golden blood as it started dripping from the corners of her eyes.

I'm still... alive... but I'm hurting.

The asynchronous lip movements were only worsened by the blood burbling out of her mouth. He could see wounds appearing on her neck, on her torso, bloodstains growing beneath the white fabric, she looked at him, her eyes desperate and afraid, her hand curling against the glass.

"Where are you!?" He slammed his fist into the glass. He needed to find her, to help her.

Please...

There were tendrils of darkness wrapping around her neck. Lucifer could see the burns, the vein-like spread of Corruption traveling across her alabaster skin from every point where the darkness made contact. It was trying to eat her alive.

"AZZIE!"

Help... me...

And suddenly she was ripped away from the mirror, back into the darkness, her mouth agape in horror though the scream didn't hit till a moment later. So loud, so ear-splitting that the glass of the Heaven phone cracked and shattered onto the floor. The light over it went out, and Lucifer was alone in the darkness.

"AZZIE!" Lucifer shot awake. He was on the couch, in the fucking living room of all places and he nearly headbutted Adam who was leaning over him. Lucifer was in a fit, grabbing Adam tightly by the collar of his robes. "The fuck are you doing!?"

"Nothing! Jesus fucking Christ!" Adam's face tinted golden for a moment before he took a hand and shoved it on Lucifer's forehead trying to push him away. "Get off me jackass!" Adam was dressed as he usually was, in a mimic of his holy robes, though the symbol on his chest was inverted in his Sinner state. Lucifer's mind briefly flashed to the image of Adam, clad in that beautiful regal outfit, wearing the crown on his head. The way his lips had felt- nope- that was a weird fucking dream caused by too much junk food from Lu Lu World, and therefore required no further thought. That part of the dream was going in the mind-vault. Azzie was real. Adam wasn't. The Devil felt his mouth go dry and his brain go briefly numb as he tried to put everything together. Adam was a Corrupted, a maid, and a problem.

He had been dreaming. That was all it was.

The stuff with Adam, with Charlie... it had jut been a weird fucking dream.

Lucifer remembered now. He fell asleep on the couch watching some dumb TV show on his phone. Michael was off doing God knows what, upstairs. Lysander was in his room, and Syn had been watching the show with him- it had been her idea. He didn't see her now. All he saw was a blanket that had not been around previously had been draped over him as he slept.

"Did you put a blanket on me?"

"No!" Adam scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Lucifer, who was in no mood for bullshit, narrowed his eyes.

"Adam."

"Syn thought you looked cold. I don't fucking know. It's hard to say no to her." Well, that made sense.

"It was my idea!" Syn came out from behind Adam, so, that was where she had been. Adam's story checked out,

"Oh."

"Did Master not like my show?"

"No... no... it was good." Lucifer couldn't even remember what it was about. His mind was stuck more on the last images from his dream. The scene of Azzie, of the blood on her, of the words that kept scraping through his brain like some sort of cacophonous scream. "Where's... Virgil?" His eyes flickered to Syn as he carefully chose the correct name for the Archangel upstairs. Adam shrugged.

"In his room, I think."

"Good." Lucifer threw the blanket off of himself, getting to his hooves. "Make sure you have dinner ready on time tonight." He patted Adam on the shoulder as he walked past him toward the stairs.

"You're welcome." The First Man grumbled to himself, glancing over at Syn who had nestled on his shoulder. "He's in a mood, huh."

"Maybe he had a bad dream..."

Lucifer went right to Michael's room, knocking on the door. There was a flurry of movement from the other side before he heard Virgil's hollow voice call to him. "You may enter." So fucking formal.

"It's me." Lucifer opened the door to see Michael, in his Virgil form, sitting on the edge of the bed. The Devil closed the or behind himself and Michael snapped back into his angelic form like a rubber band returning to shape. The halos looked the Devil up and down while the eyes on Michael's face maintained a polite eye contact. He patted the bed beside him, but Lucifer chose to remain standing. He couldn't shake the image of Azrael, covered in blood, from his mind.

"Is..." Michael paused as Lucifer stayed unmoving by the door. "Is everything okay? You look... rough."

"I think... I think Azrael is still alive."

"O... oh." Michael's face fell. "She... she very much is not. I'm... sorry Lu." He was gentle, but the eyes in the halos avoided contact with him.

"But she could be." Lucifer felt something real about the ending of that dream. Something about Azrael was different from everything else around him. It felt almost like a vision.

"N... no."

"Michael, I saw her."

"You... didn't see her Lu." Michael stood up. He walked over to Lucifer and very carefully took the clawed hand in his own. "She's gone."

"Did you ever see a fucking body!?" Lucifer jerked his hand away. Michael was quiet for a moment.

"... yes."

"You're lying."

"I'm not. I buried her myself."

"I..." Lucifer's head still felt heavy. He felt almost dizzy. He looked at Michael, trying to find the deceit in his expression. Most of the time Michael was a shitty liar. Except when it mattered most. "Prove it."

"How? I'm not going to exhume the body." Michael put his foot right down on the most obvious idea. Which was fine. Lucifer had seen enough of his friend's blood-soaked form for one day.

"I don't... I don't know." Lucifer allowed Michael to put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to sit on the bed. "Michael, I heard her. She was begging me for help." The Archangel just didn't understand.

"She's... gone Lu. I'm so sorry... but..." He sat beside him, squeezing the Devil's clawed hand. He sounded empathetic. But Lucifer wasn't sure what to believe. It was like a whisper in the back of his mind. Michael took a deep breath. "But I guess you haven't really heard the story."

"I just saw her Mikey, she was fine."

"You... hadn't seen her in a few years-" Michael cut himself off seemingly thinking better of his choice of words. "I mean... no one saw it coming. It was... sudden for all of us. But if it will make you feel better. I can take you to who found the body. If you want the full story, she's you best bet."

"Y..." Lucifer swallowed. "Yeah. I want that." If he talked to whoever found the body, then, perhaps, he could find the hole in the story. Lucifer just couldn't shake how real it felt, to hear her voice, to see her speaking to him from the other side of the glass. If there was any chance she was still alive.

That she could still meet Charlie...

That he hadn't lost his chance...

"Then first thing tomorrow," Michael squeezed his hand again, looking him in the eyes. "We can go to Port Gatory."