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mekachu04He had planned on returning straight to LA once he was confident in leaving Hell to it's own devices once again - which was actually working out much better than expected, all things considered.
Instead, Lucifer Morningstar found himself quite rudely drug from his private chambers in Hell to a quiet meadow in England. Not by a powerful summoning or spell, but by demonic prayer of all things. Heaven seemed to be having their own internal toss ups, which Lucifer would have been quite happy to ignore, except somehow one of his demons had gotten caught on the mix.
And by one of his demons, it turned out to be one of his Greater Demons, who should have been locked up in Hell with everyone else, not caught up in the civil unrest of Angels in an orchard south of London. He had heard Amenadiel yelling even from Hell, but it was angry and distraught not hurt, so he'd left his brother alone. Maybe he only heard the demonic cry for help because he was listening to hear if Amenadiel needed back up.
Amenadiel was locked in combat with Michael when Lucifer rose. Other angels littered the meadow, and even if he was no longer one of them, to see their essence bleeding out though fleshy bodies still hurt. If asked, he'd simply claim he was there to witness Heaven's Purging, Part two.
He recognized Gabriel, the once proud, immaculately dressed, paper-pusher curled in the mud, gasping in agony. Unlike most of the angels, his injuries were not caused by any celestial blade, but instead he reeked of demonic venom.
It wasn't enough to be fatal, if the angels got over themselves and took him back to Heaven for healing soon. Lucifer only sneered down at pain glazed purple eyes and turned to regard one of the angels still standing. Lucifer didn't recognize him - he wasn't important when Lucifer was still in the Silver City, so most likely one promoted one to fill the gaps left in the hierarchy from the power vacuum created by the fall of Lucifer's followers. His portly face was calm and unconcerned, and he too reeked of demonic venom. Unlike Gabriel, who was succumbing to his wounds, this one didn't seem to notice them at all.
He was standing over another angel.
It shouldn't be any of Lucifer's business; but angel-on-angel made him think of his last stand against Micheal, and he could not help himself from moving forward.
It wasn't just that the archangel had been standing over a lower angel, but that his foot was pressing down on the other's head with force, grinding it down into unforgiving ground. His hands gripped tightly around a broken battered wing like he was trying to pull it off, not unlike the way a human child plucks the wings from a butterfly. Under him, the angel struggled still, left hand fisting in the mud and trying to leverage themselves up again, right arm laying limply aside along with a distended, mangled right wing. His hips were twisted; it left him struggling to get the power needed to get up, but also kept him from any stance that could be twisted as to be 'kneeling' and Lucifer had to respect the spite needed to allow oneself into such a position.
Dragging the angels apart without inflicting damage on the twisted limb was the only delicate part of his interaction with the squat archangel. Once 'holy' hands had let go of the wing, Lucifer flung the angel away with all his pent-up aggression. He spared the angel on the ground a look; exuding a forceful suggestion of 'stand down' and all fight fled from the angel. It wasn't that Lucifer was picking a side - yet - just that he was calling a halt to the violence until he knew which side to back.
His intention was to demand Amenadiel and Michael explain what was going on, when he heard the hissing.
Later, he would formally forgive his underling for threatening him. At the moment, however, he was partially enraged and partially just fed up. He spun on heel to where his own demon - the one who'd called him up in the first place - was attempting to threaten him, hand raised to inflict his own power of the other fallen angel, when he saw his wayward serpent.
Crowley had been one of his best field agents - creative beyond measure, and irritating beyond reason. Lucifer had let the snake get away with a lot over the millennia; if his immediate superiors didn't call him out on his nonsense, Lucifer certainly wouldn't, even if the few reports he'd glanced over had reeked of outright bullshit. He had not sanctioned the fallen angel's trial or execution, but he'd hardly raised a finger to stop it either. Prince Beelzebub had a point, and while he was actually sad to see one of the brighter angels from heaven be extinguished, Crowley had cocked up their moment of glory, and instead of groveling or apologizing, he'd stood firm against Hell, choosing Earth instead. Lucifer fully supported free will - but free will also meant that choices had consequences.
He had even allowed Micheal into his realm.
He'd never been more pleased with the look of mortification on the archangel's face, than when his serpent had asked for a towel. Lucifer had some idle thoughts on how the serpent had pulled the whole thing off, but ultimately, he didn't care. He had other things on his plate, and simply never followed up.
Maybe he should have. In hindsight, it was maybe a good thing the serpent had somehow circumvented his demonic recall. His fellow demons would not have taken his return well.
The angels certainly didn't take his presence on their battlefield well. He was all scales now, holy spears piecing his slender form and pinning him in place in the tall trampled grass, dark ichor spilling out to curse the land under him. He was squirming and struggling against where he was pinned in place, half blind and spitting venom. Luckily for him, he'd missed Lucifer. The Devil cautiously walked to the better side of Crowley's face - left side smashed and gory, eye possibly gone, and fang missing - until he was certain the slitted eye on the serpent's right side could see him clearly. Bloody tongue flicked out, and almost immediately, the hissing stopped, and the snake nearly looked like he'd begun to cower.
Better.
Lucifer approached then, Crowley smartly keeping his head to the ground, tense, but no longer looking ready to strike. Lucifer ripped the spears loose; demonic blood flooding the now open wounds as he did so. It might discorperate the demon, but at least he wasn't pinned down awaiting angelic mercy. "Crowley, I believe you called?"
'Bossssssssss,' It seemed the word took all his strength to utter, as he started to slither forward. Lucifer had half a mind to demand his attention, but the other half was curious what could possibly be more important here than him, his Lord, and literal savior.
It was the angel, the one still smashed into the ground, broken wings haloed out around him. The serpent coiled around the body; Crowley was a viper, not a constrictor, so it was boldly out of character. More-so, it looked like instead of returning to some kind of death struggle, the snake was trying to hide the angel from view, black wings sprouting from scales to smother the warm glow of leaking angelic essence from sight.
The angel from the airbase. Lucifer recognized him now. It didn't explain Amenadiel and Micheal, but he at least understood then what his demon was doing here in an angels’ fight then.
He'd deal with Crowley later; Amenadiel first.
-
Once Michael realised Lucifer had come to bear witness, she'd fled, along with most of the still surviving angels. Lucifer noted that the short one he'd thrown aside was among them, supporting a fading Gabriel between him and an underling. The bodies of the merely discorporated angels had faded away, leaving only the still dying who'd supported Amenadiel behind. Plus Lucifer's demon. And his angel. Amenadiel stood solemnly still in the field, allowing Lucifer to see the fear and hurt on his face before he schooled his features when approached by one of his own. Lucifer remained respectfully out of ear shot; a few angels looked at him warily, but no one raised arms against him, too broken by fighting with their own to contemplate a fight with him right now.
When the other angels started to move out, Lucifer approached his brother.
"Why are you here?" Amenadiel asked. His voice was not cold, just tired.
"I was called for, if you can believe that. No one is more surprised than me, I assure you."
Amenadiel looked at him in confusion, before he made the connection - "The serpent." his whole demeanor slumped, "the serpent, is he...?"
"He was alive. Probably still is, but there were other matters at the time."
"I didn't mean for this, Lucifer. Have you seen Aziraphale? The angel with the serpent- is he?"
"With the snake." Lucifer did not offer more, hard look still focused on his brother, wanting answers.
"They'd been on earth for so long... I came to ask for help protecting Charlie. I... I didn't think; Michael asked to come with me, I thought she was supporting me. She used me to get them to lower the wards. I hadn't... I didn't think." he repeated, his face flashed with fear, "I have to go, I have to make sure she didn't find Charlie!"
If Lucifer did not love Linda as much as he did, if he did not adore her, and therefore her child, he would have demanded Amenadiel to stay and fix this. Instead, he watched his brother take flight, the angels who'd come to support him in battle also flickering off the field of battle.
In his fear for his son, Amenadiel had left a brother behind, wounded - possibly fatally so - for daring to offer him help.
If Lucifer did not love Linda so....
Lucifer easily trekked back to where the serpent still lay hidden in the grasses. With night falling, his dark colouring easily masked them from above, and while it would fool a paroling angel, it would never fool the Devil.
Crowley's prayers had pulled him through time and space, but sadly it was not a power Lucifer had at his disposal. He could walk into Hell with ease, from any point on Earth. But leaving was difficult even for him, and there where only certain points he could reach, most of them in the southern hemisphere.
His powers also did not extend to healing; there wasn't usually a need for such a thing, minus Chloe's effect on him in very recent years.
The snake was still bleeding out, black ichor of his true self thick on scales and stone. "Can you walk?" Lucifer asked him, squatting down next to the shoulder joint of the right wing.
"No." Admitted the snake from somewhere under the cover of heavy black feathers.
"Got a phone on you?"
The serpent let out a breathy set of huffs - laughs, Lucifer realized, "No pocke'ss, bossssss"
The wings shifted, letting Lucifer look down on the battered angelic face, and the snake head resting over his vulnerable neck, pressed up under bruised jaw, looking back at him with his one good eye. "Angel hasssss one. Shhhhhould be in jshacket." he hissed, coils loosening to reveal the angel's muddy coat. Lucifer carefully did not react to the close up of the angel's wings, both tucked in to the joint of Crowley's left wing. He couldn't be sure without a better look, but he was pretty sure that one was completely detached from the socket judging by the way it was twisted around. There was indeed a smart phone tucked in the front pocket. The screen was shattered, but it still turned on when Lucifer tried it.
It looked like it was still on factory settings, as Lucifer navigated around shards of glass to pull up the phone call application. "He ha'esssss i'," the snake laughed, voice slurring, "bu' 'akesssss i' ev'ere caussssse I bou'i for himmm."
Thankfully, Mazikeen picks up on the first ring, undeterred by the unknown number, "Mazikeen Smith."
"Maze, darling. I need a favour."
It's a good thing she loves him so.
-
Crowley does not like the idea of letting Lucifer pick up the angel, but he also admits he's not able to grow his own limbs back at the moment. The fastest way to help of any kind was going to be letting Mazikeen summon them to LA, instead of trying to crawl his way back to a no longer secure cottage with the angel in the state he was. Crowley loosens his grip on the angel once Mazikeen calls them back to say she'd ready on her end. The angel's corporation might be equal with Lucifer's humanly body in weight and size, but Lucifer has all of Hell to draw upon, and easily lifts the angel into his arms. The phone was on speaker in Lucifer's breast pocket, and once he's standing and the angel was held securely, Crowley, to his own growing mortification, wrapped himself delicately around the devil's shoulders. Lucifer gives Maze the all clear, and the dark fields of England fade into the bright open penthouse above Lux.
Almost all of Lucifer's favourite girls are awaiting him, only Ella and Trixie are absent. Maze was armed outside the summoning circle, not completely sure this isn't a trap of some kind. Chloe was armed as well, but had made no attempts for her firearm, instead looking at Lucifer in open shock. Her joy at seeing him warring with the sight of his two burdens. She and Linda move almost in sync, moving first towards him as if to help, then freezing up short as Crowley slithers to the floor at their feet. Crowley ignored the humans, staring down Mazikeen. "Crawly," she sneered, ignoring Lucifer entirely as he stepped over the massive snake now at his feet and toward the open space on the floor behind one of his couches.
There was no good way to lay the angel down; his wings were clearly damaged, but Lucifer can feel the hurt radiating off the angel's chest. It's a good thing they don't need to breath, because he's willing to bet the angel can't even if he wanted to. He settles for laying the angel on his right side, letting the floor take the weight of the most damaged wing. Crowley was only just out from under foot, and as soon as Lucifer sat back, the snake was coiling back around the other one defensively.
"How can we help?" Chloe asked, careful not to touch or crowd, but kneeing across from them, looking back and forth from the snake to Lucifer. She missed him- he can see how happy she was to see him lurking in her eyes- but she was a cop first, and training kicked in like it was supposed to and she was one hundred percent focused on the strange pair on Lucifer's floor. Linda and Maze are at her sides, Linda look just as ready to help while Maze looked at Lucifer half in amusement, and half curious about the whole affair.
Lucifer entertaining Amenadiel was one thing; he's one of Lucifer's closest brothers in terms of power and familiarity. This angel was third sphere, barely more powerful than her, and, up until this very moment, a complete stranger. Far below either of their notice, and now leaking out on his floor.
Crowley was also bleeding out, and Lucifer worried what his pure essence would do should Chloe or Linda touch it. The angel under him seemed to have some kind of immunity to the demonic energy, but the other angels in the field were not so lucky. Even the ground had died under him, and Lucifer was not willing to accidentally put his charges in danger. "Crowley," he softened his voice, making sure it does not come out as an order, but letting it ooze with power. The snake rolled his head to look at him. "I can not attempt to help your angel with you wrapped around him like so. Go with Mazikeen and see about getting yourself cleaned up, and then come help me."
He couldn't help but let the words drip with suggestion, but he's very careful not to let it overpower his request. Crowley needed to know he has the option to reject him; letting Crowley tell him no to assure him that the angel was safe with him. It's something he's picked up, mostly from Chloe and Trixie, and it works. Mazikeen gestured for the snake to follow her, and Linda and Chloe stand aside to give him room to slither past.
"Don't touch that," Lucifer warned them, gesturing to the trails of black left on his once pristine floors. He switched sides, kneeling in the streaks at the angel's back and letting the humans kneel in safety. The angel's clothes were soaked in ichor and grace, but neither seems to seep through the evidence gloves Chloe had donned as she helped him remove the soiled fabric. It's a careful maneuvering to work the clothes though the reality ripple between back and wings, delicate work that takes most of Lucifer's attention.
When he looked up from his efforts, Linda had returned from somewhere in his flat with a first aid kit, and Chloe was taking the bundle of waistcoat, jacket, and shirt from his hands. "I'm gonna put it in the bathtub for now, you can figure out what to do with it later."
He smiled solemnly at her as she stood up, and turned to Linda, "Thank you. Both. This is not how I pictured our reunion."
"You can make it up to us later," Linda reassured him, before turning her focus to the entity lying on Lucifer's floor. Lucifer directed his attention to the wings; it didn't look good. He's not sure the right wing can be fixed. Amenadiel might be able to heal this, but it's outside of Lucifer's power. The larger bones were not only broken, but each one had been twisted out of socket, with the muscles and ligaments meant to hold them together having been ripped away. The only silver lining that Lucifer can see was that the nerves seem to be damaged as well, and the angel can't feel any of the damage. The left one was broken in many of the same places, but Lucifer seems to have interrupted the archangel responsible before he could twist the joints of that wing apart too.
"His right arm is broken," Linda warned him from the angel's front, looking at the limb the angel was resting on as she frowned at the damage to his chest. She started to say more before cutting herself off suddenly, ducking her head down. She was looking directly at the angel's face, and her voice dripped syrup, the sweet tone she reserved for Charlie these days, "Hey sweetie," she cooed.
Chloe was standing behind her, face stricken, and when Lucifer made eye contact, she mouthed, He's awake
The angel had not moved as far as Lucifer could tell, no relaxing or tensing to indicate consciousness, but Linda carefully stroked sweat and mud curled hair along his brow, "It's okay now, you're with friends."
She was frowning when she looked up, her face worried, "What's his name?" she asked him in a whisper.
To Lucifer's shame, he doesn't know. He's trying to remember if Amenadiel had mentioned it. He thinks his brother did, but he doesn't recall it at the moment, "I'd have to ask Crowley."
The wing resting under his fingers twitched, and Chloe was kneeling by Linda, "That's the snake, right?"
Another twitch, and Lucifer nodded. Before he can say more, Chloe's chiming in with her mom voice, looking between Linda and the angel, "He's okay too," she said, reading something in the angel's face that Lucifer can't see, "He's getting cleaned up, and he'll be right back."
-
Maze kept Crowley away as they tended to the angel as best as they could, before they dressed him back up in a borrowed pair of Lucifer's sleepwear. The only awkward moment was when the trio learned that the angel hadn't made an effort - leaving Lucifer to explain that to two humans who've both seen him naked at one point or another and didn't know that was an option angels or demons had. They were discussing whether they should move the angel to a couch, or a bed, when Crowley does slither back. Shiny stretches of skin - looking suspiciously like burns, knowing Maze - gleam from where he'd been freely bleeding earlier, and his head was sporting a very awkward wrap of bandages. The angel had been mostly unresponsive until then; he made a soft whine when the snake first brushed against him, and the two clung to each other on Lucifer's floor.
Black wings sprung back into existence, and once again block them both from sight.
"I think the floor will be fine for now," Maze commented, before turning razor focus to Lucifer, "Welcome back, I guess."
