Chapter Text
Everything hurt.
His body.
His energy reserves.
From his guts to the very tips of his feathers pain was radiating through him.
But nothing was hurting more than his heart.
His daughter, his little shooting star, was right there. Next to her girlfriend.
The one who had promised to come back for him.
But she hadn’t.
Thinking back, she wouldn’t even answer his question of whether or not Charlie was still mad at him...
Oh.
Was that why? Maggi had seemed surprised to see him there. As if she hadn’t meant to find him. As though she hadn’t been looking for him.
And they clearly hadn’t. Because Charlie was still mad at him and didn’t want to see him.
Why else would Vanny leave him there with only an empty promise for company? Why else would they both turn their backs on him as they did now, refusing to acknowledge his existence.
Tears stung in his eyes as his heart was pierced more thoroughly than his torso had been while in that blasted Place of Pain.
Fine.
Summoning the last dredges of his power, he vanished in a small swirl of red and gold flames. He collapsed once he reappeared in his room in the palace.
By the Rings, everything hurt so much. He could feel what little power he was regaining being either drained again from him by Hell to keep itself stable or relocated to his injuries to heal them. He couldn’t move, could hardly even think. But he had to. With his energy levels so low his injuries would take time and care to heal. Care that he could not administer by himself right now. His tired eyes fell on the heap of objects in the corner where he had dropped off the Sins’ presents after he got kicked out of the hotel. A pastel pink plush with closed eyes sat on top.
Belphegor.
It had been so long. Would she be mad?Mad that he was only reaching out now and only because he needed her expertise? But he had no choice.
Groaning, he dug deep inside himself for his connection to Hell. It had been so long since he had sought it out. But now he needed it to call on Belphegor. He was fairly certain that he had lost his phone at some point during the chaos and even if he hadn’t, he just couldn’t bear the thought of seeing angry messages from Charlie, or worse, nothing at all.
He finally found that little core inside himself, entangled within threads of different colors, one for each Ring, with his own red one at the base of it, supporting the core itself. His thread was humming weakly, doing its best to keep the burden of the core within its confines instead of letting it fall to the others around it. The other threads were at one end connected to the tangled mess while the other end trailed off into the distance somewhere. He grabbed the pink one and pulled while trying to transmit some of his desperation and hurt.
The pink cord pulsed, startled awake and Lucifer felt a sense of worry and fear that was not his own fill him. He sighed in relief. She had gotten the message.
Just as he came back to reality he felt the hum of a portal open in his room and felt himself relax just a bit.
“Lucifer!!”
Bel stormed through the portal, more awake than he could remember seeing her in centuries and all of her ten eyes open and the pink flame on her head flickering bright and wildly.
As soon as she caught sight of his crumbled state she shot forward to assess his state.
“I’m sorry, Bel…,” he muttered weakly as she gently turned him over to rest on his back.
“Hush,” she stopped him, placing a finger on his lips. “We will talk later. Only speak if I ask a question.”
He simply nodded as she picked him up as gently as she could and placed him on his large bed. He didn’t even budge when she ended up cutting his clothes off for easier access. He wasn’t even sure if he was even conscious or not by that point.
He only knew that by the time he regained focus, Bel had cleaned, stitched and bandaged his injuries, changed him into loose and comfortable clothes and was now washing his hair while still in bed as best as she could with a washcloth.
“Are you with me again?”
He nodded.
“Good. Neither your injuries nor the bloodloss were severe, but your energy is far too low for someone like you.” She rinsed the washcloth in the basin of water next to her and wrung out any excess water before continuing her work on his hair. “Does it have anything to do with Heaven’s Gates being blasted from their hinges?”
...WHAT?!
Was that what that TV was doing?! Drain his power to attack Heaven?!
Bel paused when she saw his shocked expression. “I already assumed it wasn’t you since you would never attack Heaven without warning us, but you’re the only one down here with the necessary power to accomplish something of that scale…”
“It was probably my power, but it wasn’t me.” He put one of his arms over his eyes, not wanting to see Bel’s disappointed look once he got this out. “A sinner captured me and I think he was draining my power for whatever machine he used to attack Heaven. I don’t know, he didn’t really tell me anything.”
“Captured? By sinners? Then they know…?”
“That I can’t hurt them? Yes.” He still couldn’t see her, but he felt her hand now brushing through his no longer sweaty hair.
“We will need to tell the others. Come up with a plan,” Bel stated. By the tone of her voice Lucifer could already tell that this was going to be one of the few things she was going to dig her heels in for.
“Could you contact them for me?” No point in fighting the inevitable.
“Naturally. Should I tell Charlie as well?”
He winced at the name. Something Belphegor did not miss. “No...don’t tell Charlie. Please.”
“...Alright.” He could tell she wanted answers, but was willing to let it slide now out of consideration for him and just that small act of kindness made him want to cry. “Anyway, I think it would be best to transfer you to my place for now. I don’t care how secure this palace is,” the pink Sin said, raising her voice as she saw Lucifer trying to argue and overriding him before he could speak, “leaving you in this state in the one Ring filled to the brim with the one type of being you can’t defend yourself against is nothing short of negligence and as your doctor, I won’t stand for it.”
Lucifer sighed in defeat. “Yes, ma’am.”
And just like that she bundled him up with a few blankets (having four arms sure was useful in moments like these) and carried him through a new portal into a room in her own home in Sloth. It was one of the rooms in a wing she had dedicated entirely for the use of her personal patients, which were usually high risk patients she could not entrust to someone else or high-profile patients like himself whose primary concern was safety during the recovery.
Sin of Sloth she may be, but she had not hesitated to put in every effort on the protective spells around her home and especially this wing. Including one that kept anyone that did not have Belphegor’s permission to do so from portalling themselves out.
That may or may not be because of Lucifer escaping from her (in his opinion unnecessary) treatments one too many times in the past. Not like he had the energy to even try now.
He was let down on the bed (freshly made, because of course) and while Belphegor fussed with the blankets and pillows, he entertained himself by looking at the several medical instruments in the room she needed for her work but that he couldn’t recognize or name the function of if his life depended on it, before she pulled out her phone and began texting somebody, likely the other Sins.
“Please don’t tell me we’re going to gather here,” Lucifer groaned. He did not have the nerves for that!
“Absolutely not!” She shook her head vehemently, nearly sending her ears flying and Lucifer idly thought how he might have kissed her if he hadn’t been so exhausted. “You need rest above everything else, so we will try to get the answers to any questions we might have by ourselves before asking you. And even then I’ll propose to be the middleman to make sure you’re not overwhelmed by dealing with more people than you can handle right now.”
“You’re a treasure, Bel…,” he mumbled, his eyelids suddenly heavier than boulders the size of one of Satan’s fists.
“I know.” Smiling, she ran her hand through his hair again. “Sleep now. Sleep and rest that you may return to be the king we know you can be.”
Lucifer didn’t respond, simply let his eyes close and he knew no more.
-----------------------------------
Belphegor was furious.
Not with Lucifer, hells no.
At everyone else.
Including herself.
They should have contacted Lucifer more often. Drag him out instead of waiting for him to show himself. By the Rings, he was Pride itself! As if he would admit on his own that he was having problems or that he needed help! Just look at how bad he had to get before he finally called for her!
Scrolling through the messages from the other Sins revealed much the same reaction from them. She made sure that they understood not to try and disturb him right now or even try to visit him. They wouldn’t make it through the wards, but she would rather spare herself the effort of repairing or even replacing them.
Then there was a small texting war over who should host this emergency meeting. Leviathan declared their rights to it since it would have been their turn to host the next scheduled one, while Asmodeus suggested going to Belphegor since she had Lucifer to take care of and would be his primary doctor and line to the outside world and should therefore remain close. Beelzebub on the other hand wanted to host just because and Satan argued that this would likely turn into a legal issue and that it would make the most sense to meet at his place where he had easy access to all the lawbooks they might need.
This argument won him the battle and soon the Sin of Sloth found herself in the room they usually used to meet in the palace of the much hotter Wrath Ring.
It was spacious (as any room that planned to hold at least one Sin should be), the sides were lined with bookshelves filled with contracts and other various legal papers. A television was set up in a corner in case they needed to share video footage or other discoveries from the hellnet. Apart from that, the room was barely decorated, very much in character for Satan’s practical mindset.
“Bel!” Beelzebub shot in front of her, ears down and a frown taking over her face, her colours unusually muted. “How is Luci?!”
Belphegor raised her hands in defence to keep her from getting any closer. “He is sleeping right now. His injuries are nothing he won’t be coming back from good as new, but he is seriously drained and needs to recover his energy.”
“Damn, that sucks.”
“Let’s wait for everyone to arrive and settle in before we discuss anything else,” Satan interrupted, already seated a the table in the middle of the room and surrounded by ledgers and books.
Belphegor couldn’t help but notice that Beelzebub had not brought any snacks or drinks with her nor did she offer to summon any for the others as they came in hurriedly. (Belphegor was almost certain Asmodeus had been caught in the middle of his favourite past-time when she had send out the messages, his mane wasn’t usually that ruffled.)
They quickly took to whatever seats were free and it spoke of how dire this situation was that neither Asmodeus nor Mammon tried to start an argument as they sat down next to each other.
“Alright,” Satan started. “let’s begin with the most obvious question: what the fuck happened?!”
“Lucifer told me that he had been captured by a sinner-”
“WHAT?!”
Belphegor ignored her fellow Sins’ reactions. “-And that he was trapped in some sort of machine that was draining his power. I’m assuming that this machine was what fired that beam at Heaven.”
“We had heard that there was some sort of riot going on in Pride, but…” Lele, the pale half of Leviathan, shook her head in disbelief.
“So the sinners are aware of Lucifer’s situation?” her sister, Vivi, added.
“Sadly, yes. That’s why I brought him to my place. Physically speaking, he is not badly injured, but he has lost most of his power which slows his healing and keeps him from moving about.”
Satan nodded. “Good call. If they know he can’t harm them and is in a critical condition, then he is no longer safe in Pride.” He thought for a moment before turning to Leviathan. “You said you had seen something on the matter, yes?” They nodded. “Then could you look into this a bit deeper now? We need to know everything we can about this situation.”
“Say no more!” They chorused and conjured up two laptops, one for each head to use to gather information for maximum efficiency.
“But regardless of what they find,” Mammon grumbled, waving one arm towards the conjoined twins, “ain’t changing the fact that Luci isn’t safe anymore. Not in Pride.”
“It would be fine if Lilith was still here,” Ozzie lamented. “But now…”
“Perhaps it would be best to leave the Pride Ring to the Goetia for now and have Lucifer do his work from one of our own,” Satan suggested.
“Yeah, not like Luci could do much right now either way,” Bee agreed with Bel nodding as well.
“While we’re on the topic, one of us should get Paimon on the horn for me.”
“May I ask why?” Ozzie inquired, phone already in his hand.
“I won’t have the time to take care of Lucifer as frequently as he might need what with his low energy levels rendering even walking difficult,” Belphegor explained. “So I wanted to ask Paimon to be Lucifer’s caretaker instead.”
“He is certainly the most loyal to Lucifer outside of us Sins.” Satan stroked his chin. “Let’s try it. If there is anyone we can entrust Lucifer to, it’s him.”
Ozzie needed no further motivation to leave the table in favour of a corner of the room to make the call.
“Well now what?” Mammon spoke up. “We got the Pride Ring sorted for now and Luci is safe. What do we do now?”
“What about Charlie?” Bee’s finger twirled a nondescript pattern on the table, unable to hold still for long. “How is she handling this situation?”
“Her hotel is still open and operating normally,” Vivi stated without raising her head from her laptop. “No announcements regarding that attack on Heaven either from what I can see. Frankly, no one seems to connect that weapon’s power to Lucifer. Or how much it drained him.”
“So they just don’t know?” Mammon tilted his head confused. “I mean, those sinners would never stay quiet if they thought they could get one over the King, right?”
“There is a video,” Lele started, her eyes focused on her own screen, “of Lucifer trying to intimidate that TV guy, but he called his bluff and exposed his inability to harm them to everyone. Charlie showed up afterwards with some angels who apparently thought apologizing with gift baskets was enough for everyone to just forget about the annual genocide.”
“Wait, what?!” Vivi’s turned around to look at her sister’s screen.
“Yeah, look at this!”
As the two engrossed themselves in the video Asmodeus came back to the table. “I spoke with Paimon and he was more than happy to cooperate.” Focusing on Belphegor he continued, “He asked that you call him once we’re done here so you can show him what he needs to do and in the meantime, he will be arranging the Goetia to manage the Pride Ring.” Belphegor inclined her head in thanks. “So, did I miss anything?”
“Not really,” Mammon shrugged. “Levi over there found a video that might be interesting.”
“I think you should all see this for yourselves,” Lele said with Vivi nodding vehemently next to her. They got up and connected Lele’s laptop with the television. With Asmodeus’ help they got it up and running in no time and started playing the video.
They watched in silence as it played out, silently agreeing to take in everything before commenting.
Once it was over, Satan could no longer resist and slammed his fist on the table, leaving cracks behind. “What the Hell was that?!”
“That song didn’t feel like Luci at all…” Bee mumbled, her ears flat against her head.
Asmodeus nodded. “Yeah, feels like every time he was made to do something he didn’t want to do and also didn’t know how to do it.”
“I thought you were joking about the gift baskets.” Mammon would be running his hands through his hair if he could. “And who does that guy think he is, claimin’ to be King of Hell and declarin’ war?”
“I don’t like what I saw between Charlie and Lucifer,” Belphegor frowned. “Did you see how angry she was and how scared he looked? He had asked me not to tell her that he is injured and I’m thinking this might have something to do with it.”
“That seems to be something only Lucifer can answer,” Vivi mused, her eyes back on her laptop, eyes flying over the screen to scan for information that might not be there.
Belphegor pulled out a notebook to write down a reminder for herself.
Meanwhile, Satan was digging through the ledgers and folders at his seat. “Ah-ha!” Satisfied he pulled out a folder and opened it.
“Whatcha got there, big guy?” Mammon asked.
“Contracts with Heaven. If I remember correctly…-here it is!” He conjured up copies for the other Sins to read. “According to this contract, dating back to the beginning of Hell essentially, angels of any kind are not allowed into Hell without Lucifer’s permission.”
“What’re you trying to say here?” Bee frowned confused.
“I don’t think those angels had Lucifer’s permission to show up. I doubt he would have skedaddled like that if he was cooperating with them. In other words,” he put down the contract, interlaced his claws and rested his chin on them, “they were here illegally.”
“And with the Princess to boot,” Vivi scowled.
“You don’t…,” Asmodeus didn’t even want to say it. “You don’t think she...that she’s working with Heaven? Against us, I mean.”
“Well, between her showing up with high-ranking angels and her apparent hostility to Lucifer…” Bee didn’t like it any more than Ozzie did, but…
“This is bad…!” Satan got up abruptly, his seat falling backwards from the force. “Leviathan, continue investigating Princess Charlotte and her hotel.” They nodded. “Mammon, I want you to check the bank transactions of the hotel for any suspicious behaviour.” The clown saluted. “Asmodeus, get the Goetia Kings besides Paimon on the horn to search Lucifer’s office for the records of meetings and other communications with Heaven and have them delivered to me.” He bowed his head. “Beelzebub will send out some of her sneakiest hunters and trackers to put the hotel under surveillance,” she groaned annoyed, “and Belphegor will continue to look after Lucifer and share any relevant news he might share and keep an eye on Hell’s stability while I’ll go over the contracts with Heaven again and inspect the barrier around Hell for intrusions. Also,” Satan added before anyone could fully get up from their chairs, “I want everyone to do some investigation in their own Ring in case angels have been sneaking behind Lucifer’s back before this.”
“I really hope this simply looks worse than it actually is,” Asmodeus muttered to himself as they each started teleporting back to their respective homes.
They all shared that small hope, but deep down, they knew it was in vain.