Authors: Darcy Town
Furcas looked up.
His eye glowed red in the dim room.
The Fallen gasped.
Lucifer looked from Furcas to the closed door behind him.
He recognized the red in Furcas’ eye.
His heart pounded.
He grabbed for Furcas’ arm.
“Please tell me—”
Furcas punched Lucifer across the face, sending him back.
He stared at his fist.
His skin glowed red and faded.
Lucifer pushed his broken jaw back in place.
“Why?”
“She needs a minute, okay?”
Lucifer stormed over, his insides on fire.
“I want to see her now!”
He grabbed Furcas’ shoulders and pressed him into the wall.
“Now!”
Furcas blocked the entrance.
“She
remembers
, Lucifer!
So give her a minute!”
Lucifer stopped dead in his tracks.
Icy fear ripped through him and his fire faltered.
“Remembers?”
“Everything.
More
than everything, we shared memories.
She saw the war, the Fall.
Gaea and I filled her in on pretty much everything that has happened since.
Well the short version at least.”
Lucifer dropped to the ground.
He wrung his hands.
Anxiety warred with hope.
He had to know.
“What is her reaction?”
Furcas shrugged.
“She’s still in shock, so leave her the fuck alone.
She will come out when she is ready.”
He waited for Lucifer’s response, unwilling to move before he had it.
Lucifer stared at the floor.
He could not imagine what she would be feeling.
He closed his eyes.
He had to assume the worst, anger, hatred.
To let himself hope would be too much to bear if she dashed it.
He nodded to Furcas and stayed on the ground.
Furcas looked from Lucifer to the rest of the Fallen.
Paimon stood in front of the others with Dahlia’s teddy bear and his pink blanket.
Furcas blushed scarlet.
“Oh, you found my—”
Paimon crushed him to the wall in a hug and kiss.
He touched the flowers in Furcas’ hair and smiled in recollection.
Furcas smiled in return and nipped on his ear.
“Guess what I got to re-experience?”
Paimon raised his head from kissing Furcas’ neck.
“What?”
“You, beating the holy living shit out of my wings.”
Paimon cringed and put his head against Furcas’ chest.
“As if I didn’t feel terrible enough already.
Why tell me
that
?”
Furcas grinned.
“I have to make
someone
feel like
shit
.
I had to experience Dahlia’s prison
again
.
Fuck
that
a thousand times over.”
He ran a finger across Paimon’s bare chest and frowned.
“What is inside you?”
Paimon touched his sternum.
“Lucifer stuck his death song in me.”
He glared at Lucifer.
“Fucking pervert.”
Furcas shrugged out of his embrace and gave Paimon’s silver lock of hair a tug.
“Almost gives you a dignified air,
almost
.”
Lucifer looked up from his hands.
He remembered the sheer agony he had experienced when he had joined with Dahlia’s consciousness in the prison.
He struggled to breathe.
“She remembers it in detail, the pain?
All of it?”
Furcas gazed at him mercilessly.
“Every single itty bitty nuance of torture.”
“Is she…mad?”
“Furious or insane?”
Lucifer’s voice cracked, “Either.”
Furcas shrugged.
“I know
I
want to beat the shit out of you now, but that’s just me.”
He sighed.
“She was used to it, the nightmares, you know.
I think she’s more upset about the other things.”
Lucifer frowned.
“What other things?”
“The trial, the conversations we didn’t get to hear, the parts that are blanks in our memories.”
Berith, Andy, and Belial got in close.
Lucifer pushed past them.
“You were able to hear them talk?
You know what was said?”
“Yes.
Come here.”
Furcas held his hand out.
The Fallen touched him and he played for them what they had not been able to hear.
They stood frozen for some minutes.
Furcas pulled his hand back and they trembled in shock and anger.
Lucifer’s skin turned luminous and his eyes black.
“He hated that she preferred
me
.”
He punched the wall.
“That is why he sentenced her to prison?
Because he was
jealous
?”
Berith shook his head.
“What about the name, the blasphemy charge?”
Furcas sighed.
“He didn’t give two shits about the name thing.
The whole thing was just an excuse to justify His actions to Himself and the rest of us, to get us to go along and imprison her.
If He had not used that, it would have been something else I’m sure.”
Lucifer shook.
“I will kill Him!
I.
Will.
Kill.
Him!
I will tear down the throne!
I will rip him to pieces!
I will take it—”
“No,
we
will.”
A red pendant sailed through the air and hit Paimon in the face.
The Fallen looked up.
Dahlia stood in the green doorway, glowing red, wearing a leaf skirt similar to Furcas.
Her red-tinted hair bloomed flowers, woven in with Furcas’ deft fingers.
She looked radiant in the darkness.
Lucifer’s world stopped.
Her eyes, glowing in the darkness, they were
her
eyes, his beloved.
The sound of her voice caressed his ears.
Every doubt he had loomed large, every fear became agonizing, his desire, unable to be ignored.
His body was locked in place.
He could not run.
He could not speak.
His very being hinged on her choices, on her movements.
He pivoted around her and nothing else could affect him.
He waited to be judged.
Dahlia’s eyes stayed on Furcas; she could not look at Lucifer.
Heat radiated off him, his scent an intoxicating drug to her.
She squeezed her hands into fists and dug her nails into her palms to stay in control of herself, to keep from attacking him.
She was aware of his state, but she had no answer to the question his face and body asked.
She looked instead to the rest of the Fallen, her features shifting between happiness, hope, and sadness.
They looked back in joy, trepidation, and relief.
She tried to find words that meant something, but there was too much to say.
She sucked in air and her lips trembled.
Berith bowed his head.
The others followed suit.
Dahlia brought her hand to cover her mouth, embarrassed and ecstatic in one moment.
Belial ran to Dahlia and wrapped her arms around her.
Dahlia hugged Belial and held on to her, her lifeline, a grounding force.
Her pounding heart calmed, and she regained herself.
Her thoughts steadied into a coherent stream.
She looked back up at the others.
The human part of her smirked and overcame all else.
“Which one of you manipulative, motherfucking
bastards
lit my house on fire?”
Belial kissed her cheeks.
A spark of innocence returned to her features.
“You’re okay, you are yourself!”
“Yes, thanks to all of you.”
Dahlia shook her head.
“Oh, and thanks for the job position you lying sacks of
shit
.”
Belial squeezed her tight.
“You’re not mad that we lied though?”
“It was done with good intentions and it was all rather sweet.”
Dahlia looked at everyone else.
“But, you are still dicks.”
Belial grinned and jumped back to Andy.
Andy smiled and put an arm around her shoulders.
Paimon held on to Furcas, and he bowed his head.
“Glad to see you’re both well.”
Dahlia shook her head.
“Oh, Uncle Pai, you and I need to have a
chat
sometime.”
Paimon grinned.
“Of course, most favorite niece.”
Dahlia blushed and dropped her gaze.
“I cannot look at you two the same anymore.”
Paimon looked confused.
Furcas laughed.
“She shared my memories too remember, she saw
us
, all of it.”
Paimon’s mouth formed an O.
He cleared his throat.
“Well,
you two
destroyed planets, we just damaged
decency
.”
Dahlia smiled.
Her eyes caught on Lucifer and the smile faded.
The laughter of the others cut off.
The silence in the room became a force, a heavy clotted thing.
She could not break his gaze.
She recognized it now, the mourning and longing; the same face he’d worn when he had broken her in front of the throne.
His heart stopped and he dropped to his knees.
He could see it in her, the memories and the fury.
She could not hide it in her eyes.
He struggled to breathe.
Her expression did not change.
Her eyes were unrelenting in their scrutiny.
Lucifer waited.
He would take whatever she would dole out.
He deserved anything she would give him.
He was trapped, imprisoned by shackles of guilt.
Dahlia could stand his sorrow no longer.
She stepped up to him, and his jaw clenched.
She took his hand and pulled him gently to his feet.
His hand was warm against hers, strong but trembling.
She looked to the others and spoke softly, “I was told that I had to give you all fair warning in advance, you have five minutes.”
She tugged on him and he followed her into the green room.
The door shut and sealed to the wall behind them.
The Fallen stared at each other.
Paimon broke the silence.
“I’m calling this room right here.
The rest of you get the fuck out.”
Berith rolled his eyes and looked to Apple.
“To the Road again?”
Apple smirked.
“Why not the surface itself?”
Berith smiled.
“It may be dangerous during the changes.”
“Perfect.”
The two ran out, grinning.
Helion stood up and shook his wings.
He walked out to find Whitney.
Andy and Belial followed him.
The Sanctuary door shut behind them.
The pair stared at Helion’s retreating figure.
Andy took Belial over to the same room of pillows he had recuperated in.
He opened the door.
“In you go.
See you in a bit—”
Belial clamped her hand over Andy’s mouth and pulled him into the room as she tumbled in.
She threw him into the pillows and locked the door behind her; it fused to the wall, sealing them inside.