by Darcy Town
Apple paled. “Oh no.” She looked at her ring finger.
Berith laughed. “I think you mean oh yes.”
Azrael gaped and pointed. “Morningstar!”
The group gazed at the horizon. A brighter light passed in the sky as the dawn star rose. Berith grinned. “Lucifer is back.”
***
Furcas glared at Selaphiel, Selaphiel glared right back at him. Jegudiel and Bean stepped out of the tent cautiously; both were dressed, looked healthy, and were free of wounds. Bean interlaced her fingers with Jegudiel’s. “Daddy?”
Furcas’ eyes flicked over. “Yes, dear?”
“Where is he?”
Furcas gazed towards the rising sun. “I think he is thinking.”
Bean sat on the grass and patted the spot next to her. Jegudiel sat down beside her. Selaphiel moved so that he covered his back. Furcas smirked.
“There they are.”
Furcas turned at a familiar voice.
Gaea moved slowly across the grass, Gabriel limped at her side. Furcas moved to help him walk. “Come to wait for his return as well?”
Gabriel nodded slowly. He looked to the new sun. “He managed to do it.” He smiled. “I knew he would.”
Furcas shrugged. “He was close. Lucifer came back in a bit of a crazy rage and did it himself before we could stop him.”
Gabriel sighed. “Oh.”
Furcas grinned. “But he was on his way to doing it himself.” He looked over at his onetime close friend and then at Gaea, examined how they stood near one another, leaned on each other. “Gabriel.”
“Yes?”
“Do you understand flowers now?”
Gabriel’s lips twitched into a smile. “A bit more than I did then I think.”
Furcas smirked. “Please, feel free to rub it in Paimon’s face. He had to have Lucifer and Dahlia beat it into him, you it seems have not.”
Gabriel winced as Gaea helped him sit. “I have taken enough of a beating for some time. I saw no need to open myself to another.”
Gaea held his hand. “Furcas, are you antagonizing him on purpose?”
Furcas grinned. “I consider it warming him up, he is Paimon’s little brother.”
Bean smirked from where she sat. “Mommy is going to be far worse to him.”
Gabriel managed a smile. “Hearing that is worth this beating.”
Furcas dropped down next to him. “Priceless I know.”
Gabriel looked to Bean. “How did you get her to say that?”
Bean smiled. “He didn’t. I just knew.”
Furcas eyed her. “I should have known then, the kind of trouble we were getting into.” He nodded his head at Jegudiel. “Feel free to say you told us so.”
A song washed over the camp making the Archangels pause. Selaphiel gazed into the sky. “Lucifer sings.”
Furcas smiled. Gabriel looked thoughtful. Bean and Jegudiel stood and gazed into the sun. Bean pulled Jegudiel in for a kiss. He smiled and returned it.
Paimon slammed into him. “Get your face away from hers!” He broke Jegudiel’s nose with a blow and shoved him into the ground. “I will kill you!”
Furcas dove for Paimon. “Stop, Paimon!”
Bean screamed. She leapt on Paimon’s back. Quills grew in her wings. “Get off of him!” Furcas pushed her away. Selaphiel grabbed Jegudiel’s arm and pulled him out from under the pile. Furcas pulled Paimon’s hair. Gabriel laughed.
Paimon stopped struggling at the sound. He looked up at Gabriel. “You look like me after a binge.”
Gabriel grinned. “Like shit then.”
“Fucking hells yes.”
Gabriel got to his feet with help from Gaea. He touched his lips. “Fucking hells yes?”
Furcas used the distraction and punched Paimon in the head, forcing him to see the memories Bean had shared with him. Paimon scowled. “I want to kill him! Don’t show me that, no! Damn it, Furcas! You fucking traitor!”
Furcas grinned and flipped Paimon over. He sat on his chest. “Have I done something bad?”
Paimon grabbed his wrists and shoved him back. “Yes!”
Furcas smiled showing sharp teeth. “Should I run?”
“I am not giving you the chance!” Paimon kicked Furcas in the stomach and knocked him to the ground. Paimon slashed his chest open with his nails. “You are going to regret getting in my way, babe.”
Furcas smiled. “Promises, promises.”
“Fucking reality more like it!” He bit Furcas’ neck. Furcas grinned and played at fighting him off. Paimon grabbed Furcas by the hips and tugged at his pants. Jegudiel blushed, Bean laughed.
Gaea stomped to their side. “Not in the camp! Get out you two! There are children nearby!”
Furcas snapped at Paimon’s face. “Yeah, pervert. Think of the children!”
“You are not allowed to speak until I say so!” Paimon head butted him. He snapped Furcas’ neck and threw him over his shoulder. Paimon glared at Bean, then at Jegudiel. He growled and stomped off with Furcas.
Furcas opened one eye and flashed Bean a smile; he pulled a long pink quill out of his mouth. Bean looked back at her hand, empty of quills. She gaped. Furcas closed his eyes quickly and went back to hanging limply. Paimon turned a corner and they were lost from sight.
Jegudiel got up and held Bean. “Should we help him?”
Bean snorted. “Haven’t you learned anything?” She grinned. “They’re fine, but we probably won’t see them for awhile.”
***
“No one knows you. No one sees you.”
Lucifel quailed. His fire fluctuated. “I do not exist? No one to sing my praises, no one to worship me! But I am here, I am alive!”
Lucifer pressed at him. “You are my figment.”
Lucifel shuddered. “No, no I exist!”
“No, you do not any longer. You are a part of me now, a loud inner voice, nothing more.”
“NO!” The light in Heaven fractured. Spears of light shot out randomly. Helion dove with Whitney, ducking between spear points. She screamed in fear as a spear point hit them in the arm. Helion wrapped her up in his wings; his eyes went dark. He seethed and trembled as words bubbled up inside him.
Lucifel wailed. “I am me!”
Lucifer grinned. “We have one more to ask, Helion?”
Lucifel quailed. “Helion, help me!”
“No!” Helion snarled at the fire. “You are easily forgotten, unloved, nothing made! You are nothing, Lucifel! Your time is done!”
The fire calmed.
The fire laughed.
The flames parted and Lucifer stepped out a winged man. He eyed Helion. “Took you long enough.”
Helion gaped. “I…didn’t…I…”
Lucifer looked to the throne. “You have passage here.”
Dahlia appeared in a flash of black. She took form with limbs of smoke and darkness. She smiled at Helion and Whitney. “You two may leave now.”
Helion nodded and backed away, taking Whitney with him. They disappeared to Earth in a flash.
Lucifer and Dahlia gazed at one another. Lucifer smiled. “Created him that way by accident did you? Gave him those powers by happenstance?”
Dahlia grinned. “The ways of a god are mysterious indeed.”
“As are the ways of a woman.”
“Touché.” Dahlia looked him over. “How do you feel?”
Lucifer touched his chest and smiled. “Lucifel is well and truly gone, not even a whisper. Only the power remains.”
Dahlia smiled. “Good, there was no reason for you to be split in two to begin with. It was experiment now closed for a better alternative. Who needs a trinity, I enjoy a duality.”
Lucifer reached out for her and then stopped himself. He gazed at her. “And now? Do we end all of it?”
Dahlia laughed. “End it? Just when things are starting to get fun? I think not. We deserve this.”
“Our vacation.”
Dahlia mulled over the word. “You wish to vacate?”
Lucifer stared at the emptiness of Heaven. “I wish to finish what we started. I wish to make the divisions no more and then I wish to rest.”
“A blending of both, our full universe recreated.”
Lucifer smiled. “If Lucifel could have known, or seen, what it meant.”
Dahlia frowned. “But he could not, because he was not you.” She reached for him. “Let us do this thing quickly, I have a craving.”
“For?”
“Thai food, oddly enough. I have not gotten to eat anything in days.” Dahlia grinned.
Lucifer set his jaw. “You take your position lightly.”
“Cry me a river.” She waggled her eyebrows and looked him over. “I have a craving for something else as well. What is better than sex?”
“Nothing.”
“Exactly.” Dahlia leapt on him. They collided. They combined, became one, and then separated. Heaven met Hell and the divisions ended.
The darkness of Hell poured into the emptiness of space. Light from Heaven fractured to pieces, stars frozen and thrown into the sky like marbles. The two realms joined in the shared space and ceased to exist as separate places.
All around the Earth and its sun elements boiled and were shaped, molded randomly and dispersed haphazardly. The song of creation washed through the universe remade and joy reigned.
Lucifer and Dahlia spun into one another and were ricocheted out; separate, stable forces of light and darkness. The motes of power touched down on the living ground of the first planet. Two bodies from light coalesced. One black and one white, now with shades of all colors. They took form with legs and wings, halos and stars.
Dahlia stretched and six wings opened to the sky, black and mottled with the color of the aurora. She stared at the blue heavens and smiled. She tilted her head back and hummed. Her body glowed briefly and Raphael split from her. Both women took on shades of red once more, no longer one being in black. Raphael yawned and fell asleep at Dahlia’s feet. Dahlia smiled at her little sister.
Lucifer awoke on the ground; he jumped to his feet. His white and prismatic wings of bent light unfurled. He looked up from the ground. He gave Dahlia no chance to dash; he leapt forward and encircled her in his arms, bringing her close to him. Dahlia smiled, Lucifer mirrored her.
His eyes darted to Raphael and back to Dahlia. “You are red, split again.”
Dahlia nodded. “I have no need of that much power, and I do not want it. Besides, if I were to have it still, we would have just started this all over again.”
Lucifer looked down at his own body. “Am I a danger to remain as this?”
Dahlia shook her head. “No.”
Lucifer frowned. “I do not desire to have this inequality between us.”
Dahlia kissed his neck. “If that is how you feel, then give Michael back what he gave to you.”
Lucifer stepped away from her and closed his eyes. “Come.” He pulled a sleeping boy out of his body and both shifted to shades of blue. Lucifer opened his eyes and stared at Michael, as young as when he had first made him. Lucifer held him up to eye level. “Wake.”
Michael did not stir. Lucifer looked to Dahlia. Dahlia examined him. “Perhaps he is not ready to wake. Let him sleep then, he deserves a break as well.” She picked up Raphael and gazed towards the east. “Our place of rest.” She looked to the sun. “And Providence our guide.”
Lucifer smiled and took her hand. “With wand’ring steps and slow, through Eden we make our solitary way.”
***
Epilogue
“Fuck my life!” Tracy slammed her horns into Whitney, sending her sprawling.
Whitney fell into a fountain of wine and made a face. “Thanks! Now I’m going to be sticky!” She jumped out and smoothed out her black dress as wine beaded off. She fluffed out her wings.
Tracy pointed at her stomach. “He’s fucking gotten me pregnant again!”
Apple smirked. “It takes two to—”
“Shut your face!” Tracy glared at Apple. “You’re lucky only having one. I have a flock.”
Whitney toweled her dress off. “You can get Helion to fix that, he’s like magic birth control. If you want it of course.”
Apple nodded. “I can do that too. Why haven’t you asked yet?”
Tracy frowned. “I didn’t even think of it.”
Apple grinned and jumped back. “Whose fault is that?”
Celeste careened down the stairs and caught her breath. “Dahlia says she’ll be right down.”
“What is taking so long?” Apple looked over.
“Furcas and Paimon, they can’t decide.” Celeste smiled.
Whitney doubled over laughing. “Please tell me one of them is in a dress. Please!”
Celeste grinned. “No dresses, sorry. They’re both in suits and bickering like they’re already married.” She cocked her head and ducked into the cellar as Belial jumped down the stairs.
Belial twirled in her blood red dress. She grew out long thin silver blades on each finger. “I am ready to cut a bitch!”
Apple tossed her a bottle of wine. “Drink.”
Belial bit the top off and chugged. “I will take on everyone!” She sliced the air. “Rowr!”
The fountain erupted and Leviathan stood up, blue and covered in wine. She had on a dress made of scales. Ribbons held her wings together; they cascaded down her back like a waterfall. She grinned. “Party time!”
Apple gave her a once over. “Our maid of honor?”
Leviathan shook out her hair. “In the flesh!”
Dahlia shouted from the top of the stairs, “Come on! You’re such a big fucking baby!” She jumped down and threw a man into their midst.
Paimon rolled, leapt to his feet, and punched the air. “I am not the chick in this relationship!”
Dahlia stood in front of the stairway. “You let Bean decide. She called you mommy, which is fair enough in my opinion.”
Paimon heard Furcas snicker from upstairs. He scowled. “You are going to regret that! I will not make this easy for you, Furcas!”
Dahlia shrugged. “That is the whole point right? He has to force you, even more reason you are the bride to be.”
Paimon flushed as the girls laughed at his plight. He set his jaw, messed up his shaggy hair, and folded his wings behind him. He held out his hand. “Someone, give me alcohol now, a lot of it.”
***
Lucifer stood in Furcas’ ocean-themed suite. He adjusted his tie in a full-length mirror and regarded his appearance. “I am dashing.” Andy and Berith laughed from behind him. Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “Have something to say?”
Andy shook his head, his eyes innocent. “Not at all, Satan.”
Berith grinned and fixed his bowtie. “Wouldn’t dream of disparaging you, almighty one.”
Lucifer glared. “I can sense sarcasm.” He turned to them. “Do you think Dahlia really wants to get married?”
Andy gave him a light shove. “She said yes.”
Helion ran up the stairs with a giant grin on his face. “Gabriel brought cookies! He made cookies with Gaea, they’re on plates downstairs!” He leapt back down the stairs leaving the three to stare after him.
Furcas ran up in his place, looking entirely pleased. Lucifer sighed when he saw him. “Does that mean?”
“Oh yeah, for today only, he’s my bitch.” Furcas checked out his hair in the mirror. “Bean’s doing, he couldn’t say no to her when she gave him her look. It was perfect.” He grinned wickedly. “I’m having Jegudiel take pictures so he’ll never live it down!”
Gabriel ducked his head in the room and saw Furcas. “Oh, no.”
Furcas grinned. “Oh, yes!”
Gabriel turned back around. “I will tell, Gaea. Do not fight once you reach the aisle, she has spent weeks getting the area set up.”
Azrael slammed into him on the stairs. “Sorry!” He grabbed at Lucifer. “Michael’s dressed, Lucifer. I did it! I did it!”
Berith patted his brother on t
he head. “Good job.”
“Thanks!” Azrael grinned and his wings buzzed. Electricity filled the air around him. The lights flickered. His hair floated.
Berith gaped. “Azrael, calm down and go back downstairs. Do not shock anyone.”
“Okay!” Azrael ran from the bathroom.
Everyone let out a collective breath. Andy pushed Lucifer out of the way and tied his tie. “He still is catatonic?”
Lucifer frowned. “Yes, I do not know why.”
Andy nodded. “Raphael woke up though, so Michael has to wake up sometime.”
“Dahlia thinks he does not want to wake up.”
Furcas picked lint off his suit. “Just leave him be. When he wants to join us he can.” He left the room and stood on the stairs. “I am ready. So when are we doing this?”
Berith shrugged. “Are we still waiting on Jacob?”
“Oh right, best man. Let me see.” Furcas grinned and hopped down the stairs.
Andy glared at Lucifer in the mirror. “Best man, not even one of us.”
Lucifer grinned. “Should I have had you all fight it out to decide which one of you it would be? Besides, you are all getting married.”
Andy glowered. “At least it isn’t Selaphiel.”
Berith snorted. “He and Raphael are staying as far away from marriage as possible. Besides, he knows we’d take issue with that. Dahlia was smart in picking one of her friends.”
Furcas hauled Jacob up the stairs. “We got him.”
Lucifer grinned. “Time to go.”
***
Paimon juggled three empty wine bottles while holding a steadily emptying one between his teeth. He kept his nose and bottle facing the ceiling. The wine ran out. He grinned and hucked the bottle into a corner. He bowed to a round of applause. “Do you have another ready?”
Leviathan grinned and handed him another to a chant of, “Chug!”
Dahlia slipped to the ground and laughed as Whitney fell trying to help her up. Celeste and Tracy joined her on the stone floor. The four of them stared at each other. Dahlia shook her head. “So here we are.”
Apple leapt over their heads and crashed into a rack of wine bottles, laughing. Belial chased her. Celeste grabbed an unbroken wine glass and scooped up wine that gushed forth. “To everyone.”
Whitney raised a bottle. “Friends who couldn’t be here.”