Chapter Text
Flying wasn't something new to Lucifer, he had practically grown up in airports given how often his father travelled for business.
Being legally blind however had made this experience more of a challenge, especially when he would travel on his own back in his youth, there were just so many assholes out there either purposely trying to trip him up, pushing into him or cutting him off.
Sometimes he was able to see it.
Whilst legally blind he could still somewhat see, retinitis pigmentosa was what he had been diagnosed with when he was thirteen, which meant he had a very small window of the world and what little he did see wasn't always clear as it was often blurred around the edges.
So yes sometimes he was able to avoid being made a fool of, though he wasn't always so lucky, thankfully there was occasionally a kind stranger that would offer their assistance, not to mention most of the airport staff were often helpful.
But the days of his youth were long behind him, and now running his own business, flying couldn't be any easier now he travelled first class! Being picked up and driven to the first class lounge was always a treat.
And now he got to do that with his little star!
Lilith had dropped Charlie and himself off at the airport half an hour or so ago, his ex-wife had also been heading to the airport as she will be staying overnight before catching the three am red eye flight to go surprise her wife Eve, and had offered to just take him and Charlie at the same time since they were heading to the same place anyway.
On the ride over Charlie was excitedly asking them all sorts of questions about the places they had been and the different flights they had taken, Lilith herself had near enough travelled via plane just as often as he had.
Yet to everyone's surprise, Charlie had yet to fly.
His little dove had never seemed to like airports or planes, when she was little many meltdowns were had and after the fifth time of trying both parents had given up. They had a simple system in place, if one had to travel the other watched Charlie, if they both had to travel then whoever had the least distance to go took her with them, and on the off chance both of them had to go abroad at the same time then she would stay with a family or friend.
But now she was seven years old and she had declared herself ready to bravely venture forth and try flying!
And she had certainly seemed enthusiastic, right up until they parted ways from Lilith - after they had a quick brunch together of course - it seemed once she caught sight of the planes and all the noise they made she had clammed up.
Lucifer was hoping the first class lounge would cheer her up!
She was clutching his hand with both of her own and he could feel her small hands shaking.
“Come on sweetheart, everythings going to be fine, have you got those noise cancelling headphones your mother gave you before we left?”
“Y-yeah, but I don’t want to use them yet.”
“Not to worry honey, the planes aren’t so loud when we’re inside the airport.” He said, giving her hand a light squeeze of assurance, “Now let's go get checked in and drop off our luggage.”
“I can keep Razzle and Dazzle with me right?”
Razzle and Dazzle being two soft toys he and Lilith had purchased to give to their baby when she was born, despite being seven years old themselves and very well loved, they were still in good condition.
“Of course sweetie, you'll have to put them in a little box when we go through security later.”
“It won't scare them will it?”
“No not at all, If anything it might disappoint them, your uncle Adam says it is like going through those tunnels some roller coasters have only to come out and there's no ride.”
Charlie giggled, “Uncle Adams silly!”
“He sure is sweetie.” Lucifer said, reaching into his coat pocket to pull out his retractable white cane, now Lilith was gone and he was heading inside where it would no doubt be busy, using his cane will make his life a little easier. Plus as helpful as his daughter normally was when it came to walking with him, he could tell she was much too anxious for that now.
Instead he let the cane unfold and clip into place, tapping it a few times on the ground to make sure it had locked in place, then keeping the metal tip against the ground and holding the handle to his stomach he started swinging it and began walking forward.
Charlie removed one of her hands from his, still holding him with the other, he heard as her backpack jangled as she adjusted it - full as it was with numerous toys and crayons, it was going to be a particularly long flight, and so she had packed all the things she would need to keep her going.
Lucifer reckoned she’ll end up bored with it all after half an hour.
Behind him he heard the sound of a metal trolley rattling, having already been met by a worker thanks to Lilith tracking one down, she had made sure they're luggage had been loaded on - it wouldn't be the first time either of them had lost luggage, but considering Charlie had insisted on taking a lot of her favourites, neither parent wanted to run the risk of a major meltdown if something went missing.
When they got to the counter and he handed over the paperwork, he listened with one ear as Charlie counted each bag they had as it was placed on the conveyor belt, a habit she had gotten into whenever they went shopping, counting what went in the cart and what was then paid for. Something that helped him a lot actually.
Once that was done father and daughter were guided towards one of the airport's many PRM vehicles and then we're on their way to the lounge.
He really hoped the calmer atmosphere there would help with Charlie's anxieties.
And it did seem to do just that!
They still had an hour till their flight, and after the first five minutes of being guided to their seats and informed of when it would be time to board, Charlie sat by his side, her arms wrapped around his own as she hugged his side. Then after another five minutes the questions started back up, a little hesitant at first before gaining courage. Then she was asking for permission to explore, which he gladly gave, giving her his card in case she ended up wanting to get herself a snack.
Half an hour left to their flight Charlie had come back with two cupcakes, after offering him one she sat back down beside him and as they ate she babbled about what she wanted to do first when they got to their destination, and how excited she was to be trying something new.
Mission success.
Then finally, at long last, it was time to board the plane, Charlie was still nervous naturally, but she was a lot peppier now.
She let out a surprised gasp when she saw their seats, it looked like a couch! She was practically bouncing as she looked towards her dad, watching as he carefully got into his seat before squinting at the cane in his hand and folding it away.
“How long till we fly?” She asked.
“Just a little longer sweetie, everyone else has got to get on the plane too. Have you sat down?” He said, squinting at the area he heard Charlie's voice, being inside he found it often a little more difficult to see things when he was inside.
He felt the seat dip a little and the material rustle before Charlie chirped at him, “I am now!”
He chuckled, “Fasten your seatbelt, and put on those headphones, take off can get a little loud.”
Lucifer was awoken by a little finger poking his cheek, little giggles could be heard as Charlie repeated the action till he finally caught her wrist and pulled her closer to begin his relentless tickle attack!
Charlie squealed and laughed loudly, drawing the attention of nearby staff attendants that smiled at the sight.
“This is what happens to little girls that poke their fathers awake!” Lucifer said whilst laughing, not stopping his attacks.
“B-but daddy! Y-you were snoring!” Charlie got out between her breathless giggles.
Lucifer finally let her go and leaned back, bringing a hand to his chest as he gasped in mock offence, “Snoring! Me? Never.”
Charlie laughed again, only to fall silent as the whole plane began to shake, her hands clutched at her fathers arm in panic.
“It’s alright darling, it’s just turbulence.” He gently reassured, the fasten seatbelt sound dinged, “Buckle up kiddo.”
“Dad, I’m scared, it looks scary outside.”
“It’s just the plane passing through some bad weather.”
Another ding sounded around the first class cabin before an announcement began, “We are experiencing some unexpected turbulence, if everyone could please remain seated and-”
The plane suddenly lurched and from beside him Charlie screamed, he reached an arm out to hold her back as the plane plummeted, more screams filled the cabin and Lucifer felt his blood pumping as panic raced through him - unexpected turbulence indeed.
“Daddy! The wing! Its on-”
Charlie cut off as the sound of metal breaking and exploding roared around them. Her little nails dug into his arm as she shoved her face into his shoulder, her fearful sobs breaking his heart.
He couldn’t see anything, but he certainly could feel the heat from the fire and the wind rushing around him and then -
Then there was nothing at all.
A soft groan was pulled from Lucifer as he felt movement around him, opening his eyes he squinted at the figure he could barely see - the blurry sight of a man. Lucifer’s eye trailed down, and there in his arms a figure he was very familiar with, “Char-”
He passed out once more.
The next time he woke it was with a much louder groan, his head was pounding and his throat felt dry, but other than a few bumps and bruises he honestly didn’t feel too bad considering he’d been in a plane crash.
Holy shit he’d been in a plane crash!
Charlie!
“Charlie! Charlie are you alright?!” He fumbled to free himself from the seatbelt before frantically feeling the space all around, his hands shook as each sweep of the place revealed no Charlie. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. Had she survived and woken up scared and moved away, had she tried waking him?
Or worse had she fallen from the plane? Had she- the blurry figure of a man appeared in his mind, in his arms the familiar outline.
“Fuck!” Someone had taken his little girl, and he had the sick sense it wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts to get her out of a wrecked plane.
He patted down his pockets, sighing with relief as his hand pressed against a familiar rectangle device, he pulled his phone out and held it to his face - even more relieved when the device unlocked, “Call Lilith!”
The phone rang for a second before, “I’m sorry, unable to connect the call due to low or no signal. Please try again later.”
“Fuuuck.” He shoved the phone back in his pocket and then searched for his cane, whilst desperately glancing around.
The plane had clearly come apart as he could see that daylight fills the space, but he still struggled to see, the pain in his head wasn’t helping there.
“Hello? Anyone else here?”
He couldn’t be the only one left… could he?
When the white cane clicked in place he swept it across the ground, not surprised that he was hitting against a lot of debris, he was careful as he manoeuvred his way through the plane.
It wasn’t till he got to the front, his cane hitting against something bigger and solid did he realise just how bad this situation truly was.
He squinted at the lump on the floor, crouching down to get a closer look - and then promptly fell back on his ass once he realised it was a dead fucking body that he was looking at.
Something was sticking out of whoever was there - an air stewardess going by the uniform. Hesitantly - stupidly - he grabbed the handle of whatever it was and tugged, hard.
The sound of a blade sliding sloppy through flesh had him grimacing.
It was a hatchet, the orange blade made him think it must have been one of those emergency kind - what it was doing in this poor person he had no idea.
He fished his phone out and opened the camera app, zoomed in and then aimed it towards the outside - a method he found useful when trying to get a clearer picture of things.
Forest.
That’s all that could be seen, forest, mountains, and luggage thrown about the ground…
He had a feeling he was going to be here for a while.
He had gone back through the plane and began scouring for supplies. There was plenty of alcohol on board that was for sure, he even found pain medication - he had shoved all that in a duffle bag he had found.
There was even some protein bars which would certainly help if he ended up being stuck here for a while, he really hope there was a search and rescue already on the way - he knew though that the plane had already travelled quite the distance and should have just been flying over ocean, so wherever they had crashed must have been an uncharted island.
Once he was sure he had gathered all that he could he carefully got off the plane and began searching for more supplies around the plane, frowning when his cane would get tangled in the grass and caught up in the mud.
Good thing he grabbed the axe, it helped break open the luggage that was scattered around - and whilst he’d normally feel guilty for such a thing, no one else was here and he needed all the help and items he could get.
He nearly screamed when something rushed by him, some animal no doubt, but it reminded him he was very much out of his element in the wild here. He needed to see if anyone else on the flight had survived and had maybe set up camp nearby, maybe someone had seen what happened to Charlie.
So with a full bag of supplies he cautiously began his trek.
And hated every second of it, the ground was well… what you would expect ground in a forest to be like, covered in mud rocks and way too much plant life that desired nothing more than to either trip him up or trap his cane.
And that was just the ground, don't even get him started on what was happening at face level, he had to start waving his free hand out in front of him in an attempt to get branches and such out of his face - yet he knew most branches and leaves were in his hair at this point.
And it had been fucking hours.
He was so tired, and his body ached beyond belief, and still there hadn’t been any hint of another person.
Still he kept calling out, on the off chance someone would respond.
After another hour of this he realised that was a terrible mistake.
He was accustomed to being stared at, in fact he was often very aware when he was being watched like a hawk - and that's how he felt like now. He slowed down when he felt that his movements were being tracked, that's when the sound of breathy quiet laughter reached his ears, it sounded like a man and it sounded very eerie… and just a tad too close
Then something dropped down in front of him from a few metres away - had the man been in the trees?
Lucifer yelped when whoever it was rushed at him, their feet hitting the ground loud as he stumbled back, fear bubbling inside as he span around and ran - he had no idea where he was going, and he found himself hitting into things and tripping so often he was surprised he hadn't been caught by whoever yet - the realisation that he was merely being toyed with flitted across his mind.
The giggles from the man cemented that thought.
Still he struggled on - running and running to who know where - he just knew when he left the dense forest at least as daylight became clearer and no branches hit him anymore - but then the man was suddenly in front him, its large hands settled around his waist, lifted him off the ground only to slam him back down so he was on his back. He cried out as pain raced up his spine, those large hands traced over his body pinching and pawing at areas and travelling far too low.
With a screech he kicked out, his foot connecting with the person's chest making them wheeze and giving Lucifer enough time to get away and continue running once more. Unfortunately the man was quick to recover and tried to grab for him once more, snarling angrily as he did - Lucifer couldn’t quite see the man's expression but he could certainly hear that he was pissed. He tried whacking his cane at him - only for the man to grab it and yank it from his hands - the sound of it snapping made him want to cry.
Instead he pushed himself to keep running, to keep going.
From behind him the man let out a grunt, it almost sounded concerned and-
And then Lucifer’s foot gave out as he tumbled down some rocks before he began free falling.
Too bad he didn’t see that cliff.