Chapter Text
...
Okay...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!!
"Argh!"
Okay... that wasn't so bad...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!!
"AHH!! SHIT!"
It hurts, yeah... but he's been through worse...
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Pull!!
"MOTHERFUCKER!!"
This is nothing compared to the Fall... or all the other 'incidents' he has faced in the past...
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Pull!!
"SON OF A BITCH!!!"
It doesn't make this hurt any less, though. He hasn't gotten hurt in quite some time. He almost forgot what it felt like to be hurt, this is an ugly reminder...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!!
"FUCKING HELL!!"
This is fine! Totally fine! He can bear the pain, he just has to do this.... uhh... how many wires are left?
Five more?? What in the unholy fuck??
Was it really necessary to stab him so many times?
Okay... again...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!
"ARGH!! FUCK!!"
He wishes he could say it gets easier after each pull, but it doesn't. The wires are buried deep within his flesh, he has to wiggle them around to loosen them before pulling them out one by one.
The wires leave three stab wounds every time he takes one out, and none of them have stopped bleeding. Why? Because he can't use his powers, that's why.
And why can't he use his powers? Well, the reason why is also the source of so many of his problems... Heaven...
Lucifer fucking hates how many rules Heaven has. He hated it when he was still up there and he hates it now. Even more than before.
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Pull!
And every time something new happens, Heaven must create new rules for it. They had rules when it came to creating Earth. They have rules about interfering with the living world. They have rules about interfering with the winners. They have rules about interfering with Hell.
They have rules about everything!!
And of course, since they were the ones that came up with the great idea of his punishment, they made rules for that, too.
He is unable to harm sinners, that much is clear. There is nothing he can do if a sinner tries to hurt him or someone else, he can't do anything about it...
Fuck you, Heaven...
And if only that was it...
He is unable to interfere with sinners in any way. And he means ANY way...
He can't use magic on them. At all. He can't teleport them away from him or use illusions or spray them with confety. If he wants to throw something at them, it has to be something that was not created by him.
1... 2... 3...
Pull!
Remember when he threw a bunch of champagne at the bellhop? Yeah, he didn't actually create it. He opened a portal and got a bunch of it from Bee's stash...
Bee never found out who was the one that stole her alcohol...
So, he can't hurt or use magic on sinners. Surely that's it, right? Nope!!
He can't heal them either. He has tried so many times to heal a sinner before, but his magic disappears as soon as he tries to do it. Which is absolute bullshit in his opinion...
Using his angelic blood to heal them doesn't work either, it works perfectly with literaly any other being in existence, but.... As soon as it makes contact with a sinner, his blood turns a dark orange, losing all of it's magic and healing capabilities.
1... 2... 3...
Pull!
And guess what?? There's still more to it!!
He can't use his magic to get away from them if he is in contact with them. Like, at all. He can't teleport, he can't open portals, he can't even extend his wings and fly away.
His punishment is to witness the worst of humanity, to see what the sinners did with his Gift. And to make sure he would actually suffer for it, Heaven made him unable to leave or look away. Seriously, it's a fucking miracle that he can talk to them at all...
And it's that rule what's stopping him from getting the fuck out of here...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!!
The wires that are currenly stabbing him are part of the Tv head guy, meaning that he can't just teleport himself back to the palace. Not to mention that he can't use his powers to remove the things faster.
So, he has to pull them out one by one with his own hands, and he can't pull them too hard, otherwise his punishment will act up and stop him from removing them. He can't break the wires, they are part of a sinner...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!!!
He's almost done, once he removes these things, he can get as far away from this box as possible...
And maybe take a nap, that sounds nice...
He can't help but look up every few moments, looking towards the hatch where Valerie came from earlier. She said she would come back for him and he could really use some help right now...
He has been trapped inside this glass box for a while now, he has never been good at keeping track of time. The machine stopped sending the 'bad tickles' a while ago and started to fail, releasing him from his shackles and leaving him in total darkness. He doesn't know what the Hell happened out there, but he sure is glad that he isn't shackled anymore...
The only light he has is coming from his own golden blood coming out between the wires, letting him know where they are exactly. The other light he can see is coming from the hatch, so he at least knows where the exit is...
1... 2... 3...
Pull!!
"GODDAMN IT!!" He's pretty sure he already said all the curse words he knows in english. Maybe he should start swearing in other languages too?
"Almost... done..." he says as he grinds his teeth, pulling out the last wire out of him, almost breaking his jaw with how hard he's biting...
That took way longer than it should have...
And now that this problem is solved, he has another dilema... he is still inside the glass bubble. He can move around, but he can't get out.
He saw how hard Vanelope tried to break it, but it's Angelic steel, there's no way he can break out in the condition he is in...
The only way he can think of is to teleport, it should work as long as his skin isn't in contact with the steel.
He closes his eyes and gathers his magic, thinking about anywhere except here... and... nothing happens...
What the fuck?
He didn't realize how tired he actually was, he thought he was feeling that way due to being in contact with angelic steel for hours. But no, he is actually tired. Like, bone-deep tired...
Why? Why is he so tired? He just stood there like an idiot for hours, he didn't do anything that would explain his exhaustion...
He tried again, searching deep within himself, finding that his magic levels are extremely low...
He stopped and looked at what he could see of the machine, as if looking at it could give him the answers he was looking for...
...
What... what did that sinner do to him?
His heart started to slam itself against his ribcage, he suddenly started to feel like he was starting to run out of air... but that can't be, he doesn't need oxigen...
Whatever this machine was doing to him, it was nothing good. He needed to get out. Now.
He's freaking out, every feeling he pushed down while he was restrained was coming back to him, threatening to send him straight to a panic attack.
But no, he can't do that, not here. Not while he is exposed, he can do that later, when he is back at the palace. Once he is safe...
So, he forced himself to breathe and laugh it off.
This is fine. It's fine!! He's just a little tired and a little hurt. Nothing that a good night of sleep can't fix...
Reaching for the magic he had left was like trying to get water from an empty well, he is left trying to catch the drops there are at the bottom and on the walls.
Luckily, those drops were more than enough to teleport him out of the glass thing... but he couldn't focus enough to make his magic take him back to the palace. He didn't realize how numb his limbs actually were, so as soon as he was out of the box, he inmediately fell to the ground. He managed to extend his arms and stop his fall before he hit his face...
Crap, using that little bit of magic left him so dizzy, but he's not out of the woods yet. He needs to go back to the palace... but it'll be harder to get there if he doesn't know where he is...
Sigh... guess he'll have to do this the hard way...
His head is still feeling really fuzzy, so he has some trouble forcing his limbs to support his weight and take him out of the chamber. Climbing his way out was harder than he thought it would be. His shacking limbs could barely support him as he grabbed onto the cold, slippery metal.
But with one final push, he opened the hatch and found himself out of the chamber. He usually avoids looking at the red sky of the Pride ring, the huge Pentagram seems to mock him every time he looks at it. But now? Now he can't be more glad to see red...
He's out. He's okay. He's fine...
He can actually breath a little better now...
"Dad?"
He inmediately jumped in place when he heard his daughter's voice. He was not expecting to see her in this place. He turned his head so fast that he almost broke his neck, and woah...
She looks so pretty. She is all dressed up for a party or like a royal event. And he didn't really pay attention before, but her girlfriend is dressed up too, she's right next to her...
Ohhh... that's why she was away for so long, she was with Charlie. Yeah, that makes sense. She had something more important to do...
The joke came out of his lips without much effort, quickly making it look like he's fine- which he is! Totally fine!!
"Don't go down there! It's a place of pain..."
And then... uhhhh... it gets a little bit hazy from there...
He fell to the ground again, that's for sure. He can feel the dirt on his face and it's getting a bit hard to breathe again. He felt someone grab his shoulders at some point, he doesn't know who it was, though...
Damn, even listening is getting harder...
This must be due to the blood loss, nothing to worry about. There are more important things to do now. Charlie is here, she's here and he can talk to her. He can finally apologize to her now. That is the only thing on his mind...
He gets up, almost falling again with how weak his limbs are, and starts to look around with his apology right on his tongue...
But Charlie's not there anymore. He could swear she was right in front of him moments ago. He looks for her, looking from left to right for her face... or more like the combination of colors that she has, his vision is getting a bit blury...
When he finds her again, she is now standing in front of a huge screen, the bright light coming from it is not helping with his blury vision.
Sounds start melting against each other, he hears so many people talking and shouting at each other, all the noise is making his ears start ringing. He has no idea of what's going on, but apologizing to Charlie is his number one priority....
He walked towards her, stumbling a little as he has so trouble moving his legs. At least she wasn't far from him... she's staring at the screen in awe, as if she was looking at the person who made the stars...
She looks so happy, he hates to interrupt her...
Lucifer lifted a shacking hand towards her, tapping her in the shoulder, making her jump in response. Crap, he didn't mean to scare her....
"Huh? Dad?" She looked at him in confusion, she must have been really focused on the screen.
"H-hey, honey... I uhh... I-I just wanted to-"
"Holy shit!! Dad, you have to see this!!"
And before he could react, Charlie grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to stand next to her, she wanted to show him whatever was on the screen, but his focus was taken away by the pain of all of his wounds being irritated at the same time.
He knows she didn't mean to, Charlie can have some trouble controlling her strength sometimes, but shit!! It hurt, it hurt so much...
He bites his tongue to stop himself from grunting in pain, he can't interrupt whatever is making Charlie so happy right now...
"Look!! It's Sir Pentious!! He's in Heaven now! He was redeemed!! I told you, didn't I?! I told you it was possible!!"
Who is where now? The fuzziness in his head is making it hard for him to process her words. He looks up, staring at the angel on the screen... he... looks a bit familiar...
He forced his blury vision to focus, he saw the guy's halo and wings, so yeah, that's an angel. And judging by the size of his wings, he's a winner...
But he has red eyes, claws and fangs...
And that's when he finally registered what Charlie said a few moments ago...
A sinner.... was redeemed?
There's a sinner in Heaven right now?
But... how?
And why now?
And what the fuck???
There are too many thoughts and questions jumping around in his head, making him feel even more dizzy. But despite all that, he somehow managed to remember that he hasn't said anything to Charlie yet, much less apologize...
"That's... that's great, sweetie..." it was so hard to talk without stuttering...
Charlie didn't pay attention, she just let go of him and stepped forward the screen, she started to talk a thousand miles per minute to the... winner? Sinner?... to the guy.
And she's just... so happy...
Her dream came true, she redeemed someone, everything she has been working for is bearing fruits...
And he can't ruin that. This is her moment, Charlie deserves to celebrate and bask in the happiness that comes with success...
He can't fuck this up for her, too...
So, he backed away, forcing his magic to help him once more. It's still very low, but it should be enough to get him back to the palace...
Crap, it was so hard to collect enough magic so he could teleport to the palace, he's about to leave his well dry...
Looking around, he started to take notes of his surroundings. Judging by the bright lights and obscene neon signs, he must be in the middle of the Entertainment district. The last time he came to this place was... when he threatened the Tv guy...
Man, how he wishes he could have put his fist through his flat face...
He can't stay here any longer, he can't ruin the moment with his presence and he can't apologize to Charlie while looking like this... and he needs a nap...
Once he had enough magic, he snapped his fingers and found himself in the middle of the palace in seconds. He felt a huge relief to be away from the box of pain.
Finally!! He can move around and stretch his sore limbs. Being in the same position for hours sure has left his wrists pretty hurt...
Now... uhh.... what was he doing again?
Oh, yeah! He is still injured, he needs to clean himself up. It's a good thing that the palace has many bathrooms and each has it's own first aid kit, just in case someone visited and got hurt somehow...
He hasn't used one in years, he doesn't get visits anymore...
It didn't take long for him to get to the nearest bathroom, and as he got to work, his mind started to drift away, bringing back the questions he still has no answer to...
Redemption is possible? Since when?
He grabs the first aid kit, he takes out the things he needs: alcohol, cotton wipes and bandages.
It's been ten thousand years. Literal millenia since Hell came to be and not a single sinner has wanted to change. They have remained the same since forever...
Removing his clothes was a bit difficult, every movement made his injuries stretch and hurt and bleed even more... the bleeding should have stopped already...
So why now? Why did a sinner get redeemed now?
What did the sinner do? What did Charlie do? How did she redeem a sinner?
He had tried for so long to find the good in the sinners. At first it was for himself, then it was for his wife and then for Charlie... and he never found it...
He threw his clothes away, not caring where they landed, he took everything off except his boxers, exposing every wound to the air...
Why did it take ten thousand years for something good to come from a sinner?
Thousands of years of suffering for one sinner to change...
What does this mean? What happens now?
He cleaned the blood off of him first, then he disinfected and bandaged every wound the best he could. Bandaging himself was a challenge on itself, he had to make his tail come out so he could have an extra limb to help out... for some reason, he can't make it go away again...
And what about Heaven? What do they think about all this?
Are they okay with redemption? Would they be okay with sinners walking through the Pearly gates?
Heaven has been stuck in it's ways since the beggining of Creation, they wouldn't change their way of existence for sinners... would they?
Fuck... he will have to talk to them, won't he?
He was too tired to clean the mess of used wipes and blood that's all over the floor, he'll take care of that later.
He walks out of the bathroom and takes the elevator towards his room, ready to put some clean, comfy clothes on and go to sleep...
He is not ready to talk to Heaven. He never is, but it's easier to speak to them sometimes. But now? Talking to them is the last thing he wants to do...
What if they are not okay with redemption? And there's a fat chance that they won't, will they interfere? Will they try to stop Charlie from redeeming more sinners?
What if the Elders get involved? They have let Sera be in charge of Heaven as far as he knows, trusting her to make the right decisions. But redemption is a big change and the Elders might have to step up...
What will they think about Charlie?
What will they think about her hotel?
Will they hate it? Hate her?
What if they see her as a threat?
What if they try to kill her?
That last question was enough to snap him out of it, clearing his head from the fuzziness he's been trapped in for who knows how long.
He was walking in circles, he already put his pink sweater and it's matching pants, though he can't recall when he did it. He must have been really out of it...
The anger coursing through him was enough to ground him back to reality and help him think clearly...
There's no use in thinking about all of this...
Heaven will do what they always do. Call for a meeting, pretend to listen and do whatever the fuck they want to do anyway...
If they decide to leave them alone, then great! Perfect even! That's one of the few things he has wanted for so long.
If not, if they decide to stop Charlie... then, he'll be ready. He needs to rest and get his power back so he can protect her from Heaven's wrath...
And he can't rest if he keeps spiraling with all of these questions. He needs to relax and go to sleep...
He didn't even care if he slept on the floor or a bed, he just wanted to sleep... fuck, he didn't have the energy to walk towards his room at the end of the hall...
He walked towards the nearest piece of furniture he found, which turned out to be a couch in a hallway, there are plenty of those.
He has absolutely zero care about his physical state as he throws himself on the couch, landing on his tummy as his face hits the pillows. It hurt, yeah, but he didn't care. That's how tired he is and it's better to collapse on the couch than on the floor...
He barely moved, just acommodated himself so he could take his wings out and use them as blankets. It always makes him feel better to cover himself with them and they give him warmth... it's a bit cold in here, isn't it?
He still has a lot of things to do and think about. Like what he will do once he's better, and he still hasn't apologized to Charlie. He wants to go back to the hotel so badly...
He hopes she's not still mad at him...
His eyes start to close, as if he had weights attached to his eyelids, the pain is starting to go to the back of his mind as he drifts away towards dreamland...
Tomorrow... he'll go to the hotel and fix things up with Charlie tomorrow...
Right before he fell asleep, he wished that this hard couch was his bed in the hotel instead...
...