Chapter Text
“Hey, Val. Look at this.”
“Who the fucks Denny?”
Velvette shrugged, “Just watch it.”
”Velvette, honey. Is this just a compilation of Lucifer calling Vox the wrong name?”
“It’s fucking amazing, isn’t it?”
”He’s talking about me?”
”Shut up, Vox.”
”Aw..”
“Fuck you! Maybe that Box guy had a point!”
”Wait, I don’t recognize that line. Is it new?” Val stopped, Vel pausing the screen, flipping through her tabs before eventually scrolling down—And— “Huh.”
”Yeah, it is.”
”So the King’s actually coming back out, now?”
Velvette lets out a snort, “I don’t think you’ll get ‘im on one of your movies, Val. Not with Alastor in the way.”
The moth sinner deflated, ”Hmph.”
“Although, lookin’ at all the comments.. He might be in high demand?”
”Val. I shouldn’t be the one to tell ya this—“ Velvette deadpanned, waving her phone. “Do you really think we can actually get away with doin’ something like that again?”
“..Maybe.” Val hummed, grin slowly forming—Then he blinked, pointing to something on Velvette’s screen, “Oh!”
”Wait, let’s watch this, next!”
Everytime Lucifer Curses Someone Out | DayTime Denny.
”Take a shot for whenever it’s Alastor.”
”Ha!”
Hell hasn’t exactly seen much change within the past few months following the King’s sudden media appearances.
The Hotel, on the other hand? Has.
Where there were plenty of new arrivals since the failed uprising at the start of the year, there has been a significant shift in demeanor with His Majesty’s ‘damage control’ efforts.
Whether accidental or intentional, no one truly cares nor knows..
Lucifer reawakened something within his Ring. Within Hell.
Sinners interact with the Hotel more respectfully than before. Cautiously, wherever it may be that the ambassador for Heaven—Emily— would be likely to hang around, as well.
Hellborns have become more polarized.
Imps, joyful, rowdy with pride. Their King praised them. Their King showed pride in resembling them.
Goetia, The Sins—Another story. Of which is one that’d suddenly grown rather tight-lipped. The silence spoke louder than any word would.
Asmodeus, on the other hand, revealed that the succubi race was made in the image of His Majesty. That, too, caused an uproar of mixed feelings — Mostly, those of pridefulness and those of..
Uh.
Horniness, for lack of more tasteful terminology.
Other than the shifts in demeanor, the reactions as such, Hell’s been functioning and kicking along as it always has been.
..The people, now, are just more aware of the once far too elusive King.
And.. it begins to come clear to those who’d been at the Hotel before it all, why it was the case Lucifer wasn’t one to be involved with the public so much.
Alastor wouldn’t complain, however.
He enjoys having the ability to exercise his power again.. His newfound freedom.
Charlie, on the other hand?
The poor girl is running herself ragged.
Even with the help of her father — She still grows terrified. Worried. Stressed—
Her very father’s newfound popularity has relit quite a few old flames of insecurity within her—And also, sparked something else.
A dawning sense of horror.. from truly processing the depth of her father’s predicament and his work.
How could he have ever been worried for her safety—When it was him who was in far more danger with Sinners than she ever was?
No matter! The Hotel’s Staff had been hard at work.. busy, busy, busy..
Vaggi, herself, also running herself thin in keeping everything together, fending off paparazzi, ensuring everything is ran smoothly.. all for her love.
And Lucifer?
He’s hardly seen much these days.
Busy. And.. unsurprisingly? Hiding.
It’s obvious. Even.. if it is not so, to the hider, himself.. He has to rely on the people around him for his safety.
And for the Sin of Pride.. It cannot be easy to digest that fact.
The next time Lucifer is seen outside the privacy of his own room? The King is disheveled.
His hair is a mess, a pair of spectacles crooked on his face—Clothes, wrinkled, and probably having not been cleaned since the last time he changed—Just a white dress shirt, his usual pinstripe vest, and white pants—Loose, not tucked into a pair of leather boots. His hoofed limbs, wobbly.
He’s being pulled out into a staff lounge area by a grumbling, muttering Vaggi going on about stupid Morningstars and their shitty work habits.
Charlie isn’t that far behind them, helping to usher her father to sit in a chair at the table—Vaggi already moving to prepare something in the kitchen.
Lucifer, frankly, looking as though he was about to collapse— Oh! And he just did— Face first onto the table—
“Dad! You’re still healing—You have to take it easier!” Charlie almost screeched, panicked as she tries to catch her dad’s shoulders before he slumped forwards, smacking his face— “Ease up, on all the magic shenanigans, okay?!”
His mouth opens, but it isn’t any common language Alastor can understand coming out.
It only seems to make Charlie more distressed.
Alastor shadows in to help relieve the dear girl from Lucifer-watch-duty. “He’ll be fine, my dear! He may be stupid, but surely, he can manage sitting for a little while!”
”…That’s what I’m worried about.”
The fuck does that mean?
”..I—Dad, please.. take it easy.” She frowns, gently patting his shoulder—The king squishing his cheek against her hand and pressing a quick kiss to it before she parted—Running off, no doubt, to make sense of whatever havoc was left in their wake.
Alright, then!
Lucifer is limp, again, the side of his face squished against the table, his mumbling continuing nonsensically, as flits of magic and static echo throughout his system—And—
After a good minute of this, Alastor gets fed up with it—And smacks the back of the King’s head with his staff.
“Cut it out.” He snarls, as Lucifer flinches, blinking rapidly and jolting back upright — “The fuck was that for?!”
The king spits out fire, and hisses, hand hovering at the back of his head as he—Pouts.
Alastor just narrows his eyes down at him, and Vaggi chides, “Alastor.”
”He was saying weird shit.”
”I was not!”
”Yes, you were. Now, shut up and eat.”
The King grumbles. But, nonetheless, does as he’s told once food is placed in front of him.
They were no strangers to this behavior. Charlie’s run herself thin like this, before—Many times..
Yikes.
How has anybody of the Royal Family ever survived this long?
..After a beat of silence, of both Alastor and Vaggi watching the King as he shovels food into his mouth—
His Majesty.. looking softly ahead—Eyes downcast, speaks. Voice, slightly slurred with his exhaustion, “‘M sorry, didn’t think it’d cause a problem.”
..Vaggi lets out a sigh, shaking her head. “You do not have to get everything done in one day, sir—Lu.”
“You have time.” She shrugs, “And, aren’t there people you can reach out to? What—Like Pai—“
“Don’t say is name again, I already cursed him out twice before—I don’t remember if it was recently, or not, but I ain’t risking it!”
”..O—kay..? Sure.” She shrugs, “But..?”
”..I’ve been trying to—But they, the Sins, want to hold a meeting in person—I don’t exactly have.. th-the energy to just—Poof. Handle it, exactly..” He laughs, dryly. “I know once Satan arrives he’s going to wanna go on a rampage.. and that’s not even talking about having the energy to deal with Mammon—I—“
“Thought.. if I focused on the paperwork, again, I can just—Do that. And it’d be fine, but there’s so much that’d been built up over the years and—“ He waves a hand limply, cutting himself off as he slouches again. “….I didn’t have to sleep before, I didn’t have to eat, either—But it might be an aspect of the whole.. Yeah. Being down here, punishment, and all that.”
”I thought—I should be able to keep up..”
Alastor blinked. “How much do you need to eat in a day?”
Vaggi’s eyes widen. “Shit—“
”How are you alive?!”
Lucifer blinks, “Uh..”
”You need to be eating a fuck ton more than—This! Everyday! You’ve—What have you been eating?!”
”Um.. haven’t?”
”…” Vaggi promptly explodes.
“You’re a Seraphim! A fallen one, at that—With all this shit of Hell going on—And no doubt, you’re expending a shit ton more energy and magic than any typical Seraphim does at all!! How are you even functioning?!”
Vaggi’s ranting gets cut off—Lucifer’s face growing into a big grin, and she stares and says, “Wait—You’re smiling. Why are you smiling.”
And he beams, “You’re not scared of yelling at me, anymore!”
“Thank you!” He pulls her into a hug, squeezing her close— “I’m glad you’re comfortable enough around me to do so!”
And Alastor laughs— Lucifer letting Vaggi go to shoot a glare at him, “Shut up, Bambi.”
And Vaggi.. just—Blinks. Her face a tad gold, she clears her throat.
“Y-yeah, so. Whatever—You still need to be actually eating real food! Focus on that, first—Everything else can come later, as Charlie said, you’re body is still healing—Stay on sick leave!”
”Hell’s paperwork and politics can wait,” Alastor happily chirps, “As, well.. they already have been waiting for so long, anyways! What’s a few more centuries?”
Lucifer growls, jabbing the fork toward him in a menacing gesture that—Was, well, just adorable, at this point—Pouting, “Shut up, you — wouldn’t know what time does to a timeless being, bellhop!”
“Ha! That’s host, again, Your Highness.” He sneers—And Vaggi waves her hands, cutting them both off.
”Just—! Ugh—Shut up! You, stop provoking Lucifer—And Lu—Stop—Not actually fueling yourself, properly!”
*+.~☆! }— “ Hello! If you feel this tug and are receiving this message, that means you’re an Overlord! Or, you have responsibility over a domain of some kind!
Basically — If you’re in charge of a lot more souls than the average joe! Whether that be by being elected into a position of power or soul deals, or whatever the fuck!
The King is unable to uphold the entirety of his end of the arrangement at this time due to recent events! And, old channels are being reviewed and put under maintenance — But! you can still use this connection to contact him about any requests, needs for aid, or questions you may have! “ { *☆•.
[[ ~ Thank you, and enjoy Hell’s finest customer service, curtesy of His Majesty, himself <3
This message is brought to you by Asmodeus and Leviathan with reminders to keep your fuckasses in check around him, none of you are off the hook. ~ ]]
~~~
“Lucifer,”
He looked up, “Yeah?”
”Are you aware that your fellow Sins threatened the Sinners with that message you, oh, so delicately and specifically stressed over as to not make so aggressive or scary?”
Lucifer’s smile fell, and Alastor almost felt bad.
The King’s face now had a frown etched into it, as he looked back down to the coffee table—Scattered with different pages and documents within a language that was long forgotten to mortals— “Sorry, I should have known they’d probably do that.”
Alastor’s eyebrow twitched.
“I had found it amusing, is all.” Stop apologizing for shit.
The past few days, His Majesty has still been running himself thin — His corporeal form keeps fluttering in and out of focus, as he tries to manage the typical day-to-day on top of reviewing old maintenance issues.
He is managing to eat more. That’s a positive.
The system he had set up all those years ago had been severely damaged and blocked up by something— Lucifer was struggling to figure it out, though.
Apparently, for the past three-four hundred years, the Overlords were supposed to be able to call on him to help fix up any issues they had in their respective dominions.
There was an emergency Overlord meeting at Carmilla’s, all but two of the three Vees showed. Zestial confirmed the validity of such a thing—Zestial rarely, if ever, truly spoke at meetings like this, so, when he did? Even the Vees stopped to hear him.
“Verily, for what reason unknown, 'twas the Queen's magics that wrought an interposition.”
Rosie had grimaced at that. Carmilla furrowing her brows.. “But Her Highness is the one who had been upset with the lack of His Majesty’s involvement?”
Her grimace became a scowl, as the Cannibal Overlord crossed her arms. Alastor raised his brow, leaning in closer — You know something. The silent way they spoke with just their eyes went over most other Overlord’s heads. The kind that came from years of being under her contract.
Rosie shook her head softly, keeping her eyes on the conversation between Zestial and Carmilla.. Chatter filling the room, that Alastor kept his ears on, as he kept an eye on the three others.
”The OG lovers probably had a lot of trouble in paradise.” ”It’s a shame that DayTime fellow hasn’t pushed for more information on the Queen.” “Fuck is he even called DayTime for? Their show’s on at night!” “They always end with ‘good morning’ ‘cuz they end from anywhere between midnight to 3 am, always before sunrise..”
He slammed his staff against the ground rather loudly before the disgusting moth delved deeper into veering the discussion into that of a distasteful topic of the King and his previous entrapment with the Vees.
Static filled the air as he stood up and let shadows creep out and threaten them, “I think we’re done for today.”
And no one argued.
As much as he loved gossip, he was getting sick of the lack of concern filling the air at the mention of His Majesty.
Alastor was frustrated. He couldn’t figure out why — Here, the King was, practically offering himself up to vultures. And saying sorry.
”I thought it was because no one needed me, anymore.” Lucifer grumbled, placing a pair of spectacles on his face, making reading without his magic easier on this form.
He kept mumbling to himself, scribbling away in a notebook as his eyes flickered between the words on different papers, “Not because this got jammed up. Lilith said everything was fine.. maybe she was right..”
Alastor’s ear flicked. “About what?”
”I wasn’t trying hard enough.” The King frowned, again, as he straightened out a stack of papers with a clack against the table, “Or doing enough—Doing it right—“
He stopped, furrowing his brows. He looked up at Alastor from his spot on the floor— “The fuck are you actually doing here?”
He wants the King to stop looking so small.
Lucifer glared.
Alastor shrugged, kneeling down next to him. “Curiosity.”
“….” He kept staring, eyes narrowed.
“..Whatever.” Lucifer went back to the documents, working in silence.
..Silence that Alastor couldn’t keep.
”It’s pathetic, you know.”
The King flinched, but kept his focus on the documents.
Alastor continued. “Running yourself through the ground will do nothing for the time you’re trying to make up for.”
His grip tightened against the next pile of documents.
“I don’t need sleep.”
“Hmm.. you say you didn’t need food, either. Yet..”
Lucifer’s face grew gold. “Shut up.”
Alastor hummed.
“If you’re just going to get in my face about everything, go.” He huffed. And Al played a laughing track in the background, shaking his head.
“The only way I’m going, is if you come with me to lessen dear Charlie’s worries.”
“….”
As always, the mentioning of his daughter hits the nail on the coffin.
The King snapped his fingers, all the papers returning to wherever they came from.. and, he reached for his cane.
“Fine. But we’re not going down the stairs.”
Seeing how Lucifer relied on his cane for support, standing with a grimace he couldn’t hide.. Alastor—Alastor didn’t argue with that. Nor.. did he drag any further attention to it.