Ups and down (1)

"My lord, I don-"

"Is not this something curious?" Lucifer interrupted him as his grip on the demon's throat tightened, fingers digging right into the soft flesh, pushing past skin as it was nothing. "I'm almost taking your throat out of this body, yet somehow you manage to be able to talk."

The demon writhed, whimpering as his hands covered in crimson tried to hold from the sleeves of Lucifer's white suit, searching for something to grab in the sheer desperation he felt. Though once he saw the power that lit his eyes, he pulled his hands away as if electricity had run through his body, choosing instead to flap his arms around while he drowned in his own blood.

"Oh, come on. You're supposed to be a demon," Lucifer huffed, tracing a bloody finger against the demon's sternum. "I should kill you just for the pathetic sight you're to my eyes." More sobs escaped him, hiccups bubbled up in the demon's throat as his breathing became irregular.

His brow wrinkled at the sight, he preferred when they cried in horror than this way. He threw the body against a wall in disgust. Waving a hand, he cleaned his suit as well as fixing the demon's vocal cords; he didn't do anything to fix his other injuries though. They were the only thing that made Lucifer put up with this being.

"Now, will you tell me who is the one that's planning to backstab me? Who knows, maybe I will let you live." He walked forwards, a wicked grin plastered on his face. "Or should we start playing again?"

Actually, he didn't want to spend any more time with this being, nor he wanted to prolong his stay in Hell. He had already been there for more time than he would have liked, the cries of the tortures going on around him started to sound dull, not satisfying enough. He was worried too─ Aaron needed him and he didn't want to leave him alone. He didn't think that the brush of grace he had used to calm him would last.

Worry. It was a strange feeling, something he thought he would not feel again.

He hummed. It was started to concern him how much he was getting attached to that human.

But not many demons knew that he had some sort of omnipotence in Hell, they didn't know that Lucifer could see and hear everything that happened down there. Didn't know that Hell was more like an extension of him, shaping at his liking, making him notice when the demon, the one that now sobbed in pain, tried to convince others to join his cause. Which, unsurprisingly, consisted in killing him.

At first, he hadn't noticed, the demon was hidden from his eyes, so was only able to hear the other side of the conversation. He was used to hearing his brothers and sisters inside his head, always constant chattering going around. God created angels to understand many things at the same time: 'multitask' was now called. And even if being with Aaron made the chatter he always heard, subside, making him focus into him and his presence, the one-sided conversation he heard from downstairs stood up from others. His grace unconsciously picking it up as important. It only took a flicker of time to deduce what was happening.

He tilted his head, placing his foot on top of the demon's cheek to stop him from coughing. He could still see clearly Aaron in front of him, soul shivering with nervousness and yearn as it stirred closer to his grace, moving near as where his body would let him. Full of a warm and affection he hadn't felt in so long. Lucifer wanted it. Craved to touch it, wrap his grace within it and bask himself into the emotion.

But if he hadn't stepped down at that moment to show an example, then things would have escalated too quickly, threatening his tight hold on Hell's power. They would start thinking that it was fine to confabulate behind his back. He couldn't let that happen. So he flew before Aaron's presence helped him create more reasons to stay.

His annoyance only grew when he realized that he would need to use torture to get the information he wanted, something that it was more of a hobby than a job. It felt like he was cheating in some way, but it was a necessity since that demon had fused with its own meat suit to be able to use special protection against angels. He was truly curious at how he had gotten that knowledge. He hadn't like it, but he needed to use some primitive tactics to obtain what he wanted, because it seemed the protection was strong enough that not even Lucifer was able to read his thoughts, besides hiding him from his eyes.

And as the humans like to say: If you want a job well done, you've to do it yourself.

It was very problematic when you ruled a place where you couldn't trust anyone.

He took his foot away, hearing the cough subside. "You may let me live?" the demon rasped, finally managing to talk even with the blood he had spluttered from inside him. "And you wonder why I was planning to go against you? Look at yourself, Lucifer!"

The archangel arched an unimpressed eyebrow.

"How soft the Great Deceiver has turned!" he spat. "When you created us, you promised us Paradise! And after all the centuries we've waited for your return, you came! Is this your─" Lucifer shushed him with a gesture, burning slowly his lungs from the inside?

"I asked you who is the one that's planning behind my back. Nothing else." The demon's eyes bulged at the lack of oxygen; they didn't need it in order to function, but torture was easier after the demon's 'soul' was one with a body. He didn't seem to be able to shut some of the biological functions, letting them in control and reducing him at the same level as humans.

He created new lungs for the demon's body, ready to ask again, but the vibration that came from the link he thought was lost, stopped him

"Lucifer." The voice echoed in his mind, ringing in dazzling and gracious tones he hadn't heard in a long time. Lucifer closed his eyes, hoping to hear more of that exquisite melody in which his name was pronounced, but silence only answered him. The only thing he was able to hear came from the demon that kept babbling in front of him.

"Shut up," Lucifer whispered, his true voice leaking. The demon just kept babbling in cries even as his ears started to bleed.

"…and you shall f-!"

Lucifer ripped the soul out of that body, watching with satisfaction how it tore painfully from the seams that seemed to knit it to the body. Once the wounded black smoke was throbbing on the palm of his hand, he briefly wondered how to kill it. He demised the idea to waste any more time in it and chose instead to burn it slowly as if it were a match, starting a spark in its core and seeing how it expanded, making a soft howl as it was distinguished.

His lips moved downwards and he frowned at his hand, annoyed at his own behavior. He had killed that demon just because he was pissed at him for making noise, and therefore failing to obtain the information he wanted. It was almost embarrassing; letting himself get distracted simply by the way his name had been─

"Brother, may I see you?" Michael spoke once again in the channel that only archangels could hear. He decided to enjoy his brother's voice for a moment before letting himself consider the words, after all, almost a decade had passed since the last time they've talked and, even if he was still angry at Michael and wished to hate the archangel with the same fervor his hatred towards his father was, he simply couldn't. Or at least, not completely.

Lucifer let his head fall at the side after a few seconds had passed without Michael mentioning where he planned to meet him. He wanted to ask but didn't want to give Michael and his other brothers the privilege of hearing his voice once again.

He was going to shrug Michael's request off and go instead to Aaron's side to see if he was fine, but the moment he extended his wings to fly he felt a presence on earth, powerful enough to only belong to one being. Lucifer considered his options and decided to see Michael instead, his brother didn't come to earth unless it was important and he didn't want to waste the chance in case Michael wanted something from him because it would mean that his brother would owe him.

Still, he took a brief detour and went to check on Aaron.

He stood in the middle of the room the hospital had offered to Aaron. Without making his presence shown, he saw him lying on his bed as he tried to sleep. There was uneasiness in his soul that hadn't been there before, or at least not at that degree. Lucifer brushed his wing on Aaron's side as he had done that same morning, in an attempt to calm him, but Aaron opened his eyes and sat upright at the contact. He started to look frankly around, his soul shivering in a thrill. The archangel's eyes merely widened in surprise, amused at the actions of that little living light.

He hadn't thought, not even for a second, that Aaron would be able to acknowledge his presence, not when he was cloaked from this plane as he was. Perhaps Aaron's reaction had been a response at the cold that usually came with Lucifer's touch. But then to proved him again wrong, Aaron sat against the wall of the room and called for him, "Lucifer?" he said, unsure and embarrassed.

The boy licked his lips and frowned, looking suspiciously around, slower this time as if he were waiting for something to happen. His lips thinned when he glanced down, finally resigning at the thought that there wasn't anyone there. He moved slowly, leaning against his elbow as he lied on the bed again, curling at his side as he brushed his hand on the same spot his wing had touched.

Lucifer hadn't shown himself at Aaron not because he didn't want to, but because he realized that he wanted to. But he knew that if he did show to Aaron it would only make him delay his reunion with Michael ─ he wasn't so thrilled to see his brother again but he couldn't deny that it was more important than to check on a problematic human, one who was stupid enough to call at his name as if it was a pray. It wasn't the same feeling he had felt at hearing his brother's voice saying his name, but he wouldn't deny that he was pleased that Aaron, a human that had become someone close to him, had been able to recognize his touch. In fact, he wished to puff his wings in pride because of it.

And now, he wanted to sigh─ he wondered if this was what humans felt before sighing in frustration. He had seen Aaron do it, but never wanted to do it himself. It was an unusual feeling.

"Lucifer?" Michael asked again, and Lucifer couldn't find any excuse for him to stay any longer in the small room. With one more look to Aaron's curling form, he flew.