Chapter Text
Adam stirred.
An old soul in an old place. He could neither see, hear, taste, touch nor hear. But he could still fell. He could think. He was aware. The dreamless sleep of death held no more dominion over him than the beast of the earth he subjugated millennia ago.
He had no body, no limbs to move, no head to twist to alleviate the phantom pain of his non-existent neck. No hands to reach further into the not-space he was in. But he had his mind and his will, just as sharp and unbending as always. Ten millennia of pain and fail did not break him and neither could death.
Therefore he let his mind wonder. What happened, how as he here?
Ah yes.
The Loser himself killed him.
More like the Loser brought him low enough to be killed by the stupid murderous cyclops girl but that was still on Lucifer. The knife just finished the job that begun when his bones started to break. To be honest he might have let himself be carried by emotions in that moment, he let the mocking tones of the Arch-enemy get to him and he paid the price for his carelessness.
Adam’s thoughts spilled into the Abyss that surrounded him like tendrils. A new way of movement and communication as he started to fell his surroundings.
Ah… so this is where they went.
Millions upon millions of souls he expunged from hell, shearing in death. Together in oblivion. He had to say, he was mad at them not that long ago. The last couple millennia he felt almost nothing but anger, that turned his mind into a razor and his mouth into a loom of curses. But such an ending, quiet and almost dignified, was in his eyes fitting for those sinners. No more pain, no more fear, no more screaming.
If he could pat himself on a back right now for being even more justified in his actions than he was already, he would have.
His girls were not here, of course they would not be here. Angelic weapons, now that he though about it, would not be able to actually kill them in any true way. Perhaps they just put them out of commission for longer, perhaps something entirely else happened, perhaps there is another Abyss up there in Heaven. A mystery, he decided, for later. He had work to do.
Everything was in danger. Hell, Earth, Heaven. It did not matter how much that ignorant princess tried to fix things. She understood nothing. Those sinners would not care about her victory over him, just that he was gone and they had a free hand to do whatever they wanted. Her measly hotel crew did not compare in the slightest to the ocean of souls that was Pentagram City by itself, to say nothing about all of Hell.
The only reason the hypocrite princess was still alive was due to protection of her spineless father. All, from the overlords to the lowest scum either thought nothing of the Devil, or scoffed and cringed at the mentioned of duck obsessed celestial child. But it was safer to circle around him and his spawn rather than face a fallen angel.
The sinners were in Hell for a reason, and now that no punishment hung above them, they would not even be afraid enough to stay in their pit.
They would inevitably march on earth, capitalizing on confusion and indecision of Heaven. And then they would march on the Pearly Gates.
It was inevitable.
It happened before.
He was there.
He had to get back. He had to claw out of this place. He had to save the Heavens. His children. He was not always the best Father, but he would rather kiss Lucifer's boots than let those in Heaven suffer.
He sacrificed everything for them.
Ever since Eden, where he lost perfection, where he was banished to the cold, unforgiving and unjust world.
Adam missed Eden, he missed when he was not afraid, or angry, or hateful. He missed the clean air and brilliant stars hanging in the sky each night. He missed being a child, being innocent. He really, really did. And yet he left. For Eve. For love. Oh how stupid he felt now. She left him too, but by then he was already broken.
Lilith left, Eve left, his children left, Sera turned away from him as if he was a failed project, kept around for no other reason than he did not take too much space on her desk, by different reasons but they all did leave. It always hurt, it continued to hurt.
Only Lute stayed, and by whatever divine power there was in this cruel universe, he would be getting back to her. People left him yes, but he did not leave people. He was the one that stayed. He will be back, of that he was certain, even if he had to drag his carcass back to Heaven and storm the gates himself.
He noticed that he was perhaps too loud in his thoughts. The others were waking up, already millions had their attention on him, with millions to come stirring awake.
[̴S̷H̸O̶W̷ ̷U̵S̴ ̴E̴D̷E̵N̸]̵ The Horde demanded in the chatter of it's million minds. Not that they were uninterested in his private woes after what felt like aeons of death, but they were much more interested in Eden. Their interest laid in the world most primordial. One that was once destined to be their home.
Of course Eden would be of higher interest to them. They only ever knew the coldness of Earth and fires of Hell. They knew war and strife, hunger and death. They desire for divine and good was akin to that of a starving man would looking for food.
So he does, he spins his memories into tapestries and he walks them though the garden at the beginning of time. He spares no detail, after all why would he lie to them, he had nothing to gain from deceiving them. They walk ten miles in his shoes in those memories, they are with him when he names the creatures of the earth, they are with him when he is taught truths by angels. They are with him when Lilith leaves him. A sting in the heart, but one that is still understandable. On that they agree.
Then Lucifer appears in the haze of memories.
The Horde never liked their lack-luster ruler. It disregarded and mocked him in their afterlives. Now it hated him. The one that took their kingdom from them. By what right? By what authority? For what fucking reason would he ever do that. They all knew the story of Eden and the fall of man of course, but seeing it now, with their own minds, it hurt much deeper and much more than it could have ever in life.
It’s harder and harder for Adam to distinguish his own thought from theirs in all the cacophony.
There is no point in crying over the spilled milk, but there are questions to be answered. Could they have been good? Happy? Could they have avoided evil if they were still in the perfect world? Their actions were their own, but the world was often just as cruel as they were. They knew that of course, they were not stupid. But what if…?
So many questions, so little answers. It hurt.
Lucifer never once apologized. Never once admitted wrongdoings. He was always the hero. Always the misunderstood. Always the victim. It was sickening.
The sinners of Hell, denizens of Abyss finally found something they all hated, something they all could agree upon. Lucifer Morningstar was now a singular, most detestable being in all of creation, and he deserved what they deserved. His place was here with them. In the Abyss.
But how to reach him. How to take him by the ankles and drag him down. They were here after all, with no exit. No… they had one.
Adam did not like the sinners, they knew now better than ever before. But they had a common goal. A singular purpose. The eldritch chatter rose and fell as the next step was debated, and then a question was posed to the First Man.
[HOW DO WE LEAVE?]
Adam was, even if most held no trust in his abilities, privy to the secrets of creations, the inner mechanisms of existence were not exactly an open book to him, but he knew his stuff.
[UP.] He declared.
The Horde was not exactly dismissive of his words, just confused. So like students asking a teacher they demanded an answer.
[HOW? THERE IS NO UP. THERE IS NO DOWN.]
Adam chuckled, and his thoughts of almost fatherly laughter reverberated through nothing, as his will started to pull him together in a singular non-direction of the void.
[OH DEAR CHILDREN. THERE IS ALWAYS AN UP.]