December 27th
Cain stared at Lucifer, trying to process the weight of her words. Before he could form a single question, he noticed her expression shift. She averted her gaze, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "You should… cover yourself," she said quickly, "and come downstairs." Then she vanished from his room.
Her voice floated up from the kitchen a moment later. "Breakfast is ready."
Cover myself? he thought, bewildered. He shook off the lingering dread of the nightmare and swung his legs out of bed. He looked again at his forearm, the strange mark and the faded handprint raising a flood of questions. Then he glanced down and understood. Morning wood. He let out a short, exasperated laugh and reached for his clothes.
Downstairs, dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, he went straight to the kitchen. Lucifer was at the counter. He pointed to the mark on his arm. "What did you mean up there? About the reincarnation?"
Lucifer ignored him. She turned with a bright, forced smile, holding out a glass of water. "Good morning. You should hydrate first."
He took the glass and drank, but his eyes never left her face. "Lucifer. The mark. What does it mean?"
He reached out and caught her wrist as she tried to walk past him toward the living room. She stopped, but kept her back to him.
"I am sorry." Her voice was soft, sincere, and heavy with regret.
"Why are you sorry?" he asked, trying to sound light. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's just a weird mark. A bad dream. That's all."
Lucifer took a deep, steadying breath. She mustered her resolve and finally turned to face him. The playful facade was gone, replaced by a look of deep guilt.
"I caused this mark to manifest," she said, her words deliberate. "My presence, my energy… it acted as a catalyst. It awoke what was dormant within you." She looked down at their joined hands, then back to his confused face. "I failed to see the truth. I thought Michael sought you only as leverage against me, or to punish you for aiding me. But it is far greater than that." Her voice wavered. "Because of me, the course of your life has been altered irrevocably. The path you were on is gone. I have… I have doomed you. I should leave. It is the only way to prevent further harm."
Cain looked at her, stunned. She misinterpreted his silence for anger, for hatred. Her heart sank. The seconds stretched, each one an eternity of self-condemnation for her.
But then Cain smiled. It was a warm, gentle smile that reached his eyes, completely devoid of the blame or fear she expected.
"Wasn't my life already flipped upside down the night I stopped my car for a naked woman in the road?" he asked softly. His grip on her hand loosened, and hers began to slip from his. "What's left to flip?"
Lucifer's heart did a strange, fluttering skip in her chest. As her hand fell from his, she suddenly reached out and caught it again, holding it tightly. Her jaw went slack. She wanted to speak, to explain the storm of emotions inside her, but no words came. Instead, a familiar, hollow ache bloomed in her chest.
"But I have doomed you," she insisted, her voice a whisper. She tried to pull her hand back. "You should blame me. You should cast me out."
He shrugged, a casual, human gesture, and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "How can I blame you for wanting company? For trying to connect?" He spoke gently, as if explaining something simple. "It already happened. What's the point of blaming you now? You did what felt right to you in the moment. You can't be blamed for wanting to be free, or for not wanting to be alone." He met her gaze. "I feel safe with you. I understand you. You don't have to be lonely. Not with me here."
The words felt incredibly awkward to say out loud. Cain felt a hot blush creeping up his neck. He turned away from her, breaking their eye contact, and walked over to the kitchen table, hiding his embarrassment. He pulled out a chair with more force than necessary.
"Look," he said, waving a hand vaguely, "you can leave if you really feel that guilty. But honestly? I don't even care if I'm the reincarnation of some biblical guy. That's just… another weird fact now. After meeting you, I think my 'weird' meter is broken."
He grabbed a plate and started serving himself from the scrambled eggs she had made. He kept his back to her, focusing on the mundane task.
He set his plate on the table and moved to sit down.
In that exact moment, for Lucifer, the world stopped.
The kitchen dissolved. The sound of Cain moving the chair faded into absolute silence. She looked down at her hands. They were covered in thick, fresh blood. The warm, sunlit kitchen was gone, replaced by a desolate, frozen wasteland under a gray sky. Deep snow blanketed the ground.
Standing before her, exactly where Cain had been, was an angel. She had long, flowing black hair and six magnificent wings of darkest shadow. She held out a hand, offering a smile so warm it seemed to defy the icy landscape.
"I am lonely too," the angel said, her voice like a gentle chime. "Let us be friends. But I am not strong, like you are. If that is acceptable."
Lucifer's heart began to pound, a deafening drumbeat that grew louder and louder in the silent void. She took a single, hesitant step forward. Her foot sank into the deep, cold snow.
The moment it touched the ground, the memory shattered.
She was back in the kitchen. Cain was just beginning to lower himself into his chair.
In a blur of motion, Lucifer was across the room. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight, desperate embrace, burying her face against his shoulder.
Cain froze, surprised, then slowly relaxed.
"I am sorry," she murmured into his shirt, her voice smooth and so full of emotion it made his own heart stutter. "But I will not leave. I wish to have breakfast."
He patted her back gently. "It's okay. Really. You didn't do anything wrong." He paused. "I just… I still want to understand what you meant. And I'm sorry for all the cringey stuff I just said."
Her hold tightened briefly. She pulled back just enough to look up at him, her golden eyes searching his. "The words you spoke. About not being alone. Were they true? Not merely a… facade?"
Cain nodded, his expression earnest. "They were true. You said if I lie to an angel, I turn to stone. Well," he gestured to himself, "still flesh and bone. So that's your proof."
A weight seemed to lift from her. Lucifer finally released him. She pulled out the other chair at the table and served herself a portion of eggs. Cain sat down, watching her.
She settled into the chair across from him, picked up her fork, and met his gaze directly.
"You may ask the questions that trouble you," she said.