Chapter Text
Eve knew she was supposed to love Adam. The angels didn’t come by very often, not as much as she assumed they used to, but it was clear from even their brief visits what they expected of her. The attitude of the first man himself also made it clear; the way he gazed at her, the way he spoke to her… it was painfully obvious.
But more than that, Eve felt that she could have loved Adam. She could have loved the Adam who explored the Garden with her, who smiled softly at her wonder and joy at experiencing all the things this new adventure called life had to offer. The Adam who was gentle and caring, who listened to her gush about the animals and plants without getting annoyed at how long-winded she could get when overenthusiastic about something. The one who held her hand as they walked through the field, the roughness of his skin offset by how lightly he touched her, making her feel as though he wouldn’t let anything bad ever happen to her. Yes, she could certainly have loved that Adam.
But that wasn’t the Adam she got all the time. Sometimes, she got an Adam who was closed off and guarded, one who got furious at her whenever she at all behaved in a way different from what he expected. Like when he had picked her a bouquet of flowers, but all she could do was cry for the loss of life that those little plants would never get back. She insisted she wasn’t mad at him, she knew they were both still figuring things out, but it seemed all he saw in her tears was disdain for him. Or when she sat outside for hours talking with squirrels rather than sitting with Adam in their cozy alcove near the center of the Garden, and he couldn’t comprehend that she wanted to spend time with the animals and him. This was an Adam who thought he and he alone should come first in Eve’s thoughts, and that she was always one second away from somehow betraying him. She never knew how to react when he yelled at her about these so-called indiscretions; she didn’t know how to make him see that she wanted to give her heart both to him and to the paradise around them.
So, she made herself small around Adam, never quite sure which version of him she was going to get. She tried to hide her passions, but could never quite stop them from slipping through the cracks. Sometimes, he would react with empathy and join her in sharing everything they loved about the world surrounding them. But other times, he would react with scorn and vitriol that she was daydreaming about topics other than him, and the fact that she never knew which reaction she was going to get left her on edge. On edge, in a world that was supposed to be perfect.
She could guess why Adam was the way he was. Though he was careful to never talk of it in front of her, she knew from the snippets of conversations she had overheard him having with the angels that she was not his first wife. His first wife was apparently different, a true equal to Adam, as opposed to being made from him in the way Eve was. She could glean that this first wife had left Adam for someone else, someone who Adam discussed with bitter hatred, his eyes blazing with a loathing that always made Eve regret listening in. She couldn’t bring herself to talk to Adam about his original wife, fearing that look may turn on herself. If Adam didn’t want to talk to her about it, she wasn’t going to try and force him to, no matter how much her internal curiosity ached to learn about the other woman.
Though Adam disliked it when she went out by herself, he would often embark on private excursions of his own. The hypocrisy of this action was not lost on her, but she honestly didn’t mind the alone time. Besides, she never argued with Adam. One such day, after Adam had left, she found herself sitting cross legged in a field of flowers near where she and Adam slept. She kept her eyes closed and breathing even, taking in the peacefulness of the nature surrounding her and letting herself feel as though she was a part of it too. She reverently stroked the petals of the flowers near her, feeling the cool breeze tickling the back of her neck and the sun shining down on the top of her head. Adam surely would have gotten bored by now, but Eve never minded a little bit of calm.
As she listened intently to the melodic noises of nature around her, she heard a nearby scuffling sound. Her eyes shot open, and she smiled excitedly as she looked to see which of her animal friends had come to say hello. But when she took in the scene around her, she saw no one, much to her surprise. The animals generally knew they didn’t have to be shy around her, so she realized with delight that this had to be a new friend. Eyeing the tree at the edge of the field, which would be a perfect hiding spot for someone a little shy, she slowly got to her feet, the green grass soft and soothing against her bare toes. As she crept towards the tree, the shuffling grew louder, and she heard what almost sounded like… whispered voices? But that was impossible; Adam would have loudly announced his presence were he back from his outing already, and the angels never wanted to spend time with Eve. So who could it be?
“Hello?” She said, her voice barely above a whisper itself.
The other voices came to a halt, and there was a brief moment of stillness, as if the entire world was holding its breath waiting to see what would come next.
Two figures emerged from behind the tree. Immediately, Eve was struck by how beautiful the two were. She had seen beauty in the Garden countless times, but the people who stood in front of her were so ethereal, so perfect, that she wasn’t sure how to begin.
The shorter of the pair was a man, his handsomeness delicate in a way that Adam’s wasn’t. With porcelain white skin, he reminded her of the glimpses of the angels she had managed to sneak. But unlike the angels, who always regarded her with cold indifference when they noticed her spying, the man was smiling a wide grin that stretched all the way to his cherry red cheeks. His hair was golden as the sun, deeply contrasting Eve’s own brown locks.
The other person, a breathtakingly gorgeous woman, had hair in the same dazzling shade as the man. But while his was cropped short, hers was long and flowing, reminding Eve of a prospering field of wheat sparkling in the morning light. She was significantly taller than both Eve and the man, much closer to Adam’s stature than Eve could ever hope to be. Interestingly, while the man had features reminiscent of an angel: white skin, coloured cheeks, and a pair of majestic wings Eve just now noticed he was tucking behind himself (probably trying in vain to come off as less divine), the woman looked much more… human. She was still fair skinned, but not to the unnatural level of the man. Her narrow nose and full lips were slightly reminiscent of what Eve saw when looking at her reflection in the stream, though Eve had of course never been as entranced by what she saw in the water as she was by this woman. Her soft smirk, along with the man’s bright and honest grin, left Eve feeling as if she were in free fall.
Suddenly, a realization hit Eve with a burst of self-consciousness, the emotion completely foreign yet finding itself deeply entrenched within her mind. Because both of these strangers, these beautiful individuals who looked at her like they might actually be excited to have a conversation with her… they were wearing clothes. The man was garbed in flowing robes, again evoking his likely status as an angel, while the woman wore a deep purple dress that hugged her body in a way Eve had never before seen clothes do and that left her with an odd feeling in her stomach. Now, while it was true that every angel Eve had seen so far had been dressed in garments of some kind, their inclination towards doing so was not one Eve and Adam had ever shared. Along with having never been given clothes in the first place, Eve liked feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin, the wind brushing against her arms, the dirt of the forest beneath her toes, the soft fur of her animal friends as they clambered up her back to sit on her shoulder. But now… Eve was the first human to ever experience the feeling of being underdressed.
Unconsciously, Eve hugged her arms around herself, something she increasingly found herself doing when feeling unsure about herself around Adam. At this action, the man in front of her lost her carefree grin, and Eve missed it immediately. What had she done to cause it to leave? Would it come back?
Before she could properly ponder this, the man began to speak. “Oh, no, it’s alright! Don’t be alarmed!” He exclaimed, gesturing his arms widely. “This must be kind of overwhelming for you, huh? I didn’t really think this through, to be honest. Didn’t know you’d spot us so fast! Great hearing, by the way!”
Eve remained lost for words. This perfect man, the one who had seemed rather untouchable mere moments before… He was awkward, and charming, and worried about her feelings. Eve couldn’t help the smile that found itself on her face at that.
The man looked triumphant, his electrifying grin returning in full force. “There we go! See, no need to worry. We just wanted to meet you! Didn’t really intend to drop in out of nowhere, though.” He paused, before continuing with just as much energy as before. “Oh, introductions! Forgot about those. The name’s Lucifer!”
Before Eve could unpack the honestly bewildering fact that someone wanted to meet her, the woman, who had been gazing at Lucifer fondly throughout his antics, spoke for the first time.
“And I am Lilith.” She said, the words flowing from her tongue like honey. Her tone of voice was rich, and Eve could imagine herself listening to that tone until the end of time, lost in that sea of sweet nectar as Lilith whispered gently in her ear…
Eve shook herself. Those kinds of thoughts were not helpful at the moment. She had to hold a conversation with two strangers after only having really talked with one person throughout her life. This was terrifying, and she needed to focus.
“Um, I’m Eve?” She said hesitantly.
Lucifer looked at her, then at Lilith, before crinkling his eyebrows together in a way that was honestly adorable, like a confused puppy. “Yeah, she has no idea who we are, Lily.”
Now it was Eve’s turn to feel like a confused puppy. Should she know who they were? She wished she knew who they were before today, wished she knew it wasn’t just her and Adam who deigned to wander the Garden, but how was she supposed to know?
Lilith rolled her eyes, though it didn’t feel like she was annoyed with Lucifer or Eve, but some third person. “Typical. I doubt he told her anything of worth.”
Well, there was only one person who Eve talked to prior to today. “Adam?” She asked. “You two know Adam?”
“Ohhhhhhhh, boy.” Lucifer exhaled.
“Yes, darling.” Lilith said, ignoring Lucifer. “I was his first wife.”
Oh.
Well, she supposed it made a strange sort of sense. Eve had been right when noticing how human Lilith looked, and it was no wonder that the angels didn’t care for Eve when this was who she was supposed to be replacing. No wonder why she couldn’t be enough for Adam. Beyond her not being his equal, Eve wasn’t anywhere near as captivating as Lilith.
“Oh.” Eve said. What else could she say? She felt tears prickling at the corner of her eyes, her vision beginning to blur.
“Oh, sweetie…” Then came that honey-filled voice, coupled with strong arms wrapped around her. She instinctively leaned into the touch, completely forgetting her earlier worries about her lack of clothing. Soft fingers worked their way through her hair, soothing words mumbled above her. All too soon, the embrace ended, Lilith’s hand lingering on Eve’s cheek before she returned to her full height. Had Lilith been bending down in order to hug her? Eve felt her face redden, though she found a bit of solace in the fact that the same would have happened to Lucifer had he been in this situation.
Speaking of the (probable) angel, he had been pacing around and muttering while Lilith had comforted Eve.
Wait. Lilith had needed to comfort Eve. Had she really just broken down crying in front of these two beautiful strangers? Good gracious, they must think she was a mess.
“What did he do to her?” Lucifer demanded, his sudden harsh tone setting Eve on edge. His face softened after seeing her flinch, however.
“It’s more like what he didn’t do, I’m sure.” Lilith said, sneering. “Probably didn’t let her be her own person, probably didn’t tell her anything about the angels, probably didn’t make her feel like she was worth anything–” Lilith suddenly cut her rant off, switching back to her formal way of speaking. “…I am sorry.”
Eve blinked. What was she sorry for?
“Here I am, talking over you, making assumptions, just like he would. I apologize, I merely have some… unresolved feelings, but I should not assume you feel the same.”
Had anyone ever apologized to Eve before?
“It’s okay.” Eve said softly. Why was her voice always so soft? For some reason, around these two passionate individuals who actually seemed to care what she thought, she noticed her meekness more than when she was with Adam.
Lilith smiled at that. “I am glad to hear that. I would not want to stain your first impression of me.” She reached towards Eve again, and when she didn’t move away, tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. Eve gazed at her in wonder. Why was she being so kind?
“Well, I suppose you should know who I am too.” Lucifer said, somewhat awkwardly.
Eve could put two and two together. “You’re the one who Lilith chose over Adam, right?”
Lucifer nodded sheepishly.
“Strictly speaking,” Lilith cut in. “I chose a life of freedom from a narcissist and the constant rules forced upon me by the angels. Luci was just a bonus.” She nudged Lucifer playfully, who chuckled in response.
Eve openly gaped at the pair. Were they allowed to say things like that? Surely, decrying Adam and the angels was not something one could simply openly do. But neither Adam nor the angels magically appeared to chastise them.
Unaware of the fact that he and Lilith had just shattered another part of Eve’s worldview, Lucifer continued for Lilith. “Yeah, I just offered Lily a new perspective, and she realized things didn’t have to be so rigid and demanding all the time. My family was really not thrilled, but they haven’t done anything about it yet, so I figure it’s probably fine.” He must have meant the angels when he said his family, confirming Eve’s suspicions (though how he could be so flippant about crossing them, she had no idea). He went on, “Anyway, they still keep me somewhat in the loop, and when we heard Adam had a new wife, we just knew we had to come meet you.”
“You really came just for me?” Eve asked before she could stop herself. She was making herself seem really lonely. Which she was, but that was beside the point.
“Of course!” Lucifer said.
“We wanted to give you the same chance I got.” Lilith’s soft smirk was back, and Eve found her stomach once again doing strange little flips. “We will show you all that the world has to offer.”
In that moment, Eve couldn’t help but think that these two already were the best the world had to offer, these glowing and kind souls who were fearless and maybe a touch reckless, but so sincere in a way Eve had never before experienced. She was ready to follow them anywhere.
And, regardless of what happened next, that was something she would always do.
Lucifer was snuggled up next to Lily in their spacious, comfy bed, dreaming of ducks and other wonderful things, when the piercing ring of the telephone startled him awake.
He groaned and rolled over, rather annoyed at having to be back in the waking world so early in the morning. Checking the clock, he noted that it was 2:37 a.m., a time when no sensible King of Hell should be expected to be up and about.
“Could you get that, please, darling?” Lilith’s voice came from beside him, still so formal even in its half-awake fog.
Lucifer mumbled some vague string of words that he knew Lily would be able to decipher as agreement, and picked up the mouthpiece and receiver of one of the newfangled telephones they had only recently gotten installed throughout Morningstar Manor. Generally, the telephones were preferable to one of their imp staff members having to come get them, but Lucifer was of the opinion that both options were equally ungodly when it was before the hours of six a.m.
“Good morning, Your Majesty.” Someone said from the other end.
Lucifer fought back the urge to huff and say that it in fact was not a good morning, and that the only way it would be was if he was still asleep.
“Yep, g’mornin’.” He mumbled in response.
“Apologies for disturbing you, Your Majesty, but we received an alert that someone has entered the Heaven Embassy. Someone from the, er, holy side.”
Well, that sure was a way to make Lucifer feel as awake as he would have had he slept his full eight hours. He quickly told the imp on the other side to let the Embassy security know they would be there right away.
“What is it, my love?” Lilith was sitting up, clearly having recognized they were dealing with an important matter.
“There’s an angel in the Heaven Embassy.”
Lucifer and Lilith were up and dressed in record time, Lucifer not even taking the time to meticulously make sure his bow tie was on perfectly straight as he normally did. Because this, the situation they were currently in, simply didn’t happen. They had one yearly meeting with an angel, usually with Sera and always scheduled far in advance, wherein the angel would reiterate that revolting against Heaven was in fact not a good idea and that the peace must be kept at all cost. Lily wasn’t always present at these, as more often than not they ended with her being majorly pissed at Heaven for the things they said about her subjects. Lucifer honestly didn’t care what the angels thought about the sinners, as he himself found them rather vexing, but anytime Lily was upset, he got upset too.
All this to say, the angels didn’t just drop in unannounced, so he and Lilith were rather alarmed by this turn of events. They could only hope this wasn’t happening because something was going horribly wrong.
When they arrived at the Embassy, they were greeted outside by the hellhound security guards. Said guards weren’t actually stationed inside the building proper, instead there to keep sinners from vandalizing the outside. Sinners were quite the rowdy and destructive bunch, even in the middle of the night. Hell never really slept, after all.
It seemed the guards had gotten an alert when the Heavenly portal to the Embassy opened, but they themselves dared not to step foot inside and investigate the disturbance. Lucifer couldn’t really blame them, as most high-ranking angels would probably have odd reactions to being greeted by a pack of hellhounds unprompted. They were used to fluffy kittens and cuddly puppies, not the kind of mutts that were found in Hell.
Lilith thanked the guards as Lucifer waved his hand in front of the grand glass entrance of the Embassy. The door was keyed to his magical signature as well as Lilith’s, allowing them the access to the building that was denied to sinners and non-staff hellborn, with the staff only really being allowed in during emergencies. (This situation definitely counted as one, but again, he couldn’t blame the guards for waiting for him to get here.)
As they stepped through the door, Lucifer reached for Lilith’s hand, and she accepted it with a smile. Whatever they faced inside, they would face it together, just as they always had.
As soon as they were inside the lobby, he heard a voice he would recognize anywhere, one that was soft and sweet and evoked all kinds of warm feelings within him. At the moment, the voice was speaking in a tone of absolute disbelief.
“Luci? Lily?”
Standing before them, just as beautiful as the day they lost her, was Eve.
Her form had barely changed, save for the pair of fluffy white wings that now emerged from her back. She was wearing a flowing blue dress, her hair hanging loose and pretty brown eyes staring at them with the same look of wonder she had graced them with when they first crossed paths. In the back of his mind, he was a little surprised Eve’s eyes hadn’t turned golden with her new angelic form, but he supposed she had always loved defying expectations.
Before he even realized what he was doing, before he could think about the fact that there was no way Eve was actually allowed to be here, he rushed towards her and wrapped her in a bone crushing hug, picking her up and twirling her around. He marvelled at how long it had been since he had been able to do that; Eve was actually slightly shorter than him, so she and him didn’t have the height difference issue that made it difficult and a tad embarrassing whenever he tried to do such things with Lilith. Once her feet had been returned to the floor, Eve let out a giggle, sweet as tinkling bells, and Lily took the opportunity to join in on the pair’s embrace, clearly not about to let Lucifer get away with being the only one hugging Eve.
After a few blissful moments, Lily pulled away, and Lucifer noticed his eyes had started watering.
“Not that I am not overjoyed to see you, honey, but… why are you here?” Lilith asked.
Eve’s next words came out in a frazzled flurry. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner; I didn’t know such a place existed! They told me that there was no way of getting in contact with you two, but Adam slipped up the other day and–”
Lilith put her hands on Eve’s shoulders, heavy and calming. “Breathe, honey. It is alright.”
Eve took a moment to ground herself, as if assuring herself that this wasn’t a dream, before continuing. “I just, I can’t believe I’m here. I thought I would never see you guys again.”
Not only did she look practically the same, her personality was exactly as Lucifer remembered too. Still prone to talking at the speed of light when she got too excited, still so sweet, still way too fucking good for this world.
“I missed you so fucking much.” Lucifer blurted out through his tears, and Eve beamed at him like he had been the one to save the world rather than damn it.
After many more tearful hugs (with Lucifer and Eve both turning into blubbering messes and Lilith managing to stay more composed while still clearly fighting back waterworks), they finally got to catch up with each other, something Lucifer had feared they would never again have the chance to do. Lucifer and Lilith explained what had happened to them after the Fall, detailing how the bustling society of Hell had slowly come to be over the past ten thousand or so years. Lilith described all the potential she saw in the sinners, and how she knew that the hierarchies of Heaven and Hell were just holding them back from reaching greatness. Lucifer nodded along, wondering if Eve could tell he wasn’t fully on board with that notion. Oh, who was he kidding? She definitely could.
Eve’s story of what she had experienced after the Fall was quite different from theirs.
“Life on Earth was… challenging to say the least, especially at first.” She admitted sheepishly. “We didn’t really have any concrete skills. You should have seen me trying to grow crops for the first time; turns out that talking to them encouragingly is actually not that helpful.”
Lucifer and Lily exchanged grins at that; it was so very Eve, and they hadn’t been able to hear of a new Eve moment for far too long.
“I could never bring myself to hunt, but Adam was fine with taking care of that for me. He… never pressured me into doing anything like that.”
Lucifer was careful to maintain a neutral expression at the mention of Adam not being an asshole. He still personally hated the man, but he knew that Eve had never shared the same animosity that he and Lilith did. Plus, he did have the tiniest bit of begrudging respect for Adam eating the apple with Eve; he had initially assumed the first man would have been too much of a fucking coward to stand by her.
“But heavens, Luci, Lily. All that hard stuff, I would do it a thousand times over. Because once we had our kids, our babies…” Her face melted, the warmth she radiated contagious.
(Lucifer pointedly ignored the fact that she and Adam would have had to have sex with each other in order for the whole kids thing to happen. He did not want to think about that.)
“Cain, Abel, and Seth, right?” Lilith asked carefully. Obviously, she knew the answer, as everyone had heard the tale of Abel and Cain, even down here in Hell. But she wasn’t going to force Eve to talk about it if she didn’t want to; Lucifer knew his wife was gentler than that.
Eve nodded, still smiling. “My three beautiful boys. We have daughters too, though.” Lucifer and Lily must have betrayed their surprise, because she then added, “I wish more people knew about them. Their names are Aclima and Azura, and they are both simply amazing young women. Aclima has always been a bit of a prankster, typically playing jokes on her siblings, though she has definitely gotten me a few times, too.” Eve chuckled. “We could never really be cross with her though, she kept it all very harmless. She’s still pulling stuff like that up in Heaven; I believe her favourite target as of late is St. Peter. Azura is her twin. She comes off as very shy but has a super big heart. She loves music; playing her lute is one of the few times she actually shows off a little, as she should. She’s fantastic! She’s always eager to try more modern instruments, but the lute has remained her favourite.”
Listening to Eve gush about her kids was quite heartwarming for Lucifer, though it did make him yearn to be able to meet them. Eve used to be the only person from Heaven he felt he could freely miss (his relationship with his angelic family was just a little bit complicated), but now he found himself missing two girls he might never even see in person. Maybe one day, the Heaven Embassy could become a proper space for visitations rather than just a glorified conference room. If anyone could make it happen, it was Eve.
“Seth has always been my brave boy.” Eve continued. “Always trying to protect everyone. I think… after he learned what happened with Abel, he just…” She trailed off, looking lost for the first time since Lucifer and Lilith had been reunited with her.
Lilith reached out for Eve’s hand, squeezing it sympathetically. The message was clear: we’re here for you.
Eve took a steadying breath. “I had Seth and the twins later in life, so for a while it was just me, Adam, and my two oldest boys.” There was a pause. “You have to understand, Cain was such a good big brother. Abel was… he was like me back in the Garden: soft-spoken and not always the most… sure of himself. Cain was rowdier, prone to getting into mischief, but he always looked out for Abel, never allowing him to get left behind. He found sheep herding boring, but he would listen to Abel go and on about it for hours. I just… I don’t know why he did it. They were so close, and maybe I should have seen it coming–” Eve choked out a sob.
Lucifer and Lilith were there immediately, hugging her and offering her the same words of comfort they used to back in the Garden. Lucifer knew they couldn’t make it better; nothing would ever be able to undo the grief Eve had within her. Lucifer wasn’t a parent himself yet (though he and Lily had recently started trying), and he couldn’t imagine the magnitude of the sorrow Eve felt for her sons. But he could at least attempt to be a steadying rock in the storm.
“I’m sorry.” Eve said, lightly pushing Lilith and Lucifer away. Before Lucifer could assure her there was no reason for her to apologize, she continued, in a soft tone. “I just… I haven’t talked about any of this in so long. Adam… he doesn’t like to talk about the past. And Abel, he’s so happy and carefree in Heaven now, I just don’t know if it would be harmful to bring it up. Seth, Azura, and Aclima weren’t alive then, and Cain…”
After a few too many moments of silence, broken only by Eve’s shallow breathing, Lucifer prompted, “Cain?”
“I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him since… that day. I know he was cursed to wander the Earth, but I don’t know where he ended up for his afterlife. I’ve searched all of Heaven, every vague reference and seemingly innocuous document, but there’s no record of him being there.” She trailed off, but seemingly managed to regain her courage. “I… I have to ask. Have either of you seen him… down here?”
Lucifer could tell this question was coming, but knowing didn’t make answering it any easier. “We don’t exactly have official records of sinners or anything.” He said. That fact had never bothered him before, but now that it was the reason for him delivering this crushing blow to Eve, he hated that he had never thought to do such a thing. “And… I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him.”
A few more tears slid down Eve’s cheeks as she nodded. “I… figured. Even if he was here, he wouldn’t… he wouldn’t let himself be found. It’s the same issue with looking for him up there.”
“But now we know to look for him.” Lilith added, her eyes shining fiercely. “I swear to you, Eve, we will search every inch of this realm for you.”
Eve didn't look as hopeful about that as Lucifer wished, but she whispered a barely audible “thank you” all the same.
Eve came to them for a hug this time, and they stayed wrapped up in each others’ arms, not saying anything, until Eve eventually pulled away, pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads.
“Well,” Eve began, sounding just a bit lighter. “I guess I should maybe let you guys know what I’m doing here.”
She offered them a small smile, one that Lucifer responded to with a bright grin and Lilith with her signature smirk.
The conversation was significantly less heavy from there as Eve described exactly how she had found out about the Embassy. As she mentioned earlier, Eve and Adam were not that close up in Heaven, something Lucifer couldn’t say he was shocked about. Apparently, Adam liked to focus on the pleasures of the afterlife rather than facing anything that had happened during their time in the Garden and on Earth. Yep, that sounded like the arrogant asshole Lucifer knew. Eve, being a sweetheart and much more patient than Lucifer would be, tried to engage with Adam, only to be pushed away. Finally, a few days ago, Adam had blown up in what Eve charitably called an outburst, but what Lucifer was sure was more of a tantrum.
Apparently, Adam’s anger this time was driven by how close Eve had been with Lilith and Lucifer once upon a time. Lucifer was frankly flabbergasted that Adam had even noticed the extent of their relationship, but maybe he was just being hyperbolic and got too close to the truth. Or fuck, maybe Eve had just actually told him ages ago? She was a very honest person; he probably should have seen that coming. Ugh, he already didn’t like the idea of Adam and Eve having sex, but to imagine them doing it while Adam also knew what had gone on between him, Lily, and Eve in the Garden? Disgusting. Gross. Get that image out of his head, please and thank you.
Anyway, Adam had eventually let it slip during his rant that he had seen Lilith and Lucifer since the Garden, during the times he had been assigned the yearly Heaven Embassy meetings. (Lucifer maintained that the ones led by Adam were always the worst; the first man didn’t even bother to come down to the actual building, choosing to appear via astral projection rather than sully his precious angelicity by stepping even a foot in Hell.) Lucifer was just surprised Adam had managed to keep it a secret for so long. Though, he supposed that made sense when he was actively avoiding Eve like the whiny bitch he was.
Eve explained that when she found out that Adam and the angels had been keeping a way to see Lucifer and Lilith from her, she didn’t rest until she found the portal to the Embassy, ignoring the warnings of everyone around her. Lucifer couldn’t help but smile at that. Back when they had first met her, Eve didn’t have a rebellious bone in her body, but it seemed their eventual influence on her remained.
Somehow, they managed to talk through ten thousand years of memories in just a few hours. They shared anecdotes and funny stories, teased each other, cried a bit more (in Eve and Lucifer’s case), and simply basked in the fact that the three of them were together once more. It was just like old times. Lucifer and Lilith loved each other deeply, but a piece of their hearts had always been missing without Eve. The three of them were a trinity, certainly not a holy one (save for Eve’s metaphorical turned literal angelic nature), but one born of love all the same.
And yes, the three of them made love in the Heaven Embassy lobby. Definitely improper, but they hadn’t been together in so long; they had to be with each other fully. Lucifer and Lilith had been the ones to show Eve the ways of intimacy, after all. Lucifer had spent thousands of years yearning to once again experience the gift that was Eve’s soft hands and warm lips; he knew Lily felt exactly the same.
The both of them still knew every inch of Eve’s body in vivid detail, muscle memory kicking in despite the countless years and allowing them to pleasure her in ways long since perfected. She seemed to remember the two of their bodies just as intimately. Additionally, Eve’s wings were a new factor that both Lucifer and Lilith had a lot of fun with.
Afterwards, as the three of them lay cuddled in a pile on one of the lobby’s chaise lounges, everything felt right in a way it hadn’t since the Garden. Lucifer and Lilith had made a life for themselves in Hell, but they would always regret that it was a life that kept them from Eve.
Eventually, Eve stirred from her position curled up against Lilith and Lucifer’s bodies.
“I should be heading back.” She said softly, in a tone that implied she wanted to do the exact opposite.
Lilith played with Eve’s long brown hair, twirling it between her fingers. “Already, honey?” She said teasingly.
Eve let out a slight whimper at the flirtation, but held strong in her resolve. “Yes. I’m sure I’ve already stayed away for much too long.”
Sliding off the couch, Eve found her discarded dress on the floor and began slipping it back on. Lucifer had to stop himself from making a quip about the fact that she hadn’t dressed nearly so modestly back in the Garden.
Lucifer and Lilith stood up to join her. “When will we see you again?” Lucifer asked.
It wasn’t a question of “if”. Even after all these years, he knew Eve would come back to them. She wouldn’t let Heaven keep them apart, now that she knew. Eve was a very determined woman, a trait she and Lilith shared and Lucifer found himself weak in the knees for.
Eve’s face melted into a warm smile. “Soon. I promise.”
“We will let you know what we find out about Cain.” Lilith pledged, radiating sincerity.
Eve nodded gratefully, seemingly unable to say more as she got a tad choked up again.
After one final embrace between the three of them and parting kisses, Eve made her way to the portal.
“Wait!” Lucifer called out, coming to a realization.
“Yes?” Eve turned back.
“Just a sec.” He replied, conjuring a small portal to his workshop at Morningstar Manor. He rummaged around in it for a moment, before finally finding what he was looking for. He brought the object of the portal and closed it, presenting it to Eve with a flourish.
“Luci, is this… a duck made to look like me?” Eve said, looking at the rubber creature with fondness before turning that look back to Lucifer. He nodded triumphantly, making her face light up. “I love it, thank you.”
And he could tell she genuinely did; their passion for animals had always something special the two of them shared, even if Eve was more diverse in the ones she loved and Lucifer was hyperfixated on the feathery pond-dwellers specifically. He had made the species, after all, a tale that he had gone over with Eve in the Garden countless times, her interest in the subject never dimming.
“Well, like I said, I missed you.” Lucifer said, rocking back on his heels. “I wanted to have something to remember you by.” And while some people might have weirded out to have their likeness immortalized in a rubber duck, Eve looked truly honoured.
“I love you, Lucifer.” She said, not for the first time that night. “And I love you, Lilith.”
“We love you too, honey.” Lily said.
“Forever.” Lucifer added. It was as simple as the fact that the sky in Hell was tinged red; Lucifer, Lilith, and Eve were part of the same whole, and always would be.
This time, Eve did actually go through the portal, but not before giving Lilith and Lucifer one last glance and saying in that delicate voice of hers, “I’ll be back. As soon as I can.”
But Eve never returned to the Heaven Embassy to have another rendezvous with Lucifer and Lilith. At first, they simply assumed she got caught up in some of Heaven’s bureaucratic nonsense; nothing new there, the angels loved their paperwork. But they could hardly wait to see her again, to tell her that after years of trying, Lily was finally pregnant. (Neither of them realized that the night in which their unborn child was finally able to be conceived was the one they had spent with Eve.)
As the time without Eve grew longer and more painful, Lilith showed up in the Heaven Embassy to demand answers. It wasn’t a scheduled meeting, but she refused to leave until an angel met with her. She knew that there was no way Eve wouldn’t be fighting to get back to them, and she wanted to fight alongside her. Plus, though Lucifer and Lilith had found no new information on Cain, they wanted to keep Eve updated. But rather than having to negotiate for Eve to be allowed to visit them, she was instead faced with a rather cagey Sera. The angel was vague and unhelpful, but Lilith soon realized with a growing horror that the angels did not know where Eve was either. She had vanished from Heaven without a trace.
The King and Queen of Hell scoured their own domain as well, on the off chance that Eve had ended up there somehow (though she was the least deserving person of Hell either of them could think of). They tore through all Seven Rings, relied on the Sins and other high ranking hellborn for information, and even offered an obscene award for any denizen of Hell that was able to locate their lover. No price was too high to ensure she was safe.
They never found her. Eve was simply… gone.
And though they tried to keep things together for their new daughter, a perfect little girl they had named Charlotte, Lilith and Lucifer both found themselves spiraling.
Cain had been roaming the outskirts of the Pride Ring for centuries. He couldn’t trust himself around other people, so he stuck to woods of spindly black trees, relying on hunting hellbeasts for food and sleeping in a makeshift cabin he had eventually constructed after getting tired of spending every night on the forest floor. Days bled into one another, each one as monotonous at the last.
But Cain would take monotony over the animal that overtook him when he got angry, that ever-blinding rage that caused him to leave a cacophony of screams and mound of dead bodies in his wake. Sinners could never simply leave him alone, and while he knew they would eventually regenerate, Cain did not, contrary to popular belief, actually enjoy brutally murdering people. His sinner form was that of some sort of bull-man hybrid, and he thought that accurately encapsulated the constant battle between his primal urges and the small remaining sliver of his humanity.
But some sinners were just fucking looking to die, he swore. Those were the ones who had heard of the rumours of Cain isolating himself in the words and came to mock him, not knowing that nothing they could say could be worse than what he already told himself every day. Eventually, though, they abruptly stopped coming after one particularly brutal massacre. While he would like to think that may be they actually learned their fucking lesson, he knew not to put that much faith in sinners. More likely, Cain had manifested some new demonic power beyond the whole murder-rage thing; one that stopped people from seeking him out. He still occasionally encountered other sinners who liked to live on the edges of society, but they never seemed to be there for him specifically. Still, even with his potential new power, he stayed in the woods.
Life in Hell was, shocker, quite goddamn hellish. Acid rain, vicious beasts, the flashbacks to that day, all of it fucking sucked. It was only thoughts of his family, mainly of his mother and younger brother but also sometimes of his father and the other siblings never got to meet, that allowed him to hang onto the person he had once been, before everything went so horribly wrong.
He still cried for Abel almost every night, when the forest quieted down and he was left with only his thoughts for company. Regret was too benign of a word to describe how he felt about what he had done to his brother, this emotion that swallowed his very soul and left him an empty, wandering husk, save for the times he became that monster again. Forgiveness was not a thing he deserved, even though he was sure his little brother was now safe and happy in Heaven with their mother, father, and siblings. Cain knew he was beyond anything like redemption; he had to be kept away from others for their own safety.
One night, something broke Cain’s routine. Something he never thought he would hear again: the sound of an infant crying.
Suddenly, Cain was four years old again, holding his baby brother in his arms for the first time and staring into his deep brown eyes, wondering how such pudgy cheeks could accompany such a small human.
“Why’s he crying?” Cain had asked. “Doesn’t he like me?”
“Oh, sweetheart, of course he does.” His mother had assured him. “It’s just that the world is all so new and scary for him. He’ll need his big brother to help protect him.”
Cain shook the memory away bitterly. He hadn’t done anything to protect Abel. The last time he had held his brother in his arms had been right after he had betrayed him in the most despicable and gruesome way possible.
He knew he couldn’t be trusted around people, he knew he should under no circumstances go looking for the infant whose cries rang throughout the forest. One of the other off-grid sinners would surely find it. Hell, even being abandoned and alone in the forest was better for the baby than being with Cain.
But then he thought about the roaming hellbeasts, how they would love such an unprotected, defenseless meal. The child had to be hellborn, so there was no regeneration in the cards for it either. His mind was plagued with horrible images of the infant being ripped apart in some monster’s jaws, screaming for help that never came.
Cain was the world’s first murderer, but he couldn’t leave this child to die.
Finding the infant wasn’t hard; its incessant wailing made for quite the beacon. It was lying in a bundled-up blue blanket, head leaned against the trunk of one of the forest’s countless pitch black trees. Cain kneeled down beside the little creature, who had strangely stopped crying as he approached it. Leaning in to get a look at it, he was met with wide brown eyes.
Brown eyes that were exactly the same as Abel’s, as his mother’s, as his had once been. Eyes he never thought he would ever see again, not even during those rare moments when he stared at his own reflection, as his form in the afterlife now featured searing red ones. The infant’s eyes, when coupled with its golden blonde hair, almost made him feel like he truly had been transported back in time.
Cain felt the animalistic urges overtake him once more, but this time… they were different. Instead of saying kill, they told him to do the one thing he could never do for Abel; they told him to protect. They said that somehow, this young child left alone in the forests of Hell, completely abandoned by the world, was… family.
The beast inside him always kept him from even considering seeking companionship from Hell’s other denizens. But as he picked up the infant, one so young they probably scarcely knew what was happening around them, the beast allowed a reprieve. He swaddled the child, and they let out a delighted little coo, a sound so soft and precious, one that didn’t deserve to be witnessed by Cain, nor any of the others damned to Hell. But here in Hell the baby was. He knew he shouldn’t want to look after them the way that his instincts were demanding him to, but… they had no one else, and the realm they were trapped in was not a kind one. Would anyone else feel compelled to defend them from the evils that infected Hell? Would anyone else even find them?
Cain knew he didn’t deserve forgiveness or redemption. Nothing could ever make up for what he had done to his younger brother. But maybe, just maybe, with his rageful instincts finally quieting down and settling into something warm and familial, he could finally work towards being the kind of person his mom always thought he was: someone who protects, not hurts. Maybe, for the first time since he made the worst mistake imaginable, he was being given a chance to do things differently.
Cain hugged the baby close. He would not allow anyone to harm them, not even himself. The moment any hint of his rage returned, he would surrender himself to the service of some horrible overlord and get placed under a contract that ensured he could never be near the kid again. But until then… it seemed the two of them might just be each other’s best chance.