The Cave

Kendrik shrugged. "Dunno if it's true or not," he said, "But if it means ya ain't gonna be 'round 'im, I'll believe it."



"Why would that matter?" Thytes said. "If you are a god, wouldn't someone from your world want to sit next to you? Surely you must be one of the friendlier deities out there."

He also strained to hear Kendrik and Reyes, but they were too far away. Based on Kendrik's gestures and tone of voice, it was either an argument, or he'd told Reyes about the crush. As such, Thytes lost all interest in paying attention. He didn't want to know.

And Jaron had started to move. The fox rose up a little, eyes still shut. He seemed to be half-asleep, and had decided Thytes was a pillow. Jaron punched Thytes's stomach, settled back down, and started snoring lightly. Thytes winced, giving a crooked smile. What a great day.

He took a deep breath. "Okay."

He still felt like the comparison that James had made between himself and Maahes wasn't completely accurate, given the scope of their changes in the times that they had been apart. But if James was going to accept him for the way he was now, that was all that he really needed.

Maahes glanced over in the direction of the man James had been sitting next to. Now that they were done discussing that situation, it was time to address the more pressing one: the fact that the man was completely terrified of him. (Also, there was the fact that he looked like he could be a stereotypical devil, which was another can of worms in itself.)

"Do you know why he's so scared of me?" Maahes quietly asked.


Orrin decided not to argue with Kendrik about if they truly were from other worlds are not. It was pretty obvious to him that they were, given how little Kendrik, Jaron and Thytes knew of modern technology. Still, that didn't solve the problem of talking to Thytes about it. He ran his fingers through his hair. This was not going to be fun. "I should-I should probably go talk to him now," he said, looking over in the lion's direction before turning back to look at Kendrik.


Lucifer shook his head, sliding his pencil back to its usual place behind his ear and closing his sketchbook. "The gods work differently than people expect. I'm a god because people believe in me, not because they see me as a god. They, uh, actually think I'm really, really evil. And that I hate God, but I don't. He's like a big brother to me, and I could never hate him."

"Wait," a voice interjected, "you know God?"

Lucifer turned to see Kartiel and that woman made of glass standing beside them. He stared at them for a moment, then gave a small nod. "I've known him for a long time."

"Of course you do," Kartiel said, taking a deep breath. "You're Lucifer. I should have expected that."

"From what he's told me, he sees souls," James explained with something of a cold indifference. "And your soul is different than any other he's seen before. I've tried to assure him of your character, but he seems determined to believe that one, I cannot possibly understand - which may be true - and two, he is rightfully terrified of that which is foreign to him. And for the latter I cannot disagree in principle, but I would prefer it resolved. If we're to be stuck here together, for whatever fate awaits us, it'll only be a nuisance if he cowers at your every glance." He paused, realizing that his last comment was insensitive, and sighed with a hand over his eyes. He shook his head. Unlike himself, some of the people around him actually cared about things that were completely new and strange.

"That and, he's actually scared so..." his voice fell to a barely understandable mumble. "I feel bad for the guy."

Kendrik ran a hand through his scalp. "'s long as it clears everythin' up," he said, tugging on an ear. His headache was getting worse, spreading from the top of his head down. "Then I can go back ta not carin'. Yer good dudes, but this ain't the time fer romance." Oh, Reyes would probably call out him and Jaron. Time for a quick correction. "New romance, that is."



"How rude," Thytes said. "I rather despise misconceptions." As such, he eyed Reyes and Kendrik warily. Thytes stifled a breath when Reyes made to move away. They seemed to have agreed on something. What that was, he wasn't exactly sure, but he didn't want to know either.

Maahes looked over at Lucifer, who was currently paying too much attention to the bipedal lion to notice his gaze. That was the reason for his fear? He had guessed it was because he had seen his true form. It had caused people to scream before; Lucifer's reaction wouldn't have been out of the ordinary.

But it was his soul that was different? He didn't even know that they existed in the first place, but he supposed that must have been plausible if it had revealed how different he was. He stared down at the hands of his current guise, studying them with interest as he tried to understand what his soul could have possibly looked like.

He looked back up at James. "Then I guess I have to go talk to him and tell him the truth," he decided, turning his attention back to the man sitting only a few feet away. He glanced briefly in James' direction before heading over to where Lucifer was.


Their conversation having concluded, Orrin took a deep breath and approached Thytes. This was exactly the sort of conversation he didn't want to have. He had never anticipated that something like this would happen; no one ever seriously wanted to be with him - the real him, not the persona he put on for the rest of the world - and he doubted no one would ever want to after this. He was too different, and no one would want to spend their life would someone who couldn't die.

"Thytes?" he hesitantly said. "I need to talk to you about something."


Lucifer had planned on explaining the truth to Thytes, but now fell silent as Reyes Eberhardt returned from his discussion with Kendrik. He didn't want Reyes to find out the full extent of the truth; he seemed like the type of person who would abuse it. Kartiel, on the other hand, was still looking at him expectantly, like he anticipated more information on just how the gods worked. He would have to tell him later, when they were somewhere far away from everyone else - after all, Kartiel knew how to keep a secret.

Lucifer looked away from Thytes.

And immediately found himself staring at the man he had been so terrified of. He let out a startled cry and instinctively jumped back in surprise, his pale, shaking arms getting covered in goosebumps as he waited for him to do something. He just barely noticed Kartiel taking a confused step forward, almost like he wanted to protect Lucifer but didn't know what he was protecting him from.

The man slowly put his hands up. "I'm not going to harm you. I promise. I just want to talk," he said, giving Lucifer an unsteady smile. Something about that smile just seemed so genuine that it made him want to agree to what he was requesting, but a single glimpse at his soul cured him of that desire.

Adeline's eyes widened slightly. She didn't have a very strong grasp of what gods were, exactly, but knew enough from others' reverence of them that they must be sacred somehow. She surveyed Lucifer with interest. He seemed to be terrified of another man, who was walking towards them.

James only gave Maahes a nod, watching to see how the conversation would turn out.

"Talk?" Thytes said. He laughed and put a hand behind his neck. "I'd love to talk. There's lot of talking going around. What would you like to talk about?" The lion turned ever so slightly from Reyes to hide his clattering teeth and the twitch under one eye.

"Uh, about something personal. It might be better to talk somewhere a little more secluded?" Orrin hesitantly said. A moment later after he had made his suggestion, he realized that Thytes couldn't move right now - Jaron was still asleep on top of him. "Uh, wait. Jaron isn't going to be moving anytime soon, is he? Maybe we could give him to Kendrik, or put him carefully down on the porch."

He never got flustered like this, but he had always never had to turn down someone that honestly liked Orrin Baines.


"O-Okay," Lucifer squeaked.

"Could we talk somewhere a little more private?" the man - if he even was that - said, and Lucifer immediately let out a whimper because that was the last thing he wanted to do. But the man looked very insistent on this particular detail, and something told him things wouldn't end well if he stayed where he was.

So, legs trembling and hands nervously fidgeting with the pencil he had taken out from behind his ear, he got to his feet and followed the man a short distance from where they had been standing before. Lucifer couldn't even bring himself to meet the man's gaze; he was sure doing so would result in everything becoming even worse than it already was.

"Ja-I mean, my friend said that you could see my soul," the man said. Lucifer mustered the courage to peek up at him, and saw him nervously shift from one foot to the other. That wasn't right. He was supposed to be the scared one! "And that it looked different than most souls do. So I guess we're past the stage where I say that I'm not human."

Lucifer managed a nod.

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know what makes my soul so terrifying, but I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I didn't even know it looked different...I was actually worried that you saw what I really look like. That tends to scare a lot of people. Something tells me that you're used to that, too."

Lucifer's tail swished behind him. "...Yeah."

The man held out his hand. "I'm using the name Leo right now, but my real name is Maahes."

He looked down at the hand extended, then back up at the man. He knew a Maahes, too, though this Maahes was a god - Apophis mentioned him from time to time. He reached out and hesitantly shook it. "I'm Lucifer."

Maahes stared. "Lu-Lucifer?"

He nodded.

"Like the Devil Lucifer?"

Another nervous nod.

Maahes let out a shaky breath. "I think I'm going to need to sit down."

James watched as Maahes and Lucifer departed and remained where he was, silent and observing. He chose not to engage in the ongoing conversations and confrontations following, and leaned on the wall of the building again.

"That would be fine, yes," Thytes stammered. He tried to push Jaron off gently, but, as much as his hands were shaking, he ended up shoving Jaron onto to the ground. Before Kendrik could react, Thytes grabbed Reyes by the hand and pulled him towards a gap between two buildings. "Sorry!" Thytes called back, heading into the gap.

He let go of Reyes's hand and turned around. "Well?" Thytes said, hoping the shadows would mask how much he was shaking.

Orrin took a deep breath.

"Kendrik told me about your crush," he said. His voice was hesitant. He didn't really know what he was supposed to say, and he was terrified that he was going to really hurt Thytes' feelings. "You're a wonderful person, and I would have really liked to get to know you better. But, uh...I don't think we're even from the same world...You don't know half of the things that anyone from my world would know. I don't even know how we both ended up here, so I don't think a relationship between us would ever work out. And I'm really, really sorry because I really do wish we could be together, but I don't think we'd be able to do that..."


"People usually have that kind of reaction to me," Lucifer admitted, staring down at the ground. "They also like to scream a lot, but I don't think you're really the screaming type."

"It's not that!" Maahes said. Bizarrely enough, his tone sounded frantic. He took a step in Lucifer's direction, but Lucifer still kept his eyes on the ground. "It's just that where I come from, gods aren't actually real. They're parasitic aliens that take over people's bodies and pretend to be gods so they can be worshiped. And I know you're not technically a god, but one of the aliens loved pretending to be you because of the fear he inspired."

Thytes sighed and bowed his head. "I supposed as much," he said. "It would be rather rude to carry out a relationship when we hardly know each other, and likely will not be seeing each other for long. It would be nice to pretend that we come from the same world, but I can see from your clothes and your mannerisms that such isn't the case. I hope it's a coincidence that the first person I meet from another world just so happens to be amazing."

"'Cause everyone in that world sucks," said Kendrik, tapping Reyes on the shoulder while glaring at Thytes. "And it's not like ya just dumped my boyfriend onto the street, so how's about Reyes here get outta the way and I punch ya in yer face?"

Orrin wisely took a step back to avoid getting too caught up in the argument between Kendrik and Thytes - though it seemed like it was currently more of Kendrik expressing his frustrations than anything else.


Lucifer mustered the courage to look up.

When he did, he stared at Maahes. "That-that sounds horrible," he said. "Why would anyone ever want to do something like that? And why m-me?"

"If it makes you feel any better," Maahes quietly said, giving him a small yet warm smile, "they like to demonize everyone they can. Or, I guess, Goa'uld-ize them. They don't ask many questions, and as long as you act the part, they think you're a Goa'uld."

Lucifer continued to stare at him, but now it was for completely different reasons. He could tell that Maahes wasn't one of the Goa'uld. He had made that clear with how he was talking. But what hadn't been addressed was the fact that he shared his name with an Egyptian god.

"Maahes?" he hesitantly asked. "Why do you have the same name as an Egyptian god?"

The smile faltered, and his gaze dropped down to the ground. "I'm something called a demon. Not, uh, like the demons people associate with you. It's different than that. But the important thing is that I can be summoned, and that I was summoned by the Goa'uld pretending to be Ra. His worshipers didn't know that, though, and they were convinced I was his son. Ra didn't help. He made me into his secret weapon, and convinced almost all the other Goa'uld that I was one of them..."

Lucifer paled. "That-that sounds like a terrible thing."

Maahes carefully peeked his head up.

"It was," he agreed. "It really was."

Kendrik looked between Reyes and Thytes. The hound narrowed his eyes. "That's that, then?" he said, focusing suddenly on the lion. Thytes flinched.

"Is it?" the hound growled.

Whatever fear in the lion drained away - he stepped forward and placed his huge arms on Kendrik's shoulders. "Yes!" Thytes said, staring Kendrik down. "That's 'that,' as you put it. Are you happy now? Because I certainly love being mocked for being who I am, and I certainly love being made anxious and fretful. Would it kill you to stop and wonder just how much damage you do when you 'protect your friends?'"

In the meantime, Jaron rubbed his eyes and yawned. What a nasty headache. Walking over to Reyes, he cocked his head in the direction of the lion and hound. "Did I miss anything?" he said quietly.