Young Writers Society

It's been a very long day for Lucifer, the Prince of Pride and, now formerly, the King of Hell. It started off perfectly fine but went downhill rather quickly as his nephew had decided that he wanted the throne and wouldn't stop at anything to get it. The short version: all Hell had broken loose, now it'd freeze over, and its King had run to Earth with his daughter, Apophis, to escape it.

In another universe, a different Lucifer was preparing for a fun movie night with his brother and best friend. They were decked out in their pajamas, had Netflix all set and were going to enjoy a nice break from the chaos in all of their lives. All they needed was the popcorn. Lucifer had just meant to utter the words to a spell that would make the popcorn go from the kitchen to the movie room, but got distracted by Apophis's baby albino rat snakes. One wrong incantation later, and the three found themselves out on a completely unfamiliar street.

Lucifer sighed as his boot came in contact with something wet and sticky. He lifted it up to see the crimson liquid slowly being washed away by the drizzle of rain that formed above him. It'd already been a day terrible enough; did he really need more chaos right now?

A body fell in the dumpster a few feet to his right and a young woman dropped down from the roof. Her blond hair was in a braid over her shoulder and it complemented the ochre hue of her attire and the gold of her snake-pupilled eyes. She was licking blood off her lips.

"Please be careful," he said, stepping over the blood puddle his daughter had left. "We don't need to deal with the police, too."

"Yes, Father," she dipped her head, eyes and teeth returning to their human guise as they continued down the street and past the dumpster. Lucifer's own form was human as well: he was dark-skinned, and his ethnicity was hard to pin. He had large, owl-like black eyes and onyx hair that was almost as long as his daughter's and went in a braid down his own back. His attire was simple, just a coat, jeans, and boots.

The first thing that he noticed when he woke up was that he was in a dumpster, and that said dumpster smelled absolutely horrible. The second thing he noticed was the body laying next to him, which promptly caused him to give a startled cry and scoot back to the other side of the dumpster. The person was dead. He didn't have to look at their soul to know that. He took a couple of deep breaths in an effort to calm himself, but he wasn't sure if they were really amounting to anything.

Then there was the third he noticed: there was a man with messy dark hair and dark skin lying against the side of the dumpster. It was his best friend, and he dressed in the pajamas he had been wearing the last time he had seen him. He looked like he was just getting up, and was now frantically searching around him for something. It was only when a few little snake heads peeked out of his shirt's pocket that Lucifer realized what he was searching for. Apophis, noticing the snakes, let out a relieved sigh and gently patted their tiny heads with the tip of his fingers.

"Aw-" Lucifer started to say, only to let out a startled cry instead when a hand suddenly grabbed onto his foot. He frantically tried to jerk it free, but the grip was simply too strong. His fingers desperately grabbed onto the edge of the dumpster. Apophis, startled, popped his head up and stared at his terrified best friend. Once he saw the look on his face, he hopped to his feet and tried to grab onto his arm. This resulted in Lucifer feeling like he was being torn apart - both the owner of the mysterious hand and Apophis were abnormally strong. And that was what made him let go of Apophis' hand and frantically start trying to dig his older brother out of the trash.

God took a deep breath of air when he was finally free. "Thank Heaven," he said, "I thought I was going to die in there, Luci. It smells so bad that it's almost like someone did die-"

He saw the body out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh. Someone did."

Apophis suddenly popped his head over the side of the dumpster. "Oh, God-"

"Yes?"

Apophis gave him a look. "Is that a dead human?"

God leaned over and poked him. There was no response. "Yup, definitely dead. The soul's gone now, so I can't tell if they were human or not."

Apophis frowned. "Poor guy. I'd hate to die in a dumpster."

Lucifer went over to the body and flipped it over. "I think they were already dead when they ended up in here," he said, tucking a black curl behind one ear.

The first Lucifer, who was wearing anything but pajamas, stopped and turned as he heard voices. Those hadn't been there a moment ago.

Apophis turned with him and her teeth sharpened as she prepared for the possibility of combat. She was still wanting to kill. He raised a hand to stall her as he came forward. "Hello?"

God peeked his head over the rim of the dumpster. Once he saw the two people standing near the end of the alleyway, he climbed out of the pile of trash and hopped down onto the asphalt underneath. Lucifer followed suit a few seconds later, and the three friends gathered together near the dead body and its dumpster.

God narrowed his eyes. Lucifer nervously fiddled with the pencil he had tucked behind his ear before they had started preparing for their movie night; he had removed it from its spot the moment his feet hit the ground. And Apophis gently patted the heads of his snakes with the very tip of his pinky finger, uttering words of comfort to the babies peeking out of his pocket.

"I'm calling it now," God said, looking from the dumpster to the woman standing at the very end of the alleyway. "She's a vampire and she sucked that guy dry."

"I'll check her soul," Lucifer quietly commented. Before he could follow up on his declaration, however, his brother turned to him and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"Luci, that ruins all the fun," God protested in a completely serious tone. "I want to find out when she tries to sink her incisors into my neck. I've been stuck behind my desk for days. I need a good rush of adrenaline."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Luci said, quickly stepping between the odd trio and his daughter. "Let's keep this civil, shall we? Why fight if there's no need?" he suggested smoothly.

"I agree," Apophis said. Though he was no longer looking down at his snakes, one hand lingered protectively in front of the pocket they were squirming in. "I know you'd win-" This was said mainly to God and a little to Lucifer. "-but I don't want to risk my babies getting hurt. They only hatched a month ago. I don't want to loose them so soon."

Lucifer also sent an imploring look in God's direction. "They might not be bad," he said. He fidgeted with the pencil in his hands.

God raised an eyebrow. "I can see a bit of red on her face, right next to her lips. And that's definitely not a smudge of badly applied lipstick." He folded his arms. "Hey, Luci, could you summon my bat or something? I'm feeling completely naked right now, and I want to have something to hit her with-"

Lucifer and Apophis both gave him a look.

He groaned.

"There's a dead body right there," he said, gesturing back at the dumpster. "I checked the soul's connection to the aforementioned corpse. They haven't been dead long from the way it's fraying. And these two just happen to be standing near the corpse? I don't buy it."

Apophis hissed and stepped forward, ready to fight this out, but Luci put a hand in front of her to hold her back. "Yes, she killed him, she's got to feed on something, hasn't she?" he pointed out. Normally he'd be more diplomatic, but he'd had too long a day. "What is it you want? You aren't human and you weren't here a moment ago. If you're here for the King of Hell the title's been taken, so you can skedaddle."

First Apophis and God looked at each other.

Then they looked at Lucifer, who desperately wanted to be anywhere but in this dark alleyway. He shifted uncomfortably under their joint attention. They rarely gave him a look like that, and he knew exactly why such a look had been given.

And, finally, they looked at the two standing at the end of said alleyway, studying both of them with a mixture of confusion, interest and suspicion. Lucifer looked in their direction as well, but kept his gaze mostly glued to the asphalt below their feet.

"I'm surprised you figured out we weren't human," God said. "It usually takes people a bit of time to realize that."

Apophis tensed. "I don't think-"

He dismissed the objection with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, Alex. I'll make sure I don't get your snakes hurt while fighting." He paused, resting his chin in the cusp of his hand. "Now that I think about it, you know that we're not human. I guess we don't need the whole alias thing."

He looked back at his friends as he took a step forward. "Luci, now would really be a good time for my bat. And, Apophis, you might want to give Lucifer your snakes so they don't get hurt."

Apophis nodded. He reached into his pockets, pulled out the writhing mass of baby snakes and promptly thrust them into Lucifer's hands. Lucifer frantically tried his best to keep the group of snakes from squirming too much while simultaneously trying to utter the words to the spell that his brother was requesting. He somehow managed to achieve both tasks; the snakes calmed, and the infamous bat appeared in God's hands with a flash of light and warmth.

God gave an absolutely devilish grin.

"Oh, this is way better than a movie night."

Darkness began to appear in waves around Apophis' feet. He looked rather offended as he glanced over at God. "I like our movie nights."

"I do too," Lucifer quietly added.

God faltered. "...Fighting's better, though."

Fire sparked into Apophis' fingers and it got noticeably darker as Lucifer's own magic was keyed.

It was when the word "Lucifer" left the bat-man's mouth that he froze, looking between them. ". . .Lucifer? As in, the Devil? King of Hell? Prince of Pride?"

Apophis herself stopped mid-stride as she heard her own name uttered and looked between them in confusion.

"Yes," Lucifer confirmed, though it came out as more as a terrified squeak than anything else. He went to go pull up the hood to his hoodie with the hand that wasn't holding the baby snakes, only to pause when he remembered he was still dressed in his pajamas.

God raised his bat and narrowed his eyes. This might have looked intimidating if he wasn't also dressed in pajamas. "If you're going to try to hurt him, you'll have to go through me first."

"And me," Apophis chimed in. The darkness grew in size and ferocity.

"Uh," Lucifer quietly said, looking between his brother and best friend. "I can handle this-"

"Nope," God cut him off. "We're here, so we get to be the Luci Protection Squad™ with no ifs, ands, or buts."

Apophis hid a snicker.

God raised an eyebrow. "Although some of us aren't as mature as others."

"Dad, I'm happy to wreck their shit for impersonating us, but let's not hurt the snakes," Apophis suggests. "Please? Just for me?"

He just nodded before addressing the others in the alleyway. "Look, we've had a really long day and we're perfectly happy to fight this out with you if that's what you want, but I'd hate to end today like that and ruin your perfectly nice pajamas. See, I didn't ask because I want to kill you for it, I ask because I really don't like liars and what you claim is simply impossible because I'm Lucifer and this is Apophis."

"Well, I think you're the liars here," God shot back, "because Lucifer and Apophis are right over here, and, the last time I checked, Apophis wasn't a girl or Lucifer's kid. So take that."

Lucifer stared down at himself, and then back up at the man standing on the other end of the alleyway. While God had been quick to deny what was being said and Apophis apparently also didn't believe it from the annoyed look on his face, Lucifer was more open to the idea. He was the one who dabbled in magic all the time, so he was more accustomed to stranger things-

Oh no.

"The popcorn," he realized. Since his brother and best friend were preoccupied, he looked down at the baby snakes in his hands. "I tried-I tried bringing the popcorn to the living room with a spell, and I must have messed up when I got distracted by you guys."

Apophis glanced over his shoulder. The darkness receded ever so slightly.

"Which means?" he hesitantly asked.

Lucifer gulped. "I-I'm the one responsible for bringing us here."

"Oh, that's a relief," God said. "I was worried it was a god from another reality again. That last time sucked, let me tell you-"

"I don't know how to get us back," he said, "or even where here is."

"Oh," God and Apophis both said very, very quietly.

Apophis stepped forward and let the flames envelop her arms.

"Apophis, no," Lucifer snapped. "Now is not the time! If they're anything like us they might be able to help. Stand down. Please."

She hesitated, then let the fire extinguish, still glaring at them. "If you're Lucifer and you're me, then who the Hell are you?" she asks God.

God lowered his bat, and Apophis made his darkness disappear into the asphalt at his feet. Lucifer felt more than a little wary after hearing the phrase that his counterpart said, paired with the dead body in the dumpster behind them, but he of all people understood the need to wait for an explanation.

"I'm God," his brother said. He smirked. "I'll assume you've heard of me."