Chapter Text
Morningstar Family
(4.6K words)
Charlie groaned as she let herself fall on the bed, hugging her mom’s waist as she hid from the world in her belly.
“Why is dad so stubborn!?” her lament was muffled against her mom’s dress, but the words were understandable all the same.
“The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree,” mom sighed fondly, fingers combing Charlie’s hair away from her face.
“I’m not stubborn,” she said stubbornly, puffing her cheeks as she looked up with an offended look. Mom smiled and resumed her soothing massage on her scalp.
“Of course not dear,” Lilith muttered sweetly with an amused smirk, the hand combing golden locks moving to cradle Charlie’s cheek tenderly. “What did you fight about now?”
“You know that,” Charlie complained with a sigh, shifting so she could frown at the ceiling, shaky fists pressed against her chest. “He really doesn’t… believe in me.”
“It’s not you, sweetheart,” Lilith said firmly. “Don’t ever think, not for a second, that it’s about you.”
“What else am I supposed to believe, mom?” Charlie glared at the blurry ceiling, tears escaping from the corner of her eyes. “I’m the only one dad doesn’t listen to. He always makes time to meet with Pai-pai, and my uncles and aunt, and the Goetia… but as soon as I try to get him to sit down—”
“He knows you want to talk about the sinners, Charlie,” mom passed her thumb under Charlie’s eyes, rubbing away the tears. “Paimon and the others come to him for things that concern the hellborn, because they’re trying to help their own rings, our citizens. Your want to help the sinners.”
“They are our citizens too!” Charlie cried for what felt like the thousandth time, raising up so she could glare defiantly. Her hair lifted upwards as her horns peeked out from underneath her humanoid shape.
“I know dear, you know I agree with you wholeheartedly,” mom reached out to squeeze Charlie’s hands on her own, a sad smile on her face. “Luci and I— your father… we’ve never seen eye to eye on this specific topic.”
Charlie already knew that. She sighed tiredly, letting her hair fall back down, and her horns retract into her skin. She knew her dad looked down on humanity, like they were lesser than him, like the ones that fell into his domain didn’t deserve anything.
“Let them torture each other, they seem good at that anyway.”
Not even a drop of his attention.
No, the King’s pride was too large to deem them even worthy of that much. He didn’t care for their suffering, because he didn’t care for their existence in hell to begin with.
“They had free will! They had the knowledge to distinguish between right and wrong, and look at what they decided to do! What they chose to do!” her dad had screamed, tears of rage at the corner of his eyes as he glared somewhere above Charlie’s shoulder. His eyes had turned into thin, serpentine slits, fangs had grown wide enough to give him a slight lisp, and all sets of wings had extended wide, almost intimidatingly.
At that moment he wasn’t Charlie’s father, not exactly. He was the King of Hell.
“They can blame me all they want, but I’ve never forced anyone’s hand to do anything,” Lucifer whispered venomously, eyes narrowing as he glared down at the floor, and somehow the whisper was a lot more frightening than his previous scream.
“Maybe… maybe they can be better,” Charlie had muttered weakly. She was born in hell, she cared for her people, and whether the King agreed or not, the sinners were her people too. Creatures made of dust just like her mom had been, denied entry to heaven just like mom and dad had been.
“They are here because they deserve to be here,” Lucifer took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and looked at Charlie with a cold, reptilian gaze. “They are here because they decided to be. Let them be, Charlie.”
Let them suffer, was what her father truly wanted to say. Charlie clenched her hands into fists.
“No.” A single word, but it didn’t come out as shaky. Her glare didn’t waver, even as she was met with her father’s judgeful stare.
The unwavering defiance made him angry, enough for his sclera to turn bloody red, a tail sneaking out as he transformed partially. He opened his mouth, and Charlie tensed up her shoulders, bracing for what was to come.
Except… nothing was said or done. Her father simply stood there, panting and glaring at the air above Charlie.
“They’re not worth it,” Lucifer whispered with a snarl, closing his eyes as he lowered his head. He took deep breaths, anger leaking out until all that was left was sorrow. “They’re not worth fighting with you, they’re not worth anything. They were made with dirt, made out of the dust after Father created ground. My little duckling, they don’t deserve your care, they don’t deserve your kindness.”
He had stepped closer with open arms, trying to pull Charlie into a hug.
She had stepped back and glared defiantly. “Mom was made out of dust too. Do you think she’s nothing but dirt as well?”
Lucifer’s stretched hand immediately clenched into a fist, claws extending and piercing his gloves. Piercing skin too, as the golden liquid that passed for angel’s blood spilled on the floor between them.
“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Lucifer whispered warningly.
She had crossed a line. Charlie looked at her father’s injury, slowly stepping closer to take the clenched fist with both of her hands. Her dad allowed her to uncurl the fingers, let her examine the bleeding palm.
“Sorry dad,” Charlie whispered, trying not to cry. “What I’m trying to say is… that mom was exiled from heaven just for not agreeing— for not falling into the role that had been assigned to her.” Because she had refused to be Adam’s companion. “How do you know… that there are no others like her down here, in the Pride ring?”
Lucifer stared at her silently, unblinking for a small eternity. Eventually the horns retracted, same as the tail. The wings tucked neatly close to his hips as he waved a hand to heal his injury and get rid of the spilled angel blood.
“Lilith fell because of me,” dad whispered softly. “Because she loved me, because she chose to… be with me.” He pulled his once-injured hand away from Charlie’s grasp, and for a moment she feared he would step away, but his father simply closed the space between them and hugged her.
Charlie huffed a hiccup, and pressed her forehead against his shoulder.
“Charlie, everyone that was once human is here because they chose to be here, and yes, that includes your mother in a sense… my one and only exception,” dad said lovingly. “If you want to care about once-humans, go and care for your mom. Ok?”
Was he saying ‘care’ because he didn’t want to say ‘love’? Because he didn’t want Charlie to love the sinners?
“Dad—”
“Sorry hun, but I’m leaving now,” dad interrupted with a quick kiss on her hair. “Mammon wants to check the food stocks again. You know how he is, always worried we won’t have enough for everyone. Nothing is ever too much for that guy, not really…”
After that initial conversation, Charlie was never granted another chance to talk about her ideas to help sinners. Everytime she tried, dad would interrupt and speak about the things he was working on to help hellborns, the ones he was convinced Charlie should be focusing on helping.
“They never had another choice Charlie, they were literally born here. They deserve a good quality of life.”
But honestly, everyone focused on the hellborns already. Mammon, the most anxious of all Sins, ensured they never lacked anything. Food, clothes, tools for every craft the denizens asked to partake in, toys, paint, musical instruments, he was always worried about not having enough in the future, and thus piled up a lot more things than necessary. The Greed ring was full of warehouses, and all the Greed-hellborns were good with numbers.
They were also very anxious about a darker future ever befalling them, or affecting any of the other rings because they had failed and calculated wrong the inventory. The idea of ever running out of stock scared them very much. Dad had built Lulu Land on the Greed ring so the other hellborns from other rings could drag the anxious greed-borns into relaxing and having fun.
Dad had also built it for Charlie, but that was neither here nor there.
Beelzebub could multiply food and make it bigger, she had reassured Mammon that food would never be an issue, as long as they had any to start with. Satan had assured them all that the Wrath ring would always have thriving harvests, for as long as the new crops were bathed with the light of the True Harvest Moon. Pai-Pai — or well, Paimon, as Charlie had to call him in public, always puffed his chest at the remainder of how well Stollas carried out his duty.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Lilith interrupted Charlie’s reverie.
She tilted her head confusedly. “What’s a penny?”
“It’s a human saying. It means if I can give you something valuable, in exchange for listening to what you are thinking.”
“I wouldn’t ask for anything mom!” Charlie hurriedly said, arms waving in fervent denial. “I’m so, so happy that you listen to me and—”
“No, Char-Char, not so literal—” her mom laughed, waving dismissively at Charlie’s apologetic gesture until she relaxed again. “It means I value your thoughts, and I want to hear you. I’m just asking you to speak and share them outloud.”
“Ah,” Charlie blushed, mildly embarrassed. Human sayings, always so weird… but mom was fond of them. Charlie added this phrase to her inner catalog of phrases her parents sometimes used.
Mom was fond of humanity. Unlike Lucifer, Lilith chose to go up to the living world from time to time, see a side of humanity that was not… the one that ended up in Hell. The Queen didn’t go up often, but whenever she did she always came back with news about humanity’s ever changing customs. Clothes, music, art, traditions, everything changed. The way in which humans expressed love also changed.
Honestly, the way of expressing love was the only thing dad was willing to learn about. He always adorned a pained look whenever mom tried to speak about anything else.
“Dancing close together, slow… just like this. With their soft music, surrounded by art made out of love. Love for their peers, for animals, for nature and the wonders of creation,” Lilith would whisper, cheek resting at the side of dad’s head.
The King liked to ignore the part where humanity could love each other. Instead, Lucifer would simply hum and call for the best artisans of Envy, to enrich their home with new works of art, inspired by whatever had captivated his wife in her latest trip. The healthy competitiveness that characterized Envy’s hellborns ensured that the best of their craft originated from that ring. Leviathan’s love for artistic expression was also very well known, and encouraged it further.
Charlie turned to look at one of dad’s favorite paintings. She had been a toddler still, laughing along with her parents on a beautiful picnic they had prepared in the Sloth ring, where the calmness and quiet encouraged one to rest body, mind, and soul.
“Mom… do you think sinners can grow to be… better?”
Lilith hummed and closed her eyes, a mildly pained expression in her face. Truthfully, she had been the one to push for a program that could encourage the sinners to become better people first. Charlie could remember the whispers of such conversations when she was still a kid. Lilith had been convinced that her tales would make the King look at humanity with something other than cold indifference, if they just proved themselves worth such effort.
But as centuries passed by, the more Lilith went up to the living realm, the quieter she became and the less she pushed such a program. Whatever she had seen humanity doing, mom had never revealed. She would simply sigh and cuddle Charlie close to her for comfort. Dad always asked her what was wrong, even though he knew she would never tell, so she preferred to go to Charlie on those quiet nights.
“I want to believe… they may be capable of it, yes,” Lilith admitted after a long pause. “But my influence is limited. I can’t step into their land, and from here… I don’t know how much we can do, when we’re not there with them. We don’t know how they’re faring here in Hell.”
Charlie’s mind recalled the red gates that served as the only entrance to the sinner’s side of the Pride ring. The bars of a cage, one that kept the sinners contained to just that space, and kept them apart from the hellborns.
The ‘non-corrupted’ hellborns, in any case.
Charlie had heard the story many times. She had listened to dad talk, with a semblance of solemn regret in his voice, about how he had thought he knew better than God, and had thus gifted humanity with intelligence, the capability of distinguishing right from wrong. How he had thought they would do great things.
God had granted them free will however, and with the knowledge of right and wrong came the power to pick their own path.
Lucifer had understood exactly what went wrong, when some of the hellborn citizens became too curious of the sinner’s isolated side of the Pride ring.
“What’s on the other side?”
The hellborns, born in their respective rings, had natural talents, weaknesses and virtues, but for as long as they were only exposed to each other, they tended to walk the path of righteousness.
Simply, because they knew nothing else. The path of ‘wrong’ was simply not known for them, and thus they didn’t deviate from it.
Being ignorant made them be good to each other. It made their society thrive, and it made them happy.
Lucifer had looked at his hellborns and wondered if maybe God had intended to impart the knowledge, the distinction between right and wrong, slowly. Maybe God had intended to grab humanity, the latest creation, by the hand to slowly and patiently guide them to the righteous path.
But that had been before Lucifer rushed things and messed that up.
“If you wish to depart, know you will never be able to return. It’s a one way trip to the sinner’s side,” the King of Hell had warned his denizens, because once they were exposed to the sinner’s malice there would be no way to regain the lost innocence, the lost ignorance. Lucifer’s mind had gone back to Eden’s Garden, and his Father’s decision to exile humanity so, so long ago.
Despite the warning of horrible, bad things awaiting at the other side of the gate, a few hellborns departed. Mainly the ones that were left alone, no family or friends, with no one left behind that they would miss too terribly. Others left for the hope of adventure, the curiosity, the desire to know, and made amends with all their loved ones before departing on that one-way trip.
The gates were closed for everyone most of the time. The King allowed hellborns to part if they so wished, but otherwise no one that was not the Sins or himself was allowed free entry to the sinners’ side.
Not even the Queen.
“What about me?” Charlie asked tentatively. “I’m technically a hellborn, and all hellborns can make that decision once they come of age.”
“I’m not sure Charlie. You don’t… you don’t know humans very well, it’s— it would be so hard,” Lilith shook her head negatively. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea, and if that’s coming from me then you know he will never allow it.”
“I won’t ask then,” Charlie decided firmly. “I will just inform him.”
(x)
It hadn’t gone well.
It hadn’t gone well at all, but Charlie had refused to back down. And thus, after a long, long time of screaming at each other hurtful things in a vicious cycle of rinse and repeat, where an unmovable object met an unstoppable force, one of the sides finally gave in.
Or well, more like mom had gotten the Sins involved, and they had all ganged up on dad to repeatedly talk about how, if Charlie really wanted to do this, she should be able to give it a try. It was said with a tone that denoted that they expected Charlie to turn around and go back home in less than an hour, but they supported her regardless, and dad was sad and exhausted after so many years of discussions and heartbreak.
He wanted to go back to having a loving family, he wanted to go back to the time when he had a daughter that trusted him, loved him, one that danced and sang with him in their free time, one that would hang around him and give ideas for new ducks. One that he could carry around as he flew in the biggest room of their home — designed with that purpose in mind — and that would laugh at his bad jokes.
Lucifer missed his daughter, he wanted desperately to repair the bond that was becoming more and more tattered with each passing year of disagreement.
Similarly, Charlie wanted to be able to have her father support her dream, she wanted to go back to those warm times, when she could speak everything that was on her mind to her father without fear of being judged, when they would exchange little random gifts every other week, when they could create new songs on a whim.
Thus, the time for concessions came. Asmodeus had been the first to visit.
“That tickles,” Charlie laughed as her uncle Ozzy finished drawing the last line on her belly. The symbol glowed and dissolved, leaving behind no trace of ink.
“Consent is important, consent is key, no one will touch you if you don’t deem it to be,” Ozzy recited one last time, patting her belly once the symbol disappeared. “Remember Charlie, lust is—”
“Natural and healthy so long as all parties consent, and limits and expectations are settled beforehand,” Charlie recited with a quick glance at the ceiling, but dutifully accepted the cheek-squishing as her uncle smooched her forehead.
“Exactly right,” Ozzy’s smaller heads winked in unison, but the bigger one in the middle seemed slightly concerned. “You’re protected, but still be careful out there. You never know with sinners.”
“I’m strong, I’ll punch them away,” Charlie reassured. She was a Nephilim, the result of the union of an angel and a human — even if her mom wasn’t exactly one anymore, she was still made from the dust of the ground originally, same as Adam and Eve — so by birthright, she was already stronger than any other hellborn or sinner could ever hope to be. She would be fine!
“Luci is coming back,” Lilith warned, because dad would have absolutely refused to think about Charlie needing this kind of protection in her trip to the sinner’s land, and they didn’t want to undo all the effort they had placed in convincing the King of Hell to let her try.
Asmodeus nodded at the Queen, winked at Charlie with a mouthed “good luck! ” and disappeared in a show of flames. The Sins had different ways of traveling among circles, unlike the hellborn that had to register whenever they wanted to travel through the swirling hurricanes that took them up and down the layers.
“Was Ozzy here just now?” dad had asked the second he stepped into the room, forked tongue slipping out to taste the air.
“I was talking with him, yes. There’s something I want to… try,” mom said slowly, gaze traveling meaningfully from polished shoes to white tophat, and Charlie gagged and turned around to leave. “Char-Char noticed him and came to say hi, though.”
“I’m regretting that,” Charlie said, not having to fake her grossed out expression, which made dad laugh and pat her shoulder, amused.
He hadn’t asked anything after that, too busy wondering out loud just what his dear queen wished for. Charlie had escaped from the room before her mom could answer.
The second to come was Aunt Beelzy.
“Food is made to be consumed, enjoyed even, because living beings need nourishment. No combination of substances will ever have any effect on your system, not for anything other than nourishment,” she declared with a pointed finger, tapping Charlie’s head in a rhythmic melody. Every tap sent a little jolt through her body, like short and harmless electric shocks, which she felt all over her torso for a long while before the effect slowly traveled to her limbs.
“What is this protecting me from?”
“Hmm, humans like to feed each other things they know are harmful. Or smoke it… inject it… that sort of stuff. This way, you get nothing but nourishment. That includes the recreational ones, but eh, little price to pay for immunity!”
Charlie still didn’t fully understand what this was for. “Soooo no stomachache? Ever? Even if I eat a lot?”
Aunt Beelzy had thrown her head back and barked a laugh. The mouths that appeared all over her body were also laughing, except the one on her calf, which had decided to eat one of the crayons that Charlie had yet to pick up from the floor.
“Something like that, yeah!” Beelzebub admitted at last, one hand gesturing as if to rub away tears of joy from the corner of her multiple eyes, bee wings buzzing contentedly. “All’s good, all’s good, you can have fun at parties if you ever wanna. I don’t know what the sinners do for fun though, so keep an eye out, yeah?”
“Sure!” Why would parties not be safe anyway? Parties were meant to gather with your loved ones and have fun.
Uncle Satan had gifted her a weapon linked to her essence, that would appear no matter where she was, in case she ever got so angry she wanted to “hold her own version of Pain games.”
Charlie had always thought that ‘Pain Games’ was a dramatic title for the rough and playful fights that the Wrath-hellborns adored, but it was how it was. The hellborn from that ring enjoyed many different combat sports like fencing or boxing, and held these tournaments and competitions fairly often. The trident she now had in her grasp felt too powerful to be meant for sport fights, but she supposed it couldn’t be that different.
Uncle Mammon had sent her a little bag that was always filled with little metallic pebbles and paper, replenished every time she opened it, and linked to her being just like the trident was. He said sinners used this thing called ‘currency’ to get stuff and services, instead of the simpler ‘equivalent exchanges’ that were common amongst hellborns. Exchanging a sofa for a horse, so both parties could get what they needed, was simpler in Charlie’s mind than trying to give a numeric value to absolutely everything, but sinners were weird like that.
Uncle Belphegor had gifted her with energy. No matter how little or shallow Charlie slept, or if she chose to forgo sleep at all, she would always feel well-rested.
Uncle Lev had sent her enchanted earrings, so Charlie’s melodies would always reach her audience, so her voice and songs would be heard by the sinners, no matter how many or how far away they were. They would also hide her from sinner"s perception if she so wished.
Time passed by until, at long last, on the last day before departure, her own parents approached her.
“Call us, call us everytime you need anything, at least once per day, alright?” her mom had pleaded in her ear as she trapped Charlie in a tight hug. Mom patted her shoulders, fretting over her worriedly, as she handed over a little square thing, a mirror. “Call me if you are at a loss of what to do, if things don’t go as planned…”
“You can come back,” dad picked up right where mom left off, looking at Charlie with a pained expression even as he reached forward to take her hand in both of his own. “You can always, always come back. The gates will open for you, you’re always welcomed back home. Always.”
Charlie wondered if dad was thinking of his Father as he said that. If he was thinking about how he had been forever exiled from heaven, from what had once been his only home, away from all the other seraphims that had once been his brothers and sisters. Lucifer had fallen, accompanied only by those that chose to follow him, the Sins…
“I’ll come back soon, dad,” Charlie reassured, letting her dad push their foreheads together.
“Call me if you need anything. Anything. You know everything in my power is yours for the asking, you just name it.”
A heavy promise coming from the King of Hell, but Charlie simply sniffed and rubbed her cheek against her dad’s, because this was just her dad being her dad. Worried, pained, but still letting her fight for her dream, supporting her in a way his own Father had not granted to him after the fall.
“I love you dad.”
“I love you Charlie, more than anything,” Lucifer whispered shakily, before he took a deep breath and stepped back. He lifted a hand to his tophat, and the golden snake came to life and slid over to curl on his extended palm.
“Yours,” dad offered the snake to her. “A necklace. It will protect you along with Dazzle and Razzle, it will always be with you, it will watch after you.”
In a way I won’t be able to, was left unsaid. Charlie bowed her head, and let the little reptile curl around her neck and rest its head above her collarbone.
“Always with me,” she reassured with a smile.
And thus, as prepared as she could be, she stepped out of the red gates and onto sinner’s land. Her dad had prepared a space she could call her own — a little building where she could invite sinners to learn more about them. It wasn’t in the best conditions, but Keekee would keep it upstanding, mom had assured with a small glare in dad’s direction — so she would look around to get a semblance of what awaited her and then go check out her home away from home.
…
“You really want her to fail as soon as possible, don’t you?” Lilith muttered under her breath, as they watched their daughter step into sinner’s land.
“I want our daughter to come back home, where she’s safe and happy, as soon as possible,” Lucifer admitted without an ounce of remorse, staring without seeing in the direction Charlie had disappeared into. “That place still provides a roof over her head, protection from the elements.”
“Its poor condition shows that she doesn’t have the cooperation of the King of Hell,” Lilith snapped with a narrowed gaze.
“Charlie wouldn’t benefit from sinners that just want to use her to get close to me,” Lucifer retorted easily, giving her an exasperated look. “We’ve talked about this. This is the middle ground. She’s not— not truly without support, but it’s also harder for the sinners to notice…”
Lilith sighed her apprehension away. They had talked about this so many times late at night and whenever Charlie left to visit another ring… and although she wished that place wasn’t in such a state of disrepair as it currently was, this was truly the best middle ground they had been able to conjure.
She just hoped it would be enough.