____

Lucifer

___

Lucifer had held off giving birth to his child for as long as he could but that night was soon quickly approaching. He’d used up all his energy in the month that had gone by, keeping his unborn child just that. Lucifer was surrounded by his followers. 

Sitting down the pregnant male angel sighed as he stared with sightless, spike filled eye sockets at his brothers. “My children will not be born here just to die in the work toil of God. Mikha’el was taken back to the heaven and there too must I go back. A new rebellion must begin!” It was getting harder to prevent the shock to his system every time the spikes drove into his skull. 

He feared God would learn of his condition soon, so he had to act quickly. Or as quickly as he could. The angels gathered around him gasped, “But Luci if you go back God will banish you fully from the garden of Eden!” One of them, Lariel, shouted this in terror at Lucifer’s declaration. To say they were all in shock at what the blind angel had said would not be far from the truth. If he had had eyes with which to see the powder blue haired angel’s glare could kill.

 Hate these babies sometimes, I really do Lucifer's mind hissed vehemently, but of course he would never admit as such out loud, no, not ever. He rubbed at his eye sockets obscured by the straps on his head, in all reality just rubbing at the straps on his head, life, such a cruel joke. He hissed out loud lowly, glaring at the blood and spikes within his broken eye sockets. Lucifer, once shining and bright, once beautiful and the most glorious angel in the heaven, reduced to a mere slave, just like every other angel whom had come after him.

 “What Garden?! What Eden?! I see nothing here but a massive death camp stretched across, what does God call it? The Earth!” He turned his head toward the angels and shouted in his anger, moving his hands about animatedly. “Listen to me! we are nothing more than slaves, sent here to make a habitat for her newest experiment, her newest beast, man!” A gasp rose up from the crowd as they absorbed his words. 

He continued even as the blood dribbled down his cheeks, he ignored their shocked faces even though he could feel each one on his own skin as if they were each lashes on his back. Swelling with blood and stinging with disbelief. “We are glorified Gardeners for fucks sake! Why being fully banished sounds like a good deal to me! It would mean these straps come off my head!” he breathed heavily, unused to using his voice so much. 

Sitting back down next to the machine he waved his hands out where he could feel the other angels. “If it is God’s will that we die here then I say this unto ye, turn thyn back on this slave labor! We should not be working this earth just for some other creature to claim dominion over it for nothing!” Another round of cheers rose up, he waved a hand to silence them. 

“But for now, until I can figure out how to escape the camp, keep working. Don’t lose hope! No matter what happens, God may abandon ye, but I will always be with thee!”

 Lucifer, spied the bear that was feasting on yet another young angel, this one screaming in terror as his bones were cracked and split under the force. 

Struggling against the machine, struggling to regain even a small portion of his strength. Lucifer got to his feet, tugging it along he bit his bottom lip in agony as the machine tugged inside his skull. He snatched up a burning log and rushed over as fast as the massive machine, which blocked out even the moonlight, would allow. He roared at the bear like an angry wolf as he violently waved the burning log in its face. 

Frightened, the bear bolted, running off into the forest with a loud roar of panic and pain fused into one. Helping the young angel to his feet, Lucifer turned to hear the shouts and excitement from the crowd, when he turned his blinded head cheers and applause erupted once more. Lucifer was exalted, for he had done something the rest of them were too afraid to do.

He’d protected one of their own, his own, boldly and with no fear shown upon his mutilated face, in sight of the others. Blood dripping down his cheeks from his constantly wounded eyes he smiled at them. A final cheer rose from the many angels, but this attracted the attention of wild beasts and the prototype man. 

The angels scattered, running for their lives, all too soft to do anything about the situation. Asta, taking note of Lucifer’s earlier actions, took hold of a burning log from the fire and began to fight back against the Proto-Man and the rabid beasts. He swung the log to and fro, frightening each creature away. Some of the other angels that had run gathered around the fire and sat down. In total there were thirty angels left alive from the onslaught of God’s neglect. 

A lot of the angels were still missing however and Asta took it upon himself to help. They sat around the fire and after an hour the angels returned after Asta ran off into the darkness. 

____

Haniel

___

“Brothers, we found Eriel and Vars from Defender Flock dead in the water trying to escape the beast that now eats them…”, this from the returning angel, Asta after he left to help the others escape. Make that twenty-eight angels left alive. Haniel frowned as the others began to whisper to each other. Lariel, rarely on the land, came to sit beside him, reaching down to squeeze Haniel’s hand comfortingly. 

The final Axia angel smiled at the seemingly kind merangel, they listened to Lucifer shout to calm the crowd's mutterings. 

“Sorry about Dummah and the tower…” Lariel began but Haniel shushed him, Lucifer was about to speak once again.

 “Calm yourselves my brothers! I have decided that since God has failed us as our father, that I will lead you all as mother! I will guide you all away from the death sentence God has cast down over our heads!” Angels cheered and pumped their fists in the air in celebration of Lucifer’s now personal choice to place himself as their leader instead of the silent acceptance. They're foolish babies, but they are now, officially, my foolish babies. Lucifer thought as he himself was not as sure about his own words. 

He knew that things would sour if he ever came into contact with his twin again. If he did things may not pan out as much as he would hope. But he kept a smile and a look of conviction on his face for his people. He did not let any of his inner thoughts escape his mind. Asta and Maze led a celebration teaching the other angels to dance around the fire as happy whoots and chants rose up into the night sky. 

They were quiet about this however, not wanting to attract attention from the dangers in the night. It felt good for everyone to let some of the constant tension out though; they quietly partied all throughout the night, for once a happy air about the labor camp replaced the almost persistent sense of doom and dread. Time passed slowly in those days. 

Haniel sighed as he stared at the sky, always thinking of the merangel that he loved. He worked alongside the others, working until their fingers bled, giving life to the vegetation, creating animals that would either nuzzle at them in thanks or bite at their faces as reward. Haniel knew things were hard, knew that things were just going to get even harder. Dust choked the air, night bled into day and day drowned inside of night. Some angels were tasked with dragging stones and boulders up hills, packing them into place until they began to form into mountains. One such angel, a boulder dragging angel, had broken his wings while flying with a boulder. 

The angel was sprawled across the ground. Haniel had left the beach and walked along the mountain building area. His eyebrow arched, staring up at it, he watched the angels moving smaller rocks and large boulders up and down the mountain, crossing his arms, he walked past the broken angel. The angel, the same blond uniform as everyone else, was twitching, his back had been crushed beneath the boulder. Hani noticed the angel’s hair had begun to change color, this frightened him. 

He knew only horrific things happened to angels whose hair began to change. Angels who became their own person independent of God’s will. The very thought was deeply unnerving for him. He knew Dagiel and Lucifer, Asta and Maze had undergone the change but it was something he himself could not deal with. Haniel quickly made his way through the area, never noticing, or not wanting to notice, the bloody hand grabbing at his foot. The angel walked into the forest, sitting down next to a tree. 

Hands running across his face he looked down to stare at the scar on his arm, a frown made its way to his lips. Why did Duma and the others do that? I don’t understand, I really don’t. I’ve been nice to him and the rest of them since I first got here. I can only guess what other cruel things they are going to attempt to do me. He frowned harder, hugging his knees to his chest. Haniel was confused by their cruel action and he genuinely didn’t understand, he thought the Axia was supposed to be a place of harmony. 

He winced as the pain in his arm throbbed every now and again. It had taken months for it to heal, the first time he really looked at the wound, he was lost, he had no idea that his flesh could be damaged so. Haniel shook his head and pushed his upset down into a locked place inside himself. He would remain positive; he would be a good person to them even if they were mean to him. He had to leave for the mission soon and he wasn’t going to let himself worry.

There was no point in wasting his time worrying about things that could not be changed. He was not the kind of person to think outside of God anyway, except for thoughts of Dagiel. As a result, he instead focused his thoughts on contemplating the glory of the highest father, daydreaming of being a Knight Of The Axia. He would make it, no matter who stood in his way and not even Duma being one of the first Axia would sway him. I never liked him anyway, it’s why I never mentioned his cards to Dag, he never deserved to have any. He frowned, staring up at the sky with determination. 

It was the fifth moon of that year, on a cold and windy night, that Lucifer went into labor. The angel camp was in an uproar of silent whisperings as the survivors of a recent wild animal and Proto-Man attack were tending to the wounded and dead. Using what power Lucifer possessed, he’d held back the birth process, keeping his child internally in the form of an egg; it finally hatched tonight and would be born through his body. 

A wail rose into the thickness of the darkness around them, for no campfires had been lit this night. Everything was still and quiet, save the cry of new life that erupted from within Lucifer’s hut. Haniel had witnessed the birth with some apprehension. The angels had decided to lift Lucifer up as not just their leader but their Ruler. As such, the young life that now lay nestled in the creature’s arms was the prince of their kind. 

Another angel who lay as witness to the birth was Maze, once short, uniform, blond hair though it had not been that way for hundreds of years, now it was an even longer dark crimson red. Sarathiel, Barachiel and Paimon were at Lucifer’s side, tending to him. Maze stood guard while watching them dab at his forehead with a wet banana leaf and help him drink from a gourd.

Maze stood silently, it had been centuries when he’d realized that there was more to life than his blinding devotion to God. After some time had passed Haniel could feel as Maze ice and shadow laden gaze fell on him. 

“You realize God is going to punish us all right?” He reached out to pluck at a strand of Haniel’s hair. “You’ll realize it when it’s too late to do anything about it, and then when that moment comes, you’ll think about this a bit more.” Haniel smacked Maze’ hand away.

 “God would never do anything wrong to us. She loves us! She created us from her love after all, this… prince, is a sin against her ways!” he argued this vehemently, waving a frantic hand at the King and his newborn. Luckily for Haniel, Lucifer had fallen asleep, right in that very moment and the ones tending to him had left the tent. He knewthat the angel appointed ruler would be furious with him, he also knew that he would be labeled a traitor among their flock.

 But he was concerned, all these things being felt by nearly every angel. It was dangerous, unnatural, not part of god or god's plan he was certain, it was really dangerous. He had to constantly beat down his own love for Dagiel, so, he knew how dangerous everything else must be. For Lucifer to have had a child, that was, impossible. It was overall even more dangerous, than even the emotions angels were developing.  

What are we going to do? God will never approve of this. I can’t see how any of this is going to work out, what the hell are we getting ourselves into? Haniel was pulled from his racing inner monologue by a silent and deadly glare from across the room. Slowly his eyes rose to meet Maze’s own. Without another word for a long, long time, the taller red-haired angel simply and unendingly, glowered at Haniel. 

“Come off the bullshit Haniel.” Maze hissed as he turned to glare at his brother. “You know as well as I who the father of this child is, and the fact that God separated them, not to be nice, not to help Lucifer focus on his work, but to help itself keep its most loyal angel from straying away. To keep him from his own realization, that Lucifer and their child meant something to him. Nothing is supposed to matter to us but God, right?”

 Haniel nodded eagerly, repeating the commandments as he did when he was nervous. Haniel could not have known what his brothers had done. What they did to damage his hard work for God in the time it took him to sleep. The things they set out to do to destroy him were known to no one. But he would suffer for it later. He was nervous right now he had no idea that Gabriel and Dummah’s plans and by extension Samael’s plans would soon see light due to his blind dedication to God.

 “Thou shalt place no other near or above God, thou shalt never hold love for anything but God, thou shalt respect all of God’s creations, Thou shalt never allow any to enter thy heart but God, Thou shalt-” he was cut off as a heavy hand landed on his shoulder.