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IGNORING THE FACT THAT MY brothers and I were all hungry, Lucifer insisted on waiting until Koa came back from the minion village before we all sat down to eat dinner together. I understood that Lucifer always wanted us to eat together when it was just the eight of us in the Palace of Sins, but seriously? Our numbers were basically doubled in size now, so waiting for everyone to be ready to eat seemed to be a little ridiculous.
Griffin definitely would’ve eaten the entire fridge (and no, not just its contents) by now and honestly... I had been getting to that point myself and probably would have if Koa didn’t show up when he did.
As we sat there, Edelweiss suddenly piped up with a question.
“What do you think of me?” She asked, obviously pointing the question at my brothers and me.
A little taken aback, I could only manage to ask a question in return. “What do you mean?” I asked.
Edelweiss shrugged, “I don’t know... it’s just that you all seemed to hate me a little over twenty-four hours ago and now you... don’t?”
“We’re merely being cordial, Princess Edelweiss,” Lucifer responded flatly, “We don’t like these arrangements any more than you do and we’d like to see them cease just as much as you do. Besides, it hasn’t been long enough for us to actually form an opinion on you.”
Edelweiss looked down at her plate with a soft blush on her cheeks. “Oh... okay,” she replied and then looked up again, “Can you guys call me Eddie instead?”
“Pardon?” Lucifer asked.
“Can you just call me Eddie?” The princess asked again, “I prefer it over Edelweiss.”
Lucifer paused for a moment before shrugging and nodding. He then looked down at his food, but I could read his face well enough to know that he was quite happy to hear her say that. I paused my eating to lean over to Eddie and whisper into her ear.
“For the record, Eddie” I whispered, “We’re all really starting to enjoy your company - Lucifer’s just too afraid to admit it yet.”
❀
Dinner was relatively quiet after that except for my brothers and I deciding to make our way up to Lucifer’s room to spend some time with him for a little while before we went to bed. We wanted to invite Eddie to come with us, too, but she insisted on spending some time with Roscoe and Athena instead and we didn’t want to bar her from that if that was what she really wanted.
We all scattered around in Lucifer’s room - even Wyatt, which surprised me - waiting for someone to strike up a conversation. I looked around Lucifer’s room and smiled a little, realizing just how much this room looked how everyone else expected it to look. It was large and decorated with dark greys, blacks, and reds. There was a massive bed on one wall and the rest of the room was made into a sitting area, complete with a very comfortable couch that Elton, Gus, and I were sitting on now.
This room held a lot of good memories for us, though. Really, the only thing that I didn’t like about this current situation was the fact that Griffin wasn’t here with us.
Lucifer sat down on his bed, watching as Sylas sat down beside him and leaned back against the wall. It didn’t take long for Sylas to start to fall asleep, so Lucifer started talking in an attempt to keep him away for a little while longer.
“Do you boys like Eddie?” Lucifer asked.
Elton shrugged as he pulled his legs up to his chest, “She seems sweet. I like her.”
Wyatt, Gus, Sylas, Pierce, and I nodded our agreement to Elton’s response. I then looked at Lucifer and raised my eyebrow.
“What about you, Luci?”
Lucifer hesitated to respond and leaned over Sylas to grab the glass of water on his nightstand.
I remembered that Lucifer always had a glass or bottle of water at his bedside and had made sure to get us into the habit of it when we were kids. When we fell and joined Lucifer in Heaven, we all needed as much routine as we could get considering in Heaven we were always on a pretty tight schedule as a member of God’s family. Besides, Lucifer was always a creature of habit and couldn’t help but make sure we were the same way.
“I guess I’m still having a hard time not seeing her as how she was when I first met her,” Lucifer replied, “I’m beginning to realize, though, that none of you need my protection anymore and that’s been something I haven’t quite been able to accept yet.”
Sylas looked at him with a sleepy expression. “You’re trying, though, right?” Sylas yawned.
Lucifer nodded a little.
“Hey, can I ask something?” Elton questioned.
We all turned to give him our full attention.
“What’s going to happen? With King Victor missing and stuff... I really don’t want to go back to Heaven, Lucifer. I mean, I will if we have to go after King Victor, but I don’t want to.”
Lucifer’s expression immediately softened and I saw out of the corner of my eye that Gus had his arm around Elton now.
Elton had had a hard time in Heaven - we all did - but he had to fight the hardest to get better after the fall. He’d had an intense bout with drugs while we were in Heaven - mostly trying to drown out all of his feelings - and we all tried everything to get him to stop.
It took him two full years after the fall for him to stop, but we all knew he was still inches away from a relapse at any moment. Maybe he was afraid of going to Heaven because it would stir up those emotions again. I wouldn’t have blamed him if that was the case.
“We’re going to be fine,” Lucifer promised.
“You can’t know that, though,” Elton argued.
Lucifer shook his head, “No, I can’t, but... it will still be okay. It has to be.”
He looked away as he mumbled something under his breath. I couldn’t catch what it was, but I didn’t think any of us (not even Sylas) could.
Elton sighed and curled himself up tighter. “Is it okay if I stay in here tonight, Lucifer? I don’t want to be alone... in case something happens tonight.”
Lucifer looked at him in surprise, but he nodded. It didn’t take long for the rest of us to ask to stay there, too.
Apparently, none of us wanted to be alone tonight.