~Lorelei's POV~

Lucifer escorted me to The Hazbin Hotel to meet with Charlie and Vaggie. I was amused to see Charlie had suitcases packed. We were only going to be there for a few hours at most. When I arrived a circular golden portal opened up, it wasn't a door like when we traveled to Hades but since Heaven belonged to the same Pantheon as Hell perhaps travel was less complicated.

Lucifer looked at the phone in my pocket, more accurately to the cute rubber ducky charm dangling from it before sighing with relief. He gave my hand a squeeze. "Be safe."

Will I still be able to talk to you like this? I thought at him.

He nodded. Always.

This was a great relief. Even though he wouldn't physically be there it was nice to be able to talk to him. He turned to Charlie with a smile, "good luck."

"Thanks Dad." She glanced at me. "We'll keep Lore safe."

"Don't worry about me, focus on your meeting, I have an escape duck for emergencies." I smiled.

Charlie glanced down at the rubber ducky phone charm and smiled. "I'm so excited. This is going to be great and I get to go with my girlfriend and my-." She paused as she looked at me.

"Lore." I teased her.

"No! I know that." Charlie groaned, "step-mom?" She looked like she felt awkward.

"Father's wife?" I offered.

"Does that sound dismissive or that I don't like you because I definitely don't want it to come off that way when we make introductions but we're similar in age so step-mom feels wrong..." She began rambling to herself.

Vaggie smiled, though she seemed very nervous.

"Jeez, you Morningstar's sure are dramatic." I sighed.

You are also a Morningstar. Lucifer's voice drifted across my mind.

I shot him a scowl, I'll use the U word...don't test me, before turning back to Charlie.

I could feel Lucifer grimacing at this, ...dramatic...

I threw another scowl at him and caught him smirking. "I will take no offense no matter how you introduce me, you can call me Lore, step-mom, father's wife, or really anything else." I smiled at Charlie.

She looked relieved, "okay." She extended a hand to me and Vaggie, "ready?" She squealed in excitement.

"Yay." Vaggie said with the least amount of excitement I'd ever heard anyone say 'yay' ever.

"Not even remotely." I replied dryly.

"Let's go!" Charlie dragged us through the portal.

We stepped through the portal into a blindingly bright world on a golden bridge leading to a pair of massive golden gates, the other end leading endlessly into the clouds going on for eternity.

"Vaggie, Lore! Look at this place!" Charlie was in awe. "It's so clean! Isn't that amazing?" She was beside herself with excitement.

I looked over at Vaggie as she let out a sigh and trudged after Charlie looking like she'd rather be anywhere than here, "yep. Super cool. Heaven, wow." She subtly rolled her visible eye.

As we approached the gates I noticed a podium positioned just outside and when we drew nearer a man popped up out of nowhere nearly giving me a heart attack. He had perfectly quaffed blond hair and bright blue eyes.There was a simple white halo hovering above his head and angel wings sprouting out of his back. He beamed brightly at us as we approached.

"Hiya! Welcome to Heaven!" He placed a massive book down on his podium, he opened the book, "can I get your name please?" His smile was too big and too bright and it unsettled me.

"Oh! Uh-uh." Charlie stammered, "Charlie Morningstar."

The angel before us began searching his book muttering to himself as he ran his finger along the page, "hmm I'm not seeing you on my list." He smiled uneasily. "That's so odd."

Charlie looked a little panicked, "um my-" She hesitated trying to figure out what to call me without offending me though I'd already told her she could address me however she wanted, "-Lore got us this invitation." She looked at me.

The angel looked to me.

I sighed and pulled out my phone before calling Michael.

It didn't even finish its first ring before he picked up, "Lorelei."

"You may have forgotten to inform the doorman about our arrival." I sighed.

A golden paper appeared in the air in front of the angel at the podium and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. "That should do it, though I'm sure you'll have a welcome party arriving in three...two...one-." As he said it, two winged creatures flew down from above to join us at the gate.

I hung up my phone as the taller of the new arrivals spoke. "Saint Peter, we can take it from here." Their appearance shifted to look more humanoid as they landed. The taller of the two resembled a beautiful slender woman with dark cedar skin, a spattering of white freckles beneath her eyes. Her eyes had white irises, a bluish gray sclera and dark purple pupils. She had long hair in a silver ombre and her halo resembled a crown. She was dressed very regally and had three pairs of feathered wings in periwinkle and white. She stood double my height. "Greetings daughter and wife of the Morningstar." She smiled at Charlie and I in turn. "I'm Sera the high seraphim of Heaven. You're gifted to be here."

The shorter Seraphim at her side squealed in glee, she was childlike in her appearance and just a few inches shorter than Charlie. Her skin was a paler hue than Sera's and her hair was also in an ombre starting pale gray at the roots and transitioning to a deep periwinkle at the tips. There were exactly three freckles beneath each of her eyes and across the bridge of her nose. She wore a dress that I could only describe as Disney Princess and had three pairs of white feathered wings protruding from her back. Her halo was a pale blue and looked like a tiara. "Hi!" She greeted us with a grin and practically bounced in excitement "I'm Emily, the other seraphim, though you can call me Em...Emmy...E...whatever you want, I go by whatever. Welcome to Heaven." I smiled, she and Charlie were going to get along great.

With that Saint Peter rose up as if he were about to sing, "nope." I held my hand up to stop him, "we're good, no bursting out into song, please and thank you."

Vaggie cracked her first real smile since we'd arrived and Sera and Emily led us through the gates. Charlie was overjoyed at how clean everything was and how happy everyone looked. It all made me very uncomfortable. Everything seemed TOO good. Oftentimes when things seemed too good to be true they were. There was definitely something ugly beneath it all.

As Charlie was gushing over a smoothie stand, something dark suddenly hurtled toward us from the sky and I let out a panicked yelp as something collided into the ground in front of me. There was a fluttering of wings as whoever landed in front of me opened their wings to reveal themselves. Michael stood before me, his grey eyes smiling as he met my gaze before frowning, I thought I heard him mutter 'that fucking idiot' to himself.

"Michael?" Sera asked confused, "what are you doing here?"

Michael looked away from me and I noticed some dark bruising on his chin as if he'd been punched in the face recently, "I heard my niece had come up for a visit and thought I'd say hi and introduce myself to my new sister-in-law." He extended a hand to me in greeting. "A pleasure to meet you." He looked at me expectantly.

Alright, he didn't want anyone to know I was his daughter, fair enough. I reluctantly accepted the hand he offered me. "Lorelei." I sighed as I realized he was waiting for me to 'introduce' myself.

He held my hand for a moment longer before releasing it and turning to Charlie with a smile, "Charlie."

Charlie smiled and hugged him. "It's nice to see you again, Uncle Michael."

"You'll have my full support at the meeting." Michael smiled at Charlie, his gaze flicked to me.

"Want a gold sticker?" I muttered under my breath so only he could hear as he was still very close to me.

He smirked at this.

"You're going to the meeting?" Emily asked in awe, a smile lighting up her face.

Sera looked suspicious, "you don't go to meetings often."

Michael shrugged, "I felt it only right to offer my niece my full support in her endeavor."

Tears welled in Charlie's eyes. "That means so much!"

Sera looked uneasy before pretending she'd gotten some kind of summons, "I'll be back, Emily can continue the tour without me, I have some business to attend to." She disappeared in a flash of gold light.

"Should we get smoothies before I show you guys to your room?" Emily asked with a grin.

"Yes! We must try them all!" Charlie beamed.

"Careful you don't get a brain freeze, sweetie." Vaggie warned before realizing that was a very real possibility and dashing after the pair of them.

I tensed as I was left alone with Michael. I could still see Charlie and Vaggie at the Smoothie stand. They were only like twenty feet away from us and it's not like he'd murder me in the fucking street.

"How are you liking Heaven?" Michael asked nonchalantly.

"I'm not." I answered bluntly. "I can see through bullshit."

Michael smirked. "A trait you picked up from your father most likely."

"I wouldn't know." I replied coolly.

He grew quiet at this. "...No I suppose you wouldn't." He sounded...sad.

Charlie, Vaggie and Emily returned with armfuls of smoothies in an array of colors. "Lore! They have so many!" Charlie exclaimed excitedly.

"Which one is the favorite so far?" I asked her with a smile.

"Strawberry banana." She beamed before shoving a smoothie into my hands, "this one is caramel apple. We got it for you."

I thought of Lucifer as I accepted the smoothie with a smile, "thank you, Charlie." I took a sip, it was rich in flavor and made me think of the caramel apple cinnamon rolls I'd made for Lucifer.

Michael looked at the smoothie in my hand before stepping away looking pensive. We continued walking leaving Michael in his own little world near the smoothie stand. I didn't understand my father. He acted like a brainless fuckboy degenerate but there were moments where it seemed like he was capable of actual feelings and not just being a massive dick. I still wasn't sure if I was nothing more than a chess piece in whatever game he was playing or if he actually cared for me.

"I'm so glad Michael came to visit." Emily smiled next to Charlie. "I was worried he was unwell, he's been so absent lately. He'd been to visit Earth recently and when he came back last week he looked ill."

"Can angels become ill?" I asked curiously and took another sip of my smoothie, it was good. I didn't want to admit it because I really wanted to hate Heaven but the smoothies were top tier.

Emily looked thoughtful. "Hm...I'm not sure. It was odd, the same day Sera also seemed unwell."

I glanced back at Michael but he was no longer at the smoothie stand...and neither was the smoothie stand employee. I frowned at this and was going to turn around when I heard an obnoxious sounding voice exclaim from in front of us.

"No fucking way!" I turned to look in the direction the voice had come from and spotted what I assumed was an angel though the mask he was wearing looked kind of impish and demonic. He had a glowing white halo above his head and was dressed in gaudy robes of liquid gold, white and periwinkle. "What in holy fucking shitballs are you doing here?" He approached with another smaller angel at his side. She was the same height as Vaggie and I and had short white hair with a slightly asymmetrical cut. She was dressed like a medieval goth warrior with long dark tunic, tights and a belt at the waist that probably fit a scabbard. Her halo was black, but different than my own. Her's had a sharp point at the center and mine seemed to have a faint almost midnight blue glow about it.

Vaggie and Charlie tensed at his arrival. It clicked then, he was radiating fuckboy energy, this must be Adam.

Before I could say anything, Michael returned, appearing at my side. He draped an arm across my shoulders and smiled a charming smile as he snatched the smoothie from my hands. There was something in his smile that screamed fake. Was this persona of his all an act?

"M-Michael!" Adam yelped before collecting himself, "ah, hey Mike, how's it going?" He sounded like a fanboy.

Michael barely cast him a second glance, "Alan."

"...it's Adam..."

Vaggie looked like this was suddenly the best day ever as Adam seemed to be wounded by Michael's words.

"Shall we, ladies?" Michael steered us away, keeping his arm around me and still holding my very tasty smoothie.

"What are you doing?" I reached for the smoothie.

He cast another flirtatious smile at me and held it just out of my reach, "thinking of convincing you, you married the wrong brother."

It took every ounce of willpower I had not to look absolutely repulsed by this as I realized he was putting on some kind of show. "I'm pretty happy in my marriage, thank you." I grumbled.

"Uncle Michael!" Charlie scolded him. "Dad and Lore are really good together!"

I glanced around and saw a lot of eyes on us, but that wasn't so odd, the princess of hell and her father's wife were currently in Heaven, that was probably cause for a lot of gossip. And if all the people on earth who were supposedly going to heaven taught me anything it was that they were a bunch of gossips.

As we reached a massive skyscraper, an angel ran up to Emily in a panic, "ah! Emily, I need your help."

"Oh." Emily threw us all an apologetic look, "I'll see you at the meeting, if you let them know at the front desk they'll show you to your rooms." She waved cheerfully before following the angel.

Michael seemed tense but his face was still a perfect mask. Something was definitely up. We stepped into the massive building. It was gaudy and sparkly and Charlie was in awe. There was a large circular desk in the center of the room manned by a variety of angels. We were greeted by a petite angel with pale grey and navy colored wings, she reminded me very much of a blue jay. Her navy eyes grew wide when she spotted Michael with us before she recovered with a very fake smile.

"Welcome! You must be Princess Charlie and party. I'll show you to your rooms."

"Rooms?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Yes we've prepared a separate room for Lady Lorelei as she won't be attending the meeting." Her fake smile never wavered.

Charlie looked nervous, "she won't?"

I caught her attention and glanced down at my phone reminding her I had a way out if I needed it. She relaxed a little and nodded allowing the angel to lead us away. As we followed after her, my head started to hurt.

The angel showed Charlie and Vaggie to their room first. When it was just me alone with Michael and the blue jay angel, I grew anxious. I felt odd. My body was starting to feel heavy, my headache was growing worse and it felt like everything was starting to spin.

Lore? Our connection feels weak, are you alright? What's wrong? Lucifer's voice sounded far away in my mind.

I feel strange. It was harder to send my thoughts to him than it should be.

Did you eat or drink anything someone gave you?! Lucifer sounded panicked, his voice sounding faraway in my mind.

"Did you need anything, Sir?" The blue jay angel asked Michael nervously.

"Hm? No, no, merely trying to convince Lady Lorelei that I'm the better brother." He smiled.

The blue jay angel glanced around nervously. For some reason my room was on a completely different floor than Charlie and Vaggie's. "Did you not need to get ready for the meeting, I heard you were going to be in attendance?" She was trying to get him to leave.

My fingers started to go numb and I found that the only thing keeping me upright was Michael's arm around me. Oh fuck! I couldn't grab the ducky charm on my phone. Shit! Michael looked down at me as he realized he was now fully supporting me. "Ah. I guess you won't be able to kill my sister-in-law in my presence will you?" Michael asked.

The blue jay angel jumped, "whatever do you mean, sir? I wouldn't do such a thi-."

"You're right, you won't." Michael smiled a very sinister smile. There was the briefest flash of movement and the lack of his presence as he suddenly vanished, but he was back and supporting me before I could fall to the ground. My vision was beginning to blur but when I glanced at the blue jay angel I found her head and body going in two different directions.

Michael swung me into his arms as I lost consciousness.

...

I woke up with a start. Wildly I looked around to try and figure out where I was. I was in a room I'd never been in before draped across a very comfy black couch with a soft blanket over top of me. It appeared to be a massive penthouse suite. The room was huge and open and had an entire wall of windows that looked out over Heaven. There was a large mirror on the wall near a door that was shattered. I noticed broken vases and other things all gathered near the mirror as if someone had lost their temper in a fit of rage and were in the process of cleaning up their mess.

"Are you awake?" Michael's voice sounded from behind the couch and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned to find him wearing more formal black robes. He held a cup of coffee in his hands.

I hesitated, "what happened?"

"An assassination attempt." His grip tightened on the mug in his hands, "because my idiot brother sent you up here with no way to protect yourself." The mug in his hands shattered.

"Why did you save me?" I asked in awe, "wasn't this your plan all along?"

He threw me a curious look, "what?" He approached me and my body tensed.

"Ah." He smiled a sad knowing smile, "did you remember something, Lorelei?"

"Yes." I answered shakily.

"Go on then, tell me what you remember."

"The person who drove a dagger through my heart." I felt sick.

Michael looked tormented at that moment, "...say it.."

"You killed me." I breathed.

"I did." He agreed.

It hurt to hear it. I wanted to believe that my memories were wrong, that they'd been tampered with. Tears welled in my eyes. "Have I always been a pawn in your plan?"

Michael hesitated. "...yes..."

My heart stuttered in my chest. I'd suspected as much but that didn't make it any less painful to have it confirmed. I was created to be a pawn in my father's scheme. I wasn't a daughter he'd wanted or would ever care for, just a chess piece for him to move about as he wished. "...so why am I still alive?"

Michael sat beside me and I flinched, awaiting the killing blow. It never came. Instead, I felt the gentlest caress as he tenderly cupped my cheek, "I created you for a very specific purpose, Lorelei."

I looked up at him through tear filled eyes.

"To protect the brother I love very dearly." Michael gently wiped away the single tear that escaped my hold. "And so many times, I almost threw it all away so you could live your life how you wanted, because something I did not expect happened."

"What?"

"I did not expect to love you even more." Michael admitted.

"You have a very funny way of showing it." I sniffled.

Michael smiled, "yeah, Lucy was always the soft one, the feelings guy, I've always just been the muscle." He pulled me into his arms.

"What are you doing?" I panicked.

"Something I've wanted to do for a very long time." He held me tightly against him.

"W-what's that?" I asked shakily.

"Hug my daughter."

I choked on a sob. Could I trust him? Could I trust this? He'd already proven to be a very brilliant actor. My human father had been a piece of shit, he was abusive and constantly made me feel unloved and like I was a burden. A piece of me really craved that father daughter bond of a father who cared. "...can I trust you?" I asked shakily.

Michael's form shifted and a familiar voice from my human life escaped him, "you can always trust me."

I pulled away from him to see my best friend from college, Ryan. He was the one I always called after a tinder date. A horrifying thought crossed my mind. In captivity I remembered hearing one of my captors say I had to stay a virgin for the ritual. Was that why he'd always talked me out of second dates with any guy I'd met? "Is that why you told me never to see any of my dates ever again? So I'd be 'pure' for the ritual?"

Michael shifted back to himself with a chuckle, "no, that part of the ritual was a lie I told to keep you safe. The ritual doesn't give a shit about virginity."

"Then why the hell were you so adamant about me never seeing any of my dates again?!" I snapped at him.

Michael reached up and cupped my cheek again, I didn't flinch this time. "Because no one was worthy of you."

"Except Lucifer?" I pointed.

"No one." He declared, "though Lucy is about as close to deserving as any being could get, but still not worthy." He was suddenly claimed by a coughing fit.

"What's wrong?" Emily had mentioned she thought he was unwell. Was he sick?

"Just a curse." Michael shrugged like it was the most casual thing in the world.

"What?! Now curses are a thing?!" I growled.

Michael chuckled and pulled his robe down a little to reveal his chest. There were black shadowy veins branching out around his heart.

"You probably fucking deserved it." I grumbled.

Michael smiled, "I did."

"And what witch did you piss off to get cursed?" I sighed.

"You."

I stared at him with wide eyes, "what?! I haven't cursed anyone."

"When you died as a human. You cursed everyone in that room and all those watching from afar." Michael smiled proudly.

How? I looked at the shadowy rot spreading across his chest. "...how do I undo it?"

Michael wrapped me in another hug, "don't worry about it. I need to get to a meeting and support my niece per my daughter's orders." He kissed the top of my head. "You need to return home to Lucy. He gave you a way to do so, right?"

I nodded.

"Good. I'll forgive him for this then." He indicated the bruise on his chin. "Get going, Lorelei."

"...Dad?..."

Michael froze up and looked at me in awe, "what?" He asked in disbelief.

"...thank you for saving me today."

He smiled tenderly, "love you, kiddo."

My heart seized up at this as I held the rubber ducky charm in my hand. "Home." I was suddenly wrenched away from the penthouse suite and reappeared back in the mansion in Lucifer's workshop sitting on his lap.

He looked relieved and surprised to see me. "Lore?" He noticed the tears on my cheeks and gently wiped them away, "what happened?"

I threw my arms around him so happy to be home...and it truly felt like home, being with him.

"Lore?" Lucifer panicked as I threw my arms around him and held him tight, "are you alright? Are you hurt? Why are you crying?"

"I'm home." I cried silently.

Lucifer gently rubbed my back, "welcome home, Lore."