Caught in the Fire

Chapter XIX: Inside the Fire

"This is it," Mazikeen said as they stood in front of Lucifer's door, "Lucifer's Hell Loop."

Michael looked sad as he placed his hand on the door, imagining his brother suffering behind it. "My brother's soul is in there?"

"Yeah," she answered softly, still unable to look at Michael, "I'm going to get rid of the demon playing Chloe before he sees you. Stay here and don't be seen."

Michael hid around Lucifer's cell and heard Mazikeen opening the door and walking through. He waited outside with a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to strike should any demons appear. Soon after, he heard the door opening behind him, and he quickly ran in front of the door and aimed his sword at the demon. He noticed it was Mazikeen and lowered his sword. "Where is the demon?"

"We have a problem." He readied his sword, and she motioned him to put it away. "Lucifer and Cain aren't in the loft. I only saw the lake of sulfur and fire. Hopefully, they're not stuck in there."

Michael was haunted by the memories of him kneeling before the edge of Heaven, with a wounded shoulder and wing, listening helplessly to his brother's desperate prayers for help. "If he is, I will not leave him in a lake of fire again," he said with conviction.

"Good, since you were the one who kicked him into it in the first place. How do you think he got that Devil Face?"

Michael stared down at her with an unreadable expression, and Mazikeen knew she had struck a nerve. "I never wanted to leave him to burn," he said under his breath, sounding like he was barely controlling his emotions. "The rebellion left me damaged. I could not fly down to save him. I would have jumped in after him if I only could."

"Damaged, huh?" Mazikeen looked him over with a raised brow. "Was it the shoulder? I remembered you had a sloped shoulder. It seems to be gone now."

"I..." Michael grunted and looked away. "I do not wish to talk about the shoulder. It is in the past." He listened for any more demons and could still hear them milling about. He turned to his brother's door and placed his hand on the handle. He cast a glance at Mazikeen, who was watching him with bated breath. "You have told me all that I need to know to free him. I have no further use for you. You may go."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," she insisted, "I'm going to help you free Lucifer."

Michael was about to go through the door, and then he turned to her in anger. "I do not trust you to stop yourself from stabbing me in the back. If I cannot trust you to watch my back, then you are a liability. And you must go."

"You need someone on the outside. There's at least one demon in there that can warn the others of your arrival. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen." She took out her karambits and spun them in her hands. "I need to make this right, Michael. I will make it right. And I don't care if you don't want me around. I don't even care if you trust me or not. I'm doing this for Lucifer."

"For Lucifer?" he asked incredulously, "Not only did you kill him, but all you do is betray his trust. Years ago, you even sided with me against him to send him back to Hell. I told you that he stabbed me; that he ruined my life; that I wanted revenge. You knew I meant to hurt him, and you still agreed to betray him."

"I screwed up, okay?!" Her voice wavered, but she consciously tried to control herself. "I was stuck on Earth, unable to deal with all these... ugh, human emotions. Lucifer didn't have wings anymore, he didn't want to use his Pentecostal coin, and Amenadiel couldn't take him back to Hell without breaking a vow. I thought that you could send him back and then things could go back to the way they were, but..."

"Well, you are in Hell now. 'Home, sweet home', as you say. I know you enjoy the stench of despair that hangs in the air. You should be very happy here. Now, leave."