𝐇𝐇 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄 - Hazbin Hotel

the apple dosent go far from the tree.

In the weeks after the hotel was destroyed, rebuilt, re-opened, the king of Hell decided that if his daughter had made the decision to put her trust in the citizens of Hell, he should at least get to know these people better. Or rather, to know them at all. It had been centuries since he'd given up on these people, far before the decision to exterminate them had been finalized. Sure, he kept an eye on the realm and all its rings, but he hadn't bothered to meet the citizens. Sinner demons were coarse, brutal, sociopathic monsters- he'd told himself. Hadn't there been enough proof of that?

Hell, even walking around the city streets gave him ample opportunity to witness enough evidence of his old opinions. Demons fought and killed one another in the streets, filth poured out of every alleyway, and raucous sounds from the bars and sex clubs suggested violence and pain as much as pleasure and debauchery were occurring within. But here and there: two sinners holding hands, leaning into each other as they walked along the street. A small knot of women pressed excitedly against a window, discussing their favorite music, just living their lives in a moment of simple enjoyment. A young woman with an ice pack, pressing it against the face of a friend. These were people. Human souls, despite their monstrous forms and chaotic behavior. Built to experience and grow, gifted with autonomy from birth. How had he forgotten?

Even meeting and speaking to Charlie's small band of misfits hadn't completely changed his mind. Nothing had hit like the shock of knowing one of his girl's pet project demons had died facing Adam. Deliberately, selflessly sacrificed himself for her cause, without a backward glance. A demon, who just until a few weeks ago, he'd dismissed as worth less than the trash littering these streets. A disposable life, he'd thought then.

Apparently, you could take the angel out of Heaven, but you couldn't take Heaven out of the angel. At least he could admit when he was wrong, unlike the seraphim and every other law-abiding, hidebound bore up there. They'd been suspiciously quiet about the deferred extermination and the death of so many angels.

Lost in thought, he nearly didn't notice when someone came shambling out of an alleyway dead ahead, nearly colliding with him in their apparent rush to get out. They nearly scrambled backwards upon seeing him, ending up tripping over some overturned trash cans and laying themselves out in the process.

This was a fairly commonplace reaction to denizens of Hell seeing their king walking around in public. A few had run headway into traffic to avoid him, and at least one notable incident had involved demons setting themselves on fire rather than risking his wrath. He'd have to work on this later.

Lucifer only had time to glance at the newly minted demon sprawled in front of him before recognition hit. It was, undeniably, Adam.

He only looked marginally different from the man he knew in Eden. Stripped of his robe and wings, Adam's frame looked smaller. Breakable. His eyes no longer held the golden glow of the divine, and Hell had given them an electric yellow tinge. (In Eden they'd been brown, like the dirt the man was made from.) The only other changes Hell had made to the rest of his body were the scarlet red staining on his skin of his fingers up to his wrists and the leaching of color from the rest of his skin and his hair. His pallor was now a light gray, his hair bleached to white.

Those bright yellow eyes narrowed at him as Lucifer felt the grin already tugging at his mouth. Felt himself bare his teeth, sharp and mocking. "Well, look at you," he crooned, "Not so holy anymore."

"Fuck you," Adam spat, spluttering as that was only greeted with laughter. "Shut up! Shut the fuck up! You did this to me, didn't you? Your fire fist shit did something to me, didn't it?"

Lucifer badly wanted to say something cutting but was having a hard time getting the words around his near-hysterical laughter. Hell, he'd dropped his cane. The only thing keeping him upright was his refusal to be sprawled out on the same space as Adam. This was so wonderfully, deliciously, completely perfect. To finally have this total waste of air bound here, to Hell, where he belonged.