Lucifer's Bride

Chapter 4

"You seem very determined to find whatever it is you are looking for," Rosaline observes.
"I do not have much of a choice about it," Lucifer tells her. "I must find it soon."
"What if you did not find it?"
"It would not be good," he answers vaguely. It would be good for her, he supposes, though that isn't what he means.
"Why not?"
Lucifer sighs, trying to calm himself before he snaps and causes her to leave. If he ends up going the wrong way, he will need someone to tell him which direction he should be going, and it will be no help if she hates him.
"Because this thing is what makes me what I am," he says finally.
"What are you, that can be determined by something so easily lost? A warrior without his prize, perhaps?"
Lucifer shakes his head, something he has learned from Rosaline means "no." "Not quite," he says. "A warrior is who I am, not what."
"Then what are you?" she repeats.
"You will find out soon enough," Lucifer assures her.
"Why not tell me now?" she suggests hopefully.
"I cannot."
"Why not?"
"I will tell you everything as soon as we find  it," he promises. He has every intent of keeping that promise, too. There is no reason not to. He may as well tell her why he hates her before he kills her.
"I will make sure of it," she says.
"I am a man of my word," he assures her. "I will tell you whatever you want to know. Until then, tell me about yourself." He says it only as a way to prevent her from asking any more questions, not particularly interested in her answer.
"Well, I come from a family of eight brothers," she says. "Six of them are older, and two are younger than myself. I am 15 years old. My parents tell me I should be married soon. They have said the same thing for the past five years, and though I am still free to live with them instead of being bond by the rules of marriage and false love. I fear my freedom man not last much longer, though.
"My family, along with a few others, moves around often, always hoping to catch the largest game and leaving when the supply is low. That time will come soon, and perhaps I will be forced to marry a boy we meet at our next home, so I will live long enough to see my kids grow up."
"You must marry someone you do not know?" Lucifer says in disbelief. That is not what the sacrament was meant for; he knows that much.
"Of course," Rosaline replies, sounding as though it should be obvious. "Is that not how marriage works where you come from?"
He shakes his head. Though Heaven does not have marriages, it does have their creator, so he knows how wrong this is.
"No, not at all!" Lucifer tells her. "Marriage is supposed to be about love. It is not a strategic partnership. One should marry the person they truly love, not whoever they are told to!"
"And how would one know if they are in love?" Rosaline inquires. "Have you ever been in love?"
He hadn't been in love; angels are incapable of feelings such strong emotions as that. Since he's come to  earth, he has felt so many new emotions, things his brothers would never understand. Over such small things, too. Being given food and shelter, for example, made him feel something he's never felt before. Gratitude. He was grateful for their hospitality. Looking back on it, his treatment of them makes him feel sort of... Guilty. He should have been kinder to them. He'll try to be kinder to Rosaline, at least, for the time until he retrieves his grace.
A/N: Destiel (and Sabriel and Megstiel and so on) shippers are lining up to kill me for the angels can't love thing, aren't they... Put anyway your salt guns, guys; it will be okay. I swear. Just keep reading.
"No," Lucifer answers finally. "I have not been around people long enough to, I suppose."
"And what if no one loves me?" Rosaline asks. "Am I not supposed to marry, then?"
"Everyone falls in love," Lucifer says. "It is only a matter of time before someone does with you, too."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because you're a sweet young girl, and one day some guy is going to realize that, and you're going to live happily ever after." He looks down at her affectionately, and realizes how true those words were. She is a nice girl, and that may be Lucifer's problem with her. She's curious and she's friendly. Overall, she's just too kind to him, and it's hard to believe he will have to kill her before that perfect guy finds her. He will do it anyway, for the good of Heaven.
"That sounds like a fairytale," she remarks.
"A fairy tail?" he repeats, confused. Fairies don't have tails.
"Have you never heard a fairytale before?" she asks incredulously. Lucifer shakes his head. "Well, I'll tell you one, then!"
She goes on to tell him about three pigs that each built their own houses. A wolf tries to destroy their houses, but the third pig had a house of bricks that couldn't be destroyed. How did a pig make a brick house, anyway? The pig and his brothers all hide in the brick house until the wolf leaves. Why did the brick pig decide to let the other pigs stay with him? It's their own fault for building such weak houses.
"Why did the wolf try to destroy their houses?" Lucifer asks when she finishes.
Rosaline giggles. "Because he's evil, obviously!"
"But why?" he repeats. "Something must have made him decide to blow their houses down. You do not just decide to destroy something. There is always a reason."
A/N I feel like I'm writing a Castiel story right now :)
"The wolf is just a bad wolf," Rosaline explains. "That is his only reason."
Lucifer shakes his head. "No, there must be more to this story. The wolf should get to tell his side."
Rosaline just laughs. "The wolf is not real, Lucifer," she tells him. "It is just a story."
"Why did they decide to make the wolf evil, though?"
Rosaline shrugs. "That's just what the creator decided to do, I suppose. You are looking into this way too much."
"What is another fairytale you know?" he asks.
She tells him the story of a girl that travels through the woods to bring her grandmother food, even though she is not supposed to. Why she decided to do it is confusing for the angel, but he doesn't ask. The girl finds a wolf in the woods, who then eats her grandmother and pretends to be her, so she can eat the little girl.
"Why is the wolf always the bad character?" Lucifer asks when Rosaline finishes.
"I do not know," she tells him.
"Do you know of any that the wolf is not evil?" he asks.
"I know some without wolves at all," she replies.
"Like what?"
Rosaline tells him another story, this one of three bears that go for a walk while their food cools. Why did they not just stay in the house? Food cannot take too long to cool, can it? Another little girl sneaks into their house and eats their food, sits in their chairs, and sleeps in their beds while they aren't home. When they come back, they try to eat her. Why all the villains are obsessed with eating people, Lucifer will never understand.
"Why did she sneak into their house?" he asks aloud.
She laughs again. "It does not matter why. She just did it."
"But the 'why' is all that matters," Lucifer protests. "One is not good or bad based on actions alone, but their motives as well."
Lucifer realizes how much this applies to him. God may not understand why he is destroying his houses like a wolf, but his motives are pure. Perhaps the wolf that blew down houses was doing it for the greater good. And perhaps the wolf that ate the girl's grandmother only did so because he was starving and would have died otherwise. Maybe the girl that broke into the bears' house was in desperate need of shelter from something that was after her. The "why" is the real story, but its importance is so great, it would ruin the story completely if it were told. If the bad character is explained to the point where the one hearing the story begins to appreciate them as if they were the good one, how would one decide who to side with? How would there be a happy ending, if both characters are understood? Is there ever truly a happy ending at all?