Supernatural in Real Life 5

Chapter 41

Bailey's POV again

"What's going on with Lucifer?" I ask Gabriel after what must have been at least an hour of sitting on my bed in a comfortable silence.
"What do you mean?" Gabriel asks.
"Have you seen him since I... You know..."
"No, still locked in his room," he replies. "Probably for the best, though."
"Why? Shouldn't you want him to come out? Like when you were complaining after Macie disappeared because neither of us would come out. Why's this any different?"
Gabriel lets out a long breath before speaking. "The Lucifer that we've seen since you showed up is not at all the real Lucifer. Was he a like moody, emo teenager? Yes. But he didn't really do anything. But now... Lucifer is capable of a lot when he's mad, and things really aren't going his way right now. He'd want nothing more than to kill Rob, but we won't help him."
"Because we're trying to find Alexis," I remind him. "Which is more important, because she can't defend herself if something happens to her."
"His logic, which is understandable, is that she has Michael, and doesn't need us."
"But she's practically a sixteen year old!" I reminds him. "A sixteen year old, even one with whatever powers she has, isn't ready to, like, protect herself if something tries to kidnap her. And we've seen what Michael does. He's tried to kill Macie. We're really going to leave him alone with Alexis? What if Heaven decides they want her? She'd be gone. We have to go find her."
"Yes, and I agree, but you've got to look at it from Lucifer's perspective. He doesn't like getting close to people, so he doesn't have the same attachment to her that we have, and Rob definitely hasn't been nice to him."
"A couple of beatings that he mostly healed right after aren't a reason to let her get hurt."
"It's not about the 'beatings,'" Gabriel says, sounding exasperated.
"Then what is it about?" I challenge. "You're making this excessively complicated."
"That's because Lucifer is complicated," Gabriel replies. "He's not like the rest of us, who have one job. Save people. Lucifer isn't like that; he has layers. Like onions, or ogres."
I can't help but laugh at the Shrek reference.
"This is just speculation, cuz Dad knows he doesn't tell me anything, but I think the only reason he's even stayed with us for the last seven years is because we're the only family he's still got. Everyone else, all of Heaven and Hell, they've pretty much shunned him. And, for the last seven years, he's thought that our dad was here, so he treated Rob like he'd treat God, and, consequently, anything Rob said, Lucifer would think of it like our dad saying it to him. Like when we first met Rob. If you'd been here, you would have seen... Actually, I'll just give you the memory." He puts two fingers on my forehead, and I find myself teleported away from here.

Hey!" Jensen yells, barging into the room.
Gabriel and Lucifer share a smirk, and the older angel gestures to him to go have some fun with this hunter. Gabriel nods, a plan formulating in his mind. As more people pile into the room, he begins to realize that he's going to need to think bigger. When he sees the angel enter the room, he pauses. Why is there an angel working with hunters? Then someone else enters the room, someone whose power radiates from them in waves. He's never seen so much power in one being. It's easily more than an archangel possesses, and neither Gabriel nor Lucifer make a move to attack him.
"Gabriel?" he says in surprise, then looks to the angel next to him. "Lucifer?"
"What are you?" Lucifer demands.
"It's me. It's God."
Neither archangel has a response for that at first. It's Gabriel that speaks after a few long moments.
"You're God? The man upstairs that went AWOL millennia ago? No offense, but I don't buy it."
"I'd prove it, but I don't really know how."
"What's something that only you and I would know?" Gabriel asks.
He chuckles. "Wow, you really are becoming a cliché. I don't know. Ask me a question or something, and I'll answer it."
"Alright... Who was my best friend in Heaven?"
"You didn't have one," he replies without hesitation. "You were the only archangel to play with everyone."
Gabriel nods slowly. "Yeah." He looks up at Lucifer, who's just staring at God. Gabriel nudges his brother, silently signaling him to do something.
"Dad?" he says softly, his eyes filled with awe.
God nods once, the kindness he had shown for Gabriel suddenly disappearing. "Unfortunately."
"What?"
"I locked you up because you tried to hurt humanity, no what have you been doing since you got out? Killing people."
"Yeah, but Gabriel —"
"You always do that, making excuses for everything. How about you take responsibility for your actions for once? I locked you up thinking you'd change. Looks like I was wrong. You're still just as much of a disappointment as you used to be."
The look on Lucifer's face can only be described as pure heartbreak. He doesn't say anything; he doesn't defend himself, he doesn't ask for forgiveness. He just stands there in a saddened silence as the memory fades away.

"Oh my god," I say softly.
Gabriel just nods. "Yeah. Rob's been after him since day one. Imagine how he felt, thinking that it was his own father saying that to him. For the last seven years, Lucifer thought our dad hated him. Lucifer may have acted like he hated Rob back, but he didn't. Not really. I think there's always been a part of him that just wanted to get Rob to feel bad. I think he really just tried to piss him off just hoping he'd see Rob show at least a little sympathy, or guilt, after what he would do. Obviously, it didn't work, cuz it wasn't the real God. But now do you see why he wants to kill Rob so much?"
I nod. "Yeah. I didn't realize... Now I feel bad about leaving him like that."
"It might be better in the long run. You only knew each other a couple months. Imagine what would happen if you were together for decades and then you died. He'd probably blow up the continent."
"Is that why you seem fine after what happened with you and Jared?" I ask.
Gabriel's expression falls when I bring that up. "No, that's different. I would rather have stayed with Jared until the end, and then I'm sure I'd find someone else, maybe stay with them for a while, and it would be just as bad as it is now. But I've been through enough breakups in the last couple millennia that I've been on earth that I don't really dwell on them too much."
"I wish it was that easy for me. As if I wasn't feeling bad enough before this morning, it's not getting any better."
"My advice? Just get your mind off it. Go do something fun."
"Like what?" I ask.
"I don't know. Wanna go somewhere?"
I nod in agreement. "Definitely. Where to?"