Chapter Text
Somewhen at the Beginning
‘I need your help,’ Eve said, cradling a baby in her arms. A little girl, wrapped tightly in a blanket. She couldn't have been more than a few hours old.
There was a shuffling in the corner of the room. A short figure of a fallen angel, only partially hidden by the shadows, took a step forward.
‘I was sure you didn't wish to ever hear from me.’
‘I don’t,’ Eve shook her head. ‘But I must overcome my own grievances.’
She got up with a struggle, holding a baby in one hand and leaning on the wall for support with the other. Then she slowly walked towards Lucifer, and before he could do anything, passed the baby to him.
‘Wha-’ he started in surprise as he realised that he was the one holding the baby now.
‘Take her away,’ Eve said, turning away.
‘What is-’ Lucifer made a haste step forward, glancing at the baby in his arms.
‘Take her away,’ Eve repeated, refusing to look in their direction.
‘I don’t understand… why would you-’
‘She is yours, just take her away!’ Eve exclaimed loudly before Lucifer could finish his question.
The silence hung in the room. Lucifer looked down at the baby in his arms and truly saw her for the first time.
‘She has your eyes,’ Eve added quietly, her gaze still turned away from them.
‘Eve-’
‘You should leave now, Adam will be back soon,’ she interrupted him again, slowly walking back towards the bed.
‘You- you want me to take her? To Hell?’ Lucifer asked. Surely, she couldn't mean that-
‘Yes.’
‘But you were- won’t Adam notice-’
‘I’ll tell him that the baby died and I buried it. He won't ask many questions.’
Lucifer looked at the baby in his arms again. She was awake, observing him silently. He didn't think she could see much yet, but at least it seemed like his presence didn't frighten her, as she didn't cry.
‘Eve-’
‘I already damned all of humanity, what's one more lie?’
Lucifer’s face fell, but he tried again, ‘Eve-’
‘Just go.’
‘But she is your daughter-’
Eve’s gaze snapped towards him, ‘No, she is yours. Take her and leave. Or what? You scared? Do not wish to bring a bastard back to your wife?!’
‘Don't call her that- she is not-’ Lucifer muttered, instinctively tightening his hold on the baby. He didn't like that word. It made her sound so dirty. And she was not.
At least, not in his eyes.
‘I don’t care. I want you and her out of my sight.’
‘Does she- is there a name?’ Lucifer asked, defeated. He knew he couldn't take her back home, but he also knew that he couldn't leave her here, so he would have to come up with something. And fast.
‘Roo.’
‘Roo?’
‘Yes. The root of all evil.’
Lucifer coughed, ‘That’s- that's not really a nice name.’
‘That’s what she is and that's what she always will be,’ Eve snarled, anger evident on her face now.
Lucifer took a step back, ‘I see,’ he then looked Eve over, and for the first time, she felt like he was looking at her as someone beneath him. ‘I never thought you’d be the one to blame an innocent child for your choices.’
‘Get out!’ she screamed, and with a woosh of air, he was gone.
The baby disappeared with him, and if not for the stained sheets and pain in Eve’s abdomen, it would have felt like the baby was never there in the first place.
Erased from history forever.
Eve lowered herself onto the bed and cried.
***
Present day
‘Adam did a number on you, huh?’ the woman asked. There was a needle in her hand, and her long, black hair partially hid her face in the shadows as she leaned over her “patient” who sat on the office chair.
‘I assure you, my dear, I left him in a much worse shape,’ Alastor assured cheerfully, even though his eye twitched when a sharp needle pinched his skin.
‘Could have believed you, considering that Adam is dead,’ she chuckled. ‘But I am no fool, Alastor. I know you ran away-’
‘I did not run away!’
‘Made a strategic retreat?’ She offered a more acceptable version and then continued when Alastor voiced no objections to that phrasing. ‘Anyway, it didn't seem like it was an even match.’
‘I merely got distracted-’
The woman made a sharp tug, pulling Alastor's skin back together, but she used way more force than was necessary, which forced Alastor to grunt in pain and lean forward.
‘Bullshit. You know you cannot trick me.’
‘Well, it doesn't mean I have to stop trying, Roo.’
She grabbed him by the chin with her fingers, ‘You are insufferable. Sometimes I wonder why I keep you around.’
‘I have proven to be useful.’
‘There is debate to be had about that,’ Roo answered, pushing Alastor away by his face, and then got up, throwing a needle with a thread at him and straightening her red leather coat.
Alastor made an annoyed sound but picked the needle up from his lap anyway because he still had to finish stitching his wound up.
Roo lit up a cigarette and said, ‘After you oh-so-hastily retreated from the battlefield, Lucifer showed up,’ she put a cigarette to her lips and inhaled, ‘I didn't think he would.’
‘The little King is very keen on earning back the affections of his daughter,’ Alastor said and then added, despite his better judgment, ‘Youngest daughter.’
Roo let out a bitter laugh, ‘You asshole.’
And then there were suddenly shadows wrapping their shadow tentacles around Alastor's hands and throat. Before he could do anything, he was completely immobilised. A needle fell from his hand back into his lap, the blood still flowing from the wound in places where it wasn't properly stitched over.
Roo came back to him, a cigarette in her teeth, and sat on the edge of the desk. ‘You get too comfortable, Bambi,’ she said before she took her cigarette and put it out on Alastor's jacket. Alastor made a sound, but it was hard to tell if it was the sound of pain or just annoyance. His eyes turned into angry radio dials, but the shadows still kept him firmly in place. ‘My fault, I think. You treat sinners with decency, and they decide they don't have to obey authority,’ Roo shook her head in pretend worry and then picked up the needle, continuing to stitch Alastor up.
The shadow tentacle slowly let go of Alastor's neck, slithering back into nothingness, while others still kept him pretty much tied to a chair.
‘I have been merely pointing out where King's focus currently is,’ Alastor said as carefree as possible, but there was hesitancy in his demeanour now.
He never forgot who he was talking to, but he tended to forget that if the King didn't seem to be very keen on engaging and hurting sinners, his bastard daughter had no such reservations.
A hard pinch made Alastor wince. Roo smiled at him a bit cruelly, showing her sharp teeth.
He worried sometimes whether or not she could read his mind. He tried to be careful with the things he said; his face never gave anything away, but sometimes he thought things, and she seemed to not-so-obviously react to them. And don’t call him crazy! Every time he thought of her as a bastard-
The hard tug of the thread made Alastor almost squeak. It was an unbecoming sound; he was not proud.
‘Do be careful. Unless you want to tear me apart, of course.’
‘Do not threaten me with a good time,’ Roo said before tying the thread. ‘Here, all done,’ she cut away the rest of the thread with her claw and got up. ‘It will heal on its own… eventually.’
‘Eventually?’
‘You’ve been wounded by the angelic steel. You are lucky you have escaped with your afterlife.’
The shadow tentacles let go of him completely, and he got up, fixing his attire. The wound still hurt, but not as much as it could have if left open.
‘So what now?’
‘Nothing has changed. Go back to the hotel and do whatever it is you usually do. Terrorise others, distract Charlie, flirt with my dad-’
There was a distinct radio screech, ‘I do not-’
Roo snorted, looking out of the window of the Radio Tower, ‘Do not bullshit me, Alastor. Your soul is in my hands, and I am very observant.’
Alastor's smile became very sharp at the edges. He didn't like being reminded of the predicament he landed himself in way before he was even dead.
‘When should I expect our next meeting to be?’
‘Soon. It seems like Pentagram City forgot that they are just a tiny dot on a map of Hell,’ Roo looked back at Alastor. ‘I'll make sure to remind them.’
At that, Alastor just nodded and disappeared into the puddle of shadows.