Amongst Lovely Things (2/?) (Dean/Castiel, Sam/Gabriel | R)
Title: Amongst Lovely Things (2/?)
Part 1
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Claire, Lucifer, Dean/Castiel, Sam/Gabriel, Jesse
Warnings: Spoilers for season 5, au
Betas: sweetsyren
Word count: 5416
Summary: Lessons come in many forms.
"The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things."- Plato
It's a long stretch of deserted beach, sands too white and perfect to be real. The water just a little too blue, the waves a little too perfect for surfing. Still Sam has to ask, "Are you sure this is the place?" It's taken them several days to find this beach. Jesse has hidden himself well from both demons and angels. Gabriel also had no desire to make himself noticeable to his brothers.
Gabriel shoots him a look and rolls his eyes. "No, its a perfect beach created by another ten year old cambion."
"Or you could be dicking around," Sam mutters. He also really wants to know where his shoes are. The sand does feel good and cool between his toes, but Gabriel needs to stop removing bits of his clothes when he snaps them places.
"Oh, Sammy, if I'm going to dick around with you it's going to be in a whole different way," Gabriel's voice is thick and sure. He leers up at Sam and slides his hand under Sam's shirt and up his back.
Sam leans back into Gabriel's hand for just a moment. "Then what do you call the Mystery Spot? Or the whole 'TV Land' thing?"
Gabriel's drawing sigils and runes over Sam's spine and it's hard not to shiver. "Having a bit of fun? Trying to impart a important lesson about brushing your teeth and wearing condoms?"
"Uh-huh," Sam says with a doubtful snort. Gabriel's fingers trail down lower into his jeans. "No sex on the beach."
"But I like sex on the beach," Gabriel says sing-song.
Mind-blowing sex aside, Sam has not idea why he puts with Gabriel. "Focus, Gabriel. Let's find Jesse, then maybe sex on the beach."
"Spoil-sport," Gabriel says with a long suffering sigh. "I don't know why I hang out with you. Oh wait, yes I do. You're hot in bed with an ass to die for."
"And that kind of talk is why Dean hates you," Sam points out as they head further down the beach.
Gabriel laughs. "No, he hates me for stealing his baby brother's virtue. But it's only fair considering he stole my baby brother's virtue."
Sam makes a bitch-face at him. "Can we not talk about Dean's sex life?"
"You mean you don't want to know where he puts his ton -- " Sam cuts Gabriel off with a hand over his mouth.
"No, I don't," Sam tells him firmly. He spots a large beach house just up the beach coming into view like a mirage. "And I think he knows we're here."
Gabriel shakes his head and tries to speak around Sam's hand, then just licks his palm. Sam takes his hand away and wipes it on his jeans. Gabriel grins and bounces up on his toes like a excited and over-sugared five year old. "Nope, while you were freaking out about your brother getting freaky with mine, I was undoing some interesting bits of magic and wards hiding the place. I wonder if the kid even knows how he did it or just made it up as he went along."
"We need to be careful," Sam tells him, but is pretty sure Gabriel won't listen to a word of it. He likes saying I told you so. "He turned Castiel into a action figure."
"So, I heard. The kid's got style. Did Action Castiel have kung-fu grip?" Gabriel asks as they grow closer to the house. Or maybe the house is moving closer to them. Sam's pretty sure they haven't walked that far since the house came into view.
"Wouldn't know. Dean kept him pretty, uh, close." Sam is sure the house is getting closer now. They're almost to the steps.
Gabriel laughs. "Wonder if he 'played' with him. And him giving me shit over molesting you when he molested my baby brother when he couldn't even protest!"
"Just watch it okay? The kid's powerful, and he's probably not going to like us showing up like this."
It's a pretty nice beach house, Sam has to admit that. It's large with lots of windows, woven grass roof with a tower in the center that looks as if it has climbing ropes and a slide going to the backside of the house. Sam suspects there's a pool.
"I can handle myself," Gabriel snorts, then grins up at the top of the stairs. "And it be rude to turn his guests into things. Wouldn't it Jesse?"
Sam blinks and sure enough the boy is standing there now. He's much like Sam remembers him -- though there are dark circles under his eyes now. Other than that he looks like a carefree boy on vacation, complete with bare feet and swim trunks.
"Hi, Sam," Jesse says, a edge of confusion and wariness to his tone.
"Hey, Jesse. Nice place," Sam keeps his tone easy. He doesn't just want spring anything on the boy. "Wanted to see how you were doing."
Jesse shrugs. "I'm alright. Learning to surf. Who's that and why are you here?"
Gabriel grins, slow and wide. "Pleasure before business, kiddo. You look like a kid that could use a chocolate chocolate chip milkshake," he raises his hand and snaps his fingers. In a blink they're by a pool. Sam was right there is a pool and the slide does go into it. Sam's got some sort of frozen drink in his hand and somehow now has on swim trunks. Gabriel's holding a strawberry daiquiri or something resembling one, and has acquired a pair of red swim trunks of his own. Jesse's looking rather stunned from where he's now on a float in the pool holding a large milk shake complete with whip cream and a cheery.
"Whoa. How did you do that so fast? How -- Who are you?" He asked.
Sam frowns over a Gabriel who winks. Crap, this could go badly.
"I'm a Trickster, of sorts, but you can call me Gabriel. As for how I did that...well that I can teach you," he pauses and smiles at Jesse. Sam can see the mischief in Gabriel's hazel eyes, but it's warm. Like he already likes the kid. "If you want of course. But like I said pleasure before business. Mind if we hang around for a few days?"
"If you want us to leave..." Sam starts because if Gabriel gets turned into a action figure or something else Sam will - well he doesn't have clue what he'll do. He's fairly certain Jesse won't hurt him and will only do something to Gabriel if he feels threatened.
Jesse shrugs and takes a sip of his milkshake. "Nah, you guys can hang for a bit. It kinda gets lonely."
Sam suddenly realizes that Gabriel knew that.
***
Dawn has barely broken over the town of Carthage. It paints pink and orange on the horizon and most are still asleep. Even demons sleep, mostly out of sloth than any real need. Death never sleeps. War only closes his eyes to the world for a short time.
Claire is still as asleep, curled in the blankets clutching a stuffed monkey that once belonged to one of the many children slaughtered in the town. If she knows that she hasn't said. If she wonders where that child has gone, she hasn't asked. Claire is still young by anyone's standards.
Lucifer, once called the Morningstar, watches her for a moment from the connecting door between there rooms. He keeps her close. He made her room everything she could want and more. The happier she is the more her grace glows, the more the excess pours off of her and into him.
It's only that, he tells himself, as he crosses the room to her bed.
This will be the first day he'll be gone since he brought her here almost a week ago. He trusts the demons little but fear will keep them in check. You don't touch what is his and live.
Still something grips his chest, he'd blame it on this imperfect vessel, the fact that the body is human at all, if there wasn't a twisting in his grace as well. He refuses to name it. The girl, his fledg--
She's a tool nothing more.
Lucifer sits on the edge of the bed like he's done so many times in Sam's dreams. Now, though, he reaches out and smooths back blond hair. Her grace twines around his, burrows against it, like a child into the warmth of it's mother. Sleepy blue eyes blink open.
"Lucifer?" Claire's voice is quiet and she rubs her eyes.
He strokes her hair again. "I'll be gone today. Practice your sigils, stay near the house," he keeps his voice just as soft.
She shifts towards him, eyes closing sleepily for a moment. "'kay," she mumbles. "Can I play with Cerberus?"
"You may," he tells her. "If you need anything, tell Meg. She will get it for you."
Claire makes a noise that he can't interpret. "Don't like her."
"She's useful," Lucifer says, and rubs his hand over her back feeling the shift and movement at her shoulder blades. Her back has been bothering her. She doesn't complain but Lucifer knows. The movement under her skin tells all. There will be time yet, before they break through, otherwise he would not leave her. The breaching of wings is a delicate thing, even without these human vessels. And fledglings are most vulnerable when their wings are new and downy.
They also spill off so much grace. Heaven used to glow with it when the current flock of fledglings in the rookery gained their wings. Pain shoots across his grace at the thought of the rookery. Of fledglings with no knowledge of their parents.
Lucifer ruthlessly shoves the memories and the pain aside.
"Where are you going?" Claire asks, drowsy curiosity coloring her voice and her grace.
He makes a "hum" noise in his throat. "Wellington."
Claire makes a face up at him. "Where's that?"
"Ohio," he tells her, indulgently.
"Oh," she settles down again with a yawn.
A memory stirs and he's not sure if it's his own or Nick's. "Would you...like me to bring you something back?"
She nods, curling up closer to him. "Hm-mhm," her grace is so very content and warm.
"Then I shall. Now go back to sleep little one. I will see you this evening."
Her eyes close again. "Promise?"
Lucifer closes his own eyes for a moment. His fingers brush across her forehead. "I promise. Sleep now."
He stays until she falls back asleep, then tucks her blankets back around her. He runs his fingers over her hair one last time as he rises. Claire is young and she needs her rests. Nothing will harm her here. Nothing would dare to.
As he descends the stairs Meg is waiting for him. He smiles. She expects to go with him. Oh won't the little demon be disappointed. "Megera, I leave Claire in your care. See to it she has everything she wants or needs."
The demon's eyes widen then narrow, and the body she's in grits its teeth. "Yes, Lord Lucifer."
Lucifer smiles sharp and cruel. "Good."
***
Castiel is running his fingers through Dean's hair as the early morning sun starts to leak through the inefficient curtains. How will he tell Dean this? What will Dean think of him?
He had promised, promised Jimmy so faithfully. He's failed in this as he has in so many things. He prays that both his Father and Jimmy will forgive him.
Dean stirs slightly and he mumbles something that translate into, "Cas, why you awake?"
"Go back to sleep, Dean," Castiel whispers, nuzzling the top of Dean's head. He so wishes to put this off a little longer.
Of course, he should have remembered that Dean is disobedient and stubborn. It is something he normal loves about the man.
Dean tightens his arm around Castiel's waist. "Tell me what's wrong," he insists sleepily.
Castiel thinks about just putting Dean to sleep, but he cannot afford to waste his grace that way. Dean would also be furious with him come morning. "I went to check on Jimmy's family while you slept."
"Okay?" Dean asks in confusion. He props himself up slightly to look at Castiel who finds it hard to meet Dean's eyes.
For a long stretch of time, Castiel cannot find the words in English to explain. There's a twisting feeling in his chest, the same feeling as when he couldn't heal Bobby, when he couldn't save Jo and Ellen, only it's worse.
"Cas?" Dean sounds worried now and he slides his hand over the back of Castiel's neck. "Hey, talk to me. Your kinda freaking me out here."
"The Novak home was burned almost to the ground," Castiel tells him. It smelled like sulfur, and a lingering odor of smoke as if something was still burning.
Dean inhales sharply. "Are Amelia and Claire alright?" He knows they aren't, Castiel can hear it in Dean's voice. But he still asks, even after everything Dean's life as shown him, he still hopes.
Castiel finds himself searching for Dean's hand and clasping it tightly in his. It's a urge he doesn't understand but it eases something. "Amelia is dead."
"From the fire?" Dean asks carefully. Of course, Dean's mother and her horrible death by fire, by demon, Castiel should have kept this to himself. He should have not given Dean the details.
Still, it would be easier if he could tell Dean yes. "I believe, I sensed..." He frowns slightly, trying to remember the sensation as he stood at the spot Amelia died. "She was already dead when the fire began."
"Shit."
Castiel nods, he agrees with the sentiment if not the expression. "The three other bodies found with her did die in the fire."
Dean squeezes Castiel's fingers. "Think it was demons?"
"There was the very strong smell of sulfur," Castiel tells him. He shifts his shoulders wishing he could wrap his wings around himself.
"Shit," Dean says again. "We should get over there and see what else we can find out."
Castiel closes his eyes, squeezes them tightly. Dean will never forgive him. "The fire was five days ago."
Dean doesn't say a word. Castiel heart crashes to the ground along with his grace.
"I know I have failed in this duty. I promised Jimmy this one thing and I...I wasn't not there to protect them. I had not checked on them in weeks," he admits. He moves to rise from the bed and go - he isn't sure where. He just wishes to flee.
The arm around his waist refuses to let go and Castiel doesn't want to harm Dean. "You didn't fail, Cas. You could have been playing guardian angel every damn night and this still could have happened." Dean pulls Castiel's head down and kisses him. "I should have checked up on them more, too. Hell, I should have checked up on so many people in my life."
Castiel rests his forehead against Dean's. He can only hope Jimmy is as forgiving as Dean.
They shift on the bed, curling around each other in the sheets. Dean traces meaningless things into Castiel's back, runs his fingers over the places where Castiel's wings are joined. His back twitches and his shoulders roll under the want to let his wings come out and spread. Instead he fights the urge and marks Dean's back with sigils and runes, writes his love into Dean's skin.
He thinks Dean is almost asleep when Dean nuzzles his neck. "You didn't say about Claire."
No he hadn't, had he?
"There was no sign of her," Castiel says softly, as if speaking it too loudly would break something. "Except for..."
"C'mon Cas, tell me," Dean prods gently.
"There were the faint after marks of two sets of graces in the field near the home," there's a tremor in his voice. Castiel fears saying this out loud will make his suspicions true. "One was Lucifer's."
Dean's body tenses and he breathes shakily against Castiel's throat. "The other? Shit, tell me it wasn't Raphael, last thing we need is those two dicks joining forces."
"It wasn't the grace of any of my elder brothers," Castiel assures Dean. How is he going to make Dean understand this? "When a fledgling is newly made their grace is brighter, stronger than it will be when they are fully grown. This serves to help them mature. Growing wings takes a vast amount of energy. They have so much grace that it sheds, for a lack of a better term, off them. It is absorbed by those assigned to their flock."
Castiel can feel Dean's frown against his skin. "Okay, and what does that have to do with the other grace and Claire?"
"The other grace signature was young, new. Untidy edges and messy trails instead of a clean impression," Castiel explains. He lets his fingers stray up and over to the mark he left on Dean's skin, the feel of his grace under Dean's skin, in Dean's soul. It calms him. "I recognized it, in part. The soul was still clear in the grace and I knew that soul deeply. She had been my vessel for a short time and I could never mistake such a clear bright soul."
Dean's fingers pause. "Claire? Why would Claire have grace? The kid was no angel - or was she like Anna?"
"No, she was not like Anna." Castiel at least knows that much. He would have sensed that much. But he fears...
Dean sighs and kisses Castiel's collar bone as if reassuring him that Dean wasn't mad or anything of the sort. "How then?"
Castiel closes his eyes. Closes his eyes and lies to his mate. "I don't know."
***
The moon sits high in the sky when Gabriel finds Jesse up on the roof. The boy had his hands behind his neck staring up at the bright stars. They've been there two real days and two weeks inside the illusion. Gabriel had manipulated the rather rudimentary illusion and construct the kid had made so that they'd have the time they needed. Time that, in the real world, they didn't have. Sammy wasn't pleased but he knew it was necessary and it was hard for Gabriel to feel guilty when he watched Sam and Jesse playing in the pool with wide smiles and honest laughter.
"You know there's an angel tied by his ankle up there," Gabriel says conversationally as he joins the kid. He stretches out next to him and leans back on his arms. "He was a bit of a douche though. Mikey whined about having to do it though."
Jesse turns his head and blinks several time. "You can't tie a angel to a star."
Gabriel snorts. "You can too. He's tied to Orion. He's probably bored as all get out. I know I would be." He snaps his fingers and materialises a Snickers bar. "Want one?"
"Can you make a milky way?" Jesse asks.
The kid's curious, that's good. Gabriel can use that. Plus he already likes this kid. Jesse has imagination and a bit of a mischievous streak, but for the most part he reminds Gabriel of Sam. He wants to be more than his blood makes him. He doesn't believe he doesn't have a choice. "Can't you make your own?"
Jesse frowns up at the stars. "Haven't worked out brands yet. I can make candy, but its not the same, you know?"
"You have to get it just right," Gabriel agrees. "Otherwise its like eating a cheap knock off. Took me a bit to get M&Ms right. Always liked the green ones," he snaps his fingers and tosses Jesse the Milky Way bar.
"Thanks." And will wonders never cease the kid's got some manners buried in there. He'd expected a few more sharp edges, but Jesse is lonely and a bit scared. He misses his parents. Gabriel has the strong urge to wrap the kid up in his wings. He's had the urge since the second day.
"No problem, kiddo. Always happy to help a fellow candy enthusiast," Gabriel says with a grin. "Now Sammy, he's got a weakness for Cadburys Creme Eggs but he hates to admit it. If I left him to his own devices he'd be eating rabbit food all the time." Gabriel makes a face.
Jesse laughs. "You mean he likes eating his vegetables?"
"Scary, huh?"
Jesse dissolves into giggles and flops back against the roof. There's a sleeping bag nailed up there, under which Jesse is laying.
They eat their candy bars, including the two more for each of them Gabriel snapped up. Gabriel tells Jesse about Anansi the Spider stealing stories. He recounts the time he and Raven pulled a practically brilliant trick on Seagull. Gabriel even tells the kid about a few of the pranks he's played on Dean and Sam - the harmless ones - there were somethings better left in the past. Driving Sam insane in the name of teaching him a lesson being one of them.
Jesse listens in rapt attention. He asks questions sometimes and just laughs others. Gabriel winds down story time with one of Mouse Woman's many instances of helping out some young woman determined to do things her own way. He can sense the kid is growing sleepy. Which is good because Gabriel when he took a peak in Jesse head gleaned that the kid hadn't slept since he and Sam showed up.
If Jesse falls asleep then it means this could work. He's got to trust Gabriel and Sam. He needs to know that he'll be protected.
Gabriel will protect this cambion like he should have protected his own young. Sam...Sam's heart had opened wide for the boy from the moment he met him.
"Can you teach me?" Jesse asks on the tail end of a yawn. He's half on his side know watching Gabriel with drooping eyes.
"Teach you what, kiddo?"
Jesse yawns again, his eyes drifting shut for a moment before fluttering open. "Stuff. Stuff like you do."
Gabriel reaches out and strokes at hand over Jesse's hair. "Yeah, I can do that."
"Sam too."
"Yeah, Sam too," Gabriel promises. "We'll take care of you."
Jesse's eyes fall shut again. "Kay," he mumbles.
After Gabriel's sure Jesse is asleep he scoops the boy up and tucks him into bed.
His wings are still out as he watches the even rise and fall of the boy's chest, when Sam presses against his back. They stand like that for a long stretch of time and Gabriel desperately tries not to think of the past.
***
Lucifer returns later then he would have liked. His errand hadn't been as...fruitful as he would have liked. In a way he's grateful to be back to the house. His thoughts kept returning to Claire. Lucifer didn't worry, not about some useful little tool, but she was at a very vulnerable stage.
She would be pleased with her present, he decides as he enters the house. The few demons milling around quickly remove themselves from his sight. There's some soft murmuring but he ignores it. The hour is late and Claire will soon be in bed if she is not already. He wants her to have her present before she sleeps. After all he did promise her.
He will never lie to her.
Twin daggers he'd found in some human store. One iron the other silver. They were quite beautiful even more so after he'd marked them enchonian and runes. Lucifer is looking forward to teaching her how to use them. There are a few demons that will make excellent target practice for the child.
The hall is empty and there is no sign of Megera. He frowns at this. She should be in the house watching over Claire. Lucifer follows the pulse of Claire's young grace through the darkened kitchen and living room.
He hears Death's voice before he hears Claire and he pauses in the doorway of the study.
"But if I move my knight there your queen will kill him," Claire protests, looking down at the chess board. Her back is too him and she shifts her shoulders in a way that says her wings will soon breach.
Death chuckles, warm and indulgent. "You didn't seem to mind sacrificing your pawns, Claire," he picks up one of the white pawns and turns it in his fingers.
Claire tilts her head to the side, and Lucifer lips curve upwards. So much like- He pushes away the thought before it finishes. "There were more of them. I only have two knights."
"It is easier to send many to their deaths in battle than one or two, hm?" Death points out. "Think about that your move should be after moving your knight. What will it be?"
Lucifer is curious as to how this little chess lesson started. Death showed no interest in Claire before.
She seems to consider this for a brief moment. "My king's side bishop."
"Very good move," Lucifer chuckles and steps further into the room.
Claire turns half way around in her chair and grins widely. "Lucifer, you're back!" It's the most excited, happy, as he has seen. Her grace had glowed with contentment when he taught her or took her around the camp but now her grace is spilling everywhere, a happy bright thing.
He chuckles crossing the room. Her grace reaches and curls around his, overflowing with extra energy. Lucifer likes her happy. When she's happy her grace is stronger and charges his own so much quicker.
Death looks at him in an almost amused way. As if he was some curiosity. Lucifer bristles and moves behind Claire so he can stroke her hair.
"Your fledgling is a very fast learner and has excellent taste in food," Death tells him.
"We had pizza for dinner. There's still some if you want it," Claire tells him one the end of a yawn.
Lucifer absently traces a rune across her forehead. "I do not require food, little one. Now I believe it is time for you to rest."
For a moment she looks like she's going to argue with him and he sends a firm nudge with his grace. "I'm not sleepy," she still protests as she gets to her feet.
"Yes, I can see that," Lucifer agrees indulgently. "Go. I will be up momentarily. If you wish for your gift tonight I expect to see you in bed."
Claire nods and yawns again. "Goodnight, Death."
"Sleep peacefully, Claire."
Lucifer watches as Claire walks sleepily out of the room and tracks her grace as she climbs the stairs.
"Your little fledgling is quite something," Death chuckles folding his hands over the chess board. "Would you like to know what she's done while you've been gone?"
Lucifer turns his head sharply towards Death.
Death leans back in his chair. "It seems three of those demons of yours decided she didn't belong here. Dear little Meg was no where to be found."
Rage roars through Lucifer. Those demons will regret even looking at what is his. "Where are these demons?" he demands.
"Oh, little Claire took care of them," Death's smile is sharp, deadly and harmless all at once. Lucifer dislikes that Death unnerves him so much. "I don't think any demon here will dare even think about harming her."
Death doesn't say why or how but Lucifer will get the facts out of one of the demons. Or Megera. He had left Claire in her charge.
"I would be wary of your favorite. I believe she would fit very well in a fairy tale with an evil step-mother," Death's tone is light, amused. "I am fond of the child, Lucifer. Be wary of what you plan for her."
Lucifer snarls twisting Nick's face. "What I plan for the little one is my business alone, Death. Do not forget who holds your leash."
Death tips his head to the side. "You should worry more about the leash slipping."
"I will not be mocked," Lucifer snaps and turns to leave the room. He is suddenly anxious to examine Claire's grace more carefully for any injuries. He...he needs her, after all. She is healing this imperfect vessel, if not for that he would be rid of her.
Lucifer careful does not study his own words for the truth.
"Have you looked at her soul, Samael?" Death asks before he passes through the thresh hold.
Something in Death's voice causes Lucifer to pause. "I have no need."
Death chuckles, a soft amused sound like adult watching a child put something together improperly. "Or you're afraid."
Lucifer does not answer. He fears no thing or creature of Heaven, Earth, or Hell.
***
Claire curls into a ball, kicking away the sheets. The itching between her shoulder blades had grown worse that day, almost aching. But it never hurt like this. Like something under her skin was trying to push out. To tear through her skin and be free. She curls up tighter, and whimpers. Her face is wet, and she presses it into the sheets. She doesn't want the demons to hear her. Especially not Meg. Or the Horsemen. She likes War, who called her fiery, and Death who had been so nice to her since she'd been there.
But it hurts so badly. For a horrible, painful moment she wants her daddy. She wants him to be there so badly that she forgets she hates him. That she forgets that all this is his fault. A sob escapes her lips.
"Easy little one," a hand runs down her back. "I know it hurts, but it'll be over soon. It always hurts when they first break free."
Claire sniffles and lets herself curl around Lucifer who strokes her hair and mummers soft words of comfort. "Make it stop," she sobs. "It hurts."
Lucifer gathers her close and she's encircled in soft feathers. "I cannot make it stop," he whispers. He rubs his hand between her shoulder blades.
She clings to him as the pain grows, the pressure grows worse and something on her back tears. Claire makes a sound that doesn't even sound human to her own ears but she doesn't care. Because it hurts. It's all she can think about. Something slick and wet is running down her back.
"Let it happen, my little one," she's cradled in arms and feathers. Something is being pulled free and she makes the sound again.
The searing pain of skin tearing comes again and she is dimly aware of the sound of glass shattering as she wails.
"Almost done. You are doing so well. My brave girl," is whispered into her hair.
He's pulling something out from her back and the pressure disappears. She's left with a shuddering ache, edged in jagged pain. Feathers press close and the pain slowly leeches away.
There's a tugging weight on her back and the skin feels sticky. Claire trembles and Lucifer pushes back sweaty hair from her forehead. "Look at your wings, Claire."
She takes in a shaky breath. "Wings?"
"Yes," he tells her. He doesn't lie to her, not like her father, not like her mother. Not like Castiel. Lucifer's wings brush against her's in a way that makes her feel safe and loved.
Claire looks over her shoulder and glimpses a bit of wing coming from her own back. It looks wet and red - bloody, she thinks. "Can I fly?"
Lucifer laughs and brushes his feathers across hers again. "When you have your flight feathers. How do they feel?"
"Heavy, weird," Claire says. She just wants to curl up again and sleep now that the pains gone. She tries to shift the muscles. "Gross."
She's gathered up in his arms as he stands like she was a little kid. She wants to wrinkle her nose and complain because she isn't a little kid. Maybe she will later.
"Let's wash and groom your wings, little one. Then you may sleep," Lucifer assures her. "Don't you wish to see what your wings look like?"
Claire looks at the wings stretching out from Lucifer's back. They're look like grandma's cat after she rolled around in the fire place. There are places that look like the burnt end of a piece of paper.
She thinks they look cool. Better than any white fluffy thing books always showed. Claire likes these wings. "I want red ones."
Lucifer chuckles and nuzzles her hair as he carries her to the large master bathroom. "Hmm, those are rare, but so are you."
Part 3
Part 1
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Claire, Lucifer, Dean/Castiel, Sam/Gabriel, Jesse
Warnings: Spoilers for season 5, au
Betas: sweetsyren
Word count: 5416
Summary: Lessons come in many forms.
"The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things."- Plato
It's a long stretch of deserted beach, sands too white and perfect to be real. The water just a little too blue, the waves a little too perfect for surfing. Still Sam has to ask, "Are you sure this is the place?" It's taken them several days to find this beach. Jesse has hidden himself well from both demons and angels. Gabriel also had no desire to make himself noticeable to his brothers.
Gabriel shoots him a look and rolls his eyes. "No, its a perfect beach created by another ten year old cambion."
"Or you could be dicking around," Sam mutters. He also really wants to know where his shoes are. The sand does feel good and cool between his toes, but Gabriel needs to stop removing bits of his clothes when he snaps them places.
"Oh, Sammy, if I'm going to dick around with you it's going to be in a whole different way," Gabriel's voice is thick and sure. He leers up at Sam and slides his hand under Sam's shirt and up his back.
Sam leans back into Gabriel's hand for just a moment. "Then what do you call the Mystery Spot? Or the whole 'TV Land' thing?"
Gabriel's drawing sigils and runes over Sam's spine and it's hard not to shiver. "Having a bit of fun? Trying to impart a important lesson about brushing your teeth and wearing condoms?"
"Uh-huh," Sam says with a doubtful snort. Gabriel's fingers trail down lower into his jeans. "No sex on the beach."
"But I like sex on the beach," Gabriel says sing-song.
Mind-blowing sex aside, Sam has not idea why he puts with Gabriel. "Focus, Gabriel. Let's find Jesse, then maybe sex on the beach."
"Spoil-sport," Gabriel says with a long suffering sigh. "I don't know why I hang out with you. Oh wait, yes I do. You're hot in bed with an ass to die for."
"And that kind of talk is why Dean hates you," Sam points out as they head further down the beach.
Gabriel laughs. "No, he hates me for stealing his baby brother's virtue. But it's only fair considering he stole my baby brother's virtue."
Sam makes a bitch-face at him. "Can we not talk about Dean's sex life?"
"You mean you don't want to know where he puts his ton -- " Sam cuts Gabriel off with a hand over his mouth.
"No, I don't," Sam tells him firmly. He spots a large beach house just up the beach coming into view like a mirage. "And I think he knows we're here."
Gabriel shakes his head and tries to speak around Sam's hand, then just licks his palm. Sam takes his hand away and wipes it on his jeans. Gabriel grins and bounces up on his toes like a excited and over-sugared five year old. "Nope, while you were freaking out about your brother getting freaky with mine, I was undoing some interesting bits of magic and wards hiding the place. I wonder if the kid even knows how he did it or just made it up as he went along."
"We need to be careful," Sam tells him, but is pretty sure Gabriel won't listen to a word of it. He likes saying I told you so. "He turned Castiel into a action figure."
"So, I heard. The kid's got style. Did Action Castiel have kung-fu grip?" Gabriel asks as they grow closer to the house. Or maybe the house is moving closer to them. Sam's pretty sure they haven't walked that far since the house came into view.
"Wouldn't know. Dean kept him pretty, uh, close." Sam is sure the house is getting closer now. They're almost to the steps.
Gabriel laughs. "Wonder if he 'played' with him. And him giving me shit over molesting you when he molested my baby brother when he couldn't even protest!"
"Just watch it okay? The kid's powerful, and he's probably not going to like us showing up like this."
It's a pretty nice beach house, Sam has to admit that. It's large with lots of windows, woven grass roof with a tower in the center that looks as if it has climbing ropes and a slide going to the backside of the house. Sam suspects there's a pool.
"I can handle myself," Gabriel snorts, then grins up at the top of the stairs. "And it be rude to turn his guests into things. Wouldn't it Jesse?"
Sam blinks and sure enough the boy is standing there now. He's much like Sam remembers him -- though there are dark circles under his eyes now. Other than that he looks like a carefree boy on vacation, complete with bare feet and swim trunks.
"Hi, Sam," Jesse says, a edge of confusion and wariness to his tone.
"Hey, Jesse. Nice place," Sam keeps his tone easy. He doesn't just want spring anything on the boy. "Wanted to see how you were doing."
Jesse shrugs. "I'm alright. Learning to surf. Who's that and why are you here?"
Gabriel grins, slow and wide. "Pleasure before business, kiddo. You look like a kid that could use a chocolate chocolate chip milkshake," he raises his hand and snaps his fingers. In a blink they're by a pool. Sam was right there is a pool and the slide does go into it. Sam's got some sort of frozen drink in his hand and somehow now has on swim trunks. Gabriel's holding a strawberry daiquiri or something resembling one, and has acquired a pair of red swim trunks of his own. Jesse's looking rather stunned from where he's now on a float in the pool holding a large milk shake complete with whip cream and a cheery.
"Whoa. How did you do that so fast? How -- Who are you?" He asked.
Sam frowns over a Gabriel who winks. Crap, this could go badly.
"I'm a Trickster, of sorts, but you can call me Gabriel. As for how I did that...well that I can teach you," he pauses and smiles at Jesse. Sam can see the mischief in Gabriel's hazel eyes, but it's warm. Like he already likes the kid. "If you want of course. But like I said pleasure before business. Mind if we hang around for a few days?"
"If you want us to leave..." Sam starts because if Gabriel gets turned into a action figure or something else Sam will - well he doesn't have clue what he'll do. He's fairly certain Jesse won't hurt him and will only do something to Gabriel if he feels threatened.
Jesse shrugs and takes a sip of his milkshake. "Nah, you guys can hang for a bit. It kinda gets lonely."
Sam suddenly realizes that Gabriel knew that.
***
Dawn has barely broken over the town of Carthage. It paints pink and orange on the horizon and most are still asleep. Even demons sleep, mostly out of sloth than any real need. Death never sleeps. War only closes his eyes to the world for a short time.
Claire is still as asleep, curled in the blankets clutching a stuffed monkey that once belonged to one of the many children slaughtered in the town. If she knows that she hasn't said. If she wonders where that child has gone, she hasn't asked. Claire is still young by anyone's standards.
Lucifer, once called the Morningstar, watches her for a moment from the connecting door between there rooms. He keeps her close. He made her room everything she could want and more. The happier she is the more her grace glows, the more the excess pours off of her and into him.
It's only that, he tells himself, as he crosses the room to her bed.
This will be the first day he'll be gone since he brought her here almost a week ago. He trusts the demons little but fear will keep them in check. You don't touch what is his and live.
Still something grips his chest, he'd blame it on this imperfect vessel, the fact that the body is human at all, if there wasn't a twisting in his grace as well. He refuses to name it. The girl, his fledg--
She's a tool nothing more.
Lucifer sits on the edge of the bed like he's done so many times in Sam's dreams. Now, though, he reaches out and smooths back blond hair. Her grace twines around his, burrows against it, like a child into the warmth of it's mother. Sleepy blue eyes blink open.
"Lucifer?" Claire's voice is quiet and she rubs her eyes.
He strokes her hair again. "I'll be gone today. Practice your sigils, stay near the house," he keeps his voice just as soft.
She shifts towards him, eyes closing sleepily for a moment. "'kay," she mumbles. "Can I play with Cerberus?"
"You may," he tells her. "If you need anything, tell Meg. She will get it for you."
Claire makes a noise that he can't interpret. "Don't like her."
"She's useful," Lucifer says, and rubs his hand over her back feeling the shift and movement at her shoulder blades. Her back has been bothering her. She doesn't complain but Lucifer knows. The movement under her skin tells all. There will be time yet, before they break through, otherwise he would not leave her. The breaching of wings is a delicate thing, even without these human vessels. And fledglings are most vulnerable when their wings are new and downy.
They also spill off so much grace. Heaven used to glow with it when the current flock of fledglings in the rookery gained their wings. Pain shoots across his grace at the thought of the rookery. Of fledglings with no knowledge of their parents.
Lucifer ruthlessly shoves the memories and the pain aside.
"Where are you going?" Claire asks, drowsy curiosity coloring her voice and her grace.
He makes a "hum" noise in his throat. "Wellington."
Claire makes a face up at him. "Where's that?"
"Ohio," he tells her, indulgently.
"Oh," she settles down again with a yawn.
A memory stirs and he's not sure if it's his own or Nick's. "Would you...like me to bring you something back?"
She nods, curling up closer to him. "Hm-mhm," her grace is so very content and warm.
"Then I shall. Now go back to sleep little one. I will see you this evening."
Her eyes close again. "Promise?"
Lucifer closes his own eyes for a moment. His fingers brush across her forehead. "I promise. Sleep now."
He stays until she falls back asleep, then tucks her blankets back around her. He runs his fingers over her hair one last time as he rises. Claire is young and she needs her rests. Nothing will harm her here. Nothing would dare to.
As he descends the stairs Meg is waiting for him. He smiles. She expects to go with him. Oh won't the little demon be disappointed. "Megera, I leave Claire in your care. See to it she has everything she wants or needs."
The demon's eyes widen then narrow, and the body she's in grits its teeth. "Yes, Lord Lucifer."
Lucifer smiles sharp and cruel. "Good."
***
Castiel is running his fingers through Dean's hair as the early morning sun starts to leak through the inefficient curtains. How will he tell Dean this? What will Dean think of him?
He had promised, promised Jimmy so faithfully. He's failed in this as he has in so many things. He prays that both his Father and Jimmy will forgive him.
Dean stirs slightly and he mumbles something that translate into, "Cas, why you awake?"
"Go back to sleep, Dean," Castiel whispers, nuzzling the top of Dean's head. He so wishes to put this off a little longer.
Of course, he should have remembered that Dean is disobedient and stubborn. It is something he normal loves about the man.
Dean tightens his arm around Castiel's waist. "Tell me what's wrong," he insists sleepily.
Castiel thinks about just putting Dean to sleep, but he cannot afford to waste his grace that way. Dean would also be furious with him come morning. "I went to check on Jimmy's family while you slept."
"Okay?" Dean asks in confusion. He props himself up slightly to look at Castiel who finds it hard to meet Dean's eyes.
For a long stretch of time, Castiel cannot find the words in English to explain. There's a twisting feeling in his chest, the same feeling as when he couldn't heal Bobby, when he couldn't save Jo and Ellen, only it's worse.
"Cas?" Dean sounds worried now and he slides his hand over the back of Castiel's neck. "Hey, talk to me. Your kinda freaking me out here."
"The Novak home was burned almost to the ground," Castiel tells him. It smelled like sulfur, and a lingering odor of smoke as if something was still burning.
Dean inhales sharply. "Are Amelia and Claire alright?" He knows they aren't, Castiel can hear it in Dean's voice. But he still asks, even after everything Dean's life as shown him, he still hopes.
Castiel finds himself searching for Dean's hand and clasping it tightly in his. It's a urge he doesn't understand but it eases something. "Amelia is dead."
"From the fire?" Dean asks carefully. Of course, Dean's mother and her horrible death by fire, by demon, Castiel should have kept this to himself. He should have not given Dean the details.
Still, it would be easier if he could tell Dean yes. "I believe, I sensed..." He frowns slightly, trying to remember the sensation as he stood at the spot Amelia died. "She was already dead when the fire began."
"Shit."
Castiel nods, he agrees with the sentiment if not the expression. "The three other bodies found with her did die in the fire."
Dean squeezes Castiel's fingers. "Think it was demons?"
"There was the very strong smell of sulfur," Castiel tells him. He shifts his shoulders wishing he could wrap his wings around himself.
"Shit," Dean says again. "We should get over there and see what else we can find out."
Castiel closes his eyes, squeezes them tightly. Dean will never forgive him. "The fire was five days ago."
Dean doesn't say a word. Castiel heart crashes to the ground along with his grace.
"I know I have failed in this duty. I promised Jimmy this one thing and I...I wasn't not there to protect them. I had not checked on them in weeks," he admits. He moves to rise from the bed and go - he isn't sure where. He just wishes to flee.
The arm around his waist refuses to let go and Castiel doesn't want to harm Dean. "You didn't fail, Cas. You could have been playing guardian angel every damn night and this still could have happened." Dean pulls Castiel's head down and kisses him. "I should have checked up on them more, too. Hell, I should have checked up on so many people in my life."
Castiel rests his forehead against Dean's. He can only hope Jimmy is as forgiving as Dean.
They shift on the bed, curling around each other in the sheets. Dean traces meaningless things into Castiel's back, runs his fingers over the places where Castiel's wings are joined. His back twitches and his shoulders roll under the want to let his wings come out and spread. Instead he fights the urge and marks Dean's back with sigils and runes, writes his love into Dean's skin.
He thinks Dean is almost asleep when Dean nuzzles his neck. "You didn't say about Claire."
No he hadn't, had he?
"There was no sign of her," Castiel says softly, as if speaking it too loudly would break something. "Except for..."
"C'mon Cas, tell me," Dean prods gently.
"There were the faint after marks of two sets of graces in the field near the home," there's a tremor in his voice. Castiel fears saying this out loud will make his suspicions true. "One was Lucifer's."
Dean's body tenses and he breathes shakily against Castiel's throat. "The other? Shit, tell me it wasn't Raphael, last thing we need is those two dicks joining forces."
"It wasn't the grace of any of my elder brothers," Castiel assures Dean. How is he going to make Dean understand this? "When a fledgling is newly made their grace is brighter, stronger than it will be when they are fully grown. This serves to help them mature. Growing wings takes a vast amount of energy. They have so much grace that it sheds, for a lack of a better term, off them. It is absorbed by those assigned to their flock."
Castiel can feel Dean's frown against his skin. "Okay, and what does that have to do with the other grace and Claire?"
"The other grace signature was young, new. Untidy edges and messy trails instead of a clean impression," Castiel explains. He lets his fingers stray up and over to the mark he left on Dean's skin, the feel of his grace under Dean's skin, in Dean's soul. It calms him. "I recognized it, in part. The soul was still clear in the grace and I knew that soul deeply. She had been my vessel for a short time and I could never mistake such a clear bright soul."
Dean's fingers pause. "Claire? Why would Claire have grace? The kid was no angel - or was she like Anna?"
"No, she was not like Anna." Castiel at least knows that much. He would have sensed that much. But he fears...
Dean sighs and kisses Castiel's collar bone as if reassuring him that Dean wasn't mad or anything of the sort. "How then?"
Castiel closes his eyes. Closes his eyes and lies to his mate. "I don't know."
***
The moon sits high in the sky when Gabriel finds Jesse up on the roof. The boy had his hands behind his neck staring up at the bright stars. They've been there two real days and two weeks inside the illusion. Gabriel had manipulated the rather rudimentary illusion and construct the kid had made so that they'd have the time they needed. Time that, in the real world, they didn't have. Sammy wasn't pleased but he knew it was necessary and it was hard for Gabriel to feel guilty when he watched Sam and Jesse playing in the pool with wide smiles and honest laughter.
"You know there's an angel tied by his ankle up there," Gabriel says conversationally as he joins the kid. He stretches out next to him and leans back on his arms. "He was a bit of a douche though. Mikey whined about having to do it though."
Jesse turns his head and blinks several time. "You can't tie a angel to a star."
Gabriel snorts. "You can too. He's tied to Orion. He's probably bored as all get out. I know I would be." He snaps his fingers and materialises a Snickers bar. "Want one?"
"Can you make a milky way?" Jesse asks.
The kid's curious, that's good. Gabriel can use that. Plus he already likes this kid. Jesse has imagination and a bit of a mischievous streak, but for the most part he reminds Gabriel of Sam. He wants to be more than his blood makes him. He doesn't believe he doesn't have a choice. "Can't you make your own?"
Jesse frowns up at the stars. "Haven't worked out brands yet. I can make candy, but its not the same, you know?"
"You have to get it just right," Gabriel agrees. "Otherwise its like eating a cheap knock off. Took me a bit to get M&Ms right. Always liked the green ones," he snaps his fingers and tosses Jesse the Milky Way bar.
"Thanks." And will wonders never cease the kid's got some manners buried in there. He'd expected a few more sharp edges, but Jesse is lonely and a bit scared. He misses his parents. Gabriel has the strong urge to wrap the kid up in his wings. He's had the urge since the second day.
"No problem, kiddo. Always happy to help a fellow candy enthusiast," Gabriel says with a grin. "Now Sammy, he's got a weakness for Cadburys Creme Eggs but he hates to admit it. If I left him to his own devices he'd be eating rabbit food all the time." Gabriel makes a face.
Jesse laughs. "You mean he likes eating his vegetables?"
"Scary, huh?"
Jesse dissolves into giggles and flops back against the roof. There's a sleeping bag nailed up there, under which Jesse is laying.
They eat their candy bars, including the two more for each of them Gabriel snapped up. Gabriel tells Jesse about Anansi the Spider stealing stories. He recounts the time he and Raven pulled a practically brilliant trick on Seagull. Gabriel even tells the kid about a few of the pranks he's played on Dean and Sam - the harmless ones - there were somethings better left in the past. Driving Sam insane in the name of teaching him a lesson being one of them.
Jesse listens in rapt attention. He asks questions sometimes and just laughs others. Gabriel winds down story time with one of Mouse Woman's many instances of helping out some young woman determined to do things her own way. He can sense the kid is growing sleepy. Which is good because Gabriel when he took a peak in Jesse head gleaned that the kid hadn't slept since he and Sam showed up.
If Jesse falls asleep then it means this could work. He's got to trust Gabriel and Sam. He needs to know that he'll be protected.
Gabriel will protect this cambion like he should have protected his own young. Sam...Sam's heart had opened wide for the boy from the moment he met him.
"Can you teach me?" Jesse asks on the tail end of a yawn. He's half on his side know watching Gabriel with drooping eyes.
"Teach you what, kiddo?"
Jesse yawns again, his eyes drifting shut for a moment before fluttering open. "Stuff. Stuff like you do."
Gabriel reaches out and strokes at hand over Jesse's hair. "Yeah, I can do that."
"Sam too."
"Yeah, Sam too," Gabriel promises. "We'll take care of you."
Jesse's eyes fall shut again. "Kay," he mumbles.
After Gabriel's sure Jesse is asleep he scoops the boy up and tucks him into bed.
His wings are still out as he watches the even rise and fall of the boy's chest, when Sam presses against his back. They stand like that for a long stretch of time and Gabriel desperately tries not to think of the past.
***
Lucifer returns later then he would have liked. His errand hadn't been as...fruitful as he would have liked. In a way he's grateful to be back to the house. His thoughts kept returning to Claire. Lucifer didn't worry, not about some useful little tool, but she was at a very vulnerable stage.
She would be pleased with her present, he decides as he enters the house. The few demons milling around quickly remove themselves from his sight. There's some soft murmuring but he ignores it. The hour is late and Claire will soon be in bed if she is not already. He wants her to have her present before she sleeps. After all he did promise her.
He will never lie to her.
Twin daggers he'd found in some human store. One iron the other silver. They were quite beautiful even more so after he'd marked them enchonian and runes. Lucifer is looking forward to teaching her how to use them. There are a few demons that will make excellent target practice for the child.
The hall is empty and there is no sign of Megera. He frowns at this. She should be in the house watching over Claire. Lucifer follows the pulse of Claire's young grace through the darkened kitchen and living room.
He hears Death's voice before he hears Claire and he pauses in the doorway of the study.
"But if I move my knight there your queen will kill him," Claire protests, looking down at the chess board. Her back is too him and she shifts her shoulders in a way that says her wings will soon breach.
Death chuckles, warm and indulgent. "You didn't seem to mind sacrificing your pawns, Claire," he picks up one of the white pawns and turns it in his fingers.
Claire tilts her head to the side, and Lucifer lips curve upwards. So much like- He pushes away the thought before it finishes. "There were more of them. I only have two knights."
"It is easier to send many to their deaths in battle than one or two, hm?" Death points out. "Think about that your move should be after moving your knight. What will it be?"
Lucifer is curious as to how this little chess lesson started. Death showed no interest in Claire before.
She seems to consider this for a brief moment. "My king's side bishop."
"Very good move," Lucifer chuckles and steps further into the room.
Claire turns half way around in her chair and grins widely. "Lucifer, you're back!" It's the most excited, happy, as he has seen. Her grace had glowed with contentment when he taught her or took her around the camp but now her grace is spilling everywhere, a happy bright thing.
He chuckles crossing the room. Her grace reaches and curls around his, overflowing with extra energy. Lucifer likes her happy. When she's happy her grace is stronger and charges his own so much quicker.
Death looks at him in an almost amused way. As if he was some curiosity. Lucifer bristles and moves behind Claire so he can stroke her hair.
"Your fledgling is a very fast learner and has excellent taste in food," Death tells him.
"We had pizza for dinner. There's still some if you want it," Claire tells him one the end of a yawn.
Lucifer absently traces a rune across her forehead. "I do not require food, little one. Now I believe it is time for you to rest."
For a moment she looks like she's going to argue with him and he sends a firm nudge with his grace. "I'm not sleepy," she still protests as she gets to her feet.
"Yes, I can see that," Lucifer agrees indulgently. "Go. I will be up momentarily. If you wish for your gift tonight I expect to see you in bed."
Claire nods and yawns again. "Goodnight, Death."
"Sleep peacefully, Claire."
Lucifer watches as Claire walks sleepily out of the room and tracks her grace as she climbs the stairs.
"Your little fledgling is quite something," Death chuckles folding his hands over the chess board. "Would you like to know what she's done while you've been gone?"
Lucifer turns his head sharply towards Death.
Death leans back in his chair. "It seems three of those demons of yours decided she didn't belong here. Dear little Meg was no where to be found."
Rage roars through Lucifer. Those demons will regret even looking at what is his. "Where are these demons?" he demands.
"Oh, little Claire took care of them," Death's smile is sharp, deadly and harmless all at once. Lucifer dislikes that Death unnerves him so much. "I don't think any demon here will dare even think about harming her."
Death doesn't say why or how but Lucifer will get the facts out of one of the demons. Or Megera. He had left Claire in her charge.
"I would be wary of your favorite. I believe she would fit very well in a fairy tale with an evil step-mother," Death's tone is light, amused. "I am fond of the child, Lucifer. Be wary of what you plan for her."
Lucifer snarls twisting Nick's face. "What I plan for the little one is my business alone, Death. Do not forget who holds your leash."
Death tips his head to the side. "You should worry more about the leash slipping."
"I will not be mocked," Lucifer snaps and turns to leave the room. He is suddenly anxious to examine Claire's grace more carefully for any injuries. He...he needs her, after all. She is healing this imperfect vessel, if not for that he would be rid of her.
Lucifer careful does not study his own words for the truth.
"Have you looked at her soul, Samael?" Death asks before he passes through the thresh hold.
Something in Death's voice causes Lucifer to pause. "I have no need."
Death chuckles, a soft amused sound like adult watching a child put something together improperly. "Or you're afraid."
Lucifer does not answer. He fears no thing or creature of Heaven, Earth, or Hell.
***
Claire curls into a ball, kicking away the sheets. The itching between her shoulder blades had grown worse that day, almost aching. But it never hurt like this. Like something under her skin was trying to push out. To tear through her skin and be free. She curls up tighter, and whimpers. Her face is wet, and she presses it into the sheets. She doesn't want the demons to hear her. Especially not Meg. Or the Horsemen. She likes War, who called her fiery, and Death who had been so nice to her since she'd been there.
But it hurts so badly. For a horrible, painful moment she wants her daddy. She wants him to be there so badly that she forgets she hates him. That she forgets that all this is his fault. A sob escapes her lips.
"Easy little one," a hand runs down her back. "I know it hurts, but it'll be over soon. It always hurts when they first break free."
Claire sniffles and lets herself curl around Lucifer who strokes her hair and mummers soft words of comfort. "Make it stop," she sobs. "It hurts."
Lucifer gathers her close and she's encircled in soft feathers. "I cannot make it stop," he whispers. He rubs his hand between her shoulder blades.
She clings to him as the pain grows, the pressure grows worse and something on her back tears. Claire makes a sound that doesn't even sound human to her own ears but she doesn't care. Because it hurts. It's all she can think about. Something slick and wet is running down her back.
"Let it happen, my little one," she's cradled in arms and feathers. Something is being pulled free and she makes the sound again.
The searing pain of skin tearing comes again and she is dimly aware of the sound of glass shattering as she wails.
"Almost done. You are doing so well. My brave girl," is whispered into her hair.
He's pulling something out from her back and the pressure disappears. She's left with a shuddering ache, edged in jagged pain. Feathers press close and the pain slowly leeches away.
There's a tugging weight on her back and the skin feels sticky. Claire trembles and Lucifer pushes back sweaty hair from her forehead. "Look at your wings, Claire."
She takes in a shaky breath. "Wings?"
"Yes," he tells her. He doesn't lie to her, not like her father, not like her mother. Not like Castiel. Lucifer's wings brush against her's in a way that makes her feel safe and loved.
Claire looks over her shoulder and glimpses a bit of wing coming from her own back. It looks wet and red - bloody, she thinks. "Can I fly?"
Lucifer laughs and brushes his feathers across hers again. "When you have your flight feathers. How do they feel?"
"Heavy, weird," Claire says. She just wants to curl up again and sleep now that the pains gone. She tries to shift the muscles. "Gross."
She's gathered up in his arms as he stands like she was a little kid. She wants to wrinkle her nose and complain because she isn't a little kid. Maybe she will later.
"Let's wash and groom your wings, little one. Then you may sleep," Lucifer assures her. "Don't you wish to see what your wings look like?"
Claire looks at the wings stretching out from Lucifer's back. They're look like grandma's cat after she rolled around in the fire place. There are places that look like the burnt end of a piece of paper.
She thinks they look cool. Better than any white fluffy thing books always showed. Claire likes these wings. "I want red ones."
Lucifer chuckles and nuzzles her hair as he carries her to the large master bathroom. "Hmm, those are rare, but so are you."
Part 3