Gib is concerned that things are too quiet. Simon
runs into Uriel, who tells him he needs to talk to Michael.
Raz is encouraging,
Liwya is bitter,
Belial is mocking, and
Julie is out of her timeframe. The conversation with Michael
goes... fairly horribly, but at least Simon still has his head at the end of it.
He's a little disgruntled about his reception, all told, but
gets some insight from Gabriel and a
hug from Guri, while Belial
is enigmatic and
Julie is sympathetic. And he works on
his Purpose by telling Rob how much Dad loves him.
Ben takes Steven to the park and doesn't end up bleeding for once. Simon goes to the mall to spread some joy and
runs into Sariel. And he drags
Raz along too, which ends in disaster when he forgets that this is the mall that Namtar hangs out in and Raz nearly gets his wing cut off. He talks to
Ithuriel about killing and armies.
Simon and Mammon both think that Belial's plot against Lucifer is a dumb idea. And
Simon helps Liwya pick out a dress.
Ben runs into a talking angelic guinea pig and
tells Fritz about it.
He also tells Luke the truth about Santa.
And then it all goes to shit in a spectacular fashion.
Morrigan and Lucifer take Simon and have their brand of fun with him, tearing the wings from his back to make an example of him for the other anahim. Meanwhile, Raz realizes something is terribly wrong, and
Sariel joins him in a fruitless search.
Belial taunts Raz. Ben comes home for lunch
to find Raz frantic, and they conduct their own hunt.
Belial grabs Simon from where Morrigan's minions dumped him on a pile of garbage in an alleyway. Ben detects Belial's scent near a literal puddle of Simon's blood and
hares off to confront him.
Belial drops Simon off on Ben's front porch, where
Liwya finds him and tends him until
Raz appears to take over. Ben comes back from his battle with Belial, battered and bloody, in the midst of Raz and Raph tending Simon's wounds. He can't stay because the smell of Simon's blood is sending him into Rage Overdrive, so he hits his favorite bar,
only to find that Morrigan has gotten there ahead of him. He manages to escape her intact.
Ben rants that
the Fallen are a bunch of assholes. Guriel tells him that
Iona is going to be a haven for them until this all shakes out.
Jaf is looking into wards, which Simon tells him will be fruitless against Lu and Morrigan. Simon
goes to the park and talks to
Sariel about it, and is
ordered to Iona by Gabriel. He lets
Robin know that he'll be incognito for awhile.
Gib gets Orders from Michael, and
talks to Seth about what's going on as the
plot moves to a new community.
Simon's out and about on Iona, continuing his healing process, talking to his more welcoming brothers, and greeting new arrivals. Another talk with Uriel
goes fairly horribly for Simon, but
Jaf makes him feel better.
Janni makes pie, among other things.
Ben and Guri arrive on Iona. Simon
watches Guri fly. Gib
reports to Michael, and
so does Simon.
Ben
has a talk with Gabriel. Raz
flies for the first time in forever, much to Simon's delight. And then the battle happens, and it goes... well. About as well as can be expected.
Simon is upset about all the death. And thus ends the "Lucifer Rising" arc.