Fic: Taking Out the Trash
For the Tumblr ask: "Write the conversation between Billie and Lucifer before he goes to the Nothing." It was nice to get a chance to just totally dunk on Lucifer. Thanks to Artherra for the beta!
“Oh, come on,” Lucifer whined.
Billie kept a healthy distance from the archangel who had once bound her predecessor. The previous Death underestimated lesser beings. Billie herself had done that once already, but she tried not to make the same mistakes twice.
The devil’s eyes were glued to Sam Winchester. The hunter stood in the abandoned church with his arms around Lucifer’s own son. Their tangled fates were woven into that of their missing family member and of the archangel possessing him.
Lucifer had been all wound up in them as well.
Not anymore.
She waved a hand and the scene faded away. Instead they stood in one of her preferred locales, a black stone beach on the Alaskan coast. The summer sun still hung in the sky even at this late hour. Waves lapped at the shore and in the distance was the thunder rumble of glaciers breaking apart.
Her former boss had appreciated the humans, or at least the food they’d invented. She found herself instead enjoying the quiet spaces between them.
“So you’re the new Death,” Lucifer said. He was still curled up in the form of the vessel he’d been trapped in, which added a layer of sleaze when he gave her form an appraising once over.
“I am,” she said, unfazed. She folded her arms across her chest.
He smirked, ever confident, thinking he’d struck a nerve. “Okay, I know you cosmic entities don’t care much for us lower life forms, but you have to send me back.”
“Do I?”
He was still buzzing with stolen Nephilim energy, though it did him no good here. It only made him cocky. “My brother is out there in his perfect vessel,” Lucifer pointed out. “He’ll destroy the world.”
“Mmm…” Death said. “Perhaps.”
That did the trick. “You can’t be serious,” he said. His tone was the same indignant anger as before, but she could tell he was starting to realize his predicament.
“Deadly.”
Her nonchalance was clearly getting to him, edging under his fingernails and scraping along his nerves. He puffed himself up angrily, as big as he could make the pathetic vessel he’d dragged into the afterlife like so much toilet paper stuck to the bottom of a shoe. “I know that you’re not as impartial as you seem. There’s a plan. Michael wiping out humanity isn’t it.”
“No, it’s not,” she admitted. It had galled her to discover that a plan existed, gone against all her instincts as a reaper. But she understood now.
“I can stop it,” Lucifer said with all the unearned confidence he’d been foolishly created with.
“You can’t,” she drawled. “You’ve become small, Morningstar. Petty. Even if I returned you, a fight against your brother would only end the same way.”
“Not,” Lucifer snapped, “if I have my perfect vessel. You can break me out of this meat cage, let me go to Sam. He’ll say yes. His brother is on the line.”
“We’ve already tread those paths.”
Lucifer’s rage was bubbling up, tearing at the edges of his vessel, grace spilling out through the cracks. “So what happens to me then? You try to take me into the light?”
“Oh, I’m taking you either way. The Empty awaits.”
“I don’t get a choice?” His eyes were narrowed. He was gearing up for the battle.
“Choices are for humans. You know that,” Death said and moved in.
Lucifer’s eyes widened in shock. “No, wait-”
With a touch he was gone.
As Death, she did not judge.
But neither would she mourn.
“Oh, come on,” Lucifer whined.
Billie kept a healthy distance from the archangel who had once bound her predecessor. The previous Death underestimated lesser beings. Billie herself had done that once already, but she tried not to make the same mistakes twice.
The devil’s eyes were glued to Sam Winchester. The hunter stood in the abandoned church with his arms around Lucifer’s own son. Their tangled fates were woven into that of their missing family member and of the archangel possessing him.
Lucifer had been all wound up in them as well.
Not anymore.
She waved a hand and the scene faded away. Instead they stood in one of her preferred locales, a black stone beach on the Alaskan coast. The summer sun still hung in the sky even at this late hour. Waves lapped at the shore and in the distance was the thunder rumble of glaciers breaking apart.
Her former boss had appreciated the humans, or at least the food they’d invented. She found herself instead enjoying the quiet spaces between them.
“So you’re the new Death,” Lucifer said. He was still curled up in the form of the vessel he’d been trapped in, which added a layer of sleaze when he gave her form an appraising once over.
“I am,” she said, unfazed. She folded her arms across her chest.
He smirked, ever confident, thinking he’d struck a nerve. “Okay, I know you cosmic entities don’t care much for us lower life forms, but you have to send me back.”
“Do I?”
He was still buzzing with stolen Nephilim energy, though it did him no good here. It only made him cocky. “My brother is out there in his perfect vessel,” Lucifer pointed out. “He’ll destroy the world.”
“Mmm…” Death said. “Perhaps.”
That did the trick. “You can’t be serious,” he said. His tone was the same indignant anger as before, but she could tell he was starting to realize his predicament.
“Deadly.”
Her nonchalance was clearly getting to him, edging under his fingernails and scraping along his nerves. He puffed himself up angrily, as big as he could make the pathetic vessel he’d dragged into the afterlife like so much toilet paper stuck to the bottom of a shoe. “I know that you’re not as impartial as you seem. There’s a plan. Michael wiping out humanity isn’t it.”
“No, it’s not,” she admitted. It had galled her to discover that a plan existed, gone against all her instincts as a reaper. But she understood now.
“I can stop it,” Lucifer said with all the unearned confidence he’d been foolishly created with.
“You can’t,” she drawled. “You’ve become small, Morningstar. Petty. Even if I returned you, a fight against your brother would only end the same way.”
“Not,” Lucifer snapped, “if I have my perfect vessel. You can break me out of this meat cage, let me go to Sam. He’ll say yes. His brother is on the line.”
“We’ve already tread those paths.”
Lucifer’s rage was bubbling up, tearing at the edges of his vessel, grace spilling out through the cracks. “So what happens to me then? You try to take me into the light?”
“Oh, I’m taking you either way. The Empty awaits.”
“I don’t get a choice?” His eyes were narrowed. He was gearing up for the battle.
“Choices are for humans. You know that,” Death said and moved in.
Lucifer’s eyes widened in shock. “No, wait-”
With a touch he was gone.
As Death, she did not judge.
But neither would she mourn.