Fallen Angel

How readily Azazel admits the truth of the matter is something of a comfort. It is truly undeniable how severely Azazel’s actions had impacted demons, in ways seen and unseen. Ways Lucifer had little care to reiterate, they both knew how far reaching the consequences were. 

Lucifer eventually relents and shifts his gaze away from his subordinate, reclining with a gentle, thoughtful hm. It’s not as if Lucifer would have had any reluctance in simply giving Azazel his position back after a proper amount of time. The wounds of demons ran deep, festering with time and in ways the demon king knew Azazel would not have seen.

“Its true that you have very little right to ask such of me and were you any other demon, I would not bother to entertain this conversation.”

There were after all plenty of reasons not to. Accepting someone from the upper echelons back within the fold of demon society after they had gone rogue was unheard of as well as being both poor form and poor example. Just what exactly such an act would invite is something most wouldn’t want to think about, Lucifer himself couldn’t deny such a thing either were one to ask him.

Those very thoughts are why the king keeps his eyes off of the display below him, keeps quiet in deep contemplation. Yet a silence that eventually shatters with the gentle thump of the book in Lucifer’s hands being added to one of the innumerable stacks. His voice follows quickly after.

“I have heard your request and shall bestow an answer.“

His next words are chosen with care, emphasized with him finally deigning to peer down at Azazel with a gaze as cold and distant as before.

“I am not inclined to waste your talents nor my time so you may consider your rightful punishment postponed, as such you will be returned to service. ”

He waits for a moment, to let that bit of his answer have the time to sink in. It’s not a promise that the punishment will be light, nor a promise of it being severe either. Though that may be suitable enough as punishment, to accept and dread the unknown.

“Seeing as I have been lacking a suitable right hand man, you will once again be serving directly under me.“

Simple as the words may be, the care and precision of the statement is indubitable. Certainly, none of what he’d stated was a lie. Azazel’s disappearance left a potion that could never quite be filled try as other demons might to stand in. And yet that gifted position belies something else, a statement born of doubt yet a statement left unsaid but rather implied. 

To serve the king is an honor, but to be watched and assessed by him is far from it.

“I trust that you understand that this is the only second chance you will receive. I will not bestow another, so I expect that you will live up to the expectations your position has.”

“Unless you have any objections you would care to share.”

Were you any other demon. It shouldn’t have come as any real surprise to hear those words–and to a certain extent, it didn’t. Azazel was not, after all, completely unaware of the favor he had enjoyed during his tenure as a general in Lucifer’s service; in fact, when he thought about it now...it was likely only due to the remnants of that favor that he had been able to convince Lucifer to finally join the war against Charioce XVII that handful of months ago–or that he was permitted to stand in this study at all, given that battle’s result.

Still...a postponement of his punishment and immediate return to service was...–Azazel understood quite well that the former was not necessarily indicative of mercy, but it could certainly be interpreted as light action compared to the other options Lucifer had to choose from. Would such relative lenience not reflect poorly on him in the eyes of the demonic courts?

Or perhaps–

“Seeing as I have been lacking a suitable right hand man, you will once again be serving directly under me.“

–perhaps this in itself was intended to serve as a form of punishment. To be returned to his prior position in spite of the glaring, unspoken truth that he had long since ceased to deserve it...in spite of the fact that he could so easily replaced–should have been replaced.

To be placed under near-constant scrutiny by not only his king, but the demonic populace at large...

“...”

It...no. It still didn’t feel like enough, soon enough–and he doubted he would be the only one to feel that way.

“I...understand, and am grateful beyond words for the opportunity. However, Lucifer-sama–”

Azazel straightened from his bow to stare up at his king directly.

A page turns first, silence persists second, but there is a shift. The slightest incline, as the demon perched on high peers just so over his book.

“You’re early.”

Early is perhaps a confusing way to put it. But the statement itself is entirely one of a throwaway; so little thought put into it and any possible conversation that silence claws its way back and reigns again over the study. 

Early however, throwaway as it was, means a lot of things:

I did not expect you back so soon

I did not expect you back at all.

It is not as if the demon speaking held questions towards the loyalty of his runaway general, no Lucifer knew there were fewer in his ranks that could even vaguely compare to the fiercely loyal Azazel. But even Lucifer would expect that someone who abandoned his post, returned only to denounce his leader as a coward, and demand an army for a war they simply could not fight. He would have thought someone like that would have counted their blessings and stayed out of sight. 

It is not that Lucifer would have thought Azazel a coward, but he would not have blamed him for staying so far out of reach of theoretical punishment. 

A punishment that Lucifer could with but a thought mete out in an instant, one suitable for every crime that demons could charge him with. Instead however, Lucifer continues on with his book. Almost entirely ignoring the other presence within his study. A page turns, another, and another. Eventually one page stops midway, gingerly placed between clawed fingers.

“I suppose I should comment on the sheer gall you have and be offended at your presence.”

But I won’t goes unsaid.

Its not entirely unknown just how much favor Lucifer shows towards his general. Any other demon might not be standing where Azazel was, and that would be if they managed to not be reduced to dust for insubordination first. 

That favor still works towards Azazel’s benefit, whatever terrible fate that could have befallen the general simply doesn’t. In the grandest of pictures, with every detail accounted for, such mercy is more than Azazel surely deserves. But it never crosses the mind of the one who is ultimately judge, jury, and executioner. 

After all, if there was anything Lucifer could have faith in when it came to his most trusted general then it is that Azazel will more willingly punish himself for his crimes.

So instead, Lucifer gives the other his full and undivided attention for better or worse.

“I’ll spare us both the inanities however, why have you returned this time Azazel.”

Five years prior, Azazel would have been a much easier read. He would not have been an unpredictable hurricane of righteous anger and hurt, instead a demon of unflinching pride and power. He is no longer that. He is. Different, in a way that Lucifer would not have predicted. 

So that question must be posed, the same way it must be posed to a vague acquaintance. A stranger. And with it a distance most professional; mercy and graceful favor may have been given already to the demon skulking his way into Lucifer’s study but that was as far as it could go. 

“Early”... Well, that was one way of putting it. Azazel did suppose a demon more attached to their continued existence would have waited for a much longer stretch of time before attempting to return to a demonic stronghold–if they were bold enough to attempt to return at all...though that was neither here nor there, really.

Because while it was true that Azazel had never been able to claim full understanding of Lucifer’s thoughts, if he knew his superior in the least...then that offhand comment wasn’t intended to hold much weight, anyway.

Far less weight, at any rate, than the deafening sound of turning pages, the heaviness of Lucifer’s stare upon him, or the words the other fallen angel next spoke:

“I suppose I should comment on the sheer gall you have and be offended at your presence.”

“I’ll spare us both the inanities however, why have you returned this time Azazel.”

“...”

He could feel doubt, sharp and unrelenting, jabbing at the resolution and faux confidence he had toiled to dredge up prior to stepping foot in the study–but Azazel knew better to keep Lucifer waiting for too long. So with a slight bow and an appropriate amount of shame tinging his hidden features, Azazel answered. 

“... Lucifer-sama. I wish to ask your permission to re-enter your service.”

He felt...pathetic, coming crawling back like this, and a distant part of him that had somehow managed to cling to some semblance of pride after everything he had been through hated it. However...–

It was not a pleasant decision to make by any means. Charioce XVII’s recently-adopted policy of treating demons as “paid workers” seemed pathetically insufficient in the way of reparations after the humiliation and brutal abuse he and his brethren had suffered at mortal hands, and as for the Wasteland itself...Azazel could never manage to think of it with anything more than contempt. It stood as nothing but a bitter reminder of how far demons and fallen angels alike had fallen since Cocytus’ destruction–of the day his kind had been forced to flee–from humans–to the farthest, most uninhabitable reaches of the land just to survive. 

No, it was not a choice Azazel had derived any amount of joy or satisfaction from...but with demons finally free to leave the human capital if they so chose, there was precious little reason for him to linger any longer. 

That was the conclusion he’d come to...but that was not to say that returning “home” was without its fair share of problems–potential, guaranteed, or otherwise. 

Most pressing was the notion that Azazel may no longer have a post to return to. Regardless of his intentions, there was no denying that, for five years, Azazel had all but abandoned his position and severed contact with both his superior and the demonic courts. To return now and expect his prior status to remain intact, despite accomplishing none of what he had set out to do in either Anatae or in (what should have been) the final battle against the human king...it was just as arrogant and presumptuous as his original demand for reinforcements all those weeks ago had been. Indeed, it seemed far more likely that he might be banished for his failures–or disciplined, at the very least.

Even so...it was difficult to imagine living out the entirety of his existence anywhere but at Lucifer’s side. That was why, even if his efforts had been for naught...–

With quiet footsteps, Azazel entered his superior’s study, waiting a few seconds in silence for acknowledgement before finally opting to speak.