#sleeping spell

As Lucifer made his way out of the room, Charlie followed after him.

"Dad, what happened?"

"Pack your things, Charlie. We're leaving."

"Dad -"

"We're leaving."

Charlie decided it was best not to argue anymore. While she was packing her things with Vaggie's help, Lucifer was taking a walk around the tower.

Damn. Charlie was right, this place really did change a lot since he's last been here.

But that wasn't what was on Luci's mind right now.

What was on his mind was how his former brothers had the nerve to ask for forgiveness when they were the ones who threw him out of Heaven in the first place.

Their nerve made Lucifer hate those people even more.

Maybe in a different timeline, he could've found it in his heart to forgive him. But not here, not now, not ever.

Family doesn't hurt each other, at least not on purpose.

Family doesn't make you feel like you were a mistake.

Family doesn't paint you like an outcast just for simple mistakes.

Lucifer was about to go back inside when he ran into someone else.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I -"

But when he saw who he bumped into, Lucifer stopped mid apology.

It was Azrael, another one of his former brothers.

"Hi, Luci!"

"Leave me alone."

"Luci, wait."

Azrael took his arm, holding Lucifer back from walking away from him.

"Are you heading back inside? Because that's actually something I came to talk to you about.", he said. "Charlie needs your help packing. She lost something and can't find it."

Lucifer snatched his hand away from Azrael and went back inside.

When he got to the room Charlie was in, he saw that she wasn't there.

"Charlie?"

Where was she? Did she already find what she was looking for? She could've at least waited until he got here to tell him that she didn't need his help anymore.

Lucifer was about to leave the room, but the door already slammed the door behind him.

"What the hell?!"

He tried to open the door, but it was locked from the outside.

"Hey! Open the door!"

"I'm sorry, Luci."

Michael...

That fucking son of a bitch.

Lucifer held back a scream, but after a few minutes, the door had unlocked again, and he unleashed his full demon form on Raphael.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MICHAEL!", he yelled. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL HERE?!"

"Luci, please calm down."

"DID CHARLIE LEAVE WITHOUT ME?! I SWEAR, IF YOU SENT THEM BACK TO HELL WITHOUT ME, I'LL -"

He didn't even get a chance to finish before Michael appeared behind him and grabbed him by the wrists.

Lucifer tried to struggle, but it was no use. Michael was an actual angel while Lucifer was a fallen angel, and it's a known fact that angels aren't really as powerful when they're cast out of Heaven.

Still, that didn't stop Lucifer.

"GET YOUR GOD DAMN HANDS OFF ME OR I'LL -"

Still, Luci was interrupted again, but this time, Raphael stepped in and put his hand on Luci's forehead, and his hand glowed white.

Lucifer struggled for another moment before he fell asleep.

Michael picked his brother up and laid him down on the bed. He gently caressed his hair to keep him from waking up.

"It will wear off in a few hours. Until then, we should get everything ready and explain this to a few people we can trust to keep a secret.", Raphael suggested.

Michael nodded and followed Raphael as he moved to leave the room, but not before sparing Lucifer one last glance.

You were awoken by an insistent knocking at your door.

A quick glance around at your still dark home, lit only by the glow of a small fire in the hearth, gave you an indication that it was still very late at night. And there was still a raging storm outside, if the howling wind was anything to go by. You’re first thought was that a traveler had perhaps gotten lost and was in need of a place to wait out the storm. It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time, but it was always something you were very cautious about. 

You were just debating on weather or not you should answer it when you realized that the voice on the other side, though muffled by the door and the storm, sounded familiar. Very familiar…

“Sweetling! Are you in there!? Please open up if you are, it’s quite cold out here!”

“Hizashi?” You questioned, bolting up to open the door for them, you just assumed Shouta would be there as well. What in the name of The Gods were they doing out this late at night, and in this storm no less!? Ripping the door open, you were greeted by the sight of the two men. 

They looked the same as always. Both wearing gentle smiles on their faces and not a single hair was out of place on either of them. Even their clothing was perfect! In fact… the fabric wasn’t moving at all, even as you saw the harsh wind whip the snow in all directions, their clothes and hair remained still. It was… a little unnerving to say the least. But you ushered them in all the same.

Something feels off, you thought, shutting the door and grabbing a few logs to build the fire back up. It was true, normally you felt nothing but ease around these two, but something about this felt… wrong. That was the best way you could describe it. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, and you had only been awake for a few minutes, not to mention that one of the worst blizzards you had ever seen was raging outside. Then there was the matter of their physical appearance, neither of them looked like they had been standing out in a storm for a few minutes, let alone the amount of time it would have taken to walk or ride a horse here.

“I certainly hope you two have a good reason for showing up at my door this late at night. How did you make it here anyway? The road has to be completely covered by this point.” You sad, placing the wood over the still hot coals and holding your hand over the heat to warm them.

It was Shouta hero spoke first. “We have two very good reasons. Reasons that we just couldn’t wait to tell you about.”

“Oh?” You asked, raising an eyebrow in question.You hated that your curiosity was overpowering your rationality, your mind still unable to place where this trepidation was coming from.

Hizashi stepped forward and took your cold hands in his own, his skin felt so warm to the touch that you had to stop yourself from leaning in closer to him. “Yes. There are some things that we would like you to hear us out on. Something that we’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now. Please keep an open mind until we are done, I promise that it will all make sense once we've had a chance to explain.”

Unable to think of words to use, you simply nodded. Both of them smiled at your compliance and placed their hands on your back, guiding you to sit at the table.

“Are you cold Kitten?” Shouta asked, he must have noticed your shivers the further you moved from the hearth.

“A little bit. But it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

The two shared a look, something that you noticed they did quite often, almost as if they were communicating without words. “Nonsense. Let me go grab your blanket.” He said, stepping away for only a moment. You swore you felt his hands gently run over your back and shoulders when he draped the heavy material over you.

“Alright you two, enough stalling. What was so important that you couldn’t wait until morning to tell me, or better yet, when the weather cleared up?” The words came out more nervously then you would have liked, and you suddenly found the table to be very very fascinating as you were unable to meet their eyes for very long.

“You do the talking Shou. I’ll probably blunder this if I try.”

“Very well.” Shouta turned to look at you, his dark eyes looking more intense than you had ever seen them. “Kitten, I’m going to be blatantly blunt with you when I say this… Shouta and Hizashi, those are not our true names, they are the names we call each other but not the names we are more commonly known by.”

What was he talking about. “Alright, I’m very confused. What does this have to do with anything? If Shouta and Hizashi aren’t your real names, then does that mean you’ve been lying to me this whole time about who you are?” You weren’t angry, just confused and tired. You just wanted this conversation to end and go back to bed.

“No no no! We haven’t lied to you about anything Sweetling. We just… omitted a few things. We were worried that if we told you about them right away, you might get scared.” Hizashi interjected.

You nodded, an indication for them to proceed. Though your gut was telling you to ask them to leave, you refrained. They were still your friends after all, you wanted to be able to give them the benefit of the doubt and at least let them explain themselves.

“For starters; to us, Shouta and Hizashi are our real names, the names we have always known each other by. But the names we were born with are-“ Shouta hesitated for only a moment, as if he might reconsider what he was about to say. “The names we were born with are Aizawa and Yamada.”

You blinked at them owlishly. Were they actually being serious right now? You waited, almost expecting Hizashi to bust out laughing and say it was just a joke. Because that’s all this could be, right, just a big joke. “ Aizawa and Yamada? As in the Gods of Life and Death?”

They both just nodded. 

You sighed, this was ridiculous. “Is this seriously what you came her for in the middle of the night, in this kind of weather? A practical joke? Because I do not find it amus-”

Shouta interrupted you, his voice eerily calm. “We can give you proof. We don’t expect you to just take our word for it. We’re not that unreasonable (Y/N).”

“Oh really?” Obviously you were skeptical, but something about their straitlaced demeanor was making you wonder, and that big question hung heavy in the air between the three of you.

What if?

What if they were telling the truth? It was crazy, illogical and far fetched to be sure, but recalling a few choice experiences from over the years, things that just couldn’t be explained with logical reasoning, gave you cause to second guess yourself.

“Prove it. If what you’re saying is true, then prove it to me. Prove that your not as crazy as you sound.”

Shouta’s attention turned to something behind you and, to your shock and amazement, his eyes turned a bright crimson that seemed to glow in the dim light of your home. You would have thought it was just the fire and your sleep addled mind playing tricks on you, but the longer you stare into those glowing orbs the harder it becomes to try and find a logical answer. That proves to be even more true when you follow his line of sight to see what he is looking at.

 Behind you sits a wooden cage housing two fully grown rabbits you had snared with the intention of keeping in case your food supplies ran low during the winter. Your eyes widening when you realized that both were slumped over on their sides unmoving, not breathing.

Dead.

“W-What? But how? They-They were just…” You can’t seem to form coherent thoughts or words as you attempt to process what you are seeing. The animals were just fine when you went to bed, having fed them a bit of collected grass and hay, there was absolutely nothing you could think of that would have caused them both to drop dead. Nothing normal anyway…

“Shouta has given you his proof Sweetling, but I still need to give you mine.” You hear the blonde say as you whip your head around to stare at them, your breath catching in your throat at the sight of Hizashi’s eyes glowing in much the same manner as Shouta’s had. But where Shouta’s eyes had gleamed a brilliant red, Hizashi’s eyes were no longer green, but instead were lit up a sparkling gold, brighter than the sun and twice as captivating.

He stood up as graceful as ever and walked over to the small cage, your gaze following him like a hawk, compelled to see if he was really going to do what you suspected he was intent on showcasing for you.

Stretching out his hands, he laid them upon the now dead animals. They radiated the same gold as his eyes and from one moment to the next, the two rabbits were moving again as if they had never ceased. They appeared none the worse for wear, shaking themselves and going right back to munching on hay.

Hizashi meanwhile, turned to face you with a cheeky smile on his face. “So, was that proof enough for you? Do we meet your expectations My Lady?”

Honestly, you were to flabbergasted to say anything at first. You had no idea how long you may have sat there replaying the last two or three minutes in your mind, but it was long enough that when you finally looked at them both again, they were giving you concerned looks. So you said the only thing you could think of.

“The Gods are sitting at my table… How the fuck did this happen?”

That less than eloquent statement is what seems to break the spell of seriousness that was hanging between the three of you, the two men bursting out into peals of laughter. First Hizashi, who is loud and boisterous compared to Shouta’s quiet chuckles, and finally yourself. You laughed so hard the blanket Shouta had draped over your shoulders actually slipped off. This went on for a few minutes before you all seemed to collect yourselves and you were finally able to speak past your shock.

“I’m not even sure how I should be acting right now. I feel like I should at least be bowing to you.” You sigh, your smile still in place when you look both of them in the eye, that feeling of unease finally fading. “You do realize that the shock of that could have very well given me a heart attack, right?”

Both of them instantly stopped smiling at you though, their eyes wide with an emotion you couldn’t quite seem to place. Had you said something wrong? Were you being too familiar with them, not formal enough? You had gotten the impression that they wanted things to stay the same despite you now knowing who they really were. Did you miss interpret what they meant?

“Hay, did I say or do something wrong?” You asked wearily.

They gave each other that same look again before turning their gaze back onto you. “No, we’re not upset at you Kitten. Just please don’t ever say something like that again. Please…” Shouta whispered, sounding almost desperate.

You were very confused. “Don’t say what again?”

This time it was Hizashi who spoke, but not before both of them stretched their hands across the table, each of them taking one of your hands in their own. “Please don’t ever speak of yourself dying Sweetling. The thought is just too horrible to bare. I-” He looked to Shouta and then back to you. “We don’t know what we would do without you (Y/N). You mean the world to us.”

Once again you’re at a loss for words. The two of them are looking at you like you’re the divine figure, like you’re the one that they should be praising, not the other way around. Briefly, you try to tug your hands away from them, but they only cling on tighter than before. That nervous feeling is coming back with a vengeance.

“Y-you’re almost making it sound like you’re in l-love with me or something.”

“Because we are.” Shouta says bluntly, as if it’s the easiest thing in the world to admit.

You waited to see if they were going to start laughing, to see if they were going to do anything other than stare at you as if you were the light of their world. They didn’t, and in turn you lost what little composure you had. 

“W-what?!” You shouted, looking at them in pure disbelief.

“We know that this must be a lot to take in all at once, but please believe us when we say that we are in love with you Darling. We have been since the moment we saw you pick up Zashi’s little cardinal.” Shouta said softly, giving your hand a little squeeze.

You were bordering on having a full blown panic attack, but something about that statement caught you off guard. “The-The cardinal? You were there when I found it?”

“Yes.” Hizashi said, almost looking a bit nervous. “We were out in the woods searching for it when we spotted you picking it up. We didn’t want to startle or frighten you, so we just let you take it home and nurse it back to health. We figured that after you released it, we would go and thank you properly. Obviously we couldn’t just outright tell you how we knew about it, or who we truly are, you would have thought we were insane. So we did fib a bit when we said that we lived nearby.”

Before you could even get a word in edgewise, Shouta was already picking up where Hizashi left off. “We wanted to get closer to you, and let you get to know us a bit before we told you how we feel. But, it’s not just about the care you showed the bird though, it’s about you.” He stopped for a moment, smiling as both of them looked at you fondly. “You’re so sweet and kind and beautiful. You always have a positive outlook on things and even when you do get upset, you always try to be reasonable and rational about everything.”

“And you’re such a hard worker! You have no idea how hard it’s been, watching you slave away for nothing in this dump. That’s why when you come home, we will be seeing to all your needs for you. One such as you should never have to lift a finger or toil away in the dirt for food.” Hizashi’s smile was near blinding by the time he finished off their declaration.

You had no idea what to make of this, it was just way to surreal. But so many things were starting to add up now. Like the way they always sought out excuses to touch you, brushing your hand as you gave them cups of tea or placing their hands on your back to guide or steady you. The endearing nicknames, and the fact that they always insisted on coming to visit you instead of the other way around. You never would have found their supposed home because it didn’t exist, at least not in the place they said it was.

“W-Why now? Why choose this particular time to come and tell me this?” You finally managed to speak, looking down, unable to meet their loving expressions.

Shouta just kept smiling, and you felt how he began to run his thumb back and forth over the top of your hand when you tried to pull away again. “Winter has come and we wanted to bring you home before the weather got too bad. There is no way we could ever let you keep living here now that it has gotten so cold. What if you got sick? We would never forgive ourselves.”

Hizashi just nodded along with his partner. “We’ll let you grab any trinkets or things you want to bring back with you, there is plenty of room at the palace, so don’t be concerned with how much you bring. We got you all sorts of new clothes though, so you can leave the ones you have here.”

Your head was spinning and neither of them were giving you a chance to speak and it was becoming a bit annoying. It sounded like they had already made the decision for you, or at least, were already banking on your agreement to be with them. 

Well, Gods or not, they were about to learn otherwise.

“Shouta, Hizashi!” That seemed to get their attention and they both paused their gushing to look at you. “Now that I have your attention, can you two please just stop and listen to me for a moment?”

Shout cleared his throat and both of them simultaneously let go of your hands which you quickly placed in your lap. “Of course Kitten. Our apologies for getting a bit carried away, we’re just so happy that you finally know the truth and we don’t have to hide it from you anymore. It’s like a weight has been lifted from us.”

You wish that he hadn’t said that, it made what you were about to tell them seem even more cruel, you thought, but you couldn’t just let them keep thinking you were okay with this when you weren’t. It wouldn’t be fair to any of you. They were kind enough to be honest with you, so the least you could do is extend the same courtesy back to them.

You take a deep breath, though you still find it too hard to meet their eyes. “Listen you two, I’m flattered, humbled actually, that you two think so highly of me and I value this friendship with you more than anything. How many can truly say that they have received the favor of the Gods?” You smile sadly, here comes the hard part. “But I have no desire to leave this home of mine, or to be in a relationship with anyone. I love this place, it’s a home I have worked hard to make for myself and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Not to mention my friends and family, I love them as well and would never forgive myself for just abandoning them without a word. Because I highly doubt you would be willing to reveal who you really are to all of them.” You can feel tears welling up in your eyes at this point. “So I’m sorry, but I am going to have to respectfully tell you that I just can’t return your feelings.” The tears are falling down your cheeks before you can even stop them.

After a few moments of weighted silence, you finally lift your head to face the men whose hearts you just broke. The two looked shell-shocked and you realized that you had guessed right, they had just assumed that you felt the same way about them, they had never even considered that you might say no. It filled you with an emotion that was both parts annoyed and guilty, you weren’t sure what to make of it.

Surprisingly, Hizashi was the one to speak first. His cracking voice and trembling lower lip just adding salt to the wound. “I-I… We just th-thought that you f-felt as s-strongly for us as we do for y-you. Did we do something w-wrong?” A few tears escaped the corners of his eyes.

Shouta is much less emotional than Zashi, but still looks equally as sad. “We’ve poured our hearts out to you Kitten, can’t you at least give us a better reason then simply not wanting to leave your home. That excuse is flimsy at best since you spend the majority of time isolated away from other people and only see your family on rare occasions.” If it wasn’t for the sad forlorn look on his face, you would have thought he was insinuating that you were lying, and you weren’t, you just omitted a few details. The fact that he picked up on this went a long way in telling you how well they knew you.

“It’s not as if it’s a big secret or anything, I’ve just never felt the need to be with someone like that… and to be honest, I doubt I ever will. I never felt infatuated with anyone from my village, not even the smallest of crushes. My parents and family understood this and never judged me when I told them that I wanted to move out here and fix this place up, that I preferred a life of solitude to one full of people. That’s really all there is to it. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I reciprocated these feelings you have for me. It never would have been my intention to lead you on like that. Not ever.”

You could cut the tension with a knife it was so thick. You just didn’t know what else to say. It’s not like you could magically make yourself feel the same way for them, or make them stop having these feelings for you in turn. It was an unfortunate situation all around.

“W-we understand (Y/N). We’re not mad at you or anything, it just wasn’t the response we were expecting. I suppose we did get a bit carried away when planning all of this out.” The God of Life scratched the back of his head and attempted to give you a smile, but you could still see the way his eyes glistened and his lips trembled. “We should have done more to make our feelings known, instead of just springing them on you out of the blue like this.”

You also gave him a weak smile in return and shake your head. “No. You have nothing to apologize for. If anything, I’m sorry for not realizing how you two felt sooner, now that I think about it, it all seems so obvious now.”

“It seems we’re all to blame for the misunderstanding. I don’t believe any of us need to be apologizing.” Shouta said.

“That is true. Perhaps we should all get some rest, I think we will all feel a lot better after we have had a chance to sleep on it.” Saying that though, did bring to mind something that worried you greatly and you had to voice the question before you could ever hope to go back to sleep. “What does this mean for us? Will the two of you still be coming around? I meant it when I said that your friendship means the world to me, I don’t want to lose either of you. Not over something like this…”

You felt one set of hands gently lifting your face to meet Shouta’s deep dark eyes, and another set hugging you from behind. You felt vaguely uncomfortable with their close proximity and under normal circumstances you would have pushed them away, but given the outcome of this night, you decided to let them have this little bit of comfort.

“We promise Kitten, you are not going to lose us. We are going to be apart of your life for a very long time to come. This little setback doesn’t change that we still care about you very much. I doubt anything could change that.” The God of Death said, gently tubing your tear stained cheeks with his thumbs.

You felt Hizashi squeeze you tighter and not in agreement with his counterpart. “You can’t get rid of us that easily Sweetling. Your stuck with us through thick and thin.”

You smiled, content to let them hold you like this for just a bit longer.

Until a yawn sounded from you and the two Gods decided it was time for the little human to go back to bed.

“I’ll make you some tea to help warm you up before you go back to bed. It’s the least I can do since we woke you up at this unholy hour.” Shouta stated, already moving to prepare the hot beverage.

“And I’ll put a few more logs on the fire.” Hizashi offered as he stood up as well.

A short ten minutes later, Shouta placed a steaming cup of tea in front of you and the two insisted on showing themselves out.

“We’ll see you soon, try to get some sleep Sweetling.”

“Have a good night Kitten, and please don’t forget to drink your tea.”

“Thank you both! Have a good night yourselves and I’ll see you next time.” You said with a wave, feeling genuinely happy as they turned at walked out the door, vanishing into the white world outside.

—————

Hizashi was shaking and sobbing as he clings onto Shouta for dear life, like he might vanish into thin air if he loosened his hold for even a moment.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this Shou!” He wailed. “She was supposed to smile and cry and say she loved us too. She was supposed to ask to be taken home. We should be showing her the nursery right now, and she should be begging us to make love to her, to give the babies we’ve been dreaming of for months!” It felt like his heart was shattered into a million pieces and you were the only one that could put them back together. How could you not feel the same?! He knew that you were the one for them the moment he heard your voice. It was destiny! How could you not see that?!

Shouta just rubs his dear Zashi’s back, trying to offer him what little comfort he could. He too was stunned by your rejection. He never once considered that you would turn them down and he was kicking himself for not planning ahead for all the outcomes, even the ones he didn’t believe were possible. He still didn’t believe that you felt the way you claimed, you must just be confused, you just needed time to come to terms with all the knowledge that had been presented to you this night.

And there was no better place to sort out your own feelings then in your future home, with them by your side to guide you through all of it. That is precisely why he had cast The Sleep of The Dead enchantment over your tea. It would put you into a deep slumber so that they could bring you home without any risk of you waking up.

“Shhhhh, everything will be just fine Zashi.” He whispered, petting his soft golden hair and kissing his forehead tenderly. “As soon as she falls asleep we will go and get her. She might be shocked and angry for a while, but I am sure that after some time spent with us in the Heavens, she will be just as happy, if not more so, then she ever was in this wretched place.”

Hizashi sniffled and looked up at Shouta, his bright green eyes hopeful. “Do you really think so? Because I can’t live without her Shou! I need her more than words can express. We need her!”

Shouta leaned down and gave him a kiss. It was sweet and chaste, but so full of the love and passion he felt for the other man that even Hizashi, in his shattered state, could not help but trust in him.

Shouta pulled back, a small smile gracing his lips. “I promise you Zashi, things might be hard at first, but it will all be worth it in the end. I swear it.”

So I lied, this will NOT be the last chapter. But the next will be... I think... maybe...hopefully... it really all depends on the characters. LOL

I hope you all enjoy!