#there's plot now

It was early in the morning, earlier than anyone else in the hotel was up maybe except for that deer bastard but he was no where to be seen so Adam didn't see any point in worrying about the annoying fucker. He was always an early morning person, even in Heaven, even when he was still alive. He rose before the sun to do his chores and to just have time to himself, he hated how comfortable everyone in the hotel was becoming with him, how they included him into more of their activities and conversations; but, no one else was up to bother him, even his sweet beloved daughters who had become even more clingy since they all reincarnated in Hell.

The old angel made his way to the backyard of the hotel, it was an ugly plot of land with weeds and overgrown bushes and other Hell flowers, it was unkempt and wild and Adam loved it, he loved the strange looking foliage and how it seemed to mimic the plant life on earth. Often he would come out and sketch all the different plants and coming up with names for them but today wasn't the morning for it -no- today was yoga day. Even if he no longer fought through the hoards of Hell didn't mean he couldn't stay in shape and he has let himself go these past couple of centuries, he also missed his six pack.

Just as he went to put his mat down the back door was thrown open followed by a loud yawn.

"Beautiful morning isn't!? Nice and quiet!"

Adam let out a loud growl to let the person know that they were not wanted. At. All.

Said person ignored the warning growl and walked closer. "The air is practically filled with brimstone and the screams of the damned." They nosily slurped their drink, invading Adam's personal space, "Please, don't let me stop you."

Adam: Get lost Samael.

He snarled louder at the shorter man.

Lucifer: Don't be rude Addy, it's too early in the morning to be a meany.

Adam: There's never good time to see your stupid face. Now, leave me alone.

Adam sat down in lotus pose and closed his eyes, he wasn't going to feed into the bullshit, wasn't going to give Lucifer that kind of power of him. He clenched his fist as the fallen angel sat down next to him. It took everything in the bull demon not to punch the goat-faced fucker in his dumb reptile face. Like really!- how did he look like both at the same time, it was weird and Adam always got the urge just to claw the other demon's face off.

Lucifer: Do you do this every morning? Are you always up this early or could you not sleep? Nightmare? It had to be nightmares, probably about-

Adam used his wing to cover Lucifer's mouth.

Adam: I'm only going to tell you this one time, you can either fuck off or because I know you're an annoying jerk you can stay and be quiet. Which means do not talk.

He moved his wing and sighed when nothing came out the Devil's mouth. The silence lasted longer than he thought, he was able to get through his warm up breathing and stretching it was when he got to cow face pose the talking started again.

Lucifer: Wow, you are really flexible aren't you? Have you always been that bendy?

Adam: What did I say, Samael?

Lucifer: I'm just trying to talk with an old friend, is that so bad?

Adam: We are not friends.

Lucifer: But we can be, if you stop being a grumpy bull~.

Lucifer poked Adam in his side. Adam once again used a wing this time to smack Lucifer in the head as he went back into a normal sitting position.

Lucifer: Oow! What was that for?

Adam: Why are you here Samael?

Lucifer: It's Lucifer, and I told you: I want to talk with an old friend, be friends again maybe?

Adam let out a short, unamused laugh as he turned to face Lucifer.

Adam: What makes you think we can be friends after what you've done?

Lucifer: Because it's all in the past Adam, it's been what a million years since Eden?

Adam: You cursed me and my family for the rest of time, and seduced my wives.

His wings flared out in anger. Lucifer curls in on himself slightly, he wasn't afraid of Adam but when the first man looked down on him, eyes gleaming with anger and fury that whole 'Made in His image' thing shone through. Funny enough, it was now Adam's inhuman features that made him look even more like God, it was weird and thrilling at the same time so Lucifer like always pushed forward, testing the waters.

Lucifer: And I deeply regret that, I really do! But, I gave you freedom, the chance not be stuck under His thumb, the chance to be great.

Adam: You almost killed me.

Lucifer: How was i supposed to know you were allergic to apples?

Adam: You fucker, it's been logged in my throat for eons!

Adam points to the lump in his throat ironically right under his adams apple. Lucifer has enough decency to look ashamed.

Adam: What do you really want from me?

Lucifer placed a clawed hand on top of Adam's much, much larger hand and looked up with a soft look.

Lucifer: I want us to start over and try again.

He reached up with his other hand and gently turned Adam's face so they were looking at one another.

Lucifer: I want you. Please Adam.

Adam took a moment to study Lucifer, he was small and dainty (always had been), he didn't look much different than he had in Eden. In Eden he was more bird like, Adam always joked that the angel reminded him of a cockatrice but when he first laid eyes on Lucifer it was like his first time seeing a swan fly just above a lake. His wing were pure white and shimmered in the sun, his hair was longer, like beams of light, eyes blue and clear. Even now there was something alluring about the fallen Seraphim, he was feminine yet masculine, timid yet bold, there was false innocence wrapped in sly seductive silk. Adam could see how Lilith and Eve and many others were lured in by the Serpent but Adam could see past the mesmerizing shiny scales disguised as jewels, he saw the fangs dipped in honeyed poison. Had been bitten by them before and would not suffer that pain again even though it would be so easy to let the venom flow through his veins and let himself be swept away by the siren's song.

He pushed Lucifer back down from where the man had climbed into his lap. Lucifer looked confused.

Lucifer: Adam?

Adam: I'm not something to own.

Lucifer: I never said you were.

Adam: Or something to check off your list, you got Lilith and Eve guess I'm the only one left you haven't slept with.

Lucifer: You're so much more than that to me Adam! You've always been someone precious to me.

Adam wanted to pull his hair out! Lucifer was a walking ball of contradiction, he didn't understand the man at all, didn't understand how you could hurt someone you consider precious so many times, then rub it in their face at every chance. How many times had he bragged about how easy it was to get Lilith and Eve to cheat and betray Adam? How many times had Lucifer made fun of him for being a devoted follower of God? He literally nearly beat Adam to death, yeah it was to protect his daughter but what about all the children Adam lost to Lucifer because of that fucking apple? Why was he not justified in being furious and vengeful?

With a frustrated snarl Adam shoved Lucifer to the ground with the shorter man's thin wrist traped in one of his hands, the other one used to keep himself propped up, his large bulky body caged Lucifer in and bathed him in shadows. He was sick of Lucifer playing with his emotions, sick of feeling like he was powerless, he wasn't a weak human anymore, hadn't been for a long time. He didn't know what kind of game Lucifer was playing but he could play his own, he'd break Lucifer just like Lucifer broke him.

Lucifer couldn't help the excited shiver that ran down his spine all the way to the top of his tail.

Adam: You want to start over? Fine we can start over but it'll be on my terms understand?

Adam squeezed Lucifer's wrist hard enough the king thought they would shatter, it didn't scare him, no, it made his heart beat faster and his face flush gold.

Adam: Understand?

Lucifer: Y-yes.

Angel Dust: Hey Charlie said breakfast is- I knew it! Husk!! You owe me big time!

Yes, the improvements are still a work-in-progress. But progress is being made.

Under the management of our new CEO, Finch, Justice Reigns is striving to improve our reputation and, more importantly, our impact on the multiversal community. Lord Dream, in his delusional pursuit of perfection, has destroyed more lives than he has helped. We can never get those lives back, but we can at least try to make tomorrow a better day than yesterday. We hope everyone will grant us their patience and good will as we attempt to undo as much of the damage our previous CEO has done as we can.

As mentioned previously, there are things we can never take back, and we will not ask the families of those Lord Dream had murdered to forgive us. However, we are currently going through paperwork to find the records of these deaths, and attempting to locate their remains. We will be contacting the families of the victims when we find their records, and return the remains whenever possible.

This announcement had caused quite a stir. A week later, at Finch’s first press conference as CEO of JR, a number of reporters had asked him all sorts of questions.

“Where is Dream now?”

“Do you know why he had so many people killed?”

“What did you mean by ‘return the remains whenever possible?’”

And, as expected:

“What do you plan to do about the Meme Squad?”

Finch had answered as many as he could, but the reporters weren’t fully satisfied. This was the first time since the founding of the organization that management had changed, so he understood the excitement. Even if the circumstances had been…better, he would’ve expected just as many questions.

He had been hoping he could take a nice rest afterwards, but upon returning to his new office, he found Hacker and Randy waiting for him, letters in their hands.

Hacker sat in front of the desk, his cane leaning against the armrest.

Randy stood beside him, his expression calm but unsure.

“…What’s going on?”

“I dunno,” Hacker said, turning the letter in his hands. “These just kinda appeared? There’s one on the desk addressed to you, too.”

So there was.

Finch examined it. The only thing written on the envelope was his name, in an old typewriter font.

“That’s…bizarre,” he muttered.

“There’s more,” Randy said. “Dream, Ink, and the Meme Squad all have one.”

“Apparently the letters disappeared right after they were opened?” Hacker said uncertainly. “But they said something about ‘questions incoming.’ We wanted to wait until you got back to open ours.”

Finch frowned in thought, flipping the letter over to the back. “…How could anyone even get a little into those cells?”

“Maybe a…certain kind of magic?” Randy suggested.

Hacker shuddered. “Maybe we should demon-proof the cells or something.”

“We probably should,” Finch sighed. “I’ll put that on the list of things to do. First, though…”

The three of them opened their letters.

Questions incoming. Prepare.

Finch read the letter again, confused. Questions from who?

Suddenly, all three letters vanished in a puff of smoke.

“…Huh,” Hacker said. “I didn’t realize we were having a second press conference with the inmates in max security.”