09 || LUCIFER

In his whole time as King, Crowley had never seen anyone, let alone a human, practically skip into Hell. In fact, in his whole three hundred or so years as a demon he'd never seen anyone this unfazed about going to Hell as Vanessa was, her bright ginger curls bouncing with each step they took down into Limbo.

"It's a little worrying how calm she is." Crowley whispered to Dean who huffed in agreement.

Dean's own Hell experience wouldn't exactly get five stars on TripAdvisor so seeing Vanessa so calm, and even a little excited(?) to go to Hell was unsettling. 

"Are you sure I can't convince you not to do this? I mean it's completely idiotic." Balthazar himself felt uneasy walking into Hell, having been practically dragged into this by Vanessa and threatened by Sam to keep her safe. He may be an angel but that didn't mean he was a miracle worker. Vanessa was a handful, even he couldn't stop her getting into trouble, which he couldn't help but think she would.

Vanessa ignored him as she reached the end of the rather long staircase, if she'd known there'd be this many steps she'd have waited a day or so. She was still sore from her morning... workout.

"Elevators are a wonderful invention, Crowley. You should look into getting one." Vanessa called back to Crowley, who once again just blinked at her and shook his head. She really was unlike anyone he'd ever met before. Maybe that's why he was so fond of her.

The four of them headed down the long, winding corridor. The black brick walls light up by flaming torches, the reddened abyss above them like sky, despite them being miles under the Earth.

"You know I always found this Hell to look a little underwhelming." Vanessa muttered, her finger running along the wall.

Vanessa had expected to feel scared or even sick walking into Hell, but she didn't. Was it because she knew what it looked like from watching the show? Maybe. Or maybe Chuck did something to her to make her less scared, whatever it was she liked as she felt calm and collected. Although that may change when she sees the red eyes of Lucifer staring back at her. That is if she can contain her excitement of meeting him.

"Come again?" Crowley almost choked, even he hated this place so hearing her call it underwhelming came as quite a shock to him.

"Where's the three headed dog guarding the entrance, where's all the fire? I feel like I'm in Draculas castle not Hell."

"I'm retiring after this." Crowley mumbled to himself in disbelief.

"Although I must say, the endless line you made was genius. I can't imagine a worse Hell than having to wait in line." Vanessa replied and Crowley felt a touch of pride building in his chest, his lips rising into a smug smile that made Dean and Balthazar roll their eyes, sharing an annoyed look with each other.

Limbo was exactly as Vanessa remembered it to be. And endless void of nothingness. The dark red emptiness with nothing more than a cage sitting in the middle of a baron wasteland. Crowley had the ingredients ready on a small table in front of the cage, except he didn't know only half of the ingredients were there.

Vanessa may have left out the part about warding the temporary cage so Lucifer couldn't pull anyone into it like he did with Sam in season eleven. She needed to go in with him, to show him what he needed to see in order to get his help, just like Chuck told her.

Obviously she hadn't shared that little fact with anyone else, she knew they'd have locked her in the panic room until they found Gabriel themselves before they let her get close enough to Lucifer that he'd be able to touch her. And she knew she'd be getting an earful from them afterwards, Sam especially, but she didn't care, she was Irish she could take a little yelling.

With the ingredients mixed and incantation spoken, the sky rumbled, lightening cracking above them before a pair of glowing red eyes appeared inside the cage.

Here we go.

"Are you sure the cage is warded enough?" Dean whispered from behind the table, gulping at the eyes watching him.

"Aye, I'll be fine. Just stand back." Vanessa ignored his objections as she took a breath, feeling a little nervous, before she approached the cage.

"And who might you be?" Lucifer's usual humour filled tone reached her ears and she couldn't help but feel a little excited. She had to keep reminding herself that he was real and not fictional. He could hurt her if he wanted to.

"Hey Lucifer, uh, my name is Vanessa, I'm from a, uh, different universe." She waved awkwardly, earning a look of confusion from everyone, Lucifer included. Just because he was the devil doesn't mean she was going to be impolite, her grandmother would smack her stupid if she'd been rude.

"Did she just say hey to the devil?" Dean let out an exasperated sigh, his hand running down his face. This was going to be a disaster.

"Another universe? Interesting." Lucifer walked closer to the bars, the face of his old vessel Nick coming into light.

"I'm here to ask a favour." Vanessa smiled sheepishly, looking up at him, his eyes faded back to normal.

Lucifer didn't know what to think, he knew a little about other universes but he didn't know it was possible to travel between them. But he could also sense she was telling the truth which made him intrigued as to what she could possibly need from him. And the fact that she said hey to him was honestly baffling. Did she know who he was?

"But uh, first I need you to... pull me in with you. Before they realise the cage isn't fully warded." Vanessa whispered, gesturing back to the others who eyes her suspiciously.

Lucifer literally stepped back out of shock. Pull her in? Okay, now he was definitely intrigued about this girl. He couldn't sense any fear from her, in fact he sensed pity and... excitement? 

"Vanessa!" Crowley warned, rushing forward as he came to realise what she was up to. But it was too late, she was already in the cage and a ring of holy fire seemed to appear around it, surrounding them and trapping Vanessa inside with Lucifer.

"Let her out, now!" Dean yelled, his tone angrier than ever before.

"But she asked for this?" Lucifer tilted his head at them, a cheeky grin on his face before he turned to Vanessa. "Didn't you?"

"Ness?" Dean asked shocked, a feeling of betrayal settling inside him that she would lie to them like that.

"I had to, He told me it had to go like this."

"He? Who?" Lucifer asked curiously, eyes moving between Vanessa and Dean.

"I'll be fine, just go stand over there." Lucifer was a little taken back at the nerve she had to ignore his question, but he'd let it slide. For how.

The others didn't move.

"You heard her, off you go." Lucifer taunted, his hand making a 'go away' motion which earned him glares from all three of them as they hesitantly walked away. "Balthazar, good to see you again bro! Missed you!" He called sarcastically after them.

"Thanks, they wouldn't have listened to me this time since I lied to them." Vanessa chuckled a little and Lucifer's brow furrowed.

Thanks? Okay, who was this girl and why wasn't she scared of him?

"I must say, you're incredibly calm given this situation." He gestured between the two of them. "You do know who I am, don't you?"

"Well yeah, you're Lucifer, the archangel." Vanessa said in an obvious tone, her eyes widening a little.

"So you do know. And yet you're not scared of me?" Lucifer stepped forward a little, expecting her to jolt back but she didn't, she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess not. I mean, where I'm from you're nothing more than a fictional character on TV."

"I- What?" Lucifer's face fell confused and it didn't let up when Vanessa explained her situation, where she was from and how she got there. But... hearing that she was Sam's soulmate did give him an idea to see that if under her calm, collected demeanour she portrayed, there wasn't a hint of fear hiding somewhere beneath.

Vanessa was a little taken aback when Lucifer morphed into Sam, his eyes glowing red and a sinister smile on his face. But then she relaxed, her eyes rolling a little at him. She was never really a fan of Sam's Lucifer. Castiel's was pretty good but Nick would always be the best one.

And don't even get her started on Vince Vincente's Lucifer, that was just the worst.

"Not a fan of this one? How about this?" He changed again, this time into her father, which she wasn't sure how he knew what he looked like but then again he was Lucifer after all.

"Go back to Nick, I like that one better." Vanessa waved her hand, unfazed by his attempts to intimidated and manipulate her.

"I like you." Lucifer chuckled a little as he morphed back into Nick, his finger pointing at her. "You're different. Not like these other idiots." His finger moved in the general direction of Dean, Crowley and Balthazar.

The three of them were honestly too stunned to speak over what they were witnessing. And hearing.

"So, what can little old me do for little old you?" A chair appeared before him and Lucifer sat backwards on it, his hand under his chin as he waited for her response.

"I'm looking for Asmodeus."

That was unexpected.

"Ah, little Asmodeus. My weakest Prince, what has he got himself into now?"

"He's not the weakest, not anymore." Vanessa shook her head, a seemingly troubled look on her face that caught Lucifer's attention. "He kidnapped Gabriel."

"Nice try sweetheart, little Gabe is dead... I killed him." Under his mocking tone, Lucifer displayed a genuine sadness over having to kill his brother and Vanessa knew that.

"You didn't. He tricked you." Vanessa smiled a little and Lucifer stood up, his brow furrowed in confusion. "He learned it from you, his big brother. He admires you, you know." She knew she had to play on Lucifer's love for his brothers to make him believe her.

"Anyway, after he tricked you into thinking you killed him, he went back into witness protection with Loki, who then sold him to Asmodeus, who's now torturing him and feeding off his grace."

"You're lying." Lucifer hissed, not wanting to believe that a) Gabriel had tricked him, although he was a little proud at that if it was true and b) that Asmodeus would have the nerve to kidnap an archangel.

Just because he created the Princes, doesn't mean he likes them. Asmodeus always was his least favourite.

"I'm not." Vanessa shook her head, stepping forward, her hands out in front of her. "Just... let me show you." She took a breath, as did those outside the cage when they watched her take Lucifer's hands and set them on either side of her face.

Lucifer didn't have time to react before visions began to play in his mind as Vanessa showed him what she'd seen. From Gabriel's fake death, to him returning to Loki. She showed him the partying, the booze and the woman. Showed him Loki and his sons capturing Gabriel while he slept.

Lucifer could feel the anger building inside him as she showed him Asmodeus, his tacky white suit and thick southern accent as he revealed the run down Gabriel, his mouth sewn shut and an empty, terrified look in his eyes at the mere sight of the Prince.

He saw Asmodeus injecting himself with Gabriel's grace, the poor angel sitting terrified on a step next to him as he hugged his knees tight against this chest.

Vanessa never showed him Gabriel's rescue, just how he was afterwards. Afraid of touch. Afraid of Castiel and Sam. How he cowered in the corner, his mouth still sewn shut with dried blood around it. The way he had no memory of who he was or what he'd done. How he was even terrified of his own grace as Castiel tried to give what little they'd taken from Asmodeus back to him.

The next part was the worst for Lucifer when he heard the pain in Gabriel's voice, the sarcastic, humorous tone his brother always sported gone...

"Every day, Asmodeus tortured me. Every... day! He fed off my grace for years! He used me, he debased me until I was... What I went through... you don't forgive..."

Lucifer pulled back, seemingly gasping for air as he looked down at the ground, before back up to Vanessa, who could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes. Which wouldn't surprise her, Lucifer always did say he was the only one who could mess with his brothers.

"How long? How long does he torture him?"

"Seven years." Vanessa replied and Lucifer turned away from her. She glanced over at Dean, Crowley and Balthazar who all seemed intrigued and slightly impressed with how Vanessa was handling this.

"I need you to tell me how find Asmodeus and how to kill him before he gets too strong. Before Gabriel loses himself."

"And why would I do that?" Lucifer turned back to her, his voice cracking just the slightest that it may have gone unnoticed by others, but not Vanessa.

"Because I know you love your brother and I know that deep down, under all the hate and the evilness inside you that you're just broken. That all you want is an apology from your father, for what he did to you-"

"You know nothing of my father."

"I do. I know more about him than you think, after all, who do you think sent me to you?"

Lucifer didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say and he didn't know what to feel either.

"I know I'm not him, Lucifer, but I am sorry for what he did to you. For locking you away in here when all you did was love him too much." Vanessa's tone was soft and caring as she moved closer to him.

Lucifer eyed her carefully, no one had ever apologised to him before and he didn't know how that made him feel.

"Please, help me save Gabriel."

"Will you let me out of here?" Lucifer almost pleaded, if she knew about him then she knew how much he hated being stuck in the cage. How it was his biggest fear when he'd been freed, that they'd throw him back in, which is exactly what they did.

He couldn't take another second locked away with his drooling brother.

"You know I can't do that. As much as I would like to, I can't. I've seen what happens if you get out of here and I can't risk it."

"What happens?"

"Let's just say it ends with you dying." Not before the birth of your son and the apocalypse world Michael... but that's a timeline that won't ever be happening... Sorry Jack. "Please, Lucifer. I need to stop Asmodues before he gets too powerful."

"What does he do? Asmodeus? What has you so afraid of him?"

Vanessa didn't know how Lucifer knew there was a second, underlining reason as to why she wanted Asmodeus dead. It wasn't just for what he did to Gabriel, it was also because of what he was trying to power himself up to do. Nobody knew. Even Vanessa herself didn't like thinking about it but if what she knew would make Lucifer help her, then maybe she had to tell him.

"He wants to free the Shedim."

Lucifer physically flinched at her words.

That bastard. Didn't he learn his lesson last time he freed those retched creatures? If there was one other thing besides the cage that Lucifer feared, it was the Shedim. After all, Hell was created for the sole purpose of keeping them locked away, just as Purgatory was created for the Leviathans. Only the Shedim were a hundred times worse.

"I want something, in return for my help."

Of course he did.

"What? Magazines, portable dvd player? Ping pong table for the cage? What?"

Lucifer couldn't help but find Vanessa amusing. Her brazen attitude towards him, and he guessed towards everyone else too. Maybe she'd be one of the few humans he wouldn't want to kill if he ever got out of here. Although if he did get out he probably wouldn't do anything that would make them try to throw him back in.

"Ping pong table sounds nice actually..." He said humorously before his mood shifted to a serious one. "I want out of here. I ca- I can't take another second in here, please. You have to let me out."

Vanessa knew he was serious when he said please. She sighed, moving away from him to stare through the bars into the nothingness before her. Clearly Chuck was lying when he said Lucifer would help her without trying to bargain his way out.

She couldn't let him out, could she? The others would hate her. Sam would... She couldn't do it. Not after everything they went through to get him back in. And even if she did, if he went off the rails again they wouldn't have what they need to throw him back in. It was too risky.

Vanessa knew the guys were listening, she could hear them telling her over and over not to even think about letting Lucifer out.

"What'll it be, sister?"

Taking a deep breath she turned to Lucifer.

"No."

The next thing Vanessa knew, she was pushed up against the bars, Lucifer's hands around her throat as his eyes glowed red and his face twisted with rage.

"Get her out!" Dean shouted, him.  Crowley and Balthazar running towards the table to perform the reversal spell before Lucifer killed her.

"Faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I bloody well can!" Crowley snapped back, tossing the ingredients into the bowl, muttering the incantation and setting them alight.

The cage glowed brightly, filling the darkness with white light. The three of them covering their eyes before it finally dimmed. Lucifer was gone and Vanessa lay on the ground outside the cage.

"Ness?" Dean ran to her, his knees skidding on the ground as he fell beside her. "Ness." He rolled her over gently and sighed in relief as she groaned.

"Ow." She mumbled, making Dean let out a nervous and relived chuckle as he helped her up. "That was unpleasant."

"I'll say." Dean muttered, keeping her steady as she rubbed her throat. "Didn't go so well did it?"

"Ya think?" Vanessa spat, before looking apologetically at Dean, who just shrugged it off. She had every reason to be snappy as her own neck very nearly became snappy itself.

"Let's go, Sam's probably driving Bobby crazy waiting for you." Dean lead her towards Crowley and Balthazar, who both looked pale.

"Here, let me help." Balthazar said softly as he pressed two fingers to her forehead, the ache in her throat was now gone as was the throbbing she felt on back from being slammed into the bars.

"Thanks." She smiled briefly at him before glancing back at the cage. That could have gone better. What the hell was she thinking talking to Lucifer? Of course he wouldn't help, he never did.

Although maybe she should have shown him what Asmodeus did to him in the future, then maybe he'd have been more inclined to help. But aw well, there was bound to be other options she could explore as to finding him.

"Can you zap us out of here? I don't fancy walking up all those stairs." Vanessa asked towards Balthazar before she shot an annoyed look towards Crowley, earning an eye roll back from him.

It's not his fault Hell is so deep underground.

The next thing they knew, they were back in Bobby's house. Crowley was gone, as was Balthazar. Not surprising, the angel never did stick around long.

"Ness?" Sam literally jumped from his seat, embracing her in his arms before she even had a chance to take in her surroundings.

"You're squishing me." Vanessa groaned, fighting under Sam's tight hold on her. Sometimes he forgot he was much larger than she was.

"Sorry." He pulled back immediately, his hands landing on her face. "I'm just glad you're back, is all."

"How'd it go?" Bobby asked, a glass of scotch in his hand that he handed to Dean, who drank it immediately.

"Not good." Dean grumbled, setting the now empty glass on Bobby's desk. "Lucifer was no help and Vanessa here almost ended up as his new toy."

"She what?" Sam's face dropped as he looked down at Vanessa who smiled sheepishly. "What happened?"

Vanessa told them everything.

Sam was, of course, angry that she purposely allowed herself to get pulled into the cage with Lucifer, something she'd failed to mention to them beforehand.

"Look, I'm grand. He didn't hurt me. I'm still in one piece." Vanessa held her arms out as if to say 'see not a scratch'. The boys always were so dramatic.

"Thanks to Crowley, who got you out before you weren't 'fine'." Dean replied sternly, not quite believing he was actually thanking Crowley for something.

"Whatever. It's over now so just let it go." Vanessa waved her hand towards them and went to pour herself a much needed drink.

Letting it go was easier said than done, but they knew better than to keep arguing with her. They were no match for her.

"Then what now?" Dean muttered, unamused. "We're no closer to finding this Asmo-whatever than we were before the trip downstairs. Not to mention the whole Cas situation."

"God said Cas was inevitable at this point so we just need to hit the books, there has to be something on Asmodeus somewhere." Vanessa replied, coughing a little at the burn of the scotch going down her throat. She always hated this stuff and never knew how they could drink so much of it.

"Research great." Dean sighed, his hand running down his face. "I need another drink.... Maybe a sandwich?" He tried batting his eyelashes at Vanessa who frowned at him.

"Make your own." She threw back at him, his face falling into a defeated look as he mumbled about not being hungry anymore. "I'm going to grab my notes, see if there's anything in them that might help jog my memory as to someone who may be able to help us."

"I'll clear a space." Bobby grumbled, beginning to move books and papers from his desk as he knew how many notes Vanessa had. He was the one who had to go and by her all those notebooks and multicoloured pens she'd asked for.

Vanessa came bouncing back down the stairs, changed into her onesie that bared a striking resemblance to Chewbacca from Star Wars.

Sam loved seeing her wear it, he found it utterly adorable.

"Oh, I got you present while you were... out." Sam's brow had furrowed as he tried to figure out how to phrase that properly, before a smile grew on his face.

"Ooo a present." Vanessa said giddily, skipping into the kitchen behind him.

Sam held out a box and Vanessa's lips rose into one of the widest smiles he'd ever seen.

"You got me a kettle?" Vanessa grabbed the box from him, almost tearing into it to get to the appliance within.

"You always hate boiling water on the stove so I figured I'd help you out." Sam smiled, shrugging one shoulder as he watched how happy she got over the simplest of things.

"That thing is never going to be turned off." Dean mumbled, shaking his head. He'd never know a person to drink as much tea as Vanessa did. How she wasn't permanently stuck to the toilet he'd never know.

"Sam Winchester you had better be careful or I may very well end up asking you to marry me." Vanessa mumbled and Sam's heart almost stopped, he knew it was just in the heat of the moment (hope it's not Tuesday) but he couldn't help but feel a wave of warmth flow within him.

If she asked, he'd marry her in a heartbeat... But for now, research.

-okay so you'll have noticed that i changed the ending and Vanessa is no longer possessed by Lucifer... I had a little think about that last night and came to the conclusion that it would make things far too easy and the book would be up super short as Lucifer could help with everything

and i didn't want to make him the villain either as that can just get repetitive... so i opted for him to refuse to help them... but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing him again soon ;)

i hope y'all don't mind this new ending as I personally think it would just help the story flow better