Chapter Text
Lucifer sighed, taking his hand off Maren’s forehead.
“There we go,” He whispered.
“Impressive parlor trick, Your Majesty!” Alastor commented, the volume of his voice completely unaffected by the fact someone was to sleep right in front of him.
“Will you shut up!?” Lucifer whisper yelled, “If she wakes up again, I’ll put you to sleep too!”
“Oh no! The king is going to sing a lullaby! Whatever shall I-” Alastor started sarcastically responding, but Lucifer shoved him out the door, throwing Alastor against the wall on the other side as Lucifer gently closed the door.
“Look, bitch, I’m not going to deal with this,” Lucifer growled, his demon form showing and his voice growing more polyphonic, “If I hear a word from Charlie that you do anything to either of them, or any of the hotel staff, for that matter, you won’t be able to even pray I don’t find you. Are we clear!?”
Alastor stood, somewhat unfazed, under Lucifer’s grip, but he nodded either way. “Crystal.”
-
“MAREN ARTEMIS!” a voice yelled, awaking her from her sleep.
“I’m up, I’m up!” she yelled back, grabbing her clothes out of the drawer.
“YOU HAVE TO LEAVE IN 5 GODDAMN MINUTES! GET DOWN HERE!” Her stepfather yelled, banging pots and pans as he did the dishes, as he usually did.
“I’m coming!” Maren threw on her clothes, grabbing her backpack and phone. She ran down the stairs, jumping the last 5 to run into the dining room.
“New rule!” Her stepfather yelled over his shoulder, “If you don’t get up and all your chores done by 6:05, no phone for the day!”
“Yes, dad…” Maren sighed, making herself a green tea and adding a bit of honey.
“Up late again?” Maren’s mom scolded.
“Yep…” Maren replied, sipping her tea.
“I’m going to start taking away dance if you don’t start getting up early. It’s bullshit that you tell us you ‘sleep through your alarm’. Impossible.”
No! Maren’s mind rang, Not my only way out of the house! Please!
“Understood,” Maren replied, her voice unusually calm compared to the way her mind was screaming.
-
Maren awoke in her hotel room, sitting up quickly as her breath caught. Why was she being shown memories of Earth? She shrugged it off, pulling the blankets off as she walked over to her shoes. Putting them back on, Maren realized she only somewhat remembered how to get back to the lobby. Fuck.
Maren walked out of the room, heading towards the stairs. She went down a few flights, going through the halls on the 3rd floor. Was it this one? Maren felt like she was walking in circles, and sighed before trying to get back to the stairs.
“Ey, you lost?” Angel Dust yelled over, standing outside a LED lit room.
“Yeah, actually, which way’s the lobby?” Maren asked, walking over to the spider.
“Just follow me, toots. I’m heading to dinner right now, anyways.” Angel took a right, standing at the stairwell that somehow appeared.
“Is that- Has that been there the whole time!?” Maren sighed exasperatedly.
Angel laughed, opening the door to the stairwell and letting Maren in. “Nah, this Hogwarts staircase magically appeared infronta my room.” he laughed, leaving Maren to roll her eyes.
“Yeah sure, Hufflepuff.”
“I am not a fuckin’ Hufflepuff!”
“Sure, sure…” Maren smirked, laughing.
“I should push ya down the stairs for that…” Angel warned jokingly, crossing his top set of arms.
“Oh no!” Maren yelled, smiling as she ran down the stairs, and straight onto the landing, not stopping, “The demon’s gonna push me down the stairs-!”
“Uh, toots?” The concern and confusion in Angel Dust’s voice made Maren stop, and look down. The window was on the ground in front of her. No, but the window was on the wall! So did that mean-?
“Hey Angel Dust?” Maren’s voice wavered as she was uncharacteristically still, barely breathing, “Am I on the wall right now?”
“Yep…” Angel walked over, his eye level being a few steps ahead of Maren, “Do ya think ya can… Get down?”
Maren took a step backwards, seeing if she stayed on the wall. When she did, she slowly stepped down, one step at a time, onto the ground. “Holy cow…” she muttered, turning towards the stairs again, but Angel Dust turned her to the door.
“The lobby’s on this floor…” He commented, before walking out of the stairway with an equally confused and dazed expression as Maren’s.
-
“So! How was everyone’s day?” Charlie asked, everyone sitting around the group table. Alastor and Lucifer sat on opposite sides, glaring at each other.
“I- uh- walked on a wall by accident?” Maren replied, taking a sip of her Shirley Temple.
Vaggie did a spit take. “What do you mean you walked on a fucking wall!?”
“I was running, and I got to the wall, and I just kinda - kept running?” Maren replied, smiling awkwardly.
“I am absolutely too sober for this.” Husk grumbled, going over to the bar.
Lucifer sighed, and then took a sip of his appletini. “Might be because you’re a red panda,” he suggested, “They’re excellent at that kinda stuff…”
“Oh, yeah…” Maren agreed, taking a bite of her dinner. They had gotten clam chowder, lobster rolls, and stuffed clams for Maren’s first night, letting her pick the menu. She had, of course, said they could have whatever was being made, but when Charlie mentioned they were buying pizza, Maren immediately asked if they could grab New England food. Lucifer had to grab it from Earth, but he said it was no trouble.
Maren picked up a spoon, scooping the stuffed clam out of the shell, when Alastor commented.
“Maren, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” He tilted his head, his smile growing somehow (how the actual fuck is this possible), “Do you know why you spawned as a red panda?”
Maren shrugged. “Eh, I liked them when I was younger. We went to a state zoo when I was like, 5 maybe, the Beardsley Zoo, that’s it - and that’s all I wanted to see. The red pandas. I even got a stuffed animal of one. It was sooo cute, oh my gosh, but once I was maybe 10? My mom made me give it to Goodwill. Which was idiotic, because I still had other ones, so…” Maren paused, looking up to see all the adults staring at her inquisitively. “Sorry, rambling’s a problem of mine…” She apologized, taking a bite and finishing off her clam.
“Nonsense!” Alastor interrupted, glaring at Lucifer, then looking back at Maren with a face she couldn’t read, “It was a great story!”
“Yep, it was, and it was ruined by a certain redhead doe freak,” Lucifer replied, rolling his eyes.
Ah shit, here we go again.