Chapter Text
Vox ran through the abandoned streets of Pentagram City as fast as he could jumping and weaving around whatever was in his way. Occasionally there was a shadow in one of the upstairs windows, the sound of something falling from a trashed store or alleyway.
Vox paid nothing any attention, his mind sharp and focused.
Scattered debris acted more like annoying obstacles in some of his old shows than something standing in his way. Honestly, with all the shit behind the scenes, back when he was running his first studio, the apocalypse was much more organized.
Grabbing the brick as he rounded one of the corners Vox paused for a moment to catch his breath and look at the finish line that had come into view.
The once-shining embassy Heavenly Embassy
Ethereal glow significantly dimmed, now powered only by a handful of angels. Each using their divine powers to project a two-layer barrier. Protecting one of headquarters of those in Hell, trying to clean up the mess they themselves had created.
“There he is!”
“Capture him!”
An unfortunately familiar voice came from above, which was all the warning the ex-Overlord received. Pretending he hadn’t heard Vox counted down a few seconds, before suddenly jumping back and to the side just as a spear struck the ground. Angelic steel piercing the cracked asphalt where Vox had once stood had he not received a well-timed warning.
“Careful not to hurt the seed you cunt!”
Seriously? After all this time you’d think these identical bitches would learn that Vox was just above their pay grade. Maybe have the collective brain cells to call the for a fucking manager. Or at the very least shout their fucking heads off whenever they saw him.
Summoning up all the electricity in the area, Vox turned around without missing a beat and launched it at the angels in one powerful wave. The winged shrews screamed as they spasmed in the air before falling to the ground, barely twitching, not dead sadly but unconscious.
Vox would usually make sure to finish them off but …
'Get him out of here, kid,' someone pushed Vox out of the room, slamming the doors shut quickly and using their body to barricade the entrance. 'I'll hold them back.'
It was his final request that Vox complete the mission. What the media demon was carrying was more important than these bitches.
Clutching the pot as tight as he could, Vox gave an annoyed huff, turned and continued towards the embassy again. Two openings opened in the shielding at the front of the building once he was close enough, no doubt someone watching from above probably shouting to the others that Vox was back.
Back, hitting the stairs harshly, Vox just lay on the pavement for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Screen cooling as he leaned back against the concrete, staring up at the sky. Lifting his head and slowly unwrapping his jacket, Vox let out a sigh of relief.
The sight of the undamaged pot that lay inside a balm against the pain for the person who had been lost getting it. Even that damned flower didn't appear to be affected by its sudden journey. Still standing as tall and golden as it had grown in center of Lucifer's garden above a gravesite.
It was safe, he hadn’t died for nothing.
Vox felt a familiar prickle and wiped away any forming tears quickly. This wasn’t the time to cry and mourn. That could come later with the others and whatever alcohol they still had. Pretty sure that guy had brought some of the good shit from Earth that Rosie had been eyeing.
It would be nice to have a Tea Party again. Even if Vox was the only Vee remaining who still remembered what that meant. Rosie, bless her tried but she couldn’t conjure up the same catty mean girl energy as Vox’s partners had once been able to do so effortlessly.
Standing up on shaky legs, Vox turned one last time and lifted his middle finger to the white orb in the sky, wishing that bitch Sera could see him. See that Vox was still here, thriving and moving closer and closer to a revenge that she would never see coming.
Entering the embassy, numerous gazes of all types looked at Vox.
“You got it?” Lucifer asked, eyes scanning the jacket, where the yellow flower revealed itself.
"Really, Lucifer, you should have more faith in your subject,” Michael scoffed next to his brother, eyeing the blossom with an unreadable emotion flickering in them. “When has Vox ever failed us?"
Lucifer opened his mouth, but Lilith’s hand resting on his shoulder stopped him.
"Listen, you can all tell me how amazing I am later," Vox carefully handed the pot over to Emily. The seraphim's eyes were shining with tears at the sight of the flower. "Where's Zestial? I have some things to go over with him to ensure co-operation from the Vees when we do this."
Rosie took a step forward. “Vox -”
Her tone …
Terror gripped the TV sinners' hearts at the sight of the woman's face.
No
No
NO!
This is what is not happening!
After years of planning, months of surveillance. Everyone – everyone who fucking died getting to the palace so that they could make it to the garden.
Zestial chose now of all times to crumble!
Like Velvette
‘V,’
Like Valentino
‘Goodbye Voxxy.’
Like
‘I won’t leave you alone, Vincent, I promise. Just -’
A̴̩͓̼̻͎̋̒͝l̷͚̭͙̓̚a̵̡͓̼̥̽̃s̴͉̈́̓̅̂͝t̸̝̮͌͐̾ơ̶̠̺̳̂̊̌̐r̵̢̗̟̒́͝͝
"FUCK!" Sparks shot out, dancing along the glass. Grabbing his screen, the picture scrambling like it always did when Vox got too emotional.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
None of this was supposed to happen.
Killing Adam shouldn’t have led to the literal extinction of the human race. Yet somehow their cursed luck kicked in and it did. Worse yet, nobody had even realized it until it was too late.
It started small, with fewer and fewer sinners falling into Hell.
At first, nobody had really noticed; with all the new souls that fell every day, there were always slow periods. And with the Exterminations halted for the foreseeable future with the princess proving redemption was possible the population grew. As did the Overlords in power need to gather more souls to maintain their territories and images.
But when the sky above the city began showing cracks, residents finally realized that something serious might be happening above.
Adam, The First Man. His death ushered in humanity's final days.
Cause see here’s what nobody knew at the time. For all the horrible fucked up thing’s humans did to themselves. All the natural disasters and diseases that plagued them. Adam alone had somehow made sure humans kept going by just existing.
Didn't matter how much of an asshole he was, the First Man was one of the original prototypes for the entire human race. Lilith never bore children with him, and Eve was fuck knows where, which left all that responsibility falling square on the First Man's shoulders.
When Adam died, the machine, for lack of a better word, stopped working.
It had taken time, and a little help from Hellborn with access to the human world, but eventually Hell got a basic timeline on what had happened topside.
Birth rates began to decline rapidly around the same time after Adam assaulted the hotel. Then mortality rates among the old and young started rising at an alarming pace. Humans began getting sick next, weakening before crumbling into literal dust.
Deaths were already closing in on the billions by the time anyone thought to check on the mortals to find out.
When Lucifer heard this, he immediately went to the embassy, not calling up that bitch Sera, who was the usual go-between, but Michael himself. For the first time in a millennium, the two brothers talked, both trying to make sense of what was happening.
Vox wasn't sure what was said; and he never asked the two angels. All he remembered was his security cameras showing the embassy trembling from the unleashed power inside.
That was also around the same time when whatever was affecting the living humans began trickling into the other realms. Princess Charlie's wife, Vaggi, was the first confirmed case. The woman turns out might have been a hybrid, half angel/half winner, possibly from passing to young and growing up in Heaven afterwards.
Emily had tried to piece together the Exorcists' origins to help Vaggi heal. Still, nobody really knew much except possibly for Adam's former lieutenant, who just disappeared not long after talking to Lilith one last time.
Apparently, the one-armed wonder had stuck around just long enough to make herself a replacement limb, grab some weapons and supplies and fly off perhaps to the furthest outreaches of Heaven to mourn.
Vox had seriously doubted that when he heard it. That cold hearted bitch hadn’t seemed the type to just go off and cry her feelings out. She seemed ironically enough more like Niffty in the stab first ask questions never category. But she may have still held the answers that they needed so Vox kept his mouth shut.
However, as much as Emily and a few others said they had wanted to chase the rogue Exorcist down. The rest of the survivors were already beginning to show the same signs Vaggi was. As were many of the Winners.
It started with feeling tired, then sickness and fever set in.
Nobody was immune to a sickness that lasted exactly seven days as the soul grew weaker and weaker until ultimately …
The day her wife passed, Vox would swear to whatever God might still be listening that he heard the princess’s anguished scream from his tower.
But with Vaggi’s passing came a whole trove of information for Vox and his scientists to work with. Always treating the small samples grieving friends and family gave them with the utmost respect. Understanding that this wasn’t something they could beat through sheer force of will and dominance, that whatever this was could one day come for them to.
And boy did Baxter fucking love explaining in great detail the things he had been able to figure out from them before and his own experience before dying to.
This sickness was counting down from fresh dead to the oldest amongst them. Explained why sinners were dropping less because they were crumbling before they even left the mortal realm. That the Exorcists souls, which Vaggi was once apart of, existed in a separate category from traditional Winners and Sinners. Baxter’s running theory was that without Adam just existing whatever power came from being the Father of Humanity stopped liking it to Vox with his own abilities.
Souls, it turns out, didn’t crumble to dust like the living humans had been. No, they became something more like sand, perhaps even that dust that was talked about in the bible.
White for winners.
Black or even grey for sinners.
And as much of an asshole as he was, Vox never tried to use the death of her wife against the princess, recalling the few meetings he had seen Charlie at and Baxter and the others explained their finding. The haunted look in her eyes every time she touched the wedding rings around her neck or the way he heard her choking back sobs down empty halls when she thought no one was probably around.
Then things went from bad to worse.
Betrayal would have been to kind a word to what the sinner had heard from Emily as she described it in horrible detail.
Sera revealed that she had always suspected this would happen when Adam died. Had told them this after she offered Charlie condolences for her loss before summoning an angelic spear, plunging straight through Charlie’s back.
The angels, sinners and Hellborn who had been present all tried to help, some launching attacks well others went to go get stronger allies. But the older seraphim had caught them off guard channeling the princess’s power throwing them back before summoning her own divine shield and trapping the two inside.
Charlie had screamed when her mixed blood was forced out and used to craft a seal that prevented anyone who’s name was spoken during the inscription from entering Heaven before falling silent.
Cruellest of all was that Sera had apparently not even glanced back, opening one final portal to Heaven. Leaving many of the celestial realm’s commanders, Emily, her own sister, even, trapped and unable to stop whatever Sera planned next.
Even worse they had to face Charlie’s distraught parents and explain what had happened.
Rosie had grabbed Emily and dragged her away, not out of kindness or care but because the tidal wave of power Lucifer and Lilith unleashed was looking for a target. No matter how sweet and kind Emily was in that moment the sister of the woman who killed their daughter and attacked.
But as much pain as everyone was in when this calmed down, they couldn’t rest knowing Sera had been the one behind everything.
Though the betrayal the angels felt had been immense, it had also been the moment when everyone had really come together; Hell, and Heaven alike began really talking. Pulling out those pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that they hadn't known were there before, from past conversations and incidents.
Finally reaching a conclusion that left them feeling colder than before.
Sera must have crafted some deal with Adam to ensure his participation in the Exterminations.
What the terms or rewards for it were, no one knew exactly.
Nonetheless it was clear to everyone that Sera launched Adam into Hell every year, hoping someday someone would finally kill him and kick-start the apocalypse. Likewise, letting the First Man and his Exorcists control the sinner population with brutal efficiency.
Snippets of conversations over the millennia suggested that Sera may have believed that by destroying the old human race, they could start again in a new Eden. Lucifer and Lilith's palace where Adam’s body had been entombed had become heavily guarded by the icy bitches' own version of the Exorcists. Beings who could travel between the realms as they pleased.
Then within hours of the princess’s death the Invasion began. Hell had been utterly unprepared for the hundreds of portals that opened up across the eight rings.
Vox remembered that day, remembered who he had lost when he had run back to the tower. Who had saved him, and the emptiness he felt when he finally came back around to process what had happened.
Thousands died in the first wave, sinner and Hellborn alike before the Sins came around and launched a proper counterattack. Even now, battles were raging all across the lands as demonic and celestial beings clashed, killing each other before dying themselves.
And the only hope they had left to fix this even more broken world had just fucking died!
"Don't blow a gasket there, Sparky," Mammon placed a hand on Vox's shoulder. "We can still send someone back."
Vox's screen froze before his face reappeared, looking at the embodiment of Greed.
“Who?” the sinner asked, turning to the only other person he could think of. "Rosie, you know I love you, but you didn't have the pull Zestial did. So, unless -"
"It's you, ya daft cunt," four hands shook Vox, who could only blink. "We're sending you back."
There was a momentary pause as the screen went blue, then black and an hourglass began spinning before Vox’s face appeared again.
"Tha–that's the absolute WORST idea," Vox threw up his hands, taking a step back to look at everyone else. "I'm a fucking asshole who, yeah, I'll admit, had a lot of sway back then. But I'm the absolute last person who should be trusted with saving the world, I'm too -"
“Greedy?” the sin interrupted a bitter smile on his face. “Yeah, well so am I. But I still suggested this crazy scheme in the first place. Call it a momentary lapse in my judgment after Ozzie -"
Everyone winced.
Lust had put up a fight; the demons who called it home may have been ones of pleasure, but they knew how to inflict just as much pain when the chips were down. And Asmodeus had been the fiercest of the bunch, taking angels down left and right whenever he took to the battlefield.
But to everyone's horror, one day his luck ran out, and they discovered a horrible detail no one had ever thought about before because it seemed ludicrous.
When a Sin fell in battle, so too did their ring.
Those who died both in Lust’s Ring from the destruction and those who died because of its destruction. Even with his super-computer of a mind Vox couldn’t calculate the exact number.
“It boils down to this half pint,” Satan came up to stand behind Mammon arms crossed. “You come from that idiot Adam’s seed -”
"Gross," Vox blanched, feeling like Velvette whenever she walked in on him and Val.
Red eyes flared. “Don’t interrupt me!”
"Dial it back, Hot Head," Mammon flicked the molten lava on the other sin's arm. "Point is, Sparky, you're connected to the old boy. Plus, you're also the only sinner left in all of Hell we can actually trust. Plus, thanks to that fucked up body of yours -”
A purple shoe flew out of nowhere and hit Mammon square in the head; seconds later, another followed, hitting Satan. Lillith moved between Vox and the Sins with a thunderous look on her face.
"Yes, thank you, Satan, Mammon, we get the idea," the queen of Hell chastised the pair, making Lucifer and Michael snicker.
The sound immediately caught the pair's attention, and they rounded on the two blondes and began arguing with them. Rolling her eyes, Lillith grabbed Vox's hand and pulled him along with Emily and Rosie trailing along behind. Getting to the room, Vox numbly sat down on one of the sofas and put his screen in his hands.
"I–I can't do this," he grabbed the casing, feeling claws digs into the plastic, making some of the already existing cracks grow as Vox’s began breathing harder. "It should have been Zestial; he has - had the power to make this work. Fuck are you sure it has to be a sinner?"
Red pixilated eyes looked up at the queen. "I mean, you were Adam's equal; Emily's a fucking angel. Why – Why can't it be one of you?"
Lillith opened her mouth, but Emily beat her to it, floating over to Vox and holding the pot out. The sinner blinked as he took it, seeing the burns that were on the seraphim's hands and arms from where she was clutching it.
There was a slight, bitter smile on the girl's face as she held the pot back to Vox who was undamaged by whatever had created them.
"Adam said, aside from his girls, I was the only angel he really liked. I didn't understand then, but looking back, I don’t think some of the other angels treated him well." The container was placed carefully in Vox's arm, the petals glowing slightly again as though agreeing. "The burns show what Michael said about my grace not working with the spell. Since we weren't connected, I could actually end up making things worse.”
Now the queen took a step forward to offer her own explanation.
"As for me," Lillith reached out towards the petals, only for blood to appear on her fingertips the second she made contact. "I was too young back then to understand Adam. And to be prideful when I did ask his forgiveness."
The flower seemed to pulse at the words.
Adam has returned to the dust that bore them after he died. His body was lay to rest in the garden that Lucifer built to resemble Eden as her husband's last attempt to earn forgiveness.
Yet from his death, a single flower bloomed, the very flower Sera hoped would become the seed of a new humanity.
Lilith frowned slightly, she would never let Sera take Adam again. Finally, after all these years, Lilith understood what she wanted from Adam all along, what they had both wanted.
"Adam was born to be a father, much like Eve, and I were born to be a mothers," Lillith smiled as she remembered the tears she wept the first time Charlie kicked her in the womb. "I don't know what she promised him, but Adam loved his children. No matter how much they strayed, he would never hurt them without a reason."
Amythest's eyes locked with Vox's complete trust reflected in them.
“Save him, however you must,” Lillith ordered, her voice still carrying authority. “Make Adam see Heaven; no, that Sera is using him.”
Vox gulped and looked down at the flower, giving a bitter sound.
“This is a terrible plan.”
"All we have left are our terrible and worst plans."
“No one’s …” Vox began, fingers unconsciously beginning to scorch designs in the pot. “No one’s going to trust me.”
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Rosie said as she sat down next to Vox with an encouraging smile. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "Adapting to the changing times and getting a head of the curve is what you're best at."
"I … no one's going to believe me," Vox spoke, leaning into the embrace. “How can I make you and everyone else see that I'm not lying? If I go back, there's no proof. At least Zestial had his sight – he was able to see things sometimes. I know he was, though the shady bastard denied it.”
Lilith knew the question was directed at her and sighed. There was really only one way that she and the others could offer to give weight to the sinners tale.
“We can give you proof, a brand on your very soul.”
Emily gasped, hearing that.
Branding a soul was one of the highest forms of punishment you could give a soul. From what some had told her of the older angels; it was what God had done to Cain when he slew Abel.
Cain
A man who just opened a portal one day and strolled into Hell, as though he owned it. Demanding to know what the fuck was happening with all the finesse his father possessed.
Who gave both Lucifer and Michael one solid hit to the face when he found out about Adam’s death. Before shaking his hand and barking they had better start getting to work fixing this shit.
Who seemed to gravitate towards Vox for some reason. Stepping in and taking care of the sinner when no one realized something was wrong.
Cain had never come back with Vox.
It hurt Emily to think that the man was either being held hostage and tortured or had finally gotten his long-cherished wish and was dead. But she couldn’t dwell on what ifs and maybes, Emily had to focus and help where she could. And right now, that was making sure that Vox didn’t talk himself out of going back and saving Adam.
Vox was also thinking about Cain, the man who had latched onto him since the first time they met. He had in extreme detail over many homemade bottles of moonshine and bad nights described his life since being cast out of his family. Claiming he wanted someone to hear the whole story because no one else understood the struggles of being human better than another human.
Cain had only talked about his mark once, in a low, angry tone, saying only one thing about it.
Pain
“Will it hurt?”
Rosie blinked and increased her grip, looking at Lilith with a pleading expression. As though begging the queen to lie, to offer some type of false hope despite everyone knowing deep down it would be false.
"We can put you to sleep when we do it," Lilith smiled, her own brand pulsing in defiance from when she and Lucifer had been cast into Hell. “It won’t hurt at all.”
“Don’t,” Vox shook his head. “Don’t put me to sleep, I want to remember."
“Vox -”
Looking up, Rosie felt her words die.
“I need to remember Rosie,” Vox insisted. “I need it.”
The woman’s throat tightened because she knew how much pain seemed to ground Vox. A terrible habit he had developed that used to leave her shaking her head when she found out about it. It had been the same when he had fallen out with Alastor. When Alastor had left for seven years. When all those close to him passed on until Vox was left standing alone.
Vox despite what he claims from his life, mortal and hellish otherwise was a very emotional creature. And when he got too emotional the media demon became easily overwhelmed. Pain was just the easiest and quickest way Vox had found to ground himself.
A shadow in the corner of the room seemed to shift; the queen's eyes narrowed slightly, knowing who it was, surprised they were even bothering to hide.
“Alright,” Lilith nodded. “Emily, could you and Rosie make sure Vox is ready. I need to gather a few things first.”
Emily nodded and tried her best to give Vox a comforting smile as he stood up. But Rosie knew better and narrowed her hollow eyes, scanning the room as she walked. Trying to locate whatever was giving off such a murderous intent as she moved.
When the door closed, the shadows slithered out and grew, revealing a woman. One who immediately plopped down where Vox had been, kicking her feet up and giving a dark smile to Lilith as she leaned back.
“Eve.”