Lilith had spent all night wondering about every single outcome that the next day could possibly have. She had even done a chart with doodles, resembling her own daughter in her ways of dealing with the internal panic

The early rays of sunshine from the morning almost came as a surprise as she held in her hand the papers containing her '100% fail-proof plan to have a great day in Hell'.

Lilith spent the next hours she still had to prepare herself physically and mentally. Okay, she could do this. It had only been seven years. What's seven years after knowing each other for as long as the Earth came to be? Only seven years of knowing that your husband is reaching out to you and you choose not to read until he ends up wondering if it was his fault. Fuck. Maybe she could not do this.

But she had to. Because, at the very least, Lucifer (and Charlie, too) deserved to know why she had left.

And, besides, there was that advice... How was it? Oh, yeah. "It starts with sorry."

So, smile, Lilith. You can do this.

Those were her thoughts as she opened the portal right in front of the statue, and right in front of her husband, too.

As the portal closed behind her, time in Hell seemed to stand still for a moment as she took the sight before her. Unconciously seeing the differences between the Lucifer that stood before her and the one despicted on the statue behind him.

The fallen angel has always had a bit of a tired look to him, purple eyelids making him look permanently sleep deprived despite the otherwise doll-like qualities of his face. Despite that, he look more worn out now. There is no one feature to point to, but something in the way he holds himself. Despite that, there is a tightness to his posture, somewhere between excited and terrified.

Lucifer's eyes are wide, frozen with his mouth slightly open as he watches the portal manifest and the figure step through. She look just like he remembers as yet there is something so different he cannot place. Something in the way she is holding herself. There is no way she of all people would be nervous, so it must be something else.

"Lilith?"

He utters her name barely above a whisper and takes a half-step forwards before his trance seems to break. He blinks and swallows hard, eyes dropping away to stare at the ground between them despite himself. He would let her close the distance instead of risking somehow scaring her away.

Because he must have, somehow, right?

A heartbeat passed before Lilith broke out of her own thoughts. Lucifer had whispered her name, but it sounded so different. Hopeful, and yet, scared.

Lilith's mind went blank. All of the greetings she had planned during the night seemed to have fled with the leaves, gone in the wind that passed between them.

"Lucifer."

She whispered back almost unconsciously, the name almost sounding unfamiliar on her lips. She had not said it in seven years. Too much time.

Normally, Lilith would have been the one taking the step forward. She was used to have an unwavering determination, to not let anything stand in her path, not even her own thoughts.

But, right now, did she have that right?

She had deeply hurt the only two persons that had truly mattered in her life.

Lilith could only stand there, not even realizing that tears had already started to cover her cheeks. She took a shaky breath, her voice trembling as she softly spoke.

"Lucifer, I am so, so sorry."

At the soft-spoken apology, so different from whatever he was expecting, Lucifer's gaze shoot up to his wife's face.

Without proper conscious thought, the fallen angel is stepping forwards, wing unfurling to lift himself up with a gentle whoosh of air. It brings his face to Lilith's eye level, where he can cup her cheek with a hand and wipe at the tears.

He looks into her eyes and the hesitation is gone in his own, leaving hope and a deep, deep love in his own.

"It's alright, love. I forgive you, whatever it is. I would wait a hundred years if I meant I get to see your face again."

He is torn between a desire to ignore the rest of the world and an uneasy awareness that they are out in the middle of the street. He doesn't care what all of Hell thinks in this moment, but perhaps it should still be had in private. It seems this is more than either of them expected.

"Let's just go home."

Lilith nodded, a soft smile appearing as she looked deep into his eyes. For a moment, she felt like they were back in Paradise, just like millenia ago.

Well, of course. For her, Paradise had always been wherever Lucifer and Charlie were.

And right now, her own paradise was home. Not the place she had for herself in Heaven. Home meant the place where your heart could rest, and that place had always meant their palace in Hell.

"Yes." Lilith talked softly, fearing that if she raised her voice, it would break the small moment. "Let's go home." She repeated.

Lilith knew she had many things to talk with Lucifer. He had forgiven her, but Lilith wanted to wait until he had heard the truth to truly treasure those words. But a heavy weight had been lifted from her heart upon hearing him.

She took one last look at the statue, focusing on the little Charlie. She wondered for herself how her little duckling was doing right now.

Lucifer pulls his queen in closer and wreaths them in red flame as space folds around them and they are suddenly in the sitting room in the Palace, the room lit by sunlight coming through the tall windows and a roaring fireplace. The room is one of the cozier ones in the Palace, smaller than most with comfortable couches and chairs and bookshelves against the walls. There are several family portraits on the walls, depicting Charlie with both her parents looking serious.

Lucifer slows his flapping wings to land gently on the carpet, having arrived in the same position they had disappeared from Cannibal Town in. He looks up at his wife now, broad smile on his face with no attention to the room around them. He leaves the feathered limbs hanging comfortably at his sides, almost boxing in the space around Lilith and himself.

"Now I have you all to myself." He says slyly, thought there is a slight fragility to it, almost testing.

Lilith blinked, the sly comment actually taking her by surprise, and then..."Pff~." She couldn't help but laugh a little, a light hearted chuckle escaping her lips before she could stop it.

"Oh, Luci. You always have." Lilith answered back, as she booped him on the nose.

She let herself relax in the familiarity of the moment. Here, in the palace, it felt like the time had rewinded until almost eight years ago.

"I see you have taken good care of the palace. It hasn't changed at all." Lilith said with a happy tone as she averted her gaze from the fallen angel to take in the sights.

Unlike the park, the palace looked exactly as when she had left. Lilith could feel herself relax, tension and fear she didn't know she had leaving her shoulders as she spoke. "It feels great to be back."

Lucifer crosses his eyes to stare at the finger in his face and breaks into a gentle chuckle.

It isnt wrong to say the place hadn't changed. Aside from his frantic cleaning yesterday, Lucifer rarely used most of the rooms in the palace when he was alone. Holed up in his workshop or their bedroom for the most part. Of course, that is until he started living at the hotel the last few months.

"I am glad. Not much has changed around here while you've been gone. Charlie had been on her own for a few years so its just been me here..."

“I see…” She whispered, taking in his words. “It seems our little duckling has become a swan while I was gone…” Lilith said with a proud smile.

Almost eight years ago, Charlie still lived in the palace with them. She was already thinking (and overthinking) about a project for helping sinners to redeem themselves, but it had been just random ideas thrown together into a whiteboard the last time Lilith had asked her about it.

Now, in Heaven, she had heard about how Charlie had reedemed the first sinner ever and, something about her running an hotel? Lilith really wanted to see it before going back to Heaven.

Speaking of which…

“Lu, I…” She took a few steps back and sat down on the sofa in front of the fireplace, patting the seat beside her. “I want to tell you about why I left.”

//HELP I AM LAUGHING WAY TOO MUCH AT THIS

Alastor being the homewrecker on the two sides is sending me

that’s a good question! Huh! Well, they are dead, yes, certainly. In spirit (ha) they definitely are. But if we want to go with a more cut and dry logical view—dissection isn’t just dead things. It’d be proper a term for the act either way!

As for if a sinner is alive or dead physically, and when they count as alive versus dead— that’s the very fun question! Who knows!!! When does a nervous system wire itself into a person again when pulled apart???? Does the soul feel??? Does any temporary death count as death? If it is always in a state of repair, is it always alive?

I like that perception of it. It is life if it can survive. Maybe every dissection in hell is a vivisection! Sounds like hell. Very fitting.

Of course, without concrete details on how regeneration functions, it’s impossible to know! Sure, we could assume they need to pull themselves together from Velvette’s line about one of her models in season 1, but we also don’t know if that’s something specific to that sinner (Velvette after all could quite literally pull herself back together, being a doll. So. It’s. Really! Hard!!! To know for sure!!!! What she might have been referringto!!!!) it’s totally possible the bodies are fully dead and they just respawn fresh or something. Then it wouldn’t be vivisection…….. I think the former option is more likely but who knows !!!!!!

ooc. Ah true, from strict definitions dissection would be the broader term - we do see the model in particular that Velvette is referring to, in passing in the background, but again, it is unclear if it falls under that sinner's unique physiology, is a turn of phrase, or is indicative about the regen process as a general.

Another interesting area is Vox, who is decapitated- is his body alive, does it count as aware without the presence of his brain, can his body be vivisected at this point? Additionally, we know Vox has upgraded his head, which means he has removed it in such a way that he is not hardlocked to the head- which seems to be the situation when Val rips it off - Vox went with the head. To what extent would this carry across to Velvette.

Mmm many questions.

I do think narratively, every dissection in hell being a form of vivisection would be very fitting, and iirc the earlier webcomic work made a point that the biology involved in the afterlife is intended as punitive on some level, so that would align, but whether that is strictly canon is questionable.

//I want to add my two cents about Vox and Velvette’s situation!

I personally have the theory that Vox’s real body is pure electricity. This would mean that he is not only able to switch heads, or his body, as he pleases, but basically go inside every electronical device and ‘possess’ it so that’s his new body.

What I’m trying to say is that his demon body actually acts more like a 'vessel’. To kill Vox you would need to destroy the electricity inside.

(I like theorizing for the fun of it, so this theory may not hold much water, to be honest haha)

What little proof I have is that Vox has been shown to be able to go *inside* electrical devices, such as televisions (like in Stayed Gone).

As for Velvette, to kill her, it would be much easier. Her body is made of plastic, like a doll, maybe as a mannequin. And what way is it better to destroy plastic than using fire?

// I would say that, for clarity’s sake, as a non-native english speaker, I would find easier to understand if it was called vivisection for an ‘alive’ sinner, and dissection if they are 'dead’ (as in, in a state of regeneration)

The other options are great, too, but if I were to read it without too much context I would be confused hahaha

Lilith had spent all night wondering about every single outcome that the next day could possibly have. She had even done a chart with doodles, resembling her own daughter in her ways of dealing with the internal panic

The early rays of sunshine from the morning almost came as a surprise as she held in her hand the papers containing her '100% fail-proof plan to have a great day in Hell'.

Lilith spent the next hours she still had to prepare herself physically and mentally. Okay, she could do this. It had only been seven years. What's seven years after knowing each other for as long as the Earth came to be? Only seven years of knowing that your husband is reaching out to you and you choose not to read until he ends up wondering if it was his fault. Fuck. Maybe she could not do this.

But she had to. Because, at the very least, Lucifer (and Charlie, too) deserved to know why she had left.

And, besides, there was that advice... How was it? Oh, yeah. "It starts with sorry."

So, smile, Lilith. You can do this.

Those were her thoughts as she opened the portal right in front of the statue, and right in front of her husband, too.

As the portal closed behind her, time in Hell seemed to stand still for a moment as she took the sight before her. Unconciously seeing the differences between the Lucifer that stood before her and the one despicted on the statue behind him.

The fallen angel has always had a bit of a tired look to him, purple eyelids making him look permanently sleep deprived despite the otherwise doll-like qualities of his face. Despite that, he look more worn out now. There is no one feature to point to, but something in the way he holds himself. Despite that, there is a tightness to his posture, somewhere between excited and terrified.

Lucifer's eyes are wide, frozen with his mouth slightly open as he watches the portal manifest and the figure step through. She look just like he remembers as yet there is something so different he cannot place. Something in the way she is holding herself. There is no way she of all people would be nervous, so it must be something else.

"Lilith?"

He utters her name barely above a whisper and takes a half-step forwards before his trance seems to break. He blinks and swallows hard, eyes dropping away to stare at the ground between them despite himself. He would let her close the distance instead of risking somehow scaring her away.

Because he must have, somehow, right?

A heartbeat passed before Lilith broke out of her own thoughts. Lucifer had whispered her name, but it sounded so different. Hopeful, and yet, scared.

Lilith's mind went blank. All of the greetings she had planned during the night seemed to have fled with the leaves, gone in the wind that passed between them.

"Lucifer."

She whispered back almost unconsciously, the name almost sounding unfamiliar on her lips. She had not said it in seven years. Too much time.

Normally, Lilith would have been the one taking the step forward. She was used to have an unwavering determination, to not let anything stand in her path, not even her own thoughts.

But, right now, did she have that right?

She had deeply hurt the only two persons that had truly mattered in her life.

Lilith could only stand there, not even realizing that tears had already started to cover her cheeks. She took a shaky breath, her voice trembling as she softly spoke.

"Lucifer, I am so, so sorry."

At the soft-spoken apology, so different from whatever he was expecting, Lucifer's gaze shoot up to his wife's face.

Without proper conscious thought, the fallen angel is stepping forwards, wing unfurling to lift himself up with a gentle whoosh of air. It brings his face to Lilith's eye level, where he can cup her cheek with a hand and wipe at the tears.

He looks into her eyes and the hesitation is gone in his own, leaving hope and a deep, deep love in his own.

"It's alright, love. I forgive you, whatever it is. I would wait a hundred years if I meant I get to see your face again."

He is torn between a desire to ignore the rest of the world and an uneasy awareness that they are out in the middle of the street. He doesn't care what all of Hell thinks in this moment, but perhaps it should still be had in private. It seems this is more than either of them expected.

"Let's just go home."

Lilith nodded, a soft smile appearing as she looked deep into his eyes. For a moment, she felt like they were back in Paradise, just like millenia ago.

Well, of course. For her, Paradise had always been wherever Lucifer and Charlie were.

And right now, her own paradise was home. Not the place she had for herself in Heaven. Home meant the place where your heart could rest, and that place had always meant their palace in Hell.

"Yes." Lilith talked softly, fearing that if she raised her voice, it would break the small moment. "Let's go home." She repeated.

Lilith knew she had many things to talk with Lucifer. He had forgiven her, but Lilith wanted to wait until he had heard the truth to truly treasure those words. But a heavy weight had been lifted from her heart upon hearing him.

She took one last look at the statue, focusing on the little Charlie. She wondered for herself how her little duckling was doing right now.

Lucifer pulls his queen in closer and wreaths them in red flame as space folds around them and they are suddenly in the sitting room in the Palace, the room lit by sunlight coming through the tall windows and a roaring fireplace. The room is one of the cozier ones in the Palace, smaller than most with comfortable couches and chairs and bookshelves against the walls. There are several family portraits on the walls, depicting Charlie with both her parents looking serious.

Lucifer slows his flapping wings to land gently on the carpet, having arrived in the same position they had disappeared from Cannibal Town in. He looks up at his wife now, broad smile on his face with no attention to the room around them. He leaves the feathered limbs hanging comfortably at his sides, almost boxing in the space around Lilith and himself.

"Now I have you all to myself." He says slyly, thought there is a slight fragility to it, almost testing.

Lilith blinked, the sly comment actually taking her by surprise, and then…“Pff~.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little, a light hearted chuckle escaping her lips before she could stop it.

“Oh, Luci. You always have.” Lilith answered back, as she booped him on the nose.

She let herself relax in the familiarity of the moment. Here, in the palace, it felt like the time had rewinded until almost eight years ago.

“I see you have taken good care of the palace. It hasn’t changed at all.” Lilith said with a happy tone as she averted her gaze from the fallen angel to take in the sights.

Unlike the park, the palace looked exactly as when she had left. Lilith could feel herself relax, tension and fear she didn’t know she had leaving her shoulders as she spoke. “It feels great to be back.”

Well, sinners have their souls bound into the Pride Ring, and winners have their souls bound into Heaven. If a sinner tries to go into Heaven (or viceversa), their soul quite literally would prevent them to leave.

Until recently, redemption was just the theory that a sinner could escape that boundary. But my daughter proved that it was possible.

So why could not it be possible to break the boundary preventing us to visit the other Rings, too?

I haven't done any research in this field, but it is interesting, is it not~?

Why, it is!! I've heard from other sinners that Hellborn demons are capable of traveling between rings, and if we find out about how they do that, we might just be able to do the exact same thing.

My only research has always been about how a sinner can reach redemption (and my daughter has beaten me in the field), but I would love to aid you in whichever way I can. I am quite curious in how is life outside of the Pride Ring, after all.

Hm, yes...Wait, your daughter is Charlie Morningstar? Since she proved that redemption is possible? So you must be Lilith!! ...it's an honor to be able to eh...talk to you!!

Indeed. Do you know my daughter, perhaps? You must be a sinner. Perhaps a guest of her hotel? I am pleased to meet you, little researcher.

I am Baxter! I am at her hotel for...research purposes, to see if it actually works, since an old colleague of mine succeeded in redemption. And yes, I do know your daughter.

Oh, did you know personally the sinner who became a winner? Interesting. I wanted to hear about him. I was hoping to meet him personally in Heaven, but the chance has not yet arose.

I'm pleased to have met you, Mr. Baxter. I hope you succeed in your own redemption, too.

I used to know the sinner who became a winner. An old colleague of mine, but we have previously split up due to personal issues.

...right. I suppose so.

Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't meant to pry into your personal life! I didn't know he was your lo... Ahem. Forgive me. I'm sure you will find someone else, if your heart desires so.

(It seems she might have mistaken the nature of their relationship)

Huh?? Seems like that there has been a misunderstanding going on. We were colleagues.

O-Oooh. I see. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Do you might know how he had managed to be redeemed, perhaps?

Not really sure about that. I hear about the fact that he sacrificed himself, but thats it.

Interesting. I have to ask around more about him. Maybe self-sacrifice with good intentions is a core quality for redemption.

Well, sinners have their souls bound into the Pride Ring, and winners have their souls bound into Heaven. If a sinner tries to go into Heaven (or viceversa), their soul quite literally would prevent them to leave.

Until recently, redemption was just the theory that a sinner could escape that boundary. But my daughter proved that it was possible.

So why could not it be possible to break the boundary preventing us to visit the other Rings, too?

I haven't done any research in this field, but it is interesting, is it not~?

Why, it is!! I've heard from other sinners that Hellborn demons are capable of traveling between rings, and if we find out about how they do that, we might just be able to do the exact same thing.

My only research has always been about how a sinner can reach redemption (and my daughter has beaten me in the field), but I would love to aid you in whichever way I can. I am quite curious in how is life outside of the Pride Ring, after all.

Hm, yes...Wait, your daughter is Charlie Morningstar? Since she proved that redemption is possible? So you must be Lilith!! ...it's an honor to be able to eh...talk to you!!

Indeed. Do you know my daughter, perhaps? You must be a sinner. Perhaps a guest of her hotel? I am pleased to meet you, little researcher.

I am Baxter! I am at her hotel for...research purposes, to see if it actually works, since an old colleague of mine succeeded in redemption. And yes, I do know your daughter.

Oh, did you know personally the sinner who became a winner? Interesting. I wanted to hear about him. I was hoping to meet him personally in Heaven, but the chance has not yet arose.

I'm pleased to have met you, Mr. Baxter. I hope you succeed in your own redemption, too.

I used to know the sinner who became a winner. An old colleague of mine, but we have previously split up due to personal issues.

...right. I suppose so.

Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't meant to pry into your personal life! I didn't know he was your lo... Ahem. Forgive me. I'm sure you will find someone else, if your heart desires so.

(It seems she might have mistaken the nature of their relationship)

Huh?? Seems like that there has been a misunderstanding going on. We were colleagues.

O-Oooh. I see. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. Do you might know how he had managed to be redeemed, perhaps?