Reinvented

Skyler could feel him closing in. She knew it was only a matter of time before her little hiding spot would be compromised. Every day she was growing weaker and weaker, sometimes she could barely walk--his power was constricting her Grace...again. The freak, unseasonable storms, the icy cold weather; it was all a sign that he was closing in on her.

Frantically, she pulled out her collection of multiple backpacks and suitcases and began to repack her Chicago apartment. She'd become quite partial to this city having hung around for the last 30 years or so, but now that he had been released from his cage, Skyler knew that it was all going to be hiding from here on out.

Skyler opened up the closet with a heavy sigh and placed her hands on her hips. She didn't want to leave, and she most definitely didn't want to be afraid of him anymore, but he was the only one person that wouldn't leave her alone. She began to pull t-shirts, tank tops, flannel and button-up shirts of their hangers, and pairs of trousers, funky knee-high socks, and plain bras and underwear out of her drawers, rolling all the items so they would fit in what would be the tightly packed bags once she was all done. She was used to moving, it had to be done every half-century or so since she'd gotten dragged out of Heaven roughly 2000 years ago, but this time it didn't seem right.

Pushing and shoving, she managed to get all of the clothes shoved in to one bag, with a small bit of room to spare. She smiled, though grudgingly, at the small space in the corner and made her way into the bathroom to pack up all of her items in there when a voice stopped her.

"You missed a spot." He taunted, leaning up against the door frame boredly, arms crossed over his chest.

"Lucifer," Skyler growled, not needing to turn around to recognize the voice.

"In the flesh!" Lucifer pushed himself off the wall and held his arms out, "Skyler, why have you been hiding from me? I've missed you!"

His smirk made Skyler feel faint; she knew he was taunting her...they both knew that angel or not, she wasn't strong enough to resist him. Never was. "Oh, you know...just, erm, been around, I guess." She said, backing herself away from him and into the wall. "Can't say I missed you, though. Not since you pulled me out of Heaven with your stupid little plan."

"You know that was just a necessary precaution." Lucifer continued to step closer, staring her down. Skyler could feel her Grace cripple under the weight of his own and she slowly fell to the ground and the smirk on his face grew. "I couldn't have you running off and telling Daddy on me, now could I? I wanted someone to be around who loved me; I wanted you to stay with me."

By now he was standing over her, and Skyler was struggling to stay up on her knees. It felt like she was being shoved through a tube that was much too small for her to get out the other end; Lucifer's power was squeezing the breath, the life out of her. "What you did was wrong...," She spit out through gritted teeth, "You know as well as I do that I was never going to help you...no matter how much I loved you, Lucifer."

He clicked his tongue, "Don't lie to me, Skyler. You almost said 'yes', and if Michael hadn't stopped you, you would've been in Hell with me for all those years that you've been hiding out so comfortably with humanity. It's disgusting!" His hand found its way to the back of Skyler's hair and grasped at it, yanking her head back. "You betrayed me. No, worse; you listened to my brother over me!"

Lucifer was so close that Skyler could smell the degrading flesh of the vessel he had taken over. It was a sandy haired man with strange hazel eyes, and after a bit of digging she was able to discover that the man's name was Nick. It was easy to see why he had said 'yes' to Lucifer; this man's family had been murdered and the angel held inside him could be very convincing. "Well, I see Sam Winchester told you 'no'. Bet you that one hurt, yet another rejection," Skyler groaned out, clicking her tongue at the end, "Sucks to be you."

Lucifer couldn't stand her talking to him like that. He had told himself that he wasn't going to lose control, he wasn't going to hurt her because that would just frighten her and make her want to run like before; he needed her, but she was never allowed to speak to him like that. He clenched his fist into a tight ball and punched her in the cheek with so much force that it sent blood spraying against the carpeted floor in front of her. Tightening his grip on her hair, he pulled back her head once again, refusing to let her hide as she tried to cope with the pain. "You know better than to talk to me like that."

"So violent and controlling." Skyler continued despite the pain in her face, knowing that she was hitting a nerve, but she didn't care how bad he hurt her; she knew that what she was telling him would hurt him mentally as much as his blows to her face would hurt her physically. "There's a reason everyone stayed away from you. I always knew it would be you that went psycho when Father made his little plan to create humanity. You were always so jealous; no one could love someone else more than you. You even kept me away from our brothers and sisters even though you knew how loyal I was to you. Always yelling and screaming, throwing a fit like a little two year old. You know, I think you're actually worse than humans." She could see it on his face; that just hit a nerve. "Oh, geez. I'm sorry, did I offend you? Did I make poor little Lucifer angry?" Skyler continued to taunt, "Because I was under the impression that nothing effected you! Really, I mean, you didn't mind taking out anyone who got in your way. You didn't care who got caught in the crossfire of your little crusades! You don't give a shit about anyone but yourself; you never have, and you never will." She spat a bit of blood in his face as she finished her sentence, seeing the fire burning in his eyes as he chomped down on his bottom lip.

Lucifer stood up, glaring down at the angel that fell onto her side, bleeding down onto the white carpeted floor. His eyes burned with anger and rage, his power had left her weak, his blood boiled from her words. Suddenly, she began to scream out in anguish; it felt like he was sticking pins inside her internal organs, which he was, inadvertently. He couldn't control what he felt anymore so he took it out on her, smirking at the blood that poured out of her mouth.

Skyler clutched her stomach and shouted out in pain, sputtering and spitting out the blood that rushed up her throat and threatened to choke the life out of her. She knew that Lucifer was going to make her suffer; he felt that it was her that had betrayed him, but in her mind Skyler knew that if Gabriel hadn't told Michael of the little plan he had overheard, she would've been locked up in the cage with Lucifer for all those years. She loved him; she had never planned on betraying him and she hoped she would never have to again. She was cast out of Heaven by Michael and managed to hold onto her Grace long enough to be angry with Lucifer for all those years for not trying to stop him and saving her life. All that power he had and he couldn't stop what happened to her...Skyler wanted to see the pain in his eyes that she saw in her own every morning.

When the pain in her abdomen subsided, Skyler let out a strangled laugh. "You'll never win this fight, Lucifer. You left me behind and I'll be damned if I don't do the exact same thing to you."

"You have no power over me, Skyler...and you never will."