Break the Rules

When Lux opened her eyes next, she was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar room. It was dark, and on the colder side. Through the quiet, she tip toed about the hardwood floor, curiously just wandering about. As she walked backwards into what seemed like a living room, she realized some faint light was coming in behind her. Turning on her heel to keep exploring, she jumped a step back upon realizing she was no longer alone.

He sat on the little window nook overlooking the dingy city, listening to her make her away around. When she finally made it to him, his ice blue eyes looked over to her slowly, a faint smirk ghosting his lips. Even he had to admit that for a human she wasn’t half bad on the looks. The purple eyes definitely intrigued him. She stared at him in a strange way, not with fear or contempt. A moment later, she seemed to have realized something.

“You…” she breathed, reaching into her jacket pocket and taking out the feather. “You pulled me from the crash and saved me, didn’t you?”

He clapped slowly, chuckling. “Well, at least you have a pretty face and some brains to back it up.”

She ignored his comment, focusing on what was more important. “Those boys that found me after, they were telling the truth, weren’t they? About hunters and monsters and the apocalypse?”

“I’m sure their views on what’s going on is a bit different than mine but in general, yes, they were telling the truth. All those fairy tales are real, sweetheart.” He crossed his arms over his chest, smirking. “I recommend you pick a side if you continue to value your life.”

“Side? Whose sides?”

“Heaven or Hell, little Lux.” She jumped slightly at another random person just saying her name. He rolled his eyes childishly. “Oh like I wouldn’t know your name? Seriously? After all we’ve been through already? I’m hurt, Lux.” He put his hand over his heart in mock hurt.

Lux’s eye almost twitched. Surely there was some kind of mistake but for shits and giggles, she just needed to know. Licking her lips and sighing, she asked one more question. “You’re who the Winchesters said you are, aren’t you?”

“Only if they stopped calling me names and informed you that I’m an angel.”

“No you’re not,” she stated, causing him to arch an eyebrow. “You’re an archangel. There’s a difference.”

His smirk grew. “Alright sweetheart, so which brother am I?”

She stared him down bravely. “Lucifer.”

He hummed pleasantly, clapping for her again. Slowly, he stood, and began circling her. “You’re a special little human, Lux,” he mused, playing with a lock of her hair. She closed her eyes, relaxing and adjusting to the cold. “I can’t quite figure it out yet,” gently he placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, “but that’s why I’d like to see you continue living.” He leaned closer to her, to whisper in her ear, “I’d like for you to play for my team, Lux.”

She shuddered, eyes fluttering back open. “Why? Why me? Especially when you despise humanity so much?”

He spun her around swiftly, holding her close to him and forcing her to look him in the eyes. “Your problem is that you’ve spent your whole life thinking there are rules. There aren’t.” He chuckled. “So, one word; yes, or no? I am still an angel, Lux. I need permission.”

“How far exactly does that rule extend?” She spoke breathlessly, strangely captivated by the way he looked at her.

He snickered. “How far does your curiosity go?” He quipped. “You’ll have to spend a lot of time with me to find out.”

“Is that some kind of bribe?”

Lucifer hummed and spun her around, watching her hair sparkle blue in the moonlight before pulling her back to him with her back against his chest. “Not quite, but if I really wanted to I could.”

Lux almost laughed. “With what?”

“I could give you anything in the world you wanted.”

She leaned back, looking up at him upside down with a sad smile. “There isn’t anything in this world that I want.”

“Then why did you want to live so badly?”

“Because I’m not ready to die. Whether there is nothing in this world that I desire, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to live. I’ve seen plenty of death and carnage. I choose life, whoever wants me to or not. Whatever it takes, I will survive.”

He stared down at her, seeing the truth in her eyes. How were they even such a shade, he wondered? Absentmindedly, he reached over and ran his thumb across her cheekbone, under her eye. “Good. Because you’re going to need to.”

“You know,” she broke him from his thoughts about her eyes, “I am a decently open book. So if you want to know something so badly,” she smiled softly, “I guess you’ll just have to spend time with me too.” She started to laugh and ducked out from underneath him.

He was taken back, watching as she just stood before him laughing. Why the hell was she even laughing? Regardless, it almost made the devil himself start to laugh with her. The sound filled the room, bringing at least a soft ghost of a smile to his face. He shook his head and walked back up to her, putting a hand on her cheek. “I’ll be around, Lux. You know how to get me if you want me.” He winked and in a flash, she was back to darkness.

“Rise and shine, princess!”

Lux’s eyes begrudgingly opened and quickly snapped back shut from the brightness of daylight surrounding her. She rubbed her eyes and caught her breath, feeling like she had just ran a mile. Looking up, she saw Sam and Dean standing by her opened door semi-smiling. Sam offered her a hand and helped her out where she stretched and cracked anything that would.

So it was a dream, she thought, looking around at the Singer Salvage Yard. That means he has a way into my head… Thoughtlessly, her hand reached up and touched her cheek.

“Alright,” Dean spoke, leading the way towards the house, “so you,” he glanced at Lux, “are going straight for the shower because we figured you’d be dying for one at this point.”

She looked down at her torn, bloodstained clothes with dirt all over her and blood matted in her hair. “Yeah, kinda,” she laughed.

“Other hunter friends of ours, Ellen and her daughter Jo, are here to meet you too,” Sam told her. “Jo brought over some clothes for you.”

Lux smiled as they reached the porch. “Tell her I said thank you and I’ll thank her myself when I chip off all the dirt and blood.” She chuckled.

The boys pointed the way to the bathroom that was set up for her and she eagerly darted off. Starting up the warm water, she peeled off her filthy clothes and threw them in the trash. Once the water hit her bare skin, it was like she was on drugs. She couldn’t even count the amount of times she washed herself and her hair to make sure all the blood and dirt were off. When she finally got a chance to relax into the water, she noticed more caked on dirt on her left hip. She groaned and took the facecloth to it once more, only to find a strange marking burned into her skin.

“What the fuck,” she muttered, tracing over the lines. She felt no pain, but it was clearly imprinted into her skin unlike her few tattoos. She groaned again and took less time to relax so she could get to the bottom of the marking.

Lux wrapped herself in a large, black towel they left for her, a slightly smaller grey one for her hair. Jo and Ellen had completely set up the bathroom for a girl with a couple different hair brushes, basic makeup, a few different sets of clothes; she was thankful for their kindness when they hadn’t even met yet. It took a few tries with both brushes before she got through all of the knots, shaking her head around after so it looked tousled. She chose a pair of black jeans, a navy tank top, and indigo flannel. With a small touch of eyeliner and mascara, she made her way down to meet everyone.

At first, the three new hunters just stared at her. Jo was the first to walk up to her with her hand extended and a small smile. “Jo,” she told the ravenette.

Lux smiled back and shook her hand. “Lux. Thanks so much for the clothes and everything.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad they fit and you made it out of that crash. You really have no idea who would want to hurt you?”

She shook her head. “I’m literally a nobody. The only thing that really connects me to the system is my social security number proving I exist. I don’t drive, I don’t have a bank account, no credit cards, nothing ever in my name,” she shrugged. “Whoever tried to kill me clearly knows me unless they fucked up bad.” She chuckled.

Jumping right into it, Lux told them the same things she told the Winchesters. Having more time and more hunters, they were able to tell her more about the ‘prize fight’ between Lucifer and Michael, Raphael and a couple other angels pulling the strings, Gabriel wanting nothing to do with it all, the whole spiel. Thinking back to her dream and the way Lucifer was so gentle towards her, she wondered if perhaps that was her place in the war.

“I could give you anything in the world you wanted…”

“About what your angel friend said,” she shook the thoughts, “what did he mean about my aura being similar to...his Grace or whatever?”

Bobby came up to her in his wheelchair, large old book in his lap. “If what I’ve read is true, then it means Lucifer put a kind of mark on your soul when he rescued you. Almost like he...claimed you.”

Her eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, pulling up the hem of her shirt to reveal the burn on her hip. “I think he wanted to make it very clear that he claimed me than if this is some angelic sigil or some shit.”

Bobby’s eyes lit up and he wheeled over to his desk, grabbing a specific book and flipping until he reached what he was looking for. Showing the image to everyone, it was an exact match to what was burned on Lux’s hip. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to explain.

“What is it, Bobby?” asked Dean.

The older hunter sighed. “It’s a very specific angelic sigil you’ve been marked with, kiddo…”

She swallowed hard, lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s his mark, isn’t it? Lucifer’s sigil? His own little umbilical cord to me, yeah?” All went silent and nobody met her gaze. She felt so small around them, out of place. Even more so bearing the mark of Lucifer, the archangel to revive her from the brink of death. Life was great. “Listen here,” she snapped, earning their attention, “in case you haven’t realized it yet, I’m literally standing on a plank staring into the ocean. Except the ocean is black and on fire BECAUSE IT IS HELL. But you know what I could run back to on the other end of the plank? All these judgey eyes wondering if I’m gonna flip the switch and run off to Satan. I’m the one standing here with a one way connect right to him. And one way or another, that fucks me over in the end. Because if I pick Team Free Will over here, my ass is getting fried. You’re gonna use me for bait and we’re gonna get screwed. But if I go down under, I’m right hand to the devil. I didn’t choose this bullshit so if you’re all going to keep looking at me like I did than I assure you I’ll make a decision not a damn human, angel, demon, you fuckin’ name it will like.”

The angrier she got, the colder the room became, unbenounced to Lux. Sam stared at her with wide, concerned eyes, knowing what it was like to have a connection to Lucifer. He opened his mouth to comfort her, when her eyes went completely vacant like no one was home. They all tried to get her attention, but Lux stood there frozen in time, completely unresponsive.

“They’re only going to use you,” she heard inside her head. “Use you and throw you to the side. Because either they’ll get what they want and won’t need you anymore, or you’ll be useless to their cause.”

“Why the actual fuck are you in my head right now?”

“Why, or how?” He chuckled, the sound reverberating off her brain. “Because we have a connection, Lux. We can channel each other. I just don’t want to see you dead by the Winchesters’ hands. Remember sweetheart, I can give you the entire world.”

She snapped back to reality, getting hit with vertigo and falling back down on the couch. She rubbed her face and stared up at the dirty ceiling. “I hate my life.”