LXXVIII: Payment

There was every kind of food she could think of, and it all drifted in on clouds of red and blue lights. It was very pretty. Lucifer sat in a shiny chair next to her, it was a really long table, but they occupied only one little corner of it while the food drifted by them. Lucifer himself put bits and pieces of food on her plate, suggesting that she try something. 

“This is delicious,” she told him politely.

“You should have some of this fruit juice, it’s made in the Elysium Fields.”

“Where’s that?”

“It’s here.”

Amy looked around, trying to see what he was talking about.

“Where? I don’t see it.”

“You can only see it if you live here, and only then if you’re allowed to.”

“Who says you’re allowed to?” Amy asked him.

Lucifer leaned in closer to her to tell her a secret.

“I’m the boss,” he told her.

Amy nodded, she knew that. 

“You’re trying to distract me,” she said to him, putting on what she called Daddy’s Business Look, “it’s not going to work.” 

Lucifer leaned back again.

“It isn’t?”

“No, it isn’t,” she replied, “I want you to give my friends back now please.”

“Are you sure you don’t want some of the fruit juice?”

“I’m sure,” Amy told him.

“Then we shall begin the negotiations,” he replied.

He clapped his hands and everything except the cups and jug of juice disappeared. 

“You want your friends back, but they are mine,” Lucifer said, “so what will you give me in return?”

“They shouldn’t be yours, they were free!” Amy countered, “you took them away.”

“Actually,” Lucifer said, “they were given to me in payment by a witch who was looking for more power.”

“How can you give people in payment? That’s wrong!”

LXXVII: Audience

Lucifer lounged in the over-sized chair that made up the Plutonic Throne, one leg dangling over an arm and the other curled up underneath him. His wings drooped over the other arm, just for show.

“I didn’t realise you were still here, Chiron, I should’ve given you a redundancy package and sent you on a leave,” the Morning Star mused, “my apologies.”

“No need, y’r Excellency,” Chiron assured him, his skeletal hand wrapped gently about Amy’s, “I’m quite happy fishin’ for lost them lost souls in the river as it were.”

“Good good, but still, if there’s anything...”

“I’ll be s’re to mention it, y’r Excellency.”

“Good,” Lucifer said and turned his gaze on Amy, who stared up at him with large eyes.

He was so tall and impressive, and reminded her of Daddy, but scarier.

“What can I do for you, little one?”

“I’m from the Living World,” Amy blurted out, “my name’s Amy. I’m here for my friends.”

Lucifer’s gaze turned curious.

“And which friends are those, my dear?”

“Alyxa ‘n Mister Morpheus ‘n Bast!” Amy stated, a little rattled by the pure colour in his eyes.

“Ah. Then you are here to negotiate their return?”

Amy didn’t really know what ‘negotiate’ meant so she nodded.

“Then, as the Witch Queen’s ambassador, you are my guest, are you thirsty or hungry? I will see refreshments brought.”

Before Amy could reply the shining creature waved a hand and a small chair and table appeared just beside his throne, on the table sat a plate of cookies and a large mug of something steaming.

“I’m not suppose to drink or eat anything,” she said dubiously, but Lucifer waved a hand, swinging his feet off the throne to make his way towards her.

“It is freely given, little one, I promise.”

LXXVI: Guide

It was deliciously warm, and dry, and she was so hungry. Thirsty too. Amy sat up. She was lying on moss that was growing on rock. She was in a cave, everywhere she looked there were those things that grew from the roof and grew from the floor, here and there they had formed gigantic pillars, holding up the cavern roof. She blinked, suddenly realising that she could see quite clearly. There was no light source, unless you counted the fact that the ground and walls gave off a pale white glow. It was really pretty.

“Are you awake then, girl?” a voice asked her, making her start.

She looked around and felt her eyes nearly drop out of her head when she saw what she could only assume was a skeleton.

“’s not nice to stare.”

“Sorry. I’ve...just never seen a talking skeleton before.”

“Name’s Chiron,” the skeleton told her, adjusting the black cloth he had wrapped around his bony shoulders.

“I’m Amy, I’m looking for my friends,” Amy replied, and then remembered she was suppose to say something, “and I’m of the Living World.”

Chiron chuckled.

“I’m not gonna be keepin’ you here, girl, I just ferry people across the river when it’s time, they’s that pay. Used to anyhow, but those days ‘r long past now that there’s a new Prince on the Plutonic Throne.”

“I’d like to go to him, he knows where my friends are,” Amy said.

“Best to leave the Morning Star be, girl, he’s not to be trifl’d with.”

“I promised.”

If a skeleton could ever be described as thoughtful, now would be the right moment.

“Well, seein’ as you’re not dead ‘n I haven’t got a job to do no more, guess I’ll be y’r escort.”

Amy’s face brightened.

“Thank you, Chiron.”

LXXV: Temperment

-How long do you think she can hold out?- Bast asked her fellow captive goddess when Morpheus had left them.

“As long as a dream, less than a nightmare,” Enyo told her in a voice that only Bast and Lucifer were apparently capable of hearing.

-How long would your little spell take?-

“No longer than a breath, as long as the fall of a drop of blood.”

-I like a good blood sacrifice as the next goddess, Kali, but seriously, don’t you take it a little far?-

“Your kind eat your kittens,” Enyo pointed out.

-Only when they’re dead,- Bast snarled, her long tail fluffing up slightly.

“Or when they don’t belong to you,” Enyo reminded her.

The two deities looked at each other in silence for a minute or two, and then Enyo affected a small, shrug.

“Would you have let me drain Morpheus’Dreamer, if it meant freedom?”

-Of course,- Bast said, -she is not my Dreamer, I feel nothing but minor amity for her-

“It can still be done, Cat-Queen, if I were to drain the Dreamer and her Morpheus I could – ”

-Absolutely not!- Bast hissed, -You’re disgusting for even thinking it!-

Enyo’s eyes flashed into a brilliant gold, her hair flared from its dark curls into brilliant reds and oranges.

“I am what I am, little kitten, and I was here before you. Yama and Thanatos pay tribute to me, Di Yu grovels at my feet, Osiris came before me for new life when Isis sewed his pieces together. Every single entity of death, destruction, and rebirth answers to me. Do not presume to teach me of morality. ”

-And yet you are here, bound by a minor deity,- Bast countered slyly.

“He has the Chains of Lilith.”

-He does?- Bast asked, startled.

“Yes, he does.”

LXXIV: Deeper

The water was cold. Amy’s little brow curled into a frown as she took her first steps into it, listening to the Red Lady saying strange things behind her. The water was very cold. This was not what she had imagined when the others had told her she would be swimming in a beautiful lake; in her mind, beautiful and warm were pretty much mutually inclusive.

The Red Lady made a gesture and Amy assumed that this meant it was time for her to start swimming so that is exactly what she did. Amy prided herself in being the best swimmer in her grade; she always beat everyone at the races and could swim to the bottom of the pool and sit there for long enough to count to sixty. Her teachers and Daddy had always been very impressed. Of course, Daddy was gone now... there was no way she was going to let anything happen to Alyxa and Mr. Morpheus.

The further down she dove the darker it got, so Amy shut her eyes and just swam deeper and deeper. She could feel the air building up in her lungs, and a little further down she had to exhale and inhale. To her surprised there was no water that rushed into her lungs; it felt sticky, like candy that had been left in the sunlight, but it was exactly like air. The Red Lady was good at her job too!

Amy opened her eyes, to see if she could see the cave that she had been told about. There was no cave; she could see was a faint glimmer somewhere below her, as though she was swimming back to the surface. That’s probably it. Her little legs were tiring. And then the light engulfed her and she couldn’t see.

LXXIII: Preparations

They stood on the edge of the water and Michael shifted uneasily. It was so deep. Too deep. He could feel just how deep it ran, so deep that it made him want to wear his wings, just in case it seemed like he would trip and tumble in. He glanced over to where Medea was talking to Amy; the little girl looked quite nonplussed about the entire deal. Swim to the non-existing bottom of this lake? She could do that, or so she had quite readily told them. She had sworn herself blue and black that she was a great swimmer – apparently her father had taught her how to swim behind their house, making Michael wonder just where this child had come from and how she had ended up entangled with Alyxa and her Deity.

“So you understand, child, you are not to stop for anything, nothing. I will cast this spell on you, but it will not last indefinitely,” Medea was saying.

“What does ‘indefinitely’ mean?” Amy asked and Medea clicked her tongue impatiently.

“‘Forever’,” she explained, her voice short.

“Oh. How long will it last then?”

“About an hour, possibly two. It depends. So do not get distracted, swim to the bottom, and you will find a cave, you will go through the cave, and you will find yourself in Tartarus.”

“Once you’re in,” Achilles said, stepping in, “you will probably be approached by someone or something. Don’t be scared, tell them you wish to see Lucifer.”

“Tell them you are a Dreamer,” Medea told her, wrestling the conversation back into her own control, “now this is very important: tell them you are of the Living World. Do not eat or drink anything while you are there. Nothing. Not a seed, not a sip. Do you understand?”

LXXII: Pacing

Pacing. That was about all there was to it. Back and forth continuously. The wide open spaces were oppressive in ways that Morpheus had never thought possible; the mortal world at least had its innovations and novelties, nothing compared to the incomprehensible beauties of Reveille. He was suffocating here.
“Where is she?” he demanded of the air in front of him.

-Chances are she is looking into the River,- Bast told him, and he glanced back at the cage that contained her, -Enyo says that its where she would be if she were mortal. The Styx is apparently the border between everything, the Dreamer would be most comfortable there.-

Enyo nodded and made a gesture.

-It’ll stop her from going insane, or at least slow it down.-

“I should be with her,” Morpheus murmured absently as though the thought had just occurred to him.

-It’s not like she’s going anywhere,- Bast snarled, -she can’t get out, Lucifer will keep her here at all costs.-

“What does Lucifer want with her anyways? How many Dreamers has he taken prisoner, I have seen none.”

Bast glanced at Enyo who made a noncommittal gesture with her elegant hands.

-We don’t know.-

“He obviously wishes Baldur to be kept away, but what other purpose apart from bridging the Rift does capturing Dreamers have?”

-Unfortunately, kitten, your guess is as good as mine,- Bast replied, sitting down on her haunches.

“The Older should know this, when we get out of here...”

-If, kitten, ‘if’,- the Cat-Goddess corrected.

Enyo tapped her scarlet and black nails against the bars of her golden cage.

- I have faith in your abilities, Kali, I don’t have faith in mortals.-

“Mortals are predictable,” Morpheus countered.

-Not that predictable. Do you honestly think a mortal is going to come down here?-

LXXI: Pornography

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

Alyxa looked up from the running waters of the river Styx. Lucifer was kneeling at her shoulder, staring into the waters just as she had been doing.

“It is,” she agreed.

“I come here a lot, when I want to think,” the Morning Star said, giving her a brilliant smile that made her knees go weaker than Morpheus ever managed. Alyxa looked deep into the waters again, she could see colours flashing through the darkness, a myriad of strange images like those she sometimes saw in her dreams.

“What do you think about?” she asked suddenly.

“What it would be like if I hadn’t fallen,” Lucifer replied without missing a beat, “what it would be like if my Father hadn’t handed the reins to Michael and the rest of my siblings. I also think about what it would be like if I felt more female than male.”

Alyxa blinked.

“Um...”

“Yes, I know, I’m rather feminine,” the Dark Prince said, “I’m a perfect being, all balanced.”

“‘Balanced’?” Alyxa murmured, feeling the world twisting around her; it was getting harder to hang on.

“Being sane is a matter of point of view,” Lucifer said.

“You know what you are?” Alyxa blurted out, “you’re...pornography.”

That seemed to catch him off guard.

“I’m...pornography?”

“Yes,” she said, staggering through her words, “you’re too flexible to be real, which means you’re staged, pulling off all sorts of things that a normal person couldn’t possibly do, or taking all sorts of punishment that no normal person could. You’re also too pretty. Like snowflakes and butterflies.”

“Snowflakes and butterflies are like pornography?”

“No...” Alyxa said, suddenly looking very confused.

“So I’m like butterflies and snowflakes?”

“No...”

“So I’m as pretty as a butterfly and snowflakes and crazy as pornography?”

“Yes.”

“Now we’re making sense.