"Queen?" Lucifer whispers softly, his brow furrowing as his heart drops.
Nyx always said he was the draxon's first and only lover. Was that a lie? Did Nyx hide something like that the whole time they knew each other?
"I... I never—"
Nyx's words echo in the devil's mind. Never what? Never told you that I've been lying the entire time? Never told you there was once a queen?
No. No, Nyxeus always tells the truth. He doesn't lie. Sometimes he twists his words or lets someone miss interpret what he says, but he never outright lies.
"There's never been a second king. You will be the first, my angel."
Second king. Nyx never said anything about being the first coruler of the realm. Maybe the draxon really did once have a queen.
"You're my first and only lover, Samael, that I promise you."
There's no way around that. Those words are straightforward, the devil is truly the draxon's first and only love, right? Yet God was created with Goddess, a companion and eventual wife. Is it so impossible that Nyx was created with a dragon meant for him as well?
"Forever, my love."
Forever. Even if there was once a queen, forever is well, forever. Lucifer takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly in an effort to calm his anxiety. Nothing is going to come between the devil and the draxon. Not again. Even if a long-forgotten queen returns, Nyxeus belongs to the devil and Lucifer belongs to the draxon.
"Lucifer, are you alright?"
The devil blinks, Chloe's words pulling him from his thoughts. The four other beings in the room are watching the devil worriedly.
"I— Yes, I'm fine," Lucifer says defensively. "Just... Nyx always said I'm his first and only."
"That's what he's told me," Dan says, "And we all know he doesn't lie."
Lucifer nods, saying, "Let's talk to Maze and then your little urchin; take a little break from all of this before watching that battle Jinx mentioned."
The three humans look to each other, all worried that the devil may be ignoring his emotions as he's shown to do.
"Lucifer," Ella says.
The devil shakes his head, "I'm fine, Miss Lopez. Nyxeus is mine, that I have no doubt in. Even if this queen comes back, he is mine and I have confidence in saying nothing is going to take him away from me. If anything, I'm angry he never told me about this queen character."
"You think there really was a queen once?" Chloe asks.
"Everything shown by the Watch Tower is true, Detective. Show me the demon Mazikeen."
With a swirl of light, the image of Lucifer's penthouse appears, the demon searching within, demons blades clasped in her hands.
"Lucifer!" Maze shouts, "For the sake of you not being stabbed when I finally find you, where the hell are you?!"
"Aw, she's concerned," Lucifer muses with a grin. "Let me speak to her." The runes flare green as Maze whirls around, raising her blades suspiciously. Lucifer chuckles lightly, "Relax, Maze."
"Lucifer?"
"Who else?"
"You're in the Dragonlands?"
"The Detective, Daniel and Miss Lopez are here too. And Nyx is dead so we're stuck here for at most six months."
The demon frowns. "The LAPD is in a frenzy. You're missing, and I can't exactly tell them the truth."
The five in the tower all frown too. Lucifer however, zones out as the others try to decide what to do. The devil is vaguely aware of Trixie showing up at the penthouse, having found her way there on her own in her search for her parents.
Instead, Lucifer's thoughts turn to the new queen figure he's found out about. What does she look like? What happened to her? Was it a romantic relationship she had with the draxon? What does she have to do with the king's ring glowing? If Jinx found it important they learn about this queen, has she somehow returned? Is that why Nyx had seemed so distraught and—dare he say—scared? Why would Nyx be scared of this queen? Had she done something to earn his fear?
"Lucifer? Lucifer!"
The devil blinks, seeing Teiterin trying to get his attention.
"Yes?" he asks, looking at the purple dragon.
"We are ready to watch the battle Jinx mentioned. The battle of the moon and sun."
Teiterin tilts her head towards the image in the room. Looking at it, Lucifer sees it's now a frozen scene of a late evening sky above the open meadow, a meadow the devil recognizes as one near the ocean coast. Nyx and a beautiful white dragon can be seen in the sky, appearing to be locked in battle.
Deciding to ask what was decided regarding the LAPD later, Lucifer focuses on the new image. Teiterin tells the tower to play the memory, and the scene starts into motion.
Furious roars echoed across the sky. Bursts of flames passed Nyx's lips while bolts of ice erupted from the other dragon's throat.
"*It's a shame it's come to this, Nyxeus,*" the unknown creature hissed.
"*What else do you want me to do?!*" Nyx said furiously. "*I'm not destroying the dragons, not when I love them as I do!*"
"*So you don't care for me?!*" the white dragon growled.
"*Don't put words in my mouth!*" Nyx roared as the two clashed, claws reaching to rip into the other. "*I love you, Rayel, of course I do!*"
The other dragon pushed Nyx back, roaring, "*You never show it!*"
"*How can I?!*" A plume of flame erupted past the draxon's lips as he continued, "*You're hurting the dragons, I have to do something!*"
The white dragon fired back a spear of ice, "*So you choose to destroy me?! Me, Nyxeus!*"
"*You've given me no other choice, La'rayel!*"
The white dragon, La'rayel, laughed coldly, "*There is another choice, and you know it! You could let me do as I want, let me be what our creator intended us to be! Because we both know, Nyxeus, it's not me who's the failure.*"
The draxon tensed, his orange eyes showing his hurt. His wing-beats faltered and he fell a bit before continuing the movement necessary to remain in the air.
"What..." Lucifer whispers, eyes wide.
"I don't understand," Teiterin says quietly, her own emerald eyes wide. "Just who is she?"
Without care, the white dragon continued. "*It's you the creator screwed up! You! We are meant to be creatures of war and destruction, but you! You're turning the dragons into nothing but fluffy little rabbits! Meanwhile, I am everything we should be! Power, destruction and war! The creator planned for us to go to war with the celestials and you know it, but you and your happy, peaceful life are getting in the way! So you see, Nyxeus, I need you out of my way just as much as you need me out of yours.*"
"*Please, La'rayel,*" Nyx said sadly, his voice barely able to be heard. "*There has to be a better way...*"
"*There is none, Nyxeus,*" La'rayel spat. "*This is what the prophecy foretold. 'Of the dragons' moon and the dragons' sun, destruction will rise so there may only be one.'*"
"*We don't have to fulfill it,*" the draxon tried desperately, barely dodging a bolt of ice.
"*What if I want to?*" La'rayel hissed, her eyes alight with rage. "*There is no other way to turn, Nyxeus. There will be only king or queen! Only one of us will fly away from this, and it is going to be me!*"
The draxon's eyes searched the eyes of his opponent. This small distraction allowed La'rayel to slash her claws across his chest and down his side. Nyx hissed, a spark of flame crackling between his teeth and igniting the gas he'd been stealthily breathing into the air in a big explosion of fire.
La'rayel let out an angry roar, flying through the flame despite the heat bothering her ice-preferring scales. She barrelled into the draxon, sending them tumbling through the sky. She seized his wing in her talons, tearing through it with her claws as Nyx struggled to throw her off.
The two fell towards the ground, La'rayel making sure Nyx's body would be the one hitting the grass with her weight on top of him. They hit the ground with a loud thud accompanied by the sharp crack or two of breaking bones.
Nyx hissed, exhausted as La'rayel gripped his neck in her talons, her weight holding his tired, pained form down.
"*La'rayel, please,*" Nyx pleaded softly.
"*Please what? Spare you? This is your end, brother dear,*" La'rayel hissed, "*Let the creator know I'm requesting a better brother, a true dragon.*"
"Brother?!" Lucifer says, his eyes wide in shock. "He's her brother?!"
"Seems like it," Dan murmurs.
Lucifer shoots him a glare before turning back to the memory worriedly. Despite knowing it's far in the past and how it must end—after all, Nyx survived to spend millennia alive—the devil is still agitated and concerned for his lover's fate.
Tense and wide-eyed, Lucifer found himself biting down on his tongue. What would happen? What had happened? How badly was the draxon beaten? Even Micheal had been swift in dealing with the devil after his rebellion, but La'rayel seemed to be toying with Nyx.
Exhausted but determined, Nyx's lips pulled back in a snarl, "*I'm not letting you hurt the dragons any longer.*"
"*You don't seem to have a choice, Nyxeus,*" La'rayel hissed, amused by his attempt to threaten her.
Nyx growled, "*I didn't want to have to resort to this...*"
His eyes flared orange and La'rayel's pale blue eyes narrowed, "*That doesn't work on me, brother, you know that. Your little mind-tricks are useless.*"
"*Not completely,*" Nyx hissed, "*I just let you think they are.*"
The white dragon's eyes widened and her body froze. Nyx seemed to be trying to control her and she was clearly trying to resist, and it resulted in her body stiffening, unmoving.
With a growl of effort, Nyx managed to push her off him. His expression was one of great concentration as he managed to keep focusing his power on his resisting sister while rising to his feet. He let one obviously-broken wing hang at his side and kept his weight off one of his back legs as he focused his eyes on La'rayel's body.
"*I'm sorry, sister,*" he whispered, gently nuzzling her cheek with his nose, "*But it's time you return to our creator.*"
He didn't destroy her body, nor did he move from his current position. The draxon closed his eyes and both bodies became limp.
"What's he doing?" Chloe asks, her brows furrowed.
"Taking her soul back to their creator," Lucifer whispers, his eyes locked on the scene. "He's pulled his own soul from his body to drag hers back... He must have trapped her within, or else she would have returned shortly after this happened..."
It wasn't long before Nyx's eyes opened again and he gazed sadly at La'rayel's body. He heaved himself to his feet, inspecting his wing and leg before his eyes flared orange again and he healed the damage done to his body.
The draxon turned back to the dead body of his sister. An orange glow from his eyes cast light onto her white scales as Nyx's magic surrounded her body and caused it to fade. With a soft sigh, the draxon spread his wings and took off towards his palace.
Nyx landed silently on the balcony of the throne room, turning to the railing and sadly looking back the way he had come. Waiting within the room were the small dragonet forms of the thirteen firsts. Wide-eyed, the young dragons padded or slithered silently out to join the draxon on the balcony under the stars.
"*Yes, I'm fine,*" Nyx whispered, seeing the worried faces looking up at him.
"*Rayel,*" Jinx said nervously, "*Where is she?*"
Nyx looked down at the many dragonets around him, some climbing his limbs to rest along his back. The king lied down, letting the small creatures gather around and on top of him.
"*She's gone,*" Nyx said quietly. "*She won't be coming back. You are safe from her torment, young ones.*"
Many small yips of happiness were given in return, the dragonets relieved to finally be free of the white dragon's dangerous nature. They could be seen letting their guard down, a guard dragonets so young shouldn't have need for. It showed just how the queen had scared them.
"*Maybe we are not what the creator intended us to be,*" Nyx murmured, turning his head up to look at the three moons of the realm hanging in the sky. "*But is what we are becoming really so terrible?*"
"*I like who I am!*" Hex chirped, the young wyvern missing a step of her wing and tumbling off the draxon's back to the floor. She looked up at the king, "*I'm gonna grow up and be big and tough and I'm going to be able to beat you, Nyxie!*"
"*Really?*" Nyx replied with an amused smile, gently nudging her to her feet. "*Then you better be prepared to spend centuries training.*"
Hex nodded determinedly, "*I can do that. Jinx, want to join?*"
The golden dragon nodded with a grin, "*Of course!*"
"*Count me in!*" Kirillion cheered, the already-fairly-big wyrm curled up near Nyx's front talons.
"*Is fighting really necessary?*" Nebula asked, her head tilting. "*Why not just spend forever happily in the peace we can now have?*"
"*Piece? We're in pieces?!*" one of the drakes yelped, wide-eyed.
"*No, Dexius,*" Nyx said, nudging the dragonet lightly. "*She means we can finally relax without fear.*"
"*Oh. That sounds nice, Nyxie!*"
The draxon smiled, "*It does. And as long as we care for each other, we will be just fine.*"