❝ KILLER QUEEN ❞
—TWO, love is for children.
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*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
ZERO DIDN'T BELONG ANYWHERE. NOT WITH HER (SO CALLED) FAMILY AND NOT WITH THE MAN SHE USED TO CARE FOR. She wanted to scream, a strange desire of her's. Being back at the academy only brought more pain than she anticipated for. The Red Room, where she was reborn and remade, it was strange to find herself missing it. Or particularly someone with dirty blonde hair and eyes so wild that they used to make her feel alive. A feeling that she craved for.
Her dreams suffocated her at night with the screams of her sisters, the screams of the people she left behind and traded in for another dysfunctional family, a mask and a strange name. Loyalty meant the world to her, yet when it came to escaping from a hell, it amounted to nothing. — When it came to her own selfish wants, screw loyalty, right?
BEFORE
Zero loved Five, once.
She loved him like a brother. A brother she never had, a brother she never got to keep. He was dead to her and he wasn't ever planning on coming back, not for his family, not even for her. But Zero didn't deserve to love Five, not when she was the one that let him go.
She remembers the glances they exchanged at dinner when he brought the subject up to his father. She remembers telling him the night before that he could do whatever the hell he wants but not to except her to be supportive of any of it. She remembers pushing her seat back in a hurry and running after him when Sir Reginald allowed her to retrieve him, knowing she could over power him easily.
No hesitation, no second thoughts. The girl just stood by and watched him open up a portal and walk away from her, from this life. And the last thing she remembers of him from that day was Five turning back to look at her one last time with this boyish grin on his face. He was almost unrecognizable.
And that night she was punished greatly for it, — for letting affection get in the way of orders.
He knew how much Zero was afraid of the dark. He knew how weak she got in a room all alone with no one but the voices in her head to turn to comfort. He cornered her, he managed to break her into submission. Her own thoughts and opinions were no longer her own. He owns her now. She ran away for freedom and she ended up here.
But this was no paradise.
And the chamber was a reminder of that.
He told her it was built for something a lot stronger than her. He told her she can scream all she wanted and no one will hear a thing. No one was coming to 'rescue' her until she learned her place in this family.
He filled her head with lies. He made it sound like she wanted Five gone. But she only wanted him to be free.
"How can it be out of love when you don't even know what love is? How can you sit there and claim you know such a thing?"
She cried and begged for him to stop, to take it easy on her, — He didn't.
Then he brought up her biological mother. And that wasn't something that Zero could just bite back on.. "That's not true!" She argued, "My mother loved me."
"And look where that got her."
Zero couldn't get angry at that. Because he was right. And Five was another person that fell for that. Who was next? Diego? Vanya? Klaus? No, it can't be. She won't let that happen.
She loved once. But love is for children. And she will never love again.
NOW
Yet there he stood — or wandered around the kitchen, focused on making himself a sandwich. "What is the date? The exact date?"
Lucifer was seated in between Vanya and Allison, who stood behind her. Her eyes were following Five's every moment, almost like she waiting on him to disappear again. Her face remained blank, but her mind was screaming. "GUILTY, YOU'RE GUILTY," It taunted her. And they were laughing at her.
"The twenty-forth." Vanya answered his question.
"Of what?"
Lucifer spoke this time, "March." Five's eyes finally met Zero's. She held her breath and in that moment she felt scared, — scared of being rejected. It was also one of the first times in a long time that she found it difficult to read someone, almost like he was closed off from anything that made him feel human. C'mon.. get angry at me, yell at me, say something.. anything, Zero pleaded. She wanted a reaction out of him, he knows what she did, but instead the girl received nothing in return.
"Good." Is all he said of that.
Zero released a sigh and leaned back into her chair, she was disappointed. Maybe he realized she wasn't worth his time and energy anymore. But she damn well deserved it.
"So....." Luther trailed off, glancing around the group that turned over to him, everyone silently wondering the same thing he was. "Are we going to talk about what happened?" The room fell quiet as Five continued to make his sandwich. He suddenly stood up from his chair, "It's been seventeen years."
Lucifer rolled her eyes at this. "I'm sure he's aware of that." She mumbled under her breath.
Five chuckled in a sarcastic manner. "It's been a lot longer than that." He moved to stand in front of Luther, glancing up to the taller man before he made a jump, reappearing across the room, pulling a jar of peanut butter from one of the cabinets.
"I haven't missed that."
"Where'd you go?" Diego asked Five, everyone watching closely as he jumped on to the table.
"The future." Five answered, "It's shit, by the way."
From where he was sitting, Klaus exclaimed, "Called it!"
We all called it, The redhead thought.
"I should have listened to the old man." Five told them. "You know, jumping through space is one thing. Jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He paused, looking over at Klaus, "Nice dress."
"Oh, well, danke!" Klaus said.
"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asked.
"In the end, I have to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."
They all looked confused expect for Lucifer who nodded her head, taking this piece of information better than anybody else, "Makes sense."
"That makes no sense." Diego retorted, not before giving the red head a sharp glare.
"Well, it would if you were smarter."
Lucifer hummed in agreement, only pissing Diego further off. He shot up from his seat on the table as Luther's arm made contact with his chest, stopping him from doing anything rational.
"Men," She scoffed, not fazed by this usual behavior, this time earning noises of agreement from the two girls next to her and Klaus.
"How long where you there?"
"Forty-Five years." Five replied causally, "Give or take."
Everyone stared at him in shock. And the wind was knocked out of Lucifer, — she did this to him. The lights flickered above them, startling the group for a second there but luckily for her, they all brushed it off since it wasn't the weirdest thing to happen to them today. Except for Five, who look over at Zero with a knowingly glance.
"So what are you saying? That you're fifty-eight?" Luther continued to question him.
"No, my consciousness is fifty-eight." Five corrected him, "Apparently, my body is now thirteen again."
"Wait, how does that even work?"
"Delores kept saying the equations were off." Five turned his back to them for a moment and shrugged, "Bet she's laughing now."
"Delores?" Vanya asked him again, receiving no answer as the bold headline on the newspaper caught Five's attention.
"Hmm. Guess I missed the funeral." He commented.
Luther tensed up, "How'd you know about that?"
"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five asked, hearing a small chuckle coming out of the red head's mouth. His eyes continued to scan the article, "Heart failure, huh?"
"Yeah."
"No."
Five clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Nice to see nothing's change."
"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison spoke up as Five started to walk away.
"What else is there to say? The circle of life." He called out, unbothered.
The group was left with their own thoughts as Luther broke the silence surrounding them, "Well... that was interesting."
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It was pouring rain when Zero walked out of the house first, an umbrella in one hand and a flower in the other. She was fully dressed in black, from the hat on her head to the lace gloves, She wanted to get a head start and pay her respects to Ben without any eyes watching before she left again. "Six." She simply said. And then as a moment passed, she let out a sigh and bowed her head looking to her shoes before glancing back up at him again. The girl had no idea what to say, if she even had anything to say. Lucifer sadly smiled, before placing a fresh rose on his statue, "Sorry, buddy." Guess not..
Her body tensed up at the feeling of somebody behind her, but when she turned around, nobody was there. Lucifer sighed in relief when she noticed the other's were finally coming to join her outside, it must have been them that she sensed.
Feeling out of place, she moved closer to stand next to Vanya. "Did something happen?" Grace broke the silence, turning to her children as everyone looked at her worriedly.
"Dad died." Allison told her. "Remember?"
"Oh." Grace sadly let out at the realization. "Yes, of course."
"Is mom okay?"
"Yeah." Diego told her, "Yeah, she's fine." His gentle gaze landed on the woman, "She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."
Lucifer's posture relaxed at the sight of Pogo settling next to her once he caught up to them. "Whenever you're ready, dear boy." He gestured over to Luther, who held on to the urn tightly.
Luther looked down at the urn between his hands, before he took the top off and tilted it over, dumping the remains of what's left of his father on to the ground. He frowned at the sad pile of ash it made, "Probably would've gone better with some wind."
Luther's nose scrunched up at the thought of Sir Reginald turning into mud.
"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked.
Surprise, surprise, — no one jumped up at the chance to share some words, not even Luther.
"Very well." He sounded disappointed. "In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master, and my friend." Pogo sighed, "And I will miss him very much."
Lucifer frowned, she hadn't thought about it that way. He was a hateful man, but even he managed to make an impact on the lives of the people around him, even hers. She owed him for taking her in despite his true intentions, he had given her a home. For that enough she should be grateful. But he was dead and she no longer owes him or his family anything.
The red-head eyes watered, ignoring the eyes burning into the side of her head, she wiped a tear that rolled down her face.
Vanya's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sight before her. Lucifer doesn't cry, she didn't at Ben's funeral. Why was her dad any different, why is he worth her tears?
Pogo looked at the faces around him, "He leaves behind a complicated legacy-"
"He was a monster." Diego cut him off completely, getting a airy chuckle out of Klaus as the rest stayed silent. "He was a bad person and a worst father. The world's better off without him."
"Diego." Allison scolded him.
"My name is number two." Diego continued, "You know why? Because our father couldn't be bother to give us actual names." He pointed over to Lucifer, "And when he does, he names this one after the Devil." At that moment Diego didn't look neither angry or sad, he was just.. there.
"So he had mom do it."
At the mention of the woman, Grace spoke up and asked, "Would anyone like something to eat?"
"No, it's okay, mom." Vanya told her.
"Oh... okay."
"Look, you wanna pay your respects? Go ahead." Diego stepped forward and looked around at the people surrounding him, "But at least be honest about the kind of man he was." He spoke directly to Pogo.
"You should stop talking now." Luther warned him.
Diego paused in his steps and side eyed his brother. "You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One."
"I am warning you."
"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away."
Luther's jaw clenched, "Diego, stop talking!"
"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" Diego angrily spat, pointing at his chest.
Luther furiously slapped his hand away, before swinging but Diego managed to dodge both of his punches.
"Boys, stop this at once!" Pogo ordered.
Five's eyes landed on Lucifer who was now seen smiling after her little crying show earlier. What is she playing at here?
"Hit him! Hit him!" Klaus shouted in the background.
"Lucifer!" Vanya scolded, pulling on her arm so they didn't trample her when the fight started moving closer to her.
"Get off me." She heard Diego struggle with Luther's strong hold on him.
"We don't have time for this." Five grumbled before heading out.
"Come here, big boy!" Diego taunted him, and Luther took the challenge to charge at him. — He moved out of the way just in time as Luther's fist came in contact with Ben's statue instead, knocking the whole thing over
Lucifer stopped Ben's head from rolling any further with the heel of her shoe.
"And there goes Ben's statue." Allison rolled her eyes and made her way inside.
The two faced each other again as Diego instantly pulled out a knife.
"Diego, no!" Vanya shouted at him to stop, but he had already thrown it. In a quick motion, it managed to slice through Luther's thick coat and make him bleed.
Luther halted in his steps and grabbed his arm in shock. Yet he didn't retaliate. Instead he made his way back inside with the others.
Diego stood frozen in his steps.
This time it was Lucifer who stepped forward, lifting her head and giving him a glimpse at the face under the big floppy hat. He stared back at her in curiosity, in anticipation. But she only smiled up at him, almost mockingly too. "Thanks for reminding me why this didn't work last time."
And with that, she walked away, possibly forever. That's the thing, — you never know with Lucifer.
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17 YEARS AGO
"Man is as a rope, stretched between the animal, and superhuman. A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing. A dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting. As much as you must strive for individual greatness and strive you must, for it won't come to you of it's own accord. You must also remember that there is no individual stronger than the collective."
Zero knew easily what Five was planning to do next and in the exact moment, her hand tightly grabbed on to his shoulder so he can take her with.
Five turned his head to look at her, his eyebrows knitted in confusion, "What the—"
"Thanks for the ride." She smirked as she swiftly kicked his feet from under him, knocking him down as his body smoothly slid down the steps. She continued her way up as she heard a groan escape from Five's lips.
"That's not fair! Five and Zero are cheating!" Diego complained.
"They adapted."
Once Zero reached the top, after having to fight off Five for the second time, she glanced over at the man. — Only to receive a rare nod of approval from him that made her softly smile and the others envious of.
"The ties that bind you together make you stronger than you are alone."
Lucifer watched as Klaus comforted a crying Allison with a frown on her face. She had gone first, remembering what Sir Reginald told her before she got on the chair. "Show them how it's done." And even if she felt the pain; she wouldn't show it. She couldn't. — She simply wasn't allowed to.
"They will make you impervious to the pain and hardship the world will thrust upon you. And believe me when I tell you, life will be hard. It will be painful."
Lucifer brushed past Grace who tried to reach out to her after Diego had previously rejected her touch. The robot noticed how she stared at Klaus and Allison, but the hot headed girl wouldn't give in to getting close. Not when she has gone so far without having any weaknesses.
"We can accomplish anything when we accept responsibility together. This is what creates trust."
Reginald stared down at a sleeping Lucifer with a frown on his face, her hand handcuffed to the post of the bed. It's a force of habit, she explained to him one day, from the red room.
The man now sat his office over-looking all of his children before his screen settled on Lucifer one last time. He noted that her temperature levels were rising by the second.
And then, the beeping intensified.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE!
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