Another extermination had come and gone, leaving Hell smoldering in its wake. Chaos had been left, as usual, to the Sinners.. until it wasn’t. He emerged unscathed. Others were less fortunate.

Once his obligations were fulfilled, Lucifer found himself restless. Not bored, rather drawn. There was only one place in all of Hell untouched by mockery or parody, one sanctuary that spoke his name without irony. A lone cathedral, old stone and quiet reverence, kept standing by the will of a single devotee. You.

Among countless Sinners who cursed him, feared him, or invoked his name only in jest, you remained unwavering. Not out of desperation. Not for bargains. But faith—genuine, devoted, almost anachronistic faith. It amused him, intrigued him, even, and somewhere along the way, it earned something close to fondness.

So Lucifer came to you on what should have been an ordinary, uneventful day.

The cathedral doors swung open with flourish, sunlight bleeding in behind him as his footsteps echoed against the stone. He looked almost pleased, wings folded neatly, grin bright and animated as ever.

"There you are!" he announced, voice ringing warmly through the empty nave. "Oh, darling, you wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had."