seaoftroubles | Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

Duke gets his trouble triggered by Octavia in a kitchen accident and our crew discover that post-trouble bomb, it is EVEN MORE DIRE as he goes black-eyed and can't stop himself from trying to stalk whoever set him off
Lucifer and Octavia stop Duke from doing anything bad (has Octavia make him bleed maybe so he can use his massive power supply to knock Duke tf out?). Duke recovers and says "fuck this, we need to end it" and suggests they go back to Haven one final time to figure out how to end the troubles forever.
They arrive in Haven and Duke IMMEDIATELY goes into convulsions and vanishes in a burst of green smoke. OOPS.
Lucifer and Octavia find Gloria (and Dwight maybe? And/or Nathan?), find out about the "no marks killer" who has been going around killing troubled folks -- and all the troubles that are going off like crazy without Audrey around to talk them down. I imagine there's some "okay, that sucks but WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR BOYFRIEND????"
Duke is spotted around town murking folks, but they can't quite catch him
I may or may not write a scene of Duke and Croatoan while Duke is under his control
Trap set for Duke? Not at the police station. Gloria's house or the hospital/morgue, maybe, since she's coronering. Duke takes the bait, Lucifer pounces again to keep him from, getting away. After a false start or two during which Croat!Duke is DEEPLY UPSETTINGLY CREEPY AT THEM, Lucifer and Octavia manage to talk him around. (Possibly using Duke's new joy at being the subbiest sub who ever subbed!)
Duke starts leaking troubles when Croatoan realizes he's broken his hold. He panics, and Octavia or Lucifer cover his eyes to keep the troubles in. Gloria goes "I'll get some drugs!" and scoots to find something to drug Duke with if need be (and gets out of harms way ;D). Duke takes over the eye-covering -- and goes into muscle contractions as Croat tries pull aether out by another route. This doesn't last long before Croatoan APPEARS DRAMATICALLY IN THE DOOR looking like a gremlin cosplaying as a noir detective. Duke can't even see him -- he's covering his eyes -- but goes "FUCK THIS SHIT" and starts launching the troubles he still has control over at the guy. I really like the idea that at least one of them is radioactive. Maybe Croat!Duke killed the lady from the nonsense trouble episode and got her "shooting microwaves" power. Lucifer and Octavia also fight. Eventually Croat EXPLODES (or . . . dissolves . . . or otherwise dies grotesquely) and our three spend a moment just panting for breath and looking at each other, all "omg, is that it? did we win?"
Duke collapses dead. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Lucifer gods the fuck out, wiping out the troubles in a giant aether-nado, and resurrects Duke, who's spent maybe 30 seconds dead -- but that's [mumble mumble] amount of time in Hell so he's still a littttttle bit fucked.
They go home and have more angsty h/c times yay!
(Also probably Octavia checks on Gloria first and maybe convinces her to retire to Baltimore XP)

Not a single one. Octavia was looking pretty close to it, too.

"Duke."

Even with all the feeling in it (confusion, longing) it was barely more than a whisper.

Oh god.

He was god.

Lucifer's gaze dropped down from Duke to his own hands. Oh no. Oh god.

It was just existential crises all around today then, wasn't it.

As Duke started to feel more in control, his breaths became a little more exaggerated. He took deep breaths, then shallow ones. Held it on the inhale for a moment, on the exhale for a moment.

He was breathing. On purpose.

A laugh bubbled up, and he made no effort to hold it back.

"I'm alive. Oh fuck. I'm alive."

Somehow, that was what broke Octavia out of her frozen state. The expression on her face twisted, and she scrambled forward to grab for Duke. To hold him, maybe, or just to confirm.

He was moving. Breathing. Living.

Lucifer took one large, shuddering breath of his own, and looked back up. Without thinking about it, he shifted out of the way, so Octavia could have some space.

Please excuse him. He was processing too many things at once.

Duke grabbed onto Octavia in return, still laughing.

He was alive. He was alive. He was never taking that for granted again.

Lucifer was trying to process too many things. Octavia was managing only just the one, holding on to Duke with all her might and repeating his name in between sobs against his shoulder.

For this exact moment, there was nothing but relief.

It was too soon. Too soon. What, should he go up to Heaven now and sit on Dad's throne? His siblings would know. Amenadiel would know. It was a miracle Amenadiel hadn't already--

No.

Stop.

Lucifer willed the command into the universe, his eyes drawn to the ceiling.

Duke let go of Octavia with one hand (the other clinging even tighter in compensation) and groped for Lucifer.

“Luce,” he said with looking. “Lucifer, you fucking beautiful man, get over here.”

Octavia kept clinging hard enough for the both of them, really.

In fact, she kind of felt like she might never let go again.

The request startled Lucifer out of his thoughts. He looked-- impressively pale. But he moved with it anyway, throwing his arms around Duke.

Right. Duke was alive.

It wasn't all terror.

Duke would eventually notice Lucifer was struggling. Just not yet.

“Thank you,” he said, hand fisting in the back of Lucifer’s jacket. “Oh my god, baby. Thank you!”

No pun intended.

It was quite a thing Octavia was doing, trying to keep on holding onto Duke like her life depended on it (maybe it did) while also freeing up a hand to try and grab a hold of Lucifer, too.

There were no words.

Lucifer let them grab him. His own eyes ached-- no, they were tearing up. He wasn't sure about which part.

All of the parts?

He turned his head and pressed it firmly into Duke's (alive, alive) free shoulder.

Duke held onto them both as best he could, little amazed, relieved laughs still bubbling up here and there.

He was happy to stay right here (forever) as long as they’d let him.

Octavia wasn't in a hurry - although in a moment she might be. Once she started coming back to herself, became more aware of their surroundings again.

But for right now? Words were starting to come back. Messy, garbled, full of feeling. "Ai hod yu in, ai hod yo in."

It took a moment.

"We love you."

But Lucifer found... some words, at least.

The laugh was edging into sobs again. Of relief this time. And anger. But the grief from Hell was gone.

“I love you guys too.” He couldn’t actually cling any tighter, but he tried. “So, so much.”

They’d stuck with him. Even when his trouble went crazy. Even when he didn’t listen to them. Even when he —

He spotted what was left of the gremlin man, a mass of clothes and organic sludge, and felt the anger flare higher.

Even when a creep crawled into his head and made him into his emotionless slave.

“Thank you,” he said again. “Thank you. So, so much.”

Edited 2025-03-15 20:44 (UTC)

Octavia thought that thank you had nothing at all to do with her, which finally drew at least some of her attention away from Duke and over to Lucifer.

She turned her head, to try and see him.

"Lucifer?"

What did you do? was there, if not in so many words.

"I'm God, aren't I?"

It wasn't answering her question... exactly. Lucifer sounded overwhelmed, and more than a touch desperate.

That got Duke’s attention away from his own issues.

“I . . . don’t know if we can answer that.”

He brought Duke back though. There weren’t many beings that were known to be able to do that. Especially without it backfiring.

(Oh shit. Was Duke going to turn into a zombie? He did not want to be a zombie.)

Octavia was staring at what little she could see of Lucifer.

He'd gone, and he'd come back, and then Duke had --

And now he was saying that, and sounding like that, and he hadn't even mentioned the God thing in who even knew how long, and --

"Lucifer," she breathed, again. "Are... you?"

"It's too soon," Lucifer said. A little desperate. A little helpless. (It had been years. It was still too soon.) "I--"

Duke twisted a little to get a better grip on Lucifer. “We’re with you,” he said. “Whatever happens. Whatever you need to do. We’re with you.”

He’d gotten Duke out of Hell. Given him a second chance. Duke would follow him anywhere for that.

As much as Octavia was even able to have complicated thoughts in this moment, she thought it was a little more... complicated than that.

But she thought something else, too.

"We need to go home."

Whatever they needed to solve next, they wouldn't be able to do it here.

Re: Resurrection, untroubling, and catharsis

my_own_advocate - 2025-03-16 14:53 (UTC) - Expand

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