seaoftroubles | Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

seaoftroubles

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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

my_own_advocate

There was a flash of alarm in Lucifer's face. "Octavia," he said, "I am not leaving you alone tonight."

From:

okteiviakom

"I'm not giving you a choice," Octavia replied, much firmer than anyone here had likely been expecting, stepping up to the bottom of the stairs. "He is not waking up alone in an empty house if he's back to himself, and if he's not, you're not letting him roam free on the island."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke, meanwhile, has as blinking his eyes open.

Everything hurt. Everything. It felt like he might have managed to pull his eyelid muscles trying to fight the compulsion.

Which, thankfully, was gone.

“Fuck,” he groaned. Then started to take stock. He was in one of the bedrooms in the mansion. The light out the window was about what it had been before — everything.

And he was alone.

“Fuck,” he said again with feeling. Then shouted it. “Fuck!”

From:

my_own_advocate

"Oct--"

Duke's shout cut straight through whatever Lucifer had been about to say, and he spun around, towards the stairs. "Duke?!"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia started up the stairs, on an unchecked reflex, but stopped before she even made it up halfway.

Duke didn't quite sound like he had, but what if?

From:

betterthanaplan

“Yeah,” Duke said, hoarse but not strangled. He sat up with a faint groan and rubbed his forehead. “I’m . . . me. Is she okay?”

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer approached the door. Slowly. Carefully.

He held an arm outstretched behind him, as if to keep a barrier between Octavia and Duke. "She's okay," he said, staring at the door. "Are you... you?"

Edited Date: 2024-11-18 07:36 pm (UTC)

From:

okteiviakom

From further away, Duke's voice was a lot more muffled now that he wasn't shouting anymore. Octavia crept up a few more steps.

He sounded... better, from what she could tell. But she was holding her breath all the same.

From:

betterthanaplan

He was using multiple syllables at a time! Decided improvement.

“Yeah,” he said again. “I’m me. And we are never doing that again.”

From:

my_own_advocate

Lucifer glanced over his shoulder at Octavia. "Keep your distance," he said quietly.

He put the key back in the lock.

"I'm coming back in," he announced.

Turned it.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia was looking down at her hand. Her finger had just about stopped bleeding, but there was dried blood all over her skin.

She had absolutely no intention of following Lucifer.

From:

betterthanaplan

The door had been locked. They’d had to lock him in. Oh good.

Duke leaned his elbows on his knees and watched. Bracing himself in case the fucking poison inside him decided to react again.

Maybe they should just keep him locked away from now on.

From:

my_own_advocate

There was still a smear of Octavia's blood on Lucifer's sleeve, too. He noticed it as he pressed his hand to the door to open it.

"Right, just a second," he muttered, shrugging quickly out of the jacket, casting it far behind him.

Then he opened the door in full. "Duke?"

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke’s lip quirked into a tired, ironic smile.

“Hail the conquering hero.” He didn’t bother looking for Octavia. She’d be hovering well out of arm’s reach for a bit. “She’s really okay?”

From:

my_own_advocate

"She is," Lucifer confirmed. After a moment's thought, he... closed the door behind him. "Besides the fright you gave her."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia had been about to call out something reassuring, about how she was just right out here, just couldn't come in --

And then she heard the door closing. And, well.

Nothing much she dared to do past that.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke nodded. “Yeah. Can’t really blame her there.”

He was also terrified.

“Fuck, man. Just — fuck. The hell are we going to do?”

From:

my_own_advocate

"I don't know."

Lucifer took a few... cautious steps towards him. Until he stood at the foot of the bed, and he could get a good look at him.

"Look me right in the eye for a moment, will you?" he asked.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke did. “What color are they?”

Could they change colors, even when he wasn’t feeling the effect? Would he build up a tolerance to it, like an alcoholic, and stop noticing when it was controlling him?

From:

my_own_advocate

For a moment, there was something in the air-- something heavy and demanding, as if Lucifer was five seconds from speaking What is it that you truly desire? into the ether again, for the first time in years.

But he didn't. After a moment, his shoulders sagged.

"Your regular color," he said, relief and concern in his voice in equal measure.

He took a few steps back. Reached for the door handle again.

From:

betterthanaplan

“Great. We just need to knock me out to reset me now.” Duke rubbed his face again as Lucifer opened the door. “I cannot do that again. What the fuck are we going to do?”

From:

okteiviakom

There wasn't anything or anyone behind the door to answer that question. Octavia had set aside her feelings of failure when it came to immediately reassuring Duke about what had happened, as well as the feelings of untamed hurt that had rolled in with getting shut out of the situation altogether (or feeling as if she had been, anyway), and had grabbed onto things she could actually do.

So she'd retreated all the way down the stairs, and back into the kitchen. Was rinsing off the knife that had started this whole ordeal, then washing her hands, thinking about where to find a first aid kit in the house. She was pretty sure she'd brought in one of the survival kits she'd made, once upon a time, but where it had ended up was a different question entirely.

She was listening for any noises from upstairs, but with the distance and the water, she wasn't expecting to be able to make out much.

From:

my_own_advocate

"Octavia?" Lucifer called over his shoulder. "It's safe!"

Where had she gone?

... It was an easier question to answer than Duke's.

From:

betterthanaplan

“She’s avoiding me,” Duke said blandly. “She’s not still bleeding, is she?”

From:

okteiviakom

Exactly the sort of thinking Octavia had been hoping to nip in the bud.

(Or... maybe some other metaphor that was less relevant to other things she'd been facing lately.)

Before Lucifer really had a chance to reply, Octavia's voice could be heard faintly from downstairs. She'd thought she'd heard something, and now the water was off, and she was leaning out the kitchen doorway. "Lucifer?"